The Whole Enchilada

The Whole Enchilada

I have heard younger folks use the term, “the whole enchilada.” I understand that it means the “whole situation, everything.” I guess this is the same kind of descriptive term my generation used when we said “the whole ball of wax” or “the whole shebang.” When I searched the term I found many references. The earliest appeared to be a comment from the Nixon tapes wherein Herb Kalmbach told John Erlichmann about the “whole enchilada,” meaning the entire thing he was talking about.

This got me thinking, what is the “whole enchilada” of our Christian faith? For me, it is the physical and emotional condition of being open and malleable to God’s influence in my life. It is realizing God’s presence in my life through the Holy Spirit.

I fear that what has caused the diminishment of our faith in the Western world today is because we are just too comfortable, too provided for, too busy, too willing to let others do it, too self-centered to get up from our mat (remember the paraplegic outside the Temple in Acts 3; a beggar who was, perhaps, too comfortable to get up and walk until Peter healed him in the name of Jesus).

In Western culture we have replaced God with our economy, health care, social security and life insurance. Hey, with all this, who needs God?

Well, as for me, I do. And, perhaps, you do, too. Despite living in a Great Society (at the expense of just about everyone else in the world) I need God’s enchilada – the whole enchilada – and not some appetizer bits. I need the whole thing.

I need God to be a better husband, father, priest, and friend. I need constant healing, restoration, and forgiveness. I need God to be the anchor in my life; to hold me fast because I know life itself is about turbulence, loss, and grief as well as joy, happiness, and fulfillment. I need to God fully become the person God created me to be.

So how does that happen? My God-needs get fulfilled when I serve others, worship in community, and study God’s word and what others have said about God. It happens when I pray for others and myself, when I give of my bounty to the “widows and orphans” of today. It happens when I engage in the “warp and woof” of my friendships and relationships. It happens when I am quiet in retreat. It happens when I am no longer afraid of the Holy Spirit’s action in my life and those around me. And it happens when I hear Jesus knock on my door and I willingly open it, step out, and follow. It happens when I submit.

As followers of Jesus, we are the people of resurrection. Henri Nouwen reminds us that "the resurrection does not solve our problems about dying and death. It is not the happy ending to our life’s struggle, nor is it the big surprise that God has kept in store for us. No, the resurrection is the expression of God’s faithfulness…. The resurrection is God’s way of revealing to us that nothing that belongs to God will ever go to waste. What belongs to God will never get lost."

Alleluia! Christ is risen and we with him -- now! Get moving!

Don't Talk To Me About Theology!

Seeking God is often about wrestling.

Writing the title of this blog reminded me of that song, "Don't know much about history..." by Sam Cooke in the 60s.

Don't know much about history
Don't know much biology
Don't know much about a science book
Don't know much about the French I took

But I do know that I love you
And I know that if you love me too
What a wonderful world this would be

 I would re-word this for me today as:

Don't know much about theology

Don't know much about church history

Don't know much about liturgy

Don't know much about church politics

But I do know that I love you

And I know, God, you love me too

What a wonderful world this would be

I think there comes a time in our spiritual lives when we simply don’t want to talk about theology. And I think I'm there.

After all, it’s really never kept us out of trouble, has it? I mean, aren’t all our disputes in the church more about theology than how we live, love God and one another? We argue over who’s in and who’s out of the Kingdom until I'm sick of hearing it. 

When others don’t agree with us about our theology, it often leads to mean-spirited words being spoken. I mean our faith is supposed to be about God, isn’t it? Then there is that second greatest commandment: to love each other as God loves us. 

I am to the point in time that God and love is better practiced than discussed. 

So, don’t talk to me about theology!

But what I’d like to talk about is what we are doing with our faith. You know, our practice of being more like Jesus every day. 

Think of it like this: now that Christmas come and gone, let’s talk about how Jesus was born in our hearts. 

And when Easter comes, let’s share how our life has been resurrected by Jesus’ Resurrection. 

And yes, when Pentecost comes, let’s shout out the gifts that God has given us to help others and heal the world.

