A Christmas Wish from a Shrink

As I ponder what to wish you all during this festive season, I decided to wish you no less than what I wish for myself and those in similar life’s journey. With some seriousness and some tongue in cheek I wish that this next year you:

1. Escape The Matrix with its illusions, lies, and games (Christian and other).
2. Be able to go very deep into the soul and deal with those demons of denial that create guilt, despair, anger, depression, and even disease until…
3. The soul is bare and naked before God, stripped of its narcissistic armor and false persona ready to…
4. Receive healing, grace, and joy that lets us…
5. Experience the lightness of liberation and freedom to be the real us without the need to wear disguises and masks.

Free as a bird… No more hiding…

We can then walk in the very presence of God without obstruction enveloped in the stillness of His love. All inner noise turned off as you watch God.

Dr. Sam

A Snippet from Peter Gent's "Missional Movements..."

Eagleman passed me an excellent article that brings together many key concepts from The Shaping of Things to Come and other books. It's confirmed many things I have been working toward, and phrases things very pointedly. Here is a key passage:

In the Gospel of Luke, chapter 10, Jesus sends out seventy disciples to go to the villages he was about to go to himself, telling the disciples to go find people who would invite them into their homes, and once there, to eat their food, release blessing, heal their sick, and proclaim that the kingdom of God had come near. Before he sends them out, however, Jesus tells the disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” We must stop for a moment to consider: weren’t the disciples the ones that were in that very moment being sent by the Lord of the harvest into his harvest? What was Jesus’ intent in telling the very workers he was sending to pray for sent workers?

Herein lies the key to missional movements. The implication of Jesus’ words are that the great majority of effective workers who will be called to the harvest are yet to be sent, for they are currently still in the harvest. The effect is that the strategic challenge in starting an apostolic movement is not in mobilizing the church to mission, it is mobilizing the harvest to mission. And consequently, the great task of the church in the West is not in reinventing the church but rather rebirthing the church. It is time to release new missional movements, from which workers will arise out of the harvest to carry the church to new heights and reshape the very fabric of the western church.

Christianity Rediscovered

I found this on a blog by someone named Solidaridad at
http://marydaly.blogspot.com/2006/07/christianity-rediscovered_27.html

I was on the plane reading Christianity Rediscovered when I read something so enlightening that for about five minutes I had to resist the urge to start a theological conversation with the strangers seated next to me...lucky for them I was able to resist myself, although it was very hard! But now I can share what I read with you...

Vincent J. Donovan was a Catholic missionary in Tazania and a member of the Holy Ghost order...bear with me. After some years of working in the schools and hospitals that served the people of the Masai tribe, he received permission to meet directly with a gathering of interested Masai people and their chief to speak to them solely about the good news of Christianity - Jesus' gospel and the God he spoke about. Donovan met weekly with them in the early morning - a time that would not interfere with their daily activities and work - and began by bringing up a topic or theme each week, asking about their thoughts on the topic and then offering his. Their first climactic moment came at the end of their discussions on God: Donovan ended the God discussions by comparing their understanding and beliefs about God with Abraham's understanding and beliefs about God (of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible).

Donovan explained that like them, Abraham had also believed that God blessed him and his family in a special and unique way - that his God loved and blessed him above all others. Donovan explained that like the Masai, Abraham tried to restrict God to his tribe and his land and so made God less of a God than God really was (pg. 34). Donovan told them that the God they believed in who loves rich people and hates poor people, who loves good people and hates evil people – who loves some over others – does not exist (pg. 35)! Donovan said, "There is no God like that. There is only the God who loves us no matter how good or how evil we are, the God you have worshipped without really knowing [it], the truly unknown God – the High God" (pg. 35). He told them the High God is really the only God.

With the silence that followed Donovan became nervous that maybe he had gone too far – had he offended the Masai by saying that their tribal God whose love they restricted to themselves and to their land did not exist? Then suddenly someone asked Donovan, "This story of Abraham – does it only speak to the Masai? Or does it speak also to you? Has your tribe found the High God? Have you known Him [sic]?" (pg. 35).

"Has your tribe found the High God?"

