The Lot of Plot

Last night, my first born asked me to help him study for his 6th grade reading test. I was perusing his study notes and found that he was covering Plots and Themes within stories. Now I am a big fan of Donald Miller's Million Miles in a Thousand Years (I can't recommend a book more) in which he examines what makes a good story, and how our life story can impact the robustness of our own lives. Therefore, my son was in for some serious study help. If I can remember per my son's study notes, a good story will have the following:

1. The Plot-the overall facts and events within a story
2. An Exposition-the setting of time, characters and place within a story
3. A Conflict-well...a conflict
4. Rising Conflict-escalating events toward a climax
5. A Climax-the culmination of conflict within a story
6. Falling Conflict-a series of events which bring the climax toward conclusion
7. Conclusion-the concluding statement or rationale

Now I know I butchered some of the above but, after all, I am a Dad and perhaps not smarter than a sixth grader.

The we explored Theme-the point the author is trying to make. Both implied theme and obvious theme.

I walked through his study example, then made up my own story—something about two twins who always fought until a fire broke out, then mentioned how the Who's Tommy album (which he and I have listened intently to on long road trips) had all of the above, then read the story of the Prodigal Son, and then revisited the story of the Gospel—from its exposition of the God/Babe in Bethlehem through the rising conflict of the Pharisaic denouncement of Christ's authority, through the climax of crucifiction and resurrection to the conclusion of the sufficiency of sacrifice and salvation with God. All the while with the underlying theme of God providing the vehicle for his children to reunite with Him.

Now the poor kid probably got more than he'd bargained for when he asked me to help him study, but it probably stuck—we'll see.

Not to get too Miller-like, but if we do look for this in our lives—this storyline—the plot—the themes, it makes our mere lives all the more robust. My wife and I were considering this as we were talking on our Anniversary (13 great years) a couple of days ago. We looked back at the hard times, the times when we battle through, or made right decisions, or overcame obstacles. And realize that THIS is where the robustness and energy of life shows up. The plots and themes in our lives—particularly the reoccurring themes—need to be recognized, dealt with, celebrated and remembered.

And they all lived happily ever after....well...sort of....

Just Love?

This morning in a discussion group at church, we examined Love God and Love Your Neighbor as being the way to do Christianity. These are both good and incredibly important things. But when Jesus was talking with the Pharisees about what the greatest Commandment was—after He said that that there were no Commandments greater than these—the Pharisee agreed and recognized this love being more important than church traditions, etc.. Interesting was that Jesus said that his agreement had the Pharisee "not far" from the kingdom of God.*

Not far. Close, but no cigar. I am a big fan of the God/Neighbor love. Yet what is missing from the "cigar" is Jesus. He is the critical piece to the "cigar". The completing piece. The divisive piece. The hard piece. Sometimes I forget this. We cannot not keep him forefront. We cannot truly and fully love without our understanding of our own failures and sin—and the recognition of the selfless and atoning love of Jesus.

I am gonna try to continue to love the Lord with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. And love my neighbor as myself. And I want to do it through the lens and relationship of Jesus. No easy task. But the goal.

*See Mark 12:28-34

Thanks Right Now

A friend and fellow thinker posted the following to his Facebook status update:

There are days when I find it difficult to understand intent. They are usually not the days when life is going great. We often look for understanding in the midst of trial; but infrequently in triumph. We rarely ask WHY, with the "All I Have". But have no problems asking WHY, with the "All I Need". In everything give THANKS....Declare Something Today!!!!!

When times are tough, or intent of occurrences is unclear, we reach to God. However, He can move out of our own focus when things are rolling right along. It takes a discipline of consistent desire, communication and prayer to recognize God in our days of want (and have), in addition to need.

Truly—in everything—all things—all times—we are called to give thanks. We need to keep our antennae up and our heads clear to do this. In order to recognize all things God has created for each of us—unique to ourselves and our individual lives—to be thankful for.

"Give thanks to the LORD Almighty, for the LORD is good; his love endures forever." For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were before,' says the LORD. - Jeremiah 33:11

The Christian Brand

A week or so ago, I was writing about marketing and the church. It had me consider, what is the "brand" of Christianity, or the church. There are all too many stories of hypocrisy, judgementalism, and a relative holier than thou perspective, which have helped shape a broader brand. Some of which is quite true. Some of which is an unfortunate misperspective.

