So Robin and I went to watch Toy Story 3 the other night. It was, as Pixar usually is, excellent. Not too many laughs, but quite a few "frog in your throat" moments. I don't know if any Pixar will ever live up to Up in my mind, but I can still enjoy them quite a bit.
The statements that the movie made about community and togetherness were by far the strongest part, to me. There is a part when it looks like they are all about to be incinerated. As they are slowly moving toward this huge ball of fire, one by one they begin to reach out to eachother. One by one they join hands and turn to face their inevitable death. The poignancy of the moment is clearly that, though they will soon die, they will at least face it bravely with those that they love and hold dear.
From that point of the movie on, it seems clear that the characters have learned an important lesson. It doesn't matter what happens in life, what matters is who they are surrounded by. It matters more whose hand you are holding than where you are holding it. For life to be good, the community must exist. It is always my hope that I won't care so much where I am in life, or what I am doing or how much money sits in my bank account, but that I enjoy those around me, and that I choose to hold onto them rather than anything else. See, the toys didn't start to regret what kind of car they drove, or what kind of vacation they took or house they lived in. All they cared about was embracing community for that last five minutes.
Sometimes I think life would be more fully lived if it was always in the direct threat of death. But the problem is that it might be a little less genuine then. The real question comes into our lives when they are good. Will we choose to hold those people close, or will we choose to build up our 401k for a rainy day? On that rainy day, will we really care as much how much we have, or who we have it with?
6.30.2010
6.29.2010
Cuss words
I can't think of too many taboos in our society more commonly and voraciously held than that of the cuss word. I get a small pleasure from breaking that taboo from time to time, by either surprising Robin with a curse or uttering them under my breath at Grant in church. It is a childish pleasure, but nonetheless it is one I enjoy. And as I do it I feel the gratification of bucking the system and rejecting the absolute that I treasured as a child.
But there are times and places where I still would rather say anything than a cussword. In front of my boss, or in the middle of a sermon for instance.
So the struggle for me is that I do not think words themselves are good or bad, clean or unclean. I think 'shit' in english could very well mean 'you are beautiful' in some undiscovered dialect deep in the heart of China. Sometimes 'damn' and 'hell' are the only words that truly express whatever state or place you want to describe.
As I read over Romans 14, I see that Paul is talking mostly about eating and drinking (two things that lead to an excessive amount of judgement and stumbling in our society too...). But I can just as easily see him speaking it about cuss words. I see that I need to sometimes keep my mouth shut, and lots of times keep my cusswords unspoken, for the sake of "peace and mutual edification." (Rom 14.19) I see that sometimes my license with my mouth can lead to destruction, and it is wrong for me to cause others to stumble. If I am truly strong, I need to bear with the weak, because ultimately I am really weak, and need those that are strong to bear with me.
But there are times and places where I still would rather say anything than a cussword. In front of my boss, or in the middle of a sermon for instance.
So the struggle for me is that I do not think words themselves are good or bad, clean or unclean. I think 'shit' in english could very well mean 'you are beautiful' in some undiscovered dialect deep in the heart of China. Sometimes 'damn' and 'hell' are the only words that truly express whatever state or place you want to describe.
As I read over Romans 14, I see that Paul is talking mostly about eating and drinking (two things that lead to an excessive amount of judgement and stumbling in our society too...). But I can just as easily see him speaking it about cuss words. I see that I need to sometimes keep my mouth shut, and lots of times keep my cusswords unspoken, for the sake of "peace and mutual edification." (Rom 14.19) I see that sometimes my license with my mouth can lead to destruction, and it is wrong for me to cause others to stumble. If I am truly strong, I need to bear with the weak, because ultimately I am really weak, and need those that are strong to bear with me.
6.28.2010
Critique and Courage
I have some lost time I need to make up for, so my goal is to try to blog each of the last few days of June. We'll see.
I watched part of an interview the other day on one of those news shows. They were interviewing some fo the Christian leaders of the younger generations. One of them was Gabe Lyons (I believe) and he said something that I have been kind of dwelling on for the past few days.
