Village (our church) awarded a diversity award by the city of Beaverton

The Oregonian has an article in the paper today about our church, Village. Krista and I are so pleased to see the city recognizing the hard work that our staff and congregation have put into creating a church community that is culturally and ethnically diverse.  You can read the article here.

Congratulations, Village! We're really proud of you!

The Story of Noah as Polemic

I'm speaking at our church, Village Baptist, this weekend.  They always roll out the red carpet as you can see on the left when they call me a "special guest speaker" instead of "some guy who goes to our church."

I love the story of Noah, it's a really weird and disturbing story that has been turned into a children's story, so I'm looking forward to speaking about it this weekend, although I've been wrestling with it a bit as I try to find the right things to focus on for the sermon.

One of the more fascinating things about the story of the flood is comparing it to the myths and legends about the universal flood in other cultures and traditions.  My pastor, John Johnson, has been talking about how Genesis, or at least parts of it, was written as a polemic against these other stories... a sort of way of saying, "You think this is how the world began, or this is who God is, but here's the REAL story."  Which is particularly interesting as you look at the story of Noah.  Now, this is not at all the point of what I'm sharing this weekend, so all of this is really just interesting window dressing I've been mulling over the last couple of weeks, but I thought some of you BHR minions might find it interesting.

Longtime readers of the blog will already know how much I enjoy the story of Gilgamesh, which has a full telling of a flood story in tablet XI. There are lots of fascinating parallels (like the use of birds to investigate the flood levels afterwards, the multiple levels in the vessels they use... although Utnapishtim's is actually his own house, not a boat).

If you're looking at the story of the ark as a polemic against a story that the Hebrews no doubt knew from their time in Egypt, here are a couple of the points that I think are interesting (of course these go directly to the difference between the understanding of God/the gods between Gilgamesh and Genesis):

1) The reason for the flood being sent to destroy all mankind.  In Genesis, God destroys humanity because they are continually wicked in their actions and thoughts.  They are filling the world with violence.  In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the gods are concerned about human population, and specifically are annoyed by all the annoying sound that human beings make all the time. 

2)  The response of God/the gods to the flood. The Mesopotamian gods experience terror, fleeing to the highest heavens to get away from the flood.  There is a weeping speech about the evil that has been done in destroying all mankind.   God in Genesis is not afraid of the flood; he does promise never to destroy humanity on this scale again, so that could be used as an argument that he regrets the flood in some way (though that's never stated, while his regret at creating mankind is expressed using very strong language earlier in the story).

3) Response of God/the gods to the sacrifices after the flood. Utnapishtim makes a sacrifice to the gods after the flood and they come flocking around it "like flies". There is an inference that there is a sort of sustenance the gods get from the sacrifices of humanity.  In contrast, Noah's God is pleased by the "aroma" of Noah's sacrifice, and, well, that's pretty much it.

4) The rainbow.  Ishtar throws her necklace into the sky as a reminder of what happened (but no promise it won't happen again).  Noah's God puts his "bow" (the word in Hebrew is actually for a bow like a bow and arrow) into the sky as a reminder to himself that he has made a promise not to destroy humanity in this way again.

5) What happens next to Noah/Utnapishtim. I find this one really fascinating, although it's more about humanity than deity... Utnapishtim and his wife are given immortality and sent to live far away and to guard human wisdom. Noah gets drunk, takes off all his clothes and gets made fun of by one of his sons.

These are just a few contrasting things, of course, that best show this polemical theme in the story of Noah... I'm sure you could write your doctoral thesis on comparing these two stories (if it hasn't already been done many, many times).  But it's interesting to me, anyway.  The Hebrew story says that God doesn't destroy on a whim, but in reaction to evil and violence on the earth. He is not afraid of the flood, or of anything, really (he is, in this respect and others, less "human" than the Mesopotamian gods).  The Hebrew God desires human worship but is not dependent on it.  The Hebrew God makes a promise that this will never happen again and lays aside his weapon.

Regarding our heroes, Utnapishtim is welcomed into the family of the gods, essentially, while the Biblical story goes out of its way to show us that Noah was, in fact, merely a man and that far from achieving deity, he hasn't even reached the heights of humanity lost in the Garden of Eden... he still has to work the land, there is still shame about nakedness, there is family discord. 

So, there you have it.  A bunch of stuff I won't talk about this weekend at Village.  Come hang out with us this weekend if you're in Portland.

