busy, busy

I haven't been blogging much lately--been pretty busy. I'm turning 35 this week. I remember when that sounded like an "old" age, definitely a grown up age, an adult age. Now that I've made it here, it doesn't feel that old.

my little artists

In May, Mary had one of her art class paintings from school selected to be placed on display at the Polk Museum of Art here in Lakeland. That's her pointing to her painting of a kitty (the one on top) when we visited the museum.

Last month, Anna was awarded a two-week scholarship to the museum's summer art sessions. She had classes in sculpting clay, three-dimensional painting and "big" painting. That's her standing next to her big painting masterpiece painted on a 4x4 piece of plywood. I love the painting, but I can't figure out how & where to hang a 4x4 piece of plywood in our home.

I'm very proud of both of them. I've really missed Lisa and the girls this week & can't wait to have them home tomorrow.

Declaration of Dependence

Today our nation celebrates it’s independence; I want to celebrate my dependence.

I’m dependent upon my God for all that I have. Every breathe, every heartbeat, every sunrise & sunset is gift from above. More than that, I have a God that loves me with a perfect, unfailing love that knows no limit. I am completely dependent on that love for any faith, hope or love of my own. I am utterly dependent on God’s grace to give me life, not just physical life, but real life in Him that will never die.

I’m dependent upon my wife for making and keeping me the man I am today; for making me complete. Lisa’s been at her parents’ house for a couple days and it has made me realize how much I love & need her. She is my soul mate. I don’t sleep as well when she’s not in the bed. I feel that part of me is missing. I depend on her to make me the whole person I am.
I depend on my girls to make me a better dad, and to better understand the Father’s love for me. I depend on them to bring me joy and make me proud. I depend on them to teach me how to love like the Father and how to receive unconditional love. I depend on them to make me laugh and to make me smile.

I depend on the Church and my church to help me live out my walk with God. I learn the value, joy and hardship of being in communion with others. I see the diversity of God while at the same time see his unity as well. I’ve depended on the Church to carry on the teachings and truths of Christ, to give me the scriptures and traditions (good & bad) to learn from. I depend on those who have gone before me, like Francis of Assisi, to give me an example to follow of how to be a good disciple.

I depend on my nation and various levels of government to provide safety and security for my family, and for financial stability. While I know that it is God whom I ultimately trust for these things, I recognize that he uses earthly government to bring these things about too.
I’m glad to have freedom, but I’m grateful to be dependent.

name change

you may have noticed that this is no longer "tom & lisa's blog" but just "tom's blog". that's because lisa has her own bloggy thing going on now.

emergING not EmernGENT

Revelant Magazine had a good article on the Emergent movement, not to be confused with the emerging church. Emergent is the more formal organization that includes guys like Doug Pagitt and Brian McLaren. Just for the record, our community may be considered part of the emerging church, but we have nothing to do with Emergent. Personally, I'm not a big fan of the Emergent gang. I'm particularly concerned with much of their theological sloppiness and careless disregard for the importance of doctrine. We've been studying some church history in our gathering and tonight discussed some of the background around the Council of Nicea. They considered theological terminology & the finer points of doctrine to be very important, thankfully or else we might all be Arians instead of Christians. I get the impression from some of their recent writings that Pagitt & McLaren wouldn't necessarily be too upset about that as long as we could all just get along.

Anyway, there was a great quote from Len Sweet in the article, and I think it holds true for the emerging church as well as the Emergent gang. The article mentioned that Sweet was concerned that the overemphasis on how we do church has taken the focus off Christ. Then Sweet says:

"And that [the overemphasis on how to do church] brings me to a related issue: confusion between relevancy and recency. Some of the most relevant things are not the most recent, but the most ancient. Without a historical sense, or the spiritual discipline of histoical context, there's confusion between keeping relevant and just keeping up. we have to be in touch with the culture but in tune with the Spirit."

I've been thinking much lately about this kind of stuff; about being the church, about being community, about being connected to the larger Body of Christ, about theology and history, about worship and liturgy.

