Prompt: Liz Danzico – Today Your genuine action will explain itself, and will explain your other genuine actions. Your conformity explains nothing. The force of character is cumulative. – Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance
If ‘the voyage of the best ship is a zigzag line of a hundred tracks,’ then it is more genuine to be present today than to recount yesterdays. How would you describe today using only one sentence? Tell today’s sentence to one other person. Repeat each day.
Your commute is killing you. Interesting article (and a little scary); I’m right at that 45-minute mark each way and have started having back pain…
7 Ways to Make Commuting (a little) Better – haven’t tried the “learn a new language” idea, and books on tape have been hard for me to process… I think I need something a little more mindless; but it’s still a good list if you are stuck in a car on a regular basis.
Donald Miller – How to Partner with God in God’s Work. I was sort-of trying to make this point as part of my Baccalaureate message but I know it didn’t come across nearly as clear or concise – in every day and in every place we have opportunities to partner with God, using the multitude of gifts God has given us. Sometimes it can be as simple as working in the garden or baking a cake.
Following the Baccalaureate service someone thanked me for not being an “Open Theist” which really had the feeling of being a backhanded compliment. The weird thing is, open theism is a strange topic to even bring up in such a setting – it relates to how we understand God’s relationship with time, and there was nothing in my message to that would suggest I was a firm supporter of something like predestination. I suspect what this person was really affirming is that I didn’t seem to be a universalist, because I talked about Jesus in my message.
Love this quote from Anna Quindlen from a 1999 Villanova University Commencement address (via Inward/Outward):
“So here’s what I wanted to tell you today: Get a life.Get a real life, not a manic pursuit of the next promotion, the bigger paycheck, the larger house. Do you think you’d care so very much about those things if you blew an aneurysm one afternoon, or found a lump in your breast? Get a life in which you notice the smell of salt water pushing itself on a breeze over Seaside Heights, a life in which you stop and watch how a red-tailed hawk circles over the water gap or the way a baby scowls with concentration when she tries to pick up a Cheerio with her thumb and first finger.Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you.”
“I urge evangelicals to make clear to all who will listen that we DO believe in the return of Jesus Christ, but, as a whole, we DO NOT believe in staring into the sky waiting for it to happen. For the most part we agree with Luther who, when asked what he would do if he knew Christ would return tomorrow, said “plant a tree today.” In other words, carry on as always living as disciples of the crucified and risen Lord.”
Seth Godin on legacy issues in business… not too difficult to make the jump to legacy churches and questions of how we continue to support congregations with no interest in growth or vitality.
Chad Holtz offered a couple very raw, honest, and I believe important posts on how the church responds to people with addiction, and Chad specifically speaks of his own sexual addiction. I consider this to be a must read. First this. Then this follow-up. Finally, this one.
I think I’m going to try the #Trust30 thing, but I’m not sure I’m going to put it all up on the blog. (As much as I like the idea of developing a discipline to write on here every day, realistically I’m not sure I can maintain it).
I think I need some clothes with embedded LED lights… (or maybe just a stole for the candlelight Christmas Eve service)…
Matthew Paul Turner has a really great take on the group (groups?) speculating that this Saturday will bring the end of the world, and how it impacts the faith of the “least of these.” Certainly worth reading.
Church Marketing Sucks provides an overview of how some churches celebrated Mother’s Day. Some really great ideas on that list.
Jordon Cooper reminds us the best resumes don’t necessarily make the best leaders. Also, from a tweet Jordon sent out – read this next time you assume an unemployed (or homeless) person could just get a job at McDonalds – in their most recent hiring blitz they filled 62,000 positions… but received 1 MILLION applications.
The next librarychurch is a place, still. A place where people come together to do co-working and coordinate and invent projects worth working on together. Aided by a librarianpastor who understands the Mesh, a librarianpastor who can bring domain knowledge and people knowledge and access to information to bear.
In a digital age, access to great preaching, Biblical scholarship and theological inspiration are just a couple mouse clicks away. On some levels, the local church can no longer compete in that regard. What the local church has to offer is the opportunity to connect people with each other and with information that will equip them to serve and be the people God calls them to be.
