re-FRESHED...

With apologies to John Cusack & the re-PRESSED scene from "The Sure Thing..."

I've been pondering this for the last couple of days -

Proverbs 11:25b ...those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.

It's counter-intuitive... it's taking our eyes & focus off our our own needs in the desire to be a blessing & a help to others... & then while doing that, receiving the very thing that we'd been needing to receive in the first place.

My pondering has led me to try to think of ways to practically live out what it means to be a "refresher of others" - that thought process starts by 1st examining the 'opposite' of being a refresher - a life-sucker, a weight, a burden. What's that look like?

To me, the opposite of 'refresher' means being selfish... Self-focused. Insisting on getting my own way. Getting my own needs met. Using others to do so. Complaining. Being contentious. Antagonizing. Nit-picking.

Refreshing means sharing. Paying attention to others & what they're experiencing. Being willing to listen. Gentleness. Kindness. Self-control.

And in that, God takes it on Himself to be a refresher... and who does He refresh?

Isaiah 57:15b I refresh the humble and give new courage to those with repentant hearts.

The humble & repentant. The one who is in need of refreshing, & looks to God to do it.

Amen. & Right on.

Man Church... it's real.

Statistically, less men attend church than women. There are myriad reasons for this - one of them, valid for the masses or not, is that church has become too "girly" or feminine - leaving guys feeling uncomfortable, on the outside in the pursuit of faith with God through Jesus. Many claim faith, yet find that the common church experience isn't for them.

Enter a 'new' concept: MAN CHURCH. Interesting - Billed as a place for men to go to church, with lots of things men like, & not the things they don't.

Instead of a speech/sermon, there's a short 20-25 minute "Chalk talk."

Guys that attend are guaranteed to laugh.

Instead of a worship team with 30 minutes of music/worship, there's a non-marching, marching band.

Free pizza. A HUG-FREE Zone, (sorry TPT - I know you're a hugger.)

measuring...

I can still hear the voice ringing in my ears...

Do you still read your Bible? How much do you read your Bible? How often? Do you have many memory verses committed to memory? Which ones? Will you recite them for me now? Do you think you'll have more memorized next week? Are you consistent with your devotions? What time of the day/afternoon/night do you do your devotions? When you do your devotions, how long do you spend on them? Do you pray? What do you pray about? When do you pray? How much do you pray? Aarrrgggghhhh!

What do these questions have to do with faith in Christ? Are they meant to evaluate the depth & breadth of belief? Can my answers to these questions (& myriad others like them) be plugged into a formula somewhere to determine whether or not my faith is valid? How does this help to uncover a life dedicated to loving God & loving people?

What it did to me - made me believe that God's love for me was based on the amount of time I spent in these activities... rather than on the reason I was doing them in the first place - love for God. Made me wonder if I'd done enough. And then if I'd done it right. Made me measure myself against others - & their faith (based upon their own measurements...) As though. As if. When I had difficulties, I read more. Prayed more. Devoted more. All in the hope that it would make God happy enough to answer my prayer & deliver me from... what turned out to be me. A religious person. A self-righteous person. I knew the words, & often exactly the address where they were located in the book.. but I was miserable, & there was little to no evidence of a "life in its fullness..."

Sigh.

Roundabout...

This is a picture of the Bean & I at Roundabout last week - w/18 of our friends - in this pic, we're making a commitment to Christ's call on our lives, & also to each other.

Fodder for a Monday...

Taking the Pasty Gangster to school this a.m. we were doing what we always do - listen to the pontifications of Colin Cowherd on ESPN 630. A topic that comes up occasionally on his talk show is his distaste for religion, esp. as expressed by tele-evangelists who are "just after your money" in any way they can get it... He brought up the interview that Good Morning America did with Joel Osteen, & Pasty & I prepared for a diatribe... A diatribe that didn't come...

What did this self-described "completely unreligious" guy have to say about Osteen? He's positive. He seems authentic. He keeps the message simple. He seems to believe it. He's doesn't hammer on others that don't do it like he does. He isn't a "religious zealot."

Interesting to me - I know that Pastor Osteen takes a lot of heat from the "Christian world" - esp. with the statements that he is just doing "Christianity Lite" at best, "heresy" at worst.

Here's a couple of articles that have been in the news of fairly recently...

ABC News Article on Joel Osteen... and another GMA

A great find...

