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"God makes grace out of our grit, salvation out of our sin. We are saved, ironically, not by doing it right as much as by the suffering of having done it wrong. We come to God not through our perfection (thank God!) as much as through our imperfection. Finally, all must be forgiven and reconciled..."
. . .
"The Bible seems to always be saying that this journey is indeed a journey, a journey always initiated and concluded by God, and a journey of transformation much more than mere education about anything.
We would sooner have textbooks, I think. Then the journey could remain a spectator sport, as much religion seems to be.
The education model elicits a low level of commitment and investment, even if it keeps people obedient and orthodox. The transformation model risks people knowing and sharing The One Spirit that was given us all to drink (1 Cor. 12:13). So sad that we have preferred group loyalty over real change!"
Richard Rohr, Hope Against Darkness
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
10:50 AM
St Francis of Jesi on the general of the Order:
"The general was very much against fine buildings, and said it was always dangerous to begin building them, as the otder wouild be sure to forsake poverty before they finished. He had given orders once for a msall piece of work at the friary in Venice, when a scrupulous layman remarked to him, "It seems to me, Father, that you have gone a little too far with your building." "Do not wonder at this," responded the general, for no sooner does a man set himself to build, than the devil enters into him and takes his wits clean away, so that he betrays poverty." In "A Poor Man's Legacy," An Anthology of Franciscan Poverty. St. Bonaventure, NY: 1988. P. 313
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
11:50 AM
From the POMO Mail list:
"God's purpose is to build missional community that reflect His character
to all the peoples of the world, so that all of creation can be redeemed."
Or, Brian Mclaren:
make more disciples
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
11:50 AM
Over the years we hear a great number of musicians. Some are particularly talented in arranging music. Some are great poets. Others have a wonderful devotional spirit. Still others bring their love of God and a heart for justice. Then there are a few that combine most of these elements with a solid rooting in the journey of discipleship.
Let me recommend Steve Bell to you. My family has been touched by his music many times over the years. To listen to some samples from his albums and those of his friends click HERE.
Reading in Dallas Willard this morning, "The Divine Conspiracy." Toward the end of the book Willard advocates "A Curriculum for Christlikeness." What strikes me most about the entire direction of this section (pages 311-373) is the push for transformation.. the push beyond belief to practice, and also Willard's acute awareness that it is all about real life and relationships.
We only grow in relationship, and only in life.
Willard also points out that the point is not to grow in understanding alone. Most of us possess all the knowledge and information we need, but we fail to practice it. The knowledge is essential, but only the first step.
"In our culture one is considered educated if one "knows the right answers.." Our task in training disciples is to transform right answers into automatic responses to real-life situations."
"The primary objectives of any course of training are twofold. The first objective is to bring apprentices to the point where they dearly love and constantly delight in that "heavey Father" made real to earth in Jesus and are quite certain that there is no "catch," no limit, to the goodness of his intentions or to his power to carry them out.
"The second primary objective of a curriculum for Christlikeness is to remove our automatic responses against the kingdom of God, to free the apprentice of domination, of "enslavement" (John 8:34, Rom. 6:6), to their old habitual patterns of thought, feeling and action."
On page 347 Willard presents the threefold dynamic of spiritual growth. By now it's clear that he is not talking about spiritual growth as if it were possible to be spiritual apart from real world relationships and real situations. Spirituality is an earthly and human reality, just as Jesus Himself took flesh and walked in love among real fallen human beings.
"We must accept the circumstances we constantly find ourselves in as the place of God's kingdom and blessing. God has yet to bless anyone except where they actually are, and if we faithlessly discard situation after situation, moment after moment, as not being "right," we will simply have no place to receive his kingdom into our life, for those situations and moments ARE our life.
"Thus James, the brother of Jesus, opens his letter to believers with words that truly announce the gospel of the kingdom:
"Regard it as a most joyous occasion when various trials hit you. For you know that when your confidence in God is put to practical tests it results in the ability to stay with things -- patience. And when your capacity to stay with things is fully developed you will be complete and whole, lacking in nothing."
