Does Joyce Have Any Deep Thoughts Left In Her Tiny Little Brain?

You know, I can post funny videos about Pachelbel's Canon, or about squirrel obstacle courses. And I know some of you found Bono interesting, either because he was Bono the very cool rock musician, or because he was Bono the humanitarian, or even because he was Bono excoriating the church for ignoring the poor and sick. And, if I post another video, I'm sure some one could start thinking, "doesn't she have anything original to say anymore? Is this blog just becoming a series of quotes and clips from other people?"

I've seen blogs like that, and I don't check them out very often myself, because I love strongly written prose, serious or funny, but always revealing the inner thoughts of their author. I love that so many people are writing, and there are so many more deep thoughts out there among people who appear to be average folks. I say, appear to be, because, once you get to know them through their blogs, you discover once again, there are no average folks! Everyone, everyone is bursting at the seams with ideas and opinions and intense curiosity about a zillion different subjects: politics, child-rearing, the environment, gardening, cooking, money-management, faith, community, literature- oh, man, you name it, people are thinking about it! And some are even writing about it.

Reading all that keeps me thinking hard, too. But I do have a job. I do go to work. And I need to think about the things that relate to my work. I work in a church. So, when I'm thinking about my job, I'm thinking about how I can be a better employee for my church, and help my church be the best it can be. When Pastor Randy challenged the staff to start blogging, he argued convincingly that a blog would help us communicate with our congregation. I'm pretty low on the staff hierarchy, and I'm not sure anyone feels terribly compeled to find out what I think, but, amid all the fun exchange of ideas with gardeners and green moms, I do try to think about what I would like to communicate to my fellow church members.

Recently, the staff has been thinking about how our church can become more "missional", that is, live out the real mission of the church. The term "missional" is confusing to many, and we are trying to perhaps clarify what we mean by it. Pastor Randy wrote a post on his blog recently that gave a good concise explaination.

Then I found something that I completely related to, and that helped me to grasp it even better. But it was a video clip! And I just posted a video clip! I shouldn't do that two posts in a row, should I? But it's a really good clip! By Tim Keller, one the formost church leaders in our country! So at the risk of sending the message that I am no longer capable of creating an original idea, here it is: