Fathers

June 19th, 2010

When I think of Fathers’ Day I find myself thinking of my father rather than of myself as a father, or my sons-in-law as fathers. Yet all three generations are important. Each of us has had different models as fathers. I never knew my grandfathers. Both had died before I was born. My father was not forthcoming about his father. My parent’s generation was not interested in talking about their forebears. In recent years I have researched my family history so that I could fill in the gaps of my knowledge about my ancestors. In particular I have wondered how my grandparents and great-grandparents impacted the lives of my parents, and subsequently myself and my sister. Learning more about them has helped me to understand and accept them in new ways.

Fathers are not perfect. I am not perfect. And yet, as children, we expect our parents to live up to our expectations. We compare them with the parents of our friends, with parents portrayed in books and movies. We all make mistakes. We bear the sins of the fathers. The older I get the more I realize how like my father and mother I am.

My parents never had the opportunities that I have had in my lifetime. Yet they were very successful in their careers as business leaders in our home town. Both were highly regarded by their peers. They retired early when they sold the family business, and enjoyed their retirement. My father contracted Parkinson’s Disease, and had to give up his beloved golf. He had been quite the athlete in his youth, as a celebrated rugby player. Photographs of him with his team-mates hung on all the walls. It was difficult for him to find that his movements were circumscribed by his disability. He died of a heart attack in his seventies.

As I near the age when I remember him in his decline I wonder how I will cope with my own aging, and possible disability. It is a sobering thought when you think that you are immune to life’s challenges.

Jesus was only thirty three when he died. He suffered excruciating pain during his Passion. He suffered for me, so that I might enjoy the hope of everlasting life. He and the Father were one. They were closer than any earthly parent could be to their offspring. Jesus delighted in doing his Father’s will.

Father’s Day reminds us to love one another for we are all members of the family of Christ if we trust in and follow him, and are born again of the Spirit. We love our children, and we love our parents, for what they mean to us, and for what they have done for us. Let us use this occasion to express our love for one another, as God expressed his love for us in Jesus.

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The Big Short

June 17th, 2010

Michael Lewis, author of The Blind Side (made into an Academy Award movie), and Liar’s Poker, has written another spellbinding book, The Big Short, Inside the Doomsday Machine.

He tells the story of the meltdown of the subprime mortgage market from the 1990’s through the eyes of several traders who saw it coming. They gambled on it collapsing before anyone else, and shorted the market with credit default swaps. As a result they made millions while the major investment banks went bankrupt.

He describes a Wall Street culture of arrogance, greed, condescension and ignorance. Financial products were invented to maximize profits and bonuses. Private companies were turned into public corporations where the shareholders’ money was leveraged way beyond what was reasonable. Each financial entity was in the other’s pocket. The incestuous way in which AIG and Goldman Sachs and others laid bets on one another and tried to minimize risks through hiding the truth about their asset values is mind-boggling.

Of course nothing changes. Each crisis produces winners and losers. In this case even the losers are protected by TARP money from the government, which means that taxpayers’ money is used to reward them for bad behavior. Multi-million dollar bonuses and salaries are still paid to executives who do not take responsibility for their errors. AIG is given billions by the Treasury, so that it can pay insurance to Goldman Sachs, so that it can continue to rip off the taxpayer.

Mortgages and lines of credit were advanced to people with teaser payments that two years later were adjusted upward, so that the borrower could not pay them, and had to refinance to interest only loans. While housing prices continue to go up this Ponzi scheme could continue. When defaults on these loans began to happen on a large scale, the whole house of cards collapsed. I can remember a commentator on CNBC claiming that the subprime market was such a small percentage of mortgages that it would not be contagious. He obviously had not done his homework.

The CEO’s of the big companies and banks did not know all that was going on with their big producers. They were content with reaping the profits. Their ignorance and inability to understand and explain what happened revealed a culture of deceit and cover-up that is endemic to the industry. No wonder Wall Street has gotten such a bad name.

Will the players clean up their act? I doubt it. No matter how stringent the regulations, the smart guys will find ways around them. I would like the SEC, the Federal Reserve and the Treasury to include in the financial regulation bill that Congress is trying to pass that all traders, all bank officials, and all employees in their branches of government, read through the book of Proverbs every month – there are thirty-one chapters, one for every day. “How much better to get wisdom than gold, to choose understand rather than silver.” (16:16) They would also profit from reading the book of Ecclesiastes.

