Word play: Rescue

Hello faithful readers!

 

Ever have a word get stuck in your head? Like a fire ant that has climbed into your cerebellum and decided to make it's nest in your consciousness, this word has grabbed your attention and will not let go? Well, even if you haven't, play along with me.

 

I've been working through a few books and scripture studies lately in an attempt to get myself prepared for the upcoming season of Veritas, and I'm stumbling over these words that used to have my attention, but no longer seem to have the grip they used to. And the more I'm reading, the more I'm discovering, these words are essential to a Christ-Centered Life, and they need to be picked up and reclaimed. Today's word is rescue.

The truth of the matter is that all of humanity finds itself in a dangerous or harmful situation on a daily basis. We harm each other with alarming regularity. The things that we do to each other on the internet alone should probably qualify as war crimes for the soul. Our words rip and tear at each other so that we have the perceived feeling of being raised up when really all we've done is torn another person down. And all of that is before we even get to the unimaginable harm we do to each other physically, both intentional (wars, stealing lunch money, rape) and unintentional (ignoring the poor, ignorant of suffering, holding on to all the food ourselves while someone else goes to bed hungry). We are horrible to each other.

 

But then I think about some of what's going on in my world, and without turning the faithful J-Blog into my person therapy session, I've realized in recent weeks that I am capable of doing all that harm to myself with very little help from the outside world. I talk myself down. I beat myself up. I say things to myself that I would never say to any other human being. While it's not always this way, I'm realizing that I can be a total wreck.

 

Of course, in the Christian faith we have a language for this too. We call it Sin, and it is the engine driving the injury we inflict on ourselves and others. When we aren't busy using it as a weapon against each other (see paragraph above), we start to realize that everyone is a sinner. We realize that it's inescapable. We find ourselves in a situation not unlike Indiana Jones being stuck in quicksand. There's no way out, and thrashing against ourselves or other people only makes us sink faster.

 

And hence, the importance of the word rescue. We believe firmly that Jesus rescues us from the dangerous or harmful situations others have brought upon us, as well as those we place ourselves in. Like a coast guard diver who leaps from the helicopter into the choppy water, Jesus leapt from the right hand of God and came into our world and experienced our hurts, our desires, our temptations, and even our death, purely and simply so that he could provide us with rescue. His blood shed on the cross was a promise that we would never have to deal with sin again.

 

Of course, the struggle is that we are in the already/but not yet. For as much as we look forward to the life to come in the Kingdom of God, we still live in the world that everyone has universally agreed is falling apart at the seems. But rescue is here, and rescue is coming. Christ frees us from the harmful situations we place ourselves in, and offers us the ability to forgive those who place us in harmful situations. And in the end, the ultimate rescue of the Kingdom founded on earth as it is in heaven will be ours to enjoy forever.

 

Praise God for Rescue!

 

Godspeed,

 

Jason

Scripture Deficency

 

Greetings friends!

 

A few days ago, I realized that something was a little bit off in my world. Not major off, but I was just discovering that I was all around irritable. A little bit beyond that, I kept finding myself doubting my own abilities, and feeling a bit unworthy of certain things. I get this way from time to time, and you would think that by now I would know the reason why and the cure to the affliction (hint: it's the same thing)

 

I realized that I wasn't spending any time in the scriptures at all. This is always a tricky area for those of us who work in the church I think, because we confuse the time we spend in the scripture for work (writing sermons, leading small groups, etc) as the time we should be spending in the scriptures for US. During my biblical drought, I bet I opened the bible every single day (if that sentence even makes sense!). The problem was, I was reading it for someone else, not for myself.

 

We have affirmed that the bible is the living word of God. In truth, the way I read that is that the bible is the only book on the planet that actually read you back. God communicates to his people through his word, and when you're always reading the bible with a mind to find tidbits of information for someone else, you're probably missing what God has to say to you. And it has been my experience that because the bible actually reads you back, it knows exactly what you need to hear at any given moment, whether it's challenge or encouragement, or a dollop of both.

 

So for my own growth, I took a whole new approach. I've made it pretty clear on this blog that for preaching/teaching, I'm a big fan of the TNIV (although, I have a New International Version from 2011, and I have to say that so far I'm a fan). So to keep me from making this about other people, I reached for a copy of Eugene Peterson's The Message. I've started a study through Isaiah, using Lectio Divina, and I can say for certain the God is speaking to me through the pages of his scriptures. I mean, if someone who is carrying around doubts and worries reads things like "Don't be like this people, always afraid somebody is plotting again them. Don't fear what they fear. Don't take on their worries." or "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. For those who lived in a land of deep shadows--Light! sunbursts of light!" they are sure to understand that God is speaking to them, as was the case with me.

