Thursday, March 31, 2011

The Future-Church Website and The Collected Puns of Mr. Freeze

Some things are sent to you and you need to share them with the world before you get back to work. The world needs to know immediately. Two things were sent my way that you need to know about.

First, please witness Evangel Cathedral's website, which could be the website to take us into the era of TRON...or something worse, like TRON LEGACY. Either way, you need to click on that link and make sure your computer speakers are at full blast.

Secondly, observe "The Tragedy of Mr. Freeze," which is a perfect compilation for the Govenator's retirement party...

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

The Best Three Questions I've Ever Heard

It was during a time when my faith was rolling along "fine" (which actually means it's dead) when someone gave me these three questions.

I tend to get skeptical when people tell me their relationship with God is fine and their "heart is in the right place" mainly because my faith experience is rarely "fine" and my heart is never in the right place.

"My faith is fine." Really? What god do you know? Mine is holy, intense, overly-compassionate and complex and yet totally simple, loving, and just. And everything is fine with him? Please tell me how you do it.

Friends, the scriptures are clear: there is a godly contentment and a godly discontentment.

In fact, sentences after St. Paul tells his protege Timothy that "there is great gain in godliness with contentment," he tells him to "fight the good fight of faith?" When was the last time you were content during a fight? If you've ever been in a fight, you'll remember that you were scared out of your mind, adrenaline rushing, and making split second decisions to save your life.

Sound like your Christianity?

The nation God chose to move through in the Old Testament is named "Israel," which literally translates as, "Those Who Wrestle With God." He named his nation whom he would work through a word filled with discontentment and tension. There is godly contentment and there is godly discontentment. It's just about being content in the right things. Being content in your knowledge of this God is missing a lot of who God is - on the other hand, being discontent in what God has provided for you is to be prideful.

So at the point in my life where these things were going screwy, someone gave me these questions, which are written all over my possessions and notebooks:
1) Do you have any real affection for God?

2) How do you spend your time and your money?

3) How do you view the world around you? (i.e. Do you see the world as everyone existing to serve you and your delight or do you see it as you existing to serve everyone and their delight?)
These questions changed my life because there's no escape from them. When we are honest with ourselves, we know if the word "affection" resonates when we think about God, or when our money and time are being spent without any consideration of others, and when we see that barista and that server and that employee and that spouse as existing to serve us rather than the other way around. We know. And it haunts us.

The beauty is that these are also the things Jesus talked about the most and therefore they are the very things that he is saving us to: affection for God, rearrangement or priorities and treasures, and an upside-down view of the world.

Not only that, but even better: he accomplished all of these perfectly, not just to show us, but to justify us before the one we answer to. And that brings me great contentment.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

This Post's Sole Purpose is to Get You To Read Donald Miller

I don't think there could have been a better time for a book to be released. I was a senior in high school when everybody started giving everybody a book called Blue Like Jazz. I can't really remember any of them telling me what exactly was so good about the book, but they just told me it was by a guy from Portland who had fresh language to add to the Christian experience.

It only took about twenty pages for me to be hooked.

Donald Miller wrote that book and it gave a Portland high school student everything he needed: a reason to keep the faith. What I love about Donald Miller is that he is able to put language to the loneliness of following Jesus and the tension that lies at the center of the faith. When I was a senior is high school, I began the process of cynicism many 18 year-olds go through. I had been dedicated to a large church for about four years and was ready to pick it apart. What I learned through reading Don's books was that 1) I am not the center of all existence 2) In all things, be honest and 3) Keeping with this Jesus thing is the way to true abundant life.

I learned a lot more, but those were the things that changed me at 18. Even moreso, the entire setting of Blue Like Jazz was my backyard. Huge sections of the book are placed blocks away from the home I grew up in - this was big because it increased the book's tangibility.

