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6 Myths of Success

Scott Thomas — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 03:00:00 PDT

I grew up in a performance-centered community.

I was affirmed and valued at the level of my performance. The better I performed, the more others loved me. I worked hard at athletics to be of some value to someone—to anyone. I worked hard in ministry for the same reason. My parents are hard workers. My dad is 82 and still employed. I asked him why he didn’t just quit since he didn’t need the money. He said, in his gruff voice, “A man isn’t worth anything if he doesn’t work.” That illuminated a lot of my own proclivities for me.

Performance Doesn’t Save

I believe that the percentage of church leaders who measure their worth and value by the level of their performance is overwhelming. If their performance is saving them, they are, in effect, denying the gospel. A Gospel Coach helps to remind the church leader of the gospel at the center of leadership.

Here are what I’ve found to be six myths of success:

“Success is a result of my great faith.” God makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust (Matthew 5:45). He is sovereign.
“Success comes after hard work.” Paul warned to put no confidence in the flesh, and whatever redeeming merit Paul experienced, he counted it as trash (Phil. 3:2–11).
“Success brings me love.” Success, or the lack of success, is a false indicator of God’s love for me (Job 10:12–13).
“Success proves my level of spirituality.” Your spirituality is not validated by your success or evident because of it. Our spiritual life is only because of Jesus Christ’s completed work (Rom. 3:21–28).
“Success makes me happy.” Success can never be satisfied; it always craves more (Eccles. 5:10).
“Success is achieved through strength.” God intentionally chooses the unlikely so that all success can be ascribed to God. (1 Cor. 1:26–31). God’s grace is illuminated in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9).

If your performance is saving you, then you are, in effect, denying the gospel.

Gospel-Centered Leadership

Leaders who rest in their identity in Christ are better leaders. Leaders whose identity is in their performance or position or possessions lead poorly. We either fight to maintain a façade of our identity or we rest in our identity in Christ. We tirelessly work in our performance but we peacefully rest in our identity in Christ. Some of our declared positions in Christ are the following:

Dead to sin
Spiritually alive
Forgiven
Declared righteous
Child of God
God’s possession
Heir of God
Blessed with all spiritual blessing
Citizen of heaven
Free from law
Crucified with him
Free from desires of flesh
Declared blameless
Light in the world
Victorious over Satan
Cleansed from sin
Set free from power of sin
Secure in him
At peace with God
Loved by God

Jesus spent his life resting in his identity and worshiping the Father. Out of identity in Christ, we courageously act on our faith in Christ and attempt great missional endeavors. Out of identity as one loved completely by God, we love others and extend shepherd care to them, resulting in a healthier community.

Gospel-centered ministry is not based on productivity. God is gracious, and we don’t have to prove ourselves by our works. Rather, he wants us empowered by the Spirit, centered on the gospel so that he can use our foolish, imperfect lives to point people to the mission of God and the person and work of Jesus.

Scott Thomas’ new book, Gospel Coach: Shepherding Leaders to Glorify God, just hit digital and physical store shelves.

Dear Mother...

Rachel Held Evans — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 08:44:11 PDT

Today’s post on faith and parenting comes to us from the wise, witty, and winsome Sarah Bessey. Sarah is one of my favorite writers EVER—the kind whose work I can always recommend, even before reading it. If you aren’t already subscribed to her blog, do yourself a favor and sign up.

Sarah lives in Canada—the west-coast—and works part time for Mercy Ministries of Canada, an organization that supports young women that struggle with life-controlling issues like drug and alcohol abuse, eating disorders, depression, physical and sexual abuse and self-harm. She and Brian have been married for eleven years and have three children. You can follow Sarah on Twitter here. Her post today is a re-post, originally written for the Mother Letters project.

Enjoy!

Dear Mother,

There is no perfect mother.

If there is one thing that has tripped me up most as a mum, especially in the early years of this, it’s the belief that somewhere, out there, was The Perfect Mother. Sometimes she was my own mother. Sometimes she was someone online. Sometimes she was someone at church or at the playground. I’d see one brief moment of her life, or hear her speak, or see her kids, and think, I bet she never resents wiping bums or feels bored, I bet she never feels so tired that even her eyebrows are aching, I bet she loves every single minute of this mothering thing and I bet her kids listen to classical music and never bicker. I bet she’s a better mother than me.

That just isn’t true, The Perfect Mother only exists in the land of unicorns. And the sooner you realise that we’re all in this together, that most of us feel guilty or inadequate sometimes, that most of us will freely admit to feeling overwhelmed or tired, you’ll relax that death grip of high expectations on yourself to be perfect.

