|
|
|
|
|
September Blog Index
Birth of the Chaordic Age is published by the Leadership Network. From the intro: Chaordic. “1. The behavior of any self-governing organism, organization or system which harmoniously blends characteristics of order and chaos.”
Hock makes a compelling case that all organizations are fundamentally based on flawed seventeenth century concepts that are no longer relevant to the vast systemic social and environmental problems we experience daily. He delineates a path to organizations that are based on chaordic principles—organizations he believes can harmoniously blend chaos and order, competition and cooperation.
Part Two: Leading Innovation and Transformation
Part Three: Leadership in the New Information Economy
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
6:25 AM
A Quiz: Who's the full-time minister?"
Of Dogs and Sheep, Reprinted with permission from The Chicken Scratch, one of the excellent journals published in the Kingdom of Catropolis. The editor's notes included are those of the editor of the said journal, Mr. Cocksure.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
6:00 AM
"Dear Pastor Jesus Ben Joseph;
"It is with deep regret, and prayerful soul searching, and discussion with other church leaders, that the Elders of the First Modern Community Church ask for your resignation. Our determination is based on your path of ministry and our path of ministry, and we have determined that just do not meet. While this should not reflect upon you personally, your style of ministry and your teachings may fit well into another church setting. We have determined the following were issues for many of the church that could not be overlooked."
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
5:55 AM
When I drove down to Highway 33 yesterday I was delighted to see the change in color of the leaves on the trees that line the street. They have gone from their late summer green to an iridescent yellow.
I love fall.. it always amazes me how death contains such glory. And the promise of resurrection is always only a few months away.
Unfortunately, we were hit with a heavy rain storm today, so the week I might have spent admiring the leaves is going to be shortened. Already half of them are on the roads, sidewalks and yards. Ah well... there are other trees that have only begun to turn.
Another relaxing Sunday at home. To me the past year has been a rebirth of the sabbath. A real sabbath.. time with family, time with a book, time catching up with a friend or two.
Yesterday we celebrated the birthday of a First Nations friend. He and his wife brought along their fresh-from-the-oven baby.. Nevada is one of the cutest newborns I've seen for a while.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
3:10 PM
"In the spiritual life, the word discipline means "the effort to create some space in which God can act." Discipline means to prevent everything in your life from being filled up. Discipline means that somewhere you're not occupied, and certainly not preoccupied. In the spiritual life; discipline means to create that space in which something can happen that you hadn't planned or counted on." From Solitude to Community to Ministry by Henri Nouwen.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
2:50 PM
Your homework assignment:
From David Hopkins.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
12:30 AM
"In running a church I solve problems. Wherever two or three are gathered together, problems develop... It is satisfying to my ego to help make rough places smooth.
"The difficulty is that problems arrive in such constant flow that problem solving becomes full-time work. Because it is useful and the pastor ordinarily does it well, we fail to see that the pastoral vocation has been surverted. Gabriel Marcel wrote that life is not so much a problem to be solved as a mystery to be explored. That is certainly the biblical stance: life is not something we manage to hammer together and keep in repair by our wits; it is an unfathomable gift. We are immersed in mysteries: incredible love, confounding evil, the creation, the cross, grace, God.
"The secularized mind is terrorized by mysteries. Thus it makes lists, labels people, assigns roles, and solves problems. But a solved life is a reduced life. These tightly buttoned-up people never take great faith risks or make convincing love talk. They deny or ignore the mysteries and diminish human existence to what can be managed, controlled, and fixed. We live in a cult of experts who explain and solve. The vast technological apparatus around us gives the impression that there is a tool for everything if we can only afford it. Pastors cast in the role of spiritual technologists are hard put to keep that role from absorbing everything else, since there are so many things that need to be and can, in fact, be fixed.
"But 'there are things,' wrote Marianne Moore, 'that are important beyond all this fiddle.' The old time guide of souls asserts the priority of the "beyond" over "this fiddle." Who is available for this kind of work other than pastors? A few poets, maybe; and children, always. But children are not good guides, and most of the poets have lost interest in God. That leaves pastors as guides through the mysteries." Eugene Peterson, "The Contemplative Pastor"
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
10:30 AM
John Caputo: On Religion
"If you do not love God, what good are you? You are too caught up in
the meanness of self-love and self-gratification to be worth a
tinker's damn. Your soul soars only with the spike in the Dow-Jones
Industrial average; your heart leaps only at the prospect of a new
tax break. The devil take you. He already has. Religion is for
lovers, for men and women of passsion, for real people with a passion
for something other than taking profits, people who believe
something, who love something, who hope like mad in something, who
love something with a love that surpasses understanding."
RD Laing, "The Politics of Experience"
We think much less than what we know.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
2:30 PM
Thanks for the many of you who have written in the last few weeks. I've had a strong sense of community and a clearer sense of what the Lord is doing around me.
I've also felt burdened for many of you, and I've wondered how best to include you in this greater community. The most obvious was is to have you share with one another, but many of you are reluctant to do so. If I was to host a page where you could simply list you name and address and a few general comments, would you use it?
Meanwhile, we can pray for each other. I'll start this prayer by interceding for some of the couples we are involved with locally. Here we go..
Lord, for Martha and Louis.. open a door for a good home for them, with a reliable and compassionate landlord. Smooth their relationship with their social worker. Continue to give them a hunger to know you more. Help them both to trust that we really are on their side.
Lord, for Adrianne and Kevin.. help them to understand if you are calling them together. Help Martha to see beyond us to the One who loves her well and truly. Help her to separate her past experience of father and mother from the reality of your compassion, understanding and patience. For Kevin, open the door for a job in the construction industry.
