Charismatic Tithing??

Don't start getting spoiled, but there have been too many "coincidences" in the past 12 hours to not share.

A bit of back story: Over the past several months/years I've had a staggering number of conversations about social justice and the Christian's proper response to helping those in need. I'm still thinking through the issues, but I'm definitely now more on the side of, "Let's do everything we possibly can to help restore as much of everyone's humanity as is possible!!"

So, for those of you not in a simple church you might not realize that we have no real expenses up here. We meet in houses. We feed each other whenever we get together. We share and just basically love being together, but we have no building, no mortgage, no heating (well, we do, but heating houses hardly counts. Although it feels like it should with $400+ heating bills--see my previous post.).

You might say, "So what's the problem? That hardly seems like something to complain about!" I'll tell you. Where does the money go? We need to be generous, but we don't have the "easy" option of just giving money to "the church" and washing our hands of the matter. There are so many good options out there, but I haven't been giving nearly enough of myself or our money.

Isaiah phrases it interestingly (check out the context):

If you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness
and your night will become like the noonday.

Spend yourselves? How do I spend myself everyday? In a chasing after the wind? In pursuing religion?

Or in pursuing God and what He cares about?

Back to all the coincidences. Last night Adam W, a great friend who recently joined our group of Christ-followers, went to talk about a stewardship campaign at a local parish. While taking his wife, Nikky, home I asked what their experience with the Health and Wealth gospel has been. She hadn't ever heard of it.

Their position is that if a body of believers has committed to each other then they must share responsibility in all areas, including the finances.

Including the mortgage and heating.

What a profoundly simple idea. It makes so much sense.

This morning I was eating at my regular breakfast nook, The Broken Yolk, when the cook asked me if I had my Bible with me today. She was interested if I knew the verse where we were told to give 10%. I went off into a long diatribe on how that was never commanded of us--Abraham set a good precedent and Jacob after him, but we don't have to. We have to be generous with out lives.

Fortunately someone came in a placed an order, so she sent me looking in Ecclesiastes (where I found the profound wisdom I linked to above). I had some time to realize I was not having a conversation, I was teaching. When she came back to my table we talked, she read Ecclesiastes 5, she found Malachi 3:10ff, and we had a conversation.

I then realized I had been answering the wrong question. There are several commands to give 10% (literally "a tithe"), they just all happen to be in the Hebrew Bible.

Several months ago she had told me that her community is an Assembly of God in Revere. Before leaving I asked her about it (since yesterday's sermon had been on tithing) and she told me that it's a Spanish congregation and she'd love to have me visit. They even have a wonderful lady who will translate into English whenever someone shows up who would otherwise be lost.* I'm really looking forward to visiting soon.

The final coincidence was that George Barna had sent me his weekly study of American demographics while I was at breakfast. Here it is. Definitely something to think about.




*LOST. Isn't that a great word? I just finished a book AKA Lost that talks about how demeaning it is to even think that way. We strip people of their humanity when we don't think of them as humans, but rather "the lost." However, I most certainly would be lost at a Spanish congregation without a translator. Perhaps the word isn't all bad . . .

The Christian Web

A couple days ago the Metro, one of Boston's free daily newspapers, printed an article about GodTube.com--a "safe" alternative to youtube.com, the popular video sharing site. My initial reaction--derision--matched most other reader's, but I decided to actually visit the site. The first video I found was by the Sons of Korah. Take a look:



I've since found many, many more that I don't care for (try the evangelism channel). I have mixed emotions about these new breed of sites for the evangelical conservative Christian sub-culture. I'm okay with them insofar as they are a place to have open conversations about faith or to encourage believers. But, in truth, they seem more like a new monasticism--complete self removal from the world and its people. Now I am personally very drawn to the idea of monasticism, but it's undeniable that Jesus never intended us to stop engaging the world around us. He infiltrated "places of sin" and helped rescue and redeem those places without feeling the need to retreat to where it would be safe. His believers need a place to help encourage each other, but that encouragement should serve to further propel us back into darkness.

