Archive - November, 2010

A Benediction for Black Friday

November 26, 2010 in advent, consumption, imagination, jesus, kingdom, love, missional with 1 Comment

It’s coming. The day marked for the celebration of the birth of Jesus is nearing. Comments are frequently made about the origination of the holiday being pagan. I would argue that which was pagan and made religious has largely become pagan again. The “celebration” that we now call Christmas has become the commercial exploitation of God’s incarnation. Is there another way of celebrating?

It’s here. Black Friday. The day after Thanksgiving, millions of people are sacrificing a full night of sleep and either stay up all night or awake very early to drive their vehicles to shopping malls and retail stores across the country. Long lines, crammed traffic grids, and hateful behaviors are no deterrent from the cost savings for the mass purchasing of items that may or may not be needed.

Black Friday is an interesting social phenomenon. Why do consumers think they are saving money? Do consumers consider what money actually is? Are the majority of purchases on Black Friday for items that would be purchased even if “sales” didn’t exist? Is the purchasing of items encouraging unfair trade or even slavery in other countries? May we all begin to consider the fullness of what it means to consume, buy, worship, purchase, and enslave while imagining what alternative behavior may be more life sustaining as we celebrate the coming of God into human reality.

I have three ideas/propositions wrapped up in one benediction for how we might go about Black Friday:

May we be most concerned about our relationships with others. May we purchase only what we or others need. May we embrace our imaginative capacities.

Are you artistic?

November 24, 2010 in art, creation, love, minimalism with 0 Comments

“The more I think it over, the more I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.” – Vincent Van Gogh

Go ye, therefore, into all the world and create.

Where is God?

November 22, 2010 in creation, green, Theology with 9 Comments

The reality of God’s presence has taken on a whole new meaning.

I have recently been doing some reading by Michael Lodahl, Michael Brierly, and John Cobb on creation, God’s immanence, ecology, God’s need for humanity, and panentheism (not to be confused with pantheism). After writing a number of more academic pieces on these ideas it is difficult to fully process through my thoughts in a brief post. Nonetheless, I have been experiencing a renewal to take more seriously my position as a human on this earth with the responsibility of representing God and allowing God’s presence to be known. As a pastor, priest, and poet, all of which I aspire to be but typically fall short, it is a privilege to be a distributor of the sacraments. Sacraments, quite simply, may be defined as an outward sign of inward grace or any physical things “under,” “in,” or “through” which God comes. Might God come to make himself known through all things? ALL things? And if he does, as a giver and partaker of sacraments, shouldn’t I consider how I treat the created world?

When difficult things happen in life it seems quite normal for us to ask or lament, “Where is God?” Even when things are good, we wonder, “Hmmm… Where is God?”

If God is really everywhere, then where is he? Don’t we typically think that God is somewhere in the space that we call “air,” “space,” or “the heavens” that is infinitely over-and-above us? But what about the space that is infinitely near, local, proximal, breathable, and touchable?

Is it possible that God is present and comes to be known in and through all created things?

What does it mean to be Christian?: In public

November 18, 2010 in jesus, justice, Theology with 1 Comment

For some reason (likely the influence of the modern era appel to reason, enlightenment, and science), we like to separate things. We like categories, labels, systems, and the fences that keep us isolated from others and from ourselves. The dichotomization of our private and public worlds provides a sense of protection, privacy, and the perceived safety of unvulnerability.

“In flight from public controversy this person or that reaches the sanctuary of a private virtuousness. Such people neither steal, nor murder, nor commit adultery, but do good according to their abilities. But in voluntarily renouncing public life, these people know exactly how to observe the permitted boundaries that shield them from conflict. They must close their eyes and ears to the injustice around them. Only at the cost of self-deception can they keep their private blamelessness clean from the stains of responsible action in the world. In all that they do, what they fail to do will not let them rest. They will either be destroyed by this unrest, or they will become the most hypocritical of all Pharisees.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Works, v.6

What does it look like to be Christian? We can’t be Christian in the confines of our that which we call private. What does it mean to be Christian in public? To engage conflict with peace? To take action in a broken world?

Do we only exist for ourselves?

November 17, 2010 in green, life, Theology with 1 Comment

The western, modern church often seeks to assure that people “are going to go to heaven when they die.” I have often thought that line of thinking is somewhat selfish and incomplete when considering the vastness of God and his love. Do we really only exist for ourselves and an afterlife?