My joy in mothering these small souls was restored to me when I was released from the prison of comparison. That yearning to measure up, to be The Perfect Mother, masquerades as selflessness but really, it’s approval addiction, it’s people pleasing and you won’t be the only victim of its poison and its bitter need for control.

Darling, you are mothering for an audience of One, and that One, he delights in you. And joy will come to you when you simply let that woman be the mother that she is, perfect or otherwise, and give yourself grace to figure it out as you go. Let yourself be all of the mother that you are – when you yell or get frustrated, when you ask forgiveness, when you feel your heart straining against your rib cage, all because of how he looks asleep in your arms, all because of the sound of childish voices laughing outside, all because of the quiet nights in the monastery of the baby’s room, just rocking in a time outside of time, it’s all real and it’s all you and it’s all okay. There is grace for it all, it all makes you a mother.

There is no one right way to be a mother just as there is no one right way to be a person or a woman or a follower of our Jesus. Your child is your child. You are you. Let those two truths exist together. And let the Spirit lead you, like a wind, like the Word, like prayer and hope, like traditions and rituals, like change and newness, like hope and grieving.

Mothering is organic, embrace the free-range life. Exhale. Relax the death-grip of comparison on your own soul; it’s crushing, isn’t it? Look to our Jesus, look to how he made you, look to the child he gave you, look to your family’s values and callings and gorgeous craziness and embrace it all. Move with freedom and confidence because you, my luv, you are not alone.

We’re all out here, figuring it out together. Give yourself the freedom, the grace, the wisdom, the love and gentleness that you crave from others, and then turn around and pour it out, lavishly, on the mothers around you, as a sacrifice of grace.
I honour you as a mother. In fact, I think you’re just about perfect at it.

With all of my love,

Sarah

***

This letter is part of the Mother Letters project. You can buy the Mother Letters e-book here.

Subscribe to Sarah's blog.
Check out the rest of our faith and parenting series - it's pretty darn amazing, if I don't say so myself.

Read this article on RachelHeldEvans.com

Call to Action: A New Imagination for Justice in America

Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 08:21:53 PDT

At the Duke Summer Institute this week, pastors and leaders in reconciliation ministries from 25 states and 10 countries heard a lament about the current state of our criminal justice system in America. Sarah Jobe shared about how if you care about racial justice, you have to care about prisons because the prison-industrial complex has [...]

Characteristics of Great Teammates

bradlomenick — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 08:25:20 PDT

Great teams are a joy to watch. OKC Thunder, LA Kings, Miami Heat, New England Patriots, and more. And of course my beloved Oklahoma Sooners!

Reality is, we are all part of some kind of team, wherever we are in life. Family, church, volunteer, sports, business, community, social. As Leaders, it’s equally important for us to know how to follow and be a great team member as it is how to LEAD and be a team leader. In fact, many believe to be a good leader, you must first be a great teammate. And I would suggest that great leaders are equally in tune with how best to be a teammate, along with how to lead well.

So here are a few thoughts on being a great team member:

1. Good teammates are great finishers. They get the job done. They take projects across the finish line.

2. Good teammates anticipate. They understand what needs to be done next before others, and are always looking for ways to make the process better.

3. Good teammates criticize their leader in private, and praise in public. Enough said on that.

4. Good teammates are trustworthy. When given an assignment, a leader can be assured that it will get done. This is incredibly important.

5. Good teammates are vision copycats. They take on, embody and live out the vision and mission of their leader, and of the organization.

6. Good teammates make their leader better. They push their leader, and know how to lead up appropriately and intentionally.

7. Good teammates make their other teammates better. They know how to lead their peers and lead across in an organization, and don’t rely on the leader to be the only one motivating the team, as well as holding the other teammates accountable.

8. Good teammates lead themselves. They don’t need to be managed, and aren’t needy. They don’t need all the attention from the leader.

Gov. Mark Dayton Vetoed Kids

Tony Jones — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 07:53:07 PDT

A powerful Op Ed in the Strib reiterates what I’ve been writing here about the governor’s veto of the Shared Parenting Bill: He was swayed by a small group of wealthy, powerful lawyers — lawyers who have a lot to gain by the standing law that forces judges to pick winners and losers. It’s really unconscionable what Dayton did.