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
10:50 AM
"Lord, please help me always to seek for the truth, and spare me the company of those who have found it." Thomas Moore.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
2:22 PM
Seen on the large sign in front of a local Mennonite church:
"Don't wait for six strong men to bring you back to church."
And more recently..
"Having a tough week? We're open Sundays."
Aaaagggghhh! (Existential cry). These things drive me nuts. (Len battles the temptation to say unkind words...)
On that note, here is Carolyn Caines take on the quote from Richard Halverson of August 21st..
CHRISTIANITY'S EVOLUTION
In Palestine
In Greece
In Rome
In Europe
In America,
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
9:50 AM
"I must deconstruct so that he can construct." Unbiblical paraphrase of John the Baptist overheard at a pomo discussion group on Friday evening.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
11:20 AM
Walter Brueggemann, in "Cadences of Home", refers to Paul Ricoeur, "a French philosopher with intense theological concerns of a Reformed kind, occupying a pivotal place in emergent interpretive possibilities". Of Ricoeur, Brueggemann wrote......
"It is he who has shown us that the long-standing, positivistic dismissal of imagination as a fantasy that leads away from reality is a great misfortune for the dominant tradition of epistemology. Imagination, in Ricoeur's practice, is the capacity to work through images, metaphors, and narratives as a way of evoking, generating, and constructing an alternative world that lies beyond and in tension with the taken-for-granted, commonsense world of day-to-day experience.
"In other words, imagination is the active enterprise of moving beyond one's defining commitments to entertain alternative definitions of self, world, other, and God. This is indeed the dangerous work of all serious artistic effort, that is, to lead the participant beyond what is self-evident to what becomes evident, available, and "real" only in artistic articulation. Ricoeur shows that concrete change - attitude, action, behaviour, policy--of any serious, lasting kind arises only through an alternatively imagined world, a world given in artistic articulation that makes old attitudes, actions, behaviours, and policies inappropriate and that in effect summons, authorizes, and legitimates new behaviour and policy. Such change is invitational and not at all coercive, for Ricoeur understands that coerced change is no real change at all."
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
11:10 AM
The summer is coming to an end.. finally!
Heresy you say! LOL
I really enjoy summer, but toward the beginning of August I start to itch for harvest season. The fruit is looking good by then and I'm already tasting the apples, peaches and grapes.
By mid August I have usually spent about ten hours with my peach tree.. though I neglected the grapes this year and they are infested with white flies. The cherry crop in July was the usual bounty... even with allowing all kinds of friends to pick we never cleaned both trees.
Natural fruit... and free. Without money and without cost. Without effort except a small amount of pruning.
The First Kelowna POMO Deconstruction Group.. soon there will be PDGs all over the world..
Yes, we had our first meeting last night. Started at 8 and went to midnight.
My unclear intention with regard to "members" resulted in someone raising the question.. "I'm a wife.. can I come.. or is this for men only?"
So I told her she could come. That way I knew she would still be talking to me.
That opened the floodgates and the group swelled to twice the anticipated numbers. Honestly though, having the women probably kept us out of la-la land.
So there we were last night... a rag-tag assemblage of disenfranchised believers, seekers, mystics, and pastors. We actually had three ordained pastors among us.. one currently serving in an independent charismatic assembly, one serving outside the walls in a prophetic network, and another who spends most of his time sitting at coffee tables pondering what is happening in the world.
The rest of us were.. journalists, musicians, cooks and chief bottle washers, an RN..
The age spread was from 45 to 62. Probably a bit older than the norm for these things.
Where it was possible that the discussion could have been a bit dull, we all found energy and challenge thanks to Greg. We had a hard time with some of the words like "institution" and "performance" and had to spend some time deconstructing our language.
I had intended to record some of the conversation with my digital unit, but in the rush to get home and get going (we left the beach at 7:30) I forgot. I'm not sure I would have easily found good sound bytes anyway.
