In my message, I shared a quote from a blog post from Mason Slater. You can read the full post here, but I’ve included the quote I used below.

“You can see it play out every Monday at the office, and every Sunday in church lobbies around the world. People who have not seen each other in a few days or weeks start to catch up, and the talk quickly turns toward comparing notes on how terribly busy we all are. Volunteer positions, family commitments and work loads are listed, as each of us demonstrates just how much we are trying to juggle. The sad thing is, we are quite proud of it. And not very secretly proud either.
Oh sure, we complain about how we have not had a real day off in weeks, or how much work it all is. But somehow all our complaining sounds rather like bragging. It’s just backhanded bragging, like complaining that you didn’t expect learning Spanish to be so much work after you had such high scores in French, German and fifth-century Latin.
You can hear it in the voices of those recounting their busy schedules, and the guilt with which many of us have learned to speak of having free time. We’ve bought into the gospel of busyness. We’ve accepted the narrative we are constantly sold by our society—that our value rests in what we can produce, that we are loved for what we can accomplish. Full calendars become a badge of honor…Here’s the dirty little secret of the gospel of busyness: It promises us a full and satisfying life, but, in the end, it makes our lives emptier. It uses us for what we can contribute, and in the process we live less, feel less, even love less.”

Further Resources
I mentioned in my message that I’m not exploring a lot of the the typical “how” points related to prayer. However, my blog allows for an expanded discussion.

(Disclaimer: What works for my spiritual formation is individual and subjective; it may not work as well for you.)

Methods of Prayer That I Engage

Silence, Solitude

Lectio Divina

Labyrinth

Retreats

Books on Prayer that have been helpful for me:

Hearing God and Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard

Experiencing God and When God Speaks by Henry Blackaby

Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster

With Open Hands by Henri Nouwen

Blog Posts on Prayer That Might Be Helpful

-Being Present with God – Part One, Two, Three, Four and Five.

I hope these resources are helpful for you as you develop a passion for prayer. 

Me too. As much as I love my MacBook Pro and my iPhone 4S, one of my favorite tools is “analog” – a Moleskine notebook. I’ve been using Moleskines for 8 years and they’ve helped me write sermons and blogs, plan out my week, capture notes from a great conference, orchestrate large projects and sort through feelings and emotions. Now, I know Moleskine has an app for iPad and maybe I’ll abandon this analog addiction once I make that switch, but for now, I’m a raving Moleskine fan.

After 8 years, I’ve learned a lot about how make my Moleskine work for me. Since I just finished filling a Moleskine last week (after 8 crazy months of life), I thought I would share what I’ve learned as break in a new one.

These are ten of the lessons I learned:

1. Buy the right notebook for the task. There are various sizes and types of Moleskines. You can choose from 3 sizes – Pocket, Large and Sketchbooks. You can also choose various types of paper – ruled, squared, or blank. You can also choose your binding – hardcover, softcover, or cahier (translation: very soft cover). I’ve used all 3 sizes, types of paper, and binding for various projects. My current Moleskine of choice is the Large Ruled Hardcover. Ask yourself some questions before you purchase your Moleskine. What will I be using this notebook for PRIMARILY? How rough will I be on it? Do I write or draw large or small?

2. Choose the right pen. Hi, my name is Scott Savage and I am a pen snob. I love GREAT PENS! I’ve tried far too many pens to count. My favorite is the Pilot G-2 0.7mm black. There are a few Uniball pens I like, along with some Sharpie pens too. But I always come back to the Pilot G-2. You want to make sure your pen writes smoothly, without bleeding or smearing.

3. Figure out pen storage. With some smaller pens, you can use the pocket in the back of your journal. For a long time, many Moleskine users came up with some fairly elaborate pen storage techniques. Just Google “Moleskine pen hacks” for the pictures. Thankfully, though, you can now order a Quiver. I have been the proud owner of a Quiver for nearly a year and I love it! I chose the Double-Pen Quiver that goes on the front of my notebook. I keep a Pilot G-2 in there, along with a marker in case I want a bolder look.

4. Label the front page. You can either use the area printed in the front to provide your name and contact information in case your notebook is lost. I just tape a business card on the front page. You can offer a reward depending on the value of the contents. I also write the start and end dates at the top right of the front page. This aids in my review process.

