The Human Heart

I’ve now found an interesting graphical representation of how the journey of following Jesus feels sometimes.  But in the end my heart always feels like its coming back to wholeness. (ht)

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Straight From The Horses Mouth

ES: What was the main reason they determined church was no longer an essential part of their life?

TR: Basically the issue was that most churches were low-expectation churches. The leadership did not challenge the members nor expect the members to be a vital part of the congregation. That’s why the dropout rate was so high between the ages of 18 and 22. Once young adults start making many of their own decisions, they saw the local church as an optional and, often, nonessential activity.

From Ed Stetzer’s interview with Sam and Thom Rainer who have written a new book called Essential Church.

The whole interview is fascinating. Especially when they say that people are looking for pastors to turn UP the expectations.  All I can say is, “Doooooooohh!”

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The Brilliance of Forgiveness

What if part of our own restoration really lies in the palm of our hands?

I had a very deep conversation with a friend of mine recently about forgiveness.  He was wrestling with the squabbles he and his wife were having.  It was nothing major, but the minor stuff was building into something major.  And I asked him if he could own his stuff first.  Instantly he retorted back, “Not until she owns her stuff first.”

And for several weeks the issues continued to build.  In fact, he wasn’t just conscious of the squabbles.  He was now fully aware that she wasn’t doing anything about them. His anger was continuing to grow as he recognized her lack of action.

You can easily see where this is going, can’t you.

We met for coffee because he was suffering some of the consequences of his own anger.  They seemed to constantly get into fights.  And I asked him, “Have you dealt with your own stuff first?”  I could see his mind twirl, consciously processing a new reality that had not crossed his mind.

“No,” he said.  “I want her to take care of her stuff first.”

“Why?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” he responded.

I sat across the table from him recognizing that I knew that moment so clearly in my life.  The child in me wants others to act first.  I refuse to move even at the expense of my own restoration.  My pride wells up inside of me asking the world to bow at my feet.  I didn’t say anything after that because my friend was lost in his thoughts.  We sipped coffee and then had to go.

About two weeks later I ran into my friend and he had this big smile on his face.  He was standing with his wife and his arm was tightly wrapped around her.  Something had changed.  I walked up to him and gave him a big hug and whispered in his ear, “What happened?”

“I chose to seek her forgiveness,” came the reply.  Turns out my friend had turned a corner at the coffee shop.  He went home and sat his wife down and sought out her forgiveness, nothing more.  He owned his stuff.  And what surprised him was that the moment he opened the door for himself, he inadvertently opened it for her.  She instantly sought out his forgiveness.  The moment he gave up his own stuff, he got what he wanted.  It was for my friend a reunion of sorts for his marriage.

What is it about showing the other person the third way, the way of Jesus that is so restorative?  And why is it so hard to make the first move?  I hate that.  It never ceases to surprise me when we seek forgiveness, we almost instantly releases the other person to do the same.  We hold in our hands the capacity to bring restoration to the world around us, yet we hold on thinking it protects us. But when we let go, owning our own stuff, we seem to gain so much more than we ever imagined.

Listening to: Love Remains The Same by Gavin Rossdale

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The Christian Refugee

Are you a Christian refugee?

Mark Sayers offers an interesting video about planting a missional church, which is intriguing.  But his distinction of a “refugee” caught my attention. His comment was essentially that there is this group of people who will attend a new plant who are not converts, but are not part of a local body of believers in the traditional sense. They have essentially left the traditional “church” institution and are seeking something else.

The dictionary’s definition of refugee is:

“a person who flees for refuge or safety, esp. to a foreign country, as in time of political upheaval, war, etc.”

Add the word “Christian” and its easy to begin to ask what people are running from or seeking safety from? Is it abuse, as so many in the CLB crowd have experienced?  Is it theology, or boredom, or even persecution for asking questions?

I also found the timing of the word almost ironic.  We are in the midst of what Phyllis Tickle would call the Great Emergence.  Everything “seems” to be up for grabs.  Politically Christianity feels like it is in a state of unrest.  Is the old guard being forced out or simply reformed?  Is the new guard creating revolution or upheaval?  Is a hybrid of sorts emerging that will usher in a new expression of Christianity that looks 2,000 years old.  Only time will tell.

