Spirituality and Avatar

So I went to see Avatar the other night with a few guys from church.  The special effects and 3D were nothing short of spectacular.  The story was very spiritual.  The main character, Jake, befriends a native group on the moon Pandora.  His desire is to get to know them and understand them.  He ends up falling in love, and welcomed into the community.  They are very connected with the earth, with their deity (if I remember right, they refer to her as a tree goddess or mother or something).  It's more like an energy that they connect with that connects them to one another (you'd have to see the movie to really understand what I mean).  It's amazing how popular spirituality is today, and how good it makes people feel.  I couldn't help but wonder to myself why people are attracted to this connection with a deity and with others in an unnamed god, but are often repulsed or offended by Jesus who promises the kind of connection they find so appealing in this film.  I couldn't help but think of Ephesians 2:19-22 "Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.  In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.  And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit (TNIV)".  This was the picture that came to mind.  God is not some faceless force that dwells in a tree and connects us to energy.  He is a personal God that became flesh and connects us to both himself and one another through his Spirit.  I don't know why that wouldn't be more attractive to more people.  I suppose there is a cost when you have to take God for who He reveals himself to be and not just who we'd like him to be.  But that's another discussion for another post.      

Beyond Tea and Small Talk

This morning I was browsing through more underlined readings from Radical Hospitality: Benedict's Way of Love, I came across this description of hospitality: "...not the same kind you will learn about from Martha Stewart.  Benedictine hospitality is not about sipping tea and making bland talk with people who live next door or work with you.  Hospitality is a lively, courageous and convivial way of living that challenges our compulsion either to turn away or turn inward and disconnect ourselves from others."  This description reminds me of Jesus boldness in eating at Matthew's house, knowing full well he would be accused by the religious leaders for dining with sinners and tax collectors.  It connects me to Jesus inviting himself over Zacchaeus' home, regardless of how people would judge him, and they did.  Tea and small talk, while well meaning and often quite enjoyable, are safe and manageable.  Inviting someone over to our home keeps me in control and in the driver seat.  Stepping into someone else's world, turning towards someone when we'd rather turn away, opening our hearts and not just our homes is true hospitality.  A few pages over in Radical Hospitality I realized I had underlined this:  "Benedictine spirituality insists that if you want to be whole, you have to let the other in.  The missing virtue of our era has been turned into a social grace that neither disturbs or transforms."  

Addition by Subtraction

I've been reading through some thoughts I've underlined in a book called Radical Hospitality: Benedicts Way of Love.  One section I had underlined reads, "We moderns have been ambushed by technology along the way, and we've been beaten up by the media.  We, who are consumers, have discovered that in our constant consuming we are leaving little room for anyone else and we're losing our souls."  The use of the word "anyone" rather than "anything" hit me like a ton of bricks.  When my soul feels starved or I feel a void in my life I tend to try to feed it with "things" (I'm still sort of covet my friends who have iphones).  When technology or "anythings" take the place of the "anyones" in our lives our souls starve.  Just this morning I had coffee with a friend at a busy Starbucks.  While trying to enjoy conversation, our cell phones sat expectantly next to our coffees and we each engaged in no less than three text messages each while we were talking.  I can't help but wonder if my soul left a little less full than it might have been if I left my silly phone in my pocket (though my wife might have missed out on a Gingerbread Latte as she was one of the texters :-).  Anyway, in this season, as we approach the new year and think about goals and what we need to add to our lives to achieve them, I'm finding myself asking God "What are the anythings I need to subtract from my life in order to create space for the anyones?"  Looks like I may have to put off that iphone for another year.  I think it's worth it.   

Reminiscing About the Future

Reminiscing about the future.  Sounds like an oxymoron doesn't it?  Today I stumbled across a photograph of a 1965 Nova that I used to own, and a copy of the first sermon I preached 6 years ago in our previous church.  That same sermon was the first sermon I had preached 9 years ago at the Wimborne Alliance Church, which was the first church we pastored.  Ironically, it was the same passage of Scripture that I was planning on preaching on this Sunday.  1 Corninthians 2:1-5,  And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.  For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.  I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling.  My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power,  so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power" (TNIV). This has been my prayer at the two previous churches that my wife and I have pastored, and it continues to be my prayer as we continue pastoring our current church plant.  When I look back on my life, this is what I'd like to be true of me.  I want to live Christ, to demonstrate his power, to see lives changed because of God.  I'm not there yet.  In this sense I suppose I'm reminiscing about the future.  When you look back on your life, what would you want to be said about you?      

Three Times the Charm

Ok, so this will officially be my third try at blogging. I was looking at my two previous blogs, and both had only "test" entries. One was dated 2/9/06. Pretty sad. So why try again? Well, first of all, I've been inspired by my wife Michelle, who has been blogging for the past month or so. What I'm hoping is for this to serve as some sort of spiritual discipline for me. I used to do a lot of journaling, so I thought, why not try this online in somewhat of a community setting. I'd love to hear your thoughts as I post some of mine. Looking forward to this long journey together!