just thinking out loud about the church plant idea.
why this, chicago area, etc...?
-lack of places for 20's to 30's generation in SW burbs to fit into church community - many church orphans
-few artistic church opportunities
-culture feels disconnected from God and this denom/structure does well with connecting ppl to God
goals
-transform people and community
-facilitate depth of faith
-allow freedom for God to encounter people and vice versa
-compliment other church communities in that area (not compete)
-help the poor (in money, spirit, health, circumstance)
how transform people & community
-demonstrate the love of God
-spiritual disciplines
-contemplative/questioning of things
-allow people to become a part of something (not just spectate)
-courage to be raw, make mistakes, and embrace imperfections of people
-financial flexibility by having a small church budget
how freedom of God/HS to encounter people and vice versa?
-imperfect worship service
-interactive worship
-worship stations on sunday
-disciplines - ie silence, lectio divina, etc...
-mysticism/ancient prayer and worship practices
-stress on being versus doing
Friday, July 31, 2009
fascinating
absolutely incredible ted talk from dan ariely.
are we in control of how we see God? do we expect something and in that process miss other things? what if we could have a blank slate of vision and just see... ?
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/dan_ariely_asks_are_we_in_control_of_our_own_decisions.html
are we in control of how we see God? do we expect something and in that process miss other things? what if we could have a blank slate of vision and just see... ?
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/dan_ariely_asks_are_we_in_control_of_our_own_decisions.html
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
maybe life doesn't suck as much as it feels like it does...
lots on my plate lately, as you may have ascertained from the last posting. here's some more thrown into the fire of my life.
God is putting church planting on my heart. weird. actually... really weird. i never thought this would be such a calling for me. i have a heart to see the church not act neutered and useless and victimized by "the world"... but i hadn't really considered this track too much before. until now. definitely thinking now.
"but wait. i'm really hurt and fragile and vulnerable right now. what kind of church leader can lead AND be in such an emotive state?" says my logically-dominated brain.
today i got some of an answer to that question.
in devotions today, steve summerell, a local pastor and thinker, talked in depth regarding spiritual formation. this is a big area and a lot was said. however, the part that stuck with me was this: fowler's 6 stages of spiritual growth. (i think he used another author but their idea was similar)
"wtf?" true.
so here's how fowler sees spiritual growth: (taken from http://faculty.plts.edu/gpence/html/fowler.htm)
Stage I Intuitive-Projective faith is the fantasy-filled, imitative phase in which the child can be powerfully and permanently influenced by examples, moods, actions and stories of the visible faith of primally related adults. (young christian + old christians, basically)
Stage 2 Mythic-Literal faith is the stage in which the person begins to take on for him- or herself the stories, beliefs and observances that symbolize belonging to his or her community. Beliefs are appropriated with literal interpretations, as are moral rules and attitudes. Symbols are taken as one-dimensional and literal in meaning. In this stage the rise of concrete operations leads to the curbing and ordering of the previous stage's imaginative composing of the world. The episodic quality of Intuitive-Projective faith gives way to a more linear, narrative construction of coherence and meaning. Story becomes the major way of giving unity and value to experience. This is the faith stage of the school child (though we sometimes find the structures dominant in adolescents and in adults). Marked by increased accuracy in taking the perspective of other persons, those in Stage 2 compose a world based on reciprocal fairness and an immanent justice based on reciprocity. The actors in their cosmic stories are anthropomorphic. They can be affected deeply and powerfully by symbolic and dramatic materials and can describe in endlessly detailed narrative what has occurred. They do not, however, step back from the flow of stories to formulate reflective, conceptual meanings. For this stage the meaning is both carried and "trapped" in the narrative.
Stage 3 Synthetic-Conventional faith, a person's experience of the world now extends beyond the family. A number of spheres demand attention: family, school or work, peers, street society and media, and perhaps religion. Faith must provide a coherent orientation in the midst of that more complex and diverse range of involvements. Faith must synthesize values and information; it must provide a basis for identity and outlook.
