over the course of the last 6 months, we’ve begun the process of the actual physical formation of eikon. we’ve had an incredible response and we’ve been able to connect with so many different kinds of people that we would have never guessed. over the last couple months, we’ve offered people a chance to marry their verbal intentions with a physical means of carrying them out. that process has been called the START team. in essence, it’s just a group of volunteer people who have committed to learning more about eikon and taking an active role in the start of the church.
with the dawn of 2010 (twenty-ten or two thousand ten??), we’re turning a corner in terms of the nature of the START team. whereas we’ve spent our previous sessions dealing with the theoretical aspects of eikon (i.e. why? what? who? when? etc.) and have asked for an initial, concrete commitment, we’re now asking others to join with us in the pragmatic aspect of forming a new community. what that ultimately means is mobilizing people to just do stuff. all kinds of stuff: offer further insights, seal envelopes, move chairs, fold handouts, design graphic pieces, do photography, shake hands, be a smiling face…just stuff. with the official start day (regular, weekly gatherings) for eikon coming in mid-february (be on the lookout for some more clues on that very soon), we’ve got plenty of stuff to do. and that ultimately means that we need some more helping hands. we need you! (see, i used an exclamation point to tell you that…so it must be important! see, there’s another one…)
UPCOMING MEETINGS
we’ll have 3 meetings in january (and likely 1 in february), so we’d love for anyone and everyone to be a part of those. the first one will be this coming sunday, january 3 at 6 p.m. john and shannon hardin have graciously opened their home (see map here), so it will be a very casual environment. we’ll build in some time for drinks and light snacks, so you’ll have a chance to catch up and hang out a little. also, we’ll be offering childcare on location, so feel free to bring the kids (if you plan to bring children, please drop us a note letting us know asap).
if you have any additional questions, feel free to shoot us an email at info [at] eikonthechurch [dot] com or leave a comment. see you sunday night!
several months ago, i had the idea to let people hear the voices of various people in our ever-blossoming faith community. that idea became a tangible reality just over a month ago with the introduction of the series altView. personally, it’s been a great chance to further hear the stories of faith (and sometimes, non-faith) from the people i’ve come to know over the last several months. for others, as feedback in both conversation and comments, it’s been a time to see the breadth of points-of-view from a all kinds of people in all kinds of life situations.
in my intro to the series, i wrote the following,
there will be no filters and no agendas. these aren’t sales pitches for eikon. they aren’t a bunch of “come to jesus” posts, attempting to convert the masses. i’ve simply invited a cross section of our community—representing various points-of-view and levels of faith commitments—to share what’s significant to them. maybe it’s an issue or cause about which they’re passionate. maybe it’s a significant place in their life where faith came to the forefront. maybe it’s the point they decided, “i’m through with church.” maybe it’s the point they decided, “i need the church.” it’s really wide open.
i hope that’s what has transpired. i think it is. unfiltered. without agenda. and beautiful. and sometimes ugly. and sometimes scary. and sometimes doubtful.
before beginning the series, a pastor friend warned that doing this could lead to people “speaking on behalf” of our church. he warned that people—if unfiltered—could say things that could turn other people off and give the wrong impression if it didn’t represent “orthodox theology.” their point-of-view might contradict my point-of-view as the leader and visionary for the church.
my pastor friend was exactly right.
and that’s why i chose to do it.
one of the values of both altView and eikon in general, is that people are the church. not one man. not one pastor. not just the pastors and leaders. it’s people. it’s the collective conversation of a community of people who bring to the table their experiences and their hopes and their sensibilities and their deepest doubts and their most hidden insecurities and their most valued thoughts about god and the world.
eikon church isn’t ryan byrd. it’s a community of views. of alternative views that describe god and the world around us. sometimes they look like what you’ve heard your whole life. and sometimes they look like the buddhist philosophy of loving-kindness. and sometimes they look like a nebulizer. but they’re always representative of the collective conversation of people engaged in a community that is about pursuing the way of a man named jesus.
i hope you’ve enjoyed this series. this isn’t the last time you’ve heard from some or all of these people and some people you haven’t heard yet.
we will continue to grow with a myriad of altViews. some you will agree with. some you will not. some you will be deeply touched by. and some you will find dissonant from your experience. some will resonate so powerfully within you that you will be moved to action. and some will make you question yourself so intensely that you will be frozen for a moment until you sort out your feelings.
so, as we prepare to enter a new year that is sure to be a huge year for our community, we invite you to share your altView. it may not be here on a blog or written down somewhere, but we certainly invite you to the reality of our ongoing conversation in this thing called eikon.
