I'm sure it has happened to you. Someone - friend, neighbor, co-worker, check out counter help - finds out you're a Jesus-follower. They may or may not be one themselves. You may chat for a bit about that. Then one of the inevitable questions will be about church. What do you say when someone asks you about church?
The most likely answer in our culture is, "I go to church at ___." Look closely at that language. What is it saying? I puts church in the same category as the mall, or the movies, or, at best, your favorite local dive hang-out. Do we go to church in the same way we go to the mall? Or to the movies? Unfortunately the answer is all too often, "Yes." Church is "out there." It is a place I go to. It is something I consume; something I observe. This is particularly evidenced when people say, "I attend _____ church." I go to this church, I watch it, I might even pay attention to it, then I come home. If we "go to" such and such church, do we take it home with us?
Another way of answering the question is to say, "I'm part of _____ church." Now we're getting somewhere. Church isn't someplace I go to, it is something I am part of. Church is something bigger than me that I am a part of. This is a being word as opposed to more of a doing idea, or worse, something that others are doing that I observe. Being "part of" a church means that church isn't "out there" - rather, I'm "in" the church. We're part of the community, we're part of the mission. Church isn't something I go to, church is something that is wherever I am.
So what do you say? Is church something you "go to" or is something you're a "part of"?
The Pool Party
Jim, Megan, Eli, Esther, Eden and Olive
28 November 2007
24 November 2007
thanksgiving
for years now, thanksgiving has been my favorite holiday. what's not to love about gathering together with friends for some good food, in celebration of being thankful?! thankfulness is in such short supply in our society that i think we ought to take every opportunity we can to reinforce attention being paid to it. besides, thanksgiving lacks most of the commercialism that has come to characterize much of Christmas and halloween.
this isn't to say our thanksgiving isn't filled with some tradition. first, for us, thanksgiving isn't a family affair (or, at least, it hasn't been in nearly a decade). well, actually, i suppose it is about family - a new family in christ. our goal is to have to have an intimate and celebratory gathering attended by old friends, new friends, and friends with nowhere else to go. for us this is a picture of the family that jesus calls us into by the cross. this is one of our favorite parts about thanksgiving - seeing who'll come. we start inviting people by september.
we have other traditions, too. hot cherry apple cider. crockpot BBQ meatballs starting around noon. butterball turkey from aldi. too much food. sharing stories of what we're thankful about. we don't watch too much football. but we'll usually stay up late and watch a movie. sometimes we'll even go out on friday to wayne county and drive the hines park light display ... but only when we're feeling crazy!
i must admit, though, as much as i love thanksgiving - and i do love it! - the holiday hasn't quite been the same since the departure of our three good friends who always used to come from Chicago. one couple just hasn't been able to come the last two years because of other obligations and we've lost contact with the other friend. he has cut ties with us, for no reason known to us. this is a point of great sadness for megan and i. we feel it particularly at thanksgiving. we miss his double chocolate chunk cookies. we miss the way he would turn off our cuckoo clock before he went to bed at night. we miss the way he would sit down and start philosophizing from the moment he got in the door until our other friends arrived after midnight. we miss him and thanksgiving isn't quite the same without him.
God blessed us this year with a wonderfully restful thanksgiving day. thank you, God!
we're still thankful for thanksgiving!
this isn't to say our thanksgiving isn't filled with some tradition. first, for us, thanksgiving isn't a family affair (or, at least, it hasn't been in nearly a decade). well, actually, i suppose it is about family - a new family in christ. our goal is to have to have an intimate and celebratory gathering attended by old friends, new friends, and friends with nowhere else to go. for us this is a picture of the family that jesus calls us into by the cross. this is one of our favorite parts about thanksgiving - seeing who'll come. we start inviting people by september.
we have other traditions, too. hot cherry apple cider. crockpot BBQ meatballs starting around noon. butterball turkey from aldi. too much food. sharing stories of what we're thankful about. we don't watch too much football. but we'll usually stay up late and watch a movie. sometimes we'll even go out on friday to wayne county and drive the hines park light display ... but only when we're feeling crazy!
i must admit, though, as much as i love thanksgiving - and i do love it! - the holiday hasn't quite been the same since the departure of our three good friends who always used to come from Chicago. one couple just hasn't been able to come the last two years because of other obligations and we've lost contact with the other friend. he has cut ties with us, for no reason known to us. this is a point of great sadness for megan and i. we feel it particularly at thanksgiving. we miss his double chocolate chunk cookies. we miss the way he would turn off our cuckoo clock before he went to bed at night. we miss the way he would sit down and start philosophizing from the moment he got in the door until our other friends arrived after midnight. we miss him and thanksgiving isn't quite the same without him.
God blessed us this year with a wonderfully restful thanksgiving day. thank you, God!
we're still thankful for thanksgiving!
19 November 2007
i'm on facebook
i know it seems pretty cheesy, but i started getting so many "friend requests" and what not that i just decided to go ahead and join. and in the process i've reconnected with several old friends. that's cool.
here's the link to my facebook profile.
here's the link to my facebook profile.
why people choose mac products and what it might have to do with Jesus
So I have this friend who loves to banter with me about the mac vs. pc debate. I do own an ibook, and also use a macbook at work, and I do have an iPod nano. But I'm not especially zealous when it comes to the whole Mac thing - I just like them.
