A Great Pairing

I recently got both of these for Christmas. (ok, well I used my Christmas "splurge" $ and a gift card to get these for myself for Christmas. (Can I just say the Complete Collection Ed. of Lost is AWESOME!)

I will admit, that I was/am a big "Lost" fan. I think it was a brilliant show that might have even been a little ahead of it's time. But like the show or not, and like the way Season 6 ended or not, this show was one of the biggest and best social commentaries of our age. I think that we have only begun to scratch the surface of what "Lost" had to offer.

So the book "Ultimate Lost and Philosophy: Think Together, Die Alone"

is a great pairing when going back through the series. I am also a big fan of the ".....and Philosophy" series of books. This book is a great entry into some of the greatest themes from the history of philosophy as seen through great philosophers of our day! Philosophy has made it's home in the academia portion of the mind, but as "Lost" shows us (as well as the "Philosophy and Popular Culture" series), Philosophy was an ongoing conversation with life and the way we live. The best shows and movies are overflowing with deep and eternal philosophical concepts. In addition, every decision we make each day is tied to some deep-seeded philosophical understandings within ourselves! Philosophy (and theology seen as a branch of philosophy) is very practical... more than we even consciously realize.

Along with the ever helpful, "Lostpedia" (Which I always spent an hr. on each day after the new episode aired), this book delves into some of the major philosophical themes that made the show so great. Truly a Postmodern show, "Lost" holds a mirror up to our lives, hopes, fears, dreams...all of the things that drive our lives and the ways that we choose to live. So do yourself a favor, get the absolute most that "Lost" has to offer: Ourselves! And having a little aid like the "Ultimate Lost and Philosophy", will help make sure that something as simple as "entertainment" can truly give you insight to self-understanding!

Leadership and the Art of Invitation

One Book that I highlighted in my last post was Peter Block's "Community". Current realities and situations have had me going back to Block a lot lately and I find even more depth and insight as I revisit his book. He has both enlightened me and challenged me now that I have returned to the traditional church infrastructure. I am reading him and hearing him through a new lens. Here are some thoughts from a 2005 keynote address. The original post can be found HERE!

Enjoy! and Thoughts?

______

Change the conversation, change your thinking, change your life.

…(M)aybe the audience creates the performance. Maybe the listening creates the speaking. Maybe citizens create leaders, maybe employees create bosses, maybe students create teachers and children create parents. Maybe the purpose of problem solving is to build relationships.

The only way the future gets created … is through invitation.

I’d rather have two people in the room who chose to be there than a thousand who were sent.

…(T)he idea of invitation is very powerful. What constitutes a powerful invitation? One that says, “Please come, and if you come here’s what’s required of you.” Most invitations are too soft, there are elements of begging: “Please come, it’s going to be great, nothing much will be required of you, it’s not going to take long, we’ll be fast, it’ll be organized, Robert’s Rules of Order, there’ll be food, there’ll be drink, the seats will be comfortable, and if you can come late, come at all, leave early, whatever, please come. God bless you.” A powerful invitation is one that says, “We want you to come! Now if you choose to come, here’s what will be demanded of you. You’ll have to show up. You’ll have to engage with your peers in powerful conversations. You’ll have to leave your interests at the door. We didn’t come together to negotiate; the future’s not created through negotiation, it’s created through imagination. It’s created from a dream… (A) possibility creates an alternative future. We’re not coming to negotiate. Leave your interests at home. You’re coming to engage in the primary actions between you and other citizens, you and other people who came. If you’re willing to live by these requirements, please come.”

To me servant-leadership… is a leadership that confronts people with their freedom.

… (T)he act of love is to confront people with their freedom, is to assemble, lead, in a way that says the choice resides in all of us. What greater gift can you give somebody than the experience of their own power, the experience that they have the capacity to create the world?

The skill of servanthood to me is to get good at questions that no matter how you answer them, you’re guilty. No matter how you answer this question you’re on the hook for being a creator of the future. You’re on the hook for being accountable. You create questions so people will choose accountability. We can’t hold each other accountable. We think we can legislate accountability. We can do performance management, we can have rules of the road that we’re (going to) enforce, but people talk about empowerment when all they really want to talk about are boundaries and limits, what will happen to me; we talk about consequences, there’ve got to be consequences; all of these are forms of patriarchy and they have no power. They have no power to create an alternative future. They have no power in the world. The question is, “How do I engage people so they choose to be accountable?” Well, questions do that. There are certain questions that if you start to answer them, you’re in trouble. No matter what you answer, you are responsible for creating an alternative future. The task of servant-leadership, in my mind, is, “Change the conversation, change the future.”

…(T)he questions have to be ones that have embedded in them the notion that choice resides in the world. It doesn’t reside in leaders; it doesn’t reside in the cause. It’s not in the performer, in the parent, in the teacher; cause resides in people’s connectedness to each other, in individuals.

Most of our organizations and communities are parent-child, boss-subordinate, mayor-citizen conversations — we think that matters. We think the boss-subordinate relationship matters, but I don’t think it does.

We think bosses are responsible for the emotional well being of their subordinates. If they have a depressed, low-morale team, it’s their fault! ...Maybe people are responsible for their own emotional well-being. What would it be like to be in a world where individuals were responsible for their own emotional well being, and we didn’t pretend that the boss was cause and subordinate was effect?

Here are some thoughts about conversations that have the power to create an alternative future. One’s the conversation of possibility. What’s the possibility I came here to live into or to create?

There’s a conversation of ownership. Take whatever you’re complaining about and say, “What have I helped do to create that situation?” Beautiful question. “What’s my contribution to the problem? What have I helped do?” It means I’m an owner. Whatever I complain about, let me turn that question and say, “How have I created that thing?” It’s a conversation of ownership.

There’s a conversation of commitment. Commitment means, what’s the promise I’m willing to make with no expectation of return? That’s a commitment. …“What’s the promise you’re willing to make with no expectation of return?” … Now who do I make the promise to? To peers. If you’re in a leadership spot and you want to create choice, engagement among people working for you, then you say let them make promises to each other. Let them sit in witness of those promises, peers, and say, “Okay, is that enough?” and that shifts the focus from boss-to-subordinate to peer-to-peer.

(W)hy not ask each individual, “What are you here to create? What’s the vision you have?” Now people get nervous: “Suppose we don’t have agreeable, compatible visions,” but I’ve never heard a vision that wasn’t embraceable. I’ve never heard an individual say, “The possibility I’m living into is to walk over people. To succeed at the cost of others.”

“Well, suppose my only purpose in leading would be to bring the gifts of the margin into the center. I just love that thought. I have no idea what it means, but I love the thought. And suppose when we come together we agree for the next six months we’re only going to talk about gifts. And we do it in the moment. We do it with each other and say, “You know, here’s the gift I’ve gotten from you in the last ten minutes.” And you teach people to breathe that in. Most people, when they’re given love or given a statement of gifts, exhale. And they begin a story. And so that’s the thought. And then you devise ways of doing that. So the gift conversation has a lot of power to it.

…(H)elp is just a subtle form of control. People want to give advice to each other. They want to tell you what they did when they were at your stage of life. They have an answer for you, and it’s called generosity; for me it’s mostly a conversation stopper. Whenever you engage people in powerful questions you have to set them up very carefully and tell them, do not help each other. Do not give advice. Do not mask your advice in questions: “Have you thought of this, have you thought of that?” Do not tell them what you did at this stage.

I want you to substitute curiosity for help. Every time you have the instinct to be useful, helpful, to have an answer, to give advice... Ask the other person, “Why does that matter to you? What’s the meaning that that has to you? What’s at stake for you?” In a deeper sense you say, “I came here to serve you by valuing meaning over speed. Meaning over efficiency. Meaning over problem solving.” People say, “I’m a problem solver.” I know you are, but it’s only a part of who you are. You have to inoculate people against the search for the quick answer, by asking them: “What does this mean? Why does it matter to you?”

Jesus: Communist or Capitalist?

