Archive for March, 2009
Monday Morning Brief – 3.9.09
Highlights of the Week… 1. Taking Nathan to buy the new U2 album. I can’t play catch with the 10 month old yet but I dream of the day when he pushes me in my wheelchair as we buy the physical album of U2’s Greatest Unreleased work in 2067. That’s going to be a good day. 2. Youth Leader Enroute Training Day. We took our wonderful youth leaders to this Sonlife training day. It’s about exploring transformational youth ministry with God’s narrative. It’s been pretty good and makes a great day of training and our other youth pastor, Tim blogged about it here. 3. We had our fantasy baseball draft yesterday. Commissioner Tim Nye is at the helm. I’m confident that he will do a much better job than Bud Selig. My team name is, “I Am Wolverine!” so we hope to live up to the name.
Disappointments of the Week … ARoid. But I was smart enough not to draft him 
Listening to … U2’s No Line on the Horizon, Homebrewed Christianity podcast 44 (Evolution and Faith with Daniel Harrell), Mars Hill Bible podcast 2.15.09 (A Life that Shines with Jeff Manion)
Watching … the best show on television – Lost.
Student Ministry Update … Our students are still loving They Like Jesus But not the Church video curriculum. Doing some rethinking about certain things in our ministry. Praying for wisdom.
Feeling … good about this current class at school. (although I’m a little behind in certain parts.)
Looking Forward to … Amidst the Powers Conference with Evan.
Understatment of the week … In a Washington Post article discussing the need and cost for super fast trains:
“But experts and government officials caution that despite the billions, the amounts are still not nearly enough to pay for the kind of sleek “bullet train” systems that crisscross Europe and Japan at speeds of 200 mph or higher. The California project, for example, would cost an estimated $45 billion, including $9 billion in state bonds that voters approved last year.
“It sounds like a lot of money to Americans, but it’s really just a start,” said James P. RePass, president of the National Corridors Initiative, a nonprofit rail advocacy group. “We’re not going to wake up in a year and see a bullet train. But we are going to see much faster service for relatively little money.”
LOL – I know he used the adjective “relatively” but it still made me laugh.
A Brief Thought on the new U2 Album
Like almost everyone who breathes oxygen, I love the music of U2. And like so many who pledged their allegiance to the epic works during the days of Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby and who lived through the American reactions of Zooropa & Pop (which were brilliantly misunderstood albums not only ahead of their time but in a different dimension. Some call it Europe but I’m not sure it’s that easily identifiable), you always have a bit of anxiety whenever a new U2 album drops.
I understand why many people despise Bono and his band. They’re so big that they are “The Man” and we all know it’s cool to hate the man. I will still never forget the argument I had with someone who told me that if I wanted to listen to real rock’n roll, I needed to listen to Aerosmith. We all know that Steven Tyler has a life-size poster of Bono above his bed and we all know the best thing about Aerosmith is Liv Tyler. It’s ok, there will always be people who hate God too. Anyway, while it is not the Achtung Baby reinvention we were promised, No Line on the Horizon is still fantastic.
Of course so much has been written already, but here are some of the posts I’ve appreciated.
Don Miller’s post was really insightful. (What else would you expect from Don?). I don’t know how to summarize it without creating a long post so you can just read it.
From a NY Times article:
“How do you puncture pop consciousness with a tune anymore?” Bono said later over a pint of Guinness in the restaurant of the venerable hotel Claridge’s. “That’s actually your first job as a songwriter.”
A conversation with Bono is a free-associative adventure. Between thoughts about the album he dispensed fascinating digressions, casual but carefully placed on and off the record. He gave a full-voiced demonstration of Italian opera vowels and Frank Sinatra style — heads swiveled nearby — and mused on cathedral architecture; he described encounters with presidential candidates and plans for his future columns on the Op-Ed page of The New York Times. He spoke fondly about his band mates as characters he’s still trying to figure out, about songs as bursts of serendipity and about what he wants in a performance: “spastic elastic energy.” more.”
