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December 21, 2006
Protecting the "inner fire" this Christmas...
Though I feel compelled to blog and talk, I have decided to shut it down till after the holidays. That is my desire as I feel I need some downtime to gather my thoughts.
So I'm going to leave you with a great quote from one of Henri Nouwen's books where he talks about silence as protecting the "inner fire."
And last, I will leave you with my Advent reflection for our church journal on Peace in Relationships.
Have a wonderful Christmas and a great New Year!
"When the door of the steambath is continually left open, the heat inside rapidly escapes through it; likewise the soul, in its desire to say many things, dissipates its rememberance of God through the door of speech, even though everything it says may be good. Thereafter the intellect, though lacking appropriate ideas, pours out a welter of confused thoughts to anyone it meets, as it no longer has the Holy Spirit to keep its understanding free from fantasy. Ideas of value always shun verbosity, being foreign to confusion and fantasy. Timely silence, then, is precious, for it is nothing less than the mother of the wisest thoughts."
Diadochus of Photiki, quoted by Henri Nouwen in The Way of the Heart
Peace in Relationships
Peace can be defined many ways, but it usually is summed up best in a dictionary as the "absence" of something. For example, the absence of war, conflict, mental anxiety and so on. Therefore, we have come to believe that for peace to be achieved that there must be an absence of such things in the world and more specifically in our lives and the relationships that we are a part of. But as I look at the biblical text I am struck by the fact that peace is not the absence of these things, but rather, peace is the presence of God in our lives. The word shalom in the Old Testament means "peace, welfare, completeness." To have God's shalom is not the absence of stress or conflict in our lives, yet it is the presence of God in the midst of these things. It is the presence of God, who will therefore bring about a type of completeness and wholeness to our relationships that could not otherwise be achieved.
In Isaiah 26:3-4 we read, "Those of steadfast mind you keep in peace--in peace because they trust in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for in the LORD GOD you have an everlasting rock." We see that God's people were kept in peace because they trusted in him. This is a remarkable passage considering all of the war and conflict that God's people have had to endure throughout the centuries. Yet it is these people, the people of God who most completely experience God's shalom. As we approach the Christmas season we enter into a time of year where peace is wished upon everyone. Yet we can look around the world and see that there is little peace. And we know even more intimately that we live in relationships among friends and family where there seems to be a lack of peace.
But my hope and prayer for you this Christmas season is that we come to recognize that peace in our lives is not the lack of conflict, or the absence of war, yet, it is the presence of God with us during these difficult times. It is the presence of God who brings about a wholeness and completeness to us and our relationships even when they seem to be in disarray. May God's shalom be with you this Christmas season and beyond.
Henri Nouwen, inner fire, peace
Posted by rhett at 11:45 AM | Comments (0)
December 17, 2006
Are you feeling overwhelmed?
How we answer this question is important according to theologian David F. Ford, the Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge.
In his book The Shape of Living: Spiritual Directions for Everyday Life, Ford talks about being overwhelmed by everday life and how we choose to deal with it will affect the outcome, or shape of our lives. I have just started the book, but so far it is really good and what he advises is the wisdom I have been searching for in these busy days.
When it comes to being overwhelmed Ford prescribes three imperatives: Name It, Describe It, Attend to the Shape of Living. In this book Ford reflects on his own experiences, the experiences of others, the Scriptures and the poetry of Micheal O' Siadhail. Ford says, "I find the current expanding popularity of poetry very important: The more overwhelming life becomes, the more we need the creativity of the best minds and imaginations. Poetry at its best has wrestled with the great overwhelmings, and out of that engagement has shaped a language through which we too can respond."
David F. Ford, book, spirituality
Posted by rhett at 12:39 PM | Comments (1)
Sex and Spirituality...
I just finished reading an advanced copy of Rob Bell's new book Sex God: Exploring the Endless Connections Between Sexuality And Spirituality. I wish I could say more about the book or post some quotes, but since it hasn't been published yet I am required not to do so yet....I emailed and asked if I could, but they said no understandably until it has been completely edited.
It's a really good book and he says some things that I think Christians need to say and have failed to say for a long time on this issue. And as many of Rob Bell's works are, it will be embraced and loved by many and some will find it very controversial. I thought it was a really great book. Looking forward to the conversation.
