What's a Job Worth to You?

Would you even leave something more comfortable and less strenuous for the less comfortable/more strenuous job?

I've heard it said that if you find a job you love, you never work another day in your life. While I certainly sympathize with the sentiment behind that, I don't agree fully. Work is a privilege given from the Creator God to partner with him in his creation. It was quite ideal and even worshipful before this world got all jacked up. Then it became toil, painful, bloody and death-hastening, but it wasn't devoid of significance. Vocation in this broken world is still significant. It groans for something better; something more enduring--yes. But, it and the paycheck are to be enjoyed, wisely managed and dispersed justly.

Malcom Gladwell said, "Hard work is a prison sentence only if it does not have meaning." See more from my post about his book Outliers.

Work is not only a privilege, but it is also significant. It is very much a part of human identity. All humans were created to work, and all humans have the opportunities to rest both physically and spiritually-eternally.

How important is your work to you? Would you leave a higher-paying job for a more-fulfilling job? Let me know your thoughts.

Why Charities Should Die

From the Clouds of Common Grace...

Nancy Lublin of Fast Company magazine dares to propose that some not-for-profits should just shut down. Not that an external force should come and force them to close their doors but to so clearly envision their mission from the beginning that they know when it has been accomplished. Kind of like knowing when to pull out the troops. That is a noble business model.

Here are a couple notable quotables from her brief article:

"A not-for-profit exists to cure something, address an issue, or elevate the status of a group of people; if and when that's achieved, we should be done."

"The broader principle here is that companies and organizations don't exist simply to exist. A not-for-profit should ideally be not-for-perpetuity. We should not be donor-funded jobs programs. People give not b/c they believe in us as employable human beings but b/c they believe in what we do."

A Healthy Baptist Minimalism

My friend, and newly installed pastor of the First Baptist Church of New York City, Dr. Matthew Hoskinson, has written a helpful article "On Being Baptist." Not totally satisfied with all the definitions of Baptist identity or distinctives, Matt has set out to prove what for him it means to be a Baptist (at a minimum). He clearly spells it out:

Baptists are distinct from other world religions in that they are Christian, Baptists are distinct from the rest of Christendom in that they are Protestant, and Baptists are distinct from the rest of Protestantism in that they are credobaptist in practice and congregational in polity. This essay focuses on the last of these statements.

He really did a good job. For he concludes:

Baptists are credobaptist in practice and congregational in polity. They may be more than this, but one cannot be less than this and still wear the label. Within the wide stream of Baptist thinking there are many different currents, some healthy, some not. But what defines and distinguishes Baptists from other Protestant groups are these two doctrines.

While I'm sure he has not written a new proposal, he is clear on what distinguishes the Baptist church. It would probably do well to subject the B-A-P-T-I-S-T distinctives to this shorter criteria. If we do, our acrostic might look like T-...S. Hmmm.

The Inner-Inner-City: Hamtramck, MI

Some of you know that my family and I spent some formative years in metro Detroit (wait: all yrs are formative). While not in the city proper, we were exposed to different American and ethnic subcultures. While training at the local theological seminary, I met a guy who lived down the street from me who had a bunch of kids (his youngest is the same age of my oldest)- Jay and his better half, Kristin. He actually was in the same seminary. The dude has a great story that another friend Ken Tullos has captured on a video. I hope that Jay keeps reaching people for Jesus in that urban island and that Ken keeps making videos in and around Detroit for the glory of the one true God. The only improvement I would have made to the video was to add a bit of holy hip-hop=+). Even then, the music was cool and compelling. Word!

Hamtramck from Kenneth Tulloss on Vimeo.

Preview of Page CXVI's New Record

02 Be Thou My Vision by PageCXVI

From the Clouds of Common Grace

On occasion at my Twitter page, I have passed along articles or ideas using the phrase "From the Clouds of Common Grace". This comes from the verse in Holy Scripture, Matthew 5:45, part b- "For he [God] makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust." This verse shows God's goodness (or grace) indiscriminately poured out on his image-bearing people regardless of their personal relationship to him. This is a very simplistic if not incomplete description of the theological construct called "common grace." It is a concept which I wish to study further and will, d.v.

That being said, I hope to share things under this label that will benefit you regardless of your standing with the one I love and serve who is the Lord Jesus Christ. These posts may take from industries such as business, politics, art & media, etc. I confess that the God who is there has given us all things to enjoy. At the end of the day, I want all who I know to come to grips with the lordship of Jesus and his work on the cross.

