Historical Perspectives on Worship Wars: “A Patent Thing A-Squealin’ Over Me!”

Posted on November 4, 2015 by Bob Bjerkaas

o3VgU8iI am the very worst sort of bibliophile. I will not only judge, but will even buy a book based upon its cover. During my early twenties – when I was a young, poor grad student (who nonetheless had more disposable income than a happily married father of four) I began collecting late nineteenth century books with hand painted covers. Beautiful books!  Bookbinding was once an art.  Sometimes I got around to reading those books, one of which was a collection of poems entitled Farm Ballads, written by Will Carleton and printed by Harper & Brothers Publishers in New York in 1873.  The poems are wonderful if you have a taste for that period and the art.  But one in particular has always fascinated me: The New Church Organ.

To modern readers, this poem will have a very “Lake Woebegone” feel to it, and though it is obviously a humorous caricature it does prompt some valuable reflection.  So, for all of you who have some opinions on what is and is not seemly in worship (that means all of you!), please take a moment to read this poem.  Although it is a bit longer than my typical posts, it offers several thoughts for this side of heaven to those who are willing to think along with our poet.

Since polyphony (singing two different tones at once to produce harmony) was first introduced, folks have argued about church music.  Nearly all of those debates have been void of any solid biblical or theological substance – they tend to come down to personal taste and preference.  I hope this poem offers you an encouragement to be sympathetic to those whose tastes and preferences are different from yours.  Be sensitive to those who feel “crowded out” by changes in worship.  But also, when you are feeling crowded, dare to “bid farewell to every fear” and boldly wade into church music that is new and unfamiliar to you.  Whatever you do, “do it as unto the Lord” (Colossians 3:23), “make a joyful noise” (Psalm 98, 100), and “Let us praise God together!” (Psalm 34:3).

Your Pastor,

Bob Bjerkaas

 

THE NEW CHURCH ORGAN

by Will Carleton

They’ve got a brand-new organ, Sue,

For all their fuss and search:

They’ve done just as they said they’d do,

And fetched it into church.

They’re bound the critter shall be seen,

And on the preacher’s right

They’ve hoisted up their new machine,

In everybody’s sight.

They’ve got a chorister and a choir,

Ag’in my voice and vote;

For it was never my desire

To praise the Lord by note!

I’ve been a sister good an’ true

For five-an’-thirty year;

I’ve done what seemed my part to do,

An’ prayed my duty clear;

I’ve sung the hymns both slow and quick,

Just as the preacher read,

And twice, when Deacon Tubbs was sick,

I took the fork an’ led!

And now, their bold, new-fangled ways

Is comin’ all about;

And I, right in my latter days,

Am fairly crowded out!

To-day the preacher, good old dear,

With tears all in his eyes,

Read, “I can read my title clear

To mansions in the skies.”

I al’ays liked that blessed hymn –

I s’pose I al’ays will;

It somehow gratifies my whim,

In good old Ortonville;

But when that choir got up to sing,

I couldn’t catch a word;

They sung the most outlandish thing

A body ever heard!

Some worldly chaps was standin’ near;

An’ when I see them grin,

I bid farewell to every fear,

And boldly waded in.

I thought I’d chase their tune along,

An’ tried with all my might;

But though my voice is good an’ strong

I couldn’t steer it right;

When they was high, then I was low,

An’ also contrawise;

An’ I too fast, or they too slow,

To “mansions in the skies.”

An’ after every verse, you know,

They play a little tune;

I didn’t understand, an so

I started in too soon.

I pitched it pretty middlin’ high,

I fetched a lusty tone,

But oh, alas! I found that I

Was singin’ there alone!

They laughed a little, I am told;

But I had done my best;

And not a wave of trouble rolled

Across my peaceful breast.

And Sister Brown – I could but look –

She sits right front of me;

She never was no singin’-book,

An’ never went to be;

But then she al’ays tried to do

The best she could, she said:

She understood the time right through,

An’ kep’ it with her head;

But when she tried this mornin’, oh,

I had to laugh, or cough!

