While sitting in a meeting about social media a colleague questioned whether we could actually form relations through online connections. Then she questioned whether or not it was a good thing to even try. Can online communities form real meaningful relationships?

With the explosion of interest in social media on the web comes considerable debate.

Community is a word we use a lot in describing how we live together or take action together, particularly in the church. Commonly we mean fellowship but the root of the word community comes from the Latin root communis; literally, common tasks. We work together to establish a life in common. This is a life of shared tasks, which may include shared responsibility, shared understanding, shared failure, shared beliefs, etc.

Relationship is a more modern word.  It’s a word we use to describe connectivity. It’s the connection between people, for example. We use it when we want to be more specific than community or fellowship. We use “relationship” to indicate a deeper connection between people.

When we speak of our relationship with Christ what are we really saying? There is a deep connection between the Son of God and us. We work to form a deeper connection. We talk to him, seek his guidance; ask for him to intercede on our behalf; and seek to communicate in deeply personal ways.

If we can communicate intimately in a transcendent way, then connecting through technology is not such a stretch. What matters most is what is at the heart of our attempts at building community or forming individual relationships. More on this in my next post.

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A loss of focus can cause a minor inconvenience or a major catastrophe. When driving, have you ever missed a turn because you were distracted, or your mind was somewhere else?

I remember walking home from school one day when I saw a car just drift across the double yellow line on a busy city street. I looked briefly in at the driver and she didn’t appear to be paying attention. An oncoming car hit the brakes and skidded into her car.  The woman driving the first car looked horrified and got out of her car apologizing. Luckily, no one was injured, but the image has stayed with me for years.

Focus is important in our lives. The ability to block out distractions and devote ourselves to the task at hand is essential to productivity.

I watch my daughter at physical therapy going through a series of exercises to stretch and strengthen her muscles. Most of the time her mind wanders; I can see it happening. I want to scream, “Focus!” But I know it won’t do any good. So I talk to her, calmly, about how the benefits of her exercises would be greatly enhanced if she concentrated on them. She just rolls her eyes.

If we want to increase our own productivity, we should try focus. If we hone in on whatever we need to accomplish and devote ourselves to it, not only do we accomplish it, but we accomplish it well. It’s true in our faith too. It’s something the world doesn’t understand. When Jesus says, “Come and follow me,” he’s asking us to give up who we are and focus on him.

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While listenening to the radio this morning, I was struck by the words of Mike Greenburg. He is co-host, along with Mike Golic, of the Mike and Mike in the Morning show on ESPN radio.  Greenburg states how he looks at everything in life from a worst case scenario perspective.  Golic says to Greenburg, “From the perspective of a glass half-full or half-empty, yours is cracked and leaking.”

Greeny insists that it’s difficult to change.  Golic comes back with, “if you want to change, just change.”

Part of me wants to side with Golic and agree, “Just change.”  But I know better. It’s not that easy.  In some cases we can control our attitudes and just change.  At a deeper level, some things just aren’t so easy.  Seeing the world through a negative lens or a positive lens is deep within our core.  It’s like whether we’re energized by being around groups of people or emotionally drained when having to interact with several people.  We don’t choose that response.  It’s part of who we are.

If Mike Greeburg wants to change his outlook from a negative view on life to a positive view on life, can he do it?  From my layman’s perspective, I think he can learn techniques to help him filter his negative responses and see some of the positives.  I don’t believe he can change who he is at his core.  He can’t change how God made him.

There’s nothing wrong with seeing the world as a glass half empty.  As a matter of fact, Greeny sees some advantages to it.  He believes it has made him work harder to be successful.  Seeing the negative side of things has made him work harder to reach a positive outcome.  

Now that’s an interesting outlook.

As we come in contact with co-workers and supervisors, how often do we accept them for who they are?  Wishing they would change doesn’t help achieve a better outcome, but understanding them or loving them as we love ourselves might lead to greater achievement for all of us.

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Have you ever faced deep and troubling disappointment? Most of us have so that's why I want to encourage you to read Robert Hruzek's post at Middle Zone Musings .

