Labor Day...

I was studying Genesis this past year and spoke on it during the summer and one of the things that caught my attention was the curse on Adam.

Genesis 3:17 To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,'
"Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life.

18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.

19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return."

I thought, "Is that really the curse for Adam? Is that curse still relevant today? Is there an emergent curse? One that deals with us, white, middle income, males, who sit behind a desk, works with computers instead of farm implements, and who buys their groceries at Von's or the Piggly Wiggly? We have overrode the curse with technology and hired out the labor to laborers."

Then I started thinking of the Kingdom and who is blessed in the Garden. Those who work in the Garden. Not by profession but by heart and soul. It is easy to override the curse but that doesn't give us the blessing. Just because we don't sweat in the toil for our food doesn't mean that we find ourselves blessed in the living of our lives.

We have transferred the curse and the humiliation to those who toil in the fields and sweat for the food which we eat in our air conditioned homes. We treat them with contempt when they want a better standard of living for their families by asking for a fairer wage. Farmers are not the villains here, we are all.

We cannot use scripture to demand our family values are held by government but turn our backs on the people who labor for our food, when those same scriptures call us to love justice and mercy. We who follow Christ cannot be blind towards those who the curse is cast upon and expect that we can keep our family values intact. Are the laborers without family values? Are the laborers not worthy of the redemption to the garden and isn't the Garden where we find our values?

I think Labor Day is for us to remember the laborer and not just another day off from work...

Part One...

What has shaped my theology...

These past few months I have been trying to examine what do I believe, why do I believe, and from where did I learn to believe it that way?! I do that periodically just like I clean out my garage in the spring.

I think many of what I believe came from strange places different places than scripture. Some were by omission and some commission. Some were from reactions to strange phenomena and some were intentionally misinformed because it would require too much faith and it couldn't be explained easily. Christmas pageants, bumperstinkers and clichés developed some. Authors of mass produced books and christian celebriatti developed some.

I was in a conversation with a guy who was pretty adamant that it has to be Sola Scriptura (scripture alone) that guides our theology. I do think that the Scriptures must direct it and that they should not be watered down by culture but I am wondering about some of the things I believed that might be a reaction by the reformation with anti-Catholic sentiments, by the Azusa Street Revival (which may also have a bit racial prejudice attachments), by anti-jewish, white-male-western-institutional-dominated thoughts, that shaped how I looked at Scripture, from hence my theology came.

Please understand, I am not trying to be liberal or anti-Conservative or even cool, but I was humming "We Three Kings of Orient are..." and started asking, "who are those guys?" At first just dismissing them as couple of oriental guys on camelback come looking for the Messiah. I carefully reread the story in Matthew 2 and found myself completely baffled by what I believed. I have read through that story many times getting to the Jesus as a babe part but never stopped long enough to consider it much who these guys were. Star gazers, prophet readers, political strategist, and probably Persians (who were enemies of the Roman empire-not to mention our enemies today Iran and Afganistan)... These are messengers of faith? Star gazers used by God? And don't forget the shepherds? Shepherds were farm workers, and God used farm workers to announce the birth of the one who He sent to save us.

Stargazers and farm workers became the evangelist of the time! Today, those people are easily dismissed. Uneducated or miseducated. But these are people of faith, and it takes people used by God, not just people who check off "Christian" on the census questionnaire, to proclaim the truth of God. Is my theology open to stargazers and farm workers to tell me the truth of God?

Sola Scriptura is good as long as it is not tainted with neo-conservative philosophy or liberal disregardation. Seminaries teach the scriptures but they also teach "the correct way" to view scripture - their bent way. I am sure that my bent way of looking at the Scriptures have twisted my religion (the way I live out my faith), and must be open to The Voice to correct my course from time to time...

Sola Scriptura + Sola Spiritus = Soli Deo gloria (Glory to God alone)

Ummm...

Culture

Story...

"Ivan Illich was once asked what is the most revolutionary way to change society.
Is it violent revolution or is it gradual reform?
He gave a careful answer.
Neither.
If you want to change society,
then you must tell an alternative story."
Tim Costello

Third World Communities...

