Sunday, June 28, 2015

Old and Still Learning

Yesterday I had one of those golden moments with my eldest grandson. He and two of my other grandchildren rode with me to the family reunion in Dublin, Tx and he was instructed by his  mother (who rode in the other car with 3 adults and only one of the grandkids) to stay off his iPhone. Phoebe had her headphones on and had worm-holed her way into some musical. Lincoln was tuned into the 18th showing of Berenstein Bears. Eli  mostly obeyed and really his mother left him with me, the one  who has long since left the disciplining to the parents who thought these kids were a great idea. I am just along to lend a little humor and perspective.

So when we rolled through Glen Rose and Fossil Rim, we got to talking about dinosaurs and T-Rexs  and mastodons and all things dinosaur-ish. We talked about the different "enes" with Jurassic dominating the conversation. But the conversation really took an interesting turn when I asked him, "What do you think about the Bible not mentioning these animals at all?" For the next few minutes we talked about the early chapters of Genesis and I mentioned a few theories that I had studied while getting my masters, when he said the most amazing thing.

"I think the dinosaurs happened before the bible, then God started the bible, (and this is the place where my mind was blown) and after that is finished he will start another bible"....

I looked at him trying to get my mind around the implications of that thought. Then looked at the road, then back at him, road, him. He had said it with such nonchalance, such assurance of thought. It had never ever occurred to me that this experiment we call humanity might simply be a phase of God's cosmic timeline. Yet this 12 year old, this cherished boy, this young man who has great athletic ability, strong in math, weak in reading, could easily get his mind around a concept as profound as he had just simply stated. There will be those of you who will see the true miracle here, I was speechless.

Think about the implications of this simple theory. What does this do to our science vs religion debate? What does this do to most of our philosophical "ologies"? End times debate becomes a much different conversation. And as often happens in my head the thought strings started going in all directions. Rex's peeking through the knothole in the fence in heaven (because you know they will keep us all separated) and wondering, "Who are those puny little creatures and how did they get here? God let them in?" Then centuries later, we are looking over the fence and wonder how the new "chosen" are so tiny that a universe of them fit on the surface of a golfball. Plus they look like mold. And on and on and on. It is only the human's arrogance that deludes us into believing that we are the end of the work that is called GOD. After all, we claim he is eternal. You think he wants to spend eternity with only us? Just look at the current debates on FB and I don't want to spend eternity with us.

This thought will keep me going for months. And it was uttered by a 12-yr-old boy who would rather be playing on his iPhone than talking to me. Humility comes in all forms.

Godspeed to all you grandparents out there. These grandkids are more than just little people to be spoiled. They bring insight and understanding and mind blowing new thoughts. Wow, just wow.
Don

Thursday, June 25, 2015

The Force Is Strong..

At a certain point in our lives we experience a portion of the journey that seems mundane. We get up, go to work, work, go home, go to bed.. Hit reset, do the same tomorrow. The world becomes routine and the people are always the same. There is certain blandness to the entire deal.

But every once in a great while we have something happen that gets the juices flowing. It can be something that starts another leg of the journey or it could be a split second of adventure.

Yesterday I was driving to work in my 2005 Blazer. I had gotten a late start due to a dust up between my youngest daughter's dog, newly named Knucklehead, and a donkey. Of course as I write that last sentence I realize that may be the better blog post. Focus is going to be an issue today. So the drive was a little different because I took a route that I normally avoid due to traffic. But today, because of my late start, I was clanking  along at 50mph minding my own business and drinking my Starbucks. I was in the left hand lane as the highway was about to merge with another main highway. Suddenly I realized that out of nowhere someone's hubcap had come off and was spinning in my direction.

Now this hubcap was normal hubcap size, but I could see the little clips that are supposed to lock it onto the wheel spinning at highway speeds. And this is where my imagination kicks in. As I registered the enormous and seemingly unavoidable spinning wheel of death heading towards me at supersonic speeds, I found myself channeling an odd mix of Neo and Luke. The Blazer and I had only micro-seconds to bend ourselves (remember that now all this is in slow motion) away from the whirling blades of destruction. A dodge to the left onto the shoulder, a readjustment to the right to miss the barrier, a snap of a glance at the projectile as it spun past the copilot window, and then safely past the ominous danger. I looked ahead to find the enemy vehicle and spotted a beat up, small, white sedan. It was the moment of coming back to earth. It was simply a ride to work. Sigh.

In reality I probably looked a lot more like Po, and less like Neo. But the great things about imagination is that you can look any way you want. You can channel whatever you want. You can live in a world of danger and intrigue and wonder. For a moment your adrenals get this great workout, leaving the little guys in your adrenal glands clasping their hamstrings from the sudden effort. For a few minutes longer you get to enjoy the rush of adrenaline and be the star in your own movie.  Perhaps we should have a little moment like this every day. Maybe it would alert us to the fact that life should be lived with a good load of adrenaline.

