Free Eugene Peterson Audio Book

Hey, I just got an email about this! Download an audio book version of Eugene Peterson's "Christ Plays in Ten-Thousand Places" for free. I love The Message and have heard a lot of wonderful things about Peterson's other books, including this one. Give it a listen. ChristianAudio.com also has a lot of other quality audio books from some of my favorite authors, which might be a great option for those of you who don't have a lot of time to read or don't enjoy it. Plus, they have some sweet free lectures and interviews.

http://christianaudio.com/free_download.php

This concludes today's infomercial.

re-learning old practices

For 3 years I lived according to a certain routine that brought me closer to God than I had ever been before. It was such a formative and beautiful time in my life even though it consisted of long days going in multiple directions, lots of emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual stretching, and intense practice of the disciplines. But somehow over time I began to weaken. The things that had given so much life now seemed to suck me dry.

I have gone through a process for several years where nearly everything in my life has been shaken and torn down. My beliefs, my dreams, my actions, my worldview, my identity. It has been the most difficult thing I have ever experienced. Often I thought I was dying. Now I'm certain that I was. I didn't understand it at the time, but now I see that I had accidentally built all of these good practices and beliefs over the top of insecurity and fear. Instead of bringing life and healing to the broken places of my life, I tried to cover up and ignore the painful things. I was trying to earn love instead of receiving it with grace. God had to tear everything to the ground so he could fix my cracked foundation. I had to become a failure in my own eyes in order to really accept that God loved me anyway- even when I had nothing to offer.

This last year has been a time of rebuilding, but I have really struggled with implementing the old practices I had learned. I have been extremely hesitant to enter back into anything that looks like what I did during my furnace years- prayer, reading Scripture, passionate worship, and spiritual disciplines. I don't want to fall back into the old patterns again. Even though I know these practices are essential, I haven't re-learned how to join these spiritual practices with the other aspects of my life in a that supplements my whole life in a healthy way. The only way I knew how to pray or worship or lead was an channeled around an attempt to ignore or hide the brokenness in my heart.

I've been trying to learn, and it has been very up and down. This year I've been trying to take time 3x a day to pray using a Celtic Daily Prayer book. It has been so helpful because most days I don't have my own words to pray. I have needed to read the prayers of fellow Christians from hundreds of years ago, and I've found them to so often resonate with my heart. But even then there have been many days I just haven't wanted to even try that much. I have discovered that on the days I feel good I don't take the time to pray. And often on the days I'm most hurting I will avoid any time with God even though I knew that I needed him to do something.

This morning I realized a few things. First, that I've been subtly thinking of God like a doctor or counselor. I only go to him when I have something wrong. I only share my thoughts so he will tell me what's wrong and fix them. I am still living in a reactionary way, looking for a quick answer to get me better so I can keep running along and being 'normal'. I think I understood this on some level, which is why I would avoid God when I was really struggling. I knew God is more than medication and didn't want to treat him like that.

The odd thing is that I go to my parents when I am hurt physically or emotionally. I talk to them about what is happening, but I don't think of them as a doctor or counselor. I have a deeper relationship with them than just 'fixing' me. I just don't know how to really walk with God like a parent, even though the Bible is full or fatherly and motherly descriptions of God.

The other little thing that came to mind is that the times I set aside for focused prayer are not supposed to be about being more prayerful or spiritual or obedient. I want to learn to pray and worship all day in everything I do, not just at 3 set times during the day, and I found myself dreading those prayer times because I didn't want to get back into the habit of believing that certain times or places or things are more 'spiritual' or 'godly' than others. But these times can be a way of setting my direction for the day, of choosing how I want to live this day. When I am driving on the freeway, I only rarely need to turn the steering wheel but I am driving the entire time. On some trips I might go for hours straight ahead, but other times I will need to constantly be turning corners or avoiding other cars. So maybe I can learn to be aware of where I currently am in my life, and adopt a lifestyle of prayer that is dynamic to that. It's always good to set a direction when you begin a journey, and you will need to change your course throughout, but whether you are turning or going straight ahead or even stopped on the side of the road for a break, it is still all part of the same journey.

