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September 28, 2006
What are pastors reading in relation to their work?
I was just sent the book God's Potters: Pastoral Leadership and the Shaping of Congregations in the mail this week by Pulpit and Pew and Dechant & Hughes. I hope to read this book fairly quickly and have a review posted up within the next two months. Right now that's quick for me.
But as I was skimming through the pages Table 4.3 on page 109 caught my eye. The author, Jackson W. Carroll lists the "Most-Read Authors by Denominational Tradition." Jackson says, "Not only did we ask how many hours they spend in general reading, but we also asked what three authors they most often read in relation to their work as pastors."
Below is the list of authors listed by professional clergy. The list is in order from 1-10 with the authors at the top being the most read.
Catholic
Henri J. M. Nouwen
John Paul II
Raymond Brown
William J. Bausch
Walter J. Burghardt
Scott Hahn
Anthony de Mello
William Barclay
Richard P. McBrien
Karl Rahner
Mainline Protestant
Henri J. M. Nouwen
William Willimon
Frederick Buechner
Max Lucado
Eugene Peterson
C.S. Lewis
Marcus Borg
Lyle Schaller
Philip Yancey
Walter Brueggemann
Conservative Protestant
Max Lucado
John Maxwell
Charles Swindoll
John MacArthur
Philip Yancey
Rick Warren
C.S. Lewis
Warren Wiersbe
Charles Spurgeon
Eugene Peterson
Historic Black
Warren Wiersbe
John MacArthur
Matthew Henry
John Maxwell
Charles Swindoll
Charles Spurgeon
Rick Warren
Charles Stanley
J. Vernon McGee
Max Lucado
My top three in relation to my pastoral work: Henri Nouwen, Eugene Peterson and Dietrich Bonhoneffer. What are yours?
books, authors, pastoral leadership
Posted by rhett at 01:04 AM | Comments (3)
College Ministry: Drinking Water Through A Fire Hose
Warning: I just got home from college group and posted this at 1:00am so I hope my thoughts make sense.
Many of you have heard that phrase before, "drinking water through a fire hose." Basically meaning that it's impossible to actually drink water because of the amount and pressure and force of the water coming out. Well, that's what I sometimes feel like college ministry is like. This last weekend I took a team of 14 college students away for the weekend up to Lake Arrowhead, CA. These 14 students will make up a leadership team that will eventually consist of about 18-25 students during the 2006-2007 school year. They will organize and plan, they will run Bible studies, they will run the worship team, mission trips, etc. for about 200-300 students who will make their way through our ministry this year. These leaders are vital.
But how do we as leaders better equip people, in my case students, who may only be around for a couple of years. For example, in jr. high and high school ministry many of the leaders are adults who are established and who plan on living in a place a while. But in college, the ministries are often run with the help of college students who may only be around for a year, or two, or if you are really lucky, 3-4 years. I have had the privilege of overseeing some really amazing leadership teams in my five years at The Quest, and this year is going to be no different.
But everytime I leave a leadership retreat weekend I often leave feeling both excited and overwhelmed. Excited because everyone can't wait for school to start, we exchange great ideas and I love watching the joy on everyone's face. Overwhelmed because I wonder if we will be able to pull our ideas off at times, and I wonder if I really do a good job of retraining 18-25 new leaders every 9-12 months. College ministry feels very much like ministry that is always in process, always evolving and always changing.
There are many different models to college ministry. Some ministries have done a wonderful job of developing adult volunteers over a long period of time, and have great infrastructure built into the ministry so that the transition is seamless from one year to the next. When I think of ministries who do a great job at this and who I can learn a lot from, The Inn at UPC, which is pastored by Mike Gaffney is what most often comes to mind. They do a great job of teaching and empowering other college ministries around the country through their Ascent Network.
Our ministry still feels a little more chaotic at times and I'm still figuring out what the best model is for our ministry at Bel Air. As I mentioned in a previous post it's a pretty diverse group with over 10 universities and schools attending. So I have been thinking more about tailoring the ministry around the specific gifts of the leaders each year, rather than a specific structure. Sometimes my leaders don't fit the specific roles and positions that I have put into place.
So what is the place between a set infrastructure, and a place where ministry may conntinue to change and evolve each year depending on who is in leadership and who is in the congregation?
