Missional Living

Just thought I'd put up my next "work for hire" that I just wrote for CVC (www.churchvolunteercentral.com). It should be coming out in their October e-newsletter. If you lead volunteers in a church setting, this is by far the best resource I've found. There's a $99 yearly membership fee but that covers everyone in your church and trust me, it's worth it. Plus it's run by Group Publishing, which in my opinion is one of the best Christian publishers. Anyway, here's the article in it's form before reaching the editor....

Developing an equipping culture isn’t just about the church and its activities. It means believing that each person in your church body has been strategically gifted and placed by God in their life situations to make an impact for His Kingdom. It means that when your small group leader comes to you and says, “My child just decided to start playing t-ball and I’m going to have to miss our next small group leader’s meeting because of a game,” you don’t fear that you are losing a leader, you cheer that God has given that family another opportunity to be a minister to a whole new set of people.

In 2005 I started wondering if “professional” ministry was where God wanted me. I had been serving in full-time ministry for about 3 years at that point and had faced some things that left me questioning. I spoke to a person who was in leadership over our church at the time and he told me that I would be letting God down and that he was sure that I didn’t want to be like the many men and women in the Bible who failed. Thankfully God’s voice in my head was louder. A few weeks after that conversation I really felt like God told me, “April, it’s not about being a “professional” minister, it’s about ministering wherever I place you.” I think my eyes were opened that day not only in regards to my own situation but also in regards to how we value or don’t value the lives of our church family members outside the church walls.

I have a friend who works at Target. He hates it. He feels like it’s a worthless job where all he does is help a big corporation make more money. That’s one of the reasons I went into full-time ministry in the first place: to do something worthwhile. But the truth is, God has strategically placed each of us where we are to make a great impact for His kingdom. The problem is that most of us miss our calling and just earn a paycheck.

I believe the church has a responsibility to help people discover their calling, not just as it relates to their service to the church but as it relates to who God calls them to be in their everyday situations. Developing an equipping culture is about preparing people to “go into all the world and make disciples.” Often times, however, fear causes the church to hold on tightly to its servants. They wonder, “If I release people to live in the world, how will I run the ministries in my church?”

Here’s what I believe with all my heart: If a church is committed to equipping people and releasing them to be ministers in their circles of influence, there will be no need to stress about the lack of volunteers because the church will grow and overflow with the lives that have been touched by the ministers who have been sent out. Jesus says to seek God’s Kingdom first, and everything else will fall into place.

What exactly does it look like to equip people to minister in their worlds? I don’t really think it’s an exact science. I don’t think you can write it into three easy steps. I do, however, want to give you a few ideas that I’ve thought of in hopes to get your minds thinking in that direction.

First of all, it’s important to consider what you communicate. How do you respond when conflicts of scheduling arise like the example I mentioned in the beginning? You could throw a fit and demand that your small group leader attend the meeting. In that case you’re very likely to lose that leader’s service to the church and you’ve missed a great opportunity to equip them to go out. What if instead of responding negatively you say, “Well we’ll really miss you at our meeting, but that’s great that you’re getting to interact with some new families. Have you thought about ways you can use your God-given gifts to love the people you are meeting?” Your leader may miss the training you wanted to give to them on small groups, but in just a quick sentence you’ve trained them to think strategically about the relationships they have. Take this example a step forward by offering a suggestion. “Susie, you are so great at hosting your small group. Have you thought about opening your home to the families on your child’s t-ball team? A meal might be a fantastic way to get to know them and show them God’s love.” In that one sentence you’ve helped them to see that God has gifted them not only to serve the church but also to reach out to the people around them.

What does your church value and how do you express it? Equipping people to live out God’s mission in their world has to be at the core of who you are as a church body. Many churches are developing mission statements and core values to help their church family clearly understand the vision God has given for their particular church. My church has a set of core values, one of which is “Missional Living.” We define this as: Meeting people's needs through acts of compassion and sharing with them the truth about God's love. We also have a list of goals that we’ve given our church members as it relates to this value.

Personal Goals:
I will do spontaneous acts of compassion daily.
I will spend time building quality relationships with my neighbors.
I will regularly pray for people in my circle of influence and be available to respond to their needs and to talk with them about their faith questions.

There are probably many more personal goals you can give people as it relates to this but these are just a few we’ve come up with to help our church family get started.

What are you teaching on Sunday mornings when the church gathers together for worship? Do your church members feel like it is a safe place to bring their friends? Do you make visitors stand up to be recognized and in my opinion, feel uncomfortable? Are you preaching about spiritual gifts only as they relate to service within the church or do you talk about how people can use their spiritual gifts outside the church?

Take a quick look at your church calendar for the next couple of months. How many days a week do you have “church stuff” planned – (i.e. small groups, Wednesday night church, Sunday night church, Sunday morning church, Men’s breakfast, Ladies lunch, Women’s Craft Night, Men’s Golf Night, Singles Events, etc…)? Stop over scheduling your church families and leave them room in their schedules to develop relationships outside the church.

Lastly, start to value the informal. What does that mean exactly? As pastors, we like to be able to measure our success. “Look, 75% of our Sunday morning attendance is in a small group! Look we have started 3 new ministries in the last six months and are touching the lives of 40 new families as a result of those ministries.” I’m not suggesting that it is bad to look at those things. It’s important to make sure the ministries you do have are actually being effective. However, don’t underestimate informal gatherings of people. Dan might have a hard time making it to a small group on week nights because of his work schedule but what you don’t know is that he’s growing spiritually with a group of Christian and non-Christian friends who meet on Saturday mornings for a bike ride and breakfast and then just happen to talk about spiritual things in the context of real life. Sharon might not be serving in one of your official ministries but what you don’t know about her is that on Wednesday mornings she invites some of the ladies in her neighborhood over so the kids can play together and she can share God’s love with them.

Ministry isn’t always measurable. We need to encourage and value ministry that happens outside our walls. We need to equip people to reach out to the people they interact with everyday at work and at their kids schools and at their gyms and in their classes. We need to instill in our church family the truth that they are ministers, not just within the church but everywhere they go and to everyone they meet.

The Evolution of Man

I just finished a unit in my World Civ class on the evolution of the human species that made me think of some things....

Just so we understand each other on this term, "evolution," and because it seems to be a word that is feared by Christians, let me quickly define it:

1 : one of a set of prescribed movements
2 : a process of change in a certain direction
3 : the process of working out or developing
4 : the historical development of a biological group (as a race or species)
5 : the extraction of a mathematical root
6 : a process in which the whole universe is a progression of interrelated phenomena (www.m-w.com)

First I'll state my opinion on the big picture: Yes, I think at some point there has probably been some sort of "evolution of mankind," that is unless the Bible isn't literally true and perhaps God created several different types of people in various parts of the world at the same time. If that's the case, people didn't have to evolve, they simply were as God created them originally. Either way, whatever. God created the world and everything in it and he saw that it was good.

There is at least one thing in reality that cannot be ignored. People are different, VERY differnent. Take for example, European Americans and African Americans. Our skin colors are different, our hair textures are different and I'm sure we are biologically different in many other ways as well but those are the most obvious. So if you are going to believe in a literal interpretation of the creation story, you have to believe in some type of evolution. If we all came from the same two people, we have to evolve or develop into the different people that we are today.

Now here's the reason I have to question the literal interpretation of the Bible. In Genesis 4 it states, "Now Adam slept with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When the time came, she gave birth to Cain, and she said, "With the Lord's help, I have brought forth a man!" (Like she had never done this before and was amazed by it.) Later she gave birth to a second son and named him Abel." (My words are in italics - obviously.)

My interpretation of this is that Cain was Eve's first son and Abel her second. The story goes on to say that Cain and Abel fought and Cain killed Abel so God banished him from the land. The weird part comes in when Cain states his fear of the people "out there" who might kill him. WHAT PEOPLE??? If Adam and Eve are the only people and we all came from them and Cain and Abel were their first sons, where the hell did all these other people come from? And even if Cain and Abel weren't her first sons, seriously, she had that many babies and sent them off around the area to start new cultures? It's weird.

So herein lies our dilema. How do we interpret the Bible? Are we afraid of things we cannot know and understand fully? What role does faith play and what role does doubt play? Can we have faith in God while doubting our full understanding of truth? Can you believe that there is a God who created the world even though you don't fully understand how it came about?
I've heard Christians act like people who struggle to believe the creation story are stupid because it's just so simple. But it's not. And the more we try to explain it away and break the mystery of the Bible down into chewable pieces, the more difficult I find it. We try to put every Biblical truth into three easy to understand points and we destroy the mystery. Their is doubt and faith in everything. Even science. With the amount of discrepencies between various scientists hypotheses and discoveries and the constant changing of opinions, you have to have some amount of faith and doubt to believe in the truth of science. It's the same with Christianity. To try and take away the doubt and faith elements by explaining everything in simple, digestible nuggets, isn't helpful because it isn't real.

