I’m looking to give away some copies of my book, Teaching Through the Art of Storytelling and in order to pass around the love, we are going to write a shared story one sentence at a time.
How it works:
I will start by writing the first sentence of the story in the comments (I may jump in and write another sentence every once in a while!)
At that point we ALL become storytellers by writing the NEXT sentence in the story in the comment box.
Let the creative juices flow freely and let’s see where this thing goes!
Rules:
You can write as many sentences as you want, BUT they can’t be back to back.
Your sentence MUST feed off the previous sentence.
Sentences can be stupid, ridiculous and random, but they can’t be offensive (use your own judgment on that).
Story will conclude at 8am (Pacific Time) on Friday morning.
How to Win:
I will randomly pick a sentence in the story and send a signed copy of Teaching Through the Art of Storytelling to the sentence author!
ALSO, I will pick an additional winner for every 50 comments/sentences that are submitted, so make sure to PASS THE WORD by sharing through social media!
Or you can guarantee to win/receive a signed copy of the book by ordering it here!! 🙂
Today is International Day of Peace. It is a time to slow down and reflect not only on global peace, but on the way each of our lives reflect (or fails to reflect!) the way of peace as was embodied in Jesus.
My prayer to start to start the day:
“Lord, may your people reflect, through word and deed, the peace you desire for all humanity.”
Banksy Painting on Separation Wall
There is no issue of peace more prominent than that of the relationship between Israel and Palestine. For me, this issue is not simply one of two people groups half way across the globe, but an issue that has tangible implications for personal friends and hero’s (Muslims, Jews and Christians) that I have walked alongside over my past two summers in Israel/Palestine (or West Bank). See my Just Peacemaking blog series for extensive on the ground reflections.
As Christians, we can’t afford to get this wrong. Our theology and social engagement has the potential to lead to mass injustice and oppression or lead to freedom and equality in the Way of Jesus.
We are all now aware of the upcoming UN vote in which Palestine will seek to be accepted as a state. I first heard of this vote from one of Fatah’s leading voices while sitting in a hotel conference room in Ramallah (headquarters of the Palestinian Liberation Organization). Later, I heard the Israeli perspective of this vote from a dignitary serving in Israeli parliament.
What may come as a surprise to the majority of Americans (and many others in the West), is that Palestine’s bid for statehood has not only received vast support from the majority of world, but from the Israeli population itself. As advocates for democracy (as Americans) and for peace (as Christians), we must do well at hearing all the voices represented in this issue.
Here are a few resources that are helpful in listening into the majority voice that is crossing political and religious lines:
The majority of Muslim Palestinians in the West Bank (which can’t be understood as synonymous with the Gaza strip…these represent two very different ideologies) have embraced a strategy of non-violent resistance. I saw and was part of this first hand and met the man highlighted in the film Budrus. Today, there is a free filming of the movie Budrus, which highlights the story of one of these movements.
This article in the Jerusalem post was shared by a Jewish Israeli Settler who I was able to meet a couple months ago. He makes the point that Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Western media does not represent the normative values of Israeli’s. The majority of Israeli’s support Palestine’s UN bid.
Finally, the two leading Evangelical Christian Ethicists, Dr. Glen Stassen and Dr. David Gushee, drafted this article which clearly articulates a Biblical and Evangelical way forward on this issue. It is titled “An Open Letter to America’s Christian Zionist.”
I hope these resources – which offer leading perspectives from Muslims, Jews and Christians – are helpful in discerning a way forward in this complex issue.
As the International Day of Peace comes to an end, we again pray:
“Lord, may your people reflect, through word and deed, the peace you desire for all humanity.”
As advocates of God’s Kingdom as was inaugurated in Jesus, this must not only be an annual prayer, but a daily prayer.
Above Pic: Banksy art on the Separation Wall in Ramallah
I spent this past week living on a small houseboat with bunch of freshman boys on Lake Shasta. While living in extremely intimate quarters with 70 teenagers (4 houseboats) can be quite intimidating (and odoriferous!), it was not what intimidated me most about this time.
Having committed to speak for this annual “Houseboats” trip close to 6 months ago, I wasn’t expecting thephone call I got from the youth pastor about a month before the trip was scheduled to start. When he told me something terrible had happened to one of his students, my mind began to race as I reflected on my years as a youth pastor. In short, two teenagers had been building sand tunnels during a youth group beach day and the tunnel collapsed with both of them in it. While one was quickly and safely uncovered, the other was buried so deep that it look around 15 minutes to free him.
