Sept 2019 Update: Pastors in the 21st Century, Prosperity and Pursuit of the Good Life

I heard an argument on a podcast today between a woman who claimed that September 1 signals the end of summer, while someone else insisted on the Autumnal Equinox.  All I know is that #PSL is already available at Starbucks, so there you have it!

I had a GREAT August full of bike rides, travels, fresh produce and interesting work. As always, I came across many outstanding resources I want to share with you.

What is the Good Life? I went to a tremendous conference at Pepperdine University hosted by the Yale Center for Faith & Culture titled "Pedagogy of the Good Life." (Here's an article about the Center from the Huffington Post.) 

Turns out there are several amazing courses being taught around the country that explore the question, "What is the Good Life?" I believe this is our most pressing task for the church (creating dialogue and discipleship around this question). So many young adults I know are asking some form of this question. Will the Church be brave enough to truly engage this sort of dialogue? That's what I wanted to explore at this conference, and I was not disappointed. I found the discussions and presentations throughout the week utterly riveting. Here are just a smidgen of the resources I found:

• Life Worth Living curriculum. The faculty generously make their syllabus available publicly. Truly, I find their approach really intriguing. And it is the MOST popular class at Yale; so many students want to take this class that they have to actually require applications for taking the course! Here is the 7-week course they've created for adults as well. 
• God and the Good Life. An equally amazing course (and just as popular) is being taught at Notre Dame. First of all, the tech design of this syllabus is breathtaking! Think about adapting this and using it with a small group or perhaps even (gasp!) as a sermon series. I love the home page of this course as well.
• Let Me Ask You a Question. This book was written by Matthew Croasmun, one of the creators of the Life Worth Living course at Yale. Bottom line: I BELIEVE in this book as a truly outstanding discipleship tool. Just buy it and try it out.

The Challenge of Being a Pastor in a Secular Age. The third sentence of this article caught my attention: "'I’ve been a pastor for 15 years, and most days I have no idea what I’m doing. It makes me nauseous,' he continued." I have had that conversation with so. many. pastors. The article continues: "He’s not alone. I find myself talking with more and more pastors stricken with uneasy nausea and fatigue that they can’t name. It’s as though their calling has been stripped of meaning... We now live in a time where the very idea that God is real and present in our lives is no longer accepted. Indeed, it’s widely contested. Belief has been made fragile -- for the pastor as much as for those in the pews." This article won't solve our existential questions, but I find great encouragement in seeing them put into words.

A New Kind of Prosperity Gospel. I am fascinated by how our world is seeking to scratch our need for meaning and purpose. Recently I came across two articles that examine this in very interesting ways. Check this quote from Relevant Magazine: "The Prosperity Gospel is no longer houses, cars, money and health. The New Prosperity Gospel is a hip city and a follower count that ends with a K." The other article was in the New York Times: The New Spiritual Consumerism. We MUST stay attuned to our culture. These articles are helpful roadmaps.

Books I'm Reading. Other than seeing some BEAUTIFUL places (this was the view from the AirB&B I stayed at in Maine with my best friend!) and eating some great food (hello lobster and Whoopie Pies!), my favorite vacation activity is the freedom to read to my heart's content. Here are some of the things I've been reading:

• How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram Kendi. Very thought-provoking and provocative at the same time. The New Yorker also did a fascinating article about it.
• Enneagram Transformations: Releases and Affirmations for Healing Your Personality Type by Don Richard Riso. Yep, I'm on the Enneagram bandwagon. I've been riding it for a couple of years and finding it tremendously helpful for my own spiritual formation. I bought the $1.99 Kindle version of this but can't currently find it.
• Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers by Anne Lamott. She never fails to make me laugh out loud AND journal at the same time.
• An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith by Barbara Brown Taylor. Fondly called "BBT" by many, I found this a great devotional read.

Final thoughts. These words are remaining with me still despite reading them several days ago. Let them sink in:

What is in ruins? The invisible church, composed of all Spirit-baptized persons, is indefectible, it cannot be ruined; against it "the gates of Hades shall not prevail." The local assembly may indeed be sadly ruined; but it can be restored, as, by the grace of God, has been seen times without number--at Corinth, for example. The only other institution in question is that agglomeration of sects that is called "Christendom." But that is unrecognized by the New Testament--it is not of God at all: and that it is "in ruins" is no matter for our regret.

    ... G. H. Lang (1874-1958)

Feel free to pass this along to friends, and reach out to me with questions or feedback at kelly.soifer@ksleadershipdevelop.me. Happy end of Summer 2019 ~ may your fall be a lovely one!

True Power

I never tire of recognizing the dramatic contrast between the world's understanding of power ~ full of intimidation, abuse, ruthlessness and greed ~ with the truth of power in God's economy. For God, power is infinite, available to all, not given through fists or a battle of wills, but through the humiliation of the cross as suffered by Christ alone. Christ chose to pay the price for our sin in taking on the humiliation and profound suffering of crucifixion, thus demonstrating more power than we will ever see anywhere else in creation.

