caffeine, please.

Rememberizin' #5

Tonight's family memory verses shared around our dinner table were taken from the Psalms.

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
       will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say  of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress,
       my God, in whom I trust." (91:1-2)

What is God leading you to "get inside of you"--to remember?

The Rightness of Wright

On the way to our pastoral team prayer meeting yesterday I caught a good portion of Rev. Jeremiah Wright's speech to the National Press Club on the radio.  I couldn't take my ears off the radio.  I was late for my meeting because I was so reluctant to quit listening.  (The video below only includes the last section of his address and the first few questions.)

Jeremiah Wright is a tough cookie.  And he is a straight shooter--I did not hear the voice of a man who was concerned with pleasing or impressing the nation (though he does have a quite a charismatic stage presence) and neither did he backtrack on or explain away the soundbites that have been used against him lately.  I admire that.  I felt like I was listening to the voice of a prophet--a man who wasn't afraid to tell the truth to power. 

As a pastor, I found myself understanding where he was coming from and agreeing with much of what he said.  His response to the question about "America's chicken's coming home to roost," was priceless.  "Did you hear the whole sermon?  No?  Well that nullifies that question but let me see if I can answer it anyway.  Are you aware that I was quoting ... with that statement?"  At the core, Wright is not wanting to be identified by 10 second soundbites after an over 30 year career of preaching regularly.  I concur--its scary to think what people might be able to do with some of my 10 second soundbites and I've only been at it for a few years.

I found myself in equal agreement with his explanation of the now infamous "God Damn America" quote.  Where is it written that pastors are the tools of the political/governmental establishment?  As I read Scripture it seems that blessing every act of the government was the property of the false prophet.  Confrontation and truth were the property of the true prophet.  I haven't heard the entire sermon to say whether I agree with every point but I do believe in the principal that pastors are not called to be blessing factories for the acts of government and that they may need to confront government when it is wrong.   

And to the accusation that Wright "hates white people"--that is a classic straw man argument.  (Straw man:  I reduce your argument to a caricature so that I can dismiss and ignore its substance.)  If you hear Wright's comments in context in this video, you see that he is focused in his views about slavery and repentance.  He rightly credits many white churches/christians with pursuit of reconciliation and gives credit to the predominately white church's role in abolition and the underground railroad.  His beef is  primarily with a government that stubbornly refuses to admit its past wrongs and make them right.

So I encourage you, if you haven't, to watch Wright's remarks in their entirety and see if your views about him become more balanced.  Maybe dismissing him based on soundbites is hasty.  Maybe he has something to say that we need to hear.

And one more thing... I do not know all of Rev. Wright's views and theology and will not claim to agree with him on everything he says.  What I find refreshing is a man committed to truth, unwilling to be cowed even when he's set on fire by the press, and clearly understanding his role as a pastor and follower of Jesus.

A creed for our time

Brian Zhand posted this creed/manifesto/prayer.  Powerful and spot on.

In an age where Christianity is distorted by
Hollow consumerism,
Shallow pragmaticism,
Narrow fundamentalism,
And selfish individualism,
We seek a more authentic Christianity:
By choosing to be radically centered on the cross of Christ,
Always exploring the mystery of God,
Enriched by being an eclectic church,
And actively participating in Christian community.
All of this is part of the revolution of the Kingdom of Heaven,
Which is made manifest in personal and global transformation
Through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.

B Movie Lessons

Gil's at the Women's Encounter Retreat tonight.  That means dad night for the kids.  We watched Jerry Seinfeld's Bee Movie.  Funny movie.  During tuck in I asked Tyce and Jaley (separately) what they would write as a "moral" to the movie.  (This is something they do in school on occasion.) 

Tyce said, "don't be greedy"--pretty good.  Jaley's was something along the lines of, "be careful what you fight for"--also good.  We talked about how the bees in the movie (spoiler alert!) led by Jerry's character Barry, fought to keep all the honey they made for themselves.  But once they won their case and got all their honey back they stopped working (pollinating) and the flowers and plants began wilting and dying. 

