Ephesians 5:21-33: Be Subject

Ok, you gotta love a bible study that finds it's illustration in The West Wing, right?

There's a lovely scene somewhere around the third season where the President and the First Lady are coming home from church. In the midst of their sometimes rocky marriage, the couple is fighting over the sermon given in Church that morning. It was based on our scripture from this morning.

The First Lady, known as an open and passionate Feminist, is arguing that men need to love their wives and give themselves up for their ladies, and thus the President should be submissive to her. The President, having a little bit of fun, tosses back that wives must submit to their husbands, and that she should be submissive to him. They go back and forth for a little bit, before the President launches into his own mini sermon about what the passage is really about.

You would think that clip would be on YouTube. It's not. They had this, which was equally as funny but nowhere near related to the point:

The point in the President's eyes (and mine too) is not who should be submissive to whom. The point is that we need to be subject to one another. Paul uses different words to emphasis very similar points here, that in a Christian household, we shouldn't be looking out for our own interests, but rather should be looking out for the interests of our spouse. Sarah and I work very hard on this with some of our language. A friend of ours taught us that we shouldn't use the phrase "You are mine" but rather offer up "I am yours." It might seem like a subtle little difference, but honestly it has meant a world of difference in more than a few situations.

Now the obvious surface point you could pull from this for youth ministry is that we need to teach kids how best to handle themselves not only in marriage but in their dating endeavors. But I mean, come on, that's a little bit too easy for a Tuesday night, don't you think?

What if we looked at it with this question: How often are you subject to your students?

I had a neat experience today. I was taking out the garbage when a group of our students drove by. They're on spring break, and told me the wanted to come by and find where I lived. I actually thought it was pretty awesome (though under no circumstances want them just randomly showing up all the time. Sometimes I'm in my delicates!). We sat on the porch and talked for a bit before they left, but I found myself playing the host for them. Offering drinks, snacks, etc. In essence, I was being subject to them.

But what about when we see them at the church? What about at youth group? What about when we come to their school? When we make our plans for our ministry, are they plans that benefit us or are they plans that say "We're here to serve you in Christ?" Again, it might seem like a small difference, but I bet it can make all the difference.

Tomorrow we'll pick up 6:1-9

Godspeed,

J

Ephesians 5:3-20: Rise and Shine

Greetings again bloggers!

Ever read a scripture and just get absolutely kicked in the pants? I just did!

Entirely out of place is obscene, silly, and bulgar talk; but instead, let there be thanksgiving. Yeah, not going to lie, I'm bad at this one. I like to make crude jokes. I like to laugh with the boys. I like to fit in at the parties. I swear when I stub my toe. I sometimes swear over significantly less important things. I watch shows like Futurama and Family Guy. I am a horrible human being.

And if you want to talk about a hypocrite, I am first in line brotha! When the kids walk into the church on a Wednesday night, and they have a bit of gutter mouth going, I turn all kinds of Mrs. Brady on them! I will tell kids that they shouldn't use such words, as in the very same words I used that morning when that guy cut me off in traffic. They shouldn't talk about such inappropriate things, such as the ones that were on the TV show I'm so in love with the other night. I tell them not to do the very thing that I am most often guilty of!

Is it me, or is it that telling students (and myself for that matter) that "swearing is bad, don't do it" just isn't getting the job done? I can tell myself that from now until the end of time, and until it's replaced by something else, I don't think it will ever truly take hold. And I'm not talking about replacing the F-Bomb with the word "Freakin" or any other Christian swear words. I'm talking about replacing it with something wholesome and good.

Paul writes that instead of these vulgar words we should let there be thanksgiving. What if we worked on replacing our destructive language with thanks and praise? What if even in the most upsetting situations we were able to find the positives and build people up? What if instead of trying just to get through the day without saying a word we wouldn't want our mother's to hear, we let our lights shine, illuminating the world instead of hiding from it?

I know I have something to work on. Because the truth of the matter is you can tell the kids what the Bible says or why they shouldn't say those words for days and weeks and months and years, but if you haven't learned the lesson yourself, if you're not living it, they'll never change their ways.

Hows about 5:21-33 for tomorrow. Feminists and Fundamentalists beware!

Godspeed,

J

The War of Art: A Book Review!

(Note: I started working on both of these posts earlier in the day, but I was really disappointed with the writing. This is saying something, as most of my blog posts go up without any editing at all! Anyway, sorry for the delay. Enjoy!)

Hey gang!

Bible study forthcoming today. But in the meantime, I read a book! We should throw a small parade or something.

I actually found The War of Art from Donald Miller's blog. I have been thinking a lot about improving my skills as a writer, and when his list of books you should read crossed my eyes, I hopped on Amazon and got to the reading. I started with the War of Art, and I'm instantly hooked on it!

