Out of the Blur...

Sorry I haven't posted in so long. We didn't have any good internet spots for the last week in India, plus I flew into Texas and went straight to youth camp. From camp I had a weekend, and this week we're doing VBS. So with no internet at the apartment I haven't had the time or care to post. There is so much I missed the last week in India so here's a brief and short recap. To conclude the class I have to write a reflection paper, so hopefully in the weeks to come I'll get some thoughts on India and my experience posted.

Notables:

• I mentioned this last post but we met a Hindu Christ follower (HCF). I'll post more on this phenomena later, but it's an extremely intriguing movement of Hindu's remaining with Hinduism but turning to Jesus as their guru, leader, lord, then God.
  
• Meeting the HCF was a rare and great experience. The HCF is probably one of the important voices in theology today in that he is a contextualized and living Indian bowl, doing theology in the South...the future (as in tomorrow) home of Christianity. The tone and theology of this Indian Christianity was beautiful and did not reflect Christendom, but the Kingdom of God.
• The following night in Varanasi we witnessed a Puja or Pooja to the Ganges river. Every night in Varanasi hundreds, if not thousands, of men, women, and children gather to offer up worship to the god or river. The city at any given moment has 1 million pilgrims in it either to puja to the river or to die at the river.
  
• Having these two very contrasting pictures of worship and God/god has been very good, challenging, and provoked many good conversations.
• We shopped some in Varanasi and in one of the back alleys some random Indian guy tried to sell me India's finest marijuana.
• We took another 12 hour train ride from Varanasi to Agra, the home of the Taj Mahal.
• The hotel, Taj View Hotel was beautiful. The city was okay, but a tourist trap...way to expensive.
• We went to the Taj Mahal...yes, I've seen one of the 7 wonders of the world. The Taj is an amazing and beautiful structure.
• One of the most amazing parts of this trip was spending a month with 12 friends and Truett companions. One night in Agra we had a pizza party and spent that night encouraging and showing love to one another. The air was full of grace and love, full of cherished memories and truly meaningful words. I grew to love all 12 of my friends and miss them.
• From Agra we rode a bus for about 8 hours to Delhi. Delhi is the capital and most Western city of India. This may have been one of my favorite cities, because we were able to meet and spent some good time with some missionaries in the city who are working with the Hindu Christ follower movement. Also, they cooked us Mexican food, mango salsa, and cake.
  
• At the missionaries home, other students who are spending their entire summer in India and we held out own contextual Satsong and Puja to Jesus. It consisted of India songs, learning the story in Luke about Jesus crossing over to Legion in the land of the Gerasene, questions, rehashing the story ourselves as a group, praying, praying, and praying more, and the Lord's supper done with coconut. It was a good experience, because in Minneapolis we began with a satsong and I felt it was more of a spectator event for myself, but in Delhi I was able to worship.
• We flew out of Delhi and since then everything has been a blur. The flight from Delhi to Hong was 6 hours I think, then a lay over for 4 hours, then we flew to San Fran in 12 hours and missed our connecting flight so I flew to lil' John Wayne Airport in Orange County, CA then I flew into DFW. I landed about midnight and was so excited to see my wife.
• CHARLOTTE! She was at the airport waiting, it was a glorious reunion.
  
• The next day I went to camp, which was great. I enjoy the youth at FBC Austin, they are fantastic. This week we are doing VBS. I really I'm not clear about my job still, but orientation through camp and VBS don't quite show normal, daily routine.
• I'm excited to be home. I missed Char so much and have enjoyed getting to tell her about the trip. I miss India, especially my friends. The trip was excellent and more then worth it.
  
• Thanks to everyone that supported me, no matter how much or manner.
  