Lord, for Catherine and Marcel. Make their transition an opportunity to discover your love and compassion. Make their insecurity an opportunity for your Spirit to hover over their lives and bring order. Open a door for Marcel for a good job.
Lord, for Christine and her daughter and granddaughter. Thank you for her hunger for the truth. Shine your light into her spirit. Bless her daughter with friendship, and heal her of the hurt she carries.
Lord, for Carrie and her children, bring healing and encouragement. Give Carrie all the work she needs, and open the door to friendship. Show her whether she needs to look for a new place to live. Thank you that her car is back on the road.
Lord, for Arnold. Keep him rooted in your word. Bless him with health and strength. Heal his leg. Show him whether he is to stay in town this winter or move to the reserve. Thank you for all you are doing in him and through him.
Lord, for John. Thank you for his integrity and his eyes that see and his heart that hears. Help him to listen on all levels, and to see what it is you are doing. Thank you for his dogged faithfulness. Thank you for his example of dedication in pursuit of the truth. Thank you that he only serves one Master.
Lord, for Nick and Sheryl. Thank you for fellowship in the journey. Thank you for their compassion and hearts to serve. Thank you that the constantly model your faithfulness and goodness.
Lord, for Stan and Jan. Meet their needs day by day. Deepen their love for one another. Help them to see their lives as part of the big Story, and teach them that you come to us in disguise.
Lord, for Les and Marylee. Thank you for an example of integrity and compassion. Thanks for their fellowship in the journey. Give them strength and wisdom as they serve you.
Lord, for Mark and Nikki. Thanks for their hearts of compassion. Bless them as they make connections in the community. Bless Mark in his new job. Bless their process as they transition to new things, and help them not to be discouraged.
Lord, for Todd and Maryanne. Give them wisdom as they transition to a new community. Make their path smooth. Release vision and understanding. Begin to open doors of connection and for work. Thank you for their example of obedience and faithfulness.
Lord, for Jon and Judith. Show them the way when its dark. Continue to connect them with other believers. Thank you for their move, and bless their transition. Give them all that they need.
Lord, for Rob and Wendy. Show them how proud you are of them. Give them faith and wisdom as they seek to shape something they have not seen. Help them to be faithful in the small and simple things. Encourage them and bless them. Release every resource that they need.
Lord, for Bob. Continue to give him wisdom and ears to hear as he shapes his book. Guard him and his family as they serve you. Bless them with fruitfulness. Thank you for the vision of the true kingdom you have given them.
Lord, for Owen and Nadine. Give them wisdom and give them rest. Help them to build the community you envision. Meet their needs day by day, encourage them and given them strength.
Lord, for Lori and Fred. Give them patience. Pour out wisdom and compassion. Restore Lori to health and encourage her in your love.
Lord, for all those on the postmodern list. Thank you for their patience and fellowship on the journey. Thank you for hearts to see what you are doing, and ears to hear your voice. Thank you for faithfulness and a hunger for truth. Thank you that they are not satisfied with the manna of yesterday. Thank you for the courage to be salt and light, and the willingess to bear the marks of the Cross. Strengthen them with your word. Guard them from the evil one.
Lord, for the institutional church. Give us your heart for the people there. Give us courage to love them, courage to confront when necessary, and the ability always to walk in your mercy and peace.
Break down the walls of fear that guard the institution. Break down the walls of pride that surround many leaders.
Cleanse that old temple of idols. Break out of their boxes into the wild ways of the Spirit. Release the fire that brings purity. Clear out the money changers.
Remove leaders who feed on the flock. Raise up leaders who are rooted firmly in truth and compassion.
Rebuild your church as a people on the move, a people who give their lives for the world, a crucified and resurrected army.
Give us wisdom as we seek to connect in vital ways with the culture, while honoring all you have revealed and all that you are.
Amen and amen.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
9:10 AM
"So the authoritative text is never what I say about the text or even what I understand the text to say but rather what God means the text to say, right? So the real authority does not reside in the text itself, in the ink on paper, which is always open to misinterpretation-sometimes, history tells us, horrific and dangerous misinterpretation. Instead, the real authority lies in God, who is there behind the text or beyond it or above it, right? In other words, the authority is not in what I say the text says but in what God says the text says."
A short excerpt from Brian McLaren "A New Kind of Christian."
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
8:30 AM
Barna Responds to CT Article
"Often at the center of controversy, Barna continued with yet another view that is sure to rankle some. "There are a number of high profile pastors who have been saying that the local church is the only hope for the future. As emotionally comforting as that may feel, it's just wrong. Jesus Christ is the only hope for the future; the local church is a human institution that God may or may not work through. In the near future we will inevitably see new models of the local church that don't look or behave at all like the congregational church we have historically fostered. Those new models, as far as they enable us to love God with all our heart, mind, strength and soul, are just as valid and viable as existing models. The more we can place our faith in Jesus Christ and follow the teachings of the Bible, rather than devote energy and resources to saving institutions and structures we created, the better off we'll be."
Another interesting website: VisualJournalism
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
11:55 AM
Who am I anyway?
I've noticed that traditional professions have little difficulty with identity. Ask the average high school teacher or the average engineer what they are about.. "I'm a teacher: I teach." "I'm an engineer: I build roads."
Ask the average guy or gal planting a postmodern church.. "Er, well.. I'm sort of a church planter.. but I don't really like that language.. maybe I'm a pastor.. but mostly what I do with my time is __________ (listen to people's problems, muse about changes in church and culture, wish I was Eugene Peterson... ).
Those of us seeking the kingdom and seeking to work with God in growing it wherever we are in the culture can no longer list the traditional task set of pastors and teachers. We don't...
Come to think of it, I don't miss that stuff. It looks mostly like a useless agenda, wasting energy keeping the machine running. I am interested in building a community, not cultivating an audience.