Lately I have been thinking about ministry and a new way of getting people into full time ministry. Full time ministry use to be going to seminary and getting a Masters of Divinity degree and then finding a church to preach, baptize, bury, and marry. Now people who aren't professionally trained in anything but in compassion begin missions that bring focus to needs in some of the third world countries. Invisible Children, Village Schools, LifeWaters, and others that are clear examples of people with a heart and understanding of needs doing Kingdom Work without a denomination backing. Yes there are many in denoms who set up mission agencies throughout the world, but I see a group of people who are not waiting for the Institution to begin something they just do it. And the backing comes with the rock band entrepreneurial understanding of what will attract the attention and hearts of this generation.

I have been encouraging college students to reinvent some of the mission thinking that goes to third world countries and set up missions of aide and gospel. Can we start developing and ordaining people to begin doing that in the USofA in third world communities? I use this term not as a pejorative term but more as a description of need and possibilities. I think about some of the communities just in the San Joaquin Valley where the poverty level, single mothers rate, drug and alcohol problems are staggering. Communities that get hit hard when the weather causes devastation and it takes acts of Congress to relieve the problem but never affect change in the hearts and lives of those who's lives are precariously teetering on the kindness of others. Once the devastation is no longer titillating enough for media consumption the film and talking head crews pack up along with the hearts, pocketbooks, and attention of the viewing public. Leaving behind a worse poverty than before the devastation.

My son, Simon tells me of his trip to the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans and how still many homes and businesses are without any greatly needed repairs and the deepening of despair is taking the place of help that isn't coming as much when it was the thing to do with a youth group. Those who come down to spend a week or so are greeted with a heartfelt thanks and love for remembering them.

What if we start ordaining community organizers, social workers, water engineers, solar engineers, nurses, school teachers, and other disciples who are professionals that are needed to change the course of a community to accept their Call into third world communities as well as third world countries. What if the Church and not the government started programs to turn around hearts, souls and minds to health and contribution to the community. We need to begin to look at the church budget of finances and time to see what we value and most of it is oiling a system instead of creating opportunities of releasing people to mission.

Praying in the Revolution

I have been praying for people for a long time. I am not saying that to brag but to witness the power of redemption that revolutionarily changes people's lives. Lies that people believed and lived accordingly when brought into the light of truth by the Wind of the Spirit begins a dismantling of behaviors and systems. I love to ask Jesus what is the root of a behavior or a belief, and then He actually shows us. No fear.

Today I prayed with a friend who was having some issues in a relationship with a guy. Whenever the guy was around she would close down and be very silent. This is not like her. She is very kind and engaging. We asked the Savior to show her the root of this behavior and He did. We asked what should she do and Jesus told her. Very clear and loving. She said she was unable and Jesus said she had the authority and power to do what needed to be done. She renounced the power and authority she has been giving this lie and I saw her face strengthen and peace began to rise in her face and eyes.

He spoke to her about other things that needed to be dealt with and with peace and assurance, much more than just confidence, she let her Savior do what needed to be done and said. She left differently than when she sat down and asked if we could talk.

I watched a Revolution take place in the systems that controlled her heart and mind. We thank Jesus...

Microcredit...

I have been reading and thinking a lot about the concept of microfinancing and microcredit. Dr. Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank won the Nobel Peace Prize "for their efforts to create economic and social development from below. Lasting peace can not be achieved unless large population groups find ways in which to break out of poverty. Micro-credit is one such means. Development from below also serves to advance democracy and human rights." According to The Norwegian Nobel Committee.

I am probably very late to the party on this and most of you have been reading and hearing about this since 13 October 2006 when the committee declared their recipient of the prize. But I am new to economics and am pretty slow at understanding these things. But I am intrigued by Dr. Yunus and making it happen on a larger scale than just a village.

This concept started me thinking about investment and what we invest in. In talking to the summer staff a couple of nights ago I asked them what they were doing with the education that has been invested by someone for them? When is the "note due?" I want to challenge them to begin the process of paying off the investment by making microinvestments in others so that others may have an opportunity to later invest in others who may ha...