In vetoing the bill that would have increased the minimum presumption of shared parenting following a divorce from 25 percent of the time to 35 percent (unless the court found a reason to restrict access), Gov. Mark Dayton may have been swayed by misinformation.
It’s extremely unfortunate that such an important bill, thoroughly researched and carefully analyzed for so many years, and so strongly supported by the majority of citizens in this state, could be obliterated by the stroke of a pen. The heavy lobbying and inside relationships of special-interest attorneys won out over the cries of children and the persistence of the parents. Citizens seeking justice through the courts have been told by judges to talk to the Legislature to change the law. The people did speak through their legislators, and the bipartisan bill passed 132-61.
There is mass public outcry for family court reform. Legislators often say they have persistently and consistently heard more complaints about family court than just about any other issue.
The current presumption of 25 percent parenting time reflects a glorified every-other-weekend and holiday schedule, with an extended summer vacation.
Current law requires a judge to pick one winner parent and one loser parent. This creates conflict.

Read the rest: Kids in the balance | StarTribune.com.

Platform Is Officially a Bestseller [Announcement]

Michael Hyatt — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 06:34:09 PDT

Platform Is Officially a Bestseller

I am pleased to announce that my new book, Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World, landed on several bestseller lists this week:

Amazon Top Overall Books (#4)
Amazon Top Marketing Books (#1)
New York Times Hardcover Advice Best Sellers (#12)
USA Today Best-Selling Books (#92)
Wall Street Journal Hardcover Business Best-Selling Books (#5)

Thanks to all my friends who helped make this happen, especially the members of the Platform Launch Team.

Mass Media Continues Skin Cancer Scare by Vilifying Natural Sunlight, Vitamin D

Wake Up World — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 06:05:25 PDT

3rd June 2012 By Anthony Gucciardi Contributing Writer for Wake Up World What is one of the biggest threats to health today according to the mainstream media? It’s not the fact that mercury is present in a wide majority of the processed food supply, or even the fact that excessive amounts of radioactive waste is now admitted to have heavily contaminated…

Naturally Strengthen and Train Your Eyes

Wake Up World — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 06:01:35 PDT

3rd June 2012 By Sarka-Jonae Miller - Livestrong.com It may seem like worsening vision is unavoidable as we age, but eye exercises can help improve vision for patients young and old. Vision therapy uses eye exercises to improve vision problems, problems that vision aides like glasses only help temporarily. The exercises might not work for every condition,…

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Understanding stuck

Seth Godin — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 02:27:00 PDT

Is there a human being alive who is capable of getting to an airplane who doesn't know how to buckle his seatbelt?

Given that we have 100% seatbelt understanding among the flying population, why do flight attendants repeat the instructions literally millions of times a year? (Low and flat across the waist...)

It's stuck.

Like so many policies, beliefs and procedures in our organizations, this is a ritual that's stuck. To get unstuck, organizations need two things:

a. a vacuum and,

b. a willingness to ignore dissent

Change gets made by people who care, who have some sort of authority and are willing to take responsibility. Often, though, finding all three is tough, particularly when faced with the immovable object of the stuck organization.

One approach to getting unstuck is the clean sheet of paper. Dictate that the speech before flight is going to change, that the menu will be redone, that the qualifications are going to start over, from zero.

Now, instead of needing an unanimous vote to remove something, merely demand that you need a passionate voice to add something.

For years, the Yahoo home page was stuck, with literally hundreds of links on it. No one could take a link off the page, because unanimous consent was impossible. Once Google decided to start with a completely blank page, a different approach was possible.

Move your team across the street, open a new location, completely rewrite the employee handbook, throw out the standard sales script--by creating a vacuum, you give your team permission to invent.

The Reformed Theological Seminary Wants You

Resurgence — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 00:00:00 PDT

At Resurgence, we want to train you well, and we want to get the word out about others who are training Christians well. Our friends over at Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) have been working hard to serve and teach people digitally for a while now, and they were actually one of the first seminaries to get their free lectures on iTunes U.

A Word from the Andrew J. Peterson:

As president of the Reformed Theological Seminary, Virtual Campus, my vision is to see the growth of the church of Jesus Christ worldwide in both quality and quantity. The call is to follow the Word of God in all areas of life with consistently biblical and widely accessible theological education. We strive to have excellent theology and use the best educational technology for our students. That’s what we offer to the purpose of seeing more bibilical (quality) churches and more (quantity) biblical churches.

Want to dig deep into church history, systematic theology, and biblical studies of the Old and New Testaments? Would you like to “go to seminary . . . without moving to seminary?” Here’s how you can do just that in an effective, convenient affordable and enjoyable way.

