playgrounds and the kingdom of God

“The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he's always doing both.”

James Michener

And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.

Mark 10:13-14



Yesterday the faith community I lead, River of Joy Lutheran Church, gathered for a community meal and a service project. We were putting together care packages to carry in our gloveboxes in order to be prepared for the next time we see someone homeless on a street corner. Click here for more on this new missional initiative.

Anyway, before we began the service project a bunch of the kids (ages 2-7) were outside playing as the adults were setting up inside. One of the mom’s who was outside supervising came in and excitedly told us that some of the children were outside on the playground car giving care packages to one another; role playing the sharing of the care packages before we had even constructed them or officially “told” them about the project. Apparently, the tagging along as the gloves, hats, socks, and granola bars were purchased and the conversations around these purchases had sunk into their precious beings before the care packages were even constructed.

Now you might think this is a cute story, and it is. But it is more than cute. Because how children play is deeply rooted and highly significant in their development. “Play is freely chosen, intrinsically motivated and personally directed. Playing has been long recognized as a critical aspect of Child development.” I am no childhood development expert, but it would seem to me that to have our children engaging in play where “human behavior is structured by very different rules” sounds a lot like living in the kingdom of God, where the rule of love expressed by Christ is markedly different than the governing rule of our world.

So let’s play!!! Let's play as communities of faith that are called to live by different rules in this world. Let's play, as children of God who have been marked by the cross and set free for goodness, life, and light. May Christ’s spirit continue to inspire us and lead us as we create environments for our children to live out a life of playful, world changing creativity.

*which link are we called to be?

The one that is closed and bound. Tempered together and unable to break free?




Or the one that is easily clicked open by Christ and reconnected to others for the sake of building up and supporting one another in the traversing of life?

Check out the end of this post (sept 6) which was sent to me today. It is a great story of the spirit of Christ clicking people together for the sake of building up and encouragement.


"So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia. And when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed."

Acts 16:40

*why do we gather?

Paul writes to his friends in Corinth, “What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.”

Can it be that simple? We come together to build each other up. In Christ. With Christ. And through Christ?

Each bringing his/her unique life story and giftedness?

provisions- God's work. Our hands.

As part of our fall worship series, God’s work. Our hands., we are journeying together with provisions; reading some of the same books, listening to some of the same music, and watching some of the same movies.





Here are the things we are traveling with this fall:

The Big Sort- examines the ‘self sorting’ of American culture and the negative impact that this practice has in a more and more diverse world.

Freedom of a Christian- is Martin Luther’s examination of our paradoxical life as those who are completely free through Christ while at the same time bound to serve others.

A Generous Orthodoxy- challenges us to a life that is Christ-centered in practice, looking beyond us/them and embracing the mystery of we.

Jim and Casper Go to Church- is a a collection of conversations between a church consultant and an atheist as they visit churches and speak with Christians.

Everything is Spiritual- is a filmed teaching of Rob Bell, a pastor who is tremendously gifted at raising awareness of the nature of things spiritual.

Pleasantville- is a film that captures the rub of modern life (and world view) with postmodern life (and worldview).

Ben Harper- is the musical artist we are listening to with a recommendation of the CD Diamonds on the Inside. Take a listen to our journey theme song above.

Grab a book or movie at worship. Give it a chance and see what you think. Don’t like it, bring it back and try another.

dancin' shoes

One of the images that really resonates with me these days is the notion of our relationship with God being like a dance. Perhaps like the first dance of a newly married couple or the dance of bride with her father, or the joyful dance of a people in worship, or a tribal dance handed down, preserved, and stylized from generation to generation.

Dancing with God to the rhythms of life. Not alone, but together. Click the photos below to see God dancing!

A few months ago, ROJ joined a family dancing with God and on their way to India. The Borde’s (Jon, Swati, and Neil) quickly became friends, co-missionaries, and dance partners. Jon and Jodie Skyberg hosted a concert in their home to lift them up and we sent them on their way with our blessing and prayers and some money to purchase shoes for kids in our global neighborhood. The shoes worn by children in India pictured above are the fruit of a concert on a backyard patio in Lakeville! Dancin' shoes indeed!

I posted about our story with the Bordes a couple of times and one of the posts was reworked into an article for a congregational newsletter and a synod publication (July).

Our transglobal dance with Jon, Swati, and Neil continues as we support them in prayer and presence from halfway around the world. Our God is an amazing dance partner who meets us and invites us to dance: in a park in Prior Lake, around a swimming pool, at picnics in north Mpls, in the creating of art and community, with children’s hands in a garden, and in the lives of children living in orphanages in India.

Big arms. A gentle lead. Graceful steps.

Feel the rhythm.

Follow the lead.

