The Melheimian Sabbatiblog

Dismissing the Children

Many children "dismiss" the children in worship. What does it mean to dismiss? Here's how one website defines it:

 

Dismiss

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To send away; to give leave of departure; to cause or permit to go; to put away.

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To discard; to remove or discharge from office, service, or employment; as, the king dismisses his ministers; the matter dismisses his servant.

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To lay aside or reject as unworthy of attentions or regard, as a petition or motion in court.

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Dismission. (Read more: http://www.brainyquote.com/words/di/dismiss155527.html#ixzz1Ocp1P3nL)

Read this again. Discard. Lay aside. Reject as unworthy.

Is that the message you really want to give children? If so, you might as well tell the last kid out the door to turn off the lights and put the for-sale sign on the lawn. They'll be gone and they'll never come back.

You can't come back to a place you've never been.

 

Humming, Peace and Death

Great couple lines on page 147 in "The World in Small Boats" by Oliver O'Donovan that talk about age, wisdom, knowledge and preparation for death:

"Youth has its glory, of which age must stand in envy. And there is no more terrifying challenge, no part of life where we are more totally bereft of understanding and thrust back upon trust, than age's last and most decisive examination, death, when the blood fails to reach the brain and all the Portuguese irregular verbs we ever learned cease to be at our command, when all we have relied on, all we have been filled with, is drained out of us. If wisdom can be possessed in the end, it can only be an end beyond that utter dispossession. But then we shall need, not less but more than ever, an orientation to our state which is given us in knowledge. For what we can still know when we no longer know anything else, the knowledge that will serve us when all knowledge else is vain, is knowledge indeed, knowledge that confers life, even life in death."

Beautiful.

My mother was humming hymns in her last hours of life, coming in and out of consciousness. "It is well with my soul..."

When I went in for my stent to open an 80% blocked coronary artery, I found myself humming, too. She had peace. She modeled peace. She gave me a gift and a hope of peace that I took with me to the operating room.

My heart stopped a few hours later in the recovery room and they had to pound me back to life.

I woke humming.

Love in the Face of Hate

We're talking in my doctoral group about the ugliness of the crucifixion, and the beauty of Christ's love in the face of that hate.

Love in the face of hate... a beautiful concept.

I always wondered about the "beatitudes" being translated as "blessed" in the recent Bibles.

What is "beauty" and what does it have to do with "blessed?"

In the material context, most of the world would call the "blessed" as those who are blessed with money, power, beauty.

In the Jesus point of view, they are the poor in spirit, the ones who mourn, the meek, the peace-makers, those who are reviled and despised.

He turns everything upside down, brings everything high down, and brings everything up as he is lifted up.

So when hate is met with love, both the hateful and the hated are blessed.

And it is beautiful.

Dr. Ted Baehr on "The Meaning of Meaning"

I sat down with Dr. Ted Baehr, founder/publisher of Movieguide.org and founder/chairman of the Christian Film & Television Commission to talk about crafting a meaningful screenplay, the meaning of meaning, the negative and positive effects of the entertainment industry, and advice for preachers, teachers and parents. This is interview #2 for my dissertation on "The Meaning of Meaning." (Sidebar: Kathryn and I are joining Ted's Movieguide Gala Awards again this year. We'll give you a blog and Facebook report Feb. 19 and let you in on what film wins the $100K prize.

Here's Dr. Ted... in three parts:

Part 1: Crafting a Meaningful Screenplay

Part 2: The Meaning of Meaning and the Power of Media to Influence Negative and Positive

Part 3: Advice for Parents, Pastors & Teachers (plus an invitation to the 2011 Movieguide Gala)

O Lord, Stuck in Nashville Again

I was supposed to meet with the UMC Publishing House in Nashville today, but with 3 inches of dangerous snow, and the temperatures hovering around a deadly 33 degrees, the entire state has ground to a frozen halt.

