Anne Marie Miller

Category: Church

  • Is Grace Cheap?

    Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting today for costly grace.

    Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjack’s wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices…

    Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner…

    Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession, absolution without personal confession.

    Cheap grace is grace without discipleship…

    Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it, a man will gladly go and sell all that he has…it is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble.

    Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift that must be asked for, the door at which one must knock.

    These are words that could have been written today. But they weren’t. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote them in the 1930?s – when he was in his late twenties. This is a timeless truth that we should contemplate maybe more now in our commercialized, diagrammed culture.

    *What does grace mean to you?

    *How do you see the message of grace presented in our world today?

  • The Tension of Art and Vocation

    When I was seventeen years old, I moved into my very first apartment. Instead of worrying about who would ask me to prom, I was worried about having to fire the seminary student at the local bookstore I managed. I couldn’t vote, but I could create a profit-and-loss report with my eyes closed.

    I didn’t go into my late teenage years expecting to be a career woman, but those were the cards I was dealt. I quickly moved into corporate marketing and communication, then ministry, and signed my first major book contract when I was twenty-seven and a contract for my second and third books when I was twenty-eight. By the time I was thirty-two years old, I had the opportunity to travel to eighteen countries to write stories, I was honored to speak in front of over a hundred thousand people, and for the most part, was able to live the dream staying self-employed. This often meant I could work in my pajamas and avoid using mascara for days on end.

    This was life – a good life. One I have held in deep gratitude in my prayers as I know it is a life many work hard for (myself included…not once has it been an easy life).

    As I continue writing, I find myself in a tension I’ve not yet experienced and questions I’ve not yet asked: Is this what I’m here to do? I examine the colors in the garden of my heart. Are the seasons changing?

    Writing has always been a part of who I am. From the time I could form the shapes of the alphabet, words move from my mind to paper. This art will never leave me.

    But as a career? I wonder…

    Merton wrestled with writing as vocation, and for the last two years I have poured over his journals. I see myself in his words and feel his tension. As always, whatever I put my hands to can succeed, but if the motivation of my heart is misaligned, it’s worthless in the eyes of my God.

    Intertwining the art of writing with the nuances of vocation often leaves me feeling like I need to exfoliate the surface of my heart and mind. My social media feeds tell me what to do to get more people to read me (I have accepted this as using any of these virtual places as simply mediums to communicate the truths God has imparted to me), as well as demanding – yes, demanding – I share everyone else’s work with those around me. “Retweet this!” — “Can you put this on your Facebook Page, blog, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, refrigerator door, and all the telephone posts in a 2-mile radius from your house?” — “Hey, look! I’m #471,271 on Amazon!”

    The Scriptures say to celebrate with those who celebrate and mourn with those who mourn. Usually, my heart gets tired from mourning but I’ve found lately my heart is tired from celebrating; not because I envy others’ success (much), but because the noise can be so, so, loud.

    I do not want to add to this noise, yet there is even irony as I type these words on my blog, which I will then place a link to it on Twitter and Facebook.

    “We live in a society whose whole policy is to excite every nerve in the human body and keep it at the highest pitch of artificial tension, to strain every human desire to the limit and to create as many new desires and synthetic passions as possible, in order to cater to them with the products of our factories and printing presses and movie studios and all the rest.”  – Merton

     

  • Are Forgiveness and Reconciliation the Same?

    I never thought there was much difference between reconciliation and forgiveness. In my heart, it all kind of meant the same thing – letting go of pain that someone had inflicted on me. Usually this involved some type of “making up” process involving apologies, sometimes tears, and a hug to make everything alright.

    Twelve years ago, somebody hurt me in a very painful, inexcusable way. For years, I didn’t allow myself to work through the pain as I needed to. A couple of years ago, circumstances (which were mostly out of my control) caused me to stare at this wound square in the face.

    As strange as it sounds, I’ve never doubted that I forgave this person. I feel fortunate that, for the most part, forgiveness comes easy to me. There are probably only two situations in my life where I know I still need to work on forgiving someone, but this particular hurt isn’t one of them.

