I mentioned several weeks ago that I’d begin a new series last week
• You may have noticed that I did not
• I talked about a couple of issues corollary to our summer of msgs on how we treat people
• I talked about how common it is for people, motivated by envy, by bad judgment to become occasional carriers of evil
• Normal, decent people, caught up in the fray of these common, but spiritually virulent forces
• And they hurt us
• And together we talked about how we, as followers of Jesus, are to treat these people
• What does kindness and forgiveness look like when we encounter occasional carriers of evil?
I mentioned that I hadn’t been able to start this new message because I’d had a challenging week
• Today I want to talk about that challenge
• To be frank, I’ve been having a series of miniature melt-downs these last couple of weeks
I’ve had a few Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Days lately
• if you’ve ever read about Alexander’s day to a child…
you know the kind
Several times lately, I’ve sat with people whose eyes got real wide as they saw me slowly melt down before their very eyes
• “this isn’t like Doug!”
• And in truth, most of the time I’m pretty even-keeled
• Lately, not so much…
Now, I have to be careful about how I introduce our new message
• In these introductory remarks today, I’m going to spend almost the whole time telling my own story
• I wrote the message months ago; the intro, just yesterday
• It’ fresh off the press of current experience
I have to be careful because of this…
• I treat these lesson times as a sacred trust
• These times are not to be about me, but about discharging an assignment I have before God
• An assignment to use the gifts God has given me to further the spiritual journeys of the people of our community
So, telling the story of my Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day…
• comes with the risk of self-indulgence at expense of sacred trust
However, I weighed it yesterday, and concluded that my experience these last days bears on our future together
…and bears on the spirituality from which our future will spring
• the whole picture won’t be evident until next week or week after
• You’ll need to hear those weeks for this week to be anything more than the rantings of a crazy man
___
A year ago, for the first time in 30 years of active ministry, I wanted to leave the ministry
• And for the first time in 11 years, I wanted to leave NRCC
• I’ve never quit a ministry position in 30 years: been asked to leave; moved away, but never quit
• However, instead of the love for being a minister I’d had for 28 of these years, it was just a bunch of pain
• I was going to bed each night frustrated, worn out, unhappy and with very little peace
• I began to look for ways to feed my family without this job
I brought my dilemma before the Planning Team
• Together we explored why I had loved being a minister all these years and then suddenly, had come to loathe the very same thing
As they probed the state of my soul, this is what came out…
• When I was 19, in college, I was by all accounts bright young man
• And the conventional wisdom I heard at that time was this…
• You should go into business young man
• That’s where the opportunities are for bright young men such as yourself
But I did not go into business
• Because at 19, I looked where business degree would take me
• I’d be running an organization by 35
• And I looked inside myself and saw how God had made me
• And I realized that who I was… and the great opportunities that exist for people who run organizations… were not a match
• I rejected business as a life path; rejected running an organization
But here I was at 50; arguably a lot smarter than I was at 19…
• And somehow I had gotten sucked into the role of running an organization: NRCC
• Each day I’d wake up and work all day doing the operational demands necessary to move us forward
• Each day I would hate the work, but it was necessary work
As you know, I live by a very simple spiritual strategy…
• I listen carefully for the Inner Voice of HS
• And I obey tenaciously
• Listen and obey; our spiritual strategy
• And when I’m in the flow of that strategy, I go to sleep happy each night
But I wasn’t going to sleep happy
• You’ve heard me say this before…
• About 2 years ago; nudge from HS to me/to our community…
“There are some people in this city I have assigned to you”
“I want you to open your hearts and your doors to them”
• But to open our hearts and doors, we needed some infrastructure
We needed a facility that was not an obstacle to guests
• I talked about making our facility like Brueggers (public space)
• Not grand, not a monument to God, or some such thing
• But not sloppy and off-putting either
• Not religious-looking for those who had been burned by religion
• But not shaggy, sloppy, or unfinished for the average N.Raleigh-ite
• We needed a parking lot, some paint, and a simple décor
We needed a place for people to come to know others: breakfast
• We needed planning, executing, serving, cleaning up, teams, etc.