ASBO JESUS Comic

I guarantee once you start reading these, you won't stop.

ASBO stands for Anti-Social Behavior Order. Check it out.

excerpt...

I've been reading the "Emotionally Healthy Spirituality" book by Peter Scazzero (check out THIS LINK to find out more.) It posits the idea that we can't grow as Christ-followers beyond the point to which we have matured emotionally... therefore, its possible, probable that a 40 year old person, a Christian for 20 years, could still be functioning relationally as an emotional infant, child, or adolescent. Very insightful stuff.

The excerpt I'm sharing with you is from pp. 178,179 & gives some characteristics of different stages of emotional development - read it & weep.

EMOTIONAL INFANTS

look for others to take care of them

have great difficulty entering into the world of others

Are drive by the need for instant gratification

Use others as objects to meet their needs

EMOTIONAL CHILDREN

Are content & happy as long as they receive what they want

Unravel quickly from stress, disappointments, trials

Interpret disagreements as personal offenses

Are easily hurt

Complain, withdraw, manipulate, take revenge, beomce sarcastic when they don't get their way

have great difficulty calmly discussing their needs & wants in a mature & loving way

EMOTIONAL ADOLESCENTS

Tend to often be defensive.

Are threatened & alarmed by criticism.

Keep score of what they give so they can ask for something later in return.

Deal w/conflict poorly, often blaming, appeasing, going to a 3rd party, pouting, or ignoring the issue entirely.

Become preoccupied with themselves.

have great difficulty truly listening to another person's pain, disappointments, or needs.

Are critical & judgmental

EMOTIONAL ADULTS

Are able to ask for what they need, want, or prefer-clearly, directly, honestly

Recognize, manage, & take responsibility for their own thoughts & feelings

Can, when under stress, state their own beliefs & values without becoming adversarial

Respect others without having to change them.

Give people room to make mistrakes & not be perfect

Appreciate people for who they are - the good, bad, & ugly-not for what they give back.

accurately assess their own limits, strengths, & weaknesses & are able to freely discuss them with others.

Are deeply in tune with their own emotional world & able to enter into the feelings, needs, & concerns of others without losing themselves.

Have the capacity to resolve conflict maturely & negotiate solutions that consider the perspectives of others

Interesting, esp. as a mirror for self-examination. What rings true of me & my behavior? What am I able to see about myself? Next, I'll take this to the Bean & ask her to honestly assess how I interact with her... & we'll go from there...

uh-oh.

Just when I thought I was doing a good job at monitoring my processings of life here on this blog, I find out:

This rating was determined based on the presence of the following words in various posts written over the last 2 years:

dead (17x)

death (16x)

pain (15x)

hurt (8x)

dangerous (5x)

kill (3x)

sex (2x)

suck (1x)

Thanks to Dan for the info on blog ratings... who'd a thunk it.

Growing to Maturity...

The last week I've had several interactions & meetings that drove me to dig out my copy of Emotionally Healthy Spirituality for a refresher.

The Scazzero book mentioned above, summed up, posits the idea that spiritual maturity & a true Christian experience can't be separated from emotional health & maturity. E.g. emotionally immature people can't/don't grow to real spiritual maturity, even though they may have many, many years logged as Christians. Scazzero states, from his own experience, that only by becoming emotionally healthy can any of us truly grow to maturity.

In my un edgy-cated opinion, based solely upon my interactions with a large cross-section of humanity, (with a varied Christian experience & length of tenure as Christians,) tends to bear out Scazzero's hypothesis. One of the things that I've also noticed is that the "ministry" seems to attract, nurture, & reward emotionally unhealthy people - in that it, the ministry, becomes a valid place for a person to 'get their strokes,' though its often at the expense of others. And in the name of God. Why is this?

I'm re-reading the book. And pondering these thoughts. And doing a lot of introspecting.

more quotes from "Myth of a Christian Nation"

Confrontational Evangelism

Read this & had to share this LONG excerpt from Myth Of A Christian Nation – on the heels of “Moral Guardians,” esp. interesting is the take on “confrontational evangelism.”

