Christianity

Reflecting On Rob Bell’s Comments – Post 2 – The Pastoral Response to the “The Ship Has Sailed”

March 25, 2013 by Tim 1 Comment

The previous post focused on whether or not Rob Bell still matters. Contrasting the different reactions of whom I respected, I concluded that Rob Bell still does matter to me and if his popularity/ability to create buzz and controversy, he does to many others as well. That said, he doesn’t need to matter to you.

Some have been asking me what I think of Rob’s comments. For most it’s the innocent ‘what do you think about this’? But for some, it’s another evangelical loyalty test. If you’re reading this, I know you, don’t act like it isn’t. ;) (said with love). Who are my loyalties to – Rob (i.e. the face of trendy spirituality that appeals to the masses) or to the Scriptures (the God-breathed, infallible Word of God that knows no equal …!)? (said with sarcasm).

A false dichotomy if there ever was one.

Well, I have failed and passed the loyalty tests throughout my ministry and I don’t see this changing. I have heard crazy stories, been a part of a few too. I am concerned with “getting in trouble” and some days, I’m just as concerned with the day of looking back on my life regretting that I didn’t get into more. May my words/actions always honor the Father, be Christ-like and Spirt-led but this is where I find myself.

So what about Rob’s comments? Well first consider his context now – He is a progressive coming out of the evangelical sub-culture and this is an interesting dilemma for him. If he comes across as too conservative, some will say he has weary from his Love Wins bashing and is hoping to get back into the fold. And of course if he plays the cards he’s playing, it’s the “We told you so. We told you he was wolf/heretic/apostate/(insert hurtful word of choice here).”

So partially given the position he is in, I can’t say I’m surprised that Rob has come out as a supporter of same-sex marriage but I’m not exactly sure on what he really means by what he really said. As I mentioned previously, “These are the tricky posts because they cover on a number of topics, like “Gay Marriage,” “What the Bible says about Homosexuality,” “The Church’s posture toward the gay community” – these are all different questions … and answers.” So let’s be careful we hear what he’s saying and be wise and mindful of our own. (Really, let’s actually do that).

I have paused on the “ship has sailed” line. Could that be the reason he really changed his mind? It’s just difficult for me to conclude that the guy who doesn’t use footnotes could point to a precise point in his thought process. The reference to the culture is obvious but he doesn’t actually finish the sentence (in a Q&A mind you as opposed to a written statement) so how can I come to any conclusion that has any integrity? Further, no one, and I mean no one, in the evangelical world is suggesting the boat has not sailed. We’re wondering what to do about it.

Well, I don’t know anything about shipbuilding, naval engineering or oceanography. But if the ship is being used as the allegory for the “culture” which in this case seemed to imply “the people” – well, I do care about people. I’m a pastor, people are an essential aspect of my job description. So what are we going to do about “the people”?

Get another boat and go after them. Maybe it’s a paddle boat, maybe it’s a raft, or maybe it actually is this sea-worthy vessel that we’ve been reimagining/building this last decade. I don’t know, these metaphors tend to break down but pursuing others in the love of Jesus seems obvious to me. Now we don’t pursue to fight, or to proselytize, or to debate, or to warn, no, none of that. The sad reality of all those statistics of people who are disenfranchised by the church comes from these “strategies” and practices.

Which reminds me of what Jesus did when he faced a morality test.

Do you remember the scene with the woman caught in adultery and the Pharisees and various teachers try to trap Jesus and bring her out to him and asking, “The law of Moses says we must stone her, what do you say?”

And I love Jesus’ answer, “Well, that’s a great question fellas. Listen in no way do I endorse this sort of adulterous behavior. And I want to be on record here and explain that I am very much against any forms of sexual expression outside the covenant of marriage as the Father has instituted from creation. Further in a few decades, my buddy Paul, is going to say, “Love your spouse the way I am loving the Church and clearly this case is in violation of that.”

You remember this scene right?

I mention it not to justify anything in terms of sexual practice but it has always served me as a valuable reminder of love, judgment and mercy in such necessary moments. Back to the disenfranchised people on the ship. Many of them are hurting and needing to hear the we love them, God loves them, and yes, the Church as in the community of Christian believers love them. This love includes kindness, generosity, respect, reconciliation, a commitment to grow closer and a desire to serve the other – you know – love. There are no exceptions. The gay community is not an exception, nor are the fundamentalists/liberals/conservative/post-something/etc. No exceptions.

A short while ago a couple approached me regarding getting married but their situation is quite complicated, very untraditional, very repentant and perhaps a bit unrepentant , I’m sure by asking the right questions, I can get them to profess what I want to hear. But is that what inspired me to accept the call into pastoral ministry? I believe so much is situational, I believe in context, I believe in patterns, I believe in policy, and I believe in exceptions. Which I hope makes me a humble believer of prayer. Which is very needed for a pastor.

Our seminaries, pastoral resources and clergy conferences would serve us well to constantly tell us, “Remember, you can really mess up someone’s life if you’re not extremely careful.” We have been faithful with many but we have also not been careful with many and if this is what Rob Bell means when he says “the ship has passed,” well, I’m not going to argue.

It would be convenient to conclude this post by saying, “While you argue about the issues, some of us will help the wounded …”. Well in the pastorate, that’s only a half-true. It’s been my observation that some pastors/thinkers/ministry types know too much doctrine and too little mercy and while some others are committed to a particular hope but risk ignoring certain ramifications. Perhaps more on that another time.

But as a pastor/citizen/child of God my heart aims to broken for the broken-hearted. This very much includes the gay community. I want to avoid the risk of objectifying anyone but I care very much for all those who have identified themselves as part of the gay community and have trusted me with their thoughts and feelings. This has shaped my ministry.

As a pastor, I’m praying that God will use me to lead others to trust Jesus and live in submission to the Lord – every conversation has its own context but for lack of a better summary, that’s my “agenda.” And for those who disagree or pursue a different phrasing/ideology/life for whatever reason, grace and peace to them, for God is gracious in giving us all free will, how can I insist otherwise. In the meantime, may we live in peace, conversation and serve the common good.

Fellow brothers and sisters, particularly fellow pastors, the Church does not get stronger if we get rid of Rob Bell. The Church does not get stronger if there is no such thing as the gay agenda, gay marriage or gay people. The Church gets stronger by loving Christ and loving the other – I really believe this. The Church finds its vision by searching the Scriptures and allowing the Spirit to truly lead. It gets stronger as we pray for those who hate us, forgive those whom have hurt us and seeks reconciliation with whom we have hurt. Christian discipleship grows in this context, community deepens, and our theology becomes stronger.

I know I’m preaching here but the Church is not failing because of the attacks from the culture, it is struggling because of the issues from within. We can be apathetic, we can be careless, we can be greedy and prideful and even hateful, simply put – we are not Christ-like enough. I know because these are my sins – and maybe others can relate.

We talk a lot about the culture war but let us not buy into the notion that we can build God’s kingdom and simultaneously fight in it. We can fight evil, we can fight the evil people do, but the Christian objective is to separate people from the evil, to be filled with saving grace as we have been forgiven and redeemed through Christ. Holy Week seems like an appropriate to reflect on such things.

“The ship has sailed”, yes, now how will we respond?

—

For a little more context, please see the previous post

And here are 2 more reflecting on seeing Rob Bell this past fall:
Reflecting on Seeing Rob Bell Speak Recently & Why He Still Matters To Me – Part 1

Reflecting on Seeing Rob Bell Speak Recently & Why He Still Matters To Me – Part 2

Filed Under: Christianity, Reflective, The Church Tagged With: Church and Culture, Church and gay rights, LGBTQ, marriage equality, Rob Bell

To My Brothers/Sisters Saying “I Told You So” After the Giglio Debacle Part 2

January 31, 2013 by Tim Leave a Comment

It’s impossible to divorce yourself from your context. So this means no one is actually completely objective – this means you, this means me.

So here’s a little of my context: I am a pastor in a larger evangelical church in the Northeast who is trying to encourage his fellow brothers and sisters and inspire those outside our walls to the life-giving message of Jesus with word and deed. I’m tired of the haters within our walls that are preaching doomsday scenarios. And I’m tired of those outside our walls merely identifying us by our failures and blind spots. I’m excited by [Read more...]

Filed Under: Christianity, Reflective, The Church Tagged With: Church and Culture, Church and State, Evangelicalism, Louie Giglio, Presidential Inauguration

Reflecting on Driscoll, The Inauguration & State of Evangelicalism Today

January 25, 2013 by Tim 3 Comments

I really wanted to avoid posting about Driscoll and his condescending tweet about President Obama during the Inauguration but when your fingers touch the keys and these words keep coming out – well you got to let them out. Here’s the tweet.

