One of the “high points” of a trip to Israel is actually a low point—the Dead Sea. At 1,385 feet below sea level, it is literally the lowest spot on the globe. We had a ball floating in the Dead Sea. Because the Dead Sea has no outlets, all the minerals flowing into it make it, by far, the saltiest body of water in the world. It is 36 times saltier than the ocean. As a result, you can’t sink in the Dead Sea. You just lay back and float.
And as you can see from the picture, it is SUPER relaxing. I think I could have happily floated along in the Dead Sea for an hour or more. That is, until a wave sent water up my nose, and I felt my nostrils burn 36 times worse than they would at Orange Beach. And that’s when I began to think about the fact that we pay a price for floating along so easily. Let me explain in a way that will hopefully give you some things to think about for the church.
First, there’s a reason why it’s called The Dead Sea. One of the reasons I could lay back and relax in this picture is that there is no life in the Dead Sea. Nothing can grow there. That means I never had to worry about sharks or jellyfish. On the other hand, I would never see dolphins at play, or sandpipers scurrying up and down at the waterline. There are no fishermen. No hermit crabs digging in the sand. It may be peaceful, but I think I would prefer some signs of life.
Lesson: We can have a calm, quiet, peaceful church, or we can have a living church. But if we choose life, then we have to accept some disruption and some chaos.
Second, the Dead Sea is dead because nothing flows out of it. While the Jordan River flows into the Dead Sea, nothing flows from it. It has a multitude of resources coming in, but nothing going out. And without an outflow, the minerals pile up and choke out life.
Lesson: The church must be outward focused to stay alive. We can and do have lots of resources coming in to the church. But if there are no outlets for those resources to bless our community, advance the gospel, invite friends, preach the word, and change lives, all the inflowing resources won’t matter. We will die without outflow.
Third: the Dead Sea is Disappearing. As Israel grows, more and more of the Jordan River is being diverted for irrigation, drinking water, and cultivating crops. Add to that the evaporation that happens when a body of water has no outlets, and you have a shrinking body of water. The Dead Sea actually recedes about 4-6 feet every year. Our group could tell the difference from where we were just four years ago. We were nearly 30 feet further away from the water!
Lesson: An inward-focused church will not be around for the next generation. People tend to stop pouring into a church that isn’t pouring out into the community. God is under no obligation to continue to bless a church that does nothing with the gifts He has already given it. Think about the third servant in the parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30).
In the coming months, our church will be looking at some major changes. Staff realignments. Increased scrutiny on policies and procedures related to the safety of our children. Bold requests for budget allocations to help us move into the future. And we have a choice to make. We can either embrace the disruption and chaos that comes with being alive, or we can relax and float along peacefully.
Just remember: “Rest in Peace” is not a mission statement. It’s an epitaph.
I love Vacation Bible School! There’s an excitement and an energy around the church that simply cannot be duplicated any other time of the year. And I am so thankful for the countless hours of preparation that go into every facet of it. Leslie Whaley, you are a rock star leading rock stars, and I appreciate you and your team so much.
That was one of the favorite songs of the minister of music at the church where I grew up. And there were so many times over the past two weeks when the words to that song came alive to me. Whether it was walking on paving stones that were over two thousand years old, kneeling in the Garden of Gethsemane, walking down the hill from the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem, or standing in the bottom of the cistern underneath Caiphas’s house, something profound happens to your spirit when you walk in the footsteps of Jesus.
Every year since 1989, the President of the United States grants an official pardon to one lucky turkey. It had been an on-again, off-again ceremony up to that point. Truman did it in 1947. JFK did in 1963, three days before he was assassinated. But with George H.W. Bush, it became the annual tradition that it is now.
Blame it on the eyepatch. Vision (or the lack of it) has been on my mind a lot lately. Ever since last Wednesday, when I left the office for lunch and immediately saw all these black specks, floaters, cobwebs, and hairballs in my field of vision, I’ve been thinking a lot about vision. What if I lose it? Even after the laser surgery to repair the torn retina, I’ve been worried that the cloudiness in my left eye might not clear up? What if I have to wear this silly eye patch long term? How long will Glynwood tolerate a pastor who looks like an extra for Pirates of the Caribbean?
You’ve heard the phrase, “It’s time to pay the piper.” There’s some dispute on the origin of the phrase. One theory is that it comes from the story of the Pied Piper, who was promised payment by the village of Hamelin to get rid of all the rats in the village by playing them a tune. When the village refused to pay, the piper lured all their children away with the same tune. (I guess the moral of the story is that children and rodents are both attracted by the same things). Another source says the saying comes from the practice of paying the musicians at the end of a gig. If you enjoyed dancing to the music, there comes a time to pay the piper.
Teach us to number our days carefully
As I write this, I am reflecting on our first day together. What an amazing time of worship we had on Sunday! Guys, there were a lot of people here. I mean, a lot. I know that there were a lot of people who were just kind of test driving the new guy, but here’s the thing: we need to expect new people. We need to expect lost people. Not because we have a new pastor, but because we have a Savior who has come to “seek and to save that which was lost.” (