We hear a lot today about Christian Evangelicals. Well what about Christian Pentecostals?

I want us to think more about being more Pentecostal than Evangelical.

At this point in my life, I want to be more Pentecostal—more Spirit-filled, and recognize and use the spiritual gifts that God has abundantly poured out you and me.

That’s the kind of stuff I want to talk about. As for theology—I guess I just don’t have the time or the stomach for it anymore. 

The Wild Goose

John Buchanan, editor of “Christian Century,” was recently in South America. And it was there that he had a remarkable encounter with the Holy Spirit. Buchanan also serves as a seminary professor and it was in this role that he was asked to meet with a number of local pastors. The meeting was to be late one night (it had to be so because every one of the pastors wishing to meet with him were “tent-makers;’” that is, they, like St Paul, had full-time day jobs in addition to their church duties. Their seminary was in a small room. And it solely consisted of hundreds of tape-recorded sermons by senior pastors. These recordings were sent out to others pastors throughout the country (most of whom were illiterate). This was their seminary. The teaching they received was solely by the spoken word. This was the way there were being developed into competent shepherds of Christ’s flock. This was how they learned about God, how to lead a congregation, and preach God’s Word.


Buchanan remarked that all they had were these recordings (the spoken Word of God) and the Holy Spirit. It turned out that this was more than enough. Just like Jesus said, it is the Holy Spirit who will teach us after he leaves us (Jn 14:26) and it is his Spirit that will permit those of us who follow him to do “ever greater” things than he did (Jn 14:26).

These faithful pastors had no prayer book, no “rules and regulations,” nothing that we would call “expected and necessary order and discipline.” They just follower the biblical accounts and baptized new believers, taught and led them.

They had one big thing and it was enough – they had God’s Spirit!

Those of us in the orderly (and often spiritually vacant) Western branch of Christianity, would, of course, be shocked by what we would see as the inadequacy of such a system. But the reality of life in the world today outside of our little part of the world is that this IS the Church of Jesus and it is the Church that the early followers of Jesus developed. After all, it was this way for the first 400 years of the Way of Jesus. The fact is that it worked then and it still works today! And as long as we run from, avoid, and diminish the work of God’s Spirit in the world, we will remain far from the powerful work that the Spirit could do in our own lives and in our own church!

So what does this mean to us who worship and live in the “organized Church”? Is there any application of, or lesson regarding, what God is dynamically doing in South America, Asia and Africa?

I think it’s this. We are all too “orderly” regarding the message of God in Christ. In our culture we all deeply love and respect order, intellect, restraint, and emotional control. We are a rational people and the idea of a Holy Spirit is almost too much for us to ponder let alone experience!

The Spirit of God that permeates both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures is more like how the Celts described him/her: to them God’s Spirit was a “wild goose” not a gentle dove. God’s Spirit is wild, “blows where it will,” and does jaw-dropping, stunning miracles, and indelibly transforms lives. He/She is the creating, healing, teaching, strengthening, and resurrecting force of God in the world – something for which we need to reckon.

As you and I journey in faith, I pray that each one of us can come “nose to nose” with God’s Spirit – with that Wild Goose. It can happen. And it can dramatically change our lives. All we have to do is be open to this powerful possibility. Open to being touched, changed, and blessed by the God who reaches out. The God who is a wild Spirit. Go for it! Pray for it. Grasp it!

Another Awesome Men's Retreat

Staff preparation the day before the retreat begins.

FALL OYTL


MACKENZIE CENTER, POYNETTE, WI

I just wrapped up my 4th One Year to Live (OYTL) retreat – one as a participant and three as a staff member. All I can say (again) is WOW! This past retreat I was especially blessed by having two of my sons attend along with my brother-in-law. While it is necessary to maintain confidentiality in the retreat process, the output of it can discussed and should be! And the output I see is men changed for the better – men finding authenticity and integrity in their lives in being the man God created them to be.

