Faith

Any Thing You Can Do…

/ Jason Morris / Leave a comment

I can do better???

This afternoon, I stood in a prayer circle with 30+ pastors, staff, and laity from the UMC. One can only imagine what happened when we were invited to pray whatever came to our hearts.

The prayer time started with a nice, short word of thanks. Then, the pastors started up. Each new prayer got longer, louder, and used more Christianese theological terms.

It was as if each person praying was using the time of prayer as an opportunity to give a short sermon. It truly felt like a competition.

Now, the truth of the matter is that I am extremely cynical. All of the prayers may have been totally authentic…genuine…from the heart. It’s probably my pour attitude…my pastoral pride and ego that stood in the way of fully engaging in this time of prayer and appreciating what was happening in the moment. Whether it’s my cynicism or not, some of the prayers were received as a show.

It felt like Matthew 6:5, 7, where Jesus instructs us…”When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I assure you, that is all the reward they will ever get…When you pray, don’t babble on an on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered only by repeating their words again and again.”

I felt led to pray a prayer of repentance…asking God to forgive us for trying to out do one another…to forgive us for attempting to draw attention to ourselves. But, then I realized that this would probably have been more offensive to the people in the circle than the babbling prayers were to me.

However, this does remind me to lead by example with my prayers. We don’t need long, drawn out prayers. We don’t need prayers with fancy words that only people with advanced studies in the theological arena understand (or simply pretend to understand). We need to simply be honest, straightforward, to the point, and speak from the heart.

I’m not saying that, for some, speaking from the heart won’t include long times of prayer of fancy language. What I am saying is that, too often, we church leaders tend to pray in such a manner that others feel intimidated to pray. You hear comments like, “Well, I can’t really pray like the pastor.” Then, you find out that some simply avoid prayer because they’ve never been taught about having a simple, open dialogue with God.

So, I believe we need to model simple prayers. When Jesus taught us to pray, it didn’t take 6 chapters. He didn’t model a 15-minute prayer with unfamiliar language. He broke it down to the bare necessities. Shouldn’t we follow His example?

Weird Worship

/ Jason Morris / 3 Comments

So, I just attended a worship service that was…interesting. The music was led by an African-American man on piano and vocals and a Anglo woman on vocals and attempting to play the djembe.

The vocals screamed 1970’s Maranatha or Gaither Music Group. Very cheesey. Very over-the-top.

One of the most interesting moments was as the final speaker was wrapping up his message. The pianist began playing a chord progression with a certain rhythm that sounded oddly familiar. On the second round, I realized that he was playing the Dave Matthews Band “Crash Into Me.”

I thought to myself, “Well, that’s weird.”

Then, he proceeded to invite the crowd to sing “Sanctuary” on top of this chord progression. It worked in parts. But, overall, the chord progression and the melody did not work well together.

I think he was trying to blend some contemporary elements with this older chorus. It was…”creative?”

I have a few minutes before my next workshop and just had to write about this…

I really never thought that I’d hear “Sanctuary” and the Dave Matthews Band at the same time. How bizarre?

Teens & Technology

/ Jason Morris / Leave a comment

This summer, I’ll be speaking at a camp that is taking a pro-active approach to the vast usage of technology among teenagers. There will be opportunities for students to ask questions, respond to polls, and give feedback via text messaging.

I believe that this is a great response to what’s going on in the current teenage culture. I believe that this is a great opportunity to address the appropriate use of technology. I believe it’s a great opportunity to utilize a piece of technology that more and more teens are using. Of course, at the same time, I believe this presents a great challenge. There will be massive amounts of temptation to utilize the technology to disengage with the events taking place at the camp.

I am proud of this camp for extending itself and taking a chance on engaging students right where they are at. Rather than asking kids to totally ignore something that plays a major role in their daily lives, the camp is asking the kids to use it to participate in the experience.

This was solidified for me on Sunday night, when I had the opportunity to hang out with some teenagers. Rather than have conversations with one another, they would text each other. This blew me away. Rather than have a verbal conversation with someone sitting 10 feet away, the kids would text each other. Could it be that the topic of conversation was inappropriate? Potentially. But, from what I could gather, it was pretty much small talk.

There is a part of me that is concerned about the abundant use of technology for communication. Could it be that the more we use technology for communication the less we’ll be able to engage verbal conversations?

I’m excited to see how all of this plays out…at camp and in our world.

