hachnassat orchim - "the bringing in of guests"

Reading a great book called mudhouse sabbath by Lauren Winner. She grew up in the Jewish faith but converted to Christianity as a young adult. This book is her reflections on how Jewish traditions can bring so much meaning to the way we live our Christian faith.

Says Winner:

few situations maek me as uncomfortable as being a newcomer in a church...Everyone else knows when to stand and sit and bow and smile, and everyone else has someone to talk to during coffee horu, and there i stand, awkward and ill at ease, my inner introvert yelling at me to go home and curl up with a novel.

She goes on to tell about her second visit at the church she ended up joining. A couple she met for the first time on the spot invited her to join their family for a 4th of July party. At this same church, a friend of Winner's found herself "between leases" for a few days and in 2 days time, she had 3 different offers for a place to stay.

This kind of hospitality, unfortunately rare even in churches, is woven into the very fiber of the Jewish story and subsequently the Jewish way of life. As Abraham gives food to 3 strangers who turn out to be angels; Jethro welcomed Moses, Rahab sheltered Joshua's spies; an unnamed woman welcomes Elisha; Hospitality is a bedrock of Jewish life. Winner quotes Rabbi Yochanan who insists that hsopitality was even more important than praying.

"To invite people into our homes...is to respond with gratitude to the God who made a home for us."

So reading all that got me thinking: how do we show hospitality on Sunday mornings - especially when first time visitors feel like they are in the most uncomfortable place in the world?

That desire to live in the value of hospitality, paired with the awareness of how visitors probably feel: Well it's those things that we are thinking about when we plan our worship service, lay out our physical space, pass (or don't pass) the offering bowls, print up our bulletins, and ask for volunteers to serve as greeters.

What a challenging concept: That maybe the way we treat our guests may be more important than the prayers we offer God during our worship services.

Get off my lawn you crazy kids...

So my buddy KJ posted some great thoughts on his blog today. You can see it by clicking here . Please check it out because the video is AWESOME. I wish I could sing.

KJ talks in his blog about being "peculiar people." He's right on. I love the idea of our living in such a way as to add "flavor" to the lives of those around us. But remember our peculiarity comes from our living in the upside down values of the Kingdom of God. We just finished a series on the 7 deadly sins vs 7 virtues. And the point wasn't to say, "don't commit these 7 sins." The point was to say, "try shaping your life around these values that are totally at odds with what you see in the world around us. In those upside down values, we might just find that we're tasting our food for the first time (metaphorically speaking).

Here's another great example of how we can be "peculiar": Click here .

So, what are you doing to be "blood in the dried veins of society?"

By the way, I am a big fan of titles that have nothing to do with the actual content.

Sad Saturday

So we had Maunday Thursday where we remember Jesus getting arrested. Then Good Friday yesterday where Jesus gets nailed to a cross...and dies.

tomorrow is Easter. We all know what that one's about.

What about today? It's cloudy and cold and dull feeling. I have to be honest, if I wasn't polishing things up for tomorrow's service, I'm not sure I'd be thinking about the fact that this is the day Jesus was lying dead in a tomb.

As I thought about that this morning, it was a reminder of how we tend to compartmentalize our lives into nice tidy, convenient little clusters of meaning. No need to worry about Jesus today. That's what Sunday is for.

In centuries past, the church used to fast from Maunday Thursday night until Easter Sunday morning. They LIVED Holy Week in a way that connected Jesus' suffering to every part of their existence. They threw themselves into reflecting on and experiencing the suffering of Jesus. When Easter morning rolled around, they celebrated Jesus resurrection whole heartedly because they lived in his suffering and death leading up to it. I bet songs like Amazing Grace have a whole new meaning after that.

Sounds nice.

In Obama we trust...

How can you not vote for a man who can do this

On a legal note: This is not necessarily a political endorsement. Though my wife, who does not work for the church and is not bound by government rules that prohibit churches (and their staff) from using their non-profit status in a way that might influence church members to vote a certain way, has placed an Obama 08 sticker on the dash of our Subaru.

