Care to Hear the Gospel through the Voice of a Child?

This is a recording from a call to a Houston radio station. May it bless your Christmas comings and goings into the new year.

Charlie Brown Christmas

Lights Please! Luke Please!

AMAZING Amazing Grace

beautiful beyond words

Relay Leadership

The world record for the 3000 meter run is 7 minutes and 30 seconds. The world record for the 4x800 meter relay (3200 meters) is 7 minutes and 2 seconds. When we hand off the baton to each other we can cover more ground in a shorter period of time.

One of the problems we face as contextual missional communities is the challenge of developing and maintaining functional leadership structures. This is a vital component of all organizations but is crucial in faith communities; see Christian Schwartz and the work of the folks at Natural Church Development. Unfortunately, in many cases we as people of faith inherit a leadership structure, or bring an assumed leadership structure to our discussions about this issue that may or may not be effective or appropriate. These structural assumptions and practices are usually based on past congregational experiences; e.g. the church is led by the council, or the board, or the staff, or the executive committee, or the solo pastor. And in many situations the structure that are in place in faith communities are highly functional. But in others, the structure is lacking functionality and causing the entire community to become severely dysfunctional in practice and missional effectiveness.

One of the reasons for traditional church leadership structures losing their functional effectiveness is their inability to deal with the changing context of our ever busied (and over busied) lives. Now at this point, you may want to quit reading and close this window if you think that ‘if people would just get their priorities straight this would not be an issue.’ Our pace of life is a real problem I think, but a different issue entirely. The point I am making here is this: if we are serious about engaging people in their context (a harried and busy one), we need to think about how we are organized as the church in relation to this cultural reality. Can we expect a two year commitment from people to serve on church councils and committees? Does the thought of serving on a standing committee really bring you energy and inspire you to engage the world differently as Christ calls us to do? Is this a formula for success as the hands and feet of Jesus or a recipe for burnout and discouragement?

One of the functions of River of Joy is to provide contextual research and development for the larger church. As a mission congregation we are charged with the responsibility of taking risks and Biblically discerning new methods of engaging the world. For the last year we have organized ourselves around Acts 2:42 and the early apostle’s focus on teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer. This loose structure has served us well as we have grown into our identity as a community. Long term however, it is not functional.

In Acts chapter 6, the new Christian community goes through the second phase of their organizational development. The community has become aware of its own capacity issues and realigns itself with a team of seven people who are devoted to attending to the ministry issue at hand in the short term. As we move into our next development phase, we are doing the same thing, retooling for short term leadership that is handed off and realigned as the next missionary opportunity presents itself.

River of Joy is committed to dedicating the next ten months to ministry seasons related to Jesus’ command in Matthew 25. We have dedicated our community efforts to the hungry (this past summer), to the thirsty (this fall), and will progress through Jesus’ command to interact and care for the stranger (this winter), the sick and imprisoned (this spring), and the naked (next summer). This focus has served us well in developing a missional outwardly focused identity. In order to provide functional structure to these efforts, we will be forming 3 different leadership teams of 7 leaders to lead the rest of the community through each of these different seasons.

This broad based structure does a few things: First, it maintains Christ’s command to attend to the life of the larger world as a primary function of the ROJ community. Second, it allows people to engage in leadership in areas where they are gifted and called in an empowered fashion with three month bursts of energy and commitment. Third, it does not set people up for leadership burnout by placing them in areas where (and when) they are not equipped to devote their time and energy. Fourth, it allows for collaborative leadership and diverse and creative expressions and activities that will address the spectrum of community life: our prayer, worship, engagement with the world, education, etc. Fifth, it allows for a reasonable expectation that everyone gets involved.

So there you have it. Chew on it. Digest it. Spit it out if you think it is rotten. Savor it if you think it sounds like a good idea. And shoot me an email if you are interested in getting your feet wet with leading the first season of planning, our winter for the stranger.

Worship Video from September 22

Some have asked for another peek at the worship video from Saturday. Here is a link to the site from which it came.

The Road Less Traveled on the Main Traveled Road

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveller, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference

Robert Frost

While my family was on vacation last week in Door County, WI we attended the debut of a new musical production entitled “The Main Traveled Road.” From the start I was skeptical. First, I did not like the title as Robert Frost is about the only poet I know anything about and the musical’s title was obviously intended to reference the audience to one of Frost’s most famous poems “The Road Not Taken.” And second, (and here you can see how utterly stupid we {read Steve} can be in assessing things) I did not like that fact that the title paired the word “Main” with the word “Road.” “Main” is a street not a road. Main Street. Not Main Road. Yes, I know, utterly stupid…

Anyway. The musical was actually quite good. It was set in 19th century rural Wisconsin but really could have been set anywhere. For me, the point of the whole production was that we all travel down the same road (the main traveled road) where we make decisions regarding our relationships with each other. And as we travel down this “main traveled road,” these decisions, and how they manifest in our interactions, have implications that are lasting in either life-giving or life-draining ways. As we travel this main traveled relational road, the decisions that we make with regard to our relationships are rarely neutral; they can either breathe life into those around us, or they can wound, maim, or even destroy.

