musing...

on sunday evening a friend said something funny. in the midst of a conversation concerning spiritual matters he said, "you sound healthier than i have ever heard you. what strikes me about our conversation is that you did not start by talking about your personal spiritual journey. rather, you started by talking about the health of the church. your heart has been set on fire for the church."

hmm...i wish that his observation was completely true. however, the mere fact that it is partially true, that i am as interested, intrigued and intense about the spiritual well being about our community as i am about my own life, encourages me.

it encourages me. and yet, i cannot help but think about how much further i have to go. if my love for the church eventually outgrows my love for myself (and i desperately hope that it does), i think the consequences will be numerous. here are a few:

i will be more aware of how my words, my often abrasive, sarcastic, penetrating words have the potential to, or in fact do, wound others. case in point: i will not jokingly call james and rhys "fags" when one of my coworkers, who is most likely homosexual, is sitting five feet away.

i will complete those damned "not urgent but important tasks, like finalizing a leadership consulting team for the church and filing those 401c3 papers, that i would rather ignore.

i will do a better job of listening to my wife. the pixie is wise in so many ways (relational, practical, ecclesiological...) that i am not. she has so many wise things to say about the church that i will not hear unless i slow down and listen.

i will spend more time listening to God and would develop a deeper sensitivity to the Spirit. i think they have a few things to say about the church.

i will not judge my brothers and sisters.

i will stay in better touch with and develop personal relationships with the missionaries we support.

i will once again invest myself in theological reflection. i once rejected these labors because i correctly discerned that my motives were narcissistic. now, by God's grace, my motives will be communal.

i will retreat regularly for study, reflection and prayer. i will also create opportunities for others to do the same.

i will follow-up on visitors and find creative ways to encourage the members of our community.

i am sure there are other consequences. by God's grace, i will be surprised by the consequences of my love for the church becoming greater and my love for self becoming less.

if you ever have the time to pray for me, if there is one empty slot on your ever growing list, please pray that my love for the church and her Lord, will increase. may my narcissism decrease and my love for the church increase. perhaps one day my friend's assertion will be found completely true.

overheard…

“in many long hours of prayer in the caves, i realized anew that the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ supercedes all else, allowing us to experience a freedom that is not limited by the borders of a world that is itself in chains. at the same time i recognized that many of the burning theological issues in the church today are neither burning nor theological and that in an age characterized (in some quarters) by confusion, third-rate theatrics, and infidelity, it is not more rhetoric that Jesus demands but personal renewal, fidelity to the gospel and creative conduct. as emile cardinal leger said in his farewell to montreal, “the time for talking is over.”

~brennan manning, reflecting on his time with the “little brothers of Jesus” in the introduction to the importance of being foolish

meet me at "the G spot"

on saturday evening kellie and i, along with our friend erik kerr, made our way down to the emergence gathering on the south shore. as we encircled the city on I-95 we talked about our respective churches, our allusive vocations and other emerging churches we had visited.

during the latter part of our conversation erik mentioned that he had visited an emerging church that once met in warwick, rhode island. he said great things about the congregation and wondered whether their leaders had anything to do with the worship service we were planning to attend. erik said the only funny thing about the church was the name. when i inquired about the name his face broke out into a rather mischievous grin. "it was called the grace spot." "what's so odd about that," i countered. "nothing" he admitted, "except for the fact that their logo was a large circle in which was a upper case, bold font G with the word 'spot' scrawled underneath." at this point the three of us cracked up and kellie mentioned that "only conservative Christians could make such an oversight." to this, erik replied, "early on their attendance was remarkably high."

this morning, while dr. james, rhys and i laughed about the g spot we started rattling off the worst church names we have ever heard. of all of the ones i have run across, the g spot is the worst. the good dr. says that the worst he has ever heard of is the backside redemption church that meets in Maine.

ready to waste time? here is your assignment: let us in on the worst church names you have ever heard. by the end of the afternoon (5 p.m. e.s.t.) we are going to compile an all-time top five list. if anyone unseats the g spot, which is currently slotted at #1, they will receive the coveted "poo dollar."