What do you want? John 1-3

Here's a post I wrote on From Garden to City. We're reading the Scriptures in one year. So diggin' doing this as an entire Church!

John is a consummate writer, skilled in nuance and allusion. There is an inviting simplicity in his writing, but it is a simplicity that conceals a depth of insight. He’s the master of the “aha” moments.

He does this right away. I would argue it is common for people to look for ways to free ourselves from the humdrum, escape as often as possible into ecstasy, devise ways to live separated from the clamor of traffic and family, associate so far as possible only with people of like mind, and engage in disciplines and ways of dress and speech that set us apart from “the others.” John’s Gospel says…

Forget it.

Here’s how he does it.

Author Eugene Peterson says John writes a story that picks up features of the Genesis 1 and 2 accounts of creation and presents Jesus as God’s Genesis Word continuing to speak creation into existence. Somewhere along the line, things went wrong and they are in desperate need of fixing. The fixing is all accomplished by speaking - God speaking the new creation into being in the person of Jesus. But Jesus in this story not only speaks the word of God; he IS the Word of God.

Keeping company with Jesus we become insiders to the creation. It is not something “out there” that we can adopt or ignore as we will. We cannot walk away from creation in order to attend to the spiritual life. We are embedded in the creation, we are integral to the creation.

In John’s depiction of Jesus’ encounter with His first disciples, notice a few things. Verse 38 “Jesus looked around and saw them following. “What do you wan?” he asked them. They replied, “Rabbi”, where are you staying?” “Come and see” he said.

I find it fascinating that after John writes this powerful introduction about Jesus being the Word and the Word being with God from the beginning of creation, the very first words of Jesus in this Gospel is “What do you want?” As a Pastor, I pose this question often to people I encounter. One would think this fundamental question would yield razor sharp responses. More often than not, however, I receive half-baked thoughts and ambiguous answers. Sometimes it’s happiness, other times it’s finding a spouse and raising a family. Sometimes it’s “I don’t know.”

Author Donald Miller said he was watching the movie Star Wars recently and wondered what made that movie so good. Of course there are lots of reasons. But, he also noticed that at any point in the movie, he could pause the DVD and identify what any main character wanted. No character had a vague ambition. Listen to this, “It made me wonder if the reasons our lives seem so muddled is because we keep walking into scenes in which we, along with the people around us, have no clear idea what we want.”

Here’s the beautiful part.

The second set of words said by Jesus? “Come and see.”

Tears Series - Phil and Katie

I filmed Phil and Katie, a couple of brave NCCers who were willing to share some of their story.

Have a look:

Katie and Phil from National Community Church on Vimeo.

Jewish Roots of Christian Faith part 1

(I shot this on my first trip to Israel back in '07)
In preparation for a trip to Israel and Palestine that I'm leading in a few short months, I've been devouring any book I can get my hands on that discusses the Jewish roots of the Christian faith. It's unfortunate that modern Christianity has too often laid claim to a vast heritage from the past about which it has remained largely ignorant.

Stuart Rosenberg reminds the Christian community that before one can be "fully Christian," one must also "know what it means to be a Jew." Scripture was written by 37 authors in the ancient near-east over a span of 1500 years. It was written in a particular time and particular place. But let's be honest, from a western point-of-view, much of scripture is chock-full of confusing Hebrew idioms, characters with eight consonances in their name, and customs that feel, well, 1500 years away.

We have to remember though that "personal study" of scripture is a recent discipline for the masses. In 1534, it was Luther who translated the Word into German. It was always meant to be studied in the context of community. The expansion of access (though becoming more readily available) has contributed to our oft misinformed understanding of the nature and character of God.

It is understandable why we have been more exposed to and influenced by the philosophical culture of the ancient Greeks, especially Platonic thought. A colossal cultural curtain has separated the West from the East. Yet, Jesus was Jewish. In fact all the writers of scripture with the rare exception were Jewish. But most know very little of our foundational Jewish heritage.

Thought I'd take some time in the coming months to share some fresh insights I've received from personal study and reflection.

live a better story

Most of us spend years actually boring, uneventful stories, and then expect our lives to feel meaningful. The truth is, if what we choose to do with our lives won't make a story meaningful, it won't make a life meaningful either.