Offense versus Defense in Student Ministry
A little while back, my friend Eric, told me that our youth ministry is geared more towards offense then defense. While either/or is not my language, my initial thought was it’s probably better to be that than the opposite. Like so many (especially youth pastors), I am tired of being part of the Church that appears to be cryogenically frozen in a defensive posture. Even worse, should they break that position, it is only to get into a mode of judgment or criticism.
Here’s some of the greater context of what we are trying to do. Our students know some of my passions and fears. The passions are somewhat normal youth pastor ones like family, friends, coffee, etc. I enjoy discussions that intersect faith, culture, theology, issues and the tensions that exist within these conversations. Add music, movies, books, wifi, and baseball, and I could live on any “island” . Following Christ faithfully in our context is a topic that I believe we I am always discussing.
My fears are somewhat normal too. Like falling out of the Superman ride because the 16 year old who wanted to be a life guard at the Jersey shore pressed the “Release All” button when reaching for his Red Bull or drowning in the pool at one of our summer parties because someone jumped on my head, broke my neck and I stayed under the water and no one saved me because they thought I was kidding and so I drowned (wow what an awkward moment that would be). Like I said, normal fears. Our students also know that as youth leaders, our real fear is that our students will abandon their faith as they leave the safety of our homes and youth groups.
Because we believe that God is not afraid of our questions nor is the truth trying to hide, we not only encourage our students to ask their questions but try to provoke them. At first the temptation is to be too provocative and do your favorite old school Tony Campolo impersonation every week. Certainly there is a goodness in quoting a brilliant moment from a conference you attended but remember that you are at a different starting point when you hear that quote. (Not saying to avoid it, saying to be careful. Anyway, I digress).
I have found that if we encourage our starting points to be honest from within our contexts and see if and how we are being faithful to Christ, then there is a relevant and worthy discussion to be had. Those discussions ought to be sensitive enough to welcoming doubts and questions. I sometimes voice them like “Some of you love the Lord so much but you feel guilty because the ideas of evolution make a lot of sense to you. That’s ok, you should think that through. God is not afraid of our questions but realize the answers take time, discipline, and work.” This resulted in two students talking to me privately about that.
I’m describing a starting point and sometimes I find myself guilty of rushing our students past them. For instance we say that Christianity is the best and most unique of the world religions but if we haven’t explained the virtues and the issues from alternate worldviews, then the statement tends to lack integrity. Does everything require an 8 week explanation? Certainly not, but may God give us the wisdom in making the statements we make and modeling the lives we live.
Indeed, some times it is an ideology or a passion that hinders us in our faith journey and we get to the point where we have to sacrifice it in order to worship our Lord. This is part of the process of life long discipleship that we need to do our part in allowing the Spirit to work through us so their faith be take root.
Finally, our students know that we love God and we pray they too will love Him with all their hearts mind and soul. Coffee, books, traveling, even family and great friends are secondary upon coming to an understanding of what Christ is asking of us. To go back to my friend’s language, it is in this way, that I find Jesus to be the most offensive and so, may we be Spirit-led and model this life.
You Should Attend an Emergent Cohort Gathering
Like so many in the emerging church conversation, I read a few Brian McLaren books, read Tony’s Post-Modern Youth Ministry, heard that Doug Pagitt was really pushing the envelope with this re-imagining thing, etc. Like so many, I was getting disenfranchised with the traditional way of doing, thinking about, and being the Church. Like so many, I know that I didn’t want to follow in the footsteps of certain well-intentioned, sincere-hearted people because I was witnessing not only a mass exodus of young people leaving the church, but on a different level, the possible extinction of their Christian faith as well. It was no longer about finding a relevant, younger, cooler worship church, but about discovering/imagining/creating perhaps a new and different way of doing things. We needed something much, much different. In Church on the Other Side, McLaren, writes in the opening, “When you have a new culture, you need a new church. You have a new culture.” Hmm, where could I go to continue these conversations? Eventually I found my way into a cohort.
