On our Winter Retreat this weekend, our teaching theme presented the “Sacred Pathways” described in the book by the same name by Gary Thomas. I’m going to summarize the book here so others will know what we talked about–I think every believer would benefit spiritually by learning the insights presented in this book.
So here’s a quick overview to clue you in. Gary Thomas is one of my very favorite authors. He is, a marvelous church historian who gleans spiritual gems from the forefathers of our faith and puts them in easy to understand language. In his historical research, he has identified nine spiritual “temperaments” or ways that people are wired to best love and connect with God. Knowing how you’re wired to worship helps you experience God in more meaningful ways. The nine pathways are

• The NATURALIST — worships God through experiencing God’s creation
• The SENSATE— worships God through the five senses (sight, sound, touch, smell, & taste)
• The ENTHUSIAST — worships God expressively through joyful passion and expectation.
• The INTELLECTUAL— worships God by studying Truth and establishing firm beliefs.
• The TRADITIONALIST— worships God by enjoying historic practices of the church, symbols, creeds, or hymns.
• The ASCETIC— worships God by living a life of simplicity, solitude, and self-denial.
• The CONTEMPLATIVE— worships God by meditating on an intimate, loving, personal relationship with Him.
• The CAREGIVER — worships God by loving and serving others.
• The ACTIVIST— worships God by making efforts to change the world.

All the “pathways” are valid and necessary in the church. We’ll each have several that are dominant–and knowing that helps us to avoid judging others’ ways of worshiping. It also helps to know that it’s ok for me to worship in a way that may be different from others. It’s also useful to try other pathways to expereince God in new ways. During the retreat after presenting each pathway in detail we had a time to experience each one (nature prayer walks, contemplation, prayer for each other, packaging meals for Kids Against Hunger, etc.)

Everyone received a copy of Sacred Pathways. I’d recommend eveyone get a copy and take the assessment. I have a case of books if anyone’s interested in purchasing one for $10.
By the way, in case you’re wondering about my pathway mix–I’m an Ascetic, Contemplative, Intellectual, who’s becoming more and more of a Traditionalist!

Last Sunday was the series finale for LOST and before too much time goes by I want to write my reflections about it.  I must admit that I have been a Lost addict for the past two years, when a friend loaned me the first two seasons on DVD.  After that we Forstroms (minus Cindy) found ourselves utterly captivated.

We don’t have tv service so we’ve watched seasons 3-6 on abc.com.  It became our Wednesday-night-after-youth-group tradition and the girls and I had great times together watching it together.  We enjoyed trying to figure out the unexplained mysteries and found the character development extremely interesting.  There seemed to be a lot of religious and mythological symbolism, which made us curious about where the show was heading.

THINGS I’M GLAD ABOUT.

• Experiencing this with my girls.  It was like a weekly “Daddy Date” and it gave us a lot of time together and ongoing conversations about where the storyline was going.  I’ll never regret the time spent with them.  We’d stay up as late as we needed to to have our weekly LOST experience together.  Homework always took a back seat to LOST!
• I was captivated by the complexity of the storytelling, the beautiful scenery, the haunting musical score, the compelling characters, and the intrigue of the mysterious storyline. 
• I thoroughly enjoyed having conversations about it with other friends and co-workers who were likewise addicted to the show.  It was a lot of fun trying to figure out what this-or-that meant or where that came from, or what ever happened to so-and-so. 
• There was so much to remember and try to unwravel.  Right to the end we kept wondering who were the good guys and who were the bad guys and who was behind it all. That made it especially intriguing and fun.

THE FINALE

Part of the weekly enjoyment of the mystery was my assumption that — in the end — the mysteries would be explainable and have meaning.  I was somewhat disappointed to find that the finale left many of the questions unanswered (which I somewhat expected, since there were so many loose ends).  But my real disappointment was to discover that many of the show’s unexplained mysteries were irrelevant in the end anyways.  It didn’t really matter who the good and bad guys were.  It didn’t really matter who died, who’s name was on the wall, who took over Jacob’s job as the “island keeper”, who travelled through time, who destroyed the submarine, who escaped on the airplane, who stayed behind, whether the island sank or time-shifted, who lived-together or died-alone, who pushed a button every 108 minutes, who bought a fried chicken franchise, who rode in a wheelchair, etc.   Not much of what happened during the 121 episodes seemed to matter much in the end.  At the end of the finale all the characters mysteriously converged together in some alternate-reality in an ecumenical churchlike building and they were all at peace.  In the end the only relevant thing seemed to be how they had bonded with each other during their experiences.   This existentialist ending left me feeling strung along or duped.  I felt unsatisfied.

The ending also made me wonder about some things.

THINGS I’M QUESTIONING. 