As I reflect on this main traveled road of relationships that we all walk; I wonder if Frost’s “road less traveled by” is more a way of walking on this main traveled road than it is a separate path that we should seek to follow.

Perhaps the road less traveled is a walk on the main traveled road that pays special attention to those fellow travelers that we meet along the way; a walk where we see and embrace the fellow travelers with the open hand of friendship and a heart for our common joy-filled and often thorny journey down this main traveled road.

And

perhaps

Jesus

his teachings

his death

and

his

resurrection

are

a

faded

and tattered

map

for us

as we journey

together

down the main traveled road.

A River Runs Through It - Haunted by Waters

i am haunted by waters

“I am haunted by waters.”

The last line of Norman Maclean’s book A River Runs Through It. The paragraph that precedes this sentence is often highlighted as one of the finest ever written in American literature, so rich in poetic depth and breadth that you could spend a lifetime searching and pondering its beauty and grace.

Lately, I feel like I am being haunted by waters.

This isn’t one of those scary movie hauntings that my 13 year old daughter is drawn to right now as she picks out movies at Blockbuster. I think it is more akin to Norman Maclean's haunting. It is more of an acknowledgment that there is more out there in my (our) reality that is related to water than I am perceiving, recognizing, and acting upon.

In some ways, perhaps it is just a confluence of water related events that has water bubbling in my consciousness: the 35W bridge collapse, a special baptism on Saturday, my family being at a wedding just a few hours before the flooding in Caledonia, the approaching hurricane and the upcoming mission trip in October to address the ongoing devastation of the last one, the ROJ fall focus on water, the research into global and local water issues I have been doing, the Biblical study related to all things water, and the roar of the neighbor’s lawnmower as I look out the window at four inch long grass that I just mowed a few days ago. Water. Bubbling in my mind.

The introductory address that I spoke at the beginning of little Bradley’s baptism said this:

God, who is rich in mercy and love, gives us a new birth into a living hope through the sacrament of baptism. By water and the Word God delivers us from sin and death and raises us to new life in Jesus Christ. We are united with all the baptized in the one body of Christ, anointed with the gift of the Holy Spirit, and joined in God's mission for the life of the world.

God, mercy, love, new birth, living hope, sacrament, Word, delivers, sin, death, Jesus Christ, united, one body, anointed, gift, Holy Spirit, joined, God's mission for life in the world.

There is enough spiritual (and poetic) depth and breadth in this paragraph that you could spend a lifetime searching, pondering and actively living into its beauty and grace.

And maybe

that is

exactly

the

point.

“Child of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever. Amen.”

Trip to the CAP Agency

We delivered 356 lbs of food to the CAP Agency this morning in our newly converted portable food pantry trailer. 60 pounds of this was fresh produce out of our community garden and the remainder was from a national night out neighborhood event and a house concert focused on hunger awareness and action.

356 pounds of food sounds like a whole lot of food until you realize that the CAP Agency processes nearly 75,000 pounds of food every month for families in Scott County. 75,000 pounds of food, through one agency, in one (booming and wealthy) suburban Mpls/St. Paul county. Wow. As I sit here at Caribou sipping an ice tea, I could easily become discouraged (or guilt ridden) because our (or my) impact on what is such an important issue for Christ would seem to be rather insignificant in the larger scope of things.

But for the families that will receive the 356 pounds of food collected and grown by the people of River of Joy it will be very significant. They will get to eat. Something we take for granted most every day. Maybe that is why Christ tells us to simply feed people and reminds us that even as we do so, we will always have people in need among us.

And for the families who have partnered together to collect and grow this food the impact is significant as well. They will be spiritually fed. Another thing that we take for granted most every day. Maybe that is why Christ tells us to simply feed people and reminds us that even as we do so, we will always have people in need among us.

Families, feeding other families.

People, loving other people.

Children, growing because they are fed.

Children, growing because they are feeding others.

Because Jesus says it should be so.

And people have dared to believe it.

And act.

Thanks be to God.

