.::Happy Thanksgiving

As you sit around your tables this Thanksgiving, I know that you will not have a shortage of things to be thankful for.  But just in case you are in the middle of a pity party for yourself and need to be reminded, here is just a short list of things you can be thankful for that a lot of the world doesn’t have the privilege to have right now:

• Clean running water-Being able to have the option of more than one faucet to get CLEAN, running water from is a privilege a lot of the world doesn’t have.
• Electricity-Turning on a light, playing a radio, watching TV is a blessing many don’t have. CLICK HERE to see how dark it is over most of Africa.
• Education-Those who finish high school you will be part of the top 10% of the WORLD in education.  Those in college are in the top 3%.
• Health Care-Many cannot afford a doctor.
• Dental Care-When you have to choose between eating and a dentist, many choose eating and therefore don’t ever get to see a dentist in their lifetime.
  
• Food in your Refrigerator & Pantry-Most of the world have to live meal to meal and don’t have the luxury of having a refrigerator full of food.
• A Variety of Food-Many in the world have the same meal day in and day out because that is all they can afford. A diet that is full of variety is expensive.
• A choice of clothes-Some only have one outfit to wear day in and day out.
• Disposable Income (Money you can spend on what you WANT not what you NEED)-Most students your age give their money over to their parents so that they can make ends meet financially in the home.
• Family
• A Church-Some parts of the world it is illegal to meet as Christian in public.
• Youth Group-Most churches in the world are less than 100 people.  That means they don’t have a paid youth minister with a youth program.
• A Home with Heat-Not just having a HOME, but having a home with heat is a luxury.
• A Bed-I doubt any of you have to share your bed with the rest of your family like many have to, if they even have a bed.
• More than one pair of shoes to wear
• A Yard-I didn’t see many yards in Nairobi.
• Car(s) to ride to school, the store, work, church in-I saw many, many people walking everywhere they were going in Nairobi.  Personal transportation is a luxury not a necessity.
• Freedom
• Freedom of Speech
• Freedom of Religion
• Parents that love you
• The Bible in your own language-Think what life would be like if you didn’t have the Bible in your language.  Many of us not only have the Bible, but we have Bibles, multiple copies in various translations.  Just 100 years ago your family would have been fortunate to have one Bible for the whole family.
• Being literate (able to read this)
• A God that love you more than you can ever know
• Jesus
• The Holy Spirit.

That should be enough for now to be thankful for.  As you look through this list, what is it that strikes you the most that perhaps you overlook on a regular basis?  While we may have bad days and some troubles, in the grand scheme of things, we have things really, really good.  Let us be thankful for all of the ways that God provides for us and not take them for granted..

Have a Great Thanksgiving.

.::Rain

Today there is a slight drizzle of rain outside my window, the temperature is in the 50s, just cold and wet enough to give a person the excuse to stay indoors wearing slippers and pondering some of the larger things of life.

This weekend I was privileged to take some Lipscomb students to Youth Specialties National Youth Workers Convention where we got exposed to some great ideas for youth ministry as well as personal spiritual development.  The highlight for me was Donald Miller calling us to live lives that are stories worth telling as well as living.  Miller contends that our lives (and faiths)  have been HIGHJACKED by the tiny, insignificant stories that dominate our culture.

• small stories like a Roomba vacuum cleaner that promises life fulfillment as it meanders throughout your living room floor.
• tiny stories like a dish washing soap that will fill your soul with joy and happiness as the bubbles miraculously scrub away grease and grime for you.
• insignificant stories like a Volvo that will provide your life with meaning and purpose through its 47 air bags protecting you from harm’s way at every turn.

These stories have convinced us that God and His OMNIPOTENT grace and OVERWHELMING mercy aren’t relevant or accessible in our lives.  That these porduct can give us the experiences and relationship that give meaning to our lives when in reality they will only hollow out our souls leaving us empty shells.

So the call and the challenge for us in youth ministry is to provide our students with that story, that metanarrative the provides purpose, meaning, and HOPE that provides CONFLICT and the INCITING INCIDENTS that get us off our suburban butts and into the lives of those who Jesus calls us to serve and reach out to:  the orphaned, the homeless, the widowed, the disenfranchised.

This is a STORY that can incite REVOLUTION in an adolescent who is trying to find purpose and meaning in fashion, music, video games, movies, drugs, cutting, sex, gossip, or any other false god that they have let write their story.