    However, as I was processing through healing during this time, I began questioning if i really had forgiven this person. Sure, the scabs had been peeled off and the wounds were fresh – and it hurt…badly, all over again.

    Someone who was helping me through this sent me an email. He encouraged me and said that what I was experiencing wasn’t me being bitter or holding on (which was what I was afraid I was doing) but that I was desiring reconciliation.

    I wanted for this person to own up to the mistake and for everything – painful as it would be – to be okay again.

    And I wanted for the relationship to be harmonized and restored completely.

    Later, I read this in a book:

    Joseph was reconciled with his brothers when they came to Egypt in search of grain. By the time his brothers reached Egypt, he was able to stand before them and confront them because he had no inner feelings that would keep him from having a relationship of unity and peace with them.

    Forgiveness is unilateral. You can forgive even if [someone] never admits [their wrong doing], is never sorry, and never changes. But reconciliation requires both people’s commitment to recovery, honesty, repentance, forgiveness, and communication. Even then, reconciliation is a long and difficult process of breaking down barriers and building trust.

    You may not ever be reconciled with a person that hurt you (or that you hurt).

    That part takes both people to work through.

    Forgiveness is a necessary, but not a sufficient condition for reconciliation.

    However, forgiveness is a decision that you make, and continue to make, regardless of the other person’s choice.

    And through the cross and grace and love, you can.

  • Why Christians Shouldn’t Boycott Craigslist

    There has been a lot of press lately surrounding the illegal activities on Craiglist. This morning, the Today Show even had a feature clearly showing the prostitution that is readily available in their “adult” section.

    (*Note: It’s PG-13 with some mildly graphic imagery)

    Many people in the faith community have responded by suggesting we boycott Craigstlist.

    Is that the right response? I don’t think so.

    I don’t think anyone needs to boycott Craigslist. (And this is coming from me, a girl who was just in Moldova a month ago and saw girls get bought and sold right in front of her at a cafe.)

    Here’s why.

    • If we boycott Craigslist, we’re just making noise. Noise doesn’t do much. Noise is passive. Unless you are actually using their adult service section, they aren’t making any money on you. I go on Craigslist to sell my car or buy an ottoman. It’s a third-party trading site for most of us.
    • It’s the Christian Status Quo to boycott. “They don’t say Christmas at Target! Let’s show them who’s boss!” We throw our faith around like a proud badge and try to prove our points. I’ve never seen this as a humble, loving response.
    • People who don’t subscribe to the Christian faith see this as us attempting to push our beliefs on people. Should we share our beliefs with people? Sure. Share them. Nothing wrong with that. How do we do that? Read John 13:35.
    • Unless something is done to help solve the problem (illegal activity), the people who are breaking the law will find another place to do it. Shutting down the adult service section of Craigslist will just make people use other sites.

    Going off the basis of “how will people know we’re Christians” (as referenced in our own Bibles) it’s by love. I don’t think the action of boycotting shows love.

    So what should we do?

    • We should first thank Craigslist for donating some of their money to anti-trafficking organizations. Thank you.
    • We should get involved in our local government and make sure they know the issues of illegal activity occurs on Craigslist. Then we should ask them to take appropriate government action (which, by the way, Craigslist is protected from liability – however, the law doesn’t cover the people breaking it).
    • Find a way to support the women who feel like they need to prostitute themselves. How can we care for them?
    • Ask “Is there a way faith-based organizations can partner with Craigslist to help solve this problem?” If someone came up with a brilliant solution, I bet Craigslist would be more than willing to listen.

    Over and over again, I find that Christians (myself included) can be reactive and not proactive. Maybe this is an opportunity for us to actually come alongside of Craigslist and see how we can help them instead of just yelling at them.

    Idealistic? Naive? Maybe.

    But I have to believe it’s better than the status quo.

  • Ten Simple Ways to Love Your Community

    My friend Adam shared some great ideas yesterday for churches (could also apply to other organizations) to become more involved and open to their communities. I found this list to be very easy to implement and practical.

