Complaints of many kinds attack the pastor’s heart like pirates seeking to steal his joy. Since the time of Moses in the wilderness, people have been grumbling about God’s leaders.
For example, one man seemed to find joy in stopping the pastor between the pre-service prayer time and his entrance into the sanctuary. “The toilet is stopped up in the men’s restroom. You need to do something about that.” Another man sought to convince the pastor God had told him what the pastor should preach. Still, another thought he hadn’t heard a sermon unless the preacher mentioned: “sin, hell, Satan, and eternal damnation.” Elsewhere, the deacons argued for one and a half hours because the former pastor dared to remove the outhouse and install a proper toilet in the church. “You aren’t supposed to do that in the church.” And I haven’t mentioned complaints about or from staff members. Money, music, sermon length, temperature, the nursery, everywhere one looks, some criticism is incubating.
Pay Attention to Your Highs and Lows
I found Sunday to be my high energy day. The largest gathering of the congregation takes place on the morning of the Lord’s Day. Some pastors take Monday off to recharge their emotional batteries. I, on the other hand, tried to do a little study on Monday mornings and administrative work in the afternoons. By mid-afternoon, my adrenaline ran dry. I knew vulnerability lodged near the surface of my thin skin. So, in my younger days, racquetball helped me sweat out the dregs of spiritual and emotional exhaustion. Later, a walk outside helped me turn my attention away from the nagging voices ringing in my ears.
When my days were heavy with counseling or trying to make peace with different church factions, I often sought peace in ministry. I have jokingly said, “My preaching doesn’t kill many people, but it makes many people sick.” Once a church grows, more members need hospitalization. Visiting them usually meant I left the troubles I was addressing in the office and gave attention to people who enjoyed seeing the pastor. I could listen to them. And if the possibility allowed me, I asked one or two simple questions about their walk with our Lord. Then we usually prayed.
Complaints Point Pastors to Advisors
My ministry experienced the enrichment of older pastor friends. As the load became too heavy, those confidants helped me better understand the dynamics of what was taking place. They listened and counseled me. And they shared my burdens.
Early in ministry, one of my deacon friends advised me to “act, don’t react.” I’ve grown to understand he meant learning to act out of who I am in Christ. No healthy Christian wants to react according to the offensiveness of a moment. Many times, the best response is to request time to pray through critical remarks. As part of praying through the issue, explore God’s wisdom in the Bible. Seek wise counsel from an impartial person.
Complaints Invite Change
Complaints can lead to meaningful change. Once, we had two Sunday morning services with the same order of worship in both. The first service dragged. We had a group of younger adults who complained about the lack of a service with their kind of music. We listened to them and created an opportunity for people of different opinions to speak to the possibility of change. Not everyone wanted change in the first service, but we agreed to develop a trial run. Within a few months, that service’s attendance doubled, and the other service maintained a healthy attendance. We had created a new door of worship for the congregation. And we had kept the best of the former two services.
Complaints Require Self-Control
Sometimes an honest human response produces impressive results. One lady made a Monday afternoon appointment with this pastor to tell me she didn’t like the previous night’s sermon. She expressed shock when I told her I wouldn’t say I liked it either.
She asked, “Why did you preach it then?”
I said, “I didn’t intend for it to come out as it did. But you are not here because I was not too fond of the sermon. You are here because you didn’t like the sermon. Let’s talk about it.”
Our conversation led to the development of warm friendship with the lady and her husband.
Don’t let complaints surprise you. The people with whom we are working are human beings, just as we are. People see things differently. Everyone has an opinion, and not everyone will like everything. I used to get upset because people didn’t like something I was doing. Then I realized I don’t like everything I do either. Ask God to help you take complaints in stride and honor Christ with your spirit. If there is wisdom in what you hear, accept it. Otherwise, seek God’s guidance in your response.
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Posted: October 31, 2020 by Harry Lucenay
Praying for Courage to Drink the Cup of Faith
Courage lives deeply in the hearts of people who pay a price for their faith. The confidence in their countenance reveals inner strength, and the gentle firmness of their words leaves no room for doubt. The clarity of their actions displays the certainty of their trust in God.
Courage to Follow Jesus
Like most people in Iran, Muhammad Reza Omidi entered life in a Muslim family. After discovering Jesus Christ, he helped found a house church in Rasht. Iranian intelligence officers arrested him on May 13, 2016. Though the Iranian constitution gives Christians many rights, Muslim converts cannot attend the state church. In fact, they experience high levels of arrests, detention, surveillance, and harassment. Authorities tried Omidi on charges of “acting against national security” and “promoting Zionist Christianity.” They sentenced him to ten years in prison, then two years in exile for his church work.
