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August 18, 2002
"Thinking Outside the Box"
Matthew 15:21-28;Romans 12: 1-8
Reverend Larry Gerber

"We've trivialized God," says Larry Crabb, a Christian psychologist and popular author. "Most of these [self-help] books assume God is the butler who serves you for one reason -- to give you a happy life." Are Christians more interested in building personal comfort zones than in building community and ministering to the lost and oppressed?

In other words, are we building a box around ourselves for self esteem and protection. Are we more concerned about our own comfort zone than we are about spreading the gospel to an othewise hostile world?

On our farm we had a variety of animals. Each had its own place, or box in which to exist. The pigs were confined to their sty with a heavily fenced in yard. The chickens were confined to their coop. The cows had their individual stanchions within the confines of the cow barn. During the summer they were allowed to go to the fenced in pasture for food and exersize. At 4:45 p. m., they automatically came back to the barn: it was time to relieve them of their milk, plus they knew that they would get that good tasting grain and ensilage. Each animal had thier place, and for the most part, they knew it. They were comfortable living in their protective, and individual boxes.

In any sport, weather it be golfing, tennis, bowling, baseball, football, basketball, badmitan, or even any variety of card game; there are rules and regulations that say: you play within a certain box - as a team and as an individual. In golf there is the outline of the course. Now, your ball might go "out of bounds, in the bunker, or the lake, etc.", but you altimatley must get the ball into that little cup at the end of each of the 18 holes. In football, there is the greater boundary for each team, and each individual has a certain box they must stay in, or pay the penalty. Baseball is no different: the batters box, the pitchers mound, stand on the rubber as you pitch, put itin the strike zone. The runner must stay in the baseline when running the bases. Take the rather simple game of bowling: watch the foul line - slide your foot past that and the buzzer goes off, and you get no pin count - foul!

I cannot think of an animal that does not live in a box, nor a sport or card game that does not have rules and regulations, boundaries, a certain box to play in. Life in general is no different. We create boxes in our lives. Why? For protection, safety, to live in the comfort zone. We each have our own station at the work place, and in the home. We create boxes in order to be systemized, and to keep things from becoming chaotic. Imagine a work place that is totally unorganized, no system to get the product out; a transportation system, weather it be on the road, in the air, or at sea. Boxes are created that we might keep an orderly system, and keep the game running smoothly.

Let's look at some of the boxes we create, and why we do create them. In the home, there is a box for each family memeber in the pecking order, from father(head of the household), to mother(chief cook and bottle washer), children(the older ones taking care of the younger ones,each one have individual chores.) When all is in proper order, according to father, we have one happy family. We live inside a family box with individual boxes; each box having boundaries and standards set by someone. Most of us grew up in the pecking order I just memtionedl Yet, somewhere along the way, that box changes: someone runs away from home, someone graduates from high school and goes off to college, or the work place and lives alone, the kids eventually get married, someone dies...............

What happens when someone in that system decides not to live in his/her individual box, or circumstances beyond our control changes the box: The father looses his job, or is permanently disabled, and is no longer the one who brings home the pay check, the wife decides that she wants a life of her own, the kids don't think the system is fair, someone moves out, or someone decides to change the make up of the box, without leaving it. The outer box of safety breaks down, and each individual box is in jeopardy. Each of you can, and probably already are, redeveloping the variety of boxes that you have lived in during your life. For some it may be a painful rememberance, for others it was, and perhaps still is, a comfort box, without any challenges.

When any of our animals were allowed, by broken fences, or a door left open, to get out of their box that they were so accustomed to, they were in shock or fear. They did not know where to go. Some panicked and ran far away from their box, while others stood in fear. They were out of their environment, and did not know how to cope.

Over the years, the family box has been broken down, realligned, sometimes destroyed, while other family boxes never had the shape that allowed for comfort and protection, and still others have restructered for the better. For the most part, the 80's and 90's have been full of changes that have brought fear to those who want to live in thier comfortable little boxes. In this new millenium, we are creating, what we think, are more comfort boxes, for a solid future. Yet, every day there are circumstances outside our box that threatens to destroy all of that, weather it be 9-11, floods, droughts, disease, or other unstable elements that destroy all that we have been building and depending on.

