Livable Tension in a Troubled Empire (Part 1)…

• March
• 25
• 2009

…or why I don’t like “church” at times.

I went to Quest’s Depth Class on “Why the Homeless” last Monday night.  Tim Harris, the founder of Real Change News, was on the panel with 5 others, including our own Dustin Cross.  He said something that kind of surprised me…well that he said it that is.  He spoke very briefly about the church and its relationship to the “Empire”…i.e. the systems of America.

In listening to him, I couldn’t help but remember a section in the book Missional Church by…a lot of people…that I read in Seminary.  It was one of the few books that I thought was actually worth reading from my experience there (and it was on a long list of optional books).  In it one of the authors writes about the history of what he calls “Functional Christendom” here in America.  Christendom is usually defined as…(from Wikipedia)

The term "Christendom" has been used to refer to the medieval and renaissance notion of the Christian world as a sort of social and political polity. In essence, the vision of Christendom is a vision of a Christian theocracy, a government founded upon and upholding Christian values, whose institutions are suffused with Christian doctrine. In this vision, members of the Christian clergy wield political authority. The specific relationship between the political leaders and the clergy can vary but, in theory, national or political divisions are subsumed under the leadership of a church institution.

In America, though there is  Functional version of this.  Obviously our laws and constitution prevent a direct Christendom (thankfully), but we have what the author refers to as a “privileged place” in the Empire of America for Christianity.  That is, a place of subtle…and at times not so subtle…influence in the political and ruling powers.  The book goes on to say that with changes on the horizon in culture and society, that this “arrangement” is fading away…which is pretty much what Tim Harris was talking about.  Now this has happened in the past…Rome collapsing, The Secularizing of Governments in Europe, the Muslim world coming to power in the East, ext…and the expressions of the Church has had to adjust…sometimes barely surviving when her “bedfellow” completely losses power. 

In many ways, she has had to completely reinvent, and reform herself or face destruction by proxy…going down with the ship sort of thing.  Some have perished with her ideological lover and their voices are lost.

That begs the question of course: What will the American expression of the Church do if the US systems crash and burn…more then they are now…and fall into collapse?  Functional Christendom has been eroded in the past 100 Years or so, but it is still there (remember the controversy over the thought that Barrack Obama could be Muslim?).  Can she survive the transition out of power her current lover?

I’ve come to realize the longer I do the whole Jesus thing, that so much of our American Theological Systems are based and modeled after the Empire’s.  I am a firm believer that an expression of the Church should…needs…to contextualize theology, mission, interpretation, and orthopraxis to the area they exist in.  Each expression of the Church needs to be unique and reflect those who make up the living, breathing community.  The caveat of course is that this contextualization cannot run counter to what Jesus lived, said, and taught.  Our orthodoxy must be in line with Jesus, while informing and being informed by our orthopraxy…to paraphrase Brian McLaren. 

The uber-culture of America values success, prosperity, stability, and most of all…power.  Capitalism…competing for limited privately owned resources in a free market system…is a cornerstone of the economy, and embodies these values more then anything.  In essence, the American dream is one of crushing the competition to achieve wealth, fame, power, and respectability…if I can severely generalize.

Unfortunately, I’m completely convinced that this has become a huge part of our American orthodoxy and influenced our orthopraxy.   To generalize in the extreme…the American church has adopted these values as legitimate expressions of Jesus’ teaching, and not just the Lunatic Fringe at the borders of what we consider orthodoxy.  No, I am not referring to Prosperity Theology, I mean the dominate Theological Church Paradigm here in America across the Conservative, Liberal and “other” spectrum. 

Ok, disclaimer time…I am not talking about every individual community of faith, or even every aspect of those communities.  No, these are generalities that apply to many of them if not most…including the ones that I have lead or been involved with.  I am pointing at myself as much as others….but I digress back to the point…

I’ve been saying for years now…under my breath to a select few subversives I know…that Capitalism and Christ are not synonymous…and I would dare to say…even compatible.  How is that we move from  the life of Jesus and the early church…communally living where no one is in need or excess…to investment advice from our theological leaders (I’m looking at you Larry Burkett and Albert Mohler)?!?  How is that we exchange the generosity of Jesus (insane sacrificial giving) for our current understanding of stewardship (preservation of our resources while giving from our excess)?  How can we follow someone who once told a man to sell everything he had, give the money to the poor and follow him, when our “church budgets” usually allocate 80-90% to buildings and staff?

Since when does crushing the competition for our own personal gain at all mesh with “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13)…in business or  “church”?

Our orthodoxy has been manipulated and twisted to match the ideals of the Empire. 

Most communities of faith value their prosperity, stability, comfort, convenience and property.  They seek to become viable, self sustaining, and reproducing by growing bigger congregations.  How is this usually accomplished?  We shift people form one community to another because we have something better to offer.  We tend to turn Jesus into a product to be marketed, not a complete life altering relationship.  Having been through the “church planting” process recently, I can attest to how much of modern corporate culture, ideas, and techniques have been embraced, taught and utilized in the pursuit of a new work as well as in “church growth” strategies.

We’ve turned the musical worship of Jesus into a multi-million dollar recording industry (about 45 million last year alone).  Inspirational Books sales (most of which are Christian) are the 2nd highest in the US…only Romance sells more.  Not mention the millions that pass through Christian Conferences, Seminaries, Colleges, Retreat Centers and other support systems of the American expression of the Church every year.  All of which are striving to attract new customers…and by default squeeze out those who can’t compete.

Beyond those obvious examples, it gets a bit more pervasive if we peal the layers back.  The ideas of security, safety, competition and self reliance hit us hard when we look at our fellow man.  We tend to push the homeless, drug addicted, mentally ill, homosexual, or just plain undesirables out of our communities.  Most of them have gotten where they are because of their own sin or personalities right?  They are getting justice, what they deserve…what they’ve earned.  After all, this is America where everyone has the exact same opportunities regardless of race, gender or socio-economic status!!!!

…Riiiiiiight…

Even when we “step out” to lend a hand, it is out of our “benevolence fund” or through a special offering for an “out reach” to those “less fortunate”.  It’s a hand reaching down for a short time, then returning to our place in the societal order.  It becomes an act of service to the lower levels…not a lifestyle of serving with each other. 

It’s kind of like CitiFinancial painting a low income neighborhood school, while targeting the residents for loans with outrageous interest rates helping them to stay in their current situation. 

We serve the less fortunate from a place of power, privilege and safety…like my friend Jeff Greer said recently…on our terms.  We avoid getting to know who we serve because it’s easier to return to our lives without them.  They become in many ways the “customers” of our product while trying to be pulled into being a salesperson themselves.

I see all of this and more, as stemming from our orthodoxy being influenced by the Empire we live under.  I see us adopting the values of the American systems and reforming our ideas of Jesus to fit with them. 

One of my favorite examples is “Christian Sports Person”.  I’ve quietly watched good active church members ranting and decrying the evils of sex, drugs, rock and roll, or whatever the latest hot button issue is.  Then you put them on the church softball team, and it becomes all about crushing the other team…winning at all costs.  My God, I’ve heard stories of fists fights at these games!!?!?!?!  How can we support crap like that?  Can someone embrace their competitiveness without remorse and truly understand what Jesus meant we said "You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” (Matt 5:43-45a)?

You can if Jesus is an American Capitalist.

If you’re paying attention in the least to news, the American Empire isn’t in great shape.  As the light cast in the dark recesses of the financial world reveals the fragile depravity of our monetary system…can a theology so closely tied in ideology survive?  Perhaps a positive that can come out of the current struggles is illuminating the sin of a consumer driven life. 

When our positions, safety, security, prosperity and power  become so important to us that we neglect our fellow man can we fully embrace the teachings of Jesus?  Or, do we go down with the ship, both of us shot in bed by the jealous lover of our souls…

We’ve been talking in length about the tension of living life along side the homeless lately (our small band of subversive friends), but I’m not sure we’ve come up with an answer.  That’s actually the point of this post really…I just went and got all ranty with the introduction…but it’s long enough so I’ll pick that up in next one.

What I’ve Been Doing for the Past Year…

• March
• 18
• 2009

Man I am really bad at this at times…sorry again.

I wanted to let my friends and family who read my blog…if there are any left…what I’ve been doing.  It isn’t what I expected to say the least when we left for Seattle in 2007, but I wouldn’t trade what I do for anything.  I’m also going to be kind of refocusing this blog to reflect what I feel God pushing, pulling, and leading me towards.  Since this space is to reflect what is going on in my life…it’s cool.

So, two years ago last month we relocated out here to plant a Church in West Seattle.

