another challenge from the pulpit (originally written on Oct. 25, '09)

the content of today's sermon had to be absorbed, fully absorbed, by squirming little me sitting in the pew without my Bible or notebook (forgot them in the car!); i could not get buried in copious note taking! there was talk of Jesus as flesh, fully man, and then it came around to the fact that the church, we, should look like Jesus. and a very interesting thing was pointed out, which was that Jesus was not out to change the political climate. he chose a politically oppressed time to come into the world, but he operated amazingly well from the margins and did not strive to conquer in political avenues, as the people had expected the messiah to. three common mistakes of the church were pointed out to us in this nice little package:
1. cocoon
2. combat
3. conform
right? sometimes we cocoon ourselves, try to hide from the world, just have a nice clean churchy atmosphere, hedge in our children. sometimes we combat in a way that is not like Jesus. we fight political and intellectual battles. we think we can win people over with logic. we think we can change the climate of our country by convincing enough people of the "right" politics. sometimes we conform to the world, not looking any different than the rest of society at large. all these are wrong.

so here's the one that hit home the most for me: COMBAT. NOW it makes sense why my pastor has been (eerily, i thought) silent on the subject of our so obviously anti-christian president. i, on the other hand, have not been silent. i like to get agro about it, because it upsets me, frankly, that he seems to be on a fast track to bulldozing the best ideals that any country could hold, as outlined in our constitution. i realized awhile ago that it does no good to merely change laws, if people's hearts are still inclined toward wickedness. that is like forcing a child to act good but not addressing the heart, attitude, and needs. however, it grieves me immensely that many Christians voted for this man who openly supports abortion, thinks it a priority to speak on the virtue of leaving abortion-survived babies out to die alone, and is taking our country in a direction opposite of the freedom-championing land we have been for so long. i still think it is a priority to oppose this kind of politics, for the sake of our children. a comment the pastor spoke today was that once the church started operating out of the framework of "christendom" in constantine's time, that led us into the dark ages, and that the church has always operated most powerfully from the margins, as did Jesus. well... i wouldn't go so far as to say that the dark ages were caused because the church held influence over politics. on the contrary, it was because the church ended up submitting itself to politics. francis schaeffer points out that every time a new society is formed on inspiration from the Bible, it is a society that is freer and fairer, and has a higher standard of living than the old one. so it is not bad at all to have a Christian-based society, as it ends up being better for all people in it, whether they believe or not. and THAT is exactly why it is so hard to see it go under the current administration. so, i don't think it is bad to try to stem the political tide, it is just not our primary goal. heart-change, grassroots change from the inside out in obedience to the Lord's commission, is. without alienating people or shouting or frowning. when people encountered Jesus, they didn't feel they had to walk on eggshells. they fell at his feet! (i have a feeling, however, that some people will take this sermon to mean that christians should not vote or become politicians because Jesus was not a politician. which is NOT a proper way of thinking! Jesus was also not a husband or father, yet we don't say it is bad to be a father or husband. the point is not so much the avenue we take in life, as the attitude: humility.)

coming home from church, i realized that this sermon is for once enormously relevant for me as a woman, a stay-at home mom, because ALL of these points can be and should be primarily lived out in the context of home and family. (side note: i have lately found that church preachin' doesn't often hit home in the life of the stay-at-home mother. no, it can be super resonant and good, but the fact is that male pastors don't truly KNOW the soul and marrow of a woman's life. Which is why the Bible instructs older women to teach younger women. i have been so much edified recently by a cd series by nancy campbell, called "God's Grace at My Place." wow, those talks get me going and amped about my life and calling as i listen to them while chopping vegetables, stirring soup.) so this sermon, though the pastor did not necessarily mean for it to translate like this (hee hee!) was directly for mothers. the three common mistakes the church makes are first failures in the families that make up the church, and here i will take more time to explain.

cocooning--we all know the Christian parents who overly shield their children from the world... it is a sad sight, and stunts their development into responsible, critically-thinking Christians, as well as insulting their intelligence. however, let me make it clear that home schooling is not necessarily borne of overprotection. as the pastor was talking about cocooning, i specifically examined myself and what i have learned about culture, christianity, homeschooling, and education in general. parents need to choose their child's school environment based on what is BEST for the child. i personally believe that in the early years, anyway, children are designed to be CLOSE to their mother, until their worldview is established and the Biblical framework can be engraved into the little heart. also, so that they may have constant supervision in learning good behaviors without too much interference from outside sources at a tender age. i believe this tender age can vary from child to child. sparrow definitely still needs a few more years at home next to me! i may be ready to send her to a good school in several years, depending on what is available. however, judging from the crowd-control that public schools tend to spend so much wasteful time in, i would rather choose a private school of some sort. and since... we probably will never be able to afford that, at THIS point, i believe that homeschooling is truly going to be the environment that offers the most opportunity for my daughters' growing, thirsty minds.

