“Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold.” Matthew 24.12 NCV

“For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon. ’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners! ’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”

Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.” Mat.11.18.ESV

“A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits.” Matthew 7.18-20

Urban Organic Gardner

Easy Balcony Gardening

50 Recycled Container Ideas

Cardboard Box Container Gardening (I really like this idea)

Growing Potatoes in a Container

Apartment Gardening-Pinterest 

Google Images-Apartment Gardening

ApartmentGardening.Org

Apartment Gardening-Tumblr

Growing Vegetables in Containers - basics (.pdf) 

Hydroponics: Soil-less gardening

Am I poor? In what since? In material things, pretty much. I haven’t worked full-time for almost a year. I have creditors calling everyday. 

HumanResources called today. Tomorrow I go downtown (Louisville) to fill out the paperwork for a job as assistant cook for the Salvation Army. I believe God is leading me down this path and I don’t mind kitchen work. I like it. But I wonder what it means for my life that I’ve moved from pastoring to this? Is God humbling me or leading me to a higher plain in life? Or is it both? 

Is it a waste of “talents” and the time I’ve put into my education to spend the rest of my days feeding the homeless? Am I running from responsibility by taking the less demanding job? Or should I be proud of myself in taking a work I wouldn’t have taken unless God had directly led me there? 

I admit to being tempted with pride, that strange feeling of superiority that comes to some when they take a position they know others with the same education or background would not. But I’ve always been a contra kind of guy, the black sheep in the herd. It’s more natural for me to resist authority and expectations. I was expelled from two schools. Failed out of another. I’ve refused to ask for help and then resented it when none was offered. That is pride too. Pride has always been my downfall. 

Of course, Jesus said the first would be last and the last first, which adds irony to being proud of a humble place. But is it a humble place? What makes for a humble location in life? Who is humble?

Humility is a thing of the heart, a hidden quality that is known for it’s unobtrusive nature. It is seen best when it is hidden most. Self-conscious humility is a self-contradiction. 

Before you lurch toward correcting me, I know I’m in for hard work. I don’t mean the kitchen work. As I said, I like it. I mean caring for the poor. Poverty is romanticized by the world, by the ignorant, by those who have never felt the pain and distress of poverty themselves. I’ve been homeless. I am a recovering drug addict. There is a mean and ugly side to poverty, just as there is with wealth, that knows nothing of basic human dignity. I know how hard it is to help the helpless who still live in denial and its consequent immorality, rich or poor. 

I’ve lived in the “projects”. At other times I would have been described as white, trailer-trash. Harsh, but true in my case. I fit the stereo-type. I owned it. I’ve drawn food stamps for several years and for three received a monthly “crazy check” for drug-related depression. I spent the money on drugs and bootlegging. Married three times, a poor husband and poorer father to two neglected children. The immorality of it all…I won’t elaborate. 

I’ve also been tempted to fear God has rejected me, that through faults, sins, and mistakes I’ve disqualified myself for the spiritual care of souls. Why did he ever call me to it all? I know he did not make a mistake. Have I walked away because it was too hard? Will I ever pastor again? Should I? The temptation and the questions raise the whole idea of what it means to be a spiritual leader, guide, counselor, director, or servant. Still, a rose by any other name is still a rose. 

I don’t miss pastoral work as it has come to be and as others often see it, being paid to perform rather than to live a holy life. I’ve met very few, pastors themselves or members, who understand that the pastor’s greatest work is to be a holy man or woman. We talk about it and that’s about as far as it goes. True holiness in Christ is rare among pastors, therefore, it is rare in the church herself. I don’t miss the false expectations and deceit, mine and others, that was so much a part of the job. I won’t “do” church. 

The time I spent in college working in campus kitchens, doing grill work, washing dishes, and prepping food was something I enjoyed. As I said, I like kitchen work, whatever it is. But when I thought of it as a job for life I felt I would be neglecting God’s call to teach His word. Or when I worked for years painting houses I was always wanting to minister full time. I felt there was more to come.

