tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-203151352024-03-13T07:09:32.236-04:00Piebald LifePIEBALD: any animal or flower that has two or more prominent colors.
PIEBALD MAN: the nick-name of C.S. Lewis’ protagonist in Perelandra to symbolize his internal battle between doing things his own way or trusting in God--which essentially describes most of my issues in my PIEBALD LIFE.Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16839808614263512639noreply@blogger.comBlogger1130125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20315135.post-49640743503961096772018-10-23T15:26:00.000-04:002018-10-23T15:26:21.230-04:00Disappointment With JesusA couple of months ago, I prayed pretty consistently for a specific something that specifically did not happen. It wasn't for anything for me. It wan't totally unreasonable or outside the realm of possibility. It was the kind of thing that I would think Jesus would want to do.<br />
<br />
The specifics of it don't really matter all that much, it's something that anyone of us who prays regularly and who's not afraid to actually ask for something specific eventually and maybe regularly experiences. Disappointment with Jesus happens when we pray and when along with that we have some hoped-for outcome or expectations that he might come through in a specific way.<br />
<br />
Last week I was reading <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+24&version=NIV" target="_blank">Jesus's interaction with the men on the road to Emmaus</a> shortly after his resurrection. They're talking about their heartbreak over Jesus's execution, not yet knowing about the resurrection: "but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel."<br />
<br />
There it is: disappointment with Jesus. "But we had hoped." Something unexpected or unwanted happened, "but we had hoped" that Jesus would do something, change something, move in some way, make a difference in some specific way. Disappointment with what Jesus did or didn't do is a significant part of what they're mourning. "But we had hoped."<br />
<br />
It strikes me that my disappointment from a couple of months ago, and the regular/occasional disappointments that I've processed over a couple of decades of journaling, could all start with that exact same phrase: "But I had hoped..."<br />
<br />
Part of what makes that particular Emmaus story so freighted, of course, is that they're processing their grief with the resurrected Jesus, who reveals himself later. And it's here that I had my own awakening about my own disappointments.<br />
<br />
The men on the road to Emmaus had much smaller expectations and hopes than the resurrected Jesus accomplished. They had merely hoped for the redemption of Israel. Jesus has just conquered sin and death for the whole world. Their expectations and agendas and hopes and dreams for Jesus were much lower and lesser than what Jesus was actually up to. It would just take them a while to get their hearts and minds around it.<br />
<br />
I don't think that this is what's happening every single time we experience disappointments of this type. Sometimes we're just disappointed with what Jesus does or doesn't do and we never experience or see a larger redemptive purpose. This isn't a sit-com and everything doesn't wrap up in 28 minutes.<br />
<br />
But my guess is for a large percentage of my "but I had hoped" prayers and disappointments, were I to look back through them all, I'd find that my hopes and asks were much smaller, more parochial, less grand, less important than they seemed at the time. And that what Jesus is up to is much more sweeping and compelling and transformative than the small things I'm asking him to do.Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16839808614263512639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20315135.post-2944334617112889172018-10-16T17:21:00.002-04:002018-10-16T17:21:25.770-04:00How To Get to a Peaceful EndSo I'm reading the crucifixion narratives in Luke this week in my daily readings. And it strikes me that Jesus's last words are so incredibly fitting: "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit."<br />
<br />
And what's so fitting about that is he's been doing this all along. Jesus, at every turn, submits and commits his spirit to the Father. Over and over and over again. All day. Every day. And the results are the single most consequential life in all of history.<br />
<br />
But in that one moment he's able to trust God with his life and his death because he's proven God faithful over and over and over again, thousands of big and small ways, all along the way.<br />
<br />
And so Jesus is at peace, even in this horrific, final moment, his last breaths.<br />
<br />
It would seem that if you and I could arrive at that moment for each of us with this same well-practiced surrender and trust and track record of having met with God over and over and over again, it would serve us quite well.<br />
<br />
Maybe my journal full of prayers needs to be marked less by asking for stuff and processing the ups and downs of life. Maybe it needs to be marked by more surrendering myself and all that stuff to the Lord, committing my own spirit and my to-do's and dreams and hopes and worries and fears all to the Father.<br />
<br />
That, it would seem, would make for the type of life I want to live and some very good practice for that last moment.Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16839808614263512639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20315135.post-63060352128498564492018-10-10T15:34:00.002-04:002018-10-10T15:34:36.144-04:00The How Becomes the WhoOne of the things that you see throughout Scripture is that God seems to care not only about outcomes but about how we get there. The how matters.<br />
<br />
And the reason why the how matters so much is because if you do the same how over and over again eventually it becomes a part of your who.<br />
<br />
If <i>how</i> you handle stress and relax is by drinking too much, <i>who</i> you become eventually is an alcoholic. All addictions start with a how that over-run our who.<br />
<br />
Conversely, I've known people who were absolutely wonderful prayer warriors. They became that who through a lifetime of practice, practice and more practice in prayer.<br />
<br />
Many years ago I had a major change in my day-job that significantly shifted my routines and schedules that I'd been doing for about fourteen years. Initially it was utterly and totally disorienting. I had no idea that I'd become so incredibly attached to the rhythms and the how's of that fourteen-year-long job.<br />
<br />
Some questions I've been journaling about recently in light of all of this: how have my how's shaped who I am today--both for good and for bad? What are the how's that need to change because of who I'll be if I continue to do the how in that direction?Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16839808614263512639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20315135.post-88519080032505956892018-10-08T14:47:00.000-04:002018-10-08T14:47:00.884-04:00On Cynicism<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Cynicism
is the self-protective posture that keeps us ‘safe’ by dismissing everything and
refusing to believe or trust or hope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Its
only function: deconstruct and undermine and question and destroy and keep
everything and everyone at a distance, investing in nothing that matters beyond
ourselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">And
here’s the deal: ask a cynic why or how they got to be so cynical and you know
what? Just about everything they say is true. </span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">The world is a mess. People do take
advantage of you. There is a ton of corruption and greed and exploitation and
insecurity in the world—that’s part of what’s so alluring about this cynical
position</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">I have at various points done serious battle with this cynical voice:
I’ve battled cynicism about the world or people or institutions and at some key
points I’ve battled some serious cynicism about Christianity</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At
one particularly dark and cynical time in my life, it struck me that my
cynicism was very limited and confining and small. I</span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">t could only undermine, question, doubt, and negate things, it
could never build anything that was beautiful, good, strong, enduring, and
wonderful</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">And
as I thought about that more, I sensed an invitation from God to become cynical
about my cynicism.</span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">Because if I was actually
