A Little Child Shall Lead...

Some kids destroyed M's pumpkin bucket last night. She'd been making 'mud cakes' outside, and last night someone kicked the bucket, shattering it.

On the phone today she told me, "I want to tell them what Jesus would, 'I still love you, but you hurt my feelings by doing that. But I forgive you."

Haven't I read something somewhere about a little child leading....

Language Audit

It's been a long time since I've posted anything here. It's been a storm of business, lack of creativity, and, well, blog-laziness on my part. I've got a long list of posts I want and hope to write, but I'm not sure what will come of it.

Two weeks ago MJ and I had a week of daddy-daughter time. Natalie was in Philadelphia for a short course for her graduate program, which meant that MJ got to spend her mornings with me at the office and I worked from home in the afternoons while she was napping. We had a wonderful week together, though we both missed mommy!

On the Wednesday night of that week, I was reminded of the importance of our language and it's shaping power over our lives. MJ and I braved the weather and headed to the LOCC building for a time of reading Scripture as a community of faith. As I was fumbling around to unlock the door, she looked up at me and said, "This is my church house! I want to go to my church house." Nothing like a little lesson on ecclesiology from your two-year old daughter! Simple. Powerful. Profound.

I have spent a lot of time reflecting on that statement over the past week and a half. Somewhere along the way MJ has made a connection that church is far more than just the building, that the location on 1080 Hemingway Road is just simply a “church house.” When we gather here as a body, it is a sacred place, but that is not because the building is sacred. This space becomes holy because we, the holy people of God, gather together in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit; and when we gather, God promises to be present with us.

That night MJ reminded me of the power of how we say things. David Keller and I frequently talk about the importance of the language we use, how we choose to say things. My good friend Randy Harris says it this way: “Language is the only game in town.” Our language both reveals what we believe and also shapes how we think. Think about a very common phrase that many of us use regularly: “Let’s go to church.” Over time, that phrase has a powerful impact on what we think about God, about discipleship, and about the nature of the church. “God” becomes localized to a place and a time, rather than the God of the incarnation who is present and revealed in every moment of life. “Church” becomes a place or an event that happens once or twice a week, rather than the living people of God who are called to live into their baptism each and every day. Our focus becomes “getting church right” rather than thinking about how we are being transformed every moment of the day to be people who share and reveal Christ’s character. It’s important to audit our language periodically and think about how it shapes the things we believe and how we live.

Language really makes a difference... and on her own my little girl got her language right. She taught me an important lesson. I was both humbled and proud.

The difference a year makes...

It's hard to believe that tomorrow you will be year old! It seems like only yesterday that we were anxiously anticipating the day you would make your advent to this world, crying and screaming and perfectly awe-inspiring. Now, a year later, it's hard to possibly imagine life without you. You have stolen my heart, much in the way that your mommy did five years ago.

How can you be so perfect, so incredibly amazing? You bring us a joy the is indescribable and incomparable. You pour so much life into us with each laugh, each cry, each new sound, every movement. Whether you're clapping your hands, flipping over your tongue, packing peas into your chubby cheeks, giving me a far too slobbery kiss, or connivingly crawling toward Shiloh's toys, you make us different people, better people, more joyous people. You give us hope for tomorrow in the midst of a world that all too often seems hopeless. My heart simply melts when you roll and kick your soccer ball with me, when you giggle uncontrollably as I throw you in the air, when you reach for my nose, and grab my glasses off of my face. I can hardly stand it when you babble, rolling your r's and "speaking in tongues" when I'm upfront during worship.

It's hard to remember what our lives were like without you around to make us laugh and smile, to stop our hearts in their tracks, to help us understand the love of God more perfectly. I'm not really sure I want to remember. The beauty of each new day is enough and far more than my simple mind can capture.

So, on this day, one year save a day, let me say Happy Birthday, my precious, beautiful daughter! I love you more than I could possibly find words to express. Thank you for the blessing of being your daddy! (Now, stop growing up so fast! I don't know if my heart can handle it!!!)

Baby Blessings and Bonds

First, it's been far too long since writing, but we've been busy. Much needed vacation, end of the semester at RC, the regular business and demands of life and work at LO.... I'm glad to be typing again, but still feel like I have little to offer to the blogging world right now. But that's a longer story for another time.

It's difficult to know where to start this post, so I'll start back in Abilene. In the January short term of my first year in the MDiv program in ACU's GST, I had my first real interaction with Randy Harris. Jack Reese had connected us at the end of the previous semester and I was going to be Randy's GA (a position I would have for the next year and a half), but we didn't really know one another. So, I signed up for the Philosophy of Religion course he was teaching that January. It was a quick introduction to the boss, professor, mentor, and friend who would play a far more important role in my development and spiritual journey than he probably knows.

Just under three years ago N and I were in the throes of hunting for ministry positions. It had been a long, unsuccessful process of applying to churches who would give us little time because I was in my late 20s and didn't have both extensive educational training and 20 years of ministry experience. One day, Randy stepped into my office and asked me to come to down to chat with him in his office. He told me about a little church in Michigan that was in the process of looking for their first full time minister. He had given them my name and wanted me to be expecting a call. In a whirlwind of events over the next several weeks, we interviewed and invited to join in the ministry of the Lake Orion Church of Christ.

One of the things we have started since moving up here is integrating more intentional baby blessings for the children born into our church family. I have been the one to catalyze the change. I write the blessings, make arrangements with the families, get pictures of their precious kids, and actually "preside" over the blessings during our worship services. I think that families really appreciate them, at least that's the impression they give me. At least no one has complained!

Now, since MJ was born, we have really wanted her to have a baby blessing, but it was a little awkward to bless my own daughter, to arrange the blessing myself, or to be overly pushy in asking someone else to plan it. We just wanted someone to notice that it hadn't been done and offer to make it happen. Yesterday it finally did. So, just after the pastoral prayer, Garth called N, MJ, and I up front to bless our little girl.


Here's where the story comes together. As the three of us stood up front, Garth begins to retell the story of our coming to LO from the church's perspective. He talked about Randy calling the church to see if they had hired anyone yet, and then suggesting that they contact us....

Then, Garth said that, knowing how important Randy was to us, that he wanted him to be a part of MJ's blessing. Garth had contacted Randy and asked him to write her blessing. Natalie and I were struck with myriad emotions and struggled to fight back the tears that we both felt as Garth read Randy's prayer for MJ. It was a wonderful gift, a true blessing to us yesterday. Thanks Garth and Randy for making what you gave the three of us yesterday.

Here's the blessing...

O God,

All of our instincts tell us to pray for nothing but good things for this child,

But we know that this is self serving and short sighted.

So, we pray that you will give her whatever she needs to be your person.

We pray

You will give her enough joy to make her cheerful and serene

and enough sorrow to make her big hearted and compassionate;

You will give her enough success to make her confident and hopeful

and enough failure to keep her humble and dependent on you;

You will give her enough of the cross to make her life Jesus

and that resurrection power will always be present in her life.

We pray, O God, that you will hold her so close to you side

that the Evil one cannot touch her.

That Eric and Natalie and this church will be your hands of blessing in her life.

In the Name of Jesus

Amen

Rollin', rollin', rollin'

This morning I took MoJo out of her car seat and lay her down on her pallet on the floor in my office. I grab the coffee pot and head to get some decaf Sumatra brewing. When I come back in, something's different. MoJo is on her belly, looking around and in inquisitively. Then it hit me. While I was gone, she rolled from her back to her belly. It was the first time she's gone back to front! (She's an old pro going the reverse!) She's growing too fast for my heart to handle!

The Joy of Snow Days... esp on Feb 14th!