A Heart for the Future

In the final chapter of You Only Have to Die: Leading Your Congregation to New Life, Jim Harnish puts the finishing touches on his thoughts about congregational cardiology. He highlights the prayer of Dag Hammarskjold from his book Markings:

For all that has been--Thanks!
For all that shall be--Yes!

These two lines, Harnish contends, describe "the essence of living a healthy, faithful life"(p. 179).

When Jim Harnish faced the very real possibility of his own death, he was not overwhelmed with a sense of fear but rather one of gratitude for the life he had been given to live and the people with whom he had been privileged to share it. He found himself singing with the psalmist, "The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; I have a goodly heritage" (Psalm 16:6).

I must admit that I do not do as good a job of giving thanks for all that has been or looking forward to what will be. It is all too common for me to remember--and dwell on--my failures, faults, and foibles. I tend to downplay or dismiss whatever has gone well and to highlight whatever has gone poorly--or disastrously!

Jim Harnish reminds us that no individual or congregation has an unblemished record of success, effectiveness, or accomplishment. "In each generation," he writes, "there have been high moments of great vision and growth and there have been moments of disappointment and near despair"(p. 181).

One of the challenges in today's settings is that there are people and congregations "with tin hearts, rusted shut. They live as if they have more yesterdays than tomorrows"(p. 182). They live, in a word, as if they had never heard the good news of the risen Christ.

But the church is called "to bear witness to hope that is grounded in our faith in God." At the heart of the church's life "is the word of life that is found only when we are willing to die for the right things"(p. 183).

And then Harnish points to Abraham, who is essentially the patron saint for all who think that they are too old, too feeble, or too worn out! The "visionary faith" of Abraham (and Sarah, as it turned out) "holds onto the promise of God even when every human reality seems to be stacked against it, confident that God will accomplish what God has promised"(p. 184).

Harnish summarizes the work of Hyde Park Church--and every congregation--with these words:

"Our work is to do everything in our power to use the resources of the past to energize the congregation in the present and to build into the ongoing life of this congregation those processes of healthy, spiritual growth that will prepare it for ministry in the future"(p. 184).

Here at First United Methodist Church, we have a ways to go for that to become a reality. I believe that we clearly have resources of (and from) the past that are of continuing value. We are working--though not yet systematically--to energize the congregation right now. We need to develop and build into the life of the congregation processes that will lead to "healthy, spiritual growth."

Harnish brings his book to a close with a "word of joy." It is the kind of experience that comes not with an easy road but a hard one. It is the kind of joy that has in it the reality of the cross. It may call us to take a different direction than others prefer to take. It may require us to speak words, even in love, that call people to accountability rather than simply to confirm their existing point of view.

On the way to joy, paradoxically enough, we experience pain. "Just because we're trying to do the right thing," Harnish notes, "doesn't mean that we won't experience pain"(p. 187). Growth and change, however well intended and needed, will bring with it a measure of discomfort and even pain. Most of us, myself included, prefer to take a path that avoids pain, but "pain is an inevitable part of growth"(p. 188). The cross teaches us "that the only place of healing is the place of pain"(p. 188). We have to experience Good Friday, in other words, before we can truly experience Easter.

In the last paragraph of the closing chapter, Harnish writes:

"Looking back across the journey we've taken, I can say that the new life that continues to emerge from the process is more than worth the price that was paid. The pain of the difficult years has already been totally overbalanced by the joy of seeing the new life that God is bringing forth among us. The path of obedience always leads to joy! For God's sake, for your congregation's sake, for your own sake, don't settle for anything less!"(p. 190)

May we at First United Methodist Church do no less in our continuing journey! And may we experience the joy that comes from what God has done, is doing, and will yet do among us!

Habits for a Healthy Heart

"Habits for a Healthy Heart" is the focus for the twelfth chapter in You Only Have to Die: Leading Your Congregation to New Life, written by Jim Harnish. Cardiac intervention--whether for an individual or a congregation--is not simply a one-time event. It is "an ongoing process of heart transformation that never ends"(p. 167).

