The Normalizing Norm

Quiet Thoughts While Things Blew Up

2011-07-14T18:42:00.000-06:00

Last week, my wife and I walked through the neighborhood watching adults and children lighting sparklers, igniting fire-crackers, and watching fountains of fire and light on the Fourth of July. The adults were talking, the children were screaming delightfully, and we - my wife and I - were happy residents in a subdivision we call home.

We’ve lived here over 10 years. That’s longer than we’ve lived anywhere together. As we turned the corner, a neighbor, Chrissy, was sitting in a folding chair at the edge of her road. She could look up the street or down the street to see the fireworks. We spoke with her for awhile, then moved on. We found our son up the road and around the corner. He was with two of his friends. One of his friend’s dad, Tim, was there, too. We talked as littler kids watched the fire and light. Tim, has been a friend for as long as our sons have been friends. Tim and I have coached our sons together in baseball, our sons have played football together. For about six years, our families have seen each other almost weekly for 8-10 months out of the year. Some weeks, that more than we see anyone from our church, work, or even our own family.

Walking back home, we reflect, as we often have, that we are grateful for our neighbors, most of the time. Darrel and his wife, Tim and Lisa, Cindy and Nicki, Dennis and Dory, Ray and Rosemary. They’ve been there and they care. I don’t know their politics, I only know a little about their faith. But we’ve known their kids and grand-kids, and they’ve known our kids.

While others find abstract concepts like “liberty”, “freedom,” and “Independence” something to celebrate, I think I’m happy to celebrate the opportunity to live with my family and people like Tim, Chrissy, and the rest. And to call this mundane place home.

Value of Cages

2011-07-04T15:17:00.000-06:00

A friend recently placed the following YouTube video on our ministry's Facebook page. As I have worked with congregations, they continue to get hung up on the concept of "missional church". Therefore I thought the following two minute video was pretty good at giving an overview.

Interesting to me was the response from an acquaintance who had been "evangelized" by some Christians thinking themselves "missional." Not all Christians are ready to be out of their cages, it seems. The key is to leave the churchiness behind and actually enter into the culture of others. Some seem to carry the church-centered agenda out into the public. The result is that "missional" approach doesn't look any different than old school forms of assertive recitations of "spiritual laws" and needing to get "saved".

The problem isn't in this two-minute video. It actually does a good job explaining the basic definition of missional as opposed to church-centered ministry. The major paradigmatic shift takes more than just a couple minutes to transfer into real practices.

Until then, some churches might work well as cages to keep some Christians inside and off the streets. Perhaps until the church figures out how to effectively interact with culture, some of those less ready to go out into the public might stay inside. Seriously, though, the shift from church-centered thinking to serious engagement with communities and cultures takes time, a willingness to experiment and fail, and an enduring desire keep learning.

Until then...it may be safer for some of us to remain indoors, behind our cages. And it might be safer for those we seek to welcome into the Kingdom of God.

New Version on Psalm 137

2011-04-30T08:45:00.001-06:00

From Al Roxburgh's book Missional Map Making, page 20.

In the midst of this crazy world and wonder what has happened.
How do I talk to a kid with a ring in his nose?
Does the Old Rugged Cross mean anything to him?
He asks me to sing a song about "my Jesus."
From what I can tell he is from another planet, or am I the stranger here?
I think its time to sell the Wurlitzer.
So how do I tell Martians about Jesus,
when the only language I speak is 1955?
How do I write a headline for them
That doesn't screw up the Good News?
I king of wish it were they it was,
but it's not. So I need to figure out
how to sing the old lyrics
with a whole new tune.

What's missing is the hard to read, vengeful ending. How would you write the ending?
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Practicing Community?

2011-04-08T07:15:00.002-06:00

If it were not for a dead muffler on an old truck, I probably would not be riding the bus. While I honestly value the opportunity to use public transit, isn't it for other folks, not me?

Maybe its an image problem. Impoverished commuters, cash strapped students, or people with more flexible schedules. You know, other people. I guess I am one of the other "other people."

What does it say about God's mission to ride a bus with strangers? What does it mean to have our present, our path, and our destinations shared? Not metaphorically, but actually. Regardless of faith or its lack, regardless of income or its lack, and without regard to some level of environmental idealism, we need reminders of our shared humanity.

Ride the bus, missionally.
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Shifting Identities

2010-09-20T08:41:00.001-06:00

Years ago I learned about the phrase "going native.". Originally, it was used to describe the process by which Cold War spies shifted their allegiances from their country of origin to the country in which they were embedded.

It was the power of relationships that made the difference. The daily interactions with neighbors, community activities and whatever job was their "cover." As the daily interests and concerns became less exotic and more routine, normal became the present context. The former context of home and origins became almost mythic. Real and normal were the daily chores and joys. Over time, the present, the real, and the normal overwhelm us all, and we go native.

I have lived in Idaho a minority of my life. I have been a teacher in one capacity or another for a few years. Professionally, I feel less an ordained minister than I do a Professor of General Studies. I found this weekend, I described myself more as a professor than as a pastor. To a certain degree I find that role switch uncomfortable.

While I live and act in a particular context, I feel inclined to wonder about who I am. Am I going native, or, is my citizenship (Phil 3:20) elsewhere?
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Institution And a Movement

2010-04-11T20:56:00.001-06:00

From David Bosch:
"We cannot have it both ways, then: purely and exclusively a religious movement, yet at the same time something that will survive the centuries and continue to exercise dynamic influence. Our main point of censure should therefore not be that the movement became an institution but that, when this happened, it also lost much of its verve. Its white-hot convictions, poured into the hearts of the first adherets, cooled down and became crystallized codes, solidified institutions, and petrified dogmas. The prophet became a priest of the establishment, charisma became office, and love became routine. The horizon was no longer the world but the boundaries of the local parish. The impetus missionary torrent of earlier years was tamed into a still-flowing rivulet and eventually into a stationary pond. It is this development that we have to deplore. Institution and movement may never be mutually exclusive categories; neither may church and mission".

From, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission, pg 53
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Easter After

2010-04-05T07:59:00.001-06:00

This morning I read the Bible. I read the Luke 24 passage about the downcast disciples walking out of the city to their home in Emmaus.

Maybe they were trying to wash their hands of the whole escapade and just go home. Maybe they wanted to find "normal" again. Leaving Jerusalem their first step towards that goal.

One of the hardest searches in life is seeking out "normal.". Each day can end with a sigh, thinking, "I made it through that!". It is as if each night brings a desire to flee from the craziness of "Jerusalem". But when each morning arrives, "with troubles enough of its own," I'm reminded that there is no "normal" to flee to.

In the story of the disciples walking to Emmaus, they change orientation. After hearing, and understanding, what this stranger has told them. Then upon seeing Jesus revealed from this stranger, the disciples head back toward that place from they had fled.

I know that the balanced life and non-challenging life, the normal life is always fleeing faster and further than I can reach. So, as I orient myself to the day and the week to come, I head back "Jerusalem", those crazy places in which we live and escape the "normal".
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cleancat.jpg

2010-02-06T17:10:00.002-07:00

Cleaning the cat

The Market Idols: A Brass Ring and a Golden Calf

2010-01-23T14:50:00.003-07:00

I have been reading through the new book by Jim Wallis, Rediscovering Values: On Wall Street, Main Street, and Main Street. While I don't want to go through a long review of the book and it's outline, I am struck by several aspects of Wallis' approach to understanding American culture. What has struck me most was the explanation of the degree to which we have become an impatient people seeking who seek insight and direction from the Market.

Quoting Harvey Cox, Wallis describes the power of this abstract "Market" as the power of a god. One which we have sought to appease and in which we have lost ourselves. Focusing on the recent global experience of the Great Recession, it is easy to see the degree to which this approbation may be right on. My own experience of devotional awareness to this abstract god has been identified. As I, over the past 18 months have watched my own income decrease in concert with the Dow Exchange. As the Market went down, so did my ability to make ends meet. The Market each day could tell me, I thought, to what extent I would need to brace myself. I looked to see if the bottom had been yet hit. Looking at the Market became a daily commitment to view. As much as daily Bible reading and prayer, I found myself daily checking with the Dow. To what extent was the Market informing my prayer, and visa versa? Thanks to Jim Wallis quoting Harvey Cox, we can now think about it together.

But what happens when we think about it? I hear from people all around me (folks who have even less of a chance of grasping all the promises of the Market than do I) that the Market needs to be free to deliver its promises. In the face of this failing god, there are still those "true believers" not wanting to let go of their devotion. There is the hope, the aspiration that the brass ring needs to be kept large and promising. There needs to be a greed in place for us to feel the inclination to grasp at the ring. Even among the middle-class folks there remains a hands-off attitude toward questions of exorbitant executive pay (why should an executive be paid more than 400 times the amount of the lowest hourly wage?); a hands off attitude toward socially responsible community investment; and recently, a boon to corporate personhood (see http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/21/AR2010012104866.html) making free speech, at least access to having our voice heard, a market commodity. Trusting the Market with these powers is akin to self-imposed slavery coinciding with the illogical aspiration that one day we'll all be slaver-holders. We are working at cross-purposes with ourselves.

