The Beginning from the End

I was reading a book on chess and came across a very interesting statement. The discussion was about ‘forking’, that is, attacking two pieces with a single piece. Such an attack means that one or the other of the attacked pieces can be saved and the other is captured. He stated, “In cases like this one you might compare a chess player to the author of a whodunit who starts his work by figuring out the solution which will come at the end of his book…the Knight’s forking check is the ‘solution’. Black’s task, once he sees this check is to search for the moves that make the check meaningful.” 1

It occurred to me that this same process is applicable to us in the church. First, it is a clear way to structure our spiritual life. What is our goal in our spiritual life? Every Christian should strive to become more Christlike disciples, to be closer to God. You know where you want to go, and where you are now, so how is that reasonably accomplished? Daily Bible reading and prayer, finding an accountability partner, finding and using your spiritual gifts are all excellent paths to this goal.

Secondly, we can apply this to other areas of our lives. If you want to achieve certain things in your life, then what do you need to do to get there? For instance, if you want to write a fiction novel, you need to sit down and start writing. If you want to get a Doctorate, then you need to work on your Master's degree. If you want to be a motorcycle mechanic, then you need to buy a 'beater' and enroll in a course or buy some books.

Finally, in the collective church we have goals as well. The high-falutin’ church language calls this “casting a vision” and there are entire seminars and college classes about it, but it’s really simple. The first question should be, “What is our vision for this church?” Where do we want to end up? What do we see this church being or doing in five years, or ten years? So many times we go along with no goal, and then wonder why we don’t seem to get anywhere. There’s an old story about a flight of military planes flying through overcast skies just after World War 2. Their navigational instruments were out when the controller radioed them and asked where they were. The pilot in the lead plane answered, “Well, I really don’t know, but we’re making good time!”.

If we want to be known as a “Praying Church”, do we have prayer meetings and activities? If we want to be known as “Friendly”, how do we support that goal? If we want to be known as the church that has its hands in the local community, how are we striving to get there?

Don't just dream about it and think God is going to drop things in your lap. Make a conscious choice to pray about where God wants you to go and what He wants you to do, then follow Him!




1 “How to be a winner at chess” by Fred Reinfeld: Fawcett, c1954, p65

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The Tower of Babel

In the book of Genesis 1 there is a story about how the people’s of the earth decided to get together and build a large tower to reach to the heavens. God knew their pride and folly and decided to confound them. Now He could have simply reached down and swatted them like flies, but He chose a more subtle approach…He made them unable to communicate with each other by giving them multiple languages to speak. As they grew frustrated they eventually wandered off in language groups to found their own nations and the Tower of Babel was forgotten.

In a Sunday sermon a few weeks ago I told the church that ‘we have lost it’. What is ‘it’ and who are ‘we’? ‘We’ are the church and “it’ is the ability to speak to the outside world. We have become so insulated in our own little cocoon that we have forgotten how to speak to the people around us. When we get together we have a special ‘church language’ we speak and everyone knows what we mean. Even more, when we present our (very valid) concerns to the people outside the walls of the church, we present them in the same way we might discuss things with someone inside the church, and the person doesn’t understand. A month or so ago in Vermont we urged our people to contact their representatives concerning the issue of same-sex or genderless marriage. When I called my representatives one of them asked me why I felt the way I did. I gave her three relevant and valid concerns she could evaluate and weigh, and in language she could understand. What I did NOT do was quote scripture to her and tell her I did not believe in genderless marriage because the Bible says it is wrong. That would have been correct, but she would not have cared for nor understood the arguments. She would simply have put me down as a religious crackpot.

I have related on this blog discussions with my doctor concerning my diet in relation to my colitis. I understand where he is coming from, what arguments he can accept and those he cannot accept. If I speak outside of those terms he will dismiss me out-of-hand. When I present an argument to him in favor of the SCD diet in terms he can relate to, citing formal studies supporting it, he is more understanding and receptive.

The whole point is this…no matter what the issue, we need to understand that speaking to an unbeliever as though they were a believer is pointless. Like Paul before the Areopagus in Acts 2, we present the argument in terms that our listener can understand. That means we must not only know the Scripture, but we must know the meaning behind it and be able to relate it to everyday life in the 21st Century in our cultural setting.

Yes, we’ve lost it. But we CAN find it again…indeed we MUST find our collective voices again, or face being marginalized.

1 Genesis 11:1-9
2 Acts 17:16-34

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