What if, Day 5

Currently Listening to: Beautiful Things by Gungor

"When we allow ourselves to be disarmed, we become both vulnerable and strong. The only weapons then at our disposal are those of the Spirit. We choose the way of Jesus, laying aside all the earthly resources that give us power--in order to be present to those we love." Friendship at the Margins

I don't remember who said it but it hits me every time I think about it. They were talking about how we interact with other people and they said that when we give up our power and choose to serve another, we open ourselves up to hurt, injury and the opportunity to be taken advantage of.

I didn't and still don't really like that idea.

I mean, I like what it's saying but getting offended or taken advantage of is not exactly my idea of a good time.

I guess because of this I've chosen more often to do nice things in a way that keep me safer. I'll be happy to serve but only if it has some level of comfort in it. That in itself is why short term service is way more popular than long-term stuff. It's probably another reason why this generation loves missional work that is cause driven rather than people oriented. I'd rather write a check and be done with it than spend hours working with a kiddo in my area that has some of the same needs. I'm not necessarily saying that stuff is bad but I'm guilty of knowing deep down its easier to write a check then give up my time.

When I really think about it though, it means I have to turn my back on Jesus. Or at the very least I have to take a second and tear Philippians 2 out of my Bible. And I'm not comfortable doing that.

So what do I do? What do I do to start modeling and teaching my kids a healthier way. What conversations could I have had with my parents if they'd have let me walk in the homeless shelter when we gave donations instead of leaving me in the car because it was too dangerous? What if I had the opportunity as a kid to realize that baking a few pumpkin pies at Thanksgiving for the Rescue Mission was at its best not much.

So here's to getting hurt. Here's to getting taken advantage of. Here's to being misunderstood by those that call themselves religious and here's to pursuing something that doesn't make sense. It worked out alright for Jesus and I have this nagging sense he's asking me to consider the same.

What if, Day 4

I picked up a new book this week I've been excited to read. It's by a guy who I have a great deal of respect for. I'm finding some pretty incredible ideas and some powerful things I've heard before but said in a fresh way.

I keep thinking about how we say things. I'm also still thinking about what we say through our actions and how those are often louder statements than we realize.

Our Know Sweat team is working through our old tag line of His Heart. Their Needs. Your Service. Originally, I loved it. Now, I'm not so sure. If you've noticed, we've dropped it to Heart.Needs.Service. One of the reasons for this is we no longer feel like communicating their needs and your service is healthy. See, we don't do service projects so that we can help them. That communicates that they can't help us.

And I don't like that.

Try this quote on for size:
"Mission or ministry with people who are poor or vulnerable often assumes that "our" task is to meet "their" needs. Whether their need is for the good news of Christ or for bread and a place to sleep, we tend to think that we have the resources and they have the needs. A focus on friendship rearranges our assumptions. What if the resources they have also meet our needs? What if Jesus is already present in ways that will minister to us? What if in sharing life together as friends we all move closer to Jesus' heart?" Friendship at the Margins

So it's time to redeem our terminology. It's time to stop treating people as projects and stop looking people who seem to have needs as our chance to drop our awesomeness on them. It's time to realize that poverty, real poverty, is actually broken relationships. (Thanks Molesky) And if that's the case, we are all poor. We all need help.

See there is a generation growing up that cares a great deal about the world. That gets me excited. What gets me more excited is doing something to help them/us learn how to honor and serve not in short bursts but all the time. What gets me excited is to see how when we care about one another we can fix a lot of broken relationships. And if we fixed that poverty that could really change the world. In fact, I could give the next years of my life to that.

Actually, I think I will.

What if, Day 3

Currently Listening to: To Be Loved by Thad Cockrell

More reading. More questions.