consistently cynical, it could only destroy, undermine, and take away
everything that truly mattered to me about my life: my marriage, my kids lives,
every relationship, any work I ever did</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Cynicism
had zero ability to build up or create or help anyone or anything to actually
flourish or make anything or anyone beautiful, good, more alive or more free or real. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">And
so I became cynical about my cynicism’s ability to deliver anything other than
a miserable life. In biblical terms, </span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">I repented of my cynicism and asked God to replace it with something
much better: faith, hope, love, wisdom and courage. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">It’s
not that hard to be a cynic. </span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">For some reason in our culture we have elevated the cynic as the
sophisticated ones—but how hard is it really to just doubt and mock and dismiss everyone
and everything?</span><br />
<i style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></i>
<i style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Cynics aren’t
that sophisticated or that smart, they’re just scared!</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">If you know that the inner cynic inside of you is the one running the
show in your heart and in your life, I want to invite you to join with me in
becoming cynical about your cynicism. </span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">And
to replace it instead with the good news of a God who is greater than your
giants, greater than all your fears, and who invites you into a better way to
live, HIS way of living this life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">You
and I need to do this work because cynics will never do anything meaningful in this world like feed hungry kids or tackle major problems on our planet. Only
courageous people can do that. Only loving people can do that. Only persevering people can do that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">And
you and I need to do this work, because a cynic will never be a great mom or
dad or friend or manager or boss or employee. To do all of those well require a
different skillset than the cynic can offer or bring, a different set of eyes
and a different kind of a heart<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">And
most importantly, you and I need to do some of the work to disarm the cynic because
ultimately it is just about impossible for the cynic to ever make the
life-changing, life-giving connection with the God of the universe<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Because
cynicism can only undermine, put off, deconstruct, and push away. A</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">nd what Jesus shows us about God is that God is all about pretty
much the exact opposite of all of that: </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">God is about drawing near, engaging, re-building, investing,
giving of himself to a broken and weary world to make it right, new, well again</span></div>
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love. That’s who God is and it’s who he’s inviting us to become.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--EndFragment--><br />Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16839808614263512639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20315135.post-55947319740142816042018-10-04T10:59:00.004-04:002018-10-04T10:59:45.933-04:00Quick HitWhen you're up against someone that's driving you absolutely crazy or is genuinely set in opposition against you in some way, there's all kinds of ways we can justify all kinds of actions we might otherwise abhor.<br />
<br />
But you don't want your level of integrity and the content of your character to be dictated by how your enemies treat you. You want a much more abundant, wonderful, beautiful and strong point of reference for what you will and will not do. I'd suggest Jesus.Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16839808614263512639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20315135.post-17553364546127465352018-09-29T11:06:00.001-04:002018-09-29T11:06:24.079-04:00Too Nerdy For Sunday Morning Consumption<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">So on Sunday we're looking at a story of King David before he becomes king. At one point he has an opportunity to kill the reigning king, King Saul, to take his 'rightful' place as king of Israel. He decides not to do so, citing the fact that Saul is still "the Lord's anointed." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">If the Lord's anointing on him is his ground for assuming the kingship, he will not trespass the Lord in reaching for the kingship. The Lord's anointing is his raison d'etre (I've always wanted to use that phrase, never quite sure I knew what it meant. I think I got it right.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">So I was going to use this illustration ons Sunday, but it's too nerdy for general consumption. This is why you have a blog!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Here's the illustration</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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Name="footer"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of figures"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="envelope address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="envelope return"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="line number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="page number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of authorities"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="macro"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="toa heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">When
I was in college I did a little bit of study around post-modern literary theory
and philosophy--I think I understood some of it, I’m kind of nerdy but this was
super-nerdy stuff, beyond my nerd-dom<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">But
one of the core tenants of post-modernity was that we’re all so stuck inside
our own heads that real actual communication and understanding was pretty much
impossible<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">That
you might have got something you want to say to me but I’ve got so much noise inside
my head and my own preconceptions and assumptions and frameworks that really
there’s no way I can ever fully understand or connect with you<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">And
so these philosophers would write these long books talking about communication
was impossible<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">They’d
write long books. Full of long words. Trying to communicate how it was
impossible to communicate and words were useless. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">They’d write books and hold
lectures. Using words to talk about how we can never understand each other
using words<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">And
this is why most of you have never heard much of post-modern literary theory,
at least that version of it. It never took off, it never caught traction more
broadly</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">In part because it had within it this ridiculously
self-destructive, self-undermining characteristic to it—you can’t use words to
say that words don’t work, that undermines any authority you might have had.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">This is why David doesn't kill Saul, even when he has the chance to do so. If his authority is going to come from the Lord, then he cannot and will not undermine that authority by going against the Lord's anointed. The Lord will dispose of Saul when the Lord decides it is time. David, meanwhile, will wait, even though it will cost him many, many more miles of heartache and running and seemingly wasted time.</span></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16839808614263512639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20315135.post-28296206904653463052018-09-22T12:18:00.002-04:002018-09-22T12:18:49.891-04:00Restoration SoftwareSo one of the most compelling themes for me recently has been the Jesus-following idea of restoration. Restoring something generally implies taking something that was formerly glorious and majestic but has fallen into disrepair and making it glorious again.<br />
<br />
