We are hosting a fifth Regeneration Summit here in St. Louis, October 7-8. Registration will be up soon. These summits have been a way to gather a variety of individuals for conversation around the mission of the church in coming decades. The theme of this summit is "Walls," and will feature four different presenters each answering one question: "From your vantage point, what is the most significant wall facing the church in the coming decade?" Presentations are interspersed with plenty of time for discussion, coffee, food, and prayer.
I'll be introducing the speakers through the Regeneration blog. The first is Mark Kempff.
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"Humility is the highest form of confidence."
You have no need of bravado, chest protruding. You have no need of desperate grabs for power or reputation. You don't need to tell people, for they will see it in you. You are secure. You have unwavering clarity about who you, and who it is you belong to. Have you ever found an old piece of technology and simply laughed at its archaic form? A few days ago, I pulled a CD walkman out of a drawer. These portable devices had ESP, or "electronic skip protection." It started out that three or four second ESP was revolutionary. If your CD skipped, the device would already have read the information ahead three seconds and provide you with seamless listening. The particular walkman I found in my drawer had 60 second ESP! I was amused at how absolutely obsolete this device is today. The CD walkman could play one CD at a time, for a total of 10-12 songs. I have an ipod that holds days worth of music and "skipping" is not an issue. In addition to a whole library of music, I have news, e-mail, pictures, video, and other apps for things I didn't even know I needed to do. When I looked at the bottom of the walkman I saw a sticker that read "manufactured in 2006." In only 6 years, this device has become essentially useless! One of the prized values of our age is the ability to change. It is almost the creed of our modern time. It is espoused in education, politics, technology, business, and religion. The world is changing with exponential rapidity. In fact, we may be living amidst the most blistering pace of change the world has ever known. You have to keep up or be left behind. There is a great fear that we will be rendered obsolete. No one wants to be a portable CD player manufactured in 2006. The pace of life will only continue to increase with intensity. While the ability to change is important, I believe there will also be an increasing desire for changeless things. Already, I sense among many people a longing for security, stability, and simplicity. Staring at a CD walkman or a record player, one might wonder, "What is it that doesn't change?" There are things like "faith, hope, and love." And of course, there is the One who "is the same yesterday, today, and forever" (Heb. 13:8). I’m increasingly sensitive to pious clichés. Without the appropriate referent, many common phrases are blasphemous.
“Love is all you need.” “Just believe.” “I believe in the power of prayer.” Richard Niehbuhr in his book, Christ and Culture, comments on the many strains of Christianity that unevenly emphasize one truth about Christ. For instance, some Christians emphasize the love of Jesus (which is absolutely true), but in an extremism, lift the ideal of love above even Christ himself. He writes, “The virtue of love in Jesus’ character and demand is the virtue of the love of God and of the neighbor in God, not the virtue of the love of love.” Popular clichés carry an element of truth, but have a tendency to express an extremism or a half-truth. “Love is all you need” may convey a generic, fluffy-puppy affection unless it finds its origin in the Source of all love. “Just believe” can infer belief in the human spirit, a work ethic, or Santa Clause. “The power of prayer” might mean that I possess access to some power source (like a genie’s bottle). If I just prayer for the right duration, the right words, or with enough sweat and tears, I can tap into the power source. By contrast, I don’t believe in the power of prayer, but the power of the One I pray to. With the proper subject, verbs and nouns become endowed with truthful meaning. Without the proper subject, pious clichés become half-truths, if not blasphemous. Choose your words carefully. My wife begins another school year this week, teaching high school chemistry and biology. While I certainly get “geeked out” by theology, I also find science intriguing. In a simple way, science is an examination of the “blueprint,” the orderly way in which the world has been crafted.
So I learned a new word last week: Tropism. A tropism is an organism’s reaction to a stimulus. A geo-tropism is a plant’s reaction to gravity. So a tree always grows up. A thigma-tropism is a reaction to touch. So a vine “feels” its way up a tree, fence, or wall. A photo-tropism is a reaction to light. So a sunflower follows the course of the sun throughout the sky. It’s as if plants simply know what to do. Deep in their cells, they are built with very specific characteristics and abilities. Such tropisms have the appearance of mysterious wisdom. Plants seem to know things. At the very least, they know their role and how to carry it out. This can’t be said of all homo sapiens. I’ve coined another tropism. Theo-tropism. All things react to the divine stimulus, whether they are aware of it or not. He orders all things, aligning them to the master blueprint established long ago. Some recordings by friends and members of my congregation. Newly recorded during worship on August 5th, 2012: "Doxology" and "In the Cross of Christ I Glory." I’ve measured time with hands and digits,
Instruments to keep my minutes. I mold my life unto the clock. There is no open space to stop. O God, redeem when time is rigid; Obsessed with every minute’s digit. Do not fret future events. Live for love in the present tense. |
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