As many know, last year I authored a book Got Cancer? There’s Hope (Shameless plug #1: you can get it here). In 2014, I authored a book Chronic Pain (Shameless plug #2: you can get it here). In Got Cancer? I had a chapter titled ‘Cancer Sucks.” My mom wouldn’t have been happy with the title, because it used the “S” word, but it’s true, cancer sucks the life out of you. Chronic pain can too, even if there is no chapter with that title. 

Since a subarachnoid hemorrhage in 2007, I deal with Chronic Pain on a daily basis. Lately, I’ve been in a rather significant migraine cycle (don’t ask me what I preached Sunday, I honestly don’t remember much). So my neurologist’s favorite patient showed up in his office yesterday (I’m not sure I’m his favorite, but I’m pretty sure his accountant loves me). An office procedure, MRI appointment, neurosurgeon appointment (minor outpatient consult); new round of prescriptions (one my insurance company has to preapprove because it’s about a $100 bucks a pop)—and I was walking out the door.

Feeling a tad sorry for myself, I stopped off at a Rally House and bought a Tigers T-shirt. Psst… don’t tell Karla, but I bought a Lions T-shirt too. Two shirts later I was still feeling a little bummed. Things can’t restore joy. But they are sweet shirts. 

Then the Lord brought to mind a Bible verse (probably not any of the verses you’d imagine I’d be thinking in moment). It’s John 10:10, where Jesus says: The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

“Name-it-claim-it” TV preachers have used this verse to say that Jesus wants you to have a life full of riches and wonderful things. Banks accounts full of money. Houses full of expensive items. Closets of full of designer clothes. And no pain– cancer, chronic or otherwise.

But is that truly what Jesus meant? Is “life to the full” all about possessions, money and skating though life without pain?  Remember when Jesus died his only possession was a robe that the soldiers gambled over. That was it. One robe. Not a closet full of robes. Not even a sweet Tigers’ shirt. Oh, and don’t forget, and in that moment, he was dying on a cross—a particularly painful experience. Yet, I don’t think anyone would claim Jesus didn’t live a full life.

Sometimes “full lives” means navigating life full of joys and sorrow. I have had way, way, way more joys than sorrows. You have too (is my guess). One of the Enemy’s biggest lies is to get one to forget their joys and amplify their sorrows. He wants to steal our peace. Kill our hope. Destroy our dreams. Can I admit—that was happening to me a bit yesterday?  

The Jesus life isn’t always easy (read: migraines for me; something else for you); the Jesus life doesn’t mean we won’t have troubles (Jesus said we would. See John 16:33). The good news in the midst of these issues is that Jesus is with us (see Matthew 28:20). A full life is not free of problems. A full life is full of Jesus through any trials and joys that come our way.

Jesus reminded me of this good news on my way back from Ann Arbor. I would be OK. But I He also gave me permission to sit out the song times at Vacation Bible Camp this week. It tends to be a little loud in the family center these nights and that tends to make my noggin a little grumpy. 

P.S. If the VBC kids raise $1000 for School Supplies at Dillon Elementary school by tonight (they were at $580 last night), I get a pie in my face. No, I will not be wearing my new Tigers or Lions’ shirt for this event. Anyone got a MSU Sparty shirt I can borrow?

Rules First. Legalists stress holiness over grace. This brand of “holiness” looks a lot like the first century Pharisees with plenty of variations and expressions. It is a “holiness” based on fear and control. A “holiness” governed by guidelines, rules and measuring sticks. When holiness can be measured by the number of rules kept, it’s no longer holiness. It’s legalism. Most generally pride and haughtiness are the ugly underbelly to this brand of pseudo-holiness. Typically, like the Pharisees version in the first century, any who do not abide or “partner” with their version of “holiness” are labeled as heretics, outcasts and/or reprobates. It’s the classical example of one noticing the specks in other’s eyes without seeing the plank in their own. 

