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July Blog Index
Rethinking Teaching Alan Creech at ALLELON.
Mel Gibson's The Passion
Interviews on The Passion
In Soul Tsunami, Leonard Sweet outlines the top 10 de-words for a deformation church. Sweet argues that the church must move through these "de" words before she can get to the "re" words:
1. Deconstruction. There is no understanding without standing under-that insists that everything must be entered in order to be understood.
2. Dematerialization. In postmodern culture the universe is disappearing. Everything solid is melting into thin air. Everyday life is now lived as much on the screen as anywhere.
3. Decentralization. The art of relishing relinquishment. Every organism must learn how to devolve, to lose control, to "cell out."
4. Deconversion. The USA is becoming de-Christianized, and people need to be de-converted from what Christendom culture has taught them a Christian is.
5. Dealignment. Ideas and institutions are taken up, toyed with, dropped, and resuscitated with alarming alacrity.
6. Demoralization. Radical alienation is obvious without the presence of any moral philosophy or source of moral judgment.
7. Democratization. Democracy is the wave of the future, and electronic media, like the Net, are the most democratizing, empowering media ever.
8. Deprivatization. Religion is returning to public life. It is once again exercising its political voice.
9. Dedifferentiation. Everything goes together--the interchangeability of shopping, sports, leisure, eating, education, and so on.
10. Demassification. The collapse of the big middles, trends, typicals, averages, generals, and ordinaries. There is no normal anymore.
"It is important to stress, as Paul would do himself were he not so muzzled by his interpreters, that when he referred to "the gospel" he was not talking about a scheme of soteriology. Nor was he offering people a new way of being what we would call "religious". Despite the way Protestantism has used the phrase (making it denote, as it never does in Paul, the doctrine of justification by faith), for Paul "the gospel" is the announcement that the crucified and risen Jesus of Nazareth is Israel's Messiah and the world's Lord. It is, in other words, the thoroughly Jewish, and indeed Isaianic, message which challenges the royal and imperial messages in Paul's world." NT Wright
Revised: The Gospel of Sin Management
Movies, morality, making disciples
Pirates of the Caribbean and How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days
My daughter saw the first title last week and loved it. She wanted to rent the second title last night, but after reading the review at Plugged In, we refused permission for her to see it.
The movie viewing around here has been one of our ongoing battles. Elise is fifteen and very mature for her age. She is generally discerning and careful. By agreement with us, if she does view a movie that has sex scenes in it, she fast forwards through them.
But many movies have sexual content without actual bedroom scenes. In fact, some movies are loaded with innuendo, while forgoing scenes that involve intercourse. It's this latter category where we have the most disagreement.
Our argument, which I will make below, is made more difficult by our daughter's own "community" of teens. Many of her friends are allowed to watch almost anything they choose, and most of them would be allowed to watch both titles above. But we feel that her merely skipping the explicit scenes while taking in the entire culture of the movie is missing the point.
Everyone knows the old story of the frog in the pot of hot water. It is said that the scientist placed an ordinary frog in an ordinary pot of water at room temperature, and then gradually increased the temperature. The frog adjusted, then adjusted again, and by the time the water reached boiling point, the frog had adjusted himself into early retirement.
Our basic principle is from Philippians 4:8 and Ephesians 5. We are to be distinct from the world. We are not to even talk about immorality, according to Paul, much less use it as entertainment.
Our argument with our daughter is that the focal sex scenes in some movies are only the obvious problem. The real problem is below the surface. Like the iceberg, the 10% you see is obvious.. but the 90% you don't see will kill you.
We argue that the ethos of the movie is the bigger issue. The real teaching happens in the action and dialogue outside the bedrooms. Sexual innuendo is everywhere in most movies these days, and the not-so-subtle message is that hopping into bed outside marriage is okay. Perhaps even worse, it is assumed that sex is all people think about, and that it is okay to sexualize any relationship.
Our argument is sort of a root and fruit thing. "Every tree is known by its fruit." The fruit is the obvious part, and easily avoided. Anyone with fingers and a remote control can fast forward past certain scenes. But the root is the bigger issue, and the root determines the fruit that is produced. When the entire ethos of a movie is wrong, simply avoiding the fruit fails to avoid the problem. As the old Puritans used to say, "sickness is easier caught than health."
One of the clear issues that arises for us in all this is that it is difficult for a family to maintain a set of standards apart from other families. Our daughter feels that we are too restrictive primarily because other Christian families are more permissive. That becomes an issue in itself, since we then have to defend ourselves against the charge of being old fashioned or too narrow.
We intend to release her to make more of her own choices over the next two years. As she turns sixteen and then seventeen, we want to change our role to advisors and consultants. There are many good signs that she will make good decisions, but for now we reserve the right to say "no."
Bob Hope passed away on Sunday. I remember his shows from the 60s and 70s, as well as a few movies when I was a kid. Most of them were very funny.
Bob worked with many of the old rat pack.. Sammy Davis Junior, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and others. He is the last to go, the end of a generation.
Meanwhile Mick Jagger turned 60 on the weekend. Apparently he is going to be doing a gig here in the Okanagan in August.
After spending most of Sunday in the park we returned home around 4 PM. An hour later some native friends called us up and proposed a visit, so we invited them for supper. They asked if they could bring two friends, but typically they showed up as a group of seven adults with a few children.
Also typically, we expected them at 6 PM and they finally arrived at 7:20, meaning the two few hamburgers I had thrown on the BBQ were now both cold and dried out. I felt quite frustrated, but knowing that this is culturally all standard stuff I kept it to myself.
But by the end of the evening I was wondering if I still had grace for this. The cultural differences can be very challenging. Carrying a conversation with natives that I have never met is like pulling teeth.. they are very quiet and reserved. I felt annoying and challenged by the whole process, which in turn had me feeling guilty for feeling annoyed. I asked myself how I could resent the "intrusion" and the challenge in view of all that Christ has done for me..
I hate running up against my self at those times. I "believe" in hospitality but don't always want to offer it. It's not pleasant to see myself clearly; I would far rather pursue my own interests and agendas than be always available for God's agendas.
In the end I did have one good conversation with the elderly uncle (late 40s). He had some experience as a medicine man and was telling me some of his stories. I identified with some things, asked a few questions and commented on the goodness of the Creator. When he left I gave him a pamphlet produced by Indian Life on Choosing the Creator's Path.
