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Phx2Rio

29 Wednesday May 2013

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After 30+ years living in Arizona, half of those spent in Phoenix, I have decided to explore the world!

My journey to this moment of decision and action has paralleled my church’s journey towards challenging people to discover and live a Christ-centered life, becoming a Christ-centered people living God’s love in the heart of our city.  All my life I have wanted to explore the world but have been bound by fear and a sense of security in the familiar.  As we began to challenge our church family, God began to challenge and transform me.  Now I recognize that my security is in Christ no matter where I am.  So I am free to explore God’s creation and meet His people around the world!

My confidence to step out in faith on this journey is supported by my confidence in God’s provision for Phoenix, the city I love!  God is powerfully present here in Phoenix and He is doing a mighty work among His people.  I see churches, organizations, and people living God’s love across our city!  God’s calling of Jason Whalen to lead our church family in this vision to be a Christ-centered people living God’s love in the heart of our city only strengthens my confidence to follow God on this adventure.  Jason loves Phoenix and he will lead NPHX to love our city more and more deeply.

I have decided to launch a new blog called Phx2Rio to document my journey.  You are welcome to follow me there where I will share about my discoveries of God’s presence in other cities around the world.

I will conclude my service on staff at North Phoenix on July 31. I plan to move to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil shortly thereafter, the first stop among many I hope, in my global adventure.

No, love is your job *Remix*

06 Monday May 2013

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In November 2011 I wrote a reflection from the movie Hitch (read that post here).  This morning I was challenged by this idea of motivations again as I read Jane Williams’ Lectionary Reflections Year C, 7th Sunday of Easter.  The Scriptures for this 7th Sunday of Easter included Acts 16:16ff and the story of the demon-possessed, fortune-telling slave girl.  Here is a brief snippet from Williams’ reflections on this story:

But although she is acknowledging their connection with ‘the Most High God’, and their power to offer salvation, she herself is not converted, and her apparent confirmation of their task does not attract others. There is a kind of mechanical recognition of the presence of the divine, without any real willingness or ability to connect with it. This girl has been forced to use her instinct for the numinous as a commercial commodity and so, paradoxically, it has become utterly worthless.

Jane Williams, Lectionary Reflections: Year C (London: SPCK, 2003), 71.

I had never heard of the word “numinous” before so I turned to Merriam-Webster who revealed this definition, “numinous: filled with a sense of the presence of divinity : holy”

In that moment I sensed a warning: pastors/ministers/church leaders/
Kelly, do not turn your relationship with God into a product to be produced, marketed, and sold.

Yesterday my church’s new senior pastor, Jason Whalen, began a preaching series called “Passion 2013, First Things First.” That sermon will be posted online later this week here.  And the very first thing that should be first is to worship and glorify God.

Message received. Warning heeded. Lesson recalled. Life changing.

“The Power of Being There”

31 Thursday Jan 2013

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Megan Garber, a staff writer at The Atlantic, comments about Hillary Clinton’s records-breaking traveling as Secretary of State, saying:

Clinton’s time at State will be remembered for many reasons, but one of them is this: The secretary, despite all the telecommuting options available to her, reinforced the power of being there – in a place, in a context, in a moment.

- Hilary Clinton Traveled 956,733 Miles During Her Time as Secretary of State

Over the past few years I’ve had to remind myself that Clinton was functioning in an official state capacity on these international trips.  With all her traveling she seemed more like a celebrity than a government official.  Even as I read Garber’s article detailing the 1 year of travel-time that Clinton logged over the past 4 years I found myself negatively critical.

‘What a waste of time,’ I thought, ‘and money!’  But then Garber draws the conclusion about the philosophy this investment demonstrates.  She concludes, “that travel is its own kind of diplomacy, that boots-on-the-ground strategy still matters, that human connection is often the best kind of connection there is.”

With that I was stopped in my judgmental tracks, convicted. It’s this same philosophy that motivates my everyday interactions.  Sometimes I feel guilty driving from one appointment to the next but this has reminded me of the immense value of that travel time which allows me to be present.

It’s a values choice and my faith leads me to choose presence. God demonstrated this when He chose to leave heaven and walk among us. I’m grateful for this random reminder of God’s great gift of the incarnation of Jesus Christ and the Presence of Holy Spirit with us.

