Losing the Heartland, or Losing Heart?

A couple of weeks ago I read an interesting article in the New York Times Magazine about the growing fear from within the Roman Catholic Church that they were losing Europe to secularism. It discussed Bavaria in detail, since that is where Pope Benedict XVI was born, calling it the heartland of Catholicism--a place where every event is marked by the Church. Or, at least it used to be. The turning point of this discussion within the Catholic Church came a few years ago when the European Union was drafting a constitution and then Pope John Paul II and other Roman Catholics strongly recommended that the preamble to this document include a section on the religious history of Europe (and that is one that is predominantly Roman Catholic).

Now, I have only spent a few weeks of my life in Europe but I was able to make several observations while I was there that may be harbingers of things to come in America. I first went to Europe in 2001, shortly before September 11. It was a wonderful time to travel--barely anyone even looked at my passport. I spent nine days in Italy criss-crossing the country from Rome to Assisi to Florence to Venice and onto Milan with a group of predominantly Catholic music directors. If you have ever been to Italy, you get the impression that Roman Catholicism is very important to these people, and it is. But our tour guide, a woman whose family had lived in Rome for generations, made an astounding observation. She said that the Church was still important, but that it had been relegated to a religion of the significant events of our lives: birth (baptism), marriage, and death (last rites). It really did not mean much more to people, other than fulfilling their days of obligation to the Church, but even these were becoming less and less obligatory among the younger generations of Italians.

In 2004 I took a second honeymoon with my wife to Paris for a few days. We are museum people and so we stayed at a little nineteenth-century hotel a block from the Louvre. I know, it was very touristy of us to stay in the 1st Arrondisement, but it was our first trip and we loved it. We did go to the Louvre and the Musee d'Orsay and the museum of the Middle Ages in the Latin Quarter, but probably the saddest museum we visited was the Cathedral of Notre Dame. It was stunning. Hardly a person in the place was there for worship. Now in Italy, at least while I was there, the cathedrals were filled with pilgrims, though few of them were Italians. I mean I stood in line to touch the tomb of Saint Anthony in Padua with all the other pilgrims and paid to see the golden altar piece in Saint Mark's in Venice, but at least there were folks there for religious purposes--they were looking for a touch of the divine. But in France I never felt even a subtle nudge of the Holy Spirit in this place. It was beautiful, but it did not seem to mean anything to the people there other than as a museum of what we once believed. I read later that there are about five times as many practicing Muslims in France as there are practicing Catholics. My numbers may be off, but the point is that there are not many practicing Catholics in France. And many Protestant denominations are considered cults by the French government, so most evangelistic efforts are not very fruitful.

I think it is significant that even the Pope is commenting on the loss of Europe and it is lost for all intents and purposes. The Pope is calling for a renewed vigor in re-evangelizing the European continent, asking for missionaries from Africa and Latin America where Catholicism (and Pentecostalism) is growing by leaps and bounds. What is significant to me is that, like most people, the Pope is worried about something when the signs have been obvious for centuries. Since the Age of Enlightenment, the Church has been in a dire situation in Europe.

Now, America likes to talk about how Christian it is and most people here believe in God and many more attend church here than in Europe. But my question is: Has the Church become just a place for our significant events (marriage, baptism, and funerals), but has failed to penetrate our everyday lives? Are we coming to a point where being a Christian is a political label we place on ourselves but the message of Christ does not infiltrate our lives? Are we past the point where the church in America is concerned that mainline denominations are hemorrhaging people every year? Or are we so Pharisaical in our outlook and completely believe these churches are in sin and are receiving their just desserts? Again, most evangelical churches should beware that they are walking similar paths that mainlines churches walked a hundred years ago. We like to pretend that we are different, but these differences are ones of degree rather than of species. Having served in both an evangelical/Pentecostal church and a "mainline" denomination, I can say that the people are not different. All churches are at the heart looking for the best way to bring Jesus to their people, but that may be the problem. Churches tend to want to bring Christ to "their people" but do not have a vision for anyone past themselves.

Maybe it is time for us to address the fact that we are trying to reach the people of the 21st century with the tools of the 19th and 20th. Maybe it is time to stop planning new programs and begin to look within us and make some hard decisions. Maybe it is time for us, like the Church in Europe, to admit that we are a Christian nation in name only and we need to reevaluate what it means to be Christian in this new millennium. Maybe it is time to admit that we have more questions now than we can possibly answer. I believe if we can admit this, then there may be hope for the Church.

Show Us the Father

This was my last article for our monthly church newsletter:

I have been thinking a lot about the first chapter of the Gospel of St. John lately, especially verse 18: “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.” (NIV) All of humanity is searching for a piece of the divine, but no one has seen God except for His only begotten Son. We all want something to believe in, something bigger than ourselves.