But maybe that's why we have an identity crisis?
I woke this morning thinking about the kingdom stuff my wife and I have been doing in the past two weeks. Then I tried to connect that to the phrase, "church planting." It was tough to do. Our role is more similar to missionaries. We use most of our spare time (and entire days off) meeting with new Christians and pre Christians trying to help them: live healthy lives, hold their marriages together, get off drugs, deal with unreasonable landlords, make sense of a heartless social system. We read a few books .. and connect with friends who are similarly caught in cultural transition. We comfort the afflicted.. and sometimes, we afflict the comfortable. In the midst of all that we try to relate to the traditional church, apologize for it (sometimes), and generally chafe and sweat and try to stay in touch with our own children and families. This tent-making stuff is stressful!
I wonder if Paul thought of himself as... "a full-time minister" or as a "tent-maker?" By our "christian" culture's definition, he was not the former. He was probably closer, most of the time, to the latter.. in modern terms, Paul was in the textile business, with an apostolic vocation. If he lived in Kelowna he might own the local "Great Outdoors" store. I wish he did, I wouldn't mind sitting at Starbucks with him every week or two ;)
Ok, so sometimes it seems chaotic. Ever read the New Testament, looking between the lines? I don't think it was as orderly or predictable as the average sermon has made it sound. Heck.. I don't think it was even SAFE.
In spite of the ambiguity, the closest label I can come up with as to what Betty and I are about is "church planting." Sometimes we are evangelists, sometimes teachers, sometimes pastors, sometimes prophets. While we don't have any denominational label attached to us, nor denominational support, we are far from alone. We are connected to others, locally and extra-locally, who are working in the same obscure ways. Is this the stuff of Revolution? It might be. Someone once wrote that "love conquers all."
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
7:25 AM
Philip Jenkins, the author of "The Next Christianity" in the October Atlantic, argues that most Americans and Europeans are blind to Christianity's real future: Christianity's New Center
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
8:20 AM
Did you ever read Brian McLaren's They Say It's Just a Phase? No? Never too late..
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
8:30 AM
Descartes wrote,
I'd like to start again. How about,
* * *
Lately a friend and I have been talking about boundaries and labels. Neither of us is fond of labels, which seem to pander to an "us" versus "them" mentality, and exclude more than they include. Maybe this relates to the "centered set and bounded set" paradigms.
And neither of us is in any hurry to identify with a particular group. We seem to have grown beyond the need to belong to a group as a source of identity. We are content in belonging to our families, to the Lord, and to the body. We have informal but significant connection outside the walls.
So then.. why join a movement like the Vineyard, as my family is in the process of doing.
This is a good place to bring brother Rohr into the discussion. Rohr says that if we are going to be the rebuilders of society, we need to be rebuilt ourselves. Makes sense, and it's this reality that complicates all attempts at reform.
Rohr continues that "a healthy psyche lives within at least three containers of meaning. Imagine three levels or domes: "My story," "Our story," and "The Story." The genius of biblical faith is that it honors and integrates all three."
Rohr argues that the modern and postmodern world are the first time in history where individuals can take the first level seriously. Many of our parents didn't even have language for it. It's the modern world that discovered the "I." But if we stay in that world alone, we live superficial lives. The small self is intrinsically unhappy, always insecure, and always scrambling for significance.
The next and larger level of meaning is about "Us." This is the level of our group, our community, our church, maybe our nationality or tribe. Everyone has this level of meaning. It is this second level that gives us myth, heroes, symbols, flags, ethnicity and patriotism. It is the level of shared meaning. We seek identity in the group.
This is alright if we have a way of relativizing our group. If we do not, "our" story remains a story of "us" and "them." If we stay at this level we are comfortable, but often rigid and lacking compassion. We embrace the commitment fostering mechanisms of the group: the songs, symbols, special rituals and events, and in particular the sacrifices we agree to (the tithe?). It works very well, it feels very godly, and most of organized religion is in this place.
The problem is, it is not a place of growth and transformation. Our identity is in the group, and not in God. It is a system of belonging, but not a place of intimacy with God. Jesus Himself was not into tribal religion and groupthink.
But maybe the great truth here is that we must form boundaries before we can move beyond them. The problem is not ultimately with the group, but with our inability to transcend it. This is why one of the greatest indicators of healthy community life is how the group handles diversity and dissent.
I am struck that Jesus did not hesitate to indentify with a paricular people and a peculiar culture. He was a first century Jew.
Yet he did not give His allegiance completely to that system. In fact, he kept breaking out of it, and that caused those within it a lot of grief.
Rohr himself comments on the priesthood:
We institutional priests far too often connect people with Church more than with a daily spiritual life. It is the common substitution of the vehicle for the journey itself, the menu for the meal. As my friend Paul D'Arcy says, "God comes disguised as your life."
Another friend of mine is fond of saying, "The church is the dating service; sometimes she thinks she is the date."
"Many people are either unwilling or unable to suffer the pain of giving up the outgrown which needs to be forsaken. Consequently they cling, often forever, to their old patterns of thinking and behaving, thus failing to negotiate any crisis, to truly grow up and to experience the joyful sense of rebirth that accompanies the successful transition into greater maturity." M. Scott Peck
So what about covenant? Where does it fit in? Why make a covenant with any group anyway? Don't we end up in this place of confusing the vehicle for the journey? I like to come at these issues by analogy of a marriage.
When we get married we are saying that in some sense we exclude all other women to build a family with this one woman.
Does our exclusion of others mean we no longer reach out in love? Or does our commitment to one empower us to move out in new ways? Does our finding our life.. enable us to lose it? Does the ground of that one covenant become a flowering place for new kinds of commitments?
