Palm Sunday: A Service of Lessons and Prayers

For this Palm Sunday, we took a different approach. We combined elements of the Liturgy of the Palms about the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, with elements of the Liturgy of the Passion. This enabled us to move from the joyous crowds which greeted Jesus on his entry into Jerusalem, to the vengeful crowd that cried, “Crucify him!”

We took this approach because many in our congregation will not attend a Maundy Thursday or Good Friday service. If they attended a joyful Palm Sunday service, and then a celebratory Easter service, they might miss the events of Good Friday and the drama surrounding the crucifixion. To solve this problem, here’s what we did:

1. For our first reading early in the service, we read the Gospel story of the triumphal entry into Jersusalem, from Matthew 21:1-11.

2. We sang appropriate Palm Sunday hymns of celebration including All Glory, Laud and Honor, and Hosanna.

3. During our children’s time, the children heard the story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. Then, they distributed palm fronds to each person in our congregation. When everyone had a palm frond, the entire congregation waved their palm branches and said in unison, “Praise God for the Son of David! Bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Praise God to highest heaven!” (Matthew 21:9 – NLT). It was a little chaotic, but then the first Palm Sunday probably was a little chaotic, too.

4. Our organist provided a musical transition from the Palm Sunday celebration to the events after Jesus’ Passover meal with the disciples.

5. During the time alloted for the sermon, I read the following scripture lessons from the Liturgy of the Passion. Because the entire narrative moves from scene to scene, I separated each scene with a corporate prayer of confession. After I read each passage, I then invited the congregation to pray with me the prayer of confession. Here’s the sequence:

Palm Sunday Liturgy of the Passion

Reading: Matthew 26:14-30 — The Last Supper

All: Lord, we confess that just like Judas we have come to your table with thoughts of betraying you in our hearts. Like Judas, we have taken the bread from you hand and the cup from your table while harboring doubts about you and your teaching. Forgive us, O Lord, for this spirit of betrayal that presumes we know more about your Kingdom than you. Amen.

Reading: Matthew 26:31-56 — The Garden of Gethsamene

All: Lord, we confess that when you struggled in agony, we slept in apathy. When they came to arrest you, we betrayed your teaching by fighting back, and then abandoned you in your hour of need. When they accused us of being your disciples we denied ever knowing you. And when the cock crowed, we wept over our own failure to be faithful. Forgive us, O Lord, for our apathy, our fear, and our faithlessness. Amen.

Reading: Matthew 27:1-26 — Jesus Before Pilate

All: Lord, we confess that like the crowd gathered before Pilate, we have chosen Barabbas instead of you. Like the crowd that day, when Pilate asked, “What shall I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” — we have answered, “Crucify him!” Forgive us for our failure to choose you and the freedom you offer. Amen.

Reading: Matthew 27:27-66 — The Crucifixion and Burial of Jesus

All: Lord, we confess that we see ourselves in the faces of the Roman soldiers who nailed you to the cross; we hear ourselves taunting you as you hang silently before us; and, we feel the bitterness of one thief and the contrition of the other. May we be counted among those who, in great sorrow, lovingly laid you to rest in the garden tomb, hopefully waiting for God’s salvation. Amen.

I wrote the prayers of confession, so feel free to edit them for your use.

6. After the readings and prayers, our choir sang the anthem, The Hour Has Come, which was a solemn and powerful account of the last days in Jesus’ life.

7. When the anthem ended, the congregation left the sanctuary in silence, with a solemn organ postlude played during their exit. We included this note in the bulletin:

“In the tradition of the Liturgy of the Passion, there will be no benediction after the choral anthem. Please leave the sanctuary in silence as we contemplate the death and burial of Christ, and wait in hope for God’s salvation.”

Many people commented on how powerful and meaningful the service was for them. While it was hard for me to resist preaching on Palm Sunday, the narrative of the events of the last week in the life of Christ needs no explanation.

However you choose to celebrate and commemorate the events of Palm Sunday through Good Friday, give careful attention to including them all, including the betrayals, the trials, the mocking, and the crucifixion. The glory of the resurrection shines brightest when celebrated against the backdrop of evil, suffering, and death.

Sermon: Telling The Good News

Here’s the sermon I’m preaching tomorrow titled, Telling The Good News. I’ve got a terrible cold or allergies or something, so I hope your day is better than mine appears, if I don’t improve!

