Jesse A. Schroeder: November 2009

Sunday, November 29, 2009

A year of tweets...

Here is my "tweet cloud" from the past year. Most tweeted words:
"morning, time, yeah"

http://tweetcloud.icodeforlove.com/jaschroeder/143188

I love the season of advent, and there are certain things that make it "feel" more like Christmas. Certainly lights and Christmas music help. So I was excited that the weather was nice enough today to get the outdoor lights hung quickly.

I also love advent calendars and advent wreaths. To me, they really help to build the expectation for the coming of Christmas. Counting down the days, seeing the candles slowly burn lower throughout the month - these are all small things that I love about advent.

Here are a few pictures: one of our outdoor lights, and one of my homemade advent wreath.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Enjoying this new Dashboard Song...

Get Me Right - Dashboard Confessional

I made my slow way home
Limping on broken bones
Out of the thickest pine
Across the county lines
On to your wooden stairs
I know you can repair
I know you've seen the light
I know you'll get me right

Right
Right
Right

I own a sinners heart
I know the rain falls hard
I know the currency
I know the things you'll need
I hope he hears my prayers
I see you cut your hair
I know the saving type
I know you'll get me right

Right
Right
Right

But, Jesus I've fallen
I don't mind the rain if
I meet my maker
I'll meet my maker clean

But, Jesus the truth is
I've struggled so hard to believe
I'll meet my maker
I'll need my maker

To cure of my doubting blood
And drain me of the sins I love
And take from me my disbelief
I know it should come easily
But it remains inside of me
It battles and devours me
It cuddles up the side of me
And whispers it convinces me I'm

Sunday, November 22, 2009

House Churches: Something to Consider

The duly-respected and much-venerated, not to mention well-traveled and extremely-attractive Tall Skinny Kiwi has a couple of short posts trying to show that house churches are alive, well, and growing across the Christian West.

The first simply states that we should not ignore house churches, because there are tens of thousands across Europe and Australia. In addition, somewhere between 6 and 12 million people in America attend house churches.

The second offers six different types of house churches, per Wolfgang Simpson.

A couple of quick thoughts: 1) It's cool to see that Xianity in the "West" isn't totally dying, but is just growing in uncharted and unusual ways. IMO, house churches are really interesting and exciting.

2) I have been a part of a small group that now has a bit of a track record (more than 2 years for the Emergent Cohort now!!). I wonder if I should consider myself part of a "house church"?? Would I be in the first category, that of an "off the grid," the "God-yes-church-no" crowd?

Regardless, it is tough to answer the question people often ask when they find out I am a Christian: "Where do you go to church?" Well, I go all sorts of different places: coffee shops, parks, friends' homes, sometimes my own kitchen.

In all honestly, I sometimes wish for an easier answer that will "count" for my due responsibility of church attendance. I usually end up responding with something like, "Some friends and I kinda hang out and talk about God and stuff." Then I can see it in the face of the person to whom I am talking, "That's not really church."

But maybe it is? Or should be?

Awesome Music&Video...

...from the Decemberists - a full-length album video, called "Here Comes the Waves: The Hazards of Love Visualized." Due out Dec. 1

The trailer:

Thursday, November 19, 2009

What's your reaction....

....to this local church sign?? (Less than a mile from my house).

Are People a Renewable Resource?

People are the core resource in any effective ministry. Committed and caring individuals accomplish the daily tasks, dream the big dreams, make the phone calls and write the thank you cards, and have the meaningful conversations that help realize the dreams of ministries across the world.

But do Christians view people in ministry as a renewable resource? Or does ministry require so much from Christians that the energy and resources of people are burned up, expended, and eventually un-renewable?

A quick theory on Christian productivity:

Christians believe they should be working harder than the "average" person, so their level of work and productivity is always at about 110%. Therefore, "above average" is the new expectation for all Christians in ministry. You are expected to sacrifice, to give when it hurts, to be a servant. Subsequently, the Christian who wants to go "above and beyond" is going to give even more than 110%, somewhere around 120%-130% of their energies (obviously these percentages are just for the sake of example, and not meant to be literal).

What is the result? An unsustainable draining of the most valuable resource in ministry - the people themselves. The people get burned out; are sucked dry; are tired and wasted - like a mountain being strip mined or a forest being thrashed and burned. The ministry goals have a higher value than the people themselves.

This has often been my experience with ministry in the church and within professional ministry jobs, such as Christian education or pastoring. Burnout is common. Christian volunteers suffer from stress headaches, feelings of being inadequate, and never quite think the job is done. Their resources are being sucked dry and will never be renewed.

Shouldn't we consider people the most valuable, sustainable resource we have? Shouldn't we be keeping ourselves in check, making sure that we are renewing our spirits and our bodies however necessary so that we can continue to give back to the ministries we believe in?

"What good is it if a man gains the whole world, but loses his soul?"

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Seeing Dead People

I've had a few interesting conversations with coworkers lately about dreams, specifically seeing dead people in dreams. For example, a relative who has recently died or is in the process of dying, may visit a person in a dream and gives a very specific message, such as "don't be afraid," or "I love you and forgive you."

Stories like this are very common, and many of us may have experienced something similar. Personally, I don't think I have ever seen a dead person in my dreams. But the people who have experienced this describe it as more than a dream, as being very realistic, and the correlation with real life events is significant enough to solicit serious reflection.

