old men planting churches

Thoughts on Gaining Traction in Northampton.

2012-01-27T06:39:00.003-05:00

Traction: From the Medieval Latin tracti, tractin-, from Latin tractus, past participle of trahere, to pull, draw.], 1.e., Adhesive friction, as of a wheel on a track or a tire on a road.

Since the turn of 2012, I've found myself noticing and referring to the sense that imagine/Northampton is gaining a little traction with our mission in these parts. It feels as if we've begun to turn a corner of sorts. We are "adhering" to the city a bit; gaining a frictive foothold so to speak.

It's been three and a half years since our arrival - a tough three and a half for sure. This church planting stuff ain't for the faint of heart. I've not felt the traction of which I now speak.

So why do I say we're "gaining traction?"

Well first, it appears God is beginning to bless our perseverance in the face of trials, discouragements, pressures within and without, a myriad of spiritual attacks, and our own ineptitude being rookies at this church planting enterprise, to name a few. We still have serious financial pressures, but there are glimmers of relief. God seems to be showing us favor in that people, not just imagineurians, speak of us as a reality; they pray for us and refer people to our doors.

Also, in late 2011, we began to see folks sticking around. We've had people checking us out almost from the beginning, but they'd not stay. Now we have students from Smith, a few young families, and couples, talented musicians on the verge of becoming a Worship Team, a spunky survivor of woman in her 60's, a jazz trio of considerable potential, people with servant hearts, visual artists and a dancer, and kids full of life. We're beginning to bust out of our little space. We are also seeing a little multi-cultural diversity. We want more of that, Lord! Draw us further into your will, Father!

People who are adhering and have been so for awhile, talk of what they value in our church ethos and DNA. They refer to imagine as "our church," or "my church." Most thrilling to me is they're embracing (all at their own pace, of course), our mission of "helping people discover and follow the God who is far more than they imagine." They are taking it seriously, and working at deepening personal intimacy with Jesus while also striving to live out the Kingdom missional way of life devoted to loving and serving people who yet cannot see him. Their response is a dream come true for me. It makes my heart sing, giving refreshing grace to the burdens we've carried to plant imagine from a wisp of thought.

Another marvelous development is imagineurians are inviting friends to come to our gatherings, both Sunday mornings and the inward/OUTWARD Missional Cohort. They didn't really do that before - there were exceptions to that. Their willingness is a kind of "come and see" freedom beginning to settle into our hearts. When everyone wants others to experience what they've some to value, we're moving toward the heart of our Kingdom mission. By the way, I'm not saying we identify traction mostly by how many people "come to church" on Sunday. Far from it. We identify traction as imagineurians sacrificially loving and serving people in their families, neighborhoods, workplaces, schools, etc. We recognize traction when imagineurians love the least of God's people or the pariahs of American culture. We see traction by how deeply they are actually surrendering their hearts to Jesus, and offering him the best of their lives, not the leftovers. We confirm traction based on how much grace we actually accept, and how much grace we all routinely offer others.

I also recognize traction in the fact that many of the the homeless in town know who we are, and we remain committed to helping them find life in the Life-giving Lover of their souls. We long for the day when they will feel loved enough by us enough to join our community.

In sum, another of my hopes for this year is that this traction to which I refer will settle to a firm foothold, and then generate the sinking of a deep taproot from which we'll grow fruit full of seeds to be transplanted elsewhere.

Engendering a Culture of Spiritually Fecund Leaders and Jesus-Followers, Part 2.

2012-01-26T17:41:00.001-05:00

Continuing with Part 2 of our response to the question put: how can we engender that sort of leadership, that conviction that it is the "normal christian life" I'll begin by averring that a spiritually fecund culture I began describing in Part 1 will gradually be characterized by individual and corporate devotion to Christ, the One who is ever alive and present in our midst, coupled with a consequent lived-out devotion to what matters most to him. Character development, then I think, becomes centered in spiritual formation lived out by sacrificial love and service as the way of life.

In my mind, that means at least three things - under the guidance and with the help of the Holy Spirit of course: 1.) followers of Jesus taking responsibility for their emotional and relational health/maturing; 2.) followers of Jesus taking responsibility for their on-going spiritual growth; 3.) followers of Jesus taking responsibility for embracing God's mission, culminating in embodying the Gospel of Christ in a person's world.

Let me set the stage of bit. Beginning at age 35, the Holy Spirit began to pull me into the world of inner healing, first my own healing, then Tricia's. It took a couple of years. But the end of my soul work, a leash to self-hatred and fear had been cut. I was freed. I knew what it felt like and looked like. I knew how God did it.

Very soon after, God brought someone to us and our 26 years of inner healing and counseling began. Over the course of those years, I started to notice an unmistakable pattern emerge. I saw that men and women who decided to "own" their responsibility for pursuing healing got better. Those who didn't, for the most part stayed bound to their pain and/or darkness. They dwelt in immaturity unawares. It soon was plain to me that an engaged will cooperating with the freeing work of the Holy Spirit increased a likelihood for emotional, psychological and relational maturing. Conversely, when people came to my office looking mostly to blame others, find an easy, painless fix, or were not really serious about heading into distress, fear, and sin, it never went well and they remained spiritually infantile or adolescent . . . again unawares.

To the point of this blog, engendering a spiritually fecund culture of leaders and Jesus-followers requires leaders model and facilitate, i.e., foster the setting where wills are motivated to engage such spiritual maturing because spiritual maturing is communicated as the desired Christian life, and opportunities for such growth are many. In such a cultural atmosphere, people become well aware that emotional and relational maturing is not solely the job of the pastors, elders, Sunday School teachers, small group leaders or "spiritual parents." People are poked graciously, creatively and often to "do what it takes" to mature, as well as, heal rifts between one another. Help is generously offered, but people must step up and engage. Then again, time, emotional and relational growth is not seen as an end in itself. Rather, it is viewed as a gradual spiritual tempering and tuning, deepening character and making one fit for the Kingdom work to which he or she has been summoned.

Therefore, in my eyes, emotional and relational maturing is foundational to engendering a culture of spiritually fecund leaders and Jesus followers. Graciously expecting everyone is summoned to do such internal work themselves as the Spirit prompts is a Kingdom enterprise of leaders no matter how programmatic their church milieu. If it's not done, a church can wind up with perpetual "feed me" spectators, and burning out leaders scrambling to pour milk into all the open mouths gaping from one week to the next.

In my work helping people free and grow up, I also realized those who pursued (as the normal Christian life) knowing Jesus intimately became spiritual leaders from their heart-driven following of him. Merely going to services on Sunday to sing, hear a good, uplifting sermon, and be prayed for after church was not enough for them. They took and held responsibility for finding and using the richness of what God made available to the Church for learning and followed hard from a surrendered heart and an informed mind. I liken it to becoming deeply knowledgeable or skilled with the essentials of one's work. There is investment and motivation and individual effort. Such people don't have to be enticed, or prodded. They embrace Jesus, His Gospel and Kingdom mission as their primary identity out of which all life flows - their normal Christian life.

Therefore, engendering a spiritually fecund culture of leaders and Jesus-followers in this regard means being less: "well, how about if we do this or offer that? Maybe this will be an exciting sermon series, or let's bring in that big gun, or have you heard about what's going on with revival over there; how about we get in on that? I'm not saying new ideas or nascent moves of the Spirit are to be ignored outright, but the discipling bar has to be held high, and kept there, not as some legalistic super-spiritual club for elites, but as an inestimable treasure, well-worth everyone giving their all for, even if a person's life is a mess and it's going need some fixing. Spiritually fecund leadership and followership must reflect a passionate longing and resiling dedication for the glory of God manifested, so the bent-over are given generous dollops of the Good News. It's a matter of the heart in leaders and followers; what it truly desires . Hungering for spiritual growth and maturing is like glimpsing the beauty of heaven's standing invitation because one is family member, and spending life pursuing it, and then out of a joyous overflow, reflecting the family values to family members who've never dreamed they're invited.

I'll close my post with the idea that engendering a spiritually fecund culture of leaders and Jesus-followers will be a training environment, particularly as it pertains to fostering a growing embrace of God's Mission culminating in embodying the Gospel of Christ in a person's world. Everyone in church communities should be gradually trained to recognize they are a Kingdom missionary selected by God, sent into the world under the guidance of the Holy Spirit "to proclaim the excellencies of him who called [them] out of darkness into his marvelous light," (1Peter 2:9), and to enflesh his love through sacrificial service and manifesting the good. The Gospel mission of God is entrusted to the people of God, each and every one. It is their calling and their completing.

Therefore the normal Christian life is life on mission. Church leaders are tethered to the task of proclaiming, modeling, counseling, exhorting, encouraging, and inspiring people to follow Christ into their neighborhoods, workplaces, schools, towns and cities - ready to live the Gospel in a way others can make it out, and be intrigued (even if,at first, they're antagonistic, by the way). Leaders do well to communicate the reality of the call in a way that people can see it's really possible for "ordinary ol'" them to take up the mission. It will require patience and time to help people unlock or open to the possibility God uses folks, and the story they have to tell of how Jesus moved into their lives, changing the whole deal.

Leaders also need to train people how to overcome the relentless intimidation (at least, at first) of their adversary who assaults them with fear, lulls them into spiritual sleepwalking, or obstructs with life's exasperating entanglements and roadblocks. They must be given spiritual eyes to see (read discern) the tricks and subterfuges of the one who seeks to grind them down, turn them aside, or trap them in labyrinths of sin. He's part of the missional landscape, but we've the Cross, the Resurrection, the Scriptures and Spirit.
Leaders give them spiritual tools for the fight and fight along side them. Spiritual fecundity grows strong in the fight when people press on because Christ in them has overcome the world, the flesh and the devil.

By the way, lest I sound insensitive to the reality of crippling human pain, sorrow and suffering, I'm not. I know what it looks like from the work I've done, and what my family has endured. I've been asked to help in almost every variation of evil possible within the human condition, at least in my various necks of the woods. I agree leaders must create healing communities as well where the wounded and breaking can come to rest and refresh. Sometimes that takes a while . . . a long while. Occasionally, there are tragic casualties. The world we find ourselves in gives place to the church as a sanctuary and spiritual hospital. Our leaders are to help care for the sick, wounded and deeply tired or severely broken in our midst as they are also training up people to: mature emotionally and relationally, take responsibility for their spiritual growth, and enter the mission of the Kingdom in their sphere's of influence.

I know there's much more to be said about this spiritual fecundity business, but I'll let you chew on what I've offered for awhile.

I'd love to hear your questions and concerns.

Engendering a Culture of Spiritually Fecund Leaders and Jesus-Followers, Part 1.

2012-01-20T10:30:00.002-05:00

Recently someone asked me to offer my thoughts on " how can we engender that sort of leadership, that conviction that it is the "normal christian life"? The question came in response to a recent blog I'd written called Character and Spiritual Formation: Fitness for the Work: http://oldmenplantingchurches.blogspot.com/2011/11/character-and-spiritual-formation.html. In it, I highlighted five character qualities I saw in folks who exemplified to me the "normal Christian life": (humility; (people taking)responsibility for their own spiritual growth and character development; (they having the) desireto serve, and when they accepted responsibility, they followed through; (a) penchantfor hard work; and love (for God and for others because they were convinced he deeply loved them). I admired such folks whether they were in formal leadership roles or not.

I love this question because it's one I've wrestled with over my almost 40 years of Christian life. For some reason and from the beginning, I thought that my salvific encounter with Jesus was supposed to change everything: how I thought; how I acted; what I desired; what mattered to me; how I'd spend my time and effort; what my core values should express, and whether I could be anywhere near authentic in this following Jesus business. Before I knew anything Scriptural or theological, I somehow understood that what overtook me was a "sea-change;" an existential revolution which couldn't be adequately measured by which local church I attended, or not cussin', drinkin', and smokin,' (or not being around those who do), looking, talking, and praying a certain way, or being nice. It quickly didn't make a great deal of difference to me if I read the officially authorized Bible version, what music I should or shouldn't listen to, whether I prayed in tongues, was Calvinist or Arminian, or whether I thought women could be in leadership over men. Even in my spiritual toddlership, I was becoming fairly aware of the manifold positions people held in Christendom, and the controversies they sparked, but none of it gained much traction my heart for very long.

The change Jesus wrought in me owned my heart in ways I couldn't comprehend yet.

As a result, what seemed to persistently spark my imagination and fill me with wonder (even in the dark and dry times - I've had plenty), was the reality of this living God/man - Savior/Lord Jesus, the Christ. A decade into it when I found out I could hear his voice through the indwelling Holy Spirit, I experienced healing, and learned a depth of intimacy which eventually led to the ministry Tricia and I would live and teach for almost 25 years now. Then as I've written about previously, two years before moving to Northampton, I was also profoundly changed by the ancient Christian belief that I was summoned to reflect the Kingdom reign of God by loving and serving people who can't or won't see him. I'd spent most of my ministry life helping his people come to and sojourn near the heart of God. Now, I was also supposed "go out" and help the "stranger" accept God's gracious offering of friendship.

Intimacy and Mission came together for me.

They are still joined in my eyes and heart.

Why that's important to the question I'm addressing is because I'm convinced engendering a servant and servant-leadership culture in the local church begins with enticing people all the time to open their hearts to the ravishing and intimate love of God, including men. People's hearts can fall into slumber or grow lukewarm while their outward churchianity stays in tact. It's slowly morphs spiritual sleepwalking or becomes brittle in a shallow religiosity. Church culture offers people routines to follow. It's all predictable and scheduled. They show up, but not necessarily awake to Christ.

Penetrating, life-altering spiritual transformation, on the other hand, happens most profoundly in the furnace of God's love over time. So, the first thing necessary to such a spiritual culture of transformation is pastors, elders, teachers, and other leaders eager and willing to reflect, with a growing transparency, how they are being transformed by Christ's love for them. He needs to be talked about and referred to in the present tense, coming from the experience of encountering him in prayer, worship, conversation, retreats, study, serving, and on and on. Jesus is the point, and the exclamation mark. Such leaders also need also to wrestle persistently with their own soul numbness and habits of religious routine which can slowly deaden spiritual responsiveness to the Holy Spirit's enticing.

The fact is leaders become spiritual catalysts when they lead from their tethered hearts earnestly pursuing his heart, including the deepest thinkers in the church. I'm not talking about mindless, sentimental manipulating of feelings, I hope you realize. Right thinking married to enchantment over the love of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit balances the Christian mind and heart. Anyone leading from such an informed heart, and motivated to connect others hearts to the heart of God, does so because he or she has practiced abiding in his love (an act of the will at first), and then becoming a tireless, courageous advocate of people's need to learn to live freely from there.

Engendering a spiritually fecund culture is also viewing everyone showing up as a Jesus-follower on the way, or in potential. Each person is graciously enticed to take or head deeper into Kingdom mission as a way of life. The Kingdom and the Missio Dei are not spectator sports. They're not programs, campaigns or discrete experiences to be savored as mountaintops along the way. Becoming and remaining an intimately devoted follower of Christ is the biblical, normal Christian life. While we more than likely will have seasons of rest, illness or preparation or temporary derailment in the course of our following, our primary call and identity never changes.

Therefore, spiritually fecund leaders fulfill their roles best, in my opinion, by transparently embodying, teaching, and kindly exhorting life in and with Jesus. They've been given a calling to communicate him as really alive and really with us, 24/7. While church cultures, especially as they grow large, require all sorts of routine operations and staff management, problem-solving, program management, and keeping the ship on course, all of that should never supersede alluring people come to see, surrender to, and follow Jesus whose life animates it all. Conviction about the normal Christian life gathers around Emmanuel. The closer we come to him daily (intimacy), the nearer we come to the normal Christian life (spiritual fecundity).

In Part 2, we'll look at the need for character development that becomes centered in spiritual formation lived out in sacrificial love and service as the way of life.

Thoughts on imagine's First inward/OUTWARD Missional Cohort, January 11, 2012

2012-01-14T13:20:00.000-05:00

Ever since we started dreaming in Simsbury about how we were going to become imagine/Northampton, we knew that having some sort of small group culture would be an essential part of our DNA. One of my very first experiences of church was spending seven spiritually formative years in a small house church of Christian artists. I learned the meaning of communitas there, especially regarding companionship in Christ. We had some flaws, but we were genuinely in each others lives.

So as Jim, Tricia, Catherine and I were developing the concept of imagine/Northampton prior to even having a Launch Team, we knew at some point we'd need to provide the spiritual/missional richness of small group church culture. But before I go any further, I should note we are a small group already because we are a small church. And too, in the last three and a half years, we've gathered in all manner of small group configurations such as imagine/WORSHIP, missional outreach projects, workshops, brainstorming sessions, brunches, picnics and parties, creative events, Visionation meetings, 1FlightUP, the Leadership Team, and soon: the Creative Arts Team. None were the species of small group we knew we'd need to put in place.

To that end, last year, the Holy Spirit repeatedly prompted me to conceptualize, put together and offer, with Tricia, the first inward/OUTWARD Spiritual Formation Workshop (subsequently changing the name to the inward/OUTWARD Mission Formation Workshop for its second iteration) designed to link the spiritual disciplines promoting intimacy with Jesus with the outward disciplines of the missional mindset central to closely and persistently following him.

The Holy Spirit also made me aware that from the workshop, we could form an inward/OUTWARD Missional Cohort. I picked the word "cohort" to capture the notion of a group of dedicated companions associated in a common cause that would be difficult to do - communitas. It's an ancient Roman military term that I think accurately reflects the missional life in the midst of very real spiritual warfare, particularly as Christ-followers start to make real inroads into the community and people open to discover and follow Christ. I know Christ or the Church never adopted the term, but I think it fits, especially because it can become a communitas culture. I don't want to overstate the Military or battle side of it, however.

In essence, the i/O Missional Cohort is a training environment. In each gathering, we begin by silence and settling. We pray - including listening prayer - for the needs of Northampton, each other, people we are praying for individually, and working to build relationships with, plus imagine's Kingdom mission to Northampton. We all dialogue about what God is teaching each of us; how we see him working in and through us, and what we're working on: the attempts, insights, opportunities, challenges, struggles,obstacles, spiritual battles and breakthroughs we experience during the week.Over the course of the weeks, we'll also read helpful articles, and look at the Scriptures. As it seems right to us and the Holy Spirit at any point in our journey together, we may even embark on a short-term missional project or trip together. We'll see.

So last Wednesday evening we set out on our maiden voyage ensconced in our Main Street apartment. There were 13 of us. We'll add 2 more this Wednesday. I have to say it set an atmosphere where you could sense the presence of the Holy Spirit. I don't say that all the time. People were open, vulnerable, real and engaged. It felt they really wanted to be there; to head out on this opportunity to help each other learn a growing intimacy from Christ, and from there, follow him into the Kingdom mission he has for each of us and all of us. The energy was high and people connected with one another. In fact, we hung out for another half hour around a lavish spread Tricia had made. People seemed to like being together, building relationships and sharing life.

A pleasant surprise for me was the relational atmosphere and spiritual tone the gathering had for me, and I think Tricia as well; an unmistakable" feel" we used to experience when we'd lead Listening in Christ Retreats at the Center For Renewal in Simsbury. Something transcending happens when a group opens to the Spirit and thus one another. We let out our common humanity and our desire to know God more and be found in his will. I think this "feel" was most in evidence when we prayed for Jenn, anointing her with oil and asking for all that God wanted for her in our learning and mission together. Hearts are knitted together in such intimate prayer. I love that!

My deepest hope for this group and the groups which follow if God so opens the way, is we'll experience a depth of unselfconscious intimacy with the magnificent One who has deep affection for us, our desire to make him real to others could become infectious, or "viral," if you like. What we experience might even be shared naturally, and God will be magnified.

Tall order . . . astounding God . . . and he's gotten the likes of us this far . . .

Things I'd Like to See imagine/Northampton Accomplish in 2012.

2011-12-26T09:54:00.002-05:00

As I sit in front of the blank screen, I'm asking myself why I'm writing this post. Well, first, writing a blog helps me clarify thoughts, ideas, hopes, dreams and concerns. The blogging process lets me explore and bring to the fore what's been percolating in my heart or resonating in my head. Sometimes it's cathartic; sometimes it answers questions with which I'm wrestling. Most times, I merely want to share what's on my mind.

Today's post is my way of articulating what I hope we'll accomplish, or at least, be heading resolutely toward in 2012. The list is not exhaustive nor is this my "Encyclical" to the church (as if I even had that place, authority or influence in the imagine community, or thought it important). I know, too, that imagine/Northampton is God's to do with as he wishes. I want him to be glorified in, through and by what we do: "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." He's the point. He's the means. He's the end. Ours is to obey what he desires.

Having said the above, I'm just sharing my heart a little bit:

1. We'd move to a new place where we could worship through song, where there's room enough to grow, play music with a Worship Team, and have a better place for imagineKIDS.

2. imagine/Northampton would grow, especially from new believers.Those who stay would be be plugged in and using their gifts in the Kingdom mission we have.

3. Young or new leaders would emerge and be equipped to take responsibility in leading the imagine mission in some way.

4. A Creative Arts Team would coalesce, and add to the quality, beauty and impact of our worship as well as connecting to Northampton and its arts community.

5. The CHAPTER TWO of imagine/Northampton's story (CHAPTER ONE being we're planting a church - we're planted), would be told and established effectively.

6. We'd take productive steps toward the vision of a 3rd Place in Northampton.

7. We'd grow our base of supporters, including internally.

8. 1FlightUP (our jazz trio) would establish a place in the Pioneer Valley arts community and make a difference.

9. All of us in imagine/Northampton be emboldened to graciously help anyone discover the God who is far more than they imagine.

10. Our ministry to kids would develop into one of the main reasons families come to imagine.

11. All of us would have a deepened love for Jesus, his way of life, and for people who don't know him.

12. The inward/OUTWARD Missional Small Group beginning in January would launch and establish a model for imagine's small group missional culture.

May it be as He has given, and may the above, be at the very least, a part of what He's given.

Tested to the Edge of Faith; Tethered to a Short Leash.

2011-11-20T07:47:00.001-05:00

I wonder if you've experienced what I'm about to tell you?

Since we moved to Northampton, my faith has undergone frequent and substantial testing. Our task has been no easy road from the git, as I've written about before. When I undergo such testing a pattern of questions comes into view for me:

Will you really believe I am sufficient for your lack or what you still need?

Will you trust me anyway?

Will you follow me anyway?

Or perhaps the most sobering, and frankly, frightening:

Will you follow me no matter what even if you go down in flames or lose everything?

Recently, as I've thought about what I've trudged through, and still experience in spades, I pictured myself standing near the edge of a well-marked boundary line demarcating how far my faith actually extends. On the other side of the line is a ledge which drops off into an indistinguishable abyss. There's nothing on the other side of the ledge but drop-off into murk and emptiness. As I look at the scene, there's no sense of foreboding. The line merely accurately defines where my faith ends. I'm not able to hold fast to faith because my burden is too heavy, the difficulties are too great and persisting, or I've seen no progress or change for way too much time. So as I stand there, in the picture it appears I've reached my limit and need help to go any further.

I've come to realize since settling into the Pioneer Valley that the boundary line will move as if by some "unseen Hand" and consequently, the edge of my faith extends as if attached to the line. The reality seems I need times to stand and accept the truth of the faith-boundary line when it appears to there's no way forward, or it feels like the bottom is soon to fall out. During those uncomfortable hesitations I remind God, sometimes vehemently, that we're in deep, and if he doesn't do something, into the abyss we'll surely tumble pell-mell. Those times cause me to really put it on the line with him, acknowledging my sheer, unending dependence on his grace and power to actually get any of this Kingdom stuff done from my side of the table.

I'll bet you've had similar faith wrestlings to the edge. Reality affirms faith untested is faith dormant or flaccid. Faith tested to the very edge is faith on the verge of deepening and extending, or tragically for some, cast off as a cruel joke, the silly wishful thinking of children who'll soon grow up to "smell the coffee" of the wind of your own making.

