A New Year, A Book, and a Different Life...

So here we are on the brink of 2011, and that always causes people to think. Unfortunately, for some people, this is about the only time they take to think throughout the year, but that's a topic for another day ;) For most of us, though, it usually causes some evaluation of the previous year, and some degree of wonder about the upcoming one...What's going to happen? How will things play out? When I look back on 2011, will I like what took place in my life, or will I not? Looking back at 2010, you can no doubt see where you went wrong, whether in thought or action. You can also see where things were good, and hopefully you have a bunch of those moments to celebrate!

I wanted to take a moment here to champion something that I think could make a major difference in life this year. One of our major focal points in the Element community this year is a deeper understanding of the Bible...Makes sense for a church to say that, I know, but here's the deal. As people who consider our journeys with God to be critically important parts of our lives, our interactions with the Bible itself can sometimes be pretty limited. What I mean by that is this: There are a great many people whose knowledge of what the Bible says is gained almost exclusively by what other people tell them. In other words, there's little personal study of the Bible going on, and for a number of reasons. Some people find it just too difficult to figure out what it means, some people find it pretty tough to find the time, and still others have never really considered themselves a reader at all, let alone a reader of an ancient text!

There's something else I mean by "limited", as well, and this one applies even to people who consider themselves to be avid readers of the Bible, maybe even students of the Bible. In this case, our understanding of the Bible can be  limited to interpreting things in light of how we feel  about a given topic. We all have a way of seeing the world and a set of beliefs that we bring with us when we read the Bible, and it's very common to come to conclusions that simply support what we want the Bible to say. We would never say that we do that, of course, but the truth is that we do. 

Here's why I bring this up...As the written word of God, we have been given no greater tool than this for more fully and deeply understanding God and his plan for our lives! This certainly doesn't minimize the importance of prayer and community, but the reality is that we are not usually people who passionately pursue Bible study as much as we pursue other avenues of getting close to God. 

With that in mind, I want to challenge you to make this a year in which you embrace the Bible like you never have before. I know that sounds about as fun as a root canal to some of you, but I believe wholeheartedly that it'll change your life! That goes for those of you who already read it regularly, as well. And you don't have to be brilliant or have some sort of special gift, either. If you have trouble knowing where to start, or how to start, let me know. I'd love to help you! If you have trouble figuring out what certain things mean or how they apply, I'd love to help you with that, as well. In recent years, I've recommended and made good use of some great resources to help with the journey, and  I want to pass one in particular along to you. It doesn't matter what your level of familiarity is with the Bible, this book will help with just about any issue you might have in personally studying it. I know it can be tempting for some to say that you don't need rudimentary help like this...Let me put this as kindly as I can: That's garbage :-) I know seminary professors who still learn from resources like this. 

This particular one is called "How To Read The Bible For All Its Worth", by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart. I recommend it so highly because it helps to turn the average reader, of average intelligence and average motivation (in other words, me ;), into someone with a very solid understanding of hermeneutics (which simply means how we interpret things the way we do) and exegesis (which simply means breaking things down to what they mean). In other words, turning the Bible from a daunting task into something of great value in your life, and it does it in layperson's terms, and in very relevant language. I'd love to get your feedback on other resources you find helpful as well! Just don't buy what some people will tell you, which is that you're somehow doing something wrong if you look at other resources, both people and books, to help you understand the Bible better. No solid Bible scholar ever has embraced that attitude - Don't buy into it. As Isaiah 55 says: "Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, and you will find life..." In other words, be humble and teachable, making use of all of the resources God has given you, including the Bible, and you will find the life God intends for you. 

I'm looking forward to the conversations about what you're reading, and about what God teaches you! I pray that we can humbly share in the journey together, learn with and from each other, and in the end, be sharpened by each other. God bless you in the New Year - I'll be praying for you, and I'd love for you to pray for me! Let's do this...

Are you a Legend?

I thought I'd pass along a post from a guy I read periodically named Karl Verkade, who's a guitarist and worship leader, who manages the difficult task of being both funny and meaningful at the same time. I forgive him for his U2 obsession. This post is about that weird moment at family gatherings where people try to one-up each other in the "I'm so important" game. It's worth it just for the last couple of lines. Enjoy...

Peace,

Brian

http://www.guitarforworship.com/?p=3049

Thoughts on Inception, part 1...

Ever heard of this movie that came out a while ago about dreams? Inception, I think it was called...Apparently it did rather well at the box office. I think this Leonardo fellow might have a future in the moving pictures industry...If you didn’t see it, congratulations - You’re one of 9 people worldwide that held out...I myself saw it twice. Good to know that I can be led around by the nose by whatever Hollywood thinks I should watch. But I really dug the movie, and actually mostly for some of the messages that found their way in... Not usually what I find redeeming about the Hollywood oeuvre, but this one had some interesting ideas that rattled around in my head for a while afterwards. In particular, the following lines: “What’s the most resilient parasite? An idea.” “A single idea from the human mind can build cities.” “An idea can transform the world and rewrite all the rules.” Actually, all of those lines can be found in the trailer, so if you want to pare down the two hours it takes to watch the whole thing, there you have it.


I love this idea, that an idea is a resilient parasite. Typically, of course, a parasite is an organism that has a symbiotic relationship with a host. In other words, it feeds off the host (the host sustains it), and in return, it influences the host. Sometimes for good, and more often, in a negative sense. I think the screenwriters are onto something with this notion...See, the actions we take in life are born in our thought process. Thoughts lead to decisions, which lead to taking action.  But just like in a parasitic relationship, much of our thought process is a reaction to circumstance; that is, something happens to us, and we process it, and react. And for more of us than would care to admit (and more of the time), we’re reacting to ideas implanted by people and cultures that aren’t particularly healthy, yet we accept them as reality, and make our decisions based on those ideas. And once those ideas get a foothold in our everyday thought process, it’s pretty darn hard to kick them out. Very resilient, in other words.


All of this got us thinking that it might be really beneficial to do a series at Element about this very thing. What happens when the ideas we allow to take root in our minds are God-birthed ideas, ideas that don’t simply mirror what society says are the norm? Revolutionary ideas...What are the ideas that we’re allowing to shape the actions we take? The bible is replete with dramatically counter-culture ways of living that, if we let them become foundational,  permeate our whole lives and introduce a new hope and a new way of life to others. And so we’ve been immersed in this series for the past few weeks and having some incredibly challenging discussions...Specifically about what it  means to fully embrace these ideas, and how to identify the first step I need to take, from a practical standpoint, to start down the right road? Even if I already identify myself as a follower of Jesus, what are the areas in which I’m content to stay where I am, or justify going down a road that doesn’t please God? What are the first steps towards changing that?


Week one began with a challenge from the book of James, which is an incredibly practical book on living out God ideas...And the way the whole book starts is fascinating to me. Of all the things he could kick off with in a quest for holy living, he starts with the following verses:

James 1:1-4
Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.


According to James, we need to understand that we  A) Are in need of growing, every one of us. B) Have been given the opportunity to grow by God Himself, and C) Can’t make it happen without a whole new way of thinking. In effect, the journey starts with a revolution of the mind. We can take all the steps we want to, in an attempt to see our relationship with God grow and the things in our lives look like how God intends, but that doesn’t happen until we embrace God’s standard, rather than our own. And that’s really a 180 degree reversal from where the human thought process defaults.



