Tall Monastic Guy

"Everything Must Change"

I'm highly anticipating McLaren's newest book. I havn't been disappointed yet. Here's a brief little article from Publisher's Weekly that gives a preview.

Worship Service

I had a worshipful experience today while on a break at work. I was laying in the grass with my co-workers, all of whom are Hispanic and only one speaks decent English. Some were taking siesta's, another was listening to some rap music, and I was reading my Irresistible Revolution book by Shane Claiborne.

I love this book! God has used Shane's life, conviction, and boldness to shake me up and I think narrow my personal calling and vision a bit. Anyway, I'm reading a section called "The God of Losers" which Shane's talking about how Jesus always seemed to bless and use the most broken and marginalized of people. Jesus himself came from Galilee which at the time people said nothing good could ever come from there. He lifted up the Samaritans, the tax collectors, the prostitutes, and the lepers. He gravitated toward people that most of us avoid (myself included)!

As I'm reading about this, I look up to notice my surroundings. I'm laying on the grass with 3 young Mexican guys and Snoop Dogg is playing on the radio. It might as well been David Crowder or Chris Tomlin playing on the radio because right then and there, through reading what I was reading and through the present environment, I believe my heart was connecting with God's. I may not have chosen this hot and sweaty job, that music, or the language barrier, or the long hours but perhaps God chose it for me for such a time as this.

Who are the marginalized in our community? Claiborne is reminding me in a powerful way that where they are is where we belong.

Grace & Peace

St. Paul Street

We are slowly getting settled into 1510 S. St. Paul, just a 4 minute walk from friend's Vic and Sara's in one direction and a 5 minute walk to the Catholic Seminary which includes a great stations of the cross in the other direction.

More will be written soon. For now, here's a few pics of 14ers Mt. Belford and Mt. Oxford...

Me and Paul atop the summit of Belford. Paul's first 14er summit!

Summit of Oxford with Belford behind me.

I love this pic of my brother in law, Tim, as he's running the saddle between Belford and Oxford.

Bottoms up.

I don't have much time to write cause Angie and I are packing and trying to be ready to move to our new location tomorrow morning. I do have some things to write about as soon as we get settled and some pictures to post from climbing the Mt. Belford/Mt. Oxford combo last Sunday.

I did just check out a couple posts by Dan Kimball that I wanted to pass on. The posts are in regard to alcohol consumption by followers of Christ. Good discussion starters.

-->Would Jesus be allowed to be a Southern Baptists pastor?

-->Gone for a week and recommended books

Grace & Peace

A working definition to "missional church"

Alan Hirsch, a man on the leading edge of the missional church conversation and collaborator with my friend's Hugh Halter and Matt Smay, has an excellent explanation of the roots and meaning of "missional church".

Cultivating soil

Last week I spent the bulk of my waking hours breaking up dirt and getting the soil prepared for sod to be laid. It was monotonous, boring, and frustrating. The soil was a mixture of dirt and rock making cultivation seemingly impossible. During the job, I did my best Brother Lawrence imitation as I began to think of the spiritual metaphors that existed in the situation. I began to think of how that rocky soil all too often was a good descriptor of the soil of my spiritual life. The parable of Matthew 13:3-9 came to mind...

Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds of the air came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundred-fold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!

Spirituality seems to require lots of self surrender, soil that has been well tended, turned, and broken down into dirt ready to receive seed and grow it into something useful. The question is, how willing are we to be tilled and broken down until we are good soil? As far as these blessings or seeds God desires to plant in us, we have to really want them and only those prepared to receive them will consistently be transformed by them.

And it seems we have to always be ready for this seed to fall because we never know when it will according to John 3:8

The wind (or Spirit) blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

I suppose none of us in our right mind invite this breaking down of the soil of our heart, but when it starts happening how will we handle it?

...those who hope in the Lord...

The missional life is hard work, takes sacrifice, as well as creativity. I believe that missional living will often require pastors to be bi-vocational. Being bi-vocational allows a pastor a better position to interact with and have an ear to the needs of culture and the extra income doesn't hurt either. At the current moment I find myself to be tri-vocational as I seek to raise funds for my role with the Missio/Adullam team, while working a retail job on Saturday's and installing sprinklers during the week days. This season won't last forever. But this week it began to feel that way at times. Here's what came to my head as I worked...

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 40:27-31

"...only small things with great love."

I believe we all have a genuine need to be known and loved. If God created us for relationship our desire to belong and be known makes sense to me. What annoys me is the desire I notice in myself and others to be great, relevant or recognizable. I'm not sure many of us are content to rest in obscurity or irrelevance.

A couple weeks ago I was talking to my friend Mike from Ohio who loves to write and write real good deep stuff from his heart. Mike would love it if he was published some day but for now he just blogs (and does so very well ). And lately some of the people where he lives have noticed his blog writing and have personally benefited from his thoughtful words. When he was telling me this he explained how he hoped to be satisfied with blessing just a few people in big ways through his writing with out trying to push himself to hard to be a recognizable published author. He said, "Can I be alright with honoring God by blessing just few people without ever being famous or known by thousands?" I thought a lot about that conversation and all the wisdom there was in what he was saying. (But remember the name, Mike O'Donnell because he probably will be a famous author some day)

So when does a genuine need for belonging and relationship push beyond into the desire to be popular or famous? Henri Nouwen who I respect greatly has these good words,

"I am deeply convinced that the christian leader of the future is called to be completely irrelevant and to stand in this world with nothing to offer but his or her own vulnerable self."

I agree with Henri, but I'm not convinced I'm ok with it for myself yet, but I hope to be someday. I think being alright with irrelevance or obscurity is being alright with death. And I mean the kind of death Jesus mentions in Matthew 10:39 when he says, "Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it."

In the book, Irresistible Revolution, Shane Claiborne speaks of himself actually finding christianity while working amongst lepers and other dying people one summer in Calcutta. He seemed to meet Jesus profoundly in the community and in the eyes of the poor and dying that summer. It wrecked his life and others began noticing the holiness of Jesus inside of Shane.

The thing about Shane is I don't think he spent the summer in Calcutta in hopes of having great material for a chapter in a book. He did it out of an authentic search for Jesus. I think often our fear of obscurity or our fear of leaving artificial relationships and artificial living comes out of our not being confident in our relationship with God. Christians love to say I have all I need in my relationship with Jesus, but your likely to find them saying that while standing in line waiting to purchase an I-Phone wile sipping a Starbucks latte.

Understanding our sense of entitlement and desire for recognition might be the first steps in heading toward the tension of inviting Jesus to wreck your life. All this reminds me of my high school senior year memory book that my mom so kindly made for me. She recorded everything that happened to me that year which included being prom king, voted most popular of my class, basketball MVP, all-conference, etc. etc. I can remember coming home during my first year of college and revisiting that memory book to remind myself of how "it" I was. Wow.

And i still struggle from time to time with the desire to be important or relevant to lots of people, but I'm getting more confident that God's alright with me as I am right now and there's really nothing I can achieve to make him love me any more. So, with that I'll sign off with a few quotes that sum up where I'm at or hope to be...

"We can do no great things, only small things with great love." -Mother Teresa

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me."-Apostle Paul

"Very truly I tell you, all who have faith in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because i am going to the Father." -Jesus Christ