Photo Friday: American Dreams

Greetings Earthlings,

How can you not love Switchfoot? While I shuffle the contents of my iPod rather frequently, there is almost never a time that Switchfoot isn't at least a part of the mix. Lately, I've been stuck on the album Oh Gravity... and in particular this song American Dream. 

I find myself going back and forth. In my heart of hearts, I want to live a simple life. It seems to make sense to me. I don't want to spend any time at all caught up in the trappings of consumeristic America, letting my wallet determine my worth. And so every once and a while, I'll drift into a living simply mode, where I try to set things aside and live as basic and down to earth as humanly possible. 

It usually lasts a week or so. 

Then I'm right back into it. Apple will release a new iPad that I absolutely must have. Old Navy will have a sale and I'll spend my money there rather than say at the Goodwill, where everyone wins in the end. I will obsess over how my car isn't good enough because it doesn't have leather seats or a navigational system (though, at this particular moment I'm happy the car runs without falling apart!). And no one will notice anything is wrong, nothing will feel wrong, because that's the culture we surround ourselves with. I'll blend in to the crowd, and no one will notice me. 

I worry about this. Jesus seemed to think that living simply was the best way to go: 

"Do not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you in your belts, no bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals or staff, for the worker is worth his keep." (Matthew 10:9-10)

In other words, working for the kingdom of God should be payment enough for us. It should be status symbol enough for us. Whereas the American Dream really ends up enslaving most of us (ask anyone who has over-maxed their credit cards), the Kingdom and the work we do for it frees us. It might seem so backwards to our American culture, but the less you worry about yourself, the more free you'll really end up being. 

This has implications for youth ministry too, you know? If our youth ministry is run by programs and toys and gadgets and stuff rather than by relationships and an honest yearning for the Spirit of God, then our kids will end up loving the world every bit as much as we teach them to. Please understand, this comes from a place of conviction, I'm thinking through our ministry as I'm typing this. But all the same, does your ministry feed the American Dream, or the Kingdom Come? 

I'm going to work on this the next few weeks. I hope you'll join me. I hope you'll join me in trying to put God first by putting myself last. I hope you'll join me in trying to advance the Kingdom by suppressing my desires. If his love is really better than wine, and the worker is really worth his keep, then won't we actually be better off in the long run? Won't we actually be free? 

Cleaning the Youth Room...

The sign in Ed's hands reads "The cleanliness of this room is the responsibility of EVERYONE. Please clean up dishes, spills, food, etc. Thank You."

Yesterday was a day of dread around the office. It's been a day we've known was coming for about six weeks now. You see, we have what we call "The Worship Room" in our youth area. It's a big empty room, the only furniture is the stage and the table we set the sound equipment on. It's the room responsible for making the floor shake on Wednesday nights. It's where we always hope heavenly mosh-pits erupt weekly. But because it is nothing but a big empty space, and because it remains largely unused during the summer, after each and every trip we dump everything out of the church bus into that room and leave it "for later."

Later began yesterday. We're still not done. 

We haven't yet discovered any living creatures under the mess, though that has happened in years past. Again though, we only got about halfway through yesterday, so there's hope for today. 

I think it's good that youth ministry runs in seasons. Usually by the end of the school year, after almost 40 weeks of youth ministry on a regular basis, I'm ready to take a break. I'm ready to have my Wednesday nights to myself, to be able to spend a bit more time with my wife during the week. But as I was sitting in the worship room yesterday, watching as the mess started to disappear, my mind started to wander into what we could do to improve the room. It started to wander into dreams and plans and visions for the upcoming year. It started to wander into who was coming back for this new year of ministry, and what new faces we might see this time around. Now, all of a sudden, after three months of break, I simply cannot wait to dive back in to a youth ministry season. 

Like I posted a few days ago, this feeling of church home is very important to me. And as I was looking around the worship room, dreaming about what we could do with that space this year, I was wondering if our students felt at home here at Westminster. Does this space invite them to feelings of safety and encouragement in the presence of God? Does this space exist as a hiding place for them when things aren't going well? Does this space represent a place to celebrate joy and encouragement in times of excitement? In what ways does the space itself do those things? In what ways do the people who fill the space do those things? 

I realize not everybody has a youth wing. We are blessed beyond what even I think is reasonable. But I've done youth ministry in a single room in my home church. I've seen friends who do youth ministry out of a residential house, because that's the space God has given them. Maybe you don't even have a typical meeting space, maybe you meet students in whatever coffee shop or fast food joint will have you. But before the season ramps up, before we get things going, perhaps its a good time to ask if your students feel at home in your space? Perhaps it's a time to work with that space to make it more inviting, to make it a safe space. 

Even if that means a two day cleaning spree...

