Life Abundant

An Unfortunately True Cartoon

2012-01-31T10:20:00.000-08:00

I wish this weren't true, but I fear that it is for many congregations and denominations. Before people are allowed to 'belong' within a community, they are often expect to 'believe' certain things and 'behave' in certain ways. As a pastor in the near future, I will make a concerted effort to change the flow of these three 'B's. I think people should be welcomed in with open arms, regardless of their past. People should be allowed to 'belong' to our community in genuine relationship, and then perhaps (hopefully) this will result in changed 'behavior' and 'beliefs.' But belonging comes first. Always.

A Fantastic Week

2012-01-30T09:03:00.003-08:00

I generally enjoy life and am rarely disappointed by the happenings of a week, but I must say that the past 7 days have been better than most. This week was one of celebration and of getting to do some things that are really life-giving for me. The week began last Sunday with watching the NFL playoffs (always a joy) and the chance to preach for the first time at our new church in Kent. Over the past few years, preaching has become a true passion and something I always eagerly anticipate. I was blessed to be able to preach once a month at our church in Maple Valley, so I am excited to once again be on the preaching rotation at our new church home.

The week's activities continued on Tuesday with the celebration of Mandy's 30th birthday. Since it was a weeknight, we saved the big extravaganza for the weekend and just the two of us went to a movie to celebrate. We saw the new Tom Hanks/Sandra Bullock movie 'Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close,' which was very good. It was nice to have a date-night out to commemorate this special occasion. Mandy's birthday festivities continued on Friday evening when we hosted 10 of our best friends in our little apartment for a night of hanging out, playing games, and eating cake and ice cream. We had a great evening of laughter and fun with a special group of people we have shared life with over the past 4 years. What a blessing!

The other aspect that made for a great week was the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors. The Pacific Northwest is never short of outdoor activities, and the mild climate means that many of these hobbies can be done year-round. Last weekend I was snow-shoeing in the Cascades, while this week was spent mountain biking in Seattle and Bellingham. David and I spent Friday afternoon honing our free-riding skills at the Colonnade Bike Park under the interstate near downtown Seattle. And then the next day, David, Tyler, and I rode great, technical singletrack at Galbraith in Bellingham. So fun! I did take a pretty nasty fall on Friday at the Colonnade, however, which served to remind me that I, myself, am coming up on my 30th birthday and might need to be a little more careful in the coming years to avoid any serious injuries.

All in all, a great week. Here's to many more like it!

A Crazy Snowy Week

2012-01-19T21:52:00.000-08:00

The view from our apartment

This has been a crazy week thus far, and the craziness is not quite over. This is all due to the Snowmageddon that has consumed Seattle over the past week. Seattle is an interesting city when it comes to snowy weather because the entire city shuts down. The city is built on hills and, since we do not get winter weather very often, it has no infrastructure for proper and timely snow removal.

So with school and work almost completely shut down for the past few days, Mandy and I have been having a blast being shut into our little apartment. We have been playing lots of games, watching a ton of movies, and eating great meals together. Our lives have slowed down immensely and we've gotten a bit of a winter vacation. I have to work tomorrow for a few hours, but other than that, the city remains in standstill, so I look forward to at least one more day of relaxation. As far as I'm concerned, this snow can just keep on falling.

The Reverse Rapture

2012-01-09T08:24:00.000-08:00

It's been a little while since I last posted a funny and prophetic cartoon on here, but I couldn't resist this one. Here is a gem from one of the artists I frequently link to, Naked Pastor. I'm sure there is a bit of a message here for us, but, for the most part, this is just hilarious and needed to be shared. Enjoy!

HT: Naked Pastor

Goals for 2012

2012-01-01T17:24:00.000-08:00

For most people, the beginning of a new year seems like the perfect time to set some goals for the year to come, and I am no different. This year is sure to bring a multitude of changes in my life, especially in the way of graduating from seminary. After 4 hard years of academic toil, I will finally finish school and officially have my Master of Divinity degree. So to prepare for a year of changes, I am committing to a number of resolutions that I hope will help round me into a more complete and healthy person. Without further ado, here are my goals for 2012 (some are things Mandy and I are going to do together):

Read 12 books in addition to my school books (one per month)
Learn Spanish (definitely won't be fluent, but I'd like to speak and understand pretty well)
Read through the entire Bible in a year (I'm someone who needs rhythm and regularity, so hopefully following a plan will help me in this effort)
Run once per week (I stay active through mountain biking and rock climbing, but neither of these really help me stay in shape--hence, the running)
Have people over to our apartment for dinner or fellowship once a week
Do a fun activity in Seattle once a month

Hopefully I can stick to most of these goals over the next 366 days (leap year!). What are your goals for the year?

Officially On Break

2011-12-16T06:56:00.000-08:00

Christmas break has come, and not a minute too soon. I turned in my last homework assignment for the term on Wednesday and officially concluded my penultimate trimester at the Seattle School. Only one more trimester left. Only 3 more classes. Only 6 more credits. Graduation is just around the corner.

The assignment I finished this week was my Integrative Project. This is the comprehensive project that all M.Div. students must complete in their final year at my school. It is a 25-35 page paper that serves to summarize and 'integrate' your entire seminary experience. Mine ended up at 26 pages. I was initially unsure as to what to write about and I changed my topic about half-way into my research, but I am glad I did. My first idea was fine, but was essentially a mini-dissertation. What I settled on was effectively an integration of all I had been learning through the past 3 years.


INSERT 'THEOLOGY' FOR 'MATH'!

Throughout the last number of years, I have kept a constantly growing list of ideas that would one day be the foundation of the church I lead. For my project, I collated these thoughts into 5 foundational principals and unpacked each one according to its theory and practice. The five concepts are:

Worship as 'Denouement'
Social Justice/Missional Living
A Willingness to be Evangelized
Holistic Living
The Priesthood of All Believers

Throughout the next semester I will spend some time blogging about what I mean by each of these phrases...but not now, because I need a few weeks off from thinking and writing. I am extremely proud of the work I have done on this and think this document, and the ideas it contains, will be extremely beneficial in my ministry. This is a document that I can pass on to my regional pastor to let her know exactly what I believe and am passionate about. These thoughts will help me be concise and articulate in job interviews when explaining what sort of pastor that church would be employing. And more than anything, I believe that if churches were to take these 5 foundational principals seriously, they would radically transform their neighborhood, city, and world.

Fantastic Quote

2011-12-02T17:38:00.000-08:00

I'm working on a project for school where I'm collecting thoughts and quotes from many of the books I've been reading over the past 3 years (probably more like 6 or 7) as an integration of all that I've learned in seminary. As I was looking through the book "How (Not) to Speak of God" by the brilliant Irish philosopher Peter Rollins, I was reminded of this enlightening quote and thought I would share it with you. These thoughts seem especially relevant in the midst of our current economic climate. Enjoy!

"For too long the Church has been seen as an oasis in the desert--offering water to those who are thirsty. In contrast, the emerging community appears more as a desert in the oasis of life, offering silence, space and desolation amidst the sickly nourishment of Western capitalism. It is in this desert, as we wander together as nomads, that God is to be found. For it is here that we are nourished by our hunger."

My Last Year In My 20s

2011-12-02T16:24:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my birthday and I had a great day of celebrating. It started with 3 rounds of disc golf, continued with a few hours of rock climbing at the gym, and concluded with the senior recital of one of Mandy's work-study students. It was a fantastic day...but the celebration continues this evening. Since last night was a Thursday night, we had decided to hang out with our friends tonight instead. So tonight we are getting together for dinner with a bunch of friends and then we are all going to the Family Fun Center in Renton for some mini-golf, go carts, and batting cages. Should be a great time.

A co-worker asked me on Wednesday if my last year had been a good one. I instantly replied that it hadn't really been all that great and that I thought the next year would be better. I said this because I still feel like Mandy and I are in this strange liminal space where we are waiting for the next step. I will be graduating in April and am pursuing ordination, so for now we are just having to be patient. While I really do believe that this next year (my last year in my 20s) will be a great year, the more I thought about the year that was, the less negative I was about it.

This past year really has been a great one. The main reason it was great was that we got to spend 2 weeks in Africa visiting our friends Brian and Nicole. This was an amazing adventure that I will NEVER forget, and was truly the highlight of our year. But this last year also included a lot of other fun trips. We spent a weekend in Portland with David and Michelle, I spent a weekend in Squamish mountain biking and rock climbing with David and Matt B., we were in Ohio for Matt A. and Michelle's wedding, I spent a week in San Diego at a conference with some friends, and a group of us were in Whistler mountain biking for 3 days. All in all, a lot of great traveling.

This year also saw us move into a nice, new apartment with a great view overlooking the Cascades (which I am enjoying right now). This larger apartment also afforded us the space for Mandy's sister Kathy to come live with us for a while. It has been great having her here and getting to know her as an adult. What a blessing.

I'm grateful to my co-worker for asking me about my year, because it has invited me to process the year that was and to celebrate, rather than simply lament the frustrations of our future uncertainty. This has been a great year of great adventures with great friends and family. Truly a blessed season of life.

Thoughts on the Penn State Scandal

2011-11-11T07:29:00.001-08:00

If you have, in any way, been tuned-in to the sports world over the past week, then you have assuredly heard about the breaking news of sexual abuse and cover-up at Penn State University over the past decade. Am I'm sure you have an opinion. There are a million angles a blog post on this subject could explore, but there are two issues I will address in this post.

Firstly, I have been pleased to see all parties involved in this scandal (the president of the school, the athletic director, coach Joe Paterno, & the assistant coach who first witnessed the sexual abuse 12 years ago) removed from their positions. While people losing their jobs is rarely a good thing, and part of me is extremely disappointed and saddened that Paterno's career will end in this way, I feel that these firings needed to take place as an act of solidarity with the victims. I can only imagine the horrors of sexual abuse and cannot fathom the pain that the victims of these heinous crimes are enduring as they relive the traumatic events of their past. I am happy the Penn State board of trustees has taken this first step in siding with the victims, even if the reputation of their beloved coach is tarnished in the process.

The second issue that I deem worthy of discussion is one that I have heard only a few people write or speak about so far. One of the biggest problems regarding this issue is that the Penn State football program (and many other athletic programs around the country) has gained way too much power and been given far too much significance. Despite being just an extra-curricular activity at an institution whose focus is higher learning, playing sports is often seen as being more important than getting an education. Coaches are more popular and powerful that the presidents of schools. Players walk around campus as if they can do no wrong. Teachers are coerced into giving certain privileges to athletes so that they can remain eligible for the big game.

We even see this line of thinking occur in the language we use to talk about these powerful athletic programs. As I was listening to sports talk radio in the car yesterday, an analyst was speaking to the drastic decline that is occurring at Penn State. He described the Penn State football program as once being 'hallowed,' in contrast to their current lowly state. This is a word that is often used to describe storied athletic programs, but this word choice is incredibly fascinating. In normal, everyday conversation, the word 'hallowed' means something that is held in high regard, but in the church we use this word (in the Lord's Prayer) to mean 'holy.' Perhaps this is the meaning, however, that is often intended for these athletic programs. We see them as holy. As perfect. As incapable of disappointing. These coaches and players are gods among men. And when they are in the wrong, we are quick to sweep their transgressions under the rug in an effort to maintain the status quo...to appease the gods.

It's tragic...and it leads to an environment where abuses are ignored in order to protect the powerful and sustain the monster that has been created. Perhaps if anything good can come from this horrific situation, it will be a re-examination of the value and significance we place on athletics in our country. As an avid sports fan myself, I highly encourage athletic participation and fan-dom, but I desperately hope we can still see sports as entertainment, as a game. These athletes and coaches are not gods. They are not above the rules. They are not beyond reproach.

We Finally Got It Right

2011-10-10T07:28:00.000-07:00

Christians have been trying to capture the 'right' theology for thousands of years, and this quest for absolute 'rightness' has not ended with our current church context. This cartoon is a brilliant way of highlighting this fact. Enjoy.

HT: St. Thomas the Doubter

This is NOT My God

2011-09-22T07:30:00.000-07:00

Faulty thoughts about God can adversely affect the way that one behaves as a Christian in the world, and especially how one pastors. This cartoon is quite enlightening about one way that corrupt theology can become toxic.

We are not "sinners in the hand of an angry God," like the early-American preacher Jonathan Edwards so boldly proclaimed. Rather, we are loved unconditionally by an incredibly merciful God. When I look at scripture and the world, I see a God who created the world as 'good' and not as 'evil.'

At my school we talk a lot about the first two stories of the Bible. The first story, found in Genesis 1 and 2, declares that humans are the beautiful, good, pinnacle of creation. We were created exactly the way God intended and we are loved just the way we are. The second story of scripture, found in Genesis 3, is often referred to as the 'fall.' It is the story of human sinfulness, of Adam and Eve purposefully disobeying the will of God. It is a story about broken relationships and separation from God.

While both of these stories are immensely important in the Christian narrative, generally Christians choose to operate fundamentally out of one story or the other. We either see humans as good or evil. We either see God as a God of love and creativity, or as a God of judgment and anger. Deciding which of these two stories is going to frame your ideas of God, humans, and the world will drastically impact the way you live. I choose to give priority to the first story of scripture, that humans are the beautiful, good, pinnacle of creation, rather than the second story, that we are an inherently corrupt, sinful lot. There are plenty of Christians, however, that choose to see the world as inherently evil and corrupt. They fundamentally see God as one who curses rather than blesses.

I pray that we would once again see God for the incredible lover that God is. I pray that we would celebrate God's beautiful creation for the goodness it is capable of, rather than defining it by its periodic (or even frequent) moments of evil and brokenness. And most of all, I pray that we would begin to see humanity as 'children in the hands of a loving God.'

A Year of First Steps

2011-09-12T07:09:00.000-07:00

This year is proving to be one of great transition in my life. As my seminary training is coming to an end, this culmination brings with it a multitude of decisions that must be made. What should I do for work? Pastoring or church planting? Which denomination? Where should we live?

I could keep going, but that is probably enough to give anyone an ulcer.

While Mandy and I are definitely a little stressed about our future, we are simply trying to stay consistent with how we have handled other big changes in our lives...by taking one day at a time. This is tough for us because both of us are huge planners, but we are trying our best to live in the moment, enjoy the journey, not worry too much about the future, and trust that God will lead and guide us into our next adventure.

One 'first step' that I have been needing to take is finally happening this Wednesday when I meet with the Pacific Northwest Regional Minister for the Disciples of Christ, Sandy Messick. I have felt for a while that the Disciples of Christ denomination is a great fit for me theologically and practically and am excited to finally be moving down this road in a more official manner. I have contacted the Regional Ministers for the Pacific NW and for Colorado so far, but have not heard back from the Colorado person. Hopefully that happens soon. As for now, I am thrilled to be meeting with Sandy, and excited to learn more about the Disciples and what my next steps will be as I pursue employment and ordination. I'll let you know how that meeting goes.

Summer Is Over

2011-09-09T07:16:00.000-07:00

It's been a good summer, full of travel, adventure, and rest, but I fear it may be drawing to a close. Although the good weather has not disappeared quite yet, as the title suggests, it seems like summer has essentially come and gone. I was reminded of the temporal nature of our outstanding summer weather yesterday during a mountain bike ride, when I suddenly realized that I was riding over fallen leaves.