• We needed some tools to help us be hospitable to newcomers
• We needed to be organized enough to make sure people’s experience of us was warm, inviting, open and friendly
We needed literature to explain our history and our future to people
• Print and web announcements so people know what’s going on
• website where we could invite people to share the journey w/ us
We needed people to help with the spiritual care
• To help pray for, talk to, and watch over us as a community
• To help connect us to one another, and integrate newcomers
We needed people to create home groups
• Places for newcomers to get to know us
• Places for us to share lives together
We needed financial procedures to expand to include more people out there spending money now, but still being financially accountable
We needed audio/visual help, music help, etc, etc, etc…
And these things were continually ending up on my to-do list…
• While at the same time trying to maintain the spiritual work, the people work that is the essence of my role here
• The latter was getting short-changed more each day
• I was bailing the boat as fast as I could, but it was still sinking
• And I was hating my job
With spiritual/people work I do ½ work and get twice the results
• In infrastructure work, I do twice the work, and get ½ the results
• And 70% of my days were spent on the latter
• And I was going to sleep unhappy
Worst of all, in my values system…
• I was feeling pressure: God had spoken to us to open our hearts/doors, and we are not doing it
• That was the main reason I wasn’t going to bed happy
So the planning team saw me nearing critical mass, about to go nuclear, and they trundled me off to England to get some help
• And I did, and it helped
• And in the meantime, they started working on taking some of that work off of me and distributing it to the community
• And I set myself a hard stop of one year more
• One year from then, I said, ready or not, I will either no longer be doing this kind of work, or I will leave
• One more year of doing what I’m not wired to so, so that…
we could transition from Doug- to a community-owned church
• One more year to build the infrastructure required to obey HS…
• One more year
So last month, I was watching end of that year fast approaching
• In fact, that year ends 16 days from today
So I came back from vacation in August, and looked at my to-do list
• More administrative work on it than there had been a year before
• There was more of the kind of work that sucked the life out of me than there had been at this time last year
• And it was really important work!
• Work that if it was not done, would keep us from this whole listen/obey thing: open our hearts/doors thing
So I was looking at the year ahead of me and seeing one more year w/ no time to write, not enought time to meet w/ people, to speak…
• Another year of not enough time to meet w/ college kids to reframe their spiritual views
• Another year w/o the time to blog
• Without the time to help people rethink following Jesus
• Without time to find those who have…
given up on church but not God
given up on Jesus because they were sick of church
• No time to find those isolated from spiritual journey
And instead I was looking at…
• Another year building a website to communicate who we are
• Another year of helping fund the Handy-Guys projects
• Another year of extra counseling because there is nobody else
• Another year of getting a communication systems up/running
• Another year of to-do lists that never empty
• Doing work I’m not wired for
• Another year of diminished returns, and life-sucking effort
• Building an infrastructure that I’m ill-equipped to build
So here’s the meltdown part…
• I was in a meeting a week ago Friday…
• And at that meeting, I was hearing results of project I had hard on
• Because I had stepped back from overseeing it each step of the way, it had stalled and was on the brink of simply going away…
• again
And in that meeting, the “going nuclear” that the planning team had tried to avoid last year…
• Happened
• And the people who were there got some very big eyes
• A few nervous looks…
• And I’m sure enquiring minds wondering if Doug has lost it
Here’s the problem: this year is different from last year
• Last year, I would have been sad to dislocate my family…
• I would have been sad to leave the people here I love…
…but leaving NRCC was a serious and viable option
• I really thought I could go somewhere else and be happy
But in the year since then, I have listened for the Inner Voice; the Presence of God within all of us
• And if God had taken the role of a person (he didn’t)
• And if the Divine dealings had been a conversation (it wasn’t)
• The conversation would have gone something like this…
So, Kid… I’m hearing you say that this process you’re in is painful
I’m hearing you want to leave, you want this bad situation to stop
Now, if you really want to leave, you can do so. I’ll go w/ you…
However, I would like you to stay
I’d like you to stay and see this thing through
