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June, 2004 Blogs
"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."
The Big Show: Canadian Election 2004
Election Prediction Project (EPP) EPP : Liberals, 121; Tories, 105; Bloc, 52; NDP, 29.
Warren Kinsella : Tories, 125; Liberals, 95; Bloc, 60; NDP, 28.
Andrew Coyne : Tories, 124; Liberals, 102; Bloc, 55; NDP, 26. From The Toronto Star
Len's prediction: Liberals, 115, Tories, 115; Bloc, 49; NDP, 28.
If you haven't voted yet check out your riding on the non-partisan EPP site.
Allan Fotheringham in The Washington Post, says why the Grits self-destructed: "The thing is, [Martin] has spent years waiting to become prime minister and has been run by a bunch of lobbyists. They spent so much time plotting to stab Chretien in the back, they forgot to figure out what they would do when they got power. It has been a disastrous campaign for him."
"After a few months among the poor in Lima, Peru, I came to realilze that my vocation was as much a receiver as a giver. Perhaps it was more important for me to receive from the poor the many gifts born of their love than for me to try to make myself valuable in their eyes.
"For us, however, it is far from easy to be receiving people. We so much need to take on useful projects, change inefficient ways and solve burning problems that a deep change of heart and mind is necessary for us to become receivers...
"I am convinced that one of the greatest missionary tasks is to receive the fruit of the lives of the poor, the oppressed and the suffering as gifts offered for the salvation of the rich.." Nouwen, "Lifesigns"
We language our way forward,
"I Am that I Am,"
Every gain is a loss,
Beyond words,
Robbymac posts some hilarious links.. so we can lighten up (and maybe see ourselves more clearly)..
Purveyor of All Things Postmodern
Tomorrow is the Canadian election. This promises to be one of the most interesting elections since the early 70's, and with perhaps the most potential for change in our country. We'll gather with our family around the tube at 5 PM and not shut it down til 11 PM or later..
I have another article in my heart.. this is a difficult stage. It is there in the chaos.. formless and void.. and I have to make the first stroke with the chisel. I always find this point scary, particularly if I have a sense that the article will be important.
The title will be, "Leading from the Margins." If you have some thoughts send them my way...
"The people who plant the seeds of movements make a critical decision: they decide to live "divided no more." They decide no longer to act on the outside in a way that contradicts some truth about themselves that they hold deeply on the inside.
"As often happens on the spiritual journey, we have arrived at the heart of a paradox: each time a door closes, the rest of the world opens up. All we need to do is stop pounding on the door that just closed, turn around -- which puts the door behind us -- and welcome the largeness of life that now lies open to our souls. The door that closed kept us from entering a room, but what lies before us is the rest of reality.
"If we are to live our lives well and fully, we must learn to embrace the opposites, to live in a creative tension between our limits and our potentials. We must honor our limitations in ways that do not distort our nature, and we must trust and use our gifts in ways that fulfill the potentials God gave us." Parker J Palmer, "Let Your Life Speak," San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2000
"..the Gospel is not that Jesus died on the cross for your sins so you can go to heaven when you die, but that the Gospel that Jesus preached was the Gospel of the Kingdom. When you say this to people they look at you like you’re insane. ‘Of course the Gospel is that you can go to heaven when you die’, they say. But the Gospel isn’t a one-time event, it’s a daily participation with Christ in the Kingdom life.”
Interview with Dallas Willard in
RELEVANT Magazine
** The Shaping of Things to Come:
Review: Shaping of Things to Come
The picture is from our father's day outing to Kalamalka lake. We headed up there with some friends Sunday morning, found the area almost empty. Like many of the lake venues in our region it is stunningly beautiful.
Aboriginal day is June 21st every year. It's funny how hard it can be to get information on Aboriginal Day. I checked our local news website: nothing. I checked on CBC website.. if it was there I didn't see it.
We attended the events locally as we do every year. We got there late.. part intentional because of the heat, and partly the way it worked out. They were still serving food at 6:30.. buffalo burgers (yep, real buffalo meat) and hotdogs, later fruit and veggie trays. The dancing had just started.
