Archive for the ‘family’ Category

“Teaching Little Kyla…”
A series on Travis and Sarah’s journey of parental flubs, flaws, failures and accidental^ fortune.

A couple of nights ago I was praying with Kyla and we prayed for all the children in Haiti – that God would protect them and be present with them. The next day while we were sitting at the table sharing a meal Kyla closed her eyes and said, “Dear God, thank you for the Haitis.”

“The Haitis” – or, the Haitians. Are we truly and genuinely thankful for all people in the world the make up all of humanity?

I am challenged by my 2-year old daughter every day.

Humility.

^ There is someone(s) greater than me/us (a divine being and a community of people) that intercede with grace and giving.

“What do you think about Obama’s Afghanistan plan?” That was the question posed by RELEVANT magazine. “Tonight, President Obama is giving a speech detailing his new Afghanistan strategy, which includes a surge of 30,000 troops. What do you think of his plan?”

Response of Travis Keller:

“Peace is love. Violence is not. Militarization brings death… either physically or by fear. What if Afghanistan sent 30,000 troops to the U.S.?”

To contextualize my comment I will disclose that I am neither anti- or pro-Obama. I did vote for him. I would also qualify RELEVANT’s question by noting that the plan is not “his” plan but rather a plan that was developed by a team of people which includes military strategists and advisors. Additionally, I have a brother-in-law who is in the United States Air Force. My wife and I love him. He has been to Afghanistan and currently is stationed in the U.S. where he controls mechanisms on the Predator Drone planes that fly in Afghanistan.

What is your response to my response (or the original question)?

Our celebration of Christmas has become the commercial exploitation of Jesus. God showed up on earth to bring that which is wrong back to rights and we attempt to honor that God by misusing our resources and giving ourselves to the commercial entities that prey on the human bend to “need more.”

“I have to have it. It’s bigger. Its’ better. I have to have it. Or… I have to give it. Because then I can mend a broken relationship or show love by filling someone’s longing or addiction to have more stuff. It… completes…. me.”

Is there a better way? Is there a better way to worship the coming of the King?

How are you celebrating Christmas?
Black Friday shopping?
Spending time at a nursing home offering time and attention?
Going to see A Christmas Carol in 3-D?
Sending life-giving resources to children who do not have food?
Carving the holiday ham?
Watching Christmas Vacation repeatedly?
Black Friday shopping?
Buying stuff?
Using vacation time to read to your child?
Attending a religious gathering?

Is there a better way?

“Teaching Little Kyla…”
A series on Travis and Sarah’s journey of parental flubs, flaws, failures and accidental^ fortune.

The Invisible Children and Remember Nhu Clubs at MVNU are hosting an Art and Poetry awareness and fundraising event tonight (Wednesday) in the student union. Kyla will be presenting her piece of art that she and I composed this weekend. Her piece is called “Red and Yellow, Black and White” in reference to the song, “Jesus Loves the Little Children.” As we talked about “all the children of the world” and our need to show and express love to all, Kyla used her hands and fingers to paint red, yellow, and black around a cut-out of Africa that I drew, cut out, and taped to the canvas board making a white silhouette of the country where the dehumanization of children continues through militarization and exploitation. Though I cannot talk with Kyla yet about child soldiers and sexual trafficking, she can begin to understand that love and kindness for all of humanity. Eventually, she’ll hear their stories.

We are incapable to loving absent from relationship. We are incapable of relationship absent from the context of story. We have to learn about each other. We have to be aware of the formative life experiences that make us who we are both individually and as a collective group of people in a global community.

The world is our canvas. May we cover it with strokes of love.

^ There is someone(s) greater than me/us (a divine being and a community of people) that intercede with grace and giving.

“Teaching Little Kyla…”
A series on Travis and Sarah’s journey of parental flubs, flaws, failures and accidental^ fortune.

Kyla now begins all her prayers by saying, “God, thank you.” That’s it. “God, thank you.” When is the last time that has been your prayer? Are your prayers prayed out of worry? Selfishness? How about gratitude? Thankfulness for the activity of God amongst his people.

When Sarah and I purchased Kyla’s bed to transition her from crib to awesome Malm from Ikea, I finished putting it together and Kyla looked up at me from a little less than a meter high and said, “Sank you, daddy.” She had a bed. And she was thankful.

Since then there have been a number of times that Kyla has surprised me in her simple statements of “thank you.” For what are you thankful? To whom are you thankful? Are you satisfied with what has been provided for you or do you normally feel ripped off? Like you drew the short straw. Like things never go your way. Or… like you deserve more? What gives us that sense of entitlement? What makes us so centered on having more? What keeps us from being grateful?

Is Kyla’s gratitude actually something that exists due to what she receives or possesses? How has she learned to be grateful? How do you exemplify gratitude and for what are you grateful?

^ There is someone(s) greater than me/us (a divine being and a community of people) that intercede with grace and giving.

