Dan Hinz

Pastor. Writer. Speaker. Jesus-follower. Light-giver. Sinner. Saint.

Spoken Word

Dan Hinz 29 June, 2009

My feet have walked this world and know its ways

My heart beats each day, but often strays

My hands meant to be raised in praise

But they often stay

 

Idle at my side

My eyes meant to be open wide

My life surrendered by it swells with pride

Sin still breathes when it should have died

My lips confess but I think I’ve lied

Still my soul longs to abide

 

In you

All I am and all I do

Baptized in fire and made new

Sin and pride killed and through

Washed in the crimson hue

 

I walk this world but its not the same

The world’s games of fame, and blame, and shame

Do not hold a flame

To my claim

 

That Christ is risen and reigns and king

Hell defeated, Death no sting

Come, let the world bring, anything

Still, I will sing and let the gospel ring

 

Our lives our His and can’t be shaken

Cause what’s in His hands can’t be taken

We are the church in the making

Darkness fading, light in-breaking

Satan, be ware, cause we are waking

 

And our hands will be raised in praise

Our faith a fiery blaze

Lips proclaiming your love and ways

Hearts fixed on you all our days

 

See my life and hear my cry

“Jesus is Lord” til the day I die

To this alone I testify

the church

Dan Hinz 18 February, 2009

The Church

 

Breaking down walls and moving mountains

Barren wastelands springing up fountains

Rebelling against the ways of this world

Dreams and hope for the broken and curled

 

The bondage of apathy broken

God’s word of hope spoken

The church of Jesus Christ awoken

 

The lives we lead forsaken

Our neighbors’ burdens taken

A new future in the making

 

Slavery to the system destroyed

Poverty’s forgotten employed

Love filling the void

 

The Kingdom at hand and near

God wiping away the tear

Peace freeing us from fear

 

God’s Spirit breathed and poured out

Faith conquering our doubt

Standing on rooftops to shout

 

Let me make this appeal

God is here and He is real

 

Mountains will crumble and walls will fall

If we have ears to hear the call

To loose our lives and give our all

 

So open your eyes and keep them peeled

Fall at the cross and stay there kneeled

And God will show you the world healed

 

Let me make this appeal

The time is now and this is real

 

Pray and seek and hunger and search

Then rise and move, and be the church

The Local (?) Church

Dan Hinz 20 June, 2008

I had to run an errand the other day for church.  Basically it consisted of swinging by a few houses of members of our congregation to pick some things up.  To make it to 5 houses took me well over 3 hours… and I was at each house for less than 2 minutes.

A few years back I was living just outside Chicago.  I re-connected with some old friends and was looking to connect with a church as well.  It turned out that my friends were making a 45 minute- 1 hour commute to attend Willow Creek’s mid-week service.

These are more dramatic examples of things I do every day/week.  In an age of transportation (and consummerism), I pass at least 5 local congregations in my neighborhood to attend church.   Sure, maybe it is what it is.  And maybe I ask annoying questions.  But driving around the other day made me wonder:  How “local” are our churches?

The definition of local:  1.pertaining to or characterized by place or position in space; spatial.

It seems that  our church communities are no longer “characterized by place or position”.  They are characterized by other stuff:  style, theology, likes/dislikes, etc.  But communities of God’s people are hardly characterized by their local.  (If they are, it is in only a very general sense- how much I am willing to spend on gas).  This is important to me because I believe that community (at least the sort of community that God desires for His people) requires proximity.  Community after all, demands time and space.
Against this back drop I remember stories my grandma has told me.  Well, maybe not stories, but parts of stories.  In parts of her stories she can name every family on her block.  And with each family came the names of parents and kids, stories, and shared memories.  Other stories of my grandma included walking two blocks to church every week.  And all church stories included people, stories, and relationships the exuded community.  Not everyone in the neighborhood went to church.  But everyone at church lived in the neighborhood.  Sure, times were very different.  But we still live next door to neighbors and down the street from worshiping congregations.  What I struggle with is the quality of our relationships with both our neighbors and within our churches.
There is no doubt that community is at the heart of God’s intention for His creation- salvation itself is communal.

So I wonder if we can re-imagine a local church.  What would it look like if our church building was in the neighborhood (think of the closes church to your house/apartment)?  What would it look like if all the members of your congregation lived in the neighborhood?  Would your church community look different?  Would your relationships with your non-Christian neighbors look different?

What do you think… should this imagination inform us?  change us?

The Story of Stuff

Dan Hinz 23 May, 2008

I found this link on a friend’s website. Check it out!!!

www.storyofstuff.com

I think we need to be more aware of the systems we live in.  I will write more about this in the near future.

Reflections

Dan Hinz 15 May, 2008

 

Reflections

My world is at peace when neighbors are mirrors
And answers come easy when talking to peers
Belief is like music tickling my ears
Community a blanket covering my fears

My reflection looks good staring at friends
But when belief equals love, it always depends
So say what you want and be who you are
Cause love’s unconditional, if you don’t wander too far

So I beg you my friend not to open your soul
Cause love gets tricky when my agenda’s the goal
And if what I see in you doesn’t seem right
The mirror gets ugly and I fear the sight

Cause if staring at you is looking at me
My soul is something I’m not ready to see

Tip of my Tongue

Dan Hinz 30 March, 2008

If my life is a song

I must be singing it wrong

Cause the beat in my head

Isn’t the trail my feet tread

 

Like words on a screen

I just parrot what I’ve seen

Cause the world’s chorus is loud

And I’m just a voice in the crowd

 

So the music in my soul

Isn’t the melody in control

And harmony is hard to find

When there’s just ruckus in my mind

 

But I am fighting the lost time

Listening for the rhyme

Cause though the song hasn’t been sung

It’s on the tip of my tongue