Without further ado...
I commend the magazine FastCompany. While the American dream and microwave ideology of success are embedded in the name, this publication offers much. One of the most interesting articles in this last issue was a focus on the TED phenomenon. TED (for Technology, Entertainment and Design) talks are quickly becoming the new "Harvard Business School," argues the article. You can learn a lot from these 18-minute talks, and it is a good way to cross-pollinate outside the hive of your expertise. Check out the TED website.


*One small disclaimer: While God gives his creatures life, creativity, money, food--the list goes on!-- from the storehouse or clouds of his common grace, I fully acknowledge that his creatures tend to pervert or distort these gifts. This, of course, is the essence of idolatry and needs to be confronted. Therefore, I encourage all to use common sense and discernment while scooping up a cup of rain from these clouds.

What is the Gospel?

Recently, I was licensed by my church (Now, I can officially "marry and bury"). In the process, I had to think hard about and formulate in a paragraph an answer to the question: "What is the Gospel?" Greg Gilbert has even written a book on it.

My answer:
A happy God eternally existing in three persons out of his good pleasure creates time and space and fills both with created things. Man, his image-bearer and apex of his creation rebels against his Creator. In his good pleasure, God chooses to redeem his fallen creation. The Gospel particularly is the great news of God's coming promise in the form of Jesus, the Son of God to incarnate, obey the Law's demands perfectly, suffer for sinners to atone for their guilt and satisfy God's rightful wrath. Furthermore, it is the death, the burial and the bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead. It is further good news that this Jesus' death and life (his righteousness) are graciously "imputed" to a believer's account. It is good news that the Holy Spirit is given as a sign and seal of that redemption. The gospel at the end of the day is the hope and joy of eternal life. Amen!

Also, I got the chance to answer this question in a video format:

Going to Church Out-of-Town

I have been thinking about the subject of out-of-town church attendance (especially on vacation). In fact, I just got back from vacation--today. We have the blessing of attending a church that has four congregations spread out across the city of Chicago. Since we got back early afternoon, we knew we would enjoy the fellowship of saints with our brothers and sisters at the North Side service which is at 5pm. Not everyone has this kind of church structure, however.

Some of my friends with whom I have discussed this don't go at all. "There is no church like our church", they say (which loyalty I applause); they are lazy and want a break from church; or they are uncomfortable about being in a strange setting. Other Christian families will hack their own service (foot washings and all! just kidding). I'm sure there are other reasons. Consider the following questions:

What's the purpose of going to church in the first place?
Let me be frank here. I loathe the phrase "go to church." Churches are organized organisms (covering all bases here=+) made of people who have been regenerated by the blood of Jesus Christ. They "go to church" to hear the Scriptures taught, pray, praise God through song, observe the ordinances, give their resources to the work of the church and to the needy w/in the church (Acts 2:42-47). Unfortunately, this is the "rap" that alot of American Christianity has-- the major share of our "going" is to meet with each other. While the Scriptures enforce the need for mutual celebration of the Gospel in praise and Word (Hebrews 10:25), the church is a going entity TO THE WORLD (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 1:8). Perhaps, we should retrain our parlance to include words like "worship Jesus" or "meet with believers for unified praise to the Savior". 'Nuf said for now.

Is community the only consideration in making the decision?
For some people who don't bother going to church when they are out of their own church, their argument rests often on the fact that their "community" isn't the one at which they are vacationing. Therefore, "why bother with going to church where I am not going to have long-lasting community?"... goes the line of thinking. I am glad for the deep fellowship already cultivated on the home front. Well (for one), the subject of "community" is over-hyped and nearly becoming cliche. It is almost like the concept of missional-- it has a lot of different meanings depending on who you ask. While well-intentioned, this particular line of reasoning is myopic. We easily waltz over the passages of New Testament Scriptures that record the instances when displaced or missionary believers were seeking out the fellowship of locals and vice versa. I would dare say that not only is this rationale myopic but very American. And lest I be called out for nationalizing a particular sin, it is quite Adamic. There. If anything, healthy body life in your own local church should arouse such passion and curiosity for how the Gospel is being fleshed out in other assemblies outside of your "Jerusalem."

