I have been reflecting upon a few things lately (I'll get to one of them later)...
In my years as a High School coach I was struck by the manifest difference between individuals with loving two-parent homes, and those from other homes. There was a striking difference in attitude, posture, social-skills, work-ethic, demeanor, etc. Certainly not to say that this was always the case (only predominantly so) or that these young men were saddled with a burden that was beyond their capacity to overcome, simply to observe the phenomenon.
I believe God designed us to live in community. It is this dysfunctional community/family that we see in contemporary American society that leads to many social and individual ills; and even more, that leaves our young men with an inability to understand what it means to be a man. Young men struggle with authority, sexual perversion and promiscuity, acts of self-destruction and rebellion, integrity and self-worth, social engagement and intimacy; and I see these as symptoms of a childhood devoid of loving community/family, examples of true masculinity (i.e. Christ-likeness), and encouragement.
2.28.2006
2.26.2006
Wrestling
I was able to go to the Northern Section Wrestling Championships last night to watch a couple of my old wrestlers compete. I used to coach at a local High School, but felt like it was necessary for me to quit two years ago to focus on my responsibilities as a pastor and new father.
It was an absolute blast! One of the guys, Hashem, won the title; the last champ this school has had was twelve years ago. I was very proud and excited to watch. I also got to watch one of my other guys, Joe, take fourth place. I was just as proud of him.
The thing that I was excited and proud about, however, was not the success. I had been able to spend some time working with Hashem, and he applied what he was taught out in competition. It was exciting to see a young man actually listen to what a coach tells him and see success as a result. I was also very proud of Joe who simply gave it his all. He left the mat with his head low thinking he had "failed." I hope I was able to convey how proud of him I was.
Success is not really all that interesting to me (upon reflection; of course, in the moment I get caught up in success, just like the next guy), it is seeing young men choosing to do the right thing. I was just as proud of a wrestler who would apologize to a referee and opponent for losing his cool as I was to see a wrestler train as hard as he could and finish well.
2.23.2006
the wife, round one
Hi, I'm the wife, and I just recently found out about this little blog site of his so I am inviting myself onto it...
...here I am and now I just have to remember how to use it next time.
Tamy
The Church revisited
More reflections on the Church...
...I am continuing to think through and respond to my friend about the church. I thought I could clarify my thoughts on just what the Church is and isn't.
The Church is a group of people who have committed to a life of learning from Jesus; people who recognize in themselves a flaw so serious that it requires outside redemption, and see in the Executed King the only possible source for that redemption.
Because of their commitment these people will engage God, each other, the rest of humanity, and all of creation, with love and power, enduring commitment and humility, grace and justice.
The Church isn't a place, a building, a program, a meeting, or a leadership structure. The Church isn't a club for ______ people (fill in the blank with your choice of words: american, white, black, good, spiritual, etc.). The Church isn't a business, or an institution.
The above comments, when taken to their logical end, signify that "Church" happens whenever beleivers gather in his name and seek to do his will. This means that church happens when my friends visit me and my sick daughter in the hospital, or when everyone gathers together to sing to God, or when I invite a friend over for dinner and card games (if your church thinks cards are from the devil then insert the appropriate form of entertainment).
When I envision the church we will be planting, I still have a grey area around just what and when our corporate gathering will be. There is no reason to have corporate worship on Sunday morning, or to have corporate worship and teaching at the same event, etc. We will use Sunday mornings as our time of organized blessing and service to the community when we first plant, and we may continue that even after our church reaches the size necessary to hold "corporate" events. The church consists of people gathering in the name of Jesus to draw close to Him, to draw close to each other, to draw those outside of God's family inside, and to raise up men and women into Christ's image; nothing more, nothing less.
...I am continuing to think through and respond to my friend about the church. I thought I could clarify my thoughts on just what the Church is and isn't.
The Church is a group of people who have committed to a life of learning from Jesus; people who recognize in themselves a flaw so serious that it requires outside redemption, and see in the Executed King the only possible source for that redemption.
Because of their commitment these people will engage God, each other, the rest of humanity, and all of creation, with love and power, enduring commitment and humility, grace and justice.
The Church isn't a place, a building, a program, a meeting, or a leadership structure. The Church isn't a club for ______ people (fill in the blank with your choice of words: american, white, black, good, spiritual, etc.). The Church isn't a business, or an institution.
The above comments, when taken to their logical end, signify that "Church" happens whenever beleivers gather in his name and seek to do his will. This means that church happens when my friends visit me and my sick daughter in the hospital, or when everyone gathers together to sing to God, or when I invite a friend over for dinner and card games (if your church thinks cards are from the devil then insert the appropriate form of entertainment).
