Something About a Rainbow

I never really thought much about rainbows until it started to pour down rain for two straight days. I didn't really care about rainbows until my neighborhood was under mandatory evacuation. I couldn't even tell you the last time I even saw a rainbow.  But how I yearned to gaze upon the bright colors of one when the river started flowing just in front of my house already engulfing the park where I take my daughter to play every day.

By this time not just my neighborhood but thousands of homes and businesses throughout the Greater Binghamton Region were now inundated by the Susquehanna River.  The word inundated is not one you hear every day, it means to flood; cover or overspread with water. I think the second definition however says it better, and it's simply to overwhelm.  The communities we live in our homes, favorite stores, restaurants, and churches have been overwhelmed with water.


The water was so overwhelming it seemed like every ten minutes you heard rumors of more levy's breaking, another flood wall being breached, or that the river crest was delayed once again, offering little sign of hope.  Streets and highways were closed, power outages, and the sounds of sirens and helicopters filled the air.  Everywhere you looked people were scrambling to remove water from their homes using everything from pumps to small kitchen bowls.  For some people the word overwhelm doesn't even do justice to what what the water did to their home or business.  It seemed like the water sucked everyone dry of laughter and happiness, while there certainly were not any rainbows to be found.  At least not your ordinary rainbow let me explain.


After a long day of pumping out my basement which held 3ft. of water at its highest, my father-in-law and I went to go look at his church which was completely surrounded by water.  At the time, the closest we could get was about 400 yards to the building from the edge of the water line.  On the edge of the water a tractor business was frantically trying to keep water out and more damage from happening to their property.  My father-in-law told them he was the pastor of the church down the street that was surrounded with water, and asked if he could pray for them and their business.  So all the employee's gathered in a circle and we prayed, after prayer we began to head to our car.


We only walked a short distance when we heard on of the employee's yell, "Hey Pastor!" We turned around to see this big man all covered in dirt soaking with water and his facial expression giving the impression he was wrestling with something.  The he inquired very sheepishly, "Doesn't the Bible say something about a rainbow?"  Long pause as he looked down defeated only to follow with this statement.  "You know that God will never destroy us."  To which my father-in-law grinned and replied, "You better believe it."  The man now smiling headed back to work with hope that our community has been overwhelmed but has not been defeated.


So there is something about rainbows after all, rainbows don't have to be some color phenomenon in the sky.  I believe rainbows are any sign of hope that we can move on and there is a heavenly Father up there looking out for us.  Among the chaos and devastation; if you look hard enough you can find small glimpses of hope and restoration. You can start to see the rainbows of humanity arching over an inundated community encouraging everyone to persevere and press on. Rainbows are found in neighbors working together or forming new relationships.  Rainbows are the random acts of kindness and hospitality that would not normally take place.  In a way I believe this tragedy has broke this region of selfishness and implemented a scene of giving.


I only pray that the churches here will continue to work together so that we can inundate the Greater Binghamton Region with hope and the loving presence of God.  We are far from no longer feeling the pain, but I believe we are well on our way to a recovery that will eave us better than the river orginally found us.  Maybe this is easy for me to say because I was fortunate not to lose much; I can't imagine how it must feel to lose everything in your basement, your home, or even your church/business.  But in the end no lives were lost and all that was destroyed was just stuff, stuff we can't take with us when we die anyway.  What we are left with is the choice to be a light or should I say a rainbow to a neighbor or our surrounding community.


"The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord is enthroned as King forever.  The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace." Psalm 29:10-11

The Church: Christ's Body "Restoration"

In my previous posts regarding the church I asked a lot of questions about what the church is and should be to the world around us.  My intention was not to state that the church is doing a poor job, but to highlight our restorative partnership with God.

As a church leader I don't want to be seen as someone who talks negatively about the institution that I work in or is just angry or frustrated in the way church is being done.  Gabe Lyons said his in his book, The Next Christians, "religious leaders were often better at cursing the darkness than lighting a candle.  They become known for what they were against instead of suggesting alternatives that represent what they were for." (p. 169)

In context Lyons is talking about Christians reacting unconstructively to world culture, but I think this quote can also apply to church leaders or believers that talk pessimistically about the church.  Take for instance the current Rob Bell fiasco, that has created much out cry due to his seemingly universalism stance in his new book Love Wins.  Without saying anything more on this I simply want to use this as an example that we (Christians/Church Leaders) are often quick to curse the darkness that surrounds us, but very seldom do anything about it in a constructive restoring way.

In my ministry I want to be known more for things that I am for, instead of the things that I am against.  Everyday we all can partner in God's greater story by merely lighting a candle or two of restoration.  The small light generated by a candle can push back more darkness than you think, or even be the beginnings of a greater light.

