I love the people of the Young Adult Ministry Team. I love them because they are the church I have been dreaming of. We are all struggling together in the same (general) direction. One of my first blogs was my wish to some day pastor a church with a mission statement along the lines of "a herd of people all struggling together towards Christ." I'm so tired of mission statements that declare that a church (usually of 12-50 ancient white people) will win the entire world for Christ and live every second for His glory and have no distractions ... ever.

We all drink, most of us don't attend a church right now, few have probably opened a Bible in months, and many of us don't feel nearly as close to God as when our spiritual life revolved around showing up for game night at youth group. But, we all love God - and deep down we want to serve Him and His church with more of our heart.

See, young adult ministry is tough. We haven't had an actual "YAMT" for a number of years. We don't have any campus ministries in WPA that are UM sponsored (I could be wrong, but I don't think I am), because of age restrictions we have almost no outlets for young adults in ministry to youth, and we have an increasingly smaller number of young pastors. I don't think I would be willing to make young adult ministry my top priority if I was pastor of a church of 50 people in a small town.

We are now embarking on the "Believe Again!" plan for ministry. What is a proper response from a young adult to the new plan for ministry? What does young adult ministry look like under Believe Again! ?

Wesley Houses in college town? Young Adult pastors at larger churches? Intellectual outreach to the post graduate level students? Starting more new churches - especially in college towns. California University has no United Methodist presence. The United Methodist church (to my knowledge) does no college outreach at Cal U. I think our churches can do better ... but, I also think that our conference can do better - and we can help the young adults to enable themselves.

Believe Again! What does that mean to Young Adults rapidly fleeing from our denomination?

God Giggled

I found this at
http://www.sundaypapers.org.uk/?p=325
and I had to post it. It's a perfect (and so unusable at my church) statement of what God did in Christ when He was born.

God Giggled
It was the first Christmas and…

God giggled
God farted
God burped
God gurgled
God needed a cuddle
God was a baby…

Christmas reminds us:

That we don’t have to find God – he finds us in our humanity –
We don’t have to go up - he came down
We find God in the physical, in our bodies, in material, in humanity.
God became one of us….

This item was posted by James Hawes

Lived Among the People

So I'm getting ready for Christmas Eve worship and I'm thinking to myself, "There's nothing new to say. It's all been said before. What could I possibly do at worship that hasn't been done a million times before."

Then it hits me (heh, like a Vonage commercial?) - I'm an idiot.

It really isn't about saying something "new" is it? It's telling the truth. It's speaking the love of God that came to us in a very different and transforming way.

It really is a NEW story, though. How many other times has God come to be with people.

I'll wait while you Google that one...

No, not a god dropping out of the sky as the god - but a god coming as a human being?

Google...

No, not a god siring an offspring who becomes half a god. God being fully God and fully human...

Google...

Really - it never happened before Jesus - hasn't happened since Jesus.

And the beauty of Jesus coming in a crap filled cave with dirt poor parents is that even better than Bishop Bickerton:

"He dropped the puck and showed his humanity. He took a few hours and lived among the people ... I think it's something he does most of the time."

THAT'S amazing to me.

My new favorite Christmas song is Adoration by the Newsboys (not that new, but it's still my favorite):

Adoration

I’m here with the others

Who saw the heavens testify

Now I hang back in the shadows

I want to come close

I want to know

She sees me shivering here

She smiles and with a nod

I walk through the mud and straw

To the newborn Son of God

Come, let us adore Him

He has come down to this barren land

Where we live

And all I have to give Him

Is adoration

He raises a wrinkled hand

Through the dust and the flies

Wrapped in rags like we are

And with barely open eyes

He takes my finger

And He won’t let go

And He won’t let go

It’s nothing like I knew before

And it’s all I need to know

Come, let us adore Him

He has come down to the world we live in

And all I have to give Him

Is adoration

God is with us here

Our Immanuel

God is with us here

Our Immanuel

O come let us adore Him

O come let us adore Him

Jesus, our Immanuel

Is with us here and He won’t let go

Bishop Bickerton dropped the ceremonial puck at the Otter's game tonight. It gives me a warm feeling (much like Vodka does) to know that my Bishop lives among the people. He sat a few rows behind my family. He didn't get a special box seat, he didn't wear a full suit, and he didn't bring an entourage for the photo op. He's a real person ... living a real life for our Savior.

I surround myself with very real people. I'm tired of people who smile all the time to prove "the joy of Jesus." I have friends who sin boldly - not in the good sense of that, but in the horribly scewed version. I have friends who drink a little too much, who drop the F-bomb, and who occasionally make really big sexual mistakes. I know which of my friends know Jesus and which don't. I know. I know that when they say something they mean it. I don't have to wade through everything they say and try and figure out what's true. I know when they speak the truth.

My associate pastor, Andy, is a real person. His wife brought a lesbian couple with them to church. His wife doesn't like being around other Christians, she just likes telling people about Jesus. Andy is teaching a Bible Study on sharing your faith. He teaches it from a very real perspectives.

That Bible study group passed out hot chocolate during a parade. There were a few floats in the parade that were done by churches. All of the floats bemoaned the fact that we need to "put Christ back in Christmas." Angry Christians yelling about the heathens trying to steal "their" holiday. My church passed out hot chocolate and talked to people.

A lot of pastors would ask to give an invocation at a sporting event. Their lives prove the point that Christians only care about Christian things. Jesus came - not just for personal salvation - but to change the world. Bishop Bickerton didn't say a prayer to satiate the "spiritual aspect" of things. He dropped the puck and showed his humanity. He took a few hours and lived among the people ... I think it's something he does most of the time.

