Os Guinness on Civility

 Os Guinnes of the Trinity Forum is one of the most forward and helpful thinkers about civility in the public square. The 2-minute video is worth a watch and the accompanying article is helpful as well.

Os Guinness: Civility in the public square | Faith & Leadership

A Note from a Friend about Church Buildings

On January 25th of this year the Wall Street Journal ran an article entitled, "Churches Find End is Nigh." A copy of it was sent to me by a friend with a hand-written note from him on the top. The note said this:
     "What is it about the way we as Christians handle money that shows the world around us that we belong to Jesus? Or do we show them that we are slaves to lenders just as they are?"
       GULP! The question is more than poignant, especially upon reading the article. It states that the number of religious institutions unable to pay their mortgage is surging in the midst of the current economic downturn. Like many individuals, churches find themselves upside down in facility debt.
       Along the way many of us have gotten swept up by the "success" of our churches. As we grew larger we built larger and rationalized our decisions along the way. Many churches decided to fund debt through bonds rather than a straight mortgage, leaving little room to wiggle when the offerings dropped over the past years.
       For all my years in ministry I have been a proponent of renting facilities, something my church in Amsterdam did and continues to do. Renting keeps you "on your toes" and mobile. It allows a church great flexibility and we do not become wedded to inanimate objects.
       Whether we like it or not, many churches will be faced with the reality of losing a building and having to rent. From where I sit that will not be such a bad thing for the American Church.

Desmond Tutu interviewed by Craig Ferguson

Friends told me about this interview from a year ago. I was fixated on every word Just loved it. Here is the final 7 minutes on it. Desmond Tutu explaining forgiveness and reconciliation to Craig Ferguson, who is riveted on Tutu's every word. Amazing!

Steven at 17 - He used to be "Pishti"

Steven in Budapest, Spring 1995

Steven in Denver, Spring 2011

Steven is 17 years old today. He was born in Budapest; we named him Steven in part because it is a very well known name in Hungary, where we were living at the time. You see, Hungary's first king was Istvan (Steven).
       Well in Hungary, a child whose name is Steven/Istvan is often nicknamed Pishti, or Ishti Pishti. Practically speaking that was (and is) Steven's name to people who we lived with in Budapest for 3 years. 
       Our friends Paul and Stacey were the first people on earth besides Susy and me to see Pishti when he was about 3 minutes old! I got a message from our friend Debbie the other day who only knows Steven as a 1-year-old named Pishti. She and her husband Bobby still live in Hungary.
       It is such a crack-up to me to hear from other friends and family - Suzanne and Rob, Dwight and Kelly, Sue, Wendy, Corey, Patty, Calvin and Kristi and a slew of others - who want to wish Pishti a happy birthday! 
       So to all of our friends around the world who know us from those days in Hungary, Ishti Pishti is 17 years old today!

My Glorious

I spoke with a friend on the phone the other day. She is ill, almost certainly will die in the next months. I wanted to speak with her and pray Numbers 6 to her, "May the Lord bless you and keep you..."
       I got off the phone and had a hard cry.

       What came to mind immediately was a rocking, electric-guitar driven song by the band, "Delirious." I first heard it/sang it at my church in Amsterdam. I think our youth director Jeremy introduced it to the congregation.
       This line sticks in my throat today, "God is bigger than the air I breath." Gulp!


My Glorious
Words and Music by Delirious
The world's shaking with the love of God
Great and glorious, let the whole Earth sing
And all you ever do is change the old from new
People we believe that...

(Chorus)
God is bigger than the air I breathe
The world we'll leave
God will save the day and all will say
My glorious!

Clouds are breaking, heaven's come to earth
Hearts awakening let the church bells ring
And all you ever do is change the old from new
People we believe that...

(Chorus)
God is bigger than the air I breathe
The world we'll leave
God will save the day and all will say
My glorious! My glorious! My glorious! My glorious! My glorious! 

God is bigger than the air I breathe
The world we'll leave
God will save the day and all will say
My glorious! 

My Email Address

Hey everyone - 

Please use bnewman5280@gmail.com as my only email address. The email brian@caimail.net has now been closed so mail to that address will bounce back to you.

Thanks!

