Beyond Relevance...

I just found this new blog (www.beyondrelevance.com), and they have a video that they have posted that is very thought provoking:

What if Starbucks Marketed Like a Church? A Parable.



Authenticity has been a "buzzword" that I have been thinking about for some time now. As persons of faith, we must engage all of life and not just see faith as a Sunday morning endeavor. "Sales" and "marketing" have a connotation that cheapens what we are doing here on this earth. What is our purpose? It it only to get to a goal - to get to heaven someday?

A guy I know (Andy Bryan from MO) blogged on a similar topic. He is talking about a similar idea - that we are MORE than what we do... Who are we? What is the point of our existence? Check it out his thoughts here:
http://entertherainbow.blogspot.com/2008/11/identity-versus-activity.html

The "Shoulds" and the "Oughts"...

Are any of you seeing a spiritual director? I have been seeing a spiritual director since August as a part of my ongoing journey (I highly recommend it for anyone considering it) and I am now a huge proponent! I selected a great OSB nun named Sister Laura, so that I could have someone outside of my own denomination and tradition - a truly safe/sacred space.

One of the things that she and I have been working on is my perfectionism. I come by it honestly... I come from a long line of workaholic perfectionists. Many of you who know me know that I am a pretty driven person, and she has been working with me on being aware of God's presence in the midst of the busy-ness; in the midst of the urgent and important duties of being a father, a husband and a pastor.

I thought about this in relation to the fact that my idealistic notions about how often I would be posting onto this blog do not match with what has actually been happening. I haven't been posting very often. Posting to the blog is one more thing that has become a "should" or an "ought"... It doesn't feel very important sometimes, so I have been just letting it slide - and praying all the while.

There is a lot going on in my life, and I know I am not alone in that. There are particular things going on right now in the life of the PNW Conference of The UMC that are impacting my ongoing discernment about my calling (I will get into that at a later point). Even though there are lots of discussions swirling about concerning my future, as well as the past and future of the community I serve, I have been STRIVING to stay focused on the "here and now." The people of the church I serve deserve my full attention and focus - they need to know that I love them and am not focused on "greener pastures."

Sister Laura has encouraged my tremendously. She has lovingly counseled me to refrain from lamenting those times that my visions and dreams for the future (for this congregation, for my conference and denomination, and for those of us who call ourselves "followers of Christ") begin to fill my mind, but instead to "pray" them as a way of releasing them to God. When I begin to feel an urge to speak prophetically to my current congregation / my clergy cluster / denominational officials that "things are not as they should be," I can only avoid being judgmental and close-minded by "praying" them first.

My spiritual director is becoming a wonderful spiritual friend... someone whose counsel I seek and admire... and someone who is a great listener.

I would love to hear your stories of your interactions with a spiritual director!

Politics, Shmolitics...

If I didn't laugh at the absurdity of our system of electing political officials, I would probably cry... Here is a video that made me laugh until I did cry!

"Freedom Writers"

We just watched a VERY good film, "Freedom Writers" with Hillary Swank and Patrick Dempsey. Check out this trailer...



This film impacted me in surprising ways. I guess the most powerful message for me was the fact that with HOPE comes incredible power. We can do anything if we hold on to hope, and life is fatalistic without it. The power of of a person being able to tell their story to someone else is something that should never be underestimated.

Besides the over-arching themes in this film, I also witnessed the power in putting our thoughts down for others to see. To that end, I will probably be posting more frequently when I feel like I have something to say. Stay tuned...

False Dichotomy

I came across this YouTube video, and it really struck me.



I began to wonder more about this person's story. What kinds of interactions have they had with Christians? What kind of Christians? It really seems to me that many who call themselves Christian really play into the stereotypes about Christians. It has almost gotten to the point that I hesitate to call myself a Christian, but instead consider myself a "Christ-follower." We have to hold onto whatever is beautiful, lovely and true and discard the rest. And that will be hard for many of us to do...

Goin' to the Fair!

I always told myself that I wouldn't just blog about stupid stuff, so it has been quite awhile since I posted anything... Oh, well!

Yesterday, my family and I went to the Grays Harbor County Fair (which is actually quite a good little fair!) in Elma, WA and we had a great time. Well, when we walked in the front gates, both sides of the path are lined with booths. Check this one out!

Do you see what it says? It reads, "Godmobile... Are you going to heaven? Free two question test reveals answer..." It was put on by some group called the Men's Gospel Mission, or something. I stood there for several minutes, and not even ONE person went up and talked with them. In fact, at one point one of the dudes stuck his head out and looked right and left to see if anyone was coming. Nope... Still nothing.

I thought how sad this was. First of all for these men who wasted so much time and energy to sit in this booth only to have nothing happen. And second of all, I feel bad for everyone else. All I could think of was how this somehow reinforces stereotypical images of Christians as simplistic, dogmatic, closed-minded and focused solely on the next life in order to escape this one. It didn't surprise me one bit that no one "took the bait." Heck, my son and I couldn't either... Even though we REALLY wanted to hear what they might ask.

