Community Life

I had the opportunity to be in Johnson City the past few days visiting with friends.  I am so proud of  them!  They are committing this year to being together and discerning who God wants them to be and how they can best serve the church.  All of them are college grads (some with masters degrees) working at Starbucks, in youth ministry, or with the disabled.  It’s not a glamorous life, and at times it can be frustrating and humbling, but they truly believe that a life surrounded by an ‘intentional community’ is part of God’s eternal kingdom breaking in.  I joined them during evening prayer – Compline – and was blessed to be reminded that this community intercedes for the life of the world every day. 

I know everyone can’t live that kind of life.  The level to which people are willing or able to participate in Christian community varies tremendously.  It can be a stretch for some people to meet in a small group every week for an hour.  Things like life-stage and spiritual maturity are major factors, but whatever level we are at we need to be connected in some way! We can’t discover who God wants us to be without each other.  It takes others for us to really understand love, patience, grace, forgiveness, submission and a host of other things that make up the Christian life.

I’m in the middle of reading Thomas Merton’s No Man is an Island (my new must read for small groups pastors when things are getting a little to pragmatic).  Merton was a Trappist monk in the Cistercian Abbey of Gethsemani near Bardstown, Kentucky.  He writes (bold added):

What every man looks for in life is his own salvation and the salvation of the men he lives with.  By salvation I mean first of all the full discovery of who he himself really is.  Then I mean something of the fulfillment of his own God-given powers, in the love of others and of God.  I mean also the discovery that he cannot find himself in himself alone, but that he must find himself in and through others.  Ultimately, these propositions are summed up in two lines of the Gospel: “If any man would save his life, he must lose it,’ and, ‘Love one another as I have loved you,’ It is also contained in another saying from St. Paul: “We are all members one of another.’”

How can we truly love each other if we don’t know each other?  And how can we even begin to know each other if we don’t do the hard, messy work of life together?  If we aren’t willing to put the work in, to lose our lives, then we are missing out on the abundant life that God has for us, a beautiful replacement for the selfish one we’ve been clinging too. 

Friendship and life in community is one of the things I think about a lot, so if you see the friendship icon, you’ll know what’s on my mind.

All I Want for Christmas is New Video Editing Software

My wonderful parents, who know me so well, gave me new video editing software for Christmas.  Goodbye, Windows Movie Maker, you were free but terrible. Hello, more special effects than I can reasonably learn in the week I have off. 

Fueled by boredom and sentimentality, here’s my latest video.

So That’s Why Everyone Comes South for the Winter

 I was meandering down the cobblestone streets of Savannah this afternoon enjoying the 68 degree weather with what I’m pretty sure was the entire state of Wisconsin.  Having always lived in the South, my family would go where it’s cold and snowy for vacation.  But now I understand what a pleasure it is to be able to breath the air outside without my teeth turning into little teeth icicles.  In addition to the warm weather, I’m having a great time with my parents, catching up on some reading, listening to some recommended music.  Band of Horses (thanks Nathan!) and The Avett Brothers (thanks Paula and Beth!) are my two favorites so far. 

I’m a Cover Story!

Thanks to the latest addition of U.S. News and World Report I finally have a somewhat mainstream religious category for my friends and myself - “neotraditionalist.” As a person who hates to be put into categories or follow trends, I’m not sure if I should be excited about this, but maybe it gives me a little more street cred.  According to the article, these are postmodern 20- and 30- somethings, who have “an almost intuitive attraction to liturgy, ritual, and symbol as forms of knowledge that complement the dominant rational scientific one.”  They are drawn to Eucharist, creeds, and the church fathers.  Maybe all those church history classes I took will come in handy after all! 