Dance-

Your

Way

Home.

one concert- 40,000 children fed

Click me.

all are welcome- Agape

Some of the ROJ community headed to north Mpls last night and enjoyed a community picnic hosted by Redeemer Lutheran Church. It was amazing to see this faith coummunity open its backyard and welcome the larger community into a time of music, play, food, and laughter.

This video is of Agape, a Christian hip hop artist who helped develop JUMP worship, a hip hop service hosted by Redeemer. Enjoy, and remember...ALL ARE WELCOME.

hunger concert on august 15th

"Music has long been a vessel of change and hope. Music speaks a language of its own and has brought cultures together for thousands of years...."

“We are not going to bring local and global hunger to a screeching halt by gathering together, inviting our friends and neighbors and hosting a concert,” said Steve Bonesho, a pastor at River of Joy Lutheran Church. “But perhaps, just maybe, as we come together we can have a lasting impact on one person’s life by providing food for a global or local neighbor. We can have an impact by being a friend, by sharing some hope and by welcoming a stranger...”

"Hunger isn’t about just easing the comfort of a grumbling tummy, Heatherlyn said. It’s giving a student the strength to study and a parent the confidence to have a good job interview. It’s giving parents a peace of mind when things aren’t going well to know others around them care, she said."

Click here to read the article from the Prior Lake American about the upcoming hunger concert.

romans 3:21

with the Law and the Prophets testifying to it-


the clarity of God’s goodness and love

glistening in living water

flowing from a savior

hanging on a cross

and meeting us

in baptism

romans 3:21

the righteousness of God has been made clear...


with spittled mud

and a touch (or two)

for us

and

through us

for

the

world

romans 3:21

but now, apart from the law…


to believe it is to die

to live it- a saint

to give it voice- an apostle

to move in it- daring to be the new creation God wills

witnessed by the prophets

sin lies dead

and so do I

Where the Hell is Matt?

I posted this video on the worship leader’s blog the other day for them to see and then read in the Minneapolis paper this morning that the singer is from Northeast. Pretty cool video that speaks volumes of hope and joy without words.

I will let the video speak for itself but wonder if this is not what the writer of Revelation has in mind when he writes that into the kingdom will be brought the glory of all the nations. Perhaps the title should not be “Where the Hell is Matt,” but rather, ‘Where in the Kingdom is Matt?”

Enjoy!

sunshine, water balloons, and black bean lasagna

Yesterday afternoon, Micah, Ben, Heatherlyn and I were sitting outside at Caribou planning the Community Hunger Concert for August 15th. Let me rephrase that, Yesterday afternoon, I had the opportunity to warm my soul beside the fire of three creative and talented people as they began to give shape and form to what should be a great evening. We were sitting in the sun until a table with an umbrella next to us became available and we decided to grab that table instead. As we did, a man sitting at another shaded table got up and took the sunny table we were leaving saying that the sunny seat looked really good to him. In the warmth of the sun and the cool of the shade, we all laughed about the musical chairs we were playing.

The sun seeking man walked by a couple of times as we were meeting, off to grab a cooler and return to the warming rays. As he shuffled by us, he smiled warmly at the shade sitting crew. Our meeting went great, with the type of energy you garner when people are engaged in things they are passionate about and expressing themselves freely and openly. (To be honest, it felt a lot like Summer Grace for those of you who were there). The conversation stayed mostly on a musical track, with an occasional diversion to the topics of swearing, trips to Africa, living the gospel, and photography (check out the pics Jason took of HL and Ben Sunday). Our conversation turned to caring for people in (and as) community, in a broken world where relationships and lives suffer. I shared my plans to meet some folks at Let’s Dish later that evening for an impromptu mission to prepare meals for a family that was off to spend their 4th of July weekend surrounding their father with love and care as he entered into his last weeks of hospice care.

As our meeting wrapped up, we said our goodbyes and headed our own ways to our next appointments. I was the last to leave the table and the sun soaking man struck up a conversation as I walked by. (As often happens, the next appointment for me was not the one I had on my calendar.) The neighbor on the patio said that the seat in the sun looked pretty good to him as he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer and had six to nine months to live. Colon, kidneys, bone. My heart dropped as I gazed into his eyes and asked how he was doing with that news. He said with a wry smile that he was still putting sunscreen on and hadn’t given up…but the sunshine sure felt good.

Another woman, who up to this point had been a silent member of the patio community, got up from her chair and walked over and joined us in the conversation. She asked the man if it would be okay if she prayed for the man. She offered him hope in God’s ability to work miracles and he gladly received her words. I told him that he could be sure that there would be a whole community of people lifting him up in prayer. (God’s personally delivered blue prayer cards are powerful, so please add this man to the prayers you lift before God). As the conversation between three strangers closed, I walked away in awe of God’s power to compel us to act in order that those whom he loves would be comforted and know that they are not alone in their struggles.

