Henry (HT), my favorite barn, and Ash Wednesday

Well, i'm back in Warrenton after the trip to San Diego...upon which i returned to the week of ice, i'm finally back to writing again (though I'm sure school will take over my blog again soon). First, i wanted to introduce you to my latest friend Henry (Hermit Thrush). Shey has a funny and fun habit of naming everything, staplers, animals, cars, etc. and I beat her to the punch in naming one of the most fun birds that has come to the house yet. I first met Henry in the forest behind our place. He followed me around the forest, curious, and trying to communicate...shrugging his wings and flapping his tail at me. This was over a month ago, and yet with all the ice we got last week, the birds have been struggling to find some food and so I think Henry came all the way to the house for the first time in search of food. He's been hanging out by our front door, has followed me down the driveway, and comes pretty close...he's one of the most curious birds i've been around. so, i thought i'd share a picture of my latest favorite bird...

below is my favorite barn from the drive to our house from town. the sun came out for the first time in forever yesterday, and i just absolutely love the way the sun hits buildings and trees in the winter. and finally, the sun was hitting the barn in cool manner yesterday and i got to snap a few pictures. the farm estate is up for sale where this barn sits and Shey and i dream about living there one day. it is a wonderful piece of land.

Lastly, for the first time in my life i am participating in Lent or as the Orthodox call it "Bright Sadness." something had been stirring in my spirit to participate this year and to try to understand a bit better what it means to join the church in this season. the youth talked about it last night for about an hour and they really seemed to catch on with the spirit of Lent. they were willing to fast and be disciplined with some areas of their life that i don't think that i'd have the desire to hold to. i am really proud of them. as baptists, many of them have never done anything even remotely close to this, and yet they seemed to understand the significance immediately. i had them (if they chose to participate) write down what they would like to fast and be disciplined about on a piece of paper of which we then burned and i used to mark their heads and bless them. it was pretty neat. after we had finished, one of the students asked if i would like to be marked as well...so that i too could be included. and two of the students made the mark on my head and blessed me...i can't imagine a better first time of beginning Lent.

i am fasting from all soda and upon Shey's recommendation, not purchasing any new music. i'm looking forward to this time, and hope that this practice may become a more regular one for me in the coming years...

New Monasticism, The Bible, and Pastors

Day #2 has come and gone at the NPC. first and foremost I have to say, that the Critical Concerns Course that Todd and I went to discussing a "Return to The Bible" has been really good. More than that, Brian McLaren is such an awesome guy. His humility and generosity never cease to amaze me...he told a story today that some of you may have heard, he shared it at the annual meeting for our association, and it may be on one of the emergent podcasts. it's the story about the pastor who is excitedly talking about how Jesus and the saints are going to come in with swords and kill those who are not Christians in ushering in the kingdom of God and heaven from Revelation, without taking into account the type of literature Revelation is.

one of the most moving parts of the course this morning was in our discussion of how we might learn to read Revelation missionally:

How to read Revelation missionally? We recall and stand up preaching the word of God, preaching the kingdom of God, believing that Christ is Lord and that though we may be killed today, we will join with God and participate with God in the redemption of creation, and in helping bring the coming New Jerusalem, the New City down to earth. Revelation ends with the New City coming down to earth, not in going to heaven.

secondly, i met Karen Ward today, the abbess of Church of The Apostles, who is a really cool woman who led a seminar called: The New Monks: “Whole-Life” Discipleship for Emerging Churches. as i mentioned before i'm at this conference partially for seminary, and one of the relationships that i have been thinking a lot about and am probably going to write my paper on is the relationship between eschatology and spiritual formation in the church. as both Karen mentioned in the conversation we had after the seminar and in the above example of how to read Revelation missionally, an eschatology that beckons us forward in hopeful redemption and co-creation in the world today, not just hope for a disembodied soul in some heavenly realm of existence, is essential in forming new practices and healthy practices in our churches. our eschatology informs so much of the way the church structures and organizes its spiritual and physical life together. i'm reading Doug Pagitt's Church Re-Imagined along with Andrew Perriman's The Coming of The Son of Man: New Testament Eschatology for The Emerging Church along with Peter Rollin's How (Not) to Speak of God in hopes to fuel this conversation of the influence of philosophy, culture, eschatology and spiritual formation upon one another. i find it to be a fascinating relationship that could influence a lot of the vision and life of churches. any thoughts on this relationship...?

something in the water?

So in the last two days I've had some of the best conversations with students that are unlikely to discuss some of the following topics, that I've had since I've been here as youth pastor. One student who is home-schooled and comes from a rather conservative background and story, asked me point blank about my thoughts on the War on Terror and our president's actions regarding specifically the war in Iraq yesterday. And with this student, who rarely talks about much else besides Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and role playing...we embarked on a journey of discovery of some of the great history in our Baptist tradition, our history as Christians, and the value of a prophetic voice and keeping a critical distance from power structures...it was amazing.

Tonight at youth there was a riled up time of prayer requests. One student asked that we pray for the mostly immigrant workers at the local psuedo-fast food place who he works with that he thinks work just as hard as his managers yet make thousands less dollars. This same student also prayed that as a church we would begin to become more doubtful and not just accept everything that is passed down to us, but that we would thoughtfully and generously question our beliefs so that we might be changed by our beliefs and perspectives. Also tonight, a different student asked that we pray for the leadership of our church, and that we might ask why people of other races and other sexes are not in places of leadership at our church. Wow.

Of course, another student (from this same home-schooling family) went on tonight to then talk about how God has a plan for everything, and when I raised some questions about this view, and pointed out how the church has never agreed on this...This student went on to say that she wasn't sure why I was the youth pastor (or possibly if I was even a Christian)if I didn't agree that God was "omnipotent" or "all-powerful" in the ways that she believed God to be all powerful and omnipotent. Oh well. I'm still glad to have the students talking for real...even if this doesn't happen all the time. It's nice to hear their voices...

Potential Worship Band

If I ever start a church, this will be the first band that I try to bring in as a prospective worship band. Check their website out: The website for the best worship band ever!

And better yet, check out a song from their live set (you can watch this above, or click below), featuring my new favorite worship song titled: Trinity Schminity. Don't skip out on the song before the guitar solo...and as a taste of what's to come, one of my favorite lines is:
"Trinity Schminity, don't believe a lie
Trinity Schminity, cuz' if you do
Your soul will surely fry..."

Hands will be raised everywhere. Eyes shall be closed. And everyone is going to grow amazing long beards.