Category Archives: Posts That Even Make Me Mad

A Place for Simplicity

Posted on by
2

I sat down to write something…I wanted to write something profound about Easter, the Resurrection of Jesus, trust, mission, or something…something profound. I’ve rarely been writing these days, so I wanted it to be something good. But, I just don’t have it in me this morning. But nonetheless, I wanted to post something here to clear the cobwebs from my corner of the digital world.

But this brings up something that I have been thinking about. Do we always need to be profound? Do we need to try and be profound most of the time? Is there any space for being simple?

Does God only speak to us in deeply profound ways? Or does God also speak to us in simple ways? When reading through the account of Jesus’ life in the Scriptures, we see that Jesus actually spoke about the Kingdom of God in really simple ways: a net, a treasure, a lost coin, a fig tree, a banquet…

These times for me don’t necessarily represent times where I need many complex words or thoughts…it’s more of a season of simply living, listening, trying to love well, and learning to trust more deeply in God’s goodness towards me (us).

Disconnected Revival

Posted on by
6

I haven’t had a good rant on my blog in a while and in an effort to write more of what’s on my mind, this is what gets published for the world to see.

I’ve been prepping for a conference this summer in which I’m leading worship for a few sessions. Worship leading was really never my thing before joining Christian Associates, but it’s now a part of what I enjoy doing. I love music and love seeking God. Singing worship songs is a combo of the two…

But during the process of reading about ‘the worship scene’ and learning new songs I’ve found myself disturbed. The word ‘revival’ is thrown out a there a lot…a lot. Certainly in some circles more than others. Groups talk about starting revival through singing and teaching, setting people’s hearts on fire, equipping people to be sent out, etc. I know that while money is being made, lives are being lived, people are producing mediocre music and selling the songs, and the consumers of the worship music industry are having spiritual experiences that there isn’t a lot of time or need to question what is being done. I don’t doubt that people are changed for a time. I don’t doubt that people are inspired. I don’t doubt that people are genuine and sincere. But I do doubt whether or not this is the foundation of a revival.

It’s fun to talk about revival. It’s fun to talk about movements. They are big. Larger than life. They are intangible and the ideas make us dream big. But I don’t think that surreal events are the places where Jesus really embeds into our DNA.

It’s the simple. It’s faith. It’s the small choices that we make out of love and gratitude that begin the revival within us. I love what Keith Green said in his classic song:

“I want to take your Word, and shine it all around

But help me first, just to live it Lord”

But here is where the disconnect is.

The world around us could really care less about our big plans for revival. In fact, I believe that the more they here us use Christio-spiritual-lingo-babble and then don’t seen us actually living lives that reflect Jesus clearly the worse off we are. People don’t want to meet an ‘on fire’ Christian. Or a ‘spirit lead’ believer. They don’t even know what that means. (What does that even mean? Who are we to say that some Christians or leaders are lead by the Spirit and some aren’t? I get that the intent is to say that some leaders talk about the Spirit or practice Spiritual gifts, but it really comes across differently than intended…)

What I believe people need is to see a people that are choosing to be like Jesus. The Jesus that invited the tax collectors out of trees and restored their humanity. The Jesus that touched the lepers…the outcasts. The Jesus that risked His own safety for the freedom of others. The Jesus that was human. The Jesus that cared. The Jesus that loved and interacted with people. The Jesus that turned water into wine to honor a poor couple. The Jesus that went out of his way to mourn a friend.

No amount of worship conferences could replace the influence of all of the people of the world who call themselves Jesus-followers actually following Jesus.

If you want to make a case that conferences bring glory to God, then I would say that I think it’s clear in the Scriptures that God cares more for one ‘lost’ (read: valuable) sheep coming to him than the 99 whom he already has. I think it’s clear in Scripture that God is most glorified when people live rightly under His ways.

So, is all this to say that I don’t think that worship has it’s place? Or is not beneficial? Or does not motivate people to closeness with God? Of course not! Otherwise I wouldn’t be leading worship at the conference in a couple of weeks.

But I do think that for our time we need to be clear that our talks of revival need to be a revival of our internal lives, our obedience to following Jesus, our trust in God…not just singing and more talk about God. Good orthodoxy leads to good orthoproxy…when we believe rightly about God, we’ll behave accordingly. Somewhere our orthodoxy is wrong…thus the talk of need for revival throughout generations.