But for now, I feel like our leadership retreat went very well, but I know there was more that we could have talked about and discussed. More than could be done in a two day stay. But in the end I think the leadership retreat is always a fun and amazing experience. It's an opportunity for all of us to pile into one cabin together and bond. We play games. We make meals together. We study. We pray. We share burdens and worries and laugh. And we stay up late. Actually, I go to bed at about 1:00am and the students finally roll in to bed at about 4-5am. That always makes me feel old. Gone are the days when I can hang all night with my students.
But college ministry is really a great opportunity to empower students in that amazing transition from adolescence to adulthood. And even though we don't have everything perfectly figured out for the year, the retreat was a great time to brainstorm, innovate and plan. And what we don't have figured out, well that will unfold during the year. Sometimes it will unfold weeks to months ahead of time. at other times, maybe only days or minutes before something. I love it and there is nothing more amazing than college ministry. They help keep me on my toes and constantly relying on God.
Posted by rhett at 12:29 AM | Comments (0)
September 22, 2006
Out of Context
I like Out of Ur's new feature, Out of Context. Should promote interesting discussion.
Posted by rhett at 10:53 AM | Comments (0)
September 21, 2006
College Ministry: Heading Into The New School Year and the Unifying Presence of Jesus Christ.
I love this time of year. It's the time of year when the students in our college ministry return and the excitement in the air is amazing. Though we have college ministry all year long, we lose most of our students over the summer, and then they slowly begin to return from mid-August till the end of September. So our jump start into the new school year, well, it's really more of a stumbling, stuttering sort of start as we wait for everyone to return.
So I want to welcome everyone back.
When I was interning as the college pastor in 2001 the majority of our students came from UCLA and USC. But over the last few years the dynamics of our group have slowly been changing as the "make-up" of our students has been changing as well.
For example:
The majority of our students are from UCLA. That has always been and probably will always be the case since they are the closest university to our church. Then after UCLA the representation is quite mixed.
There is USC. At one point in the ministry many years ago, USC sat on one side of the chapel and UCLA on the other. That got pretty tense during their rivalry.
The fast growing group in our college ministry is Loyola Marymount University, which has been a great addition. LMU has brought to our ministry a diversity of Protestants and Catholics into the fold.
Then there is Cal State Northridge and Santa Monica College which represent a very small portion of our ministry but are slowly growing.
And then there are the groups that have definitely brought some of the most excitement, talent and diversity to our group. These students come from The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and the Musicians Institute.
I sometimes stand up in the balcony of our chapel near the end of our Wednesday night fellowship and I watch the students from all these schools interact. It brings me great joy to stand up there and watch all of these students worshipping God, fellowshipping with each other and just sharing life with one another. These students come from different schools, different families and with many different dreams, ideas, beliefs and passions. But on a Wednesday night it is a beautiful sight to watch all of these students interact with one another, knowing that the one thing that brings them all together is Jesus Christ. It is not their schools, or their majors, or the bands they listen to. But it is the unifying presence of Jesus Christ in their midsts. Christ is the only person and the only reason that would bring all these people together from their various schools spread out all over Los Angeles.
As we kickoff this school year and make our way through 2006 and 2007 I will also begin to start posting more seriously, thoughtfully and frequently on college ministry. So stay tuned.
Posted by rhett at 10:29 PM | Comments (1)
Feminization of the Church?
Over the last 8-10 months I have posted a few blog entries disagreeing with this whole idea that there is a feminization of the church going on, or that trying to masculinize it is some good idea or something. You can read them here and here.
So it's good to see Scot McKnight take up this issue in two blog posts, Women in Ministry: Feminization of the Church? and Women in Ministry: Scripture and Feminism
women in ministry, theology, Scot McKnight
Posted by rhett at 02:59 PM | Comments (0)
September 18, 2006
Dr. Mouw and "common grace"
One of the reasons that I absolutely love Fuller Theological Seminary is because of our president, Richard Mouw. This morning I was driving to work talking with a classmate who sat all weekend in a retreat with Mouw and the trustees, and my friend was telling me just how he impressed he had been with Mouw.
