Jeff Iorg Blog
“Community” is a buzzword among many young adult Christians today. They long for it, insist it’s an elusive reality, and talk about how to achieve it. Community is important. But, unfortunately, the strategies and methods people today think produce community just don’t work. You can’t achieve community by sitting around your living room with a small group, drinking coffee, and talking about “doing life together.” That’s recipe for boredom, not community.
My mother’s recent death resulted in a powerful demonstration of community. More than 300 people came to her memorial service, including the mayor of a neighboring community and four commissioners from the county where she lived. Most of the crowd was her trail/parade/rodeo riding friends. For about 25 years, my mother, her matched team of horses, and her various wagons and buggies have been a staple in the cowboy culture in her area.
My mother and her friends have true community because they do something important together. They preserve a historic way of life and, along the way, raise money for and devote time to various children’s charities. When people do something important together, that involves personal investment (even sacrifice), community happens. That’s why men who fought in a war 40 years ago still have reunions, and picking up their annual conversations as if they had never been apart. That’s why women gather for sorority reunions with women from college days 30 years ago, and share the same bonds they had during those life-shaping experiences.
“Community” results from doing something together, from going through a shared experience doing something significant. Christian community results when Christians work together to accomplish God’s mission. As we pray intensely, work sacrificially, and share the pain and joy of hard-earned progress – community happens. Christian community results from living on mission together, not just talking about it.
So, this Christmas, rather than sit around discussing esoteric theological questions or musing about ministry conundrums with your small group – go serve the poor, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and share the gospel. Do it with a group and watch community develop out of mission, not as a precursor to it.
Christmas Music
| Dec 21 2012
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One of the best parts of Christmas is the music. This weekend, we will enjoy a remarkable Christmas program at our church, hymn singing in worship services at our church, some Christmas musicals on television, and satellite radio songs of the season as we drive around looking at Christmas lights. All in all – a musical overdose!
The music at Christmas is special for several reasons. First, the familiarity of frequently repeated hymns and songs means dozens of them can be sung from memory. Second, the biblical content is strong. Finally, the songs lend themselves to all kinds of dramatic interpreation through skits, pantomimes, costumes, and other external effects. When you combine all this, the music during the Yule season is special.
One of our favorite Christmas memories is a duet some friends sung, year after year, in our church in Oregon. They did it so well it became a Christmas tradition. Their version is still better than anything we have ever heard recorded professionally. Another family memory is singing Silent Night as part of candlelight services. While our boys aren’t much into the emotive side of life, even they will participate in this service wholeheartedly. The boys only groaned when we made them drive around looking at Christmas lights (singing along with Ann’s favorite collection). But the pizza after kept them interested! Christmas makes us all a little softer around the edges.
Enjoy your Christmas services this Sunday. Make time for special services on Christmas Eve. Allow the music to bond you with your church family, remind you of biblical truth about the birth of Jesus, and move you emotionally through visual reminders of the Nativity. And, even if they gripe a bit, take the boys in your family to look at Christmas lights (use a pizza if necessary).
Merry Christmas!
A True Shepherd
| Dec 17 2012
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The shepherds were key figures in the Christmas story. Later, when God described and titled church leaders, he called them “pastors” or “shepherds.” When Peter closed out his first letter with some specific instructions about church leadership, he led with “Shepherd the flock.” He amplified maintaining a shepherd’s focus with three other mandates for pastors: resisting financial temptations, developing godly character, and fighting spiritual battles. Pastors who model this lifestyle are a treasure.
One pastor, T.C. Melton, has lived these qualities for about 60 years. He has steadfastly remained a pastor, reminding his protégé’s that “personal work is the key to everything.” During years of service, even in larger churches, he prioritized visiting the sick, marrying lovebirds, comforting the bereaved, and counseling the hurting. While associates may have carried the primary load in other areas, he always found time to be pastoral – shepherding people through the trials, challenges, and changes life brings.
