Dana Hicks

The Beloved Community vs. the Beloved Economy

2012-02-03T08:01:00.000-07:00

Brian McLaren recently blogged about the difference between the two American dreams. Great stuff:

The Beloved Community vs. the Beloved Economy

My Own Personal Oscar Buzz

2012-01-20T09:44:00.003-07:00

I’m in full blown Oscar mode anticipating both the nominations that will come out next week and the party that will follow co-hosted by Sara Cobb. Granted, I have not seen nearly as many movies as those who actually vote on these things (still on my list to see in the next couple weeks: The Ides of March, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Artist, and Young Adult).

Having given that disclaimer, here are the films that I did see this year and that I hope do well at the Oscars in a few weeks:

1. The Descendants – I loved this movie because of how human it was. Like the film 50/50, I was amazed at how much I laughed during a film about a woman dying. The characters were complicated and interesting. Sid, for example, at first seems like a buffoon but ends up being not nearly as simple minded as he seems. There are complicated moral dilemmas in the film and because you care about the characters, you care about the decisions they make. George Clooney is brilliant and made the whole story line believable.

2. Moneyball – This was my favorite film of the year. Yes, it is about baseball (to quote Billy Bean, “How can you not get romantic about baseball?”) but it is really about life. It is a story about finding our place in the world, about succeeding while feeling like you belong on, “an Island of misfit toys”, about how money is not everything, about defining what success is, about the fleeting moments of life, about what it means to be a parent, about risking everything on what you believe in, about finishing well (“winning the last game of the season”), about what we use to ascribe value to human beings, about perseverance, and about how some things you just can’t measure.

At the end of the film when Billy Bean interviews for the general manager job for the Red Sox, John Henry tells him, “I know you are taking it in the teeth, but the first guy through the wall... he always gets bloody... always. This is threatening not just a way of doing business... but in their minds, it's threatening the game. Really what it's threatening is their livelihood, their jobs. It's threatening the way they do things... and every time that happens, whether it's the government, a way of doing business, whatever, the people who are holding the reins - they have their hands on the switch - they go ____crazy.” -- I love that life view. Pioneers get shot it but they also change the world.

The closing scene of the movie was probably my favorite movie scene of the year. As Billy Bean wrestles with whether or not to take the Red Sox job, he places a CD in his car stereo that his daughter recorded. And Billy Bean has an epiphany that brings to closure all of the issues of this movie.

3. 50/50 – I was surprised that this film did not get more Oscar buzz. The film is inspired by a true story of a 27 year old’s struggle with cancer and the news that his chances of survival are 50/50. (As Seth Rogan’s character says, “It’s not that bad. It’s better than I thought…If you were a casino game, you would have the best odds.”)

Like The Descendants, I felt guilty for laughing so much at a movie that was about cancer. But overall, the film was warm, genuine, and human. There is something about looking the reality of death in the eye that is both sobering and reflective. It brings out the best and worst in people. Some, like the surgeon and medical professionals in the film, are detached. Some, like Adam’s girlfriend and coworkers, are self-centered and insensitive. While others, like Katherine the therapist and Adam’s mother, are a bit enmeshed and not sure how to deal with the weight of Adam’s reality.

Joseph Gordan-Levitt was amazing in this movie as Adam, “That's what everyone has been telling me since the beginning. ‘Oh, you're gonna be okay,’ and ‘Oh, everything's fine,’ and like, it's not... It makes it worse... that no one will just come out and say it. Like, ‘hey man, you're gonna die.’”

As the film hits its climax, Adam goes in to surgery and delivers what I think is an amazing Oscar moment. Adam’s father has Alzheimer’s and is clueless to what is going on around him (a great metaphor of how many people deal with difficult situations) and Adam’s mother is compassionate but doesn’t know how to nurture her adult son. But somehow the weight of Adam’s odds (50/50) break through, his fear comes out, and they have an authentic moment.

It is a story about friendship, about loving people through difficult situations, and facing reality no matter how frightening it is.

4. Midnight in Paris – I thought this was good film but was surprised it got as much Oscar buzz as it did. Having been to Paris for the first time this last year, I was able to understand what Adrianna meant when she said, “That Paris exists and anyone could choose to live anywhere else in the world will always be a mystery to me.” Like most Woody Allen films, it was full of irony and a little pretentious (it is an American Literature Major’s dream). But the film was fun and playful – like this exchange between the protagonist Gil and Ernest Hemingway:

Gil: I would like you to read my novel and get your opinion.
Ernest Hemingway: I hate it.
Gil: You haven't even read it yet.
Ernest Hemingway: If it's bad, I'll hate it. If it's good, then I'll be envious and hate it even more. You don't want the opinion of another writer.

5. Hugo – this was a beautiful movie that I don’t imagine made a lot of money but it is a must see. Hugo lives in 1930’s Paris which makes it all the more fun. The best line of the film was delivered by Hugo Cabret, “[I] imagine the whole world was one big machine. Machines never come with any extra parts, you know. They always come with the exact amount they need. So I figured, if the entire world was one big machine, I couldn't be an extra part. I had to be here for some reason.”

It’s a story about the power of hope, second chances, courage, the lure of a great adventure, and the power of a story well told (in and out of the movie theater).

Africa Blog, Part 7

2011-08-09T15:38:00.000-06:00

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is unlike any other place I have ever been on earth. Burundi is just as poor but the level of chaos here in Goma is hard to describe. The DRC is, geographically speaking, the largest country in Africa. There are about 71 million people living here.

The last fifteen years or so have been brutal to this country. After the Rwandan genocide, many of the Hutu militia forces fled to Burundi and the DRC where they stared two civil wars (killing about a million people in Burundi and 5.4 million people in the DRC).

The social problem here are hard for me to wrap my mind around – it wasn’t until last year that the DRC had much of a functioning central government. Infrastructure is virtually non-existent – there are less than 200 km of paved roads outside of the major cities of the DRC making travel by car virtually impossible. The UN has the largest deployment of troops in the world here in Goma to try and keep things stable. But by some estimates, civilians are still dying by the thousands every month. Goma, where we are staying, has become known as the rape capital of the world.

The DRC’s blessing has also become its curse. The DRC may be the most naturally rich country in the world – gold, silver, copper, and rare woods are in abundance here. The land is lush and prime for farming. But the biggest jackpot of them all is the presence of coltan – a rare mineral that is used to manufacture consumer electronic products like cell phones, DVD players, computers, and video games. Estimates are that the DRC contains between 70 and 80% of the world’s coltan reserves.
Forget blood diamonds, Coltan mining in the DRC is, according to UN reports, what has funded the militias and prolonged the civil war here. Over 125 companies have been accused of the UN of breaching international business standards with coltan exports from the DRC. The companies come from all over the world: China, the US, Australia, and the EU.

The irony of the sick and twisted systems here are hard to stomach. The people here have so much in natural resources but are so very, very poor. It is a living lesson of how corporate greed, easy money, and unrestrained markets can work together to unleash a perfect storm of evil. (The death toll is 5.4 million or 7.6% of the population and counting). It turns out that “the invisible hand of the market” can form a powerful fist.

We spent the day today visiting sites of churches that had been destroyed by the war and are now wrestling with issues like clean water, war orphans, and HIV/AIDS. I had to remind myself that I can’t do everything but I can do something for someone. Our team is hoping to take a few weeks to process all that we are seeing and come up with some kind of plan to help somebody.

Africa Blog, Part 6

2011-08-07T13:32:00.000-06:00

This morning we made a beautiful drive from Bujumbura South to Mugerama and Nyabutare . The drive took us along Lake Tanganyika – the second longest lake in the world. It really looks more like the ocean than a lake.

We stopped along the way at the place where the famous missionary Dr. David Livingstone met up with the New York journalist H.M. Staley and Stanley famously said, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” They carved their names in to a rock south of Bujumbura.

We worshiped at Mugerama in a church with brick and mud walls and a dirt floor. I don’t think they had indoor plumbing or electricity for many, many miles. It was awesome. These Africans love to sing. And dance. And they are very good at it.

After church we visited some potential sites for future projects for Gate 117 and met some amazingly gracious people. On the way home we stopped at a “resort” type thing next to the lake and Debbie put her feet in the water. Tim went all out and swam like a fish for about 20 minutes. They said the water was perfect.

Tomorrow we get up early for a ten hour drive to Goma in the Democratic Republic of The Congo.

Africa Blog, Part 5

2011-08-07T12:52:00.000-06:00

Our plan to travel from Gisenyi, Rwanda to Bujumbura, Burundi was to rent a car and make the 10 hour trek on mostly paved roads. Needless to say, car rentals in Rwanda are not like car rentals in the US. We talked to a guy who knew a guy who was willing to rent his Land Rover for $150/day. So we woke up at 4:30 this morning so that we could make the journey to Bujumbura before dark. About two and a half hours in to our trip, the 1997 Land Rover that we rented suddenly quick working. In the middle of nowhere. Turns out there was a small leak in the radiator that grew to a larger leak until the car had overheated. We emptied all of our drinking water in to the radiator but it quickly burned off. Since we were at the top of a hill we decided to coast down the hill to a small village. Five Muzungus (white people) rolling in to a place that has probably not seen a white person in decades in a Land Rover was, to say the least, the biggest freak show in years. The whole town came out to watch.

Blake Berry was able to negotiate the purchase of about a four gallon plastic water jug with his broken Kenneyrwandan. They threw the water in for free. For the next 20 km we would drive about two km (less than a mile), stop, pour more water in to the radiator, wait for the engine to cool down, and drive another couple of kilometers. We stopped about fifteen times, limping the car to Gitarama – one of the larger cities in Rwanda.

Since we were not able to rent from Avis or Enterprise, we had to call the owner of the car and give him the great news. Since relationships are of such value here, making sure everyone was OK with the deal was of higher value that actually getting our money back.

We ate breakfast at a small restaurant (coffee, scrambled eggs, and French fries) and tried to figure out what to do next. We were still six hours from Bujumbura and it was almost noon. We called some friends who knew people in Gitarama and through a long series of events were able to rent was is the African equivalent of a Toyota Corolla.

We arrived in Bujumbura around 6:00 PM as the sun was setting. Bujumbura is the largest city and capital city of The Republic of Burundi. According to the UN, Burundi and The Congo are the two poorest countries in the world. Tonight we had dinner with a wonderful pastor named Luc and his family. I imagine it cost them what would be a small fortune to host the five of us. But they loved it. Tomorrow they have hooked me up to preach at some church that is a two hour drive from here.

Africa Blog, Part 4

2011-08-07T12:47:00.000-06:00

It is hard to complain about food in the developing world. Only in the first world do we think of food as entertainment and not a part of survival. During our pastor’s conference, we would eat every day with the pastors a very traditional meal – rice, beans, some kind of cabbage dish, bananas, French fries, some kind of way overcooked beef chunks that resembled very thick beef jerky, and a coke. Tim told us that he has carb-loaded enough to run at least two marathons this week.

As near as I can tell, this mostly what the Rwandans and the Congolese eat every meal. What adds variety to their diet is the different sauces that they add to the food. (No, the sauces are not particularly good.)

Debbie and I brought candy from home to give to the pastors which has been a HUGE hit. We started each session by giving them a small piece of hard candy. You would think we were passing out $100 bills. When we ran out of hard candy we began to give them some of the candy we got from Costco – kids’ candy like lemonheads, red vines, nerds, and smarties. The pastors would argue over the candy because some people got two pieces and others, like the receipts of the nerds, would get dozens of pieces. It was funny to see grown men act like kids.

So, last night we decided to splurge and go to the nicest restaurant in Gisenyi for our last night in Gisenyi. The Serena Hotel is a place where lots of expatriates and vacationing professionals like to hang out. We decided to have the buffet. It was amazing – pork ribs, cheese, fresh fruit and vegetables, skewers (that I thought were beef but later learned were goat), and a variety of traditional African dishes. Ron, Debbie, and I gave the “Ox Tongue” a whirl (when in Rome…) but I could not get over the texture. It was like biting your tongue except it didn’t hurt. The best part of the meal was a tie between glasses full of ice for Diet Coke, chocolate cake, and the best pineapple I have ever had.

Blog from Africa, Part 3

2011-08-04T15:24:00.000-06:00

Different cultures express friendship in different ways. In Rwanda it takes some getting used to seeing men holding hands walking down the road. It is a sign here of (very platonic) affection. The first time an African man grabbed my hand and led me somewhere, I had a hard time not crawling out of my skin. African men like to sit close and will often put their hand on your leg as a sign of friendship.

While waiting on a bench at the bus station a few days ago, a woman came and sat down next to me. So close that I wanted to say, “Shouldn’t I buy you dinner or something?” But of courses I didn’t say anything and just tried to pretend like it was no big deal to me.

In spite of their close personal space, the Africans are very homophobic. I’m told that in The Congo, it is not just culturally inappropriate but illegal for two men to share a hotel room.

