The Pool Party
Jim, Megan, Eli, Esther, Eden and Olive
29 September 2007
Like Probably The Best Conference Ever
I just went to very possibly the best conference I've ever been to. Certainly of its kind. More later ...
27 September 2007
An Unusual Month
Well, it has been an unusual month at the Royal Oak Vineyard Church. Labor Day, AIDS Walk Sunday, and now our Joint Worship Gathering this Sunday at LOGOS. If all of this specialness has left you a bit unsettled, please forgive me. Even for those of us who like change and mixin' it up, too much of a good thing can be bad, and for those of us who don't like change so much, well ... I do appreciate your flexibility as you join with us on the journey.
It was not our first preference to have this Gathering the same month as these other events, but when we sat down with the Master Calendar to plan it out with LOGOS, we realized that if we were going to do a Joint Worship Gathering before the year's end, this was the best date.
Please do join us at LOGOS at 11AM this Sunday. It will be awesome. It'll be a little foretaste of the Kingdom come as we join as one in worship of our one Lord. Plus, there's gonna be some awesome food afterwards!
It was not our first preference to have this Gathering the same month as these other events, but when we sat down with the Master Calendar to plan it out with LOGOS, we realized that if we were going to do a Joint Worship Gathering before the year's end, this was the best date.
Please do join us at LOGOS at 11AM this Sunday. It will be awesome. It'll be a little foretaste of the Kingdom come as we join as one in worship of our one Lord. Plus, there's gonna be some awesome food afterwards!
Bobcat
A baby bobcat has joined the Pool Party. The Bobcat is a ten month old native of Ferndale and is known to answer to the name of Eden.
This is her call, captured on location in Ferndale.
Being nocturnal, Bobcat Eden loves making this noise from roughly 11PM-Midnight, at other times periodically throughout the night, or whenever she isn't fed or held fast enough no matter what time of day.
This is her call, captured on location in Ferndale.
Being nocturnal, Bobcat Eden loves making this noise from roughly 11PM-Midnight, at other times periodically throughout the night, or whenever she isn't fed or held fast enough no matter what time of day.
Sometimes It Works
So last night we ordered the best pizza in the world for our friends who just had their first baby. That pizza is, of course, Loui's, in Hazel Park. While Eli and I are paying for the precious cargo, the waitress says, "Your son can pick out his candy if he'd like." ... He liked, so, intrigued, he goes behind the counter and finds a tasty looking mini Hershey's bar.
Running back to the van, he shows off his prize to the Pool Party women. Esther looks very interested.
Megan: "Eli, I think Esther might like to try a little piece of that candy bar."
Eli: "I think she's too little to eat chocolate."
Megan: "No .. she's old enough and I think she might like it."
Eli: "Okay. I'll share it with her." He then breaks off a piece and hands across the back bench to her.
And then, as Esther smilingly bites in, Eli says, in one of those glorious parenting moments: "Esther, because I love you so much and because I knew you wanted to try it, I'm sharing my candy with you."
Ah ... sometimes it does work.
Running back to the van, he shows off his prize to the Pool Party women. Esther looks very interested.
Megan: "Eli, I think Esther might like to try a little piece of that candy bar."
Eli: "I think she's too little to eat chocolate."
Megan: "No .. she's old enough and I think she might like it."
Eli: "Okay. I'll share it with her." He then breaks off a piece and hands across the back bench to her.
And then, as Esther smilingly bites in, Eli says, in one of those glorious parenting moments: "Esther, because I love you so much and because I knew you wanted to try it, I'm sharing my candy with you."
Ah ... sometimes it does work.
21 September 2007
What Would Wimber Do?
Some of us in our church have been talking some about John Wimber lately. Wimber was the leader of the Vineyard Community of Churches for a number of years. He was known for his powerful ministry in the Spirit of God, for seeing people come into friendship with Jesus, of seeing people healed and set free. I would love to see this ministry come more significantly to our church. I long for it. I would love for his inheritance in the Kingdom to come to me and our community.