FALLEN LEAVES! WHAT?!? WE JUST STARTED SEPTEMBER!

The biggest signal of the conclusion of summer, however, has been the beginning of fall classes. This past week I officially began my fourth and final year of seminary at the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology (formerly known as Mars Hill Graduate School). This will make eight years of post-high school education. That's too much! I need to be done! My pre-graduation tasks remaining include a few classes and a huge writing/research assignment. This fall I only have one weekly class, on Paul's letters to the Corinthians, but will be spending a huge amount of time reading for and writing a 35-page capstone paper, my integrative project.

I also hope to re-establish a rhythm of blogging throughout this coming year. This craft has been quite important to my intellectual and spiritual growth at various times of my life, including the first two years of seminary, but I have let the practice of blogging slip from my regular routine of late. I both miss it and need it as a part of my life. As this next year brings a plethora of change and difficult decisions in my life, blogging will be a helpful part of the discernment process. I am sure I will write about a myriad of themes this year, but you can definitely expect to read about two specific topics: my research for my integrative project and my progress in securing employment post-graduation. Here's hoping that most of my writing will include good news of much success.

Thoughts on Prayer

2011-07-27T10:26:00.000-07:00

To speak about prayer is indeed presumptuous. There are no devices, no techniques; there is no specialized art of prayer. All of life must be a training to pray. We pray the way we live.

~Abraham Joshua Heschel

Random Thought for the Day

2011-07-10T22:47:00.000-07:00

Some people spend their whole life saving up for a rainy day. But what happens if the rainy day never comes and you've wasted all the sunny days?

More Brilliant Cartoons

2011-07-06T14:44:00.002-07:00

There are a number of sites I frequent that feature cartoons that often make think about my faith in new ways. One is The Ongoing Adventures of ASBO Jesus and the other is Naked Pastor. I often post cartoons from ASBO Jesus on here, but I don't often pass on the greatness of Naked Pastor. So here are a few recent examples from Naked Pastor of the brilliant use of art, humor, and wit as a prophetic voice in our current age. I think you'll find that each of these sketches preaches a sermon all by itself. So powerful.

Can We Just End This Lockout?!?

2011-07-06T09:44:00.000-07:00

This was a pretty funny spoof video. I hope you enjoy. Go Team Jacob!!

Field of Dreams 2: NFL Lockout with Taylor Lautner from Taylor Lautner

Looks Like Summer is Here

2011-07-02T22:18:00.000-07:00

Jesus as Radical Social Activist

2011-06-22T15:24:00.000-07:00

I came across these words from the brilliant Greg Boyd today with the help of my good friend Matt Allen. Over the past few years I have found myself disinterested with the whole game of politics. I bought into the hype of the Obama campaign, but have since repented of my naive hopefulness, coming to see the political world as relatively fruitless and unhelpful for the common person. Boyd's thoughts so beautifully encapsulate my own in a way I could have never written myself, so I thought I would pass them along to you. I hope you enjoy.

In my view, followers of Jesus are to be concerned with everything Jesus was concerned with – and Jesus was obviously concerned with more than people having a relationsip with himself.

Jesus was a revolutionary on social issues, so his followers are to be revolutionaries on social issues. Jesus entered into solidarity with the poor, so his followers are to enter into solidarity with the poor. Jesus revolted against racism by the countercultural way he treated and spoke about non-Jews , so his followers are to revolt against all forms of racism. Jesus revolted against classism by the way he embraced social and religious “rejects,” so his followers are to revolt against classism. Jesus revolted against sexism by the counter-cultural way he treated women — even women of ill-repute — so his followers are to revolt against sexism. Jesus revolted against legalistic religion that oppressed people, so his followers are to revolt against legalistic religion that oppresses people.

Jesus was a radical social activist, so his followers must be the same. It’s just that Jesus never once placed any trust in the government of his day to address social issues. He rather just addressed social issues by how he lived and taught. So too, we who are Jesus’ followers are to place no trust in government to address social issues. We’re simply called to address them by how we live.

Following Jesus’ example, we’re to place our trust in the power of the cross – the power of self-sacrificial love – not the power of the sword. We’re to trust the power of Calvary, not Caesar. And this is why I believe those who spend their time and energy trying to control the political arena “in Jesus’ name” are profoundly missing the point. Our job is to love, serve and sacrifice for sinners – not argue about passing laws against them. For we are to know that, whatever sin we see in others, our sin is much worse (Mt. 7:1-3).

Climbing as Spiritual

2011-06-17T09:09:00.001-07:00

For those who know me well, you know that my am addicted to the drug/sport of rock climbing. It has consumed me and I doubt I will ever kick the habit. Climbing has even become a type of spiritual practice for me. I could say more, and I eventually will, but I don't have time now. So for now, I will let this paragraph from the climbing magazine Rock and Ice suffice in capturing a part of why climbing is so important in my life.

Boulderers know that the sport transcends mere amusement when you find a line of holds that you simply cannot climb unless you change in some meaningful way. You have to be better--physically, mentally, or even spiritually. Transformative problems like these are more than climbs. They are thresholds between existential planes. To borrow a term from anthropology, these complex problems are liminal states complete with the "ritual death" of repeated failure, the "strictly prescribed sequence," and the "post liminal rites" where you feel like a new being--if only for a moment.
--Jeff Jackson, editor of Rock and Ice

A Nation of Haters

2011-06-10T07:31:00.000-07:00

As an avid sports fan I am fascinated by the current hatred being spewed out in the direction of LeBron James. We are in rare territory here. I'm not sure we've ever seen the best player in a sport also be the most disliked player in that sport. LeBron may be the first...and I don't really understand why. Now I must first begin with a confession...I actually like LeBron James. I have for a while. I don't have a team I cheer for, I enjoy LeBron's style of play, and I slowly found myself cheering for him. I didn't intend for it to happen, but it happened anyway. I cheered for him when he was a Cavalier and I'm cheering for him now as a Heat player. Sorry...I know that's not popular to hear, but there it is.

As I "witness" the barrage of criticism aimed at LeBron, I feel I need to make a few comments. Firstly, I'm with the rest of America in HATING the way he made "The Decision." That was just a terrible way of announcing his decision to sign with Miami...just terrible. That said, however, I don't think his actual decision was wrong. He had given Cleveland seven good years of his career and they had 'thanked' him by giving him NO legitimate teammates. I would leave too if in seven years the best they could do was a Shaq well past his prime and Antawn Jamison. Really? That's it? In seven years? No wonder he bolted. No one in the league could have done better than LeBron with the supporting cast they gave him. The fact that he led that team to the league lead in wins two straight years, in addition to a trip to the Finals, is a miracle in itself.

Along those lines, I don't really have a problem with how Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, and LeBron James orchestrated their current roster. Every championship team has more than one superstar player. You have to. Kobe didn't win until he got Shaq, then had years of bad teams again until he got Pau Gasol. Boston was terrible until they somehow got three future hall-of-famers to join forces. David Robinson couldn't win until Duncan came along. I could go on and on. And while its usually the General Manager of the team that is putting together the roster, I don't really see a problem with the players making it happen, especially if their respective GMs aren't getting the job done (as with LeBron).

And finally, a few thoughts regarding this current NBA Finals and LeBron's inability to close games. Firstly, we are such creatures of the moment, constantly asking the question "What have you done for me lately?" If you can remember back to a couple weeks ago, LeBron DOMINATED the Celtics and the Bulls, carrying his team into the Finals with relatively little help from Wade and Bosh. He was phenomenal in most of the fourth quarters of those series, but yet we continue to think of him as someone who cannot close out games.

Secondly, I will freely and openly admit that LeBron has not played as well in the fourth quarter during the Finals. That's obvious. But the way the commentators are talking, you would think he's the worst player in the league. I watched every minute of the fourth quarter last night and I think LeBron is getting unfair criticism. He is getting killed in the media for only having 2 points in the fourth quarter last night, but I actually thought he played really well. He was really aggressive with the ball throughout the period, but just didn't score much because he was constantly finding his teammates for wide open shots. He finished the game with 10 assists, but I think 5 or 6 of them were in the fourth quarter alone. He also scored a huge basket and got fouled, only to have it taken away on a terrible offensive foul call. The defender (Tyson Chandler, I believe) was clearly within the circle where you cannot take a charge, and his feet were not set anyway. LeBron also had a huge block that saved a layup, and he altered a number of other shots that weren't blocked, but were definitely missed because of LeBron's defensive presence.

LeBron and the Heat by no means lost that game last night, the Mavericks just won it. They played great, hit clutch shots with Heat defenders right in their face, and deserved the victory. I don't think that means that LeBron can't close out the fourth quarter. I would hope these basketball 'experts' that we see on TV would have more sense than to judge someone's performance based solely on points scored. That simply isn't a true and accurate representation of quality of play. Should LeBron have scored more? Yes. Should he have made some of the shots he missed? Of course. Did he play up to his potential? By no means. But is he some terrible player who shrinks under the spotlight and can't finish a game strong? Definitely not. He finished the game with a triple-double for goodness sake. But what can you do...haters gonna hate!

Tim Tebow On The Daily Show

2011-06-03T08:12:00.000-07:00

As much as I would like to dislike Tim Tebow, I am finding it very, very hard to do so. Trust me...I've tried! As someone who is trying to follow Christ, I want to hate him because of his over-the-top Jesus-talk in every interview and press conference he gives...but yet, he actually seems to be legitimately faithful and a genuinely nice guy. I want to hate him for how the Conservative Right has latched onto him as their poster child, but it's tough when he's frickin' running and sponsoring orphanages in the Philipines. It's like trying to hate Oprah!
In the area of football, as a lifelong Denver Bronco fan, I was crushed on draft day two years ago to watch our idiot coach throw away three draft picks to trade up and take Tebow in the first round of the draft. While he had been a very successful college quarterback (perhaps the greatest ever), most football experts were convinced he would never amount to much in the NFL. I agreed with them...and perhaps still do. He had thrived in college on his speed, heart, and will to win, despite his terrible throwing mechanics and inexperience in a pro-style offense. Those kinds of players are fun to watch in college, but typically do not transition well into the NFL.

But nevertheless, my team has invested much of its future into this young man, so I am trying to be supportive and hope for the best with Tebow as the leader of the Broncos. And so far he's doing all the right things to win my approval (not that he really needs or wants it). As last season was drawing to a close and 'missing the playoffs' was a foregone conclusion for the Broncos, Tebow was given the opportunity to start 3 games and actually played pretty well. And now, during the lockout of this terrible offseason, Tebow has taken the intiative to fly his receiving corps down to Jacksonville (where he lives) and put them up in a hotel so that he can practice with his guys and begin to develop report and timing. As a fan, you've gotta love that!

All that to say, it felt appropriate to write a few thoughts on Tim Tebow in the wake of him appearing on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show last night. I thought Tebow did a great job. He was witty and sharp and sarcastic. He didn't allow Stewart to bully him around, but also didn't try to fight back with Stewart as many guests do, which doesn't go over well because 1) the guest ends up looking mean, and 2) Stewart is brilliant and will most likely win any debate he is in. So congratulations Timmy Tebow: congrats on your new autobiography that was just released, congrats on probably winning the starting quarterback job for the Denver Broncos, and congrats on beginning to win me over to your side. The latter may be the most difficult of all.

The Daily Show - Tim Tebow
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

P.S. It is pictures like this that make it hard for me to like Tebow as a Christian. And it's not even Tebow's fault. Come on people...I'm positive that Tim would not endorse you making this kind of weird picture, trying to turn him into some sort of messiah figure. Unbelievable. Just quit it!

Jesus is Coming

2011-05-16T09:41:00.000-07:00

With all the hype of Jesus' apparent return this Saturday, this cartoon was helpful in illuminating the lunacy of predicting the return of Jesus.

HT: Naked Pastor

All Truth is God’s Truth: Finding Wisdom in Places You Never Thought to Look

2011-05-13T10:52:00.001-07:00

I think I grew up assuming that when Jesus says “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” this meant that the only place that we can find truth is in his actual words, the Bible. While I have not strayed from believing that the Bible is an incredibly wise, helpful, truth-filled text, I have come to see that truth and beauty and wisdom can be found in a myriad of other places as well. And when we arrive at this truth, we can know that God is involved...because all truth is God’s truth. With this in mind, we can honor these other places of truth, rather than fear or avoid them. Regardless of where this truth arrives from, if it allows us to better live into the way of Jesus, it can be freely embraced without fear or xenophobia (fear of the other).

These thoughts arise out of the class that I am current taking called ‘Our Religious Impulse’ (basically a world religions class). I was reading about Buddhism this morning and came across some beautiful thoughts from Thich Nhat Hanh, a famous Zen Buddhist thinker and writer. When I have approached world religions in the past, it has typically been a quest to know a plethora of data so that I can disprove that faith tradition, thus validating Christianity. I have come to see these actions as quite fruitless, however, so it is exciting to study these other forms of spirituality with the intent of learning from my brothers and sisters around the world. If my primary posture as a Christian is to love my neighbor, then this sort of interest in, and curiosity about, my neighbor seems like a healthy undertaking. While I still see Christianity as the best possible way of living, and Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life, I want to maintain a posture of openness and invitation, a freedom to absorb the truth of God wherever I may find it. With that in mind, I hope you enjoy these words of wisdom from a Buddhist brother.

There is a story in Zen circles about a man and a horse. The horse is galloping quickly, and it appears that the man on the horse is going somewhere important. Another man, standing alongside the road, shouts, "Where are you going?" and the first man replies, "I don't know! Ask the horse!" This is also our story. We are riding a horse, we don't know where we are going, and we can't stop. The horse is our habit energy pulling us along, and we are powerless. We are always running, and it has become a habit. We struggle, all the time, even during our sleep. We are at war within our selves, and we can easily start a war with others.

We have to learn the art of stopping--stopping our thinking, our habit energies, our forgetfulness, the strong emotions that rule us. When an emotion rushes through us like a storm, we have no peace. We turn on the TV and then we turn it off. We pick up a book, and then we put it down. How can we stop this state of agitation? How can we stop our fear, despair, anger, and craving? We can stop by practicing mindful breathing, mindful walking, mindful smiling, and deep looking in order to understand. When we are mindful, touching deeply the present moment, the fruits are always understanding, acceptance, love, and the desire to relieve suffering and bring joy.

A Tragic End to a Great Sunday

2011-05-02T08:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a great day that was capped off in a sickening way. I had heard about Osama bin Laden's death while we were at our small group, but was greatly troubled to come home, flip on the tv, and see the celebration and revelry taking place around our country and world. OVER SOMEONE'S DEATH!

Now I realize that posting these thoughts will make me seem unpatriotic, which is really is not the case. I love my country (most of the time) and am grateful to live in a nation that holds freedom, liberty, and opportunity as its priorities. Killing bin Laden may have been the right thing to do in this situation. I'm not sure. What I am most troubled with in this whole issue is the joyous celebration we are seeing over the loss of life and the perpetuation of the cycle of violence. Sing and dancing in the street?? Really??