There are many reasons that I like Dr. Mouw, but one of the main reasons is his interaction with the broader culture, whether it be interfaith dialogue, or his interaction with Hollywood, etc.
So it was interesting for me to visit Brent Thomas' blog this morning and find his post, His Grace is Sufficient, But is it Common?, in which Brent is "blogging out loud" about some of Mouw's writings as well as this book,
He Shines In All That's Fair: Culture and Common Grace
Posted by rhett at 11:40 AM | Comments (0)
September 14, 2006
Driscoll in Salon Magazine
Mark Driscoll is featured in Salon Magazine, in an article titled, Come as you are, with the subtitle/heading of "At Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Snoop Dogg figures in sermons, housewives cradle babies in tattooed arms -- and religious fundamentalism rules. Meet the Disciple Generation, the fierce new face of American evangelism."
(my own personal disclaimer: the article contains some graphic language, so read at your own risk)
The article is written by the author of the new book, Righteous: Dispatches from the Evangelical Youth Movement, Lauren Sandler, a self-described born-again atheist.
Here is an opening excerpt:
Mars Hill wrests future converts searching for identity and purpose from the dominion of available sex and drugs that still make post-grunge Seattle a countercultural destination. Driscoll promises his followers they don't have to reprogram their iTunes catalog along with their beliefs--culture from outside the Christian fold isn't just tolerated here, it's cherished. Hipster culture is what sweetens the proverbial Kool-Aid, which parishioners here seem to gulp by the gallon. This is a land where housewives cradle babies in tattooed arms, where young men balance responsibilities as breadwinners in their families and lead guitarists in their local rock bands, and where biblical orthodoxy rules as strictly as in Hasidism or Opus Dei.
Posted by rhett at 11:06 AM | Comments (0)
Help!
I've been doing my best to search the vast blogosphere for what I need, but I figured some of you might have some good referrals. I am looking to link up with some college interns/ministers/priests in Catholic campus ministries, whether they are on-campus, or off-campus. If any of you have some good suggestions, or some good blogs in this area that you are reading let me know. As a Protestant I am beginning to realize how little I sometimes tend to get out of my own little bubble.
Please let me know.
Posted by rhett at 11:02 AM | Comments (1)
September 13, 2006
Book Review: Christian Theologies of Scripture: A Comparative Introduction, edited by Justin S. Holcomb
Christian Theologies of Scripture: A Comparative Introduction
This book has been sitting on my shelf for quite a while, waiting for a review. I was sent this book by New York University Press for a review and it has taken me awhile to get around to it since things have been so crazy. So finally it is with great pleasure that I can post a review today...not because I finally got it done, but because I thoroughly enjoyed the book and have learned quite a bit.
The book is edited by Justin Holcomb and is a collection of writings from various scholars, thinkers, professors, writers (you get the point), that write about, and review, what Holcomb would describe as "mapping theologies of scripture." Holcomb starts off the book in the introduction by saying this:
"What is scripture? Wilfred Cantwell Smith challenges us to pause and ponder this question. All religious traditions that ground themselves in texts must grapple with certain questions. In worship services and public and private readings, Christians often turn to scripture for guidance: to the stories of Abraham or Moses, to the Psalms, to the prophecies of Isaiah, to the life of Jesus, to the letters of Paul, to the vision of John. Therefore, Christians must confront their own set of questions. Indeed, to ask the question, what is scripture? is to become mired in a muddy pool of questions: What is the nature of scripture? Is it divine? Human? Both? Is scripture authoritative? If so, how and for whom? What is the scope of its authority? Is scripture inspired by God? What about scriptural interpretation--is that inspired? Does God illuminate humans to understand scripture? Is there an appropriate method of interpreting the words of scripture? Who can interpret scripture? What is its purpose? How is scripture used? How ought scripture to be used? How do scripture and tradition relate? Does scripture interpret tradition or does the tradition interpret scripture? Or both? What does it mean for a Christian to call the Bible "the Word of God"? And if Jesus is also called the Word of God, how does Jesus as the Word of God relate to the Bible as the Word of God?"
