E PLURIBUS UNUM

To define the flaws of an establishment is imperative to revolutionizing that establishment. But, when pointing out those flaws becomes the sole idea and discussion, then we can no longer retain the hope of revolutionizing anything. For the constant berating of an establishment does not cause it to evolve; if anything, it destroys it. In order for evolution to take place information must be added. New ideas and thoughts be brought to light.
And, to take on the task of revolutionizing the Church as a whole is daunting task; and one I think is far beyond our ability. But, the church we do have the ability to reform is our own; this little community we have all come to love.

Now in my thinking, there is perhaps no greater aspect of church than unity of purpose. And for us, I believe that purpose is community. For that seems to be the one thing with which we all agree and the one thing we have all said from the very beginning. But, the term community is very ambiguous without some sort of clear definition. So what is the definition of community, as it relates to us?

The Bible gives the analogy of the church being a single body -E PLURIBUS UNUM- from many one. And, the most important thing to understand about this analogy; is that though the body be one, it needs diversity to truly function the way its suppose to. And, it is no secret that heterogeneous relationships are very difficult. But, difficult is not impossible. There are many things that can create harmony in what otherwise would be, well, not so harmonious. And, the most important of those things is LOVE.

But, love itself is an abstract idea; without action. And, the action of love is too often reduced to nothing more than the empty word. So what is genuine love? And, what actions exemplify it? Using Christ as the standard of love to which we should adhere, I have come up with these…

To always speak the truth:
The significance of honesty in any relationship, is just as significant as a foundation is to a building. And without it, no relationship can stand for long. As difficult as it seems; we should be honest with one another even to the point of insult or shame.

To be humble:
This I would say is akin to honesty. For there are two types of truth: one is absolute, beyond question or reproach; the other is relative, not based on any other foundation than our own perceptions. And though that relative truth ought to be shared, it should be done so with an air of meekness. But, the concept of humility has no greater application than to ourselves. Back to the body analogy; Paul writes- And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. lack of humility causes us to fall into the trap of self importance and we begin to falsely assume that we are superior to others. And that kind of pride taken to its extreme, makes us dismember ourselves from the rest of the body. And whether that dismemberment be a willful act of abandonment, or an unwitting emotional detachment; the effects are the same.

To care:
And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. Of all the things Christ taught, the one he tried to pound into our heads the most, was the idea of compassion. We should be sensitive to the things that affect one another. When one of us hurts, we all hurt together. Life inflicts upon us many trials that are difficult to bear. And it is our duty to help bear one another’s burdens; whatever those burdens may be. And likewise, when fortune smiles upon one of us, it is the duty of the rest of us to be happy; not jealous or sad. But what to do when one of us suffers and another is honored, I have no idea!

To be righteous:
The law of Moses gets kind of a bad rap, reduced to base generalizations like, we aren’t allowed to eat shellfish. But the truth is, a lot of the law is about our conduct towards the community. Laws that should not be written off as passé. Laws like: hey, don’t pick every grape from your vineyard leave some for the poor and the foreigner. Or, don’t make fun of the deaf or trip those that are blind. Or, Don’t take advantage of others through deceitful means… the list can go on and on. And, righteous conduct is imperative to a healthy relationship.

And last, but defiantly not least…

To be merciful:
People are bound to make mistakes; they lie, they’re arrogant, they sometimes don’t care or they can do a thousand other things that can really piss you off. But, that does not void our obligation to forgive. Without forgiveness, no relationship could be possible, for grace is the culmination of love. And, love the culmination of harmony.

When did this cross become symbolic of the Christian faith?

I know that most of the people who read this blog adhere to more of a peace loving hippie mentality. But it seems to me, that a lot of churches have gone beyond the idea of supporting our troops and adopted the mentality of kill 'em all and let Allah sort them out... I wonder what the Prince of Peace would have to say about that?

an Orthodox understanding of the question, "Are you saved?"

Although none of us/you, the typical readers/contributors of/to this blog is Orthodox Christian (to my knowledge, but I can see Alex harboring an icon or two, what with his quiet, meditative ways), and we might not understand all of the images, the message resonates with me in a much deeper way than the standard "get saved" fare we are accustomed to in the American evangelical church.