Posted by rhett at 12:28 PM | Comments (2)
December 14, 2006
Tres Propaganda: Check out some cool new t-shirts for your wardrobe
Are you wondering what to get that person for Christmas who has everything? What about a cool t-shirt? Two of my best friends have just launched a t-shirt line that I'm really digging, Tres Propaganda.
My favorite shirt is
That seriously cracks me up....if you live in LA or have spent some time in LA, well you know what they mean. What I like about the guys though is that they poke some fun at themselves as well on their blog. They say, "The BARISTA is a play on the culture here in Los Angeles (74 degrees today by the way) and the belief you need to be ready to be discovered at any moment. We have been there ourselves, and can laugh about it."
Go to Tres Propaganda and check out the growing line of cool t's.
And for the record. One of the designers, Michael Trozzo is one of the best photographers and designers around, so if you need any work done, go to 3tp.com and check out some of his work.
Posted by rhett at 01:46 AM | Comments (1)
December 13, 2006
Apparently godly men are supposed to cuss, carry swords and leave their wives and infants alone at home why they go out into the wilderness....to be a good leader!
I was pretty much over blogging about this issue for a while until I came across this article in the LA Times, Manliness is next to godliness.
Hey, do I think we might have wandered away from Jesus' message in the last couple of thousands of years and possibly have domesticated him in the process a little bit. If I need to agree on something I could agree on that. But this other stuff is just crazy. Just read some of the excerpts on what it means to be a godly man according to this article, highlighting Brad Stine and his revival meeting called "GodMen."
Excerpt #1:
In fact, men taking charge is a big theme of the GodMen revival. At what he hopes will be the first of many such conferences, in a warehouse-turned-nightclub in downtown Nashville, Stine asks the men: "Are you ready to grab your sword and say, 'OK, family, I'm going to lead you?' " He also distributes a list of a real man's rules for his woman. No. 1: "Learn to work the toilet seat. You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down."
Are you kidding me? Why don't you just put the toilet seat down yourself. We are talking about toilet seats here, but under the guise of humor is the idea that women need to be the ones submitting and not the man. What happened to mutal submission that Paul talks about in Ephesians 5.
Excerpt #2:
But some men at the conference run into trouble when they debut their new attitudes at home. Eric Miller, a construction worker, admits his wife is none too pleased when he takes off, alone, on a weekend camping trip a few weeks after the GodMen conference this fall.
"She was a little bit leery of it, as we have an infant," he reports. "She said, 'I need your help around here.'"
Miller, 26, refuses to yield: "I am supposed to be the leader of the family."
He's pretty sure his wife will come around once she recognizes he's modeling his life after Jesus', like a good Christian should. It'll just take a little explaining, because the Jesus he has in mind is the guy on the wanted poster: "confrontational and sarcastic when he needed to be," Miller says, and determined to use "whatever means was necessary to achieve his goal."
When was leaving your wife and infant at home alone so you can go out into the wilderness a from of modeling your life after Jesus and being a good leader. Seems more like avoiding the difficulties of life and the difficulties of laying one's life down for each other....just retreat into the woods instead. Sorry for sounding harsh, but I just think this is the wrong message to be sending to men.
You can read the rest of the article and find out that part of being a godly man is lacing your vocabulary with profanity as well.
I have had a lot of great male role models in my life. And none of them were or needed to be about this.
Posted by rhett at 11:21 AM | Comments (5)
December 12, 2006
It's like giving birth...
I feel like that when I first started blogging I had tons of stuff to say. I also think I was in a place where I was more willing to say certain things to cause a certain type of reaction or stir online. Not to get more traffic, though that's nice, but just to have more dialogue.
One of the things that hurts a blog I think is the difficulty in being able to leave comments. I had to shut down some of my commenting and put in a Type Key because I was getting spammed like crazy. So I don't dialogue as much.
Why am I telling you all of this? I think because for the first time I feel like there is not a lot I want to say. Let me rephrase it. There is actually a lot I want to say, but most of my energies are invested in other projects right now from work, to grad school to writing to a couple of side projects. So it seems that when it comes to blog, I feel sort of empty.
