From Sampler to Sower

A person’s life is shaped by many things – among the most important are the questions she or he can’t help but ask.

Everything Must Change by Brian McLaren

So begins the second chapter in Brian McLaren’s book Everything Must Change. I’m returning to the book in the second installment in the series I began a little over a week ago with my post on “Hope Happens.” As I said before, I hope you’ll pick up a copy, read along with me, and join in the discussion either here, or on the Anderson Zone Nazarene Youth Pastor’s blog, where I will be reposting this.

Summary

In chapter two, McLaren introduces the two questions he claims are among the most shaping things in his life, “introduces” being the key word. If you’re looking for many answers, or even an in depth exploration of the questions, you’ll be disappointed. That’s coming later. This chapter is simply meant to get us thinking about these two core questions:

1. What are the biggest problems in the world today?
2. What do the life and teaching of Jesus Christ have to say about them?

These are questions that McLaren feels don’t get asked enough, especially by the church. At least according to him, the Jesus portrayed by most churches is concerned with either a) how I can get to heaven when I die, or b) how can I be more happy and successful as I wait for (a) to happen. Note the emphasis on “I”. The Christ of modern Christianity is too preoccupied with the fate of individuals to worry about the world. Or so says McLaren. (more…)

"I'm beautiful this way!"

If you subscribe to my Twitter feed, @pastorbuhro, or if you read it in the sidebar of this blog, you know I really enjoy listening to all the things my three-year-old daughter Mackenzie has to say. A few days ago I was listening to her play with her youngest brother (Brock, age 5) in their shared bedroom. They were in their dress-up toy box and I heard her explain, “I’m dressed up like Snow White because I’m beautiful this way.”

Of course I had to go and see just what she was talking about. And there she was, in her Snow White blouse, Bibleman cape, and pink toy high heels.

Being a good father, I knew I had to grab my new camera and get a picture of this fashion statement.

And being a good son I also knew I had to get the picture up on flickr so her Grandmas up north could see it.

But once all that was done, I began to think about what I’d just heard: my daughter, explaining to her brother, “I’m beautiful this way.” And that got me thinking.   I began wondering how many more years my daughter will be able to look into the mirror and say that.

I’d like to think that she will grow up into a confident young lady who, when asked, will explain,” I’m dressed like this because I’m beautiful this way.”  But thirteen years as a youth pastor makes me skeptical.

I’ve met very few young ladies who had the confidence to say “I’m beautiful this way.”  I’ve met a lot who said “I would be beautiful, if only I wasn’t so . . .”  I’ve met a lot who dressed to make up for a beauty they feared they lacked (even when they didn’t lack beauty at all.)  And I’ve seen far too many tragic consequences that come with this loss of confidence.

But I’ve met very few who look into the mirror and see beauty rather than flaws.

As a youth pastor, I know the struggle for positive body image is one that comes with adolescence for both boys and girls.

As a youth pastor, and more frighteningly as a father, I’m not sure what to do about it.

So I started to study.  Over the past week I’ve been reading everything I can get my hands on concerning developing positive body image in kids and teens.  Here’s what I’ve learned, presented not as an expert (i.e. someone who’s tried it and found that it works) but rather as a father and pastor looking for sound advice for helping his kids.

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I stumbled across this children’s book about dreaming big dreams. I liked it so much I thought I’d suggest it to you, even if they don’t appear to know the difference between “vain” and “vein”.

An Awesome Book by Dallas Clayton

A Woodcutter's Toolbox for Youth Ministry

It’s wintertime in Indiana, and that means at least two things at my house.

We’re literally burning through the firewood I stockpiled like a responsible ant while all you grasshoppers were out playing last winter.

And in anticipation of the likely advent of another winter roughly 12 months from now, I’m spending my Wednesdays (my day off) making sure I have another pile well stocked for next winter.  And so it was that I spent about six hours of quality time with my chain saw Wednesday afternoon.

And that got me thinking.

Every time I go woodcutting, there are a handful of things that I take with me.  Some of them are necessary for the task at hand.  Some of them are just to make the job more pleasant.  And today, I realized some of them could be valuable in youth ministry.

Below are five items from my woodcutting toolbox that would be an asset to any youth pastor.  And I’ve even made each image a link to Amazon.com so you can buy some for yourself, should you so choose.

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I stumbled across this video about the exponential growth, not only in world population, but also in information technologies.  I found it fascinating, and it poses some interesting questions for the future of ministry.

Did You Know? from Amybeth on Vimeo.

The Vocation of the Child, Patrick McKinley Brennan, ed.

I don’t often use such language, but I believe that God led me to read a book recently.  I don’t usually use that kind of language, because I believe that God typically leaves the titles on my reading list to me – or at the very least I would hate to blame Him for some of the real snoozers or mindless fiction I’ve read recently.  My faith would truly be shaken, for example, if I believed that it was God’s specific will for me to read Twilight, a book I feel could fit well into either of the aforementioned categories.

But this was different.  I was standing in my favorite bookstore on the planet, the Cokesbury Store in Fishers, IN.  A title on the shelf grabbed my attention – The Vocation of the Child, edited by Patrick Brennan.   As I read the description on the jacket, especially the line that said “The Vocation of the Child seeks to understand the child as a person in his or her own right, as a member of family and community, and as a son or daughter of God who came to earth as a child,” something deep inside me stirred and I knew this was a book I needed to read.