Telling the Good News
Luke 24:44-53

⁴⁴He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”⁴⁵Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. ⁴⁶He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, ⁴⁷and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. ⁴⁸You are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

⁵⁰When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. ⁵¹While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. ⁵²Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. ⁵³And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.

The Descension

Did you see the CNN story this week about the guy in China who was threatening to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge?  A Chinese man, named Chen Fuchao, was despondent over a 2-million yuan (about $294,000) debt that he had incurred over a failed building project.  He climbed up on the Haizhu bridge, threatening to jump.  Apparently this bridge is quite attractive to jumpers because since April, 11 people have thrown themselves off the bridge.

On this particular day, Mr. Chen had tied up traffic for 5-hours and it was more than Mr. Lian Jianghsheng could stand.  At 66-years-of-age, Mr. Lian approached police and offered to negotiate with Mr. Chen.  The police declined his offer, but Mr. Lian burst through the police line and climbed up on the bridge where Mr. Chen was poised.

Photographs show Mr. Lian greeting Mr. Chen with a handshake. But then, Mr. Lian threw Mr. Chen off the bridge.  Fortunately, a partially-inflated emergency landing cushion was positioned below — one wonders why it wasn’t completely inflated — and Mr. Chen hit the cushion, doing damage to his spine and elbow.  He is recovering in the hospital.

Mr. Lian then saluted the crowd from the bridge and climbed back down, only to be taken into custody by police.

CNN reported Mr. Lian said, “I pushed him off because jumpers like Chen are very selfish. Their action violates a lot of public interest,” Lian told Xinhua. “They do not really dare to kill themselves. Instead, they just want to raise the relevant government authorities’ attention to their appeals.”

I assume Mr. Lian will not be receiving the Humanitarian of the Year Award this year.

Or, did you hear this story about a woman in Taiwan — why are both of these stories about Chinese? — who was so distraught over her husband’s unfaithfulness that she contemplated both suicide and murder.  She decided on suicide, and flung herself without looking out an open window of her apartment several stories above the sidewalk.

Amazingly, she landed on her husband, killing him instantly.  She sustained only minor injuries.  Authorities could not prosecute her because her husband was killed accidentally.

So, two stories of people descending rather dramatically, which are both amusing, but understandable.  But what we have here in the gospel of Luke is an amazing story unlike any we’ve ever heard before.

Ascension Sunday

This is Ascension Sunday in the calendar of the Christian Year.  We have almost come to the end of the story of God at work in this world, again.  We started last November, after Thanksgiving, with Advent — looking for the coming of the Messiah.

We moved through the four Sundays of Advent into Christmastide with the celebration of Jesus’ birth and incarnation on the Feast of Christmas.

Then, Epiphany — the appearing — came along.  Then, Lent.  Then Easter.  And we have been in Eastertide since then.

But today is Ascension Sunday, the pivotal Sunday between the season of Easter and the appearances of Christ after the resurrection, and Pentecost.  Pentecost is next Sunday and marks the birthday of the church with the coming of the Holy Spirit to indwell and empower the apostles.

Jesus has now been risen some 40-days — isn’t it amazing how often the number 40 appears in Scripture?  This is the same amount of time that Jesus spent in the desert at the beginning of his ministry.  It’s also the same amount of time Rick Warren suggested to go through his book, The Purpose-Driven Life, but he actually takes the 40-day idea from scripture, too.

But now Jesus is about to leave the disciples.  They thought they had lost him at the crucifixion, but then came the resurrection.  So now, they must be a little confused.

“Is Jesus really leaving us, again?” they must have asked one another.  Jesus must have sensed their puzzlement because here in these last moments with the disciples, he takes them quickly through a crash course in theology.

It’s In The Book

The first thing he says to them in this last meeting is —

“This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

Of course, at this point there is no New Testament.  The only scripture the disciples or Jesus knew was the Hebrew Scripture, which we call the Old Testament.  So here’s a major point Jesus wants to leave his disciples thinking about —

Scripture tells the story of God’s Messiah.

Jesus said, “Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms.”