This is a STORY that can motivate this generation of students to live with and without FEAR. With a reverent fear of an omnipotent God that calls us to be salt and light in this world balanced without a fear of living a life without meaning and purpose in order to distribute grace and mercy to lonely and invisible in their worlds.

This is a STORY that will allow teens to IGNORE the naysayers and creatively DISCOVER how to eradicate hunger, malaria, poverty, apathy in their world.

 

God, may we live big lives with big stories as you are a big God.

Amen.

 

 

.::Why Can’t It Be Easy?

How great would it be if the spiritual life was something that was EASY to do?

Yesterday in my Spiritual Disciplines class, I had my students practicing the discipline of Solitude.  This entails giving them the bulk of the class hour to actually BE in Solitude with God out in nature.  Up to this point in the class we have covered all sorts of ways to BE in solitude such as lectio divina, meditation, and silence so they aren’t just thrown in to it, they are asked to marshal their resources and do it themselves.  I really enjoy GIVING my students this GIFT.  I realize for many of them the idea of spending extended time with God in silence and meditation and reflection is foreign to them.  However, my hope is that they find something Holy, something Sacred as they enter into Solitude with God.

The main point I am trying to get them to practice with this hour is the idea of being “Fully Present” with God.  I want them to make their entire being available to God:

• Their Mind—by blocking out any distractions like the traffic, people walking through campus, the buzz of a text message in their pocket, etc.
• Their Heart—by dialing in to the amazing created order that is surrounding them such as the turning leaves, the gentle sunlight and the singing birds.
• Their Strength–by giving an hour doing something that seems like “wasting time,” being silent in a noisy world, and listening when we like to talk.
• Their Soul—by really, truly being transparent and completely open and bearing their sould to God.

I am a realist.  I know some of my students probably wasted their time by studying Calculus or Psychology.  Others texted away with their friends about the most recent episode of “The Office.”  One probably slept their way through the hour.  While this saddens me, I also know that one cannot be FORCED to practice the disciplines.  One must go willingly.

Granted, there have been a few times when I have been dragged to practicing the disciplines and ended up in a place where I NEEDED to be.  So hopefully, many of my students ended up at a place they needed to be at the end of it all.  It is a delicate balance with these required courses of introducing students to spiritual practices that they are REQUIRED to practice and INVITING them to enter in to it willingly.

On the one hand, I wish the Disciplines were EASY so that I could introduce them to my students in a way that is easy to digest and palatable.  However, I am glad they aren’t as that makes them so much more precious and beautiful.

.::Dress Socks

I have never cared for dress socks. I am a regular, athletic, white sock kind of guy. I like to wear thick heavy socks that you KNOW that you are wearing on your feet. The problem with dress socks for me is that they don’t even feel like REAL socks. They don’t feel NORMAL to me. So instead of buying dress socks, I buy dark colored athletic socks and fake it . . . so to speak.

I don’t know what kind of spiritual year you are having. Maybe things don’t feel “normal” for you, like when I am wearing dress socks. Maybe something feels off for you this season. What might be causing that in your faith?

Maybe you are having a great spiritual year/season right now. You are wearing your regular socks and thing feel RIGHT for you. What are the things that God has been doing in your life that have helped you get to this place? How can you maintain this spirit in your walk?

Socks…maybe they can be spiritual.

.::How True is this?

.::The Author is There

“The Author of the Bible is always present with his Book. This is not true of any other book in the world. Most authors are dead; and we sometimes regret that we cannot speak to them. But this Author for ever lives, and is for ever present; and, therefore, while we read his written word it is as natural as life sometimes to speak to him on certain subjects as they occur. “Truly, then, our communion is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

–Alexander Campbell, Millennial Harbinger Vol. III no. 1, 1839

This is from Alexander Campbell, one of the founders of the Stone-Campbell Movement as he writes on Reading Scripture.  I think he taps into something that we overlook far too often when we read scripture–that God is ALWAYS there when we read scripture.  In my Spiritual Disciplines class (and many times in church as well), it seems that at time when we open the text, there is the pall that overcomes the class and a sense of apathy that overcomes us.  Many times when we read scripture we approach it as a chore, boring, or irrelevant.  I also believe that our access to scripture through multiple Bibles, translations, formats, gives us a familiarity with the Bible that lessens our view of it and, as a result, we take it for granted.

