Here’s a challenge you can present to your congregation:
There is a popular hymn, “They’ll know we are Christians by our love.”
“Love” is not a very clear word. It requires some definition!
Ask members, colleagues, committee members, governing board, children, youth, visitors, etc. to rewrite the words to the hymn and define exactly how people will know you are a Christian.
“They will know we are Christians by ____________________________.”
Make a youth project out of the question. Ask them to make a montage video of people’s answers with the hymn playing softly in the background. Post it on YouTube and send us a link!
Might be an interesting exercise. Share the new words with one another . . . or send them to us. We’ll make a blog post out of them!
Yesterday I received an email from a young fellow who makes videos with passion. He had a brainstorm and he was soliciting help. He wanted to make a video of people telling their “Why Story.” He made a little video imploring people to send a short video with an answer to the question, “Why do you do what you do?”
I had never taken a self-video before. But I spent about a half hour creating my Why video. I had never responded to a video by posting a film to YouTube before. But by the end of the day I had mastered that. Took four tries.
This morning I came across a video of a TED conference presenter, Simon Sinek. He gave a 17-minute talk on how the Why question drives all successful enterprises. Watch it.
It seems the Why question is pretty important. How well does your church communicate your “why”?
Why do you gather together on Sunday mornings? Why do you want others to join you? Why does faith matter in the lives of your individual members?
If your only answer is “so that we have enough financial support to keep going,” you will not succeed as a church.
You are late for a meeting, but there is no parking spot in sight. At last you see a car pulling away. Finally and none too soon! You parallel park, annoyed at the cars that pass impatiently, making it unsafe to steer your car into the spot. At last you are in. You jump out of the car, lock the doors, and rush to the meter. You look for instructions. The meter takes only quarters. You dig in your wallet or purse. All you can find is a $20 bill. You look at the nearby stores. Might they change a $20 bill so that you can put a few quarters in the parking meter? You look up the street. There’s the meter reader writing a ticket just a half block away.
Suddenly the quarter you don’t have is worth more than $20 bill you do have.
(If you tell this story to children, use a vending machine that takes only quarters, but the parents provided only a dollar bill.)
In today’s Gospel, Jesus encounters the disciples in an animated conversation. He asks, “What are fellows talking about?”…as if he doesn’t know. They are embarrassed. They have been bragging to one another about their value to the Master. There is little they can do but listen, red-faced, as Jesus begins to lecture them about greatness.
The recent chapters of Mark test the disciples over and over. Jesus is challenging conventional ideas. The disciples’ world is turning upside down. There are miracles and strange and uncomfortable conversations. No wonder the disciples have used their alone time to sort some things out among themselves.
But in butts Jesus, and their ideas are once again thrown out the window.
At last he reaches for a small child, embraces the child and uses the child as an “object” lesson. It’s the littlest among you that is worth the most. Not the smartest, not the most talented, the one with the best job, or the biggest house.
Pull a quarter out of your pocket (oops! you had one along) and flip it a few times.
Ask them to think about this the next time they need a quarter.
Today Glory of Pentecost Brothers and Sisters Fellowship in Kenya is rallying children to the Gospel. Pastor Silas Kadenge invited 2×2 to send a message to the 300 children expected.
2×2 as an outreach growing from Redeemer Lutheran Church is in a unique position to cross the ocean with a message to children. Our ministry here included ministry to children who spoke or heard the Swahili language in their homes. We used many Swahili words in our worship. We often sang popular hymns alternating verses in English and Swahili.
So we sent a message of love and concluded it with the words to Jesus Loves Me in both English and Swahili.
Pastor Kadenge wrote to us that he had a girl read the message to the children and they sang the song. The children wanted to know where we were. He told them we were with them but physically we are in America.
Pastor Kadenge is putting us in touch with other supporters from America.
It will be interesting to see how this network grows.
If life was always peaches and cream, we would have no need for religion. We turn to God in weakness to find our strength.
So in comes the Church.