• Whether I would have watched the show had I known the mysteries were going to be largely unanswered and irrelevant anyways.
• If spending 100 hours watching Lost was good stewardship of my time.  
• If I became desensitized to the depictions of sin in the show (language, immorality, torture, murder, etc.), justifying them because I thought the show would end with a beneficial “moral to the story.”
• Whether my passion for LOST was at times greater than my passion for God.  Beyond the 100 hours of the show I certainly spend many more hours contemplating Lost’s mysteries and talking about it.
• What is it about LOST that appealed to me so much and kept me so hooked?  Was it the quest for the mysteries’ answers (which mostly never came anyways)?  Was it the character development (which actually worked backwards so that in the end everyone’s characters melded into emotionless melancholy in some alternate-reality world)?
• If I’d have known the ending at the beginning would I have been so captivated by it?

Will I spend another hundred hours and watch the whole series again?  This one I can answer:  No.

Recently, our church staff has being encouraged to improve our fitness. As an incentive in January, we were challenged to try to increase our fitness times over the previous month, with a contest thrown in — a prize going to the person with the most minutes logged!

Since I’ve fallen in love with fitness again over the past 15 months this was an extra excuse to do what comes naturally. Call me crazy, but there are few things I enjoy more than going to the rec center and running 13 miles or climbing 80 flights of stairs. Maybe it’s a “runner’s high” or something, but cardio fitness has definitely become my drug of choice.

And New Covenant’s fitness contest came at a perfect time — January wasn’t as busy as other months and physically I’ve rarely felt healthier. Each day I logged my fitness minutes and at the end of the month I discovered to my delight that I had logged a whopping total of 1,120 minutes! I had run the equivalent of almost 5 marathons during January! I figured out that it totaled 36 minutes a day average.

I was feeling pretty smug about my accomplishment as well as my chances for winning “the prize” until it suddenly occurred to me how comparatively little time I had spent with God over that same time period. My excitement about and commitment for fitness had far exceeded my excitement and commitment for the Lord. Compared to the 36 minutes a day I spent working out, I wondered how many actual minutes per day I had spent alone with God in prayer and Bible reading. Was it even 10? Not likely.

I was convicted. Isn’t this idolatry? Isn’t this a violation of the first of the Ten Commandments? Isn’t this the sin of the Church in Ephesus in Revelation 2:4 when they left their “first love?” Wouldn’t it be considered a cosmic insult to be bounding out of bed early in the morning to run 6 miles while leaving my Bible on my bedstand? Yes on all accounts.

Because of this realization, I’ve made some immediate changes.

Apologize to God for my neglect of Him last month.

Stop obsessing over physical fitness. It’s good and important, but not THAT important. Certainly the quality of my personal relationship with God is WAY more important than the shape or condition of my body.

Let the contest be for those who really do need incentive for working out. I obviously don’t.

Start logging my quiet time minutes — not to make my walk with God a legalistic chore, but rather to give me a point of comparison between my physical and spiritual fitness. That way I’ll have an objective measurement of how much of my life was devoted to each. Then I will be able to honestly evaluate how I’m doing at putting first things first.

One of our Sr. High girls, Rebekah, called me last night to ask what we should do about Fred Phelps coming to town today (Friday). It was the first I’d heard about it, and I was so glad she called. That phone call has catapulted me into action (and I’m not normally an activist!)

Most of you know that Fred Phelps is the pastor of Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, KS. He is known for his protests and hateful signs aimed at gays in particular, but also anything related to America, patriotism, or the military. “God hates fags” is his famous slogan.

According to his website, his group is planning on protesting here in Cedar Rapids later today, Jan 15th at 6:45 pm! It will happen at Theatre Cedar Rapids to protest the opening performance of “The Laramie Project,” a play about local reactions to the 1998 Matthew Shephard murder. (Shephard was gay and his death was nationally considered to be a “hate crime.”)

According to this girl and another teen I talked to last night, students at school have been talking about the upcoming protest with disgust toward Phelps in particular (as they should), but also toward Christianity in general (which deeply saddens me).

Part of me is sad about it, but the bigger part of me is mad. Because he labels himself a “Christian” and throws out-of-context Bible verses around as weapons, Phelps’ antics work against all that we’re trying to do to reach our community, i.e. Prayer, Care, Share. He does not represent authentic Christianity — he draws attention to himself by condemning others, making a spectacle of himself before the hungry media, and garnering lots of attention in the process.

In contrast, we Christians are called to love people unconditionally, sacrificially, and with humility, offering grace, kindness, forgiveness, and blessing to all — even our enemies. Rather than approach people who are different than us with condemnation, we are to first introduce them to Jesus and then allow Him to change whatever may need changing. That’s the biblical pattern we see with Zaccheaus, Paul, Peter, Matthew, the woman at the well, etc.