Matching Red Soccer Jerseys

As hard as he tried to cover his ears, you could see that the sound the young boy was trying to keep at bay was still seeping through and attacking the center of his being. I could not see if his eyes were closed, but occasionally he would look up at the video screen that was showing a short film documenting the effects of hunger (and hunger relief) on children half way around the world. In the boy’s lap was a glass jar that held a few dollars and a handful of change. Around his shoulder was the gentle and comforting arm of his father. Taped to the lid of the jar was a small label that simply read “give.” A child of God trying to come to grips with the world in which he lives.

We had come to Feed My Starving Children as a group of ten adults and two children, hoping to have an impact on the lives of some of God’s little ones who are so easily ignored. And yes, we did prepare over 2100 meals, enough food to feed 6 children 3 meals a day for a year. But for me at least, the real power of the visit, the presence of Christ and his message, came to me through watching this young boy and his reaction to the plight of children just like him around the world.

Frequently, when we speak of Jesus’ words regarding his desire for us to become like little children, we lift up child-like characteristics like wonder, and gentleness, and purity of heart, and openness to the future as the traits that Jesus desires for us. But on this evening, Jesus’ words took on a new meaning as I watched the empathy and compassion of this child as he worked so hard to hold off the reality of the world in which he finds himself living. It was the powerlessness of this boy that really struck me, the only thing this small boy could do to end this reality was to cover his ears and bring his “give” jar.

But for you and for me, the big kids of God, we can do much more than cover our ears and bring a few dollars. We DO have the power to change lives and impact this reality. And not only do we have the power, we have a dual mandate to do so. This mandate comes first from Jesus himself and second from the generation of children who we are charged with raising and shepherding into the world in faith. As Christians, we are called to be obedient and faithful to the teachings of Jesus Christ that compel us to feed people who are hungry. As parents and grandparents, we are called to provide a reality that does not cause a child to close his eyes and cover his ears.

When we had finished packing the meals, we gathered again to talk about the impact we had on behalf of a handful of hungry children around the world. The leader held up a picture of a small boy who lives in a 5 square mile open air dump in Managua, Nicaragua with 150 other families. The boy in the picture and the boy with the “give” jar looked to be about the same age and coincidently were both wearing red soccer jerseys. Two children of God, separated by miles and a myriad of other barriers, but joined as brothers to each other through the realization of God’s reconciling and redeeming mission in the world.

Two children of God.

Connected.

Not just by their soccer jerseys.

Two children of God.

Connected.

By Jesus Christ.

Neighbors, The Epistle of James, and Eric Clapton

A few months ago the ten month old twin girls and their older sister lived with their mother a few miles from our suburban home. They were our neighbors, albeit unknown neighbors; a family doubly filled with the joy of new life, neighbors that we had never met. Now, we sat around a table at the homeless shelter for women and children where my unknown neighbors found themselves living. We sat, sharing laughter, a meal, and the presence of Christ in the middle of the troubles of life in the world. This family, my own family, and my faith family as one.

As I lived (and reflected upon) this experience, I could not help but be drawn to two verses from the book of James (1:26-27) that have been working on me lately. Now you need to know that I was raised of Scandinavian Lutheran heritage which is code in my tribe for reminding each other that we don’t speak too loudly of the good works that we do in the world and we certainly do not think that any good works that we may do would bring any favor for us in the eyes of the Lord. Like many Lutherans of my generation, I was taught in confirmation that Martin Luther had reservations about the book of James and its place in the Bible. Too much emphasis on doing things I was told and not enough emphasis on what Christ has done. Doing things does not save you I was taught. (What a message to give to Christ’s youth about their role in tending to God’s creation and our calling to share the gospel!). I hope that the message learned by my own children by virtue of sitting around that table would be a different one.

But it begs an age old question. So how then are we to live in faith? What is the relationship of faith to the works that we do in the world? Consider these two quotes from Luther:

We have no other reason for living on earth than to be of help to others. If this were not the case, it would be best for God to kill us and let us die as soon as we are baptized and have begun to believe. But He permits us to live here in order that we may bring others to faith, just as He brought us.

And what is this faith that Luther speaks of?

Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that the believer would stake his life on it a thousand times. This knowledge of and confidence in God’s grace makes men glad and bold and happy in dealing with God and with all creatures. And this is the work which the Holy Spirit performs in faith. Because of it, without compulsion, a person is ready and glad to do good to everyone, to serve everyone, to suffer everything, out of love and praise to God who has shown him this grace. Thus it is impossible to separate works from faith, quite as impossible as to separate heat and light from fire. Beware, therefore, of your own false notions and of the idle talkers who imagine themselves wise enough to make decisions about faith and good works, and yet are the greatest fools. Pray God that he may work faith in you. Otherwise you will surely remain forever without faith, regardless of what you may think or do.