Is this the “more” or am I going backward? Have I simply slipped into a better way of caring for souls? It is probably not “either-or”. The true and good life is in God’s calling, in discipleship as I exercise the gifts he had given me by his grace. If I choose to be chosen by Him, that is enough. 

I don’t know that I can pastor again, not as it is defined today. I tried, but the feeling of shame was oppressing. I know that sounds condescending. Perhaps it is. Still, the level of dishonesty and willful neglect among professing Christians often felt like hell on earth to me. Then there are my own sins. Of course, I’m guilty of the same hypocrisy I complain of and pastoring just made me feel worse.

I was angry. Maybe I still am. Though rare, there is a good anger. When I see the comfortable refusing to sacrifice their time to connect with the suffering I burn inside. Occasionally the fire leaks out. I know what it feels like to be despised and neglected for years on end. 

I’m still preaching on the weekends. My studies are concentrating more and more on discipleship. I study and meditate over the Sermon on the Mount most everyday. I hope I’ll have something to say now. I am helping with a 12 step program. I am still a spiritual director, caring for souls, mine and theirs, by the grace of Christ. Who am? What am I? I am a disciple of Christ. 

I know by now that when God is leading the path is seldom one the natural heart finds familiar. Part of the good life of the kingdom of heaven is being a stranger in a strange land. There should be a certain sense of foolishness and ignorance about it. And a loneliness that only Christ can salve. If there is no accusation from others we are probably on the wrong track. I don’t mean there are no true fools. I’ve been that and can be now. I’m speaking of being a fool for Christ, a fool for seeing my only hope in taking up my cross and following Jesus everyday. I want to embrace Christ on the cross, to join him there. Isn’t that what it means to “come up higher”? But “who is sufficient for these things”? His grace is perfected in weakness; He alone can make me a sufficient man. 

I have been reading on spiritual formation and practicing spiritual discipline for more than 30 years. Bible study, memorizing Scripture, prayer, meditation, contemplation, fasting, work, and Christian service have been a part of my life since I became a Christian in 1975.

Journaling has been a particular discipline I have found very helpful. Long before writing online in 2006 I was keeping notebooks on my spiritual life. Again, I began keeping such notebooks around 1979. Writing, thinking on paper, has been a God-given tool to keep me sane through several bouts of depression and has helped me renew my mind in the image of Christ crucified. I have pursued in all my spiritual discipline what some of us call a crucified mind. (Phil. 2.5)

My degree in theology, a BA in Pastoral Studies from Newbold College, England, focused strongly on spiritual formation both in the classroom and by my personal direction. I have taken an active role in my spiritual formation since my baptism in Christ and I began a formal study of spiritual formation in the historical writings of the church in 1979. In other words, I did not just fall off the turnip truck and am not easily intimidated by those who imagine I have. 

Having said all that, I consider myself a novice in the things of God. I have no illusions about being perfect. My need of the sanctifying work of Christ is greater now than ever before. I consciously pursue a deepening experience in repentance and confession of sin as a life of faith. 

If you want a record of who I am I’ve done my best to provide an open and honest account of that here. To be sure, there is far too much of self and pride in this journal your reading now. If you explore my archives, especially “self-exams” and the like you will find things that may disturb you. I leave them here to warn as well as instruct. I have tried, and often failed, to be an honest Christian. Far too often and more than my infirmities allow me to know, I have missed the mark of God’s love in Christ, both for you and for Him.

But I press on with Christ, in Christ, and through Christ for one purpose only, to know him who my soul adores

It is true there are some who teach practices that we cannot agree with, certain forms of prayer and meditation which really have to do with specific spiritual “disciplines” and taken alone would lead us into a false, harmful spirituality. And I agree that there is some suspect theology and practice among the classical mystics of the Christian faith. I doctrine of salvation by human merit and achievement has corrupted the pure teachings of how one is just, how one grows, and how one is glorified with Christ.

