Let's Talk Mosques...

1 Kings 18:36-39

"At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command.

Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."

Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.

When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, "The LORD -he is God! The LORD -he is God!"

For the last several weeks, the topic of discussion before our Bible studies and at work and at other gatherings has centered around the current state of affairs in our country and the controversy over the building of a mosque near Ground Zero in New York City. Rarely have I seen a topic generate such controversy and discussion and vitriole as this, from both sides of the political spectrum and from various religious traditions. I have not responded to the discussion in any meaningful way, but feel it might be prudent to do so now just to offer a different voice in the mix.

Generally (and I know I'm speaking very generally here), the two sides of the argument tend to polarize around: 1) The United States is a land of religious freedom, and it is a right for anyone to build a religious structure anywhere; and, 2) The United States is a Christian nation and it is a slap in our face to have a mosque built at the site of a terrorist act that occurred at the hands of Islamic Terrorists.

Now, what I have found curious about both of these viewpoints is that the reasoning behind both of them use the same source document to prove their point -- The U.S. Consititution. Even among Christian friends and in discussions at church and at other religious gatherings, I have heard no viewpoints other than these being offered up.

These arguments point to a great concern with the church in America today. Somewhere along the line, Christianity got blurred with American nationalism, not unlike the situation when the Roman Emperor Constantine proclaimed Christianity as the official religion of Rome. The result of this blending is that to be an American is to be a Christian, and to be a Christian is to be an American. In other words, rather than living as foreigners and aliens in America, for the most part American Christians have moved to the conclusion that you are a Christian if you live in America, and thus, anything offered counter to Christianity is anti-American and anything offered counter to America is anti-Christian. Hence, when Muslims exercise their right to freedom of religion under the Constitution, the act is regarded as both anti-Christian and anti-American. Conversely, as I stated above, some leaders have affirmed the Muslim's rights under the Constitution to build the mosque, but still express concern with their proposed action. But, still, the argument holds -- Christianity has merged with American nationalism to form an organic movement that affects all of life in America: religious, political and cultural.

But, is this what Christianity is supposed to look like? Are we supposed to yoke ourselves so closely with a Government to the point where our religion is taken to be the same as our political alignment?

If you read the Bible, this is definitely not the picture that we see portrayed in the New Testament. The early church struggled under both the yoke of Roman rule and the persecution of the established Jewish religion, but operated outside the bounds of both. To be a Christian in the first century A.D. meant that you lived outside the political, religious, and cultural norms and formed a new society, a Kingdom within a kingdom. The early Christians considered themselves first and foremost members of a greater country, the Kingdom of God, who just happened to be living in a foreign land as strangers and ambassadors. In other words, the politics of the land were not tied with the Christian religion, and Christians lived and worked and played as Romans, Egyptians, Syrians, whoever, while maintaining an independent relationship within the overall body of Christ.

Unfortunately, this is generally not the case in America today as evidenced by the fact that good Christians on both sides of the mosque argument are using the Constitution to defend their positions rather than the Bible, which should be the source book for us instead of any law or national document. Which leads me to ask the question, "What should be the Christian response to the building of a mosque at Ground Zero?" Or, more pointedly, "Why do Christians seem afraid of the building of a mosque at Ground Zero?"

For the majority of Christians today and throughout the history of the Church, Christians have existed in opposition to Governmental will. In places like China, the Soviet Union, and even early Rome, it was illegal to be a Christian, and to be a Christian was a national crime. Still, the Church persevered and even prospered in the face of persecution. They did so because their allegiance, first and foremost, was to God and not to the authorities that God had placed above them. Because of the persecution, they knew they were aliens, they knew they were strangers and outside the bounds of society, and they lived that way. More importantly, they lived without fear.

