From Final Gifts

Respond to anything you don't understand with gentle inquiries. "Can you tell me what's happening?" is sometimes a helpful way to initiate this kind of conversation. You might also try saying, "You seem different today. Can you tell me why?"

Pose questions in open-ended, encouraging terms. For example, if a dying person whose mother is long dead says, "My mother's waiting for me," turn that comment into a question: "Mother's waiting for you?" or "I'm so glad she's close to you. Can you tell me about it?"

Accept and validate what the dying person tells you. If he says, "I see a beautiful place!" say, "I'm so pleased. I can see that it makes you happy," or "I'm glad you're telling me this. I really want to understand what's happening to you. Can you tell me more?"

Don't argue or challenge. By saying something like, "You couldn't possibly have seen Mother, she's been dead for ten years," you could increase the dying person's frustration and isolation, and run the risk of putting an end to further attempts at communicating.

Remember that a dying person may employ images from life experiences like work or hobbies. A pilot may talk about getting ready to go for a flight; carry the metaphor forward: "Do you know when it leaves?" or "Is there anyone on the plane you know?" or "Is there anything I can do to help you get ready for takeoff?"

Be honest about having trouble understanding. One way is to say, "I think you're trying to tell me something important and I'm trying very hard, but I'm just not getting it. I'll keep on trying. Please don't give up on me."

Don't push. Let the dying control the breadth and depth of the conversation-they may not be able to put their experiences into words; insisting on more talk may frustrate or overwhelm them.

Avoid instilling a sense of failure in the dying person. If the information is garbled or the delivery impossibly vague, show that you appreciate the effort by saying, "I can see that this is hard for you; I can see you're getting tired/angry/frustrated. Would it be easier if we talked about this later?" or "Don't worry. We'll keep trying and maybe it will come."

If you don't know what to say, don't say anything. Sometimes the best response is simply to touch the dying person's hand, or smile and stroke his or her forehead. Touching gives the very important message, "I'm with you." Or you could say, "That's interesting, let me think about it."

Remember that sometimes the one dying picks an unlikely confidant. Dying people often try to communicate important information to someone who makes them feel safe-who won't get upset or be taken aback by such confidences. If you're an outsider chosen for this role, share the information as gently and completely as possible with the appropriate family members or friends. They may be more familiar with innuendos in a message because they know the person well.

This is a great book for anyone who works with dying people or if you have someone you love suffering from a terminal illness.

Rick Warren's Ministry Toolbox:

How does God want us to deal with intimidating people?
2 Timothy 1:7 (Good News) gives us the answer: 'For the spirit that God has given us does not make us timid. Instead his spirit fills us with power, love, and self control.'
That's the way God wants you to deal with people. He wants you to deal with them in power (confidence), in love (focusing on their needs), and in self-control. God's Spirit doesn't make us timid. It doesn't turn us into weaklings.
The Phillips translation of this verse says, 'God has not given us the spirit of cowardice.' The Living Bible version says, 'God doesn't want you to be afraid of people.'
Yet, I know Christians all the time who unconsciously think, 'I have to be afraid of people in order to be spiritual. I just have to let people have their own way.' If you'll look at the Bible, you'll see that's not the case.
You won't please everyone. That's a fact. So stop trying! When those difficult people come along, hold your ground, pray for those who persecute you, and leave the rest to God.

In light of some difficult things going on recently in my ministry and our town, this is a very helpful article for me today!

In many ways, I wish I could be more open and transparent in this blog. Yet I am fearful. I am fearful of people. I pastor in a small town (pop. 2000) and word gets around quickly. Plus it is a very old school, modern mindset that doesn't welcome openness, struggle, journeying. Everyone would rather be seen as having it all together. So what if everyone discovered that the pastor doesn't have it all together? In fact you could read the same statement this way: So what if everyone discovered that the pastor doesn't have it all together!

The funny thing is, I seek to debunk this idea each week. Most Sunday's in my sermons, I put myself in my place. I think this is important in all communication and especially for church leaders. We need to be put in our place; fellow strugglers, fellow sinners, fellow humans. After all the church is the only organization that our membership is dependent upon our failure and our admission of that failure.

I think the emerging church understands this better than many modern churches. As the associate pastor at the church I grew up at used to say: "we're all bozos on this bus."

The New York Times > Opinion > Those Illegal Farm Subsidies
This is not going to be popular out here!

Yet the practice of farm subsidies is a huge problem and a very disturbing practice.

However, even with huge subsidies, farmers are regularly "going out of business" here in our county. We are in the midst of a severe drought and many farmers are unable to make a go any more. Here in Wray, there used to be a family farmer on every section. Now, most of those families are gone. The population of our town is aging and the entire town is in a slow decline.

So far we have been unable to bring some light manufacturing jobs to the area. Something is going to have to give.

The latest works
Cool optical illusions! Check it out.

Pointed to by Marc's Productivity Blog.

Our county has 25 churches in it. Our county's population is around 9700. Therefore, each of our churches in our county would need to have nearly 400 people attending for everyone in our county to go to church. Yet the largest church in our county can seat about 250-300.

I know church attendance isn't THE measurement for spiritual growth or spirituality. Yet I can't help but to feel a little discouraged by these statistics.

Especially sad is the amount of young people attending church. I recently read a statistic that 4% of those born after 1982 attend church. WOW! The writing is on the wall. Are we bothering to read it?

Tomorrow we will be going to Denver for a couple of days. I haven't had to put gas in my car since March 9! This small town living has its advantages!

The Executive Presbyter came out last week and met with me. We had a good visit. Yet it was discouraging in some ways. Our Presbyterian Church has 58 active members. We aren't experiencing many new faces either. Apparently, statistics show that churches like this will decline by 40% every decade.

My math is horrible but I think that means that in 10 years the membership will be down to 35 and in 20 years the membership will be down to 21! Ouch!

Maybe we aren't doing something right. Maybe our culture is changing. Maybe it's both!

4.20 We remember. God give us peace.

The New York Times > Science > Vast and Deadly Fleets May Yield Secrets at Last:

The Persian Wars may be famed in history, but few artifacts and material remains have emerged

The opening line from this article caught my eye this morning because I am currently working on a seminar discussing The DaVinci Code. One comment that always fascinates me is that the Bible is not a historically accurate document.

Now I know postmodern apologists (is there such a thing?) are not terribly concerned with the historicity of the Bible. This concern smacks of foundationalism. Yet at some point we must argue that there is some historical integerity to the Bible.

And the evidence for the historical reliability far out paces the evidence for the Persian Wars. Yet who would doubt the reality of the Persian Wars?

Rhythms of Contemplative Prayer
Great post and thoughts on contemplative prayer.

The New York Times > National > A Memorial for Columbine Hits a Snag:

Columbine will not hold classes on Tuesday, but parents who lost children will be allowed into the building as they have been on past anniversaries

Five years ago on Tuesday, I was a youth pastor at Centennial Community Church just a few miles from Columbine. Our youth program had 20 or so students who attended Columbine. I was attending Denver Seminary finishing my last semester on my MDiv. program when it happened.

The scene that day was surreal. And the impact of that dreadful day is unfathomable.

Fortunately, our church did not lose a single kid that day. But two churches on the same corner did. West Bowles Community Church is where Cassie Bernall went to church. Foothills Bible Church also lost a student in the massacre.

I am thankful that we didn't loose any kids that day. But I also know that many of them will be haunted by the memories from that day. One young girl from our youth group was in the room were Dave Sanders bled to death. Several others hid in the choir room until the SWAT team came in and rescued them several hours later.

At summer camp that year, several of the kids were running and playing, doing what high school kids do. I was outside talking to a girl who had survived Columbine hiding in the choir room. Then a group of kids came running out of the building chasing one another yelling and having a good time. The girl I was speaking to, fell to the ground. She was terrified. Kids running from a building screaming had triggered her memories of that day.

There are so many more stories I could tell. Waiting for kids at Leawood Elementary. The sheriff's announcement to the waiting parents that there are fatalities. The coroner asking parents to give a description of their child and to give them dental records. The feeling of leaving the school knowing that so many parents were going home knowing that their child lay dead in a high school building. So many stories from that day...

My prayers are with all of the survivors, their families, and the victim's families this week. May the Lord bless you and keep you, may he turn his face toward you and give you peace. Amen.

This week's sermon passage is really challenging when it comes to evangelism. I am still trying to get my mind around what evangelism will look like in a postmodern church context. Brian McLaren's character Neo, from A New Kind of Christian encourages us to count conversations rather than conversions. Yet the urgency I see in the book of Acts with the apostles witnessing seems to be more intense than I see in much of postmodern/emerging church thought.

