my address in Egypt

I was recently discussing with my some colleagues the virtues of practicing Sabbath as a follower of Jesus. There were many levels of conversation about what Sabbath-keeping included, and what was outside the bounds of Sabbath. After that conversation I took a moment to read the scriptures to see if I could gain any further insight into this practice foreign to most modern gentiles. There are two main passages in the Hebrew scriptures where Sabbath is commanded. One is in the book of the Exodus, where it connects Sabbath to creation and the idea that God was content with how things were, nothing more to add. No anxiety over whether to add more legs to the spider or whether the giraffe's neck was indeed long enough. There was space to admire, be in awe, and be okay. The other passage is in Deuteronomy. In that passage Sabbath is linked to the idea that Jews can experience leisure as a way to distinguish themselves from their history of Slavery in Egypt. Slaves cannot choose to designate a day for leisure, but they were no longer slaves so they must do so intentionally. This was the experience of Sabbath which was meant to speak to me, and i think to many modern americans. I think we still live in Egypt. I'm not sure I've gotten the message that I have been liberated. I don't live in the reality of that awareness. Instead, i can feel my shackles. I run, and work, and stress, and fill. I don't stretch, and smile, and notice, and relax. Some invisible whip is taking me to task. And I obey. I would like to be free. I would like to say a little less that "I've just been busy." I have read many inspiring essays and prayers about slowing down, and soaking in the goodness of creation and time. And I have left those writings and prayers believing they were indeed nice thoughts that someone should definitely try out at some point. We give those kinds of perspectives a nod, but then we realize that they could not be talking about living that way on our planet. If they only inhabited our skin for a bit, they would realize the absurdity in which they write. Maybe I will choose to leave Egypt. However, I know it's not that easy. It takes following a cloud by day and pillar of fire by night. It takes crossing through a divided sea. It takes intentionality and sacrifice. I will have to say "No, I can't do that" to people who will think me irresponsible or uncommitted. I will have to push out the margins of my day so I can find sabbath. I want to share a video from a conference I attended where the speaker, Mark Yaconelli speaks of this need for sabbath in a talk about "Joining Slow Club".

my irish prophets

i have been a U2 fan for a long time. in a household where the only music that could be played was from christian music labels like Sparrow and Word, there was this anomaly. a band of Jesus-followers (3/4 of them anyway) on Island Records, which was I was sure was not a Christian label, or even a very good one. they sang songs which should have found their way into christian bookstores and CCM TV, but they did not, because Bono, the Edge, Larry, and Adam also cussed smoked and drank, and rarely wore suits, or went to church services. but they were my prophets. i have never been to a U2 concert, so i have always doubted my credibility as a true fan. thursday night, October 1st that will change. i will see these dubliners live at scott stadium on the campus of the university of virginia with some friends. everyone has prophets. i have some that go by the name of Jack and wrote "wonder-full" books for children and adults, and one who was a weird midwestern troubadour who took Franciscan vows (poverty, chastity, and obedience) even though he was never a catholic. and then i have these other four guys who swear, drink, smoke and have tattoos, but are God's mouthpiece for me, reminding me of God's overwhelming love and grace in the world and my need to participate in that love and grace actively and intentionally. in honor of my upcoming "true fan credibility" i leave you with "magnificient" from their newest album. i encourage you turn up the volume or turn the pages on your modern day prophet.

Magnificent lyricsSongwriters: Clayton, Adam; Eno, Brian; Evans, David; Hewson, Paul; Lanois, Daniel Roland; Mullen, Laurence;
MagnificentOh, oh, magnificentI was born, I was bornTo be with you in this space and timeAfter that and ever afterI haven't had a clue only to break rhymeThis foolishness can leave a heart black and blue, oh, ohOnly love, only love can leave such a markBut only love, only love can heal such a scarI was born, I was born to sing for youI didn't have a choice but to lift you upAnd sing whatever song you wanted me toI give you back my voice from the wombMy first cry, it was a joyful noise, oh, ohOnly love, only love can leave such a markBut only love, only love can heal such a scarJustified, till we die you and I will magnify, oh, ohMagnificent, magnificent, oh, ohOnly love, only love can leave such a markBut only love, only love unites our heartsJustified, till we die you and I will magnify, oh, ohMagnificent, magnificent, magnificent© POLYGRAM INT. MUSIC PUBL. B.V.; UNIVERSAL MUSIC CORP.;

Weeping for Jo-Cel and Gavin

This past Sunday night as we explored "the Path Project" I told the following story:

