Theology Blog

In his book, In the Name of Jesus, Henri Nouwen talks about the temptation to be relevant. It’s a very real temptation in our churches, culture and amongst leaders today. As we seek to do ministry, we often feel the need to be relevant to those we serve both in and outside of our churches. While this may be well intentioned, it is not what is right. Context certainly matters and Jesus did ministry within his context, but relevance is not required to do ministry in context. Nouwen states “I am deeply convinced that the Christian leader of the future is called to be completely irrelevant and to stand in this world with nothing to offer but his or her own vulnerable self. That is the way Jesus came to reveal God’s love.” The question we face in this temptation is one of ‘do you love me?’ and that is what should matter. Nouwen suggests that contemplative prayer as a means to resting in the presence of God is necessary.

Sadly our churches have been taken over by relevance. Our consumer approach to worship and to the ministries of the church has yielded little fruit numerically and even less spiritually. Christ gets lost in the mix as we take crosses out of our church and spend more time on our appearance for worship services than we do in prayer. We tell ourselves that if we only become more like the world, people will come to our church and will come to know Jesus. While we should consider the needs of those outside the church, we often take relevance to an unhealthy level. Even if these efforts are successful, we have failed. What we win people with is what we win them too. If we win people to the relevant, entertaining, consumer Jesus we have not won them to the Christ who hung on the cross.

Embracing the temptation to be relevant demonstrates a lack of trust in God to draw people into relationship with Him and to draw others into a deeper relationship with Him. Embracing this temptation is to put success over faithfulness and its not something that bears fruit. All ministry leaders face the temptation to be relevant, and we must name these temptations and bring them to God in prayer.

Written for Fuller Seminary’s Burner Blog…

A Parable for the Church

The other day I found myself reflection on the Parable of the house built on sand found in Matthew 7:24-27. I have thought about and reflected on this parable many times over the years, but something struck me this time that I have missed in the past. I have focused on this story Jesus tells on an individual level, mainly my own faith and the faith of others. I have at times thought about it in relation to my marriage and family, but mostly in relationship to hearing the words of Jesus and obeying them in my own life.

Last week as I was thinking about this parable, I found myself thinking about the church today, particularly in the United States. I have recently transitioned to a new church and into the lead pastor role for the first time. This has created additional reflection for me, which has been good but at times overwhelming. I tend to naturally reflect on the big picture challenges and opportunities the church is facing today and then reflect on them in my own context. Sometimes this happens in the reverse order. I think so many churches today are suffering from an identity crisis. It is not clear what our churches are built on in many cases. It could be tradition, denomination, comfort, attraction, habit, entertainment and much more. The irony is that while we criticize culture for its lack of focus on God, I think the church has also lost focus to the point where if we are honest with ourselves, many of our churches are built on sand and no longer the rock.

In our quest for relevance, comfort or growth and in the midst of our fear of change, death, and loss, I think it has become easy for the church to look at the waves instead of the rock. If I am honest, as much as I like to say that the churches I have worked for and lead have focused on Jesus, it has been more lip service than it has a reality. One church was built on attraction, another on buildings, another on the staff’s personality, another on a fear of conflict, yet another on a fear of dying, one based on comfort and counseling and the list goes on. I am guilty of losing sight of what matters in my own life, family and church. We are often so busy responding to what is happening in and around our churches that we do not even notice how the loss of focus has become a foundation of sand. The challenge I have been wrestling relates to shifting the church from sand back to the rock. Change is hard and so often our habits dictate our ministry instead of our call. It is hard not to react to what happens inside of our churches and in the culture that surrounds us, but in the end, I think it may all be wind and waves.

Tim Tebow seems to make the news quite a bit and has been a conversation point for years now. Its been interesting as well as nauseating to read, hear and see all of the stuff about this one person, athlete and Christ-follower. I do not know Tim personally nor have I met him. Neither have most of the people who hate him or praise him. I cannot comment much on his character, faith or even maturity and what I would offer in those areas would be based solely on what I see.