When you're with extended family, should you attend with them or should you maintain that your one-off/out-of-town attendance be in concert w/ how selective you are on the home front?
For some people, your theology matters a lot, and that is good. However, I would say that if you are concerned with maximizing time w/ your believing family who you are visiting and building unity, you should show how deeply the Gospel runs in you so as to elevate your extended family over your strongly-held preferences. Of course, you could not go at all if it is a heretical church or you could seek another church and meet up for lunch later. But that won't really aid the "unity factor"; it will only remind everyone of certain "wedges" of preference that exist in your family. Some forthrightness or creativity on the front end will help alleviate tension along w/ much love.
How about going to church out of town to hear a certain favorite preacher?
Definitely. You better believe it, but realize that there is real body of hurting and healthy peeps that show up every week to hear your favorite dude preach. Check them out, too.
Just don't do that at your home church. One of the not-so-fondest memories I had of attending one church for a while in Greenville, SC was seeing how many members (!) didn't show up to church when the "rock star" pastor wasn't behind the sacred desk. When you join a church, you are in a sense wedding yourself to that assembly until death, heresy, excommunication or relocation doth thee part.

Here are a few things to reflect on the next time you leave town:
1) If at all possible, try to get back to your own church for Sunday worship.
2) If you are a father with small children and the normal levels of getting out of the house on a Sunday are stressful, you should seek input from your wife on what it would be like for her to get to church on the alien turf. Ask her every time.
3) If possible, stretch yourself and make the effort to worship with believers that you don't know. Remember: Christ is your first commonality; not your geography or ethnicity. Expose your family to the wonderful "thing" that Jesus is doing all around your country and the world.
4) If you vacation to the same place, find a church and keep coming back to it. Extend your community. I know some people from Detroit who do that regularly when they escape away once or twice a year to their regular spot on Florida.
5) Put your "experience" way down on the list. Don't make experience a high priority. If worship is all about experience, then we should all give up on regular gathered worship. This might be simplistic, but I don't think experience as an end should be a driving motivator to attend or not attend church (whether at home or away).
6) Don't just do away from home what you do at home. In other words, join a church at home; stop church hopping. I suspect that if you church hop at home, this little article won't even cross your radar.

Perhaps, I have overthought on this.

Is Christianity Biased Toward Book Lovers?

Interesting question posted at the Desiring God website.
Answered by John Piper in the video here.

Page CXVI Hymns-- Free Music!

You will definitely want to check out an emerging phenomenon in current contemporary hymnody: anonymous, hymn-loving indie rockers. This group or rather project is known as Page CXVI hymns. They have already released one project and are on the cusp of their sophomore record. I haven't gotten the full picture yet as to why they don't release their identities. They actually do if you invite them to your church to play. And they have the requisite Twitter, Facebook and My Space presences. Nevertheless, I appreciate the intentional anonymity of the project's drivers b/c there are way too many "rock stars" in the Christian contemporary music world (pun intended).

This music isn't just skull candy. This is the old stuff w/ some counter-intuitive sounds, yet the new tunes aren't distracting. The substance of the text remains powerful, and most if not all their arrangements can be sung by the English-speaking church. These brothers and sisters are amongst the ranks of those restoring hymnody back to the church. I pray their tribe increases.

Get the whole first album for free just this week only! Then go ahead and download their newest recording which includes among the selections How Great Thou Art, Jesus, I am Resting, Resting and The Battle Hymn of the Republic.

Why the name? From their website:

The name comes from a reference to page 116 in our copy of The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis. It is a poignant passage where Aslan begins to sing Narnia into creation out of a black void.

It starts, “In the darkness something was happening at last. A voice had begun to sing. It was very far away and Digory found it hard to decide from what direction is was coming. Sometimes it seemed to come from all directions at once. Sometimes he almost thought it was coming out of the earth beneath them. Its lower notes were deep enough to be the voice of the earth herself. There were no words. There was hardly even a tune. But it was, beyond comparison, the most beautiful noise he had ever heard. It was so beautiful he could hardly bear it.”

Speak Up!

A clever marketing campaign is going on near my house via a billboard (I'm a student of urban marketing). It is a Greater Than Aids drive. There are race and ideological factors that drive this campaign, but that isn't the purpose of my posting.
The campaign aptly uses the greater than symbol to send a plethora of messages related to AIDS/HIV. This particular board tersely says: Speaking up is greater than silence (in a golden font; I assume after the Chinese proverb that eloquence is silver and silence is gold). The point is two-fold, I believe: speak up if you have HIV/AIDS and speak up against the epidemic.
My American society calls for people to be bold and unashamed about their illness. I totally expect that.
Why, then, do I shut up about Christ, the Savior of the world; the Savior from sin; the Judge of all the earth?

It's time, my friends, that we speak up with the message that truly transforms. Open up your mouth. Speak up!

