The Power of Prayer

Margaret is one of those people who epitomizes what a life lived in Christ looks like. She is patient, caring, kind, giving, humble, and present in so many ways. She is the one person at Ridge who is involved and connected in ways that allow people at all three of our worship services to know her and connect with her. Her presence transcends the “us” and “them” that exists between the different services and ministries here at the church.

It was quite a blow last week when we learned that Margaret has cancer. As Steve announced it Sunday in all three services there were audible gasps and tears shed.

Our Caring Ministry provided a prayer blanket on Sunday for the members of the church to present to Margaret. It was placed on the altar during worship in each of the three services and people came forward to place hands on the blanket and to pray. It was beautiful and moving to watch people come forward and bow their heads in prayer for Margaret.

When I went to the hospital to see Margaret on Monday afternoon the blanket was laying there next to her in bed – a reminder of the love of her church family and the prayers in which she is surrounded.

I am not one who believes that we as humans can manipulate God through our prayers. However, I know without a doubt that prayer is a powerful force, a force that can change us and bring us more in line with the power of God’s presence and love already at work in the world.

Margaret’s prognosis looks positive at this point and she has begun chemotherapy. I will continue to pray for Margaret and will continue to be moved by and grateful for the love and grace of God at work in this community of faith.

Rock Chalk Perspective

Last night’s KU game didn’t go quite as I might have hoped, but it was a wonderful evening nonetheless.

Heather and I had some friends over to watch the game with us and even though KU ended up losing (partly because they forgot to show up for a good part of the game and partly because MU really played well) we had a wonderful time.

We laughed with friends, watched dogs chase kids, watched kids chase dogs, shared stories of our Thanksgiving celebrations, and enjoyed each others’ company.

KU had a phenomenal regular season and ended up 11-1 with their only loss coming to the team that could very well make a run for the national championship. Heather and I have a great network of friends that make life a lot of fun. All in all I’d say life is pretty good as a Jayhawk in Big Ten Country.

Rock Chalk Game Day

This evening the 11-0 Kansas Jayhawks will face off against the 10-1 Missouri Tigers in front of a National audience. It should be a good game!

I posted earlier in the week about the rivalry and received some fun comments. I particularly appreciated a bit of history that barbmom provided:

As a Jayhawk Alumni let me clarify why the “Border Showdown” against the University of Missouri, TIGERS is so important. In 1861…while Lawrence was still part of the Kansas Territory….border ruffians from Missouri came to Lawrence in the pre-dawn hours and literally burned the town. Many were brutally murdered. The reason…many folks in Missouri did not want the anti-slavery sentiment of Lawrence to influence statehood. They wanted Kansas to be a slave state…It wasn’t and never has been. So the hatred for Missouri runs deep…Culturally, Missouri is still to a large extent part of the south. Kansas is not. If you are interested in learning more…google Quantrill’s Raid.

On Thanksgiving morning I stumbled across the following on espn.com:

Hatred goes back more than a century. Who leads the series? Depends whom you ask. There’s the little matter of the 1960 game, which Kansas won but later forfeited because of an ineligible player. Kansas still counts the game as a win. Missouri doesn’t. By most counts, each team has won 53 times, with nine ties. And then there’s this: The Kansas City Star ran a story last weekend of a Missouri circuit judge who has a picture of a Confederate sacking of Lawrence (home to the University of Kansas) with a gold plaque he installed saying: “1863, Missouri vs. Kansas, Missouri 183, Kansas 0.” Kansas chancellor Robert Hemenway spoke for all of us when he said: “I hardly know how to act.”

It should be a fun night, I predict KU by 7.

Believe the Believable

Wednesday night I concluded a four week book study at Ridge UMC. The text we used was Believe the Believable, a new book by Virgil Brady who was my pastor from the time I was in the 5th grade until he retired when I was in college.

As we introduced ourselves to each other for the last time I asked people to share something for which they were thankful. Several people said they were thankful for Ridge Church and it was clear that they weren’t just sucking up. They spoke sincerely and from the heart about how the people at Ridge have been warm and welcoming and helped them understand and connect to God in ways that they haven’t been able to before. It was quite powerful.