I grew up in a little church where everyone is called “brother” or “sister” and the Second Coming or the penalties of sin were preached about at least 6 times a month. Bro. Haney was a wise man in the church, covered with leather skin and grace, and he used his deep voice to sing bass in our choir and to gently tease or soothe those around him. He was universally loved and when he spoke people truly listened.
When I was around twelve we had a testimonial service, which is sorta like an open mic night at a bar. Anyone can stand up and share their story about the greatness of a god who saved a wretch like them. Unfortunately, like an open mic night, what you mostly get are uninspiring and quasi-forced renditions of stories that are amazingly similar in content.
On that night, Bro. Haney stood up to speak. Due to my respect for him, I stopped whatever time-killing activity I was involved in and listened. What he said prompted me to think seriously about god for the first time. Unfortunately, it also led to a warped sense of who god is and what is going to happen next in his narrative.
With the certainty of a bad prosecutor Bro. Haney launched into an apocalyptic colloquy, stating that within his lifetime Jesus Christ would be coming back to rapture the church. All I could think was, “Damn! This guy is old; that doesn’t leave us much time!” My focus then turned to fearing god and the goal of leaving this irredeemable earth and going to heaven. However, like any religion based on fear and fatalism, it didn’t stick over the long haul.
Over the next 15 years I experienced a lot of life. I left my homogenous hometown the first chance I got and made a lot of decisions that most would argue were bad. I didn’t worry too much about god because, as was explained to me during my season of post-Haney fear, this world was irredeemable anyway and I already had my ticket to heaven.
During that time my eyes were opened to the world around me. I was exposed to diversity of race and sexual orientation for the first time. I realized that the stereotypes I learned growing up were not only incorrect, but were unjust, ignorant and hateful. I learned that while I lived in relative abundance, others die from abject poverty. I learned about exploitative labor practices often used to make our food and goods, and the environmental damage often caused by both. I learned about injustices within our legal system. My eyes were opened to the plights of the “least among us”.
I don’t know what prompted it, but I also began to have a deep sense that god was indeed concerned about affecting change in this world for those suffering. The life, compassion and empathies of Jesus became real to me. I became convinced that the earth isn’t simply some stopping point on the way to distant places called heaven and hell, but a place for us to try like hell to turn back into what god originally created. I am now certain that is the essence of Christianity. Bro. Haney was not only wrong about his prediction, but he was wrong about the very purpose of following in the way of Jesus.
over the last couple weeks, many of you have worshipped with us as we’ve engaged in this season called advent. through our modVent gatherings, we’ve eagerly anticipated the coming of the messiah. as we’ve learned, of course, advent simply means coming. during this season, we await the coming of a baby, in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes. who is the savior. who is the one sent from god.
advent is about life. it’s about redemption. it’s about hopeful expectation. but advent is also about death. we not only await the coming of the christ child, but we await his death on a cross. we look ahead to the time of jesus’ atoning sacrifice in which he suffered in order to restore the brokenness of all creation. death, indeed, is a part of the cycle of anticipation.
as many of you are aware, i traveled to houston, texas a couple days ago after receiving word that our music leader, rob toon, had taken a serious turn for the worse. most of you know the situation with rob, but let me offer a very brief catch-up for those who are unaware. nearly 2 years ago, rob was diagnosed with leukemia. since that time, he has received treatment both at uams in little rock and now, at md anderson in houston. several months ago, rob underwent a bone marrow transplant and has since been recovering both in and out of the hospital. throughout this time, he has been battling infections and acclimation to life after a life-altering procedure.
so, a couple days ago, stephanie—rob’s wife—contacted me with news that rob’s condition had become seemingly grave and the doctors recommended she come immediately. we’ve now spent the last couple days at the hospital by rob’s side, watching his condition—i’m very glad to say—improve incredibly. at this point, things are still touch and go, but the doctors seem to think things have stabilized.
what has become very real to me in these last couple days is the reality of both life and death. spending time in the waiting room of an ICU in a cancer hospital offers plenty of time to experience that actuality. we are literally surrounded by those experiencing a sense of advent. of waiting.