I bring all of this up to share with you a solid quote from one of his most recent blog posts:
"...it’s...tempting to hang a carrot in front of people telling them they have to 'become' in order to be used by God rather than admitting they actually 'become' while they are in the process of being used by God."
Read Don Miller books and his blog

Monday, March 28, 2011

New Material

My brother used to have a sign in his room. It wasn't anything fancy, just a piece of printer paper pinned to his wall with scotch tape. In black, bold Sharpie it read, "WRITE EVERY DAY."

I'm not sure if he stayed true to that self-command, but it was a good thing to have hanging around your room as a writer. My brother is a gifted writer, he has the unique ability of turning intangible experiences into words. When you cannot express yourself or your feelings in response to something, he can - and that's why he writes about movies. But what always impressed me about Scott is that he is a disciplined writer. He writes consistently, rarely wavering in his pace. When I started the blog four and a half years ago, he told me one thing: "Just don't give up on it. Keep posting, no matter what."

Being a disciplined writer came quickly for me because my work has always demanded that I produce new original written content. From sermons to the constant barrage of emails, writing well became a necessity very quickly.

What has become increasingly difficult, however, is getting my life to keep up with my writing.

This is what I mean:

When you write a sermon, you're often writing to an audience that hears you or someone like you quite a bit. They know you. So, the problem becomes generating fresh material with new wisdom. There's quite a bit a pressure, even if much of it is unwarranted.

Nevertheless, I find myself sometimes thinking: I'm just not reading enough books, or, I need to watch more TV to get better ideas or, I really need to go to more movies and subscribe to more magazines. And while all of these things contribute to my knowledge, they don't necessarily stir content for sermons. Why, you ask?

You see, the best sermons have two qualities: 1) they give the audience an accurate picture of God 2) The picture of God they get is supported by tangible examples from a shared reality between the speaker and his/her audience.

The worst sermons, then, show you nothing about God and have very little to do with real life.

Many times I find myself thinking I need to change things about my life to come up with fresh concepts to write or say when the reality is that I need a fresh vision of God to change my heart.

That, in the end, is why I pray, read the Bible, and read books; I do these things so that I might catch a renewed vision of the God of the universe. This doesn't mean that I have profound spiritual experiences on a weekly or even monthly basis. Actually, it means I have less existential experiences.

We do not necessarily see new things, read new things, or experience crazy new things when we enter life with God. Instead, the lens in which we see all things has been forever changed. We don't need the things that we say to be changed, we need our hearts to be changed. Because then, out of the abundance of our hearts our mouths speak.

I love sermons and I love the challenge of writing every day because they both keep me desiring fresh pictures of God. The "new material" I need is not a thought or belief, but a heart. And that won't change my circumstances, it'll change me.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Franklin Comes Alive

Great record store find yesterday. You'll only get this if you laughed at the title or when I say: It ain't easy bein' white...


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Writing Music

This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety. Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes, when I am sure the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals-sounds that say listen to this, it is important.So write with a combination of short, medium, and long sentences. Create a sound that pleases the reader’s ear. Don’t just write words. Write music.
-Roy Clark, Writing Tools

HT: Take Your Vitamin Z

Monday, March 21, 2011

This Makes March Madness Look Calm

My love for the game of basketball just transcended national and international borders:

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Of

Prepositions are extremely important. How 8th grade English teacher was that first sentence? Doesn't make it less true, though.

Being over the table is very different from being under the table. Just like being with your dog is very different than being against your dog. Or placing your drink over the piece of paper is very different from placing your drink in the piece of paper. Those little prepositions change quite a bit of meaning.

Subtle difference. Super important.

Why are prepositions so important? Because they give us a location, they tell us where one thing is in relationship to the other thing.

And so, one of the better things I have done regarding studying the Bible is to notice prepositions in the text.

You'll notice after a simple word study and search, that God talks a ton about being the "Lord of______" but very rarely talks about being the "Lord over_______."

In fact, the difference is staggering. In our best translations we see God using "Lord of_____" about 35 times depending on translation and only using "Lord over_____" only one time ("over Israel").

