I Believe In Books

Came across this interesting article from leadership guy Mark Sanborn which got me thinking about books that have been timely influences in my life.

Here are a few:
Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey I took this from my oldest brother and it was the first fantasy series I ever read. The story of Menolly struggling to find acceptance in a culture that didn't understand tapped into my own adolescent search for identity.
Mere Christianity - CS Lewis Started my search to find ways to express faith that could be understood by people who hadn't been already immersed in the subculture.
No Compromise - Melody Green This biography of Christian music and ministry pioneer Keith Green still calls me to a more complete devotion to what I claim to believe, I first read it about twenty years ago.
20 Hot Potatoes Christians Are Afraid to Touch - Tony Campolo Challenged several of the stereotypical views I had accepted without criticism.
The Jesus I Never Knew and What's So Amazing About Grace - Philip Yancey Two books that started me on the road to understand and experience Jesus with appreciation of church traditions but not dependence on them.
Spiritual Leadership - Oswald Sanders Still the best leadership book on my shelf.
Oh The Places You'll Go - Dr. Seuss The most honest and inspiring adult book ever hidden as a children's book. Can't count the number of times I've read this book to groups or given it as a gift.
All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten - Robert Fulghum Profound wisdom throughout this book, not just the title essay. Probably one of the major influences on how I try to express myself even now.
A New Kind Of Christian - Brian McLaren Took all the things I was afraid to admit I was wondering and put them in narrative form.
Making The Best Of It - John Stackhouse The latest book to open up an understanding of faith that truly connects with the inherent messiness of my reality.
Holy Sweat - Tim Hansel The theme book of my internship year at Medeba. Expresses the adventure of following Jesus in ways that are easy to connect but hard to pursue. Sadly, out of print.
Return Of The Prodigal Son - Henri Nouwen Came at exactly the right time in my life and opened me to a new, more contemplative exploration of faith.
The Gospel In A Pluralist Society - Lesslie Newbigin Put words to my wonderings and turned me on to a whole circle of other writing based on his thought.

That's enought for now. Another time I could add "I Wish That I Had Duck Feet" "It's not about the bike", "The Hobbit", "God in the Alley", "Five Love Languages", and "Adrenaline and Stress"

Fame! I'm gonna live forever!

My boys have made their mainstream media debut: http://www.dundasstarnews.com/community/gallery/details/152426

The Most Offensive Word in the English Language

(It's not what you think).

Forgive the melodramatic title to this post, but I've got some frustration to vent.
I find it absolutely repulsive that so often we (and yes, I include myself here) use the word "just" in a dismissive sense with regard to people, tendencies, skills, and interests.

"I'm just a volunteer"
"That's just being emotional"
"I'm just learning to do it"
"You're just a student"
"I just try to help"
"My mom was just a housewife"
and the list goes on...

How arrogant and offensive to label the gifts and creations of God in such a way!
If I hear anyone speak of my children as "just" anything I'll be furious. They are not "just"; they are special, loved, unique, and sacred. The same is true of my developmentally delayed relatives, the neighbour with dementia, and the newcomer working a menial job to provide for their family. None of us is "just".

In fact, I'd love to take all those examples above, remove the word just, and replace it with an exclamation point at the end and an enthusiastic tone. We really need to learn to celebrate who we are, what we do, and those things that identify us as distinct from every other of the billions of humans who have wandered around on this sod.

I can only imagine God's reaction to our dismissal of ourselves, other people, or the things he has given us. Do you think he rages or weeps?

But then again, I'm just some guy with a blog...

If you don't (xxxxxxx); don't complain

It's not good enough to show up and vote once every few years and then feel you've done your part for the political process and our country. If the only time our representatives receive feedback is on election day they are ill-equipped to understand or respond to what we care about. Imagine if the only time your employer ever spoke to you was to either fire you or extend your contract annually.

We need to be the people who become known in the constituency offices, not because we're always complaining or critical; but because we offer a reasoned perspective that both affirms and argues respectfully as needed. If we don't do this the only voices to be heard will be the constant griping of the annoyed and the thoughtless praise of the loyalists. Politicians can't do their jobs well without our ongoing participation.

This doesn't mean we need to become associated with any political party. In a previous post I was critical of forming committed allegiances of this type, at least for those who call themselves Christians. In fact, I suspect that the most influential voices to a politician often are those who are undecided. After all those are the people they want to convince.

During the course of a campaign we are bombarded with political messaging, and still often we respond only by marking our "X". Between elections we are often completely silent. If we can't do better than that we don't deserve better government than we are getting.

On Obama

More than ever before in my life I am becoming politically conscious. I'm more attentive to the election campaigns both here in Canada and in the US. And I've taken the time to contact the leading candidate in my area about issues that matter to me, though I haven't yet decided how to vote (though my two year old has declared his allegiance...)


