Cutting edge content - every day - fresh out of the oven!

This "post five times a week" exercise is an interesting phenomenon. It helps keep my writing "edge" fairly sharp, and I like the way I have to "scramble in the pocket" sometimes, forced to improvise because my self-imposed deadline is pretty-much 10:00 at the latest - and then move on to actual paid work!

I'm enjoying my recent penchant for responding to current news topics - just so long as it all fits within the general theme of "A Life Examined." Back when I wrote a weekly Op-Ed for the Tampa Tribune I always wished I had the opportunity to publish three-four columns a week, so my writing could be more cogent. This blog is my opportunity to do just that (I just wish some guy in a van would still throw my work on 300,000 driveways).

Once again - and this has happened quite often in the past two weeks - I am astounded at the positive response yesterday's post generated. Here's the link if you missed it "When is a preacher a nincompoop?" One friend who edits a Texas weekly said she would have run it as commentary... but now they're working on the Sept 17 issue and it will - hopefully - be a moot issue by then. Again, the idea of timeliness and the value of posting fresh content every day.

This is why I always begin every morning with scripture. "But wait!" you may exclaim... "The latest thing "posted" in the Bible was written almost two-thousand years ago. How can you still say that's cutting edge?"

Good question, my friend. Fact is, the texts of the Old and the New Testaments still speak to me with relevance, freshness, wisdom, insight, authority - and so much more. It's a fact that boggles my mind on a daily basis. Scripture speaks with a sense of timelessness that reveals something about the transcendent character of God's nature. When Jesus said, for instance, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled..." he was speaking directly into my experience this morning. No gap, no distance, no separation....

Truth, the evidence suggests, has a quality that resists weathering. Truth stands apart from the vicissitudes of culture and fashion and the political wind... Truth even stands apart from the more temporal structures of religion. This is why it is so critically important that we remember to worship God, to follow Jesus, rather than become infatuated with what the Apostle Paul dismissed as "The winds of doctrine..."

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching (doctrine) and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (Ephesians 4)

Growing up into Christ!

If this daily "column" inspires, encourages or facilitates such a pathway in anyone at all, then that's better than great. Primarily, though, this discipline is a huge part of my personal journey, and my readers simply get to listen in....

Peace - DEREK

When is a preacher a "nincompoop"? When he burns the Koran....

Disclaimer - I understand the problems with name-calling, but I looked up the literal meaning of the following words, and I'm using them with deliberate care in the opening couple of paragraphs of today's post:

• sad: "deplorably bad; sorry; pathetic."
• idiotic: "senselessly foolish or stupid."
• indecency: "offense against accepted standards of propriety, or good taste."
• consummate: "being of the highest and most extreme degree."
• pathetic: "miserably or contemptibly inadequate".
• nincompoop: "non compos mentis"; "insane, mentally incompetent;" "a fool or a simpleton."
• aberration: "deviation from truth or moral rectitude."

I had fully intended to ignore plans for the upcoming "mass Koran burning" September 11. The stunt, an act of deliberate indecency, has been dreamed up by a sad and blatantly idiotic pastor and his consummately nincompoopish followers in Gainseville, Florida.

I didn't want to give any extra publicity to such a pathetic aberration.

However, it has come to my attention that some people actually read this blog, and that I might have a modicum of influence in the world of faith-based thinking. In fact, if I am to achieve anything of long-term consequence in my writing, then I want it to be in the realm of facilitating a reconstructive conversation regarding what it means to be a Christian in this Twenty-first Century.

I am increasingly convinced that some of the loudest religious voices in this culture are not faith-based at all. They are so far off base as to be:

• Ungrounded in credibility
• Unanchored in scripture
• Unrelated to the mission of The Church
• Unconscionable in terms of foundational moral thinking
• Unreliable vis-a-vis the eternal purposes of God
• Indefensible when it comes to our responsibility to follow Jesus, honor the Prince of Peace, love one another ("so people will know you are my disciples"), and live according to the light.