Blog from Africa, Part 2

2011-08-02T15:11:00.000-06:00

The realization of how different my world is from the world of the Africans that I am interacting with arrives at unexpected moments. This afternoon I was lecturing to a group of pastors and I briefly mentioned the Eucharist (“communion” or the “Lord’s Supper”). It led to a discussion on how often a church leader should administer the Eucharist. I told them that we administer the Eucharist every week at Real Life. One pastor raised his hand and said, “Bread is very expensive. And we cannot get wine here in Rwanda. We could never afford to take the Eucharist that often.”

Another pastor asked, “Would it be OK if we used other things for the communion elements that are less expensive? What about potatoes and milk?” I can honestly say I have never thought about that question. I wished that I could call my friend Brent Peterson at that moment – he would have some great insights. After I thought about it I told him – the mystery of the presence of Christ in the Eucharist is not related to any magical properties in bread and wine. Jesus also lived in poverty and took the common food elements of his day – bread and wine – and taught us to see the divine in the ordinary. Therefore, common elements like potatoes and milk can also become a means to the grace of God. Like Moses in the Old Testament, we can find ourselves on “holy ground” without even knowing it.

The next question threw me for another loop. The pastor asked, “If you have a common loaf of bread during the Eucharist, how do you keep people who are hungry from taking too much of the loaf?” Suddenly, I realized that how much living in the wealthiest country in the world has biased my view of the scripture. This question was an issue that arose in the New Testament among the impoverished Early Christians. The whole love passage of 1 Corinthians 13 came out the context of the Eucharist gone bad in Corinth in the First Century. 1 Corinthians 11 specifically addresses the issue of impoverished people who are eating too much during the Eucharist. These pastors probably intuitively grasp much more of the cultural dynamics at work in First Century Palestine that I could ever hope to.

The final question was kind of funny. A pastor asked, “At the end of the Eucharist, who gets to eat what is left over?” A debate then raged among the pastors as to whether or not the food should go to the poor OR since it was “blessed” if it should remain in a more sacred place – namely, in the stomachs of the pastor’s family.

Same planet, different world.

Blog from Africa, Part 1

2011-08-01T23:49:00.001-06:00

Our team arrived safely in Gisenyi, Rwanda a couple days ago. It is a much smaller team than we took last year. Last year’s group included 17 Americans that helped set up a medical clinic here in Gisenyi . This year we just brought four Gate 117 board members that are going to spend eight days of listening and training with African leaders.

Nothing seems to go smoothly with international travel. It takes about 40 hours of travel from my house in Nampa to arrive in Gisenyi if everything goes as planned. Throw in an eight hour time change and it takes close to five days to begin to feel normal again. So, as our team was brainstorming about this trip, we thought it might be advantageous to break up the outgoing trip. We had a layover in Brussels and figured, why not stay a day, see the city, get a hotel room, sleep a bit, and finish the last eight hour flight the next day?
As time went on, one day turned in to two and a half days in Brussels and Paris. It was a nice diversion as we all adjusted to the time change and saw the sites. But, like most international travel, things did not go as planned. Apparently, pick pocketing is not a lost art in Paris and I lost about 100 Euros ($160) and my debit card somewhere along the way. And another member of our team left her purse on a train with her passport. In spite of all that, we somehow all made it to Kigali, Rwanda in one piece and with our entire luggage.

Americans have an obsession with safety that Africans do not share. At first arrival in Africa, exiting the plane at the Kigali airport, out plane stopped 200 yards from the airport. We exited the plane and began to walk across the tarmac when an enormous KLM jet began to taxi between us and the airport. I guess the fine employees of the airport assumed that it would be hard to not see the jet and that we would do our best to avoid it.
During the three hour bus ride along the winding road from Kigali to Gisenyi we saw something I have never seen in my life before – a sedan packed full of about seven people with one guy riding in truck – lid up. It didn’t look comfortable or safe but I guess you have to do what you have to do.

Today we start meeting with African Leaders.

Patriotism and The Church

2011-06-28T09:42:00.000-06:00

My good friend Tom Oord recently wrote a thoughtful blog about Patriotism in the Church:

http://thomasjayoord.com/index.php/blog/archives/god_and_independence_day/

Here is the response I wrote on his website:

Tom,

Thanks for your appropriate and timely thoughts. If I could push you a little further on this issue -- you wrote, “’If I find expressing national pride appropriate for others, why can’t I affirm a proper place for national pride among U.S. citizens?’ I see no good reason to have a double standard on this issue.” National pride outside of the church is one issue but national pride within the church is not nearly as benign as you suggest. I would submit that the difference between our patriotism and other countries may lie in the US’s position of power in the world. While granted, the US prides itself on helping out the poor and disenfranchised (albeit at a MUCH lower percentage than most developed countries), the US spends a much larger and an obscene amount of its vast financial resources on military might that ensures that its agenda gets accomplished. While far from a perfect parallel, the Roman Empire of Jesus’ day may be analogous.

The church’s relationship to an empire has historically always been tricky. Pre-Constantine, there was a reason that the early Christians were killed for proclaiming, “Jesus is Lord” and not, “Caesar is Lord.” When one lives in an empire, our highest loyalties must be to that empire or we will face the wrath of it. As the German Christians in the early 20^th Century learned the hard way, it is easy to lose one’s prophetic voice when you get too cozy with the empire. Today, the vast majority of US Christians have no problem co-opting Jesus’ teachings on violence in order to bless the US military’s agenda. What is even more frightening is that we don’t even recognize that this is problem. Ever since Emperor Constantine, the interests of the church and state have become convoluted.

In this sense, I think patriotism to the US in the context of a church is a very, very dangerous thing. And, in my opinion, this is not nearly as much a struggle for our brothers and sisters in Ghana, Venezuela, or the Netherlands. My prayer for this weekend is that we will begin to re-discover how truly revolutionary it is to say, “Jesus is Lord.”

Blessings on you my friend!

-Dana

Rob Bell's, "Love Wins"

2011-06-16T09:51:00.000-06:00

A couple weeks ago I read Rob Bell’s, “Love Wins” and frankly - I was really confused by what all the hoopla was about. And it really ticked me off at the number of people who either did not read the book and felt like they could comment on it OR clearly did not understand (or misrepresented) what Rob Bell was attempting to say.

Rob starts the book by taking fundamentalist evangelicalism to its logical (and absurd) conclusions. He holds a mirror up to our beliefs and gets us to recognize how tied our soteriology is to Dante’s Inferno and Greek Dualism (although he does not use those words). The problem is more than just an abstract theological exercise – it is of critical importance to proper understanding of the way of Jesus and our role in THIS world, right NOW. Bell writes with tongue planted firmly in cheek:

“If this understanding of the good news of Jesus prevailed among Christians, the belief that Jesus’s message is about how to get somewhere else, you could possibly end up with a world in which millions of people were starving, thirsty, and poor; the earth was being exploited and polluted; disease and despair were everywhere; and Christians weren’t known for doing much about it. If it got bad enough, you might even have people rejecting Jesus because of how his followers lived.” (Pages 6-7)

He then does a nice job of re-framing the questions of the afterlife in the indigenous soil of the scripture. In this sense, Bell does not (contrary to popular opinion) dismiss Hell as non-existent. Rather, he recognizes the very diverse ways that Christian thinkers over the last 2,000 years have thought about God’s redemption of the world outside of our current narrow, fundamentalist view.

This book is clearly meant to be more pastoral than academic in nature. As such, my good friends Tom Oord and Brint Montgomery do a much better job of reflecting on questions like the nature of God and human freedom arguments than I could ever hope to do. These are critical issues to wrestle with, in my humble opinion, and I’m glad that Rob has stirred the pot to get us thinking about them. But to summarize Rob’s argument:

“…given enough time, everybody will turn to God and find themselves in the joy and peace of God’s presence. The love of God will melt every heart, and even the most ‘depraved sinners’ will eventually give up their resistance and turn to God.” (p. 107)

Personally, I wouldn’t go as far as Rob assumes here. I think he underestimates human depravity and stubbornness – I would re-title the book, “Love Usually Wins”. (And yes, I get the irony that the Neo-Reformed Poster Boy is more optimistic about grace than this life-long Wesleyan). I guess I have a hard time using words like “all” and “everyone” on one hand and taking human freedom and God’s non-cohersive love seriously on the other. But that is just my opinion. And so while I don’t completely agree with him, Rob seems to be easily within the bounds of Christian orthodoxy.

In the end, this book is not just an ivory tower speculative discussion, this conversation goes to the heart how we communicate Jesus’ Gospel. The church growth adage that “the message doesn’t change but the methods do” is simply not true. Theology needs to be a continuing conversation in which we wrestle with and re-imagine faith within the broad boundaries of orthodoxy. Theological models that worked well for worldviews of 200 years ago may find themselves in need of further conversation in 2011. Rob shows his concern as a practitioner:

“And that is the secret deep in the heart of many people, especially Christians: they don’t love God. They can’t, because the God they’ve been presented with and taught about can’t be loved. That God is terrifying and traumatizing and unbearable.

“And so there are conferences about how churches can be more ‘relevant’ and ‘missional’ and ‘welcoming’ and there are vast resources, many, many books and film, for those who want to ‘reach out’ and ‘connect’ and ‘build relationships’ with people who aren’t part of the church. And that can be helpful. But at the heart of it, we have to ask: Just what kind of God is behind all this?

“Because if something is wrong with your God, if your God is loving one second and cruel the next, if your God will punish people for all of eternity for sins they committed in a few short years, no amount of clever marketing or compelling language or good music or great coffee will be able to disguise that one, true, glaring, untenable, unacceptable awful reality.” (P. 175)

If I remember my church history correctly, Reformed Theology emerged as an attempt to help people escape from salvation being a tool of manipulation and control by the Roman Catholic Church. (This is the only context in which five point Calvinism makes any sense at all to me!) Reformed Theology desperately wanted salvation to be from start to finish all about God and his grace and not about other people’s interpretation of who is in and who is out. And if I remember correctly, burning people at the stake or other methods of torture were commonplace attempts by ecclesiastical authorities to keep that power. I think that “Love Wins” is in many respects a re-discovery and re-imagination of the reformer’s spirit when it comes to salvation. And that may explain the angry responses by those who are in positions of ecclesiastical power.

U2 in Seattle

2011-06-09T14:02:00.007-06:00

“One day you will look back and you'll see -
You were held by this love.
You could stand there or you could move on this moment -
Follow this feeling”
(Mysterious Ways)

Last Saturday marked the third time I’ve seen U2 in concert and every time I see them I take something different away. Yes, it is a rock and roll show with world class production like nothing else on the planet. Yes, the catalog of songs they have to draw on is stunning. And I doubt there has ever been a band that could make a crowd of 60,000 feel like a small club show the way U2 can. But this time around, I was struck by the spiritual dimension of the band. I grew up in a Christian subculture that assumed that the only legitimate art forms are the ones that beat you over the head with “biblical principles”. But yet – as I looked around Qwest Stadium on Saturday night, if I didn’t know better, I would have thought I was at some kind of Pentecostal rally -- hands raised, dancing, surrender, and talk of justice, grace, compassion, and love. Bono told the fans gathered in Seattle, “…if this band has stood for anything, it is the idea that there are second chances.” My friend Tom who was at the concert posted on his Facebook page the next morning, “I went to a praise and worship service last night and a U2 concert broke out.”

In recent years, I have come to recognize the powerful effect that U2 has had on shaping in a positive way Christian spirituality in our culture. I am constantly amazed at the number of people who refer to their U2 concert going experience as
“inspired” or “divine” or even “the high point of their spiritual journey.” In Rob Bell’s most recent book, he poses a question about both the necessity and the difficulty of responding to Jesus.He writes,

…It is about how you respond to Jesus.But it raises another important question: Which Jesus? ... When one woman in our church invited her friend to come to one of our services, he asked her it if was a Christian church.She said yes, it was. He then told her about Christians in his village in eastern Europe who rounded up the Muslims in town and herded them into a building, where they opened fire on them with their machine guns and killed them all. He explained to her that he was a Muslim and had no interest in going to her Christian church. That Jesus? Or think about the many who know about Christians only from what they’ve seen on television and so assume that Jesus is antiscience, antigay, standing out on the sidewalk with his bullhorn, telling people that they’re going to burn forever? That Jesus? (“Love Wins”)

In this regard, it may be that U2 may be the best advocate for way of Jesus in our culture today. U2’s Jesus looks a lot like the Jesus of the gospels – a dangerous outsider calling out the greed and corruption of the rich and powerful. The draw to this kind of Jesus is powerful. For
people like myself who are church insiders, it is humbling to recognize that it is not usually the preaching that I am used to doing that changes the world.In the biblical narrative, it is the artists and poets, like U2, who are the ones imagining a new world, a new reign of the Kingdom of God, Shalom. I love the way Walter Brueggemann describes it:

The poets of the Bible use a shattering, evocative speech, the kind of speech that breaks fixed
conclusions and presses us always toward new, dangerous, imaginative possibilities…These poets not only discerned the new actions of God that others did not discern, but they wrought the new actions of God by the power of their imagination, their tongues, their words. New poetic imagination evoked new realities in the community. (“Finally Comes the Poet")

Yeah, it rocked. And yeah, there were several times (like when Bono cried out, “uno, dos, tres, catorce”) that I thought 60,000 people were going to jump out of their skin in unison. But I also think there is something deeper going on. Something pretty significant.

