Monthly Archive for November, 2007

surprises

Published
by
Rod White
on November 29, 2007
in Community, Dialogue and Planning
. 1 Comment

Our whole advent/12 days of Christmas at Broad and Washington is devoted to the thought of being “surprised by joy.” God manages to get to us in the most unusual ways and at the strangest times. I have been noticing Him doing that in relation to all the stimulating talk we are having about developing into a more capable church.

Thank God we did not hire the Pastor of Operations when we wanted to, last June! We weren’t ready. At the time, I was disappointed, but now I am surprised. We managed to fall into a very helpful transition period that I wish I would have planned! The Discernment Group process has reaffirmed how good this period has been for us as I see people catching up with what God has made of us and getting excited about the future. The creation of the CoHOp and several new teams has created all sorts of dialogue, called forth new leaders and awakened us to all our potential. It is very exciting.

As I have been pondering what we are becoming, I have been focused on three “A’s.” Anarchy. Ambition. Apprenticeship. I have been hearing a call for them as we have our dialogue about the future. Each “A” is full of the surprises that will mark our future joy, I think.

Anarchy is the way to our future. I don’t mean utter chaos, or dissatisfied people wrecking the status quo to make a point. But I do mean enough chaos and some holy dissatisfaction that gets people creating what’s next. Right now we are having a small discussion about how we care for children because our children’s cell at B/W needed to multiply! That caused logistical and relational shifts. It caused a Coordinator and our Children’s Team to lead. It got us thinking. That’s what we need.

Ambition is also the way to our future. I don’t mean Michael Douglas in Wall Street ambition. But I do mean being “greedy” for good deeds, for eternity, for making a difference. At the Discernment Group meeting the other night, one of the small groups suggested a goal that read something like, “Do compassionate service, with feeling this time.” That’s the spirit! We have so many gifts and talents. We have people who can lead things. We should imagine what we can do and risk what we’ve got to do it.

Apprenticeship is elemental to our path to the future. I don’t mean perpetually being second-in-command, or waiting for someone else to take the initiative or tell you what to do. I mean being people who apprentice others — primarily in faith, being people who help others become apprenticers, being people who freely give the good we’ve been given. We’re already kind of good at it — we have 43 cells with a leader and an apprentice. And we are getting even better. There is a whole cadre of 30-40 something people among us (not exclusively that age, of course) who are glowing on the Vine like ripe fruit, stepping into leadership. They are just ripe for the picking — either they will give their fruit to be mashed up in the economic machine, or they will find creative ways to extend the kingdom (even by using that economic machine! — thank you Circle Thrift and UndaWater!). They are going to make an even bigger difference and bring others with them.

I guess a fourth “A” is Advent — Jesus is coming. When he comes in each of us, it is often such a surprise! — but a good one. And I can see him coming this Advent. Things are happening among us right on time in so many ways. Because Advent is about the chaos of change (babies in mangers). It is about the passion for more (following stars in the East). It is about the humility to be a vehicle for eternity (“May it be to me as you have said.”). I’m expecting all sorts of things I can’t expect.

enough to give me hope

Published
by
Julius Rivera
on November 26, 2007
in Community, Dialogue and Uncategorized
. 4 Comments

I know that it is right after Thanksgiving, so if I wanted to have a racial discussion it should have been based on the Quakers and the 1st World Peoples (aka Native Americans). But instead, I would like to talk about a moment in my “Sociology of Race and Racism” class at Temple.

We were studying how Whiteness evolved in the United States and had been advised to pay attention because we would have to write a paper on the subject. As I was listening to the material and beginning to form a central idea for my paper, it hit me. The central idea became “the wealthy will never willingly give their wealth to the poor.” The reality of that statement in my head, in my class, filled my insides with a deep depression. One of the other White students in the class (who seemed flustered) asked the teacher, “Don’t you think that this generation of young White people will get tired of the way things are and try to change it?” I raised my hand and responded, “No, because they live comfortably and in order to change things they would have to be willing to change their lives and there simply are not enough young White people willing to change their lives in order to make a dramatic change in the U.S.” Immediately after making the statement, I turned around and I was filled with a deep sense of “gratitude” as a thought pierced the darkness and overpowered it with its brilliance. The piercing thought was “…there aren’t enough, but I know many…my friends at the Circle of Hope…it is not enough to give me hope for change in our government or in our world, but it is enough to give me hope for my neighbors, my neighborhood, and even this city.” And so, may I say plainly, I am truly and deeply thankful for your willingness to suffer and work towards transformation when the World says that you don’t have to.

