A History Lesson: How NOT to run a Church

This nugget of wisdom also comes from Diarmaid MacCulloch's The Reformation but isn't one that very many people will know already.
In 1561 a Greek soldier of fortune named Heraklides found himself in the employ of an unpopular king in the small Eastern Orthodox Christian principality of Moldavia.  Heraklides had little love for the Orthodox tradition of his homeland and had rather become enamored with Protestant Christianity (his work as a soldier had taken him all over Europe to this point).  With the backing of the Hapsburgs and the Lithuanian nobility, Heraklides overthrew the king and took his place.  In and of itself, this wouldn't be much of a lesson for the Church, such coups we fairly common in Europe, but what happened next proves to be rather instructive.
Heraklides ordered Protestant worship in his court, appointed a Polish Reformer as his bishop, and generally annoyed the traditional Orthodox people he intended to rule.  To make matters much worse, Heraklides raided the Orthodox monasteries because of his zeal against sacred images (a huge matter of contention at the time in much of Europe struggling with the ideas of the Reformation) and took their golden crosses and the gilded frames of their icons (Orthodox two dimensional Christian paintings; Heraklides didn't destroy them, just took their valuable frames) which he proceeded to melt down and turn into coinage with, of course, his own image on it.  Forget for a moment the irony of having zeal against idolatry, but making coins with your own image on them, and just think about the choices that Heraklides was making.  As an outsider, he was imposing Reform ideas (whether right or wrong) on the local population of Christians without any regard for how they felt about it.  In other words, he was trying to lead a movement from the top; against the will of the people.
The story ends badly; his army deserted him and he was butchered without mercy, along with any who were suspected of being sympathizers with his cause.  The entire experiment of imposing a Reformation on an unwilling populace had lasted two years.  Similar problems were happening all over Europe (though not to this extent) as nobles and kings attempted to guide/direct/coerce their people toward their own chosen side in the Catholic/Protestant divide.  This certainly should enlighten us about the danger of governing against the will of the people, but it also teaches us about how church leadership, be it local or denominational, cannot simply force people to accept changes (good or bad, right or wrong) from the top down. 
For those of us who are church pastors, this lesson is helpful, though sadly easy to ignore when our own circumstances convince us otherwise.  We see a need, something that our heart tells us is what God wants, and we try to force our people to see it to.  The fault, typically, arises from not taking the time/effort to lay the groundwork properly or not allowing for the fact that change is difficult.  Rather than running around melting down our people's icons (a symbolic stand-in for anything they hold sacred), we should be asking ourselves WHY they feel that way about them?  Where does this passion come from, is it healthy or not?  Can it be utilized rather than attacked?
There are few easy answers for a pastor, elder, or lay leader in a church that is in need of reform or restoration.  The problems were not arrived at quickly or easily (in most cases) and they won't be solved that way either.  But do yourself a favor, don't aspire to be a Heraklides, it didn't end well for him.

Sermon Video: Hard to say Goodbye - Acts 1:6-11

Mothers know how hard it is to say goodbye; they raise their children knowing that in each stage of life they have to let go a little more.  After 40 days with his disciples following his resurrection, Jesus knew it was time to say goodbye.  Before he left, Jesus gave his followers a monumental task: to preach the Gospel to the whole world.  It would not be an easy task, it would not be a short task, but it would bring glory to God.  In the end, Jesus does intend to restore the kingdom of Israel and rule as its king, but not before all the world has been blessed through him.

To watch the video, click on the link below:
Sermon Video

The Plot Thickens...or...The More You Learn, the More There is to Learn.

One of the things I love about a good thick book on a subject I already know about is the chance to learn new things and see things in a new perspective.  As I continue with Diarmaid MacCulloch's book, The Reformation, I've been intrigued by the author's attempts to show the parallel developments that were going on throughout the 1500's in areas that converted to Protestantism, and those that did not.  It was not as if reform was absent in Spain or Italy while Martin Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin were working in Northern Europe, but rather that those initiatives toward reform took different tracks and ended up with different outcomes.  Some of the explanation is as simple as the normal N/S divide in Europe's culture (along with its climate and geography), as well as the differing relationships between rulers and their nobility, and the simple fact that Rome was in the south.
One particular connection between the Jesuits and Methodists struck me as interesting.  The Jesuits resisted the urge to become a clerical order, "We are not monks!  The world is our house." (Jeronimo Nadal, Society member, 1550's)  Likewise, two centuries later John Wesley sent out another group of traveling preachers saying, "the world is my parish".  That Jesuits and Methodist preachers would have anything in common may seem surprising, but one of Loyola's core beliefs was that the Medieval Church was wrong to think that priests or monks had any greater chance of getting to heaven than anyone else. {an idea he learned from Thomas a Kempis' The Imitation of Christ}.  That idea was at home within the Protestant Reformation, where the idea of the priesthood of all believers became a foundational understanding of our salvation by grace. 
What's the point of all this?  Am I saying that there are no real differences between Catholics and Protestants?  Of course not, but if we are ever going to see past those differences and begin to work together for the kingdom of God, it would help if we understood that our common ancestry, the Medieval Church, gave rise to reformers throughout Europe (not just in the North).  That we went down differing paths from there is obvious, but that both groups were in the process of reform should help us see that our paths may at some point run closer together once again. 

Sermon Video: The Reluctant Prophet, Part 2 - Jonah 3-4

After having learned that he cannot run away from the will of God, Jonah proceeds to Ninevah to deliver God's message.  To the shock of all, the Ninevites actually believe God and repent.  In response, God relents and does not send the judgment he had threatened.  Jonah, however, is very angry at this outcome because he wanted his enemies to be destroyed not forgiven.  God uses and object lesson to try to show Jonah the value of each human life and God's desire to forgive any who will repent, but Jonah's own heart is clouded by his hatred.  In the end, as Christians, we have no enemies, only those with whom we can share God's grace.  If Christ didn't die for them also, he didn't die for you either.

To watch the video, click on the link below:
Sermon Video

Sermon Video: The Reluctant Prophet, part 1 - Jonah 1-2

It can be easy to think of Jonah as the fool who tried to run away from God.  The truth is that Jonah was asked to go to the last place on Earth he, or any Jewish prophet, would have wanted to go.  God asked him to go to the capital of his nation's enemy and bring them a message of judgment (with the implied chance of repentance).  Jonah's flight is similar to the many ways in which we ignore God's Word and commands, of the human capacity to think that consequences won't apply to us.  For Jonah, it took a huge storm and a giant fish to get him to listen to God, what will it take to open up your ears to God's voice?

To watch the video, click on the link below:
Sermon Video