The Golden Hangers

I’m not one for lots of shopping, but when I buy clothes I spend a few minutes in the changing room making sure the new thing is the right fit, the right color and style for me. If you're in a cool place you hang it over the door and they get you another size. (Wouldn’t it be boring to stand there and fold clothes and open those doors all day?) I make sure I look good in it. After all, I’m dropping my own money on something and I don’t want to waste it. I want to make sure I’ve got it right. Sometimes if its not right I’ll try a different size or color or whatever until I'm happy with what I’ve got and I’m excited to wear it sometime.

We’ve all done the same thing. It’s a normal part of shopping, no matter if you're a guy or girl. I think adolescence is a lot like trying on clothes. We’re constantly going through new outfits trying to find the one that fits us best. The relationship, the career, the personality, the sense of humor, the friends, even the clothes. Some are too tight, we feel pressured and out of place. Some clothes are too baggy and we feel lost in the space between here and there, an endless gap too large to grow into. and nothing ever seems to fit right.

Goldilocks had it easy. 3 choices. Too hot. Too cold. Just right. Maybe it wasn't just right. Maybe it was somewhere in the middle so she just went with it because it was better than the other 2 lame options.

If only it were that simple. It’d be great if God laid everything out on our bed with golden hangers so we'd know. This shirt is for your job. These jeans are for your spouse. These kicks are your personality. This hat is for your passions. And we'd know right then. We wouldn't have to walk through life searching ourselves. He’d just tell us. And it'd all be a perfect fit, just as he designed and crafted us.

But he doesn't. I guess the moral is that we get to figure it out for ourselves, to choose our path in life. Sure sure. I guess. But sometimes it'd be nice to just know. It’s weird how I used to think in high school that by the time I was out of college I’d be all grown up and have my life all set. Funny how that's not the case.

The Church of 20 Years from Now

Today, 70% of the population relies on local churches as their dominant means of experiencing and expressing faith, according to researcher George Barna, whose new book, "Revolution," draws on several Barna Group national surveys conducted over the past 12 months to describe a sweeping change across the religious landscape. By 2025, that will fall to 30% to 35%, with an equal percentage using alternative forms, Barna said in an interview.

Hey, that's interesting. There was an article in the Milwaukee Journal this week that tried to "profile" the emerging church. It centered mainly on one "church" (they are one, in the ekklesia/gathering sense, whether they like it or not) called Connect which meets in a Cafe on Fond du Lac, and detailed how it is a place that is reaching out to 20somethings by emphasizing group discussion, prayer, and service. I guess the thing I found most interesting was that the article insinuated that half of all churchgoers would be involved in "emerging churches" in 20 years.

I don't know quite where to fall on this, whether to take Barna's word (or the article's word, I can't tell exactly where it is coming from.) On one hand, I'd like to remain skeptical of this and say that good liturgy is all you need. On the other hand, most Lutheran churches are not equipped for this, and we could end up continuing to lose ground on this, and on our foothold in humanity.

I was part of the Pacific Southwest District's new pastor orientation this past week, and while it was mostly church growth stuff with Alan Klaas and a few Bible studies scattered throughout it, one of the things I took from that which continues to break my heart is how we continue to lose ground in sharing the gospel and making disciples. I'm sitting in the middle of some of the fastest-growing areas in the United States, and still the church here is not reaching out to the unchurched. I heard one pastor say he was very proud of the transfer growth he was experiencing with all the people who moved in, but I wondered, with all those people who are experiencing this time of transition, shouldn't they be able to reach others who haven't been churchgoers?

There I go again, letting lose with my passion for the lost. I guess the point of this rant is how we keep losing ground, how the percentage of people who know the truth as it is experienced in Lutheran churches through word and sacrament is slowly dwindling. It sucks. So this is the point of my little blog here, to get the word out a little more, to be a touchstone for the future of the church, to improve the way we communicate the gospel to this emerging generation.

So here are some ideas...
I would like to interview pastors and leaders of "emerging" and "alternative" and Gen X and Y focused worship, so I need two things from you who read this. First of all, are you or someone you know involved in this focus of ministry? Second, what would you like to know from these people? What questions would you ask them? I've got a few people in mind that I want to contact, so watch this site in the future for updates and interviews, and of course more articles.

May God bless you, as you have been a blessing to me.

Teaching and Experiencing God's Word

I'm working on rereading Walther's Law and Gospel (the fact that I need to teach on Law and Gospel tomorrow is a bit of an impetus for my scholarly drive). I wanted to point out a couple of things that struck me from the itty bitty letters written by Jaroslav Pelikan in the foreward.

First of all, Walther referred to systematic theology as "didactic" theology. Teaching theology. I really like that not just because I am called to be a teacher, but because it communicates systematic theology as something in the realm of being practical, as opposed to the systematicians who sit in their ivory towers and try to rationalize how each Bible verse fits together. We all at the seminary read Forde's "Theology is for Proclamation," but I think we overlooked the fact that a lot of what needs to be done is teaching, and "teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you" is half the great commission.

The second thing that jumped out at me is Pelikan's highlighting of Walther's appeal to his own experience. I hear people talking a lot about how they "experience" faith or life or whatever, and then here is Walther saying that "it is only in the school of the Holy Spirit and of genuine Christian experience that the proper distinction between Law and Gospel is learned." Walther apparently was only agreeing with Luther's words "es muss erfahren werden (it must be experienced)."

So there you go. It's okay to talk about experiences, at least as long as they are used to support and teach God's word.