Who has invested in us? (Of course, Jesus, but lets move out of Sunday School for a second and think) What was laid down so that we could rise up? We who have been invested with breath, what are we doing with it? We who have been invested with the words that are true and faithful, according to Revelation 22, what are we doing with it? Arguing about insignificance or are we setting people free to deeply breathe? I look at the world and notice that we have much in comparison to the rest of the world, and what are we doing with it?

My life is changing...

Method to my madness...

Now that staff has arrived and got their shirts and pondered the theme as well as the design, I wanted to let you know more of why I went with the design. (If you could care less then go HERE)

The fist, for those of us in the sixties and seventies know, is a symbol for power. The Black Panthers used it in black, the Solidarity Movement of Poland used it in red, my mom left it on my bottom as I was growing up and misbehaving in flesh and red, very red... Power. The symbol I have talks of power but the power isn't in the fist it is in the crucified hole. A bit of irony to say that our power comes, not in an overthrow, but a dying to our selves and becoming submitted to and serving the King, Jesus the Christ, the Crucified One, the Resurrected One.

Thought I would now let you know so no one is thinking that I am talking about overthrowing the church (institution) or anything like that... ; )

Here it is...

I have been praying a lot, thinking a lot, listening to people a lot, and I decided to go for it anyway. It is not that I don't care what some of you think, but I have to be faithful to what I think God is thinking. I felt like the design and theme was important to the message and I think this is the design that God gave me for this summer. Therefore I stayed with it.

I think that we are in a time of revolution against a culture that has turned being a disciple into a commodity. We have made it into a political force. We have turned it into culture that studies the truth instead of living by the truth. This culture is generated by my self. My self is fearful, so it tries to be comfortable, controlling, and cool. Instead of being submitted, faithful, righteous, and intimate. In trying to be unique, I have sold out to conformity to those who are seeking their own identity instead of Christ's. I want what I am passionate about instead of for what He is passionate enough to die. It is more than just a social gospel, it is a life truth.

This is more than sinning with alcohol, drugs, porn, lust, etc. This is sinning by conforming to this world. Conforming to my fears. Conforming to someone's ideals, not Jesus' way.

I know BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH... you run a camp, a christian camp, and this is just a well intentioned adjustment. A very cliched word right now. Revolution is used in books by some good authors and you are just jumping on the band wagon. What difference do you think you can make with a theme and a shirt.

Ummm. Gee. I hope to speak the truth. I am going to ask people to renounce their preconceive notions of religion and begin to look at scripture, starting with the sermon on the mount and ask ourselves will I follow this teaching? Not add my rationalizations, just follow it. Will it change, fundamentally change, the way I think? Will it change, fundamentally change, the way I look at people and myself? Will it open my eyes, ears, heart, mind, and strength to live a human life responsive to the love of Jesus or will I continue to fit in to a culture that doesn't really trust in the WAY of Jesus?

Today it begins...

A question...

I really like Rob Bell, the pastor of Mars Hill Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

He asked a question, "if our ministry closed up today, who would miss us?" Would the neighbors, the community, the poor, the homeless... ?

I have been thinking about that a lot...

Some conversations...

I was in a conversation today with a young man who ask why I wasn't a fan of the church. I asked him why he thought that and he said that is what he heard. It made me think. Do I not like the church? Am I not a fan? Maybe I don't talk much about what really turns me on that some churches are doing.

I do love the Body of Christ. I see it in some people and not necessarily the entire system of Christianity. I think somewhere along the line we forgot the checking in part of doing what Jesus is doing rather we just kind of go running off and doing what we do so well. We are really good at doing church but are we good at doing the will of God? We teach the Way of Jesus, but do we follow the Way of Jesus?

I am impressed with some megachurches that reach out to the community with a lot of programs to reach a variety of groups of need. I am not too impressed with smaller churches who go to seminars put on by megachurches to become the megachurch of tomorrow. I think we need to go to the head of the body and ask what are we suppose to be doing?

There is this little church in Bakersfield that is growing old and getting smaller but reaches out to the neighborhood kids after school. They reach out to those who have no money, no influence, they just like being a part of the community within this little building. Faithful. I am impressed with a young woman, Sam, who was the youth leader for a while with those kids before she went off to college. Nothing dynamic just true to the word of Jesus. Cup of cold water type stuff. I am a big fan of hers.

