desolation

When I think about believers in places like Syria and Iraq, bombed out of their houses, persecuted for their faith, risking everything to meet together and read God's Word or study, that is what I tend to think about when I think of people who are desperate for God's Word.  They cling to it because of the desolation of their world and their surroundings.  If I am honest, at times I think it might be good for us in the West to experience this type of life if for no other reason that to make us hungry, desperate, for God's Word again.  It is far to easy in this Western Christianity, to be so overwhelmed by 'things', by information, by technology, by busyness, by the pursuit of pleasure and wealth to find time for God, let alone be desperate for Him.
But, what if we in Western Christianity are living in our own desolation and are just to blind to see it? 
Here is what challenged me at church today:  what if living in a culture that is morally bankrupt and drifting further and further from God, living in a culture that absolutely values achievement and wealth as the definition of success, is a desolation as dangerous as that of believers living in places like Syria and Iraq?  What if their desolation forces them to seek God, while ours blinds us from our need for God?  What if I am so overwhelmed by the trappings and gadgets and technology and pleasures of this world that I unable to be, nor do I care to be, overwhelmed by God?

 

Why I am writing a novel

So, I'm writing a novel.  I've started hundreds in my lifetime and they never seem to make it past the first fifty to one hundred pages.  There is always some new idea that takes over and I forget the one I am currently working on.  The other day I came across an old drive with five or six novels in various states of completion - none of which I have worked on in years.
For some reason, however, this one is different.
I've written 30 chapters on this.
I've written well over 300 pages.
I stopped counting words a long time ago.

I'm not trying to write what I think anyone wants to read.
I'm not trying to fit into some pre-designed genre.
I'm not writing about vampires or zombies.
I'm not writing about secret agents and spies.
I'm writing what I know.
I'm writing about the struggle of addiction, the struggle of faith, the struggle for meaning.  I'm writing about hurt, betrayal, desire, music, art, lust, redemption, loss....all of it.
I'm telling a story.  A story about how we attempt to survive life.
This isn't a Christian story, although it explores issues of faith.
This isn't a PC novel.  It isn't rated PG-13.  If it ever gets published and you read it, you will understand what I'm talking about.  The language, situations, and content are adult.  Just like life.

This isn't a book that moralizes.  In fact, I am working very hard to make sure it does not moralize. There are way too many of them out there already.  This isn't a book that tells you what you should or shouldn't believe or think or do.  Rather, it is a book that looks at how we deal with loss, how we deal with tragedy, how we search for meaning amidst the wreckage, and if we are lucky (which not everyone is), how we learn to live moment by moment, day by day, week by week, with the reality we create. Sometimes that reality is healing and sometimes it is devastating.

This novel has taken on a life of it's own and for that I am thankful.  I thought I knew exactly how this would go, how the story would play out, where it would end up.  I no longer do.  I'm sort of hanging on for the ride.  A bit like life, I think.

Most Important: Family

If you read my other blog, "The Year of Living Apart", then you will understand why I believe family is so important in life.
Despite Paul's assertion in 1 Corinthians that he wishes more people were single, like he was (although there is a rather lengthy discourse among theologians as to whether or not Paul was married and had either abandoned or divorced his wife - or more likely she him - after he became a Christian since he would have almost certainly been married in order to be considered a good Pharisee and leader of the Jews prior to his conversion) God made it clear in Genesis that it is not good for a man (or woman) to be alone.  That is the basis for his creation of Eve, for his putting the man and the woman together into one union, and for his continual support of marriage and the family throughout the Bible.
In other words, God believes family is important.
I tend to agree.
Before you get all excited (or concerned) that I'm going to veer off into the "traditional marriage v. gay marriage" discussion, that this is somehow setting up my argument for or against same sex marriage or traditional marriage, settle down, this is a blog about the importance of relationships, specifically family relationships, not a blog about what unions constitute a family.

When I met Jo, I instantly knew she was different from every other girl I'd ever dated.  There was something about her, something in the way we "clicked" that made me want to spend the rest of my life with her.  (She'd tell you I was a self-absorbed musician with an attitude problem and a sketchy past who she didn't want anything to do with when we first met, but I digress.)  22 years and 3 kids later, I am in love with her more than I ever thought possible.  My marriage has given me the opportunity to experience love, trust, forgiveness, grace, hope, and joy in ways that I know I would have never experienced outside of this relationship; outside of the family she and I are.

With the birth of each of our three children, I have experienced something I absolutely know I would not have experienced anywhere other than in that hospital room the first time I held each of them.  I experienced the certain knowledge that I would do everything in my power to protect them; that I would give up anything I needed to to make sure that they had whatever they needed to be healthy, happy, and successful.  I also knew in those first few moments of their lives that nothing they could ever say or do would ever stop me from loving them.  These are emotions I do not think I would have ever experienced outside of the family that we are.

Fatherhood has taught me so much about God and his love for me as his child.  I can't run so far away that he stops searching for me.  I can't mess up so spectacularly (or so often) that he stops forgiving me.  I can't be so angry at him that he stops loving me.  He wants the best for me and in my relationship with God I experience love, trust, forgiveness, and hope in ways I could never experience if I weren't in this relationship.

