Hi, folks. I’ve been thinking it’s time to get together. What do y’all think? I’d also like to invite other folks from around town.

Here are a bunch of options for getting together. I’d love some feedback on them.

Two & Three

One thing we’re committed to with the Radical Love Project is the practice of deep empathy (loving your neighbor as yourself), listening to each other, exploring together how God is working in us and in the world. We get together on Tuesday evenings at 7, and you are all invited.

We haven’t settled on a location, so get in touch if you’d like to come.

Movies

I have three movies on my desk:

• The Gods Aren’t Angry is one of Rob Bell’s tour movies. In it, he talks about where we get our ideas about God, and how we can see God as loving.
• Everything is Spritual, another of Rob Bell’s movies. In this one, he’s talking about what the universe is really like, and how God’s presence is everywhere.
• Ordinary Radicals: A conspiracy of faith on the margins of empire is about Shane Claibourne, Tony Campolo and others who call themselves “Red Letter Christians” and are working to live out Jesus’ vision with a radical politics of love.

There are lots more available, including One punk under God with Jay Bakker, and lots of short Nooma videos as well.

I am not sure where to host a movie night, but it could be fun… maybe Cozmic Pizza? I hear they have a projector. (A place where food is purchased gives us an opportunity to be creative in how we come together as Christians around food and hunger.)

But the question is, is anybody interested? Which movie? (Or do you have another you like?)

Dinner in the park

Of course, there are park nights. You are all very welcome to come and join us. We just get together and spend time with folks we might not encounter otherwise. We bring socks and food, but mostly it’s about our loving attention. (Which is good, because some weeks all we can come up with is peanut butter and jelly!)

Ideas

What do you think? Comment with your ideas about how we can get together and have some great conversation and community!

One thing I’ve learned from this is that helping isn’t hard. Showing up isn’t half the solution. It’s, like, 100% of the solution.

But the real work we’re doing is an experiment in grace. We don’t know how to love God, our neighbors, or even our selves. We struggle, are scared, pray for peace in our hearts, all the while working on our own doubts about wealth and poverty. Can we “afford” to give? Will we lose our own home? Sometimes we interrupt our sharing with others to go and hold each other while we cry.

This experiment, the Radical Love Project, is about turning toward God, toward love, in each moment. There aren’t easy answers. Jesus didn’t say to be sure all your neighbors have at least three pair of socks, or give only if you have a house, but not if you have a tiny apartment. He said to love, fully and deeply, without reservation. So that’s what we are trying to do.

Learn more

If you’re curious about this idea of radical love, I’d suggest watching Ordinary Radicals, a documentary about some folks who are trying to live out the vision, or reading The Irresistible Revolution, by Shane Claiborne. (We have it, and would love to plan a showing if folks are interested.)

mach-zehnder

You can play too

We’re a disorganized band of ragamuffins, but you can probably find us at Washington/Jefferson park at the stage around 6 on Saturday nights. You are welcome to join us in whatever state you find yourself in. We invite you to come and be loved exactly as you are. What to bring? Whatever you have enough of to share. If you have lots of loving attention, bring that. If you’re scared, but you have material resources, bring food or new tube socks. It will all work out.

(If you think you have nothing at all to offer, then you really should come. Please, come hungry!)

Tracy and I have been spending time with folks who live outdoors. We’ve made a lot of friends, discovered things within ourselves. Kind of strange, though, because forming the intention to walk among this group of people, that in itself paints them as “other”, doesn’t it?

It feels almost like cheating to go among people, many of whom really do live like sparrows and lilies, trusting every day to bring what’s needed. Some of my friends who live outside have faced what they thought was un-survivable, and discovered that they did, in fact, survive. Losing everything turned out not to be the end of the world. The world keeps turning, and the sun keeps coming up.

This place of brokenness can — though it doesn’t always — wake us up. I remember an evening, years ago, when I in a real panic, realizing that some horrible fate was about to come down on me. The details are gone, but I remember that it was financial: maybe the rent was due, and I didn’t know how I was going to pay it. I was freaking out, and then suddenly I realized that I’d had moments like this in the past, and the world hadn’t actually come to an end. I knew that this moment would pass, and it was pretty likely that I’d find myself on the other side of it, going on with my life. This was just a moment, an experience. It was like I woke up. Of course, I had much more to learn, but this was a good start. (I’ve had more freak-outs since then, but — with God’s help, if you’ll pardon the expression — they get milder and farther apart.)

