Category: church

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certainty?

over the past three days i have had two similar conversations with different people concerning the progress of their faith. both of these individuals where raise in very religious households and early on they were very certain about life and everything involved within it. they both then said almost word for word that as they grew up they became a great deal more uncertain about things and started pulling out of their perspective churches because their uncertainty didn’t fit that well within the “rock solid” knowledge of their church.

this is strange for me for because my faith has gone through the opposite journey. i became serious with my faith in my senior year of high school. as a teen i was certain that all the answers were easily found if you just found someone who could lead you in the right bible study. looking back at myself and being honest i need to say that i was probably obnoxious in my certainty. the longer i have lived in faith the more i have realized how little i know. i’ve realized that i’m no longer certain of the little things. there are now just a few things that i am absolutely convinced of, though interestingly enough my certainty on those things is greater than ever. i am more convinced than ever before that GOD loves us, that the purpose of life is to live within and with HIM, and that HE was and is willing to do everything HE can do to make sure that anyone who wants to is able to live within and with HIM. i am as sure of those things as i am that the sun will rise tomorrow or that the packers are the nfl team that everyone should pull for.

BUT

i’m not as sure concerning many of the smaller things within life. things that i used to be extremely dogmatic about are just not that important to me anymore. most of that change has happened because of a growth within my faith rather than in spite of it. as i, and for that matter pam also, have grown in our love for JESUS, and been pushed to live out our faith in a world that we now believe is filled with mystery, we have recognized more things that we just don’t know the answers for. that mystery actually encourages our faith rather than discouraging it. we believe the mysteries we see and experience and the uncertainties that often come with those mysteries are from JESUS. those uncertainties require us to respond in faith and that’s what HE likes.

i am certain that i hope to be a part of birthing a church that is certain of GOD’s love & community but okay with being uncertain on other things. of course, how GOD will do that through us is still a large mystery.

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minneapolis

yesterday was my whirlwind trip to minneapolis. the purpose was to buy the dinner table from ikea that pam has been wanting since our last trip over there. since i was going i thought i could visit a couple of churches that i was familiar with but had never really experienced. i went with the purpose of visiting hope community church and solomon’s porch but some where along the day i found out that i also had the opportunity to visit another church, jacob’s well, whose website looked interesting, and was only two blocks away from solomon’s porch (apparently there are several different churches in minneapolis named “jacob’s well”). it was a wonderful day of very diverse and yet very similar worship of our CREATOR.

so here are my thoughts on the churches:
hope community church

  • tons of college students which hopefully will be similar to what the make up of tapestry will be. it was a wonderful vibe.
  • there was a real excitement in the room – people were glad to be there.
  • the music was incredible – i felt very connected to the group when we were singing
  • the church was about more than a service – things the church was doing were brought up many times within the service (not in a marketing manner but in a “let’s be a part of the kingdom” type of thing) – i particularly loved the “older” members wanting to take care of the college students during their study time before finals.
  • lots of involvement from the community of faith – i already knew steve, the lead pastor, from my assessment, so i knew that he’s a guy who doesn’t have to be the center of attention. still i was impressed when i didn’t see him “in front” of the church at all until the sermon came about. everything else was done by different people. i didn’t count how many people acted as leaders during the service but i know it was over five different people. it was definitely a service that came from the community of hope.

solomon’s porch

  • tons of art that i am assuming came from the community of solomon’s porch – it was all good stuff but it didn’t feel like they had just randomly brought in people to do art for art’s sake. instead, all the art felt as though it was people from within the community trying to express their faith. there was a 7′ to 8′ model goose hanging from the ceiling – i’m not sure what it was expressing but i thought it best not to sit under it just in case it was equiped with the ability to “bomb” those beneath it.
  • no announcements – the only thing i would have considered even close to an announcement was young lady at the end of the service who told the gathering of CHRISTmas lights being made by prison labor in china and our need to no support that with our finances – not really anything like an announcement. it was really nice to worship without being interrupted by what is usually just marketing. the announcements were in other forms throughout the building.
  • i loved the couches that filled the room – the whole thing felt like a living room.
  • it was stranger friendly – i wasn’t raised in church and therefore i get a little picky about churches doing “churchy things” and not even attempting to explain what’s going on. solomon’s porch explained everything. it was great.
  • there are a lot of “power structures” set up within normal church buildings (pulpits separate the speaker from the people, microphones make one voice louder, etc.)- solomon’s porch didn’t have any of these and seemed to enjoy doing the opposite of what these power structures demand (for example, there were apparently two members of the community who are the “pronounce guys” for difficult words who would tell doug pagitt how he should pronounce those words – i don’t know many pastors that would be cool with that). it ws awesome.