However, spiritual formation is unavoidable and necessary for every human being who has every lived. We were created in the image of God (Gen. 1.26) and God is spirit. Therefore, we were formed as spiritual beings. And once we fell a reformation must take place. From the time we are born, like it or not, all human beings participate in, willing, knowingly, or ignorantly with resistance the process of spiritual formation, which is nothing more than becoming the being we are.

Because the doctrine of spiritual formation has been distorted does not mean there is not a true teaching we can call “spiritual formation”. In fact, it’s corruption points to a purer form, just as man’s fall points back to his original creation in the image of God. I offer the video below as a short synopsis of the subject and will say unequivocally that I agree with everything said here. That does not mean I agree with Dallas Willard on every point of doctrine. I am simply saying he has “this” right and more than that, he is saying something I consider vital to our life in Christ in this world and for the one to come.

]]>http://www.thejerichoroad.com/home/2013/3/28/as-moses-lifted-up-the-serpent-so-must-the-son-of-man-be-lif.htmlJan McKenzie2013-03-28T18:56:22Z2013-03-28T18:56:22Z        Salvation from sin, a salvation that brings us into union with God through Jesus Christ, is compared by Jesus to a “narrow gate” and difficult road. The narrowness and the difficulty are not in the method, not in the plan of God, but in our pride. We prefer any method of salvation to one that requires a humbling of self. If salvation from our sins can be secured in some way that will allow us to take pride in our acheivement then we embrace it quickly. How we love to boast! We long for a righteousness others will praise us for.

Such is the false salvation offered by the world’s religions and by many corruptions of the Christian faith. None are so misleading as the relgion taught by the Roman Papacy, a lie that turnes our repentance and confession into works of merit that must be hallowe by the blessing of a “holy” father. Truly, Babylon has fallen (Rev. 18.1-8).

The religion Jesus taught was salvation from self, not a salvation by self. You will read that great truth, the purest of gospel in the quotes below. The first is Jesus himself instructing a Pharisee of the Jews. The second is an inspired commentary on his words.

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” John 3.14-17

      Getting close to our enemies out of love for them is as dangerous to us as it was to him. We too will face humiliation, rejection, and suffering. But as the Psalmist says, “though weeping endures for the night, joy comes in the morning”. We have both in Christ, the death of self and a new creation where the many become one through Him. 

      I was doing okay until the message started to sink in. The gospel is good news to the suffering and bad news to those who despise the suffering rather than the sin. That has been and remains my own experience, my own battle with self and need for the faith that only Christ can inspire in me. I need the very thing I fear the most, to abide with him at Calvary. 

      For some time Galatians 2.20 has fascinated me. “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Is this really the experience I want everyday? Is this the Jesus I want to be with and want to be like, He who is crucified to the world and the world to him? (Gal. 6.14)

      Who do we know who can say with the apostle Paul, “From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.”? (Gal. 6.17). Yet this was not meant to be the way of a few. He said all discipleship was bearing the burdens of others, bearing with their sin as “wounded healers” (Nouwen). 

      And along this same line, here is a profound paradox to contemplate, again only resolved by faith, not by logic: “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is working in us, but life in you.” II Cor. 4.7-12

      Ironic this, that cheap grace appears to have conquered the costly grace of the cross, yet it is only the devil’s deception. Christ has a “great multitude” hidden still in the bowels of the earth, in the places pride and pleasure does not even bother to look. I believe the saints of God will appear from among those thought most cursed by the world, the same despised lepers, blind, maimed, poor, and outcast that were an embarrassment to everyone but Jesus. 

       I close with a modest suggestion for the current system of educating pastors. 

***

       First of all, pastoral education is as much about unlearning old ways as it is learning new. It is a time of stripping away worldliness and learning godliness. Old habits, not only of practice but of thinking, must change. With some this takes longer than others.

      But the ultimate and most essential ordination is from God himself. He chooses who he will when he wills. Being an ambassador of Christ is a calling, not a job. It is not something one takes to their self without the Holy Spirit’s unction. To preach or teach without the baptism of the Holy Spirit only ends in failure and defeat. And this baptism must be sought daily.

