Running on Empty

Running on Empty

We made a trip to Billings yesterday to buy supplies for Thanksgiving and Christmas – particularly to buy a pre-lit tree for Christmas.  We had exhausted all possibilities in Lewistown, which is not hard to do.  We actually found what we wanted at one store, but the last tree was purchased just 20 seconds before we tried to buy it.  The weather was good, most of the snow and ice had melted off the roads and my schedule was suddenly free.  The latter doesn’t happen often, so we decided to make the two hour drive to more shopping choices.

The drives to other cities are a good opportunity to pray and reflect on life and ministry.  The distances between cities and towns are quite large – a two hour drive is considered short around these parts.  We measure distances not in miles, but in hours driven.  Suzanne often reads, so I get a chance to just think on things.  This trip was no different.  These mental and spiritual wanderings often lead to sermon points, or entire sermons.  Things mundane become object lessons for tying biblical principles to everyday life.  This time the mundane inspiration was the gas gauge, and the struggles of a family in crisis.

Recently, I received word that friends were struggling.  The family has always struggled with life in general and with one another.  Other factors complicated things greatly.  Not the least of which is spiritual stability.  They never quite plugged into a solid church in the town they live in and that part of God’s design for our lives was left unaddressed in their lives.  This situation led me once again to explore why American Christians struggle so much with the church life means that God designed for church to be important to life.  I know that immediately most reading this have already seen this issue as someone else’s problem and not their own.  Consider the following; over 40% of Americans report that they attend church once a week.  However, there is an inconsistency.  Church attendance records indicate that only 17.7 percent of Americans actually attend church regularly.  The data behind this statistic is even more alarming – in order to be classified as a regular attender, a person only needs to attend church at least once every eight weeks.  This is hardly better than better than the old standard that nominal Christians attend just two times a year – Christmas and Easter.  Six in fifty-two is hardly better than two in fifty-two.  This means that many Christians, when polled, either lie about their church life, or they live in a fantasy world of their own making.

So, as I was once again asking for God’s help in illustrating why this is a problem, I became aware of the fact that I had not addressed the issue of fuel in our Subaru for the trip to Billings and back.  For those who do not live in an area like Montana, you are obviously thinking, “Well, stupid, just fill up at the next gas station!”  I need to instruct you about the facts of life in Montana.  Not only are distances between population centers great, but so are gas stations.  To illustrate, there are only two places to get gas between Lewistown and Billings; one is in Grassrange, thirty miles away, and the other is in Roundup, another forty-five mile drive.  This is actually pretty good for much of Montana.  Imagine being on a lonely stretch of road where the next gas station is over 100 miles away.  The fuel gauge reminded me that the habitual act of jumping behind the wheel and later down the road looking at the fuel gauge is sometimes short-sighted.  Thankfully, we had plenty of fuel to get to Billings, but the drive back needed to be addressed.  This began to form as a metaphor for spiritual formation.

Just prayer and Bible reading is only part of our spiritual formation.  Think of Bible reading as the road map of life, and prayer as the oil in the engine.  The car represents life, and the passenger side front seat is representative of the place for the Holy Spirit.  However, God designed much more into the function and purpose of our spiritual lives.  The multifaceted power of the New Testament lessons on “one another” is the fuel which keeps the car moving on its course.  For some reason, American Christians struggle with this aspect of spiritual formation.  Don’t get me wrong, there is much more to the spiritual life, but the importance of church in life is the focus here.

I should note here that one prevalent myth in American culture is that ministers either don’t struggle spiritually, or if they do, they are not supposed to.  Therefore, those who struggle probably shouldn’t be ministers anyway.  After all, Christian ministers are supposed to be absolutely perfect in every way, just like Christ Himself.  This expectation is perhaps one of the greatest factors leading to minister burnout and the inefficacy of much of the American church to be what Christ called her to be.  In addition, it is also a great factor influencing how ministers see view their own spiritual formation.  Since much of the church operates on the assumption that church is like an all-you-can eat buffet restaurant, and the minster is chief cook, bottle washer and waiter, then all church members need do is pay their price of entry and feed at the trough.  As for the minister – well, God takes care of him.  But what happens if the minister operates like the rest of the church?  What if the minister jumps behind the wheel and finds that he or she is running on empty?  It often ends up in tragedy.  This happens because for many ministers, church is just one way.  They give to the spiritual needs of the church, but too seldom get.

I am no stranger to running on empty in my spiritual formation.  I also identify with church often being just one sided in the principal of one another.  Most of the time, I am sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s nudge that my tank needs refilling.  In those instances, the engine begins to sputter.  I begin to notice that life gets tougher.  The checklist that should have been addressed before the daily road trip now gets looked at.  When was the last time I read a good book written by a trusted minister?  When was the last time I listened to, or watched a sermon? How long has it been since I fellowshipped with, or participated in a gathering of Christian colleagues and brethren?  When was the last time I allowed myself to be held accountable by a spiritual mentor or partner?  When was the last time someone prayed with and for me?  These questions illustrate the power and majesty of God’s purpose for the Church.  I can read the Bible all I want, pray without ceasing, but if I have not submitted myself to the work of the Church in me and for me, then spiritual formation is anemic at best.  We all need the balance of the work of the Holy Spirit in community to make sure we have the fuel to make the trip.  The Bible is the road map, but without the fuel of one another love, instruction, discipline, encouragement, bearing of burdens and accountability we often end up sidelined; confident in our correctness, but ineffective in our walk.  This is why ministers who give, but do not take end up with a host of problems.  Not the least of which is burnout, or leading a congregation into creating a church – not in Christ’s image, but their own. In the same way, Christians who wait too long to refuel their spiritual car don’t just sputter, they run out of gas.  Often, the result is divorce, adultery, broken relationships, broken trust with God, and a host of other problems.

A life without the strength of one another – weekly church attendance, small group relationships, discipleship partners fellowship and ministry involvement – is like starting out on a 1000 mile trip with a quarter of a tank of gas.  What makes it worse, is that if the next church involvement is measured in weeks rather than days, then it’s like starting out on that trip with a quarter of a tank and the next gas station is 200 miles away.  Running on empty is not just a bad idea, it’s a disaster waiting to happen.