Discussion Board overwhelm - it's all good

This morning I got up fairly early and took a peek at the "Discussion Board" on the web-site where I'm teaching my on-line class. There were over 100 "posts" to process in response to the "Icebreaker" questions I'd assigned for DAY-ONE

That's a lot of stuff to read. Granted, many were one or two line comments, related to more substantial posts. But 15 of 20 people (the class is capped at 20) have already jumped right in- as of 9:00 AM EST - and have made some significant contributions to what looks to be an illuminating ongoing conversation.

Immediately, the atmosphere of the workshop has shifted from "academic" to "transformational". Now I'm not saying that academic classes can't be transformational - or that connecting with one-another on a personal level in any way undermines the academic (the fact that I wrote the class text is enough to undermine the academic!). But something very powerful is always set in motion when people begin to share some of their own story - and that's what I'm excited about.

So far, the folk who have checked in are "remote-learners" from Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, California, Illinois, Mississippi, New York and Pennsylvania. They are Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Church of God and Mennonite.

Each one of my new friends have made a commitment to engage a meaningful Christmas as authentic followers of Jesus. They want to negotiate December without being bulldozed by the cultural juggernaut of rampant consumption that has little room for the message of a Savior whose values counter so much of what drives this culture.

Here's the big question we're addressing this week: "Is it possible to participate in all the fun and the parties and the gifting and the glitz... and... honor Christ at the same time?"

I'm already sensing an ample well of deep wisdom and radical personal stories from my new friends. I'll try to clue the rest of you in on some of the insight when it comes my way.

Grace and Peace - DEREK

"Initial Trajectory" key to a great day... week

God's love and kindness will shine upon us like the sun that rises in the sky. On us who live in the dark shadow of death this light will shine to guide us into a life of peace. - Luke 1:78-79 (CEV)(Images in today's blog found on-line - not mine)

There's always the temptation, especially when I wake up on a Monday morning with an impossibly busy week ahead, to throw myself into work headlong, generate a list, and begin checking off items with my "production" mentality cranked up to high gear.

I've been fighting the urge since 6:00 this morning! It's been a bit of a struggle but so far, I'm doing Okay.

Instead, I've chosen to focus on what's important. The morning devotion; the relaxed walk; the coffee and newspaper with Rebekah; an unhurried breakfast together. And so now - and when I finish writing this post I'll be pretty much good-to-go - I can approach what needs to be accomplished with my body, mind and spirit all tuned in and ready to contribute to a great day.

It's that idea of "Initial Trajectory" again. This is one of my favorite phrases, and the concept is useful every day and with every single project. We used the phrase in advertising the BIG NEW ITEM that has my attention this morning: My first-ever on-line class begins today (or possibly already has begun, because I made some of today's assignments and announcements available to participants yesterday afternoon).

• Here's the first part of the blurb in the "catalog": "Rocket scientists know that "initial trajectory" is critical to the success of any launch; just a few degrees off and we can miss the destination by hundreds of miles. Too many of us miss the meaning of Christmas by a similar margin. But there's hope – actually, there's hope, peace, love and joy..."

The class has filled all the way up (we'll be offering it again in early December), so I'm looking forward to getting to know 20 participants from all over the USA.

Here's what I'm looking to accomplish over the 14 days we'll spend (virtually) "together" - and it's the same intention I pray we all bring to this new day and this new week:

• I pray that there's not any wasted time - because we already run into too much of that...
• I pray that the things we discuss will open hearts to the possibility of Grace - because, as Eagles front man Don Henley wrote in "The Heart of the Matter" - we live in "such a graceless age"...
  
• I pray that the scriptures we read will bring each one of us closer to the heart of God - because the heart of God is our true home...
• I pray that the manner in which we approach each new day will involve an openness to the Spirit - because we tend (routinely) to let ourselves be guided by the priorities of this culture - values and ideals that are contrary to God's heart...
• I pray that each one of us identify ourselves as a pilgrim, committed to making progress in our spiritual journey - because so much of the time we go nowhere, or slip backwards, and there is so much that God wants us to journey into...

This is my Initial Trajectory for today, for this week, for my new class - and I pray it's a the kind of intention that will be adopted by each one who reads these words. How we head out of the gate - off the launch pad - makes all the difference in terms of the destination. And I don't want to miss any of the wonder God has in mind for me.

Love and blessings - DEREK

And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.
- Luke 1:76-79 (NIV)

Did you know I was a "foodie"?