Anyway, I'm enjoying learning and thinking about these things. It's important to remember that learning isn't always about finding answers. Education isn't about being able to pass a test (don't get me started on The NCLB Act). Sometimes it's just about the process of growing your ability to fully think through and question things rather than just accepting easy answers. To memorize answers to pass a test (literally speaking or theologically speaking) isn't education and really isn't helpful. Information isn't the point. Transformation is (educationally and theologically speaking).

Is Christianity a Culture?

I just started a World Civ class at WSU and my first assignment was to create a definition for the word "culture" and then apply my definition to something specific so I chose Christianity. Doing the assignment brought some thoughts to mind that weren't really appropriate for the paper so I thought I'd add them here...

Here's my definition of culture...

Culture includes a community's entire way of life. Iit is shared beliefs and actions. Culture is not my individual feelings and behaviors as separate from the whole but rather the thoughts and actions of the greater society or community. Culture is learned behaviors, symbols, beliefs, values, meanings and unspoken rules. It is affected by those in power and therefore any cultural study should ask the question: Who has the power to affect cultural change? or Who has the authority to make decisions that affect culture? Culture is not an abstract idea that is separate from the people within that culture. It is affected by the people and it affects the people. It is not static, but is always changing. Culture is how we live out our understanding of the world and this worldview is taught to us by parents or educators or others in our culture and often subconsciously learned through experience within the culture.

Now, by my definition I would mark Christianity as it's own culture or more specifically, in the U.S., a subculture. Here's why....

The Christian culture has not been static during any part of history. It is always being changed by the people within and outside the community. It is full of unspoken rules such as what type of clothing is acceptable and where you should be on a Sunday morning (or Saturday night as this culture continues to change). There are behaviors that to an onlooker would seem strange but to those within the culture seem completely normal. There are taboos and a set of beliefs that should (but don't always) affect behavior. The structure of power is affected by beliefs about the appropriate roles of men and women. There is often an unspoken rule that it is unacceptable to vote democrat. There is an entirely different language that can sound foreign to someone who is unfamiliar with the culture. Words that may be the same as those used in the dominant culture, hold varying meanings within this subculture. And like any culture, the Christian worldview is learned through experience within the culture and teaching from people who are a part of the culture.

Now I have to ask the question...

As a "culture", do we adhere simply to similar beliefs and ways of life such as attending church on a weekly basis, or do we allow our shared beliefs and values to truly affect our way of life as in the way we treat people, the effort we put into our work, the things we talk about, etc... Can we truly look at ourselves as a culture if culture is defined by a set of beliefs that affect behavior? Other than the frivolous things like attending church on Sundays, voting Republican, and using words like grace all the time, would others see us as living differently? As a people, are we simply an American subculture or do we live the culture of Jesus? We believe that Jesus brings hope to the hopeless but do our interactions with hurting people reveal that? We believe that Jesus spent time with sinners, but do we do that? We believe that in Christ, all things are possible, but do we live that way?

The frivolous things of our Christian culture are changing. People go to church on Saturday nights, they get tattoos, drink beer and vote Democrat. So when we deconstruct what we once thought was important to the Christian subculture, will the culture of Jesus be left or is it already gone?

Defeated!

The bill was defeated! Interested in voting records?

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=2&vote=00229

Sneaky Politicians

A while I go I blogged about the estate tax and how the cutting of it would negatively affect our country. In an easy answer, cutting the estate tax would essentially mean that the wealthiest people in our country would not be taxed on their inheritances. I won't bore you with specific statistics, you can research them on your own if you're interested on the websites listed below.

The bottom line is this would mean HUGE losses in revenue for our country when there are already significant budget cuts in harmful places due to all the money we are spending on this war. And not only would we lose the income directly from the taxes but this would also negatively affect charitable giving!

This didn't go through previously but it is now being coupled with the raising of the minimum wage in order to get it passed. As much as I'd like to see the minimum wage raised, the harm this bill would do far out weighs the good. This bill has already passed in the House and is going to be voted on even possibly tonight in the Senate.

Feel free to use the number below to contact your Senators and let them know how you feel about the matter.

1-800-459-1887

Tell them...

Vote No on H.R. 5970, the cynical ploy to slash the estate tax. Handing $750 billion over 10 years to a small number of multimillionaires will force cuts in health care, education and other vital investments for all. I support an increase in the minimum wage - but the cost of this reckless bill is far too high.

To keep informed on important legislation, check out these websites...

www.chn.org (Coalition on Human Needs)
www.results.org (Results)
www.soujourners.com (Soujourners)

Day 4 Fiesta

Here's some fun photos from Day 4 of Fiesta VBS!

http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2104223691

Fiesta Day 3

Here's the link to Day 3 photos. What a great day! I love seeing the friendships that kids are building with each other! I especially love to see Crew Leaders taking their role seriously and building relationships with the kids in their crew! To see how they love them means the world to me!

Enjoy!

http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2104255289&idx=1

Fiesta Day 2

Here's Day 2 photos! We almost have 50 kids registered and that would put us at complete capacity! Woo hoo!

http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2104290205

Fiesta Day 1

This week I'm directing VBS at my church. Woa, I'm exhausted! But it's going really well and the kids are having SO much fun! I'll probably post a link to photos for each day so feel free not to read anymore Fiesta titled blogs if you're not interested in looking at them. :-) Don't wanna waste your time with silly stuff! :-) But if you like fun photos, enjoy!

http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2104333983

Article Link

I really liked this article by Amy Sullivan.

http://www.slate.com/id/2144983/

She high lights some of the things from Sen. Barack Obama's speech that I mentioned in a previous post. One of the things that stood out most for me is her comparison between the Christianity of Obama and the Christianity of Pres. Bush. It made me think about the implications of being a public figure and speaking out about your faith. These men and women who stand up and speak about faith in the public arena are making decisions about what the text of the Bible means for today. They are interpreting and sharing their interpretations with us through their actions, their words and the policies they impose or fight for. They are saying to the world, "this is what it means to live out faith."

Now from what I can tell, not knowing Senator Obama or Pres. Bush personally, I personally prefer the Christianity that Obama demonstrates. But I believe we as Christians need to be careful about who we look up to as examples of faith and we need to be certain that our real hero is Jesus and our real example of what it means to live out faith comes from looking at the life of Jesus and making interpretations of that with our communities of faith, together.

Anyway, it's a good article. You should check it out.

Affecting my Politics

I was thinking more today about the blog I wrote last night...after I finally got my ability to think back.

I was asking myself some of those questions about relating the truth of Christ's character to my culture. That and the fact that I just read an awesome key note speech by Barak Obama and some thoughts by Hillary Clinton got me thinking about how that story of Jesus calling and believing in those whom society sees as failures affects my political leanings.

I was asking Matt if he had heard any of the good excuses about why Congress voted to not raise the minium wage but he hadn't. He suspected that it had to do with the fear that companies would outsource more jobs if they had to pay Americans more money. Makes sense.

So my question is why aren't we creating laws that limit companies ability to outsource jobs? Oh yeah, free market. I think this is a perfect example of how we as a nation have a serious tendency to favor the rich and powerful and ignore those who are "less" in the eyes of society. We pass laws that benefit corporations and hurt the poor. That's crappy policy making in my opinion. It seems to me that if our political leaders claim to speak for God (or be placed in their positions b/c of God's favor) then maybe they should be trying to stand for the things Jesus stood for. If politicians are going to play the faith card, they should be fighting to overcome poverty and injustice for the weak and powerless, not seeking more and more ways to bless the rich and powerful.

I read an article that referred to the Bush administration as having a reverse robin hood complex. That phrase has rolled around in my head a lot.

By the way, you should check out the key note speech by Barak Obama. Great, fair and honest speech! I'm hoping he might be a possible candidate for the next presidential election...
http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=news.display_article&mode=C&NewsID=5454

It's about Jesus

I can already tell this is going no where, no where that makes a lot of sense anyway. I've discovered in the last few days why I've been blessed/cursed? with a minor ability to draw. Hours and hours of my time have been spent drawing large mural-sized chili peppers with cute little smiley faces. That's so not the point of this but perhaps a disclaimer...

Matt's sermon on Sunday got me thinking a few things. By the way, he's a good speaker! I mean I'm glad we're not in some kind of talent competition b/c with his guitar/vocal/piano/bass skills and now his preaching skills, he's totally kicking my butt in that department.

Ok to my point. Or to more ramblings, I don't know...