We sang this song this morning at church and I was reminded once again of the utter beauty of real transformation that is offered solely through the gospel. How can anyone turn this down? May we be dogged in sharing such lovely, good news.

The Power of the Cross

by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend

Oh to see the dawn of the darkest day

Christ on the road to calvary

Tried by sinful men, torn and beaten then

Nailed to a cross of wood

Chorus:

This the pow’r of the cross

Christ became sin for us

Took the blame, bore the wrath

We stand forgiven at the cross

Oh to see the pain written on Your face

Bearing the awesome weight of sin

Ev’ry bitter thought, ev’ry evil deed

Crowning Your bloodstained brow

Now the daylight flees, now the ground beneath

Quakes as its maker bows his head

Curtain torn in two, dead are raised to life

‘Finished!’ the vict’ry cry.

Oh to see my name written in the wound

For through Your suf‘fring I am free

Death is crushed to death, life is mine to live

Won through Your selfless love

Chorus:

This the pow’r of the cross

Son of God slain for us

What a life, what a cost

We stand forgiven at the cross

Camping

I just got back from a camping vacation in a national park. This has been an annual tradition for ten years and hoo boy, do I love it. It's very "other," and that makes me nearly cling to it. But I have to admit that it also sort of surreal. I mean, what if all your neighbors decided to live on their front lawns for a week? That's what camping feels like to me. The lives of everyone around you are turned inside out. It's worth the price of admission just to sit and watch THAT business...

Granted, no one is totally on their game... everyone arrives tired, a little frayed from the drive, and possibly a wee bit carsick from the winding roads on the way in... but at least it's a level playing field. We ALL feel that way!

I just sit back and baldly stare in fascination. My research cannot be considered conclusive, but observations from these past few days suggest that during camping, moms tend to be very tense, dads just enter their own little zones, and kids become feral pyromaniacs.

As to the dads, my theory is that they tap into their hunter-gatherer roots. They will often sit at tables for hours and try to fix infrequently used pieces of camping equipment. They can endlessly fiddle with strings and stakes to adjust tents (a task that is never truly finished). They will figure out innovative ways to chop wood (let's be honest, it's not a big need in the suburbs). Meanwhile, the kids go berserk. Apparently there is some unwritten rule in campgrounds that parents do not have to supervise their own children. Despite a wealth of ways to get fantastically injured, children are simply running madly everywhere: riding bikes the wrong direction on the roads, making games out of gathering sticks and pine needles, burning anything and everything in the fire, and tromping obliviously through everyone's sites (namely, MINE).

And then there's mom. Poor mom. What can you say? She is just trying to keep everything relatively clean and in the right place. I'm not sure that moms truly have "fun" when they go camping. Their goal is simply to survive, and try to keep everyone fed.

Despite all these commonalities during the daytime, nighttime is when the differences between these front-yard neighbors become glariously obvious. For me, it is a given that camping at night means sitting peacefully around the fire roasting marshmallows, reading by headlamp or playing solitaire next to the lantern. However, my fellow citizens may believe just as firmly that nighttime at the campground equals loud storytelling, repetition of the same jokes over and over, and a healthy enjoyment of alcohol. How do I argue with them -- this is America, Land of the Free, Home of "If It Feels Good, Do It."

For example, we had some neighbors for three nights this week whom my friend dubbed "Children of the Corn." They seemed to be in their first or second year of college, and had mouths like crusty sailors. I believe in those 3 days I was able to fill my lifetime quota for hearing the F-word. Their conversation was unendingly inane; they were continuously unkind to one another -- their "humor" bordered on abusive. They narrated their every move for anyone within 100 yards to hear. I knew when they were making quesadillas, I knew when they were making a fire, I knew what fantasy fiction books they were reading and what each character was like. I did not like these neighbors.

My frustration for them, however, was only exceeded by the large family on our other side, who had their group split into 2 campsites -- grown ups in one and unsupervised teenagers in the other. The young people were allowed to yell and play whiffle ball with complete abandon into the late hours. When my friend said to one of them as they walked by our site, "Could you ask your friends to stop yelling?" near 10pm, we heard them relay the message to the crew. One responded with, "Did she say it nicely?" I mean, honestly. Kids these days.

However, before I sound like the Grumpy Old Men on the Muppets, I will emphatically argue that the good outweighed the bad. The smell of bacon in the morning, as the coffee is brewing, cannot be beat. I never tire of s'mores each night. Peaceful afternoons reading after a long hike were deeply relaxing. Despite one near disastrous night with a deflated air mattress, I slept well, awaking each morning to the creek outside. I smile to myself in the bathroom each morning as I see the parade of sleepyheads walk in to brush their teeth, all with major bedhead. No one cares what they look like when they go camping. All for $20 a night. God Bless America.

I come home with only a few mosquito bites and legs slightly stiff from a tough hike yesterday. It was wonderful to go off the grid and live with no sense of what time it was. My biggest concern was over what to make for dinner. I read for hours each day and stared into the fire with no need to accomplish anything. It was a perfect camping trip.

What time is it, anyway?