It turns out as long as I'm trying to follow Jesus with any integrity or resolve, I'll be brought to the edge of faith repeatedly. You will too.

"For you know that the testing of your faith (not perhaps if your faith might be tested) produces steadfastness." James 1: 3

"So that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." 1 Peter 1: 7

"Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes (not if it comes to an unfortunate few) upon you to test you, as though something strange (This is the normal Christian life, dude) were happening to you." 1 Peter 4:12

Faith has to be repeatedly proved and tempered in difficulty at the edge. Through faith tested, we have the chance to learn to withstand adversity with courage and flexibility -- two gifts of priceless worth. Acquiring those character essentials helps us not be easily hamstrung by sometimes unrelenting, even devastating hardship. The tempering of faith takes you and me beyond lip service, platitudes, and psychologically soothing good intentions. Resilience can be trained into us when our thin faith is stretched taut. If knocked to the ground, we find an unexpected capacity to spring back. When faith is drawn into the empty, arid places of life, it's graciously offered the chance to learn persevering, a steely, one-foot-in-front-of-the-other attitude of the surrendered will, or a stubborn waiting with rooted expectation God will bring water and oasis, as he sees fit.

There are treasures of character (a treasure in itself), to be uncovered in life's testing grounds of faith.

From 40 years of trying to walk out my faith in the real world of multiple edges, I also understand God chastens and disciplines all of us at critical points in our lives - even if we're not particularly aware we've reached a critical character juncture at the time. I also see the degree of his graceful severity changes depending on how much spiritual darkness or danger we might blunder or bull our way into. He is loving and good to those he loves, does not give us what our sins deserve, is slow and anger and quick to forgive, but he also disciplines his beloved to make each of us fit for eventually bearing the weight of glory.

So sometimes God tethers you and me to a short leash for a period so we can we learn to discern and acquire wisdom -- one of the true headwaters of life to the full. When so tethered, we simply can't wander off no matter how much we strain against the leash. We're stuck to where we have to pay attention.

For example, since mid-summer, and with increasing frequency, I've found myself having to clean up messes I made in relationships with other people, often because of what I've said or neglected to follow through on. In one acutely painful instance, I came unhinged publicly and wounded a dear friend of mine who did nothing to invite my 25-second apoplectic rant. I'd not listened to the subtle cues that something worrisome was building up in me in the preceding days, and because I did not address the dissonance inside, I and my friend paid a high price: me because I neglected what God wanted to face, and he because he just sadly happened to be in my vitriolic line of fire.

The above is an egregious instance of me not doing some critical, internal character work when the Holy Spirit prompted . . . and more than once I might add. It seems always a matter of character in my case and has to do, as I said earlier, with what I say and/or neglect to do. Wounding my friend was the extreme reason why I'm tethered these days. I tend not to breathe fire on people at the drop of a hat. But, I think it also it points to a lack of charity in all my dealings with others. I don't carefully and wisely consider my words or nodding of my head in agreement when I've not weighed the implications of what I'm communicating by them, even when in a simple conversation. I send mixed messages and people get confused, frustrated or hurt by me. God wants more circumspection and prayer from me, not impulsive words even if well-meaning.

Follow-through on things which intimidate or summon anxiety in me is another character flaw God has tethered me to facing. I have a post-graduate degree in procrastination around stuff that spooks me. So these days this leash is uncomfortably short. He's not giving me much latitude. He wants change toward integrity from me. In other words, I have to acknowledge my failure soon after I fail. He wants my "yes" then follow-through;" and my "no" when I disagree or will not do it. He hates when I appear to go along with something I've no real intention of supporting or undertaking. It's a habit he's been checking me quite regularly.

While being tethered to a short-leash restricts for sure, and sometimes uncomfortable, I'm convinced in God's hands it works to free people to integrity and authenticity - an irony of grace. Good things come from it. Godly character does form as we learn to surrender, and live within the limits he's ordained for spiritual formation and training in character.

I'm not sure how long I'll be tethered in the manner I described, that's the Father's privilege, but I do know I need to grow in character regarding these weaknesses. He's being plain with me about how he wants my behavior to change. I need his grace, but my will is engaged.

That's a good start.

Character and Spiritual Formation: Fitness for the Work.

2011-11-04T17:34:00.000-04:00

Recently, someone asked me what do Christian people mean when they say someone is not ready to assume a certain role or take on a particular responsibility in the church. I thought it a great question. So we had a conversation and I surfaced what seemed to me to be a few essentials for determining who was and might not be quite ready to carry the weight of a substantial responsibility.

By the way, I'm not in any way, shape or form assuming: 1.) I've arrived and can pontificate from a position of superior maturity, and supremely seasoned readiness, or 2.) I'm quite the expert on such matters. I haven't and I'm not. I'm still on my way with all sorts of stubborn rough spots, self-absorption and immaturity to work through. Don't like that much, but it's reality. I desperately need the cross and the Spirit to turn me into someone useful for the Kingdom, even at 62. Borrowing a word Brennan Manning used well in one of my favorite books of his: I'm a ragamuffin . . . 24/7/365.

With that necessary disclaimer, I must also say I've been "on the team" so to speak since age 23. I've been in some manner of ministry leadership, both formally and informally since my late 20's. I've had all sorts of occasion to wrestle through being fit to carry the responsibility I was given (failed at that more than I'd like to admit - still do), and I had the great blessing and privilege of being around some very mature believers, male and female. I saw what it looked like many times from leaders and "followers." There are certain characteristics which manifest in a man or a woman who takes seriously the work of the Kingdom, no matter how great or small the responsibility, whether shouldered upfront or behind-the-scenes. Through such characteristics I think we glimpse Christ in them.

So I want to note a few character and spiritual qualities which seem especially pertinent.

All of them displayed a simple humility in spite of their "formal" spiritual or organizational stature. They got their hands dirty. They were not comfortable being elevated in the eyes of others. To the contrary, they preferred to be seen as anyone else: a person imperfectly trying to follow Christ, being loving and of service, no matter how menial. From them, I recognized gradually how important attitude was, especially "I'm not too important to be asked to do anything, or to be confronted with my sin and selfishness." Their humility reflected grace under fire in and out of the limelight. Humility demonstrated how fit they were for reflecting the values of the Kingdom of Christ.

Related closely to the above attribute was the fact they all, men and women, took responsibility for their own spiritual growth and character development. Once they had a grasp of how to do so, it was no longer the pastor's or the elders' or the leader's job to "grow them up and sustain them" in their spiritual maturing and character developing. Such leaders, teachers and mentors certainly contributed vitally, but at some point into it, these folks knew the buck stopped with them. So they carried forward developing the necessary spiritual disciplines, i.e., they read and learned to study the Scriptures, they read Christian books, they prayed, they worshipped alone and with others, they built relationships with believers or allowed others to build a relationship with them, they worshipped, and they developed the desire and ability to serve people, including, sometimes especially, non-believers. It took time, but they were in up to their eyeballs, full of passion for learning to live with and follow Christ.

Thirdly, they had a desire to serve and when they accepted responsibility they followed through. They were the kind of folks who you know would accomplish the task if they shouldered it. It has to do with character and integrity. If so-and-so says she or he will do it, you can "take that to the bank." They just come through and you don't have to think or wonder about it. These folks also have a habit of asking how they can help or what they can do. Sometimes they just step up and get the job done without being asked because they see it needs doing. In fact, they look for opportunities to do so. I'm sure that if you've been around church for very long you've heard the maxim, "10% do 90% of the work." They gravitate by values to being in the 10% - they see it as the "normal Christian life."

Fourthly, they had a penchant for hard work. These men and women rolled up their sleeves and dove in. I've known men who routinely labored long hours at jobs and family life, then stayed up late or worked all weekend to pitch in with the church, (often behind the scenes), whether it was a project, event or a routine task needing doing. No matter, they saw all of their responsibilities as one service to God and others. They embraced obligation and duty as their usual contribution. I've also known women who dedicated themselves sacrificially to the church community and beyond, exhibiting a love of God and their brothers and sisters admired by all who knew them. Interestingly, when told of such admiration, some would get a puzzled look and others would turn red. They saw nothing extraordinary about their service.

Lastly, much if not most of what these folks did, stemmed from love. They loved God and knew he loved them. In gratitude, they learned how to love him and other people. Their obedience grew from being loved by God. They came to grasp what he'd freely done for "the likes of" them, and responded by working at being loving people. Their spiritual formation (becoming like Christ), and character formation (embracing and living the values of Christ) made them fit for the work of the Kingdom. They served out of love, not some gushy, syrupy caricature of love, but a roll-up-your-sleeves, show-up-every-day love not about feelings, but conviction. Such love takes courage, persistence, resilience and even a sense of humor. They loved with words, and with actions backing them up.

The folks that came to mind as I wrote this are people I look up to and am inspired by. They mentored me, befriended me, served with me, challenged, encouraged, loved and taught me. They are my contemporary examples. I aim for their maturity still. They're real people with chipping feet of clay who still need the cross and the work of the Spirit, but they've chosen repeatedly to go deep into being formed by Christ knowing that without him their best righteousness is filthy rags. I've watched them. I watch them. I will still watch them.

* * * * *

May you reflect all this week on those men and women who've been spiritual and character exemplars (spiritual fathers and mothers, perhaps), to you and may you head deep into where Christ bids you go for his glory and your fitness in the Kingdom work beckoning you.

We're Gonna Do What???

2011-10-27T14:53:00.002-04:00

Over the last month or so, imagine/Northampton has been working through what we're calling Visionation: http://oldmenplantingchurches.blogspot.com/2011/10/imaginenorthamptons-visionation-meeting.html. I've been immersed in that, both at the front-end, and in the process. It has been a substantially more arduous task than I expected, sometimes bewilderingly so. I guess I'm still a rookie at this.

Those of you who know me well, know I am most alive in trying to pursue a heart-mesmerizing vision, one chock full of promise and worth, especially when it furthers the Kingdom in a creative and compelling way. I naturally live there and am repeatedly inspired around people who throw their lot in as well. My imagination juices surge; my mind comes fully alive, and my heart strains toward what could be, if only . . .

Truth be told, I'm not much good for anything else.

The fully-realized potential of imagine/Northampton's vision of building Kingdom-focused communities where we creatively engage the culture to help people discover and follow the God who is far more than they imagine aims me toward striving ardently to realize it on my watch. I see it in my minds-eye. I pray it when I walk. I reach for it when confusion and darkness impedes my view. I long to see real life spring from what began as a inchoate nudging in Simsbury almost 5 years ago.

But, lest you think from the paragraph above that I'm merely pursuing some ersatz monument to inflated human pride, rest assured Jesus commands the center off my passion. I want him seen and known by how we live, what we care for, and what we give our lives to as imagine/Northampton. He needs to increase as we follow him through love and service in his Name.

As I mentioned a few paragraphs ago, communicating the vision has been much tougher than I thought it would be. It's one thing to have a picture in your head and a concept grabbing your attention like my granddaughter, Maddie, grabbing your face. It's quite another to get others to see it with the same fire and acuity you do, including people who are on-board from their hearts. Ideas and dreams need time to settle in for more than a meeting or two.

So here's what I'm coming to understand regarding this vision business.

1. God-sized visions scare most people. Because they are only possible by his power, they just look impossible, more than can be handled, impractical, overwhelming, unrealistic and way more than anyone thinks possible at the time. By their nature, they require Kingdom-sized faith, guts, ingenuity, creativity, tenacity and grace which can only be called amazing in the end. The Holy Spirit needs to open and lead the way as we all follow behind. Also, while people like variety, even a new challenge from time-to-time, they don't want to feel they're going to be chasing after the wind. When it looks too big, it seems to big. When it seems too big, it is accepted as just too big, and people wilt.

2. Vision has the task of inspiring a convinced willingness to risk much, even everything for what is worth more than everything risked. Without the habit of faith-infused risk, things imperceptibly settle into management of the manageable, predictable, and routine.

"VISION is to PURPOSE as HOPE is to STRIVING. Vision DEFINES purpose; hope ANIMATES its heart."

People truly inspired by a vision God has given them are steeled by the hope God will help them create and do what he's asked of them, i.e., his heart is in what he has summoned them to. It is God's character and initiative which gathers their trust and fuels their striving.

3. Vision illuminates what could be better, even worthy of wonder. For people graciously inflamed with God's Kingdom reign and mission, the future holds the possibility of the sick being healed, the poor being clothed, fed and set on their feet, the oppressed being freed, the voiceless finding an advocate, the defenseless being defended, the weak being protected, and the lost being found. They see ways of bringing life into death and hope into despair. While there will always be suffering, strife, and sorrow until Jesus returns to set everything to right, in the meantime, his grace can be generously offered to calm a storm and unlock the afflicted, giving them a hope and a life.

4. Vision well-conceived and clearly said entices people to seek their place in a compelling movement or cause. There is a joint hill to climb, a battle to fight, a wrong to right - all riveting enough to galvanize their time and money and talent, even blood, sweat and tears. The task or mission ennobles them and helps everyone feel they are making a real difference in something grander and more important than all of them. Such people contribute the means to make it happen, however large or small. The question animating them is "What if we really could do this?" God has put a spark in the human soul which ignites when it locates its purpose in the right, true, freeing and beautiful. One of life's greatest pleasures is being able to say "I helped make that happen," especially when the "that" actually changed people's lives for the better. God -breathed visions unfetter motivation.

5. Over time, vision can cool and fade. I remember hearing Andy Stanley say "vision leaks." It sure does. What seems so compelling by some isn't embraced or remembered by others. I've known very few people in my life who spent much time prayerfully pondering what each word of a vision implied so they could intelligently take responsibility for seeing it realized in and through them. In other words, it functioned as a personal mandate, a persisting reference point and gut check. For most, intriguing visions seem to have genuine buzz initially, and then fade quietly into the background as the details of life overtake their days or the visionary gets lost in the weeds. I have to say I've been guilty of letting the weeds choke out the vision. As Paul Simon once wrote in a lyric, I've had "a short, little attention span," even when I felt deep loyalty to an idea or mission. Life can glitter and sparkle from a thousand paths.

6. Visionary leaders must be courageous and resilient. I am convinced it's the responsibility of visionary leaders to keep the vision flaming at the forefront of its execution at any given point in time, almost like a standard or rallying point:

always reminding people of why we gather and strive at all;

challenging them, young and old, to step up and keep the focus on the mission actualizing the vision;

checking the all-too human impulse to head down rabbit trails or amble off into sparkling distractions;

keeping fear at bay when the going gets tough, squabbles escalate, resources are few, and the way forward seems impenetrable so people lose heart.

Such leaders are keepers of the flame when time and tide subverts the life. These folks help people see what could be as if it's truly reachable. They help all of us look beyond the comfortable ordinary and safe into hints of Kingdom life which actually frees, and love which actually heals. Visionaries may be dreamers, but dreamers after God's heart tap into a Reality for which the entire Creation groans.

Vision in the hands and hearts of the courageous helps everyone become resilient in the face of disappointments, delays and setbacks. When malaise smothers enthusiasm like a fog, courageous leaders stay at the helm, calling people forward, keeping hope stirred, and drawing from people what they thought they couldn't give.

7. What visionary leaders see, and the future they are transfixed by needs to be shown as possible before anyone will really come aboard.

People who have to live with visionaries need to recognize that for these folks "why not?" and "Who says we can't?" are normal for them. They dwell in possibility. They make their home in what could be and what must be- in the liminal state between what is and what could be. The status quo is a wasteland for them when the status quo is easily settled for. Visionaries aim for the stars in hopes of finding transcendent value. Christian visionaries long for the Kingdom to come in ways that are dazzling and wondrous because living death is pushed back. injustice is slapped down, human pride and greed are put in their place.

If you want to peer into the heart of Jesus's redemptive dreamers you'll find love: love of God and love of others, especially the unloved, the unlovely and the unlovable far from him. Such Christian visionaries who are yoked to Christ, and desire for him to be glorified in the vision - to be seen, exalted and followed. Therefore, they will tirelessly help people see what they see and work diligently to realize it. They will paint a picture that the vision can be fulfilled because God is in it, and then throw themselves into leading the way toward achieving it.

I've found if others can see it and believe God is in it, they will help, some sacrificially so. They trust God and the man or woman leading the way. When that happens the world gets changed by the Kingdom for which it waits.

2 Strange Encounters of the Creepy Kind.

2011-10-20T13:52:00.000-04:00

Last week had more than it's share of weirdness for us.

It began early in morning and early in the week as Tricia and I were returning to our apartment from an exercise/prayerwalk. We were on Main Street. It was around 7:30. On a bench across from Haymarket Cafe sat a young man I've seen before. He has a slight build and looked to be in his early to mid-20's. He generally wears soiled brown pants and a soiled brown sweatshirt with a hood pulled over his head. He has dreads, is usually smoking, and has an unfriendly manner about him, sometimes downright agitated or surly.

So the first time I walked by him last week, he laughed and said what sounded like expletives not too far under his breath. He stared at me the entire time, and would shake his head. A day or so later, as Tricia and I walked by him again he glared angrily at us and quietly hurled a string of expletives our way. There was no laughing. It actually felt a little menacing as he looked at us. I don't know if he is mentally ill or a drug user who needed a fix, but there was disdain in his tone of voice and through the stare. I suspect if I'd said something to him it may have provoked a more rigorous response. I didn't. I just prayed.

A couple of days later, walking at about the same time in the same direction on Main Street, and a half block before Starbucks, a young Asian man was slowly walking toward us. Walking doesn't capture his gait: he was sort of gliding, almost robotically. It looked really weird, but what riveted me most was his gaze. His eyes were locked wide open as if he'd seen a ghost. The rest of face was expressionless and flat. As he came closer he began to line up with where I was walking as if to walk right into me. I'd never seen such a spooked look. I was taken back, and didn't know what to think

He never turned his head as I stepped out of the way. The most remarkable sense I got as I looked into his eyes for a second or two just before he walked by, was the impression there was someone or something else looking at me through his eyes. The young man was like a zombie and not there. I also felt intense fear much the same way I felt 2 years ago when a young woman stood motionless to my left as I was facing Main Street, and stared at me for 4 or 5 minutes as I stood outside of CVS waiting for Tricia. I felt a stab of fear then as well, and immediately began to pray in tongues under my breath and soon realized she was there to pray against me.

Both of the encounters with these young men felt demonically influenced, as if we were being noticed by alien and malevolent entities residing in troubled people.They happened within a few days of each other and in close physical proximity.

Odd coincidence? Perhaps . . .

Mental illness? Sure . . .

Drug-induced? Could be . . .

All those conditions could have been contributing factors. But there was another dynamic going on and it was palpably spiritually dark. Evil has a presence and calling card one can sense. It was there. My response was fear and then prayer. I didn't have to think about it.

I don't know why things like this happen when they do, but I've experienced them before and suspect I will encounter them again, especially here in Northampton. Such activity appears up, especially on the weekends at night.

May these young men and others who know little of the power and redemptive love of Christ be freed by him, and may I get to see or even be a part of it.

Kingdom Mission Focuses Communitas; Communitas Animates Kingdom Mission.

2011-10-07T18:56:00.001-04:00

Last Sunday I preached the following at imagine/Northampton. I'm indebted to Alan Hirsch and Michael Frost for their seminal work in explaining how communitas and Kingdom mission are closely linked. Since reading their work, I've come to a clearer understanding of the critical need for both in the life and work of the church in the world.

What is KingdomMission?

I began by offering and explaining the following three texts which are helpful in seeing what should be our heart's desire (the Matthew text), what is our core identity as Jesus followers (the 1Peter text) and what has Jesus summoned us to do as his disciples.

3 Key Texts:

Matthew6:9-10: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.Your kingdom come; your will be done on earth as itis in heaven."

1Pe.2:9-12: “But you area chosen race, a royalpriesthood, a holynation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darknessinto his marvelous light. Once youwere not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not receivedmercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain fromthe passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentileshonorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see yourgood deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”

Matthew 28:18-20: "And Jesuscame and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earthhas been given to me.Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them inthe name of the Father and ofthe Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold,I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

To summarize what I explained, I said the Kingdom mission is a task we’ve beengiven as followers of Christ. Rightly understood, it should flow from our deep desire to see God’s good Kingdomrule and reign manifested in the lives of people around us. We want to see themhealed, set free from oppression, and brought near the One who loves them morethan they can imagine or have experienced. We are sentto embody his values and make followers of Christ by living lives of uncommonlove and service. The way we live as his people before a watching and skeptical, even antagonistic world, should be ipso facto winsome and beautiful, full of grace and goodness. A tall order, but doable if we are truly willing.

II. What is Communitas?

“…communitas describe(s) the dynamics ofthe Christian community inspired to overcome their instincts to huddle…and instead to form themselves around a common missionthat calls them into a dangerous journey to unknown places—a mission that callsthe church to shake off its collectivesecurities and to plunge into theworld of action where its members will experiencedisorientation and marginalization, but also where they encounter God and one another in a new way. (Hirsch, TheForgotten Ways)

“Communitas…is a community infused with agrand sense of purpose, one thatlies outside of its internal reality and constitution. It’s the kind ofcommunity that “happens” to people in actual pursuit of a common vision of what could be. It involves movement and it describes the experience of togetherness that only really happens among a group of peopleactually engaging in a mission outsideitself.” (Frost, Exiles)

Frost and Hirsch help us see that if our community reflects a spirit of communitas because we've found a depth of love and unity around something (SomeOne) worth giving our very lives for, we are getting at the heart of how we're supposed to be as his beloved sojourners and exiles. Communitas reflects a depth of camaraderie most of us long (and were made) for, but rarely experience until we're thrown into a life-threatening ordeal requiring we stick together, and share the struggle in order to make it out alive. I'm convinced communitas is God's desired way of Christian life together. Any church that has had to go "underground" to even exist has learned this reality.

III. How Does Kingdom Mission focus Communitas?

If we arefollowers of Christ we’ve been, by definition, summoned to carry forward theKingdom mission he had, but not merely as individuals. God’s mission defines us. It is our common identity. So our communitybecomes more than our interconnected culture of “fellowship;” we’re galvanizedby a common cause and purpose which defines our communal identity. God’s lovefor us and our love for one another becomes a gift to the world. We want othersin on it. We want to give it away. Our mission shapes and centers us in what God is already doing around us. He's at work and we follow him by connecting and serving. He only changes a heart, but we focus on making the human/humane connections with our neighbors, breaking down barriers, creating trust and being true friends.

IV. How does Communitas animate Kingdom Mission?

By jointlyembracing the call to proclaim and show forth the excellencies of God, we growa church culture that animates Kingdom mission. We live it individually, asfamilies and as a church community in Northampton, or wherever else he callsus. We’re doing it together and telling each other stories about it. Our shared stories of the joys and challenges of doing so, shape, inspire andencourage us. As we slowly see God change hearts and free captives, we rejoice in his greatness, motivating us to continue, perhaps even go further into his Kingdom. As we build a culture where telling stories of what God has done is normative, we are bolstered by his mysterious, freeing work, and through such stories find the courage to press on toward the sometimes frightening and perhaps costly unfamiliar, but together.

Communitas generates stories and the continual telling of the stories of God intermingling with the continual telling of our stories of how we've tried to serve and follow him - the victories and the failures - animate a compelling sense that God is alive and faithful, and his Kingdom mission is a reality worth investing our entire lives in.

I want such stories told. I want to tell and hear them. I want to finish my days in a cohort of convinced Christ-following men and women, sold out to the Kingdom, sold out to the mission it awakens, and sold out to communitas which provides a fraternity and camaraderie strong enough to weather all we'll encounter including the temptation to rest on our laurels if God grants blessing beyond what we could have imagined.

imagine/Northampton's Visionation Meeting, September 9, 2011

2011-10-01T15:23:00.001-04:00

TheVision/Strategic Mission:

REMINDER: Vision answers the question:Where do we believe God wants us to goin the weeks, months and years ahead? It is dynamic and expresses what matters deeplyto God and us, where we have persistent passion, and inspires our dedicatedaction. Implicit in vision is the question “what if we could…?”, and will onlyhappen if God makes a way.