"We now know that human transformation does not happen through didacticism or through excessive certitude, but through the playful entertainment of another scripting of reality that may subvert the old given text and its interpretation and lead to the embrace of an alternative text and its redescription of reality." Walter Brueggemann, Cadences of Home
I'll try this again.. I apologize for the complexity of this quote. It assumes that the reader has an understanding of the constructivist world. I am also prone to forget the impact of four years of graduate school.. LOL!
Brueggemann is saying that new information is unlikely to change us. Sermons and lectures don't bring transformation. What brings transformation is those "ah-ha!" moments, and often the revelation is personal and painful. We see God, or ourselves or our world in a new light. God's sovereign newness breaks into our world with power.
But he is also saying that the imagination is a key to understanding, something that CS Lewis argued. One of the powers of story is to carry us to places we could not go through our own ability or experience. Furthermore, it is often a playful journey that leads us to new places, new lives, new reality. I think this is true because I have known many painfully serious people who stay stuck in a black and white world, never seem to know real joy or peace, and never seem to embrace life or the kingdom of God at a heart level. But when we do embrace the kingdom at a heart level, there is freedom and childlikeness and even playfulness in our lives.
When Brueggemann talks about an alternate script that subverts the old text, he is talking about a reading of culture and of the kingdom that was both inaccurate and outdated. The modern world is dying; and likewise the modern reading of Scripture, which was largely a cultural distortion of truth made to fit our western lifestyles. But even as we find ourselves exiles in a strange land, we learn anew about the faithfulness of God to exiles. And we also learn that a generation born and raised in a foreign land can be an alternative community that witnesses to a loving God who invites us into His family.
In the introduction to "A New Kind of Christian" Brian McLaren talks about cultural transition. He uses a diagram that looks like an hour glass turned on its side. The entry point is wide.. the center point is narrow.. and the exit point is wide again. The exit point is, of course, an entry into something new.
If that process describes cultural transition, it also describes personal transition. Every gain is a loss, and every loss is a gain. The entry point to transition may be gradual, but eventually change catches up with us and requires personal adjustment. The narrow point in personal transition might be the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, the leaving of a church community... But gradually we adjust, we reaffirm our faith, we find a new job, we reaffirm God's goodness even in loss, we discover something new, often something we thought we understood, but now we "know that we know that we know..." Like Job, now we "see God" and we acknowledge that previously we had only an intellectual understanding.
I am thinking this morning about the wide exit point, which is also an entry into something new. My family is somewhere in that exit and re-entry point. We have negotiated a personal and collective journey into a broad space, out of institutional church, through a season of trial and uncertainty, and now re-entering a community with both a relational and missional focus. I have a powerful sense of new beginnings and new life.
Yesterday I was browsing in some old books by Elizabeth O'Connor. In "Journey Inward, Journey Outward," I read this:
"The content and quality of our lives is determined by how we respond to the ordinary...."
I am bored with the look of this website. But I'm not sure I have the energy or motivation to redesign it. Too many other things have my attention these days.
"We now know that human transformation does not happen through didacticism or through excessive certitude, but through the playful entertainment of another scripting of reality that may subvert the old given text and its interpretation and lead to the embrace of an alternative text and its redescription of reality." Walter Brueggemann, Cadences of Home
"This hits at what I think is the root of why the church fears the web. Many churches generally won't allow individuals the freedom to create compelling content and enter into a conversation. Churches aren't friendly to conversation. The worship is led from the worship leader. The sermon is prepared and presented by the pastor. The congregation watches. It is one way communication. Early on when I was fooling around online I was apart of a mailing list that was hosted by Ginghamsburg Church's web team. Around forty or fifty of us would talk about web ministry and help each other out. One of the topics that kept coming up was how do we fit the web team into the traditional command and control structure of the church and have content approved and things properly vetted. The church didn't trust anyone to create any content. It needed a committee to make sure it was all okay. It was before the Cluetrain Manifesto was out and articulated it for us but it was true, organizations can't have a conversation and I think organizations also fear the individual."
From Jordon Cooper
"All leaders are now anthropologists. The dying Industrial Age paradigm is being replaced by a new culture that requires the fieldwork skills of an anthropologist, the dedication of a missionary, the patience of a saint, the learning curve of a child, the cunning of a thief, the stamina of an athlete, and the resolve of a coast guard sailor." Leonard Sweet
Anthem
The birds they sang
The wars they will
Ring the bells that still can ring
Leonard Cohen
Every once in a while I get thinking about the "accident" of being born in the richest, safest, and most peaceful region of the world. Living in Canada, or in the USA, is a huge privilege, and there is nothing in my own merit that determined my birth here. But I'm thankful for the opportunity, and thankful that my children also have that privilege.
Which has me thinking about gratitude in general, and God's favor on us lately. We have now purchased our own home, and we are suddenly more aware of the many things about our rental home that have really nagged on us. We live on a very noisy and dusty street, among other things, and our yard is almost unusable because of the slope. But we are grateful for our years here, and looking forward to moving into our own home again.
I'm also grateful for my daughter's first job, and very pleased for how well it is going. She is loving it.
I'm grateful for my work, and the great flexibility I have had to work, to read, to travel, and to write over the past seven years.
I'm grateful for the new community that is rising up locally in the Vineyard; grateful for new friends, and in particular for new friends for our children. What does one do with so much gratitude? "Thank you Lord" sometimes feels a bit trite.
"When the Americans entered WWI, the British and French Allies had been bogged down in a demoralizing and costly trench warfare for nearly three years. Millions had died in meaningless attacks to take a few hundred yards of ground, which would inevitably be given back again to a counterattack. Is this not much like the present state of the Body of Christ?
"In the trenches, those who stick their heads up a little higher than anyone else, to try to see beyond the trench, are shot... the main strategy of the enemy is to keep the church pinned down in the trenches.
"After three and a half years of this devastating form of warfare, the british and French armies were near exhaustion when America entered the war. The vision of the Allied leadership prior to this was limited to finding replacements for the casualties, which were many. Because they were running out of troops, their strategy was to use the fresh American troops to replace their own troops in the trenches.
