|
|
|
|
|
April Blog Index
The narrow pathway
For I know that You are faithful
Let Your kingdom come! posted by Len Hjalmarson |
1:05 PM
"Jesus did not die to make good men better; He died to make dead men live."
I don't live as if I believe this.. I live as if the power is in me to change my circumstances and to change the world... yet I know that "Apart from Me you can do nothing." Lord, teach me to abide.
In ourselves we are truly powerless. We have died and our lives are hidden in Christ. Dead men are not weak.. they are dead. They can do nothing. Only life lived in the Spirit of God will impact our world.
Extensive Bibliography on Emerging Culture
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
9:15 AM
Reading in Clark Pinnock's "Flame of Love," his theology of the Holy Spirit, over the weekend. Pinnock remarks that we have fixated on the Cross in our thinking about the atonement, in part because we misread "It is finished," and in part because western Christianity has focused on the legal aspects of justification over the experiential aspects (sanctification), placing the work of the Son over the work of the Spirit. In part this is due to the western focus on guilt over redemption.. the walking out of the Christ life. In the west we have been more interested in fire insurance than in "following Him," and more interested in instant fix than in process. (This is all my summary and if I have distorted Pinnock, it's my error).
In reality, the Cross was not the end, but the beginning. While the work of redemption was accomplished, without the resurrection, the Cross would have been incomplete. Forgive me if this seems terribly obvious.
The resurrection demonstrated God's power over sin and death, not to mention over all the fallen powers and over creation itself. It was a physical resurrection, affirmation that God loves and will redeem our physical bodies and the material world.
The resurrection shows us that death itself is an imposter, and not the final word. And by the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, we are empowered to walk this life of faith. And we witness the inbreaking of a new order.. the Reign of God... that will eventually transform us and our world. Truly, the beginning of the end has come, and the Kingdom of God is breaking into our world.
* * *
This morning I had a dream. It was unlike many dreams I have had where demonic forces were present. Usually I have only to speak a word and the demons are gone. This time I was in a battle and I was losing.
I woke thinking about authority and about the Presence of the Lord. I also thought about purity and consecration. I thought about all I have written and shared lately, and felt it was so much straw.
We desperately need revolution and reformation. But we won't attain it without revelation. "When we see Him we will become like Him..." The world needs to see Jesus. It doesn't need our words so much as our lives lived in faithfulness and empowered by the Spirit. Ultimately discussion won't get us there.. we need grace, grace, grace..
"Lord, reveal Yourself to us that we may be enthralled with Your beauty and majesty and be transformed in love."
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
12:15 AM
"If fear is the great enemy of intimacy, love is its true friend. Yet the words love and intimacy are used so casually in our heavily psychologized milien that it requires special care to reclaim their spiritual meaning. We might be tempted to place intimate love on the same level as fear and suggest that it occupies the middle ground between "too distant" and "too close." Intimate love would thus avoid the fearful extremes of a cold distance and a suffocating closeness and offer a happy medium.
"Many contemporary reflections on interpersonal relationships betray this way of thinking. They seem to say: "We need each other, but we should not lose our independence; we have a need for closeness , but we should not give up individuality; we have a need for mutual support, but we also need enough space for ourselves." Although this is true, the suggestion is that good interpersonal relationships are the result of negotiation between partners, in which they define each other's rights as well as needs. Thus the place of intimate love is constantly threatened by fear, whether it comes from the right side or the left.
"But intimacy is not.. a happy medium. It is a way of being in which the tension between distance and closeness is dissolved and a new horizon appears. Intimacy is beyond fear..."
Henri Nouwen in "Lifesigns"
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
9:45 AM
When Jean Vanier talks about that place [of safety and intimacy] he often stretches out his arm and cups his hand as if it holds a small, wounded bird. He asks: "What will happen if I open my hand fully?" We say: "The bird will try to flutter its wings, and it will fall and die." Then he asks again: "But what will happen if I close my hand?" We say: "The bird will be crushed and die." Then he smiles and says, "An intimate place is like my cupped hand, neither totally open nor totally closed. It is the space where growth can take place." Henri Nouwen in "Lifesigns"
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
8:35 AM
LETTER I. The advantage of humiliation.
"The most essential point is lowliness. It is profitable for all things, for it produces a teachable spirit which makes everything easy. You would be more guilty than many others if you made any resistance to God on this point. On the one hand, you have received abundant light and grace on the necessity of becoming like a little child; and on the other, no one has had an experience fitter to humiliate the heart and destroy self-confidence. The great profit to be derived from an experience of our weakness, is to render us lowly and obedient. May the Lord keep you! Fenelon
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
8:30 AM
"Reality TV has been damned as mindless cultural fluff, but an internet-based contest aims to raise the philosophical bar, throwing 12 strangers together on the Ark with God Almighty at the helm. "
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
8:40 AM
"In my office I have two pictures. One of them is a luminous landscape, with bright colours, red poppies on a green prairie, and at the end blue mountains touching the skies. When people see it for the first time they usually say the same words:
'How beautiful it is!'
"But that is all. Clarity says everything which is to be said. The conversation is brought to an end. The soul is possessed by ten thousand things.
"The other is a dark and deep forest, hazy shapes, indefinite trees, a lonely trail which disappears in an eerie atmosphere of diffuse mist. Everything suggests mist-eerie...
When people see it they stop: they do not know what to say. But after some moments of indecision, the same question:
"I wonder...What is it which is hidden by this mist, behind the trees, in the dark?"
"This picture: a poem; it does not intend to say what it shows. The visible is only the discrete border which suggests the invisible, the nameless, that which cannot be said. The eyes which only see the visible do not see the absence which is there.