We restore old beautiful houses and old beautiful cars all the time. What does it mean to restore human beings?<br /><br />The original description of humanity in the beginning is utterly glorious: made in God's image. I think that the Genesis creation story communicates the core of who God is and who we are, regardless of what we might think about the literal-ness of it all.<br />
<br />
God creates everything, and it's all good, good, good and good. And then creates human beings made in his image to be sub-rulers, managers, sub-creators. He places them in a beautiful place, a perfect place, and he calls them to go to work making it more beautiful, more perfect, more glorious.<br />
<br />
Who were we in the beginning? Image-bearers of the most high God. What does it mean to bear God's image? It means that in every word, every relationships, every project undertaken, every laugh, every hobby, every email, every time we drove a car, every text message, and in every blog post, something of God's enormously good character would be introduced into the world in a fresh way.<br />
<br />
A classic way the work of preaching has been described is "truth poured through personality." In the beginning, all image-bearers did this work in every single thing that they did. Truth, love, grace, creativity, flourishing, generosity, ingenuity, perseverance, resilience, beauty, wisdom, light, justice, holiness all poured through the grand variety of image-bearers personalities who live in this place, all day, every day.<br />
<br />
Of course in the biblical story it is sin that corrupts this original calling. We still have this authority over the earth and the ability to either bless it and each other or further corrupt it and each other. The ruinous results of sin hijacking the power of image-bearing are well-documented in any history book. We are now the run-down houses and cars, weary, decaying, over-run with thorns and thickets and parasites. We were originally glorious, we are now in need of restoration.<br />
<br />
Jesus shows us what perfect image-bearing was intended to be from the beginning. He takes up that rightful place as the perfect image of the invisible God. He represents God perfectly in every interaction as he comes up against all the chaos and pain and pride that darkness might throw at him. He reclaims the role of image-bearer that all of us were created to take up in the beginning.<br />
<br />
And in his death and resurrection, he makes the way for fallen image-bearers to be restored. Restoration means for fallen image-bearers to re-take their rightful place in the order of the cosmos as people who are alive in this moment, for this day, to pour something of God's eternally wondrous character into this fallen and broken world.<br />
<br />
I am a restored image bearer put here in this moment to have God's character be poured through me as I go to work with him creating shalom in this place. All aspects of my personality, schedule, tasks, and my very being have been purchased by Jesus on the cross that I might once again take my rightful place on this planet. <br />
<br />
That's the restoration software being reloaded into my heart, mind, body, and spirit, to make me more alive and enabling me to participate in the life-giving restoration mission of Jesus. <br />
<br />
<br />Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16839808614263512639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20315135.post-4434795426621459282018-09-18T22:25:00.000-04:002018-09-18T22:25:20.964-04:00A White People's Brief Introduction to Systemic Racism Part 2So all of this is really a vicious cycle, and here's how the order of operations flows:<br />
<br />
1. Overtly racist white people create...<br />
<br />
2. Overtly racist systems and structures--everything from banking to voting to running for office to owning real estate to education to religious institutions were defined by fixed racial boundaries for a couple hundred years which creates THE MACHINE which...<br />
<br />
3. Severely hinders the full flourishing of a fixed set of people made in God's image for many generations that ripples down for generation after generation. <br />
<br />
(I heard about a race workshop at a school where they played a game of monopoly where the white teachers weren't allowed to play until a full hour into the game. They all lost, many of them quit in extreme frustration and exasperation.) <br />
<br />
4. This machine also produces more racist people. History is littered with white people who point to the minorities struggling under the oppressive weight of the machine and declare, "Look! They're not flourishing! Must be something wrong with them!"<br />
<br />
5. And this machine becomes the moving walkway that does not require active participation in order to perpetuate it's highly predictable results. <br />
<br />
America is, in many ways, a wonderfully unique place with a wonderfully unique history. And in other ways, America is just like every other empire. Every empire has a body count--ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, the British Empire, China, Russia, all of them. The American empire is no different. What's unique about us is the loftiness of our aspirations and then the extent that we have to bend and ignore history to pretend like we've lived up to those aspirations.<br />
<br />
And ultimately no empire is the fullness of what Jesus talked about: the kingdom of God. In fact, every empire, by virtue of being an empire, will at points come in conflict with the perfect kingdom of God taught by Jesus and ushered in by Jesus.<br />
<br />
One of the greatest challenges for many of us Jesus-following white folks will be the question of allegiance: when the kingdom of the United States of America comes in conflict with the Kingdom of God, which one will we choose? When the road forks and we are required to be prophetic towards a nation and neighbors that we love, will we have the courage to do so?<br />
<br />
Will we be willing to be so committed to the Kingdom of God that we would even lobby for policies that might not benefit us white folks? Would we be willing to make changes to the machine so that it was a more just and equitable and kingdom-of-God-like democratic capitalism?<br />
<br />
The machine has a ton of freight and momentum behind it at this point. There are some who understandably believe the American democratic/capitalistic experiment to be a lost cause, unredeemable. But I think of all the broken systems (and they all are broken) this is the best one with the most potential.<br />
<br />
But my oh my how far short we've fallen of that magnificent potential.<br />
<br />
<br />Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16839808614263512639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20315135.post-82008769019652870672018-09-15T10:50:00.000-04:002018-09-15T11:05:23.812-04:00Why "But I'm Not a Racist" Doesn't Solve the Problem: A Brief Introduction to Systemic Racism for White People, Part 1So I'm a Jesus person. So I believe in miracles.<br />
<br />
<i>But even if every person in America woke up tomorrow and miraculously had zero racism or prejudice in their hearts, it would not fix the racial problem in our country.</i><br />
<br />
My goal with these next couple of posts is to give the briefest of introductions to systemic racism. This is written particularly for white folks who honestly don't understand why race is still such a charged issue even when everyone they know seems to genuinely be a nice, non-racist-type person.<br />
<br />
My proposal is that the American political, social, and economic machine has been finely tuned over hundreds of years to produce consistently racially skewed outcomes that have been and will continue to be self-perpetuating. At this point it is a moving walkway that does not require actively racist participation to continue. All it requires is that no one re-make the machine that has been carefully curated over centuries to produce with astounding predictability the exact results it was created to produce in the beginning.<br />
<br />
Below is only the briefest skim over several hundred years of legislation that will illustrate how the machine got built. There are literally thousands more examples that could be talked about at the national, state, and local levels. but hopefully this will get us started.<br />
<br />
(Note: I'm deeply grateful for the good work of the <a href="https://www.racialequityinstitute.com/" target="_blank">Racial Equity Institute</a> workshops, the mini-series "<a href="https://www.pbs.org/race/000_General/000_00-Home.htm" target="_blank">Race, the Power of An Illusion</a>" and the podcast "<a href="http://www.sceneonradio.org/seeing-white/" target="_blank">Seeing White"</a> for their great work in helping to educate this white guy and put these pieces together).<br />
<br />
<b>1640: The John Punch Case</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
