The Pool Party

The Pool Party
Jim, Megan, Eli, Esther, Eden and Olive

29 April 2008

Busy Boys Make Better Boys

A Sabbath Story.

Monday afternoon, Megan came downstairs from an unusually long nap. [full disclosure dictates that I remind the reader that it is highly unusual behavior for Megan to take naps] So she wakes up from her nap and comes downstairs to find Eli and I having a pretty merry 'ol time. She looks out the kitchen window. "Jim," she asks, "did you clean the deck?" "Yeah, mom," Eli replies, "Dad cleaned the deck. I helped him." "Yeah," I said. Mumbling, I also mentioned how I did the dishes and picked up around the house. "Wow," says Megan, "you've been busy." To which I reply: "If you can't do what you want to do, at least do what you need to do."

Gym Pool! Gym Pool! Gym Pool!

so i got this email from a friend of mine earlier today. its funny. its also a little self-edifying, but hey, its my blog ...

jim,
kids got into their bathing suits this morning for some reason and got all amped up to go swimming (their own agenda).
of course, we told them it was too cold to go swimming, but they know there's a pool at the YMCA where [my wife] works out sometimes. They call it the gym pool.
so they're jumping up and down in the kitchen and chanting "gym pool! gym pool! gym pool!"
say it out loud a couple of times, for yourself.

I've tried and it works!

25 April 2008

Chocolate vs. Vanilla Ice Cream

So Megan and I had the opportunity recently to fly to Houston. We went as part of my responsibilities on the Vineyard's Church Planting Task Force. I love to fly. Megan hates it. Megan's an introvert. So cramped airplanes are not her thing. But partly to ease her nerves, and partly because she's wanting to be more free in sharing about the life she's found in Jesus, Megan totally struck up a conversation with the woman who sat down next to her in the aisle seat. The woman was dressed conservatively, in business-type attire, carrying an umbrella and a straw hat - the kind you'd see in the movies that people would wear when harvesting in the rice patty. So Megan strikes up a conversation with this woman, telling her all about where we're going and why, etc. The other woman is very interested.

Meanwhile, I'm wrapping up the last pages of Anne Rice's second installment in her historical fiction of Christ's life: The Road to Cana. As I finished the last page, I began to cry. Here I am at cruising altitude, having a moment with Jesus. I'm looking out the window in awe of how awesome Jesus is and how he changes our lives. Of how he heals people and radically alters our destinies. Of how he rewrites stories. I mean, he's Jesus, and this is worship.

And from somewhere deep inside my moment with Jesus, I hear the woman next to Megan say, "You know, I, too, am part of a religious group. Perhaps you've heard of it, its called _____." It was, of course, a group that probably all of us have heard of, but out of respect, I'll leave it to your imagination. As soon as I heard that, I knew my moment was beginning to end. And as I sensed Megan looking for help with the many questions the woman was now starting to help, I said goodbye to my moment and slowly worked my way into the conversation. And wouldn't you know it? After about five (5) minutes, Megan nonchalantly pulls out a book and her journal and she proceeds to totally check out of the conversation, leaving the rest to me!

To be honest, I didn't really feel like this conversation. I wanted to be back looking out the window with Jesus. But because of my love for Jesus, I stayed talking to my new friend. And if you know me at all, you know how much I love to answer questions. And you know how hard it is for me to ignore comments like, "Well, we all know that one of the big things Martin Luther discovered, coming out of the Dark Ages, was that the Trinity was wrong, and that's one of the big reasons he nailed those Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the church at Wittenberg." At that point I actually gave her my business card, wrote my email on it and asked her to find documented evidence of that and email it to me.

I was enjoying myself after all, even if it wasn't exactly what I felt like doing. But there was a problem. You see, I never came equipped with an "inside voice." If you get me excited on a plane for three hours, this can be a problem ... you get the picture.

So it was right about this time that the guy across the aisle from my new friend turns to the guy he's been talking to and says, "Oh no! They're talking about religion. That's like saying, "I like chocolate ice cream. And you like vanilla ice cream. But you should like chocolate!! Its all a matter of preference. Let's stick to science and things we can prove and know are true." Then they laughed and carried on.

When I heard this, two things went through my mind. First, I thought, "Is my faith really the same as an ice cream preference? Is that what you think? Really? Really? I mean, come on, for many people, and not just fundamentalist Christians, their faith is the governing understanding of their life, guiding major decisions and their sense of identity and the world. Is that really the same as a dessert preference?" Second, I found myself getting very sad that I had offended him, and even more, that I had made Jesus seem small in his eyes. I excused myself from my conversation with the woman and visited the restroom. I apologized to Jesus and then committed to trying to connect with this guy and even maybe apologize to him for having an "insider" conversation in a way that diminished Jesus.

