derasha: introduction
This weekend, we release Derasha: This Thing Called Church Vol. 002. Next Wednesday we begin our Mid-Weeks again, spending four weeks exploring the Church. What follows is an excerpt of the introduction. If you would like more information on how to get a full copy of Derasha, please email me.
Introduction
The morning air was crisp and cool. Frost covered my lawn and my breath crystallized into a small cloud. I walked toward the garage, got into my car, started it up and backed out of the driveway. My kids were watching and waving to me from the front window as I pulled away from the house. After a quick stop at Starbucks I was on my way. It was the first day of my new job. Part of me was excited for what would be, and part of me was nervous about what could be.
Music played in the CD player, but I was not listening to whatever was playing. It was just noise to accompany my mind as it wandered into the future trying to see what was around the corner. Sunlight was streaming through my car’s windows with a golden, brown-sugar color. The landscape gave off an eerie glow as I drove past frost covered fields that reflected the sunlight. Most of the time was spent between praying, reflecting on my life over the last ten months, and thanking God for the opportunity he had given me. Then it happened.
The building where the people of Ridge Point Church meet came into view as I crested a hill heading west on I-196. Today was my first day as a pastor of that faith community. Though I had been there many times I was unsure where to go upon walking into the building.
My mentor, Ed, once told me that on his first day at the church where he and I served together, he went into the auditorium of his church and spent time praying. This seemed like a good idea. I walked into the auditorium and sat on the edge of the platform to pray for the people who would fill that room over the next years of my life. I asked that God would use me to lead others into a deeper relationship with his Son Jesus. I sat and prayed for the church called Ridge Point.
I am in love with this group of people, trying in the power of the Holy Spirit to change the world. I am crazy enough to believe we can. My hope as you read this book is that you would find the same love, joy, hope and vision that Jesus has for his group of followers. As we journey together may you fall in love with this thing called Church.
supra partisan
If you did not catch the State of the Union address, you missed something wonderful. George Bush highlighted extreme poverty as a national priority. This is amazing. In the past, presidents have sometimes failed to even mention the fight against extreme poverty.
Some would call this a Bi-Partisan accord. However, it seems to me to be "Supra-Partisan" (all those from the Green Party may applaud). I say this because this is something far above politics, power, or voting. This is about men, women, and children made in the image of God. So often we frame things with an elephant or an ass to sway opinions or thoughts. We must make no mistake, the fight against the evil Extreme Poverty must never be tied to a political party. It must be tied to us as people recognizing that our those who are equal to us are dying everyday from treatable illnesses, and lack of clean water. This is indeed Supra-Partisan.
The attention being given to Extreme Poverty is due in part because of the work of the One Campaign. Our voices are being heard, and those in power are responding. We saw this on Tuesday when President Bush reaffirmed his commitment to the fight against extreme poverty and global AIDS.
Now we need to make sure that the White House takes the next step for this bold vision by fully funding poverty-focused development assistance in his 2008 budget request. As Congress and the president work together in the coming year, we have an opportunity to make real progress. Congress agrees that development assistance is one of the most cost-effective and powerful tools we have to create a better, safer world. Yet, the United States is ranked next to last amongst wealthy countries in terms of how much we spend on lifting up developing nations. The amount of money it takes to save lives and help developing countries is tiny -- just an additional 1% -- compared to our massive 2.8 trillion dollar federal budget.
This is one of our best opportunities to change that. When the president submits his budget request to Congress in the next two weeks, it will shape the conversation for the coming year. At this moment, a letter from you means so much more, because the president so rarely hears from constituents about global poverty.
Please take a moment and SEND A LETTER TO OUR PRESIDENT asking him to fully fund poverty-focused development assistance in his 2008 budget request. We have come a long way in the last two years, imagine what we can achieve in two more.
one returnee
Yesterday I went out to lunch with a brother and sister who live in Uganda. On the way to lunch I asked Harriet about her work in Uganda. She works with the Anglican Church educating women about reading, parenting, basic hygiene, and energy saving stoves. She was a well educated women, who spent her time taking care of others.
