Archive for the 'Explanation' Category

My thoughts on the club

Published
by
Todd
on Monday, May 19, 2008
in Breathe and Explanation
. 6 Comments

I wasn’t sure what to think. I stared at Cliff, wondering if perhaps this friendship of ours was a bad idea; hanging out with him was taking me to unfamiliar and uncomfortable places. Formerly this was figurative. But now, with this idea, it became quite literal.

He had just told me that he thought Breathe, our burgeoning movement, should meet in a strip club.
As I started contemplating the implications of that suggestion, I begin to recognize the brilliance of the idea. Admittedly, my mind went instantly to buzz that could be generated about a “church” meeting in a strip joint. But then, my mind moved to the bigger idea - the fact that our location would say more about us than any website, news story or flyer ever could. First, that we aren’t doing things the traditional way. Second, and most importantly, that we care about all people, even those typically ignored, degraded or judged.

I knew that the idea was going to be a stumbling block for many people. I knew that people wouldn’t get it. Or that people would get it, but disagree. But after two gatherings there, I have no doubt that we are in the right place.

In the comments of the last post, Sam’s Dad raised the point that Jesus would befriend strippers, but wouldn’t hang out with his disciples at a strip club. While I can neither deny nor confirm the scriptural foundation of that point, I will say that I have no idea how I would have befriended Sully, Shannon, Chuck or Dave had we not been gathering at their establishment. I have no idea how I would have grown comfortable discussing significant issues with them. I have no idea how I could bring up God with them.

But I do consider them friends (particularly Chuck the bouncer - that guy is one of the nicest people I have ever met in my entire life, which does make me question his bouncer-credentials). Serious issues have been discussed. They have heard (and actively listened to) God-things.

So my thoughts on the strip club: Breathe is where it is meant to be, doing work that it is meant to be doing. I am unconcerned with the “appropriateness” of our location. I am unconcerned about the roadblocks we will face. I am unconcerned about the less-than-attractive décor we have to battle every week.

I am concerned only with embodying the person of Jesus to Sully, Shannon, Chuck, Dave and all the other patrons who walk through the doors of Club Sensations seeking temporary satisfaction but end up encountering the Eternal.
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On the heels of Nobel…

Published
by
Todd
on Monday, October 15, 2007
in Explanation and Global Warming
. 24 Comments

comes this lovely story.

This is the second anti-global-warming link I’ve posted recently. I feel this calls for some explanation.

First of all, I’m pro-environment. I think we should do everything we can - within reason - to care for our earth and make sure we’re leaving it in better condition for our children (they are our future after all) than was left for us. However, the whole global warming and environmentalism message is anti-reason, anti-science. It is fueled by emotion and guilt. We need to step back and look at the facts, the previous research and the overall reaction of the scientific community to Gore and friends’ claims before granting our endorsement (or our prizes).

Secondly, this whole EDIT: the Gore-and-friends-led environmentalism movement seems financially motivated. If Gore truly cared about the environment, he would make personal sacrifices rather than buying carbon offsets - carbon offsets that are sold by a company of which he is the chair.

Finally, I don’t believe that humans have the power to destroy the earth. We do have the power to harm, but not destroy.

What do you think?

Have a good Monday.
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NOTE: My “why we worship” series is forthcoming. (The more I say it, the more I feel accountable to actually do it).

(h/t: Hayley)

Why we’re there…

Published
by
Todd
on Tuesday, July 31, 2007
in Explanation
. 0 Comments

Hayley and I were nervous – seeing a man as he is about to die is not something that either of us have much experience with. We were coming to have him sign a will and deed to expedite the inheritance process after his passing – once again, we had no prior experience in this arena.

This family had been a part of Hayley’s life for more than six years. She had picked up the two, now teenage boys for Kids Kamp, our church’s summer outreach for kids in our community, when they were little. The relationship continued as we began picking up their two younger sisters. Hayley has wept over this family, prayed for this family and worked to improve this family the entire time she has known them.

We walked through the labyrinth of St. Francis Hospital, looking for the hospice wing. After about 10 minutes of walking, we arrived and began the walk down the hall to our destination.

As we arrived at the room, several people in obvious distress came out of the room and said, “This isn’t a good time. He died five minutes ago.”