In the Bible, one of the stories of righteous anger describes Moses and his reaction to the people who had just made an idol out of gold. These people had just come out slavery that had lasted for hundreds of years. The slavery in Egypt had been enforced and strengthened by the economic, political, and religious goals of Egypt. The enslaved had often seen animals forged of precious metals. These gods could receive sacrifice, function as divine mouthpieces, and serve as icons and trademarks of the kings. But out of impatience, frustration and fear, the former slaves, now in the desert, forged an Egyptian-ish statue and bowed to serve it. Created with their own hands and imbued with their own mythology, these people were willing to worship the god they made. We have become so similar in our own ill conceived relationship to the Market. We may not have directly created, but we prop it up and imbue with power that is not within our power to give, nor within its power to deliver.

While there are those who have avoided the market, from freegans and dumpster divers, and the bartering networks, most of us do not know where to turn for alternatives. The hope for changing something as abstract and powerful as "The Market" seems daunting and impossible. However, there is wisdom in simplicity and empowerment in local investment. There are personal and community-based ways of checking the power of the Market. Most of the tools at our hands for changing the power of this idol are more akin to recovery programs as well as community development. We are all in this together.

Helping Haiti: When Technology Has a Heart

2010-01-13T07:55:00.001-07:00

I saw this on the MSNBC website today. It appeals to those of us with phones and the immediate impulse to aid those devastated by the earthquake in Haiti.

"For those interesting in helping immediately, simply text "HAITI" to "90999" and a donation of $10 will be given automatically to the Red Cross to help with relief efforts, charged to your cell phone bill."

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Just Trying to Make Sense of it All

2010-01-08T13:02:00.002-07:00

Just started reading this book. Here's a good quote from the preface (pg xi):
"The flows and ups and downs of social order are tolerable if one feels those are normal fluctuations rather than some kind of testimonial to one's own shortcomings. In the last analysis, organizing is about fallible people who keep going."

Yup!

Yellow Feels Like Summer

2010-01-01T11:45:00.001-07:00

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Testing

2009-07-29T14:51:00.001-06:00

So I'm trying something new from my blackberry.
Sent from my Blackberry, in other words, I'm out and about wandering in the wild world...

Spring to Summer

2009-05-27T09:15:00.003-06:00

There are two things I like about late-spring/early-summer:

I move my "office" inside to the back porch. I take my laptop and my cell phone and sit outside doing "office" work. I know I am envied for that.
I enjoy cool suppers on hot days. Today I am making deviled eggs and pasta salad for supper. Maybe even a rhubarb compote.

Diminishing Returns?

2009-05-08T10:45:00.004-06:00

I saw today's news as a good sign. I hope. It seems that the number of people becoming unemployed is not only slowing down, but hopefully turning around. And at an 8.9 percent jobless rate, we could be doing worse.

But what happens when the system has shed itself of all employees? Theoretically, there would be no new jobless claims then either. Looking at jobless claims numbers only tells us when we are running out of employees to layoff. It doesn't tell us when we're ready to turn around. If the system is slowing down in its shedding of unneeded human capital, is it prolonging the difficult healing? In other words, are slowing down the process of ripping the bandaid off because it hurts, but only prolonging the sting? Or, do we need to rip it all of at once, scream a bit, then get on with healing.

I don't know anything. I'm just thinking out loud. But as a regular working class person, who is friends with other regular working class people, I worry that the system is not going to be calling us back to work anytime soon. I hope I am wrong.

If you know more about this kind of stuff than I do, let me know.

An Archaic Moment for an Early Adopter

2009-03-11T10:44:00.003-06:00

I just did something I haven't done in years. Partly out of a desire to do something the old fashioned way.

I would not have done this if there were a lot to go through...but I had only two. Pieces of mail that is. With bills inside. I actually opened the check book, wrote out the amounts, placed the checks into the return envelopes, licked the envelope and shut it, then placed a stamp on it. I have not paid bills like that in years.

With most aspects of technology, I am an early adopter, as long as I can afford the technology. Using online bill pay has been my practice for years, especially after I calculated the costs of stamps, envelopes, and checks. It was kind of a no-brainer. I do remember have a few problems with it as some payments did not arrive at the destination on time. But the banks were always willing to speak to the payee and settle things if that occurred.

Today, just on a whim of sorts, I decided to use the US Postal Service to help me pay my bills. And it felt weird, maybe in a meaningful way:

I had a more viceral connection with the process of thinking of that money leaving my control as I filled in the amount numerically, and then had to spell the amount. Somehow, in these financially axious days, that put me more in tune with the costs of our decisions, and forced me to consider, either with gratidute or with scorn, the amounts that were flowing out from my bank. To type a number online, and just hit send is too quick and easy to reflect on the meaning of the action.
I had to laugh at the lack of security. I remember when people first started using the Internet buy things and pay bills. There was a lot of discussion about privacy and the fear of having personal information, especial financial information up for grabs. I must admit, it happened to me once, someone made an online purchase of flowers in Paris with my MasterCard. I guess I'm glad they found some other way to pay for their travel to France. Anyway, as I sealed up the envelope it dawned on me, I had no print out of the bill having been paid, no confirmation number indicating that the money had gone through. All of a sudden, I felt vulnerable, not to strangers going through my mail, but to the Postal Service and to the payee. What if I needed proof? We've come a long way, at least for me, that I feel safer paying bills online than by mail.
Finally, I am occasionally reminded of how bad my writing is. I am guess there are schools for employees in accounts receivable. I hope they can read what I wrote on the checks. And I wrote only two. If I had a stack of bills to go through, my hand would hurt like it did in the old days, and my writing would become increasingly illegible.

So much for paying bills old school.

Another Bubble Burst

2009-03-09T11:45:00.013-06:00

I'm no economist, but I do know a thing or two about history. What we are going through as a nation, and even as a global community is neither uncommon, nor even unexpected. We knew the cycle of growth and decline would do what they do. But what is always new and unique is the ways in which we might respond to other in these difficult times, challenging our values and beliefs.

An acquaintance of mine is a lay scholar of folk traditions. This man is a genius. He went from being a rocket scientist in a super-secret government project. Somewhere along the way, he had a conversion that led from those projects to wandering the back roads of Idaho. Listening to him sing in Christmas eve services with his daughter, it would seem that folk music is a deep-seated family tradition.

This past week, my acquaintance emailed the following story and poem. An interesting perspective on the history of this poet's context is that he is an Idaho poet prospector, writing around 1900. I'm not sure if this poet was a silver miner, but at the time of his writing poem the silver market had expanded like the contemporary housing bubble. The economics of the marketplace are intricate and interconnected. In the 1890's too many railroads had been built. More than could be paid for, and more than could be used. I guess silver had something to do with the backing up the securities that financed the railroads. When the railroads failed, so the silver market crashed.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lest we think there is something unique about the hard times in the present, see the poem below that will be in the book/CD I am working on about the poems, songs and life of Idaho's Poet Prospector Clarence E. Eddy (1876-1936).

There isn't much truly new in any generation, and hard times are not one of them. And the spiritual and moral imperative for individual response and behavior hasn't changed either.

A Crown of Thorns
This plaintive composition was published in "Pinnacles of Parnassus." The poem deals with deep spiritual and humanitarian aspects of the impact of the poor economic conditions of the mid and late 1890's. The Poet Prospector included the following note with his poem:

"Written upon report of the press dispatches, in December, 1898, that hundreds of poor were dying of cold and starvation in New York City."

A Crown of Thorns
Today, in all the world my faith is dim;
Earth seems indeed a weary vale of tears;
All brokenly my heart goes back to Him,
The Weeping One, within the far-oof years.
Thou hadst not where on earth to lay Thy head,
Oh, pure and loving, Meek and Lowly One.
A crown of thorns and cruel cross instead
Were thine, oh Maiden Mary's Mystic Son.

I think of Thee beside the lonely sea,
Thy sweet, sad face suffused with silent tears,
Oh, man of Nazareth and Galilee,
Now gone from earth almost two thousand years.
Today with aching heart and streaming eyes
The trodden poor in heaven raise and prayer -
"How long! Oh, Lord, how long!" ascend their cries,
Mid pain ad hunger's helpless wild despair.

Ye say, "Ah, well, such things as this must be,

There must be some to suffer and to toil.
What matters it to us, so long as we
Are the favored ones who real the spoil?"
This is the sluggard's and the coward's view,
The cause of all the wrongs that curse the race.

Oh, for a day if man to man were true,
That day alone would every wrong efface.
With serving Mammon we have gone astray.
Our inmost souls with sordidness are blind.
We cannot see "the angel in the way."

We live for self and not for all mankind.
The age is drunk and blind with lust for gold,
And deaf and dumb to dying virtue's cries.
Yes, honor, friendship, even love is sold
And honesty is made a sacrifice.

Is this, oh men, the way His words you keep?
He warned you evermore to watch and pray,
Lest, i the spirit, you should fall asleep
And wander in temptation's downward way.
We sorely need within the world today
Some Godlike soul - grand, solemn, tender, true -
One that no worldly lust can lead astray -
A mighty work there is on earth to do.

We need a voice sublime and thunder-toned,
To speak the truth till all shall understand.
Till frauds and shams and falsehoods now enthroned
Be banished evermore from every land.
Awake, oh men, awaken from your sleep.
Cast sordid selfishness and lust away.
Oh then, but not till then, shall dawn the deep
And pure, sweet light of perfect freedom's day.

Sketch credit: Pinnacles of Parnassus:

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Developing Discernment

2009-02-24T15:14:00.003-07:00

Our youngest son teaches us continually about the merits of good discernment. Perhaps it is because of how well we have taught him that he creatively moves in another direction, like an improvising jazz musician.