1. VISION: Tobuild Kingdom-focused communitieswhere we: creatively engage theculture to help people discover and follow the God who is far more than theyimagine.

What is aKingdom-focused community?

It’s acommunity where the reign, authority and values of Christ are embraced, modeledand lived. Characteristic of Kingdom-focused community is love for God, oneanother and people who don’t know him, especially the poor, oppressed,abandoned and abused. Such a community is not merely inward-focused, butoutward-active. We love God and care for one another, but equally, we love ourneighbors whether they share our beliefs or not. A Kingdom-focused community isa community of missional servants, persistently following Jesus in hisredemptive Gospel mission of healing, freeing, hope and salvation. Humility,sacrifice, generosity, joy and celebration should characterize such community.

What do wemean by “creatively engage the culture?”

We meanalways looking together for fresh and distinctive ways of opening people to thereality of Jesus, his Kingdom and Gospel. We do so on their terms, but we alsoneed to be students of what matters to people in Northampton (it’s “tribes” culture,ethos and worldview), and then work to creatively express truth in a winsome orcompelling way. We may do it artistically, or through service, celebrations,collaboration, a business venture, or just making friends. Creativity is part of the DNA ofour mission, no matter it's particular expression.

What do wemean by helping “people discover and follow the God who is far more than theyimagine?

It’s theheart of imagine/Northampton’s understanding of itself, whether we are buildingup each other in discovering and knowing Jesus so we follow him moreunreservedly, or we are engaging people who've not yet discovered him. Ourvision is to do whatever it takes, by his grace, to help anyone find andfollow him. Relationships are key, but so is being a gracious, generous,thoughtful and helpful servant people who use actions as much or more thanworks, such that people move beyond their suppositions and barriers to know himin ways they never thought possible.

2. STRATEGICMISSION:

REMINDER: Strategic Mission answersthe question: What can we do to most effectively get there? It is about focusedpurpose and concrete action to realize the vision to which God has summoned us together.In other words, where do we best give our time, gifts, resources and work to accomplish thevision on our watch? So, we see our strategic mission as follows:

To continue individually and as families buildingrelationships with other (on street, in neighborhoods, the workplace, school, communityprojects, etc.)
To continue developing imagine/Northampton asa Kingdom-focused community (Teaching, worshiping, doing things together,sharing missional storie to encourage and motivate each other, etc.)
To grow in creatively engaging Northamptontogether.
To plant imagine churches in othercommunities: for instance, imagine/Brattleboro, imagine/Keene,imagine/Pittsfield, imagine/Portsmouth, imagine/Greenfield or Northfield in thenext 3-5 years.

3. IMAGINEDISTINCTIVES:

Spiritual Formation - healing, intimacy withand love for God, becoming more like Christ, spiritual disciplines.
Developing a culture of creativity,artistically and otherwise.
Teaching: Scriptures and way of life.
Missional Formation, mindset, and way oflife.
Welcoming Community – commitment to helpingpeople feel loved and a part of imagine.

Underlying Assumption: While we do not have a formalmembership protocol, we as leaders assume that for folks who choose to becomepart our community will strive to own, support, and live the vision/strategicmission of imagine/Northampton. We are to follow together. We are a team with acommon vision: each of us now called and those who will be called in thefuture, have a distinct role to play in seeing it realized with God’s grace andhelp. While we’ll never be heavy-handed about this assumption, given the factpeople need time to orient, heal, and grow, the assumption remains and guides ourexpectations. (Communitas)

It Took A Little While To Get To Yesterday: imagine/Northampton's First Baptism.

2011-08-21T18:44:00.000-04:00

It's taken a little while to get to yesterday - three years and a month to be near exact.

But to yesterday we arrived. God gave the momentous day to all of us.

I have to admit, I'd wondered before about when such a day would actually come to imagine/Northampton. I always thought it would, even though much of how we thought things would occur (and when), as we dreamed and discussed in Simsbury how this church planting business was going to unfold, hasn't . . . and consistently so.

Nonetheless, we deemed it eventual yesterday would come.

So a number of imaginati gathered mid-morning at Jim and Karin LaMontagne's to joyously celebrate Jon Hill's baptism! His is also our first - imagine/Northampton history was made.

While important his was made in our life together, the most important reality was Jon symbolically died with Christ and rose with Christ yesterday, and he knew it. He was ready to leave behind attachments to his past and take on a primary new one: Jesus-follower. Jon is a serious man. He understands the meaning of taking on a commitment, including the cost. He's not a "go at it halfway" kinda guy, most likely never has been. He understood it was time to throw his lot in with the Lord Most High.

Yesterday came also because he is an observer, communicator and an asker of substantive questions. So I, Jim and other imaginarians had all sorts of opportunities to explore how we understood the way of following Jesus: on Sunday morning, at Monday night trio (Jon, Jim and I have been playing jazz together for 9 months), on the phone, on the deck at Bishop's Lounge, at picnics, imagine events, hanging out listening to other musicians play, even exercising together. We did this for months and never tired of it. In fact, we all were uplifted by the dialogues. They untangled and clarified and opened truth.

So there we were in the pool. Our ritual was simple and straightforward. Jim talked briefly of the meaning of baptism and shared his heart about his delight in walking with Jon and becoming friends, that Jon had taught him the meaning of friendship. I also talked of the wonder I felt seeing what God had done in a year's time to bring all of us to this place together, of getting to be around Jon, and experiencing the joy of getting to be a part of actually baptizing him.

Jon then talked of his journey and what Jesus had done to free him to this Saturday morning in the company of his wonderful family (Amy, Iris and McClellan), and imagine/Northampton friends. His words came deep from a heart that knew something profound had happened to him to arrive here. But, perhaps the most beautiful part of it for me was when Jon read the Lord's Prayer in Cherokee. There was astounding existential meaning in his doing so, and the beauty of the language brought tears even though none of us knew what any of the words were as he said them. It was a holy moment, the uniting of shared experiences, histories, families, and cultures into a common identity and Kingdom mission in Christ.

When he finished, Jim asked two questions for Jon to affirm his belief, then simply said we "baptize him in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit." We put him under the water then quickly back up. There were "Yay's!" all around.

Happy was the mood.

Happy was the day.

Happy was our breakfast afterwards..

I've learned so much from walking with Jon over the months, more than I can write about here. But one thing is I've come to understand God works uniquely and mysteriously in the regeneration miracle. In the enticing, awakening, re-orienting, and summoning miracle of becoming alive to/in Christ there is no formula - one size does not fit all. Sure, we serve, and talk and preach and counsel and comfort and challenge people in this journey to Love, but he makes spiritually alive what was walking yet wasting silently below the surface. I'm aware afresh it is God alone who quickens and animates the new birth to eternity.

I've also come to accept the continuing need for patience, settled-in hope, faith which sees what seems pretty much not there, and a perseverance that would make a Navy Seal envy. You have to keep going with this Kingdom mission stuff, no matter the sacrifices, setbacks, rabbit-trails, disappointments, stresses, confusions, obstacles and demonic harassment. God wants the redemption of Creation more than all of us combined in all of history, and he ain't throwin' the towel until the job is finished with the last straggler home. So I shouldn't either.The first Sunday Jon came through our door with his family we had zero idea we'd be baptizing him yesterday. We'd have missed the miracle if we'd packed up and headed for gentler parts.

Lastly, I realize Jon's baptism is not the end of his journey. Its another threshold he walked through to find and shoulder the work God has with his name on it .And we at imagine get to walk beside him as we do all our missional work together, blending gifts and facing challenges for as long as he has us sharing the same path.. That excites me more than a little. I plan to be here to see it and live it.

Thanks, Jon.

Thanks, Amy.

Thanks, Iris.

Thanks, "Clellan."

And thank you, Jesus, for getting us all up here in the first place!

When My Good Morning Failed Its Blessing.

2011-08-04T14:07:00.002-04:00

One of the ways we try to connect with Northampton, especially from a spiritual perspective is by prayerwalking. I've mentioned this before on Facebook and here.

In our walking with praying, we prefer the early morning when we and the day are fresh. The city is waking up, but there is still a feel of peace and calm. Most the time, though, we encounter other people: joggers, walkers, dog-strollers, Pedal People, cops, people getting coffee and going to work, sanitation workers, young mothers with strollers, and homeless folks. There isn't a throng of them, but they're out with us.

Over the last few months we've made it a point to say "Good Morning" to folks walking past us from the other direction or sitting near us as we walk by. Not everyone "telegraphs" they are ready for a "Good Morning," so we're sensitive, but if we err, we err on the side trying to brighten a day. We see the unadorned, cheerful little greeting as a blessing; that people we pass by would encounter good as they wend their way through their mornings. So many people's days are filled with anxiety, frustration, boredom, hurry-up and less than pleasant encounters with all sorts of other people. Greeting strangers with blessing feels worth doing for its own sake. Perhaps it will be the only pleasant words someone will hear said to them all day.

As we've done this, I've noticed we almost always get a reaction. For many, it is surprise. Perhaps they were lost in thought, or they're just not used to people on the street offering a greeting. It jolts them like: "Did you really say that to me?" For many, as well, the next reaction is a smile and a returned "Good Morning." It's pleasant and seems received in the manner it was intended. Although, I'll also admit a few folks respond with a flat affect as if they know the routine and need to be polite. There's no heart in it- almost like an autonomic reaction. That's OK. They got chance to practice their humanity.

Sometimes we get no response at all. The person looks resolutely ahead sending a clear message they are not interested one wit. That's OK too.

Today, however, I (Tricia was not with me for this leg of the morning's p-walk), got a response unlike any other to date. I'd just begun to head up Finn Street, and noticed to my left, a women in her mid-60's sitting on her porch. She was smoking and looking to be getting some air or just relaxing. As I walked close to her house, I made my greeting to her. She actually grimaced, and then slightly shook her head no. She then said, turning her head away from me, "You have no right to say that to me." She said something right after, but because I kept walking I couldn't make it out. Clearly, she felt deeply troubled to me, and it was more than annoyance. She was in pain somehow. Her life was hurting her because of death or betrayal or illness or loss or stress too much to bear. It was palpable, all in a just few seconds. It was almost as if my "Good Morning" was a kick to the stomach or adding insult to injury.

As I kept walking I was a little stunned by what I'd witnessed. Such a response had not happened on any of our walks and greetings. I also felt a surge of sadness and compassion for her. I didn't turn around and go back because I, in no way, wanted to cross her boundary. I wish I could've heard her story and offered help, comfort or encouragement. I prayed God's blessing and care over her and her family. It's all I could do.

As I thought about it further, her instantaneous and pained look and firm gesture of "no" revealed a depth of wounding which seemed to have crushed her life. If you could have seen her expression, you would have recognized she was not merely being cantankerous. It felt as if my words were more than she could take at that movement.

But it was what she said that stuck me most. What did she mean I had no right to say "Good Morning" to her? What was she associating me with? Granted, I was a stranger initiating an exchange she'd not invited, but why did she see it as so offensive? I touched a raw nerve having never meant to and she felt I'd exercised a right I'd not been given. As I said, it made me sad she was offended by me. I meant no harm; I meant good.

More than likely I'll not see her again. I will go back to Finn Street, however. I 'd love the chance to apologize to her, but I'll be very sensitive to walk by if she at all signals to be left alone.

You just never know what a prayerwalk and offering "Good Mornings" will surface.

Just Checking In.

2011-07-20T14:46:00.000-04:00

For those who've been reading my blog regularly, you've noticed I stopped for 5 or so weeks, perhaps beset by writer's block, or maybe abducted by mad fur traders wending their way north . . . something like that.

Nope.

Truth be told, I've feeling a little blank and could think of nothing to write about which might be interesting to explore or had my mind captivated. I've been a tad blah. You know, when the mental "whatever's" overrun you and they slowly snuff inspiration or insight. The words for writing stay put and the screen blank.

So rather than writing, I've been reading about musicianship, thinking about drumming and, well, drumming. I'm playing in this eclectic jazz trio with guitarist Jon Hill and bassist Jim LaMontagne. They're both imagineers (sometimes I also call imagine/Northampton people imaginistas, imaginarians or imaginati). We've been after the music since before Christmas and we're beginning to find our own voice. Soon, (when we have the cash), we'll go in the studio to record a demo, and use it book some gigs. Booking gigs will enable us to add our artistic voices to the Northampton's arts conversation. We've always wanted to connect with, and support this arts culture here. I still have to say that drumming since 15 years of age remains one of the prime ways I feel most alive on this planet.

Rather than writing, I've also been working at doing a job search. I'm lousy at it, always have been. But because these days are seriously lean financially for us, i.e., my work as a counselor has substantially dried up, I need to find other work, at least part-time. Given the missional mindset I've embraced, it makes a great deal of sense to get a job in the community and connect with folks who don't follow Jesus. So I plod forward with resume building, familiarizing myself with the work environment around these parts, and exploring where I might fit. To be embarrassingly honest, my heart is not very much in it, but I know I must to get out there.

Rather than writing, I've been exercising and prayerwalking. I'm in a middling spiritual malaise, perhaps even mildly depressed with all the financial stress we've been under. Getting the blood flowing, taxing my body some, and clearing my head with prayer and supplication in the early morning has been a refreshing spiritual wellspring. My prayer has been fervent for us, imagine and Northampton, particularly a handful of people I know who do not follow Jesus . . . yet. Added blessing is the fact I'm losing some weight and strengthening, which lightens my mood. Prayer and push ups work to clear the fog.

Rather than writing, I'm still working into the missional way of life, continuing to read/study the best practitioners in the world on the subject. Such a way of life has become a passion for me. In turn, I've been pondering imagine's missional future and examining how we fit as it develops. There's bit of restlessness percolating in me as if the horizon hints something new, or another trail. I'm not sure, but it has that feel. I've been familiar with it all my life being a pioneer and a cultural explorer. Perhaps it will be a further development of our imagine/Northampton mission, or an extension of the mission elsewhere, a new way of being imagine, or something completely out of view now. Maybe it just means going strategically deeper into what we are doing in town. Time will tell as the Holy Spirit enables.

Don't read we want to leave or are losing interest. We would never just abandon imagine merely because we felt dissatisfied or wanted a change. We are committed true believers in what God has called us to do here.

All in all, it's been a weird summer with a curious mix of emotional undercurrents and tugs. There've been places of life and laughter intermingling with places of anxiety and fatiguing struggles in these weeks. I know I'll pass through it all intact and on my way to imagine's fall and winter. Hope tracks me down eventually and passion returns ready to roll forward. I've always liked that.

And, I might be writing about the Missio Dei, the Kingdom of God, communitas and incarnating the way of Jesus in our communities pretty soon. I think I still have words waiting to join the parade.

Putting Fresh Meat on imagine/Northampton's Byline.

2011-06-13T18:11:00.000-04:00

A few years back when imagine was still a hope and a dream, we settled on the following byline to capture the spirit of our vision and mission:

Helping People Discover the God Who Is Far More Than They Imagine.

As with any byline, it can tend to get threadbare and lose meaning with overuse, so I thought I'd do some refreshing. I think our statement of desire is filled with rich meaning and wonderful implications if you look at it closely.

1. Helping: Properly translated in imaginese helping really refers to drawing alongside of someone to build an authentic, mutually meaningful relationship where opportunity for heart-to-heart conversation gradually can become part of the fabric. Through earnest loving and serving a person, a person might give you the chance to explain the "hope that is in" you because of what Jesus has done, and who he really is. Thus, helping in this way is more than merely evangelizing, winning souls, or "sharing our testimony." It's rather more like "because I genuinely love you, and have shown it in a way you've come to trust, may I open you to what has brought such life, healing, or (you fill in the blank) to me? Telling your Jesus story (1Peter 3:15) then becomes giving your greatest treasure to someone who really matters to you. If they choose to explore, then it is also our privileged responsibility to lovingly help them through whatever wrestling may take place for however long it takes.

BTW: I hope it goes without saying that even if they say "thanks, but no thanks," you stay being their friend.

2. People: That means everyone regardless of prior belief, age, race/ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, political affiliation, culture, or even where they fall on the dreaded Yankee/Red Sox divide. Every person bears the image of God and is more than worthy of we loving and serving them, even if they function as an enemy or irritant to us. People are the focus of our helping, especially those God has put in our midst, and in whom he is already at work. Being gracious to all should be the "way we roll." This gets interesting when God wants us to start relating to folks far different from us. We can feel uncomfortable even anxious, but God wants us to learn how to love and serve them in spite of initial awkwardness or substantial unfamiliarity. They may never respond, but not for lack of our being willing.

3. Discover: (def: bringing to light something previously unknown.) If we do the work God has given imagine we will help people become aware of the God we've come to know and follow. While it is his work and his alone to change a heart or regenerate a person, it's our task to do everything we can in helping someone apprehend the possibility of him, to perhaps perceive who he is intuitively, or grasp intellectually the ontological reality of such a God. To do that we must listen well, both to the Holy Spirit and the person. We must be gracious, humble and patient, always looking for creative ways to help people make a connection with Jesus without being ham-fisted or argumentative. We need to prove nothing. He will make his case in their hearts. We merely make the effort to help them see him through our story, and how try to we live. We ultimately desire discovery to be "come and see," but it must never be forced, scripted or manipulated.

I'm also assuming we should spend substantial time praying for the person(s) God has led us to. We will be entreating the Father to draw this person to the Son (John 6:44) Prayer opens the way. It is a mysterious and powerful interaction with God which brings the life of the Kingdom into our present reality.

4. The God Who Is: At imagine, we understand this God as the singularly Most High God of the Old and New Testaments. In the OT, he is known as Yahweh Elohim, the all-powerful "I Am That I Am, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In the NT, he is known as the Trinitarian Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is seen as the Messiah, King of Kings and Lord of Lords who "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men." (John 1:1-4) Our God who is, according to John, is "the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. It is him we follow, serve and work to help others discover with the guidance of the Holy Spirit in us. It is through this Most High God Who became flesh and dwelt among the first believers, by his Most High God Who became flesh and dwells by His Spirit among us, and for this Most High God in Whom we live and move and have our being such that imagine/Northampton exists at all.

He is our beginning and our end, our sine qua non and highest aspiration.

5. Far More Than: This Creator and Redeemer God cannot be contained in our conception of him. The only reason anyone in this world comes to know him whatsoever is because he reveals it to them. Our minds cannot fully apprehend his glory, majesty, beauty, or power. And yet, because Jesus became one of us, through the Holy Spirit we can come to know him, and thus receiving his love and forgiveness. Nonetheless, he cannot be contained in a book or a painting or a theology or a mystical experience. Nothing we can experience or apprehend through our mind or senses can move past scratching the surface of who he is on this side of heaven. We have nothing to compare him to beyond the glimpses he has gives through his Spirit. At imagine, we want people who follow gods of this world or no god at all to journey toward this God with us, and experience being loved by him who fashioned them and put his image on them.

6. They Imagine: [from Latin imāginārī to fancy, picture mentally, from imāgō likeness] In our mission to help people discover him we want them to freshly imagine and wonder toward, dream about, create, and enflesh the Kingdom of this God who frees, heals and restores people to life. His Kingdom contains the way of true life and liberty because it's animated by unexpected grace and love. It upholds values like humility, goodness, gentleness, kindness and compassion. This Kingdom teaches a way of life counter-intuitive to what most people have come to accept as "the way it is" in our culture.

We also want to "see" what could be because of Jesus and his Kingdom. We want redemptive "what-if''s" to spill from hearts full of courage (enheartenment) to see good things come to be: enlivening and healing things, refreshing and soul-liberating things for so many bent over by the tremendous weight of their lives. We want God to stretch our imaginations so we can "come and see" well-past where we could imagine when we first came to Northampton.

A byline which animates the spirit and heart of a people carries within it the seeds of new life which can multiply way beyond their small beginnings because it has the potential to manifest remarkably what God wants from his summoning them in the first place.

May the same be said of ours...

A Simple Obedience at Steve's "Kiosk."

2011-06-04T19:58:00.000-04:00

This morning I was up early descending the 3 flights of stairs from our apartment and heading out onto the street for an early morning walk. As I came out the front door, I looked to my left and saw Steve setting up what he slyly with a wink and smile calls his "kiosk," his normal spot to spend the day waiting for the financial kindness of strangers to fill his can.

He didn't see me, but I thought I'd catch him on the way back. For some curious reason, as I was walking to deposit garbage where we do, I remembered a conversation I'd had yesterday with Sherry, a homeless woman we've known for a year. She was standing in for Steve at his "kiosk" so he could attend to the bathroom or get something to eat. Almost immediately, as I recalled talking to her, I heard God say I should offer to "stand in" so Steve can take a break if he needed to. It seemed like a wonderful way to bless him - one I'd not thought of. He would not expect it.

Well wouldn't you know it, just as I headed up Pleasant Street retuning from my garbage run, there was Steve lighting up a used smoke 15 yards ahead of me. I greeted him and asked how he was doing. He told me he was in search of a can. Voila! That was my cue, so I asked him if he needed anyone to watch his stuff while he searched. His face lit up with a smile and asked "Really?" I said, "Yup!" He was delighted. Off he went and off I went.

I walked up to his spot in front of CVS on Main Street and immediately felt self-conscious, a sort of "What do I think I'm doing here?" I don't look homeless. Will people who are used to seeing Steve there - he's kind of a fixture- wonder what the heck I'm doing? So, I just stood sheepishly next to his stuff. God said, "Step right into where he usually stands." I hesitated liked a nimnul, inched half way in (seriously), and then the rest. Even though there was hardly anyone out and about, I still felt self-conscious. A few people were going into Brueggher's and CVS. They didn't seemed too concerned.

Really??? I don't stand out like a sore thumb?

The thing is, in this simple way I was breaking new ground personally. So much of what God has been up to in my life with him since moving up here has been about pushing me past my comfort. When I was living in CT, I never could've imagined me doing even such a simple gesture of kindness as watching a homeless man's gear for a few moments, but there I was. He's not thrown me into the deep end of the missional pool yet, but he might on of these days if I'm faithful in little things like what I did this morning, the hesitating and sheepishness notwithstanding.

Steve returned shortly and thanked me profusely. He's a kindhearted and humble man as I mentioned last month. He's one of the men I've been praying John 6:44 over. I went and got him a coffee, said goodbye, and headed out for my walk.

I was really tickled God had spoken to me and then provided immediately the opportunity to respond. I know it's a very small gesture of grace, but for me it represents progress in the direction I want to keep heading and never look back. I want to get better at obeying when God says to act in the moment, especially when it has something to do with showing forth the love of Jesus to his broken or forgotten ones.

My spirits were buoyant as I left him. I had a prayerwalk the likes of which I've not had in a while. My heart entreated the Father to open the Kingdom to Northampton. I prayed hard for everyone of imagine's people, all my family members, and the three men I'm asking the Father to draw to the Son. I was more focused and fervent than I've been in weeks. I don't know exactly, but obeying seemed to loosen something in me.

Perhaps a simple, unexpected obedience cracked open the door.

Are You Still Fascinated With Jesus and His Kingdom Way?

2011-05-27T14:22:00.000-04:00

Over the last few months, through a number of ministry activities where God has challenged me to raise the bar in talking about (and trying to live) what it means to follow Jesus in light of what he actually said was the way, a persisting thought occurred to me:

"The people I've read about in the Scriptures and in books written by or about Jesus-followers who had a substantial, faithful Kingdom influence on their world, were all utterly fascinated by Jesus and his Gospel of the Kingdom."

An uncommon passion and remarkable devotion characterized their following him. They were gripped and they persevered in it even if their lives were consistently hard, or they suffered mightily for their devotion. They were captivated, enthralled and so taken by him and his message that they surrendered their hearts and followed hard after him until death. They were broken men and women for sure, but they lived from a single-minded fire in their bellies.