"But Pershing would not even consider it. He was determined not to use his fresh forces in a meaningless strategy that would lead nowhere.
"When the British and French Prime Ministers summoned him to a conference to pressure him to accept their plan, he shocked them both by walking out of the room. Pershing had not brought his men all the way to Europe to see them wasted.
"That spring the Germans launched their major offensive. The British and French were weary and their reserves depleted. The Americans were untested, and both sides were prepared for a major German advance. But Pershing called for his troops and met the offensive head on. Then he raised an offensive of his own. In just two days the Americans broke through the enemy lines. He threw more than a half million men at the enemy positions in the Argonne Forest. Fighting at times from tree to tree, more than 122,000 Americans fell in the first few days, but after 47 days the Germans supply and communication lines were cut. The Kaiser fled to Holland and Germany surrendered.
"This story parallels the present state of the church. It has been more and more of the same old same old. We have been bogged down in trench warfare for so long that many of the present leaders can no longer see beyond trying to find reinforcements for their old programs. Many are simply trying to hold the ground taken twenty or thirty years ago...
"We will never win if we remain in the trenches. For too many years few of the reinforcements have been fresh converts, bur rather were borrowed or stolen from other parts of the army. But fresh troops are rising from new movements, and they are about to win a multitude of new believers. These fresh troops must not be wasted in the present "trench warfare" of the church.
"Even though "Prime Ministers" and other powerful leaders will exert great pressure to use new converts in the trenches, the rising leadership must not give in to pressure. The new movements are being called to fight together in a new war that will bring new victories.
"The seeming foolishness of the new breed of leaders to step out of the trenches believing that the war can be won is going to bring about considerable discord with current leaders who can't see beyond the trenches. Many Christians who are accustomed to fighting only in the trenches will be discouraged when the new believers refuse to follow the old ways with them. However, the new movements which are being raised are called to ADVANCE. Through their willingness to suffer the ire of the religious establishment and many of their fellow believers who will not understand, thse new movements will be positioned to end the stalemate and break through the enemy's battle lines.
"The end of trench warfare is near. The church will break out of the four walls of her own buildings, attacking the enemy from house to house and from street to street until the victory is won." Rick Joyner, 1998
At Postmodern Theology Jared reflects on the question, "What is a successful church plant?"
Non Profit Prophet a new blog site.
The following report is from Dave Bodine, a prophetic teacher who lives in Washington state. Dave mailed me this morning regarding a call to intercession. You will need some history, so the information he mailed this morning follows this earlier (abbreviated) report.
"He showed me a map of the State of Washington with a flood of something like water flowing out of B.C. Canada through central Washington and on into Oregon. I could not tell exactly where in British Columbia it originated, and I could not tell where it flowed into Oregon.
"He then made me to know that He had planned for this flood to flow through the west side, but because of stubbornness He could not move there if He wanted. He then showed me that the central region of Washington is a natural terrain for water flow from Canada south and that it is an ancient pathway of peoples throughout history. I felt very impressed that He plans to use the Native American Indians in the flood somehow.
"
Later I looked at a map of the Pacific Northwest. I was drawn to the highway number 97 as the modern highway that follows the path of this flood I was shown. I felt that this general route and the communities near it would be used to carry this "flood" that the Holy Ghost showed me. I looked in my book "Interpreting the Symbols and Types" written by Kevin J. Conner and found the numbers 9 and 7. nine = Number of finality, fullness, fruitfulness. Number of the Holy Spirit. Number of fruit of the womb. seven = Number of perfection, and completeness.
"I looked into British Columbia, Canada and was impressed that many other communities to the north of the end of Highway 97 would be in this flood. Once city in particular was Kelowna, B.C. I felt impressed that Kelowna would somehow be significant in this flood but, it would not be instrumental in this flood in ways that most believers would think. It is like the Holy Ghost has a plan and a people in Kelowna that will be unexpected and in the past have been rejected by the church.
"I felt that this flood was an empowering force of the Lord. What I saw were various ministries that God has developed in the last 10 years or so and set into place. These ministries have seen some success, but mostly the people are laboring for the Lord in faith, believing they were sent by God to do a specific work. Often these folks are misunderstood by traditional Christianity while others were out and out rejected by them.
"This empowerment was intentionally withheld by God for some specific reasons: The workers were still learning the basics of what God has called them to do. They were still learning humility. They were still learning brokenness. They were still learning total reliance and dependence on Him."
The Columbia River dam at Revelstoke, BC
A couple of years ago a friend of ours had a dream about me. He saw me standing in two canoes.. one foot in each. The canoes were racing down a fast-flowing river. I was standing with a megaphone, shouting to people on both sides of the river.
At the time he interpreted the dream as a warning signal.. He recommended that I decide which canoe I should be in, and that I should decide who I ought to be speaking to. The problem with his interpretation was that either way I was in big trouble, because he saw the river moving faster and faster and was convinced that I would be killed when the canoes tumbled over a waterfall that was sure to appear.
Thankfully, the Lord in His sovereignty showed me something quite different. Only a week later I opened up Reggie McNeal's book, "A Work of Heart," and read these words.
"Contemporary Christian leaders who have chosen not to withdraw from the cultural arena face white-water rapids. Culture roils and churns in the collision of the old and the new.
"At the dawn of the 3rd Christian millennium, continuity battles with discontinuity; the emergent dances with what is passing away. Leaders of spiritual enterprises, like many of the adherents of faith, have oars in both currents. The challenge involves getting as many through the rapids as possible, knowing some will never make it. The success of the mission largely depends on the ability of the leader, the river guide, to know how to "read" the waters."
Try this soon, before Google fixes its site:
1) Go to Google.com;
"In the classic movie A River Runs Through It, Brad Pitt's character (Paul) is lousy at life but pretty darn good at fly fishing. At one point he says something like, "It won't be long till I'll be able to think like a fish!"
"The best church leaders see value in learning to "think like a fish," yet many of us think less like a fish and more like the captain of a charter boat. The longer we serve the church, the more removed from the streams, lakes, and seas we become. The result is that our thinking gets limited, our instincts get dulled, and we forget what life in the water is like."
"The Spirit of the Lord us upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor; he has sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty the oppressed, and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."