Well, anyway, be that as it may, one of things my friend likes to do is point me to articles and facts that describe how Apple products are inferior and overpriced compared to the competition, and yet people buy them anyway. He loves doing this. In the latest the journalist is busy bashing the iPhone, iPod Touch and Nano, even while he's on Apple's website ordering a Touch! His reasoning, "My friend Dave says it's because Apple designs products while other companies engineer them."
I think there is something too this. I think there is something too this. Apple gets that lots of people are into holistic thinking and that it is possible to have an artistry to a product. But I think there is more to it.
People like the guy who wrote the article, and his friend Dave, forget the human element in really effective marketing. Apple has good marketing, but my humble opinion is that it is effective primarily because of very happy users who enthusiastically tell non-users that they've got to get an Apple. I think it is the same with Starbucks. A friend, who's in the know, told me that Starbucks never does advertisting in a market until they've already established themselves. When they've got store presence and a host of loyal customers who've already been telling their friends, then they start the advertising. That way it is most effective - they're not convincing, they're informing and branding.
And this is where I move in the direction of something like a point. Apple users are loyal, they're enthusiastic. Actually, in their own ways, they are evangelists. They're sharing good news about a product that is easy to use and that rarely crashes, and is cool too. But I think this is where it gets really interesting. It really isn't that long ago that Apple was considered junk in the computer world, and that people who were serious computer users made fun of Apple users. I mean, really, that was definitely less than a generation ago. Apple brands, and Apple users, still carry this feeling of being in the persecuted minority. People who buy Macs and iPods have this sense that they're identifying with, buying into, a revolution. That they're joining common cause with this persecuted minority. I think people like this. People want this.
If only we can help people understand Jesus in the same way. Help people join up with a cause not only worth buying, but also worth living and dying for. Maybe it doesn't happen because Jesus isn't seen as being part of a persecuted minority, isn't seen as part of a revolution. The Church can be bad PR for Jesus, unfortunately. Yet those who follow Jesus are a minority, even in America, and they aren't always applauded. And we are part of a revolution (see Acts 17:7). It is interesting in this regard, that when Apple ran that slate of very cool and provocative "Think Different" ad campaigns several years ago, I don't think Jesus ever made the cut. Though he is the ultimate different thinker.
Well, anyway, be that as it may, one of things my friend likes to do is point me to articles and facts that describe how Apple products are inferior and overpriced compared to the competition, and yet people buy them anyway. He loves doing this. In the latest the journalist is busy bashing the iPhone, iPod Touch and Nano, even while he's on Apple's website ordering a Touch! His reasoning, "My friend Dave says it's because Apple designs products while other companies engineer them."
I think there is something too this. I think there is something too this. Apple gets that lots of people are into holistic thinking and that it is possible to have an artistry to a product. But I think there is more to it.
People like the guy who wrote the article, and his friend Dave, forget the human element in really effective marketing. Apple has good marketing, but my humble opinion is that it is effective primarily because of very happy users who enthusiastically tell non-users that they've got to get an Apple. I think it is the same with Starbucks. A friend, who's in the know, told me that Starbucks never does advertisting in a market until they've already established themselves. When they've got store presence and a host of loyal customers who've already been telling their friends, then they start the advertising. That way it is most effective - they're not convincing, they're informing and branding.
And this is where I move in the direction of something like a point. Apple users are loyal, they're enthusiastic. Actually, in their own ways, they are evangelists. They're sharing good news about a product that is easy to use and that rarely crashes, and is cool too. But I think this is where it gets really interesting. It really isn't that long ago that Apple was considered junk in the computer world, and that people who were serious computer users made fun of Apple users. I mean, really, that was definitely less than a generation ago. Apple brands, and Apple users, still carry this feeling of being in the persecuted minority. People who buy Macs and iPods have this sense that they're identifying with, buying into, a revolution. That they're joining common cause with this persecuted minority. I think people like this. People want this.
If only we can help people understand Jesus in the same way. Help people join up with a cause not only worth buying, but also worth living and dying for. Maybe it doesn't happen because Jesus isn't seen as being part of a persecuted minority, isn't seen as part of a revolution. The Church can be bad PR for Jesus, unfortunately. Yet those who follow Jesus are a minority, even in America, and they aren't always applauded. And we are part of a revolution (see Acts 17:7). It is interesting in this regard, that when Apple ran that slate of very cool and provocative "Think Different" ad campaigns several years ago, I don't think Jesus ever made the cut. Though he is the ultimate different thinker.
Radio Silence Is Over ...
The hardest thing about blogging is that I never come up with good blogging ideas when it is convenient to blog. I mean, I do my best thinking in the shower, and while I'm driving, and at other such times. And those activities are notoriously nonconducive to blogging. And by the time I get out of the shower or out of the car and to wherever it is I'm going, my muse has often passed. Maybe the other major barrier to blogging is my heart ... in that I'm also not very patient, so it is hard for me to wait. Well. Anyway, radio silence is broken, since I've managed to carve out what I'm hoping is 30 minutes on what is billed as my day off.
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