Ponder This

These three thoughtful quotations have been stirring around within me.

Reasonable people drive fanatics nuts. - Steve Brown

I have found that just asking questions or bringing things up can really set people off. When I say that our healthcare system is broken, I usually get the response, “You’re not for socialized medicine, are you?” I can see that the person’s blood pleasure is rising. Then I reply that maybe I am since we pay far more for healthcare than any nation in the world and there are so many people without medical insurance. Then the person’s blood pressure goes through the roof and I get called a liberal or socialist. The opportunity to engage in helpful debate is not there. I wonder why we can’t ask hard questions about complex problems and receive the input from all perspectives that we need. I think the answer has to do with vested interest and maybe having to say we were wrong, which leads me to the next quotation.

The church operates from an insecure center. - Kevin Shinn (I think.)

Why else would we have to affirm our finite believes in an infinite God? For a long, long time, I have been thinking that we don’t have God as figured out as we think we do. Again, we leave no space, no welcoming place for the questioners. If something is true, it can withstand questioning. I can’t picture Jesus operating this way, which leads me to the next interesting quotation.

Sin is about control. - Guest on the God Journey Podcast

I sin because I want to control my life. When I think God isn’t doing such a great job, I get mad at him and want to try to control things myself. Husbands try to control wives to get their needs met, when they find out they can’t, they get mad. Sometimes, they get divorced. I have seen parents obviously trying to manipulate their children, even into adulthood to meet their needs, when they don’t, they get mad. The way of freedom and grace is to try to discern how to get in rhythm with God’s ways, which is always a somewhat mysterious for us. We usually stumble around a lot bobbing and weaving in and out of sinful control.

When I started writing, I had no idea that there was a relationship between these quotations.

Andrea & Travis

Click on the picture for a slide show.

It was a beautiful, windy, happy day last Saturday at the Chapel in the Pines in northern Illinois when Andrea and Travis said their marriage vows. Travis has been a good friend of my son, Nathan since fifth grade and we kind of like him and Andrea, too. I was glad to have a part in the happy occasion. Congratulations!

Trucker Frank- Episode 2

Moments

Modern worship music has been much maligned as being shallow, repetitive, predictable, syrupy, Jesus is by boyfriend drivel. Some of it is. Some of the songs have been overused.

We found that the emotion of a church worship service didn’t seem to matter much when we left the church building. We would be disappointed and critical, if the worship leader didn’t deliver on the feeling we were hoping for.

The whole concept of a Christian musician or band struck many as odd. Why not just be the best band you can be and write and sing what God gives you, whatever the topic?

In these circles, we have been talking about toning it down, making it real, and finding God wherever he shows up, especially in art. That’s good too. God is in everyday and in the everyday and we can live a life of praise and worship.

Yet, there is power in praise and worship that is vocal and musical, whether it is corporate or personal.

In all of this, God blesses us with special moments of reassurance and awe.

My friends, may you catch a glimpse of God today.

Yea!

I really like Fernando Oretga and have been to a couple of his concerts. he seems like a very authentic (and funny) guy, as well as an awesome musician. Here is my favorite musical version of Our Great God with Fernando and Mac Powell.

Your Turn: May Synchroblog

Since our stories can have a profound impact upon one another, I thought I would ask you a little about the latest chapter of your story.

So, for the May synchroblog, I am going to keep it simple and real. I hope you will join in. Let’s post May 5^th. Please, remember to link back here. Anybody can join in!

• How are you doing?
• What are you doing?
• What are you learning?
• What are you dreaming about?

Grace & Peace

Be Subversive!

Erin has bestowed Jake Bouma’s Subversive Blogger Award on me. I am honored. Also, I am thinking about what subversive means, if it is a good thing, if I am really subversive, what I am trying to subvert, what I want to see in its place, and if I am somehow subversive in a good way. Maybe I am an analytical subversive.

To subvert means to overthrow (something established or existing). That’s pretty strong language. Yet, if brave people who spoke from a minority perspective never raised their concerns, then the vast majority of our society would be disenfranchised and not permitted the same opportunities as the privileged few.

I am just going to say it. I am trying to subvert the church! Not The Church, but the church. Not the church that the Holy Spirit and the Apostles birthed, but the one that we have designed. Not the church that is a crazy, diverse loving community displaying the beauty of God’s Kingdom, but the system that became an end in itself. You get the picture.

I would love to see the church system subverted not by using the tactics of warfare or even diplomacy , but by using creativity, relationships, and action. So many of us have been speaking and writing prophetically about the church that is and has been, but that is not subversive enough! Generally, people like me have been saying and writing things that make some people mad and defensive because they feel threatened. Now, I am suggesting that we display the beauty of God’s Kingdom in a way that winsome and inspiring.

In our subversive mission, we will make some enemies. Can we love them? Can we do this thing in a way in which we don’t regard other people as our enemy? Can we be subversive and still realize that God works in so many ways and in such strange circumstances , that we could never begin to have a comprehensive handle on all the ways he is working? Can we do it in a way in which we understand him even to be at work not only in the life a person that we may have formerly thought was very far from him, but also understand he is at work in the very church system we are trying to displace?

