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Desensitized: Perspectives on Death – Part 1/6

February 12, 2012 By Daniel Im

Over the next while, I am going to explore the various perspectives on death that our culture holds by examining news articles, blog postings, and various social media outlets.

After all, death is one of the hardest things to deal with, as it really is one of the only final things that we have to deal with these days, especially since through the Internet it is very easy to stay connected with pretty much anyone. However, what makes death even more difficult is when it is not expected and very tragic. We hear of these stories very frequently on the news.

What makes this such a close topic for me is because I am still processing the death of my seven year old niece who passed away last year so suddenly. As a result, through these next six postings, my hope is to learn as much as I can on this topic. After all, are we not all most open to questioning our views on life when we encounter such tragic deaths?

Here’s the first perspective on death that I will explore: the desensitized perspective.

As I was driving home from work last week, I was listening to the 5:00 newscast on CBC Radio-Canada. Just before the news ended and the reporters were going to report on traffic and weather, there was a brief 15 second mention of how a 38 year old roofer died falling off of a roof in one of the new developments in Edmonton. They said that he was wearing a safety harness, but that the rope was too long. That was it – there was no mention of his family or any other detail. When looking on the Internet, the following news articles were the only ones that I found, and each only had a mere paragraph or few sentences about the situation. There has been no other news report on the situation following the incident.

The brevity of the reporting on this situation, or the lack of information thereof indicates how our culture has become desensitized to tragic death. There was no commentary given on the news to this situation and the number of social media shares recorded on those news sites numbers less than 15. On the CBC article, nearly half of the words were given to the job site, occupational, health, and safety concerns, which sends the message that those issues are more important than this single man dying.

Rhythms of Receptivity and Activity

January 26, 2012 By Daniel Im

“Growing in faith is not just about disciplines of study and withdrawal, as vital as these are. Certainly there needs to be disciplines of passive receptivity to hear from God and to know him in prayerful stilness. But there must also be rhythms of activity if we are to be mature followers of the Messiah.”

– Alan Hirsch and Michael Frost

Loving and Destroying Community

January 26, 2012 By Daniel Im

“People who love community always end up destroying community. People who love relationships always build community.”

– Ronald Rolheiser

Did you Deny the Resurrection Today?

January 26, 2012 By Daniel Im

Watch this Peter Rollins clip to explore what it looks like when our every day actions deny the resurrection and affirm the resurrection.

Peter Rollins is a widely sought after writer, lecturer, storyteller and public speaker. Peter gained his higher education from Queens University, Belfast and has earned degrees (with distinction) in Scholastic Philosophy (BA Hons), Political Theory (MA) and Post-Structural thought (PhD). He is currently a research associate with the Irish School of Ecumenics in Trinity College, Dublin and is the author of the much talked about How (Not) to Speak of God.

Click here to see a list of the works he has published.

What are your thoughts on his rant?

Your Desert Experience in Ministry – Part 3/4

January 15, 2012 By Daniel Im

Desert experiences are one of the hardest things about life and extremely difficult to navigate through. In fact, when we are in a desert experience, the only thing that many of us think about is how to get out of it – quickly and with as few scars as possible.

In part one, I described the rationale behind desert or isolation experiences in ministry. Click here to read about it.

In part two, I described the different types of desert experiences that one might experience in ministry. Click here to read about it.

Today, I’m going to explore why moving out of a desert experience prematurely is one of the worst decisions that you can do.

The whole process of moving back to Canada in 2010, after pastoring in Korea, was a defining desert experience in my life. We were displaced and without a home, ministry position, income, etc for about 5 months. Upon arriving back in Canada, the first thing I wanted to do was get a job and start providing again for my wife and newborn, but God had other plans. In fact, out of all the resumes that I handed out, absolutely no one called me back for the first couple of months. It was hard at the time, but in hindsight, I can see how God wanted to keep me in that desert experience.

