Tall Monastic Guy

permission to be honest

My friend Jim invited me to speak with his high school students today. He's been giving them permission to ask any and all questions they have about God and church. What a gift that is to not only grant permission but to encourage young people to voice their most honest spiritual questions.

Adults tend to get uncomfortable when kids start asking questions that seem to threaten perceived foundations. So, big props to Jim!  

Based on the places my story has taken me this year, I tried to address some of their questions by chatting about image of God stuff. When asked from their unique perception what are some of the most HONEST characteristics you attach to God, here are some of the replies...

• moody
• scowl
• santa
• beard
• clouds
• clever
• male
• old

So, on the white board we sketched an image that fits these descriptors and talked about how excited we really are to engage in relationship with that God and introduce our friends to that God. 

The stats for kids continuing to engage the church after age 22 are abysmal. And this morning I was reminded of one of the primary reasons...

wisdom from Mr. Rogers

"Knowing that we can be loved exactly as we are gives us all the best opportunity for growing into the healthiest of people." 

-Fred Rogers (Mr. Rogers Neighborhood)

Urban Retreat 10/24: Loneliness to Solitude

This past Saturday 7 of us gathered at the Issachar House in East Denver for a different kind of retreat. We've committed 3 dates this fall to slowly sift through each of the three movements within Henri Nouwen's, Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life. 

Saturday began at 7:30 with 2 hours of individual silence in which we were on our own to find some space around town to remove ourselves from distraction, settle down, and learn to listen. For me this entailed some moments by the pond at both Wash Park then City Park. And can I just say that forced silence... sucks. I mean not really but for the better part of the time I wrestled miserably with myself, desperately seeking diversions from what my soul is longing for which is simply to have some space to be attentive and listen to the questions that life is asking of me.

second half of the Great Commandment anyone?

In a recent conversation a friend of mine was speaking with city officials of a Denver suburb and in the course of the conversation the assistant city manager says, "from the city's perspective, there isn't a noticeable difference in how Christians and non-Christians neighbor in our community."

The mayor of the city expressed, "the majority of the issues that our community is facing would be eliminated or drastically reduced if we could just become a community of people who are great neighbors."

While I'm at it here's one more quote that relates to those above from Warren Cole Smith author of A Lover's Quarrel with the Evangelical Church,

"One of the ironies we're beginning to see is that … even the world wants the church to be the church. It is the church that doesn't want to be the church. That's the core problem." (book review here)

I agree

“The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love. The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty — it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality. There’s a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God.”

-Mother Teresa

There's a cost...

If you'd be interested in going on mission here with us, then ask yourself and carefully process through these questions...

Do I or could I love the city of Denver? Do I or could I fall in love with a neighborhood and be incarnational within it? Am I willing to find intentional, creative, unannounced and unnoticed ways of serving my neighbors? Am I willing to partner with non-profits and other churches in order to serve the city more effectively, even if I don't agree with every aspect of the way they do things?

Is 5 too much to ask?

For the past three years I've been regularly hanging with a crew of 4-8 guys at a pub for some simple relational time in which we share our lives and some scriptures. The outcome of this past thursday led us into some good territory as we arrived at the simple determination that everyone (ourselves included!) is hungry to be valued and to know that they matter. That was Jesus' vocation wasn't it? Simply stated if you can sincerely convey that “You matter to me.” You can make a significant difference and sometimes even change the entire course of someone's day, week, or world.

So the challenge coming out of last week's pub time is to look 5 people in the eye and in some meaningful way communicate the message that you matter, you're worth it, you're valuable because...

A cliché impersonal "Jesus loves you" is most lamo, because Jesus loves everyone, right? The real challenge is to put skin on Jesus, BE the incarnation, and in a most customized way speak some life through a creative variation of “you really matter and I value you because...”

The barista, the mechanic, the co-worker, the spouse, child, the parent, roommate, grocery store clerk, school crossing guard, the homeless guy pushing the shopping cart full of belongings, the cop, the bank teller, the janitor, etc. etc. 

Just like you, they are all dying to know that they matter.

Want to join us in this challenge? 5 people this week starting today. Go!

Displacement

Feeling displaced?

"The paradox of the Christian community is that people are gathered together in voluntary displacement. The togetherness of those who form a Christian community is a being-gathered-in-displacement. According to Webster's dictionary, displacement means 'to move or to shift from the ordinary or proper place.' This becomes a telling definition when we realize the extent to which we are preoccupied with adapting ourselves to the prevalent norms and values of our milieu..."

standards

"Have you ever noticed that anybody going slower than you is an idiot and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?" -comedian, George Carlin

It's funny how our behavior instinctively becomes the standard through which we evaluate other folks. 

'the streets of anywhere'

The last six months I’ve spent my Wednesday nights in the blessed company of the street community of Denver’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. A profound 6 months it’s been as I’ve experienced their free love and acceptance of me, white-wealthy(by their standards!)-farm boy from rural Indiana.

Although the issue’s are apparent- addiction, mental illness, paranoia, sexual confusion, etc., etc., they beautifully band together as one of the most loving expressions of community I’ve ever had the privilege of experiencing. Interdependence often takes precedent over independence as they point each other in the direction of food and clothing. When someone moves on to the next world, they grieve and celebrate the value of that life and they do it together as a community.

I can’t help but compare and contrast that ultra messy yet beautiful inner city expression of community with what we typically experience in our faith communities in the more externally ordered parts of the city.

the skill of listening...

Spencer Burke has several great interviews with good folks over at Ooze.tv but I especially appreciated some of the significant ideas that Gabe Lyons expresses here regarding the impact of listening, the negative motivation of fear, and exposure as a key to transformation.