I'll Take Prophetitus for $100 Alex

I thought some more ASBO was in order!

I'm just a guy trying to figure out who it is that God made me to be. I was taught not to live for the approval of mankind, but to live as a servant of Christ! (Gal. 1:10) Yet the Church wants people to conform to their image of what a cookie-cutter Christian looks like, rather than an authentic version of a person trying his or her best to follow Christ. The Church has it all packed nice and neat in a package with a bow, narrowed down to 4 spiritual laws, or a tract that explains "Everything".

But that's not my reality. It wasn't Christ's reality, nor was it the early Church leader's reality. It was a struggle. Every Day! This Journey is not easy, why do we pretend it is? Why do we force ministers to be "perfect"? We say they are supposed to be setting an example for their flock, but what kind of an example is one built on a lie? No one is perfect and thus that expectation should never exist. Instead, a minister should be an authentic example of a person struggling every day to do his or her best to follow Christ, who wasn't always clear about what he meant!

But that would mean unbinding Christ, to free God from the bondage we've all placed him in. To remember that we are made in his image, and stop making him in ours! Ah, but I seem to be prophetic in my approach... warning the Church that if it continues down this path it will fail. Doom will come, not from some some metaphorical "wrath" that we think of, but because the Church will no longer be relevant in the lives of people seeking the REAL Christian experience, not this modernized neat version we're selling. It will come when we realize that we aren't reaching whole generations. Churches are losing, not just youth and college students, but people even up into their 40's because the message the Church has been forcing on them no longer meshes with their understanding of their faith. This is a huge problem for the mainstream Church.

I have lots of ideas of ways to change, but the first and hardest thing to do, it to let go! Release God to be God. Stop trying to have all the "answers", and stop alienating people who are searching. Stop running the prophets out of the synagogue, and listen to their thoughts, ideas and concerns. And most of all, adopt an authentic faith! Authenticity should be a requirement from all people for community membership... but that will only happen when the Church makes itself a safe place for people to lay down their masks! No Judgement, no deceit, no more indoctrination. Just a safe place to come and be one's self, and do their best to try and follow the mystery that is God!

My words come from a heartfelt humility in knowing that I don't have it all figured out yet either, but I'm willing to journey, and I refuse to be someone I'm not. The ONLY person I'm trying to be, is the person who's image looks a little more like the image I was created in each day!

The Closer I Am to Where The Streets Have No Name

So, because of recent conversations, blog posts (both by others and myself), and general observations, I started thinking of a couple of interesting things that put in tandem with each other have caused some delightful thoughts as well as challenging questions. I will share one thought at the end, but do not want to commentate (although I AM willing to conversate on any thoughts you might have) these things when placed in tandem.



Closer To Fine--Indigo Girls
I'm trying to tell you something about my life
Maybe give me insight between black and white
And the best thing you've ever done for me
Is to help me take my life less seriously
Its only life after all

Yeah Well darkness has a hunger that's insatiable
And lightness has a call that's hard to hear
I wrap my fear around me like a blanket
I sailed my ship of safety till I sank it
I'm crawling on your shores

I went to the doctor,
I went to the mountains
I looked to the children,
I drank from the fountains
There's more than one answer to these questions
Pointing me in a crooked line
And the less I seek my source for some definitive(the less I seek my source)
The closer I am to fine
The closer I am to fine

And I went to see the doctor of philosophy
With a poster of Rasputin and a beard down to his knee
He never did marry or see a b-grade movie
He graded my performance, he said he could see through me
I spent four years prostrate to the higher mind
Got my paper and I was free

I went to the doctor,
I went to the mountains
I looked to the children,
I drank from the fountains
There's more than one answer to these questions
Pointing me in a crooked line
The less I seek my source for some definitive(the less I seek my source)
The closer I am to fine
The closer I am to fine

I stopped by the bar at 3 a.m
.To seek solace in a bottle or possibly a friend
And I woke up with a headache like my head against a board
Twice as cloudy as Id been the night before
And I went in seeking clarity.