 

So let me encourage you my friends, get into the word. Particularly if you're a church worker of some kind, don't forget to read the bible for yourself from time to time. God has some things to say to us too!

 

Godspeed,

 

Jason

Revolutionary Christians

I've been thinking about this post for a while. I've felt this lack of revolutionary motivation in my world lately, and I think I know where the root of the problem is.

First of all, this all got swimming in my head again today because I read this article by Shane Claiborne. It's a letter written in Esquire, which is most notably not a Christian Magazine. To write that openly and honestly in that venue takes some guts, and I applaud Shane for taking the time to put those thoughts on paper.

It's one of those things that gets me all excited. I feel like there's this box around Christianity and Christians in general, and we are so terrible at stepping outside the box and engaging the world. There's a way things are done, and we shouldn't depart from it. But this letter doesn't live in the box (neither does Shane if you know anything about him). And that kind of attracts me to to it.

It feels like Jesus lives in actions like this. Jesus would want us to hang with people on the fringes, on the outside, the kind that the religious elite would despise. And that's what makes a revolution. It's not dressing like a hippie, wearing thick rimmed glasses, and looking down on people who don't drink fairly traded coffee. It's going where Jesus would go. It's being where the spirit would lead you. It's getting in tune with God's will in your life.

Francis Chan noted at the NYWC this year that you couldn't start a revolution any more than you could create waves in the ocean. It's not like I could sit here at my desk and come up with revolutionary ideas and implement them by dinner time. The truth is, we need to be open to the Spirit's leading, and trying our hardest to be in lock-step with Jesus' agenda, rather than trying to create our own.

So may we listen with open ears, see with open eyes, and pray with open hearts for Christ's leading in our lives.

Godspeed,

Jason

Back in the habit.

Hello again, and welcome to a two post day!

I think this will be a quick one. I just really need your guys prayers right now. For as much as I am a youth leader, and spend a considerable amount of time preaching on and from the bible, I have a confession to make. I am absolutely horrible at keeping up with my daily bible reading. Like really bad. I would harken back to a day where I was good at it, but I don't really think that day ever existed.

This is a weird confession to make, but I would bet some pretty cold hard cash that I am not alone. I bet there are other people in ministry to speak on the bible, and probably are even pretty knowledgeable about the bible, but don't read it at all. At least not for themselves. We come up with all kinds of excuses, like "I read it all the time for work!" or "I just don't have time when I get home!" or "Have you seen how busy I am! Seriously!" But if we're honest, I don't think any of those excuses cut it. And I don't think a life without being in the word is actually all that spiritually healthy.

According to the first site that came up on google, and just about everyone else I've ever talked to, it takes about 21 days to actually form a good habit. I could get into how ridiculous it is that I've started bad habits in significantly less amounts of time, but that's not what we're here for. There are of course some tips. You should keep the habit at the same time each and every one of the 21 days. You should have clearly defined goals. You should wear a costume while doing the habit (not true).

So, because I'm all about public accountability, here are my goals for the new habit:

• What: Read the scriptures. I would actually like to get through the Bible in about a year, but that's less important to me than actually reading a bit every day. The plan is to read three chapters every day: one in the OT, one in the NT, and one from the Psalms. For those curious, I'm in Ezekiel and Matthew at the present.
  
• When: Every morning. Or at least I should say when I wake up, as today I woke up around 2. But I still did them!
  
• Why: Because God does some pretty important things in your life when you open yourself up to his word. You'd be amazed at how much his light will shine through when you're dedicated to reading the scriptures!
  

So today was day eight. I would really appreciate all of your prayers as I dig through this. Eight days straight is pretty hard to do, I don't know what 21 days is going to look like. But I'd really like to get into some good habits!

Godspeed,

Jason

PS: LET'S GO PENS!

What if it's not there...

Hello friends!

