Converge Cleveland

I must confess, first off, that my wife is a black Friday shopper.  Personally, I think the whole thing is completely ridiculous, but my wife uses the opportunity less as a money saving effort and more as a chance to connect with her 4 sisters (so she says).  Now, as I tend to be critical of many things, I have to admit that my wife did manage to wrestle a small flat screen TV away from a less deserving 10 yr old customer in the middle of Wal-Mart at 4:45 in the morning (not really, that just my dramatized version of how things went down).  So I guess my family can’t cast the first stone.  But I am so glad that K-mart decided to stay open all day on Thanksgiving so that weary Americans could forgo that silly family meal thing and, instead, seek out their true first love-Consumerism.

Everybody I know complains about how ridiculous it is for ordinary people to get caught up in the Friday frenzy just to rush into stores that are inevitably out of the item you sat vigil for in the parking lot.  But alas, it seems this, ultimately, is not a question of economic status as much as it is the American desire to save a buck.  Does the average American child really need more toys?  Does the average American homeowner really need a digital photo frame to display pictures?

After the Thanksgiving meal, the wives pulled out the store fliers and began to plan their attack, while all the husbands sat watching the Lions loose again, but more interested in a bad game that shopping.  As I think through the items the stores were holding out like a raw steak to a hungry lion, I realize that not one person in the room needed any of the items being strategized over.  We are so lame!

We constantly talk about American excess, but its always someone else- not us.  My family is very good at being good stewards of our resources.  But we still can’t resist the thrill of the chase.  My wife purchased the TV as a replacement for the prison TV ( no lie, the plastic case is see through) we received from my wife’s brother.  We would not have purchased it if it weren’t so cheap.  But we bought one anyway (it became my gift from the family, Merry Christmas to me!).   How convenient.

So, for those of you who partake in the festivities, was it worth it?  Were you able to get what you went in for, or did you settle for something else?  And for those who remain on the sidelines… does your heart still race as you look through the flier or hear about the sales coming up?  Do you still purchase or receive items you don’t really need?  How do we get beyond the hype and hysteria and return our focus to contemplating the true purpose of the holidays?   Your thoughts?

What a great invitation… for those who have the time.  Lets be honest, I have 5 kids.  I own a house in the suburbs and work 2 jobs to keep it so my wife can stay home with the kids.  The lawn needs to be mowed.  The leaves are falling and need to be cleared.  The gutters are filled with leaves and need to be cleared out.  The garage needs to be cleaned out.  My son’s bike needs to be fixed. The list goes on (and my wife would love to add to it, I’m sure).  I spend several hours a week doing good things for other people to make their lives better.  And as I ponder my growing list, it becomes painfully obvious that there never seems to be enough time to get all the stuff done that comes with doing life in the 21^st century.

Besides, I’m a doer.  If there’s one thing my parents got through to me was the importance of being productive- to make your life count- even if by the sheer number of things you get accomplished in the time you are given.  I have found myself busy lately doing lots of things for God, and have found there to be little time left for God.  It seems odd that there would seem to be a lack of time to actually rest in the presence of God- to grow my friendship with Him- to quiet my heart and still my restless mind, and to allow Him to take up my worries for me.

It is striking how out of balance my life seems at times.  I’m not the person I think I should be, and that just drives me to do more.  And then I hear the voice of Jesus calling his very first students in the midst of their busyness to rest with him.  This call is not something new.  This is something that I have heard before.  I’ve spent time studying it- pondering it- contemplating it.  And then the busyness returns and I am left to the mercy of my schedule of good things.  And once again his invitation fades into the background, well below the noise of other “important” things that demand my attention.

I recently returned from a spiritual retreat.  Yes, once again my schedule got the best of me and I was forced to retreat and recover the voice of God in the stillness.  And as I contemplated on the story of Adam and Eve, it struck me.  God had created this amazing paradise- a garden- for the first family to live in and enjoy.  But the real kicker was that the presence of God would enter the garden in the cool of the evening and walk with Adam and Eve.  I can’t even comprehend what that must have been like.  But this is the picture of the creation the way God originally set it up to be.  I noticed that God never asked Adam or Eve to do great things.  He simply asked them to tend the garden and be available for their daily walk together.  His presence with them was the climax of their day.