Can we displace a system without putting another system in its place? Can we avoid being controlling, manipulative, or holier than thou? The answer to those questions is yes… and no. We do not have repeat the mistakes of the past. We can do better than we have done. But we will make tons of mistakes. As in all periods of church history, there will be over reactions, excesses, and abuses, but we have to try! People need to see the grace filled, accepting, scandalous love of Christ being displayed in communities in ways that spills over to those in their greater community.

So, I have gone from being the ultimate insider to being that subversive guy with a blog who will soon launch a ministry to bring the frustrated and the dreamers together in subversive community. I would have never guessed this in million years!

Be subversive!

I pass on the Subversive Blogger Award to:

Cindy because she is an eloquent, gentle spirited subversive within the system.

Kevin because he stepped out of the evangelical limelight to follow his heart.

Cory, Jason, and the whole gang at The Fringe because they put feet to their dreams in South Africa and in their own community.

People on my list, but someone beat me to it:

Jeff because he knows the pain, but it didn’t stop him.

Barb because she is starting to speak up.

Kathy because she is a pioneer.

Simply Profound

I am always wondering what God has to say to me. Here it is, as best as I can understand.

Rest in me.

Work at what I have called you to do.

Accept my love, peace, and grace.

Give it to others.

Now, get going.

Trucker Frank and Other Stuff

• Meet Trucker Frank. I like this guy. Incidentally, Fairport, MO, the small town that they drive through is about 45 miles from my old home town in Missouri. Thanks: Steve Knight @ Emergent Village and Jeromy Johnson @ The Mending Shift
• Cloverfield and Emergent. This is an excellent characterization of the movement and those reacting to it. Thanks: Leadership Blog
• Friendly Disagreement. I had lunch with my neighbor yesterday. We disagree on most anything related to church or politics, but agree to be friends. Now that I am no longer a diehard conservative and believe in listening to anyone who might have some helpful input on an issue, I have become a liberal hippie in the minds of many of my family and friends. There are worse things I could be called.
• Weird Dream. I had this strange dream (Is there another kind?) in which a church I went a few years ago had fallen on hard times and was asking for my help as a consultant. I thought about writing my suggestions here, but I want to focus more on the future of the church and the positive.
• Celtic Prayer. I love it! Thanks: JR Woodward @ Dream Awakener

This is Brendan’s Prayer Before Setting Sail

As you move forward in the journey of following Christ, and risk things for the kingdom of God, then this might be your prayer as well.

Shall I abandon, O King of Mysteries, the
soft comforts of home? Shall I turn my
back on my native land, and my face toward the sea?

Shall I put myself wholly at the mercy of
God, without silver, without a horse,
without fame and honor? Shall I throw
myself wholly on the King of kings,
without sword and shield, without food
and drink, without a bed to lie on?

Shall I say farewell to my beautiful land,
placing myself under Christ’s yoke?
Shall I pour out my heart to him,
confessing my manifold sins and begging
forgiveness, tears streaming down my
cheeks?

Shall I leave the prints of my knees on the
sandy beach, a record of my final prayer
in my native land? Shall I then suffer
every kind of wound that the sea can
inflict?

Shall I take my tiny oracle across the wide,
sparkling ocean? O King of the
Glorious Heaven, shall I go of my own
choice upon the sea?

O Christ, will you help me on the wild
waves?

Present Future Church

Here are some thoughts about one way the church may look in the present future. This is certainly not original thought and it is already being being done with slightly different variations.

There are a number of issues that will shape the church of today and tomorrow, including…

• The high cost of real estate
• A flattened leadership structure
• The need to be a neighborhood display of the kingdom
• The desire to keep schedules as simple and meaningful as possible
• The need for good stewardship allowing as much money as possible to go where it is most needed
• The hunger for a more relational, interactive and real way of conducting gatherings

I think the natural way to address several of these issues that I believe have both cultural and biblical moorings is to shrink the church to neighborhood expressions that are simply groups of friends gathering (probably weekly) in homes, bars, coffee shops, etc. They would set their own format that focuses on following Jesus and displaying his kingdom, being a loving community that looks beyond itself.

Occasionally (perhaps, monthly), the small gatherings could get together for a larger gathering for inspiration, teaching, corporate worship, the use of the arts, community building, and service. They would meet in a rented facility. In some cases, there might be a paid staff member needed to coordinate things and keep things on track.

A building could be a legitimate need, if it were used for community ministry, providing whatever the neighborhood needs, like after school programs, a place were friends could gather, ESL classes, etc.

What do you think?  What are the potential drawbacks and benefits?

Ahhhhh…

Last week was a tough week bouncing around emotionally and all. Honestly, I have gotten tired of hearing myself complain. I have grown weary of being defined by what I used to be and by what I am not presently. So, I am hard at work trying to take my experience and wrap it around something that helps other people. I have gotten a few strange looks when I begin to describe a ministry that helps the frustrated and the dreamers, but I must proceed .

I continue to be a tenacious optimist who believes that there are good and meaningful things ahead for the church… and myself. Both will look very different than the past, though somethings will remain. The church will continue to be a community that naturally displays the beauty of the kingdom and, one way or another, I will be a pastor. (in the more positive, functional sense of the term.) It’s time to inhale deeply, release it slowing, and begin again. Maybe, it is more of a continuing to plug away.