"A dream...Truth is hidden. It is absent. It is not shown, it is not said. It is only evoked....In this dark, silent space, strange creatures begin to move; absences, only visible with the eyes of desire and love....." Rubem Alves
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
8:20 AM
"The conductor is not a powerful person. It appears so, but it is not so. On the surface it seems that the music is produced by the power of the conductor to tell everyone what to do and when to do it. He may have to do that, but it is not what makes the music." (If he does too much directing, the real music will not be heard, but only his own idea of it).
"A good conductor does not merely tell everyone what to do; rather he helps everyone to hear what is so. For this he is not primarily a telling but a listening individual: even while the orchestra is performing loudly he is listening inwardly to silent music. He is not so much commanding as he is obedient."
"The conductor conducts by being conducted. He first hears, feels, loses himself in the silent music; then when he knows what it is he finds a way to help others hear it too. He knows that music is not made by people playing instruments, but rather by music playing people."
"How does music play people? Through consciousness. So the conductor reveres the individual consciousness of the members of the orchestra as the precious instruments that music plays. By any and all means he endeavors to conduct his orchestra into a consciousness of what the music is. For this he is at once absolutely subservient to the music and absolutely respectful of the artists' consciousness as musical instruments. And he is always trying to factor himself out so that nothing whatsoever comes between the music and its instruments, the artists' consciousness. The conductor knows that music makes the music."
"The musicians play accurately, flawlessly, energetically... And yet it is not music, because they don't hear or feel it" (having been forbidden to play or listen to Western music for so many years).
"At different times he responds in different ways. There is a time to be firm and a time to be gentle; a time to interfere and a time to let be; a time to demonstrate and a time to refrain... a time to encourage and a time even to chastise; a time to permit, a time to forbid... How does he know what and when? Evidently he is guided by a keen discernment of what the music is saying, and of what each musician is ready to hear.... "
"Everything Stern does or says is to help the student become conscious of what the music is. His power as a conductor is the power of music over him. He knows that everyone has the potential to become conscious of the music and everything he does is designed to liberate that potential. Sometimes he helps us discover it for ourselves. Sometimes he helps us encounter it through a demonstration.... The conductor is always ruling himself out, replacing himself as the conductor and teacher through elevating the consciousness of the musician to a point of direct contact with the music itself." From Isaac Stern in China
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
8:40 AM
"To be or not to be a community is not an option for the church. By nature the church is a community and experiences communion. The question before the people of God is: what kind of community will we be?"
"True communities need to be born as signs of faithfulness. The Hebrew word "hesed" expresses two things: faithfulness and tenderness. In our world we can be tender but unfaithful, and faithful without being tender. The love of God is both tender and faithful. Our world is waiting for communities of tenderness and faithfulness. They are coming." Jean Vanier, "Community and Growth"
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
10:30 AM
"To develop a broader vision we must be willing to forsake, to kill, our narrower vision. In the short run it is more comfortable not to do this - to stay where we are, to keep using the same microcosmic map, to avoid suffering the death of cherished notions. The road of spiritual growth, however, lies in the opposite direction. We begin by distrusting what we already believe, by actively seeking the threatening and unfamiliar, by deliberately challenging the validity of what we have previously been taught and hold dear. The path to holiness lies through questioning everything." M. Scott Peck
Evangelism as Risky Negotiation
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
8:10 AM
How do we do intentional "gathering" in any setting without recreating the in-the-four-walls Christian ghetto?
And how do we escape the "event mentality" in favor of discipleship that views seven days a week as life in the kingdom for the King. See this thread on Gathering Pragmatics
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
10:30 AM
The day before Good Friday is Maundy Thursday, the time when according to tradition Jesus celebrated his last meal with his disciples.
Secondly, "the wine poured from heaven" evokes the infinite implications and impact of the death of the second Adam once for all. Only the Son of God could make that sacrifice, and only the blood of a perfect Lamb, slain for all time, could redeem humanity and reconnect us with God.
Listen to "How Great is Our God" from Revival in Belfast
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
10:30 AM
"This simpler way to organize human endeavor requires a belief that the world is inherently orderly. Life seeks organization. It does not require us to organize it."
The Intangibles of Community and Kingdom
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
10:30 AM
"Postexilic Jusaism is a vibrant act of new generativity, not enslaved to its oldest memories, and not immobilized by its recent memory of establishment power. Ezra is the great "new church start" leader. A new church means reformulating the faith in radical ways in the midst of a community that has to begin again. For Ezra, as for Moses, new church starts do not aim at strategies for success, but at strategies for survival of an alternative community. What must survive is not simply the physical community; what must survive is an alternative community with an alternative memory and an alternative social perspective rooted in a peculiar text that is identified by a peculiar genealogy and signed by peculiar sacraments, by peculiar people not excessively beholden to the empire and not lusting after domestication into the empire.."
More from Cadences of Home
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
9:30 AM
Last night I watched the "Jesus" movie with my family. This is the more recent one (not Zeferelli's) where Jesus is golden-haired, always laughing, and uncertain of his calling as he seeks his way after Joseph's death.
What I like most about this movie is Jesus joyful approach to life. I was also struck by the scene where he first appeared to his disciples and as a group they hit their knees. It struck me again that there is only one Master, one Lord, and we are all brothers. There is no place for the kind of leadership that ranks status by gift or office.
Finally, I was struck that these simple men and women changed the world.. The power of the resurrection and of the Holy Spirit was to create a new community impelled by love into mission... In the late 70's Norman Kraus argued out that the defining experience of Pentecost was not tongues of fire and new languages, but the creation of a new community: the laos of God.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
8:00 AM
I have been captured by the issue of "ethos." Ethos is a word that describes something that is non-concrete, yet critical to life. It is something that won't always be evident at first glance, and something that can be covered up by language. It works below the surface, like DNA.. but it will eventually manifest in attitudes and behaviors, just as a tree is known by its fruit.