A Pure Heart

/ Jason Morris / 1 Comment

During his earthly ministry, Jesus often saved his harshest words for the religious folks. One day, to the Pharisees and teachers of the law, Jesus quoted a passage of Scripture from Isaiah and revealed that it was about them. The passage says:

“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.” (Matthew 15:8-9)

When I read these words, I am reminded of my need for a pure heart. I am also reminded of my need for true worship. And, I am reminded that my teachings should be more than legalistic rules.

Too often, we read of those in ministry who honor God with their words, but their main desire is to attract financial security and fame. Their hearts desire is their own success, rather than spreading this great story. It’s easy to get caught up in this once you begin to receive the praises of others.

Too often, we read of churches whose worship is nothing more than cheap entertainment. The thought process in the design of a worship service focuses more on what will be cool or unique, rather than what will most effectively communicate the Gospel and help one experience the presence of God. Now, I totally understand that often times the cool, unique stuff does a wonderful job of translating the message in a culturally relevant manner. However, I have seen too many worship services where the methodology trumps the message, rather than the message shaping the methodology.

And, how often do we take complex, holy mysteries and reduce them into three rules for sacred living? How often do we take a teaching of Jesus and turn it into five steps for a happy life? How often do we think of a really great catch phrase or a powerful point that we want to make and then rush to find a passage of Scripture that supports our agenda, rather than letting the Scripture shape our agenda?

How often do we simply go through the religious motions of being a Christian? How often do we simply “play” church? Has anyone else grown tired of the show?

A pure heart and true worship is my desire today. It is my desire that my words and my heart will be in one accord. It is my desire that my worship will be in spirit and in truth. It is my desire to cut away all of the things that distract and simply move into a place where I will be in a position to experience all that God has in store for me today.

 

Above Reproach

/ Jason Morris / 1 Comment

One of this mornings Star Press headlines is greatly disappointing and sickening. It’s the story of a pastor being arrested, after a lengthy investigation, for inappropriate relationships with young boys in his congregation.

This is one of those headlines that does a lot of damage to the Church. Instead of hearing about all the wonderful things Christian churches are doing all over the world, we are told the deeply troubling story of a pastor that allegedly used his position for extremely troubling acts.

Whether or not he is found guilty, this will leave a scar on the Church. People who already have a sense of distrust towards the Church will not have much confidence in the Church after reading this story.

Unfortunately, these things happen way too often. And, it’s not always some kind of sexual sin that does the damage. The real issue is when pastors and leaders in the church use their positions of authority to feed their egos and sinful desires.

And, now, the Church is put in an awkward position. How do we respond to something like this?

Of course the victims need to be provided with counseling, surrounded in prayer, and supported as they process the events that have taken place.

But, what about the pastor? I believe in justice. I believe in discipline. I believe that, if he is found guilty of these charges, he needs to face the penalties that a court of law imposes on him. I believe that, if he is found guilty, he has done things that disqualify him from leading a congregation. Yet, I also believe this man needs counseling. I also believe this man needs prayer. I believe that healing can take place in his life. And, that’s difficult to type…because right now I’m angry about this…the damage truly goes beyond one local congregation.

Paul is quite clear about the requirements and expectations of Christian leaders. We are to be above reproach. While the tasks sounds unattainable…it is what we strive towards. John Wesley urged all to strive towards perfection. While perfection may be impossible to grasp in this world, it is our goal.

In 1 Timothy 3, Paul writes about the expectations of Christian leaders. I love the way the Message puts it:

If anyone wants to provide leadership in the church, good! But there are preconditions: A leader must be well-thought-of, committed to his wife, cool and collected, accessible, and hospitable. He must know what he’s talking about, not be overfond of wine, not pushy but gentle, not thin-skinned, not money-hungry. He must handle his own affairs well, attentive to his own children and having their respect. For if someone is unable to handle his own affairs, how can he take care of God’s church? He must not be a new believer, lest the position go to his head and the Devil trip him up. Outsiders must think well of him, or else the Devil will figure out a way to lure him into his trap. (1 Timothy 3:1-7)

I believe these events should remind Christian leaders of the expectations set before us by Scripture. I believe these events should challenge us to strive towards perfection.

These events should also remind us that we are not perfect. While it is easy to “t-off” at someone who is on the front-page of the local paper, we need to be wise…we need to be careful. We need to take steps to protect ourselves. A pastor really should not even put him/herself in a position where these kinds ofaccusations can be made.

So, this morning, I am reminded of what is expected of me. And, while I do stumble and fall, I’m daily striving to live up to the call.