And so today I’m starting a new series on the blog which will review the various essays which make up the book.  My plan is to tackle one essay a week, and with 15 essays, I should wrap this up sometime near the end of March.  I invite you to read along.  If you can get your hands on a copy, I urge you to do so.  I know that you can order it from Amazon.  And please, join in the discussion through the comments below.

Now, on to the first essay “The Vocation of the Child: Theological Perspectives on the Particular and Paradoxical Roles and Responsibilities of Children” by Dr. Marcia J Bunge.  Dr. Bunge is a professor of humanities and theology at Christ College, Valparaiso University’s honor college.  In this essay she pursues a well-rounded understanding of the calling of the child. (more…)

Write Them On My Heart

Weekend Teaching Series: Write them On My Heart (A series on the 10 Commandments)

Message Title: Word Ten: No Coveting What Belongs to Another

Sermon in a Sentence: In a world filled with greedy actions motivated by self-interest, God calls his people to serve others from a heart of love.

Text(s): Genesis 2:9, 3:6; Deuteronomy 5:21, Psalm 19:9-10, 68:19, Song of Songs 2:3, Romans 7:7-8

Weekend Scale of Difficulty: 6 of 10, Pretty straightfoward service, only video was a pre-service countdown.  The only hard part was doing Chrsitmas songs for worship because we don’t play those a lot.  (That and the sleet storm that kept more than half our crowd away.)

Message Summary:

We wrapped up our 10 Commandments series with a review of the commandments so far.

We noted:

• They aren’t really commandments — with the exception of #5, none are in the imperative case and the Bible calls them the 10 “Words” or “decalogue”.
• They aren’t commandments because commandments are essentially options.  Rules provide ultimatums – either do this or if not, the consequence will be . . .  – and then leave the choice to obey with the hearer.
• The 10 Words are statements of fact.  They are not optional.  If we are God’s people, this is how we will live.  God does not say “Don’t murder or else. . . “  He simply states “You will not murder.”
• The first “half” (1-4) deal with our relationship with God the second half (5-9) deal with our relationship with others.
• And while the common approach to the Ten Words is to reduce them to a list of rules to hang on the wall and force others to abide by them, God actually desires to write these qualities on our heart, making us into the type of people he describes.

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This last Sunday our youth choir, under the excellent direction of our Children’s Minister Pastor Jill presented Geron Davis’ Christmas musical The Cradle that Rocked the World (from Brentwood Benson publishers).  It was an incredible service and I had the privilege of  preaching the message as part of the presentation.  (That’s why it’s so short — I hardly ever am this timely.)

In keeping with the musical, the theme was “This baby changes everything.”   And it is basically a retelling of the story of Simeon in Luke 2 .  (I had originally hoped to include the story of Anna, but time did not permit.)

Below’s my first attempt with Vimeo video.  Obviously I did not have the right deinterlace setting on in Handbrake when I converted it from our service DVD.  Oh well, live and learn, right?

The Story of Simeon from Bradley Buhro on Vimeo.

So maybe I’m liking ths idea just becasue it gives me the opportunity to use my new digital camera. But as I was watching the Christmas concert for our local school system I was inspired with an idea to demonstrate to teens and their parents that I was thinking about them. I started shooting not only pictures of the choir and band as a whole, but I also pulled out the telephoto and started snapping shots of individual teens from our youth ministry. My idea is to send each student a card to let them know how much I appreciated their performance, and to include a print or two of them from the pictures I took. Granted, not very profound as ideas go, but it is cheap, practical, and very personal.

There is much to dismantle, much to overturn, much to rebuild, much to imagine and create and there are many seeds to be sown and grown.

Everything Must Change by Brian McLaren

With those words, Brian McLaren ends the introductory chapter of his book Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope. And I must admit, I find those words just a bit inspiring. The emerging church has been about the business of dismantling some one the self-serving concretions of Christianity that came with its establishment as one of the major centers of power in society. There’s been a lot of deconstructing, a lot of overturning.

But there hasn’t been as much rebuilding, imagining and creating as I might hope. Pockets of creative re-imagination can be found here and there, especially within the last decade, but it’s a process that is only beigning and I have hopes that McLaren’s book will carry that reimgining forward in regard to the global crises facing our world. Constructive criticism has it’s place, but in the emerging church there are times it seems like there is far too much criticism and not much construction. I suppose that too is part of the everything that must change.

In that same concluding paragraph McClaren suggests an optimal way of reading his book: “slowly and thoughtfully . . . with some friends if possible.” Truth be told, my first time through the book was none of the above. But recently a colleague of mine, Paul Ward, invited the Nazarene youth pastors in our area to read the book together. He even set up a blog where we can discuss what we read.

And so I’m embarking on my second journey through these pages – a little more slowly, a little more thoughtfully, and this time with some friends along for the ride. I’d like to invite you to be among those friends. I’ll be posting my reactions to the reading both here and on the Anderson Zone Youth Pastor’s blog. Feel free to read along and jump into the discussion in the comments below. Let’s do McLaren proud and create a little conversation.

Now to summarize . . .

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