vigil

Published
by
Martha Grace
on November 19, 2007
in Community, Dialogue and Family
. 3 Comments

Suddenly there are many “holiday” things to do…Some nice friends of mine helped me decorate at Circle Thrift this week, I have been gearing up to make art shop stuff, and am planning to revive the “most dangerous gift” series of homemade presents that I started in high school for my family of origin. These are landmarks of my holiday season which culminates at the vigil on Christmas eve. The vigil wasn’t always THE moment of the season; it used to be other stuff like seeing the lit up tree Christmas morning, or trading gifts, or the big dinner, or watching my kids open gifts, etc…

My cell is spending a few weeks hearing each others holiday stories and discerning how we can “go deeper” this time around with Jesus. We are listening, praying and reflecting on how we think God is calling us to experience the season. In thinking about my own holiday history I realized that the moment that my heart feels so full that it might break open is in the quiet celebration with my community when we first welcome Jesus into the world again together during the Christmas eve vigil. Each year I literally feel all of the pains, failures, hurts, miscommunications and disappointments in my life melt away and all I am left with is this perfect love for God and from God.

The feeling doesn’t arise because of the brilliant execution of the vigil, or the music, or how much Joshua loves me, or how clean and wholesome I am when I present myself to the new king- it happens because I am just present to who God always is, acutely aware of Jesus’ presence, and carving out time in the busiest part of the year to be an empty vessel and receive what I am always being given.

There are “perfect” moments throughout my days and my weeks and my years when alone with God I know peace and love and partnership and passion, but there is something special about having this experience with my new, chosen family, on Christmas eve. It is special because Jesus had to fight his way back into my life and I am so aware of his triumph, because it is a discipline to make Jesus’ new life more important than commercial Christmas and I am aware of our triumph, and because all the excited feelings that I had as a kid around Christmastime and have unsuccessfully tried to recreate year after year as an adult have resurfaced in their truest, purest form. I look around at midnight and can recall all the happy tears, disagreements, laughs, and misunderstandings that I have shared with all the people in the room and I know God is there willing us to love each other and to keep grinding it out when it is hard and to high five when it isn’t.

I am interested to see how our preparation and reflection on the holidays will take root in the my cell, because we are all bound to get caught up in all of our old family dramas, and hurts and disappointments, no matter how open we are to Jesus’ love and newness; we are human and have been relating in a specific way to our families and community and friends for a long time. It may take years to change the course of the ship, but it is wonderful to know that we are all together on this journey and that we have a sense of its sacredness and power.

In the autumn, in a season for changing

Published
by
Joshua
on November 16, 2007
in Community, Dialogue, Family and Planning
. 1 Comment

Wind blows the dry leaves
Accenting the rich scarlet
For its time has come

Last week I got to go spend 30hrs or so at my favorite local hermitage. I’m still learning how to retreat well, and how to keep my regular discipline about getting away to be alone with God.

Sitting on the little deck of the hermitage, I was right on the edge of the woods. The wood was magnificent, leaves in the midst of changing color and falling off into a winter blanket for the earth. The air was crisp and cool, I was really in full readiness for Jesus to deliver to me my theme for the retreat and for the next couple months so that when I was asked by my friends “how was it” I wouldn’t just talk about how nice the bathrooms are there or something and talk about what Christ is saying.

Well, I waited for a while, journaled, read a couple books, drank tea and slept a bunch. I couldn’t get away from these trees (they were everywhere! kind of like Kensington!) and what they might be meaning. I didn’t get my one-liner, though…so what am I do? What can I do but wait on God, and be where I’m at.

It wasn’t until a week later that I began to understand the image a little more. The trees were being trees in a season of change, part of the ecosystem and doing their part. And it was beautiful. I want to be there, too.

The past few years I’ve been going through a lot of changes, especially 07 and looking at 08 it’s time to change more. It’s a season for Circle of Hope to change again. In the season for changing, I’m praying through a few statements.

1. I don’t want to fight to hang on to what I think I was like or the church was like during last season (try to be the green leaf tree in the middle of winter).

2. God is taking us into a new season, and I want to be that change and trust the Spirit’s ecosystem to put it all together.

3. We are like the forest. Letting things fall off and die is part of living. Spring will come, but first we must winter.

Our mapping process and Discernment Group meetings give us a lot of opportunity to process what we’ve been doing well and what we can do better. With that sense of God dwelling in us and the Spirit leading us we can be present to the changes and move to what’s next.

Shout, worship, know, enter.