5. Number your pages. I go back to old notebooks to mine information. I go search for notes from a meeting, a journal entry from a particular season in life or a line I heard in a sermon. I start at the beginning of my notebook and I only number the odd pages. I write the page number in the top right of the page and then draw a diagonal line under it from the top of the page to the outside edge of the page. (see photo for #4).

6. Create an index. Traditionally, I’ve had my index at the front of my notebook, but on my newest Moleskine, I’m experimenting with it at the back. I allocate 5 pages for my index. I create 3 column headers – Title, Date, Page number. This makes it easy to scan as I’m looking for a specific entry. These two tips – numbering pages and creating an index – are lifesavers. Speaking from my experience of combing through old notebooks, these two tips are priceless.

7. Stock your pocket. In the back of Moleskines, there is a “hidden” pocket. Everyone stocks theirs differently. I include extra business cards, 3×5 note cards, and Post-It tabs. I know some people put a $10 or $20 bill in there, in case they forget their wallet.

8. Find some inspiration. Two of the main things I use my Moleskine for are taking notes in meetings and taking notes during talks/messages/sermons. I’ve found inspiration about how to take meeting notes better from Michael Hyatt. Mike Rhode is primary ambassador for Sketchnotes (he wrote a book by that same name) and he has helped me reimagine how I engage a presenter, regardless of context. Look for ways to make using your Moleskine more fun!

9. Keep aids handy. I regularly use my Moleskine to plan blogs or sermons. I found a great writing/presenting guide that was specially designed to be taped inside a Moleskine cover. I also found a helpful blog template from Michael Hyatt that I transfered to the second page of my new Moleskine. Other Moleskine users tape a calendar inside their notebook.

10. Consider storage and access. Moleskine entered a partnership with Evernote that enables Evernote users to take pictures of their Moleskine pages and store them in Evernote. My new Moleskine is an Evernote Smart Moleskine, which includes a free 3-month subscription to Evernote Premium. Now I can access my saved Moleskine pages via my Evernote app on my phone or Macbook or via any web browser. I also have a shelf at home where I keep all of my completed Moleskines.

However you choose to process information, I hope you enjoy the process. It is a privilege to be alive at this moment in history!

The simplicity and beauty of the Moleskine and the joy I’ve had in filling thousands of pages has become a passion of mine. I was sad to finish my last Moleskine and holding my fresh one, unmarked, was super exciting!

I’d love to hear from you. How do you process information like this? What tool(s) do you use?

Over the last seven years, I’ve had the privilege of serving on the staff of North Phoenix alongside Dan Yeary. We’ve sat in meetings together, led services together, supported grieving families together and laughed together. I’ve learned a lot from Dan and I’m not alone. My friend, Rob Payne, wrote a great piece recently about the 9 things he learned from Pastor Dan. I’ve been working on my list since I read Rob’s.

Here are five of the lessons I learned from Dan Yeary:

1) Love and serve your wife. A friend of mine says that Dan has lived his best sermon by how he has cared for his wife, Melinda, who has battled MS for many years. Dan’s daily care for her is a challenge to every husband to serve his wife with that kind of faithfulness. I know watching Dan serve Melinda was most powerful lesson multiple guest speakers took away from their time at North Phoenix.

2) Every person matters. I can’t count how many times I watched Dan walk up to someone he didn’t know, stick out that giant hand and say “Hi, I’m Dan Yeary.” Dan would make a connection in a few minutes. It was incredible. While many will remember his sermons, I’ve always felt Dan’s greatest strength was one-on-one. In that environment, everyone was interesting and I know Dan believed there was something he and that person had in common.

3) Mantras matter. At the end of 20 years, many people who’ve called North Phoenix home have forgotten many of Dan’s sermons. But his mantra’s have survived. I compiled ten of them…

-The best is yet to come

-Pray and obey

-Every member is a minister and a missionary

-(With God) obedience doesn’t require understanding.

-Loyalty, purity and second mile.

-You can’t love Jesus and not love the Church.

-Disagree but never dishonor

-You are a missionary cleverly disguised as a ___________

-I double dog dare ya!

-Love them to Jesus.

4. Earn the right. Dan preached and modeled how to share your faith in a world that doesn’t trust. Whether it was his pharmacist at Walgreens, the woman who did Melinda’s hair, the doctors/nurses/specialists who cared for them, neighbors, or waiters, Dan treated people with love and grace. He earned the right to share about Jesus, to invite people to a special church event or to hear him preach on a Sunday morning.