At the same time, ethos is not necessarily good or bad. It doesn't yield itself to delineation in stark categories, particularly moral ones. The ethos of any two groups can vary widely in spite of their adherence to an identical doctrinal statement. Both can be filled with people who love God. Both might be missional communities.
Yesterday as I waited for my wife to return from shopping I overheard an interview with a scientist who was talking about Watson and Crick, the two researchers who in 1953 uncovered the mystery of DNA. What struck me about the discussion was two things:
1) at the DNA level structure is function. DNA functions by replicating itself.
2) both harmony (community) and irreverence (playfulness) are necessary for new paradigms to emerge, because those who are within the system (at authority levels) usually have too much at stake to embrace sweeping change. This means that new paradigms are usually only discovered/embraced by those on the edge, those who are not afraid to challenge the established wisdom.. those willing to ask hard questions.
"From the beginning, the Watson and Crick story had traces of hubris. As told in Watson's classic memoir, "The Double Helix," it was a tale of boundless ambition, impatience with authority and disdain, if not contempt, for received opinion. ("A goodly number of scientists," Watson explained, "are not only narrow-minded and dull but also just stupid.") Yet the Watson and Crick story is also one of sublime harmony, an example, as a colleague put it, of "that marvelous resonance between two minds--that high state in which 1 plus 1 does not equal 2 but more like 10."
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
7:00 AM
"What we are arriving at here is truly a paradigmatic change in the way we perceive the church. We are accustomed to defining the church within a certain circle. We work at clarifying who is in, who is out; what the leadership structure is to be and not to be; what we believe and do not believe; which activities belong, which do not; and what behavior is appropriate and what is not. So the line between insiders and outsiders is clearly drawn.
"Paul Hiebert of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School calls this kind of thinking "bounded-set thinking." That is, there is a boundary that sets the standard. One either qualifies or is rejected; it's pass or fail. What I'm advocating in this chapter is that we move from bounded-set thinking to what Hiebert refers to as "centered-set thinking" in our understanding of the church.
"In a centered set, what counts is how each member is moving in relation to the center. The focus is upon the center, and each individual is in dynamic relationship to it. Belonging, in this case, is not a matter of performing according to an agreed-upon profile, it is a matter of living and acting out of commitment to a common center. The focus is on the center and on pointing people to that center. Process is more important than definitions. Centered-set thinking affirms initiatives that would otherwise not find a place. It rewards creativity."
More Church Without Walls by Jim Peterson
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
6:45 AM
Yesterday we baptized our thirteen year old daughter, along with two other teens. This was our first baptism experience as the baptizers; it felt very natural, partly because we were baptizing our own!
It was a perfect day and a perfect gathering. We spent some time in worship, prayed a lot for each one, and gathered around a hot tub on a large deck in the sunshine. The crowd of Elpacas observed quietly from beyond the fence.
We're an inclusive group and considered asking them if they would like to do more than stand and silently observe.. but in the end it seemed best to leave them alone. Why upset the status quo?
A baptism on Good Friday seemed very appropriate. This represents the day that Jesus went into the grave for us, taking us with him, and later taking us with him in resurrection according to Paul. The idea is beyond reason and beyond apprehension.. but thankfully not beyond reality or revelation. We are not merely raised with Him but we are seated at the right hand of the Father with Him.. a picture of authority. Like Him, we are given authority to extend the kingdom of God on earth.
All this seems a bit gnostic when you are simply gathering with friends around a hot tub... but we live in the kingdom that is both present and yet to come, where sometimes ordinary things hide the Presence of the Lord and where pots of clay become vessels of glory.. Where simple things like bread and juice help to get the new life into us.
Afterward we came back to McKenzie Road where we shared communion together, then pulled out the cookies and nachos. We had a great time hanging out together, and also prayed for a few who felt the need of it. A perfect Good Friday. Thanks Lord.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
1:05 PM
Found at Deepdirt
Dual OS church?
I read a killer post on heresy.com that pretty much sums up what apostles, seattle and other emerging groups often experience when seeking to "co-operate" with more modern or established congregations.
often, what we are gets labeled as an "alternative or postmodern worship service" to which i say UGH!!!. as what we are seeking to do, or what we pray god is seeking to do in us, is not about tweaked "worship" in isolation, but is about a new modus operandi for god driven community or in tech speak "a comprehensive new OS for being church." meaning, our ethos is emerging in ALL areas- how worship is curated, how discipleship is apprenticed, how authority is exercised, how teaching happens, how we morph structures, how we order our life, what we value, what we jettison, what is central for us in following jesus, and what is not...
So i agree with leighton teba, that some of us need to run on a "heterogeneous network" with our tribe and our establishes congregations because dual booting is difficult and trying to upgrade the established group's OS does not work well overall.
For more, read this brilliant post, and nota bene, the final paragraph. See "dual boot the body of christ."
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
9:05 AM
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
8:30 AM
"OK, I admit it. I spent most of the 80’s and early 90’s wishing I could be just like Bill Hybels, Rick Warren, or John Maxwell. They were successful. They appeared unflinchingly confident. They were powerful, knowledgeable, larger than life. I’d go to their seminars, and return home feeling wildly inspired and mildly depressed. How could I feel those two things at the same time? If you’ve attended their seminars, you probably don’t need me to explain.... but most of us eventually realized that if we were going to be of any use to God, we’d better be ourselves. A novel idea!
"Somewhere in the middle of these musings, a strange memory returned … the scene in “The Wizard of Oz” when little Toto pulls back the curtain to reveal that the great Wizard of Oz is a rather normal guy hiding behind an imposing image. It struck me that by exposing the Wizard as a fraud, the film was probing an unexpressed cultural doubt... displaying an early pang of discontent with its dominant model of larger-than-life leadership. And it made me wonder what image of leadership would replace the great Wizard.
