final days forum

Get Used to It; People Will Abuse Grace

lapija, originally uploaded by pkmk.

Part of our impoverished view of God is that we worry why he doesn't do more about those people who abuse the gift of goodness. We know this theologically and recite Paul's words -- "by grace we have been saved" -- with the arrogance of a know-it-all seminarian. If we really understand God's plenty of grace, why are we so stingy about giving it?

We're triggered when people abuse grace. We're disturbed by the person who cheats on his taxes and gets away with it. We're miffed by the person who gets to say whatever she wishes publicly and be forgiven with no problem. We're even bothered by the possibility of grace abuse: we cringe at the homeless person on the street because we fear if we give, our money will be abused. We may know nothing about this person, but we assume they will waste our precious cash. We worry that people will abuse our philanthropy, so we feel reassured when our money goes toward "the most deserving." We praise self-sufficiency and deplore anything that smacks of negligence or laziness.

Avoiding scams at all costs is poetry for political campaigns, but poison for ministry. When you review Jesus' earthly ministry, it's clear that he identified the scam artist when he or she first drew breath. He knew the disposition of some people to follow him for the fish and bread while ignoring his message about God's salvation and eternal kingdom. He knew that people would love their money more than sacrificing for God, and his heart ached for the rich young ruler.  Jesus operated from abundance. He understood that his resources of grace are constant and infinite. Jesus also operated from ultimate power. He did not fear being duped or abused because he knew who he was.

But if we rely on our own version of grace, sporting the same smugness of the religious classes who challenged Jesus, is it any surprise that we are exhausted? And disappointed?

Judy Howard Ellis

Listening to a Superior Voice

After the Summer of Rage, incivility continues to simmer throughout the U.S. -- on vociferous talk radio, cable news, websites, tell-all books and even in some pulpits. Unfortunately, the nation can't collectively make an appointment with Dr. Phil to explore what ails it, but as individuals we can seek help.

In the film, "Madea Goes to Jail,"  Tyler Perry's Madea resists anger management when she verbally jousts with Dr. Phil and behaves as if her fury is his fault.  The exchange between the two is dead-on because many of us behave with the same ghetto-fabulousness when we wear irritation like exposed skin...And it doesn't matter what neighborhood you come from for this term to apply.

We can roll our eyes and justify our raving, but in the end, anger obscures truth and barricades peace. Think back: hasn't this been true? We sought to hear God amid the crashing noise of of our circumstances, fumed at him as the mountains of life quaked about us, but when does he most often answer us? In the stillness. The prophet Elijah learned this and was privileged to witness how God is no less magnificent when his voice is still and small.

If we want to live like children of God, does that include changing our perspective on anger? Without learning to deal with anger daily, without learning that a quieter voice repels wrath, we will look as ridiculous as the prophets of Baal in Elijah's day. They screamed, hollered, cut themselves bloody and called out to a god who never answered.

Judy Howard Ellis

Is Your Church a Good Neighbor?

Welcome, originally uploaded by alborzshawn.

Let's say your church has been in a certain neighborhood for five, 10 or 15 years. Maybe it's been there for much longer and boasts stained glass windows where long-dead members donated to forgotten building programs. Whatever the age of your church, it has become a fixture in the community, a landmark people can identify.

Your church ministry today may have a popular radio program, TV broadcast or website, but have you studied the impact of your congregation on the surrounding neighborhood? Have you met the people in the houses you rush by when you're late for Bible study? Do you wonder how many neighbors come to your nationally advertised conferences featuring well-known ministry leaders?

Like never before, the tangible impact of the local church is critical. Effective local influence ripples outward to bring national change. The Great Recession has plagued many families and their communities, but has your church worked on the front lines? Have you unwittingly settled for a tepid ministry that lacks transformational power?

