The Hsu's Views

Silence

Posted by Geoff - 12/05/10 at 07:05:19 pm

I’m enjoying Dean Nelson’s book, “God Hides in Plain Sight: How to See the Sacred in a Chaotic World.” In his powerful and deeply insightful writing style, he has taught me to see and “experience the grace and mystery of God.”

I had borrowed the book, and after the first few chapters, placed a copy in my shopping cart at Amazon… it is that good.

Theologically, the book is about sacraments, or “specific practices, or means to invoke and experience the grace and mystery of God.” But don’t let that technical definition scare you away for the book is not just theological head candy, but heart candy as well.

I have to post this paragraph in Nelson’s observation on the spiritual disciplines of silence and solitude. I like the descriptions and I believe it will be helpful to me in my attempts to engage in this practice.

Every great spiritual thinker and writer practices silence and solitude on a regular basis. Jesus did it, even in the midst of the crush of hungry, hurting, fearful people in need of a healing touch. Before he started his ministry he went to the wilderness (both a physical place and a wonderful metaphor) for a considerable time. But even during his ministry he would get away to a lonely place to pray, away from the demands, away from the temptation to over-identify himself with what he was doing. Intentional silence is where we experience this Presence for ourselves, not vicariously through another’s experience. It is where we don’t take ourselves quite so seriously. It is where we are “voluntarily understimulated,” Rohr said, with no feedback and no data.

Not My Idea of a Church Plant

Posted by Geoff - 12/05/10 at 05:05:57 pm

Jason Coker has a great blog.  If it is important in reimagining church for the coming generation, it will be at pastoralia.org.  Here is a great tongue-in-cheek video commentary on the all too prevalent formula for a new church plant.  Head over to this post at Jason’s post for some reflections on church marketing.

“Sunday’s Coming” Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo.

Work: What’s God Got To Do With It?

Posted by Geoff - 09/05/10 at 05:05:06 pm

I ran across a message that I gave at a Harbor Presbyterian Church event sponsored by their Faith and Work ministry.  We are trying to answer the question “Why Work?” and in the process identify the unhelpful reasons (or idols if you will). Most importantly, we’ll talk about how we might see the sacredness of our callings (or literally: vocations) and how the Gospel is really good news in this area of our lives.

Teresa’s Goal of Life

Posted by Geoff - 05/05/10 at 04:05:19 pm

I’ve been working through “Mansions of the Heart” by my colleague Tom Ashbrook. Tom is the director of a CRM ministry called Imago Christi which focuses on spiritual formation. This book makes available the work of Teresa of Avila to today’s audience, making available her wisdom in the process of growing a deep loving relationship with God.

Tom comments that as we mature in Christ, we find ourselves making lifestyle choices in time and focus that take on a self-sacrifical tone. Reflecting shades of the great commandment, he quotes Teresa:

Here in our religious life the Lord asks of us only two things: love of His majesty and love of our neighbor. The most certain sign, in m opinion, as to whether or not we are observing these two laws is whether we observe well the love of neighbor.

If we believe, as I do, that the truly loving and life transforming behaviors that we want to see characteristic of our lives, must come from a transformed heart or soul, then it seems to me that how we love and serve our neighbor, friends, co-workers and family members are very good indicators of how transformed my inner life really is.

Geoff’s Video Debut

Posted by Geoff - 19/04/10 at 07:04:12 pm

Here is the video of a little orientation that I did with Neal, the Executive Pastor at our church, Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church. It followed a sermon by our Senior Pastor, Bruce Humphrey which can be viewed here. In the sermon, Bruce addresses “The Porch” which was a building program intended to bless the community, but unfortunately, was not well-received by the city.

While we did not proceed with The Porch, the desire to be a blessing to the community is great evidence of the Lord’s working in our congregation. This video was an attempt to explain to our church (in all five services) what ‘missional’ means and how we are planning to move forward.

You will want to view the video we played during the service to explain “missional.” It is entitled, “The Missional Church – Simple,” and provides the context for our comments above.

