Sunday Thoughts
by Al Sturgeon
(published every Sunday in Desperate Houseflies)
TO PARTY, OR NOT TO PARTY: THAT IS THE QUESTION
There are a handful of preachers I’d actually pay money to hear speak, and Randy Harris is one of them. Recently, I got “three” for “free” at the Tulsa Workshop so don’t tell him! It may sound strange, but I find his irreverent tone endearing. He said off-the-wall things like, “I normally don’t read my Bible in public places because it always seems to attract the type of people I don’t want to talk to.” You may not find that endearing, but I do.
He also said, “I’m convinced that many churches are held together solely by lack of communication.” That’s true, isn’t it? We have set up “church” to imbibe what flows from the pulpit and rarely enter into that messy world of real communication. If you think we can have some good fights now, just wait until we really know what each other thinks!
Specifically, I’m interested in how we look at those who are different than us.
Churches are generally homogeneous (look it up if the word scares you). We like to hang around people like us, and a look at most places of worship confirms the truth. Harris called the diversity “embarrassing,” and described it this way: “Churches are frighteningly wholesome-looking.” Not so much diversity, but more like “variations on a theme,” he said. And he’s right.
Just so you know, he didn’t make these statements from a self-constructed soapbox. Instead, they flowed from his examination of a famous story Jesus told we call the Parable of the Prodigal Son. This is one of three rapid-fire stories Jesus shot at the Pharisees in Luke 15 when they criticized his keeping company with those different from them. Jesus told of a shepherd who found his sheep, of a woman who found her cash, and of a father who celebrates his returning son. But of all the reference to God’s joy over playing lost and found, the focus of the parable is really on one surprising (and disturbing) character we call “the older brother.” You could go ahead and call him the Pharisees if you want, but more pointedly he’s you and he’s me.
Harris claimed that the way we respond to this parable would in large part determine the future of the church. To flesh out THE question, it is this: Will we party with prodigals, or will we throw fits at the grace of God? Truth be told, the odds makers have “throwing a fit” as the early favorite.
Let’s throw some names out just for fun! How would the military families among us react to Jane Fonda coming to church? How about the Republican reaction to Bill Clinton sitting down to worship? Now we’re talking… Let’s plug in those who’ve committed your favorite crime (to despise, that is), or those who’ve partaken in your favorite sin (to hate). Which do you think would get thrown first, a party or a fit?
I’m just saying that all of us can relate to the older brother. The parable not only speaks to us, but we’re found in its crosshairs! How will we respond to those God loves, but we don’t? That’s the crucible in which our discipleship will be tested. I wonder how it will turn out…
(published every Sunday in Desperate Houseflies)
TO PARTY, OR NOT TO PARTY: THAT IS THE QUESTION
There are a handful of preachers I’d actually pay money to hear speak, and Randy Harris is one of them. Recently, I got “three” for “free” at the Tulsa Workshop so don’t tell him! It may sound strange, but I find his irreverent tone endearing. He said off-the-wall things like, “I normally don’t read my Bible in public places because it always seems to attract the type of people I don’t want to talk to.” You may not find that endearing, but I do.
He also said, “I’m convinced that many churches are held together solely by lack of communication.” That’s true, isn’t it? We have set up “church” to imbibe what flows from the pulpit and rarely enter into that messy world of real communication. If you think we can have some good fights now, just wait until we really know what each other thinks!
Specifically, I’m interested in how we look at those who are different than us.
Churches are generally homogeneous (look it up if the word scares you). We like to hang around people like us, and a look at most places of worship confirms the truth. Harris called the diversity “embarrassing,” and described it this way: “Churches are frighteningly wholesome-looking.” Not so much diversity, but more like “variations on a theme,” he said. And he’s right.