"Two fundamental claims about the nature of the true church are made here: First, that preaching the gospel to the poor is an identifying mark of the church -- part of its essential DNA. Second, that this mark is a test of whether the church is genuninely apostolic -- is the church walking in the the steps of Jesus? Whoever ministers the good news among the poor "is in the true succession. He walks as Christ walked," Benjamin Roberts observed (1823-1893).
"But for whose benefit are special efforts to be put forth? Jesus settles this question.. When John sent to know who he was, Christ charged the messengers to return and show John the things which they had seen and heard. "The blind received their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up," and as if all this would be insufficient to satisfy John of the validity of his claims, he adds, "and the poor have the gospel preached to them." This was the crowning proof that He was the One that should come."
"Apostolicity is rather abstract and easily loses its tie to the actual life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Serving the poor is concrete action, not abstract concept. It is done or not done. Claims of apostolicity ring hollow if the church is not in fact good news for the poor."
Howard Snyder, "Decoding the Church"
I pull up with my bike off the parkway, Betty is about 30 seconds behind me. I loop around behind my car and hop off. I am surprised to see that someone is sitting in the passenger seat. We had locked the car very carefully.
I notice that the lock has been jimmied and is ruined. After a second the gentleman notices me and nervously hops out.. I smile and say, "Whats happening?"
He is about five feet nine inches, light brown hair, slightly unkempt, and about 33 years old.
"Oh, some kids were in the car. I was checking to see if anything was missing."
I think for a moment.. I feel like saying.. "Oh, you have a list so you could check eh?" Instead I say, "Oh really. Did you see where they went?"
"Yeah, I think they are in that red car over there. Some other ones scattered when we showed up."
Betty arrives and finds me talking to the guy, not knowing he was in the car. She completely assumes he has been a passive observer of a break and entry on our car.
After some more nervous chatter, he heads for his small red truck where a bleached blond in her early forties is sitting. I note the plate number A6 9676. It's a late eighties red Ford mid size pickup.
I notice the lock on the passenger side of the pickup is also missing.
They drive off and Betty and I load up our bikes and head for the police station. As we are driving I tell her I saw the guy in the car when I arrived on my bike.. she's a bit shocked, since she assumed he had nothing to do with the break-in.
A half hour after getting home we get a call from the RCMP. The plate number I wrote down is stolen, but is supposed to be on a yellow truck. They have already put out an APB to cruisers to watch for the vehicle.
I suppose it could have been a dangerous situation... but I wish I had thought to tail him while we called the cops on the cell phone. I imagine the cost to fix our car will be a bit more than the deductible.
Everywhere Dance
In grains of sand and Galaxies
Bruce Cockburn, "You've Never Seen Everything"
The Stranger as Spiritual Guide
The stranger represents an unknown and ambiguous figure: friend or foe, resource or thief, giver or taker. Yet three key events in the NT -- Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost -- all recount the coming of a divine stranger. In each case the newcomer brings blessings that both disorent and transform. "The child in the manger, the traveler on the road to Emmaus, and the mighty wind of the Spirit all meet us as mysterious visitors, challenging our belief systems even as they welcome us to new worlds." (J. Koenig, New Testament Hospitality, 1985) When the despondent travelers on the Emmaus road extended hospitality to the stranger who had joined them, "their eyes were opened" and they discovered that he was none other than the resurrected Christ (Luke 24:13-35).
The stranger plays a central role in stories of faith, and for good reason. "The religous quest, the spiritual pilgrimage, is always taking us into new lands where we are strange to others and they are strange to us. Faith is a venture into the unknown, into the realms of mystery, away from the safe and comfortable and secure.... By honoring others precisely in their otherness, we embrace the new, the mysterious, and the unexpected: "Do not neglect so show hospitality to strangers, for by doing so some have entertained angels unware..."(Heb.13:2).
From "Missional Church," p. 177-178
Newness is busting out all over..
My daughter started her first job today.. twirling dough at Pizza Hut from 4 to 8 PM today.
Our offer was accepted on the home below us.. and financing was approved today. My father has agreed to be on title with us for the first year, making all this possible. We join the happy throng supporting the profit margin at our local credit union.
My application for the DMin program has been received at TWU in Langley. No word on acceptance, since they have to wait for the return of the four referral forms. Here's hoping no one tells all the truth about me ;-)
Actually I am feeling it would be a fun learning and growing experience. I have one good friend in the program (lives across the highway from us) and I shared a good cup of coffee with the head of the program last fall. Phil is a creative out-of-the-box thinker with a love for people and a love for God. He is interested in ideas, but has a decidedly practical bent. The program itself is both experiential and reflective and looks excellent. You can view the entire brochure online.
Do I need more education? Actually, I have very little confidence in education or degrees. What I do believe in is learning and community and discipleship. And the Lord seems to have given me a creative and visionary mind.. I want to continue to grow in my abilities and make myself useful in His kingdom.
"The church must not be equated with the reign (kingdom) of God. The church as a messianic community is both spawned by the reign of God and directed toward it. This is a different relationship from what at times has captured the church's thinking. The church has often presumed that the reign of God is within the church. The two have been regarded as synonyms. In this view, the church totally encompasses the divine reign. Therefore church extension or church growth is the equivalent of kingdom extension or kingdom growth, and the reign of God is coterminous with the people who embrace it through faith and gather together as the church. This view esaily leads to the affirmation that there is no salvation outside the church. The church then sees itself as the fortress and guardian of salvation, perhaps even its benefactor and author, rather than its grateful recipient and guest."
"The church is the offspring of the kingdom of God. It is its fruit and its evidence.."
From "Missional Church," p. 98. The confusion between these two realities is responsible for much bad theology and poor practice.
You may know by now that I am not fond of some of the traditional forms, like the sermon. I'll quote myself from June 30th,
"When we ask people about change and personal growth, and when we ask them for examples, virtually no one will point to a sermon that changed their lives. In fact, most can't remember the topic of the sermon they last heard only a few days after hearing it.
"When pressed for facts about change and growth, most people will point to events and names. Most of us grow and change through a combination of love and friendship and suffering. We are influenced and healed and grow as a direct result of those in our lives who love and care for us. It is from these people that we also learn the most, because we trust them to speak into our lives at the point of need."
Formation versus information. So, what place is there for public teaching? There must be a place for it, because we see it in the New Testament.
