reyes-chow :: FAITH

What excites you about your worship experience?

[Image from mbcc worship: sculpey, journals, pipe-cleaners and coffee]

While I do enjoy worshiping with various congregations throughout my travels, I do miss worshiping with the community that I serve, Mission Bay Communion Church. There is so much I miss about worshiping with this group of folks and after a few weeks away, I have a tad bit of withdrawal from our particular congregational culture.   I make no apologies about loving to worship with the congregation I serve as I know not everyone can say this is the case for their church.  I am grateful beyond words.

During the past few months at MBCC we have been integrating new spiritual disciplines into our worship services that have been particularly life-giving.  For those of you who have never been to MBCC, it is a pretty adaptable group of folks when it comes to pretty much everything including worship.  While abundantly reformed in structure and content, over the years elements of worship have included interviews, lego stations, clay, sculpey, live mural painting, cooking, community prayer creation, live blogging, journaling and yes, twittering.  The past few months we have done a few other interesting things that have felt pretty good:

• Weekly Communion - I just adore weekly communion.  I think there is something powerful about coming to the table each week.  We may do it differently each time, but the idea that we return to the bread and cup each week has been meaningful.  I think communion is such an amazing opportunity to remind the community what our faith is about and to invite visitors to enter into the journey of faith.
• Reflection Stations - As we had Communion each week, we have also added some stations to allow folks to keep moving during the reflection time after the sermon/conversation.  This usually included Communion, a prayer/candle station, offering station and stations of cross art throughout the sanctuary.  Folks were also invited to journal, sing along with the band, twitter or simply pray.  Over the summer we won't do Communion, but we will add some others stations, maybe an anointing or art station.  We shall see.
• Actual silence - The most interesting thing that we did during Lent and have continued is to take time for silence.  With our daily lives as crazy as it is, what better way to acknowledge that fact than with intentional silence.  And no, not the kind of silence that has background music, but actual uncomfortable sitting with only your breath and God to speak to you.  During Lent we got up to about 15 minutes and since then we do about  2-3 minutes after each scripture reading.   I would like us to do more, but baby steps.  We as worship leaders are so concerned and uncomfortable with "dead time" during worship that inviting the silence is a good way for folks to become more comfortable with the movement of the Spirit.  And I often say by way of introduction, "We [meaning I] may not like the discomfort that silence creates, but we need it."

Feel free to check out our summer order of worship if you want to know more, but what I want to know is, what excites you about your worshiping experience?  What brings you joy, healing, laughter and life within the context of your worship experiences? The breadth of the ways people connect to and worship God amazes me.  So . . . if you want to complain, feel free, but only if you follow it up with, "But I also really connect to God when we . . ."  Deal?

So what about your worship experience gives you life and brings you joy?

Thoughts on a Texas Football Game

 [image: fotomoe]

JJ Baskin, whom I only know virtually, challenged some folks to work this ESPN story into a sermon.  I didn't look at the story until this AM but after reading it felt moved to reflect a little bit on the impact of such an act of compassion, hope and challenge.  As I read this story about a school's coach thinking more about the emotional and spiritual well-being of the other team, I was moved.  I can't imagine what this would have been like in such a football state such as Texas, but I imagine the gesture was that much more powerful. Basically, this was a game between Grapevine Faith and Gainesville State School: Faith, a seemingly well-off school and, Gainesville, a school from a local youth correctional facility. [READ FULL STORY]

This all started when Faith's head coach, Kris Hogan, wanted to do something kind for the Gainesville team. Faith had never played Gainesville, but he already knew the score. After all, Faith was 7-2 going into the game, Gainesville 0-8 with 2 TDs all year. Faith has 70 kids, 11 coaches, the latest equipment and involved parents. Gainesville has a lot of kids with convictions for drugs, assault and robbery—many of whose families had disowned them—wearing seven-year-old shoulder pads and ancient helmets.

So Hogan had this idea. What if half of our fans—for one night only—cheered for the other team? He sent out an email asking the Faithful to do just that. "Here's the message I want you to send:" Hogan wrote. "You are just as valuable as any other person on planet Earth."

