So which one are you?

"Let us speak to one another as plainly as possible."

-John Wesley

Try this without knowing who you are and you'll quickly run into an identity crisis. You'll cave to people's expectations and opinions of you and so avoid speaking your mind and being yourself.

Know who you are and you'll think any other way of talking is a waste of time. If you are in the former category, do it anyway. It's the only way to get to the latter.

Everyone Runs

I learn best by teaching and doing. If I teach it or do it, I learn about it.

Our SportsCamp is a wrap. Great week of fun, frivolity and friends with over 120 kids from our community. Each night we talked about running the race of life using the advice the Apostle Paul gave to a group of Christians in the ancient city of Corinth. Corinth was home to the Isthmian Games, an Olympic styled athletic event held there every few years. They were a city of over-achievers and partiers, so they knew a bit about running.

Here's what I learned by teaching it to a bunch of kids.

Everyone runs. Everyone is in the race of life. If you don't want to run, too bad, the race has already started. The choice isn't about whether you'll run, it's about how you'll run.

One wins. Run to win. God doesn't see things the way we see things. He doesn't compare your race to someone else's race. He has given you your own race and wants you to win it. Fall down? Get back up. Distracted? Refocus. Ready to give up? Don't quit. God has given you occasions to fight that you might win. His resurrection power is in you. Don't give up any ground that's been given to you.

All good athletes train hard. If you are going to win the race God has given you, it will require your very best effort, your highest potential and your deepest devotion. You won't win it by being half-hearted, half-in, or half-way committed. Be all in.

They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. The race often has spectators who offer distractions, cheap knock-off prizes that look real, and detours to alternate destinations. Don't be fooled. Don't be tricked. Don't be deceived. Don't confuse good things for ultimate things. Have good things, but don't let them have you.

You're after one that's gold eternally. What God offers is ultimate and unending. It never spoils, rots or fades. It won't rip, tear or fall apart. It won't take up space on a shelf somewhere, mean nothing and be forgotten by everyone but you. And he gives it to you now. It's salvation; being caught up fully in the life of God.

The highlight video from Camp.

Cereal Night

A few weeks ago, the guys in my small group were waxing nostalgic for the cereals of our youth; those sugary creations of careless Cereal Executives that fueled our childhoods.

So, we decided to have cereal night at Small Group. Everyone brought their favorite. I loaded up on on Fruit Loops...then proceeded to lapse into a sugar-induced coma. Good for making memories, not so good for discussion.

These are good men that I love and admire.

Yoda and the Suburbs

For a long time, Christians in America haven't been all that concerned about what goes on around them. We've been guilty of dualism--separating matter and spirit into "bad" and "good" categories. In a way, we want to make sure people have the right software (My mind goes to the cheesy Intel knock-off t-shirt: "Jesus inside!"), but don't care all that much about their hardware (their bodies and environments). We don't think that's our "job" as followers of Jesus. (one of my first posts was about this dualism).

As a result, we've lost out on the most shaping conversations in our towns and cities. As Christians, we wouldn't dare miss out on the very important national issues (which tend to be "software" kinds of issues--abortion, definition of marriage, etc.), that affect the moral fiber of our nation (and they do), but we tend to leave local issues (which are usually "hardware" kinds of issues--zoning, etc.) well enough alone. We think they don't matter, that is, unless the zoning laws affect our desire to build a new building!

We think Yoda is right when he pokes Luke Skywalker and calls Luke's body "crude matter" in The Empire Strikes Back (I know, a geek reference, but I use the example because I've watched it about 30 times in the last month after introducing my son to it a couple months ago). The thing is, Yoda is espousing a Greek and Eastern Mystical idea, not a biblical one! A very cursory reading of Genesis 1-3 shows that God cares about the physical creation and calls it "good", not "crude matter."

Our dualism is probably most on display in the suburbs. Much of the suburbs is sprawl--without much thought about how space is defined and used and with little thought to zoning. It's purely functional "drive-in" space. As a result, no one wants to hang out there. I mean, who lingers in the parking lot of Wal-Mart?

Is it any surprise then that in the suburbs the Mall is the place people go to hang out? And then should we be surprised that we are nation of consumers with personal debt kicking the snot out of people's futures? Having a nation of people whose souls have been shaped to simply want more stuff, who's vision of 'the good' is a house, nice car and great clothes creates a certain moral climate too, does it not? We've found out too late that hardware really does affect software.

Can we do something about this? We know that people flourish in and want to be around beauty; and aren't we interested in people flourishing? We know that for people to really flourish we have to give careful attention to software and hardware; and isn't this what shalom means? So listening to Jeremiah 29:1-14 means being very interested in how our towns are created, maintained and changed (hardware) and helping them live with well-ordered hearts (software).


