02.01.10
life happens
This week we get our house back after nearly four months of sharing it with a mom and her daughter in transition.
Last September our youngest daughter moved out on her own; we were launched into the empty nest phase. It lasted about four weeks. We invited a woman to live with us who desperately needed stability, and counsel, and safety, and peace. In December her daughter, 20, joined her, needing similar space for different reasons. It’s been a busy household, sometimes stressful, particularly for my wife who has carried the lion’s share of the counselling and guidance needed.
It will seem very strange.. and will be very welcome.. to have our own space again. We’re a little tired, but glad we could provide a quiet and stable environment and some home cooking.
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I am nearly finished the first draft of my “gospel and culture” project, slated for publication with Wipf and Stock. When I get the first section tuned up I will likely post it here in PDF format. I described the project as “An Emerging Dictionary for the Gospel and Culture.” But really, it is more like an anthology of current use, in the particular conversation that I have been immersed in for the past six years. It is “Wishful Thinking” meets “Soul Survivor” meets “A for Abductive” – with the tone of McLaren in A Generous Orthodoxy. Fun project, and now nearing its end.
But I have two other projects in process. The first is a fieldbook similar in design to the Tangible Kingdom Primer. The intended audience is spiritual seekers who are still “churched.” They may no longer be comfortable there. Some are merely bored. Many know there is much more, and they are ready to be led into a different way of seeing.. and practicing.. the good news of the kingdom. This project is now complete in its first draft and will be field tested and then shipped off to a publisher. Two publishers are looking at it.
The third project is now well underway, and I’ll talk more about it as we get into spring.
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Lately I have felt a restlessness and I’m beginning to have some inklings of what it is about. In church life Betty and I have always been volunteers. We have been elders, teachers, and counsellors on a voluntary basis. Last year that changed for Betty. I’m beginning to think it may change for me. I have mixed feelings about it, but I have felt the Lord say that I need to be open to this. And in particular I have felt him say that change and risk are the way it will be. I am anticipating that I am going to feel out of my depth in new ways in these next few years — but it will be an adventure and engage my gifts and passion in very vital ways.
This may all be in relation to FORGE — I really don’t know. But I have also felt it would be a huge challenge and great adventure to lead a large church in transition. I have read so much on leadership and change in the past five years — I feel prepared, and even shaped, for that road. At the right time I believe I’ll be walking on it and leading a community of people into new territory. Coincidentally — I am reading Carly Fiorina’s memoir, “Tough Choices.” It’s a good read about a fascinating lady who took substantial risks, refused to be marginalized, and walked with integrity in some high powered circles.
Dyfed said,
February 2, 2010 at 1:42 am
Look forward to the second project coming to fruition, Len. There are many people, including myself, who struggle with church – who feel it is right to be in a community of some sort, but who see the current shapes inadequate.
Dyfed