It kep’ her head a-bobbin so,

It e’en a’most came off!

An Deacon Tubbs – he all broke down,

As one might well suppose;

He took one look at Sister Brown,

And meekly scratched his nose,

An’ looked his hymn-book through and through,

And laid it on the seat,

And then a pensive sigh he drew,

And looked completely beat.

And when they took another bout,

He didn’t even rise;

But drawed his red bandanner out,

An’ wiped his weepin’ eyes.

I’ve been a sister good an’ true,

For five-an’-thirty year;

I’ve done what seemed my part to do,

An’ prayed my duty clear;

But Death will stop my voice, I know,

For he is on my track;

And some day I to church will go,

And never more come back;

And when the folks get up to sing –

Whene’er that time shall be –

I do not want no patent thing

A-squealin’ over me!

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No More Costume Parties!

Posted on October 28, 2015 by Bob Bjerkaas

HalloweenParade2This month churches all across America will have costume parties for kids. Whether they are called “Fall Harvest Festivals” or “Reformation Day Parties,” kids will show up in fellowship halls from here to Maine dressed up as little ninjas, superheroes, goblins, firemen…  My all time favorite was when one of my boys dressed up as a scuba diving pirate who played for the Green Bay Packers (picture a three year old in a Packer uniform complete with shoulder pads and a helmet, carrying a sword and wearing blue swim fins, a snorkel, and an eye patch). Who says you can’t have it all!

But that is not the kind of costume I am thinking about right now. I am thinking about the kinds of costumes we read about in Proverbs 13:7.

“One man pretends to be rich, yet has nothing;

another pretends to be poor, yet has wealth.”

As people, we have an amazing ability in the area of deceit. We all know who the person is that we want others to see when they look at us. And we sometimes go to great lengths in order to ensure that they see that person – regardless of our real situation.

This Hebrew proverb should not limited to a discussion about wealth and poverty. We do all kinds of pretending. Some people pretend to be happy but they are miserable. Some people pretend misery in order to acquire sympathy – despite a relatively comfortable life. Some people project an image of great generosity but are outrageously stingy. Some people pretend to love their spouse in public but are shamefully abusive and neglectful in the privacy of their home.

This proverb speaks to the way in which most of us accommodate our great interest in having people see us as we would be seen rather than as we truly are. This proverb speaks to our desire to focus on our image rather than deal with our character. This proverb is about the costume parties that we attend everyday. In our homes. In our offices. And even in our churches. We pretend to be one thing, but in reality we are another. We know it. And the pressures of maintaining facades and keeping secrets only add to our burdens.

I really do think that churches in America have lots of costume parties. I am afraid that every Sunday grown-ups show up in sanctuaries from here to Maine dressed up as happily married, content in illness, faithful in obedience, pure in thought…  I have no favorite costumes for this kind of party. All these costumes do is prevent us from dealing with real problems as true friends. How can you help me carry my burden when I hide it so well? How can you comfort me when I cry in private? How can you hold me accountable when I have such an artful “game face.”

Brothers and sisters, let’s leave the costume parties for special annual events in fellowship halls. And let’s enter our relationships and our sanctuaries just as we are. God accepts us as such and calls us through gospel transformation to a better place. Care about others enough to truly know them, and be humble enough to let others truly know you.

Your Pastor,

Bob Bjerkaas

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How Big Are Your Ears?

Posted on October 22, 2015 by Bob Bjerkaas

listening earHaving ears that are both a bit larger than average and happen to be perpendicular to the sides of my head, that is a fun question to type! The physical size of your or my ears, however, is unfortunately not what the question is driving at. It is rather intended to colorfully ask you how well you listen and, more importantly, understand.

