Tuesday, April 13, 2004
In the early dry dark of an October’s Saturday evening, the neighborhood children are playing hide-and-seek. How long since I played hide-and-seek? Thirty years; maybe more. I remember how. I could become part of the game in a moment, if invited. Adults don't play hide-and-seek. Not for fun, anyway. Too bad.
Did you ever have a kid in your neighborhood who always hid so good, nobody could find him? We did. After a while we would give up on him and go off, leaving him to rot wherever he was. Sooner or later he would show up, all mad because we didn’t keep looking for him. And we would get mad back because he wasn’t playing the game the way it was supposed to be played. There’s hiding and there’s finding , we’d say. And he’d say it was hide-and-seek, not hide-and-give-UP, and we'd yell about who made the rules and who cared about who, anyway, and how we wouldn't play with him anymore if he didn't get it straight and who needed him anyhow, and things like that. Hide-and-seek-and-yell. No matter what, though, the next time he would hide too good again. He’s probably still hidden somewhere, for all I know.
As I write this, the neighborhood game goes on, and there is a kid under a pile of leaves in the yard just under my window. He has been there a long time now, and everybody else is found and they are about to give up on him over at the base. I considered going out to the base and telling them where he was hiding. And I thought about setting the leaves on fire to drive him out. Finally, I yelled, “GET FOUND, KID!” out the window. And scared him so bad he probably wet his pants and started crying and ran home to tell his mother. It's real hard to know how to be helpful sometimes.
A man I know found out last year he had terminal cancer. He was a doctor. And knew about dying, and he didn’t want to make his family and friends suffer through that with him. So he kept his secret. And died. Everybody said how brave he was to bear his suffering in silence and not tell anybody, and so on and so forth. But privately his family and friends said how angry they were that he didn’t need them, didn’t trust their strength. And it hurt that he didn’t say goodbye.
He hid too well. Getting found would have kept him in the game. Hide-and-seek, grown-up style. Wanting to hide. Needing to be sought. Confused about being found. “I don’t want anyone to know.” “What will people think?” “I don’t want to bother anyone.”
Better than hide-and-seek, I like the game called Sardines. In Sardines the person who is IT goes and hides, and everybody goes looking for him. When you find him, you get in with him and hide there with him. Pretty soon everybody is hiding together, all stacked in a small space like puppies in a pile. And pretty soon somebody giggles and somebody laughs and everybody gets found.
Medieval theologians even described God is hide-an-seek terms, calling him Deus Absconditus. But me, I think old God is a Sardine player. And will be found the same way everybody gets found in Sardines - by the sound of laughter of those heaped together at the end.
“Olly-olly-oxen-free.” The kids out in the street are hollering the cry that says “Come on in, wherever you are. It’s a new game.” And so say I. To all those who have hid too good. Get found, kid! Olly-olly-oxen-free.
Robert Fulghum - All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
Did you ever have a kid in your neighborhood who always hid so good, nobody could find him? We did. After a while we would give up on him and go off, leaving him to rot wherever he was. Sooner or later he would show up, all mad because we didn’t keep looking for him. And we would get mad back because he wasn’t playing the game the way it was supposed to be played. There’s hiding and there’s finding , we’d say. And he’d say it was hide-and-seek, not hide-and-give-UP, and we'd yell about who made the rules and who cared about who, anyway, and how we wouldn't play with him anymore if he didn't get it straight and who needed him anyhow, and things like that. Hide-and-seek-and-yell. No matter what, though, the next time he would hide too good again. He’s probably still hidden somewhere, for all I know.
As I write this, the neighborhood game goes on, and there is a kid under a pile of leaves in the yard just under my window. He has been there a long time now, and everybody else is found and they are about to give up on him over at the base. I considered going out to the base and telling them where he was hiding. And I thought about setting the leaves on fire to drive him out. Finally, I yelled, “GET FOUND, KID!” out the window. And scared him so bad he probably wet his pants and started crying and ran home to tell his mother. It's real hard to know how to be helpful sometimes.
A man I know found out last year he had terminal cancer. He was a doctor. And knew about dying, and he didn’t want to make his family and friends suffer through that with him. So he kept his secret. And died. Everybody said how brave he was to bear his suffering in silence and not tell anybody, and so on and so forth. But privately his family and friends said how angry they were that he didn’t need them, didn’t trust their strength. And it hurt that he didn’t say goodbye.
He hid too well. Getting found would have kept him in the game. Hide-and-seek, grown-up style. Wanting to hide. Needing to be sought. Confused about being found. “I don’t want anyone to know.” “What will people think?” “I don’t want to bother anyone.”
Better than hide-and-seek, I like the game called Sardines. In Sardines the person who is IT goes and hides, and everybody goes looking for him. When you find him, you get in with him and hide there with him. Pretty soon everybody is hiding together, all stacked in a small space like puppies in a pile. And pretty soon somebody giggles and somebody laughs and everybody gets found.
Medieval theologians even described God is hide-an-seek terms, calling him Deus Absconditus. But me, I think old God is a Sardine player. And will be found the same way everybody gets found in Sardines - by the sound of laughter of those heaped together at the end.
“Olly-olly-oxen-free.” The kids out in the street are hollering the cry that says “Come on in, wherever you are. It’s a new game.” And so say I. To all those who have hid too good. Get found, kid! Olly-olly-oxen-free.
Robert Fulghum - All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
Friday, July 11, 2003
Fast Company | The New Normal This was a fabulous article I read a month or so ago. I believe it describes, very prophetically, the next cycle of business, politics and even church planting. Well worth the read!
Tuesday, July 08, 2003
"Jesus left Judea and started for Galilee again. This time he has to go through Samaria, and on his way he came to the town of Sycar. It was near the field that Jacob had long ago given to his son Joseph. The well that Jacob had dug was still there, and Jesus sat down beside it because he was tired from traveling. It was noon, and after Jesus' disciples had gone into town to buy some food, a Samaritan women came to draw water from the well. Jesus asked her, 'Would you please give me a drink of water?'" (John 4)
John tells us the story of Jesus and the women at the well. Their conversation was practical, spiritual and ultimately life-giving. Our mission in Las Vegas is to start a church that will be a community in constant conversation about God. The community will be known as a safe place for those who have never connected with God or the church to engage in conversation about "living water." In the middle of the desert, we will start "The Well" for a new community of people to engage in life-giving conversation about God.
John tells us the story of Jesus and the women at the well. Their conversation was practical, spiritual and ultimately life-giving. Our mission in Las Vegas is to start a church that will be a community in constant conversation about God. The community will be known as a safe place for those who have never connected with God or the church to engage in conversation about "living water." In the middle of the desert, we will start "The Well" for a new community of people to engage in life-giving conversation about God.
Sunday, June 29, 2003
Sunday, June 29, 2003
A letter to Crossroads Church from Jonathan Lee, Lead Pastor:
It is natural and healthy for a child to leave its parents after he or she has matured and grown. The child is probably not ever completely ready for the world that lies ahead and yet when we, as parents, work diligently to teach them how to love and how to live we can watch with excitement as this child chases its dreams.
In many ways, I can relate to Crossroads as that proud parent who has watched his child grow and mature, ready to take on the world. I can remember when God gave life to this community and entrusted its care and safety to Stan and I. I remember the transitions that have marked new chapters in our lives – endings and beginnings.
June 1, 1997, God allowed me the opportunity to chase a dream. Moving back to Maryland to start a new church had been my top priority for the two years prior while finishing seminary. Never could I have predicted the challenges that we would face and the joy we would experience seeing how God would build this new kind of church called Crossroads – a church that accepts anyone, walking with them as they embrace their own spiritual journeys, traveling with them through the threshold of faith in Jesus and faithfully serving with them in this community.
This last year, Wendy and I have experienced a vast range of emotions. While everything seemed to be progressing so well, including the establishment of a wonderful partnership with Tim and Tasha, my heart grew all the more restless. While there is still much that God has in store for Crossroads to accomplish, I continued to battle with the idea that my part in this adventure was drawing to a close. In the last several weeks, we have determined that God is indeed calling us to chase after a new dream.
Wendy and I will be leaving to start and parent a new church in Las Vegas, Nevada. We have the opportunity once again to start a new kind of church for the people of Las Vegas as we embrace the mission of engaging and changing a culture for the sake of the Kingdom. There is no question that the challenge before us in the coming year is tremendous. We are seeking to lead a team that will all move to Las Vegas and work as bi-professionals, each having jobs in the secular world and sharing the responsibility of birthing and leading a new church. We are also praying that God will call as many as 70 people from around the country to join us in this new adventure. We are hoping that possibly even a few of you will relocate your lives to join the mission because we know the value of having friends along for the ride.
Though in many ways it is not the child that is leaving, there is no question Crossroads is ready for the next chapter. I could not imagine leaving you in better hands. All you need to provide leadership and care on this next leg of the journey is already in place. That, mixed with a new articulation of our shared mission these past five plus years from a new pastor who has the calling and heart for the people of Maryland, gives me comfort in knowing that Crossroads’ best days are just over the next horizon.
Last week, in the light of God’s leading, I offered my resignation to the Leadership Team effective October 5, 2003, coinciding with our church’s fifth birthday. This fulfills the commitment I made to our God and our community as we began the adventure over six years ago.
Know that I will be praying for you and will always hold Crossroads in my heart. I am proud of you and truly treasure the time we have shared the journey of this community. This is in no way the end, simply the end of the beginning.
May God truly continue to bless His church,
Jonathan Lee
A letter to Crossroads Church from Jonathan Lee, Lead Pastor:
It is natural and healthy for a child to leave its parents after he or she has matured and grown. The child is probably not ever completely ready for the world that lies ahead and yet when we, as parents, work diligently to teach them how to love and how to live we can watch with excitement as this child chases its dreams.
In many ways, I can relate to Crossroads as that proud parent who has watched his child grow and mature, ready to take on the world. I can remember when God gave life to this community and entrusted its care and safety to Stan and I. I remember the transitions that have marked new chapters in our lives – endings and beginnings.
June 1, 1997, God allowed me the opportunity to chase a dream. Moving back to Maryland to start a new church had been my top priority for the two years prior while finishing seminary. Never could I have predicted the challenges that we would face and the joy we would experience seeing how God would build this new kind of church called Crossroads – a church that accepts anyone, walking with them as they embrace their own spiritual journeys, traveling with them through the threshold of faith in Jesus and faithfully serving with them in this community.
This last year, Wendy and I have experienced a vast range of emotions. While everything seemed to be progressing so well, including the establishment of a wonderful partnership with Tim and Tasha, my heart grew all the more restless. While there is still much that God has in store for Crossroads to accomplish, I continued to battle with the idea that my part in this adventure was drawing to a close. In the last several weeks, we have determined that God is indeed calling us to chase after a new dream.
Wendy and I will be leaving to start and parent a new church in Las Vegas, Nevada. We have the opportunity once again to start a new kind of church for the people of Las Vegas as we embrace the mission of engaging and changing a culture for the sake of the Kingdom. There is no question that the challenge before us in the coming year is tremendous. We are seeking to lead a team that will all move to Las Vegas and work as bi-professionals, each having jobs in the secular world and sharing the responsibility of birthing and leading a new church. We are also praying that God will call as many as 70 people from around the country to join us in this new adventure. We are hoping that possibly even a few of you will relocate your lives to join the mission because we know the value of having friends along for the ride.
Though in many ways it is not the child that is leaving, there is no question Crossroads is ready for the next chapter. I could not imagine leaving you in better hands. All you need to provide leadership and care on this next leg of the journey is already in place. That, mixed with a new articulation of our shared mission these past five plus years from a new pastor who has the calling and heart for the people of Maryland, gives me comfort in knowing that Crossroads’ best days are just over the next horizon.
Last week, in the light of God’s leading, I offered my resignation to the Leadership Team effective October 5, 2003, coinciding with our church’s fifth birthday. This fulfills the commitment I made to our God and our community as we began the adventure over six years ago.
Know that I will be praying for you and will always hold Crossroads in my heart. I am proud of you and truly treasure the time we have shared the journey of this community. This is in no way the end, simply the end of the beginning.
May God truly continue to bless His church,
Jonathan Lee
Monday, June 23, 2003
"Not only has the grand vision that inspired recent Western culture been discarded, but we are having difficulty in knowing how to set about constructing a new vision.
"However, there can be no doubt that one of the reasons why we are finding the search so difficult is that metanarratvies assume some kind of shared experience of life, and today the very notion of community has itself become problematic. In a world where people are regarded as cogs in a machine, they are immediately placed in competition with everyone else, and that in itself creates relationships based not on cooperation but on suspicion. In addition, though, the idea of community was questioned by the philisophical ideology which assured us that autnomous rational individuals held within themselves the key to everything, and therefore the pinnacle of human accomplishment would be for us to exercise our reason in a way that would be completely free and unfettered by personal values or faith principles (worldviews or meatanarritives.)" - John Drane, The McDonaldization of the Church
"However, there can be no doubt that one of the reasons why we are finding the search so difficult is that metanarratvies assume some kind of shared experience of life, and today the very notion of community has itself become problematic. In a world where people are regarded as cogs in a machine, they are immediately placed in competition with everyone else, and that in itself creates relationships based not on cooperation but on suspicion. In addition, though, the idea of community was questioned by the philisophical ideology which assured us that autnomous rational individuals held within themselves the key to everything, and therefore the pinnacle of human accomplishment would be for us to exercise our reason in a way that would be completely free and unfettered by personal values or faith principles (worldviews or meatanarritives.)" - John Drane, The McDonaldization of the Church
Thursday, June 05, 2003
“Everything is aimed outside. If you are in the Bellagio, you’re behind the fountains, not looking in on them. Big mistake. But that’s where my head was at back then. . . I still recognize the importance of having a great invitation on the carnival midway, but I’ve turned it around: what’s more provocative than dancing waters or erupting volcanoes? Mystery.” – Steve Wynn
Wednesday, June 04, 2003
"A man's life becomes an adventure, the whole thing takes on a transcendent purpose when he releases control in exchange for the recovery of the dreams in his heart." John Eldredge