In our spiritual lives, it is the "ongoing work of the Spirit of God in the deepest part of our being"(pp. 168-69). It is our participation in the process "dying and rising" with Christ by which we are shaped more and more into the likeness of Jesus Christ himself. It is the process of what John Wesley called "sanctification."

At Hyde Park United Methodist Church, the work of transformation continues. This initially obligated them to focus on who they were and what they were called to be. Once clarity was reached in this area, the question became how they can best fulfill their mission "in the constantly changing realities of the community and world" and how they "grow in obedience to the way and will of Christ"(p. 170).

In response to the question of how a congregation maintains "a healthy heart for the long haul," Harnish invites us "to go back to the model of vibrant, healthy, Spirit-energized congregational life recorded in the book of Acts"(p. 170). Passages of particularly importance are Acts 2:43-47 and Acts 4:32-33.

Common Mission. The early church had a clear sense of purpose and direction. To be sure, there were disagreements, misunderstandings, and differences of opinion along the way. At the center of their life, however, was a common mission, "a clear sense of why the church was there: to give testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus"(p. 171).

At Hyde Park, their common mission is summarized in the phrase, "Making God's Love Real." For us at First United Methodist Church, it might well be a line from our Litany of Hospitality, "You are welcome here." However the mission may be stated, there needs to be "clarity of conviction and respect for differences"(p. 172).

Common Discipline. The early church's life together was a "day by day" experience, taking shape through shared disciplines. As Harnish reminds us, "there is simply no way for new life in Christ to take tangible form in our experience without shared common discipline"(p. 173). These include:

• The discipline of worship. They discovered at Hyde Park that this discipline has two interwoven dimensions. One is "corporate discipline for gathered worship," and the other is "the personal discipline of spiritual formation and prayer"(p. 173). Each is vital and necessary.
  

• The discipline of education. The biblical core of shared life at Hyde Park Church is the intensive study of scripture, primarily through DISCIPLE Bible study but also in a variety of other ways. Their discovery was that "when people are united around the Scripture, God transforms their lives"(p. 174).
  

• The discipline of caring. Caring for other people in "tangible and practical ways" is critical for a church that wants to be healthy. And this is more than pastoral visitation. It is also the ministry of the laity expressing the love of God for one another.

• The discipline of witness and service. Faith isn't really faith until we give it away, or "until it takes form in giving ourselves to others through practical forms of witness and service"(pp. 174-175).

These four elements define, for Hyde Park Church, the "common discipline" that sustains them in a "healthy spiritual life." It would be hard to argue otherwise!

Common Generosity. The final dimension of the life of the early church is their remarkable generosity. It is common only in the sense that it is shared among all members of the community. Otherwise, it is entirely an "uncommon" generosity.

There was in the early church a form of "communal economics" that did not last very long and which has never been realized on a large scale. However, as Harnish points out, there was underneath this economy "a common level of generosity, a profound awareness that nothing we own belongs to us"(p. 175).

A congregation that is sustained in ministry for the long term is one that is committed to disciplined giving, including the biblical discipline of tithing, and to "warmhearted generosity that is something like the extravagant generosity of God"(p. 176).

Uncommon Power of God. Harnish concludes his chapter on "Habits for a Healthy Heart" by pointing beyond common mission, discipline, and generosity to the "uncommon power of the Spirit of God." There should be in every congregation, he points out, something that "cannot be explained by anything other than the power of the Spirit of God"(p. 176). It is that spirit which takes "all of our human efforts and does something with them that goes beyond our human ability to predict, plan, or control"(p. 176).

At First United Methodist Church, we are still discovering, discerning, and deciding God's purpose and direction for us. I believe that we have begun to settle on "You Are Welcome Here" as a bedrock principle. We have not yet begun to explore all that this means, but it is certainly an excellent starting point.

As we begin to explore and understand what "welcome" truly means, the disciplines outlined in this chapter will serve us well. Whatever decision we make about our "core purpose," we need to be engaged in worship, education, caring, witness and service. Each of these disciplines needs to be oriented to the "core purpose" of our life together, and each needs to be coordinated with and supportive of others. Along with this, we need to move toward shared leadership in each of these areas rather than letting things fall primarily if not exclusively on the staff.

