Going Home

We leave Orcas to go home today. This stay has been very slow, lots of solitude...my sister does not have a television. It has been great to see Alex play for 10 days without a T.V. or video games! He and Nate have read books and played outside until they were covered in dirt, so fun to watch. They especially like chasing rabbits. There are so many rabbits here. They run all over the property.
We have had a very nice time here. My brother-in-law has been a most gracious host--we have named him our "Camp Director"

I usually dream a lot and remember my dreams. It's a language I have learned some about and it is definitely a way that I hear from God as well as a way of working out my life...

I haven't remembered many of my dreams the past 10 days...maybe because life has slowed to a halt there is not a lot to work out while on vacation...

Last night I had a very vivid dream. I was with Gordon Cosby from the Church of the Savior. He was giving me advice. I can't remember what he was saying but I knew I needed to pay attention. I knew he had a lot of wisdom that I needed to hear. My dream changed and I was frustrated for not asking him certain questions. I was trying to get him on the phone but was not having any luck. I remember thinking, I should write down all my questions on a sheet of paper so if I do get him on the phone I won't forget what I want to ask...end of dream

This has obvious implications to me on the surface. I visited Church of the Savior two years ago and have read several books about COS. We are in the process of trying to develop ways to incubate several mission groups. We understand that the COS structure does not translate to our context so we have been trying to figure out what does transfer. Lots of discussion, lots of reading, lots of praying for the correct structures to enable us to see our faith community serving the places of pain and need in our world...I think there is more for me, I will have to think about it...

Orcas is Beautiful

We arrived on Orcas Island about 4PM yesterday. What a beautiful setting! My sister's house looks across the road to West Harbor. The weather is outstanding. Rich and my brother-in-law are out hiking this a.m. Alex and Nate are chasing rabbits. There are so many rabbits on the property. I am having coffee, being quiet, and now reading through some blogs...

I brought a few books to read with me. I started with "girl meets God" by Lauren Winner. It is a memoir of a Jewish woman that converts to Christianity. Lauren has her degree in the history of American religion. Something she reports in her book, really struck me. She recounts the beginnings of Billy Graham's crusades. Lauren tells the history, "In 1957, Billy Graham held a revival in New York City...He wanted to make sure the local churches were prepared to welcome and support the converts, so...Graham and his people...met with local Christian leaders, helping to prepare New York churches to receive what Graham hoped would be a large influx of New Christians...Graham was Baptist, evangelical, in 1952 he began to reach hundreds of thousands of readers with a newspaper column...and a year before his New York crusade, he founded Christianity Today the country's leading evangelical magazine. His credentials were impeccable.

Graham's work with the local churches in NY sparked a huge controversy: Graham met with fellow evangelicals, he also worked with Catholics, liberalish Presbyterians, and others outside of the orthodox Protestant fold. In today's pluralist climate, such overtures may not sound terribly edgy, but at the time they were radical."

Graham took a lot of heat, writings came out against him, powerful conservative Christians were outraged, and they denounced the rising young evangelist. Bob Jones, John R. Rice and others. "Graham, however, stood his ground, insisting that the fighting, feuding and controversies among God's people...is a very poor example." that "God has people in all his churches," and that "the one badge of Christian discipleship is not orthodoxy, but love."

I have read or seen more of Billy Graham in the last month than in a very long time. I am sure that it is because of all the publicity he got around his last NY meetings...as I watched him interviewed and now reading this, I wonder about a few things we, the 2005 church could learn from him:

He held strong to his beliefs without condemning others (Christians) that held difference in their theology and practice...

He was very "big" he had a gift to be with people from all walks of life and faith, and these people (usually heads of governments) were drawn to him (sort of like Jesus)...

He stood his ground, with love in the midst of being accused of heresy from the very conservative wing of Christians of his time...he was accused of being too nice, too compliant...

He still to this day has impeccable credentials...

I am wondering if Billy Graham's example of inclusiveness is not an accident for those of us today that watch as an amazing cultural shift is taking place in our world...

I wonder if we too, could hold our ground in love...

I wonder if we too, could have people that differ with us be our friends...

I wonder if we too, could be accused of being too nice, too compliant when accused of not having it right...

There is a place for disagreement, there is a place for discussion of disagreements, but what I see written about brothers and sisters in Christ over the blogsphere and not face to face or even email to email, is a very sad commentary for our time...

I read so many backhanded attacks on people that are trying to faithfully live out their service to Christ...it doesn't even seem to be conservatives attacking more liberalish folk (although I see this as well), it seems to be happening in all corners of the church...

I think public critiquing has it's place, but I wonder why it can't be done with much humility and love...

Okay, my rant is over, back to vacation...

Vacation

We are leaving in a few minutes for vacation on Orcas Island. Rich, Alex, Nate and I are going to my sister's house. I am sure we will have a great time...looking forward to rest, relaxation, and a bunch of fun...

