Archives for category: community

Checking In At The Smackdown Hotel

December 20, 2007 //

Like the opening of the floodgates at your local big box retailer on Black Friday or the simultaneous release of film twins (Volcano + Dante’s Peak, Armageddon + Deep Impact, etc.), boisterous criticism from prominent Christians against other Christians seems to come in waves. As if according to some invisible timer, charges of being a universalist/false teacher/heretic/Lions fan are tossed around with great volume and passion on a somewhat predictable basis.

Like many of us, I am completely put off by the tone of these kinds of attacks. While many of these voices claim that they are simply “defending” the truth or “contending” for the Gospel, it usually just feels like name-calling and finger-pointing.

However, what really stands out to me is the exuberance with which the rank-and-file of these folks jump in, especially in the blogosphere. It’s strangely reminiscent of how rasslin’ crowds would eagerly finish Dwayne Johnson’s catchphrases. But instead of singing along with If you can smell-la-la-la… what the Rock is cooking! they finish accusations of Heretic! and Arrogant mocker! with a chorus of Thus saith the Lord (or was it ‘Cuz Stone Cold said so?).

While both of these approaches are remarkably effective at galvanizing a particular constituency, only one is the most electrifying.

* * * * *

Here’s something we can all agree on: Rodney Mullen is rad!

Categories church, communication, community, controversy, emerging church, faith, sigh

How To Apologize Sincerely

December 18, 2007 //

Earlier this week, we were up in the LA ~~wasteland~~ area and I was reminded of how much I really, really dislike driving there (I’m trying to refrain from saying that I hate it because, as we’ve been teaching our daughter, that’s a very strong word — but, seriously, I was on the verge of losing it completely the whole time we were driving around). One thing I do miss, though, is Air Talk with Larry Mantle on KPCC, the local NPR station up there. Larry Mantle is a great interviewer but, like Cinderella shrilled, you don’t know what you got ’till it’s gone.

Here in SD, I have tried to supplant my morning Mantle with These Days on KPBS, hosted by Tom Fudge — with mixed results. I’m not saying anything bad about Fudge — I mean, the man bikes to work (and survived a scary accident after being hit by a car while biking to work one morning); I think I was just used to Larry Mantle’s banter and rhythm.

I did hear a really interesting topic recently on These Days: “Apologies: Do Them Meaningfully and Gracefully Accept Them.” Politicians are infamous for non-apologies. Think, Mistakes were made, “We” made mistakes or If I did anything wrong… One guest, Dr. Bruce Weinstein, points out that the classic non-apology, “I’m sorry if you were offended” is actually a thinly veiled criticism: “Well, it’s your fault for being so thin-skinned or weak in character anyways.”

Life together is so messy. In any kind of community (families, churches, friends, workplaces) we constantly run the risk of stepping on each other’s toes, whether consciously done or not. Jokes gone wrong, careless words, thoughtless actions: We hurt the people we love, we mess up all the time. While we don’t want to become a groveling heap, learning to apologize sincerely is crucial if we hope to create, build and sustain genuine community.

I appreciate John Ortberg’s idea on forgiveness from Everybody’s Normal Till You Get To Know Them: “Forgiveness begins when we give up the quest to get even.” This is an enormous sticking point for most people; accomplishing it would be nothing short of life-changing. As my wife recently heard from a speaker at her MOPS group, when we choose not to forgive someone else it’s like drinking poison and wishing that they would die. However, I find myself often content to forgive and forget… that you ever existed at all. But the story of the Gospel is one of reconciliation, not avoidance passed off as forgiveness. If we are to live as God’s people, we must learn to forgive and how to ask for forgiveness.

We live in a culture of non-apologies — it’s all damage control and spin. While that might play well to focus groups, it does little for actual relationships. Instead, may we choose the hard path of humility, sincerity and responsibility.

Categories church, communication, community, faith, family, health, ministry, reconciliation

Don’t Call It A Comeback! An Indie Trifecta

December 13, 2007 //

Although I have lamented the death of the indie record store, my hope has been restored by my recent discovery of M-Theory Records right here in San Diego. The store is not nearly as big as, say, Amoeba Records in Hollywood, but still keeps a great selection of indie rock on hand. While I often dread encountering the stereotypical snobby indie record store clerk, the staff at M-Theory is friendly, without being overbearing; definitely, no sense of being judged when you bring your music to the counter. Support independent music!

* * * * *

We had to make a trip out to Los Angeles earlier this week to get some things ready for Christmas here at church, and I stopped by the aforementioned Amoeba. They also have a pretty nice staff; once, they gave my daughter a free Amoeba t-shirt. In fact, she recognized the store by said shirt during our recent visit. In their massive used section, I was able to find a copy of Dirty by Sonic Youth for less than five dollars. Makes flipping through their mountain of discs worthwhile!

* * * * *

To complete this independent music troika, check out my friend’s interview with Sufjan Stevens from a few years back — right before Sufjan became the international indie heartthrob composer that he is today (watch part six of “The BQE” below). Joshua’s writing is what inspired me, in part, to try it out on my own.

Categories community, hooray!, indie, music

Join The Club!

December 4, 2007 //

Maybe it’s because I’ve been fighting off a nasty cold for a couple of weeks (an airplane is just a petri dish with wings) or because we are extremely busy with church (what else is new?), but it just hasn’t been looking a lot like Christmas for me these days. It’s not any kind of cynical holiday-burnout; I’m just kind of beat.