An Intro to Disciplining Your Children

December 14, 2011 By Daniel Im

Disciplining your children is probably one of the most controversial topics in our society today. Every culture has a different norm or standard for what’s okay or not. Not only that, but the times have changed from when we were kids so that everyone is pretty much tip toeing around the issue.

For example, did you hear the recent story about a mom using hot sauce and cold showers to discipline her child? Click here to read about it, or check out this video below.

This post is not meant to be THE ANSWER to all your questions, but rather a starting place or a place of resource as you determine what your disciplining style will be for your family.

Rather than doing the whole hot sauce and cold shower thing, what about this method for disciplining?

Here’s a solution for a perpetually messy bedroom: Explain to your child, “I cannot bear to look at this room anymore — it’s too messy! I’m going to turn off the circuit breaker so I can’t see it. When it’s clean enough for me to tolerate, let me know and I’ll turn your power back on.”

Haha, okay that’s pretty funny and I guess that would only work during the day time. Nevertheless, the need to discipline is a real issue and here are some reasons why we should discipline our children:

Re-Imagining Theological Education

November 30, 2011 By Daniel Im

I just came across some excellent videos (see below) illustrating the thoughts on theological education and seminary that I’ve been wrestling with for the past couple of years. You can read about my thoughts here.

You can also read a great article by Leonard Sweet about how seminaries have to reinvent themselves here.

I am encouraged to not only see 3DM working through this concept, but also Fuller Seminary.

Here are pertinent sites discussing the matter:

http://thefutureoftheologicaleducation.com/
http://future.fuller.edu

Your Desert Experience in Ministry – Part 2/4

November 28, 2011 By Daniel Im

In part one, I described the rationale behind desert or isolation experiences in ministry. Click here to read about it. Essentially, God uses desert experiences to accomplish things through us that we would never be able to accomplish apart from these desert experiences.

Today I would like to go a bit more in depth and define the different types of desert experiences one might experience in ministry. There are two broad categories of desert experiences. Shelly Trebesch calls them involuntary and voluntary isolation experiences in her book, Isolation: A Place of Transformation in the Life of a Leader.

Another way of looking at them is: unplanned and planned desert experiences.

Eating as a Holy Act

November 22, 2011 By Daniel Im

Did you know that over the past three decades, there has been a 45 percent decrease in entertaining friends and a 33 percent decrease in families eating together? And more than half of those families watch television as they eat together – I know it…that’s what my family did growing up (research from Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone).

What did you eat today? Whom did you eat it with? When’s the last time you had a meaningful time of relationship and community with another person? Was it around food? Most of us not only organize our day around our meals, but is is the social glue that connects families and friends together. Isn’t that why the big holidays, like Christmas and Thanksgiving are celebrated with family, friends, and a big meal?

However, we oftentimes eat without knowing and understanding the significance of it, other than satisfying that hunger or satiating that palette.

So what would it look like if we began seeing food and our meal times through the eyes of Jesus? How did he view the table?

Well, in the New Testament, here are three of the ways that the sentence “The Son of Man came…” is completed:

…not to serve, but to serve (Mark 10:45);
…to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10);
…eating and drinking (Luke 7:34).

[Read more…]

Your Desert Experience in Ministry – Part 1/4

November 19, 2011 By Daniel Im

Although leading, serving, and being with people is a central component to ministry, every leader will go through desert experiences, or isolation experiences, where one is forced out of one’s context, or where one will voluntarily leave one’s context.

If you haven’t yet gone through one, then expect to. If you have, then you probably know that these experiences are the most formative experiences in our lives: personally, spiritually, and ministerially.

This is part one of a four part series where I will explore these desert experiences in ministry. Today I will explain the rationale behind these isolation experiences.

God uses desert experiences to accomplish things through us that we would never be able to accomplish apart from these desert experiences. In fact, some of our ultimate leadership insights and contributions may come from these desert experiences.

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