Take the example of Elijah that I quoted above from 1 Kings 18. Elijah and other followers of God were living in an oppressive regime with a pagan religion promoted by the authorities of their day. To be a believer in Yahweh was to face persecution and death. But, rather than hiding in fear, Elijah confronted the false gods of Israel in this dramatic show-down at Mount Carmel. For, "if God is for us, who can be against us?" If our God is the true and real and only God, then why do we fear false gods or idols? And on that day, Yahweh showed His power and majesty and glory and the pagan religions and false gods were felled.

Now, back to the mosque and the question of our biblical response. What would the early Christians have done if someone was to build an altar to a false god in their day? I think the response of Paul on Mars Hill is a good example. Rather than fighting against the various pagan altars and temples, rather than tearing down the monuments to false gods, Paul used this obvious desire for the transcendent as a jumping off point for evangelism. He spoke to the Greeks gathered at the Aeropagus and told them of the true and real God that their hearts were longing for.

Why don't we view the mosque in this same way? As Christians, we reject the religion of Islam. But, as Christians, we are called to witness to our faith to others. Rather than fighting the mosque, why don't we view it as an opportunity for evangelism?

Throughout this entire national debate, I have been reminded of the example of Brother Andrew, the missionary from Holland who carried the gospel behind the Iron Curtain in the days after World War II. In a sermon I heard one time, Brother Andrew talked about the invasion of Poland by the Soviet Union. As the Polish people were fleeing their country in advance of the Soviet troops, Brother Andrew loaded up his car with Russian Bibles and did the opposite -- he headed towards Poland and met with a church that he previously knew in that country.

Brother Andrew made this statement to the leaders of that church (and this is a paraphrase): "You have had the opportunity for many years to carry Bibles and the gospel to the Soviet Union and you haven't done so. Now, since you wouldn't go to the Russians, God has sent them to you. Go out and give them Bibles and the gospel and witness to them the grace of God."

Perhaps the building of the mosque is God's response to our inaction. If America is truly a Christian nation, then why haven't we reached out to other nations and shared with them the truth of the gospel? Could it be that because we refused to go to them, God is sending them to us? (Could the same be said for the illegal immigrants from Mexico, too?)

Rather than regarding the mosque as an affront to Christianity, perhaps we should welcome the Muslims into our country and take this opportunity to share with them the truth about Jesus and the salvation that He brings. It is time that we divided American nationalism from Christianity, and started being the church to those God has placed in our path. If Elijah didn't fear either Ahab and Jezebel or the false gods of his day, then why is the Church in America fearing the same?

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT!

               FINALLY, A TECHNOLOGY I CAN FULLY EMBRACE!!!

The Quest Continues...

A couple of years ago, I realized that I was in a rut in my reading habits. I had gotten consumed with reading Christian fiction, and that was pretty much all I read. And while I still like Christian fiction, the truth is that most of it is pretty flimsy stuff -- not a lot of meat and quite predictable plots. Every now and then a book or an author would surprise me, but for the most part, you know what you're getting when you read Christian fiction.

So, I decided that I had allowed my brain to turn to mush long enough, and decided it was time for a challenge. I decided to improve my reading habits by reading every single fiction book that had won the Pulitzer Prize. Knowing that reading "heavy" literature might be onerous (remember school?), I set some rules and allowed myself some flexibility in my quest. First, I could read the books in any order I wanted -- I didn't have to read them chronologically. Second, I could intersperse my Pulitzer Prize books with other types of fiction, including Christian fiction, but I could read no more than three non-Pulitzer books without having to read another. Third, I put no time limit on my quest but relied on my rules to propel me forward. And, finally, I couldn't just read the books and stop with that. I had to try to make an effort to understand them, and if that meant I turned to Cliff's Notes or Spark Notes or some other commentary for assistance, then so be it. The goal was to read all the books and to be able to speak about them intelligently if the situation demanded it.

