Youth Camp

Last Monday, I took 10 excited teenagers up near Mt. Baker for a Reformed Youth Ministries summer camp http://rymonline.org/. It was a beautiful drive on some back-country highways that reminded me how much I had missed the outdoors while living in London. Each day we had breakfast-morning assembly-class electives-Mega Rec (organized recreation)-FREE TIME!-dinner-evening assembly-small groups-FREE TIME! There were a variety of options for free time-two different hikes, swimming at a lake, a car tour, walking to nearby lakes and rivers, frisbee and other sports around the camp...or a nap, which would have been nice.

The conference theme was the Sovereignty of God and three classes were offered for both senior and junior high addressing specific questions that corresponded to that theme. i was asked to answer: "Why do the opinions of others matter so much to me?" for the junior high. I ended up having two groups each day, 20-25 kid in each. It is a heavy question but it was fun to get them engaged and instruct them in how the gospel makes a difference in tangible ways with relationships.

My group of kids mostly stuck together or with another, though there were a few who ventured further out relationally. I was proud of them in many ways as their leader. Most of the questions discussed in the classes and evening assembly they've already wrestled through with me in youth group. They are, as we all are, still wrestling with them, but they understand the framework. I also couldn't be in four places at once so it was freeing to know that they wouldn't do something foolish, or at least not before I would return! Risk was definitely involved in attempting to cross the freezing river, but that occurs with any adventure.

Thursday we went into Bellingham for an elaborate scavenger hunt-the quest for the granite gargoyle and golden cherub! The director of our camp and written up an entire story along with poetry and "deep parchments" instructing and giving clues to the campers. We didn't have the special effects and dire consequences of Indiana Jones, National Treasurer, or The Da Vinci Code and our prize was not humanity's salvation from imminent death or redemption from tampered history but free ice cream instead. Afterwards, some of my group went to some local thrift stores and found some stellar outfits, which gave me some thoughts for a future game...

After doing an 8 mile hike Friday afternoon, I quickly said goodbye to the kids, entrusted another leader to keep an eye on them, packed up, drove home, cleaned up and slept. I had a 5 hr exam starting at 8am and though I didn't have much time to study, I believe it went well. The kids told me they were up until 4am and had some fun stories to tell so I'd say camp finished well!

A week on the Rez

It had reached the mid-90s in Seattle Friday and I was on my way to south central Washington. Like any Seattlite who heads over the mts to an area which technically is a desert, I prepared myself for the heat with two things I rarely have around: sunscreen and sunglasses. I was on my way to Yakima with the youth from my church. When it passed 100 degrees Sunday we were glad to have a day to acclimate to the weather.

We also were getting oriented to a culture that is largely overlooked, its language almost forgotten, its way of life almost eradicated-the Yakima Indian culture. It is a marginalized people group, a community in need. Rather than traveling thousands of miles to engage with some exotic, well publicized country in crisis, we chose to go right in our backyard. I have friends living there who helped establish Sacred Road Ministries http://sacredroadministries.com/www They have intentionally slowed down, observed and planted roots in the community-sharing both their pains and their dreams. I have looked forward to joining them for several years so it was a joy to learn from them and work alongside them even for a short time

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My group joined a group from Jackson, MS and a family from GA in doing work projects each morning followed by a kids club at two different sites in the afternoons. It was fun to hear the various Southern accents and work together. Being associated with the "church people" helped immensely in being accepted where we went since Sacred Road has a positive reputation in the community, not simply for doing good things but for having faithful, patient yet persistent hope and joy in loving others. It was a privilege to be part of that while reroofing and repainting 2 homes, playing with children, building a shed and deck, giving rides on our backs, telling stories, teaching crafts and sharing our hearts. It is amazing how powerful it can be to take an interest in someone's life, to hear their story and enter in.

Each of us had stories to tell of our week there and it can be hard to summarize. One quick one from me: i had just set down our box of crafts underneath a tree when I heard running steps just in front of me. A small boy lunged through the air toward me with a huge smile on his face as I caught him and swung him around and around. He was so eager to be noticed. He had an appetite for attention that was satiated for a brief moment in that hug. Others came wanting to be held, thrown high into the air, each saying "again, again!" It was a joy to give something so simple that was so treasured. All of us had similar moments where it was clear that we are blessed in order to be a blessing to others, giving and sharing stories within stories.