I find myself becoming more & more liturgical — both in how I envision our community worshiping together and in my personal sense of what it means to seek after God. Not liturgy for its own sake, but as a way of creating a rhythm in seeking after God. The word liturgy itself can be translated as, “The work of the people.” Most days, spiritual awakening and passionate revival aren’t falling from the sky in the form of high-density protein bars (nope, not even this kind). For me, the experience of God happens in the active search, the longing, the seeking. I need to lean in, to calm down, to pay attention to God.

Advent (which began this past Sunday) is a season of watching and waiting, expectation and anticipation. I love that, for the Church, our calendar is not set by the madness of Black Friday. No, our year begins as we prepare the way of our Lord, as Christine Sine explains in this wonderful post about Advent. The Advent season reminds me that business is not as usual and that I am being called into a different rhythm.

I recently joined the Junky Car Club. From their site: “Junky Car Club members are learning to live with less so we can give more. We’re a bunch of happy drivers who are politely rebelling against consumerism by driving junky cars. We encourage our members to use their dough to support social justice causes instead of making fat car payments. We believe in environmental stewardship and hanging onto things a little longer. Junky Car Club members sponsor kids living in poverty through Compassion International.”

I love that phrase, learning to live with less so we can give more. It reminds me of a great GK Chesterton quote I read in Al Hsu’s The Suburban Christian:

There are two ways to get enough. One is to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less.

It’s easy to rant about Jesus being the “reason for the season” or to denounce the commercialization of Christmas. Learning to desire less stuff — that’s where life happens. The Junky Car Club is a fun way of promoting the transformation of hearts & minds and making a difference in the world. And, as an Asian American, I love the idea of subverting our car-obsessed culture. Seriously, how many Asian American youth pastors have had students hold down a part time job just to support their body-kit habit on their perpetual work-in-progress Honda Civic? Imagine what would happen if we, collectively, decided to ditch The Fast and the Furious for simple, authentic love, mercy and justice.

In a small way, joining the Junky Car Club has become part of my personal liturgy during this Advent season. Instead of a self-indulgent holiday filled with more and newer, just a little bit of self-control (because, really, simply owning a car at all — no matter how beat-down or busted — makes us rich in a global perspective) can point me towards the heart of Christ during Advent. Jesus came to serve, not to be served; and He calls us to the same. If I can live with just a little bit less, there will be that much more to give.

Christ has come; Christ is coming! Prepare the way of the Lord!

Categories asian american, church, community, design, environment, faith, stewardship

An Advent Uprising

November 26, 2007 //

The term “Black Friday” always reminds me of the Depeche Mode album, Black Celebration (but with less new wave flair) or the Black Plague. This has become an annual, morbid, spectacle as we watch shoppers stampede, fight and generally clog up the works at our favorite big box retailers to the tune of $475 billion this year.

As followers of Christ immersed in this culture of consumption, what are we to do? Yes, yes, “Jesus is the reason for the season” and we must certainly “Put ‘Christ’ back into Christmas” but fighting the temptation to go bust down some doors to get that half-priced plasma television is an uphill battle all the way. These days, every other television ad spends considerable effort making it seem like a perfectly reasonable thing to get into line at 3am to shop or that upgrading to that 52″ plasma screen will infuse your life with more meaning.

Eugene Cho and David Park have raised some really provocative thoughts recently about consumption and what it means to follow Christ. Maybe it’s the conspiracy-theorist in me, but I love the idea of subverting all of the marketing of these megacorporations and the greed in our hearts by turning some of this Christmas shopping season madness on its head.

Eugene writes about Buy Nothing Day and some of the reservations he has about this movement. In general, I think movements like Buy Nothing Day or that gross Feed The Pig commercial (where a man is about to buy a king-sized TV that he cannot afford until his grotesque half-man/half-pig companion smacks his hand) are good at raising awareness about our consumer habits. Greed, overconsumption, debt, keeping up with the neighbors — this is the air we breathe, and it can be extremely difficult to see life from another perspective.

However, it is far too easy to feel a sense of superior righteousness or to participate in things like BND as a one-time only, special engagement. As followers of Christ, we are called to a lifestyle of good stewardship and of genuine concern for others. To paraphrase Bonhoeffer, when Christ calls us to follow Him, He bids us to come and die — and the struggle to deny our impulse for the latest and greatest gadgets and stuff does require a certain kind of death.

The Advent Conspiracy invites us to restore “the scandal of Christmas by worshiping Jesus through compassion, not consumption.” [h/t: David Park]. Like any movement, I suppose the AC runs the risk of becoming faddish or trendy — but I think it is worth that risk. I love that this movement isn’t about not giving gifts or being cheap (“Um, I gave you two rolls of toilet paper out of the multi-pack because I wanted to be, like, a good steward. Right.”) but, rather, about giving better gifts — our time, our creativity, our hearts. Read through AC’s list of relational gift ideas and see if you don’t come across something that would really touch the heart of someone you love this Christmas.

May God change our hearts so that we enjoy giving and may He open our eyes to see the opportunities we have every day to love and serve. Prepare the way of the Lord!

Categories advertising, church, communication, community, faith, family, hope, stewardship