Worldly Holiness

Price: $12.00 (includes shipping)
Includes an extra month (Jan 2013) because of the late delivery
Photography features award winning pictures exclusively shot by yours truly
Gives snippets of my story of photography as a spiritual discipline

My Story – Worldly Holiness

For as long as I can remember I have enjoyed photography as a form of creative expression and a path to connecting with God.
Expressing myself with pictures has…
Uplifted my spiritual journey….
Served as the pen for my journal….
Helped record and contemplate daily life, both the good and the bad….
Gain perspective in difficult times….
Soar with gratitude and awe….
Overwhelmed me with the beauty and sense of wonder as an image unfolds before my eyes.

Much as the constant rising of the sun everyday, I’m re-established and strengthened in the rhythms of God’s faithful and abiding presence through the ability to capture his creation in a moment that stands the test of time.

Here are some of the pictures featured in this year’s calendar

“The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection.” Michelangelo

I’m giving a workshop this next week at the Feast, an event for worship and renewal for the Covenant denominational family. I will explore how photography has helped me connect with God, and in turn become a tool in ministry. In particular, photography has helped me:

1. To find my way in difficult passages
2. Gain new perspective for life, and
3. Infuse my life with beauty and a wonder

Snapshot photography, like fast food and shallow prayers, does little to nourish, is weak in helping us savor God’s abundance, and is a poor aid in worship and growth. Good photography starts by pausing long enough to acknowledge God’s presence, His work in creation, and His purpose to reconcile all things to Himself through His son, Jesus Christ.

This seminar will explore the use of photography as a tool for spiritual transformation, worship, and engagement in God’s world with a Kingdom perspective. Some of the techniques of photography will be explained and utilized–light, shadow, perspective, framing, depth of field, composition and long exposure–as aids in envisioning and experiencing God’s work in your life and our world. Special attention will be given to noticing and infusing our lives with beauty and wonder for God’s creation, helping us to establish a solid foundation for growth, worship and participating in the work of God in the world.

I plan to blog through my workshop, adding pieces from my notes for my blog community. Stay tuned.

Tags: photography "photography as spiritual discipline"

Kiwanda Cape on the Oregon Coast

Read Psalms 33 this morning. Verse 7 made an impact on me: “He gathers the waters of the sea into jars.”

It’s been a wild ride the last few months. That would describe my life and work travel but I don’t want to get too self absorbed. There WERE visits to 4 different mosques within a month, speaking engagements and conversations at 9 different churches and 2 seminaries; 6 beds in 3 states. But really, is it ever about me?

This last weekend, I was out of internet range for some time to reflect, write, hike and relax with Carol. Well, I had my cell phone and still was poking a few of my favorite friends, responding to a few emails, etc. But I was not wired like normal. Missed the extensive coverage of Osama’s death. I did get a brief note about his death from an email group I’m honored to be a part of including NT Wright, Miroslav Volf and a few other important people. Some Muslims are on the list as well and also comment. What an amazing cadre of people that are thinking and feeling as they pray, seeking to love God and neighbor with all their heart, including the “other group”…the religiously and ethnically other who are sometimes considered “the enemy!”

Back to my weekend away with Carol. We were blessed to stay in a beautiful place built less than a hundred yards from that large body of water to the left of the West coast. We could hear the pounding waves at night. The constant white noise of the surf was relaxing. Until it got dark. Then I worried about the Tsunami warning system, wondering if there was in fact such a thing, then if the batteries had been recently replaced on the alarms. I don’t know. Sounds stupid but the mind, or I should say MY mind, can work overtime in the dark. The images of what happened in Japan played over and over in my brain. The power of the ocean and flowing sea have been on my visual playback screen since March 11th.

On Saturday, Carol and I went down the coast a bit to Kiwanda Cape, where this picture was taken. I joined about 10 photographers looking for the perfect spot to snap away, catching waves, light and sunset at the end of the day. It was really magical. I was standing on a rock ledge that often reverberated with the impact of a wave that was hitting every few seconds. Sea spray got my lens wet a few times. It was all exhilarating and fun to try to capture with my camera.

This morning a swirl of thoughts came together as I reflected over Psalm 33, on the Pacific Ocean, Tsunamies, Osama and what we put our confidence in.

