Cascade Church Portland

Safe To Be, Safe to Grow:: Intentionality

Whenever I say goodbye I usually have some idea of what kind of goodbye it is. 

There's generally a couple of different options. 

1) The See You Later - This is the goodbye that doesn't linger because there is a certainty that you will see each other again. When I leave the house in the morning I turn 3 words into one. "Loveyoubye". It's usually delivered in the midst of movement towards the door because I'm certain a few hours is all that separates us. 

2) The See You Soon-ish - This is the least certain of all the goodbyes because its not backed with a reconnection date or time. You don't have anything in either of your schedules that means that you'll definitely see each other soon, but history dictates that it won't be years until you see each other again. This goodbye usually ends with a promise to not let so much time pass until you see each other again. 

3) The See You Never - This is the goodbye that feels most urgent and intense. It can either be that you really don't know if you'll ever see this person again or it's the absence that you will feel most acutely. These goodbyes are both hard to start and finish. There may be tears, there may be uncomfortable joking to ease the tension. This goodbye feels most like a loss. 

One of the saddest moments for me is when I look back at a mis-applied goodbye. When I moved too quickly or lingered too long on a goodbye. It's a missed opportunity to honor the relationship with the intention that it is due. 

This week at Cascade we're going to be looking at how our 5 Core Values inform our vision of being Safe to Be, Safe to Grow. The first value is Intentionality:: We engage in relationships a step beyond what is known or comfortable.

Safe To Be, Safe to Grow

I grew up in the country. 

How country was it??

It was so country that all of our pets came as the result of people releasing them into the "wild" at the end of our road. 

One of the big perks of growing up in the country is the kinds of things that would randomly grow where we lived. One time we threw watermelon remains out into the pasture for the cows to eat and a watermelon vine popped up. I loved watermelon and was so excited at this bit of unplanned agriculture. 

I remember watching it grow and waiting for the day I got to taste the sweet, sweet fruit of surprise homegrown watermelon. I was positive that it would taste much better than any other watermelon I had ever had because of it's miraculous growth. 

I'd love for this to be the part of the story where I regale you with the flavor and texture of the watermelon in too much detail. I cannot because the not-so-unexpected happened. The cows ate it. 

I wasn't the only one watching that watermelon grow. I wasn't the only one celebrating this miracle of good soil, sun and water converging. I was, unfortunately, the only one waiting one day too long to partake in the fruit. 

The story illustrates that while that field was a safe place for growth, it wasn't a safe place to be. It would have been much safer for the watermelon to be in an isolated desert without the greedy eyes of cattle and children planing its delicious demise. That's not possible, however, because the desert isn't a safe place for growth.

The combination of safety in being and growth is vital for success, and at Cascade this best captures our hope for church.

David Gallagher::Taking the Lid Off

Road in Between:: The Road You're On

I hope you are getting ready for Advent. If you're unfamiliar with the term, it's a description of the time leading up to the church's celebration of Christmas. It's a version of the Latin word for "coming" and while the origins are hazy, it's easily been observed since 500. 

This year our observance of Advent is centered around the idea of journey. The Christmas story features the journey of a very pregnant Mary and her husband-to-be Joseph from Nazareth to Bethlehem. There's a journey of the shepherds from the hillside with their flocks to see the newborn Jesus. There's a journey from a group of astronomers from the east to go and celebrate a very special child with expensive gifts.  

Every journey is different, but they all are made up of similar sections. 

1) Departure - For a journey to begin you have to leave somewhere. Sometimes this is a difficult place and there is a lot of hope tied to traveling to a better place. Sometimes you are leaving the most comfortable spot you know on earth and you're heading towards the unknown and unfamiliar. Whether you are filled with hope or anxiety in the departure, there's a movement from something that is known to something that is unknown or uncertain. This is easily one of the most courageous steps that any of us ever take. 
2) The In-Between - Here's where the journey get's real. You're not where you've been, but you're not where you're going. This is the space where our doubts and uncertainties can run wild.  Sometimes this is a very brief place, but sometimes it can it can stretch over days, weeks and even years. Some of us feel like we spend most of our lives in the in-between. 
3) Arrival - This is the conclusion of it all. This is the moment where our work, planning and travel are behind us and a whole new scope of questions and realities flood over us. It can feel like an end or it can feel like a beginning. Oftentimes it feels like both at the exact same time. 

So, where are you right now? Are you getting ready to depart on some new adventure in life? Some of our greatest departures don't necessarily involve a change in zip code, but everything we've known is ending for a new journey ahead. 