For some reason, our warm and friendly extroverted son, doesn't always know when to stop talking class and is developing the nickname "Blurt."
We have taught him the value of friendships – but friends won out over homework for awhile and actually threatened his baseball season due to low grades.
We taught him to give back and pay it forward, but is choice of giving back to his school was misdirected when he autographed the inside covers of several text books (as one friend put it, he'll be famous some day and those autographs will be worth a lot.)

I really love him. He is so cool and is always keeping us on our toes.

Bearing the Mark of Cain

2009-01-29T13:52:00.006-07:00

While reading Thomas Aquinas, I was listening to Rhapsody. In the random mix, up came The Boss, Mr Bruce Springsteen. The song caught my ear and earned itself a few replays. Way to go, Boss!

From his latest album, Working on a Dream, the song "What Love Can Do" concludes with these stanzas...

Here our memory lay corrupted and our city lay dry/Let me make this vow to you/Here where it's blood for blood and an eye for an eye/Let me show you what love can do/Let me show you what love can do

Here we bear the mark of Cain/But let the light shine through/Let me show you what love can do/Let me show you what love can do/Let me show you what love can do/Let me show you what love can do

Over the past several days, I've been thinking about the phrase, "We're all in this together." It has been used in commercials. The concept is being applied to the cultural and emotional responses we are taking to the global economic recession. On the face of it, I guess that's a fine sentiment. To my more jaded world-view, it may be that some advertiser is just trying to tell you that they understand my stress and that because of their magnanimous empathy, they deserve my few bucks over those other unfeeling louts.

Well, back to Springsteen. I've rarely been let down by his insights (I know, Tunnel of Love was bit lacking). But he's redeemed himself several times over. As Bruce sang, What Love Can Do, I heard him step outside of our paternalistic assumptions. It wasn't that he understood in a condescending way. Actually, the lyric grabs all of us and places in the midst of a curse and challenge.

Biblically speaking, we have tended to look at the curse placed upon Cain as a curse that was his, or, to the more bigoted among us, that this mark lasted as a mark upon an entire race. God placed the mark on Cain our God's great frustration at humanities sickening addiction to getting even. Behind which, of course, is the shallow basin of our self-deluded thoughts about sound judgments and justice. As the mark of Cain is told in Genesis, it is a protection for Cain, but also for the rest of the world. Yet, it is also a mark of sin, failure, and the need for responsibility. The world knows that Cain killed Abel, and the earth itself cried out to God at the spilled blood shed on the virgin soil.

But the mark of Cain wasn't to be only Cain's. We all have the mark of Cain. We are all a sign and warning to one another to stop our vengeance, self-justifications, and condemnations. We all are walking with the same mark on us. We are all in this brokenness together. And out of our weakness and heartache, God's mercy allows that there is still light that can show through, and that we can show what love can do. We are victims, but only of ourselves. We are sources of love and light from an unrelenting Source, who empathizes with our brokenness more than any advertiser telling us "we're all in this together."

Amusing Ourselves to Obscurity

2009-01-26T10:40:00.003-07:00

I've been reading a surprisingly heady book, Homer Simpson Goes to Washington: American Politics through American Culture, edited by Joseph Foy. It is a collection of essay, some of which look closely at the cultural and political debates that arise in The Simpsons.

While it is amusing at one level, the essayists, would argue, The Simpsons are not a mindless amusement as such. One essay in particular concluded by looking at the assumptions of the American Dream held by the members of the Simpson's household. One essay in particular seemed to drive at our current socio-emotional malaise, which demonstrates itself in our current economic plight. The third essay of the book, "Political Culture and Public Opinion", by J. Michael Bitzer is striking for its present applications.

The work of James Truslow Adams is cited in analyzing the notion or the reality of the American Dream. Interesting to note is that his study took place at the beginning of the Great Depression, publised in 1932. It would also make one wonder if amusing ourselves with a mindless pursuit of the American Dream might mitigate toward a depression, or a grand recession. James T. Adams writes: "There has been the Ameriican Dream, that dream of a land in which life should become fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or acheivement." But noting the conflicting realitiy of classism, he continuted, "those on top, financially, intellectually, or otherwise, have got to devote themselves to the Great Society, and those who are below in the scale have got to strive to rise, not merely economically, but culturally. We cannot become a great democracy by giving ourselves up as individuals to selfishness, physical comfort, and cheap amusements."

With those last lines, I wonder if we've lost sight of an American Dream that is worth dreaming about? While there's a pull in public education to become culturally more sensitive and strive "upward" by challenging thinkers, is there a similar trend among the "have-made-it" crowd to become sensitive toward those that are "below?" While James T Adams indicated in 1932 a two-way flow toward a meeting in the middle, we seem to thing the middle is not the meeting ground of the American Dream. If it is not, then the "dream" is only attainable to a certain class. But, at the same time, is there a acquiesence to the elusiveness of the dream. If we never can attain the American Dream, can we just lower our sights a bit and just be happy where we are. In this scenario, it seems that we become slaves to the marketers who will define happiness for us. In James T Adams words, "by giving ourselves up... to selfishness, physical comfort, and cheap amusements."

In conclusion, the essay quotes de Tocqueville,

In democratic peoples, men easily obtain a certain equality; they cannot attain the equality they desire. It retreats before them daily but without ever evading their regard, and, when it withdraws, it attracts them in pursuit. They constantly believe they are going to seize it, and it constantly escapes their grasp. They see it from near enough to know its charms, they do not approach it close enough to enjoy it, and they die before having fully savored its sweetness.

Perhaps, not only is de Tocqueville correct, but is describing a healthy disregard for simple satisfaction of attainment.

Just a thought...

Chubbles

2009-01-23T05:24:00.005-07:00

A couple weeks ago it was my intention to get back into the blogging. It had been since before Christmas that I had last gotten into the rhythm of it. After Christmas, we had family, kids were home, and the home was active. I took advantage of the time together and didn't really feel like writing.

Then we got back into the swing of things. But then, my son's cat got sick.

Chubbles was a beautiful cat. His deep black fur lightened into shades of grey as you dragged your fingers more deeply into the downy fur under his coat. He was a mixed breed, but included a strong line of Maine Coon, a species of cat that can grow up to 25 pounds. Chubbles was 19 pounds, and still growing. When he placed himself in your lap, you knew it! As a Maine Coon, he also had the ability to play catch. It was as if he had an opposable thumb and could grab at toys like a human hand. And like all cats, he had a slightly domineering nature that, at least on the outside, communicated nobility, independence, and self-reliance. On the inside, however, he loved to be close, especially to Nathan.

We are grateful to God that such a simple beast could be in our lives, and especially our son's life to teach about love and acceptance.

Initially, my intention was to use this blogging space as a place to contemplate on the shared realities of life. Realities we share regardless of our politics, our religious convictions, and our status in life. Issues of driving on icy roads, having to figure out who to vote for, the appearance of snow, life lessons from sports, etc. All those things we share by virtue of humanity.

I wasn't ready to reflect on teaching my son about death.

Last week we took our cat, Chubbles, to the vet for a strangely swollen ear. While the procedure was simple, we didn't plan on doing to then. It was expensive, and we just didn't have the money. Then, over the weekend, Chubbles was sick at his stomach. Then he became listless. By Monday, it was apparent that this was not a simple stomach problem. When we got Chubbles into the vet, he was treated as an emergency. This was not a stomach problem, nor an infection related to his ear. He had a blockage in his bladder and his kidneys were in danger of shutting down. Over the next two days, Chubbles was loved and cared for by our vet and his team. Nathan was able to visit in the animal hospital. But then on the second night, Chubbles died.

Chubbles was a loveable cat. He had the habit of landing in your lap, crawling up your chest, and then placing a paw on each side of your neck. He would in that way give a gentle hug. He, of course, did the cat kinds of things, like clawing at the carpet, trying to tear at wall paper, and sometimes, just getting under foot. But more than anything he did, he kept teaching our son about the reality of love and acceptance.

Every night, as it was time for my son to go to sleep, he'd call our old dog, 14 years old, and his young cat, just 3 1/2 years old, into his room. When the lights went out, Chubbles would cuddle with Nathan and purr. Now for the past few nights, Nathan has deeply missed his friend, Chubbles.

Even our dog, Neenah, seems to look around, standing still in the living room, turning her sad brown eyes (her eyes always look melancholy) around looking for Chubbles. On Wednesday afternoon we found a place in the garden for Chubble's body to be buried. We had a simple funeral service for him. After it was completed, Neenah was eager to come outside. I thought she needed to come out, but instead, she just wanted to. Neenah came to the place when Chubbles was buried and just sat there. She sniffed the ground a bit and just sat there. I don't know how, but she knew that Chubbles was there, and that Chubbles would stay there.

Now we are teaching Nathan how to grieve. He's never deeply done this before. He is learning that there is a hole in his life that will never be filled. The contemplation is taking hold that life is filled with good-byes that come way too soon. Good-byes over which we have no control. Nathan is also learning that in grief, not only are we overcome by the loss, but we are reminded of the loss over and over. The torn wall paper, the clawed at carpet, and the lack of a warm body purring each night makes each day end with some tears.

The hardest part for us, as parents, is watching our son grieve. We know that he needs to, and that he needs to participate in the processing of his own grief. So we will work together to put away the cat-toys, put away the food dish, and set aside the litter-box. Over the weekend, we'll get more photos of Nathan and Chubbles and find a way for Nathan to display them. Then in some "fullness of time" we'll look for another kitten for him to care for. But not as a replacement for Chubbles and the hole he's left in Nathan's life, but simply as a creature in need of care who will give its own brand of love back.