Where do you need to be present today?

Advent, a time to sit still!

04 Tuesday Dec 2012

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This week I came across a suggestion that advent is a time to sit still and look for signs of the coming of God. Immediately I grimaced at the thought, for one thing I despise end-times discussions. It probably stems from growing up in the height of the Left Behind mania. And for another thing, it’s scary! Jane Williams in her Lectionary Reflections Year B hits it on the head for me:

“Advent is a time to start preparing to meet God, and most of the preparatory readings suggest that this is, at best, a sobering prospect and, at worst, a positively terrifying one. So it is terribly tempting to feel that we ought to be very busy, so that God will notice and be pleased.”

Sobering, yes. Terrifying, yes. Busily working to please God, yes.  When I think of preparing to meet God I think of the Parable of the Talents (Mt. 25) or the Parable of the Ten Minas (Lk. 19), where Jesus gives the ultimate praise, “Well done my good and faithful servant” and I feel compelled to think I somehow need to earn it.

So I closed Williams’ book and decided I’d think about that later. Later I did, but unexpectedly as I was reading another book. In Jesus, A Theography, Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola point out that when God communicates His approval of Jesus at His baptism, it is before Jesus has begun His ministry, before He “got to work,” as I would say.

and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” (Matthew 3:17 NASB)

Sweet and Viola conclude then,

“There is a message here for every adopted child of God. God’s pleasure is not based on what you do for Him. It’s based on whether you are His child. If you are in Christ, you are a child of God, and He accepts you because you are in Christ. Because the Father is pleased with His Son, He is also pleased with you.”

(Sweet, Leonard; Viola, Frank (2012-10-02). Jesus: A Theography (Kindle Locations 2702-2704). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.)

So, Williams’ conclusion about advent as a time to sit still seems apt, “So Advent is like a period of forced inactivity, where you have no choice but to sit still and look, learning to see the world as it actually is, full of signs, joyful or terrifying, of the coming of God.”

Even this morning before I more intentionally resumed this line of thought prompted by yesterday’s Lectionary reading, I read a quote from John Charles Ryle (1816—1900) referenced in The New City Catechism, “We have all talents in God’s sight…. Anything whereby we may glorify God is a talent…All that we have is a loan from God. We are God’s stewards. We are God’s debtors. Let this thought sink deeply into our hearts.”

As you might see from the random connections above, I tried and failed to avoid this idea of advent as a period of forced inactivity. So what would happen if I didn’t schedule every minute of this next month full of activity? Or even more, what if I intentionally scheduled some times to sit still and look for the signs of the coming of God, to prepare to meet God?

Sobering? Yes. Terrifying? Yes. Busily working to please God? No!

Resting in my identity as God’s child, just as Jesus was forced to rest as a helpless baby whose birth we celebrate on Christmas.  Merry Christmas!

Warning: Don’t Miss WeServe

23 Tuesday Oct 2012

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I awoke on Sunday morning at 5:50 am with complete conviction that it was Monday morning and I was not prepared for the first of the WeServe projects. Rushing to make some calls I glanced at a calendar and saw the date, slowly comprehending that it was only Sunday. I turned off the light and went back to sleep determined to restart the day on a better foot.

As the adrenaline slowly subsided I realized there was a warning in that false start on Sunday morning – Don’t miss WeServe.

There was good reason for me to think I was missing it, because I had spent the day before wishing WeServe was over. There are so many details to coordinate, so many moving parts that everything could easily come falling apart at any moment over the next two weeks and I was stressed. I just wanted to be on the other side of it looking back.

Sunday morning I decided to heed the warning – Don’t miss WeServe. I resolved to be present throughout WeServe – to be with the people I am with for the time I am with them. That’s what WeServe is all about anyway – it’s the people, not the details. It’s the relationships not the tasks. Yes, I’m still working on the details, still working on the tasks but I’m not just going through the motions.

As I worshipped with my church family on Sunday morning I sought to center my attention on God and His great love. I wanted God’s love to overflow into my relations throughout WeServe.

This morning (Tuesday) with project #2 of WeServe I was filled to overflowing with God’s love. Before I could continue with this week I had to share. I have to brag.