Which tells us two things:

1. The Old Testament has a lot to say about the Messiah; and,
2. It all came true in Jesus.

Remember the story of the transfiguration of Jesus?  Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up on the mountain.  There they see Jesus glowing like the sun, and he is joined by Moses and Elijah.  Moses represents the Law, the Torah, the Law of God.  Elijah represents the prophets.  Curiously, both of these men did not die like almost everybody else.  Moses dies at the end of Genesis and the scripture tells us that God buried Moses, and that no one knows where his grave is to this day.  Elijah was taken up into heaven in a fiery chariot.

But guess what Jesus, Moses, and Elijah are talking about.  Jesus’ impending death.  I think the King James version says “his demise” but that means Jesus’ death.  That death by hanging on a tree, which was a cursed thing in the Hebrew culture.

So, the first thing that Jesus reminds his disciples right before he leaves them is — Scripture tells my story.

Jesus Opens Their Minds

Then Luke tells us, ⁴⁵Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.

This was exactly the same thing he had done with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.  He helped them understand what Scripture said about the Messiah, and why all of those prophecies and descriptions were about him, Jesus.

You remember the story of these two disciples, recorded by Luke only a few verses before our text today.  The two of them, Cleopas was the name of one, were walking away from Jerusalem to Emmaus.  They were downcast, discouraged, and as they walked a stranger joins them and asks why they look so sad.

Their reply is “are you the only one around here who hasn’t heard the story of Jesus?  they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. ²⁰The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; ²¹but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. ²²In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning ²³but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. ²⁴Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”

Then Jesus gently chides them for their unbelief, and begins to explain the story of the Messiah to them.  As they walk and listen, they come to the home where they are staying.  Jesus acts as if he is going on down the road, but they invite him in for dinner.  It is as he breaks the bread and blesses it that they recognize him, and then he is gone from their presence.

They asked each other — “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

So, Jesus helps them, and us, understand the scripture that talks about the messiah, and that he is that promised savior.

Not Everybody Understands Scripture Like Jesus Taught Us

So, what does that have to do with us today?  I’ve just finished reading an interesting book, Jesus, Interrupted, by Bart Ehrman.  Dr. Ehrman teaches at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.  He teaches religious studies.  And, he used to be just like us — a Bible-believing follower of Jesus.  He loved the Bible so much that he wanted to teach Bible.

So, he went to Moody Bible College, and Wheaton College, both academic powerhouses for conservative, Bible-believing young people to receive training for ministry.  But, then Ehrman went on to Princeton Seminary where he encountered a very different view of the Bible.

Rather than embracing the Bible as the Word of God, or a guide for Christian living, Princeton introduced Bart Ehrman to a scholarly approach to scripture called “higher criticism.”  Higher criticism is an approach to understanding scripture that looks at the cultural, linguistic, stylistic, and historic clues found in the ancient manuscripts.

Of course, there are no original manuscripts of any book of the Bible, much less the whole Bible itself, but higher criticism dissects the form and content of what we call sacred scripture looking for its origins and its flaws.

When he came out of Princeton, Ehrman was no longer a Bible-believing, conservative Christian.  He was an agnostic — someone who doesn’t know if God exists or not.  Ehrman says the he became a “happy agnostic,” not because of his biblical studies, but because of the problem of evil and suffering in the world.  He can’t figure out how a good God can allow bad things to happen.  That is a topic for another time, but that’s his story.

In his latest book, Jesus, Interrupted, Ehrman says — are you ready? — the following:

• Most of the New Testament books are forgeries;
• Few of the sayings of Jesus are things Jesus actually said;
• The three different gospels contradict themselves, so one or more are in error;
• The disciples couldn’t have written the New Testament because they were ignorant fishermen, or ignorant tax collectors, or ignorant whatevers.

And, that’s only part of what he says.  You should read the entire book and read all the technical stuff he throws out.

“Why did you read a book like that?” you might ask.  Well, I wanted to see what he had to say.  I wanted to see what the competition was all about.  I read it for the same reason I read John Allen Paulos’ book, Irreligion, a couple of years ago.  Those of us who believe need to know what those who do not believe are thinking.

Now, I am not equipped academically to take on a guy like Dr. Bart Ehrman.  He knows stuff I will never know, and that’s as it should be.  He’s a specialist in his field and apparently a well-respected academic. But, that doesn’t mean I can’t answer some of his objections, and disagree with this final conclusion that the Bible is a totally human book, full of errors and contradictions.

