Unfinished Bono

The wife and I have been trying to do more things together lately. We decided to pick up various activities that we can participate in together, and we wanted do it together at the same time. The other day she wanted for us to draw, and I am not a big fan of drawing. I really have no reason for not liking to draw, other then I am rather impatient at times. Drawing takes a lot of patience.

I used to do the whole art thing back in the day in high school. It wasn't that I thought that I was bad at drawing, but I never felt I was great.

I used to watch this guy named Bob- something or another- on PBS. This guy could paint like no other. He would always paint the background, then he would keep adding details on top of the background. As I watched him I always felt nervous. He would always get to a point in the painting where I felt it was amazing as was. As a matter of fact, if that was me that was painting, I would want to stop at that very point. I would be done and finished at the point where the painting looks like something that resembles anything good. But this Bob guy would just keep going.

He would always surprise me when he kept going. I always wanted him to stop when it was "good enough" to pass as decent art. But he never would. He would just keep adding layers of detail over and over again.

This kind of stuff makes me nervous probably because of my little experience with art. In high school I would always be doing projects, and I would get to a point in the project where it would look half way decent and I would stop there. I would do this because I didn't want to screw it up. I had no vision for a finished piece. But I was satisfied with just a decent looking piece. If it could pass for something, it was complete for me.

This is probably why I have art around the house that looks decent but unfinished. I am afraid to finish them. I think if I tried, I would mess them up.

Well as I was saying, the other night, I sat down on my bed looking for inspiration to draw something. I was going to draw a house, but couldn't muster up much vision for that. I looked at my beloved ipod and the inspiration hit me. I was going to draw Bono, the lead singer for U2.

I spent about 45 minuted sketching Bono's head and a part of his hand. I thought it was beginning to look like something decent.

And you guessed it, I stopped. I was afraid to add the finished details. The picture is sitting in my living room waiting to be finished in some respects. But it is decent enough for me.

I have been reading a book titled "My Beautiful Idol" by an author named Pete Gall. I will actually review the book here shortly, which by the way is an excellent book so far. In the book, he has a great metaphor of our Christian journey that I thought was wonderful.

Gall compares our Christian journey to that of a race track. He imagines there is a group of people hanging around the starting line of a race track camping out, reading the newspaper, and drinking coffee.

Then someone may notice the track, and the direction of the arrows, and the increasing distance markers. This person may follow these marks for a little bit, and may be even to the 100 yard line. This person may feel good about there accomplishment and start to camp out at this point, drink coffee, read the newspaper, and hang out. He may even try to yell back at the 50 yard people, the 30 yard people, and the starting line people. He may encourage them to camp out with him at the 100 yard line, rather then the yard lines previous to him.

Gall explains in his book that the 100 yard people are the people who have salvation. They have reached an accomplishment for sure, they would be a 100 yards into the track. However, the track is not meant for camping out, it is meant to be ran. Gall explained that he wants to be that guy that stops camping and starts running. I think there is something to this.

Sometimes I feel tempted to tell myself that I am "saved" and that I am not yet completed, but it looks decent enough. So I don't want to screw it up. I am the one that has made it to the 100 yard line, and I am camping out. I am kind of like my Bono drawing. It looks decent enough to look like art, but it is unfinished. I am an unfinished Bono.

I still have every opportunity to finish my Bono picture. But I probably will not do it. It probably will stay unfinished. I will find a corner or shelf to put it on, and every once in a while I will pick it up and admire whats been done. But I also will be reminded on how its unfinished. I will also be reminded of my fear for potential. What it could be, doesn't drives me not to act. I'm afraid of messing it up. Fear is the story of the unfinished Bono.


I may look like decent art, but I am unfinished. I don't want to camp out at the 100 yard line any more. I want to run the track as it was designed. My fear is getting in the way. Although unfinished, I have become satisfied with my salvation. I may not be finished, but my fear for messing it all up with God and man stands in the way.

