Jesus and Life

Brian McLaren @ LaSalle Street Church

2010-04-26T07:29:00.005-05:00

Teetselberry, eat your heart out.

Brian McLaren came and spoke at LaSalle Street Church last weekend. We had an all-day conference with him on Saturday (10-4) at which he talked mostly from his new book, A New Kind of Christianity. McLaren has received A LOT of flack about this new book, even more than his previous ones, and has really peeved off a number of evangelicals. The book is structured around 10 questions about Christian faith and praxis. He spoke to us mainly about the narrative of the Scriptures, the authority of the Bible, how Jesus and other religions interact and a bit on how we move forward as a community.

On the Bible, McLaren's main points were that we read the Bible through a Greeco-Roman lens, specifically a 6 line narrative, influenced VERY heavily by the debate between Plato and Aristotle that was at the philosophical heart of Greeco-Roman culture, where the story goes like such: Perfect Unchanging Garden, Fall, Condemnation into Change/sin, Salvation to Unchanging Heaven or Eternal Conscious Torment in Hell. At first read, this seems fine. However, McLaren suggests that we are reading this structure onto the Bible, that it really isn't there in the text (Imagine that! We bring baggage and bias to the text! Anthropology wins again!). He suggests a much different narrative, one that has the Exodus story as the main narrative, the Genesis story as a prequel and Isaiah and the Prophets as a call to a coming Kingdom of God or peaceable kingdom.

Really, what McLaren is offering us in how to read the Bible isn't anything new. At least for Catholics. For Protestant, especially Caucasian American Evangelicals, it is something a bit new. (Yes, a few have heard of this type of stuff before, but as a whole church, we are unaware). What McLaren is suggesting is that we read the Bible as the liberation theologians do, as Rabbis do, as progressive Catholics and mainline protestants do. God created a good world. It was a world filled with possibility, change and evolving creatures. After sin entered the world, God saved his people in the Exodus, where he definitively sides with the oppressed, downtrodden, etc. The prophets give us a hope for the future, one in which we can imagine a new world of peace, wholeness, shalom.

Another bit of wisdom McLaren offered was that we stop reading the Bible like a constitution and start reading it like a cultural library. Initially when I read this in his book, I didn't like this. Now, however, I love it. Constitutions are meant to be sited and used to defend agreed upon statements. Libraries are meant to be used to see the diversity of views and become a part of the conversation that is continuing. When we read the Bible like a constitution (something that wasn't around in 'Bible times') we pull out verses and paragraphs to defend and back-up certain claims, like slavery is right, men are better than women, and a host of other things. McLaren suggests that the Bible isn't meant to be used this way, and shouldn't be. We should see, read and use the Bible as a cultural library. One that has great power to instruct and was inspired by God, yet isn't 'perfect' as a constitution is, but as a library is. We should instead use the stories of Scripture to continue the conversation between humans and God and live our lives from that relationship.

McLaren also spoke of other religions and their place in the kingdom of God. I won't write much on this, since I was busy making coffee during this point and will probably expand on this in a later post, but will put out a few things I loved. One thing he said that he isn't so much interested in Buddhists and Muslims and Atheists becoming Christians, per se, but all people, including Christians, becoming fervent lovers of Jesus. Following Jesus doesn't necessitate following a certain religion. Not to say that a Buddhist that loves Jesus wouldn't change some of their practices and/or beliefs, but then again, Christians that pursue the life of Jesus would probably change a lot of their practices and beliefs too!

Overall, I think A New Kind of Christianity and the one-day conference with McLaren awoke in me my desire to explore these topics more. And that I'm super progressive. Even if I am a Calvinist. :)

Peace,

Brian McLaren, Hurt Locker & Avatar

2010-04-25T22:53:00.003-05:00

It's been a while. I shall be returning this week.

Brian McLaren came to LaSalle Street Church last weekend. He spoke on his new book, A New Kind of Christianity, on Saturday from 10-4 with us. Then preached at our services on Sunday. It was great and Brian was wonderful.

LaSalle has a movie night once a month called Cornerstone Cinema. We watch a movie and have a discussion. It's a super diverse crowd and I made my first one on Friday. Hurt Locker is amazing!

Tonight I saw Avatar. Yes, for the first time. Again, AMAZING! Sorry First Tribes Peoples of our soil. Mark Driscoll, I'm saddened that you thought that movie was satanic.

Yes, that is what is to come. More in depth on each.

Anthropology and History

2010-02-06T18:48:00.002-06:00

I picked up India: A History the other day, a book I read while in India to learn a bit about my surroundings. It's a SUPER long and detailed book, about how we know things about India's ancient history from Vedic myths and engravings of rulers on coins. It reminded me about how much I loved Human Origins, an anthropology class about how humans came to be from apes (yes, that is supposed to be inflammatory). I got super excited back then about how humans developed, where the Garden of Eden was, what the "Image of God" was, how humans moved throughout the world, etc.

I then picked up my Basics of Physical Anthropology book and my Africa: A Biography. I've always thought it would be great to learn, not just from the intricacies of history, but the broad strokes and larger stories. How does it all relate to theology? What do we, as 21st century people have to learn from the story of australopithicus, the Bantu migration, the rise and fall of the Maya and many other stories?

So, here are some REALLY basic cool insights and possible things to look into. Thoughts?
-Pangaea, the idea that there was a super continent, then it split apart fits into the idea that when God created oceans it was to split apart the land masses.
-Some 'scholars' have decided that the earth is 6000 years old. Others have decided it is 6 billion years old. Usually the former think that evolution is in the face of God and the later think evolution is truth and God doesn't exist. In reading the beginning of Africa: A Biography it explains the evolution of life, dinosaurs and such before people. The way it went from vegetation to water animals to dinosaurs to mammals works with Genesis. This isn't 'new' to me, but hit me in a new way. Maybe God is that cool...
-Dinosaurs were REALLY big and dominant and the first mammals, who would 'win' the evolution game, were really small - teeth about 1mm in length. Maybe large cultures that try and dominate don't work?

There are very basic thoughts without much sophistication. Hopefully more will come. If you're on Facebook, please go to jesusandlife.blogspot.com to comment!

Peace,

Haiti, Pat Robertson and God

2010-01-13T22:57:00.002-06:00

The following is from the Huffington Post:

Televangelist Pat Robertson said Wednesday that earthquake-ravaged Haiti has been "cursed" by a "pact to the devil."

"Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it," he said on Christian Broadcasting Network's "The 700 Club." "They were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III, or whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, we will serve you if you'll get us free from the French. True story. And so, the devil said, okay it's a deal."

Robertson said that "ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other" and he contrasted Haiti with its neighbor, the Dominican Republic.

"That island of Hispaniola is one island. It is cut down the middle; on the one side is Haiti on the other is the Dominican Republic," he said. "Dominican Republic is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, etc. Haiti is in desperate poverty. Same island. They need to have and we need to pray for them a great turning to god and out of this tragedy I'm optimistic something good may come. But right now we are helping the suffering people and the suffering is unimaginable."

It PAINS my heart to know that someone with as big a following and with as much influence as Pat Robertson has would say this. I'm really not interested in whether or not this actually happened. The truth is that Haiti has been in terrible conditions for a while and a natural disaster just devastated them more. Whether or not they made a pact with the devil means nothing for whether or not people should be assisting them.

Pat, please stop.

Peace,

American Enterprise Institute, Hastert Center and Breaking Bread

2009-12-16T16:00:00.002-06:00

This morning I attended a breakfast and lecture on the 39th floor of the Lyric Opera house at the Tower Club. It was an event hosted by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and the Hastert Center at Wheaton College on the topic of free enterprise and capitalism. The three lectures/topis were 'The Fight for Free Enterprise', 'Capitalism:Fix the Machine or Change the Behavior?' and 'My Brother's Keeper: Why Capitalism is Good for the Poor'. We ate a grand breakfast of scrambled eggs, roasted potatoes, the best bacon I've ever had, fresh fruit and pasteries, with coffee, juice and soda. The presenters spoke for a couple of hours and fielded some comments and questions. It was a room of about 75 people, with two people of color.

In a couple of hours I will open up the doors of Cornerstone Center to welcome in about 100 guests for Breaking Bread, a hospitality ministry/soup kitchen of LaSalle Street Church. Keith and the volutneers will be preparing a meal of spaghetti, garlic bread, corn and dessert to go along with our coffee, juice and water. Guests will come in from the cold to sit and talk, participate in a Bible study, listen to some music on my iPod, enjoy a meal and have the option of picking up some free clothes and canned goods. Our 100 guests will be predominately men and women of color.

I write this because these two meals I'm a part of today, that are bookending my day, seem like unreconcilable and uterly paradoxical events. I really, honestly, don't know what to think about it. Part of me wants to yell at AEI and Wheaton. Part of me wants to yell at our guests and LSC. I have no idea what I would say to any of them or why I would say it, other than the fact that this paradox of meals is frustrating.

More thoughts will come later, but this is the context that they will come out of...

Peace,

Trying to get back to writing

2009-12-13T16:28:00.002-06:00

It's been awhile since I've written anything. I've written e-mails and a few letters to youth and parents, but nothing else. No journal entries (not like I've ever done a lot of that), no blogs, no papers. I want to get back to that...

Recently my iBook had an accident. I went to plug it in and hit the top right corner of the screen with the plug. Barely. Yet, enough to ruin about 1/5 of the screen. I was thinking about replacing it with the new MacBook or an iMac, but decided instead to spend $125 on a 18" monitor, wireless keyboard and nice VGA cord, which I really didn't even need. I now have a 'desktop' iBook. It's a bit of a pain, but a much bigger screen and saved a thousand dollars. Not often that I get to say that.

I am continuing with my training for the triathlon. In fact, I'm working on starting another blog for my training, since that seems to be the cool thing to do in the triathlon world. I haven't done much in the last two weeks, since working out a couple times in MN during Thanksgiving. I got a TERRIBLE sinus nastiness that lasted until about 4 days ago. I should be good to hit the pool, treadmill, gym, bike, and DEFINITELY steam room this next week.

One thing that I really want to get back to writing is theological stuffs. I really enjoy thinking through and writing about different theological ideas and issues, hearing feedback and comments from others and then keeping the conversation going. We're going to try and work on that as well.

Well, that's all for now. We'll see if they keep coming...

Peace,

I'm Back, with Benedict!

2009-11-16T18:14:00.002-06:00

I've been completely away from the blogosphere for a while. I'm sorry to all y'all who's blogs I've been reading. I'm getting back on the train...

I'm in a group at church with some other young couples called Faith for Life. We read the Rule of St. Benedict and a book called Benedict's Toolbox and are going to be creating our own Rule of Life. I read these two books before and blogged a bit about them. The group is awesome and I have recently decided to try and follow Benedict's Hours schedule again.

Awhile back I read through the Psalms once a week at the Daily Hours (Vigils, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline) for a couple weeks and then made my own schedule to follow, as to not repeat as many Psalms throughout the week as Benedict does. In the past week I went back through the Rule and also wrote in all the other readings, hymns and such that Benedict has his monks do throughout the day. Needless to say, it's pretty crazy.

I started following it, mostly, yesterday. Sunday Vigils is the most intense. Vigils is supposed to be at 2-3am, but I'm doing it when I get up, before I eat breakfast. On Sundays Vigils is extra long, with the normal 12 psalms and then another 8 readings, 4 New Testament readings, and a Gospel reading. For Benedict, not all readings have to be from the Scriptures, although, that's what I'm doing. Until one of my uber rich friends buys me the Loeb Classical Library, I'm sticking to the Bible.

