Running to Faith

I have been feeling quite out of sorts lately. I haven't gotten into a good groove this semester with my college classes, there seems to be quite a lot happening at church, and my family life has seemed complicated lately. Those are the three big areas of my life and I have trouble keeping them balanced on good days. When they are all out of sorts, I don't function very well.

So early last Wednesday morning I head to one of my high school small groups. I had ordered my breakfast and then prayed the Office of the Dawn while waiting for my students to show up. When they got there and got settled one of the first things one of them said was, "I wonder what I should give up for Lent?" I set down my coffee & realized that I had forgotten that it was Ash Wednesday. I also realized later that I had forgotten it was my wife's birthday, but that's a whole other story.

For the last few years I have given up drinking anything but water. The theology behind it seems good. Lent is about honoring the sacrifice Christ made for us, so we sacrifice something in remembrance. We do need water, but anything else is just flavoring, a craving of the flesh. You can talk all you want about "needing" a soda or coffee, but that is just simple desire or caffeine dependence. Either way, just cravings of the flesh. Water is all we need to keep us hydrated. Jesus also made a point of calling Himself "Living Water." I love it when a spiritual discipline can be expressed a bit poetically.

So I put my coffee aside and we talked about what they would be giving up and I explained my routine of water only. Then we got on the subject of running. A couple of them are in track and they talked about the various training for their distances. I used to run quite a bit, did many 5K's and even a mangled half-marathon that turned out to be very painful because of a lack of training right before the run. When I first started running seriously, I had to let my breathing dictate my pace. That helped reduce some of the pain and guided me toward adding mileage. I was up to about 35 per week for a brief period. From a spiritual standpoint I liked the focus and time for thought that running provided. I have even incorporated breath prayers into running, short spiritual phrases that you repeat over and over as you breathe.

We talked about a few other things, but after they headed to school, I thought more about running. My daughter is training to do a 5K at the end of next month and I was interested in running it with her, but had not started any training myself. So I decided to at least get started with a 20-minute easy run to at least begin the process.

I started off walking for a few minutes to warm up and then took off at an easy pace. I felt pretty good and went past 20 minutes and just kept on deciding to run a full 5K. I had done this before and even though I was moving slow, I thought I could do it. Kind of reminded me of how we can get out of sorts about things like faith and family and work, but we can get back in the groove easier than if we are just starting completely from scratch. I even asked God to have me end up right at 5K in front of my house. I don't think God minds showing us stuff when we ask. I felt like I should run a couple of blocks further than my usual turn around to do this. I second guessed and actually started to go even another block further, but them told myself to listen to what I felt like He told me originally and turned back. I ended up at just over 5K at the edge of my yard.

God is not so far away when we ask and listen and do things by faith.

Pub Church Week 8 - Random

We didn't have much of a planned agenda this week.
The conversation moved around in several subjects of faith, the most significant being that of the upcoming season of Lent and how we might each observe that.
Caryn did share about a group http://www.love146.org that works toward rescuing children trapped in sex trade.
It was nice to just talk with a group of people about faith over a couple of beers.
That's kinda the point of this group anyway.

The Void Collective group is interested in doing the monthly-to-six-weeks presentation on Sunday evening.
I think both groups are very mutually supportive in what is trying to be accomplished so I look forward to some joint efforts.

Void Collective: Elephant

A couple of weeks ago I went to an event called Elephant by the Void Collective at Treff's Bar & Grill in Waco. It was a Monday evening and the upstairs room, normally the venue for bands, DJs, and other musical acts was full of people and props. This was the first event, some people and groups that were involved in getting this started are Adam Moore, Emergent Waco, Peter Rollins, & Ikon.

Seeking to closely involve faith and doubt, Elephant brought forth various illustrations, stories, music, and visual elements to give life to ideas, images to concepts. There were confessions of doubt, prayers seeking understanding, liturgies that explored questions. We wrote doubts on a stained glass portrait to see it smashed into pieces and then rebuilt it as a new work, the brokenness with it's own beauty.

The entire production was developed in parts and not even the participants had seen the entire work together. Some of it felt deliberate and staged, but much of it seemed an authentic presentation of refined questions and thoughtful looking toward issues that nagged at the mind of the doubting faithful and of faithful doubters. I don't know that new questions were brought forth, but there was comfort in experiencing doubt and faith with a group of people that I personally know are seeking honest answers to honest questions.

