It’s Monday May 20

In 1543 Nicolaus Copernicus published his treatise, On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, which presented a heliocentric (sun-centered) model of the universe. Prior to Copernicus, the dominant model for understanding the structure of the universe was the Ptolemaic model which positioned the earth at the center of the universe. As with all new theories, Copernicus faced fierce opposition not only from the emerging scientific community but also the religious community. It is not hard to understand why. Who wants to be displaced from the center of the universe? Certainly not me. Not us.

I wonder, sometimes, if we are in need of another Copernican Revolution in the church, especially in the United States. We’ve become very Ptolemaic in our sense of the faith. I am the center of God’s universe. I have a personal relationship with God. No one can call my faith journey into question. If it works for me (Christian community that is) I am all in. If not, well, there are other places to go, other experiences to placate my self-obsessed desires. Whether we say it or not, we like being the center of our universe.

It is no wonder that sort of individualized, self-focused faith has developed in our culture. We glamorize the rugged individualist. We honor the self-made man and woman. Listen to the public discourse on any number of societal issues and you will hear, “It’s my money. I earned it. I can do what I want with it. These are my guns. It’s my body. I can say what I want to others. I can do what I please.”

Is that really true? Can we really say those things as people who follow Jesus into Christian community?

Unfortunately, the Bill of Rights for some, has become a higher creed than the call to follow Jesus in community. When you simmer long enough in the cultural broth of individualism, ultimately it permeates the very pores of your being. You and I become the centers of the universe.

What would a Copernican Revolution of the soul look like? First. We would replace ourselves at the center of the universe with the Spirit empowered community that Jesus invites us to participate in. Don’t get me wrong. I think all the notions of self-care, self-love are critical for a faith journey. Jesus did say, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” There are times and seasons when, for the sake of our bodies and minds and souls, we need to pull away, focus our attention toward renewed health and vitality. But, self-care and self-absorption are miles apart.

Second, in a Copernican Revolution of the soul, we would start to ask new questions:
-Rather than ask, “What works for me?” We ask, “What would benefit my neighbor?”
-Rather than ask, “What do I desire?” We ask, “What does God desire?”
-Rather than ask, “What will give me life?” We ask, “How can I be a life-giving influence in the lives of others?”

Over-time, as the shift happens in your soul and your community, what you discover is those questions merge. You begin to desire what God desires. Your life becomes more vital as you experience the vitality of others in community. What benefits the neighbor, benefits you.

It’s Monday. Start asking the new questions today. Notice what it does in your soul to imagine the world as God does, to imagine a community centered on the goodness and power of God’s Spirit. Peace. Kai

It’s Monday May 13

Over the past eight years I have had the privilege of walking ever more closely with the Renovare’ community. Renovare’ is a movement of spiritual formation centered in the basic notions that following Jesus isn’t simply a ticket to heaven, following Jesus is an invitation to a life with God that more deeply experiences the transforming power of the Spirit and more widely expresses the power of love to a world in need.

Last week, one of the leaders of the Renovare’ movement, Dallas Willard, died. The list of books and articles that he wrote on spiritual formation could fill these pages but what was so inspiring to me was the way his gentle, spirit-shaped character, filled your presence with the goodness of God. What he wrote about, he sought to live. I and those who got to know him were the better for it.

Here is a description of spiritual formation that he included in his book, The Great Omission.

The Pharisees were in many respects the very best people of Jesus’s day. But they located goodness in behavior and tried to secure themselves by careful management at the behavioral level. However, that simply cannot be done. Behavior is driven by the hidden or secret dimension of human personality, from the depths of the soul and body, and what is present there will escape. Hence, the Pharisee always fails at some point to do what is right, and then must redefine, redescribe, or explain it away—or simply hide it.