Our Past or Our Future?

This past week on Palm Sunday, I suggested that I don’t think it was God’s intention, through the coming of Jesus, to restore Israel back into the kingdom it was before. But what I probably didn’t say very well is that it WAS God’s intention to build a new kingdom: The kingdom of God.

Jesus talks about this Kingdom of God throughout the gospels. It’s a kingdom that is NOT defined by borders (or perhaps you could say, by church walls). It is a kingdom that is NOT there to maintain itself (or you could say to keep up the membership numbers). It’s a kingdom in which all the values are upside down when compared to earthly kingdoms, of which Israel was one. It is a kingdom that exists anywhere and everywhere that there are kingdom members out doing the work of the kingdom. And the work of the kingdom happens out in the world, not within the boundaries of the kingdom. The Church, OUR church, is a local expression of the kingdom of God.

Slightly suprising (I think) was this question that I asked: "I wonder if it might NOT be God's intent to restore our church to the glory days of our past?"

Perhaps instead, God has a totally different future that is so much more, and quite alot different than our really quite wonderful past.

Well, if that question was difficult for you to hear, I want to suggest that you join us for a new Sunday School class that starts the week after Easter (March 30). The class will be a book study of "The Present Future" by Reggie McNeal. It will go in depth into some of the tough questions we have to ask ourselves as we try to sort out who God has called us, as a church, to be in and for the changing world in which we now live.

The class will meet at 9am each week in the Art Room at Barkstall.

Conveniently, Chuck Carlson will be offering the same class at our Downtown Campus each week during that same time period.

Hope you'll join us.

Free Rice

No, not for you. For hungry people.
Leslie Barr made my day at session last night when she told me I'd gotten her hooked on the "Free Rice" game.

If you haven't seen the free rice game, check it out
here

For every definition you get right, 20 grains of rice are donated to feed the hungry through the UN World Food Program.

Leslie beat my high score: She got up to 43.

What's your best?

(No cheating by looking up words on the internet while you play!!! That would be envy, and probably gluttony somehow).

Drew MacGregor has a new job title

In case you don't know, Drew is our Communications Coach. That means he is faithfully volunteers to put together a weekly email update and to write other pieces of mass communication. Drew also knows a little bit about just about everything, which sort of prompted his new title (thanks Richard!)

Drew is now "The Encyclopedia of Awesome!"

Had enough sin?

We're done with the 7 deadly sins. Which is sad because, let's be honest, sin is fun. If it wasn't, it wouldn't be hard to avoid it now would it.

What I mean is that the video's (starring Richard, but artfully designed by the very creative ) are over with. And that's really sad. By far the best part of the last month and a half.

If you missed any of the videos, or just want to fondly recollect the good times, go check out Richard's Blog

This week is Palm Sunday.
Next week, we have a Good Friday service at our DT location (I hear the preacher is pretty good - it's Melissa Keeble!)
Then comes Easter.

It's probably worth remembering that alot of folks are thinking about church at Easter, who otherwise aren't often thinking about church. It's probably a great time to invite someone to come check out what we've got going on. We'll have invitation cards available at church this week. Just so you know, recent studies have indicated that 90% of first time visitors to church come because someone they know personally invited them to come WITH them.

Check back soon for an update on the Economy of God!

80 degrees in Miami

Melissa and I just got back from 4 days in Miami at the President's Forum for Opportunity International. I can't say enough good things about this group and their commitment to eliminating poverty in developing countries through micro-finance. We were both absolutely blown away by their mission and their model for achieving it.


Learn more about Opportunity here:
Opportunity

And yeah, it was 80 degrees. We sat by the pool and drank Malibu Rum.....It's snowing today. Did I mention it was 80 degrees?

By the way, if you missed Richard's sermon this past week, it was great. You can see it on his blog which is listed under the links on the right side of this page! Also here: Richard
You can also see the videos for each week of the 7 deadly sins series we are working through. Greed was my favorite.