There is a great community feeling at these events.. they are casual and inclusive. There is opportunity for anyone and everyone to dance if they want to. The friendship dance that closes the event is a low energy circle dance.
One of the impressive customs is the giving of gifts. Near the end of the evening a couple of people made the rounds with trays full of gifts.. a small amount of tobacco or sweet grass tied in a little bundle with colored cloth. The gift symbolizes friendship and peace and that good prayers will be made for the individual.
"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
Those thoughts are helpful for me as I wrestle with the possibility of more education. My daughter was asking me yesterday how many years I have spent in school. Twelve in public school, three in college, one in University, five more (full time and part time) in graduate school.. so far.. I'm not sure how a person can justify that, except that it was mostly fun and I mostly enjoyed the communities and the learning...
I am madly working on a review of Frost and Hirsch, The Shaping of Things to Come. Look for it this week. The book is a seminal work of vision and integration.
Doctoral Studies
I have been scouring around for good DMin and PhD programs. But in the end, I don't know if I have enough motivation to do more language study.. whether German, Greek, or Hebrew. Well ok.. I might have enough motivation for Hebrew or Greek but not for both.
The online program at Drew University under Len Sweet looks quite attractive. But friends are telling me I need to consider a PhD. As I've been looking at our accumulated debt from this past year, I can't see a way to pursue more study this year. Unless I get the very large contract that I was hoping to land.. and yes, it is still possible.. there is no way I can afford education this year.
It's an easy way to solve an inner debate: to do a doctorate or not do one. I have found myself confronting a lot of inner demons as I researched various programs. I fear I have a need for power and the Dr. Len thing would feed my ego. I also have a need for influence.. partly the call of God on me and partly an ego thing again. I have some fears about the process of study and how it affects me personally. Doing an MDiv was a painful experience for me and my family. I know it doesn't have to be the same this time around, but the fear remains.
And then there is the whole world of academia. I fear entering it, fear what it became (I know things are changing) and I fear how it might affect me. I don't want to make any decisions in fear, but in "the fear of God," seeking the counsel of friends and from the knowledge of the way I contribute to the world. Anyway.. it looks like the decision will be delayed at least for another year..
Canadian Election
The coming Canadian election.. I don't think I have written a word on this to date. It's not for lack of interest.. I have been following some of the debate. But I confess I haven't taken an active interest.. I haven't been seeking out information or articles.
I disliked Jean Chretien. He was neither a good leader nor a good person. He was a politician to the bones. I like Paul Martin. He is a good leader and has some vision, and personally I find him far more appealing. But he is a good liberal and I fear that the Liberal party has been in power for too long. When this happens it seems impossible to avoid the worse abuses.
I like Stephen Harper. He strikes me as mostly honest, somewhat visionary, and he brings the legacy of the Reformed and Alliance parties with him. Both these parties were intent on reforming the democratic system here, and I think a minority Conservative government could be healthy for at least one term. Stephen Harper would be the first non-millionaire, now-lawyer PM we have had for many, many years. I plan to vote Conservative.
One of the biggest issues is Medicare. Canada's socialized medical system has been deteriorating over the past fifteen years, with private medicine increasingly playing a role. I think this is inevitable, but it has been accelerated because the Liberals didn't approach the problem with enough heart and enough innovation. There seems to be little doubt that there are solutions out there if there is a willingness to rethink the system.
Thankfully for the lowest income earners the impact has been less severe. One of my personal gripes in this area is that Medicare never included a dental package. For the very, very lowest income earners (ie. on welfare) it is possible to get dental assistance. But for the working poor it is not possible. I know families earning under $25,000 a year who can get dental help for their children, but not for the adults. This is just plain wrong.
To all you fathers out there: keep up the good fight. Parenting is one of the great challenges and great learning opportunities of life. It teaches us much about ourselves, much about life, and much about God...
Who are we? What are we? What the heck is the "emerging church?" Stephen Shield attempts.. not to define the movement, but to extend the conversation about who and what we are: wrapping the brain around the emerging church.
