WOW!

It is an awesome privilege to worship and live in community with people who really want to be like Christ! Over the last few weeks, I saw you give almost 100 coats, sweaters and sweatshirts away to the needy in the Metroplex. Then Sunday, we brought some further needs...friends who were homeless, inner city kids who need to go to Summer Camp, needy kids in Nicaragua who need shoes...and I asked everyone to bring $5 per person, so we could put at least $20-25 in each envelope.

Well, lo and behold some of you don't know the difference between 1, 5, 10, 20 and 50 dollar bills (yeah, that's right $50!). So, every envelope had $100 or more in it when I was done sorting and we will be able to send three kids to camp in addition to all the other needs. Thanks for your generosity...and be prepared that Bill, Amy and Cyndi will be bringing us some thoughts in a couple of weeks on how we can continue to minister 'in our own league'.

Much love to all of you, and may you have a very Merry and Blessed Christmas!

The Power of Community

I love being in community with people who love Christ and seek to be like him. We can have fun at the Akins on Sunday night, while we serve others by bringing coats and sweaters that will be desperately needed this Winter. Yet, I can also get a call from Holden this afternoon that he needs some sound equipment so that Greg can perform some Elvis Christmas tunes at the PRCA teachers banquet this evening, so Jonathan just jumps in the car with me, and we go to help out, and even end up helping to clean the room for the banquet. Then Corwin and his mom show up with more stuff, and I believe Daniel was following along behind...I love these people!

Some Advent Thoughts

Take a few moments to read the following scriptures:

* Isaiah 11:1-10; Matthew 3:1-12; Romans 15:4-13

Advent is about preparation and expectancy. The season of Advent reminds us that we all need to prepare to meet God, to expect this coming encounter. Moses prepared the people -- if you read Exodus 19, you will find the Israelites spent a great deal of time getting ready to come into the presence of God. John told his listeners to prepare in just one word "Repent!"

Advent also reminds us that our world was forever changed with the coming of Jesus. But the entry of Jesus into our world will happen again. Paul used the word transformed in telling the Romans how they must prepare for the second coming. (Romans 12:2) Advent reminds each of us that preparation is still needed.

After reading Matthew 3:1-12, consider:

* By his dress and actions, John stands out. How do you stand out for Christ?

* What was John's message?

* How can you and I prepare this Advent Season to stand out for Christ?

What I Believe Is What I DO!

So, after much study and thought about the pattern for organization, worship and community in the early Church, I find myself disappointed. Disappointed that 'the pattern' I had always been taught existed within those first followers has vanished like a mist between my fingertips. It seems to me that the early Church did whatever was expedient for the building up of the Kingdom of God, and didn't necessarily repeat that 'system' in other places as the Gospel spread throughout the globe.

So, to borrow a phrase from the book Blue Like Jazz..."what I say I believe is not what I believe. What I believe is what I do!" What DO these characters from the Bible DO? For good and / or bad, how do they follow God on a daily basis? So, for the next few weeks, I plan to consider some of these 'character studies' from the Old and New Testaments...some will be familiar to you, and some may not. But we will to endeavor to see life within the kingdom from their eyes, their point of view.

Jacob

Joseph

Shiprah & Puah

Hannah

Rahab

Ruth

David

Nathan

Solomon

Simeon

Matthew

Simon Magus

Christians who bless others

The Black Death

Catherine of Siena was born in 1347. That year, according to writer Charles L. Mee, Jr., “in all likelihood, a flea riding on the hide of a black rat entered the Italian port of Messina.… The flea had a gut full of the bacillus Yersinia pestis.” With that rat, flea, and bacillus, came the most feared plague on record. In just three years, 1348 to 1350, the Black Death killed more than one-third of the entire population between Iceland and India. Remarkably, the young Catherine survived the onslaught.

Symptoms of the Black Death

What was this plague like, this unseen killer which so changed the fourteenth-century world? “The first symptoms of bubonic plague often appear within several days,” writes Mee in Smithsonian (February 1990). They include “headache and a general feeling of weakness, followed by aches and chills in the upper leg and groin, a white coating on the tongue, rapid pulse, slurred speech confusion, fatigue, apathy, and a staggering gait. A blackish pustule usually will form at the point of the flea bite. By the third day, the lymph nodes begin to swell … The heart begins to flutter rapidly as it tries to pump blood through swollen, suffocating tissues. Subcutaneous hemorrhaging occurs, causing purplish blotches on the skin. The victim’s nervous system begins to collapse, causing dreadul pain and bizarre neurological disorders.… By the fourth or fifth day, wild anxiety and terror overtake the sufferer—and then a sense of resignation, as the skin blackens and the rictus of death settles on the body.”