You are invited to join with us at Reformed Theological Seminary, Virtual Campus. Hundreds have already been studying these disciplines for years as they pursue accredited master’s degrees via distance learning. Class lectures are downloaded from iTunes U where traditional texts, Kindle e-books and Apple iBooks are assigned in courses, and discussion forums are provided for personal interaction with our top-flight RTS professors.

For the past decade, RTS Virtual has worked with faculty, staff, and accreditors to develop a unique degree that can be completed from anywhere in the world without a change of residence and just a couple of in-person seminars. Besides the Orientation Seminar and the Integration Seminar, all the courses can be completed online for a Master of Arts (Religion). The degree is composed of 20 courses for the 60 credit hours, including a thesis that is completed with the help of a professor with expertise in the student topic of choice.

The RTS curriculum is truly a multi-faceted foundation for a Christian worldview necessary for any aspect of life. As we number our days in preparation for service to the Lord and for neighbor, knowledge of these disciplines is an effective base that we need. And an organized curriculum helps us to cover the broad range of issues for understanding and obeying the Bible, including the more complex as well as simple matters. I would love for you to join our student body to enjoy this rigorous education to the glory of God and toward even more service with a robust Christian worldview. There is a whole new world to remake in the light of God’s Word for every aspect of life.

The program includes a prescribed collection of courses that can be fitted into your personal calendar and completed on your own schedule. Men and women of all ages find that they learn well while still engaged in local living and ministry with their family, fellowship, neighborhood, and occupation. “Bloom where you are planted!” Without uprooting, you can have the best of evangelical graduate-level education. For more information and online application, please see our web and social media sites and write or contact our director of admissions, Jim McAlhaney.

Mark’s Community— or Lack Thereof

Ben Witherington — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 22:03:36 PDT

Here is a post by Larry Hurtado that deals with the state of the discussion about the provenance and community of Mark’s Gospel. The Quest for the Mark “Community” by larry hurtado At this year’s annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature (17-20 November, Chicago), the Mark Seminar will have as one of its [...]

Embracing Life and Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris

Sean Witty — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 13:13:01 PDT

Midnight in Paris has been called Woody Allen’s best film in a long time, and I agree. This year, the romantic comedy won both the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay; and it was nominated for three other Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Direction, and Best Art Direction. Woody is one of the [...]

Having one of these days...

Rachel Held Evans — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 10:40:12 PDT

This photo, circa 1992, features an 11-year-old me, halfway up the aptly-named Blood Mountain in Georgia. You can tell from my expression how delighted I was to participate in this particular family outing. (My little sister’s tired, yet pleasant smile reveals the difference in our personalities—namely that Amanda represses her anxiety, while I tell it like it is.)

Well, it’s been one of those weeks for me, as I’ve been battling pinkeye...yes, pinkeye...for the last four days, along with a boatload of work related to book edits and blog posts for next week. So I spent a good part of yesterday in the exact same pose as you see above, only with swollen, crusty eyes, slightly better hair, and a more robust vocabulary from which to bemoan my oppression.

Dan, my consummate rock and encourager, could only respond with, “Pinkeye? Don’t little kids get pinkeye? Did you put poop in your eye or something?”

Yes, Dan. I pooped in my eye. That’s exactly what happened.

[Note: According to WebMd, it is entirely possible to get pinkeye from something other than poop. I have thus diagnosed myself with allergy-induced conjunctivitis brought on by the Memorial Day cleaning spree in which I vacuumed under our bed for the first time since August of 2008 (according to the church bulletin I found there)....that, or eye and/or lung and/or bladder cancer—WebMd offers lots of options.]

All this to say, I don’t really have a post for you to read today—just a warning never to take your kids to Blood Mountain or vacuum underneath your bed. (If you’re looking for a blogger who could turn this story into something poetic and edifying, set to inspirational music, Ann Voskamp's your girl.)

...And yes, that’s a fanny pack I’m wearing. You know you had one too.

Had any Blood Mountain moments recently?

Read this article on RachelHeldEvans.com

Overcoming the Fears of Moving to Multiple Worship Services

Jason Vernon — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 10:26:18 PDT

By Paul Alexander, Tony Morgan Live Team Member

Afraid of Moving to Multiple Services?

Churches are often stuck because of their systems and structures. Many churches cannot grow because they have maximized their building’s capacity and they lack the financial resources to expand. Eight common fears cause them to fixate on building a bigger building instead of adding multiple services.

1. The fear of losing the unity of the church

It is true that everyone will not be able to worship together at the same time with multiple services but this has more to do with the comfort of friendship and the familiar than church unity. Unity is driven by consistent teaching, clear vision, a strong culture and the Holy Spirit.

