Here is a quick summary of my last few weeks:
1) Finished the book The Unhealed Wound: The Church and Human Sexuality which is about the Catholic’s church struggles with issues of sexuality – specifically in the priesthood. I will write something on it soon.
2) I was served a subpoena to go to court as a witness – stemming back to the theft of our van a year ago.
3) We had a great family holiday in Kananaskis with lots of good family memories.
4) I got to see a take down of a fugitive in the hotel we stay at in Calgary on vacation.
5) We finished a five-week Family Leadership Conference on issues related to the inclusion of people with disabilities that was both eye opening and challenging.
6) I am heading out tonight with a great friend of mine who works at a home for street kids in Bolivia – looking forward to it.
7) I am now on Facebook and spent way to long online last night getting nothing done.
8) I am slowly working on a Blog article about the past, present and future of the Church that has dominated my thinking over the last while.
9) I am currently finishing reading Technolopy by Neil Postman and Organic Church by Neil Cole.
10) I’m learning Blues Bottleneck Slide Guitar.
11) Laurie and I are currently working through the first season of Jericho and have been faithfully watching On The Lot.
Word of the Day: Voluntold
Voluntold refers to those moments when someone is “assigned” a project due to their absence or by a supervisor to their subordinate. Voluntolding someone is an easy solution to a recruiting problem but it is often frustrating to be on the other end of a voluntolding situation. Voluntolding is also a great way to “punish” someone for not attending or leaving a meeting early.
Cafeteria Christianity
I think every Christian individual, church or institution is guilty of Cafeteria Christianity in some way, shape or form. We like to pick and choose the convenient theology, Bible passages or rationales for our “faith matrixes.” We all have a tendency to read Scripture in order to see our preconceived ideas, understandings and constructs strengthened and fortified. We pick and choose what is convenient or even, dare I say, what works in our limited experience. But can there be times where what works, what tastes good in the cafeteria line up, is not actually what’s good for you? And maybe, just maybe, in a theological and even practical way, down right bad for you?
I remember when I was in college, living on campus and eating in the cafeteria, there was a popular phrase that enter our vernacular. This colloquialism was widespread because it was true: “The Freshmen 15.” It meant that it was common for freshmen to gain 15 pounds in their first year. Although there were choices in the cafeteria line, everyone regularly choose ample portions of fries, pop, ice cream, etc. with each meal. Although there were healthy choices available, few people choose them and went for the easy but not so healthy options.
I think the same is true in Christianity. We choose what we like, what works for our lives, what brings comfort, what bring security (even political security), what brings our definition of success, what puts and keeps people in the pew, what validates our worldview or theology and what simply answers our big questions. But, in the end, we have to ask the question: Am I choosing what is easy and comfortable or could what is easy and comfortable, actually be bad for me?
I am not saying that everything we choose is bad. I think, for example, the current trend to care about justice issues in the evangelical church is good but dare I ask: Do we truly care for the oppressed or do we just like the idea of it because it is trendy to do so, it eases our consciences or maybe just because it is different? In essence, are we pursuing justice, which is biblical, with the right motives? If not, maybe we end up at a good destination but forget that the journey is part of what we are called to as well. As Jesus continually reminded people, it is our heart that truly matters.
Now think of your individual beliefs about God and the Church. In this realm the same temptation applies. I think we can often take the intellectual easy-way-out in the theological buffet. As a result, we like feel-good theology, feel-good teaching, prosperity gospel, and even “escapism eschatology.”
As well, continuing with the cafeteria analogy, I think there are times when we make healthy chooses but do so selectively, often ignore the inconvenient. We accept Jesus’ teachings when they affirm our actions and behavior and ignore the rest that may be good but are hard and costly. So we just pass them by in the cafeteria line, picking and choosing the doctrines and way of life that make us comfortable.
I wonder, however, if the abundant life Jesus taught about consists of a well-balanced diet; a diet that is more than just a buffet of ideas leading to eventual obesity, but integrated with exercise as our faith and beliefs are lived out and practiced in our individual lives.
Maybe we need to stop frequenting the fast-food diet choices and start to engage a fuller theology and life-style, with deeper authentic questions. If life’s biggest questions are something that stir deep in our souls, causing our lives to be consumed with the hunger for its answer, then the answer that is truly satisfying can’t be as simple as a “Happy Meal” that is franchised. Instead, it would be more complex and beautiful, causing, in the end, a satisfaction that can’t be manufactured, measured or franchised.
So, I invite us to rethink our lives, the church and our spirituality, seeking a fuller, healthier, and well-rounded diet.
It will be hard, costly and inconvenient, but aren’t the best things in life?
Blue Like Jazz
I have had this book sitting on my “to read” pile (the pile is now 34 books long) for awhile and thought I would finally get around to it. I know that it was the trendy and popular book about a year or two ago and I admit that I am behind in the times, however I am learning to live with my lack of trendiness – I just call it Retro.
I actually started reading it about a year ago and only got through the first chapter; I guess I wasn’t in the right head space at the time. However, this time I found it fascinating. It was appropriately humorous and warmly compelling…none of the ideas were new per say but the narrative Miller wove was gripping.
The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham
After reading this book the only word that can even possibly sum it up is “inspiring.” You can’t read about Billy Graham and his life, which is firmly and distinctly rooted in Christ, and not be inspired. Billy Graham is unique not because of his incredible talent and gifts (for which he has many), but because he is unapologeticly tethered to his faith in God and the one thing God has called him to. For someone who could have been the most powerful man in America as President, he chose a different path that in the end, has arguably made him one of the most influential.
The best parts of this book are not the methodological leadership gems offered but the anecdotal stories. My only wish is that the authors would have described more of Billy’s failures, of which they mildly allude, as lessons in leadership as well. Maybe because this book was written as a tribute to Billy legacy it was skewed in it’s content but I would have appreciate the stories where even great leaders like Billy make mistakes and those mistakes are not necessarily insurmountable but potential times of learning and wisdom.
This is one of those books that are a must to read in times of weariness where inspiration is needed to carry on – it is packed with it. In the end, it must be remembered: Billy’s accomplishments are not his own but God’s. I am positive that Billy would make this distinction and would be disappointed if I did not.