A black man named John Punch together with two white men run away from their indentured servitude. Punch is given a life sentence, the two white men are merely given an extension to their servitude. This is recognized by some people as the first slave in the American colonies.<br />
<br />
The back story: the vast majority of Americans at this point are poor. The small number of wealthy white elites know that if the poor people band together they would be powerless to stop any uprising.<br />
<br />
So they systematically work to break up the poor people by race. Wealthy whites tell poor whites, "You might be poor but you are one of us and you will have more rights as a poor white person than any other poor person will have. There will always be black people beneath you on the social ladder."<br />
<br />
This promise keeps poor whites from bonding with poor blacks and other ethnic minorities to destabilized the established wealthy, white power structure. This alluring promise is repeated throughout the generations to keep poor white people at bay.<br />
<br />
(Aside: it might be worth asking the question h<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillbilly_Elegy" target="_blank">ow poor white folks are doing</a> here in 2018 on the other side of this bargain).<br />
<br />
<b>Late 1600's: "What is a white man?"</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
The notion of a 'white race' that would control power and access to land and wealth originated in Virginia as the House of Burgesses debated "What is a white man?" in the late 1600's. This is when whiteness formally becomes invented by people who to this point had thought of themselves as English or Irish or...<br />
<br />
This conversation runs for approximately 250 years with each generation defining and re-defining white-ness to make sure that only white people get access to land and wealth and power for generations.<br />
<br />
<b>Late 1700's: Skull Studies Rank Races</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
In a prime example of how our presuppositions shape what we 'discover,' there are dozens of skull studies done by European and American scientists determined to rank all the races of the earth. Of course "Caucasoid" continually comes up first (the biggest noggins) with Africans last.<br />
<br />
This supposedly scientific discovery becomes a key plank in justifying slavery.<br />
<br />
<b>1785: The Land Ordinance Act</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Simple: 640 acres offered at $1 per acre exclusively to white people.<br />
<br />
This pours gasoline on the wealth gap from generation to generation as whites pass along large plots of land that are exponentially increasing in value. Ethnic minorities will continue to be boxed out of land ownership (a primary way that wealth gets passed along from generation to generation) for almost 200 more years.<br />
<br />
<b>1787: The 3/5th's Compromise</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
The demon of racism gets formally written into our nation's founding documents with cataclysmic results. We have never recovered. This formally and officially puts people made in God's image in the "not-fully-human" category (the fuel that all ethnic hatred runs on). At the same time, this ensures that southern white slave-holding interests will have disproportionate power in Congress.<br />
<br />
<b>1830: The Indian Removal Act</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
The president is authorized to 'negotiate' and exchange lands with native peoples. In reality, this encouraged the president to seize Native American lands and remove them from land that had been theirs.<br />
<br />
<b>1877-1950's: The Jim Crow Era</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Merely 75 years of domestic terrorism, lynchings, and dehumanizing treatment with zero recourse for anything resembling justice.<br />
<br />
<b>1896: Plessy v. Ferguson</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Separate but equal facilities are ruled constitutional, consigning black students to poorer educational experiences and perpetuating the already well-established cycles of poverty.<br />
<br />
<b>1933: The New Deal</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
This made approximately $120 billion in loans available nearly exclusively to white people. That would be worth approximately $1 trillion today.<br />
<br />
<b>1944: GI Bill</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
In another of the largest government handouts in history, $95 billion was given away exclusively to over 2 million white people.<br />
<br />
(Aside: who has benefited the most from government handouts over our nations history? Not 'needy minorities.' White folks. From hundreds of acres of land ridiculously cheap to college tuition totally paid for, white people have benefited from government handouts more than any other people group.<br />
<br />
Perhaps there is nothing wrong with receiving government assistance. But when white folks complain or object to government assistance to non-white Americans, they can only do so from a lack of knowledge about our own history.)<br />
<br />
<b>1945-1960: Redlining Housing Practices</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
A black community was marked as 'black and undesirable' and whites are steered into the suburbs, leaving black communities with little to no tax base and feeding cycles of poverty which continue to plague us today.<br />
<br />
Even when such practices were outlawed, de facto racial steering continued.<br />
<br />
<b>1980's: War on Drugs</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Not surprisingly, the predominantly poor black inner-cities (the outcome the machine had been designed to produce) become communities rife with any number of societal ills. In a classic example of addressing the symptom rather than the root cause, the war on drugs accelerates a new era of disproportionate numbers of black males imprisoned.<br />
<br />
<b>Today</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
In every measure of human health and well-being, black people are disproportionately represented at the bottom: high school drop-out rates, infant morality rates, heart disease, economic well-being, family stability, unemployment, percentage of population in jail, life expectancy, etc. etc. etc. Every. single. one.<br />
<br />
This is not about one person making bad decisions. This is about a machine designed over centuries to keep a certain subset of people from having access to all the options available to white people.<br />
<br />
This is about an American political and economic and social machine where generations of people were steered into racially and economically stratified prescribed paths in order to produce these racially stratified results with black and brown people disproportionately on the losing end.<br />
<br />
And all of this is in motion whether you're a 'good white person who isn't racist' or not. The machine goes on and on.<br />
<br />
That (in the very briefest of terms) is what is meant by systemic racism.Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16839808614263512639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20315135.post-88407634439311895262018-09-10T21:28:00.001-04:002018-09-10T21:44:14.195-04:00The Problem of Conflating Forgiveness, Reconciliation, RestorationIn season two, episode six of Netflix's hit t.v. show "The Crown," Queen Elizabeth wrestled deeply with whether it was her "Christian duty" to forgive her ne'er-do-well uncle by giving him a position in her government--Billy Graham even makes an appearance to offer his wisdom.<br />
<br />
There's confusion here that I think is pretty common: forgiveness, reconciliation, and restoration are three distinct things. This leaves room for us to do the crucial soul-cleansing work of forgiveness while keeping healthy boundaries.<br />
<br />
For some of us who are Jesus-followers, conflating all three together has kept us from engaging in the work that we're required to do (forgiveness) because we assume doing that work includes doing the other two things as well. Thankfully, it doesn't.<br />
<br />
<b>Forgiveness</b><br />
Forgiveness is the emotional and spiritual work that is, indeed, the required work of those of us who follow Jesus.<br />
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But forgiveness does not require the other person's participation. Some of us need to forgive someone who is dead and gone. Some of us need to forgive people that we need to keep far away from us for our emotional or physical safety.<br />
