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March, 2004 Blogs
Someone told us that Golden Retrievers are smart and learn quickly. It took personal experience to tell us that this applies to dogs from a certain age forward. From 8 weeks to a few months they are dumb as doornails.
But.. yes, she is cute. You can tell I am struggling with this.
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I've been rereading a few chapters of Graham Cooke, "A Divine Confrontation." This is an unusual book. It is somewhat repetitive and unorganized. It feels like two or three books that were written at different times then cobbled together. And while I believe in the prophetic ministry, I don't like the restorationist framework.
But having said that, the book has many insights.
In Chapter 5 Cooke writes on "Revitalizing Your Church." He rehearses a standard paradigm of "building and blessing." We must know who we are building with, and who we are blessing. This is the model I have previously accepted. Eventually one hopes that those in the outer circle, those we are blessing, will arrive in the inner circle and become enablers and initiators of others.
But the problem is that in the meantime we work with two circles, and with two cultures. We create helpers, and the helped, those with power and those without; those with a voice, and those who listen. I have worked with this model in church contexts and as a professional counsellor.
One could argue that Jesus had these circles also, and that it is a natural approach. There are the gifted and the trained and the healed ones in one circle, and those without leadership calling, those without training, those without interest and those who need healing in the other. Hmm.. that feels like a very black and white distinction. It tends to reinforce that some are able to give, and some cannot, or perhaps that some are healed, and some are not.
Ok, stated in that way, it is obviously a mistake. We all are broken, all need healing. More significantly, even the most broken have something to give, if there is someone who will receive.. For these reasons and others, I wonder if it is possible to cast the net wider, and more invitationally.
I recall a story told by a Plymouth Brethren elder that an announcement was made at the end of their meeting: "those with a burden for the work will meet here at 10 AM." This would create openness and invitation, instead of drawing tight boundaries that perpetuate a class system. If people feel they can contribute, or want to be included, or have something to say, they are welcomed. Like the "belonging before believing" paradigm of evangelism, we might find leaders emerging where we thought they didn't exist.
What do you think?
More on Cruise Ships
Some great interaction in the notes from Sunday, so I am going to respond :)
It's true that some cruise ships will sail merrily on for years. But in my metaphor, they are already underwater.
What I mean by this is that those ships have ceased being about the kingdom and are all about cruising. They are dead in the water and blind to direction but know it not. They are the "unworthy servants" whom the Lord will find partying when He returns. What happens next may not be good.
It's true that most people are not naturally given to lifeboats. Most of us prefer the comfort of the ocean liners. For one thing, the food is better.
Ok, yeah, I've had some pretty good food in lifeboats ;)
I am not equating lifeboats with the house church model, though the research does support that small communities are far more effective at EVERYTHING than large communities. Essentially this is because large communities cease being communities and become congregations.
It's true that I have often been suspicious of "visionary leadership." But as Rob has pointed out, visionary and creative people gather around vision. So the issue of leadership in that context may be less about charisma than about shared vision. We discover that God is doing the same thing in others and we form a community around what God is doing. This is about discernment more than about lectures or leadership. Let me say a little more about our process locally.
For the first two years outside the walls my wife and I were the core of our group. We were primarily missional and secondarily a community. In other words, the "leadership team" was us. We were all about blessing, and there was no building. There was nothing to build with. We gathered primarily non-Christians and occasionally had another believing couple or individual join us.
In this past year we began a transition. We added first one couple of friends who are similarly missional, and more recently another couple of friends. We share the vision of missional community, and we share a "church without walls" perspective. We still include pre-Christians in our gatherings which are twice a month. But we all recognize that church is what happens between the lines, and between the gatherings. We connect with each other and with those we want to bless weekly.
While we have been on this journey a parallel thing has been happening. We have been growing a network of those interested in new ways of being the church. Essentially we discovered that there were other local men and women with vision who were both inside or outside the system, but were thinking outside it. These are all people who are frustrated with the status quo, have a kingdom lens, and are aware that in order to remain biblical people and faithful communities we need profound change. It is this larger network that is working at raising these issues through local gatherings such as the one planned for May.
Will we find as we go along in our lifeboats, grabbing others from the water, that some don't share our vision? Probably. Is there a danger that the open community could become a closed one? Yes. But we all know groups who have managed to maintain their vision, like the Church of the Savior. So, onward we go.
One more thought.. in order to move forward we have to grieve what we left behind, and grieve the things that are slowly dying. This has been obvious to many of you for quite some time, and I thought it was obvious to me... but grief is a funny process. You think you are finished, when you aren't. It is a staged and cyclical thing. And as we watch the old churches around us die, we are going to find ourselves both hopeful and grieving.
Reconstruction
On Friday when our emergent group met we revisited the metaphor of cruise ships, ocean liners, life boats etc. The cruise ships are sinking. Some captains remain on board unaware of that fact. Others recognize they are taking on water and see the people jumping off, and they are manning the pumps. But it's a useless act.
Others have got the pumps running at maximum capacity, and are attempting to turn the ship around. They see the need for a new direction. But they have neglected the reality of the mainland up ahead, and that it takes miles to change the direction of a huge ship. In fact, in our metaphor, it has never really been done.
Some see the gravity of the situation, and have themselves sounded the "abandon ship." They are assisting in lowering the lifeboats. Lifeboats are small craft and only hold about fifty people.. it's a lot easier to develop intimacy needed to sustain growth in a lifeboat. Furthermore, they are very buoyant and highly maneouverable. They can respond quickly to changing conditions. These small craft are missional in nature and will gather in many survivors and make it to land.
But in transition from the old to the new, some groups gather those who are really hoping to bebuild what is familiar and safe. They really just want to tweak the system, maybe adding more movie nights or another program. They have no vision for an unseen city. If we want to move forward from here, we do not want to rebuild the cruise ships. We want to teach people to build lifeboats.
That means that those we gather toward rebuilding must have a certain level of security in unfamiliar waters. They must be willing to learn new skills. And they must be willing to live with a certain amount of experimentation.