It is hard to argue with Mark when people like George Barna suggest that there are twelve million people essentially in this category.  And when someone like Bill Easum admits that there is a problem with the church, it becomes hard to ignore the bright pink elephant standing in the middle of the room.

What is interesting about the concept of refugees is that it suggest displacement from the homeland.  Refugees are forced to wander, and disconnected from community they have no roots to plant. Forces have appeared to work against them leaving them with no place to settle.  Their heart is with their homeland, yet where is that?  Is it back where they left?  Is it somewhere right next to them?

I think the value of this distinction is important because it will give language to what people are feeling.  It will give them a way of communicating an experience.  And hopefully that conversation will lead to healing.

What do you think?  And do you consider yourself a refugee?

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God Takes Sides In War

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An Emerging Theology

Brother Maynard asked a very important question.  Is there a systematic theology for the emerging church?    In other words, will there be a coherent theological framework that answers deeply important questions concerning sin, salvation, atonement, hell, resurrection, etc.  Think of a term paper or essay that outlines what those in the emerging church think.  Brad Sargent has a response.

Several have touched on issues, asking more questions that creating answers.  The flack over Brian McLaren falls into this category.  It’s the problem when one guy in the crowd raises his hand and says, “This is a problem for me.” And no one has a good answer for him.  And when one guy raises his hand it empowers others to do the same.  And thus a movement was born, fueled by the capacity to communicate in powerful ways through the Internet. The spark of any revolution always rested in the hands of those will to suffer the initial bullets.  And in light of the previous reformation, should we be surprised that it is possible that someone pulled the wool over our eyes.

Much of the tension with the emerging church has been the desire for and the subsequent lack of coherent systematic theology, AND managing the false assumption people make about the emerging church that simply don’t exist (ex: no objective truth, etc.).  The one guy who raises his hand and asks the question doesn’t speak for everyone. And yet people assume he does, because he’s asking the question A LOT of people are thinking or feeling.

And when someone asks the question, the fundamental assumption inherent in the question is that someone got something wrong, otherwise there wouldn’t be a question.  To go back and do critical analysis creates huge tension because foundations are built that would have to be torn down.  And that is hard for people.  It feels like the rug is being pulled out from under you.  But systems inevitably close in on themselves for the sake of their own survival.  Every system does this. As it settles into a rhythm enjoying the fact that it has “arrived”, it inevitably ignores inherent problems for the sake of control, perceiving questions as attacks.

The response to the guy asking the question is often, “So then what do YOU believe.”  And here has been one of the real underlying tensions for those who are asking the questions.  We know there is a problem, yet we are still formulating our answers.  We’re still in conversation about it, evaluating, listening.  This lack of response APPEARS flippant.  “Oh they’re just interested in the questions and not the answers.”  To which I would offer is much like expecting fruit from a sapling.  The truth is that it needs time and with it will produce the fruit.

Much of the movement has been in shifting from argument to conversation, in creating a context for exploration.  In order to formulate something, we need a context to discuss it without killing each other or ruining relationship.  We need generative conversations that can continue without firmly entrenched camps unwilling to move in spite of evidence.  We need as Peter Rollins would suggest, a willingness to examine our weakest points in light other stronger points and vice-versa.

And in the meantime, those in the emerging/ent movement are learning, asking questions, formulating significant questions and issues with the old theology.  Dallas Willard’s book helped present a clear question, asking has Christianity become a Gospel of “sin management?” Doug Pagitt’s book outlines the influence of Greek thinking on Western Christianity.  Tony Jone’s book outlines the birth and rise of the people asking the questions, issues with foundationalism and the rise of wiki-society.  Dan Kimball’s books outlined the significant problem in youth who love Jesus but can’t stand the church. There are now dozens of books dealing with the problem and asking really good questions.

And this brings us back to the problem with the guy who raises his hand.  He’s identifying the elephant in the room that everyone wants to avoid.  It’s just easier to avoid it, isn’t it.  Dealing with these issues means conflict and we’d rather avoid that.  But this approach fundamentally assumes that avoiding the problem isn’t also producing conflict.  And it is.