Here is a quote from the NIVAC commentary on Acts by Ajith Fernando:

This whole passage pulsates with the urgency of the evangelistic task. The apostles are arrested for evangelizing (Acts 5:18). But after their miraculous release the angel tells them to go to the center of Jewish religion, the temple, and proclaim "the full message"; they are not to give in to the temptation to compromise it (Acts 5:20). The divine encouragement to persist in witness in spite of threats is a recurrent theme in Acts (Acts 4:31; Acts 18:9, 10; Acts 23:11). This not only shows how important witness is, but also that people need constant encouragement, for it is easy to lose passion for evangelism, especially in the face of opposition.

When the apostles are rearrested and asked to explain their actions, they use the opportunity to proclaim the message, not try to secure a release (Acts 5:29-39). This method of witness has been used throughout history. Christianity is a religion with a message, a message so important that it simply must be shared to all who live on earth. God's salvation in Christ is the answer of the Creator of the world to its basic problems. If it is that urgent, then every human being should be told this good news. Thus, when people bring us to trial for preaching, we must explain God's message. Both Stephen and Paul did this when they were brought to trial (Acts 7:2-53; Acts 24:25; Acts 26:2-29).

Is the postmodern, emerging church urgent enough in its aproach to evangelism? Are we passionate enough about the Good News of Jesus Christ?

I know that we must be sensitive to our audience. I am turned off by much of evangelicalism's attempts at evangelism. I am deeply troubled by the reductionistic approach to the gospel which often misses the point and fails to change lives. But one thing that is true of much of evangelicalism is the sense of urgency.

Fernando goes on to say this:

Evangelism also influences our attitude toward success on earth. From Acts it is clear that suffering is an essential feature of effective evangelism. In this passage the suffering of shame (flogging is a humiliating experience) because of faithful witness is an honor worth rejoicing about (Acts 5:41). What the world considers as failure we may consider as success if it furthers the cause of evangelism and, as here, demonstrates our loyalty to Christ. We must always look at life with evangelistic eyes and be incessantly involved in evangelism. Even if we are brought to trial, we must use it as an opportunity to witness for Christ. If we are dishonored because of evangelism, we can view that dishonor as a great honor.

I agree that suffering is clearly to be expected by Christians and often our culture of pain avoidance influences what we followers of Christ deem as success. Our churches often define success by bodies, bucks, and bricks. Suffering is not part of the equation.

Yet I struggle with the reductionistic idea that "we must always look at life with evangelistic eyes." Here is the crux of my struggle. To look at life this way will cause one to be urgent. But is evangelism the end all be all of life? Don't get me wrong; my evangelical upbringing is still strong and I feel that evangelism is of great importance. But I also think that God is very concerned with my spiritual growth. Perhaps this is the answer to my dilemma. Perhaps greater spiritual maturity brings extra urgency to witness. What I mean is that witness becomes a natural outgrowth of spiritual maturity. And the lack of spiritual maturity in so many Christians today leads the modern church to create programs to entice conversions.

Let's go and make disciples not programs!

MSNBC - Girl, 6, recovering from 10-day crash ordeal:

A 6-year-old girl who survived 10 days in a crashed car, nourished only by dry noodles and Gatorade, was recovering from dehydration as her family marveled at her resilience and mourned the death of her mother.

Having a five year old son and a four year old daughter, this story is gut wrenching for me.

OnlineRev - Partnering With Pastors:
New Job Descriptions for the emerging Church

by Leonard Sweet

This isn't an easy time to pastor a congregation. I have utmost sympathy for those who are having trouble making the transition to ministry in the emerging culture.

Once something sinks into the skull, it's hard to get it out and embrace a contrary idea. New modes of worship come easier for some than others. This suggested list of “worship positions” in the emerging church is no doubt old hat to those of you who've been moving in these directions for years. But for some of us, it will be a stretch to transition our ministry to embrace these possibilities:

Ushers—an usher used to escort people to their seats, where they were enjoined to sit down, be still, and keep silent. But a true usher has the sacred role of ushering people into the presence of God. An usher is the name of every member of the worship design team. The “head usher” is who used to be called the worship leader, who's now less a moderator of order or a human metronome keeping everybody together than a participation artist.
Curators—a new position which is already manifesting itself in what the English call alt.worship (alternative worship) circles. A curator is a servant of the people who curates (not leads) worship by functioning as an “installer of art and creator of an environment that is conducive to experiencing God” (see Andrew Jones, “Is This the Next New Worship?” FaithWorks).
Concierges—experts in the art of hospitality, replacing what used to be called the church host or hostess. George Hunter's right when he says that the presence of church visitors is “the most misperceived signal in local churches today, and the church's most neglected opportunity” (The Celtic Way of Evangelism). But concierges need to be employed for members as well, resolving problems, handling complaints, and managing “moments of truth.”
Servers—people who put the service in “worship service.” Instead of bringing people to their pews, servers bring coffee, handouts, artworks, and other necessary instruments to the people, who are increasingly at tables or in other conducive seating arrangements to fit the worship experience. Servers build a service culture in the church at every point of contact (starting in the parking lot), and mentor others in service training.
Sommelier—more than a fancy name for “wine steward,” this is a person whose ministry is to know each member of the congregation intimately, and find creative and original ways to personalize the church's ministries and make people feel at home.

Instead of lumping everyone together as nameless “volunteers” (how I hate that word) or “unpaid servants” or even “ministers,” the church needs a vocabulary of respect and nuance that names people's ministries. What other ones would you suggest?

Great article! I like the position of liturgist that Brian McLaren has often discussed. Good Friday services are a great example of the opportunity and need for liturgists.

Here in Wray, we had a Good Friday service at the Presbyterian church. We included readings from Jesus The Son of Man by Kahlil Gibran. It's a great book with fictionalized readings from the perspectives of people who witnessed Jesus and Good Friday. We incorporated these readings with Scripture readings which introduced each character. Then we sang one verse and the chorus responsively to "Were You There". It was a powerful service. I will try to post the entire service soon.

The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Contributor: You Are What You Tax:

Take a break as you fill out your 1040 form, and play this game: suppose you could choose which government entities your tax dollars support - and in what proportion. Since it's a thought experiment, let's assume that local and state government functions are part of the list. What percentages will you assign to which departments, agencies and programs?
Some people will split their taxes between the local police and national defense and leave it at that. Some will assign it all to the Environmental Protection Agency. Taxpayers from red states will choose differently from taxpayers from blue states. But polling data tells us enough about the government services people value to permit reasonably confident predictions about the national results.
Police, fire, water and sewage, courts and prisons and national defense will get far more money than they would ever have the nerve to request. The allocations for national parks, environmental protection, air-traffic control and highways will probably be many times their current budgets. But my first point (match my prediction against your own choices) is that almost all the choices will be for tangible services. Most of them will be for services that fall under the classic understanding of a 'public good' - something that individuals cannot easily provide on their own and that is shared by all (police protection, clean air).

Fun thought experiment! How would you answer the question?

In a similar question, if you specified what your tithe or giving to the church paid for, what would you want to fund? In denominations with a "head tax" I would bet that much of the church bureaucracy would be left unfunded. Is that really such a bad thing?

And the local church may find that people are willing to volunteer more than they are willing to pay professionals to do ministry. I imagine that most people would pay for those things that they receive the most benefit from. So what are those things in the church that people typically think they receive the most benefit from?

I'm currently having trouble with my Amazon links to what I'm reading and listening to. I have been tempted in the past to switch to Typepad but I am cheap. Hopefully I can get this sorted out.

The New York Times > Movies > Holy Week Pilgrims Flock to 'Passion':

"The Passion of the Christ,' Mel Gibson's unflinching film of the Crucifixion, drew crowds last week during Holy Week, the most sacred period of the Christian calendar. Attendance grew steadily through the week and reached its highest on Good Friday, the commemoration of the Crucifixion

The film finally made it to our one screen movie theater this weekend. Several people from the Presbyterian church had a potluck supper before going to the movie together. We read Luke 22:14-23:65 before going. It was a very moving, yet difficult film to watch. But it was extremely powerful to see on Good Friday.

