Devotions and Conversation in Advent

Care to join me for a weekly conversation about daily devotions this Advent? Here's the scoop:

I've enjoyed using the Pray As You Go daily devotions for quite a while now. These are brief audio devotions - about 12 minutes - that include inspirational music from around the world, scripture reading, and a guided meditation with time allowed for personal prayer. They are produced by a Jesuit group in Britain and you can listen to them with their smartphone app or online at their website. 


My plan is to listen to their devotion daily starting December 1st (first Sunday in Advent) and then offer two opportunities for conversation each week. One will be online on Saturday mornings, 9 to 9:30 am, using Zoom for video chat. We can have a virtual cup of coffee together and if you're still in your PJs that's totally fine! (Actually, I think that would be a real cup of coffee with virtual togetherness, not the other way around.) This is the link to enter the "Zoom Room" for the conversation. If you don't already have Zoom on your phone or computer, it will prompt you to install it, which is free and fast.

If you happen to be local in the Twin Cities, you'll also have the option of meeting on Sundays at 11:45 am at St. Stephen's in West Saint Paul, where I work. Non-virtual coffee will be available here as well.  

My plan is to jot down some notes each day about what connected for me in the devotions and I encourage you to do the same. Then we can just share with each other what the week's journey has been like.

Calendar note: although Advent has four Sundays in it, this journey will actually run for three weeks  because we start the devotions on a Sunday. The conversations, then will be on three Saturdays (December 7, 14 and 21) and three Sundays (December 8, 15, 22).

Hope to see you on the journey!

Blessed Advent -

Tim

A Helpful Way to Think About Life (Excursion 1/Road Trip 11 - June 3, 2018)

This is the first message in the Excursion for June 2018. It's also message # 11 in my "Road Trip" series at St. Stephen's Lutheran Church. 

Title: "A Helpful Way to Think About Life"

Message Summary: The way we think about life shapes how we experience it, and how we live. You’ll live very differently if you believe “Life is a test” as opposed to “Life is an adventure!”

One helpful way for followers of Jesus to think about life uses the image of an L-shaped pipe. In this metaphor, humans are built for relationship: for connection to God and to each other. Life is about “flow” as we receive love from God and release love to others. The inflow and the outflow are connected, and are actually just two parts of one thing. As it says in 1 John 4 “We love because he first loved us.” Blockage at either end shuts down the flow, both in and out.

Now, life is full of “plumbing problems” that disrupt the flow of love to us and through us. People can be wounded by others spiritually, emotionally and physically, and end up with “dents” in their pipe. “Clogs” of bitterness, anger jealousy and such can also form inside us. 

But healing can repair what has gone wrong. And human life finds meaning, joy and fulfillment again as we experience the flow of love moving through us.

Video: Click here to view video of message on Facebook.

Slides: Click here to view the slides from the sermon in a new window.

Audio: Click here for the sermon audio from Sunday, June 2, 2018.

Conversation Questions from the Travel Guide

• What other ways do people think about life?   “Life is a ___.”  “Life is like___.”  
• Do any of those ways of thinking shape how you experience life?
•  How well does the Pipe image fit with how you experience life?
•  Are there things about your life that don’t fit easily within the Pipe metaphor?
•  If you saw yourself as a pipe, then how would you see Jesus?
•  Are you aware of any clogs in your life right now? Any dents?

Bible verses you can explore using the Pipe:

• Matthew 6:12
• Luke 10:40
• Luke 15:11-32
• John 15:1-11
• John 7:37-39

"Road Trip" Sermon #10 - "Pentecost"

Message # 10 in my "Road Trip" series at St. Stephen's Lutheran Church. 

Title: "Pentecost"

Summary: Pentecost is a game-changer, not because the Spirit was given, but because the Spirit was given to all. That is what gave birth to the Church were there is a radical mutuality described in the many "one-another" passages. For many, many centuries however, the Church has neglected one-anothering and focused on the old mode where the one speaks to the others. It's incredibly important for us as disciples of Jesus to begin relearning the mutuality of spiritual life that is at the heart of what Pentecost put in motion. The June "Excursion" is one small step we all can take in that direction.

Slides with Audio: Click here to view the slides with audio from the sermon in a new window.

Audio Only: Click here to listen to the sermon audio from Sunday, May 20th, 2018.

Find the whole series here.