We make it work FOR us–instead of letting it work IN us.

I love how Campbell reminds us about WHY scripture is special in that the Author (God) is ALWAYS present in its reading.  Every time we open the Word, God IS there.

• What if we possessed a perspective that WHEN we read scripture that God IS present?
• How might that change our perspective on Scripture?
• What kind of REVERENCE might we bring to the text?
• How might God’s Holy Presence CHANGE us?
• What kind of challenges might our souls be confronted with?
• How REFRESHING might our scripture reading become?
• How much BIGGER might God become with a perspective like this?
  

.::Beatles v. U2

I have argued for many years that U2 is the Greatest Rock Band ever.  However, with this week’s release of The Beatles Stereo Box Set this week I have been pouring over their catalog and have been forced to rethink my position.  I have not drawn any conclusions yet.  But here have been some of my arguments:

• U2 have been consistently producing number 1 music over three decades from “Sunday Bloody Sunday” to “Get on Your Boots.”
• To stay together as a band for thirty years is a difficult and remarkable feat (thanks Yoko).  The Beatles only recorded over eight years.  U2’s longevity has allowed them to experiment (ex. U2 pop) and consistently innovate their musical style (ex. Vertigo vs. No Line).  Yes the Beatles also experimented (Yellow Submarine) but again longevity gives the edge to U2 for me.
• There is no argument that The Beatles have had the biggest IMPACT on music through their complete reinvention of the medium of music.  Their music is timeless and the definition of “Hall of Fame”   And while U2’s influence is no doubt seen in bands like Coldplay (aka U2 wannabes) The edge here undoubtedly goes to The Beatles.
• The Beatles also have a long list of singles that have found their way into the lexicon of pop culture’s lexicon of musical hits like “Strawberry Fields, Let it Be, Lucy in the Sky, Help!, Good day Sunshine, Revolution, Hey Jude, Lady Madonna, Twist and Shout, etc.)  Songs that after the first measure you just begin to sing along.  Now “pop” hits don’t necessarily measure quality, for example, look at the top 10 songs on iTunes today and you will be hard pressed to see ANY quality music there.  Quantity does not measure quality.  However, I might just have to give the edge to The Beatles here.
• Bono and John Lenon have both used the microphone that Rock and Rock gave them to lobby the world for peace and humanitarian efforts.  Both in their own unique ways.  Still I give the edge to Bono who actively pursued world leaders and called them into accountability for their policies and the poor.  Granted, this doesn’t have anything to do with music, but this is my list and my criteria, if you don’t like it, make your own list.
• When it comes to Album Rock, albums that you can listen to from beginning to end, I personally give the edge to U2.  albums like Joshua Tree, Unforgettable Fire, How to Dismantle, All That You Can’t Leave Behind, are all albums I love to listen to from track 1 to the end without skipping a track.  The Beatles have a significant number of tracks that I find needing to skip since they simply bore me.  Winner here: U2
• We haven’t seen The Edge, Bono, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullin putting out solo albums that were junk like we did with Ringo and George Harrison (“I’ve got my mind set on you?    . . . . Really ?!?!?!).  Just have to mention Wings in this point . . . ’nuff said.  Winner without a doubt: U2.
• It probably could be argued that without The Beatles innovation of music there would have never been a U2, so I have to give a point to The Beatles.

But again, as I look over the breadth of the undoubtedly amazing catalog or The Beatles that was created in a relatively short amount of time, there is no doubt they are in serious contention, but my heart has to still give the award to U2.  I do have to thank the Beatles for their influence, artistry and pioneerism in music, but I love me my U2.

.::Silence

Recently on a friend’s Facebook wall I posted this,

“it is in silence that we are confronted with our weakness, frailty and fallenness…we can either face those weaknesses or ignore them by drowning them out with more noise.”

Now I am sure that these are not my words, but subtly plagiarized/paraphrased from a combination of Richard Foster, Dallas Willard, Jesus, Earl Lavender or Gary Holloway.  Nevertheless, there is so much NOISE in our lives from iPods, Computers, Cell Phones, Text Messages, Billboards, TVs, etc. that we don’t get to confront silence easily anymore.

