Missional Living

…turn back now.

If you’re not familiar with Abort73.com, you should definitely check them out. Granted, if you know me, you know I’m absolutely pro-life, but…this is a site well worth knowing. It’s extremely  tasteful and informative, with pages on the biological, political, racial, financial, and theological implications of abortion. Pretty intersting stuff…

Regardless of where you may be on the life v. choice issue, it’s a great resource of information, and I’d love to get your thoughts on it.

The reason? I’m a pro-life guy who cares about more than just my local fetuses. I also care about the lives of the elderly. The homeless. The poor. The uneducated. What about the life of our planet as well…? Hmmm… To me those are all pro-life issues, albiet for another post. But Abort73 is one of the few pro-life sites that seems intelligent and respectful. It doesn’t seem confrontational and all finger-pointy like others I’ve run across. I don’t know that I would wear ANY pro-life t-shirt (because of the emotional issue abortion has become, slogans on shirts and bumper stickers really limit conversation…IMO), but I definitely like the stuff on their site (see pic below). I think they are making strides to open up the conversation past the typical "Oh, you’re one of those…"

Whether you’re pro-life or pro-choice, I’d like to hear some ideas about how to develop the conversation between the camps. How can we talk rationally? Respectfully? Has the church gone overboard with the issue? Have they not gone far enough? What about addressing issues that the poor and impoverished face? Doesn’t that ripple into abortion statistics as well?

Granted, I’m no expert. Just someone with a lot of questions who’s concerned about life.

If you know anything about me, you know that music continues to be a major part of my existence on this little rock. It can express more in 3.5 minutes than many evangelists I know. It can elevate, inspire, energize, …or bring tears. I don’t subscribe to the idea of ‘christian’ music vs. ’secular’ music, because most people, IMO, really mean ‘christian lyrics’ when they have that conversation (i.e. does the song actually say ‘Jesus’? Or is he singing about a girl? And to me, that’s a little….stupid. But that’s for another converstation if you want it.)

But how many times have I been involved in leading worship and the music was just awful? How many times have I played somewhere and felt like I completely bombed…only to have someone genuinely say they were really touched? I’ve even seen the great EJ perform several times, the first of which he admittedly had a ‘very off night’….but his off night changed the way I approach my guitar playing.

Several of us in By Design have commented that when we blow it musically, people still connect with God through the Spirit. I can feel horrible about the musicianship of a worship experience, yet our students and adults still connect with the Living God. Does that give me license to slack off? No way. Do I settle for mediocrity? No way.

In an interview with Guitar World 17 years ago, Joe Satriani said this:

"Maybe what the audience really hears is what the music is triggering inside of them, as opposed to what’s actually happening on tape or onstage. The music is a catalyst for the internal music that each person experiences, as opposed to sitting back and taking in all the notes…"

I think ‘Ol Satch is on to something there. While we do, in fact, take in notes, lyrics, rythm, meter, etc. as it’s presented, music is the emotive catalyst to our internal rhythms. It connects. It speaks. It moves. It stirs the pot. And what I feel and experience goes much deeper than what I hear. Experience is in no way limited to my five external senses, but also must include the sum total of my perception–everything from my family experiences to personal struggles to the simple fact that I skipped lunch. It’s much more holistic than that.

The beauty is that the Spirit uses all of those things to connect me to something huge. Tangible yet intangible. Vast yet intimate. Universal but Unique. It’s what helps me ’see through the glass darkly’. Can anyone else relate?

OK….there’s a little secret to surving student ministry that I’ll let you in on. How do we survive the summer full of Beach Break, Camp 7.8, Mission Trips, Middle School Mondays, Road Trip Tuesdays, Overhaulin’ Wednesdays,  Wednesday morning staff Bible studies, Thursday night band practices…and still have some sanity left over for the wife and kids?

Caffeine Jello Shots.

It’s easy and fun for the whole family. So, from me to you, here’s an easy, how-to to get you through the last sprint of summer.

You’ll need the following ingredients:

• Caffeine powder (can be bought as pure powder or made from ground up caffeine pills, but don’t be stupid—see dosages below)
• Jello. I recommend multiple flavors so different colors can represent a certain ‘punch’.  (Cherry is a 50 mg punch, lemon is a 100mg, and lime is a whopping 200mgs of a sour kick-to-the-face goodness…)
• Shot glasses. Of course, I’m Baptist and I don’t have any…so I’ll use  paper bathroom cups… (I guess Christmas is just around the corner…)

Steps To Survival:

1. Decide on the caffeine dosage of your jello shots. Then determine how many caffeine pills you will need. A 6 oz Jello package makes about 30 shots, so figure how much caffeine you’re going to need total, and divide that by the amount of caffeine per pill, which is usually 200mg. (E.g. 30 shots at 50mg each = 1500mg total, divided by 200mg = 7.5 pills needed.)
    
   • 50mg- Mild energy rush. About equal to the caffeine in a can of cola.
   • 100mg- Enough energy for 80’s dance night. Equals about a 2 ounce espresso.
   • 200mg- Same dose as in 2.5 cans of Red Bull.
   • 300mg- Twitching starts. Jello shots begin to taste very bitter.
   • 400mg- Ingesting more than 400 mg of caffeine can be dangerous, with side effects including tremors, agitation, stomach ache, and irregular heartbeat. This means you could be stupid and die…trust me, the 100mg stage is plenty.

2. Grind the caffeine pills with a mortar and pestle if available. Otherwise place the pills on a sheet of paper. Fold the paper in half, and go over it with a rolling pin or some other dense cylindrical object. Use moderate force so that you can crush them.Keep rolling until the powder  is smooth.

