God Wants Me To Be Rich

I ran into this article this week from Portfolio.com. It intrigued me. Having spent most of my life attending a MEGA-Church I had no idea that they could be THIS BIG. I was saddened in some regard about my own preoccupation with wealth and success. Deep down I really dig this. I simply know a bit better to say so now. A 76 million dollar a year budget, a 90 million dollar stadium improvement campaign. And it has all paid off. This is the blessing of the Lord, right?

I would be interested in others thoughts about mega-churches. What do you think of a church that owns a stadium?

Inspriation from a Monk of old.

I recently interviewed a young woman for a position at our church. I asked her about the books that have profoundly effected her. She made mention of Thomas Merton, whom I embarrassingly have never read. I did some research and found some lovely reflections from his writing.

There remains a profound wisdom in the traditional Christian approach to the world as to an object of choice. But we have to admit that the habitual and mechanical compulsions of a certain limited type of Christian thought have falsified the true value- perspective in which the world can be discovered and chosen as it is. To treat the world merely as an agglomeration of material goods and objects outside ourselves, and to reject these goods and objects in order to seek others which are "interior" and "spiritual" is in fact to miss the whole point of the challenging confrontation of the world and Christ. Do we really choose between the world and Christ as between two conflicting realities absolutely opposed? Or do we choose Christ by choosing the world as it really is in him, that is to say created and redeemed by him, and encountered in the ground of our own personal freedom and of our love?

Thomas Merton. Contemplation in A World of Action (New York: Doubleday & Company, 1973: 170-171.

We are so often quick to dismiss people and things as worldly. As Christians we are seemly unaware of the spiritual effect of our interactions with the living and the temporal.

We undeniably have an impact on those with whom we interact. Do we ever stop to contemplate just how our attitude and our internal dialog is revealed through how we interact with others. How would it effect us if we gazed on all as the creation of a loving God who seeks to redeem the created?

This past weekend our church leadership held an annual Elder / Staff retreat where we spend most of the weekend in meetings at the church. During the weekend the organizers offered opportunities for attendees (I am an Elder) to express what God has been doing in their lives, or perhaps some insights into the direction the church may take in the near future. Content to keep to myself I initially planed to not make any comments. However, I woke on the last morning of the retreat with some graphics and bullet points rattling around my head and a burning convition to share what was on my heart. I put together a couple of handouts. Below is a part of what I came up with. I welcome and comments or critiques of the points. Admittingly I through this together in just over a couple of hours.

	Church Today	An Alternate Perspective
Who determines God’s Mission	· The Church leadership determines (or deciphers) the Missio Dei – Mission of God.	· Missio Dei is deciphered and carried out in the lives of all people who serve Christ.
	· If somebody wants to participate in Missio Dei, they go through the church. Likewise, if God wishes to work in the world he works through the church.	· The Missio Dei is where God is already at work in the world around us, not just through church ministry.
The Church and the Sacred / Secular Divide	· Things that occur within the church are sacred. · Things that occur in the world are secular. · The church is the house of God. It represents safety and shelter from the world.	· The church (buildings) are no longer considered sacred because we consider all things sacred. · Church Buildings are given over for use as a part of the community for events sacred or non-sacred. · All homes are potentially God’s house.
Who’s’ the master of this domain?	· The world is Satan’s Domain.	· God is at work throughout the entire world.
Who is the Shepherd	· Pastor = Shepherd	· Christ = Shepherd Pastor = Shepherd Dog
The Lost vs. the Saved	· The “lost”, and to some extent the “Saved”, are PULLED into the Missio Dei.	· The “Saved” are PUSHED into the world to participate in the Missio Dei.
Worship	· We worship when we are at church during worship times.	· We are engaged in worship at all times everywhere we go. · The phrase “We are made for Worship” takes on an entirely new meaning!

I AM NOT THEM!!!

Most of the time I have a live and let live mentality. For the most I have ascribed to the "we are all the church" line and not been critical of those whom would choose their own way to share the gospel. As of late I have been feeling a bit more touchy about whom would choose to be our spokespeople to the masses. This weekend my wife participated in the Bay to Breakers race / walk / event in San Francisco. At the end of the race, some 20 to 30,000 people where subjected to the unloving demonstration put on by these morons pictured. I have no platform or means to disassociate much other than here. So here it is. I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THESE IDIOTS!!!

I can not describe the personal sense of embarrassment at the presence of these self anointed prophets. I often wonder if they realize the damage they are doing to the Kingdom of God for which they slander in the name or my Lord.

There are no kind words that I could share with these compassionless jerks.

Can a Christian laugh at themself? Well I do not know that I so much laugh at myself, but I do laugh at other Christians. Take these guys for example:

How does a Creation bring Glory to its Creator?

This is a complicated question to ponder. It was the topic of discussion at Kaleo this evening. It took us to a study of what exactly glory is. I am not sure if yet I completely understand it; any more that I can fully understand God. I guess we must beg to question, can I bring glory to God? What am I to God who is all powerful and “glorious” that I can contribute anything to the glory which he already possesses? At some level I do not believe that I can. But then again, how can I ignore what scripture commands. I exist for Gods glory. My being has no purpose other than to bring glory unto the one who created me.

Tonight we discussed a myriad of ways in which we glorify things, none of which seemed to touch the glory of God. There are many humble and sacrificial ways in which we can give of our lives to God. I however, would like to focus on the active and creative ways in which we can bring him glory.

God did not create us as passive beings. All of his creation screams of variety and ingenuity, and our souls long for this. What person can not appreciate art, music, a well built car, architecture, wood work, or software. Our souls long to create. I believe that this is a great avenue for our glorification of God. All that we do should point to him. We often have the perspective that our “worship” time is limited to the pew on Sunday. I believe that it is as we walk through our daily lives that we owe tribute to our creator through our actions, through our creativity. I would love to participate as a part of a community of believers worshiping God through acts of creativity; art, music, building things, telling stories, designing Myspace pages. Any tool that we have available to be creative for God, grants us an opportunity to bring him glory.

I am not entirely sure how this pleases him, or adds to the vast creation he has initiated, but I am humbly and excited to create as an act of worship to bring him glory as he has commanded.

If God is a DJ

This is and awesome video inspired byt the Pink song "If God is a DJ". I am pretty sure that the inspiration stops with the name of the song. It is rather comical. Enjoy.

Mentos and Coke ~ An entertianing specticle

I saw an example of this experiment on the Letterman show last night. Ran into these crazy fellas online. Check it out.