It was a challenging but affirming experience, as most memorable and meaningful experiences are.

Part 3: Role of the Church, Community and “Calling”: Where do we go from here?

I was chopping up veggies for a monster soup tonight when I realized I never got back to summarizing the final part of my paper!

Image Bearing, Culture-Making Part 1 explored the framework and concepts of culture, defined as "what we make of the world in both senses" (what we physically make and how we understand our world). I identified ways we normally think of engaging with culture and offered an alternative. Part 2 examined the way Christians in power positions in recent years live out and apply their faith, specifically in politics, entertainment, academia and business. I concluded that there are two main groups: one focuses on the Christian community, largely removes itself from its community in carrying out their vision of change and acts through mass mobilization while the other focuses on the community around them, largely removes itself from church and the Christian subculture and acts through small, intentional gatherings meant to equip more than mobilize. The reality of this divide among Christians forced me to ask questions that led to Part 3: do they need the Church? Do I? Can we really change the world? Are we blending the self-reliant, skeptical American hero with our idea of Christ as exemplar? How do we determine or discover our sense of vocation or "calling"?

While preparing the lecture for Part 3 I realized that there was a ton of ground to cover: ecclesiology, ethics, Christology, community and discernment. Any one of those areas could distract us from the questions at hand, though extremely important to understand. I realized the typical reaction from Christians when they feel pressured to be part of a Church is: “All men are called to the Kingdom; not all men are called to the church.” When we think of engaging the world around us, I believe the church has become an option, and a small, fragile one in our minds. The Bible defines the church as the people of God, the body of Christ and fellowship of the Holy Spirit. The gravitas has been lost for most.

The Church

There is much that can be said to refute this statement but the worth of the church to Christ and the clear purpose of the church come immediately to mind. God sent His only Son to die for the Church, the community of believers, those God has called to Himself. The Church was worth Jesus' life, and it is therefore worth more than our "consideration". The Church has been integral to God's plan of redemption since the beginning: we are blessed to be a blessing, and in doing so God’s name is glorified. Israel is God’s cultural project-to create a people defined by faith. God’s blessings impact not simply our souls, but our entire existence. Our love for him is to affect everything (Dt. 6). This mission is not meant to be a blueprint, for then we would never need God. Our mission, our goal individually and communally is to worship God, to know Him and all else flows from that.

Ethics and theology

But how do we bless others? How do we connect our theology (study of God) to our ethics (way of life)? Unlike human relationships, we often limit knowing God to knowing who He is, not what He does. Before we ask “How do we..? we must ask “how does He...?”As we go to God’s Word we see that He engages with the cultures of the world by penetrating and preserving, wrecking and redeeming. He curses Adam and Eve yet gives them leather instead of fig leaves to cover their shame. He destroys Sodom yet saves Lot. He sends a flood, but saves a family. His bride, the church, is called to penetrate and preserve the cultures of this world. Jesus made disciples and called us likewise to invest relationally and all else would flow from that. Paul exemplified this through church planting and the epistles emphasize that it is among the community of believers (the church) that we discern what needs to be torn down and built up around us.

Reality Check: Calling

I know it sounds very un-American, but there are things we cannot do. God changes people, which is the core of culture. In most of the discussion of culture making I grant too much human agency as sociologists would call it. It is helpful again to look at how God works through people in scripture and how they are identified: patient, grateful and generous, daring, humble responsible. They are reliant on God to guide them-incredibly humbling yet empowering.

They learn in community by asking questions. Where have you successfully proposed a new cultural good? What is something specific that you have fixed or redeemed in some way? In what ways do you currently have cultural power or influence? With whom are you sharing your power? The act of making an idea or something material starts small, with just a few people. Out of that circle is often a circle of 10-15 people and after that might be a circle of 100. This is a normal pattern for how artifacts or ideas of culture are made and multiplied, be it a scientific theory or organic produce. Who are your 3? These are the few people who you trust enough to risk attempting something together. In considering the characteristics above, are you more excited about discovering more of the world or more of God? Where do you experience grace-divine growth that far exceeds your efforts? To put it another way, what is your story? What has God done most powerfully in your life?

