Jack’s Buzz

Tax forms and ads January through February. Just ads March through December? Is the new state of our US Mailbag (USA Today article) making the snail-mailed letter more important than ever simply because its such an oddity?

After a ridiculously long absence, I decided to follow the voices telling me my writing is worth reading. I am fairly certain that most of the voices exist outside my head. Thanks to both of you, plus my mama-in-law telling me to write more stuff. I’m flattered by you asking me to put my particular spin on issues. From here out, I intend to help in the arena of life balance.

While I found many things pleasant and not so pleasant about which to spin a yarn over the last year, I just been too busy, y’all. Church life consumed my time until I realized that the leaders I was training needed to get out of the nest and do things on their own. Then church life got easy (lesson in there, yes?).

I tried selling life and health insurance to help a friend get a start in the Texas market. The English language does not adequately express how glad I am to be out of THAT business. Not bad, but not for me–it really helps for one to know his or her sweet spot (yet another lesson learned).

There was a point when I was begging God to help see a path to meaningful work that was not soul-crushing. God ALWAYS responds to our cries for help, and I am one of his biggest criers (no surprise there, right?). His graciousness came around heavy, plugging me into a fantastic role in a sterling company. My title is ‘chaplain’ at K&N Management. The company owns four Rudy’s BBQ restaurants and three Mighty Fine Burger restaurants in the Austin area and employs about 450 people. I’m like the life coach, and I love it. I help ten times more people and do nine times more service than I ever did as a professor or Pastor. I am neither kidding nor exaggerating. If you know me, you know that I track that stuff. Drop me a note if you want more about my job.

I’m trying now to anticipate your deeper, more spiritual questions as you read the previous few sentences. Yes, I learned how to prep, cook, and cut the worst BBQ in Texas (tagline that helps to cut down on gun- and fistfights over whose uncle makes the best Q in Texas). Ours really is exceptionally good cow, pig, chicken, and sausage, and easily surpasses offerings in any of the lesser states. Here’s a video with my boss and my friend Allison teaching people how to cook a brisket.

I also learned to make the shake that’s beats that $5 milkshake made famous by a straw shared between Uma Thurman and John Travolta in Pulp Fiction. Ours (the shake, not the straw) magnificently combines a gigabyte of calories for awesomeness at a buck cheaper. Get outta here you overpriced Californians! And, I created the Texas Heat burger that’s currently #5 most popular in the world. Make your own or find my recipe here.

So, now that you’re hungry, be our guest when you’re in Austin. Let me know which store you’re headed to and I’ll try to see you there. No, I will not buy your lunch, but I might tell you a funny restaurant story.

Lightshows don’t get much better than “Tetragram for Enlargement,” an architectural installation created by Apparati Effimeri last month for Italy’s Itinerario Festival, a weeklong arts extravaganza. The designers first mapped the facade of a castle, and then used that map to create light projections. From there, things get wild and wobbly, as the projection cycles through a series of tromp l’oeil effects that make the castle look, at times like its melting, blowing away in the wind, like a painted canvas, or another castle entirely.

 As usual, there is a surprise ending. See if you catch it. I’m disturbed. Am I really expected to believe that it’s a great idea for a cop to arrest a college kid for hitting him in the back with a snowball? A snowball?

2009 should be the year of things not to do. Everywhere I look, people are giving me stuff to do. Lose weight, go to bed early, eat more veg, watch less TV, file your paperwork, blah, blah, blah. Honestly, I’m sick of it. 

Still, if I do nothing, well, nothing gets done. I can’t do nothing. Then I feel worse than I did doing too many things–even if they were the wrong things. Maybe I need to do different things? Maybe Jesus has ideas. 

John 13

1. Stop taking yourself so seriously. Let go of your independence, and let him fill you to the point that you can wash someone’s stinky feet. This will be hard to do.

2. Wash your enemy’s feet too. This will be really hard to do. I’ll have to completely abandon myself; let Christ work through me literally. I cannot be nice to a jerk without… well, I cannot be nice to a jerk, period. Christ will have to do that for me.

3. Start loving people NOT as I want to be loved (I’m so subjective), but as Christ loved me. He raised the bar. I can’t do it. See #1-2.