Let me just address one point:  Ehrman says the disciples were ignorant fisherman, which Peter, Andrew, James and John were.  We have books in the New Testament purportedly written by Peter and John.  And, we have a Gospel, the earliest one, written by a protege of Peter’s named Mark.  Ehrman says that ignorant fishermen could not have learned the literary Greek of their day, and then penned these masterful letters and gospels.

What Ehrman fails to tell his readers is that many people employed a person called an amanuensis, basically a stenographer, who recorded their thoughts in clear and correct Greek for business and correspondence.   We know Paul employed an amanuensis because at one point, Paul says, I’m writing this with my own hand, indicating that the previous lines were written by his secretary, his amanuensis, as he dictated.  But, that’s one of Ehrman’s major points.

But, when it comes to Ehrman’s comparing of one manuscript fragment to another, I must admit I am lost.  Debbie and I had the opportunity to see the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit when it came to Raleigh several months ago, and we did not see a single complete scroll.  All we saw were about a half-dozen fragments about the size of a quarter to a half-dollar.  That’s it.  Manuscript study is like working a giant jigsaw puzzle with no box cover for guidance.

So, the Dead Sea Scrolls have been under study since 1948, and not even a fraction of the scholarship is complete.  So, while I can’t dispute Ehrman’s argument about scrolls, manuscripts, and fragments, I take great confidence in this —

The books of the Bible which we consider sacred are the same ones considered sacred from about the second century A.D. and after.  The entire New Testament canon of books was not even finished until almost the end of the first century, so beginning a little more than 70-years after Christ, the early church fathers were listing the same books we call our Bible today.

Actually, Bart Ehrman admits this in a sort of grudging way.  He refers to a document discovered in Italy in the 8th century by L. A. Muratori, known as the Muratorian Canon.  This document is a poor Latin translation from a Greek document believed to be from the 2nd century which lists all 22 of the 27 books of the New Testament.  It probably listed more, but the top of the document was torn off, and it began by calling the Gospel of Luke “the third Gospel.”  Which it still is.  The list does include some books we no longer consider “canonical” or belonging to sacred scripture, but that wasn’t unusual either.  The main point is that by the second century, at least 22 of the current 27 New Testament books were already considered sacred scripture by the early church.

While I am not afraid of scholastic inquiry into the origins, form, language, or history of the Bible, the point of Scripture is to tell God’s story.  If in the second century the earliest church leaders considered the accounts we have to be reliable, and holy, then I can accept that, despite the approach of science that takes a completely different view of sacred texts.

Let me state this simply:  We do still need Jesus to open our minds to understand that the Bible tells his story.

It’s Our Story to Tell, Too

But, Jesus doesn’t just leave the disciples with this new spiritual insight.  He tells them “You are witnesses of these things.”

Now it’s their turn to tell the story.  They saw it, they lived it, they heard it, they experienced it.  They are witnesses.  But Jesus makes them one final, but very important promise — wait for the power from on high.

While at The Cove two weeks ago, we heard the professor of preaching from Samford’s Beeson Divinity School — Dr. Robert Smith.  Dr. Smith preached about Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, and said some memorable things.  Dr. Smith is African-American, and he pointed out that the Ethiopian eunuch — a servant of the Queen of Ethiopia — was riding, while the apostle Philip was walking.  He also pointed out that the Ethiopian could read, but he needed someone to help him understand the scroll he was reading.  In my white, American perspective,  those were two points I had missed.  But, he also said some interesting things about the church.

One of the things he talked about, and he covered a lot of ground, was the need for the power of the Holy Spirit.  He said, “If every reference to the Holy Spirit were removed from the Bible, we would still try to do church.”

In addressing the increasing pattern of churches giving to missions rather than engaging in missions, he said, “There are some things that aren’t going to happen just because you can write a big check.”

So, this is our story to tell.  We are witnesses.  Maybe we are not witnesses of the same events that the apostles witnesses, but we are witnesses of the same experience they had.  The experience of Jesus opening our minds to understand scripture.  To understand that when Jesus said,

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that meant Jesus.

When Jesus said,
That whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life, that means us.

