life’s defining moments – fall sermon series
We hit another milestone in our family a week and a half ago. We sent Ben, our oldest, to Kindergarten. Later that night one of our good friends in ministry had their first child, a baby boy. I couldn’t help but think about the significance of those milestones, becoming first-time parents and dropping off a child for their first day of school. Many junctures in life stand out because of their significance: graduations, weddings, first jobs, parenthood, losing a loved one, retirement, and so many more. And so often, because of their significance, they become one of the defining moments in our lives.
Though some moments loom large on life’s horizon, other defining moments sometimes sneak up on us. Someone asks us a question we continue to ponder. We read a profound quote in a book. We are presented with a challenging project. We witness an act of generosity, or cruelty. We are inspired by someone’s life story. We learn a haunting truth. All of these situations seem to demand a response of some sort on our part. This is what makes a moment a defining moment. How will we respond? What choices will we make? Who will we become?
The Bible is full of stories of defining moments such as these.
This Sunday, September 5, we begin a ten-part series of messages at our church — First UMC of Atlanta, Texas, looking at defining moments as people had encounters with Jesus in John’s Gospel.
Care to share a defining moment story from your life in the comments here or on my facebook? Thanks!
the secret to happiness
According to Harvard psychologist Dan Gilbert, here is the secret of happiness:
1. Accrue wealth, power, and prestige. Then lose it.
2. Spend as much of your life in prison as you possibly can.
3. Make someone else really, really rich.
4. Never ever join The Beatles.
Interested in more? Check the video below. It runs about 21 minutes.
For Christians (and everyone else for that matter), I think the research that Gilbert presents here is important. He presents two kinds of happiness: “synthesized happiness” and “natural happiness.” Synthesized happiness is happiness that we create in our minds when we don’t get or can’t have what we want. Natural happiness is happiness we have when we get what we want. And we think that natural happiness is far superior to synthesized happiness. Gilbert points out that our consumption-driven economy depends greatly on our continuing to think that way. But in reality, synthesized happiness is at least as powerful and true, if not more so. This is the sort of happiness possessed by people who have been through tragedy, suffering, and hardship but remain happy.
The apostle Paul seems to relate this sort of happiness throughout his difficulties. A couple of examples are in 2 Corinthians 4:8-10 and in 6:3-10 where he refers to himself and his companions as continuing in aliveness and joy despite having to survive incredible obstacles and hardships. His most astute reflection on this is in 12:6-10, in which he refers to a “thorn in my flesh.” He pleads with Christ to take this affliction away (what it was exactly we don’t know, scholars continue to debate it). That prayer being answered would be the “natural happiness” of thinking getting what we want will make us happy. But Jesus does not take it away, instead teaching Paul a lesson that enables him to achieve “synthesized happiness”: “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’”
Happiness grows in the soil of constraint—having to find the happiness in where you are, who you’re with, and what you’ve got. Misery grows in the soil of too much freedom to get what you want—searching for happiness in what and who and where you think you want. Paul was constrained by Christ and the mission Christ set before him, but discovered that was where happiness was truly to be found.
Where have you and I found true happiness? When will we give up demanding “natural happiness” and embrace the reality of “synthesized happiness” that comes from things like faith, discipleship, morality, mission, and covenant?
the reason for god, by timothy keller
I recently finished, for the second time, Timothy Keller’s fine case for faith, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism. Clear and straightforward, he presents his case for Christianity in two parts. In the first half of the book, Keller shares the most common and/or prominent doubts he has encountered during his ministry as pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. Then, in the second half of the book, he builds a case for Christianity. He confesses that showing the doubts about faith are themselves worth doubting is helpful, but not enough. Building the case for Christian faith is yet another matter. In other words, it’s one thing to prove that the barriers to belief are not so rock solid as their proponents would have us think. But it’s still another to make the case to take the next step and arrive at belief.
I recommend The Reason for God, but your thinking cap must be worn throughout. I found it filling the role of a modern Mere Christianity, by CS Lewis. And no wonder. Keller quotes Lewis frequently and even calls him one of the three greatest influences on his faith. Perhaps that’s one reason I like Keller so much. I like Lewis and find myself nourished by his writing. So it’s only a small jump to appreciate what Keller has done. That said, while Lewis offered his thoughts in Mere Christianity as a “layman of the Church of England,” he did so with such excellence that his book has been a treasure to millions ever since. But Keller adds a pastoral touch. He has studied at the feet of Lewis, but he clearly comes from the vantage point of a working pastor. His mission field in Manhattan among the highly educated, high achieving, and high ambition younger adults has demanded the union of the sharp intellect of the professor and the spiritual concern of the pastor. In my view, Keller brings them together well.
This is a good book if you are either skeptical about faith or looking to gain more confidence in your understanding of Christian faith. If you are willing to think along with him during some of the challenging parts, The Reason for God (Barnes&Noble.com, Amazon.com) will be a rewarding read.