i believe in a "liberal" education, however: that they should be introduced to different ideas and people, so that they might learn to think, and to think critically. i am NOT going to saturate these little ones with exclusively Christian workbooks and curricula, but will seek the BEST materials in every subject and allow their minds to handle all sorts of ideas. for all truth is God's truth, and excellence glorifies God. Not to mention that they will likely get bored with excessive Christian lecturing. the world and life God meant us to experience is EXCITING! and they should experience the richness of all of His creation, not feel as though they are being hedged in by paranoid, predigested drivel. When they come into contact with God's word directly, they will respond to it. i have been reading susan schaeffer macauley's "for the children's sake," and completely agree that we should not set up too many interpreters between God's word and the child himself. not only is it condescending, but it can be distracting, or even mundane. God's Word LIVES, and it will speak for itself.

i think that many Christian parents of today make the opposite mistake: sending their children TO school outside the home as a reaction to "churchianity," or even believing that they need to send their little ones out there to witness, to "see what the real world is like," or to "get socialized." it is equally wrong to send your child to a school just because you think they should be out in the world for some reason or other, as it is to keep them at home as a reaction to the evil in the world. one MUST choose the BEST education for the individual child. speaking of socialization, the idea that little ones won't be emotionally healthy unless they are frequently in large groups of other children--is bunk. this does not come from the Bible, nor from proper research. children, as they grow older, may come into contact with all kinds of people at their parents' dinner table or at extracurricular activities. but to think that a toddler needs to be socialized! i have been reading laura ingalls wilder with sparrow. did that family feel the need to go live in a city so they could socialize their children? No! but look at how amazing those girls turned out, along with many, many other home-taught families over the years, who had no access to daycare or preschool, but instead had firm, loving, God-fearing parents. healthy social interactions and habits are grown out of a good home life first of all, with a strong family dynamic in a secure environment where healthy communication habits are emphasized, and preference for others is taught by living it out on a daily basis.

speaking of healthy family life, this brings me to my next point: the "combative" problem as arising out of improper home life. not only the obvious point that if one's family models arguing and negotiating, the child will learn to be argumentative and try to negotiate his way through life. this, i believe, also happens when the child is given too much free reign in the home, where mother tries to cater to every desire as far as she is able instead of using the home as a training ground for learning self-control and submission. (i was one of these mothers! perhaps still am too much, if i think about it.) it IS right for the child to learn the benefits of submission by submitting to parents "because this is right" (eph. 6:1). they can experience God's blessing this way, and when they interact in the real world, not feel like they always need to conquer by arguing or striving. personally, in my home growing up, i know we were allowed to get away with much too much back talking and arguing our position. and i KNOW that being combative is still one of my biggest challenges. in fact, when i got home from church, i facebooked two friends in particular with which i have displayed this attitude in politics recently, and apologized. i had to get humble, knowing the Bible is right: you cannot win hearts by striving, even with pristine logic.

as for the conformity problem, the family and home is also the best place to stay that tide. a child wholly accepted, known, and loved for who he is at home obviously feels less need to go find his identity in the world somewhere. however, even many lovely Christian homes and families these days are modeling conformity to the world, not only in their time spent at the TV or sending mother out to work. but i'd like to ask this question: what about our fertility? why has the Christian world followed the secular world when it comes to family planning? if true social change is to be from the bottom up, grassroots, heart-change, can you imagine the kind of impact we could have had by now if we had all allowed the Lord to give us the families He wanted us to have? We would be sending out many more warriors equipped to show Jesus to their peers! perhaps the reason why only 15% of non believers think that the Christians they know are significantly different from anyone else is because we have followed society in what they have decided about how a family should be planned, limited, controlled. this matter affects everything in your life! when you say "yes" to God, not knowing how many children he might give you, or when, it forces you to live in a much more dependent way, with urgent faith for God to provide for those He gave. (and He WILL provide, that is a scriptural promise. first he blesses the offspring of the womb, THEN the fruit of the field and livestock...) You give up control. Life becomes a daily mission of self-sacrifice, and self-sacrifice is THE characteristic the Lord wants to build in us, is it not? (God give me grace in this!)

So go my thoughts in recent sermons...