I can't imagine the seeds that were planted in so many hearts that day and beyond.  Sure, some will go back to their day-to-day realities and continue on as if it ever happened, but I can't help but to believe that there will be moments, small for some and huge for others, where one human will see, treat and engage with another with a new set of eyes.  Where there was fear and unknowing, surely now there is hope and knowledge. 

After the game, both teams gathered in the middle of the field to pray and that's when Isaiah surprised everybody by asking to lead. "We had no idea what the kid was going to say," remembers Coach Hogan. But Isaiah said this: "Lord, I don't know how this happened, so I don't know how to say thank You, but I never would've known there was so many people in the world that cared about us."

In a world that so often discounts small gestures from unknown places, this is just one example of how we all need and are able to live this grace that we have been given.  With gratitude we are moved and compelled to participate in this wondrous and often upside-down journey that God as called us to and in amazing moments we are allowed to be part of these glimpses of God in the world.

Thanks be to God.

A different kind of generosity this year

[image: norma desmond]

As many of you know this was the first Christmas since the tragic death of my brother-in-law, Brian.  The family continues to covet your prayer and amazing spirit of support from all corners of our diverse communities.

Needless to say this Christmas was different, but as the family begins to live through the transitions and realities of a new reality without Brian, this uncharted waters was something to move through.  We continue to grieve as we always will and each person will feel the effects and handle them differently, but how we move through these times I believe give glimpses of how we may be in the long run.

In the midst of all of this, there is a face of generosity that has emerged for me in new ways: a grateful, comforting and transforming generosity of Spirit.

We used to always tease Brian for the seemingly disproportionate "value" of the gifts he would give.  He would give a printer, we would give a picture drawn our kids.  He would give some amazing trip to Asia and we would give some rock we thought looked like Elvis*.  In the midst of years of teasing, there was never any resentment, because at the heart of Brian's gift giving was a DEEP generosity that came with no strings, no judgment, just a very real response to the blessings in his life that he wanted to share with the family, his community and yes, often times the stranger.  As over the top as they might have been at times, his generosity was fitting for his personality and his deep gratitude for God in his life.

This year a different kind of generosity was needed and I think will always be needed, not just in our family, but for a world that is hurting in so many ways.  As I walk through the holidays with new lenses on the day, I was moved by the emotional and spiritual generosity that allowed for folks to be real, a generosity grounded in overall thankfulness, a generosity that allowed us to rest in the unspoken nature of family, a generosity that I hope inspires hope, healing and new life.

Our world needs us to engage in a life of this kind of grateful generosity if we are going to experience and inspire some moments of peace in such a complex and hurting world.  As people of Christ, we must live truly as if we understand that our eternal lives have been gifted to us for a reason.  Like Brian's gifts, this generosity is not to be lived in order to elicit obligatory gestures of gratitude, but quite the opposite, we must respond to the blessings of God in our lives so that each of us and the world may be internally transformed and healed in ways that lead towards external expressions of grace.

The world is full of pain, brokenness and suffering.  And while we need to be in those places as long as we need to be there, ultimately our God is a God of hope, new life and healing.  Those moments of grace will come differently for each person, but I do rest in the assurance that some day, that day will come.  And when it does, this grateful generosity becomes real again and again and again and the world is transformed.

Thanks be to God.

*He never gave anyone a trip to Asia, but I cannot with certainty say that we never gifted a rock that we felt looked like Elvis or some other celebrity ;-)

Life is fragile

[image: joka2000]

These days I think about the fragility of life a great deal.  With Brian's death, the recent attacks in Mumbai and my own life-threatening experience of 5 years ago there are plenty of obvious places to remember the precious nature of human life.  This says nothing of the countless millions of people who's lives go largely unnoticed as they face death every day through no fault of their own, but have been caught in political, cultural and economic systems which make longevity of life the exception and not the norm. 

Now this is not anything that we all have not struggled with when it comes to death in our world.  Some of us turn away in avoidance and disbelief while some of us dive in and go directly to places of pain.  I think most of us just try to cope: cope with the overwhelming nature of people who struggle for life every day, cope with the seeming inability for us to affect change and cope with the very things we must give up in order to bring some kind of healing to one with whom the only thing we share is our humanity. 