A few hours later, a handful of compelled people gathered at Let’s Dish to be hands and feet. We prepared meals, laughed, and lived a deeper life as we supported a friend in Christ and a family who needed some sunshine as death looms and lurks in their future. I thought about how food is such a vital part of life together and the tremendous blessing it is to share food and companionship around the preparing, serving, and eating of food. I thought about how many people would be sharing meals this holiday weekend, family and friends gathering at cabins, on decks, at campgrounds, in homes. And then I considered all the stories about Jesus eating and serving food and drink in the gospels…Confusing those who follow him with talk of eating his body…Giving life to those he feeds…A new life…Beyond the limitations we see at work in our lives…A new life…That even death cannot conquer!

When we finished preparing the food we walked across the parking lot to Target. Our hope was to add some items to the over sized cooler to liven the celebration of life that this ordinary yet holy cooler was destined to become a part of.

Water balloons, super soakers, freezies. Chocolate. Gifts to enjoy the sunshine.

Gifts, to enjoy the Son.

A Son who makes a promise to all of us in John chapter 10:

“I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”

Sunshine.

For all of us.

Update From the Borde's

Jon, Swati, and Neil are settling in to their new life in India. We hope to be able to have a live video feed at worship sometime in the near future so they can share for themselves what God's mission looks like in their new corner of the world. Here is an update I received this week:

Hi folks

It has almost been a month since we have arrived in Pune. We are beginning to adjust to living in the “State Fair” environment. We have found a rental apartment and will be moving into our new home on July 1st. We have been staying with different relatives here. Another praise report is that our house in Minnesota rented. We had renters move in on the 15th of June. God is good and we praise him for his faithfulness.

Neil started school on the 16th of June as we had to get some formalities completed. Keep him in prayer as this is a huge adjustment for him. He is studying grade 4 curriculum in grade 2 here. Other than school he has made many new friends here and cricket is quickly becoming his favorite sport. Rickshaw rides are also pretty popular with him.

Swati and I are doing well and even though it has been busy settling in we have spent time praying and soaking in his presence as we go forth into ministry here. We have done a couple of small meetings with small groups of people in the slums where the micro enterprise groups are as well as with the children in the Pune orphanage. We get to be part of the bible school reopening this Monday and that will be fun. We will be spending 3 days at the bible school and girls orphanage. The Lord is bringing many new friends into our lives here and also opening a lot of doors for ministry here.

We will have internet access once we move into our new home as well as a home phone. We will be available to skype once we move as we do not have internet access where we are staying. We will also send you pictures in the next update as we do not have our cameras with us currently.

Thank you for your prayers, support and partnership as we do his work in India.

We do pray for all of you and miss you all.

May he continue to do exceedingly abundantly more than any of you can imagine in all aspects of your lives.

Be blessed


Your family from the other side of the world

Jon, Swati and Neil



Prayer Requests

1)Neil’s adjustment to school in India
2)We are looking for some local volunteers and workers to come alongside us for kingdom business (micro enterprise) and orphan care. Pray that God would lead the right people our way.
3)The bible school reopening
4)Our move into our new rental home

Summer Grace. Pictures

We are gathering ROJ kids and their friends from the larger community into a creative adventure for kids we are calling Summer Grace. It is an opportunity for kids of all ages to explore art, music, faith and story as a community that is created to partner in God's ongoing creation. Here are some pics from the first day.

Click here to visit the Summer Grace. website.

new website

As we have been heading into this season for the stranger, we have been working on developing a new website. Click here and check out the new site mock up. If you visit the new site, please come back and leave a comment on what you think or email me your thoughts. This will help us to determine where we need to tune the site.

four strangers walk into a coffee shop

About six months ago the four of us pushed two mini-tables together at Starbucks. A chance meeting had found us in the same coffee shop for two separate meetings. A musician, a pastor, a health care consultant, and a finance professional; two acquaintances and two strangers sharing the presence of the Spirit with conversation that was deeper and richer than the coffee we were drinking. When we pushed the tables apart, there were no more strangers. Only friends, connected by the sinew of the Spirit.

Friday night we gathered in the home of the health care consultant. About 40 of her family’s friends had come to share some food, some music, some of their monetary blessing, and some love in support of the finance professional who was headed to India with his wife and their son to do battle against poverty and despair in some of the worst slums in the world.

