intersections

2011 Year in Review

I can't believe another year has passed into history. It's been an incredibly busy twelve months, full of milestones and new ventures, for me and my family. This brief update will give you a little idea in words and images, what we've been up to this year.

Family

Urban life is a little insane. There is always too much happening in too little time and space, but we can never complain of boredom. Elysabeth made an enormously courageous decision to start a new career this year. She is currently enrolled in the Vidal Sassoon Academy in Santa Monica. She began the one year program in  September and is looking forward to putting her considerable artistic ability to work styling hair. In February she also had a solo exhibit of her new paintings in Silver Lake. You can see her paintings here, and even purchase one!

Zoe started 6th grade this year in a new school - Renaissance Arts Academy - where in addition to her regular studies she is studying modern dance. On June 4th I had the amazing privilege of baptizing Zoe!

Sophie started 3rd grade this year at Franklin Elementary where she's been since Kindergarden and excelling in all her subjects! After school she continues to learn the piano.

Ministry

My ministry at the Hollywood Adventist Church is as rewarding as ever. This year we had the remarkable experience of partnering with a dozen or more Muslims from the nearby Islamic Center of Southern California and having some inspiring conversations about our respective faiths. On the 10^th Anniversary of September 11 we had the privilege of hosting Imam Jihad Turk, from the Islamic Center, to speak about peacemaking in our world.

Al Tirah! Fear Not!

We are drowning in a culture of fear in America. The message coming daily from the cable news networks is, "Be afriad. Be very afraid!" Yes this is contrary to the a dominant biblical theme: "Fear not!" As my friend Sharon Brous, Rabbi of the IKAR community here in Los Angeles, says in this new video, the Torah is littered with command, "Al tirah," on God's lips. The opposite of fear, in scripture, is love. Instead of closing our hands in fear we are told to open our hands in generosity and compassion (See Deut. 15:7-10).

Jesus echos this long standing tradition when he says,"Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Luke 12:32). John, the beloved disciples of Jesus, toward the end of his life, penned these powerful words,

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

In this video, Sharon has reminded us that Jews - and Christians following in the same tradition - have a different vision and calling than others. Our lives should be a demonstration to the world that there is a better way - the way of generosity and love.

Perfect love casts out fear!

Fear not!

Al tirah!

Depression in pastoral ministry

Yesterday’s USA Today carried the disturbing story of a 42-year old pastor in North Carolina who committed suicide. I was deeply moved as I read about this young man who had apparently come to the end of his hope and, in complete despair, took his own life. Suicide is rare among pastors, the article reports, but many live with depression. Loneliness, isolation and the resistance of congregations to cultural change are cited as primary causes of depression.

The day before, the New York Times ran a piece entitled “Kierkegaard on the Couch,” by Gordon Marino. After reading the piece twice I began to discern the important distinction he makes between depression and despair and Kierkegaard’s concern for the spiritual dimensions of despair.

Then, while chatting online with my friend, Alburn, he pointed me to this interesting Money.com article entitled “Stressful jobs that pay badly," which describes “15 of the most overworked and underpaid professions out there.” Number 10: Minister. According to this piece, 71% of ministers report that their job is stressful.

This was like a perfect storm for me. But the picture is not yet complete. My own personal story is that I serve a congregation that is creative, flexible, open-minded and open-hearted, loving, supportive and fun. They are a group of spiritual pilgrims that genuinely enjoy being on this journey together. And, they love me. How do I know? They tell me. Frequently. It may have escaped your notice that October was Pastor Appreciate Month. For the past five years I have been appreciated by my church family in a way I never imagined possible. This is due primarily to the ministry of one of my dear friends and church elders, Kirsten Salvador. She has the gift of remembering important moments in people’s lives and making them understand that they are treasured.

It's Really All About God

My dear friend, Samir Selmanovic, has just published his first book entitled, It's Really All About God (buy on Amazon) and what a way to start. This is not a review...that will be coming soon. But I will tell you that this is a radical, peaceful vision of the force for good that religion can and should be in the world, told through the intimate, personal lenses of someone who hase expereinced so much of the good and bad of religion.

There is a review at the Spectrum website by my friend, Brenton Reading. You can read that here.

The blurb I wrote for inside the front cover says this:

“Samir has written a book that reads like an extended poem; an ode to life. Where others see only the darkness and destructiveness of religion, Samir sees beauty and hope. Where others see only competition and violence, Samir sees synergy and life. And his vision is no simple syncretism; a blending of all religions into one inoffensive ‘smoothie’ of goodness and light. This book is a celebration of postmodern ‘otherness’ of the first order. It will inspire you, frustrate you, maybe even anger you. Samir will not answer all your questions or tell you exactly what to do next. But if you’ve ever felt that nagging deep in your soul that God is lurking just beneath the surface in places you have least expected, you need to read this book!”

I will write a review here after I get a chance to read it again.

Please go buy this book and read it. In the meantime, check out this short video of Samir talking about his book.

Summer Reading Group :: What Would Jesus Deconstruct?

