Vincent C. Donnachie

I Miss the Woods

2009-02-27T10:49:00.005-05:00

Much of my childhood revolved around my grandmother's home in Clementon, NJ. She lived at the end of a dead end street and within a few feet of her door laid a magical land that included little people, a witch's home and an area where robots were made near a lake.

While obviously all of these things were not real (they were though to my young mind as well as the minds of my siblings and cousin), there will real things about the woods that were just as magical. For example, Al Capone had one his many hideouts deep in the woods which is still a mansion of sorts to this day and as recently as my teen years, was occupied by what what most consider to be mafia. One of the most exclusive golf courses in the world is also deep in the woods were the very wealthy or famous were brought in by helicopter. It is a place that includes real names like "Spider's Cover" and "Apple Lake" and some of the best sledding hills I ever experienced including "Wiggly Waggly" and "Suicide 1 & 2." The train that past through the woods carried green glass marbles that would be melted down to make various glass objects and as you walked along the tracks, you could sometimes come away with a bag full of them.

Since my grandmother passed away close to 8 years ago, I have not been back in those woods. My own boys have never been down there nor have seen or experienced much of the magic I did as a child. Today, it is so easy to stay indoors with video games and TVs. When we do go outside, we tend to go to well-laid out public parks with nice landscaping and safe play ground equipment. The wild and the unpredictable is not experienced much by my boys like it was for me.

I thank God for places that are around the area I live, like old 82 (which my boys refer to as "Adventure Highway") in which I can introduce some of those things to my kids.
And as I think about what is lost in the midst of our world, I intend to do more of these things this Spring. I want to recapture that forgotten time and set the stage for my kids to experience them in their own way. I will take them to more places that are unexpected and wild. I will even take them for at least one trip down my grandmother's woods in NJ. And if I am honest about it all, it won't just be for them.

I am so, so thankful for the memories I have from those woods. I am hoping that I will not find them to be overcome by developments.

Unity

2009-02-26T13:06:00.003-05:00

I just left a meeting of Reading city pastors and came away thankful for the unity that would be unthinkable years ago.

I served with the Assemblies of God for almost 15 years in full time ministry before I came to serve at Hopewell Christian Fellowship for the last 4 years. Hopewell has it's roots in the Mennonite denomination and now is a non-denominational church that has a mix of those that have come from a charismatic background, some from Catholic churches, others from Baptist and still others from Lutheran, Presbyterian, Brethren and more. Things you will not see or hear at Hopewell often is people praying in tongues, dancing during worship, people falling down in the midst of prayer and much of the military type imagery that seems to permeate charismatic prayer times.

I have realized through these years that much of the charismatic experience is still in my blood. At the same time though, truth be told, I had been pulling away from much of the charismatic expression for years before I left the Assemblies. People who know me, will not hear me use much of the language that is used in such circles. I am a bit apprehensive when people use such language in public, because it smacks of a subculture that is only understood by those that are deeply entrenched in it. It is assumed by those who are in it, that it is a normal way to speak, but it is not. People have no context in their day to day lives to relate such spiritual speak and I think God wants our faith to be very real and relatable to our normal lives. I also have a problem with the fact that (and this is only my observation), it seems to create people that are always looking for the next "high," or touch of God. People often judge a good service by the sensational outward appearances and if they do not see or feel these things, than they wrongly conclude that God was not present. God speaks in a still small voice and beyond this, the Word tells us that if are to know God - it comes through being still and silent.

Having said that, I cannot deny the power of God that I experienced when I was filled with the Spirit of God. I believe that people do receive a heavenly language, that healings and deliverances do take place. More than this, those that are most passionate about the lost and demonstrate a constant hunger for God are consistently those that are pentecostal.

If you cannot tell by now, I seem to be a contradiction. I don't believe I am though. I am a charismatic pentecostal person who also beleives in stillness and quiet and thinks that the gospel does in fact have a social aspect to it and while I long for new expressions of the church, I have a great respect for the historical church.

In the church world, there has been a huge divide between pentecostal/charismatic churches and the more mainline liberal churches. Recently, there exists additional divides with the growth of the Emergent movement. In my heart, I have always been a mix of all of these influennces and wished so badly that churches could focus on THE things that really matters - Christ crucified, burried, resurected and imparting His Spirit to His followers to now be the church. These are truths about which all pentecostal, mainline and emergent churches would agree.

All of that to say, this morning was one of the few times I had a small taste of that. Various pastors from various backgrounds being real and transparent about their struggles personally and with their churches and then going to God and crying out for more of Him to empower their efforts to build His church for His glory. All divides dissapeared and it was obvious to see that unity is trully a beautiful thing. And for this, I am trully thankful.

Love is In the Air

2009-02-22T10:07:00.006-05:00

I know that February has come and gone but it seems that March is the month of love for me. I will be speaking on the subject of being "Lovesick" at a men's retreat for my church, "Loving Your Wife" on a Sunday coming up and how to cultivate a "romantic" relationship with God at the next Encounter.

As I prepare for what may seem like a month of mushiness, I can tell you that love is so not what it was in my mind as a teen and young man. Wow, I just used the words "young man." That is a new mile marker for me. Anyway, back then, any action of love was born out of the feelings of love. I spent time with God and told Him I loved Him only when I felt it. I honored and performed thoughtful acts for my girlfriend (who became my wife) only when I was overcome by happy feelings of having her in my life.

Maturity demands that at some point, loving actions come from pure decision. At times, we are blessed enough to be overcome by the feelings of love, but these are born out of a very unromantic decision to act. We no longer need the emotions to motivate or reward us. Love that remains unspoken or not acted upon is not truly love for love is as love does. No matter what we say we feel, no matter how pure we say our thoughts are - it is in action that love is proven.

Mario Cart

2009-02-25T14:57:00.003-05:00

OK, so not every Wednesday will I have something to whine about that everyone can relate to nor will it always seem of weighty importance in the scheme of our lives. Today is one of those Wednesdays.

Any Wii Mario Cart lovers out there? I have a serious love/hate relationship with this game and by that I mean 5% love, 95% hate. The play of the game has the ability to push the exact button in my personality that causes me to yell and grunt at the screen. My wife and 2 boys beat me almost every single time and not just by a little. It does not matter if I make it to 1st place for 2 laps, inevitably, someone will hit me with a series of red shell, green shell, bomb and then I'll hit a banana and watch everyone pass me to the finish line. This does not just happen on rare occasion, this almost every game. I feel like Charlie Brown on Christmas when he did not receive any cards and he tells Linus "I don't know why we have to celebrate Christmas. I already know no one like me, why we do have to have a holiday to emphasise it?" I already doubt my abilities when it comes to many competitions, why do I have to keep playing a game to emphasise it?

I am convinced the game is satanic. It's purpose is to show me that no matter how far ahead I get in life, someone is just waiting to clobber me and spin me into confusion, leaving me alone and in the dust. My conclusion after every game is; 'to try is useless.' And yet, I keep coming back for more like an addict, like I need to prove to myself that I just had a bad day the last game. This game will be different.

Get thee behind me Mario. I will not succumb to your crushing blows. You will no longer make me doubt my judgement and abilities. I will not play your evil game again. At least not until Thursday.

Relational Grace

2009-01-05T12:44:00.008-05:00

"When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me." writes Paul in 1 Co 13.

