I agree. How do we stem the tide?

OK, so here’s the non-gloating part. What would you do? If you knew you had 2 weeks off from your job, but you weren’t going to go anywhere, what would your daily priorities look like? What would be the things you would want and need to do? Think about what feeds your soul - sure your house has to be maintained (cleaning), and families need to be attended to, but how would you fill in all the Pathways? 

Ed suggested we all fast this week. Fasting is a great way to find room for the priorities which feed our souls. Without giving up cable TV, Dale and I wouldn’t have had all the time we currently have to feed our passion for reading. We are all so busy: let’s make sure that the important things in life don’t get blocked by the little busy items that can fill a day.

This is a screen shot from Facebook my friend Lisa shared on Flikr.  She labeled it, “I couldn’t make friends with Oscar de la Hoya.”  Now, I should tell you, Lisa is a boxer.   She’s getting to be pretty hard core.  What started out as a way to get into better shape (boxing classes) has turned into a significant hobby.  I’d say, “obsession”, but she might read this blog and she could totally kick my watoosie into next week.  Did I mention she’s a boxer?!

But, her Flikr posting got me thinking.  How many is too many?

At Evergreen, we talk a lot about simplicity.  One of the best spiritual disciplines we can practice in the U.S., I am convinced, is the discipline of intentional simplicity.  Less stuff, less noise coming into our heads, less clutter in our schedules…these things create the time, the space and the emotional quiet for us to keep our focus on God.  It lets us breathe enough to slow down and hear His voice.

But, we also talk about community.  We encourage each other to pursue relationships at differing levels of intimacy.  We encourage folks to socialize on Sunday mornings, to join a journey group, to join a covenant group, to get to know their neighbors, to build relationships with people at work, at school.  All those relationships we encourage each other to build take time, energy, emotional investment.

How do you balance?  Can you have too many friends?  Seriously, I can handle ~5 close friends.  Those are ones I talk to regularly, who know much of what is going on in my life.  I have far more friends whom I love, care about, pray for, enjoy talking to.  But, if my life were Facebook, I’ve often wondered if my screenshot would look like Oscar’s.  (By the way, this is a new experience for me.  I’m quite introverted and this is the first time in my life I’ve got an over abundance of healthy friendships.  It’s a nice problem to have!)

How do you create the time, space and energy in your life for more relationships?  Should we even be trying to build more relationships, or is less more?  How do you know when enough plus 1 more is too many?

If you want a great illustration of these two ideas, I recommend Clint Eastwood’s movie Gran Torino (showing currently at the Raleigh Grande). In this movie, you see Clint Eastwood try both ideas: ending violence with violence and ending violence with suffering.

The Exodus story shows a people being released from the evil of slavery, but not through their own violent efforts - they are freed by God. And in the life of Jesus, we see this idea of redemptive suffering coming into fullness. How can we find ways to incorporate this into our own lives? How can we find ways to overcome evil with good?

Until it Sleeps by Metallica

Where do I take this pain of mine
I run but it stays right by my side

So tear me open and pour me out
There’s things inside that scream and shout
And the pain still hates me
So hold me until it sleeps

Just like the curse, just like the stray
You feed it once and now it stays
Now it stays

So tear me open but beware
There’s things inside without a care
And the dirt still stains me
So wash me until I’m clean

It grips you so hold me
It stains you so hold me
It hates you so hold me
It holds you so hold me
Until it sleeps

So tell me why you’ve chosen me
Don’t want your grip, don’t want your greed
Don’t want it

I’ll tear me open make you gone
No more can you hurt anyone
And the fear still shakes me
So hold me, until it sleeps

It grips you so hold me
It stains you so hold me
It hates you so hold me
It holds you, holds you, holds you
until it sleeps (x4)

AND IT WONT IT WONT IT WONT IT WONT IT WONT IT KNOWS

So tear me open but beware
There’s things inside without a care
And the dirt still stains me
So wash me ’til I’m clean

I’ll tear me open make you gone
No longer will you hurt anyone
And the hate still SHAMES me
So hold me
until it sleeps (x5)

Sadness is not fun when in the midst of it, but we do need to embrace it and learn to worship through it. How do you deal with your sadness?

Ed made a great distinction in the sermon Sunday about constructive anger versus destructive anger. I think this is an important area to explore, because understanding the nature of your anger helps clarify what actions to take. So how do we tell the difference between the two kinds of anger? What are some key markers of both?

I would suggest that one distinction is how personally involved you are. Are you angry with your children because they have done something wrong, or because they have embarrassed you? Are you angry at your coworker because he has hurt the company or because he has attacked you? Are you angry at the government because it is oppressing people or because it takes 25% of your pay?

I think another important distinction is where does your anger lead you? Does your anger lead you to punish or restore? If you want someone to suffer, that is probably destructive anger. But if you want justice to be done, and suffering is just a result of that, that’s probably constructive. These are hard lines to draw, which is why prayer and counsel can be so important. 

What are your thoughts? Do you see other ways to tell the difference between constructive and destructive anger?

Richard Rohr, in the book Things Hidden, Scripture as Spirituality, says that “we move from belief systems to living faith only through encounter, surrender, trust and an inner experience of presence and power.” He suggests that without contemplation, there is no actual experience of faith. Think about that: it’s a bold idea. It also happens to be what we teach at Evergreen. The primary medium of the Spiritual Pathway is silence. And at the heart of all these pilgrimages is silence. 

We offer a lot at Evergreen: teaching and preaching, community, kids’ programs, worship, prayer. But there comes a time when we have to stop doing and start being. All the learning in the world, all the service to others, all the shared meals and laughs, none of that can replace the practice of receiving from God, and silence is at the heart of that receiving. The pilgrimages are your chance to stop giving and doing and start receiving. This year, it won’t be about what we can offer. It will be about what we can receive.

December 3 - I e-mailed Ed and asked, “What is a realistic goal for the Advent Conspiracy giving?  I need to know so I can pick which project we’ll fund. $1000, $3000, $10000 …”  Ed’s response, “$3000.”

December 21 - We planned to collect the money through December 28 and send the check by Jan. 1.  Total giving thus far for the Water Project is $6500, and donations are still coming in.

$6500 from our little church.  With the economy in the toilet, several people in our community having lost their jobs or knowing it’s imminent…and in 2 weeks you gave over twice what we thought we’d see in a month.  Now, we’ll be able to repair two wells, maybe even three if a little more money comes in. Our little community of about 100 people on a Sunday is going to impact thousands of people across the globe.

Happy Birthday, Jesus.  Some of Your folks are pretty awesome.

Pretty ugly, but honestly I am sick of the surprise and astonishment at stuff like this. 

The sixth homeless person this year froze to death in Paris on Friday. Did you hear about that?

115,000 babies were aborted in the world on Friday. Do you give a damn about the amount of waste and anguish that is represented by that number?

Over 35,000 people died from starvation on the day after Thanksgiving – the day after we eat too much and the day that we spend the most on stuff we don’t need.

Our lives go on.  Evil advances and it is often we who are carrying Its banner forward.

Yet, I hear many people upset and incredulous when they are told that Jesus came to save us from God’s wrath.

People shocked and indignant with God for being angry.

Frankly, I am not surprised that God is pissed-off.

In light of all of this darkness it is not God’s wrath that I find shocking – it is His grace.

I met my husband for a date at our local coffee shop, where we spent a couple of hours reading.  Then, we went and stood in line for almost an hour in order to vote in the presidential election…several days early.  Back to school we went, to participate in a fun-run to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Association. 

Later that afternoon, we collected the children from school, made dinner, went to Journey Group, put gas in the car, came home and put the children to bed (which they complained about).  Before they fell asleep, we read a chapter from Harry Potter (which they didn’t complain about), prayed and talked about their day.  We tucked them in, kissed them goodnight and let them sleep peacefully.  Then, my husband and I watched TV in our air conditioned house, talked a little, brushed our teeth and went to bed.

Americans have been almost conditioned to denigrate the nation in which we live, rather than being grateful for the unparalleled blessings we enjoy.  I think that maybe that can become a sin…a sin of ungratefulness.

We have electricity.  We have the right to vote, regardless of our race, gender, etc.  We have clean water that is safe to drink, safe to bathe in and a safe way to heat it.  We have access to better medical care than the vast majority of people on the planet.  Our children have enough food to eat.  As a parent, I don’t worry about armed forces bursting into their school and dragging my son off to become a child soldier, or dragging my daughter off to do violence against her.  Even though we live modestly, my husband and I have enough income to allow for a weekly date at the coffee shop.  We live large on $7/week dates.  Of course, that’s more than many people make in a month.  No one was gunned down in the voting line.  As a matter of fact, members of both parties talked, laughed and treated each other with respect…even kindness.  There were no bombs.  We breathed clean air with lungs that are healthy while we waited.  There were kids at my children’s school who were in wheelchairs…and they had someone to push them around the track so they could participate in a fund-raiser for less advantaged children.  These kids weren’t left outside to die at birth.  We have a loving faith community which accepts us whether we’re pro-life, pro-choice, democrat, republican, Presbyterian or Catholic.  Even though our gasoline prices have risen, the driver in the U.S. pays less for their fuel than drivers in roughly 100 other countries.  That includes Europe, Japan, China and most of the 1^st and 2^nd world nations.  We had electricity and running water when we returned home after 10:00PM.  My husband didn’t have to check the house for soldiers or looters.  Our children have libraries from which they can check out more books than most youngsters see in a lifetime.  At 8, our kids can read, write and do basic math. In talking about their day, neither one mentioned drug dealers or prostitutes on their school play-yards.  None of their friends has ever been sold into slavery by their parents.  My children, like me, will be able to choose the person they want to marry…if they want to marry at all.  My daughter will be able to own property, even if she is married.  She will go through the rigors of puberty without facing genital mutilation or state sanctioned gang rape, no matter whom her brother chooses to date.  We have cool houses in the summer and warm homes in the winter.  No community in the U.S. plans to lose 15-20% of their children to freezing to death in the winter.

As the holiday season approaches, look for the miracles.  Look for the blessings.  We live in an unbelievably magnificent time and place.  Yes, we are called to make life better for others.  Yes, some of us are facing difficulties this holiday season.  But, as C.S. Lewis said, “Joy is the serious business of heaven.”  Don’t get so busy this season that you miss the little everyday blessings that are worthy of unmitigated joy.  Don’t forget to be thankful.  For what are you thankful?