The Incredible Incarnation

I've been reflecting on the hope of the Incarnation for several months now. The fact that God has chosen to redeem and renew in the particular way He has chosen to do it (God becoming man) is one of the key ideas that inspires hope for me on a day to day basis.

My thoughts and reflections culminated in what you read below. My prayer is that it would inspire in you even a glimmer of the hope we have in a God who works in ways that are radically different than what we might expect.

Hope Incarnate

The greatest mystery known to me,
(If mystery truly known can be),
Is that in human flesh and bone
God would come to make a home.

What novelist could make this up?
Power poured in paper cup,
Helpless babe in feed trough laid
Whose very word the earth had made

If God would stoop to this degree,
Then maybe there is hope for me.

Food for thought...

I've really been enjoying Willzhead lately. He pointed me to a list by Rod Dreher of The Crunchy Conservative. The list contains five things that Rod no longer believes as a result of the Iraq war. You can read the list for yourself here, but I personally want to highlight the first item. Rod writes,

1. Having been absolutely certain that the war was the right thing to have done, and that we would prevail easily, I am no longer confident that I can discern when emotion is affecting my judgment unduly.

If nothing else, can we all admit that we have a really tough time drawing completely objective conclusions, especially when we are afraid to listen to differing opinions. If Jesus is the truth, and if the truth will set us free, then why are we afraid to actively look for the truth everywhere. Why is it so hard to be teachable? Why the refusal to admit that often we choose based on what we want instead of what is really true? Why are we so quick to arrive at conclusions and then to dismiss the thoughts of those we don't agree with? Thanks Rod, for helping us remember that just because we think/feel like we are 100% right, a little humility is always wise.

And I can say without a doubt that I have reached this conclusion in a purely objective manner. If you disagree then you'd better smarten up! :)

Teenage Affluenza

Interesting video. Take some time to watch it and show it to those around you.

Thanks to Willzhead for the link...

A Fearless Finder of Words...

I really loved this quote.

"The poet's job is to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, in such a beautiful way that people cannot live without it, to put into words those feelings we all have that are so deep, so important, and yet so difficult to name. The poet's job is to find a name for everything: to be a fearless finder of the names of things: to be an advocate for the beauty of language, the subtleties of language."

-- Jane Kenyon, poet, A Hundred White Daffodils (Greywolf Publishing)

I think that to some degree, all Christians are called to be poets - fearlessly finding words about Jesus that deeply impact those who hear them. Walter Brueggemann, who I met with on sabbatical, constantly stresses that the only words that can really convey God are poetic words. God cannot be reduced to principles and propositions...the only words that do Him justice are poetry.

Kenyon's quote and Brueggemann's ideas inspired me to write this...

One Day...

Humor the begging poet
Gathering his word scraps,
Envisioning a feast.

For one day
When your cup of reason breaks
You may find yourself hungry
Longing for his table.

Words about God should touch us deeply and change us. What an honor and responsibility to share those types of words with the world.

Ever been misunderstood?

Here's another poem I've written.

"What you tried to say"

A word is just a bucket
That you fill with what you mean
An unusual transaction
Not as simple as it seems

For when you pass that bucket
To another on the way
They drink up what they think you mean
From what you tried to say

Further thoughts that may get me in trouble...

Wow, my blog entry (and the discussion that has ensued...both online, via email, and in person) sure has stirred my thinking. My nephew Matt (who is articulate, intelligent, and one of the few people I would support in a run for the President of the US) took some time to write about the history of "The Pledge." It was very educational. He writes,

"Your conflict over pledging allegiance to the flag is not really a new phenomenon. The Jehovah's Witness' have always said that such an action conflicts with their faith. They claim that it creates a graven image and cite the book of Exodus. There was a lot of hoopla about this in the 1940's and the Supreme Court of the US handed down several opinions regarding the rights of Americans not to salute the American flag or say the pledge.

Initially the Court held that Jehovah's Witnesses should be required to salute the flag or pledge to the flag (Gobitis decision), but it later overturned this ruling in West Va Board of Education v. Barnette. In these decisions the Court came to in the end, I think, the right decision. First, it held that people do not have to recite the pledge, but second that the purpose of the pledge was never to supersede any religious commitments. This decision was furthered a couple of years later when the words "under God" were added into the pledge. I think the reasoning of why these words were added is also worth considering in describing the purpose and scope of the pledge of allegiance.

The story goes that President Eisenhower was initially opposed to the phrase "under God" being added to the pledge until he had a conversation with a pastor about the issue. The pastor told him that in the current pledge nothing differentiated us from the Soviets or any other pagan nation. He basically voiced the same concerns that you had, that we're pledging allegiance to a nation and not to our sovereign God whose provision has sustained our nation, an admittedly legitimate concern. This one conversation changed Eisenhower's perspective, and several weeks later (on Flag Day ironically enough) he signed into law this important change to the pledge of allegiance. I think that the words that Ike spoke on that day are significant as well. He said that:

'From this day forward, the millions of our schoolchildren will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural schoolhouse, the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty. '

He also later wrote that:

'These words ["under God"] will remind Americans that despite our great physical strength we must remain humble. They will help us to keep constantly in our minds and hearts the spiritual and moral principles which alone give dignity to man, and upon which our way of life is founded.'