It was then, and only then, that Jesus ascended into heaven.  Scripture tells his story; the disciples witnessed his story; we have experienced his story.  Now we need that power from on high, the Holy Spirit, to equip, empower, and embolden us to tell the story.

And, how did they tell it?  The same way Jesus did — they healed people, they loved people, they made friends for God, they preached the good news, they lived the gospel, they bore hardship, suffered opposition, endured persecution, but still they told the story that had changed their lives.  That’s what we are to do now.  We are witnesses, too.  We are telling the good news by the way we live, the values we hold, the difference we make in the lives of others.

‘Jesus, Interrupted’ Neither Offends Nor Convinces

When I made the announcement a couple of weeks ago that I would only review books I had purchased myself, I forgot I had one more review copy on the way — Bart Ehrman’s Jesus, Interrupted.   But, to keep faith with my promise, I am donating the Amazon price of $17.15 to a local missions project to repair fire damage to a home just outside Chatham.  Now, on to the book.

Ehrman teaches religious studies at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, about an hour’s drive from our town.  In the book’s introduction, Ehrman tells the story of leaving his conservative evangelical upbringing, ala Wheaton and Moody Bible College, when he came face to face with the historical critical method at Princeton University.  At that point, Ehrman is not unlike other seminarians who have moved from a devotional view of the Bible to a more detached, scholarly viewpoint.

Ehrman identifies himself currently as an agnostic because he cannot come to grips with the problem of suffering and pain in this world.  Again, not a big surprise as one of the age-old questions is the problem of evil.

But, Ehrman is not content to leave the great gulf between the academic world and the local church unbridged.  He comments more than once in this book, “But most people in the street, and in the pew, have heard none of this before.”  This being the finding of the school of historical criticism.  It seems to be Ehrman’s mission to right this egregious wrong in his newest book titled, Jesus, Interrupted.

For those of us who are familiar with the historical critical method, there is not much new here to get excited about.  Ehrman contends —

1. That each book of the New Testament should be allowed to speak for itself.
2. That some books and accounts contradict others.
3. That ascriptions of authorship are not reliable.
4. That the Bible is replete with errors and contradictions.
5. That Jesus may have been an historical person, but his legend has been reinvented by followers.

Okay, that’s a lot to deal with, but let’s get started.  For Ehrman the differences in the Gospel accounts and the different emphasis of each Gospel is a big problem.  For him, these differences are not just differences of points of view or emphasis, but huge contradictions with massive amounts of editing, redaction, and other manuscript chicanery.  Then, after saying all of that, he wonders why pastors don’t tell their flocks that the Bible is basically a totally-human, error-ridden fabrication.  It’s obvious that he’s not a pastor.

When it comes to Jesus, Ehrman dismantles C. S. Lewis’ apologetic of ‘liar, lunatic, or lord’ simply by saying that Jesus never claimed to be God, therefore Lewis begins with a faulty premise.  Seems very neat and academic, but Ehrman contends that the stories of Jesus were spread by oral tradition, much like the children’s game of ‘telephone’ (we called it ‘gossip’).  In other words, the Jesus stories went from one source to another orally with no controlling corrective voice.  But, the New Testament itself seems to contradict Ehrman.  Some very prominent voices like Peter, Paul, John, and others loom large in the telling of the stories of Jesus.

Ehrman dismisses these as being forgeries, or wrong ascriptions.  Matthew did not write the gospel attributed to him, and so on.  But, even if Ehrman is right about the exact authorship of the gospels (which I don’t think he is), logic would indicate that the leaders of the early church would be the authorities for the stories of Jesus.  But Ehrman says, “Did you or your kids ever play the telephone game…?”  He goes on to say that the stories of Jesus get told “for forty or more years, in different countries, in different contexts, in different languages.  What happens to the stories? They change.”  But he totally ignores the strong possibility that the early church leaders like Peter, Paul, John, James, and others would have been the central source for the Jesus stories, and not comparable to the game of “telephone” he describes.

The book for all its claim to be the academic truth is obviously written for a popular audience.  Ehrman offers no footnotes or citations, relying instead on 4-pages of “notes” at the end of the book to provide both verification and explanation for some of his more difficult points.

In short, there is not much new to Ehrman’s book.  If you are familiar with the historical critical method, then you don’t need to read Jesus, Interrupted.  If you are not, there are insufficient references and notes to fortify the author’s argument and point the real student toward his primary sources.