but we’re keenly aware that this advent is much different than the hopeful expectation that describes our fundamental sense of the christian season of advent.
this waiting is full of fear and uncertainty and pain and stress. this waiting looks toward the reality not of life, but of death.
while we are certainly not expecting death with rob at this point, we are surrounded by many people that we pass in the halls and sit with in the waiting room that certainly do expect death of the ones they love. and it’s in these shared times that one sees the reality and the beauty of life.
the reality is that life means so much. it’s beautiful. and its ugly. and it’s tragic. and it’s wonderful. it means so much.
life is brief. it’s fleeting. it’s to be cherished. and appreciated. and lived to its fullest.
while many christians have this sense that life is just a temporary pitstop to some other eternal home, it’s in these times that you see that the gift of life is god-given and to be cherished. it isn’t to be wasted, waiting on the next life, but lived to its maximum potential. to be lived like it was a precious, precious endowment.
cancer is a ravaging thing that reminds us how beautiful life is. so, as i sit here in the midst of others who wait on death—the advent of loss—let us all remember that life is a wonderful gift from god.
let us love others, giving ourselves as if this life is as fleeting as it actually is.
—————————————————
as a bit of an epilogue to this post, let me share my thoughts with something other than words. in the preceding days before traveling down to houston, i became obsessed with an album (like i often do with new music discoveries) called hospice by the antlers. the story describes the singers journey of meeting a woman who he loved, finding she had bone cancer and ultimately, ending with the time when she passes away.
in some ways, the album is intensely saddening, but there’s also this glimmer of hope that affirms everything i’ve said above. in spite of the narrator’s grief, there’s a celebration of life that compels him to stay next to the side of the woman he loves. in her pain and agony and withering away, he is drawn to her side. life, indeed, means so much.
in this track, the singer learns of her cancer and the impending reality of her diagnosis. my prayer is that you find the intense power of love and grief and happiness and sadness in this track.
and in the end, my prayer is that you sense—in a roundabout way—this mysterious season of advent.
kettering by the antlers
i wish that i had known in
that first minute we met
the unpayable debt
that i owed you
’cause you’d been abused
by the bone that refused
you and you hired me
to make up for that
and walking in that room
when you had tubes in your arms
those singing morphine alarms
out of tune
they had you sleeping and eating and
and I didn’t believe them
when they called you a hurricane thunder cloud
when i was checking vitals
i suggested a smile
you didn’t talk for a while
you were freezing
you said you hated my tone
it made you feel so alone
so you told me i had to be leaving
but something kept me standing
by that hospital bed
i should have quit but instead
i took care of you
you made me sleep and uneven
and i didn’t believe them
when they told me that there
was no saving you
sunday night, many of you attended the second of two modVent worship gatherings and helped to make it a big success! we had a great time and we hope you did as well.
certainly, there were plenty of places where things didn’t go as planned or that we would have loved to have a re-do, but all in all, we were well pleased. to ensure that we make it the best we possibly can, we ask you to sacrifice just a few minutes of your time and fill out this evaluation. it will greatly help us to improve these types of gatherings and provide a better experience for everyone.
our first week of modVent was a big success and we’re glad to be doing it again this weekend. if you want more details on this whole modVent thing, you can find them here. much like last week’s gathering, we’re excited to once again offer free, quality childcare.
since our worship gathering will be at sticky fingerz, the space won’t lend itself to onsite childcare. fortunately, though, our (ryan & christen’s) house is only 5 minutes from the venue, so we’ll be hosting the childcare in our home (google maps link).
since we have our own children and understand parents’ concerns, we are committed to having quality, competent care in a clean, child-friendly space. so, a qualified (trained with background checks) worker will be taking care of the children. if you have any questions about our home or the type of care your children will receive, please feel free to contact me at 501.551.8118 or christen at 501.551.8117.
we ask that you drop your children off at our home between 5:30 and 5:50 pm (at the very latest) and pick them up within 30 minutes of the gathering ending. we ask that anything you bring—diaper bags, bottles, food containers, pacifiers, etc—be clearly marked with your child’s name.
finally, we ask that you fill out the following form to RSVP your children. this form includes contact information for the parents as well as your children’s names, ages and special instructions. please fill it out in its entirety. this form is required for attendance.