One bright nugget was the story of Dr. Michael Burry, who in the midst of discovering the sham of subprime financing, and betting that it would fail, found out through his son’s diagnosis, that he himself suffered from Asperger’s Disorder. Here he was, a medical doctor, a neurologist, who figured out the financial system, and who had poor social skills, and yet he made millions for himself and others. His story should be made known to all those who suffer from autistic disorders to encourage them that they can win big.

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Grace

June 10th, 2010

I was privileged to be able to worship at Peachtree Presbyterian Church in Atlanta last Sunday. Dr. Mark Crumpler was preaching. He took 2 Samuel 7 and reminded us that David, who had achieved so much success, wanted to build a Temple for the Ark of the Covenant. In a dream, God revealed to Nathan the prophet that he did not need a Temple. Instead, he reminded David that he had provided the king with all that he needed. “I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have destroyed all your enemies…and I will keep you safe from all your enemies.”

In other words God told David, “Thanks, but no thanks. I have taken care of you. You don’t have to take care of me.”

The lesson that Dr. Crumpler applied to our hearts was that we have a tendency to want to do things for God, in order to satisfy our own needs to justify our existence. But in the process we can forget that it is God who initiates all things, and we must be careful that we don’t try to prove our devotion by wanting to do things for God. Instead, we need to accept and be grateful for all that God has done for us, and enjoy the blessings that he has bestowed upon us.

In a culture that rewards success and continually seeks to improve results year by year, we are driven to do better, to do more, to increase the bottom line, even in our Christian lives. Yet Jesus tells us that he has come, as the Good Shepherd to lay down his life for us, something that we cannot do for ourselves. Grace is often overshadowed by our own efforts. We feel guilty if we are not producing more. We lose our sense of peace and security because we feel that we have to demonstrate the depth of our commitment by doing more for God.

Grace goes against our grain. We want others to think well of us so we work harder at being productive. Instead we should want others to think well of God for all that he has done for us in Christ. Gratitude should be our attitude. God may not be telling us to do anything for him except to be thankful, and to live appreciative lives. Instead of expecting more of ourselves and others, we need to be thankful for what God has done in us and for us in Christ.

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Adam Gopnik

May 29th, 2010

Adam Gopnik, in The New Yorker (May 24, 2010), critically surveys recent books about the life of Jesus as portrayed in the New Testament. The search for the true historical Jesus is a secular attempt to strip away supernatural claims of the writers such as for the divinity of Jesus – “to edit out all the weird stuff.”

He writes, “Ever since serious scholarly study of the Gospels began, in the nineteenth century [the arrogance of believing that before that time there was no serious scholarly study is evidence of ignorance, and the presumption of superiority that is frankly mind-boggling in a publication that has intellectual pretensions], its moods have ranged from the frankly skeptical – including a ‘mythicist’ position that the story is entirely made up – to the credulous, with some archeologists still holding that it is all pretty reliable, and tombs and traces can be found if you study the texts hard enough. The current scholarly tone is, judging from the new books, realist but pessimistic. While accepting a historical Jesus, the scholarship also tends to suggest that the search for him is a little like the search for the historical Sherlock Holmes.”

It would seem that Gopnik has not read widely. Scholarly books by Ben Witherington and N.T. Wright are realist but optimistic. The conclusions of authors tend to follow from their presuppositions. He quotes Bart Ehrman, the poster boy of modern skepticism, that the Gospels “were written as testaments of faith, not chronicles of biography, shaped to fit a prophecy rather than report a profile.” So what? Did he expect that they were written by a secular reporter without interpretations and conclusions. The Gospel were designed to help people to believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God. Does this mean that they are fabrications? No, of course not. Jesus, as seen through the eyes of faith, is different from Jesus as seen through the eyes of Pilate.

He claims that Luke invented the Nativity stories, and that “it seems a simple historical truth” that all the Gospels were written after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Yet John A. T. Robinson, in Redating the New Testament (1976), makes the case that the absence of the mention in the New Testament of the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple argues for an earlier date for writing the New Testament.