The New York Times > National > Drought Worsens Across West and Threat of Wildfires Grows:

The mountains of Colorado and northern New Mexico got more than a foot of snow this weekend, and meteorologists said the Albuquerque area could be looking at record rainfall this month. But this is only a start toward recovery.
'It'll help,' said Larry Palser, a farmer in Colorado's Washington County. 'It'll buy us some time.'
The United States Natural Resources Conservation Service says there could be water restrictions and widespread crop and pasture losses in central Nevada, southern Idaho, most of south-central Montana and eastern and southwestern Utah.
Most of southern Idaho and parts of southwest Montana are in 'exceptional drought,' the Department of Agriculture said. That's a step worse than 'extreme drought,' which the department said best described the situation in other parts of Montana and in Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon and Colorado.
With dry trees raising the risk of wildfires, it is not just farmers who will be hurting. Already this year, 10,000 acres have burned in Arizona, along with 8,500 acres in Colorado.
'In terms of fire, I think everybody is real nervous,' said Chris West, vice president of the American Forest Resource Council in Portland, Ore.

we definitely are in extreme drought here in eastern Colorado. Pastoring two small churches out here and many of the farmers are hurting. Many are looking for jobs in town or with the USDA. All of the dry land farmers will be making insurance claims on their wheat crops this year.

What I Need from PoMonasticism // Radical Congruency.com
Great thoughts!

TheOOZE - Articles: Viewing Article:

Have you ever heard of a church or ministry that teaches anyone a scripturally based criterion for decisions about real estate and where and how we should live our lives?

Challenging article! I was first exposed to Sine's ideas on housing in his excellent book Mustard Seed Vs. McWorld: Reinventing Life and Faith for the Future. Very challenging and countercultural thinking!

LivingRoom >> A space for Life: Stations of the Cross:

With Easter fast approaching I thought I'd post a link to a great collection of images by Australian Artist Geoff Todd. They are an interesting collection that go through the 14 Stations of the Cross. They make a great reflection time in preparation for the weekend.

I hope to be able to do this in the next day or two.

The New York Times > Business > Oman's Oil Yield Long in Decline, Shell Data Show:

Perhaps more ominously for the world's oil outlook, he added that the failure of Shell's horizontal drilling technology in Oman suggested that even advanced extraction techniques 'won't bring back the good old days.'

I have never been much of an environmentalist. This is largely due to my evangelical "left behind" theology upbringing. But this is changing. More and more I am understanding the gospel to include all of creation and not just a "free-get-out-of-jail-card."

My reflections started changing on this topic as I was preaching through the book of 1 Corinthians and especially chapter 15. One of the most interesting questions I wrestled with from that chapter was "Why is a physical resurrection of Jesus Christ so important and necessary? Why is a spiritual resurrection not enough?"

I believe that part of the answer to that question is that God is working to redeem (put right) all of creation. All of the physical creation. Clearly we have made quite a mess of it.

Essay: The Altered Human Is Already Here:

To look at it in another way, Americans take so many drugs that some researchers - Dr. Christian G. Daughton of the Environmental Protection Agency's National Exposure Research Laboratory in Las Vegas, for example - are worried about the effects on the environment. What does it mean if the sewers run rich with Zoloft? Or to be more precise, what might happen to fish eggs if the rivers soak up waste water with discarded and excreted pharmaceuticals and personal care products, like shampoo?
No one has the answer yet, but the idea that what runs through our collective bloodstream is a potential environmental hazard makes you look at your medicine cabinet in a different way.

No kidding!

In Math, Computers Don't Lie. Or Do They?
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'I don't like them, because you sort of don't feel you understand what's going on,' said Dr. John H. Conway, a math professor at Princeton. But other mathematicians see a major boon: just as the computers of today can beat the grand masters of chess, the computers of tomorrow may be able to discover proofs that have eluded the grandest of mathematicians.

Is this a non-native response to the emerging new technological culture?

Op-Ed Contributor: The Fog of War:

These accounts may seem perplexing given the momentous nature of the unfolding events. One might even wonder whether one of the parties has engaged in willful distortion. But these conflicts need not involve bad faith on the part of either person.
Indeed, conflicting recollections are neither unfamiliar (recall the testimonies of Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill in 1991) nor surprising. The way the brain stores and retrieves information, research shows, can sometimes lead people to hold different memories of the same event.
Memory errors can be classified into seven categories (sometimes called sins). Three are especially relevant to conflicting recollections: transience, misattribution and bias. Transience is the term for the well-known fact that memories tend to fade over time (unless we rehash and discuss them frequently). Experiments show that specific details of an experience are lost more quickly than general information about it.
In one such study, 12 people were asked to summarize their activities during a 'typical day' at work; they also were asked to recount exactly what they did the day before and a week before. The study confirmed what some researchers suspected: the day-old memory was a nearly verbatim record of what actually happened, but a week later memory was closer to a generic description of what usually happens. With the passage of time, memory shifts from a reproduction of the past to a reconstruction that is heavily influenced by general knowledge and beliefs.
Similar considerations almost certainly apply to what Mr. Clarke and Mr. Miller remember. Of course, 9/11 was not an ordinary day at the office. Shocking experiences like the terrorist attacks or the explosion of the space shuttle tend to be better remembered than mundane occurrences. But studies show that with the passage of time, people can forget and distort details of even these experiences.

Such errors are sometimes associated with the memory sin of misattribution, where we remember aspects of an experience correctly but attribute them to the wrong source. For instance, a college student recalled that she first learned of the Challenger explosion in 1986 from television, when the actual source was a group of friends. Misattribution errors can occur for traumatic experiences, as in the case of a rape victim who accused a psychologist of assault based on her vivid memory of his face. In reality, she had seen the psychologist on television just before she was raped.

Because parts of misattributed memories are accurate, people can maintain high confidence in such mistaken recollections. Both Mr. Clarke's and Mr. Miller's accounts are probably correct in some respects, but either one may have fallen victim to misattribution, leading to different claims about who said what to whom.

Bias, a third memory sin, occurs when current knowledge, beliefs or feelings distort the past. For example, studies have shown that we often inaccurately recall political attitudes we held in the past. Our recollection ends up reflecting our current attitudes instead. Research also reveals an egocentric bias, meaning we remember the past in ways that reflect positively our current self — a bias from which government officials are not likely to be immune.

Transience, misattribution and bias occur even when we do our best to recollect the past accurately. Without external corroboration, we cannot know for certain which aspects of Mr. Clarke's or Mr. Miller's account are off the mark — but we do know enough about memory's sins to implicate the likely culprits. It's something the commission, and the country, should keep in mind when Ms. Rice testifies as well.

Could these memory "sins" explain the different accounts of Christ's resurrection in the Gospels? This may make some evangelicals uncomfortable seeing how a view such as this may conflict with the idea of inerrancy and possibly infallibility.

False Promises on Gas:

The sad part about this squabbling is that it drives the debate toward short-term fixes of dubious value and away from the heart of the matter, which is getting the country to cut consumption while embarking on a serious program of alternative fuels. Tweaking the petroleum reserve, jawboning foreign leaders, even increasing refining capacity - none of these ideas have ever provided sustained protection against the volatility of world oil prices. A better approach would be to wean the nation from its profligate use of oil. In that context, a 50-cent gasoline tax is not a ridiculous idea; had such a tax been imposed a decade ago, consumption might well be less than it is now.

Tired of energy shaping so much of our political debate? Me too! Why didn't we make the difficult changes during the '70's and the energy crisis? I guess we don't want it to hurt too much. Eventually it's going to hurt a lot!

A Heretical View of File Sharing:

"But what if the industry is wrong, and file sharing is not hurting record sales?
It might seem counterintuitive, but that is the conclusion reached by two economists who released a draft last week of the first study that makes a rigorous economic comparison of directly observed activity on file-sharing networks and music buying."

This is a very interesting article. One conclusion reached by the researchers is the that many people who download music would have never bought the album in the first place. I know I fall into this category in many respects. Fortunately, we now have iTunes and MusicMatch that allows you to legally download individual songs without purchasing the entire album.

A Bridge Over Troubled People - Christianity Today Magazine:

'The church has got to rediscover its purpose in a postmodern culture, when absolute truth is no longer accepted by the mainstream,' Dorrell says. 'Unchurched people are looking for something that speaks genuineness to them.'
Church Under the Bridge, he says, serves as a call for renewal for the church in America to be about the Father's business.

This sounds like a very powerful ministry.

Our Sprawling, Supersize Utopia:

You don't have to travel very far in America to see radically different sorts of people, most of whom know very little about the communities and subcultures just down the highway.

Fascinating article on urban sprawl and the growing distance between people in American culture.

The Quest to Forget:

All of us have done things in our lives we'd rather not have done, things that flood us with remorse or pain or embarrassment whenever we call them to mind. If we could erase them from our memories, would we? Should we? Questions like these go to the nature of remembrance and have inspired films like ''Memento'' and, most recently, ''Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,'' in which two ex-lovers pay to erase their memories of each other. We are a long way from the day when scientists might be able to zap specific memories right out of our heads, like a neurological neutron bomb, but even the current research in this area ought to make us stop and think. Aren't our memories, both the good and the bad, the things that make us who we are? If we eliminate our troubling memories, or stop them from forming in the first place, are we disabling the mechanism through which people learn and grow and transform? Is a pain-free set of memories an impoverished one?