Being from Dakota/Minnesota, I have little pity and can only smile.

(-;

If one must be stuck, I'm stuck in a rather marvelous, educational, stimulating place: in a hotel room with Carl George, the guy who is slightly responsible for me getting fired up enough to start the small group confirmation system at Trinity in Stillwater and spread it into a movement in the Lutheran church 20 years ago.

It's actually a rare treat! Let it snow.

Last night I shot a video interview of Carl for my doctoral dissertation on "the meaning of meaning" and a second one on "The FAITH 5". Between licking his cancer, getting kicked and slandered by pastors from the left to the right about his methods and models for church growth, and touching the lives of tens of thousands of people through spawning an international small group movement, he's had some rather deep insights.

We're only a couple miles from his consulting job at the World Outreach Church, a fast-growing non-denominational church Carl has been mentoring/incubating/consulting them for 15 years. Their pastor and staff have valued Carl's friendship and used many of his principles to grow from 200 to 8000 members, with a 20% growth a year for the last 5 years.

Since many Lutheran mission churches never hit 200 people and many are actually worshipping FEWER PEOPLE five years after their start-up year than after their first year, all I can say is "Wack 'em upside of the head, and start into systems thinking!"

Carl doesn't think its very hard to grow a church at all. Just love people, put 'em to work for the kingdom the moment they say they want to be a part of the church, and focus on making your neighborhood a better place.

Oh yeah, and have wide halls, great coffee, a great nursery and plenty of parking.

(-;

Carl and I are talking about free clinics and literacy programs at the core of neighborhood outreach as a model for mission churches. More on all that, plus the video interviews on "the meaning of meaning" and "the FAITH 5" with Carl later. Right now I think I'll have some breakfast and enjoy watching the demolition derby on the Nashville morning news.

Welcome to the WiiG (wee-gee) World

I'm getting ready to submit an artical to Newsweek, calling for a renaming of the kids born January 1, 2000 and beyond. I'm calling them Generation WiiG (wee-gee or Ouija). I'll explain later.

The Meaning of Meaning with Frank Viola

Here's a little pre-Christmas present on the meaning of meaning with one of the most influential voices in the missional church movement, Frank Viola.

RICH: Frank, I want to ask you a handful of questions on my dissertation topic, then I'll ask you what you're writing next. But before we get to my questions on meaning, let me introduce you to my little network. You've authored numerous books on the mission of God, spiritual formation, and missional organic church life. Your www.frankviola.wordpress.com is one of the most popular Christian blogs on the Internet. Your Jesus Manifesto with Len Sweet this year was Amazon's #1 Christian book, #1 theology book, #2 non-fiction and #6 of all books. (And makes a great last minute Christmas gift.) Way to go!

FRANK: Thanks.

RICH: So, on to meaning. First Frank, what is meaning?

FRANK: According to Ludwig Wittgenstein (allegedly anyway), "meaning is use.” The meaning of anything is found in the use to which it is put in real-life. As a follower of Jesus Christ, I would characterize the life to which we are called as the life of knowing and expressing Christ in face-to-face Christian community. My ministry is dedicated to this very point. (See http://www.ptmin.org/mediography for examples.) There is no meaning outside of Jesus Christ and His Church.

RICH: How do you make meaning? Or do you?

FRANK: "You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your strength, all of your mind," and "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." This only happens in its fullness when “It is not I, but Christ who lives in me.” And living by Christ is only experienced properly in Christian community, i.e. ekkelsia. The Christian life doesn’t work too well outside of it. Ekklesia is the native habitat of every follower of Jesus.

RICH: What happens when you make meaning?

FRANK: We actively participate in the shared life of Jesus Christ, who is Himself the event of God's own mutual Trinitarian life enacted in the form of the one true human life. The community of the believers, then, becomes God’s instrument for revealing Himself in visible form.

RICH: What happens when you don't make meaning?