I feel like for most of my life, I've missed the point. My brain can't even begin to wrap itself around the new things I'm seeing in life but I can only believe that this newness, this constant confusion over truth and God is good b/c maybe for once I'm catching the bigger picture.

Matt said in his sermon that the Bible isn't about me. Yeah. It's not a rule book or a text book or a step by step how to book. It's a passionate account of God's working in the world, in all of creation. It's not about me. It's about God.

This led me to thinking more about the story of Jesus calling his disciples to follow him. I wrote about it in another blog so I won't go into it all. Growing up the point of that story was how the disicples dropped everything they knew and followed Jesus so that must be a rule. I should drop everything and follow Jesus. Not a bad point. But I'm just not sure it is the point. Maybe the point is Jesus. His character. His life.

Who did he call? The people that society looked down on as failures. He called them and believed in them. From that we can take that Jesus calls us and believes in us no matter who we are and what we've done.

Cool.

But I think it's bigger than even that.

If we are called to be like Jesus, than we are called to believe in those whom the world has deemed hopeless, lost causes, failures. How is that real to us? How does that play out in our culture, in our lives? We need to ask ourselves those questions every time we encounter the life and character of Jesus in the Bible. We need to stop looking for rules, and start looking for Jesus.

Crap, I wanted to go on but now I'm just too tired. Oh well, you get it...

Thoughts on the "Un-Churched"

I'm not usually very good at actually reading the magazines I get. They sit on my coffee table for weeks and then get thrown in a pile in my closet. I just happened to open my "Rev!" magazine today and came across an interesting article titled, "What Do the Unchurched Want?" I have always struggled with traditional ideas of evangelism and church growth and what not so I found some great thoughts I wanted to share....

When you work in a church there's a lot of talk about why people come, why the stay and why they don't stay. There's a lot of speculation about what draws people to connect to a certain church over another. A lot of people think it's the music. Others think it's a great sermon. Others think as long as people are friendly, they will come back. Well for a new book, the Barna Research Group interviewed thousands of "unchurched" people and found some interesting things about this. 1) People won't remember the topic, much less the key points of a sermon the first few times they visit. 2) People don't come to church for good music. If they want music, they'll turn on their ipod. What they are looking for is "something unique and of value that justifies changing their habits of avoiding church." They don't understand worship but they can experience the presence of God. And truly experiencing God's presence, even though they might not be able to describe it, will usually cause them to want more of it. The other thing is that people can sense when a church is truly a community and not just a group of people fulfilling their duty. "The unchurched want to experience love - from God and people - and if they feel that in the church environment, they'll return. If they don't sense it, they're history - probably forever...."

After that George Barna shares some things he would do to reach people outside the church. He talks about how people aren't very likely to "accept Christ" in a church service. That is something more that comes out of personal relationships. So one of the key things he would do is gear worship services exclusively to those who love Christ. If a person who doesn't typically attend church wanders in, it's better for them to be blown away by the presence of God, commitment of the people to that presence, the passionate worship taking place and the sincerity of the people regarding knowing God more deeply. The goal of worship is worship, not evangelism. (Great book on this topic: "Worship Evangelism.")

Another point that really hit home for me was this: "I'd shift the strategy from training people in the steps we think will lead people to Christ to empowering people to just be real." He goes on to talk about how nonbelievers are more impressed by a good friend who truly loves Jesus and lives like he/she does than a by a well-intentioned debator who wants to argue everyone into the kingdom. He suggests that we stop looking for ways to manipulate situations to interject God and Scripture (and invitations to church - my addition) into conversations to accomplish our goals. People know when we are real. This has by far been the hardest thing for me about being a part of a church. Always being told that I should be looking for ways to get people to church. I always feel like I'm supposed to have this ulterior motive to building friendships with people. Like I meet someone in the store and try to be nice to them but I better find a way to tell them about my church in the meantime. I'd rather just try to live like Jesus and love people the best I can and hope that God's Spirit takes care of the rest.

The last point he makes I thought was a great one since I'm a kid's pastor...He says "I'd focus the majority of our outreach resources on children, not adults." He talks about how the majority of people are converted even before reaching their teen years and that it is much more effective to reach kids and empower them to reach out to their families than it is to target the families.

Anyways, just some good thoughts...

Don't Be Silent

So our President and Congress are up to no good. Bush is out to help his wealthy friends by gutting the estate tax. The divide between the richest and poorest in this country continues to widen while the government makes tax cuts in a time of war where budgets are already being cut in unacceptable places. We must make our voices heard. We must let our senators know that it is not ok with us to bless the rich and hurt the poor. The ever-increasing number of people living in poverty in this country is ridiculous while Bush makes every efforts to keep his rich buddies happy.

Below I have copied the text from an article written by Jim Wallis regarding the Estate Tax. You can better understand this tax by reading this article. Then go to http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/chn/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=288 to email your senators and let them know that this is unacceptable.


To protect the common good by Jim Wallis (http://www.sojo.net)

According to the biblical prophets, the greatest moral offense of poverty is the inequality that often lies behind it. When poverty abounds and the wealthy refuse to share their prosperity, God gets mad. If the congressional leadership has its way, American inequality is about to take a giant step forward with their efforts to destroy or gut the estate tax - an effective measure to combat inequality that has been working for 100 years.

Sometimes, there are public policy choices that simply make no moral sense. When a nation is at war, when deficits are rising at record rates, and when everyone knows that even more budget cuts are coming that will directly and negatively impact the nation's poorest families and children, you don't give more tax breaks to the super-rich. But that is exactly what the administration and the Republican leadership are strenuously trying to do. And with the latest Census Bureau income and poverty report showing that the poverty rate has gone up for the fourth straight year, the moral offense is compounded. There are 37 million Americans now living below the poverty line, 4 million more than in 2001. That includes 13 million children.
So why are George Bush, the Republican leadership, and some Democrats on Capitol Hill pushing so hard to completely repeal or substantially gut the estate tax? It's been in place for nearly 100 years, is a substantial source of government revenue, and has been a major catalyst to charitable giving (including to faith-based organizations, something the administration claims to support). A repeal of the estate tax will cost an estimated 1 trillion dollars in federal revenue over the next 10 years (that's right, 1 trillion), substantially increase the deficit, dramatically diminish the resources available to help low-income families escape poverty, and further increase the pressure on the budget from the high cost of war. The only thing the repeal of the estate tax will accomplish is to make sure the wealthiest of Americans will bear no sacrifices during war-time belt tightening and tough decision making but, rather, will reap a windfall of benefit and be the only Americans who do.

Repeal supporters have cleverly changed the language of the debate by calling the estate tax "the death tax" and claiming that it mostly affects family farmers and small businesses who are unable to pass their farms and businesses along to their children. That is simply not true. To put it less delicately, they are lying to cover up the fact that the estate tax mostly affects their richest friends. The tax affects only the wealthiest half of 1 percent of Americans - estates with a net value of more than $2 million ($4 million for couples). That is exactly what this tax was supposed to do when it was introduced in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt (a Republican, remember) to counter the European practice of passing on enormous wealth from generation to generation, thereby encouraging aristocracy. The more American idea was to ask those who have benefited enormously by accident of birth to contribute back to the common good and expand opportunity for all. Many wealthy people, such as Bill Gates Sr. and Warren Buffett, agree and vigorously support the estate tax. But that American ideal is now under attack by a political leadership which seems anxious to restore an American aristocracy.

Those who want to retain the estate tax are willing to reform it to make sure that family farmers and small business people are not adversely affected and to ensure that the tax - let's call it a "common good tax" - is focused where it was intended, on those who have benefited so much from the opportunities of America. In a very real sense, the estate tax is a repayment for the public services and infrastructure that enable wealth creation - our transportation system of highways, bridges, and airports; our legal and educational systems; and many other investments we make in our society. It is only right that having benefited so much from the opportunities of America, the wealthiest should be obligated to return some of their good fortune to expand the opportunities of other Americans (maybe we should call the estate tax "the opportunity tax").
Is this the America that we want? One whose top policy priority is to make the rich richer while abandoning the most needed efforts to reduce poverty and protect the common good? That, in particular, was the original purpose of the estate tax, initiated by different kind of Republican president who was committed to the equality of opportunity for every American.

It is time for Democrats, moderate Republicans, and people of good social conscience across the county to draw a line in the sand against this administration's radical policies to redistribute wealth from the bottom and middle to the top of American society. It's time for a moral resistance to such unbalanced social policies and the place to begin is to defeat the dangerous and disingenuous effort to destroy the estate tax. In the name of social conscience, fiscal responsibility, equality of opportunity, protecting our communities, and the very idea of a "common good," it's time for the moral center of American public opinion to say "enough." The repeal of the estate tax would literally be an attack upon the common good and it must not succeed. Instead, we need policies that would create better and more balanced national priorities.