What?? I don’t follow Mark but when I saw this RT pass through my feed, again and again, I was so embarrassed and decided to give up on social media for the day.

First, let me admit my bias – I am not a “Driscoll guy” in any way. Aside from having a post entitled, “Why We Shouldn’t Make Fun of Mark Driscoll By a Guy Who Likes To” I rarely talk, gossip or hate on him. I may roll my eyes at times but I really try to avoid his name (among a few others) in conversation. My experience is that it brings disunity to some of my brothers and sisters in the Lord.

Second, I could never understand why some of my good friends who are intelligent, relational and have access to better minds would [Read more...]

Filed Under: Christianity, Reflective, The Church Tagged With: Evangelicalism, Mark Driscoll, Presidential Inauguration

What Do We Do With Fred Phelps & The Westboro Clan?

December 22, 2012 by Tim 3 Comments

This is the third post in this mini series of “Reflecting on the Newtown Tragedy at Christmastime.”

As if we couldn’t loathe the behavior of Fred Phelps and the Westboro Clan enough, the news of them planning to protest the Newtown funerals had most of us saying, “Enough already, something must be done.” In fact, it accounted for a new set of headlines and another wave of anger and frustration in already emotionally charged scene. Fortunately, they didn’t show up. Still, we wrestle with the question, what can we do about them?

First a few thoughts on Fred Phelps and the Westboro Clan. Personally, I never apply the terms Baptist or Church to them. While Baptists come in all shapes and sizes, I won’t recognize them as such because I simply do not recognize the as a church in the Christian sense and I never use the term in a non-Christian sense so they won’t get that honor from me. And they are actually located in Topeka. Really, they are a “clan” from Kansas. Most of them are related to each other and those that are not blood-related seem to share some type of bizarre connection.

Here’s the 101 if you don’t know too much about them. Fred Phelps calls himself a lawyer (though he’s been disbarred) from [Read more...]

Filed Under: Christianity, Reflective, The Church Tagged With: Fred Phelps, Newtown Tragedy, Westboro Baptist Church

Reflecting on the The Peace Candle While Reminded of the Violence in Our World – Second Week of Advent 2012

December 15, 2012 by Tim Leave a Comment

Yesterday as i was waiting to pick up the boys from preschool, I was in the middle of a post about can the message of Christmas really change anything before the news alerts on my phone started breaking about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

As the painful news was coming to light, I got off my social media. Initially I felt guilty for not contributing my condolences publicly but I know myself, I know I’ll scan the updates of others, I know someone is going to say something I like, someone is going to say something I find trite, and someone is going to say something I find inappropriate. Mourning the tragedy was one thing, getting frustrated with friends (and them with me) was unneeded.

We’ll talk about gun control, we’ll talk about the prevalence of violence in our society’s media consumption, we’ll talk about mental health, family pain, and the innocence of children. We’ll talk about Columbine, the mall attack in Oregon, the Aurora theater attack, Sikh Temple in WI. We’ll talk about violence in the Middle East, US Military, NRA, and various other elements of politics. Someone will point out that on that very same moment that networks were covering the Newtown tragedy, news was streaming on the ticker telling us there was also a knife attack in an elementary school in China. Someone will remind us of the many other injustices like children being trafficked, starved, neglected and abused. This is all needed.

Some of us will also wonder how does this happen in a world where many of us believe that God exists. Some of us will wonder how do we process this on the same week we lit the Peace Candle. Our saddened hearts and our untamed fears would have us convinced that God does not exist, that there is no divine peace, that we really are alone in this evil, sick and violent world. It’s necessary that we confront these thoughts. It’s also necessary to talk about accessibility of guns, safety in schools and all public places, we do need to confront the violence in our hearts and throughout our culture, we do need to talk about our vision of peace and God’s vision of peace.

It seems to me that even if we could ban and remove all guns, focus more on mental health, destroy all violent video games, withdraw all military forces, stop producing and airing all violent tv shows and movies that the number of these tragic events will likely decrease but the reality of evil will still exist. Certainly there is no benefit in doing nothing so these issues are legitimately worth pursuing. In fact, it’s part of our social responsibility to do our best to prevent, limit and try to stop such tragic attacks. But evil cannot be locked up, morality cannot be legislated, sadly it would only be a matter of time before something else happened. We would find ourselves in yet another similar moment, who knows the proximity of it this time.

We are horrified on at least two levels. One is the obvious shock of the current moment. And the other is that we fear that there is no end in sight. We often hear others and sometimes ourselves saying, “That could have been us …”

We all wonder where is God in the midst of all of this? And how are we to celebrate Christmas now? Well, certainly the superficial elements of Christmas are irrelevant and exposed as such. But during my prayers this morning I did wonder if the pain and evil of yesterday will help myself and others see a little deeper into the meaning of Jesus coming near. Days like these demand that we acknowledge our frailty and the arbitrary nature of tragedy. Today I see very clearly how the problems of others are also mine. Today I feel the need to search for solutions and answers. It feels very fluid and natural to ask God to comfort and be near those who are finding an unimaginable reality today. It’s actually in these moments the meaning of Christmas not only seems extremely relevant but very poignant.

The Christmas story is about God seeing the death and evil of this world and offering a better way. When Jesus teaches us to pray for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, we are not only seeking a tragedy-free world, we are being taught to seek a world where there is no need for weapons, or a police force, or locks on our doors, or forensics or funeral homes. Jesus is God’s answer to a better humanity, one that is whole, one that is at peace, one that is redeemed. It’s what Jesus offers – hope, meaning, redemption and life. Perhaps the meaning of the Advent Peace Candle is the reminder we all need right now.

Filed Under: Christianity, Reflective Tagged With: Christmas, CT Tragedy, Mass Killing, Newtown, Peace Candle, Problem of Evil, Sandy Hook Elementary School Tragedy

“You Are the Replacement Ref” – When Others Wrong You (& When We Get It Wrong)

September 26, 2012 by Tim Leave a Comment

If you watched the Monday Night Football’s Seahawks and Packers game this week, you still cannot believe the debaclewe witnessed. How in the world did these replacement refs miss this? How did the instant reply official uphold it and how does the NFL release a statement saying the ruling of simultaneous catch was correct? Aaron Rodgers is right, “That’s garbage, obviously…. They are still covering their butt there.” It feels like conspiracy – A conspiracy to ruin the game!

But it’s just a game. And there is no conspiracy. It’s a business and the refs, the players, the fans are all part of this game. Further, this game is played mostly by millionaires so billionaires can make more and on another level, so the rest of us can [Read more...]

Filed Under: Christianity, Missional, Reflective, The Church

My Review of A Faith of Our Own by Jonathan Merritt – #FaithofOurOwn

July 19, 2012 by Tim Leave a Comment

A Faith of Our Own: Following Jesus Beyond the Culture Wars by Jonathan Merritt will likely be a highly recommended book from me for a long to come. Jonathan gets a lot right and it’s excellent starting point for conversation between conservatives/moderate/liberal types and just as important, for Builder/Boomer/X’er/Millennial types too. I find that not only to be impressive, but very needed.

According to the publisher …
“The book “illuminates the spiritual ethos of this new generation of believers who engage the world with Christ-centered faith but an un-polarized political perspective. Through personal stories and biblically rooted commentary this scion of a leading evangelical family takes a close, thoughtful look at the changing religious and political environment, addressing such divisive issues as abortion, gay marriage, environmental use and care, race, war, poverty, and the imbalance of world wealth. Through Scripture, the examples of Jesus, and personal defining faith experiences, he distills the essential truths at the core of a Christian faith that is now just coming of age.”

Starting from the beginning, I must say that I loved the foreword by Kristen Powers, a Fox News political analyst and New York Post columnist. She begins by saying, “Six years ago when I became a Christian … the first thought I had was, “I can’t be a Christian because I don’t want to be a Republican!” – Perfect way to begin this book. Also glad she attends Trinity Grace in NYC - great church.

Among what I like about the book is who Jonathan is. See, his father is James Merritt, who was the President of the Southern Baptist Convention for a few years. He’s a “player” in the Evangelical South, was an advisor to President W Bush and currently is the senior pastor of Cross Pointe Church in Duluth, GA. I like that Jonathan is clearly not riding his dad’s coat tails but figuring out his own path (hence the title of the book). In fact, I imagine a good bit of what he’s saying has made things difficult for the both of them (regardless of whether is father agrees/disagrees). I always admire those who have a lot to lose. I pray God will give them wisdom, that “insider” people will be supportive to what is actually being said and the message will be blessed and lives.

I also liked how Jonathan talks about his experience at Liberty University (where I also did my undergrad but at a different time), I liked how he talked about growing up a Southern Baptist (as I did not. But my wife did and I know some of the stories ;) I like how he talks about politics, generational humility, issues like social justice and creation care and I loved his presentation at the Q Conference in DC this year (I hope to blog on that another time).