This all reminds me of a passage in Philippians 2:

"Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. " -niv

What exactly does it mean to work out your salvation with fear and trembling? Is this talking to an unfinished Bono, like me? Why does the church seem satisfied with the 100 yard line, when there is a race track to run on?

I somehow want to muster enough strength and courage to no longer be satisfied with just salvation. I feel its time to embrace the design of the track. My only questions is how do i do that?

-dj

http://audaciousliturgy.blogspot.com/

How to Date My Wife

Meet Meghan Jones.

She is my beautiful wife of now 3 years. (I think this is true, I have a horrible sense of time.) She is incredibly smart, beautiful, and funny. She loves life but only when it is being truly lived. She is a romantic at her core. (You may ask what she is doing with me then? That is another question for another time.) She absolutely loves to smile, which I find endearing. She is passionately in love with God and she is a seeker of truth.

This is my wife.

She sounds great!

She is great!

What if I told you that I have the key to her heart? What if I told you I can give you a blueprint to win her love? What if I explained to you a process on how to date my wife? Seriously, If anyone would know how to date my wife, it would be me, right?

And what if I said that I would give you this process through stories, poems, and examples?

For instance, let me explain how I personally met Meghan...

It was my senior year in college. I was "helping" the new freshman move into their dormitories. In the process of helping, someone grabbed me, and asked me to fill in as a flag representative during the freshman welcome ceremony. I was to represent Minnesota, Meghan represented her home state of Massachusetts. There I was, right behind my wife, trying to keep my thoughts as pure as I could. I decided to throw down my secret weapon to woo her over to me. The scene looked like this.

Me: "Hey, whats your name?"

Meghan: "My name is Meghan Delargy"

Me: "Cool, hey do you wanna hear a joke?"

Meghan: "Sure, why not?"

Me: "Sweet, why did the chick cross the road?"

Meghan: " I dunno why?"

Me: " 'Cause she saw me!"

Can you believe she fell for this? I mean, she is now my wife. She to this day still claims that it wasn't the joke that she fell for. But I think it is. I think it was my charm that won her over.

So hear is the deal. If you want to know what is the best way to date my wife just from this story, what kind of information could you gather. Let me provide you based on this story on what I think would be the best way to win over my wife. Here we go:

1) Find out where you might be able to bump into Meghan. Scout the place out.

2) Search for the nearest flag, preferably a state one. Follow Meghan around with the flag in hand.

3) It may not be a bad idea to have a spare flag for Meghan just in case she may not have one. If she does not already have a flag, simply give her the spare.

4) Be ready to introduce yourself and ask have her introduce her self to you.

5) Have a corny joke prepared for her. When the opportunity arises, tell the joke. Wait for her positive reaction.

6) She then will be yours.

This is how you can date my wife. If you follow these steps, Meghan will be yours...

Alright, back to reality. First off, please don't try to hit on my wife, (Brian Thomas, I am talking to you.) this is just an example of another reality. I am using this to point us to an unfortunate practice that many of us use to understand the Bible. In all seriousness, even if Meghan was on the market, (which she is not) would anyone really think by following the steps previously, that you might be able to win over my wife's heart? I honestly don't think anyone would be so ridiculous.

That being true, I believe there is many times that we approach the Bible in this way. We look for many "how to's" in God's word. We think when we find an example in one of the Biblical narratives or poems, that we would be able to reproduce that particular reality in today's context.

But what if the Bible was not meant to answer the question "How to"? What if the Bible was there to explain the narrative of God and his people? What lens do we have when reading scripture. Are we looking for advice or prescriptions for our sickness?

I think we need a new goal when reading the Bible in 2009 and going forward:

1) Experience God and relive experiences of our heritage with God's people, rooted in the stories, poems, and the prophetic voices of God's word.

2) As my friend Adam Ellis once explained, look at scripture as a description and no so much as a prescription.

3) Find our place in God's unfolding story and be agents in moving the story forward.

