Messed Up Messages

I’ve been pondering two messages my generation heard constantly growing up. “You can do anything you want to.” And self-esteem. But I think as we grew up those two messages twisted into something very different than the adults around us intended. Many from my generation, though they may not voice this, believe that if we’re not doing the best thing we are (or at least think we are) capable of, that somehow we’ve fallen short. That we’re not living great lives. You can hear it in the tone of voice when someone tells you what they do for a living. Since most of us didn’t end up being ballerinas or athletes or artists or firemen or the president of the United States, we feel like we’ve settled. Because our esteem, our worth, is in our self, when we haven’t lived up to the dreams and expectations of our youth, we don’t have a self we think is worthy.

I think that’s the natural result of those two messages, especially when used together. What do you think? And is this something you see in my generation, or am I making it up out of my head? Leave me a comment.

Flammable: Handle with Care

The Fire of the Word by Chris Webb was an excellent read. His writing was simply refreshing and engaging. I was challenged to stop treating Scripture as something to be dissected so I can digest it easier, but as an encounter with a lover. Analysis can be a good first step, but we have to go further. He gave some practical exercises to do that: several months of daily Bible readings to ponder and journal on, with different directions each week.

He tackled Scripture's inerrancy by saying that we need to start viewing the Bible as a book that God is whispering through to us, "Look: I am here." Instead of bickering over whether all the words are correct, we need to allow God to meet us in the words. It certainly doesn't address the questions surrounding textual criticism, but it cuts to the core of the matter - will we allow God to be authoritative? His word to transform us? His love to overwhelm us?

He also addressed the resurgence of lectio divina, especially in Evangelical circles. Apparently, we've missed the point. It's not just to read the passage slowly and prayerfully, listening for a word or phrase to us. Some of the repetitions are meant to point us toward allegory and Christ's presence in every text. I had no clue.

There's actually a conference in Denver called The Fire of the Word May 4-5 with Chris Webb and several other authors who are championing spiritual disciplines for today. I can't go, but I'm looking forward to those daily readings. I hope to start them this summer.

Leadership Discernment

This week has been full of interviews and praying. It's strange for me to think that most "hiring" processes don't involve prayer. Whereas, if we didn't rely on prayer, we'd be shooting ourselves in the foot.

Four students are considering Small Group Leader positions, which includes leading a weekly Bible study, helping a community form, reaching out to new students, and growing members in witness, prayer, and possibly leadership. For the seven students we didn't feel were ready for leadership, we decided on a few growth steps we thought they should take.

Last year, we had to ask if the students applying were even missional. This year, we shifted to asking if students were mature and influential, actually leading people already. Not everyone has really owned the mission of God as their calling and privilege; most of them still tend to focus on creating and attending Christian activities. But they're more aware of what God's mission actually is, and they're more interested in seeing it happen through them. We saw culture change in just one year!