We are blessed, I believe, with a generous congregation--not a wealthy one but a generous one. One of our challenges is to extend, increase, and expand that circle of generosity so that more and more people come to experience the genuine joy of giving and the work we do together is sustained more dependably.

Worship That Goes to the Heart

"Worship that goes to the heart" is the eleventh chapter in Jim Harnish's book, You Only Have to Die: Leading Your Congregation to New Life. Harnish begins the chapter with a statement of truth about every one of us, namely that "we have an innate and inescapable need to worship." The question, as he clearly points out, "is not whether we will worship, but what, whom, and how we will worship"(p. 143).

We are sometimes tempted to put our ultimate trust in something other than God, perhaps "economic power" or "military might." On a personal level, we may choose to give highest priority to our careers, our families, our possessions, or our desires. However, there is a "soul-hunger" that can be met only by "a living, loving, growing relationship with God"(p. 145).

That is--or at least should be--the focus of worship, regardless of our viewpoints about methods or styles. What really matters is "not whether our services are traditional or contemporary but why we do what we do and what we hope God will do in the lives of people through our worship"(p. 146).

Harnish uses the experience of Moses with God at the burning bush (Exodus 3:1-15) as the focus for "the kind of worship that goes to the heart"(p. 146). There are four key challenges:

1. Open Your Eyes: Worship Cultivates Awareness. The beginning point in the story was when Moses "turn[ed] aside" to look at the sight of a bush that was burning yet not burned up. In worship, we are called to "turn aside from the distractions of our lives and open our eyes to see what God is doing around us"(p. 147).
   
2. Take Off Your Shoes: Worship Ignites Awe. Moses was instructed to "take off his shoes," since he was standing on holy ground. There needs to be something about how we do worship that "ought to warm our hearts and make us tingle in our bones"(p. 149).
   
3. Listen for the Cry: Worship Energizes Compassion. The voice out of the burning bush recounted God's compassion toward his people in Egypt, God's knowledge of their suffering and God's desire to deliver them. Worship centered in the love of God in Christ "will break our hearts with the things that break the heart of God"(pp. 149-50).
4. Get Up and Go: Worship Motivates Ministry. Moses' experience at the burning bush ended with God's direction for him to "get up and go," something he was initially unwilling to do for reasons that made perfect sense to him. As we share in authentic worship, we are also called to "get up and go" in order to engage in genuine ministry.

Having identified these four challenges, Harnish goes on to share some of the ways they are fulfilling their mission of "Making God's Love Real" at Hyde Park United Methodist Church.

• First, we make God's love real through worship that glorifies God. "Glory," as exemplified in the transfiguration of Jesus, is critical. Worship needs to embody, express, and exemplify a measure of mystery and wonder and not rely just on the rational and intellectual.
  
• Second, we make God's love real through worship that celebrates our faith. Here the critical concepts are "celebrate" and "faith." In worship, we are called genuinely to celebrate the gift of God in Jesus Christ, which is expressed in "the note of celebration, the shout of praise, the thrill of laughter, the rhythm of joy"(p. 157). We celebrate the faith, not as something amorphous, vague, or indistinct but as "the faith that has been handed down to across the generations, the faith that is expressed in the historic creeds of the church"(. 157).
  
• Third, we make God's love real through worship that invites others to faith in Christ. Worship needs to "invite and involve" persons into a relationship with Jesus Christ--either for the first time or more deeply. These needs to be purposeful rather than accidental, intentional rather than inadvertent, regular rather than sporadic.
  

The remainder of the chapter presents the "new worship planning model" in place at Hyde Park United Methodist Church. The chapter closes with the statement that,

"It's not really about us; it's about God's great love made real among us in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and about finding the most effective way to draw people into an experience of that love. It's about getting ourselves out of the way so that God can do something in and through us that will transform and heal our hearts"(p. 166).