Thank you to our friends who have shared their condolences with Nathan. While he's learned a great deal about loss and love from Chubbles, he's also learned about care and compassion from people.

Time for Prayer for Barak Obama

2009-01-17T17:35:00.002-07:00

This prayer was written and shared throughout the Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends over the past month. Arthur Robert, the patriarchal prophet and pastor for the Yearly Meeting penned this prayer.

Prayer for President Obama

Lord God, we pray for President Barack Obama. We praise you for the gifts you have nurtured in him: to think clearly, to speak eloquently, to interact effectively. Guide him, God, to use these skills both wisely and well as he leads our nation and serves our world. Thank you for his bright summons to audacious hope.

May we citizens bracket that vision with faith and love, so that civility and justice mark our nation's journey into an unknown and somewhat scary future.

May the glare of publicity never blind him to truth. May political power never dull empathy with ordinary people. May pride of position never corrode his conscience. Warn him, Lord, when evils, disguised as good, tempt him to stray from what is right and true. Teach him to backtrack from wrong turns amiably, but to follow right roads tenaciously.

Strengthen his commitment to servant leadership. May neither acclaim nor criticism tarnish his congeniality. Show him patterns of patience that tarry but do not dawdle. When he is tired and stressed, refresh him, Lord, in his body, in his mind, in his spirit. When alone he wrestles over difficult ethical and policy issues may this follower of Jesus heed his Master's guiding voice.

Oh, and Lord, in busy times remind President Obama of his heart-felt pledge and studied practice: to be an attentive and loving husband and father.

Amen!

Rick Warren Can Pray, Right?

2008-12-18T14:18:00.005-07:00

Before too many people begin to wonder what on earth Obama is thinking by inviting Rev. Rick Warren to the inauguration, please read The Audacity of Hope, Chapter 6 entitled, "Faith."

In this chapter, a relational theology is set out. One in which the longing for a divine relationship that is eternal and present is set out. In seeking a faith to deal with the existential reality of loneliness, Obama speaks frankly about his mother's spirituality, and his search that led him to faith.

In speaking about his Christian faith, Obama sounds like some of the classic Baptist leaders of the past, especially Roger Williams (I mean the long ago past!), and not much like contemporary liberal or conservative Christian leaders. In fact, he comes out as a bit of an oddball. An oddball that would be too liberal for conservatives and too conservative for liberals. It not just politacal pragmatism, it is a stance that finds much of the certainties and the abiguities of faith too profound to be limited to one "camp" or another.

I think Rick Warren, especially because of his commitment to end poverty, provide HIV care to those in need, and his growing awareness to the validity of a truly social gospel makes Rev. Warren an excellent, albeit initially surprising, choice.

A Birthday Card

2008-12-18T14:09:00.002-07:00

Last night on NPR's All Things Considered, Father described the common occurrence this time of year. In recent years, there has been an evolution in Christmas cards. A few of our friends and family will send us a card with their picture on the front. They are often dressed up in green and red. Sometimes, they are posing for the camera while on a vacation. With this in mind, Father James Martin's essay, "More Virgin Mary, Less Vigin Islands" asks the question:

"Try a thought experiment. For your next birthday, how would you
feel about getting a birthday card with my photo on it? "Happy Birthday!
It's a photo of me!"

Read the essay yourself at: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97854252

By the way, if this is a product of the liberal media elite, I think we could all use more of this....

Meaningful Sole

2008-12-17T21:57:00.000-07:00

Hmm? Can socially-minded, justice-oriented Christians thow shoes?

Care & Feeding of Spiritual Leaders, Part 3

2008-12-17T10:06:00.005-07:00

Crossing Borders Without Crossing Boundaries

There are dilemmas we face in spiritual leadership. Sometimes we are unaware of where we are, our sense of place. Then we look around and wonder, "how did we get here?" Is this where my vocation has led? Or, has there been a current into which I have stepped, unreflectively, and just gone along with the flow?

I remember a dreadful realization during my seminary education. One of my jobs during seminary was to sit up all night and make sure that the seminary was safe. On the hour, I would walk the halls of the seminary classrooms and dorms to make sure that the doors leading outside were all closed and locked. It was a great job for a student. I ended up doing most all of my studying on my night shift.

One night as the dorms were quiet and the whole building was silent, a fearful insight hit me. I lived in the dorm, an institution of the church. I spent my days in the classrooms of the seminary, an institution of the church. At night, I worked for the seminary security, an institution of the church. When I ventured off campus, I served as an assistant to one of my professors, himself an institution of the church. And when I went outside those institutions, I was usually either at church in worship, or visiting with friends from church. How could I be learning to extend the good news of the reign of God when everyone I knew already went to church and was a professed Christian? Shouldn’t I be hanging around non-Christians? I realized then and there, this might very well be my life.

Years after that night of reflection on my immersion in the institutes of the church, I had a similar revelation. I was in my first congregation. I happened to be preaching through Luke-Acts (if that helps to set up the theological dissonance!) at that period in my life. But one day it hit me as I was in our parsonage. I lived in the parsonage, an institution of the church. I spend my days in committee meetings, visiting members, and in the office preparing sermons and photo-copying bulletins, supporting the institutions of the church. When I ventured away from the “parish”, I went to ministerial groups and church-wide conventions. While the unity of life and work can be energizing, for me it had become too narrow. How could I be preaching and teaching from the great missionaries, Paul, Luke, and the early disciples, and not know a single non-Christian?

Now I am not against the supportive care of pastoral ministry and the deep abiding value of sharing good news with those who have already committed themselves to the reign of God and to a personal relationship with Jesus. But there was a leash of sorts in my training and in my pastorate that either led me to fulfill certain expectations, or, kept me close to home. The leash can lead, or the leash can restrain. Crossing boundaries becomes problematic in this kind of life. The ever-moving plan in the Acts of the Apostles kept frustrating me.

As we speak of developing missionally formed spiritual leaders, there is a need to take time to consider the borders we are, or want to be, crossing. For some, crossing another border can become an outlet to get away from too narrow a horizon for ministry. For these, crossing the border may have more to do with a need to get away, rather than a need to engage. Sometimes leaving behind to flee that which is painful is necessary, but it can also become a temporary escape. When a broken person seeks escape, rather than dealing with the issues that are causing pain, there is a possibility that crossing borders is not the intention at all. If there is enough brokenness it may be healthy boundaries that have been broken and crossed.

For others, there may be opportunities to cross borders out of a positive calling forward, not an escaping from. One acquaintance in full-time pastoral ministry has spent the past twenty years as a soccer coach for community (not church) leagues. The intention has not been that he brings these families into the church, but the church, through the giving up of their pastor, brings itself into the community. Another friend in full-time pastoral ministry accepted the call to his present church with the caveat that he be allowed to be, “the public chaplain, not just the parochial priest.” Both of these spiritual leaders have an opportunity to carry out a missional pastorate. They are capable of crossing borders with a positive calling forward, rather than a negative sense of escapism.

As we speak of developing spiritual leaders, there has to be an awareness of the leader’s ability to find an awareness of her or his part in the missional church. It may be in quiet friendships with neighbors, or in larger, “public chaplain” activities. But the degree to which a spiritual leader can do this has ramifications on the expectations of the local congregation being served as pastorate. A lively polarity needs to be addressed: the tension between the local church being served, and the spiritual leader finding ways to engage the community beyond the congregation, “within” versus “beyond”.

A vital spiritual awareness of our sense of place in God’s care and hope is a foundation for forming as a missionally formed spiritual leader. More on sense of place next time…

Care & Feeding of Spiritual Leaders, Part 2

2008-12-10T08:08:00.002-07:00

Need for Spiritual Practices

Authors Willimon and Hauerwas wrote:

"pastoral ministry is too adventuresome and demanding to be sustained by trivial, psychological self-improvement advice. What pastors, as well as the laity they serve, need is a theological rationale for ministry which is so cosmic, so eschatological and therefore counter cultural, that they are enabled to keep at Christian ministry in a world determined to live as if God were dead. Anything less misreads both the scandal of the gospel and the corruption of our culture, (pg 144)."

Immersion in a counter-cultural narrative requests from us a determination to live into another story.

The basic practices of lectio divina, contemplation, and varieties of prayer are affirmations of another narrative taking root. At times feeling synthetic and forced, these practices in time emerge as lively and dynamic. This loss of this basic reality of Christian spiritual practice can be seen in the rejection that some church-leavers express. Alan Jameison identifies frustrated leaders creating frustrated followers. Jameison notes that those who leave church at a high percentage are frequently its lay leaders. These leaders have experienced poor pastoral ministry, limiting administration, or unaddressed conflict. At the heart of their search, however, is spiritual vitality. As these leaders leave church, intending to never go back, they often create fellowships of spiritual and relationtional integrity. It was not church these people were rejecting; it was the spiritually dislocatedness of the churches they had known from which they were separating themselves. Spiritual leaders need spiritual practices in their own lives, but also, these practices are necessary for the sake of the leaders and congregational participants in the process of being mentored and formed.