I will not bore you with all the details of my growth in God. Suffice to say that from the time I first put my my life in the hands of Christ as a teenager till now as I approach my 40th birthday, my views of God have greatly changed, deepened, and expanded.

A few years from now, I will be growing in a different area than where I am at now. Each area is a new area of growth, truth on top of truth, revealing a little more of a Great God.

You and I are on a journey. Your understanding of who God is now and how He relates to humanity is different than it was probably 10 years ago. Your understanding is deeper, more full, more clear, yet far more mystified. The more you learn of God, the less confident you feel in your knowledge. Paul continues in the next verse, 12 of 1 Co "Now we see but a poor reflection; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; than I shall know fully, even as I am fully known."

Those that we are walking with in this life are all on their own journeys and need the grace to fully be where they are at on that journey. Where you are at in your understanding of God is divinely orchestrated as He uses the various circumstances in your particular life to impact your intellect and your emotions. To assume that our words alone will automatically bring another person to the exact spot we are in our understanding is naive and arrogant.

I am not suggesting that we not share from our journey; we should do so and often. But we should not have expectations of people as if our understanding at this given moment is thee conclusion that all should arrive at and do so in when we think best. What you and I think regarding God now is a fraction of who He actually is and how He works.

As Jesus responded to Peter, I believe He would respond to any of us who lack such grace. In John 21, Peter is asking the risen Christ what will become of the disciple John to which Jesus answered "...what is that to you? You must follow me."

I am learning still, even after all these years in ministry - that God's people are...well...God's people and He is a much better teacher than I. God has set the stage for growth with just the right nutrients. As the church of Christ, we often act as impatient gardeners, pulling out the first sign of stalks and leaves, mistaking signs of life to mean it is ready for harvest, often forgetting that God alone makes the seed grow (1 Co 3:6).

In Search of Transformation

2007-02-19T13:39:00.000-05:00

I came to Christ purely out of selfish reasons: I did want to go to hell. Within a few years, I was feeling restless like there had to be more to the Christian life than an assurance of heaven after I die. The more I read about Jesus and all that He was while he walked this earth and all that he is currently is heaven, I wanted to be recreated in His image. So I sought after spiritual formations through the classic disciplines and spiritual practices of our great Christian history. I fell madly in love with God for the first time. I lit candles, played moody music, sat in stillness and silence for long periods of time just hear Him speak. It was and is romantic. Like an obsessed lover, I wanted more. I sought to understand and to open myself up to the fullness of the Holy Spirit. “Transformation; finally” I thought. And to a degree, it was transforming. Things that I struggled with my whole life; character flaws, secret addictions- seemed to fade in the distance as God became the target at which my whole life now aimed.

Yet, after a few more years, I was restless again. What was all this transformation for? If it was just for me to be different, I could have had some level of success applying myself to one of many methods, secular and spiritual, of behavior modification. I wanted to be like Jesus and Jesus interacted differently with people than I did. For all of my change, I was still largely selfish and arrogant. Jesus was selfless and humble while he walked with us. I turned my attention to social justice. My eyes were opened to the huge deal God made about the orphan, the widow, the poor, the alien, the ill and imprisoned in the Old Testament and the New Testament through the words and actions of Jesus and the new church that started in His stead. “This was what its for,” I thought. So I gave food to the homeless and talked with them about their lives, I helped rebuild homes that were falling apart and more.

Still, I felt there needed to be more. What were all of these deeds for? I began to understand the heart of Christ for the lost. Social Justice means something if it opens the door for those less fortunate to receive the greatest gift of God- namely salvation. I threw away much of what I learned through the years on this subject; the cute and clever sales type techniques that try to out wit your opponent into getting them to sign on the dotted line and instead went with an organic, loving everyday relationship approach. I reminded myself that Jesus never called us to save souls, but to make disciples. Discipleship is not a hit and run - get them saved approach; but a process of long term friendship.

All of this was by God’s design. Each experience opened up a new level of understanding at just the right time for me to receive it. While this describes much of my spiritual journey in a nutshell, there is one important detail that I left out. It is an underpinning that, in spite of my readings and searching and yearning that pushed me closer to God’s heart and the progress that I may have made, threatened to topple it all. Simply put, my thinking about who God is and who I am in Him was flawed and needed correction.

In spite of my growth, my mind was still greatly formed by the culture in which I was raised and the systems of this world. I understood and related to God through the filter that my life had handed to me.

To be more thoroughly changed, I needed to no longer allow myself to be conformed to this world but to purposely renew my mind with healthy thoughts concerning who God is and who I am in Him.

Through this next series of posts, I want to invite you to reconsider our conclusions - conscious and unconscious – regarding God and ourselves and to make a decision to renew (to replace) our destructive thoughts with who He and we actually are.

In Search of Transformation 2 - Non-Conformity

2007-03-14T14:46:00.000-05:00

For the next few entries I will be referring to Romans 12:2 which reads "Do not conform any longer any to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."

It is a verse that is known well among Christians, but the meaning is often taken to mean something different than what it is actually saying.

What does it mean to not conform any longer to the patterns of this world? For most of my Christian life, I have understood it to mean, (whether as a result of preaching, reading or my own thoughts) that we should not go to "R" movies or listen to certain kinds of music, etc. In other words, we need to not find pleasure in the same things the world does, not do the same things they do; we need to come out from among them and be ye separate.

The conformity that Paul is warning against here though, is not accurately summed up as "do not do as they do," but rather, "do not live as they live." The verse is talking about the systems of governments, the unspoken rules of relationships with our neighbors, the expected manner in which we are to work with fellow employees, for bosses. This conformity speaks to the day to day cues we get from our environment that tell us how to act in this life in order to be happy and successful and satisfied.

It is much deeper a thing than the easily identifiable tangibles that we typically use to measure our success as Christians. To be "conformed" by the world, literally means I have been molded - like clay in a cast - by the systems and functions of this present society.

Now of course, we realize that every single one of us are products of our environments. Social Science is dedicated to this fact. I am in a mold that was set by experiences and lessons that I learned from my parents, family, friends, school, church and more; all of which were in middle class America. It is not a question, in other words, of am I being conformed to the world? But rather, in what ways has the world conformed me?

Paul is not telling us here to throw all of that away. I don't even think that is possible. What he wrote is "do not conform any longer." This means, from now on, becoming purposeful about opening ourselves to the ways of another life: The systems and functions of the Kingdom of God. Its ways may be a little more hidden* but they are a far more true reality than the one we exist in now. How we do this we be explored in the next posting.

For now though, I would like you to take a few moments, get alone and quiet and think about the following 2 questions.
1. In what ways have the functions, systems and relationships in this world (including family and the church) shaped my view of God?
2. In what ways have the functions, systems and relationships in this world (including family and the Church) shaped my understanding of who I am to God?

* See Luke 17:20, Matthew 13:44, Mark 4:30, Luke 13:20

Unveiled

2008-03-17T12:15:00.006-05:00

As Easter approaches, I was reading Matthew 27:50-53 and thinking about the incident of the veil's tearing right after Jesus breathed his last and the significance it has to Christ followers today.

The huge, thick and beautiful curtain that was torn from the top down, served to divide the thick presence of God known as the most holy of places or the Holy of Holies from ordinary people. It was a dark place that spoke of the mystery of God and could not be approached accept once a year by the high priests and only after a blood sacrifice was made. A reading of Hebrews 9 gives the theological understanding of the fact that Christ blood sacrifice opened wide the most holy of places to all who believe.