I have studied angels and demons in the Bible fairly extensively, and I am convinced that according to the Christian tradition, human beings do not become angels (or demons) when we die. Angels are essentially different beings from humans, and there is no "cross-over." Neither do we have unlimited power to do as we please, passing through universes at will (see Seinfeld clip below, start around 0:50).

But what about messages from the dead? The rich man wants Lazarus to come back from heaven to warn his family (but this is a parable from Jesus). On the mount of transfiguration Jesus is joined by Moses and Elijah, but they only talk to Jesus and not to the disciples (it seems). There are ambiguous references to "seers" throughout the Bible, but I don't know if this means living people who could speak to dead people, or if they were future-tellers, or something else.

There are many questions: Where do we go when we die? " Christians believe in some sort of eternal life. But what about in the meantime? Are there ghosts? Do dead people visit living people? If Jesus physically arose from the dead, where is he now?

Can our experiences of seeing dead people be explained by other means? I think there are at least two possibilities: 1) Self-hallucinations, or just simply dreams that don't have any correspondence with "reality" (spiritual or physical). 2) Other spiritual "impersonating" humans (angels in human form, demons in human form).

What do you think? Have you seen dead people, ghosts, demons, angels or otherwise? Do you know of more biblical evidence about this issue? I think it's a pretty interesting topic.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Challenged by Ideologies

I've heard a lot lately about Sarah Palin and her new book. I've heard that she was on Oprah, that her book has many factual discrepancies, and that she was promised $5 million for the book, which is mostly a slamming of the McCain campaign which was largely responsible for propelling her to a place of national recognition.

All this new about Palin really pisses me off. It really scares me to hear people say things like, "She is thinking about 2012." I start to wonder how a world could possibly allow someone like her to exist and how people could be so blind to her tricks and lies.

And then I remember that a lot of people feel the same way about Barack Obama, someone that I greatly respect and look to as a hero. Even though Obama is a role model for me, many people wonder how in the world he was elected, why he was given the Nobel Peace Prize, and how so many in America could blindly follow his rhetoric and politics without questioning the implications for our lives.

These two people - Obama and Palin - represent in many ways two opposite poles in American politics and worldview right now. Perhaps "ideology" is too strong a word, but perhaps not. An ideology is often deeply set into a person's psyche, and they look for evidences that affirm their ideology, willingly ignoring evidence that contradicts.

Is this how I approach Obama and Palin? Is my mind already made up? I got Obama's book from the library and gave it my best attempt at a read (I can't make it very far into political books). Should I do the same for Palin's book? Trying to read it with an open mind and willingness to change?

If nothing else, I want to be aware of my harsh attitudes, my fears, my inconsistencies, and do my best to be charitable and loving towards a different ideology than my own. Because another part of ideologies is that the people who hold them are genuinely trying their best to do what they can to make the world a better place. Even if we disagree on what that "better world" might look like, we can at least join hands in the effort.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Definitions....

Here is an interesting post that discusses evangelicalism's obsessions with defining who is "in" and "out." I thought there were some interesting points as I consider myself one who as "come out of" evangelicalism, and also now struggle with how exactly to answer people who ask me where I go to church, or if I am a Christian.

A long quote:

It is astonishing that so many intelligent Christians seem to believe there is a deficit in emphasis on evangelism and scriptural literalism, and that, if the hatches are just battened down on a more solid “worldview,” evangelicalism can resume explaining the universe to new generations of believers. In this respect, evangelicalism’s true believers resemble the faction of the Republican Party that asserts with a straight face that returning to “core principles,” and not a radical restructuring of priorities, will bring waves of Americans back to the right wing.

But so many twenty-somethings are not calling themselves “post-evangelical” because they know too little theology or have put too small an effort into synthesizing it with reality. They have come from the most apologetics-obsessed generation of Christians in American history, and have realized that many of their prepared answers are for questions that no one is asking. Adrift in the cultural sea, many turned to traditions and theological systems of the past, only to find those similarly unequipped to address the questions of our time. The only choice has been to begin the messy and at times overwhelming process of drafting something new.

The growing collection of post-evangelicals is what the defensive, definitional evangelical fears the most, and could by itself explain the recent obsession with protecting the label. Surely many of the intelligent professors, students, writers and bloggers rushing to its defense have also felt the naggings of cognitive dissonance and the inkling that the world might make more sense if they abandoned some of their cultural presuppositions. But haggling over the details of theology provides a psuedo-intellectual haven from real-world questions, where evangelicals can exercise their minds without coming to any unsettling conclusions. And thus the cycle of definition and redefinition continues, providing endless diversion as it cuts deeper and deeper ruts into what was once known as the Christian dialogue.

Refusing to align squarely with evangelical shibboleths requires courage, but the sooner it happens on a larger scale the better. All signs point to a near future where religion will play an increasingly climactic role in global culture and politics. Men and women who, as Mark Noll puts it in the final pages of The Evangelical Scandal, “think like a Christian”—by which he means “take seriously the sovereignty of God over the world he created”—should be leading the way on the meta questions that are already besieging society. But as long as they are busy drafting manifestos in their barricaded salons, hubristic rationalism will continue charging unchecked into the 21st century.

I am a part of a messy group (only a few of us) who are trying to think and live like Christians, taking seriously God's presence in the world he created - whatever that might mean. Right now, I don't much give a shit what I'm called or who calls me it. I'm pretty tired of the infighting and finger pointing.

I'm eager to start living into the life of God, not another church or definition. I hope you are ready to do the same, and if you are, we should have some coffee and talk about it sometime.

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thanks to @jason_a_coker for the link to Patrol Magazine