I love the story of the two the disciples on the Road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-32).
Two men are walking on a road from Jerusalem to a town called Emmaus.
Two days after the Crucifixion.
As Frederick Buechner says of these two, “There was nothing left to do that Sunday but get out of town.”
That Sunday? It is not hard to imagine the gamut of emotion they struggle with as they walked a dusty road. All the hopes and dreams that came with following Jesus. Watching Him heal and set free. Hearing Him speak to thousands, yet know He is speaking directly to you. The thoughts. The emotions. The tears.
So they went to Emmaus. And where was Emmaus and why did they go there? Emmaus was a place of short-lived military victory for the Jewish people of Jesus’ day. Judas Maccabee won a battle there in 166 B.C. BUT it was no place in particular really, other than it was some seven miles distant from a situation that had become unbearable.
I have walked that road with them. Emmaus can be a renting a flick just for the sake of seeing a movie or to a pub just for the sake of the beer. Emmaus may be the mall, with its many ‘treasures’ or a new car or eating more candy than you really should or more food than you want, or reading a second-rate novel or even writing one. Emmaus may even be going to church on Sunday. Emmaus is whatever we do or wherever we go to make ourselves forget that the world holds nothing sacred, and numb the pain that echoes off the piles of broken dreams that mark all of our lives.
Maybe those two men went (fled is probably a better word) to Emmaus to try and forget about Jesus and the great “failure” of his life.
Sometimes we focus so hard on success, particularly spiritual success, that most of us do not know the first thing about what to do with failure.
But tonight as I sit here contemplating...and trying to feel through what it would have felt like to watch all I had to live for bleed and suffer on the top of a mountain, nailed to two pieces of wood...
I realize that the first mood of Easter was despair. By every account Jesus had failed, and these two men did what I know I have done at times in my life. Leave. Flee. Avoid. Run. Move on...and move on fast.
The story continues with a stranger joining the men on their walk. We, as readers, are told it is Jesus, but the two men walk all the way to Emmaus and still don’t recognize Him. Even though He does what they have seen Him do hundreds of times...He reframes who He is and who they thought He would be. But they don’t get it...until they reach Emmaus. They sit down to eat after Jesus breaks the bread and blesses it, the lights come on. They recognize him. And as soon as they do, he disappears.
Strange story.
All the stories about how Jesus appeared to people after his death are strange and maybe the strangest thing about them is how normal they are. How little fanfare there is attached to them.
I think I connect with this story because of where it happens: Emmaus.
The place of escape. I find it profoundly moving to realize that on my road to Emmaus, He has been walking with me, challenging me, pushing me, arguing with me, pulling me, engaging my heart, and reframing who He is and how He loves. And I am deeply moved to realize that I have often not recognized Him because of my own selfish anger. Anger directed at a world that has obviously been created to thwart ME and MY dreams. Anger that covers my pain because I do not understand the ways of Jesus and will never understand why He doesn’t DO SOMETHING.
Martin Luther said once, "If I were God, I'd kick the world to pieces." I know that feeling.
And so, I slow down to drink a coffee and allow my heart to still. I watch the sun rise, or set. I listen to the wind in the trees. I reflect on who I am and who I long to be. And the lights come on.
Jesus keeps re-entering my world in grace to help me realize that His heart is big enough. He pushes towards me, as He pushes towards all of us...with grace, and peace and hope. He meets us where grace and suffering intersect. On the road to Emmaus.
We all have an Emmaus in our lives...My prayer is that you would have eyes to see and ears to hear so that you may meet with Him there, cuz He is probably already there.
J
At the foot of the Cross
Where grace and suffering meet
You have shown me Your Love
Through the judgment You received
And You've won my heart
Yes You've won my heart
Now I can
Trade these ashes in for beauty
And wear forgiveness like a crown
Coming to kiss the feet of mercy
I lay every burden down
At the foot of the cross
At the foot of the cross
Where I am made complete
You have given me life
Through the death You bore for me
I'm laying every burden down
I'm laying every burden down
At the foot of the cross.
Kathryn Scott
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Holy Saturday
Was just reading some thoughts of Henri Nouwen's this morning...which is never a good idea if one wants to remain the same. :)
He reminds me to be quiet today...to rest...to lay silent and still. why? Because today is the day in which God's voice was silent...the living Word lying cold and broken in a tomb.
I'm struck by how little of this season's rhythm i've grown to live in. The whole world knows it's Easter...but few of us absorb the meaning of these days. The season of Christ's passion is easily engaged on friday (in corporate 'celebrations' of his sacrifice) and on sunday (when our worship and liturgy announce his resurrection). But saturday...well...it's just saturday, isn't it?
Holy Saturday is a day of passion...but a quiet, subdued, broken pathos. Jesus' family, friends and followers wept...their hearts crushed by watching jesus suffer and die. Their dreams were shattered...all hope was dead. And everyone else likely went on with life as usual. Much like i have on this day...overlooking the fact that...