When I envision the church we will be planting, I still have a grey area around just what and when our corporate gathering will be. There is no reason to have corporate worship on Sunday morning, or to have corporate worship and teaching at the same event, etc. We will use Sunday mornings as our time of organized blessing and service to the community when we first plant, and we may continue that even after our church reaches the size necessary to hold "corporate" events. The church consists of people gathering in the name of Jesus to draw close to Him, to draw close to each other, to draw those outside of God's family inside, and to raise up men and women into Christ's image; nothing more, nothing less.
2.22.2006
...so we just had quite the experience.
Monday 4:00 pm - I take my 22 month old daughter Zoe with me to our friends house. Bill has had a leg amputated due to poor blood circulation and is now on serious pain medication.
Monday 6:00 pm - Zoe begins acting very drowsy, becomes flushed, very thirsty, itchy, and finally begins vomitting. Sure enough, when we called our neighbor, they found little bits of a pill on their bedroom floor. Methadone. Talk about frightening...
We call poison control and rush her to the hospital. They have to give her an IV and a catheter, we get the lovely job of holding her down for the process. Why is it that the consequences of our mistakes are played out in the lives of our children?
By 9:00 pm we have been told that she will be okay, but that she will be staying in the hospital for the night to be observed.
After her nap on Tuesday she finally began to be herself, no more dilated pupils, speaking coherently, acting herself, smiling, laughing, playing. Through it all Zoe told all the doctors and nurse how much she loved them, thank you, and even sent me out to find out what the night shift nurses name was. I truly don't deserve the gifts i have been given...
2.21.2006
Here is a blog interchange between a friend of mine and myself, the original post, and my comment, can be found at leviathen.blogspot.com the following is my response to his response to my comment to his post, haha! (My friends words are in parenthesis):
I will address your comment point by point:
(so you have truly been indoctrinated.)
I recognize that this is tongue in cheek (at least I hope so…), however, I have to point out that of the two of us, I am not the one defending the position that has behind it the weight of “popular” opinion (as per our mutual friend George Barna). If either of the two of us have been “indoctrinated” into beliefs that are backed by emotion/public opinion as opposed to beliefs originating in the heart of Jesus, I will let you be the judge as to who…
(Tell me, where in the bible does it link going to church with any of the spiritual disciplines.)
I am not quite sure where to begin here:
1) “church” in the biblical languages was a word for a group of people, not a building or a program, therefore the bible could NEVER speak of “going to church.” That combination of words simply would not make any sense in the Hebrew or Greek language.
2) The Bible also doesn’t speak of “spiritual disciplines” per se, which means that, of course, the Bible wouldn’t tie anything in to spiritual disciplines either.
3) If we use the original definition of the word church (which is consistent with what the author and original hearers would have understood it to signify) and ask if there is any link between “ekklesia,” and what we refer to as spiritual disciplines, to be found in the Bible; the answer is a resounding “YES!”
(Where in the bible does Jesus mention going to church?)
For our purposes I am going to ignore the numerous references to Jesus in the midst of the gathered God-seekers in houses of worship (I am assuming you were discounting these as somehow inferior to “Christian” gatherings, which I personally wouldn’t buy, and that is another talk for another day…), and focus rather on the description of Jesus’ life lived out in what can only be described as “ekklesia.”
Jesus spent almost every waking and sleeping moment with his “called-out-ones (ekklesia)” for approximately three years. This group of people were “gathered together in the name of Jesus” and had the unspoken purpose (implicit within the description given of this community within the Gospel narratives) of ministering to the needs of the social outcast, learning to live in community, building up men and women into bearers of the Christ-image, and spreading the news of the presently coming Kingdom.
They didn’t “attend” church because it isn’t possible to do that (at least in a way that does any sort of justice to the language used by those very people); they WERE the church. This is evident by the description given of their common life in the Gospel stories, and the subsequent definitions given of the Church by the epistles.
("It seems that the very people who hold up the banner "the church is the people" are the ones who turn their backs on those relationships."
It seems to me that you have a very narrow view of what a Christian’s relationships have to be. From this statement I surmise that you feel we should only be in relationship with those that are in some kind of church. If this is the case I would most heartedly disagree. You got to get past this idea that spiritual formation can only happen within the bounds of the churches walls. It is not reality, it's only tradition.)
1) I suppose I do have a narrow view of what a Christian’s relationships must be if they are to do any justice to the name of Christ. A Christian must seek to love Christ, and must seek to love his Christian brothers and sisters, and must seek to love the un-Christian world. If you must ask the question what would that love look like lived out in specific circumstances and with finite resources I will point you to the person of Christ.