jacob’s well

  • i went to an evening service that they had apparently just begun and i missed the first 20 minutes of the service. i think i caught them on a bad night and so i won’t say anything other than the leadership team seemed to really love each other and i think that’s important.

there are actually many more wonderful things that i could say about hope community & solomon’s porch but i’m pretty tired from putting pam’s table together and therefore i am stopping for the night.

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i hate the cowboys

i had to go to three different places tonight to find enough standing room to be able to watch the packer/cowboy game. i finally reached the point where i didn’t feel like standing up anymore and i drove to three other places looking for a little more leg room. there wasn’t any. i ended up coming home half way through the third quarter and watching the game on the internet.

i hate the cowboys.

SIDE NOTE – a friend is doing some graphic design for tapestry. as a part of her prep work she asked for most of the basic information you would expect (name, address, website, why we exist, goals, what colors do i like, etc.) but she also asked for 5 emotional words that will describe the church. that was more taxing than anything else. i thought it was an excellent question. here are the words that i believe will fit best:

  • adventuresome
  • gritty
  • connected
  • intimate
  • wonder

what i’m even more interested in is what words a guest, a member of the community, and a skeptic would use about tapestry after it gets going. it would be interesting to see what words such people would use of a lot of churches.

SIDE SIDE NOTE – i REALLY hate the cowboys.

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dreaming of woven paper

anybody know how to weave paper? and if you do is it possible that you also know if you can print on it? i know this sounds odd but i’ve been thinking of doing information flyer’s or cards on woven paper. it might not work at all but you never know until you ask and try.

earlier tonight i was listening to ten shekel shirt’s song “cheer up.” it’s a great song. one part of the song kept nailing me. the song ends saying:

wake up it’s time to dream bigger. wake up it’s time.

i’ve heard people talk in church many times concerning dreaming big but it usually came across as “get more people to come to church and do it within the budget that exists” (it was probably just me thinking that). not a very big dream in my opinion. don’t get me wrong, i’m okay with a church growing in size (after all, at the moment tapestry consists of only four members and all of them are named terrell – it would be nice to have at least a little variety of names) but i don’t usually find GOD-given dreams within scripture being about getting more people to come to church. often GOD-given dreams are about fighting for the freedom of people (which is about salvation but not necessarily church membership) but other times these dreams are about dynamic changes in the way we understand our faith (consider peter), or changes in the direction we are going (consider paul), or challenges that press our faith onward (consider jacob, or lead us to act one way knowing others will disagree (consider jospeh), or many other things. these were dreams that pushed the followers of GOD to do dangerous, risky things. these were things that other people might not always understand. these were things that required GOD’s presence to be accomplished. in fact, if GOD didn’t show up then catastrophic failure was just around the corner. i think dreaming and risk may go hand in hand.

so what are some big dreams?

i hope we all (and i in particular) can dream bigger and risk much. if we did it might be a scary adventure but it would definitely be a great one.

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outside church


church marketing sucks posted this today about cornerstone church in simi valley, california. cornerstone was in the process of building a $60 million facility when they realized it did not fit into their understanding of their faith. so instead they decided to build a mulitpurpose building for when it rains and a 140 acre park that the community can use with an amphitheater in it that the church can use for worship services during the vast majority of california days when it doesn’t rain.

to quote the reasons they give for their change of plans:

  1. We love the poor: People around the world desperately need aid (Romans 12:13).
  2. We love Jesus: He says that He is the One suffering (Matthew 25:35-36).
  3. It’s best for us: We’ll be more joyful if we give rather than receive (Acts 20:35).
  4. It affects unbelievers: They are impacted when they see good works (Matthew 5:16).
  5. It models Christ: Laying down our lives is how we imitate Christ (1 John 3:16-17).
  6. We gain eternal rewards: God rewards those who care for the poor (Matthew 9:21).

i don’t know all the details of what they are doing but from what i do know i think they are definitely pushing the envelope. i love it when people of faith truly break the mold rather than just talking about being “extreme” or “radical.” in my opinion, other people should be the ones to use those adjectives when talking about you or your church. you should never use them of yourself – that’s one of the surest signs that you are not “radical” or “extreme.”

