It'll be alright

Tonight Stephen and I fly to the other Washington where he will officially start living his own movie (I think teens start this unofficially a few years earlier). The last 18 years have authored so many amazing memories that I seriously struggle to envision life here without "31."* But just when I am in the middle of feeling sorry for myself, a certain irony helps me laugh at myself: the kids are SO excited to get going and are NOT looking back! Well, at least not much. I'm reminded of the lyrics of Peter Cetera's "One More Story," which I used to sing to Stephen when he was a wee bairn:

One more story, then it’s time for bed
One more fairy tale, then rest your weary head
One more kiss, and I’ll turn out the light
Everything’s gonna be alright
I’ll still be here when you wake up in the morning
Close your eyes, say goodnight

I can’t believe just how fast you’re growing
I’m gonna cry when you’re old enough
To go and be on your own
But until that very moment
Everything’s gonna be alright
You’ll still be here when I wake up in the morning
Close your eyes, say goodnight
Everything’s gonna be alright

And so there are new verses that need to be written, for the time that for my family starts tomorrow morning, when Stephen will be gone when we wake up in the morning.

All of this bittersweet experience must tell us something about God's own experience with us--what is it? I will be searching for the answer.

Gotta go; my eyes are leaking...

* 31 was S's football number

Prayer and Love

Today we started our staff meeting with a half-hour or so of sharing as a response to James 5:16ff--each of us shared things in our lives for which we coveted the group's prayers. We promised to pray for one another in a very specific way and then spent another half hour actually doing that.

This seemed like an old treasure dug up anew. I was amazed by how something as simple as getting specific with our vulnerable needs & then praying for them could engender real concern, affection and love. As my life has become more complicated, I tend to find myself praying for me and mine more, rather than praying for others. The more I "get out of myself" in prayer, and put others' concerns on my heart, the more I actually feel for them--my love seems increased. I'll bet it is.

If a relationship seems stalled, find out what you can be praying for about that person. Ask them what they need and pray for it. Better yet, pray with them. This will not only increase your faith, it will increase your love.

The Mob of Faith

[Jay & Tully are part of my personal faith mob.]

Last week, as my daughter Ariel, just minutes away from being baptized, listened to friends and family share about her love and life, I looked around at the large crowd of witnesses perched on the breezy banks of Lake Washington and thought about how "it takes a church" to raise a child. Ariel's spiritual growth & spiritual decisions, like those of all disciples, are a mysterious blend of influences: the Holy Spirit, her parents & brother, other teen Christians, even her kind school friends and mentors, and, of course, her own spiritual work.

We know God has conspired to make the church an orchestra rather than a one-man band. Every part of the body affects the rest and no man is an island. Our collective spiritual gifts make the church a beautiful team. As Brian Felushko once said, "none of has 'has it all,' but together we 'have it all'--all that we need."

Watching the M&M program last week, painstakingly organized by Alex and Dani Whitaker, I was struck by how much this observation applies to our faith as well. The participants of the week long evangelistic training program were, it seems to me, transformed. Their faith became contagious to one another and to me. We wound up all afire.

Have we tricked ourselves into thinking our faith is a one-man-band responsibility? We see great profiles of individual faith in the scriptures of course, and it's also true that a crowd can spread doubt as well as faith (remember the 10 spies), but experience says to me, as I consider evangelizing "two by two" with my wife, that our faith isn't really designed to stand alone; instead, our personal faith, as with our spiritual gifts, is a piece of a bigger faith puzzle, and when the body of Christ combines all its faith pieces, great miracles come forth. It's a mob of faith.

Shall we test my hypothesis this fall? Let's gather together in prayer, in faith-talk, in vision-sharing, and see what happens.

A Word Upon the Graver Teachings of the Mountains:

“See yonder height! ‘Tis far away – unbidden comes the word, ‘Impossible!’ ‘Not so,’ says the mountaineer. ‘The way is long, I know; it’s difficult – it may be dangerous. It’s possible, I’m sure. I’ll seek the way, take counsel of my brother mountaineers, and find out how they have gained similar heights… we know that each height, each step, must be gained by patient, laborious toil, and that wishing cannot take the place of working… and we come back to our daily occupations better fitted to fight the battle of life and to overcome the impediments which obstruct our paths, strengthened and cheered by the recollection of past labors and by the memories of victories gained in other fields.’”