As you start your week, how about praying about these questions regarding your church and its influence in the larger community:

1. Does your church offer language courses so that you can interact with people in the surrounding neighborhood?
2. Do you seek opportunities to share pulpits with congregations that are smaller or larger than yours?
3. Is your church building open 24/7 or is it limited to scheduled "ministry" programs?
4. Have you surveyed the surrounding neighborhood to learn how they view your church as a neighbor?
5. Have you used social networking tools to reach untapped populations in your community?
6. Has your church used its grounds for a community garden that helps people buy produce locally and more cheaply?
7. Has your church offered literacy-related activities for youth?
8. Have you offered free leadership and career reinvention training for the unemployed and struggling businesses?
9. Has your church encouraged members to sacrifice one Sunday meal at a restaurant and use that cash to fund a local reputable nonprofit which helps people pay utility bills or locate housing in your area?
10. Does your prayer team pray as a group about local environmental issues that affect your neighbors?
11. Who would feel uncomfortable coming to your church and why?
12. Is your church recognized for its affiliation with specific political views or for its tirelessness in carrying out the mandate of God's kingdom?

What questions would you add?

Judy Howard Ellis

Will the recession steal your creativity?

This recession is sneaky.

Not content to rob the country financially, this recession aims to nab our creativity. The gift of our ingenuity is the real prize this recession season seeks. The media reports about the lingering misery of the nation's financial loss, but the news shrouds the most lethal weapon -- the underlying lie that we can't get beyond this recession.

Chaos always attempts to trample the resilient order within human beings, that part of us that says: "Wait a minute! The last time I faced this, it actually turned out OK..." or "Whoa! Remember how I actually achieved more after I lost so much?"

When we give up, when we freeze in place because of chronic problems and overwhelming odds, chaos wins.

If you're out of work, you have time to think. If you want to quit a job you're clinging to because it keeps the lights on and that's about it, take time to think. Great minds seize the freedom to conceive dreams and visions and hopes even when their lives are constrained.  Nobel Prize winner Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich  about a Soviet labor camp touched me when I read it in high school because of the gritty survival it depicted. And I'm still amazed by Paul, who wrote inspired words to his friends in Philippi while under what traditional scholarship says was captivity in Rome.

I have not faced a Soviet labor camp or house arrest, but stories like these and the recession itself have taught me this: Chaos may limit circumstances, but chaos can't capture my spirit unless I submit to it.

Because of this recession, much has been lost, but much more is to be gained. The American Express card may be gone, but because of creative thinking during this recession, you may reach the Dave Ramsey sweet spot where you resist all plastic. The house may be gone, but its loss may drive you to build a business that builds you a new one, not to mention houses for others.

What we do now, what we create when we fight worry with work, what we reinvent ourselves to be despite the financial ashes -- will determine how luminously we emerge when this sly recession passes.

Judy Howard Ellis

Photo: Russian writer and Nobel prize winner Alexander Solzhenitsyn looks out from a train, in Vladivostok, summer 1994, before departing on a journey across Russia. Solzhenitsyn returned to Russia after nearly 20 years in exile. Photo by Mikhail Evstafiev

A church unafraid of a 'pagan' world

Daniel's Answer to the King by Briton Rivière, R.A.

It is abundantly clear that not everyone in America, let alone the planet, upholds the Bible as a constant, self-evident truth. Not everyone believes what Jesus the Christ said about himself, that he was born to die, that he died to live again, and that he is the son of God.

Being a Christian has always been a spiritual choice that goes against culture. The Christ-based life is counter intuitive because it rests on claims that are first grasped by faith. So why are followers of Jesus surprised when the world rejects him? Why do we feel defensive when the culture doesn't get our God? Or us?

Jesus didn't fear the world and described it as the workplace for his followers. He lived under a Roman regime that was as worldly as they come, but fearlessly, and incessantly, Jesus talked about doing his Father's work. He spoke of his return to earth and his kingdom, despite what was happening in the Roman empire. 

So why did GOP leader Newt Gingrich on Saturday at the Rock Church in Virginia Beach, Va. during the "Rediscovering God in America"  state the obvious? Gingrich is quoted as saying:  "I think this is one of the most critical moments in American history,"  he said. "We are living in a period where we are surrounded by paganism."