I know these aren't really new ideas to most of you, but I wanted to process them and record what I'm learning so they didn't slip away. This has become a little more real to me today and I wanted to share it with my friends.

mewithoutYou (again)

I just love this band. Their new cd (it’s all crazy ! it’s all false ! it’s all a dream ! it’s alright) comes out at the end of May, but it got leaked early and is all over the internet, including on youtube. It's definitely a lot different from their style on previous albums, and could even be described as 'hippie', as my friend Ryan called it in disappointment! Several of the songs are from the perspectives of animals, insects, or vegetables, which truthfully isn't TOO big of a departure for mewithoutYou anyway... At the same time, despite the apparent disconnect from "reality", the songs ask such insightful questions that I can't help asking myself "Why have I never thought of that before?" You have to listen to this amazing song/allegory/parable, called 'The King Beetle on the Coconut Estate'! Yep, talking insects and fruits...


view lyrics in pop-up window


Leave your thoughts in the comment section. I'd like to hear what you think the song is trying to convey and what points you think the band is trying to make.

And also check out this pretty cool interview with Aaron, the vocalist and writer of the band.

questions from "The Orthodox Heretic"

Here are some of the questions that I draw from the story of "The Orthodox Heretic".

The first point the town leaders bring up is that they need to return the man to the government he escaped from so that the rest of the town is not endangered. They know that this man will be punished by the authorities, but they believe that it has to be done or the entire town will suffer. In their view, the good of many outweighs the good of one. The caretaker, however, is more concerned with the needs of this man he has rescued. His view is not a selfish one of "my good is higher than the good of all", but is completely unselfish in that he is willing to suffer to protect this criminal. He believes that as a community, the needs of the most vulnerable should be the concern of the entire town, and that nobody in the town is okay if even one member is not okay.

"The good of the many outweighs the good of the few" is a very dominant philosophy in the US, especially when it comes to the systems our country is built on. But these assumptions are currently under heavy discussion, from government to business to military to foreign aid. How does the circumstance of the few affect the many? What are alternative understandings of the relationship between the many and the few? As Christians, how do we find our position impacted by the Bible, both specific instances but also the larger story arcs of Scripture?

Another question that I find in this parable has to do with "truth" and "love". The town leaders seem to have political truth, Scriptural truth, and even God's audible voice on their side, but the caretaker appears to be completely motivated by love for this stranger, even at the cost of his own life. Now I'm not trying to create an artificial division between truth and love, but I can sure think of times where I've been stuck in a position similar to this. Is it better to have truth or love? Is there ever a time they can or should put placed "against" each other? Is it possible that both positions in this story (and in some of our daily stories) are "right"?

Finally, I think it asks the question of how to respond to people with completely different world views, especially when those world views can be backed up with the Bible. I am increasingly aware that anybody can make the Bible say anything they want, and I'm sure most of us have seen plenty of evidence for that too. Many people leave behind Scripture at this point, because they think it doesn't have anything solid or true to say and can too easily be abused or manipulated, or they cling to one interpretation of Scripture at the exclusion of any differing understanding. Take a look at the 20th century phenomenon known as "liberalism vs. fundamentalism" to prove my point. Both of these ideologies tend to be reactionary, angry, and violent (not physically (at least in the USA), but emotionally and verbally). I don't think either approach is sufficient or helpful for moving forward, and this parable forces us to address this roadblock head on.

The parable gives value to, and even supports, BOTH viewpoints, while leaving us with the awkward feeling that both parties are simultaneously right AND wrong. We can see the reason behind why each group acts the way they do, while not being completely satisfied with either group's choices. And this dis-satisfaction leaves us humble, looking for another way, open to new ideas from God, because we realize that even with the best theology and best actions, we desperately need God's help to understand and obey him.

some thoughts about "The Orthodox Heretic"

A couple weeks ago I posted the video clip of a parable from Peter Rollins new book "The Orthodox Heretic". One of my friends, Matt, commented on the post and asked me to post some of my thoughts about the story. I didn't want to right away, for a few reasons. I didn't really know what I thought about it. That's kind of why I posted it.

I think the intention of the parable is not to declare some truth about God or people or religion, but to force us to think about something we otherwise probably wouldn't think about (or maybe even ignore because we don't WANT to think about it). I think the temptation is to dissect the story and try to place it into a category that gives us some form of stand-alone truth, or make it fit the mold we expect it to fit. But that's not what the story is about, and if we do that, then the story loses it's power.