Somehow the Knight Errant was a good metaphor.. the journey downward a challenge to modern culture. Don Quixote himself didn't quite get it and was another "Holy Fool."
So, what did we talk about? We talked about change, culture, the church, and touched on leadership. We talked about the journey, language, truth and faith.
What did I personally take from all this?
I think my convictions on "the answers" for this generation have been reinforced. At one point in the evening I had a very strong image come to mind.
The image I saw was of St. Francis carrying a stone and carefully placing it on the wall of the chapel he was building. It was gently snowing, and he was barefoot. What a fool.
"Oh come let us be built as living stones into a spiritual priesthood."
Francis was the one who wrote, "Preach the gospel at all times.. if necessary use words." That, I think, sums up the message I personally took away from last night. Until the world SEES the difference, and not only in individual lives but in transformed communities.. and I use community in the fulness of its NT sense.. the Gospel will be just one more set of impersonal facts out there in the marketplace.
As Jim Wallis put it.. "Community is the place where the healing of our own lives becomes the foundation for the healing of the nations." We've tried to market the Gospel with our strength... now it's time to try Jesus way.. bringing the Gospel in our weakness.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
9:00 AM
We were walking along a winding creek, a curving path bounded by a stone wall on the one side, and the creek on the other. Bullrushes swayed in the breeze, and dragonflies pursued their prey in and out of the rushes and over the creekbed.
"I want to become more mindful of Christ. It seems I get distracted by too many things."
"Is this one more thing you have to do? Or does God move toward us?"
"I think it's both. I'm aware that discipline alone can't get me there. But I'm also aware that unless I make the conscious effort, I tend to drift on the urgency of the thing before me. I become a victim of the busyness of life and all its demands."
"I think I understand. I remember a time in my life when I fasted and prayed for ten days. After that time I went for months more aware of the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. It was like I walked with Him. I heard His voice often, and more clearly than at any other time in my life. But I lost that somehow.. the distractions I suppose."
"Right. I can identify short times in my life that were like that. But I want to "walk in the Spirit" more often. This seems like a time of invitation. But I find it difficult. Fasting might be a good way to launch out. I love food.. and generally I hate fasting.. but there have been times when I had grace for it."
"I wonder what it would be like to go through days or weeks always gently aware of the Presence of God?"
"I've wondered that also. I think I live with too much poverty."
That is more or less how the conversation went. I'll let you know what I discover.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
12:00 AM
"The Celtic saints of earlier centuries made much of the idea of peregrinatio, a difficult-to-translate word that suggests an open-ended journey. It was not uncommon for medieval Irish monks to set out with no destination; they left with only the simple impulse to go and seek, guided by the Holy Spirit. Unlike the pilgrimages to shrines common to medieval lore, writes Esther de Waal, "there [was] no specific end or goal such as that of reaching a...holy place that allows the pilgrim at the end of the journey to return home with a sense of mission accomplished." Rather the idea was to learn to live as travelers, pilgrims, "guests of the world," as sixth-century Irishman Saint Columbanus put it. There was to be a creative openness, even if that meant living in a kind of exile so as not to hold too tightly to one's ambitions and spiritual itinerary. The idea was to leave behind the known and safe to find a truer basis for security. This was a largely inner journey."
Timothy Jones: A Place for God, Page 46-47 (from Jordon Cooper via Karen Neudorf)
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
11:52 AM
Found on JordonCooper.com
"Christianity started out in Palestine as a fellowship. Then it moved to Greece and became a philosophy, then it went to Rome and became an institution, and then it went to Europe and became a government. Finally it came to America where we made it an enterprise."
Found in the book of Matthew..
"Then he said to his servants, "The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy."
"Therefore, go into the highways, and as many as you find invite to the wedding."
I finally figured it out.. (that's one of my goals in life!)...
I don't believe we will "get it right" until we go to the poor. You see, I think it's Jesus heart that we go after the lost and the least, and more, until we do so we will never reverse the me-centered and consumer oriented Christian culture we have built. We need to learn to serve once again.