I couldn’t help but laugh as he shared the story of being a high school student and having breakfast with his father and Jerry Falwell at the IHOP in Lynchburg. Interesting story of pretty much being drafted to attend LU. It also reminded me not only of the number of times that I saw Falwell there but also the time that my friends and I got yelled at by Jerry Jr. and his wife and were threatened with school discipline. I’m telling you we didn’t even really say anything that bad … :)

Which Brings Up Falwell
A lot of attention is spent on him, his role as leader of the Moral Majority and the political mentality that he caricatured. Initially, I was caught a little “off guard” by this as I was concerned Jonathan would get bogged down with Falwell’s character and end up ironically fighting his own version of the culture war but he does a good job at avoiding all that.

Falwell is a such a difficult figure for his controversial statements, positions and his personality. I too will never forget coming home from college break and my friends asking about the Telaetubbies thing, ”What goes on at the weird school of yours?” “Umm, I don’t know really …” (I saw it more of as a financial appeal to the Builder Generation grandparents to support his ministry against the gay agenda and so forth but whatever the motivation, it’s definitely an example of the culture war mentality). Falwell has just said so much into a microphone, so much good and so much absolutely awful that I find him a difficult person to reconcile – and honestly, I want to. We can certainly learn from him and for those interested specifically on this, I recommend Blinded By Might by Cal Thomas and Ed Dobson.

What I Really Liked

What I really liked about A Faith of Our Own is that Jonathan pushes back on a good amount of the conservative mentality without breaking fellowship. In an early chapter he describes a patriotic service at a previous church where his father pastored and how uncomfortable that display of nationalism was. Clearly he doesn’t break fellowship with his family as evidenced by the fact that he not only still attends his father’s church but serves on staff. From what he shares, they both have changed their views on a number of issues over the years and seem to have respectful dialogue on the ones where they differ.

I appreciate this because this is extremely true for me and my family. This includes my parents, in-laws, relatives and many dear friends. And that’s among the reasons that makes it relevant and worth sharing. As we all know, convictions and opinions on religion and politics can bring such amount of tension that can hurt the family dynamics – isnt that why we are not supposed to discuss them with each other? I think this book is helpful for the many like me that enjoy a growing relationship with his family but continue to think differently (because today’s context is different).

Which brings up my only “complaint.” As I was reading, I grew uncomfortable with the title, A Faith of Our Own as it implied that Jonathan was leaving one faith adopting a new one of his own or abandoning his family in search of a new one. The book is focused more towards the X’er and Millennial but clearly there are a number of Boomers who have embraced it was well. It will be interesting to see what Jonathan’s does with his next book.

Some have critiqued the book saying that “Merritt hasn’t said anything new” here. To their point, I will admit that I’m not sure how much I learned that was “new” but learning “new data” isn’t the only reason I read. I found that statistics were used well, liked that he interacted with people like Robert Putnam and David Campbell, continued parts of the conversation from David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, and quotes people from Niebuhr to Lewis to Wink to Mouw. I’m glad that it’s books like these that are published, selling well, and again, I think this is a great starting point for needed conversation and this is perhaps what I like most. A Faith of Our Own gives language and reference points for Christ-followers who desire to converse with each other at different points of the political and generational spectrum.

Meaning I could give a copy of A Faith of Our Own for my dad and his reading of it wouldn’t make him defensive – which is what I hope to do.

You can see more at his site (bio, more video clips, speaking schedule, etc.) jonathanmerritt.com.

Favorite quote of the book:

“I’ve interviewed dozens of young people who have defected. I always make sure to ask them why they left the church and what might make them consider returning. The word that has consistently emerged is “authenticity.” They do want to follow Jesus, and they do want to be a part of the church. But they want a faith community that is free of agendas. Today’s Christians encounter the Jesus of the New Testament – the One who emptied himself to dwell among us – and they find Him calling us away from the pursuit of power to a life that looks more like the one He lived (p. 80).” I have had similar conversations, I have critiqued some of this and have said some of it myself. This is the very much part of the conversation that many of us are having.

Grace Chapel/Metro-West Boston friends, this fall we are planning to use this book in our Reading Circle that meets after GC@Night in our cafe. Stay tuned.

Note: I have not been asked to review this book by a publisher or by the author. Like all reviews however, these are my sincere opinions. Thanks for reading.

Filed Under: Christianity, Culture, Reflective, The Church Tagged With: Christian Political Engagement, Jerry Falwell, Jonathan Merritt, Politics

Reflecting on the Fourth: Nationalism vs Patriotism, Thankfulness, America & Egypt Part 2

July 11, 2012 by Tim 3 Comments

Being an Egyptian-American, Egypt has been on my mind for quite a while now and certainly this past week of the 4th was no exception. Though I was born in New Jersey and most of my family lives in the States, and although my Arabic is pretty bad, and although I still don’t like foul (it’s just boiled and mashed fava beans but they smell absolutely wretched. I think it’s the spices that are added), Egypt is an important place to me. And if even if we knew no one in Egypt, it would still be – it’s part of our family’s story and just that is enough for me.

Now given you don’t know what you don’t know but as you would imagine, I have always been extremely grateful that my parents immigrated here. And I’ve never wished to be anything but Egyptian. If I am completely honest, I think the [Read more...]

Filed Under: Christianity, Reflective Tagged With: Independence Day, July 4th, Nationalism, Patriotism

Reflecting on the Fourth: Nationalism, Patriotism, Thankfulness, America & Egypt Part 1

July 10, 2012 by Tim 3 Comments

I hope you had a great 4th of July. For us, it was a great weak, enjoyed the 4th with some new friends, got to spend a lot of time with Susan and the kids, went down to the Cape with some friends, (Jersey friends, it’s like saying we’re going to the Shore :), listened/watched the Yanks win 3 out of 4 in Boston and all went well in our worship services on Sunday. Found Tom’s sermon on A Song for the Season of Good to be a very appropriate ending to the weekend.

So like with everything, I try to reflect on these days – I find this discipline to be extremely helpful. Similar to just about every year I find myself in the same tension when thinking/celebrating/reading about American freedom, nationalism [Read more...]

Filed Under: Christianity, Reflective Tagged With: Independence Day, July 4th, Nationalism, Patriotism

A Bit About Our Reading Circles

July 8, 2012 by Tim 4 Comments

I’ve received a few DM’s and emails about our Reading Circles so here’s a bit of the what and why.
At first glance, one might mistake this for a book club. But it isn’t. For one, I dislike the term “book club.”
And two, our time is not about the book necessarily, the focus is intended to be more on those that have gathered.

The Reading Circle is about conversation to create community for our GC@Night service. Of course anyone can attend, as we have regulars who come from the morning services but because the evening service does not have ministries like Adult Discipleship (and doing these classes in the evening generally do not work), the idea of facilitating discussions in our cafe after the service made sense.

It’s also helpful for those that are not able (or not ready) to be part of a small group. Obviously those who like to read will be drawn but it’s also for people who like to converse and connect and that’ s been the real strength of this time. When people share from their minds and hearts, it goes from being a book club to a moment of community.

The first Circle we did this year at Grace Chapel was Don Miller’s A MIllion Miles in a Thousand Years (We actually did it twice, once in the morning, then in the evening – both went very well). Then we took a month off and Andrew Sullivan’s article “Christianity in Crisis” which was featured on the cover of Newsweek back in April. And today to be consistent with our summer series on the Psalms, we are are starting Reflections of the Psalms by C.S. Lewis.

We’re trying to create community and conversation so the idea is to pick books that will allow for dialogue. Not all books do that easily. If you are in a group of people you don’t know very well, it can be hard to be interesting because most people wish to avoid awkward moments potentially brought on by critique. My idea is to select books/readings that let you disagree. Don Miller is one. Sometimes he’s flippant, sarcastic, irreverent, too honest, and at moments he can come across as self-centered (which he acknowledges when he makes the comment Million Miles is about me writing a book about me making a movie about me which is based on a book about me ….

“Christianity in Crisis” was another example. It was brief, easily accessible and relevant. Honestly, I liked a good bit of the article, and here was my initial review when it first came out “Wishing Andrew Sullivan a beautiful Easter …” I think what I liked least was the title – it was so dramatic. But a more appropriate title like, “Issues the Christian Church Should Look Into Resolving So It Can Move Forward” isn’t going to move a lot of Newsweek’s or generate a lot of clicks.

And here we are with Lewis’ Reflections of the Psalms. What I like about the book is that it’s not a scholarly commentary and lives up to its title of being reflective. My hope is that those gathered will feel free to push back against a figure and a mind like Lewis because I think he allows for that in this book. I also hope that his take opens the door for our take on some of what naturally comes out from reading the Psalms.