We live in the ME-lennium. Don't like your version of the Bible? Then look for one suited for your situation: The Teen Bible, The Addict's Bible, The Single Mom's Bible. Need some chicken soup? Need to look for chicken soup for the Golfer's Soul, or chicken soup for the Nurse's Soul, or the Teen, or the PreTeen, or the Gardener's Soul, or the Unsinkable Soul, or the Traveler's Soul? For the Tired of Chicken Soup Soul?

This is the ME-lennium. That's why we're outsourcing so much of what we once thought we needed to do ourselves. The business world, of course, has long outsourced some of its work rather than hire permanent employees to do the work.

Now outsourcing has become a mark of lifestyle levels. We have someone to pre-wash our salad, someone to do our nails, someone to make sure we burn off all those calories. Someone to take the kids to school. Someone to walk the dog. Someone to iron, or dust, or clean, or mow the lawn, trim the hedges, weed the garden.

Few seem to exercise these days without a 6-foot, $50-an-hour former all-athletic champion running by their sides. Few look after their own mental health, either; that's the job of the psychotherapist, cognitive behaviorist or, most recently, the life coach. Between having our nails done at one of the groovy new nail bars, and our organic vegetables pre-washed and pre-peeled, there isn't much we know how to do by ourselves any more, except pay for it.

So why not someone to handle our spiritual life for us?
It was really just a matter of time before we found a way to outsource our relationship with God as well. With so much "stuff" to pack into one day, the idea of scheduling in a church service on Sunday, let alone finding the time it takes to ponder the state of our spirit, is beyond the grasp of most of us. We live in a market economy -- a service-oriented market economy -- so if we can't get to church any more, then sooner or later it has to come to us.

Enter the spiritual directors. Hollywood actresses and government leaders have been using their services for years, but now the public at large is catching on. "Spiritual direction has been around since the first two human beings were on the planet and one person told the other they experienced something beyond: what we call God," says Jeffrey Gaines, a Presbyterian minister. "What's happening", he continues, "as we enter the new millennium is that those who are not 'religious professionals,' but have continually attracted people who want to talk about their experiences of the Divine and prayer, are now seeing that this is a calling and are seeking training to become spiritual directors."

All well and good. Really. Spiritual directors do an enormous amount of good. But when God gets fashionable, watch out. It's not like you can run to a spiritual mentor and say: "Here's my soul. Give it a wash, a good stretch, no starch, and I'll be by in an hour."

We still have this bothersome matter of community, of church, of the corporate nature of spirituality. And it's not going to go away. Moreover, the apostle Paul argues that not only is the notion of isolated, outsourced spirituality foreign to the mind and heart of God, we're specifically gifted to provide the "goods and services" we need within the ChristBody itself.
No man/woman is a contemplative unto himself/herself. No person can live within their own little comfortable box, and surrive.

Jesus knew this. "Woman, you have great faith, your request is grantede"(Matt. 15:28).Paul knows this. He writes, "For the body has many members ..." This assumes that there is a body of Christ, an organization of some type, a church for instance, and it assumes that there are people in it open to, and receiving, God's grace.

These people do think of themselves "more highly" than they ought (12:3). They are recipients of some measure of faith (12:3). They have been gifted for ministry. Some function in a prophetic role, others in ministry, others in teaching, others in exhorting, others in giving, others in leadership, others in compassion.

Christianity is group work. We live and work in God's Box. It has always been that way. . Even 1,700 years ago in the deserts of Egypt, where Christian devotees moved when our old-time religion got too easy after the Roman authorities quit tossing believers to the lions -- even then -- faith was a group effort. Out there, under the hot sun, they had holy communities, who gathered for worship. They also had spiritual directors, the leaders of those communities, who were called Abba or Amma, father or mother.

It is essential for Christians to have a faith community. Paul preached it. The apostles believed it. Jesus knew our faith is strongest when we are together. Expand your territory, reshape your box. We are, as Paul writes, "one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another ... ."

We live, work, and play in a box. We create, or reshape the box according to the comfort zone desired. What shape is your box? Who lives in it? How comfortable is it? How comfortable? Is the make up of your box Christ oriented? Where do we go from here?

Let us pray........

Let me know what you think. The church Email is: SLUMC@att.net, Phone: 480.895.8766