Embracing irrelevance this Advent

Henri Nouwen’s book In The Name of Jesus names three temptations for Christian leaders based upon the three temptations of Christ. One of the temptations is the need to be relevant. Nouwen says that we need to replace the pursuit of relevance with the pursuit of prayer. So that’s what I’m going to do this Advent. I will share my sermon podcasts each week. But beyond that, no blog and no social media.

It’s very difficult to avoid idolatry when you have a writing vocation. It’s hard to tell the difference between writing what God has called me to write and engaging in an elaborate scheme that is nothing more than platform-building and self-promotion. We have to build platforms and promote ourselves as writers until we get big enough that others are willing to share our writings on our behalf. It is necessary, but it is a necessary sin. When I say that, what I mean is that my soul has been harmed and corrupted by choices that seemed unavoidable in the pursuit of my legitimate vocation. So now I need to go back to my Source and ask Him to restore the original vision.

I’m also very weary of the civil war in United Methodism over the homosexuality issue. I have gotten baited into arguing with other pastors to whom I have no personal connection and thus no appreciation of all the ways in which they embody God’s love to the people in their communities. When I’m focused on life in my local congregation, I am inspired by what God is doing. I do think that larger conversations are necessary and I continue to believe that God has shown me things I’m supposed to share prophetically, but I need to spend a season just listening to Him.

It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to do this a few days after migrating my blog to a self-hosted site. But God told me to give Him my Advent and so that’s what I’m doing. By the way, I apologize to those of you who very faithfully resubscribed to my new blog and then started getting duplicate emails. It turns out the folks at WordPress.com were willing to transfer my subscribers after all. I’m going to write the guy who helped me and ask if he can clean the duplicates out of my list.

One of the things I decided to do is read mostly fiction over Advent. When I read theology books, I feel like I’m doing it too much as a conquistador of knowledge. It’s too much about gathering quotes and ideas I can use for my own advancement. So I need a Sabbath from that to restore a genuine joy in God’s truth. I went to my favorite used bookstore in Durham which is miraculously still open in the day of the Amazon empire. I got 2 Joyce Carol Oates’, 3 John Updike’s, 2 Cormac McCarthy’s, 2 Clyde Edgerton’s, and an Isabel Allende. Bit of a binge I suppose. But I don’t intend to underline or highlight anything. I’m just going to lose myself in these stories.

Something I will be praying about is for God to help me clarify what if anything I’m supposed to do about the book I believe He’s given me to write.
If you’ve got room on your prayer list, I would appreciate your lifting me up as well. I’ve been tossing this book idea around for several years now. I’ve had an enormous sense of urgency about writing it. But I’m wondering if that’s a measure of my immaturity. A lot of other pastors don’t really write their first books till they’ve been at it for a decade or so. Of course everything is different now with the explosion of the evangelical blogosphere. So I need God to show me what He wants. If it’s a word from Him, I will do it. If it’s my own spiritual pride, I just need to take it to the cross.

Thank you for all of your support over the past three years. I would be happy to chat with you over email while I’m off-line if you need prayer or anything else. Blessings to you as we await the coming of our King!