This access to the presence of God is something that we so easily can take for granted in our day to day lives. Yet, most of what we long for is found in the awareness of it.

This story really started back with Adam and Eve. They lived with a constant knowledge of this good, perfect, safe, awesome, mysterious and loving presence of God. It was to them as natural as any element of life - air, water, or food. When sin was welcomed, it was not God that hid from humanity, but humanity that hid from God. It was not God that withdrew His presence, but we who withdrew from knowing it.

This was the turning point in our history. Without a knowledge of the prefect presence of God – man began to murder, steel, lie, cheat, to hurt others, to start wars.

When we think of the atrocities of this world and the incredible sufferings of humanity, we are sometimes tempted to ask the question, "where was God?"

He has not gone anywhere. He never left. Fallen man cannot recognize the presence and so we often are not capable of operating within the goodness & mercy of it. The result is legions of people who are fractured and who struggle and endure great strife for identity and meaning in this world.

Our identity is wrapped up into the identity of God. When we are not aware of His presence, we are not aware of Him. When we don’t know who God is, we don’t know who we are. The real us (who we are in God) and who we think we are in this life becomes divided. We become desperate for meaning, struggling to make whole what feels pulled apart.

Do you see how important this awareness of God’s presence is?

You may be a believer in Jesus and wondering why you are not more conscience of this presence of God if in fact the veil is now torn. As you know you can be in a room with hundreds of people and still only be aware of a fraction of them. One has to be either paying attention to a person or at least in very close proximity to them to be aware their presence.

All barriers have been removed from God and us thanks to Jesus. What is needed is for us simply to be attentive to that presence, to draw near to it in our desires and actions.

Living with this knowledge allows us to understand why Paul calls us ministers of reconciliation (2 Co 5:18). As people who now have complete access to the presence of God and all that that means, we are now called to reconcile other people to that same awareness. God’s acceptance and their understanding of that reinstates their worth in Him, it makes whole what is broken.

Evan Sits

2008-05-03T10:38:00.004-05:00

Early this past Saturday morning my wife and my oldest son went out to spend very little money on great used stuff (yard sales). They are good at this. Within an hour, my wife returned with a treadmill (which she was preparing to buy new) in great shape that she purchased for $25.

Anyway, while they were out and the baby was asleep still, Evan (my other son) just woke and came to sit at the kitchen table where I was drinking coffee and reading. It took about 1/2 hour before I realized he was still sitting there, quietly, with a slight grin. Never said anything. Just sat there.

"What the heck is this kid doing?" I thought to myself. I wanted to tell him "go do something Ev, like watch TV, read a book, play outside - anything but sit there and stare." This what I wanted to say but I didn't. It occurred to me that Evan really loves just being near me. He is content not to say anything (of course this happens easily when the gears in his head are not quite turning in the morning), but just to sit in the proximity of where I am. He often does this. He will sit on the floor near where I am or lay on top of me while I am watching TV.

Although I am an affectionate person, I also like my space and there are many times, when I wish I had it when I don't. But I also know these are the exact moments that I will miss the most some day and that will make my heart ache a little in wishing I could have them back.

And then I thought of this same posture pleases Christ when I remember to do nothing and just to BE with Him. Smiling. Simplicity. Just to be near Him. Like the story of Mary & Martha which seems to grow more and more important as technological advances continue to "save us time," I want to choose what is better, which is simply to waste time with my God.

Massing

2008-05-03T12:42:00.004-05:00

After many months, The Mass returned last night. This is one of the few gatherings that I and a small group of others feel that we need to put on even if no one except us showed up. Personally I get so weary of the typical services of churches and even of messages which I know seems like a contradiction because I am, in fact a pastor. I have lived with this inconsistency for 17 years of full time ministry now.

A service like The Mass is a place that feels set apart, with many voices -not just one, and with art and space and room to think and worship. Ahhhhh. Anyway, we took The Mass outside of the church walls ("and right inside the walls of Christian bookstore" as one on The Mass team likes to point out) and had it in a rather cool little room at Gravity Books and Art in Exeter Twp. The room was full which was an added bonus. And even though we had a few technical problems, all and all - the night was great.

After the gathering was done, a group of about 20 or so went out to eat for 1/2 price appetizers, hung out and enjoyed one another's company. I am so glad for a gathering like this, for real relationships and I am even more thankful for the team that has stuck with it now for 2 years. You are a creative and helpful group of friends.

The only downside to the night is that my wife could not be present. But a baby girl is worth that I guess.

I Have Become...Regular

2008-05-03T10:22:00.005-05:00

I am simply not a good blogger. I feel that I have nothing to write unless I am struck by something that causes me meditate or pray. And the problem is with this is that I preach and teach for a profession and so most of these thoughts end up being developed and have their outlet in those forums. This blog keeps getting less than left overs.

I am hereby giving up the need to write deep things. The blogs I enjoy the most are the ones that are made up of the trivial stuff of peoples living and the insights that are sometimes gained along the way. So, from now on I am going to write about the ordinary stuff of my life. Instead of only feeling like I can write when I have something profound to say, I will write in a way that reflects who I am, which like you, is a mix of many things all at once. No pressure darn it! Just natural writing about mundane things.

Exciting isn't it? Here I go...

The First Time

2005-04-26T12:30:00.000-05:00

This is my first blog. Ever. As many as I have read in these last few years, I have yet to post any myself. I am interested in the experiences, questions and thoughts along the way as it relates to other people. To post myself though would make me either too vulnerable or too egotistical, depending on the nature of what I wrote. I am more interested in reading than typing, in listening than speaking and in observing than pontificating. And there it is, my ego already made an appearance, for to say such things, I must think nobly of myself. The truth is, I am a pastor and as such, I have all the platform I need to share what God is revealing to me.
So why am I here? The simple and secular answer is that my job made me do it! What I mean is that anyone who is in ministry has a longing to be in relationship with all types of people-church and un-churched. As we all know, the frenzied pace of society proves to be a great enemy in this regard. We can either complain about that fact, tell everyone why it should not be so, or we can learn the ways of friendships in midst of the hurry. This blog, as well as the ones that belong to my partners in ministry (see links to your right), is one such way. I will post various thoughts, experiences and questions and if you feel like it has provoked a thought, story or question of your own, respond. If not, maybe the next week's will. If nothing else, reading it will give you a small window into who I am (not very exiting I know).
There will be no set pattern or theme for these entries. Some will be about an experience I may have had with family or friends. Some may seem more like prayer journals as I share what God is revealing to me and my response. Other times, I will be sharing church life issues and current projects that we may be working on. Still other times, it may seem like a social commentary. The point is, this blog will reflect the normal ebb and flow of everyday life. And let me say-the last thing I want to do is add more words and unoriginal thoughts to an already saturated culture! I am a person who is on a journey just like you, learning what it means to follow Christ in an increasingly post-modern society, and my prayer is that we can discuss these things together or that even if all you do is read, something of eternal value will be imparted.