I get into this discussion a lot. It is kind-of the idea of the old WWJD; which would Jesus advocate for more: Socialism or Capitalism. It is tough. There are a lot of passages and examples from the teachings of Christ and the early Church that make a lot Christians who are social activists to answer: socialist. However, there are other passages that would make one argue against that.

Even pulling the Bible out of the picture, this has been an ongoing philosophical battle for decades in the US. I am a big fan of Ayn Rand and her Magnum Opus: Atlas Shrugged. It is perhaps the most comprehensive philosophical and narrative argument for Capitalism. However, it is an idealized Capitalism, not an actual one. I struggle with her theories in my head because that is the only place her reality has existed. Socialism, on the other hand, shares much of the same story. Socialism DOES NOT = COMMUNISM. There is a difference. I think that socialism is another "ideal" that has yet to be realized. Both, in my humble opinion, have their strengths and flaws in the utopian philosophical arguments.

However, CNN has a post that puts these two ideas in debate. I DO beyond a doubt think this is a great discussion for Christians and the Church to have. However, as much as I like this conversation, I must remember that Jesus was BEYOND either systematic thesis. The Kingdom of God (again IMHO), is bigger than this. But, if we want to bring about the Kingdom of God on this earth, then we have to do so with the systems that are in place. Wether it means subverting a specific system or embracing it, we have to use the best of it to heal while we in turn, heal the broken parts of our system.

It seems to many (I'm not sure I agree) that our government is sliding into a more socialist identity. While this is not a political blog, I'm not sure that some synthesis of the best parts of a socialist and capitalist mindset are truly at odds. A government's job in the USA is to protect and care for it's people. I'm not sure how you can do this with an Ayn Rand type of Capitalism. Then again, we have yet to have a truly successful Socialist experiment without the corruption and disenfranchisement of the people. Yet as a Social Conscious Christian, I find myself asking, "in what areas would a more Capitalist/Socialist approach truly do things like:

End Poverty
Alleviate corruption in government (this must be done, not to be political, but because to truly heal a situation, the system itself that is causing or at least allowing oppression, must be fixed).
End World Hunger
Give equal rights to all men and women
AND THE LIST GOES ON......

In any case, as always I have more questions than answers to offer. So in my offering I give you the link to the following debate/article and the video clips.

CLICK FOR ARTICLE



Enjoy, and please feel free to leave comments.

Bono Reads Charles Bukowski

Bono reads "Roll the Dice"


Reposted from Peter Rollins Blog.

How To Be Nasty Religiously (A repost)

This if from a person I have followed since I first began blogging, David Hayward. I have shared a lot of his art over the years, but he is far more than a talented artist. He is an insightful minister and human-being. You can find his blog here.

I found this post to be very insightful and thought-provoking. As I was taught in Kindergarten, it is always good to share! Check out his blog for more!

____________________

I realize mind-games and manipulative behaviors go on in every sector. But what I’ve experienced is that when someone is nasty in the work place, they are just nasty, it is recognized as such, and called for what it is. Usually. Not always.

But what I’ve noticed over the many years in the church, in spirituality, in Christianity, is that the nastiness in religious domains is more subversive. Christians, I’ve concluded, generally want to be nice, sincere people of faith. They would never want to hurt anybody.

So when something upsetting happens to them against their will, rather than get consciously angry, mean, manipulative or deceitful, they drive these unpleasant thoughts and feelings deep underground and cover it all in a sentimental spirituality laced with ultimate concern for the church, God’s will, and mission.

What actually happens is this psychologically separates the unconscious drives from the conscious ones, allowing the unconscious ones to bloom with full sanction under the guise of genuine concern. Anyone with any discernment can see the monstrosity of the person’s thinly veiled ulterior motives, lack of honesty and integrity. But the person himself is completely blind to them. His spirituality won’t allow him to recognize it. He lacks integrity. In other words, he is not an integrated person. He is not integrating his unconscious with his conscious, his dark side with his light, his sinner with his saint.

To address the issues head-on would fall on shocked, offended and deaf ears. It is useless. Unless a close friend or relative points it out. Then maybe. Otherwise, from my experience, it takes the mortifying trauma of an understood bad dream, a revelation, self-awareness, or realization (whatever you want to call it) for it to be addressed. Plus humility.

Sunday Morning Devotion

From "I am Still Running" by Jon Foreman:

Build me a home inside your scars
Build me a home inside your song
Build me a home inside your open arms
The only place I ever will belong

Looking at Clergy Burnout

There is a fantastic article in the NY Times on this issue. READ IT HERE!

I've had countless conversations with people in the field of ministry (doesn't matter pastor, associate, youth, children's, etc...) that have or are experiencing burnout. I know that I have experienced it, not in ministry, but during non-stop semesters of college and straight into Div. School. I took classes every summer and after 8 years, I was showing the signs.

I know ministers who have been at churches 25 years who are burned out, and I know ministers who have been at a church 5 yrs. who are showing all of the symptoms. It seems that you are hearing more and more about clergy burnout these days. I think that there are many culprits here, the biggest being that both clergy and laity are not aware of the symptoms, or even the problem.

Clergy like to go nonstop, they take on the emotional burdens of their beloved congregation. ministers often times have "boundary issues" as is backed up in a study mentioned in the above article. They don't know when to say no to things and don't know when to separate themselves emotionally and physically in order to take care of themselves. I think that this is part of the personality of most ministers, and is simply something of which they need to be aware about themselves.

Laity can help too! Knowing the signs of burnout can help the laity take care of their ministers. It only makes sense. If you have a good minister you want to keep them healthy so that they can continue to be a good minister! It is a win for all. However, the best thing the laity can do is have steps in place FROM THE BEGINNING to PREVENT burnout. It's like heart disease, why wait until you have a heart attack to make a change when you can practice prevention and perhaps keep one from ever happening!

What Laity can do:

Encourage/allow ministers to seek regular therapy.

I have done counseling for a couple of ministers, and I have been counseled professionally. It keeps your sanity. It helps you keep tabs on yourself, and gives the clergy a safe place to express their feelings. Sadly, ministers do not feel that they can open up or explore their feelings with their congregations. I understand this. I can't speak for everyone, but I used to feel that expressing my frustrations, doubts, fears, and troubles would burden the congregation that I loved so dearly. I'm not sure this is true anymore, but in any case, the congregation cannot be a substitute for a professional counselor.

Encourage/allow ministers to meet regularly with other ministers.

Ministers need to vent at times. But they also need to be refreshed with new ideas. Sometimes the thing I get the most excited about is when I share and listen to the ideas of others. I can see what is working for other ministers, get feedback on my own thoughts and frustrations, and then take that back to the congregation. I have found that this benefits both the congregation and the minsters alike. And let's face it. Like any profession, the people that know best what you are going through are the people in the same field as you. Other ministers can also provide a support group and point out what one minister alone may not see.

Make sure your ministers take vacations and sick days.

This is one thing that I see a lot of ministers not doing; taking their vacation. Since only 2 churches I know of let their ministers bank vacation days, if the minister doesn't take it, they lose it. I've worked in and with churches for 13 years now and I know how hard it is to find time to take vacation days. There is ALWAYS something going on at the church, and you always have to coordinate to make sure that only one staff member is gone at a time. I am thinking of a certain pastor (and I know this isn't the only case), who has been called back for an emergency more than once. I remember one time that he had to spend extra money in order to change flights and come back early, leaving his family in the midwest. He never got that vacation time back. There needs to be some protection for the minister. He or she should not go on every vacation with the fear of being called back. This is where the laity and other staff members should step up and give some vacation security!

Everyone needs time away. We all need time to get our mind off of the daily stuff, get away, spend quality time with their family, etc... things that people in other fields of employment take for granted. Think about it, clergy are at church most holidays. And speaking from the experience of someone who's whole family lives out of town, it makes the built-in vacation times over those holidays (after the Christmas eve service I we jet out of town) far from relaxing and rejuvenating.