I was right

Nacho Libre is hands down the funniest movie of the year. I couldn't breathe I was laughing so hard. Funniest movie I've seen in a long time, if not one of the funniest I've ever seen. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it was very funny.

close call

seven comments on ben roethlisberger's recent accident:

• 1. he is one lucky s.o.b.
• 2. i think he owes every steeler fan a minimum of $500 for mental anguish

3. does it make me a bad person to admit that my first reaction to hearing that he was seriously injured while riding his motorcyle was "there goes the season"?

4. he's an idiot. wears a helmet to work because a 350-lb lineman might hit him, but doesn't wear one while riding his motorcycle when a 3000-lb car could hit him.

5. i hope the little old lady that hit him has police protection because steeler fans can be absolutely insane when it comes to anything negatively impacting the team.

6. here's hoping he'll be ready for the start of the season.

7. i'm guessing his next contract is going to have some language in it about riding motorcycles--especially without a helmet.

7. anyone riding a motorcycle without a helmet is an idiot. lawmakers that have repealed laws requiring helmets (like in PA or here in FL) are idiots too. it's against the law in FL to ride a bicycle without a helmet, but not a motorcycle. go figure.

Rats!

I woke up to a sight like this greeting me this morning in my bathroom. That'll get your blood going! I gentlely closed the lid and walked back through the bedroom. Lisa woke up and asked what I was doing. "There's a rat in the toilet" I calmly replied. I put on some work gloves & went back into the bathroom. As I stared at the toilet I played out my options. I could: A) flush the poor little bastard, but that could clog the toilet, B) grab him & run out of the house then throw him across the yard hoping a stray cat would find him, but then again he could just come back in the house, or C) reach in there and hold him under the water to drown him, but he could bite me. Then I saw it, the plunger! I used that to drown the little guy then grabbed him by the tail to dispose of the body. This is the fourth rat to meet his/her untimely dimise on my watch & each time the grim reaper has taken a different form: trap, poison, squashed by a pot & drowning. Next time I'm going for a flaming aerosol can. Until then no more blindly sitting in the dark during a late night potty run.

playing along

Alan and A started this whole thing about posting pictures of their bookshelves so I thought I'd play along and post some shots from mine as well.

stuff

• Lisa and I celebrated 13 years of wedded bliss on 5/22. I meant to blog about that back then but time got away from me. There's been ups and downs, there's been times that were better & some that were worse, there's been sickness & health, we've never been "rich" but we've been poor and through it all I can't think of another person on the face of the earth I would have rather spent this time with. God really new what he was doing when he put Lisa in my life and I am very grateful for that.
• I know that there tends to be a good amount of healthy (and unhealthy) criticism of politics and blind patriotism by those in the emerging church scene. I myself wrestled with recent decisions regarding the use of military force in Iraq. On this Memorial Day I remain grateful beyond words for the sacrifices made by those who gave their lives, and continue to do so, for my freedom.
• Theology matters. Understaning who God is matters. It might seem boring or confusing but it is not trivial. Asking theological questions, asking deep questions is never a waste of time.
• History matters. We do not exist in a vacuum. The bible does not exist in a vacuum. We are part of a people with a history that stretches back for centuries--and I'm not talking about all the way back to the 1500's. Understanding how the Church has interpreted scripture, what it has taught about spirituality and morality helps shape our own spiritual development.

welcome to the 21st century

the ponchak house is now wireless. hot diggity!

What the?!

I was recently reading an article by a leader in my current denomination. The article was about the importance of tithing & budgeting as a church, not just as individuals. Along with the usual crap about God blessing people in a twisted a quid pro quo theological system--you know, the more you give, the more He'll bless--was this little gem of advice:

"When you break it down, our budgets should look something like this:
10 percent of your budget should be given to benevolence, missions, or outreach.
10 percent should go to your savings account...
20 percent should go toward ministries -- children, youth, worship, men’s, women’s, etc.
35 percent of our budgets should be designated to our salaries.
25 percent of our budgets should be designated for building and operation costs."