One of the best bloggers around posted this on how Niebuhr's philosophy has impacted Barack Obama. It's good.

(I have a daydream where someday I come up with something worth writing a book about and Al Hsu is my editor).

Call and Response

Last May, in a hotel room overlooking the Atlantic Ocean in Fort Lauderdale I was strongly impacted by a pre-release trailer for a movie called "Call and Response".


There is a growing awareness of the ugly reality of human trafficking in our time, particularly the sexual exploitation of children slaves.
Please see and circulate this trailer.

Amy Eden Wignall

Born September 9, 2008 at 12:54pm. 9lbs 3oz.
Everybody's doing great.

Little Bit of Culture

Read this article, a question and answer with Andy Crouch, author of Culture Making.

I want to be part of affecting the culture of my neighbourhood. Too often I'm too busy to do that. Too often our churches are too busy with self-sustaining activity to care about it, especially when most of the congregation live outside the community where the church meets.

For more on this idea see: http://catalystfoundation.blogspot.com/2008/09/picking-favourites.html

Christians and Politics

With campaigns charging forward in the US and about to officially launch here in Canada (though the ads are already underway) I find myself thinking more politically now than I can ever remember.
I have a really hard time with Christians who are strongly partisan politically. No party or leader fully represents the values and direction of Jesus or the Bible, though many from various perspectives try to lay claim. Followers of Jesus are called to one loyalty above all others, loyalty to Christ. That means we are expected to give our devotion to those priorities at all times.
I see too many people of Christian faith in both nations who are uncritically supportive of one or another candidate. We need to be intentional about presenting another view, one that may be unelectable, but is truly faithful.
Author Scot McKnight puts it this way:
“On politics I strive as much as possible to let my passions be for God and for the Church and for others (the Jesus Creed). I place no confidence in redemption by way of politics. The political hope ebbs and flows every 8 years now; I don’t get all riled up if a Republican or a Democrat wins; I don’t think it matters that much to what we are called to do on a daily basis.” —Scot McKnight (Jesus Creed)
(To read some reactions and thoughts on this quote go here).
I don't identify myself as an anabaptist or pacifist, but I do share their concerns about assigning loyalty or trust in any person or ideology other than Jesus.
I do believe we earn the right to speak prophetically to our leaders by engaging in the process of government regularly, not only by spouting off at election time.
I believe those who choose to speak for Christ from the inside of partisan communities take a significant risk and need to be both challenged and encouraged to retain their proper alignment and priorities.
And I believe that God is bigger than any party, election, or nation; and we would be wise to turn more of our attention to the real needs of the least and lost in our communities and around the world rather than becoming gripped by the drama of the electoral process.

Seeds of a Rant

I have a major rant coming about the way clergy use (exploit) the idea of "calling" and all the damage it does. This cartoon, stolen from Out of Ur, relates...

What size gospel are you?

Every church wants to express the truth and grace of Jesus as fully as possible. MOre and more we're running into "missional" churches and movements that are trying to point out the ways in which some of our ways of being Christian have reflected an incomplete understanding of the good news of Jesus. It's pretty fuzzy stuff mostly, which makes it easy to take slightly disguised shots at the well known Christian leader of choice for their limited gospel.
In the course of an ongoing series on their website about the "size" of the gospel; Christianity Today posted this article from a missional church pastor/theologian who opens up the question of what happens when we make the gospel so big that average people can't get their heads or hands around it.
From where I sit, this sounds like a part of what has happened in the more theologically liberal churches in my community. Starting with acknowledging something more, they ended up something so big it lost all meaning. I find myself struggling to maintain a grip on the safety rail of faith in the midst of the theological ride I've found myself on in the last year or so...

Open to Interpretation

I really enjoyed a poolside conversation yesterday with two younger guys who are thoughtful and deeply committed in their following Jesus. As is often the case lately, a lot of it was about how the truth and grace of Jesus can be expressed in ways that are meaningful to those who currently find no place in the church.

The image above is from this interesting post from Mark Petersen which raises a few thoughts:
-I like how he takes the challenge of the artist and sees the hope in it
-I can understand the controversy, and hope the local churches have embraced it and seen it as opportunity for dialogue and reflection
-I didn't know Mark jogs

Facebook for Jesus?