Some people fear to be alone, and so they make the covenant too early. Many of those who have a strong allegiance to "church" are in this category. They are quite happy to be lost in the group. They feel safe and secure and godly. They like being given the answers, like to hire someone to do the priestly tasks for them. They actually want to be protected from mystery, not learn how to approach it.
But when we are shaken loose from that place, usually by God's intervention in our lives, usually by some kind of chaos or suffering, we begin to open our perspective. For the first time, we may see the church and our alliances from the outside.. from above.
"The mind can only take pictures with the film with which it is loaded."
Transformation happens not when something new begins, but when something old falls apart. The pain of something familiar falling apart opens us to listen at deeper levels.
These are my thoughts on joining a particular group... thoughts and a journey still in process.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
12:15 AM
Driving down highway #33 in Kelowna has lately become a journey through cultural shift. Two of the church buildings on the road have signs out front, the large white space signs that are often used to advertise events, or maybe just to provoke thought.. or maybe just to provoke.
At the church of the Nazarene I read, "I would rather see a sermon than hear one." At the large Mennonite church I read, "We have the answers for the questions of life." Last month it was, "Having a tough week? We're open Sundays." My wife restrained me from running down the sign with the car.
Last night I was reading in Richard Rohr, in a chapter where he discusses the process of institutionalization. He ought to know, being a Franciscan priest in the Catholic church.
Rohr comments on the priesthood:
"As a priest of thirty years, I am continually struck by how many of our most fervent Catholic men (including priests) are also very soft and security-conscious, not risk takers in any sense. Mama Church and Mother Mary dressed in blue are preferred to the Sermon on the Mount or 40 days in ANY desert. This has profoundly affected the very character of the gospel that has been preached. We have not yet left home, so the gospel itself is highly domesticated."
The gospel is highly domesticated. The wild gospel has become tame, tamed by men and institutions that prefer to play it safe. We prefer a tame and predictable God, and the safety of large buildings and large groups of adoring fans.
Wouldn't it be nice if this was only a Catholic problem? It leaves me feeling a bit sick.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
10:15 AM
"Rebuild my church, for you see it is in ruins."
The Lord of history in a vision to Francesco Bernardone around 1110. Francesco is best known to us as St. Francis.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
7:30 AM
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
9:35 AM
John Janzen sent me a link to Shoot the Messenger, a webzine that seeks to "effectively engage and interpret popular culture in all its forms: music, film, literature, magazines, TV and cultural trends e.g. fashion, recreation, New Age beliefs, social, philosophical and political issues.
Shoot the Messenger aims to resource and empower those living out and intentionally communicating the Gospel in postmodern society and to provide an alternative critique of popular culture."
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
9:15 AM
I have added a contact email address to the blogs page. Thanks to John Janzen for the prompting!
Irish proverb: "reality is that place between the sea and the foam."
Occasionally I read about a church that is now connecting with the postmodern world because..
Don't be fooled by window dressing. Most of these churches are still hierarchical, still centered on the big gathering, still are not reaching their communities, and do not truly empower anyone. Most of these churches have no intention of releasing control of their people (and thereby their cash flow), and most have no idea what is really happening in the culture around them.
You can manage an audience, you cannot manage community. If you do, it dies.
You can build an audience, you can only grow a community.
You can program groups, you can't program community.
In programmed groups, leaders are important. In community everyone is
important.
Scientists have found that they understand some things about sub-atomic
reality.. but they can't figure out where the power comes from. It is not in
the particles themselves. Some of the more imaginative say that that
the power is in the spaces.
In order to have a programmed group you need leaders, because they have to
fill in the blanks. In community the blank spaces are where the power is
hidden and "at the point of connection Christ is made known" (Markus Barth commenting on Ephesians 4: 16).
In programmed groups the defined outcome is given the most attention. In
community the process is everything.
In programmed groups the outcome depends on the leader. In community the
outcome isn't known til it happens.
In programmed groups the outcome will only be as good as the leader. In
community the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
It's really a lot like marriage in this way. Good marriages have
significant love and intimacy, and not just because they have the right
structure. It's not because there is a defined leader. There is a mystery
and a synergy and a grace in good marriages that can not be simply programmed or
designed. And you need a lot of blank space.
It requires a reasonably mature pair of individuals (ie empty of self) to
keep it growing. In the modern paradigm we would say the husband has to lead
and set the tone.
Poppy cock. Sometimes my wife leads and sets the tone.. sometimes I do. It
depends on who has the most blank space at the time.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
7:00 AM
Building an Audience vs Building a Community
Audiences are Built: Communities Grow
"[Building a community] will require different skills and attitudes than those necessary to build an audience. Many of the expectations you make about the size, composition, and behavior of audiences when you are in a broadcast mode are actually damaging to community growth. To create an environment conducive to real community, you will have to operate more like a gardener than an architect."
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
12:30 AM
I sit in my comfortable living room and look out over the city.
I sit in awe.. of the peace and security we enjoy. I sit without threat or worry. I know that no one is going to burst through the door and accuse me of some crime. I have all the time in the world. I can listen to the music I prefer, with such quality it is as if the band is in the room with me. I can sit and drink my coffee and spend some time with the Lord. If I unplug the phone the chances of interruption are remote.
Incredible. Incredible when compared to so much of the world. Yet we live at the poverty line.
And even in our own middle class, mid sized Canadian town there are those who are hungry. Last night we had a young couple over for dinner. She is on welfare and he is semi-employed. It turns out that if we hadn't had them over, they would have gone hungry. Cut backs and changes in the welfare system here make it almost impossible for a single mom to keep food in the house.
Just before they left they told us the situation of another single mom. She had done without food for a couple of days already.
What could we do? We drove them to the local grocery store and picked up some basics, then went across town to deliver some food to the other family. That's when the rest of the story unfolded.