Dangerous Eschatology

2011-05-24T11:30:00.006-06:00

I don’t know many people who took seriously Harold Camping and his doomsday prediction for May 21^st. And I’m confident that every late-night comedian is delighted that he has revised his prediction to five
months from now. (As a side note – Camping’s revision of May 21^st being a “spiritual thing” happening rather than a physical event is eerily similar to the Seventh Day Adventists dealing with “The Great Disappointment” of Jesus not coming back in 1844. It’s uncanny how history has a way of repeating itself.)

The whole episode would be quite funny to me as well except that I am pastor. Consequently, I have
to deal with the human carnage that is inherent in this kind of bad eschatology. This weekend I had a conversation with a young woman who was convinced by her Pentecostal church that it was a waste of time for her to attend college because Jesus was coming back so soon. Eight years later she is understandably very hurt with the path that she chose after trusting her spiritual leaders.

I also don’t think the whole episode is very funny to those who gave their life savings to Camping’s organization to put up billboards.

All of the biblical and theological shortcomings of this kind of thinking can’t be addressed in a short blog like this. But what is clear from a pastoral perspective is that Camping is a true “wolf in sheep’s clothing” (Matthew 7:15). Any belief that makes us less engaged with the suffering of this world runs
contrary to the life and teachings of Jesus. Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven” NOT, “Get us out of here to Heaven so that we don’t have to
deal with this Earth.”

What is most ironic to me is that those outside of the Christian Beltway seem to intuitively get Jesus’ message more than some insiders do. On May 22^nd, one of my high school friends posted on Facebook, “To the ‘A’ hole who spent millions of dollars on billboards across America about the so called rapture that was going to happen yesterday. I hope you feel good about your money spent, personally I would have spent that money on someone who needs help, just sayin.....”

A couple years ago Bill Mahr produced a film that was exceptionally anti-religious. While I thought many of his arguments were straw men, the final scene the movie put in to some perspective for me the tension that many outside of organized religion feel with all the dangerous eschatology that is floating around religious circles these days: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeRcHZqPqW8

For those of us who are insiders – can we agree to corporately repent of all the times that we distracted people from REAL issues with speculation and trivia? Can we repent of ways that we have been so heavenly minded that we are of no earthly good?

Words that are more true today than ever...

2011-03-08T10:24:00.002-07:00

“Christendom is an effort of the human race to go back to walking on all fours, to get rid of Christianity, to do it knavishly under the pretext that this is Christianity, claiming that it is Christianity perfected.

The Christianity of Christendom…takes away from Christianity the offense, the paradox, etc., and instead of that introduces probability, the plainly comprehensible. That is, it transforms Christianity into something entirely different from what it is in the New Testament, yea, into exactly the opposite; and this is the Christianity of Christendom, of us men.

In the Christianity of Christendom the Cross has become something like the child’s hobby-horse and trumpet.”

(19^th Century Philosopher and Theologian, Soren Kierkegaard, “The Instant” 5, 2-3)

Jon Stewart, the “Rally to Restore Sanity”, and How the Post-Modern Shift is Changing Evangelism and Spiritual Conversations.

2011-03-01T09:59:00.012-07:00

I wrote the following article for the next issue of "Grace and Peace" Magazine. However, I think it might push the boundaries a little more than they would prefer. So, for your reading pleasure...

“God Hates Snuggies” was one of the many, many cardboard placards that my son and I saw as we disembarked from the Washington Metro to Federal Triangle last October. We had journeyed East along with over 200,000 others to be a part of what may be the largest postmodern gathering in US History. The Daily Show anchor, Jon Stewart and his tongue in cheek counterpart, Steven Colbert, were hosting the, “Rally to Restore Sanity.”

Before you write off this event as nothing more than a couple of class clowns trying to prop up their television ratings, consider this:

**According to Time Magazine polls, now that Walter Cronkite has passed away, Jon Stewart is the most trusted newscaster in America. (http://www.timepolls.com/hppolls/archive/poll_results_417.html)

**Recent Pew Research has shown that viewers of The Daily Show are some of the best informed and educated viewers of any news audiences.

**By a large margin, more young adults get their news from The Daily Show than from any other television news source.

While Stewart downplays his role, his thirteen Emmys, and two Peabody awards, calling his show, “the most trusted name in fake news”, others see Stewart’s role as being the modern court jester – using humor to point out the absurdities of our day.

So as they poured in to the Washington Mall by the thousands, many perplexed news organizations wondered -- what was this rally about? What was the point? Was this simply a comedy show with a broad appeal or was it something different? As the rally drew to a close, Stewart took the microphone like an old fashioned revival preacher and began to clarify its meaning:

I can’t control what people think this was. I can only tell you my intentions. This was not a rally to ridicule people of faith or people of activism or to look down our noses at the heartland or passionate argument or to suggest that times are not difficult and that we have nothing to fear. They are and we do. But we live now in hard times, not end times. And we can have animus and not be enemies.

Stewart has clearly struck a chord with young adults, specifically post-moderns, with his anti-dualistic approach to politics. Most of Western Civilization has been strongly influenced by Greek philosophy and the Greek’s were notorious for their ability to create dualisms – two opposing fundamental entities. In modern thought, the opposing categories of dualism may change (capitalists vs. communist, left vs. right, and conservative vs. liberal) but the dualistic outlook itself remains very consistent. Stewart’s post-modern bent resonates with young adults because he pushes past easy caricatures and recognizes issues for the complexities that they are. As Stewart sarcastically states in his first book, “Luckily all human opinion falls neatly in to one of the two clearly defined camps. Thus the two-party system elegantly reflects the bichromatic rainbow that is American political thought” (Jon Stewart, America: The Book, New York: Warner Books, 2004: p. 108).

As our country slowly becomes more post-modern in its thinking, those who are steeped in modernity seem to become ultra-modern and ultra-dualistic. Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg argues that politically, we Americans are more in agreement about basic political beliefs than any other time in our nation’s history. (Geoffry Nunberg, Going Nucular: Language, Politics, and Culture in Confrontational Times. New York: PublicAffairs, 2005.) But you would never know that based on the conversations being had on cable news. Instead civil political discourse and respect has been replaced with name calling, caricatures, and distortions of the truth.

And the spirit of the age has made its way in to our church conversations as well. This is why those of us who are trying to minister to post-moderns should pay close attention. Often our words often sound more like Fox News and MSNBC than Jesus. Is it no surprise, then, that many of those in emerging generations have a much more negative perception of American churches than previous generations – precisely because of the way in which we have dialogued with the broader culture. (David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity... and Why It Matters. Grad Rapids: Baker Books, 2007, p. 24). In fact, the most modern expression of Christianity, evangelicalism, carries with it the most negative connotations among younger generations. (To the degree that my congregation decided to remove the word, “Evangelical” from the “What we Believe” section of our church’s website to be more inviting to the unchurched). Perhaps most tragic, however, is the lack of alarm about the present state of incivility in the church. That we have not made civility an important part of our spiritual formation is proving to be tragic.

This is much more than just a generational issue of preference. Cultural anthropologists tell us that while an idea of “God” is not present in every culture, there is an almost universal belief in a devil. For some reason, people seem to be hard wired to find evil forces conspiring against them. And if a real devil is not readily available, we will make one up. In my own Evangelical subculture, our history is wrought with the demonization of The Pope, Jews, African Americans, Communists, Homosexuals, and Muslims.

When the church creates false demons of other groups it may be good for fund-raising letters but its bi-product is an environment of fear. When human beings experience fear, neurological science teaches that we are incapable of seeing the humanity in another. Our minds literally will not allow us to experience both fear and love at the same time. GK Chesterton articulated this well over a hundred years ago, “Idolatry is committed, not merely by setting up false gods, but also by setting up false devils…[Muslims] say, ‘There is no God but God.’…[We need] to learn to remember also that there is no Satan but Satan.” (GK Chesterton, The Illustrated London News, September 11, 1909).

In the absence of the church’s prophetic voice, Jon Stewart has stolen the message that the church should have had all along-- civility and restoring sanity to the political discourse is not just the right and good thing to do but necessary for our survival. Using his usual humor, Stewart mused at the Rally:

If we amplify everything we hear nothing. There are terrorists and racists and Stalinists and theocrats but those are titles that must be earned. You must have the resume. Not being able to distinguish between real racists and Tea Partiers or real bigots and Juan Williams and Rick Sanchez is an insult, not only to those people but to the racists themselves who have put in the exhausting effort it takes to hate--just as the inability to distinguish terrorists from Muslims makes us less safe not more.

A temptation that some in the church have fallen in to is the avoidance of any conversation that might create relational tension. But clearly that is not the road to being salt and light in our culture. I think Martin Marty articulated this tension by noting that a lot people who have strong convictions are not very civil. And a lot of people who are civil do not have very strong convictions. What is ideal, according to Marty, is a “convicted civility.” (Martin E. Marty, By Way of Response: Journeys of Faith. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1981.)

Perhaps Peter said it better back in the First Century – a time like ours in which Christians were wrestling with what it means to live in a world that does not understand or often agree with our beliefs. Most of us Evangelicals are very familiar with the first half of 1 Peter 3:15, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” (NIV) Volumes of books have been written to help us Evangelicals make a case for our faith and argue persuasively. But we usually ignore the second half of the verse and the verse that follows, “But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” (NIV) Can you imagine what our spiritual conversations would be like if we made it a point to always treat the other person with gentleness and respect?

Paul framed it slightly different but no less poignantly. In Paul’s letter to Ephesus, he argued for unity and maturity by, “…speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15; NIV). Love without truth is sentimentality. Truth without love is Phariseeism. Both truth and love are necessary for effective spiritual conversations with those we disagree with.

Jesus was the ultimate model of holding in tension truth and love. His boundaries of acceptance were infamous among religious leaders but yet Jesus never compromised what is right, good, or true. Jesus associated with harlots without endorsing prostitution. He loved tax collectors without endorsing the financial policies of the Roman Empire. To paraphrase his conversation with the woman at the well, he simply said, “I love you. Stop it.” Dr. Richard Mouw, reflects on Jesus’ civility by writing:

We can think of civility as a form of hospitality. It is making room for other people, for their hopes and fears; it is a willingness to create a space in our minds for their ideas and experiences, for showing empathy for what is going on in their lives, even when strictly speaking we are not obligated to do so.

Jesus showed a literal hospitality to people whose lifestyles and ideas he strongly opposed. This is what got him into trouble with the religious leaders of his day: “The Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, saying, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’” (Luke 5:30). I can understand something of the concerns of those religious leaders. A genuine vulnerability often comes with a hospitable spirit. The same holds for a willingness to “make room” for the ideas and experiences of those with whom we disagree on serious matters. But we need to take the risk. (Richard Mouw, Uncommon Decency: Christian Civility in an Uncivil World. Intervarsity Press: 1992.)

Our Wesleyan/Holiness tradition allows us to add a unique voice to this issue. To be Wesleyan is to believe in the radical notion of prevenient grace. We believe that God is at work in places and in people even when we cannot see it. We believe that even in the most twisted of human beings, the image of God is somewhere in there. May we move forward in our conversations with others by seeing others much like an exercise in art appreciation. When we encounter those who are different than us, may we recognize them as a work of art created by the God that we worship and not simply as an argument to win.

More “McLovin” for “McCrackin”: A Response to “Hipster Christianity” from the Christianity Today Article

2010-09-16T19:28:00.007-06:00

This is part 2 of responses to the new Brett McCracken book. My first post I wrote almost entirely for the class I’m teaching on ministry and culture and I thought that was the end of the conversation. However, Mr. McCracken was the cover story in this month’s Christianity Today. AND my boss loved the article so much he emailed it to all the pastors on my district. So, I feel like I’ve been drug in to a battle I didn’t want to fight.

So, let me start with all the ways in which I AGREE with McCracken’s article in Christianity Today:

*Evangelicalism’s love affair with what is “trendy” is nothing new.

*There is a difference between an organic contextualization of Christianity in to culture in order to serve a community and a desire to be “cool.”

*Evangelical culture in the 1990’s was, “…schlocky kitsch. And it was begging to be rebelled against.”

*A critical critique of one’s culture is necessary for every generation of Christ Followers.

But, as you might imagine, there are few issues I struggled with:

*I don’t know if McCracken is aware of this or not but the word “hipster” is a derogatory term, not a term of endearment. His use of the term sets a tone in the article that is paternalistic and condescending.

* I don’t believe in the (Greek) dualistic separation between “Christian” and “secular” that McCracken uses. I prefer to subscribe to the Hebrew view of life that believes that God is present everywhere. And being Wesleyan in my theological orientation means that I believe in God’s prevenient grace that shows up in places that I least expect it.