Of all the idiomatic expressions found in the New Testament, I am aware of only one regularly occurring figure of speech that is used only used by Jesus. Fourteen times (six times in the gospels and eight more times in Revelation), Jesus says, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” This is a favorite expression of our Lord’s – and one that is deeply connected to the wisdom tradition of the Hebrew Scriptures.

In Proverbs 18:15 and 23:12 we see a pattern. Wisdom enters through the ear and is kept in the heart. During the period of the Assyrian/Babylonian captivities of Israel and Judah, we find an interesting reference to this in one of Ashurbanipal’s inscriptions in which the “gods” are thanked for bestowing “great ears” so that a scribe might understand cuneiform.[1] In his call to the ministry, Ezekiel, during the same era, is told by the LORD what he must say to his fellow exiles whether they “listen or fail to listen” (Ezekiel 2:5,7; 3:11) and we find an ancient echo of Jesus’ saying in the Lord’s concluding thought: “Whoever will listen let him listen, and whoever will refuse let him refuse.” (Ezekiel 3:27).

Although in different cultures various senses are used as metaphors for understanding or learning (in American culture we say, “Do you see what I mean?” – one of my favorite examples of this is “The Rock’s” tagline: “You smell what I’m cooking?”), hearing is the one Jesus uses specifically when he wants people to really think about what he has said. The one who has “ears to hear” – “great ears” as our ancient Assyrian friend would have put it – is not merely able to identify the words and recognize the voice of Jesus. The one with “ears to hear” is able to accept them as true and incorporate them into their life and worldview.  As Paul writes in Romans 10:17, “faith comes through hearing.”

Don’t you wish you had bigger ears? The good news is that you can ask for them. In Proverbs 20:12 we read that “Ears that hear and eyes that see – the LORD has made them both.”  Ask God for ears that hear. This is in keeping with what we read in James 1:5: “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”  And listen carefully.

Your Pastor,

Bob Bjerkaas

[1] Georges Contenau, Everyday Life in Babylon and Assyria (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1966), p. 175.

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Love Is Not Proud

Posted on October 20, 2015 by Bob Bjerkaas

I am awesome

Pride is like patience in at least one way: both can be either good or bad. Patience in waiting for a guard to move so you can rob a bank is a bad thing. Patience in helping your child learn to ride a bike is a good thing. In the same way, pride can be good or bad.

In Proverbs 17:6 we read, “Children’s children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children.” But in Isaiah 20:5 we read the same Hebrew word for pride with a very different meaning: “Those who trusted in Cush and boasted [were proud of] in Egypt will be put to shame.” The thing that distinguishes the moral value of the pride in these two different circumstances is the object of that pride. If you are proud of what God has done in others, for example, you are proud of your parents who have been blessed to see their grandchildren, that is good! However, if the object of your pride is something that is not a response to God’s goodness but rather an alternative to acknowledging him, that is not good.  In Isaiah 20:5-6 the reference is to the people of Judah who, instead of looking to the LORD for deliverance from the king of Assyria, they trusted in worldly alliances.

So what does our text for this month, “love is not proud,” mean? How can we apply this truth in our lives? First let me say that being proud of the ones you love is eminently biblical – see Proverbs 17:6. When those I love are used and blessed by God I am extremely proud of them and am grateful to God. Love does those things and has that kind of pride.

The key to understanding what is meant here by “love is not proud” is to read it in connection with what has come immediately before: “love does not boast.” The ungodly boasting, the one-upmanship, the superiority complexes… all of these ways that we can exalt ourselves over others in supposing that we are wiser, work harder, are more committed, are better than…  all of this kind of boasting is absolutely deadly to healthy relationships and is opposite to love. Boasting like this is symptomatic of an inner disorder.  And that disorder is pride – the kind of pride we might call arrogance. If boasting is what spills out of our mouths and body language, arrogant pride is what lurks within and prompts it. If boasting is the fruit, this kind of pride is the branch that it grows from.