Well, that's all for now. I'll probably revamp some of my other thoughts on stuff like Jesus and his love for the Democratic party soon...

Peace,

The B-I-B-L-E

2009-10-05T21:30:00.002-05:00

Yup, that's the book for me!

I wanted to revisit the topic that I teased awhile ago about the importance and/or position of the Bible in our lives as Christians as we seek to follow Jesus. While I am far from being a fundamentalist and on some days not even really evangelical by strict definition, I do think that reading and engaging with the Bible is one of the most important things for a follow of Jesus to do. I think this looks different for everyone, but should be a hallmark of what it looks like practically to be a Christian.

To me, no matter how literally you take the Bible or what your view of its perfection is, the Bible is the most important and full way to get to know who God is, how God acts in the world, who we as humans are and how we are to interact with God and each other. I say 'most important' because I think that there are many other things beyond the Bible that do these things as well. I just the that the Bible is the primary and most important one. Again, for some people the Bible will take a stronger or weaker role in comparison to other mediums of learning about God and ourselves, such as nature, experience, science, reason, etc. Yet I still think that for everyone the Bible should be the primary and most important one.

Having said this, I don't read the Scriptures like I would like to. (I almost said should, but even with the view of how important the Bible is I don't think the should should be used. When we do it out of guilt or obligation, it loses a lot of value.) I won't go as far as to say that everyone should read the Bible every day, but for me, to whom the Bible speak to more than other mediums, I think that I need to in order to be fully connecting with and learning from God. I have tried many approaches, some have worked more than others, and am currently exploring a good and sustainable one. (B90X should be done by all at some point. Check out a great blog about it). I think that some combination of the Benedictine practices, hours of prayer, Anglican prayer book and my own creativity will win in the end.

I bring this up, because I wonder what other people's views on this are. In our discussions on things like the role of government, what churches should be engaged in, how we should live as Christians, etc., I think one of the questions is where do we find resources to help us address these questions? My answer would be that it is primarily the Bible, but definitely not only the Bible. The other resources, like experience, science, reason, research, etc., should fall in line with the Bible's narrative story. (I say narrative story because I think proof texting is dumb. If you're going to use the Bible to back you up, you better be able to show how the SCOPE of the story does).

So, I want to hear what people think...

peace,

Triathlon

2009-09-29T22:36:00.002-05:00

Yes, you read that correctly. Triathlon. I decided today that I want to do one. Searched online and found a cool website for beginners and saw that there is an Olympic triathlon in Normal, IL on July 17th, 2010. That's 1.5km of swimming (.93mi), 40km of biking (24.8mi) and 10K (6.2mi) of running. That's seems doable to me. In July of next year. Biggest Loser is my inspiration.

Who is with me???

peace,

Quick Post

2009-09-29T09:53:00.002-05:00

This last week has been crazy. I had terrible headaches for about 6 days, along with just generally not feeling all that great. Emily and I hosted 4 people over the period of 6 days, saw great friends from out of town and in town and attended the Lauterez wedding.

Since moving to Chicago I haven't had a need to go to the doctor. I went to the Minute Clinic when I had strep, got tested and got some antibiotics. Now I need to find a family practice doctor and actually go in and find out what is wrong with me. Kind of weird, since I haven't visited a doctor more than about 3 times in the last 10 years. Have an appointment tomorrow.

I've really enjoyed some of the recent conversations about the Church. It's really got me thinking about what it looks like for me, not just other people, to engage in my local community, church and world in general. One thing I would like to throw out there and then write on further later today or tomorrow is the role of the Bible in our living out of our faith. Conversations, experiments and opinions on their own are kind of useless. Also, throwing around Bible verses to say "Help the poor", "Don't help the poor", or anything crazy like that is pretty useless as well. What I am eager to see is how can a community, local, web-based and global engage with the WHOLE of Scripture to inform how we live. Especially knowing that many of us read the Bible differently? Thoughts before I share mine?

peace,

The Role of the Local Church

2009-09-22T08:25:00.002-05:00

Some great comments, ideas, insights and rebuttals! As someone mentioned recently, I believe in person, but maybe somewhere on the interweb, it's fun having a rebirth of the Xanga crew plus new blood. Hurah for the interweb!

Megan, your call for more Christians to be involved in the foster care world is amazing. It's amazing not just because small children are part of the voiceless 'poor and oppressed' that cannot speak for themselves, but also because your call comes out of a lived conviction. For those of you who don't know, I'm adopted. I was adopted at birth and lived with foster parents for the first 10 weeks of my life. I often thank God for their care for me and I know my parents and I are ever grateful for them. However, my adoption circumstances weren't the average. Foster care is important also for the children who are taken from their parents or given up by their parents after birth. I believe that one area that Christians need to really think a lot about is how we can be involved in the WHOLE of beginning and end of life care. Not just, "Abortion and euthanasia are bad", but a presence with people of support and love like the Bensons have been for their foster kids.

I found the ideas attending a local church interesting, mostly because that wasn't what I was thinking directly. I do agree that it would be great for more people to attend and become a part of churches closer to them, not driving past 25 churches to attend the 'right' one for them. However, I think it is more important that individual Christians be involved in their own neighborhood personally and that churches be involved in their local neighborhoods as a 'parish'. If you happen to attend a church outside your neighborhood, for whatever reason, then we know that people are still being cared for. This way, too, I can help network my church that I attend and my local church that I see working in my neighborhood together to learn from one another on how best to serve in certain ways.

Check out Melissa's blog. Not only do I want you to check it out so her Analytics tells her that people got to her site via jesusandlife, but also because she has a great post about churches networking together and working with one another to meet needs. Interesting thoughts that need to be discussed.

Really, when it comes down to it, I want to see Christians and churches in America be more active in their communities. Period. Let's just start there, since it really isn't being done all that much. Preaching on Sunday is great, but let's also start helping people around us.

peace,

Recapitulation

2009-09-18T09:04:00.003-05:00

As promised, I'm going to revisit some of my recent topics, respond to/include comments and add some additional ideas and thoughts to the mix. Feedback and comments are always great, even when you don't agree with me. In fact, those are the comments that keep me thinking.

The Church and the Poor
What I believe needs to happen within churches in America is a renewed vision of what it means to serve, and be served by, the poor. I wrote earlier that I think the local church, not parachurch organizations, should be the focal point. What I meant by this was not that parachurch organizations should cease to exist, but that they shouldn't be the primary way in which individual Christians give money to in order to 'be involved'. Organizations like World Relief, World Vision, Samaritans Purse and others do great work and are filling a void in the Church, but I don't believe that they should be the primary avenue for Christians to be involved with. The local church, which understands, or should, local needs the best should be where individual Christians give their money and serve through. Ariah mentioned wanting to see more people doing personal, local ministry, like sharing food and clothing with those in need in their neighborhood. YES! This, I believe, is the place to start. Instead of using a corporation model of top-down parachurch, local church and individual, we should be starting with the individual, building to the local church and then on to parachurch organizations.

This is what I think it should look like:
Christians should know their neighbors and neighborhoods. We should be in touch with the people and needs around us and help meet them daily. Let's revitalize the hospitality that was known of the early church and invite people into our homes for drink, food and a good time. Local churches, then, should do the same, meeting the bigger needs through slightly larger means. Soup kitchens/meals, counseling, referrals to professional programs/agencies that might be able to help, etc. Monies from Christians should be funneled here, to the local church. Parachurch organizations should then exist to help connect local churches to one another, not to do the work themselves. When a church in Way-far-awaysville cannot meet their local needs themselves they can network to another church in Not-even-closeville to get the extra assistance they need. This way people from the church in Not-even-closeville can travel to Way-far-awaysville and assist them directly, not just funnel money through the parachurch organization. This parachurch organization can then help not only network, but train people all over through what has been learned in other places. The parachurch organization should be a support, not a direct line of service. Direct lines of service should come from individuals, not corporations.

This would take a HUGE change in the way we do things and make us question and work through a lot of cultural norms and values, but I think it is closer to where Jesus would have us.

Liberation Theology
Speaking of where Jesus would have us, I believe it is primarily with the poor. Why? Because the Bible talks about caring for the poor and oppressed more than any other topic. God's actions throughout the Bible and words to his people are primarily about loving God and caring for one another, particularly those who are poor an oppressed. Some would say that liberation theology would tend towards the violent overthrow of democracy in favor of authoritarianism. I would say that while this has happened in history, what concerns me more is the Church's tendency to use violence to convert the 'infidel masses' and subdue territory in the name of God. Violence has followed the Church everywhere, many times stemming from her. However, liberation theology doesn't call for the violent overthrow of governments, it calls for solidarity with and service to the poor. (Yes, some liberation theologians are going to call for violent overtakes, but some theologians in ANY circle are going to call for ridiculous extreme things). Liberation theology says that God is specially concerned with the poor, in a similar way that Jesus said he came for the sick, not the healthy. People surrounded by poverty are more open to assistance than the rich man in a mansion with a Ferrari and everything he wants. Sure, God calls that man as well and is with him, but God is with those who are downtrodden here on earth in a special way.

Looking forward to the comments. Facebook, here is the blog link.

peace,

A Quick Life Update

2009-09-17T17:12:00.005-05:00

This has mainly been a place of putting out my thoughts lately. It shall continue, but I wanted to put a general life update out there as well.

I've been biking a lot for about a month. I bought a bike off a friend who was moving, fixed it up a bit and have been biking to and from work pretty much every day. It is a 4.5 mile direct rout and an 8 mile route when I take the long way on the Lakeshore path. Usually I opt for the longer way. Yesterday I started what I think will be a Wednesday ritual: the 16.5 mile bike to work. I went south a ways, then over to the Lakeshore path and up to work. I also just bought a headlight, odometer/speedometer, and panniers (the bags that go over your tires). The panniers will take some getting used to, but I found them on Amazon for cheap. Woot!

Arrested Development is a hilarious show. I've been watching them over again starting with season 1, episode 1 on Hulu. Thank you Hulu for your wonder and glory.

My wife and I had our first anniversary a month and a day ago. It was a great first year and we look forward to MANY MANY more. For our anniversary dinner we went to a nice Italian place. The food was wonderful, the waiter was funny, and he gave us a card for a buy one get one free entree next time we go. Oh yes, we'll be back.

That's all for now. I will return to respond to comments made about my thoughts on the church, the poor and liberation theology, make some remarks on health care and also touch back on the professional sports dilly in the next few posts. (To Facebook readers: it would be awesome if you would go to my blog and copy/paste your comments there as well. It will be fun for conversation. I know it's an extra step, but I would love it. jesusandlife.blogspot.com) (To Google people, please hit the 'follow' button on the right side of my blog and become a 'follower' so I know you read my blog. I'm curious!)

Peace,

Professional Sports

2009-09-16T07:27:00.003-05:00

This will hopefully be a quick post. I'll return to the idea of ministry to the poor either later tonight or tomorrow. Continue the comments and conversation!

I do NOT like professional sports. Athletes are WAY overpaid, ticket and food prices make it very difficult for families to go to games and the athletes that are supposedly role models (except Charles Barkley) are NOT very good role models.

Pro sports, especially after the advent of Fantasy Sports, take over people's lives in a way that is incredibly unhealthy. This is true of college sports too. I grew up in Columbus, Ohio, where everything in the fall, including church, has to be scheduled around OSU football. March Madness truly turns people mad. Men in particular lose the ability to interact in a normal and meaningful way beyond sports during the high times of sport seasons. It's ridiculous.