1 John 4:4- Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

The Problem with Evangelical Sola Scriptura

I live in an ecclesial world that rightly touts the Reformation doctrine of Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone!). I have grown up in this tradition (after my early years in a tradition that held to Scriptura et Magisterium). A lot of ink and spiritual sweat has been spilled over clarifying the fact that for the believer in Jesus Christ, the Scriptures alone as breathed out by God are the final authority for faith and practice (I sometimes refer to that as Scriptura Ultima). As I understand it, this doctrine doesn't snub the fact that truth can be presented via common grace in other earthly texts. And insomuch as they accord with the Sacred Writ, they are true statements. The Scriptures are the final arbiter of all other writings.

Not too many card-carrying evangelical Christians have a hard time disagreeing w/ the above understated formulation. Nevertheless, in the day-to-day life of the Church, I sense perhaps an all too often tendency to take Scriptura Ultima in a literal chronological sense. That is, we read and are heavily influenced by the voices, authorities, and texts of our culture (NY Times, Bono, Oprah, the Academy...you name it) first. Then (!), we run the noise through our evango-high def sola scriptura. No doubt, this isn't as mechanical as I'm making it to sound. I am asking: is our reality that we literally sometimes listen to the Word of God last (or finally, ultimately)?

I guess I am proposing a practical and daily return (yea, application) to the Scriptures not just as our final court of appeal but as our first consideration.
The problem with evangelical sola scriptura in the life of the church is that it often makes the Bible the last consideration (almost like throwing a bone at God). Maybe I'm proposing that embedded in this great historic doctrine is Scriptura Principium. The definition would then be that Scripture is our first and final authority in faith and practice. This allows for common grace and culture "conversations" in between, but it properly keeps the front and back doors of the Gospel well-protected.
Thoughts?

100 Cupboards Trilogy

Both my son and I are enjoying and heavily entrenched in the first of the 100 Cupboards trilogy by author N.D. Wilson. N.D. (Nate) is said that his goal is to "bring fantasy to America". To be honest, having just previously finished two back-to-back classics (The Last Battle and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader), this first has been harder to close each night. That is not at all to deprecate C.S. Lewis. That's just saying how good N.D. Wilson already is as an emerging author.

Check out the trailer below.

Trailer for "The 100 Cupboards" Trilogy - by N.D. Wilson from Yitz Brilliant on Vimeo.

Malcom Gladwell on Work

I am really enjoying reading The New Yorker author, Malcom Gladwell in his recent book Outliers: The Story of Success. I would like to review this book, but I'm still processing it as Gladwell masterfully weaves stories with deductions on success. I would call this book a psycho/socio-dissection of success.

Those three things--autonomy, complexity, and a connection between effort and reward--are, most people agree, the three qualities that work has to have if it is to be satisfying. It is not how much money we make that ultimately makes us happy between nine and five. It's whether our work fulfills us. If I offered you a choice b/t being an architect for $75K a year and working in a tollbooth every day for the rest of your life for $100k a year, which would you take? I'm guessing the former, because there is complexity, autonomy, and a relationship b/t effort and reward in doing creative work, and that's worth more to most of us than money.
Work that fulfills those three criteria is meaningful.... Bill Gates had that same [ecstatic] feeling when he first sat down at the keyboard at Lakeside. And the Beatles didn't recoil in horror when they were told they had to play eight hours a night, seven days a week. Hard work is a prison sentence only if it does not have meaning. Once it does, it becomes the kind of thing that makes you grab your wife around the waist and dance a jig.

Life is Vapor... Get a Tatoo!

One of the main objections to getting a tattoo that is apparent to all is that it's with you to stay. Duh.
But could we not take on a more "eternal" perspective, folks? Since life is a vapor, maybe getting a tattoo doesn't seem as dastardly a move (unless it makes you look really dastardly). That is, if our lives are just a blip on the radar of eternity, then so is that tattoo. So... ink away!
Alright, I'm kidding. This is forcing St. James and Epicureus to be ideological compadres they were never meant to be.=+)
btw, that's not my arm.

Praying for Others: An Idea

One of the blessings of being transient is the sheer number of friends that you build up over time. One of the downsides of that is that you can lose touch with them. The ones who are really on top of it, keep their address books current and send you annual Christmas cards.
My parents had a post-holiday custom that my family is trying to implement. I think it's really easy and practical.
Instead of stashing those Christmas cards somewhere or throwing them away w/ a twinge of guilt, try something more "guilt-free": Every night at dinner (or any meal), take one card a night and pray for that family even if you may not know them really well. Pray for marriages, children to come to faith in Jesus, deeper Kingdom commitment and whatever else. Then throw the card away.

