Journal 12 – Livin’ inaBox

Well, I’m surrounded by boxes, not sleeping well, we’re all stressed out, the car blew a radiator last night, I don’t think the folks from Arcadia U want to hire me, and today I have an interview for a high power job I don’t really want with a woman who spent most of my phone interview telling me why she didn’t think I was qualified. The kids clothes are currently stored in trash bags and my own clothes are in boxes… somewhere. There’s no where for them to play inside, and we can’t just send them outside because we don’t know how safe it is out there. I’m not used to hearing traffic, booming music from cars and the occasional emergency siren. I’m not exactly feelin’ the love.

I’m actually feeling very much like an old donkey who’s been pulling a heavy coach with a team of big mean horses… and I just sprained an ankle. But I gotta keep it going or else someone might shoot me. Then, who will raise those little donkeys that someone keeps telling me I have back on the farm somewhere… I hope those little donkeys are okay… whoever they are. Where are they again? Who’s raising them? No time to think… must keep pulling.

I’m at that age where I can feel my face begin to wrinkle. I always wanted laughter lines, but lately I’m feeling like my face is just starting to droop… it’s like the skin is slipping off the tense muscles of my face and despair is making its mark upon my road map.

Dang – it’s 9:30… better go find some clean interview clothes… and some make-up.

 

Journal 11 – Arrival in Philly!

Well – we made it.

This is a wild little place, and quite different from anywhere else we’ve lived. We have to watch the metered parking on one side of the street, and have to be concerned about the safety of our cars on the other side. Two blocks over, there are huge beautiful old homes. One block back, there are burned out lots and dealers. The neighbors in our building are teachers, social activists and musicians. The trash cans and the winter thermostat are communally shared. The lot is overgrown and covered in weeds… and I am excited about the opportunity to play in the dirt and plant flowers.

It’s an old 1800’s home, with 14 foot ceilings and a built out kitchen with a sky-light… which naturally keeps the hot air away from the common room. Very nice, since we moved in during a heat wave. The people who lived here before us left us some a kind note with their address, a lamp or two, and some odd little items like wind chimes and cleaning supplies… And the property manager asked us if we’d like to go to a Philly’s game with his small group. We turned him down, but only because we’re exhausted from the move. In fact, at the moment – I’m the only one awake.

Well, tomorrow will be yet another adventure – so I must go inflate the mattress and crash for the night.

Peace Out,
MrsQ

 

Hedonism & Faith in Oneself

Faith is about RELEASING power to a higher being…
not about cleaving to one’s social power until it constipates your community.

Sin, in curvatus in se, is being turned in upon yourself. It’s olde Augustine’s definition of sin. I rather liked that definition, because by the time I had gotten around to formally studying theology I had already decided that Sin is Greedy Self-Centered-ness.

So what? Well, this doesn’t speak well for the majority of American Christian groups, does it? Ever heard that “if YOU were the ONLY person to exist, Jesus would still have come to die just for YOU!” How about all that “Health and Wealth” bull on TBN? We have worship music in every style, congregations for every race and class, and enough Christian Stores and Christian Sub-culture that you may NEVER have to inconvenience yourself by befriending an un-churched non-believer. We are an American Christian Culture… in Sin.

We want to do church OUR WAY… But isn’t Church supposed to be a place where we can bring others? A place where we can get mobilized for ministry and where believers can be discipled?

We are Armchair Christians who like to fight over the remote. Me-me-me-me… ‘I’ll let you pick the channel only after I’m not watching my show.’ And so we go to church to be entertained. We gather with people just like ourselves in order to reinforce and justify our faith in ourselves.

Unfortunately, we are to be created anew in the image of God…
Not to create a community in the likeness of our own image.

 

New England Churchiness: a case study

I was emailing back and forth a bit this week with some congregational ex-patriots, fellow cast-aways of the faith, and I figured that this one was generalized enough to post. The names have been changed to protect the guilty.

