Derelict Theology

This past week was busy. In fact, it was a little too busy. It seems like our church body has been visited with sickness and death a lot lately, and it’s kept our staff busy. Usually I try and attend funerals of our church members or their family as a rule of thumb, whether they have children in our ministry or not, because they are part of our church family. Last week, I think we had 3 funerals to go to, and I did not make it to the one on Wednesday, because our pastor was supposed to preach his monthly message at the local nursing home, but it would’ve given him no time to get to the funeral, which was over 2 hours away. Because of that, the duty fell to the trusty youth pastor. So I went home, got gussied up, and headed to the nursing home, which coincedentally, is right across the street.

When I walked in the door, I quickly found my way to where I was supposed to be, and just happened to run into a lady who’d been attending our church at one time with her husband, and I think they got mad, and left over something. They told me, like most people do, that “they’d be back eventually” and not to give up hope on them, because they were sick alot. Right. Anyway, the comment of the day was not made by her, but rather another woman who happened to walk by while I was standing there. Y’know how you meet people sometimes and they know you and for the life of you, you can’t remember who they are? Yeah, this was one of those times. Well anyway, she walks up and pats me on the shoulder and this conversation takes place:

Her: Well, hi there! What are you doing today?

Me: Well, I’m here to preach to these people today.

Her: *gasp* You are? I didn’t know you’d gone into the ministry….I thought you were still a youth director!

Me: *speechless*

My jaw literally hit the floor. Honestly, is that small minded, uneducated mentality still around? So I preached, and I left, and I honestly hoped I wouldn’t have to preach while that lady was standing there, thinking that she’d be waiting by the door as I was leaving to remind me of what a great “pastor” I’d make. I’ll be real honest: I don’t feel a calling toward pastoral ministry. At most, I could see myself as an associate pastor someday, if God’s call changes. But, as far as I know now, I’m in youth ministry for life. And it is ministry, despite what the rest of the world thinks. What goes on in our Wednesday night services, Sunday evening classes, and Sunday School is important, and it is growing the future of the church. Some people might think I place a little too much emphasis on youth ministry, but honestly, if you can’t see how vital is it, maybe you need to ask God to readjust your focus, and quick. To insinuate that what I do on a weekly basis is not anywhere near ministry is a ridiculous, and just downright stupid comment that did nothing but encourage the silly trend of “pastor worship” that the Southern Baptist denomination as a whole loves to engage in.

So I guess you’d say that I didn’t like that comment.

Today one of our church members came into the office for some information. Now, I know we’re all the family of God here and everything, but do you have those people in your life that when you see them your mind just shuts down and your heart starts to beat a little faster and you suddenly want to get out of the room? Yeah. Those people. Well, this person is one of them. Maybe it’s because the person is a bit too confrontational for my liking, but there is this irrational fear that I have that surrounds them. Everytime I’m around them my feelings just go into shutdown and I don’t have anything much to say or do except remove myself from the situation. Argh. Why can’t everyone just be easy to get along with?

I joined a gym last week and I’ve been going everyday and doing some cardiovascular work as well as lifting weights. It’s been a long, long time since I’ve worked out and I’m paying for it, both in my weight and in my general soreness that I have from getting back into it, but I really feel good for doing something. I think going somewhere that actually has people in it, as opposed to working out at home, keeps me focused, and on task. And that, my friends, is a good thing.

I’ve been asked to speak at a youth revival in two weeks for a church in our area. I’m slightly nervous about it, because I haven’t been given much time. Their speaker had to cancel on them, so it’s kind of last minute. But, I guess if it’s what I”m supposed to be doing, then God will provide. Speaking of provided, last night I had to sit in a three hour meeting about building new buildings here at the church. Exciting as that was….I was worn out when I got home, and headed almost directly to bed, put to sleep soundly by about 30 minutes of Nintendo DS before sleepytime. Just gotta be careful not to fall asleep with that stylus in my hand and poke out my eye……

http://http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Movies/01/20/people.witherspoon.ap/index.html

Instead of being happy about winning a Golden Globe award, Reese Witherspoone instead chooses to moan and groan because Kirsten Dunst wore the dress she was wearing to another awards show a few years ago.

Oh to be a star and not have to worry about that pesky thing we call “reality”.

Last night was a pretty interesting night for me. Have you ever done something, and loved doing something so much that you let it become who you are? Yeah, me too. Last night I realized that was what I was doing with youth ministry. For the past year we’ve had a lot of good things going on here at church, but anytime something bad happened, I would start to take it very personally, and last night, through two people in our church, God helped me to see that I might’ve just forgotten who I was along the way these last few months.

