Pink and Jesus

I guess you could say its been a week of lessons, first the woodpile, now the rock concert. In one sense, as usual, I am actually doing research. I am researching people and what they value and trying to discern the whys. As rock concerts go, this one was actually pretty good, i.e. excellent musicians, minimal effects and the volume just right (would stop your pace-maker, but doesn’t really hurt your ears too bad).

Alecia Moore, better known by her stage name of Pink (or P!nk depending on your source) is a sassy, spoofy, goofy, snarling, hysterical artist that doesn’t take herself too seriously. She says of herself, “I decided at 15 that I didn't want to be one of those artists that gets up and sings love songs they don't mean. I decided that I was going to be me to the fullest extent, that my songs were going to reflect relationships I've had, things I've been through, and even the stuff I'm embarrassed about.” In that sense music is to Pink, as blogging is to David.

The amazing (and disconcerting) thing about going to a rock concert, is that you see the depth of influence that a pop star has on people and culture. You get to see first hand what people want in entertainment. You can see what really moves people in their hearts and souls.

Now I was arguably the oldest paying customer at the concert last night . . . several people thought I was with the band . . . and I only know one song that Pink sings (which I think we should start singing in church!), so I am in no way a typical fan of Pink, nor was I even a typical rock concert attender last night, and several young folks from our church just about swallowed their tongues when they saw me there. But while surrounded by several thousand teenie-boppers, I realized quickly that they knew every single song by heart and they were singing along with her . . . on every single song. The crowd loved her energy and her wild sense of style . . . in a word Pink is authentic and real (or at the very least gives a super strong impression of being that) by the culture’s definition of authentic.

And here is the rub for the church and those of us who are members of the Kingdom . . . that authenticity which was apparent in droves at a rock concert, is sorely lacking in the church. We don’t inspire trust, followership, commitment, nor deep emotion because at some level we appear to, or actually do, lack authenticity.

I see this sharply both in me and in the people in the church I pastor. I have one group (my group) who view and live faith as an intellectual exercise -- it’s about what you know (thus the person who knows the most or best “wins”) and I have a second group who view and live faith as name and claim whatevers - it’s about what you decide God wants to bless you with (thus the most positive pollyanna on spiritual steroids wins) and these two groups dominate the church.

All the real people are in the middle and they can’t compete with the seemingly intimidating knowledge of intellectual group, nor can they identify with NIACI (name it and claim it) group in their everyday lives. To these people caught in the middle, neither expression of the Kingdom seems authentic or real. No one seems to be just comfortable in their own skin within a Christian context. We are essentially asking God to undo what we have made ourselves to be . . . and where is the authenticity in that? Perhaps I will get fired, but I think Pink was having a flash of real Jesus in her life, when she said that “I am going to be me to the fullest extent.” Jesus wants us to be us . . . that unique expression of His creative genius is lost every time we force someone into our particular mold (pun intended) of Christianity.

“I coming up, you better get this party started!“

Lessons from the woodpile

One of my most recent activities is chopping wood for the dirty old man next door. Let’s face it, I need to exercise and he is 86 years old . . . and completely utterly and totally lost. Did I mention he is 86? Not too much time left, but then again, who knows how much any of us have?

So for the past week or so, when I get back from my daily workout, I am already sweaty and stinky, so what better time to split some wood for Uncle Lybe? I have been learning some lessons in the woodpile.

1. He owns an axe that is older than me! And he is darn proud of it. I have listened to lots and lots of “when I was your age” stories these past 10 days. It has given me some perspective and understanding to what makes this guy tick. And he is having a ball telling all his old cronies that he has an American splitting wood for him (for free of course).
2. Lybe is afraid of dying and he doesn’t know what to do about it, yet he refuses to talk about it. I continue to gain credibility as I chop wood, but I also am spending more of that credibility as I am starting to push because I am not remotely certain that this man will live long enough to burn the wood I am chopping for him. Eternity is urgently calling him.
3. I have also learned that I would rather do something for him, than be with him. Shows you how American I still am even after all these years in the Hairy Armpits. Mind you that Lybe only wants to drink beer or moonshine and talk about young women and their many virtues . . . and while I can do that appropriately and chastely, I can’t at 8:00 in the morning. My weak American frame cannot handle dirty jokes nor alcohol at such an early hour. Am I making excuses?
4. I am learning too, that a world view without God can only chase after the most insignificant things in life . . . and that even armed with that certainty and knowledge that I still can be tempted to do the same. Crap.
5. Today as I sat with him an had a glass of water after our chop session, he wanted to know if there were other people in the world like me? I barked with laughter and told him “I sure hope not.” “I am serious!” he said. “And so am I” I told him. “Why do you cut wood for me?” he asked. “Because I can and you can’t, because I like you and think you have real potential for such old guy, because I need to learn from you and you need to be more like me (in the sense that he is placing his trust in the Savior), and simply because we are neighbors and I want to show you that not all Americans start wars and cause problems.” I said to him as I was leaving.
6. The final lesson that I learning so far is that I need far more wisdom than ever before to help a 86 year old blind guy with a really dirty mind, to place his simple trust in a Savior. Leading the young is simple in comparison, and I have this terrible feeling in my heart that Lybe is going to choose to not believe in the end . . . his whole life and his complete understanding of it is pulling him one direction, and on the other side is just one foreigner. Man, I am praying that Holy Spirit is cutting loose with this guy, and soon.

