All I want for Christmas

Growing up Christmas was by far my favorite holiday.  Every Christmas eve I would go to my Nanny’s house and we would eat dinner and open presents.  Afterwards my Granny and DaDo would come over to my house and stay the night.  Every year it got harder and harder to sleep…i just couldn’t wait to wake up, go downstairs and see what Santa brought me.  Every year it seemed I got more and more stuff…IT WAS AWESOME!  As I have gotten older I have started to realize I just didn’t need more stuff.  I love receiving gifts but it just seemed so selfish.  Every year Christmas was becoming less about Christ and more about me.  Christmas was a season to celebrate me more than to celebrate the birth of Christ.  So in the last few years I have been rethinking my Christmas wish list.  I want the gifts I receive and give to reflect the beauty of the Christmas story.  I want them to reflect the hope that came to the world through Christ.  I want them to reflect the love of God for all the world.  So over the last few years I have been encouraging others to look at alternative gift giving.  I am not some person who thinks toys and gadgets are bad but if all we focus on is ourselves and all the stuff we want then I think we are missing the beauty of the Christmas story.   Maybe this year replace one gift for yourself and ask others to contribute elsewhere.  You might ask where should they give…I am glad you asked!

Each week until Christmas I am going to highlight a few alternatives for you to consider.  Some of these I have given to others I have not but they are all worthy of our consideration this Christmas season.   So without further ado here is the first alternative to consider.

Toms Shoes

OUR STORY

In 2006 an American traveler, Blake Mycoskie , befriended children in Argentina and found they had no shoes to protect their feet. Wanting to help, he created TOMS Shoes, a company that would match every pair of shoes purchased with a pair of new shoes given to a child in need. One for One. Blake returned to Argentina with a group of family, friends and staff later that year with 10,000 pairs of shoes made possible by caring TOMS customers.

Since our beginning, TOMS has given over 150,000* pairs of shoes to children in need through the One for One model. Because of your support, TOMS plans to give over 300,000 pairs of shoes to children in need around the world in 2009.

Our ongoing community events and Shoe Drop Tours allow TOMS supporters and enthusiasts to be part of our One for One movement. Join us.

WHY SHOES?

Most children in developing countries grow up barefoot. Whether at play, doing chores or just getting around, these children are at risk.

Walking is often the primary mode of transportation in developing countries. Children can walk for miles to get food, water, shelter and medical help. Wearing shoes literally enables them to walk distances that aren’t possible barefoot.

Wearing shoes prevents feet from getting cuts and sores on unsafe roads and from contaminated soil. Not only are these injuries painful, they also are dangerous when wounds become infected. The leading cause of disease in developing countries is soil-transmitted parasites which penetrate the skin through open sores. Wearing shoes can prevent this and the risk of amputation.

Many times children can’t attend school barefoot because shoes are a required part of their uniform. If they don’t have shoes, they don’t go to school. If they don’t receive an education, they don’t have the opportunity to realize their potential.

There is one simple solution…SHOES.

Of the planet’s six billion people, four billion live in conditions inconceivable to many. Lets take a step towards a better tomorrow.

Last year I heard about Toms and asked for a pair for Christmas.  Many of you who know me know I hate wearing shoes.   I normally wear my worn out Adidas flops.  The only other pair of shoes I do wear are my Toms.  I ask you to check out their site and give a pair of Toms for Christmas.  Not only are they comfy but you will be embodying the message of Christmas.

http://www.tomsshoes.com

Sunday Mornings

For the last year each Sunday morning has dealt with a particular theme.  We have explored The tough saying of Jesus 1 & 2,  study books called exploring faith & practicing faith, and most recently we did a series on evil.  We have had weeks where conversation is flowing and people are engaged and other weeks where I am there by myself twiddling my thumbs.  So through much prayer I decided that instead of finding some lesson or some theme to explore we would should just pick up our Bibles.  So for now and I hope for the long-term future we will gather on Sunday mornings and read the Bible.