This situation reminds me of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's dilemma over whether to kill Hitler in the midst of his reign of terror. Bonhoeffer willingly participated in a secret plan to assassinate Hitler, but never felt justified in his actions. He wrote of seeing murdering Hitler as a sin, but was willing to stand before God in judgment in order to do what he felt needed to be done. I wish we would have seen the attitude of Bonhoeffer shine force yesterday in the midst of this tragedy. I wish Obama would have said something like, "We regret that killing Osama bin Laden was the decision that had to be made today. While taking another person's life is never ideal, we felt that this was the lesser of two evils, the only way we could find to keep him from doing more harm to innocent people around the world." I could respect a statement like that. At least it would own the tragedy of the loss of life, rather than celebrate it.

I pray that we will begin to see the lunacy of thinking that one more act of violence will finally end the cycle of violence. I pray that we will become people who choose non-violent resistance as an alternative to violence. I pray that we will have the courage and creativity to find subversive ways of non-violently turning the other cheek, rather than blindly gouging out another's eye. In the strong words of Jesus to a room of cowering, hurt, vengeful disciples, "Peace be with you."

A New Name for the Same Great School

2011-04-29T07:20:00.003-07:00

For those who didn't know, I am about a year away from graduating with my Master of Divinity degree. Yesterday it was officially announced that I will graduate from a different school than the one I began at, all without ever transferring. I began my graduate education at Mars Hill Graduate School, but we have now changed our name to the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology.

I find myself a little ambivalent about this change. On the one hand, it was DEFINITELY time for a name change. There is a mega-church here in Seattle that goes by the same name, so it has been incredibly confusing to explain to people that my school is in no way connected with the church. Mars Hill Church is undoubtedly doing many good things here in Seattle, but their theology is very, very different than ours and I don't always agree with the things they teach or the actions they take, so it has been frustrating to constantly be connected with them. I find myself repeatedly defining my school based on what we are not, rather than being able to gush about the things that we are, the real reasons I love my institution. It will be refreshing to tell people what school I attend and not immediately need to qualify that statement.

On the other hand, I LOVE our old name (and am not crazy about our new one). I love what it stands for. I love that Mars Hill was a place that Paul went to engage genuinely with his culture, a place of knowledge and wisdom and philosophy. I love how cool Mars Hill sounds. Maybe that sounds trite, but I don't care. Mars Hill Graduate School just rolls off the tongue a little better than the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology. I love that the initials don't sound like a sexually transmitted disease. SSTP sounds like I've caught something just one step down from chlamydia.

So I begin my time at the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology with both joy and resistance, both excitement and hesitation. I am sure it will take me a little while to adjust to the new name, but I am excited for what it means for our institution. It definitely feels like a new chapter in our story, one I am glad I get to be a part of. The following videos were produced by the school, and were both incredibly helpful for me in this time of transition. The first was just released last night following the official name change, a look forward to life in a new era. The second is a video from our founder and former president, Dan Allender. It is a helpful look back at why Mars Hill was chosen as the first name and why it will always be special to me and so many others.

The Renaming of Mars Hill Graduate School from Mars Hill Graduate School on Vimeo.

Learn more about our name change at mhgs.edu/home/name-change

Dan Allender on the Name Change from Mars Hill Graduate School on Vimeo.

Royal Wedding Annoyance

2011-04-28T10:17:00.000-07:00

Maybe I just don't understand why everyone is so excited about the upcoming royal wedding between William and Kate, but I find myself annoyed at all the coverage. Just yesterday we had dozens of people killed in terrible storms in the South, and yet this dumb royal wedding was still monopolizing the news stations. I appreciated waking up this morning to this funny, cynical commentary on the royal nuptials. Enjoy!

HT: The Ongoing Adventures of ASBO Jesus

A Crazy Couple Weeks

2011-04-27T11:05:00.000-07:00

The past couple weeks have been incredibly busy. Two weeks ago we flew out for Bismarck, ND to see our family. Mandy's sister just had another baby, Savannah Grace, so we were excited to spend a few days getting to know her. We also spent 2 days up near Winnipeg, celebrating with my sister-in-law at her college graduation. It was so great to see her school for the first time, to see the place that she has spent the last 3 years.

We flew back to Seattle last Wednesday and were instantly inundated with Holy Week. We traveled out to Maple Valley on Wednesday night for choir practice, Thursday night for the Maundy Thursday service, twice on Friday for Good Friday services (which I preached at), and again on Sunday for Easter. Crazy. When you add in that I spent most of the day Thursday mountain biking in Bellingham, WA and all day Saturday rock climbing at Gold Bar, it makes for a crazy couple weeks. While I do get a bit of a break, it doesn't last long seeing as though I am attending a conference all day Friday and Saturday and preaching again at church on Sunday. Wow.

Leaving Town for the Week

2011-04-12T22:52:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is my last day of class for the semester, so after I turn in some last-minute assignments I am a free man for about 2 weeks. The first week will be spent in North Dakota and Canada. Mandy's younger sister, Kathy, is graduating from college this weekend, so we are flying out to see her big day. She goes to college near Winnipeg in Manitoba and we have never had the chance to go visit her, so this will be our last chance.

We will also get to see our newest niece for the first time. Mandy's older sister, Summer, just had her third child in January, Savannah Grace. We are excited to meet her and to hang out with the rest of Mandy's family. Needless to say, I probably won't be blogging for a few weeks as I will be busy traveling. I will be reading Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry and Free for All by Tim Conder during the next few weeks. I'm excited to finally be able to read whatever I want. Talk to you all soon.

The Pain of Honesty

2011-04-07T13:52:00.000-07:00

Most of you know that I am a huge fan of Rob Bell, have had him as a seminary professor, have read everything he has ever written, and have been listening to his podcasted sermons for about 8 years. At some times over the past 8 years he has even been more of a pastor than anyone else in my life. It is painful for me to watch him be criticized by part of the theological world, usually by people who have not even read his book(s). This newest cartoon from the always-brilliant Jon Birch of ASBO Jesus is stunningly intelligent commentary on the current situation. Enjoy!

HT: The Ongoing Adventures of ASBO Jesus

Rob Bell's Confession of Faith

2011-04-06T22:58:00.000-07:00

Many of you may know that the pastor, speaker, and author, Rob Bell, has taken incredible criticism over the past month for his latest book, Love Wins. The unfortunate fact, however, is that much of the critique was offered prior to the book's actual release, by people who had not yet read the book. Many assumed that Rob was going to say something heretical and claim to be a universalist, which he did neither. I know this because I have actually read the book, which is a great introduction to healthy conversation about heaven and hell.

The following video is a statement he made at his church on Sunday. I hope you enjoy it. I hope others will stop slandering this brother in Christ. At least read the book first before you do it!

HT: Homebrewed Theology

Amazing Double Play

2011-04-05T13:55:00.000-07:00

Baseball is back and I couldn't be more excited! I'm a huge Mariners fan and have been anticipating opening day for months. The Mariners are not expected to be very good by most people (myself included), but won the first 2 games before losing the next 2. So now, sitting at 2-2, I am a bit confused about who this team actuallyis, but still hopelessly pessimistic.

The M's lost last night to the Texas Rangers, which was disappointing. One incredible defensive play made the game for me though. With the bases load and no outs, Texas hit a ball up the middle of the infield that Jack Wilson turned into a double play. The play was the most athletic, artist play I've seen in a baseball game in quite some time, so I thought I would share the video with you all. Seriously impressive, Jack. Kudos. Now hopefully you guys can start swinging the bat the way you're flashing the glove!

Click HERE to watch this incredible play.

Taking Sides

2011-03-31T18:19:00.000-07:00

"Take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."

-Elie Wiesel

This seems incredibly important in the midst of my transition into a more postmodern, post-Christendom ideology. Postmodernity can often be accused of moral relativism, failing to ever take a stand on difficult issues, which is a fair criticism. I feel like we are trying to be a listening voice that offers grace far before we ever offer judgment. But this does not mean that we need to be wishy-washy about injustice and oppression taking place in the world.

Christians must be vigilant about standing up for those who cannot stand up for themselves. We must give always give voice to the voiceless and support the marginalized. I love this quote from Elie Wiesel, reminding me to stand strong against the oppression and victimization that can easily take place in our world. I hope you'll stand with me.

Being a Therapeutic Presence in a Multi-Cultural World

2011-03-28T08:27:00.003-07:00

I am currently in a class called "Developing an Intercultural Competency." Last week we had 4 guest speakers in class who are all doing multi-cultural work here in Seattle. They were fascinating to listen to, but I was most intrigued by what was said the waning minutes of class. Our professor asked them to each make a few closing comments on how one might go about becoming a therapeutic presence in a multi-cultural world. These are their responses, which I thought were brilliant.

Immerse yourself in uncomfortable learning communities
Don't do anything out of guilt
Become a part of a community - let the neighborhood teach you
Ask "How can I be sustainable in this community?"
Be okay with who you are
Be bold in what you can offer that community
Be comfortable with chaos
Create liminal space for conversation and learning to happen
Be proactive in learning about other cultures

Decision Making Questions

2011-03-27T09:03:00.001-07:00

The other day, in my Life Together class, we were using a case study from a church to discuss pastoral ethics. This was a really helpful exercise and conversation, one that I hope we have more of in the future. My friend Jev had some very insightful thoughts at the end of the discussion that I thought I would share with you. These are three questions he tries to ask himself when he is making a decision, especially one of an ethical nature that involves other people. I always appreciate Jev's wisdom, and I hope you do too.

Decision Making Questions

How can I treat this person (or these people) as real people?
How can this work out to be a transformational experience for everyone involved?
How can this issue be an opportunity to learn to love God and love our neighbors?

More of My Journal from our Journey, Part 2

2011-03-26T08:00:00.001-07:00

The following is the conclusion of my journal entries during our trip to Tanzania. Most of this is from our time on safari in the Serengeti.
____

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Friday was great.Yesterday sucked. Our travel on Friday was pretty minimal. We took the dala dala to Dodoma where we caught a bus to Morogoro. It was hard saying goodbye to Chamwino, and especially to Pastor Daniel and Nasson. They have been with us every day in Chamwino and are great new friends. We will miss them dearly.

Our time in Morogoro was short, but amazing. We have an acquaintance in Seattle named Yonah, and we stayed the night at his mother's house. She is a college professor and is quite wealthy. Her house was immaculate. We had a great meal, a nice bed, a clean bathroom, and we all got to sit outside and enjoy a fantastic lightning storm. Couldn't have been a better night.

Yesterday was not good though. We had a 10 hour bus ride on a terrible bus. There was no leg room and it was incredibly hot. The bus company had said there would be AC, but it just blew out warm air the whole trip. And worst of all, once we got to Arusha, we realized that gasoline had spilled all over our bags that were under the bus. Now our bags smell awful and most of our clothes are stained and smelly. Looks like I will be wearing the same shorts for the next 6 days.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Well, our 3-night, 4-day safari is over, and was a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience. Absolutely incredible. On Sunday we took off for the Serengeti. While we were driving all day, it wasn't tiring or boring because we were seeing animals for most of the trip. After driving past the Ngorogoro Crater, you enter the flat lands of the Serengeti and start seeing more animals than you ever thought existed. We would come to areas where there were thousands and thousands of zebras and wildebeests, stretching as far as you could see. Truly awesome. We also saw a lot of giraffes. At one point we got off the main road onto some side trails. We didn't know where we were going, but what we would see was incredible. We drove over to a tree, and under the tree, basking in the shade, were 2 cheetahs, no more than 10 feet from us. After leaving the cheetahs we saw a bunch of jeeps sitting by another tree. Underneath was a lion that had recently killed and eaten a zebra. She still had blood all over her mouth and was stuffed to the gills with zebra meat. That night we camped out in tents in the middle of the Serengeti. AWESOME!

Monday was the day for lions and elephants. We got up early to be out driving as the sun broke the horizon. Soon after, we came across an area of rocks where 9 lions where hanging out. That was so awesome. Two were male and 7 were female. Some were walking around, some were sitting up tall, and some were laying in the sun. Then a really special thing happened. We drove a little ways down the road and came across the head hauncho, the king of the jungle. Perched about 15 feet up on a rock, sat a massive male lion, overlooking his kingdom. He was enormous, with the big, round mane surrounding his face. He looked so majestic and regal upon his throne. This might have been the coolest thing I saw on safari!

After lunch we started heading back toward the Ngorogoro Crater. We had been seeing elephants here and there, but when we got to the rest area at the border between the Serengeti and Ngorogoro, we got to see elephants up close and personal. There were about 10 elephants hanging out at the rest area, no more than 100 feet away from the people. It was so fun to watch them up close, and to get some great video of them. Since it was really hot, the girls decided to go sit in the shade by the bathrooms. All of a sudden the elephants decided to move, though, so they took off running toward the bathroom. Mandy and Nicole had their backs turned, but heard a rustling and turned just in time to watch the elephants run by just 10 feet from where they were sitting. They were scared in the moment, but now have an experience they will never forget.

That night we camped on the cliff overlooking the Ngorogoro Crater. It was a stunning view. After dinner our guide pulled us aside to show us something breathtaking. Right outside the cooking area was a large water tank for the camp to use. To our surprise, a giant elephant was drinking from the tank. He was no more than 20 feet from us and I think us and our guide were the only people in camp who knew he was there.

Tuesday we woke up to a beautiful sunrise, and again, after breakfast, our elephant friend visited the water tank. It was cool to see him so close again, this time in the light. He didn't leave right away after he was done drinking, though, but chose to wander around camp a bit. A dog at camp didn't like that, though, and began barking to chase him off. The two animals started a little battle where the dog would try to scare the elephant, and then the elephant would chase him down a bit. One of the times the elephant charged, Nicole was sort of in his path and she got spooked. But she was pretty proud of having that story to tell in the future.

The rest of the day was spent in the Crater. Most of the animals were ones we had seen a lot of already, but it was really fun to see a rhino, which we hadn't seen yet. That afternoon we made our way into a small town where we stayed in a crappy hotel for the night.

Wednesday was our fourth and final day of safari, but was pretty relaxed. We spent about 4 hours driving around Lake Manyara. It was fun to see the animals, but most were repeats. It was fun to see a ton of baboons, though, and to see a lot of hippos actually out of the water. We made our way back to Arusha that afternoon, had a great meal at a nice restaurant, talked with Brian and Nicole in our hotel room for hours, and then hit the sack.

Today we had a ten hour bus ride from Arusha to Dar es Salaam. The bus was the nicest we've ridden so far, but it was so hot out that we were still miserable. I'm now writing this journal entry from a great hotel in Dar. It is nice to have a great shower and a clean room. We are going to spend tomorrow laying on a beach on the Indian Ocean. Should be a nice, relaxing way to spend the end of our trip. This may be my last entry of the trip, since we just have a few relaxing days left, followed by 20 hours of plane rides. We have a 5 1/2 hour layover in Amsterdam, so we will probably leave the airport to quickly see the city. See you soon!