So what is Paul up to? He is explaining the significance of events. He is saying, "This is that." His time is a time of the advent of the kingdom of God; something entirely new has happened in the world.
The place for teaching is when something new is happening. Key points would be cultural transition, new church starts, and deconstruction. In times of transition when we need to re-imagine the church and purge our language of adulterated words, (see kingdom language) we will need prophetic teachers, narrators, poets, and dreamers who can assist us on the journey. In other words, there is still a place for teaching at the center, teaching which deconstructs, brings us together on the same page toward a new vision, and then helps us build on a new and secure foundation.
Who would these teachers be? I'm sorry, but they aren't likely to be over fifty years old. They aren't likely to have taught from the same pulpit for the past twenty five years. I know that there are men and women out there who qualify at that age and beyond, like Robert Webber and Howard Snyder, but they are rare gifts. Unfortunately, rare is the teacher who has been in the desert and is prepared to speak to exiles.. Few are prepared to pay the price and make that journey.. there is simply too much at stake. We value our security, our pensions, and our status too highly. Most of us who make the journey into the desert go there kicking and screaming.
Howard Snyder's latest looks interesting though somewhat academic... Decoding the Church. But it starts out on a great footing, with an argument that any church that is truly apostolic will be concerned for the poor. For an inside look download this PDF Sample
One of the books that reshaped Todd Hunter's thinking was The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church: This is from the foreword by Leslie Newbigin: Allen advocates self propagating, self-supporting and self-governing churches. To understand Allen, one must focus on all three words of the title: Read the Review at Allelon then download the entire manuscript HERE.
We have made an offer on a home :) .. It happens to be just below us at the edge of the field that marches up the hill. Location is almost perfect, since it leaves our geographical network intact. We're glad to be able to stay near long time friends and acquaintances.
One of the big attractions is birch flooring throughout the upstairs, and a large (.21 acre) private back yard. The yard will really be great for gathering people, and there are three fruit trees (needing pruning of course).
We don't have approval on financing yet, which could be dicey since our incomes have not been great over the past three years. Ask the Lord for favor for us.
Our new address will be 320 Stetson Road.
"Moses wanted to turn a tribe of enslaved Hebrews into free men. You would think that all he had to do was to gather the slaves and tell them that they were free. But Moses knew better. He knew that the transformation of slaves into free men was more difficult and painful than the transformation of free men into slaves...Moses discovered that no spectacle, no myth, no miracles could turn slaves into free men. It cannot be done. So he led the slaves back into the desert, and waited forty years until the slave generation died, and a new generation, desert born and bred, was ready to enter the promised land." -Eric Hoffer, diary entry, May 20, 1959
More on Worship
A good discussion at a gathering the other night. We heard everything from the traditional "Worship is attributing worth to God" to the personal "We know what we worship by where we get our significance."
I got thinking about the first one and how unhappy I am with that old definition. I have a feeling it was popular because it was unmeasurable. We could live an un-converted lifestyle while claiming to worship the untamed God.
On the other hand, the only significant way we can attribute worth to God is by how we live. In this way, more than any other, "worship is a verb."
"Thus, at times, Scripture judges the value of worship, the inner circle, by looking at the shape of the outer circle, or the daily obedience it produces. Our worship should spread from the inner circle to the wider circle of our everyday lives as Christians, and our daily speech and acts and attitudes are ordained to be a wider and transformed worship. " Jim Wallis. Agenda for Biblical People
Reconstruction has a great discussion on "absolute truth"..
So often the issue in communication is not content, but emotional valence.
I observed this second hand when I was a marriage counsellor, and I observe it second hand today with other couples and between couples and children. But what I really hate is when I observe it firsthand with my wife.
Last night my wife blatantly accused me of being a poor listener (!). Me.. with all my counselling training.. me, who used to spend hours teaching listening skills to conflict couples. How could she possibly be right?
In the first place, she could be right because we develop sloppy habits with those we assume should quickly understand us.. In the second place, we tend to treat our closest relationships with the least care. Go figure?
In the third place, I have a habit of thinking I know what my wife is going to say.. I have this mystical power.. And finally, I am a sinner and am inclined to think life should revolve around me. The result of all this is that I am sometimes a lousy listener.
Of course, none of this makes communication any easier, because in our most significant relationships we are most easily offended. And when we are hurt, we become defensive. When we become defensive, our listening and negotiating skills go out the window.
When we are dealing with a primary problem, we often create a secondary problem by how we communicate. If the issue is emotionally loaded.. we feel hurt because we weren't heard.. or we feel fear because of a potential danger (maybe also loaded with family history in the case of our children).. we react rather than respond. And when we are dominated by fear we react with control.. I have an unusual story to share that illustrates the challenge.
For many summers I worked as a fishing guide. Every morning I had three things to do before my guests arrived on the dock for the day's outing. The first thing I did was check my equipment. Primarily this meant checking 100 yards of line on each reel to ensure that there were no nicks or serious abrasions.
The second thing I did each morning was fuel up. Off I drove to the gas dock, tied up, and took my fuel tank off the boat to fill it up.
The third thing I did was get fresh bait. Fresh bait was live bait.. herring that we caught once a month or so with our small seine net. These were held in huge bins that were floating just off the dock.. anchored to the dock by heavy ropes.
It was a simple task to scoop two or three dozen herring with a dip net, then ladle them into the fresh bait tank which was just behind my seat in the fourteen foot boat.
The challenge came later when reaching behind me to grab a herring for bait. Usually without even looking behind me, I reached back and dipped my hand into the small tank, then grabbed a herring to move it to my cutting board. Depending on the style of fishing, I would either execute the fish by lopping off its head, or I would thread the two hooks through the tough skin for live bait mooching.
This all sounds simple enough. But grabbing a live, slimy herring could be extremely difficult for the uninitiated.
Imagine grabbing a live trout. If you have ever tried to do so, you know how slippery is the skin surface on a live fish.
If you grab the fish like grabbing a stick, you activate the slime and it slips quickly through your fingers. If you don't hold firmly enough, it flops and slithers away anyway. There is a technique, very difficult to describe, that allows you to hold a small, live fish just enough to allow you to manipulate it into the position that you want.
