Reflex 4.16.2026

    We had a contractor’s representative at the church house today to iron out responsibility on containing a problem on a recently completed job. I about missed the meeting entirely. Not because I forgot it, but because I never remembered it in the first place. It was in my notes from our board meeting last week, but I never moved it to my task-manager, calendar, daybook, pocket-notebook, or desk-notebook. Items that don’t make it into one of those 5 elements of my “system” are not remembered. I’ve worked this way for quite a while. This kid of practice helps free the mind from being a container for random bits of information allowing it to be an organ for thinking. All those containers I noted earlier can be tapped for the scraps of information necessary to thinking, processing, expanding, contracting, sharing, or shelving materials for preaching. Getting information out of my head is a reflex. It has become instinctive. So, when someone asks me a question and I say, “let me check” or “I need to look at my Things, calendar, or notebook”, I’m not stalling. I actually need to check these bins of extended memory.

    These kinds of reflexes are not unique. For example, another reflex occurs when I move from my Ford Ranger pickup to Mrs. Beckman’s ever-so-cute Chevy Trax. My truck is a very nice 2009 model, but it was manufactured prior to the wide accessibility of certain enhancements. No back-up camera. Mrs. Beckman’s Trax is newer, fancier, and more refined. It has a back-up camera, Car-play, blind-spot warnings. If not “the works” it’s certainly nicer than my truck. 

    Nonetheless, when I get in her vehicle (as I will this afternoon when we go to dinner). I will throw the vehicle into reverse and look either over my shoulder or in the rearview mirror when I back up. Why? This is not necessary—the vehicle has a back-up camera, this is a 21st century ride. Why back-up the old-fashioned way? Reflex. After about the third time backing up, I will realize that I can take advantage of that tech and act beyond the scripts I was taught back in 1978 when I was learning to drive. 

    Much of our life is a kind of learned instinct. We act from reflex. Many of those reflexes were honed before we came to Christ. Others were developed as an ongoing aspect of our evolving discipleship. Regardless of their origin there are times when we should examine them and determine whether they are liberating or restrictive. Do they help us or hinder us as we live a life in pursuit of Jesus? 

    Use this time between Easter and Pentecost, between the vigorous activity of the early Spring and the business of Summer to reflect upon your reflexes and decide if there are any that need to be retained, retrained, or rejected. Consider the following:

“Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 1:13 ESV)

Paul encourages us to consider the resources we have at our disposal for adjusting our reflexes to life as a maturing disciple. Here is another scriptural layer:  

“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:5-8 ESV)

 

Yes, we need words like Paul’s to encourage us. We also need words like Peter’s to direct us. The Bible supplies both kinds of resources and one of the true joys of being a preacher or teacher is helping people make reasonable connections between various parts of Scripture. 

    Per our subject, both Paul and Peter agree. We need to have good scripts. We need to develop and hone good reflexes. This process will involve good models, intentional habits, specific targets, and occasional recalibration. 

    The unspoken ingredient is time. The following and supplementing that Peter and Paul describe is something that requires not only intention but also incubation. For many of us the rest of April is going to be sort of slow. Things will pick up in a couple of weeks with graduations, concerts, proms, and Mother’s Day. Between Easter and Pentecost, these few weeks before the Summer rush is a great time to test our reflexes. Not just for the balance of this year but for lifelong discipleship.

Now What? 4.9.2026

     I hope you had a great celebration of the resurrection of our Lord this Sunday past. Easter is the very heart of the Christian year, a highlight. Which offers the question for present consideration. Now What?

    Post Modern American society is inundated with celebrations. Sometimes, as with Columbus Day, there is a traditional day of observation partnered with an oppositional memorial (Indigenous Peoples Day) in a never-ending attempt to keep every specific demographic happy about having what would otherwise be a mere Bank Holiday.

    That conscientious approach does not really deal with the question at hand. Now What? Easter has never been celebrated as a mere holiday or a cultural observance. We might complain about Easter Bunnies and chocolate (Let me be clear on this…I will never, ever complain about chocolate of any kind) as cultural adhesions on an otherwise pristine celebration, yet the fact remains that you’ve got to have the original before you have a declension. Still, we’ve not even considered the question Now What? Let’s deal with the question and leave superficial babble-dabble to others, shall we?

    After the facts of the Resurrection were established, the followers of Jesus remained together prayerfully watching and waiting. Jesus, prior to His ascent, made it very clear to them (and thereby us) that He was not finished. Luke mentions this when he opens the book of Acts with…

“In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach… (Acts 1:1 ESV)

    These words imply—if they don’t outright teach that Jesus is not done and that whatever He is continuing to do He intends to do by using us. So, in this post-Easter Now What phase of the year it is right and proper for us to consider this question in light of what it is that Jesus might intend for His Church to accomplish in the communities in which each of us live, work, and lead. Let’s answer this question by looking at some areas of our work impacted by the resurrection.  

Message

    The message of the Church is the Gospel. Paul said, “we preach Christ, and him crucified”. This is the compressed messaging of telling the story of the passion of Jesus as it relates directly to the call of discipleship. 

    There are a lot of things the Church can say, many that we actually do say, but only one thing that we must say. Jesus is alive! That’s your message.