2. The fear of not having enough volunteers

It is proven that moving to multiple services actually makes it easier to find volunteers. With additional services, people now have additional choices. Volunteers now have the option of attending a service and serving in another. Having only one service forces people to choose between attending the worship service or volunteering in a ministry.

3. The fear of overworking the pastor

In many churches, the pastor is responsible for preparing messages for Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday Bible studies. This workload leaves pastors with little time to lead. Eliminating some of these teaching responsibilities gives pastors additional time to focus on leadership and the weekend services. It is much easier for a pastor to teach the same message multiple times on the weekend than to prepare three different talks each week.

4. The fear of deciding what to do with Sunday morning programs (i.e. Sunday School)

Understanding that your primary objective is to connect people in an environment that is centered on God’s Word will give you many different options. If you have the parking capacity, it is possible to run discipleship programs concurrently with the worship services. If this is not the case, you can have it before, after, or in between services. Another option would be to offer Sunday School for children and students and have Bible studies another time for adults during the week. Many churches have transitioned to weekly small groups.

5. The fear of determining whether or not the style of worship music should be blended, the same or different in each service

Some well-known and successful churches have chosen to have multiple worship venues using niche styles such as rock and roll, contemporary worship, country, and unplugged. What keeps these services unified is ensuring that the same message is preached in all of them. Others approach music as a unifying factor and choose to keep all of the services the same style. Generally speaking, blended worship styles are confusing and don’t make anyone happy. Whatever route you choose to take, allow the decision to be driven by vision and the culture you want to create.

6. The fear of past failures

If you’ve unsuccessfully tried multiple worship services before then answer two important questions. First, “Why didn’t it work the first time?” And second, “What can we do differently this time?”

7. The fear of losing people

You will probably lose people if you make this move but you will also lose people if you don’t. Churches always lose people, fortunately they can help decide who leaves and stays by the leadership decisions that are made. The real issue is, “Do you want to build a culture focused on insiders or outsiders?” Having one service limits who can be part of your church (capacity issue) and it also limits the impact that your church can have in the community.

8. The fear of not knowing when to start a multiple service

It is better to add two completely new times instead of simply adding another option to what you already offer. This strategy forces everyone to choose a new service time and creates an “all-in” mentality. Also keep in mind that optimum times for worship services in America seem to be between 4:30pm – 6:00pm on Saturday evenings and 9:00am – noon on Sundays. You will also want to pick a strategic time of the year when your church experiences natural momentum to launch the service. Many churches experience momentum at the start of the school year in the fall or in January when everyone is back after Christmas-break.

_____________________________________________________

Paul Alexander

Paul Alexander is a ministry consultant at Tony Morgan Live. He is a pastor, speaker and strategist who has a passion for helping churches make vision real. For more than 10 years he has served on the senior leadership teams of some of the nation’s leading mega-churches. Currently, Paul is serving as the Executive Pastor at Sun Valley Community Church, a large multi-site church located in the Phoenix area. He has engaged in training on leadership and ministry strategies with Tony Morgan through coaching and consulting relationships. Paul has been married to his wife Lisa for more than 15 years. Together they have three children Kennedy, Mia, and Lincoln.

Why White Men Should Refuse to Be on Panels of All White Men

Tony Jones — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 08:54:26 PDT

Yet another church conference with all white men on the panel.

I’m on a lot of panels at conferences. Rarely are they all white men (anymore). If they are, then I refuse to take part.

It seems that the same thing happens in the tech world, and Cord Jefferson (a white man) is sick of it:

After watching this happen again and again, something occurred to me: Why don’t the white men who are asked to engage in this nonsense simply stop doing it? The boycott is a protest with a long history of success. If white, male elites started saying, “I will not participate in your panel, event, or article if it is all about white men,” chances are these panels and articles would quickly dry up—or become more diverse.

Read the rest: Why White Men Should Refuse to Be on Panels of All White Men – Culture – GOOD.

HT: Michael Toy

Swords into ploughshares

Colin Mathewson — Sat, 19 May 2012 06:37:32 PDT

From the Spring 2012 Issue

Wilmington’s urban farm Credit: TCDavis, http://www.flickr.com/photos/tcd123/4957652639/

Escaping the intensity of City Heights living – the noise, the people, the cars – is no easy feat.

But middle-aged Rafael Mendoza has found a calm, quiet place in the middle of the city this early evening at New Roots Community Farm. He patiently waters a modest plot thick with tomatoes, melon, corn and squash.

