Living In The Vision of God

Okay, so I'm still reading Dallas Willard's The Great Omission (and getting to read it a lot, as my kids have been in Texas for the last week!), and I came across the strangest statement. He is actually quoting Henri Nouwen, who said, "Nothing conflicts with the love of Christ like service to Christ." Wow. He goes on to explain that well-meaning service to God has a very strong tendency to undermine the kind of vision of God that fuels greatness for God on the human scene.

He explains the pattern he has seen in so many churches and organizations: Intense devotion to God by the individual or group brings substantial outward success. Outward success brings a sense of accomplishment and a sense of responsibility for what has been achieved - and for further achievement. For onlookers the outward success is the whole thing. The sense of accomplishment and responsibility reorients vision away from God to what we are doing and are to do - usually to the applause and support of sympathetic people. The mission increasingly becomes the vision. It becomes what we are focused upon. The mission and ministry is what we spend our thoughts, feelings, and strength upon. Goals occupy the place of the vision of God in the inward life, and we find ourselves caught up in a visionless pursuit of various goals. Grinding it out. This is the point at which service to Christ replaces love for Christ (95).

I think this describes what I have experienced in several churches. I'm wondering if anyone else has seen this pattern at work or has experienced it firsthand? Is it unavoidable? If not, how do we not lose the vision of God and God alone?

Dallas Does It Again...

I love every book that Dallas Willard has written, but his newest, The Great Omission, is wreaking me. It always amazes me how God uses books to teach and transform me. Today, I was reading chapter two and it tapped into something I had already been contemplating... the idea of power. God's power. I have become increasingly aware of how often I live in my own power despite my desire to live only in God's power.

Dallas writes, "Jesus is actually looking for people he can trust with his power... but only constant students of Jesus will be given adequate power to fulfill their calling to be God's person for their time and their place in the world. They are the only ones who develop the character which makes it safe to have such power" (16-17). I realized as I read this that I have been asking for the power without wanting to pay the price of discipleship. I deeply long to be God's person full of his power, and I am humbled at the thought that perhaps I haven't yet developed the character that makes it safe have that power.

Yesterday, one of my kids did not want to go to bed and declared that he wanted to be the parent so he could stay up late. Cam told him that that would be just fine, and he proceeded to list all of the responsibilities of a parent. "Never mind," my son interjected, and off he marched to bed. Why do we always want the power and privilege without the preparation? My prayer today is for the grace to remain a "constant student" of Jesus... one day at a time.

Communitas

Almost two years ago, I was introduced to 27 other leaders from around the world who were to be in my online cohort at Fuller Seminary. Together we have learned, laughed, cried, argued, critiqued and shared life with one another. We have made the journey through nine classes together. Our remaining nine classes are electives that we now take on our own, which means that today, we said goodbye to one another and closed this formal chapter of our cohort experience. Before saying goodbye, our professor and two academic advisors came around and blessed each one of us by washing our feet and praying for us. It was profoundly humbling and powerful.

As we leave southern California, our cohort will disperse to Paris, Turkey, Switzerland, Cambodia, Vancouver, Jerusalem, Amsterdam, and various parts of the United States. We are from many denominations, we speak many different languages, but our hearts share the same love for God and for serving his Kingdom.

My heart is too full and words are not adequate to express the love I have for these friends. In his book, Exiles, Michael Frost talks about the difference between community and communitas. We often try to "build community" by creating a "safe place" that is encouraging to one another. The result is often an inward focus that rarely leads to mission. Communitas, on the other hand, is experienced through liminality where individuals come together outside of normal society and focus on a shared mission. The result is that the mission is accomplished and communitas happens - "an intimacy, a connection, that is more than the warm, inner glow experienced by many groups within our society today. It is hardened by battle, softened by true and genuine partnership, and forged by a shared vision for a better world" (Frost 120).

Little did we know two years ago that this Pangaean 8 cohort would find ourselves thrown together from all over the world only to discover a richer, deeper, more powerful sense of togetherness than many of us have experienced in a long time. We will continue to network, to support each other, to share resources, and to practice hospitality with one another. I carry the face and the story of each one in my heart. And I am deeply grateful.

California Sunshine

Well, I'm here in sunny southern California at Fuller Seminary. I arrived in Pasadena on Sunday morning, only to discover that I couldn't check into my room at Fuller's Guest House until 3 p.m. Fortunately, a friend from my cohort, Rebecca, was already checked in so I was able to crash in her room for a few hours. Rebecca is from Switzerland and has an amazing prophetic ministry there. This is one of my favorite parts of this program - connecting with people who are serving God all around the world.

I finally settled into my room - a mini apartment, really (picured at right). It was weird to have time and space to myself - it was so quiet! The next day, another friend from my cohort, Amy, discovered that her housing situation fell through, so she is living with me this week. Amy serves with a mission agency in Indianapolis but is moving to Pasadena to finish her degree on campus. It's been really fun reconnecting with everyone - we all joke that this is like summer camp for adults... only really expensive summer camp!