I've said a mouthful, and I could very well be exposed as a hypocrite. Well, let me beat you to the punch! I am a hypocrite. But I believe I'm an honest hypocrite, and one who is committed - day by day - to making progress.

REGARDLESS, I feel that it is critically important that the world understands what it means to follow Jesus. I've said this before, but it bears repeating: I can't sit on my hands anymore when it comes to this Gospel!

Here is what the Gospel means to me: Jesus has extended an invitation for me - in a sense - to move back into the Garden vacated by Adam and Eve so long ago. Because of Jesus, I am free to engage in and to enjoy an ongoing relationship with God - it's exactly what humankind was created for. My life is qualitatively different because I continue to choose, daily, to follow Jesus.

The way that I relate to other people is profoundly affected by my moment-by-moment walk with Christ, as is the manner in which I go about my work, how I order my life, my values and priorities. My "salvation" isn't "pie in the sky when I die", it's the opportunity I have - right now and for eternity - to participate in the ongoing work of God.

And so I am deeply disturbed when - once again - the loudest "testimony" about faith in Christ, plastered all over the news from coast to coast and around this confused, broken world, is a message of extremism, deception and hate.

This pastor is not only turning countless people away from truth, but he is setting up scores of innocent people to be victims of acts of violence all around the world. Acts of violence that are the spawn of this cycle of ignorance and hatred.

That's why I can't sit on my hands anymore when it comes to telling the story of Jesus! It's the Greatest Story Ever Told! It's Good News for the entire planet! It's the only story with the power to heal! It's the answer to this world's deepest need!

Grace and Peace - because we sure need them - DEREK

Its not the divorce industry that needs additional creativity...

It's been a while since I posted a photo for the "Gourmet Initiative" files. But yesterday I made this exceptional Pasta Primavera, with grilled chicken, and the dish was begging for some face-time on my blog!

Any time - at least this is my theory - the cooking involves garlic, asparagus, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes and two varieties of mushroom that I can't even pronounce, the result is pretty-much guaranteed awesome. I won't detail the process, because the ingredients list is very, very long. But the result, served with an Italian Chianti, was more than satisfactory.

Well worth the effort:

I wasn't even thinking about yesterday's meal this morning, until Rebekah and I ran across a pathetic news segment just a few minutes ago. The story featured a "Divorce Ceremony." The couple gathered with friends, smashed their rings with a wooden mallet, then sat back-to-back at separate tables during the reception.

"It's like a wedding ceremony," the reporter said, "only with a different outcome."

"I feel free," the (former) groom said. "After I smashed the ring I feel free."

The party favors, the story concluded, are chopsticks. "Because they are easily pulled apart."

I can't help but wonder if this marriage had any ongoing commitment to being a gourmet relationship? Or had the union been too much trouble from the outset to take that seriously?

• People who chose a diet of fast-food, soda, sugar fixes, snack-food, heavy desserts and junk-food become overweight, undernourished and generally unhealthy.
• Likewise, a marriage unwilling to invest the time and the creativity to cultivate a balanced, healthy relationship lifestyle is likely to end up in the emergency room or the morgue.

The idea I've been floating - An ongoing "Gourmet Initiative" - is designed to target every aspect of our lives. Spiritual, physical, mental health, our relationships, work, recreation... you name it.

The principles of:

• The best possible ingredients
• Care in preparation
• A commitment to excellence
• Balance
• Flavor
• Nutrition
• Presentation
• Serving (with delight)
• Celebration
• Giving thanks...

These all may have their genesis in the idea of gourmet cooking - but they (and we have discussed this already) apply to our lives of faith and - by natural extension - to our relationships too.

Rebekah and I have been married, with varying degrees of, but steadily increasing, happiness for over thirty-one years because we are always learning, always tweaking the ingredients, always faithful to our promises, always committed to adding flavor, always serving one-another, always celebrating, always giving thanks.