Just because Ehrman cannot understand why the average person in the pew hasn’t heard this stuff before doesn’t mean this is the book they should hear it from.  If you want to engage on a scholarly level Ehrman’s book fails.  If you want a popularization of historical criticism, then Ehrman comes close.  But his sweeping generalizations (everyone teaches this, all pastors have heard this, the Bible is full of contradictions, etc) leave one wanting to know more about each allegation.

In the end, Ehrman is neither compelling enough, nor scholarly enough to turn Jesus, Interrupted into the next status-quo-shattering book when regarding biblical study.   I wasn’t offended by Ehrman, but then neither was I convinced that all his statements were sound.  Jesus, Interrupted is an interesting attempt to popularize a difficult subject.  Ehrman only gets part-way in his attempt.

Bart Ehrman does not have horns

Please watch this 2-minute video produced by HarperOne to promote Bart Ehrman’s new book, Jesus, Interrupted. Erhman is the author of Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why, and God’s Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question–Why We Suffer.

Here’s what Wikipedia says about Ehrman:

Bart D. Ehrman is an American New Testament scholar and textual critic of early Christianity. He is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has written about how the original New Testament texts were frequently altered by scribes for a variety of reasons, and argues that these alterations affect the interpretation of the texts.

I’m going to review Ehrman’s book, Jesus, Interrupted soon.  Just wanted you to get ready because Ehrman’s books have caused others to rush to the defense of God, the Bible, and now probably Jesus.  None of whom need a defense, but I think we need to know what the arguments are for those on the other side of the prevailing view of scripture.

And, when you watch the video you may be surprised that Ehrman does not have horns.   A tail, maybe, because we can’t see that on the video.  Just kidding, of course, and I do look forward to the book.  Should make for interesting conversation.

6 Shifts in the Church and How Your Church Can Benefit

Today’s spiritual earthquake 

Several years ago, I was in Taiwan on business.  About 2 o’clock in the morning, I gradually awoke to the sound of the bathroom door repeatedly slamming into the wall.  The bed was shaking, too.  As the fog of sleep cleared from my head, I jumped out of bed, only to find the floor was moving.  I was in the middle of an earthquake!

Fortunately, the quake subsided quickly, and the damage to Kaoshiung was minimal.  But I never forgot the experience of having the world shift under my feet.  The same thing is happening in the world of church today — the ground is moving under our feet. 

Six major shifts are taking place in churches — large and small — and here’s how your church can benefit:

1. The shift from observation to participation.  A 23-year old graphic designer recently said about her generation, “We’re creators.”  We are in the age of the prosumer that Alvin Toffler predicted in Future Shock — those who create and participate in their creation.  Content on the internet is the prime example.  The age of the spectator in worship, learning, and service is over.  People want to creat worship and participate in ministry, not just watch someone else.
2. The shift from religious education to spiritual formation.  During the 1940s, 50s, and 60s, the education model drove church programs.  Church buildings were designed with small classrooms.  Churches enlisted “teachers” and planned curriculum.  Now the shift is to spiritual formation.  Willow Creek has just discovered that church programs, based only on an educational model, don’t make better disciples.  Spiritual formation — building in the practices of faith in everyday life — produces “self-feeders” that Bill Hybels now says he wants to produce.
3. The shift from “what does it mean” to “what does it say to me” in Scripture reading.  Ancient practices like lectio divina make followers of Christ aware of what Scripture is saying to them, not just what it means in its historical setting.  Paul wrote, “All Scripture God-breathed.”  The old view interpreted that text as the explanation for how scripture was inspired.  The new view interprets that passage as meaning God is present today in the pages of Scripture speaking to us now. 
4. The shift from “hereafter” to the “here-and-now.”  Following Christ is no longer just about going to heaven when you die.  Rick Warren’s PEACE plan for aid to developing countries, and his ministry to those with AIDS has broadened awareness of God’s work now, not just in eternity.  Care for creation, service to community, and engagement with culture are examples of good news in this life, too.
5. The shift from the individual to the community.  For the past 100+ years, we’ve focused on the individual in personal salvation and spiritual growth.  We now realize community is both the incubator and facilitator of our spiritual lives.  New expressions of community are helping people find their calling, their passions, and a new relationship with God.
6. The shift from belief to practice.  People want to actively express their spiritual life, not just agree to a set of beliefs.  More church groups are now focused on “doing” rather than “talking.”  In pre-industrial society, the apprentice learned by doing, not just listening or watching.  The spiritual director of the ancient abbeys provided guidance in how to live, not just what to believe. 