This young mom impressed us as responsible, and committed to making it work for her and her children. She had just acquired a job at a local boat builder, but because of a later start on the job than planned, she had to tell her landlord that the rent would be late. She also clearly outlined the plan of payment, so that he would know the next cheque would not be late. She told us in tears how later that same day he brought an eviction notice.
The landlord is a well established dentist. He is also a believer and attends a large charimatic church. I've heard his wife teach from the front; she is quite accomplished as a speaker.
It's enough to make me weep.
This morning the Lord led me to Micah:
"He has shown you, O man, what is good;
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
9:00 AM
Oddly, Jesus never says in the Gospels: "Worship Me." He does, however, say "Follow me."
Richard Rohr pointed this out, and I began to ponder why it's so. Why does Jesus never say "worship Me?"
We know He is the Lord incarnate. We know He is worthy of our worship.
Then it came to me. He didn't want us to build a worship cult. He came to end the tabernacle and temple forever, and transfer worship to a personal center. He came to indwell us and to unite us in one Spirit to the Father.
So, instead of gathering a bunch of worshippers and finding a building and singing songs.. He took His followers with Him all over Israel doing the works of the Kingdom. Following Jesus is about extending His kingdom by doing His works. That is worship.. our spiritual service. It's about inner transformation extending to outward service (RO. 12:1,2)
Now.. the parallel is clear. In our modern churches it is not about doing His works.. it is about worshipping Him. It is not about real life.. it's about religious rituals.
With our present system we could not have it any other way. Only a few can "do the stuff" when it is all about congregating.
And the pastor can't say, "Come and see" or "Come, follow me." 250 or 500 people can't follow Him. And 250 people can't observe his life and learn from him. He doesn't have time to do the works of the kingdom except with those who already believe anyway. Because the system encourages dependence and the center of it all is a few leaders... who are hoping they have another year before they burn out.
With our present system it can't be about life and living day to day and example.. it can only be about gathering and worship and a religious system.
This is why Jesus example is SO powerful. With Jesus, it was about life.. day to day communion with the Father and doing the works He was doing. When it's about life, we can say, "Come and see," and together we can do the works of the kingdom.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
8:00 AM
"Normally the way God pushes us is by disillusioning us with the present mode. Until the present falls apart, we will never look for something More. We will never discover what it is that really sustains us.
"But that dreaded experience is always suffering in some form. All us of hate suffering, yet all religions talk about it as necessary. It seems to be the price of the death of the small self and the emrgence of the True Self, when we finally come to terms with our identity in God.
"In our men's spirituality work, we call that suffering in its transformed state the "sacred wound." The word innocent (innocens, meaning "not wounded") is a complimentary term."
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
9:00 AM
Repost from September 4th:
o We are witnessing the biggest overthrow in the history of Christianity. It ends 6,000 years of "civilization" as we have known it. In the twenty-first century, we'll see-at today's rate-on the order of 20,000 years of change. (Toffler and Kurzweil)
o In massive historical shifts, the very structure of knowing changes-not "what" we know, but "how" we know. Today, we are rethinking "thinking." More to the point, we are no longer "thinking"-in the usual sense of the word-but projecting a new world.
o In our economy, we have moved from a system of commodities to goods, then to services, and now to experiences. Next, we will shift from experiences to transformations.
o With the collapse of the modern world, a new language outruns our reality, outpaces our theology. It will combine faith, meditation, and prophetic metaphor with creativity, virtual reality, and quantum theory. It will immerse us in sensual, emotional, multimedia lives more real than reality itself.
o This new language will include metaphor, unspokenness, and aesthetic presence. It will shift from logic to revelation, from mind to spirit, from proposition to intuition, and from the literate to the prophetic.
o Prophetic metaphor is incarnational language in the purest form. Though not reality itself, it becomes the most profound medium of reality. The future belongs to those who create and communicate prophetic metaphor.
o Emotion "thinks" more that we think it does. Our feelings will soon be endowed with intentions and powers of decision. Empowered passions will become the basis for belief . . . not the basis for unbelief.
o Beyond postmodernism, we will realize that truth is not something we create. It is an inspired revelation we encounter. Creative artists, for example, frequently report that their work "chooses them" . . . that it permits "some, but not just any, variation" . . . that, finally, we are only the "discoverers."
Thomas Hohstadt - Dying to Live
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
10:30 AM
550 years ago Gutenberg invented movable type. "Unaware, he took the trends of machine, logic and individualism and exploded them into a new reality...
"Indeed, we can credit the Reformation more to Gutenberg's bible than to Luther's theses..."
So writes Thomas Hostadt in "Dying to Live." It's interesting because the communications revolution we see today makes the movable type revolution look insipid. The pace and impact of the change that began to take hold in the early 90's is beyond anything anyone could have anticipated.
Does this mean we truly are in the throes of a new reformation? Is the Lord of history overseeing a cultural shaking that will finally accomplish what the first reformation failed to accomplish?
"We are at the front edges of the greatest transformation of the church... it may eventually make .. the Reformation look like a ripple in the pond." Loren Mead, The Once and Future Church.
Just how powerful is creativity? Can we build a new world on ideas alone?
Twenty years ago Microsoft was a couple of guys with some ideas and guts. Today they rule an empire built on ideas and piles of sand (silicon is mostly sand).
Hohstadt says that three mighty streams converged to create the church of the 90s..the spontaneous power of holy spirit revivals, the rebellious tangents of the 60s children, and the surface sensuality of the television medium.
The movement had both wonderful and woeful traits. For one, it was too crassly commercial and developed its own personality cult. In the process it lost the real priesthood of believers and focused too much on emotion and popularity. But it doesn't matter.. since it had in its very root the seeds of its own destruction (lack of depth) and it was only a transitional place for the church anyway.