Well, what's the difference of being "Lord of" something and the "Lord over" something?

Everything.

To be over something is to dominate. Something God certainly could do. But the preposition "of" is how he describes himself. "Of" is a preposition that expresses the relationship between a part and a whole; the word "of" indicates an association of belonging between two separate entities. It tells us that one is a part of the other.

The days of the week.

The sleeve of his coat.

The back of her neck.

This small, seemingly insignificant word, is all about belonging.

To be Lord over the nations tells us that he is domineering and above us. To be Lord of the nations says that he is with, a part, in relationship alongside of us, but still very much doing his part: which is to be "Lord." He is not out of place when on earth, but he's still in charge.

This is why the Christian God is so different. He came to the nations, to the earth as man and lived among us. He, for a while, belonged. He breathed our air and made the bold statement: I am with you.

God became a part of the story of the earth and yet still kept his identity as Lord. Jesus' teachings were all rooted in this fact that he was Lord of the Sabbath, Lord of Hosts, Lord of Lords, King of Kings, and the Light of the World.

He is the Lord that sits alongside people and yet remains the true Lord, the King. He is the Lord of all. And yet, is he the Lord of you?

Friday, March 18, 2011

A Church For The World

"The Church is her true self only when she exists for humanity...She must take her part in the social life of the world, not lording it over men, but helping and serving them. She must tell men, whatever their calling, what it means to live in Christ: to exist for others."
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The effort to separate the Church from the world is a delicate balance. Biblically, we are "called out" and "separate" from the normal flow of human life. And yet, as Tim Keller would put it, "The citizens of heaven are the greatest citizens of earth." We are separate, yet essentially a part of our cities.

If we are truly to exist for others, should it be so much so that we seek their (the world's) peace over our peace? Their comfort over ours? Their prosperity over ours? Is this not what Christ has done for us?

"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich." - 2 Corinthians 8:9

Maybe that's why the Israelites were instructed to seek the peace and prosperity of others in order to find it themselves - maybe it was a preview of what was to come to a barn in Bethlehem:

"Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” - Jeremiah 29:7

In giving all that we have, we are promised that we will gain our souls. If we are pouring out, we are promised to be filled. If we give, we are promised to receive. The Christian life is that upside-down.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

You Know You're Working With Great People When...

Stuff like this appears on the window to your office.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Martin Bashir Gets All Bashir on Rob Bell

I think I like this because Bashir doesn't like evasive answers. So when people give him evasive answers, he gets a little steamed.

The Heart of Darkness

I used to think I understood the Advent Scripture: "The people in darkness have seen a great light!" But upon re-reading the account of Ernest Shackleton, I am once again humbled.

Shackleton and his crew were a part of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. One of his final expeditions was the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, which was an attempt to cross the continent of Antarctica by way of land.

Their ship, the Endurance, was caught in polar ice and eventually crushed after his team was unable to free it. The men made their way across the continent for months and took to make-shift camps until preparing a rescue operation which consisted of Shackleton leading open-boats to the coast to South Georgia to gather rescue resources. It is still held that everyone survived.

Dr. Timothy Keller brings this story to life in his second to last chapter of King's Cross. Keller says that Shackleton's biographers all claim that through every hardship of the Endurance Expedition - which included starvation, arctic temperatures, and blistering wind - the most horrific part of the journey was the polar darkness.

The biographer's claim that there is nothing more desolate and depressing than the arctic night, which can last for months.

It is such deep darkness, so absent from the sun, that men unfamiliar with it have gone insane. Not only can you not move forward, but you cannot see yourself at all. Not a hand in front of your face. For months.

Keller describes it like this:
"You have no direction...You don't know what you look like. You may as well have no identity….Physical darkness brings disorientation."
This is exactly like metaphysical or spiritual darkness, says Keller.

Why were the "people in darkness" so happy to see a great light? It gave them direction. It gave them identity. It gave them orientation, a place in which to orbit their life around.

