Musings from Uncle Al

The last year has had it's share of uncertainties and confusions in the Briggs family. Most directly and deeply I think of JR and Megan, my brother and sister-in-law, dealing with the pothole in the road of not being able to have children. I'm not sure if that was harder for them or harder for me to watch them navigate through it. Just after the new year they volunteered to have a much deeper view of our loving God. They adopted a child from birth. This has been an amazing process to follow and has ripped open a new understanding of God to JR, Megan, and those around them. God cares, enough in fact that he will not abandon us, leave us alone, or watch his children tread in the barrel of our own despair. He has adopted us as sons and daughters just as my bro and sis-in-law took in little Carter. The little guy is named Carter Nathaniel, because Nathaniel means gift of God. I made the trek to Pennsylvania a few weeks back to meet Carter. It felt like a blind date with someone I already knew. He cried a lot and slept more than I do on vacation as he bobbled his head trying to keep it up on this little neck. It was an amazing time to celebrate with JR and Meg, to look at a little life and truly be amazed. Is he gonna be a baseball player? a rockstar? a professor? a father of 5? a committed follower of Christ? a ladies man? a pastor? a rock climber? We have no idea, but what an exciting ride it will be. If you want to email JR and share your excitement with him it is jrbriggsis@gmail.com . Praise God for his care and his desires that are strange and creative enough that we might never guess them 126 years.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

Wow, the year has flown by faster than I got shot down by the cute blonde next to me in sixth grade. A year ago today I was packing wet clothes into my pack after a day surfing on the island of Kauai and preparing to head back to "regular life." I had been away for 6 and a half months and it was time to head back home to Colorado. Instead of comfort back home all I found was uncertainty...relationships, jobs, a place to live, future plans- ALL up in the air. I was down. I was wondering where I might fit into this matrix of potential energy that seemed to mount and plateau. The adventure of working on a lonely continent and delving into the beauty of the world was put on pause. What about all that "you have a bright future" talk? Where is that now? I wanted stability, but instead God gave me a true look at himself. Father. Author. Understander. Best friend. And fellow Journeyer. Slowly things fell into place to make this the biggest year of growth in my entire life. For years God has been real to me but this year God made life around me real- REAL hard, REAL new, REAL exciting, REAL unpredictable. Now I feel more prepared to minister to others going through REAL life right next to me. Of the biggest things I have learned I will just say this, TRUST. Trust that God understands and gives immeasurably more than we can imagine. Trust that He gives what we need, usually not what we want. Trust that the morning will come and the light again will remind us that we are part of something much bigger than us. Trust that springtime of the soul is not just near but it is waiting to spring from the depths on his command. For all who are hurting, uncertain, cautious, striving, and desperate- I can identify. God hears you, He understands, and He reminds you that He is bigger still. I would love to hear your comments and emails about how God has changed you in the last year. AlanBriggsis@gmail.com

An age-old debate; Separation of Church & State

It's pretty obvious our country has changed quite a bit in almost every way in the last hundred years. The least of that change certainly has not been in the debate on church vs. state. I have often heard people refer to our nation as a godless one and use the removal of prayer in schools as their biggest argument. I DO believe we have fallen short of some of God's best plans for us as a nation, but I do not believe that this is one of our more serious issues. Many Christians would disagree with me, but I believe the loss of prayer in schools is not the worst thing that has ever happened to this nation. Let's take an example from history on this one. Constantine, the Roman Emperor who converted to the Christian faith after seeing a vision in the sky during battle, paints an early picture of the separation of church and state (church and empire I guess). When he converted he made Christianity the national religion of the Empire and what happened- it declined. It got crusty and turned into motions in spite of, or maybe becuase, the fact that faith merged with government. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying government and religion are warring; all I'm saying is that God is in control. Three of the gospels record the story of Jesus saying "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's" in response to a question about whether money should be given to the church or for taxes. Jesus seems to be more than okay with some separation here. God is bigger than governments and people, even when governements make laws that seem to opposed to God. His will cannot be thwarted by us, we can't screw it up. Maybe when government seems to be far from God and injustice is clearly seen we have a look at the deepness of our sin and our need for more reliance on God. I hope you don't see that as a trite little answer for my view on this. I'm not discounting injustice, sins of the nations, and all the people that are hurting because of corruption- but God is still in control and He deeply cares about each person in each nation of this world. I welcome your comments on this.

Tolerance vs. Endorsement

WASHINGTON (AP) — The first Muslim elected to Congress says he will take his oath of office using a Quran once owned by Thomas Jefferson to make the point that "religious differences are nothing to be afraid of." Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, D-Minn., decided to use the centuries-old Quran during his ceremonial swearing-in on Thursday after he learned that it is kept at the Library of Congress. Jefferson, the nation's third president and a collector of books in all topics and languages, sold the book to Congress in 1815 as part of a collection. "It demonstrates that from the very beginning of our country, we had people who were visionary, who were religiously tolerant, who believed that knowledge and wisdom could be gleaned from any number of sources, including the Quran," Ellison said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "A visionary like Thomas Jefferson was not afraid of a different belief system," Ellison said. "This just shows that religious tolerance is the bedrock of our country, and religious differences are nothing to be afraid of. USA Today" So...tolernace. Where is the line between tolerance of other people living other kinds of lives and adhering to other religions and speaking the truth of the gospel? I don't know exactly, but I do know that we can do both. We can tolerate without endorsing, we can accept without agreeing, we can love without fully identifying. In these changing times I encourage you to lead with love and hold back a bit of your words on these issues long enough to think about God being in control, long enough to realize that the world is not going to hell in a handbasket, and that God will reveal his truth as He wishes to who He wishes. I welcome your comments on practical ways that we can tolerate but not endorse.