Steady Streams

2005-05-05T18:15:00.000-05:00

Last weekend, a few leaders and I attended a “Spiritual Life Retreat” for Fusion Senior High school students (the youth ministry at the church I serve in). The retreat served as a chance for me to get to know how great the teens at our church really are. The highlight came on Saturday night when God showed up. The encounter was real; worship, tears, commitment. These are what retreats are all about, it’s what parents and others pray for-some kind of spiritual high. The problem is though, what goes up must come down.
Please don’t misunderstand me; I love those intense moments that we experience with God. God may show up and speak to us on retreats, on missions trips, at a special service or in a small group setting. Most of our daily life though, does not function on those high plains. There are bills to pay, children to raise, work to do and a million other mundane moments of life that seems far removed from those encounters. And so, many of God’s people seek and need these highs like addicts seek and need a fix to get them by.
This is not how things are supposed to be. Many Christians spend their lives longing for the flash floods of His Spirit, and while those are great and even needed, God is much more interested in the steady streams of our daily lives. A stream that is not overflowing its banks is intentional in its flow and accomplishes much nutrition to the plants and trees that grow along its path. Flash floods come suddenly and can have the potential to cause more harm then good.
I learned years ago, I could no longer go from high to high, because the lows in between were too great and I was sick of the spiritual roller coaster I was riding. It’s like living from paycheck to paycheck, spiritualy speaking. I desire for Him to fill me up and He does, but as soon as I spend anytime in my regular life, it quickly gets depleted and so I come back needing another deposit and the cycle continues.
I remember thinking “there has got to be more to the Christian life than this.” And there is. It begins by realizing first that God is everywhere all the time and that He is always speaking, always directing, always loving His children. The problem is, most of us do not have ears to hear his voice. This life is filled with noise; His is a still small voice (1 Kings 19:12), our lives keep us moving at light speed; to know He is God we must be still (Psalm 46:10), this life teaches us to be strong and sure of our abilities; to approach God we must be dependant on Him and become weak (Matthew 18:4). To decipher His movement in daily life, we must be humble, quiet and still in our hearts.
Could it be that the highs that we have experienced are simply those moments when we positioned ourselves to hear Him through quiet, stillness or humbled dependency?
The intention for our lives is to realize that every mundane moment is God-bathed. I did not say make every moment God-bathed, but simply realize that it already is. Take time to breathe deeply, listen for His voice. He speaks through His word and preachers of course, but he also speaks through art and music and movies and friends and family and He speaks, more often than not, in silence.
To be intentional about letting steady streams flow is to break dependency on the flash floods.

Embracing Change

2005-05-19T17:30:00.000-05:00

I am writing from my hotel room in Nashville, where I am attending a Convention. I miss my wife and boys terribly. It doesn’t matter how many times I go away, I always get a little depressed being apart from them. The convention has been enjoyable and enlightening. It is really two conventions happening at once; one is The National Pastor’s Convention with many main line speakers, musicians and pastors and the other is The Emergent convention which concerns itself mainly with the church and theology in a postmodern society and spiritual formations (two of my passions). An attendee can choose either conference at any given time.

If I had to make one statement about what Emergent has done so far for me, I would say that it has made God big again. It has brought back a sense of humility to my faith as well as mystery and awe. God is breaking out of the box that I put in Him in. Of course, for God to become big once again in my thinking means feeling a bit insecure about my previous assumptions and conclusions. It means being OK with feeling uncomfortable.

When we are comfortable, we are satisfied, and when we are satisfied, we are not interested in change which brings about growth, and when we are not growing, we die.

Earlier today, I toured the Ryman Theater, the place where the Grand Ole Opry has been held for many years. Although I do like Blue Grass, I really took a tour because it was right across the street from where I was staying and I needed a diversion from all the “new ideas’ I was learning. Much to my surprise, I was more moved while touring this grand place of musical, political and religious events, then I was at much of the offerings of Emergent. I don’t mean to romanticize the past, but there was a beauty that was experienced in that place, of simplicity and community and it all revolved around great music that spoke to their life experiences; a common language. Most of those country greats are now dead and gone and so with them an era has passed. It is a time and place that cannot be returned to, life has moved on. This is sad. And I felt its loss while I visited. How strange to be at a convention that embraces change in Church structure and practice and here I was across the street longing for the past.

I think this is how many people feel in the church today. They may not know about postmodernism, they may not be interested in reading all the books and entering into the new conversations but they instinctively feel, as Bob Dylan sang, “the times, they are a changin’.” They feel its loss. Eras are passing, old methodologies are crumbling, comfortable styles are fading and the people that are so quick to embrace the new things, do not seem to know about, nor respect much of what once was.

Yet, the root of every declining economic structure, every failing government, every ineffective church and every stunted person, is the inability to adjust to the changes that life naturally brings. We instinctively know this, but find change hard still. An interesting article appeared in Fastcompany magazine in May of 2005 entitled, “Change or Die,” in which research found that, even if faced with death, 1 out of 10 people would make the change necessary in their lifestyle in order to survive. This is not how God designed us, this is our fallen nature that can keep us from becoming what God intends. The scriptures speak of how there are times when we must build up and times when we must tear down (Ecc. 3:3), God told the Israelites that they were getting to comfortable and that it was time to leave the mountain that they were camped out on (Deuteronomy 1:6), and Jesus spoke of new wine needing new wine skins and not old ones (Luke 5:36-39). This does not make the pain or sadness that one would feel concerning things lost less real. It is very real, but the pain cannot be allowed to cripple us in such a way that we fail to move forward.

I will leave the last word with Watchmen Nee, as he wrote in his little book Twelve Baskets Full; “ The whole trend of the Bible, from Genesis to revelation, is an onward trend. The record from beginning to end is a progressive unfolding of God’s goings…What is required of you and me today is not that we attain the ultimate, but that our measure correspond to the stage reached in the development of the divine purpose at this present time. You and I must be found at that point which the tide of the Spirit has reached today-not the stage it reached at some point in the past, nor the stage it will reach at some point in the future.”

Letting Go

2005-06-09T14:38:00.000-05:00

The following story from my teen years is dedicated to all those who have graduated or who are going through a life transition:

She called me on the phone out of the blue. I didn't even know she was home from college. I hadn’t seen her for almost two years. I hadn't spoke to her for over three months. Hearing her voice again and knowing that it came from only four blocks away as opposed to 1200 miles rekindled something within me. She was my best friend since I was thirteen. During those years we had countless late night talks and walks around Clayton, NJ, the small town where I am from. We also had many adventures that you would not believe if I told you: Getting lost, scary moments, hysterical mishaps. I laughed, cried, wondered, and talked more during those years than I could think possible now. Through it all we struggled through questions of faith, rebellion, future and friendship. It hurt when she left for Bible College. I remember feeling like my heart was torn out. I remember feeling bad enough to tell my best friend, but I couldn’t. She was gone. I went on with life as usual in Clayton, while she was surrounded by new places, faces and quickly making new friends.

Now, one wintry night in 1986 she was back home. I wondered if things would still be the same. We agreed to meet in the graveyard; strange choice I know, but while Clayton had plenty of wide-open spaces, none of them were public and the closest thing to a park was the town graveyard. When I was younger the youth group that we all went to would meet and even play there after our meetings. The guys loved scaring the girls and we all loved the adventure of it. As I left my house and began walking down Center Street, the snow was falling at a slow and peaceful rate. No sounds could be heard except a light wind and crunch of snow beneath my feet. As I approached the graveyard I recognized her familiar walk as she came from the other direction. We never did have to wait for one another. We always arrived at the same time.

