living rhythms

In our journey of church planting, there has been a big emphasis on dreaming/planning/scheming. This continues to be the case, but with a new addition, implementation. After creating, casting, and refining vision for so long, it is strange to put those thoughts into action. Doing so is what makes those rhythms living things that express how God is moving through us.

With our leadership community, the vehicle of the new church is moving. This past month was The Table's first full month of living out our rhythms of hospitality, discipleship, and blessing. We "worshiped" three weeks, served the neighborhood one week, and threw a party the next. It is awesome to see this movement occur. It is not how I guessed it would be, but it is beautiful.

The vision of our rhythms did not begin this way. After reading a book called "Simple Church" by Thom S. Rainer & Eric Geiger, I became convinced that and organization's mission must also be its values and their vision. Too often a the beauty of a mission get bogged down by values and vision that are similar but different, leaving the organization w/ a massive document no one looks at.

So if someone asks what the mission of The Table is I'd say, "To live the HOSPITALITY we see in Jesus, to grow in our DISCIPLESHIP in Him, and to be a BLESSING to those around us, in His name." If someone asks what the values of The Table are I'd say, "To live the HOSPITALITY we see in Jesus, to grow in our DISCIPLESHIP in Him, and to be a BLESSING to those around us, in His name." And if someone asks what the vision of The Table is I'd say, "To live the HOSPITALITY we see in Jesus, to grow in our DISCIPLESHIP in Him, and to be a BLESSING to those around us, in His name." You get the idea.

Now that we have this in our minds as a church, it is cool to see us living it out. As a group we had a party where social lines and circles blurred b/t friends, neighbors, and church folk. To me it was a step of HOSPITALITY. In our worship gatherings and Bible studies, it is awesome to see and hear "iron sharpening iron" (the image of DISCIPLESHIP), as we grow in the likeness of Christ together. And it is cool to leave our 4 walls of comforts and go out and pray for the neighborhood as we pick up trash or visit neighbors in "their territory", and BLESS them on "their terms". It has been awesome to see us implement our rhythms, for His glory. I pray we will continue to grow in these rhythms as we continue follow the lead of Christ.

"how america sees God"

The following is an interesting article, taken from “How America Sees God” – USA Today, Nov. 7, 2010. Let me know what you think.)

If you pray to God, to whom — or what — are you praying? When you sing God Bless America, whose blessing are you seeking?

In the USA, God — or the idea of a God — permeates daily life. Our views of God have been fundamental to the nation's past, help explain many of the conflicts in our society and worldwide, and could offer a hint of what the future holds. Is God by our side, or beyond the stars? Wrathful or forgiving? Judging us every moment, someday or never?

Surveys say about nine out of 10 Americans believe in God, but the way we picture that God reveals our attitudes on economics, justice, social morality, war, natural disasters, science, politics, love and more, say Paul Froese and Christopher Bader, sociologists at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Their new book, America's Four Gods: What We Say About God — And What That Says About Us, examines our diverse visions of the Almighty and why they matter.

Based primarily on national telephone surveys of 1,648 U.S. adults in 2008 and 1,721 in 2006, the book also draws from more than 200 in-depth interviews that, among other things, asked people to respond to a dozen evocative images, such as a wrathful old man slamming the Earth, a loving father's embrace, an accusatory face or a starry universe.

Researchers from the USA to Malawi are picking up on the unique Baylor questionnaire, and its implications. When the Gallup World Poll used several of the God-view questions, Bader says, "one clear finding is that the USA — where images of a personal God engaged in our lives dominate — is an outlier in the world of technologically advanced nations such as (those in) Europe." There, the view is almost entirely one of a Big Bang sort of God who launched creation and left it spinning rather than a God who has a direct influence on daily events.

Froese points out: "You can't really ask people directly about their moral and philosophical worldview. But if you know their image of God, it could give you insight into why they get upset when you break the rules, or you stand up for a certain politician. Or, how they will react when bad things happen or whether they see personal morality or foreign policy in stark right-or-wrong terms."