Howdy Friend,

Oh yeah – you’re right – not EVERYONE is like that [economically/ethnically prejudiced] around here in [Town], but I do think that there’s a higher proportion of ‘discriminating people’ in this area than in many other places I’ve lived. BTW – It’s funny how words change, isn’t it? My dad used the word ‘discriminating’ as a compliment for someone recently and I kind of shuddered. He meant it in terms of having ‘discriminating taste,’ or the ability to make wise decisions, but I’m used to hearing it in terms of prejudice and institutional discrimination. Weird, eh? As for the New England situation, we’ve bumped into lotsa ‘townies’ with a strong sense of pride for their frugality and good old practical thinking… just the kind of ‘discriminating sense’ that my Dad was speaking highly of. Unfortunately, anything – when taken or applied in excess – can become a problem. And in this part of MA, lots of ‘non-townies’ with ‘new money’ have moved into the area and threatened the old way of life. Good old frugality isn’t as productive anymore. Well, for many of the ‘old timers’ at First Baptist, this resulted in a kind of back-lash in discrimination-to-excess that started to look like the kind of discrimination I’m more accustomed with.
Therefore:

• folks would only consider ‘Townie’ painters & antiques dealers for the church (I actually heard the term used when discussing subcontractors).
• weird transplants like us weren’t accepted until we could prove we had useful talents (which kind of hampers church growth)
• outreach programs were not supported (we can’t trust outsiders, anyway)
• community programs unlike those of the past were not attended
• we had excessive complaints that ‘things weren’t like they used to be’
• people who voted with old money held greater ‘authority’ (of course, we didn’t have many ‘new money’ families who could out-donate them, did we?)
• the suggestions of the young &/or poor were not heard
• inter-denominational events were not trusted
• multi-cultural events were discouraged (one or two folks openly spoke out against bi-lingual services)

… of course, was this EVERYONE in Town? Certainly not. This was only the case for a large bulk of elders at our church. When the praise band did some of our most ‘rockin’ soul tunes,’ one or two old men the church were actually dancing! They LOVED the loud music! But most people looked at us with fear and even outright anger. ([Mr.Elder-Man/ChosenOne] would often pass along anonymous complaints about our music at tell us to keep it mellow, slow, quiet and traditional.) It was really hard to stand in front of this crowd each week, because some people would look at us with big grins while most people were watching us in fear and horror. So, I’d grin back at one person, turn to look at another pew and be meet with evil glares… Which is why I eventually shoved my hands in my pockets and started singing to the clock on the back wall. It had a benign face.

BTW – Just so you know, most churches do more than meet on Sunday Mornings. This is the ONLY group I have ever hung out with that ONLY met once a week. Granted, the ladies’ bible study would gather from time to time, but that was IT for additional community and discipleship (and I didn’t fit in there because I was the only Working Mom). Most places I’ve attended – even the little churches of 30-50 members – had study groups and fellowship groups that met at other times… There’d be enough groups so that people could find something of interest and participate in Christian Fellowship! AND a significant part of the church would participate in one or more of these groups. Both We[zlo] and [Jesuit-Spy] tried to form these groups at our church… but very few people attended and some folks would even complain about them. I KNOW that there ARE churches (even in town) of people who live out their faith in God and their trust in the Body of Christ – the Fellowship of Saints. I know that there are churches where people love and encourage one another, where they reach out to one another with kindness and joy…

So, hang in there Friend, you are loved and you will find a fellowship of believers. I’m sure of it!

 

The NakedPastor’s 10 Tips

10 Tips for Increasing Church Growth and Income

Wow. Not only do I find the NakedPastor delightful, but this list is… well… rather thought provoking.

In fact, think I’ve attended that church before. Heck, the church I’ve been attending the past few years was really trying to figure out how to successfully do these things. But the church I’m in right now will be closing it’s doors soon… and the dead shall bury the dead.

BTW: Willy Burger — yes, manikins ARE creepy. Particularly when they’re worship leaders.

 

Organ Donors are Dead

Six Years. Where did they go?

This summer I am leaving a church. It is closing (probably) and my family is moving. These are somewhat unrelated events, except that God finally is letting us leave now that it has become apparent that there ain’t much of a pulse here anymore. We felt called to be here, but in so many ways they feel like wasted years. I honestly do not know whether I’ve helped further the kingdom. I am closer to God and closer to my family, but we will leave very few friends behind.
… rather, we’re leaving a hundred associates whom I won’t miss.