The assertion by Jesus that the kingdom of God would be coming soon, that the end was very, very near is cited as an example of doublespeak. “It wasn’t, and the whole of what follows is built on an apology for what went wrong. The seemingly modern waiver, ‘Well I know he said that, but he didn’t really mean it quite the way it sounded’ is built right into the foundation of the cult. The sublime symbolic turn – or the retreat to metaphor, if you prefer – begins with the first words of the faith. If the Kingdom of God proved elusive, he must have meant that the Kingdom of God was inside, or outside, or above, or yet to come, anything other than what the words seem to plainly to have meant. The argument is the reality, and the absence of certainty the certainty.”

Gopnik wants to have his cake and eat it. He wants historical certainty and yet defines what that certainty consists of. It must be factually and literally true and not be subject to interpretation or allusion. He is like the contemporary skeptics of Jesus who interpreted his prophecy about his death and resurrection as referring to the Temple because they did not know what he meant. Gopnik does not know what Jesus means when he speaks of the future coming of the Kingdom so presumes that it didn’t come.

Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) anticipated all this skepticism when he wrote in his Philosophical Fragments that historical scholarship may investigate the historical life of Jesus but it cannot pass judgment on whether or not he is divine. It is beyond the scope of historical enquiry to deal with categories of faith. Even a contemporary of Jesus could not see who he was without being given the grace of faith. Recalling the words of Isaiah, Jesus reminded the disciples that there would be those ‘who indeed listen, but never understand’ and there would be those who ‘will indeed look and not perceive’ (Matthew 13:14). Sin affects the ability to perceive the things of the spirit.

“The apprehension of revelation remains a matter of faith and is, as such, fundamentally incommensurable with the detached and impersonal character of objective historical research. The necessity of personal engagement with God and the decision either to accept or take offence at his presence in Jesus Christ lies at the heart of Kierkegaard’s quest for a genuine Christianity. Such engagement and choice is precisely what the objective historical enquiry into the person of Jesus manages to avoid, for it places an onus in respect of his identity, not on the individual, but on the competency of historical scholarship, and marks a retreat from the existential demand of the question Jesus himself asks, ‘Who do you say I am?’ (Matthew 16:15) Avoidance of such questions will not preclude whole generations from admiring Christ, from being impressed by his commitment to his cause, by the wisdom of his teaching, or by his compassionate dealings with others but, according to Kierkegaard, it will not produce Christians. The difficulty with historical scholarship is that, although it may encourage admiration of Jesus, it will, by its very nature, leave unanswered the invitation to take up one’s cross and follow him (Luke 14:27).” (Murray Rae, Kierkegaard’s Vision of the Incarnation, 87)

Mr Gopnik has yet to realize that the New Testament is a love letter from God that can only be appreciated by the one who is loved when his heart is open to such an advance. When your heart is touched by God’s love in Christ the questions fall away, the mystery is revealed, and your only desire is to believe and follow.

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Jim Shaw

May 22nd, 2010

One of our Chapel’s leaders died yesterday on his way to see his children and grandchildren in Indiana. His wife, Sandy, was driving, and they were listening to an audiobook when Jim suddenly stopped breathing. He had been diagnosed nearly a year ago with ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease, and had been declining rapidly in the last few months.

Jim was President of our Governing Board last year, and had served on our Board for three years, leading us to a more committed personal stewardship approach using Consecration Sunday, which resulted in us all dedicating ourselves in new ways. He also helped raise gifts to pay off our building loan.

He served as a leader in our Community Bible Study, qualifying as Area Director. He served on the Florida Arts Council, and was a keen patron of the arts: the Amelia Island Arts Academy and the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, as well as being a supporter of the Jacksonville Symphony.

After a highly successful career in business he and Sandy came to Florida. In his retirement he played the piano, and took up watercolor painting. One wall of his living room is covered with his beautiful paintings.

He was a wise counselor to me, was invariably sunny in disposition, grateful for his many blessings, and avoided complaining, or being critical of others.

Last Sunday he was in worship. After he had received Holy Communion, Sandy and I administered the laying on of hands and anointing with oil for healing. I said to him: “As you are outwardly anointed with this holy oil, so may our heavenly Father grant you the inward anointing of the Holy Spirit. Of his great mercy, may he forgive you your sins, release you from suffering, and restore you to wholeness and strength. May he deliver you from evil, preserve you in all goodness, and bring you to everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

That prayer has been answered, more quickly than we anticipated. His sins are forgiven in Jesus. He has been released from suffering, and restored to wholeness and strength in glory. He has been delivered from evil by the victory of the Cross. He has been preserved in all goodness, and brought to everlasting life.