More of My Journal from our Journey, Part 1

2011-03-25T08:03:00.002-07:00

The first week of our trip to Tanzania we had pretty consistent internet access, so I was able to post my journal entries almost daily. The second week, however, we were away from electricity, internet, and most modern conveniences, so I was unable to update you all on the details of our trip. Now that I'm back in the States and sort of adjusted back to normal life, I am finally getting around to posting all of these entries. Here are my journal entries from our second week in Africa, where we were primarily traveling and going on safari. I hope you enjoy reading about our incredible adventure.
____

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Yesterday started off normal and uneventful, but ended with a bang. We didn't have much scheduled yesterday, but we ended up dead tired by bedtime anyway. We had breakfast at Mama Pendo's hour, which was really good. Mama Pendo is the moth of the Pendo that we know well from Seattle, who is married to Kedmon. We first met Mama Pendo in Seattle a year ago, so it was good to see her again and meet her husband.Our next scheduled activity wasn't until late afternoon, so we came home and hung out for quite a while. It was really great to have some in-depth conversation with our great friends. We miss them so much and can't wait to have them back in Seattle in a few months.

After a few hours at home we headed back to the church for a concert by all the choirs from the church. Music is a huge part of the culture here, so this one church has 5 different choirs. Some of them just sing, while some play drums and other instruments. Some of them play and sing more modern music, while some only perform the traditional music of the Gogo people. The music was so amazing, something I will never forget. It was truly a worshipful experience to hear their music. I captured a lot of it on video, in hopes of never forgetting.

In the middle of the last group performing, something crazy took place. There is another girl named Nicole living with Brian and Nicole for a little while until she gets her VISA to re-enter Zimbabwe, where she has been living. She woke up feeling awful yesterday, so had been at home sleeping. She wanted to see the music so she came a little late to the concert, but got up to leave because she wasn't feeling well. When she got outside she started getting dizzy and then passed out. Within seconds the concert had stopped and the crowd had rushed out to see if she was okay. Eventually we took her to the hospital where she got an IV and was tested for Malaria. Fortunately she tested negative and was able to come home and not stay in the hospital overnight. By the time we all got home, we were exhausted and went right to bed. While the evening didn't quite end the way we planned, all-in-all it was a great day with great food, great music, and great friends.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Yesterday was probably that best day we've had here in Chamwino. We started out with breakfast at Pastor Numbella's house. He was the man who translated my sermon, and has been very kind to us on our trip, so it was great to see his home and meet some of his kids and his wife. They have 10 kids; 8 boys and 2 girls. I am continually amazed at the generosity of the people here, as many of them have very little money but provide a feast for their guests. I am truly humbled.

After breakfast we went to the primary school for a short time to see how the schools operate. The classroom we visited, Mwalimu (teacher) Nora's class, had about 75 students in one room, all sitting on a concrete floor, with one teacher. A little different from America. The students sang for us and asked us questions about ourselves and America.

We then went back to Brian and Nicole's house for lunch. On the way, Brian and Nasson stopped by the hospital to pay the bill for Nicole's time there, her IVs, and the medicine they gave her. Altogether that came out to 7,500 shillings, which is less than $7 in USD. Unreal how inexpensive it was, or how expensive our medical care is in the States.

At 4pm we were scheduled to hear one more music group at the church, a traditional Gogo group with full Gogo attire and traditional instruments like a Gogo guitar, a zeze (violin-ish), and a marimba. Before the concert, Mandy had a short music lesson with Nasson. He is very talented at music, but has no formal training and cannot read music. If he could, he would be able to teach his choir many more songs than he can now. The concert was AMAZING! Their song and dance was spectacular. Afterwards, Mandy and I sang a few songs for them, which they really appreciated. Then, we spontaneously began dancing with the musicians as they continued to play and sing and dance more informally. It was so fun to try to keep up with the dancers. They kept changing their styles so we would get to try dancing to each style they use. So fun.

Last night we had a really special dinner at Pastor Daniel's house, with all the elders from the church. They presented us with some gifts, shared some beautiful words of thankfulness for us visiting, and invited us to share words with them. It was a very special time, a night I will never forget. I will definitely miss the people here when we leave today. I will especially miss Nasson. He has been so kind to us and has a fun, infectious personality. He has taken time away from his other responsibilities to be with us all week, and its hasn't gone unnoticed. Thank you for everything, my friend. We are leaving for Arusha later today, the start of our safari. We will stay in Morogoro tonight, Arusha tomorrow night, and start our safari on Sunday.

Another Quote from Walter

2011-03-22T08:30:00.001-07:00

I know I have been writing a lot about nonviolent resistance over the past few weeks, but I refuse to apologize. This is such a necessary conversation for the church and our world, and I thank God for people like Walter Wink (among others) who are calling attention to the abusive, oppressive, violent cycle in which we often operate. The latest chapter I have read in Wink's book, The Powers That Be, ends with this bold declaration, which I agree with wholeheartedly:

I have come to see that what the church needs most desperately is precisely such a clear-cut, unambiguous position. Governments will still wrestle with the option of war, and ethicists can perhaps assist them with their decisions. But the church's own witness should be understandable by the smallest child: we oppose violence in all its forms...We can affirm nonviolence without reservation because nonviolence is the way God's domination-free order is coming.

How Not To Read the Bible

2011-03-21T06:50:00.001-07:00

I've taken about a 3 year hiatus from the Bible...and I think that's fine. I needed some time away from religion (not Jesus) for a little while, so I could come back with fresh eyes and a healthier perspective. It seems that the time of exile is coming to an end, however, so Mandy and I have taken up the practice of daily Bible reading once again during this season of Lent. We have not been religiously dutiful in our goal of reading each day, but I think that is alright. The last thing I would want is for the reading of scripture to once again become a tedious chore that I could check off my daily to-do list (like it once was). I could say more about my goals as I come back to the biblical text (and I probably will in a future post), but I'm not going to do that now. For now, I will simply leave you with some words from the incredible author Donald Miller. He blogged these thoughts today. Enjoy.
____

How Not To Read The Bible

I almost made a mistake the other day of opening the Bible with an agenda. I’d had an idea about a certain “Biblical principal” and I wanted to check a text to see if I was right. Then I realized that’s a slippery slope. There’s not a lot you can’t use the Bible to support. And besides that, if the Bible is designed to be a constitution, it’s horribly organized. I had to put myself in check.

This isn’t an easy thing to do. If you go to the Bible without a preconceived grid through which you interpret it’s meaning, you may in fact find out that your pre-conceived grid isn’t as concrete as you thought, and you may then have to admit that you’re wrong. I wonder if our grids aren’t so solid for this reason, rather than as supposed guardrails to keep us from straying from the truth.

I’ve a friend who reads the Bible not to look for right ideas but to look for something to do. Literally, he opens the Bible, and reads till he sees something that he can take action on, whether it’s loving as friend or confronting a bad guy or bringing some food to somebody who is hungry. He said he got tired of always parsing ideas and wanted some action. He’s one of the most exciting people I know.

If I were the devil, and I’m hoping I’m not, I’d just try to get people to use the Bible to argue about ideas rather than do anything.

____

HT: Donald Miller

Not Becoming What We Hate

2011-03-20T08:30:00.003-07:00

"Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster."

-Friedrich Nietzsche

Walter Wink uses this quote in The Powers That Be to emphasize the importance of doing our own spiritual work before engaging in non-violent action. He argues that we must learn to battle evil without evil making us over into its likeness. It does no good for us to try to oppose violence and injustice if we are not acting out in ways of peace and justice. Our medium must match our message. No wonder Jesus constantly cautions us to not return evil for evil, because in our tit-for-tat world of redemptive violence and revenge, it is incredibly difficult to stand up against the evils of our world without succumbing to their temptations.

Another idea that must be explored in this conversation is that in the midst of battle, it is easy to lose track of who is the enemy. We, in the church, can so easily get sidetracked in our battle with evil, picking fights with our own team members. Instead of working together toward a more healthy, peaceful world, we get distracted by denominational differences in theology and practice, and we fail to actually be good news to the world. I need to learn how to recognize my enemies, the systemic ways that evil pervades the world. The Apostle Paul is clear that we have enemies, the powers and principalities of this world, but I pray I will learn to know the difference between my brothers and sisters, my allies in the fight, and that which opposes the good news of God going forth in the world.

"You always become the thing you fight the most."

-Carl Jung

Infamous Quotes from our Africa Trip

2011-03-19T08:30:00.001-07:00

One thing I try to do when we travel is to keep track of the funny, random quotes that come out of people's mouths. Every trip involves plenty of one-liners that are fun to look back on years later. Our trip to Africa was no different. The following is a brief list of some of the crazy things that were said during our time in Tanzania, most of which had us doubled-over in laughter. I realize that some of these may not be funny to anyone who was not there, but it's my blog, so I'll share whatever I want to share!

"Hello Snickers. Welcome to my mouth." - our friend Nasson said this just prior to eating his first Snickers ever
"I've basically been wearing pajamas for 8 months." - Nicole said this about assuming she would be out of fashion when returning to America
"You just threw a watermelon at me." - Mandy, when I threw a tiny little watermelon the size of a walnut at her
"I have private parts." - Brian (I can't remember the context here, but funny nonetheless)
"Shut up! If Mohammad were alive, he would tell you to 'shut the hell up, I'm trying to sleep.'" - I said this on the 3rd straight morning that the Islamic prayer service was blaring over loudspeakers all over town at 4am in the morning (not my finest moment of cultural and religious tolerance!)
"I told you he had blue balls." - Nicole, about the Velvet Monkey (aka the Blue-Ball Monkey for apparent reasons)
"Boo! Where's the giraffe porn?" - I said this when the girl giraffe rejected the guy giraffe's advances for the 2nd time

God's Non-Violent Revolutionary

2011-03-18T07:11:00.000-07:00

I recently came across some helpful thoughts from Marcus Borg on the non-violent, revolutionary nature of Jesus' ministry. Borg has been an important voice in my life over the last couple years, and while I don't always agree with everything he writes, his thoughts always invite me into further exploration of my own life and the life of Christ. His book The Heart of Christianity was quite good. This was his latest blog post:
____

Was Jesus a social revolutionary? In the ordinary sense in which we use the phrase “social revolutionary,” yes. Like the Jewish prophets before him, he was passionate about economic justice and peace, and advocated active non-violent resistance to the domination system of his time. He was a voice of peasant social protest against the economic inequity and violence of the imperial domination system, mediated in the Jewish homeland by client rulers of the Roman Empire – in Galilee, Herod Antipas, and in Judea and Jerusalem, the temple authorities. He spoke of God’s kingdom on earth, as the Lord’s Prayer puts it: Your kingdom come on earth, as it already is in heaven. Heaven is not the problem – earth is.

But he was not a secular social revolutionary. He was God’s revolutionary. And God’s passion – what God is passionate about, according to Jesus – is for an earth in which swords are beaten into plowshares, in which nations do not make war against nations anymore, in which every family shall live under their own vine and fig tree (not just subsistence, but more than subsistence), and no one shall make the afraid (Micah 4.1-4, with close parallel in Isaiah 2.1-4). This was the passion of Jesus, and for Christians, Jesus is the revelation of God’s passion.

Violent revolution? No. Non-violent revolution? Yes.

Of course, Jesus and the Bible are also personal as well as political. Of course. But we have not often seen the political meaning of Jesus and the Bible. It is there – and once one sees it, it is so obvious. Not to see it is the product of habituated patterns of thought, or of willful blindness.

Jesus was (and is) not about endorsing the rule of domination systems that privilege the wealthy and powerful. Jesus was (and is) about God’s passion for a very different kind of world.
____

HT: Marcus Borg

Rob Bell Interview

2011-03-14T21:15:00.000-07:00

I just finished watching Rob Bell's recent interview about his new book, Love Wins. I didn't get a chance to watch this live since I was in class, but it was great to watch. It is a little long, so you may wish to skip through some of it, but I thought I would post the video for you to enjoy. I can't wait to read this new book, which should be arriving at my door sometime in the next few days.

lovewins on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

Living in a Multi-Cultural World

2011-03-14T14:43:00.000-07:00

Today in my class (Developing Intercultural Competency) we had four guests join us to talk about their lives and ministries. Three of the guests were people of color, the fourth was a young, white woman, and all four are working in intercultural jobs. It was fascinating to hear their stories and words of wisdom about how to navigate the racial, ethnic, and cultural differences we each butt up against every day. As the class session ended, our profession invited them to each share a few words of advice for how we might live into these differences well. Their words were very helpful, so I thought I would share them with you. Hear all of these thoughts within a multi-cultural context. Here are their responses:

Immerse yourself in uncomfortable learning communities
Don't do anything out of guilt
Become a part of a community (let your neighborhood teach you)
Ask "How can I be sustainable in this community?"
Be okay with who you are
Be bold in what you can offer that community
Be comfortable with chaos
Create liminal space for conversation and learning to happen
Be proactive in learning about other cultures

Jesus' Third Way

2011-03-11T07:39:00.000-08:00

I am currently reading Walter Wink's book The Powers That Be, and loving it. Wink is brilliant, creative, and prophetic in the way he calls the Christian community to lives that mirror the non-violent resistance of Jesus. We can so easily react to oppression and evil in our own lives and the world with either passivity or violence, but Jesus calls for neither. He instead asks for us to be innovative in our response, ushering a new, alternative reality into the world (what we might call the Kingdom of God). This quote from Wink basically summarizes the book so far:

"Jesus, in short, abhors both passivity and violence. He articulates, out of the history of his own people's struggles, a way by which evil can be opposed without being mirrored, the oppressor resisted without being emulated, and the enemy neutralized without being destroyed."

The whole chapter that this quote comes from is astounding. Wink exegetes brilliantly the words from Jesus (in the Sermon on the Mount) where he asks people to turn the other cheek, give their cloak as well as their coat, and go the second mile (Matt. 5:38-41). Absolutely amazing information. I couldn't recommend this book more.

How To Get Young People In Church

2011-03-07T13:54:00.000-08:00

This blog post contains an amazing list of theoretical, practical, common-sense ideas about how a church might attract a younger generation. Well done.
__

Here is a step-by-step plan for how to get more young people into the church:

1. Be genuine. Do not under any circumstances try to be trendy or hip, if you are not already intrinsically trendy or hip. If you are a 90-year-old woman who enjoys crocheting and listens to Beethoven, by God be proud of it.

2. Stop pretending you have a rock band.

3. Stop arguing about whether gay people are okay, fully human, or whatever else. Seriously. Stop it.

4. Stop arguing about whether women are okay, fully human, or are capable of being in a position of leadership.

5. Stop looking for the "objective truth" in Scripture.

6. Start looking for the beautiful truth in Scripture.

7. Actually read the Scriptures. If you are Episcopalian, go buy a Bible and read it. Start in Genesis, it's pretty cool. You can skip some of the other boring parts in the Bible. Remember though that almost every book of the Bible has some really funky stuff in it. Remember to keep #5 and #6 in mind though. If you are evangelical, you may need to stop reading the Bible for about 10 years. Don't worry: during those 10 years you can work on putting these other steps into practice.

8. Start worrying about extreme poverty, violence against women, racism, consumerism, and the rate at which children are dying worldwide of preventable, treatable diseases. Put all the energy you formerly spent worrying about the legit-ness of gay people into figuring out ways to do some good in these areas.

9. Do not shy away from lighting candles, silence, incense, laughter, really good food, and extraordinary music. By "extraordinary music" I mean genuine music. Soulful music. Well-written, well-composed music. Original music. Four-part harmony music. Funky retro organ music. Hymns. Taize chants. Bluegrass. Steel guitar. Humming. Gospel. We are the church; we have an uber-rich history of amazing music. Remember this.

10. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

11. Learn how to sit with people who are dying.

12. Feast as much as possible. Cardboard communion wafers are a feast in symbol only. Humans can not live on symbols alone. Remember this.

13. Notice visitors, smile genuinely at them, include them in conversations, but do not overwhelm them.

14. Be vulnerable.

15. Stop worrying about getting young people into the church. Stop worrying about marketing strategies. Take a deep breath. If there is a God, that God isn't going to die even if there are no more Christians at all.

16. Figure out who is suffering in your community. Go be with them.

17. Remind yourself that you don't have to take God to anyone. God is already with everyone. So, rather than taking the approach that you need to take the truth out to people who need it, adopt the approach that you need to go find the truth that others have and you are missing. Go be evangelized.

18. Put some time and care and energy into creating a beautiful space for worship and being-together. But shy away from building campaigns, parking lot expansions, and what-have-you.

19. Make some part of the church building accessible for people to pray in 24/7. Put some blankets there too, in case someone has nowhere else to go for the night.

20. Listen to God (to Wisdom, to Love) more than you speak your opinions.

This is a fool-proof plan. If you do it, I guarantee that you will attract young people to your church. And lots of other kinds of people too. The end.

A Million Miles in Paperback

2011-03-06T20:10:00.000-08:00

Here is a video about Donald Miller's newest book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. Enjoy!

What story are you telling? from Rhetorik Creative on Vimeo.

A Day in Dodoma

2011-02-16T04:29:00.002-08:00

Yesterday we spent the day in Dodoma. Dodoma is a pretty big city about 25 miles from Chamwino. After getting ready for the day and eating some ugi (porridge) for breakfast, we headed out to catch the dala dala to Dodoma. The dala dala is basically an old, crappy van which seats about 10-12 people. The only catch is that they usually shove about 20 people in. Each seat is cramped, in and of itself, but gets way worse once you throw in twice as many people as your should.

Our first stop in Dodoma was an ice cream shop called Alladin's. It was really fun to get an American treat after days of eating rice and beans. We then spent time walking through their open-air markets. After running a few errands that Brian and Nicole had, we went to a restaurant called Wimpies to have lunch. I ordered a "beef burger," but what came was far different than a hamburger. It had a hamburger patty and some of the fixings of an American burger, but was smothered in a strange, bright pink sauce. It wasn't exactly my cup of tea, so I ate about half of it, finished my chipsi, and called it a meal.

When we got back to Chamwino we got to be a part of a cool experience. Nicole's dad is a 4th grade teacher in Colorado, so once a week his class will Skype with a class here in Chamwino, and that happened last night. The kids loved asking each other questions and singing songs for each other. The American kids have been learning a few Swahili words and the Tanzanian kids love getting to practice their English. What a great cross-cultural experience!

Last night's dinner and conversation was interesting because it happened in the dark. We lose power here pretty often, and last night was one of those times. We cooked spaghetti over a propane stove and ate by the dim light of a kerosene lantern. It was actually fun, though, and reminded me of all the luxuries we have in America that we probably don't really need.

Experiencing the Village Life

2011-02-15T04:16:00.001-08:00

The last 2 days were great! Sunday was amazing. We woke up early and went to church where they placed us up front to sit in the seats of honor. I preached my sermon, with Pastor Numbella as my translator, which seemed to be well-received by everyone.

After church we had lunch at Nasson's house. Nasson is one of Brian and Nicole's best friends and biggest helpers here, and is an amazing man. He does incredible things for Chamwino and the church. His wife, Mama Jenny, made some incredible food for us, the best we've had thus far. Mama Jenny's actual name is Julia, but all the woman here are named according to their first born. Julia's firstborn is Jenny, so everyone knows her as Mama Jenny.

That night we came back to the church to have Sunday school with the kids. It was so fun to sing and dance with the kids, the watoto. I would guess that about 30-40 kids came out to Sunday school, and they are all so excited to learn the Bible, learn English, and sing together.

Yesterday we had breakfast with Rahema (Mama Pendo) and her husband. They made us a feast of lots of different breads and tea. They made us chipote, which is a flat pancake that you put sugar on. Their house and yard were awesome. The house was really well built and clean, their yard was taken care of well, and their crops were health, which is pretty rare. They have built irrigation to most of their crops, including their pomegranate tree.

After breakfast we walked around the market to see where Brian and Nicole do their shopping. We bought a bunch of fruits and veggies. Next we went and met with the chairman of the village, Joseph Segange. He functions like a mayor does in America, but is much more connected to his people on a personal level. He speaks no English, so Nasson, Brian, and Nicole had to interpret, but he was very nice. He told us all about the history of Chamwino and showed us the memorial and museum for the first president of Tanzania, Julius Nyerere.

After our time with the chairman it was time for lunch. We went to this place to get chipsi (fries) and meat shish-kabobs. It was such a treat to have that meal. After an afternoon resting at Brian and Nicole's house we ended the night with dinner at Mama Baraka's house. Her house does not have electricity so we basically ate in the dark, with only the light from one, small kerosene lantern. It was a pretty fun experience.

An Amazing Start to the Trip

2011-02-13T21:16:00.001-08:00

I can't believe I'm in Africa. This is crazy. I never though I would be on a trip like this. And yet, here I am, sitting on the porch of our house watching the beautiful, much-needed, life-inducing rain fall on the Tanzanian village of Chamwino.

Yesterday was a long day. I woke up in Dar es Salaam after only 5 hours of sleep. We hung out at a house at the University of Dar es Salaam for a few hours, ate a small breakfast, and then left for the bus station. Talk about a crazy area. There are tons of bus companies and hundreds and hundreds of people. Since we were the only white people, we were the center of attention and everyone was trying to sell us bus seats and other things. We already had our tickets so we made our way to our bus and got our bags loaded. Then the waiting game began. Buses typically don't leave until they are almost full, so we waited an extra hour past the time we were supposed to leave. The worst part about that was that it was ungodly hot yesterday in Dar (like every day) and incredibly humid, so we were pretty uncomfortable, sweating like crazy.

The actual bus ride wasn't too bad though. It lasted 7 hours, which was pretty long after our previous 2 days of flights, but it was really awesome to see the Tanzanian countryside. So beautiful. We stopped for food once during the trip, in Morogoro. Unfortunately, a torrential downpour started about a minute before we got there. So in just running from the bus to the food, we got drenched. About 3 hours later we arrived at the Chamwino Junction and were ushered into the village on the back of motorcycles (piki pikis). That was the best, most fun transportation we had so far. We were greeted by Nasson and Pastor Daniel, hung out with them for about half an hour, ate some food, and hit the sack. What a day.

This morning I was awakened by a series of rooster calls. So fun. One of them has a messed up voice box, so he sort of sounds like he is coughing or choking each time he crows. Funny. We are going to have some breakfast and then head to church. I am preaching this morning, so I'm a little nervous. It will be strange to use a translator. Should be a good experience though. I'll let you know how it goes.

Christians & Fanny Packs

2011-02-12T20:53:00.001-08:00

These two nouns can best summarize our time in airports over the last few days. I'll say more in a minute. We started out flying from Seattle to Amsterdam on Thursday afternoon Seattle time. The flight was 10 hours long and incredibly tiring. The entertainment technology on planes today has gotten to be pretty awesome, though, as each seat has their own little tv and you have the choice of watching tons of new movies and tv shows as you fly. So I watched a few movies and did a bunch of reading. A few people's first question for me when they found out I was going to Africa was "Have you read The Poisonwood Bible?" I had heard good things about that book, but had never read it. So I used about half of that first plane ride to start making a dent in the 500-page text. It was morning when we arrived in Amsterdam, which was strange because it felt like midnight to us. Let the jet-lag begin.

The title for this blog post became apparent once we arrived in Amsterdam and made our way to the gate for our flight to Nairobi, Kenya. It seemed that nearly every person in line at our gate was either a Christian on a mission trip to Kenya or wearing a fanny pack en route to going on safari or climbing Kilimanjaro. While initially the site of so many Christians was endearing and brought me back to my time in youth ministry leading similar trips, I also felt a bit embarrassed that there were so many teams. I guess I'm just a bit torn.

On the one hand I can see the beauty of Christ followers wanting to go be a blessing to the world. That is a great desire. At the same time, a lot of abuse has been perpetrated on Africa at the hands of Christians with 'good intentions.' While we may not be colonizing African lands any longer, it seems that we can still try to colonize African culture and religious practices. Plenty of American missionaries to Africa are coming in with 'all the answers,' pedaling a health-and-wealth prosperity gospel that ends up hurting Africans more than helping. I simply found myself hoping that the missionaries I was seeing were actually interested in building long-term relationships with the people they would meet, offering them respect and dignity, trying to converse instead of convert.

My Sermon for Sunday

2011-02-10T10:19:00.000-08:00

Mandy & I are heading for the airport in about an hour for our trip to Africa, so I thought I'd blog one more time before I left. We are really excited about the trip and know that it will be an amazing experience that we will never forget. We will have internet access during our first week there, so I will try to blog some while we are in Chamwino.

I am preaching on Sunday in Brian and Nicole's church, so I thought I would share my sermon with you. I was pretty nervous about what to preach, so this was a really tough sermon to write. I wanted to make sure that there were no hints of colonialism in my words. I don't want to seem like the educated superior from the West coming in to share my wealth of knowledge. So I basically spent my words thanking the church for being who they are. I realize that this is like 6 pages of reading, but here is the sermon. Enjoy.

My Sermon

In It Together

Text: Multiple Texts

Good morning everyone. It is so great to be here with you this morning. My name is Jason and my wife, Mandy, and I will be with you all for the next week here in Chamwino. We are very excited to be able to meet you and experience your life and culture during our time in Africa. I am currently in school preparing to be a pastor, so I greatly appreciate you allowing me to preach here this morning. It really is an honor.

After being asked to preach by Pastor Daniel, I really struggled knowing what to share with you. It is hard to preach to a group that you barely know, especially since I will only be with you for one Sunday. I think the best direction for me to go is to simply thank you. I am sure you hear plenty of great sermons that help you understand the Bible in some new and exciting way, so this morning I simply want to celebrate who you are and thank you for the gifts that you offer the world.

Reasons to be Thankful

Thank you for all you have taught, and are teaching, us in the West about how to live like Jesus. We Americans often think we are the ones who should be teaching everyone else how to do everything, but we have so much to learn from other cultures and people, especially all of you. As I began to think about the ways in which you can help us in the West learn to live more like Jesus, a number of things began to surface.

The first thing that I want to thank you for is the importance you place on community. Living closely with one another in intimate community is at the heart of being Christian, but my culture has begun to lose our sense of community and connection. We have become a culture where everyone takes care of themselves and no one needs any help from other people. This is obviously not a good way to live. Thank you for reminding me of how important it is to be connected to others.

The Bible is very clear about how important community is. The writer of the book of Hebrews encourages us saying, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day [of the Lord] approaching.” Jesus’ disciples also understood this need to be in community and take care of one another. Acts 2 says, “All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.” Americans can easily forget how important it is to be with each other, so I thank you for reminding me of the goodness and blessing of community.

I also want to thank you for being people of incredible love for others. I have experienced that love through the people from Chamwino who have visited America, like Kedmon, Pendo, Nasson, and Pastor Daniel. I have also seen how you have all loved Brian and Nicole while they have been here with you. You have taken care of them and helped them as they learned about your culture, language, food, and so much more. Thank you for loving my friends while they have been away from us.

Love is such an important part of being a Christian. Jesus sums up all of the law of God by saying that you should ‘love God with all of your heart, soul, and mind’ and that you should ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’ First John 3 says, “We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.^” Thank you for being people who love well.

While I am speaking on the theme of love, I want to thank you for loving strangers and guests. The Bible is constantly encouraging us to love everyone, including strangers, guests, and our enemies. Deuteronomy 10 says, “For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Thank you for caring for everyone who enters into your community. Thank you for welcoming everyone you meet with open arms and open hearts. Thank you for caring for those whom no one else is caring for. We have already felt your incredible love, and we have only been here one day.

Worshiping a Global God

And finally, I want to end our time with the reminder that we all worship the same, huge, amazing God. Mandy and I were having tea with Kedmon and Pendo a few weeks ago and I asked him what I should preach about this morning. He told me I should remind you all that we worship a big God who is in charge of the entire world. In many ways, you and I are very different from one another. We live so far apart and our cultures are very different. It is amazing, however, that we all worship the same God. This morning my brothers and sisters in the United States are meeting together to sing and learn and celebrate just like we are here. They are reading the Bible and listening to a sermon, just like we are here. And while they may be worshiping in a different language, we are all worshiping the same God.

The way of Jesus has a way of breaking down walls of separation. We are good at creating division and difference, but the way of Jesus is a journey that unifies the world, that builds bridges between those who were once separated. I am reminded of the Apostle Paul’s words in Galatians 3:28 when he says, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” In Christ we are one; we are family. As Christians we must learn to be aware of our differences and celebrate the things that make us unique, but we must not let these differences divide us from one another. May we learn to partner together in bringing the good news of Jesus into the world; a message of hope and love; a message of healing and wholeness; a message of peace and forgiveness.

I will close with a beautiful verse from Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Paul says, “Whatever happens, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel.” It has been so encouraging to hear about this church from Brian and Nicole because I know that you are beautiful people who live out your faith in the world. I am so encouraged by worshiping with you this morning, because I have now seen your faith with my own eyes. When I leave Tanzania in a few weeks, I will leave knowing that even though I will not see you all often, you are still ‘standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel.’ You have been a blessing to me already and I thank you for that. May we all continue to be a blessing to the world. God bless you all. Amen.

Our Africa Itinerary

2011-02-07T10:44:00.001-08:00

With our trip to Tanzania only a mere 3 days away at this point, I thought I would let you know what our itinerary will be during our time in Africa. We are pretty excited about the experience we are going to get during our time there. We have always wanted to go to Africa, but did not want to simply do the tourist-y things and stay in resorts. We will be going on a safari, but that is about the only tourist-y thing we will be doing during our time abroad.

We will be spending most of our trip in a small, rural village in the center of the country called Chamwino. Despite staying in one of the nicer houses in the village, we will still be living very modest, simple lives. We will wash our clothes by hand, bathe from a bucket, and often use non-Western toilets. Even on the safari we will be sleeping in tents out on the Serengeti, as opposed to staying in nice lodging. That to say, however, I am incredibly excited about the experience we will get.