Proverbs 13:10 states that, “Pride only breeds quarrels.” If we choose to accommodate this kind of arrogant pride it will result in contention. The old Puritans translated this verse from the Hebrew differently. They read Proverbs 13:10 to state that, “Only by pride cometh contention.”  (KJV). In a sense those old Englishmen were right; if you take pride out of the equation, disagreements cannot turn into fights. Whatever may have started your quarrels or contentions, you may sure that pride is the oxygen that enables the fire to continue burning. The surest way to stop a fire is to deny it air.  The surest way to stop an argument is to get rid of arrogance.

It is far easier to stop boasting than it is to stop being arrogant. Would you commit yourself to digging beneath boasting and uncover any areas of unhealthy pride in your own heart that might foster the growth of boasting? If you somehow manage to stop boasting but never deal with pride, I can only imagine that a great discontent and bitterness will become a wider and deeper reality in your heart. Let’s repent of our arrogance and join one another in being proud of and rejoicing in what the living God is doing in each other’s lives – that we might grow in reflecting the “affections of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:3-8).

Your Pastor,

Bob Bjerkaas

 

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Faith and Works: Ancient Advice on a Modern Confusion

Posted on October 15, 2015 by Bob Bjerkaas

220px-Urban_Rieger

“All sensible people, not to mention Christians, should watch with the greatest care what they say, lest their tongue get ahead of their mind and babble forth before they have organized their thoughts.”[1]

Urbanus Rhegius, 1535

Lately I have been seeing more articles, books, and blogs that suggest a renewed tension in the Church’s understanding of the relationship between faith and works. On the one hand, some folks seem to suggest (or are accused of suggesting!) that a Christian is saved by grace through faith and that works are completely unrelated. These folks are often called “antinomians” as they are “against the law.” On the other hand, some Christians are similarly accused of teaching that a Christian’s works (their personal acts of obedience) are somehow a part of the grounds for their justification or are a condition for salvation. These folks have their nicknames as well.

My foremost concern in this ongoing debate is pastoral: what will be the effect of this debate on the man or woman in the pew? How will they respond when they are told that their good works are unnecessary or, conversely, that their good works qualify or contribute to the grounds of their salvation? On this point I find myself in nearly complete agreement with a  German pastor and theologian who contended against the same kinds of confusion in the early sixteenth century: Urbanus Rhegius.

Rhegius was so concerned that preachers were being dangerously imprecise in the manner in which they taught the Protestant understanding of many things (justification by faith included) that he produced one of the first reformed handbooks on preaching: A Guide to Preaching about the Chief Topics of Christian Doctrine Carefully and without Giving Offense, for Young Ministers of the Word in the Duchy of Lüneburg (1535). In dealing with justification by faith and its relationship to good works, he makes a bold statement:

“We insist that a line be drawn between faith and good works and that the purpose of each be kept distinct, so that it is clear what Christ means, and how we have and receive anything that is good from God alone for the sake of Christ, and what we do and possess of ourselves.  Such knowledge by itself makes a blessed Christian out of a condemned sinner.  There is more at stake in a right distinction between faith and good works than the world supposes.”[2]

Faith, according to Rhegius, is the instrument by which people are saved. Faith’s great purpose is, as it were, nothing other than to unite us to Christ in whom we receive all of the benefits God gives his people. But Rhegius urges caution in how this should be preached. He introduces his discussion of “A Careful Way of Speaking About Faith, Works, and Merits,” by noting that pastors should “avoid making severely truncated remarks like ‘Faith alone makes righteous, our works are nothing,’ and then moving immediately to something else.”

He offers a better way to speak about this:

“Of course, faith alone (that is, heartfelt trust in God’s mercy promised to us in Christ) or God’s mercy alone justifies the sinner.  Yet faith never remains alone, for genuine faith is active through love (Galatians 5:6). Just as a good tree yields good fruit, faith also produces good works that most certainly accompany faith.”