One of the pressing needs for spiritual leaders is the opportunity to carefully view issues relating to boundaries. Each of us has internal pressures seeking relief from a variety of pressures. Some are basic, others more complex. Many boundaries can become confused. Desires for rest, intimacy, challenge, and prosperity can become skewed, resulting in a variety of disasters. Spiritual leaders falling victim to various sins may be falling victim to natural hopes and desires unidentified and unattended; or, falling victim to misplaced desires while seeking to console one pain through the expense of another aspect of their own identity. For instance, unethical sexual relationships for spiritual leaders frequently occur as the result of misplaced desires for a new identity, or a desire to be admired, a need for friendship, etc. Being unaware of the broken and wounded areas of our own lives makes us easy prey for these destructive tendencies. At this level, spiritual practices are vital not only for spiritual leadership, but being a spiritual human person. Spiritual practices lived by leaders in the congregation remain vital for the health of the congregation. The griefs, loss, anguish, and confusion in congregations arising from the ethical violations of their pastors, ministers, and spiritual leaders is extensive and long-lasting. Spiritual practices become a vital piece in helping spiritual leaders from engaging in sexual violations, abuse of laity, financial scandals, substance abuse, workaholic lifestyle, and many others.

Protecting Boundaries While Crossing Borders

The issues relating to broken boundaries have been discussed widely and at length in many church systems, denominations and fellowships. Yet a few crucial aspects may be missing from these conversations. First, we are in a missional era for the church. The missional era requires new skills, new narratives, and new practices from spiritual leaders. Many of the practices and attitudes of Christendom will not add the vitality needed to pursue the vocation God is granting. Second, this new world of missional leadership is filled with opportunities for rabbit trails, side-paths, and unfamiliar mazes.

As missional spiritual leaders we need narratives that make sense of our dissonance with much of contemporary culture, but keep us in relationship with it. While in fear, we may be defensive about the protection of certain boundaries, we need also to cross over some defensive walls that get in the way of a missional life-style.

In more than one of my pastorates, I was expected to help retain the separation of the faith and the social and cultural reality of the neighborhood and larger community. This was done in small and simple ways. For the most part my job description was to care for and serve the congregation. Any reach beyond that would face scrutiny. For the attempts to reach out in relationship to the wider community, when that is not valued in practice by a local congregation, requires a variety of leadership skills. But it also requires more foundationally, spiritual discernment and practices which clarify and strengthen missional identity. For instance, a bishop I know explained that he was trying to insert into his portfolio of expected tasks a mission way of life. Realizing that all of his time was spend caring for the congregations of his synod, he had no time to engage his neighbors or his local community. Furthermore, it could be the case that he didn't even have a local community because the expansive territory he had to cover, geographically. After prayer and conversation, he was able to develop a percentage of his ministry time to engaging in his local community in a missional way. But that development took time.

As pastors move from Christendom/maintenance churches toward missional churches keeping personal boundaries will be all the more crucial. As the role-defined boundaries give way from a maintenance mode to a missional one, the temporary loss of a proscribed identity can be disturbing for some. To understand a God-given self-definition in the midst of this change is vital. To know who we are in God's eyes as we serve and relate in a new "parish" (i.e. our expanded awareness of our wider communities to which we have been called to serve) is the only way in which we can serve to demonstrate the reality of the kingdom of redemption, healing, and hope that we are proclaiming.

While there are boundaries to protect, there are borders to cross over. Knowing the difference between the two also calls forth the need for other types of fellowship, accountability, and prayer.

How have you experienced the balance between protecting boundaries and crossing borders?

Hot Topics

2008-12-05T11:01:00.003-07:00

One of the simple things I enjoy after a hard workout at the gym is to sit in the dry sauna. It's a hundred seventy degrees in there. If that's not hot enough, the men and women in there start talking. Usually it starts with a comment about prices of groceries and gas, childcare, and traffic. Mundane stuff, but if folks stay in there long enough, the conversations turn political, comments arise about values, then eventually God is invoked (pietistically or in blasphemy).

Yesterday it was about the prices dropping in the housing market. There were some well-to-do retirees there who worried about their retirement investments and there were a couple middle-aged folks concerned about their equity. One guy, though, mentioned the destabilization in the neighborhoods due to foreclosures. At first some got drawn into that conversation because any drain on the neighborhood, was a strain on their property investments. But then an amazing thing happened. People began to talk about how neighborhoods needed to share in more meaningful community, people getting to know their neighbors and caring about each other. The conversation skipped the politic (which in Idaho usually means blaming the Democrats) and went to straight to the values we share in common.

One of the books I am going through now is Barak Obama's The Audacity of Hope. In the opening chapter, he makes the point that we really want to be able to talk to each other outside the ideological positions. In fact, until can get out of the red-state/blue-state mentality we will not be capable of any real reform in government.

When the sauna conversation skipped politics and went straight to shared values and hopes, we skipped the ideological/political stage. It's been only a few weeks since the election, but are we rally beginning to take seriously the idea of listening to each other? I hope this becomes a habit.

Care and Feeding of Spiritual Leaders, Part 1

2008-12-02T13:25:00.004-07:00

While there are varieties of administrative, managerial, and programmatic skills needed for effective spiritual leadership, there is also a need to reclaim the role and position of a spiritual leader. Perhaps "spirituality" in the old modern age existed as ethereal and detached. Positive models of spirituality were then unnoticed, not discussed, or disregarded as unnecessary to leadership. With the advent of a new generation of business management books this level of disregard began to be questioned (Senge, Drucker, Wheatley, Covey, etc).

Interesting to note is how the church as an institution can innovate, but haltingly. Sometimes, in trying to be effective stewards of the resources at its disposal, we seek to be efficient. We struggle to define that efficiency and still find ourselves seeking to practice leadership that was developed in the business school of thought developed by Frank and Lillian Gilbreth and their "time and motion" research. If we were seeking to increase production of widgets, perhaps some of this would work. Or, if you too, were seeking to manage a large family. But since congregations aren't looking for a spiritual parent, the Gilbreth model might not work.

Other schools of management thought have taken root in the church. My intention here is not to cite them all, but to acknowledge that we have overridden the spiritual purposes of the church and its leadership to the detriment of all involved. An efficient process - robbed of a spirit of meaning and value and purpose becomes an alienating and draining process - becomes a dead-end.

This level of alienation is common among ministering leaders. In 1989, authors Willimon and Hauerwas wrote:

Cynicism, self-doubt, and loneliness seem to be part of a pastor's job description…All of our talk about what a great adventure it is to be in the church seems to crumble when placer alongside the lives of many of the pastors we know. Recently, when asked about the problem of depression among clergy, a pastoral counselor who spends much of his day counseling clergy remarked, 'What's the problem? Depression is the normal state of clergy.' (Resident Aliens, 112).

The alienation and depression does not end with the clergy, but the other leaders they shape within the congregation. As our inner life becomes more and more distanced from the public life of our leadership positions, the greater the tendency to go searching for answers in a piece-meal fashion. For church growth we read demographics, for ministry leadership we seek management advice, and for inner care and growth we often fall prey to faddish self-help in a guise of spiritual nurture. Spiritual leaders need to consolidate and integrate practices of spiritual nurture that speak to the whole of their being, not just the separate lines of their job description – their "doings." Without an integrated spiritual care, self-definition becomes the domain of the other external roles and relationships. Integrity (i.e. being integrated) becomes more difficult due to the lack of an over arching God-centered self-understanding.

I remember as a young pastor hoping for my day off. Not so that I could rest and relax with my family. I wasn't looking forward to running errands or house work, or other day-off kinds of things. I was looking forward to being myself apart for the roles that I thought my church wanted me to fulfill. In that congregation, I learned the painful result of burnout through a long and difficult stress-induced illness. After my recovery, I made conscious choices about integrating my identity with the roles I carried. I chose to let go of certain expectations of my role and seek a definition of myself shaped by God through careful engagement in classic spiritual disciplines. Since I lived through that experience of alienation from God's vocation for and definition of my identity, I have tried to counsel other spiritual leaders on how to navigate the world of expectations and role definition crafted by even the most well-meaning congregations.

What have been your experiences in spiritual practices and nurture as a pastor, elder, minister, spiritual leader, rector, bishop, conference minister, etc.?

Care and Feeding of Spiritual Leaders, Preface

2008-12-02T13:14:00.002-07:00

Over the next week or so, I will be diverting from the normal conversation I've tried to develop on this blog. I am continually aware that while there are profound issues as well as mundane issues filling the blogosphere, there's not a lot out there about ministers, pastors, spiritual leaders, and judicatory officials that seeks to address care and nurture of the spiritual aspect of the vocation. Thus over the next few days or weeks, I'll be posting ideas and stories from my perspective. I look forward to your input.

Public

2008-11-07T12:34:00.000-07:00

"Public = interaction of STRANGERS through a shared set of actions," Dr. Pat Keifert

A Black Eye to Racism

2008-11-05T11:50:00.004-07:00

I am sure that last night's victory for Barak Obama was not the final blow to racism in America, but it was a powerful one.

Right before falling asleep last night, I remembered my sister's fight against racism when we were small children. Her friend, Phylis was crying. When my sister asked why, Phylis explained that a boy (who has become rather (in)famous nowadays, so shall remain nameless) had called her a name. I think my sister was about 7 or 8 years old. The word that made Phylis cry was the "n-word". Up to that point, we never really thought of Phylis or her little brother as African-American, they were just neighbors and playmates.

Though I wasn't there, the report was basically that my sister went up to Nameless Boy and socked him in the eye. He had a black eye.

Racism has always been a black eye on America. Last night, I thought something was beginning to change. Maybe we are finally growing up enough to see beyond the color of someone's skin. Maybe we are actually entering a new era. I am proud of my sister being a part of a long line of people beating down racism, she was a part of the process that found fruition in yesterday's election.

