I think the concept of helping people immerse themselves into the biblical story is one that we can’t take too seriously. I believe it takes time, energy, creativity and engaging the five senses to really begin to understand and perceive the mystery and the magnitude of what scripture is conveying then and now. It takes more than one step to move from revelation to application. To move from “what it says” to “so what” demands more than just a casual thought - and more than a single step.

How can we engage ourselves and others in the scriptures so that we capture the flow, the time, the issues, the heart, the emotion, the force and the tension that is present throughout the story of God and His people? I think at the heart of the question is the idea of how do we begin to “embody God’s word?” How do enter in and join in the unfolding narrative?

It is easier asked then answered. I think those involved with teaching and desiring to see people formed by the pages of scripture have been asking this for a long time. I know that there is no easy one-size-fits-all answer. Different learning styles, differing abilities, and differing needs of people means that we must have an assortment and variety of tools and strategies to capture the attention of students.

Well, I don’t intend to solve this problem in a blog post, don’t worry! But I hope we will work at attempting to be creative and be willing to take risks to help people get closer and more personally engaged (in a multi-sensory way) with God and the words that He has provided.

A few years ago I developed an experience designed to help students walk through the life of Jesus. It was an attempt to help students become familiar with key events of the life of Jesus and to move through His life devotionally. Through 13 scenes the participant focuses on His coming and on the final days of His life. It is an active process where I envision groups physically walking through the “scenes” in a manner similar to the Stations of the Cross. It is meant to be done with each station lasting on average of no more than 5 minutes so that you can complete the experience in a little more than an hour… or take a bit more time and complete it in two 35-40 minute sessions (you could divide it fairly neatly between the “Public Teaching of Jesus” and “The Lord’s Supper”). You could also use this effectively on a retreat where you were teaching on the life of Jesus… well there are many different scenarios - check it out and see if you can use it.

It is just sitting around collecting dust - read it; change it; use it; toss it; just download it! I only ask that if you use it you send me an email or leave a comment sharing how you used it.

journey-with-jesus.pdf

I took this test - from the Upper Room the other day and I found it both helpful and affirming. (I was reminded of it by my blogging friend - Brian Eberley) It reinforces an idea of mine that our temperament and our “personality” can actually be transformed. For many years while I was in full time Youth Ministry I proudly wore the badge of Type A - driven personality. I found that to be something that could excuse my plowing people over and being emotionally and relationally unengaged…

But over time I came to see that Type A personality in my life for what it was - an excuse to sin! After my life began to come apart at the seams I sought God in new ways (new to me - not new mind you - actually kind of ancient ways!) and over time I began to be put back together.

That was nearly 10 years ago and I have attempted to stay on the path that I started journeying on for that amount of time. So it was a real joy to see some of the results of this test and others like it. It is not scientific or even close to 100% accurate - it does however reveal that a transformation has taken place in my life! That is encouraging to me. God does transform us. It is a mystery how it happens, often slowly and over time, bit by bit God rearranges, replaces, composts, and recycles our sin and brokenness to create us into a whole new creation that honors Him.

So anyway the test I took - reveals that I am part of the school of the mystics (a far cry from the driven results oriented, just the facts kinda guy I tried to be [and thought was desireable] in my earlier days of youth ministry).

The Test Results Write Up:

You are a Mystic, known for your imaginative, intuitive spirituality. You value peace, harmony, and inner silence. Mystics are nurtured by walking alone in the woods or sitting quietly with a trusted friend. You may also enjoy poetry, meditation, wordless prayer, candles, art, books, and anything else that helps you connect with God.

Famous Mystics:
Thomas Merton | Enya | John (the Gospel writer) |
Brother Lawrence (Practicing the Presence of God) |
Desert mothers and fathers | Charlie Brown |
Sister Wendy | Phoebe Buffay (Friends) | Julian of Norwich |
Luke | Anthony de Mello

Hey if you want to try the test check it out over at The Upper Rooms Spirituality program called Method - X

On Sunday without question one of the pioneers of Christian music (and most definitely the most influential for a more cutting edge approach to using the music of the streets to reach out to people) - Larry Norman died of heart failure. He had been battling heart problems for many years now (at least the last 15 years now) and from what I can tell died peacefully with his loved ones surrounding him at his home in Oregon.

Larry was a character! He was creative. He was passionate. He was ornery. He was opinionated. He was fascinating. He was accessible. He was frustrating. He was angry at the church. He loved the church. He was a prophet. He was a poet. He was a sinner and he was a saint.

