Across the Kidron

"The Bible does not give us a predictable cause-effect world in which we can plan our careers and..."

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 06:33:22 -0400

“The Bible does not give us a predictable cause-effect world in which we can plan our careers and secure our futures. It is not a dream world in which everything works out according to our adolescent expectations—there is pain and poverty and abuse at which we cry out in indignation, “You can’t let this happen!” For most of us it takes years and years and years to exchange our dream world for this real world of grace and mercy, sacrifice and love, freedom and joy—the God-saved world.”

- Eugent Peterson, from the Introduction to the Message

Body first, mind and feelings follow

Sat, 30 Apr 2011 14:31:55 -0400

The modern church has written a lot of these massive anthem songs. You know the ones—stadium-shouters, Christian versions of “We will rock you.” They use words like glorious and majestic, words that I have no idea the meaning of. I’ve long avoided them, but they follow me around and I think I’m finally ready to be friends.

We’re doing one this week at church. As I listened to the recording my mind’s critic took the song to task: it’s too big, too long, too anthemic, too… much. Then my mind’s conscious (not to be confused with the Holy Spirit) fires back with its rebuttal: the song is good, people worship with it, stop being so critical. And so the battle rages between what I’m thinking and feeling and what I want to be thinking and feeling.

There’s one way to end this kind of nonsense, and it’s not more mind-chatter. Like Solomon, when he settled the dispute between the two women claiming the same baby, it is action that reveals the truth.

So as the song played I picked up my guitar and started strumming, started singing. Something happened inside me. Light came in through my hands and mouth and dispelled the darkness in my mind. Words in the song took on new meaning and feeling. Springs of tears bubbled up out of the desert of disconnectedness.

It’s hard to criticize what you’re participating in.

My experience is what Brennan Manning in Abba’s Child calls the “triumph of doing over being.” It’s true that who we are is more important than what we do. But it is our action, our proclamation, that makes alive in us the truth of who we are in Christ.

“Why are you downcast,” David told his soul (and you can bet he told it out loud), “hope in God, for I shall again praise him.”

"Of what value is learning that does not turn to love?"

Sun, 20 Mar 2011 10:03:29 -0400

“Of what value is learning that does not turn to love?”

- Anthony of Padua

"To love someone is not first of all to do things for them, but to reveal to them their beauty and..."

Wed, 08 Dec 2010 09:46:25 -0500

“To love someone is not first of all to do things for them, but to reveal to them their beauty and value, to say to them through our attitude: ‘You are beautiful, you are important. I trust you. You can trust yourself.’”

- Jean Vanier, Founder of L’Arche communities

Don't reinvent. Re-tell.

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 09:31:00 -0400

Whenever I slip back in the mindset of trying to be original—write an original melody, create an unique design—I am reminded that all I need to do is retell what is classic and true.

Flour + Water, the best new restaurant in San Francisco, isn’t new at all:

The cuisine of flour + water has literally been done for hundreds of years in Italy—we are not re-inventing it but just trying to pay tribute to what we believe is the world’s purest style of cooking.

A post about this wouldn’t be complete without a classic C.S. Lewis quote:

“Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.”

"I have to see to it that I fall in love with somebody or something every day, even if it’s..."

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 22:08:21 -0400

“I have to see to it that I fall in love with somebody or something every day, even if it’s only a tree or the wonderful turquoise sky over New Mexico. When I don’t love, the negative voices immediately get the upper hand.”

- Richard Rohr

"Niceness and kindness are not the same thing. One can be kind without being nice or nice without..."

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 09:51:59 -0400

“Niceness and kindness are not the same thing. One can be kind without being nice or nice without being kind.”

Secret Wins

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 08:23:56 -0400

What if instead of holding secret sins in our hearts we held secret wins: good deeds and God-encounters about which no soul but our own knows.

Sin held inside is a wildfire, ruthlessly ravaging our soul and our body. It should be confessed immediately to God and verbally to a trusted friend-priest (in Christ we are all priests) who will proclaim those words of freedom and health that every heart longs to hear: “In the name of Jesus, you are forgiven”.

But goodness held inside is a fire in its place. It brings warmth and light and heat to body and soul. Good secrets between friends breed intimacy. After Jesus reveals His glory to Peter, James, and John He tells them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen until…” There may come a time to tell of our special moment with God or a good deed we’ve done in Jesus Name, but we must wait for the word from the Master to do so. Until then we can, like Mary, “ponder these things in our hearts.”

Freedom looks like this.

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:29:00 -0400

Freedom looks like this.

A morning prayer

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 10:26:07 -0400

Thank you, Father, for today, a new day, a clean slate. This day keep me rooted and grounded in your love, that I may not fly off into thought and activity that would cause pain. Give me the mind of Christ, full of humility and confidence. Keep me from passivity that comes from fear of others opinions. In its place grant me a strong and gentle kindness that speaks forth truth in a way that brings life.

It is your ways that make my heart unheavy. Show me your ways. Tune my heart now in this quiet moment to hear your voice amidst the noise. Give me the courage to act on the things you say, courage that comes from seeing the joy that is set before me.

Grant me focus on today’s work, freedom from distraction, and perseverance in difficulties. May I be aware of Your voice in websites, in meetings, in books, in every conversation.