So when one sees that one is part of a trend what is the theologically responsible thing to do?  I mean, I only wore my WWJD bracelet for a few weeks before I realized there must be a better way for me to live like Christ.  But it’s true, something about liturgy, ritual and symbols resonate with me, connect me with God and the Church that I didn’t feel or know before.   Liturgy pulls me out of the secular world and is that “thin space” between the physical and spiritual world (as Aaron Monts is so fond of saying).  Ritual is a major part of Christian discipline.  It forms us and molds us.  Symbols remind us that the world is ultimately a mystery, revealed in glimpses and metaphor, not in strict fact or one-to-one correspondence.  So maybe this is the beginning of a substantial return to what the Church used before the Enlightenment or maybe just a temporary trend, either way, I’m a cover story!

So you’re never going to believe this, but an angel appeared and…

The daily lectionary text for December 19th  

Judges 13:2-7, 24-25a  |  Psalms 71  |  Luke 1:5-25

Excerpt from Luke 1:11-20 “Then there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified; and fear overwhelmed him. But the angel said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.’ Zechariah said to the angel, ‘How will I know that this is so? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years.’ The angel replied, ‘I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur.’”

Christmas time is full of angels.  Angels on top of our trees, chubby awkward angels strung up from rafters in Christmas plays (I’ve never actually seen this but it seems to be a staple of the Americana Christmas story), angels in bells covered in glitter, on our wrapping paper and cards, knit into sweaters.  With all those angels I have yet to see one that strikes me with any kind of holy terror.  Real messengers of God demand to be heard, they bring impossible news, they babies foretold don’t grow up to be nice men.  If I ever have children I hope that they do not end up like Samson or John.  These sons born with such promise had violent ends; they died as prophets of God.  We have turn angels into cuddly babies and God’s promise into happily ever after. 

People ignore the Holy Spirit and God’s messengers all the time. And we can too, but like Zechariah this will limit our ability to share the good new of the Lord.  When we decide when to listen to God, when we decide how God’s message should come and what that message should be, we end up with an message that is decidedly our own and devoid of any holiness.  Angels bring impossible news, mainly that old people or virgins are having children.  Those who no one would expect to be useful, become the bearers of prophets, priests and the savior of the world.  Believe the good news, in Jesus Christ that which is barren and unused in you can bring glory to God and life for the world.  

Only in East Tennessee

Three of the best years of my life were spent in Johnson City so I can say this - only in East Tennessee (let me know if I’m wrong).  I was leaving the mall with a friend of mine when we stopped at this stop sign.  I promptly got out and took a picture. I don’t know if the imperative is directed at Satan (does Satan frequently the Johnson City mall?) or the person reading the sign, but anyway I’ve missed randomly placed religous signs since I’ve been in Chicago.  

Packing Up… Again

I’m moving again.  After being in Chicagoland for a mere six months, I’m leaving for New York City.  The idea of half the year in Chicago, the other half in New York seemed really exciting at the beginning – and it still is – but when your job is to form relationships and you work with such an amazing team of people it becomes really hard too. 

 I was bemoaning this and a few of the other challenges about moving to the most crowded city in America the past couple of weeks when we had the first part of our Audible series at CCC.  The main text was the parable of the talents.  Jon talked about being faithful with what you’ve been given means that God will continue to give you more.  Being generous with our lives mean that God will give us more to be generous with!!  And Holy Spirit light bulb went off. 

I gave my life to God when I was baptized sixteen years ago, and I’m still learning what all that means.  But what this weekend reminded me of was that the more God asks me to trust and be faithful and I do trust and am faithful, the more I’ll be given.  So, when things get harder, when the leaps of faith seem crazier I should take that as a compliment.  Kind of (and I stress kind of here) like taking the GRE.  The better you do on the GRE the harder the computer makes the questions.  When I got to a question and I didn’t know any of the words, I knew I was doing well (until I realized I was probably going to get that question wrong).    

Through this all, God has given me a deep peace, totally the “peace that passes all understanding.”  So if you’re a thinking about being a Christ-follower (let alone a NewThing Leadership Resident), get ready to grow.