I'm really trying to dig back into being diligent with writing and blogging. I have a bunch of ideas floating through my head, and I think it's best to get them out on paper (or in this case, the interwebs). So here's the thought of the day:

I was thinking through Matthew 25:14-31, otherwise known as the parable of the talents. Pastor Jim will be on vacation next week (though, he will be home for catacombs, and will be joining us for the entire evening, which will either be epic and awesome or utter disaster. keep your eyes peeled) and has asked me to fill in for him at his Wednesday bible study. This is awesome! The crowd at Jim's bible study is significantly older than most of my clientele, which allows me to have a bit of fun with them. I think it's good for us to step out of our normal routines every now and again. It keeps us fresh for whatever ministry comes next. But I digress...

As I was thinking about Matthew, I was working through how I typically interpret the scriptures. I was thinking through how I feel like God has given us all talents, and that it's our duty to actually invest our talents. If you're a talented singer, you should sing. If you're an artist, you should make beautiful art. If you have a warm smile, you should share it with others. We seem to have a pretty go handle on this idea in our current economy, but obviously investment comes with a certain amount of risk. You might not make back everything you put into the market.

For years, I have taught on this passage (it's actually the first passage I've ever preached on), and I have told people that these guys were just as likely to come back to their master with absolutely nothing as they were to come back with what they did. As I was thinking about that point last night, I kind of wished that Jesus had included that in his parable. What would it have looked like for the King if someone had tried to invest his talents, but failed to make anything, or in fact lost some of it? All of it? What would the King's reaction have been?

As I was criticizing the author of life for not being a good storyteller in my own living room, a thought (or perhaps something else...) popped into my head and said "yeah, but if it's not there that's part of story too, right?" So often, we spend time focusing on what the Bible says, which of course is a good thing. But sometimes, I think we look past the things the Bible doesn't say. We call Jesus the "author and perfecter of our faith", so why is it so unreasonable to imagine that the stuff that isn't in the story is every bit as important as the stuff that is? I mean, one of my favorite examples of this is the homosexual question. Of course the Bible brings it up, and has some pretty harsh things to be said about it, and we need to take that seriously. However, Jesus in all of his teachings doesn't bring it up. Not once in three years or four gospels does Jesus talk about homosexuals. Nope. Never. Doesn't that give us some insight to how highly this issue was ranked on Jesus' priority list? If it's not there, does that give it as much if not more weight than if it was?

Some thoughts to ponder of course. Under no circumstances do I think I have all the answers about faith or the Bible. But I would encourage some lively discussion here at the J-Blog about the parts of the Bible that aren't there.

Your thoughts?

Godspeed,

Jason

While I'm Out Part Four: The Prayer Life.

Note: I'm at the Alive Festival all this week (June 16th-20th), and big fields are not known for their wifi connections. So I've set up a series of timed posts related to the new book to keep you all entertained. Enjoy!

There was a T-shirt floating around while I was in school. Some of the T-shirts we Christians are making are really something, just the utmost creativity piled into someone else's logo or something.

But the T-shirt that made me giggle a little bit while I was in high school read something like this: "As long as there are tests, there will always be prayer in school."

If we have students in our youth group who pray before difficult tests, we feel pretty good about ourselves. If we've taught them how to pray in and through difficult situations in life, we've done alright. If they're willing to pray out loud, well then you are a youth leader all-star!

When I first got to Westminster, I was supper proud of our kids in the area of prayer. We would open it up to the traditional "popcorn" style, where one youth leader would open the prayer, the other would close, and in between kids could pray for whatever they'd like. Some weeks we would be in our prayer time for up to a half hour! They would pray for themselves, their friends, their family, their hamsters, their sports team, their...

Again, we felt awesome! They were praying out loud! They were praying for each other! They were praying!

But then it occurred to me that there's actually a lot more to prayer than what we were teaching our students. What about silent prayers? What about prayers of examine? What about praying your way through the scriptures?

There are countless ways to pray. While I admit that it's no small accomplishment to get your kids to pray out loud and pray for each other, there's a lot more to teach them. We owe it to our students to teach them how to have a life of prayer, to live out the words of Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, to "pray without ceasing." Be creative. Be innovative.

And continue to teach your kids a life of prayer!

The sound of silence.

 

Greetings bloggers!

As I mentioned in my last post, we just wrapped up our confirmation process last week, and it was quite a marathon for me and the other leaders. On Thursday of last week, I realized that I was tired, worn out, burnt out, beat up, bruised, and all around incapable of doing my job. So I decided to take an impromptue vacation this week. 

 

(I wish I had gone somewhere cool like that...)