And Andrew Jones asks, What happens when we stop emerging?
David Orton from last year's ANZAC list on "praxis" vs "ethos"..
"We are attempting to engage praxis - more and better praxis - in an atmosphere which is blatantly unhealthy. Unless the church moves from unhealthy ethos, to healthy ethos, to vibrantly healthy ethos, anything we do will be sabotaged. It is not a matter of "ethos" over "praxis". It is rather, that we must see effective praxis intersect with healthy ethos. And we have ignored ethos altogether."
You can add up the parts
"Dallas Willard has spent the best part of his life getting down to business. That has meant stepping down from a pastorate involved in trying to attract people to his church, and immersing himself into the culture around him armed only with a Bible and a desire to make his faith more real.
"Having spent over 30 years as a professor of Philosophy at USC, Willard has become known as something of a controversial figure in Christian circles. Not for any overtly radical teachings or practices, but simply because of his call for the Church to return to more Christ-centered living and practice. "
"The Minister looked out over the congregation. Around 2,000 had gathered for morning worship in this surburb of Sydney, Australia. Every eye was on him as they awaited his message for that morning. “Many of you are here, but you don’t want to be here,” he began. “You are tired of church but come out of obligation. My suggestion is that you leave and don’t come back. But if I can be of any help in what you end up doing for the kingdom, then give me a call.”
"It wasn’t the only thing he said, but I have confirmed from the Minister that this remarkable invitation actually did happen. It reflected his belief that modern church structures and life stifle true engagement with the world, and that church can be seen in broader ways than we have traditionally come to define it."
Read Emerging Church: Insights and Concerns
"[Some] might say that the church is on the verge of some radical transformation. And so it must be if the church is to ever regain its power, its edge, its robust health, its life-changing and world-changing mission." Tim Clinton, President of The American Association of Christian Counsellors
My generation, those of us now over forty years old, was raised in the Temple with Temple spirituality. At the center of our collective lives was a building: settled, immobile, and with predictable forms. It was a spirituality of the center, where religious life was influential and expected. It was a spirituality for the familiar places, well-traveled paths and a way of life that was not strongly in contrast to the dominant culture. It had an established priesthood, mostly well trained professionals who did the spiritual work for us. The priests dominated the action.
Our own spirituality was primarily personal and inward, and its outward expression was secondary. Temple spirituality was all about forms and gathered expression: it was a liturgical and cultic spirituality. It was a dualistic spirituality: Monday to Saturday was secondary in comparison to Sunday, and the physical world was less real and less important than the spiritual world.
Suddenly we face a new diaspora. Since 1991 the population in the United States has grown by 15%. During that same period of time the number of adults who do not attend church has grown from 38 million to 75 million… a 92% increase! We are moving from Jerusalem to Antioch, and facing incredible challenges of translation. The Temple culture is collapsing, pushing us away from the Temple spirituality toward a mobile spirituality - a spirituality of the road. In times of transition we become flexible and mobile, or we become irrelevant. As we lose the center ground, we need a spirituality for exiles and a spirituality for the margins. As we lose the center ground, we need a spirituality of prophets rather than priests.
Toward a Missional Spirituality
or PDF Format with end notes.
I have realized as I've thought about our weekend that we are now neatly divided into two groups in my family: those who understand something of the postmodern transition and feel compelled to reach into that world, and those who are still firmly in modernity, yet serving the Lord there. I can't help but relate these two worlds to two biblical worlds in the first century.
The Hebrew Christians prior to the Jerusalem Council thought that Jerusalem remained the center of God's work in the world. They saw no need to reach out to the Greek and Roman gentiles. The Old Testament and its regulations remained part of their culture, now baptized with the coming of Messiah.
When it was evident that God was working outside the circle of the church of that day, they sent messengers to ensure that their cultural values were observed. They really believed that those postmoderns had to become modern. They didn't like their epistemology, the way they dressed, the way they ate, or the language they used. They found them profoundly secular and irreligious.
