Uffizi Mission Project

Not too many of you knew me when I was 20 years old.  It is probably a good thing.  I recently sat down with a couple of old friends in San Jose and we talked about the good old days at Calvary Baptist Church, when I first began volunteering in a youth ministry there.  I had recently literally met Jesus, and was looking for a place to tie in.  The youth pastor recognized that I didn’t actually know a thing about God, so he put me in charge of announcements, etc…  He also knew I was the class clown of my old high school, so he unleashed a bizarre beast upon the students there every Wednesday night and Sunday morning.

One of the characters that I created was the two headed happy clown.  My friend Andy and I would dress up as one big clown, and appear whenever we wanted to, even in the middle of sermons and run amuck.  One time we handed out what we called chocolate chip cookies to all the kids, but really the chocolate chips were peppers.  The life of Happy Clown was short lived.

But it may clue you in to why I am the way I am today, and why I am considering writing The Proposal…  I would love for some kind of a eerie theme music to occur every time you read The Proposal, but I can’t seem to figure out how to do that on this blog.

The Proposal is simply this - we need 7 local churches to cooperate.  One will be the host church, and six would be churches that would sell their property and put it into a fund to serve the local poor.  Each church could then have one member on a board who would decide how the funds are used.  I think it is pretty simple and straight forward?  I’ve run it by a few people, and they either just laugh it off or demand that I write it.  What about you?

I know there is alot more you would have to deal with, but couldn’t we find a way for each of these churches to get the building for a day for their programs, etc?  After all, we do live in Santa Barbara.  About 80% of what we need to do could probably be done outside in local parks where it is usually 70 to 80 degrees.  (This is not to mention houses, coffee houses, and other meeting places where men and women of peace would welcome us)

We are talking about millions of dollars here that could be given toward the betterment or development for the local poor - more housing, job training, education, etc…  That’s alot of cups of water given to Jesus while He is hungry, thirsty, in prison.  You know the biblical drill.

Oh, you see, there are these budget cuts.  I have been reading about them in the paper, and who they will affect.  It usually comes down to services or education for the poor.  And I think we still have some stereotypes going around about the poor.  Those are easily dispersed when you sit down at Pershing Park or meet some friends at the Village.  Each woman or man has issues, like all of us, but the matter is really quite complex.

We make big claims about Jesus and about the church.  Growing up Baptist, I heard this phrase all the time - “The church is the hope of the world.”  I read the passages about salt and light, and I think I believed them.  I still do.  Maybe clown does not fit me so much now, but fool is probably ok.  We could grow up if we were more foolish with our money.

If The Proposal isn’t the right thing to do, what is?  Your chance to comment…

First of all, thanks to all who commented on last weeks mental rant.  I appreciate it - and I love your comments, whether in agreement or disagreement (and last week had both!)  This week, I seemed to find myself in the midst of agnostics, and what fun it is.  I had three conversations with self-proclaimed agnostics back to  back to back.  The reason I like it so much is because these men and women are saying, “I just don’t know.”  It seems reasonable to me in the midst of the turmoil we are in, to say, “I have no idea.”

 The intellectual evidence could make anyone human bi-polar.  Just spend a day watching the History Channel.  I just watched something on the history of alien activity on earth, and after that on the UC California channel a couple of moments about the latest thinking with evolution, and after that a movie on what Shell has done is foreign countries to find oil and the health ramifications upon poor natives.  In the midst of that you can find a religion station that talks about the prosperity Jesus promises…

And now about the island of plastic out in the ocean?  Have you heard about that?  See it at http://popsci.typepad.com/popsci/2007/10/giant-island-of.html

I intellectually understand the agnostic position.  I would gravitate toward it myself if I had not heard the call of Jesus, and experienced the love of God.  The love of God and the mercy of God is what draws right?

 It’s all about “missing.”  Not missing the point, or missing the mark, but that act of missing someone.  I have old high school friends that I “miss.”  I just miss being with them.  I believe this is close to the actual heart of God for all of us.  He misses being with us, and he initiates with us - the love of God compeled Him to send Jesus.

