Matthew’s question for Madison: What are your thoughts on solitude?

The exact definition of solitude, according to Google, is the state of being alone.

Well, I admit it – I’m writing this at Starbucks. And there’s a lot of buzz going on around me.

So that establishes pretty quickly what my general thoughts on solitude are. I don’t do it well, nor do I enjoy it.

I have wondered why solitude has always been a spiritual discipline that I’ve struggled with. Maybe it’s because I’m an extravert and am way more motivated when I’m around others. But I am often wary of using that as an excuse to not engage with something Jesus modeled. After all, God can overthrow any of my temperaments.

So I began thinking of another potential reason, and I came up with the fact that I’m a millennial. Yet again, I don’t use this as an excuse, but rather an idea that peaks my interest (it brings me back to my sociology and psychology classes – and I have very fond memories). Millennial’s are the first generation to have technology literally at their fingertips. We have multiple social media profiles and more ‘friends’ than anyone could dream of having. When we’re bored, we don’t have to even think about what to do – just pick up the phone and scroll. There’s a neuron in our brains called the ‘stop neuron’. This neuron fires when we finish an activity, letting us know it’s time to move on and find the next thing. So when you finish a run for example, the stop neuron recognizes that you’ve completed the task, let’s the rest of your brain know, and then the next step commences. On your phone, scrolling through your newsfeed, the stop neuron doesn’t fire – there’s no end. (Though I’m now thankful for Instagram’s “You’re all caught up” since it actually makes me stop).

So we have a perceived endless amount of friends, and picture perfect profiles yet we’re the loneliest generation out there. Research shows people can spend multiple hours a day just scrolling through social media because there’s nothing better to do – and there’s a fear of missing something. I’ve grown up in a generational culture of FOMO, and a constant connectedness – and have felt the loneliness that comes with it all. And with that loneliness comes a craving for true human connection.

In solitude, by definition, there is no human connection for a time.

The other component of the culture that I’ve grown up in is busyness. I wonder if it’s the effect of living in a lonely world? You always need to be doing something or seeing someone or trying something new. Admittedly, my personality quite enjoys the rush – but a little over a year ago I learned the hard way that God designed our bodies to be limited.

Jesus understood the importance of solitude. Let’s look at Matthew 14 for an example. Jesus just spent a very long time teaching the crowds, and then worked a miracle by feeding all five thousand of them. When it was all said and done, Jesus was with His disciples – which was probably no where near peace and quiet. He sent them take the boat across the lake while He took the mountain route to have some time alone. Verse 23 says, “After he dismissed them, He went up on the mountainside by Himself to pray”.

He spent a full day giving of Himself and knew that the only way He’d recharge was to be with His Father – not netflix or a nap (or their cultural alternative). And I’m definitely guilty of this so in no way am I pointing fingers.

As Christ followers, Jesus is our example to follow. Solitude was important for Him to reconnect with the Creator, so it raises up the fact that it should be important for us to imitate.

I learned more about the importance of solitude while attending a Bible school in Germany this past year than I ever have living in the hustle and bustle of the day to day tasks. Sure, the time I had there was more like living in a bubble, but it was critical for me on so many levels for that season of life. My first month there I experienced a depth of loneliness I’ve never felt before – I had no family, no friends, no familiar environment, and basically no wifi. It was literally just God and I. I spent a lot of time reading and journaling and walking in solitude. I felt more in tune with God then I had ever experienced before. Every day it was, “Okay God, it’s you and I. What are we going to do?” And we’d spend time together.

Now that I’ve been home for four months, the day to day work has kicked back in and I find it much harder to actively engage with solitude. Daily devotions are still very important to me, but beyond that, I find time of being alone incredibly draining and exhausting. And I know I’m not the only one. There are so many factors at play as to why I dislike it currently, but maybe God wanted to remind me that solitude is okay through the writing of this blog – and remind me of how Jesus’ example is one that I need to follow and obey – not because of legalism, but because of importance.

Madison’s question to Matthew: How has the church engaged in issues of justice over time?

Let me begin by stating that I am not a history expert on the church. I have done some reading and am always looking to learn from churches of all types. I always appreciate it when an author addresses church lessons from history, after all, there really is nothing new under the sun, we keep repeating the same mistakes.

From an extremely simplistic view, in the 20^th century, the church in North America spent time dividing itself into two major camps – liberal and conservative. In essence, the liberal church engaged in acts of social justice but forgot about Jesus and the bible. The conservative church embraced Jesus and personal salvation but forgot about issues of social justice. Why did this happen? There are many theories and thoughts. Perhaps each “camp” had some ideas and wanted to prove to the other “camp” that their emphasis was the correct emphasis.

I am often drawn back to Ephesians 4:11-12. Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.

It is intriguing how churches choose to have specific voices (gifts) speak into their community life yet never really allow all 5 voices to speak.

Most church plants are started by the apostle and the evangelist. Yet, amazingly, once this new church is several years into its journey, those that are part of it want the emphasis of growing in their faith and prefer the teacher. They also have needs that come up and need a pastor/shepherd to guide them. Thus this new church shifts its focus.

And in reality, living with an apostle (taking new hills) can get exhausting. Continually having new people come to faith with the work of the evangelist with all of the mess of new believers can become disorienting for those who are trying to set down foundations of faith. And the prophet, revealing our gaps and calling us to reach out to the disadvantaged can be draining, after all, we’re doing the best we can.

Now I’m a pastor of a local church, and I know that I too am at risk of highlighting one or two voices and not allowing them all to speak – in reality, I have my own leanings because I have been gifted specifically. However, if Jesus gave them all for the sake of the church (this would be the universal church that he is speaking to of course, yet shouldn’t a local church be reaching for the blend of them all), how am I to ensure that we are hearing from them all?

There are a lot of books that come out about how to structure and run a church, and I have read many of them. Each one claims to have the answer, the formula that worked for some church somewhere in North America at a particular time. Having been a pastor for 14 years now and heavily involved in my local church for 14 years prior to that, I have seen many things come and go. In chatting with some church veterans who are 15-20 years my senior, they often smile at the “new thing” that churches are doing, when in reality it is simply a rework of something from the 1970’s or before – there is nothing new under the sun.

One such book that came out was titled “Simple Church.” It was meant to help tired church leaders to have a focus and not burn out. Always a very noble idea, and perhaps many churches are doing a lot of things that have no real purpose to the mission of their church (or any church for that matter). The reality is that spiritual maturity, or discipleship, is very complex. The Holy Spirit is prodding each of us differently. We all have our “stuff” that we are working through. God is extremely gracious and moves in each of our lives in unique ways.

So, as I look at the church and its response to issues of social justice, I think too often it has appeared to be too complicated to engage in, and that the people who are a part of the church want to be cared for with respect to their needs and that there hasn’t been any time to think about let alone engage in the issues of justice. And yet the reality is, we are only going to experience the fullness of Jesus when we choose to accept the many facets of our faith. When we allow the apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher to have a voice in our churches and our lives individually.

As a pastor, I would definitely appreciate having a simpler life, having to only engage in one or two things. And yet, the longer I’m on this journey, the more I realize that we need to embrace the many complexities of our faith journey. It won’t always be easy, but God calls us into this. I know that I have an incredible responsibility to guide the local church that I lead into all aspects of faith. It is my prayer that those I lead will also see the need to engage broadly so that together we show that we are the hands and feet of Jesus.

For the kingdom.