I would say that within each of us lies the potential for revival, for a movement…it’s the true Spirit of God waiting for us to obey His voice and follow him into the real world.


Turn the Amps Up to 11…for Jesus of Course

Posted on by
10

I just posted this on Twitter and had a hard time articulating what I really want to say in 140 characters:

If I had to choose: I would take one simple act of service to a person in need over singing 100 songs at a Christian rock/’worship event’

Let me expound…

I’ve been living in a place where I’m very removed from the Christian sub-culture of my past. I don’t often hear of the newest and ‘greatest’ trends ins Churchianity. And when I do get wind of these trends I’m often left feeling like Christianity is running on a newer, more clever, more ‘excellent’ treadmill that we’ve been running on for generations. While we get better and better at ‘doing Church’ we don’t make any real progress in being the ambassadors of Jesus that we’re beckoned/supposed/called/asked/left to be.

I was watching a video on youTube of a Christian rock concert that we now call a worship event. Worship leaders are the new Christian rock stars. I wonder how many ‘worship’ albums have been produced and sold in the past 5 years? The funny thing is that I’m having a hard time calling this a worship movement. It’s a movement, but of the consumeristic kind: consuming experience, consuming more musical gear, consuming more CD’s, consuming the latest trends…But I can’t call this a movement of true worship of God. Yes, it’s singing song to and about God, and this is a part of worship, but it’s not the full thing. It’s like a reading a restaurant menu out-loud and ordering the food, but not eating.

So here is what I’m not saying: I’m not saying that I don’t like singing as worship. I’m not saying that it’s not worship. I’m not saying that it is not beneficial. I’m not saying I don’t buy Christian worship albums that I like. I’m not saying that I don’t appreciate Christians who lead worship or make a living by leading worship.

I am saying that I have a growing concern that worship is a new form of consumerism that feels like the ‘right kind of spirituality’ for a demographic of people that prefer to ‘feel Jesus’ as opposed to living for and like Him. If our expressions of worship only move us into wanting newer/better/more exciting singing and music, then I don’t believe it’s really worship. True encounter with God draws us into being more like him: sent into the world to be messengers of promise, grace, love, hope, and forgiveness. If my singing and music were becoming idols in my life over-and-above following Jesus into the world then I would never pick up a guitar again. I’m not saying that as hyperbole. Better is one day fixating on the right things of God, than thousands elsewhere….

You may call me judgmental or whatever. I know that post like this runs that risk…critiquing worship. But if you feel defensive about this (as I do a little bit even myself) then I think there might be something to look at.

After all, we learn in scripture (Micah 6:8) what God requires of us: To do justice, love mercy, and to walk humbly. I fail to see anything in there that says, “Let’s turn the amps up to 11 and rock out for Jesus.” But maybe that’s just me…


As a Kid…and a whole lot more that got added in as I started writing

Posted on by
5

In my last post…a lot of people chimed in…I’m really glad about that and thanks for all of you who contributed…not all of us are coming from the same place or ending at the same place, but that’s ok and the dialogue will hopefully land us closer to Jesus in the end.

So, Jeremy made a comment about life when we were younger that got me thinking about my life as a kid. I wanted to share some of my thoughts on that…

I think that every generation thinks two things: 1. This is the evilist of all generations. And 2. If you are a follower of Jesus, that this world is sooo bad that He’s coming back in our time. Seriously, people from every generation since Christ have thought this…each one more certain than the last.

I think in our time we have more mediums for bad things to happen, but in an upside down world like ours, the potential for sin is just as great 1000 years ago as it is today. The reality is that we have always had to be wise, engaged, and involved in our kids lives. Sheltering our kids from the world is an illusion. Our power/witness/influence in this world won’t come from how well we shelter our kids from what’s not good, right, and true. It will come through teaching our kids how to find and choose Jesus while they navigate the pain in this world that is sure to come. Jesus never once promises us physical safety, physical protection, or physical comfort…it’s our ability to find these spiritual realities in an upside down physical world that will be our true sign to others that He is with us and there is a difference in our souls. Simply trying to avoid pain or what is ugly in this world (which may just be the opportunity to discern right from wrong) will not get us the results we hope for.