In all honesty, I’m excited. So, if you around Lexington, come on out, we’ll likely start a little after 7.30p, we’ll have fair trade coffee and tea, some light foods and will be meeting again on the July 8th, 22nd, and August 5th.

We’ll be starting another one in the fall and will most likely be A Faith Of Our Own by Jonathan Merritt. If you are in a book club/reading circle or been a part of one, feel free to add your thoughts. Also, if you are interested in starting one and need some help, know that I’d love to connect – send me an email if it’s easier than posting below.

Filed Under: Book Reviews, Christianity, Reflective Tagged With: Andrew Sullivan, Book Club, C.S. Lewis, Don Miller, Psalms, Reading Circle

My Review of Surprised By Laughter by Terry Lindvall

June 7, 2012 by Tim 3 Comments

I was sent this book by Book Sneeze, as always I am not required to give a positive review but an honest one. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255

Almost a year ago, I attended a lecture given by Terry Lindvall at the C.S. Lewis Society in New York City. I found the lecture to be pretty interesting, was excited about the book until I saw that it was more than 450 pages. Umm … I’ll wait for the movie. Then it became available through BookSneeze and thought I’d sign up.

Surprised by Laughter is a legit read. For me it wasn’t an everyday book but a one I enjoyed picking up every so often.

A couple things. This book is written with a dude with a PhD. Just a head’s up – PhD humor is different than regular people humor. This is not to say that people with such degrees aren’t funny – some of them really are. But I think it’s safe to say that Terry’s idea of humor is different then the writers of SNL. So who is Terry Lindvall? He is the CS Lewis Professor of Communication and Christian Thought at Virginia Wesleyan College. He is clearly more than qualified and I found his personality to be relatable, it’s no surprise that he would write a book like this.

Two, this book is not for the casual CS Lewis fan. It’s more than 450 pages! It’s not the next step after reading Mere Christianity. Further, if you are not familiar with Lewis’ personality, sarcasm and wit, this might not be that interesting to you.

What I Liked:
- Because I heard the lecture first, I had an appropriate expectation. So it was easy for me to appreciate (this is why some authors are eager to do book tours right?).
- The writing is fantastic. You would expect that but it better be good if you expect people to make it to the end.
- The research is impressive. But it’s not just library research, so much of Terry’s content is found in the stories that are being told by people who knew Lewis and now the children of people who loved him.
- My favorite aspect of the book is that it gives you such a personal perspective of Jack (Lewis’ nickname). It’s not just analyzing how he uses humor, nor is it strictly about comedic episodes of his life, it’s a much broader take on Lewis’ personality and how he saw the world – this included much humor.
- The inclusion of Jack’s friends. Laughter is best experienced with others and it was great to get that.

What I Wasn’t Sure About:
- More than 450 pages! Though well-written, though well-researched, it was hard to be motivated to read it for what it was. But to be fair, just about everything written about Lewis is too long, so I guess this fits the genre :)

Who I Think the Book Is For
This book is really for CS Lewis fans who have to buy every book with his name on it. But the real benefit of the book is that you really get an incredible look in Lewis’ life and so even if you don’t read all the way to the end, you’ll enjoy what you have read. You probably won’t be funnier but you’ll get to see more of Lewis’ personal life (and you may have a a couple more interesting things to say should you stop by the C.S. Lewis Society in New York City).

Filed Under: Book Reviews, Christianity Tagged With: CS Lewis, Surprised By Laughter, Terry Lindvall

Reflecting on Aliens & Strangers – Blogging Through Our Sermon Series

June 5, 2012 by Tim Leave a Comment

A couple weeks ago, Pastor Tom who leads our Wilmington campus preached an excellent message called “Strangers and Aliens.” You can listen to it here.

He opened with asking the question, “What’s it like to be a Christian in New England?” and soon revealed this was a topic of discussion we had during one of our staff devotions led by our Pastor of Outreach, Richard, who was born and raised in the South. It was an interesting conversation as I find myself thinking about the Christian faith in the Northeast quite a bit. I not only think of this geographically but if you know me, you know that I talk a lot about our intergenerational understandings of the faith as well. In fact, if you really know me, you might know that I borderline obsess about how the Xers and Millennials perceive religion, organized and otherwise, spirituality, God, etc. but I digress.

So needless to say, the opening question was like good fair trade coffee in my mug. Tom was preaching out of I Peter and unpacking how at times, Christ followers felt like “strangers and aliens” of this world. This sentiment is likely true for all people at some point in their lives. I have heard my non-believing friends share similar thoughts on how they feel like they don’t really belong here either – something that the Church should always remember. As we all know, the “world” can be a lonely place.

In Peter’s day as he was writing to a group of churches in modern day Turkey, they were experiencing this reality. With the constant threat of Roman persecution and the growing pains of a young church, it was an intense time. Even more importantly, Peter was encouraging them to live counter-cultural to the pagan society which included various forms of debauchery, violence and idol worship.

Today we would ask what qualifies as “debauchery.” Today we ask about violence regularly, what justifies it, how can stop/limit it. And today we would also try to parse out “idol worship.” One person’s idol is another person’s (G)god, right? I would like to point out too that in the early church, many Romans accused the Christian church of “idol worship.” We always see “the other” as a pagan when they don’t believe and worship as we do. Thus, the many that experience the sentiment of feeling like “aliens and strangers.” This should always motivate us to converse with another.

Tom made two observations that I’ve been thinking about. There is a tendency for some in the church to live in two different extremes. One is “Uncritical Acceptance” and the other is “Uncaring Abandonment.” If it wouldn’t have been perceived as divisive and arrogant, I would have yelled, “Amen!”

Tom explained that the in “uncritical acceptance, there was a danger of embracing without discerning the vision and values of the society we live in. He went on to unpack “uncaring abandonment” as the washing of hands of the problems around us, to disengage from the world and retreat into a sub-culture.

I’m thankful that both these extremes (and many nuances in between) have been critiqued by passionate people in the Church today. I think of The Next Christians by Gabe Lyons and Culture Making by Andy Crouch to be great examples of that. (And if you have read those and want to explore counter-culture on a deeper level, I encourage Colossians Remixed by Brian Walsh and Sylvia Keesmaat . Also check out Resident Aliens by Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon.

It should dawn on us at some point that we as Christians can navigate both extremes quite easily if we imitate Jesus’ unconditional love to those that were inside and outside of his circle. True followers of Jesus cannot be mindless slaves to the world nor can they pretentious snobs to it either. The love of God is what compels us to not disengage from the challenges of the world and it’s the love of God that lead us to be wise and discerning toe that we can live in ways that are honoring, virtuous and worshipful to God.

It was a very solid and very applicable message, may I and those in our GC community keep it on the forefront.

Filed Under: Christianity, Culture, Missional, Reflective, The Church

Reflecting on David Brooks’ Q Talk on Humility at #qdc

May 31, 2012 by Tim Leave a Comment

Photo by Ken Worth http://thekenworth.gramshare.com/

I was excited that Q invited David Brooks this year for a couple reasons. One, I appreciate his thinking, two, I really liked Bobos in Paradise, three, he’s Jewish and we need great voices speaking into the Church, even if they identify themselves as outside of our faith.

In his introduction he told a story of Dwight Eisenhower who apparently had a terrible temper when he was a young child. During one of his tantrums, instead of consoling him, his mom told him that, “He that conquers his own soul his greater than he who conquers a city.” Eisenhower would later say that was the greatest piece of advice anyone had ever given him and that quote served as an excellent backdrop for the 18 minute presentation.

Brooks noted that in today’s culture, there is a shift in self-conception, low pre-self occupation, and the sense of vocation differs greatly from that of previous generations. To illustrate this, he cited a number of disturbing stats that illustrated American arrogance. The formula basically was asking a group of engineers, accountants, etc, about their job performance, get a high number of self-approval, find a statistic that completely undermined their effectiveness, safety record, etc. thereby revealing their collective arrogance. I know I ruined the illustration but it was kinda funny.

Along with our vocational arrogance, there is the cultural trend that personal debt has increased in young generations, public debt as well. The idea is that current generations push the cost onto their future generations, past generations didn’t do that. Brooks was very clear – all of this is connected.

He touched on the way we handle risk and, the nature of polarization today but paid special attention to the idea of “moral inarticulateness”. He said, “We have raised a generation of good people but inarticulate of morality. They have no vocabulary for morality, we told people to discover their own morality.” Powerful.

