Tonight at church we celebrated Epiphany since we missed it last week due to the weather. Again, I love the light breaking into darkness images of Epiphany. Stars hang from the ceiling in our worship space. I love the image of the magi: wise men from various parts of the world who read the signs and came to worship the God who came to earth. And of course I love the manifestation of God becoming one of us in an ungodly way.
In this season of Epiphany we're also going to be going through the book of II Timothy. The apostle Paul writes the letter to Timothy with advice on pastoring a church and encouragement in his faith. In the introduction he also recognizes Timothy's grandmother and mother who instrumental in his faith.
I am mindful of the people who shaped my faith. Some are around, but many have passed away. There were a number of older members of my church growing up who played a part in encouraging me and my walk with Jesus. There was Avery Shold, Clifford Shold, Bill Shold, Arlyn Youngberg, Maurice Peterson and other men with whom I sang in the church choir in my teen years and who taught me songs in Swedish as a child. There were my Sunday School teachers (most of whom I won't remember) including Betty Nordine and Ebba Youngberg. Bible camp was a huge part of my faith formation. The DeVries family were the camp managers when I was young--and I was lucky to stay connected with them as I entered in to camping ministry myself. I remember some of my counselors when I was in grade school: Mark Samuelson, Kyle Welander, John Gambs (who was my counselor several times I believe), and Adrian Wolbrink (who after my first summer at camp sent me a letter later with a card with the "Cross in My Pocket" poem and a little cross to keep in my pocket--that follow-up was special to me at a young age). Though I don't remember the speaker's name, the woman who shared at camp my first summer helped me verbalize my commitment. Each of these people (and many more!) invested a little bit in my life and showed me what faith could look like.
I had a few pastors who were influential, but Dave Wells was the one who taught my confirmation class and encouraged me to think about ministry. I had several good youth group leaders along the way: Robert Johnson, the Sunblads, the Linds, the Kischers. As I grew older our denomination's national youth convention was important to me. I witnessed several thousand other students worshiping God freely without inhibition. Speakers like Tony Campolo and Duffy Robbins challenged my walk. At the end of high school I started spending my summers working at Bible Camp where Joel Rude (with whom I later worked full-time), Dave Cairns, Bruce Peterson and many other staff members encouraged and mentored me.
As I entered college, seminary, ministry, and living as an adult, hundreds of people of been important in my faith walk. I can't even try to name them all: various professors, colleagues in ministry, church members, and friends.
And of course, my family has been the most influential. My great-grandparents, grandparents and parents passed on so much said and unsaid faith as did uncles, aunts, great-uncles and -aunts, and cousins of varying degrees.
I thank God for each of the people (and I know I'm forgetting to name some other mentors) who have played an important role in my faith walk, and for those whom I'm learning from today.
Please share in the comments the names of people who have played an important part in your faith walk. I'd love to hear those stories.
Showing posts with label Relationships. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Relationships. Show all posts
9/02/2011
Of BBQs and Evangelism.
By our best calculations we had 42 people in our yard tonight. That's not including our family. Or the neighborhood kids who kept showing up (there were at least five or six of them). So well over 50 people total. We're very thankful for a corner lot with a big side yard.
We had wanted to do a gathering this weekend. Our church family was our first thought--but it's always our first thought. We love those people and its easy to spend time with them. So we went with families fromt the boys' school. We just sent out an email invitation to several families who have children our boys are friends with and gave permission for them to extend the invitation tot other families from school. And so 42 people showed up.
We went with the laid back approach of having everyone bring meat to grill and a dish to pass (which is also a good approach when you can't afford feed 42 people on your own). We had condiments, utensils, plates, cups, water, etc. So other than set up, we just had to get the grill going (and thanks to our good friends Bob & Amy Mingo we had a second one to use) and keep things going smoothly.
It was nice to just hang out, let the kids play and get to talk with other parents--many of whom we don't often get much time to talk with. No pressure. No agenda. Just fun and fellowship.
I know some Christians might chastise me for not taking the opportunity to pray for the kids and the school and try to "evangelize those that needed to be evangelized." That would be my pastoral duty, after all. Except that it's not. Not to me at least. I did my job as a follower of Jesus tonight. I gathered people together, served them as best I could, and hopefully let them see a little difference--a little light, a little love, a little fellowship. Most importantly, it was a step toward building some relationships. Not for the sake of "saving" anyone, but for the sake of loving them.
I'm not about high-pressured evangelism. I'm more about trying to live my life in such a way that people see a difference. I believe Jesus said something along the lines of "they'll know we are Christians by our love" (or maybe that's just an old spiritual). If we don't live any differently than others--differently enough that they see a difference in us--then why would they want to follow Jesus anyway?
And so I didn't offer up a prayer tonight. I just kept the charcoal burning nicely while building some new relationships. Hopefully that's something.