Trip Schedule

Thursday, February 10

Fly from Seattle to Amsterdam (leave at 12:45pm & arrive at 7:45am on Friday)

Friday, February 11

Fly from Amsterdam to Nairobi, Kenya (leave at 10:25am & arrive at 8:30pm)
Fly from Nairobi to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (leave at 10pm & arrive at 11:15pm)
Stay with some friends of Brian & Nicole that night

Saturday, February 12

Catch a 6 hour bus from Dar es Salaam to Dodoma
Get shuttled into Chamwino on the back of motorcycles

Sunday, February 13

Attend church, where I am preaching (with a translator)

First Week of our Trip

Hang out with Brian and Nicole and their friends
Get a chance to see how they have been spending their days
Experience the Chamwino culture, food, language, music, etc.
Various activities will include: helping teach English in the school, visiting a local farm, singing with one of the church choirs

Friday or Saturday, February 18 or 19

Leave Chamwino for Arusha and the Serengeti
14 hour bus ride to Arusha

Second Week of our Trip

Stay in a hotel in Arusha for the first night of our safari trip
Spend three nights in tents camping on the Serengeti
Spend another night in a hotel in Arusha at the end of our safari
Travel from Arusha to Dar es Salaam
Hang out in Dar es Salaam on the beach and in the open-air markets

Saturday, February 26

Fly from Dar es Salaam to Nairobi, Kenya (leave at 7:40pm & arrive at 8:55pm)
Fly from Nairobi to Amsterdam (leave at 10:55pm & arrive on Sunday at 5:30am)

Sunday, February 27

Hang out in Amsterdam for a few hours
Fly from Amsterdam to Seattle (leave at 11am & arrive at 12:25pm)

Love Me Some Mat Kearney

2011-02-03T14:57:00.000-08:00

For the past 4 or 5 years my favorite musician has undoubtedly been Mat Kearney. He is an amazing singer/songwriter with an incredible voice. With most bands (even ones I really like), I tend to like about half of each album they produce, with the other half just being average. But with Mat, I generally LOVE every song on every album. And now he has a new album coming out this year called 'Young Love.' I can't wait. I stumbled across this video on his website of his work in the studio and it got me really excited for the album to be done. Hope you enjoy.

In the Studio with Mat Kearney Episode II from Digital Bohemia on Vimeo.

HT: Mat Kearney

I Deny the Resurrection

2011-01-28T00:01:00.001-08:00

This video is BRILLIANT, BEAUTIFUL, and COMPELLING. I was in the audience when Peter Rollins gave this talk at Rob Bell's Poets, Prophets, & Preachers conference. I was in tears as he finished. The last 30 seconds are what I see as the heart of the good news of Jesus. I hope you enjoy his words as much as me. AMAZING!

I Deny the Resurrection from Peter Rollins on Vimeo.

HT: Peter Rollins

Two Weeks and Counting

2011-01-27T08:22:00.001-08:00

Two weeks from today, Mandy and I will be boarding our first plane en route for Tanzania. I cannot believe this trip has come so quickly. It seems like so long ago that Brian and Nicole left for their year in Africa and we began deciding whether we would be able to go visit them. I'm glad the answer was "yes."

I thought today I would tell you about what our transportation will be like during our trip. Needless to say, it is going to be extremely long and strenuous. It will take 3 separate flights just to make it to Tanzania. We will first fly non-stop from Seattle to Amsterdam, a 10-hour flight. From there we will take another 10-hour flight from Amsterdam to Nairobi, Kenya. And finally, we will have about a 2-hour flight from Nairobi to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Brian & Emily heading to Chamwino

We will arrive in Dar es Salaam at 11pm on a Friday night, get a hotel room for the night, and then early Saturday morning we will board a bus, with Brian and Nicole, for our 6-hour bus ride to Dodoma. Dodoma is a pretty big city of over 300,000 people that is in the center of the country and is about 20 minutes north of Chamwino, which is our final destination. There are no good, paved roads from Dodoma to Chamwino, so the best way to get into the village is on the back of a motorcycle, which is exactly what we are going to do. I'm actually really excited about this part of the journey. I think it will be a fun, quirky way to travel, complete with our luggage strapped to our backs.

Our return home is roughly the same trip, just in reverse. We will have some additional travel, however, in order to get up to our safari. Evidently there are two ways to get from Dodoma to the Serengeti. One way is 14 hours, but takes you on good, paved roads the entire way. The other route is only 10 hours but is on the highway from hell, a completely unpaved road that is supposedly horrendously bumpy and dusty. Let's just say I hope we opt for the former.

While this trip will exhaust us with the strenuous travel and jet lag, I am incredibly excited about this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This is going to be amazing!!

Pretty Clever Protest Sign

2011-01-25T21:08:00.001-08:00

Saw this photo on a friend's Facebook page and thought I would share it with you. I thought this was pretty clever.

Africa Is Drawing Near

2011-01-23T10:06:00.002-08:00

I'm sure this will be the first of many posts in the coming weeks about our trip to Africa. For those of you who did not know, Mandy and I will be in Tanzania from February 10-27. Our dear friends Brian and Nicole are living in the village of Chamwino this year, so we are going to spend a few weeks with them. We will get to see how and where they are living and experience what they are experiencing. We will work with a school where they have been involved and I will get to preach at their church, which will be an interesting experience since I will need a translator. We will also get to go on a 4 day, 3 night safari, where we will be camping out in the Serengeti each night. Needless to say, we are incredibly excited about that opportunity.

We have been planning this trip for months, but it is just now beginning to feel like it is really going to happen. We just got all of our shots this past week so that made the trip feel imminent. Tonight we are having coffee with Kedmon and Pendo, two friends of ours who are from Chamwino. They are living in the States right now as Kedmon works on his doctorate, and Brian and Nicole are living in their house for the year. It will be great to ask them questions about what we can expect during our trip. They are full of wisdom and will undoubtedly increase our excitement for the trip.

As more details get ironed out regarding the specifics of our trip, I will be sure to let you know about them. We would greatly appreciate your thoughts and prayers for us as we prepare for this trip, and especially during our times of travel.

This Is Often Me...and Us

2011-01-20T00:01:00.000-08:00

I have a tendency to spend more time reading and learning about what it means to follow Christ than actually doing it...and I fear I'm not alone in this. It is incredibly easy to neglect the actions of Christ while focusing on the words of Jesus. May we come to be people who fully embody the words we speak.

HT: The Ongoing Adventures of ASBO Jesus

Hilarious T-Shirt

2011-01-19T18:55:00.000-08:00

So I really have no rooting interest in this weekend's NFC Championship game, but I came across this image today and just had to share. Sorry to all my friends who love the Bears (i.e. Matt and Zach), but this just needed to be shared.

P.S. I suppose if I had to choose who I am cheering for this weekend, I would say the Pack...Aaron Rodgers is just so frickin' good! So fun to watch play!

No Aslan...Bad Kitty

2011-01-18T13:02:00.000-08:00

Here's another great cartoon from the brilliant Jon Birch of ASBO Jesus, asking us to do some thinking about ideas like predestination and an angry, violent God. Great thoughts.

HT: The Ongoing Adventures of ASBO Jesus

Just a Bit Over the Top??

2011-01-18T11:48:00.000-08:00

I ran across this picture/advertisement on a blog today and thought I would share it with all of you. I couldn't believe this was real...but it seems to be. I'm not sure I fully know what the connection is between a Christmas tree and American patriotism. I can maybe understand the cross, but I'm struggling with the red, white, and blue. Hope you enjoy!

HT: Eugene Cho

Non-Violent Resistance on the Personal Level

2011-01-17T23:36:00.000-08:00

As I was composing my previous post on non-violent resistance, I found myself wondering about resisting evil on a personal level in a way of non-violence. When we talk about resisting evil, we often speak of resisting systemic evil. We speak of working against systems of slavery, greed, and numerous institutions of injustice, but rarely speak of working against evil that attacks on a personal level.

Through the help of authors like Walter Wink and Walter Brueggemann and activists like Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Oscar Romero, and Gandhi, we have begun to see that fighting evil with violence does not work on the systemic level. Violence only begets more violence. Yet, we keep trying to fight individual evil (i.e. sin) through violent resistance. We hate our sin. We hate ourselves for sinning. We desperately try to quit that sin 'cold turkey.' We feel immense guilt and shame when the sin is not 'conquered' overnight. No wonder we have not been very successful in fighting this evil when we have only tried violent methods of sin management.

I wonder if a less violent means of resisting personal evil and sin might reap more rewards. I am not quite sure how to begin this process, but a few things seem important in this conversation. First, a non-violent resistance of sin will take much longer than the alternative. Slavery wasn't ended in a day. Apartheid was not ended in a week. The Civil Rights Movement took time. Do we have the patience it will take to not expect immediate results? Will we be gracious with ourselves and others through the long, arduous process of transformation? Can we find ways to no longer feel shame and guilt if we don't end our sinful ways overnight?

And secondly, this process of non-violent resistance requires including others in the journey toward healing and restoration. We live in a lone-ranger, individualized society where everyone generally keeps to themselves and solves their own problems. We rarely involve others in helping us move toward health. Yet, with the non-violent resistance movements that we have seen in the last hundred years, they are all incredibly communal in nature. People rely on one another. Friends rally around one another for support and prayer. No one solves these problems on their own. May we come to be people who help one another with our personal evils as well. May we journey together with others in a way that helps each one on the path make steps toward new life. I look forward to the journey. A peaceful journey. A gracious journey. A journey with friends.

The Cross as Non-Violent Resistance

2011-01-14T08:13:00.000-08:00

I am currently reading The Powers That Be by Walter Wink and am finding myself in deep reflection about the nature of evil and power in the world. Wink argues that evil maintains both a spiritual AND physical dimension in the world. I grew up thinking that evil and demonic forces were primarily a spiritual, cosmological matter, but failed to recognize the systemic evil inherent in our world in the form of power and corruption. We, as Christians, can easily subject evil to the metaphysical realm. We lack an awareness (either consciously or sub-consciously) of the systemic injustices of our societies, thus failing to reject and fight against these problematic and harmful institutions.

Wink speaks about the 'Powers That Be' in this world, saying, "They are good by virtue of their creation to serve the humanizing purposes of God. They are fallen, without exception, because they put their own interests above the interests of the whole. And they can be redeemed, because what fell in time can be redeemed in time" (Wink, 32). As I read this, I found myself thinking about the language we use in our communion liturgy: "Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again." It seems that the work of Jesus on the cross is fundamentally an act of non-violent resistance against the spiritual AND physical powers of his day. Jesus' death and resurrection served to defeat the spiritual evil that we know as Satan, but also served to make a bold statement about the Roman Empire's lack of actual power.

Jesus' work on the cross should act as an example of how we might engage in our own non-violent resistance to the corruption and injustice of systemic evil in the world. We must find ways to humbly and prayerfully resist corporations, institutions, and governments that contradict God's plan for creation. We must recognize both the personal and corporate presence of evil in the world and individual lives, and counter these movements of evil with much thought, prayer, patience, grace, and love. For the Kingdom of God is not one that advances quickly through power and dominion, but starts small and moves slow, always emphasizing love and compassion over power and control.

Time in the Trash Leads to Time in the Snow

2010-12-17T08:13:00.000-08:00

For those who didn't know, I've taken up a new hobby in the last year...dumpster diving. Now I'm not some crazy hippie who's getting his food and clothes out of the trash, but I am searching for outdoor gear. A friend told me about a few dumpsters behind outdoor supply companies where they had scavenged for some sweet deals, so my friends and I have been doing the same. We haven't been incredibly successful, but the one thing that we have been able to get is snowshoes. So far we have garnered 5 sets of snowshoes from one specific dumpster--all of which are in good, working order.

Yesterday we finally had the chance to try out our find. I had never been snowshoeing, so it was quite the adventure. We found a good trail in Snoqualmie Pass and spent about 3 hours in the woods, covering 5-6 miles. I was pleasantly surprised by the experience. Snowshoeing is a great workout and it was nice to get outside and enjoy nature during this depressing rainy season here in Seattle, but it was also really fun. The best part was finding little cliffs or downed trees that we could jump off of into feet of powdery snow. While I would still prefer skiing to snowshoeing, snowshoeing is a much more affordable option. I look forward to more snowshoeing trips throughout this winter season.

My friend Matt took some pictures and videos with his camera, so I'll post some photos when I get them.

Our Strange Celebrity Fetish

2010-12-15T15:10:00.000-08:00

I was just watching the news while eating my lunch and was reminded of America's odd fascination with celebrities. A caption flashed on the screen that there was a "breaking news story." I assumed it would be news of some large-scale, world-wide event, but was shocked to find out that they were simply announcing a new reality TV show on teenage mothers that will air on MTV. Wow!! Great news!! Who cares?!?

But yet, often the answer is "I do." For some reason the Western world (and now seeping into the Eastern world) is obsessed with celebrity. We desperately need to know how this movie star or that musician is doing at all times of the day. When are they having their baby? Where are they going on vacation? Are they splitting up with their spouse? What did they eat for lunch? When I list out these questions, it seems so silly that we would care about the answers, especially since they are coming from a group of people we have never met. But yet, we are obsessed. We tune in to the newest reality TV show. We purchase the newest celebrity gossip magazine. We follow thousands of random people on Twitter. We talk about these folks as if we are best friends.

I wonder if we are so fascinated with celebrity because we have often failed to build strong, healthy, real-life relationships. Few of us are really interested in getting to know others in an honest and intimate way, and even fewer of us are willing to be vulnerable with our friends in allowing them to know us on the deepest level. My opinion is that if we were actually courageous enough to bare our souls to our friends, we would realize the abundance of life that comes through these intimate friendships, and would no longer be interested in trite, pseudo-relationships with celebrities. May we have the courage to bare our souls to others, and the curiosity to allow others to be bare before us.

Harsh Prophetic Criticism

2010-11-29T14:08:00.000-08:00

Obviously this cartoon is extreme hyberbole, but there seems to be a bit of truth here in this message. There are plenty of pastors preaching similar messages on Sunday mornings, messages of terrible news rather than good news.

The message of Jesus, the message the preacher shares from the pulpit, was always meant to be good news for the world. It is a light, burden-less message that offers freedom, grace, and love to the hearer. This cartoon reminds me of the need to preach good news when I enter the pulpit, fleeing from fear while acknowledging the freedom that comes through Jesus Christ.

HT: The Ongoing Adventures of ASBO Jesus

I Thought This Was Seattle??

2010-11-22T12:58:00.000-08:00

my car this morning

In rare Seattle fashion, we are in the midst of a snow storm. Its quite funny when Seattle gets snow, because people freak out like its the end of the world. At the first site of flakes, many schools and workplaces are almost instantly closed. Mandy's work has closed already. My school is closing at 6pm. Seattle Public Schools closed hours ago. All over a little bit of snow that isn't even staying on the ground. Quite comical.

Congrats Felix!!

2010-11-18T11:31:00.000-08:00

Seattle sports fans finally have something to cheer about. Felix Hernandez has won the American League Cy Young Award. This award is given out to the best pitcher in the league for that year. In the midst of a terrible year of baseball for the Seattle Mariners, 'King' Felix was the lone bright spot. Each time he took the mound, he offered the team and the fans a chance at victory. For that, we are incredibly grateful.

Felix being voted this award marks a turning point in baseball history. Traditionally, the number of wins a pitcher has for that year is one of the primary statistics used in determining the Cy Young winner; but not this year. Felix ended the year with only a 13-12 record, while CC Sabathia had 21 wins and David Price had 19. The difference, however, is that both those pitchers play on significantly better teams that score significantly more runs. Felix plays for the Mariners, who scored the least number of runs of any American League team since the addition of the Designated Hitter position in 1973. LOWEST RUNS SCORED IN 37 YEARS!!