They must share a vision for the unseen city. They will be pilgrims on a journey, mostly mystics, and they will have endured a lot of frustration to have survived this far. Graham Cooke says of frustrated people that "I would rather have 50 frustrated people than 500 apathetic ones. Most people are frustrated because they care about something."
Frustrated people will likely make up the core of emergent churches. Many of them will be highly creative; and we know that creative people tend not to be followers. This means that we must begin by sharing a common vision.
If we aren't to build more middle class churches, we have to find ways to include the poor early on. Otherwise, the ethos that grows will not be invitational. The poor feel uncomfortable when everyone else is well dressed and driving a shiny car. If our gatherings scream "middle class," we won't find the poor among us. And if the bulk of the people in our communities are middle class, we won't have time to be missional anyway, we'll be caught up in meetings and in arguments about which songs to sing and how much to spend on the carpeting.
"Faith incorporates the unknown into our everyday life in a living, dynamic and actual manner. The unknown remains unknown. It is still a mystery, for it cannot cease to be one. The function of faith is not to reduce mystery to rational clarity, but to integrate the unknown and the known together in a lilving whole, in which we are more and more able to transcend the limitations of our external self... Faith .. embraces all the realms of life, penetrating into the most mysterious and inaccessible depths not only of our unknown spiritual being but even of God's own hidden essence and love. Faith is the only way of opening up the depths of reality, even of our own reality." Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation
Passionate, but Not for Mel's Movie
Why The Passion 'outreach' was all hype, and I didn't fall for it.
"The music was appropriately dramatic: bass strings, heavy and resonant, with a mezzo-forte attack and building to fortissimo from there. Then, against a stark black background, a promotional slogan appeared in bold white capitals. It grew, filling the screen's full width: PERHAPS THE BEST OUTREACH OPPORTUNITY IN 2,000 YEARS.
"I was watching a video to promote the release of Mel Gibson's film, The Passion of The Christ. One expects hype at such moments, but this slogan made me wince. It defines, I think, a frontier between two worlds."
Passionate by Brian McLaren
In Finally Comes the Poet, Walter Brueggemann writes,
"To address the issue of truth greatly reduced requires us to be poets who speak against the prose world. The terms of that phrase are readily misunderstood. By prose I refer to a world that is organized in simple formulae, so that even pastoral prayers and love letters sound like memos. By poetry, I do not mean rhyme, rhythm or meter, but language that moves like Bob Gibson's fast ball, that jumps at the right moment, that breaks open old worlds with surprise, abrasion and pace. Poetic speech is the only proclamation worth doing in a situation of reductionism. The only proclamation that is worthy of the name preaching is not moral instruction, or problem solving, or doctrinal clarification. It is not good advice, nor is it romantic caressing, not is it a soothing good humor... It is rather the ready, steady, surprising proposal that the real world in which God invites us to live is not the one made available by the rulers of this age. The preacher has an awesome opportunity to offer an evangelical world: an existence shaped by the news of the gospel. This offer requires special care for words, because the baptized community awaits speech in order to be a faithful people."
In the past four days this passage has been stuck in my head like a catchy tune. Then.. I randomly visited Jason Zahariades and there it was again. Shiver me timbers.. Not yet sure all that it means but it seems to be the Word of the Lord..
Ok, I am a book addict. I think I am a knowledge addict also. This is not necessarily a "good thing" .. I am trying to slow down, and prayer seems the best antidote to addiction.
It is not possible to worship a God we fully understand. If we understand Him, He is only a god we made up in our heads. But the beauty of this awareness is .. it is possible to worship. When we stand in the presence of mystery, we know wonder, and wonders opens to worship.
"Faith is the first step in transformation because it is a cognition that knows without images and without representation by a loving identification with the Living God in obscurity.." Thomas Merton.
Cabbages and Kings:
Themes:
All the Diamonds
All the diamonds in this world
I ran aground in a harbour town
Two thousand years and half a world away
Silver scales flash bright and fade
Bruce Cockburn, 1973
Last week my daughter had her first gig at the local Java Express. Since my first lessons to her on the guitar two years ago she has gone beyond me.. at least in some styles. Add that to creativity and confidence and energy... and she is a natural.
A few days ago she left on a missions trip to Mexico. Her first was two years ago when she was barely 14. Now at 16 she is better prepared and greatly enjoying herself. The trip connects to local churches and missionaries and proved very fruitful last time.. Here is an excerpt from her email today.
"We performed the Decision THREE TIMES yesterday in three different places, which accounts to 28 minutes on my knees altogther....that and sleeping on the top bunk which was a little curved - oh I´m doing peachy. (yes, mom, I admit, chiropractor before I came woulda been a good idea..) But it´s incredible to see what God´s doing. WOW. We booted it down to the town square in Nacozari last night on a spur of the moment thing and it was amazing how many people come out. Me, Danya and Tamina ran around shouting the few words in Spanish we know to get people to come, the looks you get from people when you´re wearing all black, a cape and the freakiest make'up in the world is awesome. Yes, I am the devil among you...lol righto [the drama pits Satan against the Creator]. But anyway, the whole town came out. We packed out the town square doing our twenty minute drama and at the end people were shouting for more. Then we went for supper at this awesome little Spanish restraunt - yay for tequitos, lol. The missionaries here are so awesome - really funny, super easy-going."
Yesterday we planted a new tree on our property, the first of three we hope to add this year. The "New Haven" peach is perfect for this climate. Next we want to add an apricot. While at the nursery I found some grafted fruit trees. One had apricot, nectarine, plum and peach all in one tree. Simply amazing. It was tough not to bring that one home too.
I'm participating in a discussion on trinitarian theology at ALLELON. Stan Grenz is the anchor, should prove interesting.
Somewhere a couple of months ago I found this.. can't recall the source.
Perichoresis
“A complete mutual interpenetration of two substances that preserves the identity and properties of each intact.”
[1] “In an attempt to describe the relational structure and unity of the Trinity, John Damascene and other church fathers employed the concept of perichoresis to signify the mutual interanimation and dynamic reciprocity of the divine persons. This relationship can only be understood as an irreducible relational dynamic that simultaneously affirms both individuality and mutuality.”