(All pictures taken in our kitchen...) - I've turned into one of those "frequent grocery shoppers". I'd rather stop by the store three to four times a week than do the mammoth once a month "back your truck up Publix" excursion some people favor.

I prefer what I call "target" or "mission-oriented" shopping; I enjoy the process of gathering food and then immediately taking it into the kitchen and preparing it for supper. I'll even go to more than one store to get exactly what I want. Rebekah says I shop like a European.

That may well be. I'd much rather say "I feel like pork chops tonight" and then head to the store than find myself backed into a corner with a bag of something that's been frozen for three weeks and we feel obligated to eat because it seemed like a good idea at the time. I just happen to keep most of my food at Sweet Bay, and Publix, and Albertson's until it's time to cook.

So yesterday afternoon I thought, "Hmm, what we could really use is fresh - really fresh - veggies and then I'll build the meal from there...". The baby carrots in the produce department looked excellent, the beans were crisp and inviting, a bag of pearl onions caught my eye, and there was a special on mushrooms.

Then it was on to the meat counter. I was intending to locate a nice juicy steak, but a then a couple of big, fat lamb-chops caught my eye. The butcher cut me some fresh ones and I headed back to produce for a bag of sweet potatoes and picked up some crescent rolls from the bakery before heading home to cook.

I've always enjoyed cooking, and now we have the new kitchen, the hour of preparation for dinner has become one of the more enjoyable of the day. When I plan things right I don't have to rush, and if Rebekah gets home early she can sit in the easy chair and we can talk while I slice, dice, saute, sip and simmer.

So yesterday I put a little olive oil (Tuscan) in the cast iron skillet, cut and crushed some garlic, and sliced a few small onions to release their aroma into the oil as it heated up. Then I added the lamb chops, some sage, and a handful of mushrooms, sauteing the whole mix before putting the skillet down in the convection oven to finish the process - in the company of the sweet potatoes - while I lightly cooked the baby carrots and the green beans.

Such fun around the stove top goes well with a glass of Pino, especially if you're going to splash a little in with the lamb chops before they go in the oven.

Simple things: cooking good, fresh, food at home; enjoying relaxed conversation with Rebekah; feeling the fall air stream in through the wide-open windows; breaking bread together; fresh-brewed iced-tea with a hint of mint; thankful for what we do have, not fretting about what we don't.

Life doesn't have to be complicated to be a real rush. In fact, I'd be willing to say that it's more often delightful and restorative when much of the unnecessary complexity is put to rest. Not much analysis today, though, I'm simply going to enjoy one more amazingly redemptive fall day.

Blessings and love - DEREK

What "Emergent" really means

Yes, I'll take your questions now! Trivia time... are you ready? Okay, here goes:

Question: - Is there one thing people have asked you to blog about that stands out?
Answer: - Why yes, "Curious Reader", as a matter of fact there is. Hands down, and from well before my blogging days, more people have asked me to write about being a "Minister's Husband". Now it's my #1 blog request - as much as just about every other idea combined.

There's been enough written on the "Minister's Wife" to fill its own warehouse. However, in the world of gender-discrimination, the role of minister's husband has yet to be even acknowledged in most circles. Fact is I'd love to teach a seminar on the topic at the leading seminaries of every Christian denomination. (If you're reading this and have any influence at all I'd love to hear from you!!!)

Okay, for those readers who aren't up to speed on my family, here are the basics.

1. I'm married to a Presbyterian Minister.
2. Her name is Rebekah Maul (formerly Alexander).
   
3. She earned her MDiv from Columbia Seminary in 1982.
4. She was told not to get married because "A married woman can't lead a church".
5. She was told that 90% of marriages fail when a woman enters ministry.
   
6. When we were expecting our first child Rebekah was told it would embarrass the school if she interviewed with churches, and not to seek a call until after she had finished raising her children.
7. We learned, instead, that God is in no way limited by the suppressed imaginations of human organizations!
8. God has richly blessed her pastoral ministry now for over 27 years.
9. We're having a ball!
   

The above list serves to - believe me - merely scratch the surface. Suffice it to say that Rebekah and I have witnessed the truth of the following declaration in many, many ways: "Statistics only measure what already has happened, they have no power to determine what will happen."