Meanwhile, Felix dominated in nearly every other statistical category for pitchers. He pitched the most innings of anyone, had the lowest ERA, and was second in strike outs. He also led the league in 3 or 4 other more complicated (yet quite important) statistical categories. He deserved to win this award, and in doing so, we have seen that the voters are no longer stuck in their traditional thoughts of merely basing their votes on the win-loss record. Thanks for making history, Felix. You earned this award. Thanks for giving us Mariner fans something to cheer about and a reason to show up at the ballpark.

So Funny...Hilarious Quote

2010-11-07T20:28:00.000-08:00

"When you look like I do,
its hard to get a table for one at Chuck e Cheese."

- Zach Galifianakis,
in his comedy video
Live at the Purple Onion

An Important Off-Season

2010-11-06T14:42:00.001-07:00

To my surprise, moving to Seattle quickly transformed me into a Mariners fan. I previously had no baseball team that I actively followed, so I guess I should have seen it coming. But I didn't. And my fan-dom continues to grow each year.

This past year was a giant disappointment for the Mariners. They were projected by many to have a strong year, and possibly win their division and make it to the playoffs. But instead, they got off to a slow start and never rebounded. Players who had been previously successful suddenly slumped, a team that was supposed to play great defense had more than their share of errors, and a bullpen that was supposed to be incredible was far from good. The only strength on the Mariners' team was their starting pitching, but this was countered by the lowest run-support in the league.

While the Mariners will undoubtedly be rebuilding for the next few years, there is reason, however, for optimism. The Mariners just hired a new coach, Eric Wedge, who has been successful in the past, have a core of young players who are projected to have great success in the future, and have a definitive pitching ace in Felix Hernandez. I regularly follow the blog of a guy named Dave Cameron, who is a brilliant Mariners fan and does great analysis of the team. He has predicted some moves that the team might make in the off-season, and the possible team that the Mariners might field in 2011. Here is the chart that he put together of his best guess at the upcoming moves from the Mariners' front office. You can read the rest of his post HERE.

HT: USS Mariner

More Trick than Treat

2010-11-01T08:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Halloween, a traditionally festive day of fun and celebration. And it had a bit of that. But mostly, it sucked.

The day started with a sense of excited and anticipation, as I was scheduled to preach at the church where I am doing my internship. I had been wrestling with a passage from Isaiah 1 for about a month and it was ready to come out, ready to be birthed to the world. In our church the priest always reads the Gospel passage for the day just prior to the sermon. So as our priest was finishing the passage, I stepped into the fellowship hall, grabbed my Bible, notes, and the music stand I was going to preach from, and stood in the doorway ready for her to welcome me to the front.

But that never happened. Instead, she stepped to the pulpit and began to preach. She had forgotten that I was supposed to preach that Sunday. I was devastated, and slowly slinked back into the fellowship hall, eyes welling up with anger, disappointment, and sadness. I then spent the next 45 minutes hiding from people in the parking lot, bathroom, and Sunday school areas, processing my disappointment over not being able to share my heart, anger at her apparent thoughtlessness, embarrassment that some in the church had most likely noticed me standing in the doorway, and sadness over unfulfilled expectations in my internship. Obviously some of these thoughts were a bit over-reactive in the moment, but at the same time, I continue to be affected by these emotions nearly 24 hours later.

It went something like this! Ugh!

My day quickly improved through a great second worship service and some mountain biking on a beautiful Seattle day. But the day didn't stay good for long. As I was returning from mountain biking, I drove straight into our parking area with my bike on our roof rack and ripped the entire roof rack off the car. I was listening to the radio and hurrying to go hang out with some friends and simply forgot that my bike was on the roof. While my bike is fine and most of the roof rack is not damaged, the car has some scratches and scuffs and I will have to replace some parts of the roof rack before it can be used again. So frustrating.

The day was partially redeemed by a fun evening watching movies with 2 of my best friends, but I don't think anything could have fixed the horror that was my day. On a day that is supposed to be joyous and fun, I definitely received more trick than treat.

Craziest Week in a While

2010-10-30T21:49:00.000-07:00

The title probably speaks for itself, but this last week has been INSANE!! And I don't say that very often. But this week truly was the busiest week I've personally had in over a year. It started in normal fashion, with my typical schedule of work on Monday morning and then one class per day on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. But that's where the normality stopped.

On Thursday I began a 3-day intensive class on the art of the sermon, with Rob Bell as the professor. While every moment was incredible, I was still exhausted at the end of each day as we spent 27 hours in class during the 3 days.

In addition to the 6 straight days of classes, I had a 4-page paper due on Wednesday and a 5-page paper due on Thursday. I also had my duties at church to tend to, including preparing music for worship and preparing my sermon that I am preaching twice tomorrow. Needless to say, I'm tired. And ready for Sunday afternoon. And heading to bed now before I fall asleep at the keyboard.

A Participatory Faith

2010-10-26T00:11:00.000-07:00

"Christianity is not an intellectual system, a collection of dogmas, or a moralism. Christianity is instead an encounter, a love story; it is an event." - Pope Benedict XVI

Stationed at the tail-end of the Modern period, it is still easy to see Christianity as mere cognitive assent to certain objective truths. Enlightenment mentality has trained our modern, Scientific-Method-minds to rationalize our faith.

If we see anything from the scriptures, however, it is a God who enters into the space and time of human existence (especially through the incarnation of Jesus), participating with us in our lives of faith. Christians must recognize the incredible event that happens when God enters into the human condition and partners with us in redeeming the world. Let us no longer linger in the world of rationalization.

A Different Sort of Dis-Interest

2010-10-25T06:36:00.000-07:00

It's no secret to those who know me well that I am not a great student. Never have been. Never will be. I procrastinate terribly, even to the point of turning in assignments late. I rarely read what is assigned. I struggle to be interested.

This has been the case for much of my time in seminary as well. While I have learned an incredible amount and am so glad to be able to get my Masters, I still hate school and cannot wait to be done. Lately, however, I have been telling people that I have a different sort of disinterest in school, a new reason I am ready to finish. I'm ready to pastor.

For my first 2 years I was anxious for graduation because I would no longer be told what to read and write and would finally be done with formal, higher education. Now, I find myself ready to be done so that I can finally be a pastor. I'm ready. I'm excited to help shepherd a community of faith toward new life. I'm excited to enter the pulpit weekly with the opportunity of shaping and guiding our group through my words. I can't wait. But I must. Two more years, unfortunately, before this dream will finally become a reality. I hope I can make it.

The Ease of Narrow-Mindedness

2010-10-24T18:55:00.000-07:00

This cartoon once again reminded me of how easy it is to put on the blinders and fail to see anything but what I want to see. These are encouraging thoughts to open my heart and mind toward learning from others, even if they are people with whom I might normally disagree.

HT: The Ongoing Adventures of ASBO Jesus

Home Sweet Home

2010-09-19T21:55:00.000-07:00

As you may have noticed, I have been absent from this site for quite some time now. It isn't that I've been purposely neglectful of my blogging desires, but simply that I have been out of town. I was in Sioux Falls, South Dakota for 10 days, was home doing laundry for about 4 hours, and then whisked away to Raleigh, North Carolina for another 4 days. Needless to say, while both trips were incredibly fun, I was glad to finally be home in Seattle.

I was in Sioux Falls for the wedding of my best friend, David. He had been in Africa all summer, so it was great to finally see him again and to stand beside him as he married Michelle. What a blessing! It was also great to see my great friend Nate, as I stayed with him and his wife all week. We don't see our friends from Sioux Falls very often, so it was nice to have some time with a group of folks who have been highly influential in my life.

I was in North Carolina for a conference called Big Tent Christianity. Many of my favorite authors were speaking there, including Brian McLaren, Peter Rollins, Phyllis Tickle, Greg Boyd, Shane Claiborne, Tim Conder, and many many more. These authors have helped shape my life and worldview immensely over the past 5 years, and it was incredible to have them all together at one conference. It was also great to travel with my friends Matt and Jev and to get to visit the Duke campus (including Cameron Indoor Stadium). As a lifelong Duke basketball fan, my pilgrimage to Krzyzewskiville and Coach K Court was quite memorable.

Of course, part of my hope in writing this post is that I will once again fall into regular routine of blogging. Blogging has been an essential piece of my transformative process, and I hope it continues to be so. Here's to a great year of growth, fun, and abundant life!

A Wonderfully Refreshing & Encouraging Read

2010-08-15T22:26:00.000-07:00

The following are the concluding words of Sara Miles' book Jesus Freak. These words serve as a helpful synopsis of the book and a gracious reminder for me to make my faith practical and not simply theoretical. Enjoy:

A few months after Laura's funeral, I went to the camping goods store to buy some sunscreen and after about fifteen minutes I left with one of those headaches I only get in the presence of too much consumer choice. On the first floor alone there were hundreds of different kinds of backpacks made of super-space-age bulletproof fabric with special zippers and pouches and solar water purifiers and GPS devices and headlights. I remembered how, when I was a kid, going camping meant we took a blanket to sleep in, and my dad maybe packed some marshmallows.

There seems to be an idea in the contemporary church that following Jesus requires a similar kind of outfitting and preparation. Apparently, Christians can't feed people without a permit from the state, a certificate from the church insurance fund, and a resolution at a denominational convention. You can't teach without audiovisual aids and rooms full of approved Christian gear. You can't touch sick people without 125 hours of supervised clinical instruction and latex gloves. You can't proclaim repentance unless you've been to seminary--and even then it's a bit dicey. And God forbid you should claim authority to act in Jesus' name without a feasibility study, a mission statement, a capital outlay of $10,000, and at least six months of committee meetings.

But ordinary people still hope, suspect, and believe they can be Jesus.

The formulas of religion may be so over familiar that many believers have a hard time acting as if this most surprising narrative is true. They may doubt themselves, and not understand why Jesus trusts us to do his work. They may be sick to death of the institution, tired of propping up a dysfunctional church, and trying to coast by without caring too much. They may, like me, be anxious because there's no way to be Jesus on your own private terms: you have to jump in and do it alongside your Boyfriend's (Jesus) other lovers.

But Jesus is real, and so, praise God, are we. Every single thing the resurrected Jesus does on earth he does through our bodies. You're fed, you're healed, you're forgiven, you're pronounced clean. You're loved, and you're raised from the dead.

Go and do likewise.

Boring Certainty vs. The Adventurous Unknown

2010-08-14T17:58:00.000-07:00

To risk is frightening. To wonder and dream is freaky. To go out on a limb takes total commitment. And most of us aren't willing to go that far. Following Jesus asks everything of us, while religion often merely pacifies us into routine. Following Jesus might get us killed, while religion might even help us get elected into office. Oh that we would all be willing to take the grand risk that comes with following Christ, daring to move past the routine of religious duty into the radical freedom that Jesus offers us and others as we willingly (or even unwillingly) take up our cross and follow.

"...As Jesus teaches, it's easy to be threatened by the reality of the complicated, messy, syncretic, God-bearing truth that becomes incarnate among us and makes things new. We'd rather have a dead religion than a living God."

- Sara Miles, Jesus Freak

A Few More Days & I'm Done

2010-08-01T20:08:00.000-07:00

After quickly glancing at my latest blog post, I am realizing that this will now be 2 straight posts where I am informing you as to my insane amount of writing I have to do before an impending deadline. By Tuesday I need to have another 5500 words written for my class on the book of Romans. Once this one major research paper and 3 small reflection papers are written I will officially be finished with my second year of seminary.

Mandy and I are leaving for our cabin in Glacier National Park next Wednesday, where we will be hanging out with both of our families for a week of needed vacation. I can't wait to relax all week, do some hiking and rafting, lay in the hammock, and sit by the campfire. Sounds like heaven. But for now...back to writing.

Be Back Next Week

2010-07-22T20:50:00.000-07:00

Just when I had redeveloped a rhythm of blogging regularly, life happened! I'm busy finishing up all my papers from this summer term, so I have barely had time to breathe, let along blog, this week. Just to give you a little perspective...I've got 4100 words due tomorrow at 5pm. I've got about 3000 down, but still have a ways to go tonight and tomorrow to finish by the deadline. Wish me luck. Talk to you soon.

The American Lifestyle

2010-07-19T07:48:00.000-07:00

This basically sums up most Americans...unfortunately. Here's to living simply!

HT: Naked Pastor

A Helpful Documentary

2010-07-17T00:01:00.021-07:00

The following is a short documentary on the prosperity gospel and how it is taking root in Africa in an unhealthy way.

HT: Christian Nightmares

Thought I'd Let You Know

2010-07-16T15:18:00.000-07:00

Found out these important dates today, so looks like we have about 9 months to get our things in order and ensure we don't get 'left behind.'

HT: Christian Nightmares

I Fear This Is Us

2010-07-16T12:36:00.001-07:00

Evangelism is such a tough arena to navigate for me. I still believe in it. I still see it as important. I still believe that we have a story worth telling. But I've seen evangelism hurt people. I've seen it be done to make the evangelizer feel better about themselves. I've see it done for selfish purposes.

So what does evangelism look like as I try to be a person who loves instead of judges, who cares instead of critiques? I'm still trying to figure this question out, but I know it can't be the way its always been.

HT: Naked Pastor

LeBron as a "Runaway Slave"?

2010-07-12T08:04:00.000-07:00

Often when Rev. Jesse Jackson makes a public statement it simply seems like he has an axe to grind, but his thoughts on LeBron James have me intrigued. In the wake of James' decision to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers and join the Miami Heat, the owner of the Cavaliers, Dan Gilbert, lashed out at LeBron verbally, calling his decision "cowardly" and saying that everyone was finally seeing "who he really is." I was shocked when I heard Gilbert's words as he was incredibly mean and judgmental of LeBron for his decision.

Rev. Jackson has an interesting take on Gilbert's reaction. He says that Gilbert's words were "mean, arrogant, and presumptuous" and that he is treating LeBron like a "runaway slave."

"He speaks as an owner of LeBron and not the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers. His feelings of betrayal personify a slave master mentality. He sees LeBron as a runaway slave. This is an owner employee relationship -- between business partners -- and LeBron honored his contract." - Rev. Jesse Jackson

While I have not given theses words ample time to soak in, I think I initially agree with Jackson. We suffer from a high sense of entitlement here in America, and I feel like this is what is happening here. LeBron was a free agent and had faithfully fulfilled his duties as a Cavaliers employee, so I don't see why he wouldn't be free to make whatever decision he wants. For some reason, though, Gilbert thinks that LeBron owes him some sort of extended loyalty, even though Gilbert recently fired his general manager and head coach. Where is his loyalty?

Craziness of the City

2010-07-10T00:00:00.000-07:00

I love living in the city. I love that there is always something going on. I love how diverse your life can be. With Mandy out of town this week, I found myself a little bored on a Friday night and decided to walk to a hamburger stand nearby us to get a milkshake. I had no idea how the next few hours would unfold. Here's how it went:

Passed 2 or 3 transvestites on the way to my milkshake.
Had a car pull up to me seemingly needing directions, only to have the girl say "We're looking for Uranus (you should hear 'your anus')...are we going the right way?"
Watched a massive dodge-ball game at a park near our home--probably 20-25 people on each team, with many of the players wearing head bands and knee pads...super intense.
Played basketball with some 'questionable' fellows until about 11:30pm.
Had the game interrupted at one point because someone across the street had thrown a huge glass bottle full of blood...yes, blood...against the wall.
Won the game and made my way home.