Way to go Sis!

Community Formation

2008-10-19T15:03:00.000-06:00

Three days ago I had a great conversation which made me reflect on the value and type of communities in which I participate.

We speak of our "Sidewinder Family" and our "Gold Rush" family. But we never really looked into the dynamics of those "families." These families are composed of at least one boy about the age of 11 years and one or more parents. The Sidewinders is a traveling baseball team that's been together for over two years. The Gold Rush is a football team that's been together for three years. There are several families that overlap both of these groups.

So three days ago, one of the father's of a Gold Rush football team member was completing an assignment for a college composition class. The assignment was to interviews members of a community to find out what forms that community and what value it adds to life. Together with one other father, we discussed our values and how this experience for our boys affected us and made us want to be a part of each other's lives.

What I have realized is that we are a part of this community that is pulled together by youth sports. While youth sports can at times challenge family time, commitment to church activities, and challenge the budget, there is an opportunity to form meaningful shared bonds. We together express a desire to help our kids, and each other's kids to be good people, that is the main focus. But beyond that, we really enjoy one another's company.

Now that football is done, we have a bit of a lull. It will be interesting to see how this community will re-gather itself without or children's activities to pull us together. Will we keep up with each other, or will the tug and fragmentation of modern life keep us apart until next August when the pads and helmets start crunching and crashing again? I hope we keep in touch.

$700,000,000,000.00

2008-09-26T15:33:00.005-06:00

It seems the more we try to play this game, the more we get hurt. Wall Street suits trying hard to stay insulated against their own mortality. While the rest of just want to have enough to take care of our families and those we love. The suits in D.C. don't seem any more sensitive to the lives we live. Lives, of "quiet desperation" may soon give way to a vocal cynicism.

I'm awaiting my friend over at http://jointheclasswar.blogspot.com/ to pick up on this topic. Code Pink has already gotten folks ready with "No Cash for Trash" campaign.

Maybe all of us with mortgages should march on Wall Street banks and burn our mortgage. I don't suppose that would do much. With their bailout around the corner, they'd have the funds to chase us back home in time for their well orchestrated sheriffs' sales.

The other use for $700,000,000,000.00 – split it up among the middle-class on down. "Middle-class" I hear McCain defines that as $250,000 on down. Not in my neighborhood. If you've got only five digits in your annual income, then maybe you can join us in the middle class (unless you have to live in Manhattan or Sun Valley, you'll need more to get by there). Maybe use it as seed money for down payments on homes for the poor so there can be stabilization in neighborhoods. Maybe some of that could go to healthcare for the poor and under-insured, which would boost domestic productivity. I could think of plenty of ways to divide $700,000,000,000.00 other than providing first aid so that some CEO doesn't have to face the crisis: which to sell, the 90ft yacht or their Bombardier Lear 60XR. Oh times might be tough for them when there's a Wall Street sidewalk sale.

Are we feeling better yet?

Listening to Strangers: An Experiment

2008-09-25T08:50:00.005-06:00

What if we (okay, I) were to walk up to a stranger, a neighbor, and a friend, as ask an open ended question about a biblical text? Asking questions like "what do hear in this passage?" or "what words or images come to mind when you hear this...?" What would be the types of responses? Maybe a text like, "the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof;" or, "love your enemies;" or the "children of God... shining like stars."

I'll let you know if I do it. If you do it first, let me know.

Zwingli's and Luther's Kids

2008-09-25T07:44:00.010-06:00

My friends, a Presbyterian minister, and a Lutheran minister are studying the Apostles Creed with a joint confirmation class. A nice experience of ecumenism: the children of Zwingli and Luther sitting in a class reading the Bible together, studying the historic creeds and confessions, and Luther's Short Catechism. As this class began to study the Apostles Creed, I was invited to speak on the first article from a Mennonite perspective.

Mennonites, after all, are perceived to be connected to the land. My years in Kansas affirmed that assumption. The emerald green waves of winter wheat draw your sight to ground, then to the horizon, and eventually to the big wide open sky. The earth, its sky and soils are a providential act of unconditional love.

I tried to explain a little of the Mennonite history of baptism upon confession and how it was interpreted as a protest against a state run church; how refraining from infant baptism was an act of treason against the state (a form of tax evasion); how Anabaptist folk were driven to the wilderness and countryside through harsh persecution. Persecution made all the more harsh by the wedded powers of the church and the state. Eventually transitioning to a rural and agrarian culture. It was hard to keep this moving forward for a bunch of 12 and 13 year olds. So I tried not to dwell on too much history.

We talked a little about the historic experience of Mennonites in Europe, fleeing to Russia. While not trying to slight the Swiss Mennonites, we spoke only briefly of the 13 families that came to Pennsylvania by invitation of William Penn. But manly, we spoke of the Dutch/Low German Mennonites who journeyed to Russian, becoming, at Catherine the Great's pronouncement, the "quiet in the land". These Mennonites quietly came to America beginning in the 1870s to the Great Plains, leading to the growth of Mennonite farming and the affected the world-wide production of wheat. A historical event that we still experience with every bite of bread.

But most interesting was the open conversation around the question of similarities and differences. What is the difference between Lutherans, Presbyterians, and Mennonites. When confronted by this question in front of kids in seventh and eighth grade, sophisticated answers don't cut it. While we have different interpretations of the Bible and the creeds, we had one moment in which we three pastors made clear to the kids that we read from the same text. And that that same text, the Bible, we all agreed was a document given by God to people.

The idea of a "normalizing norm," is just this kind of conversation. A conversation, not among esoterica and theological sophisticates, but with kids seeking to mature in faith - in this conversation we had to come to the norm we all hold in common and common esteem. It's not the differences we begin with, but our shared value of the Bible. Then, from a common text in which we can dwell we can begin to talk about the different histories and reflections that have shaped our theological imaginations and cultures.

It's not a big thing. This was a casual, relaxed encounter among three Christian traditions. The lasting power of the content of the evening will wane - quickly, most likely. However, if these young people in Christian formation can get a glimpse of the fact that we are all held together in the same body of Christ, then the lasting lesson is probably the best.

My New Journey into Substitute Teaching

2008-09-19T12:21:00.005-06:00

Ah, the carefree days of kindergarten.... only when you're a kid.

My kindergarten day was today. In fact, it wasn't even a day, it was an hour. It felt like a day. The teacher for whom I was subbing had three educational goals outlined for his young students. They were to learn the fundamentals of "fleeing, chasing, and dodging." I never heard these described a educational goals, but they are legitimate enough, especially if you are planning to grow up either to be an athlete, a criminal, or a crime fighter. Time will tell.

Lunch is over, time now for Health class. We're talking about manners. Ugh, another subject I know nothing about. But then comes kickball. I'm ready for that. But I guess it's just more of the same, "fleeing, chasing, and dodging," but now with kicking and catching included.

Blackberry Post

2008-09-12T09:43:00.000-06:00

This is a test. I've not tried to blog with my mobile phone. But it might work. I suppose if this works, I might post more often, but shorter posts.

Silent Nights, Empty Skies and a White Helmet

2008-09-11T14:23:00.003-06:00

I had readied my children for school and they had just recently emptied the house. My wife called on her way to work. "Something's happening, are you listening to the news?" I think that was the end of our phone call. I went and turned on the news on television just as the first tower was collapsing. I could do nothing but stare in disbelief.

At that time, I had two jobs. I worked part-time at Home Depot for one. The other job was to make morning home delivery of newspapers, a job that required me to work from about 2 am to 5am every day. Later that day, I went to work at Home Depot. While we all showed up to work, very few people showed up to shop. I recall repotting a house plant for a woman who remarked, "I shouldn't be out on a day like this. But I just had to get out of the house. I just needed to see people." So she came to Home Depot and saw the few customers that day, many who walked like ghosts, barely noticing each other, deep in thought and pondering many levels of grief.

Later that night, I went to sleep for a few hours before waking up to my news paper job. At 2am, there are very few people out anyway, but this first night after the attack, was eerily quiet. A silent night. There was no other traffic on the road. No other night time delivery vehicles and nothing moving in the sky. Even though there isn't a lot of night travel in the sky over Boise, there is some. Though the sky was full of stars, it felt empty. But at the same time, the empty sky felt threatening. Any thought of something flying by was now a potential violent strike. It was not so much an emotion of fear as it was a realization of vulnerability: this is what it felt like to be on the receiving side of a war.

Over the next days, there was endless chatter. Televangelists proclaimed portentous conclusions about the meaning of it all – God's judgment on us for our God-forsaken ways; because we'd taken prayer out of school. Politicians and commentators tried to connect the networks and explain the terrorist networks. Lots of people were just trying to make sense of it. But it was senseless. And the sense to be made out of it is an ongoing project for survivors.

One attempt at sense making came from a co-worker at Home Depot. I guess it was a week after the attacks. Funerals and memorial services had begun. Standing in the break room at Home Depot together we watch the hearse deliver a casket upon which was a white firefighter's helmet. The white one was worn by a priest, a chaplain in the NYFD. There may have been other funerals that had taken place, I wasn't sure. But the first one I saw was of a heroic priest who spent his last hours on earth welcoming people into the arms of God. In the midst of dreadful fear, anxiousness and breathless confusion, sheer chaos and blinding horror, NYFD Chaplain, Father Mychal Judge ran into the fire. One of the officers of the New York Fire Department, Steven McDonald, was able to say, uncontestedly about Father Judge, "Above all, he was a living example of Jesus Christ."

