It's NOT about YOU!

Another great reminder of the role that we as preachers play on the gospel stage. Unfortunately most of us are arrogant and full of our own delusions of grandeur the majority of the time until someone or something knocks us off our high horse. Because of our propensity to think of ourselves more highly than anyone ought to we become more concerned with our own "performance" and the well wishes and applause of our people rather than remembering that it isn't about us...it's about the gospel.

See the excerpt below from Shurden's journal.

PREACHING:  IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU. IT’S ABOUT THE MUSIC:

South Carolina Preacher Robert Guffey tells of instructions that he received from his band directors in junior high and high school. They would say:

          “Ladies and gentlemen, if you cannot hear the playing of the person beside you, you are playing too loud. This is not about you; it is about the music. It’s not about your ego. If there is a solo in the music for you to play, I’ll let you know. It’s not about whether or not your mother is sitting on the front row and you want to stand out. It’s not about you. It’s about the music.”

I was going to preach for my first time in chapel at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. I was nervous, really nervous. The day before the sermon I told ole jubilant, jolly Wayne Ward who had preached in that chapel a hundred times how apprehensive I was. Wayne dismissed it, “Oh, Buddy, you are just worrying about how you are going to do. It is not about you. Rare back and preach to us. Quit worrying about being a hit.”

Almost four decades after Wayne Ward said those words to me, I can truthfully say that I never get up to preach that I do not worry about how I am going to do. I have to keep telling myself, “It is not about me; it is about the music, the gospel that I preach.” My sense is that worrying about how you are going to do is not all bad. It’s just not that important.

The Gospel According to Dylan

I recently finished The Gospel According to Bob Dylan by Michael Gilmour. When I saw the title on Amazon.com I couldn't wait to dive into it. I got introduced to Dylan in college through friends and a couple of history classes. To say that I love the man's music is an understatement. Part of what I believe so many people find intriguing about Dylan is ability to speak prophetical about a myriad of issues, yet when pressed about the inner life of Bob Dylan one can only connect bits and pieces together through the lyrics, the interviews, and the volumes of articles, books, and blogs written about the man and the music.

Gilmour opens the book by saying that just as when a person listens to music the meaning and interpretation become so subjective that we can't determine the cold hard facts for the artist himself. Thus the book is more about his own pilgrimage with Dylan and how he has seen religion in different shapes through the music and the man. I was hoping for something just the opposite, but for a "Bobhead" this would be an enjoyable look at some of the less critically acclaimed periods of his immense catalogue of music.

You Don't Have to Live Like a Refugee

Tom Petty
Refugee
Listen, it don't really matter to me
Baby, you believe what you wanna believe
You see, you don't have to live like a refugee

Somewhere, somehow, somebody must have
Kicked you around some
Tell me why you wanna lay there,
Revel in your abandon

Honey, it don't make no difference to me
Baby, everybody's had to fight to be free
You see, you don't have to live like a refugee
No baby, you don't have to live like a refugee

Tom Petty has always captured my attention with his barely whispered, gritty vocals and devil may care attitude. I was listening to one of his discs recently and this song stuck in my head for a few days. I couldn't move past the fact that as humans we choose to live like refugees when we live alienated from God and keep him at arms length. The good news of the gospel is a reminder that we don't have to revel in our brokenness and our sense of abandonment when the world casts us aside...truly we have the greatest hope, the greatest love, the deepest awareness of grace in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are declared righteous in God's sight no longer bound to flounder in chains of sin and death but liberated to live in community with God and his people.

Before I was humiliated I was like a stone that lies in deep mud, and he who is mighty came and in his compassion raised me up and exalted me very high and placed me on the top of the wall.

St. Patrick, From His Confession

It's that wonderful time of the year when Savannah turns green, not with envy but with Irish culture and tradition. We are so excited about celebrating another St. Patrick's Day at Mamanon's (Fran Pagliarullo)! The green grits, green shirts, parade festivities all remind me of the man who felt the call of the gospel to go back to Ireland and preach the good news to all who would hear. The quote above reminds me that God's grace was the same for Patrick as for me and you. May we remember that Patrick's life teaches us about God and his ways during the festivities this week. Erin Go Bragh!

Ecumenical Evangelical

One of my core values in ministry and in my personal theology is a commitment to ecumenism. Not the everyone's going to heaven regardless of what you say, do, or believe, but a genuine respect and willingness to work together with brothers and sisters in Christ who are a part of other Christian traditions than my own. I saw this post at Internet Monk that reminded me that even though some are drawing the circle tighter and tighter, that many are willing to find commonality in "one faith, one Lord, and one baptism.

Saying Goodbye

Tonight we are saying "goodbye and Godspeed" to our seniors. In this group of graduates I see a lot of myself as a senior in high school, some good and some bad. I've known most of them for the full three years I have been at FBC and so I am humbled to have been a part of their lives. My prayer with all of the students who I have met and been a part of their lives over the years is always that the gospel would be at the center of everything I do and say. I'm not perfect, most people who know me can tell you that, but I pray that I have been as faithful as possible to proclaiming the gospel, but more importantly putting the gospel into action for my students. I came across this passage from Dallas Willard the other day that reminded me of why I do what God has called me to do. "Does the gospel I preach and teach have a natural tendency to cause people who hear it to become full-time students of Jesus?" (The Divine Conspiracy p. 335)

Renewing the Center

Recently, I finished reading Renewing the Center: Evangelical Theology in a Post-Theological Era by Stanley Grenz. The book offered a sweeping history and analysis of evangelicalism, even recounting key figures that represent two ends of the spectrum within evangelicalism. In fact, some readers would argue that some of the people that Grenz defends as evangelicals are in fact outside of the realm of evangelical theology, which in many ways illustrates the purpose of this book to call evangelicals to a renewed vision of a "generous orthodoxy" that will reclaim the truth of the gospel while moving forward to engage an increasingly secular and postmodern culture. There were many things that were encouraging to me about this book. First, the rich theological history that I have by being a part of evangelicalism. Second, the shape of Protestantism to be a people who are constantly reshaping and revising the implications for living out the gospel. Third, the importance of being shaped by scripture and the biblical narrative rather than shaping scripture to meet my own needs and agenda. Stanley Grenz writes, "A renewal of the center, therefore, calls the church to the ongoing task of doctrinal retrieval and reformation, under the normative guidance of Scripture and Spirit, for the sake of the furtherance of the gospel of God's transforming grace freely available in Christ" (p. 345). The challenge for me and every other believer is to move forward in reaching people for Christ without compromising the center that drives us, THE GOSPEL!!