Ash Wednesday

I have no previous tradition of Ash Wednesday. Jews don't celebrate the beginning of Lent!
       A few years ago I participated in my first Ash Wednesday service. It was at Lookout Mountain Church and my friend and co-pastor Aram (who comes from an Armenian Orthodox background) administered the ashes to my forehead.
       At first I thought, "do I need to cross myself, or genuflect, or say to him in response, 'l'chaim!'" I didn't do anything. Just let his word to me sink in:
"From dust you have come, to dust you will return." Bombshell! Those words cut through my self-sufficiency, control, and sense of self-worth. There I was with a cross of ashes on my forehead beginning a new tradition of these 40 days of Lent.
       This year I am doing something new in this season. I will attend early morning prayers at the Next Level Church for the next 4 Fridays, 7:30 to 8:00am. A good way to end a work-week and begin the weekend during this important season.

The Potential for Growing Up in Diversity

When I was in seminary my leadership professor taught the principle of, "like attracts like" in ministry teams. People gravitate to others with similar beliefs, gifts and talents, skin color and ethnicity. That's just how the human heart and mind work.
       We see it in politics to the extreme: Democrats on one side of the aisle, Republicans on the other.
       Calvnists and Arminians in the church;
       Pro-gay or pro-straight (anti-gay);
       Pro-Israel or pro-Palestinian;
       Simple church or big church, traditional or contemporary;
       It seems to me that Jesus broke with this pattern in selecting his 12 disciples. They WERE homogenous in one way: ethnicity and their overall religious views as Jews. But they diverged from there - several of them were certainly politically hostile to each other; they were different socio-economic classes; they had different family upbringings and conflicting and complementing personalities; and there were numerous religious sects which competed with each other.
       Living in a diverse context challenges me in some healthy ways:
1. I need to shut up and listen to other people;
2. I have to know what I believe and why. Diversity forces me to believe more clearly (it does not mean watering down my beliefs to accommodate)
3. I have the possibility of loving someone I would not normally love - sounds Jesus-like!
4. I learn a whole lot more about God and His creation when I live in  diverse community.

Steven Gets His Hair Cut

The pre-cut look

Steven got his hair cut yesterday, after many months of letting it grow long (which has fit the role for him of lead electric guitar player in his band). But the locks had to get chopped for baseball season and Steven umpiring, which starts next weekend with a pre-season tournament. So it's now the "New Look" Steven for the Spring!

The haircut in process!

Life Around the Firepit

Last summer a bunch of guys helped me build a firepit in my backyard. It's not really a "pit," but rather a corner that we put gravel in and created a nice border with 4x4s.
       Whenever we move from this house I will miss this firepit the most. I have had a lot of real-life conversations with friends around the fireplace, even in the middle of winter as we are freezing our buns off!
       I consider this one of the "sacred spaces" in my life. There are few of these in most of our lives - places to truly meet people, to discuss important things of faith, politics, and of course sports! To listen in on other people's journeys.
       I often wish I could mysteriously transport friends from around the world - living in Budapest, Bucharest, Geneva, Australia, Holland, Spain and a bunch of other places - and plop them in chairs in the firepit. We would talk and catch up on our lives until the wee hours! Now THAT would be amazing!

I Love Apple Products, but...

I love Apple products and I use them seamlessly. I have a laptop and recently got an iphone. I HAVE ARRIVED in the 21st century, or so I am told by Apple's outstanding marketing.
       The other day I watched the frail-looking Steve Jobs temporarily come back from his medical leave to do his thing in introducing the ipad2. If this was a cult it would have been the perfect script. As much as I love Apple products I have growing questions about what its marketing is doing to our culture.
       I know that what I am saying is sacrilege to many faithful Apple users. This is a "cult-like culture" at its finest, as Jim Collins described in his book Built to Last.
       I was struck by a number of things in the Steve Jobs speech:

1. Steve Jobs HAD to do it, even though he is clearly not well physically. In other words, he is not replaceable. That does not bode well for Apple;
2. Much of the talk was about ACQUIRING ... 100 million books downloaded in a year, 100 million iphone users, 200 million Apple accounts with credit card numbers and 1-click purchasing. Now I realize this is just good capitalism, and I guess that is part of my struggle. Is life all about acquiring? He with the most toys wins???
3. Jobs and Apple have been incredibly successful in demonizing the PC world. There are ads, jokes, digs, and flat-out insults toward anything non-Apple. Jobs quoting an Samsung executive about that companies failure in the Tablet market was way smug. Apple has figured out that creating a cult-like culture around their products means you make the competitors look like nerds and idiots;
4. Who are those people who sit in the audience at these Steve Jobs events? Clearly they are the most loyal followers.

