If washing feet is wrong then I don't wanna be right!

Here's the article about a group of students that were suspended from college because they chose to wash the feet of their new members.

Our words

In my time of meditation and devotion this morning, I had something stand out. One line, from Psalm 51:15 "Open my lips, O Lord..."

I am a person who is all about the words we use. The language we choose to use is important to me and I often find that I lack patience with people who just spurt off without really thinking about what they are saying. I usually contemplate my words before speaking and I find that I am able to really convey what my mind and heart is wanting to speak. This came especially helpful when I was serving as a pastor and people needed me to speak words of comfort and faith to their circumstances (which I didn't always do so well).

What about those times when words are hard to find? Be it words of love, sympathy, encouragement or exaltation. Believe me, when I say that all of us have had moments just like that. I often find that I cannot find the energy or motivation to search for those words. So this one line of scripture spoke to my lack of evoking God's help to communicate certain experiences. I know that silence (and presence) is usually the best response but maybe we can be more willing to seek God's help in our daily communication... Open our lips... and maybe what we choose to say will become the breath and presence of God.

APA update

A Place Apart has updated their website. It now has multiple links that you can access everything from APA's purpose to who's who at APA to a resource center in which you can get training manuals, videos, breviaries and the upcoming CD that is due out this Spring. Whew! This could get dangerous boys and girls... check it out, you just might find yourself saying YES to A Place Apart.

Concrete Lives, Asphalt Journeys

We were at the Co-op for a night of Celtic music last Saturday and our conversation turned to our lack of encountering the natural world. My wife said the following:

I spend the majority if not all of my work days on concrete or asphalt. From the time I get up, when I walk on the sidewalk to my car, to being at work all day and coming home to our apartment. I hardly ever get the chance to actually walk on grass!

That made quite an impression on me. For how many of us does that statement become true. Reflect back on your typical day. How much of it are you encountering the natural world? It could be as simple as taking your shoes off and walking on the grass. Make a promise to yourself that this Spring you will make and effort to walk on the grass barefoot a little more if nothing else.

Amplifying Time

In the month that we have gone without television, I am finding what Richard Louv said to be true.

Unlike television, nature does not steal time, it amplifies it.

Since the days have been getting longer and the temperatures here have been averaging in the mid-50's, I have found myself where I imagined I would be... spending more time at the park across from our apartment and tapping into an energy that I have not felt for quite some time.

In an earlier post, I mentioned some of the things that have taken place since I've put the TV away. I was afraid initially that I would get bored easily or that time would seem to stand still. I have found the opposite to be true, like the quote above, time has been amplified. As I write this post, I assure you that the past month has been one of unlimited creativity and imagination. I am also finding that my prayer life has deepened in a way that before I could only fantasize about. The depth and clarity of my mind in this time has provided me with a sense of direction that I have been questioning these past few months. Needless to say, things are starting to come into bloom just as the natural world around me is beginning to awaken from its winter slumber as well.

So a quick review of some of the effects of no TV for a month:

- Vividly remembering almost all my dreams
- Written numerous "new" songs into my already large repertoire
- A seemingly endless array of creative writing (i.e. fiction)
- Building better community with friends and family though more telephone calls and getting together to play games
- More time to read
- Maintaining an intimacy (via communication, physically) with my wife that sometimes goes unnoticed when we keep ourselves distracted
- A prayer life that is more intentional
- I have more clarity about "next steps" for my journey as it pertains to school, work and life
- I seem to be losing weight (10 lbs. in 2 months) as well since I 'm outside more and am better about getting to workout
- Making better use of my time
- I'm not as tired as I used to be even a month ago

Again, as more of these creations become more tangible, I'll post them here.

May your life be a semblance of the natural world around you. Always in bloom, always giving.

Purging our sin

There has to be some allure with guilt and the need for repentance that gravitates me towards the season of Lent. I’m not a glutton for punishment or a sadist by any means and growing up in the Anabaptist tradition provided very little in the way of mapping out the Lenten journey and it’s importance. It wasn’t until I was in college that I attended my first Ash Wednesday service.

Maybe it is because in my own experience the modern church has under-emphasized the role of sin in our lives in order to make the church more user/seeker friendly. In doing so, we may have also under-emphasized the role of repentance as well. I know that these are Christian buzzwords that carry baggage and I usually don’t like to use them either. For the last seven years, I’ve made the Lenten season one of intentional repentance for my spiritual journey. Yes, I do choose to give something up and use the time for “going deeper within”, but I am learning that my need for deep repentance isn’t something “bad” or to be ashamed of rather it something that allows for a fresh space inside in which there is room to grow. So I ask myself, “What is my attraction to guilt and repentance?”

The Lenten devotional I am reading from uses the 51^st Psalm as the guide. Today’s meditation focused on verse 7a:

Purge me from my sin, and I shall be made pure.

Purge meaning includes: thorough, total, complete elimination. As a word it’s a very good one to use in relation to sin. I can only think of one other instance today that we use it; when we talk about a particular eating disorder known as “binging and purging”. Without dispelling all the details of the disorder, there is a very vivid image that comes to mind when we speak of it. I believe the Psalmist is being very graphic in relation to our sin and how it is embedded deep within our being and therefore must be purged from within us. I know, the image you are getting here is one that can make you queasy, but maybe that is why there is such an interest for me in the chance to re-penetrate the Lenten journey every year. Maybe it’s because I have not properly purged from myself the sin within.

In this time of emptiness, God empties us (Think of Christ's kenosis in Philippians 2:7). In doing so, we are made pure, opened to receive the fullness and abundance of new life in Christ. There’s a great prayer that was at the end of todays devotional that I believe sums up the Lenten journey.

My God,
I love you.
You are the only thing.
Please forgive me
of everything else.

Two Tons

Wow! Q4L has now had over 4,000 visits since October 2005 (there would be more hits had I added a stat counter when I created the blog in February 2005) so for the sake of argument I will mentally tabulate an extra 500-1000 visitors on to what my current counter says.

Thanks to everyone who reads my blog. I enjoy using this as a forum for my ideas and ramblings and it is so democratic as well!

From numbness to creativity

An interesting thing has happened to me in the past week. Brenda and I decided to unplug the television and DVD/VCR player and put them in the closet for the season of Lent. We even rearranged our living room to have all the furniture in a circle-like setting facing each other. We look so Old German Baptist Brethren now! I have found that I am not as addicted to the tube as I thought I was. I’ve not had any problems with the temptation to plug it back in (trust me it is there). The book I am currently reading suggests that giving up television is an excellent way to move beyond other addictions. I see this working because I have had less of a desire to eat fast food (which really is my addiction); maybe it is not seeing all those commercials but it’s working for me. It is nice to sit in the living room during quiet evenings with Brenda as she does her knitting or punch needling and I am reading or writing. It’s nice to not have to talk over the TV to hear each other.

That’s not what I wanted to blog about, that was just the background to what I really have been experiencing this past week.

Coincidently, since I have not had the barrage of distractions via the TV, I have noticed that I am dreaming a lot more. A LOT MORE! I know, I know, we all dream whether we remember it or not, but I am really dreaming! I have had multiple dreams in one night for the past week and I can remember them, which is something that rarely happens!

Not only am I remembering more of my dreams, but also I have noticed a new streak of creativity! I have written brand new songs that have just been coming to me as well as other ways of increased creativity. Maybe this is because we haven’t had the distractions that we had before but I am beginning to believe that it is a result of not having my mind fixed on a box with moving pictures that does my thinking for me and zaps my creativity. I’ll post more later as the weeks progress.