caffeine, please.

Kept me

Yesterday was our Crystal Anniversary--15 years!  A great start to a lasting marriage.  15 down and 60 to go.  (The mental picture of Gil and I celebrating 75 years of marriage in our 95-year-old bodies makes me smile--"where's the denture cream, eh?")

So thankful to Jesus for the woman who has kept me. 

• She's kept me young
• She's kept me from missing God (many times)
• She's kept me from being a blind fool
• She's kept me encouraged and believing that God could use me
• She's kept me laughing hysterically
• She's kept me tuned in to my kids (and to her)
• She's kept me on my toes
• She's kept me doing what matters, not just what is easy
• She's kept me instead of trading me in for a better model;-)

In the words of Ray LaMontagne, Gil--"You Are the Best Thing".

Bible version?

I'm sometimes asked what Bible version I preach from.  Usually it is with a confused, "that wasn't the NIV" kind of look on the person's face. 

I use the ESV in preaching and teaching.  I like its clarity of language, its balance between literal translation and expressing the thoughts of Greek words, and the way it retains important biblical words like "propitiation" without becoming archaic and unreadable. 

Another great translation that hasn't been marketed as well but is really good is the Net Bible.  The study tools available online through the NetBible are especially good. 

I like the NIV too, but I prefer the ESV.  Just thought I'd share that for whatever its worth.

The disciple's way of being right

Pete Greig who leads a worldwide 24-7 prayer movement among college students, has a great article on their blog.  His tag phrase is, "100% right!... but only partly".  I think this phrase touches a useful thought on the disciple's approach to "our way of following Jesus" in a diverse World-Christian community.  And the phrase also has great value for talking to unchurched and dechurched people about Jesus.

In a related vein, Simon Barrow, columnist for the Telegraph in the U.K. has a valuable defintion of faith in his recent column about Richard Dawkins' Atheist busboard advertisements:

Whether it rules in or out the transcendent God whose unconditional love many of us discover in and through the lesions of a free universe which can be both terrifyingly tragic and gloriously inspiring is, it seems to me, another matter altogether – and one that will not be settled by vituperative, knock-down arguments.  It is, rather, a matter of faith. By this I do not mean the denial of rationality, but the kind of reasoning appropriate to a mystery which can never be captured by human mastery, and which requires an encounter with the personal (that is, the struggle to love) to perceive.  

It seems that what Pete is saying--hold onto your way with tenacious grace knowing that your knowledge is not complete and God loves diversity and what Simon is saying--faith is not a blind leap but a reasoned grasp of God's mystery and revelation, are both valuable perspectives for people loving, following and serving Jesus in this generation.

Dethroning Jesus

I've just begun reading Dethroning Jesus as a complementary book to our teaching through the book of Colossians.  I'm just plowing out the introduction and I'm already seeing that this book is a timely and valuable tool for understanding current thinking about Jesus in the scholarly community and the culture at large.

We could be guilty of thinking that if someone respects Jesus and speaks reasonably well of Him that we are on the same team.  That may not be true.  This book is interested in clarifying what is being said about Jesus.  And the issue is huge.  In the first 6 months of 2006 alone, there were 4 books on the New York Times bestseller list that all spoke of Jesus in ways other than orthodox Christianity--in other words they present an alternate Jesus. 

This book is not for everyone.  But if you are engaging in dialogue with people who are big readers or people who are espousing theories about Jesus and the "hidden gospels", you may want to grab this book.  The scholarship is first rate and the book is pretty readable and thorough.

Can I get that in Polish?

I had lunch at Staropolska today with Nate Berry and Pastor Mirek (Miroslaw) Muszczynski.  Mirek has pastored in Chicago for 17 years.  The church, Polish Christian Center is (as far as I know) the only Polish language Evangelical Christian church in the city of Chicago.  (Please correct me if I'm wrong--and I would like to be wrong about this.)

Nate attends our Lincoln Park location with his Polish-born wife Ola and hopes to move to Poland in the next couple years to serve the church there with ProEcclesia ministry.  In the meantime he's seeking to help us move toward Polish connections.