Church leaders will explain God’s ways. We will have a roadmap for solving problems.
Church leaders are rarely at a loss for words when it comes to advising congregations. They preach guidelines for peaceful and productive lives in Christ.
Followers nod in agreement. They file out of church assemblies with a sense that they are leaving a place where people care about one another and will follow God’s Word.
A pastor recently shared his story.
He had listened to a bishop address his synodical assembly with words of peace, admonishing them to work with one another to resolve differences in accordance with the Scriptures. It was a moving message which drew a standing ovation.
This pastor and his congregation were having some issues with Synodical leadership. He was encouraged by the message. He managed to buttonhole the bishop before the end of the Assembly. He told him he was moved by his sermon.
“Let’s do it,” he said with enthusiasm. “Let’s get together and talk through our issues.”
The bishop responded. “Uh, OK, why don’t you write an agenda and send it to my office. We’ll set up a meeting.”
The pastor was excited. He drafted an agenda of the issues his congregation wanted to discuss and sent it to the bishop’s office.
Months went by with no response. At last, the bishop responded that he had been advised that the issues might end up in court and he should not meet with the congregation.
You read that right! The issues MIGHT end up in court. So what’s the point of talking.
This parallels Redeemer’s experience. Bishop Burkat had a lawyer at her right hand (literally) at her first meeting with Redeemer leaders.
This attitude of—not all, but more than one—current bishops in the ELCA violates the Gospel and is a dereliction of their assigned duties. They are no longer shepherds but predators. Clergy’s key advisors are lawyers—not more experienced pastors, not people with a spiritual gift for wisdom, and not the Bible.
The Gospel is clear that we are to attempt to work out differences without the courts. But in today’s church, leadership is not looking for resolution. They are looking for the WIN.They are looking to be seen as powerful. Resolution might call for ceding some power. Opponents must be defeated!
The Church is following the way of the world—exactly as the New Testament (both Gospel and Epistles) cautions. It is crippling the Church, one little conflict after another. Every WIN by intimidation is a defeat for the Gospel.
“Resolution” is so distasteful that the word is avoided. SEPA Synod is billing an upcoming workshop as conflict “transformation.”
Today’s Church does not believe its own scriptures.
It is a sad day when the only thing separating the Church from the world is tax exemption and immunity for its actions—but not those of its opponents—under the Bill of Rights.
“There isn’t going to be a central, merged denominational office somewhere. The new church unity will be in new networks of people with common beliefs.” — Rev. Parker Williamson
Parker T. Williamson is editor emeritus of the Presbyterian Layman newspaper. A graduate of Yale Divinity School, he earned the Master of Divinity at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, VA.
For waywardness kills the simple, and the complacency of fools destroys them; but those who listen to me will be secure and will live at ease, without dread of disaster. — Proverbs 1: 32-33
The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I did not turn backward. I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting. The Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced. —Isaiah 50:5-7a
Today’s object is a dunce cap. You might make your own from a large sheet of oaktag or you can decorate a party hat with the word “dunce.”
Wear your hat and face your congregation. You might have a teacher carry it to the front of the sanctuary and place it on your head for more drama.
Point out that it is September — back to school time. Students are once again facing their teachers.
Two lessons from the Old Testament talk about the role of student and teacher.
The dunce camp was once a commonly used form of punishment in American schools. Students who were unprepared or lazy were humiliated in hopes of setting them straight.
It was something to be dreaded.
Today, we attempt to be more understanding. Struggling students may be battling learning disabilities. Even so, teachers today sometimes control students and classrooms with a quick tongue designed to shame them into better behaviors.
Rebellious students are nothing new. The analogy is part of both the Isaiah and Proverbs texts.
Isaiah faces humiliation head on, embracing it. He wears his dunce cap with pride (facing the crowd who watched as he was beaten).
The critics will wear themselves out. God will sustain.