5. The Power of Trust. Speaking of trust, Dan allowed me incredible freedom as a staff member. I had the opportunity to launch an Ash Wednesday Service in a church that had never hosted one up to that point. Because of that trust, hundreds of Jesus-followers have gathered across denominations to begin Lent together since 2009. Because of trust, Dan allowed me and many others to lead the Crash community to innovate within our church in an attempt to reach people we weren’t reaching. Over the last seven years, I sat with friends who envied having a pastor who trusted them enough to let them be themselves and experiment.

Dan, thank you for being my pastor for the last 11 years, allowing me to serve with you for the last 7, laughing at my laugh and trusting me when (frankly) I didn’t deserve it. I’m a different man than I was when I walked through the doors of North Phoenix for the first time in August 2002 and like you, I’m believing…

The best is yet to come. 

NT Wright points out in the epilogue of his book, Surprised by Hope, that two sermons are typically preached on Easter Sunday. One applies the Resurrection only to our life after death and offers little meaning to this life, little transformation to this world, and little application to the state of our current world. The Resurrection is literal, but only-heavenly in impact. It’s “under-applied” to the present. The other type of sermon applies the Resurrection only to this life, with little to do with  our life after death. The focus is on transforming this world, but Jesus’ resurrection is disregarded as not being literal. This produces an “over-spiritualization” where the Resurrection becomes a metaphor and a symbol, not a historical event.

Wright’s book was one example of a third option that showed me the inadequacy of these two sermons mentioned above. The video I’ve embedded below is another example of that third option.

While I’ve read and heard statements from Rob Bell in recent years that I do not agree with as a follower of Jesus and a pastor, his comments in this video are compelling and take seriously the central place the Resurrection has in our faith. Whatever your opinion of Rob, I encourage you to watch this video and allow it to challenge you as you see how the Resurrections changes everything about your life and our world.

Easter is the day that the church celebrates the Resurrection of Jesus. While you may have all sorts of ideas about celebrating something like that (and some of you may even reject the idea that Jesus did come back from the grave), the significance of this event cannot be overstated.

I began to grasp the significance of the Resurrection to my faith as a Jesus-follower and my work as a pastor in the spring of 2008 when my mentor, Maxie Burch, and I read a book entitled, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection and the Mission of the Church by N.T. Wright. Wright, a world-renowned New Testament scholar, blew my out of my chair by helping me recognize the magnitude of the Resurrection and its rightful place at the center of my faith.

I got a chance to share about this very question – What’s the Big Deal with the Resurrection? – in a sermon I gave in July 2011. I’ve included the video below. As you consider whether you’ll attend a church service on Easter tomorrow or whether you’ll buy-in to all the noise about Easter, I hope you’ll take my message seriously and consider what the truth and reality of the Resurrection would mean in your life.

(And if you’re looking for a place to celebrate Easter with other people, I’d love to have you join me at my church. You can get all the details here.

I want to challenge you to consider why we use the word “Good” on this day when Jesus gave his life. Why is Good Friday “Good”?

Today’s reading is from Thomas Merton’s (a Trappist monk and popular writer) book, No Man is an Island. 

Only the sufferings of Christ are valuable in the sight of God, who
hates evil, and to him they are valuable chiefly as a sign. The death
of Jesus on the cross has an infinite meaning and value not because it
is death, but because it is the death of the son of God. The cross of
God says nothing of the power of suffering or death. It speaks only of
the power of him who overcame both suffering and death by rising from
the grave.
The wounds the evil stamped upon the flesh of Christ heard
of the worship is wholly not because their wounds, but because they
are his wounds. Norwood we worship them if he really died of them
without rising again. For Jesus is not really someone who once loved
us enough to die for us. His love for us is the infinite love of God,
which is stronger than all evil and cannot be touched by death.
Suffering, therefore, can only be consecrated to God by one who
believes that Jesus is not dead. And it is at the very essence of
Christianity to face suffering and death, not because they are good,
not because they have meaning, but because the resurrection of Jesus
has robbed them of their meaning.

Prompt: 

Calling the remembrance and memorialization of today’s events in the life of Jesus – “Good Friday” – has always perplexed me. In the moment, I think the disciples and followers of Jesus would have been perplexed too. They might have chosen “Death Friday” or “Dark Friday” or “Defeat Friday”.

It is only because of what happened on Sunday that Friday became good.