On the drive home from serving and sharing the meal at the women’s shelter, an old Eric Clapton song came on the radio. My daughter commented that she did not think it sounded like Clapton (when did she get so old as to have opinions about such things?). The words of the song resonated to the depth of my soul:

Then we’d go running on faith
All of our dreams would come true
And our world would be right
When love comes over me and you
When love comes over you

Love (as the fruit of the Holy Spirit) coming over us (overtaking and oozing out us) in order that the world would be right.

Is this James’ dream?

Indeed.

Is it Martin Luther’s dream?

Certainly.

Is it Eric Clapton’s dream?

Apparently.

Is it my dream?

I hope and pray that it is.

Is it your dream?

[fill in the blank here]


But the more I think about it, maybe my daughter was right. Maybe it wasn’t Eric Clapton singing that song at all...

Maybe it was the Spirit of Christ himself- singing of God’s very own dream for our world.

and

just

maybe…

We are simply asked to keep running on in faith (all the while singing along in order that the world might hear).

Nike, the mission of God, and you

There are few things that are more uncomfortable (and more painful) than a pair of shoes that does not fit properly. And though I am not a male version of Imelda Marcos (nor Carrie Bradshaw) I do like to wear shoes that are at least presentable in their style and how they look. It still grieves me to think of that twice worn pair of white Nike shoes that were stolen from the hockey locker room at the arena when I was about 12 years old! White Nike tennis shoes with a red stripe, the only model they made. The things you remember from childhood!

I dropped my daughter at a soccer camp yesterday (imagine that). Set up beside the soccer camp was a tent staffed by a couple of Nike employees. The girls attending the camp were invited to try out a new pair of Nike soccer shoes and see how they felt and how they looked. You see Nike has figured something out here, you need to go to where the people are; not just wait for them to go to a store that carries their product and hopefully purchase a pair of their shoes. But the amazing thing is not that Nike will come to you to sell you a new pair of shoes, travelling salesmen are nothing new. The amazing thing is that you can custom design these shoes yourself through a program called NIKEid.

Set up inside the very hip looking tent were six computers that were accessing the Nike website. Check the site out here. It is really pretty cool. You can design everything about your shoe; everything from the cleat type, to the color of the swoosh, to your own name and number on the back or on the tongue. You are able to personalize your shoe to match your team’s colors or your own personal preferences. Shipped to you in a matter of a couple of weeks!

As I drove home I thought about what it might look like if we did something like this as the body of Christ in the world. What would it look like if we took ourselves on the road and offered people the opportunity to set up their own SPIRITid? A personalized spiritual development plan that meets the specific needs of the individual instead of offering the same white pair with the red swoosh to everyone.

At the risk of sounding like spiritual consumerism, let me be clear. I am thinking more of a plan that would inventory giftedness and affinity for particular missional activity and assess areas of personal development with goals and activities determined for improvement. What would you like your spiritual growth to look and feel like for the next year? What is needed in your life to provide comfort and peace spiritually? Do you need to focus more on prayer, relationships, scripture, engaging the world around you? Hmmm…

So here is my offer, if you are interested in developing a SPIRITid plan, email me and we can meet or get in touch by phone to explore what this could look like. Why should Nike have all the fun?

ROJ Summer Focus

River of Joy’s missional focus for this summer is quite simply to feed people who are hungry. We certainly have no grand illusions that we are going to wipe out hunger in Scott County. We realize that our efforts will probably amount to a small ripple in an increasingly expanding pond of poverty in the south metro area. But nonetheless, we are inclined to answer Jesus’ call in Matthew 25 to feed those who are hungry. In this beautiful scripture, Jesus goes so far as to tell us that when we feed people who are hungry; we are actually feeding him.

This focus on feeding those who are hungry has expressed itself in a variety of forms within River of Joy this summer. We have recently purchased an enclosed utility trailer to be used as a portable food pantry for the collection, transportation, and distribution of food in our community. We have packed meals at Feed My Starving Children together, served meals at Dakota Woodlands (a women’s homeless shelter in Eagan), planted a garden that we tend together with the intent of donating the food to community food shelves. We are providing a portion of our offering to world hunger relief, and we are collecting food at gatherings in our neighborhoods.

But how is it, that the providing of food to the hungry in these ways feeds Jesus himself? Isn’t Jesus just speaking broadly in this text about our need to take care of our neighbor? He can’t really mean that feeding those who are hungry introduces us to Jesus himself? Can he? This food might go to a Muslim, or a Hindu, or an atheist. How does that feed Jesus?

