The Journey to God

It is said that the Chinese character for crisis is actually a combination of two different word images: "danger" and "opportunity." Your outcome depends on the choices you make when you're faced with catastrophe. Not being a linguist, I cannot vouch for that metaphor. But I can say this: it seems we have come to one of those fearful moments of possibility.

It has been years since I have tapped into so much communal anxiety. People are afraid to talk about the value of their homes for fear of learning that they owe more than the house is currently worth. Others are afraid to check on their IRA accounts because they dread discovering how much they've lost. The rising prices of nearly everything has cut into personal budgets, and the list of bad news just gets longer everyday.

Worst of all, a growing number of Americans have lost all confidence in our leaders. The President seems tentative and distracted. With approval ratings around 10%, Congress remains poisoned, partisan and polarized. We worry that no one is smart enough to have the answers or strong enough to make such difficult decisions. At last, our problems are too big for us.

I recently spent eighteen months trekking through Exodus and wondering why God is so fond of deserts. A few months into the journey, the answer was obvious. God calls people to deserts because sand, sun, and solitude have the power to strip away all the pretense and prepare us to encounter the Most High God. Make us comfortable and we always become proud and independent. Toss us into the desert where the sand is blistering and even basic necessities are hard to find, and we quickly recognize our place in the cosmos. We are simple, needy souls.

Whenever the second book of the Bible is mentioned, most of us tend to imagine the Israelites departing Egypt and making their way to the land of Promise. But that's not really the story line. In fact, Exodus concludes nearly thirty-eight years before the Jews reach the long awaited Land of Canaan. Yes, the starting point of Exodus is Egypt, but the destination is not Canaan.

When the Israelites first arrive at Mount Sinai, God tells them, "You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself."

The destination was always God. He would finally deliver his people to Canaan, but even more importantly, the desert would bring them to Him! God was their destination. The unrelenting heat, the scorching wind, the absence of food and water, and the sense of nowhere-ness would transform the people and create a different sort of nation- a holy one.

Perhaps God has brought us to such a desert moment in American life. It seems there are no answers for our questions. There is no man or woman who can stand in the gap. The road seems long and winding, with no hopeful sunset in sight. How did we come to a crisis like this so suddenly, so quickly? Perhaps it was eagle wings that brought us here. It may be that our Heavenly Father is once again bringing us to Himself.

A Good Church is Hard to Find

One of the newest titles on the bookstore shelves is called Quitting Church. Religious columnist Julia Duin explores the recent phenomenon of "faithful" Christians who are fleeing The Church. She suggests that number is more than one million annually. And the book explains that these are not hardened pagans: they are spiritual people who have tried to get connected but have finally given up.

Let me concede from the start that I haven't read the book. I've simply noticed several articles and reviews dealing with the topic in recent weeks. But comments which have been attributed to the author raised some interesting questions in my own mind. For example:

• The author documents that the majority of American Christians belong to a small pool of extremely large churches. "Megachurch" is not a popular term in the culture today, but it's still a popular size.
• The book apparently suggests that many people are abandoning the Church because they do not feel loved and cared for.
• Singles are especially prone to leave the Church as they often feel overlooked or neglected by the all consuming prejudice toward "families."

I would never diminish the problem highlighted by Quitting Church. I have been observing this trend at the national level for years. Despite all the glowing percentages which indicate most Americans are "Christian," the reality is that our share of the population grows smaller each year, and we are clearly losing the teen-aged population. I'll even agree that if there is blame to be passed around, there is plenty of blame to place at the door of individual churches. Some are too combative. Others are too cold and rigid. Still others are so vague that they stand for everything, which means they will fall for anything.

But I haven't heard anyone suggest there might be a problem in the way Americans approach the church. If you really want to be connected and cared for, why would you assume that a very large church would be the first place to look? This is not a criticism of megachurches. There are certainly some well-organized, ministry-centered super churches that offer great small group involvement. But why would most Americans automatically assume that a church with thousands of members would be the best place to enjoy personal care and connectedness?