Merton understood this as well. He said “the resurrection of Jesus has robbed them of their meaning”. The resurrection robbed suffering, death, evil, and pain of their meaning.

Where in your life is something like death, dark or defeat? What would it mean for you to believe in the power of resurrection to make it “good”?

Today as you reflect on the death, suffering, and pain of Jesus on the Cross, consider what it means to worship the one who is God above and in the middle of your circumstances. 

(If you’re looking for a place to experience Good Friday with others, we’ve planned an incredible experience at my church. You can get all of the information here.)

Note: You’ve been reading one post of several within a series published during Holy Week 2013. To read other posts, check out these links below:

The Church and Our Suffering Savior

Even Suffering, Always Love

The Many and the Few

Reading from John 6:25-29:

When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

Reading from German mystic and priest, Thomas a Kempis – The Imitation of Christ

 ”There will always be many who love Christ’s heavenly kingdom, but few

who will bear His cross. Jesus has many who desire consolation, but few who

care for adversity. He finds many to share his table, but few who will

join Him in fasting. Many are eager to be happy with Him; few wish

to suffer anything for Him. Many will follow him as far as the

breaking of bread, but few will remain to drink from His passion. Many

awed by His miracles, few accept the shame of His cross.

Many love Christ as long as they encounter no hardship; many praise and

bless him as long as they receive some comfort from Him. But if Jesus

hides himself and leaves them for a while, they either start complaining

or become dejected. Those, on the contrary, who love him for His own

sake and not for any comfort of their own, praise Him both in trial

and anguish of heart as well as in the bliss of consolation. Even if Jesus

should never comfort them, they would continue to praise and thank

Him. What power there is in a pure love for Jesus – love that is free from

all self-interest and self-love!”

Prompt: 

After feeding between fifteen and twenty thousand people, Jesus engages the crowd that comes back looking for Jesus. He identifies their motives as less than pure and challenges them to begin seeking God, not just the satisfaction of their desires.

Kempis, in his seminal work, gets at this same theme. While a crowd may be present, the number of those who will persevere is much smaller. Even though each disciple might like to think that they would never betray Jesus or abandon the cause, the example of Peter and Judas remind everyone to consider their commitment with humility and sober judgment. Kempis – like Christ – communicates that pure love and faith are kept pure when selfish interests are abandoned.

As you prepare to celebrate Good Friday tomorrow, consider where you continue to put your own selfish interests and agenda between yourself and the Cross. 

In the last year, since Easter 2012, where have you been one of the many who “praise and bless him as long as they receive some comfort from Him”?

What needs to be abandoned at the Cross this year?

Note: You’ve been reading one post of several within a series published during Holy Week 2013. To read other posts, check out these links below:

The Church and Our Suffering Savior

Even Suffering, Always Love

Romans 5:1-8 NIV2011

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

A reading from Mother Teresa (Mother Terese of Calcutta: A Biography by Edward, LeJoly, 333-334):

“Look at the Cross and you will see Jesus’ head bent to kiss you, His arms extended to embrace you, His heart opened to receive you, to enclose you within His love. Knowing that the Cross was His greater love for you and for me, let us accept His Cross in whatever He wants to give, let us give with joy whatever He wants to take, for in doing so they will know that we are His disciples, that we belong to Jesus, that the work you and I and all the Brothers and Sisters do is but our love in action…”

Prompt:

Mother Teresa was powerfully convinced that her singular life goal should be to share in Christ’s suffering on the cross. She wanted to united with Him. She trusted God so completely that she felt she must embrace whatever came her way – even suffering, always love.

Consider opening yourself today to whatever the Cross means for you. What are you struggling to be open to?

Also consider the love the Jesus extends to you in the Cross. Where do you feel compelled to receive that love? What stands in the way to receiving it?

Note: You’ve been reading one post of several within a series published during Holy Week 2013. To read other posts, check out these links below:

The Church and Our Suffering Savior

The Many and the Few

For the next six days, I will be posting selections from the Scriptures and writings of theologians, pastors and leaders about the crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus. I have been processing through these readings via a book I’ve been reading during the Lent season entitled Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter. I hope you’ll spend time reading and reflecting on the words posted here, as a means of preparing to celebrate all that Passion Week means.

A Reading from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 16, verses 21-28…

From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.

“Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

A reading from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Meditations on the Cross…

“Suffering and rejection are the summary expressions of Jesus’ cross. Death on the cross means to suffer and to die as someone rejected and expelled. That is Peter, the rock of the church, who incurs guilt here immediately after his own confession of Jesus Christ and after his appointment by Jesus, means that from its very inception, the church itself has taken offense at the suffering Christ. It neither wants such a Lord nor does it, as the Church of Christ, want its Lord to force upon it the law of suffering.

This makes it necessary for Jesus to relate clearly and unequivocally to his own disciple the “must” of suffering. Just as Christ is Christ only in suffering and rejection, so also are they his disciples only in suffering and rejection, in being crucified along with Christ. Discipleship as commitment to the person of Jesus Christ places the disciple under the Law of Christ, that is, under the cross.”

Prompt:

Bonhoeffer’s words express his theology of the cross and its work in his own life. In returning to Germany just before the rise of Nazism, building an underground seminary to train pastors and taking part in an attempt to assassinate Hitler, he knew suffering was his destiny. However, he knew this kind of obedience – and the kind of obedience Christ exhibited after sweating blood in the Garden of Gethsemane – was essential to embracing the Cross.

Why do you think the church “takes offense at the suffering Christ”? How are we avoiding a Lord who suffers or a call to suffer ourselves? 

As you examine your life this morning, what does it mean for you to live “under the cross” – a cross of suffering and rejection?

Note: You’ve been reading one post of several within a series published during Holy Week 2013. To read other posts, check out these links below:

Even Suffering, Always Love

The Many and the Few

it rises and falls on your ability to relate to other people well.

Steve Saccone hit a nerve in me a few years ago when he wrote the book Relational Intelligence. (I reviewed the book here). Steve recognized that our culture was enamored with people who lacked relational intelligence. Michael Scott, Steve Carrell’s infamous manager at Dunder Mifflin Paper Company on NBC’s The Office, is a great example. A huge piece of a successful reality TV show is spotlighting someone who does not relate to other people well.

Steve also pointed out that those who are relationally intelligent become incredibly successful. His subtitle was “How Leaders Can Expand Their Influence Through a New Way of Being Smart.”

As I’ve been reflecting on my need to relate to others well in my work as a pastor, I have been reminded of these five truths.

1. There are two sides of every story…
Recently, I had an opportunity to navigate a series of exchanges that had gone less than ideally between two people. As I asked questions and worked through feelings, emotions and the bigger context, I realized that only in hearing both sides did the full picture become obvious. Friendship and loyalty can get in the way of an unbiased search for truth. To be relationally intelligent, concern for truth needs to trump loyalty and friendship.

2. …and the truth is often somewhere in-between those two sides.
When conflict happens and things go south, there are rarely completely innocent parties. Listening, asking good questions and being willing to ask everyone to stretch and own their stuff are vital skills.

3. We tend to assume the most when we know the least…
Instant communication and platforms for instant, worldwide commentary on current events can be detrimental to relational harmony. We can post before we think, comment before we know, and judge before we process. Based on limited information, judgments are incomplete and often destructive. Tragic consequences and relational fallout often result from us assuming the most when we know the least.

4. …so reserve judgment until you know all the facts.
Patience rules. Let things play out. Wait…and think before you tweet. Ask, “what’s the wisest thing to do in this moment?” Believe the best until you no longer can. Give someone the benefit of the doubt you hope they would give you if you were in their shoes. Let someone be the first to “break the news”…or stick their foot in their mouth. The writer of Proverbs 17:28 reminds us that “even fools are thought wise if they keep silent, and discerning if they hold their tongues.”

5. Offer generosity to others as often as you can.
Generosity is never a bad option. Offering someone more than they deserve. Giving someone a second chance. Asking someone to explain their action or response before making an assessment or arriving at a conclusion. One of my friends plays a game when she is driving. When someone cuts her off or does something reckless or irresponsible, she tries to guess what is going in their world or where they are going or why they would drive like that. “Maybe their wife is in labor and they are on their way to the hospital.” “Maybe their house is on fire and they are on their way to save family photos.” “Maybe they really have to go to the bathroom.” As ridiculous as some of her “maybe” statements can be, I think it is her way of offering generosity when the natural response is much harsher.

As you relate to others today, look for an opportunity to practice one of these 5 actions.

If you’ve learned something about becoming relationally intelligent lately, please share your wisdom with us in the comment section below.