Stage 4 Individuative-Reflective faith is particularly critical for it is in this transition that the late adolescent or adult must begin to take seriously the burden of responsibility for his or her own commitments, lifestyle, beliefs and attitudes. Where genuine movement toward stage 4 is underway the person must face certain unavoidable tensions: individuality versus being defined by a group or group membership; subjectivity and the power of one's strongly felt but unexamined feelings versus objectivity and the requirement of critical reflection; self-fulfillment or self-actualization as a primary concern versus service to and being for others; the question of being committed to the relative versus struggle with the possibility of an absolute.
Stage 5 Conjunctive faith involves the integration into self and outlook of much that was suppressed or unrecognized in the interest of Stage 4's self-certainty and conscious cognitive and affective adaptation to reality. This stage develops a "second naivete'' (Ricoeur) in which symbolic power is reunited with conceptual meanings. Here there must also be a new reclaiming and reworking of one's past. There must be an opening to the voices of one's "deeper self." Importantly, this involves a critical recognition of one's social unconscious-the myths, ideal images and prejudices built deeply into the self-system by virtue of one's nurture within a particular social class, religious tradition, ethnic group or the like.
Stage 6 is exceedingly rare. The persons best described by it have generated faith compositions in which their felt sense of an ultimate environment is inclusive of all being. They have become incarnators and actualizers of the spirit of an inclusive and fulfilled human community.
They are "contagious" in the sense that they create zones of liberation from the social, political, economic and ideological shackles we place and endure on human futurity. Living with felt participation in a power that unifies and transforms the world, Universalizers are often experienced as subversive of the structures (including religious structures) by which we sustain our individual and corporate survival, security and significance. Many persons in this stage die at the hands of those whom they hope to change. Universalizers are often more honored and revered after death than during their lives. The rare persons who may be described by this stage have a special grace that makes them seem more lucid, more simple, and yet somehow more fully human than the rest of us. Their community is universal in extent. Particularities are cherished because they are vessels of the universal, and thereby valuable apart from any utilitarian considerations. Life is both loved and held to loosely. Such persons are ready for fellowship with persons at any of the other stages and from any other faith tradition.
So, if you're still reading (I hope you are)... this is what was said. churches are awesome at doing stages 1-3. People become christians, learn the ropes, rules, culture, etc... However, stage 4 is where churches tend to falter. i would also add that American culture falters here, as well. we struggle with examining our hearts, our junk, and actually working through it. we bury stuff, we work around it, we adapt to our pain and burdens... but we're called to go in and allow God to create reparation... not adapt or bury. when we neglect this step, steps 5-6 are difficult or impossible to achieve. we limit ourselves.
so right now, things aren't easy. they're very hard, harder than they've been in a long time. but i think i am in stage 4 and this is something to be happy about or at least to take solace in - that i am growing even though i feel miserable and in agony. and hopefully this will positively affect my church planting future or whatever else i do in the future.
God is putting church planting on my heart. weird. actually... really weird. i never thought this would be such a calling for me. i have a heart to see the church not act neutered and useless and victimized by "the world"... but i hadn't really considered this track too much before. until now. definitely thinking now.
"but wait. i'm really hurt and fragile and vulnerable right now. what kind of church leader can lead AND be in such an emotive state?" says my logically-dominated brain.
today i got some of an answer to that question.
in devotions today, steve summerell, a local pastor and thinker, talked in depth regarding spiritual formation. this is a big area and a lot was said. however, the part that stuck with me was this: fowler's 6 stages of spiritual growth. (i think he used another author but their idea was similar)
"wtf?" true.