God the Father was still...His heart broken...His lips sealed. All of heaven stood in somber silence...raptly looking for any sign that the story wasn't over.
And while we know that with tomorrow's dawn comes the reminder of hope reborn...today's passion is silent, internal, and dark...in remembrance of Jesus' body held by the tomb's cold efficacy.
In waiting, looking, and weeping today, we engage the darkness in our hearts...the darkness that needs the piercing light of Easter morning.
He reminds me to be quiet today...to rest...to lay silent and still. why? Because today is the day in which God's voice was silent...the living Word lying cold and broken in a tomb.
I'm struck by how little of this season's rhythm i've grown to live in. The whole world knows it's Easter...but few of us absorb the meaning of these days. The season of Christ's passion is easily engaged on friday (in corporate 'celebrations' of his sacrifice) and on sunday (when our worship and liturgy announce his resurrection). But saturday...well...it's just saturday, isn't it?
Holy Saturday is a day of passion...but a quiet, subdued, broken pathos. Jesus' family, friends and followers wept...their hearts crushed by watching jesus suffer and die. Their dreams were shattered...all hope was dead. And everyone else likely went on with life as usual. Much like i have on this day...overlooking the fact that...
God the Father was still...His heart broken...His lips sealed. All of heaven stood in somber silence...raptly looking for any sign that the story wasn't over.
And while we know that with tomorrow's dawn comes the reminder of hope reborn...today's passion is silent, internal, and dark...in remembrance of Jesus' body held by the tomb's cold efficacy.
In waiting, looking, and weeping today, we engage the darkness in our hearts...the darkness that needs the piercing light of Easter morning.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Imaginative Missional Considerations...
Someone asked me the other day “what are the things that make a person ‘missional’ and how does one become missional”. Well, I have thought about it a bit, and here are my musings in task list form...chuckle.
1.) Leave the cycle of trying to find another way of doing ‘Outreach Events’. Instead focus your imagination on finding ways of connecting with people where they are.
2.) Unwrite the internal script that casts evangelism as a one time sniper hit on a target with a preconceived outcome. Awaken your imagination by seeing mission as part of regular daily, weekly and monthly life rhythms. That our job is not to take Jesus to people, but open their eyes to the reality that He is already at work in their lives.
3.) Rethink the strategic ministry model of building multiple use buildings, as if by building a gymnasium on the church campus, we will bring people into the orbit of the church. Could we engage the questions about resources that honestly asks us if we should build less third spaces, and maybe inhabit more the ones already there?
4.) Lets be clear that one-on-one evangelism and the techniques associated with such apologetic persuasion are hit and miss at best. Can we direct imagination at inhabiting places in two’s or three’s or more? Hospitals, recovery centres, the school systems, the park districts … truly believing that two or three lovers of Jesus together become an undeniable force in any environment when they are under His Lordship?
5.) Gently reject the Sunday morning gathering as an evangelistic event, for it cannot be that in the new post Christendom cultures. Can we truly imagine the spiritual formation that comes from a communal(together) encounter with the living God in Jesus Christ?
6.) Release the expectation that coercive persuasion and argument are our predominant or most effective witness. What would it look like for the people of God to be seeking “one person of peace” (Luke 10) among the lost of their neighbourhoods?
7.) Repent of the presumptuous postures of power as we live our lives among those who do not know Christ yet. Can we personally engage the way Christ always enters the human situation in humility? Can we learn to come to our neighbours humbly and in need? And instead of only offering them a meal, find ways to participate in a meal with them?
8.) Stop surveying the neighbourhoods – learn how to exegete the neighbourhood. Surveying looks at the neighbourhood as a place to market a church. To exegete a neighbourhood requires inhabiting the neighbourhood. Actually fully living there...discovering where the hurting are and where the unjust structures are...and becoming a voice of reconciliation and justice from within.
9.) Take the focus off of strategic planning and place it on thoughtful preparation. We really don’t know the future…but we know that the Spirit is birthing His kingdom among us as we respond faithfully day by day. There must be some merit to finding the rhythm of owning our brokenness on a daily basis...and discovering how to live in the joy of His grace. In doing so we learn how to be humans again, not caught in a state of denial as though we are no longer a people of need. Billy Graham described the journey like this, “I am just a beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.” The thoughtful reflection and preparation that needs to be central to the life of a true disciple prepares us for the unexpected ‘suddenly’s’ of God. Leslie Newbigin warned us that, “the significant advances of the church have not been the result of our own decision about the mobilizing and allocating of “resources” [rather] the significant advances have come through happenings of which the story of Peter and Cornelius is a paradigm, in ways of which we have no advance knowledge.” (The Open Secret)
J
1.) Leave the cycle of trying to find another way of doing ‘Outreach Events’. Instead focus your imagination on finding ways of connecting with people where they are.
