Don't drop your BUTT

So, I'm driving into work today and the guy in front of me drops his cigarette butt out the window of his car. I see this all the time in Champaign (which really stands out because I rarely saw it in L.A.) and as I'm driving into work, I'm thinking about a blog entry about how often people litter here.

Then I get to work and there is this email from Rebecca with a link to a really cool article that totally convicted me.

Here is the article:

From W.David Phillips:

“At my last doctoral class with Len Sweet last week, he posed a question to us that went something like this: Provide for me the metaphors that will describe how we measure success in the church in the future. We are prone to measure success by how many and how much. And we determine who is a great leader by how many and how much.

So today, I want to share with you some of the metaphors we listed (and some I came up with afterwards), of things we can count as a measure of success. But I need to issue a warning. You will have to think about these and you may push back unless you realize the metaphor. So don’t react…Ponder…

1. The number of cigarette butts in the church parking lot.
2. The number of adoptions people in the church have made from local foster care.
3. The number of pictures on the church wall of unwed mothers holding their newborn babies in their arms for the first time.
4. The number of classes for special needs children and adults
5. The number of former convicted felons serving in the church
6. The number of phone calls from community leaders asking the church’s advice
7. The number of meetings that take place somewhere besides the church building
8. The number of organizations using the church building
9. The number of days the pastor doesn’t spend time in the church office but in the community
10. The number of emergency finance meetings that take place to reroute money to community ministry
11. The amount of dollars saved by the local schools because the church has painted the walls
12. The number of people serving in the community during the church’s normal worship hours
13. The number of non-religious-school professors worshiping with you
14. The number of people wearing good, free clothes that used to belong to members of the church
15. The number of times the church band has played family-friendly music in the local coffee shop
16. The number of people who have gotten better because of free health clinic you operate
17. The number of people in new jobs thanks to the free job training center you opened
18. The number of micro-loans given by members in your church
19. The number of churches your church planted in a 10 mile radius of your own church

Got any more?”

Wow. How about that? Any thoughts?
What are our measures of success right now? What should they be?

Messed up beautiful people

Do you have folks in your life that are so messed up, so odd, so annoying that you just can't hardly stand to be around them? People that you see coming and you want to just go the other way? People that make you act (or at least feel) in a way that you know Jesus wouldn't act? But you just can't hardly help it.

My friend Joy had an amazing insight about people like that. She made one of those statements that made me feel like Jesus was poking me in the ribs, saying, "Hey, did you hear that???"

Joy used the word "BEAUTIFUL" to describe what happens when one of those tough to love people finds a place to be a part of a community.

Beautiful.

Which is not the word that would describe my attitude towards that tough to love person. So, who is the one that's really messed up?

Joy is right. It is beautiful. And as I thought about that, I realized that you almost never see this kind of beauty when you are around people that are like you. It's not something that happens (very often) behind the safe walls of our homes or our churches. It's not something that happens unless we're willing to get a little messy ourselves. Or until we're willing to just admit that we ARE pretty messed up ourselves. Or until we start looking for beauty in people that are NOT like us.

So it occurs to me that our tendency to flock together with people that are like us makes it alot less likely that we can actually be like we really are with other people. In other words our uniqueness gets lost behind our desire to fit in.

Let me say it another way: I've got my own messed up junk. In my own way, I can be really hard to love myself. I can definitely be a big friggin idiot. If I let people see that stuff, will they find anything beautiful there, or will they just want to walk in the other direction? If I am honest about who I am, will there be room for me or will I find myself on the outside looking in? Can you make room for my uniqueness? My differing perspectives? My nuances and oddities? Can you let me be me? I mean, REALLY be me?

That's a deep and very real fear that I think haunts every person on some level. So we hide in our "likeness."

Maybe, just maybe, the only way to start to see beauty in ourselves is to start looking for it in others - ESPECIALLY those in whom it is hard to see much beauty.

But when we see it, when we feel it, when we are a part of it....yeah, it is beautiful.

You don't have to go to the dentist to get Happy Gas

We are in Southern California in the midst of a little vacation time combined with some study leave for me. Yesterday, we drove into the parking lot of the church I used to work at. They were setting up the patio for VBS. When some of the folks saw us pull in, they came running out to the car to say hi. Maya saw those old friends running out to the car, and she says:

"I'm so happy, I just tooted."

By the way, 2 nights ago, it was 105 degrees here.....at midnight.