4. If you’re a preacher, let people ask questions. Jesus did. Most of us who listen to you week in, week out, are really getting tired of you doing all the talking. See #1.

John 14

5. Remember that JESUS is the way, the truth, the life. Not our sermons, programs, teaching, seminaries, or clean bathrooms. Jesus. That’s it. See #1.

6. Pray in Jesus’ name not as a magic incantation, but as his representative. Know what he wants to do before asking ANYTHING in his name. Most of our prayers are terribly presumptuous. See #1 again.

7. Remember that the Holy Spirit talks to all the believers–we’re all priests of God. We seem to be losing that idea. Recapture it. See #1 (OK, all of these start and end with #1, don’t they?).

8. Stop being afraid. Stop being afraid of anything. 

John 15

9. Get into this abiding thing. This may just be a restatement of #1. Whatever. He is trying to live through you and me. All of us at the same time. Let him. The results will change the world and amaze the Executive Committee (who seem to be able to do…nothing). 

10.  Be happy. The world hates you; so what? Be a happy witness. See #1.

Ten is enough. Read the Bible and you might find some more, but they all come back to being happy and filled with Jesus Christ. 

Happy, happy 2009.

Frank Viola (not the pitcher) wrote a book attempting to trace the roots of Western Christian practices. No one noticed until George Barna co-authored a revised version. Bang! This book hits like body blows from a middle-weight contender. Oof! Another and another.

When I first told my parents I was reading this book they looked at me with mild curiosity. It reminded me of the time at 15 when I told them I’d wrecked the car. I explained Viola’s idea and their eyes widened. It was one of those moments when one tells his parents something for which they have absolutely no categories. They can neither confirm nor deny. They cannot react other than, “Uh, that’s interesting, son?” Kids live for those moments.

Reading Pagan, I found myself reacting as the parent. “Uh, what Frank? Where did you get that?” Fortunately, Frank (and George) have done some homework and given us a footnoted text. Their research is not PhD level (it does not include opposing views), but it’s not chopped liver either. I’d like the book better if Frank lowered his voice (odd how some books give you the feeling that the author is yelling angrily), and included thoughts from the other side of the aisle. 

I’m going to skim over the book. For the sake of space, you only get a few of the topics that ran up and sniffed me like a dog at junkyard. 

Thesis

Viola and Barna tell us that most church traditions cannot be found in the Bible, but have Pagan Greek or Roman origins, and are, therefore contributing to the death of Western Christianity. They are right about Western Christianity’s need for life, and they make a good case for their cause. Still, I am not completely convinced that the problems they site cause the cancers they find. Like House, we know this pathology has an origin, but we need some more work to make an accurate diagnosis.

My conclusion

Read the book. Buy it, read it, mark it up. Read it before Christmas if you can. You will be the hit of every party that you attend. Check the authors’ sources and write a review. Give the book to your friends (or enemies) for Christmas–lovely gift, yes? Ask your small group to go through it when things turn grey in late January and February. You will have lively, toasty discussions, I guarantee! 

A few nibbles 

The big deal, according to the authors, is that non-Christian philosophy currently rules the Christian church. As evidence, the authors repeatedly site the passivity that marks most church members’ lives. They strike at the roots of passivity, naming those roots abandonment of Scripture, hierarchical structure, and anonymity among others. 

Of course, anyone might shoot a hole or two in their argument by testifying that his or her church gatherings are not anonymous, man-centered, or extra-biblical, but the authors stand on their experience and research. George Barna is, after all, synonymous with first-rate Christian research. He and Frank Viola paint with broad strokes, but how could they do otherwise? In the end, the book reveals much in the Western churches that needs to change. 

As for Scripture, Viola and Barna point out many instances where Christian practices link to the Old Testament law, cultural convenience, or pagan practices. They are right to caution believers to look carefully at their church’s practices and decide for themselves if they align with the Lord’s will. In that sense, one must appreciate their slight humility that encourages the brothers and sisters to decide matters for themselves. Despite the allegations of a few of their critics, Viola and Barna make a point not to demand conformity. 