The cohort experience has been a much-needed and welcomed time for me. It was through the Philly cohort that met in the home of Scott Jones that allowed me to appreciate the “now what?” discussions that much of my reading has sought. Even better, I made some great friendships with people like Scott, Todd Hiestand and I even met John Franke which is significant because eventually I found my way enrolling at Biblical Seminary.
In 2006, I moved to the north Jersey (and the Philly cohort was never the same. Who knew is was the keystone to the whole thing? – just kidding). I started attending the one in NYC and have made some beautiful friendships there as well. But between the meetings, the distance, and the business of life, I was not able to participate as frequent as I would have liked. Fortunately inniative-taker extraordinaire Thomas Turner began the North Jersey cohort and it’s been a good thing for several of us.
It’s here that I would like you to pay attention again. The emergent church thing has been described as a “friendship” or a “conversation” and it’s in the cohorts that you get to appreciate the reality of that. It is not a recruitment time, nor is it a time of bashing fundamentalists, nor is it cheap training of emergent propaganda. Rather it’s a time and place to enjoy conversation with generous minded people that may or may not be very different from you. As a post-conservative, I have really appreciated this space.
If you live in the north jersey area, our next meeting is March 12th at 7.00 at the Allendale Bar and Grill. Let me know if you need directions or a ride. If you live outside this area, you can look for the one closest to you here. And if there isn’t, consider starting one with a few friends. It’s a very, very good thing.
Monday Morning Brief 3.2.09
(once again posted on Tuesday)
Highlights of the Week Will Now Be Called Brighter Moments for this Week … yeah for Lent I gave up pastoral exaggerations and highlights just seems to overstated. 1. There were some good moments and among them was celebrating my mom’s first birthday as a grandmother. If I being objective, Nathan hasn’t always been kind to my mom. We don’t hold that against the 10-monther but on Saturday, they had a ball together. 2. Had some real solid conversations with several people throughout my church. 3. Spoke to a different youth group about worship this past Friday night. It was well-received. 4. Lost – brilliant. 4.5. 24 has been pretty entertaining too.
Disappointed by … nothing personal that I can remember. I think lately, I’ve just been burdened by my family/friends who live in fear of being laid off or have been laid off and now job hunting. God’s grace to them.
Listening to … U2’s New Line On the Horizon (available thru Amazon mp3 store for $3.99). As part of Lent, I’m trying to spend money on only essentials. But I’m pretty sure that the Lord Himself will be buying this tomorrow (that is assuming He hasn’t already downloaded it, legally of course, since God’s Ipod exists beyond the time-space continuum). 2. Heard a great Mars Hill Podcast by Jeff Manion called a Life that Shines available here.
Loving … that some of my friends started blogging over the last two weeks. My favorite youth pastor, fellow brother in Christ and in the Yankees, Tim Nye just started blogging. Also there is my seventeenth favorite seminary cohort member KJ (also a youth pastor) is blogging again and my favorite prodigal son story of 2008 Jeremy Stephens who was delivered from being a car salesman and is now serving the Lord as an underpaid youth pastor and bivocations at a board game company. I think his job is manufacturing the top hat game piece in the classic game Monopoly. I know what you’re thinking, don’t they just outsource that to a like a steel company? He told me otherwise and a former car-salesman doesn’t lie. Hey check out their blogs.
Reading … a little of everything. No class this week at school so I got back to Pete Enn’s Inspiration andIncarnation. Also reading Cross-Shattered Christ by Stanely Hauerwas as part of my Lenten reading and … Also the new Relevant magazine just came in. I urge you to subscribe, it’s the best $12 you will spend all year.
Watched … Slumdog Millionaire finally. Loved it, was beautiful but not sure if I can ever watch it again. There are some movies that are too moving for me to sit through again. Saving Private Ryan comes to mind. The first hour, I was just so broken by the poverty, abandonment, violence and exploitation. Further, it’s not just a movie, this not only happens but it’s happening. Beautiful movie that takes these terrible circumstances and offers some redemption and a great love story. They deserved all their awards. Speaking of awards, still have yet to see the “Mickey Rourke was robbed” in the Wrestler. Some people are angrier about that then the bailout. Also watched on the dvd documentary “Escape From Suburbia” which deals with energy and the American way of life. I ended up watching it twice. Here are my two cents. Good info, I agree with the crux of it, but the documentary was not that well done, way too many interviews, and while I know they were intending on waking people up, it was a little too over-stated. I’m curious in knowing if there are better documentaries that do a better job with this issue.
