Toolbox For Faith

“Thanks for the advice,” the person said as she left my office shortly before the start of our Vacation Bible School. “That was really helpful.” The remark caught me off guard because I thought that we were having a good discussion looking at possible options. I had not thought that I was distributing advice.

The next day I read an interview with David Freedman who wrote Wrong: Why Experts Keep Failing Us - and How to Know When Not to Trust Them when I came across his definition of good and bad advice which brought me back to the evening before. He said that bad advice tends to be simplistic, definite, universal and certain. Good advice, he feels, tends to be less certain.

I really appreciated what he said. Many people want a black and white world which explains why bad advice resonates with so many people who want simple, certain answers. Others see the world as a rainbow of colors which explains why good advice tends to be less certain. Good advice acknowledges that there are many roads to reach a destination, not just one way.

After reading all of Freedman’s comments, I started thinking that looking at possible options might be the best advice we can give or receive. And then I realized that sounded very simplistic, definite, universal and certain which made it bad advice. Oops! All I am certain about now is that I would appreciate it if you didn’t ask me for advice.

I am working on a Comparative Religion Sunday School class this summer and I just came across a really interesting website called, religionfacts.com. There seems to be a little bit of everything on the site including information about every imaginable faith, but the section I found most helpful contains charts. There are comparison charts, like the Christianity vs Jehovah’s Witness that I found, but also charts listing things like the early church fathers. Obviously I can’t vouch for all the information, but at least the Lutheran stuff seems fairly accurate.

At the end of second Corinthians, Paul writes

“And that’s about it, friends. Be cheerful. Keep things in good repair. Keep your spirits up. Think in harmony. Be agreeable. Do all that, and the God of love and peace will be with you for sure.”
2 Corinthians 13:11 from The Message

Paul’s words echoed in my mind as I read a copy of an email sent to dozens of members in another congregation complaining that their church is growing smaller and less friendly due to the pastor. The email bothered me greatly because the writer blasted everything and then pushed a button on a computer spreading their discontent to everyone in their address book, making sure that those people knew the writer was unhappy. What made it even more unfair was that the writer had not bothered to talk this over with the pastor and did not know what was happening in the congregation.

The writer did entirely the opposite of what Paul says, “Keep things in good repair… Think in harmony. Be agreeable.” Instead of creating harmony, many Christians act as un-Christians creating dysfunction, hurt, anger, and stress within the church. They want their own way and refuse to look at other options. To be faithful, we must align our lives with Christ’s teachings and Paul’s advice. We need to work together to solve problems within congregations, not fire off angry, destructive emails.

We in the church are called to be examples of Christ in words and actions. We are to act in love and even email in love. More of us need to read and reread Paul’s words.

I am in the middle of reading Switch by Chip and Dan Heath. Switch is a wonderful book which focuses on how to accomplish change when change is difficult. When I finish the book, I’ll post a more complete summary, but for now I want to focus on one of their points - “Follow the Bright Spots.” In essence, they are suggesting that you take a look at your ministry, discover what you are doing well, learn from that success and apply the knowledge to another area of your ministry.

For example, if you have great success with Vacation Bible School and limited success with weekly Sunday School, the question becomes what can you learn from VBS and how can you apply that lesson to Sunday School. Perhaps you have great storytellers at VBS and simply including those storytellers will strengthen Sunday School. Obviously each congregation is different, but I think following the bright spots will help us identify our strengths and help us to use our ministry gifts more effectively.

If you are interested in learning more about Switch, you can check out the Heath Brothers website.

Sydney, age 5 is a great older sister for Jorja, age 2. Sydney taught us all a huge lesson last week.

We have open communion where everyone, even the children, receive communion. We leave it to the parents to decide when a child should start receiving the bread and wine.

Last Sunday, we were distributing communion by intinction and I gave Sydney her wafer. Jorja was right behind her and I gave her a blessing since she has not started receiving the bread and wine. Sydney waited with her wafer until I had blessed Jorja and instead of dipping her wafer in the wine, Sydney broke it in half and gave one half to Jorja. She did not want Jorja to be left out.

My mind immediately went back to the Gospel for the day in which Simon, the Pharisee, was critical of the woman who was washing Jesus’ feet with her tears and putting ointment on his feet. Simon would have left her out but not Jesus. Sydney was looking out for her sister. It was a powerful sermon as she lived the Gospel in a wonderful way.

One of my members, John Halfacre who is a retired elementary school principal, sent me a copy of an article giving practical hints for principals that he was sending to a national publication. Ironically, most of what he wrote could also apply to pastors and key church leaders.

His first suggestion was “Remove ‘Principal Parking’ signs.” You probably heard my “amen” when I read it although I was thinking of “Pastor Parking Only” signs that were at three churches I served. One church had even gone to the mayor and city council to have an official sign placed on a side street next to the building. I was very uncomfortable with the concept and asked that all be removed.

John Halfacre explained his rationale for removing the sign succinctly. “I always believed that a special parking space for me created a pedestal of artificial importance and was somehow inconsistent with the concept of servant leadership. I chose the parking space that was the furthest from the building. It’s a seemingly small gesture, but I think it sends a message of humility, respect, and appreciation to other members of the school family.’ The same goes for the other members of the church family. Great advice, John!

I had the opportunity this weekend to help lead a workshop which focused on Nurturing Faith in Children. Although we shared many specific examples, our discussion centered around the “Four Keys for Nurturing FaithLife in the Home” developed by Vibrant Faith Ministries. The Four Keys: Caring Conversation, Devotional Life, Service and Rituals and Tradition describe areas which help nurture faith in young people. You can find a fuller explanation of the Four Keys on the Family of Faith page on St. Michael’s website.

I have learned a great deal about faith in youth and families from the materials produced by Vibrant Faith and I have found their resources to be extremely helpful. There is a page filled free articles and downloads and they have a store which includes both the resources that Vibrant Faith has developed and the best youth and family resources they have found. If you haven’t taken a look at their site, I would highly recommend taking a few moments to check it out.

(Note: Vibrant Faith Ministries was formerly known as The Youth and Family Institute.)