I am impressed with a couple of pastors down in the OC who are ministering to very wealthy kids. It is hard to minister to wealthy kids, as it is hard for them to enter into the Kingdom, they are so busy with what is possible to do, that the Kingdom can't compete. Yet, these guys love these students and spend a lot of time in relationship. It is not an easy job. Don't be fooled by the trappings of wealth, they work hard bringing life to these kids who study a lot to prepare for their future. These two guys are also preparing for their future.

I admire my friend in the Great Northwest who is getting older and still stays in youth ministry despite pastors and elders who continually hassle him. His youth group is as large as the church and continues to grow. But he is continually hassled and suspect of dubious intentions.

I was envious of a friend who use to go to a small church where it was in a racially mixed neighborhood. Old and young, black, white, and brown, middle class and poor all gathering to worship and support the neighbors who need the love of Jesus.

I am impressed with a church in the South, who buys up homes, fix them up and them sells them cheaply to those who need them. This is a church that has about a hundred (100) people in attendance. And they are not wealthy.

There is a church in Visalia who is remodeling a building to put in a coffee shop and concert and discussion venue that will be open to business and other churches for Alpha Program and other ecumenical ministries. It is more than a cool place to grab a cup of Joe, it is a place that will bring people together, faith-based or need-based. I was so amazed at the creativity of this downtown church to stay downtown and minister to those who work and live downtown. They also partner with other churches to reach a certain neighborhood with deep poverty and crime.

There is a church that partnered with the southeast Asian community around its property and ordained a lay pastor couple and have people who are a part of this community to be a part of the session and committees of the church. It is one thing to let them use the building, but to include them in on decisions that affect the whole body. Voice.

I am not a big fan of churches that spend more time planning to leave the presbytery than they do planning on eradicating poverty in the parish around the sanctuary...

UPDATE: Why would I say such a thing? I am not saying that some churches shouldn't leave the PCUSA. But there are some churches who after two years all that I have heard from them is they are against the PCUSA. They are in low income neighborhoods which use to be middle class, so they planted a church there, to reach out the neighborhood. Now that demographics have changed and people don't want to drive into the neighborhood, and those who are extreme traditionalist come because, dammit, this is their church won't reach out to the parish where they are planted. Some spend more money on painting the lines in the parking lot than they send to end world hunger.

My friend wrote concerned about the paragraph before the UPDATE. My reply is: I don't think when I enter the throne room that we will be asked what we did with those who had different doctrine than we did. We will be told, what is written in Matthew 25:35 - 40

"Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in;
naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.'
"Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink?
'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?
'When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?'
"The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'

It seems that we who have gotten our doctrine "right" should also be very concerned AND DOING SOMETHING to eradicating poverty, homelessness, and the correlating mortality that accompanies. I am not a liberal, but I cannot continue supporting a doctrine and practice that is more concerned with an institution than a life. If the institution doesn't correlate with your faith and practice, LEAVE. Quit talking and start dealing with the real issues.

Matthew 25 is a strong chapter with some strong warnings. I would hate to hear, "Depart from me...'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' "These will go away into eternal punishment..." But on the way out I wonder if He will say, "Good job on being "right" while a child died every few seconds because of poverty. But you did stand up for ordination vows." (These last were my words and not scripture.)

Use caution: This may not be appropriate for you...

I have been thinking a lot about sex lately.

No, not a mid-life crisis.

Not an identity crisis.

More of a spirituality crisis.

Removing my self from the Body of Christ (I am not just interchanging words here with the institution) is similar to not being intimate with my wife, which is more than a physical intimacy. This intimacy must be open and deep. Not surfacy and cliched like a Barry White song. Nakedness and vulnerability go hand in hand (pun intended). Breathing in each other and "knowing" each other takes commitment and trust, more than program and showing up. We think this can be accomplish by coming to "worship" on a Sunday morning for an hour will be enough foreplay to bring us into a rhythm that brings our hearts together but it is too much of a cheap date that doesn't take much thought or understanding of the needs of the whole body. A sermon and hymns or praise songs are as intimate as a kiss and a grope. I leave feeling uninvested in and probably won't get a call in the morning. I am not putting out anymore for a one hour stand.

