When the Praises End

We just squeezed in our Memorial Day picnic between thunderstorms here in South Florida.

Emerson, my four-year-old son ate a whole hot dog. And of course, we showered him with praise. I told him that he wasn't always going to receive praise just for finishing a hot dog.

He just looked at me.

I'm wondering. Should we stop showering little ones with praise for accomplishing the basics?

Or should we be offering one another more praise in adulthood?

Or is it fine the way it is? Maybe it's something that just goes with childhood. After all, my wife followed up my comment with "Yeah, and no one is going to wipe your butt for you either."

Too true. Too true.

24 Hours With Nothing to Show For It

Last I watched the finale of 24. It was OK. I don't watch a lot of television, at least not intentionally. I made the mistake a couple of months ago of sitting down in front of 24. The show is masterful at providing enough twists and turns to keep one hooked from week to week. In other words, it manipulates. And I fall for it.

So last night it wrapped up and at the end I realized I had wasted 16 hours (I started about a third of the way in) of my life. I could have been spending that time reading or exercising or working. Of course, I tell myself that I need and deserve a little "downtime," but watching TV isn't really downtime, especially watching 24 which I'm sure is causing whatever gland pumps adrenaline to do its thing.

I am not refreshed, I am not "re-created" after watching television. I could be playing with my son, praying, meditiating, talking to my wife, having sex with my wife, or even sleeping. Those things would be legitimately refreshing and relaxing, they would be good recreation.

I need to tag this so I remember it for next season. (Or for tonight. Glee looks pretty interesting, especially for an old high school chorus kid.)

A Great Thought

I ran across this in a book I am reading, Ecclesiogenesis: The Base Communities Reinvent the Church by Leonardo Boff. The book is written from a Roman Catholic perspective, re-examining the nature and role of the priesthood in light of "base communties" in Brazil, churches without priests to serve them. Toward the end of the book, Boff offers this reflection on the role of priest (or pastor or minister):

A priest is a mediator and reconciler of divergent realities. Priests have a feeling of living and existing in an atmosphere of basic estrangement: they have to face God and face others, face surrounding reality and face themselves. The drama of human life is shot through with division and lies; life longs for oneness, for peace and concord between the universe and its profound meaning. The priest seeks to be the crucible of the common experience of all human beings, seeks to live from this experience and for its successful outcome. Therefore the priest lives apart from the world, not out of contempt for the world but in order to fulfill a mission of oneness and meditation for the world.

I fully believe in and am fully steeped in the concept of the priesthood of all believers and will always work toward that as I teach and disciple. Rarely, however, do I find that reality absorbed by those with whom I come in contact and to whom I minister. So there is always an element of a priestly, mediating role in how many, if not most, see me or see anyone, whether clergy or lay minister, who h as chosen to develop a relationship with God. We truly are crucibles of human experience if we allow ourselves to be. We truly are in the world, but not of it.

Seth Godin on Tribes

This is a video of Seth Godin presenting his ideas on Tribes at the TED conference. I heard him share these ideas at another venue last year, Catalyst. It is fantastic.

Three questions that a leader must ask:
Who are you upsetting?
Who are you connecting?
Who are you leading?

Two things a leader must do: challenge status quo, build a culture.

A God Nudge

Well, it seems God wanted to get a message across to me today. In my personal scripture reading today, I was reading in Acts 8 which chronicles the beginning of the heavy duty persecutions of the followers of Christ. Acts 8:4 says "Now those that were scattered went from place to place, proclaiming the word." It never really hit me the way that it did this time. I noted that when the going got tough, the tough got going in the early church. They reacted to their circumstances, but they held fast to their purpose and goal.

Then tonight at the opening of the Drive 09 conference, Andy Stanley spoke about leading in uncertain times (which all times are). He talked about two necessities: clarity and flexibility.

Clarity is knowing what God has called us to do. He said, "Clarity around vision clears the fog of uncertainty with those who follow."

Flexibility is understanding that while vision remains the same, plans change. He observed that we often confuse our plans with the vision.

It seems to me that I need to refine my vision, listen hard for the specific calling of God in my life.

At North Point Today

It was an incredible experience attending North Point today. There is great worship, great lights, great children's ministries, etc., but other churches have that. What makes North Point unique is that they are crystal clear on what they want to do and they are always evaluating what the best way to accomplish that is.

Much of what they do would not translate to my current context. They are in a wealthy suburb of a large city, they started from scratch, and the specifics of their theology are much different than mine/ours, among many other things. However, what does and must translate is the importance of figuring out what the heck you are doing and then do it and refine it and do it and refine it.

North Point has always striven to be a church for unchurched people. So they have created environments (everything at North Point is an environment) that are comfortable to unchurched folk and encourage people to invite their unchurched friends. And it works!

I'm looking forward to spending time there learning the next few days!

A Couple of Annual Meeting Reflections...

We just finished the first plenary of the annual meeting for the Florida Conference of the UCC. It's basically just business--resolutions, budgets and so forth. However, two things jumped out at me.

There was a video presented featuring some of the churches from the region that is hosting the conference--the Northeast region. There are several fine, historical churches in this area, but as each was featured, I couldn't help but feel that I was watching something from a time capsule from 1962. I imagine congregations and pastors are doing the best they can and, in many ways, our church would present the same way in a 3 minute snippet, but seeing several in a row up there on the screen really brought home for me the reality of our situation: that we are, by and large, an aging and declining denomination.

The high point was the reception of a new church, Rainbow Promise in Lakeland. They were a former Metropolitan Community Church. Their reason for wanting to "switch" was powerful. Their pastor said they wanted to become a part of something bigger than themselves. Predominantly gays and lesbians, they wanted to move beyond seeing themselves as victims and move outward. I love it!