Ministers need time away. Their families miss them, they need to relax, and they need to come back excited and rejuvenated. The laity needs to be the minister's biggest advocate on this, because ministers often times get to the end of their year and are stuck with more vacation than they can take. Then it is a struggle to get away and they end up losing their vacation. Or the church has lost a minister suddenly for 2-3 straight weeks and becomes frustrated. This can be prevented.

The same goes with sick days. A lot of ministers are stubborn about taking sick days. Let's face it, if you are a pastor, you can't just call in when you wake up sick Sunday morning. This is where having a staff that can jump in as a support system in these times is important. Heck, even laity could still do the worship sans sermon if need be. But most ministers will power through the Sunday morning duties. But many are so overwhelmed with expectations and responsibility that they have trouble taking a day away from the office/ meetings/ visitations in order to take care of themselves. This is really where a staff covenant of helping, as well as a strong laity support system could take that pressure off of the minister. I can remember only one time in my ministry where a person looked at me and told me to go home and they would cover the meeting that night. I felt really guilty. I'm not sure why i felt guilty, I def. don't like being sick! However, she convinced me and I handed her my agenda/notes for the meeting and went home and got rest. What would happen if more laity stepped forward and told ministers who are sick to go home and get rest. Remember, the healthier the minister, the healthier the congregation has a chance to be!

Give comp. time!

This is one that is easily overlooked. As a youth minister I worked it into my contract to receive time compensation for extra time (time outside of my contracted weekly hours) that I worked. Ministry is always a 24 hr. on call job. Now I didn't keep up with every hour I spent over my 20 or 40 hr. work week. However, if there was an emergency that took up a whole night, a week of extra services, a conference out of town, or even a weekend (or better yet, a week-long) youth trip, I would find time to take and rejuvenate myself. I would be out of the office on monday, take an early weekend (being Thurs.-Sat., not Sunday), or just leave early one day.

Now, I never took all the time that was due to me, but that was ok! I was taking ENOUGH. I would go play golf with friends, have lunch with a colleague I hadn't seen in a while, get some stuff done around the house, or simply take a nap! It amazes me how few churches build in comp. time! The few I know have it for their youth ministers but not for the other clergy. Let's face it, many churches expect ministers to be in the office during the day (so we will say 9-5 mon.-thurs.), and then most of the day Sunday. There's the 40 hr. work week right there! However, the majority of the stuff that happens in ministry happens outside of those times. Services, meetings, meals, and ministry are often done when people are off of work. That means either in the evening or on Sat., which is the time the ministers usually have off. This is the nature of ministry and being available when people need you is why I went into ministry. However, being expected to pull "normal" hours plus the other 20-30 hrs. when ministry happens outside of the 9-5 window quickly wears and tears a minister. Giving the minister the option of using some comp. time when needed does wonders when he or she feels they need a breather! It allows them not to feel guilty when their child gets sick, they have a dental appointment, want to take a day to spend with their kids, or when they just need a day of real rest (since the ministers do most of their work on the "day of rest").

Unlike vacation days, most ministers won't feel like they have to take all of their comp. time. They won't feel bad when they have to take an afternoon to themselves and don't have to worry about using up sick days except for when they are truly sick. They can see it as a perk, as being recognized as a human being, not a machine. We all need some time off, especially if we've been pulling extra hours at work. My mom (not a minister) works more than 40hrs a week, and one month a year she is there from 7am-10pm most days. However, her boss makes sure that her and her staff get a break afterwards. My mom takes a week to herself (not sick or vacation days), and then throughout the next month she takes a few long weekends as comp. time for how hard she worked during the busy times. It makes my mom not dread the really tough month, and makes sure she is refreshed and happy when she's at work afterwords. Did I mention she loves her job? What if more churches took this approach? How much healthier would they and their ministers be?

Set up and honor sabbaticals.

This is an important one for many ministers because it gives them a nice break...one long enough that they are usually eager to get back because they miss their congregation and have so much new stuff to share. Let me be clear, A sabbatical is not an extended vacation on a beach. There is relaxation and vacation involved, but this is a time where a person betters themselves. Most ministers will take classes, catch up on some reading, visit other churches to see what they are doing in ministry, visit the Holy Land, take a tour of European Church History, etc...

This is a time where a minister become a stronger and more rejuvenated person. We've all heard of ministers and their "bag of tricks". They have 3-5 years of "tricks" (sermons, lessons, ideas, etc..) in their bag and once they have used them up, the feel they have to move on in order to find a new place where the bag becomes new again. Ministers who are given a sabbatical (usually with the contracted understanding that they will do more than just vacation) come back with fresh ideas. This means fresh sermons, new programs, new ministries, and new experiences to share and discuss. An excited minister means an excited(ing) ministry!!!

In the article above, Rabbi Joel Myers says this: “We now recommend three or four months every three or four years,”. Most churches I know of that give sabbaticals contract one 6 month leave after 5 years at that church, and a 4 month leave every 3 years subsequent. I don't think this is a bad set-up. It means the minister has put in enough years to not be new, but (hopefully) not to long to have begun to burn out. I think 4 years would be better (take the sabbatical on the 5th year), but there is some negotiation here. Remember this will end up benefiting both the minister and the church. I know I would use my time to visit a school and take some challenging classes. Or perhaps I would teach at a seminary in South America. Who knows? But I know I would come back with new invigoration and excitement, wanting to share all of my new experiences with my community.

The problem here is that when a church offers a sabbatical, it is usually only for the pastor. We expect so much out of all of our ministers, why do we treat them differently...like they are less of a "minister"? What happens when the youth minister goes to a huge youth ministry conference overseas or on a different coast? What happens when the education minister goes to a seminary to brush up on the latest education concepts and understandings? What happens when the music minister takes a couple of months and does an apprenticeship under another well-renowned music minister? Besides preventing burnout? I think it would benefit everyone, even beyond that specific ministry!

Finally,

Create an environment where the minister is allowed to be human!!!

This is prob. the bedrock/most important thing a Church can do to prevent burnout. Why? Because this happens on a daily basis! Many ministers are put on a pedestal, expected to be the museum display of the perfect Christian. Remember though, we are all on this journey. No one, not even the clergy, had "arrived" yet. These ministers are not Christ! They are not perfect. Yet they come into the church having to feel like they can't make a mistake. And if they do, people are quick to jump on them. We have to change our expectations!!!

This goes for the ministers too. What happens when you teach your church that you are a simple pilgrim and divulge openly when you make mistakes. What happens when we teach our laity love and forgiveness over judgment especially when it comes to clergy? What happens when we become intentionally authentic (no masks, no pretending, just be ourselves flaws and all) and humbly transparent? It is a scary thing for a minister to do, trust me. But if we work together we can create an environment where it is safe for EVERYONE to be one's self, admit their mistakes, find encouragement, and receive forgiveness. This can happen for both clergy and laity alike. This isn't a new idea, it is the Biblical concept of community!

Creating this intentional place is hard. It means letting go of power, changing one's expectations, and accepting everyone for who they are. It means loving each other, regardless of our differences; the way Christ teaches us to love. If we can't do it in our churches, then how can we do it in the world around us?

Just remember, it is just as easy for a church to get burnout with their ministers as it is for the ministers to find themselves in the same state. These things mentioned (and I'm sure other ministers would have some other great ideas), are just a few easy ways to PREVENT this from happening. A healthy congregation with healthy ministers leads to a ministry and community with vitality! And remember, vitality...life is what people are seeking when they look at our churches!

Leave your thoughts, and ideas!

Picture above taken from Outreach Magazine article on burnout. Click to read!

Don't Believe Everything On TV

Glenn Beck took on Liberation Theology and does a pretty poor job of representing the theology.

Take a look:

http://video.foxnews.com/v/4281358/beck-liberation-theology-and-social-justice/

This bothers me, not because Beck is not entitled to his opinion, but because this was a gross misrepresentation of the complex study that is Liberation Theology! The clips of James Cone is taken out of context and then twisted to fit into Beck's political agenda. It is amazing to see how much he warps scripture such as "The Good Samaritan" to fit his own ideals. It is simply frightening.