Our problem is not the actual intellectual sharing of the Gospel - we have done that and will continue to do that.  The problem is that we don’t “miss” old friends and new friends like God does.  We don’t carry enough love in our hearts. 

I am growing to love Facebook.  I know that there all kinds of opinions about it.  One is that it is not real community at all, or doesn’t really have anything to do with relationships.  But here is how I see it - people do want to know and be known.  The fact that they will put their lives out there, shows me that we are relational animals - and confirms the gospel message.  We crave love, we want to give love.  We just don’t know how to do it.  I love even the possibility of a new friend.

 Christ followers should just admit our need, and start leading the way.  I often say that Paul shared with us this secret - that love never fails.  Love is the only thing I know that never fails.  Other things often fail me, and I fail at - but learning to be a good lover is never going to let us down.

 Here is sadly what I feel - we are not with friends outside the walls of the church enough because we don’t love them.  Short and simple, but a painful epidemic.

I think if Jesus were here - he would be on Facebook.  I was even thinking of doing a page for Him myself, but wouldn’t want to get the biography wrong…  He would be very interested in inviting new friends, creating groups, poking people, using super powers…

 What do you think?

I feel like I should write quite randomly now, about my mental state and also what strikes my heart.  So, here it goes, and total random free writing.  (You know, I used to want to be a writer, so this is quite natural for me, though it may make no sense to you - my apologies ahead of time)

*I read a blog a friend sent me, where a pastor critiques The Shaping of Things to Come.  Most of it was fine, until he stated the church in California is quite fine, still working, and still largely respected in the culture.  Maybe Santa Barbara is not in California?  Can someone show me a map?  It is not what I pick up on the streets - is there a parallel universe?  And there was also the following statement, feeding people is not as important as sharing the gospel.  Well, just how do we separate it out like that?  I thought Jesus followers would be known for their grace, generosity and love?  If we don’t have that, can we just claim assent to the verbal gospel then and be done with it.  You know, I talk with Jesus every day to help me…

 *I experience real senses of “lostness”… for sure humanity has lost its way.  This is verified to me at Pershing Park, State Street, and the West Side.  You have all kinds of addictions - some because of riches and some because of poverty.  The addictions of the rich are found at Starbucks and stores where you can buy jeans for $500, the ability to buy whatever you want and hide your addictions… the addictions of the poor are obvious and don’t really need mention, except to know where our following Jesus occurs… (you can see the other pages for that info!).  But how about the crazy little thing called the lostness of the church, which may be a little bit harder to see.  But we have lost our love which compels us out and we have lost our mission.  We should be honest about both.

*I don’t like the phrases - “God only” or “God’s best.”  I hear God only all the time, like God only works in this way or that, as if we know all the mysteries of God.  Surely I hold on to this, Jesus is Lord and the Lordship is central.  I believe He as Lord gets to do whatever He wants whenever He wants… I heard “God’s best” today in a meeting where a gentleman said that “God’s best is immediate healing.”  While I agree that we pray for immediate healing, I know from my friends with addictions that healing is at best a long term process, and I don’t want to heap guilt on them for not getting better right away.

*I hear the liberals talk about doing the things of Jesus on radio 134o but they don’t necessarily want Jesus.  I hear the conservatives on 990am talking lovingly about Jesus but not necessarily wanting to do his works.  What?  Is there another radio station I can tune into?

*Do we want to be a Christian nation?  Surely a Christ following nation would be cool?  But how have we become the #1 arms dealer in the world?  I can’t get my head around that one.  I don’t think I am a complete pacifist, because I realize we need a military in a real world.  But perhaps Jesus would move us down the list to be #2?

*I am thankful for my friends and my family, whoever they are.  I am refreshed that I have some friends.  Thank you for being my friends and taking the time to read this.  Join in the adventure any time.