4 For the word of the LORD is right and true;
he is faithful in all he does.
5 The LORD loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of his unfailing love.
By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,
their starry host by the breath of his mouth.
7 He gathers the waters of the sea into jars;
he puts the deep into storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear the LORD;
let all the people of the world revere him.
9 For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.

That part is what I think about when standing before the ocean. The next section is what I think about when the news of Osama, Tsunamies and the U.S. milirtary come to mind.

16 No king is saved by the size of his army;
no warrior escapes by his great strength.
17 A horse is a vain hope for deliverance;
despite all its great strength it cannot save.
18 But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him,
on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,
19 to deliver them from death
and keep them alive in famine.

And finally, when all is said and done, whether batteries work in the alarm system or I worry about safety while traveling in distant lands or whatever else can easily ail me, the world and all its people, I pray an affirmation of faith:

20 We wait in hope for the LORD;
he is our help and our shield.
21 In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.
22 May your unfailing love be with us, LORD,
even as we put our hope in you.

Multonomah Falls, originally uploaded by papalars.

Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

- Hebrews 12:14

Wow. What a verse. This one just popped up on my twitter link to Sojourner’s verse for the day and it reminds me of my call as a follower of Christ and sadly, my deficiencies. There are three key words that strike me in this verse–”peace,” “holiness” and then “pursue.” Some thoughts come to mind on each one.

The desire for “peace” is in vogue these days. Seems we want more interpersonal, international, and interracial harmony all over the place. We seem to have cycled through the options between war and peace and have come to realize the more we lack peace, the more we war with each other, the more conflict spreads across our globe, the more we end up blind and toothless. That was the comment on a wonderful soap opera [telenovela] I used to watch in Mexico where the protagonist once made this bright conclusion to the idea of an “eye for an eye and a tooth for tooth!” Kind of obvious, right. There are other manifestations to life without peace but you get the idea.

As individuals we also want more intrapersonal peace, putting to rest the many conflicts within our soul that rob us of our inner solitude and harmony. We often seem conflicted over options about choices, priorities and attitudes. Clearly the intra and the inter are many times related even though our culture sometimes leads us to think we can separate the two. That is not my main point, however, that these two orbits overlap. What I feel we miss in this apparent universal desire for peace is the necessary work that will lead to that coveted goal of peace, both the intra and the inter. In this area, like so many other challenges in our society, we seem to think a wave of the magic wand will cure all ills. I’m overstating the point but in reality we want more magic in our lives that effort.

The next key word in this verse is “holy.” Now that one seems entirely out of vogue these days. Images of prudish conservatives who are big killjoys comes to mind. Holy is not what you want at a party. Holy is not what describes our appetite, our consumption, our media viewing. I sometimes wonder why this word has fallen so out of favor in our Western values. Is it our culture’s revulsion to fire and brimstone preachers, many of whom have been found to be total hypocrites? Is it a backlash to the religious right’s agenda that seems mostly bent on imposing certain “family values” on the rest of society? Is it the Pharisaic types who want to correct the errors of others? Well, I do think this is part of the situation, maybe even most. Holy is not good. Period.

As with many other things in my life, I like to always ask the question, “what does Jesus think about this?” Immediately I’m brought to some hopefully resolution and instruction for life. For starters, Jesus seemed very comfortable at parties and his guests and friends at those parties seemed comfortable with him. And yet, we also get from the Gospels that Jesus was very holy. Nothing impure about him. No off color or degrading comments about his enemies, his friends, his family. No verbal grenades thrown. Now he was prophetic and said some stuff that upset certain folks, especially the Pharisees and religious leaders. So clearly, Jesus was not a wimp. He could say difficult things. That characteristic is what finally lead him to the cross.

But he also said some other things that we should not ignore, especially today. Like in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount he said, “therefore be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Mt. 5:48. Then a little further on Jesus challenges his listeners to “hear these words, and to act upon them,” thereby being “compared to a wise man, who built his house upon a rock.” Mt. 7:24-27. This all deals with the second word, “holy.” He also addresses the other word, “peace.” In an important section near the end of his life on earth when the guards came to take Jesus away, he instructed Peter to put his sword back in his sheath, saying, “all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword.” Mt. 26:52.

