• Archive of "living hope" Category

    (More) Things I Never Thought

    January 27, 2011 // No Comments »

    Way back in May of 2006 I wrote a blog post titled, “Things I Never Thought.” It was basically my own reflection on how the trajectory of my life had taken shape in ways that I didn’t expect or plan for. I had a number of friends mention that they appreciated the post when it was randomly retweeted from the archives so I thought I would do another post along the same lines, almost five years later now.

    In May of 2006 I was in the Spring quarter of grad school. I was taking Pentateuch w/ Dr. John Goldingay, Theology of Christian Community w/ Dr. Ray Anderson and doing a Directed Study in Narrative Theology w/ Dr. Ryan Bolger. I had just one more quarter to go and then I was going to graduate. As I thought about my future, I imagined heading in one of two directions. Either I would move back to Canton and re-establish myself in the community I had left behind and missed like crazy, or, if God didn’t direct that way, I would look for a pastoral position in either the Pacific NW or in the Northeastern part of the US – some place that was further along in terms of being a Post-Christian context.

    I never thought I would wind up working for Fuller’s MAGL program. I didn’t even know we had an MAGL program, but the opportunity presented itself and it radically altered my life. This will come into sharper focus below, but suffice it to say here, the model of theological education espoused by the MAGL and the relationships I made internally have had a tremendous impact on the contours of my life through to today.

    I worked with the MAGL program for most of 2007 and then various circumstances combined to lead me back to Canton. As I tried to discern a future related to engaging the missional church conversation in the Midwest, I connected with Dave Fitch for the first time and visited Life on the Vine. I was giving serious consideration to simply moving to Chicago just to be a part of LOV as the first church I had been exposed to that I felt like was actually expressing missional theology in its communal life, rhythms, and practices.

    I never thought I would get a call from a young church in Memphis, TN asking me to consider taking a position down there.  And I certainly never thought that despite my best efforts to dismiss it, that God would actually lead me to embrace the opportunity.

    I had a good experience at Living Hope.  I loved the staff, enjoyed connecting and working with young adults, and made some life-long friends.  I moved into mid-town, close to the part of the city where it seemed like some people from the church would think about relocating to, and anticipated a long future of investing the future of the newer church community that was seeking to embrace a missional identity and a heart for the city of Memphis.

    I never thought that I would reconnect (let alone marry!) with Amy Garrington, who had been a student in one of the MAGL cohorts that I was responsible for.  (See, told you that MAGL job was a big deal!)  But, as she was contemplating leaving Pasadena for a position at International Teams near Chicago, that’s exactly what happened.  We’ve been married for about a year and a half, have a baby on the way this June, and love where we live.  Amy and I both have some family that lives in the Chicagoland area, but…

    I never thought my brother would leave NYC and join us here in Chicago!

    There’s probably a bunch more “I never thought’s” that I could list out, but these are probably among the most significant of the last five years.  They serve as both a humble reminder and constant encouragement that when you’re more focused on listening and responding to what God is saying and doing than on ensuring the fulfillment of your own ideas and plans, life-changing surprises await you.

    I simply can’t wait for the next series of, things I never thought!

    Posted in Amy, decisions, Fuller Seminary, God, living hope, LOV, MAGL, marriage, midtown, missional, missional theology, post-christendom

    Life on the Vine

    May 6, 2009 // 6 Comments »

    As of last Thursday, I live in Chicago!  Not quite Chicago-proper, but in the area nonetheless.  I have been staying with my cousin and her husband for the last few days and am in the process of moving into my finace’s place while she stays with some friends for the rest of the month.  The apartment and job hunts are in full swing!

    Life on the Vine is a church community that I nearly moved just to be a part of about a year and a half ago before I accepted the invitation to pastor young adults at Living Hope in Memphis and Sunday was my first opportunity to attend a worship gathering with Amy.  It may have been one of the most meaningful worship gatherings I have ever been a part of.

    Once a month the community gathers an hour before their regular meeting for a corporate time of celebrating the Lord’s Supper.  People gathered in the lobby area to meet and catch up.  An order of service was personally handed to each person as we were asked to prepare ourselves before entering the sanctuary.  Upon entering, each person recited, “He is risen” to one of the pastors who was handing out matches for each person to light a candle on their way in symbolizing the presence of Christ.  The service was a combination of prayer, silence, Scripture reading, and reflection.  Finally, we served communion to one another, offering the elements in a communal fashion as opposed to taking them individually.