100 in the shade

There is hot, and then there is hot. Right now it is 100.2 in the shade! This is our 5th straight 100+ day, but it is the first day that our shady thermometer reads over 100 degrees. It is difficult to get anything accomplished. Heat inertia has taken over unfortunately and that is super bad, because as always there is tons to accomplish . . . always more work than time or energy allow. I wonder how hot it will eventually get today . . . they were only calling for 105 or so. Man!

An 8 hour drive north of us, it’s 20 degrees cooler! A 2.5 hour flight going north to Berlin Germany, the temp is 40 degrees cooler!!! Thus one can conclude that this is not a Europe-wide heat wave that we are experiencing, this is more of a local phenomena.

It’s usually quite hot here in the summer, but this is hot hot even for us. This morning I was chopping and splitting wood for my 86 year old neighbor, who kept trying to give me moonshine to drink “to combat the heat” he told me. On an empty stomach, I doubt that whisky would have cooled me off much and I begged off, spouting work reasons and the very early hour.

It is difficult to function and be effective in extreme temps like these . . . and it is difficult to function and be effective spiritually when we find ourselves in extreme situations and extreme challenges. But that is when the spiritual is supposed to kick in, right?

Well I am not so sure. It seems to me that spirituality needs to be something we exercise daily and expose daily to the stresses of our lives, rather than thinking of it as some kind of magic carpet or blanket designed to get us out of the toughest situations. But usually it seems, that the people I know and person that I am, perceives spirituality to be something I have rather than something I am. Thus when it is 100 degrees in the shade of life, way hotter and more difficult than I am comfortable with, I falter. It’s like I am looking for a way out, instead of steadfastly working through it. Clearly I need to remember that my connection to the Father is something I am, not something I have.

The boyfriend chronicles 2

The news gets even better. Jelena (read about her here) was not content to just rag Bilijana about her new boyfriend, but she too decided that she needed a Savior! There have been more people come to Christ in the last months, than we had in previous years. We heard about this one on Saturday while we were baking in 100+ degree heat, building a new church building in the city where Jelena, Bilijana and Vale live.

Saturday there 13 of us out there dying in the heat and merciless sun, building frames for concrete walls, and digging out a wall in the stone-like soil. Here are some photos of our guys working in the Sahara-known-as-Kymanovo.

These gentlemen all attend the International Church in the Hairy Armpit and volunteered their time and money and sweat and blood so that people like the three girls mentioned above can find a Savior. Why don’t you get involved too? Write me and I can list the ways that you can make a difference. Is it time for a revival in the Hairy Armpit?

"Do you have a new boyfriend?"

Jelena was teasing Bilijana. “You are just beaming” she said, “Have you found a new boyfriend?” Bilijana’s smile did not falter at all, but her answer was unexpected, “No boyfriend; I found a Savior!”

Bilijana is the result of two years of steady weekly investment and work by my wife Brenda. People inch toward Christ here and have huge social and cultural hurdles to cross in order to embrace the Savior. Thus Bilijana’s statement is all the more powerful. And frankly we don’t hear these things very often here in the Hairy Armpit. Bilijana came to Christ twice as fast as the average believer here!

Then I was talking to a powerful businessman today who attends the International church where I pastor and he was telling me about some folks that he has been cultivating for two solid years! They inch forward and then take two inches back, three forward, two back. It is difficult to have the patience for these kinds of investments in people, and even more difficult to see God’s big picture in the whole process. But in the end, as Bilijana discovered last week, a Savior is far superior to a new boyfriend.