2.) Unwrite the internal script that casts evangelism as a one time sniper hit on a target with a preconceived outcome. Awaken your imagination by seeing mission as part of regular daily, weekly and monthly life rhythms. That our job is not to take Jesus to people, but open their eyes to the reality that He is already at work in their lives.
3.) Rethink the strategic ministry model of building multiple use buildings, as if by building a gymnasium on the church campus, we will bring people into the orbit of the church. Could we engage the questions about resources that honestly asks us if we should build less third spaces, and maybe inhabit more the ones already there?
4.) Lets be clear that one-on-one evangelism and the techniques associated with such apologetic persuasion are hit and miss at best. Can we direct imagination at inhabiting places in two’s or three’s or more? Hospitals, recovery centres, the school systems, the park districts … truly believing that two or three lovers of Jesus together become an undeniable force in any environment when they are under His Lordship?
5.) Gently reject the Sunday morning gathering as an evangelistic event, for it cannot be that in the new post Christendom cultures. Can we truly imagine the spiritual formation that comes from a communal(together) encounter with the living God in Jesus Christ?
6.) Release the expectation that coercive persuasion and argument are our predominant or most effective witness. What would it look like for the people of God to be seeking “one person of peace” (Luke 10) among the lost of their neighbourhoods?
7.) Repent of the presumptuous postures of power as we live our lives among those who do not know Christ yet. Can we personally engage the way Christ always enters the human situation in humility? Can we learn to come to our neighbours humbly and in need? And instead of only offering them a meal, find ways to participate in a meal with them?
8.) Stop surveying the neighbourhoods – learn how to exegete the neighbourhood. Surveying looks at the neighbourhood as a place to market a church. To exegete a neighbourhood requires inhabiting the neighbourhood. Actually fully living there...discovering where the hurting are and where the unjust structures are...and becoming a voice of reconciliation and justice from within.
9.) Take the focus off of strategic planning and place it on thoughtful preparation. We really don’t know the future…but we know that the Spirit is birthing His kingdom among us as we respond faithfully day by day. There must be some merit to finding the rhythm of owning our brokenness on a daily basis...and discovering how to live in the joy of His grace. In doing so we learn how to be humans again, not caught in a state of denial as though we are no longer a people of need. Billy Graham described the journey like this, “I am just a beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.” The thoughtful reflection and preparation that needs to be central to the life of a true disciple prepares us for the unexpected ‘suddenly’s’ of God. Leslie Newbigin warned us that, “the significant advances of the church have not been the result of our own decision about the mobilizing and allocating of “resources” [rather] the significant advances have come through happenings of which the story of Peter and Cornelius is a paradigm, in ways of which we have no advance knowledge.” (The Open Secret)
J
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
living dangerously
snowy afternoon reflections on our journey...
I have spent copious amounts of time sifting through the chapters of my/our church leadership and strategy, desperately wanting to be positive and proactive. I wont dare to try to articulate all that I have concluded, as I am long winded to begin with, but I do have a couple things I think that I think.
I have figured out that we/churches don’t value people who won’t be at the majority of meetings, attend all the events, and make sure that all their significant friendships are within the congregation. The word ‘value’ may cause some tension in that sentence, but at the end of the day, its true. We feel frustrated, annoyed and down right indignant that they are not committed enough to the ‘vision’. The potentially spiralling vortex of ‘fellowship’ sucks you in, and requires all of you, leaving you completely socially disconnected from your neighbours, your community. And ‘we’ are not satisfied with half-hearted allegiance or commitment. It demands your all, always…
And in the process we often create cultures that will not allow questions, probing, or nay-sayers. We control with fear and in so doing, we loose the ability to inspire with faith.
And yet I find people all over our country who long for a community of fellow travellers. They long to journey with others of faith. They dream of ‘doing’ something of significance. The yearn to change the world with others. Unfortunately many of them have forgotten how to dream. They live in paradoxical frustration. Yearning to belong to something that transcends where we are and awakens the DNA of transformation that the people of God carry. Yet frustrated and angry because the only framework that we can see in our minds eye is what we have known the Church to be. And how many people do you know who at a gut level recognize that we are striking out at the plate?
I have looked for language to describe this. Alan Hirsch said something in one of his books that captures it for me. Its the ideas of God’s people developing communitas. Communitas is an intense community spirit, the feeling of great social equality, solidarity, and togetherness. It describes the dynamics of a Christian community inspired to overcome their instincts to look inward and 'structure in a way that serves US and to instead form themselves around a common mission that calls them on a dangerous journey to unknown places'.
A mission that demands that we shake off our collective security and to plunge into the world of action. Action that produces disorientation, experimentation, risk, and sometimes failure. But also allows us to encounter God and each other in a way that would have never been possible otherwise.
