Passion Fatigue

What follows is an adaptation of an article by Sheri Ferguson that I read in The American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy’s March/April 2006 periodical. The article, titled ‘Compassion Fatigue’, is dealing specifically with natural disaster trauma and recovery from such events as hurricane Katrina but has many other avenues of application. We will choose the avenue where many pastors have either run out of gas, left skid marks lining the street, or drew a crowd with break stands and smoke shows. Welcome to Burnout Avenue.

Pastoring actually is not really that hard of a job. In fact, when it comes to schedules and workload it may seem to some outside observers to be pretty slack. However, any of us who have spent any time at all working as ‘professional clergy’ could tell countless stories of the huge emotional toll and output that a pastor must endure. Though one of our greatest assets may be our passion for people and the local church it also very well may be one of our greatest liabilities. Passion may be the very thing that destroys a ministry.

Passion Fatigue, as defined by postalpedia, is what happens to our emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual states of being after prolonged exposure to intensity. We, like that pretty girl who smiled the bright and happy smile of someone who long ago learned not to show what she was feeling, allow the world to see passionate ministry while our own lives are slowly and surely decomposing in the compost heap of ‘blah’.

Symptoms of blah include depression, anxiety, grief, dread, fear, rage, shame, avoidance, numbing, suspiciousness, cynicism, poor self-esteem, sleep difficulties, muscle tensions, headaches, cognitive shifts in how one views the world, family and relationship problems, increases in addictive behavior, and more time spent reading Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader. Mark Driscol, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seatte, offers some of his research and idea's here. Worth the read.

Passion fatigue changes who you are.

the best breakfast ever

So here I am - I'm Alyne - and I'm very excited about having somewhere else to share my love for writing.

I was doing some thinking the other night, (which can be a frightening process, but this time it seemed to go relatively well), and somehow my mind stumbled across the saying, "You can't make an omelet without breaking an egg". I'm sure, for most people, this is not an unknown saying. I am also sure we all believe we know what it means. Or do we?

I am going to challenge you to throw away any preconceived notions you may have as to the meaning of that saying, and simply consider the one I am going to place before you.

The subject of 'dreams' has been a pressing one in my circle of friends lately. Especially the prospect of surrendering them to God with faith that, if they are truly from Him and in correspondence with His plan for our lives, that He can bring them back to us in His time.

You can't make an omelet without breaking an egg.

What is the omelet? Well, let's view the omelet as our Dreams, having been reached and fulfilled by God. What does the egg represent then? How about our plans, opportunities presented to us, jobs we could have had, relationships we may be in, friends we love, or even other dreams?

With this in mind, could it be said that, in order to "make an omelet", to see our Dreams fulfilled, created, given life by God, there may come a time where we have to "break an egg", to put our plans, opportunities, jobs, relationships, etc. to rest for the benefit of the greater good, which is God's ultimate plan for our lives and our Dreams?

You can't make an omelet without breaking an egg.
I don't know...what do you think?

Pleased to Introduce!

Eclectivity is certainly more fun. More fun then active eclectivism. More fun then being a raging eclectomaniac. More fun then studious eclectiversity. Today marks a holiday and a celebration of epic proportions so, in honor of eclectivity, please feel free to mark yourself. I would recomend a jiffy marker, a blank arm, and a word. Choose any word you like....but wear it proudly!

Some of the faithful readers of this little cornor of internerd-world have noticed that there are now three contributors to this blog. I think that by now you will have gotten to know myself and the pomo-antics of Mark deHooh. Today, I would like to introduce to you a good friend, incredible youth worker, professional writer, and someone who has been a real inspiration in my life. She is loads of fun to be around, passionate, loves to laugh, and works hard at what she does. Her favorite word is 'hub'. Her name is Alyne....make sure you introduce yourself and make her feel welcome!

AlYne....I am stoked that you are here...it is very good to have a little estrogen around! Looking forward to reading more of your work!