One of the interesting things we forget is that when Wimber was learning to pray for healing, he prayed for people every Sunday morning and at other times, for nine months. No one got healed. People who were praying got sick from those they were praying for. People were discouraged. A large number of people left his church over this. He was disappointed and discouraged. Yet he believed God had called him to this and that it was part of the Bible and that Jesus would have this aspect of his ministry happening in his church today. So John kept praying for the sick, week in and week out. And finally God answered his prayers and one sick young mother got out of bed to care for her kids, enabling her husband to get to the job he needed to be at.
I've been thinking about this. If we want what Wimber had, then I think we must be willing to do what Wimber did. I'm committing myself to pursue the Kingdom of God the way Wimber did. Week in and week out to keep pursuing the things we believe God has for us - people coming into friendship with Jesus, people being healed, people being delivered and set free - until we see a breakthrough.
Will you join me?
One of the interesting things we forget is that when Wimber was learning to pray for healing, he prayed for people every Sunday morning and at other times, for nine months. No one got healed. People who were praying got sick from those they were praying for. People were discouraged. A large number of people left his church over this. He was disappointed and discouraged. Yet he believed God had called him to this and that it was part of the Bible and that Jesus would have this aspect of his ministry happening in his church today. So John kept praying for the sick, week in and week out. And finally God answered his prayers and one sick young mother got out of bed to care for her kids, enabling her husband to get to the job he needed to be at.
I've been thinking about this. If we want what Wimber had, then I think we must be willing to do what Wimber did. I'm committing myself to pursue the Kingdom of God the way Wimber did. Week in and week out to keep pursuing the things we believe God has for us - people coming into friendship with Jesus, people being healed, people being delivered and set free - until we see a breakthrough.
Will you join me?
18 September 2007
A Good Read
I've posted some books I'd recommended, but for something a bit shorter, check out the always awesome newsletters from Father Richard of St. Augustine's House in Oxford, MI. www.staugustineshouse.org and click on the newsletter tab on the side bar. they come out quarterly and are like two pages. i just got the fall one, which is not yet posted, but his summer reflections were great too. enjoy!
17 September 2007
Lessons in Selflessness: The Benedictines and Breakfast
Selflessness is pretty important to following Jesus. Not the most important thing, certainly. C.S. Lewis was right about that. But I still think it is fairly important. I mean how would we make sense of such statements of Jesus, "He who loses his life will find it..." without some sense of selflessness. Or how about John the Baptist's famous proclamation, "He must increase, I must decrease"?
So how do we grow in selflessness? I've got two very practical suggestions ...
One, try spending some time at a Benedictine monastery. I get up to St. Augustine's Retreat House as often as possible. They're a Benedictine Lutheran Retreat House in Oxford, MI. Every day, seven times a day, the residents and guests at St. Augustine's (and all Benedictine communities) engage in fixed-hour prayer. And this is how it encourages selflessness. There is, of course, the simple fact that at those times you have to stop doing what you were doing and go pray with the community. Then there is the practice of the prayer. Everyone is encouraged to pray at the same time, in the same way, at the same pace. Also, guests are encouraged to chant the psalms in such a way that they are not heard above the community. In other words, it isn't about you and how you sound, it is about the community and how they sound. I find this to be a very refreshing lesson in selflessness.
The other lesson is even more practical. Closer to home, you might say. Currently, my greatest tutor in selflessness is breakfast. At breakfast time, my preference would be to sit and read and listen to baroque classical music. Or maybe just casually check my email before a busy day at work. Or maybe have a lively conversation about some interesting topic. Maybe you've already guessed the punchline. See, I'm part of the Pool Party - three kids under five and a beautiful and engaging wife. Rather than relaxing, most breakfasts are an exercise in logistics management and chaos theory and sharing my fruit bar with the Forager of the Week. Like singing at St. Augustine's, the point is not about what I want, but what is best for the community. And that usually means my email can wait.
