Nun or Priest...

I heard this on a podcast I was listening to (Mosaic: Feature Film or Straight to Video?). It made me laugh:

I think a lot of us still think God is this cosmic chief, and he is still a rookie so he has only two recipes: nun and priest. And if I give my life totally over to him, man those are the two options, it’s not very inspiring, and either way there is no sex involved.

Tolerance...

When I was living in the Netherlands the big debate at the time was how they were to handle the influx of the muslim population into their society. You see, the Netherlands is always in danger of losing their identity because of their small size, and they therefore fight with vigor to hold onto any identity they might have. For instance, a couple years ago some of the government attempted to make it illegal to speak anything but the Dutch language in public (thank goodness that didn't happen, I would have been in trouble!) Well the debate on how to handle the Muslim influx has continued and I got a kick out of what I read today on the BBC webpage:

The burqa, a full body covering that also obscures the face, would be banned by law in the street, and in trains, schools, buses and the law courts.
The cabinet said burqas disturb public order, citizens and safety.
The decision comes days ahead of elections which the ruling centre-right coalition is expected to win.
Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk, who is known for her tough policies, said it was important that all people in the Netherlands were able to see and identify each other clearly to promote integration and tolerance.

Yes, Netherlands we know you are "tolerant" I guess we just didn't realize we had to be your kind of tolerant.

Just wastin time...

Well instead of studying as I should I have decided to continue my procrastination efforts by blogging. I am sure my Greek will still be available upon my completion of my ramblings, and in the end I just hope to have regained some learning vigor so I can finally dominate my Greek participles which seem to be taking me for a loop!

I finished reading the Jesus of Suburbia by Mike Erre the other day. It is a great book, and definitely brings forth many questions to ponder concerning our view of Jesus. It is funny how quickly we assume a monopoly over Jesus. I mean, it seems to me that within the church it becomes so easy to believe that God is on our side, or that Jesus agrees with us. And the more conservative circles will proclaim this idea from the top of their lungs, although now God on our side is hinged upon us doing the proper things. I mean surely God would not align himself with us if we did not hold proper views on abortion, homosexuality, or women in office! I think all too often us doing the right things turns our minds to thoughts that we deserve to be loved by God. I mean why wouldn’t God want to love us? Look at all the great things we do for him, look at all the religion we have set up to assure that we are agreeing with him (or is it him with us?).

The danger in this whole idea that we deserve his love I believe lies in the fact that as soon as we see ourselves as deserving we see others as not. Soon the church becomes a clique where some people are in and others are out (heaven or hell). Soon the people have to clean up their lives before they are able to come to the church. Where in scripture does Jesus call people to be clean before they approach him? Jesus is continually interacting with the despised people of society in their own element. I often take a look around churches and wonder why so many of us are white middle class Americans. Where are the marginalized in our societies? Well for one, we have definitely alienated ourselves from them. We continually move, we build fences (they may not be physical but they are socio-economic), and develop a society where we are not forced to interact with the poor, the addict, and the homeless.

I was listening to a podcast by Rob Bell the other week (entitled Jesus Wants To Save Christians VII) if anyone wants to check it out. He talks about how so often we use our wealth to isolate ourselves. We use it and although often times we may not know it, we alienate ourselves from our neighbor in need. Thus the person who says, Lord when did I see my neighbor in need? May indeed not have seen his neighbor in need, but he didn’t see him because he spent his life building a life which prevented the interaction. I don’t know, money is difficult. I don’t have much of it so it is easy for me to say these things. The fact of the matter still is though that I have little interaction with the poor. There are 3 homeless men who walk around campus asking for change. I have not talked to them; I walk by pretending I don’t notice. How is this exhibiting the caring life of Christ? Even here on seminary I avoid actually living a life of Christ, I think too often I feel as if I am learning about him but not learning to live him. I have a lot to learn.

I am not trying to drag my church through the mud or anything. I like it a lot, but when they began speaking of a multi-million dollar building project to move the church into a much higher class neighborhood I began to wonder if we had lost the focus. How is spending millions of dollars on a building helping the poor, the widow, the homeless, especially if the poor, widow, and homeless will never make it into that neighborhood? I think it is rather funny how my home Church claims to take the Bible so literally on issues concerning women in office, homosexuality, and other “hot issues” but Jesus’ commands to sell all your possessions, give to the poor, and care for the marginalized in society are rationalized to the point of allowing for the building of a multi-million dollar building instead of seeking out a mission to those which society has left behind.

I don’t know my thoughts are jumbled, I’m just trying to work this out. I began reading a book by Shane Claiborne called Irresistible Revolution in which he discusses the possibility of a society which is truly generous and caring. It inspires me, it scares me, and honestly it makes me completely uncomfortable because I know I am so far from truly enacting such a society out. Gosh, life is tough, but it is beautiful. I love ya all, and hope that whoever might come across this little rambling has a good day. And being as my parents are likely the only ones who read this, could you send me some more puppy chow?? :-)

Mission

Hey you guys, I hope that this blog can kinda become an ongoing conversation between us. Even though distance may separate us I would love to be able to just share and enjoy a sense of community with all of you even though we may be living in different parts of the country. Leave some comments, shoot some e-mails, and I hope that discussion follows. We will see. This is an experiment of sorts. I doubt it will work, but you never know… I think I have been wrong before… once or twice. :-)

This morning I woke up early and rolled out of bed. I threw off my Sesame Street quilt (I know you are all jealous) that my grandma made me and slowly found my way to the bathroom for a hot shower to open my eyes. The thing is, my shower here can’t keep a constant temperature, and I am continually jumping in and out of a stream of water in continual temperature and pressure flux. It annoys me, it has been one of the things which I just do not like about where I live.