Trying to listen

Hello friends,

The Dark Night of the Soul is a concept I've written about here before on the J-Blog. It's the idea that God would simply stop speaking to you. You wouldn't hear from him for a long while, despite constantly praying and seeking and asking and searching. It is, according to many church fathers like St. John of the Cross, a blessing. If you only had a relationship with God for the sake of loving God, and not for all the things he could bless you with, would you still love him as deeply? Or is God our cosmic sugar daddy, always there to give us what we need? 

This isn't that...

I found myself in a situation this morning where I needed discernment. Sarah and I even sat down and prayed together and asked God to help us make the right decision. And as I found myself in the moment, as I was thinking through decisions and what was in front of me, I heard nothing. I didn't hear a voice from God. I didn't feel the Spirit descend like a dove. I didn't see the clouds part. I had nothing going on inside me. It was not unlike driving in a really thick fog, being pretty sure there is road underneath the wheels but having absolutely no idea where the road was taking me. 

The temptation in this moment is usually to blame God. After all, he can take it, right? The temptation is to call this a dark night of the soul, a moment in time where God abandoned me and stopped communicating. For once in my life, I saw right through the temptation right away. The problem wasn't that God wasn't speaking. It was that I wasn't asking. Sure, Sarah and I said a quick prayer that morning, but my mind was elsewhere. The prayer was half baked on my end at best. In typical fashion, my mind was on what I could do. My mind was centered on the actions that I could take. What am I going to do next? 

It's so subtle isn't it? This idea of grace vs. works. I mean sure, when it comes to salvation and eternal life we're all pretty good at seeing the difference, knowing that the correct answer on the theological test is to say that nothing we could ever do would make God love us less. We are given our free gift of salvation because of Christ's work on the cross, not ours here. Yet I don't think that the eternal ramifications are the only place this grace vs. works battle plays out. I think when we enter our prayer life focused on what we can do in a situation rather than ask God for his wisdom, it's like trying to have a conversation with someone while wearing headphones. You can't possibly listen to what the other person has to say. 

Tonight, I'm taking my headphones off. I'm hoping that I can sit quietly enough to hear what God is saying to me. The situation from this morning is well passed and resolved, but there are other situations. There are so many areas in my life where I would rather trust myself and what I can do rather than leaning back, trusting God, and listening to what he wants to speak into my life. 

My prayer for us tonight is that we would listen. That we would be still enough to hear what God is speaking into our world. That we would have the strength and the courage to take the headphones off, and listen and converse with God. What a privilege and an honor it is to have a conversation with the God of the universe, that we all to often take for granted. 

Let us pray...

Book Review: Working the Angles by Eugene Peterson

Greetings again friends,

Two blog posts on a Friday? You guys are lucky! 

Seminary kicks back into full gear for me again here in two weeks, and because this first class is a two week intensive, I need to read like the dickens before it gets here. 1,200 pages worth to be exact. Not being the fastest reader in the world, I had to get cracking. 

So I just finished up the first of the books on my list, Working the Angles by Euguene Peterson. Most people when I mention his name roll their eyes slightly, with visions of The Message dancing in their heads. True, that's not my absolute favorite translation of the scriptures. But when it comes to writing about what it takes to be a pastor and lead a community of people in the ways of Jesus, Peterson is second to none. 

In Working the Angles, Peterson notes that many of us pastors have become adept at faking it. We've figured out that if we preach the same 6 sermons with slightly different funny illustrations, show up at the occasional board meeting to open with prayer, and make our rounds at the hospitals for visitation, then we've earned our paycheck. For Peterson, being a pastor is not (and sounds like has never been) about earning a paycheck. Being a pastor is not about faking it. Being a pastor is about faithfully leading a community of believers. 

Three areas in the pastors life seem to be deeply missing according to Peterson, and they make up the three sections of this book. The first is prayer. Who among us hasn't wanted to elevate the prayer life of their congregation (or in most of our cases, youth group)? But if our prayer life is simply opening up meetings and gatherings with a few short words, then haven't we taught our flock to pray the same way? Peterson reminds us that prayer is essentially spending time in the presence of God, and so few of us actually carve out enough time in our busy schedules to pray properly. If by the end of the first section you aren't equal parts encouraged and challenged, you haven't been paying attention to this book!

The second area we need to spend more attention is in the habit of scripture reading. In this section, Peterson sounds a lot like the conversations I have with my self in my own head, only he's way more articulate. Too many have reduced the Bible to a book containing facts. We tear apart the facts and tidbits of Greek and Hebrew with our modern exegetical studies, all the while sucking the life directly out of the living and active word. We have to wrestle with the book. We have to listen to what God has to say to us, not just reading the words off the page. We need to engage the scriptures contemplatively today. 

The last area is in that of Spiritual Direction. Some of us have seemingly confused Spiritual Direction with Christian Counseling. They're not the same. The act of Spiritual Direction is a lot like having a guide on a wilderness trip. Someone who has been there before, and is willing to walk along with you as you go. Too often, I am at least convicted that my spiritual direction is more about my having an idea to fix a person's problem, rather than just letting them speak and share with me. 

