monkinabus: blog of derek dominguez

Stretched

Things have been busy for the Dominguez clan. I'm stretched in ways I never would have thought. I feel so inadequate to be embarking on the journey we are involved in. I suppose this is a good thing. God has been so graceful in reminding me who I am and what my identity needs to be truly grounded in, my Belovedness as his son. I often still feel the pull to be someone I'm not in trying to make this new organization "go." Every day I hear his still quite voice in subtle ways telling me I can't, but he can.

It's humbling for others to come asking how they can help. All of those helping or desiring to assist us have amazing gifts and talents which make me sometimes think, "Why aren't they doing this." False humility is just as rooted in pride as outwaord arrogance and overconfidence. Today on my way home I heard God whispering to me, "Live out your giftedness. Be the person I have called you to be. No one can take away from you what only I have given, your calling." It's a scary and exciting thing to not only in faith seek to follow the voice of Jesus but to live out the life that is supposed to live in us, the life only we were created to live.

Missional Order: 1.3 The Role of Spiritual Disciplines in Spiritual Formation

Every human is being formed into someone. We are all continually being shaped and undergoing some type of transformation. A follower of Jesus has embarked on a journey to participate in a particular way of transformation. This process of spiritual formation looks to Jesus as its authority and to his way of existing as the means to the "good life," the abundant life God offers to us. A follower of Jesus therefore takes spiritual formation seriously and desires to participate in the "redemptive process" of having their inner being take on the character of Christ himself. As someone on going participates in this process of inner formation, their exterior life naturally flows from the interior. In the previous post in this series, I quoted Dallas Willard's definition in full where he defines Christian Spiritual Formation.

Christian spiritual formation is the redemptive process of forming the inner human world so that it takes on the character of the inner being of Christ himself. In the degree to which it is successful, the outer life of the individual becomes a natural expression or outflow of the character and teachings of Jesus. But the external manifestation of “Christlikeness” is not the focus of the process; and when it is made the main emphasis the process will be defeated, falling into crushing legalisms and parochialisms. “That Christ be formed in you” (Gla. 4:19) is the eternal watchword of Christian spiritual formation, fortified by the assurance that, while “the letter of the law kills, the spirit gives life.” (II Cor. 3:6)

The follower of Jesus is not left alone to embark in this process in some haphazard fashion. God has provided a particular way to go about spiritual formation. He has given to us the Spiritual Disciplines for us to intentionally participate in to provide the space and environment for him to work in our lives. A missional order, formed around a particular set of values and lived out in peculiar practices reflecting those values, must also be active participants in the spiritual disciplines to be formed into the image of Christ. Members of an order must draw upon the resources of the disciplines, those practices deeply rooted in the history of God's people as providing the space for God to work.

God desires the total transformation of our whole person and the disciplines have been given to us to assist us. Richard Foster states in his book Celebration of Discipline, "“The purpose of the Spiritual Disciplines is the total transformation of the person"(62). God is the one who does the transformation and it is only by his grace, but we have to be intentional about it. The disciplines as we practice them are the means by which we undergo our transformation. Again, in closing Foster states, "God has given us the disciplines of the spiritual life as a means of receiving his grace. The Disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that he can transform us” (7).

Embodied Faith

It's one thing to study a particular text and even to preach or teach it. It is something totally different to live it and embody its meaning in our daily lives. This last Sunday I taught on Matthew 6.24-34 where Jesus challenges his disciples and the "crowds" to not worry about their lives and their daily needs as they choose to serve Him and to seek the Kingdom of God above all things. He states,

6:24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate³⁰ the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise ³¹ the other. You cannot serve God and money. ³²

6:25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry ³³ about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t there more to life than food and more to the body than clothing? 6:26 Look at the birds in the sky: ³⁴ They do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds ³⁵ them. Aren’t you more valuable ³⁶ than they are? 6:27 And which of you by worrying can add even one hour to his life? ³⁷ 6:28 Why do you worry about clothing? Think about how the flowers ³⁸ of the field grow; they do not work ³⁹ or spin. 6:29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these! 6:30 And if this is how God clothes the wild grass, ⁴⁰ which is here today and tomorrow is tossed into the fire to heat the oven, ⁴¹ won’t he clothe you even more, ⁴² you people of little faith? 6:31 So then, don’t worry saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 6:32 For the unconverted ⁴³ pursue these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 6:33 But above all pursue his kingdom ⁴⁴ and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 6:34 So then, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own. ⁴⁵

