The ability to act as Jesus acts is not something that belongs exclusively to ordained clergy or ‘holy” people, but is something we all have by the simple virtue of being human and having God’s life breathed into us. These are the hopeful words of author Sara Miles in her ThinkFWD interview with Spencer Burke.

Sara’s recent book, Jesus Freak, is based on her belief that ordinary people are “authorized and empowered to do Jesus’ work of feeding, healing and raising the dead.” The Spirit moves through all people in every time and place, says Sarah, and the term “saints” refers to all of God’s holy people. Whether working in a food pantry, at the office, or conversing with friends—we are about God’s work.

Sara is the director of the Food Pantry at St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church in San Francisco. Each week the food pantry is set up in the center of the church and over 600 families in need gather to receive food. “It’s like a farmer’s market in heaven,” laughs Sara. “We are gathered around an altar and surrounded by saints. Everything is free and everyone is welcome.” In keeping with the “we’re all saints doing God’s work” philosophy, the Food Pantry is run by volunteers, many of whom came to get food, and stayed to help out.

Why is it that people feel like they cannot serve, or that saints are better than they are? Sometimes the habits of the Church can discourage people. The thought prevails that church is where you go to get clean, and you have to get clean before you can serve God. But Sara suggests that Jesus didn’t pick perfect people in his disciples. Just like them, we don’t have to wait to become perfect—just throw ourselves into service, and get new life by giving our lives away.

Personal Reflections:

Do you agree that ordinary people are authorized to do the work of Jesus?

Do you feel like you have to “get clean” before you can join in?

Small Group or Staff Questions:

What keeps us from “grabbing the crazy guy” and doing the work of Jesus?

How can we interpret scripture through our actions?

Resource Links:

Sara’s Personal Website

Photographer David Sacks and interviewer Spencer Burke explore the links between artist and medium and medium and audience in an interview for ThinkFWD on TheOOZE.TV. He’s capturing life itself when he photographs various subcultures across the USA and other countries, and David says it’s a great excuse to interact with people, as the photographer (David) and the subject work together to create the image.

Images of some of David’s photos from the Coney Island freak show lead Spencer and David into a discussion on diversity. David says diversity can be difficult for people to embrace. It’s human nature to fear the unknown and what we don’t understand or can’t relate to. And yet he is reaching out to experience diversity himself, and also to share that experience, quoting, “the sum of a person’s experience will determine their vision.” “Experiencing different people and cultures extends my vision.”

For a photographer, perspective and point of view are critical. David suggests that there are two parts to the creative conversation: between artist and medium and between medium and audience. He creates photographs that are meaningful to him. He hopes that they then mean something to the audience as well, but doesn’t try to force the audience response. Two questions he hopes the audience never asks of artists: “Can you tell me what this means?” and “What’s that?” David would rather ask the audience to respond to the art with their own thoughts, feelings, and interpretations.

Spencer asks how these concepts might extend from photography to the church. David sees visual arts being incorporated into his church more frequently and thinks this is a wonderful way to encounter God and worship the creator. He believes incorporating visual arts into church has enriched the conversation about life and God. When asked about art as propaganda, David’s quick retort: “It never ends well.” He says the purpose of art should not be to prove a point, but to display beauty, provoke thought, and ask questions.

How can the church encourage artists? Come alongside them and encourage them in their work, says David. Many artists struggle with feeling like they are on the fringes. Just encouraging them and incorporating their work into church life goes a long way. The church hates failure, says David. But in art, you must have the freedom to fail and then to move forward. There must be grace. And giving artists that grace will make a difference for the artists and enrich the life of the church.

Personal Reflections

Have you experienced art as a way to display beauty, provoke thought, and ask questions?

Have you ever felt “on the fringes?” How did you move forward in that situation?

Group Study Questions

How can your community experience different people and cultures to embrace diversity and extend your vision?

How can you extend grace to artists in your community, and enrich the conversation about God?

Resources

His personal website with photography.

