One of the most powerful feelings I have ever had was the time that I landed in Germany and realized that I had no idea what the signs said. It was remarkably uncomfortable. I had no idea what he ads were saying, I had no idea what the people around me were saying, I could not understand a thing. I felt very lost and very confused and very much alone (which is weird because I was traveling with a group of six others).

I felt these things because I knew I had no hope of being understood.

I have found that as a Christ follower who intentionally seeks to introduce others to Jesus I unwittingly speak German to them.

In my previous post I talked about respect. Well, if I respect someone then I can not caricature them. I need to honestly and authentically understand what they believe. This means that I must listen. Not only that it means that I must hear them.

This is hard.

It’s hard because the universe revolves around me and to really listen means that I need to set myself aside.

When you engage in conversation with someone about belief systems it is incumbent on you to be able to communicate back to this person their belief system in such a way they say, “Yes, that’s what I believe”.

Have you seen the movie White Men Can’t Jump? There’s a great scene where Woody and Wesley are listening to Jimi Hendrix and Wesley challenges him and says, “You can’t hear Jimi”. This is the point.

Can you “hear” another? If not then you are not really listening and you don’t really respect them and you will never understand what they believe.

I love the fact that Jesus took time to hear people and listen. John 8 is an incredible story where Jesus hears and understands and then responds in a way that changes lives.

Will we?

Aretha sang, “Find out what respect means to me”. Respect is a simple word. It is one which causes people to get into fights, feel good, or get loud. Respect is something that is intangible and yet is required.

Today I interacted on a blog where some people were critiquing a friend’s book.

They had not read the book.

Yet, they trashed the book. They trashed him. They challenged his character. It was a personal attack.

They claim to be Christians.

Over the last couple of weeks I have been teaching a group of people about how to engage with those who don’t follow Jesus. We began with “respect.” Why? Because this is the place that Jesus starts. This is the place that Paul starts. They were respecters of people.

Consider Jesus’ interaction with the Samaritan woman in John 4.

He respected her. He did not pull any punches but he dealt with her in love and did not demean her.

Respect is a powerful form of love and it opens many doors that might not otherwise open. It is foundational for relationship.

If the Church is going to be what it’s called to be it has to respect those who are far from God. This means that to caricature those who disagree with you is out. This means that you must take time to learn and actually hear what these people are saying.

Back to my friend, he has a dynamic to atheists at a large state university. He has written a fiction novel that uses a genre that is attractive to those whom God has placed on his heart. I am probably not going to read the book, because it’s simply not a genre that I enjoy. But, I am quite certain that many people who are far from God will and as they do they will come face to face with the story and message of Jesus.

Will that message look like the Four Spiritual Laws? Nope. But it will challenge the mind and will of those who read it.

Interestingly, the Christians who have displayed such disrespect are probably never going to have the hearing that a man who has written something they detest will.

Why?

R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

[www.youtube.com/watch](httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0XAI-PFQcA)

What is the meaning of Christmas? That was the question that NBC’s Community asked last week in an incredibly creative stop motion animation episode that left me laughing. The episode was full of hat tips to great Christmas specials of the past and a few nice shots at the Christian faith.

Shots at Christianity in a Christmas special? Yes.

Are you offended?

The shots that they took weren’t the kinds that you might expect. The most crushing one came from Shirley, whose character is an outspoken Christian. She said, “I am a modern day Christian, I have learned sensitivity and so I say Happy Holidays not wanting anyone else’s religion to feel inferior to mine.”

I laughed. Then, I cried.

Not really. But, I have been thinking about this for the last few days.

Christmas has lost something in the post-modern malaise of mutual worldview affirmations.

Then I remembered last Friday, my son sang in a “Holiday Concert” at his school. They sang Happy Hannukah, Mud Slide, and Up on the Housetop.

Silent Night was played on the piano, no singing.

Something manifestly changed.

A hush came over the crowded cafeteria. You could have heard a pin drop.

Christmas, the moment when God split time one passover many years ago and entered into history. Even today with all of our sensitivity and complacency humanity still becomes silent before the reality that took place when God moved into the neighborhood.

Everyone in that cafeteria experienced something different in that moment than all that had come before. That moment was thick with the holy.