When we take Jesus at his word and do as he asks, Jesus is fed in two ways. First, the spirit of Christ in the world is fed and nourished for growth when we step across cultural, economic, social, and religious boundaries as he has directed us to do. In his biblical ministry, Jesus is constantly crossing these lines to tend to the needs of those who are of different socio-religious and cultural backgrounds. And as he crosses these lines he frequently challenges the origin and validity of their very existence. When we engage the world with this same need focused boundary crossing emphasis, Jesus’ life giving Spirit is fed and grows in the world around us. As we allow the boundary crossing Spirit of Christ to work through us, the Spirit’s presence in the world is more readily known.

But the Spirit of Christ is not only fed and nourished for growth in the world when we answer Jesus call; Jesus’ Spirit is also fed, nourished and grows inside those who are answering the call to action. This is the second way that Christ himself is fed in our feeding of others. When we feed others, we are actually feeding Christ within us and nourishing our own spiritual growth. When we feed God’s starving children in the world (and in Scott County!), we are actually feeding Christ himself within us and providing sustenance for our own spiritual growth.

In the end, hungry people get food to eat; the Spirit of Christ is magnified and glorified in the corner of the world in which we live; and the Spirit of Christ is nourished and grows within us.

ROJ Preview Worship May 19

Find an outline of our first preview worship gathering below. Please give some feedback on how you and your family experienced the worship. How did the worship meet you? How did it meet your children if they were participating? What did you find most meaningful? Did God find you in any particular way?

A few other things to think about: time of day, length of gathering, food, set up, sound, video, music, message, facility, atmosphere, etc.

River of Joy
Saturday, May 19th Worship Gathering

Gathering
Music as we gather
With My Own Two Hands

Welcome
Intro

Songs of Worship and Praise:
Come Thou Fount
This is Our God

Confession and Forgiveness

Story
Community Updates
Scripture
Message
Song: Micah 6:8

Meal
Words of Institution
Lord’s Prayer

Communion, Reflection, and Offering Instructions
Communion and Reflective Prayer Time
Communion and Reflection Songs:
Hungry
Joyous Light of Heavenly Glory

Sending
Prayer Requests and Prayers of the People
Sending Song: Let the River Flow

the sound of a new thing

“Remember not the former things,nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

Isaiah 43:18-19

I have not felt particularly creative lately as evident by my lack of posting on this blog. Last week however, I had the opportunity to preach on the Scripture noted above and it really got me thinking about newness, the former things and the new thing that God promises to do among us.

The community of faith that invited me to preach is nearly 150 years old with a tradition as rich as their years are long. They worship in a lovingly maintained 85 year old building that is nestled into the countryside. This holy place sits in the middle of the parish cemetery where the saints that came together to give this community life have been laid to rest in the structure’s shadow, or rather, in its luminance.

I love the former things, being a history buff and all. But the challenge of this scripture is to look not at the former things, beautiful, grand, and reflective of God’s presence and work among us. Instead, in this text, we are challenged to strain our eyes, ears, and senses to perceive the new thing that God is doing among us. So often I think, we put God in the box of things done in the past. A box concerned with that which has been done and that which we can remember and cherish from the past. This is not a new phenomenon. It is reflected in this text from Isaiah. The people of Israel are sitting in exile, in bondage in a foreign land and have little to hold on to except God’s redeeming and salvific action in the past. What have we done to deserve this they ask? But the word of the Lord comes to them through the prophet who says, ‘Look for the new things I am doing. Don’t keep looking back. I am still working among you. A new thing springs forth. Seek it. Seek me.’

I was walking around Lake Harriet last week on a warm and gentle Minnesota spring day. As I rounded a turn in the path I began to hear a noise I had never heard before. At first, it was barely audible, but as I continued to walk it became louder and more definite. There was just a breath of a breeze so the waves that were rolling in toward shore were small. But as these insignificant little rises in the water neared the shore, they brought energy to the small pieces of ice that had collected near the shore. The tinkling of those ice crystals as they jostled together created one of the most beautiful sounds that I have ever heard. I won’t even try to explain it because I could never do it justice, but it stopped me in my tracks with its depth and beauty. It was like being a child again, resting in the wonder of the newness of creation.

I can’t remember the last time I heard a noise that I could not just dismiss because I had figured it out, processed it, and categorized it almost before the sound even hit my ear drum. Music, the honk of a horn, the buzz of the refrigerator, the creaking of a cold house on a winter’s eve, the voice of my children, the refrain of a hymn, even the sound that comes from my own mouth. Former things.

Sometimes I think we do the very same thing with our spiritual hearing. We fail to strain our ears and adjust the posture of our collective head to listen for the new thing that God is doing. It is safer, more comfortable, and less threatening to allow God to speak through the former things. For the most part, we can agree on where God has acted in the past so there is not a whole lot of conflict. Acknowledging the former things is enough isn’t it?