There was a little humor as well, he mentioned how some 20′s and 30′s admitted how much they wanted to be famous. In fact, some said that they would prefer fame over sex. Brooks said something like, “As one who enjoys some relative fame, believe me, sex is better.” I do wonder about the admission of the 20′s and 30′s. It seems to be more about access than the actual experience. Meaning, it’s easer for that age group to find sex than fame and that becomes the allure. It probably also has to do with the notion that fame and power inevitably allow for things like sex, money, travel, connections to celebrities, material amenities/experiences connected to pop-culture’s “good life.” But that’s another story.

There are a lot of people talking about humility these days. And generally, I consider that as a good thing unless it’s just the token “humility” talk to insert in the conference that goes on about how amazing we are. In truth, initially I wasn’t particularly excited to discover Brooks was going to talk about humility but he did such a great job framing it against our cultural mindset, it’s a presentation that comes back to mind frequently.

In thinking about it, my appreciation is largely due to his critiquing of his fellow Boomers in order to help X’ers and Millennials. Further, though he was contrasting inter-generational arrogance with previous generations, I did not get the sense that he was romanticizing them. Like countless others in my generation, we are inspired by the many who have walked these roads before us, so the Eisenhower illustration works. Our frustration lies more with the over-prescribing and the undermining tone along with the hypocrisy that we have found among our elders (that’s among the reasons why so many have either been jaded by or have completely given up on the institution and organized anything).

And so the cycle finds itself ready to repeat itself. Thus, humility (and self-awareness) becomes a key virtue, not only for us personally but for us as a society. We cannot serve the issues of the world with unresolved hearts. For me, our personal and collective arrogance has everything to do with where we have found our sense of identity and how/what we are really pursuing with our lives. May among our prayers be that we in all generations rely on God to tame our souls so we can bless our families, our neighborhoods and our world.

For more on Q check out:
Q Ideas – They will be making these presentations available soon for subscribers. I think it’s a worthwhile investment (I think all the talks will be available for around $50-75)

David Brooks’ New York Times Opinions Page

My other posts on #QDC so far here like:

Reflecting on Mark Batterson’s 5 Points on Church & Place at Q

Reflecting on Andy Crouch’s Discussion on Power (And How it Relates In the Church Sector) at Q

Filed Under: Christianity, Conferences/Events, Reflective Tagged With: #QDC, David Brooks, Humility

Reflecting on “Controversy” Post 2 – Seeing It As an Opportunity for Conversation

May 8, 2012 by Tim Leave a Comment

In my first post, I made the point that there will always be controversy and that we should probably get better at dealing with it.

Controversy is a tricky thing of course. For those caught in the middle of the controversy, it can be a very painful experience. If you are among the grieved, offended, angered party, controversy is an opportunity to be heard. In its best scenario, it’s a chance for progress or even change! Depending on how inside/outside you are of it will generally determine how annoyed you get with the fueling of it and its attention.

For example, most of us would agree that the Tim Tebow thing was much to do about not too much. Ok, the guy likes to kneel and pray a lot. Whether you are a huge admirer or a detractor, let’s move on. Of course whatever chance we had of that disappears now that he is playing for a New York sports team. Had he played for Jacksonville, it would be much different, they simply don’t have that type of media attention there. Still, I wish the Cougars, err, the Jaguars the best of luck this season).

While over-discussed certain people and topics, we certainly under discussed others. As a society, we probably could have discussed the Genocide in Sudan a bit more. We shouldn’t forget about the elections and ongoing unrest in the Middle East and regardless of what we feel about the Occupy Movement, it should remind us of the pain and frustration that it represents in our neighborhoods. None of these conversations are actually over of course.

As a Church, we should be discussing these as well. I would also suggest specifically as a church, we could have discussed Rick Perry’s thoughts on government a bit more (Santorum’s Catholicism limited some of the Evangelical input). Many of us Christian Gen X’ers and Millennials are very concerned with some of this Buster’s idea of Christian nationalism. I for one, am grateful that the Perry campaign ended. That isn’t meant to sound as a personal attack but as soon as a politician attaches “Christianity” to his platform, I get very sensitive because now, the candidate is attempting to represent me in a number of ways. And to put it politely, people like Rick Perry do not best represent me.

I’m sure he’s a great guy, maybe a good guy to have in a church but not a President type. I appeal to a fundamentalist who was no stranger to controversy who said, “I would rather have an atheist who is a neurosurgeon of excellent talents operating on me if I ever need a brain surgery than to have the best Sunday school teacher in the world who doesn’t know a thing about it. I’d much rather have the atheist if that is his specialty. … We’ve got to elect a president who, whether he or she goes to church or which church or whatever, understands the issues. And the top issue today in our culture is survival.” Even Jerry Falwell got it.

So here’s what I’m saying – looking back on it, Perry’s short run for the Presidency allowed for conversation. Without Perry, I would have fewer conversations on nationalism, patriotism and the Kingdom of God, the verbiage of Christian America, Church and State, Mormonism and the popular motto that “everything is weirder in Texas.”

And that’s what’s good about controversy. Controversy gives us an opportunity for conversation. For me, there are only so many times I can talk about the weather, or the traffic, only so many times I can talk about entertainment culture of even sports. Some times, we need to have a serious conversation and controversies allow for that. The media hype gives us a headstart in thinking about the issue. Further, the culture’s emotional response (whether it be in the forms of anger or sympathy) creates urgency. And when we finally stop talking about the weather and the traffic, we might be able to cut through the superficialities, deepen friendships, offer hope to those around us and maybe even contribute to the collective good.

That said, there certainly is a danger in becoming a controversy hunter. Having to make up your mind on every issue does not make you informed, only opinionated. This opens the door for pride and anger to enter the heart. There is also a danger in turning into an information junkie because everything tends to get objectified and even this becomes no more than a hobby. This invites apathy and possible disillusionment.

On better days, my motives for conversation include the following:
An opportunity to reduce the tension. Our culture is so quick to respond and it’s usually in anger. We can speculate on the cultural psychological makeup of why but on the other side of it, we ought to ask, are we contributing to the pain or helping to lessen it in at least some small way? Reducing the cultural tension can help us think more rationally, and hopefully, respond more compassionately. Usually when this happens, the media shuts down reporting on the controversy and looks for another.

Second, such discussion creates an opportunity to listen. There have been numerous times when the conversation began in talking about a particular scandal and then a more personal experience like the pursuit of success and pride became the new center piece of the conversation. Listening in these moments can do wonders.

Third, such discussions, even heated ones, create an opportunity to see the other side. In conversing with those with different presuppositions, we not only gain understanding of “the other”, we not only offer our side to “the other” but we each get to see the complexity of the issue and the complexity of our respective personhood. We realize we have motives and experiences that have shaped us, and sometimes they need to be altered, destroyed or celebrated. It’s best if we can do this together.

Lastly, controversies can allow us to get to the heart of the matter. For example, going back to the Rick Perry example is that I was suspicious that he was using the Christian narrative as a tool for his political agenda. Certainly I would like to see more Christian values in the culture, including in the government, but not at the cost of the message of Jesus. And even more so, I do not want to see the powerful arm-twisting and crafting sound-bytes for hollow agendas. God does not manipulate, nor should we dare to either. And so, when I talk about moments like this, I get to talk about the calling and the potential of the Church as God’s vehicle to bring His kingdom of goodness, love and redemption to this world. I get to talk about how a strong church can reach out to the a increasingly secularized culture and how we are all invited to be part of God’s redemption.

It’s in these ways, controversies create opportunities for conversation, even for goodness, and we ought to be faithful with them.

Filed Under: Christianity, Culture, Reflective, The Church Tagged With: Controversy, conversation, Middle East Unrest, Presidential elections, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Sudan Genocide, Tim Tebow

Reflecting on Andy Crouch’s Discussion on Power (And How it Relates In the Church Sector) at Q

April 25, 2012 by Tim 4 Comments

As I mentioned at the end of my last post and in one last week, I want to blog a little on the Q Conference in Washington DC that I was able to attend. I do find myself thinking about a number of the presentations and a few that I force myself to think again about. I’m not sure I’ll admit to which is which, nor am I sure how many of these I am going to actually blog about but I am intentionally trying to take the time to do so for a number of reasons and they include:
1. I found many of them to be really important for me.
2. Grateful for the sacrifices and blessings to be able to get there.
3. I really believe in the work.
4. By taking time and reflecting on the content and what it means to me in context and application, it allows me to move beyond “conference junkie” and consumer of content (at least I hope to move from this).

Although it makes more sense to begin at the beginning, let’s start at the second presentation with Andy Crouch. His discussion on power continues to evolve so well. Having been privileged (can I use that word in this context?) to hear Andy speak on this a few times, it’s really great and helpful material. And it continues to get even better – looking forward to the book. I am also grateful that Biblical Seminary kept trying to find ways to bring him in to speak to us because I am truly hungry for this conversation.