In contrast, the fruit of the spirit, as described by Jesus, Paul, and other biblical writers, does not consist in actions, but in attitudes or settled personality traits that make up the substance of the “hidden” self, the “inner man.” “Love” captures this fruit in one word, but does so in such a concentrated form that it needs to be spelled out. Thus, the “fruit [singular] of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22). Other such passages easily come to mind, such as 2 Peter 1:4–8, 1 Corinthians 13, and Romans 5:1–5.

“Spiritual formation” in the Christian tradition is a process of increasingly being possessed and permeated by such character traits as we walk in the easy yoke of discipleship with Jesus our teacher. From the inward character the deeds of love then naturally—but supernaturally—and transparently flow. Of course there will always be room for improvement, so we need not worry that we will become perfect—at least for a few weeks or months. Our aim is to be pervasively possessed by Jesus through constant companionship with him. Like our brother Paul, “This one thing I do:…I press on toward the goal!…That I may know Christ!” (Philippians 3:13–14, 8).

It’s Monday. Let the love of Jesus flow in you today. Then, let love flow from you. Peace. Kai

It’s Monday May 6

Want to lose five pounds quick? Stomach flu. Though highly effective, having navigated the journey this weekend, I’d suggest exercise and a decrease in bad carbs. It’s not a quick fix, but it definitely works better in the long run.

All that to say, I’m staggering off to work today with little focus and not much more energy. But, I’m here. I might not make it through the day. If not, there’s always Tuesday!

It’s Monday. I’m upright. That’s about all I can say today. Hopeful for a more energetic Tuesday! Peace. Kai

It’s Monday April 29

Eight months ago, I penned these words as I reflected on the experience of dropping my daughter off at college.

When I remembered why I was lying in a hotel bed in Nashville, Tn., the floodgates opened. For a moment, I could barely breathe, my lungs filled with sadness. I tried to stifle my cry, placating my thoughts with my usual fare of distraction and minimizing. “You’ve done this before.” “A lot of parents are doing the same thing.” “It could be worse.” “She’s in a good place.” “You are not alone.” Yet, I was. As opposed to other times when I would avoid or deny or flee from the emotional impact of the experience, this time I decided to let myself be in the moment. Tears cascaded down my cheeks as a lifetime passed before my eyes.

Tonight, she’s coming home. You never know how you will navigate these transitions. In some ways, if feels like a blink of an eye. In other ways, I’m awe-struck we made it all these months. A kid at college is a poignant reminder that you can be away from someone and with them all the time, at the same time.

Jesus said this to his disciples, “I will be with you always.” But he wasn’t, at least physically. Yet I can imagine for the disciples he was present-at times palpably, other times as a faint notion, still other times not consciously, but simply in the way that they did things, encountered their world. You can be away from someone physically and still be with them.

So we made that adjustment. Now we prepare for another. She will return, with mounds of clothes and an even deeper pile of experiences that shaped her. We want it to be the same but it won’t be. Even if feels like normal, her experiences will have shaped her and ours have shaped us. She learned she can live on her own. We pressed on well without her in the house. I got used to four piles of laundry not five; it’s neater, less chaotic. It costs less to go out and eat with four than five and we fit more comfortably in the car. It’s weird to say, but it is so. We pressed on well without her in the house.

But, there was still the empty chair at the table–an ever present reminder that though we were whole as a family of four, we weren’t complete. In a few weeks, our oldest will also be home from college, maybe for the last summer. With six in our house, including five jobs and three cars, the summer will be chaotic and messy and we’ll probably irritate one another, especially the college kids, because there will be guidelines about when people can come and go. But, we’ll love it! Every minute of it.

If the blur of the last eight months reminds me of anything it reminds me of this: Don’t lose the moment, the day, always thinking about the future or ruminating on your past.

So, when she arrives her bed will be made, her closet cleared of all the extra winter clothes we stored there. There will be cheese and crackers, drinks for all ages, laughter and tears. For that moment, the whole world will be contained in our living room. Past will be past. The future will wait. The moment will be all we have.