The Church was meant to be broken bread and poured out wine for the world. She was birthed in the blood of suffering service, and She won't reclaim her power and authority until she bends down low.
The first cut on the VIneyard Music album "Change Me on the Inside" is by David Ruis, titled "Multiply Your Love." It's an awesome cut... here are some of the words..
"Multiply your love through us
Let us see your kingdom come
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
9:00 AM
This Friday evening marks the first meeting of a new discussion group in Kelowna around the themes of culture, kingdom, and change. Obviously the greatest cultural influence we are impacted by is postmodernity.
I've invited a few friends over. If you are reading this and are in Kelowna or nearby and would like to join us, phone me at (250) 765-3596.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
10:00 AM
"In november of last year George Barna came home disheartened. Pastors frequently cite his statistical findings in sermons, and his many books about church ministry sell consistently. For the past six years he has been keeping a fierce pace, spending more than half his time away from home (he always travels with his wife and two small children).
"Increasingly the question was emerging: I can keep doing all this, and probably make a living for a long time, but so what? Ultimately I stand before a holy and righteous God who placed me here to serve him with the gifts and vision that he entrusted to me... I didn't want to admit that what I thought might work had failed.' " An expert pollster and market researcher, Barna prides himself on realism. Sometimes he angers people with his apparent pessimism, but the truth must be faced, he believes. God had called Barna "to serve as a catalyst for moral and spiritual revolution in America." He had hoped to push church leaders to revitalize the church, to make it as beautiful and powerful as God meant it to be. His ten-year campaign had failed.
"The strategy was flawed because it had an assumption. The assumption was that the people in leadership are actually leaders. [I thought] all I need to do is give them the right information and they can draw the right conclusions….Most people who are in positions of leadership in local churches aren't leaders. They're great people, but they're not really leaders." (By leadership he means the ability to motivate and lead institutional change.)
"With that chilling assessment Barna changed his course. He's not about to quit—he believes with all his heart in God's calling to "moral and spiritual revolution." He has concluded it won't happen in this decade, though. He's now beginning to chart a course that looks 20 to 30 years ahead for results."
Read the article here:
The Third Coming of Barna
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
9:00 AM
The great paradox of leadership became clear to me over a cup of coffee with a friend last week.
In order to lead in the modern world you must know where you are going and be able to clearly cast the vision. It's important for modern leaders to do this in order to provide safety for their followers. We really used to admire those who had all the answers, and who could "sell" us on their position.
The problem is that those who think they have all the answers are rarely open to learning anything new. As a result, while some of those leaders made good headway for a while, they were not open to adapting to a changing context and sooner or later one of two things happened.
1. they got stuck and the ship sank
It's hard to believe that the second position could be true, but most of us are familiar with the dynamics of denial. They happen on an institutional level no less than in personal journeys. Some leaders have managed to keep the ship moving, if under water, for many years with their well developed marketing skills and personal charisma.
The paradox of postmodern leadership is this: postmodern leaders confess that they don't have all the answers, but they invite others to journey with them to in the process of discovery.
The paradox is that it is those who empty themselves of their own agendas who are most open to finding the kingdom of God blossoming in their midst. Moreover, those who are empty create space for others.
When we lose our self-centeredness, we can become Jesus centered. When we are empty of self, we can become full of the Spirit.
Postmodern leaders are secure enough to ask the questions, and let go of the answers. This means he or she can begin a journey of discovery that is truly open to the culture around them.
Postmodern leaders know the direction, not always the destination. They know enough to recognize signposts along the way.
Postmodern leaders tell the bigger story, and know how their own life and the life of the community connects to it.