As we concluded our time together I asked them to reflect on how their understanding of God, their understanding of themselves, or the relationship between the two had changed for them during our time together.

A woman in her 50′s observed that for the first time she has felt like she is allowed to ask questions and to not entirely toe the party line. A woman in her 80s chimed in and agreed, saying that it was so refreshing to feel freedom to think things that she had her entire life, but for which she had previously felt guilty.

Another woman, this one in her 30s said she felt like she had been let in, like some door had been opened and she had been invited in to this community where people don’t all take the bible literally and that it’s ok. She seemed excited and refreshed.

As we closed, yet another woman, also in her 30s, shared part of her story. Last week something tough happened to her personally. In the past she said she would respond to things like this as a “drama mama” crying uncontrollably and questioning why God would have allowed something like this to happen. She said she caught herself thinking back to chapter 8 though, and some of our discussion about how God doesn’t cause bad things to happen, but rather is present with us, comforting us when bad things do happen. Before she allowed herself to have a “drama mama” moment she stopped and said to herself, “ok, I can’t control what just happened, so how can I find God at work in this and move forward to learn from this.” What a beautiful thing!

It was a real blessing to work with this wonderful group of people and to share in this small part of their journey with them. I look forward to seeing all of the ways in which God continues to work within and through them in the coming years.

Thanksgiving 2007

God of Love, I pause today to give you thanks.

For a renewed sense of health and strength and purpose, for a body that moves me through my days and connects me to your creation, I am thankful.

For a partner who strengthens me and grounds me, who supports me and inspires me, who makes me a better person than I could be by myself, I am thankful.

For a family, that while spread over many states, remains close in my heart, I am thankful.

For a circle of friends who make me laugh, who help me appreciate life, and who are there for me through the good and bad, I am thankful.

For a community of faith who inspires me, who teaches me about your love and grace, who moves me with their love, I am thankful.

For all of your creation, that sings your praises, tells your story, and invites me to follow your way, I am thankful.

Mac vs. PC

I’m thinking about buying a new computer for home (a laptop) and am looking for some guidance. All of my computing life I’ve been using Windows. However, I’m starting to think I might want a mac. In the next couple of years Heather and I will be starting a family and I’m thinking I’ll want to use the machine quite a bit for photo, video, and web stuff. However, I’ll also use it for word processing, presentation, and web browsing stuff.

I don’t want to be totally swayed by mac’s ad campaign, but must admit I do love them!

And if you haven’t seen them, these parodies are pretty great too.

Please comment and share your thoughts about the mac vs. pc debate. I’d like to be convinced either way.

Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

It’s a fun time to be a Jayhawk fan living in Big 10 country. I was mildly annoyed when the Kansas game against Iowa State wasn’t aired Saturday (really who needed to watch Michigan State play Penn State) but otherwise its just dandy to be flying our Jayhawk flag!

For any readers who don’t follow college sports, the 11-0 football team is now ranked 2nd nationally in every major poll. That’s higher than they’ve ever been ranked. This season they’ve scored an average of 45.8 points per game and their opponents have only scored 14.2. That’s quite a margin. And next Saturday things really heat up as they face #3 Missouri @ Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City and ESPN’s College Game Day comes to town. According to this mornings reports the Jawhawks open as a 2 1/2 point favorite for this game. It should be a good one!

By this time most years I’m done following what has been a lousy football season and have entirely shifted my energy to KU Basketball. While I’ve gotten to see a couple of basketball games already, I’m hoping I won’t be able to entirely shift my focus their way until January 8th, after KU has played in the National Championship football game!

Say it with me now, Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

Conversations with Rob Bell

Last week I posted an email I sent to Rob Bell after seeing his The Gods Aren’t Angry Speaking Tour. He actually wrote back and we’ve exchanged a couple of emails over the last week. I wanted to share that exchange with you readers, particularly to get feedback on my own struggling with the Colossians text and the question of God’s need for a blood sacrifice.