Rafael spent his childhood in Sinaloa, Mexico on a many-acre homestead where he learned the art of subsistence farming from his parents. Since arriving in the United States 12 years ago, however, he had yet to put trowel to soil. Instead, he worked hard as a carpet cleaner with America’s Finest Carpet Company, living first in Los Angeles before moving to the immigrant-rich community of City Heights, San Diego. One of the founding members of the New Roots farm, Rafael has been gardening there since 2009.

The dozens of vegetables ripe for picking will be too much for him, his wife and three children to eat. And so they share the bounty with family, friends, and neighbours. There is contentment in his eyes as he waters tomatoes grown from seeds on his own small piece of land in the place he calls home.

We spy the oil behind the push for democracy, we cringe at the construction contracts behind the war on terror. Our leaders teach us that the precious notion of utopia can be yet another jaded trumpet beckoning the nation to battle. Achieving world peace and ending world hunger become chimeras that steepen our disbelief in any alternative vision for the future.

We routinely confuse ourselves, the created, with the Creator. This presumptuous role-playing gets us into trouble, especially when it comes to imagining and acting on our visions for a better world. Our admirable drive for unity and significance is so easily perverted into the self-idolizing desire to “make a name for ourselves,” the same impulse baked into the bricks of the Tower of Babel.

The political and economic remedies of the twentieth century devastated the poor, luring (or forcing) them to cities to trade their labour for food that did not satisfy. Today the federal budget waddles on, indifferent to its bloated, militarized gut. God responds now, as to Babel, by humbling and scattering us to labour on human-sized and grounded projects instead.

These smaller human creations retain divine potential, because each of us – rich or poor, “documented” or otherwise – bears God’s image with us wherever we go.

Take the City Heights farmers’ market for example. Here public space is cultivated for spontaneous chatter and intriguing sights; fruits and vegetables are invited to re-inhabit a food desert; and food stamps serve as welcome currency. Here is cause for hope in all its language-confusing, culture- clashing and community-building diversity.

A few miles from these colourful market stalls lies the New Roots farm. Two forgotten acres of city land wedged between streets and an ignored creek have become home to a thriving agricultural oasis run by 80 Somalian, Vietnamese and Mexican immigrants and their families. These newcomers lead the way into greater appreciation of the places we take for granted.

Maybe the poor such as these most closely embody the father in the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11–32). The rest of us have squandered our inheritance on M1 Abrams tanks leading us into misguided military adventures. Many Christians find heartening the promise of a heavenly banquet at which all will finally be reconciled and filled. Perhaps such life-giving fare, in this time and place, can only be tasted in a Mexican-immigrant-planted, lovingly watered, juicy tomato grown on recovered land.

Colin Mathewson is a San Diego native and Stanford graduate who served as a program officer for a family foundation in City Heights from 2007–2009. He and his wife Laurel are now seminarians in Sewanee, Tennessee, in the ordination process to become Episcopal priests. He can be reached at colinmathewson [at] gmail [dot] com

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This dream’s gotta change

Carrie S. Martin — Sun, 06 May 2012 13:51:32 PDT

From the Spring 2012 Issue

OK, I’ll admit it.

When I’m out and about among other humans, I feel an immense amount of hatred. I think that most people are obnoxious idiots and need to put down their cell phones, shut up and pay attention. And my definition of a brat? Any child I did not personally give birth to. The world could be a perfect place if the rest of the human race besides a chosen few and me were taken away by rapture or a zombie apocalypse.

I grew up in the 1970s and the only thing I knew about utopia was what I’d seen in bad sci-fi movies. In a perfect society, everyone old would be killed off and everyone left would have to wear matching silver jumpsuits. I never much worried about which group I’d be in, but the thought of not being able to choose my own clothes? That was terrifying. Now that I have passed an age that would secure me a spot as one of the young people allowed to live, this sci-fi notion of perfection is even more frightening.

As if that many dumb young people would be able to sustain a society. Have you seen how they can’t count your change back to you and think they are too good to leave voice mail? They deserve to be attacked by zombies.

Until the zombie apocalypse happens, should I search for my own utopia? From an outsider’s perspective, I suppose my life couldn’t look more ideal. I eat cookies that cost as much as it does to feed an African child for three weeks. I have paid others to laser me, wax my girly parts and cut my toenails. I could not be more removed from my food. Where it comes from, who grew it, who cooked it – it’s all a mystery to me. I just show up, order and eat. I’m only terribly inconvenienced when I have to reheat my own leftovers.