A week’s worth of exhaustion, worry and frustration swept over us as we realized that we were too late to do what we had come to do. Hayley began to cry and I stood there, mute. I had nothing to say. No words of comfort or hope.

The kids and mom weren’t there yet, they didn’t know about his passing. We stood there, awkwardly wondering whether we should stay or leave. The family members who were there knew of us – the dad had told them about Hayley and the love she had and the work she had done for the kids. They asked us to stay.

So we stayed. After about an hour of sitting in a small conference room, the mom and kids finally arrived. We sat, silently awkward and uncomfortable, as the family shared the news with the kids. Once again, words failed me as I watched their faces – confusion, sorrow and embarrassment passed over the boys; the girls didn’t seem to understand. They then went as a family into the room where their father lay.

Several minutes passed and Hayley and I rushed down the hall to grab the girls and boys away from the room as the girls wailed and the boys sat staring at their father. Hayley held the two girls and I stood, silent. I tried talking to the two boys, but once again my words felt hollow, pointless. Hayley hugged and rocked and whispered to the girls. She was amazing.

After a while our children’s minister and preacher arrived. We prayed, hugged the girls and left.

As we left that night, drained and exhausted, we both had the same realization: The reason we were at our church that frustrated us doctrinally, the reason we had spent all those frustrating hours trying to tutor those kids, the reason we had been late to church so we could pick up the girls, was for that night. It was for us to be there – Hayley to comfort and me to be there, quiet and awkward, unsure of why I was there, but there, a familiar presence in an unfamiliar time.

In the days that followed, I saw my church rise up and surround this family with love. Through groceries, a memorial service and a meal for the family and friends, our church expressed its commitment to the family in tangible, relevant ways. In the weeks that have followed, that compassion has not decreased. Every time we go to church, people still ask what they can do to help or if there’s anything the family needs.

I am small, easily annoyed, critical and opinionated. All the things that I get fired up about so easily melt away as I watch my church extend the love of Jesus to this family.

The work with this family is not done, in fact, there may be more to do now than ever, but I am comforted in the fact that I have the support of a body that will not stop being the arms and feet of Jesus.

That is why we’re there.

Why are you where you are?

Where I’m coming from

Published
by
Todd
on Friday, July 20, 2007
in Explanation
. 1 Comment

My formative years (middle school) were spent in a hyper-conservative church environment. It was the cofC-way or the hell-way, so to speak. The way I understood God, His church and His word, was – and probably still is – shaped by those years. I understood that my entire purpose here on earth was to go to heaven after I died. This purpose dictated my speech, actions, doctrine and opinions of other people and groups.

In high school, I went to a less conservative, more grace-attuned church, but I still held pretty tightly to some of my old convictions (instrumental worship and salvation to name two).

I then went to Harding University, where little of my worldview was challenged until I took “Human Situation” (I think that was the name of the course) with Dr. Garner and “Christian in the 21st Century” with Dr. Monte Cox. Both classes forced me to examine my worldview and determine upon what it was based. The idea of paradigms entered my…well…paradigm, and I began to recognize and appreciate the importance of where someone is coming from and how that flavors the way they see the world.

Looking back, it seems a bit silly that I had to take a class to understand that. But honestly, I had never given the idea of context or worldview much thought.

So today, I’m reflecting on my context. I know, based on my personality, that many of my opinions and thoughts are reactions to my former worldview. I’m working on respecting where I’ve come from without reviling it and I must admit it’s been a difficult task. It’s also been difficult to respect the people who still hold my former worldview (or various pieces of it) and this has perhaps been more difficult to remedy.

This journey that I’ve been on over the past 13 years has been an interesting one, and I’m anticipating, with hopeful expectation, that the next steps in this journey will be even more remarkable. At the least they’ll be surprising, as I have no idea where I’m headed next – or rather, where God is heading me next.

So, where are you coming from?
EDIT: I’ve reread the post, and I realize that perhaps I’ve communicated that I am no longer committed to Christ. That was not my intention, as it is wholly untrue. I’m more fully in love with Christ today than I ever have been before. I’m more at peace with my purpose and ministry in His church than I ever have been before. I’m more fully alive than I have ever been before.

