Category: God and Church

Now How Much Will You Pay?

There have been some rumblings of late about the proposal formally known as the UP, now the UPC. I’ve thought about posting on it, but Pinakidion has been doing a good job at keeping up with it. Alan has a great essay on it up now too. Mostly I prefer to ignore it lately.
This past week however, was the big leaders shindig, the International Leadership Conference. There was a lot of UPC activity. There’s still a push to get the rest of the churches who haven’t signed to get with the program and ratify the dumb thing.
But the thing that got my attention was a report on the delegate meeting at a new site that I just learned about, ICOC Hot News. The site is run by Mike Taliaferro & Justin Renton. Mike wrote the report on the delegate meeting. This is what got my attention.

Disciples Today is asking each first world church to give $6 per member per year to help maintain and expand our web presence. All agreed that Disciples Today needs to be a website without subscription fees. Of course, the delegates have no authority to tax anyone. They will simply appeal to the local congregations for support.

I like the fact that they at least agree that they can’t tax us, that’s nice. I also like that they think that Disciples Today shouldn’t have subscription fees. Both come right after asking for $6/member to run DT.
For our 120 member church, that’s $720 per year to DT. That’s over 10 times what I spend on salguod.net, and I bet it’s many times what our church spends on its web site.
Lets do a little math. Mission Memo reports an estimated 2006 ICOC membership of around 88,500 and that 38% are in the USA. That means about 33,600 folks in the US. Assuming that they are only asking USA churches (they are likely asking all 1st world, a higher number) for $6 that means they are asking for $201,700 per year for DT.
That’s absolutely nuts. That’s over 2,000 times the cost of running salguod.net. No reason at all that it should cost so much. I would guess it should cost a hundredth of that amount. Where in the world are they going to spend $200 grand? Salaries? How many full time folks do they need and at what salary? Someone tell me that I interpreted this wrong.
The bigger question to me is didn’t any of the delegates have a calculator? Did this proposal just go through unquestioned? I have no idea, but Mike reports it rather nonchalantly as if it was perfectly reasonable.
Not to mention that DT is not the best designed site. When I was a member, I found it hard to navigate and a little buggy. The connections feature (one of the reasons I actually joined) was disappointing as there weren’t many folks on it and it actually was an additional cost to connect with the few that were there. If they are going to command the kind of money that they have been ($40 per year membership fee now for first world individuals) or collect from churches at the rate they are proposing, they need to seriously update the site.
I’ve got an idea. I’ll do it for half that amount. That’s right Cooperating Churches, give me a mere $100,000 per year and I’ll run DT. What a bargain.
I guess I’ve got something to talk to the board about now.

The World Without Us

This past week or two on NPR, I twice heard mention of this book, The World Without Us by Alan Weisman. I’m not sure what the first one was (perhaps Marketplace or Weekend Edition), but the second was on a short program called Earth and Sky (broadcast the week of Sept. 13th).
The premise of the book is actually interesting, to a point. What if the entire human race suddenly disappeared? What would happen to the Earth? I haven’t read the book, but it’s interesting to consider how all that we have built would start to crumble pretty quickly. The NYC subways would flood, buildings collapse and cities would be overrun by plant and animal life.
Of course, there’s more to the book than just the intellectual exercise of what the Earth would become without us. There’s the implication that the Earth would be better off without us. More than that, Weisman seems almost giddy when talking about it in the Earth and Sky interview:

it turns out our planet would do really, really well. It would really flourish without us around.

Referring to visiting a remote jungle area to experience it, he says:

It didn’t feel exotic to me. It somehow felt complete, when I went in there my body just sort of responded and said, yes! We have a memory within us of what this world was when it was fresh and new, and it was extraordinarily exciting to feel what it’s like to be in something that pristine.

Mmmm-kay.
I find the notion that man is somehow a curse on this pristine planet rather condescending. That we do nothing but harm to an otherwise ‘complete’ ecosystem is rather presumptuous, even a bit arrogant. There’s something ironic in a scholarly sentiment, which taken to it’s logical conclusion, means the death of the human race, including the scholars.
What’s really missing here, of course, is the truth that man is not simply a part of creation, but the focus of it. Read the Genesis creation account and you see man at the focus of the work of God. Man is the last thing created, the climax of God’s creation energies. God pronounces each act of creation as ‘good’, but man makes it ‘very good’. It is man that is created in God’s image. Most importantly, it is man that is given dominion over the planet, and the only creature given a charge by God:

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Genesis 1:28

God created the Earth and gave it to us. We were charged with making it ours, to rule it, to subdue it. I do not think that gives us license to pollute and destroy, nor to I believe that we have taken that responsibility seriously. We’ve been careless and selfish with what God has given us. Much as we do on an individual level with our own possessions, we have done with the Earth. Nonetheless, this planet is ours, given to us by a loving God who set it in just the right place in space for us to thrive.
So, yes, perhaps the Earth in some ways would be better without us. But it would be devoid of it’s purpose. It was made for man to inhabit. That’s why it is here, to remove us would be to remove its meaning. Imagine a home with no family to occupy it. It’s meaning is gone, it’s reason for existence removed. It’s a sad, soulless shell, merely a collection wood, bricks and paint, nothing more. An Earth without man might be less polluted and greener, but it would be empty and soulless. Just another ball of dirt and gas floating through space, missing it’s reason for being.