Michael Frost

Missiologist and author Michael Frost was in Portland this last week, and Krista and I were invited to go over to our Pastor's house and get to know him and his wife, Carolyn, a bit over dinner.  There were maybe twenty of us there, and after dinner we sat in the living room and talked about "missional church" and what that means in a Western, post-modern context.  It was an interesting conversation, especially as we talked about the difference between church communities that use worship as the engine for what they do versus communities that use mission.

I read Michael's book ReJesus: A Wild Messiah for a Missional Church last week, which I thoroughly enjoyed and can gladly recommend.

Then, on Sunday, Michael spoke at our church.  To get a feel for what he means when he talks about "missional" you can listen to his talk here.  I thought his talk was exceptional, and that God really spoke through him.  Our pastor shared his thoughts about Michael's sermon this week as well.  SARAH ATKINSON -- click on that link to see which of your favorite authors Michael Frost used to end his sermon.


Michael and Carolyn are touring the U.S. for the next couple of weeks, so if you get a chance to go say hello you should do it.  They're in San Francisco this week, so we got to suggest some of our favorite places for them to go hang out and have a meal and some coffee.

Guest Speaker Gordon MacDonald at Village tonight and tomorrow

Gordon MacDonald, speaker and author of Ordering Your Private World and Who Stole My Church? is speaking tonight and tomorrow at our church, Village.  That's tonight at 5:30 or tomorrow morning at 8:30 and 10:30. 

I'm sure I'll run into some of you there.  But mostly because I know some of my fellow Villagers are probably reading this.  :)

A Brief Moment of Open-Hearted Sincerity

I gained nearly five pounds in Hawaii. I’m not sure how this happened. It seems that the active lifestyle of boogie boarding, swimming and so on was completely counter-balanced by eating ice cream at Lappert’s every single day before going out to dinner.

On the way to church this Sunday I was telling Krista that these five pounds seemed almost like a metaphor for discipline in my life. I feel out of shape in my physical and spiritual life, as well as in things that I love and care about but take extra effort… things like seminary and my writing. Additionally, I’ve been thinking about my new little girl (who should be joining us on August 7^th at 7:30 am if all goes according to schedule) and how if I wanted to live until she’s my age, I’ll be SEVENTY YEARS OLD! When I was fifteen I thought that sixty would be a good target age for a full life, but I’m re-evaluating.

We talked about this for a while and I told Krista how I was making plans to reverse some of this and re-engage with self-discipline in my life… get back into deeper relationship with God, re-discipline my body, schedule in time for the secondary priorities in life like seminary and writing.

Then we went into church and Pastor John’s message was this. Listen to the excellent sermon called "Introducing an Outlier Life." It’s all about the need for discipline, why it’s necessary, how it works and why our church will be looking all summer at the spiritual disciplines. Krista kept leaning over and saying, “God’s really trying to hammer this one home, isn’t He?” I kept praying and saying, "Okay, enough already, I get it!"

One of the things available at the end of John’s sermon were these blue bracelets that say HAGIOS on them (the Greek word for holiness). I felt it would be a good reminder of my commitment to get my life into shape this summer. I’ve never been much of a jewelry guy (with the notable exception of my wedding ring… lovingly fashioned to look precisely like the One Ring from the Lord of the Rings movies, though I’ve never tested it out in a fire and it appears that it has never, for instance, turned me invisible) so wearing this band for the summer is a little weird for me, which makes it a good reminder of why I’m wearing it, because it bothers me (if that makes sense).

So I’m working hard at these things. The weight issue is a mind-boggling one for me. I looked up my BMI (body mass index… I know, I had never heard of it, either) and apparently someone of my height should way 180 pounds. WHAT?!?! I haven’t weighed that little since high school when I returned from being a counselor at a summer camp in Alaska where we ran, hiked, swam, kayaked, canoed, shot arrows and played running games all day. I tried not to eat the food because it was almost completely recycled Soylent Green and the bathroom was about a half mile walk from my cabin (if you ate the camp food you discovered that the bathroom was a half mile away even if you ran). I don’t know if it’s possible for me to get to that weight, but I thought what the heck let’s give it an experimental try. That means losing thirty pounds. I am thinking of sawing off one of my arms to give me a jump start. Updates as they are available.

And now you are thinking, Mikalatos, why do you share these things with us? And I can only say that when I am typing my hands are too busy to eat anything. I prefer being in disciplined shape. I feel better physically. I feel spectacular emotionally and spiritually. I enjoy life more when I am writing regularly instead of “when I can squeeze it in”. I just don’t like all the hard work and organization.

And that is all I have to say about that. Okay, stop looking at this post I am getting embarrassed.

