Tag Archives: talk

The Language of God

language of God

In the story of the Tower of Babel in the Bible, we read that people on earth at one time all spoke the same language. In their arrogance, they decided to start building a massive tower that would reach to the heavens. But God confused their language, the Bible says, taking their power away and humbling them (Genesis 11:7). The building of the tower stopped and the people scattered to various parts of the world.

The story of the Tower of Babel has some vital applications to our circumstances today. I am thinking now about how many groups of people in the world are starting to speak the same languages of hate and discord no matter what their native languages may be. They are building “towers,” if you will, of influence and power that are negatively influencing the advance of the kingdom of God in the world.

Into the growing spread of divisive language, our God enters and breaks up the network of hostile talk to replace it with a language of love, which is then spread to all the world. The result is a discourse that is grounded in Christ and not on ourselves. It is a communication that is built on giving and not taking away. The language of love transcends all other languages and fosters forgiveness over domination.

God wants there to be no more babbling about what we dislike in one another, but, instead, an understanding that we work better together when we speak first in love.

Uber Lessons Learned

uberWhen Pastor Elijah Mwitanti was between pastoral calls, he took a job as an Uber driver for 18 months and quickly realized he had a new mobile congregation.

“Trying to satisfy the ‘friendly atmosphere’ aspect of the [Uber] contract brought the pastor in me out into the open” Mwitanti realized. God had put him in that car and at that time “to be a connection between people and God” (Living Lutheran, April 2018, 40).

Here are the lessons he learned through the experience:

  1. People were willing to engage in meaningful and uplifting conversations when approached in a nonjudgmental way.
  2. People were more responsive to small talk than he expected.
  3. People had an interest in knowing about him.
  4. People were receptive to his comments about his faith.
  5. People were civil and respectful.

Mwitanti returned to the pulpit with a greater sense of appreciating the need to connect with people on a personal level, not being afraid to initiate conversations with whoever entered through his church door.

Mwitanti’s experience makes me realize that I am often reticent to approach people in church to start conversations. But that may just be what God is calling me to do at that time and that place. People are more open and welcoming than we may think, and there is so much we can learn from each other about our faith lives and about what our Savior has done and is doing.

It often takes just one simple conversation starter to get the ball rolling. See what you can do to be a God connector with someone you don’t know at church.

 

 

Is the Coffee Hour Dead?

coffee hourIn a recent conversation with my cousin, she was telling me about the elaborate coffee hours they have at her church with cakes, punch, finger sandwiches, cheese trays, fruit salads, doughnuts and the like. My brother’s church has something similar between worship services at his church, and it got me to thinking that I don’t hear much about the coffee hour anymore in church.

I have a feeling that my cousin’s and brother’s churches may be the exception rather than the rule. And I wonder why that is.

Perhaps 20 or 30 years ago the coffee hour after church was something to be expected, a time to just sit and chat with fellow members over coffee and snacks about your week or about the service or about upcoming events in your life. It was am established time to gather as the family of God.

But ever so slowly and ever so slightly, the established practice of a coffee hour has dwindled away. Perhaps that is why for a time several years there was a surge in “coffee house” church in which worship took place in an actual coffee house or churches set up coffee houses inside their walls for people to gather to worship and drink coffee at the same time.

The reality, unfortunately, in our culture today is that Sunday mornings are prime real estate for a myriad of activities and events, including church. In families I have talked to, church attendance remains very important and the hour of worship is very established in their schedule, but what time may once have been set aside for the coffee hour is now eaten up by sports practices, school events, dinners with relatives, work schedules and the like.

My fear in all this is that fellowship loses out. Without an established coffee hour in church anymore, when can the brothers and sisters in Christ gather for fellowship with one another?

The answer lies in many arenas, but one way that fellowship happens is through small group ministry, where people gather in members’ home for coffee and Christian conversation. Another way I heard of recently at a conference is through what essentially could be called a “flash mob” coffee hour at a neighborhood eatery. Taking place especially among young Christians, a message is sent out through Facebook or Instagram to meet at a certain location a day or so later to chat about a topic important to the Christian community. Since people are so often looking at their phones, this practice has been incredibly effective.

So is the coffee hour dead? Not really, I say. It just looks and feels a lot different these days. As long as fellowship is happening, I am OK with any form it takes. As the Bible says, “How good and pleasant it is for God’s people to dwell together in unity” (Psalm 133:1).

Connection

connectionPastor Matthew Peeples has identified 16 new realities of communication that we as Christians need to be aware of as we are in the business of communicating the message of the Gospel. I will be touching on these new realities in several posts throughout this year. Here is the first new reality:

We are simultaneously connected and disconnected.

I do find it interesting that we have an ever-expanding range of ways to connect with each other, but we seem more disconnected from each other than ever before.

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