Robert is part of the HighCalllingBlogs network. He also leads several group writing projects for bloggers.

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Last night I watched the movie Chariots of Fire. Howard Butt has done a couple of radio messages about Eric Liddell. While Liddell’s name has come up repeatedly over the years, it was the other main character in the movie, Harold Abrahams, who caught my attention. 

This movie is about the 1924 British Olympic track team, and it presents the viewer with paradox on many fronts. Abrahams was Jewish and an outsider at Cambridge Caius College. While popular among the student body, an underlying tension came through in his character.  We learn that his father was wealthy and young Harold felt a need to be successful in order to gain his father’s approval. Abrahams ran out of compulsion. He ran to win and only to win.

Eric Liddell, by contrast, felt the tension between his gift of running speed and his desire to serve God. He ran for pleasure, God’s and his own. He says, ”I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure.”

Ironically, Liddell is presented in a more simplistic manner than Abrahams. Liddell's faith is rules oriented, and it causes him great conflict. But one quote from the movie moves beyond that simplicity into the depth of paradox.

Liddell has made it clear that he will not break the Sabbath and run on Sunday. The British Olympic committee tries to change his mind. They are at an impasse when Lord Andrew Lindsay, a teammate of Eric’s steps forward and offers to give up his spot in the 400 to Liddell. This resolution is warmly greeted by all. Afterward, a conversation takes place:

Lord Birkenhead: Thank God for Lindsay. I thought the lad had us beaten.

Duke of Sutherland: The "lad," as you call him, is a true man of principles and a true athlete. His speed is a mere extension of his life, its force. We sought to sever his running from himself.

My lament is that screenwriters and novelists often fail to capture the conflict within Christians. It usually turns on some ethical dilemma, which reduces Christianity to a system of rules. Perhaps the mistake is misunderstanding Christian obedience. It’s not about following all the rules. Obedience is about surrendering ourselves so totally and completely to Christ that the love of Christ transforms us in such a way that we can become who God intends us to be.

We cannot discover such obedience without the discipline of prayer and the guidance of scripture. Rules point out our failure to be fully Christian. Grace is sufficient for overcoming our failure to live obediently. This paradox of freedom from rules and complete obedience is difficult to convey. It can only be internalized and reflected through actions. Abrahams compulsion is more universal and easier to convey through art. The Christian paradox takes a lifetime of understanding, so depicting it through film is a difficult task.

This paradox is what we’re about at TheHighCalling.org. The world tries to sever their faith from themselves. A living faith influences all that Christians do. Christians carry this living faith into all of life so that Christ can work through us to redeem the world for his sake.

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After listening to the multitude of  voices on an historic night, I was struck by several things. From the the emotion of many Americans who thought they would never live to see an African-American elected President, to the graceful concession of the defeated candidate, John McCain. Throughout the world people marveled at the American political system.

It really struck me how ordinary this all was. A man was elected President of the United States. There was no great alarm in the nation. Chaos did not ensue. Revelers did not take over anything. President Bush’s congratulatory phone call to President-elect Obama promised a smooth transition of power. This is the ordinary manner in which power is transferred in this nation.

The greatest source of encouragement was during the campaign. Senator Obama wasn't being compared to Frederic Douglass or Martin Luther King, Jr. But he was compared to John F. Kennedy. It was an obvious and easy comparison.

So if there is one great Hallelujah moment in this election it’s that labels didn't define the man. Maybe now we’ve moved beyond racial stereotypes. Maybe now we are beginning to see just a person. Not a black person or a white, brown, yellow, red, or multi-hued person, but merely a person. An ordinary person made in the image of God.

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Vacation is a time for rest, rejuvenation, and recreation. It’s such a great thought. Why am I so anxious about it then? I don’t mean anxious in the "hurry up and get here" way. I’m talking about a Mel Brooks High Anxiety. You see, I’m about to embark on a cross-country road trip with my two surviving brothers. Basically, it’ll be three guys who know everything riding in a car together sharing differing opinions about life.