Materials 

    In both proclaiming and living this message there are two kinds of materials at the disposal of the Church. One is obvious, the other generally not even considered a material. First the obvious. The message we preach must be fully Biblical. The story of the rescue-mission of the Christ who serves us both with His incarnate life and conquest of death. 

    Because this story is found in the Bible the primary material for our work is the Bible. We read and study scripture to master the context and expectations of Jesus’ messianic work. From our diligent studies, preachers preach this message, musicians sing this message, teachers teach this message, and disciples live this message. 

    The second, often overlooked material for this messaging process is people. Our task includes the spiritual formation of disciples. They are, in effect, the raw materials in which Jesus works to build His Church again Paul addresses this dynamic.

“Do you not know that y’all are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in y’all? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and y’all are that temple.” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17 ESV)

I’ve taken the liberty of altering the translation of Paul’s text to reflect the plural pronouns: you all=y’all. The individualism of American society has led us to individualize texts which were intended to address the church a whole. Paul’s concept is that individual believers, filled with the Holy Spirit are the materials Jesus uses to build His Church  

    Now what? Easter provides a good opportunity to take inventory of how we are using the materials of our work. Are we helping the “building blocks” of the Church to be strengthened? Are we exploiting them, patronizing them, or under nourishing them? Answering those questions requires examining the Biblical texts we are preaching and the tools we are using for our studies. 

Methods

    Finally, we need to review our working methods. We’ve considered “What” questions and “Who” questions. Now we need to think about how. This is a good time to review plans, calendars, procedures, and projections. The week after Easter can be a bit of a let-down. The pressure of a long, busy week is off. Most of us are worn and need some down time. 

Preaching and teaching are creative endeavors and it’s not always easy to be creative when you are tired. When you can’t create, work. There are lots of items which need attention matters of method which are easy to neglect when you’re leading up to Easter, or Christmas. Now is the perfect time to review what you’ve done since Easter, calibrate the tools, and make some preliminary sketches for the months ahead. Look at your calendar. Clean up your task list and your project manager. Conceptualize the next several months and what needs to be done to lay a good foundation for the coming work. Go through your analog and electronic libraries and begin the process of pulling the resources you will need to use in preparing for your next series of sermons or lessons. 

    Unfortunately, a lot of these tasks get neglected because of more pressing matters. Now’s a good time to batten down the methodological hatches and prepare for what comes next. Because if ministry teaches us anything, there is always a next, Now What?

Thursday Afternoon 4.5.2026

     I like to listen to music when I work. I have become very fond of some contemporary “classical” composers, (Arvo Pärt, Max Richter), listen to a lot of J.S. Bach, and spin a little Jazz for a change of pace. And of course, I occasionally play the music of my youth. The playlist feature on Spotify also offers an interesting thematic twist. I have a specific playlist for Monday morning. It consists of a few classic rock-pop songs that…all include the word Monday.  I also will listen to Moody Blues Days of Future Passed on Tuesdays because (you may not know this) it is an entire album set on a Tuesday, the central tune being Tuesday Afternoon. Just another way to order my workday. Incidentally, all other workdays begin with Max Richter’s The Blue Notebooks and A Winged Victory for the Sullen’s self-titled debut.

    So here it is Thursday of Holy Week. Maundy Thursday. How can this day, a day which focuses on both betrayal and loyalty, a day which is suspended between the central memorial of the Old Covenant and the defining memorial of the New Covenant be framed? What attitude, emotion, or aspect should we have when we consider the coming cross? What should be on our mind as we move toward Thursday afternoon?

    For Jesus, His public teaching ministry was over. He has been acclaimed and anointed. He has been in near constant motion and ongoing debate for days. All that is past. He has a few more hours of freedom and He wished to spend that traditional night with His closest companions, those whom He has trained, those who formed His embryonic Church. 

 “Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?”  He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’” And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover.” (Matthew 26:17-19 ESV)

 I don’t know how early in the day this conversation occurred. My guess is that it was pretty early. Maybe right after breakfast. I’m sure that there were several men and probably some women who helped to prepare, what was a large banquet. There were more groceries to get besides the lamb. I’ve never roasted a lamb, but experience suggests that you don’t just throw them in the oven with no prior thought of how to do so. Like our culture’s preparing the Thanksgiving turkey, I’m sure that there were differing opinions as to both proper and tasty preparation of the Passover feast. Jesus sent His emissaries, they prepared the feast, Jesus waited. 

    At some point on that long Thursday afternoon, I’m sure that Jesus considered how different that Thursday afternoon would be from all others, before or since. We may set aside a time of reflective worship on Maundy Thursday, we may prolong our stay around the Lord’s Table on this night, but our experience this Thursday afternoon, will be nothing like that Thursday afternoon spent by the King of Glory waiting the gathering of the faithful and the dereliction of Judas. 

    Monday’s may be manic, but we don’t expect them to be world changing. That Thursday and the days to come, those days we now call holy week changed everything for everyone. We read nothing about what occurred between the giving of instructions for preparation and the gathering to feast. Perhaps, one day when we have gone to our reward, we will have the chance to ask our Lord and Savior, the Lamb of God what He was doing and what were His thoughts on that long, Thursday afternoon while all creation waited for the other shoe to drop.