.....Pause....catch your breath....take a deep breath. You get the idea that reading this book will take you down a path where many questions will be raised, longtime views and answers that we have held will be challenged, but as Holcomb states, "But we are not the first to ask these questions, nor the first to stumble over them." I remember having a professor in undergrad tell me not to go to Fuller Theological Seminary because I would gradaute and not know what I believed. What he meant was, they will raise questions and you will walk away with more questions than answers possibly. I don't understand that fear and so if you fear having questions, then well, it's best not to engage with material that will raise them. And this book will raise them, but you will be better for it.
So what is this book about?
"This book investigates the history of Christian thought by looking at major figures in the tradition and describing their unique contributions to the lingering and overarching question, what is scripture?"
Why do I like this book so much?
Because it is fair and even-handed. What do I mean by that? This book is not a critique of each thinker, where one sets out to prove whether one's view of scripture or interpretation is either right or wrong. Rather, each writer of each chapter allows each theologian and tradition to speak for themselves without cumbersome comment on whether they are on the right path or not, according to our own beliefs and traditions. Each contributor identifies what major contribution the theologian has made to their field or their context or their period in history, and by doing so the reader receives a more wholistic look at what scripture is, rather than an isolated view. As Christians we tend to pick sides, draw lines in the sand and stay in our camps without engaging others, except in the case of theological warfare. Here, the reader is faced to look at the tradition of scripture and the theologians who over the last 2000 years have faithfully set out to interpret it in the context of their traditions.
Why should you read it?
Because if you are like me, and if you are like most Christians, we tend to only read from our own traditions. If you are neo-orthodoxy you read the neo-orthodox theologians. If you are Calvinistic, you read Calvin. You get the point. And the only time we tend to read the other thinkers is when we can find something to disagree with them about, or when we read someone else's critique of those who aren't in our tradition. This book will expose you to the long standing tradition of scripture and the various ways in which it has been handled.
How is the book broken up?
The book is broken up into four parts: In Part 1 the reader looks at the Patristic and Medieval "theologies of scripture" and theologians such as Origen, St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas are discussed. In Part 2 the reader looks at the Reformation and Counter-Reformation "theologies of scripture" and theologians such as Martin Luther, John Calvin and Early Modern Catholicism. In Part 3 the reader looks at the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries "theologies of scripture" and theologians such as Fridrich Schleiermacher, Karl Barth, Hans Urs von Balthasar and Hans Frei. Last, in Part 4 the reader looks at the Contextual Theologies of Scripture and the issues of Scripture, Christian Praxes, and Politics, Scripture, Feminism, and Sexuality, Scripture in the African-American Christian Tradition and Postmodern Scripture.
That is what I mean when I describe the book as fair and even-handed. Many books on interpretation and the theology of scripture can often ignore differing viewpoints within its pages, as well as ignoring the tradition of Catholicism, feminism, African-American tradition or the thoughts of interpretation in a postmodern context. But Holcomb has managed to compile and edit a great book here that is well worth your reading.
If you think you know all the answers and you have no desire to raise new questions in your life when it comes to interpretation and the scriptures, then this book is obviously not for you, but then you are missing out. This book will challenge you. Holcomb says in the closing part of his introduction:
"Ultimately, this is not a book with one answer to the one question, What is scripture? Indeed, as demonstrated by the wide diversity of Christian theologies of scripture presented in this book--from Origen to Augustine, Luther to Christian feminists--there is no single Christian theology of scripture. Instead, this book offers many answers to many questions provided by many Christian theologians and traditions over the two-thousand-year history of the Christian faith. Only such an approach can do justice to the rocky terrain of scriptural interpretation and begin to draw a map of Christian theologies of scripture."
This is a much needed book and I'm glad Holcomb saw the need for it as well and delivered. I will continue to use this book as a resource and post on occassion different things by different theologians. But for now you can visit Scot McKnight's blog and read his thoughts on the book at Scriptures and Scripture 1 and Scriptures and Scripture 2.
book, Justin Holcomb, Christian Theologies of Scripture
Posted by rhett at 10:40 AM | Comments (0)
Scot McKnight: Woman in Ministry Series, Part 2
I appreciate the way Scot McKnight is approaching this topic. I get the impression he is going to look at it from many different angles. Today he looks at the story of Ruth Tucker and her "departure" from Calvin Theological Seminary.
women in ministry, theology, Scot McKnight
Posted by rhett at 10:37 AM | Comments (0)
September 12, 2006
Scot McKnight: Women in Ministry Series Begins
Scot McKnight just posted his first entry in a series on women and ministry. I posted about this last week, and am excited to watch, read and be a part of this discussion. Read Scot's first post today, titled, Woman in Ministry
Scot begins:
This will be the first in a series of posts on women in ministry-- as long as everyone behaves. Some of these will pertain to specific issues women face who are in ministries, some will be about biblical texts and themes, and yet others will be about theological issues. The number of issues we could converse about is so vast that I'm not sure how even to begin. What I chose to do was begin with someone who ministered: Mary, mother of Jesus.