The Pulitzer Committee started giving out Fiction awards in 1948, with James Michener being the first receipient for his work, "Tales of the South Pacific." No award was given for the years 1954, 1957, 1964, 1971, 1974, and 1977. So, since 1948 there have been 57 novels which have won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

Since I began my quest, I have read a total of 10 novels or 17.5%. Some of the novels have been outstanding and deeply affected my heart and soul. Others were excellent, well-written and well-crafted examples of the best of the best. While others were as onerous as I remember, and it was labor to read through these books, all the while hoping that this author never won another Pulitzer Prize and I would never have to read another book by them again.

A great example of these two extremes is found in the last two books that I read in my quest, "March" by Geraldine Brooks and "Tinkers" by Paul Harding. "March" was a sequel to "Little Women," by Louisa May Alcott, which followed the little women's father who was absent in the original book. For this reason alone, I thought I would not like this book, but I was pleasantly surprised. Following Mr. March through his early days as a salesman, on into his ministerial career, and then as a chaplain for the Union Army during the Civil War, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and its refreshing take on this subject. This was easily one of the best books I have read in a very long time, and I have several other non-Pulitzer prize winning books for Geraldine Brooks on my wish list.

"Tinkers" on the other hand was difficult for me. I really wanted to like this book, but I just couldn't. I obviously missed the point of the whole affair, other than that it was a story about a man's relationship with his father, but if that was the intent, the author missed his mark. I found the book disjointed and confusing and honestly had no idea what was going on or where the author was headed most of the time. It was well-written. The sentences were complex and the use of descriptive language was novel, but glimmers of expertise within the overall confines of this narrative could not make up for the short-falls of this novel.

Still, I pressed on and finished the book and the quest continues. At this rate, I will be done with my goal within three years. So, what shall I read next???

Are Mega-Churches Biblical?

Since I left the Methodist Church in June and started Koinonia Ministries, my family and I have had the opportunity to visit several different congregations in our local community for worship, trying to find a church that we could join while we waited for God's leading in our own ministry. We had the opportunity to visit mainline denominational churches and nondenominational churches. We worshiped in large churches (>200 people) and in small churches (less than 100 people). We enjoyed music that was very traditional and music that was very contemporary. And we listened to preachers who followed well-scripted sermons and those who seemed to just flow with the Holy Spirit's promptings with no defined plan or purpose at the start of the message. And, so what did we find?

Well, our experience was that God was present in every congregation, that the Holy Spirit moved among those who were present, and that the worship was real and genuine. It didn't matter if the church claimed a denomination or not and it didn't matter what type of music was played -- God was still there.

However, there was a major difference between the larger churches and the smaller churches that we visited. While the the churches we visited are certainly not in the Mega-Church category, the churches that had more than 200 members were very consistent in their worship services. Generally, their worship services were more ordered, more professional, and more entertaining. Attending a service at these churches reminded me of attending a contemporary Christian concert at a large venue or a Promise Keepers event back in it's heyday.

The music in these churches was nothing less than outstanding, and every single large church we visited had already put out CDs of their worship bands and/or choirs. Large screens were on the wall that displayed the words to the song on top of a moving background. And the congregation (audience?) sang along and applauded as songs ended. All in all, it was a very, very well performed and professional presentation.

The preachers were polished professionals. Their messages concise, specific, and relevant to what was going on in our world and in our lives today. As I listened to their sermons (and critiqued, as former pastors do), I felt that each of them would be successful on a national stage, such as at Promise Keepers or Catalyst or one of the other large national movements that draws thousands of people to hear a Christian message. In short, they were very, very good.

But, after the closing song and the benediction, as the doors in the back of the sanctuary opened, I felt like I do at movie theaters when the lights come up, "The show is over." And so we were ushered out into the world again, with the expectation that we would gather together again next Sunday for another polished performance and worship service.

But, as we emerged into the Sunday afternoon sunshine, I found myself somewhat melancholy, like I was missing something vital and real and important. Something that should have been there, but wasn't.