Society Unraveling

“It is hard to grasp the strain that the plague put on the physical and spiritual fabric of society,” Mee concludes. “People went to bed perfectly healthy and were found dead in the morning. Priests and doctors who came to minister to the sick, so the wild stories ran, would contract the plague with a single touch and die sooner than the person they had come to help.” People barred themselves in their houses or fled to the country. A fourteenth-century writer, Jean le Bel, wrote that “one caught it from another, which is why few people dared to help or visit the sick.”

Yet when another wave of the plague struck Catherine’s hometown of Siena in 1374, she determined to stay. Following the example of the early Franciscans and Dominicans, she and her followers stayed to nurse the ill and bury the dead. Respected nineteenth-century historian Philip Schaff wrote that during the plague Catherine “was indefatigable by day and night, healed those of whom the physicians despaired, and she even raised the dead.”

Such courageous service was nothing new to Catherine. When she began her ministry, writes Caroline Marshall, “she performed the most distressing nursing chores among those incurably ill of cancer and leprosy. Her patients were in pain and often abusive. She believed that these experiences helped her to share in the suffering of the crucified Christ and were, therefore, a great help along her path to the mystical union with God, which was her ultimate goal.”

The Path

The author Goebel Music once wrote a book that was intended to be the Mishnah for the Churches of Christ. The title was 'Behold The Pattern' and detailed how the New Testament creates an exact picture of how we should 'do' Church, and that anyone that wasn't following this pattern clearly was not serious about the life of faith.

After studying the New Testament over many years, and especially some of our in-depth studies of the last 18 months, I cannot find said pattern. There are almost no 'snapshots' of life in the early Church, only one-sided eavesdropping sessions on conversations between Paul and some the early communities of faith. Further, I find no New Testament evidence that Paul intended his letters to be normative in any way for 'the church' throughout all times and ages. Evidence certainly points to the contrary. He gives Timothy and Titus different lists for how to choose their leaders, based on the unique situations that Timothy faced in Ephesus and Titus on the Island of Crete. At the end of the book of Romans Paul points out Phoebe, a deaconess from Cenchrea, who his readers were to follow: both in word and example. But one finds it hard to believe that he would have said the same for Phoebe if the scene was shifted to Corinth, where there must have been some women causing trouble.

In the last few weeks as we have looked at leadership, I have been looking for those scriptural signposts that would point the way that we are to follow today. But in Acts 1, when replacing Judas Iscariot, they roll the dice, trusting God to give them the person they should choose. I think we would have a hard time convincing anyone to follow this path today. In Acts 6, when workers were needed to mediate a dispute about the widows and to distribute food, the community was directed to choose seven men so that the Apostles could continue teaching and preaching. Did these 7 guys have any say in the matter? Or were they simply volunteered whether they liked it or not? In Acts 15, when there is a large schism amongst the growing kingdom of believers regarding the role of circumcision, they apply to the elders and apostles in Jerusalem, rather than listen to Paul, who is with them. That is ironic because the writings of Paul has certainly become the arbiter of right and wrong for Church life today. And then, it is not Peter or Paul who solves this dispute, but rather James (Jacob?) who stands up and sums up his decision. Was this the Son of Boanerges or the brother of Christ or someone else all together? And why was it HIS role to speak the definitive word, instead of Peter or Paul?

Then, later, when giving Timothy and Titus instructions on choosing leaders...there are these qualities / qualifications that seem to most of us to be impossibly better than most of the folks we know. Titus, in particular, is told by Paul simply to choose these leaders. Not consult the community, create a committee, or hold a vote.

So, what is the pattern...roll the dice, give the community the choice, or have the obvious leader (Titus) or the not so obvious leader (James) the final voice? Behold, the pattern seems to me to be hidden in a foggy mist of variety.

So, I go back to ground that seems more solid. We are to be disciples. Followers of Christ. Ministers of Reconciliation. A holy priesthood. A royal nation. To love God, love others as we love ourselves, and allow the rest to flow out of this simple philosophy. To BE the people God called us to be. However we go about organizing ourselves as a people.

To You

One of the songs we sang during evening vespers at St. Meinrad Abbey contained these lyrics:

To you all time belong;

To you this day belongs;

To you all praise belongs.

Amen.

Be still and KNOW that He is God.

Pilgrimage

"According to the dictionary, the word pilgrimage derives from the Latin peligrinus, foreigner or wayfarer, the journey of a person who travels to a shrine or holy place. Another older derivation, more poetic, reveals that pilgrim has its roots in the Latin per agrum, 'through the field.' This ancient image suggests a curious soul who walks beyond known boundaries, crosses fields, touching the earth with a destination in mind and a purpose in heart.

In Richard Niebuhr's elegant description,

'Pilgrims are person in motion--passing through territories not their own--seeking something we might call completion, or perhaps the word clarity will do as well, a goal to which only the spirit's compass points the way.' "

Let's seek to be pilgrims today, crossing boundaries and fields in the name of Jesus Christ!

Come Awake

Sacred is the pause that draws us into stillness. Nourishing are the moments when we step away from busyness. Lord, teach us the wisdom of pausing. Reveal to us the goodness of stopping to breathe...

