Got People?

Last night I emailed a few friends and asked them to pray for a meeting I had today,
because a few of us supervisory types had a hugely important conversation with someone.
The meeting went well through the grace of God, and I could feel the power that came forth from the lips and hearts of my friends.
As the song writer says, we get by with a little help from our friends.

Joy and I kid around that "we've got people." We've got people to:
help us take care of my parents;
help us figure out some things about our future;
take care of our little dog Jamie;
and yes, even pray for something on a moments notice.

But what if someone feels like they ain't got no people and feel freakin alone?
We've all felt that way before and know someone who feels like that right now.
Help us Jeshua be their people.

God bless America.

God bless President Barak Obama.

God bless our world.

God bless us as we seek to do our part to further God's Dream.

My heart and my hope is full.

A Connection Celebration

I have come to understand that the major part of my job is to create CONNECTIONS...
connections between pastors with pastors and churches with churches...
connections between these churches and the work of the church in the state of Indiana and the world...
and connections between pastors/churches with a vision that what we are all about is the changing of lives and the changing of the world.
Creating connections is a good thing because, as my papa would say, it is very important message to let people know in this world that they are not alone!
Maybe it's because I'm getting older that these relationships are becoming more and more important. I think about how wonderful and absolutely crucial are connections like:
Our family and the staff of the nursing home with my old mama and papa;
My bottomless adoration for my wife;
Our relationship with our children;
Our friendships;
Those who feel alone and just want someone to care;
The simple yet profound interactions we have with both folks we know and strangers
on a daily basis;
The invisible connections that hold our society and world together;
The one we have with the Source of our Shalom.

Went to Florida. Sweet. Back to work. Also Sweet
Tonight I'm inside and warm, and it's cold outside.
Watched Frontline online. Thanks David for turning me on to that.
Learning to appreciate different kinds of people...big picture types and anals, quiets and louds, those loving change and those not. But even those people aren't always just one way or another.
I love you God. The gifts of life, love, purpose, community, family, and your presence.
I've always been afraid of death, and who knows I still may. But two things have happened lately. First, I've decided that at the end of my life I am going to say "thank you" to God for this most amazing journey. Secondly, I had a dream the other night in which the Spirit flew me into space and showed me a planet which she said was heaven. Hmm.
Trying to focus on Wesley's 3 simple rules.
Do no harm.
Do all the good you can.
Stay in love with God.
BY THE WAY, GO SEE GRAN TORINO! AMAZING!!!

Let's enter into this 2009 gig together!
And thank you God for all the blessings found within 08.

The conversation continues

Barack Obama has invited Rick Warren to give the invocation at the presidential inaugaration.

Let that sink in .....

I am amazed, happy, elated, and thankful that such a thing is happening. Not because I think Warren will somehow lean to the left (or with Obama, vice versa) because of this, but because two people of spirit are sitting down and saying, "You know, we're at the same table here for pretty much the same reasons. Yes, we can disagree about some things, but we can agree about other things, too. Let's talk about those things where we can work together for the kingdom of God."

Here is a good opinion article about this from Beliefnet.

Rich and Rick: A Post-Partisan Parable

I see hope. I see change. I see a country that is in the midst of turmoil and trouble, looking for answers, and realizing that we alone do not have all the answers, but we together have a better chance of finding answers.

In The Midst Of

In the midst of my pastor's mother struggling/dying...
Christ is born.
In the midst of some of our family gathering together and some having to be "distant"...
Christ is born.
In the midst of economic fears and other forms of chaos...
Christ is born.
In those precious few, beautiful, quiet moments...
Christ is born.
In the inner sanctuaries of our churches as well as our hearts...
Christ is born.

Christ is born.
In the midst of it all...
Christ is born indeed.
And I am a life...that has been changed.

Sensing...His Birth

Sunday night.
Joy is decorating for Christmas, and I'm putting the stuff downstairs that's to be stored until spring...some pretty cool stuff of meaningful memories like a picture of Rachel sitting on the wall of a Wales castle and Joy and I sitting at a Paris cafe....but nonetheless stuff that someday our children won't be sure what to do with just the way we're not sure what to do with all my parents stuff now!
Todd Rundgren is playing in the background...playing his excellent music mostly about God things in his own rock n roll, hippi way.
Obama was interviewed for 45 minutes tonight on Meet The Press. Wow. One smart dude.
Next to me sits one of the Christmas decorations which I'm sure one of our kids made when they were young. It's a beautiful, colorful, stain glass-like, marker drawing of the Madonna and Child. In fact, if I really open my eyes I see that I'm surrounded by all sorts of decorations the children made many years ago. I'm glad Joy makes this part of our annual tradition.
Hmm, opening my eyes to see. I wonder what else I'm missing. I pray that this season you and I will have the senses to experience...his birth.