The times are critical, but Gingrich's statement sounds like fear-based politics dusted with religion rather than an authentic display of Bible-based strength. Why should Christians feel defenseless and backed into a corner? Again, the world is our workplace! Daniel didn't get the heebie jeebies when he was in the service of a "pagan" government. He wasn't even distraught by a den of lions! The God Daniel served, though unseen, was bigger and badder. Daniel was a skilled leader in a world that did not worship as he chose.  He didn't run away from that fact. He understood that God possessed all authority. Do we view God that way?

A world with lots of "un-biblical" things happening 24-7 is the world to which God has called every believer. We are not submitting to his eternal purposes by whipping up fear about the people God has called us to serve. Jesus did not live in isolation and he is not directing us to live ensconced in a subculture of only Christian music and neighbors who sport a fish on the back of their Honda.

If we are not stretched by the challenge of serving in the world, if we do not venture beyond our mega-sanctuaries, how will we experience how powerful the Almighty actually is? How will the world?

Judy Howard Ellis

 

Get your read on for summer!

 If you want to meet some great Christian authors and get your summer reading list started, follow the Anointed Authors on Tour, starting on Monday and ending on June 12.

Final Days Forum will feature Dr. Vivi Monroe Congress on June 10. She is the author of several books, including Manna for Mamma: Wisdom for Women in the Wilderness. Dr. Congress lives in Dallas, Texas. You can visit her website:  www.DrViviMonroeCongress.com. 

 The Anointed Authors on Tour consists of seven award-winning, bestselling authors of Christian fiction and non-fiction publications with a commitment to write and/or publish integrity-based literature, touring as a testament to the power of using gifts and talents for God's glory.

Over the next two weeks, plan to meet Kendra Norman Bellamy, Tia McCollors, Vanessa Miller, Michelle Stimpson, Shewanda Riley, along with Dr. Congress. Each of these authors have current and upcoming book releases that are must-reads for your summer reading list!

What Would Jesus Wear?

Our Lady Immaculate and St  Philip Neri Catholic Church in Uckfield in East Sussex, England this week revealed a new sculpture of Jesus. Sculptor Marcus Cornish fashioned a 21st century image of Jesus -- with mustache, beard, short-sleeve shirt, and a hip pair of baggy jeans. The jeans are not a loin-hugging, Abercrombie and Fitch version but they look like those of a contemporary man. The sculpture's only "fashion" elements that are remotely familiar to traditional depictions of Christ are a halo and bare feet.

Ah, a Jesus for today. Basic Galilean wear might work among money changers and fishermen, but they apparently aren't a fit for a world shaken by a crippling recession, global warming, widespread famine, wars and rumor of wars.

Fashionistas everywhere might be celebrating the Jesus makeover, but Father David Buckley gave a serious reason why Our Lady Immaculate wanted the sculpture. He told the Telegraph: "You are always looking for new ways to enrich people in the experience of Christianity and it is good people can be open-minded to appreciate it," he said.

"On the continent you often encounter modern representations of Jesus but it is not so common over here. We wanted a figure of Christ not in suffering but dynamic and welcoming.

"We felt this design summed up the spirit and activity of Christ perfectly and I think it speaks for itself."

The sculpture is intriguing and is a bold shift from traditional images of Jesus. And Father Buckley has a point; the Jesus of biblical stories is a figure who makes himself accessible to people from every station of life. But is a sculpture the primary way to convey the accessibility and power of Jesus' love?

The image may annoy Christians who think it belittles Jesus, but how will it affect those who can take Christ or leave him? Art is a powerful vehicle to share meaning, but will those who view the sculpture heed or miss the message of Jesus?

Art is one facet of an overall effort by any church to share the truths about Christ's life, death, burial and resurrection. But a sculpture can't ensure that a family has a place to sleep when they lose their house to foreclosure or kiss the brow of someone in hospice care.

Those who sincerely love and follow in Jesus' steps can do that. The fashionistas are only good for the runway.

Judy Howard Ellis

Obama is not the messiah, but...