Michael Frost in his book ‘Exiles’, uses the illustration of the story of a community of rabbits in Richard Adam’s Watership Down . “Fiver, a small nervous rabbit, has a premonition something terrible is going to happen to their Sandleford warren. And he’s right; a housing developer is planning to build on their field. Fiver tells his brother Hazel and they try to warn their aging Chief Rabbit, to no avail—he doesn’t believe them. Hazel and Fiver decide they must leave, and are joined by other rabbits in their search for a new home. And no sooner than they have left, the bulldozers come and destroy the warrens and all the other rabbits. To cut the long story short, the adventure takes the rabbits out of the safety of their warrens where they do very un-rabbitlike things; like crossing rivers, fields, and roads. (Rabbits, like the hobbits in The Lord of the Rings), seldom travel far from their burrows.) At nights, out of their burrows, and feeling very insecure, they comfort and encourage each other by re-telling tales of the adventures of the great rabbit hero; El-Ahrairah and they are inspired by his story to continue their journey. They come across many other warrens and they try to warn them. They even get imprisoned and escape, but they eventually do get to Watership Down which becomes their new home, and once they find females to mate with, they settle down and start again.”
This children’s story accesses something in all of us. Its the same thing that is accessed when we watch movies about the belittled underdog who nobody thinks can win, and yet in epic fashion they dig deep down and pull out something so dramatic and powerful that we are all moved and long to be a part of THAT STORY. Its why we are moved by ideas and situations in stories that are related to adventure, the role of danger in personal growth, leadership, communitas, and the innate capacity of life to adapt when threatened by mortal danger.
What will it take to inspire us in such fashion? Where collectively we are moved to get out of our burrows and do things that defy our all too human instincts to burrow down in denial and our western 1st world penchant for safety and security.
We must be re-inspired for by telling again of the incredible and dangerous stories of Jesus Christ...the martyrs...the men and women of faith who throughout history responded to this same yearning in their own generation!
All our heroes are people. Just like you. Just like me. The only difference between them and where we are today is a decision. One that thrusts us into tomorrow, as Jim Elliot put it, with a willingness to ‘live to the hilt’. Living dangerously. What does that look like?
j
wow...lots to chew on here. dude...you gotta learn to break it all up into little chunks. :)
your comments about what our communities of faith often value are true...unfortunately. and like we've talked about in the past, this journey missionburnaby's on has exposed some of my own tendencies. by choosing to move away from a 'career' in Christianity (which isn't a derogatory term), i've had to wrestle a lot with how ministry is often shaped and scheduled by those who are 'centred' in the church. there have been many days in the last year that i've wondered... 'is this how most people live for jesus?' the fatigue and pressures of 'regular' life often create tension within communities of faith i think. how would this be different in 'communitas'? and are we being successful in sparking 'communitas'? hmmmmm...
you said... 'Living dangerously. What does that look like?' in studying the historical jesus, i've seen that regardless of what you reduce jesus and his teaching to, there are some 'basic' assumptions we can make. one...we know that jesus was executed by the Romans...most likely because he was causing popular unrest and religious 'instability', two things the Romans didn't like seeing in Jerusalem (for more, read a history text). second...we can see from the collected teachings of jesus an obvious criticism of nominal/political religion, an clear afront to what jesus saw as being the way to God. and third...we can hear a call to a different type of life...one surrendered to love and captivated by justice, two things that our holy texts show as God's primary character traits. in the end...jesus' life and teachings led him into opposition and murderous institutions...a life lived dangerously. looking at jesus this way leads me to the admission that...
lots of days i'm not sure how to answer your/jesus' question...of what it looks like for me to live for him. some days i feel like it's caught up in choosing to engage an education that regularly challenges some our core assumptions while making me feel like an idiot in the process. gulp. and other days it feels like i'm most like jesus when i'm caressing my tired wife...and when i'm comforting my shrieking kids. sigh.
and that's part of how i end up going full-circle...wondering where we are at as a community. wondering if the choices i'm making in the 'trenches' of my life reflect the 'danger' that jesus calls US to. i'm not so sure the decisions you mentioned are always grand...or even noticeable. i think that what makes them 'dangerous' is the meaning that they carry with them. the ins-and-outs of life can be monotonous...but our daily choices to be selfless, tender, and hospitable are what make us most like jesus. they are what mark us over the span of time. it's not as if we can reduce the life of jesus to one decision to die; i'm thinking he'd been making small choices (like putting himself second) for a long time. and that how i want to live...incrementally less and less religious.
enough for now.
sw
I have spent copious amounts of time sifting through the chapters of my/our church leadership and strategy, desperately wanting to be positive and proactive. I wont dare to try to articulate all that I have concluded, as I am long winded to begin with, but I do have a couple things I think that I think.