How can we claim to love our neighbor if we never invite him into our home for dinner, or enter his home for dinner? How can we claim to have “fellowship” with the Body of Christ if we never even come into contact with its members? How can we claim to enter into the mission of God if, upon entering the world to love those we find there, we have nothing to invite them to because we are not connected to Jesus as He CHOOSES to manifest Himself in the world?
2) The Church cannot have walls because the Church isn’t a building.
3) Spiritual Formation (if by spiritual formation you mean being formed into the image of Christ) cannot happen outside of the Church (if by Church you mean the community of people in whom the Spirit of Christ manifests Himself throughout all of creation throughout all of time) by definition; it would be impossible for people to have the Spirit of Christ forming them into the image of Christ, without those people being connected to the Spirit of Christ.
4) The belief that reality and tradition cannot be one and the same thing is a silly thing to say for someone who is willing to accept as reality ANY single thing that he is not currently and personally experiencing.
("How can someone calling themselves a "life-long learner under the master Jesus" turn away from His teaching and example in this area." Huh? Example? You'll have to show me the bible you read. ‘Cause I've never seen anything referring to Jesus going to church or commanding us to go to church.)
1) You, again, do violence to the language of the Bible by asking that I produce language in the English translation of the Bible that would be the equivalent of meaningless gibberish in the original language.
2) Again, ignoring Jesus in the “church” (synagogue) of His day… Jesus devoted himself to the Church and spent his time among the Church in a way that could only be described as fanatical commitment. (Matthew 12:46-50)
3) Jesus didn’t “command” us to enter into Church, He rather invited us to join with His activity in creation, and that activity is, be definition, the Church. The Church is the people in whom the Spirit of Christ is active, the Hands and Feet of Jesus, the Agents of God’s purposes. If we turn our back on what Jesus is doing, then so be it; Jesus will never do anything outside of the scope of the Spirit-indwelt-people, aka the Church.
("Jesus embraced the life of the Church, he planted the first Church and devoted his life (24-7) to the relationships within the fledgling church community" bro..... read your bible....... Jesus was dead and risen before the church even got off the ground.)
1) Again, you bring your Modern, Western, English ways of seeing, understanding, and speaking to the Bible and its language; this impairs your ability to see what is there. (I too had to be broken of that way of seeing, thinking, speaking.) If Jesus died prior to the Church’s existence, then what is the meaning of His specific usage of the term “church” several times? (Matthew 16:18, Matthew 18:17) What other conceivable meaning could Jesus have had than “church” when He referred to the Church as “church?” (Don’t forget to remember the original meaning of the word “church” when you read the previous sentence!) The word church at that time was not the label that it is today; the word church had no specific connotations to the person of Jesus, or to His followers, or even to spirituality. (If my sources are correct, the word church was originally a political term in the Greek.) The word was simply an adequate descriptor of what was taking place around the Messiah, and could very easily have been replaced with various other words that would have come down the centuries to mean (in their adulterated definition) what the term Church means today (the adulterated definition).
2) What other possible rationale is there for defining the community of Christ-followers as the Church if not the presence of Jesus in their midst? (Isn’t this a central idea of John 15?) Which was the promise of our Master Himself (Matthew 28:20b, John 20:22, Matthew 18:20), and was just as true when Jesus was present in the flesh as it was when He was present in the Spirit.
(seriously, lets back these up with some scriptural reference.)
I have tried to do so with my limited understanding and scope of study, I would challenge you to begin seeking the Bible, not for what you hope to find to justify your anger or frustration at broken people and organizations, but for what the Bible reveals the Church to be. I too have approached the Bible to find support for my own pet ideas, when I humbled myself I found (and continue to find) Jesus and the people He loves and indwells.
I do not mean to hurt you by my words. You know I consider you a brother. I love the Church with my imperfect reflection of Christ’s perfect love for His Bride, whom He died for.
Do not find yourself in the position of Saul who, in persecuting the Church, was asked by Christ, “Why are you persecuting ME?” (Acts 9:4)
I will address your comment point by point:
(so you have truly been indoctrinated.)
I recognize that this is tongue in cheek (at least I hope so…), however, I have to point out that of the two of us, I am not the one defending the position that has behind it the weight of “popular” opinion (as per our mutual friend George Barna). If either of the two of us have been “indoctrinated” into beliefs that are backed by emotion/public opinion as opposed to beliefs originating in the heart of Jesus, I will let you be the judge as to who…
(Tell me, where in the bible does it link going to church with any of the spiritual disciplines.)
I am not quite sure where to begin here:
1) “church” in the biblical languages was a word for a group of people, not a building or a program, therefore the bible could NEVER speak of “going to church.” That combination of words simply would not make any sense in the Hebrew or Greek language.