For even more information on this issue go to http://www.citizen.org/documents/EstateTaxFinal.pdf

Oooops

So I just noticed that I wrote in my previous post that I'd mentioned in the past how much I loved Rob Bell's book, Velvet Elvis. But I remembered that I have not blogged about that book on this site. I blogged about it on my less "public" site. So I thought I'd add bits of my other blog here because it's just such a good book and I have to convince you to read it. lol...

"...This past week I finished reading Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell. LOVED IT!....

...One of the things Bell talks about is a comparison of faith being a trampoline or faith being a brick wall. If your faith is a brick wall, one brick (doctrine) can fall out and the entire wall can crumble. And time is often spent defending the wall. A trampoline on the other hand is not something you spend time defending. You are excited to invite others to join you in jumping! If one spring (doctrine) breaks, the trampoline is still standing.

I really am not a fan of apologetics. Proving faith to be true on the basis of logical arguments just doesn't hold a lot of weight for me. I'm not saying others aren't convinced that way, I'm just not.... So you won't find me arguing the finer points of faith with people.... I believe faith is bigger than logic. If you know me (at least in my recent years) you probably wouldn't say I'm someone who blindly accepts everything that comes my way either. My husband actually described me as a "thinker" in the "feeler/thinker" comparison. I question...a lot. I desire to understand Jesus and his teachings better than I currently understand them. But I'm not going to argue them....

Now on to recent times...

{I talked about The Da Vinci Code hype here but it's not that important...}

...Back to the whole faith as a trampoline vs. brick wall thing... What if it were true? I'm not suggesting that it is. But what if it were? What if Jesus was married? Does that make him less divine? What if Jesus had a family? Does that make him a sinner? And what if there are descendents of Jesus and Mary today? Is our God not big enough that Jesus could have a family that was fully human, not divine, while he was still both fully human and fully divine? Would your wall crumble if it were true?

Our faith must be stronger than a brick wall. It must not crumble if our understanding of one thing changes....

I'm not trying to say that everything we believe to be true is wrong. I'm just saying that our faith has to be bigger. We have to believe that God is so much bigger than our simplistic understanding of things. We must be humble, not seeking to argue but seeking to understand and walk alongside. We must believe in God more than doctrine. Our faith must be alive not static.

...If a church is a church that follows Christ than it teaches the Bible. It may be a different understanding or interpretation of the Bible, but it is still the Bible. No one person or one denomination holds a monopoly on the truth of Bible. We all bring our own undestandings and experiences to the words on the pages. No one is objective when it comes to the Bible. That is why your faith cannot crumble if one thing you believe to be true is questioned...."

Anyway, that's just a peek at some of the direction of Bell's book. I appreciate the fresh perspective he brings on God, the church, the Bible, culture and more. Read it! :)

Chosen and Believed In

I know I already said how much I loved Velvet Elvis but there's another thought that has rolled around in my head for a while that I read there and thought I would share. Please bare with the "background" information because it's important to my point.

In Jewish culture boys at like age 12 would start this process of education with the hopes of someday becoming a Rabbi. At certain points during the process there would be an evaluation and boys who weren't cutting it were sent home to learn the family business. At the end of this process the boys that were left were to choose a Rabbi to follow. They would go to that Rabbi and request to be their disciple. The Rabbi would then put them through this evaluation that would help him decide whether the boy/man could be his disciple. If the Rabbi truly believed that this man could in fact be just like him (because that was the goal of a disciple - to be just like his Rabbi) then he would choose him. If he did not believe that he could be just like him, he would then send the man/boy home to learn the family business.

Along comes Jesus. A Rabbi. He finds fishermen, rejected boys sent home to learn the family trade, not good enough to be a disciple, not believed in by a Rabbi. And Jesus says to them, come, follow me, be my disciples.

Now it has always seemed strange to me that these men just dropped everything and followed this random man who came along and told them to. I now understand that it was common for a man/boy to drop everything and leave his family to follow a Rabbi and Jesus was known to be a Rabbi. It was an honor to be called to follow and any normal Jewish man would have been thrilled to be chosen.

The fascinating thing is this...Jesus called the rejected, cast out, not good enough men and believed in them. Jesus believed that these men had what it took to be just like Him.

Consider the story of Peter walking on water with Jesus. While we may think it strange that Peter would want to do this, it would have been common for a disciple to want to do exactly what his Rabbi did. Could it be that when Peter began to sink and Jesus said, "Why did you doubt?" he didn't mean "Why did you doubt me?" he insteand meant, "Why did you doubt yourself? I called you. I chose you. I believe in you. Why can't you believe?"

I imagine Jesus says this a lot to me. I used to be SO full of ideals and hopes and passions for what could be. I believed in who I could become. So much has happened in recent years that I find it hard to believe anymore. I find it hard to see myself as chosen and called and believed in. This deeper understanding of the reality of this situation with Jesus calling his disciples has helped renew that hope in me that I can be as Jesus called me to be.

We all need to see ourselves in light of that. We have been called by God. That means for whatever reason, he believes we can be like him. We put all this focus on getting into heaven when I wonder if really we are called and chosen so that we can be Jesus on earth. We can make this world a better place by being Jesus on earth. By following his teachings and fighing against the injustice of the world and standing for all that is weak and powerless, we can be Jesus on earth. We are called and chosen not for a "personal" relationship or "personal" salvation but to be Jesus for the world. To bring hope, life and love to a world desperately in need of those things. Being a follower of Christ isn't about crossing over a line from hell to heaven. It is about being like Jesus so the world can become a better place. It is not about waiting for heaven to come so we can be rid of all the junk of this world. It is about being like Jesus so the junk of this world becomes infested with the love of Jesus.

The Kingdom of God is now. Jesus believes in us. He believes that we can be like him. And as idealistic as it may sound, Jesus believes that we can make this world a better place. We are called to make this world a better place. We are called to stop waiting and wishing for heaven and to start working to bring heaven here and now.

Preschoolers are Great

I teach preschool...3 year olds to be exact. And they are hilarious. Seriously, I love to just watch them explore and interact with each other. Today we were walking back from the playground and there were birds flying over head between a couple of trees and the top of the building. I never knew birds could be so exciting! They went on and on. They were all talking at once about the birds. About what color they were. About where they were sitting and where they were coming from. About the noises they were making. Then I turned around to see them flapping their arms like wings and making "tweeting" sounds. It was cracking me up because I was simply amazed at their amazement of something so simple.

I'm not one to say that I'm excited to have children of my own. I love being able to send them home after a few hours. But I think everyone should spend time with kids from time to time. They offer a perspective on life that so many of us have lost.

It's so obvious to me why Jesus talks about approaching the Kingdom of God like a child. You can't fully understand this unless you've spent a lot of time with kids but I think this may be one of the key points to a "religion" that is alive and powerful.

As adults we (I) are (am) SO cynical, so jaded. We can only see the world in the way we've always seen it. We miss so much. We read the Bible like a text book instead of a beautiful piece of mysterious literature. We approach God with three easy steps and we have patterns and plans for spiritual growth.

Kids don't see the world that way or experience the world that way. Every day is fresh and new and a little black bird is an awesome sight to see. Children ask questions. Lots and lots of questions. They love to learn new things and experience new things! They aren't embarrased to share their excitement and amazement. They find great joy in sharing their observations and joy with their friends and anybody who will listen. They don't get hung up on unnecessary details. They see life as something to be lived fully, without hesitation and without fear. They jump in head first! They love deeply and aren't afraid to show it. They forgive quickly and trust easily. The world to a preschooler is a great mystery to be loved and explored and passionately lived.

If we could catch just a mustard seed size of that "child-likeness," life and religion would be full of genuine joy and amazement each and every day.

Martin Luther and a New Age

I just picked up a book titled, "Velvet Elvis" by Rob Bell. I read about half a page and was struck by something very interesting. Martin Luther ushered in a new era for the church. In his time the Bible was only read and understand by the priests, ministry was only done by the priests, and it wasn't all that easy to know and have a relationship with God. Luther revolutionized faith by fighting the institution and inviting people into a personal relationship with God. He insisted that the Bible should be written in a language that the average person could read and understand. He believed that ministry was the job of the people, not just those employeed by the church and he was certain that faith was about relationship, not money and power.

The people of his time must have sensed the greatest freedom as they began to experience this living faith. I bet they read the Bible like it was some great mystery that they had never been priveledged to but now by the grace of God have been given access to. I bet they passionately served God in their churches, sang with all their hearts in words that meant something to them and loved God like they never knew they could.

I wasn't there. But the world of Christian religion has been forever changed because of this time in history. It must have been a great time, a hard time, but a great time.