He said that part of the current movement is that they don't see it as a critique of the old guard. They just want to be thought of as a new movement in Christianity and that it is for others to decide if it is a critique.
I honestly have a few issues with that. Clearly Lyons didn't want to come across as a jerk or overly critical, but I think for us to actually make progress we need to admit that much of what we do is a reaction to previous screw ups. I think we should be a critique to those that have gone before us, just as they should critique us in some ways! If we don't then we are all just affirming how awesome we are all the time and probably won't make too much progress.
Our goal is to be a better kind of church. We must recognize that old models (and maybe having a model at all) are wrong or at least seriously flawed and that we can do better. We have to do this, not out of spite or frustration, but out of a deep desire/need to give Jesus the kind of body he wants us to be. Jesus wasn't afraid to make people feel like crap sometimes because that is one way to spur change. We should emulate that. Of course there is a good way to do that, we can be gracious in our rebukes, but the rebukes must come nonetheless.
It takes courage to offend, especially if we care what the others think or if we care about them in general. But "trusted are the scars from a friend" or something on those lines. We have to shout to the church the ways we have gone wrong, or we are just giving it up for dead. And it is certainly close to life-support now...
I watched part of an interview the other day on one of those news shows. They were interviewing some fo the Christian leaders of the younger generations. One of them was Gabe Lyons (I believe) and he said something that I have been kind of dwelling on for the past few days.
He said that part of the current movement is that they don't see it as a critique of the old guard. They just want to be thought of as a new movement in Christianity and that it is for others to decide if it is a critique.
I honestly have a few issues with that. Clearly Lyons didn't want to come across as a jerk or overly critical, but I think for us to actually make progress we need to admit that much of what we do is a reaction to previous screw ups. I think we should be a critique to those that have gone before us, just as they should critique us in some ways! If we don't then we are all just affirming how awesome we are all the time and probably won't make too much progress.
Our goal is to be a better kind of church. We must recognize that old models (and maybe having a model at all) are wrong or at least seriously flawed and that we can do better. We have to do this, not out of spite or frustration, but out of a deep desire/need to give Jesus the kind of body he wants us to be. Jesus wasn't afraid to make people feel like crap sometimes because that is one way to spur change. We should emulate that. Of course there is a good way to do that, we can be gracious in our rebukes, but the rebukes must come nonetheless.
It takes courage to offend, especially if we care what the others think or if we care about them in general. But "trusted are the scars from a friend" or something on those lines. We have to shout to the church the ways we have gone wrong, or we are just giving it up for dead. And it is certainly close to life-support now...
6.27.2010
Worry
I don't really sit up at night fretting about paying bills or wondering why BP can't get their crap together. I haven't felt "stressed" in some time, to be honest. But there are tons of things that worry me. Things I wish for that may not materialize, things I want to see happen at church that are slow to materialize, things that, in all honesty, I can't control and would probably screw up if I could.
I wish we could have a child, but sometimes it seems like God doesn't hear our cry. I wish we could pay off debt, but every time it seems like we are about to make progress we have to do something like get tires or something like that. But when I am completely honest, I only worry when I focus on things that are seen versus the things that are unseen.
It is always honest when I look at Robin that she isn't pregnant, but what I can't see is the way that God is moving in our hearts and forcing us to wait on him. It is easy to look at my situation and know that I am basically working two jobs, but the unseen is that God is showing me that he will grow our church on his schedule (and some of that is contingent on others, but I have to see that not much of it is based on what I do). If our church does ever grow to a decent size and I can pastor full-time, I won't be able to pretend that I was the key element and hopefully I will be able to resist the easy pride. It's very easy to focus on the tangible fact that we rent our home and have decent sized student loan payments, but the unseen is that we are working for a kingdom that doesn't even possess currency because everything is given.
I have lots of hopes and wishes and dreams, but when I evaluate them closely, a good deal of the time they are fairly short-sighted and shallow. Those that aren't I just have to hope that God knows more than I do (and if he doesn't I'm screwed anyway).