I wish I could sit down with Abed and over a peppermint mocha just talk about the meaning of Christmas.

Maybe I can, maybe there are people all around me looking for the real meaning if I would just open my eyes to see and have ears to hear.

What are you thankful for? This is the question that was posed by the boys at Professional One a “boutique of awesome” or also known as one of the best real estate firms in the country run by Mike and Todd.

Ever since the question was asked I have been thinking about it.

This is a question we ask around our kitchen table as opposed to the generic “God is good, God is great…”

How can you answer such a question with any kind of authenticity and keep the post relatively brief?

When I think about what I am thankful for I am amazed at all that I really ought to be thankful for, but I’m not. I am not thankful, at least not usually. I want to be one of those people that are constantly overwhelmed by gratitude.

I really do. But, I’m not.

Life is more complicated, it seems.

What am I thankful for?

I am thankful that there are people who are asking the question and forcing people like me to actually consider the question. I hear that question and the normal sorts of things that I ought to be thankful for pop into my head: friends, family, God, faith, love, relationships, provision, daily bread, grace, mercy, and the like.

My head tells me I am thankful for these things. My life tells me otherwise.

I don’t think I’m alone.

To answer the question, I ask another: If our lives don’t reflect gratitude are we really thankful?

When you find out that most if not all of your preconceptions are misconceptions it leaves you reeling. The first time I woke up in Israel I struggled to believe all that I was seeing. I felt as though I had stepped foot out of the Matrix and into “The Real”. There was nothing that was what I expected. Not a single thing.

We boarded our bus and met Yaniv, our guide and soon to be our good friend. He took us to Caesarea by the Sea. It was a confusing time as we left Tel Aviv and arrived at a place that was over 2,000 years old. This is the kind of confusion that leaves you scratching your head and unsure of what you are seeing.

It turns out that Israel is a place of paradox. You never can quite get your mind around it. It is a living and breathing postmodern experience. What is new is old and what is oldest is often times new.

The ruins of Caesarea were like nothing that I had ever experienced. They were almost unreal. I felt like I had stepped into one of those coffee table books that you find at your great aunt’s house and you start looking at because you can’t touch anything else.

Only here you could touch.

Smell.

See.

Experience.

It was a round the winter of 1996 that I began to truly study the Scriptures with tenacity. I was particularly drawn to the person and writings of Paul. He was almost a mystical figure to me.

Until now.

I stood in the very place Paul did when he left for his journey to Rome. I saw the place where he was held prisoner prior to leaving.

Paul has now become a very real person for me. He became very real in a place that is a living paradox of new and old.

Any time you visit a new country there are always preconceived ideas that you have coming in. When I left for Israel I had a picture in mind of sand, mountains, and camels. Of course I also had the thought of one or two surface to air missiles and maybe a suicide bomber. I could tell that these were the same thoughts that some of my family had in mind too. I think that is part of the reason why I didn’t really get too excited about the trip, why it “slipped” my mind and why I did not talk about it much with those closest to me. My preconceived ideas had laid a foundation of fear.

Then I arrived in Israel.

I saw it.

There was no filter, there were no reporters or editors choosing what to show me.

I saw it with my own eyes.

What did I see, you ask?

I saw Tel Aviv and modern bustling city filled with people. There were kids on the beach singing and barbecuing. There were clubs thumping the bass so that you could feel it in your chest. There was graffiti. There were coffee shops and pubs. There were people jogging and riding bikes along the Mediterranean Sea. I saw a five star hotel that was had everything you could imagine.

I didn’t see a single camel. The only sand I saw was on the beach of the Med. I didn’t see a gun or a missile or suicide bomber. There were some explosions later in the weekend, but it turns out that people like to shoot off fireworks after Shabbat is over!

It’s a time to celebrate and party.

That first night in Israel I saw my preconceptions explode like an old land mine in the Golan Heights…

[podcast]https://danielmrose.com/wp-content/uploads/Grace-101031-reduced.mp3[/podcast]

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For the last few years I have been on a journey. It’s a journey that has cost me friendships. It’s a journey that has caused me to look pretty deep and it has caused me to evaluate my understanding of “church”. This week I had an epiphany. It’s both/and and not either/or.

You’re thinking ,“That’s pretty cryptic.”

