In an average week, I teach in a formal setting at least 4 times. Four different lessons for two different basic age groups. Out of those four lessons, I prepare two entirely myself and work from curriculum on the other two. Each of the age groups gets one of each. I didn't do that intentionally, it just works out that way. I kind of like it that way.
I have found that I get far more excited about teaching and preparing for the lessons I am writing myself. I am forced to study the material more and familiarize myself with it to a much greater extent. Occasionally I will read back what I have prepared and realize that I stumbled onto something that I find to be even more applicable to my situation than to that of who I am teaching to.
This week I taught from Matthew 23 where Jesus woes the Pharisees. It is really kind of a funny chapter if you work hard to put yourself in the shoes of a person hearing it the first time around. It clarifies why, exactly, the Pharisees hate him so much. Jesus calls them out for tithing on their herbs but missing the bigger picture - straining a gnat and drinking a camel (not actually possible, but fun to think about). He then compares them to a dish that is cleaned on the outside but left dirty on the inside. If they didn't catch the subtlety there, he says they are like tombs that are nicely painted outside but are fully of decaying corpses on the inside.
I imagine that by that point people were trying to peek at their reactions without letting them know they were looking - and I imagine those stolen glances were greatly entertaining. He kind of started out mild with the herb tithing bit then got serious quick when he said their insides were dead and rotten.
He kind of made too points when he was calling out the Pharisees:
First, don't focus on the small things to the point that you miss the bigger picture and
B. Worry more about doing right than looking right.
So that is all out there already, but I got a bit more from it on the way. Jesus is focused on WHY we do something much more that WHAT we do while the Pharisees were so focused on WHAT was being done that the WHY became irrelevant.
I am a details oriented guy. Sometimes to a fault. I like to have everything neat and tied together. I have had to stop and take a step back at times to make sure that I am not planning based solely on the whats and that it is all centered on the whys.
The church here seems to be in a season of refocusing. It is easy to limit yourself to just the whats. Every aspect of normal church life can be reduced to the whats - and suddenly it becomes a to do list in the hands of the members who are willing to take care of things rather than a way of living together. Coming to a midweek ministry becomes a chore. Serving in the kitchen becomes a hassle. Taking time to talk is merely a roadblock to be avoided. Joining a small group is a life sentence and agreeing to teach one is a death sentence.
It could very well be that the whats don't change, but when the why's get lined up... things are entirely different. Taking time out of your week to serve or attend something immediately transitions from a task you dread to an event you look forward to. It isn't the what - the time and energy you spend as a thankless childrens' ministry volunteer, it is the why - the opportunity to dramatically impact the life of a young person who may otherwise have zero spiritual influence and few positive adult contacts in their lives.
When you worry more about the why that the what, you shift your focus from the little things to the big things and from outward appearances to inward reflections of Christ. Very often the only thing that needs to change in your life for dramatic spiritual growth to happen is a subtle change of perspective.
