:

Hallelujiah! at the Video Music Awards

Well after youth group last night I caught some of the VMA's hosted by Puff Diddy... I mean P. Diddy...sorry..ah..just Diddy. Maybe his next move is just to be known as symbol kinda like Prince a few years back. Didn't see much of the show yet but did you notice Diddy's shirt that said "GOD IS THE COOLEST?" God is right up there with pimpin' and being a gangsta! I hope you are catching the sarcasm here! It still always fascinates me the way that God gets talked about at award shows. That somehow God is pleased with whatever we do, no matter what the content, no matter waht it promotes. Now those of you who know me know that I am not one of those "All Culture is Bad" Christians, in fact I believe that many times culture speaks the Truth, because all truth is God's truth. I gues my big complaint is that the kids I work with might really think that Diddy is now a spokesman for God. That following Christ looks like the VM Awards. I don't know somehow it is just another ingredient in the post-modern stew. Let's pray for Diddy that he really finds that God is the COOLEST, and that diddy's life leads more people into that reality. One more thing, now that Diddy wore a shirt that is very similair to all those cheesy Christian t-shirts does that now make them cool. Will I see this shirt in Lifeway next week?

moving towards dawn,

mark

Faith & Family Rituals

One of the best books I have ever read has been Ronald Rolheiser's, The Holy Longing, I trully recommend that you pick this up if you want to deepen your understanding of Christian Spirituality. He has a little snippet in the book where he is talking about sustaining our walk with God and he is addressing the need for ritual in our lives and relates that to the rituals in families and their importance. Here is a quoute from the book:

"Chrsitianity has sustained itself for two thousand years. How has it accomplished that? In trying to answer that question we can uncover a secret worth knowing. Faith sustains itself through ritual gathering around the word of God and the breaking of bread. Like a marriage or a family that keeps itself from falling apart by saying: We will all be home at regular times, we will eat two meals a day together, and we will all be together in the living room at least once a day...even if it is not exciting, even if no real feelings get discussed, even if everyone is bored, and even if half the family is constantly protesting that it is not worthwhile. We will do this because if we don't, we will eventually fall apart and die as a family. As a human family needs to sustain itself be set, straightforward, repetitive,predictable,unexciting rituals, so too the Christian family. Without ritual gathering we will, like any family, soon fall apart."

I have felt for a long time now that the problem of the American Family is that they have very little shared time together, thus they fall apart. Christians live just like the rest of the culture. Why do we have no Sabbath? No rest as a family? Are we going to give the excuse that "Well that is just the way it is!" Do we think God will be satisfied with that? Why do Christian families never sit down to dinner together? This baffles me. Why do we consistently think that our lives will work if we just go along with the culural drift? Believe me I know that these principles are hard to put into practice but they are not impossible. God doesn't ask us to do the impossible. Maybe the possible is just too hard and inconvenient so we call it "IMPOSSIBLE" and give up and in making it "impossible" rid ourselves of the guilt (or at least the feeling of it). How often as adults do we let the culture or our own kids set the agenda for our families? How do we think that will ever work?

Would love to hear your thoughts on this.

moving towards dawn,

mark

One of the best books I have ever read has been Ronald Rolheiser's, The Holy Longing, I trully recommend that you pick this up if you want to deepen your understanding of Christian Spirituality. He has a little snippet in the book where he is talking about sustaining our walk with God and he is addressing the need for ritual in our lives and relates that to the rituals in families and their importance. Here is a quoute from the book:

"Chrsitianity has sustained itself for two thousand years. How has it accomplished that? In trying to answer that question we can uncover a secret worth knowing. Faith sustains itself through ritual gathering around the word of God and the breaking of bread. Like a marriage or a family that keeps itself from falling apart by saying: We will all be home at regular times, we will eat two meals a day together, and we will all be together in the living room at least once a day...even if it is not exciting, even if no real feelings get discussed, even if everyone is bored, and even if half the family is constantly protesting that it is not worthwhile. We will do this because if we don't, we will eventually fall apart and die as a family. As a human family needs to sustain itself be set, straightforward, repetitive,predictable,unexciting rituals, so too the Christian family. Without ritual gathering we will, like any family, soon fall apart."