WHAT TO DO? So back to this teen’s question — what should we do about the upcoming Fred Phelps protest circus? What I wish we’d all do is just ignore him entirely. Taking away the counter-protests and the subsequent media attention would be quickest way to take the wind out of his sails and end these ridiculous protests of his. But such blatant hate is so hard to ignore and it’s clear that it’s not going to happen in this case. The “counter protesters” [which likely includes agnostics, skeptics, freethinkers, gay supporters, concerned citizens, etc] are planning a peaceful “Wall of Angels” protest to show their disdain for Westboro’s hateful actions. My friend Andy The Atheist just Facebooked me saying he expects hundreds of such protesters to show up.

What about Christians specifically? What ought we do? Something or nothing? Let’s think this through.

NOTHING: This is the easy option. But what if only non-Christian “counter protesters” show up to demonstrate their opposition? What would we be communicating to them and to the watching world if true Christians remained completely silent about Fred Phelps? Might they think we agree with him and his tactics? Yes. I think that to do nothing communicates that we’re ok with Fred misrepresenting the Christianity that we hold so dear — it would say that his distortion doesn’t really bother us all that much.

SOMETHING: This option is not the easy one. What if a respectable number of Christians would come and stand side by side with our “fellow protesting” friends to show our shared disapproval of Westboro’s hate. What would that communicate? They’ll learn that true Christians are quick to take a stand against hate and who knows, perhaps we’ll even have opportunities for some great conversations with others who are there. I know some would fear that by doing so we’ll be perceived as sharing all the values of the other protesters. It’s a valid concern — communicating what Christianity really is is the issue here after all. So to make our intentions clear I’m suggesting that we Christians who have been mis-portrayed could all hold signs that simply say “GOD IS LOVE 1 John 4:8” to set the record straight.

CLOSING THOUGHT. The issue here is not about the right- or wrong-ness of homosexuality. People may have different opinions on that topic. The issue at stake tonight is the good name of Christianity and how Christians should treat people. By standing in opposition to Fred Phelps, we go on record that we oppose his posture of hate. That’s the issue here.

THE INVITATION. I’m inviting you to join me in joining the “Wall of Angels” tonight. The time is 6:45-7:30 pm on the sidewalk by the Theatre Cedar Rapids temporary building by Lindale Mall (the 1st Ave side across from Home Depot). Note: the mall won’t let us stand on the mall grounds so we’ll have to stay on the sidewalk along 1st Ave.

Let’s plan to meet as a group in the Home Depot parking lot at 6:30. I’ll have my bright orange striped van there as a landmark meeting spot so everyone can find our group. I’ll also have some “God is Love – 1 John 4:8” signs, but bring your own if you can. Invite your families, friends, people from other churches, etc. I’m hoping we’ll have a respectable turnout! We should be done at 7:30 and again my bright orange striped van can be a meeting spot for people getting rides.

Time is short, so please spread the word if this sounds good to you!

THE REPORT.

I was pleased that about 75 Christians showed up at the rally holding signs saying “God is Love – 1 John 4:8.” The total crowd was approximately 400 (my guess) so I’d say we had a respectable turnout. (Especially when you consider that my blog post’s “call to action” only went out 12 hours before the event. The other protesters started theirs 2 full days ahead of time.)

Fred Phelps and his crew didn’t show up to our disappointment, but it really didn’t matter because we weren’t there to attempt to address him personally, we were there to stand up against what he represents — hate towards others. It is also worth noting that there was not even one person holding up Phelpsy signs, indicating that such hateful actions haven’t pervaded our community.

There was an interesting feeling of unity and camaraderie as we mingled amongst the protesters. My friend, Andy the Atheist made it a point to come over and greet our group of Christ-followers, glad we were there. Fred Phelps, even in his absence, brought together atheists, agnostics, liberals, gay rights folks, and conservative, evangelical Christians. How often does that happen!

In hindsight, I think it speaks well that so many of us evangelicals were involved in this historic event. From now on we’ll be able to proudly say that churches including ours were right there on the front lines in opposition to the Fred Phelps ideology (we even had four of our pastors there!) I trust that this will open doors of communication with spiritual seekers. From now on, when Fred Phelps makes the national news our community will say, “Thank goodness, our local churches are not like that!”

We removed a barrier to the gospel last night and I’m glad to have been a part of it.

disclaimer: like every post on my blog, the views expressed here do not represent those of ncbc or my role as the youth pastor. They represent my views alone.

At the “sponsor hunt at the mall” just before New Year’s I wore an outlandish disguise which included a flashy silver-and-black gangster-looking sleeveless hoodie. One of the girls in the youth group liked it and asked to buy it afterward.