And the "great light" that the prophet speaks of? Jesus. On the cross, it was Christ who drank the darkness of God's wrathful absence so that we might have direction, identity, and orientation. Now, with eyes fixed on Him, we not only see the light, but by that very light we see all things.

Monday, March 14, 2011

A Quick Word About Those Millionaires

So it seems as though everyone is linking to Fidelity's study of millionaires that concluded 42% of millionaires do not consider themselves wealthy. The survey questioned 1,000 millionaires. The number the millionaires felt would make them wealthy would be $7.5 million. Roughly. Not 7.4. Ok, never mind.

It seems to me as though we're missing an interpretation. Might I add to the noise?

The links and short articles pointing to the study basically cite the sources and statistics and say something like, "poor millionaires" or "somebody call the wambulence" or "maybe we should offer them a Bud Crieser."

But where does that interpretation come from? How free are you from the same desire those millionaires have?

You see, at the root of this survey is lust or greed: it is the desire for more, the just-the-next-thing-and-then-I'll-be-fine mentality. If we're honest with ourselves, are we not suffering from the same thing? I know I am. I am constantly finding my brain wonder from level to level. Once I finish school, once I get into grad-school, once I get noticed by someone, once I get enough money, etc, etc, etc...

This study should not be so shocking. Human nature is to desire more. Money complicates this desire and feeds it.

But Christianity has this great virtue called, "godly contentment." And of course the theologian Sheryl Crow sums it up the best: "It's not having what you want, It's wanting what you've got." I'm not old by any sense, but I have learned that no matter where I get to, what level I rise to financially, I'll always want more and believe that in having more I'll be happier. But sometimes we need to listen to the wisdom of St. Biggie: "Mo' money, mo' problems."

Also, can we realize that 58% of the millionaires did consider themselves wealthy? Maybe Sheryl is one of them...

Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney Get Along

Again, people, this is precisely what the Internet is for. MJ and McCartney doing dishes somewhere.
HT: Twenty-Two Words

Sunday, March 13, 2011

A Summary of All Good and Evil

Perhaps the most famous line in Genesis is in chapter 50, verse 20 where Joseph says to his brothers: "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today."

Beautiful. What was meant for evil is actually being used for the best possible good of everyone. We tend to use that verse to make us feel better about crappy things that happen. Like earthquakes. But sometimes that verse isn't enough. You read words of survivors and then you read those and you think, Ugh, I don't know about that. Is it that simple? Ok, maybe you don't, but I certainly do.

But what if it was bigger than that? When I look at that verse, I see that Joseph said it. However, placing that sentence in the greater Biblical narrative, I see the Greater Joseph, Jesus Christ, saying that exact line at the conclusion of all things or....right now.

Place those same words on the lips of Christ: "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today."

Fits pretty well, huh? Evil was done to Jesus. Injustice was done to Jesus. Jesus lived and died surrounded by evil. And yet...He raises and it is very good news indeed. 

So many people ask, "Why did God let this world go to crap?" But what if it wasn't going to crap? What if our definitions of "alive" and "good" and "evil" are elementary and only half-correct? What if God is actually in control?

It doesn't seem like it. It really doesn't, does it? I cannot look at some pictures. My stomach hurts when I read some of the words of people suffering through the world. Evil is everywhere and I seem to have no one to blame but the One in "control." My instinct is that, when I review the history of the world, there is more punishment and crime than any world could handle. My instinct says that there is only evil.

But when we think we know that to be untrue. There is beauty and brokenness, righteousness and wickedness, good and evil. My idea is this: instead of using this verse to explain evil (something we love to try our hand at), could it be used in a greater way - to comfort us amidst evil?

Listen to His words, the Greater Joseph, once again and in context:
"Do not fear...you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones." Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. 
Let your fear subside as you let Him comfort and speak kindly.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

C.S. Lewis is More Popular Than Ever

And that could be a bad thing.

