Noticing my own habits....

I noticed that most of my posts recently have been in response to fighting and division in the church. I figure I should wrap that up and move on. So, in that spirit....

For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." Matthew 18:20

I think there is a desperate need for the church to be exactly what the world isn't, a need for the church to reflect the Kingdom of God in the most practical way possible. Let me explain.
It seems that over the past several months, my life has been dominated by sadness and frustration. Situations that cannot be fixed but can only be survived seem to be a common theme. There is not a time in my adult life where money was not a major and stressful issue. As a single woman, it seems that rejecting and rejection are the words of the days as I try to date. My thoughts and my time seem to be consumed with surviving and getting by.
I need a place or people who remind me that is not the point. I need someplace that is safe from all the worry and fear about money and work and relationships and safety and life. I need a group of people who are going to constantly and strongly remind me that while the Kingdom of God is not here it is near. I need a place that looks so completely different than the world to remind me that I am not of this world.
I have a sincere concern that church is becoming too much like the world. We are letting our safe place become a lot like what we are supposed to be separating from, all that fear and worry. When we become more concerned with who is right and in, vs who is wrong and out, we set a dangerous precedent that sounds more like something out of dystopian literature than the 4 Gospels. It seems we are making decisions more out of a response to fear than a response of love. And I'm scared that I don't know how it is happening or how to turn the tide.
But, in that worry, there is a beautiful picture of what it would really mean for Jesus to show up where ever 2 or 3 of us are. What if our churches became a place where we learned and applied responsible budgeting, generous giving and spending without ever worrying about money? What if we just decided if the cross is really big enough to take care of our sin, and then applied that practically by saying, "it's ok if we're wrong, it's ok if you're wrong."
Seriously, what if when 3 of us ran into each other at the Olive Garden, and the peace and break from worry and fear that always follows His presence became a temporary oasis for those around us?
I don't really have an easy 1-2-3 step plan to make this work. I just think that there are groups and churches doing this exact thing all over the world. I know that if some of us are doing it, then the same Spirit in those will sustain us all to do the same. And, I think that if our churches became a place of peace and rest, then we would see the revival and change that we all so desperately need.

Oh, bad country music....

Let me first say, I love country music. It is probably the genre I listen to most (although I prefer the variants of bluegrass in country,) and I'm not sure anything beats live Texas Country.
That being said, I hear some of the most ridiculous things in country music. This morning was no exception. I heard a song I've heard many times before that I've always been bothered by. The premise of the song is a man listing things he does. If you don't like it, then you just don't understand. The implication here is that I am somehow uninformed or unintelligent because I don't like that he says Merry Christmas and not Happy Holidays. I just rolled my eyes a little as I typed that, but that was not what jumped out to me this morning.
All I could think was, "of course there are things I don't understand. Duh." I started to wonder if maybe starting at "well, YOU just don't understand;" was not the best plan. Maybe we should start at, "well, I just don't understand." There's a huge difference there. We all know that we don't know everything, we all know there are ideas that we don't quite grasp. This doesn't make us stupid, it is just part of the human condition. I will never understand growing up in the level of poverty as a child in the poorest reaches of Africa. My friend raised as an agnostic will never understand the fear of church politics as well as someone raised a preacher's kid. I will never understand what it means to be a man in ministry and no man will ever understand what it means to be a woman in the ministry. This list could get really long, really fast.
The point is not to beat ourselves up, the point is to stop starting on the defensive with everything. If we could all just acknowledge that we don't know everything, then maybe we could start learning from each other instead of fighting about how we are different.

Volunteering to work with youth may be one of the bravest things a person can do. You will spend many hours at awkward times of day trying to connect with teenagers, often not sure if you are succeeding or not. You will fade into the background at so many functions, and miss many adult gatherings. You will become intimately aware of the pain and hurt in student's lives, and be heartbroken at your inability to make it better.
As a youth minister, please hear me say, I couldn't do this job without volunteers. They make so much happen, and offer more strength and support than I can describe. Their sacrifices of time, money, and ideas are the building blocks of this community. I may be the one that gets paid, but they are the ones who drive this whole thing anywhere.
My heart is breaking knowing that one of our strong volunteers, and my dear dear friend Trish will not be here to do any of that. No one will replace her wit, her strength, her encouragement, and her expectations for all of us.

