Today, I'm focusing on (and memorizing) the Proverb that says, "The wise in heart accept commands, but a chattering fool comes to ruin (Proverbs 10:8)."  It's reminded me of a ministry situation that I encountered about a year ago, which was very challenging at the time, though now I'd say is quite amusing in retrospect.  I wrote about the whole experience over at Proverbs 365, but I thought that today's entry might be especially interesting to regular readers of this blog, so I'm going to include a tease (an excerpt) here below:

...The Chattering Fool is dangerous, but unfortunately all too common.  I distinctly remember meeting a young man, about a year ago, who perfectly fit the caricature of the Chattering Fool -- and it was a frightening experience that will always haunt me.  Let's call him "California Ryan," for the sake of this story.  He had just moved to Amsterdam, in his early 20s, in an attempt to break his addictions to marijuana and crystal meth (Don't ask why he picked Amsterdam, of all places, to attempt such a recovery!).  He was lean and nervous, like you might expect from a recovering addict.  He had a vague, pencil-thin mustache and always wore a baseball cap.  He talked with a lot of "dude"s and "like"s and other classic Californianisms.  But his most remarkable -- most inescapable characteristic was his incessant chattering.  Seriously, like, the Dude never - stopped - talking...

To see how the situation resolved itself, you're going to have to pop on over to Proverbs 365. :-)  If the obvious cross-promotional ploy is offensive to you, I apologize.  But I'm enjoying the Proverbs 365 experience immensely, and I thought maybe I'd help you to do the same thing, too.

The 14th of February happens to fall on a Sunday this year:  Valentine’s Day.  And to observe that occasion, our church has come up with an idea to host a panel of married couples -- a “Panel of Love,” if you will -- to do an open discussion about love and marriage, from a Christian, biblically-based perspective.

We’re going to have three different couples, from three different stages of life, participating in the panel:  Marci and I (married for almost 12 years), Marc and Heidi La Porte (married for 4 years), and Marco and Claudia Pauws (married for 4 months).  Anthony Dunstan will be serving as moderator for the discussion, directing the flow -- but really, the whole thing is going to be based on answering questions from the church.  We've solicited (and received) questions through a variety of different means already, but I also promised to post an electronic opening for questions here on this blog, so please feel free to leave any questions that you might want to have considered for inclusion in the discussion by our "Panel of Love."

Maybe you’ll want to ask us about sex... or arguing... or having children... or division of household responsibilities... or finding the love of your life... There are a lot of different possibilities -- but how the discussion will go all depends on the questions we receive.  The comment box is now open (and yes, it's OK if you'd prefer to ask your question anonymously)...

Today I have the privilege of officiating a wedding for two dear friends from our church here in Amsterdam.  It's going to be a lot of fun.  In addition to the special joy of taking part in a beautiful ceremony to join two beautiful people, the occasion is also special because it affords me the opportunity to preach in one of the oldest, most storied ministry venues in old Amsterdam:  The English Reformed Church in the Begijnhof.

The church building dates back over 500 years.  English Pilgrims worshipped in the same sanctuary in the early 1600s, just prior to sailing for the New World aboard the Mayflower and settling at Plymouth Colony.  And today, I will get to perform a wedding in the same space!

[P.S. - 7 February 2010 - I thought it might be cool to also include a picture from the actual occasion.  Thanks to my friend Sergei Tserasiuk for this really cool photo of the action!]

Four score and seven years ago our fathers family brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation household...

It was exactly seven years ago that our family moved from Ohio to Amsterdam.  It feels like a very long time -- considering how these years represent over 20% of my life, approximately 60% of my marriage, and nearly 100% of my children's lives... But it also feels like a very short time -- considering how much life and ministry has been packed into the time period.

It can be sobering to consider all of the people, all of the prayers, and all of the sacrifices that have been put into this "Amsterdam Project," through the years.  The words of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address (quoted/adapted above) seem remarkably appropriate, considering all this context.  This day of remembrance feels somehow heavy, solemn, and yet simultaneously beautiful and profound.  So today we are remembering.  Reflecting.  And most important, Realizing.

Our church is going through a season of transition right now.  And as I was thinking about all this church transition stuff, it made me think of my old days in my high school's marching band.

Yes, I realize that it's a very odd association.  For those who aren't familiar with marching bands, they're a part of the American football phenomenon, where musical entertainment comes out in the middle of the football game, during half-time, to put on a kind of show.  If it sounds kind of weird, well, that's because it is kind of weird. Even in America, people in marching bands are considered a little bit weird and geeky (and I can only get away with saying this because I used to be one of those weird and geeky people in the marching band!).  But it's tradition, so everyone kind of goes along with it.  Anyway, the way that a marching band performance works is that you've got a group of maybe 50 to 100 musicians (big tuba-like Sousaphones, trumpets, drums, trombones), and they're all marching around on the football field, creating an interesting visual performance while playing their music.  The whole thing basically works with the band morphing from one shape into another.