FRANK: We deny our own true being in the image of God and destroy ourselves by enacting empty fantasies rather than living the truth and reality. We deny God’s design for our humanity.

RICH: How do you know when you've made it?

FRANK: Later, we are raised from the dead into a new everlasting life at the last judgment. Today, we can receive a foretaste of that future resurrection and glory in the communal experience of the body of Christ when it is truly operating under the headship of Jesus. The ekklesia is the boundary between heaven and earth.

RICH: I'll have to chew on it for a minute. (In some cases the ekklesia has been the barrier between heaven and earth.) So, how do you know when you haven't made meaning with people?

FRANK: We are allowed to continue in the self-chosen illusion of the narcissistic fantasy of being our own god.

RICH: Ah. The first temptation of sin in the garden. So, let's get practical. We've got a bunch of preachers who will step into (or out of) pulpits and preach a Christmas sermon to a bunch of people who haven't been to church since last Christmas, and probably won't be back until next Christmas. How do you make meaning in preaching?

FRANK: When Christ is magnified and unveiled to people under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, they are blown away, touched, and changed by His majesty, glory, power, love, meekness, wisdom, and humility. In Christ we know God. There is no God outside of Him.

RICH: If they could hit all of that, it would be a heck of a Christmas sermon. Let's apply meaning-making to teaching. How do you make meaning in teaching?

FRANK: Same as above. Teaching expounds to the mind; preaching discloses to the heart. Preaching and teaching are utensils; Christ is the substance given.

RICH: And how do you make meaning in family ministry?

FRANK: An extension of life in the believing community which is a pale and imperfect reflection of life in the Godhead.

RICH: Uh... okay, thanks. (I'm going to have to chew on that last answer a while.) Finally, speaking of personal meaning, what are you working on next, and when might we see it?

FRANK: I'm working on a new book called Revise Us Again. It's subtitled "Living from a renewed Christian script." Should be available April 1.

RICH: Great! I'll link to it so they can do advance orders. Maybe we can do an audio interview of you this spring and you can give us an inside scoop on what meaning you're trying to make by renewing the Christian script. We'll look for it. For now, thanks for your "meaningful" thoughts, and a Merry and Meaningful Christ-mas to you!

For more information, go to www.FrankViola.com

Eight Ruddat's on the FAITH 5 Floor

Ok, this is precious! The Ruddat family - all six boys - on the bedroom floor doing the FAITH 5 with mom and dad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG7nvlap_WE

 

 

The Meaning of Meaning in Film with Producer Hunt Lowry, Part I & II

 

   

I first met Hunt Lowry in 2002 as I was writing the study guides for the movie "Luther" and didn't know what I was doing. His "A Walk to Remember" film and study guides impressed me, and Hunt was kind enough to invite me to his office at Warner Brothers and coach me on how to write some world-class pieces. He's been kind enough to advise me on other projects ever since.

Hunt has produced 25-30 films in that many years, including some of my favorite meaningful films like "Last of the Mohicans" "My Life" and "A Walk to Remember" and, of course, "Airplane."

In this two-part interview, Hunt talks about the concept of meaning, the ingredients that make for a meaninful film, meaning in parenting, and meaning in life. He also sheds some lights on the influence of his pastor and family friend, Rev. William McFerrin Stowe, who had a meaningful impact on his young years and later became a bishop in the church.

This is the first of a series of interviews on meaning that I will be shooting over the next two years as part of my doctoral dissertation artifact on the "meaning of meaning".

 

 

Tony C & He Qi - DMV002

Download TonyCampolo (Meaning) Part II

Here's Part II of the interview I did with friend and mentor Dr. Tony Campolo on the meaning of meaning from a sociologist's point of view. Click the blue letters to hear and download it. It is 6 minutes long. Pass it to your friends if you find it helpful. Off to Door County with He Qi in a few minutes for a quick art pick up today. I'll Facebook some photos if you want to follow the road trip.