McCracken admits that, “Hipster Christianity isn’t a monolithic subculture than can be easily categorized…” but then he buys back what he says by inundating his readers with generalization after generalization. Stereotypes are the lazy person’s shortcut to understanding people. As such, stereotypes are almost always an inaccurate representation of individuals. In McCracken’s case, I personally know Erwin McManus, Mark Driscoll, and others that he has mentioned in his article and they don’t fit neatly in to the description that McCracken is giving. As near as I can tell, McCracken has done no real research on emerging churches like Ryan Bolger and Eddie Gibb’s book, Emerging Churches (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005) his conclusions are mere generalizations drawn from anecdotal observations. As such, most of what McCracken has to say is only good for firing up older Evangelicals but lacks any definitive substance or academic credibility.

McCracken's so called "hipsters" are motivated by rebellion. It may be self-evident to say, but rebellion is not always bad. Its value depends on what the person is rebelling against. To be rebellious is to be in the good company of people like Martin Luther King, Phineas Bresee, John Wesley, and Bishop Desmond Tutu. McCracken seems to assume that those in his cross hairs are rebelling for the sake of rebellion. Yet, from my observation it seems to be a rebellion against arbitrary legalism that became an idol and imprisoned their parents and a rebellion against a faith that is so individualistic that it makes the world we are living in worse and not better. In short, it seems like something worthy to rebel against.

McCracken’s own immersion in this older Evangelical subculture is obvious. He laments, “When…Christian hipsters begin to look and act just like their secular hipster counterparts, drinking and smoking all the same things, shouldn’t we raise a red flag?” It is sad that McCracken doesn’t get the irony of this own words – does he really believe that a defining characteristic of those that follow Jesus from those who do not is in their legalistic lack of drinking and smoking? Many emerging Jesus followers would reply by saying – “Yes, that is the point of our ‘rebellion’! For many years that legalism WAS the only difference between many people who claimed the name of Jesus and the rest of the world.” (By the way, if one’s personal piety exceeds Jesus’ piety, THAT might be a red flag that something has gone askew.)

As a result, many people in Evangelical (specifically Nazarene) churches live with this cognitive dissonance – they drink but come to church and pretend like they don’t. People are not stupid. Let’s at least be honest about it. Most people in the churches that I have pastored drink and I don’t think my church is that much different than the others. But for most it is “don’t ask, don’t tell” on Sunday. Could I be so bold as to suggest that Jesus’ defining criteria for his disciples might a better one – love for each other?

Given that McCracken’s stereotypes are accurate (which I don’t think they are), what takes my breath away is in the next paragraph of the article. McCracken argues with a straight face that drinking and smoking are “…not…much better” than the greed, raping of the environment, idolatry of nationalism, disdain for the foreigner, and apathy toward the marginalized of previous generations of Evangelicals. [For those who have ever read the Bible, I will pause to let the weight of that sink in. Wow.]

In the end, I really don’t care what McCracken thinks. What saddens me is that many will read his article and minimize the really important theological shifts that are taking place in some churches as just one more fad akin to skinny jeans or hula hoops.

Brett McCraken's, "Hipster Christianity"

2010-09-06T20:19:00.006-06:00

A couple weeks ago my brother sent me a link to the Wall Street Journal’s summary of Brett McCraken’s new book, “Hipster Christianity.” The article for some reason really got under my skin so I thought I might blog a brief response to Mr. McCraken’s observations.

As he noted in the second paragraph of the article, yes, many Americans in their 20’s are “losing interest in the Christian establishment.” This is not a new trend by any means. This has been a growing trend for at least 30 years. And it may be more accurate to say the lack of interest in not in spirituality but in institutional religion or the “Christian establishment.” In fact, the Lifeway research he cites regarding young Protestant adults between 18-22 may be up a little but is consistent with trends over the last 30 years.

What irritates me to no end is McCracken’s insistence in portraying the emerging church as a “re-branding” to make Christianity “…hip, countercultural, [and] relevant.” There may be some who claim the emergent name who view the movement as a re-packaging but the vast majority of the writing on the emergent church understand it to be a substantive re-examination of American Christianity. I just finished reading Brian McLaren’s, A New Kind of Christianity which may be the most important book on the emerging church to date. Interesting that not once in the 300 or so pages of the book was worship style or “how to be more cool" addressed. Instead, it is a poignant critique of the theological constructs that have short circuited contemporary Christian faith. For example, Brian McLaren writes, “Every time we use terms like ‘the Fall’ and ‘original sin,’ I believe, many of us are unknowingly importing more or less this package of Greco-Roman, non-Jewish, and therefore nonbiblical concepts like smugglers bringing foreign currency into the biblical economy or tourists introducing invasive species into the biblical ecosystem.” (p. 43) There is a lot to talk about here beyond “style.”

Of course, there are some aspects of the emerging church that need thoughtful critique. But it sure would be nice if Mr. McCraken addressed THOSE issues and not the imaginary ones that he addressed. (And it would have been nice if the Wall Street Journal did their editorial homework before publishing a summary of his book).

But what is most surprisingly naïve about McCraken’s article is his lack of understanding of Christianity’s relationship to culture. McCraken uses anecdotal observations of various churches to bolster his hipster case – “The pastor quotes Steven Colbert or Lady Gaga during his [sic] sermon…For others, the emphasis is on looking cool, perhaps by giving the pastor a metrosexual makeover…” Firstly, I don’t understand how this is any different from Harry Emerson Fosdick in the 1950’s telling preachers to speak with “The daily newspaper in one hand and the Bible in the other.” Christianity never comes to us in a vacuum but always wrapped in a cultural context. Granted, a critical critique of culture is necessary but it is impossible to escape the intertwining of the gospel and culture.

McCraken cites Mosaic Church in L.A. meeting in the Mayan Theater as an example of trying to be hip. Yet, while I was interviewing Erwin McManus (the Lead Pastor of Mosaic) for my dissertation he cited meeting in the Myan as a strategic and missional decision based on their ecclesiology, NOT to be more hipster. “Meeting in the Myan harkens back to the first century when the early Christians met in the pagan temples of their day. It is our way to speak to the culture of Los Angeles,” McManus told me. McCraken makes a lot of anthropological rookie mistakes – projecting his own meaning on to symbols that he is unfamiliar with.

McCraken’s discussion of sex in the church was the most disturbing to me. It seems that EVERYBODY in our culture is talking about sex except the church but apparently, it’s too embarrassing for McCraken. Jesus talked about sex and there is even a whole book of the Bible devoted to sex. Many of the contemporary attempts at discussing sex are not what McCraken calls, “…deep, serious cultural adaptations…” but thoughtful cultural exegesis and contextualization of the way of Jesus. (In particular, Rob Bell's, Sex God - which I believe was a breath of fresh air to the conversation).

McCraken ends the article with this prophecy, “As a twentysomething, I can say with confidence that when it comes to church, we don’t want cool as much as we want real.” When I read those words, I had a serious case of déjà vu. I heard those same words from the mouths of Bill Hybels and Rick Warren in the mid-1990’s. It was the same thing I heard repeated ad nausium at Leadership Network’s Gen X conferences in the late 1990’s. It is the same thing I hear from idealistic college students to this day. Perhaps every idealistic twentysomething thinks their generation is just a little more pure, a little more well intentioned, and therefore a little more “real” than previous generations? I will be interested to read McCraken’s children’s critique of McCraken’s church in another 20 years.

Final Rwanda Blog

2010-07-05T08:55:00.002-06:00

Sunday, July 4, 2010, 3:50 PM Columbus, Ohio

Yesterday the Genocide Memorial was staggering. It was very difficult to see. But it was done very well and had a lot of dignity to it. Over 300,000 people are buried in a mass grave on the site of the Genocide Memorial in Kigali. What was most disturbing to me was the church’s role in the genocide. Churches varied in their participation from outright killing to silence. The Rwandan church had become so entwined with the Rwandan government that they no longer had a prophetic voice to speak up when the killing began. (Not that we Americans have anything to learn from that…)

Because it was the day before the fourth of July, the US Embassy in Kigali had invited expatriates and friends of the embassy to come over for a Fourth of July BBQ. This may not seem like much of a big deal but when you have been away from home eating strange food for two weeks, it seems like heaven to hear familiar music, eat potato salad and hot dogs, and speak English to everyone. We met some very interesting people who were in Rwanda for various NGO’s and Peace Corp volunteers.

Today I’m on my way home. I got “special treatment” from the security guys in Newark because I was wearing a Red Sox hat. But I’m amazed at how efficient Americans are!

Rwanda Blog, Part 7

2010-07-05T08:54:00.002-06:00

Friday, July 2, 2010, 10:40 PM, Rwanda Time

We made it safely to Kigali last night and found our way to the Africa New Life Guest House. In the states this would be a bad Motel 6 but our group was thrilled to have hot water, enough water pressure for a shower, and power outlets in our rooms. The group is tired but they know they didn’t waste any time while here.

This morning we left for the safari. It was a lot of fun and we came stumbling home late this afternoon covered with dust. (See my Facebook pictures…)

We wrapped things up at the missionary Blake’s house tonight. His wife made sloppy joes and pasta salad. When the youngest member of our group, 10 years old Sarah, heard that we were going to have American food for dinner, she said, “oh good! I hope they serve Mexican food!”

The group picked several projects to fund with the leftover funds from the trip including: lights for the church’s sanctuary (it will be the only church in Gisenyi with electric lights), four sewing machines for four kids who graduated from the vocational school, enough money to buy cinder blocks for the fourth classroom in the new building, a set of tools for the kids that graduated from the mechanics parts of the vocational school, 2 – 5,000 liter water collection tanks, rain collection gutters for the new building, agricultural materials for the land we bought a few months ago, and more medical supplies for the clinic we opened. It was like Christmas for everyone.

The Liberty group from Vancouver is a great group. They planned well and brought a lot of expertise with them as well. GRO is blessed to have them as one of our partners.

Rwanda Blog, Part 6

2010-07-05T08:52:00.001-06:00

Wednesday, June 30, 2010, 9:20 PM, Rwanda Time

Today started by speaking in chapel for the Ndengera School. I assumed it would be a couple dozen high school students but when I got there, they had packed about 500 high school students in to the chapel. Since I recently preached a sermon series on Jonah, I just summarized the whole story. It was fun. It is the first time I preached through an interpreter. And I discovered that jokes are very often lost in translation. (“After the whale threw up Jonah on to the beach, Jonah had to thank God for his mercy. There are two ways out of the belly of a whale. And God had mercy on Jonah.”) – it got great laughs in the US but blank stares here.

But the best news of the day was that after five short days, I got my luggage! And nothing was missing from it. I feel much more human today.

We spent some of the afternoon visiting in the homes of some of the people from the church. I think it was amazing to most of us Americans not only how meager their homes were but how proud they were and how clean it was. It was a good experience for everyone.

Rwanda Blog, Part 5

2010-06-29T15:51:00.002-06:00

Tuesday, June 29, 2010, 11:03 PM

Today Blake Berry and I took motorcycle taxis to the D.R. Congo border and entered in to another world. I learned today that Rwanda is “Africa Light.” The problems in Rwanda seem tame compared to the DRC. There are 60 million people in the DRC and five million were killed in the last 16 years as a direct or indirect result of the civil war. Add the AIDS pandemic and you can imagine how many orphans are in the DRC.

Blake and I entered in to the City of Gomo which has about 500,000 people. Without exaggerating, about one in four vehicles we saw were either UN vehicles or NGO vehicles. It was the first time I have seen UN tanks and armored personnel carriers. It was all very surreal.

We met with a Nazarene District Superintendent named Bawbanga who oversees 400 Nazarene churches and talked to him about doing some pastoral training for his pastors. (Only 15 of his pastors are ordained). It was very humbling to talk with him. He took us on a tour of one of the 14 schools that his district runs. This particular school alone had 800 elementary age orphans. It is so easy to despair here.

Cell phones are the icon of my journey so far. In Rwanda, it seems like everyone has a cell phone. The cell phone company in Rwanda (MTN) had a brilliant marketing idea -- make prepaid cell phones available for about $20-$30 and allow all incoming calls to be free. As a result, to own a phone and have a number costs very little. There are literally millions of cell phones in Rwanda. People with no running water, electricity, or indoor plumbing have cell phones. And nobody, it seems, has traditional copper wired land lines.

Across the border in the DRC, the origins of the civil war many trace to a conflict over coltan – a rare mineral used to make cell phones that is only found in the DRC. Many believe it was the corporations who wanted to harvest the coltan that funded the rebels in order to clear out the indigenous people. The DRC is one of the most mineral rich countries in the world. And one of the poorest.