Not just because I've spent a lot of time with her of late, but because in Mary we find someone who "ministered" and she's not connected to some controversial "ordination" text. Sometimes we get lock into deductive logic: we look at a text-- sometimes disputed--from the NT and then we infer the limits of practice; other times we need to look at practice itself as exhibited by women in pages of the NT and then see those texts in light of those practices. Well, enough of that.
What do you think we can learn from Mary about "women in ministry"?
women in ministry, theology, Scot McKnight
Posted by rhett at 10:26 AM | Comments (0)
September 11, 2006
Very Strange Part 2: Jesus Camp
My friend told me to check out the trailer of the new indie/documentary movie called Jesus Camp. But he told me to make sure I was on the phone with him when I watched the trailer because he wanted to process it with me. I knew that couldn't be good.
Watch the trailer for yourself. And see what Wikipedia says about it.
It's never good when one group of people is judged to be one way because of the behavior of some of its members, whether they are fringe or not.
Jesus Camp, movies, Tribeca Film Festival
Posted by rhett at 11:52 PM | Comments (2)
Very Strange Part 1: The Name Jesus Deleted Out of the Killers' Song?
On Sunday night my wife and I were at the movies at The Grove in Los Angeles. And we showed up about 30 minutes before showtime so we decided to go grab our seats early. And as we were sitting there the theatre was scrolling through all the advertisements on screen and playing music in the theatre. Pretty normal stuff for theatre going. Then as we were listening to the music the Las Vegas band The Killers began playing their hit song When You Were Young. Here are the opening lines of the song:
"You sit there in your heartache, waiting on some beautiful boy to save you from your old ways".
"He doesn't look a thing like Jesus, But he talks like a gentlemen, Like you imagined when you were young".
Why am I telling you this? Not because I think it's some Christian song, or some instance where a secular band gets it right, or because I think it's cool that they mention Jesus in their song. Rather, I'm telling you this because everytime they mentioned the name "Jesus" in the song it was deleted out from the music. Bleeped out, whatever you want to call it. When Jesus' name was supposed to be in the song you got nothing instead...silence, then a pickup with the words following it. This wasn't a band editing their work, but the movie theatre, or some other powers that be.
So weird. Why would that happen? Is it the theatre? It's not some proclamation from some Christian band that the secularists would fear being allowed to play in the theatre. My wife and I thought we were hearing things, or in this case, not hearing things. But no, we listened to the whole song closely, and every instance of the name "Jesus" was taken out.
Very strange. I wish I could shed some light on this, but I can't. I just wanted to share. I like the song so I was wondering why it would have been edited.
The Killers, music, Pacific Theatres
Posted by rhett at 11:36 PM | Comments (0)
Remembering 9/11: Some thoughts from C.S. Lewis on Learning in War-Time
Five years ago this morning I was still in bed around 7:30am Pacific Time when I received a phone call. I decided to let my "old school" message machine pick it up. As the the phone stopped ringing and the person began to leave the message I heard my younger cousin Marielle leave the message, "Rhett, I was just calling to make sure Wyatt is okay. Call me back!" I was laying there in bed thinking to myself, "Why would Wyatt my brother not be okay." So I got up immediately and called my cousin who was in her high school class. She answered the phone and I asked, "What are you talking about?" Then she began to relay to me the horrible news of the attacks on the World Trade Center. I could not believe what was coming out of her mouth, so I immediately ran to the TV and watched the horror unfold.
My brother Wyatt lives in Washington D.C. and I called him right away, but I could not get through because the cell phone lines were not working. I called and called all day long until I finally got a hold of him late into the night, making sure he was okay. I spent the next couple of days in front of the TV on September 11th and 12th, and probably even the days after that. Nothing made sense.