This is a bit off the beaten path of our compassion discussion, but there are several crossover concepts. I shall refrain from saying any more and see instead where any discussion leads.

Empathy: The missing link to compassion

"If you just learn a single trick, Scout, you'll get along alot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from their point of view...until you climb into their skin and walk around in it." Atticus Finch To Kill A Mockingbird

I think that reading this story has opened my eyes to a whole new level of compassion. I'm not sure if anyone else loves this story as much as I do, but so many amazing things about life and Christ's overall message can be derived from its pages. I think it's important to discuss true empathy when considering compassion. One of the key ways to train a soldier to kill is to teach them to look at the enemy as an animal...to dehumanize them. I'm convinced that every prejudice, every apartheid, every war begins with the fundamental steps of turning the opposing party into something other than our "fellow man"...

When we view others as the overwhelming emotion that we mistakenly associate as them, the result is a new ability to tare them to shreds. Talk to any war veteran from any era and you'll understand my perspective. My Great-Grandfather was stationed in Pearl Harbor when the Japanese began their invasion... to him the Japanese became animals that could easily be disposed of... no longer humans with families, wives, children, parents; when talking to my Grandfather about Vietnam, he refers to the "enemy" as "zipper-heads"... I'm convinced that this technique our brain uses to dehumanize the opposition is a survival mechanism that kicks in only because we are incapable of rationally being able to deal with the horrible things that we do or have done to other humans.

As followers of The Way, we are commissioned to love all and show compassion, which I believe is rooted in empathy... we actually have to, as Jesus did, fully take on their perspective in a way that loves our neighbors as we love ourselves. Perfect life like examples that we have had from our history can be found in those of Mother Theresa and Gandhi. These folks didn't just talk about how the poor, widowed, and marginalized were being mistreated. They knew how they were being mistreated because they lived and walked with these folks daily. I think that what has plagued the Church for the past fifty years is that in keeping up with the American Dream, we have dehumanized the divorced, the abused, the addicted, the crass, the misdressed, and the down and out. What has happened in my opinion is a slow seeping of our love into the sewers before it can ever leave the door posts of the buildings. In many ways we have taken this lifestyle of loving on the marginalized that Jesus commanded and turned it into short term missions and "charity". We, the Church, not only don't know the struggle of our brothers and sisters in the pews next to us... but we no longer see those afflicted with poverty as humans... they are simply statistics... numbers that beg us of our extra cash, extra food, extra clothes, extra cars...and that's all we are willing to give: whatever is extra. True empathy, is the ability to give all we have to help our fellow sisters and brothers because upon truly seeing things from their perspective we have to. I think that compassion is just a beneficial by-product of empathy. The question that I feel is necessary to ask here is: How can we become a people of empathy? The major issues of the day plead for our empathy: the homosexual, the homeless, the starving, the aids victim, the teen who needs the abortion, the woman is treated as a second class citizen to her male counterparts... the list goes on and will continue too. How can we become a people of empathy?

Some more on Compassion...

Common definitions of compassion read like the following: a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken with misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering. To me this definition creates the idea that compassion requires us to join another in their misery, as if to be miserable ourselves. How does one go about this as Christ would? How do we know we are effectively helping those in need? We may need a definition of compassion that is more powerful. The point I’m trying to make is that for true compassion we will have to expand our understanding so we don’t mistakenly create more sorrow from suffering.

