Shane Ash

“Is there room in your heart?”

As a cute play off of the “there was no room in the inn” phrase common in many versions of the Nativity story, no doubt this question has been asked many times by many preachers throughout the past centuries. But wait, what about the fact that an “inn” is not actually mentioned in Luke’s version…a better rendering of kataluma would be “the guest room of the house was already taken.”

Perhaps the Gospel story would shine brighter if we asked the question actually implied in Luke’s words…what if we asked, “Is there room for Jesus in your home?”

Now we have illuminated the implications of an incarnate God becoming flesh. How we respond to the challenge of what to do with Jesus in our homes is the real question of Christmas.

Rather than reducing Jesus to a space in our hearts (private piety), or a borrowed space in the local inn (temporary comfort)…let us invite Jesus into our homes, our intimate spaces, our protected spaces, our “safe” spaces.

Is there room for Jesus in your home today?

November 27^th marked the first Sunday of Advent and the beginning of a new year in Christ. So…Happy New Year!

For centuries, by following the liturgical Christian calendar, Christians have intentionally meditated on the life of Christ; we stand in awe at the manger, listen intently to the hillside teaching, grieve at the cross, and then, celebrate together as witnesses to the resurrection.

Even in the midst of “ordinary time” within the Christian Calendar (the weeks in-between the more well known celebrations) we are challenged to inspect our lives in the light of the returning King.

For much of my life I was unaware of the meaning and significance of words such as lectionary, liturgy, lent, advent, formation. Perhaps I was unaware because although many churches celebrate the common cultural days (Valentines, July 4^th, Mother’s Day, etc.) they often ignore the spiritual formation and intentional discipleship present within the liturgy of the Christian Calendar.

Today, I am becoming more convinced of the necessity for a common liturgy within faith communities. It offers both a connection to the past and a platform for the prophetic future. It leads us to organize our lives not just around kronos time (calendars, seasons, clocks, dates) but around kairos time (God’s timing…or the fullness of time). It creates common language and prayers. It opens our lives up to the work of the Spirit of God. And by continually reminding us of our place in God’s story, it calls us into anticipation of the rule of God over all creation.

Your thoughts?

Vision. Passion. Motivation. This scene from the tv show Friday Night Lights has it all. The potent moment of motivation at the end of this clip is culminated by those now famous words, “Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose!”

Equal to the change in the western church these days is the changing role/expectations of what it means to be a pastor. As I too am searching for clarity, this mantra has helped me understand the motivation of a missional pastor in the missional church:

• Clear eyes…the ability to see and respond to the neighbor;
• Full hearts…the will to faithfully live out the ways of Christ;
• Can’t lose…a simple hope in a prevenient and incarnational God who is on a salvation-of-the-world mission.

The missional pastor’s role is to prepare the Church for the kingdom work set before them. How is this accomplished? The role is fulfilled with both demonstration and proclamation. And perhaps our demonstration and proclamation are best motivated with the narratives of neighbor, faithful living, and hope in a redeeming God.  Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose.

Last weekend I joined a group of friends to “take a little hike.” We packed our gear and headed for the hills of Arkansas. The weather was on the edge of perfect, warm enough to break a sweat but cool enough for the shade to provide a quick refreshing.

After a short morning hike to break in us newbie’s, the experienced hikers of the group decided to challenge us with a lengthy afternoon hike. The reward, they said, was an amazing view of a waterfall cascading down a massive wall of rock. So off we went, excited by the pictures of beauty ahead. One hour past, then two, and three, each minute seemingly extending to match the slowing pace of our steps. At some point I had the thought to just turn around, knowing the painful three hours of rocks, rivers, and trees would only be matched again on the way back out. But someplace living within the motivation of each step was the image described by our fearless guides. The beauty of the cascading river became my motivation. And finally, endurance and determination were rewarded at the moment of the last turn in the trail. And although the description of the cascade was a bit over-generous, it was worth the effort.

A few weeks ago, when I originally rough-outlined this series, I named this final post “So what?” and “What now?”.  Two short questions peeking into the future and providing a glimpse of what is to come. No, I haven’t built a working time machine (although I might have recently tried), but I do have pictures in my head of what might be ahead. So I will share some of them here…in the timeless typographical form of the bullet point.

