the cling.

Many people seem to assume that suffering is a requirement for bad behavior to be excused. 

Thus, many who think they have done something bad, feel the need to suffer. 

Thus, many people look for suffering, and one of the easiest ways to suffer is to insist your theology is the right one in the face of people and evidence that might question it and/or ridicule you for it. 

In other words, clinging to religious bias is often a relief for wrong behavior. 

sacrifice.

Maybe the only thing worth sacrificing at the altar is the very idea of sacrifice. 

excuses as atonement theories.

The more I look at most atonement theories, the more I find them to be nice excuses for something we really don't want to believe. 

The Kingdom of God is about serving, having nothing, and being killed by power. And finding the life there. 

That's not quite as sexy as a blood sacrifice that then enables us to be the power. 

guilt vs inspiration.

If you're ever in a room with a bunch of people who are required to be there (a business meeting) you'll notice it's usually much different than a room with a bunch of people who are inspired to be there (a concert). 

Amazing that religion generally decided to go with option A. 

the meth addiction.

I was recently with a farmer who was talking about a new kind of farming, healthier for the land, more efficient, more cost-effective even, and it involves no chemicals. 

His mentor, however, told him this: Be careful weening your ground off of the chemicals too fast. The soil is like a meth addict. It's addicted to everything you've been putting on it and it's going to need some time to get off that. 

Our land is addicted to drugs. 

irony.

I recently ran into a friend who told me how far it was from Spokane to our church and the negative affect that has on people coming. It's about 25 minutes on a Sunday morning. 

The irony was that we were having this conversation in Sandpoint - 1 hour 30 minutes from his home - for a soccer tournament for our elementary-aged kids. He was going to drive back to Spokane that night and then back for a 9am game on Sunday morning. 

So, 1 hour 30 minutes for a 6th grader soccer game is not too far but 25 minutes for a chance to be inspired, to rest, and to experience the divine force of the universe is? 

I understand. It's far away.

Much like time though, our problem is never that we don't have enough, it's just what we find worthy and what we don't. And that's just as much a "church" problem as it is a "people" problem. 

zero feedback.

Whenever your working on something big, the temptation is to get feedback as soon as possible.
I've done it and I see it constantly. 

Hey, everyone, I started a diet! 
I'm off Facebook! 
I'm writing a book! 
I'm meditating every day! 
I'm starting a new business!

In fact, doing anything without feedback is really hard. And so we ask for the feedback first, before it's due. 

But, I'm learning, slowly, spend energy on the diet, off Facebook, writing the book, meditating, or starting the business and you'll eventually get the feedback you crave, for all the right reasons. 

Work for the feedback, not from it.

Using feedback as fuel will rarely end up well. 

six.

Today is the six year anniversary of Branches. (I really wasn't sure if we would get to one year, let alone six) 

So, six things I love about Branches. 

1. It's honest. 
2. It's evolving. 
3. It's held loosely - it can breathe. 
4. It's viewed as dangerous by some.  
5. It is dangerous. 
6. It's liberating, if you want out of the cage. 

pastors and police.

Being in a profession that carries stigma and stereotype, I feel like I can say I know what it's like to be lumped into an unfair bias. 

Pastors are judgmental. Pastors are greedy. Pastors are hypocrites. Pastors are porn addicts. Pastors are liars. 

That is true. I can only try not to be. 

god is not the answer.

If your solution to a problem is "god",  you probably don't have a solution. 

They just need god.
If only they could find god. 
Call out to god and then... 

I'm not saying God doesn't exist. I'm not saying God doesn't do things. 

I am saying that 99.9% of the time, God works through a human. 

So, if the answer is  god, there is a good chance we are actually the answer and we're using "god" as an excuse to do nothing. 

seeds.

We have some friends with a massive avocado tree that supplies them with more avocados then they can eat every year. 

I love avocados. I want that tree.

What I rarely think about is what it took to get that tree. 

A seed. A nursery. Water. Fertilizer. Energy from the sun. Dirt.
Patience. More energy. More time. More investment.  More resources. Years and years.  

And eventually someone says...

What an amazing community. 
What an amazing company. 
What an amazing marriage. 
What an amazing job. 
What an amazing person. 

It's the most simplest of metaphors and the universe is always reminding us, but we forget it constantly. 

continually expanding.

The universe is continually expanding, which means that everything we are made of and consist of, is continually expanding. 

Which means,

when your friend group is not continually expanding
when your experiences are not continually expanding
when your creativity is not continually expanding
when your understanding is not continually expanding
when your tribe is not continually expanding

There is a reason you might feel a little off.

church ministry.

Thus,

I want to work for a church and do ministry. 

Means...

Teachers
Nurses
Bartenders
Photographers
Musicians

And every other job that demands interaction of any kind with another human, qualifies. 

And every interaction of any kind with another human is an opportunity to do just that. 

church.

I'm disliking the word church more and more everyday. 

