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  Mark 9:44 am on February 13, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  Perfectly Designed 

  

  “Our system is perfectly designed for the results we are receiving.”

  This was the repeated phrase at a lunch I recently attended where author Alan Hirsch was presenting.  The room was full of Chicago-area church leaders, and the room quickly fell silent as Hirsch began critiquing the current state of affairs in the Western Church.  While he had some apt critique, he wasn’t all sour – he was just as ready to point to fresh perspectives and examples of the church engaging and subverting the culture in America.

  He made it clear that only the American Church, unlike the church in Europe or Australia, stood a real chance at re-interpreting the Gospel for the West in a way that could thrive in the post-Christendom era in which we now live.

  But his strongest words were the line  he dropped half a dozen times throughout his talk: “Our system is perfectly designed for the results we are receiving.”

  Think on that for a moment – how much weight can you bench press?  Only as much as your body’s system allows - and the way things are in your body are perfectly arranged for you to lift exactly what you’re capable of lifting.  Want to up your max weight?  Change your system! Try adding more protein to your diet, and less sugar.  Head to the gym 2 extra times a week.  Read about lifting techniques.  If you want to change the results, change the system.  Its amazing how we constrain our imaginations when it comes to the systems in our lives.

  “Oh, that’s the way things have always been, and always will be…”  Give me a break.  You’re talking “equilibrium,” and to biologists, equilibrium is another way of saying, “you’re stone dead.”  Change = life!

  The Church in the West today is spending 3 times as much on facilities as it was 10 years ago. 3 TIMES AS MUCH AS A DECADE AGO!  And numbers are in decline.  Leaders are getting harder to come by, as congregations are expecting more and more from their church leaders.  Sure, there are more and more mega-churches dotting the American landscape, but for every mega-church that breaks 1000 attendees, how many congregations had to shut their doors?

  It has been said of the American Church, “The front of the parade is becoming more and more impressive, and no one is noticing that the line is getting shorter and shorter.”

  The question is – can the church…your church…change its system? It is interesting how quickly we have come to expect the inevitability of the mega-church as the ONLY form of ecclesiological success.  Like the industrialized food system in America, the mega-church has only emerged in the last generation or so; and yet we see it as the only box God can work in.  I for one simply refuse to go along with that.  What ways can we keep the Gospel close to our chest, and yet experiment wildly with the form?  Let’s change the system – let’s take ourselves a little less seriously, and let imagination become our modus operandi!

  Don’t do it out of fear that “God’s Church is depending on you,”  Do it because prophetic imagination is central to the story of God.  Do it because the Gospel is ALWAYS changing its clothes – the “word” is always “becoming flesh” and “moving into the neighborhood.” (John 1:14)

  We’re perfectly designed to get the results we’re seeing across America today.  If we want more of the same – keep doing the same thing you’ve always done.  Otherwise, get out there and break the mold!

  
   

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  Mark 11:35 am on January 6, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

  Prayer and A.D.D. 

  I’m still learning what it means to find freedom in discipline.  There is discipline that can evoke freedom, and then there is just strict, dry discipline.  There is discipline on one side, and spontaneity on the other.   I don’t think I’ll ever get a good balance of freedom through discipline this side of heaven, but I know that the continual training in godliness is the goal, not perfection.  Much like a violin player that disciplines herself for years will eventually be able to have the freedom to play incredibly complex works with ease – almost as a form of meditation.

  The other day I heard a great quote – that “absolutely unmixed attention is prayer.”  — Simone Weil.  It takes focus and discipline to stay centered on a single action or thought in our world today.  Millions are diagnosed (and misdiagnosed) with Attention Deficit Disorder each year – and now they are proving that for every hour a toddler spends in front of a television set his chances of developing symptoms of ADD increase 10%.  No surprise there!

  Truly look around at your world.  Think about the hundreds of items grasping for your attention – even as you read this.  Advertisements on web pages, TV, radio, clocks, phones, in-boxes, billboards…Twitter, email, Facebook…events coming up, Christmas cards to respond to, projects to plan, light bulbs to change out…on and on it goes.

  So what is prayer in this lifestyle?  Could it be that your earliest experiences in prayer might be of some practical help here?  Closing your eyes and holding your palms together fingers extended is the way most Christian children are taught to pray.  In fact, Buddhists and other faiths meditate in similar form.  Recent research has discovered that we focus and meditate best when our most sensitive nerve endings are a “closed circuit.”  Your finger tips for example are filled with some of the most sensitive nerve endings on your body – its your fingers that allow you to engage your world in the most tactile way.  So holding your palms and fingertips together is sort of your way of saying to the world’s distractions, “I’m taking a break,” and begin training your mind and soul to dive deeply into God’s presence.