I ache more for the people snug in their houses than for the people who are cold. Their fear gets in the way of love; they think they aren’t secure enough in this world to be able to afford to give to people with less. I imagine they have that same anxiety that wakes me up at night.

I’ve thought sometimes about how the people who stood watching Jesus on the cross (or looked away), or even those taking a more active role in his crucifixion — those were the ones who deserved pity, weren’t they? (Aren’t they?) Jesus knew what he was doing. He was choosing something beautiful in the face of the not-so-beautiful. The ones who needed the love, the Grace, were the ones on the ground who couldn’t “afford” to speak up, couldn’t risk starting a riot and putting a stop to the horror. Instead, they did what felt safe.

I am often able to comfort someone who is “homeless,” with a hug, a pair of socks, or a slice of pizza. But how do I bring comfort to someone who looks away in fear? How do I help them — or myself — through the eye of the needle?

Several of the children are small, and the oldest girl is 13. The family is now staying in a hotel until they can find another place to live. 

I know many of you who frequent this blog live in the Willamette Valley, or other parts of the Pacific Northwest, so this tragedy doesn’t hit as close to home. The mother-in-law of the family works at the Chamber of Commerce, and I know her very well. 

My wife and I are donating several household items to the family including one of our TV’s, and toys. We are also making a cash donation to the family through Bank of the Cascades. 

If any of you feel led to donate, please contact Bank of the Cascades in Prineville, Oregon: (541) 447-6242. Donations can be made to: “Ambyr Miller - Deedie Court Fire.”

If there’s ever a time for God’s church to help out those in need, this would be it. 

Thanks!

Yesterday, Rick spoke with a woman who is on the verge of losing everything due to the down economy. We wanted to make you aware, as this group has a huge heart for social justice. The full story will be up on Thursday, but for now, here is a tease Rick put together:

By now it seems everyone knows of TED. If not, you’ve really been missing out.

TED is an annual conference that brings together speakers from the Technology, Entertainment and Design fields. Speakers have included Bill Gates, Al Gore, J.J. Abrams and many others. Most of the lectures are under 20 minutes, and I have never watched one and later felt I wasted my time; unlike many things on television or YouTube.

This past week was the 2009 edition of the event, and some of the videos are already being posted for those of us who can’t fork over the $6,000 registration fee to attend.

One of those released videos is that of Elizabeth Gilbert’s lecture on genius. Gilbert is the author of the best-selling book “Eat, Pray, Love.”

She speaks of the culture of 20th century American creatives, and how many of them drove themselves to death, either directly by their own hand, or through addictive tendencies. She wonders if it’s always been this way, and her search for answers leads her to ancient Greece and Rome.

Gilbert talks of the need for a psychological break from the creative process in order to protect herself from the inherent risks of that very process, the risks that have driven Western creatives of recent generations to the grave. She finds that the ancient Greeks and Romans had such a psychological break. When creativity struck, it was not you, but daemons or genius spirits that chose to bless you with that creative spark. Since the creative spark was a divine or spiritual act, the pressure of being creative was no longer fully placed upon the person, but rather on the creator, the daemon, the genius.

How much can I relate to the fear of rejection with my own creative process? How much as a believer in the Creator can I truly understand the meaning of Gilbert’s discovery and believe in the idea of a divine spark being the essence of the creative process?

The answer, is fully.

I’ll spare you the full summary of her entire lecture, as I would strongly encourage you to grab a drink, pull up a chair, relax and devote the next 20 minutes of your life to hearing her speak.

Leave a comment?

One of the historians was talking about Paul’s journey through the eastern world as he shared the good news. He kept referring to Paul’s work as “setting up Christian communities throughout the Roman empire.”

Most people often say that Paul set up churches. The Bible uses the word church rather than community, but they are one in the same. Church in both Greek and Hebrew points to body or community/assembly.

I am no longer convinced that the typical church setting is required as a means to maintain or engage in community. Scott Peck, a former psychiatrist, says there are four levels of community. The first and second, in my opinion, often describe what goes on in many institutional churches:

1. Pseudo-community: Where participants are “nice with each other”, playing-safe, and presenting what they feel is the most favourable sides of their personalities.
2. Chaos: When people move beyond the inauthenticity of pseudo-community and feel safe enough to present their “shadow” selves. This stage places great demands upon the facilitator for greater leadership and organization, but Peck believes that “organizations are not communities”, and this pressure should be resisted.
3. Emptiness: This stage moves beyond the attempts to fix, heal and convert of the chaos stage, when all people become capable of acknowledging their own woundedness and brokenness, common to us all as human beings. Out of this emptiness comes…
4. True community: the process of deep respect and true listening for the needs of the other people in this community. This stage Peck believes can only be described as “glory” and reflects a deep yearning in every human soul for compassionate understanding from one’s fellows.