So 60% of a church's budget should pay professionals to do what we should all be doing (ministry) and to pay for a nice place to meet. That is why we have decided not to do the typical church thing. Our 2005 budget looked like this:

• 56% - Benevolence: locally & globally (tsunami & hurricane aid)
• 23% - Group functions: meals, art supplies, etc.
• 15% - Operating costs: website, corporation fees, software, etc.
• 6% - Miscellaneous expenses & savings

I like to know that I am a part of a community that spends the most amount of the money being offered each week on helping others in need. I think that is a much better use of our resources, and a much more scriptural practice. Personally, I'm not satisfied with only 54% of our money being spent on others, I'd like to see that figure be much higher. Can you imagine what the world would be like if the church as a whole got it's budgeting in line with the heart of God? What if our benevolence budget was given the priority & percentage that our building and salary budgets? What if sold our multi-million dollar auditoriums and sanctuaries and gave that money to the poor? I seem to remember Jesus recommending something like that.

nfl draft 2006

I confess to being a bit of a draft nerd--though not as much as I once was. In 2000 we had just moved to the Tampa area and I entered an on-line draft contest on the Buccaneers' website. You had to fill out you own mock draft. I finished in second place out of all the entries & missed first place (tickets to a game) by just one pick. I did get a nice prize package of shirts and hats for the Bucs which I promptly gave away since my loyalty remains with my Steelers. I'll be hanging around today checking in on ESPN or NFL.com to keep up with who's picking who. Since my boys are the World Champs they're scheduled to pick last which makes it very difficult to figure out who they'll take. They need a safety or a center. They'll also need to replace Randle El as a slot receiver/return man/trick play threat. I'd like to see them take Michael Robinson (QB-Penn State) to fill the trick play role. He was QB at Penn State, but also played receiver & running back there as well.

new photos

I got tired of the slow upload time (even with our cable modem) for Fotopages so I just created some of my own photo albumns for now. Click here for pictures of our vacation up north last month.

If anyone out there knows of a better, easy to use, free photo hosting site please let me know.

Alleluia, Christ is risen!

We gathered as a community last night around a backyard campfire for our easter vigil service. We read the Old Testament stories of God's calling and saving his people. We shared the light of Christ from our easter candle, and shared in his body & blood during communion. At the start of our celebration of the empty tomb I recited the Exultet, the ancient Easter proclamation. It is my favorite prayer/hymns of the church so I thought I'd share it here as well.

Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing choirs of angels!
Exult, all creation around God's throne!
Jesus Christ, our King is risen!
Sound the trumpet of salvation!

Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendor,
radiant in the brightness of your King!
Christ has conquered! Glory fills you!
Darkness vanishes for ever!

Rejoice, O Church! Exult in glory!
The risen Savior shines upon you!
Let this place resound with joy,
echoing the mighty song of all God's people!

It is truly right that with full hearts and minds and voices
we should praise the unseen God, the all-powerful Father,
and his only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
For Christ has ransomed us with his blood,
and paid for us the price of Adam's sin to our eternal Father!

This is our Passover feast,
When Christ, the true Lamb, is slain,
whose blood consecrates the homes of all believers.

This is the night,
when first you saved our fathers:
you freed the people of Israel from their slavery,
and led them dry-shod through the sea.

This is the night,
when the pillar of fire destroyed the darkness of sin.

This is the night,
when Christians everywhere,
washed clean of sin and freed from all
defilement, are restored to grace and grow together in holiness.

This is the night,
when Jesus broke the chains of death
and rose triumphant from the grave.

What good would life have been to us,
had Christ not come as our Redeemer?

Father, how wonderful your care for us!
How boundless your merciful love!
To ransom a slave you gave away your Son.

O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam,
which gained for us so great a Redeemer!

Most blessed of all nights,
chosen by God to see Christ rising from the dead!

Of this night scripture says:
"The night will be as clear as day: it will become my light, my joy."

The power of this holy night dispels all evil,
washes guilt away, restores lost innocence,
brings mourners joy; it casts out hatred,
brings us peace, and humbles earthly pride.

Night truly blessed, when heaven is wedded to
earth and we are reconciled to God!

Therefore, heavenly Father, in the joy of this night,
receive our evening sacrifice of praise,
your people's solemn offering.

May the Morning Star which never sets find this flame still burning:
Christ, that Morning Star, who came back from the dead,
and shed his peaceful light on all mankind, your Son,
who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Amen.

holy days

Palm Sunday has just passed. Passover began this evening at sundown. Tomorrow marks the start of the Easter Triduum (three days). Our community will gather for Holy Thursday for a communion service, Good Friday for a meditation on the way of the cross, and Easter Vigil on Saturday evening to celebrate the resurrection. We'll finish things off with an Easter party and our traditional egg hunt for the kids.

