Chipotle’s “Scarecrow” and Theology: What the Church Can Learn About Witness From a Burrito

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Chipotle has taken a risky marketing strategy, but one that is likely to be popular among Millenials. Both the Church and marketers have failed to reach these young people in the past because the slick campaigns that worked with their parents just appeared to them to be inauthentic. The marketing challenge for Chipotle will be convincing their audience that they embody the cultural critique that they are communicating. I’m not a marketing guy, so you would do better reading the marketers’ commentary if we want to think about what Chipotle is doing here.

I’m more concerned with what these story tellers can show us about the values of the Millennials that they are targeting. I’m not going to provide much commentary on the content that is best available here, so you really should watch it before you read what I think the Church can learn.

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Resting in God’s Presence and Mercy and Grace

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Each year we begin our spiritual formation program by teaching our new students an ancient prayer discipline known as Lectio Divina.

This is a four stage process of using Scripture in your time of prayer. You begin by reading the text many times. Next you listen to how God might be using the text to speak to you in the situation of life that you are in. This part of the practice is really helpful in learning to discern what God’s speaking “sounds” like. The third stage is when you speak back to God your intentions about how you will respond to what you have heard from him.

The fourth stage in the prayer is a time of simply resting in God’s presence and mercy and grace. We are so busy doing things: for God, for others, for school, and for our career. And there is nothing wrong with that. We need to do things. It’s part of our call. [Read more…]

Dorm Room Discipleship

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I wrote a similar post on this theme a few years back.

Living in a tiny room with another person is one the greatest joys and greatest headaches of college life. I’m convinced that it is also the greatest opportunity for becoming a better Christian. [Read more…]

To a New College Freshman: An Open Letter from the University Chaplain

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Dear Student,

This is one of the most exciting times of your life. You are moving out of mom and dad’s house. You’re done with answering to curfew. And you are meeting more new people and getting to know them better than you ever have.

But I know you are also really anxious. You’re afraid that you won’t get along with your roommate. You’re afraid you won’t be able to pay the bills. You’re scared that you won’t fit in. You don’t know what to do when your car breaks down, your bank account is empty, or even when your clothes need washed. Most of all, you’re afraid that you will disappoint people when you don’t live up to expectations.

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To the Parents of a College Freshman: An Open Letter From Their Chaplain

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Dear Parent,

I know that this can be a really difficult day/week/month. Sometimes it is made sad by your son/daughter’s excitement. It is always ridden with anxiety.

Today your relationship changes. You are still their parent. You always will be. You don’t have to worry about “losing” them. And don’t let the fear of losing them cause you to not let them grow up. They are ready to not have curfew, ask permission to stay up until 2 AM, or tell you whether they did their homework. They NEED to make decisions about majors, classes, and roommate choices on their own. If you give them enough freedom on these decisions then they may even take joy in asking your opinion. And they may even learn to do that for big decisions for their entire life.

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Learning to Wash Feet: Reflections on a Wedding Gone Right

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I rarely enjoy a wedding as much as I did the wedding of Phil and Kelly Hassman. Part of it was my relationship with each of them. Kelly was one of my first students when I started teaching at the University of Indianapolis. She isn’t like every other college student. She speaks with depth and conviction about her commitment to Jesus. And she makes these terribly grounded IMG_1001decisions well beyond the maturity of woman in her early 20’s. She is the kind of young adult that makes you ready for where the church is heading.

She married this brilliant young man that I have had the joy of sharing life with for these last four years. Phil is one of the rare students that understood a call on his life to minister to me even as I ministered to him. His smile blesses me and his difficult questions challenge me. To think of these two amazing young people in mission and witness together is a hopeful thing.

But the pure joy that I get from my friendship with these two wasn’t the only reason that this weekend was so special for me. Both Kelly and Phil were commissioned by the Lantz Center for Christian Vocation that I serve as director. The climax of this formation process is a commissioning service just before they graduate in which I and my chaplain colleague, Lang Brownlee, wash the feet of the commissioned students following the example of Christ and calling them to follow Christ’s example as well.

I have washed both Kelly and Phil’s feet. I don’t know if they have ever washed one another’s feet. But I know that both of them have washed other’s feet both literally and spiritually many times. All of the high school students from Herron High School’s YoungLife, where Phil and Kelly serve, was a great testament to their commitment to service.

The pastor that married them, Jeff Krajewski, brought the image of foot-washing right to fore of their wedding. He challenged Phil and Kelly that one of the greatest ministries that they can have will be the proclamation of Jesus’ Good News as they wash one another’s feet. It will be the ground of their marriage. And their service to one another will tell us all something about Jesus’ love for the Church.

I haven’t had a chance to talk with Phil and Kelly about what was going through their mind as he talked about washing feet. I suspect that they were thinking a great deal more about the person that they were about to marry and wondering what they looked like as they stood in front of those several hundred people gathered. But I’d like to think that as Jeff challenged these two with the Gospel that is both embracing them and calling them to a deeper life, they were remembering the times when they have stooped at another person’s feet, washed their feet, and carefully wrapped a towel with care and compassion.

The call that Jeff gave to Phil and Kelly was also a call for me and lots of other pastors that the mundane things that we do to form persons….eating bread, drinking juice, serving soup, saying the Lord’s Prayer, memorizing Scripture, confessing sins, and washing feet…may come back into their lives as the most opportune time. Don’t forsake the disciplines of the faith, because washing feet may be the best way to learn how to model Christ love for the Church.

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Learning To Wash Feet: Reflections On A Wedding Gone Right