I just watched Jon Stewart's interview with LeBron James. WoW. I still have the above opinions, but boy was it great to hear from such an amazingly well-spoken and thoughtful person. For real. He mentioned the 'big man upstairs' and had some good things to say. Thank you, LeBron, for being a real human. I would let my kids look up to you. (Yeah, he plays for Cleveland!)

peace,

Some Ideas

2009-09-14T07:06:00.003-05:00

One of the comments to my last post was from a guy named Joel. He has a great blog about cardboard couches, you should check it out. I'm going to make this post directly off of one of the sections of his comments, cause he kind of asked me to:

"I know that your church has ministries for the poor. I know from you're recent post that you just went to San Francisco to see how others are ministering to the poor and needy. Do you think this is the right action? Is your church doing enough? In an ideal world what would you add, or change, or get rid of, or call your congregation/youth to do?"

Since I'm kind of an idealist, I'll work backwards and start with what I would add, change or get rid of in the Church in an ideal world with regards to ministry to the poor. First of all, I will make clear, that I am becoming more and more of a liberation theology disciple. Put really simply, liberation theology says that God has a special concern and presence with the poorest of the poor and one of the most significant events in history is God's action in liberating his people in the exodus. Because of this, I would ADD a lot of things to what the Church (capital 'c' is the universal Church, lowercase 'c' is the local body, individual church) is doing in her ministry. Caring for the poor, hungry, homeless and in need is central to the call of Christ. It isn't a way to get people to show up and share the Gospel with them, it is a part of the Gospel. Churches that do not have involvement in helping to clothe, feed and shelter people around them who do not have these necessities need to get involved.

That said, this doesn't mean that each individual church should have their own meal service, clothing room and housing program. Maybe there is a church near your church that is already doing this and your church could join the cause. (Heaven forbid that two churches that might have differing views on communion work together in anything.)

One thing I would change would be to see the local church become the focal point in ministering to people. I like parachurch organizations. A lot of them, like World Vision, do GREAT work. However, if Christians all gave 5% of their income to the local church they attended, the church organized alongside other churches solid ministries locally, and attendees volunteered at these ministries an unbelievable amount of stuff could be done. Five percent of your income is piddly money, especially for most American Christians.

On what my church, LaSalle Street Church, is doing, and what we saw in San Francisco at Glide Memorial Church, I think we're moving in the right direction. Breaking Bread serves a weekly meal which has at it a nurse practitioner, health worker, free clothing room and a Bible study. We try and extend hospitality to people for a few hours a week. Currently, we are looking at what our future will look like. I am working a lot to coordinate with some other ministries, shelters and agencies in Chicago to see how we can support each other and work together. This is hard work, especially since this isn't natural for people. Why work together when I can start something new and not have to work with people? It's easier to start something new and I would rather do that some days. However, this isn't the best use of resources and isn't the way to do things best and learn from one another.

If you're reading this on FB, please do comment on FB, but also head to my blog (jesusandlife.blogspot.com) and comment there as well. Would love to see a conversation going on what other churches are doing and what people are thinking...

Peace,

The Institution and the Call

2009-09-10T18:05:00.003-05:00

Sometime when I was in about 6th grade I started hearing about groups from our church that went to Honduras. Some when to build stuff, some when to do education stuff, some went for medical stuff. I wanted to go. In 8th grade my dad got a really odd bonus. I don't remember the details, but it was something like a third of half of his projected year-end bonus. It was just enough for he and I to go to Honduras. We went back the next year. I've been messed up ever since.

That was the first time I encountered and starting thinking about poverty. It started out simple. There are poor people; there are rich people; if the rich helped the poor, they wouldn't be poor. Then I read Compassion by Henri Nouwen and two other guys. It messed me up more. I now started thinking a bit more complex. There are poor and suffering people; Jesus was compassionate and suffered with; I want to go where there are suffering people and be with them.

I went to Belize for two summers in high school, went back to Honduras once in college, spent 3 weeks in Kenya and then lived in Inida 'studying' the poor and health care for 6 months. During this whole time I've always been SUPER frustrated that there are rich people, especially rich Christians in America, that really don't do much to help poor people (homeless dudes in Chicago or single HIV+ mothers in Tanzania). Sure, some give. Fewer give more. Even fewer give a lot. That's great, but it isn't much, for the big picture.

Synagogues during the time of Jesus told people they needed to follow the law. God gave it, you should follow it. Yet, in doing this they condemned women to death by stoning for adultery (men, let's be honest, it was probably the guy that got her to sleep with him and she was probably reluctant at first), walked on the other side of the street from the injured and repeatedly killed people that God sent to teach others that we should love one another. Jesus came along and basically told all the synagogue rulers, priests, teachers of the law and anyone high up in the Jewish religion that they were wrong. Give the poor some food, the thirsty some drink. No seriously, that's what I want to you do. Yes, Jesus message was more than this, but this was definitely a CENTRAL theme.

Fast forward a couple thousand years. The Church yells at people outside abortion clinics, forces men and women who want a meal to sit through a sermon before eating, neglect those without access to clean water, health care and a whole other list of things. My guess is that Jesus is pretty pissed. For real.

I'm not saying that we (Christians) should be 'for' the health care reform (although I am). I just think that Jesus is pretty disappointed at what his hands and feet are up to. I was reminded while hanging out with Father River in SF that God calls us to some pretty basic stuff. Matthew 25 makes it clear, we should be about acts of mercy. When someone is in need, MEET IT. The fact that we (the Church in America) have great Sunday school programs, great sermon series, and everything a good institution like a corporation has and don't take care of the hungry, naked, mentally unstable, etc. around us is pathetic.

We have forsaken the call of Jesus for the more comfortable institution of our churches.

Peace,

Check this out, it makes Jesus smile: Birthday Wish

San Francisco

2009-09-01T07:30:00.003-05:00

First of all, I HATE spelling San Francisco. How many c's are there? Where does the 's' go? Is it one word or two? That is why, from here on out, I will type 'SF'...

About a week and a half ago I took a trip out to SF with the rest of Breaking Bread's leadership. We visited Glide Memorial Church and Father River Sims. The purpose of our trip was capacity building, to see how we could do the work we do better. More simply and directly put, we went to learn. We received a PHENOMENAL grant from our church and were very excited to go.

Glide was the main purpose of our trip. Both a church and a foundation, Glide provides an array of services to the poor, homeless and those in need in the Tenderloin district of SF. They serve 2-3 THOUSAND people a day in their meals program. Yes, you did read that number correctly. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served daily. Glide can also make shelter reservations through a city service to help their clients get into a shelter, offer a drop in/crisis center, a women's center, a nurse practitioner model health clinic and a few other services. Overall, it was fairly overwhelming to take in in just a couple short days.

Alongside the foundation and the social services, Glide is a United Methodist Church. Started with an unapologetic rootedness in liberation theology, they ministered mostly to crack addicts and their services on Sundays were fairly integrated with their clients. One of our main objectives of our trip was to understand how we as LaSalle can better do this. Today, however, Glide is more of a radically inclusive church, openly welcoming people of different races, colors, backgrounds, views, sexual orientations, etc. Their current focus is to be welcoming to the GLBT community. The Celebration, the name for their Sunday morning service, was incredible. It was the first time I have had seats reserved with a piece of paper and announced as official guests in church (pretty awesome!). I have never heard a choir and band (about 75 choir members and 8 band member) sound so amazing.

The other part of of trip was spent with Father River Sims. River spends his time ministering to people in the neighborhood where he lives, Polk street, and the Tenderloin, Haight and other districts. He has a ministry of presence and harm prevention among the young adult street population who are mostly drug users and sex workers. Basically, what River does is walk the streets, talk to people, be available for them to talk to and hands out socks, snacks, needles and condoms. He also cooks a meal for about 120 people twice a week. Watching the faces of everyone as they saw 'Reverend' approaching was incredible. They were so happy to see a face that cared, who didn't judge and who saw them as human. In talking to River he explained that what he does is lives in the moment, practices acts of mercy as Jesus calls us to in Matthew 25 and listens. He can't save anyone, only God does that work. Refreshing to hear.

It's obvious that we have a lot to work through after this trip. Our ministry of Breaking Bread is a weekly meal with a clothing room, nurse and health care worker. There is some live entertainment and we try and extend hospitality to our family. Glide is MUCH bigger and more social service oriented. Father Sims is on the streets, interacting with less people on a more personal level. We have a lot to learn from both as we move forward.

peace,

Lots to Come

2009-08-29T21:44:00.002-05:00

Last weekend was spent in SanFran with Breaking Bread. We hung out with Glide and served 750 breakfast plates and 1000 lunch plates. Celebration was amazing. Best and tightest band and choir I have ever heard. Glide, Marsalis called, he wants his swing back.

We also hung out with Father River, who has an AMAZING street ministry. Ministry of presence and harm prevention. I was blessed more by hanging out with Father River than I have in a long time. More to come.

This weekend Emily and I are in MN. State Fair, friends, cute kids. Love it.

Peace,

Health Care

2009-08-21T08:06:00.002-05:00

Pretty much all we hear about currently in the Health Care Debate. Is Obama reforming or destroying? Will Grandma be insured, cured or shot in the head? How do we pay for people to have health care that can't pay for it themselves? And the questions and ludicrous statements go on...

Part of me thinks that we should just pass the health care bill and see what happens. Let's be honest for a bit, no one, right or left, wants to kill people. Democrats and Republicans both think their ideas to change the system are good. The Democrats are in control of the house and senate and presidency. The Republicans were in control for the majority of 8 years. Whether or not that was good or bad, the Dems are in control now. Let's just give their ideas a go.

Another part of me wants to get in on the debate. We shouldn't have anyone who doesn't have heath care. People who have jobs, especially near full and full-time jobs should have coverage that comes both from their pocket and their employers. Insurance companies are greatly evil and need to actually be about health care, not about making money. People who don't have health care should be able to get it from the government. People who make TONS and TONS o money, over a million a year, should be taxed higher to help cover it. It's only fair. Or maybe it isn't, but life isn't fair. You have a Mercedes, the poor lady only has minimal government sponsored health care that you helped pay for. Get over it.

The biggest part of me, though, is just plain sad and disappointed and our Christian leaders in America. I think one thing that most people who want to talk this out can agree on is that people on both the right and the left, and even in the middle, are making a lot of straw man arguments and straight making things up to get people to be against what they are against, instead of honestly debating the points they are for. Where are our Christian leaders speaking up from a Christian perspective on this? Why aren't there LARGE groups of Christian thinkers working together to help make this issue CLEAR for people? I'm not saying I want every pastor to pick a side and indorse it from the pulpit. No. I'm saying that pastors, doctors, lawyers, students, etc. should be working to get the facts out to people and help in the leadership to reform our health care system. Maybe that means not paying for the poor dude's health care. Fine. Just honestly and respectfully show me and the rest of America that in a logical and Christ-like way. Jesus was super smart. He would not say anything, bend down and draw pictures in the sand, and then say "Go ahead. Stone her...if you haven't sinned". He was wise. Instead, we go around like the Pharisees and the teachers of the law yelling at people and trying to trap them with ridiculous stories like, "Hey, if I get married and she dies and that happens, like, 8 times, then, like, who will I be married to in heaven?"

For the love of God, literally, where our leaders at?

peace,

Power Tools and Biking

2009-08-20T17:57:00.002-05:00

Power Tools

After using some power tools for a week in New Orleans I am OBSESSED! I have always had a fascination with power tools, but never really used them. For the short time I was living and working in Los Angeles and got to use a drill frequently, I hated it. However, now I am back to loving them.

