TheyCallMePastorBryan

Just the writings of your stereotypical pastor / programmer / writer. Bryan is a leader of Sacred Roots, a small church in the Foster-Powell & Mr. Scott Arleta neighborhood areas. If you are looking for more information about what Bryan is doing or how you can help, click here

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• December 12, 2011

  Okay, no reason to post this other than that a Star Wars spoof of Mary Did You Know makes me laugh.

• giving gifts

  

  It’s been encouraging to me that over the past few years it’s become much more popular to decry consumerism during the Christmas season. Great projects like the Advent Conspiracy have popped up, encouraging people to step off the carousel of feeling like they need to go into debt in spending to illustrate their love to each other during the Christmas season.

  I think it’s a great and beautiful thing to think about this and to work at taming the consumerism beast a bit. However sometimes in the midst of that I worry that we can also throw the baby out with the bathwater.

  One of the key words that I’ve seen used in the Advent Conspiracy is “relational giving” and I think this hits home as to my feelings about gift giving. There can be wonderful opportunities to give relational gifts that still involve buying things for each other. Sometimes it means a family seeing that a relative is in need of something they can’t afford and taking on the financial burden of purchasing that item in love for that relative. This to me seems in keeping with the idea that we want to give not out of some sort of weird competition, but out of love.

  Furthermore, I think that just giving a gift that isn’t necessary but that will bring joy to a friend or relative is an appropriate expression of love - one of the few our culture has. And I fear that it’s possible that in the name of fighting consumerism we avoid this sort of giving and accidentally chastise one of the great expressions that our culture has.

  Where I tend to agree is that there is a push towards an incredible amount of excessiveness, and I believe that’s what we ought to worry about. Not whether we buy something or other, but when we go into excessively buying, when we devolve into purchasing junk that never gets used and only has but a moment of sentimental value. This sort of excessiveness is what I believe is being reacted against. But as we seek to fight this, I hope that we don’t miss in the middle of that the beauty and joy that can come from giving a gift to someone that is something they truly need or something that we know will bring great joy to a loved one. That sort of expression is greatly needed in our lives.

• December 08, 2011

  This song always makes me laugh in terms of Christmas music. Old man Dylan voice? Check. Polka? Check. Yup. Good times.

• December 06, 2011

  

  This is blog friend Eric Blauer teaching about church leadership through the ancient parable of more cowbell.

• November 29, 2011

  My friends in Fallstar just released a video. Check it out!

• November 26, 2011

  on bi-vocational ministry

  I intended to write a post yesterday about some of the things I’m thankful for, but I spent my time instead hanging out with friends enjoying company and a break. It was nice and something I’m really thankful for(see what I did there?).

  One thing that I am quite thankful about though, is that God didn’t strongly call me into the ministry until I was so far along in my computer science degree that it only made sense to finish my degree. It would be much tougher for me to do what I’m doing today if it wasn’t for that.

  It seems that conversations about being bi-vocational in ministry are on the rise. David Fitch posted a great article about some of the tensions one feels about being bivocational. It’s well worth the read(see Why Missional Leaders Need to Get Over White Man’s Angst). The angst that Fitch hits at is one of the angst about not having ministry be a full-time gig. It’s the sort of experience of feeling like one is lesser because they aren’t getting paid to only do ministry. And I agree with Fitch that this is something to get over.

  Bi-Vocational ministry is not nearly as sexy and great as some make it out to be. Many times between getting my programming duties done and doing both the incarnational and organizational work of getting Sacred Roots moved towards a better place of sustainability, I feel like my life is herding cats. The state of my room is usually a good indicator of this, and let’s not talk about the state it is in right now, okay? Rarely though does it feel like there is time to fit everything in. And over the last year, I’ve found many times that I’ve been quite thankful to find myself so single. Honestly, if I was in a relationship I don’t know how I would keep everything going.

  Much of the angst that Fitch is naming I feel. And I think there’s more to it than just the career thing. There’s something that can easily creep in that wants to insinuate that one is lesser for working in a team instead of being a solo leader as well, that one is lesser because they don’t have the story of somebody else. I find though that it’s incredibly important that I confront this desire for “greatness” at all times. It seems the idea that what we’re doing must constantly become bigger and better can many times seep into our metric for what it means to be faithful in ministry. I am constantly noticing all the things Jesus has to say about the allure of being noticable. It seems actually that it’s the religious leaders relishing in their positions of noted religiosity that Jesus takes aim at the most in his Sermon on the Mount.

  In contrast Jesus presents the analogy of ministry as one of servanthood, of not constantly seeking the limelight and more influence but seeking to serve as much as possible. I need to hear that message all the time. Ministry is not a career or a way that I define myself as a person, it’s only a part of the unique way that God has called me to faithfulness. My job isn’t to get a blog with huge readership or grow Sacred Roots to the point that it has thousands of people involved. My job is to help people be aware of what God is already doing in their lives and spur a community to more ad more loving of our neighbors. If I’m doing this with 8 people, I’m fulfilling my calling.

  I apologize for being autobiographical, but it’s really the only way I have of exploring the experience of being bi-vocational. It’s much harder than it sounds, but I truly believe it is the way forward. Just know, if it’s a way you choose to pursue, it’s challenging and there are moments that you’ll be tired and questioning your calling. But hopefully in the midst of that you might find life, just as I have!

• November 25, 2011

  

  Sometimes when I think of how consumerized Christmas has become and get depressed about all the shopping craziness associated with the day after Thanksgiving, I’m reminded of this picture and how we subtly can send different messages than the ones intended. I have some thoughts on the gift giving craze that I hope to expand on soon (I’m not in the camp that says one ought not give any gifts).

• November 23, 2011

  The calling of men and women to be converted, to follow Jesus, and to be part of his community is and must always be at the center of mission.

  — Lesslie Newbigin | The Open Secret | HT:Rob Fairbanks

• Also, since I’m in the video posting mood, check out this great video about Mosaic, a community connected to Christian Associates that’s in Glasgow, Scotland.

• Here’s a beautiful song & video made by my incredibly artistic friend Karli Ingersoll. She has a great blog where she shows stuff she’s been working on, and is helping us develop some logo stuff for the Sacred Roots community. She is also in a band called Cathedral Pearls with her husband and another couple. You should check out their music!