I have figured out that we/churches don’t value people who won’t be at the majority of meetings, attend all the events, and make sure that all their significant friendships are within the congregation. The word ‘value’ may cause some tension in that sentence, but at the end of the day, its true. We feel frustrated, annoyed and down right indignant that they are not committed enough to the ‘vision’. The potentially spiralling vortex of ‘fellowship’ sucks you in, and requires all of you, leaving you completely socially disconnected from your neighbours, your community. And ‘we’ are not satisfied with half-hearted allegiance or commitment. It demands your all, always…
And in the process we often create cultures that will not allow questions, probing, or nay-sayers. We control with fear and in so doing, we loose the ability to inspire with faith.
And yet I find people all over our country who long for a community of fellow travellers. They long to journey with others of faith. They dream of ‘doing’ something of significance. The yearn to change the world with others. Unfortunately many of them have forgotten how to dream. They live in paradoxical frustration. Yearning to belong to something that transcends where we are and awakens the DNA of transformation that the people of God carry. Yet frustrated and angry because the only framework that we can see in our minds eye is what we have known the Church to be. And how many people do you know who at a gut level recognize that we are striking out at the plate?
I have looked for language to describe this. Alan Hirsch said something in one of his books that captures it for me. Its the ideas of God’s people developing communitas. Communitas is an intense community spirit, the feeling of great social equality, solidarity, and togetherness. It describes the dynamics of a Christian community inspired to overcome their instincts to look inward and 'structure in a way that serves US and to instead form themselves around a common mission that calls them on a dangerous journey to unknown places'.
A mission that demands that we shake off our collective security and to plunge into the world of action. Action that produces disorientation, experimentation, risk, and sometimes failure. But also allows us to encounter God and each other in a way that would have never been possible otherwise.
Michael Frost in his book ‘Exiles’, uses the illustration of the story of a community of rabbits in Richard Adam’s Watership Down . “Fiver, a small nervous rabbit, has a premonition something terrible is going to happen to their Sandleford warren. And he’s right; a housing developer is planning to build on their field. Fiver tells his brother Hazel and they try to warn their aging Chief Rabbit, to no avail—he doesn’t believe them. Hazel and Fiver decide they must leave, and are joined by other rabbits in their search for a new home. And no sooner than they have left, the bulldozers come and destroy the warrens and all the other rabbits. To cut the long story short, the adventure takes the rabbits out of the safety of their warrens where they do very un-rabbitlike things; like crossing rivers, fields, and roads. (Rabbits, like the hobbits in The Lord of the Rings), seldom travel far from their burrows.) At nights, out of their burrows, and feeling very insecure, they comfort and encourage each other by re-telling tales of the adventures of the great rabbit hero; El-Ahrairah and they are inspired by his story to continue their journey. They come across many other warrens and they try to warn them. They even get imprisoned and escape, but they eventually do get to Watership Down which becomes their new home, and once they find females to mate with, they settle down and start again.”
This children’s story accesses something in all of us. Its the same thing that is accessed when we watch movies about the belittled underdog who nobody thinks can win, and yet in epic fashion they dig deep down and pull out something so dramatic and powerful that we are all moved and long to be a part of THAT STORY. Its why we are moved by ideas and situations in stories that are related to adventure, the role of danger in personal growth, leadership, communitas, and the innate capacity of life to adapt when threatened by mortal danger.
What will it take to inspire us in such fashion? Where collectively we are moved to get out of our burrows and do things that defy our all too human instincts to burrow down in denial and our western 1st world penchant for safety and security.
We must be re-inspired for by telling again of the incredible and dangerous stories of Jesus Christ...the martyrs...the men and women of faith who throughout history responded to this same yearning in their own generation!
All our heroes are people. Just like you. Just like me. The only difference between them and where we are today is a decision. One that thrusts us into tomorrow, as Jim Elliot put it, with a willingness to ‘live to the hilt’. Living dangerously. What does that look like?
j
wow...lots to chew on here. dude...you gotta learn to break it all up into little chunks. :)
your comments about what our communities of faith often value are true...unfortunately. and like we've talked about in the past, this journey missionburnaby's on has exposed some of my own tendencies. by choosing to move away from a 'career' in Christianity (which isn't a derogatory term), i've had to wrestle a lot with how ministry is often shaped and scheduled by those who are 'centred' in the church. there have been many days in the last year that i've wondered... 'is this how most people live for jesus?' the fatigue and pressures of 'regular' life often create tension within communities of faith i think. how would this be different in 'communitas'? and are we being successful in sparking 'communitas'? hmmmmm...