When Paul came to the council he shook the Hebrew-Christian world. And what better spokesman for the diaspora than Paul with his own thoroughly Hebrew lineage? He understood both worlds and he enabled the Gospel to spread into the Greek and Roman world without the baggage of Hebrew religion. Little did he know that eventually it would take root in that culture and lose even its godly Hebrew ethos.. become completely acclimated, Greek and dualistic.
So here we are at a family gathering completely missing each other. We in our attempt to understand and reach into the postmodern world look very unchristian to some of our family. And to us it seems they are living in the past, too rooted in the dying culture. Yet they remain relevant and connected in their circles, serving the Lord and His people, as we are trying to do in ours.
Many of us today are attempting to rid the gospel of its modern epistemology, forms and structures that served well in modernity but appear senseless to postmodern people. We have moved from Jerusalem to Antioch, and we need new language and new forms. Speaking Hebrew in Antioch is senseles; speaking Greek in Jerusalem will get you stoned.
Yet the essence remains unchanged. Jesus is risen, Jesus is Lord! Crucified for our transgressions, He is risen for our justification and we are raised with Him to heavenly places. He is Lord of all cultures, Lord of all languages, the very foundation of language itself, the Word of God to humankind. He rules and reigns over every political system, every system of thought. He is profoundly beyond our understanding, yet He is profoundly present and self-revealing. However limited our ability to know him, He makes Himself known without mediation to His people. His is the light that shines in every heart. He reaches out to us in love by the Holy Spirit, and in love we respond.
Check out Brainwaves for some reflections in a lively imaginative style.
Need a good browser that is easier to use as a blog navigator? Check out Net Captor.
Back from the coast at ten last night, quite exhausted with all the visiting and the pace, but kept from sleep by various "intruders." We've had this experience before.. we are intensely involved with someone in the healing process, and suddenly we get odd knocking noises in our home at night. Sometimes the noises are different.. the sound of footsteps in the hallway after midnight.. but we are all in bed. Annoying. And for the kids, intimidating and scary.. and then they keep us awake because they are afraid.
When I checked in with Nick this morning.. the same thing.. odd knocking noises, particularly near the kids bedroom.. and endless computer problems. We'll get together to pray tonight and hopefully end the hassles.
If you could go anywhere in the world for a Ph.D, where would you go? Honestly I don't know how I will afford it, but there are at least some indications from the Lord that I need to consider this. My interests you already know... leadership, cultural change, kingdom and culture, renewal and reformation.. seeing a new quality of church that is connected, missional, relevant, creative, thriving..
Have you read Ravi Zacharias story where he describes postmodernism? He describes a building with staircases leading nowhere, a building without meaning or structure or thought.. but the foundation is not altered, because you can't mess with foundations and still have a building.
"The illustration is powerful. We can attempt to explain life as senseless but had the architect followed this philosophy in creating the foundation no one would want to enter the building! Ravi's point is well made: "It is possible to dress up and romanticize our bizarre experiments in social restructuring while disavowing truth or absolutes. But one dares not play such deadly games with the foundations of good thinking."
As we were talking about culture and change at one of our family gatherings this past weekend, my sister reminded us of that analogy. It's true that postmodernism as a philosophy is inconsistent, and equally true that we have to give for reason and logic if we are to hold meaningful conversations. But I find the analogy annoying, and at the time I was having trouble identifying the reason.
I think the analogy bothers me because it would seem to imply that the foundation of modernism is okay. We can build on that foundation, even if the building we create is disconnected from life. But this isn't true on either count. Modernism (empiricism) is not perfect or complete. Structures and truth do not exist independently of their context. The foundations of our culture have shifted. We now know how little we know. Modernity put complete confidence in reason and technology. Quantum physics has proven that there are no objective observers, and that reality is far more mysterious than we could have predicted. This calls into question our ability to manipulate and shape reality, or to predict the results of our tinkering.. and sometimes even the value of such occupations. It certainly calls into question the foundations of such technological efforts as "church growth."