I have found it helpful to include others in discerning “the next step” by asking them:
What are three specific weaknesses and strengths you see in me?
What do you think is my motive and goal in this decision?
Do you think I have trusted God in this whole process?
Does this fit at all with what God has been doing in my life?
Do I feel the freedom to fail? Do I have the joyful assurance that all could be taken away, all that people know of me yet if I have Christ, I have a worth, peace, hope and future?

What are questions you have asked?

Final reflection:
Though it would be nice to focus on what we do as transformed, re-cultured people with God’s guidance in the redemptive art of culture making, it is challenging to consider Paul’s words in I Cor. 1:18 reminding us that the most consequential moment in history is “not an action but a passion-not a doing but a suffering”.[1] He was the most capable person ever to shape the world with his own power and talents yet when he faced sin and death and Satan head on, it was on a cross, representing the dead end of culture. The resurrection thus represents the pattern for culture making in the image of God-not power but trust. Not independence, but dependence. Boasting in the cross is radical and admittedly weird. Jesus died not merely as our friend but as our Lord. God is not merely Creator but Ruler of all. Jesus as King puts teeth to his title of Redeemer. We need to follow who we serve, which means loving those he has loved even when they hurt us.
[1] Andy Crouch. Culture Making. 142

Part 2: Current Place of Christians in Power

Last week I wrote about the definition and structure of culture in order to frame future discussion. But as with most structures, they are hard to understand until you see them built upon and applied (like the skeletal system supporting the other systems). Anyways, this week I decided to summarize the rise of evangelicals to “power” positions in culture: media, business, politics and academics. They certainly do not represent all of American Christianity but they represent a culturally powerful group that represents Christianity outside of the subculture to a large degree. This will only be a cursory review of the areas in order for us to get to Part 3 for discussion of the role of the church, of community, and “calling” in engaging with those areas. Here are some quotes:

Martin Luther: “The very ablest of youth should be reserved and educated not for the office of preaching, but for government, because in preaching the Holy Spirit does it all, whereas, in government one must exercise reason in the shadowy realms where ambiguity and uncertainty are the order of the day.”

Mark Knoll wrote The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind in 1994 with a disparaging tone for the incredible lack of evangelical academic achievement. But today he says he would have written it with “a different tone—more hopeful than despairing, more attuned to possibilities than to problems, more concerned with theological resources than theological problems.”

The 2005 host for Inside Edition gave this response to a Christian's surprise at being invited on the show: “Didn't you know? Christian is the new gay”.

I utilized much of the research done by Michael Lindsay in Faith in the Halls of Power where he summarized his personal interviews of over 300 Christians in power positions-well written and thorough but long and academic so be prepared.

Summary: Despite Christians losing many of their positions of influence by the mid-21^st c, we have been active in higher education, remembered the importance of the arts and entertainment, and utilized religious expression in the workplace. Expressive language, symbolic action and creativity have brought faith into the public consciousness through networking naturally yet intentionally. Christian leaders in business, academia, media, and politics do not have much individual power, but they have “convening power”: the power to bring disparate people together, which is potent for a rising movement. Their orthodoxy has flexibility or elasticity that allows them to hold to their convictions while cooperating with those that don't.
But what do they want to do with this cultural power? Who do they want to serve? Answering this reveals a divide: one group directs their efforts inwardly, what some have called “Populist Evangelicalism” while another group directs their efforts outward, what some call “Cosmopolitan Evangelicalism”. The Populist group depends on mass mobilization and large-scale democratic action by creating a dichotomy between traditional and secular activists and promoting theological simplicity and pragmatism. Focus on the Family's Washington for Jesus Rally and Moral Majority, Jerry Falwell, Joel Olsteen are key leaders in this group. The Cosmopolitan group tries to distance itself from the Populist group, come from various backgrounds, have greater access to powerful institutions; most came to faith after high school. They travel constantly and are involved in the arts and live affluently. Both are zealous in living out their faith, but they act on their convictions differently. Cosmopolitan evangelicals have small, invitation-only gatherings of elite social and professional peers, and slowly affect politics through equipping leaders. Populist evangelicals aim for mass rallies like stadium events, and mobilize and push for immediate legislation. Cosmopolitan evangelical efforts take more time to succeed than the Populist ones, but theirs will have a more lasting impact. Populist evangelicals' primary aim is to convert their opponent religiously, politically, socially, etc. whereas the Cosmopolitan ones focus on establishing “legitimacy” with their opponents. Despite their differences, these two groups do not divide over political lines as much. My hunch is that this is because they both are largely removed from the world of economic inequality.