       Now, to the practical education requirements as they’ve evolved today.

      Depending on what church or denomination you belong to the requirements for a license to preach or teach vary. The same can be said for ordination. I should add one other point. My remarks here pertain to Protestant practices. I am not including the necessary qualifications, though similar, for the Catholic or Eastern Orthodox priesthood. 

      It is generally recognized since New Testament times that it takes about four years of apprenticeship or longer to cover the basics necessary for spiritual leadership. This includes the personal spiritual formation as well as biblical knowledge and practical experience. Jesus trained his disciples for almost four years, though he ordained them earlier in their training and sent them out to preach in his name while he was still there to guide and correct them in their education.

       The model of Jesus for educating pastors was personal mentorship. So it remained through the centuries. Most churches try, some more successfully than others, to maintain mentorship through an intern requirement as well as through formal training by theologians. 

       For example, in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, of which I am a member and ordained minister, licensing precedes ordination. The licensing period may vary but usually begins with internship after four years of college, followed by two years at Seminary. It takes about six years of licensed ministry to be ordained, but factors such as age and experience are considered along with education and most importantly, the spiritual life.

       In my case I preached and taught as a layman for many years before studying to become a pastor.  In 2003 I earned a BA in Pastoral Studies (BAPS) at Newbold College, Bracknell England.. I did not attend Seminary, but was hired directly from college to work in Wales as a licensed pastor. I was ordained in 2009. Because I began theological studies in 1975 but did not complete them, I have more than five years in my degree, two in America and three in England. I also took classes in art and philosophy along the way, giving me about six years of undergraduate education. 

       Ordination is a church body conferring God’s authority on a person by the laying on of hands and prayer, authorizing you to represent the church as a pastor, teacher, missionary, or administrator. In the Adventist church licensed pastors are restricted in authority to their local church district. An ordained pastor’s authority is acknowledge world-wide. Currently, not all churches, including the Adventist church, ordain women to pastoral ministry. The Adventist church is now in the process of considering a change to include the ordination of women. We do have women licensed pastors. There is also what is called a commissioning service in some areas of the church that are trying to lift the ordination restriction for women. This has been a point of contention, notably in North America.

       Personally, I support the ordination of women. Though the ordination of women is not mandated in Scripture, I do not believe it is expressly forbidden. A believe the Biblical principle of progressive revelation and our new life in Christ gives us such a mandate as long as to do so builds up the body of Christ and does not create unnecessary disorder or discord. 

     But other churches do things differently. The Adventist church is a global denomination. Many churches are strictly local or part of a smaller convention or conference of churches, so their requirements, expectations, and needs will vary somewhat, but the general principles appear to remain the same. 

       Licensing and ordination are also subject to various legal requirements and these vary from country to country. Governments are not consistent in how they recognize church policies and practice. Specifically, laws regarding marriage, tax status, wage expectations, may mean adjustments in language or actual policy for churches to meet government standards or restrictions. These is apart from outright discrimination or religious intolerance. Church groups do their best to accommodate any civil requirement as long as it does not violate their understanding and practice of God’s will. 

       In general, most denominations or congregations expect at least a four year education in theology followed by an internship with an older, more experienced pastor. The common practice is four years undergrad and two years graduate at an accredited Seminary or University. The Adventist church, though making allowances for age and experience, prefers ordained pastors to have an M.Div (Master of Divinity) degree from our Seminary. Those planning to teach professionally take an MA, and most often a Ph.d, in some field of theology, specializing in such areas as Church History, Missiology, Ethics, Biblical Theology (Old or New Testament Studies or Biblical Languages), or Systematic Theology.

       The further one goes in higher education the more their education narrows with specialization. This has obvious benefits, but can also create blind spots in a persons thinking. Neither the benefits or distortions are a given. Many factors play into our education, one that should be a life long experience. We must never stop learning, lose a willingness to change, or close our minds to the challenges contact with others inevitably brings. 

