What Is It to Believe in Jesus, or, To Have a Life of Faith?

Isn't it just crazy when different media you subscribe to suddenly align and seem to be giving a similar message? That's what has happened to me in the last week.

 It started with Pray As You Go. The scripture that was read was a passage from John's gospel that comes right after Jesus fed the five thousand. The crowds follow Jesus, as he has left in a boat, and when they encounter him again he criticizes them and says, "You are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life" (NRSV John 6:26-27). It seems like a critique aimed at all of us, and for my part, I feel like I am being taken to task for not seeking the ways of God.

But at the end of the prayer, I was left with an idea that came straight from the Gospel itself: "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."

Re-entering Jerusalem with Jesus for the First Time, or, I Think I Would Fall Off My Donkey

So today is Palm Sunday, or Passion Sunday, depending on which particular denominational tradition you come from. This morning while I was worshiping with my faith community, I came to the conclusion that this first day of Holy Week is one that just fundamentally feels off, and I think it's for a very good reason. I saw it stated well this morning on Twitter:

#PalmSunday reminds us how quickly our hearts go from "hosanna" to "Crucify Him"
— Chris Balding (@ChrisBalding) March 29, 2015

Chris Balding's tweet resonated with me because it's a good summation of what my experience of Palm Sunday has been. We start off shouting and happy; Jesus has come into Jerusalem, riding on a donkey! He is regarded as the King of Kings and the Messiah! We can honor him with palm fronds and lay our cloaks on the dirty ground for him to walk on. But before we leave church, we are the ones who are shouting for him to be crucified.

A Prayerful Community at #CP15MN, or, Some Combination of Those Words

Last weekend, on Saturday-Sunday February 21-22, a group of 14 twenty- and thirty-somethings gathered for a retreat called Common Place. It happened at the ECMN Retreat Center on the campus of Shattuck-St. Mary's school in Faribault, Minnesota. Amanda and I were two of those 14 and, after this weekend, I would not hesitate to call any of the other attendees friends.

Thank you, ECMN for the uploading of the pictures!

The theme of the Common Place retreat was "Stories and Silence." There were five stories and five accompanying silences that happened, and I was asked to provide one of the stories. Initially I was told that my topic was "Prayer/Community." That seemed very broad and I felt totally unqualified to talk about community, but as I thought through it, a couple of stories came to mind, so I thought maybe it wouldn't be that bad. However, when I arrived at the retreat, the schedule said that my topic was "Prayer in Community." Then, shortly afterward, it was said as "Prayer and Community." Personally, I'm a bit of a grammar nerd so the conflict between preposition and conjunction was really messing with me. Before it finally came time for me to share my story, we settled the issue by calling the topic "Prayer-in-slash-and-slash-slash-Community." So I guess we just made it work.

[Before I go any farther, a statement of full disclosure: This post is a compilation of my notes and some responses from a Twitter poll that I took in preparing for my story. It's not the exact product that I presented at the retreat, but I hope that you find it worth the read here on my blog.]

What Is a Congregation? Or, Let Me Show You Some Shapes

Many thanks to my wonderful wife for making this for me on Canva!

This week I want to participate in the first round of a three-part BLOGFORCE Challenge from the Acts 8 Moment (click on the banner to learn more about the challenge and the organization). But the first thing I want to describe is how the prompt is phrased. The prompt said "What is the mission of the congregation? How should it be structured to serve its mission?" And so what I need to do is describe how I do not consider myself any kind of expert on how to structure a congregation... I don't think I have the gifts of management to determine how to position a group of people like that. Or at least I don't feel I have the gifts to describe it as an action plan. What I do is describe the shape of the thing, as I see it in my head. And in that way, there are two images that I want to describe. 

Resurrection Stories from "Les Misérables," or, I'm Starting the Year with a Movie Review

So now that I've finished my first post of the year and announced that I'm reinvigorating the tone of my blog, it is time for something completely different: I'm going back to movie reviews!

Yes, yes, I'm going to review Les Misérables, even though it's nothing of a new premier. My wife and I sat down and re-watched it recently. I've always liked the 2012 movie (as well as the 10th and 25th Anniversary concerts), but the more I stay with the story and experience it, the more I realize it's got a lot to say about human suffering and redemption. It may be no surprise to some of you, dear readers; you may be way ahead of me on this one. But for me, it's the title itself; sometimes it's translated from French as The Miserable Ones, and sometimes it's published as The Victims or The Dispossessed, so these ideas of human suffering may be no surprise. But nonetheless, I want to write about the theme of redemption in the story because the process of discovery has been so profound for me.