For instance, maybe they’re doing a half-time show on big Hollywood movie music... They might be playing the theme song from the Pirates of the Carribbean movies, for instance, and then march into the shape of a big pirate ship, as seen from up in the stadium.  And then, maybe they switch into a song from Batman, and then they move around and everybody changes places to make the famous bat symbol.  Or it could be more basic stuff, too -- like circles and diamonds and other geometric shapes... But this is basically how marching bands work.  It’s all timed to the music so that the coolest shapes come out at the most dramatic swells in the music.

But what’s fascinating to me about marching band performances (and what brings me to the analogy that I’m trying to draw out, here) is what they have to teach us about transition.  It’s amazing, if you think about it, that a group of musicians can take the shape of a pirate ship... And then you take the same set of musicians, and they can also take the shape of the Batman symbol... Or a circle, or a diamond, or the word “Ohio” or whatever!  However, if you’re watching a show, and you take any step in the process and select a random freeze frame, it might look like pure chaos.  Like something dumb or demented.  Because there’s really no good, natural segue from a pirate ship to a Batman symbol.  The morph has to be a bit messy.  But just because it’s messy at any given point doesn’t mean that we need to despair.  We can have faith and hope that we’re going to see something big and beautiful when the next swell in the music comes.

This is where our church’s current transitions (primarily related to adaptations in the way that we do small groups) may feel very chaotic at times.  People in our church may feel like, “I haven’t enjoyed good, small-group fellowship for over a month now!”  Or they might feel like they don’t really want to shift from Home Groups to Communities, because they liked the look and feel of Home Groups as they used to be.  Others might feel like they're being left out of the new plans, like there’s no natural point where they're going to fit in when all the dust settles.  It may often feel like “I can’t take all the drama of this church anymore!”  And honestly, I couldn’t blame anybody for feeling frustrated or confused at times!  Because I feel that way sometimes!  If you take any random freeze-frame from these last couple of weeks (or maybe from the next couple of weeks, yet to come), it might look like pure and total chaos!

It’s good to remember that we really sensed God’s leading as we went into these transitions.  We talked about it and prayed about it and talked about it some more, as a Servant Leadership Council (all nine of us).  And ultimately, we made a unanimous decision to move in this direction.  It wasn’t a 5-4 vote, or 7-3, or anything like that.  We all felt God’s leading together, and we did a lot of planning and preparing to make sure that we weren’t hastily jumping into things.  Our current ideas for how to do church may not be perfect -- but they’ve certainly been well thought-out!

And while we may be going through a season of transition, we need to remind ourselves that God is a God of peace, not chaos.  God is the one who created the Earth from its vague, mysterious, primordial soup.  Genesis 1 records how, "The earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.  And God said, 'Let there be light... water... sky... land... vegetation... heavenly bodies... fish... birds... animals... people...' God saw all that he had made, and it was very good."  This is also the same God who brought Israel through a dark period of its history, when the kings deserted the way of the Lord and the people drifted towards idols.  God spoke to Elijah during an especially dark and discouraging season of ministry, when the prophet was convinced that everyone had rejected the Lord’s covenant, broken down His altars, put all the other prophets to death, and seemingly left him all alone.  In the midst of that chaos and confusion, God spoke to Elijah and reassured him that everything was still under control.  And not just in a general sense either.  He provided specific names and details and reminded Elijah that he was not alone.  1 Kings 19:15-18 records the conversation:  "Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus.  When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram.  Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi kind over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet.  Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu.  Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him."

Furthermore, in addition to the anecdotal references to God bringing order out of chaos, it's significant to remember that the Bible tells us very specifically -- very directly -- that God is not a God of chaos or disorder, but a God of peace.  He’s one who brings order out of chaos.  1 Corinthians 14:33 states it unequivocally:  "God is not a God of disorder but of peace."

I don’t know about you, but I find it very encouraging to think about these things while we’re in the midst of transition.  I find it encouraging to remember that any discomfort that we’re experiencing is just seasonal and passing.  If we can keep ourselves centered on Jesus -- on the God of peace -- then we’ll be able to make it through just about anything.  We can trust that God has a well-designed halftime show drawn up for us; we can just keep marching in faith, following his directions until the next swell in the music and the next dramatic revelation of His shape for us.