We embraced and exchanged the usual sentiments and began to stroll around the cemetery. Underneath the tall snow covered pine trees, we tried to catch up on conversation, but to my surprise, talking did not come easy. There was a time when we talked for six to eight hours without even realizing it, now, suddenly, one minute seemed to last for hours. We had to work to talk, work to laugh…we had to work. I think we both quietly wondered if the life between us ceased.

It was then that something unexpected happened. She pulled out two pieces of cinnamon gum and as we both chewed, the air around us began to contain the familiar fragrance. Cinnamon gum was all she chewed since I first met her and the smell of it now was warm, comfortable. Soon we were walking out of the graveyard towards the High School football field. As the cemetery faded in the distance, we began to talk about memories of all the crazy things we said and did together and we quit naturally laughed in disbelief that we really did those things.

Arm and arm we walked late into the night until we came to a big field of undisturbed snow. She jumped in and carefully began to place one foot in front of the other as she began to spell out words. I joined her and when we were done, we stood quietly and reflected on the six words.

After walking her to her house and saying goodnight, I walked by the field again on my way home. The words were now being filling with falling snow. They read: “Liala and Vince, Best Friends Forever.”
I watched them fill until they were barley readable.

1 Corinthians 13:11

I Can't Read Easy

2005-06-16T12:00:00.000-05:00

Through the years, I have found that I gravitate less and less to easy reads. By that, I don’t mean that I enjoy reading books that require me to have a dictionary & world history book nearby for reference. Rather, I enjoy books and magazines that requires me to put the material down and silently contemplate what I just read. Do you know what I mean? Our society is increasingly becoming an instant one that craves the bottom line. But the older I get, I find the grey areas much more interesting and, dare I even say, Godly. Jesus hardly ever answered questions directly, more often than not, He answered with more questions. When Jesus spoke, he spoke with such originality and insight that he often silenced his listeners. I mean, they had nothing left to say, I can barely imagine someone speaking like that to today’s society. We believe that what we think matters most and our opinions are the right ones (this blog makes my point perfectly), and darn it, we will be heard. I crave to listen, but so much of the talking on our airwaves as well as much of the current written word is unoriginal, the same easy answers and catch phrases and black and white views which can pit people against one another or leaves them with the feeling that they are never good enough, there is always something more they have to do, to become. I am not sure if we can even grow until we first learn just to BE with God.

There was a time when one generation would pass on its stories and wisdom to the next in the context of relationship. That generation would add its own to the mix and rich heritages would evolve. For a number of years now, there have been best sellers concerning 10 steps to success or 3 things we ought to know about parenting or 7 great habits, or 12 things millionaires know, yada, yada, yada. I am not interested in what I should do to be successful, tell me how to think well! Give me a philosophy on life, from which, I can learn to approach everyday living, not a how to guide that takes my own ability to reason and grow out of the process and just gives me the bottom line. I want thoughts, not opinions. I want stories, not steps. I want something that will cause me to respond, not react. One comes at me, externally, pressing me to change my behavior; the other rises up from within and actually transforms me.

Jesus was this kind of teacher. He operated from and always went straight to…the heart. Because from that place, springs life. This is where the work must be done. And that work requires no easy fixes, reactionary dialogues or bottom line promises. It is a work of the Holy Spirit for sure, but it is also a work that we must tend to. It is a work that requires silence and contemplation. I can’t read easy because easy takes me away from these things. Easy keeps me asleep, unaware and unworked.

The Presence of Every Moment…

2005-06-23T12:37:00.000-05:00

I was looking through a Winterthur catalog today and came across a stepping stone that one could put in their garden with the words “You Are Here” inscribed on it. I was instantly attracted to the simple statement and pictured myself standing on it, content with the truth that it conveyed. The truth is, I am hardly ever fully present in the space that I occupy.

Maybe I will use a style of music, maybe I will use a movie, maybe the TV, perhaps a book or magazine, maybe it’s thoughts of future plans or what needs to be done, but I willingly give into the escape of the present moment on a regular basis. I am often, not fully listening to my wife, not fully playing with my kids. I waste many moments longing for more, something different, somewhere different, and this feeling persist no matter the place or time.

A few years ago, I went through a difficult time when I was not sure if I would be alive to see the birth of my first son. I remember one day a year later, he was laying on my belly while I lay on a hammock in our backyard. It was a perfect spring day, with bright green and blue colors everywhere. The wind was blowing the branches and my son was pointing up to the trees and smiling. And I remember feeling a deep appreciation for that moment, like I should not have been experiencing it. Like every second I have on this earth with my loved ones, old and new, is a gift. This is the presence of every moment.

The secret of contentment lies in being fully aware of every smile, conversation, kind deed. It’s looking deeply into the eyes of those who are speaking and listening attentively to their words. It is practicing the gift and lost art of relational hospitality. And it’s realizing that all we long for, we already have.

A Greater Evil

2005-10-01T00:30:00.000-05:00

It has been long, too long since my last blog. I have not had the mental space for seeds to grow and if you have read any of my previous blogs, you know how I desire to write something that is worth your time in reading, something that makes you stop to think (although I am not always capable of such original thought. I find it makes my brain hurt).

“The point of having a brain is to think” Scott Peck writes in his book The Road Less Traveled and Beyond. Simple and true; God created our brains to comprehend, to problem solve, to develop its own thought process. A child of God is able to fully take up being a contribution to the Body of Christ only when he or she fully becomes their own unique part.

Instead of developing into an original person, we often are reactionary and latch on the easiest of answers and make them laws in our own belief systems. One such example is the reaction that many Christians have towards Halloween. Many have read a book or seen a video as to the evils of this celebration and its origins. Or, perhaps they simply observe with their own eyes the demonic decorations and costumes and so have concluded that Christians should not participate and should close their doors and turn off their lights or should attend an alternative harvest party held at a local church. This seems like a black and white issue to many and there is shock and confusion if a devoted follower of Christ thinks differently.

James Dobson is one of those voices that differ from what is often the popular choice: “The traditional emphasis upon the occult, witches, devils, death and evil sends messages to our kids that godly parents can only regard with alarm. There is clearly no place in the Christian community for the ‘darker side’ of Halloween. Even here, however, there is a place for some harmless fun. Kids love to dress up and pretend. If the Halloween experience is focused on fantasy rather than on the occult, I see no harm in it…let them go door-to-door asking for treats. This side of Halloween can be thoroughly enjoyable for little ones.” 1

Another respected Christian leader who has a rare opinion about Halloween is Jack Hayford. He has written papers about it and has preached concerning the Christians tendency to hide. Carving pumpkins and taking children around trick-or-treating do not constitute a compromise with secular society, he contends. “Now, this will never satisfy certain people who would rather be angry, too much of the church’s time is spent in criticizing people who aren’t holy enough…Its always easier to pass judgment than to seek how to save lives.” 2

I can hear the voices of disagreement stirring up now. But let me assure you that any opinions that I have come to about this subject are not reactionary, nor did I come to them lightly. I have read many of the same books you may have, I even know and have had a former witch from NJ who now has her doctorate in theology, come and speak at events as to the kind of practices that she and others took place in on Halloween. The dark side is real and we should be aware of it, pray against it and not participate in things that resemble it. Still, I am using this holiday as an example of a great lack I find in many Christian responses to such challenges.