“But if people want to brag, let them brag that they understand and know me. Let them brag that I am the Lord, and that I am kind and fair, and that I do things that are right on earth. This kind of bragging pleases me,” says the Lord.” (Jeremiah 9:24 New Century Version)

That is exactly what I experienced this morning at Central High School. God is Lord, and He cares about people and does what is right. It is our great privilege when God allows us to be part of His kindness towards our neighbors. There is deep pain and massive need in our city and God is here bringing joy and peace, healing and provision. I saw it first-hand this morning. I got to praise God for healing and beg God for peace.

This is our privilege. This is WeServe. Don’t miss it.

In a ditch

25 Tuesday Sep 2012

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As I’ve been discussing in the last few posts, the parable of the Good Samaritan points us to recognize our inability to achieve eternal life through our own efforts. Eternal life, Jesus tells us, is found in loving God and loving our neighbors. But, as the Pharisee correctly observes, we all fall short of loving our neighbors unless there is a loop hole. The story shows us, however, that there is not a loop hole but rather a substitution. God sent Jesus to suffer, die, rise again, and to return to redeem and restore us.

This has caused me to consider another aspect of the story which I have never before considered: the man in the ditch. Sure, I’ve considered him generally as a “neighbor”, he is my neighbor, someone to whom I am to prove God’s love and mercy. But, through this changed perspective about my insufficiency and God’s provision through Jesus I have come to the conclusion that…

I am that man.

I find myself today lying in a ditch, bruised, bleeding, longing for death to end my suffering. I am not an innocent man who was simply attacked by robbers, my sin led me to the path where I encountered these attackers. Nevertheless I am there, in a ditch.

But Jesus is walking down that path, looking for me. He picks me up, stops the bleeding and takes me to a place of refuge. At the inn I find myself in the tender care of Holy Spirit and the family of believers called the Church.

Here I lie, being nursed to health and comforting others who also found themselves on this dangerous path and under attack.

Today may we rest in the sufficiency of Jesus’ rescue, redemption, and restoration.

To inherit eternal life: correction

21 Friday Sep 2012

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I have been in a lot of conversations recently about “what is the gospel.” In my post yesterday about being a neighbor I mentioned that the story of the Good Samaritan began with the question, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 10:25) Is this, perhaps, the definition of the Gospel, “inheriting eternal life?” Jesus’ response, I believe, sheds light on the answer, that no, this is not the Gospel, at least not the fullness of the Gospel.
First of all, the “correct” answer to inheriting eternal life is to love God and love others. From my perspective that sounds an awful lot like I have to earn it. But, like the man asking the question, I know myself well enough to know I can not succeed in loving my neighbor as myself unless I can find a loop hole. So the man, like I would, looks for a loop hole – who is my neighbor?
Here is where I believe we learn about what is the Gospel. Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan.
This story is a beautiful picture of God’s great love for us. It tells, ever so simply, the full story of our faith: The man who falls into the hands of robbers represents God’s good creation which has experienced the effect of sin. The two priests who walk by represent how God had chosen Israel to be a blessing to the nations but they chose other priorities, other gods. The Samaritan represents God sending Jesus, one who was despised, to love the man, to show him mercy, to be fully present with him, to heal him, and ultimately restore him to fullness. The innkeeper in the story represents us, followers of Jesus commissioned to go and do likewise, promising His eventual return.

Correction: I have come to see a major error in this explanation of this story, particularly about the innkeeper and the man who fell into the hands of the robber. I now see that we are the man who fell into the hands of the robber. And the Innkeeper, well, that role is better ascribed to God through Holy Spirit. I believe we play a part in offering healing to our neighbors, but it is simply an extension of the mercy we have received as fellow sufferers. See my post, “In a Ditch” for more on this conversation.

The conclusion of the story gives evidence to the fact that the original question,”what must I do to inherit eternal life” is short-sighted. There is life to be lived now, in the presence of God as well as the promise of eternal life with God. Jesus’ story offers that fullness of life, both now and eternally. Jesus asks, “which man proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”. The man answered, “the one who had mercy on him.” And Jesus replied,”go and do likewise.”

This is the Gospel. Jesus proved to be a neighbor to us! Now, go and do likewise!

