Stations of the Cross

Nooma 19

Today on Facebook, you can watch the online premier of the latest Nooma video named “Open” where Rob deals with prayer and praying. It’s free and on Facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=23766390253

Great food, Great friends

Today, Enoch’s Path held our “annual” (which means twice) Thanksgiving brunch. Kerrie made her amazing heath bar breakfast magical crunch/bake. Mel brought this great egg bake with sausage, egg, cheese, hashbrowns and other amazingness. Andy brought some yummy lemon bars too!

We tried to firm up some plans for next Sunday afternoon where we are hanging out at the “Alison House” off of Saginaw Highway to throw a party and get to know the disabled folks that live there. We’re going to be there at 4:30-6ish if you’d like to join us!

Our hope is to make some new friends, and help bring a new focus of community to ourselves (not “to” them as they already have their own community).

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Thoughts that got stuck in my brain

Here are some of the thought that have been perculating in my mind from the Missio Dei Conference at Denver Seminary with Allen Hirsch and Michael Frost.

Missio Dei- God is the God of Mission
•    Mission is the character of God
•    God sent word to us so that we can live them out
•    Being like Jesus- is being sent

Participatio Christ
•    Set our faces as participants or see where God is already at work
•    Kingdom of God and Kingdom of evil are emerging and intertwined with in each other

Imago Dei
•    Who have you been sent to be- Mercy, Justice, Love
•    Let us be with people no matter who they are.
o    See the “trace” of God in them
•    How do they do it? – Cheer ongoing ministries
o    Support them
o    Volunteer in them
o    Initiate things in your community and globally

•    We have taken the Jesus out of the story and created a religion in the name of Jesus to justify our religiosity
•    “Domesticated Jesus“
•     Christianity – Christ = RELIGION

We need to look at Jesus as the revolutionary that he was.

Follow Jesus into strange places
•    Radical engagements that help
•    Meaningful conversations are happening everywhere with non Christians but not in the church
o    Have time to have spontaneity , frequent open spaces when opportunity arise to have conversations and except invitations from others you rub shoulders with in daily life.

Loss & Life

I read this in the Lansing State Journal and decided it was worth reading for others. Take some time and read this it was a great perspective on loss and life. It meant a lot to me and I hope it means something to you also.

 

 

Published August 19, 2007
[ From Lansing State Journal ]

Schneider: 5 years later, my loss – its lessons – stay with me every day

John
Schneider

Five years ago in the immediate aftermath of my daughter’s drowning, when my loss was a throbbing gash, a man who had suffered a similar blow offered me this prognosis:

The bleeding would stop. The wound would heal over. The raw pain would subside. But the loss would stay with me forever, like an irretrievable piece of shrapnel or an inoperable, nonfatal heart murmur.

The injury wouldn’t necessarily restrict my mobility nor would it preclude my capacity for comfort and joy. And allowed to cure under the right conditions- given adequate space and time – the loss would age and mellow into something sweet and dignified. Something endured.

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The hole would fill in enough to reveal a new perspective. It would add a dimension to my humanity. It would help me see the bigger picture.

Somebody else – another man well-traveled on the trail of tears – told me I would be able one day to put my loss upon the top shelf of my closet, where it would remain inconspicuous but always present, like a hat I was attached to but seldom wore.

A better fit

Occasionally, I would stumble upon it while looking for something else. Maybe I would take it off the shelf and examine it. Eventually, I would try it on and I would begin to notice, as the years went by, the fit had become increasingly comfortable.

Eventually – and this was the unbelievable thing about what the man told me- I might purposely seek it out from time to time and find some measure of peace in its weight upon my head.

In any case, it would be mine forever. I would never be able to donate it to the Salvation Army, nor, in the end, would I wish to.

More than one person who had been to the brink of despair and back predicted I would soon discover that the common idiom of grief was largely inadequate and, in some cases, entirely irrelevant.

Wrong vocabulary

Only the uninitiated speak of “getting over it,” or “through it.” Only the blissfully ignorant believe it’s possible – or desirable – to put a thing like this “behind us,” as though it were a foolish investment or a bad meal.

The fact is, it’s just not possible to outrun it, even if we wanted to. Our best hope is to come to terms with it, to make it part of who we are and how we get from one day to the next.

There are no definitive answers to the question “Why?” – only theories. There is no “period of mourning” – only the rest of our lives.

And so, five years down the road, it has come to pass. The bleeding has stopped.