What I see is a nice kid who loves Jesus and is eternally hopeful. Good for him. Positive is helpful and good. I also see someone who is not made to be an NFL quarterback and has handled NFL rejection well, but Christian celebrity poorly. The fact that any Christian would continue to not speak out against a fad of kneeling on one knee and calling it ‘tebowing’ when all the young man was doing was praying is sickening as it cheapens prayer and misses the point completely. In even my most cynical moments, that’s the most I could criticize Tim Tebow for personally.

The problem is not Tim Tebow, but the church and equally if not more immature pastors and leaders in the church that seem to worship Tim and talk about him even more than Jesus. I am not sure why there is a need in the church to worship or go crazy over someone who is public about their faith. There are arguments for and against both public and private expression of faith. I can value both perspectives while holding my own. What I find frustrating is this notion of Christian celebrity and the churches unfiltered praise and worship of it. It does not seem to make sense to me, particularly from a theological perspective. I think the church is doing itself, its people, Tim Tebow and the general public a disservice by paying so much attention to sound bites and Christian celebrity and so little attention to theological reflection.

Just one guys opinion…

It has been a crazy season of change and transition, which had made it hard to blog yet very easy to reflect. It is amazing how much we can hear from the Holy Spirit when we choose to listen. Its been a season of learning so much that has been so wonderfully transformative.

One of the theological thoughts/concepts that has come to mind quite a bit lately has to do with the rescuing and redeeming character qualities of Christ. Certainly we know this from the cross, the many miracles and our own experiences of salvation and life. I have experienced a lot of rescue and redemption as of late, as has my family. Its been a season of consistent reminders that God takes the good, the bad and the mundane and makes it new, great and powerful. I have watched many friends and colleagues who have experienced hard times, or just times lacking joy, peace and full use of their gifts be rescued and redeemed. I have had some conversations with some other friends, colleagues and even strangers this week and have found great joy in sharing these other stories of rescue and redemption. I am constantly reminded and am constantly reminding other that the next thing is better than the last. God has so much in store for each of our lives, our one great brave act is to trust!

The truth is that I have always loved these character qualities of Christ, but have not always trusted in them as I should. I am hoping this recent season changes me so that I am not forgetting and needing a reminder more often than necessary in life.

God is good!

A quote from Richard Rohr:

We grow spiritually much more by doing it wrong than by doing it right. That might just be the central message of how spiritual growth happens; yet nothing in us wants to believe it, and those who deem themselves “morally successful” are often the last to learn it….

This is a great quote that a friend and colleague posted today. It has certainly rang true in my own life. As I embrace a season of transition, I am reflecting on what has gone wrong so that I might grow and make it right. I also think of the story of the Prodigal son and his failure (as well as the older brothers failure) and the growth that came in that experience.

It is consistent with the message of discipleship from Jesus…if anyone would follow me they must deny themselves, take up their cross daily and follow me. It resonates with the words of Martin Luther; that ‘everything is hidden and revealed in the shadow of the cross.’

It also reminds me of one of my spiritual heroes who passed away recently, Brennan Manning. My favorite book of his (and my overall favorite book) is the Ragamuffin Gospel. We are all ragamuffins and we all fail. Its what we do with our failure that counts. God is out to redeem all things and its in the things that we do wrong that I believe some of the most meaningful redemption is found.

Below is an interesting quote that I read in a book recently. It speaks to leadership, but it also speaks to a theology of authenticity…

“The more you tell the truth about yourself…the more effective your leadership will become, the more you will develop a true leading character.” Bill Hybels

I love this quote because it is a succinct way to point out that authentic leadership is more effective than inauthentic leadership. Unfortunately, authenticity has become lost in most churches, especially amongst Pastors and staff. Whether rooted in an older theology of not showing yourself to your congregation for fear that it might hurt them or out of a newer fear rooted in the corporate mindset of the church that often uses authenticity against its staff, the inauthentic leader is not an effective one. We look of course to the scripture and Jesus and see the power and value of authenticity, especially from the last supper until his death.

What is most interesting about this quote to me is the way in which Hybels ties authenticity to character (in leadership and in general from the way I read it). I never thought about authenticity in terms of character, which is odd because it makes complete sense. I suppose I had tied authenticity to integrity and of course integrity is intimately related to character.