Bring someone into my path today that I may encourage in Your name. May that attitude of encouragement start at home toward my family.

"Anarchism adjures us to be bold creative artists, and care for no laws or limits. But it is..."

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 22:12:52 -0400

“Anarchism adjures us to be bold creative artists, and care for no laws or limits. But it is impossible to be an artist and not care for laws and limits. Art is limitation; the essence of every picture is the frame.”

- G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

"The kingdom of heaven is available for other uses than those that are sometimes thought to be..."

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 17:04:00 -0400

“The kingdom of heaven is available for other uses than those that are sometimes thought to be distinctively spiritual. As with the mustard seed grown into a tree, the birds come and perch in its branches. Did the tree grow for the sake of the birds, or did the birds avail themselves of the hospitality of the tree? It is even so with the kingdom of heaven. Whatever is true has a right to be in the church—all art and science, all business and literature, all recreation and joy. Do not banish these sacred birds from the branches of the church tree, for they are all God’s, and if they do not receive hospitality in the church, they will find it elsewhere, and the church will be the loser in the long run.”

- Joseph Parker

Best missionary newsletters ever. Brian Donohue sends these...

Sun, 27 Jun 2010 18:17:00 -0400

Best missionary newsletters ever. Brian Donohue sends these Cuirim Outreach postcards once a month. Usually comprised of exactly one picture and a recent story condensed into one or two sentences. I always read them with a smile and often post them on the fridge.

"Poetry is sane because it floats in an infinite sea; reason seeks to cross the infinite sea, and so..."

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 22:18:59 -0400

“Poetry is sane because it floats in an infinite sea; reason seeks to cross the infinite sea, and so make it finite… The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head. And it is his head that splits.”

- G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

Saw this ad for the first time today. I cried. It reminded me...

Fri, 07 May 2010 15:11:51 -0400

Saw this ad for the first time today. I cried. It reminded me once again that love, not fear, is the best way to motivate someone toward making a decision that is for his own good.

"Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. Let all you do be done in love."

Sat, 24 Apr 2010 16:57:23 -0400

“Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. Let all you do be done in love.”

- 1 Cor 16:13

"I am beginning to understand that life is not so much a search for answers, as it is a search for..."

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 06:48:35 -0400

“I am beginning to understand that life is not so much a search for answers, as it is a search for clearings.”

- Mike Yaconelli - From an article called “Clearings”

"If Lucy die, maybe Jesus make Lucy again."

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 23:14:00 -0400

“If Lucy die, maybe Jesus make Lucy again.”

- My three-year old theologian

Being present in parenting

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 15:00:00 -0500

Much of my life at home feels obligatory. It is, in reality, a life more beautiful than most can dream. But for me, many times, I am using brunt-force willpower to go through the motions of things that should flow from natural joy: making pancakes, play time with the girls, talking to my wife. There are occasional moments where I am fully present, where the delightful reality of my life rushes upon my senses and flushes away duty like a clog gets flushed from a drainpipe. But those moments are the exception; I want them to be the rule.

So why does it feel like I am just going through the motions? Perhaps it’s because I’m busy dreaming about that window of free time where I can do what I want to do. Which is what? Answer some email? Feel the burning pressure of trying to write a song I’m happy with for more than a few minutes? Be frozen in indecision over what to do with my free time?

Where has the joy gone?

The joy of life can only be recovered by receiving my calling to be a parent. I have to continually remind myself that it is as glorious and spiritual calling as any other. My problem is that I have developed a habit of thinking that my calling is elsewhere, that real life is found somewhere other than where I am, that if I had just a little more free time I could somehow do something that would fill this hole in my heart. But that simply isn’t true. All of life is in Jesus. And right now, while the girls are little, hands-on parenting is a large percentage of my life.

Lord, I receive this calling as gift. For what a gift it is, especially with the delights that are our daughters. Only You, not any activity, can bring meaning to life. Only a deep, beyond-reason understanding of Your approval can put my aching heart at ease. Thank You that because of Jesus-in-me I, too, am Your beloved son in whom You are well pleased.

Part of enjoying parenting is allowing myself the grace not to live up to my own ideals. The more the ideal picture of myself weighs upon me the less I am able to naturally live up it. But if I allow myself the freedom not to be that ideal, if I live under the grace of God, I then through divine paradox naturally become more of who I want to be. That may mean in practice that the girls watch more shows than I’d like, eat things that can’t be sold at Whole Foods, read Barbie instead of Bible. But it also means in practice that I am more at ease with them and with myself, thankful instead of dutiful, gracious instead of demanding.

As a kid we used to sing that song “this is the...

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:39:48 -0500

As a kid we used to sing that song “this is the day.” I’ve been singing those words lately to various new melodies and yesterday with help from G.K. Chesterton and Psalm 118 (what a great Psalm) it gelled into a song.

Download it here.

This is the day the Lord has made
I will rejoice and be glad in it

This is the day…This is the day…The Lord has made

The Lord waits for the break of dawn
Like a child waits to be spun
He does not tire of repetition
But takes delight in each new morning

(Chorus)

I will not die, no, I shall live
to proclaim the work God did
Open wide those righteous gates
That I may enter and give thanks