It all boils down to this: When everything gets difficult around me, I ACTIVELY choose to view it as an opportunity to make a God-centered decision. When everyone else around is running, hiding, and otherwise reacting badly to tough situations in life, we have an opportunity to take a simple, but bold, and literally life-changing step. Consciously choose to treat trouble in life as an opportunity for growth. This is no Dr. Phil idea, this is  straight from the Word of God. What are you facing right now that seems difficult? What are you going through in life that you wish you weren’t? What are the ideas that you’re letting shape how you react to those situations? Try James 1:1-4 on for size. Realize that, though it seems completely counter-intuitive, it’s God’s plan for you. It’s quite literally a revolution in the face of the business-as-usual thought process of the world. Let’s make it happen...

Something to wrestle with...

"He who begins by loving Christianity more than Truth, will proceed by loving his sect or church better than Christianity, and end in loving himself better than all." - Samuel Taylor Coleridge

I can't lie here...This is a disturbing quote. Partly because of how true it is, and partly because of the reaction it provokes. On the one hand, it tends to make some people defensive, as though Coleridge is belittling Christianity (which he isn't at all). On the other hand, it makes people nod their heads and say "See? That's what I've been saying for years!" Both reactions, and the varying degrees thereof, are inherently dangerous. In the first instance, elevating any movement of God, even Christianity itself, above the One who gives birth and meaning to it can, and usually does, foster legalism and misguided zeal. The second school of thought typically results in a dismissal of the Church altogether, or at the very least, a refusal to admit that the community of God is a great and necessary thing. 

I think Coleridge makes a fantastic point here - that the end result is self-love above the love for God Himself. Admitting this is important...Being humble enough to admit that our reactions to statements like this are in need of dramatic retooling is just as important. I've been seeing this play out in a lot of conversations lately, and I'm not thrilled to have to admit that. As followers of Christ, understanding that the Church is a God-breathed entity and indispensable to our spiritual journeys is critical, but let us never elevate the zeal for God working in ways we like above our zeal for God's will to be done. The two things can often be very different. And on the other side of the fence, to claim be a follower of Christ and wallow in cynicism about the Church is counter-productive at best, and at worst, crippling to our own lives and to the lives of those we influence. 

I think there's a Church revolution-in-waiting right now...But it's caught between those who love the comfort of religion too much and those who are waiting for the revolution to happen to get involved. The first results in spiritual stagnation. So does the second. Let us do, and be, the change the Church needs. Let us love the Truth (Jesus) more than religion. But let us never become people who expect that it's other people's task to do that for us. Out of a passion for God flows a passion for His people and his Church...You can't love God and dismiss his Church and His people. Let's not fool ourselves, friends...This is a critical truth to embrace...Let's embrace it together.

Listen to me...I'm an expert!

There’s an epidemic sweeping the nation, people. And no, I’m not talking about Justin Bieber (but as a friend of mine once said “You can make fun of Justin all you want, but dang, that girl can sing.” :) I’m talking about becoming more and more a culture of “experts”. You see it all the time on TV, of course. Watching two of the major news stories of the past year (the Oil Spill in the Gulf and the trapped Chilean miners) illustrated this so well. In situations like those, there's always someone invited to share their perspective as an expert on the matter, so we saw experts on marine wildlife, fishing, disaster cleanup, geology, and anything else that might possibly pertain to the situation. And I learn a great deal by watching things like that...First of all, that someone can actually qualify as an expert in “subterranean captive extraction.” But mostly, I learn how much I don’t know. And it’s good to know that there are people all over the place who have spent years studying, debating, and learning about their particular areas of passion, so that when when push comes to shove, someone’s already done a bunch of the mental legwork. I’m not your guy when it comes to disaster cleanup... Turn to me in an oil spill, and all I can think about is the price of shrimp going up. But thank God there are people who have actually applied themselves to disaster management, so that nobody ever needs to rely on people like me. In that sense, experts are great, and necessary.


It’s not the legitimate culture of expertise that I’m addressing here, though. It’s our human tendency to become “instant experts” on things without putting the work in. We see this all the time during election season, for example. People have strong opinions about candidates, topics, and bills, but in a great many cases, don’t have the necessary foundation to conclude the things they do. What usually ends up being the case is this: People start with a gut feeling about what they like or don’t like (usually developed over years of their own personal experience), and end up drawn to candidates and positions that reflect that perspective. Is it wrong to do this? Not at all! It’s human, and unavoidable. The problem comes when we begin to play the game (and often don’t know we’re playing it) of considering ourselves experts in that topic. We may not verbally claim to be, but we often act as though our decisions are based on objective study and empirical evidence, when in fact that’s not usually the case at all. We think nothing of making sweeping claims that a certain economist or political scientist is flat-out wrong. I’m hugely guilty of this in my own life, though my actual schooling as it pertains to economics and political science is rudimentary at best. What I do have is an opinion and a stubborn streak. So I tend to be dismissive when I hear things that contradict my comfort zone, though the expert I’m dismissing has devoted their adult life to understanding that topic, and may well have some things to say that I would do well to consider.


Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that a degree in a given field is a golden ticket to being right no matter what you say. I am saying that we live in a culture that’s often far too easily dismissive of actually doing the work of knowledge acquisition, processing that knowledge in a environment that challenges the conclusions drawn, and above all, of learning from others in humility, whether we think they have something to offer us or not (and generally, of course, people have more to offer us than we give them credit for. Disagreeing with someone’s stance on a given topic is not the same thing as not having anything to learn from them.)
Sadly, I see this all too often in the Christian community (disclaimer: I’m talking about the Church as a whole. This isn’t a veiled way of talking about my own church community, although of course, we’re not immune). I’d like to be able to say that I see a dramatically higher percentage of people that interact with each other in humility,  eager to learn from each other. I can’t say that with a straight face, though. There are people who do reflect that humility, and I’m truly blessed to know a bunch of people that challenge me on this regularly. But I also see a big portion of the population that are  “instant experts” on the nature of the Church, theology, and everything related. Rather than being people who are committed to meeting together, learning from each other, and moving forward together, we often degenerate into people who are committed to pointing out why we shouldn’t be meeting with this group or that, why I can’t learn from this person or that, and breeding disorder instead of unity. And to be honest, and possibly a little too blunt, those who always know best what should done in the Church, or always “know for sure” on a given doctrinal issue, are usually the ones who don’t display productive behavior in the Christian community. They’d rather lament the way things are, than actually be the change they wish they could see. And usually they talk a great game, and are never short of breath when it comes to defending why and how they think what they do. The irony is that they’re usually quite dismissive of the person rolling up their sleeves and pitching in to do the gut-level work of God, because they’d rather be a color commentator than get on the field themselves. And by the way, there are many people who will read this and nod sagely, thinking that they’re the ones pitching in and it’s others that need to learn this. If you just thought that, or got offended in any way, chances are pretty good you need to step back and re-evaluate.


