Fittingly, in my reading tonight I read through some thoughts from Thomas Merton on humility and pride. This is from his book, The New Man.

He writes,

In a sense pride is simply a form of supreme and absolute subjectivity. it sees all things from the viewpoint of a limited, individual self that is constituted as the center of the universe… If I am the center of the universe, than everything beings to me. I can claim, as my due, all the good things of the earth. I can rob and cheat and bully other people. I can help my self to anything I like, and no one can resist me. Yet at the same time, all must respect and love me as a benefactor, a sage, a leader, a king. They must let me bullly them and take away all that they have and on top of it all they must bow down, kiss my feet and great me as god.

Humility, therefore, is absolutely necessary if man is to avoid acting like a baby all his life. To grow up means, in fact, to become humble, to throw away the illusion that I am the center of everything and that other people only exist to provide me with comfort and pleasure. Unfortunately pride is so deeply embedded in human society that instead of educating one another for humilty and maturity, we bring eachother up in selfishness and pride. The attitutes that ought to make us mature too oftenonly give us a kind of poise, a kind of verneer, that make our pridde all the more suave and effective. For social life, in the end is too often simply a convenient compromise by which your pride and mine are able to get along together without too much friction.

Phew. Good stuff from Merton.

I can’t get that one sentance out of my head: “Humility, therefore, is absolutely necessary if man is to avoid acting like a baby all his life.”

Pride and humitly are so elusive in my life. Once I think I have a grasp, pride jumps up and bites me right in the you know what.

“God, have mercy on me, the sinner…”

It was called, “Are You Rioting with the Suburban Mob.”

I’ve been reflecting on these thoughts and where we are as a family now, a year later. 

I can say that we have put some great effort into refocusing our lives and being aware of the culture we are living in and how it is offering a way of life that has some major roadblocks to a distinctly christian life.  This has expressed itself in different ways.  Some ways we have been successful and other ways have been harder.  For example we’ve made great progress on living more within our means financially and paying off debt.  

I think if you live in suburbia (or any other culture for that matter, as each one brings a unique set of challenges) and don’t struggle with living in line with the teachings of Jesus, then you probably need to take a fresh look at the scriptures and your culture.

The struggle is good.  

It’s complacency that I scares me. 

It’s funny, I feel like part of the reason God called me to Zambia, a culture so different than mine, so I could see the reality of my culture more clearly. 

The simple truth is, the world’s default way of life just doesn’t work.  This is definitely no exception in suburbia.

Jesus calls us to a different way of life.  The gospel has some strong critique of this default way of life. Far too often we can’t even see this critique because it’s all we know.

This way of life isn’t about solo christianity.  This way of life requires us to engage a new/ancient way together. 

New because we live in a unique time. Ancient because living in the way of Jesus aren’t new. 

That is why I need my church community.  I need them because God has always been about creating alternative communities that do their best to live life as he intended it.  Stanley Hauerwas uses the term Resident Aliens to describe this community.  I kind of like the term “Alternative mob”  that i used in the post I wrote a year ago.

Either way you say it, I pray that The Well, and your church community, can be about forming a group of people who are working together to live in light of the Kingdom of God and not the kingdom of your culture. 

God bless.

Have you see it? What were your reactions to it? 

I loved the voice of the “mentally ill” friend who called out the suburban bluff.   

Interesting that he’s the one who is considered “insane.” 

The movie reminded me of my reactions to coming back to suburbia after being in Zambia last summer in this blog post here.

Part of the deal is that I get to head over to preach to his community.  I’m tremendously excited about this as I love being given the opportunity to speak into other communities of faith.  I’ll be preaching on the topic of personal / corporate vocation which will fit quite well with my place in life these days. 

One of the values we have at The Well is that of “unity” with the wider body of Christ and I am excited to see us expressing it in this simple way.  If you have never done this kind of thing in your church, suggest it or if you are the pastor, just make it happen.  I think its a great way to say “we are all one body on mission together.”  

Also, its always helpful for communities to hear the scriptures spoken from someone who lives in the midst of a different environment.  While there is some overlap for sure,  there is no question that the lives that Pastor Greg’s people are living have somewhat different narratives and questions than the people at The Well.  I’m excited to be able to speak into their community from my experience and he into ours. 

Of course, since the baby has come I haven’t preached in about 7 weeks so I’ve got to figure out how to do this again…

(By the way, I use the term “bi-occupational” instead of “bi-vocational” because I believe that my vocation as a Christian is “witness.” What I do for pay does not change my vocation. My vocation is witness, my job is pastor. Your vocation is witness, your job is… well whatever you do for a living).

The bi-occupational approach to church leadership sounds pretty sexy to a lot of people these days. And, while I am a believer in it, I’ll be the first to admit that it isn’t always easy. The biggest challenge is finding another job/career that can support your family and still make it possible for you to serve your church well.

In these last nine years, I’ve worked at UPS, Starbucks and for the last three years I have been a freelance web designer/developer. I’ll be honest, UPS was a terrible job. I worked midnights there and it was probably one of the darkest times of my life for a few different reason that I won’t get into. Starbucks was a great experience and web designing has been pretty awesome because it has given me an extremely flexible schedule and I love the work.