Her friend Michael spoke about his work with those who have escaped after being kidnapped by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Some may have heard of the LRA through the movie Invisible Children. The LRA is based in southern Sudan. They have committed numerous abuses and atrocities, including the abduction, rape, maiming, and killing of civilians, including children. In particular, the LRA abducts numerous children, and force them into slavery as guards, sex slaves, and soldiers. The children are beaten, raped, and forced to march until exhausted, abducted children are forced to participate in the killing of other children who had attempted to escape. Everyday these children live with the threat of being killed by their oppressors.
Those who manage to escape, called returnees, often are rejected by their villages. This is because some are forced to go back and abduct children from their own village. Some, in the words of Michael, are “killing machines.” He explained that from the age of 9 until they escaped at the age of 19 they have been taught to kill and destroy.
These are the sons and daughters with whom Michael (who works withWorld Vision) works. He helps them reorient their world. He helps them understand what normal is. He spoke of these returnees as though they were his own children. It was amazing to be sitting with two such people.
When Michael finished speaking to us about his work, Harriet said, “I was a returnee.” I looked at this woman, who was so loving, gentle and humble unable to wrap my mind around what her words meant. Before I could say anything she continued, “I will not tell you about all the things that happened there. But I know that God had his hand on me. Now I can be used for his glory.” Harriet had been made inhuman by the LRA. Harriet knew pain, terror, humiliation and fear in ways that no human should. Yet here she was giving herself to the poor.
All I kept thinking when I left was, “What can a person possibly say as to why they are not serving others?” The answer is nothing. There is no excuse that one can give. Harriet is serving others. She is saving lives. The time to act is now. We have opportunities all around us, and around the world. Please stop making excuses, and get busy changing the world one person at a time.
like me.
This week at Ridge Point we began our teaching through the prayers of Christmas. Also known as the songs of Christmas. We began with Elizabeth, who after becoming pregnant with John said, "The Lord has done this for me, In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people." Elizabeth recognized the grace of God in her midst. She knew her value as a woman in the image of God with His breath in her nostrils.
Often when we speak of the grace of God we want it to be for us. We have a highly individualized picture of grace. As a result our thoughts drift toward grace being for people like us. Grace is for people who think like us, look like us, speak our language, share our religion, have similar political views and/or live in our neighborhoods. The reality is that God's grace is for all of us for all time.
Philip Yancey defines grace in his book What's So Amazing
About Grace? as follows: Grace is the idea that there is nothing we can do to make God love us more and there is nothing we can do to make God love us less. This is what God has expressed to men and women since he visited Adam and Eve in the garden.When we sing: Amazing Grace, How sweet the sound, that saved a wretch, LIKE ME ... We are faced with the reality that we are merely wretches. More than that all men and women who have ever lived have had that same grace extended to them. We
concluded our gathering together singing Amazing Grace and seeing at images that were all titled "like me."I have included some of those pictures in this blog, we had more than thirty five during our time together. Some of those included in the images were Johnny Cash, Adolf Hitler, Kurt Cobain, and Martin Luther King Jr. We had photos of a little blond-haired girl, a young Hispanic boy and African children. There were pictures of Jews, Christians and Muslims. There were pictures of American soldiers and Iraqi insurgents ... Republican and Democrat. All of us are people to whom grace has been extended.
The beauty of this message is that the Church, His Body, are the ones called to be the conduits of his grace in our world. So as we sang the old hymn we all had a new spirit in our hearts as we did. A friend of mine said, "I love the 'like me.' thing." I smiled and said, "Yeah, we should make it a t-shirt." We then looked at each other, and knew that we should do just that.To learn more please go to the like me store.
i am not a can of soup
All of us know that one guy from high school. He may have been the football hero, the party animal, the class clown or the ladies’ man. Years have past since my high school days, and what fascinates me is that in the minds of many I am still that guy (I will let you choose which one I was from the above list). Why is it that people are so quickly and permanently labeled?