Looking at the state of the church today I fear that we have lost the power that was given us through this great movement. We are happy to let the priests do our reading for us. We are happy to let the priests do our serving for us. And to sing to God in words we can mean and understand has lost it's value and ferver.

The church today needs a revolution. A reformation movement of a new kind. As my generation sees and is frustrated by the institution we need to stop running for the hills and breaking with our passion for God's kingdom. We must be the life-bringers, the hope-givers, the passion-livers. We must seek and desire the fame of God above all else and in the spirit of Martin Luther, usher in a new era of faith for a new generation.

I Hate Fear

I've been thinking lately about fear and how people use it to manipulate people into responding a certain way. You see it a lot even in simple ways..."You better not do that or you might end up on Santa's naughty list."

Truth be told my biggest complaint with this is how the Republican party manipulates Christians using fear. I know I've mentioned this before but it just bothers me how easily manipulated people are and how we then as Christians defend not just the cause of Christ but the cause of the Republican party as if somehow they have anything to do with each other.

Now, just to preface, I don't think the Democrates are the greatest. Mainly because I wish they'd just stand up for something instead of sitting around waiting for the Republican party to implode.

But back to my complaint...did you see the ads during the last presidential campaign? They were meant to make you think liberals were predators, out to destroy our families, our country. Now I can say that a great deal of me fits into that category of what is deemed a "political liberal." I don't like the death pentalty, I don't like guns, I care about our environment, I think we spend too much money on war and not enough on fighting poverty, I disagree with most of the economic decisions made by our president (at least the ones I know about)etc.... But I don't think those things make me evil. Perhaps the very opposite of such.

Even now, the Rebulican party controls all three branches of government and yet Christians run around afraid of the crazy liberals ruining our country. If things are bad, we might want to take a look at who's running things.

I was talking to someone the other day about this whole mindset that the world is just getting so much worse and I have to laugh because I remember that God destroyed the entire world at one point because things were so bad. People used to sacrifice their kids to gods. Entire nations have been masacared. We've always been a bunch of "crapbags" as my friend Sean likes to say.

Anyway, I've just been annoyed about it lately. I don't like having to pretend I'm something that I'm not because in the minds of most Christians, if you don't tow the Republican party line, you're a liberal, and to be a liberal is to not be on God's side. I don't buy it.

Don't vote for Republicans because they convince you to be afraid of everyone else. See for yourself what candidates and parties stand for and have an intellectually informed vote. If you're a Christian, don't let fear be your guide. The Bible says it the best, "perfect love casts out fear."

Beach Trip

Matt, Bella and I were lucky to get away last week over Spring Break for a relaxing trip to the beach! We stayed at this incredibly nice home that is owned by some people that we know. Luckily it is pet friendly so our little dear could come along with us.

Bella was cracking me up as she ran around on the beach. I think she liked the sand as it got kicked up in the air. She was jumping and pouncing and running around...except when I took her near the water. As the ocean slowly crept closer to her, she slowly crept backwards, away from the water! She finally let me walk her close enough for the water to cover her legs.

The weather was beautiful so we walked on the beach a lot. I tried to make pizza one night but it was total crap so we tossed it and went and bought a pizza instead. :)

Here's a couple photos...

Franz Ferdinand and Death Cab for Cutie

Wednesday I went with Matt, Joey and Kelly to see Franz and Death Cab and some band called the Cribs (I only heard a couple songs but wasn't a huge fan) in Portland. We enjoyed dinner at Rock Bottom (of course) and headed over in the Max which was actually my first ride. I know, I know, it's sad. I've lived here for two years and hadn't been on the Max.

Anyway, the concert was good. I really enjoyed Franz. It was the first time I'd seen them in concert. They are seriously the most catchy rock. Makes you just wanna jump up and dance! These two kids were down on the floor and this spot kept hitting them and they were dancing all over the place and they actually looked like they really knew what they were doing. They looked like they were maybe nine years old. It was cracking me up!

The weird thing was that they opened for Death Cab. Now I saw Death Cab at the Crystal Ballroom just a couple months ago and it was AWESOME! But I didn't enjoy it as much this time around. I think the band just didn't carry enough energy for that large of a room. It would have been better if Death Cab opened up for Franz and warmed us up. Instead the evening ended on a downer note and I was already pretty tired.

Don't get me wrong, Death Cab still rocks. I'll listen to them over and over on my CD player. But if I had a choice to see them in a smaller venue or a larger, I'd choose the smaller.

1 Corinthians 13: A Fresh Perspective

I recently read a GREAT article about 1 Corinthians 13 and it's context and a fresh look at it for the church as a whole rather than just as a marriage text. Check it out below. It's good for church leaders but also church attenders...

http://shop.grouppublishing.com/cvc/inside_track/2006_02/Youth.asp

Ignorance is Bliss

I'm apparently a VERY slow reader. I'm still wading my way through God's Politics. Of course it doesn't help that I read like once a week for half and hour. But I've decided as much as I enjoy this type of reading, I really shouldn't know anything about what the government does. It just REALLY irritates me. Ignorance is bliss.

The chapter I just finished was all about poverty and various policies regarding taxes and other things. For instance, it was talking about this child tax credit that was going to be giving money back to families but at the last minute the change was made to make it so that people in a lower income bracket wouldn't get the tax credit, only middle-upper class families would. What in the world!! You mean to tell me that there was free money going around and it went to families who didn't really need it in the first place because it's better to stimulate the economy by getting middle class families to spend more time at the mall than it is to help families who can barely feed their children from week to week? That's just sick.

The point the chapter made several times was that families who are working to provide for their families should have food to eat and a home to live in. Unfortunately many people living at the poverty level are working and doing the best they can but they can't keep up because their jobs don't provide adequate health care and the cost of owning a home or renting an apartment is astronmical and the cost of child care in order for single mothers to be able to work in the first place is insane.

Churches should be doing more than they do. I won't argue with that point. However, the government needs to have policies in affect that help those in the lower class rather than always favoring upper class families. The welfare system doesn't need to be dismantled, it needs to be changed so that working single moms have adequate childcare and all children have good health care available to them as well as proper education and people who are willing and physical able to better themselves by going to college to get more education to get a better job should be afforded that right without it causing them not to be able to pay for their housing.

Families who work should not be homeless. I spent some time at a homeless shelter and the gentleman giving the tour talked about how they have families living there who have both parents working but they lost their apartment because they couldn't make rent and then of course when they do get back of their feet, who will rent to them after being evicted. It's a nasty cycle that faith-based organizations need to be a part of solving but so does the government.

Tax breaks for rich people are not the answer. Cutting welfare programs is not the answer. Using the poor as a pawn for campaigns but never following through on promises is not the answer. Placing blame is not the answer either. The poor are caught in a battle of words between the two strong political parties but all the words aren't helping. The parties need to come together to work on a positive solution to the issues that face people living under the poverty level today.

Church Volunteer Central

Just a quick plug for all you church leadership people....

If your church doesn't have a membership to www.churchvolunteercentral.com you are really missing out on some wonderful resources! Church Volunteer Central REALLY cares about helping churches be more effective in ministering to, with and through volunteers. The membership cost is absolutely worth the resources you receive as a result.

Check it out!

By the way, if you're apart of my church and would like to check it out, please let me know and I will add you to our membership.

Honest Conversations

I've never really been a huge fan of attending Bible study groups. It always seemed like everyone just gives what they think are the right answers. Nothing ever really gets any where and we don't really grow because we are just touting off about what some preacher told us 10 years ago. We agree with what the Bible teaches but we don't face it in a way that helps us wrestle with it's application in real, messy, day to day life.

For those of us who've grown up in the church, some where along the way someone taught us what it looks like to be a good Christian. And every since we've been working hard at putting ourselves in that box and making everything we say and do reflect that image. I think a lot of us lose who Christ created us to be when we try so hard to fit a certain idea that others have imposed on us. I feel like for a long time I couldn't see what God had called me to be because I was stuck in that box. It's only been recently that I've really been trying to strip that away and understand who I am in relation to God and how I fit into His greater plan.

I think along with that image, I stopped thinking for myself. In college people were willing to and excited about having honest conversations about God and theology. But I wasn't really there then. I couldn't really talk honestly about what happens when your theology on homosexuality meets a person who loves God but is homosexual. I couldn't let myself think about the weird and confusing things in the Bible. I couldn't let myself question. Even though I lived in a world, created by God, that was full of color and beauty and diversity, I lived my life in black and white.

I'm a part of a group of people that meet weekly right now to talk about the Bible and stuff and it's the first time I feel like we're scratching the surface of talking about real stuff and wrestling with real life and real questions. It's the first time I've actually enjoyed being a part of that type of group. In my life I know I need more of that. I need to have honest conversations that don't put things into either/or categories. Through those conversations, I hope that God's Spirit will help me see the things I've been missing all along.