This doesn't leave us wandering in a grey mist, however. Neither does it leave us powerless. The Holy Spirit is alive. Jesus has revealed Himself.. in history, in His word, in His people and by His Spirit. Perhaps the only sure foundation is revelation. It is not a foundation that can be defended in any final way by the idea of revelation itself or the idea of propositional truth or some logical proof. It can be apprehended by faith, and it is finally self-authenticating. And in all our systems of belief community and context remain important.
All people dream, but not equally.
The Five-Fold Ministry (?) and New Movements
For three or four years now I have been uncomfortable with talk about the "five fold ministry." I've had difficulty identifying my discomfort, but I'll bet many of you are way ahead of me on this and could give me many reasons why it doesn't work for you.
It seems that the phrase is mostly used in charismatic circles as part of a package that sells a certain understanding of authority.. hierarchical and positional, founded around office and status in the community, and aimed at maintaining a clerical culture of management. Unfortunately, that particular conception of authority is part of the reason that the modern church got stuck, and the places that talk a lot about five-fold gifts are too often places of abuse.
It seems to me that we have three urgent tasks in the emergent church in relation to the biblical revelation on gifts and authority.. we have to disentangle leadership and authority, we have to disentangle the biblical language about gifting from the cultural mess of modern Christendom, and we have to find a way to embrace the diversity of gifts in the body within a new understanding of the nature of leadership. If we attempt to do one of these without the other, we will probably slide back into a familiar clerical mode with centralized and positional authority.
a letter to my daughter : the danger of following Jesus
Elise,
Now that you have decided to leave the safe sanctuary of your christian school for the deep waters of the uncertain ocean, I want to encourage you that this is a journey of faith. Remember that the writer of Hebrews tells us that the father of our faith.. Abraham.. went out on a journey to a place he had never seen.. trusting that the Lord was directing him and would keep him and bless him. We are encouraged by the writer to have the same faith.. a faith that believes in things unseen, and that walks out our trust in obedience even when we don't know what is ahead of us.
" Rightly or wrongly, more often than not, conservative evangelical theologians opt for a restrictivist approach to the salvation of non-Christians and are not inclined to think that God might be redemptively active in the religious life of humanity at large. This is not always true, of course, because other and more voices exist and have existed.2 But the inclination is widespread not to acknowledge much by way of positive divine activity in this sphere.
" Two years ago I presented a paper on a wider hope at the Evangelical Theological Society, based on work I had published a decade earlier.3 The perspective was based on the assumption which I share with the Wesleyan/Arminians that God, who wants all to be saved, is likely to be actively wooing sinners on a global scale. It would seem odd if he were not. Did Paul not say, "where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more?" (Rom 5:20). Therefore I have put forth considerations which Paul Knitter has called "a wider mercy solution."4 The idea holds that God's grace is at work in some ways among all people, possibly even in the sphere of the religious life. It even entertains the possibility that aspects of religion may play a positive role preparatory to the gospel of Christ, in whom alone the fulness of salvation is to be found. In effect, it places greater emphasis on the "universal" aspect of the universal/particular dialectic of Scripture and hopes that our acknowledgment of the cosmic breadth of the Spirit's work can help us to conceptualise better the universality of grace.
" In this paper, I want to explore further the pneumatological dimension of the wider mercy position. Is it possible that God works graciously outside the boundaries of Christianity through the universal presence and activity of the Holy Spirit? It is a question well worth asking as part of theology's unending quest for understanding.5"
" I have always appreciated the Roman Catholic theology of Vatican II when it comes to matters of religious pluralism, and have felt that this approach offers some good leads. We have a lot in common with Catholics in wanting to defend the unique, saving work of Jesus Christ for all humankind, while still doing justice to the universal salvific will of God. I suppose this makes me what Erickson calls a "post-conservative" evangelical, one characteristic of which is the willingness to learn from anyone who brings good ideas to the table, whatever the source.7 "
Religious Pluralism: A Turn to the Holy Spirit by Clark Pinnock
As we move toward an intentional community (church) locally I find things increasingly out of control. On Saturday we thought we would have a quiet sunday... We got a call sat evening that a single mom we knew had checked herself into the hospital... she has been on coke for six months..