If suburban churches led the way, would their buildings and grounds have great public green space and architecture that drew people in to their environs? Would half their facilities (or more) be community centers used by the surrounding neighborhood? Would they encourage and lobby for mixed use development around them that included neighborhoods with trails, parks with trails and grocery stores within walking distance? As a result, wouldn't their parking lots be full every day??

This talk from the TED conference hammers the "hardware" point home. His language is rough in places, so be forewarned. He holds nothing back.

It's Always About Relationships

This shot was snapped driving down the interstate at about 70 miles an hour, in the rain.

Probably not the safest way to take a picture.

I've never heard of KBS, but their tag line told me that they understand something fundamental about human nature and how the world actually works.

It's always about the relationship. Always. So even if you are a construction company (like KBS), you aren't building buildings, you're building relationships.

It underscores a life axiom: So go your relationships, so goes your life.

Think about it. In what arena of life are relationships not the key to success, joy and peace and the place we find love?

Leadership.

Family.

Neighborhood.

Friendship.

Sales.

Parenting.

Marriage.

The quality of the experience is directly related to the quality of the relationships.

Relationships are the umbrella under which we live life. Everything else either contributes to or takes away from those relationships.

This is what it means when scripture says we are made in God's image. We understand God to be a relationship of persons--Father, Son and Holy Spirit (the Trinity) always giving away love. Or Augustine described the Trinity: Lover, Loved, and Love.

Bad relationships=no love.

Want love? Work on your relationships.

Things That Aren't Fair

In my work as a pastor, I've come across a few things in the last couple days that just aren't fair.

In his sermon on what it means to live all of life under the influence and authority of God, Jesus said two things about this:

1 - God sends his rain on the just and the unjust and (Matthew 5:45)

2 - Both the wise and the foolish man experience storms. (Matthew 7:24-29)

Your "goodness" is no open invitation to pleasure and no barrier against pain.

And that rain often just isn't fair. Here's what I experienced.

• Visited a guy in the Neurological ICU unit, there because in an attempt to commit suicide, he shot off the left side of his face. His life is forever changed and so are the lives of his wife and two boys. Not fair.
• My close friends have already been through a lot. Tracy had thyroid cancer as a teenager. Their first son has a congenital thyroid condition that requires constant medication and their daughter has SMA, which means she will always need 24 hour care and likely won't live into her twenties. Tracy was diagnosed 2 days ago with breast cancer at 35. Not fair.

So what do you do? Rail against the heavens? Curse God? Curse yourself? Curse the day you were born? Or accept Jesus' wisdom--that the issue isn't what happens (because who of us can control that?)--it's what happens in you and through you. A tough pill to swallow to be sure.

Want more on this? Download Dr. Tim Keller's message on Darkness.

Rethinking Evangelism

Evangelism sends shivers down the spines of most Christians (and non-Christians). Usually because they see it as a bad and scary thing.

And that's usually because the average person thinks of the "requirement" to evangelize as something like an Amway sales pitch for Jesus. It's a bad formula that just doesn't work. It goes something like this:
Perfect life + Perfect Jesus-pick-up-line + Perfect sales pitch + Perfect smile = A conversion every time.

Evangelism literally means "good message," and what person in their right mind doesn't want a bit of good news sent their way? So the question is, why is the way it's usually seen come across as such bad news?? And if it's good news, why don't more people respond to it?

As has been famously said: The medium is the message. In other words, people don't hear good news when it's delivered in a bad way. And it seems very much that in trying to deliver good news as a sales pitch, we've become bad news.

These guys are working against that. Trying to re-vision it as something that flows out of life instead of something forced onto people.

From a great article on their website, "The Lost Art of Being Normal":

In the movie, The Big Kahuna, Danny DeVito’s character gives great advice on what I’ve been calling “The Lost Art of Being Normal”:

If you want to talk to somebody honestly, as a human being, ask him about his kids. Find out what his dreams are - just to find out, for no other reason. Because as soon as you lay your hands on a conversation to steer it, it’s not a conversation anymore; it’s a pitch. And you’re not a human being; you’re a marketing rep."

Community Looks Something Like This

Jesus' prayer in John 17 came to life a bit more today in front of a motorcycle.

Wynne, the Executive Pastor of our church, wrecked his bike a few weeks ago. It was a potentially fatal wreck, but he walked away with only a few bruises and a few days of soreness. He thought his bike was totalled and that it would be months, maybe years, before he could afford to ride again.

His bike was a source of stress release for him, and in his role he has plenty of that. But we surprised him today by repairing his bike and pulling a mini "Extreme Bike Makeover" by yelling, "Move that van!" to reveal his reconditioned bike.

He beamed and felt the love...and all of us were drawn a little closer together. It was small slice of heaven on earth and quite a beautiful moment. Community, I am coming to understand, is a patch-work quilt made up of just those kinds of moments. A experience here, a conversation there, a piece of redemption at that moment, some letting out of the heart in this moment...all of it creating community. I love being on a team where community matters.