Conclusion:

It's not the divorce industry that needs additional creativity and an influx of ideas... It's the marriage part of the equation. If only we could encourage more gourmet marriages, more initiatives of faithfulness and more self-giving service.

Faithfully - DEREK

A Shadow and a copy of what is...

They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: "See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain." - Hebrews 8

Warning, what you are about to read is - in all probability - not bona fide biblical scholarship! (I like to throw in the disclaimer once in a while, lest anyone confuse my thoughts with the writings of actual "Greek and Hebrew-reading, seminary-trained, ordained-and-authorized" clergy.)

My approach is much simpler. I wake up; I read the scripture; I ask God to speak to me and through me; I walk the dog; I apply 54 years of listening, and studying, and conversation, and learning, and walking with God; I pray again; I drink another cup of coffee for good measure; and then I write.

Okay... that said, I couldn't help but think about the eleven days Rebekah and I just spent up in the mountains. God showed us a lot while we were there, and I can feel the Spirit urging us to "see to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain."

Now we are - coincidentally - embarking on a building campaign as a church. But, I hear these words more in the context of the life I am building. It's always a journey, always forward movement, always a work in progress.

I'm actually more intrigued by the phrase "a copy and a shadow of what is in heaven."

There's a sense in which the enhanced - heightened - life Christ leads us into is a faint echo of the deeper and more penetrating truth that is heaven.

Let me try to explain my thinking. Back in the 60's I had one of those tiny transistor radios. It barely picked up anything with any clarity. My favorite music station was a "pirate", Radio Luxembourg. It broadcast from (I think) a ship out in the North Sea. My signal was close to non-existent, and all I could hear was static, interspersed with vague phrases of music, along with a hint of the occasional series of words.

Hold that image. Now imagine sitting in an armchair, on the stage, at a live Beatles concert. John Lennon smiles at you as he strums his guitar; Paul McCartney stands two feet away, and you can see his hands form the shapes of chords on the fret-board; George Harrison lays out a line of pure blues-edged rock; Ringo Starr actually taps the back of your chair as part of his drum work.

They sing "Let it be" in perfect pitch and you do just that. You let the sound wash over you. You feel the music.

Remember the transistor radio with the poor signal from a distant broadcast? Well, that, compared to the sitting on the stage with J, P, G & R, would be just "a copy and a shadow".

But here's the twist. Let's make another shift: now think of that live music experience (The Beatles on stage) as merely "a copy and a shadow" of the beauty and the richness and the truth of the music we will experience in eternity. The distance from the live show to the reality of heaven is another exponential leap that we can't begin to understand.

I am patterning my walk of faith, right now, on what I have been shown on the mountain. The richness and the beauty of my life as a Jesus-follower makes the memory of my experience without faith feel like a copy and a shadow of where I am now.

But this is still a copy and a shadow of what is to come! As the hymn-writer said, "a foretaste of glory". There's another hymn I remember that we used to sing when I was a child:

"I thank thee, Lord, that thou hast kept the best in store... We have enough, yet not too much to long for more... The yearning for a deeper peace not known before."

It's a journey. I am a pilgrim. But I believe I am making progress....

Bohemian Rhapsody and more

Yesterday Rebekah and I completed the (thought-provoking) preacher-conference in Montreat We wrapped up, shared communion with the other participants, then headed south for the 680 mile trek back home. It was the opening to Labor Day weekend, so we shared the road with possibly every driver in America. Consequently we arrived home a few minutes before 1:00 AM this morning, more than ready to tumble into our nice, comfortable bed.

Much of the trip home involved de-briefing, often to the tune of "Road-Trip Rock-'n-Roll". I think the best segment of ear-blistering music was around ninety miles of "Queen's Greatest hits." long stretches of South Georgia go by so much more easily with the help of "Bohemian Rhapsody" at full volume through Rebekah's premium "Monsoon" sound system. As we were crossing into Florida we were both singing our hearts out to "We will, we will rock you," and then "We are the Champions, my friend..."