It’s hard to believe…but, summer is here. And with summer comes time spent with great books. So, re-church is announcing a Summer Reading Group. We will be blogging through What Would Jesus Deconstruct?, by John D. Caputo. This is an enjoyable and challenge jaunt into postmodernism, Derridian deconstruction and the gospel. Caputo has a playful, sharp and ironic style that is sure to rub us the wrong way and spark some great conversation.
There are 6 chapters and we will blog one chapter a week for six weeks, starting July 13, so you have time to get the book and start reading. Our bloggers will be:

::Ryan Bell, Senior Pastor of the Hollywood Adventist Church
::Samir Selmanovic, founder of Faith House Manhattan and Pastor of City Lights
::Zane Yi, Ph.D. candidate in Philosophy at Fordham University in New York City.

Please drop a comment at the re-church blog if you plan to read along with us. The blogs will be posted there and we invite your comments, questions, challenges and insights. This will be a much more enjoyable experience if you participate in the comments.

Please invite anyone you know that might be interested in this group and lets have some fun this summer reading together.

Anti-libraries

My friend and intern on our church staff, Scott Arany, sent me this quote. It's perfection! This is exactly how I feel about my library, estimated at around 1,000 - 1,200 books (not 30,000!).

The writer Umberto Eco belongs to that small class of scholars who are encyclopedic, insightful, and nondull. He is the owner of a large personal library (containing thirty thousand books), and separates visitors into two categories: those who react with "Wow! Signore professore dottore Eco, what a library you have! How many of these books have you read?" and the others -- a very small minority -- who get the point that a private library is not an ego-boosting appendage but a research tool. Read books are far less valuable than unread ones. The library should contain as much of what you do not know as your financial means, mortgage rates, and the currently tight real-estate market allow you to put there. You will accumulate more knowledge and more books as you grow older, and the growing number of unread books on the shelves will look at you menacingly. Indeed, the more you know, the larger the rows of unread books. Let us call this collection of unread books an antilibrary.

From the introduction to The Black Swan, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

Stories of Failure

My friend Yaroslav, who lives in Moscow and was our patient and attentive host while we were in Moscow last October, recently entered a context for the most embarrassing outreach stories. His short story was chosen as one of the winners. Congrats, Yaroslav, on being one of the biggest losers! (Sorry, American TV show humor - I'll explain later). Here is an excerpt...

I was on an outreach errand with a fellow believer, doing colporteur evangelism (carrying literature) in an apartment house. We had sold several Bibles and Christian books. All was going great. At the following door, we rang the bell. After several minutes of waiting, we heard someone approach the door quietly and then retreat. We rang the bell once more. Nothing.
We looked at each other for a moment, and then it hit us!

You can read the whole thing here, along with the other winners.

This reminds me so much of something profound we did at the re-church conference in 2002 entitled, Loving Babylon, in which we invited several pastors to come up to the front and tell their stories of failure. At most pastor's conference I've ever been to, tremendous success stories are told. We wanted to share our weakness. At the end we were blessed by an amazing prayer of an unbeliever. You can read that story in Samir Selmanovics forthcoming book, It's Really All About God.

48-hour Film-A-Thon

This weekend my congregation is doing something incredible. It's called a 48-hour film-a-thon. Perhaps some of you have heard of this type of thing before, but it was totally new to me. The idea is simple: write, cast, shoot and produce a short film in the space of 48 hours.

We will begin on Saturday night, around 7:30 pm, with the writing process. By 7:30 pm on Monday, we will have a short film in the can. At least that's the plan, and given the creative and talented friends I have in the church, I believe that it is possible. My main role will be some kind of second or third assistant producer (I think) which basically means I do what I'm told (running errands, moving stuff around, helping people with whatever needs help). I'll all be a part of the writing team. I'm pretty excited about this.

Cinema Divina
We're not just doing this film-a-thon because it sounds like a fun project or even just for the end product. Like a walk-a-thon or a bike-a-thon, it is a fundraiser. So, participants are getting sponsors (either a per hour sponsorship or a flat donation). All the proceeds are going to a new production company called Cinema Divina that our congregation is in the process of starting. These funds that are raised this weekend will go toward our first short film that is slated to be made this summer.

So, I could really use your support. Please help me support these uber-talented  filmmakers in our congregation and the other Christian filmmakers in our community by making a pledge toward our film-a-thon.

If you want to pledge, please email me - rjbell  (AT)  hollywoodsda  (DOT) com.

Join me at "Transforming Theology"

This Friday night, from 7-9 pm, I'll be at Claremont School of Theology for meeting entitled, "Transforming the Church." Tony Jones, of Emergent Village, will be present. Tony writes a little bit about this event on his blog, here. My friend, Trisha Famisaran is working on this initiative in her role at Claremont's Center for Process Studies.

You can learn more on their website or join the Facebook Group.

I hope you'll consider joining in the conversation. It's going to be challenging and provocative. It's an important conversation for some of us in the Adventist Church and the re-church network.

Check out the video below...

"With Friends Like These"

Tomorrow night, March 6, Dateline NBC will be airing a program called "With Friends Like These." (check your local listings). This is the story of the two women pictured above (Helen Golay, 77, left, and Olga Rutterschmidt, 75) who were convicted last year of murdering two homeless men. These women were Hollywood residents as were the two homeless men they murdered. My friend, Charles Suhayda, who is one of the pastors at the Hollywood Presbyterian Church, was interviewed for this epidode of Dateline because the homeless men were part of the ministry his church offers.

So, this touches me and my community personally. I hope you have time to watch this or tape it and watch it later.