Outdated Lighthouses

This week I am away for a few days of solitude and reflection. This is the third Spring I have visited St. Columba Retreat House. Its located on the Point Reyes Peninsula. I typically take a hike each day somewhere I can hear the waves crashing and see wildlife unseen in Lincoln (elephant seals). There is a historic lighthouse at the very end of the point. Many folks travel the winding roads pass a number of historic farms to come to visit and whale watch for a few moments. There are 300+ steps down to the lighthouse from the visitors center. It usually quite windy and sometimes foggy. The interesting thing about this particular lighthouse is that it no longer is lit. It does still have a loud fog horn that goes every 30 seconds, yet the light no longer is shining. It not due to budget cuts either. A number of years ago it was made automatic but now is dark. The information center states that since so much of our navigational equipment has advanced to include satellites and GPS maps, the light is no longer necessary. Modern day shipping no longer needs lighthouses.

It seems to me that might be said about what many think about the Church today. We have a ton of unique and helpful Bible translations and tools to help us navigate the scriptures. We can listen to a favorite teacher or message via podcast. We have access to so many worship songs through sites like iTunes that we can construct our own personal worship set. We have big and comfortable homes to connect with our friends and host a family BBQ. We even have PayPal to help us give to those charities and compassion projects that personally move us. We can do everything that we do on a Sunday through our homes and the advanced technology of the internet. So who needs Sunday (or Saturday) church? It seems that modern Christians no longer need churches.

Before I respond to this critique, allow yourself to take a few moments and reflect on the question. Why do we need Church? Especially our weekend gatherings?

What do you think?

Ten Tips On Balance

I'm always interested in bringing focus and impact to my life (read: I tend to get easily distracted and take on more than I should). So, when I found this blog post on balance (really time and life management), I took the opportunity to link the post here. Tell me what you think. Ten Tips On Balance

Next steps in facing injustice and slavery

Two weeks ago I was invite by my friend Nathan Oates of Emmaus Church Community (also in Lincoln... look collaboration in the same town... I will resist to comment further). It was a really honor to share about our journey as a faith community into the places of injustice, oppression, and need from Cambodia to Lincoln, CA. The context of the interview was primarily around the brokenness of our lives, communities, and systems. This past summer I had the chance to have a front row seat for the heinous, heart-wrenching and soul splaying evil of human trafficking, namely sex slavery of young girls. Many asked after hearing all the brutal and disturbing stories, what can I do. Here's my attempt to answer that here in suburbia.

Dear Emmaus Church Community,
I was deeply blessed and inspired by your willingness to address the uncomfortable and disturbing topic of human trafficking a few weeks back. It is a tragedy that shakes us to our core when we really stop and
realize what is truly wrong with the world (and us). The emotions can be very awkward, raw and somewhat surreal. We do not see often (if ever) this evil up close and when we do it still seems far away from our suburban lives. Yet, for so many around the globe (and even in Sacramento) it is a daily reality. But with all the emotion and even anger, what’s one to do? I mean, really do about these heart-wrenching stories of injustice and abuse? Here’s a few places to begin.
Pray: It’s always the first and best response to the oppression of people. God heard the suffering of His people and it moved Him to action (called Moses out of comfort and hiding to dangerous engagement).
Support: Whether its financial or relational support for those who are on the front lines of this battle. Please check out AIM4Asia.org and International Justice Mission online.
Go: It might be that God is placing a burden on your heart to actually go and work along side these amazing organizations and leaders. Feel free to email me at onelifechurch.org about traveling to Cambodia in summer 2010. Also, I know Emmaus will have global missional opportunities as well. Go for it.
Seek: This is perhaps the hardest and potentially dangerous responses. Read the local communication sources (Lincoln News Messenger, Sacramento Bee), surf online for local and regional issues related to human trafficking and seek a way to get involved. There are local coalitions that seek to be a transformative force in our region.
Share: Tell others about what you are learning and experiencing. Share the move of God in your heart and the restlessness of not being idle as so many are oppressed and used in our world. Who knows God may do a work in their hear and they seek to get involved.

Lastly, Jesus spoke about the “least of these”. He talked about the over-looked, the ignored and the avoided (communities, tribes, or people groups). His heart went out to them, he pursued them, engaged with them and touched them. He even said that the Kingdom was for them. To be like Jesus is to be in the places and with the people he was. You’ll find the life that is truly life (1 Timothy 6:17-19). Grace and Peace, Troy

For more on the organization we partner with in the erradictation of child sex trafficking in Cambodia: www.AIM4Asia.org

Under the mango tree

Under the mango tree is where our church began. Then God provided a small covering with a metal roof and now we have this beautiful building. To you and i we might not see it as beautiful. As Americans we are used to multi-million dollar facilities with gymnasiums and dedicated children's centers. This "building" is a wooden shack on poles (because this area floods annually). THe stairs leading up to the one room are barely wide enough for the ball of your foot.