What if compassion is simply the active expression of acceptance for the world and people just as they are? I am reminded of the movie Lars and The Real Girl . In the movie the main character has major social and detachment issues. His sister in law obviously has what most would call true compassion for him and his situation. It seems that Lars has a difficult time watching his brother and sister-in-law grow closer and enjoy life together. As he peers out the window of his garage-turned-apartment (which used to be his parents but they passed away recently), it as if his life is meaningless. He then proceeds to purchase a mail in, anatomically correct, life size doll, to be his girlfriend. As the story unfolds, the people in the town, especially his family, don’t waste time with telling him he’s messed up in the head. They play along with the whole plot, inviting him and his fake love to dinner and all types of community outings. They completely accept him for where he is at in his own life journey. They whole heartedly respect his wishes and they make it a point to let him know that his life is important to them. Eventually Lars stages a funeral for her, and the whole town is relieved to realize that he's moving on to a "real girl". I think the key to this movie is the community motivation to stick it out with him for as long as he was stuck! True compassion is being able to look at the whole world without expectations that it should be any different. We can still hold a vision of possibility for the world, but we don’t use it as a standard of comparison for rejecting where the world is right now. In this way we can avoid the personal emotional reactions that create sadness, sorrow, pity, and what I’ve recently realized in my own life: bitterness.

When there are these emotions, compassion has turned into personal unhappiness and only adds to suffering. Feeling the emotional pain of another doesn’t relieve their suffering. I wonder if in all actuality it adds to the collective field of unconsciousness, creating suffering. If someone is suffering from hunger then it is more appropriate to provide nourishing food. If they are thirsty, provide them something to drink. If someone is in emotional pain bring your love and unconditional acceptance. It would not help people for the caretakers to go hungry and thirsty also. It would have been extremely worthless for the whole community to buy fake girlfriends and join in Lars's misery. However, it seems this is often the approach people take with their empathy or sympathy when people are without love and acceptance. When caretakers have emotional reaction of sadness or sorrow they nourish no one. A compassionate person brings the nourishment of love and acceptance to the situation that is starving for those emotions until someone can feed themselves.

Sometimes the best action you can take to help relieve emotional suffering of another is being present with your attention on the person and say nothing. Oddly enough modern physics tell us that our attention transforms experience. Although slow, other options driven by impatience and reaction usually create more chaos.

　

Luke 15:20 So he got up and went to his father. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

Compare

Luke 15:1-2 [1] Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him. [2] But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."

1 John 2:6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

Good Samaritans

We are all on a road; maybe not the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, but a road none the less. And, the road we are on is the road of life. I wish I could tell you that the road is safe, I wish I could tell you that there is nothing that will harm you; but, I can't. Because the road of life is infested with thieves, thieves that will rob you of your hope, your faith, your joy... Thieves that will break your heart and leave you for dead. I'm afraid that there is nothing that can be done about the thieves. There are just way too many of them. And besides that, they wear cloaks of hypocrisy that prevent their detection.
In the parable, the good Samaritan is one who has not been attacked by thieves. But the sad truth is, on the road of life thieves have caught up with everybody at least once. All of us have wounds, all of us have scars, all of us have been robbed of some piece of ourselves. But, the most valuable thing we posses is the one thing no thief can take away and that is our compassion. Yet, we treat compassion as if it were a gold bar that needs to stay locked up in our hearts. Never showing it to anyone for fear that we will lose it. But, the thing is; compassion not shown is lost already. Like the religious men who walked by on the other side of the road; we walk by each other everyday. Knowing that thieves have done their wicked deeds, showing hardly the slightest glimmer of compassion for one another.
Wounds of the heart are like wounds of the flesh. At the first sight of blood our instinct is to look away in disgust and avoid getting any of that blood on us. But, the instinct of compassion is different. When one we love bleeds we don't care how much blood we get on us, we don't avoid the situation. We just do whatever we can to help, even if we really don't know how.
I knew a man once, he's dead now. But, he is a perfect example of compassion. One day his friend had a horrible accident and was bleeding so bad that he was suffocating on his own blood. And out of compassion, this man sucked the blood out of his friends lungs with the only thing that he had available; his mouth. It saved his friends life.
Wounds of the heart may not bleed, but they are just as messy. And we can not act with compassion without getting some "blood" on us.
More than anything else, my vision for our community is that we are a people given to compassion. More than anything else, I want to be part of a community of Good Samaritans.

Check this out!