    1. If you have a building, offer a public bathroom and shower that’s open to whomever needs it during your office hours.
    2. Ask every attendee to get in the habit of bringing a canned food item to church every week. Then start a food pantry that’s open a couple days a week for people to drop in.
    3. Buy things for the church from local suppliers. Avoid the big box (probably cheaper) stores for ones that support a local company. Encourage your church attendees to do the same.
    4. Encourage people who go out to lunch after church to be generous with tipping servers and conscious of how long they are staying. You want wait staffs to desire the church crowd, they are avoiding it at all costs now.
    5. Require church staff to live within the area you are trying to reach.
    6. Add a requirement to all board and staff job descriptions that they attend public meetings. (Schools, city planning, city council, county government, etc.)
    7. Ask adults to volunteer at the public schools. (Give staff lots of freedom to volunteer)
    8. Participate in organized community events. Cleaning up, planting flowers, helping with parades, etc.
    9. Make church property open to the public. (Playground equipment, skateboard park, community garden, host local festivals, allow the schools to hold events in the auditorium.) Better yet, turn all of your property into a community center.
    10. Create a culture of saying yes to community involvement instead of no.

    I spent six years on staff at a few different churches, and I know sometimes the first reaction to suggestions like this is, “Well, that sounds nice, but realistically…”

    A tip?

    Your community doesn’t care about your policies and structure.

    Your community cares about how you treat them.

    Anything you’d add?

  • What Happens When You Stuff A Jeep Full of Pancakes

    Yesterday, you found out about my trip to Moldova and Russia. So, as you’re reading this on Tuesday, I’m probably still traveling or getting settled somewhere. Knowing that I’d be away from the internet ahead of time, I asked my friend Josh Maisner to guest blog today.

    First, a little history lesson on Josh.

    In January, I was speaking at Belmont University. After my talk, I had an amazing conversation with a senior named Josh. He knew I was going to Haiti, and he was going to be going shortly after I was, so we talked a bit about it. In February, I returned from Haiti, and in March, Josh returned from Haiti. A week ago, over frozen yogurt, for two hours we talked about a million different things. Things like Haiti, and…well, things like pancakes.

    Josh told me about an experience he had one night here in Nashville last winter – the night before first semester finals. And I told him you guys had to hear it.

    So here’s Josh. And here’s a story about what happens when you stuff a jeep full of pancakes.

    —–

    Nashville had an uncharacteristically cold winter this year, and the night before finals was no exception.

    Every year at my university we take a break from studying on ‘Dead Day’ and head to the cafeteria and enjoy some golden pancakes; for free! You spend all day cramming and stressing over those first few finals, but there’s something about pancakes that just makes the world a little better.

    For a few moments, as that sweet, buttery piece of joy touches your lips; you can stop and forget about tomorrow’s problems.

    As the event wrapped up, I found myself one of the last people still there talking away, when something caught my eye.

    Bags and bags of hot pancakes were being taken out of the warmer and thrown away. Hundreds of pancakes were about to go to pancake heaven in a dumpster, and all I could think of was how many people were shivering in the cold on the streets of our city wishing they had a hot meal.

    Before I knew it, I was standing in front of the women throwing them away. You can imagine the look on her face as a 22 year old asks her to let him have ALL the pancakes! I told her I wanted to make some deliveries to those fighting the cold tonight on our streets…the homeless.

    Maybe some hot pancakes would afford them a momentary sweet escape from the cold.

    Due to the crunch time of finals nobody was around to help me hand out these pancakes, so I set off rogue, in my Jeep full of pancakes, to the streets of downtown Nashville.

    Within minutes I was out of my Jeep walking around to those huddled by bus stops, in doorways, and wandering the streets…bags of pancakes in hand. I’d give what I had in my hands away, hop back in the new “pancake mobile” and get on with my mission. If they were walking as I was driving, with windows rolled down and said yes when I asked if they were hungry, I was pulled over in a second and brought them some pancakes!