Published
by
Megan Scott
on November 13, 2007
in Community, Dialogue and Family
. 3 Comments

The girl was maybe 18. It was summer, and we were all working at the local family restaurant. Like Friendly’s, but without the commercial packaging, and with bigger scoops of ice cream. I was a practiced hostess/waitress/sometime manager. I was there to earn some money for college. Anyway, the place was dead, no business except for a regular who often came in around 2 pm for a hot dog and some chips. She never left a tip so I never worried about whether she needed a refill on her Coke. Sometimes the staff would dare each other to try to get her to smile, and watch from a booth where we sat snickering and snacking.

But today the owner was around and we were all working hard, scrubbing out the refrigerators, and even under the coffee maker. We were flirting as waitresses and line cooks like to do, when one of the cooks asked, “What is love?” He was probably trying to ask the fountain girl out, but he inadvertently started a real conversation. One we all kept picking at through the evening, even when the real rush arrived and we ran around distributing hot fudge sundaes and grilled cheese. “What is love?”

The thing that stopped me, that I still hear when I remember that night, is the response from the 18 year old. Without a beat, without worrying about what the rest of us thought, she said, “God is love. Love is God.” She tried to explain what that meant through the rest of supper and on into the dessert hours. And I should have been able to help her. But it wasn’t my answer, I wasn’t willing to let God be my love yet. I am now, though it’s still hard to explain what it’s all about until you know it, which requires belief, which requires faith.

What I want now is to be able to teach it to my kids. How do you teach that God is love? The indefinable thing we are all questing for. I say I love my children, but I am selfish and human and not always righteous. What if they don’t want to know God’s love because my love is so lacking?

On Sunday I was asked to help the kids who came to the AM PM (Circle of Hope’s monthly public meeting that caters to children and families) think about Psalm 100.

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

How do you teach these earnest commands from David in such a way that when our little ones grow up they will answer without hesitancy “God is love”? How do I get out of the way enough so that my imperfect love can be replaced by God’s love?

I think I need to keep living the commands myself, and praying that I can get out of the way and let Jesus be Jesus for my kids. I need to shout for joy. I need to show up for worship. I need to know that the Lord is God, that he made me and that I am God’s. I need to enter God’s gates and give thanks. And I need to pray that when my kids do the same God will take care of the rest.

Every day I try to make things harder than they are. I want to be the troubled philosophy/theology major who claims relativism and blurs the lines of Jesus and Buddha, like I did in college. But I’m not. I’m a person who knows that Jesus is Lord and God is love. The hesitancy is gone. The Lord is good.

Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life

Published
by
Brian Duffy
on November 8, 2007
in Community, Dialogue and Uncategorized
. 3 Comments

In our cell group, someone asked about the “malaise” (the feeling of general uneasiness) that permeates the West right now, and why there was one? I didn’t have an answer then, but I’ve been thinking about it.

I think it’s the removal from our culture of Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Modernism eliminated Jesus as the Way. In The Last Word, N.T. Wright describes one of the Enlightenment’s accomplishments as “kicking” God upstairs (the Truth being somewhere “up there”), and making religion a matter of personal piety. Secularists dismiss God and the scriptures, replacing them with Reason, while Believers reduce those same scriptures to “merely” guides of personal morality and personal salvation. Both work together to “undermine its global, cosmic and justice-laden message.” Jesus is no longer “transformative,” but merely “informative.”

Post-Modernism goes further, and eliminates Jesus as the Truth, because “there is no Truth!” It too dismisses God and the scriptures, but (with an emphasis on extreme complexity, contradiction, and ambiguity) replaces the Truth with nothing else as an alternative, not even Reason. Post-Modernism leaves us to rearrange or dismiss God and the scriptures however and whenever we want, because in its view, all ideologies are power plays anyway (except, ironically, its own). Jesus is no longer “informative”, but merely “insightful.”

Since the Way and the Truth have been eliminated, we are left with the Life, and in this area, we most often appeal to our “experience” as a source of authority. But because experience is “fluid and puzzling and because we are all prey to serious self-deception”, Wright says that “Theology and Christian Living become no longer rooted in God, but rather rooted in ourselves, with the ‘highest’ religious good becoming self discovery, and then being “true” to the self thus discovered.”

Philip Rieff’s Triumph of the Therapeutic describes it similarly, saying spiritual concerns are not abandoned, but recast purely as enhancing personal well being instead of serving as a source of love or awe before God. So, lacking any foundation other than our-selves, we live for today, shying away from commitment that might curtail our personal growth, and view other people as mere instruments to be manipulated in our quest for fulfillment. Yet we also invest too much in emotional experience with others, seeking “the richness and intensity of a religious experience” and investing romantic attachments with demands they cannot possibly fulfill. Disappointed, we develop a protective shallowness and cynical detachment.