Speaker Announcement for Unfinished Business Conference

I'm delighted to announce that my good friend Carol Coomer will be one of our speakers at the Unfinished Business Conference! Carol is one of the founding members of Liberating Spirit, a small independent congregation, organized in 2014, that very much resembles the kind of "Evangelical Order" community that Luther described. Carol will be one of our panelists and bring her experience of helping to lead a kind of "house church" that happens to meet in a funeral home! She is also a proud mother and grandmother, and is retired from her work as the office coordinator for a medical practice.

Conference Announced! "Unfinished Business: Bringing the Church Home"

I'm very excited to announce a conference that I will be hosting in November to dig into Luther's proposal for house churches! (TLDR folks can get straight to the registration page here.)

It was nearly 10 years ago that I first posted on this blog the little-known proposal that Luther wrote, in which he described lay-led, home-based faith communities. Since then it's never been far from my mind.

Now it's time to start a conversation and see what emerges from that. Like when Luther posted the 95 Theses expecting to start an academic debate and things kinda took on a life of their own. Just a little bit.  ;)  So here's the lowdown:

Date: Saturday, November 18th
Time: 9am - 2pm
Location: St. Stephen's Lutheran Church
                 West St. Paul, MN
Cost: $10 (includes lunch)

Registration Page
Facebook Page

What to expect:

We'll set the table with some information, first by looking at the text of Luther's proposal and any historical attempts to put it into practice. Then we'll have a quick fly-by of contemporary groups that are exploring ways to be church that are similar to Luther's proposal. With that as a starting point, the main focus of the conference will be working together to assess the pros and cons of this approach, and the arguments for and against putting it into practice.

The conference is open to the public. It will be of particular interest to people who are looking for renewal in the Church, and for those who have become frustrated or disillusioned by the challenges of the "standard model" for congregational life, with it's dependence on property, programs, professionals and presentational worship. (These people are often referred to as the "Dones," as they are "done with church, but not with faith." For more on them see my posts here and here.)

When the conference is over, I  will have print materials, summaries of conversations, and no doubt video of some sessions/presentations that I will be making available. If you would like to be notified when these materials are available, just fill out the form below and I will keep you in the loop.

Hope to see you there, and please, SPREAD THE WORD!!!

Tim

Mailing list for resource updates:

NonRandom Acts of Kingdom-Bringing Kindness

Today I just want to lift up a really important post from my friend Ry Edwards. He tells the most amazing story of how "routine" contacts in everyday life with service people can be so important. I absolutely believe this is part of what it looks like to see the prayer "Your Kingdom come!" answered in people's lives.

Please, take a few minutes and read his story.

And for my part, I just want to add that when I think of the kind of faith community I long to see and hope to foster, it's one where people get together every week to eat, laugh, pray, play, and tell each other stories like this from their own lives so that we all grow to live like this more and more.

Illumination Conflict Sermon

Conflict in the community?
Family bonds strained?
Division among religious leaders?
People disputing the facts?
Personal attacks on the sources?
Beliefs impervious to evidence?

I had the opportunity to preach at St. Stephen's Lutheran Church yesterday and those are some of the themes I found playing out in the story of the man born blind in John 9. And amidst all that furor, there's a story of a man who receives his sight, finds his voice and comes to faith as well.

If you're interested in hearing the sermon, I've provided the audio for you below.

It's a call to action in challenging times with a word of comfort to take along with you.

Blessings!

Tim

(Church) Life Can Be Different

What if.... you had a community that gathered once a month for "the show" and three times a month to *unpack* all the amazing goodness from that gathering? Hear the hymns and songs again and pour over the *words* in them to share how it touched their hearts... Chew on and really digest the message from the preacher and "work the words into your life" (The Message, Luke 6:48-49)...

What do you think... would we see people growing *more* as disciples with this pattern, or would we see *less* discipleship than we are getting now?

And as icing on the cake, would we see more exhaustion from the very people we look to to help feed and lead us, or less?

Common Cause Communities and their LA Hatchery

Another group that's caught my attention is Spencer Burke's "Hatchery" in L.A. Their focus is on non-traditional church-planting and their core concept is "Common Cause Communities" which can be contrasted with teaching/attractional/Sunday morning mode congregations (and compared to 3dm Missional Communities for those of you familiar with that language.)

Common - Common faith in the way of Jesus
Cause - Outwardly focused on a shared cause to rally around
Community - to deepen relationships

If you're interested in new models or alternatives to traditional seminary, I encourage you to check them out.

Faith in Community

I've heard it said that one of the beauties of community is that in the  times when it's hard for us to believe, others can "believe for us."  Here's a little reflection on on that.