There is much in this particular chapter that resonates with me in our setting here at First United Methodist Church. I like to think that worship is something that we do reasonably well, perhaps even approaching excellent now and again. But we do not have a clear sense of what we seek to accomplish in worship, and we currently do not have a coherent process for planning, implementing, or assessing our worship.

Our Worship and Music Ministry Team has not met for nearly a year because there is no lay person willing to provide leadership. Those who have been part of this team continue to carry on their particular functions, but we do not have a coherent sense of where we are going or what we are doing. Perhaps ironically, our average worship attendance for the current year is up from where it was a year ago! However, it is undoubtedly misleading to read too much into that statistical comparison.

There have been some significant transitions in how we do worship in the last year, including a greater use of praise choruses and songs and the singing of praise music at the beginning of our second service. However, we have not (yet) moved to what some have called a "full blown" praise service. I am encouraged by the energy associated with the "Third Service" that is planned to begin on May 31, the Day of Pentecost, as a primarily lay led worship experience every Sunday evening.

I continue to wrestle privately with the number of persons, including elected church leaders, who do not routinely or regularly participate in the worship of the congregation. It continues to be my conviction that public, corporate worship is an essential factor in our growth in faith.

I particularly like Harnish's description of worship as grounded in Moses' experience with God at the burning bush. I pray that our worship experience here at First United Methodist Church may help all of us

• Open our eyes, as worship cultivates awareness of God's presence;
• Take off our shoes (figuratively speaking!), as worship ignites awe;
• Listen for the cry of those in need, as worship energizes compassion; and
• Get up and go--in the name of Jesus, as worship motivates ministry.

Doing a New Thing

"Doing a New Thing" is the focus for the tenth chapter of You Only Have to Die: Leading Your Congregation to New Life, written by Jim Harnish. To his credit, he doesn't start with the old adage that the "Seven Last Words of the Church" are "We Never Did It That Way Before." Instead, he begins with a story of the inveterate opposition toward changing the color of the "red trousers" worn by the French military in World War I.

Despite all that commended such a change, time and tradition were against it, and so French soldiers continued to wear clothing that led to their destruction and death. It was, Harnish writes, "an historic example of the tension between tradition and change, taste and function, mission and method; between something old and something new"(p. 128).

Jesus himself, of course, faced the same tension. There was "the old way of Hebrew tradition," and there was the new reality of "the coming of God's reign in Jesus"(p. 128). That tension was experienced in different ways in Jesus' ministry.

One time, sitting at table with "tax collectors and sinners," Jesus was challenged--albeit indirectly--by the Pharisees about such conduct. Rather than give in to the conventional practice of avoiding such people, Jesus claimed the witness of Hosea that God desired mercy rather than sacrifice(Matthew 9:10-13) And thus Harnish asks of us, pointedly enough,

"How much of your congregation's tradition are you willing to change in order to welcome new people into the kingdom of God?
Does your congregation have a passion for welcoming spiritually hungry people to the table of God's mercy the way Matthew invited that crowd to his dinner party?"(p. 129)

Right now, I think that the jury is out on both questions. There are times when I am encouraged about our willingness to welcome new people. At other times, discouragement is the order of the day, as we seem unable or unwilling to welcome others unless they meet our expectations and standards.

Harnish goes on to highlight the story of John Wesley, who was originally "a prim, proper little Anglican priest who was convinced that the gospel could only be preached in a consecrated pulpit in the Church of England"(p. 130). But, Wesley's heart--and life--were transformed, first by his Aldersgate experience on May 24, 1738, and then by accepting the invitation to preach outdoors--where the people were--"to poor people and coal miners"(p. 130).

Harnish goes on from there to lift up the "critical question" for those of us in mainline denominations--like The United Methodist Church. That is, are we willing "to change our methods in order to fulfill our mission--specifically, the mission of sharing the love of God in Christ with people who have not yet experienced it?"(p. 130).

Harnish's concern is that we seem to have "lost a passion for sharing the love of God in Christ with spiritually searching people in their communities and . . . finding ways to engage those persons in a process of discipleship that will equip them to become the agents of God's love in the world"(p. 131).