So…now on to what I intended to write…

When I was living in Indiana we lived on a street with some rough kids…they smoked, drank, listened to Beasie Boys, mooned my mom, talked about sex, had pornography, watched Nighmare on Elm Street, fought, cussed, flipped off my dad, and stole. And these are my memories from when I was 9. Sure, I got into some trouble with these guys…like throwing a log through a window and breaking into an unlocked mobile home to drink their 7-up. All growing up I went to public school with ‘all the sinners’…heard a bunch of stuff that kids shouldn’t be talking about, saw a bunch of things that I shouldn’t have seen…said and did a bunch of things I probably shouldn’t have said or did! Through all of this I think my parents did a bunch of things really well…What they didn’t do was try and remove me from the environment I was in. Looking back, I can see how they helped me navigate where I was and the issues I was facing…

1. They communicated to me very clearly what was right and wrong about what I was seeing.

2. They instilled in me a sense of self and encouraged me to be myself and to be an example, not a follow the crowd.

3. They stayed engaged in my world.

4. They knew my friends and welcomed them into our world.

5. They helped remind me that Jesus was more important to ‘impress’ than my friends.

Now, I screwed this up a lot…especially in college. But they gave me the tools to figure things out on my own instead of trying to manage my ‘life-experience’. I greatly appreciate them for this! (among other things!)

So, back to the ideas in my head…My hope in talking about this is that we’ll all wrestle with how our families will be the kingdom of God in our worlds. If we only change the places we go, the things we watch, the things we read, and miss out on figuring out how to love, trust, give grace, forgive, and be free, then we’ve missed the point. But if we do learn to trust Jesus, love others, forgive ourselves and others, be rich with grace and forgiveness, and experience the freedom we have in Jesus while living in this world, then we truly give honor to God and express gratitude for what He has done in and for us.

Ok…this post is long enough…

Ok…one more thing: Why does God keep us on this earth with it being as messed up as it is? What can we learn about His trust in us and purpose for us through this?

This may have just done did it for me…

Posted on by
14

Some of you may know this and some of you may not…and most should probably not even care…but I don’t like the idea of Christian private schools as they currently exist and from what I’ve experienced/observed. I’m not saying that in every situation they are bad or wrong, but they are just not for me, or for the way that I want my family to engage with the world around us. So, know that I’m not being a hater or trying to be judgemental…

But when I came across a Facebook group called “I Am So Happy I Left FLCS!!!” I couldn’t help but broadcast this. Here’s a screen shot from the groups page, and please read it before moving on…

Doesn’t this just seem a bit strange to anyone else?

Does it confuse anyone else that a student would complain about being taught the Bible at a Christian school? (there are numerous ways to look at this…I both agree and disagree with this at the same time)

Am I the only one who finds it sad that parents would shell out for private school just to have their kids hate it? (or walk away from God all together as one person on ‘the Wall’ says)

I’m sad about this because I relate on some levels. I also went to a small Christian school for college and I understand where these kids are coming from. Just because a place says ‘Christian’ doesn’t mean that everybody gets that it’s supposed to be oriented around Christ. I certainly didn’t get that…Christian school is where I smoked, drank, and partied more than anywhere else! Not everyone who enrolls their kids or who is enrolled loves Jesus and is sending their kids to be educated around a Jesus orientation. (…most likely if students encountered Jesus in a radical way the result would be inverse to the original desire of sending a kid to Christian school.)

My thinking is that if we are going to call schools Christian schools they ought to be a lot more about Jesus than simply a safer, more predictable alternative to public school.* I don’t get the point of duplicating educational options just to put the name ‘Christian’ on it. I believe that if we are going to use the word Christian…which means Jesus…to describe our schools there better be something life-giving and culture shaping about them. They should have the same calling, as educational institutions, to be salt and light to the world…not just more light to light and salt to salt. There has to be a way to redeem Christian education and those of us who are a part of it.

But for now…this group may have just done did it for me never wanting to send my kids to a Christian school…I would rather my kids be ‘little Jesus’ in public school than to have them resent God because of talking about Him in science class. I would rather my Maisie learn to find God in all things and in all places than be spoon fed a form of Christianity for a grade. (oops..that was a bit to revealing) I think that we need to pray for wisdom and ask how Jesus would want to us to engage our world.

*Random Fact: the school in question in the Facebook page is 93% white compared to 73% of another local school.

What *does* it cost?

Posted on by
9

Have you ever stopped to think, really think, about the impact that our choices make on the world? By ‘world’ I don’t me the world that exists immediately around you and me, I mean the world as a people group…a very…large…people group. I know this sounds trite, but the stuff that we use on a daily basis, the shirt I’m wearing, the shoes I wear, the contacts in my eyes, the case that holds my sun glasses…all of this stuff comes from somewhere. It doesn’t magically show up on the shelves of our favorite stores…it comes from somewhere.