Spent the day filming some testimonies of spiritual transformation that would blow you away! Stories that would make amazing movies. Here's a great definition of a story: a character who wants something and overcomes conflict to get it. There is a passage in scripture that I return to often. It's the first recorded words of Jesus in the book of John: "What do you want?" It's an encounter with two eventual disciples. The second recorded phrase? "Come and see."

I love how John sets the tone of his gospel by going directly to the fundamentals of living a good story: knowing what you want and embarking on a great journey to attain it. The beautiful part is that we were actually designed to live through something rather than to attain something, and the things we were meant to live through was designed to change us. It's more about the process than about the result.

In The Big Kahuna, Danny Devito's character, a middle-aged salesman caught in a moment of reflection on his seemingly meaningless life says, "All my life, I've felt like I was put here on earth for some kind of mission. But I've never been able to figure out what that is."

Central to the Christian worldview is that Christ teaches us the way to live life, and live it to the full. There is a Hebrew phrase, Takun Olam which means "the repair and restore of the world." There is this ancient belief that God is looking for partners. He's looking to repair this broken world. He's looking for co-creator partners to help put the world back together.

I can't think of a great mission in life, or a better story to be a part of.

snowbowl

Every year we have a football game on the National Mall. Last year was sunny and in the 60s. This year, well, we played tackle football in 18 inches of snow. As I walked towards the field we were going to play on, I wondered whether this was an awesome idea, or really stupid.

No guts, no glory, or something like that. About 15 minutes in I caught a pass and was running for the touchdown when I did a spin move right into the back of one of our opponents rock-solid cranium. I was kind of shocked it happened at first....then the blood started to pour out of my nose.

I've never broken a nose before. Can't say that I'm enjoying the mending process. Repositioned part of it today and I'll go in for the final adjustment tomorrow because there is too much swelling.

It's starting to snow again. They say another 10-20 inches. I spent about an hour in line at the grocery store this afternoon. Roads are horrible. Guess we'll be snowed in again tomorrow. Can't complain about spending the day with my wife:)

How's your weather?

snowmygosh

A lot of snowisms have been tossed around this weekend: snowmaggedon, snowpocolypse, snowmygosh. Whatever you call it, I'm having a blast with this! Love creating memories.

I'm looking forward to having Church tomorrow more than I ever have. We take for granted the gift of freely gathering to worship together the one true God. In the midst of this beauty, what better place to be than with a an awesome Church community. When it takes some serious effort to make it (I'm planning on trekking a mile through 18 inches of snow, digging out the Church van and rescuing our stranded worship team), the experience is that much more meaningful.

I'm sitting here sipping my whisk......coke, overlooking the DC city-scape (I can see the Washington Monument from our place) and having some worship of my own. Someone once told me that they feel sorry for atheists because when they look at a beautiful sunset or a city-street with the greatest accumulation of snow in DC history, they have nobody to thank.

I've got such a grateful heart right now!

Logic of Mission

A portion of my portfolio but more importantly my passion is continuing to discover what it means to remain on mission. I was reading out of Corinthians the other day.

“But what we can and must do in the present, if we are obedient to the gospel, if we are following Jesus, and if we are indwelt, energized, and directed by the Spirit, is to build for the kingdom."

Central to the Christian worldview is this: what you do in the Lord is not in vain. You are not oiling the wheels of a machine that’s about to roll over a cliff. You are not restoring a great painting that’s shortly going to be thrown in the fire. You are not planting roses in a garden that’s about to be dug up for a building site. You are – strange though it may seem, almost as hard to believe as the resurrection itself – accomplishing something that will become in due course part of God’s new world. Every act of love, gratitude, and kindness; every work of art or music inspired by the love of God and delight in the beauty of his creation; every act of care and nurture, of comfort and support, for one’s fellow human beings and for that matter one’s fellow nonhuman creatures; and of course every prayer, every deed that spreads the gospel, buds up the church, embraces and embodies holiness rather than corruption, and makes the name of Jesus honored in the world – all of this will find its way, through the resurrecting power of God, into the new creation that God will one day make.

That is the logic of the mission of God.

Let me know if there is anything more meaningful and inspiring than that mission.

