View from the view - thanks to the pastors

 

A letter to the shepherds of God’s people,

 

Thanks!

 

Many of you are doing it tough right now.

 

You and your family are affected by the rolling lock-downs and are tired of the daily commute to the living room, kitchen, and back yard. Perhaps you are caught up in difficult circumstances at home, your family income may have dropped and maybe you or loved ones have been a Covid contact or contract. And there is the silent grief for that family holiday or wedding, or the relatives or friends who are now just pixels in another zoom call. And the  tension around that daily press conference and the ever-changing restrictions.

 

And then there is church.

 

Like most people, you want to be physically near people, for that’s how God made us. As a pastor you want to invest in the lives of your congregation for caregiving and discipleship. You may be struggling to post a tolerable online service each week. Meanwhile ‘helpful’ members tell you about that church elsewhere that has a fantastic online programme that they and their family watch. Then there are the people who you have been trying to draw in from the margins and who just drift off. And there are the older saints, as loyal as superglue, but whose underlying health makes them loathe to venture out to church again.  There’s another church meeting tonight, but you feel like a zoombie at 10am. Oh – the treasurer called to say that income is a Covid casualty and the accounts are threadbare. Ruefully, you look at your ministry planner and see all those initiatives that were an integral part of the five-year plan – and with a sigh you hit ‘delete’.

 

You knew ministry was tough but weren’t ready to be a fireman or a punching bag. This family that has suddenly exploded over differing views on vaccination. That member who is paralysed by conspiracy theories read on the internet. The year 12 and final year uni students, couples with wedding plans, forthcoming retirees – all these people in various transitions that are now as uncertain as tomorrow’s Covid numbers. The bereaved family wanting a funeral. All around you, people who are angry, fearful, and suspicious and who transfer that to you in various ways.

 

Thank you!

 

Thank you for persisting in ministry. Thank you for the tiring phone calls to catch up with us. Thank you for the deliveries of food and treats to needy people paid from your own pocket. Thank you for praying for us. And thank you for lifting our hearts to the big horizons of God who knows what’s going on before it happens, who is all good and all faithful and who continues to reconcile all things in Christ.

 

Want a word of advice? (Feel free to say ‘no’.)

 

Look after yourself and be kind to yourself and your family. You too are a finite, flawed and needy creature. Eat and drink healthy – and enjoy an occasional treat. Get out to dig the garden, play with the kids, take that walk or run. And especially, hit God’s gym to use the means of grace as you linger in the word, in prayer and in music that sings the Lord’s word into your heart. Please do all this so you stay well and so you have reserve capacity to be God’s fireman and punching bag as we dump our problems on you.

 

Thank you for loving God and his people through these times.

Preaching and teaching

 

Teaching and preaching

 

For the last week and the next two weeks I am teaching a class on weekdays. I sit in front of a camera and the students sit in another building in front of the screen.

 

Today, Sunday, I am preaching. I sit in front of a camera and my hearers sit in other buildings in front of their screens.

 

Monday to Friday we open our Bibles, pray and I talk. Today we open our Bibles, pray and I talk.

 

So what’s the difference?

 

On Monday to Friday there is difference in methodology. I talk to the students, they talk to me and they talk with one another. They work in small groups and individually to produce oral assignments that testify to, express and cement their learning.

 

The Monday to Friday class involves 40 hours of teaching over some weeks. Preaching has a different time frame and is more a one-way communication.

 

My teaching is of a unit of Scripture, and so is the preaching – and so the content is common.

 

A key difference between my preaching and teaching is in the emphasis among outcomes. Both preaching and teaching have goals of head learning, attitudinal change and change in actions. This is the ABC of education: Affective, Cognitive and Behavioural learning. To paraphrase Kant, teaching without actions is empty and preaching without content is empty.

 

As I say the difference is of emphasis in outcomes. If the students in my class emerge with more knowledge of the contents of this part of the Bible and increased skills in using it in ministry to themselves and others, then my work is considered well done. It’s different in preaching. The cognitive content in my preaching is a means to an end – I long to see lives changed as attitudes are transformed under the Spirit-illumined word and I want those changed attitudes to manifest in changed actions.

