It is the 3rd of March, and while I wasn't holding to hard and fast deadlines, I did give myself February off, and semi-psychologically saw Saturday night's soiree as a turning point, in that I am really, truly officially done at LPC. Last Friday, one of my more concrete friends asked me point blank ... "so, you start job-hunting Monday morning?" as if it were that obvious, easy and straightforward ( it isn't, to me, just yet ).
Anyhow, the competing perspectives were ... my little world, and my attempts to figure out what or how I should invest my energies, or acquired skills ( both of them if possible ), and/or passions/interests in this next run of employment ... versus a couple of other perspective rattling items.
Last night, standing the in Cafe talking* with Dave B and James K someone mentioned that Norman Jeffrey ( Jeff ) Healey had died ... at 41 years old. Healey had blossomed into a mature jazz musician, articulate and very well respected, and even though I am a neanderthal when it come to jazz, it has been great following his career and his developing perspectives on music, overcoming a serious handicap and just getting on with life. Colin and I ended up watching a chunk of an interview on VisionTV ( of all places ) just the other night where Healey talked at length about his faith journey, raised as the son of a United Church mother, and a Baptist father. Interestingly, he pinned a significant crossroad as a decision when he was about 8 by a visiting aunt who was planning on taking Jeff and his buddy to Sunday School. When she discovered that his friends' family was Catholic she refused to take him to church with them. Basically, at that point Healey suggested his questions/doubts about organized religion began. 
I am sure someone better equipped than I will post about Healey's musical influence, and his journey through a lifetime of battling the cancer that claimed his sight when he was just a year old, however, it is inspiring to read and to observe. His latest CD "Mess of Blues" is about to be released ... now post-humously ... sadly. ).Then I read Coop's post and link to Scott W's ponderings about 'Christianity as a Sub-Culture' and didn't know whether to get mad, be resigned, agree, or throw in the towel. Here's a little of what Coop wrote ... 'Scott mentions incarnational living which is kingdom values and living them out in the world outside the church walls which is difficult when many churches have to hire a consultant to see what their neighborhood is thinking. In some ways it goes back to the turn of the 20th century with evangelicalism's struggle then to deal with modernity and we secluded ourselves in Christian camps, t-shirts, music, politics, and art. Also while struggling with engaging culture, we have tossed aside Kingdom values and exchanged them for the values of power, control, and money which even the most committed opponent of the faith will say are the ways of Christ.
As John Wimber once wrote, everyone seems to be able to see this except those of us in the church. "Folks, the world knows what this is supposed to look like. Years ago in New York City, I got into a taxi cab with an Iranian driver, who could hardly speak English ( but ended up asking me ) "Do you know about church?" I said, "Well, I know a little bit about it; what do you know?" It was a long trip from one end of Manhattan to the other, and all the way down he told me one horror story after another that he’d heard about the church - every horrible thing you could imagine. We finally get to where we were going, I paid him, and as we’re standing there on the landing I gave him an extra-large tip. He got a suspicious look in his eyes—he’d been around, you know. I said, "Answer me this one question." Now keep in mind, I’m planning on witnessing to him. "If there was a God and if he had a church, what would it be like?" He stood there for awhile making up his mind whether to play or not. Finally he sighed and said, "Well, if there was a God and he had a church—they would care for the poor, heal the sick, and they wouldn’t charge you money to teach you the Book." I turned around and it was like an explosion in my chest. "Oh, God." I just cried, I couldn’t help it. I thought, "Oh Lord, they know. The world knows what the Church is supposed to be like. The ones that don’t know are the Church." When you joined the kingdom, you expected to be used of God. I’ve talked to thousands of people, and almost everybody has said, "When I signed up, I knew that caring for the poor was part of it—I just kind of got weaned off of it, because no one else was doing it." Folks, I’m not saying, "Do something heroic." I’m not saying, "Take on some high standard, sell everything you have and go." Now, if Jesus tells you that, that’s different, but I’m not saying that. I’m just saying, participate. Give some portion of what you have—time, energy, money, on a regular basis—to this purpose, to redeeming people, to caring for people. Share your heart and life with somebody that’s not easy to sit in the same car with. Are you hearing me? That’s where you’ll really see the kingdom of God.
So ... Jeff Healey, put off organized religion at 8 years of age is dead at 41. Scott and Jordon are appropriately messing with my head on all this. Meanwhile, I am supposed to be trying to figure out what to do between now and retirement ... 15-20 years maybe? Last week a well-intentioned acquaintence offered me an 'opportunity' ... now that I am an ex-pastor ... to get involved in a MLM scheme promoting ( and making wads of ca$h on ) a 'healthy' energy drink that is taking on all those caffienated buzz drinks. Thankfully, I can't even remember the name of it rght now. Is it just me? or was that a lot of potential paradim shifting for one weekend?
Sheesh!
dlc
* ps. talking with DB and JK ... about blind musicians. The two Healey songs people remember in his pre-jazz days are 'Angel Eyes' and 'See the Light' ... and then there's Ray Charles, and Stevie Wonder. What IS it about these guys that allows them to overcome their "handicap" with such secure stage presences? I love that, or ... I love them for that?
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