I am very thankful for my relationship with my wife. I have so many memories and experiences with her. We have a shared story that cannot be reduced to bullet points and a blueprint. She is too wonderful for that. She is to beautiful for that. Our love is to strong for that.

I find it hard that God can be reduced to a set of prescriptions, bullet points, and blueprints. God seems to be more majestic for that. There is too much mystery for that. His love for me is too much for that.

How do you date my wife? If that is still and option (which its not), I would tell you to have a shared experience and life with her in some way. This is the only way you can win her heart. Maybe we need to allow God to align Himself with our story. This shared experience is what should be looking for.

-dj

http://audaciousliturgy.blogspot.com/

Celebrating MLK Day, a little early anyway!

Sometimes I wish I could go back to high school. (I confess that it is a rare moment when it happens.) I now realize that I missed many great opportunities to learn about the man that had a great prophetic voice in Martin Luther King Jr. I would have certainly taken the time to actually participate in my "reading assignments" if I had a chance.

Because of this, I am left with no choice but to take the time to truly appreciate the life and the embodied message of MLK. In a world where justice, peace, equality and non violent solutions are becoming more and more necessary, we as a community need to allow this man to be heard. I encourage you to watch and listen with me

Here is the speech that is most famous from MLK, titled, "I have a dream"

For my facebook friends, you can find the video here.

Here is U2's song "pride" teaming up with the history channel for a tribute video to MLK, we can find hope in a similar voice for justice that Bono and company carries to the world.

Facebook friends can find it here.

Finally, here is my favorite tribute that I have found. U2 has a song called "MLK'. The song and video seem to go very well together, enjoy.

Facebook friend can find the video here.

My wife was nice enough to give me several books about MLK for Christmas. Let me recommend these books, they seem to be a good place to start.

• Strength to Love is a collection of sermons by MLK. There is some really good stuff here!
• The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr I have heard this is really good, I haven't started yet though.
• The Measure of a Man: A short book that details a sermon about a "complete" man.

-dj

http://audaciousliturgy.blogspot.com/

Book Review; Jesus Wants to Save Christians

First, I must say that I have very much enjoyed Rob Bell's past work with the Nooma series, and his two books that he has authored, Velvet Elvis and Sex God. I feel that Rob Bell is a fresh thinker and wants to dig deeper into preconceived notions that we often approach scripture with. Bell's latest offering is no different. Jesus Wants to Save Christians, A Manifesto for the Church in Exile challenges Jesus' followers to approach salvation humbly. To often we get caught up in reaching the world for Christ, when God's church can use some salvation as well.

Bell lays out an argument that the church is blessed to become a blessing, and that somewhere down the line, we have missed the mark. Our call to become a blessing has been lost in church programs, buildings, slick marketing, and politics for power.

Retracing the roots of the Christian narrative, Bell suggests that God has "heard the cry" of the oppressed. Since the beginning, God's purpose for His people is to be a blessed people so that they can be a "blessing" to the world, sharing in God's dream for this world. Bell moves through the narrative starting with Cain and Abel, moving to the Exodus and Sinai. Bell argues that the cry of the oppressed moved God.

When the oppressed becomes the oppressors under the "wisdom" and reign of Solomon, God moved to action.

To bring about a new kind of Kingdom, a true faithful marriage between the divine and humanity, Jesus is the promise for a better world through His death, burial, and resurrection. His followers have the opportunity to live out this blessing to the World.

However, more times then not, the church mission is lost in midst of many distractions. Bell reminds us of our purpose. He reminds us to move past the distractions. He reminds us that Jesus wants to save us from anything that can hinder His work in this world.

Rob Bell is not the first to point out this. You can finds similar work with Shane Claiborne and N.T. Wright. Bell does, however make this subject very accessible. Contrary to others, I am also a big fan of the format of Bell's books including this one. Jesus Wants to Save Christians is a short read, which is not a bad thing at all. I would recommend this to those that are looking at their Christian faith and wondering if there is more. I believe you will find more in this tangible calling to be a blessing to the world.

-dj

http://audaciousliturgy.blogspot.com/