Cool beans:
Here's what's really interesting. If people didn't know what to do with a female pastor, then they had even less of a clue regarding how to handle a preacher's husband! Almost 30 years ago there were not a lot of women called as pastors. Many women who did earn a seminary degree took positions outside of traditional parish ministry; some changed careers before long; very few ended up as the senior minister of a "good-sized" congregation; even less are still married....

Put all those factors in an equation (D- dropout-RD X 90%/SP to the power of reality = X)... "X" being the number of men who share my unique position. It all adds up to very few men occupying the so-called "traditional" minister's-spouse role.

GOOD NEWS: (picture: Rebekah with the other half of our ministerial team: Tim Black)
The really good news here is that neither Rebekah nor I found ourselves fed into the status-quo processing system and spat out at the other end as stereotypical cookie-cutter models of a minister's family.

We weren't created by the sausage machine and - rather than cry "Foul!" or "Discrimination!" - we have thankfully been free, instead, to simply follow Jesus.

That's the bottom line, here. It's all I'd really say if I got to teach the seminary seminar for preacher's-husbands coming up (In fact, it's a message for all those who enter ministry with their spouse - there really is no difference).

• Thank God for the opportunity to show up at a church unhampered by narrowly defined stereotypes
• Go into ministry as humble disciples rather than the poster-family for church leadership models stuck in the 1950's
• Do one thing, and do it well - follow Jesus!

Today's excerpt from "The Unmaking of a Part-time Christian" is from the chapter "Subversive for Jesus".

Enjoy - Love and blessings - DEREK

Listen to the Spirit: follow Jesus (page 86)
If there’s one model both Rebekah and I have constantly fought hard to disprove, it’s the idea that faith should in any way be formulaic, stereotypical, one-size-fits-all, or easy to define. God, it turns out, is much harder to pin down than that.

So, rather than feeling like disadvantaged victims of sexism or discrimination, it worked to our spiritual advantage to show up at Rebekah’s first ministry job and find we both had to start from scratch. Because there were no preconceptions, no time-honored parts to play and no pre-determined expectations other than the call to follow Jesus.

That’s what the idea of “emergent” really means. It means that we simply follow Jesus. Our worship, service, illumination, spiritual growth, prayer life, our journey into Christ – all these things – emerge in response to the primary and critical priority of regarding everything else "as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8).

Beyond "pro just-bono-enough"

Being a freelance writer (with the emphasis on the word "free") is a lot like any other self-employed entrepreneurial gig in terms of balance. Pretty-much half my time is spent chasing down opportunities to work, while the other half is devoted to moving heaven and earth to get the work done.

The current economic climate proves the cliche "Don't put all your eggs in one basket." The Tampa Tribune is still my mainstay, but - any given week - they may or may not run my work. Consequently, it's good to know that a check might float in from three or four other magazines and papers where I'm a regular feature.

Next year, if the leads I have in hand generate a few more commitments, I may well earn more income from speaking, and teaching my books, than actually writing.

My real challenge at the moment is maintaining a high standard...
...As I get busier there's less time to craft each finished product and - sometimes - I've found myself making time-management decisions based on remuneration. I don't like that. About a third of my time is still devoted to projects I do "pro bono" and - as the definition of pro bono is "for the public good" - I'm concerned that the public might be having to settle for pro pretty-bono, pro fairly-bono, or pro just-bono-enough instead of my very best.

Wednesday evening, for example, I led my men's small group with inadequate preparation. Believe me, even when you're teaching your own book you have to take notes, outline the hour, and prepare a plan for the class. But - instead - I waffled. There was some great conversation, we all encouraged one another, and the content was exactly what we needed to be talking about... but it certainly wasn't my best.

One of the things we talked about last night was "Living Kingdom Lives." Living as if we are adopted children of God, with all the rights, privileges and responsibilities that go along. A big question was/is, "What does that look like?" and "How do we go about living in a kingdom mind-set without worrying about legalism?"

Well, this morning I stumbled on this scripture. Regarding those questions, it's pretty-much can't-miss; a series of too-the-point declarative sentences. Romans 12:9-16 (CEV). It's followed by today's excerpt from "The Unmaking of a Part-time Christian."

• Be sincere in your love for others.
• Hate everything that is evil and hold tight to everything that is good.
• Love each other as brothers and sisters and honor others more than you do yourself.
• Never give up.
• Eagerly follow the Holy Spirit and serve the Lord.
• Let your hope make you glad.
• Be patient in time of trouble and never stop praying.
• Take care of God's needy people and welcome strangers into your home.
• Ask God to bless everyone who mistreats you. Ask him to bless them and not to curse them.
• When others are happy, be happy with them, and when they are sad, be sad.
• Be friendly with everyone.
• Don't be proud and feel that you are smarter than others.
• Make friends with ordinary people.