so here's how fowler sees spiritual growth: (taken from http://faculty.plts.edu/gpence/html/fowler.htm)
Stage I Intuitive-Projective faith is the fantasy-filled, imitative phase in which the child can be powerfully and permanently influenced by examples, moods, actions and stories of the visible faith of primally related adults. (young christian + old christians, basically)
Stage 2 Mythic-Literal faith is the stage in which the person begins to take on for him- or herself the stories, beliefs and observances that symbolize belonging to his or her community. Beliefs are appropriated with literal interpretations, as are moral rules and attitudes. Symbols are taken as one-dimensional and literal in meaning. In this stage the rise of concrete operations leads to the curbing and ordering of the previous stage's imaginative composing of the world. The episodic quality of Intuitive-Projective faith gives way to a more linear, narrative construction of coherence and meaning. Story becomes the major way of giving unity and value to experience. This is the faith stage of the school child (though we sometimes find the structures dominant in adolescents and in adults). Marked by increased accuracy in taking the perspective of other persons, those in Stage 2 compose a world based on reciprocal fairness and an immanent justice based on reciprocity. The actors in their cosmic stories are anthropomorphic. They can be affected deeply and powerfully by symbolic and dramatic materials and can describe in endlessly detailed narrative what has occurred. They do not, however, step back from the flow of stories to formulate reflective, conceptual meanings. For this stage the meaning is both carried and "trapped" in the narrative.
Stage 3 Synthetic-Conventional faith, a person's experience of the world now extends beyond the family. A number of spheres demand attention: family, school or work, peers, street society and media, and perhaps religion. Faith must provide a coherent orientation in the midst of that more complex and diverse range of involvements. Faith must synthesize values and information; it must provide a basis for identity and outlook.
Stage 4 Individuative-Reflective faith is particularly critical for it is in this transition that the late adolescent or adult must begin to take seriously the burden of responsibility for his or her own commitments, lifestyle, beliefs and attitudes. Where genuine movement toward stage 4 is underway the person must face certain unavoidable tensions: individuality versus being defined by a group or group membership; subjectivity and the power of one's strongly felt but unexamined feelings versus objectivity and the requirement of critical reflection; self-fulfillment or self-actualization as a primary concern versus service to and being for others; the question of being committed to the relative versus struggle with the possibility of an absolute.
Stage 5 Conjunctive faith involves the integration into self and outlook of much that was suppressed or unrecognized in the interest of Stage 4's self-certainty and conscious cognitive and affective adaptation to reality. This stage develops a "second naivete'' (Ricoeur) in which symbolic power is reunited with conceptual meanings. Here there must also be a new reclaiming and reworking of one's past. There must be an opening to the voices of one's "deeper self." Importantly, this involves a critical recognition of one's social unconscious-the myths, ideal images and prejudices built deeply into the self-system by virtue of one's nurture within a particular social class, religious tradition, ethnic group or the like.
Stage 6 is exceedingly rare. The persons best described by it have generated faith compositions in which their felt sense of an ultimate environment is inclusive of all being. They have become incarnators and actualizers of the spirit of an inclusive and fulfilled human community.
They are "contagious" in the sense that they create zones of liberation from the social, political, economic and ideological shackles we place and endure on human futurity. Living with felt participation in a power that unifies and transforms the world, Universalizers are often experienced as subversive of the structures (including religious structures) by which we sustain our individual and corporate survival, security and significance. Many persons in this stage die at the hands of those whom they hope to change. Universalizers are often more honored and revered after death than during their lives. The rare persons who may be described by this stage have a special grace that makes them seem more lucid, more simple, and yet somehow more fully human than the rest of us. Their community is universal in extent. Particularities are cherished because they are vessels of the universal, and thereby valuable apart from any utilitarian considerations. Life is both loved and held to loosely. Such persons are ready for fellowship with persons at any of the other stages and from any other faith tradition.