I have felt for a long time now that the problem of the American Family is that they have very little shared time together, thus they fall apart. Christians live just like the rest of the culture. Why do we have no Sabbath? No rest as a family? Are we going to give the excuse that "Well that is just the way it is!" Do we think God will be satisfied with that? Why do Christian families never sit down to dinner together? This baffles me. Why do we consistently think that our lives will work if we just go along with the culural drift? Believe me I know that these principles are hard to put into practice but they are not impossible. God doesn't ask us to do the impossible. Maybe the possible is just too hard and inconvenient so we call it "IMPOSSIBLE" and give up and in making it "impossible" rid ourselves of the guilt (or at least the feeling of it). How often as adults do we let the culture or our own kids set the agenda for our families? How do we think that will ever work?

Would love to hear your thoughts on this.

moving towards dawn,

mark

A Social Justice Plug!

I frequently read John Chandler's blog, Some strange ideas, He has some great insights. He is a former youth pastor who is now part of a church plant and is headed to seminary @ Mars Hill in Washington. We have had some corespondence and he is wrestling with some of the same things that I am. I think you will enjoy part of his post on Christians being involved in political issues...

NT Wright provided a fascinating thought this week in a message I was listening to. (The transcript of that message is here.) He commented on the trial of Jesus before Pilate in John 18:28-40. Pilate asks Jesus, “What is truth?”

Certainly Jesus has an answer to that question. It was only a few chapters earlier in John 14:6 that Jesus claimed the HE is the truth. Wright suggests that Jesus remained silent because Pilate would not be able to accept the answer. The work of Jesus is far greater than the politics of Pilate can understand. However, Jesus goes on to demonstrate his answer by his death and resurrection.

Can this be a model for the church today?
Can we interact not by getting mixed up in politics, but by transcending them?
Can we deal with issues of justice better than politics can, without getting stuck in the muck and mire of politics?

I think it we have to. I think it is our call. If the church believes that following Jesus is the best way, then it must be able to demonstrate that it has the best response to the injustice in our world. We simply must do the dirty work of sorting though what that response can and should look like.

I leave this with one example of what it might look like. This is a quote in Mere Discipleship (pg 45) from a pastor’s sermon in Colorado Springs a number of years ago:

What if there were abortion clinics but nobody went in? What if abortion was a legal choice, but it was a choice nobody took? Changes in the law, blocking abortion clinics, demaning name-calling will not stop abortions. They history of the church through the ages has been the history of changes brought about in society through the church demonstrating and living an alternative vision of life. We need to stop telling our nonbelieving neighbors how wrong their way of life is, and we need to start showing the power of the gospel in the way we live … Let me ask you: Which has greater power? Ten thousand people who fill the streets in front of abortion clinics and shame those seeking abortions, or then thousand people in California who take to the state capital a petition they have signed stating they will take any unwanted child of any age, any color, any physical condition so that they can love that child in the name of Jesus Christ?

Great thoughts, John, thanks!

mark

Losing My "Belief"

  I have started browsing into The Heart of Christianity, by Marcus Borg. He is a new author for me and definately a stretch for me in some areas where I disagree with him. Yet, probably for me the strongest stuff he has written has been on BELIEF and how modern christianity has put so much emphasis on believeing the right things, which was not true in Jesus's day. It is amazing how many sermons I have heard over the years about believing the right things and getting my dogma right (Don't misunderstand me, I think that is important but not to the IDOL status we have raissed it up to). We equate faith with having a right set of beliefs yet faith is not that at all. Many Christians tell people that if they believe all of the right things, their doctrine is correct, than they will go to Heaven. Jesus never talked this way, preached this way and I am sure it wasn't his dream for us to have right doctrine but wrong hearts. To have alot of information but no transformation. One story from the book so far that grab me was a converstaion that Marcus had on a plane with a lady...

"On a recent trip, the woman sitting next to me said, "I'm much more interested in Buddhism and Sufism than I am Christianity" When I asked why, she said, "Because they're about a way of life, and Christianity is all about believing. I don't think beliefs matter nearly as much as having a spiritual path and following a way."