And the temptation is to simply assume its the cool kid with black rimmed glasses and a soul patch trying to show off.  Being different will do that, which makes it easy to dismiss.  But as Paulo Freire suggested, the banking system of education, which are found in oppressive societies, simply deposits info into your brain without question.  And it’s power depends on people not questioning the system.  Once a system is entrenched, questioning the system becomes unheard of.  People simply get used to the oppression.

This is what has always bothered me abou the critique fo the emerging church.  If what currently exists is completely true and sound, shouldn’t those in power be comfortable with the questions and critique?  Isn’t the mark of sound theology the ability to withstand any question from a genuine seeker?

Which brings me back Brother Maynard’s original question.  Will there by a emerging systematic theology?  I believe the answer is yes, but I would use the term “coherent” or “sound”.  With time it will likely be those asking the questions who will then seek out and find the answers.  Some will get it wrong, but others will get it right.  And like any revolution, it is only those who stand unwilling to move in the face of obvious evidence to the contrary who will suffer.

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The Hard Stuff

It is the very people that we don’t like that are the ones most likely to be our invitation to love.

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Why We Don’t Like Grace

I have come to the conclusion that a lot of people within the church don’t really like grace. It calls us to wrestle with stuff we don’t like, stuff like control and forgiveness. Let me explain.

A while ago, I had someone really hurt me. And the moment it happened something inside of me screamed out for justice. I wanted to rail back at this person and lash out. I wanted to rain down on this person the justice that his action demanded. And then this person did something that I really didn’t like. They asked for forgiveness. At that very moment I was staring the Gospel in the face. Something inside of me didn’t want to. I wanted to be mad.

And yet at that moment, I heard God’s still small voice say, “This is your moment. This is what will redefine who you are. To forgive is to become who you are.” I was holding onto a judgment that ultimately I was not really prepared to hold. And love was calling me to look beyond the hurt and to see the human.

And the reality is that its just so much easier to hold onto the pain. But isn’t the pain killing us? Isn’t the poison pill that we wanted to give someone else get instantly ingested into our own system?

We don’t like grace because it takes away our right to be angry. When God forgives me He’s revealing the standard of His kingdom. And I am called reciprocate. And we don’t want to do that. We want to be angry. We want justice. We want God to rain down fury on those who hurt us.

Grace levels the playing field in ways we don’t like. It takes away our ability to control others because we no longer get to use the idea of justice in a way that can control people. Grace redefines justice. It says that mercy is the more restorative approach. It takes away our command to God to end those who hurt us. God simply points to the cross and says, “Am I really mad? You decide. I can’t give you any more than that.”

And we’re left with this strange reality that the problem is really us. We don’t want to let go of our condemnation because it has become this strange tool to control the world around us. It feeds our sense of justice when someone hurts us. It fuels our sense of fury when we contemplate the abandonment, the rape, the molestation, the beating, the lies, the divorce, and the rejection. It allows us to play god.

Grace chucks all of that. It turns the tables on us takes away our defenses. It says, “You are worth more to me than your own sense of justice. You are worth more to me than condemnation.” Because when we judge, we’re really judging ourselves, which always leads to condemnation.

But to embrace that statement requires letting go of our own wounds. To embrace grace means applying it to everyone, not just us. And we simply don’t like that.

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This post is part of a Community Synchroblog

Alan @ The Assembling of the Church: Community Is Unnatural Today

Jason @ Godfidence.org: Community:A Synchroblog

Jeff @ Loosing My Religion: Thoughts On Building Authentic Christian Community

Glenn @ Re-Dreaming The Dream: Community: The Dilemma

Kathy @ The Carnival In My Head: Equality Is An Action Word

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Builders vs. Busters

In this video presentation by Reggie McNeal, which is a must watch when you have the time, he has a section at 14:00 in which he begins a dialog about the builders generation. This is the generation born after 1927. And in his dialog, he shares a conversation he had with this generation, Their thoughts were, “Everything was going to hell.”

But he captures something that has not always been obvious about the tension between the two generations: builders and busters. The builders build, and the busters bust it up. We’re seeing this before our eyes in the traditional vs the emerging church.

