Seeing...I think I have something in my eye

During the DWELL P@RIS conference on ch-pl@nting last Wednesday, L@rry McCr@ry (founder of the Upstre@m Colléctive gave me the book by D@vid Putn@m titled "Détox for the Ovérly Réligious" (Nashville: B&H Publishing, 2010). It's an excellent book that helps readers, particularly those of Xian backgrounds, to a journey to rediscover the simplicity of Jésus.

Yesterday was Mother's Day in Paris. It ended up being my busiest Sunday of this year, as I visited 2 different churches in Paris, both in the 9th district, one I knew the least about until the last few days.

I caught an early bus in order to make the 9:00 a.m. m@ss @ l'Eglise de la Trinité (Church of the Trinîty. I've been helping with a group from Whe@ton College that is doing a 3 1/2 week class in London and came to Paris for the weekend. The organist at Trinïty is a WC alumna. The WC group was invited to attend the mass, then a tea with the choir afterwards. I had my backpack full of apples & chocolate bars that I had purchased on Saturday for the sack lunches of the WC group, as they had a train from Paris to London around noon.

While riding the bus to Trinîty, I read chapter 4, which is titled "Seeing...I Think I Have Something in My Eye." M@tthew 13:13 says, "Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand." David Putnam proposes the following:

Toxic Religion: We are so busy with our religion that we fail to see God at work in our world.

The Jesus Way: When we walk with Jesus, our eyes are opened to a whole new world that involves his kingdom coming on earth right now.

Yesterday I caught glimpses of the kingdom of God here in Paris. These were in locations & among people whom I might have thought this unlikely to happen in my earlier years in Paris.

Yesterday was Trinîty Sunday in one of the main churçh calendars. I'm not sure if it is Trinîty Sunday in the Eastern Churçh, but it is in the Rom@n C@tholic and Anglican one. Trinîty Church is a Rom C@th one that takes its name seriously and holds all 3 Persons in the Trinîty in high esteem. It is known as one of the most dynamic p@rishes in Paris and was part of the ch@rism@tic renew@l. It is a beautiful cathedral with stained glass and a beautiful organ.

The service was held in the very front section of the cathedral. Part of it was in Latin, which fortunately I understood a lot of from my few years of Latin in high school & @ the Univ. of Michigan. It's funny for a subject that I haven't really used in 30 years became useful yesterday. I guess G*d doesn't waste any of our training.

The young priest gave a sermon on the Trinîty that I appreciated & didn't find anything I disagreed with. I don't agree with all that is taught within official Rom Cath doctrine. However, I don't necessarily agree with everything that is taught within some churçhes or denomînations that call themselves Protest@nts or ev@ngelic@l. But I felt God's presence during the course of the liturgy and sermon.

The reception with the choir afterwards was cordial. They offered us some cakes, tea & coffee. The choir did their best to speak English & reach out to the students. Christ's presence was felt through the hospitality they gave.

After the reception, I went with the Whe@ton group to their bus, then passed out apples & chocolate to them while we rode to la Gare du Nord train station. They thanked me for my help & prayed for me before heading toward check in for their Eurostar to London. While I didn't get to interact that much with this group, I did enjoy the time with the students & several Art & Theatre department faculty. Hopefully these contacts will lead to future collaboration in the work in Paris, as well as encourage Whe@ton, a school that has given so much to me & my wife.

After hanging out with my wife & kids in the afternoon, we travelled by stroller, scooter & metro to the monthly worship & prayer gathering in Paris called VERTIC@LE. This was the first one on a Luthér@n chûrch building in the 9th district (and not that far from Trinîty where I was in the morning). We arrived 40 minutes late, but still caught some of the worshîp songs, as well as the message on "blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy."

It was great to see some friends from different places whom we haven't seen in several years.

There were 10-12 kids the age of ours. VERTIC@LE potentially has great possibilities for helping discïple these children.

I'm excited about the future for VERTIC@LE. La Fondérie helped launch it several years ago, but it now has a wider group of leaders behind it. Now that it has a large & pleasant space to gather in, it can gear up for a bigger kick off this September.

May G*d guide the leaders @ Ch of the Trinîty and VERTIC@LE so that they are both places where His kîngdom continues to come in tangible ways in Paris.

Being an advocate for artists

In "The T@ngible Kingdom," M@tt Sm@y and Hugh H@lter talk about the power of being advocates for people. One prime example is Jesus defending the woman caught in adultery from the proud & legalistic Pharisees. Jesus knelt down next to her.