This small church is led by a gifted and passionate woman who has seen heart ache in their village community. Almost apologetically, she shared how the church is smaller today because so many of their friends and family have moved to Thailand to be day laborers because work is so hard to find. These Cambodians are the illegal day laborers of this region. If there were a Home Depot across the Thai border they would be standing outside hoping to get work so they can eat another day.

We spent time with this gracious congregation singing, praying, playing and making a craft with the numerous children. They shared theirs hearts and a dozen coconuts harvested that morning for our thirsty palates. We left only after laying hands on the core leaders of this village church. I was humbled and encouraged as we saw how God uses the simple places of this world to confound the sophisticated. Praise Jesus for his loving and extending church.

If God does it, it's easy

We arrived in Battambang after a 5 hour bus ride from Phnom Penh. We were warmly greeted by the gracious brothers and sisters at Hope Bible Institute. Christopher Lapel gave us a history and tour of the Institute and we were amazed by what God did in order for this church and facility to exist, here, in Cambodia. Christopher's story alone is amazing, but we will leave that for another post.

But all the while he shared with us how God provided the land, the permit to exist as a church group, the buildings, the electricity, he kept repeating on phrase, "When I try to do it, it's hard; when God dies it, it's easy." They attempted twice to get permission to be a legitimate religious group and it always failed. But, finally after prayer and waiting, God opened a door that only he could and through a former donut shop owner in Long Beach, CA now turned Ministry of Religion; God opened the door and they could officially exist in Cambodia. One of the very few for which this is true.

Maybe, I can learn from them. Pray, seek and then let God do the heavy lifting. He is mighty and can do more than any of us.

Grace and Peace,

Troy

Taipei – Taiwan again (May 22 7:00 AM)

We just landed in Taipei and will take off again soon for Phnom Penh. I forgot that I landed here that last time. Economy sure looks different... Starbucks has closed its small cafe here and a local business has taken its place... $3.00 for an American style coffee. I don;t do the coffee thing but Mr. Mehren is needing a fix. We will just finished 13.5 in the air and will do another 3.5 before landing in Phnom Penh. The off to the hotel and get our "khmer" on. That's "cambodia" to you and I. Team is doing great... I can tell everyone is very excited. Not a ton of sleep on this last flight... too much anticipation.

Dissensical

This past year I have found myself both fascinated and frustrated by the amazing amount of "dissensical" Christian beliefs. These are either stated or often unstated core tenets that drive and inform our beliefs or at least our conversation about our belief. I call them dissensical because they are not complete nonsense nor completely untrue. There seems to be some attractiveness to the general church going public for these principles or adages have become common place. I have heard them spoken by believers from a variety of backgrounds and denominations.

I'd like to address different ones as they come up in my conversations with others. I will change the names to protect the innocent, since so many have come to believe and confess these tenets to little fault of their own. It is mostly the fault of "ought to know better" pastors, teachers and leaders, myself included. I have, over the course of years in ministry and around church-life, spouted and shared many of these concepts along the way. It seems almost to be a ministry rite of passage. Here: say these things and then as you grow and experience more of life with God, you will regret such naivete and poor theology. Then you can experience humility, which is often in short supply in church teachers.

I hope we can simply look at these dissensical tenets and laugh and sometimes cry, then offer up an honest confession.

Here is an easy one: "God helps those who help themselves". Found in the book of 1 Hesitations (not a real book of the Bible)... This is found nowhere in scripture and seems to have as its purpose to call the individual to "stop complaining and get moving." While complaining is never a good choice to fix a problem, stating that God only moves on behalf of those who are "working hard and getting after it", is also false. Jesus states in Matthew that God "causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." It is the mystery of God that we are faced with. God has his purposes and our finite minds cannot always understand His ways and His purposes. Mystery is one of the deepest and most plain realities of our journey with God. After all, we are the creatures and He is the Creator. There is a gap between what we can comprehend and what God is up to. That is why faith is needed. I quote a scene from a deeply theological movie:

Inigo Montoya: "Who are you?"
Wesley (Dread Pirate Roberts): "no-one of consequence"
Inigo: "I must know!"
Wesley (Dread Pirate Roberts): "Get used to disappointment."