when did we stop playing?

How would you define imagination? When I asked my seminar participants this today, they used some of these words and phrases: Visioning. Dreams. Transcendent humor. Even Spongebob.

I followed that up by reading the creation story, Genesis 1:1 – 2:4, from the Message version of the Bible. While it’s really not what you want to use for serious Bible study or exegesis, I really like to pull out the Message once in a while for its fresh, earthy, and non-academic language. Through the scripture, it’s fun to watch, in your mind’s eye, the creation story unfold as God’s divine imagination becomes a reality. I like to think of God as an engineer (big surprise, right?). God imagined the universe, designed it, and then built it – speaking it into existence.

I can remember being young and climbing all over a fallen tree with my friends and my brother, pretending the tree was a spaceship. We’d land on alien planets, fire the lasers, and gather “crystals” (aka, bottles and jars we found in the dirt, filled with creek water) to power the ship. We would run around in the woods and play all day on those warm, summer days until it got dark and our parents made us come inside.

When I was visiting the Seminar Program in New York City last fall, one of the speakers, a theater guy, asked us to pretend we were in all kinds of interesting situations: walking through honey, hurrying somewhere on the coldest day of the year, on your way to your first date with the girl/guy of your dreams. At the end of all this, he asked a question that hit me like a ton of bricks.

When did we stop playing?

Whoa. The more I think about it, the more I realize that I/we haven’t completely stopped playing, but it really isn’t something that happens on a daily basis. I remember a few weeks ago, a few friends and I were hanging out, and we pulled out some Nerf guns (sorry pacifists) and ran around the house marking each other in good fun! For others, playing looks like finding creative ways to make running a mile more challenging.

This kind of playing is all good fun (depending on who you are) and can be a needed escape from reality, but others still have found more humanitarian ways to play and exercise imagination. At Capitol Hill UMC, we have begun a sermon series promoting the UMC Imagine No Malaria campaign. It’s all about visioning and moving toward a world where malaria, a disease that claims a life every 60 seconds, is no longer a reality. We want to eradicate it worldwide, just like we did in the US in the 1950s. Simple preventative measures, such as a $10 bed net, along with education on how and why to use it, can protect a family from malaria-carrying mosquitoes while they sleep, the time when people are most vulnerable to bites and subsequent infections. Think about ways you might get involved in this, or something else that inspires your passion and sparks your imagination.

As I write this, I come to this thought: aren’t the times we feel most alive also the times when we are playing, brainstorming, and letting our imaginations soar? I hope you get a chance to get outside and play today.

Newsletter Issue 2: Catching Up

Finally, I got another newsletter to the presses! Take a peek, and I hope you enjoy. Please let me know if you'd like to get on my email or postal mailing lists to recieve a copy by either of those means next time around.

Stay blessed!

Prayer requests:

• Next Tuesday, I speak at the 60th annual Missions Conference at Lanes Mills UMC, my home church where I grew up! I'm excited and nervous, but hope to deliver something good!
• My Grandma Elsie (97 years young) recently needed to be placed in a nursing home. It's been a hard transition for her and for the rest of the family, so your prayers are welcomed.
• Thank God for spring warmth and sunshine!

reblogged: crazy, driven, hard-workin' believers

So I decided to reblog myself. Trendsetter, I know. This is guest blog I wrote for The Book of Fellows, the blog for United Methodists Young Adult Missionaries. Check it out and see what my peers are up to and thinking about. Thanks to all who dialoged with me about the video below and for some great insight from sermons at The District Church. Enjoy!

How does this commercial make you feel? What do you think about it?

I’ve mulled this one over with a number of friends, and typically one of two responses arise. One affirms the commercial. Work hard! It’s the pathway to success, achievement, and fulfillment.

The other is usually some kind of shock or repulsion. People with this reaction are the folks who have worked hard, but haven’t moved upward. Others with this response have climbed to the top, or at least near enough to see that more hard work is all that awaits them. Still others have experienced the lives of those who have no choice but to work hard. I think of my friend Emmanuel, a high school student in Liberia. His daily routine: run to school, take a quick shower at the pump, learn and absorb in class, buy a cup of rice at the market, cook it, eat half, save the other half for breakfast, study, and sleep. That’s a hard day’s work.

