Friday, April 6, 2012

Battle of Wills

Last evening at our Holy Thursday service we remembered the night Jesus gave himself up for us.  Today we remember how cruel and evil people, politics and power can be as all of these things play a part in bringing Jesus to Golgotha, the place of the skull.  I am never shocked, it seems, by the level of cruelty people can inflict on one another.  I am not surprised when people play politics, even in church, to impose their will while ignoring Jesus last fervent words for unity.  And I have watched people, who say they are doing good by gaining control of meaningless micro-details, exercise power that totally ignores the overall mission Christ outlines in Gethsemane.  All of this, and all of the story in Jesus' time, is motivated by the opposite of that prayer Jesus prayed when He said, "Not my will but thine (speaking to the Father.)"  It seems we pray "Not Thy will but mine" sometimes.

It is always interesting to see what is really going on in the church (what people tell themselves is happening) verses what is really happening.  For Jesus the outward story was a blaspheming, irreverent, Rabbi has been caught seriously disrupting the flow of the Jewish church of His time.  He must be stopped because, of course, their ways and traditions are primary, even if they totally miss the mark of God's Scriptural intent.  So He is accused, arrested, tried (falsely), convicted (illegally) and taken to the cross on that dark Friday.  Their (the establishment's) will ... not God's.  But God has a way of taking mistakes and (if we allow Him in our hearts and our lives) turning our upside-down attitudes right side up.  So this dark Friday becomes the greatest destruction of evil in history, for our sins are taken to the cross ... paid for in full ... buried in the grave ... waiting for Sunday's historical turning point where even death is defeated.  Total defeat turned to total victory.

For us I wonder ... why do we still cling to things that are dead when we worship the God of the living?  We still use divisiveness and disunity because we aren't willing to let God be in control of our church ... not His will but mine.  We still refuse to see the changes that have happened in ministry as church staff works to speak in the language and context of our culture the message of a God who is still on His throne, still (and always) relevant and still victorious ... so we try to pull them into our context ... not God's will but mine.  We continue to major on minor things when we nitpick the everyday ministry decisions of our church leaders, much more worried about those things than hungry children, teens overdosing on OTC medications, parents failing to parent, a culture that places recreational opportunity above meeting together regularly (God's good idea, not my words), and all of us being worried more about the next best notepad than the spiritual condition of our neighbor (pointing the guilty finger right at me) ... not Thy will but mine.  During this past week I have been observing why we are so much more caught up in process than we are in the end product ... follow the rules rather than follow God ... not God's will but my will.  We are living in opposition to Jesus' basic commands and I hear every day that we are 'losing' our country, 'losing' our children, 'losing' our youth ... 'losing' our nation of faith.  Maybe it is time ... this Resurrection Day ... to stop, think, listen and realize that the problem is not that person across the road or on the other side of the Sanctuary.  The problem is me ... my battle against God's will as it tries to lift me from this present darkness.

OK ... I will stop this rant with a final observation.  As I watch people, hear what they say and hear their observations about our church, I see and hear frustration that our church leaders (locally and nationally) are known for standing on orthodoxy vs orthopraxy (the practice of faith).  I am not even talking about the big things here ... I am speaking about attitudes of negativity, inconsistent positions on issues, and the rampant use of power/politics inside the church ... I could go on.  One young woman said to me "Are these (power, control, micro-management, nitpicking) the things that are important?  People (including youth, adults and even some children) are suffering right down the street."  I propose a solution.  How about trusting God for our finances, our direction and pray for, with our staff?  How about (rather that be critical) jumping into those ministries with which we have concerns and see what is really going on?  How about all of us saying (in unity) "not our will, but yours, Jesus."  It is about God's will ... not Randy's will.  That's my take.

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