True Community, to me, isn’t about finding the perfect church, or being a part of a specific club or group. It’s about living out the messy realities of life with people around you whom you can love and trust.

I have experienced community in greater and more profound ways outside the four walls of a church. I’m thoroughly convinced that many Christians miss out on the depth and power of community by failing to simply live life without the need to worship leaders, rules, and programs.

The Father, Son and Holy Spirit is community. The three are one, and there is no greater authority among them. They function in unison and their relationship is mutually edifying.

Imagine if the impetus for the believers’ life was based on that!

He remembered dying, and that the dog walking beside him had been dead for years. He wondered where the road was leading them.

After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall along one side of the road. It looked like fine marble. At the top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight.

When he was standing before it he saw a magnificent gate in the arch that looked like mother-of-pearl, and the street that led to the gate looked like pure gold. He and the dog walked toward the gate, and as he got closer, he saw a man at a desk to one side.

When he was close enough, he called out, ‘Excuse me, where are we?’

‘This is Heaven, sir,’ the man answered.

‘Wow! Would you happen to have some water?’ the man asked.

‘Of course, sir. Come right in, and I’ll have some ice water brought right up.’

The man gestured, and the gate began to open.

‘Can my friend,’ gesturing toward his dog, ‘come in, too?’ the traveler asked.

‘I’m sorry, sir, but we don’t accept pets.’

The man thought a moment and then turned back toward the road and continued the way he had been going with his dog.

After another long walk, and at the top of another long hill, he came to a dirt road leading through a farm gate that looked as if it had never been closed. There was no fence.

As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against a tree and reading a book.

‘Excuse me!’ he called to the man. ‘Do you have any water?’

‘Yeah, sure, there’s a pump over there, come on in.’

‘How about my friend here?’ the traveler gestured to the dog.

‘There should be a bowl by the pump.’

They went through the gate, and sure enough, there was an old-fashioned hand pump with a bowl beside it.

The traveler filled the water bowl and took a long drink himself, then he gave some to the dog.

When they were full, he and the dog walked back toward the man who was standing by the tree.

‘What do you call this place?’ the traveler asked.

‘This is Heaven,’ he answered.

‘Well, that’s confusing,’ the traveler said. ‘The man down the road said that was Heaven, too.’

‘Oh, you mean the place with the gold street and pearly gates? Nope. That’s hell.’

‘Doesn’t it make you mad for them to use your name like that?’

‘No, we’re just happy that they screen out the folks who would leave their best friends behind.’

I was in a coffee shop today and felt God speaking to me. It wasn’t profound or anything, but His voice was obvious. 

I bought my white mocha and went to sit down. These two teenagers walked in and looked very cold and tattered. They were both shivering, and asked me if I had any cash so they could get something hot to drink. I told them I didn’t, because I only carry my debit card. 

Then I had this unshakable feeling that God was telling me to pay for their coffee. I could’ve easily assumed they were just typical teenagers with no life and no responsibility just looking for a hand-out, but I don’t believe that’s the case. I proceeded to tell them to go order what they wanted and I’d pay for it. The look on their faces said it all, “Seriously?”

They thanked me numerous times. I could tell they were genuine.

Who knows what it all means in the whole scheme of life, but the important lesson here is that I listened to God. That’s what relationship with the Father is all about: being still, being available, and listening. You never know when opportunities may arise to bless or be blessed. God is always there whispering in our ears. It’s our responsiblity as members of His Kingdom to heed those whispers and act. 

$7.20 to bless a couple of teenagers?

That’s what “doing” church is all about.

Not sure if any of you have any interest whatsoever in gardening, but I have started a gardening blog. I’m in the midst of the Master Gardening Program through Oregon State University, which teaches the basics of sustainable gardening in Oregon.

Gardening in all forms - landscaping, vegetable and flower gardening - have become a hobby and interest of mine. You can check it out here:

www.highdesertgardener.wordpress.com

The purpose of the blog is to create a network of gardeners (along with those with no gardening experience who have an interest) to share ideas, successes, failures, pictures, stories, and advice on how to be more successful.

Please stop by anytime, and let anyone else know about it.