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somtimes i smile to myself

first, let me say “thanks” to those of you who told me that the blog is working and viewable for you. the blog apparently works for everyone except the austins. i believe that this is my blog protecting me from some evil that the austins are trying to perpetrate against me. so be warned austins my loyal blog has seen through your evil plans and will continue to prevent you from working against me. turn from your evil ways my peruvian friends.

second, it’s probably strange but as i walk my dogs i find myself daydreaming about what tapestry might be. i do this alot. i walk the dogs and think about what a service produced by the whole community of faith could be like or how we could be involved within the community or seeing people come to CHRIST and have their lives changed or finding new ways to fight for GOD’s justice within our community and the world. it always makes me smile. the problem with this is that as i am daydreaming i don’t do the greatest job of paying attention to what is happening around me. this is why tonight while wearing a dopey smile on my face i nearly walked into another person heading the opposite direction. still, i was happy with my little dream of being a progressive, evangelical church.

SIDE NOTE – pam and i have fallen in love with ingrid michaelson’s song “the way i am.” thank you old navy commercial.

SIDE SIDE NOTE – “the office” is about to come on. woohoo.

  • guess what i have flaws … occasionally i hit someone with my car.
  • “she looks awful.” “she always looks like that. it’s not my fault.”
  • i have to be liked, but it’s not a compulsive thing like my need to be praised.
  • she’s in a better place. … actually the place that she’s in is the freezer.
  • it’s up to me to get rid of the curse. i’m not superstitious but i am a little stitious.
  • with the electricity we are using to keep meredith alive we could power a small fan for two days. you tell me what is most ethical.
  • maybe there’s some type of monster. like a creature with the body of a walrus and the head of a sea lion.
  • is there a GOD? if not then what are all these churches for? and WHO is JESUS’s DAD?
  • a woman shouldn’t have to be hit by a car to find out she may have rabies, but that is where we are and it frustrates me.
  • i’m petrified of nipple chaffing. once it starts it becomes a vicious circle. – pam has decided that at the next road race i participate in i will be wearing a t-shirt with this quote on it
  • european offices are naked all the time.
  • i know a great taxidermists. we could have her stuffed. well actually he’s not great but he’s pretty good.

SIDE SIDE SIDE NOTE – montana, our female basset, is snoring at this moment like an 80 year 400 pound man.

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spam

how funny is this? the ministers’ meeting i went to today is called “stevens point area ministers” or “SPAM.” yes, i throughly enjoyed spending my lunch hour with a group called “spam”. i went to the other area ministers’ group last week – sorry no cool name for that one but we did pray for an hour solid, which was great.

today “spam” sat through a presentation from justice works – an organization fighting for restorative justice. the presentation was from a portage county judge who said he had been on the bench in portage county for 30 years and now that he was seeing grandchildren of past defendants in court he wanted to do something to stop the cycle. it was excellent presentation and idea. so i’m going through mentor training in the near future to mentor someone who has gone through the criminal justice system as a defendant. i figured it was a great balancing act in case i do get to be a police chaplain.

i’ve been struck today by how often we (as in people in the world) divide situations into two extremes and decide that only one could be true. case in point – if you’re conservative you believe in law & order, while you believe in restorative justice if you’re liberal. why can’t both be true and both worked on? another case to consider – churches seem to either care about evangelism (i.e. telling people of the healing salvific power of CHRIST) or social justice (i.e. being instruments of CHRIST’s healing within society). seems to me that both are a part of the kingdom of JESUS. yet conservatives focus on evangelism almost exclusively and liberal churches focus on social justice. there are tons of other examples – environmentalist vs. capitalist, and others. why does this have to be an “either/or” type of thing?

i wonder if sometimes we (i mean this as “i”) do this because we (again i mean “i”) are too lazy to deal with both sides of the issue.