Authorities shortened his sentence during the COVID outbreak in Iranian prisons. They sent him to Borazjan, 1000 kilometers from his home, for exile. Thirteen days after he arrived, the authorities demanded that he provide his transportation back to his home to receive 80 lashes with a leather whip for drinking a sip of wine during communion. (Islam forbids the consumption of alcohol.) Consider the courage Omidi exhibited as he traveled to take the punishing lashes witnessing to his faith.
A Cup Renewing Commitment
How many times have I taken communion or the Lord’s Supper without a thought of consequences? As a young boy, I took the elements—bread and drink—on my knees at an altar. Over time, I have taken part in communion services with broken bread and a small cup of grape juice around the world. Unforgettable memories of holding a wooden cup near the empty tomb in Jerusalem form a unique connection to my understanding of this memorial. Years later, in Hong Kong, I used bread distributed by Christians in a closed country as part of Christmas Eve Communion services. As we held the bread, we prayed for the persecuted believers in that country.
When Believing Requires Courage
We don’t always know the impact of our prayers on those who experience persecution. When I mentioned that Christians in many parts of the world had remembered Christians in Myanmar the previous Sunday, I heard an audible response. Later, several people asked if Christians really prayed for people suffering persecution in Myanmar. I assured them we have. They didn’t realize anyone knew the oppression they faced in some parts of their country. When asked how we could pray for them, they requested we pray they would have courage.
The 2020 World Watch List produced by Open Doors shows eight Christians die every day because of their faith. Every week, at least 182 churches or buildings used for Christian ministries experience attacks. And every month, courts imprison 309 Christians because they follow Jesus. Open Doors estimate 260 million Christians are suffering significant levels of persecution.
Praying for the Persecuted
On November 1, 2020, Christians around the world will pray for the persecuted church. Those we are praying for are people just like we are. However, they are living in difficult situations because they follow Jesus Christ. They need hope and courage. They live in the love of Jesus Christ. Yet, they often face rejection by family and friends because of their commitment. They need the wisdom to choose the right words in their suffering. And all need confidence in the sufficiency of God’s grace. Regardless of what they face, pray their witness will draw the hearts of those who hurt them.
November 1 will come and go. Why not choose at least one day a week to pray for people facing persecution for their faith? And when observing communion, concentrate on the promises of the service. Jesus died for our sins, arose forecasting our new life through faith in him, and promising to return. Let the Holy Spirit awaken your soul to these truths. Then pause for a moment to pray for those who risk everything to drink from the same cup you drink from without fear.
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Posted: October 28, 2020 by Harry Lucenay
How to Handle Personal Prayer in Worship
My prayers swim at various depths as I worship. Shallow, regularly repeated prayers rarely lead the spirit within me, even when I say them. Repetition of long-winded appeals chases away my attention. So does the use of God’s name as punctuation. Sometimes the prayers stirring the depths of my soul are the hardest to articulate. Yet, personal prayer fills a significant role in my worship.
Making the Most of the Opportunity
I grew up in an era when evangelicals held church services on Sunday night. When I was a young boy, our evening service included a quiet prayer time. After the offering collection, a lighted cross on the Communion Table became the room’s dominant light. With soft hymns forming background music, the minister invited worshipers to kneel at the altar to talk with God. Then people quietly took the opportunity to ease out of pews so they could walk to the kneeling rail. I often knelt in my space near others. Soon that rail became a holy place for me where I exposed the dark closets in my heart to God’s light. On my knees, the distance between a young boy and the living God diminished.
Many people sat still to absorb the quietness. A few brief moments presented the freedom to escape the demands of the mundane. The calmness of the shadowed room and peaceful music invited us to “be rather than do.” So, each person hit the pause button as we turned our eyes on Jesus.
Letting Life Form Personal Prayer
Every worship service finds people silently praying. Maybe we express the same request we have lifted to God for years. Or we express gratitude. Sin’s weight and the bitter taste of struggles to forgive gives life to many silent pleas. At other times, prayers provide wings for the desire to join God in addressing human needs. Often, a friend’s burden fills our prayers. In addition, I have often thanked God for believers who pray for the people singing, praying, or preaching. Thankfully, the amazing grace of God’s Good News encourages me to share the gospel near and far, in word and deed.
Personal Prayer Rests the Heart
Whichever style of worship we experience, there are moments when we wander into the private chapel of our hearts. As the service breathes, the Holy Spirit uses God’s word to turn our attention inward and upward. Soon, the blockages of our hearts lie exposed to his touch. Divine ears turn to our unique concerns. When the Holy Spirit breathes in my heart, I try to follow his lead with my mind and prayers.
My silent prayers turn toward the rise and fall of my trek through the previous week. The challenges ahead cry out for God’s help. I need stillness in worship to help me stop and catch my breath. Through the psalmist, God invites us to “be still, and know that I am God.” Stillness implies the need to rest in God. And rest requires letting go of control, the past, worry, and my peculiar challenges in submitting life to the way of Jesus.