"There is, however, a second temptation in ministry: the temptation to give up powerlessness through spiritual pioneerism. One of the most conspicuous forms of faithlessness in the ministry is the blatant individualism. of the ministers. Seminaries often seem to be training grounds for individual stardom. But Jesus did not send His disciples out one by one. He ordered them to go out together. The powerlessness of the minister reveals itself when the ministry is perceived and lived out as a shared vocation. Much competition and rivalry within the ministry, as well as much of the loneliness and frustration of ministers, find their basis in this rugged individualism." -Nouwen

This quote stings a bit. I think its true. It is certainly what we reward it seems to me. Sure, we have a responsibility to develop as individuals but this should always play out in the community as well. I'm certain that competition rivalry, loneliness and frustration aren't a part of the ministry I signed up for. Seems like our American ideal runs against the grain of the Gospel on this one. It works great for John Wayne and Indiana Jones but not for us. Agree?

What if, Day 2

So I'm reading last night and I come across this quote about Nouwen:
"Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place."
I love this quote. The biggest reason why is because it eliminates our ability to be awesome. It takes the power out of our hands and helps us realize that we exist for each other. It makes me realize that I'm blessed when I serve and I'm blessed by others when I serve and it helps explain why I usually walk away from these things "getting more than I gave".

"Ministry is never accomplished in detachment from community; ministry is always done within its context. We do ministry in community together as a body since community is not only a shared reality but also a shared burden that requires us to act together as one."

So, until we see what we do as a part of what we do, we are missing the point. Until we quit calling others our "projects" and until we quit thinking we are bringing great things to others, I still say we are doing more harm than good.

What if the point is actually what you can teach me?

While reading for class a while back, I came across a quote from Thomas Kelly. In his book A Testament of Devotion he shares, “Do we want to help people because we feel sorry for them or because we genuinely love them? The world needs something deeper than pity; it needs love.” God’s view of justice has virtually nothing to do with feeling sorry for people and everything to do with genuine love. Matthew 9 is an insightful passage as Jesus is moved by the crowds and feels compassion but follows that up with the mandate that we need workers to meet that need. Matthew 9:35-38 says this:

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

My own experience with service projects for the last 5 years has opened my eyes to the fact that many people enjoy missions and service trips because they feel better after getting a quick high off of feeling heartbroken over a person or a situation. Pity certainly does show up in scripture but in every passage, the Good Samaritan being one, pity results in action. The fact is, nobody wants to be pitied. Where is the dignity in that? If we call people to care simply out of pity and guilt, it is foolish to think this can do any good long-term.

Though their intention is good, it rarely translates into an actual life change once the trip is over. Days or maybe weeks after the trip is over, their attention has again moved back to their own wants and desires. If justice to us means meeting a need short term or feeling like we need to get something out of our experience, we have failed. Until justice means redeeming and restoring people and situations whether that means meeting a need or moving on from an offense, we will be falling short. Until these "trips" translate into long-term life change, I wonder just how much good they are really doing.

Today's Stupidity is Tomorrow's Brilliance

Currently Listening to: Not Sure by Fiction Family

I had this dumb idea to go back and read some of my old posts from a few years ago.

I think anytime you have the stupidity to put your thoughts in the open, you have to be prepared to look back at them and be ashamed. Not every thought we have is worth sharing.

Or maybe not every thought is developed enough to be ready for public consumption.

However, I also believe that when we think, we begin to work on something that then can develop and someday might actually become a rational or even worthwhile thought.

I was reading the other day about writing. In the midst of that reading I came across some pretty cool thoughts. Here are a couple highlights (Once again, thanks Henri Nouwen):

*"What I am gradually discovering is that in the writing I come in touch with the Spirit of God within me and experience how I am led to new places."

*"Writing is a process in which we discover what lives in us."

I have these friends who used to have a band. They called the band Work in Progress. I always liked the name because 1. someday I want to be a rock star.... Now that I said that I'm not sure that had any relevance.

So 2. I love the imagery that they weren't complete but they were working towards something.

I feel the same way about writing. Sometimes I sit down with a point I want to write about. Other times I have a thought and the only way I can think to think through it is to start writing. Every once in a while I'm shocked at where i end up. Other times I'm disappointed that I said so many words and ended up with very little.