Eternal God, I want to stop trying to control the hours so that new paths of inspiration are free to unfold within me. I want to remember that I have the potential to be a blessing in the lives of those with whom I live and work. Take my scattered thoughts, my fragmented moments. Breathe into them and draw them into YOUR heart. Open my eyes that I may see your grace that waits for me in every moment. You are the source of every moment's blessing. TEACH ME TO LIVE AWAKE!

Anoint the moments of my day -- may you make this prayer true in my life. Amen.

Acts 6 Leadership

Let's try and get this back by Wednesday...

You can just send me a message and I won't post it, just keep track of the results.

Some things aren't new...

'We should never be afraid of adventurous thought. If there is such a person as the Holy Spirit, God must ever be leading us into new truth. How would medicine fare if doctors were restricted to drugs and methods and techniques three hundred years old? And yet our standards of orthodoxy are far older than that. The ma with something new to say has always to fight. Galileo, the 7th century astronomer and physicist, was branded a heretic when he held that the earth moved around the sun. Lister, the surgeon, had to fight for antiseptic technique in surgical operations. Simpson, also a surgeon, had to battle against opposition in the merciful use of chloroform. Let us have a care that when we resent new ideas we are not simply demonstrating that our minds are grown old and inelastic; and let us never shirk the adventure of thought.

We should never be afraid of new methods. That a thing has always been done may very well be the best reason for stopping doing it. That a thing has never been done may very well be the best reason for trying it. No business could exist on outworn methods - and yet the Church tries to. Any business which had lost as many customers as the Church has would have tried new ways long ago - but the Church tends to resent all that is new.

There is a wise and an unwise conservatism. Let us have a care that in thought and in action we are not hidebound reactionaries when we ought, as Christians, to be gallant adventurers.'

-- William Barclay

Scrap

No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins and so both are preserved. -- Matthew 9:16-17, ESV

William Barclay, the famous Anglican scholar had this commentary regarding that passage from the book of Matthew...

"Throughout all its history the Church has clung to the old. What Jesus is saying is that there comes a time when patching is folly, and when the only thing to do is scrap something entirely and to begin again. There are forms of church governance, there are forms of church service, there are forms of words expressing our beliefs, which we do often try to adjust and tinker with in order to bring them up to date; we try to patch them. No one would willingly, or recklessly or callously abandon what has stood the test of time and of the years in which former generations have found their comfort and put their trust; but the fact remains that this is a growing, expanding universe: and there comes a time when patches are useless, and when a man and a church have to accept the adventure of the new, or withdraw into the backwater, where they worship, not God, but the past." -- William Barclay, Daily Study Bible

Consider that the man who penned those words died long before the world wide web, or cell phones, or even personal computers. What an amazing statement this is, and how forward thinking from a man who had not even seen some of the most amazing ideas of his century come to pass! What do you and I need to stop tinkering with, and scrap completely -- not only as a community of faith, but in our own personal lives, as well?

Guide Us, Oh Lord

One of my dearest friends just texted me with terrible news. I was just fading out into sleepy oblivion when I saw the text, and it jolted me awake. Amy and I prayed and grieved and I went to retrieve the book of common prayer from my shelf, for words to pray seemed to fail me.

I opened to one of my favorite compline prayers...

Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work or watch or weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and all for your Love's sake. Amen.

So, dear Friends, wherever you are, remember that you are loved...this night...

So guide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping; that awake we may watch with Christ, and asleep we may rest in peace. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

Personalities

Well, as promised, here are the personality types of our group, according to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator:

ESFP: Becky B, Bobby H, Greg F

ENFP: Corwin B, Ryan G

ENFJ: Amanda M

ESFJ: DeeDee E, Bill A, Donna A

ENTJ: Deanne

ESTJ: Corey, Betty

ISTJ: Earl B, Greg N, Jamie, Jeremy

INTJ: Randy C

ISTP: Kara E

ISFJ: Connie B, Amy F, Amy G, Jessica C, Taylor P

ISFP: Cheri W, Anne S, Holden F

INFP: Jonathan P, Daniel S, Cyndi N, Stacy B

Check out these links...

Hey, click here to access a great link about a group of 'villages' (house churches) in the Denver area. The author's of the book 'The Tangible Kingdom' are the leaders of this group. I think the book and the website would both prove interesting for you.

Secondly, especially for those of you who are interested in the ancient disciplines and monastic life, you may be interested in a faith community known as 'Small Boat, Big Sea' located in Sydney, Australia. They have weekly rhythms focused around 'blessing, eating, listening and learning.' Click here to access their site.

Next up: the breakdown of all the Myers Briggs data for our group!

Robert Fulghum Article

Here is that article I mentioned yesterday. If you weren't with us on the retreat or didn't have a chance to read it, I think it is especially pertinent to our discussions of the moment.

Click here to access that article.

