A lesson I gave a month or so ago on the church. Thought I'd share with everyone.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Random Thought on Deconstruction
Last night I caught a documentary on Jacques Derrida. I was already familiar with his pervasive influence on the world through his philosophy of deconstruction. Deconstruction is the result of trying to make a case against the philosophy of structuralism. Structuralism taught that there was a system of knowledge and understanding that brought about clear cut, definable, basic concepts. Poststructuralism, to which deconstruction belongs, is a rebellion against the idea that we really know anything. The task of the deconstructionist is to simply take something and deconstruct it to show that there is a contradiction in there somewhere. And if contradiction exists you cannot claim it to be true. The methods the deconstructionist gets to use are at his whim and do not even have to be rational. He claims rationalism is not true and therefore he does not have to be rational (convenient eh?). Well how does he know rationalism is not true? Because he deconstructed it of course!
Poststructuralism would eventually give birth to postmodernism. Many of the ideas and concepts of the two cannot be separated. Understanding this helps one to understand what we are facing with the prolific indoctrination of postmodernism in our society and in theology. Our postmodern “theologians” that run in the church of Christ circles have one basic objective; to deconstruct our established belief system. How do they do this? By trying to create contradictions in the system of thinking (remember their arguments do not have to be rational or logical because ration and logic are flawed). They believe that if they can deconstruct and show a flaw or contradiction that they have proved their case that our entire belief system is no good (more accurately the system we use to arrive at our beliefs). This old system, therefore, must be tossed out and replaced with a new one.
Now back to Derrida. After watching the irrational Derrida for an hour and a half (Derrida would not be insulted by calling him irrational; He would probably wear it as a badge of honor) I’ve arrived at a few conclusions. One of them I will share here. Derrida claims he now knows that we cannot know anything about anything unless we know everything about it. The irony is that he is certain he knows this. That leads me to one of three conclusions: Deridda knows everything, Deridda doesn't really believe what he says, or Deridda is unconsciously showing that reality and his philosophy are in two totally different realms.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Excel Still More: The Visitor
Our worship assembly is a special time. It is a time when we gather together as the church at one time and in one place, all with the same purpose. The worship assembly is first and foremost about God’s children coming together to worship Him and to build one another up (i.e. Ephesians 5:19ff, etc…).
There is another element to our assembly that the Bible speaks of, and that is the element of the visitor to the assembly. James mentions the visitor to the assembly:
James is showing that the attention you give (or do not give) to individuals in your assembly is an expression of your “religion” (James 1:27). If you fail to greet and treat your visitor with the love that you have for yourself you are failing to keep the Law of the King (James 2:8). This makes you a hearer and not a doer (James 1:22). This places us in a position of judging our neighbor (James 2:4) and James asks, “but who are you judge your neighbor?” (James 4:12).
Failure to greet and treat the visitor in our assembly is a serious matter. How we treat them is an honest reflection of our true nature and condition. If we fail to show the visitor in our assembly the love that we would want shown to us, we find ourselves in a place of judgment.
Based upon this truth here are several suggestions of ways that will aid us in carrying out the royal law towards our visitors in our assemblies. First have visitor eyes. Visitor eyes are the basis upon which the rest of the suggestions are built. As an individual, and as a whole church, it is necessary to develop and commit to an attitude of always thinking about the visitor in your midst. It’s easy to watch the visitor walk in and out. It’s even easy to say a word or two to them. But visitor eyes are a heart and attitude that wants to see that the visitor is treated the way you would want to be treated if you were visiting.
Second you can ask a visitor to sit with you. A big group of people they have never met before can be very intimidating. When a friendly smile asks a visitor to sit with them it can go a very long ways. This allows the visitor to feel at ease as you are helping them through the motions so they aren’t asking themselves constantly, “Am I doing what I’m supposed to do? I don’t want to stand out!”
