Books and Blocks

Cadence Joy

Weekly Prayer

Proper 25 The Sunday closest to October 26

Almighty and everlasting God, give unto us the increase of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain that which thou dost promise, make us to love that which thou dost command; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

Fascinating implications for youth ministry

I had to read this book for a seminary class I am in. It's a pretty good book on leadership within the pastoral realm. Interesting concept of the pastor as a producer of culture within the congregation and thus within the community that the congregation finds itself in. Most of the comments are based on a survey Carroll and his crew Pulpit and Pew conducted of clergy from around the United States of America.

What I found interesting is this:

Of the pastors polled: 71% were involved in youth ministry at 16, and 60% of them were in leadership positions in a youth ministry at 16. (247)

Carroll talks about developing a "culture of calling" where the church intentionally fosters the universal call of all Christians to live out the Christ-life, while at the same time fostering the "secret call" (as called by Reinhold Neibuhr) among the people of the congregation.

I'm not sure if these findings give verity to my profession as a youth pastor, but they certainly do cause me to sit and ponder how I can continue to develop this culture intentionally.

[EDIT] If this many were involved in a youth ministry, I wonder how many keep with them the format/ecclesiology that so many youth ministries have: separate from the rest of the church.

Family Visits

Grandma and Cade reading. You can tell Cade is quite excited!
Nana and Cade at the park. I love this one.
This is Cade's favorite book right now: "My Heart Purse"
Cade and Auntie Susie on top of the slide!

Two weeks ago, we were blessed to have family in our house for almost a week straight. Here are some pics from our time together.

Weekly Prayer

Proper 24

Almighty and everlasting God, who in Christ hast revealed thy glory among the nations: Preserve the works of thy mercy, that thy Church throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of thy Name; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Too good to pass up

This is a freestyle moustache (pronounced moo-stah-che).

For more fun, check out the World Beard and Moustache Championship.

Together

Some ponderings from my Theology of Church and Ministry notes.

I've been asked before "How is your relationship with God?" Usually it causes me to ponder and reflect, finding those places of joy and sources of sorrow. Sometimes I've used the question with teens. The usual response is, "Um, good, I think." Okay. Good. What's that mean?

Anyway, I've been thinking about the question and wondering if it can be asked in this way, "How is our relationship with God?" or "How is your family's relationship with God?" Is it possible to relate to God together? If so, what does this look like? Is it only on Sunday morning or through Bible Study or serving?

When Christianity has primarily been viewed through the individualistic lens of "my relationship with God", it is important that we ask further questions, guiding us to examine how "we" are relating to God together. I know this, but I'm wrestling with what it looks like.

So, I've just typed about 13 sentences. Incoherent they seem to me now that I look over them, but I wanted to see what my ten readers think.

How do we relate to God together? Is it possible to evaluate/measure/picture a community's relationship with God?

Remedy by David Crowder Band is High Quality!

Why Did God Not Teleport the Israelites? or "Beam me Up, Scotty"

So, if God could bring all the Israelites through the Red Sea on dry ground, could bring water out of rocks, bread out of the sky, frogs covering everything, could he not transport the Israelites directly from Egypt to Canaan? He seemed to have divinely transported Philip in Acts. Why not just skip the whole desert wanderings?

There is something about the journey that happened to the Israelites. Obviously they received the law from God on Mt. Sinai, but their identity was shaped by their moments in the desert. In Jeremiah 2, God compares the time in the desert to a honeymoon. Some honeymoon! But think about how God lavished his love on Israel, pouring forth miracle after miracle. Think about the dependence Israel showed to Him.

There is a strange desire within us to "just get through this" as if what lies on the other side will bring us our greatest contentment (think the weekend, release of a new movie, finishing of a large project). But what if "this" is exactly where God wants us? What if "this" is where God wants to lavish himself on us?

Weekly Prayer

Proper 22

Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready tohear than we to pray, and to give more than we either desire or deserve: Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things for which we are not worthy to ask, except through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Savior; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Weekly Prayer

Proper 21

O God, you declare your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Ah spoons and independence

Our baby is on her way to independence.

I think if she were to put a post on here it'd be something like this:

Well, my parents finally let me feed myself today. They're still scooping for me, but I'm putting the spoon in my mouth on my own. Soon I'll be working with Rachel Ray!

I love to read. But actually, I love it when my parents read to me. And I love to turn the pages before they're done and then turn back to the page where we were once they start the next page. It gets them confused. And even better are the books that have thick pages. Oh, I love to get my tiny little fingers on those. But best of all, the best books are the ones I get to put in my mouth. Mmm.