[2] “Perichoresis expresses the idea that the three persons mutually inhere in one another, draw life from one another, “are” what they are by relation to one another. Perichoresis means being-in-one-another, permeation without confusion.”
[3] “Perichoresis contains the image of intimacy and of pure reciprocity that does not result in confusion or loss of identity.”
[4] “The whole dance, or drama, or pattern of this three-Personal life is to be played out in each one of us.”
[5] “God is not some faceless, all-powerful abstraction. God is Father, Son and Spirit, existing in a passionate and joyous fellowship. The Trinity is not three highly committed religious types sitting around some room in heaven. The Trinity is a circle of shared life, and the life shared is full, not empty, abounding and rich and beautiful, not lonely and sad and boring.”
Thoughts on Profundity
I have this desire today to write something profound. Partly, I'd like to impress my friends. Partly, I'd like some assurance that my spiritual life is deepening.
Lately I've heard the call to silence. I tend to run from that call because I prefer activism.. a sense of accomplishment. If I am accomplishing something then I must be important.
When I first attempt to answer the call, I'm in a hurry to get somewhere. If I achieve something early on.. a sense of Presence, actually hearing something.. then the time is worthwhile.. and then I am worthwhile, because I have succeeded.
But if I don't achieve something early on, then I struggle with the time commitment. I want to be effective, I want to feel I am getting somewhere.
The problem is.. there is nowhere to "get." There is only an invitation and a Love. There is only BEing at the center. There is nothing I have to "do," nothing to prove in the embrace of Love. There is only rest and trust.
This is why I have such a love/hate relationship with prayer and contemplation. The first thing I encounter is my own helplessness, and my resistance to grace.
Lord, teach me to live with helplessness; it's an experience of the reality of my humanness. Give me patience with myself, and the ability to receive the free gift of love you offer. I need from You the ability to live free of my ideals of success and performance.
And Lord, lead me forward on the path toward You. Help me get beyond the wordiness of my prayers, beyond language to the way of the heart. Give me the courage to wait, an ear for silence, and free me of this need for control.
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More at ALLELON: A discussion of Stormfront
From Robbymac, the first chapter of John Piper's "Brothers, We Are NOT Professionals":
"We pastors are being killed by the professionalizing of the pastoral ministry. The mentality of the professional is not the mentality of the prophet. It is not the mentality of the slave of Christ... For there is no professional childlikeness (Matt. 18:3); there is no professional tenderheartedness (Eph. 4:32); there is no professional panting after God (Ps. 42:1).
"Our business to weep over our sins (James 4:9). Is there professional weeping? Our business is to strain forward to the holiness of Christ and the prize of the upward call of God (Phil. 3:14); to pummel our bodies and subdue them lest we be cast away (1 Cor. 9:27); to deny ourselves and take up the blood-spattered cross daily (Luke 9:23). How do you carry a cross professionally? We have been crucified with Christ; yet now we live by faith in the one who loved us and gave Himself for us (Gal. 2:20). What is professional faith?
"Then, wonder of wonders, we were given the gospel treasure to carry in clay pots to show that the transcendent power belongs to God (2 Cor. 4:7). Is there a way to be a professional clay pot? The strong wine of Jesus Christ explodes the wineskins of professionalism. There is an infinite difference between the pastor whose heart is set on being a professional and the pastor whose heart is set on being the aroma of Christ, the fragrance of death to some and eternal life to others (2 Cor. 2:15-16).
"Humble us, O God, under Your mighty hand, and let us rise, not as professionals, but as witnesses and partakers of the sufferings of Christ. Amen."
Excellent. That is clarity and truth.
My first inner response when I read this was, "preach it!" but immediately my second response was that this judges all of us. At least, it certainly judges me.
I am too slow to pray, to slow to repent, too quick to consider my own welfare, too quick to worry about what others will think of me.
While it is true that professionalism has robbed Christ's church of many good things, it is equally true that the fleshly desires that root the need for power and popularity are alive and well in each of us. How desperately we need the Lord to transform us.
"Over the last year Todd Hunter and I have had countless discussions regarding “The Tension over Intention.” Living as God’s people is not a formless, romantic, or idealized dream, but a concrete way of life, which requires intention and participation in God’s ongoing story. In this weeks section, “Thoughts Along The Way,” I had Todd put down some opening thoughts regarding this. Our hope is that it will spur on some dialogue and give us a new imagination for a way forward.
"I hear tension with intention just about everywhere I go these days; and these days, I “go” a lot. I am in groups of all kinds and talk to hundreds of people a month. There is tension over whether or not to intend to evangelize, or to plan to lead or to aim for spiritual formation in ourselves or in others. This is especially true regarding the first two: evangelism and leadership. In most of the emerging, alt-church scene it is currently a pretty big foul ball to have a previous aim of evangelizing someone or a determination to lead a group toward a preferable future.
"I understand the impulse; I have seen all the abuses that produce the reaction that leads us to deconstruct past norms. But, having thought about this a great deal the last few months, I want to offer a few tentative thoughts for a way forward that are rooted in action and construction. There is no put-down intended here, no condescension toward reaction and deconstruction. Rather there is an honest attempt to interact over important issues with the people in this “new-fangled-church” conversation, with friends I have come to cherish. I want to stir up an imagination for leading, for growing as a person and for evangelizing that avoids manipulation. Because these days, in most conversations I partake in, intention is simply taken to be a synonym for manipulation. I think I can show us a better way forward…actually, I “intend” to say some helpful things in the paragraphs that follow.
"The Tension Over Intention" at ALLELON
Through Heaven's Eyes from Prince of Egypt
A single thread in a tapestry
A lake of gold in the desert sand
From The Prince of Egypt
Ebert and Roper on The Passion of Christ
Craig Gauker writes,
"I am currently reading a book by C.S. Lewis called, "When We Have Faces". Last night i dog-earred my page somewhere only slightly past the half way mark, but so far i am utterly captivated by Lewis' brilliant expose' of the power of the myth ! His story articulates the very balance struggle which you have pointed out here in your blog (03-12-04) as it is addressed by Thomas More and Stanley Hopper in "Original Self".
