Missional Living

"We are becoming who we will be forever."

Dallas Willard, from The Divine Conspiracy

Willard is urging us to see our lives, not as 24 hour short stories, but as novels, where each event has an affect on every other event and in turn has an affect on who we are and who we are becoming. So how do we begin to see our lives this way, as a novel and not just a series of short stories?

Try picking up Iron & Wine’s "Upward Over the Mountain" and attempting to piece together the images.

The annual Breathe Deep conference in Kemah was great this year. At least for Heather and I. We got to hang out and talk guitars and worship with the sparky David Gentiles. I admit, I’m still jealous over his redwood MacPherson 3.5 acoustic guitar. And he’s a great guy as well.

Lance Crowell did an outstanding job in the ‘What’s Your Emergent-cy?’ session. He was able to cover some differences between ‘emerging’ and ‘Emergent’ (as in Village), and discuss some leaders such as Dan Kimball, Mark Driscoll, Tony Jones, Andrew Jones, Spencer Burke, etc. While I suspect most of those who attended his sessions were pretty uninformed on the emerging realm of things, he did a great job in covering the history of the movement and pointing out the percieved dangers and successes of it– he didn’t throw the baby out with the bath water.

Besides getting to catch up with some guys I haven’t seen in a while (thanks, guys!), there were really two highlights of the whole weekend:

First, I got to hang out with my wife without kids around. With everything going on over the past few months, we haven’t had any regular date nights in several weeks. So we got to spend time together walking around, talking about random things, etc., without having to rush back to check on the boys. Talk about breathing deep…

Second, Heather and I got to spend some real quantity time with a couple who is almost in a  desperate survival mode in their marriage and ministry. His ministry is a tough, all-consuming monster and his wonderful wife has gone as far as she can go with it. She’s patiently sacrificed things (even their family at times) for over 15 years of it and now she’s ready to pack her bags and bail. Not that Heather and I have it all together, but it was really great for all four of us to spend time together and unpack what it means to serve God in the local church, and how much of a ’sacrifice’ pleases God. A long conversation that is far from over. I’ve known the guy for close to 15 years and love him dearly. He’s faithful. He’s godly. And we share the same struggles. We all needed to breathe deep this weekend.

Oh…and I got to go on several dates with my wonderful wife who, btw, is the coolest.

Over at TheResurgence, the audio and video is up from Seattle’s Text and Context conference. So far, I’ve only been able to watch Matt Chandler’s session titled "Preaching The Gospel From The Center of the Evangelical World". WELL worth the time.

As Chandler talks about the effects of pluralism in ministry as we deal with Evangelicals (the ‘big brother’), the de-churched (children of fundamentalism), and emergents. Several gems there.

One of the things that jumped out at me, especially in light of this recent post, was this:

"As a result we have [fundamentalists/theologians who've studied the details of scripture] with big heads and no hearts."

We put Scripture, often out of the context in which it is written, under a microscope, dissect it, display it, and propogate it. It seems we exist to give a prescription of  a neverending "to do"  list in order to follow Christ, but no "why".

And the ‘why’ is important to even my 4-year-old.

Watch and/or listen here.

For all of you locals:

This Sunday, May 11, we’ll have a couple of special guests at our 10:30 a.m. student ministry time: Glyn Milburn and Robert Jones.

Milburn is a two-time All American running back, wide receiver and kick returner. He graduated from the University of Stanford and spent 10 years in the NFL, playing with the Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions, Chicago Bears, and San Diego Chargers.

Jones spent 11 years in the NFL, playing for the Dallas Cowboys, St. Louis Rams, Miami Dolphins, and Washington Redskins. He was NFC Rookie of the Year in 1992 and won three Super Bowls with the Cowboys. 
 

They’ll be sharing their individual journeys of faith with our students and parents. It’ll be an exciting time.

Seating will be…um…packed. So be there on time!

Long time, and real-time guitar hero Joe Satriani has a new CD out which is blowing me away. One of the things I’ve always loved about Satch is his music is both ‘listenable’ and inspiring. He’s not nearly as technical as Steve Vai or Yngwie, but more beautiful and melodic. And did I mention inspiring? First song on the CD is titled Musterion which is based on a hungarian minor scale (impressed?). And it’s a fantastic tune built around an idea he had about an ‘internal mystery.’ According to ol’ Satch, he was attracted to the title because it is a Greek word which was used to denote false spiritual doctrines until Paul turned it around in the NT.

Essentially, Paul uses it to say that, in Satch’s words, ‘the only way you can understand the stories of the New Testament is [by being] touched by the Divine. And it’s that sort of enlightenment that helps you ‘decode’ these stories and understand the true mystery (musterion) of faith.’

In a nutshell, a ‘musterion’ was a sort of ‘closed truth’. In Paul’s day, musterion was a kind of technical term utilized by the "mystery religions" which referred to a secrets concealed by strange customs and ceremonies and confided only to those initiated into the "mystery cult".  You kinda had to be in the club to know the secret handshake… such as "a secret rite," "secret teaching”, etc….

IOW, it’s not like a mystery novel, but refers to something hidden in former times, but now made known. Not something learned by ‘eye’ or ‘ear’ but by ‘heart’. Paul describes the mystery of Christ as the [musterion] which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints. When God illuminates our heart at conversion, he gives ‘the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ’ (2 Cor. 4:6)

Listen to or watch a short podcast here. Pick any of the songs to watch/hear a clip and an interview with Professor Satch.

Then run to iTunes and pick it up.

iMonk has a great post titled "The Jesus-shaped Question: Are Christians Like Jesus?".  After reading and reflecting on Philippians 3:7-8, he has some great thoughts which may be offensive to some. Something that leaped out at me this morning is this:

Christians are conservatives and liberals.

