This sums it up

Alternative Worship's web site lists a good summary of what I believe most young adults are seeking in the church and worship.

For clarification purposes: Ethos:
Etymology: New Latin, from Greek Ethos custom, character -- the distinguishing character, sentiment, moral nature, or guiding beliefs of a person, group, or institution

Here is that list:

Ethos-

- authenticity - faith expression that truly represents the people who make and take part in it

- faith as journey, to be facilitated rather than controlled giving people space for their own encounter with God

- an exploration of creativity - in everyone, not just a gifted few

- risk-taking, experimental - openness to failure and mistakes

- holistic - life not divided into sacred and secular

- any part of our lives and abilities as potential material for faith expression

- participation - involvement encouraged, passive consumption discouraged

- minimal exclusion - shaped by whoever gets involved

- consensus - not one person imposing their direction

- low threshold of permission - in general if you want to do something go ahead

- high quality, as good as we can make it - culturally aware

- awareness of ourselves as part of God's creation, and a concern for its welfare

- the entire expression of the faith community seen as 'church' not just one event

- reluctance to draw boundaries that determine who or what is in or out of God's kingdom

- openness to God's presence in any area of life or culture

"Stations" re-imagined

It is a little late but you might be interested in a contemporary depiction of the Stations of the Cross. I don't know how long this will be on the main page but The Ooze has it there now. You can check it out here. I hope that its message still resonates long after the Easter celebration.

Awake. Breathing. Alive.

Photo: Living Cross at Camp Mack

I will be attending my 6th Pastor's Sabbath at Camp Mack from noon tomorrow to noon Wednesday. I always look forward to this time of rest and renewal with other Brethren pastors. It gives me a much needed boost to get away from life that can sometimes feel less than life. So it is on the heels of being on retreat at the best camp in the world that I write this reflection on Sabbath/Solitude time.

Sabbath time is to break from the unhealthy pace our culture puts us on. Jesus spent many days and nights away from the crowds to refresh his worn out spirit. So why does sitting quietly, doing little to nothing help to renew the spirit? Perhaps it's because with nothing else to think about, breathing becomes interesting. You realize that you'd forgotten this simple, life-sustaining act. You begin to notice how the air comes in and goes out. It soon becomes your prayer. And after awhile, you realize that everything comes and goes - life itself and all that happens in it, good and bad comes and goes. This awareness can make you feel as if you've been sleepwalking through your days, missing so much of what is going on around you and inside you. But now you're awake. You're breathing. You're alive.

Despised and rejected

“…On Easter Sunday we celebrate Jesus coming back into a world that rejected him. If you have ever been rejected, you know how unlikely it is to come back into the midst of those who have said, We do not want you. Yet that’s the eternal mystery we celebrate: God is always coming back into a world that for some unbelievable reason does not want God. It’s almost impossible to believe that could be true. And yet Jesus, in his humility, finds ways to come back.”

The message of Jesus’ resurrection is what enables me to continue working for confession and repentance, for peace and justice, for transformation and conversion, because in doing so I am almost always dealing with rejection… albeit in my community of faith, in the world and in myself. I am so grateful for the liberation Jesus offers me day in and day out. That is my Easter story of salvation and life!

- Italicized quote comes from Radical Grace: Daily Meditations by Richard Rohr
- Artwork "Resurrection" by Fr. John Giuliani comes from Bridge Building Images Native American Art section

Getting in a rush

This is from the Peace Witness Action List distributed by OEPA.

Church of the Brethren member and Christian Peacemaker Team member Art Gish called in to the Rush Limbaugh show on March 23 to offer his perspective on the nonviolent way of the cross. As you may know, Limbaugh has been quite critical of CPT through the captivity of CPTers in Iraq.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Here is Art in Athens, Ohio. Hi, Art, welcome to the program.

CALLER: I'm part of Christian Peacemaker Teams. I just got back from Iraq. My wife is still in Baghdad with Christian Peacemaker Teams.

RUSH: Okay. Did you call today for a specific reason or did you just want to tell me that?