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Jesus forgives us. And then we in turn forgive as we have been forgiven (and sometimes it's a long, long process) regardless of the merit or contrition of the offending party. The 'location' of this work is largely internal, spiritual, and psychological. Of course, a public expression of some sort often helps us to seal the work, but it's not essential to the process.<br />
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And, of course, centuries of spiritual wisdom have been confirmed by nearly every modern psychological study: forgiveness is life, un-forgiveness is death. Dallas Willard: "Jesus isn't just nice. He's brilliant."<br />
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<b>Reconciliation</b><br />
Reconciliation is the personal relational re-connection which isn't always wise or possible. Perhaps the person is narcissistic, abusive, totally unrepentant or (again) simply no longer with us. We must forgive, but we do so without giving unhealthy people entree into our lives again.<br />
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Jesus is always biased towards reconciliation, but he regularly had broken, un-reconciled relationships with the religious leaders of his day. He could forgive them (ultimately on the cross) without being reconciled to them.<br />
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<b>Restoration</b><br />
Whereas reconciliation is personal and relational, restoration is entrusting or re-positioning the person into an equivalent place of responsibility or authority. Again, this may or may not be wise or possible.<br />
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So you might forgive the cousin that you hired who stole money from your company, you might even enjoy his company at the family reunion (reconciliation) but you might not give him his old job back. That would be the final step of restoration that is reserved, again, for those who have put some intentional energy into the work of repair, repentance, renewal, making amends, and addressing wrongs done.<br />
<br />Given her uncle's rather smug and self-important disposition, Queen Elizabeth would be much better served doing the important internal work of forgiveness, perhaps beginning steps towards reconciliation (not that he was especially interested), but in no way should she give him a position in her government. This is actually the conclusion that she comes to, but she feels guilty about it.<br />
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Keeping forgiveness, reconciliation, and restoration separate frees us to do the essential soul-work of forgiveness while maintaining healthy, wise, reasonable boundaries required for navigating a world full of broken people.Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16839808614263512639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20315135.post-88182122590574935632018-09-03T22:12:00.003-04:002018-09-03T22:12:45.256-04:00Piebald Awaken?So I'm thinking about re-booting Piebald Life.<br />
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It's been hibernating for about 8 years and somehow the interwebs continued without my five-days-a-week ramblings. And, alas, nobody blogs any more (except for the five people who have all the readers) but I think I might have the inclination to re-find my groove here, maybe just a couple times a week. <br />
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I'm trying to find a pithy analogy to the tree falling in the forest and nobody being around to hear it does it make any noise kind of a thing--but I'm not sure I can quite make it work: if a blog is updated and there's nobody around to read it, does it make any difference? I think you dear reader, if you're out there, might get what I'm trying to say.<br />
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I'll post this and work up another post or two and then perhaps alert my Facebook friends in the next week or so that there are a couple posts up. <br />
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After all, everyone needs a hobby...<br />
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Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16839808614263512639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20315135.post-90174135568749351942010-12-20T22:07:00.002-05:002010-12-20T22:09:10.171-05:00Blogger VacationI'm taking Christmas break from Piebald Life land. I'll hopefully be starting back up in the New Year, so follow me through Google Reader, here on the site, or just keep an eye on Facebook!<br /><br />Merry Christmas!Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16839808614263512639noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20315135.post-52547967110031413092010-12-16T15:07:00.004-05:002010-12-16T15:29:36.478-05:00When Do You Hold Prodigals Accountable?I just got back from spending several days with about 70 other InterVarsity staff at our Regional staff conference. We typically alternate at these annual meetings between training years and spiritual formation years. This year was a spiritual formation year. <br /><br />We spent a couple days living, breathing, and soaking in Jesus' parable of the two lost sons and one recklessly generous Father. Hence my blog posts last week pondering the story.<br /><br />Of course, since there's 70 InterVarsity staff all together studying this passage and sharing together, the time in Scripture and prayer and the caliber of the testimonies was outstanding. It's an honor to work alongside such tremendously gifted and honest people.<br /><br />But also given that it was IV staff who were studying this passage together, the majority of us resonated more with the older son's lost-ness than we did with the younger. The older son is the one who follows the rules, obeys the Father, stays at home and works hard while the younger son goes off and parties his Father's money away. <br /><br />But the older son is so caught up in his own self-righteousness that he misses the heart of the Father.<br /><br />So towards the end of the time, as many staff confessed their resonance with the older son's issues, one staff asked me a great and very thoughtful question. If I'm an older son-type, I know that the worst parts of my staff work will be to want my students to behave like older sons. I want them to work hard. I want them to be diligent and faithful. If they sign up to be a small group Bible study leader, they need to do it. My chapter runs much better if I've got a leadership team of older sons!<br /><br />So if in the parable the younger son is welcomed home seemingly without consequences for his drunk and disorderliness, what does that mean for us in terms of holding others accountable for their actions?<br /><br />I was pondering this in the car with my wife on the way home and I think there's a couple directions to go with this.<br /><br />First, the younger son's part of the parable ends with the welcome-back party. But part of being welcomed back into the family means precisely to enter into the common life of the household. The next day there will be chores to do around the farm. There's a certain level of entering responsibly into the daily life of the family that would naturally occur. <br /><br />In other words, eventually the party is over and there is at the very least work for the younger son to do. He's not doing it as a servant, he's been welcomed back fully as a son. But there's work to do nonetheless.<br /><br />But perhaps the bigger issue for those of us in authority over others as we think about accountability is the question of the "no" serving the "yes" that has often been a topic of reflection here. <br /><br />If I'm going to confront someone for something they've done or not done, the question of my own motive can never be far from my thoughts. I have all kinds of older-son-syndrome motivations that can hijack a perfectly reasonable and good conversation that I'd need to have with someone.<br /><br />So the question is this for me: if I'm confronting someone with a "no" to their activities--say it's someone who's not following through on a commitment to lead a small group Bible study--then the question is can I see the "yes" that my "no" is supposed to be pointing to and articulate that faithfully? <br /><br />In the Scriptures, God's "no" is never the last word on us...at least, not yet. Throughout the Scriptures, God's last word to us is always "yes." There are lots of no's, of course. But the no's of God are always meant to serve his final and absolute yes to us in Jesus Christ. <br /><br />"No" to idolatory, because if you worship some no-god, your soul will shrivel up and die. No to broken sexual expression because our sexuality is meant to bless us and others around us, not used like some weapon to exploit, consume, or entertain us. Every no points to a yes.