Let’s step over the threshold of “stalemate” and create new stories, says Samir Selmanovic, in an interview with ThinkFWD host, Spencer Burke. Selmanovic’s book, It’s really all about God, was born out his faith journey that began with childhood in a Muslim family where belief in God was considered a crutch, although the traditional religious holy days and celebrations were observed. When he became a Christian, he was expelled from his home and spent two years sleeping on the couches of church members who took him in. He confesses he spent many years stridently arguing for the “rightness” of his particular religious beliefs—“My beliefs are true; yours are not.”

Today, Samir encourages us to rethink our faith and move from “It’s all about me.” to “It’s all about God.” Muslim, atheist, Jew –these are adjectives to the name “Christian,” he says. Samir is part of a gathering called Faith House which invites the community to share a common space (a living room) and experience their neighbor’s faith. All of our different faiths, and the different “mysteries” that each of us are, affect each other. Learning about my neighbor’s faith and experience, allows me to see new beauty, and poses questions that help me deepen and broaden my faith.

We need to encounter brothers, neighbors, even strangers of different faiths. We need a perspective that says, “There must be more about you, about others, than just to serve MY story.” Samir says, “I cannot argue for the absence of grace and say that YOUR story must be a lie for mine to be true. We are called to judge things by their fruit. Take a close look at our theology and if it sounds reprehensible, then we need to admit that.”

For Samir, humility and hospitality IS the doctrine, the dogma, and to practice it is to go deeper, not to water down, our faith. Christianity exists to serve the Kingdom of God, not the other way around. Look around you, says Samir. The Kingdom of God is here—enter it!

Personal Reflections

How do I view the religion or spirituality of others? As walls and fences to protect or doors, windows and bridges so that I’m not isolated?

How can I begin to view questions from other religions or faiths as beautiful gifts to be given and received?

Small Group Questions

As a community, how can we develop the key Christian character identities of humility and hospitality?

Do we find ourselves defending God, or developing the Kingdom of God?

Resources/Links

Author’s Website

Buy The Book

Community interpretation of the Bible helps balance our inherent biases, and we become part of the story of the book, says author Tim Conder in an interview for ThinkFWD with host Spencer Burke. Tim’s book, Free for All, posits that reading the Bible with community interpretation is dangerous . . . in a good way!

There are three communities involved in reading and interpreting the Bible: the text itself; the historical church—the cloud of witnesses; and practicing communities of today.

Sometimes, says Tim, the Bible is held captive (often by the people who love it the most). In fact, scripture has been used powerfully throughout history as a way to exclude people or groups. But when communities interpret the Bible, it can liberate the Bible. What does this mean? Do we need to fear that liberation will turn to chaos?

Tim suggests that the Bible is never read objectively and that there is always some interpretation, because we are humans reading and interpreting it. To some degree, we all have the tendency to say, “Read it my way;” “Interpret it my way.” So by interpreting in community in the context of the Spirit, our individual biases are countered. When we are living in a community with many differences, the very presence of community prevents our differences from becoming the agenda, keeps us from acts of violence against others, and allows us to be open to God’s voice.

Personal Reflections

What does it mean to you to liberate the scriptures from outside forces, e.g. letting God’s voice or Spirit speak?

Do you agree that reading the Bible is a dangerous event if you engage the Community in its interpretation?

Small Group Study

As a community, how can we host the sacred text while engaging it ethically and with hospitality?

How can we move beyond a reactive posture to an informed posture using the historical practice of dialogue in community?

Resources

Tim’s book site

People are losing their homes daily, families are without running water, and living (or dying) without health care. Does this sound like a description of a third-world country? Perhaps. But it is straight from an interview between Cheri Honkala and ThinkFWD host, Spencer Burke, talking about the unique challenges facing us at this moment in U.S. history.

