Dust

Hey you! Its been a long while since I last posted. I wanted to share a quick song that I have not been able to get out of my head. The deep truth that God creates life out of chaos rings true as we walk towards restoration.

All this pain
I wonder if I’ll ever find my way?
I wonder if my life could really change at all?

All this earth
Could all that is lost ever be found?
Could a garden come up from this ground at all?

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us

All around
Hope is springing up from this old ground
Out of chaos life is being found in You

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us

the Way

Listening to: Mason Jennings

Feeling: Reflective

So. Here I sit, prepping for tonight’s lesson. We will be looking at some interesting words of Jesus. “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” You will be my sounding board as I attempt to straighten out my own thoughts.

Earlier today I had a conversation about these exact words, not knowing I would be studying them later in the afternoon. We pondered about what Jesus meant by these words. If Jesus didn’t come to make a new religion, then what do these words mean? If he is the way, which way is he going, and where is he leading? Truth. What does it mean to embody it? Is this deeper than moral truth? Life. In what ways does Jesus bring the life that is more than eating, sleeping, and breathing? In such a simple and seemingly straight forward statement I found myself asking questions, unsatisfied with the easy answers. You know. Those answers that I used to say, “He was saying that if you aren’t a Christian than you go to hell, because Jesus is the way to God.” As I get older I know there is more going on than the foundations of a new religion… perhaps Jesus is embodying what all religions try to do; point to God. But, instead of pointing to it, he said, “Follow me! I am the way! God and I are one.”

So. Where is Jesus taking us? What is the way? Well. Where did Jesus go? What was his way? His was the way of the cross, death and resurrection. The cross, his death and resurrection, is about justice. Not justice in the sense of an iron fist, but justice in the sense of wrong things being put to rights. Wrongs being put to rights in everything. restoring not just me with God. Restoring US with God. Restoring US with ourselves. Restoring US with everyone. Restoring US with creation. The way is to and through the cross. The truth is that everything and everyone is deeply loved and living in the presence of God and nothing can separate us from it. The life is the restoration of old into new, broken into whole, perverted into pure, cursed to blessed. The restoration that brings heaven to earth.

Do we go through only one “death and resurrection”, as in baptism? Once, and then thats all? Im not sure this is the case. The way of life that embodies the resurrection will come to places where “deaths” need to take place, and where “resurrections” will bring new life. These battles inside of ourselves… the death of our own ego. Thats what carrying our cross is about. Dying to ourselves. But, if you’re like me you find that once you die to something your old self somehow creeps back in. It is a cycle. Life follows that cycle. Its not always about success. Some call this the path from orientation, to disorientation, to re-orientation. The problem is, is that our re-orientations become our new orientations, and get in the way… the trip us up along the way.

The way, truth, and life is not always external… but an internal struggle too.

The way,  truth, and life, Jesus is bringing people to the heart of God, pointing people in the direction of heaven. I hope we can follow Him there.

There are still many words to be added. As we travel the road towards restoration, might we be people of the Way.

Warren

Today we celebrated the life of a friend, Warren. I have known Warren since August. In the short time I’ve known him, he was a joy to be around. He would always want to pick a “fight” with me. Throw me in a head-lock. Would I fight back? No. I knew he could take me. But, thats how Warren showed his affection… like so many other boys.

I had a strange moment after the memorial service, while we were eating sandwiches. A friend of Warrens, from the home he was living in, spoke about him. She shared how he was compassionate, loved his friends, loved the Lord, and that Warren made her a better person in the few months she had known him. After she shared, I heard Warrens brother say, “I’m glad he found compassion, because when we knew him, he didn’t”. You see, Warren was estranged from his family for nearly 20 years. They didn’t know Warren the way that a lot of us knew Warren. This saddens me. How tragic that his family didn’t know a man full of compassion and joy. How sad.

It is strange how there are people in our lives who know us in vastly different ways. Yet, these different stories of one man combine into one story. A story of hurt, chaos, love, loss, and finally redemption and restoration. Isn’t this a story we all know? Isn’t this the story we all share? Some stories don’t end like Warrens, a celebration. But, they are all a part of the Story we all live.