"When We Have Faces" is actually a myth about the primal tension which exists in the human heart between our nearly subconscious acceptance of cultural mythology and our intellectual tendency toward other more structured forms of 'rationalistic interpretation'. It is a 'myth about mythology' if you like. The young woman Orual, through whose eyes the story is told, is the neglected daughter of a cruel king. Though a noble creature in her own way, she is violently tossed and torn between two seemingly contradictory worlds. The world of analytical logic is personified in Orual's personal tutor, a compassionate Greek philosopher who was captured by the king, made a slave and then set to the task of educating her and her two sisters. The world of myth and faith impinges itself through the Priest, the gods, and the collective practices of the culture in which she lives.
"The story is laced with that looming uncertainty which haunts the deep parts of every descendant of Adam... the intuitive sense that there is something wildly amiss, though strangely hidden in the very nature of the many puzzles we encounter ... something which can only be brought to bear upon our conscious minds through sacrificial leaps into the experience at hand. If we are ever to have a hope of overcoming the infirmity of spiritual vertigo we must search for the balance (or proper blending perhaps) of these colliding worlds of thought and perception ... of myth and logically ordered analysis.
"It comes to me as no surprise to find a most direct and well thought out perspective on the matter posted on NextReformation only 5 days prior to this one. It is the one dated March 5th in which you quoted a section from Mere Christianity entitled, "Theology is like the map". Here too CS Lewis is articulate, only in this case he uses the plain language of doctrine to expose the very same perceived dilemma. This 'coincidence' between the mythical nature of the book i am reading and that particular lesson, both written by C.S. Lewis, strikes me as yet another proof that Truth is not one day a scientist and yet another day a poet; but rather is a pure expression of poetry AND science in ONE divine 'personality'. Picture Albert Einstein passionately delivering a stunning performance in the lead role of Hamlet ... or Jackson Browne quietly studying the quantum nature of physics as he prepares to take the stage :-).
"I am coming to understand that this search for cohesion, continuity and intersection between 'doctrine' and 'psalm' ... 'theology' and 'poetry', is the personal quest which most often brings stability and balance to my walk with Christ ... and a gentle smile of pleasure to the One who is the Original and Ultimate Scientist / Poet ! "
More on Healthy and Immunity
Ok, too simplistic. Let me delve deeper.
The sicker a system is, the stronger you must be to survive. So, the average church on the corner has both healthy dynamics, and unhealthy dynamics. Like any family, it is somewhere on a sliding scale of health, and in general it can be seen to be moving toward greater health, or greater illness.
If the church family is fairly stable, then most of us would be safe there. If it is fairly unstable and enmeshed or disengaged, most of us would not do well there.
In classical family systems theory, differentiation defines emotional health. Differentiation is seen by the ability to maintain a non-anxious presence in the face of pushes and pulls toward anxiety, particularly when we are invited to be "triangled."
Some of the questions that can be asked of any community to address questions of healthy relational dynamics are:
1. how does the community handle stability versus change?
For those who want to dig even deeper, this model is called the circumplex model and was developed by David Olson. It has also been used by some creative types to understand denominational tendencies. Where would you place the typical Alliance church? How about the E Free? Anglican? Fundamental Baptist? Pentecostal? Each has their own typical style, though of course there is wide diversity relative to age of community and the health of leaders.
There was a time when I thought that the reason that the institutional church had been bad for me was simply because it was a toxic system. It took me the better part of a year to realize that it took two to tango.
It is true that the institutional system is toxic. But it is equally true that you have to be vulnerable.. kind of like having a weak immune system.
I would guess that 80% of the population has a weak immune system. I would tend to define that lack of immunity as lack of differentiation. It takes an emotionally healthy personality to survive the system, or to remain within it without getting ill.
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I'm finally reading Blue Like Jazz.. yes, yes, I know.. I'm slow with these things.
Ok, the book is written very simply. It is a quick read. But perhaps that is part of the genius of the thing.. I can probably hand it to my teenage daughter and she will get as much out of it as I will.
It borders on being profound. I'm about at the half way mark. This section this morning caught me..
Online (old) debate with Dr Tom Wright (the Challenge of Jesus etc)
What makes a church postmodern? Notes from Stan Grenz at the Emergent Convention
Whew, I'm tired today. Having a 10 week pup around the house, and up during the night.. is a lot like having an 18 month old child.
I plan to visit the Federal Business Development Bank next week. I am guessing that I will have to raise about $20,000 of financing to complete this new software development contract. I'm not a businessman and I need to learn the ins and outs, while organizing a team to get the project done. The key piece seems to be finding a couple of guys who are fluent in areas where I am not.
Take a look at Wendell Berry's In Distrust of Movements. Berry's article is broad in its sweep and worth reading for its own merit.
In "Original Self," Thomas More wrote,
"Myth is the narrative in which we find ourselves when we become aware that our lives are shaped by stories. The myth at work at any particular moment may derive from the family and from powerful but hidden currents of imagination strong in the culture. Our basic humanity also accounts for the deepest stratum of our lived myth. We are always in a myth, but cultural narratives do vary from one place to another, and even in a single culture they can shift over time."
While we post-moderns are reacting against authority, we are desperately looking for enduring myths. I'm not talking about stories that aren't true, but about the real Story. We are experiencing "mythic vertigo" as the narratives that anchored our culture are no longer accepted. More continues,
"Stanley Hopper's solution for our sense of mythic vertigo is a new appreciation for the role of imagination. He recommends that we replace theology, the rationalistic interpretation of belief, with theopoetics, finding God through poetry and fiction, which neither wither before modern science nor conflict with the complexity of what we know now to be the self. This is a theology for a period highly influenced by technology and by psychoanalysis.
"If we could make this shift, which is being forced on us by our very success in science and other areas of knowledge, we might find a more solid security, one that is not easily disturbed by the findings of science or the shifting of mores. We would realize that our conceptions about the nature of things are always provisional and therefore may best be served by a poetic sensibility that looks deep into experience. Our sense of the religious life might be less external, less factual, and less rationalistic."
Celebration time.. I am finished at Office Depot. The day before I finished my wife started a new job as an RN in a Christian care home. She is excited and very pleased at the atmosphere there.