That journey has been….odd to say the least.  I love what we are doing here in West Seattle.  The people I’ve met are amazing and I simply adore living and serving here.  In one respect, nothing has changed, but in another everything has.  We are officially off funding for church planting…it ended on 12/31/08.  I’m back to working in IT to support us financially…and that’s cool…no really it is.

I am eternally grateful to the SBC, NAMB and the Puget Sound Baptist Association for their help, support and funding over the past two years.  That being said though…I am also quite relieved to be off of funding.  Ethos is moving, but very slowly.  I’m cool with that, but I always felt bad that I didn’t have tangible things to show…numbers wise that is.  The pressure was kind of…understated…but always present.  I always felt like I was not doing enough, even though I spent a lot time becoming part of the community in West Seattle.  Without the pressures of a funding end date, we can let Ethos grow naturally and at her own pace.

Which by the way…I am amazed and encouraged by.  Beyond our community in West Seattle, I have an amazing opportunity ahead of me.

At the end of September 2008, I got an Email from a friend of mine, Dustin Cross.  He’s someone I met through Jeff Greer, and he worked with New Vintage Church before they folded.  It was a plea for help from all the pastor type people he knew to come down to something called Nickelsville, a community of homeless men, women, and children that came together to basically…well…squat on city land in fuchsia tents.  It was started as a protest against the policy changes that the Mayor of Seattle, Greg Nickels, enacted that for all intents and purposes made being homeless illegal.  They also started the encampment to give the homeless population of Seattle another resource for shelter, safety, and survival.  Tent Cities have been a part of Seattle culture since the late 1990’s, and they continue to meet needs that the shelter system, and city can not…or in the case of the city…will not.

Anyway, I went to Nickelsville’s original site a few miles from our house, on the first day they were setting up (September 25, 2008).  It was an amazing experience to say the least.  I help to construct “buildings” out of discarded wood with people form all over the city…including at least one who worked in the major’s office.  Needless to say, the city wasn’t happy about having a homeless community named after the mayor living in pink tents on city land…so they kicked them out and arrested 24 of the residents…and Dustin.  They moved to an adjacent parking lot after that, and Dustin called me again and asked if I wanted to come down for a Bible Study…Worship…Spiritual Discussion…like thing.

I showed up that first night, and looked on as Jeff rocked out on acoustic guitar and Dustin did a little sermon, message, open discussion time type thing.  I also met a dude living in Nickelsville named Aaron “Beau” Beaucage, who claimed to be a Buddhist, but filmed the whole deal.  I hung back and talked to Beau and some others who were floating around on the edges.  It was amazing to see a professional grade musician and an experienced impassioned pastor type sitting around with the homeless sharing and helping to restore their place At The Table…coming together as equals to worship, love and explore God.  They had to move on from that spot, and a Native American Tribe offered them land at Daybreak Star.  Jeff and Dustin followed them, continuing to do their Monday night deal, but more importantly getting to know the community and sharing life together (I didn’t realize that it wasn’t just a one time deal, so I kind of faded out of the picture during this phase).

They relocated again to a church parking lot in the U District, and I reconnected with Jeff and Dustin about the now highly regular Monday night gatherings.  I showed up again, and was drawn in by what was going on, plus the relationships that Jeff and Dustin had with the Nickelodeons.  At this point, Dustin had become the “Pastor to Nickelsville” while Jeff had deepened his connection with some of the Nickelodeons and especially Beau…the resident poet of the community.  Jeff even took some of Beau’s poems and turned them into songs.  I dove in, and became part of the small group, along with Brandon Couch, that are regular’s at Nickelsville, and in the non-housed community of Seattle.

Jeff and Dustin even put on a benefit concert at Q Cafe with some Nickelodeons.  Jeff brought in a band along with others, and Beau read some of his work including his “signature” poem “Nothing is Meaningless”.  We raised a few thousand for the camp and got really cool pink rubber bracelets with “Support Nickelsville” stamped in them…I still ware mine and it generates a lot of questions from people.

The camp moved to another church parking lot in the U and once again our growing band of people went with them.  We continued to do the Monday night deal, and Jeff and Dustin even spent some nights there hanging with some of our outdoor friends.  Jeff and Beau ended up staying up all hours watching Flight of the Concords on a laptop given to Beau to help him get is poetry published.

In the greater community, we started to sense a growing need for something beyond Monday nights at Nickelsville.  We heard repeatedly of our friends being turned away at the doors of churches on Sunday morning…as despicable and evil as that sounds.  They started to ask us…mostly Dustin as he was starting to be seen as a Pastor not only to Nickelsville, but to the wider street population…if there was a way of doing “Church” on Sundays with them.  They had a desire to expand their place at The Table, and include more of their friends.  We were more then happy to explore this with them.

From there, it expanded and exploded well beyond our limited ideas and vision.  We had people from Dioceses, Social Service organizations, churches of all sizes, and individuals all coming to us wanting to help with an outdoor expression and gathering of the church.  So we are going for it, and doing our best to stay out of God’s way in what He’s doing.  We are continuing our presence in the homeless community, and expanding what we are doing with them.

That is really the key to everything.

We don’t want to show up a couple of times a week and “do church for” our outdoor friends.  We want to live life with them, and treat each other as equals…because of course, we are.  We are all brothers and sisters in humanity and Christ.  Whatever we do, plan, or try it will be together in unity, diversity, dignity, and equality…not as a hand reaching down to homeless, but one reaching across with each other in worship and service.  From these ideas, we are starting something with our outdoor friends.  We are going to start another Monday night like thing at Tent City 3, as well as a gathering at a central location on Sunday afternoons. Beyond those…and possibly the most important…we’ll be intentionally spending time one on one with our non-housed brothers and sisters and inviting other housed people to do the same.  We’ve gotten a domain: www.churchoutside.com (what you have to do now a days) and are in the process of doing the non-profit paperwork.  Jeff’s community, Vineyard Community Church is helping us with the legal stuff for the non-profit as well as mentoring us through the whole deal (that’s Jeff on the home page picture with the hat and long goatee, and the redhead next to him is Vicky his wife).  They’re offer of help is amazingly generous and we are grateful beyond words for their investment into us.

That’s in a nutshell what I’ve been doing lately.

It’s been a brilliant journey thus far, full of ups and downs to say the least.  I’ve had the opportunity to lead discussions at Nickelsville, and that will increase as we move into TC3.  It was a privilege and honor to be able to share with them and discuss aspects of faith form different points of view.  Dustin had the privilege of performing the marriage ceremony for two of our friends, Bruce and Donna, on 1/15/09.  Jeff did the music, and as usual, I showed up to support and hang.  We’ve all said it, but I’m amazed at how much I’ve grown in these past 7 months, and how exited I am about the future of what we are doing.

Unfortunately it hasn’t all been…I’ll say…uplifting, encouraging and easy.

We’ve gotten to see the darker side of the streets as well.  We…Dustin mostly, given the amount of time he spends on the streets building community with our friends…have dealt with rape, violence, drugs, alcohol addiction and the sins that plague all communities of non-housed.  Perhaps one of the hardest things for all of us though, was the news we got in late February.

Our good friend, inspiration, and one of the most amazing people I’ve ever met, Beau, had died.  He moved to California after New Years for some potential work, and Jeff hand only heard from him a couple of times since.  We heard, and later confirmed, the news of his death, and I have to say it devastated us all…and so many more that Beau touched in the short time people knew him.  We had a memorial service with a large turnout of housed, non-housed, activists, and just people who loved the guy.  Jeff played the music he created out of Beau’s poems, and Dustin performed the service.  I showed up mourned, wept, and grieved with my friends.

In Beau, we lost an incredible poet, activist, and caring human who happened to be between homes…way before his time.  More profoundly…we all lost a good friend.  If you want to know more about Beau you can check out Jeff, Eugene Cho and Dustin’s blog posts on him as well as the comments and memories people shared.  Beau left behind two daughters, please remember them as you pray.

Despite Beau’s death and the difficulties we experience, I am excited and encouraged for the future of what I’m doing with Jeff, Dustin and for a wile longer Brandon (he’s going off to Africa with Mennonites).  The future of our strange little group seeking to challenge the divisions in churches and live life with our outdoor fiends is exciting, scary and adventurous.  I’ll keep you posted and be sharing more of my experiences as we move forward.

“How can we worship a homeless man on Sunday and ignore one on Monday?” – Shane Claiborne

Tula…her name is Tula…

• November
• 9
• 2008

Yeah I know, I know…I am sooooo behind on posting on here.  I’ve got a couple of posts in mind, but till I get them written up and posted, here is something to wet your appetite. 

Here is a piece I wrote for a recent writing contest.  I didn’t win…or even get short listed…but I figured I would post.  It’s also in line with Shane Claiborne speaking at Quest tonight, and the on going Nickelsville struggle.