Eisenhower even labeled the pledge as a "public prayer." I go through all of this to show that the pledge of allegiance was not intended to be an open profession of allegiance to only the United States of America or to the actions of its government. It was never purposed to show unwavering support for the whims of men and women in America's government, like the current war in Iraq. That's never been and should not be the purpose of it. If it was, I would not pledge allegiance to it. A perspective such as this ignores the rich history of our country and this simple pledge. This voluntary pledge recognizes that our nation exists because of God and under God. It says that we have the freedom we enjoy and take for granted because of God. It acknowledges our nation's reliance on God. And most importantly, it recognizes God's provision for our nation and asks for His continued care. The history of the pledge is to me amazing.

I agree that the meaning of the pledge has been lost by many in the move to be politically correct. Most people have forgotten the true history of our pledge completely. But the pledge is what you make it to be. I think the Gobitis Court said it best when it wrote that "there is no doubt that, in connection with the pledges, the flag salute is a form of utterance...(but) a person gets from a symbol the meaning he puts into it." Thus, I personally have no problem saluting my flag for the simple reason that the salute reaffirms that my nation is itself "under God." Thus my religious commitments are not superseded by this statement, but are instead strongly confirmed. When I say my pledge to my country, I am expressing not only my love for my country, but I'm also acknowledging that the freedom that I so enjoy comes only through my Saviour's grace and love. The history of this pledge is so telling."

See, I told you he was amazing. And while I really don't want to talk much more about the pledge (I won't discuss it here after this), I give you the following paragraph in order to clarify some of the questions raised from the last blog. I am begining to understand that for many, the pledge is what you make it, and that history has much to say to that. The danger for me comes in that for many others, it’s also what they make it to be. In any communication, meaning is determined to a great degree by those who hear the communication. When the rest of the world sees the church pledging allegiance to the flag of the US, we should probably not be surprised that they draw some unusual conclusions in regards to what Christianity entails. I think my jealousy for the use of words (See my blog entry on that issue) is one of the things that makes me uneasy with the pledge. Eisenhower realized, thanks to some counsel, that apart from the phrase “under God”, the pledge was no different than any other secular oath. My fear is that the balance of the pledge comes to shape what “under God” means. In a nutshell, I think that if the pledge is to be a prayer for our country, then I would prefer to pray it to God, not begin by affirming my allegiance to a flag that has a huge diversity of "meanings" to people around the world. It’s interesting that this issue rose to the top, as it was such a small part of the blog that I wrote.

READER ALERT - I am about to venture into what I call "thinking out loud"! These are statements and questions that are floating around in my head at this time. You may not agree with these ideas...but guess what? I may not either. This blog is a way of helping me sort them through. I'd love to hear your perspectives (Especially you Kimberly Clark people) so feel free to comment below. It will help me in the process to hear from you. Now...back to our regularly scheduled programming.

The blog surfaced out of my internal conflicts arising from living in the US again. I often feel like someone who has brought a non-Christian to church for the first time. As you sit with your guest you begin to see the rituals and the traditions from a whole new perspective. You may even wonder if some of the things we do in church actually make it harder for new comers to understand and discern why we are there. In a similar way, my time outside the US has challenged my thinking. Many of my Canadian non-Christian friends have a very warped view of Christianity largely because of what they see as the amalgamation of Christianity and government in the US. That makes me (in my discussions with them regarding Jesus) quick to define Christianity apart from being an American. To my dismay, I have realized anew that there is a growing effort in the US to link the two. From a Canadian perspective, a church endorsing (even implicitly) the killing of thousands of Iraqi civilians (some say hundreds of thousands) in order to maintain freedom (which is often equated to freedom to worship or economic prosperity), it seems that we are little different from the fundamentalists Muslims who will kill to advance their faith.

As I have written before (see here and here), I am very concerned about the use (and overuse) of words. I think that often we speak too quickly. We don’t understand the intricacies of meaning. We adopt words because we have assigned a meaning to them and we assume that others assign the same meaning. One word that I have come to wonder about lately is the word “freedom”. What does it mean? It is used repeatedly in America. We are fighting for freedom. We are free. We want others to be free. But what does that mean? Does it mean freedom of opportunity? Does it mean economic prosperity? Does it mean personal autonomy, or at least greater autonomy than would exist in other places?

