Godgrown

Updates from May, 2011 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

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  Mark 9:42 am on May 19, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  Forget Buying Local, “Buy Social!” 

  I’ve been having a lot of fun at the farmer’s markets so far this year.  My wife Katrina over at her site Art & Table can tell you more about that, plus show you some of her delicious meals made on the cheap with fresh produce.

  But it has me thinking some about where my dollars go.  In a booming economy, it seemed no one minded giving their hard-earned dollars to big companies that moved all the money to one side of the boat – tipping us toward a capsize.  Well, I don’t want to go into the water.

  Instead, a few years ago we as a society remembered what it was like to buy things from each other.  Rather than a computerized woman checking out our oatmeal creme pies and CoCo Puffs, now we’re buying locally – handing cash (or in some cases, local currency!) across a fold-up card table in exchange for a heirloom tomato picked this morning in a farm just outside of town.

  You know that feeling you get after a cross-country flight?  That’s how your tomato feels too.  …Buying local is great for taste, and your pocket book.

  But there’s something I’m adding to the long litany in your purchasing portfolio:

  BUY SOCIAL!

  I’m finding my friends and family are taking advantage of our current economy along with the rise of Facebook and other sites like it to step into a new venture.  My sister-in-law sells wickless candles, my friend sells gourmet meals, two of my cousins just released their first album (rock and folk), and my mom sells health products.  I’m certain that I can get into the paper goods business, selling all my friends and family toilet paper and such.

  Just think – the more connected we all become, the more we become self-marketers, (every status update is a promotion of you.)  If you wanted to make money what better place to advertise than to your friends and family on a place where they spend an average of 45mins a day waiting for you to say something?

  Now, no one wants a nag – and we’ll all have to learn to continue to treat our friends and family as real, honest people – something corporations with million-dollar commercials forgot a long time ago.  Maybe with a real, honest social connection, we’ll know how to best keep our “warm market” from becoming “warmed over.”  I love my family and friends more than I want their business.  Much much more!

  And it works.  I’m finding that my family and friends involved in this new economy: 1) deeply respect the boundaries of marketing to me and 2) we are engaging each other in new ways as we talk about the products and services they truly believe in!

  I love handing money to a local farmer – but I really love handing money to a friend or family member for goods and services.  It is as if I am once again looking at changing my buying habits – why buy from Sam Walton’s family when I can buy from my own?

  
   

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  Mark 7:24 am on April 21, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  Not Complex, Just Difficult 

  A friend of mine recently mentioned,

  “The solutions to the biggest problems in life will not be complex, only difficult.”

  This is SO true.

  When we look at the brokenness of our world, from the savage violence in Libya to a father abandoning his family to cling to his drink, you get the sense that things are very, very wicked – and turning this burning ship around will require more than well-crafted policies or enticing tax incentives.

  There is no law that will make me love my neighbor as myself.  There is no external motivation that brings me to my knees in prayer.

  We have been trying to end poverty, war, hunger, homelessness, spousal abuse, gang-violence…well, the list goes on and on.  The evening news shows begins each night with “Good evening…” then tells you all the reasons in the world why it isn’t!

  But that’s not the end of the story –

  The solutions to the world’s biggest problems…to the biggest problems in your own life… are not complex rules or well-managed institutions…no, they are quite simple…they are just difficult.

  It is not a matter of the head figuring out the solutions – it is now down to a matter of the heart.

  Can we trust our neighbor?

  Can we love them?

  Can we forgive them…and ourselves?

  Can we love our family as God loves them?

  Can we offer troubled youth a place in our family before they are sucked into the vortex of a gang?

  Can we rend ourselves of our wealth so that urban food deserts disappear?

  When Jesus quoted, “There will always be poor among you,”  he was hoping that his disciples would be convicted by what was obviously an ironic and tragic reference to Deuteronomy 15:4-11, The text begins: “There should be no poor among you…” Is Jesus misquoting Scripture?  Is he confused?  No – he’s making a point; that the end of poverty comes not with well-crafted laws of tithing, but by overcoming one’s self-centered selfishness.  ”There will always be poor among you,” was a rebuke of the disciples.