My class this week is "Organizational Dynamics." It's been a pretty interesting class so far, and I'm looking forward to bringing some good stuff back to Potter's Wheel. I've been thinking a lot about eight characteristics that reveal if your organizational development is working well:

1. There’s alignment in the organization toward mission, vision, values, strategy, and goals.

2.Communication is open horizontally and vertically and all the relevant facts and feelings are shared openly.

3. Those with the most relevant and direct knowledge make decisions. (Interesting note... the central leadership body should not be making strategy decisions – we should push as much of that down to others as possible. Especially the finances should be closest to the ground level or grass roots as possible... interesting!)

4. The reward systems promote and reinforce organizational health.

5. Conflict is treated and resolved constructively. It’s used for innovation and is not suppressed or allowed to interfere with productivity.

6. Processes and structures are based on present needs and the mission rather than past needs or fads, so they are efficient to help people.

7. People are rewarded for success, but not punished for failures or innovation or creativity.

8. Persons in the organization are continually aware of the needs of those they serve outside the organization.

I would love to hear honest feedback from those of you who participate in Potter's Wheel as to how well you would "grade" the effectiveness of our organizational development. Or maybe others of you could share about other organizations in your context... I have also been wrestling a ton with the idea of balance... how much organizational development and structure is too much? How much is not enough? Either extreme can hinder our growth and long-term health. I think we're tackling that topic tomorrow. I look forward to engaging in more dialogue when I get back home. Until then... I'll be enjoying the sunshine and eating at In and Out Burger.

To Florida and Back

A week ago today, we left for Dayton Beach, Florida. We survived the 20 hour car ride and arrived at our hotel located right on the beach. (I have decided that I would really love to live near the ocean someday although I don't know if that will ever happen.) Payton competed on Wednesday in the USTA Nationals. He placed second for his age group for tumbling and third for trampoline. More importantly, he had fun and it was a great experience. We spent the remaining three days just playing in the sun at the beach, in the ocean and in the hotel pool. The only odd thing was that Taylor was not with us, as she chose to go to summer camp instead. (Never underestimate the power of summer camp!) So it was just Cam and I and the two boys, but we had a ball even though we felt the gap of Taylor's vivacious personality.

We had a couple of little glitches - one, the saltwater in the ocean didn't quite agree with Graham, who must have swallowed more than a human should while body surfing the waves. Before long, he had projected the saltwater all over the pool deck and grew quite dizzy and disoriented. It was short-lived, and before we knew it, he was ready to hit the water again. The second glitch happened on the way home. We had agreed to pull a friend's newly purchased boat back home, and shortly into the trip, a couple of the trailer tires blew. A few hours and several helpful Wal-Mart tire guys later, we got back on the road and eventually got home safe and sound. Life is always an adventure! Overall, it was a great trip full of beautiful moments enjoying God's magnificent creation and celebrating life together.

Crazy Days

Okay, so the last week or ten days have flown by... I finished up my quarter for school (not without many late nights working on several papers!); we started phase two of a remodeling project on our house (the whole front was ripped off and it's a mess!); I had a wonderful weekend retreat with my entire family (24 of us - only 3 were missing - the photo is above); I'm officially launching a new ministry called Breathing Space with my dear friend, Amy (which is supplemental to my work with Potter's Wheel) and we leave tomorrow morning for Florida. Whew. Payton will be competing in the National Tumbling Meet in Dayton Beach on Wednesday, and we are excited for him. Taylor is away at summer camp in Wisconsin. Life is never boring, is it? None-the-less, I've been able to enjoy some quiet moments alone, some loud joyful moments with my kids, some replenishing moments with Cam, some hot moments in my house and some cool moments riding around in my air conditioned car.

I'm reading Rob Bell's newest book, Sex God, which is fabulous and I highly recommend it. I'd love to hear if any of you have read Rob's book and what you thought of it.

Talk About Worship...

I have to share about the coolest moment of worship that we shared as a family the other night... we were in Roscoe on our way home from Potter's Wheel when Cam suddenly turned the car around. I was kind of impatient with him (big shocker, I know), wondering what he was doing. Next thing I know, he had pulled into a cemetery next to a little church and stopped the car.

It was only then that I noticed the glorious sunset in the sky. Cam invited us to sit in silence and enjoy God's amazing gift of creation. Then we all sang "This is my Father's World" at the top of our lungs with Mars Hill's Worship CD (which, by the way, is the freshest, most Christ-centered worship music I've experienced in a LONG LONG time). We ended up getting out of the car, walking through the cemetery and talking about God and how grateful we were to be his children. I couldn't help but think about how I would have completely missed this entire memory if it weren't for Cam, who just has the gift of recognizing a moment and embracing it. Our family won't easily forget that sunset and the worship that transpired. May we all have eyes to see and the willingness to embrace God's amazing gifts to us.