The ruined harvest

There is little good to say about the Hairy Armpit in general. We are far from those we are closest to, live in homes that do not belong to us, work with people who do not look, smell, think or speak like we do. But the food is usually the best in the world, so there are some good things. The number one export for the country of the HA is wine. That also means that we have some of the best grapes in the whole world. Except this year.

Last summer was too cool, the winter too warm (no snow) and now the Spring too wet! So as you can see from this photo this is what the grape harvest is looking like this year. 70% of the grapes are ruined on every bunch (this one is actually better than most of ours.


The spiritual harvest can easily be ruined as well. If we and the churches we lead don’t have the right climate and balance required to produce a healthy harvest, it is way too easy to ruin all the potential. It can be done by focusing too many resources on ourselves, or by having an inward focus, or by overcrowding the new believers (then they fall away because they can’t develop their own roots) or by not nurturing them carefully and faithfully as they are finding Christ . . . and probably a million other ways. But most of all we lose the harvest, simply because we are not farming most of the time.

This year, millions of dollars will be lost in the Hairy Armpit because of the imbalances in the weather. Many will be hungrier than usual. Many will not have work at process time. Barrel makers are going to lose most of their contracts, seasonal workers who live off the money they make from picking and processing grapes, better start looking for new jobs. And the church, and especially us as leaders, need to be completely and totally intentional about the climate in our fellowships.

It's people I can't stand

Mark preached a great message Sunday morning. His point about spiritual indifference was powerful. Jesus and His agenda, Kingdom, plans, desires -- all need to move me and motivate me. But sometimes they don’t, and that is what Mark accurately nailed as spiritual indifference.

As I have tried to examine my heart these last 24 hours and look at the causes, reasons and cycles of spiritual indifference in my soul, I think I am starting to see a pattern. It’s people I can’t stand.

Don’t get me wrong, I like most people and most people like me. Those aren’t the ones that I am talking about. No, I am talking about the people who are immune to the wisdom and influence of others. I am talking about the people who do their own gig at the complete expense of the rest of the group. I am talking about people who attempt to hold everyone accountable, while never being accountable in any way themselves. I am talking about people who negotiate and politic their point of view behind the scenes, and erode people’s confidence in their leadership.

I so wish these types of people were bloggers! Get their ideas, perceptions and points of views out there for everyone to see . . . rather than leaving me feeling like I am fighting phantom ghosts that negate all things potentially good in life, church and relationships.

Many are the days that I wish I could stay buried in studying God’s word, and quietly communing with Him, and have little to no contact with people like these phantoms . . . but unfortunately this is a people business, not a function of solitude. These are the days I want to be a mechanic rather than a pastor/missionary.

"A beer drinking club with a running problem"

This is The Hash club. It is quite the group of expatriates. Hash clubs exist in most major cities around the rest of the world. It is in many ways, the church (small c) of the International community. There are currently almost 1500 hashes around the world. You can see the Hairy Armpit Hash site here.

One of our church folks attend the local hash and has invited me to join in with them. It’s a natural place to meet non-praying folks. Again as I stated in the paragraph above, this is the church of the International Community. They have a Hash Bible, and also The Religious Advisor and believe it or not, the Hash Hymnal.

Penetrating clubs like this for the express purpose of being spiritual whatevers to them, with them, for them, is not what I am suggesting. Instead I am suggesting that we join in with them for the simple reason that we love people, because God loves people -- winning people in 2007 involves lots more caring it seems, than in previous decades. Perhaps I am wrong since I have only 4.5 under my belt thus far, but that is the way that it seems to me.

But in the super-superficial world of expatriate relationships, it may be a real road into people’s lives, and a fine way to see how God wishes to utilize us for His best purposes in the lives of Hashers. Their twisted motto listed in the title of this post sounds like a great place to meet real people, not the make-believe kind. What do you think?

LifeWork

BB describes lifework as “Your LifeWork is the activity that is worthy of the time, energy, and money you have left in life.” The standard Catholic stance on this subject is that only working for God is worthy of this category of lifework. Evangelicals often have echoed that position. I am not so sure that the Catholic/Evangelical position is the correct one.

It all but shouts that my lifework as a religious Kingdom worker, is inherently more valuable than my father’s work as a mechanic. The problem with this line of thinking that elevates vocational, paid, full-time ministry workers as doing a worthy lifework, is that implies that God values His church drones more than His other creations. That seems patently wrong.

It is called by Oz Guinness the Catholic heresy, that clergy/ministry workers are the ones really following God. But what if God ordained my father to be a mechanic? (And just for the record, he has performed far more miracles in his life as a mechanic than I ever will as a minister). What if God in His throne room deemed the most important work for my father to do, was keep people’s automobiles running and on the road? That is certainly his lifework then, is it not? But where is the spiritual element, many ask me?

