Yesterday was a swirl of emotions. A sinking feeling when I got the text about a shooting on campus. Growing fear as we heard about the possibility of another victim. Relief that more weren’t killed. Sadness as I reflected on the lives that ended. left a wife and five kids. Five kids! A friend of mine had to deliver the news to the brand new widow.
So we walk today in the tension of relief and sadness. The awareness that things aren’t as bad as they could be and still not as good we wish.
Jesus told us this was the case. That the reality of God’s presence in our world doesn’t mean that evil isn’t also here. And the fact that evil remains (for now) doesn’t mean God is sitting idly by. He is active and reminds us to be active as well.
Peter said it like this, “God isn’t late with his promise as some measure lateness. He is restraining himself on account of you, holding back the End because he doesn’t want anyone lost.” 2 Peter 3.9 The Message
And it is Jesus’ example of unfair suffering that inspires me to action. He died for a purpose, for the Kingdom. For us. Now he calls on me to lay down my life as he did.
Yesterday reminds me this life isn’t a game.
I am conflicted about the Occupy Wall Street movement.
I can understand the frustration that many feel when they think about our current political system. Â I feel that pursuit of power and lack of willingness to serve is not connected with any political party. Â It is a part of who we are as people. Â So, I get the idea that “Just vote them out,” only replaces one problem with another. Â We are almost always in campaign mode and the problems of our country and world require more focus than they receive.
I can also understand the frustration of those who look at the ways the OWS movement is getting in the way of the commerce of the regular working class people they are claiming to represent. Â The excesses, the question of whether it will ever really amount to anything. Â Who are the 99%, do they really represent me, and what is it that they would suggest that is better?
This certainly isn’t the first to handle that dilemma, but I like it and wanted to pass it along. Â Thoughts?
Jesus Ween. Â Let it sink in. Â Jesus Ween. Â 
Here is the from Tamara Gignac of the . Â Please know, it isn’t the heart of what Paul Ade is doing that is the problem as much as the cheese factor of the naming.
CALGARY — Tiny ghosts and goblins hoping for sugary snacks may find something odd in their loot bags this Halloween: a bible.
A Calgary pastor is promoting Jesus Ween, a faith-based alternative to the traditional holiday fare of candy and spooky garb.
Instead of chocolate bars and gummy bears, he’s asking people to shun demonic costumes and instead dole out pocket-sized bibles or other “Christian gifts.”
The idea has caught on in communities across North America, according to Jesus Ween creator Paul Ade. He’s hoping it will bring a new perspective to an otherwise pagan festival, he said.
“I do not associate myself with ghosts, demons, Satan and witches. These are things I want to get rid of,” he said.
“If it’s OK for a child to know about demons, it should also be OK for a child to know about Jesus.”
Jesus Ween has attracted international attention, with media reports circulating as far away as Britain.
The Calgary man’s efforts to reinvent Halloween even prompted parody south of the border, with recent gags from U.S. pop culture satirist Stephen Colbert and late-night television host Jimmy Kimmel.
I guess I have a few concerns about this whole . Â I mean, beyond the potential misuse of millions of dollars in endowment
money…
What is clear here is that the church leadership is trying to blend two things that I feel are not good to blend. Â 1) the scriptural challenge to help one another out – this one I like; and then 2) the cultural value of keeping others away from us – this one I don’t. 🙂
It would seem that the church is so comfortable maintaining distance between the leadership and the members that they don’t see the disconnect. Â So you get “Please help out by sending over meals – but give them to the limo drivers, please don’t come by our home.”
Am I the only one who is bothered by this?
On this day in 1517, the priest and scholar  approaches the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, and nails a piece of paper to it containing the 95 revolutionary opinions that would begin the Protestant Reformation.
If you want a brief rundown of the ensuing years, hit .
And so began the Protestant movement, even though it wasn’t called that until a number of years later.
I am a product of that, especially now that I am a pastor of a non-denominational church near Va. Tech. Â My question is, “do we as Protestants, or better yet, do I as a Protestant, protest too much?” Â This question comes up as we as a church are in the midst of a series on the Lord’s Prayer. Â A prayer that many recite weekly in church’s all over the world.
We as a church don’t.
And my question is, is that good? Â Is it good to include in the general flow of a Sunday gathering time something that can easily become rote and mundane? Â Or the counter, is it wise to not regularly participate in one of the traditions the church has widely participated in over the centuries?
My concern with the former is that we can easily mishandle very sacred things. Â A bit like eating on the good china everyday somehow reduces the specialness of it. Â But my concern with not engaging in its reading and reciting is that I am pushing away something very valuable just to show that we are different.
To be fair, to me and the elder team I lead with, we have thought about this a great deal. Â We aren’t just pushing away tradition for the sake of pushing away tradition. Â But, on the anniversary of this moment in time that truly created a fork in the road, I do wonder if there are areas I simply protest for reasons less well thought out. Â How much of my decision making is influenced by the fact I am a Protestant, who is in ministry primarily among generations that are much more comfortable determining what they are against than what they are for.
So… thoughts?