Pain avoidance taken to an entirely new level.

I always find that my first full week back from vacation or study leave is difficult. I think it's because my soul needs to catch up with my body!

My wife and I had a wonderful talk on our way home from Brownsville, TX. We discussed the difficulties in her family and how it seems that none of her "Christian" friends have ever been able to or wanted to walk with her through the difficulties in her family. Many Christians give cheap, formulaic advice. "Forgive and forget."

But aren't Christians suppose to come alongside fellow strugglers? Yes, we are to exhort each other and encourage one another but how can we effectively do that if we are not walking alongside one another?

When it comes right down to it, most Christians are too afraid or too selfish to really get their hands dirty with the business of truly loving someone else.

I hope and pray the emerging church challenges this!

The American Spectator:
"The real kudos however belong to Tina Turner, Rene Russo, Ben Stein, and Evan Holyfield, and others who for years publicly professed their faith before it became Major Box Office. Likewise for billionaire John Templeton. And,top model Thom Fleming, who, with other young, bold-face names, was attending weekly Bible Study sessions on New York's Upper West Side before it was cool to be reverent."

Yikes! Now Hollywood is going to jump on the bandwagon. It's going to be cool to make religious movies and talk about your faith.

In my younger days, I would have thought, "Cool!' Now I cringe. Another day, another formula, another dollar.

Weblog: Passion Provokes Neo-Nazi Confession - Christianity Today Magazine:
"Norwegian killer confesses to bombings after viewing The Passion"

Sounds like the movie is having a profound affect on many people!

This is an excellent interview with Tony Jones on the state of youth ministry. Jordan Cooper posted much of it on his blog.

Leisure Pursuits of Today's Young Man:

"The television industry was shaken last October when the ratings from Nielsen Media Research showed that a huge part of a highly prized slice of the American population was watching less television. As the fall TV season began, viewership among men from 18 to 34 fell 12 percent compared with the year before, Nielsen reported. And for the youngest group of adult men, those 18 to 24, the decline was a steeper 20 percent."

Yet another sign of a significant cultural shift underway.

Back from Texas! So nice to be back in Wray. We had a great time in Dallas with friends, Brownsville with family, and South Padre on the beach with our kids. My wife got to say her goodbye to her grandad. Fortunately he remembered her even with his advanced Alzheimer's. My wife and I had some wonderful talks on the long drive and I learned many a good thing from Sacred Marriage. I'll be blogging about it in the coming week so stay tuned!

We leave for Brownsville Texas tomorrow. My wife's grandfather is very ill. I probably won't be able to write at all while we are away. Grace and peace.

First, we planned a two-part sermon series, "Understanding the Passion," to bookend both sides of the movie's release. Next, we booked 47 theater screens for members to take their lost friends to. Third, Kay and I personally invited over a thousand lost community leaders of Orange County to a VIP premiere showing, including every mayor, congressman, superintendent of schools, other community leaders, and four billionaires, most of whom I'd never met. Then, in anticipation of all the lost friends brought by members, we added two more services to our regular weekend schedule of nine. Finally, we prepared a three-week small group curriculum on The Passion for follow-up.

The results? Over 600 unchurched community leaders attended our VIP showing; 892 friends of members were saved during the two-week sermon series. Over 600 new small groups were formed, and our average attendance increased by 3,000. That's catching a wave!

No doubt, some will defend their failure to use this moment and this incredible tool for Christ with personal, theological, or philosophical defenses. Some churches would rather be cool, hip, or cutting-edge, than reach more people for Christ. To those I would ask, What matters most? Where's the fruit? Many young pastors would be shocked to learn that the largest Gen-X church in America is Saddleback with over 20,000 names under 29 on our church roll.-Rick Warren, from Catching The Passion Wave on ChristianityToday.com

Jesus didn't say it was by our clever outlines, memorable mnemonics, snazzy programs, and special effects that we would be known as his disciples, or that he would be known as sent from God. Rather, he said, it was by our love that we and he would be known, and by our fruit: our good works that shine in darkness and inspire all to glorify God. -Brian McLaren, from Passionate, but Not for Mel's Movie

Do these guys know that they don't even speak the same language? It's clear that Warren sees emerging worship as trying to be cool, hip, and cutting-edge. And I fear that sometimes that is what it looks like. Like all "movements" what people see is the external programatic elements (i.e. the Emergent Conference) last week.

Following the event via blogs, it did feel gimicky. It did feel like we are trying to be hip, cool, cutting-edge. But what if we are not trying to be any of that? What if we are trying to be authentic? what if we are trying to express ourselves in meaningful and powerful ways that are true to who God has made us?

We must be kind, in this discussion. The authentic mode of operation for moderns is formulaic program. Saddleback and Rick Warren are doing what comes naturally to them. Great! May God bless them.

The authentic mode of operation for many postmoderns is relationship. We seek to love people into the Kingdom not program them into it. Obviously these are not mutually exclusive. But programs and relationships are always in tension in the church. And this discussion between McLaren and Warren highlights that tension.

As a pastor, I am handed many books to read. I have recently decided to try to read every one that is handed to me. The first one I read was The DaVinci Code. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I am planning on presenting a one day seminar at the church about the book and the historical reliability of the New Testament.

I was also handed Shattering Your Strongholds. I do not like this book at all! I have skimmed the book and found very little in it that is worthwhile.

I am glad that I have read it so I can give my honest opinion to the person who gave it to me.

I am studying Luke 15:1-3; 11-32, the Parable of the Prodigal Son for my sermon on March 28. Once again it is a powerful example of experiential storytelling.

"…this narrative presents neither son as a model uniformly to be followed or avoided. God delights in the repentance of prodigals, but he would prefer that they not have to sink so low before coming to their senses. God cherishes the faithfulness of those who obey his will but does not want them to despise the rebellious who have repented. The parable is strikingly open-ended. Did the older brother come in the house and join the festivities? Jesus does not say, and it misreads the parable to attempt to answer the question. The important fact is that the invitation remains for all who hear or read and are willing to respond and rejoice." Interpreting the Parables, Blomberg, pp. 178-179.

Jesus leaves it open ended so that we enter the story and answer the question ourselves. What a powerful story.

Wired News: Don't Trash It, Tote It

"...she decided to see if she could create jobs for the poor and help the environment at the same time in a developing country where recycling is virtually nonexistent and garbage poses a serious health threat.
For now, her line of trash products consists mainly of bags, wallets and pencil cases made from the brightly colored soft plastic pouches that once contained beverages, fabric softener, detergent and soap. The project is adding backpacks, lunch boxes and computer cases made from empty toothpaste tubes.
Retail prices start at $1.20 and go up to $10, barely covering production costs, Wizer says. She pays scavengers about $1.50 per kilogram of trash, about six times what they can earn at the garbage dumps that dot Jakarta's surroundings.
A middleman takes a big cut but provides the scavengers free housing in tiny, squalid shacks sandwiched between a posh hotel and the elite international school in South Jakarta.
'I want to inject some money into this desperately poor segment of society,' Wizer says. 'I want them to be able to send their kids to school so that they won't have to scavenge.'"

Powerful idea for helping people and the environment. Okay church, let's think of cool things to do like this!

I am feeling rather discouraged today. Sundays are busy days in a rural two church pastorate. I preach at the Presbyterian Church at 9:30am and then the Christian Church at 11:00am. Following the Christian Church service, we finished up our Baptism/Confirmation/Pastor's class. I went home for an hour and then returned to the Christian Church for youth group. Three girls showed up.

I am discouraged because I don't know what to do when three girls show up for youth group. I used to work with large youth groups in the suburbs. We had a fun time sitting and talking, but I want to do so much more for these kids out here.

I know there are many youth in this town that do not go to church. But it seems like there is little chance of attracting them to the church. After reading Mark Miller's book Experiential Storytelling I have felt greatly challenged to create experience for the youth out here to enter into the story of Jesus and the church. The hardest thing now days is drawing a crowd to come.

I am hoping to start a worship experience for younger people in our community this summer. Maybe this will create the momentum that we need.

MSNBC - The Afflictions Of Affluence:
"affluence's afflictions endure and remind us of an eternal truth: it matters, as individuals and as a society, not just how much wealth we have but how well we use it." Amen.