"The answer, of course, appeared in the next scene. No, it wasn’t the lion, the scarecrow, or the tin man. It was Dorothy."
Dorothy on Leadership by Brian McLaren
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
8:30 AM
When we describe "Church," we like to say that it is a gift-evoking, gift-bearing community, a description based on the conviction that when God calls a person he calls him into the fullness of his own potential. This is why "Church" implies a people; no one enters into a fullness of being except in a community with other persons. No community develops the potential of its corporate life unless the gifts of each of its members are evoked and exercised on behalf of the whole community. (Elizabeth O'Connor, Eighth Day of Creation).
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
8:55 PM
Todd Hunter continues his examination of Walter Brueggemann's "Prophetic Imagination."
"I find a big part of my work is to provide hope—to myself first and then others. In fact, it is a major reason my blog has taken the shape it has over the past few weeks. Providing hope is also a huge part of the task of Allelon; it is a driving force behind every conversation I have."
Incredibly relevant stuff. I don't always agree with Brueggemann's approach to Scripture, but he is very clear about kingdom and culture issues and his voice is very prophetic. We live in a time when it is easy to despair. How can we really hope for change when church leaders are so insecure, followers are so secure (reluctant to change because accommodated to church and culture), and we ourselves are tired, disempowered, or crushed by the weight of it all? Moreover, we see in ourselves the seeds of the same weakness and failure we see in the church and culture around us. We are far from perfect people ourselves.
The heart of the struggle for me is identity. Do I really believe what the Lord says about me? I'm not talking about the justification issue.. I know I am forgiven and a beloved son.
I am talking about the priesthood issue. It's here where I struggle and perhaps here where the struggle for a new church is the most difficult. Anytime we reach for significant change it hits home first in our own sense of calling and identity.
Do I believe I am called and have authority to do all the things a priest can/should do? Do I really believe I am equal to any ordained and paid minister?
My struggle for this disputed ground shows in my attitude toward those who are ordained, and then it colors my work as a priest and a leader. If I feel I have to somehow prove myself to those around me, or even to myself, I am not at peace with myself and it shows in actions and attitudes.
You and I know that the struggle is not merely personal; it's cultural and historical. The religious establishment around us almost uniformly models a clergy/laity split, even if they talk about something else (a priesthood of believers). So long as cultural validation is largely lacking and the weight of the "evidence" (practice) is against us, it's likely that the struggle will continue. So, to borrow Brueggemann's metaphor, the true priesthood is an exilic experience. We are a disenfranchised priesthood. Ultimately, the best work of the enemy in this is to cause us to doubt what God has said about us.
We need the Lord to give new revelation in this area to all His people. Those of us working for a new reformation are perhaps first in this struggle to believe that what the Lord says a universal priesthood is really true. But the struggle for a new reformation is on behalf of all of God's people.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
11:55 AM
"I am the Vine, and you are the branches;
"Like a tree planted by the living water;
"I am the Vine and you are the branches..."
Click here to download John Michael Talbot MP3
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
10:00 AM
"Professionals built the titanic; amateurs built the ark." Unknown
The Little Vagabond
Dear Mother, dear Mother, the Church is cold,
But if at the Church they would give us some Ale,
Then the Parson might preach, & drink, & sing,
And God, like a Father rejoicing to see
Adapted from William Blake
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
9:30 AM
"Beauty in the Mystery"
"I thought I had it figured out
I know there's more beneath the surface,
But it's courage that you want from me
There's a beauty in the mystery,
I thought I had it figured out, Norm Strauss
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
7:00 AM
Found at FatBlueMan: Wal-Mart rejects "Racy worship CD" and posted by Len Hjalmarson |
10:30 AM
On Friday Betty arrived home having passed a garage sale just up the street, so we wandered up there to have a look around. This was one of the better ones for us.. we picked up another box of canning jars (they always disappear as gifts full of fruit), as well as an answering machine (ours quit a week ago) and a popcorn popper and the container part of a blender that matched ours (which is cracked).
On reflection, it was a beautiful example of God's provision. We got the popcorn popper home only to find that it was missing the round lid part that sits on top to hold the butter. But the popper was identical to the one that died a few weeks ago, and lo and behold.. the round lid didn't make it to the dump and was still floating around the trunk of our car. The blender parts also matched perfectly.
It saddens and amazes me that I still worry about provision for my family at times. It is so obvious in every way that my father is completely aware of our needs before I even seek Him.
Yesterday I took some time to continue pruning our fruit trees. I had an inner conversation with the plum tree while I was lopping off some of the neglected branches.
"Sorry about this. I really should have done more last year. Now it's catch up time."
"Easy for you.. but this really hurts. Do you really have to take this much off? I've put a lot of energy into developing this structure. Aren't you worried about the fruit you will lose?"
"I know it hurts. But I also know what is best for you. And no, I'd rather have quality than quantity any day. You are really looking a lot better already. The life you put into these main branches will bear fruit that will last."
"Yes, much better. Much more shapely and pleasing and ordered. This is how you ought to look, how you always did look in my heart. I can almost taste the fragrant plums you will be producing in the late summer. Plum sauce, fresh plums, plum squares, and plenty to share with the neighbors. Now you are free to grow in the way you were meant to be."
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
9:30 AM
I've been too busy lately. I notice that when I go through a very busy period there are some nasty dynamics that take hold.
I neglect God. But I also neglect my family. I know it is a function of focus to neglect other things, but important things can also be neglected or edged out.
Worse, sometimes that busyness is a self-oriented drive that is in part avoidance of other issues. Last night I crashed somewhat.. I realized that I was really tired and felt empty, that I had been too focused on trivial things. In part this is generated by anxiety about deadlines and contracts.. things I need to honor in order to make a living, but things that are, after all, not at the heart of "life."
