Coming Up Sunday, December 2

This Sunday, we begin the Advent season, the start of a new year in the church.  Advent, which marks the weeks leading up to our celebration of Christ's birth, is a time of waiting and preparation -- a theme which probably seems familiar if you have a long list of things to do (and buy) before Christmas.

Our sanctuary will be decorated for the season -- the "Hanging of the Greens" is on Saturday morning -- and there will be an additional part of the service each week for Advent: the lighting of the candles on the Advent wreath.  There also will be seasonal music, including several selections from the Bell Choir this Sunday.

Also on Sunday, I will begin an Advent and Christmas sermon series, "Looking for Home: Faith in the Holiday Season."  Home has a particular meaning during the holidays, and the story of Jesus can help us understand it even better, if perhaps in a slightly different way than the broader culture teaches.

This week, we will begin with one of the unsettling things Jesus said about home -- that he felt unwelcome in his hometown because of his teaching.  At times, many of us have understood, at least partially, what Jesus experienced.  We'll explore why that is in "You Can't Go Home Again."  (And if that sounds a little depressing, perhaps it is.  But I promise that next week's subject matter is warmer and more sentimental.)

November 18 Worship: "...And I'm Not Going to Take It Anymore"

The Sunday before Thanksgiving, we enjoyed a warm worship service on a beautiful Autumn morning.  As part of the service, we concluded our four-week study of Jonah, the "lone wolf prophet of God."  We turned to the end of the prophet's story, where Jonah succumbs to ridiculous levels of self-pity, to the point where he is even resentful of God's grace toward others.

In "...And I'm Not Going to Take It Anymore," alluding to the famous catchphrase in the classic movie Network, we considered how Jonah, despite his relationship with God, seems unable to gain a wider perspective on the world.  In part, I suggested that Jonah needed friends to help him break out of the cycle of self-pity, offering different ways to understand and appreciate the same experiences.  And I wondered how often we are like Jonah, wallowing in self-pity and oblivious to the blessings of God all around us.

To be honest, I've really enjoyed this series on Jonah.  It's been a lot of fun to prepare the sermons, and I think the story is fascinating because of Jonah's reluctance and mistakes, which are unexpected in a prophet. I hope others have enjoyed it too.

If you missed this sermon, if you'd like to listen to it again, or if you'd like to share it with others, you can listen to an audio recording here.

Book Review: "Oh God, Oh God, Oh God!"

Oh God, Oh God, Oh God! Young Adults Speak Out About Sexuality and Christian Spirituality edited by Heather Godsey and Lara Blackwood Pickrel (Chalice Press, 2011), paperback, 146 pages

At times when I feel especially honest, I will confess one of the reasons why I believe most teenagers and young adults are disaffected from Christian churches.  I tick off three or four key issues that young people spend time and energy facing and then ask if the church ever directly speaks about those issues; usually, the answer is, "hardly ever."

At the top of the list of these key issues is sexuality and romantic relationships.  While I'm not sure that young people spend as much time thinking about such things as conventional wisdom suggests -- 1 out of every 7 seconds -- I am confident that it is a key issue in their lives for many years.  And despite the well-known Christian belief that God is love -- which is to say, God is the source, giver, example, and sustainer of love -- few churches ever explore love beyond fairly trite platitudes, at least as it relates to romantic love and sexuality.

In fits and starts, some people are trying to reintroduce the topic of romantic love and sexuality into religious conversation.  One recent book on the subject, appropriately published in a series directed at teenagers and young adults, is Oh God, Oh God, Oh God!  Subtitled "Young Adults Speak Out About Sexuality & Christian Sexuality," the book offers ten essays that raise such issues as sexual education, casual sex, homosexuality, pornography, and infertility and consider what wisdom can be offered by Christian faith.

By far, the greatest strength of these essays is that they approach the delicate subject matter with directness, honesty, and appreciation of the discomfort that such issues cause many people.  The ten contributors, most of whom are young ministers, offer reflections that are primarily personal testimonies, more interested in exploring personal approaches to these issues than in systematized assessments.

While I greatly admire the authenticity each writer brings, this approach leads to some unevenness between the essays, especially in how far they move beyond personal testimony.  Given the sensitive subject matter for many readers, this disparity might lead some to be dismissive of the entire project, which would be unfortunate.

Consider how Christians teach the spiritual practice of giving, a sensitive subject that the church handles somewhat better than sexuality and romance.  While some people offer powerful testimonies about how giving has positively impacted their lives, churches also share information about how giving affects those who receive the gifts and churches offer countless opportunities to give.  Testimony, by itself, is not enough.

