Ryan Hofacre

Back to AA

2010-09-20T19:32:00.000-07:00

Tonight, I went back to AA after not having an opportunity to attend for quite some time. The church plant isn't going that well. We've lost a significant amount of momentum so I've decided to go back to the basics with contact work (Making consistent relational connections with people in the community). Wasn't expecting what happened this evening. First of all, I missed most of the meeting because I got the time wrong and paid the price from Robert, my dear friend who leads the group, by putting me on the spot with questions I couldn't have possibly have answered. He knew it..:) I knew it..:) and at the end of the meeting, he came up and embraced me as it has been too long since we've given each other company.

I then spent the next four hours talking to Robert and the cast of characters that remained as we fried fish, tried to play chess (only moved three pieces) and watched a little bit of Monday Night football.

Robert and I after not seeing each other for quit some time engaged in an incredibly intimate conversation, which involved then calling his daughter and talking through things over speaker phone. All of us really enjoyed the richness of the conversation and felt our spirit uplifted.

I've been struggling to connect with people in the neighborhood, particularly those within my age and socio-economic class. In fact, it has had me feeling very discouraged at moments. Then tonight, the trust, the embrace, the laughter and meaningful conversation. And totally outside my immediate circle of relationships. Oh, how I have longed for this in the neighborhood for some time.

My heart is filled with gratitude.

Religous Frameworks

2010-03-02T12:07:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend I was asked to preach the second message in a series at a church in Mount Vernon on "following Jesus." Luke 9:57-62 was my text and after studying this passages and others like it, I am convinced that Jesus was at war with religion. I'm fascinated with how others have defined religion. Here are three examples of how other have defined religion.

Tim Keller -
1. Religion is "obey God in order that you would be accepted by him." (Moral performance narrative.)
2. The Gospel on the other hand says, "you are accepted now therefore go obey." (grace narrative)

Larry Crabb - definition of Religion
1. Religion is the god of convenience combined with the god of cooperation. Therefore, the god that we've created is designed to conveniently and cooperatively give us what we desire. And if the end is desire, then god as we know it will lead us to that end.
2. Also know as the law of linearity.
- Reference 1 Kings 12. Jeroboam was the king that divided the Kingdom and known as evil because he reduced the God of holiness and love to the god of convenience combined with the god of cooperation by setting up alters at Dan and Bethel. The evil wasn't in his divisiveness so much as it was in his view of God which led into the divisiveness.

Civil Religion - Reference can't remember name. (in a book I read on the Kingdom a couple years ago.)
1. Civil Religion is defined as "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." If formation then in the church becomes "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" what happens when life throws you the inevitable curve ball? If then the base line civil religious narrative drives an individual, then the outcome would naturally lead to multiple layers of entitlement.

As I looked at the life and teaching of Jesus, I started to see in multiple locations that he was simultaneously destroying religious narratives while establishing His narrative which is consistent through out the met narrative.

I am fascinated with multiple angles of the multiple religious frameworks with in our culture. If Jesus was a war with these frameworks, then I want to be as well.

Song of the Grave

2010-02-05T23:10:00.000-08:00

Today I did my first official baptism and committal service as an Anglican Deacon. Anneliese Tuckett born at 10:02 pm February 5th weighing 15.2 oz. Within minutes following her birth (still born) we baptized her and then about an hour later, we did a brief little committal service for her.

On the right side of my blog you'll notice that I list the unborn as one of my seven passions. I watched a young mother give birth prematurely to a little baby less than 1 lbs. The mother knew the baby wouldn't survive... and the grief came... The pain was deep... The emotional connection gripping. Right now, I am very tired. I have much more to process. But the unborn now has added meaning to me.

I thought that I should have been more stoic, more steady, for this young lady and her boy friend. I wasn't. I cried with them on occasion. I whispered the love of God in her ear multiple times. I even saw the evidential calming of the Holy Spirit as we prayed over her. But to say the least, I wasn't seasoned. I wasn't controlled and definitely displayed the green behind my ears.

Prior to her birth, we were able to talk through what the mother wanted during out little memorial service. Interestingly, of the five passages she was offered for the OT passages, she chose this Isa 61:1-3 passage.

Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion- to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.

When I originally chose this passage for the sub title of this blog... well you just never know how things like this come up again.

"'You are dust and to dust you shall return.' All of us go down to the dust, yet even at the grave we make our song: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia..." - Book of Common Prayer

Lord have Mercy.
Christ have Mercy.