Day 26- Varanasi

After riding the train for about 11 hours from Calcutta, we arrived yesterday in the oldest and holiest city in India, Varanasi, home of the Ganges river. The frustrating thing has been that it is very difficult to appreciate the culture, rituals, or religion because it often seems that we are walking dollar marks. It's hard not to want to withdraw and get jaded, but at the same time this is just one of the ways these people who are poor make money. The questions about taking up my own cross and allowing myself to get cheated and what does it mean to love these people who are so different continue to sound in my ear.
Notables:

• Slept well on the train.
• Varanasi, probably because of the river, has a repugnant and strong smell. Plus the city all around has a different feel, animals fill the streets, especially cows.
• We were able to view part of a funeral ceremony yesterday. Traditionally, Hindu's want to be burned and spread or floated along the river.
• Last night we met a Hindu Christ follower. We talked with him for about 5 hours. I feel like we've been waiting to meet him since Minneapolis. We had really good conversation and many questions were answered.
• It's strange knowing that I only have 6 or 7 days left until I'm home. I missing Charlotte more, so pray that I'll be able to be here and remain engaged. Also, please pray for camp stuff. Youth leave this Sunday for camp and I fly in on Wednesday and will probably go to camp either that night or Thursday.

Day 23- Calcutta & Mother's House

It's been a while so I'm not sure what all to include. My health has returned, which I'm really grateful for because it was getting really hard to not focus on myself and my own suffering to see all the suffering around me. This last part of the trip for myself seems to have taken a turn from a more tourist type feel to being here to act, love, and be transformed.

Highlights:

• Saturday we saw Indiana Jones in an Indian theater...not that good of a movie.
• Sunday we attended Mass at the Mother's Home, Mother Teresa's home. I had the honor of reading scripture in the service. Looking out into a crowd of sisters while reading Hos. 6:3-6 was very humbling.
• Then we attended a Baptist church founded in 1811, it was very different then the Mass. The most suprising thing was the larger number of young people at the Baptist church.
• On Monday and Tuesday one part of our group worked at an orphanage, while the other part that I was a part of worked at the House of the Dying. There is so much to be said about this place. I really liked getting to meet volunteers from around the world. Also, there is so much to be said about creating an environment of dignity. The Hous of the Dying is a place of life. Furthermore, after meeting a few men in the house that spoke English, I was reminded how nothing is promised in life.
• Later today we leave Calcutta on train. Hopefully it will only take the projected 11 hours, not the 25 hours that it took someone else we spoke to.
• General health for the group is well, except for w few. Continue to pray for us, that we'd seek to learn how to be open and what it means to follow Christ more deeply.

Day 17- Cochin, Cherai Beach Resort

This morning we are about to leave to Jaipur, but the last few days have been about slowing down and learning about ancient Hinduism while sleeping in some pretty plush places. This, our second resort, is located right off the Arabian Sea. We went body surfing a few days ago in it.
We've visited alot of historically important places in Cochin and Mamallapuram. In the latter we saw five different ancient Hindu temples. In Cochin we visited the oldest church built by the Portuguese in 1503 in India.
Although it has been nice to slow down and learn about Hinduism, I think the entire group is ready to move on. The next two weeks are going to be much more hands on, engaging, and about meeting Indias. This also means that the next two weeks are going to get much harder.
I'm not sure where we are staying, so I don't know when I'll get to post again.
Notables:

• I'm struggling with identifying myself as an outsider in relationship to the "other," that being the Hindu, Muslim, Idian etc.
• The resorts have been nice, which is good because several of us got sick. Pray for health because it's going to be much harder to be sick in some of th eplaces we're going to.
• I've learned enough about Hinduism and Indian culture that I'm really confused.
• Sometimes ministry is about taking a stab and working from there.
• The novelty of India has worn off, thus culture shock is settling in. I'm much more calloused toward the shopkeepers, vendors, and beggars then I was before.
• Last night we had a variety show. The guys sang a song and the girls had a melody of songs. All of them were rewritten to include funny and memorable experiences from the trip thus far. I'm really enjoyng my traveling friends.

Day 13- Mamallapuram, Ideal Beach Resort

Sometimes it could to break in a hard trip, thus we have officially landed in the nicest place I've ever stayed, besides the cruiseship for my honeymoon. This place is amazing, located off the Bengali Bay in the India Ocean.

We arrived yesterday and are leaving tomorrow morning for Cochin. Most of today we spent touring ancient Hindu statues and monuments. I would love to share more, but the internet here is extremely slow so I need to go...to the beach!