Behold, I am doing a new thing;now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

The words challenge our comfortable life and spirituality and at the same time give hope amidst an existence that may at some time feel exilic and lacking God’s presence. And maybe this is exactly the point of being a community of faith that confesses a God that continually does something new in our midst. As communities of faith, we are participants in a tradition that continues to call us (generation after generation, saints following saints) out of the safe and comfortable former things, and into the beautiful messiness of the new thing that God does in seasons of transition. And as we answer this call, our words and actions create a new sound that is as old as creation, a sound rooted in God’s ongoing activity among and through us.

silence speaks

Sometimes, silence shouts at us. Like when your sullen child does not talk to you in order to make a rebellious point, or when silence shouts of fear as an audience collectively gasps at the work of a daredevil on a trapeze. Other times, silence whispers to us. Like when you gaze silently in awe of a marvelous wonder of creation, or contemplate some new profound insight into the intricacies of life itself. In either case, silence always says something to us.

For two weeks now we have been allowing silence to speak to us in a contemplative prayer and communion service. We have allowed psalm 46:10 (Be still and know that I am God) to lead us into silence and to guide us out of silence. This past week one of the participants in the service awoke from the silence of sleep to pen these words:

Linger a while with Me and let the still small voice speak wonders in your ear.

Come, sit at My feet and let us commune together. As you give time to Me, I will increase your time to accomplish those necessary chores.

Just come, and linger a while with Me. Come and linger.

Silence speaks, calling us to come and linger at the feet of Jesus- listening to the wonders of God being whispered in our ears.

prison, bibles, and the work of God

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.

Jesus as quoted by Matthew

12 days ago….

17 River of Joy families partnered together to make a dent in the 100 woman waiting list at the Shakopee women’s prison for NIV Recovery Bibles.

19 children crafted book marks to place inside the Bibles that we hoped to purchase.

We prayed over the bookmarks and asked that God would shower his grace and embrace the women who would use them.

We passed around a paper lunch sack and collected over $1100 dollars that we thought would buy us 44 Bibles at $25 per paperback Bible.

Since then….

We have found the Bible in hardcover (which is out of print) for $13 per Bible.

We received two additional checks for God’s cause in providing his promise to these women.

We ordered 85 of the Bibles which will be delivered next week.

We received a heartfelt thank you from the prison chaplain.

We arranged for a partnership with a congregation to have this ministry as their focus on their mission Sunday.

We have thanked God for the opportunity to be an earthen vessel that pours out God’s blessing and allows the kingdom to be seen (ever so dimly) through 'small things that have been done with great love.'

church basements and brian mcLaren

Kris and I watched a documentary film on Saturday night about the closing of a 125 year old church in SW Minnesota. The film, Delafield, examines the economic and cultural shift in the late nineties in the heartland of America and the impact that it had on a particular rural faith community. The film is very well done and I would recommend it (and we have it to share if you would like to watch it).

Two things struck me during the film. The first, was a scene in which three young girls were playing around a support pole in the basement of the old country church. As their elders sat around tables laughing and enjoying a meal; these three children danced quietly around the pole with one hand on the pole (their feet near the base) and their other hand swinging freely. It was a powerful scene as you wondered how many generations of children had done the same thing on the exact same pole in that church basement. The second thing that struck me was a woman who had to be in her eighties or nineties telling about the fact that the church was originally built without a basement and that it was added later. This was a major event for the congregation as it provided more space for community gathering which the film depicted marvelously with the centrality of food and fellowship in community life.

This was the backdrop for our visit to the Upper Room last night where Brian McLaren talked about Jesus and his love of a good meal with friends and foes. It is remarkable to me (although it shouldn’t be) that within the Upper Room community there are 400 plus people who are involved in their meal groups. Wow! Every night of the week across the entire Twin Cities metro this community meets. God at work in the world.

As I consider what God is doing in developing missional faith communities it seems that we are being called back to our heritage as a church basement people. A people who are linked together in community that dares to come together to care for one another and share with honesty and openness who we are and what we have been given.

“And they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, to fellowship, to breaking of bread, and to prayer.”
Acts 2:42

on earth as it is in heaven

Being a part of a church is all about connections. Connecting to one another, connecting to what is going on in the world, connecting to God.

A place that reflects the values of the community. A community where you know that your children will be taken care if you are out of the room. And a place where they will be included in the life of the group.

The whole it takes a village thing. We can’t live in isolation. We need a community that reinforces the hopes we have for our children.