    There was a little bit of time inbetween the communion service and the regular worship gathering to meet some people.

    What was most striking about the gathering of the LOV community was how intentional and theological all the elements of the gathering were.  Here were some of the most meaningful elements of the worship gathering.

    To communicate our unity as a body and the communal nature of gathering, we sat in concentric circles, thus able to face one another rather staring at the back of peoples heads.  As opposed to people, the candles symbolizing the presence of Christ as well as the communion elements were intentionally placed at the center.  When people spoke, it was always from a side.

    We were joined by all the children for the beginning of the service and when they were dismissed/blessed to their time together, not by a pastor, but by the entire community, they in turn blessed us in ours.

    Scripture was read by both men and women, young and old from the four “corners” of the circle – surrounding us with the Word of God.

    A weekly part of the gatherings at LOV is someone sharing a “story of wonder.”  A story of something God is doing in the life of a member or members of the community.

    David Fitch offered the message for the morning.  Because the community gathers together at the same time, and because they understand the formational purpose of the gathered church, he was better able to bring the text for the morning into a direct intersection with the life of the community.

    Prayers were offered at different times in the service and we were invited to personalize them out loud with our own thoughts and longings as the Spirit led.

    The musicians stood in a corner of the room so as to help people devote their full attention to the words we were singing.  Songs were placed strategically within different elements of the service to serve either as preparation or response to something.

    Perhaps the most meaningful part of the gathering came at the end.  As we sang a final song of joy and celebration, some children, a few with disabilities, spontaneously began to dance in a circle around the candles and communion elements at the center of the room.  They led as a few adults joined in with them. Truly beautiful.

    I can’t even begin to tell you about all the various artistic elements that enhanced the space we met in or the service we participated in.  Really, the whole thing was like living art, not the sort that can only be enjoyed by overtly artistic people (hello?!), but the sort that connects with the creative part of God’s image in which we’re made.

    The fact that Life on the Vine embraces a more participatory form of gathering as a community really contributes to their identification as a missional church community and after finishing up another year as a pastor on staff at a church, I am really looking forward to rediscovering my identity as a “normal” part of a church community.

    Posted in Amy, chicago, church, community, liturgy, living hope, LOV, missional, preaching/teaching, spiritual formation

    Chicago

    April 9, 2009 // 8 Comments »

    I proposed to Amy at the end of February and ever since the main thing on both our minds and the question we were asked the most was, “So where are you going to live?”

    It was an ineviatble question (well, for most people anyway) and one we were anxious to hear from God on in the context of community.  We prayed a ton, talked a lot, asked those we respect for wisdom and advice, and in the end, felt like we had our answer, Chicago.

    chicago

    This was a really, really hard decision for both of us.  Neither of us had a good reason to leave the places we were.  I have been in Memphis for just a year, Amy in Chicago since October.  Both of us liked where we were living, our jobs, the people around us, and the opportunities God was giving us to serve.  We kept hoping something might happen that would essentially make the decision for us, but that never really came about.

    So, Amy was in Memphis this past weekend and was with me when I shared the news with the body of Living Hope.  This was very hard to do, but brought with it a sense of relief as we begin to make plans for the future together.

    I am in Chicago as I write this – we brought all my stuff up here this past Monday and have been busy looking for an apartment since then.  I have no leads on jobs as of yet, but I’m actually kind of excited for the search (networking and connections always welcome!)

    Amy and I are off to Davenport, IA (her hometown and the location of our wedding) for Easter weekend to see her family and do some wedding planning and then it’s back to Memphis for me to enjoy the remainder of April with good friends and the Families on Mission Seminar that we have been planning for the end of the month.  I will be in Chicago full-time as of May 1.

    So the really big question, do the Bears, Bulls, Cubs/White Sox have what it takes to make me a true Chicago convert?!

    Posted in Amy, chicago, living hope, memphis, wedding

    A Kenyan New Year

    January 7, 2009 // 2 Comments »

    I am recently back from a 10 day trip to Kenya in Africa.  Though the entire trip was incredible from beginning to end, the highlight just might have been ringing in the New Year by participating in African tribal dances around a huge bonfire (which featured the stylings of Ben K. who introduced our Kenya friends to the timeless art of “the robot”).

