The BWCA, rest, and brothers…

I have just returned from a 4 day trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Northern Minnesota.  I’ve got a few minor scrapes from gathering firewood, residual marks left from the veracious mosquitoes, and a pretty sweet farmers tan.  This was the first ever, all brothers trip to the BWCA and it was one that will go down in memory as a pretty special time.  A few things I’ll share with you:

1.  The BWCA is an amazing place.  Upon our entry to the park, we were forced to watch a video to obtain our permit that speaks of the rules and regulations of the park.  While my brothers and I goofed off in our sarcastic “minnesota accents” I am thankful for the stewardship of this resource.  Though it may not be pursued by people of faith nor are the convictions to keep it as “untouched” as possible ones of faith, I am sure that what has happened in the park makes God extremely happy.  Miles and miles of breathtaking views, lakes, animals, and ecosystems that all work in harmony with one another as if there is some thing, someone, some life force behind the scenes breathing life into it and giving it to me/us as a gift.  Upon reflecting, I cannot help but be overwhelmed by the amount of solace and peace I experienced while there.  I am learning to be the kind of person that recognizes these moments when they happen as they are all the more profound, but writing about it helps.

2.  I never looked at a clock from the moment we pushed off the shore until the moment we returned.  I was completely and totally unplugged from the grind and demands of my life.  In those four days, I was able to rest.  And by rest I mean enjoy the things, places and people that I love without the demands of producing anything.  I had no deadlines, and no obligations other than to the people and relationships that were present as it related to our living together as a small community on an island.  My self worth was not connected to a sermon, or a worship set or anything else connected to my job, rather it was centered in the fact that I was created by God with certain passions and loves and was free to experience and LIVE in the midst of those passions and loves as a gift from God. 

3.  I am blessed beyond recognition to have the four brothers that I do.  It’s a pretty rare thing to have siblings that are all grown up that you can do holidays with and not hate each other, let alone a 4 day trip to the most remote places our state has to offer.  We have been through a lot as a family, both good and bad, and I do not take for granted the special relationship that the five of us have together.  There is no doubt in my mind that I could call any one of them at at any hour of the night and say “I need you…” and they would come with no questions asked.  I think we all have a desire deep down to be “completely known” (itunes that title and you’ll find a great song by Don Chaffer and the band Waterdeep that’s worth listening to) and I’m not sure there are four people who know me better than these boys outside of my wife, mom and dad. 

I know that I  am fortunate to have  had the opportunity to experience the past four days as I did.  Thanks to my wife Laura and the amazing woman that she is and for the sacrifice she made in order to make it possible.  I hope that maybe there is something here for you today as you read.  I hope and pray that you find a little bit of what I got to experience over the last week in a small part of your day today…and you recognize it as a gift from the giver of life.

Jesus Curses the Fig Tree

This next week I’ll be teaching on from Mark 11 in our fourth week of our series entitled “Walk On.”  We’re discussing and looking at people who walked with God and while this particular text doesn’t explicitly say someone “walked with God”, the event itself takes place as the disciples are walking with Jesus from Jericho to Jerusalem.  

It’s on this journey that we receive what could be argued as one of the most cryptic things Jesus utters in the gospels.  It’s quite bizarre actually.  There is a fig tree, out of season (meaning it shouldn’t have had any figs on it at this time) and Jesus curses it for not bearing fruit.  Then he goes into the temple, and drives out the people who were selling animals for the daily sacrifices (which is not inherently wrong, see Old Testament law on this one.)  From there they leave, and the disciples note that the fig tree has withered!  

As Cliff Claven of Cheers used to say, “What’s up with that?”  

I would love it if you might read the passage a few times this week, and if you have any thoughts on the text and it’s meaning…let’s hear them.

Religulous…

So I rented the movie “Religulous” which is a documentary about religion by none other than Bill Maher. 

First and foremost, in no way shape or form am I trying to say to you “go out and rent this.”  In fact, if you are young in your faith, or a person who is really troubled by questions and doubt, then I would recommend that you do not see this film for a number of reasons. 

If you have seen it, I’m interested to know what people’s thoughts are on the way things were presented and what you know about the accuracy of the material within it.  Here a couple of my thoughts. 