all in all, i think i have been on a journey for quite some time, and still am right now. my lifetime movie would be called “forced to trust god.” over the past 6 years i feel that i have had no other choice but to have some sort of faith. no matter how little faith or how much at the time. ryan and i started our marriage pretty great. everyone says the first year was the hardest…it was our easiest. married to my best friend, good jobs, all the time in the world to think about our wonderful future. little did we know where we would be now.
we moved to lexington, kentucky after a year for ryan to attend seminary. that was probably the worst year of my life…and the best. i had a horrible job in which i traveled about 4-5 days at a time. i had no friends, except ryan. i was definitely depressed, we were so broke we couldn’t even afford to get our heat turned on. i was so lonely and broken…yet ryan and i grew closer than we ever had…because we were forced to. all we had was each other and god…literally. even though i look back on those days and can honestly feel the loneliness and sadness i felt then, i am so thankful for them. i was forced to rely on god, completely. from being able to buy groceries to just getting to wherever the heck i was supposed to be while traveling across several states for my horrible job (did i mention i hated my job). even trusting god that ryan wouldn’t freeze to death while i was gone when we didn’t have heat…
thankfully, we moved after a year to paducah, ky to serve in a church plant there. it was also a major move in our lives that required just faith. basically because in april i said “we are moving in may…get on it.” when ryan tried to tell me to be patient, i refused, i found a job, an apartment…and we moved the last week in may. (i was right) this was a difficult/wonderful/exciting/frustrating experience for us altogether. we have so many great memories from our life in paducah…mainly lucy being born, of course (don’t get me started, i may start crying).
and now…we’re here. what else is there to say. no seriously, this has been nothing less of another chapter in my journey of my faith. i mean, we started this Eikon journey over 2 years ago. we were not handed the keys to a church building, a big budget, a congregation (i don’t even like that word). in fact, ryan’s kind of been told in more ways than one…”you have all the qualities of a great church planter, but you don’t want to do it our way, nevermind then.” it’s at that point you say “ah crap, what do we do now.” and you begin to second guess what you’re doing with your life, and what you’re dragging your family into, and is it going to work, are we going to fail? these are not fun things to think about or ask yourself.
however, i’ve found to not put my faith in my husband…but to put my faith in god. i trust that ryan will do what god has given him the ability to do. and it will happen if it’s supposed to. i hate the saying “it’s a god thing.” it drives me nuts! i mean, everything is dependent on god. so why are such wonderful things “god things.” (if you die…it’s still a “god thing,” but nobody says it so excitedly then. maybe i’ll try that at the next funeral i attend.) i’ve found that in the past i’ve put way too much faith in the wrong people and things and i end up being so disappointed.
I am definitely reminded of how much i am forced to trust god, each and every day. as a mom to lucy and olive, and another one in june (talk about faith)…i rely on him to help me be a better mom. seriously, this may sound silly…but you try being at home everyday with a 1 year old, 2 year old, pregnant mom…and being married to ryan. and i rely on god to help me be a better wife, every day. it has definitely been a long 2 years of planning and meeting and everything else that ryan spends most nights working on. and i’m not always that supportive (i know, you all think i’m perfect, sorry to burst your bubble).
i trust god that someday this will all be worth it. not because i plan on having some big mega church (although i definitely think ryan would look cool with a curly mullet)…but because i feel that i am finally in a place where i’m doing what i’m supposed to be doing with the people we’re supposed to be with. it has been such a long journey, but i can see all the pieces slowly coming together. i finally feel comfortable with a group of believers. i feel like god has a million other things for me to do…but now i’m in a place that i can actually do them someday.
sunday night, many of you attended our modVent worship gathering and helped to make it a big success! we had a great time and we hope you did as well.
certainly, there were plenty of places where things didn’t go as planned or that we would have loved to have a re-do, but all in all, we were well pleased. to ensure that we make it the best we possibly can, we ask you to sacrifice just a few minutes of your time and fill out this evaluation. it will greatly help us to improve these types of gatherings and provide a better experience for everyone.
When Ryan told me I could write an uncensored blog my first thought was to preach why everybody should seek to repeal the tobacco tax, or why the Kansas Jayhawks are awesome, or why Arkansas needs much colder weather, but most of you have heard those discourses from me many times over. Instead I decided to write a parable on the relationship of Christ’s redemptive work on the cross and our limited tolerance of theological diversity. Hopefully it will make sense.