It is this ‘somewhere’ that I’m thinking about as I write at the moment. Here’s what is on my mind: If I am a person that wants to see the beauty of the Kingdom exposed and evil destroyed, do I only care about that happening in close proximity to me? Or do I care about that globally? If we want to take seriously kicking the darkness away, we have to act small and think big…We have to realize that our small choices matter because they end up influencing someone, ‘somewhere’.

Check out this video:

My friend Deb showed this at the start of her talk at our conference the other week and it has haunted me since. I can’t get the picture of my Maisie gluing those freakin’ shoes together for 8 hours a day out of my head. I can’t imagine my Maisie waking up in a pile of other kids in a room the size of a closet. I can’t imagine my Maisie eating a small bowl of rice for lunch everyday. So why do I live like it’s ok for someone else’s child to do this? They have a name too…

I don’t know what to do about this.

I guess the reason that I am posting this is because I hate my own apathy towards this problem so clearly. I also think that any of us followers of Jesus who desire to see the Kingdom of God reign in this life need to look at how we have turned a blind eye to the ways our lives contribute to inhumanity…which is one of the ultimate forms of evil we can see. The Scriptures talk so much about God siding with the oppressed, protecting the innocent, and caring for the poor…it is His heart and we are to join Him where He is. I once heard a modern day prophet say, “God, my friends, is with the poor. And God is with us when we are with them!”

I am going to start by praying: God, give me eyes to see what needs to be seen…and courage to not turn back towards comfort when I see something I wish had stayed hidden.

I’ll end this post with this…In the book Amos, who was a fig farmer turned mouthpeice for God (7:14), Amos is quoting what the oppressors of the needy say, they say, “We can buy the poor with money and the needy for a pair of sandals” (8:6) Watch the video again if you need to make this connection.

Missional SyncroBlog

Posted on by
Reply

A Portland blogger whose blog is called The Blind Beggar has proposed to those of us in the blog world (I hate the term blog-o-sphere…it’s just lame) to on this day write about the topic of ‘What is Missional?’ You can read his article on this here. 

So here’s my take…(I just ran my hand over my balding head in an effort to warm up my brain on this chilly Oregon summer evening)

Whether or not someone or something is missional, is not an exterior performance issue. Being missional is a core heart issue. It will affect everything and anything that a person sees or does. At the core of being missional is deep desire/calling/burden to know the heart of God. When we really take in the meaning of Jesus’ life on earth we can’t help but have our view of God be changed and formed by His decision to come to where we are/were. The true miracle of Christmas is not that God came as a baby, but that God came at all…the baby thing is God’s way of making a point to show the extent to which He would become like us! We must come to grips with the reality that in Jesus we see that God chooses to come to us. He chose skin and bones to show us the extent to which He could have communion with us, even in our broken form. He knew in advance that He was ultimately going to be betrayed, abandon, dismissed, and killed…yet He still chose to come. Not only did His life have meaning in the present, but it also gives meaning to all of eternity.

Our chief aim as Christians is to model Jesus…to be learners of His ways…to become “mini-Jesus” in our worlds, as one author puts it. And if we are bold enough, just crazy enough, to make a true effort at being like Jesus then we are going to have to at some point realize that being like Him is choosing ‘to go’ as He did. I say ‘as He did’ on purpose because the way in which Jesus came should be most disturbing to us! Jesus intentionally went to the irreligious, but honest. To sinners, who were seeking…to the people that should never have been a part of the Kingdom according to the rules. Jesus intentionally chose the hurting over the religious. At the cost of His own reputation he ate with, partied with, drank with, talked with, the people that a prophet/rabbi/teacher/Messiah should not be doing these things with…or should he? 

Becoming missional is beyond a simple filter change…it’s not just looking at the world with new glasses. Becoming missional is a re-identification process/event that will forever change the very eyes we see with. With these new eyes we see the world the way that Jesus saw it…We see people’s lives as life in process of redemption and we join them there because that’s where Jesus is at work. When our eyes are changed we can no longer sit back and wait for life to come to us…we become addicted to the discovery of redemption at work. We long for it…we go to it like it’s a magnet. We sacrifice comfort, popularity, convenience, and our former priorities…just like our Lord Jesus did when He came to earth and lived as He did…because we’ve come to see how when we pursue the agenda of blessing others we are what God calls us to be. 