There’s something on the other side I have for you
And as those inner whispers of Divine desire came to light…
• I realized that I really did want to stay and see this through
• And I had a sense it was the heart of God
• And that if I were to resonate w/ the frequency of the universe, I would do just that
So now, this year, things are worse than they were last year
• This year my mental escape hatch is closed
• I am not going to leave NRCC
• But if I stay, I see another year of the same kind of @#$%
• I can’t stay, I can’t go; I feel trapped
• And this dilemma has been causing some meltdowns of late
• Some terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days…
Now, we should all get on our knees and thank God for planning team
• As an aside, it would be important for you to know who they are
• That way you can ask them things about the church
• So, I thought a year ago…
• We should have their pictures on a powerpoint
• That way you can know who they are, and everybody wouldn’t be so much in the dark about how things run at NRCC
• And in that year, I have been unable to muster the time or the ability to get so simple a thing done
• I need more time, more infrastructure, some secretarial help
• I think I’ll not do that; bad form, don’t you know
But again, thanks be to God for the planning team…
• A handful of them who saw me losing it this last two weeks
…have rushed to my aid
• They are already making steps forward to turn this around
• They are meeting this afternoon, as a matter of fact
• Topic of their meeting I’m sure will include…
Boy, has Doug lost it?
I didn’t realize he was so close to the edge…
How long before we find him in a fetal position, mumbling in the corner?
My frustration is all the greater because you are fantastic people
• You have demonstrated again and again a willingness to help
• People love our community; are more than willing to contribute
• People give their time generously
• When we need money, you give generously
You believe in this place, you trust this place, and you give to this place
• But because I am who I am, the connection between your abilities and our community’s needs are not made
Also, because I am who I am, we have a disproportionately low percentage of administratively gifted people here
• Lots of abstract thinkers, lots of concept people, lots of spiritual formation people
…all willing to help
• But somehow the work keeps ending up undone, or on my list
We do not lack for good, committed, contributing people…
• Our primary problem is our inability to draw from the administrative people we have…
• To draw from their efforts, so we can spread tasks out to us all
• We need people who know how to manage projects
• Right now, it’s like climbing Mt. Everest through waist-deep mud
But again…
thanks be to God for the Planning Team coming to rescue me/us
So do not despair…
Already this week, some on our planning team are forming project-teams to rescue me from the precipice
• I got an email: you’ll be hearing plan to move forward next week
• Again, thank God for the planning team
So there it is…
…the story of Doug’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
It took 10 pages of notes, and most Sunday lessons only get 12
• Why would I use the lion’s share of these minutes I get each Sunday to tell this personal story?
I’ve had the next few week’s message in my files for months now
• in its original form, there was no mention of a wild-eyed, crazy minister going berserk
• but I believe that my Terrible Day bears on the future before us as a spiritual community
Now, don’t know if you believe this whole “listen for Inner Voice” thing
• I don’t know if you believe that it happens for people;
You know I do
• I don’t know if you believe that it happens for communities;
You know I do
• I don’t know if you believe that HS of God has nudged our community forward in this regard…
to open our hearts/doors to people in our city…
to find the ones who God has assigned to us…
to find the ones for whom there is no back-up plan
to invite them into the life we’re finding in God
• But you know that I believe this w/ all my heart
• I’m devoting myself to this proposition
And I believe some corollary things as well…
1. this shift from the way we were, to the way will be, will cost us
• Change is painful; and pain costs us
• And the change will not be just how we live as a community…
• The change will go the core of who we are; and this is painful
• Which leads to the second corollary thing I believe…
2. a shift like this will not only cost us, it will change us
• We will be different people if we listen carefully/obey tenaciously
• I’ve seen it in my own life and lives of people I’ve led for decades
• We start down a path w/ one understanding (open hearts/doors)
…only to discover the wild thing HS does inside of us when we do
If you take up the mantle w/ this community…
If you begin to open your heart/doors to people
• You will see a great transformation happen in your soul!