That later modern church has no conception of what is coming, and it only used digital medium for its modern ends. The church that is coming is truly revolutionary and truly new. It will have a flexible community that will cross all traditional boundaries. It will be church anyplace and anytime (though maybe not on Sunday mornings).
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
12:30 AM
Paul was not in "full time ministry." He worked with his hands as a tent maker.
Or wait a minute, maybe he was...
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
11:30 AM
The website will be a little quieter for the next few weeks since I have begun writing a booooook. You'll note the use of the extra "o's"... since this is a much longer and more involving process than writing an article. And yes, an intimidating one!
I've just begun the fourth chapter. Here is the outline to date:
The Walk
*new desire for community
The Medium
*participation over professionalism
Guides to the Mysteries
*rejection of authority in position
Implications and Response
The Church and the kingdom
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
11:20 AM
"Many people are either unwilling or unable to suffer the pain of giving up the outgrown which needs to be forsaken. Consequently they cling, often forever, to their old patterns of thinking and behaving, thus failing to negotiate any crisis, to truly grow up and to experience the joyful sense of rebirth that accompanies the successful transition into greater maturity."
M. Scott Peck
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
8:00 AM
I brought Escape from Christendom into the new web format today as a result of a letter from a UK family. Like many of us, they have begun the journey outside the walls, and are finding it confusing and anxiety ridden. Pray for such ones.
A great place to start if you are such a one is with Alan Jamieson's article Ten Myths About Church Leavers. Follow up with a hot mug of chocolate and Jamieson's A Churchless Faith. Then gather with any friends you have left and add heaps of love and prayer.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
8:15 AM
September 11th, 2002
So far the day has been quiet, thank God. No man or woman of peace wants to see a repeat of the events of last year.
At the same time, I feel that in some ways we lost perspective on those events. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 35 countries in the world are currently at war. Thousands dies daily of war, disease, and starvation. Perhaps the real miracle lies in the fact that we in North America are so sheltered from those harsh realities.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
9:45 AM
"AMD, chief rival to No. 1 Intel Corp. in the market for microprocessors, said that the tiny double-gate transistors could mean that a chip that now holds 100 million transistors could hold about a billion of the tiny transistors." Tech News
CNET: "Chips built with the new transistors could appear in systems in between about four and 10 years, depending on the schedule of the company using them." CNET News
For anyone who has worked in the world of technology as I have, this is incredible news, rivaling the organic transistor technology. Not only are we seeing the pace of advance increasing, there are signs that some of the advances are going to take us to entirely new dimensions. It's difficult to imagine where all this is going, but the world will look very different in ten years than it does today.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
9:40 AM
Little Did I Know
Little did I know,
Little did I know,
I know you're God, I know you're Lord,
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
9:30 AM
As old Hasisic rabbi, Levi Yitzhak of Berdichev in the Ukraine, used to say that he discovered the meaning of love from a drunken peasant. Entering a tavern in the Polish countryside, he saw two peasants at a table, both gloriously in their cups. Each was protesting how much he loved the other, when Ivan said to Peter: "Peter, tell me what hurts me?" Bleary-eyed, Peter looked at Ivan: "How do I know what hurts you?" Ivan's response was swift: "If you don't know what hurts me, how can you say you love me?" Brennan Manning, "Lion and Lamb" p. 126
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
10:10 AM
Overheard in conversation:
"The church was meant to be a dating service; sometimes she thinks she is the date."
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
10:00 AM
"The biblical archetype is that of the wandering people of God.. It is ekklesia, "Called out," of the world and sent back into the world.. God's pilgrim people need only two things: support for the road and a destination and the end of it. It has no fixed abode here; it is a paradox, a temporary residence." David Bosch, Transforming Mission, 1993
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
11:45 AM
"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.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
10:55 AM
"It is the easiest thing in the world to point out what is wrong, who is wrong and to stand on a pedestal of superiority-- without DOING anything positive--or BECOMING a positive answer ourselves. After you deconstruct, what are you actually FOR? An awful lot of activists on the left and reactionaries on the right have no positive vision, nothing they believe in, no one they are in love with. They are just overwhelmed with what's wrong, and think that by eliminating the so-called "contaminating element" the world will be pure and right again." Richard Rohr, "Hope Against Darkness"
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
10:45 AM
A Reconstructionist Creed
We believe in one God. "There is one Body, one Spirit, one and the same hope.. one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God who is Father of all, over all, through all, and within all" (Eph. 4:4-6).
We believe that we are, first of all, a people, God's movement in history.
We believe that our individual lives and our personal growth are for the sake of the generation to come after and built on the faith and the bones of those who have gone before us.
We believe that we must build on the positive, on what we love. Creative and life energy come from belief and commitment. Critics must first be believers who have leaned how to say an ultimate YES. (And as the Irish put it, "Never give a man a sword til he's learned how to dance.")
We agree to bear the burden and the grace of our past. We agree to honor what is, which includes even the broken things: ourselves, the Church, the state and other institutions. The dark side of each of these is also a necessary teacher.
We are committed to building a world of meaning and hope. We recognize the clear need for prophetic deconstruction of all idolatries that make the worship of God impossible. True rebuilding must follow this temporary but necessary unbuilding.
We believe in a person universe where the divine nature shines through all created things. It is therefore an "enchanted universe" where we can always live in reverence before the good, the true and the beautiful.
Along with Paul in Colossians (1:15-20), as Christians, we believe that Jesus is the clearest image of the unseen God. In him all things cohere, all opposites are overcome. He is the head of the living body in whom all things are reconciled.
From Richard Rohr, "Hope Against Darkness"
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
11:15 AM
At the end of his life, on his deathbed, St. Francis said: "Let us begin again, for up to now we have done nothing."