Hey all and any - here's a very noteworthy website that I encourage you to spend lots of time perusing! Church leadership should have to have a Masters in Restorative Justice!

www.restorativejustice.org

Fall

Fall into the Word,
fall into its embrace.
The Word will always be there,
in love and in truth and with grace.
It might not seem sane,
it may not seem safe.
But, there is no greater high
than to fall into the Word,
to fall with all faith.
Faith that it will catch you.
Faith that it is right.
But, always remember
to have faith is to fight.
To fight fears and emotions.
To fight passions and cares.
To fight ego and people;
it's just a burden that we must bear.
Fall into the Word,
let it echo in your mind.
Fall into the Word
and leave all else behind.
Let not anything detour you,
to yourself be not untrue.
Fall into the Word,
and what the Word says,
DO!

I HAVE A DREAM

I have a dream that one day the church of Jesus Christ will rise up to her God-given calling and begin to live out the true meaning of her identity- which is, the very heartthrob of God Almighty- the fiancee of the King of Kings.

I have a dream that Jesus Christ will one day be the Head of His church again. Not in pious rhetoric, but in reality.

I have a dream that groups of Christians everywhere will begin to flesh out the New Testament reality that the church is a living organism and not an institutional organization.

I have a dream that the clergy/laity divide will someday be an antique of church history, and the Lord Jesus Himself will replace the moss-laden system of human hierarchy that has usurped His authority among His people.

I have a dream that multitudes of God's people will no longer tolerate those man-made systems that have put them in religious bondage and under a pile of guilt, duty, condemnation, making them slaves to authoritarian systems and leaders.

I have a dream that the centrality and supremacy of Jesus Christ will be the focus, the mainstay, and the pursuit of every Christian and every church. And that God's dear people will no longer be obsessed with spiritual and religious things to the point of division. but that their obsession and pursuit would be a person - the Lord Jesus Christ.

I have a dream that countless churches will be transformed from high-powered business organizations into spiritual families- authentic Christ-centered communities- where the members know one another intimately, love one another unconditionally, bleed for one another deeply and rejoice with one another unfailingly.

I have a dream today...

- Frank Viola -

A Call to Clergy: Stop Performing Legal Marriages!

Hey all - this is an interesting post that I saw on Will Samson's facebook. I don't know much about the author but is for certain to be a good tribute to the conversation, please scope it out and post your comments here.



http://blog.tonyj.net/2010/01/a-call-to-clergy-stop-performing-legal-marriages/

Rich...

It is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven than it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. -Jesus

We have become so numb to the reality of our situation that we really do not comprehend how incredibly rich we really are; at least in the terms of conveniences’. Even the lowest classes of our society have access to luxuries that 200 years ago kings and queens would of envied. And when Jesus spoke these words 2000 years ago the emperor of Rome seated on his golden throne, surrounded by thousands of slaves could not imagine the conveniences’ that we take for granted today.
I don’t believe that prosperity in its self is wrong, but there is most definitely a point were we fall into the pit of “riches” and become the rich men that Jesus admonished.
Jesus said something else, he said that “we can not serve God and mammon.”
So my question is; who do we serve, God or mammon?

a Godsend

I've been away from the blogging world for some time on account of a busy schedule, but I've been wanting to blog on a few topics that hopefully I'll get to one of these days.
BUT we did have a big event happen in the life of our group here lately that needs to be blogged about, and that was the weekend visit from Dan and Jeanine and some of their community members from Canada.
Dan Lowe spent some years as a member of Communality, an intentional community in Lexington Kentucky where Jese has visited a few times. We got to spend a few months with Dan a couple of summers back while he was taking care of business to get to Canada and needed a place to stay. We estabished a quick friendship with him because he's not only a likeable and outgoing guy, but also an incredible source of knowledge and insight. When our group was first opening ourselves up to the concepts of community/new-monasticism, Dan served as an encourager and mentor. So we were incredibly stoked when we learned that he and his wife that we had heard so much about would be visiting us with some members of their newly established community out of Edmonton.