Next up is a small two part article I am working on called "Why I hate and love the ‘church’".

Enjoy:

Dense, sweltering air slammed into me as I opened the outer door of my office building. The sensation, like a hair dryer in a sauna, instantly created a sticky layer of sweat that my thick slacks adhered to. There aren’t many things more uncomfortable than summer in Baltimore, and this August day was no exception. It didn’t matter today though, because I was on a mission.

I’d been working in the city for only a few months for a large evil empire bent on world domination through high interest rates. Thanks to the rather incessant propensity of the Software Development Industry to lay me off, I was forced to take the job to feed my growing family of four with one more on the way. I found myself chained to a cubicle at one of the nation’s largest sub-prime lenders eight hours a day. The company rakes in billions, and I was but one insignificant tool. Like a stapler, but with better hair.

My office building is in the heart of the financial district. Massive steel and concrete towers pierce the hazy sky housing some of the most influential men and women in the city. They mill around downtown in perfectly tailored suits worth more than some cars. Their flawless teeth shinny and blazingly white. Chattering into cell phones as they brave the oppressive heat, they broker deals and make decisions that will change the course of people’s lives forever. Significance, it seems in this battle ground of investments, is determined by how many calls one takes while at lunch.

I don’t even notice them today. All I can think of is a hotdog. The craving for two of them covered with chili, sauerkraut, mustard and ketchup hit me about mid-morning. Today was also the day I would do it. I would talk to her.

During the summer months, hotdog carts line the streets of Baltimore like mailboxes or parking meters. I noticed one out of the corner of my eye a block up as I turned to head the opposite direction towards the harbor. That’s the one I took Frank to a few weeks ago.

Frank is a middle-aged man with a pronounced limp, grey speckled wispy hair, and usually about two days growth along his sharp chin. His teeth are slightly yellowed with a few missing, and he wears worn, liberally stained jeans topped off by a faded nylon windbreaker despite the heat. He’s also a recent heart attack victim and the doctors had to remove a vein from his leg to repair a damaged artery. Due to the long recovery time, he couldn’t continue to work his manual labor job, and was laid off. He now lives in shelters across Baltimore while trying to return to the workforce. It’s hard, he told me, without a permanent address to put on the application.

He has lunch every day at the Episcopal Church’s soup kitchen right up the street from my building. He was late that day and missed the meal time. His walking problems were to blame. As I was milling towards my own impending lunch, swallowed up by the heard of expensive suit wearers, Frank was asking everyone who passed for food. All of us were ignoring him, trying not to make eye contact. There are nameless, faceless, insignificant people all over Baltimore begging for various things. After a while, they tend fade into the background of the city landscape like trashcans or discarded cigarette butts. Frank caught my attention that day for some reason. So I spent $2.40 on lunch for him. I bought him a hotdog with ketchup and mustard plus a 20oz cola from cart a block up from my building.

Spending some time talking with him is how I heard his story. Unfortunately, Olga’s was a little too far to walk for Frank, given his limp. Her little metal cart was my destination today though. The stand is three blocks away. It’s adjacent to a quarter block section of concrete with three anorexic trees, and a small round fountain that never seems to have water. It’s ringed by cement benches stained with pigeon droppings and I’m not sure I want to know what else. This is what passes for a park in Baltimore.

I willing trudge the three blocks through the swamp like climate to her stand whenever I want a dog. She has decent food, and the prices are reasonable, but that’s secondary. The real draw to me is Olga. She intrigues me. Olga is an elderly woman from Slavic descent, a first generation immigrant. Her short, curly, died black hair frames a face somewhere between fifty and eighty. Deep wrinkles mark her eyes, brow and mouth, and she dresses in simple plain clothes. I would watch as she silently moved her shaky, almost skeletal hands, in a perfect ballet like rhythm to make my day’s lunch. She artfully and gracefully assembled my order as if she had been doing it all her life. The tremors would subside long enough plant the meat, warming in stainless steel trays, on the bun then cover it with my requested fixings. She then deftly places the finished piece in wax paper twisting the ends enough to hold it together, but not overly compress anything. I couldn’t help but think of my own hands. Young, strong, and steady while feeling a twinge of compassion for her.

The mystery of Olga grew as one day I noticed her family was assisting with the day’s activities. Her husband was helping with the customers while her granddaughter was retrieving cans and bottles of soda from ice filled coolers. Was this part of her summer vacation? I remembered spending lazy summer weeks with my grandparents when I was young. Was she doing the same? The suits chattered and talked amongst themselves as the family mulled about fulfilling their requests for sustenance, never flashing expensive teeth in a smile.

I too would silently pass money through her little window, but I always made a point to thank her, and she responded with an almost unperceivable nod in my general direction. The corners of her mouth rose ever so slightly as if a grin was buried deep in the confines of her lips doing its best to escape. The truth is there were questions I was dying to ask. Was it cynicism and a hard life preventing the beaming smile from emerging and illuminating the small hotdog cart? How long had she been doing this? Did her children help her run the stand growing up? Was this her only source of income? What did she do in the winter months? And possibly the most nagging question for me; what was her name?

Olga isn’t her name. I had no idea what her real name was, so I simply picked a name that typified an older Slavic woman in my mind. She became Olga the hotdog lady. I desperately wanted to know her real name though. For some strange reason, I didn’t have the courage to ask the simple question. Why was this so hard for me? Was it her stern demeanor or seemingly apathetic attitude? Was I afraid she would laugh at me, mock me, or just ignore me in awkward silence? Or was it just the natural introvert in me? I felt like I did in school. The socially outcast geek nervously approaching the popular girls, convinced rejection and ridicule would greet my open mouth.

Today I would change that I told myself as the wave of suits caught me and carried me towards the park. I would find out her name. I pushed my way through the perfect haired masses speaking into their small plastic lifelines to importance, and took my place in her small line. I had to wait as a group discussed stocks, options, and the latest corporate takeover with their backs to the silver cart. No family today, just Olga I noticed as the expensive shoe clad financial soldiers parted slowly allowing me access to her window. My stomach was flipping and flopping with nervous anticipation.

I made my order, and she commenced her amazing display of hotdog assembly genius. As she handed them to me I said my usual thank you. I smiled, and then looking oh so casual leaned in and asked her what her name was.

“Tula,” she said through a thick accent, with a slight smile forming, several teeth missing.

“Thank you Tula…you have the best hotdogs in the city.”

I never saw someone smile so widely or surprisingly. Her cart exploded with the light of her crooked smile. I think I may’ve made her day. I know it made mine. I nodded, then took my greasy little bag. Turning from the cart, I rejoined the crushing heard of perfection moving back to our towers.

I had a smile on my face too, though not a bright as Tula’s. Perhaps I’ll share my meal with Frank if he needs it.

New Blog URL…

• September
• 2
• 2008

Hello readers….been a long time…yeah sorry about that.

Any ways,  I was talking to my friend Dean and he sent me a list of cool sounding URL’s that were up for grabs.  None of them interested me, but it got me thinking. 

I wonder if Metrospirituality.com is taken?

I looked…and it was, but Metrospirituality.org wasn’t, so I grabbed it. 

Now…ta-da…I finally got my blog moved over to it’s own nifty shinny URL…bethca didn’t even notice.

You’ll end up here if you put the old address in (cuz WordPress is open source, and I have Google) so don’t worry.  Sorry for any inconvenience, but I like having my own domain, feel free to update any links though.

I’ll get back to writing soon though I promise….

Funny but…sad…little video

• June
• 3
• 2008

Pastors can be such idiots.

Ok, so I just got my MDiv diploma in the mail over the weekend which means I went through the whole like official training for a Pastor type.  One of the many things they never mentioned, even in the craptastic Pastoral Counseling course, was not to use your family for Sermon Fodder.

Actually it was quite the opposite.  I heard scores of stories about wives, kids, parents and anyone else remotely related to the teachers.  Most, not all, but most, were their mistakes, screw ups, or inadequacies as human beings.  This trend tends to carry on into the world of Sermons once the average Pastor gets out there.

A long time ago I made a promise to myself and Pam, that I would not use anything her or the kids did as the punch line for a joke at their expense.  I would never portray them in anything but a positive, life giving way.  I refused to be one of those pastors.

Anyways, my friend Marc Scott sent me this video.  I watched it laughing…but not really at the same time.  It’s sad that so many pastors use their wives (and kids for that matter) as a cheap laugh.  However, it isn’t only that though, so how do the wives in the video address the issue?

By using their husbands use of them as the punch line for a cheap laugh.  I mean yeah it’s funny to a degree, but at the same time it’s sad and telling of the state of affairs in the Western Church.  That’s one of the things I’ve always respected about the various pastors over the years that I’ve sat under…they respect their wives and family enough not to degrade them on stage just to make a point.