Many years ago Cheri was a homeless mom, who almost froze to death on the streets with her 9-year old son. Today, her life’s work and passion is building a massive movement to end poverty in America. We are taking up where Martin Luther King Jr. left off,” she says. Cheri considers herself blessed to spend her time among the homeless and poor, “the most giving people, who share everything they have. ”

Sometimes Cheri hears from people that demonstrations and protests are not effective—“ What are you really going to accomplish with that?” She believes things like marches show unity with and care for the poor, lifts their morale, and importantly, gives them a voice. “When you have lost everything, all you have left is your voice. But many homeless and poor people have been beaten down so much they have lost their voice. Solidarity can help them find their voice and bring awareness to the great need that Cheri believes, in a wealthy country like ours, can be overcome.

Spencer connected with Cheri at A Sustainable Faith conference held at a church in Florida. In the middle of Cheri’s session, someone came to the church seeking help with gas money. Sheri’s response was to stop in the middle of her story, and say, “We can solve this problem right now.” Taking up a collection from the group, the needed money was provided to the individual—a scenario that couldn’t have been planned any better to illustrate Cheri’s message: as people of faith, we have important challenges put in front of us. We must practice the teachings of Jesus to look out for our brothers and sisters and neighbors.

Cheri challenges people to get to know their neighbors, and be interested and involved in their lives, so we can be alert to the needs right in front of us. Every day there are foreclosures in our neighborhoods, but people would rather die than tell anybody they are going to lose their homes. Elsewhere abandoned homes are being heated to keep the pipes from bursting while mothers and children freeze on the streets. “Poverty is a sin against God,” says Cheri, “but we don’t see the reality on our TV sets or nightly news.” So we need to be cognizant of this unique time in our history, be aware of what’s going on with our family, friends and community, and take action.

Personal Reflections

How do you move your response to poverty from your head to your heart to action?

Are you looking out for your brothers, sisters, and neighbors like Jesus did?

Is poverty a man-made sin against God in a country of abundance?

Small Group Questions

How do we respond to the ideas of people and property? Discuss the example of heated, abandoned homes and homeless families and children.

What do you think of the power of protest giving voice and showing unity?

Resources

Her Website

March To Fulfill The Dream

Lord Save Us From Your Followers! That’s the name of the movie on the marquis in downtown Portland, Oregon and the backdrop for the ThinkFWD episode with host Spencer Burke and independent filmmaker Dan Merchant. Dan’s making of the film, which was released on DVD in March, was a five-year journey. The film has been in many different venues, from church screenings to college campuses to film festivals. “People who go to church find it meaningful. People who don’t go to church find it meaningful,” says Dan. So he decided to take it into a secular theater to see if more people would connect with it.

The reaction across the boards is that people are resonating with the film’s messages. Why? “Everybody responds to compassion, loving-kindness and grace,” says Dan. “The film is not about bashing the church. I’m plagiarizing Jesus, raising some questions. God is where all truth springs from, but truth without grace is like a bulldozer. Truth WITH grace takes on a different shape, and it’s not about “us” and “them, but about “we”—it’s relational.”

Dan believes the film gives people permission to stop taking sides, and to try again to hear and live out what Jesus says. And when people say, “But when do we stand up for the truth!” Dan’s reply is that this is the truth—loving others.

Spencer asks Dan if it’s the medium or the message that is resonating with the film’s audience? Does the fact that it’s a film help to engage the viewers? Dan suggests that the film works like a mirror, and that people connect with parts of the film that are true to their experience. He says everyone has a different favorite part of the film and that’s because each person has their own perspective and need, and the film helps to articulate it for them.

Personal Reflections:

1. How can I express where I am struggling with the church without being or being perceived as “church-bashing?”
2. How can I move beyond tearing down and build what is beautiful and true?

Group or Staff Questions:

1. How can we hold the tension between picking sides and showing what we can say “yes” to?
2. How can we grow by listening, humbly and without an agenda?

Resources

1. Official movie website

Let’s talk about cross-gender friendships, or put simply, friendships between men and women–outside of a marriage or romantic relationship. Are they possible? Are they good? Are they needed? It’s a subject that is taboo to some groups and a non-issue for others. Enter Dan Brennan and his self-published book, Sacred Unions, Sacred Passions.