This teenager is one of the core upper class boys in the group and many of the teenagers stood on the beach as they worked to free him. Without a heartbeat or lung activity, he was flown to Stanford where they were able resuscitate him, but he remains in a coma.
Listening to the youth pastor share this story nearly brought me to tears and I wondered, “What in the world am I going to have to say to teenagers who are wrestling through such a horrific tragedy?” From a pastoral perspective, I wondered if my coming to speak was even the best idea.
Two things stood out to me at this point:
The radical bravery of the youth pastor to navigate these rough waters, while shepherding the rest of the teenagers in his youth group. The level of intimate community that was developing among the teenagers was unbelievable as they gathered to pray for their friend every night for three weeks following the accident.
This was a story I could relate to on an intimate level. Sorrow and suffering while remaining faithful to the hopeful Story of God have shaped our lives (Jan and I) for the past two years since the loss of our first child.
Unlike any other speaking opportunity I’ve had – and as much as it terrified me to walk into this fragile context – I knew this was one I had to faithfully step into. The “speaking” would be secondary to simply coming alongside these teenagers in their pain, questions and potential hope.
The week was awesome. We wrestled through the Story of God and the reality that we are called to faithfully live in the way of the Cross (pain, suffering, self-sacrifice), while trusting the reality and hope of the Resurrection (past, present and future). I honestly shared about our loss and told stories of hope that have been birthed out areas of pain.
These teenagers were/are INCREDIBLE. I have rarely seen such a tight knit community who were so adamantly seeking to be faithful to Jesus in light of difficult circumstances. The boy’s younger brother was on the trip and led the way in maturity and transparency.
It was honor to share life with this community for 6 days. And as is often the case, I went in to do the teaching, but in the end, I was the one that was being taught through the lives of these teenagers and their heroic leaders.
What would these teenagers’ lives look like if they experienced this tragedy outside the context of rich community? Are our youth ministries creating and embodying atmospheres that are safe for teenagers to wrestle through the most difficult life realities?
(Pic: Our daughter Ruby with a Muslim family that recently fled Afghanistan as persecuted refugees)
Confession: I often fall victim to stereotype and blind prejudice against those outside of my cultural, religious or ethnic circle.
Our Daughter Ruby w/Afghan Family
I believe many of us have allowed the polarizing and hateful rhetoric of media/politics to inform us on who we believe to be friend or enemy. There are endless numbers of religious and political pundits who have destroyed any remnant of generative discourse in order to make a name or an extra buck. This is a tragedy that has severe consequences for masses of people outside of our relatively small population.
I’m not saying there isn’t evil in the world. I believe there is. There are daily acts of violence across the globe, but we must not assume that such violence is promoted by whole demographics.
What I am saying is that who we label as “evil” often aren’t evil at all. In fact, they are often those that embody the fruits of the Spirit in more tangible ways than anyone else.
A few examples of people groups who have been labeled by false stereotypes, which have led to oppressive prejudice:
“The Muslim Terrorist” – Just a few weeks ago I (as a professing Christian and stranger) sat in “their” West Bank homes and experienced hospitality that will stay with me forever.
“The Jewish-Israeli Extremist”– I shook “their” hands while standing in sacred Jewish sites as “they” articulated the necessity to build bridges of equality between Israel and Palestine.
“The Agenda Pushing Homosexual” – Some of my closest friends have been put in this category and the daily prejudice (especially from the Christian community) they absorb breaks my heart…and theirs.
“The Illegal Mexican Immigrant” – I play soccer with “them” every week. I had lunch in “their” home just yesterday. (Good article on this topic: The Gospel of Immigration.)
Obviously, my experiences are not comprehensive as there are isolated individuals that affirm the assigned labels, but not only were these labels untrue, the assumptions inherent in these labels were untrue. When the language of “they” turns to “my friend,” everything changes. And I would argue it changes in the direction Jesus would have it.
In each case, I had to unlearn previously believed stereotypes and labels. People’s identities are not to be defined by an assigned label, but by the identity given to each by God.
As followers of Jesus, there is no room for such distinctions. Our vocation is to love and serve ALL humanity. If our assumptions about someone don’t allow us to objectively hear someone’s story, then we are serving an agenda other than that of Jesus.