Remaining questions for Part 3
Do these cultural elite Christians need the church? Do I? If poverty is being cut off from cultural power then who will use their influence instead of further impoverishing people through willful ignorance?Do we need God's guidance or the church's support? Only 20% of evangelicals nationally recall talking with their pastor about their job in the past year. It is tempting to speak and live as if the onus was completely on us as individuals to change the world and transform culture- a clear loss of a communitarian ethic. How do we exercise our cultural power? What does it mean to have communal discernment? What should characterize our lives as culture makers? Can we really change anything? How we discern our calling? Who is involved?

Being Human-Image Bearers, Culture Makers

About 10-12 random Christians, those I know and don't know, come together for a dinner and discussion every Sunday evening. We each volunteer to share about something that we are passionate about that engages our faith. Below is part of introduction and conclusion of my lecture for tomorrow night covering the last 100yrs of Christian involvement with/reaction to culture. Part 2 will cover the current place of Christians in positions of power: politics, media, academia and business. Part 3 will discuss the role of the church and community in living out one's faith.

Introduction:
"Culture is what we make of the world, in both senses”-Ken Myers.

Culture is not the arts or the sense of being “cultured” or the “fish bowl” metaphor. It is how we see the world, similar to someone asking “what do you make of that book?” It is also making in the physical sense just like someone asking you “what are you making?” Defining culture in this way allows for greater depth, creativity and breadth.
God created all out of nothing, bringing order out of chaos. God is not only Creator but Ruler (which sounds bad to us Americans due to our history). God is also the first culture maker, he made a garden, he brought further order and beauty to what was already good. He made us to reflect His image and participate in that work, order accompanies creativity. He gave us a perception or a way to see the world. He modelled both senses of making culture. We are called to be priests, to be culture makers by uniting what has been broken by both receiving the world from God and offering it to God.

The world and what is in the world is not stagnant, it was not created to be that way and thus it is futile and dangerous to address culture in either sense as an abstract, ethereal concept. Adam's first task, and one that Eve was a helper in, was naming and cultivating creation. Culture is the activity of making meaning, otherwise Adam and Eve would have had a boring task, a boring life. Thankfully God is more creative and calls us to be. Seeing culture this way we realize the complexity of what occurs at the Fall. Besides the broken relationship with God, with paradise, with shalom, we now have a warped culture. To be culture makers we have enemies in our flesh, in our world and in Satan as we try to model God’s culture making.

Jesus is the ultimate and perfect priest. He does not throw out the old and bring in the new, he restores and redeems. Modeling his Father, he knows he is dealing with shattered ruins with glimpses of their former glory; mankind still bears some semblance of God’s image. Jesus identifies what is good and bad in our culture, in both senses, and his restoration heals and restores the good, bringing something new, fresh into existence (a new life, a healthy leg, a challenging principle “love your enemy”) while tearing down the bad bringing conflict, liberation, and freedom (turning the tables in the temple, casting out demons, conquering Satan and death, condemning “religion”, calling us brothers). Hebrews reminds how Jesus fulfilled all the expectations of being the perfect man, which included the roles of prophet, priest and king. He spent most of his life in the world behind the scenes before dramatically reshaping culture on every level. How did he engage with culture? How do we?