• So what? Anyone can point out the flaws within the current practices of many churches. Almost every day I read a blog post, sit through another conference, or see a newly published book detailing the error of the church’s ways. But I don’t want to just be another voice settling in the throes of criticism or cynicism; I want to be a practitioner who patiently but yet passionately re-aligns the practices with the biblical purposes. I want to remain faithful in the lineage of the apostles; fulfill the call of prophet by challenging the oppressive evils of the world; effectively evangelize through the proclamation and demonstration of the Kingdom way of life; sacrificially live out the role of pastor through a shepherding narrative; and teach with the intention and expectation of sending out other practitioners to do it all over again.
• So what? Because it matters!  It matters that we take every painful step to get it right. Our introspection should be tedious and our interior motives must be exposed. It matters that we respond to the call for “radical obedience that goes well beyond Christian platitudes or our comfortable weekly worship services” (Brueggemann). The Church matters because God has given us the ambassador assignment; we are His representatives in the world. Think of it for a moment…God has chosen to use you to demonstrate Himself to the world. We must make every effort to get it right. God is on a mission to redeem all of creation and we are invited to be a part…and God’s description of the beautiful life at the end of the trail won’t leave us disappointed.  We will be completely overwhelmed and overjoyed with what God has in mind.
• What now? This is where it gets tricky. Obviously, none of us completely know the answer to that question. I certainly don’t know all the twists and turns in the path ahead, but as long as we continue to walk together on the trail, eventually we will arrive.
• What now? We must recognize the forms used to effectively proclaim and demonstrate the Gospel are changing (I could easily argue they have already changed). There are many who are bravely leading the way into new paradigms for the Church. It will take a willing attitude and brave ambition to walk through the change. It will also require remembering the cascade…living with hope.
• Attraction to incarnation. One of changing forms is how we will choose to evangelize our culture. For many years the church has defined evangelism through the lens of advertisement. We created outreach events in order to move people into our primary proclamation environment (a Sunday morning church service). Today, for a myriad of reasons (broken trust in the witness of the Church is a major player) this strategy has lost its effectiveness within culture. We must re-form our evangelism strategies to include opportunities for others to “taste and see” an authentic witness and living out of Christ-likeness.  As disciples we must be willing to extend our lives and invite others into our lives to witness for themselves a different way of living. Our witness must become incarnational (an embodiment…or living-out) rather than simply dependent on words and cute gimmicks. People still long for a gospel that works, people long for the tree of life, and people long for people who will show them the way. Are we willing to create space in our lives for others? Are we willing to open our dining rooms, spare bedrooms and empty basements? Are we willing to expose our lives to others?
• Experience to discipleship. We must shift our definition of “church” from being a two hour, once a week experience to a people seeking to live out the ways of Christ. Biblically, it is an impossibility to go to church…we are the church. And we need to be willing to see our careers, homes, and everyday relationships as the church in action. We must move away from the tendency to create the next program or the next big event and begin to see everyday moments as an opportunity to “make disciples.” We must take seriously this command of Jesus. He wasn’t talking to only organizations, or non-profits, or just pastors…Jesus was talking to every follower. We are each responsible for passing along Jesus to others. Who are you discipling? And who is discipling you?
•  Obvious note: If our lives are not reflecting Jesus, it is impossible to disciple others in his ways. If our lives are filled with the sins of anger, gossip, greed, or lust…we will only produce more of the same. Discipleship starts with Jesus, extends to us, and then to others.
• The “what now?” in my life is also coming into view. Last week the nbc church board and church membership voted to affirm the re-election of my pastoral role, and I have accepted. It is a strange recipe of emotions: a gallon of hope, a cup of joy, a teaspoon of sorrow, and a pinch of excitement. Stir it all together and it creates a batter of resolved determination to love well, lead well, and live well. In a few more weeks we will gather with the body to re-affirm our covenant. For this opportunity, I am extremely grateful.
• In these days away, I have spent my time primarily twofold: renewing the spiritual disciplines in my life (including Sabbath) and studying the what/how of discipleship. I am eager to share some insights and put into practice some new efforts. But I equally desire to re-enter the pastoral role with respect and appreciation. I do not have the words to appropriately express my deep gratitude to the nbc pastors (Justin Roach and Margaret Tyler) and nbc board leaders for the efforts in leadership over the past few weeks. For now I will simply say, Thank You.  And to the people called New Beginnings…I pray we may live up to our name.

I resign the pastor I once was.

Since I was knee-high-to-a-South-Dakota-grasshopper I have acknowledged God’s call in my life. That call has not changed. But I have. Being a father of two growing children has changed how I understand and relate to God. The spiritual weight of pastoring within a lead role has changed the way I respect the pastoral office. The challenges in leadership have changed my awareness of the role of pastor. And witnessing disunity within a church body has inspired a longing for change to a deeper and more faithful Church and Gospel.

I love looking over the shoulder of experience and recognizing God’s forming work in life. But there are still many areas in my pastoral leadership in need of significant transformation. Max DePree once wrote, “We cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are.” And I know I must further change in order to be what God wants me to be. Here are three patterns in my leadership I am seeking to change.