On one of the work projects to Honduras that I was on there were about 10 DeWalt drills. As a 9th grader I decided that DeWalt was the BEST tool out there. Period. It looked sweet to have about 20-30 batteries that were all yellow and black charging every night. (It's kind of like Jack Daniels. Jack and Coke was my first drink I had when I was 21, it's still my favorite).

I now visit the DeWalt site and drool at least twice a day. I have a drill and a circular saw picked out. I also want everything else too. My new project is convincing Emily to give me a project to do that necessitates power tools. I've decided I need to make a dresser for myself.

Biking

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook you probably realize that I have been biking lately. My buddy moved to the east coast and I bought his bike. I've tuned it up a bit and it rides great. The surprise to biking everyday is I eat A LOT more now. I also feel a lot better with the consistent workout. I'm also a lot more patient, since it is quicker and more relaxing to bike than to take CTA to work.

After biking for a couple weeks, I'm tempted to figure out who I need to write to in order to get roads that have bike lanes paved so that a bike can ride in the bike lanes. There are a few places on Halsted and Blue Island that are downright sinkholes and ditches. I can understand the roads not being perfect, and the 95% of roads without bike lanes not being as good. But the bike lane roads? Really, Chicago? Come on, Daley, help me out.

peace,

Breaking Bread

2009-08-19T22:40:00.002-05:00

For those of you who don't know, I am the Operations Coordinator at Breaking Bread, LaSalle Street Church's Wednesday evening hospitality ministry for the poor, homeless and hungry. We provide a hot meal as a soup kitchen of the Greater Chicago Food Depository, have a nurse, someone from the Night Ministry that does rapid HIV and hepatitis tests, a free clothing room, and live entertainment. We refer to those who come for our program as guests, not homeless, poor or anything else, and everyone that is involved from volunteers through guests as family.

This weekend four of us that are the Breaking Bread staff are heading out to San Francisco to check out Glide ministries at Glide Memorial Church. They have a HUGE ministry to the poor in their neighborhood, serve three meals a day and focus mainly on crack addicts. It should prove to be a great, challenging and eye opening time.

As I look around Chicago, it saddens me that more isn't done in more respectful ways to help those out around us who need a little extra something. Many churches do little or nothing, while other organizations help people out as a cover for shoving Jesus down their throats in disrespectful ways. After a good night at Breaking Bread, knowing that we don't do everything perfect, I wish that there were more people who got to share in our family time together.

Not too profound tonight, but want to keep posting.

peace,

New Orleans

2009-08-13T09:31:00.003-05:00

Yeah, I know, it's been a while. My bad. Want to get back to writing, we'll see if it happens.

This summer has been super busy. Went to Peru for two weeks, preached my first sermon and went to New Orleans with the Senior High at our church. Overall, it's been a great summer, even if I haven't had time to breathe at all.

New Orleans is still pretty depressing. I hadn't been down ever before, so I don't have anything to compare it to, but I can't believe that New Orleans has recovered from Katrina. Yes, it was a MAJOR deal, the whole city flooded and there are lots of other issues that have and still do complicate recovery and rebuilding. All that said, it's REALLY pathetic that more hasn't been done.

I don't claim to know all the ins and outs of should we rebuild something that is just going to keep flooding, racial problems and make-ups of the area, and the best way to rebuild. Brad Pitt wants to put up super green, modern looking, state of the art houses in the Lower 9th to rebuild. Habitat puts up simple, cookie-cutter like houses that are very affordable. The city dozes and then leaves empty lots. It's complicated, yes. What I do know, though, is that as a whole, the country hasn't done NEARLY enough to help New Orleans figure out what to do and help assist in whatever the 'solution' is. It's 5 years later and money has been wasted, stolen and just not spent. The nation doesn't stand by and watch, we walk away and ignore a whole city. Kind of like we ignore the fact that we massacred the Africans we brought over as slaves and the Native Peoples that we committed genocide on.

I digress...

Peace,

Wine, Jesus and the OT

2009-05-27T22:19:00.002-05:00

Daily Tidbit

Today at Spirit Feeding, the Bible study at the beginning of Breaking Bread, we read and discussed Jesus' miracle of turning water into wine. I've heard a lot about this passage, but never what we talked about tonight. One of our Moody Bible students led us this evening and wrote up our discussion pages. Instead of going the normal route, we read some OT passages about wine and it's significance in Messianic age prophecies. Basically, God told the people of Israel that in the future he would come back and restore them. What would restoration look like? You will have your own fields, grain and wine will abound. So...along comes Jesus. He's at a wedding. There's no more wine. He makes wine appear. A guy that can make wine appear must be the...yeah, MESSIAH!

It was also cool talking about the other aspects of the wine in the story. The wine showed up in ceremonial washing bins. It was cleansing wine. Wonder if the Messiah's blood was cleansing?

In Other News

I'm finally over my strep. If you're thinking about getting strep anytime, don't. It's really horrible. Another one of our staff members at church won free burritos at Chipotle. Seriously, I'm the only one that hasn't won them. It's my day off, but I'm going in for lunch, since it's a free burrito. Carnitas, black beans, sour cream, cheese, mild and corn salsa. The only appropriate choice.

peace,

Daily Tidbit

2009-05-26T19:50:00.002-05:00

The tidbit today is from Luke 6:20-26. Jesus is teaching his disciples the Lukan version of the Sermon on the Mount. This one is much harder to hear. Verses 20-23 is the shortened version of the Beatitudes. They are great to hear, although you don't necessarily want to be what they describe. Poor, hungry, weeping, and persecuted. You think, "I'm glad God takes care of those people," hoping you aren't one of them. Then he gets to the Woes:

"Woe are you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.

Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.

Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.

Woe to you when all men speak will of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets."

Wow, now all of a sudden I would rather be persecuted and hungry.

Church of the Ascension

2009-05-26T08:26:00.002-05:00

If you read my blogs then you know I have been going to Church of the Ascension a couple times a week for a while for Morning Prayer and Low Mass. Simply put, I love it. I was thinking about this a bit this morning as I was heading to work, right across the street, from mass, of why I have enjoyed this so much. The three big reasons that came to me were these:

First, I was invited to come. As I was reflecting on this, I realized that I've never been invited to church before. Sure, to come to some special event like a friend preaching, baptism or something of the like, but never, "Hey, should should come to my church and check it out." Now, this makes sense, since people who know me know I go to church. They aren't going to say, "Hey, I know you go to church already, but you should come to my church on Sunday". However, since Morning Prayer and Low Mass are each day, Scott was able to actually just straight up invite me. Good work, and thank you, Scott.

Second, I enjoy fellowship with other brothers and sisters that are a part of a tradition that is different from mine. Going to church my whole life I never crossed myself, had a patron saint, followed along in a book of common prayer or sang a liturgy (see below). It is awesome to learn about and share in these things with fellow Christians. Brings a whole new meaning and depth of insight to unity in the Church.

Third, it's nice to not have to do anything. Now that I work at a church I have stuff to do on Sundays. I can't just sit back and enjoy a service without thinking, "What do I have to be in charge of next?" Don't get me wrong, I love working and worshipping at LaSalle. However, I also love worshipping at Ascension.

Last Thursday I went to Ascension's Ascension Day service. (Yes, the double Ascension part is pretty funny). It was GREAT! The whole service was sung in chant and there was an amazing organist and beautiful choir. The procession in with the crucifix, candles, banner, incense and fully robed priests was amazing. All in all, a wonderful experience. Not only am I not used to saying the Nicene Creed, I'm really not used to singing it in chant.

If there is a high Episcopal church near you, check it out.

peace,

Recycle, Compost, Gardening

2009-05-23T17:50:00.002-05:00

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

If you have never heard of this, you should go check it out now. You can see stuff here (Wikipedia), here and here. The fact that there are places in the world that are plastic islands twice the size of Texas is pretty sad. Especially since we knew this was coming. Scientists predicted this back in 1988. And instead of recycling and not using as much plastic, we hurt the earth/ocean more. So...we shouldn't.

If you don't have reusable grocery bags, buy some. They are super cheap, almost everyone has them now, and they are a very easy way to help save plastic. Plastic bags are evil, even if you reuse them once or twice. They are EVIL! At least get paper bags if you don't use reusables. But seriously, buy reusables.

Recycling

Also, we really all should recycle. I remember back when I was about 10 or 12 I wrote a letter to every governor in the US asking them to make recycling mandatory by law. While that might be a bit much, why don't we have states that come around and pick up recycling bins behind the trash cans? I mean, sure, it would cost a lot to start, but it would be more than worth the money. Either way, we should all recycle. I'm not talking about crazy recycling where you cry if you throw something away. No. Just recycle your cans, bottles, tins, etc. Rinse them out, and place them in a bin. When it gets full, take it to the nearest recycling center. For real. Just do it.

Composting

Another thing we should all do, at least on a small level, is composting. It really isn't that hard. If you aren't a gardener or anything like that, you can still compost. You buy a trash can, drill some holes in it, and stick in your kitchen wastes. If it is fruits, vegetables or egg shells, put it in your compost. You can also shred up junk mail, newspapers and cereal boxes and compost that with your kitchen scrapes. If you don't garden, when your compost is done either give it to someone who does, or just put it in the dirt somewhere.

For real. If everyone recycled the basics, we all started using reusable grocery bags and half of us composted the basics, just think how much waste we wouldn't be putting in smelly, overfilled landfills, dumping into the ocean and killing ourselves with. And if you don't buy into global warming, the fact that it is bad that there is plastic in the ocean and whatnot, then do it to make the people who think it is important happy. It isn't that hard. At all. And do it because it would make Jesus smile.

Peace,

Sick is Stupid

2009-05-19T19:34:00.002-05:00

I really hate being sick. Sure I didn't go into work yesterday or today, but I felt like crap for over 48 hours, sat around not doing much and have a lot of work to get done. What's crazy is I'm not a very sick person (OK, insert you're own jokes here, keep them from the comments section and laugh on your own). Other than my sicknesses two winters ago when I was working opening shift at Starbucks three days a week and a second job at church, I haven't really been sick for the last 10 years or so. Six months in India gave me a 24 hour virus everyone in the hostel I was at got as well and getting food poisoning from bad pork. The last time I went to a doctor and was like, "Hey, doctor, I'm sick, help me," was probably in Middle School. I don't like this at all.

In other news, my cousin is really awesome. Read his cool article here, and his blog here. Paul, you can pay me $25 next time you see me.

Daily Tidbit

In an continuation of yesterday, I'll just put up a few stories and let them speak for themselves. If you didn't read yesterday's Tidbit, do it. So, Gideon is that judge who asked God to give him a sign, make the ground wet and his fleece dry. God did. Then Gideon asked God for another sign, to make the ground dry and his fleece wet. God did. I've always thought that was funny, asking God a second time. What is funnier is that this is after God tells him he will save Israel and Gideon asks how, since he is of the smallest clan in Manasseh and he is the weakest in his family. So, Gideon places his offering before God and God picks up Gideon's staff, touches the meat and the bread of sacrifice and fire comes out of the rock. It's after THAT Gideon asks God for the two fleece signs.