As I contemplated this it hit me, God is more interested in our being present with Him than what we ‘do for Him’. This may come as a surprise to many, because somewhere along the line, many of us have confused doing great things for God, for a relationship with Him.  And when we choose that busyness over relationship, our neighbors and friends are not likely to see that inner relationship shining through our busyness.  And then we look just like everybody else.

In the end, our mission must be to allow the presence of God to take center stage in our lives and homes so that others will be drawn to Christ through us.  It is not as much what we say or do, but Christ living in residence within us that is the hope for the world.  So may we be ever returning to the start and accept what God has for us in the here and now of our lives, and leave the busyness for another time.

Ever utilized a swear jar?  I have to say that in spite of my colorful
language usage in high school, I was able to conquer that habit
without the help of an outside aid.
Our faith community will be moving to an off site location in a couple weeks and we have received the blessing? of a building in which to meet.  Now I have to say that I was very leery of having a building to call our own as it has the tendency to define your future much more than we often realize.  Certain factors such as the size, location, layout and even the look of the building can have a tremendous impact on a new faith community. We learned this reality in our last mission in Illinois.  But perhaps, even more importantly, inheriting a building can have a negative impact on how we express our faith as well.  Our words often betray us.

In the Old Testament the tabernacle contained the sanctuary, where the presence of God rested.  But when Jesus have up his life on the cross, the curtain that separated that holy place from the greater community was torn right down the middle and the presence of God was unleashed and no longer subject to a physical space.  Then the New Testament is very deliberate in pointing out the fact that the sanctuary has moved from a room in a building to the heart.  However, our language and practice often betrays this transition.   Most churches still call the main meeting room a sanctuary.  This allows us to become very attached to our buildings.  Instead, our lives should mirror what
happened when the curtain was torn in two.  The presence of God has been released into our hearts and we now carry that presence outside of the building and into our homes and neighborhood and workplace.

So back to the swear jar.  We have been joking all summer since we decided to use the building that we should have a swear jar with special rules...

• whenever someone refers to the building as "the church" it will cost them $1

• whenever someone refers to the. Room in which we will meet as the "sanctuary" it will cost them $1

This exercise will allow us to maintain our focus on the building
being used as a public space and not as a religious security blanket.
I think its a small thing, yet a much needed preventative measure to
ensure that we refrain from developing an unhealthy attachment to the
building.   Its ok for the building to have a deep meaning in the life
of a faith community, but in the end we don't worship the building.
Your thoughts.

I just wanted to write a brief note to let everyone know that I will be posting the next article after the first of August. Unfortunately, I have not had time to write in between prepping for our group's off site launch in September and our upcoming vacation.  If you have something you would like to submit in the mean time, feel free to drop it by on my email.

Thanks.

Our group has been wrestling through what it means to actually live out the teachings of Jesus in real life.  Last week we talked about the difficulty of actually loving our enemies, as Jesus so plainly taught and lived.  In speaking of a difficult situation in which a coworker belittled her in public, a friend managed to keep her cool and handle it through HR, but then vented to her understanding husband.

She wrote, "The red headed "Sargent [bleep]" in me would like to peel his skin off with a dull spoon and feed it to him....after he is buried in sand, to grind into his wounds, with flesh eating bugs. As he is eating he can taste the bile flavored rot his useless body is and know it will not nourish the bugs, but make them die a slow agonized death as well as he.

But, the "[named] good girl" says I should pray for those who persecute me."

I just love the candor.  It's so hard in the heat of the moment to actually live what Jesus taught.  Her experience is such a great example of the honest battle within each of us to lash out in the heat of those unguarded moments, which seem to unravel us and give others a chance, for ever so brief a moment,  to peer into the window of our true selves.  But as we practice the discipline of loving others, our mind also shifts to the reality that we are, after all, called to love our enemies- even when we may not want to.  In some ways it does become easier with practice, but as we can all agree, it is always a struggle.

May we continue in our struggle to love as Jesus loved.

Your thoughts.