Christians are culture warriors and advocates of family values.

Christians are excited about the megachurches and busy consuming Christian products, from t-shirts to music to cruises.

Christians are defenders of denominations and watchdogs for doctrinal orthodoxy.

Christians are having their best life now and becoming a better you.

Christians are purpose driven and super spiritual.

Christians are taking back what the devil stole and taking a stand in a godless culture.

Christians have dozens of labels and participate in hundreds of activities.

Christians have their own celebrities, their own cable channels, their own entertainment and their own comfortable subcultures.

But few Christians are like Jesus, especially here in the prosperous Christian west.

It’s not much of a news flash to us to realize that most Christians, if they are anything like me, are not much like Jesus most of the time. The sad part is that I’m not sure we’re really trying to move in his direction either. We are too comfortable for that.  We’d have to give up too much (our own cable channel, our purpose-driven addictions, our music and t-shirts and cruises) to pick up the cross and follow Him. And the last thing we need is another rote, formulaic, 5-point evangelism strategy. I don’t ever recall a time in Scripture when Jesus asked his fishing buddies, "Did you know God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life?…" (Again…that’s for another blog.)

Spencer comments on something a Muslim student related to him about Christians: Most Christians weren’t like Jesus, and the Christian insistence that God was working in and through them was largely undercut by the failure of individual Christians to show character that surpassed what was seen in Muslims or Buddhists.

Yes, Christians aren’t perfect. Just forgiven.

blah. blah. blah.

But when will we get on with the business of being reformed? Redeemed in our character? Recreated in our work ethics and speech and compassion for people? When will we get busy in genuine, loving relationships with non-believers…and do so without an agenda to trump the F.A.I.T.H. card on them in an unsuspecting moment?

Jesus-following people should be Jesus-shaped people. We will never reflect him until we imitate Him… which does not mean we study Him in some discipleship class and let that be it.

I guess what really bugs me is the fact that, as Christians, we are not much like Jesus. And we think that’s normal.

Read iMonk’s post here.  If you’ve got thoughts, I’d love to hear ‘em.

I ordered it a month ago from Amazon. It came (woo-hoo!) but the demands of ministry have been such that I just now have the time to devote to it. I could speed-read it through and move on…but I’m trying hard at slowing down these days.

Len Sweet’s latest book titled “11: Indispensible Relationships You Can’t Live Without” is something I (you?) shouldn’t speed-read. He describes 11 characters from Scripture as people we can’t successfully live our lives without. And first up is Nathan: King David’s friend, counselor and advisor who loved him enough to wag his bony finger in the king’s face about his sexual relationship with Bathsheba. Without Nathan, King Dave would have continued his alduterous and murderous behavior and corrupted the Davidic line.

Don’t, for a second, confuse this with accountability. Len makes clear something I’ve tried to say for a long time: to quote Joe Meyers, we don’t need accountability, we need ‘edit-ability’.

In the world of accounting, it’s all too easy to keep double books: one for for accountability partners and one for your secret self. Plus, the whole ‘accountability mentality’ has grown up a generation of religious pharisees who seem to love sniffing out failure like a drug dog in east Austin. Monitoring the sins of others comes easy enough: racism, sexism, ageism, liberalism, homophobism, conservatism, war, abortion, stem-cell research and condoms.

The real issue is not accountability, but editability. Do you mind your life being overhauled by someone else’s thumbs? By another’s red pen? Do you mind being sculpted by another artisan? Everyone needs an editor. Or three.

At the time of his rendevouz with Bathsheba, Nathan had already built up a good account with David. He wasn’t just a nuisiance. He had access to the king because he had already given him good advice and, as a result, had a standing invitation to drop by and ‘carpe momentum’ when the script desperately needed a rewite.

Nathan is someone who cares and wants the best for you…even when they show up on your doorstep with a sword. As best as I can see, however, he usually shows up with a scalpel.

I have a few Nathans. Some live hours away while some live within walking distance. They get under my skin at just the right time. They ask hard questions. They remind me it is very possible, in my life, to accomplish much but never amount to much. They challenge, convict, and comfort me. My Nathans help me see the truth about myself: I’m not as good as I imagine, but I’m not as bad as I fear I am either. Truth is, I’m probably worse, but that’s for another blog..

So, today, thank you, Jesus, for someone like Nathan. Keep me editable.

‘Never rely on the glory of the morning, nor the smiles of your mother-in-law.’

-Japanese proverb

If you’ve followed me on Twitter lately, you know I’m just about sick of hospitals. As things are getting back to normal, I’m finally able to get back to some reading and blogging.

To start things off, check out this blog on Why I Don’t Do Gas Buy-Downs. How does this shape what we do to reach people for Christ in our suburban life? Jonathan has some very thought through ideas on why it’s really just cheap advertisement for the church (his words) and downright silly (mine). Events like these, IMO, don’t do anything to develop relationships or redeem the culture…

Thoughts?

Thanks, Steve!

In case you haven’t discovered Twitter yet…sign up. And follow me through the Twitter-verse…get updates to your desktop or mobile phone.

Still not sure what it is?

From Wikipedia:

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send "updates" (or "tweets"; text-based posts, up to 140 characters long) to the Twitter website, via short message service (e.g. on a cell phone), instant messaging, or a third-party application such as Twitterrific or Facebook.

Updates are displayed on the user’s profile page and instantly delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. The sender can restrict delivery to those in his or her circle of friends (delivery to everyone is the default). Users can receive updates via the Twitter website, instant messaging, SMS (text messages), RSS, email or through an application.

*warning: Twitter use can be highly addictive and habit forming, resulting in the tendency to scrap all your Facebook, MySpace, and miscellaneous IM accounts… Use with discretion and caffeine.