Why?

Because many people (reading comments, blogs, and having conversations on this) take Beck's statements as if he were a true theologian or Biblical scholar. Where does the real problem lie though? Again, Beck is entitled to his opinion, and he is entitled to his voice on his own show. What frightens me most is that there is a lack of solid education going on in many of our faith communities on things such as Liberation Theology.

One reason I was called into ministry, and specifically into teaching in churches, is because I thought it was very sad that I had to go to college and Divinity school in order to get a solid education on what all is out there on scripture and theology. Bringing this same level of education to the laity is a a strong passion of mine and many of my friends and colleagues! It is my hope that when people see something like this on TV, they will think about it, weigh it against what they know based on solid education in our faith communities, find and be led to solid research sources, and know how to formulate their own thoughts and ideas.

Whether it be a charismatic TV personality, or a beloved pastor, or an opinionated blogger; we should encourage and train our fellow brothers and sisters in our communities to not settle for anything less than solid and well-informed education. We should help others to study and share within their communities so that we are having conversations to a more enlightened and responsible faith. This begins with the ministers' encouragement, training and equipping of the laity. Making a safe place of intentional diversity of opinion and encouraging healthy discussion as well as providing solid resources for people to learn more about their topics of interest.

I am a firm believer that you shouldn't simply take anyone's word (no matter how big their platform) as gospel. Instead, we should teach others to take responsibility for their thoughts and beliefs and become well-informed people of faith. Perhaps then we will have productive and more accurate conversations about things like Liberation Theology.

My prayer: that we would up the level of quality of our education in our communities of faith and never settle for anything less than the best!

More links:

Religion Dispatches blog on Glenn Beck's broadcast

Glenn Beck’s ‘Social Justice’ Heresies (essay)

Huffington Post (editorial)

Global Empathy

This video was on The Burner Blog from Fuller Theological Seminary, and I simply can't stop thinking about it. Take a look!

It is interesting to me how we are wired and how empathy is in our nature. In fact it seems to be our default. As my wife said, "this all makes sense and is nothing earth-shattering", yet somehow it is. Why? Because we find empathy so hard! We fight against our very NATURE, the IMAGE in which we were created (IMAGO DEI).

This scientific study and lecture sounds a LOT like the Kingdom of God of which Christ went on about. It IS conceivable that we can reach a level of global empathy, yet we still can't empathize with those people around us. If we can't respond emphatically with our neighbor, how then can we expect to grow into an empathetic relationship on a global scale.

There is a LOT to think on in this video. Ideas of empathy, not only for other humans, but also for all of creation including the planet itself. There is also a lot to ponder when they mention the way institutions we have structured to stabilize our lives push us away from empathy. There is a lot of good thoughts Brian McLaren has on this subject in his book, Everything Must Change.

In any case, it is worth pondering. Too much for me to go into properly, but def. worth a watch or three.

Feel free to comment!

QotW + Cartoons

I apologize for the delay in posting. I've had a lot going on....falling off a 10ft ladder will do that to you! But I did want to post some things that have grabbed my attention in the past week or 2:

1st off, 2 cartoons from artist David Hayward:

Also a quote from Yann Martel (author of Life of Pi), on his faith journey while writing the bestselling novel as found in a recent article in Relevant Magazine:

What's nice about faith is-- once you have it-- it feeds itself; from life, from books, from everything. In a sense, it's a constant dialog.

I like this quote because it really captures the living essence of faith to me. How many people (and I have been guilty of this as well) get settled into one theology or one specific way of looking at God. Like the cartoons above, we only limit ourselves when we forget to place our faith in constant dialog (CONVERSATION) with other thoughts and ideas. And remember a conversation/dialog means listening as much as it does talking. That means taking in others thoughts and giving them the respect they deserve!

Finally a portion of lyrics from the band, Kings of Leon, in their song, Cold Desert:

i never ever cried when i was feeling down

ive always been scared of the sound

jesus don't love me no-one ever carried my load

im too young to feel this old

These lyrics hit me because of many conversations I've had in the last couple of weeks. I have heard several people say something similar to these lyrics, I have read a conversation from Andrew Marin, who works within the GLBT community in Chicago, recount a similar experience. What's sad, is that these comments only come when someone has been severly hurt or has received a great amount of injustice from someone or a group carrying the name of Christ. Think about all of the people groups (not just the GLBT community, although they have a lot of reason to feel this way) that can say this because of a Christian's or Christianity's action or inaction that hurts an individual or people group. Think about how many Christians are responding to the hispanic immigrants in America (legal or not). Certainly many of our words and actions can cause someone to say these things. We've made Jesus' burden far more heavy than he himself claims it to be!

I have to ask myself, who's load am I trying to carry? Who's load are you trying to make lighter? What theology is keeping you from God and others? Who/what are you having dialog with that broadens and enhances your faith? I think there's a lot here to ponder in these few words and pictures.

Leave your thoughts!

What Might The Church Look Like In 2034

An interesting and fun thought-experiment done by Collide Magazine. Below is an excerpt from that article.
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Gigachurces
The large churches, known in the future as gigachurches, are comprised of thousands of members who both necessitate and fund the high-tech gigachurch buildings of the future. And while gigachurches aren’t the majority of American churches, they unquestionably serve as the face of institutional Protestantism. Gigachurches, having more resources at their disposal than their diminutive brethren, consistently embrace and upgrade the technological aspects of their campuses in order to facilitate a user experience designed to rival that of any amusement park, hotel, or tourist attraction. This is never more evident to a gigachurch visitor than the first time he or she is guided into an available parking spot by an android. Or when he or she is greeted at the front door by an android. Or when he or she places the kids under the caring, watchful eye of an android. Sure, volunteerbots require a substantial investment upfront, but they are well-suited to the gigachurch in that they are easy to train, provide a consistent level of service, never complain about their assigned role, and they never sleep through the alarm clock on a Sunday morning. Based on the integral role androids play in their weekend operations, gigachurch Chief Technology Officers unanimously agree that the bots are worth their weight in gold. Other popular gigachurch amenities include interactive spiritual development stations, 360-degree environmental projection on all surfaces, and customized multimedia content pushed to attendees’ mobile devices the moment they step foot onto the campus.

Middlechurches
Most mid-sized church buildings aren’t church buildings at all—they’re movie theaters, rock clubs, and other performance venues that can comfortably accommodate a few hundred people at a time. Middlechurches lack the financial resources to own their own facilities (or they’ve chosen to divert the funds to other areas), but they can afford to rent space on Sundays. Generally speaking, media and technology integration is valued among actual and prospective churchgoers, so middlechurches choose rented meeting spaces with installed technology that can provide immersive environments for entertainment-seeking patrons. As it turns out, the desperation of the theater and live music industries to compete for consumers’ discretionary income by creating more distinctive entertainment experiences has helped middlechurches by subsidizing the high cost of keeping up with the gigachurches. Sunday morning church tenants also help subsidize overhead costs for facility owners at a time of the week when their venues are typically empty, so both sides appreciate the arrangement. For the most part, middlechurches take advantage of these facilities, media-savvy volunteers, and third-party church media resources to create worship experience productions on par with most live theater or mid-level rock band production.

Nanochurches
Nanochurches, small communities of 10 to 25 people, typically meet in living rooms, basements, coffee shops, public parks, unused rooms on gigachurch campuses, and other free spaces to which the community has access. Within the nanochurch classification, two distinct approaches to media and technology have evolved—those that use what they can (pro-tech) and those that don’t (no-tech). Those that employ media and technology elements in their services or gatherings do so using consumer electronics (home theaters, laptops, mobile phones, etc.) that fit the space in which they meet. These nanochurches know they can’t compete with the production and immersive environments of gigachurches and middlechurches, but they remain convinced of the potential of electronic media to communicate and connect. In the urban areas in which most nanochurches exist, electronic media is so integrated into every aspect of daily life that pro-tech nanochurches have no qualms about leveraging whatever digital elements they can in order to facilitate meaningful worship experiences.