  

  “So when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray…”  (Matthew 6:6)

  Jesus was pretty clear that God is not held behind locked doors or in special places for special people.  Yet in his teaching on prayer, he specifically states that some places and positions are better for pray at than others.  I think that the human body is affected by the posture in which we pray.  The brain is active in different places when we smile and lift our open hands up to the sky than when we are crouched in the fetal position over a cup of coffee and a computer screen. The earliest Christians often prayed facing East (orient), because they wanted to “orient” themselves toward where they knew Jesus was going to return from.  Try bowing in your prayers.  Try facing east.  Try lifting up your hands.  Try prayer-walking.  Let your whole body in on what your mind thought it could keep to itself with regards to your prayers.  See your prayers transform.

  If you are looking for “unmixed attention” when you pray, maybe it has less to do with your ADD diagnosis, and more to do with the simple fact that we are being bombarded with things seeking our attention – and yet God is not in those things – he is in the still small voice that so often gets crowded out by the whirlwind of our lives.  Listen.  Close your eyes.  And close your circuits off from the outside world.  Meditate and see where God shows up.

  I’m still learning what it means to find freedom in discipline. There is discipline that can have freedom, and then there is just strict discipline. There is discipline on one side, and spontaneity on the other. I don’t think I’ll ever get a good balance of freedom through discipline this side of heaven, but I know that the continual training in godliness is the goal, not perfection. I am happy to have a wife that seeks rhythms and discipline in her life – she agrees that through discipline there is freedom. Much like a violin player that disciplines herself for years will eventually be able to have the freedom to play incredibly complex works with ease – almost as a form of meditation.

  The other day I heard a great quote – that “absolutely unmixed attention is prayer.” – Simone Weil. It takes focus and discipline to stay centered on a single action or thought in our world today. Millions are diagnosed (and misdiagnosed) with Attention Deficit Disorder each year – and now they are proving that for every half-an-hour a toddler spends in front of a television set his chances of developing symptoms of ADD increase 10%. No surprise there!

  Truly look around at your world. Think about the hundreds of items grasping for your attention – even as you read this. Advertisements on web pages, TV, radio, billboards…Twitter, email, Facebook…events coming up, Christmas cards to respond to, projects to plan, light bulbs to change out…on and on it goes.

  So what is prayer in this lifestyle? Could it be that your earliest experiences in prayer might be of some practical help here? Closing your eyes and holding your palms together fingers extended is the way most Christian children are taught to pray. In fact, Buddhists and other faiths meditate in similar form. Recent research has discovered that we focus and meditate best when our most sensitive nerve endings are a “closed circuit.” Your finger tips for example are filled with some of the most sensitive nerve endings on your body – its your fingers that allow you to engage your world in the most tactile way. So holding your palms and fingertips together is sort of your way of saying to the world’s distractions, “I’m taking a break,” and begin training your mind and soul to dive deeply into God’s presence.

  “So when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray…” (Matthew 6:6)

  Jesus was pretty clear that God is not held behind locked doors or in special places for special people. Yet in his teaching on prayer, he specifically states that some places are better to pray at than others. I think that the human body is affected by the posture in which we pray. The brain is active in different places when we smile and lift our open hands up to the sky than when we are crouched in the fetal position over a cup of coffee and a computer screen. If you are looking for “unmixed attention” when you pray, maybe it has less to do with your ADD diagnosis, and more to do with the simple fact that we are being bombarded with things seeking our attention – and yet God is not in those things – he is in the still small voice that so often gets crowded out by the whirlwind of our lives. Listen. Close your eyes. And close your circuits off from the outside world. Meditate and see where God shows up.

  
   
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  Mark 1:54 pm on December 13, 2009 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: augustine, bonhoeffer, henri nouwen ( 2 ), kenneth boa ( 2 ), robert putnam   

  The Need for Community 

  *Below are some notes I took while reading through part of Kenneth Boa’s Conformed to His Image. Some lines are direct quotes, others are my own thoughts – my college professors would hate to see them all mixed up like this – but consider yourself warned.

  ———————————–

  God created us as relational beings; and because of this we thrive best in community. Community is the hotbed of spiritual growth and renewal, yet it is a fragile and vulnerable space for the Evil One to invade and undermine.

  In the Western world, we are seeing an attack on community (not just spiritual community) on just about every level.  There is a fierce pursuit of autonomy, self-actualization, privatization, avoidance of accountability, and a nuanced form of narcissism called “self-esteem.”  Read up on this in the foundational book Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam.  In addition, we as Americans have a heritage of distrusting institutions, traditions and especially authority.

  This blog post is not about wishing for days gone by, but about recapturing the biblical vision of covenantal community.

  Certain Christians groups emphasize either the individual, or the corporate.  Evangelicals really push their attention to the individual’s justification of self before God.  Other groups accent social justice and relevance in culture.  The dangers of irrelevant privatization on one side or mere social ethics on the other are the pits on both sides of the path.  Scripture seems to find a balance by affirming the good news of kingdom living in the present tense.  The spiritual life is both personal and social; both dependent on God and active in the world.