It’s Monday. What about today, the moments of your day, deserve to be cherished? Peace. Kai

It’s Monday April 22

The prophet Micah confronts us with this question, “What does The Lord require of us?” His response has been etched in my heart all week, “Seek justice. Love kindness. Walk humbly with our God.”

What a week! As I wrote last Monday, who could have predicted the national tragedy of the Boston Marathon bombing and ensuing manhunt that would bind our hearts, lock the doors of a community, and capture the imaginations of a nation? Who could have imagined the towering fire-ball that would engulf a fertilizer plant in Texas and wreak havoc on a community?

What a week.

Within our community at Peace, we received news that Janie Tinklenberg, after fifteen years of faithful ministry, would be moving on to a new call in Orlando, Florida. Though we can and should rejoice with her in this new venture, parting elicits sadness, change invites uncertainty.

In all of this, the question of Micah provided a lens through which I could see all the national chaos and local change of this week.

What does The Lord require?

Seek Justice: For pre-meditated acts of evil, we call on justice to be done. But, there is another level of Christian maturity that balances our drive toward combative anger and vengeance. Jesus also calls us to “Love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.” I didn’t hear much of that this week. That doesn’t minimize the horror of the perpetrated event but it does mitigate against the crippling effects of perpetual animosity. Our hearts shrink under the constant pressure and weight of hatred. So we seek justice and we pray for enemies.

Love Kindness: The calamity in Texas reminds us of the precarious demands of progress and profit. For the sake of greater gain, we, at times, put ourselves at risk by the pressure we put on business, the incentive to produce, and the procedures that we overlook. In this case, there was great cost, ultimate cost to families and a community. In response, the images of people flooding to the site, to homes, to the nursing facility to assist were compelling, just as those who rushed to the bombing sites at risk to their own lives. Even in calamity, kindness has power.

Walk Humbly with our God: As we say goodbye to Janie Tinklenberg over these weeks, one of the ways of God that she embodies for me is this humble walk. We joke, at times, about her Dutch, Reformed piety that doesn’t allow her to brag or even receive compliments well. But, it’s more than that. Janie views herself as a servant of God. We are better for it.

What a week. As I’ve tried to navigate the dark and uncertain twistings of the events of this week, I’ve become more conscious of this one fact: No matter what comes, we are still God’s people.

God will be present. God yet calls us to seek justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God.

It’s Monday. A new week! Thank God. But, we also have the same call to seek justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God. Thank God. Peace. Kai

It’s Monday April 15

There is no perfect Christian community–never was, never will be. The paradox of our Christian journey in community, then, is that though we will never attain it, we are compelled to strive for it. We will never be perfect in love but we love anyway. We will never perfectly forgive or receive forgiveness, but we forgive anyway. Our hearts will never be pure, our motivations will be suspect, our actions, at times, questionable, but we move forward anyway not simply because it’s a good, humane thing to do (though it is) but because God desires it for us, for our communities, for God’s world.

I was reminded of how hard it is to be in community this past week. As I was preparing my sermon this relationship exchange from a distant past came to mind.

The church and society have been hotly debating the level of acceptance of gay and lesbian relationships for many years. More than a decade ago in the Lutheran Church, the conversation had risen to the forefront of our national and local conversations. As you know, there is no lack of passionate, deeply held positions on both sides.

One gentleman chose to make this a personal issue with me, as a representative of the larger church. So, for a season, I was lambasted with articles, postings, emails, phone calls, etc. Thank God there was no Facebook or Twitter at that time because the conversation would have gone viral for sure. We met for lunch. We met for breakfast. We met for coffee. Though it was apparent from our first meeting that the goal of the conversation was not healthy open conversation rather, what was expected of me and, by extension through me, was full repentance of the church today and the church universal. (OK, that’s a little hyperbole. But, it felt like that.)

