Over the last two years I have been a part of classes on leadership which have renewed by soul and commitment to my faith and living it out as God has called me to. For some time I stepped out of the traffic stream of ministry by neglecting what had gotten me thus far along the way. In these two years I have quickly discovered that I need to engage God again., intentionally and daily.
I am currently in a peer mentoring group of clergy who have come together in a process and initiative to help pastors and churches discover who God has called them to be and who God is calling them to serve. We have been reading some wonderful material which has reignited the embers of faith and leadership within me and given me renewed focus and direction.
We first read "Too Busy Not To Pray." Too often when we say I will pray for you we say it but never do it. Some argue that God already knows so when we say that, God heard our prayer already. But the question isn't whether God heard us but do we hear God? It brought me back to a spiritual discipline of prayer I used for so long and then life and the business of church got the priority. In my days at seminary and beyond up until about 5 years ago, I would pray the Daily Office of the Order of Saint Luke. Each day I would set time and a physical space aside and pray the prayers and listen. It lead me to some wonderful discoveries of myself and where the Spirit was guiding me to. However I got out of the practice or habit of doing that. I have begun to pray that way again and am developing a prayer space which is dedicated to that task and nothing else.
The second read we had together was "Renovate or Die." An ominous title for sure but eye opening nonetheless. While reading it and thinking of the church in general, I began to see that this was more than just about the church. It was about my life. I had been redecorating and slowly becoming one of those whitewashed tombs Jesus spoke of. Altogether on the outside but dead on the inside. I thank God for second chances. Renovation doesn't mean swinging a sledge hammer but a dedication to a blueprint and it may take time to have a finished product like home renovation. Too often in the church and in our lives we simply redecorate and look good instead of renovating and being faithful. Slowly my will then supplants God's will for my life. Again I am thankful for a second chance to serve God in new ways through a renewed focus and vision and hope as I seek out God's will once more.
The latest book we are reading is "Simple Church." The author discusses how we complicate the discipleship process and most of us and our churches have no idea what happens or what should happen when people make a decision to be a part of church. It's kind of like throwing a party and inviting everyone but not making plans for refreshments, food menu activities etc. We want people to come in the door and then we say, "Now what do we do with them?" We need to offer a simple process to help people move from attendee to disciple. As I read the words I dug through my flash drive to find two files. One was a booklet I created ten years ago to help the church I was serving then to develop an easy step process to help people dive deep into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ and become all that God had for them. It never got off the ground. Why? I got more focused on the business of church rather than the mission of the church: to make disciples of Jesus Christ so as to transform the world. The second file I searched for was one called, "Our Covenant Together." I created that at about the same time as the step process for discipleship. My goal was to present it the leadership of the church to covenant with each other and God. Among the pieces was how we talk and treat each other, a commitment to the mission of the church rather than the business and some other pieces. After reading and praying over it we would all sign it together. What happened there? Again business of the church. As I type that phrase now it makes me mad at myself that I got off track of my ministry like that.
All of this to say what? Do you know how sheep get lost? They nibble a little grass here then walk over there and nibble a little more. Before too long they find themselves at a cliff and then...Well for you and I at that cliff the Good Shepherd pulls us back and celebrates finding you. I was lost and am found...again. I don't want to keep redecorating my life and become like a whitewashed tomb. I want to renovate my life with God's help and Jesus words so I can be back on the road and not standing on the sidelines.
What would your life look like if you renovated your life? What do you need to say NO to in order to say YES to God and to have a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ? What decorations need to be thrown away? What would happen if you prayed intentionally at a time and in a space dedicated to that purpose only? What would happen if you simplified your life in such a way that the path of discipleship made more sense and led you to new ways of living life as a disciple of Jesus Christ so as to transform the world?
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