So, if you're still reading (I hope you are)... this is what was said. churches are awesome at doing stages 1-3. People become christians, learn the ropes, rules, culture, etc... However, stage 4 is where churches tend to falter. i would also add that American culture falters here, as well. we struggle with examining our hearts, our junk, and actually working through it. we bury stuff, we work around it, we adapt to our pain and burdens... but we're called to go in and allow God to create reparation... not adapt or bury. when we neglect this step, steps 5-6 are difficult or impossible to achieve. we limit ourselves.
so right now, things aren't easy. they're very hard, harder than they've been in a long time. but i think i am in stage 4 and this is something to be happy about or at least to take solace in - that i am growing even though i feel miserable and in agony. and hopefully this will positively affect my church planting future or whatever else i do in the future.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
if i seem sensitive lately, its cuz i am
remember when you were a kid and got a nice scrape or cut on your knee from falling? it hurt. but, over time, a scab formed over that wound and it hurt less. it actually probably felt kinda cool as a hard, crusty scab resembling some sort of dried glue or plastic. but, needless to say, it hurt less.
and then remember the first time you picked a scab? it happens to everyone, you can admit it. you peeled off the brownish-red scab to uncover a light red wound. the fresh air hit it - it breathed once again. it may have bled.
and remember the first time you touched that open wound? even if you didnt touch it with a finger (or if you were a 3rd grade boy, a compass), you probably touched it with a band-aid or something. and it hurt. a lot. a lot more than when the scab was there.
to further it a bit more: image that a scab formed over the wound and there was a rock or pebble in that wound. the wound would somewhat heal, but around the rock that didn't belong there. and it hurt. even though it healed, it hurt. and from time to time, it would get infected. it scarred. i mean, c'mon... there's a rock inside your flesh. that hurts.
that is where i am at. i have had a large scar and rocks/debris inside my flesh for a long time. finally, i am working to eradicate that debris from my life, my body. the past can't be changed or rewritten... but as long as that debris exists in me, my future will be affected by it. so, increasingly over the last few weeks, the scab has been removed and the wound has been reopened. it is breathing. i can feel my pulse in that wound. my very existence has been shaken by the attention called to this wound.
frustratingly, though, nothing has been removed yet. i am just looking at the wound. prodding it. trying to figure out how to move past this wound, how to heal it. the solution that has come out is that i have to feel it, bask in it, immerse myself in this wound. i can't ignore it, because it will just falsely heal again.
so if i am irritable or sensitive lately, that is why. i am bleeding and hurting right now. its a good hurt, its a healthy hurt, but its an extremely painful hurt that i haven't felt the gravity of in a long, long time. and i'm alone. i need to go through it alone. completely alone.
i can really use some prayer if you, the reader, are the praying type. if you're not, i will also simply accept your grace and forgiveness if i seem irritable to you. because i'm not trying to be. honest.
and then remember the first time you picked a scab? it happens to everyone, you can admit it. you peeled off the brownish-red scab to uncover a light red wound. the fresh air hit it - it breathed once again. it may have bled.
and remember the first time you touched that open wound? even if you didnt touch it with a finger (or if you were a 3rd grade boy, a compass), you probably touched it with a band-aid or something. and it hurt. a lot. a lot more than when the scab was there.
to further it a bit more: image that a scab formed over the wound and there was a rock or pebble in that wound. the wound would somewhat heal, but around the rock that didn't belong there. and it hurt. even though it healed, it hurt. and from time to time, it would get infected. it scarred. i mean, c'mon... there's a rock inside your flesh. that hurts.
that is where i am at. i have had a large scar and rocks/debris inside my flesh for a long time. finally, i am working to eradicate that debris from my life, my body. the past can't be changed or rewritten... but as long as that debris exists in me, my future will be affected by it. so, increasingly over the last few weeks, the scab has been removed and the wound has been reopened. it is breathing. i can feel my pulse in that wound. my very existence has been shaken by the attention called to this wound.
frustratingly, though, nothing has been removed yet. i am just looking at the wound. prodding it. trying to figure out how to move past this wound, how to heal it. the solution that has come out is that i have to feel it, bask in it, immerse myself in this wound. i can't ignore it, because it will just falsely heal again.
so if i am irritable or sensitive lately, that is why. i am bleeding and hurting right now. its a good hurt, its a healthy hurt, but its an extremely painful hurt that i haven't felt the gravity of in a long, long time. and i'm alone. i need to go through it alone. completely alone.
i can really use some prayer if you, the reader, are the praying type. if you're not, i will also simply accept your grace and forgiveness if i seem irritable to you. because i'm not trying to be. honest.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
divorce commercial
a friend of mine found this on youtube. its a commercial for a divorce attorney/firm. just watch it. you have to see it to believe it. wow.