I have found through further study beyond the Christian hype, that much of the Christian facts about Halloween’s origins are simply not true. And that much of its origins are in fact, very Christian-it has only been in the last 30-40 years that people who practice the occult have made it as dark as it presently is.

Which is the greater evil? That darkness which acts in the way that we should expect it to act, or that children of light have abandoned the evening to such darkness? Has the night grown more evil because the demonic activities increased, or because ambassadors of Christ went into hiding? I am a lover of God, who considers everything I have to be and for His glory and on Halloween night, I like to meet my neighbors and let my children pretend, even carve pumpkins. Far from being a conflict of interest for me, I find to be it my Christian duty.

More in my next blog…

1 http://www.focusonyourchild.com/entertain/art1/A0000637.html
2 http://theshepherdsgate.org/favs/Hayford%20on%20Halloween.htm

A Great Evil -Part 2

2005-10-06T02:05:00.000-05:00

In my last blog I wrote about the fact that not every Christian believes that participating in Halloween is an act of compromise. Leaders such as James Dobson and Jack Hayford have written and spoken about this subject in detail. I also asked which is the greater evil, darkness becoming more dark or lights that refuse to shine in that darkness.

In this blog, I wanted to go into a little more detail about the history of the holiday and why Christians' tendency to point to its origins as a reason to not participate is not sound in light of other holidays that we do participate in.

Before the time of Christ until about 900 years after His death, most of the Celtic people (Scotland, Ireland, and Britainn) celebrated a festival called Samhain. October 31st marked a new year in the Celtic calendar when seasons changed and light of day grew less. It was also believed that all of the souls of those who passed during the previous year woke and walked the earth. Some believed that in order to attract good souls, food would be left at the doorway of their homes and in order to keep evil souls away, the Celts would get dressed as something evil themselves. Predating the time of Christian missionariess, the Druids would also sacrifice animals and people to appease evil spirits. Jack-o-latterns came along many, many years later from folklore and was included into the festival, although Europeans carve faces into squash as pumpkins are a unique American gourd.

Most of these practices were either changed into Christian practices or dropped all together as Christianity spread throughout Europe. In the year 998, a French monastery started the observance of All Souls Day, which honored God and the memory of those servants who once lived, on November 1st. Halloween (literally means the eve of the saints or those who are hallowed), became an important Christian celebration and preparation for the holiday that would follow. The new Christian holiday, however, did not cancel out all of the customs of the previous Pagan festival and the holiday became a mix of both practices.

While the practices of the pagan festival, Samhain are evil and may even be recognized as demonic, it is important to make mention of two points. First, the Celtic people were not aware that it was evil. This was before missionaries reached them with the Gospel and most of what they did was out of the fear that they lived in. Once they heard about Christ, they quickly turned to Him. Secondly, although the customs had their roots in paganism, it is what we make of them today as Christians that matter.

For example, Halloween was not the only Christian holiday to be instituted in the stead of a pagan festival, nor is it the only Christian holiday to carry with it some of the pagan symbols. Before the times of Christ until the 4th century, Romans celebrated a festival called Saturnilia, in which they honored the ancient god of agriculture and honored the winter solstice. This took place around December 25th and included exchanging of gifts. Also during this time, many pagans worshipped Mithra, a Persian god of light, who they believed was born on December 25th. Mistletoe was believed to be a magical plant that had powers of fertility and protection. Meanwhile, the evergreen tree played an important role in a pagan celebration called Yule, which also took place during this season, and during which early Germanic tribes sacrificed slaves and hung their bodies on the branches of the trees.

Although some believe that Christ was not born until the spring time (the Bible simply does not say), the Roman Catholic church instituted Christmas on December 25th, to replace the pagan festivals. This allowed many of the converts to the faith to keep their traditions, although now, they took on a Christ-centered meaning. This is to say nothing of Eastre, which was a festival to celebrate the goddess of fertility, by that name, and which included colored eggs in its celebration.

My point is obvious: The pagan origins of Halloween are not all that different from the pagan origins of Christmas and Easter. And like those holidays, Christians can boldly step in and make it our own, using much of the same symbolism that was once intended for evil for something Christ-centered. Christians can carve the name of Jesus into a pumpkin and light it on Halloween night along with a few happy faces on other pumpkins to speak to others of the light of Christ. We can allow our children to get dressed up into hero costumes and use it to talk with them about great heros of our Christian faith. We can meet with and bless our neighbors with candy and maybe a tract or church invitation. Halloween is what we make of it. Would Christ go into hiding, or would He walk among and love his Neighbors?

In my next blog, I will write about the present darkness that none the less, does presently exist and more ideas on how to shine in the midst of it.

Growing Up

2005-12-15T12:15:00.000-05:00

Have you seen The Polar Express yet? The end of the movie gets me right in the heart. The sleigh bell rings for the boy and his sister, but his parents don’t hear it. He narrates, now as a man, that as the years went on the bell stopped ringing for his sister, but that the bell still rings for him.

After watching the movie recently, Andrew, my 6 year old son, turned to me and asked “Does the bell still ring for you daddy?” Andrew has been struggling with his belief in Santa Clause and I knew what he meant by the question. I quickly answered “Yes.” But then he pressed a little more and asked “I mean like it rings for that boy. Does it ring for you like that?” In other words do I believe in Santa Claus? I answered “Yes, Andrew. I believe in the magic of Santa Claus.” He responded “I believe in the magic and in Santa Claus,” making sure to make the distinction that I did not make. But the truth is, he really doesn’t believe in Santa. He knows it deep within himself and he is trying to hold onto the idea. It makes me sad.

Honestly, I don’t mind all that much that he may be loosing his belief in the big red guy, but I dread the day he will loose the magic.
It happens to all of us at one point or another. Life turns out to be very different then we thought. Death, disappointment, loss, hurt sooner or later enters in to each of our lives and it tries its hardest to steal our innocence, our wonder, our joy.

The Polar Express helped made popular the song “Where Are You Christmas?” The lyrics, I think capture how many adults may feel:
"Where are you Christmas? Why can't I find you? Why have you gone away? Where is the laughter, you used to bring me? Why can't I hear music play? My world is changing. I'm rearranging. Does that mean Christmas changes too? Where are you Christmas? Do you remember, the one you used to know? I'm not the same one. See what the time's done. Is that why you have let me go?"

It has not let you go. The magic and wonder of childhood still exist in this life. It permeates your everyday world. You simply have to retrain your ears to hear it, your eyes to see it, your heart to feel it. This life is filled with little and large miracles. May I humbly suggest this season that you fight for your joy, that you fight for the wonder and magic, because if you don’t –this life will take it from you and it will call it maturity. This is a lie. Growing up does not mean you leave behind the magic of life, it does not mean you have to loose that fire in your belly, that passion you once felt.

Do not let the clock be your dictator. Take time for walks in the snow; observe the beauty all around you. Take time for relationships and listen deeply to know one another’s hearts. Let wonder win over reason, tap into that faith of a child that Jesus held up as standard.

Unbusy Progress

2006-01-21T19:37:00.000-05:00

2005 brought upon me the need to break my long standing resolution (namely to never make a New Year’s resolution). My resolution for 2006 is to learn the ways of becoming unbusy and then to live it.