And how does it relate to the Biblical use of the word? “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Gal. 5:1, NIV) Is the freedom that the Bible speaks of related to the freedom that Americans mean when they say “Freedom isn’t free”? Are we commanded as believers to pursue freedom, and if so, what type of freedom should we pursue? If we are free, does that mean that we have been given this freedom as a blessing from God? What about others who aren’t free? Have they not been given the same blessing? Why not? Is our “freedom” a result of spiritual obedience? Have others been disobedient? The early church had no freedom like that of present day America, is that a significant fact?

I have concern that we have accepted the word "freedom" without critically thinking about what it means. Let me give you one of the implications of this that troubles me personally. If by freedom we mean some combination of opportunity and prosperity, does our freedom give believers a right to kill (or to support killing) in order to defend it?

How do we approach this issue of “our freedom” without wrestling with the words of Jesus, “…take up your cross…lay down your life…”? I think one of the major problems in working through these ideas is the difference between “Empire” and “The Kingdom of God”. (For a really good introduction to the tension between Kingdom and Empire you should listen to my brother Mike talk about it here.) I fully believe that an Empire should, at times, fight. I think the US was (to some degree) morally justified in entering Afghanistan. And I do greatly treasure the freedoms that I have in this "Empire" and count as EXTREMELY precious the lives that were given to allow my freedoms. The Kingdom of God, however, calls me to lay down my rights (and even my freedoms) so that the Kingdom may expand into the lives of others. I think it’s fair to say that the Kingdom has never been advanced by the Empire’s use of force. That’s why the church needs to be ever vigilant when it comes to endorsing the means of Empire. We have to work within the Empire, and we have to seek the good of the Empire. A example of this was the Jewish exile in Babylon. They were commanded to pray for and to seek the prosperity of Babylon. The challenge comes when the Empire agenda and the Kingdom agenda collide.

This puts believers in a very difficult position, especially ones who are called to play a leadership role in the Empire (like my nephew). I’m not sure how all that plays out and I guess I’m excited to watch him walk that journey…so I can learn (His passion for politics is only surpassed by his passion for Jesus).

I will admit that I’m glad that’s not my calling. At the same time, however, I am very thankful that it is his.

P.S. If you don't like my lack of concrete answers in this post please reread the disclaimer that I make in the upper right hand corner of my blog...

"I fully realize that I've not succeeded at answering all your questions. Indeed I feel that I've not answered any of them completely. The answers I have found only work to raise a whole new set of questions which only lead to more questions - some of which we weren't even aware were problems in the first place. To sum up -- in some ways I feel that we are as confused as ever, but I do believe that we are confused on a higher level and about more important things." (Unknown)

A Triple Header...

Okay, some of you may find this a little unusual, but we went to church 3 times yesterday. It was awesome. Our first service was at what has been our home church here - Shades Mountain Independent. We are part of an amazing Sunday School Class and the kids just love their classes too. It's so nice to hear them chattering after class about how much they learned and how much they enjoyed it. For the Worship Service the Sr. Pastor was away. The Worship/Music Pastor preached. He always does an amazing job by bringing together a choir, orchestra, and soloists in a worshipful way, but who would have known he's an awesome preacher too. His name is Kevin Moore and the sermon is really worth hearing...it should show up here eventually. He used a great example of showing mercy...see the video clip here.

After church we grabbed lunch and did some shopping, and then made our way to Red Mountain Church for the 4:00 pm service. We heard about this church due to its music. For some samples go here. They only sing old hymns (like 1800's old) but have set them all to very contemporary music. They are also very liturgical, which provides for a clear focus during worship. We loved it as well.

From there we headed back to Shades Mtn. for the evening prayer service. An amazing day. All this week the kids are either volunteering or participating at Day Camp/Vacation Bible School at Shades Mtn. While we're happy to call GBC home, there are some awesome churches in Birmingham!!

Love this bumpersticker...

If you don't know who Lucy Pevensie is...you should find out!

Immerse Me in Your Story, God.

Update (6/11/07)- My wife wants me to add that I wrote this...and since she's so pretty I will comply. Hope you like it...(Jeff)

Immerse me in your story God.
From tempting fruit and serpent’s lies.
To Abraham with knife held high
And heart that longs to die.

Fill me with the joy he knew
When ram was laid upon the stone
Isaac journeyed with Him home
To Sarah’s laughing smile

Immerse me in your story God
Shepherd boy ascends to throne
Giant killer, five smooth stones
Your power through the weak

How beautiful the twist of plot
From lustful king to heart like yours
Broken vessel from which you pour
Yourself – in poet’s prayers

Immerse me in your story God
The prophets ate your book and said
Words to those who wished them dead
Who often got their wish

In death they told your story well
What others didn’t want to see
A prophet saw with clarity
My hope - To have their eyes

Can these bones live?
You know, O Lord, they can.