Since I married the Pastor, one of the many perks is that I’ve gotten to see the world while on the travelling preaching-and-teaching rodeo. I’ve stayed in a jillion different hotels where I manage the Pastor and throw towels on the floor. You should see how mad I get when they don’t have good wireless internet or a coffee shop. If there were a better place out there, I would have seen it.

Illustration: Darryl Brown

At the end of 2011, I found myself looking back through the photos of everything I’d done that year. I saw the food I’d eaten and the places I’d been. I didn’t feel good about it, not one bit. I felt like a huge, gluttonous pig – so big that I’d never fit into one of the silver jumpsuits of the future human race. I had pictures of good moments, but in my heart I knew it had been one of the worst years of my life. I realize I have no perspective here. I’m not a starving, AIDS- sickened African orphan, but still it was a terrible year for me. The baby I’d lost, the months my husband was away on a fellowship and I wasn’t sure our marriage would make it, an extended family crisis, the writer’s block I’d suffered, teaching a teenager to drive, the 15 pounds I’d gained. . . blah blah blah. I feel like a terrible person for even writing these things, because I know what I consider to be a horrible year would have been someone else’s utopia.

If there’s anything I’ve learned, it’s that maybe I’ve got it all wrong. Maybe the good life isn’t cookies and shoes and nail polish and an endless supply of fancy panties and false eyelashes. Maybe I’d be happier living in a mud hut among African orphans, or wearing a silver jumpsuit.

Even my resolve to change and be a better person seems so feeble. “I’m going to stop buying new clothes.” This is an option for the affluent, while someone in India has cancer from the chemicals used to make textiles. Or someone in Cambodia has worked long days in a sweatshop so I can wear something trendy for one season.

Still, I’m going to try to be a different person. I’m going to do my part to make the world a better place. I’m going to try to hate others less. Now seems as good a time as any for jumping off into a different life. I’m no longer scared of what utopia is, even if I end up in a silver jumpsuit, in a mud hut or in a mud hut wearing a silver jumpsuit. It might be easy to lose those 15 pounds in a mud hut far removed from cookies, and in the African sun I wouldn’t have to worry about a spray tan. I just hope the orphans aren’t too bratty.

Carrie S. Martin lives with the Pastor and her three children in the Bible Belt.

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This resurrection will likely be painful

Bre Woligroski — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 08:06:32 PDT

From the Spring 2012 Issue

Credit: Samira, http://www.flickr.com/photos/mink/4466099617/

Those of us wannabe revolutionaries who have been working, praying and calling out for significant social change have found some tangible positive signs lately.

Our world is shifting. Some sort of change is in the air and it makes my heart leap and stirs my soul.

Stories of resistance play on every newsfeed; on a global scale, symptoms of the collapse and the collective rejection of capitalism are becoming evident. Between the Arab Spring, the struggling economies of the U.S., Greece and Italy and the growing commitment to the Occupy movement, something is moving and changing. A new way of relating to each other is on the proverbial horizon.

But what is it we are changing to? Will we simply exchange one flawed system for another?

It feels ironic, laughable, backwards, that my current mental picture of utopia resembles a pre-industrial state without the comforts of the internet, indoor plumbing or telecommunications. I close my eyes and envision agrarian-based communities with no monarchist or colonial hierarchies or philosophies. Instead I see . . . people. People growing food together, getting together for some kick-ass barn raisings, sharing resources without thoughts of hoarding or exploitation. Communities of spirits so connected to the moon and the earth that they don’t need clocks or calendars. Communities of people who work together and who deeply realize their interconnectedness to each other and to the earth.

Am I romanticizing? Naturally.

I want to dip out of this global economy madness and scale things down, to escape the torturous mental traps of commercials and mega-malls. I want to know my neighbours better and more tangibly connect with them outside of shared sidewalks and for-profit sporting events. I want to eat local vegetables and understand intimately how the changes in seasons affect my body, my moods, my diet. I want to stop looking at this computer screen and talk to somebody, face-to-face, and get my hands dirty in some pesticide-free Manitoba clay.

Basically I want to be a radical Christian farmer anarchist, but I lack the tools for three of these four identities.

I have a deep yearning for this future because I see every day how our globalized system of greed and exploitation is killing our collective soul. Something is amiss when Adam Smith’s invisible hand is considered our society’s moral compass. Wealth is not an ethical concept or way of being; neither is ignorance or subservience. This is an old biblical story with new players – markets, greed and profits are our generation’s golden cows, and if there is a hell it is right here and right now, being played out on earth, with our blessing.