 

The different emphasis among goals informs my prayers and preparation. For teaching, I use the educator’s various arts. My prayer is for faithfulness and clarity in what I say, the ability to teach in ways that connect and for the students to build their knowledge and cognitive skills. When preaching I pray for faithfulness, clarity and connection in my words and that my life gives them integrity. My prayer is that God is present through his Spirit to break down defences, soften the hardness of heart and turn unbelievers into believers, believers into followers and followers into gospel servants.

 

Teaching are preaching are not so close as to be identical and not so different as to be antithetical.

 

A prayer on starting to read the prophet Joel

 

A prayer, on starting to read the prophet Joel.

Lord, I thank you for this book to which I turn today.

I read very different views about exactly what part of OT history it belongs to and so I guess that I must live with that unresolved.

I do know that it has the usual big prophetic themes of your judgement and salvation which lie at the heart of the eternal gospel. So, help me hear the warnings of judgement and not imagine that I am exempt if I prove to be a covenant breaker. But let me also hear the promise of your generous salvation for those who heed the call to ‘cry out to the Lord’, (Jl 1:14), ‘tremble’ (2:1) and ‘return to you will all your heart . for he is gracious and merciful’ (2:12-13) that ‘you shall know that I am the Lord your God’ (3:17)

What I also know is this book was shaped as you carried men along by your Spirit (2 Pet 1:20-21), that it is all-inspired and all-useful to teach, train, correct and rebuke so that I might be fully formed for you (2 Tim 3:15-17).

 So please help me approach this book with the humility that this is your word, that came to Joel, and which speaks into my life now. Please send your Spirit to illuminate me so that I can understand your word and it transform me in this day when your Spirit has been poured on all flesh (2:28; 1 Cor 2:6-16).

Amen

 

 

 

 

Re-thinking ordination

 

Re-thinking ordination

 

Back in the 1970s many of us learned to be suspicious of ordination and all that went with it. The spectacle of some leaders being given special status among the people of God seemed contrary to the essential equality of all people in creation, fall and redemption. When accompanied by the wearing of special clergy robes and designation as “Rev” and then the clambering for such giddy titles as “Right Rev.” and “Very Rev.”, the whole ordination thing seemed reminiscent of Matt 23:1-12.

 

However, maybe all these problems were products of the particular construction of ordination in an era when a liturgical movement had swept the church. That construction separated ordained clergy from the people of God and from the eldership. Clergy were placed on a pedestal (with all its perils), the eldership was diminished (with all its perils) and the people of God were left behind in this hierarchical understanding of church (a tragedy).

 

The presently rising pattern of non-ordained persons being entrusted with significant pastoral ministries in our churches may be a reaction against the abuse of ordination as noted above. However, is it time for another look at ordination?

 

Maybe it is time again to value ordination as an orderly process to test, affirm and recognise those people who are called by God and the church to pastoral ministry.

 

* 1 Timothy bear witness to such an orderly process. Hence:

·      * 1 Tim 2:7 on Paul’s appointment as a preacher, apostle and teacher;

·      * 1 Tim 3:1-13 on the criteria of character and gifting applicable to church leaders;

·      * 1 Tim 4:6 on the value of training in the ‘words of the faith’ and ‘doctrine’;

·      * 1 Tim 4:13 on the key word ministries to be undertaken by leader;

·  * 1 Tim 4:14 on the recognition of the role of the ‘council of elders’ (πρεσβυτέριον) in recognising gifts of ministry (see also 2 Tim 1:6b);

·      * 1 Tim 6:2 on expected standards for the content of teaching by church leaders.

 

The context of 1 Timothy is relevant to this discussion. Paul had left Timothy in Ephesus to continue his own ministry elsewhere (1 Tim 1:3). This was an apostolic delegation which many see as part of the transition from the extraordinary and time-bound office of apostle to the more enduring office of pastor or shepherd. We do know that Timothy had been well-reared in the faith by his maternal ancestors (2 Tim 1:5; 3:14). However, he was also young, subject to youthful passions (2 Tim 2:22), possibly subject to self-doubt (2 Tim 1:7) and open to dismissive treatment because of his youth (2 Tim 4:12).

 

The ordination process in Australian Presbyterian churches involves several steps over an extended time.