Dan and Spencer Burke, host of ThinkFWD, talk about the void that exists if we let fear get the better of us and avoid pursuing these important relationships. And in a related discussion, they venture into the topic of self-publishing. Dan has become an expert on that topic, because of his real-life experience in trying to publish Sacred Unions, Sacred Passions. “It was too controversial for the traditional Christian publishers, and not controversial enough for the secular press,” says Dan. Because Dan is passionate about the subject and sharing his learnings, he found a way to publish . . . with a little help from his friends . . . of both genders! Find out more on http://danbrennan.typepad.com.

But back to male-female relationships. Dan starts the conversation practically, saying they are no different than other relationships. We need to recognize that there is fear in developing a close relationship, and potential danger in a male-female relationship, and then create healthy boundaries and push through any fear. Jesus prays for us to be one, and he doesn’t specify men/women. In fact, Dan gives us examples of Jesus’ specific and important relationships with women.

Dan encourages us to pursue, to nurture and delight in (chaste) communion with other Christians. Without powerful, intimate male/female friendships, a big part of our life is missing. Some Christian communities tend to separate out male and female friendships, or stress a rule-based approach to friendships, but these are often based on fear. Instead, Dan says, let’s take personal responsibility for pursuing good relationships with clear boundaries, which develop nearness and bonding—for which our lives will be richer and reflective of the full body of Christ.

Personal Reflections:

1. How has your opinion of cross-gender friendships affected your workplace?
2. What experiences have you had with rule-based or fear-based approaches in other areas (e.g. drinking, entertainment, foods, engagement with other religions, etc.?)

Group or Staff Questions:

1. When cross-gender relationships are limited to sexual expressions, what possibilities do we lose?
2. Acknowledging that there are differences among genders, and a need for healthy sexual boundaries, what ways can we as a community encourage nearness and bonding reflecting the body of Christ?

Resources

1. Buy the Book here
2. Visit Dan’s blog here

What do you do when church seems upside down? When it seems like church is more about going through the motions than anything else? ThinkFWD host Spencer Burke spends some time with Ken and Deborah Loyd, who live in Portland, Oregon, and had this experience about 11 years ago. They decided to do things differently—to create a setting where people came because they wanted to be there—to put church back into the hands of the people. This became The Bridge, and from The Bridge another group was born, Home PDX, which is church for people living outside and experiencing poverty.

Home PDX is not about charity, it is about living life together and taking care of each other, says Jessica Roy, a recently ordained minister for Home PDX. When Spencer asked about how Home PDX was started, Ken said simply, “We tore it all down and gave back love.” Deborah explained further that they tried to see where God was already moving in the culture and what it would look like “if He was here, right now, among us in this place.” And what that looked like to them was love, food, clothes, and sharing together with people who live outside.

Jessica says she learned from her time at The Bridge that “who you are right now, in this moment, is enough.” As she has become part of the Home PDX community, she realizes that she is ministered to and blessed and loved by people who live in that outside community, more than she could ever minister to them. Her recent ordination was unique—instead of being ordained from the top-down, it was a “bottoms up” event. The Home PDX community laid hands on her and ordained her as someone who gives her life for their community.

Ken, Deborah and Jessica agree that they have come to understand that they truly know very little. Working with people who live outside, they have to learn a whole new language, another culture, and their constant prayer is, “God, show us what we’re missing.”

Personal Reflections:

1. What do you believe about ordination? Can it be bottoms-up, where the recognition and respect comes because the community speaks it into being?
2. What do we think of “bright ideas” versus “real ideas” that come from people in the trenches?

Group or Staff Questions:

1. What if we asked, “Can you teach me?” What would the church look like from the outside in?
2. As a community, where do we see God is already moving? What does it look like when God shows up in that context?