Dr. Melton never fell in love with money, always making sure others had what they needed and his compensation was commiserate with a modest lifestyle in his community. His character was beyond reproach, a walking definition of the phrase “a good man” used to describe biblical characters like Barnabas. In his later years, he reminded me about the spiritual nature of our work – that prayer focused on overcoming satanic strategies was our primary method of advancing the gospel, growing churches, and transforming people.
While you have probably never met this model pastor, you probably know one like him! Your pastor has given his life to making Jesus well-known, not building his name into a brand. He has served quietly and sacrificially, grateful for the opportunity to make a difference and satisfied with the appreciation of those he has helped.
During this Christmas season, find a way to say thank you to the shepherd who watches over you - with pastoral diligence – caring for you, helping you grow, and guiding you in service to Jesus.
It’s a Girl
| Dec 10 2012
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About 25 years ago, the doctor held up my daughter and said those special words, “It’s a girl!” We were thrilled. God had given us a special gift - a girl who has grown into a beautiful young woman. Unfortunately, the news “it’s a girl” isn’t received quite so well around the world today. Being conceived as a female is one of the most dangerous things that can happen to a person in many countries.
The United Nations estimates 200 million women and girls are missing from the world today because of “gendercide,” abortions or infanticide committed on baby girls. The Chinese government boasts of 400 million fewer births since implementing their “one child” policy. A significant majority of those babies were girls aborted by families who wanted their only child to be a boy. While India has no formal one-child policy, their abortion rate on girls is also staggering.
The war on women around the world is fought in the womb as millions of baby girls are aborted. Sadly, the definition of the “war on women” in the United States is defined differently. In a recent editorial in USA Today, Kate Michelman, former president of NARAL Pro-Choice America described the “war on women” as legislative issues like parental disclosure, ultrasound tests, showing a woman the X-rays of her “unborn,” and pre-procedure (abortion) lectures. Ms. Michelman won’t even write “fetus,” much less “child.” She carefully uses the word “unborn” to describe whatever she perceives is in the womb.
During this Christmas season, when we celebrate the difference a baby (born out of traditional wedlock, into relative poverty, in an out-of-the-way place) makes, let’s remember the millions of babies who never make it through the birth canal alive. Most of them are girls. It would be so refreshing if the modern women’s movement in the United States focused their attention on the real “war on women.”
Feminists – How about acknowledging the death of baby girls around the world resulting from the prevalence of abortions you demand be readily available? How about directing your strident, militant energy towards stopping the global holocaust on young women?
Magnify Jesus
| Dec 04 2012
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A family once visited our church for the first time. After the service, during a casual conversation, I discovered the woman in the family was Jewish. Linda had never attended a Christian worship service and seemed quite fascinated by what she had just experienced. As was my custom, I followed up that conversation with a personal phone call early in the week. She agreed to my offer of a pastoral visit with her and her husband. Having limited experience with Jewish guests – not many drop in on a typical Midwestern Baptist church – I spent some time thinking about how to open the conversation in their home. Based on our brief conversation from Sunday, I settled on a question that received a surprising, but delightful answer.
My question was, “What was the biggest difference between our worship service and the synagogue services you may have experienced in the past?” Linda said, “Oh that’s easy. In your church, Jesus is the ‘Big One.’” I had never heard it put quite that way before! Having worshipped God all her life, it was striking to her how prominent Jesus was in our worship. We sang about Jesus, prayed in Jesus’ name, talked about how Jesus could change lives, and mentioned Jesus multiple times in the sermon. Linda’s comment came with a twinkle in her eye. She was a bit bemused, but obviously observant and intrigued. I took her comment as a compliment. I was delighted a first-time observer of Christian worship walked away saying, “Jesus is the ‘Big One.’” He most certainly is!
During the Christmas season, some lament the loss of “Christ” from Christmas in the culture. That’s not too big a concern for me. A larger issue is failure by churches to do more than present a sentimental Jesus during this season. Christmas is the perfect time to magnify Jesus as Savior, Lord, and Messiah. Make him more than a baby in a manger scene this year. Magnify Jesus in every way possible – starting with his birth moving through his ascension – calling people to face their responsibility to respond to a risen Lord.