The (re)Myth: Part 2

Posted February 6, 2009 by Chris
Categories: Awareness, Belief, Cultural Ideas, religion

In the process of looking at words used too long by the Church are some others. Another word is, “Revolution”. This is a word full of baggage and energy, some positive, but mostly negative. In the global sense, Revolution is all about overthrowing something (be it a belief system or a way of experiencing church). To those doing the “revolutionizing”, nothing could be greater than removing the old guard with something new.

Later, however, the posture is much different. Somewhere someone will want to “Revolutionize” this new way of doing things for a new, newer way and the cycle continues. The one word that should be used instead is “Reformation”.

To re – form something is truth. To take the expression and refigure it is the great challenge, not obliterating the visage of the past church. When we use our language, we must use care and think from different perspectives.

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The (re)Myth: Part 1

Posted February 1, 2009 by Chris
Categories: Awareness, Belief, Context, religion

Alot of things that we hold dear in mainline church have a presupposition about them that has been handed out to  us by a previous generation. These ideas are no more than cultural myths that reside within the context of the western Christian church. One of these is the notion of Revival. In the typical sense, the concept of Revival seems straightforward enough, but by looking just underneath the surface we see something more. Integrated in the idea of Revival is that something has died and needs reviving.

In my history, and my study of The history of the church, I can not find a time when the Church was dead. Plenty of times when respiration was shallow and the pulse slowed, but never dead. So if you wish to bring up the word, “Revival”, the truth cannot be used.  The truth is that the Church has had struggles, but never dead.

Though many within the church culture would simply “understand” what we are saying when we use the word “Revival”, those not indoctrinated with Christianese will be left trying to understand what we mean, or taking our words and coming to conclusions we never meant.

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ReJesus

Posted January 22, 2009 by Chris
Categories: Awareness, Belief, Books I'm Reading, Context, Creativity, Cultural Ideas, Life, religion
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rejesus

Alan Hirsch and Michael Frost have a new book out called ReJesus. It is one of the most compelling reads as to how we can never get outside of our own distinct cultures to a pure Jesus. In every age Christians are compelled to again struggle with the meaning of Jesus again. Neibuhr wrote in Christ and Culture that we always are reshaping Jesus out of our cultural imaginations. Jesus is the center of the religion of Christianity, and yet, as Jacques Ellul, the French theologian questions, “How has it come about that the development of Christianity and the church has given birth to a society, a civilization, a culture that are completely opposite to what we read in the Bible, to what is indisputably the text of the law, the prophets, Jesus and Paul?”

To follow Jesus requires not simply believing in belief, but to encounter Jesus on an ongoing basis. This is true spiritual transformation. It becomes more than knowing about him. It must become about experiencing redemption, following his way, becoming like him and taking up his cause all the while in the current Western context.

We all know that Jesus is like God, fewer are aware that God is like Jesus, ans fewer still would admit that Jesus shows us the perfect example of what Human is – AND that we should seek to be like that perfect example. Roman 8:29 speaks of us being conformed into the likeness of his Son. It speaks of us being like Jesus.

What would our world look like if we became more like Jesus who was like God? Would we not wake to a better world? Instead of worshipping Jesus, what if we followed Him. What if we used the mysterious Christ as an example to what our own lives could be?

Too often we have relegated Christ as a figure to be looked at or revered – separated from us. We learn at an early age “how” to worship, but Jesus came to show us how to live. It is in the living that we learn to know him and experience that abundant life He spoke about.

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Barack Obama – 44th President

Posted January 20, 2009 by Chris
Categories: Awareness, Belief, Cultural Ideas, Life, People
Tags: , , ,

One of the most brilliant moments from the festivities of today was the poem recited by Elizabeth Alexander.

“Praise Song For the Day”

Each day we go about our business,
walking past each other, catching each other’s
eyes or not, about to speak or speaking.

All about us is noise. All about us is
noise and bramble, thorn and din, each
one of our ancestors on our tongues.

Someone is stitching up a hem, darning
a hole in a uniform, patching a tire,
repairing the things in need of repair.

Someone is trying to make music somewhere,
with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum,
with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

A woman and her son wait for the bus.
A farmer considers the changing sky.
A teacher says, Take out your pencils. Begin.