I went to the doctor,
I went to the mountains
I looked to the children, I
drank from the fountains

Yeah we go to the doctor,
we go to the mountains
We look to the children,
we drink from the fountains
Yeah we go to the bible,
we go through the workout
We read up on revival
and we stand up for the lookout
There's more than one answer to these questions
Pointing me in a crooked line
The less I seek my source for some definitive(the less I seek my source)
The closer I am to fine
The closer I am to fine
The closer I am to fine



Where The Streets have No Name--U2
I want to run
I want to hide
I want to tear down the walls
That hold me inside
I want to reach out
And touch the flame
Where the streets have no name

I want to feel,
sunlight on my face
See that dust cloud disappear
without a trace
I want to take shelter
from the poison rain
Where the streets have no name

Where the streets have no name
Where the streets have no name
We're still building
Then burning down love,
burning down love
And when I go there
I go there with you...(its all I can do)

The cities a flood
And our love turns to rust
Were beaten and blown by the wind
Trampled into dust
Ill show you a place
High on the desert plain
Where the streets have no name

Where the streets have no name
Where the streets have no name
Still building Then burning down love
Burning down love
And when I go there, I go there with you
(its all I can do)
--------------------------

So... we've always sold God as the end of the search. When people are searching for something "bigger" or "answers" to the questions, we sell God as if He is the end of the quest. What if finding God is where the REAL seeking begins? Perhaps finding the Divine is simply putting a name or label on what we've always been (and always will be seeking): that greater/deeper understanding? When we advertise God as an end, and not a means we misrepresent the importance and reality of the journey of being spiritual. Finding God perhaps is not us on the quest reaching the finish line, but us on our quest finally making it to the starting line!

Your Thoughts?
On what I said?
On the songs in general?

Is This American Christianity???

"When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, "Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him."

"Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.'

"I have seen these people," the LORD said to Moses, "and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.""--Exodus 32:1, 7-10 (Emphasis mine)

graphic by ASBO

Poetic Jeff

Hey, Check out my friend, Jeff's Blog, Scroll down past all the baseball (not that wouldn't enjoy reading that), but I wanted to draw your attention to some of his poetry.

3 poems
It starts with Thursday, October 25, 2007: I've been thinking about some poetry

It has given me some good thought threads!
thanks Jeff!
_____------______

I Thought These Applicable

I thought these fine additions from ASBO Jesus went well with the last couple of posts!





Oh, and I am so feelin the bishop!!!!!!!
Kudos my friend... I too refuse.... I am no longer a pawn!

small groups making a BIG DIFFERENCE

Nickleback: not one of my personal fav.s musically (so sue me!:) But I really like this video! I applaud them and the stories that this video tells! It's worth the watch:

IF EVERYONE CARED





When I was forced to leave my last church, I left this quote that we had used in a lesson as the only thing on the wall. It was meant to encourage them to be a group that would do something great, because I had told them that I saw great things in them...if they worked as a community! I don't know if my message was received, but I did, and still do believe in them!

"Never doubt that a small group of committed people can
CHANGE THE WORLD.
Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
-- Margaret Mead

Mannequins and Paper Dolls

I did a partial retreat this weekend with a WONDERFUL YOUTH GROUP (SHOUT OUT MPC!!) about community. What is community? We started off by exploring the fact that most "communities" fall short because there is a lack of authenticity! The more churches I've worked with (in any facet you could think of) the more I see that this unwillingness to encourage and teach people to be authentic within the church, the more that community is nothing more than a shell; a husk of something that could have been far greater! Being FREED to be who you truly are, without worry of ridicule or judgement is the first step in a true biblical community.

I watched as a group of teens struggled to take off their masks! That is really hard for a teenager to do!!!! I admire them! The problem is that they learned how to wear masks somewhere, by someone, earlier in their lives. It is not an innate ability, It is an art form that many have perfected! They've learned how to wear masks by watching other people!

WHO?
People on TV
Musicians
Parents
Teachers
Ministers

Very few people are actually teaching our youth and kids what it means, and how to be
AUTHENTIC
FREE THEM
TO BECOME THE PERSON INTO WHOM GOD WANTS TO MAKE THEM!
he can't work with the fake
he can't paint the portrait of who we are to become when we hide our "face"

Behind masks
Facade's
Lies

We are all trying to be someone we're not....
We've all tried to be someone we see...
but we never really see
an authentic
person

Just The Mask.....