The issue of authenticity is one that I am passionate about. So much so that I recognize my bias in this area. Authenticity in leadership is certainly a spectrum and I know that I lean towards being too authentic rather than not authentic enough. I have to be careful about my bias, but my general feeling is that authenticity is something that the American church needs to rediscover.

Below is an article written for Connections Magazine…

Modeling Covenant to our Kids

Rev. Marcus J Carlson

After earning my Masters in Theology, I decided to attend a nearby seminary to take courses for my Masters of Divinity Equivalent. In choosing to attend this seminary, I knew the theology of the seminary was not necessarily similar to my own, but I also believed I could maintain my integrity while attending this particular institution. Soon there were many experiences that made it very obvious that the theology of this institution was dramatically different than my own, one of which came in a class on weddings and funerals. There were around 50 participants in the class. In the first session, we discussed what we believed marriage to be theologically. Of the professors, teaching assistants and students (40-50 people total) only three of us believed marriage to be a covenant. Furthermore, we were the only ones to believe marriage had anything to do with God at all. It did not take me long to decide to drop this course.

This incident is something that has stuck with me for years and has served as a powerful reminder of the significance of covenant. We have lost sight of covenant in the world today, both in culture and in the church. Instead, we approach things in a transactional, consumeristic, business-minded way. The state of marriage in the United States (both inside and outside the church) is concerning as many view it as a dying institution. Herein lies the problem: marriage was never meant to be an institution. Marriage is meant to be a relational covenant that is more about God than the married participants. While marriage makes the individual husband and wife stronger and creates a new, united flesh and spirit, marriage should not be limited to its human impact. There are varying definitions of covenant. It is often treated as a contract that has the support of God, but this view is limited. We see covenant modeled throughout the scripture. Covenant starts with God and it is not at all a contract. It is not something that we earn, nor is it about our performance. Covenant is rooted in the character and nature of God and his presence in our life. Covenant is about relationship. Mike Breen in his book Covenant and Kingdom discusses covenant in a particular way, yet his definition and characterization of covenant applies to marriage as well. Breen sees covenant in terms of our relationship with God as well as our relationship with everyone else. For Breen, there are three essential elements of covenant: ‘the fatherhood of God, identity and obedience.’ These three are linked as the fatherhood of God reminds us that our identity flows from our relationship with God and obedience is simply consistently living out our identity in Christ. As I think about marriage, it is clear that marriage is about the character and nature of God first and foremost. Marriage as a covenant is rooted in who Christ is and not who the individuals in the married couple are. Honoring the marriage covenant, God, one another and the one flesh that you have become is simply an expression of who we are in Christ Jesus.

Marriage is not easy. Very few valuable and transformative things are. Relationships are messy and difficult. While we crave and need community, we struggle to understand what it means to live in community, especially in the midst of difficulty and disagreement. The average age of marriage is increasing and fewer couples are choosing to get married. Divorce rates are consistently identical inside and outside of the church and many marriages (inside and outside of the church) are dead if not toxic. We have lost sight of the meaning, power and importance of covenant. Covenant requires us to look outside of ourselves to Christ. Covenant requires us to find a way to build a relationship of deepening commitment and love in the midst of the joy, suffering and mundane seasons of life together. While it is much easier to walk away from community than it is to commit to it, we are called to the harder covenant task, especially in marriage.

While there are challenges to marriage, at its core marriage is much more a gift than it is a challenge. Covenant may be difficult, but covenant is ultimately not about us nor is it something we are meant to do alone. The gift of covenant is that it connects us to God and one another. It forces us to rely on God and to look to him for our identity. We do not have to make it work; we have to become more like Christ so that it will work no matter what we experience. In the covenant of marriage both husband and wife can grow closer to God and one another. Each can begin to discover aspects of their identity in Christ that they would have not found without this amazing covenant gift of marriage.