The Church: Christ's Body "Love & Justice"

Over the past few weeks my wife and I have had some excellent conversations about our relationship and marriage.  For me the season of Valentine's Day  has allowed me to reflect deeply at who I am as a husband, but also what lens I tend to view the world through and what lens my wife uses.  A couple of sources of these great talks with my wife and personal reflections have stemmed from, doing ministry together, small conflicts within that ministry, our couples small group we attend, and my recent thinking and reading about the church.

I guess what I am trying to get at is that through all these sources one particular theme keeps popping up, and that is the balance of love and justice in our relationships; both to God and others. 

Naturally, I am a very forgiving person if someone wrongs me I don't really think twice about it.  I immediately give the person the benefit of the doubt and try to see the good of any situation.  If I know the person well enough that has wronged me I will choose to believe that they are better than that and must just be having a bad day.  If you were to place my view into one of the two categories it would be that of a more loving character or attitude.  In context of what I am trying to write about here, the way I do ministry or be a husband is through love and forgiveness when someone has wronged me.

My wife however leans strongly to the other side, the characteristic or attitude of justice.  She will immediately want the negative action justified or corrected.  Or when she sees injustice taking place, she is not afraid to speak up for the person or correct the unjust act no matter what it takes.  If my wife is personally wronged by either myself or another forgiveness is not easily given, instead it must be earned so to speak by correction or changed attitude.  Therefore, how she views herself as a wife and does ministry would be through the lens of justice and correction.

I am not saying love or justice is more important than the other, or my way of seeing things is better than my wife's. In fact I believe if you lean to heavily to one side of the spectrum and not create a healthy balance the relationships you have will begin to suffer. For instance my view can come off as though I don't really care or that I am even emotionless because I don't let others see how there actions have effected me.  Whereas, my wife could come off as strict, harsh, or even unloving.  When in fact she is actually one of the most loving people I know.

My point or question in all this would be, has the church leaned to far to one side of the spectrum when we do ministry? God no doubt displays the perfect balance.  In the Old Testament we see both sides when his people have wronged him, you can find stories of love, forgiveness and mercy; but also stories of justice, wrath, and correction.  God's ultimate goal of restoration in the lives of his people cannot be brought about without a balance of love and justice. 

So as the church how can we expect to aid God in this restorative mission if we don't communicate the same type of balance?  I think in the church we are very quick to let people get away with their sinful, negative, or wrong actions and just give them love and forgiveness.  After all if we call them out they could just decide to leave our church or cause other drama that we don't really want to deal with.  Scripture says that it should be used for correction or it shows how to up hold justice, yet we very seldom hold people accountable for their actions.

The Church: Christ's Body "Mission & Purpose"

What is the mission and purpose of the church?  To be brief let's just say it is to aid God in the restoration of humanity and creation.  Apart from creating a space for believers to fellowship, worship, and be ministered to individually or as a family. 

But as a church have we lost our focus to restore what has been lost or broken?  Or in other words do we emphasize "outreach"  in our decisions, vision, or programming within the church body? Has the church lost touch with culture so much that we have no idea how to "make disciples" anymore?  Or is it the fact that for too long we have been trying to reach others with only part of God's great story and plan.

Let me explain the philosophy of outreach or evangelism has solely revolved around the concepts of salvation and resurrection of Christ.  So we tell those who are "lost" that because everyone is a sinner we need to be saved, because sin separates us from God.  They only way that one can be saved is if they believe God sent his son as a sacrifice, taking our place of punishment and death.  So because Christ died for us and then rose from the dead he conquered death, thus giving us eternal life.

This is a very compelling argument and is great news even wonderful for humanity, but we are only sharing the pinnacle part of the story.  We tend leave out the beginning (creation) and the end (restoration) of God's narrative.  It is frustrating or confusing to say the least when you only know or hear part of a story.  Or  say the climax of any movie would not be that exciting if you did not watch it completely from beginning to end. 

Hearing or watching a completed story allows you to be more involved emotionally, gives you a better understanding of why, and therefore you gain a better sense of what that story could mean or how it applies to your life.  If the church changed its approach to making disciples of all nations by sharing the whole story of God, would we be more effective? Have more of an impact on culture? Would new and old Christians have a better sense of mission and purpose with a "whole/complete story" mind-set?

The Church: Christ's Body "Serving"

I want to continue my thoughts on the church with the subject of serving or maybe I should call it "sharing."  A lot of my thinking on the church Biblically has come from Acts 2:42-47.  Serving is big focus that I would like to see my church and youth ministry move into this coming year. 