Excerpt from "The Unmaking of a Part-time Christian", from Chapter Six: "Check the Manufacturer's Label":

The Tipping Point for Jesus:
Making the decision to become a Jesus follower, years previously at the Billy Graham Crusade in London, was much the same as my realization that the USA was - already - my home. God was already a very real and vital part of my life. I loved God and I knew that God loved me; yet I still felt as though I had a foot in both camps.

A section of the United States Citizenship Oath is instructive when we think about our decision to follow Jesus. It goes like this: “I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.”

That’s powerful stuff. I can remember the scene in the Federal courthouse like it was yesterday. I stood. I faced the judge. I placed my hand on my heart. The room was crowded with people. In just a few moments I was no longer going to be British (this is the part my mother still refuses to accept in any way shape or form).

I couldn’t in good faith be British anymore; it’s the exact reason why I don’t believe in dual citizenship. “Oh I still use my British passport,” people tell me; “I’m a citizen of both nations.” Well I’m sorry, and I mean no offense, but if you took the oath (excerpted above) and still insist you’re a citizen of another country - then bottom line is you have to be lying to somebody.

It’s the exact same powerful truth that I knew about Jesus when I listened so closely to Billy Graham’s message back when I started this journey. When I made the decision to follow my Savior I understood that it meant I wasn’t merely a visitor any more. I don’t think I’d ever understood so clearly what it means to live as a pilgrim in progress. “The kingdom of God is like this,” Jesus was fond of saying, “and this, and this, and this….”

The kingdom life that Christ taught is a citizenship we must take steps to claim – wherever we are, irrespective of any other membership, privileges notwithstanding. No more part-time Christian but adopted children of God.

- The Unmaking of a Part-Time Christian (p 76)

Still Pushing the Envelope!

It's really kind of cool to be 53 years old and still learning a huge amount of stuff, pretty much on a daily basis! I know people in their fifties who are retired already; I vacillate between feeling sorry for them and then being envious of the fact that they can sit back and vegetate.

Mostly though I realize how fortunate - blessed - I am to be involved in work where creativity and learning are and must be the constant.

Take today, for example:
I just heard that the on-line seminar I will be teaching (starting next Monday - click on the icon to check it out) is close to filled up. The administration is making plans to offer an encore class in December, just as soon as this one caps out. Now that news is both exciting and intimidating!

It's exciting because I've never done anything like this before. And it's intimidating because I've never done anything like this before!

Now that I think about it - and believe me I'm thinking about it a lot today - I'll be letting those of you who read my blog get a front row seat on some of the action. I'm going to - I just thought of this :-) - use this blog as one of the class resources. Participants will have occasional reading assignments from "A Life Examined". So pay close attention next week for content that will be geared at least partially for people enrolled in my class.

So, what am I teaching?
I'll be teaching a 14 day workshop titled "Making it through December with Your Faith Intact". My publisher, Upper Room Books, asked a few of its authors to take a "How to provide your workshop online" class. Upper Room has entered a partnership with BeADisciple.com and it's a great idea for everyone involved if authors teach courses based on their books.

I, in predictable fashion, jumped out of the gate at 100 mph and the timing couldn't have been better for my Advent book, "In My Heart I Carry A Star." Consequently I'm the first author on board.

The good news is that I have the opportunity to be my publisher's poster-child for the new partnership. The potentially not so good news is that I have the opportunity to flush the whole idea down the hole if I fall flat on my face!

There's a lot riding on what I do with this class. We're off to a good start with the workshop filling up quickly. So I'll leave you all with (as promised) another excerpt from The Unmaking of a Part-Time Christian. I believe I have work to do to get ready for next week :-).