Men and Church

A few days ago I received an an article from a friend regarding men and the church. Essentially a review of David Murrow's Why Men Hate Going to Church, this article reactivated my thinking on this topic. Murrow found that the top reasons why men don't like church are:

1. Men don't like to sing in public.
   Think about how much of our worship involves singing. Look around at your next worship service and notice how many men are participating but not singing.


2. Men don't really like to talk about their feelings or to talk about relationships.
   Think about how your church talks about following Jesus. Most of us use the picture of a relationship with Jesus. We tell men that they grow in that relationship by sitting around and talking about how the Bible impacts their life.


3. Most men love a challenge, a chance to risk and to put their faith into action.
   Consider having more opportunities for the men in your church to grow through service. I had a real learning experience when twelve men from our congregation spent a week in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina. We did not spend a ton of time in the Bible each day, but instead put faith into action, shoulder to shoulder, as we "mucked out" houses, shingled roofs and ate and played together. I bet those twelve men would say they grew more in their faith that week than at any other time in their lives.


4. Men respect and expect excellence and quality.
   But excellence and quality are probably not the first two words that pop into the average man's mind when he thinks about church. Think seriously about how your church can strive for excellence and quality in all the areas of your ministry; from the music to the messages; from the way the church is decorated to the activities you offer men. God is worthy of our best efforts and so are the men (and women) who have yet to come to know His grace in Jesus.

Personally this list really speaks to my heart (well, 2-4 anyway--I do love singing). It's really no wonder our men are passive our absent--we've designed the church to exclude and suppress much of what is masculine. We don't let men be men and we suffer for it.

In our simple expression of Christ's body we've been examining Jesus and one thing that's been brought to our attention is how he's constantly on the move. He's active. He's working. Sure, the conversations and relationship are there, but those things are developing while Jesus is taking his band of followers all over the place--i.e. eating and healing, proclaiming the nearness of the kingdom of the heavens, righting wrongs, and living out righteousness and shalom in his every moment. Jesus hardly spent most of his time in a sterile environment sitting around in a circle discussing how loving God is. He was out demonstrating how loving God is.

We still sit around and have discussions--and rightfully so--but we also encourage people to get out there and dispense some shalom to the people around you. Whether that is sitting at a bar watching the Red Sox and talking with the people there (like Jen and I are doing tonight), or walking your puppy and taking advantage of the opportunities that creates (like the Plotts are doing), or helping out at a homeless food shelter (Adam and I on Wednesday) it's important to get out there.

Men of the church, what are your thoughts?

Here's a website discussing these issues.

T time for God

Getting from on place to another is an adventure up here. I spend about 2 hours on the subway (called the T) here in Boston everyday. That's a good chunk of time--over 8% of my day--and I've been wanting to use it toward our mission up here somehow. Such a great cross-section of the population is within reach (literally) everyday on the T. I've heard of people testing the culture of a city by asking random people on the subway questions, but I'm not quite to the point where I'd be comfortable doing that. (You'd be amazed how absolutely silent a train car with perhaps 150 people packed into it is during the commute hours. Any conversation above a whisper will be heard by dozens of other people, and I generally don't like my private conversations overheard.) Perhaps someday I'll work up the nerve, but for now I've decided on another option.

I know you'll think I must be slow for taking 7 months to figure this out, but I've decided to read my Bible on the T. It's such a great idea! I've been lagging way behind in my Bible reading, so this gives me some set-aside time to do it each day with the added benefit of being a subtle (but visible and obvious) follower of Christ in the city. Being easily associated with Jesus on the T has the added benefit of making me more aware of my surroundings (it'd be horrible to sit obliviously reading while an elderly or pregnant person stands right in front of me!). In fact, having my Bible out and open has even provided the starting point for a few (short) converstations. For instance, a nicely dressed black gentleman today said on his way off the train "Hey man, that's cool [gesturing at my Bible]. What church do you go to?" Now that's a question I usually take a little bit of time to answer and explain, but since I only had about 5 seconds I replied, "Actually, I moved up here with a few friends to start one." He seemed to approve, but the few people remaining on the train didn't make eye contact with me for the rest of the trip (not that that should be surprising--no one ever makes eye contact with anyone else on the train, that's probably why advertising on the T is such a great idea).