The nationalistic slogan, “One nation, under God” influences many Christians to turn to the Old Testament more than the New (Testament) in their understanding of America & of the role of the church within America. Consequently, Christians often turn to the models of Old Testament “watchmen” & of John the Baptist to understand what they are supposed to be doing in the culture, rather than to the model of Jesus. Instead of living to sacrifice for others, we become the Official “sin-pointer-outers.” Instead of gaining a reputation of being humble servants who manifest Calvary-quality love, we gain a reputation for being moralistic & self-righteous…

The Israelites understood themselves to be in a covenant relationship with God, & they also understood that the job of watchmen & prophets such as John the Baptist was to hold the people and their leaders accountable to this covenant. As a matter of principle, prophets & watchmen didn’t hold non-Jews accountable to God’s unique covenant with Israel; their role was only to hold Jews accountable, for the covenant that formed the basis of this accountability was made only with the Jews…

The roles of prophets & watchmen have no application to Christians within American society as a whole… God’s covenant with Israel was not a covenant with America or any other nation. What’s more, the self-understanding of most people in America today is worlds removed from the self-understanding of Jews under the Old Covenant. When Christians model themselves after Old Covenant prophets & watchmen, they end up trying to hold people accountable to things these people know little about & care even less about. It is at best ineffective, & at worst it is positively harmful to the advancement of the kingdom of God.

One of the most clear expression of the Old Testament model of evangelism today is found in an increasingly popular form of witnessing sometimes called “confrontational evangelism.” In this model people are taught that it is the job of Christians to get other to realize they have broken one or more of the Ten Commandments & that they, therefore, deserve God’s eternal wrath. The goat is to get people to see their need for a Saviour… the situation is no different from a Muslim telling a non-Muslim stranger who happens to be eating pork that he deserves to go to hell because the Koran forbids it. Why should the non-Muslim care what the Koran says?

When Christians confront people on the basis of presuppositions not shared by the people they confront, they come across as rude & usually render the gospel less credible to the people they confront.

I'm back, & these are my thoughts... the Christian that receives a "rejection" message from the people of the confronted culture view this rejection as a badge of honor, a real PROOF of the validity of their means & methods. (Check out Dan Kimball's post on this topic.) Instead, I believe that the rejection has something to do with the distasteful taking of Jesus' name in vain, portraying a Christ that fits our own model of Christianity, looks, thinks, & acts a like like us, & that really is looking forward to damning these sinners to hell. Ouch.

When Chief Sinners Become Moral Guardians...

I've been reading a book by Gregory A. Boyd called Myth Of A Christian Nation. It addresses how the (largely evangelical) church has attempted to use political power in order to advance a 'christian' worldview. Boyd, a pastor, challenges the idea that America is (& was) a Christian nation, & points the Church towards Scripture to find out & to reclaim what our real mission is: the message of the cross (not the sword,) & the message of Christ's love for us. AND every other human being on the planet.

Today's reading was from the chapter "When Chief Sinners Become Moral Guardians" - it addresses the problems that result when the church takes on itself the role of being the "moral guardian" of a nation, community, or culture...

A few highlights in the form of quotes from this chapter:

As people called to mimic Jesus in every area of our lives, we should find it significant that Jesus never assumed the position of moral guardian over any individual, let alone over the culture at large.

When we assume the role of moral guardians of the culture, we invariably postion ourselves as judges over others.

When the church sets itself up as the moral police of the culture, we earn the reputation of being self-righteous judgers rather than loving, self-sacrifical servants.

When people assume the position of moral guardians of the culture, they invite - they earn! the charge of hypocrisy, as all judgment, save the judgment of the omniscient & holy God, involves hypocrisy

Throughout history, the church has proven itself to be a very poor moral guardian. Whenver the church exercises the power of Caesar to enforce its doctrine & convictions, the result has usually been at least as bad as any non-Christian version of the kingdom of the world.

An interesting & thought-provoking read, for sure...

Smug

A personal favorite of mine... Roland Steven Taylor. A great teacher using the medium of music & video, laced with sarcasm, satire, irony, & absurdity, asking Christ-followers to be more than clones... Shaped my wit... sense of humor... dislike of "christian" posturing... & some other stuff.

From the album "Squint". Lyric posted below.



SMUG
Strike this little pose
Chin up in the air
Lips together tightly
Nostrils in a flare
Now look like you care
Very nice!

Practice in the mirror
Brushing back a tear
Very sincere
A promising career could begin right here at home
If you've got that smug...
That smug...