    I am really at a loss for how to summarize the trip.  It featured stops in Lagos, Nigeria, Nairobi, Kenya, and Dakar, Senegal.  We got to go on safari and see all sorts of beautiful African wildlife.  We attended a crusade, visited slums, drove through a market (which, by the way, was meant to be walked through), visited with local pastors, enjoyed local cuisine, helped to run a summer camp, and entered into relationship with an incredible bunch of orphans.

    I had been dreaming about visiting Africa for a number of years and I’m already anxious to return.  The landscape, both cultural and spiritual, is something I long to further understand.  The marks of Western colonialism are painfully obvious and though I was overjoyed to hear one pastor speak openly against it (he preached a message about faithfulness being the mark of true success – a message I implored him to share with his bothers and sisters in the US), the prosperity gospel is sadly entrenched amongst African Christians.

    I loved getting to travel and serve alongside the other guys on the team.  I could go on for a long time about the great stuff I saw out of them, not to mention stories of all the various Africans I got to know while we were there.  But I think I will leave anything further to these pictures (which I have tried my best to add helpful descriptions to) and any specific questions you might have.  I hope to share more pictures and links as others on the team post them.

    Here’s some more from John.

    Posted in africa, kids, living hope, travles

    Young Adult Picnic

    November 28, 2008 // No Comments »

    This is about a month old, but better late than never right?

    At the end of October one of the small groups at Living Hope, comprised mainly of young adults, hosted a picnic at a local park as a way for other young adults to make some connections.  It was a really fun afternoon consisting of game playing, chili eating, and much conversing.

    The event was significant for at least two main reasons.  First, it was a great example of the people of the church (as opposed to merely church staff) taking responsibility and initiative for ministering to others.  Second, the event succeeded in a number of these new young adults committing to meet for a number of weeks to discuss issues of life and faith as well as to pray with and for one another with a view toward connecting to a more permanent small group.

    I was really excited about the event and look forward to helping people and groups host lots more stuff like this in the future.  Here’s a little slide show of great pictures that Brian took.

    Posted in community, living hope, young adults

    Scared to Lament

    September 18, 2008 // 5 Comments »

    Our church community is spending three months wrestling in and through the Psalms.  It is our hope that this time would be much more than a simple sermon series, but a season of spiritual formation for us as a community.  As part of that desire, we have created a blog and various people are posting entries in an effort to stimulate discussion.  So, whether you are a Living Hoper or another friend, hop on over there, check out the first couple of posts and share your thoughts.  Here is my recent submission…

    Scared to Lament

    Gib spoke this past week on the idea of lament and as a community, we were led through a profound reading of lament over the circumstances in our lives, our city, and our world.  I (JR) have continued to ponder the place of lament in the life of Christian community for the last few days.  Many of you will have already discussed this in your small groups, but as mine meets tonight, I am still looking forward to the discussion.

    To be transparent, I must admit that I am scared to lament.  It makes me vulnerable and threatens the pride I take in situations being within my control.  These desires I have however, for invulnerability on the one hand and pride in my own ability to control situations on the other, are nothing shy of idolatry.  To lament then, is to blaspheme the idols in my life in the hope that God will fill the void.  The way God fills this void however, comes not by an immediate change of the situations which I lament, but by the constitution and life of a community which laments together – in hope.

    I take great solace in the biblical notion that while lamenting may threaten that which I (wrongly) hold most dear, it simultaneously grants me the opportunity to realign my vision of reality with God’s by drawing me into a community seeking to live out the reality of God’s Kingdom in the world.

    This is not a foreign concept to us; misery, as they say, loves company.  But this is where the world and the people of God part ways.  We seek solace in the arms of others not because they merely empathize with us and our grief (this is yet another form of idolatry), but because the very Spirit of God dwells in the midst of the body of Christ, strengthening us, sustaining us, and filling us with an overflowing measure of faith, hope, and love.  I would go so far as to say that lament – a God-centered cry for justice and mercy – is a divine opportunity for us to live out what it means to be the people of God – a people united not in their complaints, but in their Spirit-infused hope for the Kingdom of God to come “on earth as it is in heaven.”

    Posted in community, kingdom, living hope, sermon

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