Jay Voorhees – Conversation with a Young Methodist. Also from Jay, The Young Clergy Question – I’m not sure I’m completely on-board with everything he brings up in this post; but I think there is a danger of wanting “young clergy” simply for the idea that they are “young” – especially when the Conference/District/Local Church doesn’t have systems in place to adequately support them. He’s completely right on when he says:
“The problem is not one of age — it’s a system that values conformity to institutional norms above that of leading congregations to a vibrant and living faith that is relevant to people of all ages, backgrounds, and experiences. We have a process that lifts up those who say the right answers or who calm the boat in the storm, and does what it can to stamp out those with an entrepreneurial spirit. The issue isn’t age — it’s values.”
Nice post from Jeremy Smith on some basic Facebook “how-to’s” for pastors. I’ve been in conversation with colleagues that something like this, but even more specific needs to be distributed, as District Superintendents, clergy, and clergy spouses have sometimes pushed the limits of appropriate boundaries of sharing and interaction on Facebook. There is still a lot of gray area with social media in general, but there are some clear needs for basic education as well.
Really interesting TED Talk from Eli Pariser on the “filter bubble” – how the personalization features built into facebook, google, etc. keep us from seeing a broader worldview. (It’s also cool that Eli uses a screenshot from my old college friend, Scott, as part of his presentation). As Eli talks about the filter that operates “behind the scenes” in the algorithms, I found myself also wondering about the filters we create ourselves – this whole “round-up” thing I do every week is basically a filter, and there are pretty clear patterns about my thoughts on church, theology, social media, and music…
Then from Jesus Needs New PR – Joel Olsteen has never heard of Mark Driscoll – interesting to read in context of Eli Parsier’s talk on “filters.” Where do we place our attention? How does it distract? How does it keep us isolated? How does it inform? How does it broaden our worldview?
Roger Olsen on Deep Church – I love that idea of “urban Amish.”
Another hard-hitting post from Dan Dick on Wethodism:
“It is time to take the “me” out of Methodism and replace it with “we”. Somewhere we lost touch with the fact that this is God’s church and that each of us is fortunate and blessed to be allowed to be a part of it. The church does not exist to serve our individual needs. It doesn’t exist to make us happy. It doesn’t exist to make us feel good about ourselves. It exists to do God’s work and will in the world, and we are invited to be active participants in the glorious creative miracle of God’s unfolding vision. We have got to get over ourselves. At the very limited extreme, church may be about “us” as a whole, but never about us merely as individuals. The whole “me and my buddy Jesus” mentality that pervades our culture has virtually nothing to do with church, Christianity, or the Bible. Our boiling everything down to a personal and private religion has a historical name — heresy. It isn’t all about me — and our denomination is suffering an acute case of “me”-thodism.”
“Is it possible to call people to be living sacrifices when they can’t even be bothered to know who it is they follow? It’s hard enough to talk about turning the other cheek when there are celebratory flash mobs in the streets because we finally killed our enemy. Or to call the church to love their neighbor when people see giving to others as an infringement on their entitlements. But this goes even deeper. It’s a mentality utterly at odds with the entire way of Christ and yet its adherents still claim to be Christian. I struggle with knowing how to respond. I know this issue is nothing new; it’s just difficult to be reminded of its extreme in such a blatant way. But I keep wondering how can the body of Christ ever be healthy when so many of its members are non-functioning?”
Maybe Hyatt’s post is an appropriate segway to let my friends know this is going to happen on the Wednesday before Annual Conference at 6:00 – feel free to come and watch.
For the past couple years I’ve been attentive to Jay Bakker’s ministry – following his twitter feed and subscribing to the Revolution NYC podcast. I have yet to watch the One Punk Under God, but it’s been on my list for a while. What I have seen and heard from Jay, I’ve found to be pretty interesting, and so I was excited to have the chance to review his latest book Fall to Grace: A Revolution of God, Self & Society.
A couple weeks ago, just as I was a couple chapters into the book, I mentioned that this might be my favorite book of 2011, and that still holds true. What Jay has done is crafted a fantastic, brief, and easy to understand work of practical theology, unpacking the implications of grace.