So that was my night. Completely random. Completely unpredictable. Completely spontaneous. And it was great. I love living in the city!

Big Mariner Trade

2010-07-09T18:05:00.000-07:00

Today was a big day for the Seattle Mariners as we traded our Cy Young pitcher Cliff Lee to the Texas Ranger for Justin Smoak and 3 other prospects. While I am sad to see Lee traded because he has been so good for us and a true joy to watch pitch every five days, this was something that simply needed to be done.

The Mariners traded to get Lee this past December, thinking it had a shot at the American League West title. These hopes and dreams have sadly passed in the this first half of the season as we are currently sitting at 16 games back in the division...that's right, 16!! On paper, the Mariners should have been good, but the players have simply not played up to either their potential or their career averages. Part of the plan in getting Lee in the offseason was the awareness that if the season was going awry prior to the trade deadline, we could always get a bunch back in return for trading him away.

I think that happened today. Justin Smoak is a 23-year-old, power-hitting first baseman who is suppose to be a stud for years to come. The other 3 prospects are all lighting it up for the Rangers AAA club, so hopefully they will all make a difference for the Mariners in the near future. While I really hope this trade pans out, regardless of whether it does, it is still fun to be cheering for a team who takes some risks and actually appears to want to win. As a die-hard Denver Bronco fan, the Broncos could take some tips from the Mariners in what it looks like to be aggressive in trying to improve your team. I think the Mariners have succeeded in that quest today. Go Ms!!

The Trump Card

2010-07-08T16:17:00.002-07:00

"And because Christians find the ultimate disclosure of God in a person and not in a book, Jesus is more central than the Bible. Jesus trumps the Bible; when they disagree, Jesus wins."

- Marcus Borg, The Heart of Christianity

Enjoying the Sun

2010-07-08T08:35:00.000-07:00

Living in Seattle, you learn to appreciate the sun. With so much rain throughout the winter months, the summer here brings a new-found excitement throughout the city, with everyone clambering to parks and beaches to soak in the good weather.

I'm no different. This last week's weather appears to have brought the official beginning of summer and I have been taking advantage of the sun. Yesterday I spent the day disc golfing and rock climbing, tonight I am going to watch the Mariners play the Yankees, and Saturday I am going out rock climbing again. Life is good here in the summer!

Don't Join Them, Lebron

2010-07-07T10:21:00.000-07:00

I don't write much about sports on here, but I am an avid sports fan and simply could not avoid writing about the recent NBA news. This offseason has been incredibly hyped for over two years because there are an immense amount of highly talented free agents on the market, including Lebron James, Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade, Carlos Boozer, Amare Stoudemire, and many many more. NBA teams have been clearing room in their salaries for over a year now just to be able to sign some of these players. Some teams even traded away their own talented player last offseason (basically forfeiting any chance of being good this last year) in order to be able to sign one or more of these mega-stars this year.

And now the much-anticipated 2010 free agency period has begun with a bang. Amare Stoudemire signed with the New York Knicks yesterday in a deal that makes the Knicks much better immediately. The biggest story so far, though, came this morning when Dwayne Wade decided to re-sign with his previous team, the Miami Heat, and Chris Bosh decided to join Wade in South Beach. This decision, I believe, instantly makes Miami the favorite in the Eastern Conference to make it to the NBA Finals this next year.

But the Heat might not be done making moves. Wade, Bosh, and Lebron James are all close friends and have said from the onset of this free agency conversation that they would love to all play together on the same team (and were even willing to take pay cuts to do so). Now with Wade and Bosh in Miami, I fear that James will decide to join them, making Miami an unstoppable force in the NBA and a sure-thing for multiple championships over the coming 5 years.

I sincerely hope he doesn't join them, for my sake and for his own. I think this will make the NBA boring, as one team will have a monopoly on three of the best players in the league. I also think that Lebron will regret this decision later. He cares a lot about being the best player ever in NBA history, as he has been drawing comparisons to Michael Jordan since he was a freshman in high school. If he wins a bunch of titles in Miami, I fear people will always say that he needed Wade and Bosh to win them, not being able to win on his own. I really think this move will tarnish his ultimate reputation in NBA history. Don't do it Lebron. Go play somewhere else and beat these guys. Don't manipulate the system in order to win your rings, because everyone will see through that and not give you the respect you deserve. Don't resort to that way of winning.

Essential-ing the Non-Essentials

2010-07-05T07:50:00.001-07:00

I was just reading a blog discussion/debate on creation vs. evolution and came across the following quote in the comment section of the blog. Bear in mind that the blogger's entire point of his post was to say that this issue is not really essential to the Christian faith and that it is easy to get bogged down in the non-essentials of Scripture and fail to fall in love with the God in which the text refers.

"I wanted to say even though it may seem like I am making a big deal about not believing in evolution or an earth billions of years old, I personally think that God can save a person that does believe these things or is maybe not sure or decided about these issues.

But I am also certain once a person is indeed truly saved, the Bible will truly become that persons authority and not man’s word, and since a true believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit who is the spirit of truth will show that person that Genesis is indeed true and that God did create everything in six days and that it was only about 6,000 years ago.

This leads me to believe people that believe in evolution still have a “dead engine” in them and need God to have mercy on them and give them spiritual life, to give them spiritual birth or they will remain dead in their sins and continue to believe man’s word (evolution) instead of God’s word (creationism)." -blog commenter

I can barely believe that there are still people who would make this sort of claim. If you want to hold to a certain belief, fine, but please try not to throw millions of Christians for thousands of years under the proverbial bus so casually. Please try to not sentence millions of people to eternal damnation in one, hap-hazardous statement...it just looks silly, judgmental, ignorant, and unthoughtful. And most of all, it looks incredibly unloving, which is the entire point of the biblical text.

*You can find the original conversation by clicking HERE.

The Bible as Sacred Scripture

2010-07-03T07:55:00.000-07:00

Often postmodern Christians (whatever that really means anyway) get accused of not taking the Bible seriously, as sacred. I would strongly disagree though. My experience with the emerging church movement has been one of intense love and respect for the biblical text, just not for the traditional biblical inerrancy that is prevalent in modern Christianity. Marcus Borg says it this way:

"...the emerging paradigm sees the Bible's status as sacred, as "Holy Bible," as the result of a historical process, not as the consequence of its divine origin. The process is known as canonization. The documents that now make up the Bible were not sacred when they were written, but over time were declared to be sacred by ancient Israel and early Christianity...By declaring these writings to be sacred, our spiritual ancestors declared them to be the most important documents they knew" (Borg, The Heart of Christianity, 47).

After reading Borg's thoughts, this seemed so obvious. If the sacred-ness of a text does not from the communal affirmation of it through canonization, then any other 'gospel' or writing would need to be seen as sacred too, including the Gnostic Gospels and anything else someone has said "came from God" or "came from the Spirit." This communal affirmation of a text's importance seems to give it much more credence and respect.

Ambivalence About the Weekend

2010-07-02T06:55:00.000-07:00

I get to see my family this weekend. This rarely happens...so it should be good...and it is...and it isn't. It will be great to spend the 4th of July weekend with my parents, my sister, and my niece in Coeur d' Alene, Idaho. I have not seen my niece, Abby, since Christmas and she is at an age where she will be completely different now than she was then...so fun!

But the reason we are all congregating for this holiday is to visit my grandmother, my dad's mom, perhaps for the last time. She has been relatively unhealthy for years but has taken a turn for the worse in the past week and no one really knows how much longer she can continue to fight this illness and pain. A few days ago my aunt was not even sure she would make it through the night. It will be great to be able to see her this weekend and to possibly say goodbye. Closure is always bitter sweet.

Death is new to me. One of my best friends died in a car accident when I was 16, which was incredibly tragic and terribly difficult to handle as a teenager. Other than that, however, I really have not had to deal much with death. I'm beginning to realize as I age, though, that my family will not always be around. I'm learning to treasure them while they are here. I look forward to time with my grandparents over the coming years because I believe I will savor that time more than I ever have before. That said, I pray this is a wonderful weekend with my nuclear and extended family, and that my time with grandma is a blessing to both me and to her.

Too Busy To See

2010-07-01T07:22:00.000-07:00

As I said in my recent post on the importance of blogging, I fully intend to work my way back into a regular rhythm of blogging throughout this summer and coming school year. I love blogging. I began this online journal a few years back assuming it would be a fad, not something that would last. Blogging, however, quickly became a highly spiritual activity for me, and one that I am not ready to let dissipate into non-existence.

The primary importance of blogging for me comes in its ability to craft my vision, allowing me to see the world differently. When I am actively blogging, the world becomes a potential post. Songs I hear preach, movies I watch teach, people I meet transform me. I am a better person. Over the past year, however, my life has become increasingly hectic and busy and blogging has been one thing that has gone by the wayside. This has affected me as a person. I've become too busy to see.

I have noticed this lack of vision lately in my hurried pace and inability to enjoy the journey. I truly believe that life is more about the process than the destination, but I have not lived this out well over the past year. I have been more impatient than ever. My road-rage is worse than ever. I struggle to just 'be,' instead, needing to always be doing something. While this change in my character is disheartening, I am optimistic that I can reclaim what was once important to me. I am optimistic that I can once again walk the streets of Seattle and interact with my city and its people. I am optimistic that I can see again. Lord help me.

Rob Bell Teaching at MHGS

2010-06-30T11:10:00.000-07:00

*I originally wrote this post for my school's Experience.MHGS blog. I bring it here to let you know of my incredible excited about Rob Bell coming to teach this fall.

When Rob Bell visited Mars Hill Graduate School in January while in Seattle for his ‘Drops Like Stars Tour,’ he created quite a buzz around campus. When it was announced a week later that he would be teaching a class at our fair institution in the near future, excitement and anticipation erupted within the MHGS community. Needless to say, Rob Bell is highly respected at our school, myself included. He’s sort of a big deal!

Bell is the founding pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is the author of four books, including the widely popular Velvet Elvis. He was also the face of the first segment of short films in the Nooma series. His love for the biblical text, awareness of 1st century and contemporary culture, and unparalleled communication style make him one of the leading voices in the church today. Time Magazine has even gone as far as calling Bell ‘the next Billy Graham.’

For many MHGS students, Bell has been a voice of hope in the midst of personal doubt, questioning of faith, and uncertainty about the future of Christianity. Many of us came to this school out of disillusionment with the church, having been burned by the trappings of religion. We love the church but still desire more for her, and Bell has been a guiding light, helping lead us down paths of reclaiming and restoring her for the good. For me and my wife, at various times of difficulty in our life, Rob has served as my pastor in more ways than any local pastor with which I was in relationship, speaking truth into our lives through weekly podcasted sermons and periodical pilgrimages to his faith community in Michigan.

Bell will be a teaching a class this fall on homiletics, the ‘art of the sermon.’ He hosted a conference in Grand Rapids this past summer called ‘Poets, Prophets, and Preachers,’ where he explored the lost art of preaching for three days with thousands of pastors from across the country and around the globe. I was privileged to be there and will be forever grateful for the immense wisdom he shared with us. I cannot wait for Rob to grace MHGS with his presence and to be able to explore these profound ideas further with my fellow students. What a blessing this course will be.

Tricking Ourselves into Passivity

2010-06-28T07:34:00.000-07:00

Over the past few years a number of theologians and writers have had drastic impacts on my life. One of those thinkers is Peter Rollins. Rollins is the founder of the iKon community in Belfast, Northern Ireland and is the author of three books, including How (Not) to Speak of God. I strongly encourage you to follow his blog and check out his books. He recently wrote a blog post called "Mobsters, Paramilitaries, Children's Books and the Refusal to be Someone's Friend" that is incredibly insightful. He asks the reader to consider the ways that we perpetuate oppressive systems by our desire to befriend the individuals within that system. I appreciate Peter's willingness to make the reader think about whether we ought to take bolder stances against these abusive, systemic evils. Here is a brief snippet of his thoughts:

"A question that these observations raise concerns the profound limitation of the idea that listening to another person’s story will turn a stranger, or even enemy, into a friend. In light of the above there seems to be a problem with this statement, not in terms of its actual claim but rather in its desirability."

Click HERE to find the entire blog post.

The Closing of a Chapter

2010-06-27T22:02:00.001-07:00

Today marked a somewhat official end of the previous chapter of our lives. For the past year and a half my wife and I have been living in intentional community with 2 other married couples. While we had moved out about 2 weeks ago, we spent today cleaning the old house and getting all of our final possessions moved to our new apartment.

As Mandy and I left that barren, empty, lonely dwelling this evening, we did so with somewhat heavy hearts. We recognized that this last year and a half has been an adventure, a good story, and that as we drove away we were officially ending that tale. It was a good adventure. Donald Miller talks about writing better stories for our lives in his new book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. He says that the best, most-memorable stories are those that are out of the ordinary, that are a bit unexpected, that are both joyful and painful all wrapped up in one. This was one of those stories. We took a risk. We went out on a limb. People thought we were crazy (or swingers!). But it payed off in the end. Not every day was roses, but the experience was incredibly positive. I don't know if I would do it again, but at the same time, I wouldn't trade this experience for anything.

Thanks for the adventure Chris, Meggie, Brian, and Nicole...we love you guys!!

Caution Often Needed

2010-06-25T16:45:00.003-07:00

Unfortunately this is often true, that caution is needed when approaching some churches. May the church continue to move toward being good news to the world and not bad.

HT: The Ongoing Adventures of ASBO Jesus

Blogging My Way to Spidey-Sense

2010-06-24T06:51:00.004-07:00

*Note: the coming weeks will bring a number of posts about my lack of blogging over the past year, why it has happened, and how I intend to return to this rhythm of life that was once so important to me. I thought I would begin this return to blogging, however, with a post that has been a long-time-coming about why I see blogging as so important.

We at Mars Hill Graduate School quickly develop a new language in our brief time at the school. Within months of enrollment we are all constantly spouting off new words from our new-found vocabulary, one of these words being 'hermeneutics.' Hermeneutics is simply a way of seeing. Traditionally this word has mainly been used to talk about our way of seeing the Bible, often with hard and fast rules about proper biblical interpretation. At MHGS, though, we are less interested in developing prescribed rules for seeing the Bible, and more interested in having our vision crafted in a way where we see everything differently, including the Bible, our community, and the world.

One way that this vision-crafting has happen is through my process of blogging. I began blogging a few years ago with some sort of idea that I had something to offer to the world (which I still believe). I had no idea, though, how much I would be shaped through this writing process. I assumed I would be the one doing the shaping through my insightful thoughts and witty rhetoric, but I quickly realized that I was being transformed far more than I was transforming others. I was being changed.

Blogging has developed within me a heightened sense of awareness to the world around me. When I am consistent and regular in my writing, the world becomes a potential post. In some ways this could compare to a sort of spider-sense (borrowing from the comic world), as I am increasingly and acutely more alert to my surroundings. Each encounter on the bus has potential to teach. Each conversation with a friend is an opportunity for transformation. Each movie I watch or song I hear has potential for deeper understanding. Blogging has helped craft my eyes to better see the world around me. It has altered my hermeneutic. It has changed me forever.