Do the chickens have large talons?

I found this today. If you're not sick of Napoleon Dynamite...it' s funny...real funny.

http://www3.state.id.us/oasis/HCR029.html

Why I LIve in The Village

This may be old news to some of you but I recently watched (for the third time) M. Night’s “The Village”. (warning: I'm about to explain the plot). The basic plot of the movie is that a group of people purchase a large area of land and set up a town in the style of 19th century America and pay the government to not allow any plans to fly over the land or allow anyone outside of the village to enter the town-ever. In doing so, they attempt to preserve the sacredness of a place unaffected by tragedies such as violent crime, war and even the use of money. The crisis of the movie comes when one of the characters, upon hearing of the engagement of a girl that he is fond of, proceeds to repeatedly stab the fiancé in the stomach. In this way, a society that was supposed to be segregated from violent crime has been marred by a terrible incident that seemingly will result in death if new medicines from ‘the towns’ can not be retrieved in time. Now, to go along with this the elders of the village (those who started it) have led those in the village to believe that there are monsters in the woods (those we don’t speak of) and that they have reached a deal with the monsters; they don’t go into the woods and the monsters will not come into the village. The elders have implanted the idea of fear into the minds of their children to keep them from being corrupted (ie. Discovering the truth about their town).

Our society is built on fear. A simple perusal of the 6 o’clock news will tell you to be afraid because terrorists have been active or be afraid because mosquitoes have killed another person or that someone has been abducted. Fear is paralyzing and does keep people away from things like transit, tourist destinations or even the highway. These fears, while in some cases exagerrated, are real.

This is real fear because it is real cause for concern. In the Village however the fear was in the minds of the those in the village and kept them from leaving. I had a thought that maybe I live in the Village because at least one aspect of society- consumerism, also leads me with the idea of fear. Let me explain.

Consumerism tells me that I am inadequate as I am and must purchase or be involved in whatever they tell me because without it, I am not as valuable. Thus fear is used to control first what I think of myself and second what others think about me. For instance, I own a very nice (rusty) Ford which is good for me. However, if I parked beside a brand new Mercedes- who does society instantly say is more important? Generally we will automatically associate expensive with worth and not just monetary worth but intrinsic value. To me, this means that I’m living in the Village. It means that people in our country are afraid to be poor because there is no value (instrinsic?) in poverty. It mean that we have all been sold a lie by the elders (Microsoft? Car dealerships? Schools, Malls?) and we have (generally) failed to venture into the forest for fear that ‘those we don’t speak of’ (being uninfluenced by societal values) will hurt us. By this I mean that we continue to accept the idea that more stuff means more value, higher tuition means better education, (Tyndale is really good at this…) or a lawyer is somehow better than a garbage man.

We can not believe this lie. My sense of value can not come from believing that I’m better by what I do or own. I can not be afraid not to be apart of something just because society tells me otherwise. The way to escape this village is to, like the blind girl (ironic?) in the movie to recognize these fears and venture into the forest. I suppose that in the forest may be a place that Jesus calls the abundant life. A life free from the fear that I must measure up to the standard of society-- a life free from being tied down with possessions, looking for value in comparison and free from this faulty concept of reality that we’re being sold everyday.

The trouble is that I can not move completely out of the Village unless maybe I moved very far north into a remote community free from the 6 o’clock news and malls. However I have a feeling that like the actual movie, just because I separated myself from what I perceived to be evil- evil would find me. The prophet Jeremiah says that the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. This is why no matter how hard they tried, the people in The Village could not escape such a heinous crime. This is also why we will have to constantly recognize that we do live in a village of lies based on fear and must somehow push our way into 'the forest' in order to live in the truth.