Later in the same gospel, “Philip said, ‘Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.’ Jesus answered: ‘Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.” (John 14:8-10 NIV) Even the apostles, who spent three years with Jesus, were looking for the divine and did not realize they had already seen God Himself in the flesh.

Sometimes, the Spirit of God comes to us in an unexpected manner. I was very moved by the reaction of most of the people who visited the Good Friday Meditation stations. Many left in tears; all were deeply moved. In something simple we were reminded of the sacrifice Christ made for us that first Good Friday. One parishioner commented on the significance of a pair of sandals that were the centerpiece of one of the stations. These sandals, like ones that any man might wear, were meant to remind us of the humanity of the divine Christ. To think that God Himself became a human being and lived on earth is staggering. To consider for a moment that Jesus felt pain and joy in a manner similar to our very own feelings is really unbelievable. Yet this is exactly what He did. He showed us the divine in a simple, human way.

I think we humans tend to look for God to move in miraculous and extravagant ways, and He does. However, I think we neglect to see how God is at work in the small things of our lives, how He leads us (many times in ways we do not even know) in our decisions and in our life paths. We tend to live day to day without much time for reflection. I think if we could stop for a few moments and listen for the voice of God, He will show us how He is continuing to lead us. Remember, when God spoke to Elijah it was not in the mighty, rushing wind or the storm or the fire, but in the still, small voice.

My prayer for you is that God will speak to you in a special way this month. It is my hope that we all can slow down enough to hear the voice of God, to see His fingerprints all over our lives, and reflect on the great God that we serve. What a church family we will be when we all are tuned into what God is doing in the world today!

Disjunct Thoughts on Funerals and the Presidential Race

I admit that I watch American Idol from time to time. As a "music person" I am supposed to shun such commercialization of musical art. And I can be a snob about music just like the next music doctor, but I have to admit that I enjoy watching the show if only to hear somebody bomb. My vote is for Melinda by the way. As many of you know, the last week was about giving back. One striking segment dealt with death in Africa and how we in America do not have a clue how much death Africans live with on a daily basis. This African man said he had been to over 200 funerals in his lifetime. Most of the American and British celebrities they interviewed had been to only a handful at best.

Before I moved to Florida, I had been to my fair share of funerals. Having served as a singer/musician in churches I had been called on from time to time to sing in a funeral or at least attend several services. But I have probably been involved in more funerals since I moved than in my entire life before. I work at a moderately large United Methodist church that is predominantly an older group. This has been an interesting change for me to go from working with college students to the AARP set, but it has been a good change and not without its benefits. The people are wonderful and so very appreciative. If I ever needed to feel better about myself, I definitely do when I am around my parishioners. It does not hurt that I know "their songs" and sing them often.

Back to funerals: I find that most of them do not effect me anymore. Maybe they shouldn't. We celebrate these folks for their well-lived lives and their faith, so we know we will see them again. I just hope that I am not becoming immune to the pain of loss or that I am just getting so used to doing funerals that I am only going through the motions. Probably the fact that I am writing this means I am not, but I still have to ask the question. But I have had a lot of folks ask me to sing at their funerals, so I guess they have enjoyed what I do. I must say I have become quite the rage on the funeral and wedding set for my community.

Now, for a political statement: I read that Rudolph Giuliani is the front runner now for the Republican nomination for President in 2008. Giuliani? Really? Now, I am not as "liberal" as the next green guy, but it bothers me when evangelicals can get behind someone who hits so many of their caution buttons in a major way. You know, he has been married three times and so has his wife. And, besides that he is pro-choice and for gay rights and all those good things (GASP). Is this a "lesser of two evils" choice or what? Granted, I have nothing against Giuliani. I think he is a great American and did some wonderful things in New York, especially with regard to his leadership after September 11. But I do not think of him as a conservative, at least not in the Bush sense of that term.

I mean, I am much less conservative than I used to be, but conservatives used to stand for something, and it was usually . . . conservative. I just think it is funny that everybody gets all up in arms over John McCain, but at least we know what he thinks about all things Republican. I also read that Barack Obama has over 35,000 friends on MySpace. Hillary does not have nearly that many and McCain does not have even 3000. I wonder how many Al Gore has, especially since he invented the Internet. I think it will be interesting to see if Gore chooses to run. I think he might win (again) this time if he does run. I am resolved that our next President will be a Democrat and I hope the best one runs, uh, wins.