Joseph Baretti Quotes - The Quotations Page:

I hate mankind, for I think myself one of the best of them, and I know how bad I am.
-Joseph Baretti, quoted in Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson

A great quote to keep in mind for all of us! Reminds me of the Apostle Paul: "I am the chief of sinners." (Something to that effect!)

Death Toll in Madrid Train Attacks Rises to 200
Another terrible story.

The evening news makes it impossible to deal with the problem of evil in abstractions. The problem of evil faces us every day and night in every form of the media. So how do we answer this age old problem?

Greg Boyd's thinking and writing on this subject is really intriguing to me. I don't know if I have truly become an open theist (I am pastoring a Presbyterian Church, though I am ordained in the Christian Church Disciples of Christ) but I am definitely leaning toward this theological understanding.

I am still reading through and wrestling with Boyd's book God at War. It is a challenging read.

Nine People Found Dead in Fresno Home
This is a terrible story.

This is cool new software thatI learned about on Jordan Cooper's website! I am looking forward to using this software to blog more effectively and quickly.

Farmhands can be gadget geeks, too.
It's nice to see tractors getting technology props! My grandpa's brothers actually invented the Steiger tractor.

This city boy has been amazed at the amount of technology regularly used out in the sticks.

The Corner: Movie Studio Notes On Passion (from the New Yorker)
Very funny!

There Is No Now: An Existential Crisis @ e-Church.com
Very cool article over at e-church. Ever since I studied astronomy in college and had my mind blown by the possible implications of Eintein's theory of relativity, I have been fascinated by these discussions.

These theories are fascinating and may have incredible consequences for our understanding of God and what is considered supernatural.

In college and while reading Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time, I began to postulate that there is the scientific possiblity for a being to exist everwhere all the time both in the past, the present, and the future. The thought occured to me that we are always in motion. If we are not moving ourselves, then we live on a planet which is moving, and a galaxy that is moving.

So maybe to be everywhere all the time both in the past, the present, and the future means to be at rest. Perhaps God is stationary, at rest. To be at rest in a moving universe would give you quite a different prespective on what is going on in that universe.

Furthermore, it would affect how you understand "now" as the article on e-church points out. For a being entirely at rest, what would time be like or the perception of time be like? Is it possible that every moment in time could be defined by this being at rest as "now"?

Perhaps, a being at rest would also be able to experience different dimensions to our universe. If this is the case than what appears supernatural to us is actually child's play to the other being.

"Let us consider a 2-D world. To jail a criminal in such a world a circular boundary would have to be placed around the criminal. To extricate the criminal, all a 3-D creature has to do is to peel him off the 2-D world, and redeposit him elsewhere on his world. This feat, which is quite ordinary in 3-D, appears fantastic in 2-D. No one in the 2-D world understands what the up direction means. The internal organs of a 2-D creature would be visible to us. It would be trivial to reach inside a 2-D creature and perform surgery without cutting the skin. Viewing this 2-D flatland, notice that we are omnipotent. The 2-D creature cannot hide from us. He would see us as having magical powers." For more go here.

Well, time to change gears and focus my attention on Luke 13:1-9 for this week's sermon.

This is an incredible book on marriage. Definitely one of if not the best I have ever read! It is refreshing to read a book that doesn't seek to have answers (i.e. 5 ways to have a great marriage) but rather wrestles with the bigger picture of marriage and how it helps shape us as disciples. Here's a great quote:
"Christianity involves believing certain things, to be sure, but its herald, its hallmark, its glory is not in merely ascribing to certain intellectual truths. The beauty of Christianity is in learning to love, and few life situations test that so radically as does a marriage.
Yes, it is difficult to love your spouse. But if you truly want to love God, look right now at the ring on your left hand, commit yourself to exploring anew what that ring represents, and love passionately, crazily, enduringly the fleshly person who put it there.
It just may be one of the most spiritual things you can do."

Police Are Investigating Hit by Bertuzzi on Avalanche Player:
"Moore was at the center of a controversy a month ago after delivering a questionable blow to Vancouver's captain, Markus Naslund, who led the league in scoring at the time. No penalty was called, but Naslund, who was struck in the head, missed three games with a concussion. At the time, Bertuzzi called Moore a punk and said he was glad the teams had two games remaining.
Vancouver's Brad May said of Moore after that game: 'There's definitely a bounty on his head. Clean hit or not, that's our best player and you respond. It's going to be fun when we get him.' May later said his comments were tongue-in-cheek."

Yeah right! Why don't people stand by what they said anymore? He meant it when he said it. He would have still meant it had Moore not been severely injured. Just stick to your original story and apologize that things got out of hand.

I feel terrible for Bertuzzi. But I feel even more terrible for Moore. News in Denver is that he will be transported to Craig Hospital, a hospital which specializes in spinal cord injuries.

Currently a high school girl from our town is in this same hospital. She was in a single car roll-over accident and was thrown from the vehicle. She broke to of her vertebrae and suffered severe spinal cord damage. She has lost the use of her legs and may never walk again.

Hopefully the skilled people at Craig Hospital will be able to help her. Pray that God would heal Erin.

Google Search: out in the sticks
Out in the sticks is #1 on Google for the search terms "out in the sticks!" Now I really know I'm out in the sticks!

Fast Company | How Google Grows...and Grows...and Grows:
"The challenge is negotiating the tension between risk and caution. When Rosing started at Google in 2001, 'we had management in engineering. And the structure was tending to tell people, No, you can't do that.' So Google got rid of the managers. Now most engineers work in teams of three, with project leadership rotating among team members. If something isn't right, even if it's in a product that has already gone public, teams fix it without asking anyone."

I've read a lot of blogs lately discussing leadership in the emerging church. Looks to me like Google is on to something. It's the idea that "Great People Can Manage Themselves."

It appears that much of the church today fits the MO of "no, you can't do that." I know in the PCUSA it is really like that!

Emerging churches will and do have a very different leadership model. Google does it with teams of three. 1 Corinthians 14:26 talks about this in our corporate worship: "What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church."

Craig Blomberg in his commentary on 1 Corinthians states: "If gifts are given to every believer for the corporate edification of the gathered community, then there must be opportunities for church members to exercise those gifts in public worship."

Blomberg continues by quoting Chafin: "If Paul were writing the average congregation today, his advice would have to work the other side of the street. Rather than an unstructured spontaneity that creates bedlam, he would be confronted with a well-regulated order of worship that often creates boredom. The smallest of churches often prints or mimeographs for its members a program of everything that is going to happen during the hour and the sequence in which it will take place, and once it has been printed it becomes a sacred thing to those who planned it. And the likelihood of the Spirit's leading anyone to say or do something that was not anticipated on Tuesday when the stencil was cut is very remote."

Blomberg warns (and this is perhaps how Paul "negotiating the tension between risk and caution"): "Verses 27-33 remind us, at the same time, that however creative or flexible the structure of worship may be, duly recognized leaders must have the authority to intervene and correct when Scripture is contradicted or disobeyed."

Well, just some thoughts on leadership in the church. Wouldn't you just love to attend a church that had the culture of Google's business as described in this article?

Samuel McChord Crothers Quotes - The Quotations Page: "Try as hard as we may for perfection, the net result of our labors is an amazing variety of imperfectness. We are surprised at our own versatility in being able to fail in so many different ways.
Samuel McChord Crothers"

A great quote for all of us imperfect disciples to keep in mind as we seek to create the perfect church.

Amateur Celebrities Pick a Movie and Join In:
"Movieoke, karaoke's very young American-born cousin" On the day I finish Mark Miller's book "Experiential Storytelling" I run across this story. We are truly seeing the emergence of an experiential culture and I agree with Mark that the church is dreadfully behind.

I think in many ways this is why so many younger people are drawn to liturgical worship. I am a denominational mut but I have really started to embrace liturgical worship because it is (or at least can be) experiential.

I went to a wonderful AMIA church in Denver called Wellspring planted/pastored by a good friend of mine from seminary, Billy Waters. I took me several weeks to realize we were doing the same thing each week. The liturgy was so powerful and spoke to me in different ways each week. Plus Billy leads in such an awesome way! I know liturgy is often dead and boring, but in the hands of a true liturgist it is a beautiful and experiential thing.

Mary Magdalene
Does Mary Magdalene meet the requirements for being an apostle? She knew Jesus when he was alive. She saw Jesus after he rose from the dead. Aren't these typical tests for apostleship?

I guess the question remains whether Jesus sent her as an apostle or not. If he did, would it have been all that bad? And is it possible that the men in the early church didn't support her for whatever reason (most likely cultural)?

Wasn't Peter wrong in Galatians for looking down on Gentiles? The apostles weren't perfect. Not everything they wrote was infallible or even inspired (i.e. Paul's missing letters to the Corinthians). So is it possible that their culture biased them to any ministry that Jesus intended for Mary Magdalene to have?