Third you can have assigned greeters at the doors of your assembly location. This is a good way to make sure that visitors are quickly greeted upon arrival. The greeters make sure that the visitors’ information is taken so you can follow up with the visitor. The greeter also will explain to the visitor what classes are going on and where their children’s classes are. The greeters can also hand out any material you have specifically designed for the visitor. It’s a good idea to have a visitor’s packet with information for the visitor to take home. There is one word of caution on assembly greeters. It’s very easy for the entire assembly to thing that since we have greeters I don’t need to do anything personally with the visitors. This could not be further from the truth. The greeter does not replace the individual responsibility of each and every member to show his true religion towards each and every visitor.
Fourth you need to follow up with your visitors. A follow up contact expresses to the visitor that you thought about them. Try to make your follow up contact as personal as you can. In other words, don’t just send say generic things in generic ways. If you send them an email, or a letter, try to include something personal about their visit. Maybe mention something they said to you when they visited. Maybe mention something from the assembly that day. You can also get a group together that takes turns delivering cookies and a thank you for visiting card to all your visitors a day or two after their visit. The best way to be sure your visitor will only be a one-time visitor is to not follow up.
Fifth you can ask your visitor out to eat. It just so happens that our assemblies usually end right before meal time. What a great opportunity to ask your visitors out to lunch. You can spend that time getting to know them better as well as talking to them about the church. By doing this you are already connecting the visitor to the church and beginning the process of relationship building.
Sixth, and finally, is to be devoted to F-3-4-V. F-3-4-V stands for first three for visitors, and means that every single member should spend the first three minutes IMMEDIATELY after the assembly to SEEK out ALL the visitors that day. Once you find them you personally introduce yourself and tell them how much you appreciated their presence, and how you are looking forward to them coming back. Just imagine an entire room full of people lining up to greet the visitors. Imagine how you would feel if that’s how you were treated. You would feel special! So will our visitors if we do the same. This is easy to implement. All it takes is educating the members on what F34V stands for. Then whoever dismisses the assembly simply has to say “Members, always remember, F34V.” This way the visitors don’t know that you are reminding the members to greet them, and at the same time it’s reminding your members to greet them.
There is another element to our assembly that the Bible speaks of, and that is the element of the visitor to the assembly. James mentions the visitor to the assembly:
“My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? ”(James 2:1–5, NASB95)
James is showing that the attention you give (or do not give) to individuals in your assembly is an expression of your “religion” (James 1:27). If you fail to greet and treat your visitor with the love that you have for yourself you are failing to keep the Law of the King (James 2:8). This makes you a hearer and not a doer (James 1:22). This places us in a position of judging our neighbor (James 2:4) and James asks, “but who are you judge your neighbor?” (James 4:12).
Failure to greet and treat the visitor in our assembly is a serious matter. How we treat them is an honest reflection of our true nature and condition. If we fail to show the visitor in our assembly the love that we would want shown to us, we find ourselves in a place of judgment.
Based upon this truth here are several suggestions of ways that will aid us in carrying out the royal law towards our visitors in our assemblies. First have visitor eyes. Visitor eyes are the basis upon which the rest of the suggestions are built. As an individual, and as a whole church, it is necessary to develop and commit to an attitude of always thinking about the visitor in your midst. It’s easy to watch the visitor walk in and out. It’s even easy to say a word or two to them. But visitor eyes are a heart and attitude that wants to see that the visitor is treated the way you would want to be treated if you were visiting.
Second you can ask a visitor to sit with you. A big group of people they have never met before can be very intimidating. When a friendly smile asks a visitor to sit with them it can go a very long ways. This allows the visitor to feel at ease as you are helping them through the motions so they aren’t asking themselves constantly, “Am I doing what I’m supposed to do? I don’t want to stand out!”