Re-reading Harry Potter

Have you ever struggled with feeling like you ought to be reading more... doing more? I often feel the "oughts" with my own personal devotional life, especially related to my reading. I was in kind of a rut with my reading (how I know is that it wasn't fun anymore!), so I have undertaken the task of reading only "candy" for awhile. Right now I am rereading the Harry Potter series. I started with seven (Deathly Hallows), then read six in preparation for the film coming out this fall (Half-Blood Prince), now I just finished the second book (Chamber of Secrets). Does anyone else have this rhythm of reading fun stuff to break up the routine, or am I the only one?

Theological Worldview

I took this quiz to figure out my theological worldview... (click here to take it yourself)

Results for me:

"You are Emergent/Postmodern in my theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this."

Emergent/Postmodern 86% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 61% Neo orthodox 57% Classical Liberal 54% Roman Catholic 50% Modern Liberal 43% Charismatic/Pentecostal 43% Reformed Evangelical 18% Fundamentalist 4%

Happenings

I haven't posted in a couple of weeks, and I have a couple of books I will review in the next little while, but I have been following our United Methodist General Conference 2008 in DFW. I have to say that I am not overly optimistic, but cautiously hopeful. Our first step will be to admit that we actually have an issue that divides us. Without that healing is hopeless. Stay tuned, and you can follow the news at www.umc.org.

"The Failure of Nerve"

I just finished this magnificent book by Edwin Friedman. Building on his earlier work in Generation to Generation, Friedman was working on this book on leadership at the time of his death in 1996. Friedman's wife worked with several of his colleagues to bring the manuscript to print -- at least, the 300+ pages that Friedman had written by that point. The first five chapters are thorough; the latter five chapters are somewhat more sketchy; but there is enough material here that the interested reader can get a pretty good glimpse of where Friedman was headed.

Friedman's thesis: there is a "failure of nerve" in American civilization today. "There exists," he says, "throughout America today a rampant sabotaging of leaders who try to stand tall amidst the raging anxiety-storms of our time. It is a highly reactive atmosphere pervading all the institutions of our society -- a regressive mood that contaminates the decision-making processes of government and corporations at the highest level, and, on the local level, seeps down into the deliberations of neighborhood church, synagogue, hospital, library, and school boards." This reactivity leads to what he calls a "leadership-toxic climate" that makes it exceptionally difficult for clear, decisive, well-defined leadership to function effectively. The book, he says, "is about leadership in the land of the quick fix, about leadership in a society so reactive that it cannot choose leaders who might calm its anxiety."

He talks a lot about developing into "well-differentiated leaders," which is not an autocratic boss who coerces others, but is any leader who takes responsibility for their own emotional being and destiny. This kind of leader has clarity about his or her life goals, and, therefore is less likely to become lost in the anxious emotional processes swirling about. How do we remain separate while still remaining connected, and therefore maintain a non-anxious/challenging presence? Leaders must manage their own reactivity to the automatic reactivity of others. We don't need more information, we need leaders who understand the power of their presence!

In his first chapter, "Imaginative Gridlock and the Spirit of Adventure," Friedman talks about a powerful connection between New World explorers leading Western society out of the dark ages, and the need for such leaders in our world today. Friedman describes our society, at present, as "chronically anxious," featuring five distinguishing characteristics: reactivity, hearding, blame displacement, a quick-fix mentality, and a lack of well-differentiated leadership.

I found his chapter on "empathy" to be particularly challenging and compelling, but on the whole this book is deeply profound. I think I will now find myself filtering just about everything else I read on the subject of leadership through this lens. I think it will help me to become more self-differentiated, to have a clearer understanding of my task and purpose (or, perhaps more accurately, my presence), and to raise my level of courage and stamina that is rooted in the love of God demonstrated to us in Christ.

Into the Wild...

I finished "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer, and found it to be one of those books that haunts me a little bit. I guess it was also made into a film, but I haven't seen it yet. It is about Chris McCandless, a 24 year-0ld kid, who upon graduating from college, gives away about $25,000 and sets out on a nomadic, ascetic lifestyle hitchhiking throughout western N. America from Mexico to Alaska where he perishes alone. Was Chris mentally "off," or was he on a quest to find a truer meaning behind life? His ascetic lifestyle, search for truth and beauty, as well as his thirst for knowledge was countered by his troubled relationships with his parents. It is not an easy book to categorize, but maybe that is why I found it to be profound. There are no easy answers, but Chris (through this story) has had an impact on my life.

Christianity-Lite...

I just finished reading, "The Culturally Savvy Christian: A Manifesto for Deepening Faith and Enriching Popular Culture in an Age of Christianity-Lite" by Dick Staub. I found it to be very enlightening, in that it had me questioning many notions I had about the church becoming more "culturally relevant."

From his website (http://www.dickstaub.com):
"Dick Staub concludes that though it is influential, American popular culture is generally superficial & soulless. Similarly American Christianity has devolved into its own mindless, diversionary,and celebrity-driven superficiality. We face the lose-lose alternatives of a soul-numbing culture and a vacuous Christianity-lite. The renaissance of both faith and culture will originate in a deep spiritual renewal that creates a new breed of culturally savvy, thoughtful creatives who rekindle the spiritual, intellectual, and creative legacy of Christians as enrichers of culture."

I found his critique to be very appropriate, and any of us who are serious about helping our faith become more relevant for "emerging" generations ought to understand that the culture needs depth as well as relevancy. This can only be done when we are diving into the depths of our own faith, exploring God's ongoing creative, redeeming, and sustaining work in and through us.