We men often approach life as a battle between work and family. We are torn between the two great obligations of our lives. Around age forty we come to the perceived mid-point of our lives – half-time. It is a time of reflection and making an analysis, so far, of our life-game. How has the first half been played? What is the scorecard for family? For work? If we are behind in our life-game we need to go into our half-time with a plan. If we continue the same game plan we did for the first half and we have fallen behind, unless we change our game plan for the next half we will end up losing the one game in our life that counts.

Thankfully, the OYTL not only attracts young men to the retreat but also men who are in the second half and will be willing to share their offensive and defensive plans and techniques that put them into the winner category with younger men. Modern life is not easy. Hell, it’s damn difficult! We all know that. But unless we check on how we are doing in both of those two important life categories, the chance is that the mistakes which occurred during the first half of our life will continue being made into our second half. At OYTL, men can coach one another to a more successful second half – each man’s “A” game!

If I was to identify the characteristics of an OYTL retreat it would be these:

Christ-centered.

Biblically-based.

Spiritually gifted.

Redemptive.

Lay-led.

Christ-centered. OYTL connects men to the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth and the strong, manly characteristics he exercised. Jesus was a strong man, not the wimpy guy we once met in Sunday school! (Marcus Borg said that in his book, Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time)! We think we know who Jesus is but each one of us needs to meet him again as an adult. Jesus was a man who knew who he was, why he existed, and what he needed to do.

Biblically-based. Everything we do during the retreat is in the Bible. The retreat is designed for both committed Christian men and those seeking a deeper faith. This is a powerful God-experience few retreats provide. If a man comes with an open heart, we can almost guarantee it!

Spiritually gifted. All those spiritual gifts Paul identifies in his first letter to the Corinthians are welcomed and encouraged.

“To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues” (12:7-10)

When Jesus departed this life he said he would send us a “Helper.” This Helper is the Third Person of the Trinity -- The Holy Spirit. Jesus said this Helper/Spirit would enable us to do even greater things than he did (John 14:12). During this weekend, men encounter the Spirit, are healed, sent out, and given wisdom and strength in their lives. They become better husbands, fathers and friends – the “new creations” Paul preached (2 Corinthians 5;17, Galatians 6:15)

Redemptive. As a result of the Spirit’s mighty presence and work during this weekend and following it, men’s lives are raised up and redeemed. Change is no longer hoped for, prayed for, but felt and experienced! Men are saved from the sin that has dominated their lives up until this time. The women in these men’s lives know it.

Lay-led. The retreats are led not by clergy, theologians, or other professionals but by men who have experienced Jesus in their lives and wish to share him. Every staff member has been a participant on an OYTL weekend. Those men who are called to help others come back as staff members then serve on another retreat in a learning capacity. One their third retreat they can be assigned as a group leader. Thus, the OYTL weekends are led by men who first came as a participant. Therefore, no man asks another man to do anything he, himself, has not done and will be willing to do again.

Men, the OYTL retreats are a gift to us from God; a gift to help us stand up as godly men and be trusted, authentic, friends, husbands, fathers and brothers.

I can think of no better experience for men in today’s society than this retreat and then engaging in one of the follow-up groups.

For more information about OYTL retreats see: http://www.lutheranmeninmission.org/events/oytl.html

Local retreats at the Mackenzie Center, Poynette, WI

March 25-27, 2011 and September 15-18, 2011

Other OYTL Retreats

Colorado: July 21-24 Denver Men’s Ministry Conference and Get-Together for all OYTL graduates. (There will be a OYTL retreat in the Denver area either before or after the conference).

South Carolina: Leesville, Camp Kinard, November 5-7, 2010

My Journey With God's Holy Spirit

I thought I would share my journey with God’s Holy Spirit especially what I experienced last weekend on a retreat I led with Pastor Rob Nelson at the Bethel Horizons Camp near Dodgeville. I, like many of you, were raised in a church that was more concerned with what we said we believed than what we did. One thing we didn’t do, was talk about the Holy Spirit (except, perhaps, on Pentecost Sunday). The Holy Spirit is what those Pentecostals did (and they handled snakes, too, didn’t they?). Mystery and transcendence were not part of my spiritual life.