1.  Classic Straw Man Stuff – It’s not that difficult to erect a “typical” Christian, Jew, or Muslim by interviewing a whole bunch of people who are not that intellectual, painting them as the norm for the rest of the population, and then beating the crap out them with witty banter.  In fact, if I was interested, I could probably find any number of groups out there, interview their “fringe” people, paint them as the norm, and then shoot holes in their ideologies and philosophies.  This leaves a very sour taste in my mouth when someone does this in general and an ever more sour taste in my mouth when I belong to one of the groups!

2.  The Editing Room – on a number of occasions in the movie, it was clearly edited and another “take” was inserted to make sure that the full effect of the joke, or punch in the obliques was fully felt and clearly communicated to the viewer.  This happened a number of times while Bill is in the car and “spontaneously” pontificating and I can only imagine how the editors chopped and pieced things together with the actual interviews.

3.  Why not interview some well respected ambassadors of the faiths in question?  Again, this goes along with the straw men that were erected throughout the film, but I would love to have seen Dallas Willard or Ravi Zacharias and representatives from Judaism and Islam who would be respected in the circles these guys write and publish and teach in.  I have a feeling Bill wouldn’t have been quite as quippy and snarky if they were present, but with a guy who claims to be Jesus Christ himself you can have a lot of fun.

In closing, the a few things that Mr. Maher said that I thought was worth pressing into were these:

1.  ”I get so tired of all these people who are so arrogantly convinced that their view is right and everyone else’s is wrong.  I mean my answer is, “I don’t know.”  I guess the product I’m pushing is doubt.”  This I can handle – a respectful dialogue about the uncertainties of life and how faith plays a part and role in them.  And 2. Can we be honest about all of the bloodshed and violence that has been perpetrated in the name of religion in the last 2000-4000 years and figure out a way to live peaceably while we attempt to follow whatever God we happen to believe is true?  I think this is a conversation worth having. 

Intersted to hear some of your thoughts.

Soulstice BIGGEST kids and Pam Manno

More of an informative update here than anything else but things that you all should know! 

1.  We ran a pilot program for the Soulstice Biggest kids (which was for kids ages 9-11 or grades 4-6) this last spring around Easter which went very well.  We’re excited to let you know that we had enough interest and students to continue this new ministry to Soulstice as well as we’ve now recruited enough teachers to get this started.   Starting JUNE 7th - Soulstice Biggest Kids will be a green light with the likes of Steve Oates, Lori Dahlman, and 2 more unconfirmed teachers at the the helm.  Two things – if you have kids in this group…bonus for you as there’s a class for them now, and secondly if you are interested in teaching this group please contact Pam Manno at pamm@bereanbaptist.com

speaking of segue’s…

2.  Pam Manno is the newest addition to our team at Soulstice.  We want to say a big thank you to Kay Larson who had taken the reigns of support for Venue/Soulstice in the interim and did a fine job!  Pam is going to be taking over what Kay has put in place in the way of scheduling musicians and worship teams, and the planning and details that keep Micah on planet earth (which we are all very grateful for.)  Please take a moment to welcome her to the team!

Mother God…

How many of us have started a prayer with “Father God…”?  Or at some point in a time of prayer referred to God as father?  Last night at Soulstice I referred to The Shack by William Young in my talk about failure and how sometimes God takes us back to the source of greatest pain and deepest hurts to walk from that place and out of that memory into a place of healing and newness. 

My reference of this book triggered some talk after our gathering about the book itself and some of it’s theological implications.  If you have paid any attention to the reviews of this book you’ll know that it is somewhat debated among conservative evangelicals for a number of reasons.  One major reason being the author’s depiction of God and the Trinity.  In the book, what we typically refer to as “God the Father” is very robust African American woman named “Papa.”  Remember that song entitled “Things that make you go hmmmmm”?

What do we know of God from scripture?  He is WHOLLY OTHER.  Meaning, he is neither male nor female.  God is not and cannot be defined by our categories of male and female.  This is called anthropomorphic language by the way, when we impose human categories and character qualities onto God, and we find all over scripture especially in the Psalms and Proverbs.  In the creation account, we’re told that God made male AND female in our image…meaning that something within God connects to or can be expressed by both men AND women. 