Well when I do what I do well, that is about as spiritual as life ever becomes. Excellence reflects God, far better than my passionate or eloquent words might ever do. In my father’s handiwork, I see my Father’s Handiwork.

Here in fact is a photo of one of his recent projects or two . . . but of course this is just for fun, it couldn’t be a lifework could it? By the way, happy Father’s day Daddy, I am very proud of your lifework.

Leading the band

There are few things more gratifying, and fewer still more terrifying. Leading the band. Leading what is not your top skill level, striving for what is beyond you and beyond your abilities, and doing it as a group. That frankly is a recipe for constant stress and struggle. That is where I am at.

It is gratifying to learn new skills, or greatly improve those basic skills you might have, but it is altogether another thing to place them in front of the band at practice and the larger congregation on Sunday. Now amplify it . . . literally . . . where every mistake and mis-strum can be heard in vibrant Fender amplifier quality, and there you have it, the ultimate humbler. Miss a chord, or sing the wrong verse, two events which occur regularly I might add, and then you know what it is to eat crow every Sunday. Now add to that mix of beyond-your-skills reach, 7 other band members, and most of them reaching for the very edge of their abilities as well, and the result can be chaos. Or it can be a miracle.

Making miracles week after week is anything but mundane . . . leading the band to worship . . . is perhaps the most overwhelming and awe-inspiring part of walking along with God each day. Now if I could only find the unbreakable pick.

The spectacular death of the fly

It must be full moon soon or something. We seem to be the epicenter of the strange, difficult and unusual. People in the church acting downright strange too. Maybe I am paranoid and strange myself . . . it is a mystery that I cannot seem to solve at the moment.

Anyhoo the spectacular death of the fly was just that. Brenda is cooking breakfast this morning since the kids are freshly arrived for the summer break (hooray!) and of course it smells deadly, and proved to be so for the fly in question.

So as Brenda is taking the bacon off of the hot burner, I mean it is glowing red, the doomed housefly buzzes around and around and around . . . and then lands on the red hot burner, all but instantly burned to a crispy critter. We had never seen a fly commit suicide before. But this one did.

It gives new meaning to the axiom, if you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen!

Cockroaches in the church

There are few critters in the world that cause stronger reactions in people than do cockroaches. My worship team got to church on Sunday at our usual hour before the service to do a final run-through on all the songs. And we discovered a big fat live cockroach on the church floor near the front where the worship singers stand. I ignored it as I do most things in life that don’t interest me very much. But Wendy went over there and pick the cockroach up in her hands to take it outside before she killed, so that we would not have its eggs left laying around in the church for more cockroaches to come in the future.

Now the cockroach itself had caused varying levels of shudders and eeeckks out of different people, but when Wendy picked in up in her hand, that caused a much larger reaction in most everyone! People were totally grossing out about the idea of touching it with the bare hands. Personally I thought it was hysterically funny, especially about how matter of fact Wendy was about the whole thing. She did the right thing, no matter how distasteful.

I did not do the right thing. I was ignoring the cockroach. In fact I had saw it earlier when I first arrived (I was the first person there) and it was a big mama - hard to ignore. But I did, just hoping it would go away. Wendy did the right thing. As I have thought about this whole incident this week, I have come to realize that we rarely do what is right in the church when we have people-versions of cockroaches, i.e. problems. Problems that need to be dealt with in straight-forward, matter of fact ways, that lead to the right result.

Too often I think most leaders are like me, ignoring the problem until there are too many to ignore any longer. If we had only picked up the first problem and took it outside and dealt with it properly, it would have laid no eggs for your future terrorization.

hacksaws, Diplomats and motorcycles

Whatever could those three items have to do with one another? I am not remotely certain to be perfectly honest. But it happened like this: I had been biking early Saturday morning up the mighty Vodno mountain that the capital city lays against to the South. I was wringing wet from sweat . . . it’s 10 kilometers to the end of the asphalt and 9 of them are uphill. I finally reached the end of the asphalt, took a short rest, guzzled water, put on my helmet and glasses, and started back down the hill.

The going down hill part is my favorite part of this particular exercise route, as it is serious downhilling! Very fast. Finally I get to the bottom of the mountain and then I swing West toward my neighborhood. As I am riding past the U.S. Ambassador’s home, out of one of the neighboring drives comes a scooter tearing out of there.