Deep conversations that come from deep inside that touches something deep inside of us is what is needed. Touch is important. We want to be moved by a passion that would stir our passion, not a academic powerpoint on the anatomy of The Body. No flannel. Flesh. Tears. The warm embrace of Truth that dispels fear but keeps us in contact with The One who drove out fear. Rationalizing away the fear doesn't do it, because the fear is within us as well as without. Being alone and told that I am alone doesn't take away loneliness. I need to smell the fragrance in the neck of the Redeemer.

It is good to understand how it works and what goes where but at some point we need to put down the pointer and overheads and get it on. It will be a bit messy and we may need to clean up some afterwards but isn't it better than a sterile environment which never lets you work up a sweat? We have been created to be vulnerable and in rhythm with The Lover of our Soul yet we don't allow anything that would keep the tempo. We have gotten too established to show any cleavage of our heart. We keep it very buttoned up and proper to allow anything that would attract us to The Lover. We make it too much about Romans and not enough about Songs of Solomon.

Marriage is to show the relationship between Jesus and his bride (us). I don't want a notice coming in the mail saying that our union is annulled because of sexual incompatibility...

A missional look at program...

I was thinking the other day on my flight back from Las Vegas about programs and missions. I was thinking about Jesus and the Old Testament (Have you seen the candy in the Bible Bookstores called New TestaMints?) and the difference between the prophets and The Sermon on the Mount. The reason I liked Jesus when I first truly read the Gospels was The Sermon. He painted a picture of the Kingdom instead just gave laws. I could imagine the Kingdom, it is hard to imagine me not breaking the law. Jesus empowered his disciples, the law seemed to restraint them. "Not that there's anything wrong with that..."

What are the things that we seem to talk about when we think of being a "good Christian?" Sinning, not power. We talk more about what we shouldn't do rather than what we are able to do. We deal more with the flesh than we move in the spirit. It is more academic that praxis. I think this focus causes a bizarre perversions. We look for the peripheral line rather than the turn around and see the entire area of the Kingdom. I watch more people with their feet on the line instead of their hands within the circle. This posture leads people to have a thinking that they can have oral copulation with a boyfriend or girlfriend but not have sex. They didn't step over the line, so to speak. When we put ourselves on the line instead of in the field we are not focused on the Kingdom but on the line. We need to turn around, Repent, and participate in the Kingdom in all of its power and authority.

Do we bring people into the mission or do we just do program? When we bring people to Christ and into the "fold," so to speak, we generally ask them to step over the line and stop there. Do we bring them into the Kingdom as participants. We teach them to stop sinning but do we teach them to start living. Bring our mind, heart, and strength into the Word, which is a lot more than just scripture. We need to be people of the Word, where we read and, more importantly, hear the Word. Moving and listening to the Still Small Voice and doing the Still Small Work of the Voice.

Discipling takes discipline. We cannot do it the way of The Way unless we are able to hear and know that He is God. "Be still and Know that I am God." We must not interpret that means to do nothing but rather to not be anxious or strive. We move as He moves, that needs to be taught in our discipling, or else we are teaching people to strive and that accomplishes nothing as well.

Blood and flesh...

The final piece to the Revolution is about commitment to the Body instead of only being consumers of other's endeavors. Much of what we seem to discuss as believers is worship and how it affects us. We need to spend some time talking and thinking about what we do to affect the lives and worship of others. What do we commit ourselves to within and outside the Body. Do we put the kind of "love through thick or thin" that affects the life within the Body. Or do we only consume until we are bored, tired, unimpressed, unentertained... and then move on to new troughs of worship?

Communion invites us into the relationship between Jesus and the work of the Kingdom in the world. It binds us, creates in us, and empowers us to do that which Jesus is doing in Heaven. It invites us to be partakers and comrades in what the Kingdom is about here on Earth. It calls us into our neighborhoods, classrooms, local, state, and federal governments, relief work as well as quality work here in our jobs and studies. It should affect our designers and architects, teachers and garbagemen, policemen and landscapers all bringing the work of the blood and flesh of the Savior to this planet. After a Sunday of partaking in the Eucharist, there should be the manifestation of the blood and flesh in our work, talk, and thoughts. The catholics have it right... the wine and bread do become the blood and flesh of Christ. Us! We are His body! We are not just the Body of believers, we are His body! What is it accomplishing via heaven today?