For 10 weeks last summer we gathered in small groups in people’s homes to discuss our hopes and dreams about what church could or should be. The three quotes above came out of some of those gatherings. What I realized during those meetings, with over 100 people and in 11 different homes, is that God has a dream for his people; a dream that the Holy Spirit has written on our hearts.

Our challenge (the gift we have been given) is to live into that dream. Our calling is to allow the kingdom to come through us and in us as we engage the world together. Oh I know that this is a broken world and that the kingdom will not be fully realized on this earth until our Lord returns. But it is our call nonetheless, to live a life together with Christ at the center, that reflects God’s dream of peace and love in the world.

On Sunday evening as I watched a woman lovingly hold the child of another mother who she did not know four months ago, I felt like God’s dream was being realized among us. As two young boys took the hands of two toddlers and walked them around like they were best buds, God’s dream was being realized among us. As we passed a brown sandwich bag around and collected money to purchase Bibles for children of God who find themselves in prison, God’s dream was realized among us. As we prayed over the bookmarks that our children had made to place in those Bibles, God’s dream was being realized among us.

Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done. On earth as it is in heaven.

blue cloud abbey

I have been out of town the last two days at a retreat for leaders who are involved in new mission development and redevelopment of existing congregations. We were at a Benedictine abbey in Marvin, South Dakota. It was an interesting place, set up on a hill in the middle of SD prairie. If you have ever spent time on the prairie you know that there is a unique spiritual energy on the prairie; quiet, expansive, sometimes powerfully windswept and other times remarkably still. I spent ten days last January at a retreat center housed on a farm in SW Minnesota and this experience harkened me back to that time on the prairie.

The retreat itself was a good opportunity to check in with some other folks about what is going on in their particular contexts. But we had a great time riding to and from the retreat. I rode out with the mission director for our area, a woman who is in the process of developing a new Christian community in the basement of a bar in the Crystal/Robbinsdale area, and a man who is working to develop two faith communities in the larger Hispanic communities in West St. Paul and on the Eastside.

On our way out to the monastery, we stopped at the mission director’s mother-in-law’s home in a small rural community along the way. Her hospitality was genuine and warm and she made sure to write down all our names so that she could share our visit with the local newspaper. On our way home, we stopped in Willmar and visited a ministry partner who has done Hispanic ministry in the Willmar area and is now a chaplain at a senior center.

Both stops really got me thinking about the connectedness of the Body of Christ in the world and the power of hospitality. I think we often limit the scope of our reach in our own minds as we self limit our sphere of influence to our own congregation, community, or personal relationships. The potential to reach deeply into other communities is profound if we loose the notion of our ministry and mission and instead embrace the notion of God’s ministry and mission into which we are called to participate.

As we were saying our goodbyes on arriving back to the Twin Cities; Juan said to me “Remember now, your new church already has a Hispanic ministry in St. Paul.” Welcomed as a co-worker in mission by a man I did not know 48 hours earlier. Or did I already know him? Do you already know him?

jacob's well

Here are few thoughts about our trip to Jacob’s Well that resonated with me and were realized in our family’s experience. Jump in and comment on these or post your own thoughts and reflections by clicking on the word comment below this post. I would also invite you to read the story of Jesus at Jacob’s Well (John 4:1-45) as it is an important story as we partner together to engage the world in Jesus’ name. Anyway, here are some random thoughts.

The way that the man holding the “Homeless” sign on the off ramp on 46th street laid the groundwork for the entire experience. Our daughters (and us too) were forced to confront their (our) culturally-shaped teenage suburban understanding of need and want, have and have not, and answer the question 'who is my neighbor?'

We were surprised by the energy that we sensed before we even entered the building as we were greeted by the sign and the flags.

I was intrigued by Greg’s comment that the school is a beloved part of the community and this relationship (community to school) is a benefit as they use the same space to engage the same community. What does this say about what we should look for in space?

I liked hearing the comment that picking up garbage together was a meaningful part of knowing that the community was going to be about “doing ministry” together. How does this theme play out in our community?

If I slow down enough in my life to allow it to speak to me, a ping pong table will speak to me about relationships next time I see one.

I might actually have to tune in to Desperate Housewives and watch an episode. Or not.

How great it was to see the band afterwards at the restaurant and know that what happened during worship was laying the groundwork for how those who gathered would relate to one another and those they meet in their communities, their work places, their schools, and the places they (we) frequent in the coming days.

links and thinks

I have posted some helpful links for us as we dig into this business of being followers of Jesus Christ who are sent into the world on his behalf. One of the links (Friends of Mission) has some really good material, some of which I pulled out and posted below. Give it a look over. Dance with it a while. Maybe you will embrace it or maybe you will find it out rhythm with how you see the world. I would be interested in hearing your reaction, either in person next time we see each other or via your comments on this blog. Peace, joy and wonder.

