Simple Complexities"Great improvisors are like priests. They are thinking only of their god."
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Simple Complexities "Great improvisors are like priests. They are thinking only of their god." |
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Tuesday, April 29, 2003 Home Again My wife and kids are due home in a few hours. They are in the air as we speak. I have really missed them the last few days. Bachelorhood is fun for a day or two, but it wears off quickly. posted by Joe | 12:49 PM Saturday, April 26, 2003 Top Five Celebrities I Wish Blogged 5. Brad and Jennifer (together) 4. Bono 3. David Letterman 2. Peter Jackson 1. Jack Black posted by Joe | 7:31 PM Wednesday, April 23, 2003 Lonely In Las Vegas MWM seeks MWF in Scottsburg, Indiana for life-long relationship and joint custody of two children. My family has just left me for a week to visit Memaw and Papaw in Indiana. I will miss them, but I know that they will have lots of fun...and I can hang out with my single friends this week until all hours. Also, my friend Heidi will hate me for this, but you all should read her blog, cause she's the smartest bohemian ex-showgirl I know. She's also one of my closest friends. posted by Joe | 3:58 PM Tuesday, April 22, 2003 Earth Day Today is Earth Day...how sad is that? Mother Earth gets 1/365th of the year. I've been reading a lot of native american mythology lately. We have so much to learn from them about respecting creation. I'm a big fat hypocrite because I only recycle when its convenient, I drive an SUV thats out of alignment and I haven't planted anything since first grade...but we all pretty much suck at the whole "take care of the garden" mandate. Joseph Campbell says that Christians don't care about the earth because our creation story states that we are superior to nature. Nobody has taught me more than Campbell this year, but I have to disagree. Christians don't care about the earth because they think its not spiritual enough to worry about. They prefer Plato's physical/spiritual divide over Christ's hebraic harmony of Heaven present and yet to come...but they don't even know their doing that. I'm gonna pick up a piece of trash tomorrow and feel better about myself. posted by Joe | 10:38 PM Thura I went to a house church tonight called Thura. It was very encouraging and I laughed a lot. We had dinner outside and spent the rest of the night sitting around the table and asking/answering silly questions, exegeting Fight Club, and talking about the true nature of church and mission. I am very proud of them. On a different note, I sense a blogging revolution afoot. Many of my close friends here in Vegas have started to blog or are preparing to start one. They all ask me how to do it, and I have to admit that my friend Kevin set mine up, so I haven't the foggiest. It is interesting how it is spreading from person to person, though. I haven't asked anyone to blog, but they want to. There is a deep lesson about the way the gospel spreads in all of this...I just haven't quite figure it out yet. Here's to Thura and the Blogging Revolution! posted by Joe | 12:16 AM Sunday, April 20, 2003 It's All About Me My buddy Gregg has posted a picture of me from last week's show. You can see it on his blog. posted by Joe | 9:46 PM Saturday, April 19, 2003 Easter Nothing shows me that my life has changed like Easter weekend. This used to be the busiest, most exhausting weekend of the year when I was in big church world. Not so much anymore. Tomorrow I will sleep in until eight or nine and then go and study for a few hours. At 2:00 my house church is meeting at a park for lunch, and then we are having a short Apex service at 6:00, which I will be speaking at. I find myself, as often is the case, very excited about my new life, while somewhat missing the old. I'll miss the rush of thousands of people gathering together for church. I'll miss the high of hundreds of people working together for a common goal. I'll miss the show. But I intend on not missing Jesus this year. I'll be looking for him tomorrow. Rumor is, he's still alive! posted by Joe | 11:44 PM Thursday, April 17, 2003 A MIghty Wind My favorite comedy troupe is releasing a new movie this week. Check out the website for A Mighty Wind. posted by Joe | 12:29 AM Saturday, April 12, 2003 A Very Special Blog Last night wrapped up the three show run of the Story of Jesus with Saga Storytellers. It was a great experience. Life has never felt truer than it does right now. I have been waiting until today to try to unpack some thoughts and passions that have been emerging within me over the last four months. Here goes... I can clearly see how the decade of my twenties was a season of questioning and searching. This was primarily centered around issues of spirituality, theology and church. I am grateful for all of the lessons learned in that decade and even more grateful for all of the relationships that were formed in those years. I am the person that was created in those years. But, the time has fully come to transition into a new creature, building on those years as a foundation. I am at peace with my faith. I have nothing left to try to prove in regard to church. To put it in a somewhat negative framework, I am done obsessing over church. I have seen all of the joys and frustrations of church life manifested in both simple and complex forms. I am a follower of Jesus...there