Donovan caught himself and realized the question required serious consideration...he thought to himself, "suddenly I remembered that since the time of Joan of Arc, if not before, the French have conceived of God as being rather exclusively and intimately associated with their quest for glory. I wonder what god they prayed to? Americans have some kind of certainty that 'almighty God' will always be on their side in all their wars. Hitler never failed to call on the help of 'Gott, der Allächtige' in all his speeches; in all his adventures…I have been to many parishes in America where they prayed for victory in war. I recognized the God they were praying to – the tribal God. And what about the God who loves good people, industrious people, clean people, rich people, [add your own bias here; married people, church-going people, etc.] and punishes bad people, lazy people, dirty people, thieving people, people without jobs and on welfare [gay people, conservative people, etc.]? Which God is that?" (pg. 35-36)

Finally Donovan realized that he, we, are no different than the Masai – we also only worship a tribal God – who blesses and loves those that are basically more like ourselves. Donovan, humbled before the Masai said, "No, we have not found the High God. My tribe has not known Him [sic]. For us, too, He [sic] is the unknown God. But we are searching… I have come a long, long distance to invite you to search for [God] with us. Let us search for [God] together. Maybe, together, we will find [God]" (pg. 36).

Maybe, together, we will find God – the High God.

Donovan first went to the Masai to speak to them about the good news, about the God and the gospel of Jesus Christ; to tell them that God is above all tribes and clans, nation and race, and that God loves us all; that the world is sacred and full of unlimited possibilities and expectant hope; that the human race is all one – we are all one brother/sisterhood – that we are all sons and daughters of a common parent – that we are all of equal value and importance. Donovan first went to the Masai to offer them Jesus' good news and Jesus' God, but soon realized that he also came from a people – a tribe – that does not believe in the good news or know the High God of whom Jesus spoke: the God who loves and values all people equally; the good news that say we no longer have to live our lives with "the burning hatred, hostility, and prejudice of one race or tribe toward another" that causes us to tear each other and the earth apart (pg. 40) and instead declares that we live in a sacred world of endless possibilities and expectant hope (pg. 38).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After reading this part of the book I was overwhelmed with the need to extrovert and talk about this revelation from Donovan's book that became my own revelation. I thought about the way I had just heard a relative speak about how "the devil tricks people into thinking that homosexuality is ok with God"…does this relative's god only love heterosexual/straight people? I thought about our country's rhetoric against "those terrorists – our enemies,"…does the god of the United States only love "Americans" and not Iraqis or Palestinians?

Do I think that my god only loves those who are "open-minded," have feminist ideals and support gay rights?

I realized that from now on, when I catch others and I try to box, limit, and define who God is and whom God loves, I can think of Abraham. I can remind myself and others that Abraham was called by God to leave behind his assumptions about whom God loves and blesses, and to leave behind his tribe and his nation and his land so that all the nations will be blessed. Because when we make such assumptions, when we restrict god to our way of thinking – to what we think is good, true and right – we are indeed only worshiping a tribal god – a god who is less that the High God who called Abraham out of his tribe – and we cannot and should not claim that this tribal god of ours is the God of the good news, the God of Christianity, or the God about whom Jesus came to share.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have yet to finish Donovan's book – but already it has given me much food for thought – and at this point what I can say about the God of Christianity and the good news of Jesus Christ is that, "Indeed, we have not found the High God. My tribe has not known God. For us, too, the High God is unknown. But we are searching for God…let us search for God together. Maybe, together, we will find God…and rediscover Christianity."

Knocking on Heaven's door

somehow, I get the feeling that this generation is knock, knock, knocking on heaven's door...



I'm knocking right along with them...

How do I live without you?

Today has been a rough day. I realize this is straying away from our topic of Revolution here in this blog...but this is the song that is on my heart tonight.

I'm thinking that every day...miracles happen. I how do live without him?




How do I get through one night without you
If I had to live without you
What kind of life would that be
Oh I, I need you in my arms
Need you to hold
You're my world, my heart, my soul

If you ever leave
Baby you would take away everything good in my life
And tell me now

How do I live without you
I want to know
How do I breathe without you
If you ever go
How do I ever, ever survive
How do I
How do I
Oh, how do I live

Without you, there'd be no sun in my sky
There would be no love in my life
There'd be no world left for me
And I, oh Baby, I don't know what I would do
I'd be lost if I lost you
I
f you ever leave
Baby you would take away everything real in my life
And tell me now

How do I live without you
I want to know
How do I breathe without you
If you ever go
How do I ever, ever survive
How do I
How do I
Oh, how do I live

Please tell me baby
How do I go on

If you ever leave
Baby you would take away everything
Need you with me
Baby don't you know that you're everything good in my life
And tell me now

How do I live without you
I want to know
How do I breathe without you
If you ever go
How do I ever, ever survive
How do I
How do I
Oh, how do I live

how do I live without you
how do I live without you baby
how do I live....