Conclusion:

The patterns of the last century were to condemn, critique, copy or consume culture. Which of these did Jesus adopt? He did none of these and all of these for he adopted them as gestures not postures. A posture is your adopted, habitual stance to the world around you. It affects how you see and how you engage with the world. Bad postures inhibit movement and limit perspective. Good posture frees our movement and opens our perspective. Gestures are movements and actions adopted for specific occasions, circumstances and people. I can gesture rejection by a hand raised or a clenched fist, or pondering by a hand on my chin, mimicking by careful observation or greed by reaching out with both hands. There are all kinds of gestures we make to communicate what we think of something that is displayed in action. Gestures change whereas a posture does not, cannot. Jesus’ posture was one of creating, of making culture by healing what is broken and building up and bringing out the good that was held captive, hidden or maimed by the bad. Again what is good or bad is a result of what we make of the world in both senses of “make”-a physical artifact (slice of culture) and accepted perspective (belief of culture). Jesus doesn’t give us the option of making any gesture into a posture. Just looking at his life proves that he had no consistent gesture. What he does do is model perfectly how one interacts with culture in specific ways (the gestures). The only way to change culture is to create new culture; we need to offer an alternative. For our own joy and benefit (and others), and for God’s glory, we need to be better culture makers.

Preview of Part 2 and 3:

Are Christians in positions of cultural power? How do they view their faith and their work? Do they function independently or corporately? How do they interact with non-Christians? The earliest record of man, Genesis 1-2 reminds us that we need God, and were designed dependent on each other as human. It is interesting that the only longing present before the Fall is for community, the only thing God saw as “not good” was for man to be alone. (This normally is referenced in marriage but the more immediate reference should be friendship/community). For man to fully reflect God's image (trinity), community needed to be reflected as well. Life and culture is actually made more beautiful because of that dependency. There is development expected rather than an idealization of a garden paradise-the final vision given in the Bible is of a city with nations bringing forth their glory to be seen through the light of God's glory (Rev. 21:24) But how does sin impact all of this? What is the role of the church?

*if you want a link to the paper itself let me know

Dad's visit and a wedding

It has been almost a month since my last post, April seemed to fly by. Even with three part time jobs, my life can seem to fall into a routine. Routines give me the structure necessary for me to accomplish things but they also get repetitive. It was nice to have some refreshing trips away.

My dad came from Wyoming to visit me for a few days. Being one of four kids, this was the first time I ever had multiple days with just him-not having to share attention. It was fun to play show and tell in a sense-where I am living, where I am working, who my friends are, favorite places, etc. He had not been back since moving in the fall of 2007. Wyoming was definitely a culture shock coming from Seattle, and there was some shock in returning to "the big city". It was nice to not have plans but to decide things as the days progressed. We went up to the mts for a few days and he enjoyed seeing so much green! It was refreshing to share my life with him without being rushed.

The next weekend I left to a friend's wedding in Chattanooga, TN. The ceremony and reception was next to a lake/pond and despite the clouds and a brief shower, they held it outside. Weddings are about the only time I wear a suit, so my sister snagged the opportunity to get a picture with me, she was one of the bridesmaids. Besides getting to see the bride and groom, it was great to catch up with friends I had not seen in a while. Some of them I have known over seven years! Though each of us have had significant changes in our lives, we have enough in common to maintain our friendships. Serving as bartender allowed me to see more people than I otherwise would have. Despite all the prep and clean up, it actually was a relaxing day. And as with most weddings, it wasn't until the end that it sunk in "huh, I don't know when I'll see these friends again...". I soaked in the cool evening and smiled as i thought of my friends who were just married.
Sunday I visited Rock Creek Fellowship, the church I attended in college. It was the first place I saw the church as a welcoming but also broken and vulnerable family. I could be real with them, I could rest. I am grateful for that gift and for the now 7 yrs of their prayers and support. My favorite and most vivid memory is of having communion with them and singing together.
I stayed a few extra days to see my sister and brother in-law before they moved to North Carolina. They've been married almost 2 yrs and in the same area 7+ yrs. My sister finished up a paralegal program and he is ready for a change in work, so thankfully they have a summer to contemplate what the future might look like. It was sweet to have lazy mornings, to be around people who've known me longer than 6 months, to read in a hammock, to slow down.

It was weird to walk around my old college campus, to see renovations, new buildings, new fields, new faces. The students seemed so young. I had some friends who were graduating the next week who were freshmen when I had graduated. I enjoyed hearing their future plans while I reflected back on my final week in college three years ago. All transitions involve risk and create a mix of excitement and nervousness. It is a comfort to realize you are not alone in that tension.

It was refreshing to get away but responsibilities awaited me, and the Noise of life greeted me at the terminal. Vacations are committed, extended breaks from that Noise but they make me realize the need to create space in my daily routine for silence, for fellowship, for rest.