...the Present Before

There are days when I seriously wonder if my grip on sanity is only slightly tentative. Have you noticed how a single day takes ages and ages to complete while the plural of day, days, races by like a stampede of cats! There seems to be endless days going by way too quickly. Doesn’t make sense to me. Maybe you’ve also noticed that there is no time but the present? There was, of course, a present before the present now, but that was also the present. An older one.

I wonder what the shortest-living creatures on our little planet think about? I suppose some 24-hour-living brand of water fly speaks nostalgically to the fresh evening hatch of water fly about the good old hours; the hours when the sun was in the middle of the sky and it was much warmer. Maybe they recount stories of near death experiences from their youth of flying too close to the water and narrow escapes of the great silver water creatures. I wonder what trout think about? Infinite in life compared to the wee water fly no doubt.

There is a grove of Huron trees on a Tasmanian mountainside thought to be 10,500 years old which somehow places them alive and well with unicorns. Baby Noah didn’t even have great-grandparents yet! That is a lot of birthday candles, cake, and calories (not that a tree that old would want that much fire around it). I wonder what they would speak of? “The winters aren’t what they used to be. I remember proper glaciers and real ice – none of this ‘snow is here and gone before you know it’ ice. You call this winter?! I remember when I was a sapling…” At which point the young trees would look embarrassingly at each others feet and shuffle off.

Have you ever sat on the hood of your Volvo and stared at the stars? What you are seeing now is a piece of the present before; a cosmological event that took place much further back then long winters and unicorns. Close to a star’s supernova is not the safest place in our expando-verse to have lunch, (though lunch at the edge of a blackhole wouldn’t be much more dangerous – just a little more painful), however, lunch in the flickering light of that supernova hundreds of thousands of light years away may get your significant other in the mood. According to Canadian pollsters ISPO-REID, fully 5% of Canadians (roughly 1.5 million Canadians), say that 70’s rock band KISS gets them in the mood. 2% say that dinner and a movie do it for them.

There is something about the present before that makes the present now seems so much more significant. My grip is tightening.

txen si tahw

I am wondering what the next church leadership trend will be.

?

I suppose it will be another question.

!

It might even make a point this time.

www.

God-blogs seems as though they are going to have more impact on the direction of Christianity then a particular thesis tacked defiantly to some door in some far-away town. Thousands of people, some of whom are even brilliant, are spotting, observing, thinking, innovating, and putting their findings online for all to see. Some of these discovery’s we would do well to absorb and some, like that chemical waste found in microwave dinners, we should not.

Still, the question remains, what is the next big church leadership trend? To discover it now would likely mean notoriety, fame, money, and a 1000 hits per day on this blog.

Too bad the trend seems to be pseudo obscurity. Ironic? I think so. For now I will be content to observe what is currently happening and only occasionally light candles, wear clip-on-nails, and charge $1 to peer into my crystal ball.

21st Century Christianity and Jesus

After an intriguing converstaion with a few friends [Jeff/Blake/Korrin] in an 'unnamed location' in the PEG... and spending some time reflecting on the movie Kingdom of Heaven. I have a nagging question... Is there a distinction between 21st Century Chrsitianity and Jesus Christ? In my dialogues with those who are not 'christian' I have discovered that people seem to say there is a very remarkable difference. Thoughts???

>>familiar stories<<

It is your choice.
It is your story.

Every inspiring story develops out of mundane details of simple day to day living. It’s not extravagance complexity or heroism that tell the story and miracle of life so much as it is the ordinary everyday moments that add up to something. The sound a humming bird makes when it hovers almost silently in front of a flower, the feel that the first drop of rain hitting your forehead makes after a hard day of rockclimbing, a word or phrase heard in an unknown song from an unknown source, an old friend emailing to say hi. These are the things life is made of; these are the ordinary translated into the extra-ordinary.