Jack and Judith Balswick, teachers at Fuller Seminary, wrote a book on parenting some thirteen years ago where they described a biblical parenting style as a dynamic balance between support and control. A safe environment, whether church or family, has two dimensions: love/support, and structure/limits/boundaries. Support is defined as any behavior that helps a person feel comfortable, wanted, valued and loved. Control is defined as any behavior, such as setting limits and establishing structure, intended to direct behavior in a manner desirable to the one providing guidance.
Too much control and children rebel. Too much support (emotional support) and children are smothered and can't find the boundaries. With our own children we have imperfectly tried to always walk the line between support and control. To read a summary of this approach to parenting click HERE
"Most of us want to be changed, to become more like Christ. But is it happening? According to a Gallup poll, nine of ten Americans say they pray daily, and 84 million Americans almost a third of the population say they have made a personal commitment to Christ as Savior. But as William Iverson writes, "A pound of meat would surely be affected by a quarter pound of salt."
The Dangers of Pseudo-Transformation
"The mission of a community is to give life to others, that is to say, to transmit new hope and new meaning to them. Mission is revealing to others their fundamental beauty, value and importance in the universe, their capacity to love, to grow and to do beautiful things and to meet God. Mission is transmitting to people a new inner freedom and hope; it is unlocking the doors of their being so that new energies can flow; it is taking away from their shoulders the terrible yoke of guilt and fear. To give life to people is to reveal to them that they are loved just as they are by God, with the mixture of good and evil, light and darkness that is in them; that the stone in front of their tomb in which all the dirt of their lives has been hidden can be rooled away. They are forgiven; they can live in freedom." Jean Vanier, Community and Growth
"Why are the villains in the greatest story ever told a group of religious conservatives?
"The question is personal. I am a religious and biblical conservative. I believe in the importance of the family and am convinced that our children need to learn the dangers of Darwin, abortion, and same-sex marriage. Theologically, I’m a fundamentalist. I believe in moral absolutes, the authority of Scripture, and the uniqueness of Christ. What I can’t shake, however, is the thought that the most dangerous group of people in the New Testament were not atheists, secularists, religious liberals, or advocates of sexual freedom.
"The most dangerous group in the New Testament were:
Mart DeHaan :Religious Conservatives are a Dangerous Group
Change my heart, O God,
You are the potter,
This book, edited by David L. Guder and Lois Barrett, may be worth reading. I ordered a copy this morning, but the reports are positive. Lois Barrett is a Canadian house church pioneer and previously the author of "Building the House Church."
"How do things fall apart? And then what happens?
"Some of the people working on communications theory focused not on the message, but on the garbage in between -- the static. Others began thinking about dripping faucets, clouds, coastlines, and the formation of bubbles in water that was about to boil. Just as systems theory, born in communications theory, proved helpful in dealing with all sorts of things, from organizations and family interactions to economic problems and the design of lawnmowers, perhaps a study of turbulance and chaos would be relevant to such messy things as landslides, rush-hour traffic, epileptic seizures, and organizations going through traumatic change.
"The resulting "chaos theory" has hit its stride only in the past decade -- and only now is it beginning to leak into other applications, as theorists begin to apply its insights to discontinuous, transforming change in a great many fields. At the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, historian Robert Artigiani has even applied it to analyses of the the U.S. Constitution, the rise and fall of Greek civilization, and the success of Horatio Nelson at Trafalgar."
“What if God was one of us?/Just a slob like one of us?” Thus sang Joan Osbourne in the early 1990s. It’s a question again asked in song during a pivotal scene in “Bruce Almighty,” Hollywood’s latest offering of spirituality. With lounge-lizard intonations, a drunk-with-omnipotence Bruce Nolan (Jim Carrey) belts out a few lines as he enters the apartment he shares with his girlfriend, Grace (Jennifer Aniston).
"But his actions represent the recurring theme of the movie, and it is the antithesis of Osbourne’s question. “Bruce Almighty” asks not “What if God was one of us?” But rather, “What if we were God?”
I am applying for entry into the DMin program at ACTS in Langley, BC. The program of study is Leadership and Spiritual Formation. You can view the entire brochure online.
It was a sudden decision, though in other ways the decision has been in process for five or six years. I have always thought it would be good to continue formal study one day, and this program is practical and focused and reflective. It is exactly the kind of program I would have designed for myself.
"As the crow flies" generally means a shorter distance than a car would travel by road. "As the Strange Bird flies" has got to be the most circuitous route possible.
"Strange Birds are people who sense a call to ministry but not necessarily to traditional parish ministry. Their passions seek expression beyond the church's prescribed positions. Their spirits are drawn to odd directions, to unusual intersections, to roads "less traveled."
"So the flight of the Strange Bird is never straight. She dips and turns, loops and zigzags as she seeks to be faithful to the person God has created her to be.
"This way is dizzying yet true in my own vocational journey. I wrestled with understanding my call for years, tried to envision myself in traditional roles, and traveled through several occupations to reach this one -- and this one doesn¹t show up on the map. There are no signposts for a Missionary-Entrepreneur-Preacher-Writer-Organizational Consultant-Dreamer-Theologian." Daniel Pryfogle
Todd Hunter blogs:
"Merely messing with models of church is not going to get us where we want to go.
Without a serious intent (For instance, check out William Law: A Serious Call to Devout and Holy Life.) to pursue spiritual transformation, our self-centered characters will overwhelm any system of church AND keep us from submitting our personal, God-given kingdoms to the Kingdom of God.
"But, the people I most admire and respect in life are not focused on “church” as a place, event or thing. They just quietly participate in non-descript churches and submit themselves to be used by God, to be ambassadors of his Kingdom in those communities of faith…as everywhere else in there their life: no dualisms. That attitude—whole life self-surrender—is rooted in a different kind of life: life from above, eternal life. It is what we must pursue for our selves and those we serve. It will make most models work."
Jon Z, in an unrelated note, asks,
"Since we are the Church, His people, then it's not a building or place, then we are/should be, "the Church that meets in homes" and should avoid any hint at the form of home or house Church. Wasn't it: the Church that meets in the home of...? It seems like the danger is that the form is always taking center stage and we begin to miss out on the blessing of His presence which should be found anytime two or three come together in His name. We can easily have various forms and forget what we came together for in the first place. Surely Satan has been twisting our words long enough to bring us into various bondages."