No-tech nanochurches embrace a counterculture ideology that influences most aspects of their church life. They guard their faith communities as sacred institutions and thus resist the infiltration and influence of electronic media. When possible, they convene outdoors. If made to meet indoors, no-tech nanochurches observe a call to worship that begins with individuals turning off electronic devices such as mobile phones and even removing them from their person. This techno-cleansing ritual underscores the no-tech nanochurch’s perception of technology as distracting, invasive, and addictive, and thus each no-tech community worship experience serves as a short fast from the otherwise ever-present hum of digital advancement.

Networks & Preaching
In 2034, a discussion about preaching is a discussion about church networks. Church networks are not denominations, but instead function more like retail chains. Consider the present-day LifeChurch.tv model in which 13 physical campuses across five states (plus the Internet and Second Life campuses) feature preaching beamed from the main campus (or the flagship store, in retail terms). Twenty-five years from now, every gigachurch will be part of a network, either as the flagship location or as a location near the top of their network’s pyramid. Because of the widespread popularity of the network model, there is no stigma associated with attending a “secondary” location (especially since the teaching pastor of a given network rarely preaches live even at the flagship location).

The standard for church networks is set by “The Big Six”—six pastors that can each be found in most of the major markets in the US. Traveling to San Francisco on business? The Big Six are there. New York City? The Big Six are there. Philadelphia? Five of The Big Six are there. (As of 2009, you’ve probably only heard of two of The Big Six, and I don’t want to spoil the surprise of their identities.) While some critics deride this development as the Gap™-ification of the American Church, proponents say that making The Big Six—ostensibly the six most gifted spiritual communicators in the country—available from sea to shining sea is the best possible use of their talents and the best possible offering for the Christian churchgoer. Each of The Big Six sit atop a church network that includes at least a hundred churches, and each network is a healthy mix of gigachurches, middlechurches, and nanochurches.

Most middlechurches and pro-tech nanochurches belong to a network, which brings with it a myriad of benefits: established branding, established ministry and programming models, and an established teaching pastor (whom they don’t have to pay a salary). Given the choice of opening a Chick-fil-A franchise or starting a brand new fast food restaurant of your own invention, which would you choose? Using that same reasoning, most church planters (and a few shrewd executive pastors) began to recognize the value of joining a church network in the early- and mid-2010s and the network model exploded across the nation.

Sermons
The sermon itself has changed dramatically in 25 years. As I mentioned earlier, the teaching pastor rarely preaches a live sermon. Sermons of the future are so heavily-fortified with interactive multimedia that it’s easier on everyone involved—from the preacher to the post-production staff—to record an entire series of messages at one time in front of a green screen. However, at nearly every gigachurch and middlechurch, the illusion of live preaching lives on thanks to High-Definition hologram technology and significant advances in audio systems. For attendees, the live-preaching spell is only broken when the holographic projection grid flickers—an occurrence that grows more and more infrequent thanks to the dedicated Research & Development team at PanaSony.

Middlechurches use the aforementioned holographic projection (when available) or HD screens for sermoncasting, while pro-tech nanochurches use the best computer or home TV screen owned by someone in their community. Of course, no-tech nanochurches insist that preaching be done live by an active member in the community as part of their rebellious stance on church technology. The resulting sermons are more tailored to the community than a network sermon but lack the polish and production that have made church networks so popular.

Churches that don’t belong to a larger network aren’t necessarily required to host live preaching—many make use of downloadable sermon content from a variety of communicators and select the best messages for re-broadcast in their services. The staff member who makes these preaching playlist decisions for a local church functions like a sermon VJ, mixing and matching the best available sermons from one week to the next in order to facilitate appealing programming for committed and prospective attendees.

Overall, integrating multimedia into what was once single-medium monologue has made live preaching a largely forgotten pastime. Even so, audiences are more holistically engaged because sermons appeal to more than their ears. By involving more senses, and by incorporating dialogical elements that are facilitated by mobile communication devices, sermons are more interactive than ever for the churchgoer. If he or she is largely passive during a sermon, it is now by choice rather than obligation. Furthermore, the average sermon is now 20-25 minutes instead of 40+ minutes and moves quickly through a text-interpretation-application or topic-analysis-application progression.

As we’ll discuss later, a more prominent community conversation during the week led a shift from the sermon serving as the pinnacle of the church week to the sermon serving as the conclusion of one conversation and the beginning of another conversation. So despite the increased level of production associated with the sermon of the future, the sermon actually occupies a less prominent position in the scope of the week to week, Sunday to Sunday experience.

Music
Music is another traditional service element that has changed in 2034. In 2009, most contemporary worship services include a 20-40 minute music set before the band gives way to the sermon. Twenty-five years later, it’s most common for a 10 minute set to begin the service and for another 10 minute set to conclude the service. The first set introduces themes and gives worshipers the opportunity to reflect on attributes of God. Typically, the first set is followed by elements that are more interactive and interpersonal and then the sermon. Following the sermon, there are more opportunities for interactivity and response, followed by the second 10 minute music set. The second set differs from the first in that the songs are almost exclusively focused on response and action. When this new worship music paradigm emerged in the 20-Teens, a significant number of the old guard of reflective worship songwriters were unable to reorient themselves with the times, which made room for a fresh batch of young songwriters whose music focused the calling of the Church to be the hands and feet of Jesus in the world. Also, these new songwriters effortlessly incorporate hip-hop, techno, and world music elements into their songwriting and arrangements, broadening their appeal to the increasingly diverse churches of 2034.

Music Staffing
Another significant shift in worship music for the 2034 church is the widespread disappearance of “worship pastor” as a full-time staff position. This coincides with worship music’s decrease in prominence in a typical worship service and the new emphasis on visual media and interactive web experiences. Church payrolls reflect this change, and even the majority of gigachurches rely on contract worship leaders, who get paid per worship set, and volunteer backing bands. If a worship leader is on staff at a local church, it’s generally as a visual artist, web designer, or a demographic pastor (students, men, singles, etc.).

The overall performance quality of worship music hasn’t suffered as a result of non-staff worship leaders, but the position has become more transient as musicians come and go and hop from worship gig to worship gig. Many argue that this newfound transience disrupts the flow of the communal worship experience and creates an emotional divide between musicians and audience, but up to this point no research testing this assertion has been conducted. Besides, most people who acknowledge the divide aren’t willing to divert the financial resources toward bridging it, especially to the detriment of visual and web-based media budgets.

Nanochurch Music
Pro-tech nanochurches utilize the best musician or musicians they can find for free or very cheap. Of course, finding such musicians can be a difficult undertaking, so many nanochurches utilize pre-recorded visual song tracks that can be mixed and matched to create a custom worship music set without requiring any musical expertise or professional audio equipment.

No-tech nanochurches, ever the exception, still incorporate as much group singing as their time together allows, regardless of whether anyone in their small pool of members has any musical proficiency. In keeping with their commitment to forego electronics in their services, they typically employ an acoustic guitar or piano for accompaniment, or they just sing a cappella. These churches maintain that decentralized congregational singing has a healthy effect on a church community, but this model has yet to catch on outside the no-tech nano world.

Multimedia Experience
Touchscreen displays and 3D virtual environments support the interactive spiritual development stations found at many gigachurches. It is through these stations, often found in foyers or dedicated interactive spaces, that individuals or families can access on-demand content from the gigachurch’s central media library—an on-demand buffet of sermons, worship sets, interactive curriculum, and guided spiritual exercises and meditations. Churchgoers can access the stations and enter into a worship experience of their own programming, on their own schedule. The experience begins when the participant visits the station; the experience consists of the content the participant selects; and the experience ends when the participant is ready for it to end. Thanks to these elements, the very concept of the worship service (with its rigid beginning, middle, and end) has begun to erode in the minds of a few gigachurchgoers, who prefer the more casual, organic experience made possible by the stations to the traditional service format. Of course, these stations are out of financial reach for middlechurches and nanochurches, but some of them manage to create a similar feel on the Web.