We're Not Alone

My dad keeps saying that he wishes he could pastor a church again. I asked him the other day that if he was pastoring again, what would he preach about. He paused and pondered, and then my 86 year old papa said, "I'd tell them that we need each other and that we are not alone."

***Our friend Jonnie is staying out at the Peacefield farm with Kev and Jen. She's not alone...and neither are they.

***I had to make a very tough decision over the last two days and to do that I discussed the matter with Joy, my brother Steve, and my friends Frank and Barb...and of course, the Lord. I am not alone.

***Thanksgiving was at our house and there was a good and deep connection with family. We are not alone!

***I attended a funeral today in an African American Church for a man named Richard who was a nationally known musician and composer as well as a locally honored teacher, but died at age 58. The church was full of people who prayed, praised, and proclaimed with power to each other and especially to his family that we are not alone!

So preach it papa. Preach it with power. And praise be to God that we have one another, and that we are not alone.

P.S. The picture is my mommy and doggie re-united at Thanksgiving.

Surprised By Hope by N.T. Wright

I recently (and finally!) finished N.T. Wright's Surprised By Hope. The book's subtitle is Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church. With this book, Wright is now my favorite theologian.

Those familiar with McLaren's writings on the kingdom of God/heaven will be familiar with the first section of Wright's book. Both writers are "on the same page" with their interpretations of the kingdom of God and the reality of heaven being present and overlapping with creation, not something off in the distance within our space/time continuum. But Wright takes it further....

Wright then ties that with the resurrection of Christ that points to the future of creation, when heaven and earth become one as God intended his creation to be redeemed. I had not thought too much about the bodily resurrection when Jesus returns, so what Wright says about the resurrection of Christ being a "the future brought into the present" really blew me away. Wright has little patience for "left behind" theology and deftly takes it apart using solid Biblical interpretation.

Finally, Wright concludes with how the church should respond knowing the future hope revealed in the gospel of Christ. Our kingdom work today will be redeemed and come to fruition in the redemption of all creation when Christ returns. What we practice today prepares us for the reality of God's promised future.

Wright also tackles the "where do we go when we die" question, and the media attention given to his book seems to focus on that, but the book is about so much more and puts forth an important vision and mission for today's church. I don't want to try to state Wright's complete position on life after death here because I don't want to misstate it. I will say that he talks about a "life after life after death" (the resurrection of the dead) as being much more important than where our spirit may happen to dwell right after we die. Wright says that the Bible doesn't talk too much about the latter, and says a whole lot more about the former. Wright admits that he just can't fathom how a redeemed creation where God dwells with his people can exist with a "concentration camp" in the middle where people are being tortured for their sins. You really must read the book if you're interested in more about this and don't take what I've just written as a complete summation.

Reading N.T. Wright is not easy. He's challenging to read, even for this book which is supposed to be more accessible than his other books. But this is worth it, along with Simply Christian which came out a few years ago. If you like reading McLaren, I think you will like reading this, but Wright goes much deeper into Scripture than McLaren.

Thanks Giving

I give thanks...
for the gift of each day,
for my wife, children, family, and friends,
for books,
laughter,
challenges,
community,
health,
connection to God,
and breakfast cereal (Ok, I'm writing at breakfast time!)
and so much more.

I'm also very grateful that we can continue to do our part
in joining God to bless the lives of the broken.(Which we all take turns being!)
Amen....and Yes.

It's His Business...And Ours

He's about changing lives.....again and again.

I know he set me free from drugs a long time ago, and he keeps forgiving me and setting me free.

The other night I met with a few churches, and there were some testimonies shared.
One woman lived across the street from the little church. She finally went into the building and ended up staying because she was shown hospitality. She is now seeking to follow Christ and hasn't drank for 9 months. This is his business...and ours.

Another testimony was from a man who had found Christ in the church about four years ago. He went down to Mississippi for a work trip this last summer. He testified that he didn't much like the folks whose home they were fixing up. He says that right there in the woods Jesus told him that he needed to learn now as a disciple to stop being so judgmental.