The day before I finished I also received a call from a UK software publisher. We agreed together four weeks ago that they would attempt to acquire a software licence on my behalf so that I could take the source code from a popular combat game and rebuild and modernize the game for a new release. They were successful in acquiring the licence, and we successfully negotiated a contract for my company to develop a new game based on the old source code.
This means a cash advance 60 days after the contract begins and then royalties on publication. Publication will be in the fall and the royalties start to flow early in 2005. Meanwhile I am continuing development of another expansion for Forgotten Battles. This will really take the financial pressure off and we can pay out some of our debts this year.
It's funny but after struggling along for the past six months in the company of others I feel strange moving ahead. It feels unfair and almost feels wrong. Why should we be blessed while our friends continue to struggle?
I have a feeling that we will be going ahead with a local Emergent gathering in mid May. I'll be meeting with some friends over lunch this next week to talk about timing, format etc. We are talking about limiting attendance to 40 persons, and it will be mostly dialogue around tables.
Jason asks at The Off Ramp, "what can we do to escape the cultural entanglements that plague the church in every generation and actually become the eschatological people who live God’s future kingdom in the present?"
"Structural models are not the answer. Whether we belong to a denomination with a lengthy history or are part of an emerging “organic” movement, structure by itself is not the answer. That’s because structures are the institutional expressions of people. And it’s within people that the problem lies. For example, in To Kill A Mockingbird, racism is built into the Church because the people are racist. In our contemporary times, consumerism is built into the Church because people are consumerist. Structures reflect and enforce what already exists in people."
This is part of the reason I am for smallness and simplicity. In larger structures, it is too easy to disown the problem. We may hear, "It's the system, it's not us," or we may "forget" deny the existence of problems because of our immersion in programs and tasks. The larger our structures, and the more complex, the less we are face to face with one another, the less likely we are to experience the kind of intimacy that allows the loving confrontation and "holding the feet to the fire" that enables true transformation.
Elsewhere, AKMA on the Passion of Christ.
Brian McLaren recently penned a letter to friends of Emergent. In it he commented that "there are no postmodern churches." That raised quite a storm of protest. (The letter is worth reading for other reasons as well). Brian responded (and apologized) in a followup interview .
"I’m worried that many of us think we’ve arrived: we’ve crossed the Jordan River and now we’re in the Promised Land. If we’ve made a crossing, it’s the Red Sea (or whatever), which does put Egypt behind us. But we’ve got a wide wilderness ahead of us, wilderness where our character will be tested and many of us will be tempted to go back to Egypt."
Q: I don't really like the "promised land" imagery. It implies that we'll eventually reach a place where we can settle down.
A: Good point. That didn't work for our Jewish brothers and sisters, did it? A lot of us have been using Exile imagery ... but that also implies a return of sorts, where the hope is that we can settle down. Any set of imagery has upsides and downsides, you know? The only way we'll ever settle down, I think, is the way people settle down when they're canoing or kayaking on a river. There's still movement, and slackwater can give way to rapids without much advanced notice."
Another worthy read is Wendell Berry's In Distrust of Movements. Berry's article is broad in its sweep and worth reading for its own merit. McLaren's interest in the article, however, is echoed in the wisdom of Richard Rohr that follows:
" That's one reason that most revolutions fail. They self-destruct from within. Jesus and the great spiritual teachers primarily emphasized transformation of consciousness and soul. Unless that happens, there is no revolution. Where the leftists take over, they become as power seeking and controlling and dominating as their oppressors because the demon of power was never exorcised.
" We've seen this in social reforms and in lay and feminist movements. You want to support them and you agree with many of the ideas, but too often they disappoint. The need to be in power, to have control, and to say someone else is wrong is not enlightenment. There's nothing new about that. That's the old paradigm. I wonder if Jesus was not referring to this phenomenon when he spoke of throwing out the demons (leaving the place "swept and tidy") and then seven other demons return making it worse than before (Matt. 12:45). TOO ZEALOUS reforms tend to corrupt the reformers, while they remain incapable of seeing themselves as unreformed. We need less reformation and more transformation.
" The lie often comes in a new form that looks like enlightenment. We all say, "This is it," and we jump on the bandwagon, the new politically correct agenda. And then we discover it's run by unenlightened people who in fact do not love God but love themselves. They do not love the truth, but control. They often do not love true freedom for everybody, but freedom for their system. That's been my great disappointment in liberalism. Liberals tend not to create anything that lasts. They lack the ability to sacrifice the self or create foundations that last. They can't let go of their own need for change and control, to stay in there in a patient, humble way that people of faith often can. No surprise that Jesus prayed not just for fruit, but "fruit that will last" (John 15:16). A rare synthesis, it seems. "
I am babysitting today. The subject is a ten pound female Golden Retriever tentatively named "Honey." We are fairly sure she has been fed "cute pills" for the first nine weeks of her life. But with my daughter in school all week, and my wife working probably half days all week, it should prove interesting.
"The Well" at OUC Campus was a fun experience. We had some good discussion of the material from CS Lewis "Beyond Personality." This pub-church group is still young, but they definitely have potential for making an impact on the campus.
This week I work my last shift at Office Depot, and get back into more writing, mission and campaign design (with Combat Planes), and other projects. But it is fast becoming spring, so it will be harder to sit at a desk. I spent much free time over the past few days pruning trees and cleaning up the back yard. Our trees were obviously neglected over the past two years. The cherry was quite out of control, and the plum was worse. The two apples needed just minor correction. We're planning to plant a peach, but the big project will be building a deck in March and April. The yard itself is nicely shaped, low maintenance, and with a heavy duty watering system.. perfect for outdoor gatherings.
"Here one understands true poverty; one rediscovers awareness of one's own incapacity and ignorance; one opens one's soul to receive very profound instruction in the lives of the poor, taught by God Himself, by means of those rough faces, those half-ruined lives. It is a new face of Christ discovered in the little ones."
Paul Vieira at Harveststone is collecting responses to the movie "The Passion of the Christ.