I had just moved to Pasadena from Arizona to finish up my Master of Divinity degree that I had started at the Fuller Seminary extension in Phoenix and was completing in Pasadena. The last few months before that move had been some of the best times of my life. I had lived in Guatemala from mid-March to mid-June, studying Spanish, doing volunteer work and traveling through Central America by bus. I had then traveled through Syria, Jordan and Israel with classmates and friends from Fuller. It was an amazing time. And all of this had culminated in my move to Pasadena. And now, nothing seemed to matter at all. Not school. Not vocations. Not traveling. Only family and friends.
I remember spending the next few days pondering what I should do. School barely seemed to matter now in light of what was happening in the world. As I prayed and thought about what to do next with my life, though I knew I was going to stay in Pasadena, I still needed to try and make sense of things if that was possible. Making sense of things was really not possible, but I went to the Fuller bookstore and picked up a book to try and help me understand why I should still study in a time like this. The book was Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis, which contained the essay, "Learning in War-time. In it, Lewis says,
A university is a society for the pursuit of learning. As students, you will be expected to make yourselves...into what the Middle Ages called clerks: into philosophers, scientists, scholars, critics or historians. And at first sight this seems to be an odd thing to do during a great war.
and
War makes death real to us, and that would have been regarded as one of its blessings by most of the great Christians of the past.... All the animal life in us, all schemes of happiness that centered on this world, were always doomed to a final frustration. In ordinary times only a wise man can realize it. Now the stupidest of us knows. We see unmistakably the sort of universe in which we have all along been living, and must come to terms with it. If we had foolish un-Christian hopes about human culture, they are now shattered.
Five years later have come and passed and I can hardly believe it. Where has the time gone? How easy it is to forget what happened five years ago. Lord we pray in times like these,
Psalm 23
A psalm of David.
1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, [a]
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.
Posted by rhett at 07:54 AM | Comments (0)
September 07, 2006
College Students and Vocation: Which road should I take?
One of the things that I enjoy most about working with college students is the very real and intense transitional phase of life they find themselves in during the college years. It is a very exciting time with life changing questions and decisions, and I can't think of any other phase of ministry that is exciting as this one...for me at least.
The question of vocation comes up quite a bit during those 4-5 years. Students often change majors several times trying to find what fits best. Students often graduate with a major they are no longer passionate about. Students often study and graduate in a discipline that they don't intend to use, but it got them the diploma they wanted.
Often, working here in Los Angeles, I have many students who come out to go to school to earn a degree because they feel that's what they are supposed to do. Or a lot of the time the pressure comes from the parents. But a few years into their education they feel unmotivated and not excited or passionate about what they are studying, and they pursue something else. This happens with many of my students who enter the entertainment industry and pursue music, acting, modeling, dancing, et cetera, full-time. That's what they had always been passionate about, but that wasn't the "respectable" thing to do, or the "responsible" thing to do. Parents often push kids towards what is practical, though what is practical is a lot of the times what we are not very passionate about.
What should I do with my life? What is God's will for my life? Those are huge questions and ones that I have tackled at other times, but one's I will need to post on again. Scot McKnight posted a couple of blogs on Vocational Angst, especially as it relates to college students, and he also posted on Vocational Angst as it relates to conversion to Jesus Christ and a possible shift in vocations because of it.
Scot mentions the book Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation by Parker Palmer in his post. That book is phenomenal and a must read when it comes to the issue of vocation and finding God's will for that area of your life. I highly recommend it to all of my students every year.
Posted by rhett at 10:17 AM | Comments (0)
Women in Ministry discussion...
Scot McKnight has posted two blog entries recently on Women in Ministry. You can find them here and here. And with a combined 283 comments so far on these two posts, one can see this is going to be a much read series. Here are Scot's basic ground rules for this discussion:
Here it is: I'd like to begin a weekly (or bi-weekly) discussion about women in ministry but what we are in need of is a list of topics to discuss. If we can establish civility in conversation about a variety of specific topics, then I will eventually do a series on the issue of women, ordination/etc, and the Bible, looking particularly at the cultural arguments. Let's begin with some other topics.