·      * Interview and recommendation by the applicant’s home church Session;

·     *  Interview and recommendation by the applicant’s regional Presbytery;

·      * Psychological assessment by a trained professional;

·      * Interview with the Candidate’s Review Panel;

·     * Annual review and reporting by the theological college where the student trains;

·     *  Annual interview and review by the regional presbytery;

·      * Trials for license by the regional presbytery;

·  * Review by a congregation or church agency when issuing a Call of Appointment;

·      * Review by the ordaining presbytery.

 

Put together, this adds up to review by two levels of church courts (Session and Presbytery) and up to 15 separate reviews over a four-year period. This process will not necessarily filter out all unsuitable persons and there have been some tragedies of unsuitable people being ordained over the years. Such tragedies affects the individuals, their families, and the churches that they serve.  However, the extended scrutiny around ordination surely provides a better alternative to the much leaner process of review when a local church and its presbytery entrust pastoral ministry to a somewhat untested person.

 

Back to Timothy. The recognition and affirmation of Timothy by Paul and the council of elders was important as testimony both to him and to the church as to his suitability for ministry.

 

Likewise for the modern pastor.

 

The fact that the laying of hands in ordination was not rushed (1 Tim 5:22) is a reassurance to the pastor in those many dark moments when he doubts his calling and reaches for the ‘positions vacant’ section of the Saturday paper. The extended scrutiny by others is an external testimony to his vocation as pastor and an encouragement to persist through the dark moments. The fact of ordination also commends him to other churches when it is time to move to a new ministry. 

 

Furthermore, ordination gives reassurance to the church that receives a somewhat unknown pastor who may be young enough to be the grandson of church members. The fact that he has been carefully scrutinised by reputable bodies over an extended period commends his ministry and encourages the new church to give him the benefit of the doubt.

 

By all means let’s scrap the titles, robes and assumed status that can be implied by the traditional construct of ordination. Equally, let’s locate the work of pastor within the eldership rather than as a separate order and let’s recognise the gifting and service of the whole people of God. However, let’s not lightly dismiss the value of orderly processes to test and affirm those called to pastoral ministry.

 

Of course, the same applies to all roles in church service. The youth leader, small group leader or teacher of children all need processes of testing, training and affirmation before being appointed to their roles. However, the high potential of pastoral leaders to do good or harm demands that they receive particular scrutiny before their ministry is recognised.

 

Maybe ordination is a good thing after all.

- David Burke was almost refused ordination in 1979 because of his views on clergy titles and robes.

 

Reproduced from Australian Presbyterian: https://ap.org.au/2021/06/08/re-thinking-ordination/

The royal death - a Prince has fallen

 

The royal death - a prince has fallen

 

For him,

No lowered flags,

sombre bells or muffled drums.

No tributes from dignitaries near and far,

broadcast specials or royal sepulchre.

 

Just,

A crown of thorns,

A spear in his side.

The father turned his face aside

While soldiers mocked and cast their lots,

 

A last breath,

He cries: ‘it is finished’ and

‘Into your hands I commit my spirit’

And, as in the beginning,

darkness and silence befell the earth.

 

And then,

A furtive burial - a borrowed tomb,

Just some women to mark the spot.

While church and state praised themselves,

‘Another troublemaker hits the dust’.

 

But then,

These bones could not turn to dust,

buried beside royals gone past.

His thorns our crown.

His tomb, our womb.

 

One Prince,

Fallen to rise no more,

Carried to his grave by they that mourn.

Another, to rise that glad morn

And ride on, ride on, in majesty.

On being a victim

 

Being a victim

 

Day by day the list of people identified as victims seems to grow. The latest one is reported in a recent news article: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-19/who-finds-billions-suffer-from-ageism/100016688. So that’s victims based on race, gender, sexual orientation (dis)ability, cultural and religious background, injustice, violence and now age. Doubtless the list could be added to and will be added to.

 

Is any of us not a victim? Even for a white-skinned, educated male like me who grew up in a stable family and who has  suffered little during a largely untroubled life, I’m sure there’s an area of victimisation somewhere – even if it’s only the oncoming process of ageing or the general condition of being a fallen person in a fallen world.

