"new year's project" further seems forever

happy father's day! i spent my father's day at a mini golf course in valparaiso, indiana. i drove up to my sister's place in chicago then the three of us (including my 2 year old niece iris) drove to valpo to meet dad and chris. my father's day present to dad was a six stroke defeat! oops! after that we went to red robin and had some great food and then to target. at target i ran into newlyweds mike and jessica denny! small world, haha! all in all, a great great day filled with fun and laughter.

the best part of days like these are spending them with my two year old niece iris. i will miss her oh so much when i move to kansas city. here are a few highlights:






spending time with iris inevitably brings my mind to that happy day that will come in the future when i can look into the eyes of my own child. i have many goals in life, personal and professional, but in the end i believe that if i am so fortunate and if God so decides to richly bless me, it will all be worth it if i can come home at the end of the day to a wonderful loving family. oh how i long for that day to come!

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one of the things I enjoy most about visiting my sister is stopping at trader joe's on the way back home. for those who have not encountered trader joe's, you are definitely missing out. it is a grocery store that stocks all organic and wholesome foods (for the most part!). everything is fairly priced and is of the very utmost quality. well, i didn't get a chance to stop there this time (too late heading back), but i did find a new stop that i will have to make: half price books. I found out recently that there is a half price books shop just beyond a certain exit i take to get to my sister's. i was first introduced to half price books in kansas city and am SO GLAD there is one near here. on this stop, i picked up seven books for a total of $25 (yes you read that right!). my haul:

"the inner life" thomas a kempis
"Jesus - god and man" pannenburg
"the return of the prodigal son" nouwen
"let me tell you a story" tony campolo
"Lord, teach us: the Lord's prayer and Christian life" willimon & hauerwas
"confessions" st. augustine (yes, i didn't have a copy before)
"the secular journal of thomas merton"

you should be able to sense a common theme in this trip to half price books. i'm trying to gather more theology for my personal library. i'm so excited to get these books at such a steal. i especially loved getting pannenburg's work at six dollars, the cover price is $30! as always in my blog, i will report my thoughts and findings as i delve into the stack.

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well, left over from my previous hauli have some thoughts and reflections on the lauren winner book i am currently reading. the book is entitled Real Sex and the main thesis is the idea that the church has cast aside the virtue of chastity in its teachings. i especially want to rest upon chapter three of the book tonight, "communal sex." in this chapter, winner dissects the rather recent overarching cultural opinion on sex: "one person's sexual behavior is not anyone's concern." Winner outright proclaims this as a lie. she contends that this is a result of the relatively recent advent of birth control which privatised everyone's sex lives. instead, our sex lives should absolutely be of public concern. "Because sex forms us, sex is a community matter" (51). this way of living out your sex life publicly is just an additional way that the christian community should be at its core countercultural. the privatization of man is a modern artifact brought about by the advent of the printing press specifically (borrowing from shane hipps here). that privatization of man has moved from secular culture into the very understanding of christian culture now. we ask for personal commitments to Christ yet we never (or almost never) emphasize a communal faith that requires particiaption in the greater christian community (now borrowing from rodney clapp and stanley hauerwas). anyways, back to winner: she herself borrows from wendell berry in saying that households are the foundations of communities, thus the things that directly contribute (or take away from ) the health of the household (namely, marital sex) should absolutely be the concern of the community. to end the chapter, winner says:

"To say that sex is communal is to... encourage married Christians to speak to one another - not just about sexual sin, but about all the complicated emotional and physical thickets one can find oneself in when one is having sex. It is to urge Christians to speak frankly to one another about the realities of chastity, about the thrills and tediums of married sex, about the rich meanings inherent in being sexual persons who live in bodies. It is to ask the church to serve as narrator, reminding ourselves who we are, and why we do what we do" (59-60).

i especially resonate with the final sentence of that quote. i do realize that next to nobody reads this, but if you do happen to come upon this blog, i would LOVE to hear your input on this. winner is speaking about a type of community that i, frankly, have never encountered or seen on this earth. not saying it doesn't exist, but it must definitely be rare. should sex be communal?

