From Gratitude to Generosity

Just a quick little truism: gratitude gives birth to joy, and joy gives rise to generosity. And gratitude is a decision. But it's more than a single decision. It's a discipline, in the sense that training for an athletic event is a discipline. It is a single-minded focus that governs many other decisions. You don't become a grateful person by accident. It's the result of hundreds of seemingly inconsequential decisions to choose thankfulness over griping, complaining and bitterness. But the fruit of those decisions is really sweet: a rich source of joy within and a spirit of generosity that blesses others.

Yet Another Reason Why I Don't Listen to Country Music

Scanning the dial this morning on the way to work. Stumbled across these romantic lines:

I 'd like to see you out in the moonlight.
I'd like to kiss you way back in the sticks.
I'd like to walk you through a field of wildflowers
And I'd like to check you for ticks.

--Brad Paisley
Ticks

Bill Knapp's Keeps Me Up At Night

Bill Knapp’s Restaurants were a Michigan institution. Most of them were built exactly alike, so they were instantly recognizable. You could walk into a Bill Knapp’s anywhere in the state and instantly feel at home. The food was good and the menu changed seldom, if ever. And they had a fiercely loyal clientele.

But Bill Knapp’s paid a terrible price for their decades of keeping everything the same. Their loyal customers got older. The college students who worked at our local outlet called it the old folks’ home. Cheryl and I began noticing that there were few customers at Knapp’s younger than we (and we ain’t no spring chickens). The chain’s aging demographic must have caught the attention of the folks at corporate as well. They evidently realized that unless they recruited younger diners, their restaurants would die along with their customers.

So, they changed. They tried to attract young families. They installed video games and other activities for the younger set. They dropped some old favorites from the menu and updated the fare. They started an advertising blitz with a new slogan: “That was then; this is WOW!” It didn’t work. No amount of décor and advertising could erase the widespread impression that Knapp’s was “your grandmother’s restaurant.”

Even worse, the changes at Knapp’s alienated their traditional clientele. The older folks didn’t like the new décor, menu, or games. Bill Knapp’s is no more. Out of business. Bankrupt. Two miles from our church building sits a familiar-looking building, deserted for years, a mute reminder to past glory. Meanwhile, newer restaurants nearby flourish.

So why does this keep me awake at night? A recent article in the Christian Chronicle said that Churches of Christ became a “franchise church” during the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s: you could walk into a Church of Christ anywhere in America and feel right at home. The order of worship was almost identical. The prayers used familiar phraseology. The sermons were drawn from a select group of “our” topics. Many of our buildings looked alike. And the clientele was fiercely loyal.

But Churches of Christ are getting older, dramatically so. John Ellas, the leading church growth guru among us, has thoroughly documented the shift. It’s a rare Church of Christ that’s attracting significant numbers of previously-unchurched twenty-somethings. In metropolitan Detroit, I can name maybe one—maybe. What does this mean for our brotherhood, and specifically for my congregation? The solution seems obvious: we need to reach young families. But, will we wind up pulling a Bill Knapp’s—alienating our traditional support base while at the same time failing to reach significant numbers of younger families?

That’s what keeps me up at night. In the Trenton church, we’ve made some changes to try to reach a younger crowd. And we’ve lost several of our older members who liked it just fine before we started “tinkering” with things. And yet, within the last two weeks, two more twenty-somethings who grew up at Trenton have announced that they will be attending a different church (not a Church of Christ). Both have significant others who do not share our heritage, and who find us too wedded to unvarying practice, too mired in issues that make no sense to them. To them, we are “your grandmother’s church.”

But let me not end on such a depressing note. There is a difference between the church and Bill Knapp’s. Knapp’s had a marketing department. The church has the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit alone can bring new life. My guess is that the Holy Spirit has a future in mind for us that none of us can quite envision yet. I would be surprised if his future involves us clinging desperately to all the old ways for fear of losing even more longtime members. But I also doubt that he wants to see us caught up in a bunch of gee-whiz, “that was then, this is WOW” church marketing schemes. My hope is that we will pray for his guidance, and then be humbly open to whatever direction he leads. And we need to be courageous enough to put everything on the table for him to either use or jettison: physical facilities, ministry staff, our pet programs—everything. If we can do that, trusting him fully, then we will have a future.

On Politics

I’m just not much of a believer in using the political process to bring about God’s will. Yes, I believe governments are ordained by God. And yes, I believe that God often works through governments to accomplish His will. And yes, I vote my conscience in every election and urge others to do likewise. But I don’t see a lot of good that has come from Christians organizing as a political action group.

Specifically, I think the Republican Party has sold the Christian Right a bill of goods. And I believe the too-close alliance between them has closed many doors to the gospel, while being ineffective in bringing about a more moral society. Here’s how it appears to me. The Republicans observed that evangelical Christians generally vote for pro-life, anti-gay candidates. So, they incorporated those issues into their platform and marketed themselves to us as God’s Own Party (a slightly different take on the initials GOP), as opposed to the “godless Democrats.” Unfortunately, this obscures two realities.

First, there are items on the conservative agenda that are inconsequential from a spiritual standpoint, but some Christians nonetheless treat them as biblical issues. I heard a Christian talk show host recently attack the idea of global warming. He strongly implied that anyone who believed in global warming was a secular humanist, brainwashed by the godless demagogues of the left. Now I admit I haven’t examined the issue closely. I don’t know whether Al Gore is a prophet or a fool. But if anything, biblical teaching leads me to suspect that global warming might be for real. After all, Paul taught in Romans that Creation itself suffers because of humankind’s sin.

The second reality is that, besides abortion and homosexuality, there are plenty of other moral issues with political implications. And I’m with the Democrats on some of them. Social justice and economic justice come to mind. Caring for our environment as stewards of Creation is another.

And while I’m venting here, let me say that the GOP seems willing to fulfill only enough of their promises to keep the Christian Right in their fold. For most of my adult life, I’ve been told that if we elect Republican presidents, they will appoint enough Supreme Court justices to overturn Roe v. Wade. And you know how disappointing the results have been on that. The hard line rhetoric about restoring morality to America flies fast and furious during elections. But afterwards, there’s little will to actually enact legislation on the issues they trumpeted in order to get elected.

I have a sneaking suspicion that genuine disciples of Jesus will either be apolitical, or will hold such an eclectic mix of political views that neither major party would be anxious to claim them.