Doing the "Biblical" Thing

It's been a while since I have shared a cartoon from Naked Pastor or ASBO Jesus, but this one was  too good not to share.

Whenever the word 'biblical' is used as an adjective for a way of doing something, I am immediately reminded of the complex and confusing nature of the Bible. Regardless of what people might say, the Bible is just not simple. It isn't black and white. It isn't an easily-understood moral road map for life. It just isn't.

What does "biblical marriage" look like? Is it the polygamy of the Old Testament? Is it the complimentarianism of Paul? Is it the egalitarianism of Ruth?

What does "biblical church" look like? Is it the drunkenness and debauchery of the Corinthians? Is it the legalism of the Galatians? Is it the communalism of Jesus? Is it the socialism of Acts?

Being "biblical" just isn't as simple as it seems.

So can we simply agree that the Bible is challenging and confusing, beautiful and inspiring, yet difficult to live out? Can we simply agree that we can believe different things and behave in different ways and still love Jesus just as much as those with whom we disagree? And can we simply agree to to be civil and hospitable with one another as we all endeavor to live out the way of Jesus together, regardless of how our paths slightly diverge?

HT: Naked Pastor

Prayer is Happening

I am currently reading a beautiful and contextually appropriate book by Barbara Brown Taylor called An Alter in the World. Taylor helps the reader wrestle through how normal, everyday practices can be re-imagined as spiritual practices, which is incredibly helpful for me in my life as a stay-at-home parent. Near the end of the book she includes a chapter on the spiritual practice of prayer. Prayer, in the normal, religious sense, is always something with which I have struggled. But Taylor's definition of prayer is an eye-opening, life-giving, and freedom-producing way of thinking through this spiritual discipline. In this one brief description, she has finally put beautifully, eloquent words to what my heart and mind have been sensing for the past few years. Without further ado, I'll simply let her words speak for themselves.

"Prayer...is waking up to the presence of God no matter where I am or what I am doing. When I am fully alert to whatever or whoever is right in front of me; when I am electrically aware of the tremendous gift of being alive; when I am able to give myself wholly to the moment I am in, then I am in prayer. Prayer is happening, and it is not necessarily something that I am doing. God is happening, and I am lucky enough to know that I am in The Midst."

Beautiful. Simply beautiful.

This way of thinking about prayer has certainly become a liberating way of engaging with God and the world. No longer am I bound and oppressed by my inability or unwillingness to "pray right." No longer is a lack of quiet time or daily devotions loaded with guilt and shame. No longer is prayer about setting aside life for a moment of escape with God.

Instead, within this new paradigm, prayer is everywhere, always. A walk in my neighborhood becomes prayer. A meal with friends becomes prayer. A ride on the bus becomes prayer. A conversation with a stranger becomes prayer. As I open myself up to the ongoing goodness and revelation of God, I simultaneously open myself up to God's presence. God ceases to be some stagnant and static idol that I kneel before daily, but rather, is liberated to be living and active, a constant presence and not a summoned machine. Prayer plunges me into life with a minute-by-minute longing for engagement and connection, rather than pulling me out of worldly interaction for a manufactured moment of personal piety.

And finally, this is a practice of prayer that is, for me, unquestionably sustainable. By this I mean two things. First, this is a way of thinking about prayer that I can commit to on an ongoing and long-term basis. It is not the newest prayer fad that will dissolve into oblivion as quickly as it was commenced. It is a way of life, rather than a behavior. It is an identity rather than an action. And secondly, this way of thinking about prayer is sustainable in that it has actually sustained me. Engaging with the world in this way has actually produced more goodness and life, more vigor and passion, more grace and love. Rather than prayer being a hollow routine, this way of prayer has nurtured my soul. It has carried me in my moments of pain and weakness. It has assured me in my moments of doubt and questioning. It has spoken to me in my moments of silence. And it has been a dynamic process. Prayer has not happened. Prayer is happening.