The author mentions that a growing number of single Americans are having trouble finding a mate these days. Trends suggest it is too time consuming to sort through dozens of "candidates" to find a potential spouse. Many searching singles are trying quick new options: speed-dating, "Just Lunch" dating services, computer dating, online matchmaking, etc. And of course, there are still bars. Recent evidence suggests that while men and women still want to find a life's mate, the search process is just too cumbersome and time consuming for the expectations of today's fast paced men and women. Who has enough time to search through dozens of relationships and blind dates hoping to find what we need? "I want it all and I want it now." Hence, more and more Americans are "quitting marriage."

I wonder if that's one reason for the frustration with The Church today? There aren't just three churches to choose from. There are dozens if not hundreds: some good, some not that good. And denomination is no longer a clear indicator of what a church will be like. So rather than spend months investigating, we just try 2 or 3 of the biggest churches in town. After a couple of months, we're so tired of searching that we settle for one. And we often find the match isn't right. So maybe we'll try one more megachurch in desperation. Or maybe we'll just complain and finally drop out.

Singles are among the most likely to gravitate towards huge churches. They apparently hope the odds are better with a gigantic pool of singles from which to choose. But it's amazing how often singles in our medium-sized church seem to find each other and get happily married, despite the fact we don't have hundreds of twenty-somethings. And along the way, they have enjoyed a sense of family with the church family: loved and cared for.

Quitting Church suggests "faithful" Christians are falling by the wayside because churches are not willing to pay the price. I'm sure that's true to some degree. But I suspect it's also true that many religious people have fallen through the cracks because they were unwilling to pay the price. Faced with one hundred church listings on a website, it takes time to read, think and pray. It's time consuming to visit eight or ten churches of different sizes and locations. And it requires even more time to go back to an appealing church three or four times to be sure it's a good fit. But time is indeed part of the price we pay for a great church experience. And as the wise men say, you get what you pay for.

The Boom in Gloom and Doom

The news was so bad this week that there were a couple of moments when I even found myself being sucked in. Wall Street was plummeting. Housing values were sinking. New home construction was dying. Gasolene prices were still over $3.50 per gallon. And massive hurricanes were rushing our way one after another! Some news broadcasters managed to look sufficiently "concerned," but most could hardly contain their glee.

Can you spell "feeding frenzy?" Cable news channels realize that breaking news keeps us coming back for more, so bad news needs to keep breaking every half hour or so. So for more than a week now, the people who sell us the news have been ratcheting up the intensity. Two weeks ago we had not yet achieved the formal definition of "recession." This week, the Great Depression has struck- or so you'd think from listening to news reports.

How odd that in the midst of the Mother of all Depressions, Americans will still be going out to NFL games this week-end- and baseball games, and Broadway musicals, and rock concerts. Airlines tickets will sell for higher prices, and financially bereft Americans will buy them. Believe me, I understand that finances are tight and housing equity has decreased, but what we have endured this week is not the Apocalyse!

Ric Edelman points out that the foreclosure rate among American home owners is somewhere under 3% of all homes. During the Great Depression, more than 50% of all homes were under foreclosure. Banks could call in your mortgage loan anytime they faced a cashflow pinch, even though you'd made all your payments on time. They can't do that anymore. This is not the Great Depression II.

Many Americans living along the Texas Gulf Coast are experiencing a crisis today. Their homes have been destroyed, the neighborhoods are gone, and the infrastructure has been decimated. The rest of us are not in a crisis.

Wednesday night, I asked members of my church family if we could double our giving during the month of October to catch up on our missions giving, feed starving people in Zimbabwe, and send a relief team to Houston/Galveston. They responded enthusiastically that with God's help, we can do this. We are not "tapped out."

Then a missionary stood to tell us about a hospital in Zimbabwe. Although most hospitals in that desolate nation have neither medicines for sick people nor sheets for beds, one hospital in Sanyati has managed to maintain a resource lifeline to the outside world. Consequently, desperate people from across that land are constantly descending on that isolated outpost of hope. The economic conditions are worse than dreadful. Epidemics are always a threat. The courageous doctors and nurses work long, long hours with very limited supplies. Their families are always at risk.

The missionary asked them why they stay. What keeps them from relocating their families to the USA or Canada or England? They could work in high-tech medical centers and rack up financial fortunes for themselves. The doctors replied, "We love our country and God has placed us here for a time such a this."

Some people in the world are truly suffering. You and I are simply anxious.