I’m thinking about PEACE this Christmas season…
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Colossians 3:15
“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2:14
Merry Christmas to you all!
Tuesday Re-mix – This is a popular post from last year, updated and resubmitted for your consideration and comments.
With all the recent news from the Sports world about Tiger Woods and the Chris Henry tragedy, and with church and political leaders continuing to behave badly in very public ways, “accountability” seems to be on the forefront of people’s minds. It seems we all believe that accountability, as a concept, is a good thing. All of us are for it, even would insist on it…as long as it applies to someone else. But let somebody suggest that perhaps we ourselves (i.e., you or I) might benefit from a little more accountability in our lives and suddenly it’s a nasty idea, ill-conceived, feels judgmental, and who are they to make such a suggestion anyway? I suppose it is just a matter of perspective.
In my line of work as a church mediator, I talk and teach quite a bit about Christian accountability. It may well be the most common subject I address. Scripture is replete with references to it. As Christians, we really are to be involved in one another’s lives. Think about Nathan/David, Paul/Peter, Paul/Timothy, Peter/Ananias/Saphira, and the list goes on and on. Think about Matthew 18, Galatians 6:1, Philippians 4, I Corinthians 5, James 5, and the list goes on and on and on.
But, interestingly, even though the Bible talks a great deal about the concept of accountability, I haven’t found an English translation yet that actually uses the word “accountability”. In that way, it is much like the word “evangelism”…lots of scriptural support for it, but the word isn’t actually used in scripture.
And so, this leads to my quagmire. Maybe you can help.
What better word can we use to describe the process by which I allow other Christians to ask me hard questions about my life in order to grow me? It should be a word that encompasses unconditional love as the only correct motive for confronting someone. It should include the notion that we simply cannot become the Christian God wants us to become without the help of friends who love us enough to tell us the truth about what they see in us. And there is an element of discipline in it as well. There is the aspect of “iron sharpening iron”. There is the reality that we do not hold one another accountable to a set of rules…rather, we hold each other accountable to a relationship with God. And there is the reality that accountability (or whatever we end up calling it) always works best when we pull it up around ourselves as opposed to imposing it upon an unwilling person.
So, if “accountability” is a word with too much negative connotation, if it doesn’t communicate these ideas well enough, if we’re looking for a word or phrase that is more positive, perhaps more alluring, what might it be? Because when I suggest to church leaders that perhaps they would benefit from letting me come and teach about “accountability”, I get some pretty negative looks back in my direction.
Can you help me out? Got a better word?
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. Luke 2:8-9
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. Isaiah 55:8
God's Spokesperson
I will confess that, when it comes to my ministry, I have struggled over the years with the concept of “marketing”. I was mostly comfortable leaving that up to God, Who took Five Principles of Unity all over the world and led us to publish it in four different languages in multiple countries without any kind of marketing plan whatsoever. Still, I do understand that marketing is important. It is why I have tried to surround myself with people who understand marketing much better than I. I also must boast that I have come a long way in my own understanding of it, and how important it is that we take some responsibility for getting our message out there and for how we say it. In fact, I would say that I have made some remarkable progress in terms of accepting “marketing and communications” as an everyday part of what I do…so much so, that I actually give a little “marketing” advice now and again to others who are just getting started with ministries of their own.
So you can imagine my dismay with how God chose to roll out the initial ad campaign announcing Jesus’ birth. Let’s just say I would not have done it that way.
Again, I am no marketing expert. But if I were responsible for getting that very important announcement out there with some hopes of it “going viral” over time (even before the internet), I am certain I would not have started with shepherds. Neither would you.
Shepherds were guys who did not spend a great deal of time around people. They were not educated, not articulate, and not terribly creative. They fought wild animals (lions and tigers and bears, etc.). Probably didn’t talk much. They were not what you would call “social networkers”. In that culture, if a shepherd came up to you and said anything to you at all it would be, well, weird. But if he said anything meaningful to you about anything other than animals, you probably wouldn’t believe he knew what he was talking about. He would have zero credibility. Bottom line, when it comes time to choose a spokesperson for a message about the Savior of the world, shepherds would not even be on a marketing professional’s radar screen, let alone at the top of the list.
Moreover, the shepherds were scared speechless by the announcement. Again, by conventional wisdom, “speechless” is not an endearing quality for a spokesperson (energizer bunny and a few others notwithstanding). I honestly do not get it.
But, as always, God’s choices did seem to work out pretty well even without my best advice. I just would not have done it that way at all.
So, my delving into Luke 2 this week in preparation for Sunday has taken its toll on me and on my confidence in marketing strategies. Not sure what I’ll be saying to my ministry board next month when we meet to discuss, among other things, marketing…and I had made such good progress up until now.
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