Of course every story has its own hidden and subversive story – the skeleton in the closet, the secret hopes, the deep wounds, embarrassing passion. Every beautiful narrative is coupled with risk victory and failure that, if unleashed, has potential to ruin or succeed even the wildest dreams.

Stories.

Where are our stories?

Why do we chose to hide them?

Maybe because nobody is listening. Does it seem that maybe the only stories people are interested in are the ones that are about themselves? The great and lasting stories simply tell the same story over and over and over and over……again. These are the recognizable and deeply personal stories. These are the stories where we sense something significant is happening but are more caught in the story then in the significance. These are the great stories.


This is our story.

April on the Road.

Did you know that Candace and I were away this April? We were.

9,000 km’s by air.
600 km’s by train.
4500 km’s by car.
One flat tire in hickville California.
Two bouldering pads, two nights slept in our car, two border hassles and no ID.
Three way too hot, way too cold, way too windy, slices of high desert heaven; the Colorado, the Mojave, and the Eastern Sierra.
Fourbucks coffee and evesdroppring small town gossip.
Five car pile-up in Sacramento.
Six teenagers on cocaine.
Seven days at home.
Gay pride week.
4:20.
An introduction to brain vacating late nights in Toronto with the infamous Mark deHoog.
A surprising capacity for the French language in Montreal and Ste-Julie.
A well orchestrated navigation through the gridlocked urbania of Portland.
A swirling pool of dirty brown water around my feet as I washed the desert out of places my body never knew I had.
I grew a beard because I wanted to look like the desert father I met.

Did you know that I had a lot of stereotypes confirmed on this trip? I did.

Palm Springs is full of depends and old people.
California’s economy doesn’t belong to fruit, tech, and tourism; it belongs to plastic surgeons and criminals.
Gas station coffee can be easily confused with motor oil.
Speaking of gas stations, first-quarter numbers of publicly owned gas stations show huge profits. Anyone notice the price at the pumps lately?!
French people are visibly more passionate then I am.
Natural hot-springs are full of naked people.
Even though I am conservative and far from criminal minded customs officials still make me nervous. Apparently I am red-flagged now.
There is a huge American trailer-park populace.
Latino men drive low-riderz…that’s right, low-riderz. (As opposed to low-riders).
Tanned, toned, and tantalizing becomes tanned, saggy, and wrinkled. “Slip! Slap! Slop! Where a hat!” makes a lot of sense now.

A few books I read that I would also recommend to you.

East of Eden by John Steinbeck – A brilliant work of fictional literature that dances and tip-toes its way around the Biblical story of Cain and Abel before jumping in bed with it to produce a hugely significant piece of social commentary. In its time this novel was highly controversial and even banned in certain states; it might still be banned from your church library!

What Canadians Think About Almost Everything by Darrell Bricker and John Write of Canadian pollsters ISPOS-REID – What percentage of Canadians prefer a good night’s sleep to good sex? What is the likelihood that a Canadian believes that the devil is active in the world today? Did you know that BC residents are the least religious and least likely province in Canada to believe in God? Do you know which province is most likely? You may be surprised. Quebec. Did you know that only 37% of Canadians know the first line of our national anthem? Do you? If you don’t it’s surprisingly simple… “O Canada” Wow!!

This funny, informative, and often surprising read navigates its way through the often confusing and diverse views, opinions, and actions of Canadians. A very interesting and compelling read for almost anyone who cares about something or anything. If I had a coffee table in my house this book would sit on it right beside a collection of Ansel Adams photographs.

Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner – As if the title of this book isn’t gripping enough the authors go and subtitle it with ‘a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything.’ This dazzling New York Times bestseller works from the premise that the world is knowable and, for the curious explorer, penetrable. If the right questions are asked we may just be surprised by how intriguing and unorthodox it actually is. Fascinating!!


