I Once Was Lost

In his latest book, co-authored by Doug Schaupp, Don Everts explores how people come to Jesus in today’s postmodern culture. I Once Was Lost is based on the stories of two thousand postmodern people and how they found their way in to a following of Jesus. Everts, whose books Jesus With Dirty Feet and The Smell of Sin are absolute must reads for any Christ-follower, will be speaking at Journey this weekend as part of our July at Journey series.

One, of many, learnings from the new book was this: Act more like Paul. We (Christians) need to begin “affirming kingdom impulses” that skeptics have, and then point them to Jesus. Everts and Schaupp write:

“We [Christians] struggle to emulate Paul in this. We fear affirming sin in our friends and so we say nothing, or we judge. Maybe we turn a blind eye and naively tell them, ‘It’s all good.’ We might be shocked if God showed us today how many non-Christian friend’s values are worth affirming: the gay activist’s commitment to equality, the Muslim coworker’s sacrificial weekend involvement in caring for the poor. Unfortunately, these often go unnoticed.” (p. 45)

How would our efforts to reach out be altered if we thought this way? How would we respond to our non-believing friends? How would we change by examining our friends inherent goodness (”God-ness” even)?

God at the Movies…in Albania?

If you follow this blog, you know that Journey just finished up a six week series called God at the Movies V. (More on that series here.) It’s one of our favorite series to do each year, and is, arguably, the most popular series of our ministry year. Apparently, it’s popular around the world, too. Our programming team received this email:

“I thought you’d enjoy seeing how God is working in Eastern Europe.  My pastor friend…is doing a “God at the Movies” series this week in southern Albania.  He was inspired by what was happening at Journey during his visit.”

How cool is that? Below is our poster (left) and the Albanian poster (right). It’s incredibly flattering, and, simultaneously, a huge win. We really hope that the Church (worldwide) is always thinking and growing and stretching the way they leverage popular culture. My prayers are with this church as they reach out in new and unique ways to help people find this amazing grace found in the person of Jesus.

Prejudice

Sarah gave me this a few months back, and has been something that has resonated so deeply:

“One of the hardest spiritual tasks is to live without prejudices. Sometimes we aren’t even aware how deeply rooted our prejudices are. We may think that we relate to people who are different from us in colour, religion, sexual orientation, or lifestyle as equals, but in concrete circumstances our spontaneous thoughts, uncensored words, and knee-jerk reactions often reveal that our prejudices are still there. Strangers, people different than we are, stir up fear, discomfort, suspicion, and hostility. They make us lose our sense of security just by being “other.” Only when we fully claim that God loves us in an unconditional way and look at “those other persons” as equally loved can we begin to discover that the great variety in being human is an expression of the immense richness of God’s heart. Then the need to prejudge people can gradually disappear.”

Henri Nouwen

Laughter in Church

In putting our weekend services together, the creative team strives to create moments in which people can be moved in a deep way, moments where they can encounter God, moments of “awe.” But every once in a while, we try and be funny. I will admit that this is often harder for us - it’s easy to come off cheesy, but to come off funny, is a lot of work. There really is a fine line between humor and idiocy.

However, this past weekend we did it. We were funny. Our video editor, Dan Stevers, did a great spoof on the musical number “That’s How You Know” from the film Enchanted. Through the use of our recently purchased green screen, Dan inserted Rod Kaya (Weekends Pastor), Ed Noble (Teaching Pastor), Jason Denison (Worship Leader) and Matt Bradford (one of our volunteers) into the magical world of Enchanted. It was hilarious.

One of the things I’ve learned in crafting weekend services, is that it’s good to laugh. People don’t usually expect to laugh in church. Laughter opens up hearts and minds. Laughter breaks down barriers. Laughter builds bridges. Laughter puts people at ease. Laughter is something we’ve all got to try and be better at. (And of course, if the laughter is at your own expense, even better. People like to know that you don’t take yourself too seriously).

Inspiration, again.

One of the best books I’ve read this year was The Myths of Innovation, by Scott Berkun (for more on that book, read here). The Guardian had an interesting article on how to write a movie, and the following excerpt reminded me of a lot of what Berkun talks about:

“I think people see inspiration as the ignition that starts the process. In fact, real moments of inspiration often come at the last minute, when you’ve sweated and fretted your way through a couple of drafts. Suddenly, you start to see fresh connections, new ways of doing things. That’s when you feel like you’re flying. The real pleasure of any script is the detail. And a lot gets lost in the process. Put it back in at the last minute.”