Friday, July 24, 2009
what a beautiful video of redemption and moving forth
i just watched this video and it totally moved me.
what a beautiful way to express moving past something/somebody. and i love bon iver's music so very much. this just made my day.
what a beautiful way to express moving past something/somebody. and i love bon iver's music so very much. this just made my day.
frightened rabbit
frightened rabbit are one of the few newer rock acts worth following, in my opinion. love em. this song makes me want to visit scotland.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
O, Porcupine by MeWithoutYou
without a queen the locust swarm
turned the ground to black
descending like a shadowy tower on a fish's back
and scattered the sticks who crawled
like snakes in the sand
as the red clay took the form of a lizard
who rushed like a moth to the flame of my open hand
(while, in my little world...)
a speckled bird humbly inspired
ran across the road when it could have flown
and it made me smile
at the water's edge, Babylon
we laid down and slept
as the river wept for you, O'Zion!
the stones cry out,
bells shake the sky
all creation groans...
SHHHH!!!
listen to it!
messes of men in farmer poverty;
not much for monks but we pretend to be
share a silent meal and a pot of chamomile
gypsies like us should be stamped in solidarity
I hold you in my fond but distant memory
while for the Mother Hen to gather me
who regretfully wrote,
"you have a decent ear for notes
but you can't yet appreciate harmony."
O' porcupine perched low in the tree
your ees to mine:
"you'd be well inclined not to mess with me."
at the garden's edge beneath a speechless sky
as his friends all slept
Jesus wept- and no wonder
and now you say you wanna be set free??
and wanna set me free???
well I'm told that can only come from
a union with the One who never dies
turned the ground to black
descending like a shadowy tower on a fish's back
and scattered the sticks who crawled
like snakes in the sand
as the red clay took the form of a lizard
who rushed like a moth to the flame of my open hand
(while, in my little world...)
a speckled bird humbly inspired
ran across the road when it could have flown
and it made me smile
at the water's edge, Babylon
we laid down and slept
as the river wept for you, O'Zion!
the stones cry out,
bells shake the sky
all creation groans...
SHHHH!!!
listen to it!
messes of men in farmer poverty;
not much for monks but we pretend to be
share a silent meal and a pot of chamomile
gypsies like us should be stamped in solidarity
I hold you in my fond but distant memory
while for the Mother Hen to gather me
who regretfully wrote,
"you have a decent ear for notes
but you can't yet appreciate harmony."
O' porcupine perched low in the tree
your ees to mine:
"you'd be well inclined not to mess with me."
at the garden's edge beneath a speechless sky
as his friends all slept
Jesus wept- and no wonder
and now you say you wanna be set free??
and wanna set me free???
well I'm told that can only come from
a union with the One who never dies
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
97 degrees and homeless
while walking to church today, i saw a homeless, elderly woman digging through the trash. i witnessed her pull a partially empty bottle of sierra mist out of the trash... and proceed to drink some of it... and then use the rest to cool off her forehead and face.
i am so privileged. and also offended. rob bell said something awhile back regarding how to discern our calling. he said "don't think about what makes you happy. ask yourself 'what pisses me off more than anything else?' and then change it." this morning pissed me off and i want to do something, somehow.
many questions swirling.
i am so privileged. and also offended. rob bell said something awhile back regarding how to discern our calling. he said "don't think about what makes you happy. ask yourself 'what pisses me off more than anything else?' and then change it." this morning pissed me off and i want to do something, somehow.
many questions swirling.