I did come back to my seat and finish the conversation with Megan's seat neighbor, sometime while zigzagging over Texas. We even got to pray with her. Turns out her mother was very ill, which is why she was flying to Houston, and she let us pray for her mother to be healed by Jesus.

I also got a chance to connect with the Ice Cream guy. While I was wrapping up the one conversation, I heard him talking about how he liked to play Dungeons & Dragons. Having played myself, once upon a time, I asked if it was true that the founder of D&D had died, as I had heard. It was true, he replied, maybe a little surprised. We then talked about our favorite fantasy novels until we landed. I never did apologize, but I do think he had a glimpse that maybe not all Christians are as weird as he thought.

And it turns out he wasn't the only one listening. The guy directly behind Megan had been partly sleeping for much of the plane ride, eyes closed, yet open just a slit. He was clearly listening in. I thought I caught a hint of it at a few points. We landed and docked and that's when everyone does that "hurry up and wait and stand up even though there's no where to go" thing. Well, when we did that, he immediately, but casually, started to ask me about a number of Christian authors and what I thought, etc. Turns out he led a men's group in his local church and was in the process of thinking through lots of new ideas and was curious to know more about the Vineyard.

All in all it was an active plane ride! I still haven't heard anything about the Ninety-Five Theses, but I'm hopeful that Jesus touched this nice young woman's mother.

23 April 2008

Giving thanks

Oh, and can I say what a great time I had this past weekend! God did some cool stuff. Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I saw lots of glimmers of God's Kingdom and got to taste again just how good our God is.

A close friend I hadn't spoken with in years called me out of the blue and we were able to talk. I saw evidence of God at work in bringing people to maturity. And there were loads of expressions of the Kingdom at our Sunday gathering. As one friend put it, he thought our church that morning was like "a light set on a hill." I think he might be right.

Thank you, Lord, for your marvelous gifts!

A Funny Story and a Plea for Help

So Megan and I went upstairs to get the girls this morning. The usual sounds of rowdiness descended from above - banging on the sides of the crib, babbling, calls for Momma and Dadda. But when we went into the girls' room, we found Esther pants off, diaper off, shirt mostly off (back behind her head), with a totally soaked sheet and mattress pad. Crazy. And funny. And that's what makes it great.

But seriously, here's the plea: best Meg and I can tell, Esther is pretty close/ready to be potty train. She shows high levels of interest, goes over to the bathroom and her potty when we think she's going potty, etc. Yet we're having trouble figuring how to actually potty train her in the midst of the Party, if you get my meaning. Any suggestions?

20 April 2008

Eden's Favorite Place

Is her seat when she's eating! that girl loves to eat. and she is starting to love to jabber and talk. very cute.

15 April 2008

The Keys to the Kingdom

I'm reading Dallas Willard's recent book, The Great Omission. It was recommended by a friend. In the section I read last night he talked about the "keys to the kingdom." This is a phrase from Matthew 16 in the Bible. There, Jesus gives Peter (and the other apostles, too) these "keys to the kingdom," after his declaration of Jesus' rightful identity. Dallas' point, and I think I agree, is that we tend to think of those keys in terms of control (especially in terms of others) - that I, or we, can control who can get in to the kingdom. I don't think this is all wrong - I need to think about it more. But he makes an interesting point ... that we should also understand the keys to be talking about our own access to the kingdom of God, and our ability to enjoy it. Think of it this way: if you're 16 and mom or dad gives you the "the keys to the car," the point isn't about you having the ability to control who gets in to the car, but about your ability to get into the car and drive it! It is the same with the keys of the kingdom that we followers of Jesus have been given.

So I'm starting (afresh?) to pray daily that I actually access this kingdom today. That I enter in. And maybe I can help others enter too. Which is why I'm also remembering daily that God is already at work as I step out into the world; and I'm asking God for help in recognizing where he's at work and the opportunity to join in. Meg and I have been trying this latter for the last couple of weeks with some interesting effect - lots of great conversations and the opportunity to pray for people on airplanes, in airports, at P.F. Chang's, etc. God is good.

14 April 2008

Eckhart Tolle's New Earth

After several emails, forwards and conversations, and a fair amount of time thinking about it, I think I might be ready to make a comment or two on the global craze that is Eckhart Tolle and his latest book, A New Earth.