Conversely, I thought how throngs of us in churches all over America, if we honestly and courageously reflected, would realize we live from accommodated, divided, tepid hearts in matters of authentic discipleship. We're deeply embedded in the American Dream (or our cherished version of it) which defines the good life as one of pursuing our preference for comfort, security and fulfilled aspirations. As Americans, we instinctively place a high value on the freedom to pursue what promises to make us fulfilled and content - what gives us personal meaning. In that sense, we are substantially-devoted followers of the American Promise of individual "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

But over the last few months, I've talked with a number Christian people completely enmeshed in lives becoming increasingly unmanageable. As a result, they've sunk into a spiritual malaise much like sleep-walking. The demands of actually following Jesus as he speaks of it in the Gospels appear impossible given the frazzled lifestyles most of us accept without "counting the cost" of so doing. Truth be told, many of us are enslaved to debt, fracturing busyness, and the strain to maintain our particular status quo, i.e., "It is what it is."

I also realize that the lukewarm followership many live is not what Jesus modeled and summoned them to, perhaps not even what they "signed up for." The problem remains they're so entangled in the spiritually unexamined way of life they accommodate and its overwhelming consequences, they've come to a kind of spiritual stasis, and have gradually sunk into the religious duty of mostly just showing up at church on Sunday. I know that's not what initially pulled them to Jesus, but it's now what they've settled for and worse, come to expect.

So I've done a little thinking about what is this fascination with Jesus, and subsequently adopting his way. Here's what I've come up with so far:

1. Jesus fascination is a work of God offered to all his people, but we need to persistently desire and long for it.
2. It grows from the accumulated benefits of pursuing intimacy with Jesus through the spiritual disciplines, especially listening prayer, study of the Scriptures (particularly the Gospels), and reflective examination of how a person is actually living.
3. Jesus fascination is best modeled and passed on by individuals in a consistent "life on life" relationship.
4. It is also nurtured in a community of believers who are jointly habitually working on following Jesus, and living his way of life guided by his subversively redemptive values.
5. A person fascinated with Jesus will "be in the world, but not of the world"; his or her fascination gradually will not be surrendered to the prevailing worldly or surrounding cultural fascinations and loyalties.
6. Jesus fascination will result in a man or woman willingly embracing what matters most to him, and obediently conforming all to his values and way of life, whether it be through career, raising a family, recreation, use of money, time or talent, etc.
7. Jesus fascination ultimately will lead to a habit of joy, a transcending humility, a freeing life of love, stubborn peace, and surprising Kingdom transformations.

I realize fascination with Jesus is not a feeling or a project or the domain of the spiritually elite. It's a gift of grace to a heart which longs for authenticity, depth and making a difference through service in the Kingdom. Fascination is not just admiring Jesus from the pew, focusing mostly on sin management as the best we can do, helping the pastor if he asks every once in a while. Nor is it listening your favorite Christian music and reading your favorite Christian authors. It's not even taking that once-in-a lifetime mission's trip or singing in the choir.

It's more a matter of the transformed, rejuvenated heart and will. Paul summed it well in 12:1-2 of his letter to the Church in Rome when he said because of the extraordinary mercies of God, our reasonable (intelligent) response is to present ourselves to God as "living sacrifices" utterly surrendered to his purposes and glory. Paul also warns us, therefore, not to be conformed outwardly to what the world (in rebellion from God) continually tries to entice us to prize, submit to, and live. Because we are literally new creations in Christ we should not submit. Rather, Paul says we are to change our thinking so that what is presented to us by the world, is put it to the test of God's standards, and thus we can apprehend what is valuable and pleasing to him. Therefore, fascination is a 24/7 response of worship, i.e., surrendering all as a fascinated living sacrifice, fully engaged and fully devoted.

If you can't say this about yourself, don't settle for "Oh, well." Complacency stinks. Go talk to someone you admire and ask for help. In fact, ask God to begin clearing the jam-packed decks of your life so you can find a mentor and become trained to follow Jesus with all you've got. When everything's said and done, it doesn't matter nearly as much as you think about how important you are to the business right now, or what your neighbors will say if the lawn isn't mowed every Saturday, or your kids need to be on every sports team known to man because, for sure, they'll be complete failures in life if they aren't. (You know I'm poking a little fun, right?)

The point is Jesus is summoning you to pick up your cross and get on with it. Did I mention He's the Lord of all and he picked you to follow him from a fascinated and courageous heart?

At the same time, some of you, I know, are tired and discouraged. You are living under great stress and pressure. The problems you face seem infinitely more than there are solutions. Maybe sin has got you ground down and your life is hidden or out of control. Perhaps you've been hurt by people in the church and question if any of this is real at all. Maybe church and Christianity just seem boring and pointless. Even so, the reality is, because it's the living God we're referring to, whatever has dulled your heart can be revived by him. So earnestly pray for fascination, and go find someone who is fascinated by and following hard after him. A simple conversation can open God's fascinating future for you. Try it.

My Third Spiritual Paradigm Shift.

2011-05-13T17:22:00.000-04:00

def:"paradigm shift": a change from one way of thinking to another. It's a revolution, a transformation, a sort of metamorphosis. It just does not happen, but rather it is driven by agents of change.

Another use of the word paradigm is in the sense of Weltanschauung (German for world view). For example, in social science, the term is used to describe the set of experiences, beliefs and values that affect the way an individual perceives reality and responds to that perception. Social scientists have adopted the Kuhnian phrase "paradigm shift" to denote a change in how a given society goes about organizing and understanding reality.

Recently, I experienced a spiritual epiphany. Based on noticing I was spending more and more time studying what it means to be missional in following Jesus, including how to help others at imagine do the same (the inward/OUTWARD Spiritual Formation Workshop, for instance), I realized I was experiencing a paradigm shift similar to two previous shifts which revolutionized my Christian worldview. Each shift has deepened my understanding of walking in the way of Jesus. They've altered my reality to the degree I could not return to what how I'd lived before.

Paradigm Shift #1: Becoming a Christian.

When Christ opened me to the reality "he is," my life took a turn. A true metamorphosis had occurred. I was a truly born a second time, a "new creation in Christ," full of wonder in the new world the eyes of my heart saw for the first time. While I was still a jazz musician living in Boston with friends I'd come with from Albuquerque, I'd found something which remained very foreign to them (ultimately separating us), and utterly new to me. My life's trajectory was now altered in ways, at the time, I couldn't even imagine. I had no idea what lie ahead, but I knew an encompassing new reality was opened to me, a strange and magnificent new way of being tugging me inexorably into the enticing unknown. Many years later in my second spiritual paradigm shift, I'd recognize whispers of this new way were near very me, but I couldn't make them out.

Paradigm Shift #2: Inner Healing, Learning Listening Prayer, the Spiritual Gifts, and Retreat Ministry.

At about age 35, the Holy Spirit deemed it the appointed time to jostle my world. I was not in on that conference call. Nevertheless, change was foisted upon me. First, it came in the form of entering into a year-long journey of substantial inner healing. I had father issues mucking up my emotional works and putting severe limits on my confidence as a man. I went kicking and screaming, but I went and Jesus painstakingly unbound me. I experienced what it was like to not have emasculating fear and self-hatred.

Soon after my year of unbuckling, my brother-in-law, Steve, called to rave about a book he'd read concerning prayer. I've always known him to be a man of prayer, so when a man of prayer tells you a book has revolutionized his prayer life, not to mention his painting (he's a world-class artist), you pay attention. I bought the book, Dialoguing With God by Mark & Patti Virkler, read it and began to get up in the wee hours to listen to God with my journal in hand. What happened to me was as monumental as my conversion. I heard God's "still, small voice," and he told me things about himself and me that opened to me intimacy with him. Another deepening happened and I've never been the same. In fact to me, listening prayer is part of the "normal Christian life."

About that same time, my brother, Stacy (who is a pastor in Albuquerque with my sister-in-law, KayKay), called me out of the blue saying that God wanted me to be baptized in the Spirit. Such baptism had never been a burning issue with me. Tricia spoke in tongues, but it was always a quiet and intimate, personal prayer language. No big deal to me really. So, he visited. We talked for a day or two. On the day he was to leave, he and Tricia prayed over me. Nothing happened, so I went out to the backyard by myself and told God if this was something he wanted me to have, I wanted it. Voila! All this stuff bubbled up from somewhere, and I was hearing sounds coming from my mouth new, exotic and wonderful. Not only that, just after I was prayed for in church for the gift to teach, and in one way or another I've been doing so for 25+ years. I now experienced an intimacy with, and trust of the Holy Spirit beyond what had been a part of my life. A new reality opened to me, changing my spiritual awareness.

In 1988, Tricia and I, through another God-breathed set of circumstances, were invited to take the Elders from our church (The Barn) on a retreat. We'd never led a retreat. We knew how to listen to God, so we listened and put together a 3-day retreat from what we knew, and God blew their socks off. We were invited to take residence at the Center For Renewal, and gradually lead the church through Listening in Christ Retreats. In that same time, our counseling and spiritual direction ministries were birthed with no initiating from us, and we witnessed God use us to help people heal and experience the intimate love of Jesus for them.

My entire world would focus on such work through the late 80's and up to 2008. It was how I experienced the Presence of God most clearly, and what I saw as the way Christians were to live. Before my own healing and introduction to the contemplative spiritual disciplines, none of what I spent those 20 years doing was on the radar screen.

Paradigm Shift #3: Taking on the missional way of following Jesus and being church.

In the late fall of 2007, I came down with shingles and for almost two months was flat on my back. While the pain was very unpleasant, the fatigue was numbing, except . . .

As is my wont sometimes, I will purchase books which seem to leap to my attention, even if I have no express interest at first. In each spiritual paradigm shift, God has enticed me to books which would turn out to be pivotal with what he was doing in me or would do through me. So on the nightstand I already had Frost and Hirsch's The Shaping of Things to Come, Erwin McManus's An Unstoppable Force, and Greg Cole's Organic Church. I don't know why I had them. Keep in mind, church planting had never been an aspiration of mine. So I opened the books because I needed something to occupy my mind, and I felt unmistakably nudged to do so. The idea of living a missional way of life exploded in my head from there. I was hooked.

Within months, I and others became convinced we were supposed to plant a church in Northampton and take up the missional way of being church. None of us had ever done that before. It was compelling and 3 families voted with their feet to head north.

It has not ended with getting to Northampton. My paradigmatic shift has gone has gone further. Now, I can't imagine returning to my former way of walking with Jesus, or being part of a church ministry. Neither were pointless or unfruitful. I had rich times with dedicated lovers of Jesus. It's just that my eyes have been opened as profoundly as I when knew Christ was real at my conversion, or as I heard him speak to me the first time in listening prayer. My spiritual world morphed and became both unfamiliar and as if I'd been made for this new iteration.

I understand so much more about Jesus and his lion-hearted, revolutionary, subversive, counter-cultural, redemptive mission, what the Kingdom is and how it actually works, what the Church is supposed to be in the world, and how all believers are missionaries by definition whether they embrace it or not. I see church structure and culture differently, how leadership is supposed to work, and how we are to break through walls that stigmatize, neglect, oppress and divide peoples. Justice and love and freedom fill my thoughts in a way they never did. Love is the means by which people open to Jesus and choose to give themselves away in life-giving service.

While I still counsel and do spiritual direction, I view my role as a Spiritual Formation Catalyst in a more pastoral, mentoring, discipling way. I want to equip people who cross over imagine/Northampton's threshold and stick, to be fully engaged and devoted followers of Jesus their Lord and King. I now spend time getting to know and helping folks I'd shy away from a few years ago. I see their humanity, not their societal tag. I never did that before. I want to influence the community for the Kingdom.

Each paradigm shift has been God's work. Each links together providing a spiritual foundation for what he summoned me to next. Without each, I'd not have found any of what he called me to.
In reality, I don't know if the third is my last shift this side of heaven. I know seeing Jesus and his glory will pretty much be the zenith. What a curious and remarkable (for someone like me), journey it has all been. I foresaw none of it.

Perhaps my most fervent hope is that what these shifts were set to accomplish in and through me will do just that and more, so as the books are closed on my life, I fulfilled what I was made to do in spite of myself.

Wouldn't that be marvelous. Make it so, Lord.

A Little Window Into a Bigger Picture: Northampton Street Life.

2011-05-05T08:51:00.000-04:00

As it often happens on the street, the incident unfolded quickly and ended almost as quickly - a wisp of life amidst the homeless and the addicted.

Steve is an alcoholic veteran with a serious back problem and a gentle soul. He mans his position just a few paces up from us on Main Street. There, he often stands all day long and into the night with his walking stick, cardboard sign, and assorted milk cartons waiting for kind strangers to drop a few dollars (more often coins), into his coffee can. He is neither aggressive nor belligerent. He merely asks and waits. Every few days he will use his "earnings" to get lit up. Other times, he'll get something to eat or use it for some other need.

I've been talking to Steve for a year or so and have a soft spot in my heart for him. He's not a bad man. He'll call himself a "screw-up" hanging low his head when he does. I see the face of Jesus.

So Matt, Karen, Tricia and I were heading home from a lovely evening of catching up over dinner together last Tuesday night. We were standing in front of our building saying good-byes when a commotion caught our attention. I turned to my left and saw Steve chasing (in his back-injury, hobbling sort of way), and yelling at three guys walking toward us. At first, I couldn't tell what the issue was, but Steve was yelling, and it was obvious from his agitation, they had done something to him.

I'd seen these guys before. Two of them are serious alcoholics and often cause trouble when they're lit up. One of them has been here for a while, the other for a few days. The third guy hangs with them, but is a more quiet drunk.

As they got closer to us, Steve confronted them and watrying to recover what one of them was holding. I saw it was the American flag he puts in a milk crate to signify he's a Vet. Steve caught up to them, yelling to beat the band (filling the air with obscenities) and demanding his property. He was able to snatch it back while his outrage smoldered. He wasn't going to let this guy take from him a piece of his identity. As the trio walked past us with Steve trailing behind, the thief was smirking. They rounded the corner and Steve, stopped just to our right and screamed something about they were messing with the wrong guy. He was still livid.

As he turned back and saw us. He recognized our faces softened, and apologized for his language. I asked him what had happened and he told me one of the guys took the flag and wouldn't give it back unless he coughed up five dollars. He wasn't going to have any of it and the brief altercation ensued.

We told him his response was understandable given the attempted theft and bullying. We affirmed his right to protect his property and defend himself. A few minutes later as Matt and Karen were walking home, we stopped by his "spot" to make sure he was OK. He'd calmed down, verbally rattled his sabre a bit, and seemed genuinely grateful for our concern and affirmation.

I point out the incident because it's a pericope (lit. a piece cut out from) of what people living on the streets in Northampton experience regularly. The streets are mean, and when you mix drugs or alcohol with the human lust for dominance, it can be viciously ugly and sometimes tragic. These guys push each other around. They are always probing for weakness, and looking to steal from one another. The strong exploit the weak with relish.

On the other hand, the incident we witnessed reminded me of the winsome beauty Christ-following community can reflect to a world riddled with meanness and inhumanity. Our response to Steve's personhood calmed him down. We affirmed his value by supporting his right to defend himself and protect the little he has. We gently spoke life into the senseless chaos that erupted around him.

Granted no one died or even was hurt (at least physically), but the pain and outrage in him was palpable. It threatened to remind him once again that he doesn't matter, no one cares and he doesn't really exist.

Jesus had us there at that moment to tell him just the opposite. I'm grateful for that.

My Huzzahs for imagine/Northampton's FEAST, April 24, 2011.

2011-04-29T11:56:00.000-04:00

It's been 5 days since the FEAST. We are still enjoying reflecting and talking about what God pulled off on Easter Sunday. So, I need to begin my post with a simple, exuberant "HUZZAH!" For those of you not born as early as the 16th century, you've probably not used this shout of exclamation. "HUZZAH" expresses joy, applause, or appreciation. It's similar to "Yay," or "Hurray." I love the word and feel it appropriate to what happened at FEAST.
HUZZAH Number One:

I must celebrate God who answered our prayer that his guests would feel special; despite their circumstances, they mattered and he delighted in blessing them on this Day of days. Everyone I spoke with, including guys who referred to their address as "in the woods," was blown away by how they were treated and served. The beauty of the room and how the table was set elegantly, the lavish menu, including desserts you'd find at a 4-star restaurant, and the kindness shown them by the team and volunteers sent a clear message. People were overwhelmed saying things such as: "I've never eaten a meal like this," or "I feel I was treated like a king," or "This is amazing!" He honored our desire to create a good memory for people.

HUZZAH Number Two:

God's faithfulness has also been remarkable. In a very quiet, consistent manner he provided all we needed to do FEAST. For such a tiny church as we are, doing the event was a humongous step of faith. We asked for more money than we ever had for a single event. We'd never asked before for the number of volunteers we'd need to augment our team. Also, we really had no idea how many guests would show up for the event. Even though we printed over 200 invitations (to get a handle on numbers), and organizations such as the Northampton Survival Center, the GAP Program, and the Interfaith Shelter faithfully handed out all we gave them, there was no guarantee anyone would come through the doors on Easter.

What if we raised all this money, had all these volunteers, and hardly anyone showed? We didn't want to waste people's generosity. But neither could we predict or control any of the seeming essentials. God kept us in the place of utter dependence right through the event. This would be his deal and his alone.

Well, what a deal it was. We had more than we needed financially, and both the Northampton Center for the Arts, and the Northampton Rental Center gave us a break either with price or time. We also had 31 volunteers from 5 Churches in MA and CT. College Church in Northampton provided some of those volunteers and also let us use their kitchen facilities for 2 days. The BARN in Simsbury, CT, the church we came from, generously gave us kitchen equipment and table cloths we would've needed to rent otherwise.

God provided all we needed and then some.

HUZZAH Number Three:

You'd expect a ton of work needed to be done in order to prepare and pull off and such an event. It was complex, but the imagine team and all the volunteers rose to the occasion with aplomb. All the logistics needed to be planned such as procuring the place, designing invitations and fliers, creating task instruction sheets for the volunteers, getting musicians and rehearsing the music (in Hartford), alerting social service agencies in Northampton, buying and preparing all the food, setting up the event space the day before, instructing and coordinating volunteers, serving the meal, and cleaning up. All our helpers (old and new friends) rose marvelously to the occasion, and worked as a good-natured team. They each added to the atmosphere and tone of the event.

I'm especially proud of our imagine team who with gracious skill tackled what needed to be done, and served our guests with heart and spirit.

Hospitality abounded.

Special kudos to:

Tricia McDermott for her unflappable ability to create an atmosphere of beauty, see the big picture from beginning to end, take care of critical details in the preparation phases, and orchestrate on the fly a myriad of details to keep FEAST moving forward.
Ashley Oldham for asking great questions in the planning, connecting and building relationships with local Social Service agencies to get the word out, and instructing and coordinating volunteers on the day of the event.
Jenn Swick for her can-do attitude and ability to tackle any task asked of her with skill; being able to cover multiple bases during the FEAST event itself.
Sara Loomis for her work at continously keeping a smooth flow of food moving from the kitchen to the serving tables, and back.
Vicki Oldham's skill with taking on the major task of preparing the banquet table and coffee station, to ensure everything needed was ready, then breaking it all down efficiently.

The grandest HUZZAH for me was witnessing the germ of an idea from Luke 14:12-24 gradually unfold under the generous guiding hand of God. Experiencing him do that so our faith was strengthened and deepened in the process has been extremely gratifying. He lead us as a church beyond ourselves, taking us past our own resources and abilities, and giving everything necessary to create a FEAST. We can testify to his unparalleled ability to fulfill what he desires through smallness. He pulled believers together from different churches to work in unity. He gave money and help from people in Northampton, MA, CT and beyond. He brought 75 guests, most of them strangers to us, and knocked their socks off.

In the end, by what he did, he said, "You can do this, because I will do it, and want you to walk with me as I do. See my glory manifested in your littleness."

I AM El Shaddai: "The All-Sufficient God"
I AM El-Channun: "The Gracious God"
I AM El-Hanne'eman: "The Faithful God"
I AM El Elyon: "The Most High God"

HUZZAH Indeed!

Team member Nate Oldham took all these lovely pictures and many more. Check him out: http://oldhamn.wordpress.com/

Our FEAST Faith-Journey.

2011-04-19T11:17:00.000-04:00

In 5 days we will host FEAST, http://imaginefeast.wordpress.com/, the largest planned event we've undertaken since we launched imagine/Northampton almost 3 years ago. Last year's Halloween event will be larger (350 people), but that large turnout wasn't planned. Remember, we're tiny in number, but we're learning to trust this God "who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is (already) at work within us." (Eph. 3:20) I also think God has given imagineers big hearts, and a willingness to take risk for the Kingdom beyond where we're comfortable.

Or we're just crazy . . . (the good kind that changes lives).

One of the remarkable aspects of the FEAST journey has been how God has completely engineered the process such that faith must be our anchor. For instance, we have no real idea who or how many are coming. I know that sounds daft, but because most of the population of folks we want to bless are out of our range of direct influence, we've had to rely primarily on Northampton Social Service agencies such as The Northampton Survival Center, and the Interfaith Shelter to pass out the invitations we made. We've talked to folks on the street and a few others engaged in feeding the homeless and poor, but there are no hard numbers to rely on. We're planning for 175 to 200. We might get 20 or 300; it depends on who you talk to. So, it's up to God.

Then, there's the small matter of money. In house, we don't have anywhere near the resources to fund this ourselves. We determined $4000 was needed to offer a special meal, one Jesus's guests would remember with warm smiles. We've never asked for or raised that much for a single event. Reality was: no money, no FEAST. Would God do it? The answer's been YES! With pledges and what has been already given, we're very near our goal. 30 generous people have chipped in. Faith strengthens and deepens when you're beyond your ability and God has a clear field to operate.

The next question was: how are we going to get everything done to prepare, and then serve that many folks on Easter? As I mentioned, we really are tiny in number. We got out the word, and Jesus-followers from THE BARN in Simsbury, College Church and Smith College in Northampton, Mercy House in Amherst, St. David's Episcopal Church in Agawam, and Southwick Community Episcopal Church in Southwick climbed aboard to help. Our daughters, Eslie and Alyn are helping. A gifted, young artist named Kait created advertising materials and invitations. People are donating food. College Church is letting us use their kitchens to cook. The BARN is letting us use some of their kitchen stuff, such as warming trays. We have wonderful musicians donating their time: Jen and Kris Allen, Deb Davis and Michael Kelly Blanchard. The Northampton Center for the Arts is letting us get in the day before to set up tables.

Tricia is leading the charge. The regulars in our church are taking responsibility, and some are tackling the early preparations and logistics. Everyone will be there for the event.

What I've observed because of the FEAST faith-journey:

1. Risk-taking for the Kingdom mission is the normal Christian life. Anything less seems missing the point.
2. Fear is a formidable foe, always asking: "What makes you think you can do this? How do you know God called you to do it, anyway? You actually think anyone's going to show up?"
3. Unbelief salted with a little Satan sewage says things like: "There's no point trying this. You guys are losers. You'll never raise the money. Nobody cares. This is way more than you can handle. Relax. Give it up."
4. Taking a risk for the Kingdom increases demonic obstruction, resistance and oppression beyond the norm. It's ramped up for many of us as we're putting FEAST together.
5. Believing for more and taking action as a result reveals God's supreme ability to show forth his faithfulness and incomparable power.
6. Risking in faith turns a safe, lackluster Christian sleepwalk into a vigorous, life-to-the-full adventure of meaning and wonder.
7. "Why not?" and "Who says we can't?" is the vernacular of following Jesus.

More about this next week.

How We Use the Art of Jazz in imagine/Northampton.