Your WORD has come, and story told
A story quiet, story free
Life from death, sweet irony
Renewing all who hear

Far more than words on page, in air
They aren’t just heard, they shape
Add to me as well as take
Like breath to dead bones giv’n

A story told with joyful pain.
Describing who I am to be, undoing, captivating me
The me my dark eyes can’t yet see
The me you’re telling me to be

Not just murder...it's suicide.

Anyone who writes can appreciate the beauty of a well turned phrase. There is something powerful about the way words are put together. Recently I've been listening to a song by Derek Webb (we saw him live here). It's called "This too shall be made right." There is a strong prophetic edge to this song. It cuts to the core of the way we live our lives and yet pulls back the curtain on hope...this too shall be made right. That's why we long for the Kingdom. Here's the lyric...the music and his voice add to the effect. It's worth buying the song from Itunes...

people love you the most for the things you hate
and hate you for loving the things that you cannot keep straight
people judge you on a curve and tell you you’re getting what you deserve
this too shall be made right

children cannot learn when children cannot eat
stack them like lumber and children cannot sleep
children dream of wishing wells whose waters quench all the fires of Hell
this too shall be made right

the earth and the sky and the sea are all holding their breath
wars and abuses have nature groaning with death
we say we’re just trying to stay alive but it looks so much more like a way to die
this too shall be made right

there’s a time for peace and there is a time for war
a time to forgive and a time to settle the score
a time for babies to lose their lives a time for hunger and genocide
this too shall be made right

I don’t know the suffering of people outside my front door
I join the oppressors of those who i choose to ignore
I’m trading comfort for human life and that’s not just murder it’s suicide
this too shall be made right

The Use and Abuse of Words...

We abuse what we overuse. We overuse words. Like the squeaky door or the leaky faucet, we notice it at first. But with continued neglect we can learn to ignore it. So are words. They have meaning. They have value. But their overuse can dilute their power. As a preacher I am jealous for words. They are all I have to describe and communicate that which is really beyond description and communication. Their power is important to me. Their abuse makes my job more difficult. Barbara Brown Taylor in her amazing little book, When God is Silent, uses words quite effectively to describe what I am writing about. She says,

“In our lifetimes, language has taken a terrible hit…There is first the assault of consumerism, which forces words to make promises they can’t keep…words are chosen not for their truthfulness, but for their seductiveness. What they mean is beside the point. What they seem to mean is all that counts…

While it is really a variety of consumerism, journalism has launched its own assault on language…The attack is not so much on the truthfulness of words as it is on their longevity. At my house, pounds of The New York Times and Wall Street Journal are tossed aside with whole sections unread. My guilt over this is softened by the knowledge that the newsprint will have a second life. Once a month I haul it to the county recycling center, where it is shredded into cheap bedding for local chicken houses. After the chickens are through with it, I am told, it is feed to cows who somehow benefit from the nutrients in it. That yesterday’s forty-eight-point headline becomes tomorrow’s cow food is a process that is as pragmatic as it is strange. The moral is that there is no sense getting attached to the news, not to the realities a reporter’s words represent. How did that community recover from the hurricane? What happened to the children after their mother died of AIDS?...Don’t ask. Just let it go. There will be more stories tomorrow that are just as compelling. The word is transitory, cheap….

A third assault on the nobility of language is the sheer proliferation of words with which most of us are faced each day…The words keep coming at us through an ever-expanding variety of media – so many words that some days it sounds as it we live our lives against a wall of constant noise…The most unfortunate side-effect of all the noise is that many of us have become hard of hearing. We learn to filter out words that are not necessary to our lives the same way we learn to sleep in a house near railroad tracks. Our brains protect us from the daily barrage of words by increasing our resistance to them.” (p. 9-14)

Taylor’s point is that we stop listening and start filtering. We don’t hear the words. Does it bother anyone that we say we “love” ice cream, we “love” American Idol, and we “love” God? We use words without thinking about their meaning. I don’t have a way out of this dilemma, I’m better at identifying problems than solving them, but I think we have to agree that in a world drenched with words, the danger of meaning being washed away is real.

A couple stands before me, the minister, as they make bold promises. Vows about sickness and health, wealth and poverty, till death do us part. My biggest challenge at that moment is to help them see that the words they utter have deep and profound meaning. They are not the same words the used car salesman uses. It’s easy to ignore his words, deadly to ignore theirs. We have to learn to speak more slowly, more deliberately, with meaning. Perhaps the doorway to re-valuing our words is to take some time to sit in silence. To reflect on what we say. To listen to what is being said to us. Just as fasting helps us to value our food, a fast from words may bring clarity to our speaking and our hearing.

For a preacher it means realizing that most of the time less is more. (Is that a hearty AMEN I hear from the blogosphere?) Sometimes in our passion to communicate the profound, we trivialize it with too many words. The beauty of God is somehow reduced to a product that we are hawking to the world, trying to convince them that this is finally the one thing that will really make their lives better. The Psalmist said, “Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth.” (Ps. 46:10)

The irony that I am writing a long blog entry to communicate this is not lost on me. But my hope is that this will make you think about words. Just maybe it will inspire you to take some time for silence. To retrain your ear to hear what you say and what is said to you.