And that’s where the malaise hits us. With nothing shared beyond “a commitment to the self” we are left with a commitment to nothing. Jesus became only “informative”, not “transformative,” and then even that was taken from us, partially of our own doing. In a popular culture where everyone’s self expression might result in celebrity status, its difficult to argue for any sort of moral, or spiritual (let alone Jesus-based) way of Life.

Jesus is “an alternative to the dominant ways of the world, not a supplement to them” as our culture and its “spirituality” (the form of religion without its substance) would have us believe. But Eugene Peterson sees how we adopt so many of these ideas, and take on “the very ways and means that Jesus rejected.” How do we stop looking inward as self- serving consumers and get out of this malaise? In The Jesus Way, Peterson says the local Christian congregation and community of believers is the “primary place for getting this way and truth and life.” It is the place for listening to and obeying Christ’s commands. “The Jesus way and the Jesus truth must be congruent. Only when the Jesus way is organically joined with the Jesus truth do we get the Jesus life.”

Hopeful

Published
by
Kim Crognale
on November 5, 2007
in Community, Dialogue, Family and Peace
. 2 Comments

I am a new mother.  Dominick, my son, is now 3 months old.  I have learned about hope from Dominick.  When Dominick was about 2 weeks old he became very fussy. Basically, anytime he was awake, he was crying.  Nothing we did seemed to help, except walking up and down the stairs.  I cried many tears of frustration during those weeks.  But I learned about a mother’s endless hope.  Because I love my little one so much and want the best for him, all I could do was hope.  I hoped that someday he would enjoy life and that he would not be fussy for the rest of his life.  In the midst of a very difficult time, I held on to the hope that Dominick would grow and develop out of his fussiness.

            I am often overcome with hopelessness.  I see our city full of violence. I see people making destructive choices. I don’t see the growth in my own life that I would like to see.  I wonder if people can really change.  But I have learned that I can have hope.  In fact, sometimes that is all I can have.  I want to love others to such an extent that I can’t give up hope, that all I can do is hope. And this hope is not an empty hope because Jesus is our hope.  He has promised us new life.

            Dominick did get better. He now smiles and is happy for longer periods of time.  He is growing and developing at such a fast rate.  His growth and development make me long for the growth and development of myself, our community, and our city.  And now I am more hopeful that it will happen.  I cannot give up trying to contribute to that growth and development because I love my city and community too much.

Worn out in a good way

Published
by
Rod White
on November 1, 2007
in Community, Dialogue, Partnerships and Planning
. 1 Comment

When I was talking to Eric the other day, I had to stop at one point and say, “You know, you were here when there were about fifty people in the church. Now there are about 450. That’s a good thing!” (That’s 450 in both congregations combined, for those who don’t know we are 1 church in 2 congregations and 42 cells, right now). I was sort of reminding myself, too, that it is a very good thing. Eric agreed that it has been a fun and productive decade. We dreamed we might get to do some of what we do. Having gone through the process of seeing our dreams realized, it is more amazing than we imagined! And it was hard, too.

Being changed, changing people, and working with God as he transforms people from the inside out is more than just hard. Relying on miracle everyday and then seeing them happen all the time can wear you out, but in a good way. What I mean is: it wears out my ability to not rely on miracle and wears out my ability to keep myself at the center of things. The process of watching Circle of Hope grow and change rather uncontrollably, most of the time unpredictably, has worn out my ability to claim I had a whole lot to do with it, really (although Eric and I did show up for it!). Seeing people stick with God and the church and complain and criticize even as they love and nurture, seeing them claim they can’t do it and then triumph repeatedly, seeing someone after someone resist the Holy Spirit and then give in to God’s persistent love, has just worn out my ability to doubt that God is with us. What a blessing.

Now we are blessed with changing some more. It is wearing people out. At 450 you can’t be involved in everything our even know everyone. Some leaders (like me) need to start doing things and relating differently. We need new structures (like CoHOp is building) that bring more entrepreneurs and managers into the leadership. Caring people who were comfortable with the old days need to get new insight, step up, and take their new opportunities (like Eric, and Forest, and Zach, and Tracey, and Lauren, and Jesse, and Liz and Jonny, and so many others are doing – amazing!). What is coming up next year will give us ample opportunity to step up; we’ve been trying to warn you. It could be a big, tiresome mess, as usual. How wonderful to have much more opportunity for God to be revealed.