This past Sunday I thought it would be funny to wear this hoodie to church and then give it to the girl afterward. My family didn’t think it was so funny, but I persisted and wore it anyways as we sat in the front row. When it came time for the offering I suddenly remembered that I had agreed to fill in as an usher and so I began to stand up to do my duty. Realizing I had the silly hoodie on and that I was in the front row I found myself in an awkward situation. My family was justifiably mortified and tried to get me to take it off quickly, but I resisted, concluding that it would draw more attention to it if I proceeded to take it off than just to leave it on and pretend nothing was wrong.

My family’s adverse reaction bothered me at first — until I began to look inward. This week it has made me reflect on the things that I do and my motivation in doing them. At that moment in the pew maybe my motivation was sincerely to draw less attention to my wardrobe malfunction. Or maybe I was just being stubborn — not wanting to admit to an error in my judgment. Or maybe I wanted the extra attention that I inwardly knew would result from wearing such a getup while passing the plate. I suspect the latter is the closest to the truth.

This internal conversation with myself has also made me think about other things I do to draw attention to myself. I enjoy highlighting my extremeness, resilience, creativity, outlandishness, asceticism, etc. These are not necessarily bad things — in fact most are admirable qualities — but it’s my craving to be known as such that is the issue here.

I’ve concluded that the word for this particular sin of mine is Pride. It’s one of the hidden sins that no one can see but is one that scripture casts as being among the worst. Satan fell because of it. Israel was exiled because of it. Peter was humiliated by it before the cock crowed. “God opposes the proud.” “Pride goes before the fall.” etc.

The antidote to pride is humility. Which is why I needed to post this confession. And ask for prayer to get victory over the sin of pride in my life. And invite you to call me on it when you observe pride in me.

Today is the day we recognize Martin Luther’s attempt to reform the Catholic Church by nailing his famed “Ninety Five Thesis” to the door of the Wittenberg Church back in 1517. Luther pointed out some serious errors in the Church and tried to correct them; however, the Church resisted and so Protestantism inevitably began.

Recently, my atheist friend and I were talking and the subject came up about the oftentimes sordid history of the church — the hypocrisy, the attempts to control the masses, the lust for power, the outright scams (like the selling of indulgences and relic worship), and blatent evil (such as immorality and murder in Jesus’ name). As we talked, I was admittedly embarrassed by the behavior of the Church, which for much of its 2,000 year history has been notably wayward.

This conversation with my friend was very awkward and uncomfortable for me. Here I was trying to promote the validity of Christianity and yet, the very institution to which Jesus entrusted the proclamation of His name has been corrupt for almost all of its history. Making claims to my friend about Christianity’s veracity seemed almost laughable.

I thought, “How could God possibly have put up with all this abuse and corruption in His name?” If I were God, I’d have vaporized these evil people long ago! It doesn’t make sense that He would allow them to continue deceiving and destroying the masses — and even worse: doing it in His name! It seems to actually argue against the existence of God — I mean, wouldn’t He protect His good name rather than allow selfish men to profit by it over these centuries?

I became internally indignant as I thought about this. For most of the life of the Church, it has indeed been wayward. Why did God allow them to drift so far from Truth and not just kill them on the spot? I sure would have. It would have given me great pleasure!

Then I thought about me. For most of the life of me, I too have been wayward. Selfish, indulgent, indifferent, idolatrous, wrongly motivated, etc., — essentially corrupt. And aren’t I glad that God hasn’t just killed me on the spot! Would I so gladly receive the mercy, grace, patience, love and forgiveness that I have been given, but deny it for Christ’s own church?

My indignance about the church continued to soften when I thought, “At what point should God begin smiting those who rebel?” The instant they first stray? Or should He allow time for the wayward to repent? Personally I’m thankful for 2nd chances and 3rd chances, etc. Why wouldn’t I allow Him to treat His Church the same way He treats me?

It helped even more to reflect on the fact that God is a just God and ultimately all wrongs will eventually be righted. Scripture tells us in many places that believers and unbelievers alike will one day give account for all their actions. In the end, no one gets away with anything, though in the short-term it might feel like they do.

Romans 14:12 So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.

1Peter 4:5 But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

2 Cor 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

and many more…

Finally, it helped me to recognize that a wayward church — or a wayward believer like me for that matter — is no indictment against the existence of a holy God. Rather the fact that God restrains His hand from smiting us all instantly testifies to the fact that His attributes are far superior to mine.

Rather than lose heart or lose faith over the sinfulness of man, rejoice at how much Jesus, the Bridegroom, loves His wayward, unfaithful Bride,the church. And that He loves wayward you and wayward me.