Perhaps this is the only voice they have in their communities to address a bigger issue.  If so…more sadness amongst the humor.

They also parody a song I don’t know…and it appears to be a country song…beyond that though, check it out and hopefully the whole system that created the need for it will give you pause as you chuckle.  High quality production values though…mildly impressed I am.

Hmmmm….could this have anything to do with Complementarianism?…just kidding…maybe.

All of My Hard Work…

• May
• 31
• 2008

…and all I got was a $200 piece of paper.  I think I’ll make a tee shirt.

Well it came today.  Just about 14 years worth of work has finally come to fruition.  Yup, I am officially the owner of a Masters of Divinity in Missions from Southern Seminary.

Wanna see?

Impressive huh?

Yes this is the end of a Journey that started way back in 1994 during a service at (then named) Carroll Community Church.

Joe Duke was speaking one Sunday, and I was doing my usual deal.  My exceedingly hot and amazing girlfriend was sitting next to me, and we were listening to the sermon.  I have no idea what the message was about or what he was saying at the time, but I heard God deliver a simple line:

“You will go to seminary.”

It wasn’t a feeling, an impression, or something that seemed like a good idea at the time.  In fact my first responses was something akin to “you have got be smoking crack or something if you think that’s a good idea”.  I believe it came out as a “God if you want me to do that then change my heart”…but the sentiment was the same.

Hmmmm a bit less…”familiar”…with God back then.  That a good thing or bad?

I turned and told my date (do you bring dates to church?!?) my divine revelation, and she responded with a profound…”oh, ok”.   I don’t think she realized the extent of the decision or how long it would take to fulfil the request…neither did I for that reason.  I just really didn’t want to take Greek or Hebrew.

I started looking into it and quickly realized that seminary is a Graduate degree, and only had about 2 or 3 classes under my belt towards my Undergraduate degree.

So, after getting married, we headed out to work on our Undergrad degrees at Geneva.  That lasted about two years, then we headed back to Maryland.  Pam then found a way for us to complete our degrees on line through Hope International University, and we jumped into that.  About 10 years after I started taking classes and with a transcript that included two community colleges and three full universities, I completed my Bachelors of Science in Christian Ministries in 2004, then started to look for a seminary to attend.

I kind of happened into Southern to tell you the truth.  Cornerstone has an SBC heritage and qualified me for the discounted tuition.  There was also an extension center about 3 miles from my house, they offered some online classes, and there was little to no other options if I wanted to stay in Maryland.

So that’s how I ended up at a hyper-Conservative Reformed Seminary in Kentucky.

About 3.5 years later I completed my last class there, and submitted all the paper work (plus $200…I’m still annoyed if you didn’t catch that).  I missed the deadline for a December graduation, so I had to wait until May 16th for it to officially post.  I was out at Revolution Coffee and Art’s 3rd anniversary celebration, and Pam called to tell me that my actual physical degree had arrived.

My seminary journey had come to its end after about 14 years.

Am I better for the whole ordeal?  Do I regret it?  Yes and no.  I met some great people (especially at the extension center), and it was a direct result of seminary that I ended up out here…Southern to be exact.

I guess God did know what he was doing after all

Anyways, just wanted to let everyone know that I am in fact done with seminary and I got my really expensive piece of paper to prove it today.  If I ever talk about doing any more with seminary…I charge you all with preventing my return with any means necessary.

The Shepard and the Knucklehead…

• May
• 27
• 2008

…Reinforced a valuable lesson…Environment matters.

Jeff invited me to his latest "gig" over the holiday weekend in Kirkland.  Despite the outrageous gas prices and inability to have a Guinness (part of my SBC funding stipulations) I headed up there with him to the Wilde Rover Irish Pub.  He was doing this…ummm…well…not quite an event, not quite a worship service, not quite an outreach, not quite a Bible study yet all of the above wrapped into one deal.   It’s put on by a dude named Parker from his…ummm…group like thingy called Bridgeworks.

The whole thing wasn’t easy to sum up…if you couldn’t tell.

Basically here’s how it works.  Parker likes to utilize old world jobs and personality types in the meetings.  He has three separate "roles" that come together for the event, the Priest, Poet and Bard.  The Priest and the Poet are easy to grasp and he seemed to play out both of their parts on Sunday.  The Bard though, that is something unique he’s pulled from history.  Bards were not only traveling musicians (as they have been portrayed in pop culture), but poets, satirists, and social/political commentators in the Celtic tradition (especially Irish).  One can almost see them playing the role of the Hebrew and Early Christian Prophets of old.  Not the future predicating prophecies per say, but those that pointed to culture and criticized it mercilessly (think Amos and Micah).   

This was Jeff’s role in the night.  He did a couple of songs that pointed to the profoundly simple question that Parker asked: 

"What does it mean to belong?"

Jeff, as usual, sounded awesome and picked some great songs that really set the tone of the night.  Parker then did a quick little talky thing then everyone was released to discuss the question he proposed at our various tables over food and drink. 

Brilliantly simple. 

I was completely blown away with how quickly the people at my table opened up and shared bits and pieces of their story to try and answer the question, or to share their experiences with belonging.  The simple question got me thinking incredibly deeply about a whole hoard of thoughts, ideas, and personal reflections of my life.  So I have to ask myself a simple question:  Why?  Why is it that everyone opened up so quickly and so deeply?  Was it the food and/or beer?  Possibly, but I’ve been in similar conversations with both, and it wasn’t like this.  Was it the nature of the question?  Perhaps, but I’ve seen those simple questions turn into stare-fests when asked in a small group setting like that.  Was it the people there?  Where they just in a talkative mood?  Maybe, that may have added to the openness, but I don’t think that is the complete answer.

No, I think it was something even simpler then all of that.  I think it was the location and environment.  The simple act of asking profound questions over food, drink, and pleasant company AT A PUB was the key.  For centuries pubs have been the spot where people went to meet, talk, and discuss the deeper questions over life.  They went to their favorite Pub where "everyone knows your name, and they’re always glad you came". 

In essence, it is was the place where you belong.

Now in modern day America, pubs have become places to get wasted, pick up potential partners, or just get lost in a sea of depressive binge drinking after a difficult time.  In talking with Jeff afterwards though, he said (being a bartender at What the Pho, Bothell and all) that the bartender sets the ethos of the bar.  He becomes in many ways the Elder/Leader/Teacher/Counselor of the Assembly that gather around the bar.  Like any other Elder, it is his job and gifting to set the tone of the community…the Ecclesia if you will…that congregate at the Pub nightly. 

It isn’t family focused…or even friendly for that matter…and it isn’t a safe controlled environment that define most modern churches.  But, it is incarnational and radically Jesus like.

I loved it, and was blessed immensely.  If I could pick what Ethos would look like in the future, this would be a big part of it (not all…but a significant chunk).

So anyways, if you are local, check out the gatherings, if not, then follow suit if you can and create some of your own.

Anyone interested in continuing the conversation?  What is your thought on "What does it mean to belong?"

Cheers.

The Curse of Ham by Noah…

• May
• 20
• 2008

You know the dude with the big boat and all the animals.

Most people know the story of Noah, if not the Biblical Version then at least the Evan Almighty Version, but there is one rather often overlooked part that bears some attention now a days.  Noah was, by no means perfect…actually rather not at all. 

He seems to like wine a bit…ok a lot.  After the Ark lands, the waters recede, and everything returns to a semblance of normalcy, Genesis 9 says (in verse 20 in case you’re keeping score) "Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard."  Then "he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. (21)"  Now Noah had three sons Shem, Japheth and Ham (aka Canaan’s Dad).  Ham is boppin’ about and finds their dad all passed out and drunk like in his tent, buck naked.  Now that’s not something you put in the family Christmas letter.  Or is it?  He goes and grabs his brothers to show them what he’s found.  He was obviously the jock of the boys …I kid…some what.  When his two older brothers (the Artist and the Musician ), get there, they back into the tent and cover their Dad so as not to see him naked.  Noah wakes up the next day all hung over, and he finds out what’s been done then gets a bit peeved. 

He then proceeds to do the typical deal for the day, and curse and bless his kids/grand kids:

When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, he said,
       "Cursed be Canaan!
       The lowest of slaves
       will he be to his brothers."

He also said,
       "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem!
       May Canaan be the slave of Shem.

May God extend the territory of Japheth;
       may Japheth live in the tents of Shem,
       and may Canaan be his  slave." (24-27)

Wow a bit on the harsh side if you ask me.  I mean the dude was just passed out naked.  Anyways though, the point isn’t the story, but what people have made of it over the years. The phrase "The Curse of Ham", plus the theological theories attached with it have been a driving force in church history.  Up until the mid 20th century the interpretation of this curse was vitally important to a major issue in the church.