CHORUS

Hey mama hey mama lookee what your little babies all have become
Hey mama hey mama don't it ever make you wish you'd been a nun?
Vain and fickle, were we weaned on a pickle?
Is it in our blood?
Rome is burning
We're here turning smug

Strike another pose
Power politics
Swallow their conventions
Get your power fix
We love to mud wrestle
We love to be politically Koreshed

Practice that smug
Post it like a man
One part Master Limbaugh
Two parts Madame Streisand
Now pretend you're in a band
My, my, we're looking smug
Very very very very

CHORUS

All you smug-starved millions in the thick of the search
Welcome to our church
Whatcha wanna solve?
We can help you evolve from merely self-righteous
To perfectly smug

Strike the proud pose of our country club brethren
Friendly as a tomb
Fragrant as the bottom of a locker-room broom
Now what's the matter?
Hey...get off your knees...that part don't come 'til later...
God will not be pleased...


Rome is cooking
My, we're looking smug

Everybody Must Get Cloned...

If you've ever wondered how I've ended up like I have, take a look at this:



Steve Taylor shaped my thinking about Christ, Christianity, & living the life of a Christ-follower, often using irreverent, sarcastic lyric/music... stuff that made me think & ask, "Now why is it we do it that way again?" And, "Is that REALLY how we're (aka: The Machine called church) coming off? And if so, why?"

Thanks to Pat D for sending this my way - you made my day.

Mother's Day...

I've been doing a little research on Mother's Day - origins, practices, etc. (HISTORY nerds unite...) in the hopes of discovering the basis for the overcommercialized, mass-marketed holiday that Mother's Day is today. I found that a woman named Julia Ward Howe, peace activist & author of The Battle Hymn of the Republic was a post-Civil War voice motivating mothers of the world to unite: for peace, for family, for safety, against war, poor treatment of workers, poor sanitation, & abuse of alcohol.

Below is the "Mother's Day Proclamation" written by Howe, a rallying cry for mothers - Enjoy.

---

Arise then Christian women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be that of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."
From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Damn! Damn!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe out dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace, man as the brother of man,
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

Defined by a label...?

Yesterday, I took a quiz I found on a blog I read - DISCLAIMER: this was a new thing for me, as I usually don't spend my time filling out meaningless, time wasters (my own stereotype & feelings about 'those things" inserted here.) This one, however, intrigued me, as it attempted to bring out & identify my "theological worldview" - I was intrigued because I see myself (& you) as a pretty sophisticated, complex, deep & often parodoxical person who can't be accurately described with a label. This quiz told me that I could. It was a challenge, & I took it. Here are the results.

You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan. You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley and the Methodists. Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 93% Emergent/Postmodern 75% Neo orthodox 64% Fundamentalist 43% Charismatic/Pentecostal 39% Roman Catholic 29% Reformed Evangelical 25% Classical Liberal 25% Modern Liberal 14% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

Male & Female

For the last several weeks, I've been prepping for a series on 'being male & being female" - exploring how God's has put us together & created us; to me, this means understanding what it means to be male/female, & also how our identity, role assumptions, life choices, & ultimately every one of our relationships are greatly affected by sin/our fallen nature. BTW: the symbol at left is historically the one used for male - (& Austin Powers, but I digress) & originated from identification w/the little 'g' god, Mars... which is why the arrow points to the NE, & is supposed to remind us of Mars' shield & arrow.) The symbol at right is the historical symbol for female & originated from identification w/the little 'g' goddess, Venus - the little cross is supposed to represent Venus' hand mirror... (so, no, John Gray & Barbara DeAngelis didn't come up with this Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus idea...)

In some ways, this study has been like descending a spiral stair case that seems like it couldn't REALLY go any farther down, only to find that every 'floor' that is descended exposes yet another flight of descending stair. It would be easy to get lost in this topic. Some of the things that I've been sorting through:

-God's intended role for Adam/Eve in Eden.
-what it means to live as a godly man/woman, & how much of who we are/what we become is unique, often not fitting too well with preconceived stereotypes
-how people w/infomation & education (often men) have used their info/education to exploit others
-how role expectations affect our behavior; whether it be how we embrace certain behaviors as "things men/women do" & conversely then, "don't do" & how we can intentionally choose an opposite role of what we "should do" in order to protest/rebel/avoid not measuring up to an expected role we're 'supposed' to fill.
-men & women: equal but different
-using/misusing the Bible for selfish purposes; in many ways, this has meant justifying sexist (or at least anti-woman) practices ideas, esp. when it comes to spiritual leadership.
-the emasculation of men as an overcorrection to the above behavior
-the effect of the curse on our lives, choices, actions, & behaviors - esp. in our relationships (see Genesis 3 - on the serpent, Eve & Adam)

I'm hoping to see great freedom, wholeness, restoration, & truth in our personal lives & interpersonal relationships as a result of where we're heading... & at the same time, feel as though I'm heading into a minefield.