So maybe the title is a bit over zealous. But I do think that if I don't think today about things, I'll have very little to build on tomorrow. And if I have nothing to build on tomorrow......

The more I think about it, most of life is like this. We discover who we are by trying and seeing what happens. It's why I know I stink at soccer, archery, being a lifeguard and singing in public.

I remember my coach when I worked at a church telling me that the problem with me was that I kept waiting for the perfect idea and in the meantime kept missing out on sharing any good ideas I had. The reality was, the perfect idea never came and I was left a non-contributor who people thought didn't care since I never said anything.

So let's be honest, sharing a dumb idea can sometimes be embarrassing. Doing the wrong thing is rarely awesome.

So here's to exploring. Here's to risking a dumb idea today so we might have a better one somewhere down the road.

More (Turtle)

Currently listening to: Only You by DCB This week was parent teacher conferences at Carter's school. We had a great time talking with his teacher who is doing an amazing job. It is still somewhat strange to go to those things. Makes me feel as old as I actually am.

While there the teacher noticed I was a bit distracted by the class pet. His name is Slipee. Actually I have no idea how they spell it but I choose that spelling because it reminds me of a slurpee of which I am very fond.

9 years ago a student brought Carter's teacher this turtle. 9 years ago, and he still has it. It hangs out in the class and according to Carter "During the day he just lays there and stares at us. He doesn't really do anything cool." Not a bad gig compared to the demise of many of his kinfolk I've seen smeared across the road near the school.

Getting to the point though, Slipee has a pretty decent life going on. Over the summer though, Carter's teacher was beginning to feel guilty that he wasn't providing a nice enough home for the old Slipster. He did some research and then went out and bought him an MTV Cribs worthy pad complete with just about everything they say turtles desire. Carter's teacher pulled Slipee out of the shanty he was living in and dropped him in paradise.

Funny thing is, Slipee just sat there. Not excited, not curious just not enough to really do anything. Long story short, Slipee liked what he had going on. Carter's teacher took it all back and today you can find Slipee chillin' in his simple abode.

You could take this story a number of ways and since this is my blog I choose to take it this way. I know you could role with the whole, "isn't it awesome how content Slipee is?! We should all be so grateful for our surroundings!". I'm not saying that.

I was hanging out with a bunch of friends last week and we were talking about Ephesians because that's what we got to do. We landed in Ephesians 3 where Paul is praying for the church that it would grasp God's power and love and live with a desire for more. Not in some greedy I need as much as the next guy way. More like in a this is flipping cool, we should do this more often kind of way. Ephesians 3:20-21 is all about how God can do more than our turtle sized brains can dream up. We've all thought about this verse I'm sure and normally our application is, "I want a BMW so if God can do more....." I don't think that's it though.

My point? Glad you asked. Surprised you lasted this long. My point is I think we confuse comfort for blessing. We get so bent out of shape when our status quo gets messed with that I think we have a father who wants to pull us out of what we've got and drop us in something awesome but when he tries we often sit there uninterested and wishing we had our old stuff back.

Could it be that there are varying degrees of better? Is it possible that we would settle for pretty good when face melting awesome is ours for the taking? What's the more that God is or wants to give you?

Or maybe I took a dumb story about a turtle way too far......

Kinda

I have been convicted lately on some of the words I throw around. Not bad words mind you, just worthless ones. Whether it is in meetings or when I'm teaching or even just while talking on the phone, I find that I throw words like just and kinda and like in there way too much.

Then the other night I was listening to my kids pray and I realized that they were asking God for things and using the phrase, "I just want..." or "I just ask that...". Not bad prayers, its just (like that) that if we ask for 6 things in a prayer but "just" ask for each one, we aren't really listening to what we say.

I wouldn't walk into a doctor and say I just need him to look at my sore arm. And just at my sore leg. And just my aching back. And just...

I'm guessing you had the point a while ago.

So here is to thinking about what we say. Here is to listening to what we say. And here's to making the most of our words.

It's just that it's kinda a big deal.