I have to confess that I’m not immune. I have observed situations for about a tenth of a second before I knew that I knew that x was wrong, and should be addressed in this particular way. I have held a position, theologically speaking, for years, because my favorite professor came from that background, and I never challenged that assertion like I should have. I have not always been a humble learner. I have been an instant expert. And the great irony for me is, now that I’ve been deeply immersed in the study of Scripture, Christian community, and the Church for the better part of my adult life, having had the incredible privilege of some of the wisest, best teachers on the planet, the biggest thing I've learned is how much I have to learn. And that’s no false humility...That’s the facts. I am convinced of this: That the Church (which is a God-breathed and designed community, not a construct of man) is at its most effective in reaching a broken world with the hope of Jesus when humility and teachability are its foundation. You don’t know it all. Neither do I. But let’s never forget that God has gifted some with teaching abilities, some with uncommon wisdom, some with greater discernment...And reading a few articles that back up what we already thought or having a strong desire for something to be a certain way will never replace a lifetime of learning humbly from the community that God has placed us in. Embrace that community...Embrace the opportunities that God gives you to learn from others. There’s absolutely nothing like it. What an amazing thought - That we could become experts in listening, being shaped, and humbly allowing God to mold us. Let’s do this...

Organized religion...And some famous authors...

Well, it's been a few weeks since I've updated this thing...Life has a way of reorganizing my calendar for me, so I've been nowhere close to being the master of my itinerary lately :) I wanted to jot down a few thoughts, though, about a topic I've been thinking a fair amount about, and has coincidentally also gotten some media attention. We just kicked off a new series at Element called The Lowdown...The idea is that there are a bunch of basic questions people have about God and the Church, and the Church needs to be a driving force in dealing with them honestly. This past Sunday, we opened with the age-old "What if I don't buy into organized religion? Can't I just do the spiritual journey thing on my own? Why do I need the Church?" And I, for one, think it's a great question...Why, indeed?

Now, there are a bunch of things that come to mind here, but one of the biggest contributing factors to this question is this - the Church has issues. No surprise there, right? I mean, the church is full of people, and the people have issues; therefore, the Church has issues. Not really rocket science, is it? This past Sunday I talked a bit about a guy named Christopher Hitchens and a woman named Anne Rice. Well-known authors both...One a respected journalist and the other a writer of fiction. Both intelligent people, and for a variety of reasons I've enjoyed and learned from both of them in different ways. The reason they came up this past week, though, is precisely because of the fact that Church has issues. Hitchens is well known for his atheism, and has spoken at length, and written a great deal on why He's doesn't buy into the God thing. Rice considers herself a Christian, but recently made the announcement that she's leaving the Church - not denying Christ, but leaving the people that claim Christ. 

There a number of reasons Hitchens doesn't believe in God, but one of them is a longstanding mistrust of the way the Church has handled itself in interpersonal ways. For him, the fact that Christians (and followers of other religions as well) sometimes display hypocrisy, arrogance, employ coercive tactics, etc., means that these people don't really have anything to offer that's different from what he sees elsewhere. Thus, God Himself has nothing to offer. I realize I'm reducing his arguments down to a fraction of what he has spent years elaborating on, but you get the point, and I don't think Hitchens would argue that I'm misrepresenting him. For Rice, she came to follow God after a long journey that also included embracing atheism, and now 12 years later, is dismissing the church as well. Interesting that two people with very different conclusions on the existence of God conclude the same thing about the community of God. 

But here's the problem I have. Ask anyone you know about the Church, and whether believer or not, pretty darn-near everyone will assent to a slew of problems in the Church. The bottom line is that the Church is full of people, and people can't seem to get their act together, and we all know it. 

But here’s where they make a critical mistake, and where so many of us do when we write off the Church. Since we are all, every last one of us, sinners (meaning that every last one of makes mistakes and often operates in a way that’s not what God says is the way He created us to live), does it make any sense for that to suddenly change when we get together as the Church? If we’re all prone to sin, does putting a bunch of people who are prone to sin together in the same community, magically remove all potential for human stupidity? Of course it doesn’t. But the problem here is that for so many of us, it freaks us out when we see the human side of people in the church. Somewhere in the the thought process, we think about God's claims of changed lives, realize that's not very evident in a great many people, and throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater. 

I  hear people say quite often that they've always wanted the church to be more real and more accessible. They say that they've had enough of the shiny veneer, of the idea that you can get all too often in the Church that following God means that life is easy and perfect. The problem is, though, that many of them write off the church as not practicing what it preaches when it is real. The fact is, when we commit to dealing honestly with each other, warts and all, and when we make the statement that we're all screwed-up but God loves us anyway, then people are  attracted by that message. And so they come, and become a part of the community, and then they screw up. And by "They", I mean "all of us".  And when the screw-up happens,  we throw the hypocrite tag around and and in some cases, go so far as to write the church off, as though God somehow promised that a community of people would somehow never act like humans. Someone treats someone badly in the church, and we sadly shake our heads and write off the church. Someone doesn’t perform a church task well or with integrity, and we write the church off. The church doesn’t look or behave exactly how we want it to (as though anything in life does), and we write the church off. And we think we can make the statement that I’m all about God, I just don’t like the people who claim to follow him, so I’m not gonna be around them. 

If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?  1 John 4:20

[Anyone who] does not love other believers does not belong to God. 1 John 3:10

If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. 1 John 2:4
 

And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters. 1 John 4:21
 

Well, hang on, we say...I don’t hate my brothers and sisters... I just don’t want to be around them, extend them any grace, or be patient with them when they screw up. But that's a problem. Because God loves us anyway, despite our stupidity. Why do we think our  definition of love should be different than that? And here’s where Hitchens and Rice and probably each of us at some point or another just flat-out get this wrong: We’re defining God by the community, rather than the other way around. God is an amazing, perfect God, working through and redeeming imperfect human beings. And to be brutally honest,  we're being pretty darn arrogant when we say that other people aren’t representing God well enough for my standards. Because I guarantee that those standards are situationally different for ourselves. I'll sign off with this...

But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.  1 John 1:7
But if we walk in the light, God himself being the light, we also experience a shared life with one another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus, God's Son, purges all our sin. 1 John 1:7 (Message)

In other words, it’s not just a good idea. It’s not whether or not it happens to fit my comfort zone of what I like in other people. It's not a verse for pastors to pad their sermons with...And it’s certainly not a way for you and I to lay out our own requirements for the kind of community that meets our own flawless standards. As sinful people, we don't get to draw that line. God smashed the line, and loves us anyway. And God says, if you love me, then you love my people, and you be with them...

“If God gives you a watch, are you honoring Him more by asking Him what time it is or by simply consulting the watch?” - A.W. Tozer

I love this quote. I like the way Tozer thinks, anyway, but this quote in particular strikes a chord deep inside me. Tozer's reflecting on the idea that God gives us the tools, gives us the ability, to do the things He asks us to do. The problem for many of us is that we don't recognize that He's done so, and so we continue to ask God for clarity on something He's already made crystal clear.  This is particularly true, I think, when it comes to the whole process of figuring out what God wants us to spend our time doing, whether right now or in the future. Jon Acuff brought this up in his book "Stuff Christians Like", which I highly recommend :) In it, he talks about someone being asked to stick around for a few minutes after a church service and help stack chairs. The person being asked then responds with "I'll pray about it." Pretty spiritual response, isn't it? I mean, it's hard to argue with. Who could take issue with someone wanting to submit everything they do to God in prayer? The problem is, as Acuff points out, it's just stacking chairs, and someone needs your help. Do we really think Jesus is going to say no? Can you picture Him saying "Sorry, pal, I know this person needs your help, and I know this would just take a few minutes, but I really think you'd be better off doing something else. The future of your relationship with God depends on this; why don't you go dig into something a little more obviously spiritual, and let this guy fend for himself? He probably didn't plan ahead enough, anyway." Or "That's not your spiritual gift...Your gift is something entirely different, so I think your time is better spent doing that. I've shaped someone else specifically to stack chairs - Let them do it." 