Peace, Jim
So… what did you learn over your sabbatical? Â Â I mean, the question itself is tough. Â But I do feel that God showed me
a couple of things…  One of the things that I have been reflecting on for the past number of months is my posture. Not my physical posture, although that is something I have been trying to be more aware of. My spiritual posture. My emotional posture.
I think that God is calling me to focus on a posture of grace and receptivity in this next season of life and ministry. Just before my sabbatical started, I had the opportunity to be a part of a coaches’ training time through Ecclesia. A was leading it out. Overall great stuff, fairly Jungian (in a good way), listening stuff. The leader, Brian helped me to bring together the discipline of asking good questions and through doing so, helping someone hear God’s voice.
What struck me was how difficult it was to not insert my own.
In his fantastic book, , Malcom Gladwell hits on that very thought. “The key to good decision making is not knowledge. It is understanding. We are swimming in the former. We are desperately lacking in the latter.†(p. 265) His point is that we have the capacity to, in areas that we feel competent and experienced in, to make blink judgements. Draw conclusions in two seconds. The longer I walk with God, I grow both more comfortable and less with that.
I am probably more comfortable, challenged, and clear on what God wants me to do than I have been in a long time. I am seeing fruit from my efforts – it is working. In the way I have asked God to make it work, on the timeline that I have asked for it to work. It doesn’t always happen that way, so I love the ride. That gives me a sense of confidence.
Just checking in to update that my sabbatical is going very well. Â If anything, it is going by too fast!
I am sensing God’s voice in a few areas, have done some very prelimary work on the next book, read ten others, and have been able to study a number of scriptural areas in great depth. Â All this while our family planted a garden, traveled a bit, took a few naps and have had a lot of family time!
My sabbatical ends Aug 6 and things will be nuts for a while. Â I should be back in the blogging groove by early Sept.
Peace!
Jim
So, a number of people have contacted me and asked about why my postings have dropped over the past few months.
Fair question with an easy answer. Since May 15th I have been on sabbatical, and for the roughly month and a half before that, I was getting ready to go on that sabbatical.  It got a little nuts.
The first six weeks of my sabbatical is intended to be a writing sabbatical where I would be able to do some very preliminary work on the next book; very preliminary.  I also want to continue some things to help promote the first one. The second six weeks would be straight sabbating. Some focused reflection in the morning and then just enjoying whatever we as a family wanted to do, by ourselves or with friends.
A bunch of people have asked what the point of a sabbatical is.
To the second question. No. Certainly God has the ability to guide us wherever he chooses to, but, no indications that we are leaving the area or [nlcf] anytime soon.
Now for the first question, is this just another word for a vacation? The simple answer is, kinda.  The word we get vacation from is actually vacationem (nom. vacatio) “leisure, a being free from duty. It also means freedom or release from an occupation or duty. So, in that way, it does fit. This summer I am not doing the things that I have spent the last 15 years doing in my ministry work as they relate to my job. No teaching, no coaching of staff and leaders, no meetings, no planning, no assessing, no networking or helping out with any of the churches, congregations, and non-profits [nlcf] has started or helped to start.  I certainly continue to live my life as a follower of Jesus, I just don’t do certain occupational activities I have been doing for [nlcf].
That is certainly a release from my occupational duties. And it has been great!
However, it doesn’t fit most people’s idea of a vacation in other ways. The term sabbatical comes from the Mosaic code of the Old Testament.  It meant, the 7th year where the land was to remain untilled, slaves were to have been released, and debtors relieved of their debts.  If you look at the Mosaic code, you get the intent of the sabbatical or Sabbath year. It wasn’t just do take a random break, it was to take a reprieve from the demands of yearly planting so the ground could actually be more fruitful in the future.  It was to stop doing some things to remember more fully who God created them to be.
That is very similar to what I am trying to do. I have been on staff with [nlcf] for 15 years. I started as a staffer who had never led a small group and who was still a pretty new follower of Jesus. Think of where I started as the equivalent of the corporate mailroom. As the years progressed I have had just about every job in [nlcf] you can have. I even led worship one pitiful Sunday.
The reason I think God guided me to ask for the sabbatical this summer, and the reason I think he guided my co-pastors, friends and Tracy to encourage it, was that I needed to take time away and let the ground remain untilled. Get away from the demands of helping to guide a church and all that requires and take time to allow the ground to soak up a few extra nutrients.  Step back a bit and reflect on whether I am becoming more fully the man God has created me to be.
I have already had more time to spend with my family, and that has been wonderful. God speaks to me so much through them. I have already read five great books and look forward to many more. I have been able to sit down and read Leviticus in a sitting (not everyone would say that is a good thing) 🙂  I have had more time than normal to pray and more time than normal to reflect. We have had a few neighbors over, with plans for more. We have had the opportunity to help a few people that needed it.  We have planted a garden for the first time ever and I am getting to some yard and house work that has been long overdue.
In his closing , JR answers the question, “Do you think Rob Bell is a heretic?”
What did you think of JR’s take?
Peace, Jim
In part five, JR continues the discussion of whether or not God’s love extends beyond the grave. Â Take a !
Peace, Jim