God reminded me of this text months ago as we started the process of discerning our future. It was humorous to me, when weeks ago Don our senior pastor asked me to preach and it ended up being this text God had drawn me to as an encouragement during this season of life. There have been times as I've prayed I sensed God in a significant way, asking me if I truly trusted in him to be our provider. Not in some naive manner where we would just have to sit back and not do anything. I'm prepared to do whatever it takes to get a job to meet the needs of our family. What he is calling us to is so much bigger than what I'm going to be doing for a pay check. Over the last few months we have experienced this invitation to trust him to be our sole provider as we step out in faith and seek his kingdom and his will for our lives. He's extended an invitation to live with Him and to walk with Him in a new way, to continue to come into a fuller understanding of what it means to live in the Way of Jesus.

God is gracious to us. I admit there are days when I ask myself what in the world am I thinking in starting this new organization and leading my family into unknown places. Who am I to think God wants to use us to pull something like this off. But, overall we are not plagued and in bondage to anxiety. I daily walk with a sense of God's gracious presence and peace that he is with us. Many people I've talked to have a difficult time understanding what exactly we're doing or where exactly we're headed in the months to come. I've come to a place where I don't expect people to understand, even my own parents. It's an abundant blessing to walk in faith. I look towards the horizon with hopeful expectation not worry, for today has enough for us to trust him with. Today he is taking care of and providing for the sea gulls down at the yacht harbor and the redwood trees in the hills surrounding Santa Cruz. He's also taking care of us.

*Above text of Mt 6.24-34 came from the NET Bible found at www.bible.org

Faith and The Adventure of "Next Things" (Pt. 2)

We arrived back from Colorado two weeks ago. We've experienced a roller coaster of emotions since we returned. We left Colorado and our time with World Orphans with a sense we would move there to accept a position to help develop an amazing new ministry to mobilize and equip the next generation of young leaders to serve the orphaned and abandoned around the world. On paper it was perfect fit for us and who we are. On "paper" it made sense for us as we looked forward to this next season of life. On paper it appeared to good to be true.

Once we were back home I was unsettled and wasn't at peace with the direction we were leaning. I couldn't put my finger on it. I spent the first week back seriously fasting and praying. I asked God to either give me peace and confirm in my heart we were supposed to go to Colorado and accept the position or to clarify why I wasn't experiencing peace. He answered the desires of my heart.

The first week we were back God made it clear He was not releasing us from the ministry here in Santa Cruz. He has not released us from the dreams he has planted in our hearts to see his tangible reign break into the lives of those living in Santa Cruz and bring about restoration. He clarified this through a number of conversations and circumstances. There is a unique community of young adults here I've started to pour my life into who are asking significant questions of how to live in the Way of Jesus. God has not released me from serving, mobilizing and mentoring them. There is a network of churches here to be mobilized to live out the Missio Dei in Santa Cruz county and the world. There is a pregnant revolution of the Spirit of God waiting to give birth here in Santa Cruz, if the church is willing to live out its calling as "sent" ones. God is on the move here. The seeds are planted and I came to realize I have a unique role to play in cultivating its sprout. I didn't want to miss out on it.

It made sense on paper to go to Colorado. We had prayed God would continue to prod us to step out in faith and to not "settle." I've realized it is going to take more faith to stay here in Santa Cruz. God isn't in the business of having things make sense on "paper." He isn't in the business often times of having his people trusting in security and predictability. He is looking for people to step out in faith, to trust, to actually hear his voice and obey his leading. We want to be in the midst of this type of leading and living out of the faith.

So, we are staying in Santa Cruz for the time being. The decision making process as a family has not been easy. In fact it has been one of the hardest things we've ever had to work through, but when has stepping out in faith every been easy or been perceived as wise in the eyes of this world? In the next few weeks we are hoping to be sent out by High St. Community Church and others where I have been pastoring. We are hoping God will free me up to assist to develop a network of partnering churches who are ready to respond to the needs of the marginalized, oppressed, abandoned, and orphaned here in Santa Cruz County, to move into the community to establish opportunities for the church to be the hands and feet of Jesus, and to disciple the next generation of young people here in Santa Cruz to be sent out to the ends of the earth. We've realized this next season of life is going to require faith. We are most likely going to have to raise support to live out this calling. It's scary living in liminal space, but the experience of God's presence and the firm conviction he is in the midst of this calling is too good to be true even though it looks quite foolish "on paper." More to come...