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in lieu of posting another old poem, i want to do something different tonight. the poems will return in my next entry. i know you're all worried...

don't look ahead, just run to me. each step will find the next one recklessly. we'll find ourselves on the safest ledge... well pardon me, i couldn't help myself. fall into your life here. if only for a while, i'm here. could you be happy to fall like a stone if you'd land right here safe in my arms? it's fine, lock all your doors thorugh the night... keep it all right here safe in my arms. it's fine.

you felt alone before you ever really knew how alone you were. an empty house, a lonely room... the TV talks the fear right out of you. you feel like someone's standing by... but you'll never know... could you be happy to fall like a stone if you'd land right here safe in my arms? it's fine, lock all your doors through the night... keep it all right here safe in my arms. it's fine.

the sun burns a hole straight through your old flaws, if you look toward the sky even on your grayest night. could you be happy now with the wind in your hair, your eyes open wide and your feet going nowhere? could you be happy to fall like a stone if you'd land right here safe in my arms? it's fine, lock all your doors through the night... keep it all right here safe in my arms.

it's fine.

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"what am i supposed to say? my talent's an acquired taste..."

"thanks to you" by: copeland

well, it has been quite a while since i have had access to a computer. i've spent the last four days back home in huntington. on friday night i was fortunate to be able to participate in bethany's recital. i was co-emcee for the event, sang a duet with bethany, and then participated in two group songs. it was SO GOOD to sing again, to be challenged with learning and memorizing new material, and then to PERFORM. oh it was awesome. i must make room in my future adult life to perform in some capacity whether it be community theater or church productions or whatever. anyways, that was friday. then on saturday i spent the day in fort fun and found two awesome bargain book stores. my catch?

"desire of the everlasting hills" by thomas cahill
"death on a friday afternoon" by richard john neuhaus
"Jesus Christ for today's world" by moltmann
"dangerous wonder" by mike yaconelli
"the secret message of jesus" by brian mclaren
"the sacred way" by tony jones
"real sex: the naked truth about chastity" by lauren winner
and two youth ministry curriculum books from doug fields for a dollar apiece

all of that for around $30. wow! then on saturday night i watched the ufc ppv with my good friend dan. good times were had as we were able to catch up with each other. this morning was church and we had a very intriguing discussion on civil disobedience. the question posed for the class was, "at what point is civil disobedience expected from Christians?" and a couple examples were given: one of harboring slaves in the mid-1800's and the other harboring jews during nazi-occupied germany. my response came from Jesus' teachings to give to caesar what is caesar's and to god what is god's. in the two examples, the civil disobedience is concerned with human life, something that i believe we can all agree would be god's above of caesar's, thus the civil disobedience is expected. now matters such as taxes i believe should be of much less importance to christians. when suffering and cruelty exist in the world, how dare we look past that in favor of fighting a battle over taxes?? unfortunately, the discussion in class moved to the recent trend of "tea parties" all over the nation and several people advocated for those. their reasoning was that we give taxes to the government and trust them to do the right thing with it, so shouldn't we rebel when our tax money isn't being used how we want it?? someone then brought up how the constitution is being perverted and we must fight to protect it. my friends, again and again i wonder: what would happen if we got as upset about Godly matters (such as injustice) as we do about frivolous issues such as these?? I tell you what would happen: a revolution.

...but i digress.

i wanted to throw in this little tidbit on civil disobedience but couldn't due to time constraints, so i'll bring it up here: i read a book recently that described baptism as a form of civil disobedience. i immediately felt a resonance to that description. baptism is our initiation into a different way of living, in stark contrast with our culture. thus, it is a direct act of civil disobedience. i love that image, what do you think?