I think we can get too wrapped up in being a minister. I think we can start to think that if we weren’t there that the church doors wouldn’t open, the sermons wouldn’t get preached, the trips wouldn’t happen, and that life as we know it would grind to a halt. Just as I type that, I realize how entirely laughable that whole line of thinking is, and just how silly I’ve been for even getting close to that. It’s not about me. It’s so not about me. And, somewhere, in the midst of kids needing to talk to me, wanting me to come to games, wanting to come to my house, and wanting to be around me, I have forgotten that I’m not just a youth minister, but I am a person that God has created and I am not my job. I am not my work hours. I’m not my talks or my trips. I’ve made something so holy and so wonderful into something that’s all about me.

God, I repent. I repent for taking something of yours and making it mine. I repent.

Recently some events have led me to think about whether I’m too quiet or not. Now anyone who knows me personally will tell you that I’m not quiet at all. They would rather tell you that I am loud, have a megaphone type voice, and that a word that would describe me very well would be the world “boisterous”. But, sometimes I think I’m too quiet. Really, what I mean is that I’m quiet when I should be loud, when my opinions or thoughts should come into play.

This past Sunday was a perfect example of that. We has our business meeting at church, and some things happened that I don’t think were right. Deep inside, I know I should’ve stood up and said something about each issue, but where words filled my head, courage did not fill my heart. Instead I began to worry about how people would see me, or what they would think about it. The difficult task of any minister is walking the fine line of telling the truth and preserving peace. I still think what happened is wrong and I wish I had it to do over again. I should’ve been loud, but I was quiet.

Similarly, we should all be loud in certain situations. Whenever our belief is questioned, whenever our convictions are messed with, whenever morality takes a backseat to prosperity and political correctness. Those are times when we should be loud. I think I spend too much time thinking about when myself and others should be silent, instead of thinking about and looking for opportunities when I can be loud! But I found this quote on the subject at www.quotationspage.com to pretty much sum up all I’m feeling:

“I write because I’m afraid to say some things out loud. ” ~ from the Real Live Preacher blog

Yes folks, today, Pat Robertson has once again opened his mouth and made a bonehead statement. I wonder what will happen first: will he stop making these kind of statements, or will we just stop listening? (Note to self: the last option sounds very tempting.)

As far as the actual statement, today Mr. Robertson has come out and said that the leader of Israel Ariel Sharon’s recent stroke was a direct result of “dividing God’s land”. It goes on later in the article to say that Robertson is sad because of what has happened to Sharon and that he prayed personally with him once, and called him s “very tenderhearted man” in another interview. Personally, I don’t see how you can be sad over something that you are apparently so gleeful about. Lately, as soon as something happens, Robertson has been quick to jump to the public eye and make some pretty outlandish statements. The worst part of it all is that this man speaks for all Christians, or at least the non-believing world thinks so.

No Mr. Robertson, you don’t speak for me. No, indeed you don’t. In fact, why don’t you just shut up?

Finally, I’m back from the holidays! I hope you and yours had a blessed one and a very satisfying one. I know that I’m enjoying my holiday gift:

I had the priveledge of going to the mountains with my wife and parents the day after Christmas. It was a nice diversion and I got to sit around with pretty much nothing to do except what I wanted to do for 2 days. That could’ve been Christmas alone for me. But, even though I enjoyed my rest, I noticed something on my trip that was bothering me a little more than usual. Something I grew up with all my life, but now can’t stand.

Smoking.

How can you people stand it? I mean, do you not smell yourselves? Everywhere I went this past week people were smoking. I’m not talking about a casual puff here, either. I’m talking about full out chain smoking like a locomotive. Nothing disgusts me more than having to smell that crap while I’m trying to enjoy a meal. One of our favorite local Mexican restaurants has been adding on lately. Since the place was pretty small, the prospect of more space there was exciting. So they finally get the new dining area done and what do they do with it? They turn the newer, cleaner, brighter part into the smoking section, as if to reward those people for carelessly killing themselves one cig at a time. If anyone should get a reward, it should be those of us who don’t have to depend on sticks we light on fire and put into our mouths in order to make it through another hour. I mean, the non-smoking section smells like smoke already since people have smoked in it for years. Let us have the new side.

Y’know, we have laws against pollution in our country. If a company is found to be polluting our air, we place fines on them and ask them to clean it up. Why do we not do this with smokers? Really, what’s the difference in a smokestack on a factory churning out foul smelling air and Aunt Bertha sitting behind me lighting up for the 4th time this meal while I try to eat my steak? Hint: there’s not a difference! And since I have asthma, it makes it even worse, having to breathe in non healthy, unclean air into my already weak lungs.

So here’s my suggestion: I think we should place a trade embargo on smokers until they clean up their acts. You can’t have our goods, we don’t want your money. Once you’re clean and nicotine free, you can feel free to come back to capitalism here in the United States.

If you can’t quit, go smoke up some other country.