I turned to my co-worker. He was not planning on a career at Home Depot. Instead, he was in training to become a firefighter. As his eyes were transfixed by the television, his demeanor was transformed. As we watched the funeral of the NYFD chaplain proceeded, I asked, "Are you still sure this is what you want to do?" He was quiet, reflective. Then humbly and gently, not self-aggrandizing, he said, "yes, this is what I want to do." As a brother in Christ, I knew he was steeling himself for a life of giving and caring, undeterred.

Lawrence Goleman in his article, "Reclaiming the Story: Narrative Leadership in Ministry," noted the choice of the type of stories we tell and the motifs they carry can move the plot to a greater purpose and can help lead to faithful responses. Goleman demonstrates that,
"After 9/11, political leaders in the U.S. chose the genres of heroic tragedy and martyrdom, which narrowed public response to fit a drama of good versus evil." There were other ways of retelling the story of the events of that momentous day. Goleman wants us to understand that the way we tell stories can lead to a limited choice of responses, adding that, "had they chosen the genre of irony or the redemptive motif of atonement, then the inconsistencies between American ideals and U.S. foreign policy, especially in the Middle East, might have shaped a more open, collaborative, and international response."

Before the day began, the motif chosen by Father Mychal Judge was the "motif of atonement" seen in his last moments. Redemption and a life-laid-down kind of love could have been the legacy of the day.

We still have the choice of which stories to take from 9/11. We can choose stories that bring out the best in ourselves by remembering those who demonstrated the best in themselves. Or, we can bring out the worst in ourselves, by being manipulated by the fear of the day and dark spirits that have their way in violence, injustice, and retribution. So hard, but so necessary, is the need to remember eerily quiet nights, empty skies, and white helmets. There is grief, and loss, and fear. But there is also an undeterred option to choose life in the face of death.

Wonder No More, Part 2

2008-09-10T11:50:00.003-06:00

One thousand buckets of beer on the bench, one thousand buckets of beer, knock one down and throw to the ground, nine hundred ninety-nine buckets of beer on the bench... C'mon, you know the song...

So finally I went to see where all the trash I've been cleaning up for the past few weeks comes from (see previous post: Wonder No More). While I'd like to keep a detached, anthropological distance, I'd have to say I didn't.

For the month of August, my son's baseball team had been under the grandstands picking up trash to raise money for next year's baseball season. As a "thank you" from the track owner, we had been offered 20 tickets to the races. About five adults came along with about ten kids. Interestingly enough, there were no mothers with the kids. So, it was a boys night out. However, there were plenty of men and women in the crowd; it was in no way, just a guy thing. That went contrary to my expectations.

What also went contrary to my expectations was that it could actually be interesting to watch cars drive a quarter mile lap. After the different classes of cars each ran their time trials, the races began. By far, the sprint cars were the fastest and the loudest. Even through our ear plugs we could hear the power in those little cars.

I'll have to reflect later upon the nature of God and creation from this experience. Suffice it to say, it was great. It was fun to be someplace odd and very ordinary. It just served to remind how easy it can be to become detached from my own surroundings and my own community.

De-liberation: Thoughts about Proper 18 Year A

2008-09-05T06:07:00.005-06:00

Exodus 12 is about liberation. The freedom God made available to the Hebrew slaves in Egypt became a foundational narrative in the biblical story. From time to time, kings, priests, and prophets would retell the story to recall the mercy and power of God.

Matthew 18 is about liberation. The freedom God made available to the Hebrew slaves in Egypt, but also the freedom to other generations of exiles, becomes the Jesus-centered narrative telling of the mercy and power of God.

Both passages are concerned about process, though. You don't just get freed. Freedom requires some kind of deliberation. In Blogging Toward Sunday, Kristin Swenson writes, "Jesus and Paul agree that it requires careful consideration and judgment on our parts. In other words, as people of God, we have great responsibility to determine, in the day to day of our lives, how to love. Simply being nice isn't going to cut it. Real love in a down and dirty world requires informed deliberation (italics mine) and sometimes tough choices. Jesus' remark about "whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" brings to mind less a geographical place than a state of being. How we love or fail to love affects our relationships both to others and to God. Maybe, as Jesus suggests, in our dealings with others, we are not only learning to love, but we are also constantly shaping heaven."

Deliberation, while it sounds thoughtful, also runs counter to our intuitions about freedom. Taking the word apart a bit, to deliberate would mean to attach or bind oneself to something. There is an undoing of liberation in the prefix "de". There is a trading in of one bondage, and choosing something else to which we bind ourselves, not in bondage, but in choice.

Please take a listen to "I Bind My Heart This Tide," from the Mennonite Hymnal, sung here by Farther Along.

There's a surging freedom in becoming de-liberated.

Faith in Acquiescence

2008-09-04T07:40:00.001-06:00

Presently I am reading a study in the cultural history of utility computing. Yawn….

But actually, it is a fascinating and well written story of our cultural desire to be faster, better, bigger, more efficient and more productive and consumptive. The book, The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, From Edison to Google, by Nicholas Carr, not just a book for those wanting to know about public utilities (phones, electricity, water, etc), or computers and the Internet, per se. Rather it tells the story of how we as a culture blend " two discordant themes running through American culture: utilitarianism and transcendentalism (pg 88)".

Carr spells out some of the fantastic dreams that would, in part, be inspired the illuminations of the White City, the 1893 World's Fair Exposition in Chicago:

Electrification, people were told would cleanse the earth of disease and strife, turning it into a pristine new Eden. 'We are soon to have everywhere,' wrote one futurist, 'smoke annihilators, dust absorbers, ozonators, sterilizers of water, air, food, and clothing, and accident preventers on streets, elevated roads, and subways. It will become next to impossible to contract disease germs or get hurt in the city.' Another announced that 'electrified water' would become the powerful of all disinfectants.' Sprayed into every 'crook and crevice,' it would obliterate 'the very germs of unclean matter.' 'Indeed,' wrote another, 'by all potent power of electricity, man is now able to convert an entire continent into a tropical garden at his pleasure.' Not only would electricity open up the ability to control these lurking dangers, but it would also be capable of taming the greatest of chaotic forces. "Electrified machines would eliminate blizzards, droughts, and other climactic extremes, giving man, 'absolute control of the weather.' Inside homes, electric equalizers' would send out 'soothing electric current, to 'dissipate and domestic storm and ensure harmony in families." (pg 88)

Toward the end of this chapter, Carr quotes Norbert Wiener, an information theoretician and mathematician, "The simple faith in progress is not a conviction to strength, but one belonging to acquiescence and hence to weakness" (pg 125).

The weight of Wiener's quote is immense and applies to so much more than electricity. The myth of progress, one of modernity's most potent lures continues. While we may want to proclaim a post-modern era, our behaviors still long for a grand narrative into which we might limply acquiesce. Just melt into and disappear into a great machine. Carr quotes, from the turn of the century (the 19^th to the 20^th century, that is), that "people would become cogs in a wonderful mechanism…acting in response to the will of a corporate mind as fingers move and write at the direction of the brain (pg 89)." Years later authors like George Orwell would make a living warning against just such acquiescence.

Perhaps there is a continuing struggle to find a meaningful role for the individual in the life of faith. To follow a biblical injunction to "take up you cross and follow me," seems not like a faith of weakness. To turn one's cheek, to walk the extra mile for your persecutor all runs counter to acquiescence. To take heart from the prophets, "to love mercy, love justice, and walk humbly with God," is still a challenge toward strength.

As I read Carr, I am continually drawn in to the wonder and the warning of contemporary culture. I'm half way done, we'll see what comes next…

Wonder No More...

2008-09-02T10:01:00.007-06:00

Ever wonder about the hidden life of the small track speedway? I never did. Now I do. Sort of....

In fact, now I think about it in less than charitable ways. I know as a missionary to this culture, I have to find common ground and a way to engage in what God is already doing. God is present. But this will be a theological and anthropological adventure.

I have not yet been fully introduced to this alien culture. Growing up in the suburbs of Phoenix, our racing experiences were through the Wide World of Sports (that shows my age!). Never in all that time, did I ever see what happened once the crowd had gone home.

Last Sunday night, our local speedway had its delightful, "Trailer Trash Races." However, our job was not to enjoy the race, but to clean up afterward. My son's baseball team was cleaning up the trash each Sunday morning after the Saturday night races as a way to raise money for next year's baseball tournament season. Being environmentally responsible, we'd separate the plastic from the trash for recycling. But both plastic and trash told a story.

Plastics: why don't people finish what they purchase? So many soda and water bottles were still nearly full. Furthermore, the 85 oz "beer buckets" were usually empty. But some were not as empty as one would wish. The spray and drips of old beer kinda made one long for a shower.

Trash: The real joy was in the weekly competition of counting disposable diapers in the bleachers. The first week was three. The second week was four. But the last two weeks were only two and one respectively. With all the noise of the roaring engines, why would there be babies there?

Anyway, looking at the detritus, the debris, and the unfinished treasures of the speedway filled me with a strange desire to keep learning about this alien culture residing within in my own community. As anthropologists dig through the dumps of ancient civilizations past, they find insights to the culture under study. Going through ancient Mayan trash, or the garbage of ancient Jerusalem might be better - at least their beer buckets would have lost their stench over the eons.