Now for some that might sound a bit boring but so is being uninterested in the lesson/theme which could last for weeks.  The idea is to come together and read the Bible as it is meant to be read.  Many times we pick up the Bible and read it to seek what it says on a particular subject or in our case on what theme we are discussing.  We rarely if ever allow the subject to arise from our reading.  My hope is to approach scripture as a story that is rich enough to enliven conversation without us having to bring to the Bible our agenda, lesson or theme.  My ultimate desire is to spark a passion in us as a community to read the Bible.  My hope is that through our weekly gatherings we will begin to discover the living Word and the Word will being to grab each of us in a way that we will want to read the Bible every day.  I also want to encourage study of scripture but I personally don’t think that can happen in a fruitful way until we have a passion to read the Bible.

One more thing about Sunday mornings…The 4th Sunday of every month we will meet at IHOP off of Harding & Nolensville at 9:30AM.   Pancakes and Jesus… yummy!

Peace,

Nate

Long time…

Ok, Ok, Ok…it has been way too long since the last post.  Here is what is going on in our community right now.

We watch Monday Night Football every Monday night (that there is a game) at the Spradling Mansion.

We bowl every Tuesday night (last night is Nov 10) at Tusculum Lanes

Crazy Love is Wed nights at 7pm

T.Y.A.C. Sunday is every Sunday morning at 9:30AM

I updated the calendar…check it out

More to come soon…

Peace,

Nate

Sunday Mornings

  Over the last several months we had been studying Faith Matters.  In that series we came across a chapter on evil that sparked a lot of conversation.  Now that we are done with Faith Matters I thought we should revisit our initial conversations on evil and dig a little deeper with the help of N.T. Wright’s book Evil & the Justice of God.

Starting Sunday Morning August 16 23 we will be discussing the ideas presented in Evil & the Justice of God.  There is a accompanying DVD with this book that will help guide our discussion into 4-parts.

August 23-Introduction:What is Evil?

August 30-Old Testament Perspectives on Evil.

September 6-New Testament Perspectives on Evil.

September 13-What Can We Do About Evil?

Join us on Sunday Mornings at 9:30AM

Hospital Hospitality House

On Wednesday nights we have been looking at and exploring the practices in the book The Sacred Way.  This Wednesday night we will be ending our look at The Sacred Way.  The last session the spiritual practice we are exploring is service.  Instead of us sitting around and talking about service we are going to visit Hospital Hospitality House in Nashville and help them out.  We will be leaving Tusculum at 6:30PM on Wednesday.  I hope to see you then.

Peace,

Nate

http://www.hospitalhospitalityhouse.org/

Walking a Labyrinth

A few months ago I called Rev. Battle Beasley rector at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church to ask if our community could meet there one night.  Over the last month our group has been reading and exploring the practices of the book The Sacred Way.  One of the chapters is the spiritual practice of walking a labyrinth.  St. Mark’s has an outdoor labyrinth and I thought instead of just talking about walking a labyrinth we should go walk a labyrinth.  Wednesday night 7 of us did just that.  Before we walked Battle took some time to explain the history & meaning of labyrinths.   The design of the labyrinth at St. Mark’s is called Chartres. 

Chartres Cathedral labyrinth

 

 

 

The name comes from the famous Chartres Cathedral labyrinth in France…can anyone sayroad trip? 

 

 

Moving on…Battle gave us paper and pencils to jote down some questions or thoughts we had before entering the labyrinth and after walking it we should return to those thoughts to see if there was some clarity.  I have walked a labyrinth before while I was in seminary but this for whatever reason had a different vibe to it.    This time I walked knowing that this was not a waste of time but rather a chance to deepen my relationship with God.  A chance to hear God and for me to listen.  As I began walking I noticed one phrase repeating in my mind, inward reflection outward focus.  Over and over again this repeated in my head.  As I reached the center I stood inside one of the petals looking outside the labyrinth.  I noticed the blue sky, the trees, the green grass not really focusing on anything just looking.  After a couple of days to ponder these two things I believe there is a connection.  I know that reflection leads to action but I always seem to get sidetracked.  I notice a lot of things and maybe that is the problem for me when it comes to action.  What action should I focus on?  There is a lot of things that have my attention but what truly has my focus?  I believe God is stirring me to action.  Not to multiple things but something singular/something I will focus on exclusively.  God only knows what that is…for now.  