Truth be told, it has been a helluva hard year for our group, from personal crises to our collective struggle to hang on to our original ideals. After finishing up our big summer project ( the community garden, which needs a post of its own) we were a little bit aimless, wondering where to go from there, what was next, and especially, why? Why were we striving toward this nebulous goal of "community" that none of us really knew what looked like or how to get to? Why were we spending all of our energy battling against a church body ? Why were people not interested in the ideas that had taken our breath away and got us dreaming of a better way to follow Christ than we had ever known? It was a discouraging time.

Enter Dan and Jeanine's group. I was initially worried about the weekend, feeling like there wasn't much optimism we could lend to this budding community. But as the weekend played out and we ate together, talked together, and listened to their stories I was revitalized. Rachel, one of their members, shared about their groups formation and about the house she shares with her husband, another married couple, and three bachelors. Her eyes lit up as she talked about how "beautifully messy" it was and I experienced anew my own enthusiasm. There's something unquestionably spiritual about this kind of get together; a hospitality from each party that is as willing to receive as it is to give. Luke and Heather graciously shared their home and we all pitched in to cook - the Edmonton folks split us a winter's worth of firewood. I was given an armful of new books!

The more I process through the weekend and the conversations, the more I realize what a great gift it was. We connected with amazing people, rekindled our dreams, strengthened our resolve... it was truly a godsend.

This isn't a joke, but you would think it is.

hell, y'all

This is a thought-provoking article on hell by a guy named Jason Boyett. It touches on some of our discussions about modern day interpretations of various books in the Bible. Lots of folks assume that the way today's Christians understand things is the way people always have. Not so, good people. Not so.

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/church/features/18239-one-hell-of-a-question

Here's a teaser from the article:

"I heard a lot about hell growing up, particularly about how awful the eternal burning would be. I spent too much of my childhood fearful that somehow my salvation wouldn't take and I'd end up there. The horrors of hell are seared into my psyche.

So I was pretty annoyed to discover the biblical case for the hell of my imagination to be less than airtight. Along with this annoyance came some serious questions."

Bitter Sweet

Hey I just wanted to post a heartfelt thank you and good luck to Jason and Lori Stoffer. We have appreciated you two so much (and my girls love Zora!). Our little group has been tremendously blessed to have you folks around and you have impacted all of us deeply. Thank you for your lended ears in our venting sessions, your deep wisdom, your friendship, for singing to my girls, and for good ol fashioned garden/chicken talk! I hope this next chapter in your lives goes painlessly and may you find peace (and I hope Jason finally gets his degree - lol). I also hope you two hurry back and please don't stop being a part of this blog! We love you all!

health care and faith

For an interesting discussion on the proposed national health care system and how it relates to faith, check out this link on Tamie's blog. Read the comments at the bottom of the post, and if you have a fresh perspective or different information, chime in! The more, the merrier, I say.

Unstructured Free Truth - The Next Generation

Why are young people leaving the church? This seems to be the hanging issue that pokes church folks square in the eye. I’ve heard people’s opinions on this ranging anywhere from how our generation has been corrupted by evolution to blaming it on the Ten Commandments being removed from court house walls…. And the response, at least here in our own valley, has been to shoot up huge ten commandment signs and ridicule teachers from the pulpit. I have yet to hear anyone from the traditional Christian realm, who seems to be pushing the question the most, take any responsibility for the roles the church has played, which to me have been the most vital. One of the many reasons that our fellow peers have struggled with the church is this intense way of acting as if they have already figured it all out. It’s as if to say that any new revelation has to be blasphemy. It takes all questions and squashes them with annoying worthless answers, ever so condescendingly, “You just have to have faith,” or “I’ll pray for you”, forcing us to feel really messed up for sincerely questioning what those around us are calling “faith”. As I have pondered these questions and responses for the last month the thing that keeps reeling through my mind is the verse in Luke 18: 15 -17 “People brought babies to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. When the disciples saw it, they shooed them off. Jesus called them back. "Let these children alone. Don't get between them and me. These children are the kingdom's pride and joy. Mark this: Unless you accept God's kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you'll never get in."
Here you see Jesus telling us to model the open mindedness of children. If we maintain the open-mindedness of children, we challenge fixed ideas and established structures, including our own. We listen to people in other denominations and religions. We don't find demons in those with whom we disagree. We don't cozy up to people who mouth our jargon. If we are open, we rarely resort to either-or: creation or evolution, liberty or law, sacred or secular, Beethoven or Madonna. We focus on both-and, fully aware that God's truth cannot be imprisoned in a small definition. It’s not that I think there isn’t an Absolute Truth. It’s that this isn’t something we are capable of laying claim to. To allude to the “fact”, that we have unveiled Absolute Truth only continues to support our arrogant white American attitudes. I wonder how we are finding humility amongst all of the debate. Why hasn’t anbody asked us why we have sidestepped traditional structured church? For one sect of people to say that they hold the patent on Truth they create a ripple in two ways: First they state that they are the end all, declaring themselves above everyone else, secondly, they squash equality and create a relationship that can only exist as that of a slave and master. A teacher can learn from his student, through humility, because out of the mouth of babes God said he would shame the wise. We can learn from our neighbors…. That’s all the book of Proverb’s is. A book full of sayings stolen from wise people from cultures and religions differing from that of Solomon’s all over the world. To say we hold Absolute Truth is to tell Gandhi his way of life was wrong (though it was closer to that of Jesus than most of ours) and to tell Mother Theresa everything she did was in vain (though I can’t think of any other living example who did a better job of displaying perfect religion and loving the poor).