Youth Ministry Update … Our Video Series They Like Jesus but Not the Church (by Dan Kimball) is still going real well. Small groups have been lively and this past week we discussed the issue of women in the church. Controversial huh? Not really. Dan does a real good job cutting to the issue. Here was his point, “The church has been charged by some by being male-domineering and oppressive to women. How do we as Christ-following Christians respond?” We can discuss women in ministry, interpretations of passages like I Timothy 2, remind each other the role women played in Jesus’ ministry and in Paul’s but we have to agree that the we need to affirm and encourage our sisters in Christ.
Looking forward to … Playing fantasy baseball with my friends. I just registered and my team name is “I Am Wolverine!”
What I Am Doing for Lent
Almost every year since 2001, I have given up coffee for Lent. I remember the first year I did it, I honestly didn’t know if I was going to be able to keep my commitment. As you probably know, part of the idea of giving up something for Lent is remembering the sacrifice of Christ throughout your day. Though it may sound odd to read that, I always liked it. I remember one moment in particular when I wanted to stop at Starbucks on my way to something and then realized, “oh yeah…”. I drove to my destination reflecting about some worthy things with nothing in the cupholder.
Anyway, giving up coffee wasn’t so bad. It was cool, the one year, this gentlemen from my church and I gave it up together and our deal was to meet at Starbucks on Easter Sunday at the break of dawn. It was the best Easter Dawn service I’d been to – lol. Anyway, it turns out, my addiction to coffee is more psychological then physiological. It’s true, I’m a coffee snob and if there isn’t good coffee (like at church before I brewed my own), then I’ll drink tea, or water, or rain water from the gutter.
Throughout the years, I’d add various devotionals, readings and every year I’d read the gospels through. I noticed last year, these practices started growing stale for me. Giving up coffee was getting easier. I don’t really eat that much chocolate and I’m not a big dessert person but I added that to the list.
Technological fasts never made that much sense to me. I use email the way a carpenter uses a hammer. If I was still playing Jetman on Facebook, then I’d consider it but it’s about relationships for me and now that all my worlds have collided on there, it’s not as fun as it used to be. Those that give up Facebook, Twitter, etc. God bless them, it just doesn’t connect with me.
So what am I doing? It’s hard to explain but it looks something like this: Reflection, People and Responsibility (I admit I was tempted to use ‘P’ alliteration of Perspective, People and Prosperity but the latter one has more to do with the idea of being more responsible).
Some of these are hard to explain and I don’t think I’ll be able to articulate through blogging. In “Reflection, I’m using various books, prayer guides and devotionals throughout. It’s a bit. But whatever I have to give up for the extra time for the reading and reflection becomes what I am fasting from. I think this will bug me more and thus be more sacrificial than my previous fasts.
Regarding “People”, in short, I need to be more intentional with spending more time and showing more love to those that I do not normally. It’s hard to describe this on this type of forum without sounding either snobby or self-righteous but here’s how I came to it. Christ sacrificed his life for people and I feel convicted that I need to sacrifice more of my time with people. This includes strangers, old friends, those hurting and many others. Also, I want to be more intentional with the quality of my relationships, this includes the repairing and reconciling of a few of them.
The last one, “Responsibility” is a weird one. I’ve described in a journal entry as, “being faithful with the opportunities that I’ve been given in the most Christ-like way”. During Lent, I want to be more intentional in what I consume, what I give towards, what I complain about, and what I celebrate. Vague enough?
To be truthful, I am not real sure exactly how this will look like. But it’s what I want to do and throughout Lent, I want to explore, struggle, pray, repent, respond, celebrate, give and hopefully by Easter, be closer to my Savior.
Feel free to comment on what you’re doing. In the meantime, may we reflect on the cross.