He is no doubt at peace now, in another land.

You either loved or hated Larry’s music. I am in the former camp. It had a very human element to it. I felt like at times the music definitely related to me. There was a humanness and a earthiness to his tunes that definitely spoke of experience and wisdom that pierced to my soul. Larry also was influential in helping a good number of artists that share that same spirit of making Scripture and Godly truth accessible and pertinent in the best sense of the Word. An ability to bring human emotion, duality, struggle and everyday hassles into the mix with becoming more like Jesus. Thanks in part to Larry’s direct influence Randy Stonehill, Mark Heard, Steve Scott, Malcom and Alwyn, and Daniel Amos to name just a few continue Larry’s legacy - but it is not a stretch to say that much of the prophetic and good that is in Christian music (it’s dwindling I know) is also a direct influence of the likes of Larry Norman.

Now Larry truly knows (in a literal way), a “friend of mine, came and took me by the hand, and led me to a kingdom in another land. Well wowie, zowie the Cat’s got soul; He’s the rock that doesn’t roll!”

RIP Larry (April 8, 1947 - February 24, 2008)

Have you ever had someone come up and ask you that question, “Are you a Christian?” Or have you used the “I am a Christian” as a response to, “Are you religious?” or “What religion are you?” I know at times I have. But lately I have been thinking about this question, “who am I?” versus “what am I?”

It all started when I came across that passage in Acts, you know the part about the church in Antioch, where they were first called Christians. The church at Antioch didn’t call themselves Christian - the people of Antioch gave the people of that church the title. As I thought about that - I began to realize maybe that is how it ought to be. Maybe more of us in the church ought to let those outside the Church figure out what we are. Maybe we shouldn’t call or label ourselves in any way - but let our actions, words, deeds, attitudes, priorities, and character speak for itself.

Rather than answer people’s questions about our affiliations or preferred religious labels - maybe we should just say who we are, rather than what we are. And hopefully allow those outside the church determine if we are worth following or worth knowing by the way we are trying to live.

We need fewer people shouting about being Christians and more actually trying to become like Christ by the way they live.

Lord, have mercy, I am just trying to be a follower of the Way.

peace.

Last night was a real treat. My church hosted a concert with The David Crowder* Band. What fun! It was a great time - my daughter and some friends and my wife and I and a good friend all piled into the suburban to attend the show.

I have seen Crowder and company a few times at YS - but never a full concert. It was pretty cool to get an hour and a half of Crowder and the boys!

Crowder* in Center Township, PA

It was cool to meet David after the show - my buddy got his Crowdster signed by it’s namesake - you can read that story at Peter’s site.

I have been asked what is so great about St. Benedict. From my perspective I really find the following fascinating:

1. St. Benedict was trying to reform the church from it’s laxness and compromised position of being wed with the state. He was trying to regain the counter-cultural-ness of Christ’s Kingdom. I love that radical spirit and that passion for bringing an alternative way of life - and wait for it - he bases his model for radical Christian living on the family!

2. St. Benedict is a Church Father all can relate to and emulate. He was a layman (not a priest); he desired to reach out and minister to and with whomever God brought along his path (ie - Benedictine hospitality); and no one tradition can call him their own (Benedict is pre-Great Schism and pre “reformation”).

3. St. Benedict makes the four Gospels the model for directing our life. His way forward was thoroughly Christological. In the prologue of the Rule he invites the reader to follow a new life and to “make the Gospels our guide.”

4. As I mentioned yesterday - I also like the extremes, even paradox, that Benedict weaves into the lives of those who follow his rule - stability and constant conversion; work and leisure; flexibility and asceticism; cloistered yet hospitable - and of course his commitment to guiding the day by the liturgy of the hours (the work of God) and the recitation of the psalms.

5. St. Benedict is not for those who are “really serious” or some graduate level spirituality for the “super pious” - St. Benedict was writing for the average Christ-follower. He again writes in the Rule that his purpose is, “to erect a school for beginners in the service of the Lord.”

Benedict is for beginners!

For the past five or so years I have been enamored, intrigued and maybe a bit obsessed with things benedictine. There is something about it that just “feels right” to me. There is something about the push toward “always changing” and stability; prayer and work; and this intensive spirituality that is both mystical and everyday that is alluring. I have had the pleasure of visiting with benedictine sisters and have also read extensively from their great tradition. I am even considering following this “passion” into a more official relationship (becoming a benedictine oblate).