To me the idea of serving is when people share what they have to give, but it is also when we share our lives with one another.  The early church in Acts knew how to serve and share with each another or anyone that had need.  "And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all; as anyone might have need. (Acts 2:44-45)"

Meditating and looking over these verses I wondered if all those who "believe" today have this kind of attitude to share  with or serve anyone who has need?  I think it's safe to say the answer to that question is no, but why have we allowed church to turn into a place where a majority of the people take instead of give?  I believe too many for too long have come to church with the mindset that they are there to take and receive service from the church, but not give or share themselves with the rest of the body. 

I guess we have missed the unique paradox of serving, the idea being everyone in the body should share what they have to give but never expect anything  back in return.  For one to serve  others and expect something in return is not really holding the right attitude or perspective of serving in the first place.  Therefore, what could be holding people back from serving or sharing is the fact that it's to risky, because you might share all that you have but not receive anything in return. 

Now there are other cost's of sharing as my Senior Pastor pointed out this past Sunday in his message.  To serve others you must be willing to humble yourself before them.  Have the characteristics of  faith and hope that when we serve to those who cannot give anything back that we will be repaid by God, the risk factor I mention in the previous paragraph.  Also serving and sharing with others should be not be done to prove  how good or holy we are to others.  While of course the cost of serving could be too much for some because they are not willing to simply give up the time that it takes. 

I believe what I am trying to get at here is that what would the church or ministry look like if we all truly shared what we had and not expected anything in return?  If we all came to church with the attitude of giving instead of taking?  What great and amazing things could the church then accomplish that we are already not doing in our communities, the world?

If we claim to be to the rest of the world as Christ was, the one who came to serve rather than be served, we better create a new atmosphere of serving within our local church bodies.  Not to mention if we what to up hold the second greatest commandment.

The Church: Christ's Body "Unity"

As I move toward my ordination I am required by my denomination to write a number of position papers that discuss theological issues.  The most recent one was called The Church: Christ's Body and it has really prompted and challenged me internally, to question exactly what the church is and what it is called to do? While also trying to piece together and understand how youth ministry fits into being part of this body.

Now I know there is a lot of different areas, issues, or theological avenues one could take trying to define what the church is and why we are called the body of Christ.  However, this is not my purpose for writing today.  Instead I would like to share with you the questions, thoughts, and new passions that I have been processing in my head regarding the church.

Wayne Grudem in his book Systematic Theology describes the church as "the community of all true believers for all time." Meaning the church is made up of believers from the past, present, and the future until of course Christ's second coming.  A question that has stuck with me is this; does the everyday average Christian view the church as all true believers?  Or to rephrase the question, do the people in our churches view the church body as being much bigger than their local congregation?

Allow me to unpack this some more.  The concept of the church body should be much larger than just one particular  congregation of believers, worshipping and carrying out Christ's mission and purposes.  All churches/denominations around the world should be united by the same cause of manifesting Christ for the rest of humanity.  Scripture calls all  believers to be united under Christ's leadership and authority, so that we can receive direction and vision.

But are we really "united"? By we I mean different denominations or  even churches with in the same local area that ultimately have the same underlying vision, to reach or serve those who are lost, and to build up the those who already believe.   How often do you find churches within the same denomination working together let alone churches of different ones to accomplish these goals?

Have we missed the point of being a greater body? I got to talking with a missionary recently who visited our church.  I asked her while she was on the mission field if she worked or partnered with other missionaries from different denominations.  She looked at me and said there would have been no way to do the mission of God without the missionaries working together.  She explained that these other missionaries became some of her closet friends and allies, the unity and relationships allowed for an outpouring of God's love and salvation among the people they were trying to reach.

Can we not accomplish and  implement this very same idea locally to our communities?  Maybe instead of some churches barely hanging on and struggling to exist we could be a community or nation of thriving churches, which will minister to the lost and broken. 

We understand and do ministry very well in single congregational settings of believers coming together to form the body of Christ.  We know that each individual  posses certain gifts, skills, and talents, that allows ministry to take on many shapes and forms to reach the greatest number of people possible.  But do we know or have we considered that the church down the road maybe excellent in this area of ministry,  which should open the door for our church to minister differently to the same community? 

Why try to compete or spend useless man hours supporting a weak ministry when some one else already invented the wheel?  Or why can't two neighboring churches on the same street communicate together to pull off an event that maximizes community outreach? In my mind it is just plain ridiculous that we are not working or unified together.  Now I know some churches or communities may already be doing this but I think on the nation wide spectrum there is definite room for improvement. 

I know I threw out a lot of questions here and don't expect them all to be answered or easily fixed.  But I do think it is worth that we start a conversation regarding these issues with our neighboring pastors and congregations.  Any thoughts on these questions or what this looks like from personal experience are welcome.