If we know this is true theologically, how do we explain all of the references to God as Father in the Bible?  There are a couple of options here of course.  God really is male in gender and thus the reference to God as such is but a confirmation of who He really is.  Another option would be the context in which the Bible was written.  When we think about America 10o years ago and we would probably all agree it was a very Patriarchal culture and context.  I don’t think any of us can adequately understand how much more so the culture in which the Bible comes from was steeped in patriachal ways of relating.  This then explains the useage of paternal language to describe God.  We could go on and on with other alternative explanations but we’ll leave it at two for now.

I chatted a little bit about this topic in the lobby with some folks after Soulstice but thought it would be an interesting blog discussion and would love to hear your thoughts? 

Would you ever feel comfortable addressing God in prayer as “mother God” instead of father God?  Why or why not? 

Does it really matter how we address God in terms of gender, i.e. what is at stake here? 

How do we have this discussion and dialogue in light of the world we live in here in 2009?

The Role of Doubt…

Last night at Soulstice we walked through a classic passage of scripture that many people I’m sure are familiar with.  In John’s account in chapter 20 we find Jesus appearing to the disciples and then appearing to Thomas who of course, needed a little extra help to get over the hurdle of doubt to the place of belief. 

The resurrection of Jesus sets the stage for all kinds of feelings and emotions.  I mean this is a big deal.  Not a lot of people are dying and then being resurrected from the dead these days.  It’s no small surprise that the poor guy, Thomas, needs to see and touch Jesus’ hands and side before he believes.  In the story, when Thomas gets what needs for faith, he exclaims “My Lord, and my God!” which is packed with all sorts of meaning. 

I guess the question I want to pose and maybe have people think about it is this:  What is the role of doubt.  I obviously have some thoughts and opinions on this, which you could hear by downloading the message from last night.  Those of you that were there, do you agree disagree?  And for those that weren’t, what role does doubt play in the spiritual life of faith?

For those new to blogging…

Not sure this should be an assumed position on my part.  Many of you have been invited to read the blog through the email updates we’ve been sending out and I’m not sure that I should assume that you all know that you can comment or read the comments made on a particular blog entry. 

Just to the side of the post title there is a hyperlink you can click called comments, at which point the page will reload with all the comments on that particular entry.  If you want to post a comment, you can do that by clicking “reply”.  If you are a registered wordpress member I’m pretty sure it goes straight to the blog, if not, it comes to me until I approve it as the adminstrator of the blog.  So if you post and it doesn’t show up right away, fear not it’s only because my laptop isn’t my 3rd arm and connected to my body.  I’ll get to it asap though. 

So now that you know, post away, comment, agree, disagree, and question.

Suburbs or City???

Quickly before I get to the purpose of this entry I would like to say thanks to all those who helped out with the Soulstice Gutter Sundae.  Though the rain stopped us from having the bonfire and Smores, the sundaes were a hit and the kids had a blast.  I think it was a fun time for those that stuck around. 

I was at my mom’s house this Friday morning over in St. Paul just off of University and Hamline and had an experience that has me thinking about some things.  I grew up in the Midway area of St. Paul, which I would consider and urban neighborhood.  My only real prolonged suburban experiences have been the churches and college I have and do attend.  It was getting to be lunch time and we all decided that some fresh bread, deli meats and fresh veggie sandwiches were in order, and so I was tasked with picking up a few items at the store.  It was a beautiful day out, and the store is only 3 blocks from my mom’s house, so I decided to walk!  (Ironically, this was met with a surprised, “you’re going to walk to the store?”, from my sister in law.) 

 

As I walked  to the store, I noticed things.  I noticed the work that was being done on people’s houses.  I noticed the people who lived in the houses who were out working on their yards.  I noticed, and said hello to at least 4 different people on the way to and from the store.  I noticed the new businesses being started in the community.  I guess my point is that I was acutely MORE aware of what was going on in the life/lives of this community and the people that lived there.  As I waited to cross the street, I said hello to a man and woman also waiting.  I had a strange sense of being MORE connected to what it means to be human in this short 15 minute experience and it started to challenge some things that implicitly govern my life.