I was reading the other day and came across this interpretation of Benedict’s view of silence, and I must say I find it to be one of the most profound, relevant and challenging paragraphs I have had the pleasure of reading. Michael Casey quotes the following in Strangers to the City as he considers the topic of “Leisure”.

Silence, however, stands outside the world of profit and utility; it cannot be exploited for profit; you cannot get anything out of it. It is “unproductive.” Therefore it is regarded as valueless. Yet there is more help and healing in silence than in all the “useful things.” Purposeless, unexploitable silence suddenly appears at the side of the all-too-purposeful, and frightens us by it very purposelessnes. It interferes with the regular flow of purposeful. It strengthens the untouchable, it lessens the damage inflicted by exploitation. It makes things whole again, by taking them back from the world of dissipation into the world of wholeness. It gives something of its own holy uselessness, for that is what silence itself is: holy uselessness.” - Max Piccard from The World of Silence pp. 18-19

Casey builds on this by saying - “[The tradition of Benedictine leisure] means living gently; it is the opposite of being driven or obsessed It involves getting on with the job at hand and detaching oneself from it when it is time to move on to something else. To some extent leisure invites us to cultivate the virtue of inefficiency.”

Holy uselessness… the virtue of inefficiency… what a prescription for 21st century westerners (and churches) who seem to lift up and celebrate being driven by purpose, vision, effectiveness and efficiency.

Them benedictines! What a breathe of fresh air… breathe it in - leisure, silence, doing nothing, holy interruptions that move us into holy uselessness.

Temptations by Fr. Michael Obrien

After Jesus’ baptism, Christ was lead by the Spirit into the wilderness. Jesus obeyed and followed the Spirit to this space of barrenness for a period of temptation and transformation. Here in this land of little, space of sparseness and wilderness of wanting - Jesus waits, prays, hungers and communes. It is a wonder and even paradoxical that in this inhospitable wilderness Jesus finds faith, trust and intimacy with His Father. Scattered throughout the Gospel record we read of Jesus returning to this lonely place, to find sustenance and a sense of direction

It amazes me that this threshold - this space between the past and the not yet - could become the furnace to fashion Jesus from a carpenter into a rabbi.

I am fairly convinced that in this place of silence and solitude - Jesus could hear pounding and reverberating deep in His soul, “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.”

I have been repeating that six word prayer - as I have, one of the layers that has become exposed is - the is-ness of God. I am sure the following quote has something to do with piquing my awareness.

“The contemplative dimension of the Gospel is Christ’s program for getting acquainted with the Ultimate Reality as it really is, which is “no thing.” “No thing” means no particular thing, whether concept, feeling or bodily experience. God just is — without any limitation. And the way to connect with this “is-ness” is to just be, too.” [Manifesting God by Fr. Thomas Keating p. 2]

By the way - I found a pdf of an article I wrote that appeared in the Sept/Oct ‘07 edition of the Journal of Student Ministries - you can check it out by hitting the downloads tab up above (the newer article is called, “The Disciple As Refuge”).

I saw a great story on NPR’s website, regarding “Six Word Memoir’s.” They were reporting that an online magazine was pushing people to write a memoir using only six words. The inspiration was Ernest Hemingway who was challenged to write a full story using only six words, he responded with: “For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.” So this online magazine (Smith) - developed a similar exercise, tell your story using only 6 words.

Such limitations and brevity, push us to work with language in a much more profound way. Finding just the right words and creating a statement that captures who we are in six words. It is a puzzle - but like poetry; it is pure writing in a compact form. Mensa has a similar exercise which I have used quite a few times - to create a self-portrait using only five lines. I think such limitations find us having to edit out any extraneous and redundant information and leave only the vital and essential. It forces us to stop diluting and start distilling.

So what would your memoir look like in six words?

I was thinking about this while doing barn work last night. I moved from memoir to spiritual biography and then to a prayer. Such compact language lends itself to a handy prayer - one that is memorable, can be repeated with regularity and accuracy, and is said so quickly; yet has a profundity. So I ended up praying this six word prayer sentence:

As He is, may I be.

I have grown with this statement just in living with it the past 10 hours or so. There are quite a few layers to that statement - a prayer I find that is worth praying, considering, meditating on and carrying around with me.

So, what about you… what six words would you string together.

Oh, MY six word memoir?

“I fell apart, God is mending.”