Defeating the Dragon and Routing the Monster

In yesterday’s blog I suggested that naming the dragon was half the battle in defeating it, and that naming the monster under the bed gave us some level of control over it rather than it controlling us.

It is a fair question to ask,  “Okay, Smart Guy, how do we defeat the dragon and rout the monster?” I admit, it is not as easy as Gandalf declaring to the Balrog, “You shall not pass.” We  have to remember that even though the Balrog did not cross the bridge and fell into the pit of flames, Gandalf the Gray also fell into the flames, but later appeared as Gandalf the White. Engaging the dragon or monster in a quest to defeat it places us in peril. Where do we find the courage to accept the potential peril and to engage the dragon/monster?

I have no where else to turn than to the sacred writings of my tradition. I am not the first, nor will I be the last, to look for encouragement upon entering the battle with the dragon or monster which I most fear. Encourage is an interesting word. Originating from Fifteenth Century old French it means to make or put into the heart courage. (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=encourage).  We think of the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz who lacked courage. Here are some places where I typically find the courage to take on the dragons/monsters which frighten me.

First, the whole thirty first chapter of Deuteronomy is one of my mainstays. The forty years in the wilderness is nearly over for the Hebrew people. Their temporal leader, Moses, is giving his farewell address. He is fully aware of the fear and anxiousness of the people. In verse six Moses declares, Be strong and bold (courageous); have no fear or dread of them, because it is the Lord your God who goes with you; the Almighty will not fail you or forsake you. To engage my personal dragons and monsters and the dragons and monsters in the world, I have to believe there is a higher power who has me covered.

The second is very much the same, Joshua 1:9. The Lord God is commissioning Joshua to take over as the leader before crossing the Jordan, I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. For those of us in leadership, whether in secular or ecclesiastical settings, in one way or another we too have been commissioned to our role. If the people we lead are to be strong and courageous, we have to be courageous, not because we are so physically, emotionally, intellectually, or spiritually better than others, but because we believe the Lord our God is with us wherever we go. That doesn’t mean we believe the flaming sword of the Lord will clear the way for us, but that we are not alone as we engage the dragons and monsters.

Thirdly is Ephesians 6:10-18, Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. This armor is not the heavy, bulky armor Saul wanted David to wear in his confrontation with the giant Goliath. Physical armor is useless in the battle with dragons and monsters (rulers, authorities, cosmic powers, spiritual forces of evil). We need not be naked and defenseless when we take on the dragons and monsters.

Lastly, is Romans 8:37-39,  …. I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Oh, we like Gandalf, when we take our stand against the dragons and monsters of our life and in the world and declare, “You shall not pass,” may die with the Balrog. However, death is not the last word. As Jesus was raised from the dead, so too shall we be raised with him.

That is where, whether in my own life, in the church or in the world, I find the courage to engage the dragons and monsters.

The Monster Under the Bed

What frightens you most? Death? Living? Being incapacitated? Being penniless? The list could go on ad infinitum. But deep down in your being what frightens you most?

Until we can name what frightens us the most we are a slave to avoiding it. We will do whatever we can to avoid confronting our greatest fear. Somewhere I once read that half of the battle in killing a dragon is naming it. The unknown, unnamed, is far more fearsome than that to which we can attach a name. One of the most horrible parts of being seriously ill is not having a diagnosis, a name, for the illness. Without a name our imagination runs wild.  Knowing the name takes away the mystery, the foreboding.

There is not a person alive, who is not frightened by something. It might be the boogie man or the monster under the bed. One ploy to help children when they are frightened by the unseen, the unknown, the projected, is to give it a name. If the monster under the bed is named Harry. Harry becomes a lot less frightening. Then we can address the monster under the bed directly. We can read to Harry the children’s book written for frustrated parents by Adam Mansbach. Naming the monster under the bed gives us a level of power over that which frightens us.

To say nothing frightens us is to be less than honest with ourself, at best. Those who proclaim that nothing frightens them are most vulnerable to be taken totally unaware at the worst possible time, frozen in place and having wet their pants. They have no name for that which frightens them and are easy prey.

This is the season for graduation from academic, professional, military, religious  and other institutions designed to prepare us for the “real world.” The graduates, all spit shined and full of themselves, confidently set out to make a place for themselves and to conquer the world. Oh, if they only had some idea of the ravenous wolves and lurking dragons which await just around  the corner. Some may be a little scared, but most do not know enough, have not experienced enough, to be truly frightened. Have we failed them in not being brutally honest with them about that which awaits them and which frightens us?

The best thing we can do is to acknowledge what frightens us and sharing the name we have given it. Life is not all Disneyland. If we (those who are to be mentors, coaches, and leaders of these newly minted graduates) constantly act like we have our stuff together and that nothing frightens us are we not passing on our dishonestly to those who will one day take our place?

Let’s quit kidding ourselves. We all have a monster or dragon which frightens us in our deepest being. Let us have the courage to name it and to take a modicum of control over it. Let us model an authentic life rather than hiding our fears only to be enslaved to the monster under the bed.

Spending and Being Spent

Every organism and organization has a life cycle. There is birth and death for every finite thing including the congregation which is near and dear to our heart. Martin F. Saarinen, writing for the Alban Institute, describes the congregational life cycle. http://s3.amazonaws.com/mychurchwebsite/c3935/lifecycleofacongregation.pdf. We do not like to think of our own death. We are a death denying culture. This is accepted as truth in many scholarly venues as http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6729531.

We act like we and everything will, or should, last forever. Even when one has experienced cardiac arrest we count on doctors and medical apparatus to get the heart beating again. When we perceive our congregation is on a path toward death we count on a redevelopment specialist to bring new life. In the life of a congregation we do not recognize how far we are on the path of death until it is too late to resuscitate it back to life.

In many instances in our own life, and in the life of our congregation, we contribute to a premature death. Individually and collectively we are too sedentary, eat the wrong foods, fail to keep mentally alert, and rust out long before we would wear out. I just listened to a podcast which dealt with dying congregations (which I believe would also apply to denominations). Carey Nieuwhof was interviewing Thom Rainer. Rainer has written a book entitled Autopsy of a Deceased Church: 11 Things I Learned. I encourage you to listen to the podcast. (http://careynieuwhof.com/2015/05/episode36/)

Most of what Rainer learned is congregations hasten the death spiral by becoming inwardly focused. He suggests this can be easily tracked in a review of the church budget over the course of several past years. The congregation which spends more on itself and meeting the desires of the membership than it does in local and world mission is a dying church. Dave Ramsey, among others, says the congregation’s budget clearly indicates it priorities. http://www.daveramsey.com/blog/church-budgeting-who-sees-the-numbers/ Jesus says much the same thing in Matthew 6:21, Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

If we want our congregations to find new life we have to look beyond “saving our congregation” to proclaiming and demonstration the Gospel beginning in our communities. If the congregation were to disappear tomorrow who would miss it and why would they miss it? If the only ones who would miss our congregation are its members, the congregation is far down the path to death. What is the congregation known for in the community? A congregation I once served was known in the community as “old, rich, doing nothing and dying.” OUCH! We tried to turn that around, and made some progress, but it didn’t happen overnight. The final gasp of the congregation may not come for some time, but the death of an inwardly focused congregation is fast approaching.

Spending and being spent on behalf of others brings life to self and to our congregations. For whom are you and your congregation being spent? What was it Jesus said? For whosoever shall desire to save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it. (Darby Bible Translation, Matthew 16:25, http://biblehub.com/matthew/16-25.htm )