The fact that faith and good works are inseparable does not mean that they both serve the same purpose. In other words, the fact that genuine faith produces a change in the believer’s life does not mean that the good works associated with that change share the same purpose that faith serves. Good works do not unite us to Christ. Rather, good works result from our union with Christ by faith (John 15).

Then what is the purpose of good works if good works do not contribute to or provide some condition for the believer’s salvation? Rhegius identifies six legitimate purposes of good works (summarized)[3]:

  1. Good works are a way of giving thanks to God when we willingly do what he has commanded.
  2. Through our good works God is glorified in us (Matthew 5:16)
  3. Through good works our faith is trained and enhanced, so that it increases and grows.
  4. Good works are a witness of our faith to our neighbors, who are edified by them, inspired to do the same, and find help through them.
  5. Through good works we gain an assurance of our salvation (2 Peter 1:10).
  6. “Although they do not merit ineffable treasures like forgiveness of sins, justification, liberation from death and the devil (for only Christ does that), nevertheless on the basis of God’s freely-given promise they do merit physical and spiritual rewards (Jeremiah 17:10; Matthew 16:27; Romans 2:6; Matthew 25:35).

Do any of these sound familiar? Does your preacher discuss  – often or ever? – the purpose of your humble obedience to God in your pursuit of the Christian life? I wonder from time to time if it is not the absence of clear, positive teaching on why Christians need to do good works that has created a conceptual void within which good works are either being lumped together with faith as grounds for justification or altogether jettisoned as relatively unimportant vestigial remnants of the Old Testament.

If nothing else, I hope that this five hundred year later echo of a faithful preacher might remind you that: (1) you are not saved by your good works – it is only the obedience of Christ that merits our salvation, and (2) God nonetheless has a grand purpose and plan in the good works he has “prepared in advance for you.” (Ephesians 2:10). So put your faith in Christ alone – and get out there in his strength and do good works for his glory, your neighbors blessing, and your own growth!

Your Pastor,

Bob Bjerkaas

[1] Urbanus Rhegius, Preaching the Reformation: The Homiletical Handbook of Urbanus Rhegius [1535], (Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 2003), p. 25.

[2] Ibid., pp.. 51-53.

[3] The scriptures cited are noted by Rhegius.

 

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The Laughter of Whales

Posted on October 8, 2015 by Bob Bjerkaas
Kingdom of Tonga, Vava'u, Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) breaching

Kingdom of Tonga, Vava’u, Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) breaching

I have lived just miles from the Pacific Ocean for eight years now, but I have never seen a whale. It is on my bucket list though! I am particularly interested in observing whales breaching – an instance of cetacean behavior that is described in the scriptures in a most unusual manner. This unusual description is found in Psalm 104:25-6:

“There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number – living things both large and small.  There the ships go to and fro, and the leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.”

The word “frolic” might not strike you as unusual at all. In one sense, it is not. The Hebrew word used here for “frolic” occurs thirty-six times in the Old Testament. It is translated with our word “frolic” in only one other instance (Jeremiah 50:11). Usually it is translated by “rejoice,” “laugh,” or “celebrate.” In these and all other instances of this word’s use, the verb implies a conscious activity. The leviathan – the whale – was made by God to demonstrate God’s glory by actively and consciously enjoying his good creation. “There is the sea, vast and spacious… and there the leviathan which you formed to frolic there.”

Too often we tacitly buy into the biologically mechanistic view of nature that sees a mere evolutionary advantage in every aspect of a living being’s constitution and behavior. The gray whale must be breaching in order to shake off some parasite or establish some form of pod supremacy. We are , after all merely biological machines. Too rarely do we see in the celebratory displays of the diversity and enormity of the created order a demonstration of our Creator God’s glory and his intention and desire that creation “declare his glory” (Psalm 19:1). Even the “great sea creatures and all ocean depths” praise the LORD – with joyful celebration no less!