Sometimes I'm puzzled about why God has led a basically non-artist like me to work with an arts ministry. It would make more sense in some ways to have me be more artistic in order to better fit in.

However, I believe that one reason that God has placed me here is to be an advocate for artists, both those who share my faith, as well as others who don't. Because I'm more left brained, I have gained somewhat of an understand of artists from an analytical point of view. This allows me to sometimes help them by using my different manner of thinking & processing. It allows me to try to defend & explain them to those who are more analytical like myself, but not necessarily sympathetic to the traditionally right brained artist.

While walking home from the tax office today, I ran into a friend who is a singer. She's also a mom of 2 young children. I asked her if was doing any concerts now and she was able to explain some of her current projects. One tough thing for less-known musicians trying to make a living from their art is that they not only must do music (which they usually enjoy), but also do their own marketing & trying to brush up contacts and meetings. From what I've observed & heard from others, this can be a precarious life.

I was able to encourage her a little bit by saying how I appreciated her efforts to use her musical gifts to try to help people. She mentioned how it's important to feed herself, so that she then can feed herself artistically.

She's not yet a Christ-follower, but does have a good heart & is trying her best. Many of our "outsider" friends in Paris are like this. If there would be ways in the future to pool efforts & bring some Christ-followers into the mix as well, I think that we would see some positive movement in many lives.

Last night we had a very full house for a few hours during an opening night exhibit accompanied by a quartet of instrumentalists. I was happy to think how my work with publicity probably helped draw some of our audience in. This was another way that I'm able to be an advocate for them.

May our good works toward musicians and other artists shine before them & the world so that they may see these good works of advocacy and glorify their Father in heaven.

Cultural distance & church-planting in Paris

This is a super busy week for me, with the convergence of 3 different groups of visitors in Paris that I'm helping orient to one degree or another.

The previous 2 days, I've been involved with the JET SET group of primarily N Ameri@n ch-pl@anters linked with the Upstre@m Collective. I helped them get from the train station to their hotel, then gave a brief session on Paris worldview & its ministry implications. I also helped preorder a Asian lunch for 30 people & it went well.

Yesterday I also caught a 11:00 a.m. concert @ the Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris of a musical group of home-schooled H.S. students from New Jersey. I know 3 of the students, as well as 2 of the parents and the choir director. I gave some advice via e-mail during the last few months.

This Friday though Sunday, a group of students from Wheaton College will be in Paris. I tried in vain yesterday to order bag lunches for their return trip to London on Sunday. The area around Eglise de la Trinité was one where I've never had as hard a time finding a bakery as I did yesterday. I'll be giving a brief orientation to Paris tomorrow.

Today I'll be attending the DWELL Paris daylong conference about ch-pl@nting in France. It's been interesting having some interaction with the group from the Upstre@m Collective. Many of them are linked with a network of newer ch*rches called Acts 29. Many are ch-planters in places in the U.S.

I have several questions that I would like to get some prelimary answers to today or in the coming season.

Alan Hirsch talks about "cultural distance." That is, how far is a culture or person from a biblical worldview (or sympathy to a biblical worldview).

Many of the 30 with this group work in ch-plants that are doing well. However, only 2 of them work in world-class cities that are in areas more "post-Xian." Most work in areas of the U.S. where there would be a good number of the local population would be sympathetic or informed somewhat to a biblical worldview.

I wonder how much of their successful strategy or methodology would actually work in Paris. For I know that the WillowCr**k initiatives in Paris over the years have pretty much crashed & burned. IMO, this is largely due to Paris having much less of a population sympathetic to their seeker style.

However, I do think I have some things to learn from some of their initiatives, so I'm not coming in as blatantly critical. What can be gleaned from them is worthy to be considered & applied here.

One nugget of gold for me yesterday came from the mouth of Ed Stetzer. He talked about the continuum of presence & proclamation in ch-planting. He said that the more culturally distant a person or culture is from a biblical worldview, the more important presence becomes.

Pentecost Monday

Today is lundi de Pentecôte, another national holiday in Paris. I should state that several years ago, after the heat wave of summer 2003 in which many elderly people died, the government no longer made it an official holiday. For French workers are supposed to work this day, but all their salaries go toward programs that help elderly people. I just heard the garbage truck outside, so some people obviously are working. However, most people & businesses take the day off, then workers use their vacation time built up with the 35 hour work week and just take away 7 of their vacation hours away. Our kids' schools are all closed today, so it's a holiday for us.