Feedback

One of the dangers in having a group of folks who are so feelings focused (roughly 90% of our folks our feelers, not thinkers) is it makes it difficult to have a focused conversation. You only need to attend one of our house church gatherings to understand the implications of this. We chase rabbits endlessly and often you will end up with a statement about, "well, that is just something I don't need to understand."

Now that is a feeler position, NOT a thinker position. A thinker will lie awake at night pondering these things, while the feeler, having shared his/her feelings on the subject will sleep like a baby. So, rather than throwing things open this past weekend, I decided to have a focused discussion, using the 'Creative Whack Pack.' This did two things. First, it gave a funnel to our discussion time, which as it was still required Saturday Night and Sunday Morning for everyone to share. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, it encouraged everyone not to take the first right answer. Usually the first right answer is our teddy bear, that thing we reach for when we don't know what else to do. I wanted to avoid that and encourage everyone to listen and stretch farther.

In looking over the results of our brainstorming, it seemed to me that three categories were clearly invoked. I heard a sense of greater personal discipleship, which I am sure would manifest itself within the greater group in powerful ways.

Second, the challenge to be Christ in our own league, in our own backyard. Earl is scanning an article by Robert Fulghum that might help you understand the flavor of what we discussed at the retreat.

The third focus seems to be on the integration of rhythm of life wed together with ancient disciplines. The interweaving of a rhythm of spirituality into our ongoing life, as an individual and as a community.

Acts 7 says that they chose up from among them those filled with the Holy Spirit, and gave them the job of caring for the widows and the orphans. I would like to ask each of you to pray this week over these three areas and see if God might lead you to a name within our group that might be a good choice to help us be involved in these areas in a larger way.

Here are the statements that were brought up during our brainstorming time...

GREATER PERSONAL DISCIPLESHIP:

* Our faith life needs to be a path of transformation to a person we are BEING -- to see our walk with God as a way of life.

* These changes are NOT A QUICK FIX

* To KNOW = CHANGE

* The Church has had an overemphasis on the conversion moment, and not enough emphasis on what type of person we are becoming!

* We need to slay the dragons of fear, especially regarding our own personal comfort zones

* Avoid the blind spots as we use our imagination

* Reduce our personal stuff

* We need to BE the metaphor and find the relatability

* What is out of whack? ME (Anne)

* We need to approach as a lifestyle as opposed to something we sign up for

* Ask ourselves the question - what are we doing personally in the kingdom? Not only $, but also time, and share with the group.

* Need to seek out unknown relationships, even within the group (Corwin)

* Need to consider the difference between want and need -- for ourselves as well as others.

* FOCUS: truth, acceptance and seek what the word really says, not what we want it to say

BE CHRIST IN OUR OWN LEAGUE:

* We need to give back (tithe - Donna), make a commitment to simple service

* Determine what we can do and DO IT

* Leave the house and leave a trail

* Cultivate an awareness of real life, and the struggles and blessings within our community and those around us

* Cultivate and talk about reality, even when it involves panties and boogers

* Develop an ear to listen and help those in need

* Be there for others and inspire confidence

* Relationship - find the metaphor that speaks to this person?

* Cultivate a different perspective as we ask what can we do for our neighborhood

* Take our common meal outside

* We need to combine our ideas (ex. nursing home) and bring together people of different strengths

* We need to fight for it...we may be small, but through God we can be mighty! We need to address needs in our community, like drops in the ocean.

* We need to help people find the aha - change venues, make our own videos, use creative talents of our group (Greg F)

* We need to stay and play in our league and neighborhood

* Can you sell it (Donna) - we are selling ourselves, and what God is doing among us. How does reaching out meet the needs of the group.

* We need to focus on one thing while allowing people to be who they are - where they are

* We need to decide how will we handle it when God brings us a black hole of neediness...and figure out what it means to truly love our neighbor. How will we handle it when the most loving response is to say no?

RHYTHM OF LIFE AND DISCIPLINES

* Develop a rhythm of disciplines

* Put ancient practices into our daily life

* Be attentive to the Holy Spirit and join God

* Look to nature to define systems that can help us: consider spiritual disciplines, mentoring and transparency. How can we create systems that nurture these.

* LOOK - LISTEN - RESPOND

* We need to conform to God’s rhythm

* We need to do the unexpected and live it, be in the moment.

* We need to let the word of God speak as we are involved in other folks lives

* We need to do something because God is calling us. To daily be aware and be Jesus.

MISCELLANEOUS:

* Think through the instincts of a child

* We need to dream, and not allow the fear of the unknown or our comfort zones

* Pig at an islamic funeral (bobby h) - no idea what the context was, but that was hilarious

* BEWARE - there are positive as well as negative results of implementing an idea.

HOMEWORK:

1. Check out http://www.adullamdenver.com/

2. Pray over these lists as we prepare to choose leaders

The Retreat

So, some of you may have looked for something from me after our retreat this past weekend...if so, I have sorely disappointed you. I am sorry if that is true for you.