What I was missing was community. Relationship. Fellowship. Sure, we had just occupied the same space as 200+ other individuals. Sure, we had just joined together and sung praise songs to our same God. Sure, we had just listened together to the exposition of the Word of God. But, there was no sense that I had shared in the life of another. There was no sense that I had communed with fellow believers. The only people who greeted us in these services were those that we knew before we entered, friends who shared with us a relationship forged outside the walls of this church. I entered as a stranger to those around me, and I left the same way.

The question that kept rattling through my head on those Sundays after we left the service was, "Why do we go to church after all?" And, now, I realize the problem is inherent in the question. Church is not something that we should go to. Church is something we should be.

To be the church means that you are involved in the lives of your brothers and sisters in Christ. To be the church means that you, like the saints in the early church described in the Book of Acts, share with everyone as they have need. This does not only mean financially and materially, but spiritually and relationally, as well. To be the church means that you know your neighbor, that you care about your neighbor, that you love your neighbor as yourself. To be the church means that it is a place where strangers are welcomed, lives are changed, and God is exalted. To be the church means that you are in a place where everyone knows your name. This, I think, is an inherent problem with the large churches, and especially the Mega-Churches, today.

When I was a pastor in the United Methodist Church, I pastored two very small congregations. In fact, my churches combined were smaller than some Sunday School classes in larger Methodist Churches. Occasionally, the leadership of the South Georgia Conference would become concerned over the number of small (<100 member) churches in their jurisdictional boundary, and so us small church pastors would be invited to a workshop on "How to Grow Your Church." "You are too small," the facilitators would tell us. "You must get larger, at least 200 members or more, if you are to survive." The message given to us through workshops such as this and the metrics we were required to provide quarterly confirmed to us that larger was better, and if your church didn't have 200 members or more, you had failed. But, is this true? Is this biblical?

A friend of mine was doing one-on-one discipleship in a very large church in south Georgia a couple of weeks ago. Between discipleship sessions, he wandered around the church and peeked in at the sanctuary. The pastor joined him there and proudly showed him the size of the sanctuary, the stage where the worship team played, and the multimedia equipment the church had at its disposal. The pastor's chest puffed out in pride as my friend started to stammer, "How many... how many...," assuming my friend was going to praise him for the size of the congregation. But quickly, the pastor's chest and ego deflated as my friend continued, "How many people in your congregation do you know by name? How can you be a shepherd to your people if you don't know them?"

Isn't that the crux of the issue? Church isn't about size or numbers. It isn't about how many people sit in your pews or how much money you receive in offerings on any given Sunday. Church is about people. Church is about doing life together. Church is about knowing God and God's people intimately and sharing in what God is doing in and through everyone in the congregation.

I don't know a lot. I am certainly not a church growth expert. But, I have come to believe this. While smaller churches may not always have the best musicians or the professional worship performances, while smaller churches may not always have the best polished speakers who know Greek and Hebrew and every current theological trend, they do have this going for them -- their small size allows them to know each other and to do life together. This is what I see when I read the New Testament, and this is what I see when I think of Jesus with His twelve close friends gathered around a campfire in the wilds of Galilee.

I don't think church, real church, real relationships, can be realized in churches with more than 100 members. Large churches recognize this, too, so many opt for the "home group" or "life group" concept to form small groups for relational purposes. But, I think this still falls short of the purpose for which Christ called the church in the first place.

Human nature makes these small groups cliquish, and so what you find on any given Sunday morning in these larger congregations is not a single church, but multiple home churches gathering in one place to worship, but not to worship together.

So, what is the answer? I think, contrary to popular opinion and church growth teaching, that the size of a church should be limited by the availability of the pastor to the people. I think that a church is too large if the senior pastor doesn't know everyone in the church by name. And, I think we should concentrate more on doing life together rather than just coming to church.

Being a Servant

Matthew 20:25-28 (NIV):

25 Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Not many people today remember the name of Booker T. Washington, but he was instrumental in helping African-Americans achieve their goals of education shortly after the end of the Civil War. Born a slave, after the end of the Civil War and his emancipation, Washington worked his way through school, eventually ending up with a PhD. So, when they were looking for someone to lead the newly formed Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, they turned to this bright star to be their first President.