This past year I preached a series of sermons on Romans 8. It is full of teaching on the purpose of God. It concludes with these magnificent words: “we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Jim was convinced of these gospel truths. He knows now more about their reality than any of us who remain behind on earth. May the memory of his life and example always be with us to inspire us. His Memorial Service will be on Tuesday, June 15, at the Chapel.

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Passion

May 15th, 2010

My recent reading of Dave Kraft’s book, Leaders Who Last, and meeting with the Chapel Long Range Planning Committee, has stimulated me to review my own vision for the ministry at the Chapel. The life purpose of my own ministry has always been to reach people for Christ. When I was a high school student I belonged to a national Christian group called Crusaders. We met every week for Bible study, and attended summer camps. The camp I attended and eventually helped to lead during my college days, was at Titirangi Bay in the beautiful Marlborough Sounds, at the northern end of the South Island of New Zealand. It was based on a sheep farm sloping down to a private beach in the bay which opened out to Cook Strait. It was an idyllic setting. The motto for the Crusader movement, “Witnesses to me”, was taken from Acts 1:8 when Jesus said to his disciples before leaving them: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses.”

I also belonged to the League of Youth, a branch of the Church Missionary Society, whose motto was taken from Isaiah 6:8, “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’”

Another Scripture verse that has meant a great deal to me is from 1 Corinthians 9:16, “Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!”

My passion over the more than forty years I have been in active ministry has been to communicate the gospel in every way to everyone. Communication is through speaking, writing, doing and being. It is inspired through prayer, and delivered through preaching, teaching, leading, caring and works of mercy.

As I look forward to the next few years of ministry I have adopted Paul’s comments to the Ephesian leaders in Acts 20:24 as my guide: “if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me – the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.”

I want to reach new people in the community by meeting their needs. I want to encourage and empower our chapel family in their witness and service. I want to leave a legacy of a strong, growing and vital congregation.

To that end I will be working with the Long Range Planning Committee and the Governing Board to identify goals, priorities and strategies to carry out our mission and fulfill our vision.

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The Ascension

May 8th, 2010

Forty days after his resurrection Jesus ascended into heaven. This year Ascension Day falls on May 13. Ascension Day gets overlooked on the Christian calendar because it always falls on a Thursday. Yet, it is one of the most significant events in the life of Christ. I can remember giving an Ascension Day morning devotional at a meeting of pastors of large churches at a Leadership Network Conference at Glen Eyrie in Colorado Springs, and having many of them remark that they had never heard a devotional on that subject before.

One of the most memorable Ascension Day experiences in my life was at the funeral of a member of my congregation in San Antonio in May 1996. Betty Maddux was a generous philanthropist. She bailed the Symphony out on many occasions. At her funeral the entire S.A. symphony came and played. As I was waiting at the curb to lead the casket into the church the soloist was singing One Fine Day, from Madame Butterfly, accompanied by the symphony. As the magnificent music rolled out from the church I glanced up at the Umlauf bronze bas relief over the front door. It was of the Ascended Christ, it was Ascension Day, and it had been given by Betty. I was overwhelmed by its significance as I processed into the sanctuary. The final words of that aria are: “Banish your idle fears for he will return.”

St. Luke told the story of the Ascension of Jesus twice. At the end of his gospel he wrote: “When Jesus had led the disciples out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven.” (Luke 24:50,51) At the beginning of Acts, Jesus said: “‘You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.” (Acts 1:8,9)

We affirm in the Apostles’ and Nicene Creed that “he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty.” Jesus himself alluded to his ascension when he answered the disciples when they were complaining that his teaching was hard to accept, “Does this offend you? What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing.” (John 6:60-63)

What about this? The ascension can’t be a sort of vertical take-off into outer space; or a disappearance in which Jesus changed his physical presence for a spiritual one so that he could be everywhere at the same time. What does it mean that he was taken up into heaven, and what does that mean for us today?