In part the drivenness is dictated by my own ego needs to succeed. And at the same time, a denial of other unfulfilled needs for significance. This becomes even more complicated when I realize that my deepest longing is to make an impact for the kingdom. I want to be an influence in the birth of a new church, a kingdom centered, people centered, missional community. At times I feel somewhat becalmed in the local community. I have little influence here, and part of me wants to be out there influencing others face to face. I believe in part this is a god given desire that goes with my gifting. Greater influence means greater impact for the kingdom. I do believe in the message the Lord has given me. I do believe I am seeing some things more clearly than many. But I worry.. how much of that is my own need for power or visibility?
It's important to be aware of the needs and fears. Sometimes my busyness is an attempt to run away from the awareness of discontent, because I feel powerless to change it. At other times running from the awareness of discontent is running from the fear of change. What would it look like to have more influence? What kind of risks would it take to get there? At times I feel like the ship in the harbor that is built for the sea. But harbor life is safe..
"To risk is to lose one's foothold for a while;
It's really hard to transition out of these times.. probably not unlike many addictions. Trying to slow down feels at first like a waste of energy. Trying to re-center on the Lord and His kingdom is like using muscles that have atrophied.. For almost two weeks now I have been heavily centered on work (software design and research). Seeing how easily I lose Jesus at the center is not pleasant....
As I read this over I am thinking, "Is it not enough to be faithful in the little things? Is it not enough to care for the few God has given us, and to care for my family? Why do I feel this need for greater influence?" I want to be content, but I also want to not settle for limited influence if the Lord is calling me to something more.
Last night I felt so useless, that I give my best energy to trivial things (software). I want to give my best energy to kingdom things, and I want to do that from a god-center. That I am so limited locally is frustrating. I channel that frustration either into prayer and people, or into self and work. When the latter happens, I wind up tired and bored and depressed. Lord, help me keep you and your kingdom in focus.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
9:45 AM
"Let me bring to bear here my favorite mentor, Dallas Willard. He has said to me: 1. “The open secret of the church is that when push comes to shove, the pastor will do WHAT EVER IT TAKES to hold onto control.” (I’ve discovered that this behavior is not limited to pastors. Almost everyone engages in it. It is the ugly side of consumerism that “demands its own way”.) 2. If we are to be really free to serve and love, we must secure ourselves in the “invisible world”, the rule and reign of God, wherein we are always safe; to live seeing “the chariots of fire” and not just the enemy; to see the legions of angles and not just the court of Herod, etc. I find this to be totally true. I cannot make myself safe by anything in this world; if I try, I will, in B’s words always “be eating from the table of my hungry friends”, using people, making every relationship open to utilitarianism. In the past few years, I have found a key to this kind of leadership is that I cannot want anything “from” people, I must want things “for” people and to create a community in which that is the behavioral norm. When that is the case, everyone’s “needs” are met."
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
9:15 AM
"When Jesus says, "Make your home in me as I make mine in you" (Jn.15) he offers us an intimate place that we can call home. Home is that place or space where we do not have to be afraid but can let go of our defenses and be free, free from worries, free from tensions, free from pressures. Home is where we can laugh and cry, embrce and dance, sleep long and dream quietly, eat, read, play, watch the fire, listen to music, and be with a friend. Home is where we can rest and be healed.. a good place to be, it is the house of love.
"But in this world millions of people are homeless. Some are homeless because of their inner anguish, while others are homeless because they have been driven from their own towns and countries. In prisons, mental hosptials, refugee camps, in hidden-away apartments, in nursing homes and overnight shelters we get a glimpse of homelessness.
"Speaking of himself as the vine and of his disciples as the branches, Jesus says: "Make your home in me." This is an invitation to intimacy. Then he adds: "Those who remain in me with me in them, bear fruit in plenty." This is an invitation to fecundity. Finally, when he says, "I have told you this so that your joy may be full," he promises ecstasy.
"There are two houses in this world: the house of fear, and the house of love.
"Though we think of ourselves as followers of Jesus, we are often seduced by the fearful questions of the world. WIthout realizing it, we become anxious, nervous people, caught in the questions of survival: our own survival,the survival of our friends, of our church, our country and our world. Once these questions become the guiding questions of our lives, we tend to dismiss words spoken from the house of love as unrealistic, sentimental, or just useless. When love is offered as an alternative to fear we say, "Yes, that sounds beautiful, but..." The "but" reveals how much we live in the grip of the world..."
"We are so accustomed to fear that we do not hear the voice that says, "Do not be afraid..." Yet it is this voice that announces a whole new way of living..."
Henri Nouwen in "Lifesigns"
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
12:15 AM
"The parched ground shall become a pool . . ." (Isaiah 35:7).
"We always have a vision of something before it actually becomes real to us. When we realize that the vision is real, but is not yet real in us, Satan comes to us with his temptations, and we are inclined to say that there is no point in even trying to continue. Instead of the vision becoming real to us, we have entered into a valley of humiliation.
Life is not as idle ore,
"God gives us a vision, and then He takes us down to the valley to batter us into the shape of that vision. It is in the valley that so many of us give up and faint. Every God-given vision will become real if we will only have patience. Just think of the enormous amount of free time God has! He is never in a hurry. Yet we are always in such a frantic hurry. While still in the light of the glory of the vision, we go right out to do things, but the vision is not yet real in us. God has to take us into the valley and put us through fires and floods to batter us into shape, until we get to the point where He can trust us with the reality of the vision. Ever since God gave us the vision, He has been at work. He is getting us into the shape of the goal He has for us, and yet over and over again we try to escape from the Sculptor's hand in an effort to batter ourselves into the shape of our own goal.