Take advantage of the opportunity to rest in God’s presence. Pay attention to what is taking place in your mind as you worship. Set aside time to meet with God and for him to meet with you. Allow the words the Holy Spirit uses to ignite your heart help you connect with him in your thoughts and prayers. And your personal prayers will bring new energy to your worship.
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Posted: October 14, 2020 by Harry Lucenay
Complaints! How to Live Through Them
Complaints of many kinds attack the pastor’s heart like pirates seeking to steal his joy. Since the time of Moses in the wilderness, people have been grumbling about God’s leaders.
For example, one man seemed to find joy in stopping the pastor between the pre-service prayer time and his entrance into the sanctuary. “The toilet is stopped up in the men’s restroom. You need to do something about that.” Another man sought to convince the pastor God had told him what the pastor should preach. Still, another thought he hadn’t heard a sermon unless the preacher mentioned: “sin, hell, Satan, and eternal damnation.” Elsewhere, the deacons argued for one and a half hours because the former pastor dared to remove the outhouse and install a proper toilet in the church. “You aren’t supposed to do that in the church.” And I haven’t mentioned complaints about or from staff members. Money, music, sermon length, temperature, the nursery, everywhere one looks, some criticism is incubating.
Pay Attention to Your Highs and Lows
I found Sunday to be my high energy day. The largest gathering of the congregation takes place on the morning of the Lord’s Day. Some pastors take Monday off to recharge their emotional batteries. I, on the other hand, tried to do a little study on Monday mornings and administrative work in the afternoons. By mid-afternoon, my adrenaline ran dry. I knew vulnerability lodged near the surface of my thin skin. So, in my younger days, racquetball helped me sweat out the dregs of spiritual and emotional exhaustion. Later, a walk outside helped me turn my attention away from the nagging voices ringing in my ears.
When my days were heavy with counseling or trying to make peace with different church factions, I often sought peace in ministry. I have jokingly said, “My preaching doesn’t kill many people, but it makes many people sick.” Once a church grows, more members need hospitalization. Visiting them usually meant I left the troubles I was addressing in the office and gave attention to people who enjoyed seeing the pastor. I could listen to them. And if the possibility allowed me, I asked one or two simple questions about their walk with our Lord. Then we usually prayed.
Complaints Point Pastors to Advisors
My ministry experienced the enrichment of older pastor friends. As the load became too heavy, those confidants helped me better understand the dynamics of what was taking place. They listened and counseled me. And they shared my burdens.
Early in ministry, one of my deacon friends advised me to “act, don’t react.” I’ve grown to understand he meant learning to act out of who I am in Christ. No healthy Christian wants to react according to the offensiveness of a moment. Many times, the best response is to request time to pray through critical remarks. As part of praying through the issue, explore God’s wisdom in the Bible. Seek wise counsel from an impartial person.
Complaints Invite Change
Complaints can lead to meaningful change. Once, we had two Sunday morning services with the same order of worship in both. The first service dragged. We had a group of younger adults who complained about the lack of a service with their kind of music. We listened to them and created an opportunity for people of different opinions to speak to the possibility of change. Not everyone wanted change in the first service, but we agreed to develop a trial run. Within a few months, that service’s attendance doubled, and the other service maintained a healthy attendance. We had created a new door of worship for the congregation. And we had kept the best of the former two services.
Complaints Require Self-Control
Sometimes an honest human response produces impressive results. One lady made a Monday afternoon appointment with this pastor to tell me she didn’t like the previous night’s sermon. She expressed shock when I told her I wouldn’t say I liked it either.
She asked, “Why did you preach it then?”
I said, “I didn’t intend for it to come out as it did. But you are not here because I was not too fond of the sermon. You are here because you didn’t like the sermon. Let’s talk about it.”
Our conversation led to the development of warm friendship with the lady and her husband.
Don’t let complaints surprise you. The people with whom we are working are human beings, just as we are. People see things differently. Everyone has an opinion, and not everyone will like everything. I used to get upset because people didn’t like something I was doing. Then I realized I don’t like everything I do either. Ask God to help you take complaints in stride and honor Christ with your spirit. If there is wisdom in what you hear, accept it. Otherwise, seek God’s guidance in your response.
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Posted: October 6, 2020 by Harry Lucenay
Your Spirit Affects Your Witness for Christ
An optimistic spirit draws people into the stream of activity. Restaurants thrive on positive reviews and warm, energetic interactions with personnel. Physicians’ offices survey patients, hoping to find useful insight into the spirit of their staff. Churches want a reputation for being friendly places where everyone feels welcome.
What Spirit Do You Bring to Church Gatherings?