"To allow that unlearning, we have to accept what is often difficult, particularly for people in what appears to be a successful culture. We have to accept that we share a mass cultural trance, a hypnotic trance. We're all sleepwalkers. We human beings do not naturally see. We have to be taught how to see." Richard Rohr, "Everything Belongs," p.29
We have to be taught how to see...
When we come into the world, we don't recognize a thing visually. We recognize sounds.. particularly the sounds of voices. But we can't make sense of a thing that we see.
Two things gradually happen. First, our brain reconstructs reality, turning the upside down world right side up. Second, we learn words and meanings and connect them to objects that we see: glass, chair, cat.
We don't naturally see.
And how do we learn to see what is there? Even a very young child references the objects he sees to his own needs. Cat.. that means softness and fun and distraction. Water.. that means something to quench my thirst.
But water wasn't first made to quench anyone's thirst.. it somehow expressed something of God. Perhaps the metaphors tell us more.. water is freshness, movement, life, flow, coolness, clarity.
But without light.. we would see nothing. "If your eye is whole, your whole body will be full of light" (Luke 11:34)
" When it comes to knowing God, the initiative lies on His side. If He does not show Himself, nothing you can do will enable you to find Him. And, in fact, He shows much more of Himself to some people than to others - not because He has favorites, but because it is impossible for Him to show Himself to a man whose whole mind and character are in the wrong condition. Just as sunlight, though it has no favorites, cannot be reflected in a dusty mirror as clearly as in a clean one.
" You can put this another way by saying that while in other sciences the instruments you use are things external to yourself (things like microscopes and telescopes), the instrument through which you see God is your whole self. And if a man's self is not kept clean and bright, his glimpse of God will be blurred - like the Moon seen through a dirty telescope. That is why horrible nations have horrible religions: they have been looking at God through a dirty lens.
" God can show Himself as He really is only to real men. And that means not simply to men who are individually good, but to men who are united together in a body, loving one another, helping one another, showing Him to one another. For that is what God meant humanity to be like; like players in one band, or organs in one body.
" Consequently, the one really adequate instrument for learning about God is the whole Christian community, waiting for Him together. Christian brotherhood is, so to speak, the technical equipment for this science - the laboratory outfit."
CS Lewis, Mere Christianity, Book Four
I am struck by many things in Lewis, but this passage and the one from yesterday seem to echo some of the basic tenets of postmodern theology. 1) We are limited in our ability to know Reality, and 2) the only sure apologetic for Christian faith is the Christian community. The first element seems so obvious to us now. (I wonder how Lewis's listeners responded to these thoughts of his?)
We are limited in our ability to understand physical reality, much less spiritual Reality. But the limitations are not just a matter of the quality of our instruments or testing methods, the limitations are inherent in the perceptors.. us. There is no perfectly objective observer.
Our first limitation is our personal lenses and filters. How much Reality are we prepared to accept? As Lewis elsewhere put it, "obedience is the great opener of eyes." Our ability to see and know Jesus is not limited so much by our intellectual capacity, as by our willingness to follow Him. As we work with Him, we come to understand Him. But how many of us are really ready to make that journey? There is a cost..
We have to first admit that we are basically self willed, and we want to be the center of our own little worlds. But that recognition itself tells us that the glass is already full.. how then can we be filled up with God?
Or to use Lewis metaphor, the lenses are dirty. But the cost of cleaning them is a willingness to die.
So the cup is full.. filled with self. We view everything in life from the perspective of self. How will this affect me? How much will it cost me? How will others view me if I travel this path? But when self is the filter, everything we view is distorted.
You see, we aren't really asking, "What is the Truth?" We are asking, "How can I make Truth work for me?" These are two vastly different questions. It is the difference between the businessman and the adventurer. One wants to discover what is out there, the other is interested in making more money. Which one would you trust to tell you the truth?
If this sounds like a hopeless case, it is. But thankfully, as Lewis points out, the Truth wants to be found. I have this scene in my mind from the Fellowship of the Ring. Gandalf is speaking to Frodo of the One Ring: "His thought is bent on it; he is seeking it always... the Ring WANTS to be found."
Jesus tells a story in the New Testament of leaving all the 99 sheep behind to go looking for the one. We are the Lord's ring.. we are that one sheep. His thoughts are bent on us.. He is seeking us always. And on the other hand, the Ring is Him. When we go looking, He wants to be found. That is our only hope, because most of us are really more interested in our own comfort and our own profit than in knowing the Truth.
Well then, if He wants to be found and our own efforts are futile, what is the point of looking at all? What is the point of striving to have a clearer lens? What is the point of a life given over to learning, growth and discovery?
A student once came to a great Zen master and asked,
"Master, is there anything I can do to become enlightened?"
Virtually all spiritual teachers say that in order to know Reality, we must become empty. We must find a way beyond the limitations of our false self.. We must acknowledge that no matter how brilliant we are, Truth will not surrender to us its mysteries. We must first become ignorant. We must go on a journey into a kind of personal desert where we can honestly encounter the false self, and admit our poverty. We have to "cleanse the lens" so that our perception is clearer. This will make our journey toward truth much easier.
Sunlight is reflected more brightly in a clean mirror. An empty cup is ready to hold fine wine.
We are all on the journey toward Truth. Those of us who claim to have been found by God want to grow in our understanding. Those of us who are still seeking Him hope to find the Truth, and not just someone's idea of the truth.
"I quite understand why some people are put off by Theology. I
remember once when I had been giving a talk to the R.A.F., an old,
hard-bitten officer got up and said, 'I've no use for all that stuff. But,
mind you, I'm a religious man too. I know there's a God. I've felt Him: out
alone in the desert at night: the tremendous mystery. And that's just why I
don't believe all your neat little dogmas and formulas about Him. To anyone
who's met the real thing they all seem so petty and pedantic and unreal!'
"Now in a sense I quite agreed with that man. I think he had probably had
a real experience of God in the desert. And when he turned from that
experience to the Christian creeds, I think he really was turning from
something real to something less real. In the same way, if a man has once
looked at the Atlantic from the beach, and then goes and looks at a map of
the Atlantic, he also will be turning from something real to something less
real: turning from real waves to a bit of coloured paper. But here comes the
point.