Four views of God
Froese and Bader's research wound up defining four ways in which Americans see God:
•The Authoritative God. When conservatives Sarah Palin or Glenn Beck proclaim that America will lose God's favor unless we get right with him, they're rallying believers in what Froese and Bader call an Authoritative God, one engaged in history and meting out harsh punishment to those who do not follow him. About 28% of the nation shares this view, according to Baylor's 2008 findings.
"They divide the world by good and evil and appeal to people who are worried, concerned and scared," Froese says. "They respond to a powerful God guiding this country, and if we don't explicitly talk about (that) God, then we have the wrong God or no God at all."
•The Benevolent God. When President Obama says he is driven to live out his Christian faith in public service, or political satirist Stephen Colbert mentions God while testifying to Congress in favor of changing immigration laws, they're speaking of what the Baylor researchers call a Benevolent God. This God is engaged in our world and loves and supports us in caring for others, a vision shared by 22% of Americans, according to Baylor's findings.
"Rhetoric that talks about the righteous vs. the heathen doesn't appeal to them," Froese says. "Their God is a force for good who cares for all people, weeps at all conflicts and will comfort all."
Asked about the Baylor findings, Philip Yancey, author of What Good Is God?, says he moved from the Authoritative God of his youth — "a scowling, super-policeman in the sky, waiting to smash someone having a good time" — to a "God like a doctor who has my best interest at heart, even if sometimes I don't like his diagnosis or prescriptions."
•The Critical God. The poor, the suffering and the exploited in this world often believe in a Critical God who keeps an eye on this world but delivers justice in the next, Bader says.
Bader says this view of God — held by 21% of Americans — was reflected in a sermon at a working-class neighborhood church the researchers visited in Rifle, Colo., in 2008. Pastor Del Whittington's theme at Open Door Church was " 'Wait until heaven, and accounts will be settled.' "
Bader says Whittington described how " 'our cars that are breaking down here will be chariots in heaven. Our empty bank accounts will be storehouses with the Lord.' "
•The Distant God. Though about 5% of Americans are atheists or agnostics, Baylor found that nearly one in four (24%) see a Distant God that booted up the universe, then left humanity alone.
This doesn't mean that such people have no religion. It's the dominant view of Jews and other followers of world religions and philosophies such as Buddhism or Hinduism, the Baylor research finds.
Rabbi Jamie Korngold of Boulder, Colo., took Baylor's God quiz and clicked with the Distant God view "that gives me more personal responsibility. There's no one that can fix things if I mess them up. God's not telling me what I should do," says Korngold. Her upcoming book, God Envy: A Rabbi's Confession, is subtitled, A Book for People Who Don't Believe God Can Intervene in Their Lives and Why Judaism Is Still Important.
Others who cite a Distant God identify more with the spiritual and speak of the unknowable God behind the creation of rainbows, mountains or elegant mathematical theorems, the Baylor writers found.
This distant view is nothing new. Benjamin Franklin once wrote that he could not imagine that a "Supremely Perfect" God cares a whit for "such an inconsiderable Nothing as Man."
The Baylor researchers' four views of God reveal a richness that denominational labels often don't capture. They found that Catholics and mainline Protestants are about evenly divided among all four views, leaning slightly toward a Benevolent God. More than half of white evangelicals identify with an Authoritative God; that view is shared by more than seven in 10 black evangelicals, they said.

How we see daily life and world events
How did we get to this multifaceted state? A three-night TV series starting Monday on PBS, God in America, examines our religious history, one rife with people contesting over visions of God.

It begins with the first Europeans arriving with visions of a New Eden and clashing immediately, first with Native Americans, then with each other.
Even in 1680, it was clear that "European religion would not survive unchanged" in America, says Boston University religion professor Stephen Prothero, one of the narrators for the series, created by Frontline and WGBH-TV Boston.

By the time of the Founding Fathers, "God was seen as a more distant deity, not someone who will row the boat across the Delaware for us," series producer Marilyn Mellowes says.

History is portrayed in the PBS series as waves of mini-dramas: challenges to religious order, the rise of concepts of political liberty, the establishment of First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and religion — and the fits and starts of working out what it means to be a nation without one state-sanctioned religion.
Each generation makes righteous claims for social justice, for God on their side in combat, for the truths they want to teach their kids, Mellowes says.

The PBS series finds today's fights over Muslim efforts to build mosques echoes past religious liberty struggles such as the fight in the 1770s by Baptists in Virginia to be free to preach, or the 1940s push by Catholics in New York to educate their children outside Protestant-run public schools.