Within the context of a worship service, free wireless Internet access allows attendees at churches of all sizes to interact via their mobile devices, discuss sermon points with fellow attendees, tag service elements for later reflection, or instantly upload the entire service (along with their on-the-fly commentary) to their MyFace profile. It’s fair to question whether this sort of technology-driven multitasking during worship services is helpful or hurtful for the churchgoer, but most church leaders simply view it as inevitable.

No, people aren’t solely focused on a sermon, a song, a prayer, or any other element of a service. But that’s how people in 2034 live every minute of every day—blogging and video chatting while watching TV, microblogging and shopping online during meals, and so on. The Church in 2034 ministers to people who have mostly embraced the ubiquity of technology in their lives. As a result, the Church in 2034, for the most part, has done what it can to facilitate the kind of weekend multimedia experience that people expect. If electronic media is the language of culture, most churches in 2034 have few, if any, reservations about speaking that language in every aspect of church life.

Between Sundays
Perhaps the most interesting effect of media and technology on the Church in 2034 is the increased member interaction between Sunday services. Each weekend, most sermons function as a conversation catalyst designed to provoke thought, conversation, and action during the week. Teaching pastors may blog or vodcast some key points and questions Sunday evening to get their audiences talking, or campus pastors and group leaders might fill that role. Congregations and other large groups within individual churches respond on the official church blog, social network profile, or forum, or on their individual blogs, forums, social network profiles, and vodcasts. Small groups (incredibly popular among gigachurch and middlechurch members) and pro-tech nanochurches take things a bit further and engage in short video conversations facilitated by a service similar to Tokbox (except that it’s completely reliable, is integrated with home TVs, and delivers HD signal). Consequently, Christians in 2034 are beginning to associate the term “church” with a group of people more than a building or a weekend experience.

Even with facilities that are more technologically advanced than ever, the Monday through Saturday techno-fellowship that characterizes the Church in 2034 is arguably its greatest strength. The political power and moral authority of the North American Church are long gone (though a few old-timers still fondly remember those days), so Christians of all shapes and sizes embody a renewed emphasis on deep connection with one another. The majority of the faithful appear to realize that resources, multimedia, and production are wonderful tools for weekend services but poor substitutes for authentic, missional community. In the Church of the future, this kind of community is increasingly facilitated and shaped by new technology—the effects of which should be clear by 2059.

As we live in the here and now, I think we owe it to ourselves and the generations of Christians that will come after us to imagine the future. We must think carefully and critically, even if we can’t see the future clearly, and we must do our best to consider the long-term implications of the way we do church today for the sake of the church tomorrow.

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What are your thoughts and feelings about these "predictions"?

Elevating The Conversation

My community this week is discussing this video. From OozeTV comes an interview with Andrew Marin who has spent a decade of pastoral work in the GLBT community. This interview has a lot of wisdom and insight in it. I never post about the topic of homosexuality because I don't want to be inundated with people fighting over IF it is "right" or "wrong"; "sin" or not! However, I think (and would love to hear your thoughts) that he has some great insight that sum up, stretch and challenge some of my own approaches to this topic. He speaks about HAVING THE CONVERSATION and ELEVATING THE CONVERSATION. Please leave your thoughts, what grabs you, and what perhaps you would like to add or disagree with. Please leave them in a respectful manner!



Original link:HERE

What Matters More?

New Derek Webb Song. I'm not usually a big fan, but he really hits home on a lot of good points. Also his use of strong language, to me, shows where his passion is even at the expense of his "Christian music audience". I know using cussing in a "CCM" song is taboo, but it really works here. This song gives me hope for the CCM genera of music. Honest and authentic lyrics have been emerging with a lot better music coming from some of the artists.

From Derek's on website, you can see what he's putting on the line (at least hints) to stand up for what he feels in his heart, led by the spirit! Here are copies of the 2 emails:

Email #1 (5/12/09):

friends-
i haven't sent many personal emails to this email list but we're in a situation that has gotten a little out of control and it's time to fill you in. as some of you may know, i've been working for months on my new record, 'stockholm syndrome', which i've recently finished and turned in to the record label. they've been very supportive over the years, but this time we didn't get the response we expected. it seems i've finally found the line beyond which my label cannot support me, and apparently i've crossed it.

i consider this my most important record and am adamant about all of you hearing it. we had originally hoped to have 'stockholm syndrome' out this month (next week even), but at this point we're not sure when the record will come out and in what form. the majority of the controversy is surrounding one song, which i consider to be among the most important songs on the record. so we've decided it's an appropriate time to break the rules.

but because of various legal/publishing issues we're having to be rather careful with how we do what we need to do. that's really all i can say for now and i've probably said too much.

this is our plan and we're moving ahead, but we're not sure what kind of trouble we might be getting into. we'll let you know as soon as we know our next move-
derek

AND

Email #2 (5/19/09):

friends-

this is turning into a bigger deal than we expected. as a result, we're having to temporarily pull everything online down (can't explain now). and to be on the safe side, i'm going to personally go offline while we sort this out. i re_ally shouldn't use my twitter account for now either so don't expect any updates there.

make no mistake, our trouble with the label over content is very real, and not as simple as one word; we're backed into a corner. but we have applied all of our creative resources to this, working furiously to create something that we believe not only subverts any legal issues but should also be a _pretty wild ride.

so this will be the l_ast email for a while. we'll try to leak information via a new twitter account, @syndrome. you're o_n your own so start paying attention. i'll see you on the other side-

derek

Feel free to leave thoughts on the MESSAGE and MEANING of the song (agree or not), as well as the mess he seems to find himself in because of his beliefs. This is similar to what a lot of people (including myself) have experienced as ministers in churches.

PLEASE DO NOT leave a comment chastising me for posting a song with strong language in it. I didn't write the words, so I leave that to artistic creativity on behalf of Derek.

Doubt and Certianty

If you have not seen the movie DOUBT, you really owe it to yourself to rent it. Based on an award-winning play and with 5 Academy Award nominations, this movie is def. a watch, think, and discuss movie.

In the spirit of discussion I post here a portion of Mike Leaptrott's thoughts on the movie. I find this the best and most eloquent insight on the movie, as well as the faith journey, I've read. Check the full post out here at Progression of Faith.

___________

From Mike's Post:

Brilliant movie! The best description I can think of is that it is a postmodern exploration of our sources for knowledge. The movie forces the viewer to ask questions about how we can "know" what it is we feel we "know". How do we come to "feel" certain? Is faith possible without doubt? Is doubt an act of faith? Is a search for truth a journey into the destruction of faith?

All of the performances are wonderful and each character helps us visualize a different foundation for epistemology. For some, our certainty remains in question until we acquire a particular level of evidence. For others, a declaration from some source of authority helps us claim to "know" with certainty. At times, we just can't locate the reasons why we feel so certain. These characters help us see that any search for truth is not a linear path from doubt to faith to knowledge; it's more of a constant interplay between all three. In the end, the movie explores the risks we take when we attempt to locate truth, a search which demands a willful sacrifice of our certainty, a deconstruction of our faith, and a full embrace of our darkest doubts.

Faith, Hope and Love Pt.1

I've been officiating a good number of weddings the last couple of months and since the passage on love from 1 Corinthians has been read in almost all of them, I have been reflecting a lot on that passage. I have been especially focusing on the last part of the passage: And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Cor. 13:13).

It is amazing to me when a passage gets stuck in my head and keeps reoccurring, I begin to hear, see and read things that directly correlate to my ongoing thoughts on theses passages. Perhaps it is serendipity or perhaps it is the voice of God at work through the everyday things that we usually are too busy or self-absorbed to hear the wisdom being shared.