Oh, and Zechariah. He's a priest, obviously knows the story of God's people. How Abraham was 100 when he had a son to start the people of Israel. God tells Zechariah, while he was chosen by lot to offer incense before the Lord, that he and his wife will have a son who will prepare the way for the Lord. Zechariah responds with, "I'm old, man. Really?" Oh, to not be like Zechariah and Gideon, and yet, to let God work in me like they did.

peace,

Daily Tidbit

2009-05-18T20:32:00.002-05:00

Word. It's been a little while. My bad. I woke up this morning with a REALLY sore throat, so I didn't go to work and went to the doctor. Guess what? Strep throat! HOOORAY! Oh, wait, not horray, super poopy.

Anyhoo...I'm going to start something tonight called the Daily Tidbit. I'm going to try and post at least this every day. It will be some thoughts and/or reflections on some part of what I read out of the Scriptures that day. Some days it will be like an Episcopal homily and you'll be able to read it in about 20 seconds. Other days it will be like a John Piper or Rob Bell sermon and you'll have to give it 2-3 days to get through.

So, for today's Daily Tidbit

I'm in the Gospel of Mark right now. It's pretty funny. In Chapter 6, Jesus feeds 5,000+ people, walks on water, and then Jesus cures a whole ton of people on the other side of the lake. At the beginning of Chapter 8, there is another big crowd of people. Jesus tells his disciples that they need food. The disciples' response is "Where are we going to find enough food?" WHAT?!?! Really? You aren't going to ask him how we walks on water, cures a bunch of people, or anything like that. No. You're going to ask where you're going to get food for 4,000 people after Jesus just feed 5,000 people with one kid's lunch. Then it gets better. The Pharisees ask Jesus for a sign from heaven. "We don't want anything basic, like feeding thousands of people with a loaf of bread, curing people by letting them just touch your cloak, or extending God's kingdom out to people who aren't Jews. No. We want a sign. Can you give us one?" Then Jesus and the disciples get into the boat and Jesus warns them against the yeast of the Pharisees. They think he's mad because they forgot to bring bread into the boat. AHHH!!!!

I think we usually assume we're not this dumb. Yet, we say that the poor don't hold a 'special place in God's heart' when the Scriptures are FULL of God giving special treatment and love to those who are poor, homeless, fatherless, etc. We laugh at the Pharisees for being dumb in their questioning, yet we continually ask God to show himself to us, forgetting that only days ago he kept us from getting in that car accident, miraculously made that paper we forgot to bring to work with us appear in our bag, or countless other things that we conveniently forget.

Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.

Peace,

Tuesday

2009-05-12T07:45:00.002-05:00

An early morning isn't something that I enjoy except in the rare case. When I was working at Starbucks and opening (4:45am START) for about 9 months I got more used to getting up early, but didn't like it any more at all. However, I don't mind getting up for Morning Prayer. I have been going to Morning Prayer at Church of the Ascension a couple of times a week for about 3-4 weeks now. Although it is really early, I have greatly enjoyed it. A service that I know I have NO RESPONSIBILITIES, unlike Sunday mornings at LaSalle, is wonderful. I love working at LaSalle and enjoy the services, but it is also nice to attend services that I don't have to think about as much.

In other news, check out my cousin's blog about Justice and Batman. He's a great writer, funny and has some great insights.

For about a week and a half now, I have been working with a couple of our guests at Breaking Bread who are going through a really rough time. We have seen the two of them and gotten to know them for over a year now. Greg, I'll call him, would come in pretty drunk, angry, loud and cause a lot of trouble. He has been with his girlfriend, now wife, for about a year now. About a month ago, we didn't see them for a while and then got word that Greg was in the hospital. Keith and I, our Kitchen Coordinator, when to visit Greg and Heather. Greg had most of his stomach replaced with plastic surgery and was recovering, but slowly. To make a long (very long) story a bit shorter, we have been trying to help them with their next steps. They decided that they wanted to head back home, to Jackson, MS. It has been a joy, challenge and great learning opportunity walking along side them and helping them work everything out. Greg talks of a changed life, that is changing slowly, much like his slowing healing body. Heather has to constantly tell him to slow down, which he hates doing. However, they are both making progress and will be heading back home this Thursday. We'll miss them.

When I arrived this morning to my desk, I found an espresso machine! Our building supervisor's son had one, gave it to him and he hasn't used it ever. He was going to throw it away and remembered about my love of coffee and thought I might like it. YES! Now I just have to figure out how to use it.

Peace,

Reading

2009-05-07T17:33:00.002-05:00

Horror

I have recently found out about H.P. Lovecraft, the horror novelist of the early twentieth century. He is known by many as the Stephen King of the early part of the century, a.k.a. he wrote a lot of super popular horror fiction (or non-fiction if you are one of the crazy followers). To be honest, I found out about this through looking at Munchkin games, one of which is Munchkin Cthulhu. I had NO IDEA what that was, so I went to Wikipedia. Cthulhu is one of the crazy characters that Lovecraft cooked up. So, I've begun to read some of his stuff. It's pretty horrifying, some time travel, super ancient creatures, etc. If you're a Lovecraft reader, let me know what I should read.

Benedict

On a completely related note, I read through the Benedictine Psalmody last week. It went really well, a lot better than I thought it would. When I read the selected chapters at the appointed hours, or close to it, it was surprisingly simple. It was nice to have a job where not only do I work 30 hours a week, but also in a relaxed atmosphere where I could stop and read some Psalms. Since then, I have decided to embark on the Uber Bible Reading Plan (shoutout to DC - you better comment now!). It's basically a revised Psalmody combined with others readings in the OT and NT. I'm working on getting it all up on a Goggle calendar, along with the Benedictine Psalmody and Daily Office, to assist those who would like to read along in any way.

Chicago

I checked out a few Chicago history books from our local library. I figured, I've lived here for almost two years now and don't know a lot of Chicago history. Now, I realize that the history that I learned in school was quite biased, from a very Manifest Destiny American point of view. However, the more I read and hear about the more I am astonished at how HORRIBLE our history is. Chicago is around because we killed Indians, forced them off their land, and did horrible things, just like the rest of America. The "Father of Chicago" wasn't actually the first historical resident, he was the first historical, WHITE resident. Stupid white historians.

We have a lot of reconciliation to deal with if we ever want to really move forward as a nation.

LOST

Ok, so it isn't reading, it's watching. I don't care. I just watched last night's LOST. IT BLEW MY MIND. I won't write any details here though. I LOVE LOST.

Peace,

A Homeless-less Chicago

2009-05-04T21:13:00.003-05:00

My wife and I had a quick conversation tonight about homeless/street people in Chicago. We talked about what it is like to come up to people on the street who are asking for money, etc. and trying to know what to do.

What would happen if there was some sort of pamphlet or handout given to everyone in Chicago with a few pointers? A list of Do's and Dont's when it comes to dealing with street people. Do wish people a nice day, smile and have a short conversation with them. Do ask what their name is and give them yours. Do care. Don't yell at them, belittle them or ignore them.

What if everyone in Chicago stopped, STOPPED, giving people on the street any money? Instead, we would only occasionally buy some coffee or food, but always refer people to some social service agencies. What if this pamphlet had a list of the MANY MANY MANY agencies in Chicago that could help people? Sure, many people on the street know about them, but if they can get a few bucks to take care of whatever they want pan handling, why go into an agency? However, if we ALL referred people to agencies we knew about and we all gave ONE agency FIVE dollars a month....

If we all took the time to do this and care for those that are 'invisible', wouldn't we also maybe care about the people we worked with? Wouldn't we also then probably start to invest in people we know a little more and ask a couple more questions when someone mentions they had a crappy weekend?

May your kingdom come,

Your will be done,

On earth, as it is in heaven

Peace,

Munchkin

2009-04-30T21:38:00.002-05:00

There is a card game called Munchkin. It is wonderful. I have the original with the 2nd expansion and Munchkin Booty with it's expansion. They are wonderful. Emily and I have been playing with friends on a fairly regular basis for the past month or so. Generally, great times. Not as great and wonderful as Killer Bunnies, but more accessible for people who aren't as excited about the craziness and insanity of KB.

If I hear another report about Swine Flu, I might throw up.

Jon Stewart is hilarious. A few of his episodes around Tax Day were brilliant. Haven't watched this week. Hopefully there is lots of swine flu mockery. Although, he might not touch it, since he's Jewish....

Peace,

God is Funny

2009-04-29T11:01:00.003-05:00

If you've been reading my blog, you know that I've been attending Morning Prayer at Church of the Ascension across the street from LaSalle St. Church. I did so at the invitation of someone who officiates Evening Prayer who read my blog about reading the Daily Office. His name is Scott.

Monday I decided to stay late at work and head over to Ascension for Evening Prayer, in an attempt to meet this Scott character. I spoke with him for a bit afterwards to find out that he usually doesn't lead Monday Evening Prayer, that he was filling in for someone. 'Lucky' for me that I got to meet him.

Scott suggested that I meet Sister Mary, one of the nuns who attends prayer and is one of the nuns connected with the church. This morning as I was walking out of the El station I am greeted, in stride, by Sister Mary. 'Lucky' for me she was there.

Peace,

Swine Flu

2009-04-28T18:20:00.002-05:00

I need to get this off my chest....

I understand that this whole Swine Flu thing is a pretty big deal. I understand that about 200 people have died. That's terrible. I understand that this can spread really badly throughout our world in a way that could hurt people. I get it. For real.

I don't understand why this is making all the crazy news hype that it is. Again, read above. I understand the situation.

4,000 children die EVERY DAY due to things like unclean water and malnutrition. Things that could be cured with some cheap medicine, a water filter and a little bit of food.

Guess what, there are a lot of really fat people in America, Europe, and other parts of the world that have a lot of excess resources and fat.

Just sayin...

So, either go to the store and buy a can of food, find a local food pantry and drop it off, send a check to World Relief, World Vision or something else of the sort or head off to Walmart and buy a few hundred dollars worth of disinfectant, gloves, masks and voodoo dolls to protect yourself.

peace,

Psalmody, Daniel Fast, Ascension

2009-04-27T22:01:00.003-05:00

Psalmody

So, I'm two days into reading the Benedictine Psalmody, going through all 150 Psalms in a week and I'm actually surprised at how 'easy' it is. I don't mean to say that it hasn't required effort, or that it isn't more reading than I usually do of the Psalms. However, especially when read close to the hours that Benedict suggests, it spaces out the Psalms enough so that taking a 5-10 minute break 4-5 times a day is actually really nice and relaxing! I haven't done great at reading the Psalms at the appropriate hours (not even going to try the 2am Vigils), but I haven't missed any yet.

Daily Office, Morning Prayer and Church of the Ascension

The church directly across the street from LaSalle Street Church is Church of the Ascension. This is the place that I was late to going to Morning Prayer last week, actually went to Morning Prayer and Mass on Friday and then went to Evening Prayer at tonight. For those of who you aren't Anglican, the Book of Common Prayer is what the Anglican/Episcopal church uses as their liturgy. The Daily Office is a list of reading, in a two year cycle, for the Church to read, both during public worship and for priests and laypersons to read on their own. It gives Psalms to read in the morning and the evening, an Old Testament, New Testament Epistle and Gospel reading. At Church of the Ascension, our wonderful neighbors, they read the first set of Psalms, OT and Epistle readings in the morning.

I think I'm going to start going on Tuesdays and Fridays for Morning Prayer and checking in when I can for Evening Prayer. I really appreciate the liturgy, and then the Mass in the morning, to start my day. Plus, it is really great to read the Scriptures and prayer with brothers and sisters who are of a very different denominational background than myself. Sharing the Eucharist in the morning with those at Ascension is truly a life giving experience. Not only is the presence of Christ there, but the presence of brothers and sisters that I wouldn't otherwise come into contact with.