you said... 'Living dangerously. What does that look like?' in studying the historical jesus, i've seen that regardless of what you reduce jesus and his teaching to, there are some 'basic' assumptions we can make. one...we know that jesus was executed by the Romans...most likely because he was causing popular unrest and religious 'instability', two things the Romans didn't like seeing in Jerusalem (for more, read a history text). second...we can see from the collected teachings of jesus an obvious criticism of nominal/political religion, an clear afront to what jesus saw as being the way to God. and third...we can hear a call to a different type of life...one surrendered to love and captivated by justice, two things that our holy texts show as God's primary character traits. in the end...jesus' life and teachings led him into opposition and murderous institutions...a life lived dangerously. looking at jesus this way leads me to the admission that...
lots of days i'm not sure how to answer your/jesus' question...of what it looks like for me to live for him. some days i feel like it's caught up in choosing to engage an education that regularly challenges some our core assumptions while making me feel like an idiot in the process. gulp. and other days it feels like i'm most like jesus when i'm caressing my tired wife...and when i'm comforting my shrieking kids. sigh.
and that's part of how i end up going full-circle...wondering where we are at as a community. wondering if the choices i'm making in the 'trenches' of my life reflect the 'danger' that jesus calls US to. i'm not so sure the decisions you mentioned are always grand...or even noticeable. i think that what makes them 'dangerous' is the meaning that they carry with them. the ins-and-outs of life can be monotonous...but our daily choices to be selfless, tender, and hospitable are what make us most like jesus. they are what mark us over the span of time. it's not as if we can reduce the life of jesus to one decision to die; i'm thinking he'd been making small choices (like putting himself second) for a long time. and that how i want to live...incrementally less and less religious.
enough for now.
sw
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Advent Thoughts
two nights ago, our community did some advent reading/reflection. this is my favourite time of the year...probably because i'm drawn most strongly to the mystery of our faith at christmas. and to be honest, sometimes i need that 'drawing' feeling. at the end of the day...it's an incredible story.
some of you may practice advent, so this is 'old hat'. but some of you might be clueless when it comes to the age-old traditions of liturgical practice. note: all the 'tradition' stuff becomes clearer/simpler when you realize that the church has been doing what it does for two millennia. this path we walk is well-trodden.
which is why one thought on friday really struck me. advent is not about celebrating Christ's birth/coming; that feast/celebration formally starts on christmas eve. no...advent is not technically part of the celebration.
it's a time of remembering...a time of awakening to how much we NEED him to come.
have you ever stopped in the furious activity of the season to think and feel through how badly our world needs jesus? HE is what we need...
his infantile innocence
his bold and abrasive disdain for religiousity
his care for lost and broken ones
his selfless sacrifice
our businesses, our schools, our relationships.
our hearts.
we need Him.
what do you think?
sw
I have often thought about the consequences of truly encountering Jesus in the everyday. I know I often get distracted by the comings and goings and doings and beings...that I forget that He waits for me in even the most simplest of tasks. Christmas makes this come alive in my heart...Jesus, in the simplest of ways coming to me...pushing for me to realize what only He can give. Peace. Not only for me...but through me.
This becomes painfully apparent for me as I reflect on some of my current relationships. The final vision of the dream of the Church is that not only will all men and women recognise that they are brothers and sisters called to live in unity but all members of God's creation will come together in complete harmony. Jesus the Christ came to realise that vision. Long before he was born, the prophet Isaiah saw it:
The wolf will live with the lamb,
the panther lie down with the kid,
calf, lion and fat-stock beast together,
with a little boy to lead them.
The cow and the bear will graze,
their young will lie down together.
The lion will eat hay like the ox.
The infant will play over the den of the adder;
the baby will put his hand into the viper's lair.
No hurt, no harm will be done
on all my holy mountain,
for the country will be full of knowledge of Yahweh
as the waters cover the sea.
(Isaiah 11:6-9)
I am reminded at Christmas that we must keep this vision alive. “I am doing my Christmas dreaming a little early this year” is the lyric, but I think I would rather sing, I am Being His Christmas dream, a little early, and prayerfully all year...
Thoughts?
j
some of you may practice advent, so this is 'old hat'. but some of you might be clueless when it comes to the age-old traditions of liturgical practice. note: all the 'tradition' stuff becomes clearer/simpler when you realize that the church has been doing what it does for two millennia. this path we walk is well-trodden.
which is why one thought on friday really struck me. advent is not about celebrating Christ's birth/coming; that feast/celebration formally starts on christmas eve. no...advent is not technically part of the celebration.
it's a time of remembering...a time of awakening to how much we NEED him to come.
have you ever stopped in the furious activity of the season to think and feel through how badly our world needs jesus? HE is what we need...
his infantile innocence
his bold and abrasive disdain for religiousity
his care for lost and broken ones
his selfless sacrifice
our businesses, our schools, our relationships.
our hearts.
we need Him.
what do you think?
sw
I have often thought about the consequences of truly encountering Jesus in the everyday. I know I often get distracted by the comings and goings and doings and beings...that I forget that He waits for me in even the most simplest of tasks. Christmas makes this come alive in my heart...Jesus, in the simplest of ways coming to me...pushing for me to realize what only He can give. Peace. Not only for me...but through me.