LR

Our media protege teamed up with Amanada Giobbi, one of our MC's at NCC's Leadership Retreat a few weekends ago. Our Lead Pastor Mark Batterson was a good sport. Check it out:

NCC Leadership Retreat 2010 - PM Interview from Andy Pisciotti on Vimeo.

A18 Watoto House Short Film

Ginny and Amy went on a trip with NCC back in '07 to help build a house for 8 children and a mother through Watoto. Love Watoto's mission statement: "Rescue a child. Raise a Leader. Rebuild a nation." Because of war and disease, Uganda is in the midst of raising a fatherless generation. Watoto builds villages that places 8 orphans and a widow into a brand new home. The village contains a school and medical facility as well.

This past August, I led a team back to Uganda to build a classroom in the same village. I had a chance to see firsthand what is taking place. 26 letters in the english alphabet cannot define the perimeters of what was felt.

This is a short video of Ginny and Amy returning to the home they helped build back in '07.

Great quote: "I still don't know the extent of what God is going to do with it. But I got a glimpse. And that glimpse was huge!"

new digs

Ever since I can remember it's been a dream to live in a loft. We searched hghi and low in DC, but the city itself was never an industrial dwelling so warehouse spaces are hard to come by. Sadly, many schools have been converted to lofts, but they're audaciously expensive.

Gave up on the idea for DC.

So we went to sign our lease for another when I ran into an NCCer who'd lived in a loft called 52 0 street Art Studios. Made a quick call and was informed by the owner that a space had just opened up and would be gone within a few days. Hesitated for about 20 seconds.

We moved in about a month ago. The owner calls it a "blank canvas." Anything goes, so one of the first things we did was knock down a massive wall. The brick wall behind turned out amazing.

Super excited. Here's a panoramic shot.

counting me worthy

I listen often to the preaching of a pastor named Matt Chandler. Powerful communicator. On Thanksgiving Day, he had a seizure. That evening he found out he had a brain tumor and had to undergo emergency surgery. Here is his powerful thought before going into this life-threatening procedure.

Video from Matt

A1:8 Magazine

So proud to have helped pull our A1:8 Missions Magazine together. It's beautiful. 40 pages, full bleed, matte-finished magazine. Last year we did a Christmas Catalog for people to purchase products for organizations and missionaries overseas that we support. Those included goats, school supplies, housing for widows, bricks for a classroom, etc. Raised $57k this past year through the catalog.

With the huge help of Kate and her company Bittersweet Creative, we took it to another level with a magazine. So proud of it because it really captures of heart of NCC and it's passion for being on mission. We've got articles written from staff members and other NCCers who have seen invisible lines of connection through the simple act of sharing the love of Christ to others around them.

You can go to the marketplace to view the different items our congregation is investing in.

Who

I'll tell you a story. It's only the memory of a question and about where the question first hit me. I was in college. It was a friday evening in the middle of December, most of the students had travelled home. I was sitting there having a drink and a smoke and it dawned on me that there was an ultimate question: What is the meaning of life? For a moment, I actually considered the possibility that i was the first one ever to have asked it.

My friends had reached identical conclusions for themselves. The same question apparently teased everyone. It could take many forms: What am I doing here? What am I supposed to be doing here? Why am I able to ask this question? Why am I unable to answer it?

The Kabbalists say that the ultimate question is simply "who?" I've asked these questions over and over since then. I suppose that one of the main reasons I'm a Pastor is because Pastor's have permission to be with people during the most transformative moments of their lives and are even expected to help them make those moments coherent and meaningful. I'm not sure I have a responsibility to have the right answers, but have increasingly learned it's about asking the questions that allow another to hear the echoes of the larger questions right there in the midst of the ordinary.

five star

Over 300 verses in scripture talk about the poor.

Did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? (James 2:5)

Our InService team puts on a 5 star fine dining experience for our DC homeless community. The team took it to a whole new level this year and packed the place out. Such an honor to serve our fellow brothers and sisters, many of whom, to no fault of their own, have found themselves in difficult situations with no place to turn.

Serving the poor is not a suggestion in scripture. It's a mandate.

catalyst competition

Cool to toss some bags on The Mall with the Catalyst crew. NCC defeated Catalyst 8-4.