We talked about how living for ourselves is tremendously destructive and has a ripple effect of destruction.  And yet--everyone still does it.  Its in our nature.  Its hard wired.  Selfishness is the default position of humanity.

Jesus says essentially, "work hard at giving your life away."  That's what Christians do.  Give themselves away, daily.  They don't do it alone--can't--they do it through Jesus' power.  Its hard work because it goes against our nature.  But what comes easy is "working hard to keep my life."  Minus the Jesus part, the movie sends this message that working to give yourself away has greater reward than working to keep everything for you.

I believe movies can be valuable teachers and bridges to spiritual truth.  I encourage you to teach your children and teach yourself to be an active movie watcher who looks for spiritual takeaways from "movie night" in your home.

Joan Cusack shops at the Teej

So I pop into TJ Max today to get a shirt. Why? Spilled coffee on myself and didn't have time to go home. Hazards of being a coffee addict...

And I'm standing in line and looking around, bored and a little impatient. And then I do a double-take. (Okay, so I've already stolen my punch line but work with me here, people.)

In the front of the line is a very plainly dressed woman, hair somewhat hurriedly pinned on top of her head, jeans, middle-aged and with an absolutely unmistakable face. Joan Cusack. Probably Gil and I's favorite actress and Chicago girl--shopping at the Teej.

Are you kidding me? Millionaire in blue jeans. No posse. No pretense. No jerkiness. No "look at me--I'm famous!" Not even a US Cellular phone prominently displayed. I wanted to just walk quietly by and whisper, "huge fan of your acting" but I knew I'd totally ruin the moment. I just let her be Joan, a customer paying for stuff and leaving quietly.

Basketball hoop

We bought a basketball hoop this past summer--we have a cement slab out back which serves as a decent 3-on-3 court.  It was mostly a birthday present for Tyce.  Didn't use it much last year.  The neighborhood men and boys also had a hoop that they'd roll out to the street for evening basketball.  Over the winter they broke it by trying to play on it in the freezing cold.  The physics of basketball--cold plexi, ball, object in motion, stays in motion--right through the plexi.

On Monday evening I'm walking to the house about 6:30.  Neighbor man on the porch says, "Hey PK, [I have no idea how this has become my name in my own neighborhood, but I digress...] heard you got a nice hoop out back.  You going to be playing ball later tonight?"  Subtle but effective request.  An hour later we had a yard full of ballers.

Tuesday night--same story, a few different faces.  Wednesday night, same story, smaller crowd, I couldn't go outside but that didn't stop anyone.

Honestly, I'm pretty psyched.  Who knew a hoop could open doors to ministry so easily in my own backyard?  Praying for God appointments.  Feels like a "God-is-working--cooperate-in-His-work " kind of situation.  And to think all I have to do is strap on some shoes and talk some trash to access the opportunity.  God opportunities are often like that.

Kingdom connections

Yesterday, Mike Berry and I had the opportunity to meet with two leaders from the Chicago area Reformed  Churches of America (RCA).  These men are responsible for determining what to do with churches within the denomination that are struggling to remain open. 

Our hope in the meeting was to build a relational bridge to the denominational leaders.  As regular readers know, I've written often about dechurchification on this blog--the closing down and selling of church property to non-church entities.  We'd like to talk with leaders before they make decisions about church property to help provide options for them other than selling to a real estate developer. 

The best case scenario would be that the denomination can restart their struggling churches.  If that can't happen, our hope is to be a resource for keeping that property in the hands of a gospel-preaching church.  Buildings are a stewardship and a resource. 

Here are some thoughts from Tim Keller, one of my pastor heroes, on the value of a building...

Worship music

What part of a worship gathering has the greatest potential for causing men to tune out (besides boring preaching)? 