One of my prayer requests focuses on the spirit of people gathering in the church building each week. Seeing God at work in his followers raises the tide of expectancy, which encourages everyone. Taking difficulties in stride and discovering ways to help one another brings hope to young and old.
When negative attitudes dominate, everything changes. People become suspicious of one another as their whispering births sideward glances. They take exception when differences surface and drop conversations when those who hold opposing views approach.
What Are Your Words and Actions Communicating?
A positive spirit is contagious. Confidence inspires and attracts people. They want to be a part of something meaningful. Negativity draws people into the grasp of those who are content to focus on dissent. As people encounter us, they detect our attitude. Barnabas stood out in the young church because he had the spirit of encouragement. Furthermore, he looked for the good in people. When others were afraid to trust Saul, he urged people to give the former enemy of the church a chance. Later, John Mark deserted a missionary journey. Barnabas opened a way for the young man to rejoin the mission work. And faced with Jerusalem Christians’ concerns about embracing Gentiles, Barnabas encouraged their acceptance. In every way, he was opposite the self-promoting ways of Diotrephes.
A consciousness of the vibes we send out leads to welcome changes. Are we more interested in our friends or phones than we are in the people God puts in our paths? Will we make time to focus on people and listen to what they have to say? How do we show interest in those others ignore?
Where Do You See God at Work?
Dr. Ralph M. Smith once told me to keep the printed information about the church upbeat. He also encouraged me to keep God’s activity before the congregation. I soon learned most folks did not know what God was doing. How could they, if no one told them? Someone needs to point out God’s interactions in daily life.
Many times, after opening staff meeting with prayer, I asked, “Where have you seen God at work this last week?” If church leadership cannot see where God is at work in their lives, how will the congregation? God’s work didn’t stop 2000 years ago; he is still at work. Open your eyes and ears. God may have moved a mountain. Or that still, small voice may have been his invitation. Share the beautiful ways you have encountered God.
The charge to maintain a positive attitude speaks to God’s people as we gather. Our countenance, interest, spirit, and words convey his presence. May God use each of us to present his heart when the body of Christ meets.
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Posted: September 26, 2020 by Harry Lucenay
Add a Kiss from the Heart to Your Worship
A kiss is a matter of the heart, as is worship. But a kiss is never just a kiss when it comes to worship. Evangelicals connect the kiss and worship with weddings or “the kiss of peace.” Catholics and some Protestants have a long history of recognizing the kiss of God in worship.
The Worship Kiss
John relays the story of Jesus talking to a woman at a well in Samaria. Their discussion surfaced a question regarding the proper place to worship. Jesus pricked her imagination with the suggestion that worship is not a geographical location but a matter of the heart.
The Greek word for “worship” is a compound word meaning “throw a kiss.” Jesus spoke Aramaic in his conversation with the woman. The Aramaic word for “worship” finds a connection to the ancient Egyptians who often worshiped their gods by breathing on their idols. The act of forcing air through their nostrils onto their religious images was called “an air kiss.” The Greek word speaks of people falling prostrate before their king to kiss the ground or his feet in adoration.
We see this concept in Job’s defense:
Connecting with God in Worship
Were those who have gone before us making a statement with their worship? Were they submitting to God with the realization of their weakness and God’s strength? Worship expressed a commitment to keep faith’s vows and submit to the authority of the living God. They sought to express their spiritual love through the intimacy of worship.
Many followers of Christ around the world see the Eucharist or Communion as a time when God kisses his people. Some mix warm water in the wine so people will sense God’s warmth toward them. Seeking to kiss God with our worship differs from the kiss of peace practiced in many churches throughout history.
Kissing in Worship
Recently, I found myself sitting in the Sunday morning worship crowd. We had sung a familiar hymn and prayed The Lord’s Prayer together. My mind turned to my recent studies on the kiss of worship. I fear worship can easily take the form of a thoughtless kiss in which one goes through the expected motions mindlessly. At other times, the body engages, but not the heart. And sometimes, the kiss is hoping for something more.
The question is not, “Will God return our kiss?” But, “How does one engage the invisible One physically and spiritually in worship?” There are parts of me that need Isaiah’s seraph to take a burning coal from God’s cleansing fires and blot out the ugly in me. Other parts want to return to Jesus for rest and renewal. I want to know the worship of confident gladness. But what does God want in my worship today? Shouldn’t I be searching for the answer to that question before I ever settle into my seat?
Is it possible the secret to kissing God in worship grows out of submission to the Almighty? Worship, even my worship, is not about me as much as it is about submitting to God the Father, cherishing Jesus the Son, and allowing the Holy Spirit freedom to work on, in, and through me. Would that the air putting wings to my worship kisses would find its birth in the breath God breathed into me to form a new life.