And Reggie shares,

“They’re mad. And they’re mad as hell, because the culture that they thought was screwed into place, nailed down, glued tight. They thought they had this sucker nailed. And now the whole place has come undone. The Huns just aren’t at the gate, their inside running the joint…And what builders are struggling with is loss, massive loss. They are grieving. And as you know anger is one part of the great grief cycle.. They come to church as the last place in America…and you start messing with that.”

I can imagine what deconstruction feels like but I’m on a different train.

He does offer a powerful alternative. He suggest shifting from loss to legacy. And the idea of this is for the builders to get back out there and participated in missional projects. Lead the way. Our generation is waiting for this to happen but we can’t make it happen. The builders need to make this step on their own.

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Which Side Do You See?

Be honest. Which side do you tend to see?

I ask because I was recently reading an article and the author said,

“He seems to devote an inordinate amount of time telling the readers why what he calls the “confessional church” is getting it right, instead of picking up on the areas of failure which need to be addressed.”

Are we first approaching things looking for what’s wrong or what is right? I find that people are very open to criticism when we first offer what was valuable or productive about what they did or said.

I prefer a more balanced approach to evaluation as Greg Boyd did here of Echhart Tolle’s book, A New Earth.  Greg first finds what he liked and then provided valid criticism.

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The Other Son

One of my favorite stories in Scripture is the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Some call it the parable of the Loving Father. And easily missed is the story of other son.

I don’t think the story is complete without the other son. He provides so much emotion and context for how people can feel when God exhibits profound mercy. The other son is the good son, the son that did it right, the son that did what he was supposed to do. The other son has truth on his side.

And I realized while reading this that grace and mercy are an offense to religion. They are offensive to my carefully constructed attempts to please God on my own. Mercy doesn’t make sense. It requires me to think outside of what I assume is justice.

And this is the journey within the kingdom. Which son do we connect with? Which son do we most feel like?

The other son makes me ask a question. Will we be surprised IF God chooses to restore all of His kingdom in the latter days? Will we be disappointed or even angry if His grace extends beyond our measure, the one that we have constructed? Will we respond, “How could you forgive so and so? How could you let HIM enter?”

And will we have any leg to stand on if He doesn’t do it our way?

BTW: After I wrote this I found this from Tracy.

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Luke 15:11-32

The Parable of the Lost Son

11Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

13“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

17“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ 20So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

21“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

22“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

25“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

28“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

31” ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ “

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Straight From The Horses Mouth

“We used to think you can’t upset a seeker. But while focusing on that we’ve really upset the Christ-centered people.”

Greg Hawkins, Executive Pastor of Willow Creek as quoted at the Shift Conference

The article mentions, “But the research shows that it’s the mature believers that drive everything in the church—including evangelism.”  It’s hard for me to fathom that it took a study to reveal this.

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The Really Hard Section

I really regret the fact that I didn’t get to go to Q this year when I see pictures like the one here. It was a cost issue. But now I know I really wanted to be there. I would have also like to see The Fray, but I digress.

The picture above is the full story of the Gospel. It’s the one that has gotten lost over the years. And what caught my attention is the last part. Restoration.

This part is not possible over an extended period of time without love. The middle two, which the church has been focusing on for ages, requires a grasp of theology and can be reduced to a prayer (so they think). But the last part simply cannot be done without love. It’s impossible. Because restoration requires getting through the $*it. It requires forgiveness. It requires the willingness to stand with someone who just refuses to let go of their stuff. And that my friends is the messy stuff.

Addendum: After I wrote this I realized that if God knows what is going on, being outside of time, the first section is also not possible without love.  Creation.  If God knows humanity will fall, then creation requires love and the willingness to step through each section to see it through.  Creation was an act of love that revealed God willingness to step through each stage with us.

And please don’t assume I’m saying that redemption doesn’t require love.  It does.

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The Brilliance Of Love

Emergent Village has a post that profiled a woman named Heather Kirk-Davidoff. The post profiled a dialog between her and a Dr. Forni.