What would you like to see discussed? What are some topics?
Ground rule: As with last week, if you are opposed to women in ministry, then skip this discussion and listen in. Eventually maybe we'll get to your topics of interest.
I am excited about this discussion. I have posted on this issue many times on my blog, but it fails to usually bear any fruit, and rather quickly turns into an us against them debate. Though I work in a PCUSA church, my pro-women in ministry belief probably developed in my early twenties and was in place by the time I graduated from Fuller Theological Seminary. In fact, that was one of the overwhelming reasons I chose Fuller, because of its inclusivity of women in ministry, as well as Fuller's very diverse and international student population. So I am interested to see what comes of this discussion, and I am glad to see someone like Scot do this in a positive way.
Posted by rhett at 09:45 AM | Comments (0)
September 06, 2006
Boulder Weekend and Breast Cancer....
I haven't had anytime to blog over the last 4-5 days because I was away in Boulder, Colorado over the Labor Day weekend performing a wedding. I absolutely loved Boulder, and it was very nice to get away from Los Angeles, from a big city, from the traffic, and away from emails, internet, computers, etc. It takes a couple of days of withdrawal sometimes, but after that, I almost dread going back to the computer.
But I am glad to be back. It was a great weekend as well as a very emotional one. I performed the wedding of my cousin and her fiance. Both the bride and groom had lost their mothers to breast cancer years ago, so it was a very emotional time for both families, as the bride and groom each had an empty chair with a rose in it to remember their mothers by. My cousin's mother was my mom's sister, and I lost my mother to breast cancer when I was eleven years old. Breast cancer has taken the lives of my grandmother, my aunt and my mother, and so there was a lot of emotion at the wedding as a lot of loved ones were no longer physically present, though they were definitely with us in spirit, and I believe that they were watching. So to say the least, I pretty much stumbled my way through the wedding ceremony, trying to keep it together while everyone was crying.
A verse that I have been thinking a lot about, especially in light of sickness and death, is found in 2 Corinthians 5. It is a very beautiful passage, perhaps one of the most beautiful in scripture. But I am particulary fond of verses 1-5:
Our Heavenly Dwelling
1 Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
Though we labor and groan under the burden of being human and living in an "earthly tent", we know that we will one day be in a heavenly dwelling. That is the great news for my family members who labored under the disease of breast cancer, but who are now in a heavenly dwelling with Christ. And that is great news for us as followers of Christ who currently experience both the ups and downs of what it means to dwell in an "earthly tent."
Give to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation
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Posted by rhett at 10:53 AM | Comments (1)
September 01, 2006
Pacing Yourself and the Spiritual Life
The Spiritual Life and Athletics
Tod Bolsinger has a great six-part series called Lessons from Tri-ing which chronicles the lessons he learned from training for and competing in the Ironman Canada this last Sunday. His posts are the posts that I wanted to write, and wished I had written as I have been training for the Chicago Marathon in October.
Sometimes when I used to sit and listen to a sermon and the pastor would make constant references to athetics and drawing analogies that compare the Christian life and the athletic life to one another I would sometimes scratch my head. I mean, I have played sports in my life but it sometimes seemed to be a little too much. But recently I have really been thinking about the lessons I have been learning as I train for the Chicago Marathon, and they have taught me valuable truths about the spiritual life, and vice-versa. In 1 Timothy 4:8,Paul says, "For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come." So it has some value, but in comparison to the spiritual life it is wanting. But there is still value in it, and Paul plays on the importance of this metaphor in some of his other writings such as 1 Corinthians 9:24-27.
One Lesson I Have Been Learning
Probably the biggest lesson that I have been learning has been the importance of pacing myself. It was real easy to look at my training program and to want to go out, "pedal to the metal." Some days I would find myself wanting to push my program farther and harder than it suggested. I mean, what is up with these two and three mile runs, days after I had run eight or nine miles. I would think, this isn't helping me out at all. I would also find myself sprinting the last half-mile to quarter mile of a six mile run when I was supposed to be taking it easy. I was not content with pacing myself, resting, or taking it easy. That soon led to a hamstring injury in like week five of my sixteen week program, and I then I found myself having to take a week off, or risk possibly never seeing the starting line of the marathon.
