Psalm 100

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the lands!
Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into God’s presence with singing!
Know that the Lord is God! It is he that made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him, bless his name!
For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures for ever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.

The Canticle of Brother Sun

Most high, omnipotent, good Lord,
Praise, glory and honor and benediction all are thine.
To thee alone do they belong, most High, and there is no man fit to mention thee.

Praise be to thee, my Lord, with all thy creatures,
Especially to my worshipful brother sun,
The which lights up the day, and through him dost thou brightness give;
And beautiful is he and radiant with splendor great;
Of thee, most High, signification gives.

Praised be my Lord, for sister moon and for the stars,
In heaven thou hast formed them clear and precious and fair.
Praised be my Lord for brother wind
And for the air and clouds and fair and every kind of weather,
By the which thou givest to thy creatures nourishment.

Praised be my Lord for sister water,
The which is greatly helpful and humble and precious and pure.

Praised be my Lord for brother fire,
By the which thou lightest up the dark.
And fair is he and gay and mighty and strong.

Praised be my Lord for our sister, mother earth,
The which sustains and keeps us
And brings forth diverse fruits with grass and flowers bright.

Praised be my Lord for those who for thy love forgive
And weakness bear and tribulation.
Blessed those who shall in peace endure,
For by thee, most High, shall they be crowned.

Praised be my Lord for our sister, the bodily death,
From the which no living man can flee.
Woe to them who die in mortal sin;
Blessed those who shall find themselves in thy most holy will,
For the second death shall do them no ill.

Praise ye and bless ye my Lord, and give him thanks,
And be subject unto him with great humility. (St. Francis of Assisi: The Canticle of Brother Sun)

The meeting with Len was definitely encouraging and a fun lunch filled with insight, reminders, encouragement and laughter. Pretty darn cool to meet with the grand pooh-bah! We both were part of the same pre-conference course - The Passionate Pursuit of God in the Way of Jesus with Mike King and Jeff Johnson.

The time in the course was good. I thoroughly enjoyed the content and the opportunity to be quiet, pray, meditate and just rest in God. Having Jeff Johnson to lead music is also a special experience. One of the things that really “works” for me is that Jeff doesn’t amplify his music - he relies on his natural voice and it comes across so beautifully. It definitely lends an authenticity and naturalness to his worship leadership.

Some take-a-ways from day one:

Jesus dwelt among us to be an example of how to be “fully human.” (Interesting that we often pursue being “like God” rather than embrace our full humanity - becoming who God made us. Wasn’t “becoming like God” the temptation that Adam and Eve succumbed to?)

“The Glory of God is a human being - fully alive” - Irenaus

“If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn.” - Charlie Parker

“My love will change your belief about Me.” - Mother Teresa (a meditation on God’s thirst for us)

“The more you know me,
the more you will love me.
The more you love me,
the more you will follow me.
The more you follow me,
the more you will become like me.
The more you become like me,
the more you become yourself.” - Rick Lawrence

I arrived last night in Atlanta… found some good mexican food (something sorely lacking in Western PA) and my bed (and it is comfortable!).

I am staying about 6 or more blocks from the site of the YS convention at the Georgia World Congress Center. I am not far from Peach Tree Center at the Hampton Inn. I mentioned that 20 years ago I attended the YS Convention here in ATL - as I look out my hotel window I see the site of that convention - The Westin, Peachtree, pretty cool.

Other news… I am meeting a fellow blogger - a first for me. Meeting someone I formerly only knew through the “blog-o-sphere.” I’ll let you know how it goes!

Later today I begin my critical concern course. Looking forward to being led on a bit of a “spiritual retreat” with Mike King and Jeff Johnson.

Running through my brain, Psalm 123:1 as found in, “Work Of God Benedictine Prayer“:

“I gaze at the heavens,
searching for you, my God.”

May my search end at my delight.

Finally, pray for rain here in the drought-ridden Southeast… (it did rain last night… but they are down 17 plus inches).

I don’t know why I picked it up. I avoided it for a long time. I was biased. Arrogant. I wrote it off as having nothing for me (viewing myself as a sophisticated spiritually-mature Christian?! Yeah, right.). I asked myself again and again, “Why would you buy that?” What does a Charismatic young worship person have to say to you?