Peace,

Nate     

Redemption Art

These pictures are from our meeting last night.  The ideas were inspired by the work of Caitlin Beidler (www.caitlinbeidler.com/)  We took her idea and applied it to our exploration of The Sacred Way.   

Peace,

Nate

What is spirituality and how do you practice it?

I am so glad you asked!  We spent Wednesday night exploring those two questions.  We began by watching a section of the Rob Bell video Everything is Spiritual.  If you get a chance watch the whole talk but for time constraints we watched a small clip.  In it Rob speaks of how human beings are the only thing in creation that is 100% physical and 100% spiritual and that the Jewish people had no concept of the modern idea of a spiritual life because to label one thing in life as spiritual is to label another thing in life not-spiritual.  For the Hebrew people just being human makes you spiritual.  Rob points out that the question is not if you are a spiritual person but if your eyes are open to it. 

Colossians 3:17  “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

“I’m not religious, but I’m a very spiritual person. This, of course, is a somewhat misleading statement, for religion is simply human beings’ attempts to sort out the ways in which we seek after God.” The Sacred Way Pg 26

There are several definitions of spirituality (all of these come from the book The Sacred Way)

“Christian spirituality concerns the quest for a fulfilled and authentic Christian existence, involving the bringing together of the fundamental ideas of Christianity and the whole experience of living on the basis of and within the scope of the Christian faith.” Alister Mcgrath

“The spiritual life is simply increasing vitality and sway of God’s Spirit in us.” Marjorie Thompson

“The practice of the presence of God.”  Brother Lawrence

“The goal of Christian spirituality is to be enlivened by God’s Spirit.” Tony Jones

The meaning behind the Hebrew (ruach), Greek (pneuma), & Latin (Spiritus) include “spirit/breath/wind”  Jesus says in John 3, ““The wind (pneuma) blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.”

 

The point is that God at the beginning breathed the Divine spirit in all of us.  It is not for us to manipulate or decide where it goes but the Divine spark in all of us is a gift.  All people have a longing for the Divine because God created us with his Spirit.  Those who in their longing give their life to Jesus receive the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is only possible to dwell in our hearts when we acknowledge Jesus as Lord but God is never far from those who have yet decided to acknowledge Jesus as Lord. 

 Why practice the presence of God?  As a group we looked up a number of scriptures to try to answer this question.

 

Deuteronomy 6:4-6

    1 Chronicles 22:18-19

Psalm 95:6

Matthew 6:5-15

Matthew 14:23

Mark 1:35

Luke 5:15-16

John 3:30

Acts 2:42-47

Romans 12:2

Hebrews 10:19-25

1 Peter 4:8-11

Take some time and explore each of these to see some reasons for why we desire to practice the presence of God.

 

“You can listen to innumerable sermons and read countless books, but the true transformation happens only when you practice the disciplines that lie at the heart of faith.  As the disciplines are practiced, your life becomes more attuned to God’s life, and you become more “at one” with the rhythms of creation.” The Sacred Way Pg 31 

 

There is just something unique and powerful when we allow God to speak directly to us.

 

“In the spiritual life, the word “discipline” means “the effort to create some space in which God can act.”  Discipline means to prevent everything in your life from being filled up.  Discipline means that somewhere you’re not occupied, and certainly not preoccupied.  In the spiritual life, discipline means to create that space in which something can happen that you hadn’t planned or counted on.”  Henri Nouwen

 Matthew 7:7-11

 

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; those who seek find; and to those who knock, the door will be opened.   “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?  If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

 

As we begin next week practicing these disciplines there are these three questions to ponder.

 What are you seeking? 

 What things do you hope to receive? 

