Meeting McLaren

Mark and I have a fun evening tonight. We get to go to dinner with Brian McLaren! He is coming for a Missional Learning Day tomorrow that is being held at SFC. Karen Ward, the Abbess at Apostle's Church in Fremont came and asked Mark if they could use our facility for this learning day. The focus is on how older urban churches, like ours, remain missional in their neighborhoods. I'll be working in Mosaic tomorrow and sneaking upstairs to hear Brian, and hopefully to catch Mark as he is on a panel with Brian and a couple other people...I'm really excited for the whole weekend!

I read "New Kind of Christian" and "The Story We Find Ourselves In" a couple of years ago and along with Donald Miller's "Blue Like Jazz" - found them life changing....Its funny, because I wasn't shocked by anything I read, like others seem to be...I credit my parents with raising both my brother and I to realize that its okay to have questions about God, they didn't come off like they had it all figured out, so it was okay for us to feel that way too and wonder about how it all works.

There is so much that I loved about these books, but one of my favorite scenes is the "conversion" scene in the coffeehouse. The simple explanation, the simple realization of the "convertee" that he does believe in God and Jesus. It wasn't necessary for him to be in church on Sunday - he didn't have to go down to an altar and say any "magic" words. It was simple, one friend talking to another - sharing each other's lives and experiences. I love that picture and I think this is how it happens more often than not.

I think all too often, we try to fit God into a tidy little box and say, "This is how it all works...this is how we approach God...This is what a relationship with God looks like." Even though I had found the opposite to be true in my life already - it was so nice to hear Christian authors saying it.

I'm really excited to meet Brian and just hope I don't gush too much, or make a fool of myself by crying or something....I'll let you all know how it goes!!!