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
11:05 AM
"Heart-shaping is the term ...for what some would call spiritual formation. Heart-shaping involves both divine and human activity...
"Heartshaping does not progress linearly. Its dynamic reflects more of a layering process, similar to the process used in music studios in recording various sound tracks that are then mixed together to create a single piece. The sub-stories within the leader's life are going on simultaneously and are interfering with one another.
"Basic heart-shaping occurs in six significant arenas. These divine-human interchanges provide the six major subplots of the leader's heart-shaping process. The development and convergence of these story lines script the leader's life message. These six subplots are culture, call, community, communion,
conflict, and the commonplace."
Read more from the introduction to A Work of Heart
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
10:10 AM
Brian McLaren recently posted Leadership in Postmodern Transition at dTour. Here is an excerpt:
"I was going through my "postmodern conversion." I was seeing the pattern or matrix of modernity giving way to a new pattern, and I was beginning to see how my whole understanding of Christianity fit snugly within the modern matrix. I wondered how ministry, theology, spirituality, and evangelism would change as the matrix changed. And I wondered how leadership would change too.
"Somewhere in the middle of these musings, a strange memory returned … the scene in "The Wizard of Oz" when little Toto pulls back the curtain to reveal that the great Wizard of Oz is a rather normal guy hiding behind an imposing image. It struck me that the 1940's world that produced the film was in many ways a world at the height of modernity, a world enamored with Superman, with the Lone Ranger, with Great Men. It struck me that by exposing the Wizard as a fraud, the film was probing an unexpressed cultural doubt, giving voice to a rising misgiving, displaying an early pang of discontent with its dominant model of larger-than-life leadership. And it made me wonder what image of leadership would replace the great Wizard."
Leadership in Postmodern Transition
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
9:10 AM
In case you missed it, Parables from the Godzone.
"One who has journeyed in a strange land cannot return unchanged." C.S. Lewis
"Jesus preaches a life of simpllicity and nonviolence that is simply OUTSIDE the system of power, money and control. More than directly fighting the system, he IGNORES it and builds an alternative world where power, prestige and possessions are not sought or even admired.
"Such withdrawal of allegiance is finally the most surversive act possible because the powers that be can no longer control you whether positively or negatively. You are no longer inside their reward and punishment system." Richard Rohr, "Hope Against Darkness"
I wonder if this isn't the most effective thing that my family did with regard to the modern and somewhat oppressive institutional system we call "church." We walked out. We left it behind.
While we were still there, others could look on us and say, "We know there are many things about this thing that bother you.. but you are still here, so maybe it's really not so bad." That mixed message was not true and allowed others to not take us seriously. That in turn contributed to their ability to dodge the issues. When we left, we gave the most powerful message we could give. "We don't believe this represents what Jesus wanted to build.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
9:05 AM
Where are you on your journey of faith?
Check out Fowler, Faith and Fallout
or this interview with James Fowler: Interview
"Stage Four, for those who develop it, is a time in which the person is pushed out of, or steps out of, the circle of interpersonal relationships that have sustained his life to that point. Now comes the burden of reflecting upon the self as separate from the groups and the shared world that defines one's life. I sometimes quote Santayana who said that we don't know who discovered water but we know it wasn't fish. The person in Stage Three is like the fish sustained by the water. To enter Stage Four means to spring out of the fish tank and to begin to reflect upon the water. Many people don't complete this transition, but get caught between three and four. The transition to Stage Four can begin as early as 17, but it's usually not completed until the mid-20s, and often doesn't even begin until around 20. It comes most naturally in young adulthood. Some people, however, don't make the transition until their late 30s. It becomes a more traumatic thing then, because they have already built an adult life. Their relationships have to be reworked in light of the stage change." James Fowler
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
9:05 AM
"And I'm particularly anti excellence in worship. It's not a popular opinion to express in some churches today. In fact excellence has become such an important value in these circles that they sponsor and attend expensive conferences devoted to the theme.
"I don't know much about what happens at these junkets for pastors, but I did come very close to attending one earlier this year. I even had my ticket, but when I looked at the programme and discovered that the creative-arts-in-worship track consisted entirely of an exhaustive treatment of every aspect of vocal technique and worship-band performance I decided that staying away would be my contribution to excellence that week.
"I wonder if excellence is a cultural value rather than a biblical one?
Read more by Mark Pierson on Ancientfuture Worship
Mark has something here..
The "something" is that professionalization of ministry has relegated ministry to the realm of the few and held it back from the many. It has disenfranchised the people of God from their inheritance as priests. In turn, it has held the Gospel from the streets and enclosed it primarily within four walls.
Furthermore, the pursuit of excellence has given the many a profound sense of inadequacy, while conferring to the few prestige and honor. This in turn has limited the impact of the Gospel, since if the many do not believe and know that they are priests of the Lord, they don't act like ambassadors of the Gospel. That's the job of professionals, right?
Jean Vanier:
"We have to create structures which encourage everyone to participate, and especially the shy people. Those who have the most light to shed often dare not show it; they are afraid of appearing stupid. They do not recognize their own gift.. perhaps because others haven't recognized it either."
Graham Cooke:
"People who feel insignificant remain ineffective and small. They become grasshoppers in their own sight and may never inherit all that Jesus died to give them."
Mark Strom:
"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."