Last night a few of us celebrated Erin's birthday. Erin is somewhat new to our community. Celebrating moments...that's what we did last night. We went around the table and though we don't know Erin well, everyone offered a toast...toasted what they appreciated about her or how they look forward to getting to know her better...

It was reciprocal toasting, after each toast, Erin responded...so then we had to toast the original toastee (is that even a word?)

Off to Orcas...

Skydiving

Yesterday Rich and I and Alex went to the Snohomish airport to watch Nicole and a group of her friends skydive. They went up in four different loads. Nicole was in the last load so we were there until 7:00 pm. What an awesome experience. As we watched each load go, climb, jump and land. I really wanted to do it. It was too expensive otherwise I would have gone with my daughter. You jump in tandem with an instructor. My daughter's anxiety grew with each load that went up and came back. By the time she was on the plane she started to cry she was so afraid, then she said her instructor had to peel her hands away from the door to jump! She said once they jumped it was awesome! She also said she is glad she did it but will never do it again...

I love her spirit...
I love her courage...
I love her persistence...
I love her honesty with fears...
I love bonding with her in these moments...

Random goings on

Today I am cleaning my house. I started on Saturday. It is therapeutic to clean out closets, scrub toilets, paint a bathroom desperately in need. I don't know if we will get to the painting today though. It's ready to be painted. Our life gets so full at times it is hard to slow down and enjoy being home. We have gone in and out of being very busy and having house guests. It's nice to be home, have no one here and get some much needed cleaning and purging done.

At four o'clock today I am going to watch my 25 year old daughter sky dive. It is her friend's birthday party, a group of friends jumping out of a plane. Nicole called me a few weeks ago to tell me she would be jumping and wanted to know if I would make sure to be praying. I am going to watch and pray...she is very adventuresome, I would like to think she gets that from me but somehow she comes by it quite naturally, I cannot imagine jumping out of a plane, it sounds exhilarating, but I don't think I could bring myself to actually do it.

Last week I joined a group of women from VCC in an eight week group called Simple Spirituality. You can go to off-the-map.org and check it out. It's formed around 7 practices, this last week our practice was God is good, I will practice trusting Him with my life...

Each week we come back to report how that practice influenced us, what we noticed about God, ourselves, etc...I was happy when a couple of women initiated facilitating this group. I was a part of a SS group a couple of years ago. The group helps me to slow down, notice God in the everyday, notice my response to God and to others...

One thing I have discovered about me is that I need places, spaces, to center my life. To slow down and practice incorporating my beliefs into my real life, SS helps me do that in community with others trying to do the same...I can let myself get so busy, do so many things, that I will forget to slow down and notice the Kingdom around me, I know I am in this process of learning to live my life oriented toward God and His kingdom for the long haul so this is a way for me to pace myself, to center and remember what this is all for...

I told you this would be a random post...

Rich and I and Alex are going on vacation next week, another way to center, we are going to my sister's house on Orcas Island. I haven't been to her house yet, they bought it last summer. I hear it is very fun, there will be lots of hiking, sailing, crabbing, good food and the like. Some of our friends are coming up while we are there so I am looking forward to the time away...

Got to get back to cleaning...

A Visitation of Sorts

Thursday evening a group of us got together to begin plans to put some feet to what our community is calling Turning Point. TP a new arm of ministry that cares about serving the poor. Though we have big dreams, we realize we have to start small and are committed to the long haul, to let things grow over time. What we do know is that this is who we are to be, the reason we exist.

We met for a meal before our planning time. We had finished dinner, and we were taking turns noticing where we have been and where we are heading on our journey together. Jim talked about the Shalom of God, the sense of wellness and putting things to right that comes from God. We each had a glass of wine and had broke bread, we were about to pray and take communion together when we looked up and a man was standing at the head of the table.

He had come in without us noticing. He asked if we had any food to spare. He and his family were homeless, living in their van. We got up and began to gather up food, we had food in our kitchen, leftovers from our dinner...while we were gathering food, he told a bit of his story. We gave him a number for the homeless shelter we partner with, he was overwhelmed, thanked us, asked if we had any gas vouchers as he used all his gas running his engine at night to keep his family warm.

We gave him a few dollars for gas and he went on his way, very thankful.

We sat stunned by what had just occurred. It was a holy moment. NT Wright calls these moments "thin places" between heaven and earth. We savored the moment, prayed, took communion and our meeting ended up very productive in light of the experience we had together.

Here is a Scripture I have been thinking about for years...


A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places

10If you are generous with the hungry
and start giving yourselves to the down--and-out,

Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,

your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.

11I will always show you where to go.

I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places--

firm muscles, strong bones.

You'll be like a well-watered garden,

a gurgling spring that never runs dry.

12You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,

rebuild the foundations from out of your past.

You'll be known as those who can fix anything,

restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,

make the community livable again.

I hold on to this as a mission statement for us...God is very good