Living for the Person Next to Me.

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L is for Love

Here is a section from a book I've been re-reading the last couple of days. It talks about how important it is to focus on love and how that is the "what" that creates community. The book is Titled "The Language of the Emerging Church, and the section/chapter is called: 

L is for Love

"An undervalued word in recent Christian communication, having been replace by "community."

Community is good and useful word, but is is also dangerous. Why? Because community can become a commodity one seeks to acquire or experience by attending a church that talks a lot about it. And talking about community and promising community are almost guaranteed to hinder the community gathered around the talk and promise from experiencing true "community."

An analogy will make the reason clear. If a sign were put up along a busy street saying, "Self-Image Group meets here at 7:30pm." or "Acceptance Group meets here at 8:30pm.," what kind of people would show up? You can almost guarentee that no people with high self-image or a hight acceptance of others would show up for either; rather, people struggling with self-esteem would crowd the room at 7:30, and shy, lonely souls needing acceptance would should up at 8:30. One could just about guarantee that a roomful of people struggling with insecurity and inferiority would do little in their hour to encourage one another; not would lonely and shy people go far to show one another acceptance.

Similarly, when we advertise community as our "product," we will attract people who want to consume it, and thus we will soon dissipate whatever capacity we had to produce it.

Instead, if we take Jesus' cue and put a sign that says, "Learn How to Love, tonight at 8:30pm.'" whoever shows up can be challenged and encouraged to serve, forgive, reconcile with, give to, speak the truth to, not judge, and be merciful to one another. In this way, by focusing on learning to love, people will hardly be able to leave that hour without experiencing some increasing measure of community."

I Wanted To Change The World - By Unknown Monk, 1100 A.D.

I Wanted To Change The World
By Unknown Monk, 1100 A.D.

When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world.
I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation.
When I found I couldn't change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn't change the town and as an older man, I tried to change my family.
Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family. My family and I could have made an impact on our town. Their impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world."

Ophone

This is either Microsoft making fun of the iphone... or iphone owners making fun of Microsoft trying to make an iphone competitor. Either way, it's pretty funny. "This is more than thinking outside the box... we're nowhere near the box!"

Intimate concert

Just finished a really intimate concert that only had room for about 40 people (sold out). Really really awesome and beautiful.

The eternal struggle...

If you know what's in this picture... you know that we've been trying our whole life...

If you don't know what this is... you wouldn't understand.

Punched in the gut at a coffee shop.

This blows my mind away. Very effective marketing to get people to become more aware what kind of a negative inpact they are having without even knowing it...

A book I want to read soon...

It explores what the gopsel message looked like to enslaved African people in America.

"Lord, Save us from your followers" - Documentary/Movement

"The gospel of love has turned into the gospel of being right... it's a lot easier to be right than to be generous..." - Clips from movie.

I just found this, and at looking forward to watching the documentary. It looks funny, sobering, and insightful (albeit perhaps a little over the top at times).

MOVIE SYNOPSIS:

"Though nine out of ten Americans claim a belief in God, public expression of faith is more contentious as ever. Even as discussion of religion floods the media like never before, the rhetoric is divisive and hyper as the 2008 elections loom on the horizon.

Lord, Save Us From Your Followers is the energetic, accessible documentary that explores the collision of faith and culture in America. Fed up with the angry, strident language filling the

airwaves that has come to represent the Christian faith, director (and follower) Dan Merchant set out to discover why the Gospel of Love is dividing America. Utilizing a broad array of expert interviews, man-on-the-street bits, hilarious animations and “I’ve never seen that before” stunts, Lord, Save Us From Your Followers brings everyone into the conversation that this country is aching to have.

In the tradition of “entertaining documentaries” like Super Size Me, Bowling For Columbine and What the Bleep Do We Know?, Lord, Save Us From Your Followers, employs the language of pop culture to create a provocative, funny and redemptive viewing experience that will leave the audience talking for hours.

From the man-on-the-street blitz of “Bumpersticker Man” to a “Culture Wars” game show, from Dan’s proclamation drive to re-name St. Paul to New Leningrad to the controversial and moving “Confession Booth” at Gay Pride, Lord, Save Us From Your Followers delves into all the hot button issues with candor, humor and balance.