       Nearly all prominent pastors today, those of larger churches have a Doctor of Ministry (D.Min) or Ph.d. The D.Min equals eight years of higher education: four college, two graduate, two post-graduate. The Ph.d requires an additional four to six years of post-graduate work after Seminary in most cases. A few complete their studies sooner.

       Of course, the European system is different than the American. European education begins specialization immediately after the high school (“A”) level. Generally, they do not follow the “liberal arts” philosophy of the American system and place a strong emphasis on writing across the curriculum.

       I have not explored the cost of such education. Without going into more detail and depending on factors such as church expectations, type of school, and area of the world, you can expect to spend tens of thousands of dollars in higher education for ministry. Nor have critiqued the amount of time it takes to place a person in the field. In this respect, it does not vary from any other degree.

       Is this as it should be? Hardly, in my opinion.

       An alternative could be direct, in the field mentorship under wise, experienced pastors acting as tutors, contact with the daily problems faced by church members and those seeking God, supplemented with broader exposure through travel and changes in mentors over time would reduce the cost, as well as giving a more practical flavor to ministers. Directed reading through regional intensives (periodic seminars with cohort groups) and now, online work, would provide directed reading, writing, and dialogue for specialized study, including work in biblical languages or special problem areas. Theologians could travel to regions for short-term instruction, a practice often used now in developing countries. Such changes would also put workers in the field sooner. Overall, early pastoral education is heavily, and in my experience, unbalanced with respect to theoretical knowledge and practical experience. 

       Will we see a change? Not in in the short term and probably not with intention. There is too much invested in self-interest by institutions and their faculty. The change in economics required would hurt the status quo of tenured power and position. A more mobile infrastructure, more movement, would require more sacrifice, something we are not known for now, not as a rule but by exceptions.

       We have become static, calcified by traditions that mitigate against change and spiritual dynamism. Perhaps I am simply repeating old Pietism’s complaints toward and reforms of 17th century scholasticism that grew out of the Enlightenment’s rationalization of all knowledge. But would that be a bad thing? 

       However, I do believe the state of the world itself will demand rethinking and a change in practice. How we minister in the days preceding the coming of Christ will change by the direct intervention of the Holy Spirit as the needs demand it. Necessity will create change from above and below. Those who wait upon God will, in the not-to-distant future see the hand of God in ways we have only imagined. History will repeat itself, the old ways becoming new again. 

“And it shall come to pass afterward,
    that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
    your old men shall dream dreams,
    and your young men shall see visions.
Even on the male and female servants
    in those days I will pour out my Spirit.”

Joel 2.28-29

       In the last act of earth’s drama between Christ and Satan, good and evil, men, women, and children will be educated less by literary institutions and more by the direct outpouring of God’s Spirit. However, such a work will be done and recognized by the faithful people of God. Nor will it exclude a faithfulness to God’s revealed will in his inspired Word, the Bible. I am not encouraging a spirit of independence apart from the body, for all spiritual gifts are for the building up of the Body until we all come to maturity of faith in Christ. (1 Cor. 12; Eph. 4)

       I hope this helps. Let me know if you have more questions and God bless you as he guides you in his will.

“There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him…. And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person. - Mark 7.15,20-23

For simplicity’s sake, I offer you one of the most profound, richly rewarding passages of Scripture for your contemplation. Would you be like a tree planted by the water, bearing it’s fruit each season, a refreshing source of life for those who meet you? Would you speak life to those helplessly mired in a morass of despair? Please mediate on the meaning of this passage. Take it in the context of what is about to happen to Jesus, the Vine of Life. Contemplate his words of spiritual instruction on this midnight walk with his disciples toward the Cross that awaits him in the morning. Here, in this simple metaphor of a life with God in Christ you will find all the riches a poor, sinful soul could desire.

Because He lives, we too may live in God. What love, that He would love us and make His life a sacrifice for our sin!