Where is heaven? We talk about 3-D technology, but what about 4-D: length, breadth, depth and height? Being three-dimensional, we are only able to see the world with our eyes in two dimensions. A four-dimensional being would be able to see the world in three dimensions. For example, it would be able to see all six sides of an opaque box simultaneously, and in fact, what is inside the box at the same time, just as we can see the interior of a square on a piece of paper. It would be able to see all points in 3-dimensional space simultaneously, including the inner structure of solid objects and things obscured from our three-dimensional viewpoint. Just as we can see more with X-Rays, MRI’s, CAT-scans, night-vision goggles and heat-sensors, so the Ascension enables us to catch a glimpse of heaven beyond earth. St. John wrote about how, in a vision, “I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven.” (Revelation 4:1) He saw the throne room of heaven.

We are spiritually empowered by faith to “grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge.” (Ephesians 3:18,19) We are talking about a reality that surpasses human knowledge.

“Basically, heaven and earth in biblical cosmology are not two different locations within the same continuum of space or matter. They are two different dimensions of God’s good creation. And the point about heaven is twofold. First, heaven relates to earth tangentially so that the one who is in heaven can be present simultaneously anywhere and everywhere on earth: the ascension therefore means that Jesus is available, accessible, without people having to travel to a particular spot on earth to find him. Second, heaven is, as it were, the control room for earth; it is the CEO’s office, the place from which instructions are given. ‘All authority is given to me,’ said Jesus…, ‘in heaven and on earth.’” (N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope, 111)

St. Paul wrote about how God raised Christ from the dead “and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” (Ephesians 1:20-23, NIV)

“God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies and governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything.” (Ephesians 1:20,21 The Message)

This enthronement of Christ at the Ascension describes one aspect of the nature of the Holy Trinity. We can say reverently and cautiously that it is like the Father is the Chairman of the Board that runs creation, the Son is the CEO, and the Holy Spirit is the COO. Jesus remains truly human, and takes our humanity into heaven, and is present through the Holy Spirit and the ministry of the church – through the preaching of His Word and the administration of the sacraments. These are the means through which Jesus is present. If this is true, then there is already a human being at the helm of the world, and he is interceding for us as we seek to do “his will on earth as it is in heaven.”

Jesus in his risen, ascended state is more solidly embodied than we are. He is not “up there” spatially but “up there” in terms of his importance, having being moved up to his present position of authority. For “when the Bible speaks of heaven and earth it is not talking about two localities related to each other within the same space-time continuum or about a nonphysical world contrasted with a physical one but about two different kinds of what we call space, two different kinds of what we call matter., and also quite possibly…two different kinds of what we call time.” (Wright, op.cit.115) We need to think in terms of parallel worlds, spaces, and times rather than the rationalistic closed-system universe. Heaven and earth relate and interlock.

“Some church buildings do their best to indicate the interrelationship of heaven and earth. The Eastern Orthodox churches do it by envisaging heaven as the inner sanctuary, the space around the altar, and earth as the part of the building outside that space. The two are separated by the iconostasis, upon which are portrayed the saints, whose presence in heaven is not far from the worshippers on earth.

Western cathedrals and abbeys often did a similar thing through soaring Gothic architecture, giving us at floor level a sense of belonging within…great spaces of light and beauty, into which, significantly, only our music can penetrate…..What we are encouraged to grasp precisely through the ascension itself is that God’s space and ours – heaven and earth, in other words – are, though very different, not far way from one another… God’s space and ours interlock and intersect in a whole variety of ways even while they retain, for the moment at least, their separate and distinct identities and roles. One day… they will be joined in a quite new way, open and visible to one another, married together forever…Jesus is in heaven, ruling the whole world, and he will one day return to make that rule complete.” (Wright, op.cit.116)

Because of this we can perceive of life in these two different dimensions: heaven and earth. There is more to reality than meets the eye. Jesus, as Lord of all and our Savior, is available to us, accessible to us anywhere and everywhere. He is in charge of running the universe, and we can trust in him. He has the final word on everything. Therefore all will be well, even when the night is darkest and the future hopeless. “I am with you, always…” (Matthew 28:20)

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Mothers’ Day

May 5th, 2010

We honor Mothers on Sunday, May 9. We are thankful for our own mothers - for life and love. We are thankful for Mary, the Mother of our Lord, who accepted her calling to be the Lord’s servant. We are thankful for the mothers of own children: for their faithful nurturing. We are thankful for single women, like Mother Teresa, who bore many spiritual children. We need to pray for families, for unwed mothers and their children. In 2008, the black out-of-wedlock birth rate stood at 72.3%. The white out-of-wedlock birth rate in 2008 was 28.6%. The rate for Hispanics is 52.5%. (WSJ May 3, 2010, p.A19) Such a breakdown of morality and the intact family contributes to poverty and many social and personal problems. Our nation needs the love of Christ to keep us together, to bind us together.

