Lisa does not hesitate to sit me down and draw to my attention things that I’ve done or said that are wrong or hurtful. Like a skilled surgeon, she will take that incident and trace its cancerous shoots back to the ugly root that is embedded in my fallen brain with its sinful thought-patterns. I’d do the same for her. I never ever question her love for me. In fact, this kind of exercise is profound evidence of her love. This is what love does.
The truth should set you free. So anything that doesn’t lead to the liberation of the human being must be rejected. In order to reject it, the idea or action must be analyzed and critiqued. I think everyone is responsible for this task. And I think this must be even more intensive within the church and its leadership because the church, like any other human institution, is prime culture for deception, abuse, bondage and slavery. I firmly insist that the gravitational pull of institutions such as the church is towards falsehood and bondage. I’ve experienced it first-hand, not only as a recipient but also as a donor.
Make no mistake: when I critique the church and ministries going on in her name, when I critique other people’s ideas and activities, when I let loose on the goings-on in religion, this doesn’t mean I hate the perpetuators. This doesn’t mean I think God hates and rejects the person thinking or doing those things. This doesn’t mean I don’t count that person as my sister or brother. But if their ideas and activities are questionable, I’m going to question them. And I hope someone would do the same for me. I don’t agree with the popular opinion out there that all roads go to heaven. Nor do I believe that all ministries lead to the same benefits. There’s lots of dangerous crap out there. I think we need to be the severest critics of all that we think, say and do! Do we want others to be free or not? Do we want to be free ourselves?
The tattoo was created and applied by my friend Zara Leaf. The fairy looks like she’s losing her bonds.
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Please excuse me for using an analogy that is dated and offensive for some people. But as a pastor (a word taken from the root word for shepherd), I often have a useful picture of myself dressed in shepherd’s clothes with a shepherd’s crook sitting in the grass leaning against a tree overlooking the flock. The flock is gently grazing in the lush grass or lying down or drinking from the nearby stream. I might have a book in my hands or a guitar, and I simply pass the day making sure that there is no danger approaching, that the sheep are not being harmed by another one, that the water is pure and the grass is poison-free. There’s some veterinarian work to do, some meandering travel, some minor intervention, but that’s it. Nothing else. Nothing at all. We pass the day, and every other day should hopefully be the same. I think that this is good pastoral ministry. In fact, I insist that this is pastoral ministry at its best!
I’m reading an awesome book, Leszli Kalli’s Kidnapped: A Diary of My 373 Days in Captivity. The young Leszli boarded a plane in Columbia to go work on a kibbutz in Israel. She never made it because the plane was hijacked by a leftist guerrilla group that lead her to a life in the jungle for the remainder of her captivity. I’m impressed with how early her wisdom kicked in:
Someone recently was telling me about the incredible testament to human achievement with the Great Wall of China… largely built, I’ve been told, through slaves and prisoner labor. Which got me thinking about another great human achievement, the Kolyma Highway in Eastern Russia, nicknamed “The Road of Bones” because the bones of those who built it… inmates of the gulags… were actually incorporated into the building materials which make up the road. Which got me thinking about another great human achievement, the Pyramids of Egypt, which, although arguable, were built from slave labour. Which got me thinking about so many other things that we enjoy today that have been produced directly from imposed cruelty and human suffering.
Yesterday I met with someone who asked about my message that morning. I insist that you can’t embrace the reality of the cross and pursue the security of success at the same time. I also said that we could increase the attendance at our church as well as the giving, but I can’t prioritize that with a clear conscience if I hold Jesus Christ and him crucified at the center of all I believe and do. This person asked, “What would you do, if you felt free to do it, that would increase the attendance and giving?” I’ve thought about it, and I came up with a rather cynical (yes, I know… unusual for me) list of 10 things you could do to achieve better attendance and giving:
artist. cartoonist. teacher.