Daniel Fast

So I mentioned in a blog a few days ago the idea of doing a modern day Daniel fast. I would be interested to see what people thought this might entail. I have heard of people doing Daniel fasts before, eating nothing but vegetables and water for a period of time. I think that is valuable and good, especially if you find it very difficult to fully fast from all foods. However, Daniel's 'fast' wasn't really a fast, but a refusal of food that he saw as defiling. The king had offered Rack, Shack, Benny and Dan food and wine from his own table, which they refused. They did it because, at least this is what I think the text is saying, they wanted to separate themselves out for YHWH as they were in service of the king.

As each of us works throughout our week for 'the king' (sometimes also known as 'the man'), what is it that we can refuse to set us apart? Obviously we 'refuse' to partake in things like gossip, dirty/unkind talk, cheating, etc. (or at least, we know we should). However, this isn't really the same. There wasn't anything 'wrong' with eating the food of the king. There is something wrong with gossiping, talking dirty, and cheating. I wonder if this has something to do with abiding that I talked about earlier. I wonder if Dan, Rack, Shack and Benny refused the food so that they would consciously abide in YHWH instead of the king, their friends or there studies. Refusing the food and eating by themselves forced them to publicly align themselves with YHWH and then abide in Him and trust He was going to provide for them. Culturally, I don't think it would be appropriate for us to draw ourselves out of something, like morning coffee and doughnuts or something like that. I wonder if a 'fast' like Daniel's for us would be something like reading Scripture at the office, inviting people to come to Church with us, etc.

Eating Veggies and Water for a time can be done very privately. Again, not that it is wrong or bad. It has it's place and can be very valuable. Yet, we Americans like to think that our private acts of faith/spiritual formation are what God loves the most, quoting portions of the Sermon on the Mount, and forgetting that public proclamation of God is something equally important. Yes, we should privately fast and pray, but we should also publicly align ourselves with Christ, in ways that are kind, gentle and loving.

Benedictine Psalmody

2009-04-27T16:44:00.005-05:00

Here is the rest of the week if you're reading along with me. You can also check this site, or this one.

Monday

Lauds (cp. 13) – 67, 51, 5, 36, 148 - 150

Prime 1, 2, 6

Terace – 3 Sections of 119 (14-16)

Sext – 3 Sections of 119 (17-19)

None – 3 Sections of 119 (20-22)

Vespers – 114, 115, 116/117, 129

Compline – 4, 90, 134

Vigils – [3, 95] 33 - 35, 37 – 42, 44 - 46

Tuesday

Lauds – 67, 51, 43, 57, 148 - 150

Prime 7, 8, 9

Terace 120, 121, 122

Sext 123, 124, 125

None 126, 127, 128

Vespers – 130, 131, 132, 133

Compline – 4, 91, 134

Vigils – [3, 95] 47 – 56, 58, 59

Wednesday

Lauds – 67, 51, 64, 65, 148 - 150

Prime 10, 11, 12

Terace 120, 121, 122

Sext 123, 124, 125

None 126, 127, 128

Vespers – 135, 136, 137, 138

Compline – 4, 91, 134

Vigils – [3, 95] 60 – 63, 66 - 73

Thursday

Lauds, 67, 51, 88, 90, 148 - 150

Prime 13, 14, 15

Terace 120, 121, 122

Sext 123, 124, 125

None 126, 127, 128

Vespers – 139a, 139b, 140, 141

Compline – 4, 91, 134

Vigils – [3, 95] 74, 75, 77 – 86

Friday

Lauds – 67, 51, 76, 92, 148 - 150

Prime 16, 17

Terace 120, 121, 122

Sext 123, 124, 125

None 126, 127, 128

Vespers – 143, 144a, 144b, 145a

Compline – 4, 91, 134

Vigils – [3, 95] 87, 89, 93 – 95, 97 – 103

Saturday

Lauds – 67, 51, 143, 148 - 150

Prime – 18, 19, 20

Terace 120, 121, 122

Sext 123, 124, 125

None 126, 127, 128

Vespers – 145b, 146, 147

Compline – 4, 91, 134

Vigils – [3, 95] 104 – 109

Reading the Psalmody OSB Style

2009-04-26T15:49:00.004-05:00

Today starts the journey of reading through the Psalmody of St. Benedict in a week. I mapped out the Psalmody based on a number of different chapters of St. Benedict's Rule, which is a plan to read through all the Psalms in a week. A weak attempt, according to Benedict, compared to the Desert Fathers in Egypt, who would do it in a day. I will be posting the day's readings each day if you would like to follow along with me. I'm not going to strictly follow the Hours, but will probably combine Lauds and Prime, and Compline and Vigils. Would love to hear if anyone else is dong this with me and how it goes.

Today's readings:

{Dawn} Lauds – 67, 51, 118, 63, 148 - 150

{7am} Prime – 4 Sections of 119 (1-4) (A Section is one Hebrew letter)

{9am} Terace – 3 Sections of 119 (5-7)

{Noon} Sext – 3 Sections of 119 (8-10)

{3pm} None – 3 Sections of 119 (11-13)

{Sunset} Vespers – 110, 111, 112, 113

{Bedtime} Compline – 4, 91, 134

{Midnight/2am} Vigils – 3, 95, 21 – 32

Biggest Loser

2009-04-22T23:44:00.002-05:00

I hate reality TV more than just about anything. I think it is one of the most terrible parts of contemporary American society.

That said, I think that the Biggest Loser is amazing.

That said, I think that parts of the Biggest Loser are pretty dumb and fall into the stupid reality TV crap that all the other shows have.

But seriously, people who are uber fat lose a lot of weight and turn their lives around. And Jillian is awesome.

PS - Jillian, if you ever read this post, please come and be my personal trainer/asskicker.

Peace,

Daniel and Benedict

2009-04-22T10:01:00.003-05:00

Daniel

I have always found it odd when people who read the Daily Office talk about how God provides them with Scriptures through the DO that speak to what they are going through. Not that I don't think that God can do this. Obviously God can use anything to bring about some revelation in our lives. What has seemed odd is the fact that, and maybe I'm just reading into comments too much as a cynic, people seem to imply that God gives them special Scripture because they are using the Daily Office. Again, not that God can't give us Scriptures if we aren't, but there seems implied a specialness to the DO.

I am no longer that cynic. I am planning on going through 1 John with our youth this summer, so I need to start reading through the book to get planning. I tend to procrastinate. I've been planning on reading through the book for a while, but haven't. This week, starting on Monday, I'll give you one guess as to the book that the DO gives as the Epistle reading.

The OT reading that started this week is Daniel. A story, or parts of it, that any of us who have grown up in Sunday school and Vacation Bible School know. However, now that I am reading the Rule of St. Benedict and thinking about what it means to live as a modern day, non-Monk Rule follower, this story becomes more alive. Daniel was an exile of Judah, a Hebrew, living in Babylon after they took over. He and some of his friends are chosen to be a part of the kings counsel. He is offered food and wine from the kings table and asks for vegetables and water instead. Why? He wants to live differently than those around him, he wants to center himself on the provision of God, not the king. (Yes, I too would say that God can provide through the king's table, but apparently Daniel would disagree. There is something to living differently, like not eating pork and shellfish...)

Abiding

If you haven't gotten the chance, take the time to go back to my post on John 14-16 and read the first comment, by my father-in-law. He gives some very interesting and provocative ideas as to what abiding would mean based on the concept of 'name' for the Hebrews. To ask in Jesus' name is not just to say, 'In Jesus name', but to be living totally saturated with the person, nature, teachings, and life of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Like being willing to give up the tasty steak and cabernet of the King's table, not because it is evil in and of itself, but because it will distract us from the lessons and life God has to teach us so we can later go to the king and advise him on what God is doing.

Question: What/where is the King's table in American society? What would a contextualized Daniel Fast look like today? If we follow the Rule of Benedict as 21st American Christians, in what ways must we life differently to be able to ground and center ourselves on Christ?

Peace,

Morning Prayer and Mass at Church of the Ascension

2009-04-21T07:40:00.002-05:00

I got up early this morning to try and make Morning Prayer at Church of the Ascension, the church right across the street from LaSalle Street Church, where I work. (When I say right across the street, I mean it. When you are a greeter on Sunday morning at either church you can see into the other church!) I was under the impression that Morning Prayer started at 7am. I left the house at 6:25 and waited for the Pink Line for a few minutes. When I went to transfer to the Red Line, I missed a train by seconds, so I got to church at 7:04. There was a one page printout of the outline of the service, letting you know where to find readings in the BoCP. There was also this at the top:

Morning prayer 6:40am Evening Prayer 6:00pm...

Low Mass 7:00am and 6:20pm

DOH! Come to find out Morning Prayer starts a bit earlier than I thought. I was able to fumble my way around the BoCP and figure out where we were and join in. It was a great service, very high to those not in a liturgical setting, and a blessing. I was able to partake in the Eucharist and start my day nice and early.

I'll probably try again next Tuesday, some evening this week, or on Friday.

Peace,

John 14 - 16

2009-04-19T08:25:00.002-05:00

The Daily Office readings for last week in the Gospels were John 14 - 16. Being familiar with the Bible, I have either read or heard this portion of Scripture many times, especially chapter 15. Abide in me, Jesus says, the true Vine. As I read these chapters last week a couple of things stuck out to me:

The gift of the Holy Spirit before and after Jesus as Vine
Jesus says abide in my love
The commandment of love
Multiple - ask in my name and I will do it
Jesus is the Father, the Father is Jesus - we are connected to both

I've heard the idea of abiding in Jesus a lot, yet I don't know how deeply I have thought about it, especially in the context of chapters 14 and 16. Jesus promises his disciples the Holy Spirit, who will come to them and remind them of the teachings of Jesus. He will be the presence of God with them at all times. It is good for Jesus to leave, because then the Spirit will come. THEN Jesus tells his disciples to abide/remain in him. How? Remain in my love. Love one another. This I have noticed before. Yet, this is said right after Jesus promises the Holy Spirit. Through the Spirit we can remain in the love of Christ, live it out and remain in Jesus, connected directly to the Father.

While Jesus is saying this he comes back 3 times to the idea that whatever his disciples ask in his name, it will be given. Jesus mentions this after talking about the gift of the Holy Spirit in chapter 14, during his explanation of remaining in him in chapter 15, and again in 16 after reiterating the coming of the Holy Spirit. Again, I have heard many times that Jesus said this. However, I don't think I ever put it in this context. We can only ask in Jesus name when we are abiding in him, through the Holy Spirit. The Spirit reminds us of the teachings of Jesus, we continually bring ourselves back to living in and out the love of Christ and out of that flows the desire to ask of what we need only to fulfill those things.

I also found it interesting that I connected all of this while returning to reading the Daily Office. Daily reading of the Scripture and prayer is something that I have always been told is important and since the beginning of college have known to be true. Not in a way that is legalistic, check-it-off-the-list-for-points, or something that makes you a 'better person'. No. This is one way, and a very important way, for us to abide in Jesus. This is one way that the Spirit reminds of and clarifies the teachings of Jesus. Yes, there are many other things that are important to 'do' and 'be' if we are to abide in Christ. Yet, I think that Scripture and prayer are something that, while each person will do differently, aren't really an option if we are to abide in Christ.

Peace,

A Challenge

2009-04-18T23:02:00.003-05:00

This evening I made a chart of what it would look like to follow Benedict's Rule in reading the Psalter in a week. The Desert Fathers, way back in the dizay out in Egypt, would read the Psalter, yes, all 150 Psalms, every day. Benedict hoped that monks would be able to, in their weakness, do that work in a week.