     Kind of ridiculous, isn't it? Yet, as Tozer points out, there are times when the choice is obvious, and yet we allow ourselves to fall prey to this very thing. I think I'm safe in saying that when someone truly needs your help, you're not being disobedient to God by lending a hand. On the contrary, the book of Philippians makes the statement that we're to consider others more important than ourselves. In Tozer terms, the watch says it's time to pitch in and make a difference for someone by investing in them - It's entirely too easy to "over-spiritualize" this, and let opportunity after opportunity fly by to translate love into action, while we pursue whether or not God wants us to do this. I'm certainly not saying we shouldn't commit major decisions to God in prayer; not at all. But we do know that we're called to love, and that God doesn't call us to be all about ourselves. In fact, He specifically calls us to NOT be all about ourselves. Who needs your help right now? When what you want collides with what someone in your life needs, what wins? Uncomfortable though this may to hear (and it's certainly  a sobering thought for me, given how much I like NOT having to sacrifice), God's direction for my life and yours is not at odds with serving the people around us. That IS God's direction for us. I pray that we (and certainly I) understand this more and more, and that more importantly, understanding translates into action. I think that just might change the world.

Aerosmith, Plumbers, and the Pope...

Ever had something stuck in your head for what feels like absolutely FOREVER? I distinctly remember a two-week span when I was in high school when I had the Aerosmith song "Dude Looks Like A Lady" playing on repeat in my brain. I'm not sure what that particular song says about me that my brain latched onto to it with both hands, but it was a miserable fourteen days, I can tell you. No matter what else I listened to or did, that song was rattling along as the soundtrack to my miserable existence, until one day it was just gone. Who knows what it was replaced by...One of the many constructive things seventeen-year-old guys think about.

But I'm going through something similar right now, and I have been for the past couple of months. Fortunately, it's a concept, not a song. Two straight months of ANY song, let alone Aerosmith, would doubtless have me in a straightjacket...But the concept is this (and if you've been around me over the past couple of months, you've probably had to hear about it. For that, I'm sorry. I'm not very good at not talking to everyone within earshot about what I'm currently thinking...): How do we bring the incredible reality of God into the ordinary, the mundane, the everyday world? In other words, how do we change our perspective, so that we don't see the human life we have to deal with and the God life we want to deal with, as mutually exclusive? A few weeks after this started to occupy  much of my thought process, I was given a book called The Insider, written by Jim Petersen and Mike Shamy. Coincidentally, it's subtitled "bringing the kingdom of God into your everyday world." In it, they point to the beginning of what Paul writes in the book of Ephesians:

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding. God has now revealed to us his mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill his own good pleasure. And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan. Ephesians 1:3-10 (NLT)

They follow up this passage with this thought: "This paragraph is filled with vital information. God has purposes. He has a plan and right now He is in the midst of working it out. This is not an emergency rescue operation that God is performing, a sort of "Plan B" after things went wrong. This plan was in place before God created anything at all! We also learn that at the center of this plan is the creation of a people, and that the cost of getting them would be the blood of His Son. In summary, this passage tells us that life has to do with a people and a cross."
 
To be it slightly differently, the God parts of life aren't hanging around somewhere, high above the human moments, waiting for just the right moments to be seen. The God moments are right smack in the middle of the human moments. The famous Jewish Theologian, Martin Buber, puts it this way:
"The critical religious experiences of man do not take place in a sphere in which creative energy operates without contradiction, but in a sphere in which evil and good, despair and hope, the power of rebirth, dwell side by side. The divine force which man actually encounters in life does not hover above the demonic, but penetrates it."
 
The work of God is done through His people, with all of the baggage that people represent. The work of God is not intended to be done through only a certain kind of person, who dots the i's correctly and warms the church pew the right way. Your every interaction, my every activity, whether as plumber, pastor, or painter, has the tremendous potential to advance God's cause, to be indifferent to it, or to actively lead people away from it. And I might add, to be indifferent to it long enough IS to actively lead people away from it.
 
It's really about recognizing that every place we find ourselves is ripe for an honest telling of the God story. Not necessarily the plan of salvation, and not even necessarily by speaking. By honestly being who God has created us to be be, infusing all of life's vital work with the essence of God. To be ready, as 1 Peter says, to give an answer to those who ask. To be just as ready to listen instead of talk, do instead of demanding to be served, treating people around us like they really do matter to God Himself. In this way, every last one of us becomes an artist in the whole painting of life. We don't have to wish we had a part to play, or a gift to use. You have, and you do. God is in the mundane, and he uses the ordinary. As Benedict XVI said so eloquently upon taking the office of Pope: "[I am] a simple, humble labourer in the vineyard of the Lord. The fact that the Lord knows how to work and to act even with insufficient instruments comforts me, and above all I entrust myself to your prayers. In the joy of the Risen Lord, confident of his unfailing help, let us move forward."

There, now, if a Protestant, a Jew, and a Catholic can all agree on something, maybe it's worth thinking about :) Let's do it...
Peace to you all...

Hope, Miley Cyrus, and infected wounds...

As we've been going through this series at Element called "Anatomy of a Life With God", I've been reminded every week as I've been preparing for Sunday about a basic truth in my life, which is this: Every morning when the alarm clock shatters my deep sleep and pries me away from my dream (which was a strange little surrealist number last night about searching for my contact lenses in a strange house...I don't even wear contacts. Weird. A psychologist would have a field day with me), I feel like I have hope. For real. There's something about facing the day that feels somehow limitless, like I can see a whole bunch of possibilities, an incredible variety of ways my day could go. Even when the day's schedule is packed, and there's not much room to be flexible, it still feels to me like my day is wide open to see what God can do with it. I know, it sounds all "motivational-speaker-ish" to say something like that, but I really feel like it's true. That's become an aspect of my own Life With God. I really do feel an almost intense feeling of excitement when I think about my day. Of course, this isn't always true, but it's true quite often, and the difference is, it rarely used to be true at all.

                                                                                                                                                For quite a while in my life, If I had something written on the calendar for some point in the future, such as a night out with friends on Friday, or a Miley Cyrus concert next Tuesday (Just kidding about the Miley Cyrus part. She wasn't around during this time in my life. Then, it was Hanson. Remember "Mmmbop"? Of course you do.), then I had something to be stoked about. But the daily grind was pretty much just that, a grind. Somewhat  unpleasant...Mostly something to be endured...And I used to look at people who were happy more often than not with some degree of suspicion. What are you so cheerful about? Don't you realize that reality's no laughing matter? Even this idea of joy, this notion that God can change my outlook seemed weird...Almost as though I had to pretend that life wasn't often grim, bury my fingers in my ears, and chant repeatedly, à la Bob Wiley: "I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful..."