And that's what we aspire to?

A video I used for a youth lesson on trying to be someone you're not:




Stone Sour-Through The Glass
I'm looking at you through the glass
Don't know how much time has passed
Oh God it feels like forever
But no one ever tells you that forever feels like home
Sitting all alone inside your head

How do you feel?
That is the question
But I forget you don't expect an easy answer
When something like a soul becomes initialized
And folded up like paper dolls and little notes
You can't expect a bit of hope
So while you're outside looking in
Describing what you see
Remember what you're staring at is me

'Cause I'm looking at you through the glass
Don't know how much time has passed
All I know is that it feels like forever
but No one ever tells you that forever feels like home
Sitting all alone inside your head

How much is real?
So much to question
An epidemic of the mannequins contaminating everything
We thought came from the heart
But never did right from the start
Just listen to the noises (Null and void instead of voices)
Before you tell yourself It's just a different scene
Remember it's just different from what you've seen

I'm looking at you through the glass
Don't know how much time has passed
And all I know is that it feels like forever
But no one ever tells you that forever feels like home
Sitting all alone inside your head

And it's the stars
The stars that shine for you
And it's the stars
The stars that lie to you, yeah ah
And it's the stars
The stars that shine for you
And it's the stars
The stars that lie to you, yeah ah
-------------------------------

If only those we put up on pedestals were authentic people, maybe the the youth wouldn't have to burn their masks and try to LEARN to be authentic?!

Dude, You Gotta Believe....(pt. 2)

More wisdom From "The Office"
What happens when you blindly follow???!!!!

Dude, You Gotta Believe....

a great scene from the office... I'll let it make its own parallels:)




My old DVD player used to have that, i would do the same thing!!! Sad isn't it?!

Creating Your Masterpiece: A Modern Day Parable (pt. 1)

In your mind, conjure an image of the Mona Lisa. Visualize that masterpiece's subtleties of hue and tone as clearly as you can.

Next, Shift to the image of a paint-by-numbers Mona Lisa. Envision the flat, raw colors meeting hard0edged, one against the other.

Now let me relate a fantasy about masterpieces, paint-by-numbers and you. It goes like this:

Before you were born, God came to you and said:

Hi there! I just dropped by to wish you luck. And to assure you that you and I will be meeting again. Soon! Before you know it!

You're heading out on a new adventure that will be filled with fascinating experiences. You'll start out as a tiny speck floating in an INFINITE, dark ocean, quite saturated with nutrients. So you won't have to go looking for food or a job or anything like that. All you'll have to do is just float in the darkness.

And grow incredibly.

And Change Miraculously.

You'll sprout arms and legs. Hands and feet. Fingers and toes.

As if from nothing, your head will take form, your nose, your mouth, your eyes and ears will emerge.

As you continue to grow bigger and bigger, you will become aware that that this dark, oceanic environment of yours-- which , when you were tiny seemed so vast is now actually cramped and confining. That will lead you to the unavoidable conclusion that you're going to have to move to a bigger place.

After much groping about in t the dark, you will find an exit. The mouth of a tunnel.

"Too small," you'll decide. "couldn't' possibly squeeze through there."

But there will be no other apparent way out. so with primal spunk, you will take on your first "impossible" challenge and enter the tunnel.

In doing so, you will be embarking on a brutal, no-turning-back, Physically exhausting, claustrophobic passage that will introduce you to pain and fear and hard physical labor. It will seem to take forever. But mysterious undulations of the tunnel itself will help squirm you through. And finally, after what will seem like interminable striving, you will break through to a blinding light.

Giant hands will pull you gently, but firmly, into an enormous room. There Will be several huge people called adults, huddling around you, as if to greet you. If it is an old-fashioned place, one of these humongous people may hold you upside down by the legs and give you a swat on the backside to get you going.

All of this will be what the big people on the other side call being born. For you, it will be only the first of your new life's many exploits.