It implies that there is some sacred act or place or space that exists over here or over there. 

It implies that there is this thing people "work for" or "want to go to" or "become members of" or "leave". 

It implies that there is an entity that will provide all kinds of things people need including, but not limited to, community, entertainment, and security. 

But... church describes the event of human beings ministering to one another. 

Every single human already participates whether they know it or not.

ministry.

I don't like the word ministry.

It implies that there is some sacred act or vocation or entity that exists over here or over there.

It implies that there is this thing people are "in" or "want to do" or "will go into" or "get out of". 

Ministry is when you treat your fellow human beings like the humans they are.

Every single human already participates whether they know it or not.

stumble.

There is a pretty radical idea in the Bible about causing someone to stumble. 

It can, obviously, mean a lot of things to a lot of people but at its core, it seems to be saying that right/wrong don't exist in the black/white world we think. 

Sometimes, right is dependent on someone else's wrong, which is, actually, very frustrating. 

And so, we'll usually come up with something like don't drink if you're around an alcoholic, or at least be aware of it. Funny enough, most humans are very okay with this. Of course, we don't want to cause someone to stumble in that way. 

(This is very different than not drinking around someone who thinks drinking is wrong, in my opinion.) 

Regardless, I've never heard anyone bring up money and this idea.

What does it look like to stumble with money?
What does it look like to cause someone to stumble who is addicted to money? 

meaningless.

If you had 12 million likes tomorrow, how would your life change the next day?

The only reasonable answer is that 12 million likes might mean that you now have 12 million clients or 12 million people listening to the story you are telling the world to make it better. 

In other words, likes only matter if they are indicative of something else. 

So, start producing a product that 12 million are interested in or start telling a story that 12 million people want to hear... you might end up with 12 million likes but you definitely won't care. 

equality.

There are two things that have to happen to bring equality to an unequal situation. 

Someone must come up or someone must go down. Usually, I think, it's a little bit of both. 

And I think this is what is terrifying to white heterosexual men (as well as all kinds of other people groups who have generally benefited from inequality). 

It's not that anyone is worried about them being brought up, it's the worry of us going down. 

bonus amazing and relevant poem post.

from Ella Wheeler Wilcox in 1914. 

To sin by silence, when we should protest,
Makes cowards out of men. The human race
Has climbed on protest. Had no voice been raised
Against injustice, ignorance, and lust,
The inquisition yet would serve the law,
And guillotines decide our least disputes.
The few who dare, must speak and speak again
To right the wrongs of many. Speech, thank God,
No vested power in this great day and land
Can gag or throttle. Press and voice may cry
Loud disapproval of existing ills;
May criticise oppression and condemn
The lawlessness of wealth-protecting laws
That let the children and childbearers toil
To purchase ease for idle millionaires.

Therefore I do protest against the boast
Of independence in this mighty land.
Call no chain strong, which holds one rusted link.
Call no land free, that holds one fettered slave.
Until the manacled slim wrists of babes
Are loosed to toss in childish sport and glee,
Until the mother bears no burden, save
The precious one beneath her heart, until
God’s soil is rescued from the clutch of greed
And given back to labor, let no man
Call this the land of freedom.

kaepernick: the critic within.

Criticism is not all bad. The right kind of criticism is what makes something better. 

Every good company listens to good criticism - sometimes the criticism is directly from the CEO.
Every good product is good because good criticism was listened to and addressed.
The Bible even criticizes itself, pointing out faults in the religious system within it. 

What is good criticism?

There are all kinds of rules from all kinds of people, including Roosevelt's "get in the arena" quote about ignoring the critics and paying attention the man fighting in the arena. 

Which brings us to something interesting and I think critical about critics. 

The person "within the arena" has every right to be critical and not only every right but without that criticism, the company/country/community that he/she is in will not grow and evolve and change. 

So, how do we define "within"? That seems to be the critical component.

Trump supporters think Trump is in. (This obviously has nothing to do with money or celebrity or indulgent lifestyle.) Trump criticizes America constantly and gains support because of it. 

Clinton supporters think Clinton is in. (This obviously has nothing to do with money or celebrity or indulgent lifestyle.) Clinton criticizes America constantly and gains support because of it. 

Kaepernick supporters think Kaepernick is in. But there are, obviously, much fewer people who think he is "in" enough to criticize the way he has. Is it really about not standing for the flag or is there something deeper? 

I think, he makes us ask the question he wants us to ask: is this is a country that still makes excuses when certain colors of human beings criticize - because we don't see them as "within" enough? 

Ironically enough, the very song Kaepernick is sitting down for was written by a man who said that Africans in America are "a distinct and inferior race of people, which all experience proves to be the greatest evil that afflicts a community." 

Apparently, Francis Scott Key was in enough then to write our "national anthem" and is in enough still, but if you disagree with him, you are not. 

(Or, this could all just be a case of no one can be a critic - or even perceived as a critic - of our nation's military. But that's a whole other problem.)