Here’s a nice feature article from the June 2009 issue of Christianity Today profiling Keller and Redeemer’s ministry in Manhattan. And below is a short selection from a college outreach event at which he spoke.
time perspective
I mentioned a part of this presentation from Dr. Philip Zimbardo this morning in church. For anyone interested, the clip below is a roughly 10 minute animated synopsis of a talk from Dr. Zimbardo at the RSA on the psychology of time perspective. I’ve watched this one several times, and the full lecture from which it is drawn. Interesting stuff, but then I’m also a nerd.
Since it’s one of my primary filters, I couldn’t help but wonder how this might inform both our understanding of conversion and therefore our evangelistic efforts, and our Christian formation as disciples of Jesus.
what really motivates us?
I recently finished Daniel Pink’s latest book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. In Drive, Pink marshalls an impressive case from social psychology and behavioral studies that better performance is not attained by means of the old “carrot and stick” method of rewards promised and punishments threatened. The effectiveness of the “carrot and stick” or “reward and punishment” approach, which Pink calls “Motivation 2.0,” is incredibly limited. Studies demonstrate that the range of effectiveness at motivating people to better performance using rewards is restricted to very rudimentary, routine tasks. And somewhat surprisingly, when even a little creativity or basic thinking is required, rewards—yes, rewards—are detrimental to improved performance.
In turns out, extrinsic motivation has a ceiling, and a surprising one at that. So, a shift is needed. To live into this newly discovered truth about human motivation, we need to understand and apply the power of intrinsic motivation, which Pink calls “Motivation 3.0.” The extrinsic motivations were the simple positive/negative of reward/punishment that I’ve mentioned already. If you stop to boil extrinsic motivation down to this basic level, it is clear how much it is like training a dog, or worse, conducting experiments on lab rats. Yes, we need a paycheck. We like getting bonuses and accountability is helpful. But these may need to be understood and used differently if they are to be aligned with what is true about the way we are wired.
The intrinsic motivations are more powerful and more productive. They are: Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose. I should let Dan Pink take it from here. The first video is just under 11 minutes long, but hardly feels it. A presentation of his has been edited and tightened for time, then animated with a whiteboard drawing as he talks. Check it out. If you’d like to hear a slightly extended version, check out the TED conference video below, which is just under 19 minutes.
I don’t have answers yet, but here are some questions that come to my mind from my context as a pastor.
- How might this relate to our spiritual growth, our discipleship?
- What part of our human story does this explain and/or account for? What does it fail to explain and/or account for?
- How could this inform the way I lead the staff at my church?
- How could this inform the way I lead the membership (read: volunteers) at my church?
What questions or applications occur to you?
You can check out the book Drive, plus his blog, and anything else from Daniel Pink on his website.
2010 summer reading
Well, we’re almost a third of the way through summer, but it’s still a good time to talk about summer reading. Here’s a few things on my list.
- The Source, by James Michener – Started this epic archealogical tale just before the Israel trip. It’s really long, but it’s good too. Having seen several sites, including ones the novel is based on, I hope to finish it out this summer.
- Jesus, the Apostles, and the Early Church, by Pope Benedict XVI – I’m reading Benedict’s reflections collected here as part of my devotional time.
- Run With the Horses, by Eugene Peterson – Plan to follow the pope with Peterson’s study of Jeremiah.
- Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey – Read this years ago and am now rereading.
- Switch, by the Heath brothers – Made to Stick was great. I’ve been looking forward to their next.
- Orthodoxy, by GK Chesterton – Another “in the middle of it, want to finish it” book.
- The Chosen, by Chaim Potok – A favorite novel, haven’t read it in a few years, but like to pull back off the shelf from time to time.
- Something mindless from John Grisham – well, because it’s summer. Probably do this one on vacation!
I’ve overly ambitious as a rule, so who knows if I’ll read all of these, but that’s what’s on my radar and I’ll enjoy myself either way.
So, what’s on your summer reading list?
all religions are not the same
That all religions are not the same is plainly obvious to traditional practitioners or believers in a particular religion. But where the public conversation around the topic has been dominated either by atheists attacking religion generally (“they’re all the same, and bad”) or by multi-culturalists and pluralists lifting them up (“they’re all the same, and good”), the distinctiveness of each religion has been ignored.
Enter religion professor Stephen Prothero. He first signaled a warning about the impoverishment of our understanding of world affairs and western civilization with his book, Religious Illiteracy, lamenting how dreadfully little we knew about major religions in general and Judaism and Christianity in particular, as influential as they have been and are in the West. Now he takes an additional step, pointing out not only our collective ignorance of basic doctrine, history, and practice of various religions but also our mental laziness and disrespect in proclaiming them “all basically the same.” The book is God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World and Why Their Differences Matter.
Check out the promo video below. This entertaining appearance on The Colbert Report offered the usual off-beat opportunity to promote the book afforded to Colbert guests.
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