THE END

Worship Labyrinth this week at Village

Starting tomorrow morning at 5:30 am, our church will be doing the "Worship Labyrinth." Every year our church sets up the Labyrinth for the week leading up to Easter Sunday. I went last year and had a really profound experience of meeting with God.

If you live in the Portland area and want to go check it out, it's this week Monday
Monday through Thursday, 5:30am-10:00pm in the sanctuary of Village.

It's by appointment only, so be sure to call ahead to the church office (503-643-6511)to schedule your time.

I can't think of a way to express what a great hour this was for me. I really experienced Christ's presence in the Labyrinth in a way that is (for me) rare and precious.

Ecclesiastes 10:1

Our pastor John taught a great sermon this morning about Ecclesiastes 10:1, which says, "As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor." He walked us through a series of great observations about how sin works, why "little sins" matter and the strategy used by our opposition to turn little sins into big ones.

It was a sermon that was not only insightful, but fun to listen to as John spent the whole time taking apart one simple metaphor and showing just how deep and profound it is if you take the time to meditate on it.

As a result, I spent some time online tonight hunting down one of the books John mentioned tonight, and I'm pleased to say that thanks to the generous Amazon gifting of my parents, a copy of Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate by Jerry Bridges is winging its way to my house even as we speak.

And, since you can never buy just one book online (HOW WILL I GET FREE SHIPPING?) I also bought a copy of Patrick Michael Finn's A Martyr for Suzy Kosasovich. Patrick and I went to university together. He was always a better writer than me, as I'm sure is evidenced in this novella. He was, in fact, working on this while we were at school together, which just shows how carefully he works his stories over and over until they are perfect. But now that respectable sin of mild jealousy is showing up as I discuss this so I better quit. Ha ha. Anyway, I'm looking forward to reading Patrick's book, too.

I don't think John's talk is up yet, but when it is it will be here.

Gearing Up For A Talk Tonight

In a few minutes I'm on my way out the door to go speak at our church's high school group.

BUT WAIT, you say, ISN'T IT ALREADY AFTER NINE AT NIGHT?

That's right, kids. Youth group at our church starts at TEN AT NIGHT.

Why, you ask?

Because our church is rad, that's why.

Politics (As Usual)

We're going through the book of Ecclesiastes in church right now. Our pastor doesn't stop for holidays and special events. Christmas, Easter, whatever, he preaches out of the place we're at in the book we're studying at the time.

The weird thing, of course, is that his messages are always appropriate for the moment. He ends up hitting the portion of I Corinthians that talks about resurrection just as we enter Easter. Things like that. One of the other pastors (we'll call him Sally because he said not to use his name) said that it's because of the Holy Spirit. I guess you can't argue with that.

This week was no exception. this sermon is about Ecclesiastes. And politics. And what it looks like to put your hope in political solutions rather than God. It's excellent, take a listen.

Pastor John also put up a condensed version on his blog.

A tale about a tail

Tonight was our church's Halloween -- ooops -- I mean Harvest Party. Z went as a princess, and A went as a rabbit. The big problem for our little rabbit was that she lost her fluffy tail somewhere between the jump house and the game room. In the midst of her crying, Pastor Frank came up to try to help .

Pastor Frank: Where did you last see your tail?

A: On my bottom.

A link to my latest talk

I enjoyed my time preaching at Village this weekend. I love talking about God's word with people.

Here's a link to download the talk: A Divine Invitation.

And, in case you missed it, here's the talk I gave at Village just after Easter: Hope for a Dying World.

speaking this weekend

I get to speak at our church again this weekend, which is great. This came about because our pastor had to change his travel plans to Lebanon at the last minute because Hezbollah shut down the airport in Beirut (click on the link to see some updates from his time in Beirut).

So Pastor John called me and asked if I would share something one week while he was in Lebanon, specifically talking about following Christ, expecting big things from him, stepping out in faith and believing the impossible, all that sort of thing. Which is, you know, my favorite sort of things to talk about. My "life message" I guess you would call it.

I'm teaching essentially the same thing I taught last summer at the Stint Briefing... a message about when Jesus came to Simon and the other fishermen and said "Follow Me." Although I think I'm leaving out the funny comic book story from the intro, even though it's hilarious. Not sure it would go over as well with the 8:15 and 9:45 crowds.

I never used to do the same talks more than once. I've given this one a lot now. I remember I was praying once about this not too long ago, just telling the Lord I felt weird doing the same talk, and was that okay and I felt that the Holy Spirit said to me, "What if I have you do this talk the rest of your life? Could you do that?" Oh, yeah. I would be thrilled to do it. I love talking about this--the beauty of Christ, the reason people have desired to follow him, the amazing challenges and unexpected blessings of following Christ--I would talk about it every day for the rest of my life if Jesus just provides the audience and the Spirit empowerment.