The last testimony was how the church was helping to feed hungry neighbors.

Jesus, change our lives. Set us free. Set us on fire. Change lives and communities through us.

It's your business...and ours.

Grant Park.
November 4th.
Thousands upon thousands.
America, A VERY DIVERSE NATION, speaks clearly and loudly and elects as our President
Barak Hussein Obama.
I wonder if the church of Jesus will be able to hear, include, speak to, and love them
as did he.

VOTING!

What a privilege to vote in America......and I'm leading the way!
God's kingdom and way come to our land and our world...whoever wins.

P.S. I went to Chicago's Grant Park with son David and 250,000 others. Felt like a revolution of hope.

Make Good Our Intentions

The book that we are using a lot in our churches is called The Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations by Bishop Schnase. It's a powerful book. One of the practices is Intentional Faith Development.

Being "intentional" about things that matter to us and the kingdom is a good thing...things like:
Staying connected to old friends;
Staying connected to God;
Keeping the love relationship strong in one's family;
Doing something to care for the poor;

The good news is that Christ is very intentional about how to further God's ways of love in our lives and in this world. May he that lives in us make good our intentions.

A Kingdom Weekend

Joy and I just got back from Bloomington where we visited Theresa and Frank. Theresa had helped Joy years ago in the classroom in Lafayette. Joy had always told me how kind she thought Theresa was and the fact that she was a Buddhist only made Joy admire not only Theresa but also her faith practice.

So we spent a couple of days with our new friends who are originally from Taiwan. Frank is a chemist. They are very nice people. We shared with each other about our different faiths, we learned from each other, and always focused on the common ground we hold. We shared meals, walked in the woods, and got to know their daughter Olivia. Both Olivia and their son Jon are students at IU.

This was a kingdom weekend...an opportunity for people of different backgrounds to come together in love and living. It was a true blessing. I believe the world God desires to see begins with weekends and ways such as these.

Once Again

My mom and dad have now been in Heritage Pointe United Methodist Home for almost 3 months.
It is a good thing, and it is a God thing.
They are adjusting.
My dad talks to, kids with, and makes the staff laugh.
They are cared for:
Cleaned, dressed, well fed, given medication, and given great respect and love.
The other night the family took them out for the first time. We drove to Decatur, ate in a restaurant called The Back 40, and had a wonderful evening. When we got back to the home, they were confused and thought they should be going to their old house. But then my papa said, "Well, if I can't remember I'm living here, I guess I need to live here!"
I praise the God of the universe and the God of our lives for making this miracle.
I am thankful for the prayers of the community.
I am extremely grateful for and pray God's blessings on the workers in the home.
And once again the Lord takes his people from death to resurrection.

Not the end of America, but it's time to change.

The End of America?
Consumerism, expansionism undermine democratic way of life, Bacevich says


A Boston University professor of history and international relations has interesting things to say about how America must change its approach to economic and foreign policy. I hear echos of McLaren in what he is saying. Our consumerist, expansionist, growth-at-any-cost way of life must change. We are seeing the negative effects today. We no longer have the luxury of enjoying the fruits now and putting of the cost later. The end of those days is now. I'm not being gloom or doom. This will be a change for the better for all Americans.

The Path I Choose

I have been a district superintendent for 2 years and 4 months now.
(Not that I'm counting!)
It has been a blessing.
But I have often shared with my colleagues that I have missed having a close community. I do have community, but not to the extent I did in the local church.
(By the way, sometimes you can have too much community...but not enough isn't good either.)
I finally figured out that what I truly miss in the local Jesus community is
all the ways I was able to stay connected to the God of my life and the God of The Story we find ourselves in.
I stayed connected through small groups like the men's group, the Bible studies, seeking to preach God's Word each week, and worshiping with passion and creativity.
(I also miss being in mission with my church friends, but I am in mission with my new friends.)
So, I am now being more intentional about my faith development and relationship with the Lord.
I desire to pray more.
I am reading The Book of God by Walter Wangerin. (The Bible written beautifully in narrative form.)
I am doing these things because it is written that we are to love God with all our heart,mind, soul, and strength. And despite being one ordinary, ornery, and often sinful human, this is the path I choose.

God Wants to Save Christians by Rob Bell

if you have not grabbed a copy of this book yet .....

do yourself a favor and go out and get a copy and read it, mediate on the words.