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the very first book i opened from my haul was the winner text "real sex." not completely sure why i jumped to that one first, but so far i am happy i did. i am four chapters in and am being sufficiently challenged by what she has to say about the virtue of chastity and the role of the church in advocating that virtue. look forward to some discussion of this book in future blog entries.

for tonight, though, i want to follow through on my previous entry and continue our discussion on what it means to be missional. so far we have discussed how missional means a different way of evangelizing and how it means we look at the human race in a much more optimistic light, that God is at work in redeeming the imago dei that exists within each of us. tonight i want to touch briefly upon the missio dei. missio dei, much like imago dei, is a latin phrase meaning the "mission of god," or "sending of god." the missional church is the body of Christ united together in the fulfillment of the missio dei. missio dei is the understanding that God has intiated his mission in the world: the redemption of the world. he sent his son for this purpose and sends the church for the same reason. missio dei is one of the very key foundational aspects of missional. it implies an active working of the church, in contrast to the passivity that can be seen in many branches. align this with my first entry in this series, about how the missional church goes to the people instead of expecting the people to come to them. this happens because of the missio dei. God sends. and it is God that has this mission, not the church. the church participates in the missio dei, it does not initiate it. our God is a sending god, and the church must be an active participant in that mission.

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another old poem (this one i am proud of!):

"I Reached" by: jeremy daniel bixler (10/20/2004)

I reached into my pocket
And found yesterday.
Dirty and disgusting it was,
Covered with thorns and bristles.
I quickly covered yesterday
And threw as hard as I could,
Watched it darken
And slowly disappear.

I reached into my pocket
And found today.
Beautiful, yet blemished it was,
Imperfections throughout.
I carefully covered today
And placed upon the altar,
Turned my back
And walked away.

I reached into my pocket
And found tomorrow.
Shining and shimmering it was,
A kind of beauty not known.
I lovingly covered tomorrow
And wrapped in fine lenin,
A gift for you
And for us.

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"I'm waiting to give you whatever the world may bring. I'd give you my life, cause I don't own anything. It seemed like the bottom was all that I had until now. I'd give you my life if you'd give me yours somehow."

"jane" by: ben folds five

oh what a wonderful evening i had tonight. it all started with 2 hours of ultimate frisbee with my young friends at the park. highlights there included getting tackled while jumping for the disc by a freshman, getting single-leg taken down by an 8th grader and losing red rover. (i hit the ground a lot tonight! and by kids half my size and half my age, hah!! i'm not ashamed!) after that we headed to steak n shake where i was thoroughly embarrassed by matt talking to our waitress about me (sensing a trend here?) although it was in a harmless fun way, giving updates from the rest of our group in denver right now, and my personal favorite: trading our favorite poop stories. after that, i took a couple kids home and we rolled down the windows, played the unforgettable chicago love ballad "you're the inspiration" and sang along at the top of our lungs while driving through the "ghetto" of kankakee. again, what a wonderful night!! it is nights like these that make everything involved with this occupation worth it. just good old fashioned fun.

i am having a very odd week. to follow up on my entry about "thawing out," that process increased tenfold in the past couple days. i heard from a couple old friends that fell away years ago. a strange happening indeed. i wonder why... i wonder what God is trying to tell me. updates to come.

on to part two of my discussion on the missional church now. if you recall yesterday i blogged a bit about how the missional church goes TO the people and does not expect them to come to us. recall the "lobster-trap" analogy of getting them in and then dropping the trap and making them accept Jesus. well, tonight i want to discuss briefly on the restoration of imago dei. the term imago dei is latin, meaning literally "the image of God." the imago dei describes the initial state of humanity prior to the fall in which man was created in God's image. sin entered the world and distorted that imago dei and the domino effect continued all the way up to today's world.... blah blah blah. if you want more on how the imago dei was perverted and evidence of that, i will be happy to go further on that. i am assuming, however, that my audience (or lack thereof) is well acquainted with the doctrine of fallen human nature. i want to focus here on something a little more positive, though. the missional church believes that the initial imago dei can indeed be restored to its prior glory. this belief looks at humanity in an optimistic "glass-half-full" light. viewing humanity in this way leads us down some very productive roads. first off, the missional church finds it easier to forgive. understanding that the imago dei can indeed be redeemed, the missional church chooses to see humanity as essentially good and having inherent value and worth. further, we recognize the ongoing restoration of the imago dei in our own lives as well. thus, we can more easily forgive the transgressions of others by choosing to look at the value of all humanity. second, belief in the restoration of imago dei brings more responsibility. i would like to borrow from the apostle paul on this note: "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Belief in the restoration of imago dei means constantly looking forward and taking responsibility for the state humankind is in. being missional means taking responsibility not only for the restoration of mankind in the kingdom of heaven but also seeking the restoration of that which God has entrusted to our care. society could possibly describe this in literal terms as "going green," but it means so much more than that. it means taking responsibility for our planet, our relationships, our habits and behaviors, etc etc and striving to see each of those individual systems in our lives be redeemed by God's holy hand. we choose to never embrace complacency, for complacency only results in failure.