Gollum’s Counterfeit God

Posted by Geoff - 16/04/10 at 07:04:07 pm

I’m reading, The Hole in Our Gospel, by Richard Stearns who is the President of World Vision U.S. The early chapters speak of how he wrestled with God because he didn’t want to leave his comfortable life. I was struck by his comments on relating the effect that a controlling desire can have upon people. He likens our possessions, work, status and positions as things that can become so precious to us, that they can become idols that compete with God in our lives. He writes:

I am a huge Lord of the Rings fan. I have read the books several times and have watched the movies more than once as well. In the story, the Ring of Power has magical powers that, among other things, allow its wearer to become invisible. Ironically, though, whoever possesses the Ring ultimately finds that the Ring possesses him, as the allure of its power becomes too great to resist. The more one wears it and experiences its power, the harder it is to remove it or to part with it. The miserable Gollum, once so possessed by desire for it, had been reduced to a shriveled and pathetic creature who thought of nothing else but his “precious”–the One Ring. He had all but lost his humanity. Perhaps you can see the metaphor. There are things in our lives that can also “possess” us in an unwholesome way. For the follower of Christ, anything that becomes more precious to us than our relationship with the Lord becomes destructive. And like the Ring, these are often things that seem beautiful and shiny, that is, good and positive in our lives: career advancement, a growing bank account our spouses and children. And these things may, indeed, be good, but they become stumbling blocks when they begin to possess us, when they divide our hearts and compromise our commitment to the Lord. “For where you treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6:21).

Trafficking

Posted by Geoff - 26/03/10 at 04:03:46 pm

I’m attending a conference at Point Loma Nazarene University at the moment. http://www.pointloma.edu/Prophetic_Imagination.htm. I ran across a display on human trafficking incorprating ironing boards. The one captured in these photos seeks to illustrate how many “Jacks or Johns” a woman (or girl) may be required to “serve” in one night.

The artist uses 300 jack in the boxes to illustrate how many clients a trafficked girl could face in a month.

NT Wright on Hell

Posted by Geoff - 11/03/10 at 03:03:41 pm

I’ve been teaching a class on spiritual formation out of Dallas Willard’s, “Renovation of the Heart.” Last night we were in chapter three which talks about soul ruin, idolatry, and hell among other things. It was fascinating to think of lostness in terms in addition to a potential destination, namely hell. But to consider lostness as a condition in life before getting to some final eternal destination makes much sense. Lostness as a condition for now is precisely why the gospel is good news for our life, not just in death.

This morning I ran across Jason Coker’s blog and his link to a video of NT Wright sharing some thoughts on Hell at the Christianity Today website. I include it here to prompt your previously held assumptions. Below is the first bit, followed by a link of another two bits.

A little more here, and here.

Hirsch on Post-Christian Church

Posted by Geoff - 03/03/10 at 03:03:04 pm

Here is a short (20min) video of Alan Hirsch giving this explanation of the challenge for the church in a post-Christian world. Even if you cut your teeth on his book ten years ago, this message is still quite true and accurate. Hirsch is speaking at Mariners Church in Irvine.

Lumen 1.31 – Alan Hirsch from mariners church on Vimeo.

Growing Hope

Posted by Geoff - 18/02/10 at 03:02:53 pm

In Renovation of the Heart this morning, I was reminded of how the Lord seems to be working among his people, at least in the West (really the only context I can speak intelligently about since I’m at least a part of the Western world.) He has just opened his book by demonstrating the centrality of pervasive inner transformation of ourselves as the way Jesus seeks to redeem this world.

Sadly, we have grown to lose an understanding of how spiritual formation is precisely the straightforward process of being transformed inwardly. Similarly, we have not known and taken the simple steps toward forming the “spiritual” aspect of our lives. Fortunately:

…a widespread and intense interest in spiritual formation, under that very name, has arisen among many groups of Christians and their leaders. Why is that? Is is mainly due to a realization–confirmed now by many thorough and careful studies, as well as overwhelming anecdotal evidence–that, in its current and recent public forms, Christianity has not been imparting effectual answers to the vital questions of human existence… And spiritual formation has now presented itself as a hopeful possibility for responding to the crying, unmet need of the human soul. (p. 20-21)

The solution for weak Christianity, is not to blame weak leadership (for they are not our saviors), nor are we to blame our unremarkable followers (for they might be faithfully following our lead.)  We are not to run around wielding a legalistic attitude (for that places an external law as our savior). We do not place our hopes in political parties or “-isms” (capitalism, communism) to change the world for the better (for we all know that an “-ism” doesn’t make a good messiah). Jesus’ approach is through transforming our character. He is about shaping our inner spiritual lives so that they look more like his.  This is the gospel. This is the good news.

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