Hello Friends,
One of my seminary professors (a New
Testament Scholar) used to say, “If it is repeated, it must be
important!” In that same spirit, I think it might be helpful to reiterate
a little bit of what I claimed in a recent sermon: I am convinced that
Jesus instructs his followers (all of us) to be counter-cultural in many different ways.
Similar to other times throughout history, we live in an culture filled with
ANXIETY and TENSION, and this impacts our families, our institutions and our
whole American society! Like a room filled with gas fumes that could go
off at any minute, people seem to be waiting for something to ignite the air
around us. There are several different symptoms of this anxiety we experience,
and they are all interconnected. Where do you see these in our culture?
- INTENSE REACTIVITY – There are vicious cycles of intense
reactions to events, other people, and different ideas. Think about
discussions of human sexuality or climate change and how people react.
- HERDING
INSTINCT – The forces of
togetherness become “stuck-togetherness” and don’t allow anyone to separate
from the “herd” without being threatened with separation from the herd.
Often there are competing herds (like Democrats and Republicans), but
often new herds develop, like the Wall Street protesters or the Tea Party
movement.
- BLAME
DISPLACEMENT – It is so
much easier to challenge others rather than look at what fundamental changes we
ourselves might need to make. This is the classic “victim mentality.”
Whose fault is it when things don’t go right? It’s always “those
people.”
- QUICK-FIX
MENTALITY – People have a
low threshold for “pain” and will do whatever is expedient to relieve the
symptoms of their discomfort. If we just do this one little thing,
everything will be better, right?
- LACK
OF HEALTHY LEADERSHIP –
We can see how ineffective leaders are sucked into the anxiety of the system
above, but they both cause and emerge out of this system. Think about
people in leadership positions who manifest the above symptoms, and don’t just
think about “those people” you disagree with.
Anxiety is like those fumes and fills the air around us. What
would it mean for us to be the kind of counter-cultural followers of Jesus who
figure out ways to get rid of the fumes instead of waiting (along with everyone
else) for a person to enter that room full of fumes with a match so that we can
blame them? I believe ridding ourselves and our society of that anxiety
is part of our call to more faithfully follow Jesus, but any change has to
start with US. No doubt it will be a challenge, but what if we instead
embraced the adventure, stood apart from others, and looked for new ways to
truly share the “Good News” about living this life as a follower of
Christ? Jesus repeatedly teaches his followers to be like salt in a bland
world; like light for a world filled with darkness; like leaven or yeast (which
is different from the rest of the flour) in bread. What would it mean for
us to be truly counter-cultural? In our world, I think part of what that
means is that we must be a “non-anxious presence” in an incredibly anxious
world.
I pray every day for my ability to be a healthy leader that will
help lead faithful people into the future, but I am grateful that I am far from the only leader in the community of faith in which I serve as pastor (Covenant UMC; covenantmethodist.org).
I have this sense that we have an amazing adventure ahead of us, and I am so delighted
to be on this journey with gifted, talented, and passionate people here in the Pacific Northwest. I am convinced God has huge plans
for all of us, and I can’t wait to see how God will use those of us who follow Christ.
I pray I get to see
you (or meet you) soon, either in worship or in service in the world. Let me know if I can help
you to connect in a meaningful way.
Prayerfully,
Gregg
Pastor Gregg
P.S. – Many of these ideas are adapted from a book titled, “A
Failure of Nerve,” by Edwin Friedman. I highly recommend it!