the vertical Christian

The last couple of weeks I've noticed some lines in songs that say something like 'God is all I need', or 'all I want'. I like these songs as they are ridiculously catchy but I'm having a hard time meaning what I sing. I suppose the purpose of these lyrics would be to confess a surrendered life to Christ, which is an amazing thing. However, I hope this doesn't make me a poor Christian but when I hear these kind of songs, I think of things besides God that I need or want like water or sleep or a wife for example. Sometimes I need water more than prayer-- such is the case when it's 40 degrees outside. Or, for instance sometimes I need people. If all we needed was God we'd probably exist in individual realms with things like prayer benches, holy water and the presence of the Lord. Instead, I am reminded of the 'it's not good for man to be alone..."passage. And so we get a partner or rather-- people to share our existence with. I think this may be key to understanding what a Godward life looks like. Maybe my life needs a touch more horizontalness to it than the vertical Christianity I've come to know. In fact, maybe the purpose of sanctification is to become like God to other people and therefore a concrete being with which to interact? I think it is a fascinating thing to think that we are receiving the mind of Christ for the purpose of loving other people.

One of the places that its almost impossible to be a strictly vertical Christian is in community living. I have experienced some sort of community living a number of times and let me say that I think it's incredible for those who experience it and undervalued for those who don't. In community living you are not an individual so much as you are part of the whole. For example, while my name is Chris Lewis, I am part of what makes up 4 North dorm and also what is known as the 4th floor. While I am an individual my existence means that I am part of this web that collectively makes up residence or community life. I believe one trend we are seeing or will see in the church is the moving away from the individual Christian that modernity (if I can blame modernity?) has fashioned. The idea that 'my personal relationship with Jesus Christ' is distinct from any other believers in that it is 'mine' may be something we don't refer to as much in the coming years. Is it possible that this training of a personal relationship may have screwed the church up for a time as we are unable to share our fears, frustrations or even joys as we don't need to because after all, it's a personal thing. If we could ever move out of this western individualistic mindset that has become the North American body of Christ I think we'd be in for a few surprises..

I wonder what a vertically horizontal Christian would look like in terms of metaphor...a triangle? Any ideas?

*insert clever blog title here*

Hey everyone, (Heidi, Tom, Nathan)

I hope you all are doing well...really. The last couple of weeks have been remarkably crazy. I remember explicitly saying to one of my youth kids a couple of month ago two things: first, that I would probably never work for Fair Havens again and that I would never work for my home church again, ever. It's not that I had anything against either of these place- I mean, I love Fair Havens and I've known the people at my church for 20 years-- there is no bad blood there-- I just knew that I wouldn't be working there. And so, I planned my own thing. I interviewed for a camp job in T.O, got told that I'd work there for a summer and then be the director next summer--pretty good plan I thought. Of course I had some time to waste before the camp started, about 5 weeks worth.

I got home from Fair Havens last week...what a glorious 5 weeks of work it was. I can not even believe the amount of fun that was had. Here's some of my favorite things about this pre-season, in no particular order: Becoming way better friends with the Jon, Mike and Dan, I can't even believe how much I've grown to love you guys. Seeing Dan fall out of and be run over by a golf cart (don't tell Bob...). Writing a song and performing it with Mike...ah yes "Caitlyn and Sarah are our favorite guest services workers in the whole world...etc..etc.."--it's in the process of being recorded. Blue?...who is supposed to know that former Russian president Kruschev has blue eyes...I can't stand (and yet love) Trivial Pursuit. If they tell me I can't do high ropes...they're right (nice work Lindsay)...if they tell me I can't do a front flip in the pool...it's go time... 47 awkward attempts later...the front flip is mastered, and my back/head/neck is in serious need of a chiropractor. Drive in movies, falling windows, cabin painting, Thursday nights, taking one for the team and Bill Davis all contributed to a great month.

The plot thickens. The day camp is waiting for me when the time comes, but then I get the email heard around the world (or at least by those sitting next to me at the time). The day camp had low registrations and needed to look at things like job cuts, salary reduction etc. So- I put the word out to a couple of places, including (gulp) my church, letting them know I may be looking for a job.

I started working at my home church the day after I got home from Fair Havens. I'll be doing some day camp stuff, starting a college and careers group, helping out with youth and doing some preaching. To me, this is the funniest thing that could have happened. There's a proverb that goes something like "In his heart a man plans his course but the LORD determines his steps"....okay Lord, you've made your point.

This is what makes life so exciting. I wonder what will happen tomorrow?