Liberty First. The Irreligious (maybe better stated the “sort-of-religious, or the religious wanna-bes, or the have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too religious) stress freedom over holiness. Anything goes. Holiness is not the goal. Liberty is the highest virtue. An in-all-things liberty rule of life leads to an outcome that is far from holiness. If “sanctify” means to be “set apart,” this brand of “holiness” sees nothing from which one needs to be set apart. Each person decides upon their own path. Every road can be good.  All who do not hold to a version of “liberty that leads to godliness” are accused of preaching a vengeful or angry God. There is no need for a God of judgment because there is nothing to judge. All things are good (with the possible exception – ironically– of those that would be judgmental toward the Liberty First crowd).

Jesus First. True Christianity stresses freedom through grace that leads to holiness.  Holiness is the goal. It is not devoid of freedom. It’s just the opposite, this brand of holiness is a fully-realized freedom that embarks on the path toward Christ-likeness. It’s not freedom for freedom sake (see Example #2); nor freedom to follow a list of pre-determined rules (see Example #1), but freedom that leads to self-surrender. It’s an overwhelming desire to be more and more like Jesus. Freedom brought by grace. Fed through grace. Covered in grace. Filled with grace. It’s a Jesus wrought freedom that leads to holiness, according to St. Paul.

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. Romans 6:22

Seriously, did anything change because of the 2023 General Assembly?
Time will tell.

We have a couple of new General Superintendents.  

We traded in David Graves for Scott Daniels and Eugenio Duarte for Christian Sarmiento. 
We traded a former college church pastor (Olathe) for another former college church pastor (Nampa). 
We traded a former regional director (Africa) for another former regional director (South America).
Are those good trades?  We’ll see. Probably the two newbies will bring in some strengths, just as we may miss some strengths from the our recently retired duo. 

We didn’t mess with the Articles of Faith. 
We changed the wording of the Covenant of Christian Conduct, but didn’t change the content much.
We left the paragraph regarding human sexuality mostly alone.
We added a somewhat bland statement regarding gender identity.
We spent far more time than I ever could have imagined questioning if the gifts of tongues/prayer language are a part of the sanctified life (Wait! What?).

We suggested five year sabbaticals instead of seven.
We left the gathering for General Assembly at four years instead of five (no matter the cost).
We referred a few things for the GSs to study—Capital Punishment; an Article of Faith regarding the theology of humankind (or something like that), and few other things too.

We passed some manual minutia that probably no one will notice or care.
We spent a lot of time talking (and thereby slowing down the election process) about how we might speed up the election process along. Ironic but true. 

It might have been the first General Assembly that was hammered by social media. Rumors and gossip that used to be shared over coffee were being spread over the internet. Of course, gossip is wrong no matter the venue. I think some holiness folks forgot that truth. 

It seems that in spite of the unifying message that “Jesus is Lord,” there was more disunity than ever before. Maybe it was just me. Maybe it wasn’t that way for everyone. 

The General Assembly math equation seemed to be: 
division was present (American Holiness vs. Wesleyanism; USA/Canada vs. International)
(which might explain the subtraction in USA/Canada), 
and might also explain why some the frustration in the international delegates multiplied. 

But was anything added?

We were together once again. Whew, that was a long six years!
The worship and preaching were good. That was an addition.
I saw many friends. Many encouraged me on one front or another. That was also good.

There were a few folks that apparently didn’t like some of my blogs (true confession: I don’t always like some of my blogs.). Some of these dear ones expressed their displeasure with yours truly. Umm… maybe that’s why there’s not a faction within the church named “holiness friendship “or “holiness fellowship” or “holiness charity-ship” or “holiness just-don’t-act-like-a-goober-ship.” “Partnership” means different things to different people apparently. 

Did anything change?

Bottom line: Not a lot changed in the manual. But our world is changing. I hope the church and our leadership can travel through the upcoming storms with grace and truth. I pray that the path to the middle road returns. I pray that wherever we gather (outside USA/Canada?) in 2027 that the all-too-elusive unity returns. General Assembly 2023 served as a reminder to pray for the Church of the Nazarene—her leaders and her people (even those who said the disparaging things and spread the vicious rumors—maybe especially them) that we will conform more and more to the likeness of Jesus!