For Church Leaders

I recently wrote this for Group Publishing. Just thought I'd include it here...

In less than two years a church can become stagnant, stuck in its ways and afraid of change. I know, I’ve seen it happen. One of my attractions to new church work was the fact that you weren’t fighting the “we’ve never done it that way” issues. The page was blank and ready to be written without the back story of tradition. I have discovered that the pages are quickly written and can be difficult to change even a year later.

In the beginnings of a church, everyone has to serve. A new church doesn’t have the luxury of having 20% of people serve while the other 80% sit back and enjoy the programs provided. Church plants are able to establish from the start, an expectation of ministry participation because their survival depends on it.

This can be good or bad depending on how it is approached. Starting out with a model of team ministry may be difficult when you have limited people who are already spread thin, setting up and tearing down every Sunday, running the children’s ministry, greeting guests, leading small groups and much more. Often one person is put in charge of an area whether they are gifted to serve in that capacity or not. The only requirement for service is availability.

The potential problem arises as the church begins to grow and suddenly there are more people to help and leadership and ministry become shared rather than a one-man show. It’s great to see people take ownership of a ministry but it can lead to a lack of willingness to share that ministry with others if that expectation isn’t stated from the beginning.

Ok, if you are just planting your church, my advice is this: VISION, VISION, VISION. Never stop communicating the idea that team-oriented ministry is the most effective and most biblical pattern. Every ministry leader should be trained with the idea in mind that they should find an apprentice. Each leader should have someone else who is learning how to lead the ministry. Don’t just talk about it though. Show that you are serious about being an equipping church by using that as a standard of evaluation. Put in place some type of process that allows you to sit down with your ministry leaders every few months to evaluate how things are going in their ministry. Building up and releasing other leaders should be one of the top priorities when evaluating a person’s leadership.

Also, giftedness is important. Young churches aren’t able to provide all the programs that a larger, more established church can. Don’t start ministries until you have leaders who are gifted and passionate about that area of ministry. Find ways to help people discover their giftedness from the start and place them in areas where they will be most effective.

And lastly, work with your leaders to help them develop a plan to build and release leaders within their ministry. Write it out and again, evaluate their progress as time goes on.

Most of us aren’t going to be able to start over and get it right from the beginning. My church will be two years old on Easter 2006. Already we are seeing that it is human nature to fear change. We did not start with the value of shared leadership. Again, availability was the only requirement. Someone once joked, “You step in the door for the first time and suddenly you are leading a ministry.” That wasn’t completely untrue of how we operated in the beginning of our church.

The ramifications of that are starting to hit us now as our church is growing and there are more people to share ministry responsibility. Some people are relieved and thrilled to lighten their load. Others are fearful to let others share in the work they have been doing. They’ve accepted ownership for the ministry and they are hesitant to let go of the control they’ve had.

Whenever you are going to attempt to bring about change in your church, start with prayer. Never underestimate the power of the Holy Spirit to prepare people’s hearts for change.

After prayer, follow a few important steps to lead your church through this transition.

Communicate, communicate, communicate. The first step in transitioning a young church to becoming an equipping church is communicating vision. Staff members should begin meeting with and sharing the vision for an equipping church with the ministry leaders who are under their leadership. An equipping mindset has to come from every person in a position of leadership from your Sunday School teachers to your small group leaders. Find every opportunity to share about the benefits of being an equipping church. Communicating vision doesn’t always have to happen on a formal level. Go out for coffee, pass on helpful articles from respected authors, point out the giftedness in others and the benefits they would bring to the ministry if given an opportunity, share Scripture, and point out how even Jesus shared his ministry. Always communicate with enthusiasm and confidence. Excitement can be very contagious.

Don’t make assumptions about why a person is opposed to an equipping church model. As you communicate the vision of an equipping church you may be approached with some opposition. Don’t just assume they are simply difficult people who like to control things. It’s easy to see others as the villain when they communicate disagreement. Remember that God loves them and calls you to love them and that their reactions to the change you are trying to impose often come from a deeper reason than that they are simply troublemakers. Make every effort (with compassion) to get to the heart of their reaction.

Evaluate the current effectiveness of ministry leaders and their specific giftedness. Leaders may be unable to effectively train other leaders because they are in positions that are outside their gifts and passions. Before asking leaders to take on another responsibility, make sure they are all placed in positions where they can be successful.

Train your leaders how to equip and release others. Ministry leaders who are hesitant to accept an equipping church model may feel unprepared to train others. They may be fearful that they aren’t fully qualified. Give them the tools they need to confidently train other leaders and lead by example as you confidently train them.

Build relationships with your leaders. When you purposefully build relationships with the people you put in leadership you will earn the right to lead them. If they trust you, it will be easier for them to follow you. If you consistently prove that you will support them and help them through change, they will be less fearful in the face of it. Building relationships takes time. If it hasn’t happened before the change comes, it will be harder and take longer to lead them through change. Understand that and be prepared for it not to happen overnight.

Getting the support of your current leaders is the real challenge. If you win them over, they will be your greatest agents for change in your church. Unfortunately, from time to time, you will find a leader who is simply unwilling to change. There are times when it is ok to consider asking a person to step down from a leadership position. Don’t give up on them. Pray for them, keep seeking a relationship with them and continue to communicate and share the positive effects of the change as it happens.

People come first. Leading a church, even a young church, through a transition can be a difficult and even painful process. Love them even when they cause conflict, seek understanding and remember that Jesus would leave the 99 to find the one. Love that one.

Having Hobbies is a Good Thing

I've noticed in my life that I have a tendency to work whenever I'm bored. I'm supposed to take a day off but I get bored and pull out my computer. So lately I've been forcing myself to enjoy a few new hobbies! That's part of the reason I haven't been blogging. I've been trying to do other things in my free time. Although I really like writing. Actually writing has been one of my hobbies. I recently wrote an article for Group Publishing. Maybe I'll post that next...

Painting has been one of my recent favorites. I've painted 3 small canvases and just bought 3 more of a larger size. I kinda want to take a class to actually learn how to do it! I already love to draw so this was a natural hobby for me to try.

Then I started a puzzle, a hard puzzle. I'm still working on it.

I don't really enjoy scrapbooking but I do it just to keep my pictures from piling up so I've done a little of that lately also.

I've noticed that "Sodoku" is a new popular puzzle hobby so I've been thinking about picking up a book and learning how to do it. So my sweet husband bought me a book of Sodoku puzzles from Valentine's Day.

And I decided to give cake decorating a try for a recent baby shower I threw. That was not my best attempt. It turned out a bit lopsided. Oh well....

What's my point...pick up a hobby! Not only does it provide a little fun for you, it helps you be more well-rounded and you may even find you have a special skill you never knew you had! Plus hobbies can really relieve stress!

Bono and The Constant Gardener

Ok so it seems I might be one of the few who really enjoyed the movie, "The Constant Gardener." Or perhaps I'm one of the few who actually saw it. Many of my Christian friends will see it and be so offended by the nudity that they won't be moved. I was moved. I know it's just a movie but I imagine the culture of Africa is very much like what this movie protrayed and I was moved. I was moved to want to help. I was angered by the thought that our government is perhaps not following through on their promises made at the G-8 Summit because we are putting too much money into killing lives rather than saving them.

Just today I was continuing to read through "God's Politics" by Jim Wallis when I came across this quote by Bono...

"So you've been doing God's work, but what's God working on now? What's God working on this year? Two and a half million African's are going to die of AIDS. What's God working on now? I meet the people who tell me it's going to take an act of God to stop this plague. Well, I don't believe that. I think that God is waiting for us to act. In fact, I think that God is on his knees to us, to the Church. God is on his knees to us, waiting for us to turn around this supertank of indiffernce, our own indifference a lot of the time. That God Almighty is on his knees to us - I don't know what that means. Waiting for us to recognize that distance can no longer decide who is our neighbor. We can't choose our neighbors anymore. We can't choose the benefits of globalization without some of the responsibilities, and we should remind ourselves that "love thy neighbor" is not advice: it is a command."

If you're interested in giving to help meet needs in Africa, go to www.samaritanspurse.org.

Expanding our World View

I'm still wading my way through "God's Politics" by Jim Wallis, which I continue to say is an incredible book, easy to read and easy to understand. Currently I'm on a chapter about the struggle between Israelis and Palestinians and the need for peace. I hope to provide an abridged version of the struggle later for those of you who, like me, didn't know much existed outside of the United States for twenty some odd years.