We spent Sunday morning conferring with another couple who have been helping her.... strategizing and ensuring we were on the same page.
We went to the hospital together.. got things moving, talked to the nurse and a psychiatrist.. then spent a couple hours with our wasted friend..
On the way home we got a call from a couple who have been on a journey outside the walls and they wanted us to come visit. Immediately I had the feeling.. wow.. this is out of control.. our day is out of control. We didn't plan any of this, but we can choose to go with it as the Lord puts it together.. We headed off to the Hall Road area of town.
We got home, had a quick snack, and then prepared to head out again. As we climbed in the car the radio was on CBC to that old tune, "Don't worry... be happy.."
We spent four great hours of conversation about change, struggle, confusion, finding the way forward.. sharing our lives and the journey of faith.
We got home just after 6 PM and as we were digging around for food, another couple dropped in on us.. We shared the days experience and discoveries, and after a half an hour of conversation I remembered I was supposed to head out to help some other friends fix a leaking sink. I had borrowed tools to do the job from our Hall Road friends.
What a great sunday.. this is church.. connecting, caring, conversation, coffee, being mutually equipped, praying for one another and sharing our time and resources...
It was communal, intentional, dialogical, spontaneous, wholistic... it was really everything church should be. There was no organized meeting or worship ..but our lives were given to God and to one another, we gave thanks for various things at various times, prayed with our friend in the hospital and our other friends after conversation... there was no organized teaching but we did share our discoveries from life and related some of those events to the gospels and Paul's teaching..
Where was authority located? Who was in charge of all this? None of us have titles or offices, we submit to one another and to the Holy Spirit in the fear of Christ.. Eph 5:21.
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Last night my daughter was online very late trying to share with a friend why she is making the decision to leave her Christian school for the public high school in grade twelve. Her friend's biggest issue seems to be the one of authority.. "has your pastor approved this? it is his job to hear from the Lord to confirm your decision..."
Funny, I thought "my sheep hear my voice.." Later I wondered why she would select the pastor as the director in charge and not a teacher or an apostle... Obviously, it is because the church system she lives in conceives authority as a triangle with pastors at the top.
But the deeper question is how we assign authority around titles and offices rather than gifts and functions in relationship. I would never claim authority by my gift alone.. it is unsafe to do so. Suppose I claim to be an apostle and someone then submits to my discernment on that basis: then they quit listening to God for themselves and they quit going to the Scripture. I set myself up as authority in their lives OVER God and His Word. That is a grave error. We are far too human and limited to claim such a position. Rather, we must be willing to be persuaded by those fellow believers, and also by those the Lord gives to us as leaders. This is apparently the meaning of "peitho" in Heb. 13:17 "Obey (peithe) your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you."
It is a grave error to submit to any pastor, prophet, apostle or anyone because of their position. The significance of our being seated in the heavenlies with Christ is that we all have authority, and we all have the ear of the Father. Likewise, we listen for His voice. Using Paul's analogy of the human body and its parts, the head of the body communicates directly to the hand.. the ear doesn't tell the hand what to do. We are a spiritual priesthood, all able to hear from God and speak for Him.
June Next-Wave is online: Answers from the Other Side in Next-Wave
"Illusions are the truths we believe until we know better." From a story on 9/11 in Time Magazine, September, 2003
"It is the unknown that defines our existence. We are constantly seeking, not just for answers to our questions, but for new questions. We are explorers..."
Cmdr Ben Cisco, Star Trek;Deep Space Nine
Stephen Shields reflected that sometimes the church is its own worst enemy.
"Whenever a system of ministry is put into place, those who move and operate within that system must take extra care not to overly rely on that system as a means of spiritual transformation. When we observe spiritual transformation occurring in the midst of a system, it's easy to miss that transformations are occurring because of other dynamic factors within the system and not because of the system itself. So, for example, when we earlier spoke of many would-be megachurch pastors emulating Willow Creek, we would have more accurately spoken of many former would-be megachurch pastors who found that though they've carefully duplicated every aspect of the Willow system, there were still some critical element(s) missing that led to a lack of Willow growth."