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Thanks to "makeesha" and Julie Clawson for their thoughtful comments and contributions to some ongoing dialogue on my previous post concerning Emergent Village , their^ recent gathering, and the ideas of home and church. makeesha pointed out one thing that i was attempting to suggest or about which i was honestly inquiring. The blogosphere and twittersphere are quite confusing when dealing with anything other than the regularities of life. Many things are hard to communicate when the conversational dynamics of tone, vocal inflection, facial expression and body language are absent. Yet, inconsistently, I continue to blog. Ha! In the same way I wonder about the clarity of communication during a gathering of those with limited to no historical and proximal connectivity (maybe that is an incorrect assumption). How does Emergent Village benefit one’s local context? How does EV benefit a community’s love toward neighbor? What is the value to Emergent Village’s global presence? Are these some of the questions discussed at the gathering in D.C.? What are some perspectives about the value of the family and the family being the agent of change with the church in order for the church to be the agent of change within society?

Julie, I am glad that you were not permitted and/or discouraged from Tweeting during the gathering. A friend recently tweeted that even though there were a good number of people attending a Bible study gathering that none of them really seemed present – to which I replied, "It’s good to see that you are fully present since you are tweeting." I also recently wrote a short book review on Reggie McNeal’s Practicing Greatness: 7 Disciplines of Extraordinary Spiritual Leaders where I focused on the the idea of centering our time and energy so as not to have the distractions of internet, mobile phones, and television consume us.

^ I realized after writing this post that I used the possessive language of "their" when referring to Emergent Village. I hope this is not offensive as I know that any of us who have every associated ourselves with or been labeled as "emeregent" (whether for good or bad) do not wish to be an exclusive group that claims ownership of some institutionalized system.

Due to my campus life involvements at MVNU and requirements for my current M.A.M.L. course, Community, Context, and Transition , I was unable to attend the Emergent Village gathering in D.C. (EVDC09) this last weekend. I was hoping to stay somewhat informed about the conversations and happenings through updates on Twitter tagged #evdc09 . Emergent Village tweeted, "Search #evdc09 on Twitter for updates from the ‘future of Emergent’ gathering this weekend in D.C. … There will be some but not a lot …" and "@makeesha " said, "tell us what you want emergent village to be – we convene this weekend in DC. email, dm or reply tweet #evdc09"

There were not enough tweets during the gathering to post any responses but I did reply tweet about what Emergent Village should be:

"@traviskeller : oh yeah. hey #evdc09 … EV needs to be defined by… LOVE. i’m sure we don’t know what all that means except that the self must be executed"

I received a couple of direct replies from @makeesha and @soupiset that noted that the self was, indeed, executed. I’ll be looking forward to blog posts about that. Some notable words I’ve heard/read that really stick out on Twitter in response to EVDC09 now that it has ended are artifact, gratitude, clarity, hope, resolve, consensus, energized, drained, stories, beautiful, processing, honesty, inclusivity, and outcome.

Additionally and more centrally I’ve heard/read statements about being "home."  Home. Home. Home. Prior to the gathering tweets mentioned the acts of packing, traveling, and attending. Following the gathering everyone updating seemed relieved and/or excited to be "home." If Emergent Village is really a generative friendship should the gathering have felt more like home? If I am at my physical residence with friends, family or myself, I feel at home. If I am at the house of a friend, I feel at home. When I arrive home from a Sunday morning gathering of Christians I have feelings of tiredness and exhaustion. I didn’t feel like I was at home. Why is that? Am I not connected with the 100-1,500 other people? Is it even possible to connect with that many people? Should Emergent Village cease to seek national and global "friendship" and rather function in the same manner as Twitter and Facebook, as an online tool for resourcing, networking, and collaborating? Or… am I wrong? Do church gatherings feel like home? Did EVDC09 feel like home? Is an online relationship really a relationship at all? What is the value of our networking for our local and proximal communities? Do I have any place to speak a thought into an Emergent gathering?

"Teaching Little Kyla…"
A series on Travis and Sarah’s journey of parental flubs, flaws, failures and accidental^ fortune.

I’ve recently been amazed at what my daughter apparently knows. Since Kyla’s birth, Sarah and I have been intentionally making decisions that form Kyla’s understanding. We primarily do not want to inadvertantly be promoting or reinforcing behaviors that we will want/need to undo in the near future. Prayer is one of those things that is so misunderstood that I actively attempt to teach Kyla what prayer is and what prayer isn’t. First, I must have my own healthy understanding of prayer.

Two things that prayer is not:
1.) Something that happens only before meals and bedtime or at a church gathering.
2.) A list of requests focused mostly on prosperity, health, and safety.

Everyday an e-mail is sent out to all MVNU faculty, staff, and students. The e-mail contains any prayer requests submitted by those in our community. 99.78% of those requests are medical in nature. I also see numerous students in the cafeteria bowing their heads to pray prior to their meals. I understand that thankfulness for food is good and that when one’s daily diet consists of pizza, hot dogs, and burritos that oneself does, indeed, need prayer for such filth to be miraculously transformed into nutritional goodness. I’ll post more on prayer later but want to stay on track… teaching little Kyla. I will at random times throughout the day ask Kyla if she wants to pray – sometimes before a meal, sometimes when we are playing with blocks, sometimes in the middle of a story… sometimes… whenever. Our prayers always begin with statements of gratitude.

A small tear came to my eye when we were laying on the couch one morning shortly after Kyla woke up (she likes to lay and cuddle in the morning). Out of nowhere she turned her head up to me and said, "Pray?"
I held her hands and she closed her eyes and said, "God… thank you."

^ There is someone(s) greater than me/us (a divine being and a community of people) that intercede with grace and giving.