My reason for wanting to meet was simple--Polish people are a huge immigrant population in Chicago (some estimate 2 million) and Luis Palau labeled it the least evangelized group in Chicagoland.  So, as a church with a vision to be all over the city for the good of the city, we have to be asking ourselves, "how can we reach Polish people with the gospel?"

Mirek, as a longtime pastor, had insight into the community and into the American church's history in pursuing Polish people.  He shared some of the barriers to reaching Poles--distrust of anything non-Catholic, an anti-establishment mentality, a strong skepticism bred from years under Communism and a very secular young generation. 

We talked about ways we could make steps toward the Polish community and here are the two that we identified for exploration:

• Mobilize New Life members to serve Polish children who come to Chicago for surgery at Shriner's Hospital (they are here for as long as 6 months).  The children need housing and someone to relationship with people.  There is an existing Polish non-profit that facilitates this and Mirek wants us to connect with them.
• Pursue international internships for Polish men who are pursuing pastoral ministry through ProEcclesia.  What if a couple seminary interns came to Chicago for 1 year to pursue studies, intern at New Life and do outreach and small groups with Polish speaking people on the North side? 

Having lived near the large Polish community on the North side for over 10 years, I am excited to have a couple tangible steps we can pursue toward connecting with this valuable Chicago community.

Kyle can't wear pants

Nick and I stopped by the hospital today to see our convalescing brother--Kyle Flanner.  Open heart surgery on Monday, drug-addled wisecracks on Wednesday.  He's healing like a champ--"beautiful" is I believe the word he would (did) use.  He had already taken two walks before we arrived.

Kyle's parents are staying for the week and they're great people.  Had a fun time hanging out in the hospital--not always the case.  When I walked in, the psychiatric doctor was evaluating him.  Apparently he's a little too okay with life after open heart surgery so they're worried something may be mentally wrong.  Makes perfect sense, right?  Seems that the peace and favor of God is not in the psychiatric training manual.

Spent a large portion of the time cracking jokes, hearing the surgery day story, talking about the joys of losing your modesty in a hospital gown, discussed the "bailing wire" (mom's term) used to tie his sternum together after it was sawed in half, evaluated the bedside manor of some of the medical staff, talked about how in a few days the tubes will be removed by "yanking" them out--that's a medical term apparently, and ate some dried fruit.  At the end we prayed hugged (for Kyle a fist bump--hugs later) and headed out.

Kyle is looking forward to wearing pants again but that is still in the future. In the meantime, God's favor has been evident and it has been great to see the church quietly love and serve like I've seen so many times before.  Praise God for open heart surgeries on people who love Jesus.

Sign #337 of the Apocalypse

Spied a van from this company driving by today.  Really?  Don't even get me started. 

West Humboldt Park

This past week Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church voted this past Sunday to give their property (church, school and parsonage) to New Life for us to plant a location there!  The title transfer happened last Tuesday and now we are moving forward with the process of assembling a core team.

Friday we had an initial gathering with some key pastoral leaders for this location.  Great meeting with some things already being clarified about role and leadership. 

Excited?  Yes.  Feeling needy for God to move?  Big time. 

Lincoln Park felt like a stretch but something we were ready for.  West Humboldt Park feels like a leap across a chasm--God has to be with us.  A great place to find ourselves. 

Catching someone doing something good, again

A few weeks ago I did a post about bumping into someone who was doing something good. 

Well, it happened again this morning.  Our tribe had just finished loading up for Saturday grocery delivery with Lakeview Pantry.  Before heading out to deliver, I ran over to Starbucks to grab Gil a shot of "wake me up".  I stepped inside and there was Victoria, an active member of our Lakeview location sitting at a table by door.  We said hello and after some conversation I asked her what she was up to.

What was she doing at Starbucks this morning?  Having quiet time with God.  Her Bible was open, her notebook was out and she was seeking Jesus.  And I was privileged to see her doing it.  She wasn't expecting to see anyone and wasn't obeying Jesus for the sake of anyone else.  She was just doing what a follower of Jesus does and I happened to witness it by "accident".