Monday, July 20, 2009
my bucket list
so i'm a young 28...probably not super close to dying. however, i've decided to make a bucket list. at the expense of sounding selfish, these are things that i would love to experience or partake in, in no particular order:
1. live in another country at some point
2. write a book
3. write a congregational worship cd
4. run a marathon
5. finish a triathalon
6. cross the san gabriel mountains on foot
7. reach 10% body fat
8. surf
9. invent something
10. start a family
11. teach a class
12. start a church
13. open an art gallery
14. reach a point where i have zero negative impact on the environment
15. ride/own a motorcycle
16. climb mount whitney
17. climb to 20,000 feet
18. scuba dive
19. reach a point where most of my money is being given away regularly
20. see a taping of conan obrien
21. get an mft degree
22. get a doctorate in something
23. go back to australia and new zealand
24. live on a farm
25. climb mount hood
26. whitewater raft
1. live in another country at some point
2. write a book
3. write a congregational worship cd
4. run a marathon
5. finish a triathalon
6. cross the san gabriel mountains on foot
7. reach 10% body fat
8. surf
9. invent something
10. start a family
11. teach a class
12. start a church
13. open an art gallery
14. reach a point where i have zero negative impact on the environment
15. ride/own a motorcycle
16. climb mount whitney
17. climb to 20,000 feet
18. scuba dive
19. reach a point where most of my money is being given away regularly
20. see a taping of conan obrien
21. get an mft degree
22. get a doctorate in something
23. go back to australia and new zealand
24. live on a farm
25. climb mount hood
26. whitewater raft
Saturday, July 18, 2009
nursing home
went to a nursing home w mom to see grandma (yiayia) today. here are a couple pictures. .
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
one more for the road
jonsi's (sigur ros) new project "riceboy sleeps." i've been waiting for this for awhile... comes out next week. dare i say it might be better than sigur ros? is that heresy?
going home.
i'm going home tomorrow. flying. just for a few days. here's an upbeat note to leave cali on.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Are Questions More Valuable Than Answers?
I had a conversation with a friend of mine last weekend about questions and potentiality. I am continually perplexed by people who seem to lack an inner drive for exploring, growing, improving, and becoming something more. I don't look down on these people - I really don't - but I'm confused by them. For as long as I've been alive, I've always felt that there was more to life, God, the world around me - and this has caused me to grow into the person I am today and the person I'll be tomorrow. People who lack these potential seem bored with life and stuck in their ways. That has to be a frustrating feeling.
So I've been asking the question: "Why?" Why do people settle? And is settling intellectually, habitually, and life-wise what we're called to do according to cultural and managerial mandates in Genesis?
One possible answer to this that my friend and I discussed pertains to questions. Some people just don't ask questions. Questions raise the ceiling of potentiality so that potential for discovery and advancement exists. However, without asking questions, I think it would be difficult to advance and grow in this respect. I've met a lot of people who seek an answer to something and once they have an answer that at least makes some sense - they stop. They stop questioning. They stop searching. They become stagnant. I don't want to become stagnant.
So I am proposing that those of us who ask questions - we ask them with regularity to the people around us. Lovingly. With the intention of discovering and exploring the wonders of this brilliant and perplexing world we live in. And with the hope that we receive two questions with every answer we find.
So I've been asking the question: "Why?" Why do people settle? And is settling intellectually, habitually, and life-wise what we're called to do according to cultural and managerial mandates in Genesis?
One possible answer to this that my friend and I discussed pertains to questions. Some people just don't ask questions. Questions raise the ceiling of potentiality so that potential for discovery and advancement exists. However, without asking questions, I think it would be difficult to advance and grow in this respect. I've met a lot of people who seek an answer to something and once they have an answer that at least makes some sense - they stop. They stop questioning. They stop searching. They become stagnant. I don't want to become stagnant.
So I am proposing that those of us who ask questions - we ask them with regularity to the people around us. Lovingly. With the intention of discovering and exploring the wonders of this brilliant and perplexing world we live in. And with the hope that we receive two questions with every answer we find.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
let the record state I LOVE MEW!
from their new cd coming out in august, denmark's mew push the envelope of pop/indie/rock to a new limit. i love this band more than i can type.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
complex
oh how wonderful and complex and simple and intriguing and expansive this world is that we live in. this is even demonstrated in geckos! GECKOS!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