<br /><br />So if I'm going at someone and holding them accountable out of anger or frustration--just with my no, in other words--then I'm probably not in step with the Spirit. If I can approach someone with a no in order to point them to God's greater yes, then at least I'm in a posture of loving them and being for them, not just dropping the proverbial hammer on them.<br /><br />This doesn't solve every issue, but it's at least a decent place to start.Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16839808614263512639noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20315135.post-64728876496663239832010-12-12T21:01:00.000-05:002010-12-13T11:50:19.161-05:00Why 20 and 30 Somethings Are Leaving the ChurchI'm a couple weeks behind in my reading, but last month Christianity Today ran a really interesting piece on why 20 and 30 somethings are leaving the church.<br /><br />As someone who's spent much of the the last 15 years trying to help 18-22 year olds grow up into the church, this article struck a deep cord in me.<br /><br />It's worth a read for anyone who's a 20 or 30 something, who's in church or para-church ministry, or who finds themselves one of those 20 or 30 somethings who left the church along the way.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/november/27.40.html">Check it out here</a>.Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16839808614263512639noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20315135.post-24591986860431523082010-12-12T20:57:00.002-05:002010-12-12T21:01:28.126-05:00Prodigal PrayerAfter spending the past week or so in the Prodigal Son story from <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2015&version=NIV">Luke 15</a>, I've come to this prayer.<br /><br />That I might be as bold and audacious in prayer as the younger son without the rebellion. And that I might be as obedient and faithful as the older son without the self-righteousness that walls me off from entering into the joy of knowing the Father.Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16839808614263512639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20315135.post-17551972906452705372010-12-10T11:17:00.005-05:002010-12-10T11:39:40.285-05:00Dashboard: Nouwen, Smith, Barth, Willard & Getting Things DoneA quick review of books, podcasts, music and other stuff that I've been imbibing...<br /><br />*If you're looking for a book that will do some significant soul-tune-up work in just a few pages, you could do no better than to spend some time with <a href="http://www.henrinouwen.org/henri/about/">Henri Nouwen</a>. <br /><br />I've just finished his "The Way of the Heart" and, like nearly all of his books, it packs a serious punch without trying too hard. Nouwen drills down into the importance of connecting with God through solitude, silence, and prayer. <br /><br />I'm terrible at all of these things, and yet Nouwen invites me in, gently, persistently, into the heart of the Father without guilt or manipulation. <br /><br />Nouwen (who died in 1996) has dozens of books. I've only read a handful but they are always insightful, warm, and powerful. Put this on your Christmas wish-list.<br /><br />*Prior to that I read James Bryan Smith's "The Good and Beautiful Life." This is part two of his "Good and Beautiful" series. The first one, "The Good and Beautiful God," was a spectacular gathering up of the whole of the Christian story that was refreshing in its simplicity without feeling watered down. <br /><br />This follow-up effort focuses on the formation of character as we follow Christ, particularly viewed through the Sermon on the Mount. It's a solid effort that invites us into genuine transformation of our hearts through thoughtful exposition and practical implications.<br /><br />I found TG&BL to be not quite as captivating as TG&BG, but it might have been the difference between reading the latter at the beach this summer (where everything is slightly more glorious) and the former in between meetings and on airplanes and in the margins of my day.<br /><br />*In my Ipod: Dallas Willard's weekend conference at Bethel Seminary in 2008. Willard is rabid about what Smith writes about in TG&BL (they're buds--Smith studied under him for many years): that genuine life transformation is critical to any real Christianity. <br /><br />I'll blog more about this later next week, but for now let me say that I *heart* Dallas Willard's thorough and deeply studied approach to the Christian life. If you're getting ready for a trip somewhere and want something to chew on while you drive, download this via Itunes U.<br /><br />*Theological reading that I just finished: Karl Barth's "The Epistle to the Romans." This is Barth's commentary on Romans, and it is outstanding. <br /><br />I started reading this sometime early in the summer more or less devotionally over my breakfast every morning. I just finished it at the beginning of December. If you're looking for a New Year's resolution to stretch your mind, I'd recommend ordering this and reading a bit of it each day. <br /><br />*Business/Leadership Book: I just started "Getting Things Done" by David Allen. I've heard a good bit of hype surrounding this book--that it'll bring organizational certitude to even the most organizationally inept of us. So far, it's living up to the hype--some really solid thoughts about how to get things done...even for guys like me.Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16839808614263512639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20315135.post-40604841595777801512010-12-09T12:38:00.003-05:002010-12-09T13:04:47.325-05:00Non-Drunk and Non-Disorderly Meets a Generous FatherTrue confessions: I've never been drunk. Perhaps for someone in my line of work, this should be something to be celebrated. But I find it hard to confess in just about any context, even amongst other InterVarsity staff.<br /><br />It's not that I don't drink--although I didn't until I was twenty-one. And it's not that I am all that righteous or holy.<br /><br />Partly I was scared and intimidated by the whole scene during the years when I would have been drinking foolishly. And more than that, I'm a classic, first-born son, doing as I was told. I was told that it was wrong to get drunk. That it could become an addiction that could ruin your life. So I didn't get drunk.<br /><br />This week I'm studying Jesus' story of the prodigal son. Quick summary if you're unfamiliar with it: a man has two sons, the younger son (and of course it's the younger--Jesus totally gets birth-order psychology) demands his inheritance and goes off and parties it away.<br /><br />He's broke and starving when he "comes to his senses" (one of the greatest phrases in all of Scripture). He returns home to his father who sees him coming, runs out to him and welcomes him home with a lavish feast.<br /><br />The older son is out working in the field (of course, that's where he's supposed to be! Jesus totally gets birth-order psychology!). He comes near the house, hears the party, finds out what's going on and refuses to come in even after the father comes out and pleads with him.<br /><br />The older son's response to the father is telling of his heart: "All these years I've been slaving away for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property on prostitutes comes home you kill the fattened calf for him!"<br /><br />It doesn't require too much imagination to hear the self-righteous indignation in the son's voice.<br /><br />As I've sat in this story all week long, it doesn't take much work for me to locate myself in it. The older of two sons, the one who's never been drunk at least in part because I was obeying my parents. I don't disobey orders. I walk straight and narrow. Just like the older son.<br /><br />And just like the older son, it could be easy to be self-righteous about all of it. Which is certainly a temptation for me from time to time.<br /><br />But what's captured me this time through this story has been the father's response to the son:<br /><br />"My son," the father said, "you are always with me and everything I have is yours."<br /><br />With-ness. This is the Father's priority for me. Do I take delight in the fact that in my lack of rebellion I have been on the Father's property all along? Have I stayed at home but run away from my Father anyway? Have I been around God's stuff but neglected to actually know anything about God's heart?<br /><br />Oh, but the stuff is there, too. And for some reason I'm sinking my heart and prayers this time around by the fact that the son could have thrown the goat-party he wanted for himself and his friends. But he's been too uptight. He's been too workman-like to enjoy the place.<br /><br />C.S. Lewis somewhere writes that we will be judged as much for the proper and right goods that we don't enjoy as for the ways that we abuse or mis-use those goods. I don't want to come to the end of my life and realize that I could have and should have had a good bit more fun around the place.