The gospel lesson that accompanies these lessons (Mark 8:27-38) is also a teacher/student session. Jesus is questioning his students and preparing them for the trials they will soon face—the final exam, so to speak. Peter steps up and gives the answers his best shot. Jesus rebukes him in front of the disciples. We can only imagine his embarrassment and shame. Did it stop Peter?
Jesus prepared him. In Verse 38 he cautions disciples:
“Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Witnessing in today’s world is a challenge. We all face the possibility of being ridiculed for our beliefs. We weigh carefully in every social situation just how bold we should be in expressing our faith.
We fear shame.
Today’s message: Face shame with confidence. (And there is a definite “Or else!”)
In the business world there is a new trend in thinking. It isn’t good enough to create a good product or provide excellent service. Your business must create “remarkable” experiences—something to write home about.
Think of this as more than a mint on the pillow welcoming a hotel guest. It’s the mint and the slippers/robe tied in a bow with a handwritten welcome note—something beyond the ordinary.
How does this apply to church? We believe we have a truly remarkable product — salvation, love and unity with the God of all creation.
So why does the mainline church get “buzz” only when things go wrong?
Most church people interact with the church on Sunday mornings. Most Sunday morning worship services are satisfactory for the initiated, with little for congregants to talk about or remember the next day.
Can they be made remarkable?
The argument can be made that this isn’t why we gather for worship. We gather to praise God.
If that isn’t remarkable, it should be!
So how do we achieve this?
We have created hurdles over the centuries. Tradition, which provides order and sense, can become a straitjacket.
There should be a balance between providing comfort and security and moving beyond traditions to expressions that result from deeper self-exploration and the infusion of differing, if not new, ideas that result from broader inclusion.
Here’s where we go wrong: The Church tends to sweep into congregations with edicts of change, which alienate existing members and don’t attract new. When this fails, the Church criticizes church members.
This approach creates “buzz,” all right. But it is not the kind of buzz that will grow churches.
Most people aren’t as afraid of the new as they are afraid of losing the old.
The old is our foundation. There is no reason our foundations cannot be remarkable.
In church work, it might be wiser to start by concentrating on the foundations—the individuals who already worship regularly. Enhance their experiences, making the familiar remarkable. When they are happy, valued and feel included, they will feel confident in telling their remarkable story.
But that’s Sunday morning. The Church has six more days in a week to create remarkable experiences in their communities. People will talk about these. They might even get some press!
Our Ambassadors recently saw this in action in a church (St. John’s, Hatboro, Pa.). A member gave a passionate temple talk about the congregation’s food pantry and how it has grown to meet changing needs over the years. This retired school teacher was proud to tell his story, starting from his interest in this type of ministry from his boyhood experiences. He concluded by describing a thank you note the pantry had received.
There is a demographic that the church rarely considers, the Boomers, the generation born between 1946 and 1964. They were called Boomers by their parents’ generation before that generation christened themselves The Greatest Generation.
The Boomers are an outstanding generation that face difficult years. While their parents had a World War to unite them, the Boomers faced the rise of individualism and the moral and societal changes of a democracy gaining sudden world prominence.
Their experience and strengths represent many and varied feats.
Many are caring for The Greatest Generation and putting children through college, while taking on increased grandparenting demands.
Professionally, their careers were peaking when the Recession hit. Many are struggling to find employment comparable to their pre-Recession lives.
Adding to the challenge is the sharp shift in job skills that technology has demanded. Most Boomers feel a need for schooling and juggle learning with work and home demands — while their competition (their own children) still live under their roof, unburdened by the financial pressures of running a home.
They are experienced. They lived through the Korean War, Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, the Space Age, The Gulf War, Iran, Afghanistan (too many unrests to mention) and now 9/11 and the Arab Spring. They’ve witnessed the end of the Cold War and demolition of the Wall that remained from the war their parents fought. They have battled polio, AIDS, and new virus strains. They’ve seen cures for the diseases that claimed their grandparents. They’ve witnessed the societal change among the races and genders. They have seen the Church crippled by scandal.
The maps they studied in school have been recharted dozens of times.