Those things are mirrored in my family (imperfectly, yes), but still in ways that remind me how vital marriage and family is to the perfect ideal that God intended for us and intends for us to experience again.

Now, beyond all the theological stuff, I will say this:  nothing compares to coming home and spending time with Jo and the kids, whether we are watching football, going out to eat, or, like tonight, going out to wander around The Strip, and enjoy this city we live in together.  And that word right there - the word "together" - is why family is so important to me.  I get to live this life together with the four people I love most in this world.

Most Important: Faith

I have friends who are atheists, fundamentalists, jewish, christian, uncertain, and everything else along the spiritual spectrum.  Yet, they all share one thing in common: they all have faith in something.  Not always faith in "someone" but always faith in something.
They have faith that something or someone will usher in a better world, a better life, a better existence, than the one they are currently experiencing.  Not all of them feel this current experience is all that bad (although none would say it is amazing or perfect either), but they would all say in one way or another, "things have to be getting better if we are going to survive."
In essence they are, like me, searching for something more; something better.
They, like me, have faith that there is something more, something better, some better life or world or existence to experience.

We all have it.  We have faith that either more money, more kindness, more love, more of Jesus, more of human reason, more faithful observance of Torah, more of Islam, more meditation, more exercise, more relationships, more sex, more freedom,  or more of something I haven't listed, will bring us closer to some ideal existence we envision and dream of and long for and hope for.

So, faith is believing that something we haven't yet seen or experienced fully is regardless of our lack of first hand knowledge or experience of said something, still real.  Some might say because we haven't actually experienced this perfect existence, it is therefore not "real" but is instead "potentially real." Then again, for those who have experienced true love or an act of unselfish kindness, who have found in their meditation a connection with something deeper or who have found a small level of comfort in their observance of Torah or belief in Jesus, for these people, they might say that they have experienced in some small way a taste of what they have faith in, and through that small experience they then extrapolate what a world full of that experience could be like.  In the end, regardless of whether or not they have or have not experienced any part of what they have faith in, they are still admitting that they have faith in something.  They want to have faith that there is a bigger or better existence out there and they wish to be part of it.

Perhaps we could see them as Obi Wan saw Luke Skywalker the first time Luke experienced the Force aboard the Millennium Falcon.  We might even relate to Luke as he hears Obi Wan say " you have taken your first steps into a larger world."  For others, we might understand how they relate to Bono when he sings, "I still haven't found what I'm looking for."

While I believe that most people have faith in something, there are those who do not.  How sad for those who have no faith, no hope, no desire for a better world, who are content with the life they have and the lack of any hope of a better future.  For these people (and they do exist by the millions) this is all there is.  Life is all about luck and chance and meaningless experience after meaningless experience.  When life is hard there is nothing to look forward to, no future to envision where anything will ever get better.  In point of fact, "better" probably does not even factor into their thoughts on life or living, if and when they ever stop to ponder their lives.  When life is good there is no emotion that says, "this is the first step towards that better world" - whatever that world might be. They are even worse off than the atheist.  At least the atheist can say that even if life doesn't get better during his personal life time, over time in some future generation, human reason and intelligence will lead us to a better existence and will build a better world for our children and their children.  This is at least faith.  For those without faith, when they die, that is it.  There is nothing more for them (obviously) or for their children.  They leave this world exactly as they found it.

This could easily turn into a philosophy paper so I'll simply wrap it up by saying this:

In order for life to have any meaning it has to have faith.  Even if it is as simple as having faith that your kids will live a better life because of you or perhaps will at least live a better life by not repeating your mistakes, even that is a type of faith.  Personally however, my faith is something bigger, something deeper, something that is far beyond my power to influence or control.

The most important part of my life is my faith in Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior.  I don't say this to be preachy or superior or judgmental of anyone else.  I say this only as a statement of my life and of what is most important in my life.  I have faith that only He can make this world perfect. I have faith that only He can show us how to love fully, to respect each other deeply, to treat each other with eternal kindness, and to work for the good of everyone, not just of those who we like.  I have faith that even as this world becomes more and more violent, more and more selfish, more and more overheated, more and more crowded, He is preparing a new heaven and new earth, and that someday heaven will come fully to earth, even as we experience bits and pieces of it now in acts of love and kindness and in moments of hope.
And so, my faith encourages me to try to make the world around me a little more like the world I have faith in - the world that I believe is coming.  Yet even as I attempt to do this in my relationships and words and actions, I fail miserably.  I am not always kind or loving.  I get angry, I am tempted to hate, to fear, to withdraw from people and places who aren't like me.  And this is why I know that ultimately any true hope I have for a better world has to come from outside of me and has to be based on someone better than any one of us humans can possibly be.  And so, rather than putting my faith in other flawed humans or in systems that require human behavior in order to accomplish their goals, I have faith in Jesus Christ who says that He and He alone can make all things new and bring beauty to ugliness and perfection to imperfection.

I know the depths of human depravity, I've seen what power can do to people, and so I choose to put my faith in the power and promises of Jesus Christ.  A coming Savior who is out of this world and yet intimately connected to this world; a Savior that will not corrupt, will not change, will not fail me, will follow through on His promises, who won't give up on me when I fail, who can't be corrupted or tempted to leave me for something or someone better or because he got a better offer, but instead offered himself as a sacrifice to heal the nations.  That is who I have faith in and it is my faith in Him that gets me through each day.      