For starters, I am an extreme people-pleaser. It isn’t a desirable trait. It is rooted in pride and arrogance. I want people to like me so much that when I disappoint someone I then see myself as bad, unworthy, a failure and deserving to suffer. Doubt and an unhealthy dose of self-criticism quickly consume my thoughts. And those self-hate thoughts can lead to temptations of laziness, lust, anger, over-eating and carelessness words. They become attractive sins to ease the pain of failure.

People-pleasing in a pastor can affect many areas and responsibilities, even the ability to preach. When fear of offending has enslaved the mind, how does one preach a gospel that runs so counter to human tendency and desire? If people-pleasing is in control, how does a pastor fulfill the mandate to instruct and correct? And I am not alone in this disease. Many pastors, although we know it’s impossible to please everyone, become ensnared by the emails, conversations, and rumors of discontent. The seeds of worthlessness get planted and then watered by the next email, phone call or conversation…and eventually the forest of frustration is too dense to find our way home.

How am I changing this tendency? Dallas Willard, speaking to a pastor struggling with the tension of expectations, once gave the advice, “You need to decide if you are the minister of the people or a minister of Christ.” He understood we can either be controlled by what people think and feel, or, if we are ministers of Christ, we can realize he the one in charge and we serve people on his behalf. I am learning to be a minister of Christ, and to let my service to him find its place among his people.

Second, too often I have a “poor me” attitude. When faced with consistent criticism I allow my thoughts to warp into, “Why are they always picking on me?” It might make me feel better in the moment, but obviously it isn’t true. I am not the only target nor am I exempt from deserved criticism. There are serious consequences in believing the irrational thought of “I deserve better than this.” It creates an attitude of bitterness, judging of others, and the tendency to withdraw from relationships. I am learning to more objectively evaluate and receive the hidden truth found in every criticism (It is important to remember that not always are the hidden truths about the criticized subject. Sometimes it reveals truths about the criticizer).

Both “people-pleasing” and “poor-me” are immature thoughts and part of conforming to the patterns of culture. The Apostle Paul said in Romans (12:2), “Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you” (The Message). As I continue to seek transformation by the renewing of my mind, I am determined to think different thoughts…to dwell only on whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8).

Third; as a pastor, I am too tolerant. Perhaps there is nothing more dangerous than a tolerant pastor, especially if the tolerance gives way to lessening truth. Too often in the church, people come to expect tolerance for their sinful behavior. When it becomes more “wrong” to acknowledge sin than it is to sin…we have made tolerance more important than truth. While we do not want to become arrogant holders of truth; we must stop being tolerant of the sinful behaviors of the church.

An alternative to tolerance is biblical discipline (warning in love, speaking truth in love). And part of the biblical role of the pastor/elder is the spiritual discipline of the flock. Obviously, discipline isn’t a popular conversation these days and certainly it has been abused throughout the history of the church. But a church body will not stay healthy or on mission for very long without discipline. As a pastor, it is hard to confront people in patterns of sin. People don’t often desire accountability and they certainly don’t want to face the embarrassment of being called out. And there will be occasions when the discipline is flatly rejected. But none-the-less there is a biblical expectation of pastors to admonish (warn) fellow believers (Colossians 3:16).

One specific leadership challenge I failed at nbc was providing proper pastoral discipline for the sinful behaviors evidenced in the church (I wrote of these in Parts 2-4 of this series). As a church, we are first and foremost called to be one, it is our primary witness (John 17:23). So the theologies, thoughts, behaviors, and sins distracting the church from oneness must be confronted and admonished in order to protect the unity of the body and thus the witness for Christ.

Eugene Peterson, in an interview with Leadership Journal said, “The role of the pastor is to embody the gospel. And of course to get it embodied, which you can only do with individuals, not in the abstract.” This is a great truth and deeply personal challenge. Rather than people-pleasing, pouting, or tolerantly living in the abstract, we must embody Christ and lead others to embody the Gospel. Certainly it will require a renewed identity as a shepherding pastor, sincere humility, intense courage, and discipline.

An unrelated and random note: A couple days ago someone asked, “Shane, what are your reasons for writing this series?” It’s a good question and I suppose there are three answers: First, I think best in words. Writing helps me process and really establish my thoughts. And it is important for me to understand what has happened, why it happened, and how I am going to respond. Second, I want others to know what I truly think and feel. And if you were to crawl into my head and look around, these are the thoughts you would find. There are no hidden dark corners of bitterness or chained-up angry words. Third, as God leads me toward whatever is next, I want to have said publically everything I have said privately. I desire accountability and transparency, and if I am nuts I would like someone to tell me.