  God IS Community

  Scripture clearly shows God as a relational being. Even before the creation of the world God is in a pure, loving community of three (Father, Word, Spirit).  Since God made us in his likeness, we have been created for community with him and with one another.  As we make the choice to enter into that original divine relationship, we become members of a new community that is called to reflect the Godhead in its corporate unity. [youversion]John 17:22-26[/youversion] In essence, our Lord tells us, “If you love me, you will love the people I love.”

  The private/corporate polarities mentioned above are reflected on well in one of my favorite books on the topic, Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Life Together:

  “Let him who cannot be alone beware of community. He will only do harm to himself and the community…You cannot escape from yourself; for God has singled you out.  Let him who is not in community beware of being alone. Into community you were called, the call was not meant for you alone; You are never alone, even in death…If you scorn the fellowship of the brethren, you reject the call of Jesus, and thus your solitude can only be hurtful to you.”

  [youversion]Luke 6:12-19[/youversion] is an excellent text on moving from Solitude to Community to Ministry.  Jesus spent the night in solitude with God, in the morning he formed a community by inviting his disciples to follow him, then in the afternoon Jesus ministered with his disciples to the physical and spiritual needs of the crowds.  This is a path we can follow too.  Community is the bridge that connects solitude (intimacy with God) with ministry to the world.

  True community is not a collection of lonely or isolated individuals but a dynamic interaction of people who know they are accepted in Christ.  God does not call us to be” Christians at large” or “a colony of hermits” but a vital organism of others-centered people of which Christ is the head.  True solitude and true community enrich each other through their creative interplay where the horizontal meets the vertical.

  The corporate life of the body of Christ is not optional.  Its never easy, but we are impoverished without it.  Among other things, it provides:

  • relational enrichment and commitment
  • trust, love, and acceptance
  • mutual submission out of reverence for Christ
  • physical, psychological and spiritual healing
  • nourishment from the common work of listening to God’s voice together in Scripture, prayer, and life.

  Challenges to Community

  The Church has always had its manipulators, controllers, and faction builders.  Even worse, few of these people even realize the the corporate damage they inflict, and usually paint a veneer of concern for the best interests of the group.  Just look at the church in Corinth.

  In [youversion]Phil 2:3,4[/youversion], Paul recommends “Do nothing out of selfish or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”  Learning to please only Christ, the irony is that we can then find the right position to truly meet the needs of others.

  The fundamental threat to community is self-centeredness, the vital builder of community is others-centeredness rooted in Christ-centeredness.

  Hell is self-centered and isolational; heaven is others-centered and relational.  Having a corporate spirituality is costly because it asks us to go against the grain of our fallen instincts for privatization and personal control.  But Scripture reminds us that joy is only experienced in full when it is shared, and atrophies when it is hoarded.  Thomas Merton has said plainly, “We are not at peace with each other because we are not at peace with ourselves.  And we are not at peace with ourselves because we are not at peace with God.”

  The Key to Creating Community

  Surrender and self-denial in Christ is the KEY to biblical community. It is in this context we can read Augustine’s profound prayer, “Lord, your best servants are those who wish to shape their life on your answers rather than shape your answers on their wishes.”

  The Church does not exist for the individual – it is inappropriate to leave a church when it no longer “feeds you.”  Maybe its a calling from God to bring some of your own spiritual food to the potluck!

  You cannot wait for the perfect group of people to arrive to “start your church” – you must surrender your ideal of community to allow the one before you to thrive.

  So you think you really want a taste of this divine community?

  True community in Christ is not created by attempts to “make it happen;” instead, it is a by-product of others-centeredness – which comes from losing our life to seek Jesus. [youversion]Matt 16:25[/youversion] Death is the only way to resurrection.  Conversion to Christ and to the cross should in turn lead to conversion to community.  Everything you do alone in the Lord is useless without it. [youversion]1 Cor 13:1[/youversion]

  

  Godgrown » Blog Archive » Layers of Christian Community: Meso, Mark, and Michael Coghlin are discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    Michael Coghlin 1:00 pm on December 15, 2009 Permalink

    Hey Mark,

    I just started receiving the House 2 House newsletters and noticed a “Mark Willis” as one of the contributors. Combining my sharp wit with the brute force of Google (and your well-laid-out blog) I put two-and-two together to realize, “I know this guy! I sat in class with him! Wow…” I’ve recently become involved with a network of house churches in Calgary, AB.

    So, though I’m not responding to your post, I am giving you a hearty “hello, eh?” from chilly Canada. I look forward to reading more of what you’ve written.

    Grace and Peace,
    Michael

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    Mark 2:43 pm on December 15, 2009 Permalink

    How exciting man! Praise God for what he’s up to in Calgary. I’ve actually visited Calgary (and Medicine Hat) a long time ago and loved it while I was there. Hope to keep in touch with ya – do you have a blog or anything?