Larry Norman: No longer visiting this planet

When I had just begun my spiritual journey with Jesus in earnest (sort of a Saul-knocked-off-his-donkey event), most of my earliest mentors were musicians, whose music spoke to my heart and challenged my beliefs and lifestyle. Among the most impacting was Larry Norman. Although I only saw him from a distance at several concerts or festivals, his music was a major voice in my life.

Larry passed away a couple of days ago. I just returned from Mexico this morning to get an email from my fellow Norman-phile, Brother Maynard, alerting me to Larry's death.

Here is Larry's final communique, dictated from what would be his deathbed, just a day before he died:

I feel like a prize in a box of cracker jacks with God's hand reaching down to pick me up. I have been under medical care for months. My wounds are getting bigger. I have trouble breathing. I am ready to fly home.

My brother Charles is right, I won't be here much longer. I can't do anything about it. My heart is too weak. I want to say goodbye to everyone. In the past you have generously supported me with prayer and finance and we will probably still need financial help.

My plan is to be buried in a simple pine box with some flowers inside. But still it will be costly because of funeral arrangement, transportation to the gravesite, entombment, coordination, legal papers etc. However money is not really what I need, I want to say I love you.

I'd like to push back the darkness with my bravest effort. There will be a funeral posted here on the website, in case some of you want to attend. We are not sure of the date when I will die. Goodbye, farewell, we will meet again.

Goodbye, farewell, we'll meet again
Somewhere beyond the sky.
I pray that you will stay with God
Goodbye, my friends, goodbye.
— Larry

Goodbye, Larry. The world is poorer for your passing. Someday, I'll get to thank you in person. But for now, we rejoice with you, that you no longer see through a glass darkly, but face to Face.

Other Larry Norman posts from robbymac

• First Day In Church
  
• Farewell, Old Friend
  
• Patron Saints & Centred Sets

Concentric Circles & the Kingdom of God

	Christians love diagrams with concentric circles. Whether it's the counseling circles of Larry Crabb's early work, or Rick Warren's purpose-driven diagrams, Christians just love pix of circles. I'm not saying we should avoid circles, but that we perhaps rethink them.
	Because while circles make sense mentally, they often functionally feel more like this. And I'd like to suggest that the reason for that is wrapped up in which direction we attempt to order the circles -- from the outside in, or the inside out.

In Crabb's counseling model, the inner-most circle is the "personal" circle. It's the least accessible to most people, and only the trusted few enter it. For the purpose-driven crew, the inner circle is the "core", and in similar fashion to the counseling model presented by Crabb, people have to start with the outermost circle and gradually work their way in to the more rarefied "core" (beyond even being "committed").

I would like to suggest that Jesus turns this idea completely on its head. And why not? The majority of Jesus' most radical teachings, particularly in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), turn everything we thought upside-down already. Why stop now?

Jesus starts by challenging our view of what His Kingdom is and how it functions. And since His Kingdom is available to anyone who surrenders to Him, then the "core" is the starting place, not the outer circle.

The book that got me thinking about this was the old classic from John Wimber, Power Evangelism. While the latest cover art seems really bland, the content of this book is anything but. The choice of the title sounds really 80's, when everything was "power this" and "power that" (like the late 90's when everything was "postmodern" or "pomo"), but again, the content...

But it was this quote that reminded me that everything we deconstruct, reconstruct, or whatever has to have as its basis the Kingdom of God:

"This means that the church witnesses to the kingdom but does not have authority in herself to build the kingdom; only God has that authority. When "church" is confused with "kingdom", leaders assume that God's authority resides in their office, that they are the rule of God. Authoritarianism -- even cultishness -- can be an unfortunate result of this kind of thinking. When pastoral leaders understand that their authority is derived from the kingdom of God, and that rule is not equated with office, they are restrained from leading in their own authority." (pg. 21, emphasis added)

Unlike our personal circles or church growth diagrams (which aren't necessarily inaccurate), the Kingdom starts with the innermost parts. That's why people call it the "upside-down" Kingdom. It works on a completely different paradigm than we are normally wired for. And church structure, leadership styles, or whatever have to be based in an understanding on what the Kingdom is, its purposes, and the wishes of its Founder and Instigator.

Stay tuned...

Random Crossings (or not)

Archival story: We met the two teenagers sitting on a bench in Tecate, Mexico. They had heard our music in the downtown square and had come to check out what the crazy foreigners were on about.

They not only sat through the whole performance, they also hung around to talk to us afterwards. And before we knew it, both of them were praying to become followers of Jesus, and eagerly taking the Spanish New Testaments that we had with us.

Then they did something I'll never forget: they asked for one additional prayer from us. Tonight was the night that they were determined to get across the heavily guarded border, hoping for a new life in America. Runaways from southern Mexico, they had been living on the streets in Tecate for several days, trying to figure out the best way to get across the border undetected.

Each cross represents someone killed in the attempt.

We didn't pray that they would make it, nor that they would change their minds. We prayed for God to watch over these young people, and keep them safe wherever they ended up. We came away thrilled that they had responded to Jesus, but deeply disturbed by the reality of their life in Mexico (and now maybe the USA).

I'm hoping to meet them again someday. I wonder if they'll tell stories about how, on the eve of their attempt to gain illegal access to America, they met these crazy missionaries in the border town of Tecate, and how that was the start of a new journey with Jesus. That's the story I'm hoping to hear, either now or perhaps in the afterlife.

I'm hoping that this was not just a random crossing of paths.