Ensnared Between Seasons

These trees spoke to me this morning. Perhaps on most days they are simply trees, not meant to convey any sort of message. But today, they are for me. Today, they tell stories. Today, they tell truth. These floral spires stand at a crossroad between seasons. One clings to the warmth and goodness and life of summer, while the other sings of a new season arriving, the winds of change that will assuredly bring the death of winter but will ultimately invite the renewed vigor of spring. They are trapped in the moment. They simultaneously cling to the past and long for the future.

And here I stand.

Both basking in the goodness of what has been and unsure of the future that approaches. Both fervently clinging to the safety of the known and completely curious about the promise of the unrevealed. Both profoundly content standing at the edge and incredibly inquisitive about the life that awaits if I have the courage to leap.

And here I stand.

I know not what to do.
Both are good. Both are bad.
Both are good and bad.
Both have beauty. Both have pain.
Both have promise. Both have gain.
Both are wrong. Both are right.
Both are easy. Both take fight.

And here I stand.

Ambiguous enough for you? I'll let you know if I come into any clarity.

Lessons Learned Now That Will Impact My Future

As the father of a new baby, it seems like they are doing new things almost every day. For sure, each week she is a new person with new activities. One thing that Zoe has been doing a lot of lately is talking. Now of course she isn't saying any real words yet, but her cooing and grunting and babbling have us plenty excited regardless. This new phenomenon is so fun and exhilarating for me as a parent that I sometimes get caught up in the moment and interrupt her talking in the course of my celebration and excitement. I feel the need to jump in and respond to any noises she makes with my own oohs and aahs, instead of allowing her to continue using her voice. Sometimes me making noises in response causes her to be silenced. I'm finding that when I give Zoe the space to talk, without immediately responding with my own noises, she often continues talking for much longer than she would have otherwise.

I'm learning to let her find her voice.

This point of self-discovery has caused me to think about how this similar posture will be very important as she grows older, and especially as she moves into her teenage years. I will need to give her the space to explore, discover, and use her own voice. I will need to allow her the time and opportunity to realize who she is, what she is passionate, and how to interact in the world...without dad getting in the way. Too often parents can stifle their children by never allowing them the freedom for exploration and discovery. While I want to help shepherd my daughter into maturity and healthy living, I will need to temper my desire to be too hands-on in this process. At times I will need to simply back off, give her space, and trust that we have raised her in a way that she will be able to make wise choices. I'm positive this will be a challenge, but hey, no one said this parenting thing was going to be easy, right! I'm just hopeful that our family will be one of grace: where we help Zoe to understand the immensity of God's grace, where Zoe gives her parents much grace as they stumble through the task of parenting, and where we, as parents, give ourselves grace when we falter.

Finding God in the Ordinary

I'm currently about half finished with a book called An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith by Barbara Brown Taylor. I was alerted to this book by a fellow blogger a few months ago when the electronic version was on sale for $.99. After reading a brief synopsis, it seemed like I might have learned of Taylor's book at just the right time. Plus, you can't go wrong with spending a buck on a book!

An Altar in the World is essentially a book about finding God in the ordinary, plain, mundane things of life. Sometimes faith and spirituality are pedaled as things that only come through grandiose means or through activities that are inherently and explicitly spiritual, like reading scripture, prayer, or church attendance. Taylor argues that God is found in a myriad of places that we might not expect to find God if we have not made ourselves available to finding God anywhere. So far she has argued that God is revealed through activities like paying attention to the world, being aware of our physical bodies, walking, getting lost, and community. In the words of Taylor, "Anything can become a spiritual practice once you are willing to approach it that way—once you let it bring you to your knees and show you what is real, including who you really are, who other people are, and how near God can be when you have lost your way."

This is just the message I needed at this time as I begin a season of life as a stay-at-home dad. Having a child has already slowed life to a grinding halt, but when my wife returns to work in less than a month, my life is about to enter a world of monotony that I have never known before. My world will shrink even small than it currently is as my daily routine with revolve around the sleeping, feeding, and changing of my little one. I will need to find ways to be reminded of the inherent spirituality of raising a child. I will need to find ways to see God in the daily grind. I will need to encounter Christ on our daily walks, our trips to the store, and our more-frequent-than-desired diaper changes. I believe this can happen, but it will take more intentionality than I am used to. May God grant me the eyes to see and the ears to hear the (extra)ordinary ways that the world might become an altar over this next year of parenthood.

