the feast of gratitude

Monday, Rachel and I threw our third annual feast of gratitude.  This feast has been our tradition since the first year we were married, and when we were at the college coincided with the end of the semester.  We don't live at school anymore, but we decided to keep the date between Thanksgiving and Christmas just because we like those holiday foods which are so available this time of year.  

Each year we invite friends over, roast a turkey, make a few other dishes and let others bring their own.  Then we eat.  It's great.  We're not celebrating anything in particular.  Rather, we're celebrating everything that is good.  So often we do holiday meals with family, and don't always get to celebrate with friends, and this is a great way to do that.  It's great to gather around the table to talk and laugh.  

This year, as we were preparing I was reflecting on Isaiah, which I have been reading lately.  In Isaiah, and really throughout Scripture, a feast is used to describe what life will be like when God acts to redeem his creation.   Pausing like this every year to feast, for me, is like bringing a little bit of heaven to earth now.  

Do you have any traditions with friends or family which aren't a part of the church calendar or national holiday calendar?

not a product

I have this conversation running through my head right now.  It has to do with church and promoting.  First the context: A few years ago we ordered a bunch of blank bulletins which were formatted for us to allow us to present the same format for our announcements, order of service, prayer requests and other various items.  We're out now and so we need to decide what we want to do about ordering more.  During the discussion we talked about the picture on the front of these bulletins.  Currently it's our church building as seen from the street.  Some thought we should make it a picture of people, because after all the church isn't the building, it's the people.  This discussion went back and forth for a while, and I can't remember how it ended, but it came up again today in a conversation I was having with someone about whether or not we should have an order of service at all in our bulletins.  In that, I asked about what is the purpose of a bulletin anyway... and the response given to me was something to the effect - it's about branding.  So people have something to take home to help them identify with where they were.  It gives them information about what sort of place this is that they visit.  

Okay, a lot of context, but here's my problem that I'm trying to put words to.  A bulletin, or whatever you want to call it is a great way to brand yourself, to help people remember a place, or to provide information for what type of church you are.  It is part of the packaging which helps to sell a product.  I started re-reading some posts from John Chandler's blog back in 2004, and it reminded me of a deep truth, which is what I'm going to remind you of now...

The church (Church) is not selling a product.  It's not.  Jesus is not a product.  He cannot be bought or sold.  I think sometimes we think of what we're doing in church and we want it to be good or professional looking or spontaneous or well-planned or whatever, because we want people to buy it.  To come back for more.  To tell their friends.  

Following Jesus is so much bigger than all this.  Church is a group of people pursing this better way to live.  It's about a relationship and relationships.  These things are not for sale.  

How much time do we spend on designing packaging, and improving a product which is our church, rather than asking how we can better pursue Jesus, whether others follow or not?

fulfilling vocation

How do we fulfill our God-given vocations?  By being a part of God's ongoing incarnation.

- Ronald Rolheiser

super-market sweep

The local food banks are desperately low on food, so as a church we've decided to collect as much food as we can to remedy that situation.  We've asked that people bring food with them whenever they're coming to the building.  Everyone from our smallest kids to the oldest adults are pitching in.  It's great.

Last night for ACT, our 18+ gathering, we asked everyone to bring some cash, and then after we wrapped up with our usual activities and split up into teams before crashing the Safeway.  The teams were given a shopping list of Thanksgiving meal essentials, and then given the freedom to expand beyond the list to use the rest of their budget. 

I thought for sure we were going to get kicked out before we even started, but it was late enough that they let us have our fun and resorted to just giving us weird looks.  We all had a blast, and best of all we were able to get a bunch of food for people who will really need it.

What are some creative ways you/your friends/your family is working to serve others as we enter the holiday season?

the greatest commandment

Some friends and I were having a discussion about Jesus' comments on the greatest commandment.  Whenever the gospels record him talking about this issue, they actually list two commandments - love God & love your neighbor.  In our discussion, we talked about the idea that these two things should be our most natural instincts, because they are the greatest instructions God has given us.  So when we're faced with conflict, it should be these things that flow out from us.

When I engage in political conversations, I rarely find myself able to hold on to these two truths.  I'm not loving God, because I quickly shift my focus and hope off of Him and towards a political candidate/party/issue.  I'm relying on a human institution to solve the great problems of this world.  And I don't love my neighbor, because I'm usually thinking about how wrong, ignorant, and  narrow-minded, "they" are.  

Is it possible to be immersed in the world of politics without losing hold of the two great commandments?  That's what I'm hoping to do by this fast.  I guess we'll have to see....  

The experiment

September 25th, 2008 will be a momentous day.  I will turn 26.  In celebration of this milestone, Coldstone has decided to give away free ice cream between the hours of 5-8pm.  Additionally, NBC has chosen to begin airing the seasons of some of the only television shows I actually watch - The Office and 30 Rock.  Last, but of course, not least (since it's the point of everything I'm about to say), September 25th is exactly 40 days before the 2008 presidential election.

Now, I know you're probably thinking, "Don't talk about politics.  I hate it when people who don't know the first thing about politics start talking about politics."  Me too.  In fact, I don't even like it when people who do know about politics start talking about it.  I don't like that every source available for political news presence a biased opinion.  (This raises a whole different set of philosophical questions about if anything we know or are told is bias-free, but let's not get into that).  And yet, it's everywhere, and like an accident on the freeway, I just can't stop fixating on it.  

More than anything, I hate the person that I become when I start thinking about politics.  I get angry at the people who disagree with me.   I think of all the ways I can passive-aggressively point out how wrong they are.  I think nasty thoughts about people who are my friends.

And so I am embarking on a bit of a fast.  For the 40 days leading up to November 4th, I am going to attempt to avoid as many forms of biased political opinions as I possibly can.  Newspapers, online news, television (even *tear* The Daily Show), friends' opinions, etc.  Instead, I will try to spend at least 30 min. every day researching what candidates (national and local, Democrat, Republican, and 3rd party) are saying about themselves.  I will try to avoid listening to what they're saying about their opponent(s), and only hear what they have to offer.  I will spend time thinking and praying about these men and women as they prepare to lead.  By the end of the 40 days, I hope have made a decision about how to cast my vote (or how to abstain from casting my vote).

So far, everyone I've talked to about this experiment has been skeptical if it's possible. So am I.  But I need to try.  I can't allow the anger and resentment that arises from politics take hold of me.  If you'd like to join me in my fast, let me know, it would be great to take this journey with others. 

the fallout

Lesslie Newbing has this great quote in The Gospel in a Pluralist Society.  He says,

The mission of the church in the pages of the New Testament is more like the fallout from a vast explosion, a radioactive fallout which is not lethal but life-giving.

This is a completely different understanding of the gospel than exists in most of the Church today.  There are no 4 steps, no tracts, no prayer (not that there's anything wrong with these things).  However, for the early Christians, there was simply the recognition that the message "that the rejected and crucified Jesus is alive" is life-giving in itself and cannot be suppressed.  

This is what I want my life to be.  The fallout...