Well, apparently LOTS!

I think more than anything I have given a listen in the past three or four years - this music, this strange, wonderful, simple, yet challenging music goes through the auditory nerve straight to the soul. If it is possible - this music wounds AND soothes my soul; and I can’t recall ever having such an experience before.

I had never heard of Jason Upton. I picked up the weird looking cover at a discount bin and then after “googling” him - I wrote it off. In the jury of my mind I tried, judged and concluded: “a person from that tradition has nothing to say to me, that explains it being in the bargain bin. Just simplistic, charismatic fluff.”

Again - what a judgmental, arrogant, snob of the worst kind. Why do we think we can’t learn from one another? Why does the Body of Christ act this way? Why do I act this way? Labels and pigeon holing one another - I guess it helps me feel safe and comfortable? I guess it gives me some bearing knowing the lines, limitations and boundaries that others and I operate from. Of course these labels and lines also serve to separate us. And separated we become so unprepared, so limited and so sterilized in a world needing a BIG, MYSTERIOUS, UNEXPLAINABLE, VOLATILE, expression of God’s mercy, love, greatness and vastness.

Back to Jason Upton. This is what I get from his music - greatness, vastness, mystery and all served with an edge. The edge may be felt from his improvising and spontaneity - but don’t write it off, this isn’t endless noodling - it works. The spontaneous sections of his tunes are meaning-filled and they serve to push the themes and musical ideas in new directions which find me enraptured, transfixed. His music is really intriguing. I have acquired four or five of his (mostly self-produced) recordings. More than once I have put on the first title and haven’t made it past the first or second line of the lyric when I just can’t go on. It strikes me to the core. Powerful stuff. I just get consumed by the striking or odd juxtaposition of the words Upton composes. I haven’t found this type of music before. Really Odd.

I don’t get it either. Just telling you my experience.

I don’t know - does everyone know of this guy? Have I been living under a rock? Seems he has self-produced recordings since 2000.

Anyway I stumbled across this startling music mixing first nation influences (Native American and Celtic) with rootsy acoustic piano based rock and I am on record saying…

“I dig it.”

My recommendation as a starting place?

or his one project on a major label…

*disclaimer I use the word “unlikely” as understood in the context of my story of discovery of Upton’s music.

In less than a week I will be heading to Atlanta. I am looking forward to this time. I will be heading down south on a pilgrimage to gather with Youth Workers from across North America for Youth Specialties - National Youth Worker’s Convention (NYWC).

This will be a special time. As 20 years ago I made the pilgrimage to Atlanta for this very same convention. It will be great to head back, maybe with a bit different perspective (sadly not as wide eyed, but possibly not as arrogant or ignorant to think that I could save the world). I have also attended the NYWC in Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati (I really need to attend on the West side of the Mississippi!).

I am looking forward to a number of things:

enjoying renewed friendships
making some new acquaintances
pre-conference “retreat” led by Mike King and Jeff Johnson
hearing Shane Claiborne
eating some good grub with my partner in crime (or ministry?)
just taking in some of the general sessions
Morning Prayer (Lauds)
Vespers
Enjoying the moments of each day!

If you are also making the pilgrimage to ATL - let me know in the comments below, it would be cool to say, “hey” and maybe share a beverage.

I also hope to be blogging throughout my time in ATL… so “stay tuned!”

My wife and I were talking about the aspect of Autumn that - one day the trees are gorgeous showing off their colors - and the next day it is gone. So, is one of the lessons of the season of fall:

“open your eyes to the ever changing fall, for if you don’t stop, observe, and appreciate it today, it may be gone.”?

I think it may be one of the lessons the seasons tell us, over and over again. A lesson that I fail to observe… over and over again. May I have eyes to see and ears to hear all that is being declared and shared in this moment on this day!

Sometimes in life we need to hold onto a prayer. Sometimes it accompanies us for a season, sometimes for a lifetime (I think the Jesus Prayer will accompany me for a lifetime).