He set us into the garden to do the work of His Kingdom not ours. Not what pleases us, but what brings glory and honor to Him. We need to become stewards of this work, not owners, for one day the owner will return and ask us what did we do with the children, the forest, the ocean, the air,...

Remember this...

An athletic, beautiful radical comes running down the isle of mediocrity, heaves a sledge hammer into the screen of propagandic diatribe disrupting the message and destroying the medium. Then the message comes on the screen introducing the new Macintosh. I remember when this ad for a new computer came out. "Wow. I gotta get me one of them," I thought. The commercial was shown during the Superbowl in 1984. A few months later, the guy that I was working with back then in a graphic design studio went out and bought one. It was revolutionary. Changed the way we thought in many ways. More than just a computer, it was a social statement, an artistic statement, a change for the commercials for the Superbowl (that is when the excitement for the commercial equaled the excitement for the game.), a cultural shift as well, and it wasn't a DOS computer.

We read George Orwell's '1984' in 1970 and wondered what it would be like in the future. Communism was a threat, would we be beaten by the Russians? Would we become so bureaucratic that we become numb to the beauty and outrageousness of nature and the glory of God that it mysteriously expresses? Would creature comfort replace adventure and wonder? Would technology define our existence? Would there be flying cars?

I love the Mac commercials today. Same thing message just a different package...


I need to add this one by request from my friend, Jordan...

Revolutionary thinking...

I am in a new accountability group. Our pastor put together a group of men for accountability and fellowship. We don't know each other yet which is interesting to be accountable to someone I don't know but I am encouraged by the caliber of people assembled. Accountability will take trust which takes time and wisdom.

Yesterday we 'lectio divina'd' the first half of Romans 12. I was impressed upon by the two verses,

Romans 12:1-2
"Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."

If this isn't radical talk of revolution I don't know what is. "...mercies of God, ...living and holy sacrifice, ...spiritual service... do not be conformed... ...be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may prove what the will of God is...good, acceptable and perfect."

I don't see that as a one time event at a campfire on a Wednesday night and then going to church once a week. Allow the "mercies of God" to change the system of your life so that you would be a part of the new regime. His Regime. His plan. His way. His standard. His results.

I am then struck that it then goes on to talk about the body with different gifts. As part of my living sacrifice I am to fulfill the post He as assigned me to. I have been AWOL for a while in the place He has called me. I took some time off to rest and realize that I am not finding rest but inactivity. That is not the same thing. There are seasons of commitments but this is different. I am not showing up for duty. I have filled that call with self and that has brought nothing but confusion and anxiety. There is nothing more restful and joyful than being in His plan and service.

Beginning the conversation...

I am in discussions with Invisible Children and other agencies of relief and awareness (Revolution) regarding how do we start the conversation of the world's condition with 4th through 6th graders? How can we use a facility and program such as ours to begin giving them a Biblical worldview that is aware of the poverty and oppression throughout the world?

We "condition" our children from formation to view the world with a set of lenses that are "Christian" the moment we bring them into the nursery at church when their born. Pictures, music, stories read, pictures stories colored with crayons and watercolor, crafts, etc. The stories we tell give a view of what is out there for the child. The stories we don't tell has as much affect in the shaping and worldview as the stories we do tell. If we leave out stories we create voids of understanding and could be producing prejudice and ignorances that warp Kingdom perspectives. John 9 tells a story of the disciples seeing a blind man and saying, "who sinned... that this man would be born blind." That thinking did not cause compassion but judgement and a bit of condemnation on this man. We tell stories of how America is blessed by God because of her wealth which causes many to look down on other third world countries as unblessed, thus causing prejudices and ignorance, and in some cases oppression because they are deemed less than equals.

Ask a kid about the love of Jesus for the world and she will tell you, "red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world." But when asked about what the conditions are that most people live in, they cannot tell you, nor even comprehend the devastation.

How do we begin the conversation with that age so that when they are in high school, they are not unaware and have a Kingdom heart for "the least of these..."?