You’re right. Let me clarify.

The journey that I have been on has been the journey from thinking of church as primarily a “come and see” to that of “go and tell.” As per usual I have taken the pendulum of my life and swung it from one end of the spectrum to the other.

I didn’t even notice.

Passion does that.

This week I met with a group of pastors from the area for a planning time. We were meeting to plan what our churches would do together as we participate in “E.A.C.H.”, a city-wide movement of churches that are seeking to give “everyone a chance to hear” during the first forty days after Easter. We prayed and it was amazing.

Then we started talking.

Fairly quickly the debate began: proclamation OR service. The battle lines were drawn. The combatants were unwilling to budge. Then an image I used for many years with Campus Crusade for Christ (and I had used in a recent worship service) popped into my mind:

Now, what struck me was that I had forgotten something that had been drilled into me for ten years on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ. A simple truth that brought clarity to my journey:

There are three relational modes: Ministry, Body, Natural.

I want to quote Keith Davy at length here:

As God works through believers in seeking to save the lost, there are three different types of relationships, or relational modes. These modes of witness are delineated by the nature of the relationship between the believer(s) and the unbelievers. God always seeks to work through our witness as a body, through our natural relationships, and through the relationships that result from intentional ministry outreach. A ministry’s evangelistic impact is increased as it expands the influence of each relational mode. Evangelistic momentum is achieved as synergy is generated between all three modes. Understanding these modes will enable us to align our methods with God’s work more effectively and expand the impact of each mode more fully.

We must have all three. I am not suggesting that we go back to a model of church that is driven by programs and that everything is done within the four spiritual walls of the building. What I am saying is that there must be strategic placement of all three modes in the life of any congregation and in the life of the church as a whole.

It’s coming together. The journey is still long and I am sure there will be many twists and turns along the way, but this is a significant piece that has come together.

Maybe I should take another look at some of those other models that I used to make fun of? I suppose I should.

[podcast]https://danielmrose.com/wp-content/uploads/Grace-101024-reduced-64kbps.mp3[/podcast]

[podcast]https://danielmrose.com/wp-content/uploads/Grace-101017-reduced.mp3[/podcast]

“You keep saying you’ve got something for me.
something you call love, but confess.
You’ve been messin’ where you shouldn’t have been a messin’
and now someone else is gettin’ all your best.

These boots are made for walking, and that’s just what they’ll do
one of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you.”

In the 1920s the Christians walked away from education. In the 1930s and 40s we walked away from science and academia. In the 1960s we walked away from culture. In 2010 it appears we have, by and large, we are in danger walking away from our communities.

Today I spent the day at a local hospital which was hosting an international taste festival and a world impact expo. The organizer sought to provide opportunity for ten congregations or organizations from each of the world’s three dominant faiths: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam to highlight their mission efforts around the world. Only four Christian churches committed to participating. One backed out and one was a no show the day of the event.

The Jewish communities and Islamic communities had their full compliment and then some because the Christians were no shows.

The Christians were no shows.

Over the last few years I have read and heard a lot of rhetoric and polemic about Islam and its negative influence in the world. Christians have felt threatened. There has been a renewed zeal “evangelize” the “Muslim world”. There is great concern about Muslim extremists blowing things up.

But, in their own backyard the Christians were no shows.

We have to show up. When I worked with Campus Crusade for Christ we talked about how 90% of movement building was showing up.

Boots on the ground.

Being there.

I love that I am part of a church community that showed up. A movement is building. God is at work. We got to see it because we showed up.

I hope that our boots are made for walking and that we won’t walk out but we will walk in and show up.

A little over a week ago a group of high school students gathered at Grace Chapel, EPC in Farmington Hills, MI. They were there to play “A Minute to Win It”. They played a ton of different games, laughing, and trying to win, and then laughing some more. One of the volunteers in the crowd were recording the mayhem and a few of the videos were uploaded to YouTube.

Then it happened. An email from an exec at NBC requesting the videos for use on an upcoming episode of A Minute to Win It! The media is now trolling the web to find media for itself to show to us as media.

In this new world of HD cameras and YouTube one thing is now certain:

The media creators have become the media consumers.

Think about it. NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, etc…need us. They need us to keep themselves relevant, hip, and in the know. They need us to create for them. They are consuming our self-made media as much as we are consuming theirs.