Rob’s First Response – November 8th

jeff,
thanks for the insightful, and more
importantly helpful, feedback. you
summarized my points better than
i said them in the first place! i
appreciate your question about the
colossians passage-how do you
understand the colossians passage?
i can see where you are saying that
my talking about it seems to be a
step in the other direction from
where the message goes. and yes,
i find the idea of God requiring a blood
sacrifce of Jesus terribly troubling as
well. how would you connect the
colossians passage? how would
you explain it? i would love your
insights and suggestions.
thanks for your time,
rob

My Response to Rob – November 8th

Rob,

Thanks for the quick email back. I appreciate your willingness to engage in this conversation. Thanks too for your questions back about my understanding of the Colossians text.

It is my understanding that Colossians was written by Paul (or someone in his name) from within the context of the sacrificial temple system. The author clearly understands the death of Jesus on the cross to be some kind of a final sacrifice. I am not convinced though, that this would have been a sacrifice that God required/intended. Psalm 50 and Micah 6 make it pretty clear that God does not desire blood sacrifice.

I am still tweaking/nuancing how I wrestle with the Colossians text, but currently it goes something like this…

I start with the baseline that God does not require blood sacrifice, that God is and offers to all of creation, unconditional love. With that as my starting point I understand the Colossians text to be more reflective of the position of the early Christian community than that of God.

Yet, I still believe that in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus something unique happens that does allow God and all of creation to be restored into right relationship once and for all. I wonder if the conversation/thought process for God might have gone something like this…

“Ok, ok, ok… I’ve told you and told you that I don’t desire blood sacrifice and you just don’t get it! And now, you’ve gone and killed my son who was doing such beautiful work to share my story of love and reconciliation. You killed him as a common thief because he challenged the systems that you had put in place. I want to end this system of sacrifice once and for all, and I won’t let the brutal murder of Jesus, be the final say.”

The resurrection then is God’s redemption of the horrible murder of Jesus. In the resurrection God says finally and ultimately, that it is not in the temple system of death that God and humanity are reunited, but rather that it is through God’s ability to bring new life from death. This understanding allows God to play an active role in reconnecting with humanity through the resurrection, but it does not imply that God required the blood sacrifice of Jesus.

I hope that these musings are clear enough. I would love to hear your reflections/feedback to the degree that you have time. Also, I would still be very interested in knowing if there is somewhere that you blog so I could read more of your thoughts/reflections on life and ministry.

Thanks again for your time!

Grace and Peace,

Jeff

Rob’s 2nd Response – November 14th

jeff,
okay, let me say right off the top
that you are a writer. i’m serious.
you are able to articulate things
in a very crisp, clear way.

a very rare ability.

i think your words are spot on.
i’ve been very intentional each night
when i get to the new testament
writers to talk about how they spoke
of Jesus and his death from within
the framework they were accustomed
to which is the temple and the altar.

thanks for the insights, the language,
the perspective. have you ever thought
about writing?

peace from somewhere in a parking
lot in pheonix,
rob

I wrote Rob back again last night, thanking him for his time and for the continued conversation.

If you’ve seen the show sometime after Chicago, I’d be curious to know if his information about the death of Jesus is coming across more clearly than it did for me that first night.

I’m also very open to your comments/thoughts regarding my wrestling with the Colossians text and the words/thoughts I’ve so boldly (and admittedly presumptiously) put into God’s mouth/head.

Google Church?

The November 12th, 2007 Newsweek contains an article titled, “Google Goes Globe-Trotting.” The tagline reads, “To train a new generation of leaders, the search giant sends young braniacs on a worldwide mission.”

The article was a quick read, but left me feeling quite convicted (once again) that it is time for change within the church.

Google sent 18 of their APM (Associate Product Managers) on a sixteen day trip to four different countries this past summer. The aim of the trip was to see firsthand the unwired ways of life experienced by billions around the world. Throughout the course of the article we are introduced to Brian Rakowski, the person hired to be responsible for Gmail at the age of 22; Jini Kim, a 26 year-old prepping to make a big presentation on Google Health, and Nick Baum, the 24 year-old responsible for Google Reader.