Our Psalm that introduces the frolicking whale takes us yet further. “These [whales and other creatures] all look to you to give them their food at the proper time. When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things. When you hide your face, they are terrified; when you take away their breath, they die and return to dust. When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth.” Notice that Psalm 104 is not abstracting some picture of the way it ought to be – or the way it was in Eden or will be in the new heavens and earth. He is describing the bump and grind of living in the surf of a fallen world where fear and death are present realities. And still, when the Spirit of God brings life, even to the leviathan, it is so that that life can frolic under the providence of a good God.  How much more is that the case for you and me?

God has sent his Spirit to renew us. We have been given new life.  And we are called to “rejoice, I say it again, rejoice.” “In every circumstance, rejoice.”  Dear Christian, whatever waves sweep over you, may you yet find it in your heart to celebrate God’s eternal promise to keep you forever and bless you always. And when you struggle to rejoice and celebrate in trying circumstances, won’t you remember that the Lord sends his Spirit so that we may be enlivened – so that we too may be glad in the Lord.  The fruit of the Spirit in our lives is “love, joy…”

Some day I am going whale watching. I would like to see them frolic – whether they are breaching or just cruising up the California coast. But until then, I will be praying, “O Lord, you who made the heavens and the earth and all that are in them. You who can make even rocks sing out your praises and whales to rejoice before you. Won’t you come and increase my joy in your goodness and power; restore unto me the joy of my salvation; make me glad in your works!” Will you pray with me?

Your Pastor,

Bob Bjerkaas

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Love Does Not Boast

Posted on October 1, 2015 by Bob Bjerkaas

1680.peacock

To “boast” has a fairly specific meaning in our English language. It means, “to speak with excessive pride about one’s own accomplishments, talents, or possessions.” It does not take a Bible scholar to know that love does not do those things. But sadly, it seems to take a rare type of scholar to know when we ourselves are boasting.

Boasting is the kind of thing that we recognize far more easily in others than we do in ourselves. When we boast, we are simply stating facts. When others boast, they are exaggerating, being arrogant, demonstrating vanity…

Consider the text of 2 Corinthians 11:16-18, where Paul writes to the same church and says with emphasis:

“I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then receive me just as you would a fool, so that I may do a little boasting. In this self-confident boasting I am not talking as the Lord would, but as a fool. Since many are boasting in the way the world does, I too will boast.”

What Paul is doing here is showing his congregation exactly how unseemly their conduct is! I recall a conversation with one of my children some years ago in which “whining” had become the basic tone of conversation. At one point, I said, “Do you realize what that sounds like?  How would you like it if the rest of us in this family spoke to you that way?” Then I offered some particularly whiney versions of “Do your homework,” and “Five minutes to lights out.” That is what Paul does in 2 Corinthians 11:16-12:6; he shows us what our boasting sounds like.  Take a minute to read those verses here.

Now ask yourself this question: “Does Paul sound like he is “out of his mind”- or like he is very lucidly stating facts?” I suspect that we would find Paul’s manner of speaking defensible! But Paul insists that he is talking like a complete fool and he specifically tells us this is not how the Lord would talk. Now go back and revisit the last argument with your spouse or friend… Did you ever find yourself thinking, or even saying, things like: “I do this, and this, and this, for you and you never….” Or, “You say you are committed, I have done this and this, what have you done…” Maybe this: “I have given up so much for you…”

Although all these phrases may refer to real issues that may need to be addressed in our relationships, bringing them up by boasting about our superiority is not wise, neither is it loving. Consider the passage from 2 Corinthians referred to above. Everything that Paul says is true. Everything that he says is also important. But by his own insistence, we must recognize that bringing up true and important things by way of boasting is foolish and ungodly; it is not loving.  Focusing on all the things we have done and reciting them in order to establish our rights or get our own way is not a relationship strategy the Lord will honor.

Christian, would you grow in your relationships through a more faithful expression of the kind of love that God both desires and requires that we show to one another? Let’s ask the Lord to help us stop boasting as we grow in humble commitment to one another.

