Congratulations to my sister and my West Virginia friends who are serious Red Sox fans.
It looks like the Boston area is swimming in sports success this year. The Patriots are playing as well as any team in recent NFL history - they toyed with the Cowboys a couple of weeks ago, until the Cowboys took the lead in the second half. That had the effect of awakening the sleeping giant and they have been on fire ever since.... Boston College is also getting into the act, and since they are no longer in the same conference as WVU, they are in the drivers seat on the road to winning their conference championship and competing in the BCS.... The Celtics appear to be the cream of the crop in the East with the additions of Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.... I don't know much about the Bruins, but anything less than the Stanley Cup and the city will have forgotten them because by then the Red Sox will be well on their way to repeating.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Saturday, October 27, 2007
PMC Reflections
This weekend brought another of the cluster meetings for the area congregations participating in the Partnership for Missional Church. We have made a three year commitment to this process and are about 1/3 of the way through the second year.
Initially there were ten congregations; this weekend there were eight - Skillman, North Davis, South MacArthur, Preston Road, and Metro from the Dallas area, Highland and Minter Lane from Abilene, and Mineral Wells.
Each of these congregations is committed to carrying out the mission of God in its community. Several, like Skillman, are faced with changing demographics both in the neighborhoods surrounding their locations and within the congregations. More about this later, but for now three thoughts resonate...
We need, as leaders, to move from a model that is primarily focused on decision-making to one of discernment. I posted some thoughts on this about a year ago; we are comfortable taking information, making some decision, and going on about our business. We do that regularly in our professional lives, and carry those skills and practices into church leadership. The result is that we often decide and then ask God to join us, rather than trying to discern what God is already doing and joining Him.
We need to reframe our perspective of 'serving' the community. Instead of looking for ways to do for the community, we need to seek opportunities to do with the community. (This is something that Larry James figured out a long time ago.) We will not be able to enter into healthy relationship with people when we perceive them to be needy and ourselves as providers.
We must trust in the resurrection; we need to trust that if 'our' congregation as we know it should die, that God can raise it again into something greater that more closely reflects his purpose and carries out his mission. Much like Barton Stone and the Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery, we must be willing to give up our identity and sink into union with the body of Christ at large, trusting that God will indeed raise us up again in accordance with his purpose.
Initially there were ten congregations; this weekend there were eight - Skillman, North Davis, South MacArthur, Preston Road, and Metro from the Dallas area, Highland and Minter Lane from Abilene, and Mineral Wells.
Each of these congregations is committed to carrying out the mission of God in its community. Several, like Skillman, are faced with changing demographics both in the neighborhoods surrounding their locations and within the congregations. More about this later, but for now three thoughts resonate...
We need, as leaders, to move from a model that is primarily focused on decision-making to one of discernment. I posted some thoughts on this about a year ago; we are comfortable taking information, making some decision, and going on about our business. We do that regularly in our professional lives, and carry those skills and practices into church leadership. The result is that we often decide and then ask God to join us, rather than trying to discern what God is already doing and joining Him.
We need to reframe our perspective of 'serving' the community. Instead of looking for ways to do for the community, we need to seek opportunities to do with the community. (This is something that Larry James figured out a long time ago.) We will not be able to enter into healthy relationship with people when we perceive them to be needy and ourselves as providers.
We must trust in the resurrection; we need to trust that if 'our' congregation as we know it should die, that God can raise it again into something greater that more closely reflects his purpose and carries out his mission. Much like Barton Stone and the Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery, we must be willing to give up our identity and sink into union with the body of Christ at large, trusting that God will indeed raise us up again in accordance with his purpose.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
More on Fire at Pepperdine
My admiration for Pepperdine president Andy Benton is only reinforced by his calming response to the Pepperdine community...
M E M O R A N D U M
TO: Campus Community
FROM: Andrew K. Benton
DATE: October 22, 2007
RE: Fire Update
Today is a much better day. The winds are still high, but the smoke is clearing and as far as we know there are no fires burning on campus. Nevertheless we are on alert and we have a strong fire prevention/containment presence standing by.
I know this was a first-time experience for most of you. I am so proud of your calm response and your concern for each other. The worship service yesterday in the cafeteria with helicopters flying into and out of view behind the leaders is something I will never forget.