I would love to give you all the sound-bytes but I wouldn’t be able to do them justice but here are a few:

Andy’s big question was, “Who is flourishing through your power? That is the test of power.”

“God has entrusted power to His Image bearers.
Vulnerable image-makers (even realize their own nakedness)
To deal with our vulnerability, we misuse our creativity.
Deepest use of power is not force but creation.
Deepest corruption of power is misplaced creativity – this is idolatry.”
Idols promise everything, demand nothing … but they extract everything
Idols work cheap and fast and they work … at first. (don’t keep working)”*

For one, I’m a sucker for the whole Imago Dei-idol conversation. So what he says at the end, I find myself yelling Amen at.

Andy is one of those speakers that make it sound so clear, yet when you find yourself explaining it to someone later, you say things like, “Well you know, he was talking about power … and stuff. Oh and I really liked what he said about idols – it was good.”

But here’s where I am two weeks later since listening to the presentation.
I have been contextualizing this in my sector (The Church) and asking the obvious questions like, “Who in the Church has the power?”
To some, it may seem obvious to say that the Sr. Pastor has the power but that’s not completely true, at least not in the evangelical tradition (can’t and won’t speak of any others). I’ve seen churches where the Sr. Pastor seems to run the show and others where they clearly didn’t.

Well, if not the Pastor (and the staff) then the elder board! Yes and no. Then, perhaps it’s the members, the community (power to the people!) and the answer again is yes and no.

What I’m learning in the Evangelical Church is that the “power” is scattered, limited, temporary and contingent on so many factors.

That church where the senior pastor micromanages every decision will never grow past 400 because he can only manage/control 400 people. It’s scattered and limited for a number of reasons. Among them is the pastor will only have their limited attention, generally Sunday mornings, funerals, weddings, etc. Half of them will change churches within a few years, a new crowd will take their place; this makes it temporary and it’s contingent on an endless number of factors like the preaching, the music, family ministries, the elder board, the budget, the parking, who and what was said in the last congregational meeting, factors contributing to the building and losing of momentum and various other wildcards. Or at least that’s what it feels and looks like from the inside and from the outside. It turns out the micromanaging senior pastor is not really that powerful.

The small congregational church with the revolving door right next to the pulpit seems to have given the power to the people but it hasn’t. Some of the congregants may have been there for fifty years, but the power is limited and certainly scattered. It seems to me that some of the “flatter” churches have similar struggles and being new in a large church environment, indeed there are hinderances at work here. To test it, we could ask “Who is really in charge?” to different groups and representatives. Pastors all tell you that the leadership has been granted authority but the attendees affirm this. But they’ll also say if/when people stop coming/serving/giving/connecting, their power is revealed and “The elder board has no legs!”

In all of these instances, idols are created. Idols are created out of man-made dreams, attendance, the budget, the ministry model, ~~the customer satisfaction~~ huh, I mean … well, whatever you want to call it.

I love the idea in theory that the power needs to be shared and given. I really do. Though I am a pastor, though I see myself as a leader, my prayers won’t be genuine if I know that people are responding to my control rather than their response to the leading of the Holy Spirit. We won’t share the power unless we trust each other.

I also love the idea that power needs to be unifying. It’s an amazing and scary thought of what could be if we truly trusted each other.

Further, I am thinking about what it means for the exercising of power to be a true act of worship. In some sense, this is what Andy is already saying about using power to create and in the Church sector, I see that happening in moments like, during our praise of God (whether it be Sunday morning, small groups or personally and privately throughout our week) and especially outside the institution of the Evangelical Church.

But lastly, I am returning to Andy’s original question in the church context “Who is flourishing through your power? That is the test of power.”

I’ve been thinking about this for almost two weeks and here’s where I am today. There are a number of people who are actually “flourishing” because of the influence and ministry of the church. The frustration is that it’s not nearly enough in terms of the number of people that are hurting around us and the depth of the “flourishing.” It was great to think of people, to know names and stories but again, it’s sobering to see how many more are in need of redemption from the hurt, pain and evil.

Plenty to think about, plenty to act upon and so may we be faithful with the creativity and the power/influence/calling we’ve been given in the Church sector as ~~congregants, pastors, elders~~, as followers of God’s Kingdom.

Andy said so much more, maybe I’ll post again on it but if you are interested, check out his incredible book Culture Making and this presentation at Q Austin called “Power, Privilege and Risk.”

Filed Under: Christianity, Conferences/Events, Missional, Reflective, The Church Tagged With: Andy Crouch, Power, Q, The Church

Some More Thoughts on Blue Like Jazz

April 18, 2012 by Tim Leave a Comment

Yep, still thinking about Blue Like Jazz. Difficult for me not to in some ways. I loved the book, supported the Kickstarter campaign, participated in several book studies with it and currently leading a Reading Circle on a Million Miles in a Thousand Years. If you are around Lexington, MA, we’ll be discussing Part 5 and the movie this Sunday night after GC@Night in the cafe – All are welcome.

It occurred to me halfway through my second viewing of BLJ, that I was enjoying the movie more this time around. Perhaps my expectations were tempered, maybe I was responding to all the negative reviews of the movie/project, or maybe I was a in a better frame of mind – I don’t know.

The negativity does crack me up. Though it’s not as bad as the Tebow deal, it’s become humorous how people are so quick to hate on this movie and on Don Miller and crew. A while back I saw someone commenting on Don’s body language during an interview. Come on dude, Don and his friends are out out promoting this movie city to city for the past 3 months, cut him/them some slack. The guy sold his house to help finance the project!

In some ways, Blue Like Jazz can’t be the movie to do what many of us want it to be. Primarily because it had become too big in the Christian subculture and Don is too popular of a writer to not have expectations for. the “first-responders of this movie” are going to be those fans (It will be interesting to see more from those who haven’t heard of the book). Many of us want this to be a conversation piece about God, spirituality, Christianity in general, many others want this to be a traditional tool of evangelism, others seem to want it to be an obscure piece of art floating like an astronaut in space.

Don’t get me wrong, there were a couple of things I didn’t like but I am glad it was made, glad it’s out there and I think Don, Steve and Ben did an amazing job, especially with what they had to work with.

My concerns are as follows: I was never really sold on the “inciting incidents” (thanks Don and Friends for giving us the language to critique your work) that led to Don’s collapse of faith and then the “bottoming out” scene that soon led to his repentance. If the movie was a true comedy, maybe the “youth pastor sleeping with mom thing” and later “waking up in a porta potty and realizing that your life stinks and the priest rescuing you” works but I thought they could have come up with something better.

In any case, I truly liked the characters of BLJ. I’ll admit my first impression of Marshall Allman playing a young Don Miller threw me off. He looked like a cross between a goofy-looking Sufjan Stevens and a hooded Portlandian version of Eminem from 8 Mile (the movie poster has him in this pose staring down Penny and I’m worried that he’s hiding a black eye about to try to battle her on the bridge). But I have to say Marshall did a fantastic job.

I liked pretty much all the characters and truly hated the cheating youth pastor (played so well by Jason Marsden. While I know this is part is not autobiographical of Don and his mother, I am seriously suspicious of Jason, know what I mean “bro?”). Penny is charming and sweet, thought the Pope character had the best lines and Yuri (the Russian) was great in his small role.

But then there was Lauryn. I liked her immediately because she’s Alex from LOST. She had such a great character until the end – why was there no resolve to her? She’s a key figure in the first half of the movie, Don’s first real friend if you will, then not only does Quinn break her heart but she seems to get dumped by the script as well. She bears her broken-hearted soul to Don and then gets regulated to picking up drunk kids at the Ren Fayre and laundry duty. I know it’s a little complicated that her character is a lesbian but I was expecting a bit more resolve to her.

I’m sure Don, Steve and Ben left a lot on the cutting room floor but if there any plans for a director’s cut, I’d like to see a scene that gives her some dignity and closure (if one exists).

What I was really let down by and I think this will always bug me is that legitimate money was not put into this. Itt should have received the Eat Pray Love treatment (wait they spent $6o million on that?? Ok, how about a tenth of it?). Had it been financed and distributed consistent with standards of modern movie making, I think it could have been a significant cultural moment. I know that sounds naive but if you just go and see what’s out on Fandango, I think I have a killer point.

I hear stories but I don’t really know how these things get funded. I don’t really picture local churches taking their missions budgets and giving them to Kickstarter but I do think the Church as a whole missed an opportunity. If history is any gauge, the next Kirk Cameron film or Fireproof 2 (More Inferno, More Evidence) will get a $10 million backing. Not sure what a real solution looks like, but we need one, we actually need a quite a few, multifaceted ones.