Those are strong words, but not inaccurate ones. At First United Methodist Church, we are generally willing to receive--and more or less accept--those who make their way to us and insist on finding a place among us. But we do not have a process of discipleship in place, either for them or for those already here. Nor do have methods in place to equip them--or those already here--to fulfill their particular ministry in the world.

Harnish spends the rest of this chapter outlining how the process of how change happened at Hyde Park United Methodist Church in Tampa, Florida. Told that the leadership of the congregation "wanted the church to grow," he responded that the real question was "whether we are willing to make the kind of changes that might make growth possible"(p. 131). That was threatening--but accurate--thing to ask.

It took eighteen months at Hyde Park for them to answer the key questions, "Who are we? and Why are we here?" Then they focused on the questions, "What are we to do? What kind of ministries and programs would best accomplish that mission?"(p. 135). The goals that they established were in the areas of:

• Worship, with a commitment both to "the liturgical tradition of the Methodist-Anglican branch of the Protestant Reformation" and to "new, creative, and exciting alternatives in music and worship . . ."(p. 135);
• Education, with "a strong program of Christian education for all ages and for a wide variety of people"(p. 136);
• Caring Ministries, with the expression of "the Spirit of Christ in caring and compassionate ministries within and through our congregation"(p. 137); and
  
• Witness and Service, implemented by "drawing uncommitted persons to Jesus Christ and by being in ministry to the needs of our city and our world"(p. 138).

Harnish wraps up this chapter by sharing several lessons that he has learned:

1. Living the Mission Means Talking the Mission. The people of Hyde Park United Methodist Church were determined, Harnish writes, "to live the mission of the church and to align everything we did with it"(p. 139).
   
2. Remember That the Best Surprise Is No Surprise. One of the ways they helped this to happen at Hyde Park United Methodist Church was to include a "What It Will Take" section for each of their major goals.
3. Create Opportunities for Buy-In. There was a continuing--and continual--effort to share with the congregation the process as it unfolded, with time allowed "for people to think, talk, and engage in the process"(p. 140).
4. Watch for "Critical Mass." That is what happens, Harnish observes, "when a vision begins to take hold in the heart of the congregation"(p. 140).
5. Stick With Jesus. Harnish closes by citing the insights of Bill Easum and Tom Bandy, two of the "leading spokespersons for change in the church in America today." They point out that any change in the life of the church "must be anchored in the experience of the congregation with Jesus.'(p. 141). There will be no genuine, lasting change--or growth--in the life of the any congregation that is not grounded in our own "continuing spiritual growth" in our relationship with Jesus(p. 141).

"Doing a new thing" at Hyde Park United Methodist Church undoubtedly took more time, effort, and energy than anybody outside the congregation ever realized. It will be no less of an investment here at First United Methodist Church. I want to believe that we are not only capable of "doing a new thing" but that we will actually do so. As we do so, whatever "new thing" is actually should not be done simply because it is new or different but so that we might truly make a difference, that we might reach out to others, and that we might ourselves be drawn closer to the person and the presence of Jesus Christ.

The Heart of Transformation

In chapter nine of You've Only Got to Die: Leading Your Congregation to New Life, Jim Harnish goes from "preachin' to meddlin'!" The chapter is entitled "The Heart of Transformation," and this is the chapter in which Harnish moves from talking about mission to what it actually means to live out (or into) our mission.

The challenge is right there in the opening paragraph of the chapter:

"It's one thing to have a mission; it's another thing to actually live it. Living it means aligning all of the congregation's resources to accomplish that mission. It means saying yes to everything that contributes to it. Even harder, it means saying no to a multitude of good things that do not contribute directly to the mission"(p. 111).

Ouch, that hurts! Like many churches, we have a pattern at First United Methodist Church of promoting, encouraging, or at least allowing "a multitude of good things." And, in my experience, saying" no," "not yet," or "not now" is seldom well received. We do not currently have clarity about our vision or mission, so we are likely to try whatever seems good or right at the time. And we wind up frittering away both time and energy.