2) The Bible also doesn’t speak of “spiritual disciplines” per se, which means that, of course, the Bible wouldn’t tie anything in to spiritual disciplines either.
3) If we use the original definition of the word church (which is consistent with what the author and original hearers would have understood it to signify) and ask if there is any link between “ekklesia,” and what we refer to as spiritual disciplines, to be found in the Bible; the answer is a resounding “YES!”
(Where in the bible does Jesus mention going to church?)
For our purposes I am going to ignore the numerous references to Jesus in the midst of the gathered God-seekers in houses of worship (I am assuming you were discounting these as somehow inferior to “Christian” gatherings, which I personally wouldn’t buy, and that is another talk for another day…), and focus rather on the description of Jesus’ life lived out in what can only be described as “ekklesia.”
Jesus spent almost every waking and sleeping moment with his “called-out-ones (ekklesia)” for approximately three years. This group of people were “gathered together in the name of Jesus” and had the unspoken purpose (implicit within the description given of this community within the Gospel narratives) of ministering to the needs of the social outcast, learning to live in community, building up men and women into bearers of the Christ-image, and spreading the news of the presently coming Kingdom.
They didn’t “attend” church because it isn’t possible to do that (at least in a way that does any sort of justice to the language used by those very people); they WERE the church. This is evident by the description given of their common life in the Gospel stories, and the subsequent definitions given of the Church by the epistles.
("It seems that the very people who hold up the banner "the church is the people" are the ones who turn their backs on those relationships."
It seems to me that you have a very narrow view of what a Christian’s relationships have to be. From this statement I surmise that you feel we should only be in relationship with those that are in some kind of church. If this is the case I would most heartedly disagree. You got to get past this idea that spiritual formation can only happen within the bounds of the churches walls. It is not reality, it's only tradition.)
1) I suppose I do have a narrow view of what a Christian’s relationships must be if they are to do any justice to the name of Christ. A Christian must seek to love Christ, and must seek to love his Christian brothers and sisters, and must seek to love the un-Christian world. If you must ask the question what would that love look like lived out in specific circumstances and with finite resources I will point you to the person of Christ.
How can we claim to love our neighbor if we never invite him into our home for dinner, or enter his home for dinner? How can we claim to have “fellowship” with the Body of Christ if we never even come into contact with its members? How can we claim to enter into the mission of God if, upon entering the world to love those we find there, we have nothing to invite them to because we are not connected to Jesus as He CHOOSES to manifest Himself in the world?
2) The Church cannot have walls because the Church isn’t a building.
3) Spiritual Formation (if by spiritual formation you mean being formed into the image of Christ) cannot happen outside of the Church (if by Church you mean the community of people in whom the Spirit of Christ manifests Himself throughout all of creation throughout all of time) by definition; it would be impossible for people to have the Spirit of Christ forming them into the image of Christ, without those people being connected to the Spirit of Christ.
4) The belief that reality and tradition cannot be one and the same thing is a silly thing to say for someone who is willing to accept as reality ANY single thing that he is not currently and personally experiencing.
("How can someone calling themselves a "life-long learner under the master Jesus" turn away from His teaching and example in this area." Huh? Example? You'll have to show me the bible you read. ‘Cause I've never seen anything referring to Jesus going to church or commanding us to go to church.)
1) You, again, do violence to the language of the Bible by asking that I produce language in the English translation of the Bible that would be the equivalent of meaningless gibberish in the original language.
2) Again, ignoring Jesus in the “church” (synagogue) of His day… Jesus devoted himself to the Church and spent his time among the Church in a way that could only be described as fanatical commitment. (Matthew 12:46-50)
3) Jesus didn’t “command” us to enter into Church, He rather invited us to join with His activity in creation, and that activity is, be definition, the Church. The Church is the people in whom the Spirit of Christ is active, the Hands and Feet of Jesus, the Agents of God’s purposes. If we turn our back on what Jesus is doing, then so be it; Jesus will never do anything outside of the scope of the Spirit-indwelt-people, aka the Church.
("Jesus embraced the life of the Church, he planted the first Church and devoted his life (24-7) to the relationships within the fledgling church community" bro..... read your bible....... Jesus was dead and risen before the church even got off the ground.)