Slavery and racism. 

You see, there was a contingent of the Western Church that had an interesting interpretation of this curse.  It all started with some early Jewish commentators. They said that the curse was made visible in the descendents of Ham by a change in their skin tone.  Yup you guessed it, the Rabbi’s claimed they became darker because of Ham’s screw up.  Well, this kind of snowballed to say the least, and some of the early church fathers even picked up on the relationship.  Here is what Origen (whom was called at one point the second teacher of the church after Paul) said about the whole deal:

For the Egyptians are prone to a degenerate life and quickly sink to every slavery of the vices. Look at the origin of the race and you will discover that their father Cham, who had laughed at his father’s nakedness, deserved a judgment of this kind, that his son Chanaan should be a servant to his brothers, in which case the condition of bondage would prove the wickedness of his conduct. Not without merit, therefore, does the discolored posterity imitate the ignobility of the race.  (Homilies on Genesis 16:1)

And from Jerome it is even more disturbing:

Chus in Hebrew means Ethiopian, that is, black and dark, one who has a soul as black as his body. (The Homilies of Saint Jerome 3,28)

You can track the progression of this thought on down through the centuries to where the Curse of Ham was one of the moral justifications for enslaving the dark skinned races in particular, and slavery in general.  There are even those that claimed this as racial superiority up into the Mid-20th Century…i.e. some in the American South.

I don’t have to say out loud that this is load of complete crap built on a few men’s errant interpretations of scripture, but I will to be sure.  I also wouldn’t be surprised if you haven’t heard of this line of thought.  The fact that this fallacious interpretation…based more on power dynamics combined with proof-texting (looking for justification for your actions from scripture) then actual "scholarly work"… has been relegated to the theoretical junk yard is a good thing.  My biggest concern with it is that it took nearly 2000 years to get there.  This right here is my huge problem with Systematic theology.  Error builds on error and people get hurt, Jesus is lost in translation, and horrific actions are claimed to be in the name of God.

This combined with all of the other passages that seem to support slavery (Levitical guidelines for non-Jewish slaves, Solomon’s forced labor, and Paul’s letter to Philemon among others) begs the question:  Does God support the enslavement of others? 

The answer is obvious.  Slavery is and always has been a great evil perpetrated by humanity. Slavery based on the color of ones flesh is no less evil, no matter how you justify it.  What then do we do with the Biblical support?  There is something we need to keep in mind whenever we crack open the Bible.

The Bible was not written for us.

It was written over generations by many different authors covering thousands of years of human history.  There is always a context to what we are reading.  There is always an original audience and reason that it is written, and the various passages about slavery are no exception.   

So I imagine you are asking yourself why am I writing about an interpretation abandoned some 20 years before my birth by even the most conservative of Church scholars?

There is another curse that has been interpreted in the same way causing the same type of damage in the church.  The  infamous "Curse of Eve"…though most people don’t call it that.  It usually goes by another innocuous name…Complementarianism.  I don’t have the time to go into this in detail (you can check out the Wikipedia article…it’s pretty solid).  This quote pretty much sums it up:

"God has created men and women equal in their essential dignity and human personhood, but different and complementary in function with male headship in the home and in the Church."^[1]

Ok, if I can offer my own interpretation.  I see it…when you strip the pretty language away… as boiling down to an old and familiar phrase.

Separate but Equal roles.

Yeah…that’s turned out well in the past.

There has been a lot of talk lately around here about the role of women in church leadership (such an innocent way of putting it).  It was stirred up by Rob Bell, and a discussion at an Off The Map thingy he did here in the Seattle area.  Of course there is always the constant voice of Mars Hill Church and Marc Driscoll preaching the Gospel of Complementarianism to keep the issue on the forefront of our discussions around here.  Eugene Cho has been talking about the issue a bit on his blog over past month or so. 

More specifically, it’s a comment that he made on a post that caught my attention and prompted me to ramble on about the issue (yes I know, it is two weeks old…timely aren’t I, but I did start it when he first posted it).  He says this writing about the issue:

Sadly, this is an issue and conversation that will continue until the Day of the Lord.  Many have already drawn their lines in the sand and others are on the fence.

My hope and prayer is that he is dead wrong. 

My question is simply this:  Is the Curse of Eve (and subsequent Complementarian theology) the same deal as The Curse of Ham (and subsequent racist theology)?

Faith communities (Christian and other) are the only groups in America/Western Culture that determine roles and position based on genitalia.  The rest of our society rejected that decades ago…it is actually illegal in most cases. 

Isn’t it rather insane that in 2008, we are still having this discussion?  Why aren’t we still talking about the morality of dark skinned slavery in America, Jim Crow laws, or segregation in public schools as well?

Why, because we’ve moved on, seen the light and pretty much unanimously agreed that racism=bad…regardless of nearly 2000 years of theology saying different. 

Let’s do the same with sexism…make the call, move on, and put our resources, time and effort into something that we are told to do.  Love God, love people and serve both.

That is my sincere hope and prayer, that we will not be having this discussion till the end. 

1 Duncan, Ligon. Male Authority and Female Equality: In the beginning—Genesis 1-3 being understood as part of God’s created design. Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. December 15, 2004. (Online accessed December 26, 2007)

My Deification is Imminent…

• April
• 29
• 2008

At least according to the Wii.

So I finally did it.  I broke down and got my very first rhythm game.  For those not in the know, rhythm games are kind of a hot thing now a days.   It all started with the strange Japanese import,  PaRappa The Rapper for the original PlayStation.  It quickly degraded (at least in my opinion) to the most famous, yet horrific, rhythm game, Dance Dance Revolution (DDR).  This involves the players of the "game" to twitch and convulse on a dance pad stepping on the correct circles in time to arrows on the screen.  Not being a preteen Japanese girl or hip hop fan of any sort, this kind of activity held no draw what so ever.  Besides, I wouldn’t anyone to stumble because of my dance ability should I be accidentally glimpsed attempting to play the thing…stumble into wall in an uncontrolled fit of laughter that is.

Needless to say other rhythm games did nothing to draw me into the style of game play…Karaoke video game…oh come on already?!?!?! Besides, these games had no shooting, kicking, explosions, dragons, aliens or action what so ever involved…just dancing and singing.  But then, 2005 dawned and little company called Harmonix released a new rhythm game destined to be come a cultural phenomenon….Guitar Hero (GH).  

I was intrigued….then I saw that it came with a custom controller….and I was suddenly more then intrigued.   I heard songs like Black Sabbath’s Iron Man, Blue Oyster  Cults’s Godzilla,   I Wanna be Sedated by The Ramones, and Ziggy Stardust originally performed by David Bowie…well at least pretty good covers of them emanating from the game.  My intrigue quickly turned to excitement.  You mean there is a game where I can use a controller shaped like a Gibson and rock out to some classics of music history?!?  Holy crap that is cool!

Now I have to admit, I love music, good rocking music…no funk of any sort please.  I even own three guitars…two acoustic and an electric.  However, I have no musical talent what so ever.  I often say, as a Pastor, that I love people far to much to lead worship.  I’ve tried several times over the years to learn how to play, but to no avail.  Then someone goes and makes a game where I can play at being a rock star…that is completely brilliant in the worst consumerism sort of way.  Capitalize on my oh so common lethal combination of musical talent jealously and complete guitar ineptitude to cash in at the game store…diabolically beautiful. 

I resisted though.  No time or money, and it was, after all, in the same category as DDR.  Then they released a little  game they called Rock Band in November of 2007.  This version (not in the GH series but made by the same creators) expanded to incorporate not only Guitar and Bass (later GH games added that), but also drums and vocals.  Whoa I thought that is the coolest thing I have seen in like forever…and it better be at $169 for the 360 or Wii versions.  In looking at it, my living room, and lack of friends to come over and play with me…I decided that Rock Band probably wasn’t the best idea for me. 

But, they’ve also recently released GH3: Legends of Rock.  So I took the plunge, and spent a bit of out the tax return on my first rhythm game.  When I first picked it up…I really really really sucked….hard core.  I thought to my self…ah man that was a waste of $$$$…but by the second day I went from 2 songs after 3 hours of playing to 6 songs after only an hour and I’ve been steadily getting better each time I pick it up.  I finally get to live out my Rock God fantasy…at least that is what the game keeps telling me I will become one day…sweet…freakin’ sweet.  So if you have a Wii version of the game (it was cheaper then the 360 and the Wii Remote offers some unique features as well), let me know and we can play online together…that would be cool.

Happy strumming…I have to go beat the Devil in a metal guitar battle in Georgia now. 