                                                                                                                                                But something changed for me several years ago, in a kind of unlikely way, and though it didn't happen overnight, my perspective on my day changed, and with it, my perspective on God. I worked for a while in a Research and Development lab for a company that came up with innovative ways to treat hard-to-heal wounds. As you can imagine, many of the case studies we did were done with patients who were facing difficult times. Now, one issue you have to contend with in dealing with an open wound that won't heal is the issue of moisture management. I don't mean to be gross here, but a wound heals best when it has a certain amount of moisture present. Too dry, and it won't heal. Too moist, and it's prone to infection, among other issues. I remember one patient in particular - She had tried many different things with very little success, and was extremely depressed. Her outlook was essentially that that her day held no more hope than the previous, because she felt like she had tried everything, and the wound still kept getting infected. Until one of our team started treating her wound differently, and brought her infection issue under control. Within a couple of days, the infection was gone, and the wound started showing healthy tissue. And though it took time, eventually the wound healed completely. I remember being told about this case and thinking, "What an incredible relief it must be to know that you're finally on the right path, physically speaking. That can't help but affect your outlook on life. You'd finally feel like you had hope." And as I thought that through, more and more, I started finally adding up the numbers in my own life. I felt like I knew God and had a relationship with Him. And if that was true, and God is who He claims to be, then I had the hope that I was on the right path. And if I was on the right path in the area in which I was struggling the most, then shouldn't that give me some hope for my daily life? Why so bitter about life all the time? The problem was that I was viewing my relationship with God as an event on the calendar in the future, so life was, at best, to be endured until then. I had to actually choose to let Him affect my outlook on life.

Psalm 34:4 (NLT) says this:

"I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me. He freed me from all my fears."

I believe that's true in my life. But I also believe that I had to let Him free me...I run into people all the time who can tell me everything there is to know about the nature of God, and yet live, essentially, without hope. I know what that's like. My prayer for us all is from Romans 15:13 (NLT): "I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit."

And just as we're looking at the fingerprint of God on these people throughout the Bible in our "Anatomy" series, I would dearly love for people to be able to look at our lives for the same kind of thing. That our lives would be evidence of a living God - moving, breathing, and changing lives. Giving hope where there once was none. I don't know much, but I do know this, and I write this as one who's been changed...

Of Healing, Truth and The Church...

A couple of weeks ago I made the confession that I'm a music junkie. Not a real shocking revelation to those of you who know me, but I felt better just saying the words...There's power in confession :) And last night, I had my fix delivered in an incredible, intense, and seriously life-affirming kind of way. Through the generosity of a couple of good friends, I had the privilege of seeing Patty Griffin and Buddy Miller live. I won't bore you with the details, since I know for some of you there's only thing more mind-numbing than talking about music, and that's reading about it...Suffice it to say that on a musical level, it was an artistic statement of rare power and beauty, and I was pretty much on the proverbial ninth cloud all the way through the show. Lyrically, though, I was stunned. Patty's latest album is very gospel-oriented, and I really don't think I've been to many church worship services in my life that moved on the level this show did. This song, in particular...It's called Little Fire:
My friend, come stand beside me
Lately, I'm feeling so lost
A flood came and washed the stones of the path away
And a hot sun turned the mud to dust

Calling the sheep in for the evening
There's a voice, calls above the howling wind
It says comes rest beside my little fire
We'll ride out the storm that's coming in

My friend, you know me and my family
You've seen us wandering through these times
You've seen us in weakness and in power
You've seen us forgetful and unkind

All that I want is one who knows me
A kind hand on my face when I weep
And I'd give back these things I know are meaningless
For a little fire beside me when I sleep


As I was sitting there, it struck me that this is pretty spot-on description of what the Church could, and should be. Instead of simply being the primary place where our spiritual learning happens, the community of Jesus is charged with the task of taking care of people. And not just the people we like. And sometimes in uncomfortable ways. I love the idea that the Church is refuge from the howling wind. That we can be free to be weak, and still be loved. What a great thing to be the fire in each others' lives...Thanks, Patty for the words. Thanks, God, for the reason to write them...I pray we would truly be each others' little fire.
Peace...

Perspective, part 1

People who look through keyholes are apt to get the idea that most things are keyhole shaped.  ~Author Unknown

Ever find yourself thinking about how something is, and realize that you're upset or frustrated with someone else for not really getting it? It doesn't really matter in what area - It could be in a relationship, a job, a political discussion, a church...We see things a certain way, and it's sometimes pretty bizarre to us when others don't necessarily see it that way. A few years ago, I was working in a church on the west coast, and I was having a conversation with someone about how much it seemed like God was moving in the church at that time. He looked at me kind of quizzically, and said the following: "I feel like you're trying to convince me that God is moving, because I just don't see it." After talking for a while longer, something became apparent. He and his circle of friends were seeing a pretty high degree of difficulty in life at that particular time, and to Him, God seemed kind of absent. And his conclusion was that God must be kind of absent from other people's lives as well. We've all been guilty of this at some point - however close we feel to God at a certain time, we can project the same thing onto others, and think that that's how it must be for other people as well. This can lead to being cynical when someone else feels particularly close to God, or feels like whatever God is doing is really worth celebrating, because we can feel they must not be looking at things realistically, or logically. In our "me-centered" approach to life, looking at things "logically" means seeing them the same way we are at that moment. 

This is a particularly difficult thing in the church, which is (or should be) completely centered around God and His movement. It can get pretty tough when it seems like our perspectives on God's movement don't really line up. The beautiful thing is, though, that that's precisely one of the reasons God created us for community. When I feel distant from God, and you testify that God is doing awesome things in your life, I can have my hope jumpstarted. When I feel particularly encouraged, and you feel down, I can help you understand that God is closer than you think. The trick is to understand that part of community is lending each other perspective...We can, and should, be people who don't let opportunities go by to let each other know what God's doing in our lives. You never know how powerfully God will use that in someone else. And it heads cynicism off at the pass, as well. It's harder to be cynical when we get confronted by the goodness of God everyday...I'm so grateful for each of you, in my immediate church community and those who are a part of my life from afar - Through you, I get to see God do things in ways I might never have understood if I'm judging Him based solely on how I feel at the moment! Through each of you, I see Him in new and amazing ways every day! These past few months have been a phenomenal lesson for me on perspective, and I don't think I'll ever be the same! Peace...

What the heck does God want, anyway?

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the decision-making process, in a blog entry called "Making Decisions, Or Not..." This led to some really great (and ongoing) conversations with some of you about the decision-making process, something I've gotten more and more fascinated with. This process was really sparked several years ago after reading a book called "Decision Making and the Will of God", by Garry Friesen. The book provided a great jumping-off point for thinking through some things I had really been struggling with for a while - namely, how much does God want to be  involved in the "minor" details of our lives? I mean, it's a given that God wants us to pray, and to ask Him for guidance. And most of us, if we identify ourselves as followers of Jesus, do that, at least in the major decisions. Should I marry this girl or guy, or not? Should I move a thousand miles away and change careers? Should we buy this house? Should we have kids? Should Tom Cruise be technically classified as a "midget"? You know, the important stuff...

But chances are that most of us aren't dealing with life-changing decisions on a daily basis. Most of us get up in the morning, accomplish what we need to, or least try to, and then go to bed, and start the same process again the next day. And hopefully somewhere in there we share a laugh or two, match our outfits well enough to not invite public ridicule, stay on the right side of the law, and avoid food-poisoning (trust me on this last one - if there's food-poisoning to be had, I'll find it. It's just one of the many services I provide :) In other words, there's a degree of sameness that characterizes many of our days. We've got to do many of the same things, day after day. The question is, how pleasing are we being to God in those things? Is God involved in those seemingly mundane, insignificant things? Does He even want to be?

