The Benefit of Doing Things You Don't Want to Do

Of the many perks of having a husband (aside from the fact that he does most of our cleaning and loves to iron) is that sometimes it forces you to do things you otherwise wouldn't do--things you'd otherwise give up on.

Case in point: For the past few months, Michael and I have been attending a theology class at our church on Monday nights. The class had been billed as one to prepare you for church leadership and being better equipped to disciple people. I'm not a born leader by any stretch of the title, so I figured I could get all the help I needed. But when Michael and I showed up to the first meeting, I was disappointed when I discovered that what I would be learning about was something called "The Westminster Confession of Faith"...which was written in 1646. And since my husband is the aspiring historian around here and not me, well let's say that if I'd had it my way, I would have called it quits without a moment's hesitation.

One thing I've learned in my few short months of marriage is to try to curb my negativity. (Remember my Lenten goal?) So, even though I was ready to high-tail it out of the class, I made the conscious decision to not complain or tell Michael how I felt, but to wait and see his thoughts. (Of course, I really hoped that he would share my same conclusion as well and we'd be off the hook.) Not surprisingly, he didn't. He really enjoyed the class, so we went back the next week and bought the workbook. We were in.

But as the weeks have passed, my heart has changed. Today is our last night of the class. Though I don't get a kick out of trying to figure out what "this" means in the Bible (such as whether "day" in the Creation story is literally a 24-hour period of time, describes an era or is a metaphor; a real discussion we had), it forces me to look at these questions and hear highly intelligent people discuss them and share insights and vantage points that never would have crossed my mind. It makes me become more educated about my faith and Scripture in general, whereas before I've pushed those questions aside to focus on the things I consider truly more important. Things like, "God loves you. Jesus died for you. The Holy Spirit is at work. Redemption is happening, and Satan is going down."

Truly those are the lifeblood of what matters to me in regards to faith. But this class has opened my eyes to things that make those facts even more real, even more true. And what do you know, but I have my husband to thank for that. Another good lesson in learning to keep my mouth shut and trust his leadership to guide our relationship even in these very little things!

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Pearls of Wisdom from the pages of "Chasing Francis"

photo by Lawrence OP

Chasing Francis is more than beautiful words and a beautiful story--it is deeper than that (which I shared in a longer review here). Inspired by the teachings and life of St. Francis of Assisi, it is filled with poignant lessons and pearls of wisdom. Even though this is a fiction book, my copy is filled with underlined sentences and marked-up pages.

I wanted to share some of the thought-provoking quotes I found throughout the book:

Preaching
"'A truly great preacher isn't someone with a seminary degree who explains the gospel. It's someone who is the gospel. Francis gave away every possession he owned because he wanted people to see that it was possible to trust Jesus for everything. He walked barefoot everywhere, kissed the lesions of lepers, and bathed them so they'd know the love of God....He walked the talk, and everyone knew it.'" (page 149)

Poverty
"'Francis used to say that he was married to Lady Poverty....Poverty was the cornerstone of his ministry."
"Francis loved poverty because it helped him spiritually....There is a law in physics that applies to the soul. No two objects can occupy the same space at the same time; one thing must displace another. If your heart's crammed tight with material things and a thirst for wealth, there's no space left for God. Frances wanted a void in his life that could only be filled with Jesus. Poverty wasn't a burden for him--it was a pathway to spiritual freedom.'" (page 163, 165)

The Dignity of Others
"'We're all broken people who've lost our dignity, in one way or another. Francis's whole life was about giving people their dignity back--poor people, lepers, people who were despised and rejected by society--the very people Jesus sought out to minister to.  His commitment to restoring people's sense of their God-given value thrilled the hearts of cynics who had all but given up on believing that the gospel was good news to anyone. What if we all, as a church, decided to make one of our distinctives being restorers of people's dignity?'" (page 199)

Liturgy
"In the liturgy, every act is a metaphor or symbol. The word liturgy literally means 'the work of the people.' It's an ancient text that helps us reenact the redemption drama. What we're reciting is a compress version of the redemption story." (page 95)

The Arts in Church
"'My parents think the arts are trivial. They say you should go to church to get good teaching, not a sonata,' Carla said.
Cudder politely wiped his mouth. 'That is ironic, really. First, the Bible is a great literary work of art filled with poetry, songs, stories, parables, history, apocalyptic drama, and wisdom literature. Second, the very people who pride themselves on being focused on the Word often come perilously close to practicing a form of Gnosticism that overvalues the spiritual and eschews the material. But the Word became flesh! The Incarnation proves that the divine can be communicated through the material--color, sound, texture, words printed on paper, the movement of the body....Our neglect of the power of beauty and the arts helps explain why so many people have lost interest in church.'" (pages 109-110)

Judging the Church
"'I tried to blame everything on the whole Christian subculture--but that isn't fair. Here, I've learned that no one is my problem but me. Francis never judged the church, even when he didn't like what it was doing. What right do I have to judge it? Spiritually, I just want something more.'" (page 152)

(all quotes from Chasing Francis by Ian Morgan Cron)

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P.S. I did a little tinkering with my lay-out...any thoughts or feedback?

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choosing a church: where you'll find us on sunday mornings

Michael and I have now lived in Atlanta for just over two months. We set out for the 40-hour voyage on August 14 and started planting our roots in our new home-sweet-home two days later.

With a few weekends away thrown into the mix, we have finally settled on the church that will become our second home-away-from-home. I've never been one to waste too much time on "church-shopping." I do believe you need to find a place that lines up with your Biblical interpretation and that has a community that you can dig into. But I wonder if too many people hold on to the window-shopping aspect too long without digging in and getting dirty. For me, that's the purpose of church--more than just Sunday mornings, but the place where you plug in and get involved, whether that's with a Bible study or small group or volunteering.

So after much prayer and consideration, we have made that decision and settled on St. Paul's, a small little church that's in stark contrast to the large churches Michael and I have been used to. Here, the pastor takes prayer requests during the church service and passes around a binder where you can write additional ones. When they were ordaining new elders this past Sunday, they called the congregation to come forward and lay hands on the men's shoulders.

I love that.

So our next leg of the journey begins...

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