Boomers were part of information revolution that continues to reshape society.
Women of Boomer age were at the forefront of the fight for equality. Some achieved it. Most still struggle.
Many boomers are divorced or widowed. Many parent blended families. They know firsthand the challenges that younger Americans will face.
They are reaching the age when their health may be challenged.
They are facing end of life decisions—their parents and their own. They can be troubled and grieving.
With all the challenges that Boomers face, they are still a capable lot! They have skills and better health than previous generations. Many were raised in church even if they have abandoned religion as adults.
They are the decision-makers of many families. They are not likely to go to church to be told what to do. It is more likely that the Church can learn from them.
With all the attention on youth and the Greatest Generation, they feel forgotten.
They are a generation that could be very well served and also serve the Church.
Should we mention that the commercial world is discovering they have economic clout?
But how many churches set out to serve the Boomers?
A pastor may think that a children’s sermon is a waste of time. The children might be better off somewhere else, engaged in age appropriate activities.
The children’s sermon time is so much more. It is a golden opportunity to introduce change to your congregation.
Many pastors do little more than talk at the children—a watered down “trailer” of the 20-minute version about to come.
It is painfully obvious in many cases that the pastor has little experience talking to children. All those years of seminary study so you can expound to five-year-olds!
The children’s sermon is a time when you can communicate to everyone. Many adult Christians have not been well-schooled in church matters. This is an opportunity to not only reach the children but to review basic church teachings without “talking down” to the adults.
You can experiment in the few minutes you spend with the children. Few will object. It is a chance to create the experience modern worship so desperately needs—something that people will remember and talk about when they go home and off to work.
In the business world, this is called creating a “remarkable” experience. Business people know that their best advertisers (evangelists) are customers (congregants). They aim to provide the best service possible so that the customer/congregant talks about his or her experience.
Most worship services are fairly predictable in format and even in content. They are no doubt meaningful to the congregants, but few are anything anyone will talk about during the week or even remember a few days later. (Quick! What hymns did you sing in church last week?)
More people will be tuned in for a ten-minute children’s lesson than for the full 20-minute version. Use this opportunity to create a “remarkable” experience.
This is a pastor’s opportunity to introduce change without objection. Congregants may not even notice that the praise song you taught the children last week is the sermon hymn this week.
The children’s sermon is an excellent opportunity to introduce media, teach the kids (and adults) to move in liturgical dance, practice a new prayer technique, read a story or poem, or perform a little drama. Don’t put a stopwatch on the activity. Some sermons may be five minutes long. But if people are engaged, milk the moment.
Here is a list of guidelines.
Don’t treat the adults as passive bystanders. Engage them in music, question and answers, or other activities. Enlist their help. They will be more likely to step up to help the children then if you asked them to do something for their peers. Ask a choir member to lead or teach a new song, for example. Or have an usher explain what happens to the coins the children put into the offering plate. It will strengthen your congregation’s sense of community.
Don’t be afraid of repetition. Kids love it. Adults learn from it, too.
Don’t be afraid of interaction. Throw out a question to the adults. Better yet, have the children ask questions. Imagine one of your older members telling the story at work: “In church yesterday, a little girl asked me a question . . . .”
It’s all about story-telling. We all love to tell the story. The children’s sermon can be the vehicle for congregational story-telling. And this can lead to transformation.
Join Bishop Ruby Kinisa as she visits small churches "under cover" to learn what people would never share if they knew they were talking to their bishop.
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Contact Info
You can reach
Judy Gotwald,
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at
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or 215 605 8774
Redeemer’s Prayer
We were all once strangers, the weakest, the outcasts, until someone came to our defense, included us, empowered us, reconciled us (1 Cor. 2; Eph. 2).
Be calm. Wait. Wait. Commit your cause to God. He will make it succeed. Look for Him a little at a time. Wait. Wait. But since this waiting seems long to the flesh and appears like death, the flesh always wavers. But keep faith. Patience will overcome wickedness.
—Martin Luther