In my estimation, its the worship.  Music and lyrics that are overly drippy and love-oriented toward Jesus can make many men squirm--me included.  At Multi-Site Exposed last week, Driscoll called them "Prom Songs to Jesus."  Unfortunately, I know what he means.  I've at times found myself humming the words because I can't bring myself to sing certain lyrics to the King of Kings.

Alan Hirsch posted this video interview with Matt Redman on the topic of worship music lyrics.  What do you think?

Cash, Kaiser and Foreman

Hanging out tonight at 'bucks with Johnny Cash (American V), Glen Kaiser (Bound for Glory), and Jon Foreman (Fall & Winter).  3 masterful, imperfect, soulful, honest troubadours. 

From Cash, "And I came to believe in a power much higher than I.  I came to believe that I needed help to get by.  In childlike faith, I gave in and gave him a try.  Then I came to believe in a power much higher than I.  Yes I came to believe in a power much higher than I."  The man in black, redeemed. 

Okay, enough of this soulful cheese.  Back to work for me...

Laughed out loud when I read this Onion headline

Oprah Launches Own Reality

This blog is now hacker free--comment at will.

Rumors had been circulating recently that commenters on this blog were being targeted by ruthless hackers and that their identities were being compromised.  Some said that even Lifelock couldn't help.  That led to a 67.8% decrease in comments over the most recent reporting period.  We can neither confirm nor deny these rumors.

However, it is my pleasure to inform you that we have upgraded our systems to keep these terrible hackers out! 

You are no longer face any risk of ID theft if you comment on the blog.  In fact, some recent studies have shown that commenting on this blog may be associated with increased feelings of overall health, a slight rise in interest rates on personal savings accounts, increased dexterity, better gas mileage and better sleep on Tuesdays.

[This is a public service announcement of caffeine, please.]

Sweet home, Chicago

Our team had a great experience in Seattle Monday and Tuesday doing scouting on our upcoming Multi Site conference.   A couple observations from the trip...

• Oddball night flights that are mostly empty can be a great time for a "meeting of the minds".  (I use that phrase very loosely--maybe meeting of the "mindless" is more accurate.)  John, Paco and I had some really valuable conversation on the return flight.
• A merry heart works good like a medicine.  Just enjoyed laughing together with teammates.  It is therapy and it bonds my heart to people to laugh with them (or at them;-).
• For me, a change of scenery and a highly-focused, energized environment like a conference fuels a greater God-sensitivity in my heart.  Its just a rhythm/wiring issue.  Some people feel a deeper God-connection through the sensory deprivation of silence and solitude (and I still value these disciplines in my own life.)  But for me, the most valuable environment for hearing from God is an environment of sensory overload--lots of energy, people, new things and change.  I'm walking away from the last 2 days with 3 clear God deposits and they really didn't have anything to do with what was said by a particular speaker--they were just a result of a good environmental shift.
• GPS was invented by the Devil.  We spent the first 45 minutes on the ground in Seattle doing U turns and calling the hotel for directions about 4 times.  When we finally arrived at the hotel, we were standing at the desk holding the unit when it says, "turn right in .7 miles"!  Seriously. 
• No church has every answer.  But I believe great churches are the ones who own the place they are at with humility, share their journey with others and then advance on mission forcefully and without apology to reach people with Jesus for Jesus "by any means".   Mars Hill and Living Hope illustrated that well.
• It was great to do some reading catch-up on the plane.  Read an oldie but a goodie:  Unleashing the Church by Frank Tillapaugh.  Also plowed some more out of Who's Your City--this book is must reading for any pastor in an urban center. 
• Nothing like landing in Chicago, driving home down the late night streets, hearing the familiar sounds of the lock on my front door, kissing my sleeping kids and laying down in my own bed with the woman I love.  Sweet home, Chicago.

