Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure by Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser encourages people to write their story in 6 words.

The phrases are actually quite compelling and its inspiring me to consider what might 6-word memoir might be.

Smith was interviewed on NPR. He said the advice he gave people who wrote was this… be honest.

I wonder what I’d write.

I wonder what you’d write.

I wonder what students in our youth groups would write… maybe they’d be the most honest of all…

Postscript: Some of you have asked me what my 6-word memior is. Here’s my shot…

“Left black and white for color.”

I’ve been tracking with Mark and Alan on their “Dust” biblical graphic novels.

Mark just stopped last week to show me issue number 2 of the series. It’s really, really good. Mark tells me that they’re getting some really great attention from youth ministries and I’ve noticed, as I’ve handed out copies, that people really like them.

On December 15th (Saturday), they’re having a Book 2 Launch Party at Baker Bookhouse (2768 East Paris Ave SE, Grand Rapids).

In the midst of your shopping frenzie, swing by, talk with this guys, and take a look at what they’re putting together.

There’s more to come and I’m very excited about their work.

Our class has been reflecting on the essence of contemplation in youth ministry. Not really on how we can “get those adolescents to be more contemplative” but to ask some deep questions of the youth pastor’s soul.

I’m grateful for Mark Yaconelli’s book, Contemplative Youth Ministry, that uses research and thoughtful reflection to raise important issues. What I believe he is suggesting is not and “add on” or a “tweak” to youth ministry, but a significant shift.

I wonder if youth ministry can really go there or if “contemplation” will become another bell or whistle in the youthworker’s bag of tricks.

Yaconelli offers some quotes from some historical, Christian fathers and mothers on their thoughts on contemplation…

“The pure loving gaze that finds God everywhere.” (Brother Lawrence)
“Seeing God in all things.” (Ignatius of Loyola)
“The sacrament of the present moment.” (Jean Pierre de Causade)
“Awareness absorbed and amazed.” (Teresa of Avila)
“A long loving look at the real.” (Walter Burghardt)

I had students in our class offer their own one-word thoughts on contemplation. Here’s what some of them said…

Allowing God’s story to eclipse your own (Steve H)
Holistic consciousness of God (Shane)
Being in the real (Mike)
Being aware and attentive to God’s movements (Jeanette)
Quieting my self enough to be able to hear God (Brent)
Allowing one’s self to be permeated by the presence of God (Judy)
Contemplation is to stop doing, and start being (Jim)
Contemplation is like breathing (Jordan)
Hearing God in the static of life (Sam O)

What would be your definition?

Dust Press has their next latest and greatest issue- “The Blessed Curse.”

This is their second biblical graphic novel. I’ve met with Mark Carpenter, the managing director, and I’m excited about his vision for this project.

I really believe that this project brings a beautiful convergence of theology, art, and story telling.

Check these out.

Order some.

Pass them out.

Get feedback from your students.

Then tell Mark about it…

So, last week I finished Book 7, Harry Potter and the Sacred Hallows.
Don’t worry, I won’t give anything away for those who still want to read the book!

Reflecting on the story, I offer the following brief thoughts…

• There’s something about “growing up” with a friend that makes you appreciate their story so much more. Book 7 has little meaning without the others. I’m not talking about cognitive understanding. I’m talking about a relational and contextual understanding. I think we all long to be understood this way.

• No matter what you go through or who you are, you need friends. Adults could learn from adolescents here.

• It’s easy can rally any group of people who share a common fear or hate. It’s much harder to rally people around a common love. Maybe that’s why it’s easier to demonize than embrace others.

• Appearances can be deceiving.

• People’s actions are informed by deep, personal complexities. Refer to point one.

• We all have destructive forces in our lives, and sooner or later we’re forced to face them.

• There’s no guarantee that our choices produce the outcomes we envision. Maybe we need to be open to a mysterous third way.

Kudos to JK Rowling for showing us all that good stories are alive and well. You inspire me.

Pictures are worth a thousands words… and words are worth a thousand pictures.

Last Sunday at Mars Hill, Rob Bell interviewed Alan Close about his latest project– “Dust.” This is a graphic novel series that seeks to visually capture and communicate biblical episodes.