Hard work is a virtue for sure, but does not necessarily correlate with accomplishment, success, or even being able to meet one’s own basic human needs. Of course, these basic needs do not come without some elbow grease. They also don’t typically come without some degree of privilege. I think this is the component the “work hard” community often misses.

For a long time, I thought my academic success was due to my hard work. Later, I realized that I actually worked a lot less than most of my peers! I definitely put in the necessary effort, but the gifts God gave me allowed me to excel. Now when people discover I studied engineering and praise my smarts, I have to be honest and say I’m just gifted and would fail miserably in other fields!

But there is another component we should also consider as people of faith:

He said to me, ‘This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts.’
Zechariah 4:6 NRSV

Zerubbabel, governor of Judah after the exile, oversaw the rebuilding of the Temple, which was gutted and destroyed when Israel was conquered. Rebuilding such a significant edifice was a tremendous task, compounded by neighboring nations’ opposition and by Israel’s pursuit of “the good life.” Hard work was needed, but so was a reliance on the power of God’s Spirit to have the right heart attitude, sufficient strength, and the willpower to stand against the naysayers. Anything of lasting value is done in community and is done by the power of God’s Spirit.

Treat yourself to a quick exercise: reread the scripture above, but this time, replace Zerubbabel with your name. Do you perceive the Lord of hosts speaking this into any area of your life right now?

Here is my challenge: work in earnest, be cognizant of privilege, and enter into the work of the Lord. This is the pathway to success, achievement, and fulfillment before God. At the end of the day, I hope we stand before Jesus and hear, “Well done, good and faithful servants.”

So – what kind of crazy, driven, hard-workin’ believer are you going to be?

a brief sketch of my journey so far

This article will appear at a later date in the General Board of Church and Society's Faith in Action Newsletter as part of a series of staff profiles. About a year ago was when I firmly decided it was time for a change in my situation, and now seems like an opportune time to revisit this here.

Update: a version of this article has been published in Faith in Action on July 11, 2014.

Photo credit: Wayne Rhodes

“You’re doing ok, but you still have a ways to go. I don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel yet.” This was not what I wanted to hear from my academic advisor as I neared the end of my sixth year in grad school. A Ph.D. student in mechanical engineering at the time, I was growing weary of research and academia, and I longed for something more purposeful. Also growing at the time was my Christian faith, and throughout grad school, I struggled to connect faith, my aptitude for science and math, and an awareness of the brokenness in the world. While my advisor's comments really cut to the heart, it was his honest assessment of my progress and it was a talk that was long overdue. That conversation lead me to begin an earnest search for something new.

Through a series of connections, I landed on the US-2 Young Adult Missions Program of the UMC (now known as the Generation Transformation Global Mission Fellows Program). After an extremely thorough application and a couple interviews by online video chat, I was accepted into the program, trained, commissioned, and finally placed at the General Board of Church and Society with the UM Seminar Program.

It’s hard for me to imagine a more perfect placement. Since I spent ten years studying engineering, I only had some cursory exposure to social issues. Here, I am surrounded by experts in a variety of areas. Through the Seminar Program, we invite these and many other authorities to share their work with our groups, and I get to learn right alongside them. Teaching and tutoring have been longtime interests of mine, but haven’t felt the pull to formally study education. Being on staff at the UM Seminar Program gives me opportunities to hone my skills in facilitation, education, and curriculum design. Most importantly, this place gives me room to listen for and discern my calling with the support and guidance of a wonderful and wise staff.

Working with my Seminar Program groups is inspiring. Some of my seminar groups are full of knowledge. My first group, a youth group Morrow Memorial UMC in New Jersey, could name all eight Millennium Development Goals while most people have never even heard of them.  Some groups come with a wealth of experience. Groups of Habitat for Humanity AmeriCorps Volunteers brought frontline accounts of affordable housing and neighborhood revitalization. All groups, at least so far in my brief tenure here, have come with cups, ready to be filled with more knowledge and more experience, and be sent into the world. They are so much more than just vessels to be filled, though. These groups also come with a sense of adventure, ready to be challenged both intellectually and emotionally, truly engaging in topics that many have the choice and privilege to ignore.