The chief, the cop, and the theologian head east. It has an intriguing sound to it, maybe even a good movie title like Dumb and Dumber. We’re so very different—the retired Navy man, the retired cop, and the career religionist. They feel comfortable in a violent world; me—not so much. We all share a deep passion for sports; they’ll even share their passion for politics.  I long to share openly about my struggles with life and faith.  But any talk about fear or emotional pain is quickly dismissed by them.

I’m the youngest of six children, my mother’s favorite. Although she’s been dead for thirty-two years, I feel I still have to overcome being her favorite. It’s like I should apologize for it. Well, I can’t; but a certain tension still exists because of it.

So with this excess baggage in the car with us, we’ll head up the Atlantic coast to visit our two sisters. Those dynamics will add to the joy and the complexity of the trip. This may be the last time we’ll all be together. We realize that.

A couple of weeks ago, I was with some long-time friends. It seems easier with friends than with family. The dynamics are different. Expectations don’t get in the way. Shared parents aren’t part of the equation.

This tension with my siblings has given me perspective on love. Jesus tells us to love one another, but we often think of love as this warm, kind of sappy feeling. My time with my siblings reveals something different all together. Make no mistake, I love my siblings. They’re great people, and I admire them. We’ve argued, fought, and dismissed each other.  But through it all, we’ve maintained a respect and unconditional love that moves beyond our individual shortcomings. We get angry, but apologies are never necessary. We just move on. It’s how it has always been with us, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

This vacation is looking better all the time.

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Driving on a plateau miles from any semblance of a town, past acres and acres of overgrazed land strewn with rocks, I was taken by the stark beauty. Then I turned off the pavement onto a dirt road. The trees lining the road seemed less like giants towering over me than like friends welcoming me. The gnarled beauty of such diminutive trees, seemingly growing out of the bedrock, gave me pause. I was now entering a different world, one I’d never experienced before. It would change my life forever.

After a short drive on the dirt, the road began a steep descent. Just before the road dipped into a roller-coaster-type drop, a sign on the side of the road warned, “SLOW, beep your horn.” This seemed odd until, upon cresting the hill, I saw a sharp turn to the right about one hundred feet ahead. The rocky hillside hid the view around the bend. And the steep drop into oblivion on the left kept my eyes focused on the road.

Around the bend, the steep descent continued for several hundred feet of elevation change. And then, like any good roller coaster, the ride began to level some. It was still descending but not at such an extraordinary pace. Then I caught a glimpse of the end to my wild ride and saw another sign, “YES! You drive in the river.”

Before my next decision, I took a quick inventory. Ahead was water, shallow but about fifty or sixty feet across. Directly on the other side of the water was a wall. This forty-foot-high cliff extended to my left and to my right as far as I could see. Obviously, I wasn’t supposed to merely cross this expanse. The sign was literal. I made a right turn into the river with great trepidation. I followed the markers in the water. As I looked ahead, I saw the water was getting deeper. Just then, to my left I spied it, a dusty patch of dirt guarded on one side by boulders and water and on the other by the cliff.

This was the dramatic entrance into Echo Valley. Once there I gathered with the group of outdoor educators for the weekend. Ken Cave greeted us on behalf of the Foundation. Something he said in his warm greeting has stuck in my head for twenty-six years.

Ken told us, “God has a special blessing for everyone who comes into this Canyon. And if you look for it, you’ll find it.”

This was my first introduction to theology of place. Nobody called it that, and I certainly didn’t recognize it that way then. But over the years, this theology of place has played out time after time for thousands of pilgrims making their way to the Canyon and the programs of Laity Lodge.

Ever since my first visit, I’ve told people about the “special blessing” they can find in that holy space. Then I tell them my only regret. I can never enter the Canyon again for the first time .

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An Associated Press article was appearing in several print mediums over the weekend: “Evangelicals are in the news but not in the newsrooms." It is a very well-put article about the influence, or lack of influence, evangelicals have in major newsrooms across America. Rose French presents the article in a very clear manner.