45

Today I turn 45.  Never thought I'd make it this far.  When I was young I lived my life by the Def Leppard inspired motto, "It's better to burn out than fade away."  I figured mid to late 20s at best. Then I met God.
Not long after that I met my wife.
Not long after that I began to meet my kids.
Today I am thankful that I am turning 45.
I'm thankful for the experiences I've had (both the good and the bad).
I'm thankful to be walking this journey with my best friend, my amazing kids, and my God.
45 is a blessing; not because I'm losing some of my hair or the muscle doesn't respond to the workout as quickly; not because I'm a step slower; but instead because I'm alive and I know the things that are really important in life.
When I was 21 I didn't know what was most important.
Today I do.
The most important things in life are...

to be continued...

Moving forward

Now that Jo and the kids are back with me in Vegas and the nightmare of immigration is over, we find ourselves facing new challenges.  First, there is the search for a house.  Second, there is work and schooling for the kids.  Third, there is readjusting to life together and life in Vegas.  Finally, there is the anticipation of what the future holds.

The house hunting has been fun.  Our family loves it (although Kyle hates it, but hey, four out of five is still a majority).  We have seen 20 or 30 houses over the past two weeks and have finally put an offer on one that we all love.  It would be nice to be in before Christmas, but we won't hold our breaths. However, we would rather not stay in the condo any longer than necessary.  Last night our neighbor informed us that we are all "far too loud" when we climb the stairs to the condo.  What ya gonna do? We don't tiptoe.  My sons are big guys.  We've been moving in for the last few days.  It can be loud. We respect the 10 o'clock noise curfew.  Bottom line, the sooner we get into the house, the better.

Schooling has not been so fun.  The high school Braden was zoned for (which shall remain anonymous) was less than helpful.  Granted, he was out of school for almost three weeks while we did all the immigration interviews and medical exams and flew and drove back and forth across Canada and then drove down to Vegas, but they seemed very inflexible when it came to extenuating circumstances.  In the end we enrolled him in CCSD's Nevada Learning Center on-line education program and registered him today.  It actually looks really cool and the counselors and registrars were friendly and helpful.  Now we turn our attention to getting Kyle and Skye into UNLV and also finding them part time jobs.  Of course, they need their Green Cards before they can do that, and as of today, those wonderfully illusive cards are still "in the mail."

All of this is part of the readjustment phase of our journey.  We've been apart for 14 months.  I just want to spend all of my time at the (tiny) condo with my family but I have to work.  Jo is back to work as well (she works through the internet so can work from South America if she needed to).  Yet we still have lots of little things to do all the time so we both feel like we've been slacking from work this week. Last night we finally went to Starbucks together and sat outside around a big table and had coffee together as a family and just enjoyed seeing the strip lit up in the dark and the fact that it was still 75 degrees. Moments like that are helping us to readjust.

Now that we are all here, we can begin to think seriously about the future; about our future; about ministry and life and goals and values.  This is perhaps the most exciting part of all of this.  My wife and I have always been a team.  We do life together.  When we left the SDA organization we did it together.  We both knew exactly why we were leaving and neither one of us had any doubts.  It is the same now.  We are both excited by the potential of the next phase in ministry but we want to do it together, to be on the same page, to create or lead something that we both believe in, that we both feel best represents our values, goals and beliefs, that we would be willing to die for.

In the mean time, we continue to study, to pray, to search, to dream, to move forward as God shows us the road.

Rihanna, Douglas Coupland and God

Rihanna, Douglas Coupland and God

I love Rihanna's song "We Found Love" - not just the great groove but especially the sentiment "We found love in a hopeless place." I have been playing that song on my ipod a lot this week.
I just finished reading Douglas Coupland's book "Hey Nostradamus!" - I've been a fan since "Gen X" and I think "Nostradamus" is amazing. The main character Jason has difficulty connecting with anyone after he is part of a highschool shooting spree. He can't find love with his family and his world is hopeless. Then, in the most hopeless of all situations, he finds Heather. Although he is a doomed character, they share a connection, and a love, that forms the central section of this book. The final revelation of his father is astonishing.
So, all week I've been surrounded by this idea of finding love in hopeless situations and places. What place is more hopeless than the sinful world we live in - disconnected from God and each other - struggling valiantly to re-connect?
Jeremiah 31:3 keeps flashing through my head as I listen to Rihanna, read Coupland, and think about this world we live in. "I have loved you with an everlasting love." In the midst of this world's hopelessness, in the midst of dispair, when we could do nothing for ourselves - that is when Jesus died for us - when he displayed how much he loved, and still loves, us.

Why contradictions in the Bible don't make me question God

Every time I start reading the Bible through again, there is an unspoken question that keeps lurking in the back of my mind.  "When am I going to run into my first contradiction or logical inconsistency and when I do, what does it mean about how I understand, read, and interpret the Bible?"