Our campus damage is limited to a portion of a pool shack near the Baxter Drive swimming pool and three cars which were parked in the Theme Tower lot. The rest is landscaping and we can fix that in time. The important thing is that you are safe.
From our position of relative safety we will have a chance to serve; indeed, some of our best work in the Malibu community has emerged from a crisis just like this one. If given the chance, please volunteer to help those who did not fare as well as we did yesterday.
Good planning is of no value without great people willing to respond. My colleagues and I were very proud of our whole campus community yesterday. You were an inspiration to us.
We will keep you informed as this new day develops.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
More info via this CNN interview of 2 Pepperdine students early Monday morning.
M E M O R A N D U M
TO: Campus Community
FROM: Andrew K. Benton
DATE: October 22, 2007
RE: Fire Update
Today is a much better day. The winds are still high, but the smoke is clearing and as far as we know there are no fires burning on campus. Nevertheless we are on alert and we have a strong fire prevention/containment presence standing by.
I know this was a first-time experience for most of you. I am so proud of your calm response and your concern for each other. The worship service yesterday in the cafeteria with helicopters flying into and out of view behind the leaders is something I will never forget.
Our campus damage is limited to a portion of a pool shack near the Baxter Drive swimming pool and three cars which were parked in the Theme Tower lot. The rest is landscaping and we can fix that in time. The important thing is that you are safe.
From our position of relative safety we will have a chance to serve; indeed, some of our best work in the Malibu community has emerged from a crisis just like this one. If given the chance, please volunteer to help those who did not fare as well as we did yesterday.
Good planning is of no value without great people willing to respond. My colleagues and I were very proud of our whole campus community yesterday. You were an inspiration to us.
We will keep you informed as this new day develops.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
More info via this CNN interview of 2 Pepperdine students early Monday morning.
Fire
When I first heard of the wild fires in California this week, I have to confess my sense of relief that Taylor is spending his sophmore year in Germany rather than being on campus in Malibu. While I have been following with interest, empathy, and concern, my level of concern has not been nearly as acute as it would have been had he been on campus. Especially when I saw some of these pictures from the Pepperdine campus...
Monday, October 22, 2007
Pepperdine Update
Malibu Canyon Fire Update for 6:30 a.m., Wednesday, Oct. 24
Pacific Coast Highway is open in both directions between Santa Monica and the University and between Kanan Road and the University. While both Kanan and Topanga Road are open, Malibu Canyon Road remains closed.
Pepperdine's Malibu campus is scheduled to re-open for regularly scheduled classes and programs, today, October 24. All Pepperdine campuses outside Malibu remain open for classes. All employees who are scheduled to work today are asked to report at their regularly scheduled time.
With the personal safety of our community members in mind, Pepperdine urges faculty, staff, and students to exercise caution in commuting to the campus.
Students, faculty, and staff are requested to check Pepperdine's homepage where regular updates are posted. Messages concerning the situation are made simultaneously on Pepperdine’s Emergency Page (http://emergency.pepperdine.edu/) and on Pepperdine's toll free Emergency Information Hotline at (888) 286-5659.
Updated information about road conditions is available on the Road Condition Hotline at (310) 506-ROAD (7623).
Malibu Canyon Fire Update for 7 a.m., Tuesday, Oct. 23
Pepperdine officials have announced that it will not hold classes on the Malibu campus today, October 23. Events scheduled for today on the Malibu campus have also been cancelled as the University continues to work closely with local, county, and state fire officials in response to the Malibu Canyon fire. Only critical support personnel should report for work. All Pepperdine campuses outside Malibu remain open for classes.
All roads leading to the Malibu campus are closed at this time. Information about current road closures is available on the road condition hotline at (310) 506-ROAD (7623).At the present time, students, faculty, and staff on the Malibu campus remain safe and it is recommended that they not leave campus.
Conditions remain unchanged since 7 p.m. last night.
Malibu Canyon Fire Update for 4 p.m., Monday, Oct. 22
Pepperdine officials have announced that it will not hold classes on the Malibu campus on Tuesday, October 23. Events scheduled for Tuesday on the Malibu campus have also been cancelled as the University continues to work closely with local, county, and state fire officials in response to the Malibu Canyon fire. Only critical support personnel should report for work.
All Pepperdine campuses outside Malibu remain open for classes.