Could it also be that she had a significant ministry but none of it was recorded? This is the case with almost all of the apostles anyway. This would make her no different than the others, except for the fact that she was a woman.

It is difficult to reconcile the lack of mention of Mary Magdalene outside of the gospels with the possibility of her being an apostle.

However, the key issue for me is how comfortable is the Church universal in the possibility of her being an apostle or being intended to be an apostle? Obviously the Catholic church would not be ready to accept this idea. Neither would Southern Baptists.

I am very comfortable with this possibility. It definitely is an intriguing possibility, but is it really a topic that the church needs to circle the wagons on?

ESPN.com - NHL - Frei: Bertuzzi deserves a year
This says it all!

New Hubble Images Show Deepest View of Universe, Scientists Say

Very interesting! I especially like how the Space Telescope Science Institute is sharing the information this image offers. It will be fascinating to see what new things this image teaches.

LeadershipJournal.net - Passionate, but Not for Mel's Movie:
"Jesus didn't say it was by our clever outlines, memorable mnemonics, snazzy programs, and special effects that we would be known as his disciples, or that he would be known as sent from God. Rather, he said, it was by our love that we and he would be known, and by our fruit: our good works that shine in darkness and inspire all to glorify God."

Excellent points as always by Mr. McLaren.

Canucks.com-News - Game Recaps
It's interesting how differently the Canucks are reporting the hit on Steve Moore. Here's how ESPN puts the hit, "Bertuzzi sought revenge when he punched Moore in the head from behind while skating at center ice. Bertuzzi jumped on Moore's back and drove him face first into the ice, knocking him unconscious" versus the Canucks, "After unsuccessfully attempting to goad Moore into a fight, a frustrated Bertuzzi threw a gloved punch from behind that knocked the Colorado centre unconscious, and sent him crashing face-first into the ice."

The "crashing to the ice" phrase sounds pretty passive compared to "jumped on Moore's back and drove him face first into the ice." Good thing we have video and can see what really happened for ourselves!

KODAK: Taken On The Road-American Mile Markers
Cool idea! I wonder how long the trip took him?

College for the Home-Schooled Is Shaping Leaders for the Right
Wow!

Consider the Turtles of the Field, Sojourners Magazine/March 2004
This is a powerful article on Christians and ecology by Brian McLaren. I found this via Tim Keel's blog. I have been giving these issues a lot of thought lately and my old conclusions are being greatly challenged. McLaren does a great job describing why evangelical Christians miss the boat on these issues.

I have 2 books in my library that I have yet to read but am looking forward to reading which I think will have more to say about this issue for me. They are When The Kings Come Marching In by Richard Mouw and Christianity Incorporated by Michael Budde & Robert Brimlow. A book that I have read that started my thinking in round about way to some of these issues is Mustard Seed Vs. McWorld: Reinventing Life and Faith for the Future.

Dr. Dobson's Newsletter: Marriage on the Ropes

A member in my congregation gave me this newsletter from Dobson to read. Frankly, Dobson is one of my least favorite Christian celebrities.

In this newsletter, Dobson describes the possibility of gay marriage becoming legal as “my worst fear.”

But aren't there far greater things to fear? What about less than 19% of those born after 1964 attending church regularly?

If you were Dobson wouldn't you feel very discouraged? Almost every social ill he has fought so hard has come to pass and has come to be accepted in our society.

This quote from Brock's NIVAC commentary Luke addresses this issue, referring to Luke 13:31-35:
We often treat the battles in our society as life and death matters, where we must win from the standpoint of appearance or “all is lost for righteousness’ sake.” But Jesus’ death has already brought the way to life, regardless of the specific environment we are asked to function in. Victory is ours no matter what happens in the world. The point is important, not as an excuse to withdraw form engagement in society, but to encourage the engagement with the right perspective on what victory is. Victory comes in faithfully representing him, not in winning the argument or vote. Jesus’ own life is the model here. No level of intimidation or rejection could keep him from completing his appointed rounds.

Who We Are
"1) Regular churches often have a pretty bad reputation in today's society. There are a number of reasons for this. If you ask the general public, they will often say churches are boring, pointless, full of hypocryts or really pieous people, and full of legalism. Whether or not these accusations are justified is not important. What is important is that most churches do not realize they have this image, therefore they do nothing to attempt to change it.
2) Do you like the same music your grandparents liked? The same TV shows? Probably not, or at least mostly not. You're a different generation with different tastes in clothes, music, television, etc. Church is no different. The types of music and preaching that really reach some people are unattractive to other people. Newer generations often feel out of place in the existing traditional churches.
3) Finally, many churches have an aversion to change. People in general just like to keep things the way they are. As a result, churches split or die before they change to accomodate the masses who fail to come each week."

This hits my churches right in the gut!

Who We Are
Every week 77 churches close their doors forever, while only 29 new churches are started. For those of us who aren't very good at math, that makes a net loss of 48 churches a week (2500 churches a year).

In fact, a breakdown of age groups attending church shows that less than half of the US actually attends church.

65% of Builders (people born before 1946)
35% of Boomers (born 1946-1963)
15% of Gen-X (born 1964-1982)
4% of Gen-Next (born 1982 - present)

I shared these statistics in my sermon yesterday. It is always interesting to watch builders show more disgust then concern over statistics like these. And usually their solutions (if you can call them that) are to return to "the good old days."

I don't get it! How could returning to "the good old days" possibly be the answer? Isn't that the problem from the perspective of the younger generations?

From Experiential Storytelling
Modernity has placed a lab coat on most preachers. After peering at the Bible under the microscope, they continually find more evidence and facts to disseminate to a waiting audience. The pressure each preacher faces is to come up with more and more points to explain what the text means.

Why not take a breather for a time and let the story speak for itself in a language those gathered can understand? When presented without all of the trappings of exegetical interpretation, the biblical text is freed from the limits of our minds and is open to the organic beauty of the infinite Word.

Yet another great quote from this great book! I am hoping to develop more creativity in my churches and my preaching. But rural America is notorious for tradition and resisting change! I am hoping to begin a youth worship service this summer when we get back some of our college students. I am really excited about this opportunity and hope that it would bring in some of the younger people in our community that the churches here are completely missing.

Ideas and prayers for this endeavor would be greatly appreciated!

Experiential Storytelling
A sermon tells people what to think. A story forces people to do the thinking for themselves. It can feel dangerous because it allows for interpretation. But one of the adjectives used to describe the Holy Spirit is "counselor." Do we trust our people and the Holy Spirit enough to allow them to think for themselves? Can we leave something open-ended, knowing the conclusion might not come until later that day, week, month, or year? Can we allow people to own the stories? Or do we do all of the interpreting and leave nothing to the imagination?

I was always criticized for not applying enough in my sermons in seminary. Yet I felt that people are smart enough to come to their own conclusions and the Holy Spirit can be trusted. I must say that this has carried over into my ministry. I do work on application, but many times people draw applications that I never intended, yet the Holy Spirit is working in their lives in ways I couldn't anticipate, plan for, or imagine.

My wife and I went on a Catholic marriage retreat several years ago at an Ignatician retreat house. We were given hours of togetherness and very little instruction. We were suppose to practice silence except at meals. We spent much time alone as a couple. No small sharing groups. Very little content. Just us and God. It was the most powerful marriage retreat I have ever experienced!

Yet Protestants freak out with this. We feel like we need to teach, have break out sessions, have small group interaction and fill up every moment of the retreat with content. God forbid we might trust him to do something apart from our efforts!

Unfortunately, this mentality is pervasive in our churches today. I believe pastors must diligently prepare their messages each week seeking guidance from the Holy Spirit. But I also know there is a limit. We must trust the Holy Spirit to make up for our limitations. We must trust the Holy Spirit to be at work in people's lives often inspite of ourselves and our sermons.

Amazon.com: Books: Pastoral Visitation (Creative Pastoral Care and Counseling Series)
I finished this book earlier this week. Let me just say that it was a difficult read because it is so overly didactic and boring. The book is best when the author shares stories about pastoral visitations she has done. It is also excellent when she shares ideas about being intentional with pastoral visitation, such as visiting with people much like a doctor would to assess their spiritual health.

The book included helpful lists of concepts and ideas to keep in mind when visiting with folks and ways to seek to be a pastor in these visits. In other words, the author does provide some ideas and resources for engaging people below the surface.

Yet, this is already a short book and it could have been shorter! I will take some but not much from this book. Part of my difficulty with the book may be my lack of interest or education in pastoral counseling which to me, fills the majority of the discussion in this book.