Similarly, Frost and Hirsch warn that,
"We have become very suspicious of programming as a means of filling in the gaps of ministry. Programs are important, but we need to remember that every medium has its own innate message -- we invent our tools, and they in turn reinvent us. For genuine Christian community to develop and be maintained, it requires a gentle rhythm and a certain social ecology, an element of [spirit] that cannot be planned or programmed."
Stephen Shields: When the church is its own worst enemy.
Encourage Holy Dissatisfaction
"One of the great weapons in the revolutionary leader's arsenal is to cultivate a sense of holy dissatisfaction -- to provoke a basic discontent with what is and so awaken a desire to move toward what could be. The old Marxist slogan "Rub raw the sense of discontent" is brilliant. Early Marxists knew how to create the environment of insurrection, or revolution, of movement. This ought to be no less true for the revolutionary missional leader. We must not be afraid to be unpopular, to be seen as revolutionaries, if we want to really effect the missional-incarnational paradigm in our time. The real revolutionary, or perhaps the only one, is the person who has nothing left to lose. Rub the discontent raw and then throw salt on it -- our times are urgent; Christendom must be brought down and apostolic faith and practice established if we are to be true to our call as followers of the revolutionary Jesus in our day.
"One of the most important lessons from history is that the renewal of church always comes from fringes, and we mean ALWAYS. And it is the movements of mission that in turn create movements of renewal. This can be tested in every context of the church. The lesson is that the church ought to remain in mission for God's sake, but also for its own sake. It is this radical openness to, and engagement with, the margins that so often brings that needed inrush of new thinking, acting and feeling to Jesus' people.
"It is so often the culture of the church brought about through various social forces that suppresses and marginalizes people who are different.. if you are inclined to doubt this observation, consider our real tradition as a missionary people stems from the life and work of Jesus who was himself a marginalized person and who hung out with marginalized people..." Frost and Hirsch, "The Shaping of Things to Come"
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New blog added: Thelivinghome.
This is part of 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 is 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."
A couple of years back someone gave me a copy of Margaret Wheatley's article, Goodbye Command and Control" from Leader to Leader magazine. An insightful look at shifting paradigms, this was just one gem I found there:
"Whenever we're trying to change a deeply structured belief system, everything in life is called into question-our relationships with loved ones, children, and colleagues; our relationships with authority and major institutions. One group of senior leaders, reflecting on the changes they've gone through, commented that the higher you are in the organization, the more change is required of you personally. Those who have led their organizations into new ways of organizing often say that the most important change was what occurred in themselves. Nothing would have changed in their organizations if they hadn't changed.. (italics mine)."
It helps explain why it is so HARD to explain why we need change. We can have some ideas about the need for change, and we may think we even understand a new place without being there... but we are deluded. Not until you step outside your normal world or practices into a new one do you learn new questions and see things you never saw before. Then even your self-understanding will change. This brings a perspective that is unattainable in any other way. Trying to talk about some aspects of emergence with established leaders is like trying to talk about grass to a Martian, even though we may share many common values. On the other hand, once you've seen it, tasted it, smelled it and rolled in it... you know what fresh green grass really is.
Someone at ALLELON shared the following with me: (from "Deep Change" by Robert E. Quinn,) "Three Paradigms of Organizational Life:"
First Objective . . . . . . . . Personal Survival
2] Manager / TRANSACTIONAL Paradigm:
First Objective . . . . . . . . Personal Survival
3] Leader / TRANSFORMATIONAL Paradigm:
First Objective . . . . . . . . Visional Realization
(Table 14.1 "Three Paradigms of Organizational Life", pg 123 of "Deep Change")
If that doesn't shrink your socks, try on this quote from Frost and Hirsch, "The Shaping of Things to Come."
"We need to recognize that an authentic community can only be founded on changed relations between people; and these changed relations can only follow the inner change and preparation of the people who lead, work and sacrifice for the community. In other words, it begins with leadership. We must embody our vision and values in such a way that peole can "see" the vision in and through our lives. It will take sacrifice on the part of leaders.. people who live in the "crap detector" generation, who understand what it means to be targeted by hundreds of clever sales messages, are not going to follow people who don't live out their messages..."