2011-04-04T15:31:00.000-04:00

Before we arrived in Northampton, it was clear to us that using the arts to express our being Jesus-followers was foundational. Because two of us on the team were experienced jazz players, we knew a means of connecting with Northampton to demonstrate the exquisite beauty, and creativity of God in his redemptive, Kingdom mission was to offer the music we love.

The jazz arts have unique expressive and improvisational potentials which can capture the depth of the Story framing our own stories. Jazz can communicate the pathos of the human condition because of sin and death, and shout the exquisite joy of forgiveness and freedom because of Christ's finished work. Jazz "paints" sonorously and rhythmically the colors of life related to the Giver of life. It's both "Guess Who I Saw Today" and "Freedom Jazz Dance."

We're not experts at this, but here's what we've done so far:

1. We use it in worship. When we started we formed a Worship Team comprised of jazz players and non-jazz players. We blended jazz harmonic and rhythmic sensibilities so that while we did some modified CCM, we also created original music and played jazz arrangements of hymns and traditional Christian songs. We experimented with grooves, forms and harmonic frameworks including modal forms. It was an experiment that stretched us all, some more than others. Some things worked and others not at all. The hybrid group we created required sensitivity, flexibility and generous dollops of Christian love.

2. We use it in the reflection time of our gathering. We begin with what we call Leave Aside where people are able to settle into worship, quietly letting go of worries, distractions and frustrations. During that time, guitar and a hand drum (Udu drum, doumbek or djembe) create a musical atmosphere conducive to letting go of anything which might emotionally impede being open to what God wants to do that morning. The music is jazz influenced harmonically and rhythmically, but fairly free. It is deliberating peaceful and calming. People talk after of sensing the presence of the Spirit. Sometimes there are tears.

3.Of late, we've used playing jazz as an opportunity to build relationships with people who are not Christian. We have a trio (guitar, bass and drums) where we rehearse weekly. After the rehearsal we take time to talk and often matters come up of what it means to follow Jesus. We can talk well after midnight. Some of those conversations were a part of our guitar player coming to Christ. We did not aim the rehearsal that way, God used it for his purposes. Being able to explore the music together created a wonderful atmosphere for addressing questions of faith and life. Our friend and new brother already had them, but the camaraderie we built in making the music established a place of trust and communitas.

We want to do more of this in that we don't disengage the enterprises of our daily lives (work, family, neighborhood, art-making, etc.,) from our primary identities as Jesus-followers on a 24/7 Kingdom mission. Therefore, the rehearsal room and the gig are not exempt from God's redemptive, subversive calling. Everything we do is a platform. We want people to realize we are Jesus-followers who can really play this music as well, The two aren't mutually exclusive.

We're also getting ready to be playing out in Northampton. That was one of our goals from the outset. Being new to church planting, we had much ground-laying to accomplish before we could begin to put a serious group together to play gigs here. We're in process now, but will soon do some performing with the goal of building relationships with musicians and other artists. We want to play well so there is musical integrity. We want to demonstrate humility so as to not create any barriers, but reveal a servant's heart. We want to bless the people in Northampton with well-crafted and played music, win a favorable hearing, and maybe get to have conversations that matter.

4. At Easter, we'll be hosting a city-wide event called FEAST. The idea grew from the Parable of the Banquet (Luke 14:12-24). We will be having a free, lavish feast for the poor, homeless, street musicians, shut-ins and needier working families. As part of the event, we've put together an ensemble and have the fortune of working with a singer to offer some familiar jazz standards they can recognize, and maybe even sing along with. It's not a concert, but a chance to expose folks to the idea of church and jazz. We also want to open them to the Gospel by building relationships of love and service. At the end of the day, we want them to feel served and they matter.

While we're not yet blazing any new trails pairing the jazz arts with Kingdom mission, we are establishing an identity as a "church into the arts" -- which for this town is important. We'd love to have festivals around the music, perhaps ignite the jazz playing in kids or street musicians down the road.

Ultimately, the point is Jesus and how we can make him known. Jazz can create community and teamwork, establish a healthy identity, build self-acceptance and confidence, create the ability to concentrate, listen and support, and open people to the transcendent, endlessly creative God whose idea jazz is. So we'll keep after its remarkable potential for connecting people with the astounding Gospel here in Northampton.

The Young Man Whose Songs Seem Yells of Pain.

2011-04-04T10:20:00.001-04:00

He showed up on a Sunday afternoon a few weeks ago.

He commandeers the iron bench on Main Street below our apartment window to the left, in front of GoBerry's. I'd say he's in his late 20's or very early 30's. He looks sort of like a grad student.

This man plays guitar adequately like many of the street guys do. It's his singing that draws attention from onlookers on both sides of the street. You'd have to be very hard of hearing not to look. He's stands out because he yells when he sings and I mean yells sometimes as the very top of his lungs - carotid popping yells, more like bellowing, sometimes. It's intense and remarkably loud.

What I noticed in his style is that he doesn't pay much attention to intonation, and phrases tend to fall off into almost speaking. It's clear melodic lines are driven by the flow of words, and it's the words that give this young man away. They are full of pain, especially of the "Woman, you've done me wrong. You've broken my heart. You don't know what love is," variety. The words and sheer intensity of his singing point to anguish and then anger. He has a repertoire of only 3-4 songs it seems, but they all return to the same theme of betrayal.

I don't know if this is just his style, or he really has gone through a horrific break-up, but he tends to yell as much as sing or speak in the song. It's the yelling that gets people gawking. Many point and laugh because of the yelling. I'm not sure he notices all that much. His eyes are often closed. And folks aren't resonating with his anguish, real or portrayed. They look, point him out, and chuckle. Then they move on, which is too bad if he's really pouring out his heart to heal or free himself from the pain inflicted by someone who shouldn't have.

He's quickly become a curiosity like so many in this town who dress, talk and act radically unlike the mainstream. Northampton's diversity invites with relish free expression which can fall on the weird side sometimes, especially in the eyes of "weekenders." It's part of what makes Northampton, Northampton, I think.

He's not been around for a week and was here before only for two.

If he's hurting I'd like a chance to ask his him why. I'd also like to suggest he use the yelling judiciously, as a dramatic exclamation point not a comma. I think it'd be more powerful and evoke listening rather than pointing and gawking. He might even have something universal to say, but nobody likes to be yelled at repeatedly, especially by strangers.

How Much Does God Really Have of Me...or You?

2011-03-22T09:31:00.000-04:00

"God has all of me there is to have." William Carey

"The research has consistently shown over the past two decades that the lives of born-again Christians are indistinguishable from those of people who do not claim Jesus Christ as their savior." George Barna

" In other words, most Christians have a relationship with God that could be described as "active but stalled" - a connection that has plateaued in its passion and influence, despite the continued commitment of time and energy to religious activity." George Barna

A few weeks ago, Jim LaMontagne gave a talk at our Sunday gathering in his Beyond Us: How God Moves Us Beyond Ourselves series. Talking about Abraham, he included a response William Carey gave to a question about his success as a missionary. As noted above, Carey said God had all of him; he was completely dedicated to the ways of God and redemptive mission of God - 100% commitment.

It got me thinking about what percentage God has of me, of my heart and will? While a number doesn't necessarily reveal much, and will inevitably be a subjective ranking at best (I'll skew it to a higher number most likely), it can be a helpful glimpse, especially as an aid to honest self-assessing, where I really am.

In my heart of hearts, I want it to be 100%, especially since I've been in Northampton. It makes little sense to me to be less committed. I don't like the spiritual dissipation of chasing after the wind blowing from the world's useless greeds and lusts. After all, what higher aspiration in this world could a person have than being a "fully-devoted follower of Jesus Christ?" The privilege of serving the King of kings ranks as chief in my estimation. At the same time, I've experienced lukewarmness and distracted indifference over the years. In my spiritual growing, I've been detained by other activities which sparkled but turned out to be fool's gold. As Barna notes, I've been "active, but stalled," "plateaued" on vast mesas of wandering or going after a brass ring that ends up to be tin foil.

As I think about it, God having all of me means his ways and his Kingdom mission are my pearl of great price. Therefore, being a husband, father, grandfather, spiritual formation catalyst, drummer, and friend all draw a bead on an overriding Purpose. My time, talent, money, stuff, hopes, dreams, and rights becomes means to achieve the End to which I've been summoned. There is no compartmentalizing "sacred and secular." I don't go to church; I am the church (you know what I mean). Being a Jesus-follower is a full-time gig with no time off or retirement as long as I'm on this side of Paradise.

I've been "working out my salvation" for almost four decades. It's not been pretty, but God has much more of me now than he did when I crossed over into the Kingdom in 1972. I have a passion to see Christ glorified in this world and to see people snatched from the jaws of desolation in this world and the next. I love Jesus and have come to believe he actually loves the quixotic likes of me. There is so much evidence.

So while I'm not completely confident he has all of me just yet, I can say I want him to. I can also say I hope I can get there while I'm still on this "terrestrial ball." Yeah, I know I may not be able to recognize it even if he's grants me 100% status, but he has my full permission to get me there.

The question is what about you dear reader? Can you say with confidence, "God has all of me there is to have?" If no, what do you still withhold from him? Why? With the Holy Spirit guiding you, take an inventory of your heart's true allegiances. Where are you compromised because of besetting or past, unconfessed sin or still holding onto the word's pleasures, attainments, privileges and distractions? Where does fear keep you doggedly pursuing safety and security? Where has disappointment and setback lead to detachment and indifference.? Where are you just tired and have given up? Worse yet, where are you kidding yourself thinking that your current "religious" commitment is just fine?

What if God actually had all there is of you to have? What would it look like? What would you need to change, and today for that to happen? How would your life be different?

Does it matter to you? It should.

Ask Jesus to do whatever it takes to get you there, and I really mean whatever it takes. As you read that sentence, notice if there was resistance or detachment, subtle or otherwise. Ask God to identify it right now. It's indicates where you really are in following Jesus and what really stands in the way of full surrender and inviting him to make you 100%.

Exploring the Practice of Bible -Thumping: Elevating the Percussive Discourse.

2011-03-14T12:09:00.000-04:00

A few days ago I caught a glimpse of an interview with Kid Rock talking about not wanting Bible-thumpers running the government, and I began to wonder about the practice of Bible-thumping itself. I'd never given it a thought before. I'd always assumed a thump was just a heavy, dull sound, leading me to wonder about the actual methodology of Bible-thumping. How's it done? And why would the Kid not want them in the government? The thumping sound could be annoying, I guess, if it's incessant and loud, but was Bible-thumping so?

As a drummer, I'm always interested in the percussive possibilities of various sound sources and have used all manner of "found-objects" over the year to create interesting, nuanced sounds for improvisation when afforded the chance, but I'd never included the Bible as having any real potential in that regard. I've been a Christian a long time and have never seen anyone actually play the Bible. I've read and studied the Bible. I've discussed it. I heard it taught and preached, and have done so myself, but I've never heard the Scriptures actually thumped, with or without skill. I've read all sorts of books on Church history, Christian theology, apologetics, even Christian art and aesthetics with nary a mention of thumping. Why the silence in the Church and the annoyance in the overall culture?

What's weird is non-Christians seem to know about it, and don't like it. How are they privy to Bible-thumping, whereas I being a Christian of 39 years cannot point to one experience of the glories of the WORD-thump. I would think it'd be the most sacred of the percussive arts, including Psalm 150's call to praise God with the tambourine and clashing of cymbals (my favorite). While I get that zero non-Christian bands use a Bible-thumper, but what's weirder still, neither do Christian bands.What's going on here? Maybe playing the Bible requires a level of mastery few are able to achieve. Perhaps it's a theological issue, i.e., the Scriptures should be studied and preached, yes, but not played - especially when they're being preached. I agree with that.

Not to be deterred by my questions, and being the intrepid seeker I am, I decided yesterday to try Bible-thumping after church - didn't want to draw attention! I picked up my trusty bonded-leather NIV Study Bible, put it on my lap, and began to explore the idiophonic landscape. I noticed a few things right away:

Playing with the full-hand extended produces a fat thump bringing out the lower tones of the leather tome especially at the fleshy "heel" similar to a small bass drum. Sweet!
Playing with the tips of the fingers yields a warm, mid-sized tom sound, adding a little more definition and variety to the thumping milieu. Also, single stroke rolls make more sense with this technique.
Playing on the spine with the thumbs or fingers yields a higher pitch a little like a snare drum, especially if you snap your wrists to give the thumbs some velocity.
Bible-thumping with a bonded leather instrument yields little resonance, a drawback in my mind. I can see that it could be a special effects percussion instrument rather than the main groove-keeper. It would also need to be miked well, unless in an all-acoustic setting.

I also tried my hard-bound and thick ESV Study Bible to hear the differences of a hardcover playing surface. I took off the dust jacket because it produced an annoying and thin paper rattle. I immediately did not like what I heard. The hard cover has a more brittle sound emphasizing the attack. There is no resonance or warmth whatsoever. I doubt devotees of the thumping arts would use these inferior instruments accept for special effect, although I can't imagine what musical setting would benefit.

In the final analysis, I don't really get why non-Christians always speak of Bible-thumpers in the pejorative. My experience with the leather NIV produced a warm, low-volume, unobtrusive sound suitable for playing around the Christian campfire or in small groups. It's much less dominating than a djembe or tambourine. And, we're literally bringing the Word into worship in a fresh, new and exciting way by using it!

So I have a dream that soon legions of Bible-thumpers will join worship teams all over this great land. They will humbly take their places in youth group sing-a-longs and on retreats. Bible-thumpers will add their voice to small group worship and Women's Conferences. Master Bible-Thumpers who have serving hearts and creative fire will join the songs of joy and freedom in churches big and small.

Let's bring home Bible-thumping and elevate the percussive discourse! Selah!!!

Decoding the "I'm Spiritual, Not Religious" Response.

2011-03-07T11:29:00.000-05:00

I don't know how it is where you live, but here in Northampton, and I suspect throughout New England, if people don't outright confess radical indifference or atheism, they might retort when engaging a Christian: "I'm not religious; I'm spiritual." Another translation might be: "I'm not into organized religion, especially Christianity."

If you get a chance to poke further you'll hear organized religion is full of rules, long list's of do's and don'ts, especially the don'ts. Religion is an antiquated, exclusive club filled with judgmental, narrow-minded, out-of touch people who feel better than others. Religious people have the right religion and everyone else is wrong and hell-bound if they don't see the light from their myopic perspective. They also don't practice the core tenets of their religion in any rigorous way. There also Republicans, Tea Partiers, and/or Glenn Beck fanatics.

Now don't get me wrong, I know there are plenty of people who believe deeply in, and are dedicated to spiritualities of all sorts, even those they've created or cobbled together themselves. They are humane practitioners of spiritual/ethical concepts or ancient traditions, and want the planet to be a better place to live for all because they practice their beliefs sincerely. They also love the freedom of an individually-tailored spiritual ethos. Such an ethos has no strictures beyond what they hold, and can be altered at will because they determine its shape without fear of judgment or censure.

Writing what I'm about to write is in no way intended to discount, belittle or mock what someone else believes. All of us are made in the image of God and are to be treated as such, even if I vehemently disagree with them. Civility will out.

The CODE:

Having perceived or experienced the judgmental, hypocritical, controlling and destructive sides of religion so evident all around me, I choose a better option, one which seems more humane to me.
I can shape, practice and change it if I so decide, without pressure or censure from others. It reflects what I value and feel and reflects who I am, not what someone else says I should be. In so doing, I maintain my integrity and self-determination. Besides, no one can be really sure their god is the God, can they . . .

Upon thinking about it, here's where I've landed about people who see themselves as spiritual not religious:

1. They might have a concept of a personal God or they might not.

I've noticed someones being spiritual doesn't have to include a personal God, an actual transcendent Being who created and sustains the universe. It can be expressed as a type of cosmic consciousness or feeling of the numinous. There is something binding all humanity together and it's of "spirit," but not a personal Deity everyone must acknowledge or follow. This belief is fluid, organic and must not be codified in a system of rules and strictures or it turns into a religion. Some of these folks may see themselves as ethical Deists, but that's as close as they come to an actual God. There may be a God, but who can know for sure. Others will tap into a god-conscious through certain esoteric practices, a kind of we're all part of the god energy and need to develop or release it. There is no need for an anthropomorphized deity.

2. They are not particularly interested in imposing their personal spirituality on others.

Because being spiritual for these folks is a matter of individual choice, they support the freedom of everyone to define and practice their own spiritually. Existential individuality and sovereignty is highly prized. Why would anyone impose their beliefs on any one else who has a perfect right to choose his or her own belief. To each his/her own in matters of the spirit. It's a core value by definition.

3. They might not be very concerned about appealing to universal Truth to verify their spirituality.

Akin to the above, another central tenet of being spiritual is that Truth is what a person deems it to be at any one point in time. Your truth is your truth and mine is mine. All truth claims are relative (well, except the universal truth that all truths are relative, but why nitpick) although intuition synchronized to the Universe or connecting psychic energy can lead to a person's truth. So someone cobbling together her spirituality accepts her spirituality is true for her and doesn't particularly wrestle with the need to anchor truth claims to an authoritative, universal standard binding everyone which verifies and give weight to individual belief. Apparently, it's not necessary because a person's truth will morph into what's seems true at the time based on new messages or intuitions. It can be discarded for something more spiritually helpful, captivating or seemingly powerful.

4. Their set of beliefs may be systematic or not, but most aren't.

As I noted earlier, most of the time people who see themselves as spiritual, but not religious tend not to sit down and carefully think through and craft a system of spiritual beliefs. They're not looking to create a new religious cult others can follow (there are notable and tragic exceptions, the Branch Davidians, for instance). The bulk of spiritual people tend to want something simple and portable, not complex and cumbersome. For them its mostly a no fuss, no muss enterprise with few requirements beyond what is helpful or feels right at the time.

5. They might be reacting to troubling experiences they've had with religious people, especially Christians.

I suspect most of you have had conversations with people who'd had painful, maybe even traumatic, experiences with Christians or churches. They'd grown up in a church or had an encounter with someone who hurt or deeply offended them by their behavior. Their response was something like, "If this is what Christians are like I want nothing to do with them or their churches." They've seen egregious examples of hateful, abusive, or hyper-critical believers in the media and distanced themselves from the faith. They maybe OK with Jesus, but his followers are hypocrites. While it's generally never fair or accurate to judge everyone for the behavior of a few, the reality is many spiritual people can point to troubling experiences with people who called themselves Jesus-followers. They hold Christians to a higher standard or see them as outrageous and mean-spirited hypocrites.

6. They tend not to hold a view of eternal judgment in their spirituality.

Most people who are spiritual, but not religious have trouble conceptualizing hell or any other place of eternal judgment. They cannot imagine a supremely good God or Life-force condemning people to eternal punishment for sin. Yeah, we've all done stuff we're not proud of, but does it really warrant being condemned forever to a horrific place like hell? In fact, even the idea of sin is overblown in their thinking. They might admit that people are not perfect. We all make mistakes. While they agree some do very bad things, they view life as a kind of opportunity to become the good people they really are, or exemplars through the practice of spiritual exercises taught by shamans, and settling into their own true divinity.

7. They might cobble together bits and pieces of other spiritualities to create their own.

Most spiritual people I've gotten to know who actually practice some sort of belief have cobbled together a personal spirituality that is a fluid amalgam of Buddhism, Humanist Psychology, Neo-Paganism, magic, Eastern mysticism, Gaia and parapsychology, Holistic healing, and New Age syncretism. The process for creating this patchwork of belief is generally not done systematically, but grows over time from exposure to people and popular ideas about god flowing through our culture from time to time. Because there is no commonly-held theological framework from which to examine and test the veracity of a spiritual concept people are free to pick and choose what appeals to them from one point to the next. It's all fluid and organic. Besides, who's to say any particular person's spiritual belief is more right or true that theirs? What works for me right now is what matters.

8. Being a good person may be the sum total of being spiritual to them.

I've found the point in being spiritual and not religious is learning to be a good person as defined by their individual ethic or morality: while we're not perfect, as long as we are trying to be good, were on the right track. In fact, some of these folks may be paragons of human virtue, exhibiting what Christians would see as an exemplary person. The problem is that it assumes all of us can be good on our own if we really put our hearts in it. First, we define what is good. Second, we determine if we are being good. The problem is there's no proof our being good will merit anything in the end if there really is a Holy God who requires an accounting for our motives, attitudes and behaviors. Again, because there is probably no holy and perfect God who will hold us all accountable for our life. There is no objective judgment, and we are all "free" to do the best we can. It all will work out it the end somehow. (I hear a faint whistling in the dark right now)

9. Their spirituality may be tied to feelings induced by substances or intense feelings and experiences.

There are folks who've experienced the numinous from being high. For instance, I knew a man who spent an afternoon lying on a beach in Mexico after taking peyote and experiencing a spirit he was sure was an angel or God. It shaped his spirituality profoundly. We know drugs can create altered states of consciousness where the demonic can manifest and deceive people into thinking they have seen God. Also, intense and sustained emotional states, especially of joy or pleasure can do the same. If a person has an extraordinarily moving experience of Beauty or the mysterium tremendum they may feel they have encountered God in some abstract way. This kind of induced spirituality can be very convincing, but doesn't necessarily entice them to explore what they see as religion in any way.

10. Lastly, there is a group of folks who'll say they're spiritual and have absolutely nothing to back it up. They've never really given any thought to what that means. It's just a reaction to get you off their back. If even have a chance to pin them down you'll get a mish-mash of pop culture blather, at best.

* * *

Given the above, how might a "religious" person communicate effectively with a spiritual person?

First, look for some sort of common ground. I think it's fair to say most people lean toward (there are resolute exceptions), for a Reality outside of their daily experience which offers peace, hope, meaning, joy and promise for a better existence. We have longings for more of something, even if we can't put a name to it. People also want to be loved and validated that they matter. A spiritual person may have similar spiritual values as a religious person. Those can serve as the basis for a genuine conversation. Both kinds of people long for more of meaning, for being loved and taken seriously, for hope, peace and having their needs met. We can begin where we agree.

Second, respect the other person's belief no matter how strongly you might disagree with it. Treat them as you'd want to be treated regarding something important to you. Do not be threatened by what they believe, including their criticism of your beliefs (you know, "sticks and stones . . .), if it is offered. Listen well. What is their heart saying in their words? What you're looking to inspire is honest dialogue to bridge understanding. So you might say things like"

"Obviously your spirituality has great meaning and importance to you. Mine is too."

"Help me understand how you got there and what it gives to you." Why are you convinced it's true?"

May I tell you why I believe so deeply in what I've experienced?"

What happened that made Christianity or church so unattractive to you?

Third, what you're working toward is being able to build a relationship where you can continue the dialogue with the person, especially people you work with, live next to, or have some other common experience with, such as your kids are on the same baseball team. You'll know you have established a real relationship if either person can ask questions which challenge the other person's belief without causing rancor. Because you've gotten to know and trust each others good intentions through shared values and experience, you can venture into potentially threatening issues without destroying the relationship. You may end up agreeing to disagree, but the door remains open for reflecting the love of Jesus to them in other ways. Your humanity has connected with theirs and it feels safe to both of you.

I've seen deep friendships built despite rigorous dialogue around opposing beliefs about the existence of God - John Marks and Craig Detweiler, for instance. All of us should have those friendships. Perhaps doing so is akin to Paul's statement: "To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some." (1Corinthians 9:22) Without really caring for people and identifying with their common humanity, there will be no basis for relating beyond the superficial or impersonal. They are not targets; they might be someones mother, father, son, daughter, husband, wife, grandparent, significant other, care-giver, neighbor, etc.

Decoding the "I'm spiritual, not religious" retort is a matter of knowing what is and isn't being said in that response, and then looking to build a bridge of dialogue which can subversively dismantle assumptions and misconceptions on both sides. We need to get good at this. Shying away from "uncomfortable" interchanges over matters of God is exactly the opposite of what God summons us to. On the other hand, neither are we to be drawing people into pointless arguments other to prove we're right.