Isn't it interesting that the first Christians were known as "followers of the Way"!

Here are some more of Marcus's thoughts:

"This preoccupation with "believing" and "beliefs" has a crucially important effect: it turns Christian faith into a "head matter"...Prior to the modern period, the most common Christian meanings of the word "faith" were not matters of the head, but matters of the heart...The heart is deeper than are head, deeper than our conscious self and the ideas we have in our heads. Faith is the way of the heart not the way of the head."

It is interesting to note that the Christian Right has spent alot of money fighting for people to believe the right things yet how much have they really engaged people's hearts? Maybe nobody wants to follow "The Way" of Jesus becuase they don't really like the people who are? Or claim to be.

One more thought from Marcus...

"The Christian life is a life of relationship and transformation. Being Christian is not about meeting requirements for the future reward in an afterlife, and not very much about believing. Rather, the Christian life is about a relationship with God that transforms life in the present. To be Christian  does not mean believing in Christianity, but a relationship with God lived within the Christian tradition as a metaphor and sacrrament of the sacred."

Looking forward to your comments!

moving towards dawn,

mark

Losing My American Jesus!

Sorry it took so long to get back on the horse. So I have just finished Rob Bell's new book Velvet Elvis. Great book! I highly recommend it especially if you are just getting exposed to Rob's style of teaching. This book along with a few others I have been reading lately have basically brought me to a complete frustration with American Christianity. Have I been at this point before? Yes, but not this deep. I am now on a quest to destroy the American Jesus and throw him on the scrap pile of worn out idols that really deliver nothing of value to anyone's life. I want the real Jesus in all His rawness, Jewishness, invasiveness and confusion. I am so sick of the church talking about Jesus and Christianity like it is some prize we find at the bottom of our cereal box. Like Jesus and salvation are something we check off of our to-do list and then head to the mall to really make ourselves feel better. The American Jesus is like a bloated Las Vegas Elvis who is way past his usefulness and is a charicature of the real thing. HMMMMM. There is a good thought! Maybe some of your think I am being too harsh, well let me assure you that I am not talking about the real Jesus I am talking about the plastic one found in most American churches! Don't we realize because we have withheld the real Jesus from people, and because we didn't have the guts to really get to know Him that we might possibley be watching the Titanic of the American Church go down. To that I say Praise God! Maybe we need a total reboot! Let's implode it all and rebuild. Anybody got any dynamite? Like Nehemiah said when looking at his ruined kingdom that once stood so beautifully "Do you see the disgrace we are in? Come let us rebuild the walls of Jerusalem so we will no longer be in disgrace!"

Here are some thoughts from Rob's Book:

"God is bigger than the Christian faith"

"For many Jesus was presented as a solution to a problem. In fact it has been the dominant way of  expalining the story of the Bible  in Western Culture for the past several hundred years. It's not that it's wrong; it's just that Jesus is so much more!"

"Christian is a great noun but a poor adjective"

"The point of the cross is not forgiveness. Forgiveness leads to something much bigger: Restoration"

"It is one thing to be saved. To believe in Jesus. It is another thing to be healed. It is possible to be saved and miserable. It is possible to be saved and not be healthy, whole, life-giving person. It is possible for the cross to have done something for a person but not in them."

more to come....

moving towards dawn,

mark

p.s. If you wanna see a really stupid church sign that proves how stupid churches are go to my friend Jason's blog it's called Jason's Jargon!

Will we ever learn!

As many of you know this weekend we had the Willow Creek Leadership Summit here at our church. Which was great! Interestingly enough one guy who left the summit in another state wrote this e-mail about leaving a UNNAMED CONFERENCE for CHRISTIAN LEADERS that was going on at the same time. You fill in the blanks!

Hey man,

Just driving back from _______________ [fill in the name of a conference at a large, well-known church, which shall remain nameless] and the van we were following out of the parking lot (the gathering of Christian leaders looking to learn to lead better in order to see God’s Kingdom realized in the lives of people here and now), and we read the bumper sticker in the back window of the van. Since you’d posted a couple of ones you’d seen driving, I thought you might enjoy this.

The road to hell is paved with liberals.