It happens every single time.  The very first time I read the Bible, way back in the way back I remember reading Genesis 4 and thinking to myself, "Where did all the people on the earth who were going to kill Cain come from and where did Cain's wife come from?  I thought there was only Adam, and Eve, and Cain, and Abel on the earth at that time."  Which got me thinking about how the Bible figures "time" and that either we don't understand Biblical time (meaning the 6,000 year old earth theory is toast) or, Adam and Eve are just one story out of many other stories going on at the same time and the Bible doesn't tell us about all the other people alive on the earth and populating the earth.  So obviously when we read accounts of "lineages" in the Bible, the people mentioned are not necessarily the only sons and daughters of the people mentioned before them, and perhaps not even the first or oldest son or daughter, or perhaps not even a son or a daughter, but simply a descendent somewhere down the line.  And maybe the earth could be millions of years old.  So what?  God is still God and He still created it and us.  

Recently I began to read the Bible through again (this time as part of my ordination process) and for the first time I noticed something interesting in Exodus 9.  I've read Exodus 9 hundreds of times but for some reason, this time, I noticed an apparent contradiction I hadn't noticed before.  It isn't a big deal, but for people who are raised to believe in verbal inspiration, this could pose a tiny problem.  Exodus 9:6 tells us that the plague on the livestock killed ALL the livestock of the Egyptians.  All of it.  Nothing escaped.  Oh, wait, maybe some did because Exodus 9: 20-21 says that the Egyptians who feared the Lord ran to bring in their livestock from the fields before the plague of hail.  Now perhaps 9:6 should have told us that only the livestock of the Egyptians who didn't fear God died, but it doesn't. Apparently, God told Moses to write down that all the livestock died.  So he did.  But then God also told him to write down that in order to avoid having their livestock die in the hail storm, the Egyptians also saved their livestock by bringing it inside.

Or, maybe, just maybe, the whole theory of verbal inspiration where every word is completely the inspired word of God and the author's were only robots dictating exact words has a few problems with it.

I absolutely believe the Bible is a revelation of God's will and God's story to the world, but I also believe that flawed human beings wrote it and they wrote what they remembered, AND as is the case with every author, they wrote it within the historical and cultural context in which they lived.  This is pretty basic stuff and it in no way diminishes the Word of God.  If anything, it makes it easier to apply and easier to understand when you realize that as an example, women in today's society don't have to be silent and not speak in church and that short hair isn't a sin for women or long hair a sin for men as it appears Paul was trying to tell the church in his time and culture.  If the Bible were verbally inspired and every word is God's laws for us, then Joyce Meyer is in big big trouble and her church is an abomination to God, not to mention that sinful short hair she wears.  And don't even get me started on women worship leaders...

Or maybe it is time for us to start using the brains God gave us.  

Reading the Bible in light of God inspiring ideas, rather than actual words, allows people throughout history and through the ages and across vast cultural differences to apply the principles in God's word to their cultural context and still be able to follow God's plan for their lives.  It allows for contradictions in the Bible without throwing the whole thing out as some critics of the Bible do.

Moses, who we believe wrote Exodus, probably just forgot to write stuff down as he was remembering everything that happened.  He most likely added some stuff in there too (like his assertion in Exodus 11 that Pharaoh and the Egyptian officials highly regarded him or his assertion in Numbers 12:3 that he was the most humble man on the face of the earth).  If he didn't write it himself, than some scribe or person later on inserted it (which wouldn't be very appropriate to do unless God also inspired that scribe to add something he forgot to inspire the original writer to say, which then just becomes very confusing as we try to figure out if God forgot to inspire the original author or exactly what was going on there).

This view of the Bible also allows us to read a book like Ecclesiastes and realize that these are the words of a man struggling to understand life and a relationship with God in the midst of depression and uncertainty, rather than God inspiring the author to write something so uncertain and mainly negative.

It also allows us to enjoy Joyce Meyer without judgment (if that is your thing) and to worship along with Christy Nockels or Misty Edwards or that Darlene lady with the hard to spell last name from Hillsong (I know your last name is Zschech and it is pronounced like "check" I think).

Most importantly it allows me to read through the Bible and when I encounter those inconsistencies and contradictions, I can move beyond them and ask myself "What is God teaching me in this passage or in this story" rather than becoming bogged down (like I have in this blog) with questioning the sovereignty of God, or getting tied up in knots trying to figure out the exact theology of inspiration.  It also allows me to still view the Word of God as the Word of God without throwing it all out because some of the literal words contradict each other or don't apply to across thousands of years of cultural change and growth.

Most importantly, it allows God to speak to me here and now in my situation and it doesn't keep him confined to a set of standards and cultural values that are thousands of years old.  God isn't in a box and neither is His Word.  It is alive and still speaking actively today to me, where I am, where you are, in the cultural context in which you find yourself.          