These are just a few of my questions and concerns. And these are growing.

I have to go now. I've been typing on my MacBook and my iphone is ringing, and I have to look for my ipod before I go to the office. But I have not bought a iPad.

God's Way to Temper Me?

I really like hanging out with our friend Nate. He has Alzheimer's and there is much sadness in seeing him fade in many ways. But there are a couple of things that Nate really loves, and these things humble me tremendously!
       Nate loves music, especially songs from his earlier years which he taps his hand on his lap to. The genres are quite foreign to me: Country music and older gospel hymns. So we drive around together doing errands and listening to country and hymns! And Nate is totally into it, tapping his feet and smacking his hands on his lap.
       As for me, let's just say that I am learning to acquire a taste for different types of music! God must have a sense of humor with me ~ He will get me to listen to those old hymns yet!

Interested in Amsterdam '11 Trip?

If you are interested in going on the Amsterdam Mission trip from May 30 - June 7 (slight change in dates) here is a Q&A sheet I handed out at the meeting last Sunday. Have a look.

A Chance Encounter in a Cigar Bar

In a auto-congested strip mall on Ventura Blvd. in Studio City sits Havana cigars, a 30+ year-old hole-in-the-wall establishment. It is owned by a middle-aged Syrian man who grew up in the rural northeast of that country.
       I came upon Havana Cigars a couple of weeks ago while visiting Los Angeles and walked into the cigar lounge mid-afternoon. There in well-worn brown leather chairs sat four men smoking their over-sized stogies.
       I went into the humidor, checked out the fine selection of cigars and got one. The owner looked at me a bit suspiciously as I paid him, clearly not having seen me in the shop before. I asked him to cut the cigar so I could light it and have a seat in the front lounge.
       Sitting down with the other guys I introduced myself - Brian from New Yawk.
"Where in New Yawk?" asked a curly blacked-haired Jewish looking guy who sounded strangely like all of my friends on Long Island.
"North Babylon," I said.
"Northport," he said. We had become friends in that moment. We shook hands. His name is Ira, whose mother is an Israeli and father a New Yawker.
       Sitting by him was a Lebanese Christian; they were clearly friends and had been for many years.
       Across the way sat an older gentleman, Richard, who I found out is an orthopedic surgeon in LA. Also Jewish, he has lived his adult life in Los Angeles but grew up in New Yawk. He speaks of the "old neighborhood" in Queens where he grew up.
       There was one other guy who was there for only about 5 minutes after I got there - he works in the "industry," as they say (TV or movies). Italian Catholic I learned from our 5 minutes together.
       Somehow I found this chance encounter in the cigar bar incredibly encouraging. We clearly had divergent beliefs and opinions, and yet we were able to speak about important issues. We debated, laughed, questioned, cracked jokes. I realized quickly that not only had these guys known each other for years, they respected each other even in the midst of differences. Hmmm, seems that I stumbled into a ... community!


       

Missio Dei and Children of Abraham

This image is from the blog of Austin Garrett Ward. I do not know him and do not know his blog, except for an entry called "expressive theology" some time ago.
       This photo was part of that entry. It is indeed expressive ... beautiful to me.
       Next Sunday in the Isaac-Ishmael class we are speaking about "The Mission of God and the Children of Abraham." The mission of God in Latin is "Missio Dei."
       I have a couple of first thoughts on this as I begin preparing this week:
       First, Jews and Muslims are integral to the Missio Dei, in different ways. Jews have a clear calling that the nations will be blessed through them. The Muslims play a significant part in the unfolding of the historical drama. We are witnessing it in the Mideast and North Africa right now.
       Second, the Missio Dei is all about the Kingdom of God, it is about a robust theology of the Kingdom. This is of greater importance than a theology of Israel, or of Palestine, or of the Church. Karl Barth and George Eldon Ladd were right in calling Christians to Kingdom theology.
       Third, the Missio Dei is to seek and to safe that which is lost. See Luke 15 for parables about this. This vision of God's seems to me to be for "the nations," (ta ethne) without exception. I am not saying that all ways lead to God, or that everyone for all time will be saved. What I am saying is that the Missio Dei is not limited by ethnicity, religious upbringing, or socio-economic status. Awesome news!