My Calcutta

I've found it easy over the years to isolate and shelter myself from those in need. It's easy in our culture in North America. We have garages we drive into and then shut, walk out of our cars and then into our homes. We have fences to protect us from our neighbors and to keep us insulated. We have city planners who make sure our particular neighborhoods we pay top dollar for are kept safe by not developing low income housing near us. We know where to go shopping where we don't have to hopefully run into a human being pan handling for change and asking us to help them make it through the night. I've been continually challenged to find my "Calcutta" to serve. Mother Theresa once said,

You can find Calcutta all over the world, if you have eyes to see. Everywhere, wherever you go, you find people who are unwanted, unloved, uncared for, just rejected by the society - completely forgotten, completely left alone. That is the greatest poverty of the rich countries.

Last week our tutoring team of college students had an opportunity to prayer walk the block around the shelter. There were no kids to tutor so we decided to walk the area with "eyes wide open" and ask God to bring individuals across our path who needed to be prayed over. We prayed for individuals. We prayed against the systemic evils keeping some in bondage. We prayed against the growing pile of broken beer bottles and hard alcohol, holding some in bondage to a numbing addiction to help them forget the cold in the mid of night. Some of the students for the first time were beginning to find their first "Calcutta" to serve. One of them mentioned as they were walking how the common and potent smell of urine caused them to reflect how blessed they were to be able to pee when they chose to in private. A simple pleasure.

They're all around us. Those who are "unwanted, uncared for, rejected, forgotten and left alone." There are the obvious "Calcuttas" all over the world. It's sometime hard to see the Calcutta in our backyard. I see it in their eyes when we walk the railroad tracks surrounding the area of the Homeless Services Center to pray for those who don't have a home in Santa Cruz. It's a loss of hope. It's expressed in the words of a single dad who states, "It's pretty depressing when your doing your best to make things work and it doesn't seem to matter" as he tries his best to get a job to support his baby daughter.

In the midst of every Calcutta, among the piles of broken glass, a seed of redemption exists waiting to take sprout. May we pray the kingdom comes to the Calcuttas in the world. I pray these college students find the Calcuttas in their backyards and in "front of their noses" so they'll propelled into the rest of the Calcuttas around the world. I pray God continues to teach me how to do the same.

Franiscan Benediction

A Franciscan Benediction
May God bless us with discomfort
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships
So that we may live from deep within our hearts.

May God bless us with anger
At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of God's creations
So that we may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless us with tears
To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger, and war,
So that we may reach out our hands to comfort them and
To turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless us with just enough foolishness
To believe that we can make a difference in the world,
So that we can do what others claim cannot be done:
To bring justice and kindness to all our children and all our neighbors who are poor.
Amen.

They've been using this benediction at the Everything Must Change gatherings. I haven't personally attended one or are necessarily supporting them, but my heart resonates with it.

(HT: brianmclaren.net)

The Gift of Baptism

Last night I had the privilege of baptizing Tanya, a friend and one of our graduating seniors from UCSC this coming June. It was also the day she was physically born 25 years ago. On the same day we had the opportunity to celebrate both aspects of her life, both the gift of her physical birth and the birth of her life in Christ.

We celebrated her baptism at Twin Lakes Beach. The same location I was baptized by Dan Kimball 16 years ago. The same sun was setting on the horizon last night as it was when I was baptized. It brought back fond memories of my past and my own spiritual journey and my own public proclamation of my allegiance to faith in Christ. I was struck by the memory of going down into the water and its symbolic picture of passing through the judgment I deserve to receive if it weren't for what Christ did for me on the cross, identifying with his death, burial and resurrection on my behalf, coming out of the water, being cleansed, and longing to live in newness of life.

I know Tanya was thankful and blessed yesterday through the gift of her baptism. I know through her testimony she proclaimed the goodness of Jesus and openly proclaimed the power of the gospel in her life. In the midst of it all I was surprised with a gift of grace. I was blessed to reflect and brought back to my own faith in Christ and how good he has been to me these 16 years. Today I woke up with a smile on my face and a desire to walk in newness of life. Thanks Tanya for the gift of your baptism and for sharing your life with those of us who were present last night.