Colbert commentary...

"I love my Church, and I'm a Catholic who was raised by intellectuals, who were very devout. I was raised to believe that you could question the Church and still be a Catholic. What is worthy of satire is the misuse of religion for destructive or political gains. That's totally different from the Word, the blood, the body and the Christ. His kingdom is not of this earth."
--Stephen Colbert in TimeOut New York

post-easter musings...

My sleep habits have returned to just about 90% of normal – right on schedule – 2 weeks post-travel. Hooray.

Painful transparency: I wrestled with a lot with new emotions on Easter – 1st service Chris actually prayed something that seemed to hit it on the head for me – He said, “Jesus, let us not fall into forgetfulness about the meaning & power & impact of the cross & resurrection.” That summed it up: falling into forgetfulness – coming close to missing the power of the event by slipping into church holiday mode. It was wearying almost like walking through deep snow is wearying…

Made me wonder if its just me that feels this – kinda like this at Christmas too – fighting the ‘going on autopilot” feeling.

I ponder… . if having a different kind of service on Easter (like a party) would be more appropriate or at least an appropriate response to the resurrection... not to go counter-culture for the heck of it, maybe even doing a 'regular' service, but also have an alternative - a celebration of life. Just my musings on it so far...

Saturday

Made it to 5 today. Woohoo. More musings then. And, may I warn you now, it is deteriorating, though my mental acuity increasing with each passing moment.

-Every long plane ride, I take my Tolkien - its like travelling with an old friend that you haven't seen for a while. Didn't finish Lord of the Rings (book) this time. I usually make it through on the plane trip home, but this time, Casino Royale was calling my name, thereby sabotaging my reading...

-glad we missed the snow last week.

-they're everywhere. On our flight home from SFO to RNO, 2 German ladies sat across from Joni, coming to visit a relative in the Reno area.

-2 Daylight Savings Time jumps forward in one 3 week period is lame. 4 March in the US, 18 March in the EU. Progressive.

-Pondering & repondering Luke 9:23-25... still. The whole "deny your selfish ambition" makes me have to introspect - What are my selfish ambitions? If I'm going to deny them, I better know what they are or least what they look like... How deep does this rabbit hole go?

On that note, 1John 2:15-17 comes to mind...
"Do not love the world, or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; for all that is in the world- the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches - comes not from the Father but from the world. And the world & its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever."

Identifying selfish ambition: the 3 things mentioned in these verses are about me & fulfilling me. Like Indulgence. Accumulation. Self-exaltation. Gaining the whole world, while losing the soul. --> Denying selfish ambition. Its got to be more than mere asceticism, which can be done in the name of God, albeit with a selfish motivation.

Maybe the "denying of selfish ambitions" can't be separated from the "taking up the cross daily" - simple obedience. Makes me ponder some more -

Has God really called me to do "great things" for Him? The divinely-ordered task of doing "great things" seems to hide in it lots of room for selfish ambition. I can see a trap here. My introspection continues... I can't recall a time in my life that I have ever had God call me to do something "great". Usually, for me, God's call is a point of obedience that no one else finds out about. And it often seems to involve pain. And being misunderstood. And suffering. Standing firm somewhere.

Something that comes to mind is God's call to the Apostle Paul on the Damascus Road HERE- esp. verse 16 - where God says, "I myself will show him (Paul) how much he must suffer for the sake of my name." Interesting.

Selfish ambition points to me, ultimately, no matter what flowery language or high purpose I declare that I am really pursuing - the taking up of the cross, daily, is a call to obey, but also a call to die. Jesus must have chosen the words carefully, loaded with imagery as they are, esp. in the context of the 1st Century Roman Empire. Lay aside selfishness & obey. It will hurt. We will suffer for obeying. But, we'll be following in His footsteps.

-time for another cup of joe.

Cheers.