Day 11- Hyderabad

Today ends our journey here on our first leg in India. We mostly took the time to tour the city and spend some time shopping. We were able to see the man made lake that separates the twin cities and then go into the heart of the Muslim part of the city. We visited a Mosque that experienced a terrorist bomb last summer. They were gracious enough to allow the men in our team into the Mosque, it was really good and I was able to pray for peace in that place. Next to the Mosque was Charminar, an old, old structure. You should google it. The last site we saw was the 7 tombs, that were very large and amazing structures outside the city. Apparently I'm popular among the youth guys of Hyderabad, several groups came up to me and wanted to take pictures. It was fun.

The best part of today was meeting a Muslim Christ follower who is working for among the Muslim middle class for house church planting. Please pray for Shake.

Tomorrow we fly out to Chennai, then the next day we get on a train to Cochin. I'm really excited to Cochin, the seat of a successful socialist/communist state in India. Also, this is the purported place of Thomist Christianity in India. India Christianity has the possibility of being as old as the Apostle Thomas, yes doubting Thomas from the Bible.

Continue to pray for Jeff's foot, it is rather swollen.

Day 10- Hyderabad

Today we volunteered and served at a local HIV/AIDS clinic. There is so much that I could talk about, so I'll limit it to a few things. First, this is my first encounter and interaction with HIV, and I was able to pray for and be prayed for by Opang, an HIV+ counselor at the clinic. Having a face and story to put with something that is so demonized in our culture sometimes really is breaking. I really appreciated his story.

Also, I met a volunteer, Daniel who got my email. We discussed postmodernism and Christianity, it was really neat. Finally, the most humbling experience is to see these people's faith. Many of the Indians that we've had conversations with or who are ministering to India absolutely love Jesus and rely desperately on their faith. I'm so humbled to pray for and be around these Christians, it has challenged my faith.

Oh, one last note, theology is messy when it hits the ground. I think one of the biggest ways of bridging the gap between high theology and praxis is giving ourselves permission to fail. We need to give our space to experiment and to simply do something, to love people and trust in God to be faithful.

Day 9: Hyderabad, India

Yesterday we arrived in India after a long flight. We all lost sleep since our flight departed Hong Kong and we arrived in Delhi at 230am, then from Delhi to Hyderabad at 630am, I think. This place is signifigantly different then Hong Kong, much more foreign and poor. I think there have been two key adjectives in describing India thus far: the land of contradictions and struggling. Although India is growing economically, the cities are still smattered with broken buildings, atructures, and people. Two former missionaries to India have really helped guide us here in Hyderabad, Robbie and James (Pancho), who I found out go to the same church that I just got a job at.

Notables in Hyderabad:

1. Mango Season! Fresh mangos as well as bananas have been really, really good.
2. Beggars- I'm still not sure what I have to offer or what the proper response should be, the situation is complex
3. Theology is messy on the ground. With a growing middle class in Hyderabad because of the developing IT market, the church we attended this morning was very, very Western. It was like they were taking Bill Hybels and directly applying that methodology here.
4. Please pray for me, I got a sinus headache today which almost put me out of commission. I hope that doesn't occur very often.
5. We met and had lunch and tea with a wonderful Indian Christian family that ministers to a certain people group. It was great to spend time with them and see how this culture talks about Jesus and what God does in their lives. Pray for Lazarus (Sing Saey) and his wife and family.
6. Traffic here is unbelievable and crazy. Where there is a void, a car, person, taxi, motorcycle or goat fills the gap. Plus, we've had some crazy drivers.
7. Tomorrow we are going to work at an AIDS clinic all day.
8. We've eaten India food as well as pastries from a bakery, KFC, Pizza Hut, and lots of water. So far no one has gotten sick, except for my headache. The India food is good, I like the different dishes and spices. Yogurt is my best friend, because you mixed it in with the spicy food and it helps control the temp in your mouth as well as your stomach.

Day 7- Hong Kong to India

Today, we've spent the majority of the morning and afternoon in HK with a businessman who is developing a coffee company in SE Asia. I really respect and enjoy the man. Overall, the morning was good and lunch was very tasty. We ate authentic Hong Kong (Chinese in essence) food called Dim Sum(n?). They bring out the portions as they are made, so I ended up eating way to much. I do really enjoy this culture, food, and city. Hong Kong is one of my favorite cities now for sure.