We need a renewal of covenant in our lives, our marriages, our homes, our families and our churches. This renewal begins with us. The greatest gift of marriage to future generations is that it can be the powerful model of what healthy, Christ-centered covenant can be to our children. One of the things I wrestle with frequently as a parent is modeling healthy Christian community to my children. I am not talking about sterile, perfect community, but rather authentic, honest, Christ-centered community. In marriage we experience moments of great joy and moments of deep pain. Marriage is riddled with success, failure, love, hurt, pain, joy, blessing, challenge, growth and community. The marriage covenant models Christian community to our children as they watch and walk with us as we try to live out this great covenant call. Our children have the opportunity to see us succeed and fail as we try to walk with Christ in the good, the bad, the beautiful, the ugly and the mundane. Our families can walk together in all of life’s moments and experiences in a way that is focused on our identity in Christ and our covenant relationship with God and one another. In marriage and family life we can figure out together what it means to live in community, be focused on Christ and committed to one another while focused on love.

It is time to reclaim covenant and to live our lives in our marriages, our families and our churches in a way that models the kind of community that Christ died for. In living in covenant relationship with one another, we can model a different way of living for our children and grandchildren that will change them as well as the world.

Below is an article written for Connections Magazine on the tragedy in Newtown…

Lessons from Newtown

Rev. Marcus J Carlson

There are very few moments in my lifetime I will never forget. Many of them are personal; some of them are communal. I will never forget my wedding day. I can still envision the moment each of my children were born. I will not likely forget my ordination or many other important events in my life. I will also never forget the day the shuttle Challenger exploded or the Berlin Wall came down. I will always remember where I was on September 11, 2001 when I heard the news. Living in Colorado Springs, I will never, ever forget the Waldo Canyon fire that devastated our community. I won’t soon forget the shootings that have plagued the state in which I currently live, the shooting at Columbine and the Aurora theatre shootings. I will also never forget the very moment I learned of the shooting in Connecticut.

In the wake of the tragedy in Newtown, CT, we all find ourselves impacted. Those of us who have been given the great gift and call of being parents have another reaction as well. As I watched the news, I thought first of my own children, my son Micah who is in second grade and my daughter Abigail who is in kindergarten. I thought especially of Abby’s class and the joy of volunteering in the room of over 20 joyful young children. I could not help but to imagine and think ‘what if.’ I wanted to go and get my kids from school right away, not to rescue them, but to be with them. I cannot say I have ever hugged my children as hard as I did that night. I won’t soon forget the conversation I had with them both about the tragedy or watching the news with my son as we processed this tragic event. I know Jesus mourns with us, and there are more questions than answers. I wonder what kind of emotions struck the disciples as Jesus went to the cross. I begin to feel their pain, our pain and my pain once again.

We do not live in the most encouraging of times. Life often feels a lot more like Good Friday than it does Easter. While everything has changed, some things will never change. Suffering is a reality of life that will exist until we are either called home or Jesus comes again to reclaim all of creation. Reacting against suffering is natural; it is not something we need apologize for. Yet there is a dramatic difference between reacting against suffering and being destroyed by it. While reacting is normal, very few reactions are healthy in the long term. As I listened to and read the news, watched the debates as to the cause of this tragedy unfold in coffee shops and social media, I too was tempted to get caught up in the debate. After some careful reflection I realized the debate was moot. I cannot imagine a parent who has lost a child in such a painful way wanting to argue about gun control or video games as he or she tried to muddle through the first Christmas without my precious son or daughter.

Herein lies one of the major faults of our society today; we choose blame and fear over hope and redemption. Neither of these qualities have anything to do with the Easter story, the Gospel message or the Kingdom narrative. We all know Good Friday is not the end of the story, neither is the tragedy in Newtown, CT. While searching for answers and seeking someone or something to blame may provide some relief in the short run, it is not the answer. It is not what will bring health and restoration, nor is it at all consistent with the Easter story. While blame might feel good and seem productive, it only serves two ends: to create more fear and division and to relieve us of any ownership or personal responsibility in the situation. Blaming guns, video games, parents, gay marriage or any other object or issue will not change our culture and will not bring health and healing. Blame does not help us to see and experience God’s redemption. Additionally, living in blame is an abdication of responsibility; it prevents us from coming together and finding healing. We cannot look to the government or any other institution to solve our problems. Not only is that not going to work, it is not what we want and need. While answers may provide some level of comfort, answers alone cannot solve the problem. If we as Christ followers continued to spend every Easter blaming Judas, we would miss the joy and hope of the resurrection. Likewise, our blame does not bring hope or healing to the parents and community that need it the most. The first lesson from Newtown as we journey to Easter: focus on God’s redeeming power instead of blame.