One of the hurdles for me to overcome is my own institutional church learned behaviors. And the first of those is that as a leader, I act. I speak, I talk, I coach up. So this week, instead, Jonathan and I went to the monastery up at St. Meinrad (Indiana). And I refused to allow myself to make blog posts or in general work on house church stuff all week. Because that 'action' is my teddy bear. I want people to be happy, and feel fulfilled, and have a sense of purpose. So I challenged myself this week instead to read, pray and listen for God's voice.

I believe that God uses our strengths, but I also believe that God can use our areas of weakness. I had a polaroid camera when I was a kid. And even in the 1970's, I would stand there holding that photo, and practically shake it, willing it to turn out faster so I could see the finished product. Most of my faith life and church work has been the same way, with mixed results. Sometimes that drive has been a wonderful thing, and spurred myself and others on to greater things for God. Sometimes, however, it has caused me to be unwilling to listen and wait for God's timing. To rush ahead when it wasn't prudent, and spoil what God was trying to birth through me.

For the first time in my life, I think, I am truly listening and open to God. The past 18 months have brought many, many lessons home to me. But the greatest lesson has been a greater understanding of the kairos time, God's time, which is ALWAYS perfect.

In reality, I needed to get fired so God could do some things. It was hard, it was painful, and it was RIGHT. Some of those things God needed to do were within me, and some were within those around me. Our first retreat this past January was the first time that I thought, hmm...this house church is going to make it. And right then, I turned to my teddy bear of leadership and action. Almost immediately I sensed I had made the wrong move (again). Things started to go wrong in everyone's life, and I reluctantly switched on my listening ears again.

Things improved and we had a wonderful retreat this past weekend. I was so thankful to be with you, and to watch you share with one another and with God, and to hear all of the ideas that were rattling around inside your heads.

I think the polaroid is taking shape. The picture is forming, and I encourage you, as we build on this retreat over the next few weeks, to do everything you can to be a part of our weekly gatherings. Your input is vital, and I truly believe we are missing something when you aren't present! I love you all and missed you this week!

Rituals

"Religious rituals often develop out of mystical experimentation. Some brave scout goes looking for a new path to the divine, has a transcendent experience and returns home a prophet. He or she brings back to the community tales of heaven and maps of how to get there.

Then others repeat the words, the works, the prayers, or the acts of this prophet, in order to cross over, too. Sometimes this is successful--sometimes the same familiar combination of syllables and devotional practices repeated generation after generation might carry many people to the other side. Sometimes it doesn't work, though. Inevitable even the most original new ideas will eventually harden into dogma or stop working for everybody." -- Excerpt from 'Eat, Pray, Love'

The canvas is wide open. What rituals would God have us paint week in and week out...and how can we prevent these from becoming stale and without purpose?

Renewal

In preparation for our upcoming retreat, I have been working through a book entitled "Houses That Changed The World." Here is a quote that I found especially meaningful in recent days:

"Many churches which are desperate for renewal - or at least change - tend to overlook the fact that you cannot produce a new quality in the church by changing the structures...Changing a church by changing some outward forms is as futile as trying to change your mentality by changing your clothes or walking backwards...Adding a new mission statement or some other cosmetic alteration without a radical genetic reformation of the church will only lead to frustration - like sewing a patch of new cloth onto old cloth, which, Jesus says, is bad advice.

Revival and reformation truly start with a complete rediscovery and reconstruction of the core essence of the church, with New Testament DNA, the genetic code of God, supernaturally empowered with growth potential from within."

As we have grown closer to the retreat this weekend, all the excuses have started to trickle in...I have this Friday night or my brother has this deal or this other thing has come up. I can't tell you what a bummer that is as I try to prepare for an event. It has always been disappointing to work hard on something that you want to share with everyone and not see folks match that excitement, passion and discipline.

But that disappointment seems all the more acute now that I don't work for 'the Church'. My time is now much like yours. Peripetee business has had to slow to a near standstill this week (thanks, JP for giving me that time) in order for me to be ready for this retreat. And the reality is, this IS an important weekend for our little community. We only have 30 folks, so there is no guarantee someone is out there waiting to step into your shoes if you aren't present. The theme of the retreat is 'wide open' - which I think is what the future is for us -- wide open. But we need you to be there in order to hear from everyone in our community -- there is not a later date to 'catch everyone up'. There are no do-overs or spark notes.

So my encouragement to you is to not allow the things of this world to crowd out the things of God. Be open. Be receptive. Be willing to share. And come. Come ready...to listen, to worship and to share life together.

Colossians 3...

¹ Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. ³ For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Receipients of the Bibles in Panama

Several months ago, Cyndi collected money to send Bibles to Panama. Here is what she said:

Here is a picture of some of the people in Panama who received the bibles that house church people purchased and sent. Also the message that came with the picture.