Nicolas Augusto Pareja- February 5, 2006

One of the most formative life experiences happened four years ago. It was a tough (second) pregnancy for my wife. It was also a "planned" pregnancy. We were both pumped. All of her pregnancy's have been high risk. It's amazing that the effects of the Fall and beauty of creation collide in this 9 month journey for women.
At about 8 weeks, it was discovered that Rachel had a tumor in her abdominal area that could potentially compromise the life of our second child. At the 13 week mark, she went in for major surgery that successfully removed a tumor the size of a grapefruit off of (and including) her tube w/out threatening the life of our child. The OB doc described a moment during the surgery in which he waved "hi" to the expected second-born. Stunning. Rachel is on bed rest for 6 weeks; baby is growing and kicking like crazy!

On Friday night, February 3 (30 weeks), Rachel was feeling unusually uncomfortable b/c she had been second-guessing herself if she had felt the baby move in recent days and hours. I remember sleeping on the couch that night-- concerned and praying but not being prepared for what was coming. Saturday, Feb 4th, I had to work until about 2pm. However, the concern was mounting. I worked begrudingly (we ran a storage facility where we lived on-site; very advantageous on many fronts), and then I just had to leave. We drove to the hospital w/ Haddon (2 at the time). We were ushered in right away for an ultrasound. I had to hang w/ the little dude while Rachel had to endure the next moments of the ultrasound. The sonographer tried and tried to find a hearbeat-- nothing. It was confirmed by the attending Ob/Gyn that Nicolas had met his end, and then I was ushered in to the presence of my shattered Rachel. I fell apart, and the next hours were spent in shock and numbness; waves of sobbing and silence. Our good friends, Phil & Julianna came and got Haddon. The next persons on the scene was my very busy pastor and his wife, Dave & Claudia, who comforted us tenderly.

The irony of grief is that there is always a celebration going on somewhere nearby. The blighted city of Detroit was on the cusp of hosting the Super Bowl. On "Super" Bowl Sunday, February 5, 2006, Rachel was induced for a delivery scheduled at 8am. As God's people rose for worship that day, we had entered a different kind of worship "experience." Instead of hearing the typical cries and struggle for breathing on earth for the first time, we heard nothing. It was like we were shot through, and knew for a fact that our Nicolas indeed perished. The cries that filled the room at this birth were only ours. We got to hold our son who we named after my father's great names (he's Augusto Nicolas Pareja). Thankfully, my dad was able to come later on and hold our dear Nicolas.

I could go on and on about grief, family, the body of Jesus, faith, etc. Maybe another time. In preparation for the burial of NAP, I penned the following dirge:

The Broken Arrow

Dirge for Nicolas Augusto Pareja

Ps 127:4-5; Prov 13:12; Lam 3:13; Job 1:20; 6:4; Ps 119:68

Two warriors envisioned a quiver of children,

Of pointed arrows shot in obscure night.

Poised for alarm and prepared to fight,

They longed for the time when bows bent.

Overjoyed were they by the Maker’s first arrow

Given to them across the Big River.

Desire blazed to again fill the quiver,

But not with grief that would bring them so low.

Marked was the quiver for the second of shots,

To fill the desired place.

Yet outside of time and space,

The Great Giver set in motion his eternal tho’ts.

To their racking woe, the Maker snuffed out

The life of their second born son.

“A dream?,” they tho’t—no, they were undone

Holding the broken arrow they would no longer tout.

The wounds of divine severity— though rarely pleasant—

Are lathered in the balm of God’s mercy.

Good Giver of life, we bow the knee

In adoration of your wisdom and right to reclaim our infant.

Notes on the Dirge

The Scriptures above have been formative in our “coping” w/ our trial. They also contain images or themes upon which the poem is written. Figure the meter out for yourself. It is simple.

Stanza 1- Ps 127:4-5 is key to understanding these initial metaphors. “Time when bows bent” can be interpreted elastically. I would understand this to be the process of raising children and preparing them for the break from dependence upon Christian parents to the event(s) that would extend the parents’ influence in this world, e.g., leaving home for college, work, marriage, etc.

Stanza 2- “first arrow” refers to W. Haddon Pareja; The “Big River” is simply a translation of the Rio Grande, the river separating the US and Mexican border. We lived in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico beyond the Rio Grande.

Stanza 3- Stylistically and rhythmically, this is the weakest verse. However, it is a hinge upon which the whole poem turns; this is obvious.

Stanza 4- “the broken arrow” now represents the arrow that God had originally given us. This motif should not be taken as overtures of American Indian themes.

Stanza 5- This last verse is really meant to bring together the moral or lesson, and as it is obvious, the conclusion is the defining surrender.