Now scooters are more common than grass here, but this one arrested my attention for three reasons: 1) the man riding it was uncommonly large (the vast majority of people here are very thin), 2) the scooter had diplomatic plates!!!, 3) the man was carrying/holding a hacksaw.

This is a puzzle that I have not been able to figure out to save my life! Why a diplomat on a scooter? Diplomats can afford cars - nice cars. Moreover, why a really big guy on a scooter - dressed up for work in dress clothes and shoes no less!?? Why the hacksaw? And why not take the car (or a taxi if your car is not working!) if you need to carry tools into the office?? And I have about 35 other similar questions that I will not bore you with at the moment. My point is simply this, what am I missing from this picture? What am I not seeing and understanding properly for this encounter to make sense to me?

I preached on the incarnation and the Trinity on Sunday. I will confess that I don’t “get” either one of them either. I was sweating bullets on Sunday as I confessed my problems and struggles in understanding what God is, and has done. As C. was saying last night, it’s as if I think I can almost get it, but then it flies away. I just don’t have enough brain power to get my hands around this Divine Reality. No harder to understand I guess than hacksaws, Diplomats and motorcycles.

No you can't yes you can no you can't yes you can

This is life in the Hairy Armpit. It is all about who you know. It is not a competence model, it is a relationship-connection-good-old-boy system. It’s actually like heaven functions. Heaven is no democracy! Heaven is a who-you-know system. It’s not fair, it’s not equal, it is not democratic.

Today was a perfect example of how this works here in the HA. I have been having Internet Connection problems for the last 6 months, and about 4 months ago, I even had a secondary system put in so that when the primary ISP went out, I would have back-up . . . which I have had to use extensively.

Well I finally had enough this weekend. After finally forcing these guys to come and work on my system, they were here all Friday morning getting my system all souped-up for steady, consistent, stable internet service. Yeah right. It worked for about two hours after they left. It was down all weekend. I cut the cord this morning. Even though we had a contract that still had 10 months remaining on it, they let me go without a whisper. I am on a first name basis with not only all the technical support people, but their wives and children and gynecologists as well. I think they were almost glad to see me go. ☺

Then I went to the cable internet company, those folks who were my back-up system for the last four months. Now they were about to become my primary system. Oh yeah, stable internet! Yes!

Well she told me “no!” “It’s not the end of the month. You can only make changes at the end of the month.” My heart sunk. It’s only the 4th of June, and I had already exceeded my monthly allotment of internet data with these folks . . . what was I going to do for the next 26 days? I cajoled, I asked really really nicely, ok, . . . I begged. She did not even begin to budge. The line behind me got longer and longer. I did not care. Communication with my parents and children was on the line, I was just about to get on my knees and offer free baby delivery services (I was an EMT at one point many years ago) and free weddings for all her children and grandchildren, when the man walked in.

The man is the cable company’s CEO. I had met him while having a coffee with Ray a couple of weeks ago. Since I defy categorizing, Mr. CEO was more than a bit fascinated with me. He recognized me instantly. He pumped my hand and asked me how my life was motoring along? I told him that I was in internet hell and needed a savior. He asked, how can I help? I told him that this little gal behind the desk was tenaciously following company policy that he should give her a raise in pay! But I also was desperate for a internet intervention and what could I possibly do to get one??

He told the girl to change my account status. And my status instantly went from “this cannot be done” to “no problem.” Who you know in the HA matters for more than anything else. I am so very glad that heaven is like the HA and not North America where we live and die by the law.

Ants on the strawberries, grubs in the lettuce

Washing your vegetables in the hairy armpit is far more important than what you might encounter in North America. Unless eating ants and grubs of various sorts does not bother you at all, this is a prudent course of action. Today while washing a pile of strawberries, the rinse showed quite a few ants in the sink afterwards! And I think I crunched a few while eating them (strawberries) after music practice with the girls. I have also noticed that clear-body grubs love to camp out in between the leaves of lettuce on every head! It behooves you to carefully wash each and every leaf.

Probably the bugs and insects under discussion here, would not actually hurt you if you ate them, in fact since I have eaten so many over the years, I am certain of this truth. Yet it is the idea of eating raw, uncooked insects that give me the willies! I am such a girl I know, in fact I wrote about that yesterday and you can read that here.

I need to develop the same problem with bugs crawling around near my heart and soul. Unfortunately, many times those bugs (sin, demons, temptations) don’t give me the willies at all! In fact I often welcome them . . . the more the merrier it seems. I am not bothered at all about how they are swarming around and crawling all over. I need to get out the spiritual insecticide and clean house. Every house needs that occasionally.