The shower was short this morning, and the drying period was even shorter as the crisp air of the morning was sneaking through the many windows of our apartment that for some reason never close all the way. I quickly dried off and threw on some warmer cloths which would provide the temperature stability my shower failed to afford.

I poured myself a bowl of fruit loops and sat down to an episode of MacGyver. I enjoy my morning of no talking and just listening. The episode ended and I brushed my teeth, did my hair, and slipped on my shoes. It was just another normal morning.

I walked out the door around 10:15 and the sun had already begun to warm the foothills so that a t-shirt was plenty enough to keep warm. I proceeded across campus to my friends’ house where we were to leave to go to the soup kitchen in downtown LA on SkidRow.

The normal aspects of that morning stopped once we got to the Midnight Mission. I had always wondered where homeless people would live and it is now clear. The street was lined with tents, and makeshift homes. People were camping out on the sidewalks, and a few gathered at a street corning laughing and dancing. Some sat in their huts, others were walking around, but in the end none of it was “normal” for me.

We served food that afternoon. The man who showed us around and organized the food distribution was a former drug addict. He had been through the programs the Midnight Mission has to offer and he was able to turn his life around. It was a great story, but I wonder if I will remember it in a few weeks: A few weeks of me living my little life far away from the homeless.

I think that it is so easy to brush the homeless and drug addicts aside when you never come in contact with them. I mean society today teaches us that we should strive to live in the nice area of town, get a good job so that you can raise your kids in an area with good schools, and the church rarely seems to argue against this. My home church for example is talking of putting millions into a new building in a rich neighborhood to attract more members. What kind of members are they looking to attract? It seems the church is running.

When did homelessness become something that was just there? Something that we can not fix? Another man we talked to today is currently in the program at the Midnight Mission as well. He says that the main reason people in that area are homeless is a lack of education and help. He said that if the people knew that the Mission and other things were available they would try to get out of their lifestyle. They just don’t know how to do it. And we all just keep running.

I don’t know, I have been thinking about this more and more lately. I heard a guy named Shane Claiborne speak at the National Youth Workers Convention and he discussed how he and others have developed a community of “lovers”, people who just love the poor and the addict. They don’t just love them if they change their ways or become more churchy, but they love them as they are, sleeping in the park, and often a little bit drunk. Since when did Jesus demand people to have their lives together before they could come to him? Since when did the church cease ending homelessness?

I think too often we think of mission as something we do weekly, monthly or even annually. We make mission into trips, or things we do at certain times. But what would happen if the sole goal of the church was to be in mission? What would happen of the community of believers would come together for no other purpose than to love people as they were. Not to tell them they needed to do this or that to attain God’s love. Wouldn’t us showing them God’s love give them much greater hope for change than anything else we could say to them in words? What are we called to do?

I think it is similar to the AIDS and poverty crisis in Africa in many ways. In the end I just don’t know how much the church as a whole cares. I was reading a book the other day where Brian McLaren quotes Tony Compolo saying to a group of church leaders “Millions of children are dying in poverty and you don’t give a F***!” as faces blanched, he would add wryly, “And to prove my point you are more upset that I said F*** than that millions of children are dying in poverty!” I often wonder how true that is. I read Amazing Grace by Kozol in college and it was my first observance of poverty even if it was through pages of a book. But today it became more of a reality. And I am confused as to what the heck we are supposed to do about it. The thing that is even more confusing to me is that I can just go in do “mission” and leave to my pleasing little life. Is that what we are called to do?

It has begun

Well it has been a terribly long time since I have last blogged and I figure it is about time to begin the documentation of my latest life adventure. I know that this one will by no means be as interesting to read as my adventures traveling Europe and experiencing the wonderful Dutch life, but hey California is pretty much just as different :-)

I have been here at Fuller for a little over 2 months now, and life is good. I have decided that my mood is largely influenced by the weather and therefore I find myself largely happy in this land of perpetual sun. Although, I was watching a commercial the other day and saw the snow and must say I am looking forward to seeing a little of the stuff at Christmas, but I appreciate the fact that I will be able to leave it and go back to my flip-flops. But hey, in the end life is great. I mean I have already had so many opportunities in this life, and here is just one more. I am excited to see where it leads me, and have already been challenged and pulled in all directions, but we will get to that later.

To begin my posting I think I will prod the seed of jealously out of all you snow bound mid-westerners by posting some pictures of some friends and me when they came up to visit and attend a National Youth Workers Convention a week ago. It was great to see some people from back home for the weekend, and we spent 2 days at the beach boogie boarding and just hanging out in the sand. We were out there all day until the sun finally began to set and the waves pummeled us one to many times. But hey, i now have a few extra boogie boards if anyone is interested in a visit:-)
We had 4 days filled with laughter and great community. They are some of my favorite peopel to hang out with, and truly inspiring and challenging as I struggle to figure out what the heck I am supposed to do with my life. I must say it is kinda weird to be out here at seminary. People now expect things from me that were not expected before, Maturity for one. I don't know if i like it, i dont know if i like it at all:-) But life is good in the end. My roommate is a great guy to hang out with and I have found the other 7 people on campus who are not yet married so I have a few friends to hang out with. Marriage: I swear society forces us into those things, I mean what else are we supposed to do on the weekends when all our friends get married? It is dating insurance I tell ya:-) Haha I'm just playin NerdFace, Im stoked for your wedding, i hope all the planning is going well and to all those back home, I miss ya!! Ill be posting more soon. I hope that the posts don't get to boring for you all, I mean I am not finding urinals on the street corners over here, and I deffinately have not found a castle in my name, but hey, I did find a couple hundred starbucks and and a place to get the occasional brew from the Netherlands!