This becomes painfully apparent for me as I reflect on some of my current relationships. The final vision of the dream of the Church is that not only will all men and women recognise that they are brothers and sisters called to live in unity but all members of God's creation will come together in complete harmony. Jesus the Christ came to realise that vision. Long before he was born, the prophet Isaiah saw it:
The wolf will live with the lamb,
the panther lie down with the kid,
calf, lion and fat-stock beast together,
with a little boy to lead them.
The cow and the bear will graze,
their young will lie down together.
The lion will eat hay like the ox.
The infant will play over the den of the adder;
the baby will put his hand into the viper's lair.
No hurt, no harm will be done
on all my holy mountain,
for the country will be full of knowledge of Yahweh
as the waters cover the sea.
(Isaiah 11:6-9)
I am reminded at Christmas that we must keep this vision alive. “I am doing my Christmas dreaming a little early this year” is the lyric, but I think I would rather sing, I am Being His Christmas dream, a little early, and prayerfully all year...
Thoughts?
j
Thursday, December 4, 2008
NEW
This is a poem written by our friend Jackie. It captures the heart of a journey...
thoughts?
Life is calling out
In a language I’ve never heard
Words and cadence
That frighten and excite me
That stir and entice me
Calling
To listen
Silent rhythm
Beating to be still
Ears that don’t hear
The usual
Eyes that don’t look
For what’s seen
Skin that feels
Unfelt
And disease free
The sky speaks no lies
And the truth of beauty
I can’t deny
Vastness and abundance
Drown pettiness
Until I die
And something better comes alive
Connecting with this
Naturally perfect
So forgotten
And overlooked
Grows in desire
Until life is not lived
Unless here
In the place of
This peace
With the silent rhythm
Life calling me out
With fear and trembling
I embrace.
thoughts?
Life is calling out
In a language I’ve never heard
Words and cadence
That frighten and excite me
That stir and entice me
Calling
To listen
Silent rhythm
Beating to be still
Ears that don’t hear
The usual
Eyes that don’t look
For what’s seen
Skin that feels
Unfelt
And disease free
The sky speaks no lies
And the truth of beauty
I can’t deny
Vastness and abundance
Drown pettiness
Until I die
And something better comes alive
Connecting with this
Naturally perfect
So forgotten
And overlooked
Grows in desire
Until life is not lived
Unless here
In the place of
This peace
With the silent rhythm
Life calling me out
With fear and trembling
I embrace.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
rubbed raw
I just finished watching a documentary called "When Shall They Ask". My grandpa recommended it to me as it tells the story of the Mennonites in Russia during the early part of the 20th century. This is where my family comes from, better said, where they fled from.
Our family roots lie in religious persecution. My great grandfather and his sister fled the vicious Bolshevik outrage at anything that smelled like religion and prosperity...both of which were found in the Mennonite communities. Great-Grandpa Neufeld fled after watching his family massacred.
He never talked about what happened. Ever. Not to his wife. Not to his kids. Not to his friends. What we know has been pieced together for 90 years.
It has started me thinking about the cause of the unrest and revolution amongst the peasants in Russia. They were starving and the rich were getting richer. And someone saw the pain and anguish...and acted.
The old Marxist slogan was “Rub raw the sense of discontent”. It motivated a people who had given up life to "this is just the way it is" to acting towards change...acting at all costs. Note: *This is not something I am writing in support of Marxist ideology but rather a reflection on what motivates people to act with such passion that entire nations shift? Early Marxists knew how to create the environment of unrest, of revolution, of passionate movement.
How do we become provokers of this sense of discontent and so awaken a hunger to move hearts towards what could be?
Holy unrest.
Unsettling dissatisfaction.
Passionate inquest.
Insatiable desire.
What keeps us in the 'system' of what is? Fear.
Fear that we will not be loved.
Fear that we will be rejected.
Fear that we will be refused the relationships we so desperately want...and need.
Fear of being unpopular, of being criticized, of being seen as trouble.
And just a note: how many of us have been reading this in from the perspective of the church vs. the world?
We must look our discontentment, and that of so many of our brothers and sisters who have walked away from what we have called 'the church', in the face and rub it raw.
And maybe find some salt and rub it in the wounds...not in anger or rage or vengence or selfish frustration...but simply to bring truth to what seems overwhelmingly real. We have to stop settling for what is as though we are powerless and without hope. Love pushes us to ask hard questions...and pushes us to ask them in a way that honours Jesus.
Could lots of this come down to self preservation? I just don't want to risk me. I think the word is selfishness.
Think about it like this (to take a step away from the personal nature of trying to grapple with the church as it is):
Why do I (personally) do very little or nothing about the great injustices of our day?