• It’s the way these things work; I’ve seen it again and again
3. if we do not make this shift, it will cost us even more
• There is an evolutionary imperative in nature; adapt or die
• When circumstances change, if we do not adapt to them, change with them, it is to our detriment
• For years when our community sought Inner Voice, we heard only approval for not looking outside our own doors
• Those of us here were our focus, not those who were not
• It was more than OK, it was life, health, and we sensed the whispers of Divine approval
But now that the wind has shifted, if we do not shift with it, what was life to our souls will cease to be so
• This is just the way the spiritual journey works
• We follow the wind, or we miss it
• W/ all of my heart, I believe wind is blowing us to open doors
• And missing God’s wind is always costly
And I’ve been pedaling my little life as fast as it can go these last 2 years
• I’ve been doing the listen/obey thing as best I know how to
• But it can’t keep doing it this way
• Something has to give
An image came to mind as I have been praying about this
• The image of a vacation cabin by a lake
When you go to a lake cabin for vacation you can do it two ways
• You can rent the cabin for a week or two
• Or you can own it with several other families and enjoy it throughout the year
The former you are a renter, the latter, an owner
• A renter doesn’t think twice if the dock is coming loose
• A renter doesn’t think twice about termite inspections
• A renter doesn’t think twice if there’s a leaky pipe
• It’s not theirs
But the people who own this cabin, on the other hand, are very concerned about all these things
• And more
• The owners are looking at long term well-being of the property
• Because they plan to enjoy the blessing it affords for the long haul
• Owners want to tend the property’s well-being so as to be able to draw the benefits of it over time
As a community, if we want to set our sails to catch the wind of HS now blowing…
• We are going to need more than the handful of owners we have…
• We are going to need many, many
Now I don’t think there’s anyone here, except maybe a brand new person who does not feel a desire to make this a great community
• Again, people love our church
But again, our problem has been two fold
1. I have not been able to open doors for you to come own w/ me
• I have not been able to transfer the benefits and the responsibilities of a spiritual community to you
• I’m not administratively gifted enough…
• I don’t understand and adapt to the particular challenges…
• Whatever it is; it’s not happened
2. our culture is affected by our past
• Having been burned by church enterprises that have sucked us dry, many are afraid of anything that just looks like this
We’ll have to talk about both of those some day
But as for the first one…
The planning team is already at work…
You’ll hear some requests for administrative helpers in weeks ahead
• Respond
Also, when you see a newcomer, extend yourself
• Create a caring community at NRCC…
Further, invite one another and newcomers to lunch Sundays
• Invite one another and newcomers to meet for coffee
Volunteer for setup/cleanup of the breakfast once that’s organized
• Get to know people as you work w/ them
We are going to need some home groups in months ahead
Think about hosting or leading
Join the Handy-Guys team for a couple of hours each Thursday night
• Nachos and beer! Get to know each other
Whenever you see a way to make NRCC healthy and fit, be an owner
A good place for all of us to start is owning the breakfast
I encourage you to participate
• Open yourself up to other people for that ½ hour
• Be friendly; be inclusive
• Get to know people better that you already do
• Get to know people who you don’t know at all
• Bring a pad to write down names so you remember
Be present, ask questions, get to know your community
• Ask how someone’s week has been, and then really listen
• When you are asked, press yourself beyond platitudes
• And when you come to trust someone and the moment is right… talk about your soul
• As you come up sidewalk, ask HS to connect you to someone
• And then watch for a HS nudge
Be an owner of our breakfast time
Make it good because you are here, make it healthy, make it yours
Now, next week, I’ll begin this message…
• We’ll talk about the spirituality of giving of ourselves to the earth
• In essence: the spirituality of being owners of the earth
Owning the workplace you go each day
Owning the neighborhood where you live
Owning the family you are part of
Owning the people God brings into your life every day
I mentioned several weeks ago that I’d begin a new series last week
• You may have noticed that I did not
• I talked about a couple of issues corollary to our summer of msgs on how we treat people
• I talked about how common it is for people, motivated by envy, by bad judgment to become occasional carriers of evil
• Normal, decent people, caught up in the fray of these common, but spiritually virulent forces
• And they hurt us
• And together we talked about how we, as followers of Jesus, are to treat these people
• What does kindness and forgiveness look like when we encounter occasional carriers of evil?