Clearly this "brand" could use some attention. Not in a macro level to change peoples perception at a broad level—as if to say, Look, the church is cool, Look, we are an inclusive organization, Look we do really care. No, the attention must come at a micro level. A self-examination of each individual's relationship with Jesus— what He actually means, has done, and has set a life example for. And our subsequent response.

This requires work (in an effort and focused-persistence sense) and attention to detail. Yet almost conversely, freedom, spontaneity, and reckless abandon. We must assume a "choose today who you will serve" and a "love your neighbor" dynamic. The church and church goers (clearly myself included) must visit the mirror. Often.

Rights or Wrong

So this Gainesville, Florida pastor is organizing an "International Burn a Koran Day".

Is this:

• A temple-table-turning incident?
• A publicity stunt?
• An act based on heartfelt beliefs?
• A skewed interpretation of defending your religion? Your God?
• The right thing to do?
• Asking for trouble?

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I heard Robin Roberts state on Good Morning America that "...just because you have the right to do something doesn't mean you should.". Which I thought was a pretty agreeable statement. All to often, folks take there individual rights and presume them on others (think NRA, GLAD, and other acronymed or faith-based organizations). And we in turn put such a face on the folks involved—such a distaste. And all too often we lose sight of the individual—the human being—the God created.

We need to be tolorant of the dignity and value of every human being. We shouldn't lump their beliefs into their humanity (a nod to my pastor here). Certainly the degrees of tolorance of beliefs is open to interpretation, but when the grace and love for the individual is lost in the mix—shame on us.

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Is this Gainesville pastor taking some Jesus defending into his own hands? Could be. Does Jesus need this sort of defending? I think not.

When asked in Mark 12, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" answered Jesus, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these.". Do we burn books and incite? Or love and pray for our enemies. To everything, there is a season. Is this one of them?

Graphic Teesus

I am in marketing. I participate in the sale every day. I understand targeting messages toward a customer. I've seen marketing done in honest and dishonest ways. And many times I have seen over thought, over consideration, and over messaging which doesn't even allow a product to speak on its own. It is lost in the delivery.

Nike has done an outstanding job of marketing its brand moreso than its product. I wonder who truly researches and understands the benefits of a Nike shoe vs. another manufacturers. I'd venture to say it has mostly to do with the swoosh on the side and the credence it holds*. You could say this is exemplary. And perhaps it is within the industry and the marketplace.

I am curious if we are doing the same thing with "church". There seems to be an overemphasis on style and performance in many churches or faith experiences these days.

Now this is nothing new. The pharisees had their performance of overobedience to the law, and the pomposity associated with it. We've been exposed to our fair share of over-the-top faith healing southern baptist preachers, not to mention Arsenio Hall's hysterical black Pentecostal portrayal from Coming to America. And I am sure there were many others along the way. I am curious that if today's representation of a pastor et al. would be some skinny jeans, cool hair, and a graphic tee.

Is there too much of a blending into current cultural experiences from our churches? Do we feel a need to provide entertainment from our churches**? Does God need us to do this? Or does this get between us and God? I wonder what God would think of the time and energy spent on strategic thinking and messaging discussion on how to reach "today's" audience in a relevant way. Does God need help reaching? Is the ancient-of-days-way not relevant anymore?

Now to be transparent and clear. I have a pair of designer jeans (they were a gift). I have a couple of graphic tees. I go to a church which has some tremendous worship time, gifted singers and musicians, and a dynamic spirit-filled preacher. I'm not saying this stuff is wrong, but we just need to ensure it holds its proper position. Subservient to God.

A buddy was sharing something that is going on in Idaho called Cowboy Church. I guess this is just some folks in some fields with some pickups—reading their Bibles, talking about God, praying and singing a bit. Sort of sounds like an upper room from a long time ago.

Maybe I am old fashioned...




*Clearly Nike makes a good product or they wouldn't have been able to leverage their brand and product line as successfully as they have.
**Certainly it makes sense to reach an audience where and how they need to be reached, but I believe sometimes this dilutes the reality of God and sort of makes him more like us instead of the other way around.