I used to sit down and not know what topics to leave out when I blogged, but now I sit there and nothing comes magically to mind. Probably doesn't help that the hours I keep are more like a college student and sitting down to write at 12am is not the most fruitful.
It's a season of life and I'm hoping that many of the things I'm working on will eventually come to fruition. One of my friends the other day said it's like being pregnant. You have all these ideas and projects in you and you labor to get them done and out and executed. You labor to eventually give birth to them which is a difficult but rewarding process.
So, I'm not sure if women who have been pregnant will think they are comparable, but I do feel like I'm in a season of waiting, of being in labor, to one day give birth to what is being formed inside of me (i.e. my heart, mind, soul).
This is a good time for me to reflect on this process as well as we are in the midst of the Christmas season. We are in the midst of a season where we as Christians celebrate the greatest and most wonderful birth of all time, of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
But I'm wondering, does anyone ever feel this way? Pregnant with ideas, thoughts, projects, etc, yet laboring to eventually one day have them come to fruition?
Posted by rhett at 10:38 AM | Comments (1)
December 07, 2006
Rob Bell's New Book on Sex and Our College Group Hosting Him This March....
This has been an exciting week for myself and our ministry.
First, we were contacted by some of the different groups involved with Rob Bell (NOOMA, Zondervan, etc) and they asked if we would like to host him on the campus of UCLA. Gee, let me think? Yeah, of course we said yes. Like a gift dropped in our lap. They are just bringing him in with no cost to us. This should be a great outreach event on the campus of UCLA and the surrounding area. Though it is at UCLA it won't be limited to UCLA or college students only.
So on Thursday, March 8, Rob Bell will be speaking at UCLA, talking about his new book, showing a new NOOMA video and answering questions and conversing with students. This will be one of only two stops for him in California on this trip. The other will be at Berkeley.
Second, I just received an advanced reader copy of Rob's new book Sex God: Exploring the endless connections between sexuality and spirituality. I already dove into it tonight and it looks good. It's definitely going to cause.....some conversations.
I will inform you all about the upcoming speaking event as we begin to get more information and advertise.
Posted by rhett at 12:55 AM | Comments (1)
December 05, 2006
But my identity depends upon it....
These last few weeks have been pretty grueling as I have been working hard on several different projects while trying to finish up the school quarter. It's a busy time for a lot of us and with the holidays around the corner things even seem a little bit out of control. My soul does not seem to be responding to all of this chaos to well, yet I don't know what to put aside so that I can slow down.
The problem: A lot of my identity rests in what I do, rather than who I am. And that is brutal. So who am I if I put certain projects and events aside? That is something I'm wrestling with. This is nothing groundbreaking. Many authors have explored this issue, Henri Nouwen being one of the best as he looks at the life of Jesus and His identity being found in His relationship with His father (Mark 1:9-11) in the great book, In The Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership.
Where does your identity rest? In the things you do? In your relationships? In your relationship with Jesus Christ?
As I think about this for my own life and struggle to get where I need to be a quote from Thomas Merton's amazing book, The New Man comes to mind. He says,
It is a spiritual disaster for a man to rest content with his exterior identity, with this passport picture of himself. Is his life merely his fingerprints? Does he really exist because his name has been inscribed in Who's Who? Is his picture in the Sunday paper any safe indication that he is not a zombie? If that is who he thinks he is, then he is already done for, because he is no longer alive, even though he may seem to exist. Actually, he is only pushing the responsibility for his existence on to society. Instead of facing the question of who he is, he assumes he is a person because there appear to be other persons who recognize him when he walks down the street. Since we are made in the image of and likeness of God, there is no other way for us to find out who we are than by finding, in ourselves the divine image.
Henri Nouwen, Thomas Merton, identity
Posted by rhett at 11:27 PM | Comments (1)
December 04, 2006
Count It All Joy
Count It All Joy is Mark Driscoll's latest post and it is a good one. I recommend that everyone reads it. I was very impressed by his post and what I sensed is a real humility and growth in many areas of his life.