Actually for the most part I stayed home. I think I watched about 4 movies on demand, and then switched over to the netflix movies we've had sitting around for a while. My dog Marley sat by my side almost the entire week, usually putting her nose in my lap in such a way that says "I am absolutely the cutest thing you will ever come across, and don't you forget it!"

 

(Doesn't stand a chance...)

However, on Wednesday and Thursday I went up to Camp Harmony to take part in a little bit of a silent/reflective retreat. I have preached I don't know how many times about spending some time in silence to hear what God has to say to you, but this was the first time I had ever spend any decent amount of time in silence. Or at least tried to. 

When I got there Wednesday afternoon, Dan invited me to go to worship with him. I hadn't been in a place where I could just worship without having to worry about a sound system breaking down, so I thought even though I had intended a silent retreat, it might be nice to get out and sing some songs with people I don't know. This of course turned into a on the spot solo-show, five songs later my voice starting to give out due to the cold that I had been holding on to for weeks (which is finally starting to slip away, thanks for asking). One night into my silent retreat and it was about as silent as this was graceful:

(Still the best video on the internet)

But after I got back from worship, it was as quiet as could be. I was up late into the night, journaling my prayers and really asking God to restore me to my former energy levels. I spent more time in the word than I can remember in recent months. I read some books that had been on my reading list for quite some time now. I read some magazines about dorky stuff like computers and video games. But most of all I prayed, and I sat in silence waiting for a response. And while the skies didn't open up, and the phone didn't ring, and I didn't hear an audible voice, God answered me. 

 

I feel more awake and alert and energetic than I have in a long time. I feel like digging back in and going forward in ministry. I feel like diving in head first, making the most of every minute that's left of this ministry year. 

When was the last time you spent any serious amount of time in silence?

Plans (Part Two: The Playbook)

 

Welcome back bloggers!

As we left at the last post, we realized that we had significant goals for our kids when it came to what we would like to see in them when they graduated.  The goals ranged in variety from a willingness to pray out loud to an absence of jail time, and everything in between. The question that naturally followed was if we knew where we wanted to go, how are we going to go about getting there?

 

("A Garmin costs how much?")   

And so Ed and I put our heads together over a couple of hot dogs and quite a few laps of Mario Kart and came up with four main focuses for next year. Now, of course I'm taking advantage of you the blog readers, as I assume you fall into one of three categories. You are either A) a fellow youth worker, whose input I would value tremendously, B) a friend or family member of mine who doesn't work in the church, but has a fair amount of opinions as to how a church should work, thus making your input also highly valued, or C) one of the youth from my youth group, whose input would be valued above all. So no matter what group you find yourself in, would you be a dear and weigh in on what I'm cookin up here?

 

(Oh boy)

Focus One: Small Groups

This idea got traction at the National Youth Workers Convention this year I think, as everyone seemed to be reacting to the mega-church model that has over-run the Christian culture. It seemed as though everybody was talking about how to make bigger groups seem smaller, and that really resonated with us. 

We have two things working (either for or against us, depending on your perspective): a really healthy 5th and 6th grade program, and a very small amount of seniors. This means that we are super bottom loaded. The first year we will graduate any significant number of seniors will be when this year's freshmen graduate (2012). Each year from now till then, our 5th and 6th will give us roughly 15-20 students a year. We currently have about 35-40 on an average Wednesday night. Assuming a ton of stuff that we seem to think will happen, that means that by 2012 our youth group will contain anywhere between 100-120 kids. Can you say mosh pit?

 

So we want to be intentional about getting the kids involved in small groups. This of course doesn't happen by saying "Hey kids, get into small groups". We'd really like for them to know how to make their own small groups, for that day when they will be off in college. We're still planning that out, including some heavy reading on my part. Hopefully we'll have some answers by June or July, so we can start recruiting more leaders. 

Focus Two: Testamonies

Let's face it, we as Presbyterians (if not all protestant faiths) have the hardest time when it comes to sharing our faith. Personally I think we hide behind the "If I act nice enough and am very different from the rest of the world, people will assume I love Jesus" battle plan a bit too much.

 

("Can I introduce you to my friend Jesus?")

So we want to get kids in the habit of sharing their faith. Not in the same old traditional ways either, as if sharing your faith doesn't count if you're not doing it with a megaphone and some handouts. We're hoping to bring in some special guests to share their faith, and talk about how they view sharing their faith. Then we're hoping to create some space to share our faith in house a little bit to get us geared up to share our faith on the outside world. Again, there are people who think this is a horrible prospect, but our hope is to show them that sharing testamonies is a terrific joy, and less like a root-canal.