I am not sure if it’s the “economy” or what but I have not been getting enough design work lately to complement my salary at The Well (which, by the way, is a good part-time salary. They take care us well). So, over the last few weeks my wife and I have been talking about what to do. And it looks like God is leading me back to work at Starbucks part-time.

I’ll still be doing some design work, but now I’ll have less pressure to make so many sales each month. My hope is to find one or two steady clients that I can concentrate on serving and sell some of my template sites that don’t require a lot of set up work.

Starbucks will then be a good base for us to work from each month, especially as the benefits kick in after a few months.

I’ll be honest, this was a very hard decision to come to for many reasons.

First, I lose some of the flexibility of my schedule. Thankfully, I’ll have set hours (only mornings) and will be able to plan my weeks in advance. But, I lose a lot of the freedom that I get from being my own boss. This freedom is nice, but I understand that the freedom that I’ve had for the past three years is pretty unique so I am willing to part with it for the time being to care for the needs of my family.

The second reason it was hard honestly revolved around my ego. On some level it feels like a giant step backwards to head back to the Starbucks world. This is not meant as a slight on Starbucks my any means, I wouldn’t be going back there if I didn’t have a high respect for the company. Being totally honest here, as a pastor of a growing church that is doings some incredible ministry, its easy to fall into the trap of thinking that I am too big of a deal or too important to work as a barista at Starbucks. I’m not really sure how cool it is to show up at pastors conferences and say that you are only paid part-time at your church and you spend your mornings steaming milk. But, when it comes down to it, my family is more important that my ego and, well, if my ego really suffers from this job then maybe my ego needs to be put in its place!

While there are some things that made taking this job hard, there are some very appealing aspects to it.

First of all, I finally get to use my college degree. You see, i got a degree from PBU which Gary and I have recently dubbed “Pre-Barista University.” This is because I have so many friends who have graduated from PBU (Philadelphia Biblical University) end up working at Sbux. Now I get to tell this joke more often! :)

Second, and more seriously, I can’t think of a better connection point to the local community. Starbucks really is a third place. That isn’t just a cliche that they come up with as some marketing jargon. I remember when I ended my employment the first time I worked there I thought to myself, “I could probably start a church with 25 non-christians from my relationships at this store.” No, it’s not because I was preaching all the time (Starbucks is not the place for that and I make great efforts to respect the environment they have there). Rather, it was because I built so many actual friendships with both customers and partners that extended beyond the counter and into the real world. I have dreams of someday seeing The Well plant a church in the area I live so this is a great way for me to get connected to my local community.

Third, Starbucks is just a great company to work for. The workplace is business-like but its also filled with great people. As a pastor, I need a second job that is not going to wear me out emotionally. Starbucks is just that: enjoyable.

Finally, I need the extra cash. By working at Starbucks I can decline the health benefits at the church and essentially give myself a quick raise in that check in addition to the hourly wages from my time at Starbucks.

So here we go. Back to Starbucks. I’m honestly very at peace about the decision. I start tomorrow morning and I’ve committed to being there for at least a year so if you are ever in my area, stop by and you’ll get to best latte you can find in the area…

Chris commented on this post today and it was fitting that today was the day he brought it back up again. For a number of reasons, I’m feeling this discontent as deeply as ever these days.

Re-reading this post has been good for me. I hope its helpful for you.

Check it out: Read: A Holy (Suburban) Discontent

In other news I am testing out a blog theme that i am designing for release. What do you think so far?

I mean, really? A Tony Romo ad in Philly?

Really?

Right next to Phillies gear?

Really?

Know your audience people.

(If you don’t get it, Philly hates the Cowboys and anyone associated with them).

Hope you enjoy. Here is the link: “Are You Plugged In?”

Mullet + Stache = Awesome.

This guy is rocking this classic look with total confidence. Well done my friend, well done…

The Mullet II

Add in the Oakley’s with the flames on the side and you’ve got yourself an awesome combination!

Down Home

You can’t see it but this stylish woman is knitting. I wonder if she’s knitting a #88 on a flame pattern. Oh, and I just love this hat.

Unashamed

Where else can you go where sporting a rockin farmers tan like this is not only be accepted, but in style?

Make Sure They Know Who You Root For!

What better way than shaving your favorite drivers number in the back of your head? Makes total sense doesn’t it?

You know you are a redneck if…

…you look anything like this guy.

Free Samples!!!

Of Red Man?!?! Seriously? I know this isn’t fashion but I just had to share this. It doesn’t get any better than this right here. Where else could you go to get a free sample of snuff?

Who Let These Guys In?!

At least we’re wearing the right clothes with our favorite numbers on them. Too bad we don’t have the right hair styles. Maybe next year. While we may not fit in with the fashion I have to say it doesn’t seem to really matter. NASCAR fans are some of the nicest people on the face of the earth. It’s like one big family. I’m afraid to say, many churches could learn a thing or two about hospitality from these people… just saying…