We need redemption. When our government and citizens endorse a 1900-mile pipeline carrying oil across our land, and silence people who oppose it, when that oil goes to fuel jets that are indiscriminately killing people in wars around the world and out of sight, we need redemption. Exploitation and suffering are all around us and I profit from it with my retirement investments and my hydro-run home.

I worry because I am privileged and I have a lot to lose in the coming revolution. What about my savings, investments, house, car? What will happen to my loved ones?

My utopia will not come without pain. Resurrection requires death, and once death has taken its toll we can rise again, with new learnings and old memories and a commitment to keep things small and local, to know our food intimately, to know our neighbours again and work collectively to heal our land and spirits.

My utopia comes at a price. And I want badly enough to be willing to pay it.

Bre Woligroski stares at carrots in her bachelor apartment in Wolseley, Winnipeg.

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Infusing Play into Mundane Tasks

Leo — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 07:31:51 PDT

‘It is a happy talent to know how to play.’ ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Post written by Leo Babauta.

When I write about loving every moment and loving what you do, people often ask, “What about when you have to do something you don’t like?”

You can’t always enjoy what you’re doing, right?

Actually, you can. You just have to remember what it’s like to be a child.

Sure, there are things we have to do every day that we might think are boring: household chores, errands, routine tasks at work, being in a meeting that’s makes you want to pound your head on the table. But those are only boring because we’ve chosen to make them boring.

Let’s take my 6-year-old daughter Noelle as an example. She had to go to the dentist, which is a pretty routine thing for most people. We took the train and then walked a few blocks. In the train, she sang, found things fun to see out the window, played games with me. As we walked, she talked about how the building the dentist is in might possibly reach the blue stuff in the sky, and wanted to bet me that it actually did (10 hugs if I won, $1 if she won). The elevator ride to the 18th floor was like a roller coaster ride to her.

Everything she does becomes a game, an opportunity for wonder and exploration, or at the very least an opportunity to sing a song. She’s never bored. Why is that?

Because she doesn’t see anything as boring. Everything is new, and there’s always a game you can play.

We can do that too. Every chore can be turned into play. Every walk to the store can be infused with beginner’s mind, so that we see our surroundings afresh, ripe for exploration. Every boring work task can be turned into a challenge, a game.

My 8-year-old son Seth runs everywhere, jumps everywhere. We’re walking along the street and he’s a werewolf, a wizard, a superhero. A living room becomes a place to make a fort, styrofoam becomes a toy, and if there’s nothing to play with, he’s pacing around making up stories in his head. How can you ever be bored when you see life like this?

Though I don’t want to tell you how to play, by request, here are a few quick examples:

Sing as you do chores
Use dishwashing as a form of mindfulness practice
Make a game of computer tasks — see how fast you can get your inbox to empty (set a timer)
Give yourself points for checking off your tasks, and see how many points you can get each day
Skip instead of walk
Imagine you are in a movie when you walk into a meeting
Give yourself challenges
Make bets with friends when it comes to doing things you don’t normally like doing
Play music, dance around
Do a victory dance after you do anything good
Annoy your co-workers by calling them Jeeves
Only text people in Spanish
Play games to learn things
When you send an email, make fax noises
When you have to clean something, give a play-by-play of your actions with a Howard Cossell voice
Imagine that your co-workers are robots, or vampires
Talk to your computer, and give it a name
Pretend you’ve never been anywhere before, and that everywhere is new
Anytime you do something, ask, “What would Dwight Schrute Do?” (WWDSD?)
Try to rhyme your emails or tweets

OK, those weren’t all great, but I’m sure you could think of better ones once you get into the right mindset.

We’ve had the play pounded out of us, from years of schooling and work. Bring the play back, by watching a kid and seeing how amazing life is for them.

(This post was inspired by Suraj Shah’s post Last day living.)

‘We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.’ ~George Bernard Shaw

The Phil Vischer Podcast: Episode 1- Freedom, Fear, & Futurism

by Url Scaramanga — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 07:49:07 PDT

Join VeggieTales and What’s in the Bible? creator Phil Vischer and co-host Skye Jethani (author, senior editor Christianity Today’s Leadership Journal) for a fast-paced and often funny conversation about pop culture, media, theology and the fun, fun, fun of living a thoughtful Christian life in an increasingly post-Christian culture.

Tune in weekly for the latest conversation. You can find the podcast on the Phil Vischer blog, Skye Jethani's blog, here on Out of Ur, or iTunes.

LISTEN HERE

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Post written by Leo Babauta.

The Phil Vischer Podcast: Episode 1- Freedom, Fear, & Futurism