So I survived the attack. But I still had to park in my spot at work. Heft my backpack into my office. And begin the day dealing with unimaginative people and situations I had dealt with for years. Neo and Luke and even Po had to come inside and finish the paperwork.

But for one split second...the Force was with me...

Godspeed, to those who still live an exciting life, even if it is only in their head.
Don

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

What If...?

There is a current debate and more then a little angst swirling around the data showing that the religious institution called "church" is eroding. It is clear indication from the number of attendees to the number of located churches that are diminishing that the institution is in decline. We can argue the finer points of this statement, but all the indications, which are numerous, point to a slow and agonizing death.

Along with the analysis of the data is the following concerns. Whom to blame and what can we do seem to be garnering a lot of the conversation. And the list for blame is extensive from the current entrenched leadership to the ungrateful young people and all in between seems to grow by the day. We have developed terms to catalog the different sections of this erosion, "Dones" and "Nones" and "Fringe" and "unchurched" all are marked as contributors to this demise.

A much shorter list is the "what can we do" column. It is, in fact, blank.

We blame the current leaders and assign them the motives of power hungry old guys. Almost without exception we say, "Individually they are nice guys, but as a group, they are to blame." My instinct tells me that it is easy to blame a group of men, but when we put someone's face to it that we know and love and respect, then we need an out. Thus the above statement.

The Dones and Nones have just said, "Screw it, we're out" and have left the building. Even though they/we still stand in the parking lot and toss religious rocks at the windows. It is much easier to stand outside and feel religiously superior to having to quash our natural instincts for argument and trying to help.

Young people of every generation have been on the road to hell since Cain knocked Abel to the ground and tried to cover it up. Nothing new here. It's just that they are so smug in their indifference. Drives me crazy.

Each group has their own issues and their own preconceived ideas about how this works and they are all partially right and mostly wrong. We have also blamed the erosion of the moral fiber of our culture. The Dems and Repubs can't get along, Breeders and LGBT are at each other, the number crunchers and the word eaters, the left and the right, the white and the others, on and on and on. The slow, but accelerating descent has most of us gasping for breath. And the church has not kept up with all these events and factions.

So the church is declining because the few reasons above and blaming all above. But WHAT IF the simple reason for all of this is because we have missed an important element of God's mission. You see, we tend to believe the mission is a static. It is a level to be attained, or a position to be defended, or a bulls-eye in the middle of a target. But if the mission is constantly moving from here to there and onward, then the "spot" we fixate on will be behind the place where God is moving.

An analogy that occurred to me this morning was mobile phones (by using that term I realize I have just given an indication of my age). The first mobile phones were called mobile because we could move about with them. It was not easy because the battery pack was equivalent both in size and weight  to a cinder block. You had to have a shoulder strap and be in relatively good shape just to carry them. And they only had one function, to make a call or send a call. That was it. And you had to remember the numbers (yes, kids, like in your head) to dial them up. Of course you never knew who the incoming call was until you answered. Scary by todays standards. I think what the church has done is put a death grip on the technology of the earliest mobile phones, believing that this is the spot in technology that God has ordained as the end of the mission. So church leaders clamp down on this spot in the technology, squinch their eyes shut , and brand anyone with newer technology as a heretic.

"But just look at this new IPhone 6, it can send and receive emails, it can play music, it can..."

"STOP, STOP, Leave me Alone, God wants us all to lug around this mobile phone!"

"Listen, if you will just try it.."

"You are from SATAN, this mobile is just the way God WANTS it! Get out! "

Dones and Nones: "Forget it, these guys are just trying to control us, they are power hungry and don't care about us"

Young people: " Is he ok? Weird."

The trajectory of technology forges onward, as does the mission of God. It is not his place to slow down and help find comfort in old doctrinal distinctives or even old theology. It is a mission and it will move forward at the pace that works for the mission. We must find ways to constantly shed ourselves of the old "technology" and embrace technology that matches the moment. Before my email blows up, yes I am familiar with the "same yesterday, today, tomorrow" view of God. But I do not believe this pertains to method or practice. It pertains to the Nature of God. He is and always will be love, compassion, truth, integrity, etc. But He has shown both in the old book and in ticking through the decades since a willingness to change His methods and means to accomplish His mission.

To the leaders: unclench a little, peek around a little and see if you can see the trajectory of the mission instead of the moment in time that provides the most comfort.

Nones and Dones: Give the leaders a break, instead of categorizing their current posture in the least favorable light, how about we understand their fear of letting go and their stomach churning responsibility towards the community of faith?

Young people: You are way ahead of us. New theology is second nature to you, it terrifying to us.

But lets drop the pretense about having ANY answers and lift our eyes to the blazing comet above us that is the mission of God and try to find our place in that trajectory. None of us will see the end, none of us saw the beginning, but we can ride along while we are here.

Godspeed to the Spirit walkers who help us see the blaze, and to the ones who have just enough faith to let go of the cinder block of old doctrine. It is a wild and crazy ride!
Don