Month: June 2009

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Winnie-The-Pooh Spirituality

Last night at the Renovare conference Eugene Peterson spoke about how for many our spirituality is not unlike that of Winnie-The-Pooh. Now I must admit it has been some time since I have read about Pooh and the company of characters that surround him, but I could relate to what Peterson was saying. You see Pooh would often come up with some rather unique thoughts or ideas that were then accepted by his friends as true. For the children reading the story or having the story read to them they to would find Pooh’s observations plausible and accept them as well, while we being the mature adult would look upon this with a bit of skepticism at the very least.

Peterson pointed out that as a culture, we are often falling into this Winnie-The-Pooh mentality when it comes to spiritual things. Someone comes up with an idea, revelation, inspiration, or theological position and then gathers around them a group who buy into what they are proclaiming and you have a “new” type of spirituality that will cure your problems and bring you happiness. Some of these new ideas are easy to spot and debunk, but others may be much more subtle and harder to identify.
It is one thing for the culture to deal with these different forms of spirituality, but what about when they creep or leap into the church. Are we ready to call them out? Are we even ready to identify them? Jesus said that “I am the way, the truth and the life…”
This will take a lot more pondering than I have given it here, but I will return to it. What are some pieces of Pooh spirituality that you have seen or heard?
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Blessing and Blessed

I had the honor and privilege last Wednesday of being part of a baptism event that involved about 35 men. What was most amazing to me was where this baptism took place. It was inside Lino Lakes prison. The men being baptized were offenders who are serving their time for crimes they have committed. They are all a part of the IFI program run at Lino.

I was blessed by the courage these men showed, by their obedience to scripture, and by the transformation that God is doing in them. They are turning their back on who they were and are now focusing on who they are and who they are becoming. Many of the men thanked me and share with me how we volunteers were a blessing to them. What a join it is to be a blessing and in return be blessed myself.
I have enjoyed my last 1 1/2 years of serving the men in IFI and I look forward to continuing serving them and blessing them in what ever way God leads.
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Our Storied Life

If we take time to sit back and listen to other peoples stories we can learn a lot from them, about them, and in some cases how God is working trough them or in them. I have really been struck the last couple of months as I have been reading and writing about online community and community in general and how important our stories are. NT Wright says that we are all storied beings, stories waiting to be told, experienced, or pondered. I had the privilege the other day of writing a blessing for a man who has mentored be for a lot of years. What may have been a struggle for some was for me not difficult because I knew the stories of this man’s life. I knew the stories of his professional career, his ministry passion, and his devotion to family.

God used stories (The Bible) to share with us His power, His wisdom, His love, His plan, and His purpose for our life. The Bible begins with the creation narrative and ends with a narrative about our eternal home. In between these stories we see stories of disobedience, consequences, redemption, blessing, God’s people, God’s church, etc. This stories taken together are what should shape our life, give us hope, give us purpose, and transform us into the women and men God is calling us to be.
My encouragement to you is to take time out of your busy day and immerse yourself into the stories that God has given us; get to know God just a little bit better. Then take a little more time and start to listen to the stories of people you meet. Take an interest in what is happening in their life and be prepared to offer them the hope that we have though Jesus Christ.