These are natural reactions and I think honest ones.  But then what? What do we do?  How do we affect change and bring/save/honor life?  While there are plenty of tactical and strategic things we can do, one of the first things we must do is simple acknowledge the very precious nature of life.

I don't think we do that enough. 

Human beings are a hearty lot, most of us usually power through sickness and struggle and so at some level I think we often blame the afflicted for causing their afflictions . . . even their own deaths.  This is a dangerous place to stand and a place that flies in the face of God's amazing spirit of life and breath that is gifted to us every day.  Sure, there will be times that we do need to power through struggle because most things will NOT kills us, but those times should not drive us, the fragility and gift of God's life given is what drives us.

Life is fragile, yet God's strength to care for that life is not.

Thank God.

In the future, a better blogger I will be

[image: Orange Beard]

Sorry about the Yoda speak. 
I heart Yoda. 
I think it is his slight stature and powerful spirit.

In any case, I have not been a very good blogger as of late.  Sure, things have been going on in my life, but I have missed the practice and discipline.  So as of this weekend, I am recommitting to my blogging discipline not because I have a great deal to say these days, but because it is good for my soul.  I am fed by the practice, inspired by the interaction and moved by the community.

So back I am.

I was thinking about this weekend and was wondering what kind of blogger do I want to be when I grow up.  It is funny, some of the blogs that I LOVE to read are very different than mine.  I don't have the writing chops to be like Carol, Jan or Steve, but I love reading their blogs.  There are others who post multiple times a day or just a few times a month that also draw me.  And still others that are focus on particular areas so I always know where to go when I want info on "blank."

I am just not that focused or disciplined.  Not my gift.  That's cool.  I will now stop coveting the blogging talents of others.   So . . . going against conventional blogging wisdom, I am recommitting to blogging about all of the things that make up my chaotic life.  I guess if you read this, it is more because you and I are developing a relationship rather than any specific subject or topic, so I am just going to claim it. 

So from here on out, I am unapologetically going to blog - or continue to blog - on a mishmash of things: technology, politics, culture, faith and the occasional post of personal privilege about my motorcycle riding, awesome taste in movies and/or the 2009 World Series Champion Oakland Athletics ;-)

So say we all.

PS: For those that have stumbled upon this blog post-moderator developments, sorry if this will not be the presbygeekateriaville that some might hope for, but I think you'll live.  And if not, you have larger issues than your blog subscriptions ;-)

Trying to maintain some kind of balance

I met with my spiritual director today and she asked me a couple of really good questions, "What is God's word for Bruce today?" and "You sound a little off center, what's going on?"

First, let me say that I know life is crazy for most everyone.  Sometimes it is good crazy and other times not so much.  These past few weeks I have been able to stay just this side of the good kind, but I can just tell it wouldn't take much more to get me to the other side.  Sometimes this "in-between" is the worst place to be because, lets face it, it is not as easy to figure out.  That whole self-reflection thing has to happen and that is never fun ;-)

As many of you know, this whole moderator thing has been taking a toll on me and the family.  Not that we do not think it is totally worth it, but it has been like taking on another job without really having the space to do so.  Folks have been great in all aspects of our life to build a "net" of support, but still, it has been a challenge.  It has been an exhilarating challenge, but a challenge nonetheless.

What I have discovered is that I must be more disciplined than ever in claiming my Sabbath, my center and my grounding.  When I am not disciplined, I feel off-kilter and am not able to maintain any kind of focus on the big picture.  And while that may be good for short periods of time, with a church, family and self needing to maintain some level of health, my meanderings can't last too long lest I give up my responsibilities within these contexts.

The word for me from God has always been "Balance."  And I am reminded of this by my family.  Over and over again, I am drawn back to a place of balance by my understanding of God in the midst of my family.  Family is my center and my grounding.  Through the lens of my family I best understand my relationship with God.  Moreover I am driven to be a positive presence in the world because I am so grateful for the gift of my family.  As I watch my kids grow up, I am amazed at the immensity of God's willingness to trust Robin and I with these three gifts and am humbled by the responsibility to raise them. 

