From Pretender to Surrender....

Today's Readings

The GregCast was out on the road March 4th in West Hartford, CT serving the Xaverian Brothers Sponsored School's XBSS Retreat!  This video, and blogpost was used for the presentation.  Things went well and we got some good video from the evening's presentation that I hope to share on an upcoming GregCast over on YouTube.  Pray for me, as I am praying for you!

Dave Grohl, former Nirvana drummer, and founder of the Foo Fighters, once wrote this lyric to a song called "The Pretender": "To keep you in the dark, you know they all pretend!"

This world of ours cares, but only to a point. They love, but only if things go their way. They give, but only what's been budgeted. They try, but only until it starts to hurt just a little. They allow their hearts to be moved, but then harden quickly in the face of challenges and change. In other words, this world of ours has gotten good at wanting to maintain control over their own image, and our life's actions and outcomes as well. The world would rather us stay in the dark as, Mr. Grohl put it, "just another soul for sale."

I would like to offer that God wants us to be free... Free to smile, free to choose, free scream, free to retire, and free to live! My friends, "what if I said, I'm not like the others? What if I said Im not just another one of your plays?" I am free to be determined! I am free to survive the struggle! I am free to never surrender to the darkness of sin and death! Like Mr. Grohl, "I'm finished making sense by pleading ignorance"... I'm echoing the voice inside your head that you refuse to hear! I'm the face that you have to face, mirroring yourself!

 Memo to the world: "You're the pretender... And what if I said, I will never surrender?"

The Cardinals of the Church will gather this week, and they are called to open their hearts to the will of the Holy Spirit, and the purpose of God's mission, to allow for His Church to continue to grow as evangelizer of the Good News, empowering us all to become the disciples that they we were born to be!

It's time to consider that being in the light of Christ is a better place to be. It's time to come out from under that bushel basket that wants to hide you. It's time to respond to God's love, and fall in love with His service. And even though it sounds like a contradiction, its time to promise that you'll never surrender to sin and death, so that you can truly live and surrender yourself to God's will.

Reflect...

• Who are you, and who do you follow?
• What are the hopes and dreams that will help you truly live?
• Will you trust the Spirit, and waters of your creation to make yourself a vulnerable witness?
• Will you cross the boundaries and allow for faith and forgiveness?
• Can you commit to sharing God with everyone you meet?
• Can you handle following The Way, The Truth, and the Light?

When you fall...

• Will you allow our Lord to catch you? 
• Will you get back up? 
• Will you?

The Nature of "Orm"

I am working on a project that is designed to assist young people and their youth programs to become better instruments of ministry. This project, hosted by the Ministry Training Source, will hopefully open a new door in how we train folks to be the best Youth Ministers EVER...

I'll share more about the final project when it's ready, but for now I am working on my little part of the big picture, which is simply communication skills, and how they move us from Point 1 to Point B. :) In my prayer this morning I read, "Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may judge what is God’s will, what is good, pleasing and perfect." (Romans 12: 2) This calls us to move from the place where we are, to a place that is better; to always strive to achieve perfection! One such process is to move through a series of steps as you attempt to relate with others, or with that "thing" which you are attempting to achieve... The buzz words are FORM, NORM, STORM AND PERFORM*!

(*Added July 14, 2011... The "Tuckman Model" that I am quoting actually places the 'Storm' Stage before the 'Norm' Stage... I would argue that they could be interchangeable based on the overall purpose of the group. Whether the storm comes before the norm or vice versa, every group and relationship must find ways to work through the challenges to get to the prize.)