Replace all the talk of screenwriting with any other sort of creative output, and you will still have great advice.

[via Kottke]

God at the Movies V is closing.

Well, this weekend, God at the Movies V is officially coming to an end. We’ll be finishing up the series with the second People’s Choice film, Enchanted (read more on Weekend Update). It has been a great series, as we’ve examined the intersection of modern cinema and God’s story. I must say that this was, by far, the best installment of the series yet.

The entire Weekend Design Team pulled together and created six excellent weekends (and a seventh for Father’s Day that was sandwiched in there). Every service was packed with creative elements and moments of awe. There is nothing like artists using their gifts in the local church. Our music team stepped it up and performed a total of four special songs throughout the series (the band nailed it on “Viva La Vida” - how cool is it that we go to a church where they do Coldplay songs?). All of these songs served as great connection points to the films.

Of course, there was the Woods family’s story of how God brought them and their son together, the incredible dance during the Amazing Grace weekend (read more about that weekend here), and countless stories of people who invited their friends, family, co-workers, strangers. In fact, that is one of the most encouraging things about this series - the “invite factor” of the JCC family. I love that I get to serve at a church where the people really “get it” - where they understand that we do series like this to meet people where they are at, to provide a common ground to dialogue about ours and God’s stories. There were so many stories of people who came and encountered Jesus for the first time; so many stories of people who were delivered from bondage and despair; so many stories of people who had their lives changed. There really isn’t anything like the local church.

So don’t miss this weekend as we wrap it up this awesome series. And if you are saddened that God at the Movies V is no more, don’t worry, God at the Movies 6 begins May 2009.

For podcasts of the messages from God at the Movies V, click here.

The Book

Two months ago I had a discussion with my colleague. He kept trying to push Facebook on me. I have always been reluctant of these social networking sites, no reason in particular.

I told him that I would absolutely, never, in a million years sign up for an account.

Today, I signed up for a Facebook account. Dang it.

Musings on Grace

Two weeks ago, as part of our God at the Movies V series, Journey’s Teaching Pastor, Ed Noble, looked at the film Amazing Grace. My opinions on the low-quality film-making aside (I was one of two on the Weekend Design Team who didn’t like the film), Ed’s message and the overall flow of the service was something to cause awe. Heading in to the series, we knew we wanted to create a package in which the notion of grace could be experienced, not just talked about. What culminated was nothing short of a God-inspired moment. Looking back, it was one of those moments of wonder - moments we are always striving to create in our weekend services.

One of our pastors, Rod Kaya, set up the package, reminding us that, while grace has a definition, it is very rarely understood. It is something that we can think about, but it is harder to grasp, let alone experience through words. From there, we played a video piece that set-up some of the history of the hymn “Amazing Grace” and John Newton’s legacy as a slave-trader turned priest, a true story of God’s grace. The piece was synced to Yvette Flunder singing an a capella version of the prolific first verse.

Following the video, was a dance wonderfully choreographed by Pamela Turner and performed by she and Megan Merk. Pamela did a wonderful job in capturing the essence of grace. It wasn’t a “pretty” dance - something her and I both did not want for the piece. However, it was a dance that capture the raw emotion and picture of grace in people’s lives. (Rod posted a sort of bootlegged recording of the dance here).

When the dance finished, the lights faded and we returned with another video piece. Inspired by Philip Yancey’s What’s So Amazing About Grace?: Visual Edition, the piece was an experience of grace in the most visual way (selected images below). Combining text and black & white photographs (and Jonathan Elias’ moving composition “Move”), the video expressed the scandalous nature of this thing called grace.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that I am the creator behind the piece. Most people didn’t realize, because it flashed for just an instant, but I included myself in the myriad of images of people touched by grace (third image below). I am not writing to brag about the piece or to gain attention for my work. I am writing this post to say that I am a person who has learned to better understand grace. I am writing to say that, along with images of Martin Luther King, Jr., Adolf Hitler, members of the KKK - stands my photo - a person marked by sin; yet, a person who grace is afforded. I do not fully grasp its entirety, but because of circumstances and the path of my pursuit (and at times anti-pursuit) of God I have come to gain a more deep and real knowledge of grace. I have learned it’s wrinkles. It has become palpable, known, experienced.