The work challenges me to understand the current state of the world and how we move to the way God intends for us to live. How do we balance personal choice and free agency with social responsibility and the common good? How can providing immediate aid (mercy) and addressing root causes of societal problems (justice) work synergistically instead of one or the other having preference? What is the government’s role in these? What is the church’s role in these? What is my role in these? Many tough questions, no easy answers. Fortunately, I’ve always enjoyed a challenge.

After years of feeling vocationally disjointed, I’m now gifted to be abiding in a place of growth, purpose, and challenge. Where will God lead me next? Many people ask me if I will return to school and finish my Ph.D. At the moment, I don’t feel called to do so. I have a few other ideas, but I also have time to discern and decide.

reblogged: reversing the foster care waitlist in dc

I know what you're thinking. "Hold up - it's Tuesday, why is there a new post here?" I do what I want. And this is posted before Wednesday. And it's timely. And it's reblogging, which comes with it's own set of rules which I make up as I go.

Actually, before I reblog, I'm going to do a little writing, but feel free to skip my hot air and go straight to the links at the bottom.

I wanted to share a couple blog posts from an organization called DC127, a brainchild (maybe heartchild?) of some folks from The District Church, an awesome faith community in DC of which I'm a part.

The name DC127 is based on James 1:27 and the mission is uniting to reverse the foster care waitlist in Washington, DC. In other words, we want more families in line to care for a child than there are children waiting for a family.

As a sciency/mathy kind of guy, to me, the idea is as intriguing as it is joyful. It's like a chemical reaction. Reactants A (kids waiting for care) and B (families who are willing to provide care) combine to create Product AB (a full family). Right now, we have an excess of Reactant A, so we need to mix in more of Reactant B if we want to eliminate A and arrive at the desired product AB, hopefully with a stoichiometric excess of B.

With me?

Ok, maybe that brought back nightmares of high school chemistry for some of you. But trust me, it's a good idea.

My purpose for reblogging this is twofold.

One, I want to raise awareness of the issue. Kids need a stable place to grow up if they are going to recognize their true worth and have the best shot at all the good things that God has created and planned for us. 400,000 kids are in the US foster care system, and about 1,300 of those are in DC. That's a lot of people, but I'd say the DC127 mission is realistic. What do you think?

Two, DC127 is in a campaign to find 46 regular donors to support the work. Why 46? The average child waits 46.7 months, almost 4 of their most formative years, to find a family. If you feel called, I hope you'll reach out and see how you could support, even for $10 per month.

So take a peek at the following well-written articles and let me know what you think.

Exactly where we should be

The cost of doing nothing

how do you experience God's call? part 2

Jesus went out again beside the lake; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them. As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.
 
And as he sat at dinner in Levi’s house, many tax-collectors and sinners were also sitting with Jesus and his disciples—for there were many who followed him. When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax-collectors, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does he eat with tax-collectors and sinners?’ When Jesus heard this, he said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’

Mark 2:13-17

I'm working my way through the book of Mark in my personal devotion time. This passage describes Jesus' call of Matthew (known as Levi here). I think the part that really hit me was the last verse, where Jesus says "I have come to call not the righteous, but sinners." This NRSV translation is probably more accurate, but I really like the nuance added by the NLT: " I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners."

We're going to do another exercise together. Should you grab a writing implement and a scrap of paper? Oh yes!

When I think about calling, I often like to rest in the areas where I think or feel I'm most excellent. What do I do great? What gifts has God given me? What are my greatest successes in life? I actually want to invite you to rest there for just a moment. Take about 2 minutes and write down some of your life's greatest successes.

When you finish, circle the 2-3 that you perceive are the most significant. Right now, in this moment, how do you hear God speaking to you through these? Go ahead and jot down some notes if you are moved.

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My supervisor and I are reading through a book together called Let Your Life Speak by Parker Palmer. My summary of chapter 1 is this: God designed every part of us, including our souls - our true selves. We have gifts, passions, abilities, and proclivities which God has planted in us. Some of these have also come from our life experiences. We can let our lives speak - listen to the soul God has designed within us and which has some experience in the world - in many ways. Some of those ways might have come out in part 1 of this devotion, and might include "our actions and reactions, our intuitions and instincts, our feelings and bodily states of being," according to Palmer.