Training Wheels, Part 2

I’ve been thinking, off and on, about Audrey and her training wheels. How she simply decided that she was done with them and that she could now ride with out them.
And then she did.
No longer slowed down by those little wheels or constrained to take corners straight up, off she went, grinning with freedom. I stood there, honestly, in awe.
It occurs to me that I’ve been riding on spiritual training wheels. Not wanting to go too fast until I’ve got it all figured out. Like Audrey the day before, I cry “Not yet! I’m not ready! I can’t do it!Wait!”
What’s holding me back is uncertainty. I want to know exactly what the right way to proceed and think is before moving forward. I’m not yet certain about many things, so I take it slow and cautious, not wanting to fall. As soon as I have the answers I need, I can take those little wheels off, knowing I’ll sail off without falling. Without the answers, if I remove the training wheels I might mess up, fall and get hurt.
The problem with certainty is that I’ve tried it. I took off, certain of what to do and fell flat on my face. So, I feel that I need certainty, but I understand that it’s really a lie, only God has certainty.
The truth is that I can’t sort it all out. Intellectually, I know that. I know that I’m not supposed to have all the answers. I understand that within the uncertainty is God building faith. I know that while I look for certainty, answers and perfection, life passes by and the work of the gospel sits waiting. I know that acting in spite of the uncertainty is one of the purest expressions of faith. I now know that it’s the way God intended it. He has the answers, we don’t, but we do have Him, and that’s enough.
I know.
But I can’t take the training wheels off. I want to be free of this burden of seeking perfection. I want to fly on the wings of faith. But I can’t. Not yet anyway.
Hopefully, one day soon, like Audrey, I’ll wake up one morning knowing that it’s time. I’ll be able to turn to my Father and say, “Dad, while I’m sleeping, could you secretly take my training wheels off, because I know I can do it now!”
And I’ll leave the little wheels behind, not looking back.

Contribution Lesson

Why do we give our contribution? We all know the reasons given over the years of why we should give. God commands us to give and give generously, the church needs money to pay salaries, rent and other bills etc. Those reasons are all true and valid, and each at times may prompt us or encourage us to give when we might not otherwise want to.
Sometimes we give out of habit. We give because we give. It’s what we do. Christians give money to the church.
But God told Samuel that he looks at a man’s heart, not what man looks at. He’s not as interested in how often you give, how much you give or how consistently you give. He want’s to know why.

Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

2 Corinthians 9:7

God says here that wants us to decide what to give and that He loves it when we give cheerfully. He wants it to be on our hearts, not to be compelled to give by someone else or by fine sounding reasons.
So what should prompt us to give? I think the answer lies in one simple, perhaps too familiar, verse:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

The reason this verse is so familiar is the powerful, awesome truth that it contains. God loves us enough to sacrifice His Son. We give to God’s church because of what God has given us – His son.
I was reminded this week of the old Hymn, How Great Thou Art. After 2 verses of talking about the majesty of God as seem in creation, verse 3 says:

And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing;
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin.

“He bled and died to take away my sin.” That’s why we give.

How Great Thou Art

I think I’ve failed to mention that Jared of the Thinklings has a solo blog again, The Gospel Oriented Church. Add it to your regular reading routine, it’s worth it.
Someday when I actually update my long outdated blogroll, it’ll get a link here.
Tuesday he posted a powerful celebration of the gospel centered around one of my favorite old hymns, How Great Thou Art. I’m tempted to quote the whole thing, but I won’t. Instead I’ll tease you with this:

When you even barely grasp the depths of your depravity in even a glimpse of the light of God’s holiness, and then see that terrible contrast intersecting at the cross, where God’s only Son bled the ground red with grace, how can you not be moved? How can I not be moved?
…
The scandalous beauty of the crucified king, the awful glory of the sacrificed Lord: this is the watershed moment of all of history, and it ought to be the watershed moment of your history.

I needed that reminder to stand in awe of God’s audacious and glorious plan of reconciliation. Go read the entire thing, it’s a moving reminder.

And when I think that God, His Son not sparing,
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in.

Unresolved

Hat tip to Dan Edelen for pointing me to the irrelevant and funny blog, Letters From Kamp Krusty. Brant is a riot, and insightful at the same time.
Go read this powerful post for a taste of him serious side. (Then go back to the main blog for more irreverent things like a sentimental cover of the infamous YouTube video of the “Flea Market Montgomery.” ad. You know, it’s just like a mini-mall.)
From the ‘Unresolved’ post:

I read “look what our church is doing” accounts in newsletters, but don’t hear the invariably messy follow-ups. We get the “victory” stories over sin and depravity, but no one publishes books called, Wups, I’m Totally Messed Again. Yet, that’s where the stories of my actual life are. We don’t like our stories open-ended. So we clean up our stories, and act like they’re finished.
They’re not.

Good stuff.

Ezekiel – Chapter 37

Ezekiel 37:3 – I like Ezekiel’s ‘safe’ answer here. “Can the bones live?” Says God. “God, you know.” says Ezekiel. 🙂
Ezekiel 37:7-14 – From dry bones, to dead bodies to a live army of men. A metaphor for the church to come. Dead, hope lost, cut off from God (Ezekiel 37:11) to alive, filled with His Spirit and and His (Ezekiel 37:14). Much has been written about this passage, I can’t really add to it. But it is a good reminder for me that I was dead, but now I live. I was separate, but now I’m joined with Him. I was lost, but now I’m found. I too easily look at my present failings and see my self as I was, not as God sees me now.
Ezekiel 37:15-19 – As was once done for Israel, if it could only be done for Christianity, or at least the Restoration movement. A stick for the ICOC, for the mainline churches of Christ, for the Christian Churches and others merged onto one.
Ezekiel 37:24-28 – The irony for the modern church is that it seems that in this passage of prophesy for the nation of Israel, there’s prophesy for the church to come as well. As Israel will be one, the church would be one. What what God has brought together, man has chosen to separate. God said of the reunited Israel, in verse 28:

Then the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.

Now that we have fragmented & divided God’s people into smaller and smaller groups, how will the nations know that He is God unless we work to unite again?

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