Emergent Cohort in the News

• April
• 11
• 2008

At the end of April 2005, almost two years before we moved, I started attending the Baltimore Emergent Cohort after Dean McKenzie invited me to their initial meeting.  For those who are not familiar with Emergent or emerging churches check out Emergent Village, that will explain enough to grab the gist of the whole thing…as much as anyone can grasp the movement…err conversation…whatever.  I started attending and became pretty much the only other stable attendee besides the founder Tim Hartman (his wife and fellow pastor Saranell would have also been a constant if not for the latest addition to their family, Simian, shortly after the cohort started).  I had a great time at the monthly meetings talking and getting to know other like minded progressive thinkers within the local communities of Christ.  It also gave me a safe environment to talk about issues that were off limits in Seminary, and hard to find anyone else who cared at the various Gatherings I was a part of.  The conversations, relationships and support I received from the group was a real blessing as I prepared to journey across the country to plant Ethos.

I also learned a lot about the…if you will excuse the self-promoting irony of it all…ethos of the whole Emergent thing.  I quickly figured out that many…not all, but many…of the people who participate in the conversation are almost singularly angry at the established church.  Much of our time together degraded quickly into complaining about this or that issue in the overall institutional church.   I rather rapidly made the decision that this is counterproductive to any kind of growth or movement in the overall local community of Christ.  If we are to continually reincarnate and constantly change what it means to be the church in our contemporary setting, then to quote The Dude, "this aggression cannot stand".  We have to work for change through hope, optimism, and love while abandoning despair, pessimism, and anger.  Getting together to complain about what we can’t stand about the current incarnation of the church isn’t the answer.  One thing I really liked about the group was that Tim got that, and was always trying to steer people towards productive thought.

I’m still on the mailing list, and get messages every now and again.  The latest was to let people know that there was an article about the cohort in the The City Paper (for those Seattleites out there, this is Baltimore’s version of The Stranger).  I checked it out, and I have to say that I am impressed by the article.  They did a really good job of presenting The  Emerging church in a fair and balanced way (though you can kind of tell that the author is supportive of…or at least mildly impressed by…the movement). It also has some information on Tim and Saranell’s community of faith The Next Generation Project.  If you are local to Baltimore, then check out the group and/or Next Generation.  If you are in Seattle, then we have our own version…sorta…in the Northwest Hothouse. Hothouse is for leaders and pastors though, and isn’t an official Emergent Cohort.  Another thing I liked about the Baltimore group is that it was open for everyone, and the Pastor of 25 years was on the same level as the 19 year old college student.

Check it out though, it’s a good read on the movement of the "younger" church and how it is interacting with faith, mission, God, and people.

"The Dude Abides…."

• April
• 2
• 2008

One my favorite things here in West Seattle…and there are a lot so that’s saying a bit…is the Historic Admiral Theater in my own North Admiral Neighborhood.  It is this absolutely brilliant little theater opened in 1942.  The Admiral is a historical landmark for West Seattle, and is featured prominently in an up and coming documentary on the neighborhood.  Beyond that, they are independently owned and operated…a rarity now a days. 

One of the coolest things they do is have midnight movies.  Now this isn’t just the latest blockbuster shown late at night.  No, these are "cult classics" with hardcore fan followings….sometimes, and sometimes its just me.  They show The Rocky Horror Picture Show every month to a sell out crowd in full costume and regalia.  In fact the first time I noticed the theater was on our initial visit our here.   As Jeff Greer and I drove by late on a Friday night,  the large crowd of people in their underwear caught our eyes.  I vowed to check the place out when we got here.  Since being then I’ve caught, at midnight, Time Bandits, Fight Club, Army of Darkness, Blade Runner, The Goonies, Reservoir Dogs, The Boondock Saints, and a few others.

A month or so a go the Admiral restarted their midnight movies after a slight hiatus for the holiday season with the Cohen Brother’s classic The Big Lebowski.  You may remember the Cohen’s from such films as Fargo, O’ Brother Where Art Thou?, Raising Arizona, and most recently No Country for Old Men.  They have a quirky, strange sense of humor and filmmaking, and The Big Lebowski is no exception.  

It’s a strange little movie about a bowling obsessed LA slacker type who gets involved in a Raymond Chandler like complicated mystery plot.  Lebowski (or as he calls himself in the movie: "The Dude") is played by Jeff Bridges, and is supported by an all star cast including John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi and even Phillip Seymour Hoffman.  The Dude is actually modeled after one of the Seattle Seven, Jeff Dowd, a local Anti-Vietnam war protestor who relocated to California after being imprisoned for his role in a famous protest.

I have to admit though, that I am a closet Lebowski fan.  Now I’ve never been to a Lebowski Fest, but if it comes back  to Seattle, I just may make some time for it.  I remember seeing it in theaters with our then house mate Jeff Frey back in Maryland.  It didn’t do great in its initial release but gained a cult following rather quickly.  I’ve always had an affinity for the flick myself.

So when I saw that the Admiral was doing "The Bigger Lebowski" this past Friday night, I jumped at the chance to attend.  They arranged for bowling at the local alley from 9:00 to 11:00, and then the movie would be shown at midnight.  Come in costume if you wanted.  I secured childcare courtesy of our local bank Viking…no really I did.  There is a teller their who offered her daughters babysitting services soon after we came here.  Pam went with me, and we had a chance to do some bowling.

How many theaters out there would have midnight movies, much less arrange for bowling beforehand for the Lebowski fans out there?  How many banks would hook you up with childcare?

Man I love living in West Seattle.

Anyway, Pam and I had a great time.  We even had the chance to meet and talk to the guy who runs The West Seattle Herald (plus several other local papers), and his wife.  They were very cool, nice, and really easy to talk too.  He even gave me some bowling tips that saved me from a painful wrist the next day.  All and all it was a fun night.

I dropped Pam off and then went to see the movie at midnight. 

If your local, then check out the Admiral, it is a great local theater with a unique look and feel.  It wont be your typical theater experience.  You may have to wait for the latest and greatest movies to get there and the seats aren’t the most comfortable, but you can’t beat the atmosphere.  Steve the owner (one of them that is) is usually there, and is often as entertaining as the movies he shows. They could really use your business too.  It would be a tragedy of epic proportions if this great place had to close its doors.

"I can see you’re not a golfer"

Wow

• March
• 28
• 2008

Ok, so I’m not really about self promotion…I swear…and it makes feel kinda weird in that narcissistic egocentric way when someone  compliments me.  I’m odd that way. 

Then again, isn’t that what a blog is all about at its core?  Shameless self promotion and narcissistic ramblings?

Nah….I kid.

Anyways…so I get a ping back e-mail today from my "about me" page.  Odd I think, so I followed the link and found that Eugene Cho had written a post on his blog about…well…about me. 

Quite surprising really and not at all shamelessly self promoting or narcissistic in the least on his part. 

This elicited some comments after my lovely wife sent out an e-mail and posted a link on her blog…she does stuff like that.  I greatly appreciate the encouragement from the initial post, and all the comments as well.  I have a lot of respect and admiration for Eugene, so it meant a lot to me that he took the time to write that up and post it publicly.

Aside from being about me though, he did make a comment about MDiv’s that has generated a few comments.  This is rather timely since I finally got all of my classes taken care of, and received the official e-mail saying I had met all of the academic requirements for graduation.  I will be officially receiving my degree in May now…assuming I can scrounge up  the $200 it takes to get the degree posted, printed, and mailed.  ($200!?!?! what the heck is it printed on, one of the Dead Sea Scrolls?!?!)

I’m done.  Wow how odd.  I’ve been working towards this for something like 15 years, and now it’s done…officially done.  In a few short months I will have the piece of paper I have been working so hard to grasp.  

And…I’m cleaning toilets to try and make ends meet.

Not that I am complaining mind you, I rather enjoy fixing things and the like (ok, so not soooo much with the scrubbing, but the fixing is cool), and it gives me a chance to serve something bigger then I.  And, if I was unusual in my experience, then I would just chalk it up to my propensity to take the Road Less Traveled to get just about anywhere, but I’m not. 

It is a story I hear echoed over and over again.  "I got my MDiv and ended up doing something at the bottom of the ladder because I had no recognizable skills".  Pat from New Vintage is in the same boat.  Of course, I don’t hear that from those going the traditional route of pastor of 1st Denominational Church of Sometownsville or Professor of 3rd Century Theologians who had Hangnails at Big Seminary #4. 

Most church planters I talk with though…same deal.

Man, there has gotta be something messed up with a system that puts its missionaries in a position that they have no skills and are forced to compete with high school students for jobs after receiving a 90 plus credit Masters Degree. 

My advice to anyone out there trying for an MDiv and interested in something beyond the traditional…balance. 

I went for a BS in Christian Ministries then an MDiv in North American Church Planting.  Since most, if not all Seminaries, don’t care so much what your Undergrad is in, get something intensely practical that you like to do.  Ideally it would be something you can do on the side (IT/Web development or counseling works well for this) while you struggle in those early years. 