Jay draws from his own life, recounting some of the hardships that he faced as a child, with the scandals that turned the Bakker name into front-page news and fodder for late night comedians, while Jay was only eleven, to battles with dyslexia and alcoholism. As he notes, the faith he had during his teen years only served as a “cold comfort” rooted in a form of evangelical legalism with little personal understanding of grace. Attempts to “get right with God” always seemed to fall short. After hitting rock bottom the insight of friends and a careful study of Scripture, especially the Pauline epistles, led him to a place where Jay finally understood that, “Paul’s message wasn’t about guilt and punishment. It was about acceptance; it was about forgiveness; and it applied to me!” (pg. 17).
This book is rooted in Jay’s personal story, but it is far from a personal memoir. Jay goes on to unpack Paul’s writings on law and grace, drawing primarily from Galatians, but using the other epistles as well for reference points. As someone who tends to focus on the Gospels and the book of James instead of Paul’s writings because of the ways they have been used (and occasionally abused), I really appreciated Jay’s analysis and will go back to these texts with a fresh look. Overall, the book spoke to me deeply about how God’s claim on us is greater than all our attempts (sometimes subtle, sometimes not) to “earn” God’s favor. Jay speaks to a wide-spread (if not universal) doubt Christians often wrestle with around acceptance and genuine forgiveness, and does it with excellence.
Jay speaks to how, when we truly grasp the concept of grace we will change (and be challenged) as individuals and as a community. Near the end of the book he provides a specific argument to how the idea of grace applies to those in the gay and lesbian community. If you are already familiar with the standard interpretations around inclusion, you won’t find anything new here. Given that Jay’s book will reach an audience unfamiliar with those interpretations, some will be challenged by this section. Even if you disagree with Jay over this issue, I’d encourage you to listen to Jay’s point of view.
This book attempts to take on some big theological issues in an easy to understand way. Jay’s story speaks to me personally, and I sure it will for others as well. I’d certainly recommend it to others.
(Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book as part of Ooze Viral Bloggers for review. Just getting the book for free didn’t influence my opinion).
Donald Miller on Two Words That Kill Passion and the follow-up, Moving From “Ought To” to “Want To”. The “ought to” idea/problem has been on my mind this past week. As I’ve been reading though Jay Bakker’s book Fall to Grace he writes of how the idea of “works” can be abused to create a secondary legalism that is counter to the Christian concept of grace. In the book, he writes:
“The trouble is, if everything you do comes back to your own cosmic scorecard, you’re not really caring about others. Your selflessness ends up being self-obsessed. You are all that you think about. Where’s the generosity in that? “When you try to earn your salvation through works, you judge your neighbor by the same harsh standard that you use to judge yourself. Instead of being encouraged by other people’s good deeds and generosity, you fall into a pointless competition, trying to do a little better and be a little more virtuous than your neighbor. You are keeping up with the Jameses. “To avoid this trap, we have to find a motivation that lies outside the law and works. We have to find a source of inspiration beyond obligation or pride. We find it in the freedom of grace. But free isn’t easy…”
From the Art of Non-Conformity blog – Whose Side are You On – thoughts on Ani DiFranco and the virtue of forging your own path, even when it is risky.
This video made the rounds this past weekend, but worth checking out if you haven’t seen it (or taking another look, if you have).
Roger Olson on Whatever Became of the Cross. Interesting reflection – growing up in a mainline church I don’t remember hearing much about the cross, and later years grew weary of the violent imagery it conveyed, especially when it is presented it ways that almost seem to glorify the violence. The whole “washed in the blood” imagery has never been part of my vocabulary, but in recently I’ve been more and more convinced that we do need to fully acknowledge and by humbled by the cross – you can’t get to Easter Sunday without walking through Good Friday. There is a middle way between completely ignoring the cross and becoming so obsessed that sometimes you forget Jesus even lived, and the church certainly needs to be present somewhere in that middle ground.
On a similar Good Friday theme, be sure and check out Walter Bruggerman’s reflection, Praying in the Abyss.
Also from Sojourners: Ayn Rand, Manicheanism and Christianity. I was reading another article about Ayn Rand a couple weeks ago and struck by how her philosophy is so antithetical to Christianity and wondered about this apparent disconnect in the minds of those who try to commit to both. Love the sentence at the end: “If the choice is Jesus or Rand, I choose Jesus.”
Jeremy Smith on All Doubt in a Day – I’m preaching the lectionary this week, also looking at the story of Thomas, and some of Jeremy’s thoughts might find their way into this week’s message.