Hope

2010-01-24T13:31:00.001-08:00

Tonight at our home gathering we're going to be discussing Hope. One of my favorite definitions of hope is: "Those who hear not the music think the dancer mad." I forget who originally came up with this quote but it's stuck with me.
As has been consistent over the last couple of weeks, I am more excited about what will be contributed to the conversation rather than what is dictated. Our first week was a discussion on wholeness and the second a discussion on sacrifice. Hope, one of the big three (faith, love and Hope), is a theological virtue. It is, as my virtue ethicists have observed, a virtue that originates (as all of the theological virtues do) in God and God alone. Hope is dangerous because when a people begin to see an alternative future, with redemptive imaginative possibilities, lives, societies, and neighborhoods begin to change. Hope, choosing to hear the music that others refuse to hear, captures the endless possibilities of love in action. I am excited.

A good day today...

2010-01-09T13:51:00.000-08:00

While continuing to "till the relational soil," getting to know people, hear their story and engage, albeit varying levels of intimacy, we occasionally have those moments that seem to have extraordinary qualities to it. Moments where you have a conversation with someone, vulnerability seems to be higher and just a sense of comfort after having those conversations. I just had a conversation with someone today that was extraordinary.

Today was a good day. This morning, the ministerial association had a time of prayer, which was good (good in the purist sense), just good. It was good for my soul. Then, this afternoon, I had an opportunity to connect with someone, which was extraordinary.
I have many moments of un-clarity. Sometimes I feel like as leader or someone who is trying to be a leader that I should have clarity of vision all the time. This is not me. But today after this conversation, that I felt like the vision was after me. It's the first time in a while that I've felt like I was seeing into something much larger than myself. A vision of the Kingdom, a vision of love, a vision of hope, a vision of trust.

Precious

2009-12-22T22:44:00.000-08:00

I just watched an interview with Lee Daniels, the director of the new movie "Precious." As I watched the tailer learning that "Precious" is a young 16 year girl with HIV and pregnant with her second child from her father, I didn't want to hear anymore. I didn't want to enter into her pain. To be honest, even as I reflect upon this gut level reaction, I don't want to discover what's behind this reaction.

I think behind my denial of knowing that to accept "Precious" is to accept many "Precious's." And if I were really honest with myself and the anger that I enter into of one story, I am reminded that I don't have enough righteous anger for all the stories. And then I fear the fatigue would become sadness and then sadness, non-action. And then this story of a young beautiful woman becomes in my mind, another awareness issue. Lord, have mercy on me a sinner.

cross and crown community

2009-12-10T21:52:00.000-08:00

"'Dallas Willard writes, "The aim of God in history is the creation of an all-inclusive community of loving persons, with himself included in that community as its prime sustainer and most glorious inhabitant.' I believe that God is gathering just such a community in our day. It is a community that combines eschatology with social action, the transcendant Lordship of Jesus with the suffering with the suffering servant messiah. It is a community of cross and crown, of conflict and reconciliation, of courageous action and suffering love. It is a community empowered to attack evil in all its forms, overcoming it with good. It is a community of unselfish love and witness without compromise. It is a community buoyed up by the vision of Christ's everlasting rule, not only imminent on the horizon but already coming to birth in our midst." Foster, Prayer

Political Rant - What if we become good at this?

2009-12-05T22:15:00.000-08:00

While watching an interview tonight with Adm Mike Mullen who is the chairman of the joint chief of staff, I would like to ask him a question that I don't think the media is asking at the moment. It occurred to me last night while watching a round table discussion about the decision to send 30,000 more troops into Afghanistan. The focal point of the discussion seems to revolve around whether or not this action is going to work in turning around a massively corrupt central government. But what if the United States actually succeeds? What I would like to ask Adm Mullen is what happens when the United States become reasonably good at turning around very unstable nations?

The reason I'm asking this question is because, I believe that the United States military is rapidly learning modern day counter insurgency strategies that produce quantifiable measurements of success. The implication of this question, which is somewhat reasonable, then begs the question, what's next or more dangerously, who's next? They say the current strategy doesn't involve nation building but the desired outcome must be that a nation is rebuilt. It's not a matter of our strategy but a centralized government's strategy to basically attempt to build itself once we've stabilized the security apparatus.

To voice my concern clearly, if successful in Afghanistan, lets gaze upon the future of the next 10 to 20 years. We built our military in the mid to 50's to late 80's to protect and defend out boarders against the Big Red Dog (USSR). In other words, we built an elephant gun to kill an elephant. What happens when you take an elephant gun to a bees nest? Exactly, the middle east! Now, that we've potentially transitioned this elephant gun to bee spray, what happens when the military appetite of indirect nation building, (or a very skillful military trained in counter insurgency or occupation) gets in the hands of a future president who desires once again to use what pressure he or she will probably be getting from the joint chiefs to make use of what the military has been redesigned to do? What happens if when history repeats itself and there's a new and improved version of the Wolfowitz/Rumsfeld plan say 2025 with a redesigned military and muddy motives? What happens if we actually become good at this? What happens if we stabilize our economy and become good at occupation?