"The vision that God gives is not some unattainable castle in the sky, but a vision of what God wants you to be down here. Allow the Potter to put you on His wheel and whirl you around as He desires. Then as surely as God is God, and you are you, you will turn out as an exact likeness of the vision. But don't lose heart in the process. If you have ever had a vision from God, you may try as you will to be satisfied on a lower level, but God will never allow it." Oswald Chambers
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
12:00 AM
"As the disciples sat to celebrate what must have been a rather surreal Passover meal, Jesus took the natural elements of their daily life and the religious customs of their tradition and filled them with gospel. I remember hearing R.C. Sproul discussing an occasion when a student asked him why it would not be right to celebrate communion with a Big Mac and a Coke. Sproul’s response was a thundering, "Because God has not sanctified Big Macs and Coke!" As much as I respect Sproul as a theologian, I think that he is way off on this one. Sanctifying Big Macs and Coke is precisely what Jesus did – along with rice and cha, noodles and Sake, Bagels and Coffee. He wasn’t inventing a new religious ritual. What he did was not foreign to the disciples. He took the most natural things they had and said, "Even when you eat your meals together, I am there. So do that in the light of all that I mean to you, all that I’ve done for you and all that I have promised to do." Jesus took their lives and broke them and showed that in his hands they were all a means of grace.
"Of course, we have completely removed any notion of this. This same idea – that Christ fills every corner of our lives – is completely absent from our usual practice of communion. You would hardly look at the little thimble of grape juice and swab of bread and conclude that Jesus was present even when we eat our meals and share our stories! It is no longer organic. It is now ‘sacred.’ It is it any surprise that modern Christians find it difficult to see how their faith relates to their daily life? We have completely removed God from our everyday living and locked him up in ornate buildings, dead languages and empty rituals. And then we wonder why it just doesn’t feel ‘real’! Part of the thrust of organic church is to combat this tendency to separate the sacred from the secular and to insist instead that Jesus sanctifies it all. In the presence of Christ, life is a sacrament."
Graham Old: Organic Church in ::seven:: magazine
Thoughts
I love this. I think Graham got it right.
A few years ago I wrote an article for a local paper arguing that milk and cookies are closer to a modern sacrament than bread and wine. I received a mix reaction, as you would expect :)
At stake here is something at the heart of the gospel.. that God takes ordinary things and makes them extraordinary; that in fact, it is in the ordinary things of life that we encounter God. If your neighbor doesn't meet Christ in you, chances are they won't find Him anywhere.
I have realized lately that there is a lot of gnosticism out there. There is a lot of busyness and activity and thought that appears spiritual, but is actually hyper-spiritual. It doesn't come down to earth and meet flesh anywhere. Jesus was God in the flesh. He was supremely among us. He got down and got dirty, full fleshed but free.
Consider: at times the most spiritual thing you can do is offer someone a glass of water, what does that say about spirituality?
This is why there was so much at stake in Galatia, and why Paul wrote so stridently to the Galatian church about worship, times and seasons and rituals. We have to get this right. We are the Temple. We are the bearers of the Incarnation, and mid-wives of the Spirit. Where we are, the land becomes Holy. The closest thing to a ritual He left us involves sitting down for a meal together. Whew.. that is simply amazing.
If someone should argue that it really is important that you use unleavened bread for communion, you have given up your freedom in the gospel, missed the point, and are at risk of "christian" legalism. Grab the milk and cookies and get sacred.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
10:00 AM
All the diamonds in this world
Ran aground in a harbor town
Two thousand years and half a world away;
Silver scales flash bright and fair
All the Diamonds... by Bruce Cockburn.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
9:00 PM
"I was talking about community and the realities of being a new social order, one that truly allelon's one another. We talked about commitment, and the amount of time it would take to really cultivate true community. We talked about "irreversible change" etc…and in the midst of that I just looked up at my friend Richard and said that it was vital that we make sure we nourished our local communities and as God graciously uses us to plant and help shape other communities around the country that we would not just become "peddlers of rhetoric.” It really resonated with us.
"Don't get me wrong, it is very important to me that we come along side of people and deposit rich blessings. I am not against doing conferences, retreats, speaking etc….obviously we have and will continue to put on gatherings etc. It is deeply important to me that we help people cultivate, shape and plant kingdom communities …that is my heart and has always been my intentions. It remains my life’s work. But if we just become “peddlers of rhetoric” and in doing so lose site of what it means "for ourselves" to live in community, to embody, demonstrate and announce the rule and reign of God, then we indeed run the risk of becoming just distributors of information. "
A Short Response
Mark is opening an important conversation. But an hour or so after I read his blog I realized it was really the opening, and not the end.
He is so right.. that we can get lost in our own words, or think that we are living in the reality we are reaching for simply because we are talking about it. But we don't realize the kingdom by good words alone. We are deceived if we think we can build an image of godness and then breathe life into it.
At the same time, whenever we talk about the kingdom coming (as in his prayer at the end) we are talking about a place we have not really been. We reach out to these places in faith and in hope. We reach out to these places in prayer that is composed of words and symbols, metaphors and images.
I wonder if in part our doubts about rhetoric are really expressions of fear in the face of overwhelming reality. Fear that the kingdom we have not seen may never arrive; fear that we may not have the depth (height?) to reach it. I for one fight that fear at times. You know the feeling.. how can God possibly use fallen me?
May all our words be words from the heart, and not mere expressions of a false self that doesn't exist or an attempt to impress others. But at the same time, may we not fear to reach beyond that place where we have arrived. Because I for one am not content to stay here. And I believe that the Lord places His glory in pots of clay.
I hope this makes sense.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
9:50 AM
Without Fear
In his wonderful book "Lifesigns," Henri Nouwen talks about intimacy, fecundity, and ecstasy. The second chapter is titled, "Intimacy and Fear."