"Every person, by living authentically, shall become a Torah, an instruction." Martin Buber
She's a friend of ours, a lovely and bright lady who became a single mom a couple of years ago when her husband died. She has carried more since then than any parent should have to carry. It is really tough in our society to be in this place, unless you have a professional career.
For the last few months she had avoided us. We put it down to stress and anxiety and maybe depression, but her life seemed increasingly in chaos and we worried that she was spiralling downhill. But she wouldn't let us help..
Finally, she is losing her car and the eviction notice arrived. While she told us she was paying her rent, it has more likely gone to cover a growing addiction. Only a few days ago we were talking with mutual friends.. "We don't know what else to do... we can only pray." Those prayers have been answered.. she hit bottom and knows her life is completely out of control. She is asking for help. Pray for her.
"In the discussion on my essay about Douglas Coupland's book on Life After God on 23rd May, Maggi Dawn has made some good points that have got me thinking.
OK now I've read it. Not what I expected at all! I thought you were going to discuss concepts of the imagination...
So, in defining concepts of sin, redemption etc., do you think that the imagination is used significantly differently in the postmodern era than it was earlier - say in the 19th century novel, which also challenged people's conceptualisation of such ideas? Is it postmdernism or literature that makes this a different epistemology? We need to have a beer sometime soon... :)
I think that all this theology of the imagination stuff is about a method or ground of knowing that has validity in so much that the imagination is a place where we encounter God through transcendent encounter through prayer, worship etc. A good example is wonderment which I talked about as a method through symbolic christian worship and through Godly Play as an example of it.
Yes I do think that the 19th century romantic poets and largely Colerage reacting against the cold logic of modernity were right, which we too now are challenging. They talked about knowing through encounter and less about knowing through 'holding more facts about God'. Quoting Malcolm Guite from a lecture:
The mind of the Maker is in us - dim awakening of a hidden or forgotten truth inside there - It is Logos the Creator. Logos Sophia. Taking Augustinian doctrine - logos is not so much reason but more the imagination that occurs with the artist or poet. They are witnesses - a sustainable theology of the imagination that says - we can expect correspondence between the intuitions and the aspirations of our hearts because our hearts are made in the image of God. The world then becomes the poetry of God. So there is a reason why the intuitions of an honestly pursued imagination are true. The same logos that is in the mind of all of us is also the logos made flesh as Jesus of Nazareth. If true - then anyone from any culture can seriously bring their best thoughts and hopes to that truth. We can expect something to be communicated that is at least resonant with what Jesus taught. In this way reason, imagination and revelation are linked.
I challenged him how this works in a broken world and where we are fragemented human becomings. To which he replied...
There is a difference between imagination and the fantasy that pleases the ego. Original blessing to original sin, but there are still fragments of encounter. Our imaginations are then full of truth and falsehood. Part of the task of a Pastor is one of discernment. The light of Christ brings illumination out of the text like Paul at Mars Hill addressing the statue to the unknown God. The light of Christ can affirm things of culture and also challenge things which are not of God. Knowing God is by imagining God with all our hearts minds and strength. Therefore mission, or connection between the Christian and the contemporary culture is finding out what God is already doing. This is therefore a logos centred theology of the imagination.
As I look back I do not think there it is any coincidence that many of us grew to understand some of this, (if unknowingly), through Christian Charismatic approaches to worship, or that we became experimental when we wanted to move closer to culture and the world. We like the character Scout in 'Life After God' are on such a Life of mystical encounter. So when we started worshipping God through trascendent moments in night clubs, creative arts moments, labyrinths, stations of the cross, we opened the door to a new way or rather an old way of knowing that challenged the cold logic of mental reason of sourcing facts, and moved to the experiential.
Hence our quest to find God in what is already going on in our culture - drawing on an old and refound epistimology??
From Moot Blog
My response to all this is best summarized in An Anchor for My Soul
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