 

To say this is not to belittle suffering or the harsh realities of those who, amidst the general fallen condition of humanity, have particular suffering, prejudice and discrimination because of who they are. These are real realities. They hurt. They matter. As we are each able, we should join the struggle to minimise such particular suffering and help care for those who are its victims. And we should examine ourselves and take responsibility for any ways in which we make others victim.

 

Instances abound of people who refuse to be defined by their victim-hood. I think of two friends with profound but different physical disabilities which have a range of other limiting effects. Both have striven to do work-around for the disability and lead flourishing lives. One even expresses thankfulness for his disability, saying that it has opened realities for him that otherwise he would have missed. I think of another with a perplexing mental illness but who could see how it opened marvellous creative capacities in her life.

 

The apostle Paul had reasons to claim status as a victim. Because he changed religion, he became an outsider to his cultural community and attracted unwanted attention from law-enforcement agencies. He lists and ‘boasts’ of all this in 2 Cor. 11:23-28. Yet more was to be added to this list before he died for his religious beliefs.

 

Yet Paul refuses to be defined as a victim. And so, he writes:

 

¹¹ Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. ¹² I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. ¹³ I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Phil 4:11-13.

 

For Paul, it’s a choice to be contented, whatever the circumstances. Even from a prison cell imposed by an unjust process, he looks to flourish (Phil 1:12-18. See also Acts 16:19-25). Behind that, lies his confidence that whatever nasty things life throws at us, God is always working for the good of his people and nothing can separate them form God’s love (Rom 8:28-30).

 

So, there’s the choice. We can rail against the unfairness of our victimhood and be defined by it in limiting and possibly harmful ways, or we can accept our circumstances, choose contentment and flourish as we can and where we are.

 

Victimhood or victoriousness?

 

The risky business of foreign missions

 

The risky business of foreign missions

 

Some years back a major global missionary society held a conference of its research group. Just before morning tea one day it was announced that the following session would be on “Managing risk in missions” and would be led by someone from the finance department. You could hear expectations thud to the floor – ‘an accountant talking about risk’.

 

The session started as expected. An accountant-looking person ran through the many risks linked to mission work: health, education of children, financial shortfall, kidnapping, banishment, death and more. He spoke realistically about these issues and outlined some prudent risk management measures. He paused: ‘let me now tell you about the greatest risk in missions’. Everyone was listening. ‘Our greatest risk is that we are so risk averse that we go off mission and the people of this region do not hear about Jesus.’ He then reminded the group of the society’s mission statement and pointed out that the more they remained on mission the more they were in the territory of risk. This was because their key mission was to change the long-held world views and belief systems of the peoples that hosted them. Their danger was that they would become so skilled in risk minimisation that they went off mission.  

 

What use is a missionary society that has lost its mission and been domesticated to avoid risk?

 

Similar issues still arise in missionary work.

 

The recent World Watch list by Open Doors lists the most dangerous places to be a Christian (https://www.opendoors.org.au/assets/WWL-Report.pdf). This is a grim reminder that just to be a Christian in many places is dangerous, let alone to be a readily identifiable foreign national doing outreach work. To go anytime is to be at risk.

 

The present global Covid-19 outbreak raises further issues. It may be far safer for the missionary to say in their home country, even in the more Covid-affected nations of the west, than to go to a country with poor infection control, slower vaccination rates and a compromised health system. To go now is to be at risk.

 

Yet still the missionaries will go. To some their going will seem foolish, reckless, a dangerous disregard for circumstances and a lack of concern for others.

 

 So why will they still go and go now?

 

It is not because they are foolhardy, or blind to facts or have a wish to be martyred.

 

It is because they know the truth of the saying of Jim Elliot whose death anniversary was marked this week: He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.

 

They also know the word of him who said: For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it (Matt 10:39).

Que Sera, Sera – a song for 2021?

 

Que Sera, Sera – a song for 2021?

 

Que sera sera was popularised in a 1956 film song (www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZbKHDPPrrc).

 

The que sera sera saying is commonly translated ‘what will be will be’. Wikipedia reports that the phrase only appears in English language sources (although it is widely translated into other languages) and tracks its first recorded appearance in 16^th century British usage on a church plaque, in a family motto and in Marlowe’s play Doctor Faustus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Que_Sera,_Sera).