A marathon is a long race. 26.2 miles. And the training program is long as well, 16 weeks, or four months, I don't know which sounds longer. And this is sort of assuming you have some type of running base already. I am now only 8 weeks away from the race and I feel pretty good about what is happening. Today I completed 18 miles at a pace that would bring me in around 4 hours, but I know that my goal is a sub-four hour marathon, and I know I still have two months of training left. But today was rough. I have never run 18 miles before. The farthest I have run till today was 16 miles. And before that 12 miles and on and on. My body knew I had never run 18 miles before as well, and so the last two miles were miserable as my mind and body battled each other for control. All that to say, this is unchartered territory for me.
I have a goal in mind and the goal is to bring me to a place I have never been before. To get there, I have to trust and rely on those who have gone before me. What they say about nutrition, training, rest, shoes, running shorts, gel packs, etc, etc. There is a community that has gone out before me, and I am relying on them to help me reach my goal. But in order to reach my goal, I have to listen to my body and I have to pace myself. I can't go out too fast in my training and I can't push my body too much or I may burn out or cause injury. Half-way through this training I already find myself a little bored and exhausted and I am beginning to realize how the glamour of the marathon has begun to fade and boredom and exhaustion are beginning to set it.
So for now, I have to keep pushing forward even when it doesn't seem fun, even when the runs seem boring and my legs ache. Deep down inside I know that all of this work is worth it and that it will help bring me closer to my goal and help me accomplish a feat that I have never done before.
Start of the College Year
Every year as school starts and students come flooding back into ministry it takes all the energy that I can to get them to slow down. Beginning with our Leadership Retreat, students tend to bite off more than they can chew, and we are off at blazing speed. But after five years in this ministry it is somewhat easy to predict what will happen. Four weeks into school students will be so exhausted from the fast start and then now have to begin studying for midterms. And our numbers will shrink as many skip church to study. And then they will return a little tired, but then the pace picks up until about week nine when they begin to prepare for finals in week ten of the quarter. And then they disappear again. And this cycle will repeat itself in the Winter and Spring as well. Coming out of the blocks in the Fall seemed like a good idea, but about half way through, most students realize that they have not paced themselves and may not have the stamina to finish the school year strong or where they had anticipated.
This sometimes happens to our faith as well. Many students come to faith in Christ during college and they are enamored at this new relationship and they attend every Bible study they can go to, every worship service that is available. They can not get enough. But then inevitably, months later they come to me disappointed that their early feelings towards their new found faith are no longer there. Pacing. It is everything.
Pacing Yourself
This is not to blame students or point fingers at them, because they are just like me, and they are just like you. Whether you are in school, or in a career, we all come out with our guns firing. And sooner or later, wisdom tells us that we cannot keep that fast pace up and that we are going to have to learn to pace ourselves if we are going to be healthy. And we too do this with our faith. We get excited about certain aspects of our faith and head down those paths as fast as we can run, and sooner or later, we too are burned out and we then begin to wonder, "Where is God?", or "I can't hear God's voice", "Or I don't feel like praying", etc., etc.
The spiritual life, like the athletic life is about pacing. The spiritual life is a long race with ups and downs and if we don't pace ourselves we can easily find ourselves sitting on the sidelines bored because things don't seem to be working out, or injured because we have gone out too fast ahead of ourselves. Part of training for a marathon involves experimenting with diet and sleep and shoes and all kinds of things. Part of the spiritual life involves experimenting as well. Trying out different methods of prayer and quiet time and Bible reading. What is most beneficial for one person may not be the most beneficial for the next. But when you do, you will better be able to pace yourself.
My Role as Pastor and Your Role as Community
If I am to be the pastor of these students then it is my job as well to help them in their pacing. Part of my role is instructing them and teaching them, and helping them say no and set boundaries so they don't get burned out. Part of the reason they get burned out in school and in the spiritual life is that I sometimes don't do a good job of mentoring them and teaching them how to live in a balanced way. And it is our role as the community and the students role in the ministry as the community as well, to guide and help teach one another. Many students in our ministry are farther along the road in their journeys with God and they can offer valuable insight and discerment in being a Christian, and in pacing yourself for this journey.
Posted by rhett at 12:56 AM | Comments (0)
