Summer Reading
Summers here at ASU are pretty laid-back compared to the fall and spring semesters. I have been using the time to organize the Wesley offices and computer files and planning for the fall semester. I have also been using the time to catch-up on a bunch of reading. One book I just finished is called The New Christians by Emergent church leader Tony Jones. I enjoyed the book and was inspired by many of the ideas, but one quote in particular popped out at me. Jones is re-telling a story about a church a friend of his worked at and his friend describes a staff meeting in which the pastor is leading a discussion on what they need to be doing to get more young adults to come to their church. The discussion is disappointing and Jones’ friend seeks his advice.
Jones asks his friend, “Does your church believe in the Holy Spirit?”
“Of course,” she replied.
“Then why in the world would you think that you can do anything to get people to come to church? Instead, why don’t you worry about being faithful–living out a beautiful Christianity–and see what the Spirit does in your midst? I think that people will be more attracted to the Spirit than to anything you could ever do to ‘hook’ them.”
This seems like a no-brainer. If God’s spirit is truly active and present among us then we need to be actively seeking to embrace it and let it guide and lead us. So many times we are so focused on a goal or an objective that we push God’s spirit aside. When it comes to getting folks involved in the church we are focused on numbers and demographics and if we don’t meet those goals then our ministries are failures. Or sometimes we strive to be a certain type of Christian, we want to be holy or ‘spiritual’ and feel like if we try really hard, complete a list of tasks, or subscribe to a specific set of beliefs, then we can get there. Often times, however, this ends in disappointment or perhaps disaster. We didn’t meet an attendance goal or we didn’t read the Bible or pray as much as we thought we should have and we label ourselves as failures.
But what if we stopped trying to force the issue and we put aside all the stereotypes of how we are supposed to believe, act, pray, worship, and study? What if instead we listened to and discerned God’s call for our lives, both personally and as a community? So let’s start being authentic to how the Spirit is moving among us and practice beauty. Maybe we can love more, give more of ourselves, act with hope instead of fear, and spend more time recognizing God’s presence in our lives and in the world. Let’s stop trying to lead God with our expectations and instead let God lead us through practicing a more “beautiful Christianity” and see who shows up and what kind of transformation happens in our lives.