Fortunately, taken the road less traveled, I did get some skills I can use to bring in some cash (cleaning and fixing things aside) and I’ll be working on utilizing them soon…hopefully. 

But yeah, diversify your skills.  Paul could make tents, Peter, Andrew, and John could fish, and Priscilla, Aquilla and Lydia all had home businesses.   Jesus himself seemed to have carpentry skills.  Let’s take their example and perhaps relieve some of the burden from the Church as whole freeing up some resources for other ministry outlets.

If you want to check out Eugene’s post, it is here…

http://eugenecho.wordpress.com/2008/03/28/my-pastor-is-a-janitor/

"Good" Friday….

• March
• 21
• 2008

I’ve been doing this church thing for a couple of years now.  Something has kind of bugged for the last couple or so.

Now I’ve never been involved with a church that was all ceremonial and ritualistic like, but still, most of them, especially in recent years, have done something with Holy Week beyond Easter Sunday.  At the very least, "Good Friday" gets a mention here and there.  I’ve been wondering, especially lately, why the heck do we call it "Good" Friday?

Isn’t this the commemoration of the torture, crucifixion, and death of Jesus?  Jesus, whom we hold as Savior, Lord, Friend and God himself?  Yet we call the day good when he is brutalized and executed.

I know the "answer" to the question.  It’s Good Friday because the death of Jesus leads to the resurrection, the atonement, and eventually salvation and the like.  I understand that on an intellectual level, but I have to admit, it still doesn’t sit well with me.  Sometimes I think we put so much emphasis on the last few days of Jesus’ life, that we miss the previous 33 years.  Shouldn’t we also be looking at what he taught, and more importantly how he lived his life here on Earth too?

Holy Week is a done deal…its in the past.  Yes, there is an aspect of personal belief, acceptance, and the like, but they are events that happened.  Jesus’ life and teachings, that’s a different story all together.  He packed such amazing, profundity into both, we could easily spend our entire lives studying, meditating, and trying to digest the stories and teachings of Jesus’ life on Earth.  It isn’t a historical event so much as a way of life and meditations.  I love the Gospels.

Should we remember the cross, sacrifice, and resurrection as profound impacts on our lives?  Of course, we should.  Should the Easter celebration be a big deal…oh yeah most assuredly.   But, I would propose that we honor the life of Jesus just as much.

How do we do that you may ask? 

Last year the New Vintage crowd did a service they called Tenebrae or Dark Friday.  To say that I "enjoyed" it, wouldn’t quite be an accurate statement.  Then again, I wasn’t really supposed too.   Jeff and Pat did a masterful job of creating an experience were we felt the pain, loss, and suffering of both Jesus and his followers.  One way I think we can honor the life of Jesus, is by recognizing the loss of it.  Not just with a forward look to the resurrection, but with a genuine sense of despair, brokenness and pain.  In other words, to mourn the life of our savior, not celebrate his death.  I’m thinking if we are to remember Jesus’ death we should feel the loss the disciples did.  If you look at their reactions, it’s pretty clear they had no expectation of resurrection.  Their leader, teacher, and most importantly their friend was gone.  The great movement that he started appears to die with him on the cross as God seems to forsake and abandon him.  The disciples scatter and all deny or betray him except for one.

John, the kid, sticks with Jesus till the end, helping and supporting Jesus’ family.  He stares in shock and horror as Jesus dies on the cross with a tremendous show of God’s power.  Did he expect, or hope perhaps, that Jesus would come down and free himself?  They had seen him do so many miracles for others why not one for himself.  At what point did he know his teacher and friend was going to die?  Can you imagine what he felt when Jesus turned to Marry and him from the cross and said: "’Woman^,1 here is your son,’ and to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’" (John 19:26b-27a)  Even at the end of his life here on Earth, Jesus is concerned with the well being of his mother.  He final instructions are not a profound theological statement about atonement, salvation or heaven.  No, he takes time to entrust his friend with the care of his mom.

Humanity at its best or its most divine.

As an interesting aside, according to church history and tradition, John is the only disciple not to be martyred horribly for his beliefs.  I have to wonder if the two events are somehow linked.  John took care of Mary for the rest of her life.  

So lets stop calling today Good Friday out of respect for the life that Jesus’ had, not just the death he experienced.  Lets stop seeing his death as only a precursor to his resurrection.  Lets instead feel the pain and lose of death for what it is.  Lets make this Good Friday and all the others after it, a Dark Friday or morning.

^1 The Greek for Woman does not denote any disrespect.

It’s been a year…Wait, it’s been a year!?! (part 3)

• March
• 19
• 2008

Church Shopping and Quest…

So, we realized pretty quickly that New Vintage was not going to be meeting regularly on Sundays and that Solas was to be their main focus.  That left us in an odd situation.  Ethos wasn’t doing the Sunday morning deal (probably won’t for a while…Sunday morning that is), and if NV wasn’t getting together every Sunday…we had our Sunday mornings free.  Pam has been a life long church goer, and I’ve gone solidly since like 1992.  Suddenly though, we had nothing committed on Sunday mornings.  We decided to try and find a like minded church in the area. 

We went church shopping.  

Now if you know us, then you know this isn’t really our deal.  We were at Carroll Community Church (now LifePoint Church) until circumstances dictated that we had to leave.  We briefly attended a church in Hampstead in the interim till we left for Geneva.  There we found, rather quickly, Beaver Valley Christian Fellowship, and worshiped with them till we moved back to MD.  When we got back to MD, we checked out one church, Cornerstone got sucked into that community, and stayed there for like the next 9 years.  Then we moved here.  So needless to say, we are not church hoppers by personality, and have done relatively little church shopping (Carroll, Beaver Valley, and Cornerstone we ended up at because of a relational connection to them…i.e. we knew people or had met them before we started going). 

Not being very good at it, we had no idea where to start.  We are kind of alone out here in West Seattle as far as our church planting network in concerned.  Nearly all of their churches and plants are in the suburban areas that ring Seattle like a giant U (Puget Sound being the only thing stopping it from being a donut like in most cities). In simple terms, that means we really didn’t want to get involved with a church that was 30 minutes away and in a completely different context (suburban vrs our urban context).

So we went and checked out the local famous Megachurch’s newest campus location at Mars Hill West Seattle.  Ok, I have to admit we had a really bad experience with them on our initial visit out here at their main campus in Ballard (At one point the speaker said during Communion that if you needed to apologize to anyone before partaking, then do it now.  I turned to Pam and said "I am so so sorry I brought you here").  So needless to say, it wasn’t really an option to attend them regularly….we just wanted to see what they were doing.  Nothing that fits us…BTW.  They are quite controversial…in a really, really, really, bad way…around here, and I wouldn’t associate myself with them on many levels.  The West Seattle Blog has numerous articles…they are the voice of the community here…and that one is just one of many.  They also wouldn’t appreciate me defacing Calvin’s image down below in the least. 

Last year about this time we ended up at their grand opening service for their new building in West Seattle, quite by accident actually.  Mark Driscoll, the lead pastor of the whole organization, did the speaking with his usual mix of hardcore conservative beliefs, Calvinistic bend, and cutting sarcastic humor.  It happened to be Palm Sunday, but it wasn’t until I left that I realized this.  I heard about the history of their new building and how there are child molesters hiding in the bushes at public parks though.  He also spent a good half of the message speaking with a modern Bayonet in his hand.  It fit the message on Nehemiah rebuilding the walls…sorta…but was massively ironic for Palm Sunday.  On the day we are supposed to celebrate the peaceful entry of Jesus into Jerusalem where he destroys the notion of a conquering, military Messiah, Driscoll spends most of a message with a weapon of war in his hand.  Needless to say, it didn’t redeem our previous experience with Mars Hill Church (MHC), and pretty much assured that there was noooo way we’d be a part of the community.  Just not for us. 

I can’t knock their commitment to Scripture, and their passion to seek the heart of God.  I just don’t resonate with the voice they choose to express themselves with.

So where to go? Jeff, from NV,  one Sunday mentioned that they were going to go and check out another church in Interbay (right down the road  from the MHC main campus) called Quest.  I saw they met in a coffee shop that they ran called Q-Cafe.  I was instantly intrigued, and we decided to check it out as well.  We encountered something radically different there from MHC.  Eugene Cho is the lead pastor and he spoke the first Sunday we went.  He spoke on hope, enjoying life, and optimism.  Needless to say, we were impressed, and decided after much discussion and prayer to make this our community to worship and serve in until Ethos was up and running.  I met with Eugene shortly after getting there, and he was encouraging and expressed an interest in what we were doing.   His heart is to give church planters the encouragement that he never got in the early days of planting Quest (its about 7 years old).   Eugene and Quest, I would later learn, is kind of the foil of Mark Driscoll and MHC (in the best possible way).  I saw that they were looking for someone to help out with maintenance, and applied for the position.  This would give us some extra cash, but more importantly it would give me a chance to serve a community I believed in, without having to lead it.  We’ve been attending ever since and met some really cool people.