So how do we grow in selflessness? I've got two very practical suggestions ...
One, try spending some time at a Benedictine monastery. I get up to St. Augustine's Retreat House as often as possible. They're a Benedictine Lutheran Retreat House in Oxford, MI. Every day, seven times a day, the residents and guests at St. Augustine's (and all Benedictine communities) engage in fixed-hour prayer. And this is how it encourages selflessness. There is, of course, the simple fact that at those times you have to stop doing what you were doing and go pray with the community. Then there is the practice of the prayer. Everyone is encouraged to pray at the same time, in the same way, at the same pace. Also, guests are encouraged to chant the psalms in such a way that they are not heard above the community. In other words, it isn't about you and how you sound, it is about the community and how they sound. I find this to be a very refreshing lesson in selflessness.
The other lesson is even more practical. Closer to home, you might say. Currently, my greatest tutor in selflessness is breakfast. At breakfast time, my preference would be to sit and read and listen to baroque classical music. Or maybe just casually check my email before a busy day at work. Or maybe have a lively conversation about some interesting topic. Maybe you've already guessed the punchline. See, I'm part of the Pool Party - three kids under five and a beautiful and engaging wife. Rather than relaxing, most breakfasts are an exercise in logistics management and chaos theory and sharing my fruit bar with the Forager of the Week. Like singing at St. Augustine's, the point is not about what I want, but what is best for the community. And that usually means my email can wait.
The Practice of Sabbath
On Mondays the Pool Party lays low. Trust me, there's plenty of activity, but it is on Monday that we take our Sabbath. We're pretty rigorous with it. We hardly ever answer the phone, I rarely ever check my email. We do go out (a day at home without going out is like a trip to the ice cream store without getting Superman ... unbearable!), but we lay low. Some people think of Monday as a family day. We do almost always spend lots of time together as a family on Monday, but I think of it as much more than that. Sabbath is a day of rest and recreation. It is a time to remember that God is God and we are not, and that, while we're important, God is perfectly able to run the world without us.
Like I said, we're very attentive to our practice of sabbath. Every now and then I feel guilty about this, because I think, "Hey, not everyone does or even can do sabbath like I'm able to." Do you see where I'm coming from? I mean, every Monday, as a pastor, I have the privilege of unplugging. Not everyone else can do that on their Saturdays or Sundays or whatever. So sometimes I have felt guilty. Of course, the fact that people don't doesn't mean that people shouldn't. But there's more to it than that. I've come to realize that the practice of sabbath is critically important for pastors. You see, pastors have this unique vocational hazard (as Eugene Peterson would put it) - their in the religion management business. That means that we face a temptation to believe that God is under our control - that He'll show up when we tell him to, that He's bound to meet our expectations. This temptation, I think, is fairly peculiar to pastors. Maybe some others, like doctors, face something similar. Anyway, given this temptation, is it critically essential then that pastors practice sabbath. We need it for our souls.
Like I said, we're very attentive to our practice of sabbath. Every now and then I feel guilty about this, because I think, "Hey, not everyone does or even can do sabbath like I'm able to." Do you see where I'm coming from? I mean, every Monday, as a pastor, I have the privilege of unplugging. Not everyone else can do that on their Saturdays or Sundays or whatever. So sometimes I have felt guilty. Of course, the fact that people don't doesn't mean that people shouldn't. But there's more to it than that. I've come to realize that the practice of sabbath is critically important for pastors. You see, pastors have this unique vocational hazard (as Eugene Peterson would put it) - their in the religion management business. That means that we face a temptation to believe that God is under our control - that He'll show up when we tell him to, that He's bound to meet our expectations. This temptation, I think, is fairly peculiar to pastors. Maybe some others, like doctors, face something similar. Anyway, given this temptation, is it critically essential then that pastors practice sabbath. We need it for our souls.
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