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For Graduates

May 1st, 2010

Mother Teresa spoke to the 1982 Class at Harvard about a hunger for God especially among the young. She said, “We must find Jesus and satisfy that hunger. Nakedness is not only for a piece of cloth. Nakedness is the loss of human dignity, the loss of respect, the loss of that purity which was so beautiful, the loss of that virginity which is the most beautiful thing that a young man and a young woman can give each other because of their love. The loss of that presence, of what is beautiful, of what is great – that is nakedness. And homelessness is not only the lack of a home made of bricks but the feeling of being rejected, being unwanted, having no one to call your own.”

She gave the new graduates the prayer of John Henry Newman for their future.

Dear Jesus, help us to spread your fragrance everywhere we go. Flood our souls with your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly that all our lives may only be a radiance of yours. Shine through us and be so in us that every soul we meet may feel your presence in us. Let them look up and see no longer us, but only Jesus. Stay with us and then we shall begin to shine as you shine. To shine so as to be a light to others. The light will be all from you, dear Jesus. None of is will be ours; it will be you shining on others. Let us thus praise you in the way you love best, by shining on those around us. Let us preach you without preaching; not by words, but by our example. By the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what we do, the evident fullness of the love our hearts bear for you.

She said, “My prayer for you is that you may grow in love for each other. That you may grow in the likeness of Christ, in the holiness of Christ. Holiness is not the luxury of the few; it is a simple duty for you and me. And where does it begin? Right at home. God bless you.”

She reminds us that we are called to become carriers of God’s love to all people we meet. There is no higher calling.

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Head, Heart and Hands

April 24th, 2010

I have just returned from our annual Chapel Retreat which was held at Epworth-By-The-Sea on beautiful St. Simon’s Island. We had wonderful fellowship with a great group in a gorgeous setting. Dennis and Mary Ann Hollinger led our sessions with a review of the material in his book, Head, Heart and Hands: Bringing Together Christian Thought, Passion and Action. It is easy for us to get caught only in one of those categories – to be a head person, a heart person, or a hands person, and not to value the other expressions of faith. As a head person I need to seek sensitivity to my heart side, and to push myself into action. I recommend Dennis’s book for further reflection. Dennis is President of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

George Hunter in his book, The Apostolic Congregation: Church Growth Reconceived For a New Generation, reinforces the point that appealing to the head only, by preaching, is not enough to communicate the Gospel. Actions speak louder than words. Nonverbal messages are more important than verbal messages. Churches get into trouble when they say one thing and do another. Church leaders who proclaim grace and then don’t live it in their attitudes and relationships are not believable. Love communicates. People don’t care how much you know; they want to know how much you care. Dr. Hunter makes the following observations about the movement of many people toward Christian faith.

People become more receptive to involvement with a church during a season of their lives when they are ‘between gods.’ They have given up on whatever they most recently relied upon to complete their lives and are open to something else.
They are more likely to visit a church if they have heard about it.
They are more likely to visit if the church has a positive public image.
They are more likely to visit if one or more church members (whom they know and trust) invites them – perhaps several times, or more.
When they visit, they look for clear signs of life or energy. Although they cannot verbalize it, they realize they need grace or spiritual power to overcome their sins or problems, without which they cannot live new lives and become the people they were meant to be (and have always wanted to be).
They look to see if there are people in the church who are like them – people who would understand them, with whom they can identify, and who might serve as role models.
They sense whether they can relate to and make meaning from the church’s language, music, style, and aesthetics.
If they get this far, they are now looking to see how committed the people are to the church’s truth claims and mission.
Furthermore, if they get this far they are now observing how loving and caring the church is. They have heard that, whatever else Christians are supposed to be, they are people who love other people.
By now, also, the church is able to engage seekers more deeply if they have perceived the church to be credible. In interviews, they typically comment on how the church’s consistency (between what it believes and what the church and its people do) impressed and moved them. And they especially comment on how compassionate they found the church to be.

This brings together head, heart and hands; thought, passion and action. May we be so balanced and authentic in our lives.