It seems terribly obvious that where there is fear intimacy is impossible. I knew that!
It's less obvious that so much of our lives, of my life, is dominated by fear. When we are fearful, we are not free. Anxiety narrows our options, and thr greater our fear, the more our thinking becomes confused and inflexible.
When we are fearful, we can't possibly be present for another, much less present toward God.
As I reflect on my life, I see that too much of my life has been dominated by fear: fear of pain, fear of rejection, fear of loneliness, fear of.... ?
As I reflected on the people and structures and institutions around me, I recognized the same dynamic. We build structures to protect us from intimacy. We build structures to provide us with easy answers and obviate personal responsibility and decision making. Ultimately, those things we build in fear do protect us... but they protect us within walls that keep God and reality on the outside. They provide only a false security, while separating us from one another, from God, and from pain. Ultimately, they even keep us safe from... love.
Many years ago a very sharp Christian thinker wrote that, ""Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken . . The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell." (CS Lewis)
"The willingness to be born,--and this means the willingness to let go of all "certainties" and illusions,--requires courage and faith. Courage to let go of certainties, courage to be different and stand isolation." Erich Fromm, "The Creative Attitude"
In these chaotic and uncertain times, when so many things we depend on are changing or have ceased to exist, we long to see something new revealed. And somehow we want to be part of the birth, part of the creation of something that is truly life giving, truly God centered, and truly liberating. We want to see His kingdom come.
But it will only be born as we let go of fear, and as we learn to embrace insecurity. Only as we release our hold on the things of this world can we embrace the new thing that God is doing. Letting go of the old things will bring fear if we are not deeply rooted in a different reality. And if we walk in fear, we won't even recognize the new thing when we see it. Fear is a binding and blinding force that causes our sight to turn inward.
This means that in order to move forward into the things God has for us we need a deeper spirituality than we previously knew. There is a spirituality of the safe places, and a spirituality for the road. There is a spirituality that is good enough for Sunday mornings, and a spirituality that will endure on the street. This spirituality for the road is the only one possible if we want to see a new church born.
Some years ago I was listening to a prophetic teacher who said this,
"One year I was called in by a church that was going through a particularly difficult transition. I prayed for five weeks and heard nothing. Finally when I arrived on scene and was in the meeting the Lord reminded me of words from the last year and the word for the church was, "Welcome to boot camp."
In the midst of chaos God is often silent. He is quiet and still because He is teaching us to rest in Him.
"We cannot hold onto our old order and still progress to a new level of anointing. When a new paradigm unfolds before us, it will always take us back to ground zero. Paradigms do not build on each other; they replace each other. God loves this! We start again with a new dependency rising out of fresh inadequacy."
And this is why so many spiritual writers and bloggers are talking about the need for discipline. Discipline is the force that draws us forward when our passion fails us. Let's face it, as humans we are habit dominated and lazy. Like water, when things get tough we tend to seek the path of least resistance, precisely when we need to stand our ground and be unmoved. Unless we have formed some good habits, when chaos and fear hit us we will fall back into the old habits.
It's not that discipline in itself is worth anything. Chanting a mantra won't do it. When the disciple came to his Zen master, he got the right answer.
"Master, what can I do to become enlightened?"
"As much as you can do to make the sun rise."
"Then what is the point of all these disciplines?"
"So that when the sun begins to rise, you don't miss it."
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
9:50 AM
He made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side . . ." (Mark 6:45).
"We tend to think that if Jesus Christ compels us to do something and we are obedient to Him, He will lead us to great success. We should never have the thought that our dreams of success are God's purpose for us. In fact, His purpose may be exactly the opposite. We have the idea that God is leading us toward a particular end or a desired goal, but He is not. The question of whether or not we arrive at a particular goal is of little importance, and reaching it becomes merely an episode along the way. What we see as only the process of reaching a particular end, God sees as the goal itself.
"What is my vision of God's purpose for me? Whatever it may be, His purpose is for me to depend on Him and on His power now. If I can stay calm, faithful, and unconfused while in the middle of the turmoil of life, the goal of the purpose of God is being accomplished in me. God is not working toward a particular finish -- His purpose is the process itself. What He desires for me is that I see "Him walking on the sea" with no shore, no success, nor goal in sight, but simply having the absolute certainty that everything is all right because I see "Him walking on the sea" (6:49). It is the process, not the outcome, that is glorifying to God.
"God's training is for now, not later. His purpose is for this very minute, not for sometime in the future. We have nothing to do with what will follow our obedience, and we are wrong to concern ourselves with it. What people call preparation, God sees as the goal itself.
"God's purpose is to enable me to see that He can walk on the storms of my life right now. If we have a further goal in mind, we are not paying enough attention to the present time. However, if we realize that moment-by-moment obedience is the goal, then each moment as it comes is precious." Oswald Chambers
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
9:20 AM
A friend of mine is a genuine apostle. With so many out there proclaiming themselves to be such, I thought an interview with him would be helpful. Tim (not his real name, he isn't interested in being known by his gifting) answers a few questions over coffee.
As a prelude, let me tell you about him. I've known him a long time, and I've seen his gifting as well as his humanity. I would say he is one of those guys who is naturally supernatural, lives a real life, is honest about his mistakes and limitations, and is just an ordinary guy. He doesn't have a book or tape ministry and isn't seeking one. But the most interesting part for me is that he is "outside the walls."
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
11:00 AM
"Ignition is a 12 week course for people who want to engage in innovative mission, in the place where they live. It is for people who want to learn and be challenged about the missional nature of God and want to find creative ways of being his people.
"Ignition is a course that places together people in small groups to meet for one hour a week to;
1. Learn about key principles of mission
2. Reflect upon engaging in organic mission
3. Walk through the book of Acts together
4. Learn about creative ways of being church
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
10:50 AM
False Apostles?