We need to wrestle with the deeper questions that Jim Harnish identifies at the outset of this chapter:

• "How does this mission become a transforming reality in the lives of real people?
• "What is the definable process by which the Spirit is at work to accomplish the mission of this church through the lives of our people?"(p. 111)

At Hyde Park United Methodist Church, they were able to go to their mission statement to describe "the key elements in the heart transformation process" in their congregation(p. 112). It turns out that the process had these elements:

• Community. Recognizing that "transformation happens in community with other Christian disciples," they set out to establish a process "for people to build loving, Christlike relationships with other people." Small groups thus became the norm. Their goal was to become "a church of small groups" rather than "a church with small groups"(p. 112). That is far from where we are, but I believe it is where we need to go. And it needs to be more than just calling what we already do by a new name. It means to develop specific ways in which people are enabled "to develop personal loving, caring relationships"(p. 113).
• Commitment. A critical component of the process of transformation at Hyde Park United Methodist Church "begins with a personal commitment to become a disciple of Jesus Christ"(p. 113). They are not concerned so much with 'how' it happens but 'that' it happens. At the present time, we at First Church are willing to talk to people about becoming members of the church but it is difficult for us to use language about faith in Jesus Christ in a way that begins to approach personal.
• Spiritual Empowerment. Using traditional Wesleyan terminology, Harnish reminds us of the reality that being transformed into the likeness of Christ is "not something we do, but something the Spirit of God does within us." The church's task (or privilege or obligation or opportunity) is "to offer spiritual disciplines, the means of grace, and opportunities for ministry that can become settings in which the Spirit is given the freedom and opportunity to do this work in and through our lives"(p. 113). We are better in this area in the sense that we do provide a variety of ways for the Spirit of God to be at work among us. However, we tend to "pick and choose" what we think best in any given situation. There is not (yet) a sense of discipline about how we engage our members and friends in opportunities to be shaped by grace.
• Unity not Uniformity. Again hearkening back to Wesley, Harnish emphasizes "learning to allow space for different convictions while being centered in the love of God in Christ." Being truly transformed into the image of Christ "is not a process of making everyone agree on all of the same information, but a process by which the love of God in Christ unites different people in a common experience of grace and a common sense of mission and purpose in sharing the love of God with others"(p. 114). Our issue is perhaps the opposite of the situation at Hyde Park; we do not overtly or covertly seek uniformity, but we are not clear about what truly constitutes our unity in Christ.
• Mission-Directed. The purpose for all the programs, activities, and projects in the local church are "for the larger purpose of making the love of God in Christ a tangible reality in our world"(p. 114). In our setting, I am concerned that our programs, activities, and projects may exist largely for their own sake or because they are things we've always done. We do not have a clear process for measuring how well any of our programs, activities, or projects help to fulfill our disciplinary mission of "making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world."
  

Harnish acknowledges helpfully that they didn't always get things right at Hyde Park Church--or at least not the first time they tried. They "live in the continuing tension between what we currently are and what we believe God would have us become"(pp. 115-116). That is a tension, of course, that we all know!

The remainder of this chapter is devoted to the story of how Hyde Park Church experienced "the heart of transformation." The principal means by which this was accomplished was through a vision of what Jim Harnish calls "Wesley Groups," modeled after the "class meetings" of early Methodism. It was a vision "for 'small communities of Christians who are making God's love real through worship, education, caring, and ministries of witness and service'"(p. 117).

It became, as Harnish recalls, "the first priority" for Hyde Park church to fulfill its mission. And so the tasks were:

1. Call leaders.
2. Train leaders.
3. Invite people to participate.
4. Just do it! (p. 118).

There are clear expectations for the Wesley Group Leaders to be "praying leaders," "learning leaders," "caring leaders," and "witnesses for Christ"(pp. 119-120). Wesley Group Members are expected to "become praying people," "become learning disciples," "care for one another," and "be in ministry together"(pp. 121-122).

