If not then you and I can use our voice for something that matters. Check out the video. Thanks Jen for the heads up.

I teach a Culture & Communication class at Trinity International University one of the ways I told my students that culture is learned from one generation to another is "storytelling". I remember the days my aunts and uncles and grandmother would sit in the front porch of the house in Naguabo, PR to tell the grandchildren/nieces and nephews about what is meant to them to be "puro Puerto Rican" and how they wanted us to never be ashamed "even if we lived in NY."  If you think about it, our Christian culture and our individual faith journey can be shared with others and be a source of inspiration, warning or blessing when we do some "storytelling" of our own.

I am always saying how "we all got stories to tell." Granted some ain’t pretty and some are totally awesome, both kinds of stories however are part of the puzzle that makes up our embedded theology. Narrative theology has become popular in recent years. I’ve mostly heard about all this through Emergent type events. There are even websites focused on helping people get back into the art of storytelling.

As a church that is led by people who are bicultural from a theology where we believe all are wounded healers (thus our name) a new kind of church for us also uses storytelling formally and informally to share their story amid the big gospel one. Also its not just about the people in the church sharing but even the pastors. The folks who come to WHF will tell you me and Hiram are the first to cry (not that we particularly like it, it happens and we let it flow).

The new kind of church celebrates the stories and the brave storytellas. In the stories people find their own humanity and in that there is the seed of healing. Boy do I have some stories to tell.

8 million people are blogging now-a-days, so much so, that major companies are now developing "blogging guidelines" for employees. Yeap. Check it out here.

"Any god I use to support my latest cause, or who fits comfortably within my understanding or experience, will be a god no longer than I and thus not able to save me from my sin or inspire my worship or empower my service. Any god who fits the contours of me will never really transcend me, never really be God. And god who doesn’t kick the bars out of the prison of my perceptions will be nothing but a trivial god."

The above was said by Donald W. McCullough (what the heck happened here?) I guess his was a trivial god? Oh how this pains me. 

I’ve been giving much thought on the ethos (the distinguishing character, beliefs or moral nature of a person, group, or institution) of the church my husband and I planted, and while we continue to dialog on what we are all about as a group and think we came up with somethings, trying to carry "it" out is quite another story.

What do I mean? For instance, we are totally for disagreeing without disengaging. YET, we realize that most people because of the daily masks worn day in and day out to survive, don’t know how to disagree without fear of disengagement…either their own or those they are disagreeing with. We desire to have a community of faith where doubts can be expressed, where people are encouraged to explore their uncertainties. We want WHF to be a place where we create a space where those who choose to make us their home church feel that they are free to think, question, debate, wrestle with issues and again disagree with disengaging.

We recognize that there is value in exploring different views and that many times we learn from them, yet as pastors sometimes we need to be careful that people don’t cross the line. The line of becoming a whiner versus a doubting disciple or a faithless (for now) sojourner. Doubters and temporary faithless folks are significant places to be in the journey of faith. Whiners aren’t looking to heal and build they are (even without knowing it at times) steal your joy, zap your energy and cause cancer in the body (of Christ). Doubts and diagloging versus Dissin’ and Monologuing…I think that is one of the characteristics of a new kind of church.

In the Emergent Conference in Nashville this past May, the planning team developed "learning communities" I liked that. I want to have mini-learning communities in WHF. As this new kind of church, we can meet people at various stages of their faith walk and hear the "broke, busted and disgusted" stories as well as the "I’m blessed and highly favored" periods of their lives. Those among us, the single parent, the disabled child, the detached youth all have something to teach this is at the essence of communal reflection.

Its a radical commitment to the "priesthood of all believers!" Tomorrow I’ll share on Storytellas…another characteristic of a New Kind of Church.   

I know a few people who have had abortions. Till this day, the decision they made haunts them. The pain is very real even years after the fact. Decisions were made for various reasons, I pass no judgement on the people. However, I do wish this issue was more of an issue than it is for the world. But that’s another post. This morning visiting Rudy’s site I was introduced to another blog that spoke about a new music video (Can I Live?) by who would have guessed it…Nick Cannon. I like this guy. I’ve even seen a few of his movies but I didn’t think he had this level of consciousness in him. This video made me cry this morning. It’s abortion from another perspective. As someone who used to work with youth for almost a decade, this is a video that could be shown as an intro to a discussion on the topic. It speaks louder than some of the radical pro-lifers out there. Check it out here.

yet another test via my blogosphere friends and well…thank God its "for entertainment purposes only" and not a real indication of me…right?

