Lessons from an Illusionist

My beloved wife surprised me with a trip to Niagara Falls this past weekend. It has been a year since we moved to Canada and I still had not soaked up the glitz, glamor and kitsch of the 7th wonder of the world. So off we went to celebrate our 10th anniversary/my birthday.
It was awesome! So much of what I expected- neon signs, big crowds and casinos that seemed to stretch on forever. Oh yeah, the actual falls were pretty nice too, but I was there to see what man had made.
I was there to see the 8th wonder of the world- illusionist Greg Frewin (I'm not making that up, it was on one of the posters!). Robin and I had a great time, and I'd actually recommend the show based on the facts that 1) I had a good time, and 2) I have no idea where else in Canada you can see a show like this. But here are a few of my observations which may, or may not, have something to do with launching a church:

1) Entryways matter. While the theatre was very nicely renovated, they still have some work to do on the entryway. You may never notice a nice foyer with great signs, friendly greeters, and accessible information, but you sure do notice when it's missing.
2) Great food is great! Hospitality is so important. It's better to have a few items that are really good than a endless supply of garbage. The buffet did this well. The only disappointment was dessert- don't miss the most important part of the meal!
3) Good help is hard to find. I felt so bad for Greg- it would appear that he had a new techy on staff, and I wouldn't be surprised if the guy got fired after the show. He missed his mark at the start of nearly every trick. The "magic" was broken almost every. And while Greg was on his game, you could tell he was getting very upset. Finding the right help, hit the marks, making the program work is everything. While the individual tricks were great, we never got "lost" in the show. Greg was helpless to make things work during the show, but I'm sure he's done everything in his power to fix the problem for the next show.
4) Typos are a distraction. I should learn this lesson much better. A church is inevitably going to have mistakes as the information changes so much every week, but never should a mistake be carried over to the next service.
5) Don't mis-represent what you are. Here is was what disappointed me most- from the pictures I saw I expected smoke machines, pyrotechnics, wild animals and dancing girls in giant feathery hats and sequins. And that's what I wanted- over the top, larger than life, I can't believe it type of show. It just wasn't quite that. The dancers were great, the costumes so-so, the animals were amazing, but we didn't see much of them, and no smoke- come on!

But I don't want to sound too negative- I still had a GREAT time at the show and appreciate my wife for all her work. The food, the magic tricks themselves, the whole evening out- I loved it.

Here's my final thought on the weekend- our insatiable need to try to improve on things. Humans have this burning desire to take something in its raw form and try to develop it further. In its best form it takes something like, say, a chunk of stone, and turns it into the statue of David by Michaelangelo (but even at that you wouldn't want every stone turned into a naked dude).
At its worst, it takes a majestic waterfall and turns it into "Niagara Falls." We take the 7th wonder of the world and add lights, boats, tours, games, rides, wax museums, casinos and haunted houses. What the deal with haunted houses? I counted at least 4.
So while I loved basking in all the glitz of Niagara, after one day, Saturday, Robin and I were ready to escape. So on Sunday we hit the Falls Parkway, hiked into the Glenn, which was awesome, took a sail boat ride in the afternoon (thanks Uncle Dave and Aunt Joanne).
And I must say that I wouldn't have wanted it any other way- after enjoying all "man" had built up on Saturday, it felt right that on Sunday we should worship, enjoy creation, escape the noise and the lights and the busy-ness of it all.
And likewise, while our church might meet in a theatre, while the band will rock and the venue is about as built up as one can imagine, still we hope, we pray, that it is a place to find refuge from a world of glitz and glam, and find connection with God and His people.

Losing my religion

When I was a frosh as college the band REM released a song titled "Losing my Religion." At a Christian Liberal Arts College it spurred a bit of conversation, mostly trying to decide if losing religion was a good or bad thing. In the end, most of us agreed that it depended on your definition of religion. In general, "religion" is a rather vague term and can refer to many good things, and many horrible things.

Fast forward to Monday night- I had the opportunity to hear and talk with Bruxy Cavey, teaching pastor of the Meeting House
who was speaking on the release of his newly expanded book, "The End of Religion." I never asked a question, as I haven't read th book yet, but if I did, I would have wanted to ask Bruxy to give me his definition of religion.
I'm not going to pass any critique until I've read the book, but here are my initial thoughts.
First, the idea of ending religion as we know it must be tempered with another seminal work from 1991 titled "The Myth of religious Neutrality" by Roy Clouser. This book stirred up heated feelings in favor and against, as I'm sure Bruxy's book will.
I agree with premise of the myth of religious neutrality- which is, that we really are not neutral. We have a "religion," a set of deeply felt beliefs, examined or unexamined, that influence and drive what we do, think and understand (I'm avoiding words like epistemology and the like, which is helpful, but can be confusing if you haven't had the blessing/curse of going to seminary). The idea that we can somehow escape or get past our religious bias is itself a bias/belief. Thus the circular reasoning begins.