This is the challenge: starting a week from tomorrow, or Sunday, April 26th, follow Benedict's schedule with me and read the Psalter in a week. The way Benedict lays it out there are readings for Lauds (Sunrise), Prime (7am), Terace (9am), Sext (Noon), None (3pm), Vespers (Sunset), Compline (bedtime) and Vigils (Midnight or 2am). When I do it I will combine Lauds and Prime when I get up and Compline and Vigils before I go to bed.

So, let me know if you're with me and we'll see how it goes.

Peace,

PS - If you want to see the breakdown, check it out here.

Reading the Daily Office

2009-04-18T11:58:00.003-05:00

Daily Office

I bought a Book of Common Prayer a while ago, with the hopes of reading the Daily Office every day. Devotions of some sort happened almost every day at our house while I was growing up. Either a short verse and devotional reading from a book, Advent/Lent devotions with cool felt pictures to put on the felt Christmas Tree or Road to the Cross. Every single Sunday of my life, except for maybe 4, before I went to college I was in Sunday School and church. Needless to say, I have read or heard a lot of the Bible.

While in college I read through the whole Bible at least twice, straight through. This was great because I read parts of the Bible that I don't think I had ever read or heard before. Since then, however, my reading of Scripture has been more lax. It's fairly easy to go a few days not reading the Scriptures and think, "Yeah, I know them pretty well". Unless I'm preparing to teach something I don't have a particularly pressing reason to read the Scriptures...except for the fact that I should be doing it.

This week I started using the Daily Office (Work of God as Benedict put it) to read through Scripture. It's been great. In an unexplainable way I feel more energized, positive and ready to go. I also more naturally connect with God throughout my day, since I'm reading a Psalm and Old Testament passage when I get up, a New Testament passage around Lunch, Gospel around Dinner, and another Psalm when I go to bed.

Having read the Rule of Benedict and read a little more on the Divine Hours, it is something that I want to try and follow a little more closely. Instead of just reading the Daily Office, I would like to follow the Hours in their prayers, other readings, etc. Unfortunately, it is hard to find a good resource that has everything. Phyllis Tickle has a book series of Divine Hours, but they do not include the Daily Office, or the more classical Benedictine parts. Great resource, but not quite what I'm looking for. Hopefully the great monks down the road can help me out!

Working Out

I'm also getting back into the habit of working out. Emily and I are members at the gym about a block and a half away. My goal is to be lifting weights three days a week and biking at least 1-2. I'm not quite there yet, but it's getting close. I have to at least make sure I'm doing sit-ups and push-ups everyday. I challenged my dads to a push-up competition over Mothers' Day weekend when they're out here. Hopefully I have the chance to embarrass them and not myself.

Peace,

OSB Monks Close By!

2009-04-17T18:42:00.002-05:00

Robin, the revolution has officially begun, cause I found OSB monks right near my house! I wrote them an e-mail to see if I could go and chats with them sometime soon. Yeah, not going to be a monk myself, but really want to hang out with them!

Peace,

The Office and LOST

2009-04-17T16:23:00.002-05:00

I finally caught up on LOST last night. I won't say anything in this post about the plot, just that I am completely blown away by the amazingness of the show.

Today I watched a couple episodes of The Office. Oh, how I love that show as well.

This afternoon I went to Home Depot and purchased a rake, hoe and hand trowel. After spending about 45 minutes clearing the straw and gunk from our garden space I tilled it up a bit. Quite fulfilling.

PS - Robin, consider the revolution begun!

Monks and the Web

2009-04-16T17:44:00.003-05:00

Today was my day off. Although the hardest thing about working at a church to adjust to has been working every Sunday and sometimes Saturdays, the nice thing is having a day off in the middle of the week. Thursdays are that day for me. After a night at Breaking Bread until 9pm, heading home and chilling out, it's nice to sleep in a bit more and have a free day.

Benedict

I just finished my first quick read through the Rule of St. Benedict. This coincides with my 3rd day in a row of following the Daily Office in my BoCP. I'm reading another book St. Benedict's Toolbox as well. It walks through the Rule and gives some tools along the way of how to live out the Rule. Overall, I like it. The idea of trying to live out this Rule, keeping Christ as absolutely central to everything I do throughout the day, is something great to strive for.

Benedictine Monks have the advantage of living in a monastery with other monks in a community specifically devoted to this very thing. I, however, don't live with a monk. I live with a beautiful wife. I think that the biggest part of working out what living the Rule will be is first translating a lot of it to 21st Century context and then to a non-Monastery life. Second, it will be figuring out who/where my community is that I live it out with, or in the presence of. This blog and the wonderful Web will probably be a part of that.

Blogs

I discovered Google Reader today, thanks to Mike. What a wonderful thing. I am now following all my friends that have blogs, some news, a few recipe blogs, and other general col stuff. If your blog doesn't appear on the right hand column of mine, then I'm probably not following it. Inform me, and I'll join in.

Peace,

Benedict and Friends

2009-04-15T09:27:00.003-05:00

Benedict

I just finished reading The Rule o Saint Benedict. I was going to be in a study group at church using this and another book to develop our own Rules, but it hasn't worked out yet. Hopefully it will in the near future.

St. Benedict is crazy. Not in the sense of "Hitler is crazy", bit in the sense of "Michael Jordan is crazy". This is a good crazy. And intense crazy. St. Benedict's Rule was written for the monks of his order. This is how everyone in the order should live, work, read, etc. It would be very easy to point out all the parts of the rule that are a bit ridiculous, like a rule against laughing, but that would lead to me thinking that I am better than the Rule and don't need to think about living more like it.

The Rule is basically a way of making sure that all the monks, who were monks precisely because they wanted to live differently than the world around them, would be dedicated to their choice of following God in the midst of a culture and world that was not. Hmm...that sounds a bit familiar.

Maybe I won't start reciting specific prayers and Psalms in a specific order at 6am, 9am, Noon, 3pm, 7pm, 10pm and 2am, but I should probably think about how I can incorporate the Scriptures and prayer more fully into my day. I probably won't start drinking half a bottle of wine a day, the appropriate amount of drink per person according to Benedict, but maybe I should start thinking more about the amount and type of food and drink that I consume.

Blogs

I have started reading other blogs again, which I haven't been doing for a while. To start off with, I'm reading my friends' blogs that I know of and then a couple of religious/theological blogs. Just to get the scope of things I decided to read Tony Jones' blog and John Piper's blog. So far they are a bit different!

Breaking Bread

Tonight is another week of Breaking Bread. We have been working through the book of I Corinthians for a while during our Bible study time. There have been some great discussions, some crappy ones, and a number of people that were either completely lost or not interested at all. Leading a Bible study for 30-60 homeless to semi-homeless, mostly 35-50 year old African American men has been quite a learning experience. At times it has been incredibly difficult, other times it has been fun and hilarious. I have learned a lot about the Scriptures from our guests, about leading a large group, being a facilitator and that I definitely still have a lot to learn. Tonight one of my co-leaders is leading us in Chapter 13. I'll make sure to post any fun stories tomorrow.

Peace

Has it really been a year?

2009-04-14T11:36:00.002-05:00

Devin = Lame.

It has been a year since my last post. I'd say I'm going to start blogging again, but when I say that, it doesn't happen....

Rode the bus to work this morning. I HATE CTA busses. Didn't really know why I got on the bus, but I did. When I transferred to the 2nd bus, I sat down and got a hug from the woman next to me. When I looked over I realized it was a friend from Breaking Bread. HOORAY! We got to chat for a while and it was great.

Trying to read the Daily Office readings from BoCP (Book of Common Prayer). We'll see how long that lasts.

The Psalms

2008-04-18T12:31:00.003-05:00

I've started reading a Psalm each night before going to bed and one in the morning, either at breakfast or on the train. I'm trying to become more disciplined in these sorts of things and build a life that is more dependent on God instead of myself. Thought this would be a good way to start. I started with Psalm 35, randomly and am at 45 now. So, if you see me often, ask me about it and make sure I keep up with it. I plan on referencing it and writing about it as well.

That's all for now...

Trying..

2008-04-16T13:08:00.003-05:00

I haven't done this for a while. I used to be so good at this posting/blogging thing.

I've been super busy, working two jobs, being engaged, and trying to have some semblance of a social life. I don't sleep much, except on Friday nights/Saturday mornings-afternoon.

Breaking Bread is tonight, which is good. I enjoy working at Breaking Bread, seeing David and Charlie, two of the youth, show up almost every weeks, and just serving and seeing God move about in crazy ways.

I've decided to give Twitter a try. It's funny, though, because if no one you know is on it, it doesn't really get you anything. The idea seems interesting, especially as part of the Web 2.0, and the New York Times reports on it often, but I am failing to see the coolness. We'll see what happens.

That's all for now.

The Holy Spirit & Hope

2008-02-29T23:11:00.000-06:00

There's a lot of terrible stuff happening in our world. Here's some hope. Here are some small stories of what God is doing through His Spirit.

On Wednesday we had another night of Breaking Bread, preceded by our 'Family Time' of hang out and devotions. There were three of us that were sort of running the show, with the Breaking Bread director. She had to leave for a family emergency in Wisconsin and one of the other guys helping out, who was going to lead devotions, decided earlier this week that he wasn't going to be doing this anymore. That left myself and our other volunteer by ourselves. I took devotions and read the story of the friends who bring their paralytic buddy to Jesus via a hole in the roof. It sparked GREAT conversation. Guys telling stories of God getting them off drug addictions, stories of when God provided for them, and so on. At dinner we raffled off 12 24hr CTA passes. Two people that 'won' them had asked the guy that runs the kitchen earlier for a pass, one that they really needed to get to the hospital for some tests. God provided through our raffle. It was pretty cool.

Tonight I was coming home on CTA from the north side on the red line. I usually transfer at Jackson to the Pink line on the south side of the loop. For some reason, I felt that the Spirit was telling me to transfer at Lake, take the Green line to Ashland, and then get the Pink from there. I did, keeping my eyes and ears open to see if there was a 'reason'. The Green line took a while, but Emily called while I was waiting. She was in Texas visiting friends and if I wouldn't have picked up would have been hard to talk to later tonight. I thought, "Was this the reason for the Green line?" I would have still been underground when she called an not have been able to pick up. Then, when the Green line did come there was a women that told me a story of 16 years ago when the Green line when off track, at a 45 degree angle resting up against the building next to the track. She told me about the pin in her hand to this day and what she went through that day. It sounded far fetched, but I took her at her word, and then transfered to the Pink line. It was interesting to think if either of those things, Emily's call or the woman's story which wouldn't have happened if I didn't transfer, were somehow meant to happen.

This seems like a jumbled post. Hopefully it makes some sense. it's late and it has been a long week. Peace

Sorry for not Posting

2008-02-20T14:09:00.002-06:00

For those of you on gchat, I apologize. I will be posting at least once a week from here on out. Keep checking in.

Things that have kept me busy:
Getting engaged to the most amazing woman, Emily
Reading the rest of the Golden Compass books
Reading the Spiderwick Chronicles
Working at Starbucks and LaSalle Street Church
Reading my B-I-B-L-E, because it is the book for me
Not sleeping

Tonight is our first night of 'Family Time' at our Breaking Bread ministry. For those of you who don't know, Breaking Bread is our church's (LaSalle Street Church) homeless ministry. We serve a meal to our guests, about 70, on Wednesday nights, give out some CTA passes, and have a good time. It starts at 7:15. However, starting this week, we are letting out guests in at 6:00 for some coffee, paper reading, chillin', etc. At 6:30 we start devotions. I'm leading devotions each 3rd Wednesday of the month, and am pretty excited. Another step on the journey of what it means to follow Jesus in this messed up world.