I am encouraged by Warrens openness to God. May follow Warrens example to be open to be used,  be loved by, to love, and trust God who pursues us towards restoration…

All at Once

Feeling: Hopeful

Listening to: Jack Johnson

I wanted to share a song with ya’ll that I’ve always loved, but have been listening to more lately. Enjoy.

all at once,
the world can overwhelm me
theres almost nothin’ that you could tell me
that could ease my mind

which way will you run
when its always all around you
and the feelin’ lost and found you again
a feelin’ that we have no control
around the sun, some say
theres gonna be the new hell
some say, its still too early to tell
some say, it really ain’t no myth at all

keep askin ourselves are we really strong enough
there’s so many things that we got too proud of
we’re too proud of
we’re too proud of

i wanna take the preconceived
out from underneath your feet
we could shake it off instead we’ll plant some seeds

we’ll watch em’ as they grow

and with each new beat

from your heart the roots grow deeper
the branches will they reach for what
nobody really knows
but underneath it all
theres this heart all alone

what about is gone
and it really won’t be so long
sometimes it feels like a heart is no place to be singin’ from at all

theres a world we’ve never seen
theres still hope between the dreams
the weight of it all could blow away with a breeze
if your waitin on the wind don’t forget to breathe
cause as the darkness gets deeper we’ll be sinkin as we reach for love
at least somethin we could hold
but i’ll reach to you from where time just cant go

what about is gone
and it really wont be so long
sometimes it feels like a heart is no place to be singin’ from at all

EHM’s, Avatar & Empire

So. I have a couple things to talk about. But, they both overlap… oddly enough.

Before Christmas I started reading the book Confessions of an Economic Hitman. It was recommended to me from a friend who said I would like it. I didn’t like it. It made me angry, frustrated about the state of the world, and at times hopeful that there could be something better.  John Perkins, the author, was an “Economic Hitman (EHM)” for a large multinational corporation. His job was to give hyper-inflated economic projections to developing nations. These projections would be used to entice the nation to take out enormous loans to build up the infrastructure of the country to boost the economy and bring wealth to all in the nation. The catch was that the companies who would be given the multimillion dollar contracts must be American (or what ever country was giving the loans, USA was not the only one). So, the US would give millions to these countries, who would in turn pump it back into the American economy. But, this would be good in the long run for these countries, right? No. The projections given by the EHM would never come true. Not even close. The country would now be in enormous debt, unable to pay it off. And, much of the country poorer now than before the corporations entered. This would allow the US to be in control of natural resources (namely oil), allow the US to place military bases on their land, and be in control of UN votes. John Perkins was a large factor in this happening in Ecuador, Philippines, and Saudi Arabia to name a few. I would recommend this book if you want a glimpse into international trade, politics, and modern-day colonialism.

I also saw Avatar over the Christmas break. What does these have to do with each other? One of the story lines we see in Avatar is that of empire building. I was sitting in the theatre thinking, “I just read about this! This is brilliant!” In Avatar there is a pretty man in a suit (you know, Pheobe’s brother from friends…) and he is there on behalf of earth to extract “unobtanium”. Clever. He will make 20-million a kilo of this stuff. The only problem is that the native population happens to live right on top of the largest deposit of unobtaium. So, they tell our main character(he would be the closest thing to an EHM in this case…) to become one of them, and convince them to leave their home… if you don’t, we will just come in a kill them all and take it anyways. The beauty in the story is, and in the story of John Perkins, is that they eventually see that these “indigenous savages” are people. The human factor comes into play and they realize that the native population is not less than, but different. In Avatar we see a civilization that lives in harmony with all life. All life is treated sacred, and in turn their connection with their deity is deep and meaningful.

The story of Avatar is romanticized and real life is far more complex. Not every person in western civilization is out to pillage what is left of native populations around the world to gain control of their natural resources. And not all native populations live in the harmonious balance we see in Avatar. But, what I did learn is that we all have a role to play. Empire building is a massive industry. There is no conspiracy when it comes to empire. There is however a shared ideology and a shared drive for money a power that propels people in our world to become less human by exploiting others. My question is, do we share this ideology? Do we help propel empire further and deeper into our world? Or, as Jesus did, are we seeking to turn it on its head? Do we live and love outside the empires walls, while still walking in them?

This is complex. This is one of the many things Jesus comes to heal the world of, and the reason why Jesus was killed. He confronted systems of oppression and power. This is nothing new.

Im going to stop there. What I want you to do, is talk about this with people. Avatar has made a billion dollars already… a lot of people have seen this movie. Talk about it. Make a stir. If you want to read more about this here are a couple books you should pick up, or I can lend you. (If you would like others… let me know, I have a few more)

The Prophetic Imagination by Walter Brueggemann

Ishmael by Daniel Quinn

Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne

If you have recommendations for me to read… send em my way!