How did you worship???

Missed ya'll on Sunday. But I hope you took us up on the challenge to find a way to worship in public outside the church walls. It was great to see many of you at the Downtown Campus, where I had the chance to preach. But I'm really excited to hear whatelse some of you did.

So, click on the little "comments" word below and tell us what you were up to this weekend!

The most religious show on TV....

The Simpsons
No doubt about it. I'll happily loan you my copy of "The Gospel According to the Simpsons." For all the shortcomings the show may have, it nevertheless makes more references to God, Jesus, faith, and the church than any other show. Yep, even more than 7th Heaven. To be sure, the Simpsons are laughably irreverent and make fun of Christianity - but let's be honest, we've earned it. I always enjoy a good chuckle at my own expense (as you know if you've heard me preach).

If you want to read more about the Simpsons' favorite Christian (and a character we probably resemble more than we want to admit), take a peak at this story about Ned Flanders

"tasting" God

I read this full article during my sermon on Sunday. Here are some excerpts. Great thoughts. I think this concept of "tasting" God through being with others is so important. Hmmm, sounds a bit like small groups.

From "All Things Considered" aired on NPR on May 5, 2008 •

Until recently, I thought being a Christian was all about belief. I didn't know any Christians, but I considered them people who believed in the virgin birth, for example, the way I believed in photosynthesis or germs.

But then, in an experience I still can't logically explain, I walked into a church and a stranger handed me a chunk of bread. Suddenly, I knew that it was made out of real flour and water and yeast — yet I also knew that God, named Jesus, was alive and in my mouth.

That first communion knocked me upside-down. Faith turned out not to be abstract at all, but material and physical. I'd thought Christianity meant angels and trinities and being good. Instead, I discovered a religion rooted in the most ordinary yet subversive practice: a dinner table where everyone is welcome, where the despised and outcasts are honored.

I came to believe that God is revealed not only in bread and wine during church services, but whenever we share food with others — particularly strangers. I came to believe that the fruits of creation are for everyone, without exception — not something to be doled out to insiders or the "deserving."

But I learned that hunger can lead to more life — that by sharing real food, I'd find communion with the most unlikely people; that by eating a piece of bread, I'd experience myself as part of one body. This I believe: that by opening ourselves to strangers, we will taste God.

I'm just passing through

Somebody put this sign up on the church grounds yesterday. The secretary walks in and asks if we're moving out. It's funny on alot of different levels, not the least of which is because of the recent rumor that has surfaced about the pastoral staff secretly trying to sell the church.

I started thinking about this sign and I realized that there is some profound truth to it. We don't own this church. It's not actually our church. We don't have any claim to it really. This is God's church.

I should probably stop at this point and remind us all that nowhere in the New Testament have I been able to find a verse that refers to a building as a "church". The word is used almost exclusively to refer to a body of believers. WE are the church. This building is not the church. In fact, if the building were suddenly leased out from under us tomorrow, we (the people) would STILL be the church.

But the bigger point for me is this great reminder from one of our neighbors with some space to rent is that we are just passing through. God asks us to hold all things lightly, including our space. It's not for us really. It's for the glory of God. And if God would be glorified by this space being used in radically different ways, then radically different programs would be entirely appropriate. Because its not OURS. It's Gods. It's not for US. It's for the LEAST OF THESE. In a very real sense, we're just leasing it ourselves. And as we remembered quite clearly in a sermon from AMOS last month, if we don't use this "leased" space appropriately, it's entirely likely that God will find a different leasee!

So, who's gonna call the number on the sign and find out what they're asking?

dearly beloved...

I've got the incredible privilege of performing the wedding for my dear friend Sarah this weekend. Here's what I love about weddings. In Genesis it talks about the two becoming one. In Jewish tradition, the most sacred and important prayer has a line that says, "The Lord our God, the Lord is one." That word "ONE" is the same word used in Genesis to describe what a man and a woman become. ONE. Then in the gospels, its written that Jesus is praying to his Father, praying for his followers, for us, and he prays, "May they be ONE as you (God) and I (Jesus) are one."

Think about that. We believe that God exists as a single diety, in three persons. The trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Three in one. But the key word is ONE. God is one. The relationship between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is so close, so connected, so intimate, so completely united, that really the only word to describe it is ONE.