God continues:

I was wondering, while you're over there on the other side, would you do me a favor?

"sure" you chirp

Would you take this artist's canvas with you and paint a masterpiece for me? I'd really appreciate that!

Beaming, God hands you a pristine canvas. You roll it up, tuck it under your arm and head off on your journey.

Your birth is just as God had predicted, and when you come out of the tunnel into the bright room, some doctor or nurse looks down at you in amazement and gasps,

"Look! The little kid's carrying a rolled-up artist's canvas!"

Knowing that you do not yet have the skills to do anything meaningful with your canvas, the big people take it away from you and give it to society for safekeeping until you have acquired the prescribed skills requisite to the canvas's return. While society is holding this property of yours, it cannot resist the temptation to unroll the canvas and draw pale blue lines and little blue numbers all over the virgin surface.

Eventually, the canvas is returned to you, its rightful owner. However, it now carries the implied message that if you will paint inside the blue lines and follow the instructions of the little blue numbers YOUR LIFE WILL BE A MASTERPIECE.

And that's a lie.

------

You have a masterpiece inside you, you know. One unlike any that has ever been created, or ever will be.

And remember:

If you go to your grave without painting your masterpiece,

it will not get painted.

No one else

can paint it.

Only you!

By Gordon MacKenzie

New Products To Make Your Spiritual Life Even More Convienient and Right!

I couldn't help myself...sorry!
More products brought to you courtesy of ASBO

May these products help you in both identifying and pointing out the "heretics"!

The person who has all the answers (from a previous post!)

Ghosts Appear And Fade Away

This music entry is dedicated to Neil, Chris, and the cast of Scrubs in their final season!
I picked this version of the song, because it's my fav. episode of Scrubs, built around Colin Hay's (yes, of the "land Down under" and, "Who Could It Be Now" fame) Overkill!




OVERKILL-Colin Hay
I can't get to sleep
I think about the implications
Of diving in too deep
And possibly the complications
Especially at night
I worry over situations
I know will be alright
Perhaps it's just imagination
Day after day it reappears
Night after night
my heartbeat shows the fear
Ghosts appear and fade away

Alone between the sheets
Only brings exasperation
It's time to walk the streets
Smell the desperation
At least there's pretty lights
And though there's little variation
It nullifies the night from overkill
Day after day it reappears
Night after night
my heartbeat shows the fears
Ghosts appear and fade away
Come back another day

I can't get to sleep
I think about the implications
Of diving in too deep
And possibly the complications
Especially at night
I worry over situations
I know will be alright
It's just overkill

Day after day it reappears
Night after night
my heartbeat shows the fear
Ghosts appear and fade away
Ghosts appear and fade away
Ghosts appear and fade away
________________________

I italicized the last part that really hits home to me! Sometimes I drown in my questions and my faith! My wife points out the level of intensity that has arisen since my termination from my last church. The amount of dedication I have to creating a safe environment for people to ask those questions, and truly explore their faith can morph from dedication to obsession, and yes overkill!

All of this is of course, a response to the fact that most churches don't allow themselves to be a safe place for people to explore their faith, and encourage the questions that usually produce growth. Hence why most people come one day a week to church, sit for an hour, "fulfill their spiritual duty for that week", but never do anything else, even something as simple as reflecting on the lesson, topic, teaching for that day! That's not faith, that is passive obligational guiltlessness! I hate to use the word shallow, but I've even had a pastor tell me that the people in the congregation that he shepherds were shallow, and that's the way they like it! "it's too hard to educate them" to be real disciples! I'm really not sure who it was too hard for? Prob. Both!

So, I've gone deeper, and it keeps me awake at night. My future is uncertain, and it worries me! I've become someone that I'm happy with, although I fear that no church wants someone who is authentic, flawed, and has questions because no church seems to want to hire a minister who is a real person... or at least one that doesn't LOOK like a real person. No one seems interested in someone who wants to challenge the status quo of what Christianity has become, and help lead them to a more important and affective place! Is it overkill or reality? Sometimes it's hard to tell!

But each day, "Ghosts appear and fade away...."