All roads leading to the Malibu campus are closed at this time. Information about current road closures is available on the road condition hotline at (310) 506-ROAD (7623).At the present time, students, faculty, and staff on the Malibu campus remain safe and it is recommended that they not leave campus. Another update will be posted at 7 p.m.
Pepperdine Reponds to Malibu Canyon Fire - UPDATED 6:50 a.m.
All classes on the Malibu campus have been cancelled for today, Oct. 22. Only critical support personnel should report to campus via PCH south from Kanan Dume Rd. The Pepperdine graduate campuses outside of Malibu will be open and classes will be held. Only critical communication systems, such as email, Internet connectivity, and telephone services, will likely be available today.
Students, faculty, and staff members who were relocated to the Tyler Campus Center, Payson Library, and Firestone Fieldhouse were allowed to return to their dorms and on-campus residences around 2 p.m. yesterday. All have been requested not to leave campus.
All roads leading to Pepperdine University are closed.
10/22/07, 6:50 a.m.
Pacific Coast Highway is open in both directions between Santa Monica and the University and between Kanan Road and the University. While both Kanan and Topanga Road are open, Malibu Canyon Road remains closed.
Pepperdine's Malibu campus is scheduled to re-open for regularly scheduled classes and programs, today, October 24. All Pepperdine campuses outside Malibu remain open for classes. All employees who are scheduled to work today are asked to report at their regularly scheduled time.
With the personal safety of our community members in mind, Pepperdine urges faculty, staff, and students to exercise caution in commuting to the campus.
Students, faculty, and staff are requested to check Pepperdine's homepage where regular updates are posted. Messages concerning the situation are made simultaneously on Pepperdine’s Emergency Page (http://emergency.pepperdine.edu/) and on Pepperdine's toll free Emergency Information Hotline at (888) 286-5659.
Updated information about road conditions is available on the Road Condition Hotline at (310) 506-ROAD (7623).
Malibu Canyon Fire Update for 7 a.m., Tuesday, Oct. 23
Pepperdine officials have announced that it will not hold classes on the Malibu campus today, October 23. Events scheduled for today on the Malibu campus have also been cancelled as the University continues to work closely with local, county, and state fire officials in response to the Malibu Canyon fire. Only critical support personnel should report for work. All Pepperdine campuses outside Malibu remain open for classes.
All roads leading to the Malibu campus are closed at this time. Information about current road closures is available on the road condition hotline at (310) 506-ROAD (7623).At the present time, students, faculty, and staff on the Malibu campus remain safe and it is recommended that they not leave campus.
Conditions remain unchanged since 7 p.m. last night.
Malibu Canyon Fire Update for 4 p.m., Monday, Oct. 22
Pepperdine officials have announced that it will not hold classes on the Malibu campus on Tuesday, October 23. Events scheduled for Tuesday on the Malibu campus have also been cancelled as the University continues to work closely with local, county, and state fire officials in response to the Malibu Canyon fire. Only critical support personnel should report for work.
All Pepperdine campuses outside Malibu remain open for classes.
All roads leading to the Malibu campus are closed at this time. Information about current road closures is available on the road condition hotline at (310) 506-ROAD (7623).At the present time, students, faculty, and staff on the Malibu campus remain safe and it is recommended that they not leave campus. Another update will be posted at 7 p.m.
Pepperdine Reponds to Malibu Canyon Fire - UPDATED 6:50 a.m.
All classes on the Malibu campus have been cancelled for today, Oct. 22. Only critical support personnel should report to campus via PCH south from Kanan Dume Rd. The Pepperdine graduate campuses outside of Malibu will be open and classes will be held. Only critical communication systems, such as email, Internet connectivity, and telephone services, will likely be available today.
Students, faculty, and staff members who were relocated to the Tyler Campus Center, Payson Library, and Firestone Fieldhouse were allowed to return to their dorms and on-campus residences around 2 p.m. yesterday. All have been requested not to leave campus.
All roads leading to Pepperdine University are closed.
