5 Questions
Within my extended blogging circle, there is a trend of people asking each other questions, and using the answers as a blog post. I volunteered to respond to five questions asked by Graham Old of Leaving Münster and Organic Church. Here they are:

1) What are the best and worst things about being a Mennonite?
I could go into a long tirade about just what exactly a Mennonite is, but I'll just say that I see it as being defined by deed (actions), by seed (cultural heritage) and by creed (belief system).
I love the food, language and little quirks of the culture in which I was raised. I love that we have a rich spiritual heritage in our spiritual forebearers, including the insistence on believer's church (adult baptism, intentional community etc.) and pacifism. I love that those historic developments are still integral to who the group is now, and how we act out our presence in this world.
I hate how inherently divisive we are. Church splits are part of our heritage, a part that also continues to be played out currently. I hate that many Mennonites are ashamed of their cultural heritage without realizing the rich spiritual heritage. I hate that people on the whole know little to nothing about Mennonites beyond the Amish stereotypes, and that I have to preface theological discussions with the whole, "no I don't ride a horse and buggy" explanation.

2) Humour seems to be quite important to you. What would you say to the amateur psychologist who says it's because you fear taking yourself too seriously?
I look at an amateur psychologist in the mirror everyday, and sometimes he asks me the same question. Humility is a big part of my upbringing, so self-deprecating humour is me just acting that out. Maybe I need to take myself more seriously and write about deeper stuff, but I honestly think that it would be outside of what the majority of my audience is looking for and outside of what I'm gifted at writing.
Recently, after years of always sitting quietly and attentively through church services, I've started to realize that a lot of it is unnecessarily boring. If I can be funny, I need to. Not so that I can hide the message behind an attractive package, but as a way of showing respect and gratitude to my audience.

3) Who is your hero? And if you say Jesus, I'm telling you now I will fly over there and give you a slap!
I don't have any heroes, whose quotes I have memorized and speeches that I have posted in my office. I admire the early Anabaptists, especially Felix Manz, George Blaurock, Pilgram Marpeck, etc. I love Martin Luther King, and other contemporaries who dealt with modern societal problems. I lost my capacity to look at individuals as super-human beings, but I hope to have replaced it with an ownership of what those individuals did, and thus what I also can do.

4) A young person in your church comes to you and explains that they are struggling with the whole idea of a prayer-life. Their prayers bounce off the ceiling, they get no joy from it and they see no answers. What's the point in their continuing and how would you advise them to do so?
Prayer is a tricky thing. We can expect to go through long periods of feeling little to no response. Many biblical figures as well as contemporary theologians felt the same way. God speaks to us in many ways, not always through direct "kneeling beside the bed" prayer. I'd advise them, and myself, to try different settings and styles of prayer, more listening than talking, honest questions about doubt and discomfort, spoken and thought. There is no set formula of how we are supposed to talk to God or how God speaks to us.
I know that kind of vague response isn't all that comforting to someone who feels distant from God, but connecting with God isn't something that I can for somebody else, as their pastor, it's something that they have to do, and take ownership of.

5) What's the most significant lesson you learnt in 2004?
2004 was my first year as a pastor, so most of my learning came in that area. I've learned about how much people look up to their pastors, and how much they need to look up to their pastor. As much as I'd like to empower them to direct their own spiritual lives, many still need an "authority" figure. I've learned that people don't learn from my sermons/discussions/whatever the things that I expect them to learn, and they don't always learn it when I want them to learn it. That means that I need to remember, or at least be able to discuss something I said months before, because words, especially words from the pulpit, have power, power that needs to be taken seriously.

Thanks Graham for those tough questions.
Now the way this works, is that if you also have a blog and want to participate, just indicate so in a comment to the post, and I will come up with 5 similar type of questions to your situation.

   [ posted by William @ 2:03 PM ]