Postmodern leaders give meaning to the journey by connecting their story and the story of the community to the story of Jesus.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
8:25 AM
"Paul’s gatherings focused on integrating allegiance to Jesus Christ with everyday concerns. The people met to equip one another for the decisions and options that they would face outside the gathering. The gathering did not convene for religious worship. They did not gather for a rite. Nor do the sources suggest a meeting structured around the reading and exposition of Scripture following the model of the synagogue. They met to fellowship around their common relationship to one another on account of Christ. Most evangelicals agree that a rite is not central to church. Most argue that preaching is central. But rite and preaching share common ground. Both are clergy-centred. Perhaps the reason so many theologians and clergy resist any shift away from the centrality of the sermon lies not only in the fear of subjectivism or heresy, but perhaps as much or more in the fear of losing control and prestige.
"Professionalism, even elitism, marks the sermon and the service and distinguishes clergy from congregation. Paul faced something similar at Corinth. The strong had transferred to themselves certain social and religious marks of rank and status—education, eloquence, a leader’s style, even clothing. They had also come to regard the fruits of Christ’s work—the Spirit and the evidences of his presence—as further marks of status, even ‘spiritual’ status. Paul would not tolerate this creation of new rank within the assembly. He urged the Corinthians to see what they had as gifts of grace. They must honour the least honourable. This was not conventional. This was not moral. This was not theology. This was not about words. This was the meaning of grace."
and more..
"Paul urged leaders to imitate his personal example of how the message of Jesus inverted status. He was at pains to dissociate himself from the sophists, those travelling orator-teacher-lawyers of his day (1 Cor 2:1-5). Though undoubtedly educated and skilled, he did not imitate the sophists’ eloquence and persona. In so doing, Paul set himself on a collision course with the contemporary conventions of personal honour—and with his potential patrons. He refused to show favouritism towards individuals or ekklesiai. The gospel offered him rights, but he refused them. Christ was not a means to a career. Yet the agendas and processes of maintaining and reforming evangelical life and thought remain the domain of professional scholars and clergy. Their ministry is their career.
"Dying and rising with Christ meant status reversal. In Paul’s case, he deliberately stepped down in the world. We must not romanticize this choice. He felt the shame of it amongst his peers and potential patrons, yet held it as the mark of his sincerity. Moreover, it played a critical role in the interplay of his life and thought. Tentmaking was critical, even central, to his life and message. His labour and ministry were mutually explanatory. Yet, for most of us, ‘tent-making’ belongs in the realms of missionary journals and far-flung shores. As a model for ministry in the USA, Britain or Australia, it remains as unseemly to most of us as it did to the Corinthians. At best it is second best.
"Evangelicalism will not shake its abstraction, idealism and elitism until theologians and clergy are prepared to step down in their worlds. Some might argue that since the world often shows contempt for the pastoral role, then professional ministry is a step back. But that is to ignore the more pertinent set of social realities. Evangelicalism has its own ranks, careers, financial security, marks of prestige, and rewards. Within that world, professional ministry is rank and status.
"Ministry as profession feeds the pride that separates the seminary and the pulpit from the congregation. It makes Paul abstract. Theological enterprise becomes self-serving. It entombs its service to the body in inaccessible journals, jargon, and symposia. It impoverishes the congregation both by withholding its own contributions from them, and by reinforcing the unspoken verdict that ‘lay’ theology can only ever be second rate. Indeed, the term ‘lay’ itself patronizes and disaffects. Paul’s letters sprung from a profound love and desire for God and his Christ, and for their ekklesiai...."
and more..
"Recent emphases on community are welcome and helpful. But they may simply lead to more talk about change, rather than to actual change. We must grapple with how our cultures and conventions systemically and pervasively, even deliberately, gag the most important conversations. The sermon and the service have hijacked conversation. There are conventions for talking and listening, but next to none for true dialogue. Preaching does not allow it. Worship services do not allow it. Theological debate does not allow it. Each has its semblance of conversation. But the rules of each game militate against an open-ended meeting of hearts and minds free from the controlling agendas of keeping the systems in place."
From
"Reframing Paul."
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
9:25 AM
The Tribal Church mailing list this morning carried this..