1) Again, you bring your Modern, Western, English ways of seeing, understanding, and speaking to the Bible and its language; this impairs your ability to see what is there. (I too had to be broken of that way of seeing, thinking, speaking.) If Jesus died prior to the Church’s existence, then what is the meaning of His specific usage of the term “church” several times? (Matthew 16:18, Matthew 18:17) What other conceivable meaning could Jesus have had than “church” when He referred to the Church as “church?” (Don’t forget to remember the original meaning of the word “church” when you read the previous sentence!) The word church at that time was not the label that it is today; the word church had no specific connotations to the person of Jesus, or to His followers, or even to spirituality. (If my sources are correct, the word church was originally a political term in the Greek.) The word was simply an adequate descriptor of what was taking place around the Messiah, and could very easily have been replaced with various other words that would have come down the centuries to mean (in their adulterated definition) what the term Church means today (the adulterated definition).
2) What other possible rationale is there for defining the community of Christ-followers as the Church if not the presence of Jesus in their midst? (Isn’t this a central idea of John 15?) Which was the promise of our Master Himself (Matthew 28:20b, John 20:22, Matthew 18:20), and was just as true when Jesus was present in the flesh as it was when He was present in the Spirit.
(seriously, lets back these up with some scriptural reference.)
I have tried to do so with my limited understanding and scope of study, I would challenge you to begin seeking the Bible, not for what you hope to find to justify your anger or frustration at broken people and organizations, but for what the Bible reveals the Church to be. I too have approached the Bible to find support for my own pet ideas, when I humbled myself I found (and continue to find) Jesus and the people He loves and indwells.
I do not mean to hurt you by my words. You know I consider you a brother. I love the Church with my imperfect reflection of Christ’s perfect love for His Bride, whom He died for.
Do not find yourself in the position of Saul who, in persecuting the Church, was asked by Christ, “Why are you persecuting ME?” (Acts 9:4)
2.19.2006
...aren't they just hilarious!?!
I never cease laughing when my daughter is around...
...our friends (James and Rebecca) gave our daughter a life size doll (life size for her anyways) and she promptly christened the doll "Rebeccajames" which was quickly shortened to "Beccajeem" but has since become simply "James." I know that my daughter will have to wait many years untill she sees the humor in having a doll with long hair and a dress that is named "James," but it is sure funny to us...
We are constantly trying to answer questions like "Does James stand or sit when he/she goes peepee? Should we refer to James as he or she? Does this situation signify anything about our daughter, or ourselves as parents? And similar humorous inquiries...
..don't they just make you laugh...
...like the tendency they have to experiment with newly discovered body parts in public, or new language. Zoe wouldn't stop talking about "Papa's nipples" the other day while I was trying to have a serious conversation with one of the women in our church, needless to say, the conversation wasn't very serious for very long...
It is no wonder that I find Calvin and Hobbes to be the funniest comic, children are simply amazing reserviors of natural and unintentional comedy.
2.17.2006
The Church
...so, I think the Church is the only place on the planet where anything of any real (read eternal) value can take place; we say schools can educate (but our conception of education doesn't include changing hearts, minds, and lives), governments can create laws (but laws don't create law-abiders, merely set the limits we use to mete out consequences), armies can conquer (but the most powerful armed force on the planet can't keep my heart safe from evil). In my estimation, the one place that has been granted any true authority in this world to redeem, heal, comfort, soothe, encourage, teach (in the true sense of the word)*, is the body of Christ - the Spirit of God living and breathing in those who let Him. (So I guess that makes me an Arminian?)
I know that in today's climate it is trendy to discuss the failures of the Church, of course there are failures; the same people who comprise our failing schools, governments, militaries, are the makeup of the Church. How about the success!!! People love to talk about the minister who sleeps around, what about the sexual deviant who is free of his past and can love his wife and child in purity; people get giddy over Churches "extorting" their congregations while the pastor drives a BMW, what about the family caught up in greedy-western-materialism that gives half a years income to someone they barely know because "God told them to"; people drool uncontrolably when the Church abuses authority (aka has the audacity to teach submission as a prerequisite for Christ-likeness), what about the spiteful, angry, rebellious man who is transformed into a servant?
I am the first to say that Christians need to change, that we aren't perfect, that the Church is full of sinners... because that is the whole point; the whole world is full of sinners, the Church is the one place that is full of sinners in the process of perfection (granting it won't be completed till Kingdom Come).
The Church is the only place that manifests the only real treasure available; the divine spark, the pearl of great price, the transcendent Spirit of God made immanent, the Love and Grace of the Divine Reality offered to those who recieve it joyously yet undeservingly, the Gospel. Can we be more pure, more honest, more meek? Of course! Does this justify indignation? Of course not! To point to sinners in the Church and use this as an excuse to remain judgmental, stingy, greedy, rebellious, is simply silly and hardly a help to anyone including ourselves.
*Educator's define learning as aquired knowledge evidenced by a change in behavior.
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