Still, the book is so forceful and direct in its language and conclusions that Viola and Barna cannot hep but sound a bit angry. Of course, if they’re right, we should all be angry! Their tone cannot help but suggest that their way is the right way, which is exactly the criticism they level at legacy churches. This has, no doubt, turned many readers off. It might be wise for the authors to adjust their tone even lower in a third edition, and I hope a third is in the works.

Clerical hierarchy

Viola and Barna direct their harshest voice at the clergy/laity distinction and clerical hierarchy. They believe that the Christian clergy base their supremacist acts on pagan philosophical grounds. Where Jesus and Paul specifically told Christians not to lord over one another, most Pastors do precisely that. The authors’ reasoning is sound. No less a theologian than Karl Barth wanted to banish the word “laity” from the Christian vocabulary. 

Passivity among disciples results from the hierarchical structure that stretches even to the architecture of Christian buildings. People sit back to front instead of facing one another as in one’s living room, so real interaction rarely occurs. Moreover, the Pastor usually acts as chief (only?) spokesman, and often seems to be de facto mediator between the Christian and God. To have one speaker (preacher) week in and week out is a pagan practice. In fact, the sermon, as we know it, is based more on Greek rhetoric than any biblical model. (My professor of preaching colleagues will enjoy dismembering that argument, or its messengers.)

New Testament churches allowed, encouraged, even commanded, all Christians to bring a psalm, hymn, or word from the Lord to the ecclesia (gathering). The Christian practice in the early church included far more activity and responsibility from individuals. By elevating preaching (or the Eucharist) above Jesus as the central point of Protestant, Baptist, or liturgical worship, the churches created believers that are void of personal responsibility with God’s word. (I told you Barna and Viola were rough.)

Tithing

The authors find the standard practice of tithing to be biblical but not Christian. They believe the tithe is more attached to a pragmatic need to pay for buildings and staff salaries than Christian practices of caring for the poor and widows, and giving out of a joyful heart. 

Costumes

Sunday morning costumes–suits, dresses, and clerical robes–also have their roots in paganism. The criticism is not so much that dark magic happens when one wears his or her “Sunday best,” but that it creates a sense of pridefulness where one Christian tries to outdo another. The authors give a wink to contemporary churches’ casual styles, but barely.

Education

Christian education does not escape their gaze. Nothing in the New Testament or early church history (before Constantine, 330 AD) can be found to advocate seminaries or Bible colleges. Moreover, the Sunday Schools that started out simply to get impoverished children off the streets have now become programs that teach in way more akin to Plato and the Enlightenment than Jesus or Paul. 

The New Testament teaches believers to educate one another as we walk through life: character is education’s goal. Character leads to good decisions and a life abiding in Christ. The Bible was taught as a whole–a holistic collection of narratives, history, experiences, poetry, visions, and reflections on how God works and how people tick. The fully formed, first century disciple seems better equipped than today’s version to know how to pray, how to be a witness, and to make a disciple. 

Contemporary Christian education seems to believe that knowledge is the goal that leads to right decisions. The Bible is taught in broken pieces rather than holistically. Proof-texting and eisegesis (reading meaning into the text) are common. Few disciples are fully formed. Many, perhaps the majority, of Western church members spend 40 or 50 years in “Bible studies,” but have no clue how to make spiritually mature decisions or other disciples. 

New Testament education focuses on steady, long-term growth toward Christlikeness. It aims to present people to Christ as fully formed disciples. Contemporary education interests itself in efficiency. It aims to fit as many people as possible in a room to teach them the some material. The former offers no prize but Christ and maybe some suffering along the way. The latter offers prizes for completing tasks (certificates and diplomas). The former builds character, the latter builds pride. Ouch!

The authors’ goal

In the end, Barna and Viola want Christians to restructure their churches. They see the churches’ waning influence and losing ground to a godless culture day by day. They believe the problem is not that God has grown silent or that he no longer works through his people. Christians have wandered off Christ’s path, steadily going astray for the last 1800 years. The church can find its way by returning to simple New Testament practices. 