I don't have a lot to say, because I really like what I read from Mark. Most of us don't, or never will find ourselves with this much media attention...publicly having to apologize or talk about the process of one's growth and learning. So I admire Mark for doing this. And it's obvious that during his blog silence he was really going through some tough times and processing some hard things. Thanks Mark for the post.
Here are ome really good lines from Mark, and they remind me of the long ways in which I need to grow and mature as well:
I learned that my theological convictions, even the most controversial ones, are as unwavering as ever. But I also learned that as my platform has grown, so has my responsibility to speak about my convictions in a way that invites other people to experience charity from me, which means inflammatory language and such need to be scaled back. I was also sad and sorry to hear that various things I have said over the years have been received very personally by some people who felt personally attacked. A female pastor had a very good insight: as my platform has grown, so has my audience, and that in some sense I need to consider myself the pastor of two churches.
Mark Driscoll, protest, ministry
Posted by rhett at 11:21 PM | Comments (0)
December 03, 2006
Mel Gibson's Apocalypto...
Ever since I first heard about Apocalypto a little over a year ago I have been waiting to see it.
Variety magazine says:
Mel Gibson is always good for a surprise, and his latest is that "Apocalypto" is a remarkable film. Set in the waning days of the Mayan civilization, the picture provides a trip to a place one's never been before, offering hitherto unseen sights of exceptional vividness and power.....Cast largely with indigenous nonpros speaking the prevailing surviving dialect of the Mesoamericans, "Apocalypto" is exotic, wild, ferocious, teeming with startling incident and brutal violence.
In 2001 I spent three months living in Antigua, Guatemala with a host family studying Spanish. One of the more remarkable times that I had in Central America was traveling through the various Central American countries by bus and visiting many of the ancient Mayan ruins. I spent some time in Northern Guatemala at Tikal which was one of the most remarkable places I have seen and on another occasion my friends and I traveled over to Western Honduras spending some time in the Mayan ruins of Copan. I was blown away walking around the massive structures that have lasted for thousands of years and that were built in such an advanced way with little or no "modern" tools. It was very humbling to be there, realizing that in many ways we have not come very far as a civilization. Humbling because we think we are often much more advanced than those who have come before us...and often I find that not to be true at all. My time in the Mayan culture was a reminder of that.
I am excited this movie is being made and I am looking forward to it.
Posted by rhett at 03:04 PM | Comments (1)
December 01, 2006
Late night ramble....
Why am I up right now? I have no idea except that I'm having a hard time getting to bed early these days. I should be exhausted, but I think I'm just having a hard time winding down with so many things going on. Last week I was listening to a sermon by Rob Bell which he talks about the adrenaline that enters our body throughout the day because of the various interactions we have. He compared it to that feeling you get when you back your car up and stop before you hit someone...that feeling of relief, but the feeling of adrenaline shooting through your body. Bell says it takes about 4-6 hours for that adrenaline to leave our bodies....and he says that we have those experiences all day long. Maybe not almost backing up into cars, but interactions that wire our bodies differently than the normal (chemical) functioning. If this is true, then no wonder I can't settle down.
So I have begun to think more about my daily interactions and how they may rewire me in different ways.
I preach on Sunday nights and I get home at about 11:30pm....i can't go to bed until at least 2am no matter what. If you preach or speak do you have this problem of being wired afterwards that it is hard to settle down?
Then there is school. Today was my last day of classes for the quarter as I am now only two quarters away from completing my MFT at Fuller Theological Seminary. I love the program, but I'm so excited about finishing up school and ending my practicum in April so that I can have more spare time for other things. I thought I would have a feeling of relief today when my classes were done, but I didn't quite have that feeling. Ugghhhh.
So what am I doing to try and regulate my body and my stress levels? Run! I have tried to stay focused and in good health and the only way I seem to be able to do that is to run regularly, so I decided to enter the LA Marathon which is on March 4th. I think it's the one thing that lowers my stress and keeps me sane.
Then there is the writing thing that I talked about the other day. I finished one of my chapters today and I'm re-reading it a few times tonight. Is it good? Is it bad? Don't know. So i will keep writing and entrust some friends for some good feedback.
If I'm all over the place in this blog, well, it's because my thoughts are all over.....okay, off to bed.
Posted by rhett at 01:01 AM | Comments (1)
