An excerpt from Kyle Lake’s last sermon read at his funeral.

“Live. And Live Well. BREATHE. Breathe in and Breathe deeply. Be PRESENT. Do not be past. Do not be future. Be now. On a crystal clear, breezy 70 degree day, roll down the windows and FEEL the wind against your skin. Feel the warmth of the sun.
If you run, then allow those first few breaths on a cool Autumn day to FREEZE your lungs and do not just be alarmed, be ALIVE. Get knee-deep in a novel and LOSE track of time.

If you bike, pedal HARD… and if you crash then crash well.

Feel the SATISFACTION of a job well done—a paper well-written, a project thoroughly completed, a play well-performed. If you must wipe the snot from your 3-year old’s nose, don’t be disgusted if the Kleenex didn’t catch it all… because soon he’ll be wiping his own.

If you’ve recently experienced loss, then GRIEVE. And Grieve well. At the table with friends and family, LAUGH. If you’re eating and laughing at the same time, then might as well laugh until you puke. And if you eat, then SMELL. The aromas are not impediments to your day. Steak on the grill, coffee beans freshly ground, cookies in the oven. And TASTE. Taste every ounce of flavor. Taste every ounce of friendship. Taste every ounce of Life. Because-it-is-most-definitely-a-Gift.”

Creative ways to build church attendance

Thoughts?

Some questions just don’t come with an easy answer – looking at the death of Kyle Lake (see previous post,) I’ve been struggling to attempt to wrap my brain around it. No good. Can’t do it – maybe I don’t need to.

I’m praying for his wife & kids – that when they go to church, it’s not just associated with the place husband/dad died, but is a place where wholeness & completeness can be found in Christ; that the waters of baptism will be a place of new life, & leaving the old man behind.

Enough for now. You are God in heaven, and here am I on earth, so I’ll let my words be few. paraphrase of Ecclesiastes 5:2

Once I was young, now I am old. Yet I have never seen the godly forsaken, nor seen their children begging for bread Psalm 37:25

Father to the fatherless, defender of widows– this is God, whose dwelling is holy Psalm 68:5

I know that water & electricity don’t mix – but from personal experience, its not like that is what you’re thinking about while doing a baptism… the life-change that is represented, the joy of the new birth symbolized in baptism, that’s what is at the forefront of thought, that & sharing the moment with loved ones. Plus, a microphone doesn’t “seem” electrified… it breaks my heart.

Pastor electrocuted while performing baptism
WACO, Texas (AP) — A pastor performing a baptism was electrocuted inside his church Sunday morning when he adjusted a nearby microphone while standing in water, a church employee said.

The Rev. Kyle Lake, 33, was stepping into the baptistery as he reached out for the microphone, which produced an electric shock, said University Baptist Church community pastor Ben Dudley.

Water in a baptistery usually reaches above the waist, said Byron Weathersbee, interim university chaplain at Baylor University.

Lake was pronounced dead at Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center, nursing supervisor Pat Mahl said. The woman being baptized apparently had not stepped into the water and was not seriously injured.

Pastors at University Baptist Church routinely use a microphone during baptisms, said Jamie Dudley, the wife of Ben Dudley and a business administrator at the church.

“He was grabbing the microphone so everyone could hear,” she said. “It’s the only way you can be loud enough.”

About 800 people attended the morning service, which was larger than normal because it was homecoming weekend at nearby Baylor University, Dudley said.

Lake had been at the church for nine years, the last seven as pastor. He is survived by his wife, Jennifer, a 5-year-old daughter and two 3-year-old sons.

At a remembrance attended by about 1,000 people Sunday night at First Baptist Church, Ben Dudley told the UBC congregation that they would move forward as a church.

“I don’t know how, when, why, where or what’s going to happen, but we will continue as a church in the community because that is what Kyle would have wanted,” he said.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

One of the many things that messes with me about the previous post is a quote from Bill Hybels, speaking at the Cedar Creek 10 year anniversary:

“My greatest fear,” he told the crowd, “is for you to think this is normal. This is so not normal.”

Not normal. He’s referring to it not being normal for a church to care about preChristian people enough to make its main meetings & functions intentionally accessible, understandable, & desirable for the preChristian. What’s normal is to be so “spiritual” and chock full of specialized language one has to be an industry insider to “get it.”

I want to be “not normal” , & really want Hillside (heck, every church that calls on Christ as Savior & Master,) to be “not normal.” What do you think are the non-negotiables to be & stay “not normal?”

Cedar Creek Church Article

and this one…

Bethanie French SDA Church Article

What’s the difference?

I’m whelmed. School is screaming for attention in the form of a paper. A real paper that goes to 10. Or 11 pages that is. On the Enlightenment transformation of society from Medieval to Modern. Writing will I be, tomorrow night. And Friday. A couple of good days of writing & I can stop being whelmed & be simply at the normally frenetic level of activity for the clan I lead.

Once again, I must hold in front of me-self the goal, the carrot if you will – why I’m doing this in the first place. I want to be able to teach in an accredited post-secondary institute that we run through our church. Vision keeps me plugging away.

Been a long time gone, wandering to and fro
I’ve travelled so far, though I’ve got a ways to go

I’ve been here before, though I fell away
My mind is made up, this time I want to stay

We take a walk in the life that I live
I’ll make the steps onthe strength that You give

The heartache I had, You carried for me
My eyes were so blind, You made them to see

It’s been a while since you came around
but not so long that you can’t be found
make the turn back, you won’t be the same
cause if you listen, He’s calling Your name

I am full of earth, You are heaven’s worth
I am stained with dirt, Prone to depravity
You are everything that is bright and clean
The antonym of me, You are divinity
What a certain sign of grace is this, From a broken earth
Flowers come up pushing through the dirt

You are holy, holy, holy
All heaven cries holy, holy God
You are holy, holy, holy
I wanna be holy like you are

You are everything that is bright and clean
And you’re covering me with your majesty
And the truest sign of grace is this
From wounded hands redemption filled Liberating them

You are holy, holy, holy
All heaven cries holy, holy God
You are holy, holy, holy
I wanna be holy like you are

But the harder I try the more clearly can I fill
the depth of our fall and the weight of it all
And so this might could be the most impossible thing
Your grandness in me making me clean

Glory, Halelujah Glory, Glory Halelujah
You are holy, holy, holy
All heaven cries holy, holy God
You are holy, holy, holy
I wanna be holy, holy God
Here I am all of me
Finally, everything
Holy, holy, holyI am holy, holy, holy
I am holy, holy, wholly yours
I am wholly yours

I am full of earth and dirt
Here I am
Everything