Jesus-followers are responsible for enticing genuine dialogue so we have the chance to speak the truth in love and open others to the heart of God. He is the One who changes a heart, but we need to show up, engage, listen wisely, befriend and converse with respect, and a fearless desire to lovingly draw people to the One who wants them in his family.

inward/OUTWARD Spiritual Formation: The Missional Matrix.

2011-03-04T11:05:00.001-05:00

Last night we launched imagine/Northampton's first 14-week inward/OUTWARD Spiritual Formation Workshop. The goal is to link intimacy with God through the spiritual disciplines of listening prayer and reflection on how he is forming a person's heart after his heart with the call on every Jesus-follower to take up and exercise the primary identity of being a Kingdom-revealing missionary. The two are inextricably linked in the call to love God from the core and one's neighbor as oneself by living transparently in a way which opens them to Jesus.

I have to say in my 37 years of "working out my salvation," learning to listen to God, and accepting the call to embrace a core identity of being a missionary have formed me spiritually in ways other aspects of the Christian life have not. Both have revolutionized my grasp of the "normal Christian life," changing me profoundly.

So here's how I currently understand the missional matrix, matrix being defined as "a situation or surrounding substance within which something else originates, develops, or is contained."

First, inward spiritual formation is the Holy Spirit-birthed transformational process where a person becomes aware of the God who is really there. He or she assents to, not just the possibility of this God, but the fact of this God. It's an "I know that I know that I know," affirmation because of encountering him. The eyes of the heart have been opened, the blind see what before was hidden from view. The mind begins to grasp what the heart has yielded to and spiritual formation begins.

That formation grows as the love relationship deepens between God who transcends Space and Time, and the person who has opened to him. Because Jesus became "one of us," we're able to come near him. Intimacy with the One who's so far beyond our meager comprehension is developed through real-time interaction of the Spirit and the person in dialogue whether by means of the Scriptures, prayer, worship or following him in missional service.

I've found over the years in my formation and through helping many people grow spiritually that the deepest and most lasting transformation comes because the heart has become convinced of the love of God. Intimacy is most a matter of the heart. The mind understands what the heart has come to experience in relationship to God, but if the heart remains distant, the mind has limited grasp of intimacy.

So in the Workshop we begin with Listening Prayer. If people learn to discern God's "still, small voice" they can find intimacy with Jesus through the Holy Spirit. Much of what God says in this interplay of intimacy has to do with his desire for the person to draw close, trust him, change, surrender, obey and follow wholeheartedly. His words address the whole person, but as:

a loving Father to a child,
an affectionate Friend to a friend,
a faithful Lover to his beloved,
a masterful Teacher to his student,
a beneficent King to his valued subject,
a good Master to his loved bondservant.

Even when he instructs or corrects his children in listening prayer, study, or deep contemplation, it's never to crush the spirit by belittling, mocking or harsh accusations (that's the adversary's modus operandi). There is no rage or vitriol. His words are meant to teach, inspire, convict, transform and mature his people leading to life and freedom. In learning to listen to God we're being trained to hear his voice and know what he cares for. Our ability to discern his ways in and through us is fine-tuned. We walk by faith to be sure, but it is informed faith coming from knowing his voice whether we are listening, reading, thinking, looking, doing or reflecting.

I hope you're beginning to see how intimacy with God is inextricably linked to living the primary identity of being a missionary. The missional way of life centered on incarnating the redemptive Kingdom of God in all our comings and goings flows from having spent all sorts of intimate time alone with God, just as Jesus went out into the lonely places overnight to be with his Father. Can you imagine what those conversations must has been like? The Father and Son in complete unity on the verge of dismantling Satan's assault on Creation, defeating the curse of death, and setting the stage for the Church to be birthed...talk about intimacy and unity!

Simply put, hours built up being alone with God listening and reflecting, equip any follower of Jesus to bring the Kingdom to people who can't see him. We are all called to go forth and make disciples. Because our hearts become deeply fond of our Abba, Savior, Lord and Comforter due to his astounding goodness, beauty and truth, we want others to get to know him. Living in a world awash in suffering and sin, and seeing people held cruelly captive to every manner of evil sparks compassion in people who've come to know God's heart.

Inward spiritual formation trains a Jesus-follower to see opportunity for loving service which breaks down walls. Because he or she has come to know and trust the voice of his gracious Lord, a readiness for engaging people gradually can take hold. God can direct such a person in the moment to interact with someone, or see an opportunity to offer grace and help. Followers accustomed to hearing God's voice respond more readily when he summons them to connect with a stranger or ask a question which opens a spiritual dialogue with someone for the first time. Such readiness becomes a way of life, natural, not forced or canned. It fits the person's personality and is not some script to robotically follow.

The reality remains, Jesus is out in the community doing Kingdom work already and we are summoned to be with him as he does so. When we know how to hear and discern his prompting, we put ourselves in the middle of what he's already prepared the ground for: salvation, healing, feeding the hungry, visiting the sick and warehoused, befriending a street person, helping a prostitute leave the life, spending time with elderly shut ins, helping a co-worker mend a marriage or deal with an out-of-control teenager, taking an addict to AA, or even relocating to another country to live the Gospel for the poorest of the poor. The opportunities for outward spiritual formation are endless. Drawing inward propels us outward because we encounter Jesus and the heart of the Father for the world.

So our current inward/OUTWARD Spiritual Formation Workshop aims at helping our folks learn the inward disciplines so they can move out more and more in the Kingdom work they were hand-picked for.

If you've questions as to our availability of doing this at your church, let us know by 1.) responding here, 2,) emailing at kit@imaginenorthampton.org, or 3.) calling the imagine offices: 413.585.5830.

Raising Boys Into Emotionally Mature Men, Part II.

2011-02-22T10:29:00.000-05:00

1. Living by core values (living for something greater than the unholy trinity of me, myself and I).

Most measures of emotional maturity give high marks to living for transcendent values which align the person to ethical, moral or spiritual non-negotiables ennobling him or her if practiced for a lifetime. In my way of thinking living by universal core values which bring blessing to others actually humanizes a person. A life lived for something (SomeOne) greater than one's self captures what used to be termed the "normal Christian life." Jesus summed it best for me when he said the fulfilling of all the Law and the Prophets resided in loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself. The converse is a spiritually pathological self-absorption: I am the center of the universe and others are merely servants of my desire and will, or bit players in the masterpiece of my life, entering and leaving the stage as I determine. They exist for me.

Helping a boy develop emotionally mature core values gives him eyes to see and love what is priceless in this world: God, persons, sacrificial love, humility, honor, service, compassion, wisdom, truth, generosity, defending the oppressed and defenseless, etc. It starts with learning behaviors like sharing, admitting wrongdoing, being considerate, helping, not hurting people, etc. The goal is to help a boy see others in his life as more than extensions of what he wants.

Life is packed with value-teaching moments, and it's a father's responsibility to take advantage of them repeatedly, modeling and encouraging his son's building life around transcendent core values. A father shows his core values by what he actually lives as non-negotiable, When his words and deeds match his values consistently in front of his son, he incarnates them so they're understood as real and attractive to imitate. He imprints them on his son. The boy must eventually choose, but he is given ample opportunity to emulate what his dad values most.

A distant, angry detached, unavailable, preoccupied or boyish father seriously wounds his son's ability to grasp healthy masculine core values. He learns a wounding message of indifference or antagonism which threatens to blind and cripple his ability to vitally connect with others, much less noble, transcendent values. He can become trapped in a life of habitually serving me, myself and I, thus living as a detached stranger. A detached man is a wandering alien cut off from true relationship, lost in an endless cycle of self-serving transactions with strangers. Every person will value something; it's how God wired humanity. A dad who sees it as his duty to help his children know the right, good, true and beautiful in a winsome and loving way increases exponentially the likelihood his children will be loving people living their "utmost for his highest."

2. Facilitating the priceless attribute of character.

If a boy is able as he grows to internalize transcendent core values reflecting the good, true and beautiful, he will also be developing his character. Character is another sine qua non of maturity, masculine or feminine. It carries with it notions of integrity, soundness, competence and dependability. A person of character has an earned reputation for trustworthiness, steadfastness and authenticity. Someone demonstrating character is relied on because his deeds consistently confirm his words. People don't refer to him as someone who is "all talk," and not to be believed, because while he may say "he'll get it done," experience often contradicts his words. People learn to believe such a person will not come through; he or she has lost credibility.

One of the sure ways both parents can facilitate character development in a boy is by training a strong work ethic into him. He needs to see there are times for play and times for work. Both are good. A strong work ethic takes root by involving a boy in helping around the house or in the yard, Dad's if they can, should include their sons (and daughters for that matter) in their professional work life, and strive to teach the normalcy, responsibility and pleasure of work well done. He should encourage him to help his mother in her work as well. At young ages, making work fun, and rewarding efforts slowly solidifies the idea in a boy that work isn't something to be avoided or is just for mom and dad. Gradually, he learns to take responsibility and builds confidence in his ability to do so.

It's disastrous for a young man not to have a healthy work ethic or sense of responsibility for himself and toward others. It can draw his emerging life into becoming a trainwreck, and set in motion excruciating years of failure, deceit, fear and shame. A man who won't work is a man cut off from his being. He gradually loses himself in a paralyzing boyhood of diminishing returns. He will serve his pleasures and cravings instead. On the other hand, a young man who can be trusted with increasing amounts of responsibility because he's developed character will earn respect and have opportunity given to him. He's found a critical piece of what he was made for.

3. Helping bring forth service as raison d'etre.

The Scriptures teach that avidly pursuing a life of serving God and others as the fundamental reason for being alive is what we were all created for: Mk. 10:45; Ro. 12:11; Deut. 13:4; Gal. 5:13; 1 Pe. 4:10; Lk. 22:26-27; Jn. 12:26. We glorify God in all we do by reflecting his servant heart. Therefore, a man with a servant heart is well-pleasing to God and of great blessing to other people.

Masculine emotional maturity finds its deepest expression in the freedom to be a servant rather than the childish idea of the macho man who demands to be served. That man is a caricature and a boy. True and godly emotional maturity requires the loyal obedience of a bondservant to his LORD and Master. We don't like that notion because of the ignoble history of humans cruelly forcing other humans (including children), into harsh involuntary servitude, even today. In reality, the Greek word used in the Bible (NT) repeatedly for servant is doulos which actually translates to slave. In other words, a Jesus-follower's reason for being is to serve Christ and his Kingdom interests as his primary identity and "reasonable" service.

To help a son embrace such radical service (either vocationally or as a fundamental attitude in everything) as a chosen way of life helps him move close to his Kingdom missional calling, thus preventing the all-too-common bifurcation of what he does in the Kingdom and what he does in the world. All of life becomes an existential platform for serving Jesus -- the way it should be.

Therefore, he should see his dad as one who's eager to serve; one who initiates serving at home in concert with his mom, in the neighborhood, at church, or even for strangers. Such a dad helps without complaining. He's a "what can I do?" kind of guy. No job is too ordinary or beneath him to be done and done well, cheerfully and with integrity. A dad who constantly complains about having to help around the house or shows indifference to a family's many chores, especially "woman's work" sends a boyish and wrong message to everyone in the household. In so doing, he serves the One to whom he belongs, emulating his nature.

4. Nurturing your son's giftedness.

One of the most important blessings a parent can give his son is to look for and recognize the gifts he's been given and call them forth. I had a brilliant mentor who has an understanding of giftedness second to none. I worked with him for 10 years helping people discover their motivational design of gifts. I still do such work. He's written a book, (Discovering Your Child's Design, http://www.amazon.com/Discovering-Childs-Design-Ralph-Mattson/dp/155513226X,) and worked extensively on the matter. His name is Ralph Mattson. In my opinion. you'd be wise to purchase and read it with your spouse.

When you understand how compelling motivational giftedness is, and its link to emotional maturity, you want to help ignite it in your son. Giftedness is linked to emotional maturity through the door of developing a sound work ethic and drive to serve. Valuing hard work, developing skill, and seeking a job well done is enhanced by being able to work in areas which are intrinsically motivating. There is pleasure and purpose in being able to do what we're designed to do. God did not make us like ants or bees programmed to perform our role as automatons. In his exquisite goodness, he gave us the ability to receive pleasure meaning in work. An emotionally mature man will use his gifts to do serving work which must be done regardless of it being intrinsically motivating, and work which makes him feel alive. The point is to balance both. Both bring God glory with the right heart-attitude.

So it's important for a father to notice what naturally seems to captivate his son in play. What is he drawn to naturally without being influenced or coerced? What patterns of behavior and effort do you see often? What do you notice he has potential for because there seems to be beginnings of a knack for something like:

physical agility or speed,
the ability to figure out simple problems or come up with a creative way to do something,
a rich fantasy life or fascination with stories,
strong communication skills,
loving to work with his hands and build structures,
the ability to draw or a fascination with a musical instrument lying around the house,
a love of machines and how things work etc.,
organizing things and creating order.

remember, you're looking for patterns and repeated activities he just naturally moves toward. In those areas, you should provide all sorts of activities to explore and try with increasing sophistication as he ages or until he finds another fascination (there may be many). If done in an atmosphere where you are also teaching him the value of work and doing a good job, you provide an open road and the necessary encouragement to help him make a mature approach to finding who he is motivationally, and you let him know it is good to do so.

5. Teaching him to be able to pursue and hold the heart of a woman for life.

I can't stress how important this is for masculine emotional maturity, and a God-honoring relationship with the woman a man commits to walk with through all of life. I've had the excruciating experience many times of seeing how a boy in a man's body can crush the heart and spirit of the woman he stood next to promising love and honor all of his days. Sure, I know some women, because of their woundedness and emotional immaturity, can be the ones who kill the relationship no matter how honorably a man tries to love and serve her. But, truth will out, my experience has been it's the man who refuses to grow up and take responsibility to lead spiritually, and pursue his wife's heart with courage and sacrificial love. He convinces his soul-weary wife he does not love her by his continual indifference to her feelings and needs, and willful self-absorption. She eventually becomes convinced because he taught her so for years.

Reason for hope comes from the fact a father has a great opportunity to open his son's heart to the other sex. When he is a little boy it comes in the form of loving his wife and showing her deep respect and honor in front of his son. Mommy is special to daddy. He is continually affectionate to her in front of his kids (not sexual mind you). He honors her and shows deference to her opinions and preferences. he is always helping do chores around the house and helping lessen her load in any way he can. It also comes from dad helping his son see his sisters as people to love, respect, and befriend. Yeah, sibling rivalry can be formidable between brothers and sisters, but dad models and teaches that a boy's sisters are family, family is precious, and learning to relate is important. Simple, he learns how to be with girls in a way that honors them as God's creation like he is.

Secondly, an emotionally mature father requires his sons to treat their mother with kindness, affection and respect, especially as the boys get older, particularly in the teen years. She is never the hired help or their peer who can be bossed, ignored or abused, including verbally. Dad is in complete unity with Mom in front of the kids, especially in matters related to them. That doesn't mean he never challenges her opinions or actions, but never in the way that teaches his children they can too. It's done offline and with kindness and respect as well.

Pursuing a woman's heart means treating her as a person, not an object or thing, merely a body to use. At the very least, she is made in the image of God, or if she follows Jesus, she is a beloved daughter of the Most High God, and is to be treated as such. Her sensibilities are not constitutionally masculine. She thinks differently, feels differently, and has a profound bent toward relationship (unless she has been traumatically abused physically, emotionally, spiritually or all three). God created her femininity to balance and complete her husband's masculinity and vice versa. Helping his son cherish and serve her opens him to treat his sisters and girlfriends similarly. This is important, especially when sexual desire becomes a part of the equation.

An emotionally mature man understands that through gentleness, kindness, servant-hearted strength, courage with humility, compassionate sacrificial love, and leading so his wife feels free (and safe) to become who she really is with him will open a her heart and keep it open for a lifetime. He doesn't have to be perfect at this, just determinedly attentive to it. He can "hold" her heart because he's convinced through attitude and correlating behavior her that he really loves who she is in toto, not merely what she provides for him. A boy who grows up in the company of such a man increases his prospects substantially for being an emotionally mature husband and father in relationship to women.

May God use what I've written to help men and the boys they father/disciple to grow into full and real masculinity: utterly surrendered to God and ably offering everyone by his life godly strength, love and service.

ab emo pectore
(from the heart)

Raising Boys Into Emotionally Mature Men, Part I.

2011-02-21T11:39:00.000-05:00

On November 29, 2010 I wrote a post called When a Man Decides to Leave Emotional Boyhood Behind http://oldmenplantingchurches.blogspot.com/2010/11/when-man-decides-to-leave-emotional.html. In it I listed 9 characteristics of emotional boyhood and their equivalent contrasts of emotional manhood. Check it out to get background for what follows in this post regarding fathers helping sons become emotionally mature men.

Let me begin by reminding us that emotionally mature sons need the help and guidance of both fathers and mothers working together to help boys become authentic men. Each has a necessary role in raising them. The masculine and feminine influence shape boys differently, but each balances a boy's sense of himself in the company of both.

However, I am utterly convinced masculinity best internalizes masculinity. Masculine being is best transferred by masculine being, especially through willing identification and imitation. I know I'm getting heavy here, but its a heavy deal. God created masculine and feminine being. He also provided the means through which it could be healthily passed on from generation to generation.

Therefore, emotionally healthy men are the most fitting means by which the existential transaction takes place developmentally over time. Again, this is especially true, but not exclusively so, when it occurs in a loving family where dad and mom work in harmony to model what it means to be an authentic, person of character and integrity -- male or female.

For boys of Christian parents, becoming Christian men centers on gradually learning to live life as a follower of Jesus, at his disposal, and on his terms in every endeavor. Serving the Lord of lords becomes the greatest priority and highest End in life. Such allegiance flows from a radically transformed heart and focused will toward Kingdom mission and God's glory. Pursuits of wealth, power, influence and achievement are placed under obedience to Christ. Doing so with resolve is a far departure from pursuing the American Dream as one's Prime Directive.

To give you a sense of the essentials of a boy turning into an emotionally mature man, the following are helpful markers, I think. I realize, much I will say below holds to true for daughters in principle as well. I will write about that later. I also do not mean to disclude a boy's mother from also modeling, teaching and supporting the attitudes and values below. As I said, she also plays and has a uniquely vital role in growing him up into emotionally mature masculinity.

1. Helping a boy learn to love Jesus and value the spiritual side of life.

If you are a Jesus-follower you will naturally desire for your sons and daughters to become Jesus-followers. If you are wise, you won't try to force a relationship; you will help motivate and create it as a model, supporter and teacher. In other words, a father helps his son open and relate to Jesus, at first to know him as a Friend and Gentle Shepherd, then as he ages and matures, as a Savior, King and Lord.

The goal is intimacy with God, the heart after God's heart intimacy David had : "I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do."(Acts 13:22) They key to this level of surrendered heart is helping a boy know God's nature and will as revealed in the Scriptures. It is helping him know the "still, small voice" of the Spirit as the voice of One who loves him, by "dialoguing" with God in prayer and reflection. Thirdly, it's involving him in the life of the Church as the community of the Beloved, of which he is a part, gathered around God, loving one another and serving Christ's redemptive Kingdom mission in the world.

As a boy repeatedly sees his father reading Scripture, praying (alone and with mom) and sharing the work of the Church it normalizes for him. As dad talks freely about his relationship with God his son learns it is a normal part of life. Jesus can be talked to. Jesus can be listened to. Jesus protects him and loves him. He learns Jesus is never far even though he can't see him. The birth of Jesus is a good place to begin as well as passages showing him relating to children.

Depending on the cognitive and emotional maturity of the boy, somewhere around the 4th to 6th grades, he can begin to grasp that Jesus is the Savior of the world and King of kings. Concepts such as the cross and resurrection, the fact Jesus paid for our sin and was raised from the dead can be slowly introduce and talked about. There is no reason to hurry these truths, but they need to be developed for a boy to understand the Gospel core of the Christian worldview.

As a boy heads into the emotional maze and minefield of the teen years, he should explore the idea of Jesus as Lord. This is his invitation to "big-league" Christianity. The Lordship of Christ summons all his followers to radical obedience for a lifetime. It is the more challenging or demanding part of the Gospel message, but one which expresses its core. To have a heart after God's from his perspective means, "he will do everything I want him to do." This principle is essential to masculine emotional maturity of the highest order. Loving Jesus is ultimately obeying what he commands. True intimacy with him is surrender and following hard after him in all things.

A Dad who lives with God like this will "warm" his son(s) to living this way as well. The Christian spiritual life is radically following Jesus because of love for him. Knowing him at the deepest levels of the heart translates to being where he is as he redeems the world one day at a time. When his father relates to Jesus this way and is open about it it can become real and enticing for his son, especially if dad is inviting him into missional projects and tasks of serving.

2. Developing a boy's understanding of the power God has granted him to live his life.

In my work as a lay counselor, I've become aware of the critical need to help boys grow into an emotionally healthy understanding of the power God has given him to make a worthy way in the world. For a boy to come into his own, he needs to see he can pursue what matters to him, even if he fails at times. A boy has to acquire the confidence to step out and act in the face of challenge and difficulty knowing God has called him into being at a particular point in history to do something only he can. The gift of life and the power to live it confirms his right to be. This too is following Jesus.

Through trial and error salted with a father's gracious encouragement, supportive correction and generous love, a boy steadily comes to trust his potential and inherent giftedness. He learns to rely on the instincts God has put in him to accomplish things because he has come to know and trust him, his Savior and Lord. Conversely, he doesn't learn to shrink back into an unhealthy dependence on others who seem more strong or capable, thus surrendering to a life of impotence no matter how he might posture in front of others. Such boys, and later men, hesitate and hold back, afraid to try something new in front of others. Fear of failure and a growing shame cripple ability to recognize the power God has put in them, and they gradually submit to a half life of mediocrity, or worse, manipulating others.

A healthy understanding of the power God has put in him, and it submitted to a far-greater Power, namely Christ, centers him in life to the full as Jesus desires it. A young man's dreams allied with God's will can change the world, and has many times over.

3. Enticing boy's courage so he develops the habit of taking initiative.

Closely related to number 2 is the critical need to gradually entice a boy's courage. Courage is a key component of authentic masculinity, an essential ingredient to defining a man's ability to face and move through fears of all sorts. Fear can can hamstring a man and chronic fear will slowly crush his spirit, trapping him in a life of boyish posturing and impotent cowardice. A man without courage is like a badly-tuned engine; it can never perform to the level it was designed. Courage makes a way where it seems there is no way. Courage says "Yes" in the face of many "No's." Courage asks, "Well, why not?" or "Who says it can't be done?" Courage creates movement where stultifying inertia has ruled the day.

Over the years, I've recognized through counseling hundreds of men that unless they grow up in a supportive environment where they can develop the habit (way of life, really) of taking initiative to tackle a challenge or solve a problem, they will learn to hesitate, shrink from, or even worse, chronically procrastinate. The sad fact is they weren't trained to negotiate a daunting dilemma or tough task requiring resilience, ingenuity, and determination. A man who's been well-trained in boyhood to face challenges and obstacles may have no idea how to deal with the situation at first, but he'll roll up his sleeves and find out: ask questions, look at options, think it through and then take take action. He goes into the chaos or fog even if he isn't dead sure of the way forward. There will be a kind of, "Let's see if this works," sensibility to how he tries to achieve a solution. In so doing, he reveals an emotional maturity which subordinates fear to taking initiative.

To raise a boy into such a "can-do" way of life he needs to have many chances to try all sorts of things, to test his intelligence, and strength. Clearly, such testing will look different for a 2-year-old than an 8 year-old, or a 13 year old, but the principle of trying holds true for each. So Dad, Grandpa, Uncle Mike, and older brother, Louis, all need to walk along side him frequently: supporting, encouraging, helping and inspiring him to try new things and see what opens. The men in his life also need to help him see failure and frustration as opportunities for learning and persevering or altering his course for a better result. Over time, this essential feature of emotional maturity will take root: failure is not seen as a sign of existential bankruptcy and shame does not begin to distort his self-awareness into ingrained boyishness when it comes to living the way of courage and initiative-taking.

