Missional Living

"Be kind. Everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."

–Philo of Alexandria, Jewish Philosopher and interesting guy

"Any one thinking of the Holy Child as born in December would mean by it exactly what we mean by it; that Christ is not merely a summer sun of the prosperous but a winter fire for the unfortunate."

-GK Chesterton

"The things you own, end up owning you…but do what you like."

-Tyler Durden, theologian

"Most of us spend the first six days of each week sowing wild oats;

then we go to church on Sunday and pray for a crop failure."

-Fred Allen

*this one just brought back memories of growing up in my home church…scary.

Last night, I slammed my left middle finger in a door at home, proving I’m a dork. It bled for at least an hour and I’ll probably lose my fingernail..[sigh]. Funny how there’s nothing like a little pain to send you into a temporary backslide, proving how frail we really are. Flesh and bone are strong and faithful as long as there’s no struggle involved. So, as I’m pecking this out painfully slowly this morning, I’m having a conversation with a friend who desperately loves theology. He loves to ‘prove’ that his particular flavor of theological bents is correct, and everything else is completely off base. In fact, he loves it so much I’m beginning to think he’s one of those guys that loves to argue theology for theology’s sake. He’s not a bad guy–I’m convinced he sincerely loves Jesus and wants to desperately understand and know and follow him as a disciple and follower and student. But I’m not one for arguing theology and am reminded of the words of Karl Barth, reformed /neo-orthodox theologian:

The best theology would need no advocates. It would prove itself.

We could argue theology all day long, and someone may ‘win’, but it would be like one of us being the ‘tallest midget’. And I’m pretty sure that doesn’t count. The best theology I know still brings tears to my eyes this morning. It was something I was taught long ago. "Jesus loves me this I know. For the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong. We are weak but He is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so."

While jogging along last week listening to the Alamo City Podcast, I heard an old college buddy say something that struck a chord within me.

"Religion is where people who’ve lost the courage to be authentic go to be respected."

(-Neil McClendon, speaker and agitator)

It’s late in the day and I am at yet another conference hoping I didn’t waste my time and money to hang out with other youth pastors who desperately want God to show up among their students. After spending the afternoon/evening listening to their hearts, I am reminded how unreasonable they are. They expect the vast majority of their pastors, deacons, elders, leaders, and adults to get on board with their vision of student ministry. They expect parents to be excited about their teenagers becoming revolutionaries and counter culture martyrs. They are all under-compensated and over-worked, yet fervently believe that God will honor their faithfulness and act against human reasoning and do amazing things in spite of their best (or worst) efforts.

So, thank you to all of you who share the trenches with me. Workers. Parents. Teachers. Staff members. All of you who believe in the world-changing idealistic power of student ministry. We are an illogical bunch. In many ways, we are unreasonable. (Who would’ve thought that Jesus could have changed the world with a dozen young men?…) I am reminded of these words:

"A reasonable man tries to adapt himself to the world.

An unreasonable man tries to adapt the world to himself.

Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man."

-George Bernard Shaw

"It pains me to see the beautiful truths of Scripture being plastered about like beer advertisements. Many think it is wise to "get the word out" in this way but, believe that we are really just inoculating the world with bits and pieces of truth - giving them their "gospel shots." (And we’re making it hard for them to "catch" the real thing!) People become numb to the truth when we splash our gaudy sayings in their eyes at every opportunity. Do you really think this is "opening them up to the Gospel"? Or is it really just another way for us to get smiles, waves, and approval from others in the "born-again club" out in the supermarket parking lot, who blow their horns with glee when they see your "Honk if you love Jesus!" bumper sticker?"

-the legendary Keith Green, in a rant…

You probably shouldn’t read the whole rant here if you like a nice, neat, comfortable version of consumer Christianity (like many of us have)…all the talk against a ‘personal savior’, a ’sinner’s prayer’, and an easy as 1-2-3 salvation presentations just might be upsetting…

Why do I like QM’s? Because after a week like this last one, my brain is oatmeal, and sometimes I can only handle one thought at a time. Like today. I started reading ‘The Culturally Savvy Christian’ last Wednesday, and although I’m just about done with it (through a hellish week, in fact) there has been one thing that has stuck in my brain like a pebble in my shoe.

"The Christian ideal has not been ‘tried and found wanting’; it has been found difficult and left untried."

-GK Chesterton

Taste and see…

Today our ministry officially says goodbye to the second member of our team, Stefanie Rasco. Stef is headed back to College Station to finish her masters degree at A&M (whoop!) this December. Stefanie has touched our lives and done some incredible ministry for the Kingdom and has invested herself (and Jesus) into the lives of all of us in P-ville.

One of the things I admire about Stef is her keen wit. (You thought I was going to say her love for Jesus or her passion for ice cream, huh? ) So, while today’s QM is not particularly reflective of some spooky smart (and dead) theologian of world renown, it’s pretty appropriate that the truth of Stef’s insighful words kick off the week:

"This is not a pony ride."

-Stefanie Rasco