 

At its heart the saying embodies an attitude to life that can be linked to stoic resignation (not to be equated with Greek Stoic philosophy). “It is what it is” is a presently popular saying embodying the same attitude. Likewise, with the prayer used in some self-help programmes: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” The que sera sera attitude takes many forms in many cultures globally.

 

This is an attitude that accepts life as it is without emotion – just grin and bear it. As the world starts 2021 with a fearful anxiety about resurgent Covid-19, the song seems to offer a measure of comfort.

At one level, it embodies a healthy attitude. The person who accepts and deals with the reality that is in front of them may find that they have a helpful coping mechanism before life’s challenges. Rather than rail against circumstances in a futile effort to change them, or collapse into despair or escapism, the que sera attitude enables people to accept things as they are and focus on adjusting to them. There is much to be said for this. My late Chinese godmother drew comfort and a coping mechanism from this kind of attitude (and the song) in her life which was accompanied by much hardship from difficult circumstances.

At another level, the saying seems to align with the Bible’s words about contentment. Consider these words from Paul: I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want (Phil 4:11 – NIV). These words are remarkable considering the suffering which he voluntarily endured in the service of the gospel. See his summary in 2 Cor 11:23-28. For decades I wondered what Paul’s secret of contentment was … what was the thing that enabled him to be content in any circumstance? Eventually the answer was clear – the secret is to be content. This enables the believer to find peace in even the most appalling circumstances. It mirrors the attitude of Christ, who faced with the dread agony of his coming crucifixion, could pray ‘your will, not mine be done’ (Lke 22:42) and show other-centered generosity in his final hour (eg,  Lke 23:34, 43 & Jn 19:25-27)

Back to que sera sera. Is this the same as Christian contentment? In its bare form, que sera sera appears to be a variety of fatalism. The view behind it seems to be that life and events move in ways that impose unchanging and unchangeable circumstances on people and our best response is one of acceptance and resignation. It’s a view of the universe as a relentless and impersonal place in which humans are acted upon rather than acting. Such views are found in Islam, in classic Deism and in mechanistic cosmologies. In Christian terms, this is represented by theologies that reduce the creator to an unmoved mover who is not only impassable, but who is without emotion and who does not answer his people’s prayers.

 

These are not Christian views.

 

The Christian faith sees the universe as the creation of a personal and loving God who remains providentially involved in his creation (eg, Matt 6:25-30). He hears and answers prayers (eg, Mat 7:7-8). He made people to be responsible actors in the universe on his behalf rather than just the objects of its actions. Hence his commands to rule .. fill .. subdue …work and care … name other species and such like (Gen 1:26-29; 2:18, 19-20). So, on the various counts of the nature of the universe and the nature of people, and prayer, que sera sera rests on sub-Christian assumptions.

 

As noted, Paul’s teaching on contentment overlaps with que sera sera. The Scriptures also show an anguished refusal to be content with things that are wrong and an earnest concern that they become different. And so, the anger of Jesus when his father’s temple was corrupted (Mrk 12:15-17) , or Paul’s anguish for his personal spiritual state (eg, Phil 3:8-14) or for his fellow Jews to change their religious loyalty (eg, Rom 9:1-3; 10:1). The Christian should not be content to accept circumstances as they are when those are the circumstances of a fallen world in which the Lord’s name is dishonoured, in which vulnerable people suffer through the sins of others and in which God’s good creation is marred by human greed and selfishness.

 

So, whatever surface comfort que sera sera appears to offer, it is ultimately sub-Christian in its view of the universe, of people, and of human responsibilities and potential.

 

Here is a better song for the new year.

 

God moves in a mysterious way
  His wonders to perform:
He plants His footsteps in the sea,
  And rides upon the storm.

 

Deep in unfathomable mines
  Of never-failing skill,
He treasures up His bright designs,
  And works His sovereign will.

 

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
  The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
  In blessings on your head.

 

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
  But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
  He hides a smiling face.

 

His purposes will ripen fast,
  Unfolding every hour:
The bud may have a bitter taste,
  But sweet will be the flower.

 

Blind unbelief is sure to err,
  And scan His work in vain;
God is His own Interpreter,
  And He will make it plain.

(William Cowper, 1773).