That's what happens in a wedding. The two become one. In theory they become so completely connected, so united, so intimate, so close, that the best word to describe them is ONE.

Rob Bell talks about this and says that God designed marriage to be a picture, a window, a reflection of something deeper. God intended marriage to show us how God desires to be connected to us.

I can't wait to watch Tim and Sarah look at each other as they say their vows. Because I know what I'll be seeing is the way God looks at me. And you.

Instant Access

Today was really fun. There wasn't really a planned sermon. I just invited folks to send text messages to me with questions or comments and I tried to answer as many as I could. I had 10 before I even started the sermon.

Some were really funny: "Rank your top 3 biggest sins" (thanks Jeff). In case you missed it, my answer was "1, 2, and 3". I was laughing hard before i even got up for the sermon.

Some were serious: "how would you say that you know God exists to a college student who doesn't believe God exists."

Some were hard: "what does missional mean and are we (as a church) defining it correctly." Of course I referred people to this blog for more information.

Thanks to everyone who submitted questions. Sorry to everyone we couldn't get to. Please feel free to email me, or post them here. We'll do that again some time this summer.

what the heck does "missional" mean, part 3...

The last entry talked about having a “missionary stance.” What does that mean?

Think for a bit about what you might do if you suddenly found yourself a missionary in a foreign culture. What would be the things you would focus on first?

First, you’d probably have to learn the language of the locals. It wouldn’t really be enough to learn it in a textbook. You would have to get out on the streets and learn how people really talk. You would have to learn their idioms and the figures of speech. You would have to get a feel for their sense of humor. Bottom line, you would have to be able to talk their talk.

Then you would have to learn to walk their walk. In other words, you would have to go hang out where they hang out. Learn what they like to do. You would want to know about their music, their art, their expressions of creativity. You would want to have a firm grasp on the ways they express spirituality, fear, hope, despair, longing, and meaning. You would have to learn about the ways they approach birth and death, and what happens after death. You would have to discover the ways they think about right and wrong. You would have to figure out the way they approach truth (for example, in many cultures, there is nothing contradictory about believing several different things that might seem to be in tension with each other).

After doing all that, then you would have to prove yourself really. I mean, if you don’t demonstrate a way of living that seems to be a genuinely better alternative, how could you ever hope to convince them of the validity of your message. So you would have to show them love, sacrifice, and presence. You would have to prove that you care about them more than you care about yourself. You would have to pour your life into their lives.

Finally after doing all that, you could begin to explain Jesus in a way they might understand – which of course means you would have to explain Jesus in their language, using their metaphors, and working within the framework of their culture.

So hopefully the metaphor is clear.

We live in an increasingly foreign culture. It’s not a Christian culture anymore. It’s a secular culture and we are the aliens here. And we are sent by God into this culture to be missionaries.

That’s our purpose. So every one of us, as individuals, are called to be missionaries in the immediate contexts in which God has planted us. You are called to live a missional lifestyle. And the church is called to be a missionary community in the foreign culture in which we live.
(note: if you doubt the whole foreign culture idea, go sit at Kopi Café for a few hours and just watch and listen; go to the Canopy Club one evening for a show – watch and listen)

So, as missionaries, we have to first learn the language of the culture around us. Obviously, I’m not talking about English. But what I am talking about is the way that those outside of the church talk about spirituality, morality, values, meaning, God, hope, death, after-life, whatever.

The flip side of this coin is that we have to start understanding that the words we have used inside the church are virtually meaningless to the generations of people that have grown up in a non-churched culture. Words like sin, grace, salvation, redemption, hell, forgiveness, - they don’t convey much of anything to the foreign culture in which we live. That doesn't mean the concept cease to be true. It means we have to find new ways of expressing our brokenness and God's way of dealing with it.

So we have to learn a new language. We have to discover new metaphors, new stories, new illustrations.

We also have to learn how to BE Christ followers IN the world. We have to learn to go onto their turf and engage them in their terms. We have to hang out where they hang out and love them and serve them right where they are. We have to prove our love for them by showing up for them consistently. To quote McNeil: “They won’t hear our truth until they see our love.”

And finally, we have to learn how to be PREPARED to invite people into grace and love whenever the opportunity arises. This is the heart of being a missionary. We love people because they are worth loving. We love them because God loves them. And as our demonstration of love builds a bridge of trust, we then can speak the truth of God’s saving grace into their lives.

So what do you think of this idea of living like missionaries?