After a short rest here at the palce we're staying, Tao Fong Shun retreat center, we'll head to the airport and fly out to Delhi at 10pm. In Delhi, we'll stay for several hours, go to the domestic terminal then travel to Hyderabad. Sometime in there I present on Hyderabad, which I should be an expert on by now since I met a man from there on my 14 hour flight to China and he told me all things good about the city.

So far the trip has not been overly difficult or challenging, but that will all change once we hit the ground in India. It seems so strang that we've been gone for near a week, but we still are not in India. Yet, I find myself less and less ready, because the difference, culture, and people will be extremely different.

I'm not sure when I'll be able, if at all to post pic's.

Pray for our group. Jeff scraped his knee yesterday, so we don't want that to get infected. Groups dynamics are playing out and people are growing together. There has been no conflicts, but it is only inevitable. Continue to pray fo rour safety and groups relations, communications, openness, and honesty.

Hong Kong 6

Yesterday after our 14 hour flight we landed in Hng Kong at 630 am, and spend literally the entire day marching throughout the city. My first impressions of Hong Kong was that it was beautiful, green, and very Western. The islands is tropical with low mountains, thus making for beautiful backdrops to the seemingly endless skyscrapers. Our second day in Hong Kong, we again marched throughout the city on the infamous Dr. Stroope March. Even though I'm still jet lagged, I'm feeling really good. THe trip has been and is getting better the more I'm getting to know my team mates and get back to normal.

Notables:

• The Hong Kong subway is very efficient, very.
• I could like in this city.
• The city has lots of color and is tropical.
• We visited a Buddhist garden and Temple where we saw people practice Taoist rituals.
• I'm asking questions about myself personally, what I believe and what are my passions.
• It is interesting to take the many conversations and ideals that have evolved in seminary and see how the reality of life and the world makes distinctions, classifications, and high ideals so messy.
• I like my team...so far!

Future:

Tomorrow we will be in the city until 10 pm then we fly out to India. We fly into Delhi then go straight for Hyderabad. I present on Hyderabad tomorrow. Dr. Stroope said that things change after about two weeks into the trip. I'm both looking forward but anxious about this time. I wonder what it will look like when all of our personalities are more open and are being made vulnerable.

Day 2- ReThinking Forum

A few notables from today's (our last day) from the forum:

1. We were lead in "contextual" Indian style worship by Arandha, an incredibly talented group, Berkley trained, and yes the lead man plays the guitar. 
2. Dr. Stroope gave a paper today on the identity of the outsider.  It was really good.  The insider (the local, indigenous people) need to be local, and outsider's must recognize that they can never be an insider because of enculturation.  Thus, instead of vocation we must focus on formation.  Not what do I do, but who am I becoming.
3. EGG story!  Today for breakfast I went downstairs for the continental breakfast at the Inn.  In the fridge there were hard boiled eggs, which sounded good.  So I pulled one out and thought there is no way I'm eating a cold, hard boiled egg.  Along with my pancake, sausage dog I placed the egg in the microwave.  After about 30 seconds, I pulled out the egg and pancake dog and took about 4 steps toward my table, then BOOM!  Apparently hard boiled eggs, and there was no shell mind you, do not go into the microwave.  The thing exploded everything:  the wall, the window, curtains, floor, the side of Jeff's face, Sarah and Mary Beth's hair, and ALL over me.  My face, beard, shirt were covered in egg and everyone was looking at me.  What do you do when a room full of strangers are staring at you.  All I could get was, "I'm okay!" while covered in eggs.  It was great!
4. Tomorrow, we fly out and it'll take a while to get where we're going.  So along the way, there will be plenty of time for conversation and being together in a group.

Love of my life!

Today begins one of the longest periods my wife Charlotte and I have ever spent apart.  A few weeks ago we moved into our new apartment into a new city.  The last two weeks have been rather crazy, getting reading to go, packing, finishing the semester, etc.  

Fortunately, in the midst of it all we were able to spend some good, quality time together.  This morning our goodbye was somewhat hurried I felt like, but the last few days was excellent.

I'm not sure how to say goodbye to the person I love the most and wish more then anything she could be here.

In some sense I need to lean in and make sure I engage in this trip with this group of people, while never letting go of Charlotte.