Michael Lodahl states that “clearly, a soteriology that becomes fixated only upon the human is insufficient and untrue to our identity as creatures existing inextricably within this vast, mysterious, and beautiful creation. Such anthropocentrism in Christian theology has tended to create brittle distinctions between us human beings and the complex network of creaturely existence in which we live, move, and have our being by God. It has thereby fostered an unhealthy and unbiblical alienation between human and world that undercuts respect and empathy for the resilient yet vulnerable fabric or our natural environment.”

What does it mean for us to move beyond ourselves? How do we appreciate our natural environment and seek to enact salvation and life in our current world – on this earth?

Should I have been “at church” instead?

November 14, 2010 in Church, Ecclesia, family, imagination, kyla, love, parenting with 0 Comments

http://player.vimeo.com/video/15287137

Kyla, Koalas, and Pachyderms from Travis Keller on Vimeo.

Trendy Christianity

November 11, 2010 in Church, consumption, Ecclesia, food, kingdom, Theology, worship with 5 Comments

While sharing a meal with some friends in the Dining Commons of MVNU, the conversation centered around the type and quality of food that we put in our bodies. Someone was eating hummus, which led us to begin trying to list the Top 10 Most Trendy Foods. With the help of Nate Okuley, John Ballenger, Scott Lomasney, Ryan Schmitz, and Lyndsey Oldham, I landed with a list as follows:

1. Sushi. Suddenly, everyone likes raw fish wrapped in seaweed. For those that don’t really like sushi but still want to be trendy there is the standby California Roll.

2. Dunkin Donuts. This one is for the trendy people that don’t want to be trendy because Starbucks Coffee is too trendy for their need to be different and edgy. Starbucks is better. So is Cup O’ Joe. So is Nevin Street.

3. Guacamole. It’s very green and very tasty. I have yet to have this avacado concoction quite like that in Juarez, Mexico, handmade by Hermana Elodia, la pastora de La Iglesia Del Nazareno Juarez.

4. Yogurt. There used to be TCBY. Now there’s Yagööt.

5. Fish Tacos. Apparently it’s an acquired taste and/or is popular with the folks in the southern California area. I’ll take my taco with no fish unless I’m really trying to be trendy. I’ll eat my salmon grilled on a cedar plank with Ben Winkler.

6. Hummus. The word is transliterated (like the word “baptize” from the Greek “baptizo”) from Arabic. It’s really not fancy. Just smashed chickpeas with some pepper, oil, garlic, and/or salt.

7. Burritos. Even though Chipotle is starting to become or already is mainstream it still counts as trendy along with Noodles and Co.

8. Sweet Potatoes. Often found in a fry version complete with fresh-ground sea salt, this orange delicacy is prepared in many forms and has found itself overshadowing the Idaho original.

9. Hibiscus. Green tea and pomegranate tea (or pomegranate anything) have been around long enough. It’s time for them to move over for hibiscus.

10. Local, organic vegetables. Let’s be honest, anything organic could have made the list, right? Organic is taking over.

The local, organic, and fair trade consumption trends are proving that “trendy” is not always bad (take note Dunkin’ Donut coffee lovers). But when does “trendy” turn bad? Are there trends in Christianity that are counterproductive to the Kingdom of God? Could one unhealthy trend possibility be the “megachurch movement,” where congregants desire to attend the sexiest, stylish production that is primarily a place for personal consumption and conscience appeasement? What about the “house church” model? Is it just a trendy phenomena for those who despise the megachurch model and want their own homogenous self-owned gathering or is there worth and substance behind it? At what point are our practices of Christianity just cultural adaptations and pleas for some type of desired relevance? Do we do the trendy Christianity thing because its trendy or because it really represents the Kingdom of God?

What were you made for?

November 8, 2010 in art, creation, love, missional, psychology with 0 Comments

Have you ever found yourself wondering, “What in the world am I doing with my life?” You may be a professional in a certain vocation that feels unfulfilling. You may be wondering what degree program to enter? You may have already completed most or all of your college credits and find yourself thinking, “Why, oh, why did I major in this?” Maybe you enjoy your field of study or vocation but the rest of life just feels empty and meaningless.

I implore you to consider the question, “what were you made for?”

Some may say, “I wasn’t made.” Others would assert that they are made to love God and love others. Let’s assume for a moment that we do want to seek good and, therefore, want to act lovingly toward others. Let us also operate from the framework that we each possess an imaginative capacity that allows us to consider  and create a vision for life that infuses our unique passions, interests, and strengths with a purpose higher than our own self interest or preservation.

What would that look like for you? What were you made for?