The labels that are given us are rarely if ever undone. I have found that because they are so quickly given they are rarely assigned correctly. I have a friend who is rather mild-mannered and easy going. There was a time in his life when he had a lot going on. One of his best-buddies had just died, he had lost his job, he was having major marital troubles and spiritually his life was in disarray. One day he was with a few friends playing golf. Like so many of us, he played terribly. On the eighteenth hole he finally had it. He snapped his putter over his knee. He said several words that had four-letters and one other that rhymes with Byron Leftwich. His finale was a flawless hammer style throw of his putter just before he walked off the green, leaving his clubs and driving away.
He became known as a hot-head. This was the first and only time I have ever seen him lose his temper. It was followed with sincere apologies to all present. However, many who were there told others about it. As others were told I could see the label being applied. He was a can of soup to them. He was labeled. Six years later he still cannot undo it.
What is wrong with us? Honestly if people followed me for ten minutes or less at different parts of my life they would call me everything from a righteous man to a pagan. The problem is once they labeled me it would stick. My friend Tim in Ohio is experiencing this in his church in unheard of ways. His pastor confessed sin to the Board of Elders over a year ago. The pastor has been run out of town. He has been labeled a false teacher, a cult leader, a sex addict and other horrible things. He will never live it down.
I look at this and I am glad that God does not operate in our world. What would he have to label all of us? I know that if he labeled me I would be dead. Literally. He would have killed me for the way I profaned his name throughout my life. He doesn’t however. Jesus took those labels to the cross. He was mocked remember. He had labels posted above his head. When people saw the labels they laughed and applied more. They applied more as theirs were being removed.
Jesus took the labels and said no more. He told us that we could find a new name. In him we could find a new spirit. So if you are reading this I ask one thing of you “Stop.” Could you please not label people anymore. It is so dehumanizing. The next time you want to give the scoop on someone by doing the soup can thing … stop. Compose yourself and say “She is the image of God.” It is hard to gossip about people when you have to start by calling them the image of God. Suddenly it sounds like we are speaking evil about God himself. As for me I know that all men and women are more than soup cans.
the politics of the early church
I have thought about this for a time. I admit in many ways I am guilty. And not just in the realm of politics. I really pin my hopes on a lot. The almighty dollar. What others think of me. When one stands back and thinks for a moment much of this seems silly. I mean really, do we actually believe that a man from Texas is going to change our future in amazing ways? Why are some so terrified of a woman from Arkansas?
We do not need to give up on politics, but we need to keep them in their proper place. As we engage politically it has to stop being combative. Jim Wallis says, “It is not left vs. right. It is about going deeper.” We need to hear what the prophets say to God’s people about our culture. We need to let the words of Jesus resonate in our ears in regard to living our life and restoring the world in which we live. To believe that all this will happen in the political arena based on what person is their may be mildly shortsighted.
Many who spend so much energy and nervousness on these things also say they want to be like the early church. If this is the case then one need survey the political climate of the world in the first century. Rome ruled the world. The Peace of Rome (Pax Romana) was the hope of the world. Within what was called peace followers of the Way (the early name for the Church) were treated horribly. They were burned on poles after being dipped in boiling tar. They were fed to wild animals for sport. They actually sold tickets to that one. They were under the authority of Caesars who called themselves things like, “Son of God”, “Prince of Peace”, “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.” They were not free to follow Jesus. They were killed for it.
As for who they wanted in office, well that was tricky. Some Emporers were madmen who would kill for sport. It was really an interesting world. Followers of The Way really did not put a lot of stock in the kingdoms of this world. So when people say they want to be a lot like the early church there may be more to it than we realize.
Many put faith in a political party. Many place people in office in a position where, while we would never call them “Son of God” we speak of them as though they are. After all we do use language like “God’s man in the Whitehouse.” If we are going to be like the early church maybe our faith should be placed less in politicians and more in the Galilean Rabbi who walked around this earth roughly two-thousand years ago.
my value on eBay
Recently I have been trying to buy stuff at a low price and sell it at a higher price. There are little tricks to the trade of getting noticed. So I thought I would give it a whirl. Being fairly new to eBay is a small disadvantage because people wonder if they can trust a new eBayer. However, today I have arrived. No longer do I have to wonder what others think about me as I prance around the large virtual auction house. I have a gold star by my name.