Respect for the Seahawks

I am a San Francisco 49er fan.  A die hard fan.  I've been a fan for over 20 years.  I've seen them be good and I've seen them be bad and I've never stopped being a fan.  One terrible game in Seattle won't cause me to question my loyalty or wonder if they are a championship team.  They are, period!  I am also a fan of the game of football.  I can acknowledge when a team I don't like beats a team I do like through superior play calling and superior defense.  I saw it on Sunday.  I saw a Seattle secondary (mostly Sherman) shut down one of the highest octane offenses in the league.  I don't think I've ever witnessed a clinic on man-coverage like I saw yesterday from Seattle's secondary.  Sherman outplayed Boldin all night.  I didn't like it, but that was the reality.  Seattle's defensive line held Gore to 16 yards on 9 carries.  That is less than 2 yards per carry - something that Gore has never experienced before.  I didn't like it, but that was the reality.  They say that defense wins championships and Seattle has a defense that could win a championship.  I don't like it, but that is the reality.
Now, do I think that suddenly Seattle is going to win the Superbowl?  No.  Both teams are going to the post season, one as division champions one as the wildcard.  Much will depend on whether or not Seattle has any home games.  The strength of their fans and the noise they can generate can't be overlooked.  But, get them out of Seattle and on the road and they are not as dominant.  They are still a very good team, but on the road they are not the same team they are at home.
I love the rivalry between SF and Seattle.  It is about time our division was known as the division where two of the best teams in football lived rather than the division that nobody cared about.  Given how young both teams are and given how hungry both teams are, this is a rivalry that could easily last a very long time and go down as one of the all time great rivalries, similar to the rivalry between the Bears and...well, everyone.
So, from this San Francisco 49er fan to all the Seahawk fans out there:  respect.  Well played.  Great game.  Now, please teach Lynch and Sherman some class and we'll work on not taking stupid retaliatory penalties and acting like thugs when we lose.  Both teams are too good to behave like that. See you in December...in our house.  

Confessions of a Control Freak

Matthew 6:13. “…For Thine is the Kingdom…” I know what a control freak looks like. I am one. I may not look like it on the outside and most of my friends and even my family might not always see it, but trust me, it is there. I care about what other people think of me and so I try to control situations and events to put myself in the best light, even if it is at the expense of others. This is not a pretty character trait and not one I am particularly proud of. I have many excuses and justifications for this behavior, but if I am honest, all of them are bound to make me look my best (so yes, that is just another attempt to control the perceptions of others). I do this because I can. We all can. We all do. If nobody cared what anybody thought the clothing, makeup, and personal care empires would crumble, to say nothing of advertising agencies or the companies that make mirrors. And don’t even get me started on Hollywood…if celebrities and the media didn’t care what you thought about them, what would we read while standing in line at the supermarket checkout? We live in a culture obsessed with what people think. This type of living does get exhausting after a while. Constantly trying to control everything takes a lot of energy. When people don’t have the perception I want them to have I feel either angry or like I have to work harder to get what I want. At some point this type of living/thinking becomes a full time job but a full time job that I can’t quit or leave because I have a reputation to protect, a kingdom to protect: my reputation; my kingdom. Eventually it can all start to spin out of control. Like Princess Leia says to Admiral Tuck aboard the first death star “the more you tighten your grip, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.” Eventually no matter how hard we try to keep control of everything, to keep the kingdom of our lives in line, it begins to slip through our fingers. We can’t control every piece of information that gets out there. We can’t control what others say or what they think. We find we can’t control everything and everyone around us, no matter how hard we try. For a control freak this is like a drug addict realizing they have no more drugs. Rock bottom! Out of MY control. When everything in my world seems hopelessly out of my control it is at that moment important for me to remember that this is not my kingdom and I’m not in control. God is in control. It is His kingdom. “For Thine is the Kingdom” resonates in my soul most deeply when things seem the most out of control. There are moments when I have to close my eyes, shut down my facebook, turn off twitter, turn off the cell phone, and simply get down on my knees and repeat these words “For Thine is the Kingdom…for Thine is the Kingdom…for Thine is the Kingdom.”

Citizens in a Global World

There are so many things to say when tragedy strikes. I do not have the words or the eloquence to say them. I will leave that to those who are better wordsmiths than I. The tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School on 12/13/12 will be remembered and immortalized by poets, storytellers, and songwriters far better than I ever could. What I express today is an idea: a thought that has been spinning around in the back of my mind for some time that a tragedy like this finally forces me to put into words. In Russia, in 2004, a similar event unfolded at an elementary school when armed terrorists took over a school and held children hostage. In the end, over 300 children died. I remember watching images of parents holding their surviving children while other parents who's children did not survive wept or fainted or stood numb with shock and grief. I see those same images today on the faces of parents and children in Connecticut. What strikes me in the midst of these tragedies are the similarities. First, that evil, sick, twisted people will hurt anyone they can. There will always be sickness, there will always be evil, but there is a special kind of evil that hunts down and hurts children. There is a special place in prison for people who hurt or abuse kids and I think there might be one in hell too (not sure about the theology of that but Jesus did have extra strong words for people who hurt children). As individuals, as a nation, and as as global society, we need to find ways of confronting and preemptively stopping aggression against children. Perhaps, like the U.K., it is time for nations to make it illegal and impossible to own firearms. Perhaps it is time for only police and military to have these weapons. I know its an impossible dream given the state of the world, but we are citizens of a global world and we need to start acting like it. If there are people (arms dealers) or places (Ethiopia) that aid and promote the indiscriminate use of weapons, maybe it is time for our world to step up and take action. This might mean more violence initially - but in the end it may just be worth it if our children actually get to grow up. Or, we can sit back and talk about how terrible this type of tragedy is, or how it is my right to own 75 automatic weapons, and never do anything about it because, thank God, it didn't happen to my kids. Second, that no matter where you live or who you pledge allegiance to or pray to, we are all connected in ways that beliefs and creeds can not ultimately divide. We are all humans. We all love and laugh and work and sleep and try as best we can to provide protection and a better life to those we love. Whether you live in Serbia or Sweden, Canada or Chile, there is something deep inside us that makes us want to protect our kids. When I see parents on the news half way around the world overcome with grief at the senseless death of their child, I get it. Suddenly it doesn't matter if they are Muslim or Christian, Republican or Democrat, Communist or Capitalist. They are parents just like me, they are humans just like me, they feel anguish and pain and hurt, just like me. They loved their kids, just like me. We are all in this together and it is about time we started to act like it. Sting once famously sang "I hope the Russians love their children too" and I believe they do. I believe we all do. Third, it is time for change. It is time to change how we educate our children, not just here, but around the world. Children need to learn that violence is not the answer. Children need to know that while we may grow up with different values and beliefs, we do share more common values than disparate ones, and one of those values is a deep respect for life. Then, as adults, we need to model this to the children of the world. Rather than our fists, guns, tanks, bombs, and missiles being the currency of negotiation or the final solution to unsolvable situations, we need to pursue compassion, solutions that allow all parties to find common ground, and ruthlessly and relentlessly track down those who defy these things. It isn't Utopia, and it never will be, but it is better than watching another tragedy like this unfold on our television screens (or maybe in our own lives) knowing that we could have done something about it as a global world but instead chose to do nothing.....again.