Limited runs in theaters are tricky, you can read Don’s figures and thoughts here. I anticipate that the DVD Sales will be pretty solid. It will be used in countless sermon illustrations, youth group lessons, college Bible studies and various other places. We’ll see this DVD in every CBD catalog for years to come and will likely end up in Best Buy $4.99 bin, which isn’t bad, it just how consumer culture robs the remaining essence of something. I’m confident that they’ll make their money back and then some but wish it had a better theater run.

Again, ultimately, I do think Don, Steve and Ben did an amazing job with what they had. And I wish them the best as BLJ rides out and hope this experience ushers in many good things.

For more check out:
www.donmilleris.com
Don’s BLJ brief “What Critics Are Saying…” List (one-liners from from NY Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, etc.)

Go see it, here’s the theater list – http://www.bluelikejazzthemovie.com
Here’s a link to my first post, “Why I Hope Blue Like Jazz the Movie Does (Really) Well”

Filed Under: Christianity, Culture, Reflective Tagged With: Ben Pearson, Blue LIke Jazz, Don Miller, Steve Taylor

Reflecting on the Q Conference, Washington DC Post 1 – Back Home & Grateful

April 16, 2012 by Tim Leave a Comment

Last week I had the privilege of attending the Q Conference. It’s a gathering of Christian leaders from different sectors of culture focusing on four themes Culture, Future, Faith and Gospel. The 7 that Q identified are: Media, Business, Arts & Entertainment, Education, Government, Social Sector and the Church. You can read more about Q here.

Given their interest in culture, each year the gathering moves to a different city which has included Atlanta, New York, Austin, Chicago, Portland and this year Washington DC. It’s always in a downtown venue, intentionally not in a church but generally a third place chosen for historical/cultural significance, aesthetics, and functionality. This year’s site was the beautiful Andrew Melon Auditorium on Constitution Ave. (which is just across from the National Museum of American History).

It’s a pretty intense schedule with two days of over 40 presenters each given either 18 minutes, 9 minutes or 3 minutes to share their central message. As an audience member, it’s great, you know when the person is going to finish. As a presenter, it must be difficult but we do get quite a number of excellent presentations. There are also talkbacks with the presentations and table discussions with fellow attendees. But even still, it’s a lot to take in. On Day 3, each attendee participated in a briefing. Mine was on human trafficking at the Old Exec. Bldg of the White House. Obviously it was cool to be there but the data is heart-breaking. You quickly forget the aesthetics when you hear the plight of those being trafficked. However, it is great to see our government involved in this global crisis.

I’ve been looking over my notes and as of now, I really can’t sit here and list my favorite presentations and offer an adequate summary of what was said for each. Frankly, I’m not sure I can even tell you my favorite moments yet but as I’ve been unpacking from the trip and talking about it, I’m sure I’ll have a bit to say soon.

What I was thinking about on my drive and have been thinking since returning is how important these conferences and conversations are. I know there is a lot of joking and negativity surrounding conferencing and I’m sure some of it is warranted bit there’s a good bit that is extremely helpful. This being my fourth Q, I have found that many of these presentations fuel my ideation, inform my weak spots, and some of them frankly, are similar to “breaking news” for me.

Q is probably so personally helpful because it makes so many conversations accessible to me. I simply don’t know of any other gathering for ministry types that bring in such an array of theologians, practitioners, scientists, corporate employees, artists, government workers and various thinkers and personalities from the different sectors of society. Now I want to be careful that I do not overstate its effectiveness, after all, the longest presentation is only 18 minutes and some similar presentations have been made in years past. Which is a good thing, because it reintroduces the conversation to newer attendees and reinforces the conversation to returners. I cannot help but feel that some of what was said are things that I have either have wanted to hear more of or words I needed to finally hear.

I’ll be thinking about that, especially as I meditate on how the Church can serve the common good of the culture.

Lastly, I’ve also been thinking about how fortunate and grateful I am for those that have made it possible for me to attend Q. Over the years I have been the recipient of scholarships either from Q or kind and generous people around me. Also grateful for my friend Ryan for letting me crash in his DC apartment – enjoyed our late night conversations. I’ve been fortunate that the Churches I’ve served in have been supportive (thanks GC). And certainly, I’m grateful for my wife’s support – three little kids for three days, I owe you another one honey. I’m not kidding, when I think of the sacrifices that allow me to attend these events, I think I better not only pay attention to the material but use this material. And so may the Lord bless these words and efforts and all who/what is involved.

Filed Under: Christianity, Conferences/Events, Culture, Missional, Reflective, The Church Tagged With: Common Good, Gabe Lyons, Q

“What Does the Easter Bunny Have to Do With Jesus?”

April 9, 2012 by Tim Leave a Comment

Last week I got to speak at the ESOL Easter Banquet that meets in one of the buildings at our Lexington campus. Those taking the class have their own unique story of how they got there. Some came to the States for a job transfer, some for love, some for the classic “hoping for better opportunities here.” As a son of immigrant parents, I get that.

When I was first asked to do this, it was an easy decision for me. English was the second language for my parents so I’ll think I’ll always have a soft spot for broken-English. I was told that some coming were not believers of Christianity and the purpose of the banquet was to celebrate semester milestones and observe American holidays. The banquets are optional and the speaker’s message is to communicate the meaning of the holiday without proselytizing. As one who loathes the “bait and switch” mentality, I settled on entitling the message “What Does the Easter Bunny Have to Do With Jesus?”

My goal was to offer why Christians celebrate this holiday. I did my best to avoid preaching at it but I make no promises in this reflection.

There’s so much I love about the Easter story. Among my favorite aspects is how this story serves all of our other stories. If the story of the Resurrection of Jesus is true, it changes all the other stories, including the tragic ones.

Jesus’ promise for redemption, forgiveness and the invitation to the life he offers only works if the resurrection account is true. If it’s true, then indeed everything changes.

Including the symbols – symbols like the cross. As many have pointed out, the cross being the central symbol of the Christian faith is an odd one to some extent because at the time of Jesus, the cross was a violent instrument of capital punishment. It was the Roman version of the electric chair or the lethal injection but much more inhumane. Its purpose was to create the most torturous death possible. Its symbol was to instill fear and serve as a grave warning for all who dared to rebel against the state.

The resurrection changed that. Instead of being a symbol to be dreaded, it because a symbol of hope, of love, of victory!

So how did the Easter bunny get dragged into all of this? First, a confession, I like the Easter Bunny. Just like I’m a fan of Santa.

I get that some of us are tired of church bulletin covers of Easter Lillie’s (and Christmas poinsettias), tired of angels, baffled women and disciples standing outside of glowing empty tombs, tired of cartoon characters and colored eggs. Not me though. I’ve seemed to have rebounded quite strongly from begin jaded by all the Christian cliches.

This is perhaps because we have children now. And while my near four year old may actually come close to understanding the idea of Jesus enduring a horrible death by affixation by crucifixion, the poor kid has trouble sleeping as it s.

I’ve been telling our children that Easter is about the life that Jesus offers us. I tell them that Jesus died but became alive again and it’s never happened before (or since). And that’s what makes Easter special. I ask our near 4 and 2 year old, “What’s Easter about?” The short answer is “Life.”

For centuries, parents were telling their children of the greatest story ever and using their cultural symbols to illustrate. They used rabbits and eggs because they were signs of life. They created “entry points” for their children so they could being grasping the Easter narrative at a young age. And it’s important that we do this without traumatizing our young children with screenings of ”The Passion of Christ” or worse, poorly acted Easter dramas ;)

This year, I’ve enjoyed sharing with my children the Easter story. I love that Easter story redeems all things, I love that it redefines the symbols and I love that our children are slowly grasping it … with the help of eggs, baskets, chocolate and the bunny.

Filed Under: Christianity, Reflective, The Church Tagged With: Easter, Easter bunny, Jesus, Resurrection

Wishing Andrew Sullivan a Beautiful Easter – 3 Things I Liked About His Newsweek Feature

April 5, 2012 by Tim Leave a Comment

A few times a year, Time Magazine or Newsweek will feature Jesus on their cover and we’ll debate a sucky article full of twisted examples and typical rhetoric.

So when I heard of this week’s new issue of Newsweek, I figured it would be more of the same. I clicked the Twitter link, saw it was Andrew Sullivan and was even more disappointed because I generally like him. I read his blog every so often and frankly, I respect his mind and his soul.

Scanned the article once, except for the title, I liked the piece and knew I must have missed something. Why would Newsweek put this out? Read it again and appreciated it even more on a number of levels. Here are three things I liked.