I work as a sales representative for a nebulizer company and I call on pediatricians in clinics and hospitals. My role is to convince doctors why they need to use my company as their supplier of nebulizers. First of all, a Nebulizer is a device used to deliver medication in the form of a mist which is inhaled into the lungs in order to improve breathing. The bottom line for a nebulizer is to get the patient breathing better so they can live a healthier life.
In the medical industry there are many companies who manufacture nebulizers, so how do we know which one is “right”? Well, essentially all nebulizers are the same, but there is one major non-negotiable in regards to nebulizers. The patient probably will not fully understand the pharmacological efficacy of the device so the non-negotiable aspect is the patient needs to appreciate that the treatment itself is going to make their life better; not perfect, but better. Our society sometimes places too high a value on trying to figure everything out, but there are some aspects of the nebulizer and the treatment that are beyond most people’s comprehension. The beauty of the matter is not in knowing how the treatment works but the fact that the treatment does work.
Essentially, all nebulizers are the same and have the same desired outcome: breathing better because of the treatment. But there are some minor differences. Some have a better treatment time, some a higher respirable fraction, and some are more portable, but in choosing a nebulizer sometimes the deciding factor needs to be what allows the treatment to have a deeper deposition with the patient.
In finishing, a sales representative with my company told me about a conversation she had with a doctor about how our company started. She told the doctor how several years ago our owners broke off from the original company to start their own nebulizer company because of differing interpretations of the business contract. The original company sued our owners and then our owners countersued; all the while both companies are still to this day trying to gain market-share over each other. The doctor’s comment, “That’s a lot of drama over nebulizers.”
I agree with the doctor. I want him to use my nebulizers but I realize I am biased about what nebulizer delivers a better treatment. But all the doctors and companies agree that the main thing needed for making breathing and living better…is the treatment.
nebulizer = denomination/religion
doctor = pastor
treatment = God’s redemptive work in a person’s life
patient = a person
breathing better = following Christ
healthier life = bringing God’s kingdom to earth
It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad. –C. S. Lewis
My whole life Christianity has been spoon fed to me literally since I was born. From the time I was old enough to lift my head, I was dedicated as an infant to God in front of my family and our entire church. From then on, it was Vacation Bible School, Mission Friends, Girls in Action, Acteens, Youth Group, (and the list goes on). I went on to attend a private Baptist college and am now working for a religious organization. I have been surrounded by church my entire being. I literally know nothing else. I don’t know how to function without Christianity.
But in the same way, I don’t know how to function WITH Christianity. I have been “programmed”, so to speak, that I am comfortable just lying in my own Christian filth. It disgusts me how contented I have become in my own faith. In keeping with the egg analogy mentioned in the quote above, I am, figuratively speaking, an egg that has been marinating in its own shell for 26 years. Pretty gross huh?
In college I went through the normal, “who am I REALLY?” crisis that every young adult goes through. I questioned everything: my parents, my friends, my boyfriend, my degree choice, (which interestingly enough was Christian Ministries) but most of all, I questioned Christianity as a whole. What makes Christianity the RIGHT religion? Just because I was doused in it my whole life doesn’t make it the RIGHT way of living, does it? Just because my parents believe and their parents believe and their parents before them, what makes Christianity the “right” way? There I was sitting in Christian Ministry classes wondering if I even believed any of it. I rapidly turned away from everything I had been taught to believe. But it wasn’t enough. I had to know for sure WHY I believed it and KNOW that it was truth.
After years of stubbornness and questioning everything I had ever been taught, I gave in, and admitted that God was God. (C. S. Lewis) Even through my selfish denial, my faith was challenged, I questioned God and yes, even ignored that He even existed and He never failed me, not even one.
I know now that I cannot remain as is or I might, in fact, go insane. I must be hatched or go bad.
over the course of the last 6 months, we’ve begun the process of the actual physical formation of eikon. we’ve had an incredible response and we’ve been able to connect with so many different kinds of people that we would have never guessed. over the last couple months, we’ve offered people a chance to marry their verbal intentions with a physical means of carrying them out. that process has been called the START team. in essence, it’s just a group of volunteer people who have committed to learning more about eikon and taking an active role in the start of the church.