I mentioned that I hadn’t been able to start this new message because I’d had a challenging week
• Today I want to talk about that challenge
• To be frank, I’ve been having a series of miniature melt-downs these last couple of weeks
I’ve had a few Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Days lately
• if you’ve ever read about Alexander’s day to a child…
you know the kind
Several times lately, I’ve sat with people whose eyes got real wide as they saw me slowly melt down before their very eyes
• “this isn’t like Doug!”
• And in truth, most of the time I’m pretty even-keeled
• Lately, not so much…
Now, I have to be careful about how I introduce our new message
• In these introductory remarks today, I’m going to spend almost the whole time telling my own story
• I wrote the message months ago; the intro, just yesterday
• It’ fresh off the press of current experience
I have to be careful because of this…
• I treat these lesson times as a sacred trust
• These times are not to be about me, but about discharging an assignment I have before God
• An assignment to use the gifts God has given me to further the spiritual journeys of the people of our community
So, telling the story of my Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day…
• comes with the risk of self-indulgence at expense of sacred trust
However, I weighed it yesterday, and concluded that my experience these last days bears on our future together
…and bears on the spirituality from which our future will spring
• the whole picture won’t be evident until next week or week after
• You’ll need to hear those weeks for this week to be anything more than the rantings of a crazy man
___
A year ago, for the first time in 30 years of active ministry, I wanted to leave the ministry
• And for the first time in 11 years, I wanted to leave NRCC
• I’ve never quit a ministry position in 30 years: been asked to leave; moved away, but never quit
• However, instead of the love for being a minister I’d had for 28 of these years, it was just a bunch of pain
• I was going to bed each night frustrated, worn out, unhappy and with very little peace
• I began to look for ways to feed my family without this job
I brought my dilemma before the Planning Team
• Together we explored why I had loved being a minister all these years and then suddenly, had come to loathe the very same thing
As they probed the state of my soul, this is what came out…
• When I was 19, in college, I was by all accounts bright young man
• And the conventional wisdom I heard at that time was this…
• You should go into business young man
• That’s where the opportunities are for bright young men such as yourself
But I did not go into business
• Because at 19, I looked where business degree would take me
• I’d be running an organization by 35
• And I looked inside myself and saw how God had made me
• And I realized that who I was… and the great opportunities that exist for people who run organizations… were not a match
• I rejected business as a life path; rejected running an organization
But here I was at 50; arguably a lot smarter than I was at 19…
• And somehow I had gotten sucked into the role of running an organization: NRCC
• Each day I’d wake up and work all day doing the operational demands necessary to move us forward
• Each day I would hate the work, but it was necessary work
As you know, I live by a very simple spiritual strategy…
• I listen carefully for the Inner Voice of HS
• And I obey tenaciously
• Listen and obey; our spiritual strategy
• And when I’m in the flow of that strategy, I go to sleep happy each night
But I wasn’t going to sleep happy
• You’ve heard me say this before…
• About 2 years ago; nudge from HS to me/to our community…
“There are some people in this city I have assigned to you”
“I want you to open your hearts and your doors to them”
• But to open our hearts and doors, we needed some infrastructure
We needed a facility that was not an obstacle to guests
• I talked about making our facility like Brueggers (public space)
• Not grand, not a monument to God, or some such thing
• But not sloppy and off-putting either
• Not religious-looking for those who had been burned by religion
• But not shaggy, sloppy, or unfinished for the average N.Raleigh-ite
• We needed a parking lot, some paint, and a simple décor
We needed a place for people to come to know others: breakfast
• We needed planning, executing, serving, cleaning up, teams, etc.