– Edward Whymper, Scrambles Amongst the Alps

The current Westside building campaign, Elevate Your Faith, has afforded me the opportunity not only to examine the faithfulness of my giving to God and towards this cause, but also to evaluate all areas of my life. Am I a faithful person? Am I a spiritual risk-taker? As far as the faith is concerned, am I a mountaineer?

As Jesus emphatically stated, "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.” (Mark 11:23).

It is essential that each disciple have this same attitude of faithfulness, for it is God’s attitude.

If our building quest sheds any light on the faithfulness of our God, I believe we will find a generous God, a bold and unpredictable God, and a God that is taking risks! As we look out on our city, the mountain of work that remains undone (for wishful thinking cannot take the place of hard work), what will we see in God? Certainly a God that is prepared to get us up the mountain… But more so, A God that has given us the whole thing!

Oops I forgot...

...to add that it seems that most churches I've encountered who have not publicly agreed to the UCP actually do everything in it. They seem to have privately agreed, and to have signed with their hearts, and I mean that as a compliment.

May we celebrate our cooperative unity!

Why the Plan for UC was needed

Got some interesting comments yesterday about Vancouver, Seattle, and the whole "unity proposal" idea. Obviously, many folks "don't get it" (and I don't use that phrase pejoratively)regarding why the Plan for United Cooperation (UCP) was written and offered. That may be because these two reasons don't really apply to their personal or congregational experiences:

First, because of an enabled culture of slander that accompanied very needed reforms, many, perhaps most of our worldwide congregations spun into temporary confusion, including regarding basic doctrine. At such times of confusion, where almost everything we've believed was subject to emotional question, those of us who publicly agreed to the UCP felt the need to specifically and pertinently clarify where we stood. Yes, eventually, as the fog lifts, such a public banner becomes less and less prominent and important. Sola scriptura endures as an authority.

Second, in our relatively paranoid fear of "structure," many, many churches felt paralyzed on how to relate to one another in a given geography. The UCP jump started some basic brotherhood structure.

Speaking for myself only, I think it's helpful to see the UCP less as a "document" and more as a "call" to clarity and standards--the equivalent of having all leaderships in a room and asking, "all in favor of _____ raise your hands." This has been nice to know and has given us a good place to move forward.

In other words, in my opinion, we needed the UCP but we do not need a UCP.

And now, on to other more important things, like WEDNESDAY MY DAUGHTER IS GETTING BAPTIZED!!

Cooperation Makes It Happen (Sesame Street)

My cooperating kids from Hong Kong days...

The Brumleys and the Greens got to spend great time yesterday with Brian and Sara Felushko, who lead the Vancouver church in our family of "Northwest Churches." Even though Vancouver did not "sign" the "Unity Proposal," (well, um, there really wasn't anything to literally sign anyway!), the fact of the matter is that the Vancouver church practices healthy cooperation: 1) they subscribe to the same basic convictions that needed temporary underlining & emphasis in the Plan for United Cooperation (you can find the doc on Disciples Today); 2) they believe in and practice regional synergy, fellowship, and mature accountability--they are dedicated partners in building up the NW leadership group and the NW membership's maturity convictions; 3) while they do not believe that trans-congregational affairs (missions, leadership conferences, etc.) must require that we send regional representatives internationally, I believe they are not opposed to others doing this by any means.

I'm saying all this just because I'm inspired by Brian and Sara's maturity and humility. They came down last weekend to build better partnership between V and Seattle. They have much to offer but have a strong commitment to learning as well. Awesome!

It's hard to imagine congregations staying strong without cooperation--and that's all the old "unity proposal" is: a call to minimum but effective cooperation. We have so much to offer one another! I am reminded of a Sesame Street skit that my kids used to sing, "Co-op-er-ation, makes it hap-pen..."

Books for August & September

To the left is an oldie of Ariel and Tully...

Here's what I'm reading these days:

The Story of Philosophy by Will Durant
A History of the English Speaking People Vol. I by Churchill
Please Understand Me by Keirsey (personality analysis)
How People Grow by Cloud 'n' Townsend

I suppose it would be nice to finish one at a time, but I've always found that really difficult.

One bro asked me this week for any "all time" recommendations; here are three:

The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck
Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster
The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People by Stephen Covey