Faith in the Age of Criticism Pt. 6

Without critical evaluation, our own faith becomes weak and eventually either erodes, or becomes fundamentalist fanaticism. A continual critical evaluation of what we believe and why we believe it, as well as a constant attempt to apply our faith to our daily lives, keeps us from falling into either extreme. If we truly believe that the Bible is the “living Word”, capable of speaking into contemporary situations, while at the same time believing that things written thousands of years ago to a nomadic, primitive, agrarian society still matter today, we must involve our critical skills. We must know how to engage a text, how to put it into its historical context, how to see it within the larger context of the chapter or verse in which it resides, and how to understand the use of narrative, poetry, and metaphor. Not everything is literal. Not everything is prophetic. Not every detail applies to the modern context. Are we trying to apply non applicable parts of a text to our modern situation? (Yes, there are parts of the Bible, and details in the Bible that don't apply to us today.) Are we trying to take ancient details and make them work today? Or, are we attempting to understand and see the underlying principle that applies across cultures and then apply that principle to our lives? Too many cults don't understand this type of critique. They refuse to apply simple, critical tools to their reading of the Bible and end up creating whole movements around things like what you can and can't eat, what you can and can't watch or listen to or enjoy, who can and can't preach, how to absolutely know the exact time when the world will end, or new (and usually deviant) sexual norms (this is a big one). The other eventuality to a non-critiqued faith is for that faith to become outdated and irrelevant. It is easy, over time and without critique, to lose sight of the importance of the Bible to our lives today. Soon it becomes a collection of irrelevant and boring stories that have no place in the modern world. One day we wake up and find that we haven't opened the Bible for months...years...decades...because there is no point to it. Because of this, it is vital for us to continually ask ourselves what we believe and why we believe it. This critical evaluation keeps faith growing, alive, strong, and relevant.

Life is a journey And a destination

What a journey I am on. This journey began in Boston in 1969 and has taken me through Asia, Europe, The U.S. and Canada. I love the journey even though at times it has been painful and there are parts of it that I wish I could undo or do over. Life is a journey. Just when you think you are settled in somewhere, if you are like me, you feel the need to move again. Maybe I'm the human version of a shark, always needing to be moving in the journey or else I'll die. I don't ever feel like I've arrived, or like I have it all together, or that I can sit down and say to myself "O.K. I figured it all out, I am where I am going to be until I die, I don't need to learn any more or grow anymore." So, life for me is a continual process of growth...a continual journey. This relates to my physical world and my spiritual world. I am continually reminded in this journey that God has more to teach me. Just when I think I have a pretty good grasp on something, God opens my eyes to the next level, the next phase, the next understanding, the next mission, the next journey. So, I have come to a place where I am peace with being on a journey that will last until I die. Then, and only then, will I reach the destination. And then the real journey will begin. So I keep asking myself these questions. Is my life making a difference? Am I part of the problem or part of the solution? Am I where God can best use me? Have I stopped journeying? Am I more kind, compassionate, and caring than I was yesterday? Do I appreciate those around me more today than I did yesterday? Is what I am doing today better than what I was doing yesterday? Is what I am doing today setting me up to make tomorrow better? Am I closer to the destination today or farther away? I want to be part of a community that continually asks those questions. I want to be part of a community that is also on a journey. I hope you will be part of that community with me.

Faith in the Age of Criticism, Pt 5.