Surprised by Sgt. Teddy Bear

In teaching our teens the importance of ecclesiology (community life), we seek to involve them in various ways in our youth services (and hopefully in the Sunday services). Sometimes this involves risk, like when you ask someone to lead the opening prayer time.

Tonight was one of those nights where we took the risk.

There are kids you ask and you know what they're going to pray/say is going to be right on the theological money, while there are other teens who you're sure they'll pray with sincerity and passion but not necessarily with informed theology, and there are other teens who pray without passion or informed God understanding. I think all of them need to be invited to pray.

The teen that was chosen tonight has courage and an incredibly deep understanding of God. But he can be goofy too. So when he stepped up to the microphone and declared that he was going to pray as "Sgt. Teddy Bear" my heart almost stopped.

Then the prayer that Sgt. Teddy Bear prayed was so selfish, so condemning, so painful. It was something like this, "Dear God, these people need help. You know how I can't stand these people. I don't know how you put up with them..." As this prayer is sent floating through the air my spirit is sinking with the dread of wondering how to follow this, pleading with God for divine intervention.

As my mind is scrambling, Sarge stops. Adam interupts. He tells Sarge that's not how we pray. Then Adam proceded to pray one of the most insightful, thoughtful, kind, loving, spirit-filled prayers I've ever heard from a teenager. I don't remember all the lines, but I do remember something like these: "God, fill us with the warmth of your holiness. You have brought us hear for a reason and we need to receive from you tonight. Your love is more than enough for us."

My spirit soared. God reminded me of a passage in Luke about a tax collector and Pharisee.

Community takes risks.

Corruption

He told them still another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough." Matthew 13:33

Whenever yeast was used in story lines during Jesus' time, it almost always carried the weight of evil, the sense of being opposite of what God would want. Jesus himself said, "Beward of the yeast of the Pharisees". The view was that yeast was like corruption. It starts small, but invisibly works itself through the dough in no time.

So when Jesus said the above statement, his audience would be shocked. The kingdom of God is corruption? How can this be?

Then when you think about it...the way of God is corruption to the way of hate, racism, genocide, evil and sin.

Many commentators think Jesus was making a seriously political statement here.

So, my friends, how can we get corrupted?

Beauty in Embrace

After too long, I am posting. Here's a story from my journal of something that happened to me while I was waiting to fly to KC from the Minneapolis airport.

...Waiting in the airport for my flight. Off to the right is a group holding flags and signs. The kids in the group keep running up to the window expectantly looking back to the rest of the group with faces of wonder.

I go back to reading. I'm distracted by the story of Mike Vick's confession and apology. I read some more.

Suddenly, cheers erupt from my right.

I look up to see the group standing on their feet waving their flags, whooping and hollering. Out of Gate F7 walks a woman in uniform. She is greeted with this scene of welcome.

Now all heads are turned in her direction, smiles on faces. What appears to be the mother jumps up and down and runs to embrace her. Then everybody in the group steps up to hug her.

I'm reminded of the father waiting for his son to return and then throwing a party when he does.

Cadence

This is for my parents...who are so far away...the last part is for them.

Vocation

In a reply to a post by Byron Borger...

"Your concerns that many Christian professionals have difficulty articulating how their faith impacts their work are concerns that I've been wrestling with as a youth pastor. I've been asking "how do we help teens develop a worldview that is so God-drenched that when they seek out their job/vocation, they see it as an extension of the God-calling on their lives?" Os Guiness obviously has much to say here, but I think it may go even further."

Check out his post.

She is mobile!

Well, Cadence is on the move. She successfully crawled all the way across the room to pick up the TV remote. It is no small coincidence that she performed this amazing feat while wearing her brand new eco-friendly fuzzi buns diapers.

It is interesting to note that at such an early age she has an incredible fascination with TV Remotes, cell phones, lap tops, pots and pans and electric cords.

Instant

Sometimes anger is like a hot dog placed in a microwave and left in too long. It doesn't take very long to explode, but it can take a long time to clean it up.

Sometimes we want our walk with Christ to pop as quickly as a bag of popcorn.

Sometimes I drink too much coffee when preparing lesson series.

St. Louis!

Cadence and Mommy under the arch. It seems that Cade is a bit scared by the way she is grabbing at mommy's hair!

We got back on Monday from our trip to St. Louis for Nazarene Youth Conference. It was a good time to reconnect with friends and to see God move in the lives of our teens who went. Many of the teens from my own church expressed a deeper sense of calling in their lives, either to a vocation or to a new way of living while they're in high school. Quite cool!