Your Pastor,

Bob Bjerkaas

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Praying for Rain

Posted on September 22, 2015 by Bob Bjerkaas

rain and leaf

“April showers bring May flowers.” When I was growing up in Maryland, this little bit of a rhyme was doubly true. March and April were rainy months, and flowers started blooming in earnest in May. Out here in California we don’t get rain in April. By the end of March we can pretty much plan BBQs without setting aside rain dates. But as far as I know, wherever you might choose to live, there are seasonal rains. And seasonal rains are more or less expected – out here in California we assume that we will get rain (at least a little bit!) in January and February.

There are seven different Hebrew words that can be translated with our English words for rain, showers, downpour, etc… Three of those terms were technical in nature; they referred to specific seasonal rains. It is one of those technical words that we come across in Zechariah 10:1:

Ask the LORD for rain in the springtime;

It is the LORD who makes the storm clouds.

We could more literally read, “Ask the LORD for the Spring-rain.”

Take a moment and think about how that verse should inform and shape our prayer lives.  In my prayer life, I generally find it to be true that I pray for things that I believe need some special act or dispensation from God. I am praying for the unusual.“Heal my friend whose doctor says he will not recover.” “Or, “Reconcile that couple who have separated.” I would go so far as to say that in twenty-five some years of different types of ministry, most things that I have been asked to pray for have been requests for the unusual; the not-to-be-humanly expected; the miraculous.  Those are things we should pray for!

But consider a paraphrase of our verse from Zechariah: “Ask God for the things you expect, the typical, the mundane…” When your marriage is going well, ask him for marital peace and joy. When the economy is up, ask for job security. Ask for rain in the Spring-time. “In everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (Philippians 4:6).

Remember to humbly and gratefully ask the LORD for the blessings and joys that we experience. Especially those blessings that we expect in due course, those seasonal rains. Those are the blessings we are quick to take for granted. Remember that however typical, ordinary, or expected a blessing might appear to be, God is himself the Giver of “every good and perfect gift” (James 1:17). Behind every expected seasonal rain, the extraordinary fact remains: “It is the LORD who makes the storm clouds.”

Your Pastor,

Bob Bjerkaas

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New Pictures of Leadership: Humble Service (Acts 27-28)

Posted on September 16, 2015 by Bob Bjerkaas

paul's_ship_2

It was the kind of cold that hurt.  Crawling out of the surf only made it worse.  The ocean had been a balmy sixty-eight degrees, but the air temperature was in the low fifties.  Even that wouldn’t have been so bad – the wind is what made it painful.  The northeaster had blown itself out, so what had been gale force winds were lessening but still strong enough to whip the Adriatic Sea into waves sufficient to smash the ship’s stoutly constructed stern into pieces.  The combination of being wet and cold, and having a thirty-some mile per hour wind tearing at their sea-soaked clothes made the survivors a perfect picture of survival against all odds.[1]  The shipwrecked mariners were happy to be alive despite their violent shivering.

The native population had awakened that morning to yet another overcast, cold, and rainy day.  The winter storm season had struck early this year.  The last of the carob blossoms had been blown away and the once lush white carpets of gargir abjad and the splashes of bright yellow inula were simply erased by the storm’s violence.  In the gray light of a dreary morning it was easy to fear that this would be a long winter.  They had seen the ship immediately – it was hard to miss.  One of the late passing grain ships of the Roman fleet was struggling towards the pebbly beach under her foresail alone.  Knowing the waters, it would be a close run to get her over the sandbars, so the islanders gathered at the shoreline, ready to assist the unfortunate sailors and passengers as best they could.  Things could not have gone worse.  The ship grounded on the reef and her stern was smashed by the violent waves.  People could be seen jumping off the ship – first those who could swim, later those who needed to entrust themselves to flotsam from the doomed ship.