Seattle update

I'm at Seattle edition of Multi-Site Exposed with a few members of New Life's team in preparation for us hosting this same conference in September.  Pastors John and Paco, Vilma, EJ and I are scouting the conference to get ideas for the Midwest version.

Never been to Seattle--its a beautiful city.  All the rainfall gives it a very green feel--I guess it matches the environmental protester tree-hugging recycled-pants wearing rep that the city has.

How lucky are we--the Dalai Lama is here too.  He traveled around in a motorcade that was only slightly smaller than the President's.  Who knew that an ascetic monk's life was so expensive?

And equally spiritual, here's my pilgrimage to the original Starbucks at Pike Place down by the water.

And last, here's a little video clip from the conference as it kicked off on Monday. 

Always good to get away but I can't wait to get back to the city and the church that I love--New Life in Chicago.

Everybody loves a Saturday night

I had a flashback on my way over to Starbucks tonight.  I was remembering back to a children's music concert I had gone to with my friend Bob at his synagogue back in 6th grade.  Two guys, brothers, sang songs like "Aiken's Drum" and "Everyone Loves a Saturday Night".  I can still picture them playing and singing after all these years...

Everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody loves a Saturday night...

Honestly, I didn't get the song at that time but they were exuberant and it was pretty catchy.  Now I realize it was a song about the end of Sabbath.  Everybody loves a Saturday night because it means, "no more Sabbath rules, no more synagogue meetings, no more uncomfortable clothes, no more religiousy stuff for another week.  Time to let our hair down and have some fun." 

This morning my family and I sat at the table with a box full of donuts from Rudi's Bakery in Roscoe Village, everyone in their pj's at 11am and a fresh cup of coffee in front of me.  I was moved in the moment and I just blurted out, "I love Saturdays!  I love getting up late, eating donuts, hanging out and having nothing on my agenda.  I love Saturday."  I think Olivia kissed me and said, "me too daddy." (She loves to chime in.)

It's our rhythm to take Saturdays and make them different.  From Friday night to Saturday night, we cease working.  It's a cleanout, a recharge, a rhythm buster and at the same time a rhythm sustainer, its whatever we want to do and its doing nothing at all, its raking and cleaning the attic or laying on the floor at 1 in the afternoon and wrestling my son.  We even have Saturday pants--"Hey, take those off and put on some Saturday pants, mister!"  Saturday is different than all the rest and it always throws me off a bit, but in the best way possible.  I love it.

And I also love Saturday night.  Saturday night is my final check off with Sunday's message.  I sometimes stay home and cloister myself.  More often lately I run to Starbucks, grab a half caf grande, pop in my iPod phones and get alone with Jesus.  Its a rhythm I really love.  I come home Saturday night refreshed, excited, renewed.  Its "back to work" but I reenter my ministry calling with fresh eyes and a renewed heart.

And ringing in my ears are those words of Jesus:

"The Sabbath was made for man (not man for the Sabbath)."

Kingdom of Comfort

Just downloaded Delirious?'s new album, Kingdom of Comfort.  The theme and story behind the album, the liner notes and the song lyrics are running alongside of a lot of things that God has been speaking into my life over the last 18 months.  Delirious? is a band I really connect with and this album is in my view a must have for any Christian who lives in the developed world. 

Take the time to watch the companion video and read some of the liner notes.  Powerful stuff.

Hitchens v. Hitchens

Maybe you have heard by now that famed and very popular Atheist Christopher Hitchens and his also accomplished and famous  (in England)  journalist brother Peter Hitchens debated recently.  The debate was held in my home town, Grand Rapids, and was hosted by my alma mater, Grand Valley State University at the church where my cousin recently married.  (Not sure why that matters, but there it is.)

I thought about posting the debates here, but it seems unnecessary.  There are 14 videos on YouTube  (where else)  that broadcast the debate in its entirety.  The dialog is fascinating and both men have an incredible grasp of history.  Personally, I found Peter more thoughtful and honest and Christopher more smug, more at home in front of a crowd, quicker on the draw and quite a bit wittier.    (What must family gatherings be like at their house?)