What I am seeing with this topic is a filtering problem. We all understand how filters work in cars, vacuums, air conditioners, etc. – They filter the air of all the small “harmful” particles that would damage the motor, the mechanism responsible for making the product function properly. The thing about filters, you can get several different stages - some more dense than others designed for a more zero tolerance motor. If you put a filter that is too dense on a motor it's not designed for - it can actually suffocate it causing it to stall. The bottom line, if you aren't a mechanic extremely knowledgable on all types of motors, you can't properly connect the right filter with the right motor. Sure it may run well for a while, but eventually.....
I’m going to pause here and post this – I’ll post the rest tomorrow.

the Exodus of young people from the church

Okay, kids. Here's the blog post I referred to tonight by the friend of a friend, Jonathan Erdman. It is addressing this idea that many in the Christian fundamentalist world (like good old Ken Ham) have about why young people leave the church: that they simply aren't trained well enough in the Christian worldview / Christian apologetics.

Here are a couple quotes of Jonathan's, just so you'll go read the whole entry at the link I provide below.

"As one who has extensively studied Christian apologetics and a 'biblical worldview,' I would like to say a few words regarding modern fundamentalist Christian apologetic movements. It is a simple truth, but one that obviously still gets missed in some circles: you can't brainwash yourself into genuine faith."

AND

"Then I found that the whole idea of one biblical worldview is itself a very disrespectful way to approach the Bible. The Bible does not present itself to us as a worldview textbook. It is true, that it is possible chop the Bible up, pull out verses here and there, and assemble a grand systematic approach to the world. But as I engaged the text itself, in its original languages and in some of its original settings, I found that Scripture is a collection of highly diverse texts, with a wide range of genres (some that are even original to the Bible itself), written by many different persons over a long period of time. Gradually I realized how un-systematic the Bible was, and I was able to relax, which opened up the Bible to me in a way that renewed my faith and pushed me forward."

http://theosproject.blogspot.com/2009/08/exodus.html

Hey I wanted to put some feelers out to see what the interest would be in doing some music some time in some way in our Sunday night group. After the conversation Tuesday night a couple weeks back about our general aversion to the emotional experiences equal God's presence and performance based methods of worship we've all been accustomed to, I thought maybe we should experiment with doing something different. If I'm not mistaken, many of our members are music lovers and or players, so I thought a music element could be a positive thing for us - music has, after all, been a pretty integral part of christian gatherings since new testament times.

The whole concept is completely up for discussion - whether we want to do something like this at all, and if so, how could we do it and how often etc. Let me know what you think.

Oh and if you're reading this and you aren't a part of the group you are still welcome to comment or suggest!

Be Content

I found this on a blog from Malaysia and thought it was appropriate.