Maybe It Is Time to "Ruffle Feathers"!

Comments from the last few blogs:

 It Is Time To Say NO!

To "be like Jesus", we all need to ruffle some feathers. Telling moral truths, however uncomfortable for us and our listeners, brings us closer to God and frees us from worrying about taking sides. As Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." *** And as I say, "You go girl!!" ***

Thank you both for entering conversation, about my thoughts the last few days!  It is alway valuable to hear more than one opinion on any given subject. I encourage -- and invite --  all additions to my thoughts as we move through this journey together. 

What caught my mind this morning was in the second comment about the need to "ruffle some feathers".  That is easier in an informal setting!  A place where there can be give and take.  A place where honest -- civil conversation -- can be invited   Where people can agree not to agree!  I have found that when you preach the hard truth, in worship's one way communication style, people are turned off and stop listening.  It is somewhat like scolding a teenager that already thinks their parent has lost tough with reality.  If you know what I mean!  

Jonathan Edwards took to the pulpit in the early 1700s and pounded the pulpit with hell-fire and damnation.  He may have been effective for some in those early colonial years.  But, his message was one of God's wrath.  An unforgiving God who kept a list of all our sins; sitting up in heaven just waiting for us to slip up.  It was a scare tactic style of speaking the Gospel.  We theological types call that the "law style"!  No grace!

My style, of preaching and teaching, has most always been about God's loving character.  Having said that, I will admit that there were times when I didn't preach on the Gospel text because Jesus was being a little tougher than usual.  That is what was alluding to in yesterday's blog.  I hesitated to stand with Jesus when it came to push and shove. If I am perfectly truthful with myself, it probably had to do with the deep seated competition that exists in this country when the issue of politics comes up.  I remember a year ago, after the election, many families gathering for Thanksgiving had a stated agreement that they "wouldn't talk about the election." I think my time in the pulpit was similar to last year Thanksgiving agreement.

What I have found, in almost thirty years of preaching, is that it gets pretty one sided when I am in the pulpit.  I talk!  People listen!  Or not!  Yet when people sit around a room, in a Bible Study, there is a conversation that informs.  And the message is richer because of the many voices included.  I am wondering if that kind of format could be used as an alternative to formal "liturgical" type worship service.  Jesus did most of his teaching that way.  Informal!  In a boat!  On a hill!  In people's homes!  The Gen-Xers and Millennials might come to a more casual setting like that. Where they could speak and ask questions while sitting around together.

A true story!  In 2009 I was at All Saint in Wales.  It was after Scott Walker was elected Governor.  I preached a sermon that had to do with the Jewish Pharisees, Sadducees, and  Scribes.  All who where, by the way, very political in their "religious ways".  I compared each Jewish group to the political parties here in America.   What I did not know at the time was that the congregation was strongly republican.  And I had put the Pharisees as republicans.  Not because I was aiming at the republican!   It just inadvertently turned out that way!  After the last service someone came up to me and said: "You do know, don't you, that you were speaking to a largely republican group of people."  My answer was a simple "no"!  It wasn't until that afternoon that I realized connection I was making.  I always have been a little slow!!!! 


Lets just keep praying that God will create order out of the divisive political chaos!