In video 8, Chris Hitchens puts forward his "two challenges" to what he calls "believers in the Divine dictatorship"--anyone who believes in God.  His challenges are these:

The Local Church, Agent of Transformation

The title of this book intrigued me and was the reason I bought it.  The fact that it was written by a group of Latin American scholars and theologians was a bonus--I always like to read non-American authors talking about the church.   They give an angle I'm not accustomed to.

Like any edited volume with multiple authors, the quality is uneven.  But a couple of the chapters were standout and worth the purchase price.  ($14.50 at Fuller Seminary's online bookstore.)

Rememberizin' #4

Tuesday means Rememberizin' at our dinner table. 

So last night after dinner we reviewed the first three verse combos and then added on a new set of verses.  Lena is turning out to be the verse queen of the family.  She can rattle them all off pretty much word perfect.  And what's funny is she doesn't just recite the verses, she brings them with panache and a little glint in her eye.   I think she is relishing being the "best"...  (We'll have to cover humility next week.)

Here's this week's edition:

Proverbs 10:16-17

The wages of the righteous bring them life, but the income of the wicked brings them punishment.
He who heeds discipline shows the way to life but whoever ignores correction leads others astray.

Why do we do this?  Because we want to...

Write these commandments that I've
given you today on your hearts.
Get them inside of you and then
get them inside your children.

Young author

Lena, our 7 year old, just finished the rough draft of her school Young Author story.  (Remember Young Authors' angst from when you were in school?  I do.)  She wrote the story with no help from us and we're really not sure where the motivation came from but it was a sweet tale.  Here's Lena's rough draft, unedited:

On a sumer day thear was 3 sisters in thar room wercking on thar homewerck. thay wera lerning about the rain forist. for thar homewerck thay had to riyt abowt tigers. one day the 3 girls went exploring owtsid of thair howes. the girls wer trying to find a forist. thay went rilly far but then thay came to a forist. they went insid of the forist. thay fond a chipmunc scriying arown. they said come hera to the chipmunck. the cipmunck came to thum. thay calld him chipy. 

chipy was playing. wen the girls got home thay tolld thum about thar edvencher and then thay had diner. in the morning the 3 girls visited the forest and thay visitid chipy to! evry day that did the same thing. but then on the nuws it said thar wer pepeopl distroying the forest! and chipy livd thar! thay ran to the foris and thay told chipy. chopy was woriyg that he wode never have a home oagen. but the girls werint friends for nuthing! so they helpt chipy.

Chipy was wereyd that thay woodint save him. but the trils did save him. and so the girls ran deeper into the forest. thay fond the woodcuters and told thum to stop destroying chipys home. the werckers stopt cuting down trees. thay said hoow is chipy? the girls said chipy is a chipmunk. he lives in the forist with his famley. and chipy is are friend. and so the weckers stopt cuting done trees to hep save chipys home and the envaerment.

The End.

Thank God for the naiveté of a child's heart.

The bond of bowling

Beginning this year our Lakeview and Lincoln Park leadership and staff teams and their families started having monthly gatherings.  We call this group the CORE team.  We decided to begin meeting this way to create deeper relationships among our staff and leaders.  Each time we gather, our host determines the agenda but mostly its eating, praying, worshiping, talking and hanging out.  Deeper connections--that's what we're pursuing with these gatherings. 

One of my favorite aspects--my kids look forward to these nights.  My prayer is that my children grow up feeling it was a privilege to have a dad who is also a pastor--too many pastor's kids grow up bitter toward the church.

For last night's gathering Mike and Rachel H. were our hosts.  We had pizza and then headed over to Waveland Bowl for a friendly game of (you're not going to believe this) bowling.  (Sidenote:  I had pretty much had enough of the music videos playing on screens down by the pins during our bowling well before Toto's "Africa" graced us with its 80's passion and big hair.) 