Well I’ll be. I’m sure glad we got that all cleared up. I got road rage for a little bit as we followed. I was thinking about running him off the road and asking if he’d like to accept Jesus in to his life. Enough of the judgmental spirit, since I’m so perfect I’m going to soak my head in the hot-tub.

Classic.

Hopefully they had enough intelligence to carve that bumper sticker off the minute they got home! Just thought it was funny how nothing ever seems to change! Maybe the road to hell is paved with idiots who put stupid bumper stickers on their car!

Personally I like the one that says "My kid beat up your honor student!"

moving towards dawn,

mark

Will my real idols please stand up!

This is a blog entry by a guy named Nathan that I found fascinating!He is a friend of Mike Devries whos blog is listed below and one worth following!

Will all my idols please stand up.

So I'm sitting  beside Mike Devries as he writes his latest blog filled with wisdom, and God given insight.  He's been bugging me that I don't blog enough, so I thought I show him -- so Mikey, here's my blog!

Tonight I was telling someone a story that Phil Cann told me.  Later they're going to be watching the movie "Saved", a brilliant movie written to show how not to be a Christ follower.  Phil was telling me about when the cast from the movie dropped by their youth group for a little research on what it meant to be a part of a Christian youth group.  It was amusing becasue they were trying to be "undercover" and McCauley Caulken showed up in crocodile pants.  A word to the wise McCauley, nobody where's crocodile pants to youth group. 

During the worship Mandy Moore headed up to the front of the group to join the girls praying and worshiping in front of the stage. 

What was interesting was that as soon as someone noticed who she was, the group began to gather around her so much that they had to remove her from the group.

Think about it!  Here's a group of young people worshipping the creator of the universe: coming before the throne of heaven, envied by the angels for the freedom with which they can crawl into the lap of the God of all that is -- and then here comes Mandy Moore!

"Uh God, can we pick this up later, there's this really cool person here.  And God, she's famous!"

Why is it that we are so quick to worship people rather than the people's creator? 

I made a crack about Mikey and his pressure to blog, but the reality is I actually struggle not to place him on a pedestal.  In fact I came to Y.L.I. the first year with a lot of stars in my eyes.  I remember sitting at breakfast one morning and realising that I had a book on my shelf written by every person that I was enjoying a meal with: Jim Burns, Steve Geralli, Mike Devries, Kara Powell.  As I write this, I'm waiting for Harp 46 to begin playing and I'm struggling with the urge to run over and ask April Stace for an autograph.

Why is it that we are so quick to worship people rather than the people's creator?

What's been really interesting, is that as I've gotten to know these guys, I haven't gotten to know spiritual giants who never sin, and have the answer to every question known to man, rather they are men and women of God who are doing their best to follow after their Jesus and listen to his calling and his word as well as they can.  I've met giants in the youth ministry world struggling with their own teenagers.  Mike and I have gotten to be friends because we're both members of the "False Prophet's Club".  And Robin Dugall has become my hero only because he's open about his struggles and his own short-comings.

What if we let our desire to worship people push us to worship the people's creator?

I guess what scares me, is I think I might be up on somebody else's pedestal.  Some of these students seem to talk to me in the same way I talk to some of my idols, the problem is I know my heart.  I know how sinful my thoughts are, and how selfish and impure my motives are at times.  I know how much I struggle to chase after Jesus and spend so much of my time just throwing temper tantrums because I won't listen to my Dad.  I know that the last place I should be is on anyone's pedestal.

(Interestingly enough someone at the T.E.A.M. conference just inadvertently substituted Mike Devries' name for "God" - I thought it was fitting with this particular blog)

You see if I've done anything to make a difference in someone's life it's only because that's what God has created me for, and done through me.  Mike's talks are challenging and thought provoking becasue that's what the creator made him to be.  Harp 46's music inspires me and touches me because that's what the creator made them to be.  Robin challenges these students in the conference to be revolutionary subversives because that's what the creator is doing in him at the moment.

Seeing greatness in others should only inspire us to worship the greaterness of the creator!

And for all you modern thinkers, here's a little alliteration for you

People Push Praise Pointedly, Purposefully and Positively ... to Him!