And if Jesus doesn't provide the audience I suppose I could go all "Saint Francis" and preach to the birds and animals. Ha ha. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten that I have thoughts to share with you all about St. Francis... it just takes me longer to write my serious thoughts out.

And in closing... if you want to come hang out tonight or tomorrow at our church and see me pretending to be a pastor for a couple of hours, you're very welcome to join us. I'll put a link up when the talk is available online.

Hope for a Broken World

As you no doubt remember, I spoke at our church last week while our pastor took a well-deserved break.

Here's a link to where you can download the talk or listen to it online.

And here's the link to our pastor's current series, which is on First Corinthians. I think you will like it.

Thanks to all of you in the BHR community who showed up to listen in person. I felt loved that you would take some time to come listen to me speak.

You're Invited

This coming weekend, I'm delivering the message at our church.

Here are directions to the church.

They often record the message, so I'll post a link if they do, for those of you who prefer "distance learning."

Into The Labyrinth

Leading up to Easter our church does a worship labyrinth. I decided I would be a part of it this year. I've always wanted to do it, but never been able to before. Here's the description of it from the church:

Open your eyes, ears and hearts to an encounter with God. Experience the
Village Worship Labyrinth, an awesome devotional experience that
will help you draw closer to Him. The Worship Labyrinth is a
personal journey with eight stations where you can stop and spend
time with the Lord. This multi-sensory experience will give you time to let
go of the busyness, hurts and distractions that can spoil your relationship
with God.

I have to admit I was a little afraid. The last time I went into a labyrinth was in Oakhurst, California, and it was for a Halloween event. There were big walls built out of black garbage bags hanging on pvc pipe. I had made it most of the way through with minimal frights, but then this one vampire had a cape made out of black garbage bags. He was standing in a corner with his back to us, and when he turned around my stomach tried to crawl out my mouth. Luckily all the screaming got out first, so I had time to fix that.

The only other association I have with Labyrinth (until yesterday) was the strange Jim Henson movie from 1986. So I was a little concerned that I might run into something like this in the maze:

Anyway, those were the thoughts I had going in. Oh, also, when Yoda sends Luke Skywalker into that tree that is strong in the dark side of the Force and he tells him that he won't need his lightsaber. Then Darth Vader comes out of the shadows and attacks him. Creepy.

So, I got to Village for my scheduled appointment for the Labyrinth, and our worship pastor, Dean, was there giving people the talk to prepare them for their experience. He calmed my fears. Since I didn't have a lightsaber, I left my cell phone, wallet and house keys in the truck and my shoes outside the labyrinth.

The labyrinth was set up in the main sanctuary... Dean and his minions had removed all the pews and replaced it with the outline of a labyrinth, with eight different stops along the way.

The way in was all about preparing yourself to meet with and hear from God. I felt Christ beside me the whole way, inviting me to come to the center to meet with him. I put the hood of my sweatshirt up because I am too easily distracted, which made me feel a little bit like a monk.

At the center of the labyrinth stood a table with bread and juice for communion. I sat there and prayed for a long time, and I experienced his presence in a powerful way. I spoke clearly with him, and heard clear responses from him. He prayed a blessing over me. I didn't want to leave, but he told me that I couldn't just stay there in the center of the labyrinth, that the personal transformations we experience at his feet can and must cause transformation in the people and society around us. And the second half of the labyrinth helped drive those points home.

I wish I could write out the precise conversation I had with Christ in the labyrinth, and some of the details of that hour, but I'm not sure this blog is an appropriate place, where I can make it clearly understood without making it seem like some strange, outsized thing. I will settle for saying that this was certainly a moment in my, life where I experienced Christ's presence, one of those moments I could point to and say, "Of course Christ is real, of course he is an actual person."

Inevitably I am disappointed with the way this translates into words. This hour was a deeply profound one for me, and to try to explain it requires a courage I lack, I think. I will have to think more about it and see if I can find the right way to express it.

Anyway, a deep and profound thanks to the pastors, staff and volunteers at Village, who set aside the space and time to let me meet with Christ yesterday. Your spiritual leadership and service is much appreciated.

It's Harvest Time!

Last night was the "Harvest Party" at Village (our church). The kids asked me on the way home, "Dad, what's the meaning of Halloween?" Which is sort of like asking Donald Trump "What's so good about money?" So the kids got a half hour documentary on the meaning of Halloween on the ride home from church.

As you would expect, there were many special moments associated with the evening. Instead of breaking them up into multiple posts, I'll include them all below:

1) PRELUDE: Z picks what she will be for the party.