When I think about what has changed in the world over my lifetime, I have many different observations. Certainly one of the most passionate observations is that adults are no longer invested in the lives of our children and youth as they once were. Another important observation is we have become a fear-based culture and society. Everything from politics to gas prices has become about fear. When I think of the Newtown tragedy, I cannot help but think of the resulting fearful comments, reactions and behavior. The problems of living in fear and being a culture and society focused entirely on fear are too many to name here in this article. It is certainly not healthy, does not bring healing, and is not at all what God intended for us. In scripture when someone encountered God, the phrase ‘do not be afraid’ was one of the first statements uttered. From Moses to Mary, God reminds us to not be afraid. Living in fear does not leave much room for hope. If we lived as if the soldiers were still looking for Jesus, we would never be able to rejoice in Easter. Easter is about many things, chiefly hope. We cannot live in fear; we must live in hope. We know that even in the midst of great tragedy, there is hope, and it will always be more powerful and life giving than fear. The second lesson from Newtown: hope will always trump fear, but we must choose it.

The band Mumford and Sons accurately point out in their song ‘Awake my Soul’ that ‘where you invest your love, you invest your life.’ I believe the only answer is investing our lives in people around us and not just our family and friends, but our neighbors, churches, schools, communities and the world that God created out of love. If we want things to be different in this world, then we have to be different. Unless we choose to live in hope, seek to build relationships and look for God’s redemptive work, then nothing will change for better. Each one of us must choose to make a difference in the lives of everyone we encounter to prevent another young man from growing up to be a murderer of innocent children. It is going to take the community of faith living out the gospel daily to write a better, kingdom story in the lives of our children so they can live in hope instead of fear. As the precious, innocent children lost in Newtown join with Jesus, I know they would tell us to not be afraid and to live in hope and redemption instead of fear and blame.

Recently I spent a week in California for a required class for my doctoral degree. The class was Greek exegesis. I had to take the course since I avoided language in my Masters degree work. I have always struggled with languages and that is part of the reason I had avoided this class. The class itself was hard, however I thoroughly enjoyed taking it. It was relevant and practical and it caused me to fall more in love with the scriptures. I am so thankful for the scriptures and knowing how to look at the Greek and use the tools has already been a gift.

One of the passages that was discussed in the class was the Great Commission as we have called it. There are no titles in the Greek, so its our invention. It turns out that the word ‘go’ in the Greek is a passive verb. This, for us in the class caused us to wrestle with this passage. No one asserted that the Great Commissions meaning, value or importance changed, instead we consider the idea that the Great Commission is not about traveling out into the world on mission, rather its about each of us making disciples in our daily lives. As we ‘go’ throughout our day, we are called to find a way to make disciples in all of our conversations, interactions etc. It was an encouraging conversation that has me wrestling and desiring to dive into this passage and others more.

Recently one of my friends encouraged me to pray more boldly. Rarely do I offer bold prayers. I am not sure why this is the case as I believe both in God and prayer deeply. Perhaps it’s a lack of trust, a feeling of guilt, a fear of unanswered prayer. Maybe its none of the above. Its quite possible that I forget that God welcomes our bold prayers. The power of God is able to answer both the simple and the bold prayers. The growth for us is not found in whether or not God answers our prayers the way we would like, its found in the willingness to trust and submit to the sovereign God and to follow him with passion and boldness.

Its been said that prayer does not change thing, it changes us. Perhaps in praying boldly we are able to live our faith as well as our daily lives more boldly for Jesus Christ. The scripture is filled with stories of ordinary people, prophets, disciples and others who prayed boldly. These are people that we admire and see as leaders and models of faith. Praying boldly is not that difficult and yet it is also a great challenge. After this conversation with a friend I have recognized that one of the things lacking in my passionate relationship with Jesus is boldness in my prayer. Bold prayer is more than a personal or spiritual act; it’s a theological one. Pray bolding trusting that God is ready and waiting for the prayers he has created in our hearts.