So far, President Obama's ability to communicate galvanizes people, particularly the young. Many young people crave inspirational leadership because they long for a compass that directs them to reach above their circumstances instead of being swallowed by them.

Obama's power to influence this generation may be the most annoying trait for critics; this may be why the accusation of "messianic"  is pasted to him with an apocalyptic wink.

Such criticism forgets that men and women throughout the ages were gifted with voices that spoke to their generation. Sometimes those voices fueled changes that  led to massive empowerment. At other times, those voices generated despair and sowed destruction. 

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

We may all be better served if we study the responses of people to Obama -- consider the crowds in Strasbourg, France today -- and learn something about the hunger for inspirational leadership. It may inform us of the core shift not only in America, but in the world. It may reveal to us our place of crossroads, a term which the city of Strasbourg has as part of its name.

Inspirational leadership in every sector of life is key. The dour news today about the unemployment rate makes me think about the economy. Banks that refuse credit lines to small businesses because they fear going under should revisit their commitment to being "community leaders." Businesses that lay off because of grim economic forecasts should return to their profit-and-loss sheets and choose not to be economic pundits, but human beings who understand they can say nothing when their epitaphs are written. Think of this tombstone message: AS CEO, I KEPT MY ENORMOUS SALARY WHILE MY FORMER WORKERS STRUGGLED TO LIVE.

The progress inspirational leadership brings advances slowly, painfully, and sometimes unseen. It makes this type of leadership problematic for some. But for me, that is what makes inspirational leadership fascinating to watch. The fruit may not blossom for long periods of time, but the words of the leader either feed anger or motivate people to recover. I prefer the power of the latter. As Proverbs says, there are words that can be "fitly spoken."

Obama is flawed like everyone else. History will record his every mistake and misstep. But perhaps something else is at work during the Obama era, if we could but grasp it. Maybe now is an opportunity to point people to the true Messiah, the greatest inspirational leader of them all.

When that inspirational leader saw a man trapped in his circumstances, it was the leader's words that motivated the man to catch a vision of what could be. That inspirational leader said: "Do you want to get well?"

The man gave his reasons why he was still sick. Certainly they were acceptable conclusions for he was plagued with a 38-year condition. But the inspirational leader was after something else, something deep within. With a forceful, healing love I can only imagine, this inspirational and transformational leader said: "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk."

All of us must be inspired to look deep within -- past our frightfully limiting circumstances. All of us must decide now whether we will walk or sit.

Judy Howard Ellis

Links courtesy of msnbc.com, wikipedia.com, cnn,com, biblos.com, studylight.org

A recession antidote: servanthood (Part 2)

vintage cafeteria scene, grandmother, originally uploaded by freeparking.

Fear marches across the land as a ruthless army of giants, but congregations nationwide can be fearless havens of peace. Churches are perfect hubs to generate amazing innovations that serve society. Sure, we can pass the potato salad and pour the coffee, but we can also share ideas and principles that will transform the generations.

Within the church lies boundless imagination. Unfortunately, some congregations lost their spark and their treasures were buried beneath the refuse of the cultural wars. Let's recover that imagination in every church house where Jesus is glorified as King!

Think of the seniors who fill the pews. We absently insult them with our condescension. We don't seek their wisdom or the direction they offer. With our youth, some congregations isolate them instead of letting young people blossom at the church's epicenter. Are we so weary we have forgotten the promise of youth? Unbridled aspiration prevents their hopes from being submerged by cynicism. Speaking of hopes, consider church members who have toiled for years at dead-end jobs for little pay. Churches can do more than accept their tithes and assign them to random ministries because warm, working bodies are needed in the ranks. Tap their creativity! Unimaginative bosses may ignore their contributions, but the local church never should.

The point is, churches, like no one else, can harness strengths like these and shape them into a powerhouse of influence. I mentioned five steps to do this in yesterday's post. Here are five more:

1. Tackle the needs of homeless people, on some level, in local areas. Churches can start by making sure every member in their church has shelter. They could work with nonprofit organizations and link homeowners with those who need to rent rooms. They could hold free seminars for those facing foreclosure. They also can support local shelters and raise awareness about their efforts.