I have come to actually quite like facebook. I (like many other people) probably waste/spend more time on it than is really warranted, but it has allowed me to maintain and develop some good friendships.
At the same time it can be a little concerning in other ways.
As a former youth pastor and camp guy I see a lot of stuff on the profiles of some young people that I wish weren't there. Constant references to getting drunk, sex, drugs, and the like are discouraging. Sometimes I wonder if I should send a message asking about what's really going on with people who I still think could be involved in something much more meaningful and fulfilling. A couple times I have sent those messages and gotten no response, and wondered if I made a mistake...
Today I came across an article about the use of facebook as an evangelistic tool. I'm not sure what I think entirely. I agree with some of the points the author makes about it being a great way to connect with people who have become distant and I have also had experiences where I think those connections have led to some valuable spiritual interaction. There is an opportunity here to engage with people through another media that creates possibilities.
I guess my frustration is with the mindset that thinks we should be careful and selective about what we post so we can best interest people in getting to know Jesus. At one level that makes sense, but at another it suggests that our spirituality is somehow compartmentalised and we should omit those aspects of our lives that don't fit with it when we go public.
I'd much rather that our editorial efforts were made at the level of our real lives, rather than our cyber ones.
Making facebook so strategic and selective puts me in mind of people and organizations who approach evangelism as a program and tactic. We train in the right presentations and responses that will eradicate people's defences and allow us to convince them to accept our Jesus. I was deep in that subculture for many years and am glad to be outside of it now.
The Christian message is about so much more than a brief formulaic call to repentance. I would hope that my friends on facebook who identify themselves as Christians can be bold enough to be sincere in that forum, just as I hope for us all to be in every aspect of life. I suspect that will ultimately better reflect the variety and complexity of God's work among us as we try to respond faithfully to the ways Jesus is revealed.

Performance Anxiety

Another interesting post from Out of Ur, this time on how spiritual leaders struggle with the expectation to achieve success based on external, measurable criteria. I find myself torn.

On one hand I totally agree with this article: If Scripture shows that faithful and godly leaders can have shrinking ministries (Jesus in John 6), and sinful leaders can have successful ministries (Moses in Numbers 20), then why do we persist in measuring our success simply on the measurable outcomes of our work?
Brothers and sisters, you are more than the measurable outcomes of your work.
I spent several years working for a church in one of the most performance driven communities in Canada. At times I felt the sting of not standing up to the high expectations that always seemed beyond my reach (thankfully, those occasions were few and may ultimately have been more self-imposed than otherwise). I tried to speak out against what I found offensive in the perform or perish culture that I saw in the schools, sports, homes, and workplaces. Looking back I wish I'd done a better job of really understanding and articulating what is so damaging about that paradigm.

However; I also benefited from that culture. It often brought out the best in me. I became better as a leader and as a pastor because there were people around me who wanted to see me develop and didn't allow me to be lazy or hide behind any excuses.

In my role with the Catalyst Foundation I spend a lot of time essentially evaluating leaders and their organizations. I want to support those who are most effective at bringing about good in the lives of others. There was a time when I found discussion of numbers and clear outcomes to be contrary to my sense of ministry, but I don't anymore.

I agree that the measure of any person (the focus on pastors in the article reflects the primary audience of the writer, not a belief that pastors have a harder life than the rest of us I hope) should not be on what they are able to accomplish. We are more than our results. Ultimately we will not be judged based on our curriculum vitae, but on our faithful obedience to God as truly revealed to us.

I want to challenge those who read this article that we need to learn to distinguish between our core identity (i.e. adopted and beloved child of God), and our work (professional or otherwise). In our work we should seek to be productive, knowing that it is not all that we are.

If we don't learn to do that then whatever our work it will be "soul-killing" because no labour, no matter how sincere or serving, is the fulfilment of a human life. Confusing this leads us to either dependence on the opinions of others (which the article rightly critiques), or a rejection of all evaluation and an entirely individualistic standard of life which is so vulnerable to ego and laziness.

In summary, evaluate and improve what can be measured and ruthlessly remember that many things can't.

Olympic Spiritual

Watching the opening day of the Beijing games. I love the variety and constant supply of sports, but I generally dislike the opening and closing ceremonies. I'm good with the parade of nations, athlete's oath, and torch lighting; it's all the weird artsy stuff I can't connect with. My favourite moment is often that moment in the closing ceremonies when the athletes all mingle and celebrate in the infield of the Olympic stadium. Seeing all these people, the stress of competition relieved, coming together in something that looks a lot like joy is kinda exhilarating, even from my couch. It gives me a little longing for heaven.

Today I found this article from a favourite blogger, Al Hsu. He shares my idea, but adds a lot to it as a Taiwanese American.

Maybe it's a little cheesy to try to take a universally powerfully tradition and claim it as some kind of Christian metaphor. But I'm not saying it's Christian, just that it puts me in mind of something sacred to me.

Ferrets and Cults

Last week I had a long overdue chance to spend a full evening with my oldest brother. Over 4 hours at his favourite pub we did a lot of catching up on life and exploring what it is that makes each of us who we are.