"They seek fame and fortune. The latest rendition of the prophets of days gone by, spouting off about community and authenticity never even knowing what they are. They pontificate to the masses that will listen with the hopes of book sales and speaking engagements. At times they are brilliant at others ignorant and stupid. Their epiphany expected to be heard, embraced and emulated without question. Yet, late in the night they awake in fear just having seen the emptiness of the message. The sun rises and once again they squeeze into the uniforms of revolution, buttons straining to contain the girth. Damn it shrunk again!, they say without seeing the truth. Guess its time for a new uniform."
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
10:40 AM
This weekend I was thinking about friendship, and asking myself how it related to the gospel in postmodern culture. Some of the questions I was asking myself were,
"Is friendship a good paradigm for kingdom relationships, of every kind?"
"What is the heart of the gospel?"
I asked this question of a friend over coffee, and he answered "grace," and then related grace to the gifts that God gives which empower us to serve. I think that's a good beginning, but possibly risky, since we can easily move from a focus on grace to gifts to function. But I myself am a father, and I don't love my children because they serve me. I love them because they are mine.
The more obvious answer to the "heart of the gospel" question might be Jesus and the Cross. But that tells only of the spiritual transaction, not of its implications in the real world of human relationships. It's the "spiritual" answer, when I am looking for something more tangible and whole.
The focus on the ascension gifts of Christ can be helpful if we think about the gifts as the spectrum of life in the body. "Of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace," remarks John. Somewhere Paul writes that "we are stewards of a many colored grace." The image is light filtered through a prism. The One Light shines in human hearts and through human flesh, and the result is anointing. To this one, this gift, and to that one, another. But all these colors point back to a single Light.
A bit esoteric, so I'll bring it back to earth. All these gifts are given to "build up the body to a mature man, to the measure of the fullness of Christ" (Eph.4). That is NOT merely an in-between-four-walls function. In fact, if most of your spiritual growth occurs on Sunday mornings, you are never going to be a disciple of Jesus. Two hours a week ain't gonna make it happen. And if you expect to "exercise your gift" only in the context of the gathered community, you are really short changing the people around you.
Postmodernity has helped us to see that life is the context and the container of the kingdom. It has also helped us see that "gift" is not primarily a function, but a person. We are the gifts, and we grow more and more into being the person whom God sees and then expressing that person in the way we live. It is not primarily about what we do, but about who we are and who we are corporately becoming.."the fullness of Christ." That "fullness" is meant to connect with the world, just as Jesus came "not for those who are well, but for those who are sick."
So rather than spiritualize this process or envision it as taking place in four walls, it is exactly the opposite. It takes place in life. Discipleship is about the gritty work of everyday life.. loving the guy who likes to spread manure on his lawn on Saturday morning, then cut his grass at 7 AM on Sunday. Love is about helping that mom move for the third time this year... when you would rather be fishing!
If there is a center, I think it is the kingdom of God and love. The kingdom of God is creation healed. And love is the only force that will get us there.
Maybe it's a paradox. We are called to contribute to a building, but not with human tools. And while it sounds like a task, it really isn't. It is all about love. If you think love is a task, ask your wife/husband :)
Anytime we make love a task, we distort the picture. When we make love a task, we are using people to achieve some end, however good, and that is abuse. I like the metaphor of friendship as the heart of kingdom life, because friendship is about ordinary people in ordinary life doing ordinary things in extraordinary ways with supernatural power.
If you like, it is all about incarnation.. where the Spirit takes flesh, where pots of clay hold brilliant glory, where all things are sacred. In churchianity we thought some things were sacred while others were secular. Babysitting for a single mom so she could go for coffee with a friend was much less spiritual than spending an hour in prayer. And so the religious demons hooked us from under the covers.
But every common bush is aflame with god. Only he sees who takes off his shoes. The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
10:00 AM
It's no joke. Often when we befriend someone we want something from them. Sometimes we may not even be sure what it is.
God befriends us.. and there is nothing we can give Him that He doesn't already have.
"While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
Being our friend was incredibly costly. He gave everything for us when we could only offer our animosity and opposition.
Some time ago I was in conversation with a friend who commented that we weren't really godly until we learned to love our Judas. Richard Rohr tells the story of Jesus celebrating the Passover with His disciples from the perspective of the first century Jewish culture. When Jesus dips the bread in the wine and passes it to Judas, it is a sign of great honor. The host only does this for the person he wishes to honor. Even then, knowing what Judas was about to do, Jesus says, "I love you."
I have a dream that one day I will meet Jesus face to face and I'll ask Him to empower me to give Him joy. Perhaps I'll be able to arrange a cosmic symphony, or paint something in an ocean. Then again, maybe we can ask Him for the power to give Him joy even now.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
9:00 AM
|
 Allelon / Cutting Edge / Relevant Magazine / Shoot the Messenger / Vine and Branches / Jesus People USA / Sacred Future / Tribal Generation / Reality / Waves Church / Matthew's House / Sacramentis / Praxis / Post Boomer / FutureChurch / MethodX / TheOOZE / ginkworld / The Landing Place / ::seven:: / emergent village / Highway Video / emerging church / Sojourners / Ship of Fools / Beyond / Next-Wave / Small Fire / ThePowerSurge / dtour
|
• © 1999-2002 Len Hjalmarson.•
Last Updated on
Oddly, that evening found us at Summerhill Winery. Betty's sister wanted to take our picture in front of the giant sized wine bottle and cup.. as I later looked at this picture and realized the connection I felt like the Lord was speaking something. The picture evokes for me a sense of the eternal celebration.. the wine and the bread and the cup eternally before the eye of God as the reality of the life, death and resurrection of our Lord continue to transform us and our world.
The world's first 