It seems that Barna and Viola want us all to dress down, read our Bibles, and meet in house churches prepared to say something that indicates we’ve been with God that week. All the Pastors and church staff should find secular jobs, and we should sell all the buildings. The extra money should be used to send apostolic church planters out into the harvest fields, and to care for the poor, the sick, the widows, and prisoners. It’s an intriguing proposal, I admit.

Wow, but they are going to make a lot of enemies with that message, aren’t they? What do you think? Please do not make ad hominem arguments (look it up). Tell me why church practices are OK, or not OK. Back up your claims with your stories, or (better) Scripture. What are your experiences? What will you do the same or differently and why? 

I told you this book would make you think–unless, of course, you don’t want to think. Last week, I contacted Frank Viola. I wanted to make sure he wasn’t the guy who pitched for the Twins in the 80s. He’s not, but he is a man who deeply wants to follow Christ. In many ways, his work puts mine to shame. I hope he will weigh in on my review, but more than that, I hope we can all work to make our lives pleasing to Jesus. He is Lord of every church and we Western Christians might want to act like it.

I hear a lot of speeches in church gatherings, but not too many sermons. Many opinions, but not many words from God. I asked my spiritual warfare class if their worship gatherings tend to center on “a sermon or a good talk.” One of my brighter students asked what’s wrong with a good talk?

Good question. I see several problems. If people come to a church gathering expecting a word from God (sermon) and get a word from human (good talk), at least two bad things happen.

First, people forget how to tell the difference between humanist meandering and God’s word. We of flesh and bone become comfortable with humanistic entertainment in place of Christ-centered motivation. We see this everywhere in North America as we’ve become a people in love with consumption and ear tickling.

Second, people who anticipate hearing God’s word grow very tired of speakers who call themselves preachers but do not deliver. No likes broken promises. Who knows how many people skip church because when they went they heard no God-sized messages? How many Christians want to hear the day’s word on what to do but find themselves disappointed?

My wife and I travel to many churches and find ourselves numb over the number of preachers who cannot preach. We would probably be happier had we heard a few good talks, but most if it was plain oatmeal. Hardly the stuff to make churches want to stand against the schemes of the devil!

Perhaps it’s time that North American church gatherings repented of soft-sell entertainment and regurgitated motivational blather. If we want holy results to fight the unholy enemy, we might use the tools God gave us. We might gather with less focus on looking good and more prayer for lost souls, by name, out loud, in public. We might pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters in Africa, China, India, and the Middle East. We might jettison the 30-second arrow-to-heaven prayer and really pray together, on Sunday, when everybody’s there.

We might insist the music be less “special” and more worshipful. Less “sacred tradition” and more in a language we can understand.

We might forego the “fake shake” and let fellowship happen more naturally at another time. People do not make friends with a greeting and a greeting–despite its warm intentions–ALWAYS breaks any sense of worshipful momentum.

Most of all, we might insist that preachers preach a sermon. Stop rewarding them if they don’t, and start following them if they do. Stop tolerating people who criticize biblical preaching, put them out! Stop giving status to people who unfairly criticize, build factions, or distract other listeners.

I am NOT advocating long, harsh angry sermonizing. Lord, spare us from mean, long-winded pulpiteers. The best sermons I hear–the ones that offer hope and make me want to keep fighting–are under 30 minutes, to the point and based on a biblical text. They rarely rhyme and almost never alliterate. Good preachers rarely depend on Power Point. They have a remarkable way of demonstrating confident humility, love, and holy living. If a preacher cannot preach, perhaps we can love him toward another job. By all means, let us stop playing into the devil’s hand by putting up with boring or humanistic talking.

Preaching is not boring, nor is it harsh. It’s God talking to us through a person. We need it. We need church gatherings to advance the kingdom of Jesus in an increasingly dark world.

This just in from our friend Billy: The Law is THE BIGGEST DANGER TO CHRISTIANITY. What? Billy? I know Hurricane Fay went over your head and parked. I know you have an energized, 4-year-old daughter (or is she 5 now?). I know the boys (newborn twins) never let you sleep. I know you’re planting a church. But . . . the Law is the biggest danger to Christianity? It’s not the devil? Not the government schools? Not the democrats? Not higher taxes or lower morals? Not the Muslims? Not even Hollywood? Not nominalism, liberalism, Calvinism, humanism, or the gender inclusive Bible? IT’S THE LAW?