For those of you who know me, you know that I’m a pretty good listener. I try to ask good questions to get to the story behind the story. I have a generous tolerance for diverse opinions and viewpoints, especially if I think the other person is open and has a teachable spirit. But, what you may not have experienced in me is that when pushed too far, I say to myself, “Game on” and I go for it. And, I’m pretty good thinking on my feet and I love to filet what I perceive to be rigid, non-thinking arguments. I even get to the point of creating argument for argument sake, even if I don’t hold a particular position.

Well, at our final conversation about the issue, I went there. It was almost an out of body experience. I began to sit up taller. I leaned in. I’m sure my finger started pointing as my eyes were shooting darts. All the while, I noticed the person shrinking back in their chair, a stunned look on their face as the argument darted from condemnation of their viewpoint to condemnation of anyone who could hold such a narrow minded viewpoint.

As I’m wrapping up my prosecution of the case and this person, a horrible thought passed through my mind. I had become what I despised–full of myself, rigid, unwilling to see the humanity cloaked behind the garments of our most deeply held beliefs.

Before the conversation ended, this question came to me, “to what end?” So, I said, “You know, we’ve been going at this conversation for many hours over these months. In all that time, we have not said or done one thing that builds the other person up or benefits the larger community. It’s obvious we aren’t going to convince each other to budge. But, can we work with each other to build–build up others, build up the community, build up our capacity to hold different positions on a range of issues but a common heart for love?”

It’s not easy is it? The reality is there are no perfect Christian communities because the communities are made up of imperfect people like you and me.

But, God has not given up on us. So, let’s not give up on each other.

It’s Monday. In conflict, seek the third way today–not your way or their way, but the way of love. Peace. Kai

It’s Monday April 8

This Time Tomorrow. Our Easter theme focuses our minds on the manifestation of Jesus’ resurrection in our daily lives, not just the celebration of Easter on Sunday mornings. Each week we are asking someone in worship these three questions:

What do you do Monday through Saturday?
What will you be doing this time tomorrow?
How can we pray for you?

Following our Easter services, I made contact with one of the persons we interviewed for our This Time Tomorrow segment in worship. He was heading into a rough Monday morning of intense meetings and potentially difficult planning sessions. His response nailed it!

“Yesterday when I arrived at work and opened the Interview with God (a daily devotional he listens to), the Saturday service came rushing back and I felt this sensation of not being alone. It was really neat and it stayed with me throughout the day; difficult to put into words but real nonetheless. At the risk of sounding glib, I felt like the guy in the Verizon commercial with the network behind him. “

The network behind him! I couldn’t think of a better way to express the outcome we hoped for in this season. As you leave Sunday worship, can you imagine the network of your faith community having your back as you enter your work place, your school? Do you know and can you be confident that Jesus’ life is present in and through yours? You are not alone. Because you are not alone, what you do Monday through Saturday matters as much to Jesus as what you do Sunday.

It’s Monday. The network is behind you today. Be confident in the expansiveness of our love, of Jesus’ love for you. Peace. Kai

It’s Monday April 1

This posting is an anniversary post. Three years ago on the first Monday after Easter I wrote my first It’s Monday article for Peace Lutheran Church. The idea was driven by this simple assumption: We celebrate the event of Easter on Sunday. We live the life of Easter beginning on Monday.

These simple postings have been my way of reminding myself and you that Jesus was not raised so that we can listen to trumpets and be filled with the irresistible aroma of lilies. Jesus’ resurrection marks the divine “yes” on the life that Jesus lived among us and the call that Jesus makes upon us. We celebrate the event of Easter on Sunday and we live the life of Easter beginning on Monday.

Our theme for this Easter season, This Time Tomorrow, picks up that same spirit. Each worship service this season we will end by interviewing a person from the congregation, asking them to respond to three simple questions: 1) What do you do Monday through Saturday? 2) What will you be doing this time tomorrow? 3) How can we pray for you?