In the end, helping him discover and live this quality of masculine emotional maturity will grant him the ability to act even if he doesn't know the way or is confident he will succeed. A life well-lived requires such an attitude.

4. Being able to test reality in the face of strong feelings.

Wisdom necessitates seeing things as they really are not as they appear or feel. Wisdom is a fount of life and freedom. Foolishness is a wide portal to chaos and bondage.

Emotional maturity requires the weathered ability to reality test because all that glitters is not gold, and unexamined impulse can quickly lead to disaster. So it asks questions such as:

What's really going on here?
If I do this what are the consequences?
Are my feelings telling me the truth?
Am I getting an accurate read on the situation or seeing what I want to see?
Should I take more to get the facts before I commit?
Am I being deceived?
Will good or evil come from my actions?
What is this going to cost me in the end?

The Scriptures are filled with warnings about not testing reality from God's perspective especially when it comes to trusting how a man feels as the most reliable measure of his response to all sorts of enticements. So helping a boy balance his feelings with an ability to see what's actually true based on time-tested standards of truth becomes an exercise in grounding him in what is, not what seems to be or what he wants it to be because his feelings want what they want. Many a man has shipwrecked his life because his feelings and impulses deceived him.

Perhaps the surest way to help a boy develop this tool of emotional maturity is to talk about what he is feeling in light of what actually happened or what the situation needed in reality. Sometimes it will mean comforting him or soothing his wounded ego. Always it will mean using the issue as a teaching opportunity to point him toward truth and reality, not merely desire and impulse. When done so in an atmosphere of compassion and masculine love, it opens the way to recognizing the difference between feeling something is true because he desires it to be so, and actually knowing it is objectively true.

Emotional maturity in this regard will help him navigate the avalanche of enticements hurtling toward him from every direction promising happiness, pleasure, power, and freedom if he acts and acts quickly. Having such navigational skill in our culture of endless entitlement will bode him well for a lifetime.

imagine's First Monthly Pot of Grace Community Meal!

2011-01-31T09:26:00.000-05:00

I'd been anticipating this first community meal together as part of our Sunday gathering. Establishing and deepening missional communitas has become increasingly important to me. Not only do I enjoy being around these people, but I see it essential to building the level of unified relationships for internalizing the mission together - what in his latest book, Alan Hirsch calls going from being friends or associates to becoming heart-tethered comrades in our Kingdom efforts together. I long for such camaraderie and see it as essential and biblical.

I have to say the only downside was Tricia, because of her illness couldn't be with us (big sigh), nor could Karen B., Nate, Ash, Mike, Amy P., or Matt and Karen P.

Nevertheless, a few notables stood out to me:

1. Tricia, because of her gifting and vast experience with such food-related events usually pulls the logistics together, but couldn't, so Jenn ably stepped in and did a bang-up job getting everything ready. She's a gifted, can-do kind of person able to take care of what is needed.

2. Amy and Jon stepped in to do the Good Shepherd program for the kids. They also are gifted and have can-do attitudes, initiating gracious "what can I do's" frequently.

3. Once the service was over, everyone pitched in to re-arrange our worship space and turn it into a Pot of Grace Community Meal space. Everyone brought delicious food to share and there was plenty of it. Watching the team go to work and set up the stuff we do together always feels like shalom to me, gracious order asserts its rightful presence and people are blessed.

4. Watching conversations occur, people getting to know each other better, sharing laughter, and talking about important things is just a pleasure. I see it subtly building imagine's identity as a community gathered around a specific summoning We have a long way to go, but meals and conversations settle people into mission, sometimes without them being aware. May we eat and talk together more and may it help transform us into fire-hearted, Jesus centered, Kingdom-drenched brothers and sisters.

5. Perhaps the most delightful aspect of yesterday (a DELIGHT among delights), was having Steve with us. I will write more about him later, but Steve is a man who lives his life on the streets. I've been building a relationship with him for months. This week, I asked a couple of times if he'd join us for dinner after church. He said "yes," but I've learned from being around these folks for a while now, it doesn't necessarily mean they'll show up.

Well, Steve did. Maureen, as she was coming to the gathering, walked by and reminded him! Maureen gets it and has since the beginning.

Everyone was wonderful to him. He loved the food and hung around. After and hour or so, he had to leave to get back on the street and "do his job," as he put it, to make some money. Amazingly, he asked spontaneously for my card and when we meet for worship. He said even if we have "meetings"during the week, he'd like to come. He meant it. I didn't expect him to ask.

Steve is the first homeless person to share a meal with us. We want to open our meals and everything we do to folks like him.

I'd also asked Pyro, another homeless guy I've been praying for and talking to, but he was not at his usual spot. As we were waiting to sit down, Matt B. asked if I'd talked to Pyro about the meal. I told him I had earlier in the week. Matt offered to invite him again if he was around, and went out to find him. Matt asked also if we could make a plate for him in the event Pyro didn't want to come up -- something we've done before during the week when we have extra food. Pyro wasn't there, but I was heartened by Matt's missional "impulse" to invite him. It affirms we are internalizing the Kingdom work we've been summoned to. I'll never tire of that!

6. Last but not least, Brad and Deb Davis joined us for the gathering and the meal. We always love being around them. They're gifted friends we've been praying God would summon to imagine/Northampton's mission as well. They live in CT. This year, maybe???

The day went well and all were enlivened, I think. Holy enlivening is good. And when communitas takes root over time, redemptive miracles happen. May Jesus show us favor with communitas, and may Northampton's least of His brethren discover this God who is far more than they've ever imagined because of it. He's the miracle this small city needs.

The F-Bomb Man in the Bus-Stop Across the Street.

2011-01-27T10:41:00.000-05:00

I heard him over a month ago. It was somewhere between 2-3AM. I couldn't sleep so I was up, lying on the Chaise lounge in the living room overlooking the streets hoping not to awaken Tricia with my fitful tossing. I've said before where we live we can hear all manner of people talking no matter the hour of the day. Most days don't pass without someone bellowing or screaming about something. And there seems to be many angry folks in Northampton. Friday and Saturday nights seem to lace the streets with people who've had way too much of the drink. So, for the most, part I filter out much of the street sound unless I hear something unusual such as the crunch of metal in a car accident, or the desperate screaming of someone in dire straits.

The F-Bomb man, as I've named him, was one of those unusual sounds I noticed. First, he was yelling a conversation to a phantom someone from inside the bus-stop. His words were many, even coming in a torrent at times. Second, he was ticked. The anger was obvious. Somebody or something had done him wrong. He was giving them the "what-for" as they used to say. Third, the F-bombs accompanied and were gernrously sprinkled in almost every sentence. He was creative in their placement. It felt to me he used the F-bomb to make damn-sure everyone knew he was "not gonna take it anymore!" Lastly, he was drinking. I could see the streetlight-illumined flash of a bottle as he put it to his mouth and often. What he was drinking clearly fueled his vitriol.

I heard and saw the F-Bomb man again this morning in the pre-dawn hours. I was out taking Tiger on his morning ritual, and heard him as I opened the front door. He was across the street, to my left. I recognized the sound and cadence of his voice right away before I saw him. He was sitting in the bus-stop F-bombing "someone" again. This time, I heard him mockingly say something about how alcoholics are treated. So maybe he had a real bone to pick with a real person. I don't know, but the anger was obvious. I left him to his F-Bombing rant. He also might have been the cause of the way he was being treated. I don't know.

I make note of him because I want you to think about such tormented or oppressed souls God has put in your life. He and they are folks Jesus-followers are called to help; the people whose "cheese falls continually off their cracker," as Brennan Manning noted in the Ragamuffin Gospel. They don't live lives "decently and in order," because of mental illness, their sins, and the sins of others which have violated and crushed them. Their lives careen repeatedly out of control. They can be outrageously annoying, belligerent and devious, sometimes all at once.They're street-presences we don't like eye-contact with. They interrupt our practiced shalom. They feel as foreigners to most of us; people who speak a different tongue, live a different set of values, and populate a world frightening to us.

The reality is they can feel quite menacing because of their unfamiliar ways and unpredictable behavior. There are plenty of stories about of people coming unglued in an instant, and hurting or even killing someone they didn't know. Drugs and alcohol don't help the matter and when mental illness enters the picture, chaos can be just one life-destroying, random act away. And they can be a bottom-less pit of need; the least of these his brethren often are.

Perhaps F-Bomb man's traumas and addictions have so emasculated him he has only this impotent venue to vent pain he clearly feels. I don't know, but he's caught my attention. Although, I wouldn't recognize him if he walked quietly past me in the daylight, I'm praying that God would ease his pain, or heal his mind, or reconcile the injustices of his life that he might know Jesus and find love-filled shalom.

If you remember, please pray for him too every once in a while. And find ways to be in the lives of people like him in your world. Get into the mess even if it just starts with persistent prayer. What if you are just the one Jesus is sending as a lifeline?

Two Unexpected Pleasures Because of People in imagine/Northampton.

2011-01-19T09:37:00.000-05:00

Along with the challenges, problems obstacles and puzzles of planting a church come unexpected delights. Here are two and they are related:

Most of you who've begun an enterprise from scratch be it a band, an affinity group, or some sort of business might relate easily to what I experienced recently. Your effort starts as an inspiration, prayer or intriguing idea. You do all the work of conceptualizing what it might look like or achieve. You put together strategies and structures to define how it will operate. You gather resources and finally get the word out. Depending on your enterprise, people show up or you hire them.

For me, it's been imagine/Northampton.

Some wonderful folks who didn't move here from Simsbury have joined up with us. Lately, I've heard them refer to imagine as "my" or "our church." To think that something which started as a tugging thought morphing into a series of conversations, then a call has become a valuable reality where others find meaning, identity and purpose is richly fulfilling. I used to wonder in Simsbury what it would feel like when people actually became a part this new church. To know God used me and the team to provide a community where others valued the mission enough to throw in their lot and commit, makes the struggles we've encountered very worthwhile.

I've begun things all my life, including ministries which affected many people, but imagine/Northampton stands out to me because it's a church captivated by a compelling mission to open the redemptive Kingdom of Jesus Christ to people who can't see him (from the heart) as its singular purpose. To end my days following this mission is, in my mind, the most important way I could spend my remaining days. That others want to take up the mission as well is simply amazing to me. I'm not overstating how I feel about it.

Secondly, I can't adequately describe the pleasure I have when I see the team or new people step up to do the work of being imagine/Northampton. I know it takes most everyone a while to get their bearings in a new group, but when they eventually say, "What can I do?" (especially taking responsibility for something), it never fails to ignite gratitude and a feeling of shalom, in the sense of "this is the way it's supposed to work." I never take it for granted when someone wants to help shoulder what we're doing. People stepping up and using their gifts without being coaxed or shamed into it inspires greater faith in me to dig in. I'm fueled to keep after the mission where I've taken responsibility.

I hope on my watch I'll be privy to a myriad of such pleasures as others use their gifts to glorify Jesus in the mission we've all been summoned to. One secret longing I have is, down the road, God will raise up spiritually stalwart individuals and couples in our midst to plant imagine/Brattleboro's, imagine/Portsmouth's, or imagine/Santa Fe's, or imagine/Asheville's, or even imagine/Prague's. Maybe God's opening us to help Native Americans (a largely forgotten people to most of us), would lead to an indigenous imagine/Pine Ridge or imagine/Tesuque. I don't know, but God does. Wouldn't it be amazing to see people get involved in those pursuits helping people discover the God who is more than they imagined because a thought and conversation took place in Simsbury almost 4 years ago?

What an unexpected pleasure that would be to me!

I hope to live to see it.

Please Lord.

Sometimes the Insensitivity and Selfishness Wins the Moment.

2011-01-15T08:57:00.000-05:00

I had a God-sent opportunity that turned into a Kit-failure last Tuesday morning. To be honest, I've been a little "haunted" by it since.

If you live in these parts you remember well Tuesday being the prelude day to the big snowstorm. About mid-morning, the temperature was decidedly cold and the wind was blowing a bit making it feel colder.

As is our practice, Tiger, our elderly dog, and I had trudged down the stairs from our apartment so he could relieve himself. Frankly, I was not in the best of moods being irritated by some such annoyance I don't now remember. So I wanted to get the entire deal over with quickly and head back into the building. Almost immediately outside the door and heading to the tree where Tiger does his business during the day, I was aware of someone to my left near the bench across from GoBerry's. Mind you, there are always people walking up and down the street at that time of day so I'm generally aware of them as they walk right past me so they don't stumble over Tiger as walk outside the door.

My awareness of this person felt different. As Tiger was sniffing about and taking his sweet time, I looked to my left and noticed him. He was standing alone. Right away he didn't fit the conditions. He was wearing a light cap, and a very thin, gray jacket suitable for much warmer weather. It was open. His pants where old and thin, but not dirty. This man was not unkempt at all. He had no gloves. He was holding a medium-sized cup I took to be coffee or tea given the coldness. For some reason it felt to me he might be waiting for someone.

Most importantly, his middle-aged face was mottled red, and he was visibly shivering, almost shaking. It was striking how out of place and in distress he looked - the inadequate way he was dressed and how he was acting telegraphed the need for a kind response.

Here's where I think I failed miserably:

As I turned and looked at him briefly, he caught my eye. He looked tentative as if wanting to ask me something or talk to me. As soon as I felt that, I looked away quickly. I wanted nothing to do with him. I just wanted to get back in the building. After a half-minute perhaps, I looked again briefly, and he was starting to move toward me, but uncertainly, then he turned back. He was acting like so many who are out on the streets. If they can catch your eye they will make an ask almost always for money. I know the routine well and have responded many times.

I stopped looking at him, letting him know clearly I wasn't interested in engaging. As I did so, I felt a stab of shame, but resolutely turned back toward the building with Tiger who was finished. As we headed up the stairs remorse went to work and I remembered we still had two Christmas Giveaway bags for men with gloves, warm socks, and a scarf among other things. I also thought I'd give him my jacket if he'd take it. I retrieved the bag and quickly headed back downstairs, Out the door I looked for him, but he was nowhere to be found.

I felt genuine sadness and regret. I missed an opportunity to share the love and concern of God with someone who looked clearly to be needing help. I was saddened as well by my selfishness and the insensitivity it reinforced in me.

Now perhaps you could say, "Well, maybe he was just waiting for his wife to come out of the office building,and had dashed out of the car for just a minute to meet her." Sure, that's possible, but the clear sense I had was he needed help. It was his tentativeness, and the way he moved toward me and backed off when I shut him down which said otherwise. Almost immediately as I headed back upstairs I realized God had granted me an opportunity and I just said, "No, not now." Even though I changed my mind the opportunity was gone.

It's happened a few times before out on the street. I've noticed God sometimes wants me to respond immediately when the Holy Spirit prompts. If I hesitate, the opportunity evaporates.

Clearly, I'm still in deep need of learning the radical freedom of what it means to serve at my King's pleasure. My heart is not fully surrendered, I'm afraid. Insensitivity and selfishness still exert a guerrilla lordship over parts of it. Jesus needs destroy its subverting influence. I know I"ll never be perfected on this terrestrial ball, but I desire greater loyalty to Jesus and what he loves. Tuesday was a gift revealing that in the redemptive struggle of which I'm a part sometimes the insensitivity and selfishness in me wins the moment. The greater and most comforting reality when I fail to follow obediently is that, "he who began a good work in [me] will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus, "(Php. 1:6) and in the daily working out of my salvation, "it is God who works in [me] to will and to act according to his good purpose." (Php. 2:12-3)

Turn my heart, O Lord,
Make it ever new.
Turn my heart, O Lord,
may I be like you.

God Punched a Hole in the Fabric

2011-01-14T07:27:00.000-05:00

A few days before Christmas, as I recollect, I was sitting either in my office or in our crib upstairs when a picture popped into my head. The location of the image was Northampton. Overhead was something like a dark, heavy "fabric," almost vinyl in nature. I immediately took it to mean a spiritual blockade or stronghold of some kind. In the fabric a hole had been punched - similar to the picture above - and a brilliant shaft of light was steaming through.

At the same time as I saw the mental image, I had a clear, persisting sense that God had punched a hole through it and a shift had occurred. I took it to mean the darkness had been penetrated and thus, imagine/Northampton and all who bore Christ's name here would begin to see fruit from our labors, especially regarding changed lives, people opening to Jesus and joining our work. Remarkable was the quiet assurance of, "The fact of the matter is a Kingdom shift has taken place and God has breached the resistance." Things will begin to be different.

Now you need to know, I'm not often privy to this sort of thing. I tend to be cautious about triumphalist pronouncements from dreams, visions, senses and feelings. I do not deny God will and does communicate this way, but I've seen people bellow declarations with great fervor that never seem to materialize. So I take such stuff with a grain of salt without throwing out the baby with the bathwater. I err on the side of caution, I guess.

I know our longing for the immediate victory of God over troubling predicaments or horrific occurrences can be extremely powerful. We want to see his Kingdom come and his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We long for relief, justice and freedom, and for it to be set to rights. My prayers have, indeed, been more fervent since I moved to the Paradise City. There is a "how long" element to them for sure.

Be that as it may, the image I saw and sense I experienced will remain with me for a while. I'll look for evidence and celebrate God's goodness if and when it confirms the picture. I will encourage others to do the same.

Recently, I've mentioned my experience to a few others and curiously enough they've confirmed having a similar sense. In one instance, the person initiated the topic before I said anything.

So have you experienced something like what I did in the last few months? Does it seem God is taking initiative to bless your faithful efforts to bring him glory in a new way?

I'd love to hear about it.

I think it well to end with since I became a Jesus-follower in 1972 the present days do seem a portend of the end of the Age in a way I've not been aware. I'm a student of history so I'm fully aware the world has gone through other turbulent periods when people felt the end of was near. I don't know it's near. Nor am I jumping to facile conclusions . . . just noticing and praying in different way. Trying to stay vigilant and "read the signs of the times," so I'm not caught unawares.

What Does 2011 Hold For imagine/Northampton?

2011-01-10T13:12:00.000-05:00

As everyone on the planet, imagine/Northampton just entered through the New Year's portal into 2011. We've been attending to this church planting mission since the summer of 2008, almost two and a half years. It's been a memorable ride for all sorts of reasons; some of them wonderful and others very unpleasant. Not much of what I've experienced has been what I expected when we drove out of the long driveway of the Center For Renewal in Simsbury and headed north.

In the pre-dawn of this fresh January day, the thought popped into my head: "I wonder what 2011 holds for imagine/northampton?" I'd been looking to return to writing this blog and voilà I had an idea for my first post.

Questions surfaced:

What will God do in our midst for his glory?
Will he add to our numbers?
Will he change our mission or direction?
Will he establish our work with the people on the street?
Will he bring a gifted, creative, "out-of-the-box" thinking worship leader?
Will he create relationships with people in town we did not expect?
Will he expand our borders and influence?
How will he use us in the arts community here?
Will he bring the people and gifts we need to move forward?
What surprises will he bring;what challenges and problems will he allow?

In short, I think God desires imagine/Northampton to be faithful: to love him more freely and affectionately, to love others with wise abandon, and to go wherever he sends us incarnating the love of Christ to people who can't see him or don't want to.

I also thought about what do I hope for imagine/Northampton in 2011? I hope:

God adds to our numbers with folks who have a strong desire to be about the Kingdom, not merely find a church that better fits their wants or has more spiritual "stuff" for them.

He will relieve the financial strain we and other members of our team have labored under since coming here.

Abba keeps all of the imagineers safe from harm, including all the kids.

The Holy Spirit deepens our passion for Jesus and for what he loves most in this place and beyond. I hope all of us at imagine grow far into helping people discover the God who is more than they imagine.

God helps us all live more and more from a sacrificial love, a hunger to serve the least of his brethren, and be able to shun the basest or most self-serving of our culture's lusts and idolatries even if they appear innocent on the surface.

Jesus opens the way for some of us who are ready to serve this year in another part of the country or the world so we begin to learn how God wants us to bring hope and a future to people living another life experience.

The Holy Spirit would open a way for folks we've praying for to move here and become imagineers.

God grants mercy to Mark, Steve, Pyro, Walter and Ben that they would come to know and follow him this year.

He would re-form a gifted and skilled worship team for us.

He would bring a few gifted folks to our Leadership Team.

He would grant Tricia and I more time/resources to rest or take leave for needed refreshment

God will help us accomplish what he's established for imagine/Northampton; we would miss nothing he has summoned us to do this year.

Father, may the hopes on my list and what I've failed to include reflect your heart, and be our fervent occupation in 2010. Make it so for your singular glory in and through each of us!

Taking Stock in 2010; "Ordinary" Things That Mattered Greatly.

2010-12-31T10:28:00.000-05:00

Soon, I'll be writing imagine/Northampton's Year-End Letter to honor God and celebrate the wonderful things he's done through its people, everyone who supported us, and those we encountered in our mission. I know it's important and enlightening to do so. But I also think it's beneficial and right to be thankful for the little or seeming ordinary things (riches really to most people in the world), along the way, the "commonplace" details of the missional tapestry God was creating this year.

For instance:

1. The idea to use a tall glass and brightly -colored marbles to represent and celebrate his many answers to our prayers.
2. Being small so we can still worship in a circle if we want.
3. Folding chairs to sit on and put away if we need to.
4. A bright office space with carpeting, gallery lighting, heat and air-conditioning, running water, a bathroom with a working toilet . . .
5. Large windows overlooking Main Street so we can see the people everyday and pray for them.
6. Bibles we don't have to hide for fear of persecution, arrest or death.
7. A parking space we can walk to in 2 minutes.
8. Hospitality from team members enabling us to share meals, good talk and laughs together.
9. Getting to walk to work - just down two short flights of stairs.
10. Computers connecting us to the world and resources beyond our wildest dreams just 25 years ago.
11. Surprise encouragement, written or spoken from people all over, including people who are not Jesus-followers.
12. Getting to pray anytime we want.
13. Getting to be pushed from, our cherished comfort zones and being around people on the street who reveal our complacency, pride and fear.
14.Places in town where we can meet and share coffee and conversation over important things.
15. Being able to write a blog.
16. Other people acting as if imagine really does exist and it matters.
17. Time to do what God has summoned us to.
18. The ability to get out of bed each day, and think straight.
19. People who show up when they said they would.

I am grateful for the lavish commonplace because it too reflects the magnificent generosity of God and the support imagine/Northampton has to maybe do something that mattered on our watch.

Thank you Jesus for paper clips, pencils, cups, lights, copiers, desks, stick pads, tape, decanters, Legos, toilet paper, file folders, envelopes, soap, white boards, wastepaper baskets, mini-fridges, toner, paper and plastic bags, felt pens, plates, etc., etc.!!!

It's all been grace; all grace; all grace!

What Might Jesus-following Maturity Look Like?

2010-12-29T18:47:00.000-05:00

Someone I know sent a query very recently on Facebook asking for input on the essence of maturity. I responded with the following and realized I wanted to say more about the essence of spiritual maturity recognizing it's not easily quantified like a batting average or measured by how many achievements or honors a person has gathered in a lifetime. Jesus-following maturity is existentially organic and sometimes quite subtle, best noticed by others who can see Christ-like motives and actions in us. The following list is not meant to be authoritative or exhaustive, just food for thought:

1. Wisdom From Above:

All wisdom is from God (Proverbs 2:6), including that which demonstrates anything true in the natural order (Jeremiah 10:12). Wisdom is the ability to see reality in all its forms, i.e., what is and what is not. Wisdom from above is spiritual acuity, the ability to see and know true wisdom from man-made knowledge or demonic counterfeits. It is precious beyond measure, (Proverbs 8:11); to possess wisdom is to know the way to true life and eternal meaning. The Holy Spirit is the Bringer of all wisdom, knowledge and understanding from above. He authenticates in real-time what God has ordained before the foundation of the world. God freely gives wisdom to anyone who earnestly asks for it (James 1:5). Through spiritual wisdom God desires us to see him, completely surrender our hearts (the sooner the better), and serve him to show the world his Glory.