Value Your Present Moments

I find that I am a person of habit and I really do not like to change my routine if I don't have to. This does not mean that I am inflexible, but I like my structure and always have. Before I started my last diet, I got in the habit of eating Chinese food every Wednesday evening after Choir practice. I also got this wacky idea that God can speak to you through fortune cookie messages, but that is for another day and another therapist.

Last night I stopped for Chinese food and my fortune read: "Value your present moments." Now, granted, this is not the most significant gleaning I have taken from fortune cookie theology, but it was interesting that a lot of what I have been dealing with over the course of the last year has been about appreciating the here and now and not always looking to the future. Maybe I am settling down for a change. I have a friend who asked me a couple of weeks ago if it were possible to never really settle down, to always be in a state of motion. I told him I did believe there were other models and that we do not have to follow a certain path, but I really feel that at some point, whether in our minds or spirits or even physically we need to be at a state of contentment. The Apostle Paul told us that he had learned to be content in all states. I believe that I am finally understanding what that means. And I am sure my blood pressure will thank me for it.

I have also talked a lot about identity lately. I realize how much I thought of myself as a college professor, and not so much as a child of God who could do whatever God called me to do. When we want to identify ourselves with something so much, we begin to lose sight of who we are in Christ. I am thankful that this impulse to identify with what I do rather than with who I am (or whose I am) is diminishing in my life. More to come . . .

Taking Out the Trash

It is amazing how much trash collects around a church. Really. I am dumbfounded at all of the boxes of things that someone at one point thought "We might use this again." Over the course of this last year I have had my music librarian archiving and cataloguing our music library. This has been no small task and we are nearing the completion of the largest section (SATB choral anthems). But we have this room that is at the bottom of the stairs in the furthest recesses of the church that is an all-around junk room and it is filled with music. Most of the music is stuff that nobody would ever want. You know, stuff that was "contemporary" or what was passing for contemporary church music in the '70s. It is not bad music, just stuff that will never be used again. Now, not everything that is old is bad by any means, but some things are so timely that they become obsolete shortly after they are published. I wonder a lot about the shelf life of several of our more popular contemporary worship songs. None of us are really singing those spiritual warfare songs that were so popular in the late '80s (can you say "Mighty Warrior'?) and I am sure that several of the songs we do today will be like those good old songs soon enough.

Well, the process of taking out the trash in our lives is just as significant. I used to be a real pack rat (and many who would venture into my office today might suggest that I still am). I would keep magazines for many years because, you never know when you might need something from them again. Well, that day never came. I admit that I threw out a lot of things before I moved to Florida. Then, after moving, we threw away a whole lot more. Used to be we would wait and have a garage sale. Nowadays, we just pile it up in the SUV and take it to Goodwill. I think this has been good for me to learn what is really important and what is not.

All this garbage talk reminds me of two passages in the Scriptures that talk about running the race. The Apostle Paul tells us that in order for us to "press on toward the goal to win the prize" we have to forget "what is behind." (Philippians 3:13-14) If we don't release our pasts we have to carry them along with us and that is not healthy for us emotionally or physically. The writer of the book of Hebrews also reminds us to "throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith . . . " (Hebrews 12:1-2) If only we could really live this way. Forgetting what is behind and only looking forward to the future.

So, my prayer for you today is that you would be able to take out the trash that is in your life and allow Christ to replace it with something new and better. I may not enjoy cleaning up what feels like someone else's mess, but it is a wonderful cleansing act to just get rid of all the junk that I have to wade through to get to the good stuff. It is amazing that I find something good every time I go to the "scary room" at the bottom of the stairs. Pretty soon, I will find nothing but good things there, because the past will be completely in the past.

Back to the Blogosphere

Yes, I am alive.

It has been 6 months since I last posted to this blog and that is forever in the cyber time. I began to realize that it is actually quite a while in real time as well. I have had several milestones since I last wrote:

My youngest daughter turned a year old in November

I decided to go on yet another diet the first week of November. I have lost 41 pounds so far. So this means that since I reached my all-time highest weight in 2004, I have lost a grand total of 65 pounds. I am still not thin by any stretch of the imagination, but I feel a lot better physically and emotionally. I can run and not get winded I can walk and not faint. I realize that my battle of the bulge is about more than food and I am trying my best to keep life in perspective. Although, when things are not working as I would like for them to work, I often find myself longing for something fried or something chocolaty. I digress.

I had a wonderful December with my Choir. They put on a very accessible selection of music for Christmas and were very generous with me. They are a second family for me.