When asked about Baylor's findings, Prothero says views of God are splintering, even though "Protestants had control of the culture right up into the 20th century. ... It shouldn't be surprising that the model now is more like a different God for every person. Baylor found four Gods; other researchers could have found eight or maybe 16."

Bader and Froese looked at themes, including:
•Morality. People with an Authoritative God are about three times more likely to say homosexuality is a choice, not an inborn trait, than those who see a Distant God — affecting their views on gay rights, particularly on marriage and adoption.
•Science. Those who see God as engaged in daily life (authoritative or benevolent) are nearly twice as likely as those whose God is critical or distant to say that God often performs miracles that defy the laws of nature.
•Money. "We are all values and pocketbook voters now," the Baylor sociologists write. "In general, your values reflect your God and your God reflects your pocketbook."
In research done at the height of the recession, the authors found "lower economic status is strongly related to the belief that God harshly judges and is angry with the world." This reflects a view that it is personal faith or faith-based action, not the government, that solves poverty, they write.
•Evil, war and natural disasters. Does God cause mayhem, allow it or have no role? "When we talked about Hurricane Katrina and 9/11, the Authoritative God type was most likely to think God had a hand, directly punishing us for society's sinful ways," Bader says.
But believers in a Benevolent God "will focus on a fireman who escaped, or the people who rebuild homes, or the divine providence of someone missing a flight that crashed on 9/11," Bader says.
To someone who sees a Distant God, the 9/11 terror attacks amounted to a sign of man's inhumanity, not God's action or judgment, Bader says. And they see a storm as just a storm.
Believers in a Critical God say whatever happens now, "God will have the last word," Bader says.

So how do our views of heaven differ?
Political scientists Robert Putnam of Harvard and David Campbell of Notre Dame address this in their new book, American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us, also based on nationwide surveys.
They found unifying threads: Americans of every stripe overwhelmingly believe that all good people go to heaven, that many faiths contain truth and that religious diversity is good for the nation.

Putnam and Campbell's optimistic conclusion is that we are able to live with vast religious diversity because we are "enmeshed" in networks of people we care about — your Catholic aunt, your Methodist spouse, your spiritual-but-not-religious child and your evangelical neighbor. The Baylor sociologists also see this. "With our high level of religious freedom and pluralism," Froese says, "all kinds of views of God will do very well."

The national conversation about God, Bader says, is "much richer than showdowns between screaming evangelicals and screaming atheists. This is the way we tell the stories of the world around us."

mexico

K8 and I returned last week from our 10 year anniversary trip to Mexico. Montana spent the week w/ grandparents in CO, and we spent the week by ourselves... that's right, just us. It was awesome! It was a beautiful week of great connection w/ each other. We actually had opportunities to have uninterrupted conversations, occasions to laugh, and rich times of dreaming together. K8 and I had a week full of shared recreation, where we snorkeled daily, seeing God's creation in a totally foreign environment to us. It was a week of taking a brain break, where we each sat on the beach and read our own books, talking about them as we went. It was truly an awesome, awesome week.

Overall, I would say the week was restful and refreshing. To me, it was a great picture of Sabbath. John Calvin speaks of the command for Sabbath in his "Institutes" saying, “The whole may be thus summed up... first, that during our whole lives we may aim at a constant rest from our own works, in order that the Lord may work in us by his Spirit" (II.8.34). We rest from our work, so He may work in us... beautiful. For me, getting away w/ K8 allowed God to open me eyes again to His glory, and His blessing - to be in a place where He opens my eyes anew to the gift of K8, the gift of missing Montana, to gift of creation, and the gift of His pursuit of my heart. Sabbath is a chance to enjoy the fruits of life and relationship, to be reminded that all of life is sacred, to remember His work in our lives.

I am thankful for our time away together, especially before junior comes and life changes again. But I am most thankful for the great reminder of God's blessing in my life. He has blessed me w/ a wife I am still captivated by, a daughter I miss when she's not around, and a community I love serving. I pray for my Sabbaths in Bellingham to continue to point me to Him and His hand of blessing.

hosea

We started reading the book of Hosea this week in our Monday night Bible study. It's an interesting book. In the 1st 3 chapters, God asks Hosea to marry a prostitute to reveal the nature of His relationship w/ Israel, and their unfaithfulness. I am struck by the tennis match of emotions that are played out in the 1st 3 chapters. Hosea's wife, Gomer (nice name), bears 3 kids after marrying Hosea. We're not sure if they're Hosea's kids or of a "John", but God instructs them to give the kids names that represent violence, "no love", and the breaking of covenant. Gloomy, eh?