8/05/2010
Color Blind?
Today at some point, Anders commented about being the only white kid around at times. I asked him how it makes him feel. He said he doesn't always like it because it makes him feel different.
He doesn't really have "labels" yet. He refers to some people as having brown skin or others looking like Lauren (who is of Korean descent) or Nu (who is Hmong). So he does notice differences. But he also notices when he is the one who is different.
We talked about how everyone was created by God--so we're all the same. But we're all unique as well--so we're all different. Even though he may feel different because he is the only white kid at the wading pool, everyone else
has differences, too.
This morning I hung out with a pastor friend at his son's soccer camp. He's African American and lives more on the south side of Minneapolis. So at the soccer camp, his son (who is in Anders' Sunday School class) was one of the few brown-skinned kids there. I shared this with Anders, and we talked about how his friend is often the only brown-skinned kid in many situations.
In the boys' children's Bible tonight we read some of "The Teachings of Jesus" (paraphrases of the Sermon on the Mount). The first one was "The Golden Rule": treat others the way you would want to be treated. So we discussed how we would want to be treated by others. We talked about how none of us want to be left out or ignored, so we need to make sure we're not leaving others out.
Our trouble comes not when we notice the color of someone else's skin (because even young children notice that there are differences--we can't be color blind); the trouble comes when we are unable to put ourselves in their shoes and "do unto others." We can only empathize when we get to know others.
Racism is still around. Even the the boys and I have experienced it, being called "honkies" and "crackers" one day while walking to the park. Racism comes out of fear and anger. We're called to love. Even if we aren't like anyone else around us. That's a lesson I'm learning as I teach it to my kids.
He doesn't really have "labels" yet. He refers to some people as having brown skin or others looking like Lauren (who is of Korean descent) or Nu (who is Hmong). So he does notice differences. But he also notices when he is the one who is different.
We talked about how everyone was created by God--so we're all the same. But we're all unique as well--so we're all different. Even though he may feel different because he is the only white kid at the wading pool, everyone else
This morning I hung out with a pastor friend at his son's soccer camp. He's African American and lives more on the south side of Minneapolis. So at the soccer camp, his son (who is in Anders' Sunday School class) was one of the few brown-skinned kids there. I shared this with Anders, and we talked about how his friend is often the only brown-skinned kid in many situations.
In the boys' children's Bible tonight we read some of "The Teachings of Jesus" (paraphrases of the Sermon on the Mount). The first one was "The Golden Rule": treat others the way you would want to be treated. So we discussed how we would want to be treated by others. We talked about how none of us want to be left out or ignored, so we need to make sure we're not leaving others out.
Our trouble comes not when we notice the color of someone else's skin (because even young children notice that there are differences--we can't be color blind); the trouble comes when we are unable to put ourselves in their shoes and "do unto others." We can only empathize when we get to know others.
Racism is still around. Even the the boys and I have experienced it, being called "honkies" and "crackers" one day while walking to the park. Racism comes out of fear and anger. We're called to love. Even if we aren't like anyone else around us. That's a lesson I'm learning as I teach it to my kids.
5/16/2010
Thought-Provoking Movies
In the last couple weeks we got a couple movies from the library; both are set in L.A. I've been to Los Angeles once, just over a decade ago for a wedding of one of Beth's college roommates. L.A. is a distinctive city; it becomes a character in both movies.
Crash came out a few years ago, receiving several acclaims. We checked it out because our
church had hosted a racial reconciliation discussion around the movie recently. It's a rough movie. There is much violence as well as language and brief nudity. But it also has a lot to teach us--especially about race relations. It is the story of a myriad of people who's lives are intertwined through the course of a day and a half.
The thing that struck me during the movie was how much anger was in everyone's life--and it often came out through racism. I'm not sure that racism is even the real issue, but it masks all the anger in people's lives. Many addictions also have their root in anger--the addiction being a coping mechanism to "deal" with the anger. I think many of us have anger in our lives that works it's way out in unhealthy ways. We need to learn to deal with it better.
The Soloist came out just last year, also receiving good reviews. It is based on a true story about a journalist who discovers a Juilliard drop-out playing beautiful mus
ic on a two-stringed violin on the streets of LA. The man is a musical genius, but schizophrenia has made his life unstable, and he ends up living on the street. It's a beautiful story about the importance of seeing people as people--getting to know them rather than simply feeling pity for them.
On the wall outside the homeless center where much of the movie takes place is this verse: "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life." I was struck as all the transients (there are 90,000 homeless in the greater LA metro area alone) milled about in front of the wall about how the wages of sin lead not only to our death, but to the death of others as well. Our lives are interconnected. Jesus tells us that whatever we fail to do to the "least of these" we do to Him as well. And, at the Judgment, He will separate the sheep from the goats. And the goats will be sent to eternal condemnation. We need to get to know others, not just treat them as charity cases.