In case you haven't heard of him, Eckhart Tolle is a spiritual teacher who has been made wildly famous by Oprah's unprecedented support of his latest book, A New Earth. She's initiating book club discussion groups on the work all around the world.

Full disclosure: despite some insistence that I try it out, I've not read the book, but merely scanned it while standing in the aisles at Barnes & Noble. I think, though, that I've got a working familiarity with the concepts.

Tolle is claiming that humanity has arrived at a moment of great and terrible crisis, one that is so pervasive that it threatens the whole planet. The situation is so severe that we're in need of "a new earth." We, all people, or at least a significant portion of the human population, must rally together and be changed, so that we can save our species and our home.

As a follower of Jesus and as one dedicated to leading a community of Jesus followers, I agree. Our world is in a state of crisis, and a severe one at that. And I think Jesus would agree; Jesus spoke and lived as if a crisis were at hand. In fact, Tolle evokes Jesus and biblical imagery at many points. He specifically mentions Jesus in at least one place that I read, as a great spiritual teacher who would support his understanding. As I've thought about it, I think that Tolle is probably right - I think it likely that Jesus would agree that we're in a great crisis and in need of "a new earth." In fact, that phrase, "A New Earth," is actually biblical language. The biblical vision for creation is that of "a new heavens and a new earth." So Tolle is casting a vision for hope rooted in the biblical language, and (rightly, I'm thinking) calling on Jesus as a supporter in his cause.

But that's about the limit to the extent in which Tolle's book could be considered biblical or in line with the biblical narrative. In terms of method - how do we actually achieve this vision for "a new earth" - Tolle's line of thinking is rooted deeply in Buddhist philosophy and practice, with some pop-psychology and evolutionary science mixed in. Let me make two cases in point, then sum up.

Tolle sees the coming into being of this "new earth" as the next (critically important) step in humanity's evolutionary progression. Without this step, he says (or at least implies), our species suffers extinction, and with us the whole planet. Now what I'm not wanting to do is critique the whole idea of evolution, but rather the idea that our hope for the future is part of an evolutionary progression. To say this locates our hope in the past, or, maybe, in the present; Tolle's story says our hope lies in our being able to use the past to arise out of the present. But the biblical narrative locates our hope for the future in the future. According to the biblical story, our future hope rushes to meet us. We don't rise up (by our own bootstraps) to meet God in the future, rather God comes down to us and invades our world and transforms it. The Incarnation of Jesus, of course, is a clear expression of this, but we see it other places, too - the way Jesus describes to Nicodemus (John 3) that we are "born from above;" the way the resurrected Jesus is described (in 1 Corinthians 15) as the firstfruits of the general resurrection of the dead that is yet to come; the way Jesus is described as descending to the earth (in Ephesians 4); and the poetic language of Revelation 21, which pictures our ultimate end (the new heavens and the new earth) as heaven coming down to earth (and not vice versa). Making our hope out to be about our rising up through evolutionary effort, as Tolle has it, is, of course, a fairly classic Buddhist way of thinking about the spiritual life. Jesus understood the world to have been created by a living and powerful God who loved that world and all its people so much that he would stop at nothing to see that world and his relationship with those people redeemed, restored and renewed. But Buddhism has no god. Instead, the Buddha taught that hrough the ages-long process of karma, we better ourselves and (hopefully) the world. There are some surface points of similarity between the teachings of Jesus and the Buddha, but it is important to see that they are radically different below the surface.

One of those points of surface similarity is another important part of the "argument" Tolle is advancing. If I understand him correctly, a necessary feature of making this evolutionary progression is by "embracing the Now." This is where this book, A New Earth, builds on his previous best-seller, The Power of Now. If my understanding is correct, and I'd welcome feedback if I'm wrong, this concept of "embracing the now" is a mixture of psychological advice about not fixating on what you can't control, Buddhist philosophy about detachment, and a dressed-up gnosticism that seeks to make the inner world of the spirit as more important than the physical world of our everday. (I think) it is designed to help us not dwell on the past nor to be anxious about the future. Let me say that I think there can be a lot of wisdom in these ideas. Too often we (especially in the American West) are burdened with obsessions about the past and anxieties for the future. In fact, Tolle's teachings bear a surface similarity to Jesus' teachings in Matthew 6, especially verses 25 and 34. They are both saying similar things - don't be anxious, etc. - but they are getting at this through two very different means. Best I can tell, Tolle is advocating that we arrive at this place of peace through a detached focus on the self (cf. the summary of The Power of Now at the link above). Jesus, however, is saying that we arrive at this anxiety-free living by focusing on God - trusting in provision and pursuing his purposes. Jesus says that it is only as we stop focusing on ourselves and instead trust God to provide for our needs as we pursue his purposes, that we'll know real and lasting peace and freedom from anxiety. Which is right? Try it and find out.