    That night as I listened to so many different stories I began to experience something incredible. Jesus says, “What you do unto the least of these, you do unto Me.”

    Looking into the eyes of each person as I gave them away I began to see with a new perspective. It was incredibly simple, but beautiful at the same time; as I handed out food to these strangers…

    I realized I was handing out pancakes to Jesus.

    On July 1, 2010,  I’m leaving the streets of Nashville with everything that I own held in a 50lb backpack to meet Jesus around the world. I will be a full time missionary on The World Race traveling to eleven different countries over eleven months working with impoverished children, human trafficking victims, and those who have been cast aside.

    My travels will take me back to Haiti, to once again work with those devastated by the earthquake, then on to The Dominican Republic, Romania, Turkey, Mozambique, Malawi, another country in Africa, China, Thailand, Cambodia, and the Philippines.

    It’s a life I never imagined for myself and only God could have planned; but then again, what do I know anyway?

    I invite you to follow my journey on my blog where you can read the stories and see the faces of those I meet who are need around the world.

    —

    So, you can see why I think Josh is my new hero.

    What Josh doesn’t say that I will say is that for him to do this trip costs $15,000. That covers his travel and meals and all his expenses for the trip. Also what Josh doesn’t say is he needs to raise $11,885 to have his trip covered. And the dude leaves in a couple of months. From talking to Josh, it’s not like he hasn’t been trying to raise support. Trust me. He’s been working his freaking tail off both at work and doing fund raising.

    And you know what? He didn’t ask me to do this for him.

    But here’s my schtick.

    Because it’s my blog and I’m allowed to have a schtick.

    Help Josh raise they money he needs for this trip.

    You just gotta click here.

    I look at Josh and see a guy who is eight years (gasp) younger than I am.

    When I was 22, I was getting sober and trying to start my life over. I didn’t give a second thought to poverty…I just wanted to keep my sports car from getting repossessed.

    If this is Josh at 22…who will Josh be when he’s 30? What will eight years of growth do to an already open, adventurous, compassionate heart?

    Invest in him.

    We have.

    I can honestly say the return will be immeasurable.

  • Someone Who Goes Before You

    Now that the weather has been nice, I’ve been spending time outside on my bike preparing for the Ride:Well Tour. My first ride out was a few weeks ago. Last week, I went out with a friend (also a new rider) and mainly rode around some of the areas I had been running before. With one of us leading the way, it wasn’t so intimidating not knowing what was around the corner – say, if the shoulder disappeared or there was a dead squirrel.

    Monday, I went out by myself and took a road I had never ridden on before. It was a stretch of about 8 miles on Highway 96, and then you make a simple turn around at the Natchez Trace and ride back. I’ve driven this path before, and it looked like it had a decent bike lane (so the signs said) but when I was actually out on my bike, 75% of the time this “bike route” wasn’t even really paved (it had something on it, but it wasn’t asphalt) and was full of patches of slick gravel.

    Add to the mix an inexperienced cyclist, a 20 mph headwind on my first climb, and drivers of cars that do NOT comprehend the “cyclists get 3 feet of space” law and it ended up being a good ride to get under my belt for the sheer confidence-building element.

    —

    People my age often share the complaint that we lack mentors. We didn’t have them growing up and we’re either afraid to ask someone to play that role (or are afraid because we don’t exactly know what a mentor does) or we move into a mentality that figuring it out on our own is more beneficial to our learning.

    Here’s the thing. I believe anyone of any age can be, and needs to be mentored. But while we’re trying to figure out what to do in our own lives, there is a generation of children who are growing up without fathers.

    These are the children who have potential that can either be turned good, or turned bad, depending on the type of relationships surrounding them. Who will they be influenced by? Who will go before them so they can navigate down the dangerous paths they’ll find along the way?

    It doesn’t seem like a pressing matter now because we see them as children. They don’t really “contribute to society,” so to speak. They go to school and play sports and eat and annoy us in movie theaters.