This past weekend at Rebound I was given a gift by Fritz Dale, Executive Director of National Ministries for the Evangelical Free Church of America. Really unexpected - and what a wonderful gift! He presented me with a book of Puritan prayers entitled, The Valley of Vision (how did he know I collect books of written prayers?!). Well the introductory prayer looks like it will be one of those accompany-ing prayers - it captures my current state, thinking, hopes, and fears beautifully. It really is a bouquet of all the stuff in my current state presented in a prayer to God.

Here is that introductory prayer written by the editor of the rest of the prayer manual, Arthur Bennett:

LORD, high and holy, meek and lowly,

AMEN.

My wife and I had a great time in Daytona with the EFCA youth workers and their spouses! The weather was definitely not the expected sunny beach getaway - but it was wonderful nonetheless. Got to stick my feet in the Atlantic and enjoyed the sand between the toes in the brief moments the beach wasn’t getting pelted by sheets of rain or pounded by heavy surf. It was great to get away and I was pleasantly surprised at the response to my presentations on Christian Spirituality.

The Free Church folks welcomed me back to the tribe in gracious and affirming ways. It was very cool to be with them. Some great thinkers, and also a group of folks who are committed to quality youth ministry and longevity in youth ministry. It is encouraging to listen to the dialogue of these folks - there is a wisdom and a depth of care and understanding that is often missing from too many places in the youth ministry world. It was great to be sharpened and challenged by my old tribe.

I spoke on the idea that youth ministry must start within the youth minister. I covered the following topics:

Be the Beloved - before we are anything else we are beloved by God.
Be Real - we must strip off all the fig leaves and embrace our true identity as we are found in God ( I think I deluged the participants with information in this session.)
Be Prayerful - the life of Christ is a life of dependence — which is a life of prayer.
Be a Traveler - finding the heart of the journey to travel up, down, in and out.
Be Present Tense - enter the moment to be fully present to others that we might fulfill our calling as shepherds.

It was a great time, God definitely helped me and hopefully helped others to gain some new perspective and to refresh my faith as I was part of this get-a-way.

One final highlight was ministering with the worship pastor from my church here in western, PA. That was pretty cool. We also went to Sea World together - SHA-MU, SHA-MU!

Any Rebound folks out there? Share a comment.

Well, the things that have been plaguing, okay not plaguing, but maybe annoying my mind are:

1. What is down in the well, comes up in the bucket.

I hate to think about the words, thoughts and deeds that emanate from my life - and be reminded of this. Yet the mosquito on my mind keeps buzzing about this. May I more often rely on that old eternal well of real life, that genuinely quenches my thirst. Lord, help me abide there.

2. We live on the boundaries of our own lives, confusing edges with essence and mistaking the superficial with substance.

I too often skim through life and live at the circumference of “who I am.” This has been bugging me for a while. It would be great if I could say - the circumference is EVIL and disdain it… but of course the boundaries - bound me in - they are part of who I am. We are called to become more than skin and sensation - God calls us to a greater awareness (dying to ego and becoming alive in HIM) and to BECOME. So I have been challenged to go beyond the surface, to the center of who I am. May I begin to embrace with acceptance and vulnerability the person God has made me to be. Father help me in the silence to embrace the core of who I am.

Hey if you think of perigrinatio in the upcoming days… pray for me and the youth workers of the Free Church as we take a few days to rest, refresh and reload.

original post appears here - in Christ

I have been doing further thinking and research in this area and it supports this idea that a dominant image in Paul’s writing is this phrase or metaphor of, “in Christ.”

In Ephesians 1.1-14 this phrase appears 12 times (…in Christ, or …in Him).

In Pauline literature in the Newer Testament it appears 164 times.

Statistics alone don’t tell the whole picture - but clearly there is an emphasis on this concept that can’t be denied in it’s repeated use.

So now I am thinking about the issue - if I am as a follower positionally “in Christ” - am I on the periphery or am I making myself available and taking steps to move to the center, “in Christ.” Am I becoming more unified or am I making moves that are out of keeping with being, “in Christ.” May I and may we become more unified and reach what the Eastern Church calls, Theosis (although Theosis sounds like you have a bad case of God - it could be translated, to be ONE with God).

Any thoughts on this?