This should have made last week’s round-up but got missed: Becca Clark offers some important thoughts on personal safety in the practice of ministry. While a gender dynamic might be part of the equation, I know I have also been in situations when an unsafe person has been in my office and I’ve calculated an “escape plan” in my head (although never to the point that Becca experienced). In my current setting, I’m limited to a single entrance/exit with limited room to maneuver, a distance away from my administrative assistant (who, as I think about it, also has limited space and no secondary exit), and we don’t currently have an emergency plan in place. Something for all churches to seriously think about and make efforts to correct.
Michael Hyatt talks about his idea capture and organization process using a blend of traditional paper and electronic. On the computer he uses Evernote which I’ve had on my computer and mobile devices for a while, but never really used. I might have to give his system (or some variation of it) a try.
“I love Detroit, the people here, the spirit, the nearness of despair, the nearness of spectacular success. It is the American crossroads,” he tweets, adding in another: “Along with my hometown of Oakland, I am now convinced that Detroit is the most soulful city in our country.”
Again a couple weeks overdue… I keep promising myself I’ll get back onto a regular weekly update schedule for these things soon. Here’s what has caught my attention over the last couple of weeks:
Donald Miller has a suggestion for Creating a Personal Life Plan I haven’t downloaded the e-book he recommends yet, but it looks like it could be interesting.
Seth Godin: The Worst Voice of the Brand Is the Brand – a reminder that our worst experiences usually shape our larger perceptions. Certainly applicable to the church.
Laurie Haller, a District Superintendent in the West Michigan Conference offers a few thoughts on Love Wins.
Dan Dick has a couple powerful and convicting posts about the United Methodist Church: Three Little Words, Dead, or in Exile and a MUST READ Souled Out. He hits hard with these words:
“We perpetually use an anti-gospel of death, decay and decline to manipulate people instead of casting a positive vision to motivate. We proclaim to the world that we are shrinking, diminishing, poorly funded, rife with conflict — all excellent messages to attract new members. We do try to counter such witness with some TV spots and webcast videos and some marketing spin, but that’s just slapping a coat of make-up. Many young people see The United Methodist Church as an old maiden aunt who dresses and paints herself up like a teenager — embarrassing at best, pathetic at worst.”
Yet there is hope that we can clarify our vision, mature in our discipleship and relationships with each other and be the church Christ calls us to be.
Last week there was a Call to Action web-conference for the UMC. I somehow missed the advance notice announcement about it, and was on vacation anyway, but some of the feedback that emerged has been interesting to examine. Jeremy Smith looks at the Twitter wordcloud related to the online discussion. Jay Voorhees shares some of his thoughts as well as addressing metrics that matter. Rob Rynders suggests that Cats and Cereal might be the solution (not really). The conference has been archived and can be viewed here; I haven’t seen it yet, but it certainly got people talking.
Music this week from tUnE-yArDs – I’ve heard this track a few times on the radio and found the use of the looping vocals to be really interesting, the video (as well as the song) is a little strange, but in my opinion enjoyable.
I’m currently reading Jay Bakker’s book Fall to Grace, a full review should be coming in the next couple weeks, but I wanted to share these couple paragraphs this morning:
“The point is that we believers can splinter into all the denominations we want. We can pore over Scripture, finding little issues and phrases (or even differing interpretations of the same phrase) to divide us. We can each claim that our little group is the one with a true comprehension of God’s Word. We can segregate society and close our hearts because of these superficial differences. Or we can begin to patch up these fault lines and fractures we’re created in the church and try to see past our differing interpretations of Scripture to recognize one another as children of the same God.
“Yes, we can debate our faith – even argue. But in the end, we need to recognize that we’re all members of the same big family. Faith in Christ can be the tie that brings and binds us together, even when everything else threatens to pull us apart.”
I unfortunately stumbled upon this last week. It creeps me out, but I’m fascinated by it’s very existence. You have been warned.
New Mountain Goats (All Eternals Deck) out this week – I haven’t given it a full listen yet, but so far it seems good. Here’s a few songs from NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert, John Darnielle did last year.
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). Here’s an oldie but goodie from his back-catalog.
) out this week – I haven’t given it a full listen yet, but so far it seems good. Here’s a few songs from NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert, John Darnielle did last year.