Z: Dad, guess what I am going to be for Halloween.

Me: I don't know, what?

Z: Supergirl!

Me: How did you choose Supergirl?

Z: Well, I just thought, "What could I be? A balloon? No! A crayon? No! Mom? No! It has to be Supergirl."

2) Our Princess, (A) shares her commentary on the strange social norms of those around us:

A was looking around at the party and noticing all the kids' costumes. She saw that someone had brought their baby and dressed them up as a pumpkin or something.

A: Look. Someone decorated their baby.

3) Co-worker Mike learns how we treat those who work with us.

Our good buddy Mike Krieg joined us at the party. We went to see the "illusionist" at the church and of course when volunteers were sought, Mike tried to get me to volunteer. But I didn't. And the magician chose Mike to come up front and get ropes tied around his neck as an example of sin being a sort of bondage in our lives. Two assistants then took hold of the rope on two sides and when the magician commanded they PULLED ON THE ROPE WITH ALL THEIR MIGHT and it fell off, harmless.

But it was a pretty scary moment for Mike. Ha ha. I'm so glad you came, Mike. :)

And of course there were other special moments, like hamster bowling (see below) and Pastor John wearing a crazy wig and taking orders for hot dogs.

A good time was had by all, I think.

Sunday Night

Sunday night our church's Hispanic fellowship had a big party for Dia de la Raza, and to celebrate they invited all the rest of us to come on down for the service and eat authentic Mexican food they had made.

As it turned out it was more than just Mexican food, too, as they had food from all over Central and South America, all made by women in our church. Piles of tamales, vats of pozole, trays full of tostadas and several things I had never seen before but which tasted spectacular.

Afterwards we went home and just laid down and thought about our meal. Mmmm. Sooo good.

And we met a lot of great people and hung out with a lot of friends while we were there. We met a man who had come from Mexico and he told us that when he was in Mexico he was hungry all the time and there hadn't been enough food to feed his family. But here, it's good.

Happy Dia de la Raza, everyone. And to all the Hispanic and Latino immigrants and citizens... I'm glad you're here. I know a lot of people say stupid, hurtful things, but I am thankful for you and your culture.

No baby sitar

Last night we went to a concert at church by the band Aradhna. The band was started by a couple of missionary kids, one of whom grew up in Nepal ("eight hours walk from the nearest road") and the other in India.

They perform traditional Indian bhajan devotional music, but with a couple twists: one, every song is about Jesus. And two, in addition to the sitar and traditional drums (not sure what those are called) they also use guitar and electric bass. It's a sort of fusion sound.

It was pretty cool. They've performed all over the world, and have even been asked to perform praise songs to Christ in Hindu temples.

And of course there was free Indian food, which just can't be beat.

The Village

Hey all. This is the church we go to here in the great Northwest. It's called Village. My children call it "The Village" but that's a movie, not a church.

The other thing you should know is that the members of the church are referred to as "Villagers" not "Village People".

I noticed that quite a few people are dropping by from Dean's blog, so I thought I'd say hello. Dean's our worship pastor. I was kidding him about writing something about the musical influence of Elton John in his life and he took me all serious and did.

Anyway, for all you Villagers out there, Krista and I attend the 11:30 service. Drop by and say hello, we'd love to meet you.

--Matt

p.s. Here's our pastor's blog.

The Blessings of Our Churches

We are extremely thankful for our churches.

Here in Oregon/Washington we go to the Village. There are a lot of reasons that we love Village. One is the amazing multi-cultural body represented in the congregation. We also have enormous respect for the pastoral staff. Pastor John Johnson brings amazing messages from the word every week, and the worship pastor, Dean Christensen, has deep convictions about worship and he leads us well. We are amazed by the continual commitment of this church to reach their community, and it's a place that we feel very comfortable bringing our friends and family to.

In California we have NorthCreek church, another amazing church with pastoral staff that we respect and have learned a lot from over the years. Dr. Jon McNeff has taught us a lot from the word, and Hal Kemp continues to minister to us and share wisdom as the missions pastor. I have a lot of great history with some of the other staff, including Tony "The Polar Bear" Aria.

These churches have really been places of refreshment and spiritual growth for both of us. I wanted to share this publically this week. I don't have a lot of patience for people who stand outside the church and throw sticks and stones at the pastoral staff. It's a ridiculous and disrespectful action.

Especially after living for three years in a country where people are glad just to be able to get in the same room and worship Jesus, we are so thankful to be part of two churches which are seeking to follow Christ and be a reflection of him to the world.