If we get in the habit of ignoring words, there is great danger that the Word made flesh will pass us by without our noticing.

Questions in my head...

I hesitate to even write this blog entry. It is a reflection of what Angela and I have been talking about for the past several weeks. (When I write “I” you can read “we.”) I have started it in my head a thousand times, but the text gets garbled and I end up sending it to the trash can that I keep at the bottom right corner of my mental screen. The problem is that I can’t seem to empty it for good. I’d like to avoid it, but I think it’s time to put some words down in black and white. I have a zillion questions in my head. I have tried to sort through them and develop some type of cohesive writing that would state how I really feel about the issues. But the clarity escapes me. So I write with confusion. Be patient with me. Maybe writing will serve as my therapy.

It’s about America. I am American. I am thankful that I was born in this nation. It has afforded me freedoms and privileges that many in the world only dream of. I love this country. It is a part of who I am. But living here again has stirred up a lot of questions that I find most of those around me don’t seem to even wrestle with. It all came to a head yesterday. We went to church, a church that I love, and prepared our hearts to focus on God, His Kingdom, and our surrender to it. I forgot that it was Memorial Day week-end. I guess that was my first mistake. For those of you who don’t know what Memorial Day is, it’s a government holiday set aside to remember all US veterans, especially those who have died in service to their country. About 10 minutes of the service was focused on this, including a video presentation reminding us that “Freedom is not free!”. While the intent of Memorial Day is to honor veterans, the thrust of this part of the service was focused on OUR freedom, implying that the current military efforts in Iraq are keeping us free. What angered me was that there was not even a concern that fellow believers (I’m talking about Iraqi believers here), as well as other innocent lraqis were suffering and dying in order to “keep us free”. Any critical thought at all would have to admit that by freedom we mean economic good times. My daughter got a bracelet from her Sunday school teacher with “WWJD” on it – What Would Jesus Do? Would Jesus support the killing of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi’s (some believers and some who don’t know Jesus) in order to make sure that we can continue to live our lives of unrestrained materialism?

I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me just list some of the questions (and related thoughts) that are floating through my head.

1. What does it mean “we’re fighting for freedom”? Freedom for who? Freedom from what? What exactly is “our freedom?” What right do Christian’s have to allow the killing of others in order to preserve our freedom. See Bill Moyer’s video here.

2. What does it mean to “honor our troops”? I think one of the most noble actions is to offer your life for another. I respect the troops, their passion, bravery, and willingness to risk all for someone else. My father fought in Korea. I have always admired his willingness to lay down his life on behalf of others. I always will. But should that honor not mean that we take very seriously their offer? Should we not think long and hard about their sacrifice? Should we not make sure that they are only called to offer their lives for truth? Is economic freedom worth their blood? You can support the troops and yet question their commanding officers. See this article from the Washington Post.

3. What does it mean to be a patriot? I get the feeling from living here that it means that you do not question the government. Yet a patriot is, in my humble opinion, one who holds the government accountable for its actions. I have heard over and over again that our greatest threat is terrorism. Yet back in 2001 we lost 3,000 lives to terrorists and over 20,000 lives to homicide. Are the terrorists killing us, or are we killing ourselves? When George Bush says that we are going to “defeat terrorism” why isn’t the church reminding him that terrorism flows from the state of the heart. The US has no weapons that change the heart. The truth is that whatever we do in Iraq now will be a big mess. If we pull out, there will be a surge of Muslim support for Bin Laden, as well as an Iraq that will be further decimated by civil war. If we stay, we will lose more lives, take more lives, and further convince the Arab world that we will do anything to control them. You may criticize my thinking. You may disagree. But don’t call me unpatriotic. My questions are the heart of patriotism. It’s silence that destroys us. To refuse to wrestle with hard questions, to keep silent when decisions are made that have lasting implications, to cheapen the lives of those soldiers by not making sure that they are not given in vain - this is treason.

4. And finally, shouldn’t the church steer clear of patriotic celebrations? At the very least, shouldn’t we exercise great caution when making pulpit pronouncements about the actions of our country? How can we maintain a prophetic voice for the Kingdom of God when we accept the actions of our government without honest reflection as disciples of Jesus? We use words too loosely. We say things that we don’t mean. Can followers of Jesus really “pledge allegiance” to anything other than Him? As believers, we should know what it means for someone to offer their life for us. Jesus bought us with a price…His own blood. How then can we offer our allegiance to anything else?