We really did feel like champions. But it wasn't so much to do with the rock stylings of Freddie Mercury and friends as it was the more exhilarating understanding that we are participants in a life-long journey of faith that is actively resourced by none other than the source of all light and life, the author of creation and the ground of all being.

It wasn't one of those "feel-good" conferences. Our daily discussions were more along the lines of

• "Where is God challenging us?"
• "What are we doing here in Brandon?"
• "How does God want us to push the envelope?"
• "Do we even want to push the envelope?"
• "How can we better understand the direction God has for our lives?"
• "Do we even want to deal with the kind of challenges God is throwing down?"
• "Where exactly do we fit in?"

And more - always more.

So I'll leave today's post at that. I have a mountain of work to get my arms around, and I've probably seeded enough to get any readers thinking. At least I hope so.

Peace - DEREK

(Not sure where this bridge is going - but we're certainly on it together!)

Our Turn...

This photograph demonstrates the quality of irreproachable dignity and decorum that has been expected of every "minister's spouse" for decades. We are proud to represent such advanced social graces for the Presbyterian Church. Would you like some tea? (Our instructors couldn't quite pull off the "make a face" instruction!)

I enjoyed a positive experience this morning at the Montreat Conference Rebekah and I are attending. There are three groups meeting (I'm in the clergy spouse portion), but we all meet together for worship every morning.

Today my group took responsibility. Essentially, we kept to the simple format of:

• calling together
• being clear about our need to be in the presence of God
• singing songs of praise
• reading from scripture
• prayer
• and an invitation to celebrate our faith with promise and purpose as we go out into the world.

Instead of a "sermon", several from our group read a passage of scripture, each offering just a few well-crafted sentences of introduction. The Word is powerful and compelling; it had a cumulative effect that was (and always is) uniquely moving.

Then I read a short passage from "The Unmaking of a Part-Time Christian" that told a little of my story with Rebekah as a "preacher's husband." The excerpt touched on the opportunity we have had to avoid the pitfalls of an expectation defined via restrictive stereotype.

God has so much more imagination and creativity than the limitations that are imposed by ideas such as prejudice, gender specific social norms, and "the way things are..."

So I was - as always - enthusiastic and positive about our life as "custodians of faith" in the context of the local Presbyterian Church. It's also been impossible to miss the fact that Rebekah is having a measurable impact on the folk in her study group - and we never engage in conversation at table, or around the coffee, or in the lobby during breaks, without communicating some of the passion and the vitality that we KNOW Jesus intends to introduce to every gathering in his name....

I didn't order any books to bring with me this week, I just had a handful in the back of the car. They sold out quickly nonetheless. I'm always surprised at how God uses even these unintended opportunities to move things forward, and to encourage both of us in significant ways.

Do I feed, or do I continue the dance?

Good morning! Because of the unprecedented response to yesterday's post, I'm going to start by encouraging you to go back and read "Messy - Impractical - Loved" if you missed the story previously.

This morning is the most beautiful Black Mountain First day in September. Cool temperatures, clear skies, generous light. I have spent the past hour sitting, patiently, on the front porch with my camera, waiting for a repeat performance by the hummingbirds who entertained so generously during breakfast.

Every movement of my camera, however, startles the birds and they zoom off to circle the neighborhood frenetically, eying me with suspicion before initiating a new landing pattern only to abort at the last possible moment.

Eventually - about 15 minutes ago - my patience paid off, and I was able to snap a few close-ups. But I like the above image best; wings in motion, poised just so, the moment of decision still in balance: "Do I feed, or do I continue the dance?"

It's a good question.

Sometimes the dance is enough. Sometimes the periphery is the appropriate place to be. Sometimes all we have in us is the ability to circle, curious, watching and waiting.

But eventually we must take in nourishment. Or we begin to lose the strength even to seek. So we take a deep breath, we approach the source of all life, and we drink the sweet refreshing nectar...

Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4:13-14)