I've listened to it a few times and I'm never comfortable with it. It doesn't resolve nicely. It doesn't offer a clear division between the "good guys" and the "bad guys". It doesn't try to give simple answers to complex questions. Instead, it asks questions that are difficult and frustrating. But at the same time, they are questions that align pretty closely with paradoxes I keep running into in my own walk with God.

Here's a couple observations:
He doesn't set the town leaders/religious people against the care-taker. Both disagree completely on how to handle the situation, but they treat each other with respect, civility, and love throughout. Both groups are shown to be people who honor God and take obedience very seriously (yes, even in the very last scene).

Notice that the "criminal" is charged with being critical of both the state and the church, and yet a God-follower takes him in and cares for him.

Peter has said in other places that the main question behind this parable (and his entire book) is (and I'm paraphrasing) "What do you do when in order to obey God, you have to disobey God? What do you do when in order to keep your beliefs, you have to betray your beliefs? What do you do when in order to remain "orthodox", you have to take a "heretical" position?"

The idea is that Christianity is constantly at odds with itself, because it is an institution that is against all institution and a religion that is against all religion. That Christianity draws a circle around who is in and who is out, and then immediately demands it's followers to leave the inside and go to the ones who are out, so in a sense those who remain "in" the safety of the circle become the ones who are now "out". It is full of what seems to be contradictions, and we Christians have caused immense amounts of pain and confusion because we try to ignore the contradictions and build a nice safe theology that tries to make everything okay. Now that in and of itself is worthy of a whole series of blog posts, but I don't want to get side tracked by spending any more time on that now.

I've got some of my own questions that were raised from this parable, and I'll post them next time in order to make this shorter and (hopefully) slightly more readable. The good news is that I've already written it all, so I'm not going to bail on you half way through like I did with the Great Emergence series...

aware

Earth is crammed with heaven,
and every common bush afire with God,
but only he who sees
takes off his shoes.
-Elizabeth Barrett Browning


Listen...



...or read
We believe that the world God created is good. That he creates people in his image, and that no amount of darkness can erase that divine imprint. Because we believe that all of life is sacred, we look for God's fingerprints everywhere. We celebrate the divine in the daily, pursuing lives of hope, gratitude, and worship. God invites everyone, everywhere into this way of life, and we believe it is the best possible way to live.
-Mars Hill Directions: Upward (Celebration)

Patrick's Breastplate

This is a prayer passed down from the very beginnings of Celtic Christianity. The legend says that when Patrick and his missionary companions were traveling to preach to a pagan Irish king, God warned Patrick in a dream that a group of druids would be waiting to ambush and kill the missionaries. At this time, druidic mysticism was the religion of power, and a core belief they held was that the druids could shape-shift. While Patrick and his friends continued their journey, they chanted this prayer. When the missionaries neared the waiting druids, God transformed them into a group of deer and they walked past the ambush safely. I'm sure you can see the significance in this, just like when God used Moses' miracles to intentionally defy the Egyptian belief system and show who the true God is.

Celtic Christianity grew up with very little outside influence from the rest of Christianity. Patrick was a British shepherd boy in the outer reaches of the Roman Empire, who was kidnapped when he was young and had little formal training before almost single-handedly spreading the Gospel through Ireland. And during the time that Christianity was birthed in Ireland, it was dying in Rome while the empire was ransacked and splintered. If you want to kno wmore about that, I'll let you borrow Thomas Cahill's book "How the Irish Saved Civilization". This little prayer will give you a glimpse into the way the Celtic Christians viewed the world and God.



I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation.

I arise today
Through the strength of Christ's birth and His baptism,
Through the strength of His crucifixion and His burial,
Through the strength of His resurrection and His ascension,
Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.

I arise today
Through the strength of the love of cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In service of archangels,
In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In the prayers of patriarchs,
In preachings of the apostles,
In faiths of confessors,
In innocence of virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven;
Light of sun,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of wind,
Depth of sea,
Stability of earth,
Firmness of rock.

I arise today through the power of God:
God's might to comfort me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look before me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to speak for me,
God's hand to lead me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's Heavenly Host to save me
from the snares of the devil,
from temptations to sin,
from all who wish me ill,
from near and afar,
alone and with others.

May Christ shield me today
against poison and fire,
against drowning and wounding,
so that I may fulfill my mission
and bear fruit in abundance.

Christ be with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation.