July 17th 2011
"It is denominations, building walls, that are dividing Christianity"
"Jon Stop, it is not denominations that are dividing Christianity it is people like you that are dividing us."
It was in the first few months of school that I had this conversation with my (at that time) new friend *Carrie. We were sitting in her room talking to her and her roommate. Here I was a freshmen in college, but I was still a legalist who hated denominations and organized religion. This was the first time that anyone ever challenged me outside of my family, it was also the first time I took the time to stop and listen to anyone. After all *Carrie had a point, and she said with the authority that only she could say it with.
See up until this point I was "non-denominational" but in the sense that I claimed I would only go to a church that preached the word no matter what denomination. What I really meant at the time was "I'll only go to a church that teaches my version of the word, isn't Catholic and fits into my version of church. Coming from a big church with a big band and a legalistic pastor despite what I may have told people that's what I was looking for. Where God led me was completely opposite, a small(er) Presbyterian Church with a young pastor, a hint of modern worship and the old Hymns. Today I see the conservative theology as a bonus considering how happy I have become with the church Family God put me in.
This summer (those of us taking these classes for credit) were required to visit five churches from five different faith backgrounds. I visited a modern conservative church, a catholic church, a conservative African American church, a liberal African American Church and tonight I visited a back to basics, good ole conservative bible believing church comprised of the homeless.
If anything else has challenged my former beliefs more than *Carrie it's been this summer. Every place I visited I found a united church, people who wanted nothing more than to hear the gospel. They all had their different ways about doing it but all except one (and it wasn't the Catholic one) preached an underlying message of "Love God, Love People." They all preached that we should be united as Christians, none preached against the others.
Reflecting on who I was with the knowledge I've gained through people like *Carrie and experiences like this summer I wonder how I could have held these beliefs. They seem pretty foolish, but then again back then I said and did some pretty foolish things. The truth is though, no matter how it's said these churches are right, we do need to be united but it's not our denominations that divide us, it's our own hearts.
We debate over who should teach and who shouldn't, what music is "holy" and what isn't. We get into toughs over minor theological issues and whether we should evangelize. The more I think about the more I think my good friend the Youth Director at Joshua Station is right when he says "I wish we could have a conversation about these things, that would bring us together" to which I responded "Over coffee maybe" Instead of fighting about these things and then thinking "The Baptists or the Presbyterians are wrong"
Downhere sings "It's less our houses, it's our hearts, a thousand miles apart" If we all are really serious about what the church is preaching maybe we should look into this more. Maybe then we wouldn't be so quick to call Rob Bell a "Heretic" without reading his book or listening to his viewpoint. We're never gonna get it right, we need to stop trying and just live under the same banner that unites the denominations "Loving God and Loving People" and then maybe we can sit down and have a conversation about these things even though we might not agree with the other viewpoints.
Of course this isn't easy, I'll probably still get heated over some things, so will you, don't worry, we're human too, but we're all worth Jesus time!
Jon Faulkner
10:31
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
When God Carries You.
July 13, 2011
"And Jesus Wept" John 11:35.
Tonight, out of need to renew my cell phone plan I headed down to Walgreens on Denver's 16th Street Mall. It was about 8:30 and I'd been traveling to the point where it seemed that if I wasn't at Christ's Body or Joshua Station I was on a bus or train. I stepped back out into the rainy evening and joined the hustle and bustle of the crowds of shoppers and business men. I decided I wanted a drink, so I began walking down the mall in search of a place I could find one.
I looked around me at all the shops and began to see the lights coming on in the large skyscrapers. I passed the Lite Rail station I could have taken home and instead kept meandering along with the Umbrella toting 8:45 shopping crowd. A few blocks later a man tried to get me to enter a Vietnamese Grill, he pointed with his sign and told me it was the best food on the mall. They all say that of course, just like if you go to New York City and walk down Broadway or Chicago and take a trip down the Magnificent Mile. I thanked the man and informed him I just wanted a Jones Soda or something. He informed there was a 7/11 down the block so I turned and headed that direction, I knew it was there, cause both my bus transfer stations are on either side of it.
As I turned the corner I looked up at the skyscrapers again and saw all the lights in a giant city turning on, bringing the skyline to life. I'm very tired tonight, so in my state of tired nostalgia I began to think about those skyscrapers. Then depression hit me like the hail that pelted the city earlier in the day. My thoughts turned dark, I was ashamed of these skyscrapers, not because they were skyscrapers but because they reminded me of myself. Of the times when I was like them in my own mind, tall and over powering, telling the people around me what to do, I hated myself for those days when I was a legalist, those two years I spent killing people spiritually because my pride made me think I knew the right way to do things.
Then I started thinking about my homeless friends, how selfish I would have been if I'd done this internship two years ago. I wondered how they were holding up with the 9th night in a row of bad weather approaching us from the Mountains.
I walked into the 7/11 and grabbed a coke, candy bar and pack of gum, paid and walked back into the rainy night. I started to weep quietly as I walked slowly across the courtyard of a band to throw away a wrapper still angry at who I used to be. As I approached a different Lite Rail station to catch a train to go home I started to feel all alone in that big city. I sat on the lite rail feeling this way and then I was jolted back to reality by my soda exploding when I turned the lid. It was as if God himself had shaken the coke bottle for that very reason, and knowing God, He would. I was quickly reminded of the fact that I wasn't alone in that city when the man behind me gave me a roll of toilet paper to clean myself, and the floor of the car up.
Tonight I experienced a part of my shadow, depression, I haven't struggled with it much lately but it, and the feelings it brings are part of my shadow. Whether we like it or not the shadow is a good thing to recognize, it shows us why we do certain things we do. Nights like tonight cause us to disintegrate but then God wakes up and pulls us back from it. We have to know it's there though, it will help us understand who we are.
I truly believe that in those times, when we are going head to head with our shadows, God is carrying us, and Jesus is weeping for us. Even though in those times we feel so far away from God that we don't even think He loves us anymore He is in fact carrying us through. In those times when we come face to face with the shadowy parts of our past He is carrying us. He was there holding me when I shared the story of my friend John's suicide this week, just like He was carrying you when you laid in your bed and wondered why you had to go through whatever it was you went through.
Dear friends, I don't know why I shared this with you, but I felt I needed to, I have no challenge other than to Live your life to the fullest. Discover and acknowledge your shadow, but remember it does not define you. Let God tell you over and over again who you are to Him, because When God Carries You, and any other time, He does not see your shadow, He only looks down at you with those crying eyes of grace and says "Hang on my precious child, you will be stronger on the other side"
As I walked home from the Lite Rail station tonight I was smiling, the depression of a few minutes before felt like a distant Memory. God and I talked, I thanked Him and then together we watched the lightning flash, a spectacle the likes of which I have never seen before.
Jon Faulkner
10:31 Ministries
"And Jesus Wept" John 11:35.
Tonight, out of need to renew my cell phone plan I headed down to Walgreens on Denver's 16th Street Mall. It was about 8:30 and I'd been traveling to the point where it seemed that if I wasn't at Christ's Body or Joshua Station I was on a bus or train. I stepped back out into the rainy evening and joined the hustle and bustle of the crowds of shoppers and business men. I decided I wanted a drink, so I began walking down the mall in search of a place I could find one.
I looked around me at all the shops and began to see the lights coming on in the large skyscrapers. I passed the Lite Rail station I could have taken home and instead kept meandering along with the Umbrella toting 8:45 shopping crowd. A few blocks later a man tried to get me to enter a Vietnamese Grill, he pointed with his sign and told me it was the best food on the mall. They all say that of course, just like if you go to New York City and walk down Broadway or Chicago and take a trip down the Magnificent Mile. I thanked the man and informed him I just wanted a Jones Soda or something. He informed there was a 7/11 down the block so I turned and headed that direction, I knew it was there, cause both my bus transfer stations are on either side of it.
As I turned the corner I looked up at the skyscrapers again and saw all the lights in a giant city turning on, bringing the skyline to life. I'm very tired tonight, so in my state of tired nostalgia I began to think about those skyscrapers. Then depression hit me like the hail that pelted the city earlier in the day. My thoughts turned dark, I was ashamed of these skyscrapers, not because they were skyscrapers but because they reminded me of myself. Of the times when I was like them in my own mind, tall and over powering, telling the people around me what to do, I hated myself for those days when I was a legalist, those two years I spent killing people spiritually because my pride made me think I knew the right way to do things.
Then I started thinking about my homeless friends, how selfish I would have been if I'd done this internship two years ago. I wondered how they were holding up with the 9th night in a row of bad weather approaching us from the Mountains.
I walked into the 7/11 and grabbed a coke, candy bar and pack of gum, paid and walked back into the rainy night. I started to weep quietly as I walked slowly across the courtyard of a band to throw away a wrapper still angry at who I used to be. As I approached a different Lite Rail station to catch a train to go home I started to feel all alone in that big city. I sat on the lite rail feeling this way and then I was jolted back to reality by my soda exploding when I turned the lid. It was as if God himself had shaken the coke bottle for that very reason, and knowing God, He would. I was quickly reminded of the fact that I wasn't alone in that city when the man behind me gave me a roll of toilet paper to clean myself, and the floor of the car up.
Tonight I experienced a part of my shadow, depression, I haven't struggled with it much lately but it, and the feelings it brings are part of my shadow. Whether we like it or not the shadow is a good thing to recognize, it shows us why we do certain things we do. Nights like tonight cause us to disintegrate but then God wakes up and pulls us back from it. We have to know it's there though, it will help us understand who we are.
I truly believe that in those times, when we are going head to head with our shadows, God is carrying us, and Jesus is weeping for us. Even though in those times we feel so far away from God that we don't even think He loves us anymore He is in fact carrying us through. In those times when we come face to face with the shadowy parts of our past He is carrying us. He was there holding me when I shared the story of my friend John's suicide this week, just like He was carrying you when you laid in your bed and wondered why you had to go through whatever it was you went through.
Dear friends, I don't know why I shared this with you, but I felt I needed to, I have no challenge other than to Live your life to the fullest. Discover and acknowledge your shadow, but remember it does not define you. Let God tell you over and over again who you are to Him, because When God Carries You, and any other time, He does not see your shadow, He only looks down at you with those crying eyes of grace and says "Hang on my precious child, you will be stronger on the other side"
As I walked home from the Lite Rail station tonight I was smiling, the depression of a few minutes before felt like a distant Memory. God and I talked, I thanked Him and then together we watched the lightning flash, a spectacle the likes of which I have never seen before.
Jon Faulkner
10:31 Ministries
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Your Story
July 12, 2011
"The Definition of a Character is someone who wants something and has to overcome conflict to get it" - Donald Miller A Million Miles In A Thousand Years.
What's your story? Is it exciting, gripping, glorious, boring or the stuff of movies? What is the Story of your life? If I could travel around the country and hear everyone's story I would! Because I love stories, I love to tell them and I love to listen to them, one of my sisters in Christ told me that Stories are one of the things that I bring to the party.
This weekend, and throughout the summer we've talked about stories. About our origins, shalom, stirrings, arrows, shadows, illumination and elixar. About the places we've been that are our orientation, disorientation and new orientation. What does all this mean? It'd be hard to explain in one post, but it's fascinating to hear people tell their stories and seeing how similar or how different your experiences were.
God is co-writing our stories, He is drawing us in and inviting us into something bigger than us. Stirring us to move, He gives us faith and life and because we have those we can do the things He asks us to do. He puts us into each others lives to be encouragement, bring discernment, show love and sometimes to humble us. He allows tragedy so we can experience pain, He brings us through that so we can emphasize with others. He brings us Joy, Love and Hope so that we can share them with others, and most importantly has given us grace upon grace so that we can show grace to others. He allows us to make mistakes, to take our own paths at times but always welcomes us back with open arms.
God has a heart for us, He invites us into that heart and our experience there is evidenced by the way we live out our calling. These invitations are part of our stories, they allow our stories to intersect with people who are in need so we can see His heart for those.
Our stories define us, they remind us of God's trans formative work in our lives. This week my classmates and I are writing our spiritual Autobiography. We'll be looking back on our lives, the good and the bad, before we were saved and after and seeing where God was during that time, I encourage you to take some time and do the same.
Donald Miller asks us if we are living good stories, I think that I can finally say that I am, now that I am learning these things I believe God's taking me further into His heart and I can't wait to share wait to share with you what I find there as I continue to tell my story!
Jon Faulkner
10:31 Ministries.
"The Definition of a Character is someone who wants something and has to overcome conflict to get it" - Donald Miller A Million Miles In A Thousand Years.
What's your story? Is it exciting, gripping, glorious, boring or the stuff of movies? What is the Story of your life? If I could travel around the country and hear everyone's story I would! Because I love stories, I love to tell them and I love to listen to them, one of my sisters in Christ told me that Stories are one of the things that I bring to the party.
This weekend, and throughout the summer we've talked about stories. About our origins, shalom, stirrings, arrows, shadows, illumination and elixar. About the places we've been that are our orientation, disorientation and new orientation. What does all this mean? It'd be hard to explain in one post, but it's fascinating to hear people tell their stories and seeing how similar or how different your experiences were.
God is co-writing our stories, He is drawing us in and inviting us into something bigger than us. Stirring us to move, He gives us faith and life and because we have those we can do the things He asks us to do. He puts us into each others lives to be encouragement, bring discernment, show love and sometimes to humble us. He allows tragedy so we can experience pain, He brings us through that so we can emphasize with others. He brings us Joy, Love and Hope so that we can share them with others, and most importantly has given us grace upon grace so that we can show grace to others. He allows us to make mistakes, to take our own paths at times but always welcomes us back with open arms.
God has a heart for us, He invites us into that heart and our experience there is evidenced by the way we live out our calling. These invitations are part of our stories, they allow our stories to intersect with people who are in need so we can see His heart for those.
Our stories define us, they remind us of God's trans formative work in our lives. This week my classmates and I are writing our spiritual Autobiography. We'll be looking back on our lives, the good and the bad, before we were saved and after and seeing where God was during that time, I encourage you to take some time and do the same.
Donald Miller asks us if we are living good stories, I think that I can finally say that I am, now that I am learning these things I believe God's taking me further into His heart and I can't wait to share wait to share with you what I find there as I continue to tell my story!
Jon Faulkner
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Discovery of Noise
July 8th 2011
I am a loud person, I talk loud, I sing loud, I am loud. If a week of silence taught me anything it taught me how loud my voice is and how different the world is without it. "I must admit" I told our teacher "I was mad as all get out when you told me to try this" "I know" he said "But your answers were much better thought out when you sat back and observed weren't they?"
At the end of the week I've learned a lot, I've come to a place where I finally know who, and can be content with who I am. In the words of our Spiritual Formation teacher Millie "You are in a better place" I finally was forced to step back from my list of accomplishments and, like crossing a road, stop, look and listen. Through this week I not only discovered my noise, but how much I relied on that list of achievements as my identity and I learned how to love myself and find worth in myself without that list. Today when I spoke I didn't hate my voice, I didn't have that stressed out edginess that often runs people off. Instead it sounded different, softer and I feel healthier than I have in a long time.
I shared with you the story from Monday about walking the Labyrinth, I told you that God was taking me to some dark places and He continued to take me to those places throughout the week. This was the uncomfortable part of the silence, but I think that's why we have a hard time with this discipline. We don't want to slow down and go to those places but when we do what we find is closure and healing. God shows us He was there during that bad breakup or the day that you were told you had a terminal disease. He shows us His presence in those situations when we are hurt the most but we have to visit them to allow that healing to take place.
But instead we drown it out with out noise, we're like the writer of the song Ordinary World "I turned on the lights the TV and the radio" just to drown out what God is saying. We present our walls and seek validation through our accomplishments, seeking compliments for all the things we've done, making noise to impress people who are just unimpressed. "We don't want to know your accomplishments, we really don't care about those, we want to know you" My roommate said to me over coffee.
If sitting in Silence taught me anything it's that I am enough, that Jesus just wants me and so do the people I work with and call my friends. They don't want a front, they don't want a fake, they want the real thing. So I encourage you to sit in Silence, go out and sit under a tree, let God tell you who you are and tell you that you're enough for Him. Spend a week talking to no one outside of work, you'll be mad at me, you're friends will think you're crazy but in the end you will be a much healthier individual.
I know I'm going to mess up, I'll still use my high pitched, edgy-attention-seeker voice again down the road, probably this summer. I know I'll mess up and use my accomplishments to keep people from getting to my heart, but hopefully when I do someone will tell me to go sit under a tree so that God can tell me that I am his child and that He is always with me!
God Bless
Jon Faulkner
10:31 Ministries
Monday, July 4, 2011
The Mountain Stream
July 4th 2011
"Mountain Streams are so nice" my roommate said as our group of DUS interns all stepped into the stream that ran along the place where we were having class. We'd come up a thousand more miles in elevation to spend the morning walking a Labyrinth and enjoy a few hours of quiet time in a town that was lost in time. On all sides the rocky mountains rose and fell, pine trees rose high like guardians on all sides, the stream played on the rocks and fisherman stood casting hoping to catch something in the fast moving water. The place you only hear about and long to go, and if you get the chance, by all means go!
For anyone who's never done it, Labyrinth walking is a spiritual discipline. As we enter we are letting go, praying to God that he will take our insecurities and requests. When you walk through sometimes you are close to the center and other times you are wondering if you're ever going to get near it again. When you arrive at the center it symbolizes the heart of God and you just sit there and lavish the time of prayer and reflection. As you leave it is to symbolize you returning to the world. I've wanted to practice this discipline for about a month and a half, after I read about it in Christian George's "God-ol-o-gy" I never thought when I did it how deeply it would affect me.
First off, my relationship with God has always been one of conversation, he knows I need to hear that still small voice so it speaks a little louder to my heart. I don't always listen to it, but because of my silence that has consumed my life for the week because of the challenge I was ready to hear that voice. I'd also awakened this morning with a deep sadness and depression dragging my heart down, that prepared me for my time in the Labyrinth.
As I began God entered the quiet little valley and began the conversation, I admitted I had things I needed to let go of and he began revealing to me all the things I needed to let go of and then he began taking me to the darkest places of my life. "I was here" he would whisper "I was here when John died, I was here when you felt alone, I was there, before you knew me as Lord and savior, I was there" He would then stop me and have me look around. Two of my fellow interns were following me at this time, He would show me that at times I felt alone, or at times I felt close to others and then He'd gently whisper again "I was there" He would also show me how far I was from the center at times and it was very symbolic of how sometimes in our lives we feel far from God.
Once I reached the center I had to sit down, I had to just take in that wonderful beautiful heart that is the heart of God. "I am Here!" He would whisper in this place, "I am here" and I felt his presence in a way that I haven't felt in a long time. I sat there for a second, hugged one of my fellow travelers who was also in the center and began my journey back. The way back God kept me moving all the while whispering "I will be there, be still" reminding me that as I hurried towards my future wherever that is He would be there with me and that I needed to take time to be still!
The river is like us in the labyrinth sometimes, it rushes to its destination not even knowing where that might be. Sometimes the stream moves fast and sometimes it is soft and quiet, flowing slowly. There are times is our lives when we need to move quickly, times when deadlines, (like the one on the paper I'm starting soon) are upon us and we need to finish them. Then there are times we need to slow down, I've said it before and this week I'm finding out how true this is. Sometimes we just need to sit on top of a rock by a mountain stream after walking a Labyrinth and eat our lunch and spend time with God in solitude.
Corporate and community worship are tremendous things, they give a chance to spend time with God together, they allow us to share in an experience and experience God's presence in a community. But God needs to get us alone sometimes, He really does his best work when we slow down and show Him the person we've been hiding from the world.
"The best way to love Jon" our teacher said "Is to tell him to sit under a tree and let God tell him who he is" I encourage you to sit under a tree and let God tell you who you are. Don't let friends or activities define you or how much you are worth but instead let Jesus tell you who you are. Walk a Labyrinth, then find a pastor or Christian friend to talk to and share that experience with, to help you unpack it. Figure out the best way that others can love you by sitting under a tree and letting God tell you who you really are!
God Bless
Jon Faulkner
10:31 Ministries
"Mountain Streams are so nice" my roommate said as our group of DUS interns all stepped into the stream that ran along the place where we were having class. We'd come up a thousand more miles in elevation to spend the morning walking a Labyrinth and enjoy a few hours of quiet time in a town that was lost in time. On all sides the rocky mountains rose and fell, pine trees rose high like guardians on all sides, the stream played on the rocks and fisherman stood casting hoping to catch something in the fast moving water. The place you only hear about and long to go, and if you get the chance, by all means go!
For anyone who's never done it, Labyrinth walking is a spiritual discipline. As we enter we are letting go, praying to God that he will take our insecurities and requests. When you walk through sometimes you are close to the center and other times you are wondering if you're ever going to get near it again. When you arrive at the center it symbolizes the heart of God and you just sit there and lavish the time of prayer and reflection. As you leave it is to symbolize you returning to the world. I've wanted to practice this discipline for about a month and a half, after I read about it in Christian George's "God-ol-o-gy" I never thought when I did it how deeply it would affect me.
First off, my relationship with God has always been one of conversation, he knows I need to hear that still small voice so it speaks a little louder to my heart. I don't always listen to it, but because of my silence that has consumed my life for the week because of the challenge I was ready to hear that voice. I'd also awakened this morning with a deep sadness and depression dragging my heart down, that prepared me for my time in the Labyrinth.
As I began God entered the quiet little valley and began the conversation, I admitted I had things I needed to let go of and he began revealing to me all the things I needed to let go of and then he began taking me to the darkest places of my life. "I was here" he would whisper "I was here when John died, I was here when you felt alone, I was there, before you knew me as Lord and savior, I was there" He would then stop me and have me look around. Two of my fellow interns were following me at this time, He would show me that at times I felt alone, or at times I felt close to others and then He'd gently whisper again "I was there" He would also show me how far I was from the center at times and it was very symbolic of how sometimes in our lives we feel far from God.
Once I reached the center I had to sit down, I had to just take in that wonderful beautiful heart that is the heart of God. "I am Here!" He would whisper in this place, "I am here" and I felt his presence in a way that I haven't felt in a long time. I sat there for a second, hugged one of my fellow travelers who was also in the center and began my journey back. The way back God kept me moving all the while whispering "I will be there, be still" reminding me that as I hurried towards my future wherever that is He would be there with me and that I needed to take time to be still!
The river is like us in the labyrinth sometimes, it rushes to its destination not even knowing where that might be. Sometimes the stream moves fast and sometimes it is soft and quiet, flowing slowly. There are times is our lives when we need to move quickly, times when deadlines, (like the one on the paper I'm starting soon) are upon us and we need to finish them. Then there are times we need to slow down, I've said it before and this week I'm finding out how true this is. Sometimes we just need to sit on top of a rock by a mountain stream after walking a Labyrinth and eat our lunch and spend time with God in solitude.
Corporate and community worship are tremendous things, they give a chance to spend time with God together, they allow us to share in an experience and experience God's presence in a community. But God needs to get us alone sometimes, He really does his best work when we slow down and show Him the person we've been hiding from the world.
"The best way to love Jon" our teacher said "Is to tell him to sit under a tree and let God tell him who he is" I encourage you to sit under a tree and let God tell you who you are. Don't let friends or activities define you or how much you are worth but instead let Jesus tell you who you are. Walk a Labyrinth, then find a pastor or Christian friend to talk to and share that experience with, to help you unpack it. Figure out the best way that others can love you by sitting under a tree and letting God tell you who you really are!
God Bless
Jon Faulkner
10:31 Ministries
Sunday, July 3, 2011
The Ministry Burn-Out
July 3rd 2011
It had been almost one year since Mark Tee-Collins had left the city for a getaway and the things he'd seen in that six years of street ministry through the two churches he'd planted had left him feeling a whole mix of emotions. So when he left to see me in Sterling late in October of 2009 there was some major concern with him coming alone. But he had left his niece and cousin in San Francisco for that express purpose, to come visit a friend and escape the big city, and ministry. Around four in the morning California time a very tired, distressed and depressed Mark was speeding along at over one hundred miles an hour when he collided with a Semi. The news was staggering to all of us in the 10:31 family, Mark had helped found the ministry and had funded it with his own money.
I didn't get to attend the funeral and I haven't made any trips to his grave side. Not because I don't miss the man or have no respect for him but because I haven't had the chance to fly out to Atlanta to see him. About four weeks after his passing my dad mailed me a letter, he told me that a lot of times in inner-city ministry it is very easy to get burnt out. My dad explained that the Jews understood this and that's why every seven years everyone quit working, the slaves were freed and the debts were forgiven. It was a chance for them to get away from the stress and take time for their souls.
In America I'm starting to believe that we forget the value of our souls. We fill them up with Chicken Soup when they are down and tell them to keep fighting one more pay day. In Ministry we get so caught up in our "Evangelical Responsibility" that we forget that even Jesus stopped preaching and went into the wilderness every now and then. We minister to the lost and the broken and the needy and the hurting that we don't take the time to minister to ourselves, or let others minister to us.
So our days are filled with trying to apply the next greatest idea for our ministry, or saving the kids, youth, drunks and whoever else we might have to minister to. We go at it 24/7, 365 until we experience the Ministry Burn-Out. I often equate being a ministry major or teacher with being scatter brained because I am scattered brained and most of my close friends and teachers are the same way. I wonder if that comes from not taking the time to rest, to take a vacation, to go to the farm or just go home. I wonder if the scatter brain feeling is because I am beginning to burn myself out by trying to do as much as I possibly can. If it's a sign my soul really needs to take a break and do something for itself.
On the first day here in Denver we were told we needed to take "Artist Dates," to go out and do something that our soul longs to do. Scatter brained Ministry Major me didn't really like this idea, like I said before I love being busy and doing a hundred different things. However my soul and my mind can't take that kind of schedule at the rate they could when I was sixteen or seventeen. If I hadn't taken the time to care for myself I probably would have been burned out by now as I've never, ever worked in the city or with anyone who wasn't the same as me, white-middle classed.
Today I encourage you to be selfish, go do something you want to do so that you don't get burnt out with whatever it is you're doing. Go out and watch old movies or ride a bike or read a book or play with your dog or whatever you choose to do, do something for yourself. I encourage you to do this so you don't get burned out on Ministry, jobs, school and even friends. Go and do something for yourself, your soul will thank you for it.
Jon Faulkner
10:31 Ministries
Jon Faulkner
10:31 Ministries
Friday, July 1, 2011
Silent and the Bleeding Places
July 1st 2011
"Jon I have a discipline I want you to practice, do you know what that is?" he asked me
I knew the answer but I didn't want to say it, "Silence" I finally answered, and with his confirmation I grew furious. The last thing I wanted to be was silent, and he was asking me to do it for a week, to be silent while I was in the community. Sure I could talk when I was outside of the house and separate from the others, like when I'm at work, but when I'm here with my fellow interns I have taken a vow of silence.
Now if you know me, you know that I am horrible at this concept. This is not a new discipline for me, I've tried it before and that's how I know I"m horrible at it. I like to talk about insights I or others might have, I love to talk in general, the conversation constantly draws me in. For this reason this next week is going to tough on me but hopefully in the end will be very beneficial to my spiritual walk. I have a hard time observing, but I can see the benefit in it.
It was totally dark "Put your hand in front of your face" David said "Can you see it?"
The Bleeding Places are the places where we come in our brokenness, a place where we get away from the world to deal with or numb our pain. We were in one of these bleeding places today, they call it the Dark Tunnel and it's a tunnel where the homeless kids and adults go to sleep and shoot up. We worked out way up the tunnel by flashlight and then ten of us sat in the dark while our friends and guides talked about the tunnel and these bleeding places. We prayed over it and left all of us feeling something.
I think when you live in a small town you don't see these bleeding places or the broken people. They are there, but they are not out front in the public eye and even though the city tries to cover them up they are still evident to those who are looking, they are not so much in small towns. I think things will be different when I make my summer trip back to Albany and then again when I return to Sterling in August.
I will be more alert to the bleeding places, the dark places, the hurting places. These are the places where hurting people go, where people who just want to numb the pain of living on the street or who's lives seem unbearable. This is where they go and these are the places where God is whispering, "come back child, I will lift you up, it won't be perfect, but I will lift you up"
During today's tour I was totally silent and I think it helped me to realize the darkness and brokenness of the places and in my own life. It helped me to process the experience and seek God's heart on the matter. I encourage you to go out in your town and find the broken places, find the places where God is whispering and coursing through as a healer and friend. Maybe in your brokenness, when you find these places, God will whisper to you "Come back child, I will lift you up, it won't be perfect, but I will lift you up"
God Bless
Jon Faulkner
"Jon I have a discipline I want you to practice, do you know what that is?" he asked me
I knew the answer but I didn't want to say it, "Silence" I finally answered, and with his confirmation I grew furious. The last thing I wanted to be was silent, and he was asking me to do it for a week, to be silent while I was in the community. Sure I could talk when I was outside of the house and separate from the others, like when I'm at work, but when I'm here with my fellow interns I have taken a vow of silence.
Now if you know me, you know that I am horrible at this concept. This is not a new discipline for me, I've tried it before and that's how I know I"m horrible at it. I like to talk about insights I or others might have, I love to talk in general, the conversation constantly draws me in. For this reason this next week is going to tough on me but hopefully in the end will be very beneficial to my spiritual walk. I have a hard time observing, but I can see the benefit in it.
It was totally dark "Put your hand in front of your face" David said "Can you see it?"
The Bleeding Places are the places where we come in our brokenness, a place where we get away from the world to deal with or numb our pain. We were in one of these bleeding places today, they call it the Dark Tunnel and it's a tunnel where the homeless kids and adults go to sleep and shoot up. We worked out way up the tunnel by flashlight and then ten of us sat in the dark while our friends and guides talked about the tunnel and these bleeding places. We prayed over it and left all of us feeling something.
I think when you live in a small town you don't see these bleeding places or the broken people. They are there, but they are not out front in the public eye and even though the city tries to cover them up they are still evident to those who are looking, they are not so much in small towns. I think things will be different when I make my summer trip back to Albany and then again when I return to Sterling in August.
I will be more alert to the bleeding places, the dark places, the hurting places. These are the places where hurting people go, where people who just want to numb the pain of living on the street or who's lives seem unbearable. This is where they go and these are the places where God is whispering, "come back child, I will lift you up, it won't be perfect, but I will lift you up"
During today's tour I was totally silent and I think it helped me to realize the darkness and brokenness of the places and in my own life. It helped me to process the experience and seek God's heart on the matter. I encourage you to go out in your town and find the broken places, find the places where God is whispering and coursing through as a healer and friend. Maybe in your brokenness, when you find these places, God will whisper to you "Come back child, I will lift you up, it won't be perfect, but I will lift you up"
God Bless
Jon Faulkner
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