My Dad took this of me in Chicago

"The Pursuit of HappYness"...worth a few bucks

My parents and I went to see Will Smith in "Pursuit of HappYness" tonight at the local theatre. As I saw the previews a month back I knew this would be a thought-provoking flick, and I was excited to check it out. It's interesting to watch an american movie on a very american subject looking at this idea from two different extremes. What is happYness anyway? Is the pursuit of it like chasing after the wind? Will Smith grapples with this idea from both the top and bottom of the American caste system. I like a movie that, for one, is based on a true story of a real dude and can fit soup kitchens, wall street, homeless shelters, and 49ers skyboxes into the same scene. In the midst of a season driven by buyng and getting, it is definitely worth your time and money to take a break from the shopping rush to go check it out. Question... what is happiness to you? What does success look like? You might just tweak your answer a little after seeing this movie. I give this film a B, a solid B, for a realistic look into the battle to keep life together in the midst of financial struggles. I like the ideals of sacrifice and following your purpose that often get pushed away into an awkward corner. If not viewed through a careful lens the movie can be misinterprited as a holiday prosperity wish that makes rich and happy into long lost buddies. Watch this one with a careful eye and let me know what you think.

Emergent Church..what is emerging?

Have you ever gone out for a walk and not known where you were going? Or taken a Sunday drive just to cruise in your car with your windows down and your favorite CD pumping? I hope you have. Those are some of the greatest joys for me in life, and I need to make a point never to get too busy for them. Lately I've had thoughts doing that in my head- thoughts about the Church. Christ's bride, the Body, the organism that will exist until we see Jesus face to face, the hands and feet of God on this earth- thoughts about her have been stewing a little bit. The specific thoughts I have are regarding the idea of the emergent Church. I've bantered with many of you about this subject...is it appropriate to call it that? Is there something distinctly happening in the Church now that never has before? Are we over-doing it on ideas, books, and new philosophies about the age old topic? So here's what I've been thinking... If the Church truly is changing in a big enough way to get a new title I hope we are not focusing on the title more than the emphasis behind it. In other words, I hope we are not so caught up in it that we lose the point. I see this season of the Body of Christ like a marriage- I can see many people (me included sometimes) so focused on the wedding that we forget about what lies beyond- a life of sacrifice and service. While the wedding is fun, a kind of party even, it lasts only for a short time. SO WHAT LIES BEYOND FOR THE CHURCH? Only God knows, but I do wonder how long we can call it emergent church...when will it stop emerging from the cacoon and turn into something, anything, a butterfly maybe? We can't call it emergent forever because IT IS HEADING SOMEWHERE. Humans like movements. We like following a new band, watching a friend grow and devellop, and political movements surely have their sway. I'm a little afraid that in the midst of following some new emergent idea we lose sight of the God behind the movement. If we are going to be caught up in a movement I hope it is a change that has found us and not a change that we are dragging behind us with all our might. The emergent church movement will die at some point, all movements do, but the Church will not. I challenge you to fall on your knees and worship God and remain attentive to the changes that He might have in store for His Body. Change is normal, healthy even; we just need guidance to remain reactive to God's pulse here on this globe. I hope the Church is doing more than just taking a joyride around the block in the 21st century... I am curious to see what this journey will look like down the road. I'd love to hear your comments about this! God, may we have the wisdom to know what is of YOU and what is of us as we question how your bride shall be respresented in the times ahead...

Bored?

Besides the phrases "Why"and "No" the phrase I hear most from kids is "I'm bored". I hate to hear kids say this, I hated hearing friends say this as a kid, and frankly I don't ever remember being bored. Our culture seems deeply focused on the idea of being entertained. It's early Friday evening...you're home from work...and you pick up the phone to call a friend. The first thing that comes out of your mouth- What are you up to tonight? What are we gonna do? Our constant entertainment is growing up generations of people who are entertained for moments but for the rest of life they are...bored. What about you- are you bored? Be honest for a second- Do you like your life, your 40+ hours a week working for the man or woman? A while back my brother JR and I saw the Will Ferrell flick "Stranger than Fiction" and had various discussions about it. I loved it. It didn't bore me at all in fact. The story revolves around the idea of a guy working a boring job living a boring life around boring people. I don't know if you've seen this flick, but I'd recommend it now or sometime in the future when you happen to be bored and you're at Blockbuster. Is there more than a zombie walking through a monotonous life doing some dead-end job in some cubicle somewhere? The only thing worse than little ankle-biting zombies running around are grown up zombies stumbling around through life. Is there more beneath the predictable routine...I think so.

Exciting Opportunities Coming Up

Guys and Gals, I just wanted to let you know a couple cool things coming up for me. On Sunday morning September 24th we're having youth Sunday at Vanguard and the middle school pastor and I are teaching that day. I'm also leading worship. Services are at 10 and 11:30 Also, on October 7th I'm playing a coffee house at It's a Grind on Centennial with my friend Jeremy. Come hang out and get amped on coffee from 7-10. Random fact: I hate coffee. Booyah!