It started with one person in crisis, a prostitute. She came, got help, and brought someone else who needed help. Bruce Deel, founder of the City of Refuge in downtown Atlanta, shares how it all began with Spencer Burke, host of ThinkFWD.

He came to Atlanta to close a church and sell the property. While there, a woman in crisis—the prostitute—walked in and asked for help. And helping that women led to helping another person and another. “We were conned by God,” says Bruce, who eventually bought the property and moved there with his family. Rather than live in a place of safety and going from there to a place of life-change, they lived in that place of life-change. And, Bruce says, while helping others, the City of Refuge changed their lives too.

Bruce and Spencer talk while touring the City of Refuge. “If its benevolent care, we’re probably doing it,” laughs Bruce. They provide food, clothing, shelter, rehab, and medical services all on site. They have facilities for homeless moms and their children, and for homeless women without children. They support these women and families to restore their dignity and give them responsibility, moving them from “the margin to the middle” through life skills, day care centers, and tutoring programs for the children. City of Refuge is in the process of building independent living units for families that have “graduated” from the program but still need support services.

They feed 19,000 people a month, and solicit goods and products from all over, sharing what they receive with other nonprofits in the area through a distribution center. Volunteers come each day simply to sit and talk with the people who come for a meal—to share life and build relationships. And coming soon is a medical clinic, respite, care and orthodontic clinic.

One of their innovative programs is the 180° Kitchen. It’s a way to help young men and women in crisis turn their lives around. Students 18 – 25 years old learn culinary skills in the 12-week training program, and afterward, the City of Refuge helps them get jobs with chefs around Atlanta. The goal is for these young adults to learn not only culinary skills and perhaps gain a future career, but also to learn life skills in the process.

Bruce says that sometimes people come and are overwhelmed by it all. So he shares how the City of Refuge started with one person needing help. He encourages them to start by helping one person, and see what happens. Take Vanessa, for example, who was helped by the City and volunteers there now, making sandwiches. “This man saved my life,” she says about Bruce—and that’s a pretty great reward for both of them.

Our job as Christians isn’t to protect God’s reputation, but to try and understand the truth that God really loves us, and to move into relationship with others. This is one of the key thoughts that author Russell Rathbun puts forth in his book, nuChristian, and he dialogues about it with Spencer Burke, host of TheOOZE.TV’s ThinkFwd.

His book was prompted as a response to books like UnChristian and other current writings that conclude that Jesus has an image problem and it’s our fault. We (Christians) are too judgmental, too hypocritical, and if we could fix these problems then the huge body of “post-moderns” who are disenchanted with Church and Christianity would come flocking back. One problem, says Rathbun: Christians ARE critical, judgmental and hypocritical because we are human. And, maybe God isn’t as concerned as we think about his reputation, our reputation, or even our behavior. Perhaps our focus should be on the transforming love of God rather than on “fixing” who we are and saving Jesus’ image.

The question shouldn’t be “How are we going to protect the integrity of the gospel?”—it speaks for itself. Our question is, “How do I live in relationship with my neighbor, and accept the truth of God’s transforming love in my life?”Let’s focus on seeing ourselves as we really are, accepting that God loves us as we are, and reaching out to love others as they are.

Our faith is a living, growing faith. It should change and grow and evolve and not remain stagnant for 2,000 years. Rathbun encourages us to not get caught up in trying to protect the gospel, or worry about what other people think and do and believe. Why not meet new people and engage in new things? Don’t get caught up in the thinking that Christians are different, can’t make mistakes, and have to fix Jesus’ image—instead, open ourselves up to something new, to new relationships, and to God’s transforming love.

Personal Reflections:

1. Do you think Jesus has an image problem, and if so, can it be fixed by better Public Relations?
2. What are ways that I can embrace the messiness of being human, and let go of trying to project a false image by trying to meet other’s expectations?

Group or Staff Questions:

1. How can we as a group embrace a living God, and be open to change and growth?
2. How will an authentic relationship, living with God and others, ultimately have an impact on your reputation and community?