<br /><br />My Father is always with me. And everything he has, he's invited me to share in with him. That's a fantastically ridiculous and wonderful gift given to me in Christ. I hope I don't forget to enjoy it along the way.Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16839808614263512639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20315135.post-476951234143336562010-12-08T12:02:00.003-05:002010-12-08T12:21:21.479-05:00Overcoming DisappoinmentDisappointment is the death of a hope or dream. Like all deaths, it's good to grieve. Some of you would rather skip that step. That's foolish. There's only so much sweeping things under the carpet you can do before it starts to smell real bad under there.<br /><br />But for those of us who have no problem grieving disappointment, there's the equal and opposite temptation: to dwell in disappointment land forever.<br /><br />Grief can be such a powerful and loaded-up emotion that it can demand all of us. And for a season we might need to pay that steep cost--especially if the disappointment is life-altering in some significant way. <br /><br />But eventually you reach the point of diminishing returns. Your grief over your disappointment is no longer healthy or processing. It becomes wallowing and incestuous--an endless rehearsing of the events or the feelings.<br /><br />There comes a point when you have to either decide to allow grief and disappointment to be your God or God to be your God. They aren't fundamentally mutually exclusive--certainly God leads us through grieving processes and, in fact, grieves with us. But there comes a point when he invites us to carry our grief with us into another season, towards a different destination.<br /><br />And so we have a choice to make. Will we take up this cross and follow Jesus, or will we linger over the disappointment, nurse it, keep the anger and hurt fresh by recycling through the whole thing over and over again? <br /><br />My father-in-law worked at Kent State University for several years, a campus famous for the shooting of students during a Vietnam Protest. He talked about how for some of the folks who were around back in those days, the clock stopped. They were so shocked that something like that could happen on their beloved campus and they just couldn't move past it.<br /><br />Alas that some of our lives are stagnating by pooling at the place of disappointment well beyond the shelf life of healthy grieving.<br /><br />There comes a time when you've got to move on. Some of us try to over-rush that process--those of you in this camp need to allow Jesus to tend to your wounds rather than rush on. But many of us are tempted to over-stay our welcome. <br /><br />And for us, the point is that this life doesn't stop because of disappointment. There's good work prepared in advance for us to do by our Father. If we let disappointment hijack our lives, we pay the steep cost for the idol we have made in the image of our shattered hopes.<br /><br />There comes a time to say good-bye to the disappointment and move on.Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16839808614263512639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20315135.post-20981796305300256832010-12-07T13:00:00.002-05:002010-12-07T13:00:02.704-05:00Fighting Christmas Consumer Culture Over My KidsAs the Christmas hype approaches mass media frenzy with our kids, we're trying to figure out how to help them be decent human beings in the midst of so much advertising and stuff (and promises of more stuff) coming their way.<br /><br />The problem is that there's no magical path towards character and contentedness. Deprivation does not guarantee that they won't long for more stuff. Spoiling them certainly doesn't, either.<br /><br />And the goal isn't to shame them into not wanting things that they see on t.v. or that their friends have or that they see in the Sunday paper. This is the wrong approach that many parents take who rightfully are concerned about their kids character during gift-giving season.<br /><br />The goal is to help them grow up to be grateful for what they have, delighted to give to others, and, yes, grateful to receive as well. We must <span style="font-style: italic;">learn</span> how to receive well, not to deny the value of receiving altogether. This, too, is part of character-development. If we never learn how to receive well, we will never be able to receive the gift of grace offered to us by God himself. I know some of these people. Being unable to accept a gift given in love is not a healthy thing. <br /><br />All of this has to be done in age and stage appropriate ways. Our seven year old will get more of what Christmas is all about than our three year old will. And we shouldn't expect our seven year old to have thirty-year-old understanding of the more important things in life.<br /><br />But we can help them to understand that it's important that we give and care more for others than be fixated on our own wants and desires. And that's mom and dad's job. If we don't create that space intentionally then character won't happen. People drift by the boatloads into self-absorbed consumerism. No one drifts into deep character.<br /><br />So we're (finally) getting into gear with adopting a kid through World Vision--at least starting the process of figuring out what part of the world we want to invest in. And this past Sunday our church small group wrapped presents together that we bought for a family in need here in Durham. <br /><br />And we're trying to put some limits around how much stuff they get. They get three gifts from us, like Jesus received from the three Wise Men. We try to avoid stuff that's just Christmas-morning buzz (i.e. cheap electronics that will break in two weeks) and go for things that they'll still be excited about using through the spring. <br /><br />Much of this is my wonderful wife's doing. I appreciate how thoughtfully she's engaging the season and trying to help our kids grow up into Christmas time faithfully. <br /><br />Only time will tell if we do a good job with our kids in regards to "stuff." My hope is that we can at least equip them with an alternative story about life that anchors it in something much bigger than either "more is always better" or even "you should feel guilty about wanting more stuff since you've got so much already." <br /><br />And probably for next year, we need to see if we can get off all these toy catalog mailing lists that feed the imagination in all the ways that we ultimately don't want.Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16839808614263512639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20315135.post-23933655689142549772010-12-06T11:45:00.003-05:002010-12-06T11:45:00.178-05:00Handel in My Head Meets Swirling UNC Students on the CrosswalkAbout a year and a half ago now my battery died in my car. Apparently, this was the first time since purchasing the car used that I'd ever changed the battery because the stereo/CD player is asking for a code that I have no recollection of ever knowing.<br /><br />So what that means is that I listen to my Ipod while in transit. And last week, given that it's Christmas season, I was listening to Handel's Messiah as I found myself driving through UNC's campus on my way to a meeting with one of my staff.<br /><br />The resulting experience gave me pause to consider. <br /><br />In my ears, the London Philharmonic was in full throat, proclaiming the news that "unto us, a son is given." This good news that changes everything. In him heaven has given so much that heaven can give no more (Valley of Vision). God rips open the roof and come to get us himself.<br /><br />But outside my car, students swirled about in the midst of a class change. They didn't hear the music. This good news that changes everything was perhaps known to some of them, perhaps not. <br /><br />Either way, it was hot and fresh for me right then...and the thought that this Son given to us might be foreign to the students swirling around my car in the crosswalk, or cause for ambivalence, or even and especially cause for hostility, was crushing.<br /><br />There are times when I wonder if I did enough while on campus to take this good news out of my head and onto the campus. Nothing specific that I regret doing or not doing. I just wonder.<br /><br />And there are times when I wonder if in my daily life, I am faithful to get this song out of my head and out to friends, family. Not obnoxiously. Not arrogantly. But winsomely, graciously, boldly, deliberately.<br /><br />I will continue to crank some Christmas tunes over the next couple of weeks. And my soul, I'm sure, will have moments of pure bliss and joyful worship. <br /><br />But if it doesn't overflow to bless the people around me, especially folks who don't know, then it's all just further self-centered, self-absorbed, consumer me.Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16839808614263512639noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20315135.post-36575941395632016202010-12-03T11:00:00.002-05:002010-12-03T11:00:05.990-05:00Willard on the Hazards of Political Correctness (Even if You Like It)"Once moral knowledge disappears, political correctness takes over. Moral direction without knowledge becomes political correctness. The reason why political correctness became so important in recent years was because moral correctness disappeared. <br /><br />Political correctness does not require knowledge, it only requires advocacy. That's one reason why in this country you will hear over and over people will be urged to vote regardless of whether they know anything about the issues. Knowledge is not required to vote... <br /><br />And that's what it means to speak merely of political correctness."<br /><br /> -Dallas WillardAlexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16839808614263512639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20315135.post-70791427875973080432010-12-02T11:30:00.001-05:002010-12-02T11:30:00.462-05:00The Best Prayer Ever Prayed For MeTwo years ago this time I was in the midst of a moderate personal crisis. I had just started my sabbatical after I super-over-reacted to a really hard fall on campus.<br /><br />My wonderful former church, All Saints, gave us a great gift during Advent. During the Sunday school hour they did a 'soaking prayer' service. Quiet music in the background, candles, silence and prayer with prayer ministers circling the room, praying over the circle of eight to fifteen of us who showed up.<br /><br />Every so often the prayer ministers would stop and pray for one of us specifically--laying hands on our shoulders and praying silently. If they sensed that God spoke a word to them for us, they would write that on a note card and lay it on our lap.<br /><br />Two years later, I still have three of those note cards from my two weeks of soaking prayer. They have regularly spoken words of truth and grace to me in the midst of various circumstances.<br /><br />But one of them stands out as probably the best prayer anyone has ever prayed over me. It was extremely pertinent two years ago in the midst of my re-finding my security and peace in the Lord. It continues to speak to me in its simplicity and clarity:<br /><br />"Alex, float in my river. You can relax. I will carry you where I want you to go." <br /><br />Floating in the great River of the Spirit of God for an occasionally over-amped guy like me is an invitation to pure and holy repentance and a more faithful trust in the Lord. It has led me into the peace of Christ again and again. <br /><br />May it bless some of you out there who might resonate with my struggle.Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16839808614263512639noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20315135.post-35802291958978729142010-12-01T12:26:00.002-05:002010-12-01T12:33:53.748-05:00Crisis OptionsIt seems to me at some point in any crisis--be it small, medium, or catastrophic--the road forks and you've got three choices.<br /><br />Either you will continue to obsess and fixate over things that you have zero control over. This is most common amongst us type-A and type-A wannabe's. <br /><br />Or you will quit on the whole enterprise, attempt to avoid and escape through any number of numbing and escaping venues (alcohol, drugs, entertainment, etc.).<br /><br />Or you recognize that there's things that you can control and things that you can't. And so you center-down. You realize that the things you can't control need to be let go into the hands of the Father. And the things that you can control are almost all internal or in very close proximity to yourself. And so you find peace and rest in the fact that you can only do what you can only do. And the rest has to be left up to God.<br /><br />I think the Lord's been leading me through a series of things over the past five to six years to learn how to choose door number three. And it's hard to get there and walk through that door. But once I do, I'm finding a lot of life on the other side.Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16839808614263512639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20315135.post-54326536723371542562010-11-30T10:58:00.005-05:002010-11-30T11:52:26.316-05:00Passing Out With Contacts Meets Walking Out on GodTrue story: when I first got contacts in junior high, I was so excited about it and yet so weirded out by this piece of plastic going into my eyes that I passed out in the eye place as soon as they were put in my eyes. <br /><br />Once I recovered, I spent the whole next week blinking often and hard. My body took several weeks to get used to this uninvited guest intruding in my eye. My friends at school would mock me mercilessly by blinking hard back at me. <br /><br />Since then I have often wondered who was the first person to ever try putting contacts in their eyes. Seems like a rather dicey proposition to me. <br /><br />During my five years on campus at UNC, I had an inordinate number of students walk away from the faith. A few of them cited how "unnatural" the whole thing felt--like it was something that they were trying too hard to believe or do. It felt alien, constricting. <br /><br />But I wonder if the correctives offered by Jesus and the rest of the Scriptures aren't rather like how my body responded to my contact lenses. In order to see correctly, something foreign had to be introduced. And it took my eyes a while to get used to it. But eventually I adjusted. I pop contacts in with aplomb each morning, no passing out. <br /><br />The truth of the matter is that the words of Jesus and the Scriptures ARE alien. They ARE foreign. They aren't intuitive. If they were, we wouldn't need them so desperately. And what I find is that we often over-estimate our own ability to discern what is good and right. <br /><br />So I suggest that we need to be brutally honest in prayer to God about the things that we find constricting, challenging, or just plain weird in the Scriptures. <br /><br />But we also need a healthy dose of humility before the reality that what doesn't make sense to us now sometimes makes sense much later. And sometimes we're certain about something that later turns out to be the wrong decision.Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16839808614263512639noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20315135.post-8207176881558298292010-11-29T11:47:00.004-05:002010-11-29T12:04:24.661-05:00Hearing God Through the Piano on the FloorOver the weekend my mom (who teaches music appreciation classes at the local community college) was telling me about Beethoven's struggles with deafness as he grew older. By the time he composed one of the greatest hymns of all time, Ode to Joy, he was nearly completely deaf.<br /><br />In order to continue composing, he cut the legs off of his piano so that it lay flat on the floor. And he would lay his ear to the ground and hit the keys as hard as he could so that he might be able to hear the vibrations through the floor.<br /><br />I don't know that Hollywood could invent a more stirring scene.<br /><br />As I later considered Beethoven's commitment to his work, it struck me that I am not nearly as committed to hearing the voice of the Lord.<br /><br />There are some seasons of life when I desperately need to know God's direction or command. But what I find is that when it's convenient, accidental, or he beats me over the head with a two-by-four, I hear him. And when it's not convenient, when it doesn't just sort of happen to me, or when it's much more subtle than the two-by-four method, I often miss it.<br /><br />Obviously I have been given the Scriptures and most days I simply need to walk by faith in those and do not need another, more personal, word to me. I really need to trust and obey what I already have been given to trust and obey.<br /><br />But there are some seasons when I need more specific guidance and a more personal word. And in those seasons, I'm wondering if I'm willing to do whatever it takes to hear him.<br /><br />Perhaps cutting off piano legs and pressing my head down to the floor while pounding on the keys is roughly equivalent to a day or two of solitude, fasting, silence, Scripture, and more and more silence and solitude.<br /><br />Whatever it might be, I'd like to eventually be the kind of person who is that intent on hearing from God as I need it. I just hope that I don't have to lose my hearing entirely in order to hunger for it.Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16839808614263512639noreply@blogger.com0