CALLER: No, I thought you might want to talk to somebody who's been there and been part of the team. The Christian Peacemaker Teams comes out of the Quakers, Mennonites, and the Church of the Brethren, the peace churches.

RUSH: Yeah, peace.

CALLER: And it's based on the idea that if we want peace and are opposed to war, then we ought to be willing to take the same risks that soldiers take and go into violent situations and be a nonviolent presence in the middle of --

RUSH: Yeah, but, you know, peacemakers have never won wars with peace. They do it with guns and soldiers and --

CALLER: Well, we have another idea --
RUSH: You win wars by killing people and breaking things, and then you institute the peace.

CALLER: We believe that the only way to overcome evil is through nonviolent suffering love, the way of the cross.

RUSH: Well, the problem is that you're misdefining evil. You're in the midst of evil over there and yet you see it here in the United States. The evil is all around you. The evil just captured a bunch of your members.

CALLER: We see it everywhere.

RUSH: Well, you don't see it then. You can sit there all day and tell me what you see. You've been rescued by people after swearing off any use of force of violence to have these people rescued, they still took the rescue, and there's not one bit of gratitude. There's not one thank-you, there's nothing more than blaming the people that rescued you and calling them now on this program evil. I, sir, am not interested.

END TRANSCRIPT

Ok, Here's the problem when it comes to most talk show hosts (the exception being NPR). All they know how to do is talk. Talk doesn't put them in any place to improve the circumstance. At least CPTer's are willing to move beyond conventional boundaries and live out their beliefs/ideology. I can't say the same for Rush.

Cowardice is often best hidden behind a microphone. I just assume have folks who even listen to his show wear aluminum foil on your head so we know who you are, and know that any attempt to have a logical conversation with you is time well wasted. Time and energy that I can best put to use to further the Reign/Dance/Dream/Revolution of God here on this earth.

The Way of the Cross

You may want to wait until Good Friday to view this multimedia feature from Beliefnet. It is a powerful depiction of Christ's Stations and the use of scriptures. The music is both haunting and mystical (make sure your speakers are turned on). May it be useful in your contemplation of the Cross.

You can access the presentation here.

- From the website: "The concept for Beliefnet's "Bitter Journey: The Way of the Cross" is based on traditions associated with Tenebrae services, the Stations of the Cross,* and the Lamentations of Good Friday."

Liberation or medication?

I’ve thought a lot about this quote from Anthony De Mello:

“People who want a cure, provided they can have it without pain, are like those who favor progress, provided they can have it without change. Even the best psychologist will tell you that, that people don’t really want to be cured. What they want is relief; a cure is painful.”

What is the church offering people today? A cure or relief?

My observation is that we have offered relief far more than we do a cure. Here’s your medication, read your Bible, pray about it, stop living in sin… etc… When will the church begin to offer a cure for all that ails this broken world?

What would the cure look like? I have an idea…

I hope to get some responses on this one!

Looking for a good thrill?

Ok, in an earlier post I gave a list about some current religion/spirituality books I'd been reading. I also mentioned the thriller novels as well. Truthfully, in the last 2 months I have been reading more thriller/suspense novels than my religion/spirituality ones. Something that hasn't happened in nearly 7 years! It used to be Stephen King novels (which I still like) but I have been focusing in on two other writers at the moment.

If you are looking for a good thrill, I highly recommend these books:

Blessed Child by Ted Dekker (currently reading)
Obsessed by Ted Dekker
The Visitation by Frank Peretti
Monster by Frank Peretti
Thr3e by Ted Dekker

Out of the four that I have finished, Thr3e and Monster were by far the best, in my opinion. After I finish Blessed Child, I plan to get my hands on the newly released House by both Dekker & Peretti. Either that or start reading through the Circle Trilogy by Dekker.

If you wish to see a trailer for "Obsessed", "Monster", or "Thr3e" you can click on the View Sample Video on the links provided for each book.

I must admit it has been kind of interesting to become fascinated again by an old hobby of mine. I hope I don't lose this hunger for a good thriller. That's just my genre of interest, as sick and twisted as it can be sometimes! But no mattter how twisted my mind can be, I long to seek the spiritual truths present or not in the stories.