You’re Compassion Fatigue!
by Susan Moeller
You used to care, but now it’s just getting too difficult. You cared
about the plight of people in lands near and far, but now the media has bombarded you
with images of suffering to the point that you just don’t have the energy to go on.
You’ve become cold and heartless, as though you’d lived in New York City for a year or
so. But you stand as a serious example to all others that they should turn off their TV
sets and start caring again.

Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Check out this site that makes sterling silver bible bangles…a great gift!

I just finished watching the movie, Racing Stripes with my older son, Sam. He really wanted to watch this movie and he wasn’t feeling well so we had a mom and son time. The plot is basically one where an abandoned zebra grows up believing he is a racehorse, and, with the help of his barnyard friends and a teenage girl, sets out to achieve his dream of racing with thoroughbreds.

The tagline: His stripes made him an outcast. His heart made him a hero.

Ok so I cried. Again. I got so many life themes that can apply to us humans out of this PG movie! For starters…

1. It really matters who you hang out with. This zebra was abandoned (actually forgotten) by the circus folks that were packing up in the rain somewhere. They packed up his parents it seems but forgot the lil’ one. The animals he was raised with didn’t see the fact that he was a zebra as an obstacle for reaching his dream. It was all about the heart and the attitude these wise animals knew. They encouraged Stripes. They believed in Stripes. They also told him he needed to be trained…he had the heart but he needed the skill. Who do we surround ourselves with? Do they believe in us? Do they tell us the truth in love…"yeah you got the heart to do xyz but you need to be trained, you need to work on the ego, you need to shut up and listen more…"

2. In order for you to succeed you need alot of people with different talents around you. Stripes had all these different animals around him that each was able to contribute to his success. Each found a way to use their particular "gift" and combined their efforts for the purpose of helping Stripes succeed in the race. Its an entirely different blog post to talk about what defines success to YOU, but for the most part, getting to another level in life involves the help of many different people with different voices, perspectives, and gifts. When you find people that want to be with you (not just when you are UP by the way) that is a gift in itself. But for them to want to use their gift to help you achieve your dream, that is indeed a blessing.

3. Say thanks to those whose fulfillment is in helping you fulfill YOUR dreams. In the movie, there is a small pony who will never be a race horse but who has always trained them. He knows he is small. He knows that he’ll never be in the "winner’s circle" that the winners of the horse race look forward to. Yet he gets fulfillment out of coaching. But one thing made him sad…all the winners he coached forgot about him and how he got them there. Stripes didn’t. When he won the race he took the rose necklace they placed on him, walked out of the winner’s circle and went to Tucker and placed those winner’s roses on him. Wow. I cried alot in this part of the movie as I struggled to hold back my tears to share with my son why that is what we should do as well. Ok, maybe there are a percentage of people that get to be famous, respected, etc. without the help of anyone. BUT, I have a hunch that most people needed a Tucker around. Let’s not forget them. Remember them. When you have an opportunity to honor them IN PUBLIC do so. That reminds them that they too matter not just the one in the limelight.

4. Don’t let your dreams die when something tragic happens. The lead father figure in the movie, Chief, did not want to train horses anymore (when he trained them they won) and did not want his daughter to ride them either. Why? Because his wife was a professional jockey who had an accident while riding her horse and neither the horse or his wife were able to be saved. When that tragedy happened, his dream also died. He was also impacting the dream of his daughter who wanted to race like her mom. In life so many unexpected things happen. Sometimes we cause bad things to happen and other times, bad things happen to good people. I’ve been there trust me. But after you go through the grieving process (which you must go through to be healthy!), you can get back up and dream a new dream, a better dream with the added value of perspective.

Stripes was a zebra in a horse race. Indeed, a remarkable sight. What have your stripes made you? Are you a hero in the making?

Dare to be remarkable. I am cheering for you.

that’s the name of the new article I wrote for PRISM. Check it out here. 

P.S. Can you help a sista out? Two other articles I am working on are: Just Between Us-What Women Leaders Really Want You To Know and Emerge-Where can the new generation of emerging women leaders go?

Does anyone have any comments they would like to share on these two topics? Pretty please.