We attended Church with these people. Or, we attended church with them until they wandered away. They are nice people. We attended meetings, dinners, luncheons, special services and events… but we were always too busy to actually love one another and listen to one another. And, when they wandered away from us, looking for something shiny, they never bothered to look back at us on their way out. The only thing we had in common was the Churchiness of our weekly gathering, and that wasn’t enough to bring us together as the Body of Christ. Take the Churchiness out of the equation, and we weren’t even friends.

I like my husband’s lesson from this:

Never attend a church with an organ.
It shows where the congregation’s heart lies.

Peace Out,
MrsQ

 

People Hate Conflict

People really hate conflict. People hate conflict so much, they are willing to lie to themselves and even lie to others in order to avoid conflict.

This is bad.

Once people begin to lie to themselves and one another they cheat themselves and others from Truth. They undermine Justice. They destroy Trust. But what is far worse is that their Love begins to die, and when we cannot Trust in Love there can be no Peace.

IOW –

When people hide from the Truth in order to avoid conflict,
they actually undermine their Hope for Peace.

Ironic, isn’t it?

Fortunately, I believe in God. I believe that God is Justice.
I believe that God is Truth. I believe that God is Love.
And, I believe that in God, there is Peace.

Peace Out,
MrsQ

 

Syncretism vs. Contextualization

Our Dear Friend Wenatchee The Hatchet has reminded me of an interesting story and an interesting theological point that, IMHO, all Christians need to seriously consider.

Once upon a time, I studied Missions in Higher Ed. There are two vocabulary words that I still use today:

Syncretism vs. Contextualization

A good missionary will contextualize the gospel to people by explaining theology in terms that the indigenous people will understand. For example, Christ sacrificed his life for us. My friend who now teaches at a bible college in Japan explains that Christ was the Ultimate Samurai, who have his life for the honor of all people.A bad missionary will syncretize the gospel, compromising theology while communicating the gospel, miscommunicating the truth and, unfortunately, leading the indigenous people astray. For example, Catholic missionaries from Spain may not have explained the Saints very well to the tribal people of the Americas. So, the indigenous polytheistic theologies and the native traditions for magical objects & spell casting transferred into (or syncretized with) Catholic traditions. Hence we have some wicked death cults and voo-doo goin’ on. Oops.

Granted, the missionary cannot control how the observer will receive what is spoken. But, those who profess the gospel have a huge responsibility to try to determine whether the other person is understanding, internalizing, and living out that which is being taught. This responsibility is so stinkin’ huge, I try to avoid teaching the gospel with words altogether. Generally, I prefer to just live the gospel than to try and argue about it with people.

Anyway, the morale of the story is this:

Be careful about how you defend the gospel to those who do not understand it. It is quite possible to confuse the other person so much that you send them in the wrong direction — and you don’t want a millstone around your neck, do you?

Peace,
MrsQ

 

I love my hubbie

You know, I’m really happy that I married Q.

We’ve had our years of marriage counseling. We’ve had times when I wanted to leave him. We’ve had days when I’ve screamed like the banshee below. It truly would have been financially better and emotionally easier for me had we never married.

BUT -

I would never have followed the wild ride God had set before us had I not had a friend to travel with. I would never have experienced these bizzarre situations of God’s living grace. I would never have been stripped of everything the world considers important in order to see the truth of God from the perspective of trusting an entire family of lives to Him… had I not had my husband with me.

A professor once said in theology class that being married was the closest thing he knew to being crucified with Christ. The one must sacrifice themselves for the other in order for the union to survive.

I didn’t quite understand what the heck he meant at the time. But now, after a decade of marriage it makes all the sense in the world.

“…we will have to decide between what is right, and what is easy.”
– Dumbledore

 

Holy Week Reflections: 1.1 About Lent

Lent is a time in which we sacrifice something in life. This helps us to experience or internalize what it means to willingly go without something that is important to you but not necessary for you.

This kind of sacrifice helps us develop personal discipline, appreciate what we have, live more with less, and (perhaps most importantly) it prepares our appreciation for the sacrifice that Christ willingly made for us. Christ didn’t just give up deserts, cheese, or drinks… Christ gave up His life.

By sacrificing something for Lent, we are preparing ourselves for Holy Week. We are testing ourselves

• how important is our faith to us?
• are we truly capable of following the example of Christ’s sacrifice?
• are we able to internalize our faith and to carry it into our private lives?

  … or is our “Churchiness” just a show of ritual performed in a specific social context in order to ‘keep up appearances’?