“A story on the cover of today’s Wall Street Journal proclaims “Be Nice, Or What?” and it covers a disagreement in Maryland over Howard County’s “Choose Civility” campaign. The founder of the campaign is Johns Hopkins University professor of civility Dr. P.M. Forni, and the protagonist in this debate is Heather Kirk-Davidoff, pastor of Kittamaqundi Community and a member of the Emergent Village board of directors.

In the article, Heather questions Forni’s “25 Rules of Considerate Conduct” and says, “Community is never made by rules. … As soon as you set up boundaries, you invite people to regulate them. The first rule in my book is, ‘Be curious,’ and the second is, ‘Make room.’””

And when I read this something interesting stuck out to me. When Jesus reduced the law to love he was making a stunning observation about brilliance of love. In the law, we have the fine specifics that require massive amounts of memorization, understanding, contemplation, observations and astute reasoning in the application of any law. We have PhD’s and scientists, lawyers and doctors, politicians and police officers all making attempts at the application of the law.

In love we have an archetype of action. It can be performed by anyone, almost regardless of age, race, creed, nationality, color, sex, and even mental ability. My child can do it and so can my grandfather. It’s not limiting but empowering. It’s simple and at the same time rewarding.

What do I do here? Love.

And what do I do here? Love.

But what about here? Love.

In every case of human interaction we have a specific moral action that is defined by a smart group of people, who are usually trying to help but end up getting in the way, as with Dr. Forni above. Or we have love.

I choose love.

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Spiritual Formation 2

The shortest distance between you and your wholeness is through your obstacles.

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True Reconciliation

Over the last couple of years I have come to the realization that my birth father was a broken man. God has been inviting me into this awareness as I step into what it means to be his age when he was raising me. And as I step into the awareness I am beginning to discover the father that I lost before my parents divorce.

When I was nine my mom picked me up from church one day and told me that my parents were getting a divorce. Waves of emotion crept over me inviting me to create a thick protective shell around my heart. This protective mechanism was my friend. It told me it protected me from further harm that I didn’t really need.

And I lived with this friend for twenty-five years. It helped me destroy just about every relationship I ever had. You see my friend was insanely jealous. He didn’t like new friends so he was constantly telling me that everyone would “eventually” hurt me. And the sad part is that I believed him.

What was interesting was how my friend constantly invited me to get angry at my father. He was always asking me how could someone so close abandon me. He must be evil. I loved my father but there was always something in between us from nine on.

And as very important people began asking me about my friend, I began to realize that he wasn’t really a friend at all. He was an enemy. And he had been feeding me lies for sooooo long.

I remember the first time Jesus asked me to trade in the lies. It was a very painful experience. He kept telling me that he loved me, over and over again. And everything inside of me told me that this was impossible. Daddy’s didn’t do this. Do they? But over time the love began to become irresistible. His love just wouldn’t give in.

The dictionary describes reconcile as,

“to bring into agreement or harmony”

It makes sense to me now. God is inviting us to reconcile so we can see what really is. It’s stepping into an awareness of the truth. It’s shedding the lies that keep us from wholeness and relationship. It’s seeing the other person for what really is behind the fake smile, a broken person. When I embraced this, the sense of freedom I experienced still lives within me today.

And as I began to shed my own lies, I could see my own daddy the way he really was. He never stopped loving me but the reality is that he didn’t know how to love me. I realized that he was a broken man, struggling with his own brokenness in the quiet spaces of his condo. He had no one showing him the love that would restore his soul.

So may we be love to those who need it.

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A God Who Always Sides With Me

This is from Primative Radio Gods song, “Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand.”

We sit outside and argue all night long.
About a god we’ve never seen.
But never fails to side with me.

Why is that?

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I’m Stoked

I want to make sure that I say this. I think we are in one of the most incredible periods in history. I think in 50 years the world will look back on us and say, “I wish I could have lived in the first decade of this century. That was a great time.”

I love the adventure of what we are going through as a church. I love the fresh expressions God is birthing in our midst.  It’s not always easy but the tension is pushing us into what I think is a new reformation.  And I want to be at the center of that action.  I want to be like Joshua saying, “Let’s do this.”

BTW: Crank That (Souljah Boy) is an infectious song.

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Why Do I Hate Change

Have you ever felt like that? It’s this resistance to anything new. Where does that come from?