I'm not really big on being taught but I love to learn. I tend to be more self-taught. Unfortunately, in order to teach yourself, you first have to be aware that you need to learn. Until the last few years I was never very curious about the things happening in the world around me.

COLLEGE STUDENTS....Don't miss out on the opportunity you have to educate yourself. Don't think that just because you are in college you are learning. You have highly intelligent people at your disposal. Soak up all you can from them and don't live your life unaware.

I think Christians can be especially guilty of this because often times if something doesn't have to do with a person's salvation, we don't catch the importance of it. The fact is, we can't imagine the life that people in places like Israel and Palestine have to live. We are very sheltered and very privileged. They live in constant fear of terrorism. Parents fear for the life of their children as they send them off to school or out to play.

We could all afford to expand our world view and open our eyes to the struggles of those living in world's outside of our own. So turn on the news (even the Daily Show can open your eyes to new things) or pick up a newspaper or browse the web.

Yes, there is life outside our little super power and it's time to start learning and start caring.

Christmas Eve Tradition

I love Christmas!! :) And Christmas Eve is great too because it means I can stay up late and eat lots of yummy goodies and watch the best Christmas movie ever...ELF.

If you haven't seen it, it should become your newest Christmas Eve tradition! :) That and Chinese food...yum!

You Can't Have it Both Ways

I really tried to leave this whole "war on Christmas" thing alone but sorry...I just can't do it. :) I just have a question first...why do Christians always have to find something to fight or "war" about? It seems strangely separated from the character of Christ.

Ok, on to my thoughts on this whole holiday issue. Oh wow...I'm about to stand up for something the President did...

Happy Holidays! Give the guy a break! A couple of things. 1) We can't complain that much, he did use Scripture in his "holiday" card. 2) We are a country that respects religious freedom and our country's leader must respect that as well. This time of year celebrates Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanza, New Year and probably others I don't even know about...count them...1, 2, 3, 4...at least 4 holidays represented in just 2 months time. I don't think this means Christmas is even remotely threatened.

Retail...we simply cannot have it both ways. We can't complain about the Christmas commercialism and then complain when companies start using "holiday" terminology instead of Christmas terminology. Christ does not equal retail. Who cares what the signs on the stores say because according to what we usually say, "Christmas isn't about all that...."

So be happy, maybe now we can start to separate the birthday of Jesus from all that happens in the retail world.

By the way, just because Bill O'Reily suggests that Christmas is threatened with extinction, doesn't make it true.

Matt and I caught Death Cab at the Crystal Ballroom this week and it was such a good concert. To all you wanna-be-rock-stars out there...the great thing about bands like this is that they don't try to hard to "look the part." You can tell they're regular guys who just really enjoy playing their music. I've got these friends who are in a band. I know they're not that cool. They're normal, just like everybody else. It just makes me laugh when I see them trying to look like the image of a rock star. I can appreciate unprentious rock bands who know it's about the music and that's about it.

If you've never listened to Death Cab for Cutie, you have to start! You can listen to some of their songs online at...

http://www.deathcabforcutie.com/

Brain Rest

Well I've had to take a break from my books and my thoughts for a while as I'm not getting much sleep! We're working on getting Bella to sleep past 5:30 am but often she gets up around 4:00 am or earlier! I think she's struggling with some seperation anxiety. She just loves to cuddle and sleeps great next to me on the couch, but isn't so happy about the crate. So, I'll be getting back to my heavier thoughts later...when my brain is functioning a little more! :)

Our New Family

Me, Matt and our sweet baby Bella. :)

Welcome Home Bella

Well, we are happy to finally welcome little Bella Mia home! She's been an absolute sweetheart! She loves to cuddle and play! Now if we could just get her to sleep past 6:30 am!!

A New Option

When I was old enough to understand the most general political ideas, I was confused by the fact that Christians were always Republicans. According to my understanding of the separations of the two parties, the Democratic party seemed to have more ideals that lined up with my understanding of God and faith.

For example: I understood Republicans as liking war, capital punishment, guns and big business. I understood them to not like abortion and not like the environment. I understood Democrats to like abortion and like the environment, care about the poor and dislike capital punishment, war and guns.

I understood God as caring for His world (environment) and people. So it seemed to me that politically God would care about the environment and helping poor people and he would not like war, capital punishment, guns and abortion because they all kill people.

I was always glad when my mom said she didn't really consider herself a Republican or a Democrat. It made sense to me to be more in the center.

Now that I'm older, my understanding of politics is a little bit deeper and I still feel conflicted. During this last presidential election I was one of those "undecided" people that the media acted like was so stupid. I understood that the candidates were very different. Some of what Bush said made sense to me and some of what Kerry said made sense to me.

The truth is there is no real option that fits how I see my faith relating to politics. There needs to be an option that doesn't fall to either of the extremes. In his book, God's Politics, Jim Wallis gave a beautiful description of a much needed option. When I think about politics, if this candidate were an option, he or she would have my vote. This option is....

"...traditional or conservative on issues of family values, sexual integrity and personal responsibility, while being very progressive, populist or even radical on issues like poverty and racial justice. It affirms good stewardship of the earth and its resources, supports gender equality, and is more internationally minded than nationalist - looking first to peacemaking and conflict resolution when it comes to foreign policy questions. The people it appeals to...are very strong on issues like marriage, raising kids, and individual ethics, but without being right-wing, reactionary, or mean-spirited or scapegoating against any group of people, such as homosexuals. They can be pro-life, pro-family and pro-feminist, all at the same time. They think issues of "moral character" are very important, both in a politician's personal life and in his or her policy choices. Yet they are decidedly pro-poor, for racial reconciliation, critical of purely military solutions, and defenders of the environment. At the heart of the fourth option is the integral link between personal ethics and social justice. And it appeals to people who refuse to make the choice between the two."

- Jim Wallis, "God's Politics"

Poverty and Misplaced Priorities

I read an interesting stat in God's Politics (by Jim Wallis) the other night that I wanted to comment on.

Apparently, while Clinton was in office the rate of abortions was down. Now, with Bush in office, it has gone back up again. Wallis suggested that the reason for this is because poor women had more assistance when Clinton was in office than they do now.

This could possibly be an interesting point of misplaced priorities for those in the Right. I have to wonder if we spent less time and resources picketing abortion clinics and fighting Planned Parenthood and instead focused our time and energy on fighting poverty, if we would be more effective in lower the number of abortions that are performed each year.

The sanctity of life is a valuable concern and issue for anyone who understands God's love for humanity. We often don't see poverty as a moral issue so we put less of a priority on it. In the Bible, in the book of Matthew, Jesus talks about how when the end has come and he's ready to claim us as his children or not, he will look to see if we have clothed the naked, fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, visited and brought comfort to those sick and in prison...and whatever we have done or have not done for the least of these, we will have done or have not done for Jesus himself.

Faith can and should play a role in politics but perhaps we need to reconsider how.

The Religious Voice

I recently started reading God's Politics, by Jim Wallis. I was going to wait until I finished to write a review but after reading one chapter I can tell I'm going to have enough thoughts on it to fill a book! :) So I want to start with a simple idea.

The Christianity community has a voice in America. Unfortunately that voice is coming from individuals such as Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell.

"It is the responsibility of every political conservative, every evangelical Christian, every pro-life Catholic, every traditional Jew, every Reagan Democrat, and everyone in between to get serious about re-electing president Bush." -Jerry Falwell as quoted in God's Politics.

"I think George Bush is going to win in a walk. I really believe I'm hearing from the Lord it's going to be like a blowout election in 2004. The Lord has just blessed him....It doesn't make any difference what he does, good or bad." - Pat Robertson as quoted in God's Politics.

Hmm.... I hardly feel like I need to say more. In the last presidential election, religious leaders mistakenly communicated that to vote for anyone other than George W. Bush was nothing less than sin.

The Religious Right has used fear and manipulation to convince Christians that values-driven politics centers around two issues...abortion and homosexuality. This is not biblical.

No political party has a monopoly on God and family values. It's time for Christians to broaden our understand of values and faith in politics and change our voice.

Helping the poor is a biblical issue. War vs. Peace is a biblical issue. Taking care of our environment is a biblical issue. How we respond to terrorism is a biblical issue. And yes, homosexuality and abortion are biblical issues. We must change our voice.

If our nation is becoming more hostile to Christianity it is because we are becoming more hostile to our nation. We must change our voice.

Progressive Christians have changed politics in the past through movements such as the Civil Rights movement, women's suffrage and more. We can change the face of politics today too. But we can't do it with the voices that currently represent us. It is time for a change. We must change our voice.