A few days ago I was reminded of this quote from Anne Lamott: "You can tell you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do."  I think the same goes for a lot of things in our lives. You can tell you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God magically wants you to be making all the decisions that you're comfortable making. Interesting, isn't it, that when we look at it honestly (and we sometimes need a little objective outside help in looking at it honestly), that God's will tends to look an awful lot like what we want. Everything becomes a sign from God that supports our actions and thought process if that's what we've decided we want to do. Now certainly, God's will is not automatically opposed to our own. One of the ideas the Garry Friesen book discusses is the notion that walking in God's wisdom, really knowing Him and striving to follow Him, means that my desires begin to line up more and more with God's will. I believe that's true, and I believe it's an idea well-worth teaching in the Christian community today. Most, if not all of us, though, have found ourselves making daily decisions about things based almost solely on what the comfortable thing is, or what our natural inclination is. I probably don't need to tell you that the comfortable or natural isn't always a good indicator of what's pleasing to God. Think through the last few decisions you've made, big, small, and medium sized. Huge, and seemingly not that important. Is God's reputation important to you in making those decisions? Is your integrity important? Have you, as Philippians 2 describes, treated others as more important than yourself? Or do you find that most of them are simply what made you comfortable at the time? Do you find yourself justifying the decisions with God language, because you know people won't argue with you if you say God was present in the decision?

If you see yourself in any of that, welcome to humanity! We've all done it, we've all watched people do it, and we'll all do it again. The exciting part is that God knows that we're prone to this kind of "me-first" based decision making, and He's all about helping us make a shift to a "God-based" process. It doesn't happen overnight, and it's not the easiest thing ever; after all, it does involve fighting your own natural tendencies, which are pretty stubborn. But the Bible is full of amazing verses and passages about how our lives really can reflect who God is...We really can learn to do and be all about the will of God in the big and small of our daily lives - in other words, God can change our natural inclinations to reflect His desires for us. That, by itself, is God's will for us! Let's take this journey together, sharpening each other, and holding each other to this...Anything less is just, well, less than God intends for us...Peace to you all!

Anatomy, and history...

    Are you a lifer? And by that, I mean, have you been in and around the Church your whole life? Have you run the gamut of the Church experience, from being a kid in Sunday School making Christian macaroni art and watching Flannelgraph stories, to being an adult trying to subtly dispose of your own child's macaroni art on the grounds that there's no more fridge space? If you've been around the Church forever, chances are good that you've heard the Old Testament stories about a jillion times, unless you grew up Episcopalian. I worked at an private Episcopalian high school for a few years, where the chaplain prayed to the "Spirit of Light and Truth", instead of actually saying God. No chance of an actual Bible story making its way in, there. Don't get offended, now...My Grandpa was an Episcopalian bishop, so I'm allowed to poke fun. If you know someone, that makes it okay to make fun of whatever they are, right?

     But most of us have heard the Old Testament stories more than a few times...And even if you're brand new to God, and thus the Church, you're familiar with David and Goliath, and some of the more well-known Superstars of the Scriptures. And somewhere along the way, they change from being Stories to stories. Big "S" to small "s". They lose their power. That's actually a huge problem in the Church, in my humble opinion. We have a terrible sense of history. It's become small "h" history. The Old Testament is reduced to the creation story, the Psalms, a few terrifying reminders of God's wrath here and there, and that's about it. Let's move on to the kinder, gentler New Testament. And along the way, the record of God vibrantly moving in and through the lives of His people has been reduced to a few sound bites. And so, since we don't really have a great sense of what God has done, we don't really have a great sense of who God is. And since we don't have a great sense of who God is, we don't live as though He's lived up to His potential. You know potential - if you're anything like me, it's the word that showed up on every single report card since you started school. "Brian has so much potential, if he would just stop carving scenes from Star Wars into his desk top and apply himself to his school work." But we act like God's the same way - His power's just a rumor. His authority in this world, in this day and age? Just a glimmer here and there. He's got all the potential in the world, but He just doesn't seem to care anymore. Except that He does, and it's recorded for all to see, all the way throughout History. His Story. And that power to change a life, that authority to imprint a different story onto our page is still there. Just waiting to be recognized.

     That's why, for the next six weeks, we're doing a series called "Anatomy of a Life with God." It's simply that - a look at some of the most incredible, amazing stories ever recorded...Stories that God thought would be good for us to hear, so He included them in the Bible. Stories about life-changing encounters with God - encounters with the living God, who still lives today...Stories about the crazy ways God works, and the "impossible by human standards" things He's chosen to do, through screwed-up, lost, confused, arrogant, hard-hearted, mean, directionless human beings. Some of these stories you may have heard...Some you may not have. All of them unforgettable, if we let them be. Let's become people who let Him continue the Story in us that He started writing back then...Let's do this! Peace...

Open your ears to what I am saying, for I will speak to you in a parable. I will teach you hidden lessons from our past— stories we have heard and known,
 stories our ancestors handed down to us. We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about his power and his mighty wonders. Psalm 78:1-4 (nlt)

Something Beautiful...

Well, it's confession time...I need to bare my soul to you for a moment. The truth is, I'm a bit of a music addict. I used to think I had it under control; that I could stop anytime I wanted. Now, I've come face to face with reality, and I know that's not true. I'm kind of helpless when it comes to music. I love listening to it, playing it, discovering new artists, and even new genres (post-hardcore Cuban funk, anyone?). I love the thrill of writing a new tune, even if nobody will ever hear it. I love the way the perfect combination of melody, rhythm, and lyrical poetry come together...I even the love the tiny, dark, sweaty clubs in Nowheresville, where the combination of rhythm and melody is anything but perfect, and the lyrical poetry is simply someone's inner angst screamed into a dented microphone. I know, I need help. Please feel sorry for me now. Donations are accepted. But here's the thing, for me...

     Music is, at its core, a search for something beautiful - It's a pursuit of something elusive, that can never be quite explained, and never reduced to a formula. It's simply about how it makes you feel. A song makes your ears perk up and moves your heart, and there was no decision made on your part. It just happens. Getting lost in the details of genres, and analyzing songs, and why you like a song the way you do - Well, that's only interesting for a little while. If, at the end of the day, music doesn't move you, there's not much left to talk about. The same goes for any form of artistic expression. The same goes for God, in a way. Sure, we can talk about the nature of God, discuss theology until we're blue in the face, analyze the hows and whys of the Christian life, and try to come up with neat little ways to summarize it all...But at the end of the day, if God is alive, and He loves you intensely, there's at point at which we just need to respond or not. Let Him breathe into your life, or not. Let Him wash over you, or not. I'm not talking about turning your brain off, and blindly following religion. I'm talking about when the song wells up, when life seems to lead you to something bigger than yourself, when the inexpressible begs to be expressed, when it seems like Someone is whispering in your ear (and sometimes screaming), when the explanations aren't enough - Let Him be something beautiful to you. Let Him speak Love into your life. Letting Him do that won't answer all the questions...He won't swoop in and make sense of everything for you. He won't live life for you. But He will give you Life, the kind that doesn't need to be reduced to a mathematical equation, or a clever quote. Let Him be your Destination...