    We really need to shift our mindset and realize they may be children now, but in twenty years…thirty years…these children will be making decisions for our country.

    They will be making decisions about the law and our health care.

    They’ll be the ones engaging in negotiations with countries at war.

    They’ll be forming new companies and developing technologies.

    They’ll become parents themselves.

    There are 27 million children in America growing up without fathers. These children are more likely to commit crimes end up (repeatedly) in prison, statistically speaking. We don’t talk about this much in the church (I don’t know why…maybe it seems too unsolvable?) but it’s an issue the church should – and could take lead on.

    I have been supporting The Mentoring Project financially for about a year or so. There isn’t a way for me to be directly involved in the mentoring process yet as they operate currently with churches in the Portland area, but here in Nashville I can do something. I can financially help this organization continue to grow, and I can tell people about it.

    I’d like to share with you a couple of videos. The first is of Don Miller explaining a bit of his heart behind The Mentoring Project and why he started it, and the second one is just an incredible (and short) mini-documentary on what The Mentoring Project looks like in real life.

    Watch the videos. If you live in the Portland area, check into being a mentor. If you don’t, consider financially contributing. It’s amazing what $10 or $25 will do to push this amazing organization forward. And share. Please share these videos with the people around you and share what The Mentoring Project is doing.

    Fatherlessness is America is a crisis. But it’s one that we can put an end to. It’s a story that can be rewritten.

    —

    Just to be clear, this is not a sponsored post in any way, shape, or form. I saw this documentary yesterday and wanted to share it with you.

  • What if You Miss Something Important?

    “…There is inculcated in us such a fear of being out of everything – out of touch, left behind.

    This fear is a form of tyranny…”

    …The conviction is that it is precisely in these (collective) preoccupations that the Holy Spirit is at work.

    To be “preoccupied with the current preoccupations” is then the best — if not the only — way to be open to the Spirit.

    Hence one must know what everybody is saying, read what everybody is reading, keep up with everything…

    …or be left behind by the Holy Spirit.

    Is this a perversion of the idea of the church – a distortion of perspective due to the Church’s situation in the world of mass communications?

    I wonder if this anxiety to keep up is not in fact an obstacle to the Holy Spirit?

    ~(adapted from a journal entry by Thomas Merton – February 24, 1966.)

    A few months ago I read this in one of Merton’s journals, and I was astonished that a man, practically living in solitude in the 60s, could have such perspective on a culture of mass communication. We think this era is unique, but it’s not. It’s merely redefined using new forms of communication.

    I read a post on Tom’s blog about how he was scaling back in some of his online intake. His post reminded me of what Merton said, and I can’t help but wonder the same thing both pieces allude to…

    Do we stay plugged in because we’re afraid we may miss something (spiritual or relational?)

    Do we feel like there is more to miss simply because there is more being communicated?

    Is what we view as the things that connect us to information inhibiting our capacity to be aware to the not-so-obvious things in our midst?

    I remember unplugging during Lent last year. A few of my other friends did the same and we shared a similar story:

    When we were offline, the things happening around us were so much louder, so much more clear, and we were so much more present in them that it was like God screaming at us – through relationships, through nature, through solitude, through the seemingly mundane…

    What changed?

    Our input level?

    or God’s output level?

    —

    I would tend to think our input level. We quiet down, and we hear what’s already present.

    —

    What do you think? Have you ever wrestled with the fear “unplugging” brings? Have you experienced the radical change in God’s volume when you do unplug?

  • A Candid Interview on Addiction, Confession & Transparency

    A few weeks ago, I was invited to be the guest on the Samson Society podcast with Nate Larkin & David Mullen.

    We talked about everything from cycling across the country, to life as a former preacher’s kid, to women and porn addiction (as well as drug and alcohol abuse), confession, and living a transparent life.

    Most interviews I’ve done in the past don’t dig this deep – an uncomfortable deep – but Nate and David did a fabulous job asking questions and responding with truth and grace.

    You can stream or download the interview here.