What a strange fight...

2009-11-21T09:02:00.000-08:00

"First, then, our experience suggests that power is always accompanied by the temptation to misuse it, and that the greater the power, the more self-restraint it requires to use it aright. Great temptations keep company with great powers. The little man fighting his little battles wishes that he were the great man so that the more easily he might overcome them; but when he understands the great man he sees that storms circle around his higher altitudes that make the petty battles of the lower level seem insignificant. The acorn seedling may be impeded by a few dead leaves, but it never will shake in the grip of the tempest until it becomes an oak. The analogy of our experience at once suggests that our Lord was tempted not less but more than we are. Haggard and hungry in the wilderness, as Tinoretto painted him, he was facing temptations that our puny powers can hardly imagine. 'If thou are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread'; 'If thou art the Son of God, cast thyself down'; 'All the kingdoms of the world... if thou wilt worship me.' His masterful powers were met by masterful temptations." - Harry Emerson Fosdick
As I was reading through this except, it caused me to think about the realities of temptations that surround every person, whether big or small in comparison to their place in life and current life circumstances. For some reason, though in life, being in position, the gravity of these temptations are contingent upon responsibility not necessarily just for self but those that are affected by our actions. It causes me to think about that little man fighting those battles in the hopes or indifferent notion that someday his or her actions with carry more gravity based upon the decision that that person will or won't be making. In other words, fighting those little battles with ferocious courage in the beginning, I believe, will have multiplying effects, not only as stated by Jesus to be rewarded in the Kingdom, but multiplying effect for how one will approach future life circumstances. Future life temptations.
I find, for myself, a strange and yet comforting feeling (maybe?) in those moments of fighting. The inner discipline of learning to put myself in the posture of receiving grace in order to extend it. This battle, I believe, is just so strange. I was reading a Bono interview last week and he mentioned this, "Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts if you like the consequences of your actions." (also using this in my teaching tomorrow on Christ the King Sunday as distinctive from the Roman Pluralism and American Pluralism). And I believe for those moments of temptations, that what causes that interruption of love and fortitude, isn't precisely power but powerlessness. If patience is the inner virtue that causes us the fertility of the inner soil, and gratitude, the inner well spring of expressive love, then fighting temptation isn't so much about the toil of suppressing desire so much as it is having a metaphysical encounter with ultimate desire. Namely, receiving and responding to Love. Receiving and responding to Hesed. Receiving and responding to the eternal, ever constant loving kindness of the triune God. And the battle, some have been called, to fight this alone. And others, folded into the communal battle. Whatever the fight, big or small. Whatever the Love, trivial or biennial, the call is obedience. The call is death. The consequence is life. Father, I so want life. I so want love. I am a man wanting.

Early Novermber Ramble

2009-11-08T21:56:00.000-08:00

It is now mid November. I've had to struggle a little bit more during this season than I was anticipating. Surprisingly, I'm excited to get up tomorrow and continue on with leaf removal for the fall. Over the past week, I've been listening quite a bit to Tim Keller while sitting on the mower and my heart has been warmed. Deeply warmed. Thinking through the implications of the grace narrative into all areas of my life has had a profound impact. I can say right now though that I am more in love with Jesus than I have felt in quite some time. I am more in love with the fact that His love for me has caused me to recognize simultaneously that I am more welcomed and excepted into the beauties of His Kingdom, fully honored and fully empowered, while at the same time recognizing that like the tax collector in Luke 18, I am "the" chief of sinners. God, have mercy on me a sinner.

It'll be interesting to look back on this post in a couple of months. I don't know what's going to happening with various things in my life. Some, that have been guiding me down this path have said that these next six months are critical. Others don't know what a ridiculous (and I say this with a smile on my face) joy I've found in my poverty of soul. And still others, expectantly, breath encouragement at the most perfect times.

I was having a conversation with another Church planter a few weeks ago and he mentioned - Christology leads to Missiology, which leads to our ecclesiology. Right now I have been finding tremendous rest in Christ and Him alone. I have a feeling that in my own poverty of soul, He is reshaping a Christology... not int the categorical sense but more so in the formative sense. Jesus is just so precious to me these days. It's not that all my baggage has disappeared. It's not that that my religiosity and legalism completely vanished. My ugly side still emerges and I'm still a shitty lover at times. It's just that even with all my garbage and all the excesses of pride and identity wrapped up in labels and ideas, even in those moments, He, Christ, has eyes for me that I don't even have for myself. And for some reason in these days, I've had glimpses of His perspective. And it's in those moments that an overwhelming sense of privilege seeps into the very depths of me and my only response is - God, have mercy on me a sinner. Have mercy.