     We're playing this song from Needtobreathe at Element this Sunday, called "Something Beautiful." I love it when music captures something my own best efforts can't...I love it even more when God meets me where my best efforts run out. Peace...

when In your ocean, I'm ankle deep
I feel the waves crashin' on my feet
It's like I know where I need to be
But I can't figure out, yeah I can't figure out

Just how much air I will need to breathe
When your tide rushes over me
There's only one way to figure out
Will you let me drown, will you let me drown

Chorus
Hey now, this is my desire
Consume me like a fire, 'cause I just want something beautiful
To touch me, I know that I'm in reach
'Cause I am down on my knees, I'm waiting for something beautiful
...something beautiful

And the water is risin' quick
And for years I was scared of it
We can't be sure when it will subside
So I won't leave your side, no I can't leave your side

Bridge
In a daydream,     I couldn't live like this
I wouldn't stop until I found something beautiful
When I wake up,     And all I want, I have
You know it's still all I need something beautiful

Some guy from Philly, and why it all matters...

 Saturday's coming...Shocking news, I know - I'm pretty sure every week since the dawn of time has included a Saturday. And though I'm a big fan of Saturdays in general, this Saturday is a bit more of a big deal to me. It's the main Charlotte area fundraiser for Damian Marta, and I and the Element community are honored to be able to be a part of it.  If you don't know Damian or what the fundraiser's about, the overview is this: Damian is a guy who's been a part of Element since the doors opened three years ago. He has muscular dystrophy, it's getting worse, and he's headed to Germany in a couple of weeks for some intense procedures. Naturally, they're very expensive, and we're helping to raise money for him. Details can be found on his website, which you can get to by clicking here. If you're anywhere near the Charlotte area this Saturday, come on out to Reedy Creek Park, and help us help Damian make it possible!

     That's the overview. There's more to it than that for me, though, and as I've been thinking about this a lot for some months now, I keep returning to one particular thought. We don't live life in a vacuum. In other words, we collide with other people and other lives on a daily basis, and we really don't have much choice in the matter. Sure, you can  go live in a cave somewhere, and make the decision to isolate yourself from the world. But you still entered the world in a community of sorts...Nobody has ever lived a life completely untouched by another. And there's both good and bad to this idea. Some of our interactions are frustrating, hurtful, and downright poisonous. Some of them are encouraging, strengthening, and beautiful. Still others don't really register one way or the other. They're just there, and not memorable for any particular reason. But all of them, evil and divine, shape us. They mold us. They challenge us. They give us reasons for doing doing what we do. They point us towards God, and sometimes far, far away from Him. And I've been thinking about this a lot, because I've encountered my share of both, and the degree to which they shape me won't let me go lately.

     And occupying a firm spot in the "pointing me towards God" category is Damian. I met him on a Sunday morning three years ago, led a life group with him, and am now privileged to work with him on the Element Vision Team. But more than that, Damian has been, and is, a force for good in my life. He challenges me to think harder - he encourages me think more selflessly - he points me towards a path of living more boldly and fearlessly - he prays for me - he doesn't accept pat answers - he's smarter than I am, but doesn't rub it in my face - he gently forces me to evaluate, and re-evaluate - He's a one-man wrecking crew. In the best possible way. I've been pretty blessed in this life, as far as friends and family go...And I've had what feels like an awful lot of undeserved support from the people in my life. At this particular time in life, one of those pillars of support, and an indelible imprint of God on my life, has been Damian. As I began taking on a speaking role from the stage at Element over a year and a half ago, he was there, debriefing, praying, encouraging, and helping me not to take myself too seriously. As I stepped into this role of Lead Pastor, he's been all of those things and then some. And to say I'm grateful would simply be a shadow of what I really feel. I know I'm embarrassing him by making him the subject of a blog, and I know he'll deflect all the praise in his inimitable way, and I know I'm gushing entirely too much here. Fine, I'll say something negative about him. He has an inflated sense of his own chili-making abilities, and there is a limit to how much Philadelphia Eagles gear should adorn your house, a limit to which he seems blissfully unaware.

     But I felt like this is a blog worth writing. Because if we don't live life in a vacuum, and God has set this whole thing in motion in the context of having to live, breathe, and work alongside people, then I think we want to choose the inner circle somewhat carefully. We're not strong enough, any of us, to make all the right decisions on our own or to keep our focus on God through all of life's twists and turns. And though having the right people around us doesn't make everything perfect, guarantee the outcomes, or stop me from being stupid far more often than I'd like to admit, it's the most potent way that God has given me, and all of us in this human world, to see Him more clearly, and to shape us to become more like Him. In other words, everyone should have a Damian or two in their life. People who aren't afraid to show you that a life spent pursuing God is infinitely better than a life spent settling for my own agenda. People help shape our lives in profound ways...Let's be people who allow the most intimate and primary shaping to be done by passionate followers of the living God, and who strive to paint pictures of the beauty of God everywhere we go, for everyone we meet. Peace...

Making decisions, or not...

“It is the characteristic excellence of the strong man that he can bring momentous issues to the fore and make a decision about them. The weak are always forced to decide between alternatives they have not chosen themselves.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I've been thinking a lot lately about decisions. Pretty exciting topic, I know...Ease off me, will ya? I have no life. But the thing is, I've been having a bunch of conversations lately with people about the decision-making process, and it's led to a bunch of evaluating things in my own thoughts. And then just as I was about to draw my conclusions and leave this incredibly fun-filled mental romp, I came across the above quote, and the whole thing started again. I figured I wouldn't get any rest from it until I wrote on it, so here you go.

It feels to me like to a large degree, we've allowed the world to define our options for us...And not only define the options, but to define the appropriate responses. And so when we're faced with issues, or dilemmas, or problems to be solved, we've allowed ourselves to be effectively crippled. I'm not talking about basic wishy-washiness here; I'm guiltier than anyone on this - just try asking me where I feel like going for dinner sometime. Bring a book, 'cause you'll be waiting a while. I'm talking about the stuff that matters...You know what that stuff is in your own life. The stuff you feel deeply about. The stuff that has consequences. The stuff that you'll look back on and be grateful you made the decision, or file it in the "lessons learned the hard way" category. But let's ask ourselves the tough question right up front here: Where do your available options come from? In other words, who or what defines for you the paths you could legitimately go down? And why do you let them do so?

I think Bonhoeffer has this right - We all know people who seem to be able to make the tough decisions a little easier than the rest of us, and who seem to have less trouble putting thought into action.  And something I hear from people all the time, although they don't always come right out and say, it that that such people in some way have it easier than the rest of us. Their circumstances lined up better, or they had advantages that we don't have, or they had money, or they had no looming relationship issues getting in the way, or whatever. And it seems like the decisions they're faced with have more obvious answers. Ever felt this way, even a little bit? Ever lamented your lack of options? But here's the thing...Who told you that you had no options, or that yours were more limited than someone else? Because the thing is, the most basic decision we have to make is this: Are you going to let the world define what's available to you, or are you going to stake a claim? And as a follower of God, your claim is based on what He says is open to you, not what other people say. And at the most basic level, the difference between people is not the circumstances, but what we do with them. Do you trust Him, and act on it, or do you let yourself be caged in indecision? The Bible really doesn't pull any punches when it comes to defining who we should allow to speak into our lives. Proverbs 14:7 says: "If you are looking for advice, stay away from fools." Unfortunately, most of us really suck at putting this into practice. Oh, most of us would say we don't listen to fools, but the reality is, how many decisions do we make and try to justify, knowing full well that God wasn't honored in the decision, or that it wasn't good for us. And how many of us have had friends affirm those same decisions? How many of us actively seek real accountability for the decision we make, including welcoming people calling us on it when the things we're considering are pretty much stupid?