Just so you know, he didn’t make these statements from a self-constructed soapbox. Instead, they flowed from his examination of a famous story Jesus told we call the Parable of the Prodigal Son. This is one of three rapid-fire stories Jesus shot at the Pharisees in Luke 15 when they criticized his keeping company with those different from them. Jesus told of a shepherd who found his sheep, of a woman who found her cash, and of a father who celebrates his returning son. But of all the reference to God’s joy over playing lost and found, the focus of the parable is really on one surprising (and disturbing) character we call “the older brother.” You could go ahead and call him the Pharisees if you want, but more pointedly he’s you and he’s me.
Harris claimed that the way we respond to this parable would in large part determine the future of the church. To flesh out THE question, it is this: Will we party with prodigals, or will we throw fits at the grace of God? Truth be told, the odds makers have “throwing a fit” as the early favorite.
Let’s throw some names out just for fun! How would the military families among us react to Jane Fonda coming to church? How about the Republican reaction to Bill Clinton sitting down to worship? Now we’re talking… Let’s plug in those who’ve committed your favorite crime (to despise, that is), or those who’ve partaken in your favorite sin (to hate). Which do you think would get thrown first, a party or a fit?
I’m just saying that all of us can relate to the older brother. The parable not only speaks to us, but we’re found in its crosshairs! How will we respond to those God loves, but we don’t? That’s the crucible in which our discipleship will be tested. I wonder how it will turn out…
posted by Al Sturgeon | 12:38 PM
8 Comments:
Hey Al,
I caught RH's (somewhat similar) thoughts on the Prodigal Son earlier this year. He's one of my favorites, too, and for exactly the same reasons you cited.
We're (some better than others) enduring a soap opera at church right now in which the prodigal have been shown the exit door by the all-too-rightous big brothers.
Fun stuff.
-- WH
its funny how we are seeing this more and more. a deeper awarness of how far we really are from being the body of Christ. blame it on the emerging culture/postmodern culture, we seem to be more and more acknowledge how far off the mark we are. thanks for sharing this Al. :)
-Julie (Medlock) Kennedy
nice thoughts. there are a few steps in the directions and right questions that we need to face, but our attention is still too inward looking.
as long as our focus is what happens on the inside of church walls, what we do in there, who we allow, etc., we are sure to fail. the trouble we have had in churches of Christ and just about every denomination has been its inward looking. if you look closely at scripture, even if you look at the big picture, you will find it is always outward God's people are to be facing. Isaiah and Micah both had prophecies that dealt with God's people doing everything that they were supposed to be doing in their worship celebrations and feasts, in the time that they were gathered together, but what they did was rejected by the very One they were trying to please because their attention while on this earth was far from what it needed to be on.
Jesus' ministry was not focused on the assemblies of believers, it was spent serving those who weren't. it was out in the streets with those undesirables. He didn't go and invite them to the gatherings, He took care of them where they were. what we are supposed to be doing in our assemblies is supposed to be 1)reminding ourselves about this God that gives us life and purpose through worshipping Him and being edified by the Word and 2)being equipped for good works by the pastor-teachers of the Body of Christ.
We can't afford to be spending so much time dealing with so many internal difficulties. It eats us alive. It takes us away from the only things that are important, seeking and saving the lost, helping those who cannot help themselves, following in the footsteps of the Servant God. We carry His name, we should carry His work. He would look at us and what we do inside those church walls while we are discussing how things ought to be and trying to correct the older brothers and say, "Why are you wasting your time with these foolish discussions and arguements? Go out and work. There is much to do and time is short." We are not forced to discus this with other Christians. We choose what battles we fight. We choose where we spend our time and energies. Our time here is too short to spend in silly sibling disagreements. If they want to fight, walk away. Nothing says that we need to stay under the same roof with them. Nothing says we have to continue living with them. If your church is too busy with foolish discussions, start your own. Find others with similar vision and plant a church. Don't waste your time or energies in environments that go against the great mission. The work is far too important and the lost souls far too precious. If you need further encouragement to get out of those environments, do you really want your children in the Lord to grow up in those conditions and with those bad examples?