• We needed some tools to help us be hospitable to newcomers
• We needed to be organized enough to make sure people’s experience of us was warm, inviting, open and friendly
We needed literature to explain our history and our future to people
• Print and web announcements so people know what’s going on
• website where we could invite people to share the journey w/ us
We needed people to help with the spiritual care
• To help pray for, talk to, and watch over us as a community
• To help connect us to one another, and integrate newcomers
We needed people to create home groups
• Places for newcomers to get to know us
• Places for us to share lives together
We needed financial procedures to expand to include more people out there spending money now, but still being financially accountable
We needed audio/visual help, music help, etc, etc, etc…
And these things were continually ending up on my to-do list…
• While at the same time trying to maintain the spiritual work, the people work that is the essence of my role here
• The latter was getting short-changed more each day
• I was bailing the boat as fast as I could, but it was still sinking
• And I was hating my job
With spiritual/people work I do ½ work and get twice the results
• In infrastructure work, I do twice the work, and get ½ the results
• And 70% of my days were spent on the latter
• And I was going to sleep unhappy
Worst of all, in my values system…
• I was feeling pressure: God had spoken to us to open our hearts/doors, and we are not doing it
• That was the main reason I wasn’t going to bed happy
So the planning team saw me nearing critical mass, about to go nuclear, and they trundled me off to England to get some help
• And I did, and it helped
• And in the meantime, they started working on taking some of that work off of me and distributing it to the community
• And I set myself a hard stop of one year more
• One year from then, I said, ready or not, I will either no longer be doing this kind of work, or I will leave
• One more year of doing what I’m not wired to so, so that…
we could transition from Doug- to a community-owned church
• One more year to build the infrastructure required to obey HS…
• One more year
So last month, I was watching end of that year fast approaching
• In fact, that year ends 16 days from today
So I came back from vacation in August, and looked at my to-do list
• More administrative work on it than there had been a year before
• There was more of the kind of work that sucked the life out of me than there had been at this time last year
• And it was really important work!
• Work that if it was not done, would keep us from this whole listen/obey thing: open our hearts/doors thing
So I was looking at the year ahead of me and seeing one more year w/ no time to write, not enought time to meet w/ people, to speak…
• Another year of not enough time to meet w/ college kids to reframe their spiritual views
• Another year w/o the time to blog
• Without the time to help people rethink following Jesus
• Without time to find those who have…
given up on church but not God
given up on Jesus because they were sick of church
• No time to find those isolated from spiritual journey
And instead I was looking at…
• Another year building a website to communicate who we are
• Another year of helping fund the Handy-Guys projects
• Another year of extra counseling because there is nobody else
• Another year of getting a communication systems up/running
• Another year of to-do lists that never empty
• Doing work I’m not wired for
• Another year of diminished returns, and life-sucking effort
• Building an infrastructure that I’m ill-equipped to build
So here’s the meltdown part…
• I was in a meeting a week ago Friday…
• And at that meeting, I was hearing results of project I had hard on
• Because I had stepped back from overseeing it each step of the way, it had stalled and was on the brink of simply going away…
• again
And in that meeting, the “going nuclear” that the planning team had tried to avoid last year…
• Happened
• And the people who were there got some very big eyes
• A few nervous looks…
• And I’m sure enquiring minds wondering if Doug has lost it
Here’s the problem: this year is different from last year
• Last year, I would have been sad to dislocate my family…
• I would have been sad to leave the people here I love…
…but leaving NRCC was a serious and viable option
• I really thought I could go somewhere else and be happy
But in the year since then, I have listened for the Inner Voice; the Presence of God within all of us
• And if God had taken the role of a person (he didn’t)
• And if the Divine dealings had been a conversation (it wasn’t)
• The conversation would have gone something like this…
So, Kid… I’m hearing you say that this process you’re in is painful
I’m hearing you want to leave, you want this bad situation to stop
Now, if you really want to leave, you can do so. I’ll go w/ you…
However, I would like you to stay
I’d like you to stay and see this thing through