According to the article Google’s APM program, “seeks brilliant kids and slots them directly into important jobs – no experience necessary.” These young adults in their early to mid-twenties, are running major projects for a company that is defining the way the internet works. These young go-getters are managing teams of people twice their age and learning as they go.

Which leads me to the pressing question – where are the young adults in our churches?

Denominational leaders lament the lack of young adult clergy in the United Methodist Church as well as within other denominations. Pastors and other local church leaders lament the lack of young adult leadership within local congregations. But what is being doing about it?

It has been said that systems produce exactly the same results they are designed to produce. If this is the case, it would seem that systems within both our denominational structures and local churches will need to change to attract and connect with the talented young adults making a difference in our culture and world. I imagine these changes are happening in particular locations and on small scales, but fear there is much work to be done and that it will be an uphill struggle.

Think about the church you are involved with. Are there young adults? What role are they playing? Do you know of places where young adults are leading and playing vital roles within church leadership? What does this look like, how could it be done to a greater degree in other locations?

A Letter to Rob Bell

I attended Rob Bell’s The Gods Aren’t Angry Tour at the Vic Theater in Chicago on Monday evening and left less than completely satisfied with some of what I heard. So, I decided to write Rob and ask for some clarification. I connected with Karen, a PR person at Zondervan and she said she’d forward my questions on to Rob. Here’s to hoping for a response!

Has anyone else seen this show? Did anyone else have similar or other questions?

November 8th, 2007

Rob,

Greetings – my name is Jeff Clinger. I’m 27 years old, a United Methodist Pastor in Indiana, and a huge fan of your ministry. When I was first introduced to the Nooma series several years ago I began using them in teaching youth, young adults, and even older adults. I went to the “Everything is Spiritual” presentation last year and loved it – I’m still waiting for it to be released on DVD. I have read Velvet Elvis and Sex God and have recommended them and given them as gifts to many. Monday night I attended your lecture in Chicago and left feeling less than satisfied.

I am writing today to ask a couple of questions and potentially engage in some dialogue. As a pastor who is quite aware of the fact that people don’t always hear what we’re trying to say, I thought you might be interested in hearing my perceptions and questions following what was, in spite of leaving me less than completely satisfied, a quite enjoyable presentation. I would much rather have this conversation face to face over a beer (we could toast to Ninkasi), but I figure engaging the questions via email is better than not at all.

If I heard you correctly on Monday night I heard you say several things quite clearly:

1) God does not, nor has God ever required blood sacrifices. I was particularly appreciative of your references to Psalm 50 and Micah 6.

2) Jesus did not come to die for our sins. Jesus came, lived a life instituting a new way of living in relationship with God and others, and was killed because his message was a threat (economic and otherwise) to the institution built around temple sacrifice.

3) Many lives in our world today still seem to be lived within that sacrificial system – trying to earn God’s love, trying to be worthy of the love of others as well. However, we don’t need to do this, God loves us as is.

If I misunderstood you on any of these points, the following question might not make sense. If I understood you correctly, what I struggled with was this:

It seemed to me that in addition to the above statements you clearly made the statement – God is now at peace with all of heaven and earth because of the blood sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Did I hear this correctly? If so, how does this reconcile with points 1 and 2 above? To me, the idea that God required the blood sacrifice of Jesus, is troubling theology. It also seems inconsistent with so much of the rest of what I’ve heard and read from you.

Can you offer me some clarification regarding what you were saying? If you don’t have time to respond to me personally I totally understand, but thought you might like to know where I struggled with what you had to say Monday night in the off chance that others will struggle with something similar in the coming days as you continue to travel and speak.

Thanks for all of the time and energy you put into teaching new things. I will continue to follow your work enthusiastically. Speaking of which, do you blog or journal online anywhere? I would be very interested in reading your reflections on life and ministry if they are available anywhere. Should you have any interest in seeing more of where I am coming from, I blog at e-merginginindiana.blogspot.com. If you’d rather respond to my questions via phone rather than e-mail I’d also be happy to set up some time when we could have that conversation. You can call me at … or email me at jeff@ridgeumc.org.

Blessings in all of your continued work.

Grace and Peace,

Jeff