One statement caught my eye. French writes, “Since the 1980s, when the Christian right emerged as a powerful force in American culture and politics, evangelicals have made significant inroads in law and government by training believers to work inside secular institutions.” Admittedly this statement is taken out of context, and I urge you to read the piece yourself. But that statement taken alone says much about America and its understanding of religious history in this country.

Such a statement reinforces some common misunderstandings about Christians.

First, evangelicals are not synonymous with the Christian right. Terry Mattingly's quote later on in the article addresses this somewhat. He told French, "It bothers me that when mainstream outlets want an evangelical voice, they've turned to Jerry Falwell or James Dobson or Pat Robertson. . . . They are men of high regard and standing, but there are others who have a different take on things."

Second, the statement implies that Christians emerged as a powerful cultural force in the 1980s. Here's a quick history lesson.

A study of the awakenings, which spread Christianity across the nation from Plymouth, MA, to Portland, OR, shows the influence of Evangelical Christianity on the culture of America long before the 1980s. I’m willing to bet that most Americans who finish high school can’t tell you anything about the Great Awakening. This cultural phenomenon and its succeeding revivals infused a new nation with a religious identity while embracing religious pluralism.

The fabled “Midwest” cradle of American values has always been evangelical. Its values and culture has been heavily influenced by Christianity. Similarly, the cultural centers in the Northeast have been heavily influenced by Mainline Protestantism and Catholicism.  Mainliners had power and money. Catholicism controlled the workers. In the Southwest, the strong influence of Catholics, from Louisiana to California, made the largest single denomination in America appear as though it represented the American worker.

Things changed in the early twentieth century. Many evangelical churches turned inward, becoming isolated from mainstream society. They stressed a fundamental set of beliefs. There was a tendency to keep church members insulated from the broader culture. This did change radically in the 1980s when evangelicals took a more public stance in politics.

I think what happens in our culture is that we don't take the time to understand people. We like to paint everyone with the broad stroke of our immediate experience.  But when painting a room or a house, we add color by mixing in tints. The tints are added in small portions to a larger quantity of base color. The tints provide the variety and pizazz while the hidden base provides the stability to cover the walls.

Ironically, evangelicals have been marginalized in America. Few people realize that it's evangelicals who provide the base to the broad spectrum of colors that make up America. It's the leadership that makes America work.

 

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Increasingly, arguments rage, especially involving politics, because we have differing languages to communicate our experiences.

For example, a group of people may state publicly that they prayed about building a church and God answered their prayers. But skeptics look at them with scorn. They see this public pronouncement as either delusional or manipulative. They don’t understand what the prayer group is talking about. They can’t relate to that experience. Even non-skeptics may wonder people would make such a public statement about such a private matter as prayer.

Here's another example. Bruce Springsteen closes his ballad "Youngstown" with these words:

When I die I don't want no part of heaven
I would not do heaven's work well
I pray the devil comes and takes me
To stand in the fiery furnaces of hell

The sentiment is a common one for the hard-scrabble laborers of the Northeast. But Hell is not metaphoric for many people of faith.

These differences in our religious language divide us. The division can be so great that people can’t talk about their faith at all in many workplaces. But we can't build honest relationships with people who don’t know us. And if we can’t talk about our faith openly and honestly, then people can’t know us.

Now I’m not promoting proselytizing. That can be divisive. But open sharing with honest reciprocity deepens relationships.

There is, however, a disconnect. Are we revisiting Babel? You remember the story. The people were working to build a tower to heaven until God confused their language. When they could no longer communicate, they were no longer able to work together.

Has the Christian culture differentiated itself so much that we can no longer communicate with people who aren't Christian? Or worse, are we unable to communicate with each other? Jesus said, “Whoever is not against us is for us.” It's now more common for Christians to ask as if “whoever isn’t for us is against us.” There’s a big difference between the two statements.

Babel was a judgment against an unfaithful people. What’s God’s judgment on us now?

While you think about that, here's a video of Bruce Springsteen playing "Youngstown."

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