Such grace causes me to have “a wretch like me” understanding that Ed mentioned in his message. Such grace causes me to face the fact that I am not the sole receiver of this grace. Scandalous grace, grace that melts ungrace, is given to members of the Ku Klux Klan, transsexuals, Christians, philanthropists, children and drunks. I have learned that the limits of grace’s reach are endless. It is precisely that fact that affords me grace. I have learned that grace, in an unfair and illogical way, is afforded to all…even to someone like me.

The Plenitude

During the last year of his life, Rich Gold wrote the text for what would become his book The Plenitude: Creativity, Innovation, and Making Stuff. Part of John Maeda’s Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life series (MIT Press), the book is a convergence of the mind of a artist/scientist/designer/engineer - and his thoughts on the ecology of created stuff (The Plenitude).

It’s a quick and enjoyable read (only 110 pages). A sort of hodge-podge of information from an innovative and brilliant thinker - the book serves as a sort of essay on what it’s like to be a creator of stuff - and how a creator should respond to the ever-growing pile of that stuff.

Gold begins by examining the four creative hats he has worn (artist/scientist/designer/engineer) - looking at their interrelationships (both their love for and hate of each other). For “creative types” it is a nice treatise on the creative mind - and how we exist within the four boxes, and both the contradictory and complimentary nature of the four types.

Gold continues by laying out seven patterns of innovation - valuable pieces of knowledge. But, it is the the Plenitude that consumes most of this book. Gold commits half of the book to a discussion on the “stuff.” To write a very coherent examination of this discussion would be futile. However, Gold’s thesis on the Plenitude is worth the reading.

More than an examination of the wealth of stuff, The Plenitude serves as lessons from the creative professions. It is equal parts memoir, exposition, and essay on moral philosophy - a must for any creator.

The Myth of a Christian Nation

In his book, The Myth of a Christian Nation, Gregory Boyd evaluates the effect of joining religion and politics and argues that, in a pursuit to merge the two, Evangelical Americans are destroying both institutions. The book was incredible and deserves the attention of anyone in the evangelical church. Boyd argues that we can never combine the “power-under” kingdom of God with any “power-over” kingdom of the world:

“We have lost the simplicity of the kingdom of God and have largely forsaken the difficult challenge of living out the kingdom. We have forgotten, if ever we were taught, the simple principle that the kingdom of God looks like Jesus and that our sole task as kingdom people is to mimic the love he revealed on Calvary.” (p. 64)

The book is a liberating [sic] experience for those of us in the church who do not necessarily always tow the “Christian Conservative” line. At the same time, it is a powerful, and biblical, argument as to why the church (American, European, whatever) should never become co-opted by governments or kingdoms of the world.

“My critique is rather toward the American church. We expect nations to be driven by self-interest, but we shouldn’t expect kingdom people to applaud this fact, especially when the national self-interest involves taking lives! Isn’t our central calling as kingdom people to manifest the truth that this old, self-centered, tribalistic, violent way of living has been done away in Christ? Are we not to display the truth that in Christ a new humanity has been created, one in which there are no ethnic, nationalistic, gender, social, or economic distinctions? Aren’t we called to ‘live by the Spirit’ and thus put away all ‘works of the flesh’ - including aligning ourselves with various sides of ‘dissensions [and] factions’?” (p. 90)

While Boyd asserts that the kingdom of God shouldn’t be combined with any government, he doesn’t advocate an uninvolved or pacifist mentality. He says that our beliefs should inform the way we vote and our political views - but, we can never fully place our faith in our political systems. We must pursue a better world, through law and order - but as Christ-followers, we must always remember that the only kingdom we have total allegiance to is that of God. We must always keep in mind that our mission is to reflect the love exemplified through Calvary. In fact, in the example of Jesus, we find a person who wasn’t out to topple the worldly kingdom…but rather, he chose to change the world from the bottom up - by serving the poor and caring for the unwanted:

“Did Jesus spend any time and energy trying to improve, let alone dominate, the reigning government of his day? Did he ever work to pass laws against the sinners he hung out with and ministered to? Did he worry at all about ensuring that his rights and the religious rights of his followers were protected? Does any author in the New Testament remotely hint that engaging in this sort of activity has anything to do with the kingdom of God?” (p. 92)

Seriously…an amazing book.