As we gathered for our All Group meeting this past Sunday I reminded everyone that these are holy days. To be holy is to be set apart, and these days should be set apart for us. They should be set apart to tell & remember our Story. As a community we do this by gathering on consecutive evenings. I also encouraged everyone to find some way to personally mark these days, perhaps by reading the Gospel accounts of Christ's last days leading to his crucifixion and resurrection.

I am grateful to my parents (and my Catholic heritage) for instilling in me a profound appreciation for these days. Growing up we always had Good Friday off from school (Catholic school) and my dad always had off from work. Good Friday was observed as a somber day in our home. My parents' rule was that from noon to three o'clock on Good Friday there was to be silence in the house. No TV, no radio, no phone, not even casual conversation. We were strongly encouraged to take that time to meditate upon the cross. I remember every year looking through an old National Geographic magazine article about the Shroud of Turin and what the man on the cloth must have suffered. I would read the passion narratives in my bible. Then we would attend the three o'clock service at our church. That day for Catholics is a day of fasting (three small meals) and abstenance (no meat). I don't necessarily agree with manditory proscriptions such as these, but making a sacrifice on that day seemed appropriate. As was our family tradtion--cultural and "old" Catholic--we also abstained from meat & fasted on Holy Saturday as well until after attending the Easter Vigil service, then it was time to break the fast & celebrate with a late snack.

There is something special about these next few days and I always look forward to them every year. I'm greived somewhat that the business of work & life often interfere, but do my best nonetheless to set these days apart in my heart. I pray that you will find a way to do so too.

communion of the saints

Here's an article I've just finished writing after reflecting on the losses of Chad & Palmer in the last month or so. It seems I'm not the only one doing some reflection on this subject.

A mystical Three-Legged Race
by Tom Ponchak

With the recent untimely passing of two fellow followers of Jesus (Chad Canipe and Mark Palmer) I’ve been reflecting on our connection with our brothers & sisters in Christ who have gone before us. We profess in the Apostles’ Creed that “we believe in the communion of saints”, but I have found few outside the Catholic of Orthodox camps that have any appreciation or understanding for this term. Several years ago I out together a small group teaching about the communion of saints using Hebrews 11 & 12 as a foundation.

The eleventh chapter of Hebrews is known by some as the “Hall of Faith” due the litany of Old Testament heroes mentioned in it. The author of Hebrews starts with Abel and moves through Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to Moses, Rahab, Gideon and Samson to David, Samuel and the Prophets. It celebrates all of their accomplishments made possible by their faith. It goes on to recount the stories of other unnamed witnesses and martyrs. The chapter ends in a rather peculiar manner with the following verses:

39And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect. (NIV)

We’re told that all of these giants and heroes of the faith did not receive their promise because God had something better for us. Even more radical is the thought that the fulfillment of their promise of being made perfect is somehow tied up in our story as well. Somehow, I have some part to play in Abraham or Moses getting to see their promises fulfilled. The key to understanding how this happens is laid down in the first few verses of chapter twelve:

39And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect. (NIV)

When looking at this passage it is important to remember that the original author did not create chapter and verse breaks in the letter. While chapter and verse numbers are helpful they can often prevent us from seeing what is intended to be a single flow of thought. This is the case between Hebrews 11& 12. The “therefore” should be read as a bridge from chapter eleven to chapter twelve, connecting the two segments as a single thought process. Taking this approach we can see that the reason it is important for us to “run the race” is so that those heroes of the faith in chapter eleven can receive the blessing of the promises made to them through their connection with us. They are the “great cloud of witnesses”.

So how is this supposed to help me understand the communion of saints? I believe the key word in this passage of scripture is “surrounding” in the first segment of Hebrews 12:1. For so many years I’ve heard teachings and sermons making reference to this cloud of witnesses as the saints cheering us on from the heavenly grandstands. They rooting for us and encouraging us. This paints a picture of those who have gone before us, those who have “made it” kicking back and passively encouraging us from a distance.

