How Much of a Saint was Nicholas?

Santa Claus is a big part of American culture. I’m not sure how your parent’s handled the whole “Santa” thing, but my mom thought it was OK to dream and use your imagination while at the same time believing that Jesus was the Real reason for the Season. There is certainly a tension between faith and fun during the Christmas season and each family has to navigate it in their own way. I’m still not sure sitting on the lap of an old, fat guy is a very good thing to do, but there is are some great things we can learn from the historical St. Nicholas.

St. Nicholas’ journey to Sainthood is fascinating to me! I reached out to friend who is a Catholic Priest and he shared this link: http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=371. There is a pretty good video attached to the site that describes his historical life and how St. Nicholas precedes the Catholic process of canonizing a saint. I think there are many things our Catholic friends got right in their investigation of a Saint; however, there are also some areas that I question.

Like many seekers of truth, I wanted to get to the source and ponder the implications for my faith. So, I asked the questions: “Where does the New Testament first address the issue of sainthood”? The answer to that question surprised me. The first mentioning of a saint is in Matthew 27:50–54.  It is in verse 52 that we find the original word: “ἅγιον hagiŏn”. Now if your not a Bible Geek or Pastor why does this matter and why should you care? Well the people that came out of the tombs after Jesus death were called saints. WHY? They went through no special process, they were not examined and confirmed by the church, no one prayed to them, we have no specific record of their piety…. So, why does Christian Scripture use such a holy term to identify them? I believe it is because they were dead and brought to life solely because of Christ!

This week at Grace Seaford, I will be sharing on how you and I can live out the principles of Saintly living. How the principles of sainthood are available to every person regardless of their background, hang ups, hurts, or distance from God. If you can’t make it physically you can check out the audio later here: http://graceseaford.org/sermon-outlines-recordings. My hope is that this Christmas many new saints might exit a tomb of death and despair. That these saints may be energized by the power that Christ can bring anyone into sainthood and that sainthood is less about status and more about service. St. Nicholas is a great example to lead us in this direction.

Xmas vs. Christmas

It has been a little while since I blogged; I have been really busy working to move our church through revitalization and at serving at a local hospital as a Chaplain. However, this week I wanted to get back into the habit of sharing and learning through the blogosphere. As we enter into the Christmas season (advent season for our traditional folks), I have been intrigued about the whole Starbuck’s holiday cup thing. While there are many bloggers that have talked about this, I want to take different angle that I think is at the root of the issue. I think there is a larger problem with Christian culture in American that few are addressing.

Christians in our nation are typically known for what we are against, not what we are for. This is something that disturbs me as a leader within Jesus’ church. Take for instance how many Christians are anti Xmas and think that it is an attack on Christmas! The reality is that Xmas is a great abbreviation that expresses our faith in a different way and many in ignorance immediately want to jump on the anti bandwagon.

There are certain Christians that are anti specific translations of the Bible (God forbid we make His Word easier for people to read), anti certain worship music, anti certain church movements, or even down on what people wear or don’t wear to church. The whole Starbucks controversy was started by a Christian blogger who wanted to call attention to a change in the holiday cup. Reality is that Starbucks wanted to be more inclusive not less in their design. So, why does all this bother me?

Because of this anti-attitude, Christians are known more for what we are against instead of what we are for. At the heart of this is a poor understanding of how to apply the principles of Grace and Truth. I think the remedy is to bring us back to looking at how Jesus embraced these two realities. Check our John 1:14 and see how Jesus was the perfect mixture of Grace and Truth. In our Savior is the perfect expression of Grace and Truth. For an example of how Jesus lived this out read John 8:1-11. However, most Christians today lack this mixture and focus way to heavy on Truth over Grace. We need to get back to a correct understanding of Grace and Truth the way Jesus expressed it!

This week at my church: Grace Seaford, I will be sharing on how you and I can learn how to be less anti (X-ing stuff out), and learn how to put the X back into Xmas living. If you can’t make it physically you can check out the audio later here: http://graceseaford.org/sermon-outlines-recordings. My hope is that this Xmas we may create a spirit where Christians begin to be known for our love, compassion, graceful forgiveness, patience, work ethic, and family centered living!

Reliance Precedes Revitalization

Since I began my journey to discover a church to serve in revitalization, I have discovered many folks who are curious about this journey or even want to join me on this endeavor. One question that comes up often is: What is the First Step? While the obvious answer is prayer, there is another principle that I think is closely linked: Complete Reliance on God’s Holy Spirit!