I proved it to myself. I'm available to help others follow Jesus if they want my help. I cannot follow him alone, therefore I will always be in a covenant relationship with other followers. I will serve Jesus as a gospel seed planter and a teacher, because he has given me the ability to do those things. I will receive from my church anything that they are compelled to give me, including financial support, but I will not assume that I deserve such support for the rest of my days. I will encourage the church local, national and global because I have the opportunity to be a blessing. I will love, support and give my life to the Apex network because I love the people there and they are my family. I will not, however, try to force the church into my image. I will not believe the lie that my identity is associated with the appearant success or failure of the church to which I belong. I will trust God to build his Kingdom on earth. I will trust Him to turn the hearts of men, women and children to himself. I believe in Soveriegnty. I will be faithful to my Father, the Perfect Architect, by keeping my childish hands away from the blueprints of Heaven. Today I say: I am a Christian waiting for the full expression of the Kingdom of Heaven...and that is enough. All of this brings me to a deep realization regarding the concept of a calling or vocation. I have said time and time again that "I have been called to" various ideas, people, causes, or places. Looking back on all of those statements, I see how those feelings were by and large stating that "I have been called to Jesus, therefore, I am called to"...whatever the idea of the moment was. If I was called to anything over the last decade, the calling was to Jesus. It took me a long time, but toward the end of last year, I finally accepted the calling. I was converted. I am a Christian. Almost immediately, a new vocation or calling begin to emerge. This one felt different than the first. The first calling, to Jesus, had not passed, but a new secondary call was emerging...and it was in no way what I could have expected. I expected a "call" to simple churching or church planting, but somehow those things were just part of my general call to Jesus. For me to follow Jesus, I must understand church as simple, organic and reproductive. Because I have been called to Christ, I am called to seeing every moment with others as an expression of church. Through the strangest series of events this year, my calling, or what the ancients would call their Christian vocation, became evident. I am preparing to devote my life to the people of the performing arts. Not to the art per se, but to those souls in my city and abroad who act, sing, dance, write, direct, and produce. I want to serve them, to love them, to listen to them and to share my life and faith with them. They are my Ninevah, my Rome, my Ethiopia. I could go to a million different people, and to this point in my life I have, but God has finally opened the door of my heart to a tribe that needs him. I must obey. I finally understand why Henri Nouwen left everything to be with the physically challanged. Why Mother Theresa left everything to be with the poor. Why Patrick left everything to be with his captors. Why Francis left everything to be with the lonely. Why Paul left everything to be with the pagans. Why Jesus left everything to be with sinners. Because they loved them. I have found a people that I cannot help but love. They deserve my life. I must go to them...to love them, not to change them. This realization has made me eerily happy. Perhaps it is joy. Perhaps it is the resurrection that only follows death. I have dreaded turning 30 for ten years, only to find the first stages of life, freedom and peace at this time of my life. I cannot honestly know what this calling will mean to my daily life, but I am not afraid. Saga is part of it, but only a part. God is in control and He will provide for his children. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has given us a new birth into a living hope. posted by Joe | 8:22 PM Thursday, April 10, 2003 Saga Article The local newspaper did an article about Saga. Click here to read it. We are two performances down with one to go. It has been a great experience overall. I have many thoughts brewing to share soon, but today I'm just tired. I had a great birthday party last night at the Hookah Lounge...thanks to all who came. posted by Joe | 10:36 AM Wednesday, April 02, 2003 Life Goes On... I must admit that I have had very little to say in the old blog of late. Things are going well. Its been a few weeks since I've had any major thoughts worth sharing with the world. The Apex Gathering has moved to a new place that feels very good. We are taking almost 50 people to Long Beach this weekend for a Greenhouse Retreat. I've been spending most of my free time rehersing for the Saga shows next week. Tomorrow is the dress rehersal. Looks like we are coming up on 500 tickets sold. Our house is set to close May 29. The Parkers still need to sell their house, so please be praying about that. I start level two of Improv Classes next Monday through Second City. Most of my classmates will be moving on, so it will be cool to continue to hang with them. I turn 30 on April 9. I started reading Joseph Smith today... This concudes my meaningless fact sharing. posted by Joe | 3:52 PM  
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