"Research demonstrates the increasing importance of - and confusion regarding - leadership. Drawing on such research, Barna Research has just released a new book (A Fish Out of Water) and a related self-administered leadership evaluation tool (Christian Leader Profile). Why does the world need another book on leadership and a diagnostic tool focused on this topic?
"Confusion reigns! More than nine out of ten Protestant Senior Pastors claimed to be leaders - until we posed a specific definition of a leader (at which time the percentage dropped below two-thirds) or asked if they felt God had entrusted one of the leadership-related gifts to them (at which time the ratio dipped below one in four).
"Protestant Senior Pastors are most likely to assert that they are leaders because they feel they do a good job in the areas of teaching and providing encouragement to people; in fact, they rated themselves comparatively poorly regarding leadership functions.
"Less than 2% of Protestant Senior Pastors believe they do a below-average job of leading their congregation, which suggests that many pastors do not have an accurate view of their leadership performance. The full story is at http://www.barna.org."
Leadership... we have more books on this subject, and on organizational theory, than there are coals in Newcastle. And the effect has been incredible...but maybe not what we thought it would be. Within the church, in particular, the "bottom line" has tended to rule, and we have created some terrific organizations that have increasingly little impact on our culture.
Even where the "conversion" rate has been reasonable, one has to ask to what persons have been converted? How many disciples have we created? Far too often the direction of our life as believers has remained the same as when we were in the world. We measure our effectiveness by cultural definitions of success, rather than by the Cross. As Bonhoeffer said, "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come die."
Back to leadership...
What is it? Who has it? How do we know? What model do we follow? How do we equip leaders? Is "leader" still a useful word?
In Matthew 23:10 Jesus says, "do not be called leaders, for one who is your leader, that is, Christ. But the greatest among you shall be your servant."
The radical nature of Jesus teaching is barely discernible at this distance in culture and time. We hear these words, but we no longer see the truth of them.
Recently I was reading on quantum physics in Gary Zukav's book, "The Dancing Wu-Li Masters." In the introduction Gary tells a story of seeking to understand the concept of "Master." When he finally gets a clear answer, it is this..
"He begins from the center and not from the fringe. He imparts an understanding of the basic principles of the art before going on to the meticulous details, and he refuses to break down the t'ai chi movements into a one-two-three drill so as to make the student into a robot. The traditional way.. is to teach by rote, to give the impression that long periods of boredom are the most essential part of training. In that way a student may go on for years and years without ever getting the feel of what he is doing."
Do we want our "students" to get the feel? What will it mean for those of us who are further along the road? It certainly means more than giving away knowledge.. It certainly means more than a twenty minute lecture on Sunday mornings.
How do we rediscover this thing we call "church?" What does it mean to seek the kingdom?
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
11:25 AM
John O'Keefe at Ginkworld has posted his version of Why People are Leaving Church.
"Over the past 15 years we have spent over $500 billion (that’s “billion” with a “b”), and for the most part the church in the USAmerica has not grown at all; it has not even kept up with the population growth. In fact, according to the many people the average attendance in church has declined over a ten-year period; but the question still remains, why? Why are people leaving churches today?"
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
10:25 AM
In the deep woods surrounding the monastery there was a little hut that a rabbi from a nearby town occasionally used for a hermitage. Through their many years of prayer and contemplation the old monks had become a bit psychic, so they could always sense when the rabbi was in his hermitage. "The rabbi is in the woods, the rabbi is in the woods again," they would whisper to each other. As he agonized over the imminent death of his order, it occurred to the abbot at one such time to visit the hermitage and ask the rabbi if by some p05sible chance he could offer any advice that might save the monastery.
Read More
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
3:25 PM
In his recent book, "Abandonment Theology," author John W. Chalfant describes the precipitous decline of Judeo-Christian influence in law, culture and public policy in America. Is this decline in influence all bad? Probably not. The fact that Christianity is now only one option in a pluralistic society may be good for our faith in the long run.. the legacy of Constantine and civil religion has not been good for the church.
Of more interest to me personally is his concept of an "Abandonment Clergy." Chalfont explains..