Great thoughts!

mark

Unsigned but should be!

Thought I would start the week off by putting a plug in for one of my favorite Christian duos. They are known as Shortest Way Home and their music is just incredible. Lindsey the singer is one of the best I have ever heard live. They are finishing up their album soon and shipping it out. They have opened for Bebo Norman, Big Daddy Weave, Derek Webb and many others. They would be great for a retreat, concert whatever. I would love to see them get a big break like playing on the main stage at a YS convention (Hint, Hint Tic & Marko, you wouldn't be letdown!) Go to their website and listen to some of their music or order a cd and a t-shirt. I can't say enough about these guys and how awesome they are, so help make their dream come true!

Brandon or "B" as those who know him call him, has been touring with Joy Williams as a lead guitarist and road manager. This fall he will be on tour with Joy and Bebo Norman where he will be playing for both Bebo and Joy. B this summer traveled with Joy to the Morocco Festival in Morocco where 80,000 people attended. Here is a pic of B & Joy @ that event. He also played at both Creation East Coast the largest Christian festival and Creation West Coast. So those of you who like great music. Hook a Brother Up! Buy a CD or book them for an event!

mark

Remember why you do this!

I am @ the leadership summit at my church right now. It has been a great time of renewal and teaching, but above all the speakers have been the dramas. Excellent! We just had a drama about a pastor who is meeting a friend in the park. The pastor is reading through a folder of "fan mail". You know the mail you get from all the incredible disciples of Jesus out there who find it as their God given mission to destroy you and to destroy churches. The pastor has reached the end of his rope, and he hands his resignation to his friend who just happens to be a board member at the church. I know that any of us who work in ministry have been at this place, tired of paying the price of ministry, tired of what it really is and how far that reality is from what you thought it would be. Disilussionment, despair and discouragement have become your best friends, friends you would rather not have. Yet, the drama turns when the board member reads a letter to the pastor sent from a young man who says thank you for what the church is doing "Is Saving His Life!" Therein lies the hope, notice it came from a YOUNG man. Isn't it so often the young who remind us of what is really important. We must march on carrying discouragement, despair and criticism as battle scars that remind us that we have felt our share of pain but we have not been defeated. Nobody can really run a sword through our heart because our heart belongs to Jesus and He holds the future of it nobody else. So we may get kncoked on our asses but we will rise again to fight. Nothing will take our joy! Remember you are SAVING LIVES for now and forever!

running towards the battle,

mark

"I never became a Christian to make me happy, I knew a bottle of beer would do that. If you are looking for a religion to make you happy, I sure wouldn't recommend Christianity." -C.S. Lewis

Officially Tired of Owens

So I have officially tired of T.O.! I know that this has nothing to do with ministry or maybe it does, but T.O. could possibly be beyond football redemption. Maybe he is just a product of a society that is all about ME FIRST, all about what I can get, and breaking all commitments that you make, say like a contract! Here are a couple of statements that T.O. has made on various talk shows in the lest couple of days since he was ejected from the Eagles training camp.

"Andy Reid told me to shut up" Owens said, "I told him to shut up. And I told him my name isn't Reid. My name is Owens. I'm not one of his kids. Don't tell me to shut up."

To Eagles offensive coordinator Brad Childress, he said "Speak to me only when I speak to you, you don't have to talk to me, I don't have to talk to you."

He called Donovan McNabb a "hypocrite" and said he had no desire to talk to him. That is his starting quarterback.

So to you T.O. I say "Grow up! Be teachable, be happy with your $49 million contract, and decide who is number one in your life, hopefully you will not choose yourself!" To the Eagles I say "Your bad!" Character matters and you were well aware of T.O.'s problems in San Fran. Are you happy for what you've got now! Maybe you should trade T.O. for Randy Moss!!

This kinda reminds me of UMC churches that move dysfunctional pastors around to different churches leaving a trail of broken churches in their wake. I knew there was a ministry connection! Maybe they can get Owens into the system!

Finally, note to Heinz Ward, Come home Heinz, be an upstanding guy. Pittsburgh will love you!

moving towards dawn,

mark

Wanna read more about this go [HERE]