So, I love you babe and miss you much already.  You are strong and I really love spending my life with you.  

Day 1- Rethinking Forum

Well, it's nice to finally be on the trip.  We've been building up for months, preparing, reading, packing, and meeting and finally we are on our way.

Today began our first day.  This first leg began with  two hour flight from DFW to Minneapolis for a two day hiatus, also known as the Rethinking Forum.  Basically practitioners, scholars, and people interested in the conversation about mission to Hindu's have gathered for a few days to talk about contextualization.  

My first impression has been very different from most conferences I have attended.  This forum is very intimate.  I feel like this is a conversation among peers, partners, and friends.  This is a very important conversation, but like most conversations that push beyond the veneer and surface level of what we often call "conversation" the discussion can become frustrating and difficult to maintain.  So like this conference, this is trip is about a difficult and sometimes frustrating conversation.

Not that I think this trip will be bad or even overly hard, but to fully engage and get everything out of this conversation it will take effort and be hard at times.  

Tomorrow we go back to the conference and Dr. Stroope will be presenting a paper.  Monday, we take the morning to rest, fly to DFW with a layover, then to San Francisco with a layover, then we fly out to Hong Kong for the long 13 hour...23 hours with time changes ;) 

Journey Begins Tomorrow...

Today I'm putting the final touches on packing, chapstick, toilet paper (for roadside toilets in India), jacket, malaria meds bought in Mexico. Everything fits quite snug inside my pack, which I'm hoping to take as my carry-on.

Tomorrow we fly out at 8:00am to Minneapolis for a Rethinking Forum on Mission to Hindu's until Sunday. Then we fly to Hong Kong for a few days to get out feet underneath us. When we're used to the time change, we'll fly to Delhi and start our time in India where we'll be for the majority of our time.

I plan on updating on this blog to let all my faithful readers, all two of you, to know where I'm at, what, we're doing, and all that good stuff. So, check back every once in a while. I'm not sure how often I'll update, but hopefully more often then not.

Packing for 37 days

Total of 37 days, mostly in India:

• 1 Gregory Palisade 80 Backpack
• 3 T-Shirts- 1 Exofficio & 2 cotton/poly blends
• 3 Pants- 1 Convertibles, 1 Cargo, 1 Linen & Cotton blend
• 4 underwear- 2 exofficio, 2 cotton
• 3 pair socks- ankle hiking
• 1 pair Chaco's
• 1 Pair of running shoes
• 1 Marmot Light Jackot
• 2 Shorts- 1 swimming, 1 athletic, 1 pair normal shorts (possibly)
• 1 Polo
• 1 hat
• 1 MSR Towel
• 3 Books, 2 Journals- Bible, Kierkegarrd's Fear & Trembling (to read & give away), Peterson's Christ Plays in 10,000 Places, 1 Travel Journal, 1 non-ruled journal
• 1 Under clothes passport & money holder
• 1 pair of Pepper's sunglasses
• 1 Watch
  
• 1 Dry Sack- for dirty clothes, 1 compression sack
• 1 Nokia NV10 Camera, 3 batteries, 2 1 gig cars, charger, adapter & case
  
• Lots of pills, med's, toiletries, baby wipes, TP, glasses & contacts, bug spray, ear plugs
• Misc papers for insurance, check card, flight receipts, etc
  
• Most importantly- MYSELF, packed & ready to go!
  

Sad Day...

I'm sitting here in my last class ever in seminary. Although I don't graduate until December and still have mentoring for the Fall, this will be my last semester of class. Yes, I'm really excited about continuing on this journey and of course I'm excited that I have a job and a place to live. I have to admit though, that I will miss this place a lot, as well as the academic setting.

This time in seminary has been really good, but also really hard. I 've experienced everyday the deconstruction process, while being pushed toward healthy reconstruction. I had someone ask me today would I do seminary again and I said, "Yes, absolutely!" I'm not certain I'm in the place I wanted to be in leaving school, but maybe that's best. I don't have answers, but lots of questions and I'm okay with that. I'm just not sure how that will pan out in a concrete, church setting where everyone is looking for answers.