The basic idea of the book is that to be a creative artist, you have do dedicate yourself to the task at hand. Steven Pressfield takes the romance out of being an artist and reminds us that it takes some pretty serious work to give birth to our creations. The book is mostly geared towards those artists who are full time freelancers, but I think there are a few applications for the rest of us as well.

1. Resistance is brutal.
Pressfield actually personifies that demonic force that keeps us from getting our stuff done. It's in the room with me right now. It's standing between me and the pile of dirty dishes in the kitchen. It's winning. Some people call this "writer's block", but when Pressfield labeled it as Resistance, it opened the door to all kinds of different areas of our lives than just writing. Resistance talked me into quitting the gym. He's talked me out of finishing my next sermon. He's a crafty little devil he is!

2. Act Like A Pro
This was huge for me. When I first started writing songs and playing guitar, I saw it as a kind of hobby. It wasn't what I did, it was what I did when I didn't have anything else to do. And yet, when I'm not in a band, when I don't have a place to let my music out, I feel empty and hollow. It's taken me forever to come to terms with labeling myself a "musician" or an "artist," but that's exactly what I am. Pressfield would tell me that it's not only ok to call myself what I am, but to embrace it and run towards it as though I was a professional. An amateur only pecks away at their calling from time to time, as though it were some kind of hobby. A pro runs full speed after what they love, willing to toss it all overboard for the next gig or the next project.

Spiritually, the book goes everywhere and seems to embrace a multitude of faith ideas from Christianity to Muses and Greek Mythology. However, if you can work with that and some pretty colorful language from time to time, I think this book is a huge help to worship leaders in particular. I wouldn't chuck it out for youth pastors either though, because we face resistance on a near daily basis. You can pick it up from Amazon by following the link below!

Godspeed,

Jason

Ephesians 4:25-5:2: Angry

Greetings Earthlings!

I wrote this post while up at Splash Lagoon on our Middle School retreat, but we had a severe lack of internet access, so I'll save it and actually upload it when we get home.

Have you ever had a student do something to make you so angry that you couldn't breathe anymore? We once caught a couple of kids smoking pot in our parking lot during a kickoff event. I remember bringing them to my office, probably red in the face, and shaking uncontrollably. I don't know that I've ever been so angry.

There have been smaller offenses over the years. Those times that the boys won't go to sleep. Those times that the pranks get a little bit out of hand. Those times that no one has the obvious answer during a bible study. If we're honest, they make us a little bit angry. But what are we to do with that anger?

Paul writes that we should actually get angry, so long as we do so without diving into sin. I think the reason that we get so upset at our students sometimes is that we realize that they're capable of so much more than they're offering up. But in this passage, we learn a little bit about how to best manage our anger.

Don't let the sun go down on your anger- This one is basically universal to all avenues of our lives. Going to bed angry sucks. Plus, you'll probably not be able to sleep. Plus there's an awkward situation over coffee, and coffee should never be awkward!

Let no evil talk come out of your mouth- It's ok to be angry, but sometimes when we're angry we say things that should never be said. We aren't thinking, because our brain has likely been essentially short circuited. Sometimes it's just best to walk away, and save your thoughts for another time when you're more chilled.

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God- This is kind of a mysterious verse, and a lot of people have been trying to determine the precise meaning. Thinking through this particular situation, and how to deal with anger, I wonder if it means that we as messengers of God's word need to be a little more careful with how we use the Spirit's resources? I wonder if we shouldn't waste the Spirit's time when we could easily resolve our own conflicts.

So get angry, but don't be dumb about it!

Tomorrow, 5:3-20

Ephesians 4:17-24: The Old Life

(That could be one of the creepiest pictures on the internet right now...sheesh...)

Hello friends,

Sorry I fell behind again by a day. Failure is not an option, so we're just going to pick up and keep going like that never happened. Thanks for sticking with me.

In almost 4 complete chapters of Ephesians, this is the first time we come to a direct command from Paul. Everything we've been working through has been a reminder of the life we ALREADY HAVE in Christ Jesus. You don't have to work to be an heir of God, you already are. You don't have to earn God's love, you already have it. Your sins are already forgiven through the abundant and plentiful Grace of Jesus Christ.

So when we finally come to the first direct command from Paul, what do we find him encouraging us to do? He's telling us to leave our old lives behind.

Depending on what your old life looked like, this might not be the hardest thing in the world. It's not too hard to leave behind years of rejection, abandonment, lies, and torture. Which, when you think about it is exactly the kind of life we were surely living before we came to know Christ in our lives.