We encounter each other in words, words
spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed,
words to consider, reconsider.

We cross dirt roads and highways that mark
the will of some one and then others, who said
I need to see what’s on the other side.

I know there’s something better down the road.
We need to find a place where we are safe.
We walk into that which we cannot yet see.

Say it plain: that many have died for this day.
Sing the names of the dead who brought us here,
who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges,

picked the cotton and the lettuce, built
brick by brick the glittering edifices
they would then keep clean and work inside of.

Praise song for struggle, praise song for the day.
Praise song for every hand-lettered sign,
the figuring-it-out at kitchen tables.

Some live by love thy neighbor as thyself,
others by first do no harm or take no more
than you need. What if the mightiest word is love?

Love beyond marital, filial, national,
love that casts a widening pool of light,
love with no need to pre-empt grievance.

In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air,
any thing can be made, any sentence begun.
On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp,

praise song for walking forward in that light.

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The New Trinity

Posted January 15, 2009 by Chris
Categories: Awareness, Belief, Context, Life
Tags: , , ,

Provocative title, I know, but for me, there are some things that I’m just beginning to see. A few weeks ago, a friend offered the use of a river house for me to think and collect and look to the future. Many ideas came out of that time and this is one of those ideas.

I’ve grown up in church and for the vast majority of my life worked within the church as volunteer or staff member. Yet again a majority of that time was spent in “leading worship”, a description I have never liked. Upon stepping back from the noise of church life and examining my own life, I’ve made the following observation. We are taught about the trinity of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, but in the day to day activities of the church, across the world, there is another trinity that perhaps has more credibility.

The first in this New Trinity is Religion itself. The interesting additional thought to each part of the New Trinity, is that each can be and is percived differently based on the context of the observer. For now, we’ll just do an overview. Religion is the organized, strategic systemic context that sets the framework for our interaction with The Other or God.

The second is Spirituality. Spirituality is a buzzword for those who are interested in finding God, but who don’t want Religion. Spirituality is decidedly inward in focus. It is an awareness of the fact that there is more to life than what we see. Much more emotional and individualistic than group Religion.

The third is Worship, one of the most misunderstood words in  the religious glossary. Worship is both traditional and orderly, as well as experiential and mystical. It is celebrative, very inclusive and at the same time experienced by the individual on an extremely intimate scale.

We see the three individually, but like the orthodox definition of the Trinity, I believe this Trinity as well works best as it becomes One. This is something I haven’t seen, at least on a regular basis, but it is something that I believe can be seen, and will be seen.

Just as the human is body, mind and spirit and functions as a whole, the Church is religion, spirituality and worship and can function as a whole. As we listen to what science is discovering about the spiritual nature of man, the higher level teachings of Jesus, which often are mirror images of teachings of other timeless religious leaders, will become more of a possibility in our minds.

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The Flow of Compassion

Posted January 10, 2009 by Chris
Categories: Awareness, Belief, Context, Creativity, Life, Starting, Vision
Tags: , , , ,

One of the big thoughts in my mind currently is to better understand how we can create, instead of react to, our future. In scripture Jesus talks about “abundant life” and many have sought to define just what he meant by those words. There is also in scripture a dialogue with Jesus where he mentions, almost in passing, that the “things I do, you will do more”.

I don’t know about you, but for me, most of my life in church has been spent looking for a way to live that life and do the the things Jesus spoke of. We can expand and look at other scriptures from other major religions and find similar passages. Yet in all of this religious speak, for evidence we have a handful of people who have impacted the world.

It is my belief that there is a way for each of us to live life in a “flow” of exemplary moments that work together to bring about a change for the common good. Some may say I’ve lost it or that I’m naive, but I truly think that we live life on auto-pilot most of the time, and if we would learn how to “live” we would see things that each of us internally desire but externally are impoverished as to both the “what” question and the “how”.

I’ve said before that the “how” is not my domain, and I believe it more today than ever before. One thing that I have uncovered is the role comapssion has to play in living a life full of little miracles.

We all know we should have compassion on others, but the most important I’ve found is compassion for ourselves – present and past. The biggest lesson for me in my own developmental path has been to learn to display compassion toward myself for past shortcomings and failures.