Having a five-hour drive back to the state shaped like a Mitten, I was able to think about the 30th Nazarene General Assembly.  I found that #GANaz23 was like…

A Family reunion.  I mean a real family reunion— not a sappy idealization of a family reunion, but the good, bad, and ugly family reunion. You know what I mean. There are those in the family to whom you want to give a hug and not let go, and there are others where it could easily turn into “Hatfield-and-McCoys” encounter (in a loving, Christ-like way, of course). At this family reunion, there are those who talk way too much, and those you’d wish talked more. All shapes and sizes and colors. Some wore interesting clothes (I saw one lady who had the Nazarene logo all over her dress). Still looking across the room filled with scholars and goofballs and everyone in between I thought: “These are my people and I love them!” 

A little like Heaven. Whenever you worship with 10 to 12,000 people like on Sunday, you can’t help but imagine heaven. I loved it. 

A Preach-a-thon with no losers. All the GS’s preached. They were all very good. I’ve heard Dr. Duarte preach several times, I thought that was his best sermon. I’ve heard Dr. Busic tell the story about his dad several times. It makes me cry every time. Dr.’s Graves, Chambo, and Crocker hit it out of the park. Dr. Sunberg’s report was more like a sermon and it had us all shouting in a Bresee like fashion, “Good Morning!”

The Tower of Babel. With several languages spoken and several folks needing words and documents translated, things can get a little wonky. We weren’t building a tower like in Genesis, and the folks in Genesis didn’t have top-notch translators. Our language challenges are a beautiful problem of an international church. 

Something that would cause the “My Pillow Guy” to have a heart attack. The voting devises were… a challenge, but we survived and no one shouted, “Stop the steal!” A lot of time could have been saved with a very low tech seven-word approach to many of the resolutions, “All in favor raise your right hand.” Boom. No machines. No delays. Easy Peasy (we got there in the last hour… better late than never). 

A Petri dish growing something toxic. Some “not-so-good” Nazarenes (or former Nazarenes) with nimble fingertips must have thought that the fruit of the spirit is hate-spewing, libel-barfing, gossip-talking, rumor-mongering, fear-encouraging, slander-smearing, cantankerous-posting, division-inducing and reputation-bashing. It’s the ugly side of holiness (think: Pharisees with an iPhone and accounts on Twitter or Facebook). Chalk this up to, sadly, not everyone lives by the holiness they profess.

Paper, Rock, Scissors. Sometimes I was voting with the majority and sometimes with the minority. Sometimes I wished someone would hit me with a paper, a rock, or scissors because I was baffled at the voting. Did we really almost become a Pentecostal church with a 12-word amendment? Whew… crazy things can happen on the floor of the assembly.

The Royal Gorge. There is a divide in the church (maybe more than one). It was evident in voting on resolutions and for the General Superintendents. Here’s a totally oversimplified take of the church in USA/Canada: There’s a Wesleyan-leaning holiness group (Although John and Charlie would roll over in their graves if they knew of the tactics made in their name); and there’s reformed-leaning holiness group (although these folks would not like the “reformed” moniker…. But as you know, if it walks and quacks like a duck then…). There also seems to be a growing divide between USA/Canada and the world (See the vote regarding tongues). Over and over, the call was to be one in Christ. I pray we can be. Wherever we are from and whatever our bent happens to be.

In the end after all the votes cast and two new General Superintendents installed, the body in unity sang the doxology. It was a fitting closure to our week.

Now I’m back in Michigan and just met with a family preparing the funeral for a saint of the Lord. Tomorrow there’s a few graduation open houses I will be privileged to attend. And It’s Friday, so Sunday’s-a-comin’ and I’ve got a sermon to preach. For all the hoopla in Indy, the church is still about meeting people and sharing Jesus in our local setting. The local church is where the action is. The local Church of the Nazarene is the heart of the denomination, not the General Assembly. I’m glad I’m back in the Mitten.

See you in four-years!