As a young pastor, I was hoping for some help in this area. I got some, but can still use a whole lot more.

The Blackmun Papers: Friends for Decades, but Years on Court Left Them Strangers
Sad story of a shattered friendship. Unfortunately, this is often common among clergy as well. How often do we allow differences in opinion, philosophy, or methodology to ruin our relationships? To ruin our relationships with our colleagues in ministry?

I am only in my 30's and yet I have lost many good friendships because of these kinds of differences. As the emerging church emerges, how many more friendships will be shattered because of different philosophies or methodologies?

I struggle with this because we see Jesus praying for our unity. I struggle with this because Jesus came to reconcile us to God and to one another. The church should practice reconciliation. It should be a place were differences of opinion, philosophy, and methodology are appreciated. That means the emerging church appreciates the ministry philosophy and methodology of the modern church and vice versa. So can we do this?

I greatly respect the senior pastor I used to work for. We have enormous differences in opinion, philosophy, and methodology. These differences led to my leaving the church under much frustration, anger, and pain.

Yet when I visited the church after being gone for nearly a year, this pastor pulled me aside, encouraged me, said he believed that what I was doing was a great use of my gifts, and ended by asking, "Are we okay?"

I said, "Yes."

I think we could all use more conversations like this one.

Christian History Corner: Is Christianity Oppressive to Women? - Christianity Today Magazine
This is an excellent article on this subject. In our small town, we have a weekly newspaper. Currently, the Southern Baptist pastor writes a "column" for the paper. I'm sure he pays to have this printed so it functions more as an info-mercial for the Baptist church.

Recently, he wrote about the roles of men and women in Christ and in the church. Several women in my churches were upset. I was upset. It is amazing how backwards and behind the times these pieces sounded, even in rural America which manages to be behind the times anyways.

I am tried of the equal in worth, different in function or role arguments. At least the church fathers were honest as were the reformers. They believed women were inferior and they said it.

Some argue that to argue for an egalitarian view over a traditional view is to allow our culture to shape our beliefs over Scripture shaping our beliefs. Yet traditionalists no longer argue that women are inferior. They argue that women are of equal worth but have different roles. Hasn't culture changed their argument? Or have they found something in the Scriptures that changed their argument that the church fathers and reformers missed?

create your own personalized map of the USA or write about it on the open travel guide
Here's my map of states I've visited. I know I have visited more but many where when I was not even a year old.

Op-Ed Contributor: For Priests, Celibacy Is Not the Problem
In the 1950's, according to a study by Ben Gaffin Associates, 40 percent of Americans (Protestants and Catholics alike) rated the sermons they heard as "excellent." In 2002, according to the National Opinion Research Study, 36 percent of Protestants still found their sermons excellent, compared to just 18 percent of Catholics.

Is the decline in excellent preaching due to poor sermons or outdated methods of proclamation? Clearly there are many pastors and priests who can't preach their way out of a paper bag. But there are many effective communicators (at least with moderns) who will need to retool in order to communicate with postmoderns.

Op-Ed Columnist: Marriage: Mix and Match
"If we're serious about constitutional remedies for marital breakdowns, we could adopt an amendment criminalizing adultery. Zamfara, a state in northern Nigeria, has had success in reducing AIDS, prostitution and extramarital affairs by sentencing adulterers to be stoned to death.

Short of that, it seems to me that the best way to preserve the sanctity of American marriage is for us all to spend less time fretting about other people's marriages — and more time improving our own."

I agree with some clarifications and questions. I agree that we should spend time improving our own marriages and less worrying about the marriages of others (unless you are a pastor or a caregiver and spend time counseling married and soon to be married couples). Yet what is the goal of improving our marriages? Is it our personal happiness? Our spouse's personal happiness? If happiness is the goal in a marriage, then we will continue to see divorce in record numbers because of our superficial understanding regarding the purpose and function of marriage.

Marriage serves as a picture of God's love for us. It serves as a word-picture of reconciliation between us and God. In this sense it is a sacramental relationship.

Ultimately, the purpose of marriage is our holiness not our happiness. It's purpose is to shape us more and more into the image of Christ. Make us more and more Christ-like. So if we marry a difficult and challenging spouse, we have all the more opportunity to experience holiness. (Thanks to Gary Thomas' great book, Sacred Marriage for educating me on this).

So the ultimate question for me regarding gay marriages is this: Does a gay marriage serve to represent God's redeeming work in the world? Does a gay marriage serve to demonstrate God's reconciliation? Does a gay marriage serve to make each partner more holy or is the goal personal happiness?

All of these questions can be applied to heterosexual marriages as well. And many if not most marriages will be found lacking.

Op-Ed Columnist: Stolen Kisses
Slippery slope arguments put forth by many Christians are often ridiculous and weak. I agree with this article's criticism of such arguments.

Yet I appeal to Scripture and not to public opinion or common practice for what is right and wrong behavior, knowing full well the inherent difficulties in interpreting and applying the Bible to our modern daily lives.

Op-Ed Columnist: Not Peace, but a Sword
"The Passion of the Christ" is a bloody film. It is shocking. It is very emotive. But to become angry at the Jews like the crowds which are described in this article, and like those he references at Oberammergau is to totally misunderstand the suffering of Jesus Christ. Christ himself in the gospels and in Gibson's movie prays to God saying "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."

To blame the Jews of deicide and to further persecute them for the death of Christ is absurd. All of humanity is guilty in the death of Christ. Satan and his rebellion against God and our rebellion against God sent Jesus to the cross.

Unfortunately there are many who will misinterpret Gibson's film as there have always been those who misinterpret the Bible. So because something can be misinterpreted, does that mean we shouldn't speak of certain things?

I am sometimes misunderstood in the sermons I preach. I have had to apologize for insensitive remarks. I have had to try to explain myself and my meaning further. Sometimes we come to an understanding. Other times things can't be worked out.

It's amazing how every time this happens there is a filter that the other person has that they listen to my sermon through. We all have filters. We all have lenses we view the world through. Because of this, books, articles, and movies are all subject to misunderstanding. I guess because of this we should all just keep our mouths shut. Including the op-ed columnists.

Can't Buy Me Love
Wouldn't it be nice to be rich? Wow! What could you do with a billion dollars?

The State of the World - Poverty & Development Wait a minute! I am rich! I'm in the top 10% of the world's population in income! Thank you Lord for blessing me with more than I deserve and more than I need! Help me to be grateful! And help me to do more to help allievate poverty and injustice in the world. Here's a good place to start: Christian Child Sponsorship - Compassion International: Sponsor a Child

Essay: For One Catholic, "Passion" Skews the Meaning of the Crucifixion
Interesting article. The most striking part of the essay is the line, "I would venture to say that neither of these women's vision of the world was changed by the film. They brought their own Jesus into the movie with them, their own religious history and their understanding of the history of the world. As, of course, did I. And so if Mr. Gibson's goal was to change hearts and minds, I can't believe he'll be successful."

It's definitely true that many will see the Jesus they want to see in the movie or they will just reject the movie. What does your own Jesus look like?

Yet we must hope and pray that even though the movie isn't perfect, that the Holy Spirit will use it to reach into people's lives. At the very least, it gets the person of Jesus face time in the New York Times.

One distrubing trend I have seen in the media in relation to this film is the practice of round table discussions. In almost every round table discussion, one of the "experts" makes a statement of the historical unreliability of the gospels. This becomes one of the presuppositions in the entire discussion. Unfortunately, none of the programs I have seen have had anyone on the panel that attempted to challenge this basic presupposition.

One man who made this comment is a writer for Newsweek. Sure he's smart. Sure he's researched the topic and come to his own conclusions. But it would be nice to have a truly qualified individual, such as a New Testament scholar share his or her thoughts on this issue. And since New Testament scholars come in so many stripes now, get a liberal and a conservative and let them talk about these issues. Don't let the guy from Newsweek shape the discussion about the historical reliability of the gospels.

Makes me wonder what other opinions on any story I'm not getting in these round table discussions.

PC(USA) - Ash Wednesday-Is It Presbyterian?
Who cares? I serve a Presbyterian congregation and I am often dumbfounded at how seriously people take being a Presbyterian! We even have some in our church that think the reason we are not growing is because we are not emphasizing our Presbyterianism enough!

In my opinion, and in the opinion of many scholars who study church growth, this idea couldn't get much farther from the truth. In fact we are not growing because we are in a rural area that is literally dying, with few new families moving into the community.

Will the emerging church get away from this denominationalism? Much of evangelicalism already has, but it is going to die hard among mainline protestants. Will the mainline be able to reinvent itself to reach the younger generation? I have my doubts! Especially when the chief concerning for some surrounding Ash Wednesday is, "Is it Presbyterian."