Last night one of our kids' friends stayed over night here. So the kids room had 4 kids and a guinea pig together.

Pentecost is the day when the Holy Spirit blew into the room in Jerusalem where 120 followers of Jesus were gathered. It was 10 days after the Ascension of Jesus. What looked like tongues of fire rested over the head of each of them. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in languages that they had not ever learned or studied.

God-fearing Jews from around the world were gathered. They were bewildered to hear these basically uneducated, "blue collar" disciples speaking in their own languages and declaring the wonders of God. They asked, "What does this mean?"

In Tangible Kingdom, M@tt Sm@ay and Hugh H@lter underline who Jesus often gave surprising responses and actions that went against the presuppositions of how "religious people" were supposed to act or talk. This actually appealed to those outside the religious establishment. This group of people is growing today, while the number of those who are naturally sympathetic to "established Christianity" is shrinking. In our post-Christian society, perhaps the biggest fight is tearing down people's assumptions of what a Christian is.

At Pentecost, these surprising circumstances weren't humanly contrived, but came from the Holy Spirit.

In yesterday's sermon, our pastor talked about how we can either be bridges to unity or barriers that promote division. Pentecost was an event in which God reached out to those separated by languages and cultural identity. God cared enough about communicating to these diversified groups that He miraculously gave the capacity to speak in different languages to His followers.

As I think about reaching Paris, I wonder what kinds of God-surprises will be part of this. The language barrier can be a challenge to many workers who come here from non-Francophone countries. While the language can be formidable, perhaps even harder is understanding the different cultures that are here.

Since Thursday, I've found myself connecting a lot more with outsiders in my neighborhood. Friday morning I went out for coffee again after school drop off. This time there were 4 other dads and 1 mom who came and I got to treat. Saturday night was my 2 daughters' dance recital, where we connected with some other families. Last night we had a friend of our children stay overnight and got to speak with his dad then, as well as this morning. Now our older daughter is at the home of a friend.

In The Tangible Kingdom, M@tt Sm@ay and Hugh H@lter write, "Our goal isn't to attract Christian people to our worship service but to be the faithful church in small pockets throughout our city. We are creating places of inclusive belonging where God's alternative Kingdom can be experienced" (p. xxi).

Sm@y and H@lter write (pp. 56-7):

"Seventeen hundred years later , we're still entrenched in Constantine's Christendom way of church. Church is the place you go to, and commoners don't have to do much in the way of mission because the paid pros do it for them. We show up at church to get what we want (which is feeding from a leader), not what we need (to feed ourselves and others). And if we don't get what we want, we head to the basilica next door because that chaplain is better at giving us what we want.

Although frustrated by the consumer approach of their adherents, the modern-day paid pastors don't feel they can lead the way their hearts tell them to for fear of losing a tithing attender. Often, the pressure is so strong, they find themselves frantically trying to update their presentation, increase programs to attract people, or lighten up the message of the gospel. Basically, we're just playing musical pews (and will the last one sitting please turn out the lights?).

The spiritually disowned world is unconsciously asking us to return to ancient church now! They're weary of our rhetoric, the same stories, or to pat answers and structures of Christendom. Their ears are closed to the authoritarian approach as well as to the watered-down pop Christianity...A new and fresh look at a Kingdom with true and eternal values may be the only thing that Sojourners are interested in any more.

God-sightings in Paris

Yesterday I had an amazing morning. It was one of those times where it seemed like God was opening doors ahead of me & I just needed to walk through them.

My goal for the morning was to get a couple of questions answered at my local French tax office, as 2009 French income tax forms are due May 31. I had some doubts about a couple of things and wanted to make sure that I was filing correctly, even though it might end up being more expensive.

I dropped off my younger daughter at her school. After leaving the school, I greeted one of the fathers whom we have known for 4 years now and whose daughter is in English Club. He is a documentary film maker.

While talking with him, another father came out. He does calligraphy art, which I knew because his wife recently gave my wife a 2010 calendar featuring his work. His daughter has attended several events at our home and his wife was at the Taste of California night in January for mothers.

A bunch of the dads (nearly all in artistic professions) get together after school drop off to drink coffee in a local cafe. Yesterday was the first time I joined them. When asked if I was coming, I initially hesitated due to my tax plans of the morning. However, I said that I could come for 15 minutes, then would need to go.

My time with these 2 days helped me envision how our future work in Paris might go.