Third you can have assigned greeters at the doors of your assembly location. This is a good way to make sure that visitors are quickly greeted upon arrival. The greeters make sure that the visitors’ information is taken so you can follow up with the visitor. The greeter also will explain to the visitor what classes are going on and where their children’s classes are. The greeters can also hand out any material you have specifically designed for the visitor. It’s a good idea to have a visitor’s packet with information for the visitor to take home. There is one word of caution on assembly greeters. It’s very easy for the entire assembly to thing that since we have greeters I don’t need to do anything personally with the visitors. This could not be further from the truth. The greeter does not replace the individual responsibility of each and every member to show his true religion towards each and every visitor.
Fourth you need to follow up with your visitors. A follow up contact expresses to the visitor that you thought about them. Try to make your follow up contact as personal as you can. In other words, don’t just send say generic things in generic ways. If you send them an email, or a letter, try to include something personal about their visit. Maybe mention something they said to you when they visited. Maybe mention something from the assembly that day. You can also get a group together that takes turns delivering cookies and a thank you for visiting card to all your visitors a day or two after their visit. The best way to be sure your visitor will only be a one-time visitor is to not follow up.
Fifth you can ask your visitor out to eat. It just so happens that our assemblies usually end right before meal time. What a great opportunity to ask your visitors out to lunch. You can spend that time getting to know them better as well as talking to them about the church. By doing this you are already connecting the visitor to the church and beginning the process of relationship building.
Sixth, and finally, is to be devoted to F-3-4-V. F-3-4-V stands for first three for visitors, and means that every single member should spend the first three minutes IMMEDIATELY after the assembly to SEEK out ALL the visitors that day. Once you find them you personally introduce yourself and tell them how much you appreciated their presence, and how you are looking forward to them coming back. Just imagine an entire room full of people lining up to greet the visitors. Imagine how you would feel if that’s how you were treated. You would feel special! So will our visitors if we do the same. This is easy to implement. All it takes is educating the members on what F34V stands for. Then whoever dismisses the assembly simply has to say “Members, always remember, F34V.” This way the visitors don’t know that you are reminding the members to greet them, and at the same time it’s reminding your members to greet them.
You may think, “We do a good job at greeting our visitors.” That very well may be true. But the question should be, “can we do better?” Can we excel still more? Sure we can! What will you do to excel still more in showing the visitor to the assembly that you love them as yourself?
Thursday, January 21, 2010
It's All Greek To Me
On Thursdays I speak in chapel at the Hughson Christian School. It’s my old education institution of the fourth grade. It was just me and Joanne Dee in the fourth grade. Mrs. Gillaspie was our teacher. She also had second and third graders. Mr. Gillaspie, her husband, taught us Bible about one day a week. It was almost twenty years ago that I was in fourth grade there, and Mrs. Gillaspie is still teaching! Mr Gillaspie, however, was taken from this world after being hit by a drunk driver while on his postal route.
Mr. Gillaspie was a very special person. When I think about him today I think of a person that cared about me. It wasn’t a job… it was him being who he was. One memory I have that I will never forget is when he took me and a couple other guys backpacking for a few days.
Now I fill Mr. Gillaspie’s shoes once a week, to the best of my ability, by teaching thirteen third through eight graders Bible. I feel like I owe it to him. What better way to honor the life of someone than to try to pick up where he left off and keep his work moving forward. So Mr. Gillaspie, if you have internet up there, I hope you’re proud of me.
That was just the introduction! This segment is something I’d like to call, “It’s All Greek To Me.” I’ve only had these kids for about four sessions including today. The first fifteen minutes of class we’ve been learning the Greek alphabet. Yes, the Greek alphabet. We have a club called the “It’s All Greek To Me” club. Entrance into the club is simple. You must be able to recite the entire Greek alphabet from memory. Today almost half the class entered the club after only four weeks!
What about you? Can you join the club? You better get started now or these kids are going to be giving you a run for your money. They are quickly putting the tools in their belt to be able to do excellent Bible study by looking up words in original language sources. If third through eighth graders can do it don’t you think you can? Come on and join the club!
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