Hey Cyndi! How are you? I wanted to send you the picture we took of the family/church that needed Bibles. They were SO excited! Please pass on our huge thanks to everyone who contributed to getting the Bibles and materials to us! We love you guys!

Miriam

The Color of Her Eyes

NOTE: To understand the subtlety of this story, you need to know that my wife and I are extremely caucasion, but almost five years ago we adopted a most beautiful daughter of Asian descent.

I have been trying to get a handle on all of these new friends Lily has made in Kindergarten. She has 20 children in her class and not many of them have been in class with her before. Nicole was a name I had heard often, and I asked Lily, "Is Nicole the other Chinese girl that sits at your table?" Lily responded, "I don't know, dad."

Trying to help her, I added, "well, you know, does she look like you?" Lily screwed up her face in intense concentration and said, "no, dad, she has different color eyes."

I had tried to help her identify her friend by the color of her skin and country of origin, but Lily saw deeper, someone who she had considered long enough to notice what color her eyes were.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit has to say to His church.

The Handout, thanks to Earl!

Thanks to Earl B...for scanning the handout from Sunday...

Click the image to download a copy of the handout if you want to read the scriptures before next Sunday...

Have a GREAT week!

What I Learned at ACU Summit

As we were taking classes this past week at the ACU Summit, I was also doing a lot of reading. I find it helpful and even refreshing that these questions that we have been addressing for the last 18 months or so are also weighing on the minds and hearts of other believers.

Here are some results of what 'house churches' bring a community of faith that statistics reveal are different from that of the 'traditional church'.

1. Community members stop doing church and start being church

2. Church touches all of life and be 'holistic'

3. The house church model...ends the money problem

4. And the leadership problem

5. And the building problem

6. House churches bring a new quality of conversions

7. They redefiner the mission of the Church

8. Create church members who are doing less acting and more acting

9. Excitement levels rise

I believe all of these are AWESOME things to consider. This Sunday, I plan to survey what the New Testament has to say about the role of houses in the early Church - so BRING YOUR BIBLE!

Houses That Change The World

"Our bookshelves are full of Christian books and videos. We have churches on every major street, more staff workers than ever before, large Sunday school departments, cell systems, mega- and meta-church seminars. We have Christian bumper stickers, political action groups, huge parachurch ministries - and in the midst of it all, we have lost every major city in North America. Rather than rethinking our methods and challenging our own effectiveness, we try to escape responsibility for the eternal damnation of those in our communities by blaming others for our own spiritual ineffectiveness." (Page 10, Houses That Change The World)

"The image of much contemporary Christianity could be summarized as holy people coming regularly to a holy place on a holy day at a holy hour to participate in a holy ritual led by a holy man dressed in holy clothes for a holy fee. Since this regular performance-oriented enterprise called a 'worship service' requires a lot of organizational talent and administrative bureaucracy, formalized and institutionalized patterns developed quickly into rigid traditions. Statistically, a one- or two-hour 'worship service' is very resource-hungry but produces very little fruit in terms of discipling people (changing their lives)...Do we need to change from being powerful actors and start acting powerfully?" (Page xxi, Houses That Change The World)

It has been a stretching week for Jonathan and I. Much of the discussion here at the Abilene Lectures has centered around new forms of Church and the call to take Christ's call to discipleship more seriously.

Reg Cox spoke this morning from I Peter 3 about the necessity that Christians be willing to suffer for our faith, and our need to follow Jesus not only because He is our Savior, but also because he is our LORD! I am more impassioned that at any point in my 41 years about the need to be an apprentice to my Rabbi Jesus and follow Him wherever He may go. Will you join me? Are you also impassioned? What might the Spirit of God be leading you to RIGHT NOW?

More from Artemis

I looked at Acts 19 a couple of weeks ago during our study time, but in watching some Ray VanderLaan videos this week, I realized how much I had NOT mined from the passage. That info seems particularly relevant to our discussion is to our situation at the moment.

If you are reading your Bible tonight or in the morning, check out Acts 19, Ephesians 1 and Revelations 2! See you tomorrow!

Metanoia

I bought some books off of Amazon.com to be used as giveways for our retreat. But, if you know me, and you know how much I love to read, so, when the box of books showed up I just had to sneak a peek into a couple that I haven't read yet. This quote comes from a book entitled "From Nomads to Pilgrims", by Diana Butler Bass. It is a collection of essays from people who are involved in little communities like ours, striving to 'do church' the way the early disciples did. I was so taken by what she said in her introduction:

"The stories that follow are stories of metanoia, of individual and congregational change, of people on pilgrimage. The pastors who share these stories will be the first to say that their congregations are not perfect, and they, as leaders, are not perfect, either. They often struggled and were surprised by the Spirit along with their congregations as the communities changed through practice. Indeed, in their stories, they share their metanoias.

From these pastors and the people they served, we learned that two practices are foundational to pilgrim communities: discernment and hospitality. Having FIRST learned to listen and welcome, congregations THEN embarked on the unique practices which God had called them."