I stumbled upon this picture from a few Ash Wednesdays ago of Eldest place the ashes upon my forehead, "From dust you came and to dust you shall return."  As I reflect on the past few months and the months ahead that may get even crazier I not only rest in that humbling understanding of God's power and presence, but I am given energy and strength by the blessings that send me out.

Just take your day off already

TODAY - my theoretical turned hypothetical day-off -  I am not:

• plugging in
• engaging in moderator stuff
• thinking about MBCC
• working at my kids' school

Today is for ME ME ME ME ME ME!

I was in a meeting this week and the devotional question for us was, "What relationships in your life have you been neglecting because of your busyness?" 

Get in line.

I am not complaining.  I have made my choices and I like the pace I have been at the last few months.  I have been able to stay just this side of crazy and it has been incredibly energizing and joy-filled.  But . . . the next few months will only intensify as the Moderator journey heats up, MBCC finalizes its facility situation and, oh yeah, the family needs tending ;-)  In the midst of it all, I know that the relationship I have neglected the most has been my relationship with God.  I used to slip in a movie, tackle a home project, and generally make good use of the flexible pastor schedule.  Lately there has not been the easily identified Sabbath moments, so I guess I have to rip some Sabbath time from the claws of the accomplishment monster and rest.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, You have heard this before when I tried to unplug for 24 hours and then tried to justify the way my time is scheduled, but this time it's for real, at least for this week, God is-a calling and I am-a answering.

So after a movie, some yard work, a little reading and a big ol' nap - see you on Saturday!

Oh wait, how do I find movie listings again?

What the bleep is going on at MBCC?!?!?!?

First coffee in the "sanctuary" and now this?!?!?!

And this?!?!?!?

As part of our Series "Re|Creation: Meeting God in the Here and Now" we added a few elements to our "normal" worship experience.  In order to expand the ways that we might experience God, we invited folks to participate in any or all of the following activities during the course of the service.  Basically, as the service progressed, as folks felt called they could sit at their table/pew/couch and create or join in one of the communal projects.

• Community mural creation
• Community prayer creation
• Clay sculpting
• Pipe Cleaner Chenille Creation
• Lego creation
• Journaling
• Live Blogging - [Tiffany's Post] [Ryan's Post]

It was a tad bit chaotic and it was certainly was not neat.  We have certainly learned a great deal about ourselves and have discovered some amazing gifts of imagination and artistry.  So far I think the experience has re-affirmed our willingness and ability to be creative and open, while remaining focused on creating a sacred space.

I am proud of us.

[more pictures]

That knittin' pastor

Everyone once in a while I get a message because of an old Yelp review on Imagikit.  It starts off with these five lines:

Yes, I RIDE A MOTORCYCLE
Yes, I HAVE BEEN ARRESTED
Yes, I AM A PASTOR
Yes, I am an ASIAN MALE
and YES I KNIT!

And while I have been keeping up with my Asian maleness, motorcycle riding and pastoring, I have not been so good with the getting arrested and knitting.   Forced to choose one of those in which I will re-engage, I think I'll go with the knitting. So this week, I pulled out the knitting bag and started another trusty scarf for one of the girls. I had forgotten how therapeutic it is.  Good times, he says with a manly motorcycle-riding grunt.

When dad makes you cut school

Monday morning Robin and I woke up and thought that the girls and I could use a mental healthy day.  These MDS's are a long standing tradition in our family.  Take a day every once in a while and just hang out and play.  Of course, uber-responsible Eldest was worried that she would get in trouble for "cutting" school.  Ahem, I do think that it is not "cutting" when your dad is with you.  Unfortunately mom has one of the jobs thingy's that require a 9-5 corporeal presence so it was just dad and the girls.

This is how the day went:

• Lounging in pajamas
• Lunch at Fuddruckers complete with yummy plastic cheese.
• Pretend to fall into the fountain
• Horton Hears a Who
• Eat Candy
• Pose with Kung Fu Panda
• Stop off at the church
• Jamba Juice break
• Thift store shopping
• BBQ leftovers

We teased the eldest a bit and told her that someday she would appreciate the fact that her parents where not so intense about school and that we highly valued re-creation and play .  I don't think she believed us.