Round The Ball: Lent - 2009

Readings:

Joel 2:12-18

Psalm 50

2 Corinthians 5:20 - 6:2

Matthew 6:1-6,  16-18

Join with me, if you’d like, as I take a look at some of the traditional readings of the Church during this season leading up to Easter.  With a new baby soon to arrive and some travel coming up in March and April, I can’t guarantee it will be daily — but I’d still like to share my reflections as they come up.  I’ll be using the daily “Mass” scriptures offered at Universalis.com in case you want to follow along whether or not I post each day or not.

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For today, Ash Wednesday, I’m focusing on the twin themes of Lent: fasting and alms-giving.  These appear in today’s readings, actually.  Joel mentions fasting, “Come back to me with all your heart: fasting, weeping, mourning.”  And Jesus exhorts his followers, “When you give to the poor, do not have it trumpeted before you.”

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Historically speaking, the season of Lent has been set aside as a season of preparation for the coming of Easter.  And in that preparation we fast, we humble ourselves, we give of ourselves to others.  It isn’t spiritual discipline for discipline’s sake, but for the sake of readiness.

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The season is all the more significant to me now, in this context, where many of our neighbors fast for religious purposes as well, often during the Muslim month of Ramadan.  In this season, us Jesus-followers enter into a dedicated time of heart-breaking preparation.  As Joel puts it in chapter 2: “Let your hearts be broken, not your garments torn.”  In other words: it isn’t the outward actions but the inward response that matters most to God.

The last of my list of favorites from the year — just hours before we ring in 2009 here in London! I made a few really fun music discoveries this year I thought I’d share with you all.  Enjoy!  And Happy New Year!

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1) Coldplay - “Viva La Vida” – I can’t remember what got me into this one, but once I downloaded it, this album pretty much became the soundtrack of our mild summer days here in London.  I will forever associate planning our 2008 InnerCHANGE Staff Conference with this album playing in the background.

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2) Tom Wuest - “Rain Down Heaven” – Speaking of our conference, Tom Wuest and his simple, soulful worship music was one of the best elements.  We invited Tom, a friend of a friend, and he brought his family along for the week as he shared his music.  These tunes are nearly straight from scripture, wonderfully melodic, and have a great sense of Kingdom justice to them.

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 3) Amy Winehouse - “Back To Black” - Aw, come on, she lives in our neighborhood, we have to listen to her!  Anyway, her music is a fun throwback to the rock ‘n roll of simpler times, and she’s got an amazing voice.

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 4) Josh Garrels - “Jacaranda” - Big thanks to Esther Knicely for turning me on to this guy. His music is provocative, soulful, and stunningly innovative.  First “Christian” album I’ve listened to in a long time that didn’t immediately sound sickeningly, well, “Christian.”  Prophetic lyrics set to emo-indy-rock.  Amazing.

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 5) The Postal Service - “Give Up” - One of those times I heard music I couldn’t ignore while in a coffee-shop, asked who it was, and immediately downloaded it.  Happy-sound with moody, esoteric lyrics.  Something about these guys is just fun to listen to.  And their band name has some significantly cool meaning as well, but I’ll let you explore that one on your own.

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 6) Jesse and Luci - “Live, 2008″ - Okay, this one’s not available in stores, but the kids and I worked for weeks on a little home-recording project that we turned into gift CD’s for their friends and cousins for Christmas.  Admittedly, the sound quality is bad and many of the 48 tracks involve Luci’s nonsensical rambling (we call it spontaneous spoken-word) . . . but these guys are just so darn cute and I’m proud of their hard work!

Continuing a series of mini-lists of “top favorites” from 2008 — today’s is a glance at some of my favorite reads from 2008.  These are in random order, and yes, the genre spectrum is pretty broad, so there’s something in here for everyone.

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1) Young, Restless, Reformed by Collin Hansen - I got into a bit of a theology kick this year and ended up curious about the new breed of young Calvinists I know.  Hansen is a journalist at heart, and ends up telling a story that is part sociology, part theology, and part personal narrative.  A good primer on the movement, and a helpful “who’s who” as well.

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 2) Into The Silent Land by Michael Laird - Big thanks to the Rev. Rod Green for turning me on to this little volume on contemplative prayer.  It’s one of those short books thats so dense I can only read a couple pages at a time before I have to stop, chew, digest, and practice before continuing!  This guy not only knows how to pray, he knows how to write.