The irony - It was also Pentecost Sunday, the day of the Christian Year where we remember that God not only came to earth as the Son, but that He lives in His followers as the Holy Spirit. This was barely mentioned. Are we not skewed when we offer support to what is at best a controversial war, and neglect the sacrificial death that has really changed everything?

I love the church I go to here. It’s made up of amazing people who are seeking Jesus and His leadership in their lives. I am sure that there are many who are more like Him than I am. But yesterday, corporately, they missed it. They gave time to something they felt strongly about, but something that pales in comparison to a God who would lay aside His freedom, to give them a freedom that is greater than anything America has to offer.

A God who calls us to do the same.

Without a doubt, the funniest...

... business slogan ever. I was driving in Birmingham today, following a sewage truck. Their business consists in emptying port-a-potties. Their slogan?

We're #1 in the #2 business!

Vision is overrated...

I’ve always wanted a comprehensive vision for my life. I think that everyone does. We want to see the big picture so that we make decisions that help us move forward. Christians will tell you that “where there is no vision people perish”. All the latest books on leadership shout out that vision is what brings people together. It’s what enables the “good” to become the “great”.

I long for vision, for clarity. I’ve always thought that it was the key to avoiding a wasted life. That is, until recently. I guess you could say that my vision of vision has shifted. Oh, I have ideas about life. Grand plans where the history books tell of the impact that I have made. Confidence in decisions that flows out of knowing who I am and why I am here. The problem is that these seem to be only ideas and not reality.

I’m losing vision. And I think that may be a good thing. Maybe in the absence of vision I have had to settle for something less. But then again, maybe less is more. Perhaps God is calling me away from vision to something greater - a glimpse. A glimpse of something that shapes who I am. As I reflect on life I can remember several moments where a “glimpse” caused me to become a different person. The late night prayer when I was seventeen. The realization of my own smallness that came from a view of mountains laid out before me like folds of a blanket God had tossed to the earth. Understanding what a “blessing” was as the most beautiful woman that I’d ever seen walked down the aisle to marry me. These moments, I have realized, are more than just good memories. They have been glimpses of God. Invitations to the throne room. I’ve seen Him in so many places and ways that I would never have expected. The struggle to find words to pray with friends as we looked out over the people living in the garbage dumps of Guatemala City. “Give us this day our daily bread…” The death of the first woman I had the privilege to baptize. The room was so silent after her last breath. Just me and her empty shell. In the silence I learned that I was the empty one, she was finally truly alive. My children singing as they wander through the house, completely unaware that their father is listening, joyfully humbled, bowing in worship to the God who made them.

All of these glimpses have shaped, and continue to shape me. They are like puzzle pieces, slowly giving me a more complete picture of Jesus, and thereby showing me the next steps that I need to take. Revealing to me who I am, who God is calling me to be. No, it’s not a vision. It’s a mosaic of glimpses. And like Mary, I store these moments up, pondering them in my heart, knowing that one day they may lead to a soul-piercing sword. But confident that the wounds bring a deeper healing. A healing that can’t come through a comprehensive vision. A healing that comes through a relationship with a God who shares glimpses of Himself in unlikely ways at unusual times. “Show me your glory” I say. And He does. In little doses. Glimpses.

Almost to the half-way point...

I realized as I was driving the kids to school today that in a week we'll be at the mid-point of the sabbatical. Time sure flies when you are having fun. I'm learning a lot and having time to slow down and reflect on things that usually don't get much time to rattle around in my head. I've not been blogging much. I could blame it on the fear of what Mike Davis might put in the comments, but I think that's not the case. Sometimes blogging just becomes another thing to do. I'm trying to focus on minimizing those kinds of things during the sabbatical.

Our usual routine is to get up early and head off to school. After I drop the kids at school (8:00 am), I head over to Samford. I split time there between my office and the library. Last week was amazing because of the time I spent with Dr. Calvin Miller. His most recent book has been awarded the honor of being "Preaching Magazine's Preaching Book of the Year" for 2007. He's an amazing guy who has opened his office and his life to me. (We're going to church with he and his wife Barbara this week, then to their house for lunch afterward.) It's been a great opportunity to talk with this man who has been both pastor and professor throughout the past 45 years. I have found it both very affirming and challenging to talk with him about this crazy thing called preaching.

Usually by lunch time I head home and pick up Ang. We spend the afternoon together hanging out, visiting the gym (Candi keeps dreaming up new physical forms of torture for us), or toodling around Birmingham. It's been nice to actually just sit with my wife and talk about things that don't have to do with my job. We're coming up on 15 years married next week and I am more convinced than ever that this was the best decision I ever made. I pick the kids up at 3:00. We come home from school and just hang out together. Believe it or not we still kinda like each other. Sometimes we head out to the library (Huge public library here...bigger than anything I've ever seen. (They have a movie theater in the library!) Or we stay home and work on their homework, watch a movie, or American Idol.