I don’t say this to be a jerk, I say this because we are missing out. Such prejudice is not only fatal to the humanity of those we judge, it is fatal to the humanity of each of us. Prejudice is insidious and it turns us into people we were not designed to be. We become less human. When we adopt a posture of defense and demonization in exchange for a posture of invitation and Christ-likeness, we fail to live out our vocation as disciples of Jesus.
As Christians, we live in the present reality and future hope of Resurrection, which gives us the eyes to see the restorative plan of God in all of humanity. We can’t lose our kingdom imagination at the hands of blind prejudice.
What are ways we can shake off this toxic addiction to prejudice that steals life from “them” and “us?”
Go: Intentionally find ways to interact with those whom we demonize. When “enemies” move from somewhere “over there” to fellow human citizens, we can begin to see more clearly.
Listen: Hear their stories. People aren’t near as irrational as we are told they are. When we hear their stories, we experience the human side of issues that have been reduced to political or religious talking points.
New Eyes: We have to unlearn many of the stereotypes we have accepted as truth and turn (repent) to truths of equality and hope found in Jesus. We have to train our eyes to see Jesus in everyone
I’m about to walk out door and cross the border into Tijuana, Mexico. Due to a variety reasons, it has become one of the most violent cities in the world….but that DOES NOT mean that all or even the majority of Mexicans are violent.
I’m not promoting a social ignorance. Instead, I’m proposing a return to the normative values and reality that were inaugurated in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.
“Jesus, forgive me. May I take on new kingdom eyes that are able to identify your Image in each of your children”
Reach out those you fear.
Touch the heart of complexity.
Imagine beyond what is seen.
Risk vulnerability one step at a time.
-Poem found in John Paul Lederach’s Moral Imagination-
What would our relationships look like if we saw people first as image bearers of God rather than bearers of a socially conferred label?
What our ways we need to repent of blind prejudice? From whom do we need to seek forgiveness? What are ways we can develop a kingdom imagination that sees Jesus in those we have chosen to write off as “evil?”
As a direct result of these historical events, the teaching of the religious Christians took a turn in a whole new direction. In response to the clinical baptism that had become so common starting with Constantine, preachers and theologians developed a new genre of sermon that contained threat and appeal. Much had to do with not delaying their salvation and was communicated through solemn monologue and increased theatrics. In reference to the awesome‖ and hair-raising writers of the day, it was said, “A powerful emotional and psychological impression [was put] upon the candidates in the hope of bringing about their conversion” (The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship, 219).
I believe many of us teachers and communicators are prime candidates to fall victim to this arrogance within our teaching. For those of us who‘ve taught for extended periods, it may be easy to assume we can just put it on cruise control. We believe we can fall back into the lap of teaching that was once considered effective and expect our beautiful deliveries filled with humor, irony, and drama to clearly communicate the message of Jesus. Or we may believe that since we‘ve been with these teenagers for such a long time, we know what they need—it‘s simply our role as communicators to feed them their needed spiritual meals.
Or how about those of us who just graduated from college or seminary and believe we‘re arguably the best communicators or theologians since Billy Graham? It all seemed so clear in school, and we got lots of A‘s. So now it‘s time for the easy work of harvesting souls, right? Everyone will be blown away by our superior knowledge and charisma and—BOOM! The masses may now come forward.
Gregory of Nazianzus, who was in Asia Minor during the era of Constantine, once offered himself as “the director of your soul.” We must take our roles as pastors, shepherds, teachers, and communicators seriously, but we must never take ourselves too seriously. It‘s not that we can‘t be confident; it‘s that we can‘t be arrogant. Only then can we be fully dependent on the Spirit. May our teaching never take the form of calling our teenagers to an immediate‖ conversion out of our arrogance based on a personal misinterpretation of who we are and how we view our roles.
Further, I believe this “speed it up” mentality in our teaching can be a direct result of our inability to trust in a God who‘s sovereign over every situation and every heart. Again, we begin to take ourselves too seriously. We avoid story because such a method of communication often prevents us from experiencing the satisfaction of spiritedly pounding home our profound points. But so what? Sometimes that intentional focus on a point may be necessary, but it‘s often more powerful and pointed when attained through conversation.
Don‘t get me wrong—this art of storytelling stuff can be hard on our modern, Western mindsets. Slow. Deliberate. Time consuming. Patience trying. It takes humility and willingness to evaluate our own motives and habits as teachers. I hope we‘ll always leave far more room for the Spirit‘s direction than for our own.