Lifelong Friends

Jared and I met in Mrs. Peterson's seventh grade history class at Jarrett Junior High (home of the Trojans--"go green!"). We've been the best of friends ever since.

He started blogging recently and is an amazing man and an amazing pastor. They say (whoever "they" are) you choose your friends and then your friends shape who you are. So true.

May Jared's tribe increase. He, along with a cadre of other friends (many of whom are on my blogroll) have been God's gift in shaping who I am. I simply wouldn't be who I am without them.

Friends are Better Than Ice Cream

Andrea, Corban and Hudson were away in Atlanta for 10 days and just came home.

Feeling very fatherly and wanting to bestow only blessings on my eldest, last night I proffered this to Hudson: "Would you like to go get some ice cream?!?"

Hudson's response, as any 3 three year old who's tasted the sweet nectar of the cow in this way: "Yaaaayyyyy!!!!"

We're walking out to the car en route to Cold Stone Creamery when his friend from across the cul-de-sac, Gabe (who he hasn't seen in 10 days mind you), saunters down our driveway.

Hudson yells his name with joy and runs and hugs him. Turning to me mid-embrace, he says, "Daddy, I don't want to go get ice cream."

Friends are better than ice cream, every time.

Then the LORD God said, 'it is not good that the man should be alone.'" Genesis 4:18

Missing Persons

I miss these 3 people…a lot.

They’ll be home on Saturday and I can’t wait to hug and kiss them all.

 

Ned Flanders Might Be My Friend

I've grown up in church.

I know it's language.

How to dress. What to say. What to do.

I know the game really, really well.

And maybe for that reason I've come to the place in the last 10 years where I don't much like church people (which is a tricky situation when you work as a pastor).

By church people, I mean the Ned Flanders of the world. As in the kind of people who apparently send their kids to summer Christian camp so they can learn to be more judgmental.

Grouchy, out-of-touch, conservative-on-all-the-wrong things, party-line-toting church people. Or at least that's been my perception.

But somehow, God loves them. Alot. And I haven't quite been able to put into words what I've been feeling about my animosity. There is a stream of head-nod-inducing talk in church leadership conferences that talks about having righteous indignation against the religious "pharisees" of our day. Now maybe that's right and as a leader I need to just "bring it" against those folks. But I still think Jesus loves them--so what does that say to my head nodding during said conferences?

Matt Chandler, who pastors The Village Church in Flower Mound , TX (right next to my high school hometown), wrote a post that unravels all that for me. He's my kind of guy (even though we are on different sides of the theological playing field) and is an excellent communicator.

I read his post and was humbled. Maybe I need to take Ned to lunch.

Wii Would Like to Play

Played some Wii for the first time last night with a family in my small group. I've never been a big video game guy (except for some old school Atari).

But last night:

Rocked it in Tennis.

Crushed it in baseball.

Severely humbled in bowling.

Got beaten up by a six year old in boxing (but not before accidentally actually punching him while trying to figure out the controls. Whoopsie.)

And now I have a new injury I am officially dubbing: Wiiitis Shoulderitis.

I lift. I run. But Wii kicked me where it counts and my shoulder has ached all day.

Props to the imaginations that saw a way to merge exercise and interaction with the passivity of video games. They've reinvented a cultural experience.

The Gift of Life

I gave blood yesterday. I hate needles and can't even look when they put it in and take it out.

But people need blood more than I need to nurse my fears, which I suppose isn't a bad metaphor for doing the important things in life--leading, being in relationships, contributing my gifts, loving, etc. At any point I can say no to those things because I might get hurt. But (and this is universally true), people need my gift more than I need to protect it.

"Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good."

1 Corinthians 12:7

Ash Wednesday

From The Book of Common Prayer:

"Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness,may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness;through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen."

You can read the wonderful admonition about Lent in the Book of Common Prayer here. Click on "Proper Liturgies for Special Days" then click on "Ash Wednesday."

I went to St. Mathias Episcopal Church for an Ash Wednesday service at lunch today. My low rent corner of Church World is nothing like the Episcopalian church in form but shares common theological roots firmly anchored in the Anglican tradition (with special props to John Wesley). I have a deep appreciation for the formality and liturgy of Episcopalian worship. It's rhythm's invite me away from what I'm used to, the language lifts me up to another place, and I feel time is suspended. I know that not the case for everyone, but it works for me.

Here are some things I took away about the life of faith from the experience; more metaphorical than literal:

• Kneeling is very uncomfortable.
• Sharing a common cup is somewhat revolting.
• Waiting for everyone else to catch up is infuriating.

