RE-ENCHANTMENT

I keep coming across this word: enchantment. 

It comes from the same roots as incantation - the placing of a magic spell on something or someone.

I hear people speaking of our need to recapture the enchantment of life. And everything in me screams "Amen!" 

It feels like we are all vaguely aware that some of the magic of existence has disappeared. Or perhaps it has simply been crowded out.

In this high-tech age where gadgets and AI and doomscrolling dominate what little is left of our individual imaginations, we are less likely than ever to stop and smell the roses. 

Depression and loneliness are common. And deadly - if not to the body, then quite often to the soul. You don't run into too many optimists these days. 

Re-enchantment isn't a luxury. It's a necessity. 

Perhaps the church should lead the way. Afterall, we have not been immune to this general disenchantment.

So often our practice of faith, prayer, and worship are routine. Dried out and stale. And Scripture holds no wonder or mystery.

Where are the psalmists who can remind us of the magnificent magic of God and reality?

The church would make for an appropriate launch site for a renewal of hope and wonder. 

How do we recover the enchantment?

God willing, two weeks from now, Melissa and I will be stepping off a plane in Edinburgh, Scotland. I haven't visited Scotland since I spent my junior year at the University of Aberdeen in 1988/89. I am looking forward to touring castles, drinking some whisky, and eating a ton of fish and chips. 

But what I find myself truly excited about is simply the pervasive magic of Scotland. There is something enchanted about the entire country and I feel like I NEED to experience it again. 

OPTIMISM KICKS IN

I think of myself as a generally optimistic person. 

BUT, I have a tendency to fixate on how anything I am directly involved in could go wrong.

And I realized something kind of weird about myself this weekend: I swing from pessimism to optimism as the due date approaches.

Our church was open to switching up our approach to VBS this summer and doing a neighborhood festival instead. It was still aimed at kids, but we weren't doing any explicit Bible lessons during our time together. It was more about simply having a positive interaction with our neighbors.

Anyway, after spending the last four weeks imagining all that could go wrong - even to the point of experiencing stress dreams at night - the Freedom Festival arrived today. 

And this morning my attitude flipped 180 degrees. Here's what went through my mind all day today:

• What's the worst that could happen? 
• Even if the event flops, God is capable of bringing something good out of it.
• God is in control.
• This is a grand experiment and we will undoubtedly learn a lot. 

And guess what.

We got rained on. Hard. And only a few kids showed up.

But the kids and adults who did show up? They thought it was great to see the church doing something for the neighborhood. 

And it was. 

Not only that, but even with a lot of church members out of town this weekend, many others showed up and worked hard. There's is no question how much these people care for those outside our fellowship.

I can't wrap up without giving a huge shout out to Melissa. She did a lot of behind-the-scenes work to make sure the festival was the best it could be. 

And it all paid off. I can't wait to see what God does with our efforts from today.

In the future, I should be more consistently optimistic. Less anxious. 

(P.S. If I wasn't so wiped out, I would post some pictures. Sorry.)

THE MIST

"A mist in the pulpit will result in a fog in the pew." 

This truism, attributed to Charles Spurgeon (among others), is why I don't think I would have made a very good preacher even 5 years ago. 

Now, one of the great blessings of my position as pastor at Sardinia Baptist Church is the opportunity week by week to blow away the mist in my own understanding of the Christian faith.

It gets me excited every time. 

And I'm not talking about Bible trivia - it's big picture stuff. And how everything fits together. 

I'm coming to see that over the years I've swallowed a whole lot of "biblical doctrines" without examining the Scriptural basis for myself. And then I wondered why my beliefs felt so disjointed. 

I was not alone in this. I think this is a great weakness of the modern church in general. If the pastors and teachers have never applied critical thinking skills to their own presuppositions, the congregation is going to be left in a fog.

And if a congregation is in the fog, there's not going to be a lot of forward movement for that church. 

The average church doesn't need to be berated as much as it needs to be educated.

But there's too much mist up front. 

PUDDLES AND LEAKS

“Are you dealing with a leak or a puddle?”

If you are facing a problem in your life -

(And who among us isn’t?)

- You might find the following distinction from author James Clear useful.

He says there are 2 basic types of problems:

• ‘A “Muddy Puddle” problem, if left unbothered, becomes clearer over time and resolves itself. The best approach might be to take a walk, pray about it, and get it out of your head for a while.