In silence, we truly are confronted with our scars, our failures, our weaknesses, our frailty, our humanity in such a way that we are forced to either confront it and let God work in our souls, or we simply turn up the volume on the noise in our life and ignore the significant spadework of the heart we must endure to heal from that pain.

I have the privilege of taking classes of student through the journey of discovering the spiritual disciplines most semesters.  I find the disciplines like study, worship, prayer and quiet time easier for them to practice because they usually require them DOING something.  However, I always sense their hesitation with the disciplines of solitude and meditation where the participant is required to BE and to LISTEN and not do so much.

BE-ing and LISTENING are far more difficult for Western Christians as it doesn’t require us DOING. . . we must be passive and we have distilled our faith down to action.  By doing this, we have stripped our faith of the work that God desires to do in our life.

For it is in the silence that God perhaps does the best work.

It is in the silence the pruning happens.

It is in silence that we are confronted with a “Holy, Holy, Holy God” and we realize we are a man/woman of “unclean lips.”

It is in the silence that we realize that we are NOT God and the we ARE dependent upon God for everything.  It is much easier to think that we ARE God.

It is in silence that we hear the “still small voice of God” that may call us to dangerous places, make significant and painful sacrifices, or actually do the things the Bible calls us to that we have drowned out with the voice of our surrounding culture.

May you be SILENT some this weekend. . .

.::One National Chill Pill Please . . .

I usually wouldn’t use this space for political rants, but what I see happening this week in education really bothers me.  President Obama is going to address the nation’s students directly in a speech that is going to be broadcast where he is going to encourage them to take personal responsibility, work hard and stay in school. However, this is has been proving to be a touch point for partisan politics where parents have been calling and threatening administrators to not show this speech and take up “valuable” class time.
My wife teaches at a public school in the history department as was told that she is not to show it without having a lesson plan detailing how she will use the speech in class.  (After all, the fact that a presidential address being of historical value isn’t enough to warrant showing, that one has to design a lesson plan around it?)
So here are my two cents:

• I don’t care who you voted for, doesn’t it make sense to support our president?  Don’t we want to ENCOURAGE good citizenship from our students?
• Can’t we leave partisan politics to “grown ups?”
• Even if you didn’t vote for Obama, or agree with his policy, doesn’t a good education teach you how to discern and articulate WHY you don’t agree with a differing viewpoint?
• Are such ideas such as “personal responsibility, hard work and staying in school” so DIVISIVE that we wouldn’t want impressionable young minds to heed such advice?
• Is there no room for free speech in schools, especially when it is the President of the United States?
• Will we ever have a time when the nation can unite behind a leader that doesn’t involve a national tragedy such as Pearl Harbor or 9/11?
• Yeah, I’d rather have my kids in a pep rally, rather than being indoctrinated for an hour to work hard, stay in school and take responsibility because they get so much of that already.
• Q:  What really do we have to fear from our kids being encouraged to step up and be great?  [A:  That they may actually step up, study, work hard and take our jobs?]

If anything merits our need to take a chill pill, perhaps this does . . .

.::Classroom Joy

There are these moments that a teacher gets to share with their students that are magical. The electricity that fills the room when there is this connection between the student, teacher and subject. It is a comradarie of knowledge that intersects forming something beautiful and exciting.  It is this tremendous symphony when all three parties (teacher, student, subject) are in perfect harmony united together.  The teacher isn’t dominating with his or her downloading of the subject.  The students aren’t draining the process with their apathy or distractions.  The subject isn’t confounding the discussion with its insistence to confuse the other parties.

There is this hunger and thirst for Truth that emerges and is not satisfied until all the rocks of knowledge are overturned and discussion and argument, interrogation and wonder are exhausted.

It is those moments when ENGAGEMENT between these three are fully intertwined: student, subject, teacher.  Time is not an element.  Students (and teacher for that matter) do not check the clock on the wall to see how much longer is left in class.

These moments are GIFTS of God.  It are those times that feed the soul of teacher and student that affirm the process of education.

These moments are Transcendent–They usher us into a subatomic-sized part of God’s mind when we stand face-to-face with Truth and all the wonder and beauty that are inherent in such a discovery.  They are holy . . . set apart.

These are the moments students and teacher live between–energized from the endorphin rush that such discovery of Truth provides and journeying towards the hope of more discovery and moments like these.

This place is joy.