Fasting and the arts

We had an interesting discussion during our staff meeting yesterday about engaging in core spiritual practices together. One of our future interns noted that she was familiar with a church plant in New York that was pretty dedicated to doing certain things together like reading Scripture and fasting. Trey, Matt (one of our worship leaders) and I talked about different options and the notion of fasting kept coming up. Though we've all fasted at one point or another in the past, it's not been something that we've done regularly.

One idea I had was to combine fasting with something else I've been wanting to do more of--engage the arts. I keep telling people that one of the advantages of living in the city is the unbelievable access we have to a wide variety of the arts and yet most of my experience with the arts has been doing crafts with my kids or watching Netflix. None of this is bad, but I think I can stretch myself a bit. Maybe I can skip lunch one day a week and experience God through a trip to an art gallery or a free concert or a street performer. It's not a huge sacrifice, but it's a start. Kind of gives new meaning to starving artist.

Day off

I've tried really hard to not use my iPhone on my day off/Sabbath and I did pretty well today--almost made it but then I had to give my son a bath and I was standing there, watching him play in the tub, feeling a bit bored...and I caved to check my email. Sigh. I know the proper father thing to do would have been to wonder at his play and talk with him etc. etc. No Father of the Year Award today.

I do get some Man of the House props today, however, for installing a kitchen faucet. Me installing something is a rarity so excuse me while I pat myself on the back. It only drips a little bit and I'm 99 percent sure that's the manufacturer's fault and not mine. I called to ask about this and the woman said they'd have to ship a part for me and said it would take 28 days and then asked, "Will that be a problem?" I laughed. I'll put up with the slight drip because there's no way I'm taking that faucet back out to return it.

Litmus tests

Have there always been litmus tests in churches? I'd be curious what different ones have been in days gone by.

One of the main ones we get (and I suppose many other churches get) is about homosexuality. It happened again today after church. A nice young couple came up to me after the worship, said they were new, said they were looking for a church, and the woman said she just had one question (wait for it): What is our stance on homosexuality?

This question used to frustrate me because, on the one hand, I find it's so difficult to give a satisfactory, pithy answer. I've been asked about it so much with our new church, though, I'm answering it in about 30 seconds and it boils down to our belief that homosexuality is not a sin. I don't always know if this is the answer the questioner wants and the woman this morning gave no clue as to whether she agreed or disagreed with me. Interestingly, she had another question: Do we believe in the Holy Spirit and do we believe that the Holy Spirit can still do miracles? I don't know what she meant by "miracles," but I didn't ask. I simply gave an emphatic yes and also encouraged her to meet with me further so we can talk a little more in depth about these issues.

Will she and her boyfriend/husband be back? One thing I've learned with this new church is to never assume anything. I've had people come up to me and say their lives have been changed thanks to Urban Village and then never return and I've had the opposite happen, too. People who seem like they wouldn't like it and they're here every Sunday.

I do know this. It's never boring. Thanks be to God.

One of those days

I haven't had "one of those days" in quite some time, but today...

It started out with disappointment as I opened the Chicago Tribune. The Trib is supposed to be doing an article on Urban Village Church and we thought today was the day that it would run, but nada. Who knows if/when it will be printed? Then I went to my daughter's school where I was teaching her class about prayer; specifically, breath prayer. She goes to a Catholic school but nearly half the students are non-Catholic so when they break off into religion classes, they're grouped into Catholic (called the Moonbeams) and non-Catholic (the Shooting Stars). I offered to come in and do a little teaching with the Shooting Stars so I've been with them three times this week. It went really well (thanks to the "Way of the Child" curriculum), but when I walked out of the building, I quickly saw that my car had been towed.

I've been so proud that I haven't gotten a ticket since moving to Chicago but this was unbelievable. I paid for parking, but had failed to see that there was street cleaning on this particular side of the street on Friday mornings and, of course, it was a tow zone. As I noted on my Facebook page today, I had been teaching about breath prayers to the class, but said something under my breath when the car was missing. And it wasn't a prayer. I finally figured out that the car was at 400 Lower East Wacker Drive, which is in the bowels of the city. $7 cab ride there. $160 to get it out of the tow lot. $50 ticket on top of all that. Lower Wacker Drive (above) is just one depressing place. I'll never figure out how to get around down there and I hope to never be back. They were appropriately surly to me which I actually didn't mind. I didn't want them to be cheery or tell me have a nice day.

Things have gotten better as the day's gone on, though. A hamburger for lunch helped as did reading "Deliberate Simplicity" by Dave Browning. And my sermon is starting to come together which didn't seem possible a couple days ago.

Now to get ready for our daughter's birthday party tomorrow. Our house is being transformed into Hogwarts.

Is presentation everything?

My wife and I were in Seattle last weekend for a family wedding. When people asked us about the ceremony, we both gave similar answers. That wasn't the case if we were asked about the bride's dress. My answer: "Um, it was kind of an ivory-white color." My wife's answer: I must confess I don't even remember because it went on for a few sentences and included the word "pleats" and may have included the phrase "off-the-shoulder." So, I wondered, where was my attention? Perhaps not surprisingly, it was on the officiant. I was silently critiquing his style, the vows, what he was wearing, etc. Not one of my better moments.

How you present yourself at a wedding can cause some consternation, but it's not just weddings that may bring on this anxiety. Whether it's work or a social event or even going for a workout, we pay attention to the clothes we wear and how we present ourselves. If we're honest with ourselves, we may even admit that we also are watching others and judging their "presentations."

One of our church's CTA ads says that Urban Village Church loves tattoos and suits. But no matter what you wear or what you have inked on your body, a deeper issue, I think, is whether we're following Colossians 3:12. The author of this text encourages us to clothe ourselves not with the latest fashion or tattoo, but with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and, above all else, love.

I'll explore our spiritual wardrobes this Sunday and reflect on the kinds of impressions we're making in our daily lives.