choosing to embrace imago dei means a total shift in how you view others. for example, i saw the image of god today in:

matt's humor
sam's innocence
lindsay's smile
sara's love
scott's enthusiasm
ami's devotion
rob's laughter
dave's passion
patrick's new friends
andy's way of saying things
brittany's helpfulness
kelley's care for her friends
patty's love for her family
dan's self-knowledge
ben's concern for a friend

i truly believe in the inherent good of all God's people. this is missional thinking.

so today's topic was imago dei. i cannot guarantee when the next entry will come as i am visiting family in indiana for the upcoming weekend (and visiting family means no internet), but i can guarantee that the next time i write, i will touch on the missional church's understanding of another type of dei: missio dei.

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seeing as i did promise old embarassing poems, i must deliver:

8/1/05 (written while working in a general motors assembly plant for the summer, ironic given the current state of GM):

"beauty and the beast" or "blonde beauty" by: jeremy daniel bixler

from the moment i saw you, i was captivated.
in the midst of the darkness, you were illuminating.
your smile, exciting,
your face, electrifying.
you symbolized everything this place was not...
you, my Blonde Beauty.

in my mind's eye, i saw things to come
i caught a glimpse of a dream.
you and i were together.
you and i were happy.
all my doubts were washed away...
for i had you, my Blonde Beauty.

as i awoke from my stupor, i finally decided
the time was now..
i sucked in my breath,
gathered my thoughts,
prayed that God would look over me...
and approached you, my Blonde Beauty.

the bell sounded and break had arrived.
i cautiously drew near to the area
and saw what words could not describe...
my dream shattered and my heart collapsed,
for there, inhaling the filthy smoke
was you, my Blonde Beauty.

it's a shame to see such beauty wasted,
decisions made that change everything.
maybe my hopes were too high
or my heart too eager
but i will never forget the shock
of seeing my Blonde Beauty...

...devoured by the Beast.

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"there are no more tears. we've used them all so now we'll rely on our laughter and the faith that pain brings joy..."

"etcetera whatever" by: over the rhine

so as i was parousing my old xanga site yesterday, i came across several poems i had written. i will be re-publishing them here one at a time. some are good and some... well, some are a little painful. i'll start with the good ones though.

pens won tonight, as did the cubs. my fantasy team did decent. overall, a good day for sports. life is good right now.

thinking a lot lately about what "missional" means and how to communicate and share the missional vision. might blog a little bit each day of what i am understanding. first, missional means going TO the people, not expecting them to come to you. a lot of what we do in the church is what a friend of mine describes as "lobster-trap" evangelism. we conduct sporting leagues, organize events, and do all kinds of other "ministries" with the intent of getting people into the church. once they are in, the church then makes what may be a gap in logic by assuming that they will stay. to follow the analogy, they get the people into the lobster trap and then close it on them. definitely trying to think this through. on one hand, i don't want to throw all our evangelistic programs in this mold out. some of them are extremely successful and there are many people who can trace their conversion experience to this type of ministry. on the other hand, i don't think we are being true to our calling in the great commission by choosing to draw them in instead of going out. Jesus did not say "now get everyone in the world to come to you." no, he said "now go out into the world..." that is part of what missional means. it means encountering your community. it means serving your community. it means meeting your community exactly where they are and not where they should be.

okay, as promised: "one" by jeremy daniel bixler (written in the summer of 2005, a monumental time in my life)

i sat at home plate assessing the situation
one run down, one inning left
the men were weary
the battle was fierce


two gave up
three just left
four made an excuse
and five went home


all were gone but one
who had never left my side
and that voice rang through the dugout,
one asking “what now boss?”


i thought of what to say
to give a speech or to motivate
i finally found the words:
"just stay, one”


one sat with that unblinking stare
i had known all too well
and as i closed the door that night
i left one to see it through


one sat at home plate assessing the situation
one run down, one inning left
one was weary
the battle was fierce