"Nobody should be treated the way I treated Jo-Cel. I met Jo-Cel Tagnesi at Barboursville Elementary School as we both began our kindergarten adventure together. On the playground Kindergarteners would typically be running around playing tag and kickball. Jo-Cel would not. Her muscular-dystrophy meant she moved about on braces surrounding both her legs and aluminum full-arm crutches. Her walk was labored and distinct. Now, if you are like me, you look back on some moments in your life with deep pride and satisfaction, and there are some moments you wish you could wipe away. In one of those latter moments I can remember taking various opportunities throughout elementary and middle school, along with some friends, to walk along the hallway behind Jo-Cel mimicking her awkward gait, rocking back and forth...right foot...left foot. I acted in ways which attempted to diminish her value, perhaps hoping to raise mine in the eyes of my peers. I'm not sure if she ever knew. I think perhaps she did. I think it may have just become the landscape of her life at school, and fairly typical of each weekday experience. I had not thought of Jo-Cel much until a couple of years ago. Our oldest son Gavin was 4 years old at the time and some complaints on his part led us to seek the help of an audiologist. Through that journey came a day when they told Lisa and I that Gavin had a neural hearing impairment which would require hearing aids. We took our boys home that day and put them to bed that evening. Then I went into our bedroom and I wept. I wept not for the diminished quality of life my son was experiencing because of his limitations on hearing. I did not weep because this was uncharted territory, though it was. I wept because I was afraid that people would miss out on the beauty of my son because they wouldn't be able to see him as anything other than the hearing impaired kid. And I wept for Jo-Cel Tagnesi, and for her parents, and for a world that had missed out on the beauty of their daughter because we couldn't see past the braces on her legs..."

this month's path project is about the foundational statements of Jesus where he says that we are to love our neighbor like we love ourselves and that we are to do unto others as we want them to do to us. we also shared the apostle John's words that we are total liars if we say we love God and we go on hating other people. we shared that our love for God was directly related to how we loved others. we should treat people kindly, patiently, generously, compassionately simply because God has declared their value. God has also declared our value, so we shouldn't spend time trying to steal it from others through destructive words and actions. during each remaining day in september we are putting these ideas into action with a task a day. these tasks include specific ways to use our words and our actions to remind others (family members, friends, and not-yet-friends) of their great value to God and to us. And to remind ourselves of our great value as well.

want to find out more about the path project and how you, your child, or your family can participate? click here.

the image in ourselves and others

youth ministry is always, or i think "should always", include a mixture of same and new. there is a need for a regular, dependable rhythm of connections among students and a need for innovation and unfamiliar territory. there are times when i am very excited about the new ways we are exploring as we seek to become better students of Jesus. our mentor program was one of those exciting moments, inviting adults from various walks of life to invest in the lives of teenagers by providing "presence". another venture which i am truly excited about is our focus on sunday nights, entitled "the path project". this is an adventure in moving beyond learning what Jesus said/did, to doing what he said and did. we are intentionally taking the teachings and commands of Jesus out of the classroom.

our first segment of "the path project" deals with value/worth in ourselves and in others. later we will investigate Jesus' teachings on generosity, hospitality, humility, justice, sabbath, and forgiveness, and this first segment provides the foundation for those experiences.

i think we struggle a great deal with 2 parts of the story in which we find ourselves. we struggle with "getting" 2 concepts, often referred to as the imago dei and the missio dei. the imago dei is the idea that we, along with every human, bears the image of God. that there is something about us which reflects that "identity" into the world. there are differing views on how this plays out, but the underlying awareness is that when we are most like our "created selves" we represent certain things about Creator God.

Our focus on value and worth hits on this idea of Imago Dei. We will be discovering Jesus' teaching that we should respect, love, care for all of the human family, without respect to their ethnicity, language, age, gender, or behavior, simply because they were created with inherent value. they are worth those things because they were made in the image of God, and to treat them unkindly would amount to missing that likeness in them.

there is a second aspect to this teaching. Jesus says we are to love God, and we are to love our neighbor, as we love ourself. this says that not only are others made in the image of God, so are we and we should treat ourselves with love and respect. 2 things which God grieves: us thinking more highly of ourselves than we should (treating others with disdain) and thinking less of ourselves than we should (treating ourselves with disdain) this is incredibly important for adolescents as they live in constant doubt of their worth. messages from magazine ads, the locker room, and the classroom sometimes drown out this message from Jesus, and they struggle with believing that they are worth love, care, and kindness for themselves.

the path project is our way of holding up the "invitations" of Jesus to live a certain way. our first segment will deal with why we should live this certain way. everyone is valuable, everyone is worthy. this will become an umbrella under which we will find the other teachings of generosity and hospitality, justice and forgiveness.

we encourage you to embark on this adventure as a family.

"Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." - the good news according to Matthew, a student of Jesus

vox: voices of community

on saturday, september 19th we will host a coffee house event for high school students called VOX. VOX is latin for voice. The great part of the event is that the entertainment is provided by high school students for high school students. we are asking contributors to provide their original artwork, or poetry to the event. We are encouraging their original or cover songs, or their short films. The crucial parameter is that the contributions must all touch on a common theme. in september the theme will be community. what does that word mean, particularly expressed through the arts, and by high school artists. it is an interesting opportunity to learn from each other, rather than one lone individual, regarding an important facet of our lives. what is community? what happens when we don't experience it? what happens when we don't invite others into it? not a contributor yet? there is plenty of room for you too. come and experience being immersed in this idea of community, through sight, sound, touch, and perhaps taste and smell. i am excited about hearing the various voices included in next month's VOX.

check out www.cafevox.com for more info.

learning labs

a few posts back i mentioned that i fear we focus a great deal on knowing and we miss the way that translates into doing and being. "discipleship" programs tend to be heavy on data and fairly light on practice. i mentioned that Jesus' discipleship program would probably not fly too well within our current faith communities. it had a great deal to do with doing things, sometimes scandalous things. i am excited about an adventure the youth community will be heading out on this coming school year. our sunday nights will revolve around this idea of putting faith into action. we will define a follower of Jesus not just as someone who knows what Jesus taught, but rather as someone who does what they know Jesus taught. this will lead us to engage the various invitations of Jesus, causing us to enter into monthly "projects" which would shape us and our world. we hope these experiences and conversations find their way into each student's home, causing dialogue within families about how we might enter into these invitations of Jesus together. Here are the "projects" per month:

September: value/worth of God's creation "love your neighbor as you love yourself"
October: generosity "store up treasure in heaven"
November: hospitality "when you give a dinner, invite the poor, crippled, lame, and blind"
December: servanthood "whoever wants to become great among you, must be your servant"
January: justice "woe to you who tithe spices but forget about justice, mercy, and faithfulness"
February: sabbath "come unto me all who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest"
March:forgiveness "don't forgive seven times only, but seventy-seven times"

I am excited about where this may lead us. I am wondering what it will ask of my life as I participate in these "learning labs" with students. I think there are wonderful things waiting on the other side of these invitations...

righteous head-banging

i thought nick was a quiet guy, until i realized he would talk to anyone who cared to talk to him. at the middle school mission camp i attended a few weeks back with 12 of our middle schoolers, nick was alone a great deal of the time. other students from his church did their own thing, leaving him plenty of time to sit by himself. as you may know, my long hair and beard give the appearance of Jesus (at least the euro-centric/movie version) and many people freely remark about this. nick said he could see the resemblance, but he felt i looked alot more like Chad Kroeger, the lead singer for the band, Nickleback. Being the rockstar-wannabe I am, I thanked him for his compliment. We chatted off and on throughout the rest of the week. If you have ever been on a weeklong experience with teenagers, you will know that something interesting happens on the last night there, whether on a mission trip, or a camp. Whether the Spirit knows that hearts are more vulnerable, or teenagers know their time together is ending, I don't know, but it seems more magical than all the other nights. the last night of MAP (metro atlanta project) was no exception. couple this with the awareness that this group had just finished re-roofing 16 homes, bringing the all-time MAP tally to 100 and beyond, and you have cause for some holy moments. if you talk to me for a period of time you will know that I sometimes have concerns about the way we experience/communicate worship. i see dangers in always equating it with group-singing. I definitely believe group-singing can be an act of worship, but I think we have too narrowly defined it, and I think too often it becomes more about us liking to sing than us expressing a life bent God-ward. I can say this truly because I often find a void between how well I sing, and how poorly I live. All this to say, it was worship time at MAP. The band was playing and kids were embracing. It was pretty neat to see. Rows of kids were swaying, attached in a line of arms-over-shoulders. And there was Nick. He was by himself. And who could blame us. he was not playing by the rules. When songs about God are sung, you are supposed to stand, raise your arms, close your eyes, maybe clap...but you should definitely not be head-banging...and nick was head-banging. he had not gotten the memo about worship-singing etiquette. he had missed the meeting. he was standing close to the front, enough so that I could see some students in the back pointing and laughing at his inappropriate display. i would see one tap another on the shoulder, mimic a head-bang and then both crack up laughing, shaking their heads. then it happened. it's the kind of thing you can miss so easily. some of the people who had dared to talk to nick during the week saw him head-banging, ...by himself. and they did what no one else would. they acted. they went over to nick and threw their arms over his shoulders and begin to head-bang together. while others swayed, they jerked their heads around on their thin necks. at that moment I had the feeling that God was saying "now that's something". i have often felt (and scripture seems to echo this) that most acts of worship are acts of service, and inclusion, and acceptance. it seems that God hears most clearly our proclamation of God's worth, when we are most loudly proclaiming the worth of creation...of each other. in this simple act of disallowing exclusion and loneliness these worshippers were declaring the goodness of the artist, through the act of valuing the art. this is my hope for me and the community in which i serve. i fear we too often say things in melody together on sunday, which stand in stark contrast to the story we live out on monday. i pray for harmony,...for the beautiful blending of the two. song and story in the same key. may it be so.