On a lighter note, the motorcycle taxis are way cool. For about 60 cents, you can get a ride across town on them. And if you think the California Screaming ride at Disney’s California Adventure is scary – you have not seen anything. On our way back to the border, I rode with an 18 year old daredevil through a two lane road in rush hour-like heavy traffic. We got stuck behind an 18 wheeler which was not just slow (even by African standards) but kicked up lots and lots of dust. Because the oncoming traffic was so heavy, Blake’s motorcycle taxi driver decided to pass the truck on the “sidewalk” to the right of the truck. I prayed, “Please God, do not let this daredevil moto-jockey pass this truck on the sidewalk.” God answered my prayer as my driver accelerated and passed the truck BETWEEN THE TRUCK AND THE ONCOMING TRAFFIC. At least that is what I assumed happened because I closed my eyes and was preparing to meet my maker.

Rwanda Blog, Part 4

2010-06-28T13:58:00.001-06:00

Monday, June 28, 2010, 8:18 PM, Rwanda Time

Driving through Gisenyi is like those scenes in the movies where some kind of armored personnel carrier is barreling through some town in Afghanistan, Iraq, or Somalia. Everything comes to a stop and they watch as you go by. The kids chase the car and scream, “Muzungoo…Muzugoo” which means “white person.” It’s quite endearing at first. But after a while you figure out what is going on – the only thing white people are known for is for handouts. Seeing a white person is like seeing Santa Clause. That’s why they chase us screaming.

This is part of the tragedy of most of Africa – we have thrown so much money at it that even very young children know how the game is played. Children will literally come up to us with hands extended and say in broken English, “give me money.” Or, “give me your camera.” Or, “give me your watch.” There is a very deep culture of dependence that is very sad.

Today I spent the morning visiting schools that GRO Project sends kids to. Some are public and we pay their school supplies and uniforms. Others are private and we pay the tuition. In total we send 813 kids to 57 different schools in both Gisenyi and Goma (the sister city which is the D.R. Congo).

I was overwhelmed as they pulled dozens of kids out of class so that they could come and introduce themselves to me (in English) and thank me personally for helping them go to school. Kids in Rwanda learn three languages in Elementary school. But by middle school, all of math and science is taught in English. They are very bright kids.

As my translator and I were walking from one school to the next, we walked past a house with a woman in the front yard who was giving a bath to a little guy who was about three years old. The kid did not like the bath at all and was crying at the top of his lungs. The woman said something to her son and the child quit crying right away. My translator began to laugh and said to me, “She said, ‘If you don’t stop crying, that Muzungoo will come over here and get you!”

Tomorrow I’m crossing the border with a Nazarene missionary in to the D.R. Congo to meet with some pastors. We’re hoping to set up a conference for next summer in the Congo. Congolese are poorer than Rwandans and the Congolese church has even less resources. In case you are worried about my safety, you should know that the D.R. Congo has been upgraded recently. It is now just, “dangerous.” I sure wish my Uzi wasn’t still in my lost suitcase.

Rwanda Blog, Part 3

2010-06-27T13:12:00.001-06:00

Sunday, June 27, 2010, 8:24 PM Rwanda Time

Church was at 10:00 AM this morning, Rwanda time. Which means that things got rolling around 10:20 or so. So, I felt right at home (oh, snap, Real Lifers!)

The Gisenyi Church of the Nazarene is pretty tame by African standards. Which means, it was very loud, boisterous, and demonstrative. And dancing. Lots of dancing. I didn’t want to show them up so I didn’t show them any dance moves of my own. It was a lot of fun.

I’m also figuring out a lot of cultural things. The “G” word is never spoken of publicly but it seems to be brewing below the surface. There are laws here against “disharmony.” But of course disharmony can mean political disharmony so strong opposition to the government is suppressed. Toto, we’re not in Kansas any more.

I discovered that family means everything here. So, because my sister has been here several times and my dad has been here, I was greeted as a local hero.

Rwanda Blog, Part 2

2010-06-27T13:00:00.001-06:00

Saturday Night – 6:20 PM Rwanda Time

I finally made to Gisenyi on Friday night – 4 plane rides, 21 hours of layovers, 2 taxis, and 1 suicide bus. 51 hours in total. And the airline lost my luggage. And they are closed until Monday. The bus ride from Kigali to Gisenyi was an experience I will not soon forget. Personal space is not something that the Rwandans have a deep appreciation for. Nor do they appreciate air conditioning much. Everything is slow in Rwanda except the busses. I thought I was going to die. More than once.

But today we went to Ndengera Foundation’s (the organization we partner with) first graduation of their secondary school. About 2,000 people gathered to honor the 20 or so kids who got certificates in various trades that will help them get jobs. It was very cool to see many orphans who have come through the program who are now are old enough to go get work on their own.

GRO (www.GroProject.org) also has a group here from Vancouver that set up a really cool health clinic. They brought two M.D.’s, two P.A.’s, and two R.N.’s to get things going. One of the docs brought a portable ultrasound machine donated from his hospital which makes this brand new clinic one of the most technically advanced medical facilities around. They opened the clinic yesterday and saw a ton of people – in all kinds of condition! Today we brainstormed about creating an ongoing training system for those who will be running the clinic after we leave.

One other cool thing today was that GRO gave away 180 goats to orphans and widows in need. The goats provide milk and we gave them pairs so that the goats can make more goats. The truth is, we didn’t really give away 180 goats because we bought out every goat dealer in Gisenyi and they only had 60 goats. So, next week we’ll get the other 120 goats out to more widows and orphans.

The group from Vancouver is also partnering with the locals to build more classrooms for the school. They should be done in the next week or so.

I wanted to post photos but my camera is in my suitcase which last I heard is in Brussels. Sorry – I’ll get some posted ASAP. The group from Vancouver has posted photos and a blog at: http://www.lbnaz.org/rwanda/ if you want to check it out.

Tonight I got tired of wearing the same clothes for the last four days (even though I blend fairly well). So, I asked a local where I could buy clothes. They pointed me to an open air market where I bartered for some second hand American looking shirt and a pair of socks for $11. It scared me a little because I was by myself but nobody killed me.

Rwanda Blog, Part 1

2010-06-27T12:54:00.003-06:00

Brussels, Belgium: Would you Like a Beer and a Waffle with That?

Things never go as planned; especially when traveling. I was warned by one of my parishioners to make sure I got on the plane to Rwanda and not to get confused and go to Guatemala by mistake (inside joke). My adventures in Rwanda began in Chicago where a thunderstorm delayed our departure by four and a half hours. Which meant a missed connection in Brussels.

So, thanks to United Airlines, I’m getting to enjoy the beauty that is Brussels. For three hours. From the airport. But enjoy nonetheless.

Thankfully the airport in Brussels is a modern, clean, European airport with a Starbucks and one more city mug to add to my collection. It seems like a cheap stereotype but I had to laugh at all the restaurants whose specials included beer and a waffle: an American hamburger with beer and a waffle, steak with beer and a waffle, and a sandwich with beer and a waffle to name a few.

Too much time on my hands also allows for a lot of people watching. Turns out people are the same all over the world, just different geography. Lunch was served today by a Euro-nerd who was picked on by a Euro-bully. I stood in line behind a Euro-gangster-wanna-be. And while waiting at the ticket counter I saw a Euro-mid-life-crisis and a Euro-skank. (Not pretty in any culture).

Four more hours of Euro-fun and then I’m off on Ethiopian Airlines for a red-eye flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and then a (relatively) short flight to Kigali, Rwanda. I wonder what kind of Afro-adventures await at the next airport?

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: The City of Smells

Ethiopian Airlines is the Southwest Airlines of Africa. They make lots of stops and pack people in like cattle. The good news is that after leaving Brussels we stopped in Paris. The bad news is we couldn’t get off the plane. But the flight attendants were kind enough to open the back door so that we could enjoy the smell of jet fuel being pumped in to the plane. Ahhh…the most romantic city in the world…

After our two and a half hour layover, the sun had set and we took off over the City of Lights in all its splendor. The Eiffel Tower was lit up like the fourth of July and the city was breathtaking. As near as I can tell, the only other American on the plane was a college student who happened to be sitting across the aisle from me. Turns out, she had been in Paris for three days and had not spoke English the whole time. So she took it out on me.

The sun came up shortly before we descended in to Addis Ababa. Ethiopia is flat, green, and beautiful. The outskirts of town are covered with rice fields. Small tin roofed huts speckled the landscape. What was most surprising was that lining the runway of the airport were several small huts, their bright clothes hanging on a clothesline to dry. The moment I got off the jetway, the smell of some kind of curry-like spice overwhelmed me. The Muslim influence is very apparent here. Same planet, different world.

Reflections on The 97th Annual District Assembly

2010-06-10T10:50:00.007-06:00

It has been four weeks since the annual meetings of the Intermountain District of the Church of the Nazarene and it has taken about this long to digest everything that took place.

This was the first time that a staff person of mine was ordained and without a doubt, Sherri’s ordination was the highlight of the assembly for me. Although I still squirm and the very clear “us” and “them” mentality of those of us in the ordination club and those outside that permeates every District Assembly I have attended. (How ordination slipped under the radar of the Reformation is too long of a topic for this blog.)

There are a few times at District Assemblies that I get culture shock and realize that I live in a different world than many of my Nazarene brothers and sisters. Not better or worse, just different. I’m usually not aware of it as much unless my kids are around to remind me.

Olivia, my 18 year old daughter, came to the ordination service with me on Thursday night. When I had to teach her how to use the hymnal I realized that she has a very different perspective on worship than I do. When I got home from the service, my 15 year old son Blake asked me completely straight faced if Sherri’s husband Nathan got to play in the band that night because his wife was being ordained.

Don’t misunderstand me – the service was very nostalgic and warm and reminded me of my childhood and adolescence. Even the preaching by our beloved General Superintendent, David Graves, was a flashback to earlier days. Rev. Graves told a long story of discipling a young man who had grown up with a rough background. He recalled, “One time I invited him over to my house to play pool in the basement. After a few rounds it became clear that he was very good at pool. So I asked him, ‘How did you get to be so good at pool?’”

Rev. Graves then leaned forward and lowered his voice for dramatic effect. “He said, ‘My father owned a bar when I was growing up…’” At that moment, several people seated around Olivia and I audibly gasped. It was as if Rev. Graves had said, “He was the spawn of Satan.” Or, “His father, Adolph Hitler, had taught him to play pool.” Olivia couldn’t help herself. She laughed loud enough to make several heads swivel in our general direction. How embarrassing.

Before I am misunderstood about the whole alcohol issue, please let me clarify – alcohol is not used in our house, Olivia has been given very clear guidance about underage drinking, and the denomination’s stance on the use of alcohol is not fight I think is worth fighting over.

But I think Olivia’s instinctive laughter shows the cultural (generational?) differences over this issue. One hundred years ago, prohibition and alcohol misuse was a very big social issue that our denomination was on the front lines of. We helped shape the advent of organizations like Mothers Against Drunk Driving and Alcoholics Anonymous and countless of other alcohol rehabilitation centers. It was a great example of how to speak prophetically in to a cultural that is self-destructive.

BUT – I think that fidelity to the traditions of John Wesley and Phineas Bresee means not just blindly regurgitating their cultural critique of 100 or 200 years ago. It may be that those issues do not need the same kind of prophetic voice in our day any longer. Rather, integrity to the fourth side of the Wesleyan quadrilateral -- “tradition” -- is our ability to exegete culture and to speak prophetically to the social issues of OUR day just like Wesley and Bresee. To re-hash the social issues of our forefathers and pretend that we are doing the hard prophetic work that we are called to do is delusional at best and legalistic and Pharisaical at worst.

I would contend that the biggest social issues that we need to find our prophetic voice to address is not alcohol, dancing, or the motion picture cinema. Instead if we could in the tradition of Wesley and Bresee address issues like global poverty, greed (both corporate and individual), sex-trafficking and human slavery, the AIDS pandemic, killing in the name of God, the millions of orphans in the world, and uncontrolled consumption that is threatening to destroy God’s creation we would once again be salt and light to this messed up world and not just giving a nod to a nostalgic past.

I think that is why Olivia laughed -- the irony was too much to keep inside. The emperor had no clothes.

I recently read Brian McLaren’s new book, “A New Kind of Christianity” and he has a good insight in to religious institutions:

From my perspective, institutions exist in a dynamic relationship with social movements: simply put, institutions preserve the gains of past social movements. And with amazing
consistency, they also oppose the gains proposed by current social movements. But with equal consistency, if a social movement survives being ignored, opposed, or co-opted by the institution it seeks to change, that movement’s gains with enrich the legacy of the institution, and the institution with conserve those gains. (p. 248).

I don’t mean to leave the impression that the Assembly was nothing but back-slapping and spin. The rest of the story is that our district has some amazing people in it – people like Bob Sherwood and Darrel Wiseman are beacons of grace and compassion that renewed my soul. It was a good time.

Music and Running and Worship

2010-04-29T11:33:00.006-06:00

Two years ago I had this not so bright idea that I would run a half marathon. No, I’ve never run a half-marathon. No, I’ve not been a consistent runner for over fifteen years. No, I did not consult my doctor or anyone who knew anything about running to see if this was a good idea. But I had one powerful force on my side that would get me started – delusions of youthfulness.