This is one of the greatest steps to head you forward on your own path of developmental transformation. We must let go and let life “flow” through us instead of trying to unsuccessfully control our lives. Once the past is dealt with, the present and future are free to move forward unentangled.

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There Is No Regret

Posted January 7, 2009 by Chris
Categories: Awareness, Belief, Context, Life, Rhythm, Vision
Tags: , , ,

When we live as though there are things we would like to change about our past – regrets in our lives- we are deciding to reject the coinciding moments in our lives that have made us the people we have become.

If we choose, instead, to embrace the path we’ve been on, whether conscious or unconscious, we then accept the entirety of our lives – the total sum of our being.

Once done, this embrace puts to rest much of the internal chatter that sits unresolved in our minds. Unresolved because it resides in a zone outside our ability to change. The past is done, but the present is available as a pen to author our future.

The real beauty in music is not the notes, but the space between the notes, the silence intermingled with sound that brings balance. So in our lives, as we open up space in our mind, we will begin to see the beauty that has always resided in each of us, but because of busyness remained hidden and unnoticed.

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Don’t Name It – Just DO It!

Posted January 3, 2009 by Chris
Categories: Awareness, Belief, Context, Creativity, Influence, Life, People
Tags: , , ,

This is going to be a somewhat short post. There are so many things that I am excited about this coming year. Many I will be laying out in detail here first. For that reason, if you haven’t already subscribed to this blog, click on the “subscribe” link to the right. When you do this, you’ll be the first to know what’s going on.

 

The core of my thought today is that as I’ve looked at the need for learning organizations in the past, (you can check out here, and here, and here for more), the key component has moved from the community to the individual. When the individual is working better, the community that he or she is a part of runs better.

 

Often we try to give these things names, but honestly names aren’t important. The important thing is for “people to find their own language for describing the intent of their efforts in ways that work in their own context, as part of developing their own strategies and leadership practices. How we talk about our work matters. But the key lies in our personal journey of reflection, experimentation, and becoming more open, not the words we use. It is the reality we create, not how we label it, that matters.”

 

Don’t worry about what to call what you do, just do the thing that you can’t NOT do. In embracing yourself, you embrace all and that WILL change the world!

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Noticing

Posted January 2, 2009 by Chris
Categories: Awareness, Context, Creativity, Life

Noticing is something that I’d bet many of us do too little of. We have many items on our plate, and we justify that we simply don’t have the time. I want to offer a daily opportunity to reengage in your real life. I’ll bet that after doing these simple adjustments, you’ll feel like a fog has lifted and clarity has come to your life.

 

First, take your watch and set a time either every half hour or every hour and have your alarm go off. When it does, just take a few seconds to notices how you feel, even if you feel irritated by the interruption of the alarm!

 

Next, as you move from one activity during the day to another, notice how you feel about ending one activity and transitioning to the other.

 

Also, during mealtimes, think about pleasant moments and identify why they are pleasant. Conversely, think about the moments that were the least pleasant and identify why. Another thing is to ask yourself if you were aware of the pleasant or unpleasant moments when they occurred.

 

Lastly, notice how you feel after meaningful interactions with other people.

 

You might want to tackle one of these at a time – maybe one a week – and notice how the fog lifts and how clarity comes to every day moments.

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Acting Out of the Box

Posted January 1, 2009 by Chris
Categories: Context, Creativity, Cultural Ideas, Influence, Life

One of the things that I’ve been thinking about lately is how often we take things that are, at first revolutionary, and then relegate them to the role of a staple item. As an example, a business could have made a name for themselves by doing a particular ting or producing a particular product. Eventually, the business prides themselves on being revolutionary by producing the same product.

 

There is a lot to be said for thinking outside the box. Hundreds of books have been written about it, and many are good. The subject of thinking outside of the box is a must in today’s business world, but it takes another step to really make a difference. Thinking is important, but it’s not enough. Thinking is passive. The only way things get done and change really happens is when we stop thinking out of the box and start acting out of the box.

 

Look at your own situation at the beginning of the year. I’m certain you’ve thought about a lot of things you want to do or change. Take one, an in the next five minutes do some action that brings you closer to making it happen. It could be as simple as a phone call or an email. You need to make the call – so make it.

 

Let 2009 be a year of action – and let me know what you’re doing to make 2009 the best year we’ve ever seen!

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