Pondering ...
| I was listening to a CD by Chris Brady recently and was caught off guard when he asked, "If you could do anything with your life and you knew you wouldn't fail, what would you do?" I stammered to myself. I didn't have an answer ready to roll off my tongue. "Plant a church? I have a vision for that." I am passionate about that but that wasn't really answer full of conviction I was looking for. Probably my most well thought out and heartfelt answer is to be obedient to Jesus. But the question is a question of passion and inner desire. Where's mine? So I'm pondering. What might you say? |
posted by theultrarev at 10:51 PM
Comments on "Pondering ..."
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therealkimaliczi said ... (8:56 AM, December 30, 2007) :
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Luke said ... (10:28 AM, January 07, 2008) :
post a comment1)I'd get my Master's Degree in Worship Studies.
2)I'd finish writing my book.
3)I'd travel around to other churches and assist them in the area of worship development.
4)I'd Start a New England network of worship leaders/pastors/musicians.
5)I'd start a Celebrate Recovery ministry in Manchester, CT.
Basically - what I'm doing right now! :-) The answer has been rolling off my tongue for years.
The road for me hasn't been easy, though. There are no guarantees of success and wanting badly to do something may not be what God has in mind. Having a passion for something is different, though, and even though confirmed by God, it often comes with a lot of pain attached - hence the word "passion" I suppose. When you discover what that passion is, and begin to focus on the cost - do it anyway. It's worth it.
UltraRev:
I have an answer, too – I’d find an old monastery, and buy it. I would keep the old, but add wireless connectivity and high speed internet access.
I would create a lay monastic community. People could come for a week or two, on their vacation. They would get a real taste of what monastic life was like – except they would be able to bring, or be issued, an ultra-mini PC. They would be encouraged to blog; they could research anything they wanted on line. They could write. However, they would be asked to fast from e-mail, chat outside the walls, or other connection with the outside world (other than the above mentioned research). Anything and everything on the PC issued to them would be put on a flash drive for them when they left.
They would be expected to attend chapel at each of the services of the day, though the worship services would be a combination of ancient / future, and EPIC. They would be immersed in worship, prayer, and simple manual labor, with simple garments, for the entire week (or two). Vows of silence of various lengths would be encouraged and honored.
Once a person had attended a week long session as a novice, they could come back any weekend there was room. We would continue to keep in touch with them via follow-up e-mails, on-line activities, etc.
The entire monastery would be on line, almost like a VR game, with the ability to navigate through the buildings, greet and chat with staff (if they are on line), and sit in on any worship service or seminar.
The monastery would also have guests – speakers, worship designers, etc. People could take a sabbatical there. Ordained ministers suffering from burnout could rest there.
All of this would be funded by the fact that I can’t fail. (grin) I would imagine donations, registration fees, etc. would be required.