That’s right. Michael Hidalgo has arrived in the eBay world. I officially have ten people who in one person’s words think I am “a friendly eBayer.” Another said he “would deal with [me] anytime.” When I saw my gold star and the number 10 next to my username I smiled, and then I thought “Please tell yourself that you are not that happy about a gold star.”
I couldn’t answer myself. I heard the words of my friend ring in my ears from two days before as we talked about what gives value to people. The longer I went without answering the question I posed to myself the more nervous I became. This then compounded with the fact that I was asking myself a question that I could not answer. I looked at the computer screen and wondered how many people have this same conversation with themselves. I then followed up with the question, “How many are sick enough to blog about a long, detailed conversation one had with himself?”
So where does our value come from? This is a question that I have to wrestle with each day. When I was in my early twenties God brought me into a world where I spoke to a lot of people on weekends. Some of those who were a part of the same faith community would compliment me for what I would say. In many ways what they thought gave me a sense of self-worth. The problem was when I left that particular church. Those people, while they genuinely loved me, no longer were giving me the value input I needed.
Consequently I had this value deficit. I did not know what to think about myself. This is just one way I have caught myself doing this over the years. I wait for others to tell me what I am worth. The problem is that men and women are far too picky to base our value upon. Beyond that, when I place value on a person it is often shallow.
We need to come to the place where we ascribe value to others and find value in ourselves from a much higher place than a platform in a church, several zero’s on a paycheck or through our feedback scores on eBay. Our value is simply this. We are shadows of God. We are his image. My value comes when I cultivate what has been given to me. I am only a little lower than the angels and God is mindful of me. I am called to co-author the story that God has written for me before the foundations of the earth were laid.
Together humanity occupies the central place on God’s mantle. God crafted men and women to be like, look like and feel like him. The problem is we have become so temporary in the way we think about life that we cannot think to exist in a world where we think about eternity. We think eBay but God thinks Kingdom of Heaven. We think feedback score but God thinks Imago Dei.
So there I was staring at my computer screen. I thought about my gold star. I was relieved that I was not overly happy about having this new thing behind my name. I did however contemplate how I find value and ascribe value to others. If value is derived through anything other than viewing myself and others as the craftsmanship of God than I am falling terribly short.
good things
I was once asked by a high school teacher to come to his class and teach his students about Christianity. It was a humanities class and part of their curriculum was to study World Religions. I had forty-five minutes to explain the core beliefs of Christianity to twenty-seven high school students followed by fifteen minutes of the students asking me questions. My allotted time went quickly, and I was eager to get to the time when we could have discussion.
I concluded and asked for questions. The first one was, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” I thought for a time; looked at the student and replied, “Why do good things happen to anyone?” We spent the rest of the hour trying to figure out that side of the question.
We have been so wrought with the question of evil in our world, and rightly so. There is much to be concerned about. However, why are we not mystified by the good that exists in our lives? Every day I wake up next to my beautiful wife. I take a shower with hot water. I eat a bowl of cereal, and occasionally grab a granola bar for a mid-morning snack. I drive to work in a well-tuned car. I spend time studying the Text each day openly without fear of being caught. I come home at night and play trains with my son, and dance with my daughter. I sit with my wife and kids and eat a great dinner. Later in the evening we might meet up with our friends Jason and Liz and their son. In the summer and we walk to get ice cream. We enjoy the cool breezes on our face as we sit on our patio until late in the evening. I head to my bed, and sleep soundly until the alarm clock wakes me for the start of a new day.
For most of you, what I just described as an average day did not strike you as odd. You may have even been wondering what kind of ice cream I like, (Chocalate Chip Cookie Dough for the extremely curious) or maybe you are wondering how well I dance. Even as I write this I do so with a smile, thinking about the joy my son gets when his train goes over the big hill. This is normal, this is life, isn’t it?
We don’t give this kind of world a second thought. Every once in a while we may hear a sermon that speaks about all that we have and how thankful we should be. While it may often seem trite to thank God for toy trains maybe we need to do that and more. This is the kind of thing that should humble us. I have a son who is healthy and beautiful. This is not normal, this is God’s blessing. As for why these things happen to me ... that will be a question I will be in wonder of forever.