"The map is admittedly only coloured paper, but there are two things
you have to remember about it. In the first place, it is based on what
hundreds and thousands of people have found out by sailing the real
Atlantic. In that way it has behind it masses of experience just as real as
the one you could have from the beach; only, while yours would be a single
glimpse, the map fits all those different experiences together. In the
second place, if you want to go anywhere, the map is absolutely necessary.
As long as you are content with walks on the beach, your own glimpses are
far more fun than looking at a map. But the map is going to be more use than
walks on the beach if you want to get to America.
"Theology is like the map." CS Lewis, Mere Christianity
Temple worship is frequently condemned in the Old Testament prophets.. and in the next sentence, the people of God are blasted for neglecting the poor. What's the connection?
Could it be that we would rather "do" church than "be" the church, and that we would rather "do" worship than "be" worship. "Being" worship would make of our lives a living sacrifice. It might mean that we nail our self oriented ways to the Cross and die there, so that we can be raised up for the life of the world.
The dominant image in our western minds when we consider worship is a good old time together around song and dance and celebration. We seem to believe that the best way to know God is in corporate worship. Oddly, that connection isn't made in Scripture. The New Testament never uses the word worship in connection with a gathering of believers. And in the Old Testament, where there is much talk about worship, we have admonitions like this:
"He has shown you, O man, what is good;
In short, justice seems more than the fragrance of worship, justice is its very foundation. As Jim Wallis once commented,
Sadly, as self centered beings, we would much rather gather in comfortable Christian circles than venture into dangerous territory. But we are called to live dangerously. We are forged for dangerous waters.
When we neglect the poor, it is then that judgement falls most severely on our insulated subculture. When we neglect caring for the oppressed, we forget how poor and needy we are. We make our worship a lie, and the judgement of the Lord falls on us.
I hate, I despise your feast days,
Perhaps in the end we are not a Sunday centered culture because of any biblical admonition, but because we prefer comfort and ease and gathering with our own kind. The poor are rarely among us, and we like it that way. We intuitively know that they are not comfortable in our gatherings, but insulating ourselves from the needy frees us from guilt. Out of sight.. out of mind.
I have been amazed to discover over the past three years that here in one of the most affluent towns in BC, in one of the most affluent countries in the world, there are families who go hungry from time to time. And these are Christian families in a town where there are many lovely and wealthy "churches." It is mind boggling.
"What I am describing in this article is a North American tradition that sees the life of faith centered around gatherings and programs. In his article of 2002, Mike Bishop laments that approximately 80% of the resources of the typical western church community are invested in large gatherings. It shouldn't surprise us, then, that our very identity as the people of God becomes defined by our gathering.
"But if we are defined by a weekly event.. if we take our cues for the meaning of priesthood, worship, vocation and more from that event, it is no wonder that discipleship, mission, and shared priesthood have ceased to be lived out. It is no wonder, in turn, that believers are bored, are not formed spiritually, and have virtually no impact on the world around them. And it is little wonder that evangelical Christianity is on the decline.
We create our buildings, then our buildings create us. Sir Winston Churchill
"I take my cues for this article from Mike Bishop's article of 2002 that appeared at Next Wave online. Mike astutely observed that the deeper problem in the Sunday church paradigm may be rooted in our Greek way of thinking about culture. Unlike the Hebrews, the Greeks divided life and culture into categories of sacred and secular. In postmodernity, we are learning anew to question such assumptions.
"What does it mean that "all life is sacred," and how will that impact our use of meetings versus "doing life" together? What does leadership look like in a community of friends?
Beyond the Event Centered Community.
"Three things are implicit in subversion. One, the status quo is wrong and must be overthrown if the world is going to be livable. It is so deeply wrong that repair work is futile. The world is, in the word insurance agents use to designate our wrecked cars, totaled.
"Two, there is another world aborning that is livable. Its reality is no chimera (illusion). It is in existence, though not visible. Its character is known. The subversive does not operate out of a utopian dream but out of a conviction of the nature of the real world.
"Three, the usual means by which one kingdom is thrown out and another put in its place - military force or democratic elections - are not available. If we have neither a preponderance of power nor a majority of votes, we begin searching for other ways to effect change. We discover the methods of subversion. We find and welcome allies." (E Petersen)
The Subversive Community's mission is not to bring the kingdom of God from without; it is to release the kingdom of God from within. Subversives do not "reach outside people and encourage them to come in." Subversives live and do their work ‘undercover’ where the world lives and breathes. Their goal is not escapism (trying to build a Christian utopia), but to show people how they can lay hold of life as God intended, in his Kingdom.
From The Church as Subversive Community
Woke this morning thinking about worship, and with an image of Jesus on the cross and the words, "I became worship."
Sort of gives a new twist on the term "worship leader." Ro. 12:1,2
Sacred/Secular
Tonight I have the opportunity to make a choice.. between seeing Mel Gibson's "Passion" or Peter Jackson's "Return of the King." It would be .. I confess.. my third time viewing the latter.
I'm having fun arguing the sacred/secular debate in my head over this one.. and leaning toward seeing ROTK again.
Animals.. Pets
Our cat of thirteen years has gone missing. OTOH, we added a new animal to the family 18 months ago in the form of a second cat, and we are enjoying her greatly. She is part Siamese and has a lot of personality. The old cat, while a great companion for the kids over the years, was really slowing down and spent about 18 hours a day sleeping.
But soft.. there is yet more news! (Watched Hamlet on the weekend). We are about to add a Golden Retriever to the mix. We ventured an hour north on the weekend to view a litter of twelve golden puppies. My youngest daughter (now 14) has long wanted one, and we know our time is short to make that dream come true. There are many other considerations.. but it seems this is the right time.
This coming Sunday evening I am speaking at The Well. This pub un-church meets on the OUC North campus here in Kelowna every Sunday evening. Open bar.. free nachos. Hmm.. I may be back.
The format is 15 minutes of talk and then 45 minutes of dialogue around tables. Hmm.. another reason to go back.
On Life and Business
My last day at Office Depot is approaching soon. The fireworks and wine will be occurring on the night of the 13th. No, no sadness about leaving there. I am not made for this kind of work.