Jesus practiced what he preached. He trusted in God's provision, he pursued God's purposes first - and as a result he enjoyed a life of intimate connection with God, deep connection and compassion for others, and he knew abiding joy and peace in his personal life. He was given to neither fear nor anxiety. Jesus has spelled this out; he's shown us the way. And yet we've taken his stated goal and filled it with a different method and agenda. Why? The power of Jesus' life is such that, even today, after 2000 years, people like Eckhart Tolle are trying to leverage on his teachings. So why don't we just follow Jesus?

Here's what I think. I think that if Jesus and Eckhart Tolle were to meet, Jesus would say, "Eckhart, follow me." Jesus would continue, "You're right, Eckhart, there is a crisis and our hope, our need, is for a new earth. So follow me. Live out what I lived and taught. Know that your Father in the heavens knows that you need all these things. And join me in seeking first God's kingdom, and those things which make for his goodness and justice, and be assured that all these things will be added to you."

That's some, at least, of what I think about Eckhart Tolle's new book, A New Earth.

07 April 2008

Jesus

So yesterday our church had a Next Step Lunch - a free lunch where folks newer to the church can meet one another and some leaders, and hear stories and ask questions about the church. It is usually very fun and this time was particularly cool. We had a great mix of people. Anyway, one of our leaders was sharing their perspective on the church; he was talking about how he loved how "Jesus-centered" our church was - that we worshiped Jesus, followed Jesus, that every sermon was focused on Jesus. And my heart started to melt: every time he said the word "Jesus" I got filled with this overwhelming emotion - part joy, part love, and more besides - for Jesus. I felt like crying.

A very similar thing happened during the worship time at our gathering that morning. I was just so overcome with love for Jesus, and the desire to give my life to him, to really follow him with everything I've got for all my days. Jesus is so wonderful. I love Jesus so much.

05 April 2008

Ready for Spring

I didn't realize until this morning how ready I am for Spring.  I can tell I'm really ready for Spring because when I wake up in the morning for prayer, I've started opening up the window in my den (where I pray).  The chirping of the birds is nice and I really like the feel of the fresh air.  It makes me want to go for a walk (which I love to do when I pray).  Of course, being Michigan, Winter didn't yet get the memo that Spring is here, so I usually have to don a sweatshirt too.  That's okay.  I'm ready for Spring.

03 April 2008

New Every Morning

Generally speaking, I like waking up early in the morning - to pray, and read, and have some silence and a sense of my own space. But recently (last month or so), I've found myself just wanting to sleep in. My alarm will go off. I may lie there or even sit up, yet all I want to do is lay back down. And I'm not really wanting to pray or worship. And that's bad if you're a pastor! I think, "Man, I feel like I was doing all this yesterday, and now I'm right back at doing it again." I just feel tired and feel like sleeping But I know that if I do that, I may get more sleep, but it'll come at the cost of less space and my day likely won't be better for it.

So I get up. I have been sleeping like 15 minutes extra, to be honest. But I get up. And I go to my room to spend time with God. I've been a little reluctant many mornings, to tell the truth. I just sit there. In the silence. Just sit there. We're not talking, just sitting. Then I'll begin to share what's on my heart or talk about my day or I'll get a sense of his presence and I might hear him speak to me. Maybe I'll pick out a few songs to worship to (usually I'll wake up with a song in my head, almost every day, and I'll start with that), and that'll be good. But really I've just been enjoying the quiet and the conversations that come there. I've been reading my Bible some more, too. For several weeks I read Psalm 16 every morning - about how, apart from the Lord, I have no good thing, and other parts. I meditate on that and let it sink in. I've also been reading and meditating on Lamentations 3:19-26 almost every morning for the last few weeks. There the author tells us, of God, that his mercy is "new every morning." I can honestly say that I've found this to be true. And not just in a spiritual platitude sort of way, but a real way. I wake up to pray, and I don't really feel like it. When I sit down each morning, I'm tired and emotionally fatigued and not really wanting to go into another day. Then I meet with God and, quite literally, I'm filled with hope; I feel joy and energy fill my body, from his grace. I meet with God and I find that He is good and I'm ready, even willing, even expectant, to go out and into my day.

The faithful covenant love of the Lord is, indeed, new every morning.