I have learned that this is a universal principle guiding many actions in the Christian faith. So, the principle has universal application when we consider all of the unknown factors that affecting change in our lives. I am a planner, but many times you can’t construct a perfect plan to address a tough change personally or professionally. While I love books on change management and the wisdom within, nothing can replace this preceding principle in the life of a Christian. (Proverbs 19: 21)

When I think of this principle, my mind turns to Luke 10:1-17. The heart of the principle is in versus 3-4 where Jesus commands the disciples to “³ Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. ⁴ Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.” (Luke 10:3-4, NIV) Too often we as people want a plan first instead of seeking God’s will through His Holy Spirit. We have the cart before the horse. I we have been told “⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” (James 1:5, NIV)

When I decided to leave a successful church and church role, I was tempted to first secure a plan. Make sure I had another job lined up, find some medical benefits, hide my intentions from my current church leadership, and then when I had the plan lined up; pull the trigger and execute. This was a very worldly way of thinking about the problem. But before you are too harsh on me, or yourself, we are in the world and it is easy to think this way. What God reminded me was that there is a better way.

I trusted God’s Spirit to precede me in my conversation with my leader at the time. I explained what God was doing and how to grow into the next phase of my ministry journey it was time for me to take a major risk. Once he prayed about it, he was able to send me out with his blessing as well as some financial support until we landed. Just like in Luke, I took nothing with me, but expected God to prepare the path because He had called us to the journey. A positioned opened as a Chaplain at a local hospital that provides benefits and a local church that wants to work the process of revitalization has begun the process with us. There is allot more to that part of the story, but too much to put here for a blog.

If you are considering a change in ministry or God is calling you to something new, I want to encourage you to seek His guidance available through His Holy Spirit before constructing your plan. There indeed may be some strategic planning, but if you move forward without hearing His voice you will find yourself panicking to secure a plan, before you have consulted the Man!

Kicking and Screaming

As many of you know, I find myself in the wilderness currently as I look for a church to Lead into a work of Revitalization. What is not surprising is that over 80% of churches in our country are in need of the work of Revitalization / Renewal. Current research shows that approximately 89% of our churches in North American are plateaued or are declining. However, my initial search for a church has been met with opposition and hard heartedness.

Many of the church search teams I have met with think they are doing just fine. If you are like me at all, you think HOW IS THAT? While there are many ways to answer that question, my mind and heart gravitated back to our fear of death and our delusion that we have some level of control over it. If you have ever taken a philosophy class, there is a good chance you were asked to read the book “The Death of Ivan Ilych” by Leo Tolstoy.

In this classic book Tolstoy brings us a man who has everything and then suddenly and unexpectedly he finds himself declining in health and eventually on his deathbed. His response to this process is to fight with all his being to control the situation. His self-centeredness tortures his family and a cloud of hopelessness descends on the household.

I think this is a perfect word picture for the plight of the North American Church. We think that we can control or fix the problem of decline in the church. And nothing could be further from the truth. We go kicking and screaming as we are dragged into decline, which will end in death one way or the other. We try new programs, put new systems into place, rely on money and building as a crutch, or coax ourselves into thinking we need more staff to fix the problem. But what we need to do is allow God to bring us to a graceful death so that resurrection can take place. There is something about where the church is that needs to die so that we can experience new life and be revitalized. In Tolstoy’s novel Ivan eventually realizes his need for surrender to find peace. Below is a quote from the book:

He sought his former accustomed fear of death and did not find it. “Where is it? What death?” There was no fear because there was no death. In place of death there was light. “So that’s what it is!” he suddenly exclaimed aloud. “What joy!”

What Joy you may ask? The Christian faith is very counterintuitive at times. Without the death of Christ, we have no resurrection. Without us dying to self, we cannot experience the life of Christ in us (Galatians 2:20). Without the church dying and giving up control, they will never see life and renewal via revitalization. The good news is that there are churches out there that are ready for this counterintuitive approach. We have met with one already that we feel is being spiritually stirred to this movement. As we patiently work to get to know them, time will tell if we are being led to come and experience a glorious death together in order to then experience a faithful and expectant resurrection. Our prayer and hope is to lead many others into this process. Revitalization is about repentant faith and obedience not money, buildings, or programming that in the end only prolongs the death process.