Michael Hall, Fire and Ice
Differences include:
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
9:06 AM
California on the Brink of Financial Disaster
LOS ANGELES -- "Any day now, community colleges here may begin telling faculty members that they cannot be paid and students that summer classes are canceled.
Nursing homes are losing so much state aid that many soon may have to shut down or limit their services, a prospect that has elderly residents confused and frightened.
As many as 30,000 government workers who had been expecting pay raises in the fall are instead receiving formal notices warning that they could lose their jobs by then, because the state is broke.
This is life in California, on the brink of a fiscal disaster."
Which has led to the move to recall the Governor of California, Gray Davis. Who would replace him? How about Arnold Schwarznegger.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
10:56 AM
"Is working in a church a hindrance to your spiritual development?
"At first the question may sound a little silly. After all, what better spiritual environment could you work in than a church? At least that was always my way of thinking. Yet working in "full time ministry" (a stupid term) always seems to present certain challenges to my personal faith journey that until recently have been difficult to define or identify."
John Campea - Working in Church
"Walking together as a community of people requires a choice. Choosing what is best for the greater good over what is best for me. That can be hard a choice to make in a culture that is so hell bent on teaching that my wants and needs are more important. Choosing others is the heart of a SERVANT."
* * *
Doubtless a funny subject to some, but interesting... I wonder if the Restorationists will see this as part of the restored tabernacle of David? David, after all, was "a man after God's own heart" but had multiple wives.
You can't believe any serious Christian would ever support such a movement? See Truthbearer.org. But ignore their slogan.. this is NOT part of the next reformation.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
8:50 AM
On Canada Day I was in my car listening to the festivities in Ottawa via CBC. I heard a sound byte of the Governor General commenting that Canadians are a northern wilderness people; that who we are is conditioned in some way by our isolation and immersion in the wilderness.
I felt that was a prophetic statement.. On June 28th I blogged from Isa.40..
The voice of one crying,
The wilderness is a place of risk and temptation (Luke 4). It's a place of isolation, where we are face to face with our own demons. It's a place where we "sink or swim;" we learn reliance on God because we learn our own limits.
It's a place of trial and testing. It's a place of purification, where we see our own motives more clearly and learn that "in my flesh dwells no good thing." Until we know ourselves as broken and needy, we can't truly cast ourselves on the grace of God.
Bruce Cockburn in his latest album, "You've Never Seen Everything" sings..
Tried and tested..
If we are a people who in some sense are defined by the wilderness experience, what a grace that is to us. We may have more opportunity to break free from the addiction to consumerism, to our own security, to ourselves as the center of the Universe.
But that's a lonely journey. Who would choose it?
It is chosen for us by the grace of God. We don't choose our parents. We don't choose where we are born, though some of us choose our country.
Many of us left the established church because something in us was dying. We needed a challenge and a fight. Instead we were taught passivity. We needed to reach for our ideals; we were told to settle for the reality of the compromised church.
Jesus left society and went into the desert. He fought the fight for his own soul in isolation.
Before we left the church our identity was secure; it was socially constructed. We were safe in the crowd, but as Emerson wrote, "the crowd is untruth." Israel worshipped the golden calf. We have our own idols of security, power, youth, beauty, comfort...
At some time in our growing we leave home in order to make our own way in the world. We quickly discover our strengths and weaknesses. Where once we were sheltered and safe (I hope), soon we are wounded and broken. In order to find ourselves, we leave the nest. But there is a time to come home.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
11:40 AM
Happy birthday to the U.S.A. This country is our closest neighbor and friend. At times the relationship seems rocky, because we are often choosing our own trail and sometimes critical of the decisions made by our American friends. I've pondered this a bit.. and I think that the reason we are come across as critical is that we are determined to hold them to their stated ideals. We have high expectations of our American neighbors because they have such a tremendous legacy and high convictions.
What, on the computer again? Visit Sacred Space.
The location is good in every other way. We have two sets of friends in walking distance. The kids school is in walking distance. The sports complex is in walking distance. There are even theatres and stores in walking distance; even quick and easy access to biking in the country. The blue square shows house location in Kelowna.
It's sad to be leaving our old home after five years, but renting has its drawbacks. This house in particular had many drawbacks.. a sloped yard making the yard useless for recreation.. an odd musty smell that is probably mould in the walls.. very small bedrooms for our girls who are now teens and need more space.. a long curving sloped driveway that can be terrifying in icy conditions. It also had its perks.. huge cherry trees, a peach and plum and apricot tree, an airtight woodstove that helped us cut heating costs. Ah well.. change is the order of creation.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
10:40 AM
It's been a hectic week.. my sister was here from Winnipeg and it was great to spend time with her. She works for the University of Winnipeg in the Lit department as a departmental assistant and LOVES her job which places her in constant contact with profs and students.
We also had a family friend here from Friday to Tuesday. Mark was here from Kaslo to spend time with us and with our eldest (15 years) daughter. What a great kid .. at seventeen almost an adult. Easy to be with, straight thinking and level, eye to eye guy who wants to be a criminologist.
We helped move a single mom on Tuesday, and (finally) got to the strawberry fields for the last of the crop yesterday. The last of the crop are always smaller, sometimes sweeter than the early crop, but you have to hunt them down in the fields. My back tells me that we spent a good hour bending over the low lying plants last evening.
My younger daughter has really blossomed this last year and can no longer walk down the street without turning heads. She really is becoming a beauty. She is the artsy, slightly withdrawn one while her older sister is always taking on the world and loving it. Both are beautiful girls, thoughtful and articulate and wise in ways I was not at their age.
Betty works her last volunteer day at Heritage Christian School today. We borrowed a book titled "Punished by Rewards" from a teacher there and will have a chance to hear what learning theorists and educators say about the danger of praise and rewards as opposed to "encouragement." Should be an interesting read.
Still no word on whether my last software project will be published. I now have one being examined by a UK company and the other by an American company. If both are "go" it will make it much easier to buy our own home this year.
The weather in Kelowna has been beautiful lately and our cherry trees are now properly praising their Creator with branches touching the ground...