• A “Leaky Ceiling” problem, on the other hand, if left unattended, worsens and brings disaster. The best approach is to stop procrastinating on take the first step toward resolving it.

It’s important to know which kind of problem you’ve got on your plate!

If you want to read Clear’s explanation for yourself, you can find it HERE accompanied by a “sketchplanation” by artist Jono Hey. The little visual helps to make Clear’s point stick. 

CASE CLOSED

When I was younger, I was impressed by any Biblical "expert" who could rattle off a dozen verses proving their particular viewpoint on Scripture. I assumed it meant that teacher really knew their Bible inside and out. 

Now I know that this is called proof texting - and, when it comes to defending a "Biblical doctrine", I consider it a practice which is suspect at best.

There was a (brief) time when Calvinism actually appealed to me. This was about 15 years ago when I was invited to a Together for the Gospel conference without knowing it was organized by Calvinists to promote Calvinism.

The two qualities which drew me in at that time were these:

1. It was presented as a "hard teaching that you just had to accept if you take the Bible seriously".
2. Several well-known pastors gave talks on all the Calvinist distinctives - based on plenty of verses from the Old and New Testaments.

At the time I didn't understand the inevitable damage done to a verse when it is isolated from its context. I was simply impressed that these men (always men!) could cite so much evidence for their hard teachings. 

I never stopped to consider that the flaws in proof texting make it as useful in promoting some obvious heresy like the Prosperity Gospel as it is for Calvinism.

If you aren't familiar with the dangers of proof texting yourself, consider one of the Prosperity Gospel preachers' favorite teachings from the Apostle Paul:

2 Corinthians 8:9 - "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich." 

Or these words from Jesus Himself in Mark 11:22-24 - “Have faith in God,” Jesus said to them. “Truly I tell you that if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and has no doubt in his heart but believes that it will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."

And a little Old Testament for good measure, in Malachi 3:10 - "Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,” says the LORD of Hosts. “See if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out for you blessing without measure."

How many more verses do you need to see the Bible's clear teaching that God's desire is to bless you with great riches ... as long as you tithe?

The case is settled. Right?

PERHAPS

"15 Perhaps the reason [Onesimus] was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back for ever – 16 no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a fellow man and as a brother in the Lord." Philemon 15-16

As he is writing to Philemon about receiving back his slave, Onesimus, the Apostle Paul is engaging in some conjecture about what God was doing behind the scenes in this whole scenario. 

Many people assume that Onesimus was a runaway slave, but there's nothing in the letter to confirm this as the backstory. It's just as likely that Philemon sent Onesimus to Paul for a short time in order to care for Paul's needs while he was imprisoned. 

Regardless of how Onesimus came in contact with Paul, he seems to have given his life to Christ during his time away from home and Paul now loves him like a son. 

Now, as he sends Onesimus back to his earthly master, Paul speculates that this round trip wasn't just about bringing aid and comfort to Paul.

Perhaps it was because the Lord knew that Paul would persuasively share the gospel with Onesimus, leading to a new birth. 

And THEN - even better - Onesimus would return to Philemon, not to help with household chores, but to function as a co-worker, a brother, in spreading the gospel.

I love the fact that Paul uses that word "perhaps". Even as Spirit-led as the Apostle is, he still only gets glimpses of what the Lord is up to as He guides His children this way and that. 

THE DONKEY

There is a fable about human nature I don't want to forget.

Here it is as retold by Sahil Bloom:

A man and his son were bringing their donkey to the market.

As they were walking along the path, a man passed them and said: "You fools, what is a Donkey for but to ride upon?"

So the man put the boy on the donkey and continued. They passed a group of men, one of whom said: "See that lazy youngster, he lets his father walk while he rides."

So the man ordered his boy to get off, and got on himself. They passed two women, one of whom said to the other: "Shame on that lazy lout to let his poor little son trudge along."

So the man took his boy up with him on the donkey. People began to jeer: "Aren’t you ashamed of yourself for overloading that poor donkey?"

So the man and boy got off and carried the donkey on their shoulders. As they crossed a bridge, it kicked loose, fell over the side, and drowned.

Viewed from the perspective of the man and his son, the traditional moral goes something like this: "Please all, and you will please none."

But I too easily identify with the critics along the road and so I read it as a fable about how inclined we are to sit in judgement of others, even when we know next to nothing about their situation. 

So I might state the moral along these lines: "Those who are being judged simply cannot win."