The kids go to bed pretty early (they have to get up @ 6:45 am for school). Then we all get up and do it again. From a family standpoint everything is a highlight. It's so nice to be able to just be.

The week-ends are fun because we have to plan them. I haven't had to plan a week-end since we moved to Hope. Where will we go to church? What will I do on Saturday since here are no weddings or funerals, and best of all, no yardwork. We've found an awesome church, Shades Mountain Independent Church. We always plug in there for Sunday School and then usually head out to other churches for the worship service. Best of both worlds...the kids are making good friends and we are trying out some different styles and types of churches.

So life is good. I still kind of shake my head and am amazed that we get to do this. Yes, we miss home and the people there. And we're excited to come back to Hope...just not yet.

Duh, no big surprise...

....but something you might like to check out.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The South   That's a Southern accent you've got there. You may love it, you may hate it, you may swear you don't have it, but whatever the case, we can hear it.
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What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

A Random Update...

Thought I should just do a quick update on how the sabbatical's going. In a word, it's awesome. We're having some great times as a family, we're able to rest and renew, and I'm having a blast at Samford. I totaled it up today and realized that I've read 16 books since we arrived here a month ago. Most have been on the area of preaching. I'm really focusing on the act of preaching. I think one of the problems with preaching is that we've tried to use it to educate rather than to help people encounter God. That's a simple take on my thinking. I'm meeting with Calvin Miller several times next week to talk about it. Probably not that exciting for most of you, but it really turns my crank.

I've also been reading a lot about (and by) Oscar Romero. He has intrigued me for quite some time and I'm finding digging into his life fascinating.

The surprise read was Tempting Faith by David Kuo. In the deep south faith and politics seem to meld into one thing. While I think that faith should shape your politics I find that a lot of what is happening here is the other way around. Politics is seeking to manipulate faith for it's own agenda. Faith is used to justify political positions. Kuo's book was a fascinating read and one that I would highly recommend.

So life is good. Family is loving life, other than school being pretty tough. You can read about all our exploits here. For me...lots of thinking...ideas swirling. I find that's what makes me happiest.
Thanks for reading. I'll keep you posted...

What I learned from an Idol (American Idol, that is...)

As you may have read here, my wife and I recently braved Birmingham rush hour traffic to enable our kids to meet former American Idol contestant Ace Young. It was no small task. Hwy 280 out of town was three lanes (each direction) bumper to bumper for several miles. It was stressful. We had to be to the Wal-Mart by 5:00 pm or we would miss him. My pulse quickened. I looked for every possible short-cut. My normally mild-mannered disposition bordered on the verge of road rage. When we finally arrived (at 5:00 on the nose), I held out little hope that we'd made it in time. Celebrities have people who move them from place to place. They have schedules to keep, people to see. Sure enough, as my girls entered the store they could see Ace, but he was standing behind one of his "people" who was about 6'3" and close to 350 lbs. He told them clearly "No, we're done here." But size isn't everthing. The bodyguard was subjected to something in their eyes that has melted my fierce resolve far too many times. He softened and let them through. I was ecstatic. It was a great moment and I thoroughly enjoyed watching them meet this "star" they had seen so often through the TV screen. If I had to sum it up in a phrase I'd have to say that a good time was had by all.

As we drove away I started to reflect a bit on the expreience. I'm a pastor, reflecting on the spiritual lessons of life is what I do. Truth be told I never really cared much for Ace Young while he was on American Idol. I'm as much a sucker for celebrity as anyone, but Ace just never turned my crank. If it was up to me I wouldn't have walked around the block to meet him. Don't get me wrong, I liked him instantly as he talked with my children. He was amazingly warm and engaging for someone who had been a Wal-Mart commodity for the past two hours. But the only reason I went to incredible lengths to see him was because my children loved him. They thought he was awesome. I gave myself to the task because of their love for Ace.

As I thought it over I realized that there was a faint echo of something deeper here. God wanted to remind me of something from my "Idol" encounter. Sometimes we do unusual things out of love for someone else. We love people we aren't drawn to because someone that we love, loves them. My passion for seeing Ace had nothing to do with him and everything to do with my love for my kids. The truth that I began to realize was this - our love for people we aren't comfortable loving needs to flow from our love for God and His love for them. If we love God we will, by default, love those He loves. You can probably see where I am going with this. He loves everyone. He loves the jerk at work. He loves the freeloader taking advantage of the system. He loves the person who has wronged you, hurt you, betrayed you. Far too often I have tried to "drum up" love for people who have made my life difficult. But maybe what I need to do is remind myself to grow in love for God. As my love for Him deepens, maybe I'll feel a little more excited about the people He loves. I seem to remember Him saying something about whatever we do for the least of these we have done for Him. Maybe the inverse is true as well - what we do for Him we'll learn to do for the least of these...

If I can love Ace Young because my children love him, then surely love for God (who loved me first and greater than I could ever imagine ) can help me to love the people He loves.