Worship Committee Meeting
We had a meeting of the worship committee at the Presbyterian church this morning. I am amazed at how set in our particular styles of worship we become. I am amazed at how little we realize that God is the audience for our worship, that it's not about us and what we get out of it.

I am amazed how the older generation has no idea how to attract younger people to church. They think, if we just emphasize being Presbyterian, if we just educate about reformed worship, if we just do it like we used to do it when so many people were coming...

One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results. Much of what we do in the church today is insane! Mainline denominations scratch their heads and wonder why they are loosing so many people and not attracting young people. Will they ever learn?

From "2 Corinthians" by Linda L. Belleville
"There is a tendency in evangelicalism today to place great store in charismatic preaching, professional programming and a worship service that is glamorous and glitzy—in short, to expect a good performance rather than a good message. Paul faced serious personal challenges throughout his ministry because he rejected the performance orientation of his own culture and focused only on preaching 'Jesus Christ and him crucified' (1 Cor. 2:2)."

I agree that this is a tendency in evangelicalism. I had to leave a previous ministry because of similar issues. I was not charismatic enough. I wasn’t successful enough. I wasn’t getting the results the church leadership wanted. I was a youth pastor. No wonder the average tenure of a youth pastor today is 18 months. Worship pastors are beginning to experience this type of criticism and pressure as well.

We must turn away from this mindset just as the apostle Paul did. We must continue to preach only Jesus and him crucified! My fear is that the emerging, postmodern church will be just as susceptible to this tendency. Will the emerging church only welcome and honor those individuals who are "charismatic preachers?" Will the postmodern church only celebrate "professional programming and a worship service that is glamorous and glitzy?" Or will the emerging church appreciate the preaching of Jesus Christ and him crucified above all else in the church?

Belleville closes her reflections on this idea with this: "In a day and age where there is a similar emphasis on spiritual achievements, financial empires, miraculous gifts and performance skills in the pulpit, we do well to heed the warning of how easy it is to end up communicating another Jesus, another Spirit and another gospel."

Fourth funeral this year today
Another funeral today. This time its for a long time member of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The poor man had Alzheimer's for quite some time. He leaves behind a mourning widow and an eleven year old grandson who they have raised as their own. Their son is in prison.

The cost of the funeral is such a burden for this poor family. It is so hard to watch these people suffer so much.

Our community experiences so much grief. Many of the same elderly people attend the funerals I officiate. They watch as childhood friends die and know that their turn is only a matter of time.

An old definition of pastoral ministry is "preparing people for a good death." In this community it is certainly true. Yet I think all pastoral ministry should be informed by death both ours and others. We will all die and we as pastors will be replaced. But as a husband, as a father, as a son, as a friend, we will never be replaced. So what roles in our lives are the most important?

Presbytery
I had a Presbytery meeting a few weeks ago. This is the quarterly meeting were we all get together and argue and fuss over everything! It is crazy in some ways. I kept thinking to myself that many of the things we are arguing about, God doesn't care one bit about! Why do we torture ourselves like this?

Confirmation/Pastor's Class
I am currently teaching a confirmation/pastor's class. This is the first time I have ever done this. Teaching a class like this for two different denominations is very challenging. The Christian Church does not have creeds or confessions. They are famous for saying "No creed but Christ." But the Presbyterians have the Book of Confessions. Then they differ significantly on baptism. Christian church practices "believer baptism" Presbyterians infant baptism.

Then there's the polity. The churches are governed so differently, Christian Church is congregational, Presbyterians are well Presbyterians!

I enjoy teaching both sides of the issue and this class provides me that opportunity. Yet I am saddened that Christians have so many differences that we end up with so many denominations.

The DaVinci Code
This book is a great murder mystery! Though I am sure I will disagree with much of it by the time it is over, I sure do enjoy the book thus far!

“The Christian Mind” by Harry Blamires:
These are some thought provoking quotes from a book I just started reading. Though the copy I have is very dated (1963) he has some good thoughts on the topic of the Christian mind. So far in my reading I have come to wonder if the Church and Christians are innovative or reactionary. I tend to think and believe that Christians and the church are reactionary and not very innovative. Some of these quotes illicited a reader-response from me in this vain. Why does most important and noted cultural criticism come from people with a secular mindset? Why don't Christians influence the public debate on topics (outside of morality)?! Why are Christians often so late to the discussion table?

Now for some of the quotes. Let me know what you think. What do you agree with? Argue with?

“There is no longer a Christian mind. There is still, of course, a Christian ethic, a Christian practice, and a Christian spirituality. As a moral being, the modern Christian subscribes to a code other than that of the non-Christian. As a member of the Church, he undertakes obligations and observations ignored by the non-Christian. As a spiritual being, in prayer and meditation, he strives to cultivate a dimension of life unexplored by the non-Christian. But as a thinking being, the modern Christian has succumbed to secularization. He accepts religion—its morality, its worship, its spiritual culture; but he rejects the religious view of life, the view which sees all earthly issues within the context of the eternal, the view which relates all human problems—social, political, cultural—to the doctrinal foundations of the Christian Faith, the view which sees all things here below in terms of God’s supremacy and earth’s transitoriness, in terms of Heaven and Hell” (pp. 3-4)

I definitely see this in some of my parishoners!

“My thesis amounts to this. Except over a very narrow field for thinking, chiefly touching questions of strictly personal conduct, we Christians in the modern world accept, for the purpose of mental activity, a frame of reference constructed by the secular mind and a set of criteria reflecting secular evaluations. There is no Christian mind; there is no shared field of discourse in which we can move at ease as thinking Christians by trodden ways and past established landmarks.
Perhaps most of the acclaimed thinkers and prophets of our day are non-Christians. A glance at some of the influential critiques of our culture that have made a popular impact in the last few years would suggest this view. Many writers who have recently probed the values of our culture, scrutinized the quality of current civilization with critical and penetrating eyes, have done so from a humanistic standpoint” (p. 5).

Are Christians today scrutinizing "the quality of current civilization with critical and penetrating eyes" from a theological standpoint?

“...though many of their books reflect a deep concern and unease over the present state of our culture and brood critically upon the sham values which commerce is imposing on modern man, generally speaking the judgments passed are not Christian judgments. They are not the products of Christian insight, Christian instruction, Christian vision. No theology lies at the back of what is otherwise an apparently healthy rejection of current materialism in its cruder manifestations” (pp. 5-6).

Is this also true of much of the current critique of modernism by post-moderns?

“The whole analytical process is carried out within a frame of reference which totally excludes the spiritual dimension, which totally ignores man’s primary nature as a religious being” (p. 8).

“Thus prophetic condemnation of salient features of contemporary secularism comes nowadays from secularists themselves whose ground of judgment is a humanistic one. It is clear that where there is no Christian mind to pass judgment upon society, those who care for human dignity and integrity on other grounds than the Christian’s will be provoked to rebel against the multifarious tendencies of contemporary civilization to depersonalize men and women. This rebellion must be regarded as a significant feature of the post-Christian world. It is good in itself. That is to say, the protest needs to be made. What is bad is that it should come from outside the Christian tradition” (pp. 8-9).

“In the same way, if we turn to the world of imaginative literature, we shall find that the deepest rejections of the shallowness and shoddiness of twentieth-century civilization are issuing from artists who are utterly out of touch with the Christian tradition” (p. 9).

“If Christians cannot communicate as thinking beings, they are reduced to encountering one another only at the shallow level of gossip and small talk. Hence the perhaps peculiarly modern problem—the loneliness of the thinking Christian” (p. 13).

“The mental secularization of Christians means that nowadays we meet only as worshipping beings and as moral beings, not as thinking beings” (p. 16).

Janet Jackson's Bare Breast Sparks FCC Probe
We had the youth from our churches over to watch the Super Bowl and there were several times I was stunned by what I saw on TV. Obviously Jackson and Timberlake's stunt was one of them.

But even more disturbing to me was how inoculated the students appear to be to this kind of stuff. I was blushing at times and they never seemed disturbed or embarrassed by any of it.

At times I don’t feel kids have a chance to live a life of purity. A life of obedience to Christ. I know obedience to Christ is more than a few moral issues. But the odds sure seem against these kids more than ever.

It doesn’t help that much of the church is irrelevant to them as well. How do we turn junior and senior high school students into passionate followers of Christ? How do we help anyone become a passionate follower of Christ?

I am becoming more and more convinced thanks to Eugene Peterson that much of the answer for pastors is prayer, attending to Scripture, and spiritual direction.