Have we learned to listen and welcome? If so, then perhaps it is indeed time to consider what practices will drive our little community.

Fordlandia

Interestingly enough, Earl brought me a clipping about a new book called Fordlandia...it is a tome about a jungle utopia that Henry Ford tried to create in the early part of the 20th century in Brazil.

Ford created a town of wide thoroughfares to accommodate Model T's and A's and ice cream shops and bandstands that eventually disintegrated into riots and a boomtown filled with saloons and brothels. The picture above is part of the ghost town that is left. What happens when man tries to create utopia on his own?

Thou art Peter, and upon this rock...

Our text this morning comes from Matthew 16:13-ff (also found in Mark chapter 8)...and deals with whether or not the church is on the offensive or defensive in the battle against evil.

After Christ has spoken to his apostles, and asked them who people say that He is, He goes on to tell them (Mark 8 indicates he spoke to the assembled crowd, as well) that they must "come after him". After that, what does Jesus tell them they must do?

In what ways do you think people who worshipped Pan and other gods would have to "deny themselves" in order to follow Jesus? (Also note I Peter 4:3-4 and I John 2:15-17)

How do you think the disciples felt when Jesus suddenly calls out to this pagan crowd? What impact do you think His strong words about being ashamed of him had on his disciples that day and in the future when they went out into the pagan cultures of Asia Minor?

Flat Leadership

Hey, I really think you should all check out this article about 'flat' leadership.

Click here to access the article!

Making a Difference

This past Sunday in the New York Times Bruce Feiler wrote an article entitled 'The Joys of Vicarious Divorce'. Here is an excerpt from his column:

"Turn on the television. Visit a bookstore. Pick up a magazine. Head to a multiplex. Divorce is everywhere these days. The culture is practically gorging on it.

The biggest film for adults of the summer centers on a divorce (Eat, Pray, Love), the most talked about television series of the moment revolves around a divorced couple ("Mad Men"), the hottest revivals on Broadway of the season pivots on divorce ("Promises, Promises"), the bawdiest memoir of the year chronicles an affair that eventually led to a high profile divorce (Andrew Young's "The Politician).

With the notable exception of Chelsea Clinton, the biggest celebrity news stories of the year have all involved breakups, from movie stars (Sandra Bullock, Susan Sarandon), to television stars (Kelsey Grammar, "The Bachelor"), to sports stars (Tiger Woods, Frank McCourt) to political stars (the Edwardses, the Gores). Forty-three years after the Summer of Love, one can be forgiven for thinking we're in the Summer of Divorce.

In a world where everything seems to be spinning madly on, I wonder exactly what it means to be 'the Church' in the midst of this culture. We have become a very tight knit group of people who share in one another's joys, as well as their sorrows. We have the added blessing of sharing in a time of honest searching and finding. But what has God intended for us to be and say and do within our greater community? For the next few weeks, as we approach our retreat October 8-10, I will be examining more in depth what it means to be 'The Church'. It might be instructive for you to check out the following links:

* The Ecclesia Network

* Ecclesia Church: Houston

* The meaning of ecclesia and other links

How Much Did Christ Understand?

I am reading a novel right now by Anne Rice. Interestingly enough, the novel is about the life of Christ. Anne Rice has enjoyed a very successful career as an author, primarily about vampires. Interview with the Vampire may be her most well known book, but in these last days, all of her writing has been centered around her faith.

This book, entitled The Road to Cana, details the life of Christ as he begins his ministry. In an early scene Mary asks her son, "Are you sure this is God's will?"

His answer (as envisioned by Rice) goes as follows: "Mother, there are things I know , and things I don't know. Sometimes knowledge comes to me unexpectedly -- in moments of surprise. Sometimes it comes when I'm pressed, and in my sudden answers to those who press me. Sometimes, this knowledge comes in pain. Always, there's the certainty that the knowledge is more then I will let myself know. It's just beyond where I choose to reach, just beyond what I choose to ask. I know it will come when I have need of it. I know it may come, as I said, on its own. But some things I know certainly and have always known. There's no surprise. There's no doubt."

It is interesting to consider that Christ may have known more than he allowed himself to understand. That sometimes he may have thought or said something that he hadn't planned ahead of time, or that he would have a sudden burst of understanding, yet feel as if he had always known it. And yet, perhaps there were other things, things that were exceptionally clear to him...

The Artist Donray

For those of you who attended Park Row Church or have been involved in the Park Row Christian Academy, you may have heard the name Don Ray. Don is an artist / lawyer who is a long time member at Park Row and also someone who has donated his skills as a lawyer pro bono to folks who needed it. He is a wonderful man, and his daughter, Roussy, is in Nate's 6th grade class at PRCA.