These are all part of the marvelous and important Gospel that those who claim to follow Jesus SHOULD be following. Simple. Period. The last word in this original text at the top is “pursue.” The first two words, holy and peace do not just happen. We need to pursue them. It is in the faithful pursuit that we find God, that we see him as he truly is. Many Christians pride themselves in having their doctrine straight and orthodox. I think the Bible teaches something more. In fact, I think Jesus would say that orthodoxy without orthopraxy is essentially heresy. We gotta walk our talk in other words.

Tags: photoblog

Reflection of Mount St. Helens / from 9,677ft. to 8,365ft. in seconds, originally uploaded by papalars.

Had a great, rather full weekend. It started with another Mosque visit on Friday night where my friend and I spoke with the Imam, who was from Egypt, through an interpreter. The conversation went slower than the visit to the other Mosque several weeks ago but that seemed to give us all a more time to carefully phrase our comments and questions. It was interesting. The tone was a little more somber than my last Mosque visit. Sounds like the variety of churches I visit in my work. Some houses of worship and prayer are more “charismatic” while others lean toward quiet reflection and carefully scripted liturgy. I like both actually, for different reasons.

My weekend of activities continued with giving a plenary talk at my home church, Quest Community Church on Saturday. They hosted a special “Global Presence” event that brought together speakers from different types of “serving organizations” helping poor and marginalized communities around the world. I also gave two breakout sessions on what I am doing. Then, after a quick power nap and some packing, I got back in the car and headed south to Beaverton, Oregon where I preached in a church on Sunday morning, again about my work and bridge building efforts with focus people. I met a lot of fascinating people over the entire weekend who are seeking to live their lives for God’s glory AND help others.

On the way back home from Oregon, I had to pull up to this mountain pictured above that has caught my gaze and attention since childhood. Many know the story of Mount St. Helens from its devastating eruption in 1980. Here is a volcano cam of it’s current condition. I have climbed this mountain 4 times actually, twice before the eruption and 2xs after. It is much smaller than her bigger brother to the north, Mt. Rainier, but is still formidable! My two boys almost pitched into the crater of this growing beast when we climbed it back in 2006 from the back side. They got a little too close to the crater’s edge and started to slide down the back side to avoid falling in the deep hole which dropped probably a 1000 feet down to the growing dome inside the crater. This is the stuff of nightmares for me. Glad to say we all made it back down in one piece but we still like to climb mountains. You’d think these kinds of experiences would cure us. Somehow it doesn’t. Anyway to appreciate the dimensions of this mountain and the magnitude and power of the eruption in 1980 I’ve posted a longer description just below.

Mount St. Helens is an active stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is 96 miles (154 km) south of Seattle and 53 miles (85 km) northeast of Portland, Oregon. The volcano is located in the Cascade Range and is part of the Cascade Volcanic Arc, a segment of the Pacific Ring of Fire that includes over 160 active volcanoes. This volcano is well known for its ash explosions and pyroclastic flows.

Mount St. Helens is most famous for its catastrophic eruption on May 18, 1980, at 8:32am PDT which was the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in the history of the United States. Fifty-seven people were killed; 250 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles (24 km) of railways, and 185 miles (298 km) of highway were destroyed. The eruption caused a massive debris avalanche, reducing the elevation of the mountain’s summit from 9,677 feet (2,950 m) to 8,365 feet (2,550 m) and replacing it with a 1 mile (1.6 km) wide horseshoe-shaped crater. The debris avalanche was up to 0.7 cubic miles (2.9 km3) in volume. The Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument was created to preserve the volcano and allow for its aftermath to be scientifically studied.

As with most other volcanoes in the Cascade Range, Mount St. Helens is a large eruptive cone consisting of lava rock interlayered with ash, pumice, and other deposits. The mountain includes layers of basalt and andesite through which several domes of dacite lava have erupted. The largest of the dacite domes formed the previous summit, and off its northern flank sat the smaller Goat Rocks dome. Both were destroyed in the 1980 eruption.

Shaken by an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale, the north face of this tall symmetrical mountain collapsed in a massive rock debris avalanche. Nearly 230 square miles (600 km2) of forest was blown down or buried beneath volcanic deposits. At the same time a mushroom-shaped column of ash rose thousands of feet skyward and drifted downwind, turning day into night as dark, gray ash fell over eastern Washington and beyond. The eruption lasted 9 hours, but Mount St. Helens and the surrounding landscape were dramatically changed within moments.

Tags: "Mount St. Helens"