Those seem like they ought to be expectations of any leader or member of any church--including First United Methodist Church in downtown Hutchinson. Perhaps, with the urging and insistence of the Holy Spirit, this is just the direction we will move--together! It may turn out that Jim Harnish wasn't "meddlin'" after all, but he was helping us get to "the heart of transformation."

Prayer That Makes a Difference

In chapter eight of You Only Have to Die: Leading Your Congregation to New Life, Jim Harnish focuses on "Prayer That Makes a Difference." It is, from his perspective, "the means by which we feel the pulse of the Spirit of God at work within and through our life together"(p. 91).

It is easy, at least for me, to say that we believe in prayer. It is hard, at least for me, to truly engage in prayer that goes beyond the superficial and routine to "disciplined listening, obedient prayer"(p. 91), and yet that is precisely what is needed.

Harnish reminds us of the truth of Psalm 127:1 that, "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain." That is true not only in the building of the house [of God], but also of the re-building of the house [of God] or the re-visioning the life and work of a congregation. Unless and until we engage in prayer that goes to the heart of the things, we will only engage in an exchange of opinions and be tempted to revert to "the way things have always been."

Harnish lifts up two models of prayer, each coming from the eighteenth chapter of the Gospel of Luke. One is the kind of prayer modeled in "the parable of the importunate widow" (Luke 18:1-8). This kind of prayer is "annoyingly persistent." This kind of prayer does not ever give up!

The other kind of prayer is found in the story of the Pharisee and Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14). In an unexpected reversal of conventional expectations, Jesus praises the tax collector, "who went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted"(Luke 18:14). This kind of prayer"lives with a humble awareness of our need of God's mercy"(p. 103).

Utilizing these perspectives on prayer, Harnish outlines these principles about "living and leading in prayer." They are:

1. Prayer that makes a difference is prayer that is aligned with the redemptive purpose of God. Harnish uses the insights of the New Testament theologian, Walter Wink, who reminds us that people pray, not because of their intellectual understanding of prayer, "but because the struggle in which they are engaged demands it"(p. 98). In other words, "the stress, conflict, and pain of change force [transformational leaders] to move into a deeper place of prayer than they had known before" (p. 98). And then, the very act of praying "draws them into a larger vision of God's redemptive purpose"(p. 98).
   
2. Prayer that makes a difference is prayer that is persistent in seeking. The widow in Jesus' parable had neither time nor the inclination to be politely pious or piously polite. "She was absolutely determined to get what she so desperately needed"(p. 100). I am not sure how persistently we engaged in prayer to see God's guidance in our re-visioning process. We may not have reached a level of such desperation for us truly to engage in this kind of prayer.
   
3. Prayer that makes a difference is prayer that is centered in the love and mercy of God. Drawing on the story of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, Harnish highlights the need for prayer that is based on "a humble awareness of our need of God's mercy"(p. 103). One of the things that has come to characterize the atmosphere at Hyde Park Church is "a gracious acceptance of people the way they are, a nonjudgmental spirit, a sense that people are loved and accepted as they are, that they don't need to put on some sort of artificial religious facade"(p. 103). One of the facets of life at First United Methodist Church appreciated by newcomers is our Litany of Hospitality, which affirms that: "Wherever you are on the journey of faith, wherever you are on your spiritual journey, you are welcome here! In this church, in the presence of God: you can be who you are; you can be any way you are; and you can be loved."

These principles about "living and leading in prayer" have found expression in various ways at Hyde Park Church, including:

• Reducing elected committees "to the bare minimum," and making most decisions "by concensus [sic.] through prayer" rather than taking formal votes.
  
• Learning to depend more fully on God, even though it sometimes feels "like sloshing through a miry bog, with every step slipping and sliding on wet clay"(p. 104).
• Learning to "sing a new song," as they provide worship that truly invites others to Christ, including those who are "spiritually hungry, biblically illiterate, [and] unchurched"(p. 105).
  