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 3) Londonstani  by Guatam Malkani - A novel with one of the most surprising turn of events I’ve ever read.  It’s based here in London and the youth slang (and multiple expletives) sound like they’re straight out of our neighborhood.  Not for the faint of heart, so it comes with a qualified recommendation, but a very good glimpse into the world of young immigrant men in a neighborhood identical to ours in many ways.  (Mark, sorry it took me so long to finish!)

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4)  Getting Things Done by David Allen - Not just another book on productivity or time management, I promise.  This guy may be a little bit over the top, but the concept is brilliant and the principles are sound.  This perspective (methodology) has really improved not just my workflow (when I’m behind a computer instead of with people) but my overall attitude about nearly everything.  Allen calls it having a “mind like water.”  Whatever . . . it works.

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5) Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama - Okay, whether you agree with the man or not, he is going to be our next President, and is a very gifted writer.  I find his perspective on American politics in the 21st century refreshingly uncynical and at times, inspiring.  I’ve got no idea how he’ll govern the mess we’re all in right now, but the book is great and worth the read even if you totally can’t stand him.

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6) The Tangible Kingdom by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay -  Hugh is a friend of mine from CRM, and he made a brief pit-stop for a visit during his international book tour.  Not only do these guys write a good book on building incarnational communities (being church in tandem with people-focused mission), they walk the walk.  There are a bunch of great stories in here — but in the end, it’s one of the best books I’ve read on how to intentionally just be with people.  They make it sound so darn easy!

I’m making a daily list of some key discoveries, moments and all around favorites for 2008.  For today, these are some of the new personal practices or habits I’ve picked up this year that I most benefit from.  In no particular order:

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1) Keeping Track of Cash Expenses - We use cash way more here in London than we did in the US — and at the end of every month between the exchange rate and the wad of receipts in my wallet I had no clue where all the money was going.  After hearing a challenging sermon about money at our church (download the sermon by Rod Green here) I faithfully started recording nearly every cash expense no matter how small. Sounds like a pain but it’s a really easy habit to get into — and is such a better way to stick to a budget, track reimbursable expenses, and know what’s going on with our money.

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2) Downloading Sermon Podcasts - Okay, speaking of that sermon, this year I became something I sort of always ridiculed in the past: a bit of a sermon podcast junkie.  I’ve discovered that a long bus or train ride, or a quiet morning in the park on a day off is a great time to listen to some though provoking, soul-nourishing sermons preached at other churches whose pastors I respect.  Who did I listen to this year?  My tastes are eclectic, so don’t get mad: Jeramie Rinne at SSBC, Mark Driscoll at Mars Hill-Seattle, John Piper, Erwin McManus at Mosaic, Rob Bell, and the good folks at our very own Christ Church.

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 3) Inbox Zero - This is going to sound impossible and some of you won’t believe me because you’re still waiting for me to reply to something, but I’ve tried to incorporate the wisdom of a guy named Merlin Mann at 43Folders.com who suggests battling the inbox bulge down to zero every day.  How does he do it?  Click on the link above, (and watch the full video if you’re really interested) but it’s basically about immediately doing one of five things with every email: do it, delete it, defer it or delegate it.  Seriously, it works.

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 4) Backing Up - After a couple of heart-breaking and time consuming hard drive failures in 2007, we put an end to it and started aggressively backing up our data almost religiously every day.  I’ve gotten to the point where even when I’m on the road I back up to a small external hard drive just in case something happens to my laptop.  This routine was made dummy-proof and almost thoughtless with the addition of an ingenious invention by Apple - the Time Capsule, which backs up all the computers in your house wirelessly every hour of every day.  Now we will NEVER lose those precious pics of the munchkins again!

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 5) Carrying my Own Bags - Okay, I’m probably late in the game here, but in the land of cycling everywhere and pretty much stopping for groceries every day because we don’t have a car, those plastic bags at the grocery store really add up.  I got into the habit of carrying a simple little fold-out bag that fits loads of groceries in it nearly everywhere I go.  Mine is made by Flip and Tumble and is a very manly color of black and grey.  Good for the environment, easy on the shoulder and back, and brownie points with my wife.  Need I say more?

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 6) What Are You Thankful For? - This one’s a simple one but one of the best soul-nourishing ways we are raising our kids.  Basically, every night at the dinner table we go around the table and everyone has to share something they are thankful for from the day.  The kids give really great responses — little windows into what’s important in their worlds — and we find a way to reflect on the day, end it on a positive note, and remember our Creator and Provider in the process.

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 Got any life-changing personal practices you want to suggest for our 2009?  I’m all ears!