 

Focus Three: Mission

This one has been well in the works for a while, we just want to build on it a bit more and make it a bit stronger. Ed's mission trip sold out a week before the deadline. Are you kidding? That never happens! On top of that, we have kids who do things like this:

 

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I am convinced beyond all doubt that our kids could change the world. While other people seem to think that youth are incapable of behaving like adults, I see things differently. I see endless potential in each of our kids here at Veritas, and I'd like to tap into some of that potential.

 

(Climbing off my soap box)

Focus Four: (Deeper) Prayer

There was a Sunday in youth ministry that will stick with me for all of my days. It was day one as a "professional" youth pastor. We were gathering for our evening meal, and we asked if anyone would like to offer up a blessing. One girl raised her hand faster than I'd ever seen someone raise it before. I was pumped! Then she proceeded:

"A B C D E F G...Thank you God for feeding me. Amen."

 
 

(Stunned)

So needless to say, I was thrilled to come to Westminster and see kids who were absolutely awesome about praying for each other throughout the week. Sometimes on Wednesday nights, Ed or I have to step in and stop the prayer so it doesn't take all night. This is wonderful.

However, there's so much more to prayer than just praying for and about each other. We want to make sure we spend some time this year teaching about the other kinds of prayer (examine, centering, lectio divina, etc), and equipping the students to do so on their own. We have some specific plans to do this, but we'll talk more about that later.

This of course is all in addition to the things we're already about. I'm super interested in your thoughts, so if you would be so kind as to leave a comment and let us know how all of this strikes your fancy, that'd be stupendous. 

More later,

J

 

Diary of a Lunatic: Give up

(Hey everybody! I write a monthly article for our church's newsletter. I thought I'd share this month's article here on the blog. Enjoy!)

I remember as a young boy going to youth club (our church’s version of the much better named JAM) during the season of lent. At first, I thought everyone was saying lint, and I was a bit confused as to why we had a Christian holiday to celebrate that stuff dad makes me pick out of the drier. But later that night, we met with our youth leader and she discussed what lent was all about.

Somewhere in the discussion, we were told that one of the key points of Lent is that Christians the world over would choose something to give up between Ash Wednesday and Easter. My initial response was to give up vegetables, but I was quickly overruled. As it turns out, you are supposed to give up something of value to you that is in fact getting in the way of your faith.

As the years have come and gone, I’ve given up a whole host of things for lent. Chocolate. Pop. Fried Food. Coffee (that was a bad year). And yet, the whole thing seemed a bit unsettling to me. I would give up whatever I felt was standing in the way of my faith (as I type this I have discovered that apparently what I eat has a lot to do with my faith walk...), but then Easter morning I would relapse and begin consuming it, sometimes with even more passion and zeal than I had the day before. It just didn’t seem right.

Or how about Marti Gras? The whole celebration is based on the idea that the next day (being Ash Wednesday) you’re going to give up whatever it is you love the most, so you better consume or celebrate it as much as you possibly can now! Kind of like going on a spending spree at Diary Queen the night before you start your big diet.

Is it me, or is that kind of approach to lent misleading or even misguided? In reality, the season of lent is designed to strengthen our walk with the Savior, to enhance our faith. As I think about it now, I think the early church fathers were brilliant in the timing of this season. Just as winter has lost it’s majesty and beauty and has turned into ugly slushy muck, we’re given a chance to strengthen our faith. If you’re like me, you’re going to need it to get to spring.

What if instead of giving something up, we gave in? I’ve been talking with a bunch of my friends about the concept of Irresistible Grace, this idea that no matter how hard we fight it, Christ chases us with his love and we will inevitably give in and love him back. So what if we spent this season of lent giving in to that love rather than giving up something that will only come back into our lives at Easter?

Maybe instead of giving up, we should be adding on. If you’re anything like me, your quiet time with God usually lasts for a day or two, week tops. Then the life’s insanity takes hold, and you’re left asking yourself where the days have gone. What if instead of giving something up, we added on to our faith? A new spiritual discipline? Perhaps a renewed zeal towards quite time, or scripture meditation, or even a weekly walk on the Westminster Labyrinth.