Like I said, Working the Angles is both encouraging and challenging. It helped me to celebrate where I am, and desire to get to where I want to be. I highly recommend it for anyone working in any level of ministry. 

Have a great weekend!

Godspeed,

J

Photo Friday: 2012-2013 Veritas Theme Announced!

Hello friends!

It all started a few weeks ago. Ed and I were driving with our friend Dave, and Katy Perry's new single happened across the radio. As is often the case when a pop song that actually sounds good shows up, we all affirmed that it was indeed a good pop song. There are so few. It even seemed to have, to at least our amateur listening ears, a semi-Spiritual message hiding in its lyrics. Thus began the thinking. 

A few weeks later, as we were sitting around trying to determine the theme for our year at Veritas, the ideas were bouncing around the office like wildfire. Actually that's not true. A 6th theme is hard to come up with without repeating the previous 5. And so we thought until smoke came out of our ears. And then the song appeared again, and we knew it in a heartbeat. This year, Veritas would wake up.

Boy, we need it don't we? Looking around at the various blog posts I've put up this week, all of which seem to surround Christianity and the news, it would appear as though most of us who are practicing Christians are sound asleep. We are sound asleep to how our words are used, heard, and interpreted by those who need the living word most of all. We are sound asleep to what it looks like to make hay out of a fast food restaurant rather than have a civilized debate about where we might disagree. We are sound asleep to the grace of God in our world. 

"Wake up sleeper, 
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you." (Ephesians 5:14)

Are you wide awake? Are you wide awake to the way God is moving in your life? In your family? In your relationships? In your community? In your workplace? Are you wide awake to how your lifestyle affects those around you and around the world? Are you wide awake to your relationship with God? Or are we in some kind of half-snoozing slumber, where things are happening, but we're only a little aware of it? 

Come to Veritas starting August 29th, and wake up.

Godspeed,

J

The words and the Word

Hello friends,

Jim touched on something the other day in his sermon that has been rattling around in my brain ever since. The sermon dealt with fear, and what it looks like as a Christian to deal with the fear in our lives. Nobody lives without fear, it's something we all deal with on a daily basis. But when dealing with fear, and consulting with friends about it, one of the annoying refrains that Christians seem to throw at each other is "Oh, just trust Jesus. It'll be better."

Really? 

Does that provide any sense of comfort to the person in question? Or what if the person in question is already trusting Jesus, but still feels fear? What if the fears themselves are wrapped up in what trusting Jesus looks like (a prospect that honestly should scare us more than it does I think)? There are more than a handful of situations where the words "Just trust Jesus" don't fit. In fact, they can be harmful. 

But as I mentioned, that all got me thinking. A cursory glance through my twitter timeline this week led me to a handful of sayings that we seem to try to make fit in every situation, even when they don't. Sometimes I even get a bit nervous when we post random pieces of scripture that are taken completely out of the context in which they were meant. For instance, did you know that the saying "Where two or more are gathered, I am with them" comes from a teaching about disciplining an unrepentant sinner? 

I mean, I get it. The twitter world attempts to solve every nail with a 140 character hammer. But our words are at times worthless. Our words can only take us so far. Our words, more often than we'd like to admit, fall flat and much shorter than we intended. 

But Jesus does not. 

Jesus himself is THE Word of God made flesh. When God speaks words, whole galaxies come into being. When Jesus speaks, light breaks into darkness. When the Spirit speaks, an entire movement within the Church is born. When the Word speaks, things start happening. 

And so maybe for those of us who are in ministry, we should spend a little less time coming up with and finding pithy sayings that are meant to encourage in every situation, a one size fits all piece of theological encouragement, but rather we should spend a little more time inviting the Word made flesh into our ministries and our conversations. Maybe we should invite Jesus to put a fresh word on our tounges every time we are bold enough to represent him publicly, to those who need to hear from him most. Maybe instead of tweeting about a situation, we could spend a bit more time meeting with the people behind the situation. 

Just some food for thoughts. Happy Wednesday everyone!

 

 

The Unbelievable Mess of Chick-Fil-A

I never in my life thought it would come to this. Sure, I have read Orwell's 1984, and kind of assumed we were headed toward a dark place. I just never in my wildest dreams thought it would come to this, that the whole nation could be up in arms and brought to a screeching halt by...

...a chicken sandwich?

Seriously? My choice in lunch might actually be making a political statement? Or even worse/harder to believe, my waffle fries could be signaling a stance on my religious views? My relationship with Christ could be impacted by a yogurt parfait?

Perhaps we're missing something here...

Read the rest of my article here. More J-Blog tomorrow!

UPDATE: Perry Noble, who gave an INSPIRED talk at the National Youth Workers Convention a few years ago, says what I said only better. Read his version here.