Love, Hope, Joy & Peace - DEREK

Recently I was invited to address a regional meeting of Presbyterian ministers and elders in St. Petersburg, Florida. Best guess there were more than 300 learned divines in the room; I was supposed to give the forty-five minute keynote.
“Aren’t you nervous?” one vaguely encouraging participant inquired just before I took the podium. “This is a huge room, it’s full of people, and they’re used to nationally know speakers.”
“Not in the slightest,” I replied. “The last five years of my teaching career I worked in a middle school. Believe me, once you’ve faced a room full of twelve-year-olds anything else pales in comparison.”
So God continually pushes me out with this message; sometimes to gatherings of committed Christians, but quite often into a post-Christian culture that doesn’t necessarily want to know. Because the truth about Jesus has been buried so far under legalism, and cultural consumerism, and “Jesus won’t like you if you don’t act like us”, and judgment, and New Age philosophy, and a kind of religious nationalism, and social good-deed-doing, and hypocrisy, and the “you can literally take God’s blessings to the bank” crowd….
In short it has been lost for too many hungry people, this life-charged Gospel; it’s been misplaced, and it’s going to take more than drive-by exposure to find it. What it’s going to take is pilgrimage; making our way resolutely along the pathway and clearing through the detritus. It’s going to take making up our minds to follow Jesus. And it’s going to take inviting others to join us along the way.
That’s why God continually pushes the edges of my comfort zone, and why God intends to push at the margins of yours. That’s why – by the grace of God – I am able to write difficult truth sometimes in the newspaper. That’s why I get up to speak in front of groups and retreats and churches and conferences. That’s why I take this message to civic clubs and schools and business luncheons – even when they thought they were only inviting me to speak about my column. That’s why I am writing this book.

- "The Unmaking of a part-time Christian", pp. 25-26

My new word - "META-NATURAL""

There is a lot that I love about the community of faith where I worship (click on the image at left for the church web-site). One of the most outstanding characteristics is the caring, permission-giving atmosphere, where intellectual honestly is valued and discussion is not closed off by the fear that our faith may not be robust enough or big enough to handle tough questions.

Consequently conversation in small groups, Bible-studies, and Sunday-school classes often leaves me mulling important ideas over, in my mind and heart, for days. This past weekend, for example, we discussed chapter ten from "The Unmaking of a Part-Time Christian". The chapter title is "A Collision of Worlds."

We talked at length about experiences that have served to blur the distinct lines we like to draw between concepts such as time and eternity, natural and supernatural, spiritual and mundane, heaven and earth, natural and miraculous...

It was this last couplet that commanded most of our attention. Traditionally, religion has ascribed the moniker "miracle" to anything not readily explainable in human terms. It's a definition that is necessarily fluid; things drop off the miracle list the moment they can be categorized scientifically. The problem with this way of thinking is the - understandable - logical conclusion that all we have to do is look long enough and we can explain away God with regard to absolutely everything.

That is not even close to being a satisfactory way of thinking, because the fundamental assumption is exclusionary to the point of being preemptive.

Instead, we talked about the miraculous way in which God works in and through God's people to make possible things that have been always been intended for this amazing and wonderful world, from the dawn of creation. Rather than supernatural, then, what we call miracles are more accurately metanatural.

By "metanatural" I mean more comprehensive; beyond what we can easily see as natural; transcending natural; at a higher state of development....

META-WORLDLY:
God created this world, and God labeled the work "good." This world was designed as the place where relationship between the created and the Creator would take place. Experiencing God, then, is a crucial element of that it means to live in the natural world. God is not otherworldly, God is metaworldly....

What I mean is that we do the work of creation a disservice when we relegate God to "outsider" status. And we do disservice to the intention of God's creative work when we conduct our lives in a manner that excludes the divine. A life lived in communion with God is the most natural thing in the world, when we consider that we are created both in the image of God and for relationship with God.

Good fodder for thought. Here - below my salutation - is a relevant passage from the book.
Grace and peace - DEREK

Non-sequitur:
What we’re talking about here is a kind of dissonance. It’s the
conflict between realities. We live in this temporal world, yet we are
eternal in our nature. We inhabit bodies that are fragile and
seriously flawed, yet we are also children of the Great King, and we
are invited to live kingdom lives of victory and great purpose.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,” Jesus said, “for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5: 3).
In the book of Ecclesiastes, The Teacher put it this way: “I have
seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful
in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they
cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end” (Ecclesiastes
3: 10-11).
Eternity set deep in hearts that live out physical lives in the here
and now. But eternity in a sense is the here and now; at least that’s
where time without end begins. The pilgrim must learn to tell time in
both realities. God’s time is at once both beautiful and challenging.
But it is not a distinction designed to grate; rather, it is a
perspective to be honed. “I have said this to you, so that in me you
may have peace. In the world you face persecution (trouble…
dissonance). But take courage; I have conquered (overcome) the world”
(John 16:33).

- The Unmaking of a Part-time Christian, p115