After helping the exhausted men escape the pounding sea, the natives skillfully built a fire despite the rain.  Miraculously, not a single man had been lost.  All two hundred and seventy-six souls had been rescued.  As they warmed themselves by the fire, an older man – bald and rather bowlegged, separates himself from the rest of the survivors.  He leaves the warmth of the fire and begins to gather additional fuel.  He bends low under the scattered junipers and holm oaks to gather what brushwood he can.  His actions are those of a man past his physical prime.  Do his aging eyes have trouble seeing the broken branches, drift wood, and the faded early winter remains of once green shrubbery?  Or do his hands ache as his arthritic fingers close around each handful of kindling?  In any event, it is an old, but dignified man who is deliberately putting one tired foot in front of another as he stoops to gather fuel to keep his companions warm.  The Island is Malta, and the man is none other than the Apostle Paul.  And what you just saw was leadership.

Your Pastor,

Bob Bjerkaas

Stay tuned for more blog posts in this series of inductive snapshots of Paul the leader! These narrative retellings of familiar episodes of Paul’s life are designed to get you to think about leadership differently by seeing it in action.  

 

[1] According to the latest method for calculating wind chill, an air temperature of 50 degrees F with a wind speed of 35 statute miles per hour would yield a wind chill of forty-one degrees F.

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Run Like an Ostrich

Posted on September 14, 2015 by Bob Bjerkaas

Ostrich runningAre you okay with how God made you?  As both a pastor, and a coach (not to mention as an individual), rarely a day goes by when I don’t see someone struggling with feeling inadequate or inferior in light of how they perceive themselves in comparison to others. People young and old see themselves as less talented, less intelligent, less athletic, less attractive, less well-to-do…  There is not a single aspect of our being in which we cannot readily find someone who surpasses us.

And, shocking as this might seem, it is true!  Only one athlete on the team can be the fastest or have the hardest shot.  Only one person can win first chair in the all-state band.  Only one person can have the highest net worth.  Only one person is Miss America at a time.  Superlatives are like that – they are exceedingly exclusive.  Too often, we consider second place as being merely the first loser.  Our idolatrous worship of superiority lends itself to a deep and palpable discontent when we find our strengths to be weak in comparison to someone ‘better’ than ourselves.  And so, rather than living lives marked by a joyful gratitude, we are constantly chasing after a happiness that will come when we can do or be what we perceive we cannot or are not.

I believe that God addresses this tendency – at least in part, in a generally overlooked passage of a generally overlooked book of the Old Testament.  In Job 39:13, the Lord speaks to Job:

The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully,

But they cannot compare with the pinions and feathers of the stork.

What a fascinating verse.  If we were to consider what part of the ostrich is its most useless, inadequate, inferior, embarrassing feature – it would surely be its wings.  God himself tells us that the ostrich’s wings are nothing compared to those of a stork!  Yet, the ostrich flaps those useless, inadequate, inferior, and embarrassing wings with joy!  Apparently, she couldn’t care less how her wings compared to those of the stork.

Not so with humans  We tend to always compare whatever gifts we have been given to the gifts other people have been given.  If God has providentially given us an income, a spouse, a family, a house, a measure of health, a skill… our joy is tempered if not erased entirely when we compare our jobs, spouses, houses, or skills to those of others.  And so we begin to covet our neighbors’ goods, health, relationships, money,  abilities, etc… and begin to actually despise our own stubby useless wings.  We hide them and keep them tucked away.  We do not flap them joyfully.

God concludes his ostrich lesson with another picture of joyful abandon:

Yet when she spreads her feathers to run,

She laughs at horse and rider.

How are you running?  Many of us run like rats.  We are constantly trying to “keep up with the Joneses” and are habitually discontent with what we have, who we are, what we can do…   So get out of the rat race,  stop comparing your wings and feathers to those of others, and get into the ostrich race!  Let’s spread whatever feathers the Lord in his grace and goodness has given us and run with laughter and joy – giving thanks to God who has wonderfully blessed us.

Your Pastor,

Bob Bjerkaas

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