If you put all your hopes in the relationships in your life, from your friends to your romantic interests to your peers to your colleagues, I can almost guarantee that they let you down at least once. Probably more than that. The truth is, the love of almost every person in the world is conditional. They only love you if you love them back, or provide them with something they want. Sad, but usually true.

So often I see youth ministers or youth ministries that are entirely set up on convincing people that they need Christ as a type of fire insurance, a means by which to avoid the terrible consequences of hell. While that is part of what Christ provides for us, I think we stand a much better chance of showing them how much better their lives could be with Christ. Showing them exactly how much the life they're leading without him is letting them down. Almost everybody can get behind that, right?

For tomorrow, we'll work on 4:25-5:2

Godspeed,

Jason

Ephesians 4:1-16: Making every effort

Greetings bloggers!

We're back for another theme that was sounded a couple of days ago. If Paul sounds a similar theme twice in the same letter, it's fairly clear that it's something of importance to him and thus should be to us. So let's take another in depth look at the issue of unity.

There's a sentence right up front that sets the whole thing into perspective."...making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." I really think this sentence could be challenging to those of us who work in ministry.

Some of us talk about how much we reach out to the other churches in our area. Maybe we do a once a month get together with our youth groups. Maybe we get excited because we network together with different denominations for a monthly lunch. But let's face it, the majority of us don't get together once a month, and even if we do once a month doesn't exactly sound like making every effort.

My heart breaks when the Church divides itself further. It truly does. There was a commercial a couple of months ago that I think puts things into perspective a little further for us:

I like the line "There was a time when 8 different brands made sense. Not anymore." I think if we were honest with ourselves, the Church would say "There was a time when splitting into completely different denominations over differences in doctrine made sense. Not anymore." I think we've fallen into a trap of listening to our own perspective so much that we've completely dismissed anyone else's perspective, we're just too busy defending our walls of faith.

Paul also writes in this passage that "We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine..." Which I'm sure can be interpreted to mean that we should stand firm in our doctrine and not let other people convince us to be changed or moved. But what if we're being tossed to and fro by our OWN doctrines? What if we're so caught up in the traditions of our past leaders that we forgot to spend any time being rooted and grounded in the faith and teachings of Jesus Christ? Because in comparison to the surpassing love of known Christ as Lord, the Book of Order is pretty weak.

John Wesley (someone I'm growing to respect a great deal!) said faith could be broken up into four equal areas: Scripture, Experience, Logic, and Tradition. If you put too much focus on any one of these areas, you will have a lopsided faith. If we focus too much on defending our traditions rather than being a unified body of Christ, we will not be effective at sharing Christ's love in the world.

So today, my challenge to us would be to make EVERY effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit. Not just some, not just a monthly meeting, but EVERY effort. What do you really know about the people who disagree with you? Do you truly know their doctrine or are you basing your thoughts on a cartoon version of who they are? Have you sat down with someone to try to figure out where they're coming from? Today, make EVERY effort to maintain our unity.

Tomorrow we'll go short and read from 4:17-24

Godspeed,

Jason

Neue thinks I'm J-Lo

I was driving home from Pine Spring Camp today, catching up on some old Podcasts I'd kind of fallen behind on. If you find yourself in church ministry in any way shape or form, you need to be hooked up with Neue. It's a magazine/resource box brought to you by the fine folks at Relevant Magazine, and they have a really awesome heart for where the Church is headed. Anyway, I was listening to their podcast today, and I was really challenged.

They were interviewing Glenn Packiam, and they compared him to Jennifer Lopez. People say that she's a "triple threat" because she knows how to act and sing and dance, and does each fairly well. They noted that Glenn is a preacher, worship leader, and author all in the same package, and that made him a sort of "Christian J-Lo."

Wait...that's me too!

But the interview was interesting on a number of levels. How do you balance your ministry when it has so many aspects to it? It doesn't often flash across our minds at Westminster because we're all pitching in on different levels, but when you realize that Ed and I run both a weekly youth ministry gathering (plus all the outside events that go with it) and a weekly worship service (including both preaching and worship leading) and do a fair amount of writing both for things in our church (newsletters etc) and outside (again, more on this later!), you realize that our time gets pretty widely spread around.

How does a person balance this ministry? It's something I've been struggling with lately. At times it seems like I put a lot of energy into the youth ministry side of things at the expense of the worship leading. Sometimes it's the other way around, I'm so focused on the Bridge that I lose a little bit of my edge with Veritas. God's strength is awesome when I am less than awesome, and covers me and helps me to keep a careful balance. But all the same, it's something I'm working through this week.

To those of us who are "triple threats" (or double threats, or whatever...) how do you balance the different aspects of what you've got going on? What insights can you share with us?

Because the last thing anyone wants is me dancing in a skimpy outfit singing Jenny from the Block.

Godspeed,

Jason