Are you in-between? Do you feel stuck between where or who you've been and who or where you're going to be? Many times we know what it means to be the person before we depart and we can picture who we'll be after arrival, but knowing how to be in-between feels impossible. 

Are you at your new destination? Do you feel like you are at a place you've been working hard to get to? Often we've placed so much emphasis on arriving that we don't realize once we get there that there's more to be done. 

I hope you'll be part of Cascade during Advent. Christ is coming. The world is playing out this reality even today. The question is how we engage the coming of Jesus all through the stages of our own journeys. 

Thankful::Gratitude to Generosity

Thankful::Seeing the Everyday Miracles

Thankful:: Gratitude with a Lot or a Little

Finding Fear:: Fear of Intimacy

This is the final message of our Finding Fear message series!

My youngest son is a real close talker. 

He has two favorite forms of communication currently. The first is "whispering" secrets in my ear. I put whispering in quotes because he is talking at a pretty high volume, just real close to my ear. The things he shares are utterly incomprehensible. I have learned the hard way not to say,"huh?" because it will only lead to greater volume even closer to my ear. Some lose their hearing to rock 'n roll, but mine will definitely be to secrets. 

His second favorite way of talking to me is while he grabs my face with both of his hands. These are easily the most intense conversations I have ever had in my life. It makes his statements about wanting a peanut butter and jelly sandwich feel like a life or death situation. Sometimes he even bites my nose, but it feels more like a product of proximity than malice. 

My son's aggressively close speaking style causes me to think about space. You may have never thought about it this way, but the area one inch away from your face is a boundary very few are ever allowed to cross. It's reserved for only the people incredible close and special to us and if anyone ever violates that boundary without invitation, it's traumatic. 

That one inch face boundary is a good representation of a one inch heart boundary most of us have. We don't let everyone close. We don't let everyone in. Often the thought of letting somebody get that close to us can cause us to feel panic or anxiety. It's the place where the most difficult wounds to recover from occur. 

We need these boundaries and we need to understand the cost of letting people close to our hearts, but sometimes fear jumps in the driver's seat and keeps everyone out.

Finding Fear:: Fear of Abandonment

My version of hell would be a single room.
No other people.
No books or magazines.
Just one of those clocks that clicks loudly and movs slowly. 

I don't like to be alone. I gain energy from being around other people and hearing their thoughts and dreams. My own thoughts and dreams are enhanced by others. I often don't know what I'm thinking about something until I share it with somebody else. 

When some of us wrestle with not wanting to be alone it can manifest itself as the Fear of Abandonment. We can become desperately afraid that the people close to us will someday leave us and we'll be all alone. This can also rear it's head when we suffer the loss of a loved. 

The Fear of Abandonment itself isn't the problem. It's something that sneaks up on the strongest and most secure of us all. The problem is when we start reacting to that fear with two opposite, but incredibly painful options. 

1) Smothering - We can try and control the person that we don't want to leave us with constant attention and monitoring of all their activities. The lie that we believe is that we can be in control of the relationship. If we know where this person is at all times and shower them with attention then they will never leave us. 

2) Detachment - We can try and hold the relationship at a distance so that their ultimate abandonment won't hurt as much. This looks like creating distance in the relationship with harsh words, insults and indifference. The lie that we believe is that everyone will ultimately walk away from us so we should only risk as much of ourselves that's absolutely necessary to maintain the relationship. When things get too intimate we rely on our emotional space making tools (anger, insults, indifference) to create the separation we need to not get too invested. 

Ugh. Typing those out breaks my heart because of all the ways that you and I have seen smothering and detachment sabotage relationships. This is especially true in how it impacts people's relationship with God. 

Finding Fear:: Fear of Success

When I'm bored I love to think about what it would be like to be in someone else's shoes. 

Imagine living in Candace Payne's shoes on Thursday May 19th, 2016. You've just made a trip to Kohls and you are delighted by a Chewbacca Star Wars mask that they have for sale. Sitting in your car you decide to live stream the unboxing and first moments of trying on your new mask.

As of today this video has been viewed 161 million times on Facebook and almost 8 million times on Youtube. 

What. The. Heck. How could something so simple capture the attention of so many people? 

Candace Payne quickly became one of the most sought after interviews and people within a matter of days. She's been interviewed on the BBC, "Good Morning America", the New York Times, and NPR. With all that she gained, she also lost something. 

She lost her anonymity. She can't go out in public any more without being noticed. She has her own hashtag, for heaven's sakes.

In this message we look at the other side of the Fear of Failure and explore the Fear of Success. What are the consequences of doing something that lots of people are interested in? What happens when we face the loss of anonymity? I hope the voice of God becomes louder than the voice of fear in your life.