I've got to say that these simple encounters--bumping into New Life people who are demonstrating God's heart in simple and unnoticed acts of obedience, is the best part of being a pastor.  Praying for many more moments like these.  What an awesome work God is doing in the hearts and lives of people

Corny

We spent the afternoon and evening at the Richardson Corn Maze with our friends.  It was an amazing time.  I was all ears.  A few times I was a little cornfused but once we finished the maze I felt like I should get my graduation tassels.  Shucks!

Flashback to my youth (the TV part, at least)

Okay, totally random (but how's that different than normal?)... How many of you (raise your hand) were subjected to this in elementary school?

Dude, that was brainwashing. 

Now how many of you chose to watch this after school was over.

Best ever. 

Sarcastically yours

I was driving Jaley home from ballet class earlier this week and she was telling me things from her life with me interjecting comments here and there.  Apparently... my comments were sarcastic.  At least that's what Jaley told me.  In no uncertain terms.  "Dad, you are sarcastic too much."  I'll be working with her on getting to the point.

So to prove that "I can quit anytime I want" I vowed not to make any sarcastic remarks on the way home.  (2 miles.)  3 blocks later I broke the vow.  "Wait, wait.  I can do this.  I can do better.  Let me start over right here at this stop sign."  She graciously offered me another chance and a little advice.  "Dad, you should just not talk; that will be safer."  (Thanks 10 year old Dr. Phil but I think I can handle a few comments without being sarcastic.)

A block passes by, then two, three... I'm managing pretty well to stay conversationally engaged without making any sarcastic remarks.  And Jaley is making many random comments about buildings and people as we drive, providing numerous set ups for a funny sarcastic line.  This is purposeful on her part of course.  But I resist all her subtle temptations to comment and now it has been at least... 3/4 of a mile.  I'm starting to feel pretty confident.  "I can do this--I'm not that sarcastic." 

We're close to the one mile mark when she sees the library and says, "why don't we go to the library during the school year very much?" 

"Because we hate the library." 

As the last syllable leaves my mouth we both burst into gut-wrenching laughter for pretty much the rest of the way home.  She knew I didn't say the comment intentionally to break my vow--that I was intending to stay sarcasm-free and yet I still managed to drop a sarcastic line. 

So apparently one of the roles of children is to expose blindspots and give me things that I have to pray over.  Sarcasm.  How do I engage it without sinning?  Hmmmm.  Definitely not with mere will power--gonna need Holy Spirit transformation to keep this one in check. 

The Art of the Gospel?

 There was this mysterious (Scooby Doo mysterious) art installation that appeared along Logan Blvd. a few weeks ago.  A bunch of 8" x 10" placards painted with the word "art", attached to green pickets and planted in the ground spaced equidistantly on both sides of the boulevard for several blocks.  It was very cool and very noticeable. 

A couple days ago the mystery was solved by a great article in the Chicago Journal.  Ben Myers who wrote an article about New Life Lincoln Park's grand opening back in March, wrote the piece. 

This quote from artist Gene Pellegrene about why he did the project really intrigued me:

How many people do you know that go to art galleries?  If you're not going to see art, I'm going to bring it to you.

This statement is pregnant, big time!  This is an artist who gets it.  Art can feel very inaccessible to the uninitiated and as a result people stay away.  Art galleries are made for art enthusiasts.  The average person wanting to gain an appreciation for art would be unlikely to wander in.  "Will they look down at me?  Will I trip and knock something over?  Do I have the right clothes?  What are the rules for interaction while I'm there?"  All very intimidating.

Then again, we could be talking about the church, couldn't we?

Let me restate Gene's quote in light of the church:  "How many people do you know who go to church?  If you're not going to see Jesus, I'm going to bring Him to you." 

This has to be the heart of every follower of Jesus and every leader in the church.  Bring Jesus creatively to people on their terms in a way that they end up feeling blessed.  Good art tells the truth in a way that makes people think and have an emotional response.  Isn't Good Gospel the same?  Doesn't it need to tell the truth in a way that makes people think and have some sort of emotional response?  Transcendence? 

And the coolest part of this installation is that it was free for the taking by neighborhood residents after it had been on display for a few weeks.  They received a piece of the art for free!  I think Gene Pellegrene is a new favorite artist of mine.  And a new favorite Evangelist as well.