There’s something on the other side I have for you
And as those inner whispers of Divine desire came to light…
• I realized that I really did want to stay and see this through
• And I had a sense it was the heart of God
• And that if I were to resonate w/ the frequency of the universe, I would do just that
So now, this year, things are worse than they were last year
• This year my mental escape hatch is closed
• I am not going to leave NRCC
• But if I stay, I see another year of the same kind of @#$%
• I can’t stay, I can’t go; I feel trapped
• And this dilemma has been causing some meltdowns of late
• Some terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days…
Now, we should all get on our knees and thank God for planning team
• As an aside, it would be important for you to know who they are
• That way you can ask them things about the church
• So, I thought a year ago…
• We should have their pictures on a powerpoint
• That way you can know who they are, and everybody wouldn’t be so much in the dark about how things run at NRCC
• And in that year, I have been unable to muster the time or the ability to get so simple a thing done
• I need more time, more infrastructure, some secretarial help
• I think I’ll not do that; bad form, don’t you know
But again, thanks be to God for the planning team…
• A handful of them who saw me losing it this last two weeks
…have rushed to my aid
• They are already making steps forward to turn this around
• They are meeting this afternoon, as a matter of fact
• Topic of their meeting I’m sure will include…
Boy, has Doug lost it?
I didn’t realize he was so close to the edge…
How long before we find him in a fetal position, mumbling in the corner?
My frustration is all the greater because you are fantastic people
• You have demonstrated again and again a willingness to help
• People love our community; are more than willing to contribute
• People give their time generously
• When we need money, you give generously
You believe in this place, you trust this place, and you give to this place
• But because I am who I am, the connection between your abilities and our community’s needs are not made
Also, because I am who I am, we have a disproportionately low percentage of administratively gifted people here
• Lots of abstract thinkers, lots of concept people, lots of spiritual formation people
…all willing to help
• But somehow the work keeps ending up undone, or on my list
We do not lack for good, committed, contributing people…
• Our primary problem is our inability to draw from the administrative people we have…
• To draw from their efforts, so we can spread tasks out to us all
• We need people who know how to manage projects
• Right now, it’s like climbing Mt. Everest through waist-deep mud
But again…
thanks be to God for the Planning Team coming to rescue me/us
So do not despair…
Already this week, some on our planning team are forming project-teams to rescue me from the precipice
• I got an email: you’ll be hearing plan to move forward next week
• Again, thank God for the planning team
So there it is…
…the story of Doug’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
It took 10 pages of notes, and most Sunday lessons only get 12
• Why would I use the lion’s share of these minutes I get each Sunday to tell this personal story?
I’ve had the next few week’s message in my files for months now
• in its original form, there was no mention of a wild-eyed, crazy minister going berserk
• but I believe that my Terrible Day bears on the future before us as a spiritual community
Now, don’t know if you believe this whole “listen for Inner Voice” thing
• I don’t know if you believe that it happens for people;
You know I do
• I don’t know if you believe that it happens for communities;
You know I do
• I don’t know if you believe that HS of God has nudged our community forward in this regard…
to open our hearts/doors to people in our city…
to find the ones who God has assigned to us…
to find the ones for whom there is no back-up plan
to invite them into the life we’re finding in God
• But you know that I believe this w/ all my heart
• I’m devoting myself to this proposition
And I believe some corollary things as well…
1. this shift from the way we were, to the way will be, will cost us
• Change is painful; and pain costs us
• And the change will not be just how we live as a community…
• The change will go the core of who we are; and this is painful
• Which leads to the second corollary thing I believe…
2. a shift like this will not only cost us, it will change us
• We will be different people if we listen carefully/obey tenaciously
• I’ve seen it in my own life and lives of people I’ve led for decades
• We start down a path w/ one understanding (open hearts/doors)
…only to discover the wild thing HS does inside of us when we do
If you take up the mantle w/ this community…
If you begin to open your heart/doors to people
• You will see a great transformation happen in your soul!
