Good Bye Bill...

Like many sports fans across the Seattle area this morning, I am saddened with the news that Bill Scott aka, "Bill the Beer Man" died yesterday in his home at the young age of 58. Bill the beer man was best known as the vender-turned cheerleader for the Seahawks and Mariners during the early 80's. I can remember as a young boy going to games with my dad and seeing Bill go crazy with passion as he worked the crowd into a frenzy. I used to wonder how a person could have that much energy and passion...I also wondered if in his case it actually came from too much beer. :) Bill had been suffering from colon cancer for the past 5 years and had been unable to go to many games but his legacy in the Seattle sports scene will live on for many, many years.

So, as I sit in Starbucks this morning writing this blog I raise my cup (because it's too early for beer) in honor of Bill the beer man and everything he meant to me and all Seattle sports fans. May his life of passion and energy live on and may more
cheerleaders like Bill come along...because let's face it, sometimes in life someone as simple as Bill Scott can make our day just a little easier.

Peace and Love.
Rex

Grace and my Spiritual Bank Account

For much of my life I have struggled to understand grace and it's power to change my life. I know that God always has and will love me unconditionally yet I have been trained through traditional religon to believe that his love for me comes only after I have taken some form of action. What I mean by this is that it was communicated to me that I MUST believe that Jesus died for me...confess my sin...and then I will recieve his grace. Before I go any further, I want to express that it is very important to believe in the death of Jesus and that owning up to my sin is very important...but I can no longer accept that after doing this I receive acceptance. I read something this week that continues to float in my thoughts..."Salvation involves faith, not belief". The experience I grew up in was one of information and knowlege equals salvation, meaning that once I have knowledge of the events of the cross I'm safe. The problem with this idea is that the church has converted thousands every year with alter calls and sermons asking the question..."if you die tonight will you go to heaven?". So people respond in eternal insecurity but with very little desire to be changed by grace. Maybe we don't experience salvation because of what we believe but because we have faith in the experience of grace in our lives. The "sinners prayer" as I have prayed hundreds of times in my life is not a prayer I find in my Bible...yet it's widely regarded as the way slavation comes. The problem with this idea is that we use grace as a bank account from which we make withdrawls when needed to keep us assured of our eternity. I don't know about you but this doesn't seem like the kind of conversion Jesus offered or what the disciples displayed in the early church. I like what Spencer Burke says about conversion..."We need to be converted to a fresh understanding of God's desire and vision for us". My spiritual journey is one that seems long and sometimes frustrating but I'm learning that along the way I'm not stopping to make some kind of divine withdrawl from God's love bank, but rather grace is in me throughout my entire journey. It resides in me...changing me...leading me.

Simply accept that you are accepted! IF that happens, we experience grace. After such an experience we may not be better than before, and we may not believe more than before. But everything is transformed...and nothing is demanded of this experience, no religious or moral or intellectual presupposition, nothing but accaptance. -Paul Tillich

May we cease in trying to grab grace and learn to just live in it...

Peace and Love
Rex

Interesting Times...

Today is the last day of Winter and yet it feels like we're entering the month of November! I so look foward to consitent days of sun and warm weather. Today has been tough as I've thought so much about two of my closest friends struggling to keep a marriage together. It's hard to see a couple who I had the honor of marrying, question their comittment to each other. Actually, it's more than hard; it's painful. It's made me realized on a deeper level just how messy life can get when we risk love. It's also made me take a hard look at what I believe about divorce. I'm not sure we can say "God hates divorce" and expect two christ-followers to be happy together, yet I cringe at the thought of even thinking it's ok for my friends. I believe God can do any miracle, but it won't happen if one of them becomes unwilling to put forth the effort to stay together...I'm glad God gives us choices and free will but this is one case where I wish He would just fix it! Please pray for me to have wisdom and godly insight...

Peace and Love.
Rex

Revolution Pt. 4

Today I sat in Starbucks reading from a book when I noticed a lady do something very strange. She sat alone at a table drinking her coffee while reading the newspaper. Now this doesn't seem strange at all, in fact it seems quite normal...but it's what she does later that caught my attention. When this lady had finished her coffee she stood up, took her paper and walked out the door. She then proceeded to go to the garbage can and put the newspaper in the garbage! I don't know about you, but when I buy a newspaper at Starbucks I never throw it away...but rather I leave it in the used paper bin for others to read. What makes her decide not to leave her paper there but instead throw it in the trash? Is she a selfish person? Could she really be that person who says, "buy your own paper"? In my mind a newspaper is valuable beacause it contains important information and thoughts about our world and local community. True, much of it is sad and frustrating...but it's still important.

I like to share my paper because there are always those who don't want to buy one, but just might read it if it's free. When we talk about the Revolution Jesus invites us to, we have to as Christ-followers be very honest about our faith and ask ourselves if we are taking something (grace / freedom) that was freely given to us and withholding it from others around us. Let's be honest about how comfortable we can be going through life with our faith tucked deep inside refusing to share it. Is it because we've forgotten it's value? Have we become selfish with what God has given us? Like buying newspapers some people may never go find faith on their own...but they just might take God into their life if he's offered to them. This means we need to be open to conversations...open to messiness...open to investing in others' lives. This is the shared experience the disciples had in Jesus. Maybe it's the way it's supposed to be for all of us, all the time.

Peace and Love,
Rex

Things I've been thinking about lately...

I have been thinking about our church and how important it is for us to trust Jesus that he is leading us. Churches (even the big ones) are fragile and we must never stop placing our trust in him for the protection and health of Redwood Hills.

Honesty. I'm realizing that our relationships can only go so deep if we're not being honest. I don't mean honesty with others...I mean with ourselves. We need to be honest about our fears, our struggles, our insecurities, our wants and desires.

That American Idol is a joke and waste of my time each week...yet I continue to watch. :)

Making new friends is hard and it takes time...

I'm coming up on my one year anniversary with being a pastor at Redwood Hills! I love our church and believe whole-heartedly in a great future.

I'm worried about church finances...we need God to provide the money it takes to live out our vision as a faith community. Here I am back to trust...

Peace and Love
Rex

Revolution PT 3

I hope you had a chance to hear John's talk yesterday about spending an ordinary day with Jesus. It was a great talk because it showed how the simple things can be truly revolutionary. Did you try and involve God into your everyday actions today? What was your experience like? Why is this idea revolutionary?


On another note...The Mariners lost again today in down at Spring Training. They are 0-6 so far...I know they're just practice games but things are pointing to another long season. Still, I can't wait for Opening Day...there's always hope!

Peace and Love.
Rex