May we love all towardsrestoration…

song and dance

Listening to: Mason Jennings

Feeling: Tired, but hopeful

 

I went to see Tony Campollo last night. I love Tony. He says great things, and is always refreshing… and entertaining. But, this event was for some celebration for CTSTV.COM. There was so much about that night that made my skin crawl. Allow me to share:

 

1. There was a ton of rhetoric about morality. barf. Im tired of Christians thinking that morality is the indicator of spiritual maturity and the only purpose of the church. They shared some stat about the percentage of people attending churches today compared to the 50′s (8% now from 80% back then). The reason they were shocked by these numbers was because the morality of people were not being shaped by the church. Maybe thats why people stopped going… all we were doing was trying to control them with rules. They made it seem like people who didnt go to church were not moral, and did not think about morality. There are very moral folks outside the church, and some terribly immoral folks outside. It was a blatant us vs. them attitude. barf. Doesnt the church exist more that to be a moral compass?

2. It was horribly fake. I dont think anyone, except for a hilarious old british man and Tony Campollo, said anything that had any authenticity to it. There was massive amounts of cheese added to the event. From the dancing hockey players (very talented! but the cheese?) to the hyper-emotional speeches of the CTS hosts… barf. It was all sensationalized.

3. If that is what Christians are like, I dont want to be one. Thankfully I have met a few who arent and have redeemed what it means to walk in Christ. Thanks friends.

4. Christian programing is terrible. A Christian version of Dr. Phil (I heard he was a Christian?), rate your Church, and a situational ethics show were just a few ideas thrown at us. With all the talk about the content on television, and I agree its not the best. We are becoming desensitized to violence and our sexuality is shaped by what we see on TV/Movies/Internet. but, is this the answer? A Christian tv network? Tony Campollo always talks about getting out of bed with the whore of Babylon. This isnt getting out of bed with her, it choosing one who doesnt smoke, swear, and who isnt a “potty-mouth” (dont get me going on the amount of times that word was used last night). If you are unable to have some sort of engaging conversation about what you are seeing, I think an appropriate response would be to stop watching TV. There is some good programming out there. Be wise and selective. Dont be used by your media, learn to use it for something greater.

 

thanks for letting me barf.

I may have more to share about this later…

may all of our media move towards restoration…

quiet

Listening too: nothing

Feeling: tired and headachy

 

I sit here in my office. Its a modest space. I have just been sitting in some silence for the last few minutes, and it was perfect. It was just what I needed. I had a restless sleep last night, and a busy day. It is nice to just stop for a moment.

I have a candle lit. I like candles.

There is a softness and a sharpness to them that help me to relax. The flame reminds me of God. I like moments when I can just be; without the need to speak, or to listen. I need more time like this in my life. It is life giving. It doesn’t suck the life out of me, like staring at a screen does, or listening to meaningless crap on the radio. Sometimes the best thing to listen to, is nothing. In the nothing, we are truly able to hear.

I want to hear more.

But, I want to hear more of what matters. I want to learn to listen to the nothingness and hear God. He is there. Remember the emptiness of creation? (the tohu vabohu) God was there. Making sense of the chaos.

As I look at the flame beside me God is mysteriously working in me and through me to bring light, to bring order, to bring quiet to the world around me. I hope I can work with God for most of it.

May we rest it the quiet places of God as we walk towards restoration

mason jennings & war

Listening to: Mason Jennings – The Field

Wanting: a cup o’ Yerba

I wanted to share a recent video of Mr. Mason Jennings. In the video he talks about his latest album, and performs, one of the best songs from the album. It is a profound war song, and goes along with a couple conversations about war that I have had recently.

When I think or talk about war, the Nazi’s always come up. I think of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. A man who was driven to plan Hitler’s assassination, but at the same time did not think it was right. An interesting thought.

In the song, Mason Jennings, tells the story of a man who goes to war and dies. His family misses him dearly, and wonders where his heart has come to rest, as they lay out in a field staring at the stars.

What are your thoughts about war? Is there a point in which it is necessary? Does that justify it?

Come home in one piece James.

may we be moving towards restoration…

numb

Not too sure what to write today. I had a good day, but feeling somewhat numb today. The numbness could be from fatigue, or it could be one of those days. God is in this somewhere. Difficult to see, touch, or hear. Maybe, He is closer than normal, and inside my “bubble”… nudging me along. I like days like today, but I dont want them to come around too often.

moving towards restoration…

V

Listening to: Rage Against the Machine – Killing in the Name of

Feeling: Hungry

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,The Gunpowder Treason and Plot, I know of no reason Why the Gunpowder Treason Should ever be forgot.

Just finished watching V for Vendetta. A great movie! Have seen it many times, and look forward to watching more in the future. I love it because it inspires hope, hope for a better way, because the way things are just aren’t quite right. It is almost as though this movie serves as a parable to tell people of hope (a lie to uncover some deeper Truth). ‘V’ acts as a man who acts with the larger picture in mind, and without his own well being in mind… kind of a prophet of sorts. He is a radical man.  And with that I will leave you with one last quote on what it means to be truly radical.

“To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing” -Raymond Williams

What movies have you seen that inspire you?