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.;
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
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.
"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.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
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
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
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