Dust’s first issue is called “Fire From Heaven” and tells the story of King Ahab, Jezebel, and Elijah’s encounter with the priests of Baal.

Alan’s art is amazing and thoughtfully brings color, expression, and imagery together in an attempt to capture the multiple dimensions of the story. His work is supported by his own study and interaction with the text. He seems very concerned to bring the story to life while still remaining true to the episode.

Click on the picture to order a copy.
Hear the interview.
Read an article on his project from the Grand Rapids Press.

Whether we use graphic art or graphic words in our communication, Alan offers an encouraging challenge for all of us to consider how we interact with the biblical narrative. If it’s dull, predictable, or redundant, I wonder if we have failed allow the message to resonate with our true selves thus missing the point of the story.

Maybe the Christian story is boring to adolescents, not because their hearts are hard, but because their hearts are full of life and are starving for something beyond the one-dimensional.

What do you think…

Do you think youth ministries (and churches!) are too creative with the biblical narrative or not creative enough?

In Chapter 2 of Wright’s, Simply Christian, he continues the metaphor of echo explaining it through the image of wellsprings…

“The hidden spring” of spirituality […] functions as the echo of a voice; as a signpost pointing away from the bleak landscape of modern secularism and toward the possibility that we humans are made for more than this.”

Modernity has attempted to pave over the spiritual currents, covering it up, or at least quarantining it to the corner of life where people go to get their religious fix in a world that otherwise can operate on it’s own, thank you.

A Christian might look at this, shaking their heads, and affirm the concept that the “world” has backed Christianity into a corner.

But it might be more accurate to say that the western-world has backed Christianity into the center.
The center makes the church feel like she’s in control.
The center makes the church feel like she’s relevant.
The center makes the church feel like she has power.

Instead of being “forced,” I wonder if the western church has willingly gone to the center.

But the center is no different than the corner.

(more…)

Our house church has begun to read together, Simply Christian by N.T. Wright.

Wright attempts to describe the sense we have for justice and rightness through the metaphor of an echo.

An echo is something we all hear or sense deep within each one of us that longs for the world to be put back together. Sometimes we hear the echo or at least it resonates with us when we see something right or long for something better.

Our community appreciated this metaphor because we believe it captures a very human element that all are created in the image of God. This image, though fractured, still can hears an echo that resonates with a desire to see brokenness put back together in every aspect of our existence.

Redemptive echoes are heard and responded to from the country church to Hollywood Boulevard. We see everything from soup kitchens to glitzy multi-million dollar donations. We, thus, raised the question, “What is an appropriate response to the echoes we sense in our souls?” Can one really judge another’s response to one’s echo the hear?

We determined no… and yes.

(more…)

Chris Folmsbee was tagged to give his picks for a list best books on theology published in the last 25 years. He’s tagged me and asked if I’d offer my top three. So here are my “top three” (technically eight) picks which have been personally important to me and why…

The NT Wright trilogy: The New Testament and the People of God; Jesus and the Victory of God; and The Resurrection of the Son of God. NT Wright has been significant in my own journey toward understanding Jesus, and I think has played a major role in helping people rediscover Jesus. He has many wonderful books for every kind of reader, but his trilogy is his magnum opus from which most of his shorter works emerge.

(more…)

I have been reflecting this week on what it means to teach from the heart.

I suppose we can use “teaching” in a specific venue such as a classroom or youth group, or in a broader sense, our life carrying a message.

Parker Palmer in his work The Courage to Teach (see the blog sidebar) has been a helpful guide for me.

Here are a some of my thoughts on “teaching from the heart” …

• “Teaching from the heart” starts with asking the “who” question. Who is the self that teaches? This in itself is scarcely traveled road that is avoided in lieu of the paths of technique and content. To teach from the heart is to first acknowledge our heart… and actually look at it.
• “Teaching from the heart” acknowledges that teaching emerges from one’s inwardness and expresses the condition of one’s soul.
• “Teaching from the heart” requires self-knowledge.
• “Teaching from the heart,” acknowledges that reform is needed and it starts with me (before or in conjunction with technique, or diagnosis of the object).
• (more…)