SpiritFarmer

Never one to pass up a new experience, I decided to give cross-dressing a go. I may be experimental, but I’m not stupid . . . so instead of going to a fancy department store to look at all of their fine apparel, I took Michelle (yes, I included her in this adventure) to a local thrift store, and found a lovely, shiny dress. I snatched it up and brought it home. I’m really excited to try it on, but it will need some alterations . . .

1. Take scissors to the prom dress and cut it up into a bunch of smaller pieces.
2. Take the smaller pieces and stitch them in to the thrift store sportcoats I also purchased yesterday, making lovely new designs.

I look forward to the creative process, and to being able to wear my new promcoat out in public.

O.k., so it doesn’t actually qualify as cross-dressing. But hey, if I’m going to dabble, I’m going to do it slowly. Perhaps some day I will be bold enough to do what Michelle and I observed with one of the thrift store employees – a teenage guy . . . wearing an impressive kilt. Takes a real man, and nice looking legs to pull that one off.

Just flew home from Texas this morning. I was in the DFW area for a missions event for college students. I’m going on about 3 hours sleep right now, but it was a good good weekend. I get really stoked when I see college students with a fire in their eyes to make their lives count for more than the paycheck on the other side of their degree, or the white throne on the other end of their hangover. It was a really encouraging time with some new friends.

I’ll admit it – I talk too much trash about the South/the Bible Belt, and the Christian subculture that’s just so bloody thick there. But I shared worship with 200 students who are committing themselves to being on Kingdom mission as a lifestyle. Some will get assigned to short term projects away from home, and some will get assigned to projects lasting a full year. That’s encouraging. As with any pet issue, it’s a lot easier to talk trash when you don’t have enough friendships with the people you’re talking about.

Must sleep . . . losing coherence . . . fighting a migraine . . . looking forward to dinner alone with my favorite person.

Seattle is just hoppin’ full of interesting events this spring. Including this one, brought to you by Off The Map and the Shoreline Vineyard. There’s a possibility that I’ll be out of state . . . but I may just rearrange things a little.

The Ikon community in Ireland (home of Peter Rollins, author of the excellent book How (Not) to Speak of God) has an art installation up. Here’s one of their pieces:

HT: Jonny Baker

Film, Faith, and Justice 2007

- do plan on being there, won’t you?

When I lived in San Diego, “going to the Q” meant going to watch the Padres or Chargers play ball – at Qualcomm Stadium. Many natives still call it “The Murph,” given that before naming rights wrecked the world, the stadium was named after a legendary San Diego sports journalist, Jack Murphy. Some have merged the two names, and refer to the stadium as “The Qurf”. I digress.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Eugene Cho, the pastor of Quest Church in the Interbay area of Seattle. The church is about five years old, and has a really good story. They also have a cool coffee shop called Q Cafe.

We talked about the cultural vibe, our histories in the church, making a new way with multiple generations of Jesus followers, and how at times our idealism comes to a point of collision with reality – how to adjust?

Just a quick shot here – not much time to post. I’ve just been brewing on some conversations I’ve been a part of recently in which church planters are discussing their work. I hear a lot of talk about the new church, the new vision, the new approaches . . . but I can’t say I hear a lot about Jesus. In one case, I heard a church planter describe his “non-institutional” approach to church planting, and I can’t recall hearing the words “God” or “Jesus” or “Kingdom”.

Don’t get me wrong – I value church planting . . . but the point isn’t to start new churches, is it? Please tell me it’s not. Please tell me that creating new environments for the King and the Kingdom to be announced and revealed has something to do with it.

. . . or did Prince sing more cover songs in his Super Bowl show than he did of his own stuff? It was so strange to me that I actually pulled out my Foo Fighters CD (from which he sang “Best of You”) just to check the liner notes and make sure he didn’t write the song. Nicely done.

O.k., so there’s no clever or profound way of saying this – sometimes life is hard. It’s hard to living the kind of life that is in harmony with the reality that Jesus came to announce and inaugurate. Somehow the kind of hope that the new reality would seem to stir up within us seems to be just out of reach. People who work hard, speak peace, pray for justice, and give their lives away to others wake up cranky, discouraged, and dismayed that while the Kingdom may be “at hand,” it’s the middle of the night and you can’t see that “hand” in front of your face.

I’m not writing this as an autobiographical confession necessarily. I certainly have my share of those feelings and experiences. But for whatever reason, over the past few months, I’ve spent time (phone time, electronic correspondence time, actual face to face time) with what seems to be a large (and growing) number of friends who are at a place of struggle. They/we are trying hard, looking for Kingdom ways forward, and spending time on our personal souls, and yet we’re experiencing dry seasons, dark nights, and rocky soil. The Kingdom at hand isn’t visible. The gospel of hope fails to stir up the life change we desire.

I write this more to just publicly admit it. I hope that among the many changes that we are seeking in the Church and in our communities is the ability to say this kind of stuff out loud. Not to get sympathy or pity from others or support from them or whatever. But just to have the freedom to say it. “Life is hard right now. I don’t know how long it will last. I just know I’m not having any fun. I’m not giving up.”

So if you’re the praying type, pray. Pray for the assurance of hope that the Kingdom has come and will come. Pray for the courage to walk through dark nights and rocky fields. Pray for financial provision, and the wisdom to steward it well. Pray for a heart of forgivenness and forgiveness.