• It’s the way these things work; I’ve seen it again and again
3. if we do not make this shift, it will cost us even more
• There is an evolutionary imperative in nature; adapt or die
• When circumstances change, if we do not adapt to them, change with them, it is to our detriment
• For years when our community sought Inner Voice, we heard only approval for not looking outside our own doors
• Those of us here were our focus, not those who were not
• It was more than OK, it was life, health, and we sensed the whispers of Divine approval
But now that the wind has shifted, if we do not shift with it, what was life to our souls will cease to be so
• This is just the way the spiritual journey works
• We follow the wind, or we miss it
• W/ all of my heart, I believe wind is blowing us to open doors
• And missing God’s wind is always costly
And I’ve been pedaling my little life as fast as it can go these last 2 years
• I’ve been doing the listen/obey thing as best I know how to
• But it can’t keep doing it this way
• Something has to give
An image came to mind as I have been praying about this
• The image of a vacation cabin by a lake
When you go to a lake cabin for vacation you can do it two ways
• You can rent the cabin for a week or two
• Or you can own it with several other families and enjoy it throughout the year
The former you are a renter, the latter, an owner
• A renter doesn’t think twice if the dock is coming loose
• A renter doesn’t think twice about termite inspections
• A renter doesn’t think twice if there’s a leaky pipe
• It’s not theirs
But the people who own this cabin, on the other hand, are very concerned about all these things
• And more
• The owners are looking at long term well-being of the property
• Because they plan to enjoy the blessing it affords for the long haul
• Owners want to tend the property’s well-being so as to be able to draw the benefits of it over time
As a community, if we want to set our sails to catch the wind of HS now blowing…
• We are going to need more than the handful of owners we have…
• We are going to need many, many
Now I don’t think there’s anyone here, except maybe a brand new person who does not feel a desire to make this a great community
• Again, people love our church
But again, our problem has been two fold
1. I have not been able to open doors for you to come own w/ me
• I have not been able to transfer the benefits and the responsibilities of a spiritual community to you
• I’m not administratively gifted enough…
• I don’t understand and adapt to the particular challenges…
• Whatever it is; it’s not happened
2. our culture is affected by our past
• Having been burned by church enterprises that have sucked us dry, many are afraid of anything that just looks like this
We’ll have to talk about both of those some day
But as for the first one…
The planning team is already at work…
You’ll hear some requests for administrative helpers in weeks ahead
• Respond
Also, when you see a newcomer, extend yourself
• Create a caring community at NRCC…
Further, invite one another and newcomers to lunch Sundays
• Invite one another and newcomers to meet for coffee
Volunteer for setup/cleanup of the breakfast once that’s organized
• Get to know people as you work w/ them
We are going to need some home groups in months ahead
Think about hosting or leading
Join the Handy-Guys team for a couple of hours each Thursday night
• Nachos and beer! Get to know each other
Whenever you see a way to make NRCC healthy and fit, be an owner
A good place for all of us to start is owning the breakfast
I encourage you to participate
• Open yourself up to other people for that ½ hour
• Be friendly; be inclusive
• Get to know people better that you already do
• Get to know people who you don’t know at all
• Bring a pad to write down names so you remember
Be present, ask questions, get to know your community
• Ask how someone’s week has been, and then really listen
• When you are asked, press yourself beyond platitudes
• And when you come to trust someone and the moment is right… talk about your soul
• As you come up sidewalk, ask HS to connect you to someone
• And then watch for a HS nudge
Be an owner of our breakfast time
Make it good because you are here, make it healthy, make it yours
Now, next week, I’ll begin this message…
• We’ll talk about the spirituality of giving of ourselves to the earth
• In essence: the spirituality of being owners of the earth
Owning the workplace you go each day
Owning the neighborhood where you live
Owning the family you are part of
Owning the people God brings into your life every day