So, how was a white boy from Minnesota ever going to get a chance to meet and experience this Third Person of the Trinity of whom he said he believed? It would be a long time because it was much easier for me to think about God than to experience him.  Yet, in John’s gospel, Jesus talks about God’s Spirit.  He warned us about the Spirit of God when he made an analogy between it and the wind, "The wind blows whenever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit" (John 3:5-7). Wow! Spirit-filled people are unpredictable -- they move like the wind! Jesus further tells us that God’s Spirit can (and should) dwell in us. In fact, it was his parting gift to us!  Maybe that's why a large part of the Church has shys away from the Spirit.

My own journey began when I was a teenager serving with the Marines. One night, when I was stationed in the South Pacific, I looked up and contemplated the millions of stars above me and I suddenly felt the presence of God. Yet I continued to ignore God and run away from him. Years later, God caught me.  I finally was touched again by God’s Spirit as I was just as suddenly called to ordained ministry! Soon after, I attended and participated in an Anglican evangelical mission at Regent College to a city near Vancouver. From that time forward, my life with God’s Spirit became a great and "windy" adventure.

The young Anglican students I met at Regent were on fire for Jesus – there are no better words for it! I have never witnessed anything like it before – it was the fire of the Holy Spirit working among those who believed. They prayed at the drop of a hat, sang praise songs, and were the disciples I had read about in the Book of Acts – men and women “filled with the Spirit!”

They spoke boldly about their faith, laid hands on each other and prayed for those who were sick or hurting. They even worked to cast out demons, prophesized, spoke “words of knowledge,” and some even prayed in a private prayer language -- “tongues.” And these were Anglicans! They opened my heart to experience God more fully than I had ever imagined possible.

I had to make a decision. Was I going to be closed to these strange (yet biblically-based) practices, or was I going to be open to them? I decided to be open. Soon I was giving testimonies in local churches, preaching on street corners, and laying hands on people and praying for those who were sick. And one night in a prayer group my new friends prayed that I would receive the “gift of tongues.” It didn’t happen right away but years later, when I was teaching the Alpha Course, it did.

That week-long experience at Regent College almost twenty years ago changed my life and moved me closer to the presence, awe, majesty and mystery of God. Last week, I had another powerful experience.  Pastor Rob and I took a group of Lutherans to the camp with the objective of fully “experiencing” God rather than just thinking or studying about God. It was a bold adventure that became a mighty experience and one that created a local group of spiritual warriors for God.  I wrote this note to Rob when I got home:

“Whew! There is NO doubt that God is working mightily among us at New Heights Church. It is truly a time to move and to say out loud, ‘No more old church,’ but a spirited, transformed church! While I cannot envision now exactly where we are going or where we will end up – we, nevertheless, are on the move with God. And in doing so, God has unleashed a number of spiritual gifts within this church in so many areas that it almost seems like a little Pentecost has happened – another birth-day of the church!


“The out-pouring of spiritual gifts, growth in childhood education, teens, men in mission, as well as a number of other new ministries tells me that something big is happening here and I, for one, want to be part of it.


"So what it is we have to do now? First, we must continue to be OPEN to God’s Spirit and direction (not me but thee, God!) remembering that above all the spiritual gifts, St. Paul tells us LOVE is the greatest: love in mission, love in welcoming the stranger, love in healing our pain and brokenness, love in repairing fractured relationships, and love in empowering a greater God-future. Hang on! I’m not sure where we are going, where God is leading us, but I’m in for the ride!”

I have come to understand that God wants us to worship and love him with our entire body: with our whole heart, mind, strength and being. And when we do so, we become powerful disciples ready and willing to work to bring God’s reign closer as we serve others. It is God’s Spirit that pours gifts of love, joy, peace, kindness, faithfulness, self-control, patience, generosity, and gentleness upon us. It is also God’s Spirit who brings us the spiritual gifts of wisdom, strength, knowledge, prophecy, healing and discernment.

I perhaps have gone on too long, but I wanted to share with you what I have experienced and how you can, too. You can experience the fullness of God and be filled and empowered with God’s Spirit – all you need to do is ask and pray. I guarantee it will rejuvenate your spiritual life. That is my hope and prayer for you on your own journey.