So some of my thoughts on Quest. 

Eugene is a Korean immigrant (as a small child), but the church is intentionally multi-ethnic and more importantly multi-cultural.  This is one of the biggest things I have learned from Quest is the difference between the two.  Many communities out there are multi-ethnic…i.e. there are people of different ethnic backgrounds…but very few are multi-cultural.  Many churches welcome those that are not their dominate ethnicity, but in many ways they are expected to check their cultural differences at the door in the name of unity and stability.  In other words, if you are Chinese and attend a dominantly Caucasian church, then cool you are welcome here…but make sure you act Caucasian while you are here.  It’s subtle, and I don’t think many churches realize they are doing it.  (This isn’t just a white church thing only, I’ve seen many ethnic churches behave in the same way.  I know of the opposite, a white dude who went to a Chinese church, and he ended up becoming a successful full time missionary to China, partly I think because of the acculturation he went through in his home church)  Quest is different though.  It not only looks diverse, it acts, speaks, and functions embracing its diversity not trying to minimize it. 

When Eugene speaks, you hear the heart of a Korean man living in America and the distinctiveness that brings to the Kingdom voice.  When another pastor Leah McCann Klug speaks, you hear the heart of a woman passionate about women’s increasing place in the Church.  When Deanza Spalding, pastor of Compassion and Justice and professional counselor, speaks you hear the heart of a woman crying out for justice, compassion, and wholeness in her community.  When Ray Bartel, former pastor for Interbay Church and now Community pastor of Quest, speaks you hear the years of pastoral experience, compassion and grace.  Each one at their core speaks with the heart of Quest, but they do it in their own unique and diverse voice.  It is truly a beautiful thing.

Quest also seems to strive to give more away then they keep, or at least come close to achieving that.  They support relief efforts, local social justice programs, and a generous sense of community.  They have funds set aside to invest into ministry that is outside the normal bounds of their budget.  This is heart and passion of ours for Ethos.  Our hope is that we will give more money away then we spend to maintain the structures of Ethos. 

We’ve also really connected with the people of Quest.  We love the people we’ve met, and have made some friends through our time there.  It is kind of hard, of course, in navigating the tension of being involved with the community while building our own in West Seattle for Ethos, but I think we are managing.  Is Quest perfect?  No not in the least, but I for one am honored to be a part of her ministry.  I hope, as we move forward with Ethos, that we can maintain some kind of relationship with Quest.  They are like minded in many ways, and we’ll take bits and pieces from our experience there and jeu de roulette gratuitesle casino gratuites sans d�potcasino en ligne netcasino en ligne surjeux casino gratuits en lignewww supermarch� casinosplay free keno onlinewww jeux casinojeux casino sur internet,le casino fran�ais sur internet,casino sur internetjeu baccarat gratuitesjouer au video pokerjeu casino gratuicasino jeux frno deposit required casino bonuscasinos lignewww traiteur casino comregle de la roulettevideo poker bonusjack blackplay slots onlineblackjack pay paypaljeux casino,jeux casino internet,jeux de casinofree black jackslot machine gamemeilleur casino en lignejeu de poker casinojeu slots casino en lignecasino de baccaratmeilleurs jeux de casinojeux blackjack en lignejeux de casino en flashjeux casino lignegeant casino jeuxblack jack chewingjeux gratuits casino,telecharger jeux casino gratuits,annuaire jeux gratuits casinojeu casino virtueljeux de casino gratuitsjeux keno gratuites2006 casino gamesvideo poker onlinejeu sur internetwww groupe casinoslots en lignegagner casino en lignetelecharger jeux de casinohit and run blackjackjeux video poker gratuitesbonus casinos en ligneslots machinejeu du craps incorporate them into Ethos.

I’m glad we found Quest, and I value our time there.  I’m also glad we didn’t have to spend that much time church shopping.

Mutant Enemy Returns…

• March
• 10
• 2008

Whoooo Hoooooo!!!!

Ok, confession time.   I am a huge Mutant Enemy fan.  That’s right, I’ve loved everything they’ve done.  What the heck am I talking about you may ask?  I have to gasp in horror if you don’t know, but I’ll explain.

Waaay back in 1997 production started on what would be a groundbreaking TV show for the WB based on the original script of a flop movie from 1992.  Mutant Enemy Productions was formed to get the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series ready for it’s mid-season premiere.  As a side note, they occupied the former offices of Ten Thirteen Productions on the 20th Century Fox lot in LA.  Ten Thirteen was started by Chris Carter, and created the uber popular Fox show the X-Files (if you need a link to see what this show was, then you probably shouldn’t be reading this blog), the much less popular Millennium, the yet even less popular X-Files spin-off The Lone Gunmen, and the insanely less popular Harsh Realm.  Hmmm…must be something about that space that creates amazing cult classic Sci-Fi TV and quickly canceled shows a like.

Anyways, Mutant Enemy’s cast of characters included Tim Minear (X-Files, and Lois and Clark), Ben Edlund (The Tick), and its founder, head honcho, and most famous member Joss Whedon.  The group would create and produce three shows, Buffy, its spin off Angel, and the short lived but brilliant Space Western Firefly.  In addition to these amazing TV shows, Whedon also wrote or contributed to Toy Story, Alien: Resurrection, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and excellent but often forgotten Titan A.E..  He is also arguably the first third generation TV writer with both his grandfather and father writing in the medium. 

Buffy was eventually moved to UPN…one of the weirdest things in TV history if you ask me… and left her spin-off show Angel on a different network.  So when Sarah Michelle Gellar decided to focus on her "movie carrier" and leave the show at its height, this left poor old Angel alone in the Buffyverse and on a dying network.  By this time, Fox in a now legendary show of phenomenal ineptitude, incompetence, and pure idiocy had canceled Firefly after completely butchering it’s 14 episode run (they aired the two hour pilot last…after they had already canceled the show).  In 2004 the WB announced that it was going to cancel the second highest rated show for the 18-35 crowd on TV (fellow WB show Smallville was number 1), and sent Angel to its premature grave.  After much probing and prodding, the WB finally admitted that it just couldn’t afford Angel…yet kept the craptastic show Charmed on the air with major budget cuts.  This ended Mutant Enemy and Joss Whedon’s TV  presence…and good quality TV has never been the same since.  Joss, after the Firefly and Angel debacles, swore never to return to TV especially not Fox.   

So why this trip down memory lane?  Well, in the fall of 2007 a rather strange rumor was floating around the Internet.  Joss was returning to TV?!?!  Not only TV, but Fox at that?!?!  Finally it was confirmed.  He was creating a new series called Dollhouse for Fox to air in the fall of 2008.  Holy crap new weekly Joss Whedon?!?!  A dream come true to say the  least.  Well things were going great till that annoying little writers strike hit the industry and Dollhouse was now in jeopardy of being killed before it even aired.  Well worry not true believers, Fox has contacted for 9 episodes of the show (hey almost as many as Firefly…oh this could be bad, real bad) and production begins the end of April.  Sweet.  The show even stars Buffy and Angel alum Eliza Dushku as the main character (you may remember her as rogue slayer Faith…but if you do, then I didn’t have to tell you that…and if you didn’t then you have no idea what I am talking about so this particular parenthetical aside was probably a waste).

Here is the plot premise from Wikipedia:

"In Dollhouse, Dushku plays a young woman named Echo, a member of a group of people, known as "Actives" or "Dolls" who have had their personalities wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas, encompassing things such as memory, muscle memory, skills, and language for different assignments and hired out for particular jobs, crimes, fantasies and occasional good deeds. In between tasks they are mind-wiped into a child-like state, living in a futuristic dormitory/laboratory, a hidden facility nicknamed "The Dollhouse". The story follows Echo who begins, in her mind-wiped state, to become self-aware.

Beyond Dushku’s character, the show will also revolve around the people who run the mysterious "Dollhouse" and two other "Dolls", Victor and Sierra a man and woman who are friendly with Echo. Although the Actives are ostensibly volunteers, the operation is highly illegal, and under constant threat from Paul Smith, a determined federal agent who has heard a rumor about the dolls on one end and an insane rogue Active on the other."

Sounds pretty cool huh?  So give it a try and lets try to keep some well written TV on the air for once.  This is me…being all Grass Rootsesy, and trying to save a show before they announce they’re going to cancel it

Grr. Arrgghh.