The Seattle Sounders...our loudest "wannabe European" outlet

The passion of Seattle Sounders' fans is still mind-boggling. Yes we finally have a generation of Seattlites with a love of, and money to support, football (soccer) but the earnestness to dialogue about it, to claim our very own football culture, the eagerness to say "football" and wave our scarves made me see that there is something much deeper motivating these fans than "love of the game"-it was the freedom, nay, the liberation of being able to loudly exclaim our love of something European. And through it, have a gateway to mention our love of everything European.
Even though I grew up in Seattle, it wasn't until the last few years that I realized how European Seattlites try to be. (I must admit though that the cultural diversity of White Center in the southern part of West Seattle where I lived age 5-17 didn't, and does not, exemplify this "wannabe European" trait). My story is a common Seattlite story: a love for culture and travel led me to explore and live in cities both nationally and internationally, even earning me the nickname "the nomad", only to find myself returning unexpectedly and finally coming to call Seattle and the Northwest "home". Like other Seattlites, my love for culture and travel remains, but if there is any city in the US that I feel good about being identified with and can boast about, Seattle is it. (Seattle's geography was the first thing I missed yet I admit that I am prone to highlight the amount of rain and overall dreary, depressing environment in the hope that its beauty remain a secret to deter the hoards of people flocking in.) There are many, many traits I could talk about that draw people to Seattle, but I merely want to highlight one: our "wannabe European" vibe.
I am not bashing this trait, but I find it curious considering how cosmopolitan we try to present ourselves, how unaware we are of any problems with this trait, and how pervasive it is. Only recently did Seattle lose its place as the whitest major city in America, replaced by Portland. The Washington Post wrote an interesting article about this development and what it means for both cities. I think most of Seattle does not recognize how white we are, and especially how culturally dominant the "white culture" is.
Seattle is the most European city I have been to in the States and we idealize Europe more than anyone, making it almost sound like a fairytale place. I hear this frequently from people who travel more than I do yet in returning from living in the UK for a year and traveling in Europe, I believe it more. Europe can do very little wrong in our eyes: clothing, art, cars, sports, food, drinks, music, politics, religion (lack thereof), education, economics, etc. Chief among the problems in this trait is that few of us recognize how difficult it is even for Europeans to agree on defining what "European" is. One need only look at issues within the European Union the last few years to see this. Yes there are some key similarities, but the differences bring mess and conflict- realities that mar this fairytale place.
This "wannabe European" trait is pervasive. I walked downtown Saturday morning and noticed a few things (I didn't go out searching): the accents we choose to use in our advertisements, 4 Italian pizza chains claiming to be THE authentic Italian pizza place and I could not find any place fighting to be have the authentic Chicago-style pizza, European-style clothing and American apparel but little else, domestic or abroad, the pride and glory in being the birthplace of transplanting coffee culture to America, and FINALLY...our Seattle Sounders.

When the MLS began, Europe was the model and no city embraced this more whole-heartedly than Seattle-proved by our record breaking attendance, season ticket holders, and frankly, zeal. Rain or shine, we'll have seats filled with happy fans. In addition to what we own, drink, wear and say, we now can SHOUT about something European and somehow feel more hip, more cultured, more sophisticated, more internationally justified and aware. Whether we are at the match striving to be the hooligan we always hear about, or pounding back a pint at an Irish pub downtown, we feel connected to the world in a way that baseball, basketball, football, etc. can't provide.
As a student of history and culture, I believe there is much to be praised in widening our focus to include the world around us, but that world is bigger than simply Europe. Yes I admit that this trait is not exhaustive: Honda's are still popular, we proudly know the difference btwn food from Japan, China, Thailand, Korea, and we are of one of few cities that has retained a hippie community (not just the wannabe type).
This "wannabe European" trait makes me wonder: why do we strive for this so much? What does it offer us? What do we forfeit by losing it?

Sat game: frustrating to watch but not boring. Freddy M. seemed lazy, again, and we only had 2 shots on goal but I joined in the exhuberance when Mike Fucito came off the reserve the final 5 minutes and scored in stoppage time! It happened so quick on the throw-in that few actually saw or expected it. I was glad to see it, relieved mostly. Fucito's story is a good read. We need to be playing better.