Ironic.

What does it mean for a Christian to think? I don’t mean the kind of thinking where one tries to figure out a problem. I am talking about the kind of thinking where one struggles with their core beliefs and tries to determine what is real and true.

We as Christians believe that the Bible is special revelation which shows us truth and points us to what is real. We believe that it is authoritative, that means we believe that we have a book that gives us real answers by which we ought to live.

I believe that this is true.

I repeat: I believe that this is true.

However we must not take our faith and use it as a replacement for critical thought. The Apostle Paul commended the Berean believers because they searched the Scriptures for truth. If we are going to be like them then we must take our cues from them.

I am coming to the thought that for the follower of Jesus to be a real and true thinker then he or she must truly believe that the Scriptures really do have authority. But that is not all. The belief must also extend to the necessity of a diligent study of the Scriptures. We must allow them to change our presuppositions and allow them to change what we believe about the core of our worldviews.

This is what happened with the Bereans. They were a community that believed one way about God until they took a fresh look at their authoritative text and allowed it to change them and change the core foundations of their entire worldview.

So, will we think? It takes work. It takes effort. It takes a willingness to hear the authoritative texts of our community, which are the very words of God, himself.

Rick Devos asked a simple question during his presentation at TEDxDetroit: When you plan an event are you thinking about activity or experience? This is a profound question. One that I think those of who are in the church need to think deeply about. We must ask ourselves what we are calling one another too.

I think that often times we are asking and calling people to activities.

“Come and do…”

“Bring your friend to…”

What if this became…

“Hey I am a part of…”

“Do you want to join me in…”

One set of phrases represents activities, the other an experience. Jesus is not something we do. Church is not something we do. Recently I have found myself saying, “We do church…” or “How do you do church…” These kinds of statements are meaningless. We can’t “do” church any more than I can “do” human being.

It’s interesting this kind of language is typically reserved for those who are impersonators, like this:

[youtube=[www.youtube.com/watch](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78FATeTMDaA&w=425&h=350])

Man, Hartman “does” a good Sinatra! But, he’ not the real thing. He’s an impersonator. He’s faking it. He’s doing his best but it’s not real.

I think that when we try to “do” church we are the same, simple impersonators who are doing best but not the real thing.

We need to think about the experience. How can we invite people into an experience where they come face to face with the body of Christ and its head, Jesus? This question is imperative for us to answer. Is it through fog machines and video? Is it done through a high church liturgy? Maybe on both. Maybe not on both.

It seems to me that it might be in the people. When we gather for worship are we looking at ourselves and our needs or are we looking to interact and engage with the God of the universe? Are we inviting people into his presence or to our building?

I would love to know what you think it means to think about experience versus activity in this context. Comment like crazy and let’s discuss…

The Phoenix is a mythical beast which lives and dies by burning itself into a heap of ashes. From the ashes rises the next generation Phoenix. I look around at the Detroit Metropolitan area and realize that we have become a heap of ashes. 

The fire began to blaze in 1968 with the riots. From that moment on the death spiral had begun. The fire is out. We are but a pile of ash. The question now becomes what will happen with this pile of ash? Will we be blown away by the wind never again to breathe the breath of life? Or, just maybe, will we rise like a Phoenix from the ashes?

I have hope that we will rise.

Why?

In the last 24 hours I have been a part of two significant events in our city. On Wednesday, September 29 I participated in TEDxDetroit and on Thursday, September 30 I participated in EACH. These two gatherings were very different and very much the same. Both of them are seeking to transform a city which has become an icon of failure.

TEDxDetroit is a gathering of innovators, thinkers, doers, visionaries, entrepreneurs, and catalysts. EACH is a gathering of pastors. TED is multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-everything; EACH crossed racial, economic, urban, and suburban. TED made a call to the people of this city to act and do and be creative to transform this place. EACH made a call to the people of this city to act and do and be creative to transform this place.

This may be a historic time that is coming to the city of Detroit.

From both I left with the same question: Will anyone really act?

I heard fine speeches and great visions and big dreams. I prayed. I worshipped. I thought. I reflected. I was challenged.

But will I act?

Will we?

A Phoenix may rise but it will require us to act.