Two weeks ago I was in Dublin, Ireland at a conference of a movement called T@ngible Kingd0m (TK), led by M@tt Sm@y and Hugh H@lter. I've also been in meetings regarding a new initiative in Paris that I would help lead, with a focus on the arts, compassion ministry, and the development of new faith communities using a more TK approach. There already are 2 other families in the pipeline for this new initiative, with the possibility of other people coming aboard as well. It's very exciting, but would entail some changes in my & my family's lives.

Both men talked about the importance of using art to help raise up young people from some of the problem suburbs around Paris. This helped me better grasp how combining arts ministry and compassion ministry could be a powerful mixture out of which new faith communities might develop. It was an AHA moment for me.

I hope to regularly participate in these cafe get togethers with these dads. To my knowledge, none of them are Chrïst-followers. It's fun to be with them. One of TK's premises is the need to be like Jesus and go out to where people are, rather than expect them to come to us or into our churches.

After the coffee time, I went to the tax office.

I had a couple of interesting conversations with a man who has lived in this area for 70 years, as well as a woman who has watched others' children for nearly 40 years. Both are long-term Parisiens with lots of wisdom & perspective.

When my number was called, I went into a glass office "A" to ask my questions. I must admit that I don't like going to the tax office, as it's kind of scary to me. It's like going to the dentist for some people.

The woman who helped me as amazing. She didn't seem to be in a hurry to answer my questions and rush me off. Because we're paid in U.S. dollars and receive a ministerial housing allowance, my case was more complex than most others. She left at one point for 10 minutes to get info from her supervisor, even though I think she is already pretty high up in the rankings there. She came out with some pages about Protestant pastors from some manual that was probably pretty dusty.

She spent a lot of time reading the fine print on one of the forms. I admitted to her that this form had looked like Chinese to me (a French expression for something that is not understandable).

It seemed like she felt it was her mission to help me not have to owe any taxes this year.

Then she asked if I wanted to complete the forms there. Of course, I said yes. So she took all the numbers that she had written in pencil and wrote them in ink on new forms.

I left the office feeling relieved that we had filed correctly, as well as that we didn't owe anything. How thankful I am for this woman of peace that God led me to.

We hope to see many times of God smoothing the way in the years ahead. Praise be to Him.

Meetings in Alsace

Thursday & Friday I was in Drulingen in Alsace (eastern France) with my colleague Charles for a gathering of the ministry partners of France pour Christ. Charles got invited & asked me to tag along as another set of eyes & ears for these meetings. FPC is a French ministry with the objectives of evangelizing France from the north to the east, forming disciples & extending the church in places where it isn't known to exist.

I appreciated being with my visionary European brothers & sisters. I think Charles & I & 1 other couple were the only Americans present in a group of at least 60. Many of them are working in places that would seem hard to me.

I learned more about a work among university students called LE FEU. It is based in 5 cities in France, including Lille & Grenoble. It sounds like a good ministry that I would love to see develop in Paris sometime.

One quote that has stuck with me is that "Our youth will grow up & take responsibility to the extent that we allow them to." I suppose that in every culture & generation, there is the challenge of helping young people to discover their calling(s) & take responsibility.

I was lodged by a family who run a dairy farm with 60 cows. It was a very different world than my Paris one. But we share the same faith & Lord and that's what is the most important.

When I hear cities mentioned like Verdun & Lille now, I'll have some faces & ministries in mind.

Easter Sunday

It's still dark & cold & even a little windy outside. Somehow I picture it being like this the morning when the women were walking to the tomb where Jesus' dead body had been buried. They had prepared spices to anoint His body. They were worried about how to move the stone away from the front of the tomb, as well as perhaps how to work around the guards who had been posted in front of it.

Matthew's account tells of a violent earthquake, for the angel of the Lord came down from heaven, went to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothes were white like snow. The toughened guards were so afraid that they shook and became like dead men. The angel announced to the women that Jesus was not here, for he had risen, just as he had said. They were not be afraid, but to go quickly & tell His disciples.

Matthew describes the women's reaction as being afraid, yet filled with joy. As they were running to tell the disciples, Jesus met them and greeted them. They clasped His feet & worshiped him.

In Mark's gospel, there is a note that most reliable early manuscripts & other ancient witnesses don't have Mark 16:9-20. Verse 8 says, "Trembling & bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid." I find this an interesting way to end his account. It's not necessarily the ending where everything is resolved, like in many older American Christian stories. It leaves some things hanging.

But the reality of this account is something I find appealing. It reminds me that Almighty God can handle our messy feelings of bewilderment & fear when things aren't going as we expected around us. The story continues.