Poverty
Abuse
Child Prostitution
Widows
Orphans
Disregard for our bodies, our planet, and our fellow man
Shall I continue?
"But what can I do?" Well now...that is the question. Maybe Jesus knows.
I am realizing in my own heart, that the hinge of my future is 'when will I live as though I had nothing left to loose'? Could it be that the future swings on the hinges of :When will I stop living for me...and live for Him, and those He loves.
Greater love has no man than this...
This is how they will know you are my disciples...
Love.
Maybe then...the ‘church’ we so highly criticize will be the place where miracles happen.
Thoughts?
j
good thoughts.
i think i've said this to you before...
several years ago i was wallowing in dark clouds of frustration/disillusionment with 'church'. surprise surprise. :)
i was sitting in a gathering that had nothing to do with any of that, and i sensed the Holy Spirit gently prod my mind: 'Scott, remember...YOU are the church.'
all of sudden, the source of my 'discontent' came clearly into focus. it was all clearly 'reflected' from what i projected as the 'church's shortcomings' back onto my own lack and inconsistency. i'd been projecting problems as the "organization's"...when most of them were part of a large log-jam hanging out of my own eye. the 'church' can't have issues without me having issues.
sometimes i wonder how to rub raw the spots where 'we' have fallen short...
because, if i'm not honest, i loose perspective on how it's not really about 'the church'...
And it comes down to me.
sw
Our family roots lie in religious persecution. My great grandfather and his sister fled the vicious Bolshevik outrage at anything that smelled like religion and prosperity...both of which were found in the Mennonite communities. Great-Grandpa Neufeld fled after watching his family massacred.
He never talked about what happened. Ever. Not to his wife. Not to his kids. Not to his friends. What we know has been pieced together for 90 years.
It has started me thinking about the cause of the unrest and revolution amongst the peasants in Russia. They were starving and the rich were getting richer. And someone saw the pain and anguish...and acted.
The old Marxist slogan was “Rub raw the sense of discontent”. It motivated a people who had given up life to "this is just the way it is" to acting towards change...acting at all costs. Note: *This is not something I am writing in support of Marxist ideology but rather a reflection on what motivates people to act with such passion that entire nations shift? Early Marxists knew how to create the environment of unrest, of revolution, of passionate movement.
How do we become provokers of this sense of discontent and so awaken a hunger to move hearts towards what could be?
Holy unrest.
Unsettling dissatisfaction.
Passionate inquest.
Insatiable desire.
What keeps us in the 'system' of what is? Fear.
Fear that we will not be loved.
Fear that we will be rejected.
Fear that we will be refused the relationships we so desperately want...and need.
Fear of being unpopular, of being criticized, of being seen as trouble.
And just a note: how many of us have been reading this in from the perspective of the church vs. the world?
We must look our discontentment, and that of so many of our brothers and sisters who have walked away from what we have called 'the church', in the face and rub it raw.
And maybe find some salt and rub it in the wounds...not in anger or rage or vengence or selfish frustration...but simply to bring truth to what seems overwhelmingly real. We have to stop settling for what is as though we are powerless and without hope. Love pushes us to ask hard questions...and pushes us to ask them in a way that honours Jesus.
Could lots of this come down to self preservation? I just don't want to risk me. I think the word is selfishness.
Think about it like this (to take a step away from the personal nature of trying to grapple with the church as it is):
Why do I (personally) do very little or nothing about the great injustices of our day?
Poverty
Abuse
Child Prostitution
Widows
Orphans
Disregard for our bodies, our planet, and our fellow man
Shall I continue?
"But what can I do?" Well now...that is the question. Maybe Jesus knows.
I am realizing in my own heart, that the hinge of my future is 'when will I live as though I had nothing left to loose'? Could it be that the future swings on the hinges of :When will I stop living for me...and live for Him, and those He loves.
Greater love has no man than this...
This is how they will know you are my disciples...
Love.
Maybe then...the ‘church’ we so highly criticize will be the place where miracles happen.
Thoughts?
j
good thoughts.
i think i've said this to you before...
several years ago i was wallowing in dark clouds of frustration/disillusionment with 'church'. surprise surprise. :)
i was sitting in a gathering that had nothing to do with any of that, and i sensed the Holy Spirit gently prod my mind: 'Scott, remember...YOU are the church.'
all of sudden, the source of my 'discontent' came clearly into focus. it was all clearly 'reflected' from what i projected as the 'church's shortcomings' back onto my own lack and inconsistency. i'd been projecting problems as the "organization's"...when most of them were part of a large log-jam hanging out of my own eye. the 'church' can't have issues without me having issues.
sometimes i wonder how to rub raw the spots where 'we' have fallen short...
because, if i'm not honest, i loose perspective on how it's not really about 'the church'...
And it comes down to me.
sw
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