In my last class today, we read a story that almost providentially tells my story: the Blind Men and the Elephant. I thought this story was the perfect way to end my seminary experience and begin the next chapter in life. As I'm preparing to leave and enter the "real" world, I'm still struggling how to structure and talk about what I believe and have experienced. How do I talk about being a Christian in Austin?

Sex education and youth

Preparing to leave seminary and enter the "real" world as if there is such a thing, I've constantly been contemplating how to put my beliefs into practice, hell, I'm still trying to figure out how to put together what I believe. Because I think differently, I am afraid that stepping into a church job will one either usurp control over my thoughts and I'll lose it all or its going to be a pretty painful experience of trying to gain words and actions to line up with what's going on in my head.

One of the things I've been struggling with is teaching sex, because the church has so badly screwed this one up at times especially with youth. What we're teaching now is so shame based that it is not healthy, nor realistic. As if we can shame youth into not having sex, yeah right. If youth get emotionally involved in relationships than what's to stop them from having sex? Opportunity, nothing else.

Here's a link to an excellent post worth the entire read about sex education for youth, read it. I'm not sure I totally agree, but I really like her thoughts on the subject such as

-Your body is amazing. You can trust it to tell you what you are physically ready to do.

-Your heart is your guide –you can trust the wisdom of your own intuition in making choices.

-Sex is something you move into one step at a time. Each step is good. Each step is appropriate. You– and only you–get to choose when you are ready for that step.

-As a romantic relationship grows deeper emotionally, it’s natural for it to grow deeper physically.

-Planning for sex and being prepared to protect yourself and your partner is smart, responsible, and essential.

-You have the right to say NO. And conversely, you have the right to say YES.

Rather than telling my kids “Sex is a terrible, awful, shameful thing you save for the one you love.” I want the messages I give them to be able to be boiled down to this:

“You are capable of building a relational history you can look back on without regret.”

Emerging Church Language

No this isn't a post on why its cool to cuss, or to cuss makes you postmodern or something. This is a post on all this confusing language around the movement of churches engaging emerging culture. As of late terms like "postmodern" and "emerging church" have become akin to "conservative" and "liberal," by that I mean they're quite meaningless other than what we fill them with to derogate others by.

Tony Jones argues that emerging and Emergent are basically memes with no real difference other than what we attach to them. I'm not so sure Jones' fighting against categories is true to reality though.

First, Jonny Baker illuminates that there is a difference between emerging and Emergent, one is a movement the other an organisation. This is the reality, and the distinction is important.

Second, it's important because the language of "emerging church" is losing its meaning, if it really had any. I think "emerging church" is an umbrella term that incorporates many bodies (including Emergent), congregations, voices, and such of churches that are engaging the emerging culture (the culture in continuity with deconstruction, but seeking reformulation and reconstruction).

Also, I'm afraid "emerging church" has been pigeon-holed into one defined culture that wears torn jeans, speak certain ways, and uses Macs. Not true. A church of "gray heads" can be emerging if its trying to engage the emerging culture, that's why I stick with this definition for understand the emerging church movement-"churches that are engaging the emerging culture."

Do you think its important to distinguish between emerging and Emergent?

Sensative Subversive...

Being subversive does not mean being "anti" but being resensatived.

Finding a "Home"

Saturday my wife and I went to Austin to find a place to live. Unfortunately we cannot simply live and have what we'd like. East Austin is the side of the town rich folks don't go into, but we'd like to live there as a presence of Christ. So, this coming week, we're moving to N. Austin to a pretty nice apartment complex. Not that this place won't be filled with people and opportunities for relationships, but I feel like a sell out.

The main reason we chose the place is location and we were getting desperate. For a month until summer, Charlotte my wife will drive to Killeen which is northwest of Austin everyday. We chose a short, 6 month lease because we don't know where she'll be working come fall and we're not sure about buying a home. Also, did I say that we're moving next week!

All that to say, we are excited to have found a place (even if its on the 3rd floor). Also, it seems that things don't quite work out the way we always want them to. The thing I fear is that trying to do something like incarnational, lifestyle ministry is not highly encouraged simply because its not natural to our culture or even in our churches. So I'm afraid that it won't happen, because life will just usurp our dream. Of course, I'm also afraid that I'm more in love with the idea of love than actual doing it. Time will tell, only God knows.