I read a book on running (I know, I know, it doesn’t get more nerdy than that). I even talked about running a half marathon at church one Sunday thinking that if everyone knew about it, my resolve to complete the task would be even greater.

And so began my running journey.

Because I have a hard time shutting off my brain, I figured I could listen to various podcasts of sermons and lectures while I was running and kill two birds with one stone. My brain could get a workout while my body was moving. But the whole process was incredibly boring. And I got really impatient with how slow my body was morphing. (Where was my six pack abs that were promised?) And so I ran faster and farther. And when I pushed too hard, I partially tore my left hamstring. And then I got plantar fasciitis in my right foot.

And so ended my running journey.

Fast forward to January of 2010. The last 20 pounds that snuck on my frame at the end of 2009 surpassed the vanity threshold (“I need to look better”) and made to the healthiness threshold (“This is really bad for me”). But this time, I learned to take running a little more patiently. And I learned something about human motivation.

This time, instead of using the left side of my brain while running, I began to use the right side of my brain. Instead of listening to lectures and sermons, I collected an Itunes playlist of every song that I owned that had lots of “energy” to it. When I realized I only had four, I pillaged my kids’ Itunes for some younger and hipper music that really “moves.” Which is a lot of really stupid music. The kind of music that makes me feel a little stupider after listening to it: “Burn it till it's burned out. Turn it till it's turned out. Act up from north, west, east, south. Everybody, everybody, let's get into it. Get stupid. Get it started, get it started, get it started.” (The Black Eyed Peas)

But I ran. And ran. And I tapped in to the sound and energy as C and C Music Factory scream, “Pause, take a breath and go for yours. On my command now hit the dance floor. It's gonna’ make you sweat till you bleed. Is that dope enough? Indeed.” (For the record, the question may have been rhetorical but, yes, it is dope enough for me).

Let me now shift to the left side of my brain to reflect a bit on what has happened to me during the last four months. Jerrold Levinson, a philosophy professor at the University of Maryland, argues that among all of the arts, music is the most sensual – it is the art form that engages our senses most directly.

Dr. Levinson argues that to appreciate any art form, one must experience it. Music, unlike most every other art form, virtually is an experience. Music is not an “object” like a painting that exists apart from our experience of it. Rather, music is itself an experience that we have of sounds.

The shape and flow and profile of music has something very similar to the shape and flow and profile of human emotions. Either in terms of their inner aspect – how we “feel” in a psychological sense. OR – in terms of an outward aspect – the kinds of stances or behaviors or actions or posture that those who are experiencing those emotions will exhibit.

In short, music is particularly adept in resembling either inwardly or outwardly the emotions that we are experiencing because it is inherently a flow or a process just like our lives. Music has an inside edge among art forms in capturing or hooking in to or expressing the emotional side of life.

Moreover, music has a tendency to short circuit, sidestep, or even undermine reason and reflection. Like love, music is very hard to explain and justify. (Why do we love a particular form of music? – We just do.) Both love and music remain a mystery.

Here is my point – It is late April and I still am running about three times a week. And I have run further than I have run in 15 years. And the reason is not because I’m more disciplined now or that I have more determination now. The reason is that I have learned to tap in to the energy, emotions, and power of the music on my Ipod. When I hit “the wall” when I’m running, Kanye West will scream in my ear, “Now that that don’t kill me can only make me stronger.” And I scream back, “I hate you Kanye and your stupid exhortation! And you were mean to Taylor Swift!” But I keep running. And, as much as I hate to admit it, the running doesn’t kill me. And it makes me a little stronger.

Meanwhile back at Real Life Church, we are in the search for a music leader. And never before have I been as aware of the importance of the role of great art – especially music – in our worship experience. There is a reason why so many people get upset about music at church. It is more than just preference – good music has the ability to short circuit, sidestep, or even undermine reason and reflection. Music, by its nature, has a transporting or transfiguring effect that points us beyond ourselves, which is the essence of good worship. My friend Ed Crenshaw would call this a “non-rational” approach to spirituality. It is mysterious, impossible to control, and at times scary. And it may be an essential part of worship.

"Thin Places" by Mary E. De Muth

2010-04-29T09:50:00.005-06:00

Recently someone gave me Mary DeMuth’s new book, “Thin Places.” Honestly, this is not a book I probably would have picked up on my own but it turned out to be a wonderful memoir of life growing up in the Evangelical subculture. Mary and I are about the same age so many of her cultural references struck a chord with me.

What is most memorable about this book is the honesty and frankness with which she speaks about her childhood abuse. Yet her words are not sensational or meant to garner sympathy for a martyr. Rather, in a graceful writing style she is able to find the “thin places” of God’s grace. She quotes Mark Buchanan -- “’Her past was a tragedy to lament,’ he writes, ‘but her future was an epic to anticipate…which is a simple way to say: what will happen matters more than what has happened.’ I am guilty of many things in my life, but it never occurs to me that perhaps the greatest regret I have is staying stuck in the bully memories.” (P. 49)

What makes this book work, however, is DeMuth’s writing ability. She uses vivid images to accompany her honesty. This is my favorite excerpt:

“At five, envy woos me.
Janine, with her perfect blonde Cindy Brady hair and her child-sized kitchen, has everything that I want. The refrigerator, as tall as she is, boasts side-by-side doors – something even my family’s fridge doesn’t have Our fridge is a roundish monster from the 50’s, the kind where the freezer compartment is revealed by opening the ponderous fridge door. My mom seldom defrosts the poor freezer, so all we can fit in there is one pathetic ice cube
tray.

But Janine – she has it all. A side-by-side pretend fridge with a fake icemaker in the door. Little plastic cubes plop out on command. Her grandmother stocks her fridge (and pantry, and oven, and sink) with fake food, stuffing pieces of cut-to-fit Styrofoam into cereal boxes, Jiffy muffin mixes, Hamburger Helper. But the piece de résistance is the real eggs. Grandma saves an egg carton, cracks the eggs from its belly, and then washes one half of each shell. When she puts the eggshell tops back into the carton, they look just like real eggs (maybe it is because they are). If I knew about salmonella then, I’d have wished it upon perfect Janine with her Betty Crocker kitchen…

…When I camp in the New Testament, I am stunned to see envy saddled alongside some pretty hefty sins: greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, slander arrogance, folly, wickedness, evil, depravity, murder, strife, drunkenness, orgies, foolishness, disobedience, hatefulness, selfish ambition. Yet I treat envy as if it were a puppy needing to be potty trained – harmless and slightly entertaining.” (P. 51, 56)

Does the Pope have an accountability partner?

2010-04-08T10:29:00.004-06:00

I cannot imagine what life must be like being the Pope. I am sure that being the Pope is very difficult (except when Bono comes to visit). AND – I understand that the Roman Catholic’s position on public opinion has consistently been to remind everyone that papal decrees and the tradition of the church does not bend to the ever-changing winds of public opinion. I understand and respect that.

But how insular is your life when the best advice you get on handling a sex scandal is to flip it and make yourself the victim? I’m not surprised that there are sheep in wolves clothing in the Catholic Church (or any church for that matter). I am stunned by the Vatican’s and other church leader’s response to the scandal. In the words of the newscaster/comedian/sage Jon Stewart, “You’re upset about the whole people finding out thing!?...If any other organization had done anything close to what the church is being accused of, they would be done. The church is barely showing any contrition. For God’s sake -- look how sorry Domino’s was just for their [crappy] pizza. They had a bad sauce recipe and gave away free crazy bread.”

What is infuriating to me is not just the systematic minimization of the victims of sexual abuse but the fact that this scandal will put a black eye on all of us who claim the name of Jesus.

Perhaps the lesson is that everyone, including the Pope, needs people around them to tell them the truth, no matter how difficult it is to hear. It would appear that the Pope does not have that gift.

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Laguna Beach and Augustine

2010-02-12T22:42:00.005-07:00

I know some of my friends in Idaho think that Southern California represents all that I wrong in the world. And I understand some of that criticism. Driving from my hotel to the conference often feels more like qualifying that commuting. But one thing my Idaho friends can’t argue with – Southern California has some of the most amazing beaches in the world.

This week while at the Radicalis Conference, I stayed in Laguna Beach. Most of the week I was too busy to even notice the ocean but tonight, just as the sun began to go down, I went out to walk on the beach and watch the sun go down.

As the sun crept down over the Pacific, it made a silhouette of Catalina Island. The slow de-crescendo created a hue that brought a hush over all the skateboarding teens, the old married couples, and the potpourri of others scattered on the beach. You might even call it a sacred moment. (Ironically, it was a little bit of a contrast to the high-energy and hype of Saddleback. )

Dr. Charles Gailey told our Cultural Anthropology class at NTS that the tribe he lived with in Africa referred to this time of the day as, “The Hour of the Beautiful People.” When sunlight is refracted, it not only hides the smog of southern California, it hides the blemishes in my face too. That’s not all bad.

A few weeks ago, I preached about Augustine’s Confessions. Augustine believed that the problem with the human condition was not that we needed to believe in God in some general way to avoid pain. Loving God is not an act of will power. Instead, our souls are healed when we begin to see God as beautiful. Augustine writes:

“How have you loved me, O Father? You did not spare your only son but delivered him up for us.

How have you loved us, O Lord Jesus? You were equal with the Father but became obedient to death – even death on a cross.

Father, your son became both victim and victor for us. The victor because he was the victim.

Father, your son became the priest and sacrifice for us. The priest because he was the sacrifice.

Out of slaves he made us sons. Because though he was a son, he became a slave and served you and us instead of himself.

Rightly then, is my hope fixed strongly on him. And this will heal all the diseases of my soul.”

For some reason, as I gazed over the Pacific tonight, I thought of Augustine.

Radicalis Conference at Saddleback Church

2010-02-12T22:02:00.009-07:00

GRO Project sent me to Saddleback to network with their people who do orphan care in Rwanda. It was a very valuable time. But I also got to participate in the rest of the conference. Radicalis had a lot of material and a wide variety of speakers over the course of four days. But here is a summary of the conference from my point of view:

1. This is the fourth Saddleback conference I have been to and Rick Warren is still putting out the same material he did fifteen years ago. But I was also reminded why Rick was my ecclesiastical hero for so many years. He is a little more cheesy than my preference, everything is an alliteration, and he speaks in hyperbole a lot but there is no denying that he has been a master at building a very healthy community at Saddleback. I have learned a lot from him over the years for which I am grateful. It was kind of nostalgic.
2. I also forgot what a cool campus Saddleback is. Yikes! It’s like Disneyland for pastors. Ed Stetzer called mega-church conferences, “Ecclesiastical Pornography” – observing an amazing place that you will never achieve and allowing it to become a distraction from the real thing.
3. It was the first time I heard Perry Noble speak. He is a very gifted communicator and a very funny man. In passing he mentioned that he dropped out of seminary. It made me sad to think how much better of a communicator he would have been if he had something more of substance to say. In the end, there wasn’t a lot that he said that was worth taking note on.
4. Andy Stanley’s talk was, from my vantage point, the high point of the conference. “Who is this about – really?” I think he is the best preaching pastor in America today.
5. Mark “The Cussing Pastor” Driscoll spoke on Thursday. He was not very animated but lived up to his sensationalism. As usual, I did not agree with everything he said but he gave me a lot to chew on. “Reflecting on the historicalness of the cross helps us keep the conversation from being an abstract theological concept.” A couple other good thoughts: “Religion is our attempt to add to the cross.” And, “The cross shows us that when we suffer, God is not punishing us, he is honoring us. If we confuse this and think that God is punishing us, we will run from him and not to him when we suffer.”
6. The bands were great. Phil Wickham led on Tuesday and did an amazing job. In person he reminds me a lot of my worship leader in Tucson, Ryan Romeo (http://www.ryanromeo.com/). I miss you, Ryan!
“Fee” was Perry Noble of the bands at the conference – a lot of sugar but not a lot of protein. Friday ended with Starfield. They were the highlight of the week.

The orphan care track was where I spent most of my time and energy. I have way too many thoughts that I have not processed yet. But I have two weeks before I make recommendations to the GRO Board. Oh, and the weather was a nice break from Idaho!

Dr. Jim Diehl on the Emergent Church

2010-01-30T13:06:00.004-07:00

This is a excerpt of Dr. Jim Diehl from an ordination service at Grove City, Ohio.

The Book of Eli

2010-01-28T10:22:00.005-07:00

Last week Chris Rowen put together a guys night out in which eight of us went to see, “The Book of Eli.” I’m not normally a fan of futuristic, apocalyptic films. But for some reason, these are the films that Hollywood seems to cram full of spiritual symbols (IE – “The Matrix” and “I Am Legend”). Before I say anything about the movie, let me be clear -- this movie is not for everyone. So if you choose to see it because of what I write, don’t say that I didn’t warn you that it is very violent.

Having given that disclaimer, part of what I loved about the film was the role that violence played in the story. Violence is never redemptive. But unlike most Hollywood stories, this film doesn’t even pretend that it is. Bodies litter the landscape and the number of violent deaths are too numerous to count. In this sense, the film is more in step with the way of Jesus than the many films that glamorize revenge narratives (IE – “The Edge of Darkness”, “Taken”, and “Man on Fire”).