I also agree with Bruxy, if I grasp his argument correctly, that Jesus essentially ushers in the end of religion. But I will add this- the end of religion in all the ways that it has basically gone wrong, which is most of religion as we know it. Because, and this is the crucial thing, Jesus doesn't so much end religious Judaism as he fulfills it. In his own words, he fulfills the law, he doesn't abolish it. The law was given because we missed the heart of religion, the heart of a relationship with Jesus. So while I could be said that Jesus takes us back to the start, because he is that start, it's better understood that he takes us through the mistakes. The brings the full circle to the relationship with God as we were designed for.

I believe we are religious creatures by nature- designed to worship. It's inherently part of our "creatureliness" and our creators glory. So if you attach the word "religion" to this created norm of worship, well then, religion is a good thing again. Now we don't try to end religion all together, we just take it back to it intended design and place in creation.

Instead of rambling on for ever, I'll just add that throughout Jesus' ministry and the New Testament letters I think a strong case can be made for the right place of the right kind of religion. And perhaps that can be seen nowhere better than in Revelation 22 and the glorification of Jesus and consummation of redemptive history- an image of all of creation worshiping God. I suppose I'm just fixated on seeing that as a "religious" action.

So, I'm grateful to both books as ponder these matters- we are creatures made to glorify the Creator, but we've certainly messed it up. Let us boldly slaughter all the sacred cows of false religion that keep us from the relationship with God offered through Jesus and His Holy Spirit, and the kind of religion that our own Lord Jesus finds pleasing (James 1:27).

Our first article!

I meet Rob Hueniken, the editor of "Christian Life in London" a few months back. At the time he said he'd be interested in doing an article when Connections started public services. True to his word, we put this article together for the October issue. If you're on the team, been to our service, or regularly read the blog, there's nothing really new. I just wanted you to be aware and check it out when it hits London on October 4 in print or online at www.clilondon.com

We need your help!

Holding our first preview service last weekend afforded me the opportunity to talk with a fresh group of people about Connections. Which is exactly what we hoped for.

However we did not get the avalanche of Connections Cards we were hoping for. I don't know any other way to say it except that we really do covet your input and insight. We'd love to hear from you:

• how did you find us,
• what did you like,
• what there anything you didn't like,
• would you come back again,
• would you bring a friend,
• would you like to be a part of a Connections Group,
• would you like to be a part of the launching team?

It's more than just getting an attendance chart. Of course we want an attendance chart- we what to know how many people come to our worship services, our Connections Groups, our service events and who on our teams. Every perosn matters to us because people matter to us. It is one of our values.

Which is also why feedback is important to us.
It matters so that we can better do what we want to do. Which is, of course, help people find a connection with God, other people and the world. We need to know if our ministry is hitting the mark and making and impact. We need people to be brutally encouraging and gently honest.

In other words, if you have nothing good to say, it's clear that this ministry isn't for you. I think we've been pretty clear with our mission, our values, and the basic parameters of this ministry. If you don't have some degree of "buy-in," then you can't really give helpful feedback. You can only criticize.

But if you liked a lot of what you've seen or experienced, but have a question or concern or comment, that would be immensely helpful. That would help us grow, stretch and mature this church.

It will be helpful because this is a crucial part of cultivating the kind of culture we envision. We want a culture of dialog and participation, of finding a voice and a place. I think it's in the very act of giving and receiving feedback that people will begin to find a connection with Connections.

So when I say we need your help, we need it on many levels. We need help in crafting a pulling off a service that connects with the culture around us and with God. We need help in creating more Connections Groups- host homes and leaders, and people helping out by committing and bringing others. We need help to connect with the world- to serve and love the community and world around us. We need help in the most basic of ways- just telling us about yourself and what you think.

7.2 Millions Dollars

Yesterday one of our Team leaders called me and asked if I wanted to go to the united way luncheon. I was shocked- shocked I hadn't heard about it! Me, the guy whose trying to network like crazy and go to every community event I can to meet people. Me, the guy who literally studies the community events page in the paper!
Anyway, I did miss the ads, but did make the lunch.
7.2 million in London in the next year. That's their goal.
An awesome goal which got me thinking about our dreams and the resources we need to make them reality.
I don't have any answers for you now, but I will say this.
If 200 people at our first service was NOT a flash in the pan, but a sign that we may attract a crowd, and turn that crowd into a church, then we can work to turn that church into a force.
A force with a big dream and big goals to help us move toward it.
That's what I'm thinking and praying about tonight.