One of the themes of our conversation was the way each of us has been strongly drawn to certain subcultures over the last couple decades. I've invested a lot of myself in Evangelical Christianity, Pastoral work, and "Extreme" sports; and found a lot of my identity through those communities. My brother has been deeply committed to; well, those are his to share or secret, but let's say that there is not a lot of natural affinity between our peer groups.

Despite the strong differences, we've each found ourselves having significant roles and circles of influence, and been involved in welcoming and initiating many newcomers to our respective circles. In many ways we have taken similar steps on very different paths, and as a result we can relate quite closely to one another's experiences.

It may be age and stage of life or something, but I find myself concerned by how isolated some of my subcultures are from those not included. I appreciate that the very nature of a subculture is in the difference from the common, but it's so easy to completely lose touch with the outside world.

In some cases that might be a good thing, but it easily leads to loss of perspective and extremism as we continually subdivide within our tribes to find ever more specific identities and communities. In the end we lose the ability to relate in any meaningful way between our subculture and the parts of our life lived among the masses. The scariest thing about that, at least for me, is how not frightening some of my spiritual siblings find it.

Aftermath

One of my favourite people in all the world to spend a long evening talking with is a self-professed skeptic. (Most of the time I share his temperament if not his paradigm). This post is not for him.

I read an article today that moved me surprisingly. It's about the infamous New Life church in Colorado (of the Ted Haggard scandal and last year's shootings) and how they are recovering from two tragedies. And, yes I do consider the Haggard matter to be tragic from several angles.

There are several ways I don't agree with the practices and teaching of New Life. It would be easy for me to poke holes in even this story and find fault with some of what it says. But I choose not to. Instead, I choose to believe that God is doing something meaningful among people who shared trauma.

Read right to the end of the article. The postscript demonstrates grace and courage beyond common human capacity. Well done folks. You've entered into the realm of the inexplicable. I hope you can hang out there for a while.

Logic and Emotion

There is a common struggle for spiritual people to deal with the tension between intellect and subjectivity. Particularly when trying to express our faith to people who might not share it, we don't know which aspect takes priority and how to use them honestly.

This article by Philip Yancey gives insight:

Lewis has taught me a style of approach that I try to follow in my own writings. To quote William James, "… in the metaphysical and religious sphere, articulate reasons are cogent for us only when our inarticulate feelings of reality have already been impressed in favor of the same conclusion." In other words, we rarely accept a logical argument unless it fits an intuitive sense of reality. The writer's challenge is to nurture that intuitive sense—as Lewis had done for me with his space trilogy before I encountered his apologetics. Lewis himself converted to Christianity only after sensing that it corresponded to his deepest longings, his Sehnsucht.

So convictions typically change when we find logical support for what our emotions/intuition have already begun to prefer.

I bet that's true in many areas of life.

All the losers win...

Years ago I often listened to a song by a band called DeGarmo and Key that included the lyric "Here's to all the losers, lose all guilt and sin. Here's to life in Jesus, all of the losers win". I'm not sure if I've experienced the loss of all guilt and sin except on a theological level; but I definitely relate to being a loser on many fronts. And paradoxically, it is in the experience of failure that I have gained the most.

For months now I've been fascinated by the story of Jacob, the brash and scheming young man who connived his way into and out of trouble time and time again. There was no situation he couldn't weasel his way through. Until he found himself terrified by the side of a creek, knowing he was about to face the brother who had every reason to kill him. In that time of desperation he suddenly found himself in the fight of his life, one he couldn't escape with all his wiles. Here read it for yourself:

Jacob Wrestles With God
22 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak."
But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."
27 The man asked him, "What is your name?"
"Jacob," he answered.
28 Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome."
29 Jacob said, "Please tell me your name."
But he replied, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he blessed him there.
30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared."
31 The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip.

So, Jacob (which means Schemer) becomes Israel (which means one who struggles with God) and for the rest of his life he limps as a reminder that there are some things he can't escape.

Carolyn Arends wrote an excellent article about this recently. You should read it.

I'm not alone...

I've recently started reading the blog of marketing guy Seth Godin. Today he said something (at the end of a post about recognizing how truly privileged we are) that I needed to post:

The object isn’t to be perfect. The goal isn’t to hold back until you’ve created something beyond reproach. I believe the opposite is true. Our birthright is to fail and to fail often, but to fail in search of something bigger than we can imagine. To do anything else is to waste it all.

I love how he condemns both perfectionism and ambivalence. Spending several years neck deep in one of the most performance-driven communities in Canada gave me a strong distaste for the unquenchable lust for overachieving. At the same time I do have respect for high standards and commitment. Seth captures exactly what I think worth doing poorly is about. thanks