Last thing.
Animals. are. everywhere. in. the. desert. Rabbits are cute and should be cared for at all costs. We had a coy-dog trample through our campsite, which, if you are most likely a Canadian reader of this blog, you would understand to be a coyote. I bet they eat rabbits. If it is large and hairy with big scary teeth and eight legs you most likely encountered a tarantula. I bet they eat rabbits. If you hear the playful sound of a rattle in your tent and you’re not baby sitting you should probably leave quickly – you may have just snuggled up to one of three species of rattlesnake. I bet they eat rabbits too. There are lizards….thousands……and thousands of lizards. If you try catch them their tails fall off. We watched them mate and surmised that it wasn’t love. Judging by the sheer volume of lizards I would imagine them to be about as regular as rabbits. Did I mention the desert tortoise? Their pure smug ‘tortoise and the hair’ snobbery must be the largest antagonism a rabbit faces. The plight of the desert rabbit and jack-rabbit is sadly significant...the whole ecosystem seems to circle around them. Poor little guys.

It’s good to be back!! New (and shorter!) stuff coming soon…
-Jer

Scary Monsters

Note: this will be my last post until May.

This last week I was in Toronto with Mark where we had a great conversation about the "total depravity of man." Many would assert that, though man was created in the image and likeness of God, through Adam's sin the human race fell and became intuitively sinful in nature which resulted in an alienation and separationn from God. This man, our race, is totally depraved and utterly unable to remedy this lost/alienated condition; we are in much need of God's grace.

But depraved of what? Could it be that there is some good in man? Could it be that we are more aware of God then we realize? Could it be that "total depravity" has been a clever little trick to make Christians feel superior and exclusive to other obviously depraved people?

Think through it in the following context of John Stienbeck's classic novel East of Eden.

Monsters are variations from the accepted normal to a greater or lesser degree. As a child may be born without an arm, so one may be born without kindness or the potential for conscience. A man who loses his arms in an accident has a great struggle to adjust himself to the lack, but one born without arms suffers only from people who find him strange. Having never had arms, he can not miss them. Sometimes when we are little we imagine what it would be like to have wings, but there is no reason to suppose it is the same feelings that birds have. No, to a monster the norm must seem monstrous, since everyone is normal to himself. To the inner monster it must be even more obscure, since he has no visible thing to compare to others. To a man born without conscious, a sole-stricken man must seem ridiculous. To a criminal, honesty is foolishness. You must remember that a monster is only a variation, and that to a monster the norm is monstrous.

Maybe the very idea that there is this constant tension between good and evil suggests that there is some intrinsic good in people? Hmmm. Maybe your not as bad as you've been led to believe? Maybe there is some optimism that we could attatch to humanity? Hmmm.

::Leadership: Consistent Anomaly::

***There is a train of thought in the comment section of this post that kind of makes me re-think this whole thought process. Feel free to read the following post but the good stuff is in the comments section. Thanks for the input guys!!***-Jer

Leaders are regular and consistent.

There is little question that a diet of high fiber, potassium, and Uncle John's Bathroom Reader would keep anyone regular. Regularity is healthy. The health of our leadership development, architecture, and strategies very well could be most accurately critiqued by our consistency.

In literature, consistency is one of the most crucial elements for the reader in understanding the implied time frames for the plot, action, and sequence described. It is simple and consistent verb usage that clarifies the environment of the story. Inconsistent verb usage muddies and confuses the storyline. It seems to me that inconsistent leadership steals the very foundation of clarity and health from any atmosphere – it becomes a pollution that might even kill an environment.

Here is something to think about; leadership that is dedicated to the relentless task of consistency creates an environment of anomaly. Variedness. Weirdness. Diversity. Creativity. I think what happens is that the great big meta storyline begins to make sense and people begin to see where they fit. People who catch the vastness and the smallness of consistent significance respond in the only way they know how > in their own uniquely unique ways. Anomaly. This is a really beautiful thing because it connects the consistent environment that leaders foster to the incredible environment of diversity in their followers.

It is very interesting to me that consistent leadership architects persistent diversity.