My first software project of 2004 has now been published in the UK. The second will be released in April. I have been planning a third project which is now beginning, and I am continuing to talk to a UK firm about licencing and renewing a previously published simulation. I should know more on this latter project very soon, and it will require almost full time effort for the next six months if it comes to pass. Better still.. I am asking for an advance from the publisher if the project goes forward and I think I have a good chance to get it.
I completed and mailed in my wife's income tax return last week.. and was surprised to see that because my income was so low in 2003 that she will get all her contributions back, plus an overcontribution to CPP. That means a cheque for $3000 sometime in March if all goes well, which will allow us to cover some late bills and hopefully carry us til June when my first royalties arrive.
Writing Projects
Some of you may know that I have two major projects in process and an article just completed. The first project, "Postmodern Possibilities," has now been officially passed up by The Leadership Network. Zondervan is looking at it.
The second project was born from the first, with the tentative title, "Reflections for Postmodern Leaders." I may be mixing paradigms in the title, but it may not appear in that form anyway.
The second project has been more fun and is well underway. If many of you are interested, I'll post a PDF excerpt here for download. The format currently is five pages of short reflections.. quotes, poetry, prose.. followed by one or two pages of response from friends, then another five pages, and so on.
The short article just completed was prompted by my discovery of Mike Bishop's article on "Sunday Centric" community. I had intended to invite Mike to a coop effort, but he was too busy at the time. So here is an extension of some of Mike's thought run through the grid of my experience: Beyond the Event Centered Community.
The Cherished Poet
How beautiful to see and hear
How it came that I might be
A tribute to Maja by craig gauker ... 02-25-04
A single Mom comes to you.. she has no food in her cupboard. She is behind in her rent. She has no usable tea towels. She owes money to the power company.
How much do you give?
You have $300 in the bank, and you need $300 or more between now and the next paycheque for your own family. Do you ask your friend to pray and have faith for what she needs, when you have it in your power to help her today? Is it fair to ask her to have faith, when you aren't willing to trust the Lord for tomorrow yourself by giving from what you have today?
We found ourselves wrestling with this question this weekend, with no easy answers. But when the need is "in your face," it is impossible not to respond.
So we found ourselves wrestling with prudence. What is "reasonable," and is the category itself a faith category? Is it reasonable to ask, "What would Jesus do?" How do the passages in Acts 2 and Acts 4 play into the issue? There they "held all things in common," "were of one heart and mind" and no one said anything they had was their own.
Yes, there are many other issues. Our friend is unorganized. She doesn't always make the same decisions we would make with regard to priorities or stewardship. But how would any of us live when our needs outstrip our income and energy and we have lost hope for change... Listen to David Ruis sing Multiply Your Love...
Mel Gibson's Passion
We spend the weekend helping one of our friends relocate her family. It's a good way to meet some new friends and renew acquaintance with some we don't see very often.
Amidst the carrying, packing and cleaning, I had a chance to chat with a few about Mel Gibson's Passion. Everyone has their own feelings about the movie.. whether they have seen it or not. Virtually everyone has heard Mel talk about it somewhere. I have a feeling that the legacy of the movie may not be in the movie itself, but in the conversations it generates..
My wife and I are leaning toward not seeing it at all. Lest you prepare to crucify us (!)... we have a long host of considerations that move us to consider bowing out.
First, we aren't sure that we want the dominant images of the event in our mind to be Mel Gibson's interpretation. We have our own images.. conditioned by reading and reflection over the years. They may not be THE images.. but neither are Mel Gibson's definitive.
Second, we understand that his intention was to elevate the violence beyond normal levels. This from a man whose movies are always very violent... The Patriot, Braveheart.. We have mixed feelings about that level of portrayal. We don't have cable TV and so we are not as innured to violence as some of our friends.
Third, we see his theological grid as very limited, and revolving around sin and atonement. That grid informs his production, just as it informs his opinions about language and Vatican II. But it is a very narrow grid, and not one we adhere to.
The broader scope of the story is the love of the Father for His creation, and entering into its life in the most intimate of terms in the incarnation. Then the story is broken heart of the Father over a broken relationship with his creatures and with the fallen world. It is the broken heart of the Father as he sacrifices His only Son.. and temporarily loses a fellowship that has existed before the foundation of the world. None of this can be contained in an interpretation like Gibson's.
We have watched some of the interviews. We like Mel and consider him a brother with courage and integrity. We aren't sorry he made the movie. Neither are we sure that we want to see it.
For nearly 2000 years the people of God have understood the meaning of the Cross without visual media. The Holy Spirit has been our teacher. And as we have lived out what God builds into us, we have made an impact on those around us. Is there a "need" for Mel Gibson's interpretation? Probably not. Can it be a good thing? Probably yes. Make up your own mind and follow your convictions.
Read the thoughtful review at First Things.
"We desperately need new structures. The home church may provide an answer but meeting in houses is no solution if the only thing we’re interested is meeting informally. Being a church that is indeed transformational will not be the easier road to travel. Internet community is fine but it simply isn’t incarnational living but we can use it to encourage one another in our walk. This is a call for people to consider leaving institutional “church” for small groups (no more than 15 to 20 adults and as small as two or three gathered in His name) of people who are committed to a different agenda. Let us network together for encouragement as we seek the inward journey of getting to know Christ and the joy that is found in him. Let the agenda be the one anothers. In new and fresh ways let us remember the orphan, the widow, the single mom or dad, the hungry, the thirsty, the poor. Let us be living stones who are connected to the chief cornerstone Jesus."
From Wild Hope- a blogspot blog
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Puppies chew everything, eat everything, dig holes everywhere, and are otherwise .. ahem.. cute. They eat rocks and pine needles. They love to dig up flower bulbs. These cute animals will destroy your home, your yard, and your sanity. If you keep them mostly inside while young, as we have done, you have the added benefit of being awoken early every morning and cleaning up puddles daily.
One system of family assessment looks at Cohesion versus Adaptability. Think of Adaptability on the Y axis, and cohesion on the X axis. Then draw a circle. A healthy faith community is both connected and flexible.