As you saw above, I've been reading a lot. I haven't quite finished The Amber Spyglass, the third Golden Compass book. Overall, the third book isn't all that great. Too many story lines that don't work together in one book. Pullman tried to do too much and failed. The series is pretty good though. Should Christians read them or be scared of them? Definitely shouldn't be scared, only read them if you like reading. I'm doing the whole 'read through the Bible in a year' thing this year. I found a cool site that let you do it chronologically, at least according to their time table of how things happened. Did you know that Noah was on the ark for 375 days? Crazy stuff.

Well, that's all for now. More will be coming. For real this time.

Peace,
Dr. D

Happenings in Chicago

2008-01-18T12:23:00.000-06:00

Well, I told myself I was going to blog more. It's happening, but not as frequently as I wanted it to. We're working on that. (The plural there was intentional. I have a team of 15 full-time paid staff that work with me on this blog.)

My cousin, who works as a housing guy with BreakThrough Urban Ministries, has a great blog. He wrote a few posts a while ago on reciprocity that I loved, and have been on my mind lately as I go about my day. Specifically, I have kept them in mind while serving at Breaking Bread, our church's homeless ministry. We serve a sit-down meal to about 70 guests every Wednesday. It's a good time. As I have gotten to know some of the guests, it has been fascinating, and humbling, to realize what they have to offer me, the wise insights they have, etc. Here is an example...

We are going to start letting our guests in about an hour before the meal starts, offer some reading materials, games, devotions, etc. About 3 weeks ago we did this for the first time, very unorganized, to let the guests in out of the cold. We didn't have anything planned, so I just hung out in a room with about 10-40 people as they came in over the hour. I sat and talked mostly with Pete. We talked about nothing for a while, getting to know each other, breaking the ice. Then he started talking about the Bible, and how much it talks about helping the poor, those that are in need, etc. As he talked, it was interesting to hear the tone of voice he used. He stated everything rather matter-of-factly, as if it should be obvious to everyone else that the rich should share and help the poor. It was almost like Jesus himself was there talking, as if I was listening to his teachings in the Gospels. He talked about how ridiculous it was for anyone to have more than 25 million dollars, and how there should be a law against it. Now, obviously if there was a law against it, people wouldn't be as creative, since they wouldn't have as much to gain, blah blah blah. Capitalism works when you don't limit what people can have, since that's communism, blah blah blah. Sure that's true. But what Jesus taught, and what Pete continued to teach me is also true. It's just our job to figure out how it works...

I'm almost done with the 2nd book in Pullman's His Dark Materials series, The Subtle Knife. It's great. To be completely honest, I really don't see why Christians in America have jumped all over this guy. Then again, we'll see where the 3rd book goes.

Going to Fogo de Chao tomorrow night for dinner with a bunch of awesome people. Emily is taking me for my birthday. She's amazing, and not just for the steak dinner.

Peace

New Year

2008-01-02T13:02:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year!!!!

In an effort to join the New Year band wagon, here is a list of some stuff I am looking forward to and hoping to do in 2008. No, this isn't a resolution list. I HATE New Year's resolutions. Not really sure why, but I do. So, here is the list...

-Reading through the Bible. I'm starting on Jan 15 - Jan 15. If you want to join me, go here. I'm going to be reading through the Bible Chronologically. Let me know if you will join me!

-Continuing to work as a Youth Director. Possibly not working as a Barista...

-Reading more books. I've gotten into fiction a bit more. I like reading a lot and want to continue doing it.

-Going to Tanzania.

-Going to weddings of friends.

-Going to my own wedding.

-Living in Chicago, getting to know the city better, chillin' with the Pilsen bunch, etc.

Well, that's all for now. Happy New Year!!! May the Rat bless us all this year...I mean, may the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit bless us. ;-)

Peace,
D

The Golden Compass and Home

2007-12-22T15:04:00.000-06:00

I finished The Golden Compass yesterday on the train from work. Definitely a cliff hanger that forces me to read the next two books, big surprise there, but still a good one. I'm not going to give anything away, but the end is CRAZY. Blew my mind. There was a really cool part at the end where daemons and Dust are explained a bit through a re-writing of the Genesis story. Obviously a bit of a shady interpretation, but really cool take on what it means to be fallen. More to come on that later, but there will have to be a spoiler disclaimer.

Overall, I liked the book. As I said earlier, it's a fun story. Sure, it isn't true, but then again, when was a piece of fiction true. Sure, it doesn't portray the Gospel and the story of the Bible in much of an alagorical way like some Christian fiction does, but it does a great job of teaching courage, loyalty, and brining up topics of how the church has many times used its power in inappropriate ways. I'm looking forward to the next two, although I have heard that Pullman decides to use the catch of the first book to put forth some 'dogma' on how he hates the Church. Then again, his view of the Church as institution is much different from the Church that Jesus Christ has built through his life, death, and Spirit. But I digress....

I talked to my friend about the movie. Not looking forward to seeing how it completely mixes up the plot. REALLY looking forward to the bear fight. Long live King Iorek!!!!

I got home last night after driving through the worst fog EVER. It's good to be home, drinking beer with dad, eating cookies with mom, going to Brazenhead with the Dub-C gang, and relaxing. Peace...

The Golden Compass

2007-12-19T15:56:00.000-06:00

I just started, and am now nearly finished, with The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. It is the first in a trilogy called, His Dark Materials. So far, I have loved it. It is a very intriguing story set in a world that has similarities to ours, but is so utterly different. What I love most about it is the fact that it is just fun and well written.

Recently, with the release of this book in movie form, there has been a lot of bru-ha-ha in the Evangelical Christian world about it (Harry Potter anyone?). I've read some of the articles and stuff about why we should let our kids and ourselves read it, as well as some of the stuff of why we shouldn't worry. Quite frankly, it makes me laugh. And then cry. I didn't realize that following Jesus and trying to line my life up with the story of God was about not reading certain novels. I didn't realize it was about not thinking (Mark Noll just threw up in his grave).

First of all, Philip Pullman isn't out to turn the children of the world into atheists that try to kill Christians. Second, if he was, I still don't see why that would mean that we can't and shouldn't read his book. Does it make sense to anyone else that reading something that is so popular and being able to interact with it would be something we ought to do instead of ought not do? Beyond that, if reading a fictional novel causes me to completely change my faith and turn on God, did I really have that strong of a belief and relationship with him in the first place?

Let it be known, I have read all the Harry Potter books and I am still a Christian. I plan on reading the whole trilogy of His Dark Materials, and I will still be a lover of Jesus. Plus, with the thinking that the book will cause me to do, I'm sure my faith will be, if anything, enhanced.

Peace out, y'all.

A Quick Update

2007-12-14T15:41:00.001-06:00

I said I was going to blog more. I will. I'm working on it. Here is a quick update about what has been going on, what I've been thinking about, etc.

-I'm reading through a few books right now. Tony Jones' The Sacred Way, which is about ancient spiritual practices/disciplines like silence and solitude, sacred reading, the Iganatian Examen, etc. I'm also reading The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck, a book on spiritual journey through the eyes of a psychiatrist. Peck's book begins with talking about discipline, so that has been a common theme in my life recently. I'm working on being more disciplined with my time, to work out, pray, read the Bible a bit more regularly and disciplined, spend time with those I care about, write, blog, etc. I also just bought and started The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, which should prove to be a good time.

-Starbucks is Starbucks. I've been French brewing coffee at church on Wednesdays and Fridays. I like the Christmas Blend, but French Roast is my favorite. Italian Roast is good too, but my least favorite of the three. Once these are gone, we're moving onto the Ubora I have.

-LaSalle Street Church and youth directing is going along. I had the chance to talk to a buddy of mine doing a very similar thing out in Boston and we agreed on the difficulty of settling into this gig and the greatness of it.

-I will be home for Christmas from the 21st to the 26th, which I'm super excited about. Should be a good rest before starting up a new year of fun.

-More on my disciplines and trying to be more intentional of my spiritual life/journey specifically with silence and solitude and the Dessert Father's and Mother's practices soon.

Peace out, friends.

It can only be Good or Bad

2007-12-03T16:21:00.000-06:00

I love LaSalle Street Church. On Saturday I hated Chicago Transit Authority and Apple. Here's the context:

I just bought an ipod touch. (Yes, I worshiped at the throne of Consumerism, and it was good. More on this later.) I bought it mostly because of the Calendar feature, so it works as a PDA sort of device, which I have needed recently. I got it home on Friday and it wouldn't let me add events. So I took it in to Apple to get it fixed, and now I can add events. But then, on the train down south to head to another store, it wouldn't play music. Needless to say, I was PISSED. Then it went from bad to worse. The train I was on stopped. For 2.5 hours. Stuck. Going NOWHERE! During that time my ipod started playing music again, but I was stuck on a train, not getting to go to dinner with a friend I haven't hung out with in a long time. This was a BAD day. Period. CTA was dumb. Apple was stupid. CTA employees, were even dumber and more useless. Everything was BAD.

Then there was church on Sunday. First Sunday of Advent. Great times. Pastor Laura spoke about how we like to think that we would have recognized Jesus, since we would have been looking for him. Then she reminded us that those that he came to that didn't recognize him or receive him (John 1:10-11) were probably MORE religious, devout, and Messiah expecting people than we are. They had been waiting for centuries for the Messiah, he came to 'his own' and they still didn't get it. Laura said that we probably wouldn't have either. Shoot, she's probably right. Then she continued to talk about how we like to put everything in categories like Good and Bad. Not gray, blue, red, off-white, semi-good, redeemable, etc. Nope, just Good and Bad. My first thought was, "I'm glad I'm better than that. I'm Postmodern." My second thought was, "Yesterday was a BAD day." Strike two for Devin.

The Jews of Jesus day decided that they had the Messiah figured out. Never mind that they had never met him. They knew who he was and who he wasn't. Then they missed him. I know how things should work and when I experience a bad day. I had good intentioned plans for the day that didn't happen. It would have been a good thing to reconnect with a friend, spend some time cleaning up the apartment, and hopefully some time resting. It didn't happen. That was bad. And since I decided it was bad and stayed on that, there was probably some bush on fire somewhere the size of Manhattan that wasn't burning up. I missed it for the dead bushes that I saw all around it that were bad. Strike three...

Starting Something New

2007-11-30T11:41:00.000-06:00

It's been about a year now since I said that I was going to start up my blog again. I'm finally going to do it, but here at a new location. To start, here's an update on what's been going on...

I graduated from Wheaton (06'), lived at home, worked at a church, worked at a restaurant, didn't go to Kenya, chose LA instead, and then moved to Chicago (Sept '07). I am working two jobs right now. The primary one is as Director of Youth Ministries at LaSalle Street Church. I work part-time, so it is supplemented by working at Starbucks, from 4:45am - 1:15pm three days a week. Emily, my girlfriend, is the reason for my move out here to Chicago, and I haven't regretted it for a second.

I've titled this blog Jesus and Life, mostly because that was available for the URL address. I wanted to title it something super creative that got across the idea of the intersection of Jesus, his life and teaching, Scripture, and the living of life. It got to complicated to name, so I stuck with a simple name and will get into the complicated stuff in the writing. Thanks for visiting. Come often.

D