The obvious problem with this approach is that it’s a little bit harder. I admit it would probably be easier to pick something I could probably live without anyway and go on a 40 day cleanse. But this “give in” approach requires attention, or discipline. So I would recommend a prayer partner, or an accountability group. Someone you trust, someone who can keep you honest about your faith and what you’d like to add on to it. After all, the entire idea behind church is the idea of community.

And while you’re at it, stop by my blog every now and again. (http://psychoyouthmin.blogspot.com) I’ll be sharing tips and tricks along the way throughout lent to help us all add on to our spiritual lives.

May we all give in to the love that pursues us.

Godspeed,

Jason

When your faith is tired.

Greetings readers.
The Penguins coughed up yet another lead, and I just couldn't bare to watch. I am tired. So tired I don't think I could sleep right now. Sarah went to bed early, but I could not fall in love with the idea of resting my head on a pillow right now. I am in between awake and exhausted, and it's not just a physical thing.

Rob Bell spoke once about each of us having different fuel gages in our lives. There's a gage for being actually physically tired, like when you get home from a retreat tired. There's a gage for emotionally tired, like when your favorite hockey team absolutely refuses to well, play hockey. There's a gage for your faith. There are many many gages, and at the moment, every single one of mine is sitting on empty. 

I spent the day today cranky and irritable. Little things that shouldn't get under my skin did in a big way. I'm glad I had enough in the reserves to not blow up for no reason at all, which typically happens on days like today. Helpless victims are left scratching their head as to what they could have done to warrant such wrath, when the truth is my mind is just lashing out at how things aren't going exactly my way. 

One of the biggest tell-tale signs of an empty tank for me is an incredibly restless spirit. Like I said, I'm so tired right now I can feel the bags under my eyes, but I just couldn't lie down right now. All day I've been switching between activities. I would read a page or two, then put the book down and start writing a talk, then I would go to the worship service for this weekend and hammer out a detail or two before getting sucked into watching the news before picking up a different book and reading one or two pages of that. I sometimes feel like I'm going crazy. 

I've been carrying a prayer journal around with me the last few weeks, and today while I was eating lunch in the food court I wrote down that I wanted to drink God's grace like a cup of coffee. At first, it just seemed like a nice sentence to write down, but it turned into a whole train of thought for me. Coffee is not often a beverage chugged. For me, it's not even a beverage any more that is meant only to wake me up. I have a mug of coffee in my hands at all times during the day.

For a while on Sundays, I would stop at Starbucks before the Bridge. I would typically order either a Venti Peppermint Mocha or a Venti Raspberry White Chocolate Mocha (and yes, I'm aware those are two of the most pansy drinks available). But what shocked my friends was that a Venti coffee could last me from set up to tear down, all in all about 3 hours worth of work. I was traditionally known for sipping the last cold drop from my cup as I was walking back up to my office. Coffee is meant to be enjoyed, savored, slow, flavorful. To just throw back a cup of coffee in a college-worthy chug would miss about 95% of the experience. 

How much different would life be if we could convince ourselves to enjoy God's grace like a decent cup of coffee? Tonight, as I am running on empty in all tanks, I believe I need a different approach. So often I pray as I climb in bed that God would heal me tomorrow, that I would be back to 100%. But maybe grace is meant to be enjoyed slowly, savored, right down to the very last drop (which will ultimately never come, a coffee lover's dream come true). Maybe I should stop treating God like a bank teller, only there to provide me with a good or service. Maybe I should start seeing Him for all He is. Rather than going for the quick fix, maybe it should be more like a pair of friends catching up over coffee. 

Godspeed,

Jason

Sunday Morning Post-Game: For the love of sound systems!!!

It's no secret that the sound/projection system at the Bridge has been on it's last leg for quite a while. We are hoping beyond all hope to have a new solution in due time. I even had two meetings (and you know how I feel about meetings) this week with a pair of companies that would like to bid on the job. However, time being, it's fail city.
Cue funny videos that somehow represent how I felt about our technology set up this morning:

But such is life. The new system is coming, and I will wait with patience.

Jim (as usual these days) gave a sermon that really caused me to think. He spoke about Mark 6, where Jesus is not welcomed in his home town. Lots of people understand this these days, particularly if you've ever worked in your home church. If people knew you when you were wearing diapers, they're not likely to take you serrious as a spiritual director.

(Speaking of not being taken seriously...)