The Portland Rescue Mission

Lately I've been doing a "heart-check"...getting my priorities in line if you will. It's funny how struggle can bring clarity. In a time past the things I thought were important in God's Kingdom were flashy websites, movie clips and rocking music, as if somehow those things were required to help people see God. In recent past I saw the ugliness of those things and what a life can become when it is void of the true heart beat of God and began to understand that so much of my time and energy was wasted on things not valued by God.

I was hanging out at Multnomah Bible College at a ministry fair not too long ago (recruiting volunteers) when I happened to start up a conversation with the girl in the booth next to mine. She happen to work for the Portland Rescue Mission. I'd been searching for a way to start reconciling my reality with the things swirling around in my heart and mind and God opened the perfect door. She mentioned that the ministry was looking for someone to help head up their decorating team for their big holiday events. I just happen to LOVE decorating....especially for parties. Hmm...could God be giving me the opportunity I've been asking for? I tend to wait and chicken out when these things present themselves...I didn't, I just said yes.

Now having been in the process of better understanding the organization and what my role will be, I am even more convinced that God is at work. The heart beat of this ministry is beautifully aligned with the desires of God's heart to bring hope to the hopeless and to love those who can't even yet love themselves. Providing food, shelter, clean clothes, showers, laundry facilities, and a long term program that helps overcome addictions, emotional pain, gain education and career experience and so much more is only the beginning of the work the people involved in the mission are doing.

I believe that when Jesus says the end will come and we will be seperated on how we loved, this is what he means....and they do love, with everything they have to give.

It's an honor to be a part of something so beautiful. You can check out more about the mission and how you can help to by going to their website. www.portlandrescuemission.org

Switchfoot at the Crystal Ballroom

I saw Switchfoot in concert my freshman year of college when their first CD had come out and they were touring with Third Day and All-Star United. Let's just say that they've gotten better...a lot better! It's a fuzzy photo because I scanned it from my scrapbook but here's a photo of me and my friend Jen with them. We all look about 12 years old!



If you haven't had the chance to attend a concert at the Crystal Ballroom, make time...it's awesome! There's nothing like rock-n-roll blaring in your ears, standing on a suspended floor that bounces with every step while enjoying the museum-like beauty of the room. It's fascinating.

On to the concert.... First of all, it's amazing to me the following that Switchfoot has in Portland. People love them. The concert was better attended and the energy was higher than when I saw Jimmy Eat World there. (Who by the way happen to be one of my favorite bands.) I thought the audience was going to revolt. As each "listen to this CD until we're ready" song came to a close, the room would chant "Switchfoot...Switchfoot....Switchfoot" until another song played from the CD and so on until finally the room filled with screams and I knew (I was too short to really see) that it was time.

Lyrically, Switchfoot provides hope to a world without it. Though never coming out and singing that Jesus died for you, you sense that there is something bigger that you were made to be a part of. It's beautiful. The lyrics are honest and raw and are relatable to the human condition.

Their songwriting demonstrates an appreciation for a quality hook and singable melody. People at this concert didn't just sing along with the most popular radio hits, they sang along with it all. There were several times the band laid back and just let the audience blend their voices with the power of a gospel choir.

Imagine the beauty of standing in a room full of people who do and do not consider themselves followers of Christ, singing together with one strong voice...

"We want more than this world has to offer. We want more than this world has to offer. We want more than the wars of our fathers. And everything inside, screams for second life. We were meant to live for so much more..."

And musically, well they rock! The groove of the rhythm section and driving force of the guitars reminded me how much I love music. Matt often teases me because I can't let a groove go by without starting to dance. And there's nothing better than loud, melodic, passionate rock-n-roll to set you in motion.

Overall, I had a blast and would totally see them in concert again. When I took that photo with them in college, I never expected they would become the powerful band that they have. I'm thrilled that the industry took a chance and let the grow into what they are today!

Photos of Friends

Matt, Joey and Jessica at the beach in Seaside, OR. I'm behind the camera....





A bunch of us went hiking on Labor Day.

Bella & Her Daddy

Redemption & My Golf Swing

I fully enjoy a sunny day spent at the golf course with my husband who may on occasion throw a golf club in my vicinity (unintentionally) after a sad attempt to reach the green. We encourage each other and laugh at each other and from time to time go home feeling good about our improvement.

Golf is a game I would give up completely if it weren't for the occasional beautiful (relatively) swing. It's that one swing that when it happens you know it's right and it feels so natural. The club connects and the ball soars ahead many more yards than the 10-20 I'm used to hitting. That one in fifty swing brings me back again and again.

Today I realized I often feel that way about Christianity. Not God. I know and sense that God is eternally good. But we, as humans, have a long, long way to go. My progress it seems is often slow, if it's moving in the right direction at all. Occasionally I think it flies back a few yards (as my golf ball does at times, nearly killing anyone standing nearby). But then there are those moments when I catch a glimpse of a tiny particle of my character, redeemed and beautiful as God desires.

I see those glimpes in the church as well. If you've been around it very long you can understand that there are moments you feel ready to walk away. You see what seems to be complacency and a lack of progress. And then there are those beautiful moments when the light of God shows through and somehow you see the possibility in others. Those are the moments that bring me back. When my hope is lost for what we can be, God gives me a glimpse of how far we've already come.

How often do we look at our culture, our society and talk about how awful it has become. Truthfully, if we know anything about history, we see that we've always been messed up. We've never had it right. There was never any "Christian" nation or even a moral nation for that matter. Even in Rome when Constantine made Christianity the main religion of the Empire, he was doing it for political reasons. And America? Our history speaks for itself.

My desire is that we can become a people who stop fearing the moral decline of a nation and instead, start catching glimpses of how God is redeeming all of creation and what a beautiful process we have been invited to take part in. I wonder if we will ask God to show us where he is working, if he will begin to give us those moments that bring us back again and again, believing that all of creation can be fully redeemed, beautiful in the eyes of God.

The Last Word and the Word After That: A Review

I just finished reading a fascinating book titled, "The Last Word and the Word After That" by Brian McLaren. First let me say that if you don't feel strong enough to have your beliefs challenged without losing your faith, don't read it. It's fair to say that not all people are at a comfortable enough place in their faith to be able to be challenged in the way this book challenges. If you do feel you are mature enough I encourage to read it with the mind set that you might not like or agree with everything he writes and you may really hate the fact that some of the subject matter is even considered in the way that it is, but it will make you think. And that, I believe, is a good thing.

The book is essentially a "creative non-fiction," meaning that it communicates theological ideas through a fictional story. While it is still a complicated read, it is much easier to accept theology in terms of story than textbook. Perhaps that is what makes the Bible such a wonderful book. It communicates timeless truths using stories, some real life, some parable.

The theme of the book is centered around a re-evaluation of the concept or physical place of hell. The pastor and main character in the book is struggling with his exclusivity view of hell while not yet feeling comfortable enough to accept either the inclusive or universalist view either. The book is his process of wading his way through a thick history of varied ideas on the subject and coming to a better understanding that seems to him to be more in line with the character of God.

One of the things I found most compelling about the book is that eternity or the idea of heaven and hell were new to the Jewish religion sometime between the Old and New Testament. Previously the religions that had an understanding of an afterlife were more Greek and Babylonian rather than Jewish. During Jesus' time the Sadducces still didn't believe in the afterlife which is one of the things that set the Pharisees and Sadducces apart from one another. Secondly, a lot of the "hell" terminology used in the Bible is actually terminology from other religions. For instance, Hades, is a term for hell in Greek Mythology. There were a few others that I can't remember right now. You'd actually be amazed to see how many of the biblical stories of creation, the flood and other things are incredibly similar to the stories of other religions.

I don't want to give away the conclusions and questions that are brought up throughout the book because they are so difficult to grapple with that it's best to take them in full context rather than in my little blog.

But the ideas fascinate me and challenge me to look at the Bible with great respect and consideration, always seeking God for wisdom and never assuming everything I hear or read in regards to the Bible is simply true.

We know but in part....

Hannity & Colmes

I've been sitting here watching Fox News (Matt holds the remote) and I've been reminded once again why it drives me crazy that Sean Hannity's books are being sold in local Christian bookstores.

Now, I'm not going to go into political beliefs because I have only a few friends who have the ability to respectfully disagree on these types of issues.

What I will say is that this guy is ABSOLUTELY RUDE on this TV program to anyone who disagrees with him in the slightest. His TV personality is incredibly far from what I would consider to be a great demonstration of being a follower of Christ and I'm incredibly disappointed that we as a Christian community support this type of public behavior.

And that's all I'm going to say about that....

Sweet Bella

Here's another sweet picture of my little puppy coming home to live with me the week of November 15-19. I can't wait! And my friend (who shall remain nameless...but his name starts with J and ends with Y) better leave his mean mean nickname for her in his little head if he wants to come over any more!! :)