Thanks, Raymond - I can tell you would have been encouraged by several of the messages I heard when I heard Randy speak, too. He went on to talk about serving as a mediator for churches going through "worship wars," and his comment ended up being that he hopes someday we'll have more important things to argue about...
Also, Leonard Sweet spoke at this same conference, and he talked about his definition of a G.O.O.D. church as a "Get Out Of Doors" church. He said we have practiced "attractional" Christianity for far too long; Jesus told us to "go to the world," not tell the world to "come to church." That sounds like the tenor of our thoughts.
Believe me, I've had many urges to give up on "church" and go my own route, but your own references to 8th Century prophets keeps me from running just yet. As you pointed out, Old Israel was far off base, but God send prophets to preach to them instead of dismissing them. Now reading the prophecies specifically, God seems a little schizo about it - ready to chunk them, but returning to them with love. Paul mimics this type of stuff in the NT.
So I stay and urge and recognize my own shortcomings along with everyone else's... Not saying I've got it right by staying - just explaining a bit of my reasoning...
Thanks for your important thoughts...
i am not an advocate of giving up on church. i am, though, an advocate of church planting. that is what i was and do still suggest. it is not giving up. it is multiplying. most actual growth within the Kingdom does come from church plants. established churches may see growth, but an overwhelming amount of the growth comes from transplants. The longer we spend in established churches, the greater the chances of the group becoming lazy in their efforts to evangelize. Most of the energies within the congregation go towards making the place comfortable for those already there. We try to make a castle filled with people who intend to do good for those outside of the castle walls but will, at best, throw only crumbs to the hungry because you have to get those programs running that will help people feel good anout themselves and maybe make them a little better citizens and of course we have to pay for all of that and for the people to run them and for the building and family life center and a paved parking lot. I can't imagine the 1st century church dealing with these issues and that may be the reason they had such incredible growth. plant churches, house churches if you feel comfortable and feel like really becoming like the 1st century church. whatever it takes to get our bodies out of the castle walls, lets do it.
Church planting is a great, great thing. I'm all for it.
And I'm for church gardening, too, for all those old plants.
I'm with you on the bottom line: Tear down any museum we've built around the plants to let in the sunshine (I'm resisting that urge to write Son-shine - good point, but reeks of hokey-ness!).
i guess it may be better put to tear down the walls to let the sunshine out.
gardening and cultivating is good, but we have to always make sure the vines are producing fruit. i live on a 40 acre farm in the hills of north carolina and we have wild muscadine grape vines that are growing like crazy and are climbing up 50 and 60 foot oak, pine, and poplar trees. they are not producing any fruit. they cannot because all of its energy is used up in the vine itself. they will not produce until the vines are cut back and properly cared for and cultivated, and also trained to produce fruit. Grape vines are supposed to produce fruit that also has seeds that need to be planted so that more vines can come about that will produce fruit that will bear seeds, etc., etc. Our teachers and leaders in congregations have been making making sure that the vines grow, but have not done incredibly well at helping the vines produce fruit. Our vne grows but it does not produce the fruit it was designed to produce because it has not been properly taken care of. no time like now to do it.
wow, I enjoyed the last several thoughts from Al and Raymond!
although I think the start of change or revival starts with an inward look. and from that comes the outward walk. I also think we need to tear down all that we have made church. heck, although we all know from the AVB song "We are the ccccccchhhhhhhuuuuurrrrrccchhh" I don't think we have ever really learned that lesson. we have made church an institution to protect, instead of a community of people living as followers of Christ. I wonder if we stopped looking at the church from the lens of being an institution, but as an active, liquid, moving "cell"? I think we would see such a change not only in our lives but others around us. ministry would no longer be defined as something that happened in the four walls, it would be something done outside of it. it would be the lifestyle.
ok, I'm getting on a soap box. ;)
Blessings!
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