In notes for this chapter, Harnish asks several pointed questions:

• How has God been giving you new songs to sing? How is your life of prayer making you more sensitive to the language and rhythm of the people you are called to reach?
• Are you willing for God to send you the people no one else wants? Do you genuinely want God to draw new people into discipleship through your church?
• Is your congregation discovering the joy that comes in obedience? What's the laughter quotient in your church?
• How would you count the ways in which God has multiplied the growth, life, and ministry of your congregation? How has that exponential growth been connected to your congregation's life of prayer?

These are not yet questions that I believe we are ready to answer. They are questions that we need to learn to ask, and to ask God's guidance in answering them in ways that are faithful with our calling and commitment to be the church.

Finding Your Future in Your Past

In chapter seven of You Only Have to Die: Leading Your Congregation to New Life, Jim Harnish invites us to "find our future in our past." He cites the Biblical story of the wise and foolish builder in Matthew 7:24-29 and reminds us of the secular version of the parable of the three little pigs.

The foundation on which we choose to build, simply and obviously, makes a different in the future life of the congregation. Harnish highlights the importance of the lesson he learned in beginning a new church. "The early values, beliefs, convictions, and attitudes become so deeply ingrained in the heart of a congregation that they never really go away"(p. 78).

When Jim Harnish was appointed to Hyde Park United Methodist Church, it was a much different setting. The congregation had been on the same corner for ninety three years, and the church building had been around since 1907. Harnish immediately understood the "stability of the sanctuary" as "as an outward and visible sign of the inward and spiritual strength of the congregation." Any transformation for the church's future needed "to be rooted in our past"(p. 78).

Harnish's comments seem perfectly obvious, but, as he writes, "the terrain of church life in America today is littered with the remains of of well-intended, Spirit-energized visions that crashed and burned because they failed to seriously consider the history and traditions of the congregation"(p. 79).

So what does that mean for us at First United Methodist Church in downtown Hutchinson, KS? How do we take into account the "inward and spiritual strength" of this congregation? For me, it means remembering several of the stories about our founding and history through the years.

There is the story of Rev. Frederick J. Griffith, a Civil War veteran known for his "obstinate faithfulness." He preached the first sermon in Hutchinson on March 10, 1872, and he was responsible for organizing the congregation on July 11, 1872. He was a self-appointed emissary for Rice County, of all places, who valued a commitment to Christ and a call to preach higher than any personal comfort or convenience.

There is the story of the Rev. John Fox, who was the pastor appointed to the church in 18784. He came with the understanding that he was to guide the congregation in building the first structure. The groundbreaking took place on August 17, 1874, but that was during the great grasshopper plague, and Rev. Fox was soon instructed by his Presiding Elder to give up the work. "Undaunted and resolute," he returned to the task the next day, turning his back on both the grasshoppers and his Presiding Elder. Determined to see the work through, Rev. Fox later recounted that thousands of grasshoppers were mixed in with the concrete and became part of the foundation of the new church building.

There is the story of Ralph Murray, who attended worship in the second decade of the twentieth century with his mother and other members of his family. This was after the 1907 building was constructed and in use. Ralph remembers sitting toward the front, with his mother on one side, and his siblings in the row behind. His favorite song was "Brighten the Corner Where You Are." He always wondered who "bright" was and what corner he was in. He sent the church a gift in the amount of $50,000 "in honor and memory" of his mother.

"Finding Our Future in Our Past," however, is something that moves beyond our particular history as a congregation. It means, as Jim Harnish reminds us, "digging farther back into the deep wells of our spiritual and theological traditions"(p. 84). At Hyde Park Church, it meant identifying themselves with "the central core of the Wesleyan tradition while also communicating that we are clear that the family tree of the Christian church is a lot larger than our particular branch of it"(pp. 84-85).

Harnish points out one of the "divine ironies" of the Hyde Park story, i.e., "that the members who have been around the longest are the ones who are the most excited about the future"(p. 86). That happened, Harnish notes, because people were able to give positive answers to four critical questions:

1. Are people's hearts right?
2. Do they believe in the mission?
3. Do they feel secure?
4. Do they still have their place?

Right now, I am not sure how many of these questions we can answer with a positive response. That is part of our challenge and opportunity in "finding our future in our past."