2. Create a community hub for the arts. Perform the classics, not just Bible stories. The best of the classics have redemptive elements that offer a fresh way to share truth with those weary of of Bible-thumping, but hungry for biblical living. A strong arts presence reveals the artistic glory of the church and communicates truths that stick for a lifetime.

3. Create a hub for entrepreneurs. Support the self-employed and encourage others to generate multiple streams of income. Offer free workshops and seminars that train and motivate entrepreneurs. Invite successful entrepreneurs in the church to mentor and train those seeking to start a business.

4. Host lots of free events. Congregations certainly must practice fiscal stewardship, but they should not fear financial loss because they want to protect their bank account. This can include national speakers, concerts, health fairs, town hall meetings and food-related events. A local congregation need not go broke hosting free events, but it should increase its profile by providing activities that add value to their community's. A congregation's  resources are never determined by the financial mutations on Wall Street.

5. Increase customer service. Congregations should work hard to ensure that every usher, parking attendant, pastor, receptionist and ministry leader offers the best service. What people will remember when they visit a congregation is how they were treated. Customer service also extends beyond the sanctuary. How does the surrounding neighborhood view the congregation? Is the parking on Sundays a mess for drivers? Do the neighbors wish the church offered child care? What about ESL classes? Talk with the neighbors and find out.

Judy Howard Ellis

A recession antidote: servanthood (Part 1)

Hands, originally uploaded by John-Morgan.

This severe recession continues to reveal itself as an agent of equality. Everyone feels the crush of the economy, although the wounds from it may vary, depending on our financial condition. Still, there is an element of democracy to the crisis, and therefore an opportunity to serve other as we go through it.

No place is this more true than for the church. I know, I know. I often call the church to task to do better and be better. I do that because church folk have not always shown the deeply loving side of our Lord, although we have self-righteously claimed to do just that. We have pummeled the world with our words, but have our hands been the instruments of his power?

The Father is extremely practical. He fed a prophet through a raven, he used a field of lentils as the cushion for a warrior to fight off enemies, he fed millions through a true organic food that was delivered daily, and he used the ambition of ancient Rome to build roads that were used by an infant church to spread the good news about his son, Jesus.

Why can't we serve the world around us that way? I've mused about this for weeks, and here are five ways I bet we can serve with divinely inspired practicality:

1. Offer free WiFi on our campuses. Instead of just hogging a block full of parking space for our weekly worship services and Bible studies,  help tear down the digital divide, offer a solution for those who do not have access, and build community with our neighbors. Prestonwood Baptist Church here in Dallas, for example, offers free WiFi on its campus.

2. Offer a free, or heavily discounted financial course. My husband and I are participating in Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. The House of Hope in Cedar Hill sponsored the course we are taking.  Ramsey's course is one of many that hold us accountable for our financial stewardship as believers. It's a great trainer or a refresher on financial truths.

3. Offer free Bible training.  I've mentioned this in an earlier post, but it's worth repeating. People are hungry for the Word. They desire a transcendent perspective and the church is filled with learned men and women who know how to rightly handle the truth of God. Instead of charging for DVDs, books and online courses, focus on providing understanding to a perplexed world. God will take care of your expenses... One of the ways he may do it is by building a loyal audience. When the economy turns, they will come back and be willing to pay!

4.Increase activities for families. Help ease the stress on parents and kids. Gear budgets and funds to help families and cut down on extras that have less impact. Work hard to engage singles and seniors with the work of families instead of isolating them.

5. Emphasize marketplace ministries. The church was never intended to be an isolated edifice. And Christian service was never limited to the clergy. With plenty of input from the congregation, explore ways to elevate the role of serving outside of the church building. Encourage church members to host family potlucks in their own neighborhood. Encourage families who live in apartments to reach out to their neighbors instead of living disconnected from people in their complex.

Tomorrow I will list five more ways today's church can serve during the recession.

Judy Howard Ellis