You have served well, you have blessed many, and you are loved more that words can say, Trish.

In the midst of so much disagreement in so many places, I find myself wondering if we forgot who we're looking at.
Please understand, I'm all for a good argument. I subscribe to the belief you cannot have a healthy relationship of any kind without a fairly brutal fight occasionally. I wish it wasn't that way, but it happens. Part of loving people is not only seeking peace, but honestly and openly disagreeing and finding someway to continue on when the disagreeing part doesn't turn into agreeing.
My concern over the past few months, especially in the church, is that we get so caught up in being right, we forget why we cared to fight in the first place.  I think the main reason we get so heated and determined comes from a sincere desire to honor this Jesus person we are trying to follow. And that's not a bad thing. We should be committed to that. We have to strive to honor and respect that.
Here's the catch. Check James 3.

9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.

Too often our defense of whatever turns into an attack on someone else. And that someone else bears the image of God. How can we possibly praise God and curse Him? Simply put, we can't. So we have to choose, and that hopefully means no attacks on any image bearer.
This is a great lesson we've heard before, but I think we need to take it step further. We need to learn to recognize the Holy Spirit in each other. Not only should we never attack someone else, but if we recognize the same Spirit in them that we ourselves love enough to defend, how can we dismiss them? How can we write them off?
No, we may never agree. And that is OK. But when we see the Spirit we love, we should love it, no matter who we recognize it in.

Stupid foxes and such

So it turns out I'm really flaky about blogging.  Sorry.
Now, onward.
I recently (39 hours ago) downloaded Angry Farm, the Blackberry equivalent of Angry Birds. I know, I'm way behind. Instead of birds attacking pigs who stole eggs, all of the farm animals attack the foxes who have taken over the farm. Let me tell you, I HATE those foxes. I mean, I really flippin' HHHHAAAAATTTTEEEE those foxes. It took less than 2 days for me to realize that everything wrong with the world is because of those stupid foxes and not only should they apologize, give that fictional farm back, and admit defeat, they should also be miserable and then destroyed.

Why?

What do you mean why?

Look at them? Don't they just look like they are wrong personified....uh....foxified...wait...you know what I mean!

I'm not even joking here. It took less than 24 hours of being pitted against these foxes to develope a stronger hatred than I've ever known. All I want to do is DESTROY them.

Which is really weird. I have no idea what their motivation behind moving is was, I didn't bother to ask. I have no idea what the back story is. Maybe the farm took over their natural habitat, and had the foxes had better programmers and agents we'd all (Blackberry users that is) be destroying some cows and chickens with reckless abandon. I just started playing a game, and at the first level that was difficult, I bought into what the farm animals told me, and joined in on the hating the foxes.

Which got me to thinking, how often do we jump on a bandwagon against one person or group or another just because? I think sometimes it is really easy to get caught up in the lobbing of hurt and retribution and justice without pausing to question if it is warranted, necessary, or right. Whenever we think we may have slighted, or maybe picked on, or possibly hurt, we declare sides, try to get people to join us against the great enemy, and start the war march.
Maybe, instead, we should pause. Maybe battle lines don't have to be drawn. Just maybe, it doesn't always have to be us vs them, but could instead be us trying to figure out how to live together without smothering each other with a pillow.
Maybe we don't have to join every cause to march against someone. Maybe, when a friend comes to us looking for an army, we can instead show them love and respect and try to find a way to build a bridge to rebuild a relationship.

And, after that kindness, you can come help me kill these stupid foxes.

I don't know if I have shared this or not. I'm sharing it today. Just take it as not only a song I'm loving, but something that is stirring in my heart in a strong way.

Some thoughts on be truly inclusive and welcoming

This is going to be very brief today, as I've not slept and am reasonably cranky today.
I was just wondering (after a conversation with a fellow Braums lover) can being inclusive and welcoming be described most simply as being willing to give up my position and comfort to someone else? Basically, it is not so much about being nice to someone else, as it is about giving up my own position to someone else. 
We'll talk more about this soon.  Any thoughts?