There is no way to program ‘being missional’…it is not a piece of the puzzle, it is the picture of our lives on the puzzle. Becoming a mission oriented person is not about the external practices only, it is about our hearts getting in tune with the heart of our God expressed in Jesus Christ. This will radically alter our desires, the questions we ask, the way we view the world, and ultimately, the way we love the world that we are here to steward. It is this transformation that Jesus has called and lead us to…to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, to freely give, to think outside of our individualistic concerns, and to join Jesus in the process of transformation. I guarantee that once we taste and see this goodness, we’ll settle for nothing less. 

 

 

I want to be a worship rock star

Posted on by
5

I’m in one of those moods. So, forgive me if this is too much pessimism…and if this resonates with you…let’s move from beyond complaining to figuring out some real answers and some real ways to frame worship…enough disclaimer. 

So, my brother-in-law and I were watching some worship stuff on tv by a really well known group of churches. I really like this groups music…I’ve lead worship playing some of the songs I was hearing…I want to be a worship rock star just like them! But there was something really weird about what I was seeing. It felt like I was watching a rock concert. People’s eyes were closed, packed up close to the stage, raising their hands, jumping around…It just looked like a middle class rock concert. The funny thing about ‘worship music’ and the worship phenomena in the Church today is that sometimes we come off as our own version of rock stars. We have our own celebrity worship leaders that charge royalties like in the real world. We have our own worship CD’s with trendy graphics and trendy recording (yes recording can be trendy…listen to how similar all ‘cutting edge’ worship albums sounded 5 years ago…and listen to how they have all ‘progressed’ the same today). Worship has become an industry. It has become another thing to consume. And we do a dang good job of it. And nobody seems to complain…our Jesus music gets better and better, the ‘worship experience’ becomes bigger, the fun factor for musicians goes up, and everybody wins…or do we? I want to be a worship rock star. 

But I have to wonder, was Jesus’ vision of His Church’s worship rock and roll? For me, and many others, Church is no longer defined by gatherings on the weekend, music, teaching, and programs. Church for me is the people of God living out redeemed life together in this world. Talk of being in the presence of Jesus is still there, but it comes through clothing Him, “when we see him naked.” Or by giving Him food, “when we see him hungry.” Or talking with Him, “when we see Him lonely.” I want to be a worship rock star…but not when I’m holding a guitar. 

I am a wanna be worship rock star. In all of my critique of this scene, the irony is that I am a worship leader for Church gatherings. I led worship at a church a few weeks ago. I played guitar in a band at a church in Portland for a while too. And I love good worship music…I connect with God when I sing along with music that I like and when I play guitar to music that is fun. Singing, playing instruments, and worshiping God through song are all found in the Bible as expression of praise…and it is a good thing. But it is not another thing for us to consume…worship in song is only true worship when we expect to get nothing out of it…only to bring focus to our hearts desire to give something back to God. I’ve expressed on my blog before that my fear with some of the trends in Christianity today are that we are just reproducing a young generation of consumer Christians whose palates are more refined than ever to critique every Church experience that we come across. I just get this gross feeling in my gut when I think about all of the times I’ve heard people say, “I didn’t get a lot out of worship today.” *pause while I run to bathroom and lose my dinner* 

I just wonder…How would our world more accurately reflect the Kingdom of God if we spent as much effort, money, and time on missional expressions of worship as we do with music? I think that’s a fair question. Worship through music is generally for those of us who are already believers. Some people will experience God for the first time through our music, but honestly, worship can be polarizing as well. I wonder how the Church would be a more effective agent of global change if we were to serve as wholeheartedly as we sang. I know that if practiced serving as much as I do the guitar I would be changed! The one thing that went through my mind as I was watching this production was, “For all of the emotion, power, and experience that these people were having, how many left truly transformed by the presence of God?” If we really touch the living God in our times of singing, why do we still get caught up in the worries of the world week after week. I mean, if God is who we believe that He is and we spend 35 minutes a week in an atmosphere where His presence is that intense…why aren’t more of us being transformed? Why am I not more transformed when I am the one leading these songs?!? Is it me? God…help me to be changed when you are near. 

I want to be a worship rock star…but I don’t care about experiences where I (and others) are left unchanged…I want to offer God worship that expects nothing in return. That simply desires to reveal God for who He is. That stretches my life…not just my vocal chords.