4. Criticism builds a deeper, more honest, faith. Far too many people know almost nothing about what they truly believe apart from what they have been told by others or what they have heard on Sunday. If they read anything, they read “safe” books written by those who see the world exactly as they do. They refuse to read books or to engage in conversations with those who, while still holding to the same faith, have deep convictions that are in opposition to the beliefs that they hold. (Ask them to read something by someone who doesn’t hold to their faith tradition, and you might as well be asking them to read the Satanic Bible.) They label people who write these books, or who read them, has heretics and dissenters (see post #2 in this series) often without ever opening the cover of the book they are so critical of (Rob Bell’s “Love Wins” comes to mind) or of trying to understand the critique of the dissenting voices. Again, this does not advocate that they must accept the other position, but they must engage with it. Engaging in the critical dialogue builds a deeper, more honest faith, one that deals with the real issues of today. A long time ago, someone told me that whenever I am criticized I should always try to find the truth in what the critical person is saying. There may be ten things that are false, but there may also be one thing that is truth. I think this advice applies to ideas and beliefs that we do not agree with. Even as we criticize them (or engage in a critique of them) we should be asking ourselves, is their something of truth in this argument that I can learn? Even if I end up disagreeing with most of what this other viewpoint advocates, have I learned something that can enhance and grow my faith? If you are asking yourself this question, it makes the process of critical analysis far more rewarding and valuable.

Faith in the Age of Criticism Pt 4

3. Critical evaluation of what we believe and why we believe what we do does not make a person liberal. Even the terms "fundamentalist" and "liberal" need to be discarded or at least redefined because they carry far too much baggage from our history. Instead, criticism (or questioning) of what you believe is the best way to see if your faith is genuine and real and if it continues to hold true to the principle of the text while speaking to the modern situation to which you are attempting to apply the text. This is not some form of “ situational ethics” but rather an honest attempt to answer the question of how my faith applies to my world today.

Faith in the Age of Criticism Pt 3

2. We need to be critical of ideas, not people. When we can divorce criticism from personal attacks (I believe the two are very different) we can engage in healthy critical dialogue with others that can help us evaluate and sharpen our own world view. What is more, we can maintain deep and honest friendships with people who do not see the world the same way we do. This is easier said than done. It is difficult to listen to someone like Ann Coulter and not want to be critical of her and her tactics, rather than to simply be critical of the agenda she supports. Yet, if we are able to realize that every person has the right to believe and say what they do, and if that person will realize that we have that same right, we can move past personal attacks, to critique ideas. I have great friends who have very different political views than I do. We disagree on a lot of things, yet, we love to hang out and to be together. I consider them my friends and they consider me a friend. Here is a simple way of telling if you are being critical of an idea or of the person who holds that idea. If you say "You're an idiot for believing that" than you are engaging in a personal attack. If you say "I disagree with what you believe" than you are making the focus of the critique the idea and not the person. What you can't control is how the person responds. Many people believe that if you don't like their idea or their belief, than you obviously don't like them personally. So find ways of validating the person, of letting them know that you love them as a person and that your critique has nothing to do with them as a person and a friend. If we can divorce criticism from personal attack, we will be able to begin dialogues with people and discuss issues critically with people who don't think or believe like we do, without (hopefully) alienating them. This critical dialogue is vital. Only when we engage with ideas that we don't hold are we able to see our own ideas within the crucible of critical thinking. If I never engage with anyone who believes differently than I do, then who will challenge me to think, rethink, defend, and ultimately affirm or change my own ways of thinking? How will I know if my ideas are old and outdated or if they continue to stand the test of time? Critical dialogue with people who think differently than I do helps to expand my worldview and see an idea from different viewpoints. We can always learn something. We never have all the answers. People who think and believe differently than we do can help us see things from a different perspective. And, we may just gain a new friend in the process.

Faith in the Age of Criticism Pt 2

1. We don’t understand the true nature and strength of criticism. Those who wish to make themselves feel better and others feel worse, who wish to prop up their own agendas, who fear change, or who cannot build anything of their own but hate to see others build things, have hijacked the true understanding and use of the term ‘criticism’. For these people, criticism becomes the means AND the end. For them, criticism exists only to destroy and tear down. So, first of all, we need to redefine what healthy, life giving, criticism is and how we can apply it in order to create, maintain, and strengthen our faith. Dissenters and critics are vital to the survival of any belief system. Healthy criticism, self-criticism, the ability to understand both sides of any issue (without having to support the other side) allows a person to approach any issue with a sense of openness rather than defensiveness. According to Sociologist Emile Durkheim, in group formation the founders of the group initiate boundaries to which members must adhere. Within each group, there are those who critique (or criticize or question) those boundaries. These critics force the group to continually reevaluate its boundaries and make necessary changes. These critics also force the group to continually reevaluate its boundaries and maintain original boundaries when appropriate. The one thing that Durkheim's (and others') studies revealed is that although this process of criticism can at times be difficult, it is also vital to the survival of the group. Without criticism the group will not critique it's own boundaries and will, in every case, eventually decay to a point that they are unable or unwilling to defend "ancient" boundaries that they no longer engage with and therefore do not fully comprehend. Along with this, the group that does not continually critique its boundaries will lose touch with the changing nature of how its' belief systems engage with the culture around it. This means the group sinks into obscurity and irrelevance. Essentially the group no longer matters to the culture around it. It has become outdated without even realizing it. This same scenario applies to the individual and his or her belief structure.