I had a weird Christmas returning to Texas for the first time since my move in February of 2006. It was great to see my family, but I just did not feel at home there. I thought it would bring me much more repose than it actually did. We were able to go to museums (they don't have those on the "Redneck Riviera") and see the exhibit on Hatshepsut, the queen who became king of Egypt. That was nice. I just now realize more and more that I truly am at home in Florida. My children are thriving in Florida in a way that I never got to experience before we moved.

In January I bought a new car. I left the Volkswagen cult to join my wife as a Toyota owner. I have an SUV now. I felt like such a Republican, but thank God, it gets very good gas mileage so I can at least feel better about my part in burning a hole in the Earth's atmosphere.

In February we celebrated our one-year anniversary of living in Florida by purchasing the home we had been renting for the last year. Oddly enough, we closed on the anniversary of Misty and the 3 girls coming to Florida. That was creepy and if we were numerologists . . .

In March I turned 35. I had this great realization that I was exactly middle aged if we consider that the Bible gives us only 70 (3 score and 10) years on this Earth. I think this is the first time I have been happy about a birthday since I turned 30 and had 40 college students celebrate with me. That was interesting.

In April we had a wonderful Holy Week and Easter. I got to be all "Emergent" and set up meditation stations for Good Friday. They were received very well and this gives me hope that I can do some almost innovative, yet moving things here and the people will be responsive. The Choir also did a wonderful job on their first performance of the Easter section of Handel's Messiah (reminds me of my university days with my Chorale). We had a wonderful response to the Good Friday evening performance. We had a string quartet and some additional instrumentalists who really added so much to the performance. They were very complimentary of the choir and asked to play again with them at Christmas.

I guess that is my last six months in a nut shell. I have posted a couple of other entries on Worship and My First Year in Florida. It is my plan to keep up with the world again and blog away. I am looking forward to sharing my thoughts again on the Church and its workings, but not today.

Reflections on My First Year in Florida

If there is one thing that sums up this last year of my life it is CHANGE. This February marks my first anniversary serving the music ministry of First United Methodist Church of Panama City. It has been more than a year since I taught my last class at the university. I think this year was about good teaching me a thing or two, especially about trusting Him. People probably thought I was crazy that I would leave my job teaching in a Christian university, a place where I had been for ten years and thought I would never leave. Others probably thought I was crazy to move my family across the country. I am thankful that God was in this move and that He has continued to bless my family through our relationships with you in the church, in our interactions with the staff, and in our feelings of contentment in the community. We truly feel at home.

I am glad that God is always thinking ahead and leading us in His paths, even before we realize our lives are changing. I am reminded of the great words the Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Philippi: “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6) This means that God has a plan for us, and, better yet, He will see that plan come to fruition in us. We can all be thankful that we have a compassionate Father who loves us and is willing to mold us into His image through all circumstances in our lives. Psalm 40:5 tells us: “Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare.” It is truly a miracle that God cares about each of us in such a personal manner.

Our worship, then, should come for a heart that truly seeks after God—just as He has sought us, to save us and redeem us. If our hearts are really open to Him, then our worship will be more meaningful. If we come expecting to meet God in our times of corporate worship, then He will not disappoint us. Rather, He will come and show forth His presence in a refreshing way. Each of us needs a refreshing from time to time, and what better place to meet the Lord than in worship from His church.

We also need to consider how well we know the Lord—how important our relationship with Him really is. I am planning to make that a priority in my life—to know the Lord better, to understand His Word better, to be more like Him in my dealings with people. And, like the Apostle Paul wrote: “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.” (Philippians 1:9-11) My sincere prayer for each of you is that grace would abound in your lives and that you would be filled with His Spirit and presence daily.

Called to Be Worshipers

We are all called to be worshipers. Jesus’ command does not apply only to musicians and singers, but to all believers in Christ. Of course, we all know we need to worship, but sometimes we are just plain too religious to really worship. The Samaritan woman at the well that Jesus met on his way back to Galilee dealt with a similar issue. When Jesus mentioned an area that needed work in her personal life, she immediately responded with a loaded question about the differences between Jewish and Samaritan worship. Jesus’ response to her was amazing: “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4-21-24 NIV)

Worship in spirit and truth means we cannot neglect our minds or our emotions in our worship. Sometimes we worry that our worship can get out of hand when our emotions are involved, but our faith is one that transcends just our intellect. Our faith must engage all aspects of our lives, and our emotions play a major role. So if the Spirit moves you, be encouraged that a healthy, heart-filled response is completely in order in our worship services. I pray that we get excited about Jesus and excited about our times of worship together on Sundays and Wednesday. I pray that we all can strive to come to worship services prayerfully ready to hear the word of God and to worship our Creator and Lord with spirit and in truth. If we come expecting great things from God, we will receive great things from Him. “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” (James 4:8a NASB).