Although people would categorize me as being high-strung, I actually am more of an introvert in that I recharge my batteries during silence and solitude and find large groups of people to leave me tired. Since my new position at Hopewell, opportunities for such recharging have been in short supply. This is my fault alone because although I enjoy silence and solitude, I do not naturally bend in its direction. I thrive on creating things and rallying other people who may share the same vision into action. The problem is, when I am not paying attention to the depths, I begin to draw from a shallow well and I find that although I can get things done, I can’t minister in any kind of original or spirit-led manner.

My need to become unbusy is more than my ministry though; it is also because the less time I spend with God with no agenda, what one author calls “wasting time with God,” the unhealthier I become. I know this and even feel it happening. Layers of unresolved emotions and fractured thoughts that have no conclusion begin to pile up leaving me confused and at unrest.

Well, I went and shared my resolution with my whole church family at Hopewell on a Sunday morning…now I am accountable to a few hundred people. I have already had a half dozen people ask me how my progress is in this area. One couple even purchased for me the stepping stone that I mentioned in The Presence of Every Moment entry. I could not even fully express my gratitude for such a meaningful gift. I brought it home and now it sits on our mantel above the fireplace. Whenever my mind wonders of I feel that nagging sense to become busy, I wander to the fireplace and contemplate the meaning of those three simple words: You Are Here. I know it is ridiculous that I needed to be reminded of that, but I am so often not present to those I am with.

In addition, I have stepped back from allowing myself to feel like everything is urgent. I breathe more slowly, I try o walk a little more slowly. I recognize my environment a little more. I listen more closely to my wife and my boys. Most importantly, I am learning to hear God more clearly and to follow His leadings. This was something I have forgotten how to do and I never really mastered it in the first place (who can?). But I am familiar with a “sweet spot” that come when I am surrendered, and listening and watching for His move. Things are simplier, easier and more get accomplished, at least more meaningful things.

These reasons and more are why God commanded his people to practice a Sabbath. My family and I have still to determine how we can weekly do this together, although we have had a few sporadic days of impromptu Sabbath. I love the fact that all inner and outer demands can be shut off without guilt and without apology because God told me to do it. I think this is why it is one of the big 10 commandments and why the New Testament did not reprieve it's demands. Left to ourselves, we would never put the brakes on, we are too driven. God made us this way, He want us to be people of excellence and people that produce excellent work for His glory. But that does not come about by striving. It comes by Biblical principles like…waiting… and… resting.

How to Think 1 - A Crisis of Non-Thinking

2006-05-10T11:57:00.000-05:00

It has been so long my last entry. Thousands of emails and letters, even financial offers have come through – all to pull me back in, so here I am. You can breathe again. Your life will continue.
Actually, does anyone really read this thing? I humbly thank you (all 2 of you!), for taking any time out of your lives to read the thoughts of someone like me.
The next few entries are going to be a mini-series based on a subject I love: Thinking. Keep in mind that I do not speak of this subject as one who has mastered it. These are just some things that I have learned through the years in an attempt to do it better.
In this first entry, I am going to share a few thoughts about the present crisis of non-thinking.

““2% of the people think; 3% of the people think they think; and 95% would rather die than think.” -George Benard Shaw

To think well is not easy and so most people simply do not want to do the work.

We fill our minds with other people’s thoughts. And depending on our sociological background and our own psychological and spiritual makeup, we gravitate towards those thoughts that most resonate with us. We rarely unplug from the myriad of voices and deeply think about why we gravitate towards certain beliefs and if those beliefs really are true.

We become reactionary (responding from our emotions) as opposed to responsive (responding from a deeper place of wisdom). The result is simplistic thinking.

Dr. M. Scott Peck writes in his book The Road Less Traveled and Beyond, “Everywhere we turn, the evidence is astounding. Simplistic thinking has become so pandemic in society that it is considered normal and conventional wisdom…” (pg. 31)

If you are a non-fictional reader like me, you have probably thought to yourself as I have, “Why are there so few original writers our there? Is there anyone who can do more than just repackage other people’s thoughts into different looking boxes and give me an original thought that I can chew on for days or weeks to come? Truths that won’t just confirm what I already know, but that will, instead, shake up my presuppositions? That will actually cause me to grow in wisdom and in my own ability to think? ” Don’t misunderstand me, I am not hungry for new truths; rather, fuller truths is what I am after.

I am sure you would agree that God has created each of us as unique individuals. His design is to create a body of believers that are interdependent. Yet, in order for the body to function at its best, each member must grow in the awareness of what part they are (their original self). If you are created to be a foot, you must fully become that foot and not try to hold things as a hand does. The body cannot function this way. Now we know this is true in relation to spiritual gifts, but it also true in other aspects of our humanity. God forbid we all think the same thoughts, where is the iron sharpening iron in that?

When I was a child, my parents along with my 4 siblings and I took a month out of our lives, loaded up our camper and drove across the country. We went along the southern states on our way to California and along the northern states on the way back. I have distinct memories of the different feels in each state and in so many different towns. A teenager in Missouri dressed and spoke differently than a teenager in Arizona. Today, a teenager in Georgia dresses like a teenager in Washington, like a teenager in the Dominican Republic, like a teenager in Germany. Sure, many may try to be original, but the moment they have achieved it, it is packaged and sold as the next trend (watch a fascinating documentary about this online at: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/view/ ).

It isn’t just in the world of fashion that unoriginality thrives, it is in books, magazines, TV shows, and much of our day to day lives.

Dallas Willard in his great book, The Divine Conspiracy, writes “the mantle of intellectual meaninglessness shrouds every aspect of our common life. Events, things, and “information” flood over us, overwhelming us, disorienting us with threats and possibilities we for the most part have no idea what to do about. Commercials, catch words, political slogans, and high-flying rumors clutter our mental and spiritual space. Our minds and bodies pick them up like a dark suit picks up lint.” (pg.9)

There is hope. We are free to develop into our own, most unique self, if we are willing to do the hard word of thinking well. If we are willing, as Paul wrote to “not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2).

What kind of impression will you leave on this earth when you are gone? Will it be barely distinguishable from the myriads of others who never really lived? God has created our short breathe of an existence to make a contribution that only our individual lives can make. I have no idea what my own will be, but I pray it won’t be anyone else’s.

How to Think 2 - What Thinking Well Is Not...

2006-05-11T07:39:00.000-05:00

In this entry, I wanted to state what I am not talking about by the term, thinking well.

I am not talking about doing well academically
By doing well academically, I mean the ability to process and regurgitate a given set of information. What is required for a person to do well in school is to give the “right” answers (the answers the teacher is looking for), at the right time (when the student is asked verbally or for a test). I don’t mean to diminish formal education; I think school is crucial. Without a degree, many doors in the workforce remain closed and the higher degree, the more doors begin to open. Still, in the world of academia, there is not a premium placed of developing one’s own ability to think as I mean here.

I am not talking about doing well with memorization
I have always admired the ability some people have to remember dates and names. I love American history and can give you a sweeping overview of the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, but I could not tell you exact years, places or names. I am interested in the development of stories, but no matter how hard I try, I cannot retain the precise details for more than a few days if I do not use that knowledge. Luckily for me, the lack of a good memory does not impede on one’s ability to think well.