This first post is on hope. I am reading Michael J. Fox's newest memoir, Always Looking Up, and I ran across a passage from an interview with George Stephanopoulos after Rush Limbaugh decided to take a jab at Fox after a political ad in which Fox's Parkinson's symptoms were very prevalent. Eventually in the interview, it came back around to Rush and other conservative comments about stem cell research saying that people like Fox, pushing the possibilities of stem cell research, was pandering a false hope. Here's an excerpt of that exchange:

George: "I'm going to ring up Rush Limbaugh one more time. One f the things he says is that when you are talking about all these cures, you're giving people false hope and that it is cruel"

Michael: "Which is crueler? To not have hope or to have hope? And it's not false hope. It's an informed hope. But two steps forward and two steps back, you know? It's a process. It's how this country was built. It's what we do. It seems to me that in the last few years, eight, ten years, we've just stopped. We've become incurious and unambitious..."( ALU pg. 150).

I have thought a lot about this statement. I don't want to get into a debate about stem cell research, for that is not the purpose of this thread of thought. Rather, I really have broadened my thoughts on hope after reading this exchange.

I've written before on hope. Is there such a thing as false hope? I suppose there is if someone is intentionally promising something that they KNOW is false. For instance, promising a child a reward for having a good day, knowing all along that you have no intention of seeing that promise through. Yet hope by it's very nature is illusive. The outcome is rarely a certainty, for we never know what is on the other side an event, choice, or even this life. That is why we hope! Faith and hope go hand-in-hand because neither one can produce tangible proof of the outcome of the circumstances in which these mindsets are present. Otherwise there would be no need for either faith or hope by their very natures.

Hope is more than wishful thinking. And I like here what Fox says about hope. He says the hope he and his foundation give is an "informed hope". I think that is the nature of true hope. I think this is one of the biggest things that distinguishes hope from simply wishful thinking.

So, let us segue to the idea of Christian hope. It is, as I have mentioned in the past, a (if not THE) central message/theme of the Christian faith, Bible, and mission and ministry of Christ. When the narratives and teachings of the Bible speak of hope, it is never in an ambiguous and uninformed way. In fact, it is the opposite. There seems to be an understanding that hope is informed, and in fact, we have a responsibility to "seek" in order to keep our hope informed!

Hope is active! It is not a feeling; it is not fairy tale wishes! It is seen as very practical. It is something that infects and affects our daily lives. As Fox says, it is "one step forward, two steps back... It's a process". Just like faith, hope is both a PART of the journey, and a journey in itself. Pragmatic hope is the hope that never fails. Why? because in the end it never fails our expectations. Participating in this process of hopefulness produces practical expectations.

But more than that, is inspiring....awe-inspiring! It inspires not only others, but it inspires yourself. It drives the creativity and imagination of people. I think that's why the statement Fox makes about us becoming "incurious and unambitious" strikes a chord with me. I see it so much in the world of religious life. People are settling for what they have, when it is far less than what God is calling them towards. People are settling for wishful thinking because 1) they are being taught that wishful thinking and hope are one in the same, and 2) because it is easier to sit and wish than it is to participate in the on-going process of hope.

People ARE very curious by nature, and it is because they are seeking hope in this world where we can turn on the TV, or walk across town and pay a visit to the hell that many people live in each day. The hell on earth that many of us settle for in our own lives, thinking we are helpless victims. But Christ's message of hope was different. It was not wishful thinking that one day we would be magically saved from the terrible situations that plague our world. Instead he gathered people and said, not only can you make a difference in your own situation and make it better, but hope is so powerful that you can actually go out and heal the hell that other people are living in. You can take away that hell and deliver heaven on earth... the Kingdom of God is at hand....in your hands!

Something (in my opinion) evil happens when we discourage the natural curiosity in people that produces an "informed hope"....a responsible hope, and replace it with wishful thinking! We need this hope now more than ever in this hurting world. I am convinced that the true message of Christ is more relevant today more than ever, but we first have to embrace that this message is far more than the fairy tale for which modern Christianity has settled. The idea that the whole of the message is about eternity in some ethereal after-life is decaying the bigger messages of Christ and the Kingdom of God. Please know I'm not saying that Heaven doesn't exist, what I am saying is that we have a calling to the here and now as well. And that call is as urgent, perhaps more-so if I may be so bold, than the eternal salvation message. Yet I don't think that one message is exclusive to the other. It certainly wasn't for Christ!

"And these remain; Faith, Hope and Love..." Hope is the infectious driving force that we have been given. Hope is the engine propelling us forward on this journey. It is the force that gives us ambition and curiosity. How are we using hope, and how are we encouraging a true hope in others?

Thoughts?

A Jesus Manifesto

Len Sweet and Frank Viola wrote and published a document on the 22nd of this month entitled A Jesus Manifesto. This is a great and inspiring document that has drawn a lot of good discussion. I repost it here to help in its circulation and continuing discussion.

A Magna Carta

for Restoring the Supremacy of

Jesus Christ

a.k.a.

A Jesus Manifesto

for the 21st Century Church

by Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola

Christians have made the gospel about so many things … things other than Christ.

Jesus Christ is the gravitational pull that brings everything together and gives them significance, reality, and meaning. Without him, all things lose their value. Without him, all things are but detached pieces floating around in space.

It is possible to emphasize a spiritual truth, value, virtue, or gift, yet miss Christ . . . who is the embodiment and incarnation of all spiritual truth, values, virtues, and gifts.

Seek a truth, a value, a virtue, or a spiritual gift, and you have obtained something dead.

Seek Christ, embrace Christ, know Christ, and you have touched him who is Life. And in him resides all Truth, Values, Virtues and Gifts in living color. Beauty has its meaning in the beauty of Christ, in whom is found all that makes us lovely and loveable.

What is Christianity? It is Christ. Nothing more. Nothing less. Christianity is not an ideology. Christianity is not a philosophy. Christianity is the “good news” that Beauty, Truth and Goodness are found in a person. Biblical community is founded and found on the connection to that person. Conversion is more than a change in direction; it’s a change in connection. Jesus’ use of the ancient Hebrew word shubh, or its Aramaic equivalent, to call for “repentance” implies not viewing God from a distance, but entering into a relationship where God is command central of the human connection.

In that regard, we feel a massive disconnection in the church today. Thus this manifesto.

We believe that the major disease of the church today is JDD: Jesus Deficit Disorder. The person of Jesus is increasingly politically incorrect, and is being replaced by the language of “justice,” “the kingdom of God,” “values,” and “leadership principles.”

In this hour, the testimony that we feel God has called us to bear centers on the primacy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Specifically . . .

1. The center and circumference of the Christian life is none other than the person of Christ. All other things, including things related to him and about him, are eclipsed by the sight of his peerless worth. Knowing Christ is Eternal Life. And knowing him profoundly, deeply, and in reality, as well as experiencing his unsearchable riches, is the chief pursuit of our lives, as it was for the first Christians. God is not so much about fixing things that have gone wrong in our lives as finding us in our brokenness and giving us Christ.

2. Jesus Christ cannot be separated from his teachings. Aristotle says to his disciples, “Follow my teachings.” Socrates says to his disciples, “Follow my teachings.” Buddha says to his disciples, “Follow my meditations.” Confucius says to his disciples, “Follow my sayings.” Muhammad says to his disciples, “Follow my noble pillars.” Jesus says to his disciples, “Follow me.” In all other religions, a follower can follow the teachings of its founder without having a relationship with that founder. Not so with Jesus Christ. The teachings of Jesus cannot be separated from Jesus himself. Jesus Christ is still alive and he embodies his teachings. It is a profound mistake, therefore, to treat Christ as simply the founder of a set of moral, ethical, or social teaching. The Lord Jesus and his teaching are one. The Medium and the Message are One. Christ is the incarnation of the Kingdom of God and the Sermon on the Mount.

3. God’s grand mission and eternal purpose in the earth and in heaven centers in Christ . . . both the individual Christ (the Head) and the corporate Christ (the Body). This universe is moving towards one final goal – the fullness of Christ where He shall fill all things with himself. To be truly missional, then, means constructing one’s life and ministry on Christ. He is both the heart and bloodstream of God’s plan. To miss this is to miss the plot; indeed, it is to miss everything.