So this week we prayed for an administrator in a physicians office, a systems analyst at a large insurance company, someone who sells medical products to hospitals, and a worker at Whole foods who is also trying to find ways to pursue his artistic creativity. As we prayed for each, we asked God to help us be more like Jesus in each place we find ourselves and to remind us that what we do on Monday matters as much as the worship on Sunday.

In response, a member of Peace sent me this 5th Century poem. It captures the spirit of our theme, This Time Tomorrow.

Look to this day.
For it is life.
The very life of life.
In its brief course lie all.
The realities and verities of existence,
The bliss of growth,
The splendor of action,
The glory of power-

For yesterday is but a dream,
And tomorrow is only a vision,
But today, well lived,
Makes every yesterday a dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.

Look well, therefore, to this day.

It’s Monday. What will it mean for your day to be “well lived?” Peace. Kai

It’s Monday March 18

Recently I had the good fortune of spending some time with Trevor Hudson. Trevor is the author of the book, Discovering our Spiritual Identity: Practices for God’s Beloved, but, primarily, Trevor is a pastor to a community in South Africa.

Have you ever had the experience of meeting an author of a book you loved and being disappointed? I have. This meeting was quite the opposite. Having met him, the words of his books will sparkle even more so with an embodied wisdom, a generous humility, and a life chiseled with grace. Love oozes from his pores.

One of the stories I remember him telling was of a conversation he had with his kids as they approached middle school ages. He enters important conversations with his children not assuming they want to listen to him but inviting them into conversation, “I would like to tell you something. Are you interested in hearing?”

Boiling it down to an essential life truth, he said to his children, “We have one choice in life–live for yourself or live for others.”

Live for yourself or live for others.

I shuddered at the profound implications of this simple phrase. What if we, what if I, could begin to approach life, all of life, leaning toward living for others. I know we won’t be perfect. I know it is, at times, the healthy choice to care for self. But what if we could push the needles of our lives, more and more, toward living for others rather than living for ourselves? What would our homes look like? Our schools? Our communities? Our workplaces?

It’s Monday. “We have one choice in life–live for yourself or live for others.” What will it be this week? Peace. Kai

It”s Monday March 11

We are half way through the Lenten season so it’s time for an important reminder. Each week we have been working through another classic spiritual discipline (confession, solitude, fasting, simplicity, frugality). Our hope is that you have allowed each discipline and the subsequent reflection exercises to enrich your journey. What I know of Type A or dutiful followers of Jesus is that what was meant to be a blessing quickly shifts to a burden-one more thing to do, one more thing to cram into an already packed life.

Let’s press the pause button and remember this core principle:

God loves you no matter what!

Whether you have completed, barely looked at or not even considered participation in these disciplines of the faith God’s grace abounds; surrounding you, encouraging you, longing to fill you with new power and love. So, relax. Today is a new day. Wake in God’s love. Live in God’s love. Rest in God’s love.

Let’s also use this half-way point to consider another important principle. Once we begin to peel back the layers of our lives and ask penetrating questions about the contour of our relationships with God and others, the weight of the work ahead can seem overwhelming. If we honestly reflect on all we could do differently, the list seems never-ending so much so that we can become paralyzed and do nothing at all.

Charles Duhigg, in his book The Power of Habit, provides a key principle for us to embrace at this point. He writes about “Keystone Habits.” As a reminder, a keystone is the wedge shaped piece at the summit of an arch that holds it together. Keystone habits or attitudes are the one or two key habits or attitudes that, if changed, would have the greatest impact on your life.

Duhigg reminds us that we don’t need to change everything. REMEMBER: YOUR LIFE IS A LIFETIME PROJECT. Instead, change a few needful things that will either add vibrancy to the places in your life where your life energy already flows freely though you or eliminate the destructive habits or attitudes that constrict your life. This discernment is not easy, but is exceedingly fruitful. The application is not easy, but leads to more vibrant life.

It’s Monday. What are the Keystone habits or attitudes that can open up a more abundant life for you? Peace. Kai