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I just finished reading The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church by Reggie McNeal. He is a SBC pastor who uses this book to challenge the modern-day church to stop thinking so much like a club and start thinking more missionally. I don’t agree with everything he had to say, but there were some points that really hit home.

One of the big ones, that I’m still kinda working over right now, is the comment (and I’m paraphrasing throughout this post since I don’t have the book with me) that we are too church-based with our faith; our church culture is one where we don’t have many (or any) friends outside the church, and where we expect to deal with issues of faith at church rather than at home. He notes that there are too many couples that are embarrassed to discuss their faith with each other at home, but are really active at church.

That one hits home with me. Not that I’m embarrassed to discuss my faith at home, but we don’t (discuss it) that much. We don’t do well at having devotions together. I’ll assign the fault to myself; it’s my job as the leader to see that it happens. And why don’t we? Because we’re “too busy”. Too busy, often, having to get to church to prepare for worship team, or to prepare for some church event, or to get to some church function. Now, perhaps there are other priority issues; the hour of TV most nights could be done away with, I suppose. But that doesn’t escape the fact that all of the efforts that I’m putting into “Christian” stuff, if I can call it that, are all church-focused, and none of them are outwardly-focused.

Part of me would really like to try this as an experiment: relinquish all of my church duties. Just stop. And then start to get things arranged in my own life and in our family life. Figure out what our needs and family things ought to be. Just to reassess. Then once I get that figured out, I can start figuring out where God wants me directed.

But there is the other side of my dilemma. I’m doing good stuff right now. I enjoy (for the most part) what I’m doing. I have a lot of people that count on me, for music at church, for technical help on ministry websites, etc etc. I can’t just leave them in the lurch… and the odds of my being able to gracefully exit from those responsibilities is next to nil.

So here I am. I don’t know what the right answer is right now. I think a lot of prayer is in order.

On my last visit to the local library, I found a slim volume on the “new books” shelf: The Simple Faith Of Mister Rogers, by Amy Hollingsworth. I was a moderate watcher of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood when I was young, and I’ve read just enough about Fred Rogers to know that I was intrigued when I saw the book on the shelf. Yesterday provided me with some blessed free time to read, and so I made this little book my Sunday-afternoon diversion.

Ms. Hollingsworth is a pastor’s wife, a journalist, and writer. She met Fred Rogers when she had the opportunity to interview him some years ago. They then carried on a correspondance that lasted until he passed away in February 2003. From her experiences with Mr. Rogers she is able to share both observations about and philosophies learned from the man who was a daily TV visitor in so many families’ homes. The result is a book that is part devotional, part biography, and part personal memoir. Regardless of the composition, though, the result is a wonderful little book.

Fred Rogers was an ordained Presbyterian minister, but took great stock in that charge oft-attributed to St. Francis of Assisi: “preach the gospel… when necessary, use words.” As such, his gracious, encouraging manner spoke love, peace, and comfort to his watchers even without verbal gospel presentation. What is comforting to know is that the sincerity and earnestness seen on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood permeated Mr. Rogers in real life, too. Ms. Hollingsworth notes that more than one person who has met Mr. Rogers has later remarked that “he’s more ‘Mister Rogers’ than Mister Rogers!” He was the real thing.

The devotional points of the book were simple, and yet good reminders for those of us who live hectic lives: go slow. Take time for silence. Don’t neglect prayer. Encourage others. I was impressed by the consistency and simplicity of Mr. Rogers’ daily routine: Up at 5:30 for devotions and prayer. Early morning swim (including singing a bit of praise to God as he entered the pool!), breakfast, then to the studio. In bed no later than 9:30 PM. The same routine, every day. I was challenged.

I’d recommend The Simple Faith of Mister Rogers to anyone who wants to gain a bit more appreciation for the value of living a genuine, simple, whole-hearted life. It will also be interesting to those who have enjoyed Mister Rogers Neighborhood but are unfamiliar with the man and the faith behind that program.