Lent is a space in the calendar of life to work through those uncomfortable realities about the church. As the priest said today, "a time to take inventory of your life." The AA'ers know all about "taking a searching moral inventory of your life." Lent provides the time and space to do that--every year. Am I doing what matters? Am I spending my time in a way that matters? Am I giving myself to what matters? Why we in low church world don't take advantage of this more is a bit puzzling.

I'm giving up junk food for lent. I've realized my diet as of late has tended toward junk food--non-caloric, non-nutrient dense, non-food, food. So what other junk am I letting into my life? 40 days to see and listen...and then...resurrection!

What Makes Community Suck

It seems that diversity is bad for community.

In a recent massive study, Harvard's Robert Putnam (of _Bowling Alone_ fame) found, much to his chagrin, that diversity is a detriment to real community.

The more diverse, the less volunteerism, the less trust, the less social capital. It seems that homogeneity is good for community.

He did find one exception that actually gives me hope, since what I do for a living is about creating community out of diversity. But you'll have read the article at the Wall Street Journal to find out where that place is. Hint: Can anyone say "resurrection?"

Running Poverty into the Ground

November 4th I'll be in the Big Apple with 35,000+ other runners in the ING New York City Marathon. It'll be my third marathon.

I hope to finish the race in $1,000. You heard that right, $1,000 is my target pace.

I'm running for World Vision and hope to raise $1,000 (all of which goes to World Vision's relief efforts). You can donate $1 or all $1,000 by visiting the mini-site I created to give to that cause.

I'll do the running, you do the paying--and a child's life will be saved.

Tragedy at VT - what to do about evil?

On Monday we hosted the funeral for one of the victim's of the Virginia Tech tragedy on Monday. His family belonged to a church here in the area. Their sanctuary wasn't large enough, so they asked for our help. It was a moving ceremony as 900+ packed the house to honor this promising young man. I'm looking at the program from the funeral and his winsome smile is looking back at me.

There really aren't words for a tragedy of this magnitude, or any magnitude for that matter. So here are some random thoughts on evil in general and this evil in particular.

• "Evil", as Scott Peck's child noticed, "is live spelled backwards." The essence of evil in any form? Taking life. See Scott Peck's chilling work on the psychology of evil: People of the Lie.
• Cho emerged to fit the profile of all the other shooters. Loner, ostracized, unresolved junk from the past. This only shows the dark side of our being made in God's image: Without good relationships, society suffers. Community benefits society.
• John Donne was right: "No man is an island. If one part of Europe falls into the sea, the rest is affected." There are no "isolated", "private" acts. That's an illusion perpetrated by radical individualism and an illusion we all too readily buy.
• Whether or not we suffer is not the issue. A life skill is that we must learn to suffer better. Christians as a rule don't know how to suffer and grieve, which is ironic given that the majority of literature in the Old Testament was written in and to a context of suffering. (And never mind that our savior suffered and told us we would too).
• God is not responsible for suffering. If God were, we would be puppets in some divine play (and I know some think this is so). We are free moral agents--able to choose. This is a reflection of being made in the image of God.
• Tears are the price of love. If we love, we hurt. The two aren't separable.
• We are "but a mist that appears for a while then vanishes" as James, Jesus' brother reminds us.

We Theology

I've been thinking about spiritual growth and how we measure it.

As Americans/Westerners everything is about the individual. Almost all of our efforts in churches are geared toward the individual. The very few matrices/assessments I've seen for spiritual growth are generally geared toward the individual--asking how "you" can grow and measuring how "you" have grown.

Perhaps that is the influence of Descartes (of "I think, therefore I am" fame), but I don't think it is in rhythm with the New Testament and OT, lest I engage in some sort of super-sessionism.

The controlling metaphor, it could be argued, in the NT for Christians is "the body of Christ." Now as I understand it, when my lungs go someplace, my liver usually goes along for the trip. For instance, I am currently in Tulsa, OK wrapping up a wedding. None of my body parts decided to pre-emptively stay home in Richmond. All of me went along.

If that is the case, and it is what Paul was meaning when he used that metaphor, then shouldn't spiritual growth be measured by how WE are growing rather then simply how I am growing?

If I read my Bible, love more, serve more, etc. but we don't all take steps forward, then is spiritual growth in NT terms actually happening? Or I am just on a personal growth plan that essentially says "to hell with everyone else" but has been unwittingly endorsed by the current system of Christianity? Maybe Moses understood this when he told God if his people were going to be cut off, then cut him off too. (See the tail-end of the story in Exodus 32:30-33.) This just doesn't make sense in our individualistic "make-sure-you-yourself-know-where-you-will-spend-eternity" ethos.

New Babies

My buddy Josh just had his first baby--a girl, Cadence Joy.
He thinks about the world in good ways, loves God, follows Jesus with passion and will be a great dad.

Photos for the interested are here.