A Community of Faith…

I wrote in my last post about my feelings of “culture shock”. I have been surprised by just how different the culture is here. I find myself wishing it was like it was at home. Wondering what people are thinking…why they are doing what they are doing. The violence is overwhelming. Every newscast tells the story of another shooting in Birmingham. And like any city, in a ten to fifteen minute period you drive from palatial multi-million dollar homes with pools and tennis courts to the “projects” where houses are run down, burned out, and surrounded by garbage and broken down vehicles. It’s a long way from Hope, both geographically and metaphorically. I realize that the visible differences seem to press the idea that the people are different as well. But I think that at the heart of things, these beautiful, passionate, angry, loving, self-conscious people are really much like the people who live down the street from me in BC.

I have been encouraged to experience the church here. There is something refreshing about coming to a completely different context and seeing people moved by and passionate about the same things that have shaped me. Easter week was exciting as I participated with strangers who felt the pain of a God who would die out of love for a rebellious people. We mourned together the fact that we had caused this travesty. Then on Sunday we sang for joy as the Truth reminded us that not even our sin and stupidity can hinder God in accomplishing what He wants to do. The joy of the resurrection was every bit as real, even when filtered through a southern accent. There is a reassurance when you see that the Spirit of God is alive and well…and very much at work in a context different than your own. You begin to remember that this truth is way bigger than you are. That it impacts the core of the person…a core that is the same no matter where you live.

My favorite part of Holy Week was the service at the Seminary on Good Friday. The service was boring (as my wife said in our Alabama Adventures blog – www.kuhnfam.blogspot.com), but the chapel itself was amazing. The artwork and décor gave a sense of the transcendent. Above us was a huge dome that was painted as a balcony. (That's a picture of it at the top of the post...) The figures looking over the edge, watching our worship were believers throughout the history of the church. Above them was a beautifully done picture of Jesus, surrounded by the angelic host. On that day it was more than just art. It was a reminder that when I come to worship, I am not alone. I am joining a community made up of Alabamans. But even more so, a historical community, coming together outside of the restraints of time. We are all joining in worship of the person who unites us and makes this all possible. That is a powerful realization. We never worship alone.

So yes, I’m feeling the shock that comes from being immersed in a different culture. But I’m also being encouraged by remembering that there is a Truth that transcends culture. That no matter where I am, I am truly home when I bow in worship as a part of the eternal community of faith. This community exists to confess that Jesus is Lord of all, Ruler of the Universe, and reconciler of all people and cultures who dare to surrender to His Lordship. That makes this an exciting place to be. And when you think of it that way, it doesn’t seem so far from home.

Reflections on the first official week of the "Sabbatical"

Well, I should write something I suppose. We finally have the internet at our house. That's a good thing. I'm getting settled in at Samford and have wireless access there, but have been spending most of my time looking around, reading, and settling Maddie into her school. All of the kids are transitioning really well. Maddie's anxiety makes it a bit tougher to get her settled, but she's really working at it and doing way better than I thought she would.

What do I do on a sabbatical, you ask? So far I have been reading a lot. I'm prepping for some discussions that I'll have in the next couple of months with some of my "theological" heroes. They've agreed to sit with me and let me pick their brains about this whole pastor thing that I do. I am trying to think out what it is that I want to ask them in order to utilize the time I have with them in the most effective way.

I'm also enjoying my family. It's really weird to not have to wonder if the phone will interrupt our evening. Last Friday morning I realised that I needed to plan our week-end. What would we do for church? How would we spend Saturday? It was really fun to feel free to do whatever. My week-ends usually don't have that much flexibility. Ang and I are havng a blast too. Best decision I ever made to marry her! She makes sabbatical fun!

A big surprise is that I'm feeling some culture shock here. Alabama is a world all to itself. I like it, but it's a bit different. I had thought that growing up in the south would make my transition pretty seamless. The girls might feel a little culture shock, but I was sure that it wouldn't affect me. Not so. I felt a little better when the telephone line installer said that he had the same feelings when he moved here from...Louisiana. It's a different world. But it still belongs to God and He seems to have a lot of fun teaching me about who He is through the things that I am experiencing. Just to let you know that the more things change the more they stay the same, we've had a phone line here for only 4 days and I got two, you count them, two telemarketing calls tonight. But, just like in Canada, they can never pronounce Kuhn right.

We miss our family, friends, and our church family, but I am convinced that this is going to be an experience that all of us will grow through and will treasure throughout our lives. I'll keep you posted as things progress. Until then, keep praying for us. And Jim, if you're reading this (or if Sandy is) then happy retirement. It couldn't happen to a nicer guy. And congrat's Mike and Jan. All the best people have four kids. It's the lazy self-centered ones that stop at two.

Just read through this and I must admit it's pretty boring...I guess you had to be here...but it's working for me so far.