Telling the Truth in love

A radical departure from the very un-grace full things I would have like to have written about my friend's mother ... a tribute to my Facebook Husband (Facebook is an on-line community of college students, I enjoy fake relationship statuses, and Tony is my current husband."

Tony tells me that it would be really easy for me to lose weight if I exercised. Tony is (obviously) skinny and has (obviously) never tried to lose weight. I realize this statement to be completely untrue and this realization immediately negates most of Tony’s other statements. All of his theological reasoning and political ideology is completely eviscerated because this statement is untrue. Tony made one completely erroneous statement and I disregard everything he has ever defended as fact.

I love Tony and cherish our friendship, but I disagree with a lot of what he says. It was his roommate who yelled at me for being a liberal. When I cried the following day it wasn’t because I failed a final, it wasn’t because a good friend had been violently beaten and raped, and it wasn’t because someone disagreed with me. I cried because Tony didn’t stick up for me. When his roommate made ugly accusations he didn’t defend me. (Take this with a grain of salt – I was an emotional basket case last week.) I still love Tony. Tony and his roommate think that I fail sinners because I won’t harshly confront their sin.

Pastor Charles told a story of a boy caught stealing some penny candy. The store owner made him tell his parents what he had done. He father said, “My son is a criminal.” His mother said, “No he isn’t, my son’s going to be a pastor.” The father told the truth in love. His son had committed a criminal action and the father loved his son enough to tell the truth. But, the mother showed truer love. The mother looked at what was possible. I look at sinners and realize that I was once there (and occasionally find myself there again). I feel that as a Christian it’s my job to let them know that there is a better option. Sin is fun … but not fun enough to compare to God.

I won’t tell a sinner he isn’t allowed to sin because of my morality. I will instead offer him forgiveness and a chance at a life far better than sin. In the story of the prodigal son the father allowed his son to go, knowing that no good would come of it. The father didn’t stop his son to protect him. He let his son choose the wrong path. When I let a sinner do that I’m accused of being unloving. I find that upsetting. Most people don’t understand just how much love it takes to let a child make a mistake. God doesn’t want us to legislate morality. He wants us to grow closer to Him – most often he will let us make some wrong choices and screw up a few times. It’s how we learn best.

I still love Tony, and I know that when he realizes how much love it takes to allow a friend to learn from his or her own mistakes he will understand that I really am taking a loving approach to sinners.

So, I promise that I'm not dead. I am just moving and suffering the effects of not having the internet all the time. I'm stealing internet from Perk Up (Coffee Shop) right now. I'm not ashamed. We should start the topic of loving people who are Christians but are just annoying to talk to. Well, I'm going to go to Wal-Mart and buy more home supplies. I really want a rake. Much love, your (definetly not dead) friend, Michael.

I was visiting a friend yesterday and his roomate started yelling at me for being a liberal. I was discussing with my friend the issue of doctrine - and how often in perfecting our doctrine we try and make clear that which the Bible doesn't make clear. I was discussing why I thought that this was not necessary ... it causes division (taking a controversial statement and making Biblical fact can only cause division) and it takes away from that which Jesus made perfectly clear(we debate all day about how many angels can fit on the head of a pin and ... oops we forgot about the poor!).

So, here is his roomate's line of thought. Is God sovereign? Yes. Then you need to trust that the Bible is right and you are wrong. You need to give up your liberalism because the Bible is overwhelmingly conservative.

We discussed a few different points. I finished zero complete thoughts and maybe 4 complete sentences. This boy was so angry at me - just because I existed. The whole time he kept saying a lot of stuff about how Christians need to show love in truth ... well, if he thought that I was wrong he should have tried out his love in truth principles and tried showing me some love.

It was a really painful conversation for me. I saw my friend change in the blink of an eye.

Also, a good friend suffered horribly last night and I failed a presentation today.

So...Something Happened... BAM!

So, I'm randomly surfing the blogosphere (sort of) and I come across this:
http://nanolog.blogspot.com/2006/11/restaurant-or-cookery-show.html

This guy says he went to church for the first time in years and he really connected with the message and when the service was over...he felt like he wanted to stay connected...to talk about what happened, what he heard, what he was feeling...but the service was over. I can just see it - the lights go up, the people begin to leave...it's done.

He says that he used to look at church like a restaurant - but it's more like a cooking show ("kick it up another notch...BAM!"). In a restaurant, you are immersed in the experience and it is a shared experience and you connect with those around you. In a cooking show - the product may be fantastic - but you're an outsider observing. You're not part of the experience.

That's an image I'm holding on to - I want church to be like a restaurant. Hold the table as long as you want, order a second dessert, talk to the people around you about what a wonderful meal you are having, immerse yourself in the experience, in the fellowship, in all that is going on around you...

God, let church NEVER be a show...

Waiting...

I'm disappointed today. I don't know why - it's not like I was expecting anything to happen today...just that...well, nothing has happened. Oh, I've been busy - phone calls about people needing help, we're going to work on our copier this afternoon - I got to have lunch with Elie today...all normal stuff...but nothing has really happened today.

I'm in a rut, I guess. Same stuff goes on day after day. Same routine. Not much breaks it - and when something does, well, it's never good...some emergency...some "crisis" or another...

We had communion last night. I never really expected God to show up. You know what... Even though I know that God was there...well, I never walked up and shook His hand. I just went on with the normal stuff of worship... I wonder if anybody experienced God in a real, close and heart affecting way last night? Dunno... [shrug]...I know I didn't...

So we're in this season of anticipation - I'm waiting for something to happen...but I'm not really believing it will, I guess...