I've even starting noticing other people who do the same thing. Today there was a lady who had a Bible open when I got on, and last Friday there was a man reading out of Romans (in the tiniest Bible I've ever seen). I've not yet approached another like-minded soul, but perhaps someday soon I will.

Let the conversations begin.

Getting Into the Community

We’re finally starting to feel settled in. We know where to get groceries, we can generally find our way around town without getting lost (too often), we’re figuring out the public transportation system, we’re bracing for our first winter. We’re also trying to make friends and get a feel for the culture and people of Quincy. Integrating into a new community is a long process.

Jen and I have gone to a couple professional sporting events since we’ve been here. One Red Sox game and one Celtics game. They were both enjoyable and interesting, but the subway ride back home has been the most interesting part. Sporting events tend to help create community between people who would otherwise never talk. Striking up a conversation with someone who just experienced the same (in our cases) defeat is so much easier than trying to start one without any common ground.

On the way home from the Celtics game a couple weeks ago we started talking with a couple guys who were a bit younger than us. They were friends–one a Celtics fan and the other a Suns fan (who had won that night). The conversation went from the game to space aliens (don’t ask). Unexpectedly the more talkative of the two started loudly exclaiming, “I believe in aliens more than I do in Jesus’ making wine out of water.” When this got no reaction from anyone on the train he tried a new tactic: “F*** Jesus! Does anyone disagree? F*** Jesus.” After a few seconds of this I decided to chime in. We actually had a good time talking about faith and Jesus. Our stop came sooner than I would have liked, but I’m glad to have talked with them.

One of the other guys who had been in the car with us had mentioned how he was really late getting home and “his girl” was really angry. He had actually stood up for Jesus along with Jen and I on the train, so when I saw him getting into a taxi outside the station I decided to offer him a ride home. He was very appreciative and told us how much he likes Christians. He is a nice guy. He definitely has problems, but we all do. He gave us his phone number and said he’d like to get together some time. Perhaps this is the beginnings of another friendship. I sure hope so.

God’s always providing us all with opportunities to bless and engage those around us. I just pray that we each have the “eyes to see,” the “ears to hear,” and the courage to act when they come around.

An Important Conversation

If you find yourself with some free time I'd recommend you surf on over to HarvestBoston.net

Steve is a great thinker--I've yet to find anything he's said that I fundamentally disagree with.

Over the past few days there's been a conversation on his blog with an agnostic questioner. I've yet to read the whole conversation, but I know we all should take to time to go through it. I'm going to read it today during my 1.5 hour commute (today is graduate orientation at Tufts).

What do you agree with/disagree with? I'd love to talk.

How Would You Change the World?

I was talking with Jay (my coworker at the college bookstore) a few days ago when I asked him how he'd go about enlightening people if he had the ability to view time like we do the other dimensions.

We use dimensions to locate, i.e. on earth we use latitude, longitude, and elevation to pinpoint any specific place on our globe. Time locates as well. If you want to locate a person or object then the three spatial diminutions are inadequate. At 2 this morning I was located in a very different place then I was at 2am 6 months ago. I think you get the picture.

Time is commonly understood as the forth dimension, but perhaps it would be better to think of it as a half dimension since we we are limited to one direction at a constant speed. With the other three dimensions we can move around at will--changing direction and velocity whenever we want to--but time doesn't allow us that luxury.

Back to the question I asked Jay, "What would you do if you had a full view of time? How would you enlighten people?"

"I'd ride bikes," he said.

Bikes . . . I like it. The answer supprised me, but perhaps it's a good plan. It's hard to not get involved with the people you're riding bikes with; usually you all share a common goal. Community forms. Bike riding people can be led and encouraged, but they can't be forced to follow. It's a good way to do life together.

He told me about a group that rides bikes for social change in Boston. Unfortunately I can't remember the name or I'd link to them, but I'll try to remember to ask him.

In the meantime I think I'll go for a ride.