Over the past year I have been working on a book entitled, Come Follow Me, Moving Beyond Conventional Religion To Following Jesus. I actually finished the book last March and had a publisher who was interested. But in the process of the whole experience it did not happen. I wasn’t upset with the rejection. I chose to assume it was just not the right time. And the comments the editor provided me were really good comments. I had to sit with them for a while but believe they were good comments, even if I didn’t like them at first. To be honest, I did really want it to fly though.

But God had other plans.

I sat with the book for about three months, letting it sit in my database. Over the last month I’ve been wrestling with making significant changes to the book. I’ve added a lot here, move stuff there and even took out stuff that I thought was so cool and everybody would want to read. It’s that darn writers ego. And all through this process, I was observing my resistance to change. It was hard cutting stuff. I wanted it do be done now, damn it.

And then I began to rewrite, move, change, and delete. And the process feels painfully slow. Each edit feels strangely like walking into the wilderness. What am I doing? Will my book become a mess instead of a message? Will I screw it up, this thing I feel charged to do?

And then I began to realize that my book experience was almost a metaphor for much of my journey into trust with God. It’s played out in this journey through the emerging church and life in general. I’m wondering if I’m gonna screw it up. And this is the journey. Not will we get it right, but will we trust? Faith requires stepping out in trust that we won’t screw it up, that God really will show up through us.

What surprised me today is that my book is coming together. I like it better. I like the changes I’ve made and I think its a better book. But I couldn’t have gotten here unless I was willing to change it.

BTW, if anyone knows a good agent or publisher, I’m still looking.

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The Power of Three

About two years ago a friend of mine introduced me to a word that radically reshaped my faith and understanding of God. It’s the word Elohim. It’s God’s first expression of himself in Scripture. What is unique about this word is that its plural. God’s first expression to humanity in the story is of someone in community.

A little later in the story, humanity is created in His image. We carry the Imago Dei. And as I began to connect to the reality that I am created in his image, I began to see that I am designed for community. And much of life is working out the relationship with community.

In community we have the power of three. We’re not alone. We’re not without help. We’re not lonely. In community we have a voice that reminds us of where we are breaking ourselves, where we’re losing what it means to be created in the image of God. In community we have the wonderful smile that reflects our Father’s image back to us. We can see love. But community requires that we reciprocate and move beyond our own selfish interests. To live in community we have to let go of what we want to discover a much larger picture, one of community that is interdependent. It requires that we be love to those around us, to give back what we have received.

As I was writing this I even thought about the fact that Jesus didn’t die alone. He died in a community of three.

This desire for community has led my wife and I to explore community in our home. We’re asking what it would look like to live in a community setting on a full time basis. This desire began a long time ago when my wife went to L’Abri in Switzerland. L’Abri was started by Francis Schaeffer as almost a precursor to New Monasticism. He asked how we create places of refuge, a place to come and experience community that feeds the soul.

My wife and I are exploring the idea of a wholistic retreat center that would focus on generative family living. How do we create a space where families can explore community, spiritual formation, wholistic living practices, organic eating and reflection. We’ve actually spent time exploring land in and around the area of Sacramento. This idea will take time and God opening some significant doors. But we’re willing to wait.

The tension in a new monastic community is that we have to give up our lifestyle. We have to give up our safe space that allows us to hide. And the longer I follow Jesus the more I realize that I don’t want a place to hide. I don’t want a lifestyle that will keep me from missing community. I need a space that will keep me connected to community in ways that are not always fun but good for me.

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This post is part of a synchroblog on New Monasticism. You can find more insights in the posts below.

Phil Wyman at Phil Wyman’s Square No More
Beth at Until Translucent
Adam Gonnerman at Igneous Quill
Steve Hayes at Notes from the Underground
Sally Coleman at Eternal Echoes
Brian Riley at at Charis Shalom
Cobus van Wyngaard at My Contemplations
Mike Bursell at Mike’s Musings
David Fisher at Cosmic Collisions
Alan Knox at The Assembling of the Church
Sam Norton at Elizaphanian
Erin Word at Decompressing Faith
Sonja Andrews at Calacirian

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