Mature Jesus-followers are characterized by a love of wisdom grounding them in the reality of God with us, and the call to shoulder the work of this Kingdom in all of life for such a time as this.

2. Gracious Selflessness (in the mode of Jesus): Nehemiah (9:17b) and Isaiah (30:18) show God as, by nature, full of grace which he gives even when we do not deserve it or perhaps even look for it. Embodied in graciousness are freely-given qualities of generosity and goodwill, unforced favor or blessing, and favor which freely overlooks offense. To anyone saved by the finished work of Christ, it is the astounding work of grace, a gift freely given, never earned. In Jesus, we see the summum bonum (highest good) of God's grace in that he willingly, in unity with his Father, gave his life for the world. The King of Kings became "despised and rejected . . . a man of sorrows . . . stricken, crushed, oppressed and afflicted . . .a lamb to the slaughter . . . cut off from the land of the living" (Isaiah 53). Jesus left unimaginable riches, became poor and surrendered all of himself that we might find true, unfettered self by doing what he did and becoming graciously selfless, thus opening the world to his Glory as we serve those who can't see him.

Mature Jesus-followers reflect a consistent selflessness eagerly offering grace as a way of life, even when it is not noticed or returned. Selflessness is not an attainment, but an unself-aware way of life.

3. Living to Glorify God as One's Prime Identity and Life Motive: Jesus said he came to do the Father's will (John 6:38), and if you've seen him, you've seen the Father (John 14:8-11). All manner of allegiances invite us to make them our primary identities: our race, country of origin, family name, political affiliation, calling and work, etc. Jesus-followers are summoned to embrace wholeheartedly a lifetime of working to bring glory to God by serving him with all they are, and loving others as themselves including, by the way, proclaiming the Gospel to those who haven't heard it as we go about our business. Any lesser identity and life motive does not bring glory to God or reflect a heart given first to his redemptive interests.

Mature Jesus-followers then can also be recognized by where they give their best; what they seem most passionate about, how they spend most their time, and what values are reflected in their words and actions. A life devoted to God's glory will be evident.

4. Sacrificial Love: John 3:16-7 proclaims that God gave Jesus to save the world from destruction because of spiritual deadness and hardness of heart due to sin. God sacrificed and Jesus sacrificed for love. Love motivates sacrifice for the Beloved if it is authentic love. Love by its nature gives, asking little or nothing in return. Sacrificial love reveals its essence: to lay down one's life for the other. The "me" in each of us finds it's deepest meaning when its focus is others. We are our brother's and sister's keepers. Paul tells us to "follow the way of love" (1Corinthians 14:1). Love costing us much mirrors the love of God for the world; such love reflects his heart the most closely because it reveals his nature. Love which "never fails" (1Corinthians 13:8), "keeps no record of wrongs" (1Corinthians 13:5), and "always perseveres" (1Corinthians 13:7).

Mature Jesus-followers live lives showing forth consistent growth in the ability to love without condition. Such people have picked up their crosses and see dying to self as a privilege, and a cost worth paying to be able to reflect God's love in this dark world.

5. Consistently Serving the Poor (including the poor in spirit):

Very close to the heart of God are the poor: Luke says the poor are blessed because they have the Kingdom of God (6:20). He provides for them (Psalm 68:10). He secures justice for them (Psalm 140:12). He raises them from the dust (Psalm 113:7). James says God has chosen the poor to be rich in faith and inherit the Kingdom (2:5). Jesus is anointed to preach the Good News of the Kingdom to the poor (Luke 4:18). Jesus though he was rich became poor that his poverty would enrich the faithful in the treasures of the Kingdom (2Corinthians 8:9). If a person is committed to following Jesus, he or she will be where he is (John 12:26), in the midst of the poor of the world whenever possible. Jesus-followers love who God loves, including the poor and broken in the world. It will mean a lifestyle change for sure, especially in America, but serving the poor will become a non-negotiable.

Mature Jesus-followers will find meaning and joy in helping the materially and spiritually least fortunate in their midst and around the world. They will see what they've been given as opportunity for giving, not taking or hoarding to maintain comfort and ease of life. Sharing will be a common occurrence. They will see the poor as people made in the image of God and precious in his sight. Spiritual maturity gives people eyes to see one's most "insignificant" brothers and sisters and draw alongside with help.

6. Humility, Gentleness and Mercy:

Jesus says he is "Gentle and humble in heart" (Matthew 11:29). God is by nature merciful (Deuteronomy 4:31). His followers are called to be merciful (Luke 6:36). Humility, gentleness and mercy are strong towers in that they represent a depth of freedom from using power to gain one's way or advantage. This freedom is counter-intuitive in the eyes of most, but reflects a substantial reliance on the power and care of God rather than forcing one's way over others. The world operates as such, not the Kingdom.

Humility reveals a prudent understanding of one's true nature apart from God because everything good we are and everything we've been given comes from his hand. Humility teaches us to see ourselves rightly in relation to God and others. In fact, it notes God's incomparable greatness and others better than oneself. Humility finds no joy in the ridiculous foolishness of boasting.

Gentleness flies in the face of fear. It abhors harshness and dominance over others. Gentleness sees fear-mongering for what it is: cowardice. Gentleness is humane, able to connect with the broken and bruised humanity of others without a sense of superiority. It has no sense of guile or advantage. Gentleness is open-hearted by conviction.

Mercy holds no grudges and drops the charges by choice. It reflects God's will to show mercy to a sin-riddled world and shower blessing on the merciful walking by his ways. Mercy surprises and liberates all those who receive while expecting the boom to be lowered. Mercy is also counter-intuitive. Fallen human nature loves the blood-lust of revenge. It prizes the right to hit back. Mercy short-circuits the murderous revenge cycle and opens the only sure path to healing: unexpected forgiveness.

Mature Jesus-followers have come to cherish humility and see it as a gracious, undeserved gift of God's unmerited favor. They know gentleness to be a healing gesture, one that shames and defuses aggression. Such people understand mercy to be very near the center of God's heart, and want to stay near there because then they are in their rightful place as followers.

7. Willingness to Suffer For Christ:

Peter tells us if we've suffered for doing what is right we are blessed (1Peter 3:14). He goes on to say it's better to suffer if it's God's will for doing good than doing evil (1Peter 3:17).In chapter 4, Peter says since Christ suffered in his body that his followers should "arm themselves with the same attitude." Later in Chapter 4, he says," Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed." He closes the chapter by counseling, "Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good." Paul writes, "Indeed, all who desire tolive a godly life in Christ Jesuswill be persecuted" (2Timothy 3:11-3).

To truly follow Christ in this world is to incur suffering whether it be from the adversary and his minions, from enemies of the Gospel, from family, other Christians or strangers. The Scriptures allude to the fact that the closer we get to being like Christ and serving his interests in the world with courage, we will have trials, setbacks, and even persecution. I think we are often surprised when we go through a prolonged or intense period of affliction or loss. Most of us believe we are supposed to be pretty much protected from the bad stuff in life. I've known people who've abandoned Jesus because of that. The truth remains while he promises to be with us through it all, (Matthew 28:30) he also warns that the rain will fall on the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45).

Mature Jesus-followers have resigned themselves to the fact that following Christ will more than likely expose them to all manner of suffering at varying levels of intensity. Some have embraced they may even die for him because of experience and reflection on what they've come to recognize as the reality of the struggle for the Gospel and Kingdom in this world. They identify with it and go into the fray anyway. They are not heroes; they've simply decided to follow Jesus no matter the cost. They know the reward and see their obedience as life to the full, and wouldn't have it any other way.

8. The Persisting Attitude of Joy Because of Hope:

I tell people all the time attitude spells the difference between those who work out their problems and those who don't. Attitude gives proper perspective and fuels virtues. Grace-infused attitude sets people's feet advancing toward healing, freedom, life and holiness. Persistence gives attitude time to materialize and mature toward its desired ends. Without persistence most people are easily blown off course by immaturity, impatient distraction or obstacles allowed by God to strengthen resolve.

A persisting attitude of joy is a resilient mindset of joy. A person valuing wisdom chooses to learn existential joy from God. The Holy Spirit is a master at teaching joy, but sadly, many never ask him to. Most people assume joy is a feeling. We do have joyous feelings, thank God, but they are highly contextualized and fleeting for the most part. Biblical joy at its most profound is a perceiving and grasping of the stunning beauty, pleasure, freedom and life waiting just beyond the veil for all who follow Jesus faithfully. Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before him (Hebrews 12:2). He knew what his death and resurrection would create and ignite in the universe locked in slavery by the fall. Such joy is the inheritance of all persevering believers in Christ.

Mature Jesus-followers have asked often for the mindset of joy. They want to live in the anticipation of delight unimaginable right now. They want to taste a little bit of it and hold onto joy when plenty of life will throw temptation, frustration, loss, sorrow and confusion at them all along the journey home. At the same time, they have decided long ago to learn, and put on the attitude of joy even in the valley of the shadow of death. Joy is a grace-filled antidote to life that upends and piles on.

When its all said and done and the roll is called up yonder will people of the late 20th and early 21st centuries be known as believers who embraced Jesus-following maturity and spread the Gospel as never before. Or will it be sadly noted we were a passive, comfortable generation of nice people who strove to live the good life as promoted lavishly by our western culture? The verdict is still out. What does your life say?

Season of Advent: THE SACRED PAUSE: WAITING

2010-12-22T08:38:00.000-05:00

(This was written by my wife, Tricia)

When we look at the first two chapters of Luke we see the story of Jesus’ birth introducing us to people who are waiting: Zechariah and Elizabeth, Mary, Simeon and Anna.

In our culture, waiting is often seen as a waste of time. When we find ourselves in the experience of waiting our restlessness pushes us to want to do something, get going, or try to make something happen. We question “Why are we just sitting here waiting?”

Waiting can be for some of us an isolated desert experience. We tend to keep our attentions confused between where we want to go and where we really are. We are restless and preoccupied and often find ourselves trying to do something to get out of waiting.

What fuels this unwillingness to wait often is fear. When we are fearful we have a hard time waiting because when afraid we want to get away from where we are. Yet, what do we see in the beginning of Luke’s gospel? We see people who hear the words “do not be afraid. I have something good to say to you.” What is established is the truth that they are waiting for something new and good to happen. These are people who trust and count on the word of God. They are able to wait and be attentive and expectant in their waiting.

What is the nature and practice of waiting? How does God want us to understand the importance of waiting?

LUKE 1:13, 31 “Zechariah…your wife Elizabeth is to bear you a son.” “Mary… Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son.” There is something happening here that is a key to understanding what waiting is all about. It is that they have received a promise that within them there is sense that something is at work. Waiting has to do with having what we are waiting for already begin in us.

We do not wait in a place that moves from nothing to nothing more. Rather, we move from something toward something more. In this place of waiting we see Zechariah, Mary and Elizabeth inspired to wait because of the seed of God’s promise planted in them. They are able to let this seed grow and nurture and feed them, to be birthed in them.

Waiting is not passive, but active. It often is seen as a hopeless state, but we see in scripture that waiting has to do with being alive and present to the moment at hand. The reality here is that something is happening where you are, and you want to be attentive to that moment. What is being birthed in you?

A waiting person is a patient person. The word patient means: the willingness to stay where we are and live the situation out in the realization that something hidden there will manifest itself to us.

An impatient person is always expecting the real thing to happen in some other place.

Mary and Elizabeth modeled what waiting is all about. They were able to pay attention, and be alert and patient in the waiting so they could hear the voice of the Lord. Even when they doubted at first, they waited to hear God's response.

Waiting is also where we need to give up control because it is often open-ended. We want definite, clear-cut, concrete answers. We cannot stay in the place of waiting because we get wrapped up in wishes instead of living in a place of hope. Wishes tend to have attached to them the need to control the future. We want to do the thing that will make the desired result take place. Our wishes also can be tied to our fears.

The difference with Mary, Elizabeth and Zechariah is they were not filled with wishes, but with HOPE.

Henry Nouwen describes hope this way: “Hope is trusting that something will be fulfilled, but fulfilled according to the promises and not according to our wishes.

Mary was in the place of open-ended waiting. Her words “I am the handmaiden of the lord … let what you have said to me be done,” are words that speak of trusting good things will happen even when we don’t know what it all means. Our waiting, like Mary’s, should be open to all possibilities. For when we listen carefully, we can trust in letting God define our life according to His Love for us and not according to our fears.

Henry Nouwen defines spiritual life as, “a life in which we wait, actively present to the moment, trusting that new things will happen to us, new things far beyond our own imagination, fantasy, or prediction.”

In this season, we are reminded to wait for the one who is our hope. Not based in positive or negative thinking or as a matter of chance, Jesus is our hope and our hope in Him is based on the God who will be with us at all times, in all places, whatever happens.

When we wait where Jesus is our hope, we are in an active movement of God leading us.Mary was in a posture of actively waiting for God to fulfill what He promised her. It was letting God be God and letting the Lord speak forth life into her waiting.

GOD LIGHTS THE WAY TO FOLLOW EVEN IN OUR WAITING AND SEARCHING.

Often we are unable to wait because we don’t know how God is showing us how to wait or where it will lead us, if we do manage to wait.

Truth be told, the Christmas star is an invitation to each of us to follow, a calling forth from God to go where He is. The star is God’s finger pointing to where we can find Him. The star points to Jesus, Jesus points to who and what God is; we can find Him in the midst of our searching and our waiting.

God is asking us to live in the movement of God leading us as we follow the star put before us. We are waiting for what is to come, but engaged in God leading, guiding us. We wait, listening to Him who is there with us in the waiting. Our waiting becomes more familiar and still, and we realize that who we are waiting for is with us, here to speak to us in the middle of the waiting into the silence of our hearts.

The star is the symbol to follow the light in the places of darkness. We may not know where, or how, or which way to go in the darkness, but the finger of God is pointing the way for us to follow.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Reflect on the questions below. Listen for his response to you:

1. Lord, how do you want to best prepare my heart in this time of waiting?

2. Father, how do you want me to follow your light that points the way you set before me?

Season of Advent: THE SACRED PAUSE - IMMANUEL

2010-12-21T06:30:00.000-05:00

The name "Immanuel" occurs in Isaiah's important prophecy (7:14-16). The name relates to the confirmation that the plans of Jerusalem's adversaries would fail because God's purposes are immutable (Isaiah 7:4-9). His presence ensures this. The great prophecy of chapter seven is followed by some important details about "Immanuel" in the next chapter.

The key passage interpreting the meaning "Immanuel" is Isaiah 8:10 ("Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing; Speak the word, but it will not stand, for God is with us"). This means that God's purposes stand no matter how strenuously evildoers oppose them. Note the similarity of Isaiah 7:7 and 8:10.

Regarding Matthew 1:23: "Immanuel," meaning "God with us" carries the implication that God is sovereignly working His purpose in the lives of His people to protect them and work through them. He will fulfill His promises no matter how earnestly men may oppose them (See Ro. 8:31 and following). The reference in Matt. 1:23 teaches that Jesus in His Person is truly God, but it also includes the idea that God’s plan of redemption is unstoppable and that our ultimate security and provision is in the Person of Christ. (©1998 Internet Biblical Resources)

In this season of Advent, you have the opportunity to consider afresh that you have been “born from above” (John 3:3), that the God of all Creation, Christ Pantocrator (Lord of the Universe) has called you into his life, or desires to. He has become Immanuel to you. God is with you, today and tomorrow and forever. You are in him and he is in you (Galatians 2:20).

The spiritual implications of this truth are profound. Because you are his and he is with you, you have an open invitation to intimacy with him. You can know his heart and he knows yours – you are his idea. There is no need to feel separated from him. He will never leave nor forsake you, period. (Hebrews 3:5) In joys and sorrows he is there; he carries you. (Isaiah 46:4-3)

Immanuel means that in your struggles, afflictions and adversities, God is with you. He is your Helper and Deliverer. You no longer face your life by yourself, even if you feel alone, you are not. God is with you. You have a devoted Advocate, and Protector at work in your life. He will let nothing nor anyone tear you out of his hand. No power in heaven or on earth is capable of doing do.

Jesus is your Immanuel.

As you ponder this, let the following questions open you to what the One who is always with you wants to say to you through the still, small voice of the Spirit:

1. Jesus, where in my heart have I not let you be Immanuel?

2. Lord, show me where I let feeling alone prevent me from engaging life in Your Presence and with your help.

3. Father, how would have me know that your redemptive purposes this Christmas and into the next year will not be prevented in my life and for my life?

The Hole in Our Gospel: Inching Toward a Life of Sacrificial Love.

2010-12-20T12:04:00.000-05:00

"There is much at stake. The world we live in is under siege - three billion are desperately poor, one billion hungry, millions are trafficked in human slavery, ten million children die needlessly each year, wars and conflicts are wreaking havoc, pandemic diseases are spreading, ethnic hatred is flaming, and terrorism is growing. Most of our brothers and sisters in Christ in the developing world live in grinding poverty. And in the midst of this stands the Church of Jesus Christ in America, with resources, knowledge, and tools unequaled in the history of Christendom. I believe we stand on the brink of a defining moment. We have a choice to make.

When historians look back in one hundred years, what will they write about this nation of 340,000 churches? What will they say of the Church's response to the great challenges of our time - AIDS, poverty, hunger, terrorism, war? Will they say that these authentic Christians rose up courageously and responded to the tide of human suffering, that they rushed to the front lines to comfort the afflicted and douse the flames of hatred?

Or will they look back and see a Church too comfortable, insulated from the pain of the rest of the world , empty of compassion, and devoid of deeds? Will they write about a people who stood by and watched while a hundred million died of AIDS and 50 million children were orphaned, of Christians who live in luxury and self-indulgence while millions died of food and water? Will schoolchildren read in disgust about a Church that had the wealth to build great sanctuaries but lacked the will to build schools, hospitals, and clinics? In short, will we be remembered as a the Church with a gaping hole in the Gospel." (p. 238)

"The total income of American churchgoers is $5.2 trillion . . . it would take just a little over 1 percent of the income of American Christians to the lift the poorest one billion people in the world out of extreme poverty . . . American Christians, who make up about 5 percent of the Church worldwide, control about half the global wealth." (p.216)

I'm just about finished with Richard Stearns' (CEO of World Vision) book The Hole in Our Gospel. I highlighted portions of the excerpts because they capture for me the seeming blindness of the American Church to the widespread pain and suffering of people's all over the world who for a wildly complex tangle of reasons don't have their basic needs met, and are chronic victims of war, disease, entrenched poverty and corruption. Adding insult to injury, the American Church is the wealthiest in the history of the world, meaning we have the collective resources to alleviate much of the world's suffering. Another sad reality is we use most of it first for our own concerns. Ugh!

If Stearns is right, this sad state of affairs is a travesty and should "haunt" us all with the glaring need to pick up our crosses and change our lives to more "enflesh" the abundant generosity and love of God for the "least of these," his brethren. Take a moment to read the following passages in Isaiah and Matthew to refresh your memory of how serious God is about the issue: Is. 58:1-12; Matthew 25:31-46.

Reading the book falls at a time when God is challenging me consistently to a more earnest following of Jesus, one in which much of my time, talent, and resources are spent helping alleviate suffering and providing the ways and means for people to fight their way back into a life full of real living as God defines it. My heart is being pricked often these days to further leave my well-kept safety nets and comfort zones, the old paths of sheltered Christianity I spent decades diligently practicing.

All he's asking me to do is live authentically as his follower not merely as a believer. I can believe in him and still withhold my heart enough leaving ample room to pursue the comforts, pleasures, privileges, and powers of the world. I can be dedicated to going to services, giving, reading a gazillion Christian books, doing hours of Bible study, listening to Christian music, attending Christian conferences, serving on committees, leading retreats, preaching and teaching, playing on the Worship Team, and even planting a church, but if don't love Jesus enough to surrender all of my life to follow him sacrificially as my prime directive, I'm missing much of what he taught about truly being his disciple.

In short, I end up being a fan with benefits, a perpetual volunteer, a member of the booster club, but not a player in the game where blood, sweat, and tears requires my all.

The reality is, he's moving on me from more than one direction these days. First, he's deepening the urgency and vehemence of my prayer life. It's not that I'm praying for longer time, it's more that when I pray there is an earnest longing for the Kingdom to come to people through me and imagine. I want more of him, more faith, courage, and more resources to make a difference in Northampton and other parts of the world. I strain into God with passion, calling on him to open ways where there appear to be no ways. I want to see the power of the Kingdom manifested to the degree lives really are changed, especially for the marginalized, voiceless and oppressed.

I want him to punch a hole in the fabric of darkness enshrouding parts of this broken world so the light of love, peace, healing and truth can prevail.

He's also creating in me a persisting desire to give away what I don't need or use. I'm not real good at this yet because it tales a substantial mental shift, but I continue to be taken back my how many duplicates I have of things. Drawers and closets are crammed. The phrase I use is being materially bloated.We've moved 3 times in the last 2 3/4 years, tag-selling and giving away a substantial amount of stuff with each move. With each move we downsized our living quarters. We can give still more and have all we need to live. When I think of people all over the world who have just the clothes on their backs, have to walk miles more than once a day to get their daily water, or live in huts with dirt floors, eking out a bare existence, keeping stuff I don't need or use is a start at radical re-orientation.

I think radical re-orientation is a must for following hard after Jesus.

Of late as well, God is bringing situations and people into our lives far different from what we've encountered frequently before. We've been in ministry a long time. We've experienced people in deep trouble with serious needs. In Northampton, however, the level of brokenness seems more complex: long-term addiction, generational poverty, mental illness, chronic problems with the law, and a pervasive counter-culture ethos all combine to make it tough to connect with the Gospel. God is bringing them to our door and we have opportunities to show his love asking nothing in return.

It feels to me as if God is offering imagine/Northampton the opportunity to head into the heart of what it means to deny myself, take up my cross daily and follow him. (Luke 9:24-6). the implication of that Scriptures and others in the New Testament have always scared me, because I want to control the degree of sacrifice I want to make. I like the freedom to do what I want to do, when and how. These it feels God is giving me grace to move toward him in this regard. It's if he's bringing me opportunities which blow me out of my comfort zones, and he says, "Will you do this for me?" Accompanying the question is "And do it now, not hesitate or balk?"

I'm learning to say "yes" and act then and there. As I do, he makes it happen. He blesses my obeying and stepping out by letting me give something which leaves a redemptive mark on someone. Jesus is laying groundwork and testing my resolve. He's teaching me a new level of trust and a willingness to sacrifice my introverted affection for spiritual monkdom. He wants me out there connecting and doing. He wants me where he is every day.

I can feel a shift both in me and our work in Northampton. It's subtle like a fleeting hint of things to come, but it's unmistakably there. While nothing looks much different outwardly something substantial has loosened or opened - a crack in the door, a tear in the fabric. I feel anticipation different from anything else since I moved here.

At the end of Stearns' book he includes a Franciscan benediction. He encourages is readers to pray and reflect on it, particularly regarding the hope it embodies. I encourage you to do the same:

May God bless you with a restless discomfort about easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart.

May God bless you with holy anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may tirelessly work for justice, freedom, and peace among all people.

May God bless you with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all they cherish. so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and transform their pain into joy.

May God bless you with with enough foolishness to believe that you really can make a difference in this world, so that you are able, with God's grace, to do what others claim cannot be done.

And the blessing of God the Supreme Majesty and our Creator, Jesus Christ the incarnate Word Who is our Brother and Savior, and the Holy Spirit, our Advocate and Guide, be with you and remain with you, this day and forevermore. Amen.