Thankfully, the bowling was just a friendly game so it doesn't matter that my team was the winner.  Seriously.  By a lot; I mean big margins.  My team doesn't gloat.  "If you have to crush the opponent, crush them with dignity" was our motto and I feel like we did that.  At least the crushing part.  We have no need to brag about our massive score in light of their puny score.

Jose, Maria, Esteban, Shanda, Gillian, and whoever the other person was on your team (Elisa?), don't hang your heads.  You were just beaten by a superior opponent.  The important thing is that we all feel closer and more connected now.  (One more sidenote:  I discovered another member of our team who suffers from Bowling Butt--we don not have to suffer alone!)

Clustering Force

Been reading Who's Your City (not to be confused with Who's Your Daddy.)  This book feels like it is going to be considered a benchmark type work.  It explores the continuing value of "place" (where you live) in the wired, connected, globalized, supposedly "flat" world we live in .  I'm already wearing out the highlighter and I'm only on page 66.  (I commented on this book and the idea of Mega Regions a few weeks back.)

Richard Florida's discusses a powerful concept in chapter 4 called the Clustering Force:

When people--especially talented and creative ones--come together, ideas flow more freely, and as a result individual and aggregate talents increase exponentially:  the end result amounts to more than the sum of the parts.  This clustering makes each of us more productive, which in turn makes the place we inhabit even more so--and our collective creativity and economic wealth grow accordingly.  This in a nutshell is the clustering force.

Florida's application of the clustering force is economic.  But what excites me is accessing the power of the Clustering Force in the increasing the church's spiritual influence capital.  I'm convinced that the church's spiritual influence capital can be increased when the artists, musicians and creatives hanging around in the church begin to cluster and create. 

I want to see the creative force of the people of God released in a new way.  I'm becoming convinced that it is the key that unlocks the door to our next season.

I've had conversations with several folk over the last month who have deep creative urges (BTW, is there treatment for that?) and who want to cluster with others with similar passion and talent to dream, pray and create.  I'm convinced its time to create intentional space for creative clustering, invite participation and see what God stirs up.

EG Hotline

We've kicked off Experiencing God as an entire church focus for the next six weeks--Sunday gatherings and small groups all moving in the same vein.  (Sounds weird when I say it like that--"Hey, we're going to Experience God for the next six weeks, then its back to life as usual..."  I assure you, that is not the intent.) 

Our hope for Experiencing God is to get people moving toward encountering God daily, looking for God's work around them, and then joining Him in what He's doing.  Henry Blackaby's material has been a big help to many. 

I believe stories will be huge in spreading and deepening the impact of this season.  Hearing how someone else is encountering God afresh, saw God's work around them and then got involved stirs faith.  To help collect and share these kinds of stories, we've set up a voicemail line.  Its available 24/7 for sharing God stories. 

(773) 782-6686

God is always working, despite our best efforts to the contrary

Alert reader Tony D. linked me to this column in yesterday's USA Today.

The article's leading question is very provocative:  Is God Silenced on College Campuses?  The columnist's answer--no.  He points to a strong and growing desire among co-eds to interact on Christian spiritual issues. 

Dare we say, "God is always working"?  Hmmm.  Got to admit that I am always a little amused when I hear the God has been "shut out of" this institution or that institution.  I think it gives God a laugh.  The human soul is the human soul and it was created to hunger for God.  Rules can't shut that out.

We've embarked on a new worship gathering at our Lincoln Park location out of the conviction that God is not silenced on the campus--that students long to seek God and that Jesus is as relevant today as He has been for the last 2000 years.  We believe students just don't want faith packaged in dust, moth balls, denture cream and suited smiles. Put God in blue jeans and maybe students can hear Him.

I have to say too that I am very intrigued by the movie referred to in the column:  Lord Save us From Your Followers.   I watched the trailer and I want to know when it will start showing locally.