When I’m in the suburbs…I NEVER WALK ANYWHERE!  Not only does this have implications on my physical well being, but I realized that everywhere I go, I am isolated from the people that share this space with me by the doors, windows, radios, and walls of our automobiles.  What implications does this have for community?  I’m refering to a real sense of “we’re in this together”, “I know your name”, etc.  I’m not trying to bash the suburbs or the people who live here.  Please don’t misread my intention.  I am only posing a question to those who read that I found to be worth pressing into myself.  I know that one could play the devil’s advocate and probably respond to a blog like this with equally valid objections to city life and we could go back and forth. 

My real question(s) is simply this:  What are the values of the Kingdom life of Jesus and the church, and how do the places we live help or hinder the flourishing of those values in our own lives and the churches/communities we are a part of? 

I found myself realizing that being in touch with the actual people of a community by resisting the urge to drive when I can walk was an important part of my public life as a follower of Jesus.  I would argue one must be in touch the people and community they live in, in order to touch the people/community with the life/gospel of Jesus.  Is this more accessible in the city or the suburbs? 

Thoughts???

Mark 16:9-20 – should it stay or should it go?

I believe the Bible is God’s inspired word to guide and instruct the people of God to live in the world as followers of Jesus.  The Scriptures attest to the revelation of God in Jesus Christ and are fully reliable in that sense. 

But what’s the deal with a chapter like Mark 16.  Most of your Bible’s say something to the effect of “the earliest manuscripts and some other witnesses do not have Mark 16:9-20,” between verses 8 and 9.  Let me rephrase that.  “The original copies of the bible that we have been able to get our hands on DO NOT CONTAIN Mark 16:9-20 which means that someone, specifically not Mark, added them at a later date because the ending of Mark’s gospel that we do have is just not ok, incongruent with the rest of Mark’s gospel, and doesn’t really make much sense in all honesty.”   

Is this problematic for anyone?  Especially Bereans who pride themselves on being biblicists?  Someone has added something to scripture (refer to Revelation 22:18 and be prepared for plagues) and/or we have an error in the text, and/0r psuedonymous writing (which is where someone writes AS Mark but who really isn’t Mark) is completely within th realm of reasonable for the Bible. 

However you deal with this particular instance in Mark’s gospel you are faced with some difficult hermenuetical questions that can and should guide your method and approach to scriptural interpretation as you read the Bible.  Luke 24:12 is another one of these passages that many scholars believe was added by a later editor of the gospel.  I could keep going here but I’ll stop in order that I might not hook us all up to a fire hose right out of the gate. 

I’m teaching this next week in our Easter and Everything after series on the topic of Fear and I’m using Mark 16:1-8.  In my study I have come to this text and have been wrestling with what the implications are and what the best way through the impasse might be.  I’m interested to know if any of you have any thoughts before I share what mine are this coming sunday night?

Easter was awesome…

If you went to see grandma or went to church with mom and dad this year and didn’t make it to Soulstice this year can I just say you might want to reconsider next year.  I had so much fun worshipping with you all on Easter sunday and for me, I saved the best for last. 

I wanted to make sure you knew you were invited to our “Easter and Everything After” series starting this week as we take a closer look at some of the encounters with Jesus post-resurrection.  We’ll be discussing, in order: Hope, Fear, Belief, Doubt and these issues as they come up for those who were left in the wake of the resurrection. 

 

One thing I wanted to post now so that you have ample time to think about it and communicate it is the night we’ll be discussing doubt.  You might even call it our “Doubt Night”.  The details of it are not in stone yet, but for sure, I want to hear from you on the topic of doubt.  What questions do you have about God, Jesus, resurrection, etc.?  What questions do your friends struggle with?  So here’s your chance!  I’m going to keep a running list of questions and doubts that come in and we’ll figure out a way to address them to the best of our ability on the May 1oth.  If you so choose, you can reply via the blog and pose your question/doubt/struggle.  Or you can always  “I have a friend who…”, or you can email me at micah@soulsticecommunity.com .

I’m really looking forward to this night and hope you will join us for this next series.

Also, don’t forget about our “Gutter Sundae & Bonfire” on April 26th.  It will start as soon as our worship gathering is over.  Bring the kids, the neighbors, your mom and dad and your tee ball coach cause this one will be sweet!

peace.