Weekly Grind - Do No Harm

In the course of following and strengthening their own faith, John
Wesley and his brother Charles came to some great understandings of what God
wants for us. They were significantly gifted as a writers and preachers,
giving them the ability to communicate these understandings to people for
hundreds of years. There are many books and websites that contain various
collections of their writings, hymns, and sermons. One of the most popular
as of late is a small book, "Three Simple Rules" by Reuben Job
which simplifies part of John and Charles Wesley's "The Nature,Design, and
General Rules of Our United Societies" and is generally summed up as 1) Do
no harm, 2) Do good, 3) Stay in love with God. The Wesley's give
significantly more specific guidance than that:
*
First:
By doing no harm, by avoiding evil of every kind, especially that which is
most generally practiced, such as:
*The taking of the name of God in vain.
The profaning the day of the Lord, either by doing ordinary work therein or
by buying or selling.
Drunkenness: buying or selling spirituous liquors, or drinking them, unless
in cases of extreme necessity.
Slaveholding; buying or selling slaves.
Fighting, quarreling, brawling, brother going to law with brother; returning
evil for evil, or railing for railing; the using many words in buying or
selling.
The buying or selling goods that have not paid the duty.
The giving or taking things on usuryi.e., unlawful interest.
Uncharitable or unprofitable conversation; particularly speaking evil of
magistrates or of ministers.
Doing to others as we would not they should do unto us.
Doing what we know is not for the glory of God, as:
The putting on of gold and costly apparel.
The taking such diversions as cannot be used in the name of the Lord Jesus.
The singing those songs, or reading those books, which do not tend to the
knowledge or love of God.
Softness and needless self-indulgence.
Laying up treasure upon earth.
Borrowing without a probability of paying; or taking up goods without a
probability of paying for them.
It is a fairly easy thing for us to live our lives and simply take
for granted that we are following God's will. But I think with a honest look
at this first step we can quickly see that we have some obvious areas of our
lives to give some spiritual attention. We do, perhaps, live in a much more
complicated world than John and Charles Wesley. But should that
reasoning allow us to stray further from what God wants for our lives, or
should it draw us closer to Him. Should we ignore the example of Christ
because we are too busy or have too much stuff? Jesus told us to cut off our
hand or pluck out our eye before we let anything get in the way of God. It
seems like it would be a lot less painful to change some behavior that to
start actually severing body parts.
There is some interest in observing that many of the specific items
in "doing no harm" here affect us as individuals. A way of rationalizing our
behavior sometimes might be that "I'm not hurting anyone else." God sees us
first before He looks at how we treat others, He doesn't want us working
against ourselves. God loves us, expects us to love ourselves, and calls us
to love others. We may not have read or understand everything that God has
shared with us, but we can take a simple step and see how it goes.

Be Blessed!
Michael

Pub Church Week 7 Oppression

This week Katie took the lead.

Her favorite music video is Sarah McLachlan's World on Fire.

Which connected her to share this scripture:
1 Tim 6: 6-7 and 17-19
"But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. ... Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life."

Which she also tied to: http://ping.fm/kRAtR(philosophy)
She handed out little cards with this printed on them:
"A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed." Desmond Tutu

We then watched the video:
http://ping.fm/myjnD
In the video, which looks like McLachlan shot herself with a camcorder in her living room, it is explained that the $150,000 that would have been spent on the video was given to various charities all around the world that made some very real differences in some basic needs.

We talked about how we may feel oppressed in our lives.
We talked about how we fall short with our families and with others.
We talked about finding ways to serve.
We talked about how we strive to connect to others rather than just giving to "them."

We played and sang "World on Fire"

Hearts are worn in these dark ages
You're not alone in this story's pages
Night has fallen amongst the living and the dying
And I try to hold it in, yeah I try to hold it in

The world's on fire and
It's more than I can handle
I'll tap into the water
(I try to pull my ship)
I try to bring more
More than I can handle
(Bring it to the table)
Bring what I am able

I watch the heavens and I find a calling
Something I can do to change this moment
Stay close to me while the sky is falling
Don't wanna be left alone, don't wanna be alone

Hearts break, hearts mend
Love still hurts
Visions clash, planes crash
Still there's talk of
Saving souls, still the cold
Is closing in on us

We part the veil on our killer sun
Stray from the straight line on this short run
The more we take, the less we become
A fortune of one that means less for some

We wrapped up with a prayer and headed out.

Peter Rollins and Thinking About Faith Differently

Peter Rollins is a theologian and philosopher from Ireland. I went to hear him back in November and enjoyed his thought-provoking observations about faith. After hearing about his group Ikon that meets in a bar I got re-interested in an idea that I had let go of a while back. That idea has now become Waco Pub Church. He was back in Texas this week and I had a chance to meet and talk to him a bit. He explained the correct pronunciation of Smithwicks and got him to try a Shiner Bock.

Here's some notes I took from Thursday (with my explanation in parentheses):

Some Ikon topics:
- Getting out of Christianity (a contrasting examination of classes for joining a church)
- Go out & get evangelized (listening, REALLY listening, to the message from other faiths)
- During Lent - Giving Up God (reading atheists Freud, Nietzsche, Marx for some insight into the outside view of faith)

People have needs and we just give them God. (Not in a real sense, but as a platitude)

When you are looking for someone, you may not find them. (God may not show up until you give up)

God enters the world as this whole other thing that changes the whole story.

In talking about how important it is for us to share our lives, he told a joke about a pastor who said that he went to volunteer at a hospice but actually went to play golf. To punish him, God intervened in his game one day, pushing the ball here & there. He ended up with the most perfect game he had ever played, but couldn't tell anyone about it.

Nietzsche, who wrote "God is dead," also said of Christians that "your theology makes no difference."

Don't put flowers on your chains so that you can endure them. Question the chains. Don't treat slaves kindly, ask why they are in bondage and set them free.

Does Satan use the church? Is church the very thing that prevents real change. Prohibition can create desire. Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. Do we embrace God but preserve our wrongness? We know that money, cars, houses won't bring happiness, but we step right out of church and live like they will. Winnie the Pooh, his head bumped down each step of the stairway wondered, "Perhaps there is a better way to go down the stairs, if only the bumps would stop long enough for him to think."

Mother Theresa lived a life of uncompromising service, yet we found after her death that she had major doubts of her faith.

God doesn't want to live about our doubts and struggles, he wants to be in fidelity with us in it all.

The only liturgy of doubt that he has been able to find is, "Lord, if you exist, come among us."

Pub Church Week 6 - Where Is God When You Hurt?

We had a couple more first time people this week, which is great.
There was a collective effort of sharing, which is also great.

Caryn led by talking about some times in her life when she has been in pain with some real need for healing. Sometimes people who try to help can end up making you feel worse. Like you have brought this on yourself, or that if you just pleased God with the right kind of faith you'd be all better.

She shared a couple of songs that helped her stay connected to God and brought her some comfort. I'll add here that she added some great fonts to the lyric sheets she handed out and her ipod speakers had shifting-colored lights that pulsed to the music for a full multi-media experience.

There Are Days by Nickel and Dime

There are days when my heart is heavy and I can't go on
and there are times when it feels like the world is caving in
and pain is something that I know too well
the hurts of the world seem to be part of the ride

I wanna know your life when times are hard and heavy Lord
I wanna know you're there when I'm all alone
I wanna look in your eyes and see the passion of home
when home seems to be just a figment of my imagination

there are days when I can't put a finger on how I'm feelin'
and there are times I wanna crawl in a hole and refuse this day
but this is not what you have called me to
so teach me Lord to live this life just like you

Rolling River God by Nichole Nordeman

Rolling river God
Little stones are smooth
Only once the water passes through
so, I am a stone
Rough and grainy still
Trying to reconcile this river's chill

But when I close my eyes
And feel You rushing by
I know that time brings change
And change takes time
And when the sunset comes
My prayer would be this one
That You might pick me up
And notice that I am
Just a little smoother in Your hand

Sometimes raging wild
Sometimes swollen high
Never have I known this river dry
The deepest part of You
Is where I want to stay
And feel the sharpest edges wash away

I was reminded of the scripture in which John the Baptist says, "He must become greater; I must become less." This is also sometimes paraphrased as, "Less of me, more of Him."

We talked about how beautiful smooth stones on a beach are. But to get that way takes a lot of wearing down. The sharp points and harsh edges are slowly worn away. The rock is much more pleasing to look and especially to hold. It is less than it was, but something more beautiful has been revealed.

Scott and Colin wrapped us up with a great acoustic version of "All You Need Is Love." Well said John, Paul, George, & Ringo.

Be Blessed!
Michael

Go Green, Go Deep, and Go Changed

Last Sunday, I was at Glen Lake Camp in Glen Rose, TX for Mid-Winter Retreat #1. The theme was Go Green! and we spent the weekend looking at ways to honor God by using the earth more wisely and lest wastefully. We used as few lights as possible, worship was acoustic, and we tried to be less wasteful with our meals. We also just added an iron-on to our own shirts rather than creating a bunch of new t-shirts for the event.

The repeated way we reminded each other was with the phrase: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.The idea behind "Reduce" is to try to use less of anything overall; less electricity, less gas, use a rag instead of paper towels, less disposable products, less new stuff. The next part, "Reuse" is to use things that might get thrown away in other ways; buy clothes from from a thrift store or reseller, fix things instead of throwing them away and buying new stuff, keep your car in good running shape instead of buying a new one, refill a cup instead another paper or Styrofoam cups, wash plasticware to use again. The last step is to recycle whatever you can; aluminum, plastic, paper, steel. Most towns have some sort of recycling system in place, but reusing keeps it out of even that loop, and reducing makes the whole process easier to manage.

In a couple of weeks we will be going to Mid-Winter Retreat #2 with a theme of Go Deep! that will focus on getting deeper into scripture. We will be finding ways to understand and apply God's word to our lives in very real ways. We will also continue much of our Go Green! practices to try to keep making a difference. We all know that scripture is one of the easiest ways to learn how much God loves us and to find out what He wants for us, but it is easy to take our understanding for granted. Working on it together is part of being a community of faith.

Weekend retreats like this can be a great starting point or an opportunity to recommit to some faithful actions. It is so important to try to take all this from being just ideas in our heads to being the way we live our lives. If we don't, we're really just giving God lip service and just pretending to be people of faith. Faith should make a difference in our lives that people can see and it should affect the lives of others in a good way.

I understand that back at church our pastor preached on the scripture of the woman caught in adultery and brought before Jesus. This is one of my absolute favorite scriptures. It teaches us so much about God's love and calling to a new life. Those with an agenda that was not based in love, which Jesus tells us is what all the law and prophets are based upon, were put in their proper place. They came, using this woman to try to trap Jesus. He turned their actions right back at them. We do not know what Jesus wrote in the dirt. Perhaps he began listing sins of those around Him. Perhaps showed them His understanding of their twisted plan. Perhaps he just wrote "love." Whatever it was gave them a better understanding of what they were doing, for they stopped and went away. Now the woman didn't just get off free and clear. Jesus told her essentially the same thing as those who came to trap Him, "Go now and leave your life of sin."

That's a good plan for all of us.

Be Blessed!
Michael

Pub Church Week 5 - Who Is Your Sycamore Tree?

We moved the meeting time to 3:00pm this week to stay out of the way of the Super Bowl, but found the upstairs of Treff's (where we normally meet) was not open. A co-worker of my daughter showed up first with a cup of coffee. She asked the guys at the downstairs bar where the "bible study" was. They said they didn't know anything about it. A patron that apparently sounded a bit tipsy, asked what she was looking for. She explained the idea of Pub Church. He said (very loosely quoted), "F*** yea! I need some of that $#!+!" So with that bit of direct marketing research we may be on to something.

We ended up sitting at a couple of benches in the foyer because the music was pretty loud. Sherri read the scripture of a short tax collector named Zacchaeus that climbed a tree to be able to see Jesus as he passed through town. Jesus ended up sharing a meal at his home. Zacchaeus started a new life that day.

Sherri told the story of a very dark and sad time for her some years back.
Most of our church at the time didn't know how to respond to her and for weeks she felt very isolated and alone. Finally, after church one day a woman held her and just let her cry. They began a friendship that day that help Sherri heal and find strength in her faith. Sherri now refers to Brenda as her sycamore tree because she helped her see Jesus.

Sherri had initially thought of using the Beatles song "All You Need Is Love" but wanted to check the lyrics first to make sure more than just the chorus fit in. They did:

Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love.

There's nothing you can do that can't be done.
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game
It's easy.

There's nothing you can make that can't be made.
No one you can save that can't be saved.
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you
in time - It's easy.

All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.
Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love.
All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.

There's nothing you can know that isn't known.
Nothing you can see that isn't shown.
Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be.
It's easy.

All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.
All you need is love (all together now)
All you need is love (everybody)
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.

Be Blessed!
Michael

Pub Church Week 4 - Calling

Smaller group overall, but another first-timer, Wesley, joined us.
Colin led this week with the topic of calling.
Using the scriptures in which Jesus called his first followers, who dropped their fishing equipment and just went, and also the story of Jonah, who ran from what God had asked him to do eventually coming around to be obedient.
We sang If You Say Go by Vineyard, written by Dian Thiel.
We talked quite a bit about our various callings and how they have been revealed or what has gotten in the way.
We closed with a prayer.

If You say go, we will go
If You say wait, we will wait
If You say step out on the water
And they say it can't be done
We'll fix our eyes on You and we will come

Your ways are higher than our ways
And the plans that You have laid
Are good and true
If You call us to the fire
You will not withdraw Your hand
We'll gaze into the flames and look for You

Be Blessed!
Michael