• Archive for July, 2009

    Cultural Gravity (Part 1)

    July 24, 2009 // 4 Comments »

    Try to jump and hang in the air for 10 seconds.  How’d you do?  You either failed, cheated, or are reading this from the moon.  You are a captive of gravity.  It pulls at you, refusing to let you wander off.

    Culture is a lot like that.  The various elements of the culture we inhabit pull us toward some sort of center.  Culture, in all of its various forms: language, architecture, customs, expectations, rhythms, etc., creates a sort of reality for those who live in it.  This is what I am calling cultural gravity.

    Cultural gravity cuts two ways – it simultaneously frees and binds.  As regular gravity gives us the ability to walk around and explore our immediate surroundings, it also binds us there, making any desire we have to explore our not so immediate surroundings extraordinarily difficult.  Analogously, cultural gravity is what enables us to authentically enter a particular time and space – to know it personally and deeply.  But it can also trap our imaginations and stymie us intellectually and creatively.  The longer we live with in a particular brand of cultural gravity (geography, tradition, denomination, etc.) the harder it will be to enter new ones with any degree of receptivity or discernment.

    Anyone who has ever lived cross-culturally has experienced this tension.  It is why new cultures can be hard to adjust to and why we may have a hard time (or outright fear!) returning to the culture we came from.

    As one who has had some varied over-seas experience and has moved from the suburban mid-west, to urban So. Cal, to some blend of suburban/urban culture in the midsouth, and now lives outside of Chicago, these are some thoughts I have been having.

    In Part 2 I plan to offer some reflections on what I think cultural gravity has to do with missional churches.

    Posted in chicago, church, culture, memphis, midwest, missional, suburban, travles, urban

    Married

    July 21, 2009 // 3 Comments »

    From 2 days to just over 2 weeks, the last 18 days have been some of the best of my life.

    Our wedding was amazing – everything we had hoped it would be and more.  I don’t think I mentioned this before, but in stark contrast to horror stories I have heard from others, Amy and I had a blast putting our wedding together.  Much of that was thanks to the fact that we both get a kick out of infusing stuff with as much meaning as possible so we really enjoyed thinking imaginatively together about the elements of what we called a weekend celebration of marriage (hope to share more about this in a future post).  Aside from that, we are just fortunate enough to have a lot of friends and family that were excited to pitch in and help.

    Our wedding photographer/videographer, Tim Miller, who you should definitely check out if you are in need of some mad skills, is sending Amy and I 2,300 pictures to sort through.  Until we have the professional stuff all put together, here’s a slide show of random pictures from some of our friends and family.

    Right before the wedding weekend kicked off, Amy and I invested in a Sony CyberShot that shoots video in HD.  Here’s some of those videos.  (Hint: If you have the time – just under 30 mins. total, they will automatically play in order.)

    Amy and I both want to say a huge thanks to everyone who contributed to and attended the most significant weekend of our life together – much love.

    Posted in Amy, marriage, pictures, video, wedding

    2 Days

    July 3, 2009 // 2 Comments »

    I am less than 48 hours away from being a married man.  We just finished the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.  They couldn’t have been better.  In just a matter of hours people were descending on Davenport from all over the country, anxious to help get last minute things done, reconnecting with friends and family, and working on getting know new ones.  As we walked through the rehearsal I kept thinking, “I love how this is coming together.”  I would look around and see people that Amy and I have known from different seasons of life meeting and talking for the first time and I loved that see how Amy and I’s hope and dream of our wedding being about something bigger than just us was unfolding.

    Then, it was off to the rehearsal dinner.  It was stunning.  A semicircle room with an all glass outside wall with a picture-perfect view of the Mississippi River and Downtown Davenport.  The food was excellent, people were busy in conversations and greetings.  Amy and I got to distribute a bunch of gifts that we had tried to put some thought into for the people who are helping with the ceremony and such.  There was a time for some of our friends and family to toast us and I soaked it all in as though I were having an out of body experience.  Amy and I made small speeches and introduced a slideshow of our pictures from growing up and then together that a good friend who couldn’t be with us had put together.  As we finished, a major fireworks display began over the Mississippi for everyone to enjoy.  Stories were told and connections made throughout the evening.  We wound down and person after person commented on how beautiful and special the evening had been.  Amy and I commented to each other on just how lucky we are to share in so much love from all angles and all we could do was smile in in grace-washed humility.  I simply can’t wait for the fun to continue tomorrow.

    Posted in Amy, wedding

    3 Days

    July 2, 2009 // 5 Comments »

    It’s Thursday morning.  Family and friends will begin pouring into Davenport beginning this afternoon and evening.  Wedding festivities begin tomorrow.  Everything that is happening seems very surreal – like a movie playing out that has been in production for years and years.  I am loving every moment and can’t remember the last time I felt this excited about anything.  Just when I am sure time is about to start spinning out of control, I am wishing for a slow motion button on life.

    Posted in wedding