 Your church can benefit from these shifts in the religious landscape by offering your congregation new ways of living the old story.  Experiment with small groups.  Do short term projects.  Introduce ancient spiritual practices.  Try on new ways of being Christian yourself. 

Of course, many of your members will be more comfortable keeping things as they are.  But new generations of younger adults want the experience about which John wrote,

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched — this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.  — I John 1:1

Preaching from the lectionary

I am a Baptist.  Each Sunday I preach from the texts of the revised common lectionary.  What’s wrong with this picture?

These are not contradictory statements, believe it or not.  Although I come from a free church, and not a liturgical tradition, I choose my preaching text each Sunday from the revised common lectionary.  Here’s why:

1. Millions of churches around the world read the same passages each Sunday.  I like being a part of the global church as it gathers for worship in thousands of different expressions, united by common scripture. 
2. The revised common lectionary covers the entire Bible in a three year cycle.  So, you want to preach through the Bible — use the lectionary as your guide.  Somebody else figured it out for you.  Saves you a lot of time, plus a lot of thought, prayer, and study was invested in choosing these texts. 
3. The RCL follows the church year or liturgical year.   I like the flow of the church year — advent, Christmastide, epiphany, lent, easter, pentecost, then ordinary time.  Two years ago, I announced that we would celebrate the “birthday of the church” on Pentecost Sunday.  Many had never heard the two connected.  On Pentecost Sunday, we all wore something red (the liturgical color of Pentecost) and celebrated together.  Our church loved it and we repeated it last year.  We were already using an advent wreath, we have community lenten services, so this was a natural addition for us.  To explore more about liturgical elements in an evangelical church, read Robert Webber’s Ancient Future Time and the other books in his  Ancient Future series.   Webber is a former Wheaton College professor-turned-Anglican who has brought liturgical worship to evangelicalism.  I don’t think it is an accident that emerging churches are using the symbols, practices, and format of ancient worship, and it’s more than candles and coffee. 
4. I preach from texts I would never preach from if I did not follow the lectionary.  Sometimes that poses a challenge.  Sometimes I think the texts are not that great (oh, don’t tell me you don’t like some passages better than others).  But I dig into them and have been blessed by that discipline.
5. Preaching becomes about God’s Word rather than my ideas.  I, too, have done the sermon series, God’s Way to Health, Wealth, and Happiness or 15 Ways to Deal with Your Teenager Who Wants to Get a Nose Ring.  Rick Warren calls this “preaching for life change” and I can’t argue with Rick’s success.  But, it’s not for me.  I want the text to speak to me, rather than me speak to the text.  I can’t tell you how many times the lectionary texts have hit right on a subject our church is dealing with.  Several times I have had to say to my congregation, “I didn’t choose this text, it’s in the lectionary.”  God’s timing is amazing, plus it gets me off the hook!
6. The readings tell a coherent story.  We are trying to do more reading the Bible in our church.   The readings each Sunday — from the Old Testament, Psalms, Gospels, Epistles — work together and weave a tapestry of witness and story that is majestic.
7. You can choose all or some of the texts each week.  The RCL tends to run in blocks — you’ll read from the same gospel for several weeks, for instance.  I lean toward preaching from the gospel reading, but this month I’m preaching from Isaiah.  I have also preached from the readings from the Psalms.  There is more to choose from than you can ever cover.
8. It creates a missional practice in worship that I like.  We are following an ancient arrangement of texts like millions of other churches.  We aren’t picking and choosing our favorite verses, passages, themes, or issues and then finding scripture to reinforce our own preconceived ideas.  We are trying to let scripture form us, rather than us form scripture.  If missional is about the missio dei, shouldn’t we let the text speak to us?

So, there you are.  A Baptist preaching from the lectionary each week.  One more thing — I also wear a robe, but that’s another post for another time. 

This post originally appeared at Amicus Dei, my blog about becoming a friend of God in a community of faith.