Shortly after Dr. Washington arrived at Tuskegee, he was walking in an exclusive part of town, just trying to get his bearings, when a wealthy white woman approached him. Not knowing who he was but assuming he was just another poor black man, she asked if he would like to make a few dollars by chopping some firewood for her. Rather than being affronted by her request, Dr. Washington just smiled, rolled up his sleeves, and followed her into her yard where he proceeded to chop firewood for the entire afternoon. After he finished, he even took some of the firewood inside, stacked it by her fireplace, and neatly stored the rest in the shed outside for her to retrieve at a later time. As he was finishing up, a little girl happened by who recognized who he was, and who later shared this with the wealthy white woman.

The next day, a very embarrassed woman met with Dr. Washington in his office at Tuskegee. She apologized profusely for what she had done and for treating him as a menial servant. Dr. Washington brushed it aside and said that he occasionally enjoyed manual labor, and he always enjoyed helping a friend. It is this humble attitude of Dr. Washington that Jesus calls for in the passage from Matthew 20 above.

Jesus' disciples had a problem with constantly wanting to be the center of attention, with constantly wanting to be placed in positions of leadership and authority. Many times in the past they had quarreled over who would be greatest in the Kingdom. Here in Matthew 20, as Jesus begins His final journey to Jerusalem, we see His disciples once again jockeying for position. In fact, we read that the mother of James and John approached Jesus and asked that her sons be placed on his right and left hands when He came into His Kingdom. When the other disciples heard what James' and John's monther had done, they bristled and grew indignant, not only, I think, because James and John were seeking the higher positions, but because the other disciples didn't think of doing this themself!

Hearing their grumbling, Jesus called all the disciples together and told them that their actions reflected the values of the world and not of the Kingdom. "We don't do that in the Kingdom," He said. "That is what the world does. That is how the Gentiles do things. They try to exalt themselves over others and put themselves in higher positions of honor. But, if you want to be great in the Kingdom, you must humble yourself and serve those around you. If you want to be great in the Kingdom, you must be a slave to all, just as I did not exalt Myself but humbled Myself and became a man to serve and to offer My life as a ransom for all."

Even today in the church we still struggle with this desire for exaltation, with this need to be seen and recognized for who we are and what we have done. Pastors compare themselves to others based on the size of their church or the amount of money their congregation has. Members desire roles of leadership so they will be recognized for what they do. But, this is not the way it should be. We should seek to serve and to exalt others above us as we serve Christ.

To truly be great in the church today, we must possess three things:

First, we must possess a servant's hands. We must be willing to work behind the scenes, serving those around us. This may mean humbling ourselves and doing menial tasks, such as picking up trash or serving in a meal line for homeless people. The path to greatness begins with service.

Secondly, we must possess a servant's heart. In 1 Corinthians 13:3, the Apostle Paul writes, "If I give all my possessions to the poor and offer my body to the flames but have not love, I gain nothing." In other words, it doesn't matter what you do if your heart and your motives are not pure. We should serve out of gratitude for what Jesus has done for us. We should serve out of love because of the love that Jesus has shown for us. To have a servant's heart means that we serve with our hands because we love and sincerely want to help others.

Finally, we must possess a servant's hope. The ultimate goal of any service should be to please the Lord by ministering to the least of these. Our hope should be that others would be exalted and that the Lord be glorified and exalted above all. As we serve, we should never seek to take the higher seats of honor or the highest positions, but rejoice when our actions make it possible for others to assume those positions. Our hope is always to see Christ lifted up through our actions.

If we can just cultivate these three things in our life -- a servant's hands, a servant's heart, and a servant's hope -- then we will see great things happen through us for the church of Christ, and we will truly be great in God's Kingdom.