Now believe me, I know this is not easy. Nobody wants to swallow their pride and admit they're going down the wrong road - I can think of approximately twelve million times in my life I allowed options to be entertained that I knew were lame choices, or acted on things I knew weren't what God would be stoked for me to do. But again, the Bible is not so ambiguous on this topic: "If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking." James 1:5.  Will He write it in the sky for you? Will He make everything fall into place? Will He remove all the bad options? Likely no to all of the above. What He WILL do, though, is give you the ability and the wisdom to sift out the stupid stuff, and to discern the choices He wants you to consider. Chances are pretty good you knew most of those anyway - If you aren't excited to have other people (other followers of Christ, or even just the people who truly want what's best for you) know what decision you're making, that's often a pretty huge clue! But here's where we run into one of the toughest parts: What do you do when you feel like the options you have are defined by God, and there's legitimacy to each possible choice? What happens when you feel like God's not giving you any direct input? Back to Bonhoeffer...Make a decision. Or, as the wild-eyed, shirtless, scary-looking former lead singer of Black Flag, Henry Rollins says: “The average is the borderline that keeps mere men in their place. Those who step over the line are heroes by the very act. Go.” Or in less, um, patient terms, he says: "“Life is full of choices, if you have the guts to go for it. That's why I get immediately bored with anyone's complaining about how boring their life is, or how bad their town is. *bleeping* leave and go somewhere else. Or don't.” Which is actually more Biblical than you'd think! Consider the following: Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the people to get moving! Ex 14.15.

In other words, let God define your choices, pray about them like He's a God that actually exists and cares what you do, and then act. Maybe you'll fail. Join the club. Making the right decision is never a guarantee that life will turn out the way you want it to. But make the decisions. Live a life that pursues Him. Make the choices that honor Him. Let God sort out the rest. Let's do this thing...

Hey everyone! I wanted to pass something along to you via this blog that we sent earlier this week via the element email list. If you're not on that list, this will give you a chance to read it, and if you get the regular Element emails and just ignore them because you see my name on it :), this is for you! It's an update about some leadership stuff that we thought was important for you to know, and something we're really excited about! The following is the letter in its entirety...Enjoy the day!

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I hope your week is off to a great start! I wanted to send you all a special note at the beginning of the week to let you in on something that we're really excited about at Element (the regular E-Weekly will still go out on Wednesday). As many of you know, the task of effectively supporting a church community is a difficult one, but one that I'm incredibly stoked and humbled to be a part of. The past seven months have been a whirlwind for me, but I've learned an incredible amount, been challenged in some difficult (yet very necessary!) ways, and seen God do some really phenomenal things...I couldn't be more thrilled about the future here in this community! With that in mind, I (with the gracious input of many of you) have been evaluating how we do things at every level of the church, and I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce something to you all that I think will be very beneficial to the Element community. Because I'm only one person, I often feel like I can't be as effective as I'd like to be in every area...So I, and Element as a whole, need some help! It's time to introduce you all to the newest form of the Element Vision Team...
  
    Before I introduce them, I'd like to take a moment to tell you a bit about the need for the team and its function. With the influx of new people into the Element community, and the need we have for me to take more time to invest in our leaders and leading the church as a whole, we've run into a need to have more people helping to cast the vision and be instrumental in carrying it out...Element has been blessed with exceptional people and volunteers, and many of you have been so faithful in pouring into this church - it's now time that we restructured things to allow for the greatest possible impact! In its early days through the summer of 2009, Element had a Vision Team - people who who met very regularly to pray fervently for the church, speak creatively into its direction, take the lead on tithing and service to the community, and helped to carry the emotional and spiritual load of leading the church. We believe it's time to do that again. I'd like to ask for your prayer for these people who have graciously agreed to join me on this team. They have agreed to a very high standard of conduct and accountability, consistency and integrity, as well as what will amount to a substantial time commitment, all on a strictly volunteer basis. They are, however, not perfect, as I myself most certainly am not :( We don't view this team as better than anyone else, or as the "highest" level of leadership at Element. These are simply people who have demonstrated that their particular spiritual gifts and passions lie in the areas that this team needs, and have been affirmed as such repeatedly by many others besides myself.
  
    The role of this team will be to fight for what God has for each of us as individuals and as a community in prayer, both daily (on our own), and weekly and sometimes every other week (as a team). It's to take the lead on tithing both our time and our income. It's to increase the number of people in the church that the community can turn to in any area. It's to provide oversight and accountability for me as Lead Pastor. It's to speak creatively into the process. It's worth noting, though, that what you see on Sunday, as far as how we structure our worship services, how things feel, etc., is not changing. I don't want anyone to think that the church community they've come to know and love is somehow changing to be something different :) Make sense? Again, I really crave your prayers for this team. The commitment level is high, but we really believe that God intends to do an even more incredible work here in the Element community, and we ask that you partner with us as we passionately seek God's direction and guidance!
 
2010 Vision Team

 

Lori McBride
 

Lori has been with us since the earliest days of Element, meaning way before the church officially launched! Her husband, Kelly, was part of the inaugural Vision Team of the church, and serves as our Treasurer (as well as in a myriad of other ways). Lori has been one of our primary worship leaders since the beginning, involved in Life Groups since the beginning, and has proven to be truly an integral part of the Element team in so many ways. Lori has an innate understanding of the community of Christ, models it humbly, and is someone that we couldn't be happier to have on board with this team!   
 
 
Damian Marta
 
Damian has been with us since our Grand opening Sunday, three years ago. He served on our very first Life Group Leadership Team, led one of our longest-running life groups, and is set to begin a new season of Financial Peace Life Groups here at Element. He has been a prayer warrior for this community and for the activity of God, and despite his misguided love for the Philadelphia Eagles, has been a wise and dependable advisor to the leadership process for the past three years. We're excited to see more people get to know him and his heart, and to be able to learn from his passion for prayer and his obvious leadership skills!

 Ken Ford


Ken has been a part of the Element community, along with his family, since very soon after we officially launched. He has served in a whole host of different ways, from leading a Life Group, to stepping in and speaking on Sundays mornings, to being instrumental in getting MERGE off the ground, to helping coordinate schedules and logistics in the Children's ministry, to being a consistent resource and sounding board. He has been willing to serve in just about any area of need, even if that area was not (by his own admission), his strong point :) Serving in this capacity fits his gifts very well, however, and we're stoked to have his insight and desire to see God move on board!

 
 
and me, Brian Doell...

Blah blah blah.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read through this, and I know that I, as well as the other people on this team, will be more than happy to talk with you, pray with you, and answer any questions you might have. It's truly a privilege to serve this community with you all - I thank God for you all daily! Much love to you all...
peace,
Brian Doell

Lead Pastor
Element
April 2010