4. Being a follower of Jesus does not involve imitation so much as it does implantation and impartation. Incarnation–the notion that God connects to us in baby form and human touch—is the most shocking doctrine of the Christian religion. The incarnation is both once-and-for-all and ongoing, as the One “who was and is to come” now is and lives his resurrection life in and through us. Incarnation doesn’t just apply to Jesus; it applies to every one of us. Of course, not in the same sacramental way. But close. We have been given God’s “Spirit” which makes Christ “real” in our lives. We have been made, as Peter puts it, “partakers of the divine nature.” How, then, in the face of so great a truth can we ask for toys and trinkets? How can we lust after lesser gifts and itch for religious and spiritual thingys? We’ve been touched from on high by the fires of the Almighty and given divine life. A life that has passed through death – the very resurrection life of the Son of God himself. How can we not be fired up?

To put it in a question: What was the engine, or the accelerator, of the Lord’s amazing life? What was the taproot or the headwaters of his outward behavior? It was this: Jesus lived by an indwelling Father. After his resurrection, the passage has now moved. What God the Father was to Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ is to you and to me. He’s our indwelling Presence, and we share in the life of Jesus’ own relationship with the Father. There is a vast ocean of difference between trying to compel Christians to imitate Jesus and learning how to impart an implanted Christ. The former only ends up in failure and frustration. The latter is the gateway to life and joy in our daying and our dying. We stand with Paul: “Christ lives in me.” Our life is Christ. In him do we live, breathe, and have our being. “What would Jesus do?” is not Christianity. Christianity asks: “What is Christ doing through me … through us? And how is Jesus doing it?” Following Jesus means “trust and obey” (respond), and living by his indwelling life through the power of the Spirit.

5. The “Jesus of history” cannot be disconnected from the “Christ of faith.” The Jesus who walked the shores of Galilee is the same person who indwells the church today. There is no disconnect between the Jesus of Mark’s Gospel and the incredible, all-inclusive, cosmic Christ of Paul’s letter to the Colossians. The Christ who lived in the first century has a pre-existence before time. He also has a post-existence after time. He is Alpha and Omega, Beginning and End, A and Z, all at the same time. He stands in the future and at the end of time at the same moment that He indwells every child of God. Failure to embrace these paradoxical truths has created monumental problems and has diminished the greatness of Christ in the eyes of God’s people.

6. It’s possible to confuse “the cause” of Christ with the person of Christ. When the early church said “Jesus is Lord,” they did not mean “Jesus is my core value.” Jesus isn’t a cause; he is a real and living person who can be known, loved, experienced, enthroned and embodied. Focusing on his cause or mission doesn’t equate focusing on or following him. It’s all too possible to serve “the god” of serving Jesus as opposed to serving him out of an enraptured heart that’s been captivated by his irresistible beauty and unfathomable love. Jesus led us to think of God differently, as relationship, as the God of all relationship.

7. Jesus Christ was not a social activist nor a moral philosopher. To pitch him that way is to drain his glory and dilute his excellence. Justice apart from Christ is a dead thing. The only battering ram that can storm the gates of hell is not the cry of Justice, but the name of Jesus. Jesus Christ is the embodiment of Justice, Peace, Holiness, Righteousness. He is the sum of all spiritual things, the “strange attractor” of the cosmos. When Jesus becomes an abstraction, faith loses its reproductive power. Jesus did not come to make bad people good. He came to make dead people live.

8. It is possible to confuse an academic knowledge or theology about Jesus with a personal knowledge of the living Christ himself. These two stand as far apart as do the hundred thousand million galaxies. The fullness of Christ can never be accessed through the frontal lobe alone. Christian faith claims to be rational, but also to reach out to touch ultimate mysteries. The cure for a big head is a big heart.

Jesus does not leave his disciples with CliffsNotes for a systematic theology. He leaves his disciples with breath and body.

Jesus does not leave his disciples with a coherent and clear belief system by which to love God and others. Jesus gives his disciples wounds to touch and hands to heal.

Jesus does not leave his disciples with intellectual belief or a “Christian worldview.” He leaves his disciples with a relational faith.

Christians don’t follow a book. Christians follow a person, and this library of divinely inspired books we call “The Holy Bible” best help us follow that person. The Written Word is a map that leads us to The Living Word. Or as Jesus himself put it, “All Scripture testifies of me.” The Bible is not the destination; it’s a compass that points to Christ, heaven’s North Star.

The Bible does not offer a plan or a blueprint for living. The “good news” was not a new set of laws, or a new set of ethical injunctions, or a new and better PLAN. The “good news” was the story of a person’s life, as reflected in The Apostle’s Creed. The Mystery of Faith proclaims this narrative: “Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.” The meaning of Christianity does not come from allegiance to complex theological doctrines, but a passionate love for a way of living in the world that revolves around following Jesus, who taught that love is what makes life a success . . . not wealth or health or anything else: but love. And God is love.

9. Only Jesus can transfix and then transfigure the void at the heart of the church. Jesus Christ cannot be separated from his church. While Jesus is distinct from his Bride, he is not separate from her. She is in fact his very own Body in the earth. God has chosen to vest all of power, authority, and life in the living Christ. And God in Christ is only known fully in and through his church. (As Paul said, “The manifold wisdom of God – which is Christ – is known through the ekklesia.”)

The Christian life, therefore, is not an individual pursuit. It’s a corporate journey. Knowing Christ and making him known is not an individual prospect. Those who insist on flying life solo will be brought to earth, with a crash. Thus Christ and his church are intimately joined and connected. What God has joined together, let no person put asunder. We were made for life with God; our only happiness is found in life with God. And God’s own pleasure and delight is found therein as well.

10. In a world which sings, “Oh, who is this Jesus?” and a church which sings, “Oh, let’s all be like Jesus,” who will sing with lungs of leather, “Oh, how we love Jesus!”

If Jesus could rise from the dead, we can at least rise from our bed, get off our couches and pews, and respond to the Lord’s resurrection life within us, joining Jesus in what he’s up to in the world. We call on others to join us—not in removing ourselves from planet Earth, but to plant our feet more firmly on the Earth while our spirits soar in the heavens of God’s pleasure and purpose. We are not of this world, but we live in this world for the Lord’s rights and interests. We, collectively, as the ekklesia of God, are Christ in and to this world.

May God have a people on this earth who are a people of Christ, through Christ, and for Christ. A people of the cross. A people who are consumed with God’s eternal passion, which is to make his Son preeminent, supreme, and the head over all things visible and invisible. A people who have discovered the touch of the Almighty in the face of his glorious Son. A people who wish to know only Christ and him crucified, and to let everything else fall by the wayside. A people who are laying hold of his depths, discovering his riches, touching his life, and receiving his love, and making HIM in all of his unfathomable glory known to others.

The two of us may disagree about many things—be they ecclesiology, eschatology, soteriology, not to mention economics, globalism and politics.

But in our two most recent books—From Eternity to Here and So Beautiful—we have sounded forth a united trumpet. These books are the Manifests to this Manifesto. They each present the vision that has captured our hearts and that we wish to impart to the Body of Christ— “This ONE THING I know” (Jn.9:25) that is the ONE THING that unites us all:

Jesus the Christ.

Christians don’t follow Christianity; Christians follow Christ.

Christians don’t preach themselves; Christians proclaim Christ.

Christians don’t point people to core values; Christians point people to the cross.

Christians don’t preach about Christ: Christians preach Christ.

Over 300 years ago a German pastor wrote a hymn that built around the Name above all names:

Ask ye what great thing I know, that delights and stirs me so? What the high reward I win? Whose the name I glory in?

Jesus Christ, the crucified.

This is that great thing I know; this delights and stirs me so: faith in him who died to save, His who triumphed o’er the grave:

Jesus Christ, the crucified.

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Jesus Christ – the crucified, resurrected, enthroned, triumphant, living Lord.

He is our Pursuit, our Passion, and our Life.

Amen.

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