The Ramsey Movie Criteria

Published
by
Todd
on Monday, May 14, 2007
in Explanation
. 2 Comments

Hayley and I love seeing movies. Be it in the theater, on DVD or on Lifetime, we love us some quality film. As such, we often engage in dialog with our friends about movies and we frequently get criticized for our taste. Many people feel that we don’t appreciate good movies and when we critique a film, it’s almost as if we’ve offended the actual filmmaker with how strongly people feel and the criticism they throw back our way.

Because of those reactions, I would like to share our criteria for what makes a quality movie for feedback from the most credible and unbiased source I can imagine: the blogosphere. We haven’t actually taken the time to write this down before, and I’m sure Hayley will disagree with some points, but this should provide a high level view of our stance on movies.

Content
When it comes to the content of a film we are looking for a quality story, quality dialog and believability. We’re willing to fudge a bit on believability (as in Stranger Than Fiction), but Hayley especially wants things explained. In terms of negative content, bad language doesn’t particularly bother us, but graphic violence and nudity/sex do.

Performance
How well did the actor’s do? Were they believable? While this criteria can certainly break a film, it doesn’t push a film to the must-see category for us (as in Last King of Scotland).

Artistic Value
We don’t place as high a value on artistry as some movie-goers do. We can appreciate the beautiful cinematography of a film without having to endorse and love it (as in Road to Perdition). Also, soundtracks are often critical to the success of a film but a solid soundtrack does not a good movie make (as in Garden State - I’m fully prepared for the blasting I may receive in the comments for that judgment).

Outcome
By far the largest piece of what makes a movie a success or failure for us is how we feel after the credits roll. I’ve tried to break down this criteria into three groups, but I’m not sure if these are completely comprehensive:

  1. Encouraged - Do we feel like we’re better for seeing this movie? Do we feel happy about the way things turned out?
  2. Inspired - Did the movie inspire us to do something? Did it make us feel more alive? Are we going to take the message of the movie and do something with it?
  3. Entertained - Did we have an enjoyable movie going experience? Was the movie enjoyable if not particularly meaningful?

Here’s a quick case study for how we apply the above criteria:
Road to Perdition

Content: The story was fine if not particularly memorable. The violence was graphic. The dialog was poor, but on par with what you’d expect from a graphic novel.

Performance: Tom Hanks did a great job, per usual. Jude Law was disgusting and gave Hayley nightmares, so he did his job well. The kid was pretty annoying.

Artistic Value: This was a visually stunning film. Every shot was well-planned and looked like it was straight out of a graphic novel.

Outcome: When the movie was over, we didn’t feel encouraged, inspired or entertained. In fact, we felt depressed, disgusted and worse than we felt entering the theater.

Conclusion: This film serves as our litmus tests for the worst movie we have ever seen. In fact, our criteria was birthed after seeing this film as we were determined to not go see a movie just because it was beautiful and critically acclaimed.

So what do you think? What criteria do you use to critique a movie?

My decision (for today)

Published
by
Todd
on Wednesday, April 11, 2007
in Explanation
. 0 Comments

One week, five days ago I wrote a post about the church of Christ. It was somewhat cathartic, getting my feelings out there and having other people (not all) pat me on the back for what I was feeling.Today, I’m not feeling as confident as I was 12 days ago. I’m a 24 year old, passionate, easily frustrated, cynical, lifetime church of Christer who is much better at highlighting the bad rather than the good. I don’t have all the answers. I don’t know what’s best. I’m not as respectful of older generations as I should be. My pet causes may not be worth rocking the boat. My feelings of not being valued by my congregation may be nothing more than deep-seated insecurities.

In spite of my uncertainties, diffidence and hesitations, I know that I am destined to do incredible things for the kingdom of God. I know that my life isn’t an accident and that my time spent here on earth isn’t meant to be wasted belly-aching about some doctrinal disagreements or methodological misgivings (how’s that for some alliteration?). I simply must not allow my congregational frustrations or petty personality differences distract me from the work that I have been given to do.

That is how I’ll make my decision on what to do about my church situation. If I reach a point that I simply can’t stop being distracted, I will have no choice but to leave.

This requires (at least) three things from me:

  1. I must adopt a greater spirit of humility.
  2. I must focus my time and energy on living the life of a disciple and not on institutional trivialities.
  3. I must find some balance of accountability and authenticity – that is, I need someone to whom I can speak openly and honestly about the way I see things, but who will also help me see when I’m being hyper-critical or silly.

How does that sound to you? Is it obvious? Naive? What do you think?