Jesus you are so beautiful my friend.

Nouwen on Leadership:

2009-10-17T18:09:00.000-07:00

A Christian Leader is a man of prayer
- Recognize in others the face of the Messiah
- Make visible what was hidden
- Make touchable what was unreachable
- Through his articulation of God in himself he can lead others out of confusion to clarification.
- Through compassion he can lead others from the closed circuits of their in-groups to the wide world of humanity.
- Through critical contemplation he can convert their convulsive destructiveness into creative work for the new world to come.

Bonhoeffer on Folly

2009-10-15T15:06:00.000-07:00

Had a wonderful dinner conversation with an old friend last night. Bonhoeffer continues to be one of my favorite theologians. If you'd like to read a brief couple paragraphs on folly, I suggest this little piece to heighten your appetite.

read this post on human and sex trafficking

2009-10-10T17:37:00.001-07:00

http://jaschroeder.blogspot.com/2009/10/sex-trafficking.html

Dallas Willard - The Golden Triangle of Spiritual Formation

2009-09-27T14:54:00.000-07:00

Over the last couple of years, I've used this paradigm on multiple occasions to help me think through certain elements, difficulties of my life. What I've learned, with this paradigm is that never, in our relationship with God, is it an equation. Even as we engage the disciplines, those actions we take to put ourselves in a posture to receive grace, the outcomes when reflected upon are never the same. It's always moving and always alive.

This paradigm is worth a look. It has helped me on multiple occasions.

Solidarity

2009-09-20T18:38:00.001-07:00

The theme of "solidarity" keeps coming up in various segments of my life. And I keep asking, as I examine in the incarnation, "To what extent are we called into solidarity with the world?" And as I reflect, I can't get away from the measurement of risk with regard to being IN solidarity with the world while ASSUMING the ethical systemic constructs that the world provides. Don't necessarily hear this verbalized but more so feel it. Maybe, I am at an intuitive loss because I haven't seen it modeled well. But I saw something different last night.

I've been attending AA for the last couple of weeks and had a long conversation with a guy who has been in recovery for over 18 years last night. His story was beautiful. His heart was real. No facade. He could tell a good story. And he just knew how to hang out. Have you ever come across someone who just knew how to hang out? Don't know how to describe it. I think I saw solidarity.

This Morning

2009-09-20T18:37:00.000-07:00

I spent this morning with a wonderful group of people at Good Shepherd Anglican Church in Chillicothe Ohio. Father Rick Terry and his congregration were so warming to me and I look forward preaching and celebrating as a deacon on the 4th of October.

Hebrews 2 is the text that I'll be teaching from. I've never taught from a passage that addresses angels. I think I'm more excited to learn than I am to preach.

Environment - Electronic garbage

2009-09-17T17:54:00.000-07:00

The Environment: While riding a mower yesterday, I got my fill of the last months 60 minutes from my ipod that I haven't been able to keep up with. If you have a concern about the environment, I encourage you to listen/watch to this piece on the United States electronic garbage industry. Scott Pelly explores how a waste management company exports electronic garbage to Hong Kong, looks at an industry whose intention is to take the metals and chemicals we most easily and often throw away for profit, and all of this with a cancer and death rate multiple times higher with those handling this material than our highest illegal levels in the United States. Well done Scott.

We love Lucy Buddy Walk - A walk to support children with Down Syndrome

2009-09-13T11:02:00.000-07:00

Rather than going to church this morning, I decided to spend the morning at the Buddy walk with some old friends. A beautiful day, a child felt loved, and an opportunity to receive love from others. I was reminded of what a beautiful person Kevin Peterson and his family are. I was reminded that the simplicity of a child receiving love was sooo worth it on a Sunday Morning.

From the Book of Common Prayer: A collect for Sunday's

O God, you make us glad with the weekly remembrance of the glorious resurrection of your Son our Lord: Give us this day such blessing through our worship of you, that the week to come may be spent in your favor; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Blessings to you this day...

Frisbee golfing with some old friends!

2009-09-12T13:03:00.000-07:00

The Mission Statement of Jesus

2009-08-21T15:30:00.000-07:00

I would like the first post of the this blog to reflect what I believe to be the mission statement of Jesus Christ:

Luke 4:16-21 When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. 17 The scroll containing the messages of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him, and he unrolled the scroll to the place where it says:

18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the downtrodden will be freed from their oppressors, 19 and that the time of the Lord's favor has come. "

20 He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. Everyone in the synagogue stared at him intently. 21 Then he said, "This Scripture has come true today before your very eyes!"

Welcome...