The heart murmur, though incurable, does not keep me down. My loss rests upon its shelf, but gathers no dust. I bring it down frequently, but not obsessively. I look it over regularly, and it still has lessons to teach me.

I am more conscious than ever of life’s fragility and uncertainty. I appreciate, more than I did five years ago, the importance of being grateful for the things we have, for as long as we have them.

I understand, in a way that I never did before, that life is shorter than we think. And that’s a good thing to know.

“Why?” is no longer the pressing question that it once was. It now seems beside the point.

My loss is not behind me. It is not a thing of the past. It is not something I’ll ever get through if I live to be 100.

It is right here with me, every hour of every day. That’s exactly where it belongs.

A shared project

Here are some pictures of the project at Shared pregnancy resource. If you have any pictures to add to the mix let me know. Thanks for all your hard work!

Things unsaid and things said

Several months ago, I had the opportunity to go to a conference called “thinspace, the kingdom of God is near” in Cincinnati, Ohio. I was looking forward to going to this since it has been a long time since I have gone to any type of conference. I was particularly excited because this was the first conference in which I was going to that really pertained to my real life of missional living. Yes I have been to other conferences related to other ministry situations but this I truly felt comfortable with. I had a great opportunity to go with my loving wife (Very good looking if you ask me) and several of my fellow friends (non of them introverted or unintelligent) and spiritual journey partners. It took about 5 hours to go down there and with all the potential distractions (Ipods, radio,etc.) we did not use them one time. It was a stream of conversation, questions, comments, discernment for one another that seemed so natural. Yes the stream had times of rushing water where your head could barely stay above water and their were times when their were there were very little words spoken. Though out this time it was the things unsaid that were the most important. It was the simple gestures and also the larger things. It was the willingness to encourage you as you processed the things you learned. The simple hug and looks that made you laugh or question the things being said by others. It was the things like putting my wife up for three nights in friends small house (with one bath) when our accommodation’s didn’t work out as planned. Never less it was the things said and unsaid that made this experience so wonderful. I hope that you can reflect and experience these things in your journey.

PS. If you would like to listen to some of the speakers/ presenters that were at the conference follow the link above. Sorry not all my conversations were recorded, thank God!

Brave girl

 

Thanks Marcus for this video.

Technorati Tags: environment video

May 8th, 2007

We will be meeting with Sara Cook from the ONE campaign and Bread for the World at Gone Wired Cafe, 6:30pm.

For more information, email Eric or Chad 

Enoch’s Path – Affluenza Part 1

mark 12:38-44

38He continued teaching. “Watch out for the religion scholars. They love to walk around in academic gowns, preening in the radiance of public flattery, 39basking in prominent positions, sitting at the head table at every church function. 40And all the time they are exploiting the weak and helpless. The longer their prayers, the worse they get. But they’ll pay for it in the end.”
41Sitting across from the offering box, he was observing how the crowd tossed money in for the collection. Many of the rich were making large contributions. 42One poor widow came up and put in two small coins-a measly two cents. 43Jesus called his disciples over and said, “The truth is that this poor widow gave more to the collection than all the others put together. 44All the others gave what they’ll never miss; she gave extravagantly what she couldn’t afford-she gave her all.” (The Message)

A story of money, and how the leaders of the church were wasting their gifts.

We shouldn’t be in a position saying that “simple churches” are some how better than the “modern church.” A lot of people are still connected and moved within that context. From our perspective, it comes down to a question of stewardship issue. What do we give to other than a building, programming and staffing?

A friend of Andy’s taught his son how to take care of widows when they lived next door to one. The father told his son to mow her lawn and that she wouldn’t pay him. The father would pay the son to mow the family lawn, but he understood that he wouldn’t get paid for mowing her lawn. What a beautiful story.

In Affluenza, there’s a teenager at a huge mall who was asked what her purpose for being there responded, “my only purpose is to spend money.”

Many of us grew up with the mentality that in order to be blessed, we must give to the church. If we tithe, everything will be ok. Read Malachi 3:8 – “Don’t Steal From God.” The principle is NOT that if we give money to the church, God will give you a bunch of cash. God promises to bless us by fulfilling our lifes in community and in this we will find a richer more meaningful life.

Since the 1950’s, America has consumed more resources than all the people who have ever lived on the earth.

How long can America go on consuming all the resources in the world before we implode? Before countries begin to revolt?