Being a neighbor

20 Thursday Sep 2012

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In Luke 10 where Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan it is in response to the initial question, what must I do to inherit eternal life.
Jesus says the correct answer is given:
““ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “
(http://ref.ly/Lk10.27 via the Logos iPad Bible app. http://www.logos.com/mobile)

But when justification is sought about loving your neighbor, Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan and asks, which one of these proved to be a neighbor to the man? (see yesterday’s post)
The question remains then, how do you prove to be a neighbor?

I find it interesting that Jesus neither titled the story “The Good Samaritan” nor asked which one was a “good” neighbor. Over the years we have added that qualifier to the story and to the Samaritan. Jesus simply asked which one proved to be a neighbor.

In the response to that question we learn a little bit about how to prove to be a neighbor, by showing mercy. (Luke 10:36-37)

But being a neighbor has more humble beginnings than showing mercy. Being a neighbor requires presence. The dictionary defines neighbor as a person who is near another person. I I believe this story that Jesus tells illustrates the importance of being fully present with those around you.
Jesus’ own incarnation further illustrates the importance of presence. He was born, Immanuel, which means God with us. (Matthew 1:23) Not only did God see presence as of utmost importance enough to send His Son to live as a human among us, but then God saw fit to take the resurrected Jesus away from us to send Holy Spirit to be with us. God with us becomes God within us through the indwelling of Holy Spirit. This is the Gospel, where true eternal life is discovered!

Back to the original question, how do you prove to be a neighbor? By walking as Jesus walked, living as Jesus lived.

“Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.”

1 John 2:6 (http://ref.ly/1J2.6 via the Logos iPad Bible app. http://www.logos.com/mobile)

Being a neighbor is taking seriously the presence of God in us and loving others enough to get involved and show them God’s loving mercy.

Who is my neighbor?

18 Tuesday Sep 2012

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The Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37) is a very popular story. Here in Phoenix we have both a “Good Samaritan” law about helping people in need and a “Good Samaritan” hospital that takes care of people in medical need.
The story comes as a response to the question, “Who is my neighbor?” (verse 29). Jesus, being God and knowing all things, even being human and knowing human nature, saw through the question that the man was actually trying to justify his behavior to receive approval as having obeyed the great commandment to love God and love your neighbor as yourself. (verses 25-29). So, Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan. And, well, you know the answer to the question, who is my neighbor…people in need…the hurt, hungry, homeless, helpless, the marginalized, my enemies.
BUT WAIT! That is not exactly how the story goes!

See, Jesus changes the question. Instead of telling the man that everyone is his neighbor, including his enemies the Samaritans, Jesus turns the question around back to the man and asks, “which of these three men proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robber?”

Who proved to be a neighbor?

The question about loving God and loving our neighbors is not about defining the people we are supposed to love (though we do also learn about that from this story). The question about loving God and loving our neighbors is about defining ourselves as someone who loves enough to get involved and prove God’s love!

Who proved to be a neighbor in Phoenix this week? Who proved to be a neighbor in your office complex or at your school or in your house this week?

Can it be said of you that you proved to be a neighbor today?

God loves the world, let’s prove it!

Beginning

15 Tuesday May 2012

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I have a bad habit of mentally running through all the steps to and potential outcomes of a scenario and then psyching myself out of even beginning.

On Saturday, I went to the Malakowsky’s Apprenticeship to Jesus gathering where they described their journey to loving their neighbors.  Their story stopped me in my tracks (that well-worn track I just mentioned) in my own journey with loving my neighbors.  Though the Malakowsky’s didn’t have it all planned out from the start five years ago, when they moved into Brentwood Neighborhood, they kept talking to God about their neighborhood and their presence therein.

I heard it loud and clear, my beginning: I could pray. I could simply begin to prayer walk my apartment complex, my neighborhood.  I’ve done it before. I do it when I run through my neighborhood or walk back home on my cool-down.  But that was my agenda, my workout.  This was different, a beginning of being fully present in my neighborhood.  Sunday night I walked. And I simply repeated the reminder to myself “Just be here in God’s presence.”  I didn’t say anything else.  And when my mind started to wander I repeated that reminder:

Just be here in God’s presence.

It’s a beginning. Sometimes that’s all it takes.  What’s paralyzing you from taking that first step in being present with your neighbors?  Don’t over think it. Just begin. Trust the next steps and the results to God. I’m going to keep prayer walking in my neighborhood, being present and listening for the next step.

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