But then Jim flipped it around. What if, those of us who have been studying Jesus for so long, we've known him since we were in diapers, what if we have started to think we've got him pegged? What if we have started to put Jesus in the category of predictable, and thusly robbing the Savior of a large amount of his power in our lives? What would it look like to truly set the spirit of the living Christ free? These are questions I am certain to be pondering in the next few days.

===

All Star Game tonight. Is it just me, or did the shootout seem staged? We go through a game where 22 goals were scored (11 a piece) and then all of a sudden for 10+ minutes there are no goals? Not only that, but it looked like everyone had just kind of given up. I dunno. I love hockey, and of course I love watching the Penguins, but it seems like everything the NHL does any more is promote itself. Kind of dumb.

Anyway, Geno had a decent showing for us. People were crying that Crosby didn't play. I'm crying that people are upset that he wants to win a Stanley Cup and thusly (and rightly) rested himself by not playing in a pointless show of ego. Ask me how I really feel sometime...

===

Ed is going to India on Tuesday. I don't know what I'm doing with my life for the next two weeks...

More tomorrow,

Godspeed,

J

Ancient/Modern Church.

I'll say up front that this is not a very well thought out blog post. For starters, I've been at work since 6:30 this morning and will remain here until 9:30 tonight. Yay. But more importantly, what follows is more or less right off the top of my head, mostly because I don't have a very strong idea of what I'm thinking yet. The ideas you're about to read are still forming. But let's dive in together:

I am in the office listening to this CD, a collection of modern worship bands singing ancient hymns. Lately, I have been enammored with the Church's rich traditions. It's come from a myriad of places, from books like Coffeehouse Theology and my new discovery of Thomas Merton's Dialogues with Silence, but then also just from discussions I've had with friends and experiences I've been working through, I'm very interested in our past.

For example, why is it that modern worship services have ditched the tradition of a call to worship, or a sense of the importance of hymns? Understandibly, contemporary worship as we know it today has grown out of a reaction AGAINST the traditional worship services of our parents. But does that mean that we need to throw the baby out with the bathwater? Do we have to ditch everything that is contained in the traditional worship services, or can we keep what works and lose what does not?

I'm very much appreciating the early church's desire to strip everything down, make it simple, and try to live a life that was focused on Christ and Christ alone. We live a life of convenience these days, but I wonder how much it has robbed us of the desire to grow closer to Christ. People used simple mazes like labyrinths to block everything out of their mind, to spend time focused on the Lord. People used Lectio Divina to PRAY the Scriptures, rather than just read them for what information they posess. (Can I say that I'm extremely happy that this practice has found its way back into popularity in recent years?)

I don't know. I think this all might be Christ screaming at me to stop trying to be "just" a teacher of his way, but a liver of it. It so easy to work in the Church and let your spiritual development take a total backseat to your desire to help others develop their spiritual lives.

Anyone else jiving with this?

Godspeed,

Jason

Everyone else has a snow day!

Hey everybody!

I'm in the office, and reading my friend's twitters and blogs, it would appear that there is a blizzard in every direction of Upper Saint Clair, but some how the bubble itself got out of it. I don't mind working, like I said I've been missing being with the kids on Wednesday nights. But we're getting this ugly, nasty rainy stuff that just makes my heart sad. Why can't we have the fluffy stuff?

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The Penguins finally got off their duff last night and won a game. PetrSkyora (it's not two names people, listen to him say it) had himself a game, and Sid finally put a few away. Of course, all of this happened before I got home last night, so I didn't get to see anything but replays. I'm not complaining. We won. Now maybe we can have a little bit of that thing called confidence and win a few more.

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A few months ago, I posted my choices for Bible Translations. I mentioned that I thought The Message had a place, but that I just hadn't quite found it yet. Well, thanks to Coffeehouse Theology (which I would have finished by now if that whole having to work to get money thing didn't get in the way...still have till Sunday to stay on target) I picked up a copy of "Solo", which is a copy of The Message which is meant to get you through the whole Bible in a year using Lectio Divina. I picked it up to see if the youth kids would benefit from such a book, but man I love it a bunch! It's a bit better than trying to do my devotionals with the Lectionary, which just bops you around the scriptures with no rhyme or reason. Am I a hypocrit for hating this translation one day and then loving it the next? You be the judge.

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Tonight we're doing Romans 2 at Veritas. I ought to read it a bit more and come up with a couple of questions, or it's going to be a long night of kids starring at me with blank faces.

Godspeed,

Jason