Faith in the Age of Criticism Pt 1

Timothy Dunfield, MA, PhD dropout, gypsy, believer. In the history of the human race we have had many “Ages”. We have experienced the age of reason, the dark ages, the age of science and progress, the Age of Aquarius, the pre-industrial age, the industrial age, the age of dinosaurs, the ice age, and pre-modern age, the modern age, and the post-modern age. One thing that defined every age (at least the ones mentioned above that were real, and no doubt a few I didn't mention) was an underlying spirit (if “spirit” is in fact the right word) of criticism. If “criticism” is too strong a word, perhaps “questioning” or “evaluating” would also apply. Whatever the word, brilliant men and women evaluated, questioned, and criticized the ideas of previous ages and generations, discarded what no longer applied, what had become outdated or impractical, and then applied new ways of thinking and new ideas to current problems. Without criticism we would still be rubbing two sticks together to make fire or grinding wheat by hand in a field to make bread or believing the world was flat. Without criticism we may still believe that slavery is acceptable or that women are inferior to men. We live in an age of criticism. We have professional ‘critics’ who make their living criticizing everything from what people wear to what they watch to where they live or who they vote for. Criticism forms the basis for the academic community, yet within many religious circles, criticism is taboo, unless we are criticizing people and theologies we don’t like. Rather than being the enemy, however, criticism can be the greatest friend of the serious student, the serious seeker, the person who will not accept complacency, those who wish to see a better future; but only if we understand what real criticism is and is not. For far too long, I have listened with growing dismay to Christians (and honestly to most people of any faith) who decry the advent of criticism, who fear any form of criticism directed at their belief system, and who view criticism as somehow “evil” and those who dare to criticize their faith as at best, “deluded” or “lost” and at worst, “agents of evil”. For my own faith tradition, the response to criticism is almost always reactionary, closed-minded, and ungraceful. It is time to change this. I feel this is the result of an unhealthy fear of criticism based on a skewed understanding of the role that criticism plays in the creation, maintenance, and strengthening of faith (this theory formed the basis of my MA thesis at the University of Alberta in 2009). Because this is most likely the outline of a book I’m going to write, I will keep this blog to point form. Each day for the next six days I’m going to write briefly on a different reason why I believe proper criticism is essential to a mature faith, and is also important if we are going to engage with our culture in the “Age of Criticism.”

Leadership

Recently, I have been on the receiving end of phone calls, emails, notes, and one on one conversations from people in our church community affirming my leadership gifts and my vision for our team. I am humbled by these comments. It is always nice to hear that people appreciate what you are doing. I'm also not for the least minute tempted to think that I've done all this on my own. As soon as I start to think that I'm "all that" - that is when Solomon's words become very real "Pride goes before destruction and a proud spirit before a fall." So, in a rather public way, I want to give a shout out to some very talented people who make my life, and my leadership, successful. I believe strongly that I need to surround myself with people who are more talented than I am. One of the things I've learned about leadership is not to be intimidated with people who are smarter, more talented, or more creative than I am. Those are the people I try to draw around me. So - first off - my wife Jo makes me the leader I am today. She has the gift of discernment and she uses it. She is creative. She thinks in creative ways. She also keeps me grounded and focused and organized. Next - my co-worker Anthony. Before Anthony was on staff, when he was just a bass player on my team, I knew he had pastoral gifts and a creative streak. Now that he is on staff with me, he does lots of things that I'm not good at, and he does them really well. Really, really well. Wendy is one of the most creative people I've ever met. She "gets" what it means to connect people with God. She is never satisfied with the status quo. Wilf is our choir director. I've rarely met anyone with his grasp of musical knowledge, his ability to lead musicians, and his desire to be the church in the world. My Creative Planning Team (or A team). This is a team of mostly volunteers who think about things like video, drama, presentation, productions, graphics, and anything else creative that they can think of. I love to sit around with them and throw ideas on the table. When you have the right people sitting around a table doing that - where everyone has the best interest of the church at heart - magic happens. My Worship Teams. I learned long ago from playing with my buddy Gene, that when you have someone on stage with you who is better than you in every way as a musician, it makes you a better musician. I have great teams and great leaders for those teams. I can be gone on a Sunday and I don't worry about the quality of our services. Find good people. Find great people. Surround yourself with them. Iron sharpens iron.

Victory

I like to think of this blog as the "BLOG OF VICTORY." Yes, my friends, that is correct..."THE BLOG OF VICTORY." I have triumphed over my furry little competitor. In the words of someone else, "I came, I saw, I killed it." So, last night my wife and I are watching a movie downstairs (sidebar - the movie was crap). Suddenly right in front of us the mouse runs across the floor (cue ominous music) and then, in front of our very eyes, scales the wall and disappears into the furnace vent (six feet off the ground). What in Hades? I didn't know mice could climb vertical walls. It was terrifying (cue sounds of my wife screaming a little bit). BUT - I now knew where to set the traps. Bwahhahahahahah This morning there was a mouse caught in the trap. He was dead. I now have four traps set in the same general area in case any of his friends decide to try and crash this party. I have also cut a small notch on the side of the trap that caught the mouse. That trap my friend is special and shall receive recognition among all the traps. It shall have a high standing among traps. It shall be called The Trap of Victory. Oh its on now baby.