1. I think he got the crisis right. If you are undecided in reading the article or your time is limited, here’s how Sullivan describes what he calls, “The Crisis of Our Time”:

“All of which is to say something so obvious it is almost taboo: Christianity itself is in crisis. It seems no accident to me that so many Christians now embrace materialist self-help rather than ascetic self-denial—or that most Catholics, even regular churchgoers, have tuned out the hierarchy in embarrassment or disgust. Given this crisis, it is no surprise that the fastest-growing segment of belief among the young is atheism, which has leapt in popularity in the new millennium. Nor is it a shock that so many have turned away from organized Christianity and toward “spirituality,” co-opting or adapting the practices of meditation or yoga, or wandering as lapsed Catholics in an inquisitive spiritual desert. The thirst for God is still there. How could it not be, when the profoundest human questions—Why does the universe exist rather than nothing? How did humanity come to be on this remote blue speck of a planet? What happens to us after death?—remain as pressing and mysterious as they’ve always been?

That’s why polls show a huge majority of Americans still believing in a Higher Power. But the need for new questioning—of Christian institutions as well as ideas and priorities—is as real as the crisis is deep.”

I couldn’t agree more, people area always asking the big questions and looking for purpose and meaning. Obviously as a Christ-follower, I feel that Christianity has the best answers to these questions and searches. But as a Christ-follower, I fear that we as a Church are squandering its power and opportunity for lesser things. I’ll fight for Christ and the Church but I completely understand why some are pursuing the former without the latter. I’m left thinking Andrew gets these broad strokes right.

2. He may have redeemed Jefferson for me or at least motivate me to take a deeper look. I like Jefferson. A particular set of former youth group kids would lead you to believe that I’m obsessed with him because I “forced” our group to visit his memorial in the heat of July. Whatever. I do appreciate Jefferson on a number of levels – founding father, architect of the Declaration, and key promoter of separation of church and state. If that last line surprises you, I believe in the importance of a secular society because I believe a strong Church is not threatened in such a context. One friend emailed me encouraging me to express that sentiment more. Perhaps I’ll also write a post on that some time.

But back to Jefferson, I’ve never been able to share any more of an affinity for him because of his denial of the supernatural aspect of Jesus. It’s not enough for me that he believes we need to serve the other if Christ has not been raised. As a humanist, it would be enough for me, but not as a Christian. From what Sullivan was saying, it’s clear I need to look further into what Jefferson was not only doing with the famous edited Bible but with his practice of Christianity.

3. Sullivan doesn’t write as an outsider, but as a Christian acknowledging its weak points and proclaiming its essential ones. I may push back on some parts (I think everything is political, but do agree that too many in the evangelical church are overly-concerned with power in our political system). Regardless of my push backs, I appreciate what he’s clear on.

“Whether or not you believe, as I do, in Jesus’ divinity and resurrection—and in the importance of celebrating both on Easter Sunday—Jefferson’s point is crucially important. Because it was Jesus’ point. What does it matter how strictly you proclaim your belief in various doctrines if you do not live as these doctrines demand? What is politics if not a dangerous temptation toward controlling others rather than reforming oneself? If we return to what Jesus actually asked us to do and to be—rather than the unknowable intricacies of what we believe he was—he actually emerges more powerfully and more purely.”

I read the article a couple times. I’m not sure the cover of “Forget the Church, Follow Jesus” is what the article is actually saying. Again, I ‘m biased because I do believe in the Church. You would expect a pastor to say that of course but I’d like to think that I’d believe in the Church even if I wasn’t. Jesus went through hell to establish it, we Christ-followers need to be the Church Christ has called us to be, I’m grateful to be serving in it and am praying I and many will be faithful to Jesus’ way.

In any case, for a Newsweek cover, this is perhaps the most Christian article on Jesus that I recall seeing.

Nice job Andrew Sullivan and may you have a beautiful Easter.

Filed Under: Christianity, Culture, Reflective, The Church Tagged With: Andrew Sullivan, Newsweek, The Church

Neo-Reformers, Emergents & Missionals Agree … on the Bad Theology of the Bethke Video

January 28, 2012 by Tim 9 Comments

“What if I told you” … that it’s crazy who you might end up agreeing with?

Remember this video that went viral called “Why I Hate Religion but Love Jesus” by Jefferson Bethke? Of course you do, you haven’t got a chance to repress it yet. But in case you have closed your Facebook account as a New Year’s resolution, here it is:

Confession: When I first clicked on it, I was a bit excited, cool background, cool typography, cool dude, then after 30 seconds I thought “Uh oh, this is not cool. It’s not even accurate.”

Thought of blogging about it, but by the time I collected my thoughts, I had already seen this excellent one “Lame Poetry, False Dichotomies, and Bad Theology” by Jonathan Fitzgerald on the Patrol Mag site and there were a few others floating around Twitter.

Tony Jones had a few scattered comments about it on his FB and this post.

Kevin DeYoung had a lot to say here.

Then about a week later I saw on Twitter that Bethke responded to Kevin’s critique and his comments were included in a follow-up post by Kevin.

Before I read the post I thought – wow, when Tony Jones and Kevin DeYoung agree, you know your theology really sucks. I pictured neo-reformers putting down their Calvin’s Institutes, complimentarians putting down their Real Marriage books and the husbands giving permission to allow their wives “extra time” to look online (sorry I couldn’t resist), progressives stopped tweeting about the GOP Debates (they’re really the only ones watching) and they all nodded in sad agreement – “The message of this video is terrible.”

No word yet on how Rob Bell and John Piper felt about the whole thing. I picture Rob in Hollywood creating characters for his new tv show. I bet you one is called “Joe Pipper” and he’s from Minnesota and he’s a cross between Robert Duvall’s character, “Sonny” in The Apostle and Simon Cowell. I’m also starting the rumor that John Piper has contacted Flannel to produce a series of DVD’s called, “Righteous O’rgh” (which is the Greek for “anger”, like in Mark 3:5. Could have gone a different tray with this joke, patting myself on the back for such restraint ;)

As you know, the respective sides have not agreed on much over the years. Guinness, iPhones and the continued desire to breath oxygen are some common denominators but I am aware there are tea-totaling Droid users in the respective parties.

But I digress.

The issue that everyone pointed out was that we all hate hypocrisy. “Religion” isn’t the problem. Heartless, cold, empty religion is what causes the damage. Bethke sorta admits to that in this CBS News video (although he plays the “semantics card” a little awkwardly IMO). You should click this to hear the priest use spoken word in response. (“Yo Jeff, let me give you a holler from the collar. I don’t think it’s religion you should be dissin’. I think it’s the nuance that you’re missing” – Not quite the battle from 8-Mile but what can you do).

So here’s where I find myself in light of this little episode. I was grateful for what Kevin DeYoung said. I was grateful that Tony Jones posted about it. I know some will see this as a common enemy thing and while bad theology is a good common enemy, this little scene demonstrated revealed that we could look at the same sky and say it was blue. Or look at a piece of art and say, “Hmmm, not sure the artist got it here.” I want to be careful and taper off the “There’s hope after all for the unity of the Church!” conversation but from my vantage point, this was good for me to see.

I am also grateful overall for Bethke’s response. For a 22 year old, I’m excited for him. I hope this ushers in a season of study and thoughtful engagement with a number of aspects conceding the nature of worship, faith, religion, theology and the church. I hope he leverages his influence to build the church. And I hope his next video is grounded theologically and brings a better conversation to the social media culture.

What if I told you we all do could this?

Filed Under: Christianity, Culture, emergent, Missional, The Church Tagged With: Jefferson Bethke, Why I Hate Religion But Love Jesus

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To My Brothers/Sisters Saying “I Told You So” After the Giglio Debacle Part 2

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What Do We Do With Fred Phelps & The Westboro Clan?

Reflecting on the The Peace Candle While Reminded of the Violence in Our World – Second Week of Advent 2012

“You Are the Replacement Ref” – When Others Wrong You (& When We Get It Wrong)

My Review of A Faith of Our Own by Jonathan Merritt – #FaithofOurOwn

Reflecting on the Fourth: Nationalism vs Patriotism, Thankfulness, America & Egypt Part 2

Reflecting on the Fourth: Nationalism, Patriotism, Thankfulness, America & Egypt Part 1

A Bit About Our Reading Circles

My Review of Surprised By Laughter by Terry Lindvall

Reflecting on Aliens & Strangers – Blogging Through Our Sermon Series

Reflecting on David Brooks’ Q Talk on Humility at #qdc

Reflecting on “Controversy” Post 2 – Seeing It As an Opportunity for Conversation

Reflecting on Andy Crouch’s Discussion on Power (And How it Relates In the Church Sector) at Q

Some More Thoughts on Blue Like Jazz

Reflecting on the Q Conference, Washington DC Post 1 – Back Home & Grateful

“What Does the Easter Bunny Have to Do With Jesus?”

Wishing Andrew Sullivan a Beautiful Easter – 3 Things I Liked About His Newsweek Feature

Neo-Reformers, Emergents & Missionals Agree … on the Bad Theology of the Bethke Video

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