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"you're worried there might not be anything inside. but that you're worried should tell you that's not right. don't try to see yourself the way that others do, it's no use..."

the thaw has begun...

i have many thoughts at this moment. i think i can sum them all up with this statement, though: i feel like i am finally thawing out from a deep, deep freeze. i was going through old xanga posts tonight and had mixed feelings. on one hand, i can see in several instances how i have grown up in so many ways since beginning college. i feel that God has instilled upon me an incredible discerning spirit and wisdom that i absolutely know was not present in my character before. i forgive easier, i serve with a much less reluctant heart as before, i see humanity in so many broken people.

however.

the flip side of that coin is that i have lost vision of my own humanity. and i'm talking about a lost vision that has gone back years now.

i can't feel.

or perhaps more clearly: i've forgotten how to feel.

i've tried so hard over these past months and years to focus on others (a step i HAD to take) and yet i feel that i have lost myself in the process. i've learned to disguise my true feelings so well that they themselves are foreign to even me. true, every so often i am confronted with my human condition and brokenness and i have no response other than weeping, but those moments are too few and too far between. now, i'm not saying i want to be an emotional wreck who lives on the highs and lows, all i'm saying is that i want balance.

...and who knows? maybe this is balance. maybe this is who i am supposed to be in this grown-up world. maybe this is how adults deal with their issues. if that is the case, though, i guess this season of my life is my final kick against growing up.

as i said in the beginning, though, i feel i am beginning to thaw... and it feels good. i need to set my focus on a list of goals i set years ago that have slipped from the forefront of my mind:

(reposting them here for history's sake:)

i find myself often dreaming of your smile... i already know how it makes me feel inside, i just can't wait to see what form it will take.

i'm in love with your infectious personality. you bring light and life into every room you enter... it makes me beam with pride.

i love that you love me even when i am not at my best. i love that i can tell you anything without fear of rebuke or disapproval. believe me, beautiful, i want to be my best for you, but thank you for accepting me even when i am not.

your laugh brightens my life. whenever i hear it, i am assured that life isn't nearly as bad as it can often seem.

i have never questioned your love. thank you for never giving me a reason to.

i see the passion in your eyes... i know that you love what you do and that you mean what you say. i want the best for you, my love, and i am happy when i know you are doing what you love.

i love that we are connected... that i often know what you're thinking before you even say it. i love that when i screw up, you take me back unconditionally... because you know me so well that you accept my apology immediately because you know how bad i feel. thank you for knowing me.

you are my best friend. there is no one else i would rather spend my time with than you.

i don't feel condemned around you... i can be myself. and for some reason, you like it.

i need someone who cares as much for students as i do, and your passsion is just that. knowing that you are counseling so many young women who need someone to look up to comforts my heart. they will model the best, because that is what you are.

music captures my heart, i love that you recognize how amazing music can be... that's one of many reasons why my heart was captured by you.

i love who i am when i am with you... you bring out the best in me. that is reason enough to stay with you forever.

you've never treated me any less than i deserve, i intend to return that.

you are mine and i am yours. thank you for that peace.

i love you for who you are. now i only need to find you.

so yes, that is my sappy letter to my future wife. if you are reading this, please know i am coming for you, and i pray every day we will be united sooner rather than later. (and if you aren't her, why are you reading this you perv??)

the thaw has begun. here's to tomorrow.

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i think i want to post in here more often and from looking at my old xanga posts, i want to start a practice there that was pretty cool. at the end of each of my blog entries i will write a lyric. feel free to guess the song the lyric is from in the comments section. then i will reveal the song at the top of the next post. sound good? okay here is the first one:

"we don't need a lot of money. we'll be sleeping on the beach, keeping the oceans within reach. (whatever private oceans we can conjure up for free...) i will stumble there with you and you'll be laughing close with me, trying not to make a scene... etectera, whatever, i guess all i really mean is we're gonna be alright. yeah, we're gonna be alright. you can close your eyes tonight, because we're gonna be alright.

i still see your eyes... close your eyes. close your eyes."