The reach of that Spirit-led coffee shop conversation had grown wider and embraced friends, friends of friends, Christians and non-Christians, Sunday morning golfers and Sunday morning church goers. The Spirit moved freely (and freeingly) as the conversation around good food and good wine created an atmosphere of warmth and community.

the health care consultant, she welcomed people into her home

the finance professional, he told his story and engaged those who had gathered with a reality of life in Indian slums that touched them deeply

the musician, she took them even deeper- to the very depth of their souls

the pastor, he kept his mouth shut because the Spirit was already at work

the Spirit, the Spirit of Christ moved so that 250 children of God will have new shoes and in order that all in the world will know that God is love

a love that is far beyond measure

that touches us at the depth of who we are

and who we wish to become

*living water, strangers, truth and grace

Water. Two hydrogen atoms bonded to an oxygen atom. With it- life. Without it- death.

Jesus, full of grace and truth, comes into this world and announces himself to be a new and different type of water. He declares himself to be living water, gifted to the world directly from the source of all life, his Father. Christ himself, a new living water that refreshes and quenches our inner beings at a deeper level of who we are.

And just as the hydrogen and oxygen atoms are bonded together, this gift of living water cannot be separated from the story of its giving. Take away oxygen and you have H2, or hydrogen gas, no more water. Pry Jesus’ teaching about living water away from the woman at the well in John chapter 4 and you no longer have living water.

The gift to the world, this living water is given to a woman who is an outcast among her own people. She heads to the well at noon as one who is not welcome to draw water with the other women of the village who meet at the well in the cooler morning hours. She is a Samaritan, one of “those people” who have little regard for God or the proper way of doing things. She is (and should always be) a stranger to any good upstanding God worshiping Jew.

Any good and upstanding Jew-- except Jesus. This one who is sent from God meets her at the well. On her terms. Truthful about her past and full of grace in his presence, he engages her and welcomes her into a new life of spirit and truth. “I am he,” he tells her, the one who comes to unite us all in a life of spirit and truth.

His disciples don’t get it. They show up and completely blow off the woman, ignoring her and dismissing her existence altogether. They ask Jesus if he is hungry and he tells them that he has already been fed by doing the will of God (by engaging the woman). As with many of Jesus’ teachings, this goes completely over the heads of those who should know him best, those who profess to be his followers.

But Christ’s stop at the well has not gone for naught. His teaching gives life. The woman, having drank deeply from the well of Christ himself, has headed into town and brought back a slew of people to meet him. Amazingly, these are the same people who have ‘estranged’ her and denied her the dignity of being welcomed in her own village!

These fellow strangers have come out to the well where Jesus is. They have come to taste this living water that is given freely to the estranged (and to those who would estrange) in order that they may be sustained at a deeper level of their humanity.

They come to meet a stranger, one who is like no other.

One that can quench thirst at a deeper level.

One called Jesus.

The Christ. A stranger. In his own world. Among his own. A stranger.

so a guy walks into a bar...

Plenty of bad jokes and truly destructive stories could be told about strangers who meet in bars, but Christ's life-giving and restorative presence will not be denied a seat anywhere that we go...

Our leadership team meets weekly in the bar/lounge of a local restaurant to discern action and plan activities for our faith community. So last night we got together and you could feel the joy of being together just oozing out of our booth with all the hearty laughter and the intensity of the dialogue. After 15 minutes of this ooze, we began with a Bible study as we usually do and we were suddenly quite quiet as we each studied the text at hand. A man seated beside us (a stranger) leaned over and made a comment about the sudden change of volume and we told him we were doing a Bible study which took him a little off guard I think.

We moved from quietly studying the text to discussing the text, which happened to be about being “salt” and “light” in the world. Again, the dynamic life and energy at the table was so thick you could taste it as we shared our thoughts and feelings about this scripture as it related to us as individuals and as it relates to our life together as a community. We talked about adding flavor to the world around us, being that which preserves and sustains, shining through ‘how we are’ as opposed to ‘what we think’ or the 'things we do.' We engaged issues surrounding authenticity, depth of life, and Christ’s radical call to live differently in the world and for the world God loves.

The stranger in the bar who had become our neighbor walked over and wished us well as he headed to the doorway to head home (wherever that home was---or did he stop by because this booth felt like home?). It was almost as if he wanted another touch of this unexpected ‘something’ that was happening beside him.

We spent some time talking about the business at hand and departed for home ourselves. Before heading to bed, I went to the computer and found an e-mail from one of our leaders in of all place the junk e-mail folder. In part, this completely unjunky and pricelessly valuable correspondence said this:

"I walked in tonight with a heart and mind full of stress - racing a million miles an hour. After a couple hours of being in the presence of the amazing thoughtful and joyful people that you are, I walked out feeling loved, having laughed, being restored, and for the first time all day...... my heart was calm. Thank you for sharing your light with me and for "being" you.”

Thank you to Christ.

who we follow wherever that may lead---

who calls and energizes us to be light and salt---

for each other

for the stranger

for the world


strangers on this road we are all, we are not two we are one

A Prayer for the Ages

I think a certain 12th century Franciscan monk is smiling as the Spirit inspired words he penned breathe life into a new generation.