3. Pour the ground up caffeine into a large bowl with the Jello powder, and mix thoroughly.
4. Add the boiling water (follow the standard Jello recipe on the box for exact amount of water) and stir thoroughly. Keep stirring until all the caffeine has completely dissolved into the solution.
5.  
6. Finally, pour the solution evenly into 30 small glasses and refrigerate for a few hours until jiggly.

Now if I can just get my local Starbucks to start stocking these babies in the cooler next to their espresso brownies….

This has been rattling around my head for several months now, and even though the summer life of student ministry is completely insane (Prozac, anyone?), I’m just about to explode. And, although our student ministry team is reading through McLaren and Campolo’s ‘Adventures in Missing the Point’, that’s merely been like the little agitator in my washing machine–all the ingredients have been there for a while, but now it’s all stirred up and causing trouble. Dang it.  (And I’ll try  to be coherent and not rant…) So, here goes…

Q: Why did Jesus come into the world?

A: To seek and save the lost? To reveal God to us? To show us how to live? To defeat Satan’s strongholds? To get me to Heaven?

Perhaps. In fact, I’d answer ‘yes’ to all of those. But I’d also argue that none of those answers are ‘the point’ to God showing up with skin on his face, walking this planet, and then checking out. In fact, in the three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, John), Jesus tells us that he has come first and foremost to declare that the ‘Kingdom of God is at hand". Further, he goes to pretty great lengths to describe what it looks like: a farmer’s good seed, a mustard seed, a treasure in a field, etc. It seems that God wants his Kingdom established on earth now…not ‘when I die and go to Heaven’. (Matt. 6). Would you agree? Some say ‘no’.

If you say ‘yes’ then beware. Because it seems to completely contradict us evangelicals (and neo-Marxists, as well) in what we believe and teach about Christianity being an otherworldly, life-after-death-insurance-program-with-mansions-on-golden-streets-if-we-can-just-hang-in-there religion. And although we tend to look at  God’s Kingdom through NT lenses, the OT describes it in several places. My favorite is Isaiah 65: 17-25. (You can also check out Zechariah 8 and Revelation 21 for other descriptions)

According to Isaiah, God’s Kingdom abolishes all suffering.

It ends the infant mortality rate so common among the poor.

It gives health and dignity to the elderly, as well as long life.

It provides a fair wage to every job.

It takes away the mother’s worry of her children being destroyed by drugs.

It restores the ecological balance of Eden to the earth.

So what?

So, thanks to John Darby  and the once-popular Scofield Bible  (and others, I’m sure) we’ve grown a generation or two of Dispensationalists (fundamentals and most evangelicals) who see our word as an evil, sinking ship and that  it’s only going to get worse and worse, and sink lower and lower, until God has to intervene with the Second Coming, wipe it all out and start over with those that have endured to the end. Therfore, the best use of our collective efforts are to get as many people off the ship as possible before it goes down, huddle together, and try to hunker down and endure the oppressions, inequities, and injustices of this evil, horrible, and prejudicial world.

The problem is, IMO, that’s not Good News at all. In fact, it’s pretty desparing.

Isn’t the Good News that God is at work in the world (through his Divinity and through us), both inside and outside the church, bringing hope to the poor, liberation to the oppressed, justice and peace to the hopeless? Isn’t the Good News that the Kingdom is here? That we are indeed striving to realize this Kingdom here and now–even as flawed as we are. Yes, whatever we build of God’s Kingdom will never be fully realized until Christ’s return—only a face-to-face encounter with the eschatological Christ can fully make us Kingdom People. But in the meantime, we must realize that the Kingdom of God is not about me. It’s not about the hereafter. It’s about the ‘here’. It’s about the ‘now’. It’s about the whole of creation waiting for us to be instruments of God, through which it will be delivered fom it’s present (tragic) condition. (Romans8:18-22)

So, then, what?

So then, IMHO, building the Kingdom of God is the core of  MIssional Living. It’s being an active participant in bringing the rule and reign of the Kingdom here and now…on Earth as it is in Heaven. It’s more than whether or not I vote Pro-Life or Pro-Choice. It’s more than supporting our troops. What about educating the poor? Feeding the needy? Providing vaccines to the impoverished? Mowing my elderly neighbor’s yard?  But then…let’s take it an even more dangerous step closer to home.

Further, what does building the Kingdom, and living missionally, mean for hot issues such as welfare? What about conservation, global warming, and living green (remember God’s charge to Adam in the Garden) ?

What about immigration and securing the border? How does that look through the lenses of proclaiming the Kingdom at hand? Wouldn’t that mean that we would invite anyone/everyone into a land of abundance, flawed though it is, where wages, healthcare, potential of prosperity, education, and the basic standard of living surpasses just about anywhere else on the planet? Something about all that reminds me of the words of Jesus regarding the parable of the banquet… because for masses of people in this country, that would be Good News.

Consider the can of worms officially opened.

It’s been way too long since I’ve posted, but such is the life of student ministry these days. Camps at South Padre one week, VBS the next, Road Trip Tuesdays, Middle School Mondays, practicing with By Design, our Overhaulin’ project,….and trying to squeeze in some much-needed family time. (Did I mention that I’m also back on my half-marathon training program for an even in Waco this August? Yes, August…the national month of Hell)

Yesterday, we spent some time out at the lake with friends tubing and swimming (in between showers of rain!) and getting fat and tan. On the way home, Heather and I were talking about things at church and how blessed we are to be here. Then I realized one important fact:

July 4th, 2007, marks my 3-year anniversary here. Three years ago I was set free to begin a wonderful new chapter in my life and ministry with some amazing people. It’s co-dependant and messy and broken and beautiful and encouraging and frustrating and thrilling …and a priviledge.

It seems fitting that Independence Day will for me forever mark the occasion of beginning ministry here. Very cool.