Freedom Writers

Before I head out for a lunch appointment with a good friend of mine (we are going through the book, From Achilles to Christ: Why Christians Should Read the Pagan Classics together), I thought I’d comment about a couple things that came together over the past several days for me. As Cristina has been teaching, she wanted me to find some information on Sarah Winchester, whose Mystery House is not far from here. Sarah’s story is tragic. Lost an only child to death and then lost her husband a year later. All this, with her multimillion dollar fortune inherited from the Winchester bloodlines (creator of the Winchester Repeating Rifle), she decided to rebuild a house.

However, she decided to visit a medium to discover what she could do with her pain. The medium told her that as long as a hammer continued banging away at her house, all the spirits of those who had been killed by the rifle would not bother her. So, she built this elaborate house, with staircases to ceilings, etc. Sad.

I was then reminded from the message this past week about the sadness of the final years of Howard Hughes’ life. A recluse who lived in jaded fear. Both these people, isolated, lonely, entirely too fearful.

Commonality? Among other things, fear. How does fear direct our lives? Fear to speak forth when words are necessary? Fear to be silent when words aren’t necessary. Fear to launch due to failure? Fear to admit weakness and failure when it does occur? How is it that fear drives?

Again, my guess is we rarely pause to take stock of our fears and how they play out in our lives. Courage is not the absence of fear but the pushing on through fear, believing in a higher vision, a deeper calling, a life-altering value. Fearing the unknown, we settle for simplicity and apathy.

Having watched Freedom Writers with Cristina this past week, I could not help but see how fear did not force a teacher out, nor her students and their willingness to seek a better life than what they or their parents had. The death of football player Sean Taylor is the a sad reminder. Too early to tell (I’m sure someone knows something), but if someone is trying to break away from a checkered past to a more glorious future, there may be some not happy. Having lived in Miami, grown up in Chicago, the ridicule and scorn can create fear. Yet, as the movie depicts, the courage of students to move forward is more than encouraging. It is miraculous. As was mentioned in the film, they are the “heroes.”

A word on heroes—they are not perfect but they do not let fear dictate the terms of life!

BTW, waiting for the local library to notify me that a copy is ready for me. Can't wait to read it...

Culture, Paradigm, and Willow

as i've been following the continuous threads regardig REVEAL (Willow's study of it's own church and others), it still amazes me! i read comments from some who say it is just another program to sell itself more, etc. i find the arguments less than convincing. understanding that some from the emerging generations cohort may not like the "slickness" of the willow model, i am reminded even as they write how culture continues to inform and express our faith.

people do not like large churches for various reasons. our family has a friend who is a member of willow. it would seem if willow really want to sell themselves, they head into the television market, something they have resisted doing. critiques of willow (saddleback, etc) also arise from a particular framework, a particular paradigm--both with cultural components throughout.

scripture was written within the context of certain cultural components which informed and shaped the contours of its composition (and collection into one bound book). we then attempt to read this sacred text from our own context back into the biblical context. yet, how often do we stop and reflect what those components may be and how they may be informing our reading, our interpretation?

more to follow... have a great thanksgiving!

Find "Community"

It was great to come across this website this morning. for those who come from my own faith tradition (Seventh-day Adventist), you may want check out this blog. while the web seems to have brought the world together, it is atomized it as well.

http://reinventingsdawheel.blogspot.com/2007/11/masters-workshop-all-you-need-to-know.html

i was reminded that worship has taken on so many forms as it has evolved over the past two decades. i wonder if anyone has come across someone who has written about the evolution of media usage through the past fifty years. i say this because i read so many from the emerging generations who now take shots at the older (i.e. boomers) generations, at megachurches, seemingly uninterested in how the cultural forces have shaped those churches and that indeed, right now, there are just as equally powerful cultural forces shaping the emerging generations. while i may not agree with all of Strauss & Howe's conclusions, their work on the generational cohorts i believe can contribute to our understanding. the central, core principle is the incarnational principle for ministry in context. this gets back to my earlier post on the three texts of ministry: life (experience), scripture, and culture.

this has led me to become more interested in sociology and anthropology, understanding the wider ramifications for how we express what is at the core of our "belief." as Fowler and others have indicated, "belief" is not merely the ascent of the mind, it is the engagement of the whole being, the leaning into something that draws the whole person.

anyhow, i am puzzled by those act surprised by Willow's admission. how many organizations, much less churches, when they've conducted some kind of "organizational audit," have discovered that what they had been doing in some arena was not working? every church attempts a "program" to accomplish something, whether it be a "alt. worship" or some involvement in the community, or some kind of Christian education pursuit. find me a church that hasn't had to make course corrections. how many churches have equated activity with spiriual formation?

one final inconsequential note, the bears continue the roller coaster ride.

happy trails!

"Rock" Worship

Okay, so i came across a NYTimes video report on "rock" worship and thought i'd post it here to get feedback. unfortunately, my skill level at the blog level is low so i cannot embed the video here but i've put the link. maybe one day when i get my dmin project complete, i can go to the next level in blogging. today, i got a phone call from a "coach" in the dmin prog who really helped give me some direction toward my dissertation. kudos, kenley.

finally, not being a musician (my wife is), what constitutes "rock?"

http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=02dc92c26aaaea495b5ccf52a7f42897c19bf70d

This Week

This week i head into examining the relationship between context, culture and spiritual formation. rarely have i seen considered these two important two components in spiritual formation. typically as Christians we say to read your bible, study, pray, witness and yet rarely do we examine how our context and culture influence the ways we go about doing these kinds of things, or how they inform our Christian practices.

if i am going to attempt to optimize those practices for the purpose of spiritual development, i must understand how particular contexts and cultural factors come into play in my spiritual development.

this past weekend we launched our spiritual development class with about 15 in attendence. i look forward to building a little community with this group over the course of the next several months. i am amazed at the grace of God in bringing people together. to see a multi-generational group gathered is encouraging. i am hoping we can also experience a mult-cultural group that will add to both our learning and practice. off we go--let's see where God leads!