But the missiological pursuit will continue - but this time, I'll do it from the top side of the bleachers. And I will finish my soda and throw it in the recycling bin.

Common Problems

2008-08-27T12:37:00.002-06:00

Yesterday I was at my son's football practice watching the kids (11 year olds) hit, run, catch and collide. Sitting at the sideline was one of my son's friends. I went over to ask why he wasn't practicing. He told me he had done something bad. He obviously didn't want to talk about it. Just about then, one of the coaches came and asked him to make a choice, "either you can sit there and watch; or, you can run. You choose."

I went over to him, took a knee, and asked, which he was going to choose. He was quiet. I asked, "which of the two choices that coach gave you do you think you should choose?" I told him to get up and we figured a plan for him to run the whole football yard for the next 40 minutes, allowing for water breaks.

A couple times those water breaks were a bit long. Twice, though, the players on the field were freed to take a water break also. As they cam over and saw their teammate running and not practicing, they asked, "hey why aren't you practicing?" I took him aside and said, "you don't like that question today, do you?" It was obvious. "When they come over for a break, you run. Don't stand here waiting to be questioned." So he ran.

Later today I'll see him again. This time I'll tell him I was proud of him for running and working. Then we'll talk a bit about what he did to earn the sideline and the running. He's a good kid. He made a bad choice, actually more than one.

Thinking about it, there's not a lot that happens with kids that is different between Christians and non-Christians. We have different resources, different ideas, different recourse. There is a great difference in some areas of our lives. But when it comes to kids knocking at the door of puberty, of adolescence, well that's an area of heartache and wonder for all parents, coaches, kids and athletes.

Peace.

Interesting Challenge

2007-10-23T14:04:00.000-06:00

Hmm. That's an interesting challenge, Craig. Let me think of three propositions that might fit Wright, Fee and other more recent interpreters. This is just a rough draft, but it's something to begin talking about:

1. God has worked through history, revealing himself and his ways to many people. These people wrote their experience of God, (in the Hebrew Scriptures through the Judaic people of God and in the New Testament through the person of Jesus), and these writings were collected as God's revelation.

2. While each individual insight may not be historically or scientifically true, the principles communicated by each author reflect God's true nature, action and will.

3. The clearest way to understand this revelation is by comprehending the cultural, social, historical, literary and theological background of the society from which and to which the author wrote.

So, does this make sense? Does it offend anyone? Any revisions?

Steve K

Needing Another Method for Reading Scripture

2007-08-27T12:29:00.000-06:00

Grenz makes an a common sense appeal that scripture be for us the norm for theological reflection. As "people of the book" that should be no-brainer. But no matter how ofter we read the common text, we continually find various ways to spit hairs and split communions. Few things seem as fraught with potential conflict as our most common heritage; i.e. reading scripture.

Recently, I was having lunch with some Presbyterian ministers while sharing strawberries, sharing thoughts on Luke 10, and trying to share a common approach to scripture. We looked at a passage from a PC USA resource (http://www.pcusa.org/oga/publications/scripture-use.pdf) called, Presbyterian Understanding and Use of Holy Scripture. Helpfully the document delineated three predominant approaches to reading scripture....

Model A Distinctive Characteristics: The Bible as a Book of Inerrant Facts

1. The rational procedure of mathematics, empirical science, and Common Sense philosophy are used in approaching the Bible as a collection of true facts and doctrinal propositions that can be organized into a logical system truly representing the mind and will of God.

2. Each word of the Bible is considered divinely chosen, and it is inerrant in all things, including science and history.

3. In all regards he Bible is considered to be the judge of human thought and in no way is it to be judged by us.

Model B Distinctive Characteristics: The Bible as Witness to Christ, the Word of God

1. Faith relationship replaces dependence on rational procedures. God can be known not by the mind alone, but by faith encounter with Jesus Christ, God incarnate.

2. The Bible is the word of God because by the Holy Spirit it is the instrument by which God in Christ encounters a person. The Bible is not diminished in its power by the presence of archaic and superseded conceptions of past times and cultures in matters of science and history as well as in religious and ethical realms.

3. The major emphasis is on God's act of self-revelation rather than on the process by which Scripture was written. The inspiration of its authors is not denied, but the stress is on the impact of the Holy Spirit on the readers of Scripture.

Model C Distinctive Characteristics: A Divine Message in Human Thought Forms

1. The social sciences such as psychology, sociology, and anthropology provide crucial insights for a thorough understanding of Scripture.

2. The accent is on the Bible's function as communicating a divine message in human forms of thought. The message speaks to the needs of people in all cultures despite its particular historical context of ancient Near Eastern culture. To understand the divine message one must pay the closest attention possible to the human words, neither presuming the meaning to be obvious nor forcing meaning into arbitrary harmonies or a preconceived theology.

3. Human, relational metaphors, rather than scientific or propositional statements aptly describe God's communication with his people and provide us with invaluable attitudes, approaches and analogies by which people can cope with contemporary problems in a Christian perspective.

The only disturbing thing was this was where the description ended. The first might be characterized as the Princeton School which gave rise to folks like Hodge, Berkhouer, Ryrie and contemporary fundamentalism. The second looks a lot like my seminary education, and most western seminaries of the mainline denominations. Steeped in Neo-Orthodoxy we read Barth, Brunner, and Bonhoeffer. The third option reminds me of my years studying existential philosophy and the method of correlation formed by Paul Tillich and the University of Chicago.

What is lacking in this list? Isn't there a fourth position that has emerged since the rise of postmodernity? Where do we put the likes of Grenz, N. T. Wright, and even Gordon Fee? So, what I am asking, can we begin to forge a unifying theory of biblical interpretation? Is there a fourth way appropriate to the context in which we now live and minister?

Common Purpose

2007-08-09T16:48:00.000-06:00

Reading today's email from Sojonet quoted at length a recent speech from Gordon Brown, the new PM in Britain. The Prime Minister's entire speech in online at: http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page12755.asp

It seems as if the people of Great Britain are fortunate to have a leader that understands that the international push of the Jubilee initiatives from the Vatican and rocker Bono are moving too slowly. Inspired by the call for Jubilee, the UN developed the Millennium Development Goals.

Brown said that we're moving too slowly and that, "our pace is too slow; our direction too uncertain; our vision at risk. ... We cannot allow our promises that became pledges to descend into just aspirations, and then wishful thinking, and then only words that symbolize broken promises."

He then challenged his audience:

And so my argument is simple: The greatest of evils that touches the deepest places of conscience demands the greatest of endeavor. The greatest of challenges now demands the boldest of initiatives. To address the worst of poverty we urgently need to summon up the best efforts of humanity.

I want to summon into existence the greatest coalition of conscience in pursuit of the greatest of causes. And I firmly believe that if we can discover common purpose there is no failing in today's world that cannot be addressed by mobilizing our strengths, no individual struggle that drags people down that cannot benefit from a renewed public purpose that can lift people up.

To find that common purpose, he said:

Our objectives cannot be achieved by governments alone, however well-intentioned; or private sector alone, however generous; or NGOs or faith groups alone, however well-meaning or determined—it can only be achieved in a genuine partnership together.

After addressing governments and businesses, the prime minister went on:

Let me say to faith groups and NGOs—your moral outrage at avoidable poverty has led you to work for the greatest of causes, the highest of ideals, and become the leaders of the campaign to make poverty history. Imagine what more you can accomplish if the energy to oppose and expose harnessed to the energy to propose and inspire is given more support by the rest of us—businesses, citizens, and governments.

Reflecting momentarily on the theological nature of the call to a common purpose to depose poverty, the struggle of common purposes is what alludes us. A missional ecclesiology needs to take into consideration the opportunity to join in a common task to serve a common earth in a common need. Yet, there are numerous NGOs that are religious in orientation that refuse to work together. Many reasons are used to justify the lack of shared effort. But one that is often noticeable is the theological filters that keep us from being "unequally yoked" with others who may not share the same theological commitments.

For instance, in my state there are many social ills. There is a great need for community development to organize and meet these shared needs. However, there are several religious bodies that will not work together if other religious bodies come to the table. A hope arising from a postfoundational posture is that we might be able to come to a common text (not only sacred writings, but demographics, narratives of social experiences, etc) and hear these together. But as long as we come with foundational assumptions of "right" and "left", we are bound to leave the poor in their poverty while we waste our time wondering if we are more correct that others, or less sullied by their presence.

So much for today's rant....

Welcome to the Conversation

2007-07-30T12:15:00.002-06:00

Several years ago I read Stan Grenz' book, Beyond Foundationalism. After reading it, I had the pleasure getting to know Professor Grenz. We first met at a Friends pastors gathering. With his baptist persuasion and my Anabaptist persuasion, we enjoyed bearing the anomalies of ritual among our friendly non-ritualistic Friends.

In the months after that weekend retreat, I began to look forward to the bridges that might be built between divergent streams of Christianity through the work of Grenz and Franke . Though not lined out in Beyond Foundationalism, there seemed to be realizations, or awarenesses that could heal many of the rifts that exist between traditionalists and progressives, between liberals and conservatives, between fundamentalists of various stripes. What was lacking were the practices to put those convictions into action.

Alas, Stanley Grenz left this world before this important missiological and ecclesiological work could be completed. It is my hope that we might look more deeply at the ideas laid out in Beyond Foundationalism and begin to generate in this generation of Christian leaders, practices which reach beyond the comfortable and careless labels of "liberal" and "conservative." Instead, may we begin to live into the reality of actually being one in Christ.