- LeAnn Rimes

Cultivating Community -PDL19

Seems like the Lord of the Rings video ran its course. I received some excellent suggestions tonight from one of the frequenters of this blog, restlesrolento, saying that I should link together some of my blogs. I will be working on that sometime this week.

In the meantime, I just posted some brief comments on my experience with community life beginning in my early 20s, followed by a one-page outline of chapter 19 in Rick Warren's PDL: Cultivating Community.

His point to ponder is that community requires commitment. I find that the current generation of 20-somethings crave community but resist making the commitment necessary for it to exist. Any thoughts?

Here is the link: Cultivating Community.

Joseph

Lord of the Rings - Into The West

This is awessome .... courage in the face of darkness. This is the final song on the sound track from Lord of the Rings III


Lyrics

Lay down
Your sweet and weary head
The night is falling
You have come to journey's end
Sleep now
And dream of the ones who came before
They are calling
From across the distant shore

Why do you weep?
What are these tears upon your face?
Soon you will see
All of your fears will pass away
Safe in my arms
You're only sleeping

What can you see
On the horizon?
Why do the white gulls call?
Across the sea
A pale moon rises
The ships have come to carry you home

And all will turn
To silver glass
A light on the water
All Souls pass

Hope fades
Into the world of night
Through shadows falling
Out of memory and time
Don't say
We have come now to the end
White shores are calling
You and I will meet again
And you'll be here in my arms
Just sleeping

Chorus

And all will turn
To silver glass
A light on the water
Grey ships pass
Into the West

Seekers, believers, Christians or just simply friends?

Hi William,

I like the word, "seekers" ... although some may not yet be actively seeking ... "pre-believer" or pre-follower works ...

I also like "friends" on a journey, or traveling companions. We are all on a journey, regardless of our level of faith. I view the secular people I am spending time with as simply "friends." Some are more connected to Jesus than others ... but I find self-identification as a "Christian" to be a very poor guide to the level of their faith and commitment. In other words, some who call themselves Christians (many actually) often have less faith and less true commitment to the name (character) of Christ, than many who do not call themselves Christians. God looks on the heart .... sounds like Matt 7, doesn't it? "Lord, Lord..."

I have actually stopped thinking about people in terms of "Christian" and "non- or pre-Christian" ... and I think of them as on a continuum (from -10 to +10 - Engle’s Scale) of faith and openness to God.

I recently attended a Quaker worship service (which I really liked). They call themselves the “Society of Friends” and they call anyone who visits them (even agnostics or atheists) “friends”.

One of the important (and problematic) functions of religion is to provide a sense of group identity (us versus them). A particular religion or social group will define itself against the “others” who are not part of them…hence, so much religious violence, for example in the Balkans between Catholics, Muslims and Orthodox, or the war on terror between “Christians”, Jews and Muslims … or the civil war in Iraq between Kurds, Sunni’s and Shia’s.

That’s why I believe that Jesus never intended to establish a “religion” … he came seeking a relationship, and he came to abolish the “dividing wall” between gentile and Jew, slave and free, male and female. He was severely critical of the Jews for trying to “own” God and control access to His kingdom and for viewing themselves as superior and “chosen” in distinction with the gentile “dogs.” Christians” do the same thing today. The last thing Jesus wanted was to set up another religion so that people could call themselves “Christian” and look down upon “sinners.” The highest title that Jesus gave anyone was found in John 15:15 when he called his disciples “friends.”

joseph

PS: there is a medical update from Deb on http://www.friends4thejourney.com/ and I'll be posting my most recent email reflection on "Made to Belong" from the PDL on there later today.

Deconstructing the Church Part 2

I came to the conclusion a long time ago, that my pulpit expositions were rather ineffective tools for helping followers learn. I realized that the higher goal of a spiritual “teacher” should not be only to “teach” but to facilitate learning. I found that one-on-one conversations with probing questions and challenging exhortations were far more powerful for motivating people to change behavior and character and for sparking spiritual growth. Basically, the method Jesus (and Socrates) often used.

Several years ago, I remember hearing a friend, Dr. Dow Robinson, trace the modern church “meeting” back to Greek Theater. As a pastor of a church, that shook me.

So…after leaving the Spanish church where I pastored in Kendall, we developed a model in our community where a small group of peers meet for prayer, fellowship and honest discussion (Acts 2:42). The “apostle’s teaching” for us, is reading a portion of scripture and then discussing it. The facilitator function is usually rotated among the various participants with the facilitator asking questions for discussion (like one might do in a blog) rather than giving opinions. Occasionally, someone will be inspired to give a exhortation, or “teaching.” Sometimes someone will share something they sense God wants to say. Other times, someone will ask for prayer or share an area of struggle.