Still, Oh God... is to be commended for its real effort to start conversations about faith and issues related to sexuality.  Those who disregard the book because of its limitations will miss the opportunities to read some of the stronger essays here, including Lara Blackwood Pickrel's wonderful presentation of embodied faith and Sunny Buchanan Riding's touching account of the challenges of infertility and the grief and loneliness that few in the church know how to comfort or even how to approach.

The church desperately needs to reintegrate this issue into the midst of its teaching and life -- or we will continue to allow others to define what love looks like.  We need more books like Oh God... which directly confront these sensitive issues, and we need people to read them and talk about them seriously.

Pray for Mission in Mexico

This week we pray for Scott Nicholson, our missionary in Mexico.  Scott serves Hogar de Esperanza y Paz in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico.

You can read more about the mission to Mexico here, including some of the specific challenges serving in a border town due to immigration issues.

There are Christian missionaries serving on our behalf in 70 countries around the world.  Each week, Global Missions highlights one of these missions and asks the church to pray for its continued vitality in spreading the Gospel.

November 11 Worship: "How Far Is Far Enough?"

On a rather wet Sunday, we gathered together for a lovely time of worship.  While there are many concerns within the community, we were also able to bring some joy and warmth of spirit to the day.  In particular, being that it was Veteran's Day, we were able to recognize many within our family of faith who have served in the military.  It was especially nice that Fred joined us with his trumpet to play Reveille and Taps.

The sermon continued our series "Jonah: Lone Wolf Prophet of God," by focusing on what happened after Jonah was spit out of the belly of the great sea beast.  In "How Far Is Far Enough?" we watched Jonah tentatively follow God's command to share a specific message with the city of Nineveh.  Despite Jonah's rather lackluster performance, the people of the city heard God's message and dramatically changed their ways.  This offers a stark contrast between God's prophet, who is trying to avoid doing what God wants, and the wicked non-believers, who go overboard in trying to please God.

If you missed Sunday's sermon, if you'd like to listen to it again, or if you'd like to share it with someone else, you can listen to an audio recording here.

Pray for Mission in Lesotho

This week we pray for Mark Behle, our missionary to Lesotho.  Mark serves as the planning officer for the Lesotho Evangelical Church.

You can read more about the mission to Lesotho here, including a new program by the church to transform farming practices in the African country.

There are Christian missionaries serving on our behalf in 70 countries around the world.  Each week, Global Missions highlights one of these missions and asks the wider church to pray for its continued vitality in spreading the Gospel.

Coming Up Sunday, November 11

This Sunday, we will continue our month-long sermon series, "Jonah: Lone Wolf Prophet of God."  After our young people dramatized Jonah's miraculous rescue by God through the intervention of a large sea creature, we will turn our attention to how Jonah resumes his activity as a prophet.  While you might Jonah to be desperate to please God, it quickly becomes clear that he is balancing this desire with the his equal desperation to limit contact with the heathens of Nineveh.  In a sermon titled, "How Far Is Far Enough?" we will explore the power of God's truth despite the reluctant mouthpiece.

Also this week, we will have a couple of special moments during worship.  We will recognize those in the life of our congregation who have served in the military on Veteran's Day, including some special music and a special prayer.  And, as part of our offering, we will collect a special Thanksgiving Offering, which supports church-related colleges and seminaries and other higher education-related institutions.

Book Review: "American Grace"

American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us by Robert D. Putnam and David E. Campbell (Simon & Schuster, 2010), hardcover, 688 pages

If you were to ask people who are active in the life of their local congregation what a church is supposed to do, they probably would look back in puzzled silence.  The boldest might offer that churches are supposed to introduce people to God and teach them about God in order to save their souls.  But if you made the reasonable point that many, if not most, people in church worship already know a lot about God and salvation, these too would probably get a little fuzzy on what churches are supposed to do.

If, though, you pushed through the silence and the tentative answers, you probably would end up with some discussion of the church as a community of faith.  (Some might even talk more intimately, using New Testament language, of a religious family of faith.)  This is a good answer, given that most congregations strive to create an environment where people can deepen their relationships with God through shared worship, education, service, and fellowship.

The difficulty in putting this into words, however, stems from changes in most congregations over the past century.  For many generations, a church was a central institution within a community, where neighbors would gather for religious events -- this is still the image of church most often depicted in movies and on television.  In recent years, though, many cultural trends have altered this nature of the community in most churches, where people drive -- maybe as long as an hour -- to attend churches they choose to attend, passing countless other faith communities coming and going.