Interestingly enough, he is also a world renowned artist. Donray (his artist name) can be googled with a deep list of results. He called me recently and told me that anyone I knew could buy his paintings or pastels at a reduced rate, and also said I could have a commission for anyone I referred to him (my thought was money for the bucket!).

Now, he is a fine artist, and a picture is going to run you from $300 + up to a lot more than that. However, if you or anyone you know would like to buy something, I would be happy to bring you two together. He is a wonderful Christian brother and also a dynamic artist. So, if you are interested, click here and here to see some of Don's work!

We have been preparing for the past couple of weeks to begin studying a new book in book club entitled "Finding Our Way Again" by Brian McLaren. It is a book about spiritual practices, and I felt it was particularly relevant for the current season in our faith community. We would invite anyone and everyone to come join us, Tuesdays at 6:30pm at our house. Here is an excerpt from the book...

"You can't take an epidural shot to ease the pain of giving birth to character. In a sense, every day of your life is labor: the rhythmic agony of producing the person who will wake up in your body tomorrow and will influence your family, friends, colleagues, neighbors, and countless strangers for better or worse.

In a wild world like ours, your character, left untended, will become a stale room, an obnoxious child, a vacant lot filled with thorns, weeds, broken bottles, raggedy grocery bags and dog droppings...But well tended, your character will be a fragrant garden, an artist's home, with walls and halls full of memories and beauty, a party with live music and pleasant conversations in every corner. You'll be good and deep company for yourself and others.

The question is: how will the experiences of your life form you?"

How do we KNOW something?

One of the questions that comes up when we are discussing the concept of understanding Jesus' parables, is how do we KNOW something? Mark 4 is where Jesus says to his disciples that they have already been given the key to understanding his parables, and yet, they don't understand them. In my last blog post, I quoted Cyril of Alexandria, a Christian Scholar from the 4th century who said that we understand the parables with the eyes of our mind and not the eyes of our body. But what does that mean?

I got thinking this week that the answer to this question may be somewhat like understanding why we love our spouses. I can give you lots of answers as to the reasons I love Amy, but they full short of the complete answer. She is beautiful and loving and compassionate. She is an incredible teacher, she loves children, and is someone all people love. She has great patience and incredible spiritual insight. And while all of those answers are true, they somehow fall short of the answer. I love her because there is noone else on earth for me, nobody who completes me like she does. Deanne recently said of Corey, "he brings out a better me." Perhaps that is understanding with the eyes of our mind.

We will discuss this topic more on Sunday, as we consider the ways in which we 'understand' the Word of God.

The Eyes of the Mind

"Parables are word pictures not of visible things, but rather of things of the mind and the spirit. That which cannot be seen with the eyes of the body, a parable will reveal to the eyes of the mind, informing the subtlety of the intellect by means of things perceivable by the senses, and as it were tangible."

-- Cyril of Alexandria, c. 376-444 A.D.

How do we 'get' parables? Cyril argues that we understand them with the eyes of our mind, rather than the eyes of our body. Where are the eyes of our mind and how do we understand something in this way? We will finish our discussion next week on how we can understand the parables!

Thanks for a wonderful day filled with new friends and old - hope you have a wonderful week!

The Power of Parable

"Images are concrete expressions of abstract ideas, the existential embodiment of the rational word. Images, whether they are stories, pictures or music, are incarnations of ideas--words made flesh." -- Pg. 102, Word Pictures by Brian Godawa

Why does Jesus teach using so many images and metaphors? Why can't he simply answer a straight question? Why does he ask so many questions and tell so many stories? Why does he perform so many miracles? Why doesn't he perform more miracles?

These questions and many more abound regarding the sayings and teachings of Christ. But I think they all revolve around an understanding of the nature and design of parables. Before Sunday, take a moment to read Mark 4, carefully noting vs. 11: "To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God; but those who are outside get everything in parables."

How to use subversion today...

One last case for subversion, following our discussion at House Church this past Sunday...

"The apostle Peter subverts hellenistic imagery when he writes about the cataclysmic spiritual events surrounding God's judgment in the Noachian flood. 'God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment.' (II Peter 2:4)" -- quote from Word Pictures, by Brian Godawa

What is important to realize is that the word translated as "hell" in this English translation is not the usual Greek word, gehenna, but tartarus, a well-known Greek mythic location written about by Plato:

"The very wicked are cast for ever into Tartarus, the traditional place of punishment in Hades surrounded by a brazen wall and encircled by impenetrable darkness. Here, they received terrible torture (Republic 626)."

The Greek poet Hesiod, writing around 700 B.C., described Tartarus as the underworld pit of darkness and gloom where the Olympic Titan giants were banished following their war with Zeus. I think it would be much the same as a reference to "sin city" being universally recognized here in America as a reference to Las Vegas.

If this is truly another case of subversion by a New Testament writer...how can we or should we subvert the culture today in the greater cause of Christ? How can we be in, but not of, the world? How can we somehow quote the Benny Hill's of our day, and maintain a viable witness as a light for Christ?