 What doors do you hope are opened? 

 

As we seek, ask, & knock along our journey on this sacred way my prayer is we will find our Creator, we will receive the power of His presence, and the hope of doors opened by the love of the Father.

Peace,

Nate

Messy Spirituality

A few years ago the church I was the youth minister at asked me to be the speaker at our churches family camp.  The theme for that weekend was Messy Spirituality.  I wrote 4 sermons based off  the book Messy Spirituality by Mike Yaconelli.  I copied and pasted those sermons together at www.wordle.net  and this was the image I got back.  Just thought I would share…

Peace,

Nate

“The Quest for God”

Last night we started our look at The Sacred Way by Tony Jones.  The first chapter is titled “The Quest for God.”  Tony begins the chapter by telling a story about sitting in a coffee shop and a thunderstorm began.  He was looking around the parking lot and noticed a nice BMW parked far away from all the other cars to keep it in mint condition.  He then looked around and saw a shopping cart being pushed by the wind towards the BMW.  He sat and watched as it inched closer and closer to making its mark on that brand new BMW.  Tony says our God is a lot like that shopping cart.  “No matter how far away we park, and no matter how much we try to avoid bumping into the Divine Creator of the Universe, God finds us and leaves a mark.” 

This is the whole reason we embark on this quest for God.  God crafted us in His image so we all have an awareness of this mark even though we might try to ignore it.  When we wake up to this mark we look for ways to connect to our Creator.  As we begin this quest we may ask what God am I on a quest for?  There are soooooooo many religions which one leads me to God.  Dan Kimball’s book “They like Jesus but Not the Church,” has a great chapter titled “Do Christians arrogantly think all other religions are wrong?”  In it Dan explains that emerging generations are not becoming less spiritual but actually are embracing all spirituality.  In the book he has a conversation with a man named Duggan.  Duggan grew up in loving home outside of a religious blanket.  He said when he was teenager he began having questions about God.  He talked to his Dad and his Dad gave Duggan a King James Bible, a Koran, some Buddhist and Confucian writings and Duggan read and formed his faith from all these traditions.  So when Duggan talks to Christians about religion he can’t understand why they are so hostile towards him.  Like I mentioned before he didn’t grow up with Jesus being the only way, the only truth, the only path to God.  Duggan mentions that it is not what Christians believe that bothers him but rather the way they go about telling others and never listening to others who don’t believe what they do.  He said most of his encounters with Christians come from them quoting scripture to him but never being able to explain why they believe what they do.  Dan thankfully didn’t treat Duggan like another notch on his salvation belt and they formed a friendship.  Eventually after listening to Duggan stories Dan got to share with him.

Tony asks this question in his book, Why the Christian quest?  Madonna once said “All paths lead to God.”  I will tell you when I am exploring theology I don’t look to Madonna for answers but she has a point.  There are similarties in every religion such as the Golden Rule.  Above you can see a poster that you can purchase here http://www.scarboromissions.ca/Golden_rule/poster_order.php  On the poster you will find many religions who all have a golden rule in their sacred teachings.  Dan acknowledges this in his book and in his conversation with Duggan.  Dan goes on to explain though there are similarities in many religions that when you really dive deep into them you will start to see that they don’t all lead to the same God. 

In fact they lead to totally different Gods.  Hinduism leads to many gods, Islam leads to One god but Jesus is only a prophet, Christianity leads to One triune God and the only way to that God is through Jesus.  Similarities, check but they don’t lead to the same place.  The reason why we embark on this quest to find God through Christianity is Jesus.  As Tony puts it, “For only in Christianity is there the belief that the one, true God came to earth as a human being, and that, to this day, we can know him in as personal a way as the disciples who shared lunch with him 2,000 years ago.  That is, Christians engage in these spiritual practices not out of duty or obligation but because there is a promise attached:  God will personally meet us in the midst of these disciplines.” 

Our quest for an intimate relationship with God begins with Jesus and I hope you will join us to find him.

Peace,

Nate