  “Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.” (Deut. 15:11)

  Did a command do the job? Did that verse end poverty at the stroke of a pen (or chisel as it were)?  No – there were plenty of people in Jesus’ day that were poor – thousands of years after the Law of Moses was written.

  Jesus knew this problem, like so many others in his world, and in our world today – can only come from overcoming the most difficult hurdle in the world — the human heart.

  

  Jay is discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    Jay 5:14 am on April 22, 2011 Permalink

    Life would be easier if I could disagree with you.
    The comfortable interpretation that says — since they will always be there what’s the rush, why bother, nothing can really be done about it, Jesus said so — just doesn’t cut it. If he was rebuking his poor disciples, what would he say to us with our opulence?

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  Mark 11:50 am on February 26, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  Churches that are Dying to Follow Jesus 

  What might it look like for a church to live like Jesus?  Even as difficult as that question is, its not nearly as difficult as the next question: “What might it look like for a church to die like Jesus?”

  Many churches put a lot of emphasis on the first question – but few churches are willing to ask the second question.  As we consider the nature of the church – as we imagine the organic structure of Christ-centered community; could dying, the tangible end of a congregation’s life, actually be a central part of the mission of God?

  I’m going with “yes” on this one.

  I had a friend once tell me that the main reason why he can’t suffer the church, even if Jesus had some good things to say, is because the church as an organization is fundamentally opposed to the aims of Jesus.  My friend’s problem with the church is that while Jesus propelled himself toward death, churches generally want to stay alive as long as possible - often to the detriment of what Jesus originally died for!

  But what if your church saw an opportunity to help contribute to the mission of God that was so powerful, so important – that it was willing to clean out the bank, sell the property, and “die” in order to see the mission provided for?

  What might dying like Jesus do for the mission Jesus died for?  What new life might be resurrected?

  As we head into the Easter season – ask yourself, as your faith community to “come die with Jesus” (Bonhoeffer).  It may just be what leads to a harvest of new life. (John 12:24)

  

  Mark W, Steve Caballero, and Travis are discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    Travis 4:38 am on March 1, 2011 Permalink

    So can I just say that this is so true, both in the institutional and organic sense of the word “church?” I’ve seen institutional churches hang on by way of “life support” that would have been better to die and sow their buildings, people, and budgets into new Kingdom works. I’ve seen organic churches afraid to let go of close relationships in order to follow Jesus into multiplication and harvest.

    The key word here is death. None of us like it. All of us are trying to avoid it. It’s scary looking at it from this side. If only we knew someone who has gone through it and it turned out okay for them….

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    Mark W 4:04 pm on March 1, 2011 Permalink

    Wow…if death is what we fear…whether it is a small house church or a giant mega church… or even my own personal life… then the next question is, “Do I actually believe that Jesus has given us power over the fear of death?” Am I still too afraid to live in victory as a part of the resurrection; part of God’s in-breaking Kingdom?

    What would it look like to be a member of a church that he been through death, burial, and resurrection?

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    Steve Caballero 12:16 am on March 9, 2011 Permalink

    Hitting very close to home as we wrestle with why a campus of our home church had to close. On the material world it was finance related. In Jesus’ world it was just part of His plan. We accept it as that and move on to make a difference with what we learned while we were open here in the material world. Spiritually we never stop being a church even if the building and location go away.

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    Mark W 10:05 pm on March 9, 2011 Permalink

    Death is never easy, or fun. I’m certainly no ecclesiastical-sadist or anything…but I do think that death can be “healthy” or “unhealthy” – done right, a church can leave a legacy and help contribute to the Kingdom of God. So often, we fight to hold on to life as long as possible, and we hurt our chances to display Jesus’ death in our church’s death. Steve – thanks for your honest thoughts.