In fairness to Billy, he is a good thinker, and just might be onto something. Here’s his post.

Here’s my reply:

Billy’s post if very interesting. Ironic also–it was one of the topics of discussion in my Spiritual Warfare class this morning. Not that the Law is the biggest danger to Christianity (it’s not by the way), but that the Law that Jesus fulfilled is often something to which Christians return for security. It’s as though the devil says something (in a voice like Heath Ledger’s Joker voice) similar to: “Freedom? Oh, that’s so hard to deal with. You have to make so many decisions about everything. Why not just make a rule? Rules are so much easier to follow.” And we less than biblically literate Christians of a Western mindset follow along making checklists and rules to demonstrate our Christian commitment. We seem to emphasize the things Jesus said not to do, and find ourselves lacking in the thing he said to do, which is to love people (John 13:34-35).

Rather than love, we rule. Jesus’ church growth principle does not say that people will know who we serve by how we rule, but that the world will measure us by how we love. Billy rightly points out that people look at him funny when he tells them to love others. Of course they do, we have not shown them how. Ask them how to dictate to people, and they’ll get with it–we all know how to be wonderful little dictators. On the other hand, ask anyone if he or she knows when he or she is being loved or not loved. Pack a Snickers bar when you ask someone for a story about a time when she she was not loved, you’re not going anywhere for awhile.

If people know objectively when they’re not being loved, then they know objectively when they are being loved. Tell them to do the loving stuff to others–they’ll get it. Jesus told us how to be loving as well. Matthew 7:12: treat people like you want to be treated. Nevertheless, Jesus told us to love, not to rule. Simple. If you lied, own up to it and stop lying. Don’t mess around with other women. Don’t curse people. Talk nice. Think about what the other guy needs, just what you need. If the Bible corrects your behavior, accept it and thank the person who brought you that correction–they’re trying to make you wise. Don’t leave everything for someone else to do–pitch in and help. If you made a mess with someone, go to him and clean it up. Grow up for goodness sakes. Respect people; that’s what it means to love others and that’s fairly easy to measure but not as easy as a set of rules. Jesus did not seem to care that one is harder than the other, did he?

We were not told to abandon the law, that’s why I say it is not the big danger. We were simply told that the law no longer binds us. We were told to love, so the big danger is acting unloving or selfish. The biggest danger to Christianity is the pervasive human desire for selfishness. We might call that sin, but not in the sense that the world is loaded with sin and in open rebellion to Christ, which it is. I mean sin in the sense that Christ’s followers are open to sin and do not seem to care much about getting past it.

In the USA, we have traded a selfless love of Christ and desire to advance his kingdom for a sappy, unsatisfying, Wal-Martized, consumer-driven, self-centered religiosity and called it church, which it ain’t. It is sin.

The next great spiritual awakening will start after we tell unloving Pastors, Deacons, and Institutional leaders to take a hike. No, that does not mean that we act unloving to people who act unloving. It means we help them get over their unloving attitudes and actions because loving others is so critical to the advancement of Christianity. Right now, the tendency (in the American church) is to say something like, “The leaders are mean-spirited. I’m leaving.” That is an unloving act. A loving act says, “The leaders are mean-spirited. I’m going to pray for them. I’m going to study the Bible to be sure I am on the right track. I’m going to try to see things from their point of view. I’m going to get wise counsel. Then I will offer Scriptural correction. If they fire me, then I will join those who suffer for righteousness and not those who suffer for foolishness. If they do not take my correction, then I will ask God to find me a new place to serve.” Telling someone to take a hike involves a lot more steps that you imagined, doesn’t it? Maybe that’s why we don’t do it–it’s tiresome, painful, and it takes a lot of time. Love takes time.

Oh, by the way, it starts with me. I have to love people first.

So, in a way, Billy is right that the Law is a big problem. I just think that rather than telling people “get past the Law” we will have better results by telling them, “All you need is love.” Shoot, they’ll sing that one.