Religious leaders have been slow to explore the impact that these gradual cultural changes have on congregations and, more broadly, on religion in American life.  Recently, though, Robert Putnam, a well-respected political science professor at Harvard University, has turned his attention to the subject.  Drawing on years of research into the nature of political communities and the impact of communal associations on politics -- most famously in his best-selling book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community -- he collaborated with others, including Notre Dame professor David Campbell, to create an extensive survey to examine the nature of religious communities in the United States and the state of religion within the broader American culture.

The results of the extensive Faith Matters surveys, added to the findings of several other surveys over the past 50 years, and coupled with some onsite evaluations of several religious communities, provide the raw data undergirding Putnam's and Campbell's analysis in American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us.  From this research, the authors describe trends and offer assessments in three growing areas: the nature of religious affiliation over the past 50 years, with significant attention to the growing number of interfaith relationships (romantic and otherwise) in American culture; the role of gender and ethnicity in religious practice; and the relationship of religion with political and communal affiliations.

In many ways, the findings of American Grace should not offer too many surprises to those who have been observing changes in religious groups over the recent decades.  Conventional wisdom regarding the declining numbers of young people regularly attending worship services, the increasing involvement of women in leadership roles in religious communities, and the self-imposed racial segregation of most religious groups is generally confirmed by survey results.  The depth and breadth, though, of the investigation offers key findings related to the impact of younger generations upon religious groups, the significant growth of people unaffiliated with any religious community, and the ever-increasing religious pluralism of the United States.

Since about 1990, Putnam and Campbell notice a sharp change in the involvement of those under age 30 in churches.  In a nutshell, a sharply growing percentage of this generation have disengaged from religious institutions.  With growing suspicion about religious authority, the uneasy relationship between church and state, and years of bad press, many of these people are not attending religious services and a noticeably higher percentage of this generation claim no religious affiliation or preference.  The generation gap extends to those in the younger generation who do participate, in some way, in religious institutions, though: they have demonstrably more permissive attitudes on social issues, such as homosexuality, premarital sex, and interracial marriage, than religious people of older generations.

More shocking than this shift in the culture wars, though, is the growing percentage of "the Nones" in all age groups.  While over 25% of those born since 1982 claim no religious preference on recent surveys, they are not alone.  In the 1950s, barely anyone responded to questions about religious preference with "none of the above."  Since 1990, though, the percentage of such survey responses has more than doubled to about 16% as of the 2008 survey.  This dramatic rise in less than a generation is certainly a warning flag to religious institutions, many of whom are struggling with declining participation and financial support already.  Interestingly, many of these "Nones" are not unbelievers, as demonstrated by questions about the existence of God or heaven (though the surveys identify a growing number of atheists and agnostics too), but they are disaffected and detached from religious institutions.

If the impact of the younger generation and the growing number of "Nones" seems threatening to most religious people, there is some comfort in Putnam and Campbell's exploration of religious pluralism in the American context.  The influx of religious immigrants over the past 50 years could have inaugurated a period of crisis for American religion, where religious differences led to conflict and division.  Instead, the surveys show a general toleration, and growing acceptance, of such differences.  Largely, this is due to the ever-increasing number of people who develop interdenominational and interfaith relationship with neighbors, co-workers, and as part of their extended families.  While there is evidence pointing to certain types of division, there is much more data demonstrating acceptance and cohesion, which is the finding that inspired the book's title, American Grace.

While the tone of the book is generally optimistic, this thorough study offers a fairly nuanced vision of religion in the United States during the past 50 years, offering data across a wide range of subjects, including politics, gender, ethnicity, and age.  It amply demonstrates that religious belief and practice are much more diverse than usually presented in either recent journalism or popular entertainment, but it also clearly shows that cultural perceptions have had noticeable impacts on religious belief and practice.  Those interested in such a comprehensive picture of religious practice will find American Grace fascinating, frustrating, and ultimately insightful.

November 4 Worship: "I Was Swallowed by a Whale"

On Sunday, we were led in worship by our youth and young adults, which was a good way to worship on the most wide-awake Sunday of the year (the first few days after Daylight Savings Time ends sure are a pleasant surprise).  The younger children shared some music that they have been learning, and the older youth and young adults offered prayers and guided us in worship.

In place of a sermon, they prepared a video about Jonah, as part of our series, "Jonah: Lone Wolf Prophet of God."  Entitled "True Life: I Was Swallowed by a Whale," it offered a news report of the mysterious circumstances of Jonah's encounter with a great fish, whale, sea monster, or whatever after he was tossed overboard in the middle of a storm.  You can watch their retelling below.