Danzel Washington plays Eli who is a lone man fighting his way across post-apocalyptic America in order to save a sacred book which holds the secrets to saving humanity. As it turns out, it is the King James Version of the Bible. But part of the troubling aspects of Eli is that while he carries the book, reads book, literally internalizes the book, and yet he never seems to understand the main point of the book. In this sense, like many Christians in our day, there is a misguided belief that it is the Bible is almost magical. The pursuit, then, is for more Bible knowledge and not Who the Bible points to.

The underlying message of the film has to do with how we human beings express our faith. The Hughes Brothers do a great job of asking the question that our culture has been asking the church for years but we don’t seem to want to answer -- “how does your faith make the world that I live in a better place?” Instead we keep trying to answer the question that few people are asking --- “where are you going to go when you die?”

Much to the delight of Bill Mahr, the apocalypse is brought about by religion gone bad. How faith can be used either redemptively or manipulatively is painted in a beautiful contrast by the Hughes Brothers. Unlike many two dimensional views of faith, “The Book of Eli” recognizes that how people use faith is more a reflection of themselves then on the faith itself. For Carnegie, it is a tool to control the “weak and desperate.” For Eli and ultimately Solara, faith is the path to becoming fully human and ultimately like the One in whose image we are created.

There is a very cool twist at the end of the movie that I won’t give away. But my favorite scene in the film is the closing scene when Solara gets it. She does not stay in the “sanctuary” of San Francisco but goes out in to the broken world brining hope and grace with her. That closing scene ultimately makes the film redemptive. She is the Christ figure who leaves the comforts of “paradise” to live among people who have little memory of who they are supposed to be. I loved the symbolism. And it embarrasses me that the Hughes Brothers can paint a better picture of what it means to be missional than I can.

Thanks – Ben, Brad, Steve, Billy, Chris, and Eric for a fun guys night out! Adam - you missed it!

If I Only Had a Brain...

2010-01-14T10:48:00.003-07:00

During the 1939 film, “The Wizard of Oz”, when the Scarecrow meets Dorothy, he sings a now famous tune lamenting his lack of a brain:

I would not be just a nuffin'
My head all full of stuffin'
My heart
all full of pain
I would dance and be merry
Life would be a ding-a-derry
If I only had a brain
My, how the grass is greener on the other side of the fence! On this side of The Rainbow, there are now several studies showing a negative coloration between intelligence and depression. In other words, intelligence does not make “life a ding-a-derry” but makes it more depressing! One of the classes I teach at NNU is the very first class that students take who are beginning their masters degree in missional leadership. I have been struck by the number of times teaching this course that students express how unsettling it is to go back to school and have their minds and worlds stretched. A phrase I commonly hear is, “I am wrecked for living the life I used to live.” No longer can they listen to a sermon without reflecting on the theological implications. No longer can they buy in to simple generalizations or “straw man” arguments. Education does not make people happier. Life is much happier as a Scarecrow!

Yet, could it be that, contrary to the Declaration of Independence, the goal of life is not primarily the pursuit of happiness? Maybe a more lofty aim would be the pursuit of significance?

When my Introduction to Missional Leadership class is finished, I send my students this Franciscan Blessing that I hope will shape their lives and ministries:

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and
superficial relationships so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation
of people, so that you may wish for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God
bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in
this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.

Is It All About The Benjamins?

2009-12-10T10:28:00.003-07:00

Three years ago I did a lengthy interview with Pastor Don Wilson of Christ’s Church in the Valley (CCV) in Peoria, Arizona. The interview was part of my dissertation research for Asbury Seminary. Don is a remarkable and humble guy who planted CCV about 20 years ago. CCV now is the largest church in the state of Arizona with about 15,000 attending every weekend.

Don’s office was smaller than mine and was very simple in its décor. As we talked, it became clear that CCV was an institutional embodiment of Don’s passion – people. As the conversation progressed past statistical information, Don lamented how a large church can quickly become very impersonal, program oriented, and lose focus on people.

“The real ministry of CCV doesn’t take place on this campus,” Don declared. “It’s in the neighborhoods and backyard barbeques. Our focus these days is to downsize our on-campus programming in order to encourage people to do ministry where they live.”

If you have been to the CCV campus, you can immediately appreciate the irony. CCV has an amazing church campus. From the outside it looks like a Scottsdale resort. The inside is as beautiful as ANY church I have seen.

When I pushed Don on this irony his answer has stuck in my head for a long time – “Down the road at Arizona State, their football team gets more attention and more money than any other athletic program at the University. If you are on the volleyball team or the lacrosse team, this might really bug you. But the truth is, the football team brings in more than enough revenue to pay for all of the other athletic programs at the University.”

“Weekend services are the college football of the church. They are not the most important things that we do by a long shot. They are not the most effective way of doing ministry. But weekend services are what pay the bills. We spend a disproportionate amount of time and energy on weekend services so that we can do other ministries that are more effective.”

Years ago I read an article on the arts and the church. The question was posed as to why Christian television never did drama or any other kind of artistic production. Instead, it seemed that Christian TV was in large part focused around the talk-show format. The answer, according to a TV producer, is that it is that the talk show format is the best format for raising money.

So what I wonder is this –Is the only reason that we Americans do church the way we do it is that it is the most financially viable way to do church? If money were no object, how would we do church? If economics is what drives our ecclesiology, what does that say about what we value?

Truth, Love, Sleep, God, David Sedaris, and Postmodernity

2009-12-03T11:03:00.004-07:00

Recently the School of Theology and Christian Ministries hosted a luncheon and discussion revolving around the book, Postmodern and Wesleyan? Since I wrote a chapter in the book, I figured it would be a good idea to show up and encourage books sales in the hope that maybe someday I can get a check from Nazarene Publishing House that might cover my morning coffee habit for the day.

My friends Jay, Tom, and Brent were good at encouraging discussion among the chin scratching pastors. Sometimes when people ask questions, it sheds more light on the questioner than the answer that is given. Most of the questions revolved around the epistemology of postmodernity (what is truth?). This discussion was interesting to me at one time but has really worn thin after ten years of dialogue. I think there are a lot of more interesting things to talk about as the church emerges in to the new millennium.

But the heart of the issue is an important shift – the Enlightenment and Modern experiment positioned the Western world in an arrogant and naïve position, assuming that truth could be captured in propositional statements, chopped up and dissected in order to understand it better, and served in a simple, straight forward way that we can all understand.

So this morning, I was reading David Sedaris’ book, “Me Talk Pretty One Day” and he unknowingly painted a beautiful picture of the limits of Modernity:

“During the first week of September, it was my family’s habit to rent a beach house on the Ocean Isle, a thin strip of land off the coast of North Carolina. As youngsters, we participated in all the usual seaside activities – which were fun, until my father got involved and systematically chipped away at our pleasure. Miniature golf was ruined with a lengthy dissertation on impact, trajectory, and wind velocity, and our sand castles were critiqued with stifling lectures on the dynamics of the vaulted ceiling. We enjoyed swimming, until the mystery of tides was explained in such a way that the ocean seemed nothing more than an enormous saltwater toilet, flushing itself on a sad and predictable basis.” (P. 34-35)

God, faith, love, and all the things in life that matter most cannot be reduced to their mechanical parts (or their “absolutes”); they are much more beautiful, bigger, richer, and mysterious than we are capable of understanding. W.H. Auden said it better, “Truth, like love and sleep, resents approaches which are too direct.”

Scripture and Fundamentalism

2009-11-19T10:59:00.001-07:00

As part of the homecoming festivities at NNU last week, the School of Theology and Christian Ministries sponsored a forum called, “The Gift and Role of the Scriptures in the Church.” Admittedly, you have to be pretty nerdy to view a forum like this as being celebrative of anything. Nonetheless, I thought the discussion was valuable.

Nazarene Bible scholars George Lyons, Wendell Bowes, and Roger Hahn were the panelists. The underlying agenda, as it is with a lot of Nazarene higher education, is fight off the constant threat of fundamentalism among us Nazarenes. Here are a few sound bites from the 90 minutes of discussion:

“Many people use scripture the same way that bad boys use girls.” (Lyons)

“Scripture has always been written, interpreted, and re-interpreted within the community.” (Hahn)

“The issue of inerrancy misses the point of scripture. The crucial issue is ‘will the scriptures have authority over me?’” (Lyons)

“The position of biblical inerrancy puts us in a position of evaluating the scriptures instead of letting the scriptures evaluate us.” (Hahn)

“Doctrines are easy to create and very difficult to prove with the scriptures.” (Bowes)

“Before the modern era, the ‘sufficiency’ of scripture was the way Christians understood the Bible’s authority.” (Hahn)

U2 in Vancouver, BC

2009-11-12T10:09:00.006-07:00

A couple weeks ago Blake and I traveled to Vancouver, BC to see that last leg of U2’s 360 Tour. It is difficult to express the amount of energy there was in the room. There were about 70,000 fans in the stadium. Knowing that the concert sold out in a half an hour, it was clear that there were no casual fans in the place.

Some observations about our trip:

1. U2 played for 2 ½ hours. On our way out of the stadium we listed ten songs off the top of our heads that they could have done but didn’t. That is a HUGE catalog of songs to pick from.

2. BC apparently really likes beer. There were a lot of people who were hammered drunk. (And many who were probably stoned). Which led to at least two fights near where we were. Which made me think, “Really? Fighting at a U2 concert? Does that irony escape you?”

3. I’m getting old because that concert was REALLY loud.

4. We counted 30 semi trucks in the parking lot for their equipment. I’m sorry for ever complaining about setup and tear down at church.

5. The Black Eyed Peas were not a good fit for an opening band. There was so much bass when they played, the material on my shirt literally moved with every thump. (It was like being trapped in the trunk of a low-rider).

6. 600 miles is long way to drive for a concert.

7. It was amazing. I hoped it would be something Blake could tell his grandkids about. I think he will.

The Cliff Notes

2008-11-15T20:42:00.003-07:00

So when Clayton talked me in to blogging, I assumed that I would just blog about the ideas in the books that I have been reading and I should have plenty to reflect about. However, as time as gone on, I have got way behind in blogging about all the wonderful things I am reading.

So, below you will find the cliff notes version of the last 8-10 books I have read. Here are some memorable quotes that I wrote down:

“One of our most common temptations is to turn the way into a place, to turn the adventure into a status, to trade the runway for the hangar, to turn the holy path into a sitting room - even if we call it a sanctuary. When the movement becomes an institution, those whose hearts call them to pilgrimage get restless.” (Brian McLaren)

“I'm frustrated that there's no way I'd be able to tell 'good Christians' about my life in any sort of real terms, and mine has been exceedingly tame and safe. I can only imagine how people with darker closets must feel. If I want to talk about my life, I'd have to make veiled references, using terms that demonstrated that my sins have passed through the evangelical autoclave and been sterilized.” (Peter Gall)

“Nothing makes us so lonely as our secrets.” (Paul Tournier)

“Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.” (Albert Einstein)

“Oh my soul, be prepared to meet Him who knows how to ask questions.” (T.S. Eliot)

“Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction.” (Blaise Pascal)

“Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God,
But only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.”
(Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

“Does that mean,” asked Mack, “that all roads will lead to you?” “Not at all,” smiled Jesus as he reached for the door handle to the shop. “Most roads don't lead anywhere. What it does mean is that I will travel any road to find you.” (William Young in The Shack)

“The chief object of education is not to learn things but to unlearn things.” (GK Chesterton)

“The important thing is this: to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.” (Charles DuBos)

“Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood.” (Daniel H. Burnham)

“…optimism and pessimism [are] the fantasies that we use to escape from the awful uncertainty.” (William Bridges)

“Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” (St. Francis of Assisi)

“The world is so hungry for God that God could only come as a piece of bread. We so long for joy that God even risked coming in to the world in the form of intoxication, that risky thing called wine.” (Gandhi)

“Art is the grandchild of God.” (Dante)

“The insistence of the first Christians was that through this resurrected Jesus Christ, God has made peace with the world. Not through weapons of war but through a naked, bleeding man hanging dead on an execution stake…So when the commander in chief of the most powerful armed forces humanity has ever seen quotes the prophet Isaiah from the Bible in celebration of military victory, we must ask, is this what Isaiah had in mind? A Christian should get very nervous when the flag and the Bible start holding hands. This is not a romance we want to encourage. And this [deep anxiety] continues to echo within each one of us, telling us that things aren't right, that we're up against something very old and very deep and very, very powerful. For a growing number of people in our world, it appears that many Christians support some of the very things Jesus came to set people free from.” (Rob Bell)

Grandpa Schurter -- May 24, 1917 -- October 15, 2008

2008-10-17T08:39:00.005-06:00

My Aunt Barbara wrote this wonderful euglogy of my Granpa Schurter who passed away this week:

"The family has not fended off stringers from the Times of London, or reporters from the Washington Post or even the Trenton Times. NBC “fact-checkers” didn’t call to verify the data of his life.