"Abandonment Theology is a term devised by the author to describe a faith which deceptively pawns itself off as Christianity by operating in the name of Christ, but which produces fruits destructive to America's God-given freedoms. It comprises what is left today of the militant, power-filled, full-dimensional Christian faith of America's Founders after decades of erosion, watering down and trivializing of God's action mandates by America's Abandonment Clergy. It is a "feel good" theology that patronizes Jesus Christ and thereby gains legitimacy, while at the same time produces disobedience to the commands of God and desertion of Christian duty."
While I don't buy a lot of his assumptions or his political ideology, some of his concepts are interesting. The author goes on to talk about what Dallas Willard has described as "the gospel of sin management."
Read the full article HERE.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
9:25 AM
The eight day odyssey began in Kelowna, moved through three nights at Kananaskis in Alberta (check out this link also), and then ended in smoke and mirrors in the West Edmonton Mall. People really pay for this stuff? Ok, sure, the Santa Maria replica was cool, but the dolphin show has been cancelled for the summer.
There is lots to talk about, from an incredible wedding in the alpine fields near the Kananaskis Lodge, to good time visiting with good friends in Edmonton. The camping time at Sundance Lodges was interesting, but using kerosene for heat has its drawbacks.
On the way there and back I caught up on some listening time with Bruce Cockburn and
Stan Rogers. Stan was killed in an air accident around 1983, or he may have become the best known Canadian folk singer ever. He is the author of one of my favorite love songs, "45 years..." Here is how that song opens..
Where the earth shows its bones of wind-broken stone,
To listen to an audio clip click HERE
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
12:10 AM
I'm off with my family to Banff, Alberta until August 11th. Time to visit the mountains and some friends.
I happen to be a dyed in the wool John Denver fan. I can still play over a dozen of his tunes on my guitar. "You can talk to God, and listen for the casual reply...."
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
11:10 AM
Inside the Circle
"This is the whole or main emphasis in this model. Some studies suggest that as much as eighty percent of the time, money and energy of many churches go to make weekend services happen, At worst, in the words of George Hunsberger (Missional Church), this turns the church into a "vendor of religious goods and services." This, of course, plays right into the hands of individualistic, consumer-oriented people who are all too happy to stand in their comfortable role/life's story of "consumer."
"The honest marketing-driven churches will tell you that it is nearly impossible to move a person from consumer to "seeker" (By seeker I mean someone who sees the Gospel of the Kingdom as the pearl or treasure and is responding like the merchant and real estate agent in Jesus' parables.). It is definitely not easy or normal. It usually happens only through something that seems akin to a "re-conversion" experience." (Todd Hunter. For more visit Postmodern Mission)
No, no, no!! Let's get it right this time. We have an opportunity to rebuild. Let's allow the old structures to die so that something new can be born. Let's get outside the walls. Let's think small, not big. And this time around, let's remember the poor.
"From the earliest days of the church, after Gordon Cosby returned from World War II, a core assumption has been that the greatest impact on the world comes about by small, highly committed and disciplined communities of people focused on outward mission, inward transformation, and loving, accountable community. Church history, Church of the Savior members point out, shows this to almost always have been true. Gordon is convinced that size actually inhibits effectiveness, that it works against a community of people being truly counter-cultural, to having depth, to breaking addictions to the culture, to truly witnessing to the gospel. “Large numbers,” he says, “tend almost inevitably toward depersonalization and institutionalism, toward a lessening of commitment. So we resist the temptation to power that comes through numbers.” Read More
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The meeting opened around 8:15 with one member sharing his perspective on Don Quixote. Try these links for some of the flavor... 
I saw a picture which was a scene in 
One of my concerns as I look around and see change in the church is that we don't merely tweak the system. With attendance and giving falling off, many leaders are looking for ways to increase their appeal. The watchword is more, faster, better.. more video, more multimedia, more action, more drama, more programs... let's keep people interested.. well, ok, entertained. Let's do McChurch.