I am not talking about quickness
Our brains are filled with long rows of filing cabinets. Some are filled with facts, some are filled with common sense solutions, some are filled with anecdotes, and so on. My wife is one of those people that can run to the appropriate cabinet and pull out exactly the right file for any given moment in the blink of eye. My brother is like this as well. These are ones who normally score pretty high on IQ tests. They can combine good memorization skills and common sense skills, throw in a dose of wisdom and articulate it well, while I am still on my way to the first drawer, wondering if I am even at the right one. While the ability to quickly tap into the right information is a help in thinking well, to think well does not depend on how slow or quick your mind works.

So then, what do I mean by thinking well? We will get more into this over the next few entries, but for now I can tell you that thinking well requires: humility, yearning & silence.

As I mentioned in my previous entry; thinking is work. There is no way around this. But for those who take the time to fully embrace humility, yearning and silence in their quest for wisdom, a life of easy answers and reactionary living will loose all appeal and not even seem relatable any longer.

Take a moment before you move on from this blog, even now and ask God to give you a deeper well of wisdom. James 1:5 tells us “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”

How to Think 3 - Humility

2006-05-22T14:56:00.000-05:00

The first requirement to Think Well is to cultivate humility. Paul writes, "For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment" (Ro 12:3)

Years ago, during a time of owning a residential/commercial cleaning business, I had one customer that I did not allow my employees to clean. The customer's name was Bea and I looked forward to being in her home. She was intellectually hospitable. She was elderly, she had lived a long educated life and she was one of the most open-minded people I have ever met. She still hungered for truth and beauty in life. She read and experienced more than I certainly had, yet she arrived at no conclusions. She was neither Republican, nor Democrat but only voted after careful consideration of all viewpoints. She consumed newspapers, books and NPR (National Public Radio) and as well, took much time for silence to think about what she was consuming. And although I was not sure of weather or not she was a Christian for years, as time went on, I learned how she often prayed to God, much more than I did. I can only hope that when I am her age, I will be as gracious and humble as she was.

It is so easy to get stuck in our molds and assumptions about what life has taught us. Yet Jesus said, after taking children into His arms, "...the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." (Mk 10:14-15) What was Jesus saying here? That we have faith of a child? Yes, certainly. But we miss His full meaning if we boil it down to one word, such as faith. Jesus was holding up as an example, the entire approach to life that a child has. Life has not yet taught them how to be bitter or judgmental. If they exist in a loving, safe environment, children are wide-eyed, eager to soak life in and learn from all that it has to offer them. These children do not instinctively see a small world, torn apart by violence and destruction caused by self-centeredness in which no magic exist and everything can be explained. Theirs is a world of mystery, trust and largeness that they cannot fully comprehend, nor would they desire to do so. What I hear Jesus saying to me as He holds these children in His arms, is "Vince, always be willing to un-learn what you are so sure about. Do not be comfortable in all of your assumptions and conclusions. God is big, you are small. His ways are not yours, His thoughts are not yours. Simply, trust Him and love Him."

We receive the Kingdom of God through posture more than we do knowledge. Any world religion or philosophy worth its weight in salt, embraces this fact: To truly grow, we must be willing to deconstruct what we think is truth. Zen Buddhist call this Beginner's Mind, and it is an attitude of openness that one must have even when studying at advanced levels. Everything must be approached as if it were the first time learning it. Paul writes "Knowledge puffs up... Anyone who claims to know something, does not yet have the necessary knowledge." (1 Co 8:2)

For me, all of this means that I am willing to ask myself some deconstructive questions. Questions like: If church never existed and I and a small group of people were the only Christians on the earth, based on the Bible alone, what would church look like?
By this question; first I am establishing the fact that the Bible is the ultimate authority and the source for direction. Secondly, I am attempting to strip away much of the contemporary cultural influences from what the Bible actually says about a subject such as church (if you would like more information about Emerging Church issues, you can hear me dialogue with a few other guys on 2 recent Doxas Dialos Podcasts: here and here).
Another question would be: If I, nor anyone I knew, ever read the Bible and no one taught me from it, no one read me stories from it, no one ever interpreted it to me and told me what it means...what would it say to me?

To ask these type of questions requires humility, time and a lot of prayerful introspection. It is not about the answers. It is the searching and the dependence upon God that is the point. Jesus was asked 183 question in the Gospels. He answered 3 directly. As I heard a priest, Richard Rohr, say about this, "He [Jesus], refuses to see himself as an answer giver or a problem solver and instead leads us to a place where we cannot be in control and therefore, God can be."

We simply do not know all there is to know yet about Him, about life, about human behavior or even one another. To Think Well, we have to start, and always remain, at the beginning.

How to Think 4 - Yearning

2006-06-15T08:48:00.000-05:00

“Tune your ears to the world of Wisdom; set your heart on a life of Understanding. That’s right-if you make Insight your priority, and won’t take no for answer, searching for it like a prospector panning for gold, like an adventurer on a treasure hunt, believe me, before you know it Fear-of-God will be yours; you’ll have come upon the Knowledge of God.” (Proverbs 2: 2-5 –MSG)

Yearning and humility are two sides of the same coin. We can’t have one without the other. To approach our ability to think and current knowledge with humility is to realize we don’t yet know what we ought to know and so, we yearn to more fully understand what we don’t understand.

This is not a yearning for facts and figures, this is a yearning to comprehend the hearts of people, to study the heart of God in this life, to meditate on the heart of a book or movie or art or society. According to the words of Solomon, written above, this yearning to understand the heart comes from our heart as much as it does our minds. The heart in Biblical times was the seat of our emotions, the core of who we are, the deepest part of ourselves. In other words, this is not a superficial hunger to know things in order for us to be recognized by others as being smart. This is comes from who we essentially are; someone who seeks first to understand before being understood.

To truly understand something or someone, means that we are not always trying to get to the bottom of things. We realize that it is in the journey that we learn.

To illustrate this, I will tell of a time when a few friends and I were walking on a bridge from Lahaska, NJ to New Hope, PA. As we were walking and talking, I was looking around at my surroundings. The air was still filled with the warmth of the sun, but the cool breeze of night was moving in, the hills that are on either side of the bridge were silhouetted against a brilliant sky, the lights of the sister towns were all coming on, many interesting people were walking by (New Hope and Lahaska are inhabited by many artist and writers), and the river was flowing at a good clip beneath us. I felt alive just taking it all in. It wasn’t until we were half way across the bridge that I realized my friends didn’t share the same sentiments. One said, “How long is this bridge? I just want to get to the other side.”

Many people approach life as something to get through, and they just want the bottom line to get them through the best they can. But to yearn to think well, we must recognize that all of life is teaching something in every moment; not just then when we have the right book, or attend that class, or talk with that person, rather the person that you sharing space with right now in these moments has something to teach you, creation all around you is speaking of God and your place in His creation, there is so much in front of your eyes in this very second. Take it all in. Give up your bottom lines. Live in this moment.

I have known many people through my life that were academically brilliant, but that could not have a meaningful conversation if their lives depended on it. A person that yearns as we are talking about here, seeks to understand and learn from all things and all people.

One expected result of all of this is how large God grows in our minds and hearts. He breaks out of all our preconceived ideas of where He is and where He is not and who He chooses to speak through. I can honestly say that I have never known fear (awe) of God like I have since I have sought to understand life in general. This is what I think Solomon meant in the opening verse. Yearning leads to fear of God and the fear of God is the beginning of true wisdom.