There is, of course, a simple reason for this. In a world which measures “success” only by wealth, Dad was not a “successful” man: he never headed a Fortune 500 company, never won a Nobel Prize, never patented a multi-million dollar invention. He worked for others all his life.

His mother died in the great pandemic of the Spanish Influenza when he was a toddler, and the three boys and a girl were raised by his father and his maternal grandparents. When he was very young, an accident took the vision in one eye, and in his later years, glaucoma increasingly robbed him of sight in his “good” eye. Instead of complaining, he joked about it: when mowing the lawn, he said, he really appreciated yellow-headed dandelions because he could play connect-the-dots: when all the dots were gone, the entire lawn was done.

Dad connected the generations for us, with stories about his immigrant Swiss grandfather sharing a bottle of wine every afternoon with a Welsh neighbor whose English was equally incomprehensible, and of the chagrin of his Temperance grandmother when she discovered, after it caught fire in a blaze of glory, that she had rented her father’s barn to bootleggers.

He told of the family’s first radio and Grandfather’s horse Brownie, who only pulled the wagon of wood when he was happy with the weight of it but would bring a sleeping Grandfather home without direction; of skinny-dipping in the clay pits; of his brother Vern, the day electric was installed, going from room to room turning on all the lights; of his brother Will scaring him by announcing the white-garbed women outside St. Francis Hospital were ghosts. He spoke of Grandmother’s car, wrecked when eccentric Uncle Roy hit a trolley car in New Brunswick, and of bicycling to work during the War, of his father’s always-too-big garden, and Aunt Louise’s canning and preserving.

When we were children, he was never too tired after work to go outside and pitch softballs. And at bedtime, there was the story of the two inept honey-seeking bears, Jimbo and Frizzy.

Not a “success?” We beg to differ. He loved his wife, and she loved him, and he was adored by his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. In fact, we’ve never met anyone who didn’t love Dad. That was his success. May we all succeed so well."

“The Shack” by William P. Young

2008-06-04T09:11:00.003-06:00

I just finished this book that has become very popular among college students and is shooting up the list of Amazon's "spirituality" section. (A raving endorsement by Eugene Peterson surely had to help!) William Young is a good writer and his narrative form really carries the theology of this book. It was a fun and easy read.

The hardest obstacle of this book for me was having the members of the Trinity being characters in the book. I really struggle with anyone putting words in God’s mouth. To presume to know what God would say in a particular situation seems more than a little arrogant (which is why my skin crawls at the “What would Jesus say to…[Madonna, Bill Clinton, etc.]” sermon series).

Once I got past the fact that this is Young’s perception of God and not the definitive, “Thus sayeth the Lord…” that we followers of Yahweh have traditionally stoned people for, I was able to relax and enjoy the book a lot more.

I loved the way Young re-cast a lot of theological quandaries in much more relational terms. He starts the book by noting -- “I suppose that since most of our hurts come through relationships so will our healing…” (p. 11)

Likewise, re-casting our view of God in more relational and less judicial terms helped to reframe judgment less about destruction, but about “setting things right.” (p. 169) After a lengthy dialogue in which God makes Mack be the judge of his family (turning the tables on Mack), Young notes -- “There was no way he could sentence Katie, or any of his other children, to an eternity in hell just because she had sinned against him…For him, it wasn't about their performance; it was about his love for them.” (p. 163)

Young, like many others these days, sees institutions as inherently evil. In the book, Jesus says -- “…I don't create institutions; that's an occupation for those who want to play God. So no, I'm not too big on religion,” Jesus said a little sarcastically, “and not very fond of politics or economics either…Andy why should I be? They are the man-created trinity of terrors that ravages the earth and deceives those I care about. What mental turmoil and anxiety does any human face that is not related to one of those three?” (p. 179)

Even though I can think of a lot of mental turmoil and anxiety that comes outside of these three institutions, I agree that much evil has been done in the name of politics, economics, and religion. Yet, it seems almost a naïve hippie-like idealism to imply that these institutions are not necessary. Moreover, I would even dare say that some people are actually doing good things in religious institutions, economic development, and even government. I’m not so cynical to believe that those within these institutions are interested in nothing more than themselves. I think they might even be interested in the betterment of the world and those who are marginalized.

Overall, William Young was wise to re-frame a relational theology in narrative form. The book felt warm and rich, not abstract and cold. I liked how at one point he had Jesus re-frame the question that was asked by Mack-- “Does that mean,” asked Mack, “that all roads will lead to you?” “Not at all,” smiled Jesus as he reached for the door handle to the shop. “Most roads don't lead anywhere. What it does mean is that I will travel any road to find you.” (p. 182)

This would be a great discussion book for a group who wants to wrestle with a lot of current theological conversations.

Idols

2008-05-21T10:00:00.004-06:00

I’ve been thinking a lot about idols and idolatry lately. (See Real Life podcast, “Worship as Life” ) I heard a wise old pastor say years ago that when you name people’s idols, expect that anger will follow. I have found this to be consistently true in the places where I have been a pastor. For example, when I have spoken against the idols of Mamon (or materialism and greed) or unhealthy sexuality or civil religion is when I get the most pushback from people. My mentor Dale Galloway used to say, “when you throw a rock in to a pack of dogs, usually the one who yelps is the one you hit.”

As a staff we have been reading together Brian McLaren’s new book, “Finding Our Way Again.” I was reminded again that what got Jesus killed was precisely his willingness to confront the predominant idol of his day – the Roman Empire. “[Jesus] wouldn’t have been killed for starting a new religion, because the Roman Empire was very tolerant of religions. What they were completely intolerant of, thought, was the proclamation of a competing authority structure that superseded the one centered in Caesar in Rome.” (p. 34)

Speaking of Brian, in my neck of the woods, uttering Brian’s name is quickly becoming tantamount to endorsing Hitler or Stalin. (In Tony Jones’ new book, he quips, “Evangelical pastors have to read [Brian McLaren] wrapped in a Playboy cover.”)

Why the anger? Brian makes an interesting observation in his new book -- “What’s gotten me into trouble, though, is my suspicion that a person can be a follower of the way of Jesus without affiliating with the Christian religion, and my simultaneous lament that a person can be accepted and even celebrated as a card-carrying member of the Christian club but not actually be a follower of the way of Jesus.” (p. 33)

So here is what I am pondering – maybe the biggest idol of our day is the Christian religion. What do you think?

More Daniel Gilbert, "Stumbling on Happiness"

2008-05-07T10:44:00.004-06:00

For a really cool summary of the book, check out this video of Daniel Gilbert lecturing:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/97

Thanks, Nicole for the heads up!

Stumbling on Happiness

2008-04-24T10:14:00.005-06:00

Daniel Gilbert is a professor of psychology at Harvard University. I saw him on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and thought he was interesting and so I picked up his book, “Stumbling on Happiness.” It is one of the most interesting books I have read in a long time. By the time I was done with the book I could not shake the feeling that what we as human beings perceive to be reality has very little to do with what is really real. Gilbert writes, “…when your brain is at liberty to interpret a stimulus in more than one way, it tends to interpret it in the way it wants to.” (p. 173)

Our mind has its own psychological immune system that defends us against unhappiness and “spins” our perception of the world in a positive way. “If we were to experience the world exactly how it is, we’d be too depressed to get out of bed in the morning…” (p. 176)

Another example of how our mind tricks us is what Gilbert calls, “Presentism” – the tendency for current experience to influence one’s views of the past and the future. Our mind tricks us in to thinking that what we are feeling now is what we have always felt (“I never liked him.”). And – tricking us in to thinking that what are feeling now is what we will always feel (“I am so full I could never eat again as long as I live.”). “…when brains plug holes in the conceptualizations of yesterday and tomorrow, they tend to use a material called today.” (p. 125)

The mind is way more slippery than I realized. We often misunderstand even the very emotions that we are feeling. Gilbert writes, “One of the hallmarks of a visual experience is that we can almost always tell whether it is the product of a real or imagined object. But not so with emotional experience.” (p. 136) Gilbert gives examples from research that shows that people are typically unaware of the reasons why they are doing what they are doing. But when asked for a reason, they readily supply one. When we are stuck in a situation, our mind has a way of finding a way to view the experience as positive.

Even though we human beings pursue happiness in almost every endeavor we undertake, it is surprising how unhappy we are! So how do we truly be happy? Gilbert is a lot better at defining the problem than providing solutions. But one piece of research that I thought was helpful was this – “…most people think they will regret foolish actions more than inactions. But studies also show that nine out of ten people are wrong. Indeed, in the long run, people of every age and in every walk of life seem to regret not having done things much more than they regret things they did.” (p. 197)

There is lots of great stuff in this very readable book. Way too much to put in this blog!

A Great Time of Year for Movies

2008-01-29T08:38:00.004-07:00

I've heard that many movie companies wait to release their best films this time of year so that they can get some "Oscar buzz" from it. Whether or not that is true - I have seen some great films in the last couple of weeks:

The Kite Runner -- I have not read the book but this is one of the best stories I have heard in a long time. The closing scene of the film is on my short list of greatest movie scenes. I won't give the story away -- but there is another scene in which the main character (Amir) re-discovers his faith while on a journey to Pakistan. The film is great at showing the very best and the very worst of Islam. (Just like there is very good and very bad expressions of Christianity). As he prays in a mosque, in the background is a beautiful prayer chorus that echos Amir's own struggle. And it could be the prayer of many of us, from many different faiths:

O My Lord, My sins are like the highest mountain;
My good deeds Are very few - they’re like a small pebble.
I turn to You My heart full of shame, My eyes full of tears.
Bestow Your Forgiveness and Mercy Upon me.

Juno - I'm a little hesitant to admit that I saw this one. But, o my gosh, it was funny. I can't think of the last time I laughed so much at a movie. The movie was nominated by the Academy for "Best Picture" and Ellen Page (as Juno) for "Best Actress" and deservedly so.
What I appreciated about Juno was being able to think through teen pregnancy not as an abstract idea but through the eyes of an insecure teenager. My experience throughout the film is what is typical of what psychologists called the error of attributions. When we don't know someone we tend to attribute their bad behavior on their bad character. When we know and can empathize with a person's story, we tend to attribute their bad behavior to their bad circumstances.
Maybe being the parent of a teenage daughter made me more empathic to Juno. Maybe it was how the film portrayed class struggles that made me identify with my own adolescence. Whatever the case, I found Juno to be charming and delightful. Again, the soundtrack to this film helped make it so whimsical:

If you were a wink, I'd be a nod
If you were a seed, well I'd be a pod.
If you were the floor, I'd wanna be the rug
And if you were a kiss, I know I'd be a hug

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

Martin Luther King

2008-01-18T16:21:00.001-07:00

“I am not unmindful of the fact that violence often brings about momentary results. Nations have frequently won their independence in battle. But in spite of temporary victories, violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem; it merely creates new and more complicated ones. Violence is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding; it seeks to annihilate rather than convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends up defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers.”
– Martin Luther King, Jr. Nobel lecture, 1964

Unable to Recognize the Master

2007-11-21T10:41:00.001-07:00

Joshua Bell emerged from the Metro and positioned himself against a wall beside a trash basket. By most measures, he was nondescript—a youngish white man in jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt, and a Washington Nationals baseball cap. From a small case, he removed a violin. Placing the open case at his feet, he shrewdly threw in a few dollars and pocket change as seed money and began to play.
For the next 45 minutes, in the D.C. Metro on January 12, 2007, Bell played Mozart and Schubert as over 1,000 people streamed by, most hardly taking notice. If they had paid attention, they might have recognized the young man for the world-renowned violinist he is. They also might have noted the violin he played—a rare Stradivarius worth over $3 million. It was all part of a project arranged by The Washington Post—"an experiment in context, perception, and priorities—as well as an unblinking assessment of public taste. In a banal setting, at an inconvenient time, would beauty transcend?"

Just three days earlier, Joshua Bell sold out Boston Symphony Hall, with ordinary seats going for $100. In the subway, Bell garnered about $32 from the 27 people who stopped long enough to give a donation.
Joshua Bell’s story is a picture of our lives. The fingerprints of the Master Artist is all over our world. His music fills our days and nights. But most of us are too busy or too oblivious to recognize it.

Rowan Atkinson

2007-10-03T10:51:00.002-06:00

A little irreverent but Rowan Atkinson is a very funny man.

In all seriousness, this does bring up some good issues about the way we view Jesus -- as Lord or magician to all my problems.

Tatiana

2007-08-13T14:28:00.002-06:00

Every one of my kids is different. But since Tatiana is adopted, it seems that she sees life way different than the rest of us. Her personalty is also way different than our other kids. She is the most talkative child I have ever met. One night I was watching SNL and saw a sketch that encapsulated Tatiana's personality. Amy Pohler -- you are genius:

Kaitlyn's Sleepover

Katilyn at the Nursing Home

Kaitlyn's Uncle Gets Married