I wish we could have a child, but sometimes it seems like God doesn't hear our cry. I wish we could pay off debt, but every time it seems like we are about to make progress we have to do something like get tires or something like that. But when I am completely honest, I only worry when I focus on things that are seen versus the things that are unseen.
It is always honest when I look at Robin that she isn't pregnant, but what I can't see is the way that God is moving in our hearts and forcing us to wait on him. It is easy to look at my situation and know that I am basically working two jobs, but the unseen is that God is showing me that he will grow our church on his schedule (and some of that is contingent on others, but I have to see that not much of it is based on what I do). If our church does ever grow to a decent size and I can pastor full-time, I won't be able to pretend that I was the key element and hopefully I will be able to resist the easy pride. It's very easy to focus on the tangible fact that we rent our home and have decent sized student loan payments, but the unseen is that we are working for a kingdom that doesn't even possess currency because everything is given.
I have lots of hopes and wishes and dreams, but when I evaluate them closely, a good deal of the time they are fairly short-sighted and shallow. Those that aren't I just have to hope that God knows more than I do (and if he doesn't I'm screwed anyway).
6.24.2010
Fitting in
We were talking about a book titled "Under the Overpass" and while it isn't the best writing I have ever read, the author brings up many difficult questions that Christians and churches must answer. One of the students in our ministry asked how we could help the homeless feel comfortable in our churches.
I'm not sure there is an easy answer, but I think whatever answer we have has to be sufficient for helping others feel comfortable as well.
I think we have to fundamentally rethink how we do and how we think of church. Currently, we think of church as being what we do on Sundays (or in the case of Refuge Saturdays) and we think that what we do between Sundays isn't so much church. However, the truth of the situation, in my opinion, couldn't be more different.
Church should be happening at home groups and coffee shops. Church should be breaking out in different parts of our cities and towns every day of the week. Sunday should be a celebration, a corporate gathering to rejoice in what has happened in the rest of the week, but it shouldn't be our primary outreach.
I think this is the answer to the question. It is difficult to be comfortable at a gathering if you know one or two people. But what if you have already met and gotten to know an entire group of people? What if you are homeless but you already have ten friends from home group? The same question applies to the homosexual population, single mothers, other races, basically anyone who has ever been ostracized.
This would make church growth harder. It would mean we can't rely on light shows and super-sermons to draw people in. It means we need to get to know people for who they are and not the number the represent. But I think it is doable. I think if we can start to do this somehow, then we will be rewarded with churches full of variety and life. We will see people with depth to their relationships and people come face-to-face with the call of God in their lives. My hope is that we can start this at Refuge, but it will take strength and perseverance.
I'm not sure there is an easy answer, but I think whatever answer we have has to be sufficient for helping others feel comfortable as well.
I think we have to fundamentally rethink how we do and how we think of church. Currently, we think of church as being what we do on Sundays (or in the case of Refuge Saturdays) and we think that what we do between Sundays isn't so much church. However, the truth of the situation, in my opinion, couldn't be more different.
Church should be happening at home groups and coffee shops. Church should be breaking out in different parts of our cities and towns every day of the week. Sunday should be a celebration, a corporate gathering to rejoice in what has happened in the rest of the week, but it shouldn't be our primary outreach.
I think this is the answer to the question. It is difficult to be comfortable at a gathering if you know one or two people. But what if you have already met and gotten to know an entire group of people? What if you are homeless but you already have ten friends from home group? The same question applies to the homosexual population, single mothers, other races, basically anyone who has ever been ostracized.
This would make church growth harder. It would mean we can't rely on light shows and super-sermons to draw people in. It means we need to get to know people for who they are and not the number the represent. But I think it is doable. I think if we can start to do this somehow, then we will be rewarded with churches full of variety and life. We will see people with depth to their relationships and people come face-to-face with the call of God in their lives. My hope is that we can start this at Refuge, but it will take strength and perseverance.
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