But then after naming the last child, and in spite of the children symbolizing Israel's unfaithfulness to their covenant and relationship w/ God, God promises to make Israel His children. Hope in the midst of the gloomy.

But then God states that He will take away all the blessings Israel claims have come from other places than God, all so she can see that God is the source of all blessing. Gloomy again?

But then after stripping away everything, it says that God will lead Israel into the desert (w/ nothing) and speak tenderly to her (refreshing her). Promising that He will make "the valley of Trouble into a gateway of hope", making the land a place of peace and security and rest. Awesome!

I think the reality I see in these chapters is the reality that we "make our own beds", having to live w/ bad decisions. We are w/o hope on our own, like the sorrowful and broken patterns of a prostitute. But there IS hope. In this sorry state, God moves toward us and calls us home, home to that place of peace, security, and rest. He did come to us in Jesus, and continues to bring hope.

Hosea is a challenging book, but a book of human reality, and the reality of God's grace. I pray that He will reveal that grace to us again today and as we walk about our week.

prayer letter 9.2010

FYI - This month's prayer letter for The Table has been posted. Just hit the "prayer" link to the left. Thanks for your prayers for our church!

balance and the bellingham bay half-marathon

Next week is the race, The Bellingham Bay Half-Marathon. I've been training for about 7 weeks now. I always enjoy running a race in the fall. It seems like a good way to start a new season. This year I had another motivation... Mexico. A week after the race K8 and I are heading for Mexico to celebrate 10 Years of marriage, which should be sweet. So to gear up for it I felt extra motivation for this race (no one wants to see flabby Aaron). This is the longest week in my training, and I'm ready for shorter miles.

In light of thinking about making running for of a weekly/daily rhythm, I've been thinking about balance. Unless I have a goal, working out is usually the 1st thing to go in a busy schedule. But it is the workout that helps me maintain balance in the midst of a busy schedule. I find that if I don't get into the word and get active in the mornings, the rest of the day feels rushed or strained. It may be different for someone else, but this is what I've found. I dislike the days that feel disproportional toward one thing or another. A well proportioned day of study, fitness, work, being social, family time and service feels the best. And summer felt pretty proportioned and balanced. So the question for me is, How will I continue to find balance after the race is over, and once fall is fully in bloom?

I pray that you and I both will be blessed with the foresight to make proactive choices (rather than reactive choices) so we may live lives w/ margin, balance, and joy. I believe that when we are able to live in these spaces, we are able to listen to God's voice more clearly and have the room in our lives to bless our families, friends, and neighbors in His name. So will you join me in raising a glass to His movement in lives as we strive for balance?

change

As I was working at the Firehouse today, one customer mentioned that they had just dropped their kids off at school. Today is the 1st day back for Bellingham School District. I was curious if they were relieved to get their kids out of the house or wishing they didn't have to go. My customer mentioned that this year is their child's senior year of high school, and so they were navigating the feelings surrounding this being the last year of school, and all that means for their family. In contrast to this, just yesterday Kate and I were standing inside a classroom deciding whether to enroll Montana in her 1st year of preschool. "It's only preschool", but it feels funny thinking about sending her off to begin a new chapter. Then I also think about some new friends of mine. They've just moved to town from another state. Beginning new jobs today, making new friends, and finding "their" new spots to hang.

Change is in the air this week, and w/ it is a mix of emotions. We long to keep things as they are. I found myself saying (the same words my mother said to me as a kid) to Montana, "Don't grow up so fast". Yet, we also long for newness. I'm excited for the new adventures that the next season will bring. It's a strange mix of emotion. Change is in the air this week, but it always there. Change has a feeling of destabilizing us. And depending on our mood or disposition, this can either be welcomed or feared.

Change is something we can count on. But in the midst of it, there is One whom we can actually depend on, One we can look to for true stability. I'm encouraged by the words of Psalm 62:5-6, "Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken." This fortress will remain solid in the face of attacks, and strong winds.

So as think about my customer, my friends, and our family - all experiencing a different form of change - I have hope. I hope in the Constant One, our strength and our salvation. I know He is good, stable and powerful when we feel mixed. For that, I have hope and give Him praise.