Some Thoughts on being a missional Church from Friends of Mission

1. A missional church understands that God is already present in the culture where it finds itself. Therefore, a missional church doesn't view its purpose as bringing God into the culture or taking individuals out of the culture to a sacred space.
2. A missional church is evangelistic and faithfully proclaims the gospel through word and deed. Words alone are not sufficient; how the gospel is embodied in our community and service is as important as what we say.
3. A missional church will align all their activities around the missio dei -- the mission of God.
4. A missional church seeks to put the good of their neighbor over their own.
5. A missional church practices hospitality by welcoming the stranger into the midst of the community.
6. A missional church will see themselves as a community or family on a mission together. There are no "Lone Ranger" Christians in a missional church.
7. A missional church will see themselves as representatives of Jesus and will do nothing to dishonor his name.
8. A missional church will be desperately dependent on prayer.
9. A missional church gathered will be for the purpose of worship, encouragement, supplemental teaching, training, and to seek God's presence and to be realigned with God's missionary purpose.
10. A missional church is orthodox in its view of the gospel and scripture, but culturally relevant in its methods and practice so that it can engage the worldview of the hearers.
11. A missional church will be a community where all members are involved in learning "the way of Jesus." Spiritual development is an expectation.
12. A missional church is a healing community where people carry each other's burdens and help restore gently.

sent into the world- allowing God to find you

So the assignment seemed pretty simple, go into the world on a Sunday morning and allow God to find you in a new way outside the walls of a church building. You would think as a pastor that I could accomplish this with my family; I mean if I am asking someone else (the new faith community that I am leading) to do it, I should be able to pull it off. Right?

So the day began with our ten and twelve year old girls in a dispute over territorial possession of the bathroom with each of them pleading the present and past wrongdoings of their sibling as they argued their position on opposite sides of a locked bathroom door. Their father promptly reminded them that the door had hinges and that it could simply be removed so that they could both enter and exit freely in perfect harmony from now on if they wished. This solution was met with a sigh and roll of eyes that I had seen too many times before. O, the joys of parenting.

With everyone set to venture out we sat down to do a family devotion together. 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 seemed appropriate. A little discussion about what it means to be reconciled to Christ and one another would seemed to be good idea. I mean, I thought this was a good choice because since they were locked on opposite sides of the bathroom door, they could not read the picture hanging in their bathroom that reads “Sisters make the best friends.”

As we began the Bible study our ten year old said, “Dad, wouldn’t it be easier to just go to church?” Now I must tell you that I expected this response from some of the folks who I was asking to carry out this experiment of being sent into the world. But my own daughter? Ten? Isn’t it amazing that at 10 years old she is already becoming entrenched in a pattern of thinking that equates God talk and action with a church building? Wow.

Well, the Bible study went reasonably well. (By the way, Oxford American Dictionary’s definition of reconcile which we looked up in the course of the devotion: to restore friendship between {people} after an estrangement or quarrel). Beautiful. We headed into the world and found a neighborhood diner in a part of town that we seldom frequent where the hospitality and welcoming energy was amazing. We sat and ate as a family and God’s restorative power settled in as a right relationship between the earlier feuding sisters took hold.

And as we drove home a U2 song came on that really hit home. Titled “Yahweh,” which is the Hebrew word for God used in the Old Testament, these are they lyrics:

Take these shoes
Click clacking down some dead end street
Take these shoes
And make them fit
Take this shirt
Polyester white trash made in nowhere
Take this shirt
And make it clean, clean
Take this soul
Stranded in some skin and bones
Take this soul
And make it sing

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, Yahweh
Still I'm waiting for the dawn

Take these hands
Teach them what to carry
Take these hands
Don't make a fist
Take this mouth
So quick to criticise
Take this mouth
Give it a kiss

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, Yahweh
Still I'm waiting for the dawn

Still waiting for the dawn, the sun is coming up
The sun is coming up on the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, tell me now
Why the dark before the dawn?

Take this city
A city should be shining on a hill
Take this city
If it be your will
What no man can own,
no man can take
Take this heart
Take this heart
Take this heart
And make it break

Yahweh had found us around that table. Often we don’t know the why of the dark before the dawn but we can see clearly when the sun rises. Where the mouths of our kids had been quick to criticize earlier… the kiss of Yahweh had done its work. Reconciliation. Redemption. Restoration.

As I tucked my ten year old into bed she took out her Bible like she often does at night and read a couple Psalms, highlighting them as she finished. “Dad, when I get old I want to have this whole book highlighted.” The kiss of Yahweh certainly will make your soul sing.