In the first part of today's devotion, we listed all of the positive things. What about the flip side though? Palmer writes,

But if I am to let my life speak things I want to hear, things I would gladly tell others, I must also let it speak things I do not want to hear and would never tell anyone else! My life is not only about my strengths and virtues, it is also about my liabilities and my limits, my trespasses and my shadow. An inevitable though often ignored dimension of the quest for "wholeness" is that we must embrace what we dislike or find shameful about ourselves as well as what we are confident and proud of.

Ok, back to the pen and paper. Write down some of the things you consider your life's biggest failures, those trespasses and shadows. Don't worry how they tie in, just write for about 2 minutes.

Again, when you finish, circle the 2-3 most epic fails of the list. What is God revealing to you in this moment through these? How will you glorify God in spite of these? What new clues about your calling have you recognized?

These could also be painful. How might you work toward healing and restoration from these? Where do you need God's supernatural power to bring healing and restoration?

Our friend Levi/Matthew probably ripped off a lot of people as a tax collector. They were some of the most despised people in Jesus' day, being grouped in with the sinners and the outcast. I bet Matthew was tired of being isolated, and he probably got tired of taking advantage of people. I imagine him as someone who came to work day after day, sitting in his little tax booth, just looking and waiting and wishing for something new and different. Then in stepped Jesus with a simple call.

Our failures might not tell us what we should do, but they do help prune the list of options, informing us what is definitely not our call and what are the things we should walk away from. As for Matthew, he had a taste of the worldly life as a tax collector, and apparently that didn't suit him. All he needed was a simple call, an invitation, from a homeless man to see that there was something better for him!

So rest in your successes, but don't toss out your failures. They have a place in God's Kingdom too.

how do you experience God's call? part 1

A few of my brothers and sisters in mission have decided as part of Lent to write and share devotionals with one another. I thought I would share mine with the rest of the world too. I shared this exercise on a retreat with my Wesley Foundation Campus Ministry at Michigan a few years ago, and I though it would be worth sharing again, as I've thought about it recently.

Take out a piece of paper. Go on, I promise you won't have to share your feelings with anyone if you don't want to. Fold the paper in half, whichever way is natural for you. Take about 3 minutes and make a list or word cloud on one half of the paper to answer this question: in what ways do you communicate with God?

Don't read on until you've done this!

Got it? Good!

Now take another 3 minutes to write on the other half of the paper the answer to this question: in what ways does God communicate with you?

Finished? Go ahead and read on.

What do you notice about the two halves? After reading and responding to the two questions, how do you perceive them to be distinct?

I'll share two of my thoughts. I have the privilege of knowing both questions a priori, but my first list of ways I communicate with God looks kind of bland. It mostly says "prayer" and I've listed different modes. I also listed worship in song and instrument, and also writing. My list second list of ways God communicates with me is much richer. Nature, friends, urges, discomfort, brokenness, scripture, food, and many more. 1 Thessalonians 5 commends us to pray without ceasing, and I might expand that to say: be in communication with God at all times. Take in those moments of natural beauty and thank God. Sit in the brokenness and search for direction. Cherish that Godly advice from a trusted friend, and know that all of these are gifts from the Giver.

Secondly, I find my prayer life can be focused more on the "how do I communicate with God" part and less on the "how does God communicate with me" part. True communication is a two-way street. How is it with your soul? Given the ways that God communicates with you, what can you do today to change your lifestyle, habits, or environment to listen to the voice of God more clearly? I have to ask myself these questions as well.

One of my favorite Psalms is Psalm 19:1-4a (NRSV). To wrap up, read the words slowly, and let them flow in and around you as you read.

The heavens are telling the glory of God;
   and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours forth speech,
   and night to night declares knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words;
   their voice is not heard;
yet their voice goes out through all the earth,
   and their words to the end of the world.

Go into your day knowing we follow a God who calls us by name, if only we would listen.