We begin relating with people or things as we FORM our place within the relationship. In other words, we initiate our role within the relationship, group or system which we hope to be a part. Next, we NORM, or settle into that place or role. We get comfortable with what we are being asked to do, and we begin to test what it is that we hope to achieve, or gain from the process. With all journeys, however, come the surprises, or the unexpected. This STORM, if you will, seemes to knock us off a course that we are so sure of, only to set us on THE course that we have decided to follow. We had a storm here at the house last night. Like a summer thunderstorm, it just popped up and did what storms do... Blew, rained, and offered some amazing lightning. All of this was out of my control, but this morning, the sun is bright, the grass is green, and the flowers are confidently reaching towards the sky. That's what the STORM in this process is all about, it rights the course and helps us see past our comfort zone. Finally, in our journey to understand our place in relationships or within groups or systems, we begin to understand our true role, and our true purpose, and hence we become better able to PERFORM, or do what it is that we need to do!

Be open in your down time this summer, to setting your own course to PERFORM your faith, or live out your role within your relationships better... Allow the STORMS to come and blow where they will, so that you can "be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may judge what is God’s will, what is good, pleasing and perfect.".

You Want the Moon? Call the Russians!

Today the Space Shuttle, STS-135, or better still "STS Grand Finale", makes it's final voyage, and I for one am feeling bad for the many folks who continue to dream about exploring the heavens. I especially can't imagine how Astronaut and former Senator John Glenn must be feeling. He worked his @$& off with all the "right stuff" to race into space and do amazing things that no one else could do, so we could actually "choose to go to the moon" (JFK), only to see in his 90th year of life on this planet, his country open up a "new era" in space travel that will cost us 60 million a seat on a Russian Soyuz... Wow, talk about irony!

God's speed to John Glenn, and all who flew, and those who died, and to the mini crew on this final launch of the Shuttle, and to this not-so vibrant era of exploration. We have flown the good race, and with more of the "right stuff", will continue to do so, for no Government, nor fiscal reality can stamp out the human spirit to reach farther, or go faster... Or so we hope.

Hey rich man, Mark Cuban, your Dallas Mavs just won the NBA Championship... What are you gonna do now? How about taking some flying lessons, or building one of those cool rockets that we could use for a while? Those other rich guys say you can't do it, but I say you can! ;)

Waking Up from a Dream

With all the talk yesterday about dreaming (MLK Day 2011), I woke up this morning to the reality of mundaneness. This is a concept of which I am not afraid of, nor do I lament at it's place in my life... It's just mundaneness; it's day to day stuff that makes this time of year so unique, even in it's predictability.

My Pastor refered to the "January Blahs" in his homily this weekend, and the celebration of time! Time ticks on, and the stuff that makes up a typical day, and it's predictable nature can either drive one insane or give one motivation to march on through to whatever break lies ahead. In this case the "marching" involves taking care of business, and doing the stuff required to make a home a family. Sure it's boring stuff here and there, but it beats a crisis any day!

WAKE UP... May your mundaneness be blessed this day!

It's Mission Time!

“...whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.” (Mark 10: 44)

In the Liturgical Calendar, the necessary follow-up to Easter and Pentecost is the concept of “Mission”. If you follow the cycle of readings that accompanies the celebration of Church worship, most of the Summer will explore simple examples of service, and advice that’s hard to follow. Ultimately, its about Discipleship and the responsibilities that come with it!

50 Ways to Get Through Easter... Mission!

“If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you.” (John 15: 18-19)

Easter Day #35: Mission!

If you made it past the quote from John and are still reading, then you are either confused or you are on board with this whole “MISSION” thing!

To the confused, I WANT TO CHANGE THE WORLD!!

The message here is that those who accept a “MISSION” of
any kind are out to be successful in seeing it through to completion. When complete, it almost always results in change. Its fair to say that the thing being changed always wants to resist a little, for who or what really thinks they need to be changed, especially when someone from outside is the one suggesting change?

Don’t get lost in the “hate” language from the reading above, because if it is our MISSION to change the world, then the phrase “the world hates you” only illustrates that it will resist the change that you attempt to bring.

Easter calls us to share the Word of God, and the miracle if His Son with all the world. Its our MISSION to make that happen, and thus call the world to change a little. Yes they will resist, and it will be difficult at times, but in the end we must succeed, and say to God: “Mission Accomplished”!