Last week, the New York Times ran a story about HarperOne's new C.S. Lewis Bible, which I am a tad wary about.

Mark Oppenheimer, who wrote the story, presents the new Bible with heavy skepticism, taking every opportunity to slight Lewis, including a mis-placed and inconsistent rebuke of Lewis's famous "Liar, Lunatic, Lord" apologetic. All of that aside, I think Oppenheimer brings up a more important idea: Lewis is being sold as a personality cult.

The C.S. Lewis Bible is a simple idea: publish a Bible and throw Lewis quotes from both his published and unpublished works next to verses or sections of Scripture. It's somewhat helpful and I really don't have much against it. Harper is a publishing company that makes most of their money off of the 150,000 Mere Christianity copies they sell every year - they're making another C.S. Lewis buck. I get that.

But there is still a problem.

I get worried about using quotes that are put in places Lewis never intended them to go. It's like putting just "Carry That Weight" on the Best of the Beatles album; It wasn't meant to go there, it was meant to be one piece of the greater work called Abbey Road. And it needs to stay there. In fact, it doesn't really make sense unless it is there.

People will buy this Bible and read more of the Bible and Lewis and that's great. But they won't necissarily get either in its proper context. For example, many people mis-read and mis-interpret Lewis (like many Christian thinkers) by taking a single quote out of an entire work. Lewis is a brilliant writer because his books tell stories, make arguments, and build theologies over an entire piece.

My worry is that people will continue to say, "I love C.S. Lewis," when they really love the idea of C.S. Lewis from the quotes they get from their Twitter feed or C.S. Lewis Bible. This is not the end of the world or the end of Lewis by any means, I just don't think it's very helpful for readers of the Bible or of Lewis.

Lewis wrote great, complete books and we should read them, not cut them up and sell them in different packages.

Friday, March 11, 2011

I Actually Learned Something in California

This past week was spent in sunny, 70+ degree California for the Catalyst West Conference in Irvine. The conference was great, but the "extra-curricular activities" could have been what made it for me. I laughed really hard, I spoke deeply with friends about the things of God and His church, and I got to hear peoples' heart for the world.

I was also able to see my brother in his element, Hollywood. Please make sure you read his work around all the movies he sees. Being where he is, it's cool to see his work improve and get noticed more.

On Thursday, I was able to meet with the leadership of David C. Cook publishing and hear their vision for books and the future of making things public. They were gracious people and very affirming. I'm not sure where that relationship will go, but I benefited greatly from the hour and a half I spent with the Cook team.

But I must say, Joy Dombrow, who was with us on the trip, put it best in her summary of learnings which she showed us on the plane ride home from the conference:
"The path of faithfulness is preeminent, even if it leads to a life of perceived mediocrity instead of public prominence."
That is huge. And extremely well written. (By the way, if you want more gems like that, you should read Joy's blog).

I got tons and tons of great information and awesome inspirational talks through the conference, but the one word that was driven home to me was faithfulness. God does not call us to fame, but faithfulness. On the surface of this, we think it to be boring. But through the testimonies of a few men at the conference as well as some ministry experience under your belt, you tend to see it differently: being faithful is extremely difficult.

Because at the end of the day, I want a leg up, I want people to recognize me, and I want to be brought into some type of societal spotlight where people acknowledge me. And I in my weakness, I will do whatever it takes to get there: tell half-truths, not mention some things, speak more than listen, etc.

This past week I've been hit with the reality that Jesus, who had the deserved spotlight, gave that up and became a no-one, a man of sorrows, a carpenter's son from a small town in order that I might get the Best Light shining on me. Not the light from the world, but the Light of the World.

Because Jesus stepped away from the light into utter darkness, I am in the Light. And while I may go through my whole life without the limelight, I will not go another day without the True Light.

Being faithful to that reality and serving God through it is way more beneficial that letting the masses tell you who you are. No matter the cost.

Catalyst West 2011 from Willamette Christian Church on Vimeo.