Our Africa Photo Album...Finally

If you will remember, Mandy and I traveled to Tanzania last February to visit our dear friends Brian and Nicole. Immediately upon returning we began talking about turning our trip pictures into a photo album using Shutterfly or iPhoto. It took us a year (and a free coupon from my sister-in-law), but we finally got around to making our book. Shutterfly gave me the option of embedding the book on a blog, so I thought I would share my creation with you. Enjoy!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Photo books are the perfect gift for any occasion.

What A Crazy Month!!

In looking at my blog, I see that it has been about a month since my last post...and what a month it has been. To say that this past month has been been crazy would be one of the greatest understatements of my life. The most significant event of the past 30 days is undoubtedly the birth of my first child, Zoe Hope Bowker. She graced us with her presence on Wednesday, May 30 at 12:39pm, weighing in at 7 pounds 1.5 ounces. She has been amazing thus far, and parenting has been an incredible journey. She is now almost one month old and is doing great. Mom and baby are both really healthy and we are loving our life. I am sure that as I settle into a better routine and get back to a relatively normal life again I will be blogging plenty about the joy, pain, and humor of raising our daughter.

As a result of Zoe's birth, our apartment has been a revolving door of friends and family. We have the greatest friends in the world, and feel so fortunate that they were with us throughout this entire process. They brought us food each day, ran errands for us, and were a constant presence of love and support during our initial period of adjustment. Our families came to visit about two weeks after Zoe was born, so our friends were incredibly helpful over those first weeks of her life, serving as our Seattle family. My parents were then in town for a week, followed by a week with Mandy's parents. They are all so excited to be grandparents again, so it has been really fun to watch them interact with their granddaughter.

The final thing that has added to the chaos of this past month is that I officially graduated from seminary this past Saturday. After four great, yet challenging, years of graduate school at The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology, I graduated with my Master of Divinity degree. This was a very special day for me as it marked the culmination of a daunting journey--one that led us to sell half of our possessions, quit our jobs, leave our home, and move half-way across the country to a city where we knew no one and had no pre-arranged source of income. It has been a beautiful story of adventure, risk, and courage, and I am so glad that Mandy and I decided to venture out together.

So yeah...it's been a crazy month. I'll keep you all posted on the continued unfolding of my story. Looks like it's gonna be a wild ride...just the way I would prefer it!

The Word of the Lord...to Democrats

Brian McLaren has long-been one of my favorite Christian authors. His book A New Kind of Christian radically altered my theological perspective and imagination and set me on a course that has taken me to a new city, a new seminary, and a new denomination. I am eternally grateful for his profound thoughtfulness and powerful writing.

His newest literary endeavor has taken him into the new and exciting world of e-books. In our current technological world, with print material taking a backseat to electronic media, e-books have begun to emerge as a creative alternative. There is no publishing needed and the promotion and marketing process can be much different, since the author does not need to deal with traditional book stores. With a presidential election on the horizon, McLaren has written three short e-books as a part of his The Word of the Lord series. One is directed to Democrats, another to Republicans, and the third to Evangelicals. He has written them all as fiction, much like his original and popular trilogy. I just finished his book directed at Democrats, a quick little read that probably only took a few hours to finish, and I look forward to reading the other two. While this was by no means a classic McLaren piece, it is well worth your time.

SPOILER ALERT: here is the money quote at the end. If you plan on reading this book soon, perhaps you will just want to skip reading this quote.

"A new day is dawning, and that new day presents a new possibility. We must leave behind the stale, standard politics of partisan candidates who seek victories for themselves and defeat for their opponents. That's yesterday, but the times are a'changing, my friends. This new day calls us to employ the creative power of movements, movements that build unexpected alliances among previously disconnected communities, movements that seek a good far more precious and far less common than victories. What is that uncommon good? It is the common good."