The Blind Side is a more recent movie (the last one I actually saw in the theater!)
that shares similar lessons on racism and getting to know others. I hope that with whatever movie you watch, that you get something more out of it than just a couple hours of sitting and being entertained (even if it's just some good laughs). But I also hope you're finding movies that you can have great discussions around with others. Movies are a great, unassuming way to get into deeper conversations with others about issues that can speak to the greater Truth.
Crash came out a few years ago, receiving several acclaims. We checked it out because our
The thing that struck me during the movie was how much anger was in everyone's life--and it often came out through racism. I'm not sure that racism is even the real issue, but it masks all the anger in people's lives. Many addictions also have their root in anger--the addiction being a coping mechanism to "deal" with the anger. I think many of us have anger in our lives that works it's way out in unhealthy ways. We need to learn to deal with it better.
The Soloist came out just last year, also receiving good reviews. It is based on a true story about a journalist who discovers a Juilliard drop-out playing beautiful mus
On the wall outside the homeless center where much of the movie takes place is this verse: "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life." I was struck as all the transients (there are 90,000 homeless in the greater LA metro area alone) milled about in front of the wall about how the wages of sin lead not only to our death, but to the death of others as well. Our lives are interconnected. Jesus tells us that whatever we fail to do to the "least of these" we do to Him as well. And, at the Judgment, He will separate the sheep from the goats. And the goats will be sent to eternal condemnation. We need to get to know others, not just treat them as charity cases.
The Blind Side is a more recent movie (the last one I actually saw in the theater!)
that shares similar lessons on racism and getting to know others. I hope that with whatever movie you watch, that you get something more out of it than just a couple hours of sitting and being entertained (even if it's just some good laughs). But I also hope you're finding movies that you can have great discussions around with others. Movies are a great, unassuming way to get into deeper conversations with others about issues that can speak to the greater Truth.
2/15/2010
Still Dating After All These Years
When Beth and I would do premarital counseling for couples whose wedding I was asked to officiate, we would always stress the importance of keeping a date night with each other.
We we ever good at it ourselves? Admittedly, no. It's easy to let life get in the way: no money, no babysitter, no time, too tired . . .
And though we were never good at following our own advice, we still knew the value of it.
We got a date night last night for Valentine's Day. One of Beth's co-workers who also goes to our church offered to watch the boys for us.
Admittedly, I'm terrible at planning dates. We end up usually seeing a movie. We saw one last night (I came across 2-for-1 tickets). I think I enjoy movies so much because it's a more convenient way of sharing a story together than taking the time to read together from a book. And stories are powerful. They can be life-changing.
We saw The Blind Side last night. A movie I wanted to see, but would have waited until it's DVD release for, but there wasn't anything that was a "must see in the theater." The Blind Side can be one of those life-changing stories. It's a powerful story of being good stewards--of sharing what we have with those who don't, of sharing ourselves, of taking a chance on doing the right thing, of taking a chance on others and yourself. It provided us with some good discussion at supper afterward (adoption and foster parenting are important to us).
And date nights are important to us. We may not get them in as often as we like to (we still have a small babysitter pool), but we also know that date nights don't necessarily have a predefined look. What's important is to have the time together, sharing ourselves, investing in each other. We don't necesssarily have to even leave the apartment, but we have to be intentional.
I love you, Beth. And I love being with you. Now and forever.
We we ever good at it ourselves? Admittedly, no. It's easy to let life get in the way: no money, no babysitter, no time, too tired . . .
And though we were never good at following our own advice, we still knew the value of it.
We got a date night last night for Valentine's Day. One of Beth's co-workers who also goes to our church offered to watch the boys for us.
Admittedly, I'm terrible at planning dates. We end up usually seeing a movie. We saw one last night (I came across 2-for-1 tickets). I think I enjoy movies so much because it's a more convenient way of sharing a story together than taking the time to read together from a book. And stories are powerful. They can be life-changing.
We saw The Blind Side last night. A movie I wanted to see, but would have waited until it's DVD release for, but there wasn't anything that was a "must see in the theater." The Blind Side can be one of those life-changing stories. It's a powerful story of being good stewards--of sharing what we have with those who don't, of sharing ourselves, of taking a chance on doing the right thing, of taking a chance on others and yourself. It provided us with some good discussion at supper afterward (adoption and foster parenting are important to us).
And date nights are important to us. We may not get them in as often as we like to (we still have a small babysitter pool), but we also know that date nights don't necessarily have a predefined look. What's important is to have the time together, sharing ourselves, investing in each other. We don't necesssarily have to even leave the apartment, but we have to be intentional.
I love you, Beth. And I love being with you. Now and forever.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)