The new Responsibility...

This revolution isn't about overthrow, but participation. It is not about rebellion, but about commitment. It is not about us, it is about Him.

Easter is the center of the revolution, the Resurrection. It is not about remembering but about participation in the life of Jesus. The Holy Spirit was given as proof of the resurrected Jesus. Pentecost was a sign of power and truth. It fell on the followers, the remnant, who still believed, and spread to the new believer. It wasn't a liturgical day but a day of commitment. The commitment of the Spirit to us. We became participants in the Kingdom at that point, as we became empowered to do the things of the Kingdom. This wasn't just a good idea, it was the Way of the Kingdom. Empowered by the King to do the work of the Kingdom.

The word Easter is named for Eostre, an Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring. She is associated with the egg and with the hare, both symbols of procreation that have been enduringly incorporated by the church in the form of Easter eggs and the Easter bunny who brings them. Maybe this diminishes the reality of Resurrection, reducing an event to a chocolate bunny, an easteregg hunt, a bonnet, or a parade of new clothes can definitely take out the power of the spiritual and engage the material.

"He is Risen!" is more than a slogan, it is a battle cry. "We are empowered!" should be our response. It moves us from the sanctuary to the marketplace to bring the good news of the revolution, resurrection, to the oppressed and imprisoned. It is our responsibility, our authority (through the Holy Spirit) to set people free.

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon you
Because he has anointed you to preach good news
He has sent you to the poor (This is the year)
To bind up the broken hearted (This is the day)
To bring freedom to the captives (This is the year)
And to release the ones in darkness

(This is the year) of the favour of the Lord
(This is the day) of the vengeance of our God
(This is the year) of the favour of the Lord
(This is the day) of the vengeance of our God

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon us
Because he has anointed us to preach good news
He will comfort all who mourn (This is the year)
He will provide for those who grieve (This is the day)
He will pour out the oil of gladness (This is the year)
Instead of mourning you will praise

by Andy Parks

This is Viva la revolution.

A view from the parish...

My friends who are pastors are rarely one-trick ponies (and I am sorry if I gave the impression that I thought they were), they spread themselves thin in calling on those in hospitals, attending committees, I mean commissions, I mean ministry teams inside and outside the 4 walls of the church, ministerial associations, coaching soccer teams, working with contractors and repairmen, fund raising, mowing the lawns, etc. while praying, counseling, preaching, serving, their "flock," if I can still use that word.

Since I started writing these last few blogs, I have been hearing from people who are in agreement with some of the ideas, many through emails and the comment box, but some also have been inviting me to lunch and meetings where some of the ideas have been happening (I had nothing to do with them). One pastor told me that his church began a service to the Southeast Asian community who surround the church, hired two commissioned lay leaders from the SE Asian community to lead it and that once a month the two bodies gather together for the Eucharist. Those from the SE Asian community are a part of committees of the church and bring a delightful voice to the direction of the church. The pastors, some ordained and some not, are teaching the elders how to listen to the voice of God and to the voice of those in the parish for the direction of the facility and program. The elders begin to use their disciplines that they are educated, and practice through their vocations, to facilitate the mission programs. Afterschool programs are not "evangelistic" but demonstrate the love of Jesus through tutoring, basketball in the parking lot, and other areas that give them access into the youth groups and children's program.

In some community, the church building is the place community activities take place. Soup kitchen and open pantries are a regular occurrence, AA meetings, Boy and Girl Scouts, MOPS, MADD, Young Republicans, etc use the facility and grounds for their organizations. (Just kidding about the young republicans.)

But let me ask a question, if someone was sitting in their kitchen, looking out their window at the cars and people driving in and leaving our parking lots, activities on the front lawn, etc., would they feel like they could be a part of the church. Is there something there that gives them access into the Kingdom of God. Do we plant ourselves into the life of the parish or do we continue to relocate to accommodate the housing market trends of our congregation?

And those of us who are attending and are not paid to be there, do we give our abilities to the place and people surrounding the place where we worship? It cannot be left up to the "staff" but to the Body of Christ.

As the song says, "Let what we do in here fill the streets out there... let us dance for You..." What a great picture after worship a dance in the parish.