What Is the Gospel News? or, Stuff I Will Be Blogging About in 2015

Here is my first post for 2015! That's very exciting, just simply out of a child-like glee for new and shiny things. However, this post is not going to be my "5 predictions for the Church in 2015," or "Here, before all my dearest readers, I resolve to do thusly..." The only thing that I'm going to resolve to do in 2015 is try to consistently write a "5," rather than a "4" in the year.

Although, that being said, I do want my first blog post for 2015 to set and reset the tone of my blog for the year. You all know, dear readers, that my blog is pretty churchy. I am guilty of these charges. And while I would not say that I am preparing to make a major tone shift, I think that there are repercussions that I want to embrace. What I'm talking about is being conscious and focussed on the gospel news in regard to what's on this blog.

TREC Has Worked Its Butt Off... And Yet There Is Something Wanting

This post is one of mine that is rooted quite solidly in my severe case of Episcopal-itis. It is a congenital affliction that I have never been able to shake off. So if you are one of those who are not afflicted by Episcopal-itis, feel free to catch up with me on my next blog post. However, if you, too are a fellow sufferer, you have my condolences and I urge you to read on.

Image borrowed from Art of Manliness

All sarcasm aside, there is a topic that many of us in The Episcopal Church have been contending with for quite a while now: the Taskforce for Reimagining the Episcopal Church (TREC).

Why the Episcopal Church? Because We Become Who We Are

This post is my submission to the last of three-part prompt from the Acts 8 Moment BLOGFORCE Challenge. The last prompt is this: "Why the Episcopal Church?"

Truth be told, I have struggled to answer this question since it was announced. Oddly enough, answering "Why the Church?" and "Why Anglicanism" were both pretty easy for me... in contrast, this one has left me speechless because I'm having a hard time naming anything distinct that I have not already posted in either of my other two responses.

Why Anglicanism? or, BLOGFORCE Challenge Part Deux

Before I even think about launching into an explanation of why I have chosen to be a member of the Anglican Church, I have to emphasize just that; that it is a personal choice. My being a member of the Anglican Communion is not  an assertion that every person should be Anglican. Different people need different structures from their belief and sometimes those needs change during a lifetime. But as for me, my choice to be Anglican has two seemingly opposing sides: 1) it is the tradition that I was raised in, but also 2) it has been my choice to remain a part of the tradition.

And to further convolute my introduction, I also want to clearly say that I did not choose Anglicanism because of this guy:

Henry VIII

Nor even because of this guy (though I do have to throw some credit and props his way):

Archbishop Thomas Cranmer

The biggest reason why I've stuck with Anglicanism is because of this chick:

Elizabeth I

A Letter to My Readers, or, Breaking the Fourth Wall (Again)

Hello to all my dear readers,

This week, I am not writing the same kind of narrative or spastic lists that I know many of you have grown to know and love. I'm sorry. What I wish to do this week is take a step back and share with you all the ways that you can connect with me and be a part of creating a larger conversation on the Interwebz. Because, truth be told, I don't just publish this blog because I need an outlet for all the ideas bouncing around in my head (although that is one of the reasons I publish this blog). I also write and publish what I do because I want to spark conversations online.

So what that means is that if you find something stirring in what I've written here on the blog, please leave a comment and say so. I'm sure there's at least one other person, if it's not me, who would love to say how it resonated with them, too.

Why the Church?

I've been doing a lot of serious writing lately, trying to take a stand and say what I have to say about the most concerning matters of current events. And so I told myself that I was going to write on something a little lighter this week. But my mother, my father, and my wife have all told me that I have selective hearing. Apparently I even have trouble hearing myself.

However, I think what I'm doing this week is okay because, even though my topic is "Why the Church?" it comes from the Acts 8 Moment BLOGFORCE Challenge. Which means it's not just me trying to throw rocks at current events by means of my blog. No, in fact, this topic is a challenge given to everyone who follows the Acts 8 Moment. Which means that this post of mine is a part of a larger discussion taking place in cyberspace. As proof of said discussion, the icon below should route you to a collection of all the participating posts. And since it gets you into a select part of cyberspace, it means that I'm giving you my credentials.

I feel so cool... I have credentials...