10/22/07, 6:50 a.m.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Oswald Chambers on the Life of a Disciple
We do not need the grace of God to stand crises, human nature
and pride are sufficient, we can face the strain magnificently; but
it does require the supernatural grace of God to live twenty-four
hours in every day as a saint, to go through drudgery as a disciple,
to live an ordinary, unobserved, ignored existence as a disciple of
Jesus. It is inbred in us that we have to do exceptional things for
God; but we do not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary
things, to be holy in mean streets, among mean people, and this is
not learned in five minutes.....Oswald Chambers
and pride are sufficient, we can face the strain magnificently; but
it does require the supernatural grace of God to live twenty-four
hours in every day as a saint, to go through drudgery as a disciple,
to live an ordinary, unobserved, ignored existence as a disciple of
Jesus. It is inbred in us that we have to do exceptional things for
God; but we do not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary
things, to be holy in mean streets, among mean people, and this is
not learned in five minutes.....Oswald Chambers
Monday, October 01, 2007
Work As Witness
From Rubel Shelley's Fax of Life today...
Title: Work as Witness
Date: For the Week of October 1, 2007
Centuries ago somebody began spreading the false idea that the Christian life is to be understood in terms of two arenas – sacred and secular. Sacred places are church buildings. Sacred events are those such as worship or baptism or weddings. Sacred people are preachers or church officers.
The remainder of life was declared secular. So farms, stores, and schools were secular places. Surgery and manufacturing, accounting and teaching, driving and watching TV - all were labeled secular. And ordinary people doing the routine and humdrum things of shopping, eating, and reading are secular.
But that is so terribly wrong. In God's plan for human existence, it makes no sense. In light of Christ's teaching, work is witness.
I can grant that there is a sense of the sacred and holy in a church assembled for worship that is missing from a crowded, noisy office. But work is sacred too. It is holy by virtue of divine presence you bring to it as a person filled with God's Spirit and participating in God's creative work.
Writing letters, hiring people, selling lumber, stocking shelves, firing someone who broke company policy again, answering phones - these and whatever other things you will be expected to do today are not secular. They're not, that is, unless you misunderstand your role in them. You and I are in the world to continue the work of God. Creating. Improving. Empowering. Doing things that we and others will look at and say are "good" or even "very good."
My appeal is not that we should become workaholics. Instead, it is that we see ourselves as God sees us. We are extensions of his presence into the nooks and crannies of the world. If Paul could tell slaves to do their chores "with enthusiasm, as to the Lord and not to human masters" (Ephesians 6:5-8), surely some of us could take a more elevated view of our tasks in the workplace.
Work isn't an unspiritual curse from which you should desire freedom in order to visit retreats, seminars, and workshops on spiritual life. It is your lab for turning lead to gold, humdrum to holy by the Spirit-presence you take to life.
Your spiritual life won't be on hold as you work today. It will be on display.
Title: Work as Witness
Date: For the Week of October 1, 2007
Centuries ago somebody began spreading the false idea that the Christian life is to be understood in terms of two arenas – sacred and secular. Sacred places are church buildings. Sacred events are those such as worship or baptism or weddings. Sacred people are preachers or church officers.
The remainder of life was declared secular. So farms, stores, and schools were secular places. Surgery and manufacturing, accounting and teaching, driving and watching TV - all were labeled secular. And ordinary people doing the routine and humdrum things of shopping, eating, and reading are secular.
But that is so terribly wrong. In God's plan for human existence, it makes no sense. In light of Christ's teaching, work is witness.
I can grant that there is a sense of the sacred and holy in a church assembled for worship that is missing from a crowded, noisy office. But work is sacred too. It is holy by virtue of divine presence you bring to it as a person filled with God's Spirit and participating in God's creative work.
Writing letters, hiring people, selling lumber, stocking shelves, firing someone who broke company policy again, answering phones - these and whatever other things you will be expected to do today are not secular. They're not, that is, unless you misunderstand your role in them. You and I are in the world to continue the work of God. Creating. Improving. Empowering. Doing things that we and others will look at and say are "good" or even "very good."
My appeal is not that we should become workaholics. Instead, it is that we see ourselves as God sees us. We are extensions of his presence into the nooks and crannies of the world. If Paul could tell slaves to do their chores "with enthusiasm, as to the Lord and not to human masters" (Ephesians 6:5-8), surely some of us could take a more elevated view of our tasks in the workplace.
Work isn't an unspiritual curse from which you should desire freedom in order to visit retreats, seminars, and workshops on spiritual life. It is your lab for turning lead to gold, humdrum to holy by the Spirit-presence you take to life.
Your spiritual life won't be on hold as you work today. It will be on display.
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