With exclusive interviews with comedian/Senatorial candidate Al Franken, former Senator and Religious Right inside man Rick Santorum, noted “liberal evangelical” Tony Campolo, conservative radio host Michael Reagan, racial reconciliation activist Dr. John Perkins and features with Bono, Pastor Rick Warren (“Purpose Driven Life”), James Dobson, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, no stone is left unturned in this engaging, unpredictable and challenging look at the conflict over religion in America."

Feel free to check out - Lord, Save us from your followers.

Contemplative Youth Ministry

I'm currently reading a book by Mark Yaconeli called "Contemplative Youth Ministry."

It's been really insightful for me, because it doesn't focus on activities and the "how to" of youth ministry. The primary focus of the book so far has been on the health (in all senses) of the youth leader. This is such a refreshing, and wanted read!

I wanted to crudely summarize the last chapter I've read (4), for both you and me.

I will start with a quote from the intro to the chapter and then quote some of the author's words that I thought were really notable, very short summary, then my thoughts!

Chapter 4: becoming a good receiver

"You will discover that the more love you can take in and hold on to, the less fearful you will become. you will speak more simply, more directly, and more freely about what is important to you, without fear of other people's reactions. you will also use fewer words, trusting that you communicate your self ever when you do not speak much. The more you come to know yourself-spirit, mind, and body-as truly loved, the freer you will be to proclaim the good news. That is the freedom of the children of God." - Henri Nouwen

In all of the hectic schedules and how hard we work to create "moments" and such we have to realize that... "We can't create love... Love is a gift God offers us, a gift that asks only that we let down our resistances and yield." When we don't realize that, we take way to much of the responsibility of our ministries on our own shoulders.

SURRENDER

"I have observed too many churches and youth ministries whose methods expose a consistent distrust of God. These ministries embody a sense of urgency that communicates a God who is either a relentless taskmaster or completely incompetent... All silence and stillness is eradicated for fear that youth might find God disappointing, boring, or absent."

This is so true. When I try and explain that I would like to slow down and just experience some of the quieter and (what I think are) more powerful and longer lasting parts of God people get a little nervous that the students will be get bored or be uninterested. But I agree with that author when he says: "In contrast, Jesus isn't afraid of reality. He isn't afraid of doubts, or downtime, or disappointment, or boredom... he might even find them critical to spiritual growth."

What this book did was give me permission to start doing what I thought needed to be done anyway. To slow down and stop stressing out so much about changing kids lives, and trusting that part to God and the Holy Spirit. My job is to love (well, that and all of the other menial work that goes into preparing for a growing ministry), not try to change them. Mark sums this section up really well:

"To stop and surrender is to repent - to turn and repent from our preoccupations and remember the One who has gone before us. When we stay still, we become aware of the source of our activity. We can awaken to the real source of our faith, whether it is our own anxious fear or our hunger for God's love.

RECEIVE

One of the reasons we (including me) have such a hard time finding God sometimes is that, "The Christian Life begins by receiving," and, "We don't know much about receiving in North America... To live here, is to do (what we do is our identity)."

"In contrast, a life of love is open-ended. ...Love is its own reward."

"Many of us have heard many times that God loves and cherishes us. Yet how many of us really believe that?" I know that I only really believe this some of the time. The rest of the time I'm trying to get over myself and believe it, which in turn turns into my trying to do something else to earn God's love (or "unlock" it, or some other adventure in missing the point).

I am freed and made uncomfortable by one of the last questions he asks in the chapter: "How many of us are driven by an unsettling anxiety that the Christian life is something one earns or achieves?"

"We notice a sense of relief that we're not the center of the ministry. We discover newfound energy as it dawns on us that our role in youth ministry is not to "make something happen!" Our task is simply to rest in wonder at what God is doing, and then to lend a hand as we're needed."

This chapter was quite powerful for me. I can't create love. I can't make people (forcibly or coercively) into Jesus followers. I need to trust God's role in my ministry more. It isn't my job to make them meet God. I must surrender all of this to God. My Job (role in own life and ministry) is to embody the life Jesus gives us. I must adopt an attitude of receiving, and loving, not doing. So that I can receive that God cherishes and approves of me before, or despite what I do. I want to live like Jesus - I want to live as if there is a boundless, shameless love present and available within every moment!"

Books