Ultimate Reality

“Let us understand that to believe in the Lord himself, and to believe a formula, are actually two different motions. By the grace of God, one Christian has his eyes opened to see what kind of person he is; he therefore lays himself down and believes in the Lord, trusting the latter to do within him what he himself cannot do. As its consequence, he obtains release and is fully satisfied before God. Later on, though, another believer comes along. Upon hearing the testimony of the first person, he too asks God to enlighten him that he may know how useless a man he is. He too learns to believe in God and to humbly abandon himself. Yet it strangely turns out that he does not receive the deliverance which the first one experiences. What is the explanation for this? It is because the first brother has living faith which enables him to touch the Lord as well as believe in God, while the second brother has not faith at all but only a “copied faith formula”; and thus he does not reach God. Briefly stated, what this second brother gets is a method, not the Lord. A method has no power nor effectiveness; for not being Christ, it is simply a dead thing.”

Watchman Nee

In light of Bob Mumford's cry that "they just want to see His face", how can we bring Christ to the world in a way that they encounter Him and not a formula?

Deconstructing the “Church” -Part 1

What we have been attempting to do for about four years I will call "deconstructing" the church. Basically we have been attempting to digitize the church, that is, reduce it down to its most basic and irreducible form, where, if we remove one more thing, it will no longer be the church. There are a lot of reasons for this, one being that the replication of DNA takes place at the cellular level, rather than the most developed, complex level... another is that I am too tired to do the big church thing.... another was the influence of a book by Lamar Boshman on "Future Worship” that traced the locus of emphasis in church life from the sacraments in the middle ages.... to the pulpit in the reformation… to the platform in the electronic church.... and he predicted that in the digital age the locus of God's presence would be "in the midst of his people"....

From a missional point of view, we wanted to develop a model of church life that can easily be replicated in any social group or context with minimal scaffolding...Like catching or uploading a virus.

So, we started “deconstructing” layers of church life. The building was the first to go…then Sunday School, worship team…centralized giving and a joint financial account, then the leadership structure: the senior pastor, elders and staff.

Not surprisingly, one of the hardest things to get rid of was a weekly “meeting” for structured worship (worship meaning music and singing). This was especially hard for those who were raised in a context of weekly Sunday morning meetings. We now encourage the smaller committed groups to decide for themselves how often, when and where to meet, as we also encourage them to to give but empower them to hear from God about where to give.

We suggest Acts 2:42 as a guideline for their gathering. To truly empower the laity, and abolish the clergy-laity division will require more radical action than most leaders have been willing to take up to this point.

Jesus and personal responsability

here are some scriptures to consider as we reflect on Matt's first installment about Post Institutionalism.

PHI 2:12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;

GAL 6:5 For each one shall bear his own load.

1JO 2:27 And as for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.

Any thoughts how to interpret these in the our current context? What does it mean for us to work out our salvation? Or bear own own load? Why does John say that we have no need for anyone to teach us? In what way does his anointing teach us al things?

Dr Sam

Post-Institutionalism

This article was originally published on Newsvine.com here to an audience of secularists, naturalists, hindus, etc. It is my deep feeling that what the world needs now are "post-Christian" followers of Christ.

A few years ago I really believed in the power of institutions. My experiences as a student, as an athlete, and as a church member were positive. Over time however, I have seen a rapid decline in the effectiveness of institutions with a corresponding increase in costs to manage. I began to notice that there were lots of people on the “outside” of these institutions. It would be easy to dismiss these “outsiders” as a fringe element, but the number of people who are losing out to institutionalism is growing at a rapid pace.

We often hail the greatness of our political, social, business, educational, and religious institutions. True greatness does not lie in building and protecting institutions, but in building and protecting people, families, and communities. Institutions stay “pure” by purging the “impure”. Families on the other hand, stay pure by integrating and building health and wholeness into each member.

The post-institutional era is about building organically through family and community structures with wholeness, collaboration, and good stewardship in mind.

Think about it. A political candidate thinks about issues in terms of reelection, not problem solving. A church starts a new marketing campaign to boost membership so that the budget will balance. Rather than thinking about building wholeness into individuals, they are thinking about institutional preservation. Business? Why is Google doing everything they can to avoid the institutional pitfalls that IBM and Microsoft have fallen into?