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
1:40 PM
"Thus, at times, Scripture judges the value of worship, the inner circle, by looking at the shape of the outer circle, or the daily obedience it produces. Our worship should spread from the inner circle to the wider circle of our everyday lives as Christians, and our daily speech and acts and attitudes are ordained to be a wider and transformed worship." Jim Wallis, "Agenda for Biblical People"
"Thus, the renewal of the church will come not through a recovery of personal experience or straight doctrine, nor through innovative projects of evangelism or social action, nor in creative techniques or liturgical worship, nor in the gift of tongues, nor in new budgets, new buildings, and new members. The renewal of the church will come about through the work of the Spirit in restoring and reconstituting the church as a local community whose common life bears the marks of radical obedience to the lordship of Jesus Christ.
"Practically, this means a clear recognition that the demands of obedient discipleship will bring us into conflict with the ordinary social values and normal patterns of the world systems which continually seek to fashion us into their image and conform us to their molds." Agenda for Biblical People
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
9:25 AM
Nick writes this morning, "It seems to me we have abused and redefined the word "worship," much as homosexuals have redefined "gay."
In the Old Testament worship is closely tied to the priestly role, and specific times and places. In the New Testament worship is closer to lifestyle (Ro.12:1,2).
Then there are "church" and "Christian." Little by little our language eroded, until we were left sailing cool Arctic waters on small icebergs. Once redefined, the landscape is remapped. Unfortunately, the maps are incorrect, and thousands of people fall off the edge of the world daily. That's why we need discovers, cartographers to
explore the landscape and rebuild our language.
"Learn from me, how difficult a thing it is to throw off errors confirmed by the example of all the world, and which, through long habit, have become a second nature to us." Martin Luther
It was nearly 18 months ago that I was driving down Highway 33 and saw sign on one of the large Mennonite buildings warning, "Don't wait for six strong men to bring you back to church." I groaned inside, wondering what that sign would communicate to the average reader in our community? "Church" is a place where we are married and buried, a place that offers "services" in exchange for a hefty monthly donation. Furthermore, it is a "building" and a location, not a living community.
There are many "Christian" words which are current in western culture but no longer seem able to bear the weight of biblical revelation. These words have been so corrupted by our western cultural context that they no longer communicate what we think they communicate. Words like "Christian" and "church" have a lot of baggage in our culture.
Other words are in common use among Christians, but are so corrupted by institutionalism that they have little connection with biblical meaning. Words like "evangelist," and "pastor" are loaded with cultural baggage. Other words like "missionary," and "church planter" never occur in the New Testament, but are meant to describe a role that exists in our own minds but did not exist in the minds of Paul or Jesus.
More broadly, terms like "sacred" and "secular" indicate that the problem exists at the very center of our twisted culture. The Cree, a large First Nations group, lack a word for "sacred," because for them all the world existed under the dominion of the Creator. Unfortunately, we European settlers had already been corrupted into another form of thinking. We may see singing as sacred, sex as secular; we may see praying for someone as sacred, helping a single mom with her children as secular (less spiritual, less important). We rank life according to these false divisions because we have not understood the full meaning of the incarnation.
There are two more terms which have lingered at the heart of this debate for me: clergy and laity. Clergy are the guys (almost always) who know it all, do it all, and direct it all. They preach, teach, marry and bury, lead the meetings and are divorced and depressed at incredible rates. No wonder: how could they possibly remain the supermen they are supposed to be? Clergy are our evangelical priests, the active ones, generally well-educated professionals who keep the audience entertained and the tithes flowing. The laity, the rest of us, are the passive recipients of the grace of God through His messengers.
Laity was once a good biblical word. It applied to the whole laos, the entire people of God under one Shepherd. When we lost this essential quality of unity and equality as children of one Father and a people walking side by side, we lost the essence of community. It became possible for "Christians" to be passive hearers of the word, living their sacred lives on Sunday and their secular lives on the other six days. A "disciple" became a rare occurrence, since the clergy were paid to be spiritual while the rest of us paid them to do their work.
What a grace to us the postmodern transition has been! It is becoming increasingly difficult to think in modern terms. We know all of life is sacred. We know that we are all the people of God. We are becoming clear about the heart of the Gospel and the call to "follow." All over the world new communities are forming, often around informal gatherings where people are getting face to face with one another and learning to be "spiritual" in practical ways as well as the more traditional ways.
For more on the issue of kingdom language see The Language of the Kingdom
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
9:10 AM
Spiritual Mapping
What is it? Check out a summary of the teaching HERE.
Is it scripturally defensible? Yes and no.
Yes, we have a long way to go in working toward the unity that Jesus desires in any local region. "That they may be one as You and I are one." We are babes in this experience.
Territorial spirits and warfare against them? This is part of the package of the spiritual mapping and "Transformations" teachers, among whom are Cindy Jacobs, Peter Wagner and Alistair Petrie.
One of the most experienced and enlightened teachers in this area is John Paul Jackson, a man who is both a gifted teacher and a gifted prophet and intercessor. In his book, "Needless Casualties of War," Jackson details the result of taking on territorial spirits: illness, miscarriage, depression and death. Unless you have direct personal revelation that this is something you are called to do, DO NOT DO IT. By direct and personal I mean the Lord must speak to you in a vision or a dream or by His voice.. not merely by a teaching you heare sitting in a congregation somewhere.
Is the teaching on territorial spirits and the relational between physical location and power true and accurate? Maybe. But my personal feeling on this is that we are playing in an area where we have no authority or calling. Why do I say this?
Read through the gospels and epistles. Do you read anything about territorial spirits? Do you read anything in Paul about taking them on? Or do you see something very different.. indirect spiritual warfare -- doing the main and the plain; loving your neighbor, showing hospitality, praying for the sick and when necessary, delivering the demonized.
A wise friend of mine is fond of saying that rats love garbage. Get rid of the garbage, and get rid of the rats. Spiritual warfare is best done by helping individuals get saved and healed. When they get cleaned up, the demons lose their home. When the demons lose their homes, our neighborhoods will change.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
10:15 AM
Happy Canada Day! My country is 136 years old today.. hmm, I think we have finally grown up (now older than the oldest living human).
It's been a bit hectic.. we helped a single mom move today, then took a visitor to the Greyhound, then went to look at a house for sale. Sad to think we may have to relocate after five years here.. I didn't think I would mind, but I do. Jesus "had nowhere to lay his head." Did it help him in keeping his real home in view?
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
6:50 PM
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