When I actually broke down this passage for study and looked at the Greek term that we have translated as “surrounding” I gained a whole new understanding of this piece of scripture and a new appreciation for the communion of saints. The Greek word used here is περικειμαι (perikeimai). It literally means “to be encompassed with”. It is a word used only four other times in the New Testament and those other usages provide a better insight to its meaning. I’ve printed these other passages below and highlighted the way perikeimai is translated.

Mark 9:42
"And whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea.”

Luke
17:2
"It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble.”

Acts 28:20
“For this reason I have asked to see you and talk with you. It is because of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain."

Heb 5:2
“…he can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided, since he himself also is beset with weakness…”

Looking at these passages it becomes apparent that the cloud of witnesses is not cheering us on from the grandstands—they’re bound to us. It’s almost as if we’re running a divine three-legged race with those who have met the Lord before us, and with those who will come after us. We are inseparably united with them for the sole purpose of seeing this whole thing through to the end so that we all get the prize that is awaiting us.

That is the communion of saints. That is koinonia, fellowship, intimacy, community. That is the Kingdom of God. In some mystical way I am now more intimately connected and bound to Palmer and Chad than I ever was in this life when I only e-knew them through blogs and shared values & vision.

great family road trip of 2006

well we survived our road trip up north. we drove from lakeland to lexington, ky to mckeesport, pa to charlotte, nc and back--exactly 2,390 miles in a jam-packed honda civic with two adults, two kids and a baby, not to mention a tightly packed trunk. i took this picture as we pulled in last night at 11:15 after driving 8-1/2 hours from charlotte. in all we had a great time. clare was wonderful, sleeping for most of our driving time. out of 30+ hours in the car she probably cried for only 60-90 minutes of that time.

i'm currently working on getting our pictures up to our fotoblog. so far i've got images from our kentucky weekend there. i hope to have the rest up within the next few days. here are some quick thoughts, observations and awards:

• state with the most contstruction: florida with pennsylvania a close 2nd
• most unreasonable speed limit: 50-mph thru downtown orlando on a saturday nite. i was doing 65 and getting passed like i was standing still.
• fewest state police observed: south carolina. drove thru the whole state & didn't see one cop on the highway at any time.
• worst roads: pennsylvania, hands down
• best idea for the trip: lisa will kill me for saying this, but bringing along her battery operated breast pump so the girls could feed clare without us having to stop.
• second best ideas for the trip: tie, getting the car windows tinted (see best idea #1), and getting the girls a portable 2-screen dvd player so they could avoid boredom by watching movies
• coldest location: lexington--actually saw a little of the white stuff while we were there. we don't see that in florida unless a drug plane crashes in the front yard or something.
• most insane drivers: florida by a long shot
• dumbest traffic law: stop signs at the end of on/off ramps in pennsylvania

overall it was great to connect/reconnect with family & friends. we had a great time in kentucky at casa de creech sharing and exploring ways to express our faith in a new context. it was great to be able to have my family spend time with the girls and see clare for the first time. i got to travel to my football mecca--heinz field in pittsburgh. finally, the girls loved getting to see the former neighbor and best friend hannah at her new home in charlotte. i've said it before and i'll say it again, it's our relationships that make life meaningful and important.

palmer

our vacation has been marked with a moment of sadness as we have learned that mark palmer has passed away. i didn't know mark personally. we share mutual friends and were commrades in the Kingdom. i know his story & feel sadness for his wife, amy, and son, micah. he is now experiencing what no eye has seen or ear has heard. he is now in the loving comforting presence of God where there is no mourning or weeping or cancer. please pray for his family & faith community as they deal with the reality of being left behind.

May the Angels lead you into paradise;
may the martyrs greet you at your arrival
and lead you into the holy city, Jerusalem.

May the choir of Angels greet you
and like Lazarus, who once was a poor man,
may you have eternal rest.

Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord,
and may perpetual light shine upon him.
May his soul, and all the souls of the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God rest in peace.
(from the Catholic funeral rite)

hanging

just got into lexington to spend the weekend with father creech and friends. i'm sitting in casa creech right now taking advantage of his wireless network while listening to ""rock lobster" by the b-52's. really looking forward to this weekend, should be an excellent time. then the road trip will continue to my parents near pittsburgh for the rest of the week.