What do you think of when you think about changing the world?

I came to the Christian faith in the mid-1970’s in a time of gigantic optimism. Our generation would win the world for Jesus. Communism, illiteracy, and poverty would all disappear as people in the Eastern Bloc and the global south joined with us in the USA and Western Europe to accept Jesus as their savior. My generation would lead a heroic effort to give our lives in ministry and service across the street and around the world. And we would usher in the millennial reign of King Jesus.

It hasn’t quite turned out that way, has it?

There are maybe a thousand reasons why we failed to change the world…beginning with the belief we could change the world. Only Jesus can change lives. But my generation, in our hubris, thought Jesus had turned that over to us.

Not so much.

According to their 2017 book, “The Simplest Way to Change the World,” authors Dustin Willis and Brandon Clements put forward a whole new way to change the world – hospitality. The world is not changed through programmatic excellence or stellar preaching or exciting concerts. The world is changed one front-yard cookout at a time.

Phil Vischer, the creator of VeggieTales, says it this way: “I am growing increasingly convinced that if every one of these kids burning with passion to write a hit Christian song or make that hit Christian movie or start that hit Christian ministry to change the world would instead focus their passion on walking with God on a daily basis, the world would change…Because the world learns about God not by watching Christian movies, but by watching Christians.”

It is unlikely that any of us at Blooming Glen are going to transform the world all by ourselves. But everyone of us can open the door of our home and invite our friends in to experience how we walk with Jesus. It’s as simple and as hard as that.

What do you think of when you think about changing the world?

How about, “Dinner’s ready.”

Let’s go (eat with our neighbors) church,

Pastor Jeff

jeff@bgmc.net

P.S. August is a good time for coffee on Friday afternoons and breakfast on Monday mornings. Join me at the Broad Street Grind Friday, August 23 and Friday, August 30, at 3:30 pm and ask me anything that’s on your mind. Join me Monday morning, August 26, at the A&N Diner at 7:30 am and ask me anything on your mind. I’d love to hear what you are thinking about.

Dear Church:

In her book, Pursuing God’s Will Together, Ruth Haley Barton suggests there are three forms of prayer we must begin to master to discern God’s will and be present on the journey together with Jesus.

The first prayer is the prayer of quiet trust (p.42). In this form of prayer, we acknowledge our utter dependence on an utterly faithful God, and we seek to utterly trust in that utterly faithful God. We suspend the wrestling match gripping our hearts and minds and let go of the complexities of our personal questions in simple, confident acceptance. This is different from ignoring our questions and confusions – it is about releasing the questions and confusions that are seeking to choke out our faith in a faithful God. Often, the prayer of quiet trust is discovered in silence and solitude.

The second prayer we must begin to learn to discern the will of God is the prayer for indifference (p.42). This prayer is a bit like the concept of compassionate candor. We hear about “candor,” and we think it is about telling someone off. Not so. Just like compassionate candor begins with caring deeply enough so that we can challenge directly, so the prayer for indifference is not a prayer of not caring. The prayer for indifference is the action of surrendering to the will of God. Jesus in the garden on the night he was betrayed prayed the prayer for indifference (…not my will, but yours be done). This effort to will only that which God wills takes prayer that gives to God all that we are and all that we have. The prayer for indifference is the difference between quitting and yielding.

The third prayer necessary for becoming a discerning people is the prayer for wisdom (p.43). Too often my prayers for “wisdom” are prayers offered in the hope to manipulate God into agreeing with me. Surely, God knows that I know best. Without quiet trust in the utterly faithful God and indifference to our will, there will not be any wisdom forthcoming in the journey.

Our Anabaptist forebearers used the German word, “Gelassenheit” to describe this process. The word can be translated several ways: “serenity” “yieldedness” “letting be” or “submission.” Gelassenheit speaks to a condition of the soul that trusts the faithful God; that is indifferent to my need to do things my way; and is quietly seeking serenity by letting God be God.

Our Church Together effort needs this discernment of trust, indifference, and wisdom. One way we will offer growth in discernment, is to pray together on Sunday mornings in ways that focus on trusting the faithful God, being indifferent to our assumptions about what ought to be done in favor for how God directs what ought to be done, and seeking wisdom more than resolution in our prayer. Unless we pray in new ways, we won’t likely see the renewal we are hoping for in these next two years.

Let’s go pray, church!

Pastor Jeff

jeff@bgmc.net

PS Breakfast on Mondays (7:30-8:45am) at the A&N Diner and Coffee on Fridays (3:30-4:45pm) at the Broad Street Grind are opportunities for conversation. Hope to see you at one (or both) of those venues…