Close the Door Behind You

To demonstrate the “purge mentality” of institutions I will tell a quick story. In 2002, my family and I moved to Dallas, TX. Through the invitation of a neighbor we started attending a local church. The stated goal of the church was to provide a community for “healthy” families. I pondered that statement and wondered how many people that excluded from this community.

As time progressed I felt a need to serve in the church. I signed up to manage the parking lot before services and help seat people once they came inside. One Sunday, I was put in charge of the “overflow” section. If the front section of pews fills, a divider is pulled back and folding chairs are setup up to accommodate the “overflow”. In order to dissuade people from sitting in the overflow section prior to the front section filling, plastic tape was strung around the chairs barring entry. I was situated in front of the chairs to make sure no one sat in the overflow section until the appointed time.

I looked across the section of chairs to a young man who had jumped the tape blockade and taken a seat in the back row. This was an affront to the overflow section. Not only that… he was wearing an Ozzy Osbourne T-shirt! I walked over and sat down next to him. I said hello. He said hello in return. We talked for a while about how stupid it was to have an overflow section that was blocked off by tape. He could tell that I was “cool” and really didn’t care if he sat back there. He started telling me that he had fallen on rough times and that his parents had thrown him out of the house. I told him that sucked and it sounded very “unchristian”. He agreed. Right about that time, my neighbor (the one that invited us in the first place) came over and said, “mbrennan, what are you doing sitting in the reject section?” Nice… A couple minutes later, this older guy in a suit came over looking very embarrassed. Referring to my new Ozzy loving friend he said, “He’s probably high on God knows what!” It turns out that the old dude was Ozzy man’s dad. Nice… I said to the old guy, “Hey, we’re fine. We’re having a great conversation. Cool out.”

You see, Ozzy’s mom and dad were institutionalists. The institution had failed to reform their son so it was time to purge. They prayed to God that no one witnessed their unhealthy family. Shiny veneer with a black inside.

This was one of the great examples that showed me this truth. It bears repeating:

True greatness doesn’t lie in building and protecting institutions, but in building and protecting people, families, and communities. Institutions stay “pure” by purging the “impure”. Families stay pure by integrating and building wholeness in each member. The post-institutional era is about building organically through family and community structures with wholeness, collaboration, and good stewardship in mind.

So rather than building up Ozzy, we purged him.

Conclusions

So how will the post-institutional world impact you? Do you find yourself looking at problems that absolutely cannot be solved by the government or some other non-responsive institution? Have you noticed that the cost of health care and education are rising, but the quality is falling? There is no lack of intellectual capital, financial capital, and ingenuity to solve many of our problems. The question is are we willing to give ourselves to our own communities? Are we willing to engage our communities and bring non-institutional solutions to our most pressing problems? Many of us are stuck on the couch or by the computer decrying the failures of Washington, the UN, and the World Bank. At some point, the gross failures of institutions will lead to greater action among social entrepreneurs. Common citizens will take matters into their own hands. Some already have.

THE LORD CHANCELLOR ANNOUNCES A REVOLUTION

In 1620 Francis Bacon published a manifesto. He was critical of endless theoretical philosophizing based on the classical texts and advocated more empirical testing and pragmatic knowledge (Grafton:197).

Both the New World and ancient texts played key roles in Bacon’s dramas of scientific discovery. The title page of the Great Instauration shows a ship sailing past classical columns that represent the pillars of Hercules, the ancient limits of navigation and knowledge. Charles V had taken the pillars as his symbol, with the cautious humanist motto: "Ne plus ultra" "Do not go too far." Bacon kept the pillars but sent his ship past them and lopped off a vital word from the Latin tag: Plus ultra, "Too far is not enough". Discovery, not reading has become the central mode of obtaining important knowledge (Grafton:198).

And anyone who cared to see, as Bacon did, knew exactly at whose doors to lay the blame for the human races general failure to think for itself... The Greeks stood at the beginning of the story, already infected with two sorts of original sin. They had theorized too much and they had known too little. The character of their thought had been fixed in advance by the larger nature of their society. Working competitively in large cities, sophists taught for pay and philosophers for reputation. Both sort of thinker had naturally tried less to find the truth than to win debates. Their philosophy, accordingly, concentrated less on the workings of nature than on the tricks of argument (Grafton:200).

Question: anyone see any parallels with our current situation?

* Taken from Anthony Grafton, New Worlds, Ancient Texts: The Power of Tradition and the Shock of Discovery, London: Harvard University Press, 1992.