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
10:35 AM
o We are witnessing the biggest overthrow in the history of Christianity. It ends 6,000 years of "civilization" as we have known it. In the twenty-first century, we'll see-at today's rate-on the order of 20,000 years of change. (Toffler and Kurzweil)
o In massive historical shifts, the very structure of knowing changes-not "what" we know, but "how" we know. Today, we are rethinking "thinking." More to the point, we are no longer "thinking"-in the usual sense of the word-but projecting a new world.
o In our economy, we have moved from a system of commodities to goods, then to services, and now to experiences. Next, we will shift from experiences to transformations.
o With the collapse of the modern world, a new language outruns our reality, outpaces our theology. It will combine faith, meditation, and prophetic metaphor with creativity, virtual reality, and quantum theory. It will immerse us in sensual, emotional, multimedia lives more real than reality itself.
o This new language will include metaphor, unspokenness, and aesthetic presence. It will shift from logic to revelation, from mind to spirit, from proposition to intuition, and from the literate to the prophetic.
o Prophetic metaphor is incarnational language in the purest form. Though not reality itself, it becomes the most profound medium of reality. The future belongs to those who create and communicate prophetic metaphor.
o Emotion "thinks" more that we think it does. Our feelings will soon be endowed with intentions and powers of decision. Empowered passions will become the basis for belief . . . not the basis for unbelief.
o Beyond postmodernism, we will realize that truth is not something we create. It is an inspired revelation we encounter. Creative artists, for example, frequently report that their work "chooses them" . . . that it permits "some, but not just any, variation" . . . that, finally, we are only the "discoverers."
Thomas Hohstadt - Dying to Live
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
10:30 AM
Another take on the bicycle trip.
The two most powerful books I have read in the last year: "Everything Belongs," by Richard Rohr, OFM; "A New Kind of Christian," by Brian MacLaren.
The most prophetic voice I have read in the last two years: Richard Rohr, a Franciscan priest. Ok, Brian MacLaren is a close second.
My favorite authors of the last ten years, in no particular order: Henri Nouwen, Jean Vanier, Richard Rohr, Scott Peck, Robert Bly, Dallas Willard, Leonard Sweet, Annie Dillard.
Favorite U2 song: "Grace"
Grace, she takes the blame
Grace, it's a name for a girl
Grace, she's got the walk
Grace, she carries a world on her hips
What once was hurt, what once was friction
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
9:00 AM
Betty and I attended a short part of a worship evening held downtown at Kelowna's Community Theatre. It was an open evening (no entry fee) hosted by one of the larger charismatic churches here.
We were in time for the last half hour of worship before the speaker came up.
When she came to the front she quickly launched into an appeal for giving. Inevitably... the appeal was based on Malachi 3 and the doctrine of the tithe.
As I sat there.. thinking to myself "Oh Lord, why did we have to come tonight?" and getting angry, I fought with myself for control. Do I stand up and confront this madness? No, I stayed in my seat, primarily because of my concern for my reputation as a nice and reasonable guy.
It wasn't only the standard sermon on tithing and how good Christians should be giving 10%. In retrospect, she couldn't really preach that, since it would have meant she was asking Christians from other churches to give their tithe to her church.
So she didn't talk about the tithe, she talked about "tithes." If you go to Malachi 3, you'll find the word there is plural.
"Bring all the tithes into the storehouse..."
Of course, the reason the word is plural is because there were a variety of tithes.. animals, vegetables, fruit etc.
But the Lord had spoken to this "prophetic" speaker, and "tithes" now meant that up to five tithes could be given, five being a special number representing fullness or blessing or something. I can't remember now.
Therefore, if one has already tithed on what one has received, but one has special faith, one could tithe on what one would yet LIKE to receive from the Lord. Yes, that's it.. tithe also on the money you have not yet received. Then you would be a SUPER good Christian and recieve SPECIAL blessing :)
Not only that, you would thereby enable this prophetic ministry to grow and expand.. so more tithes could be brought in and more tapes on the wonders of tithing could be sold.
Now, this was a Christian sister and I'm not going say what is in my mind to say. But it seems to me that Paul is very clear in the New Testament that giving is for real needs, not to support a growing itinerant ministry (see Mark Strom on this issue). Paul never mentions the tithe, though he does suggest that believers set aside a fixed amount as a godly habit of giving to support the saints.. not the leaders, mind you (II Cor. 8, 9). In fact, Paul continues to work with his hands so as not to have to make the appeals that we see being made all around us.
Honestly, I am very afraid that we have turned the gospel into a means of livelihood, and even a business. "Thank God that Jesus came.. so I can make a good living." Er.. no. Such shepherds need to read Ezekiel 34 again.
I wrote this sister sharing my concerns in a kind but direct manner. Her response was this:
"The tithe was first mentioned in scripture with Abraham. One of the laws of Bible Interpretation is called "the law of first mention". What this means, is that the first time a word is used in scripture, it carries an extra weight and is a plumbline for interpretation of other contexts that follow where that word is used.
"Abraham, although, he lived in the old testament was actually a "new testament believer"...the father of our faith. He tithed BEFORE the law was ever initiated....he operated in the law of the Spirit as we in the new testament do."
Some of you are already thinking.. "sure, but circumcision was also prior to the giving of the law, and was THE sign and symbol of the covenant. Does this mean what I think it means?"
Yes.. get the knife ;)
Here is part of my response:
Tithing was pre-law, and it continued under the old covenant beyond the law. Circumcision was also pre-law. Should we then worry if some would like to make it a point of obedience?
It's interesting.. because circumcision becomes a point of apostasy in Galatians for Paul, who vigorously defends Christian freedom. "I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing." (Gal. 5:2)
Good grief, cool down! That is pretty extreme, isn't it Paul?
Furthermore, the Sabbath was also pre-law. In fact it goes back to creation where God Himself gave us the example, then later included it in the law. In Isaiah 58 God promises blessing for those who refrain from trampling on the sabbath. Should we advocate a return to Sabbath-keeping based on Heb. 4:9? Or is Jesus our Sabbath rest?
It was Abraham who paid a tithe to Melchizedek.
Paul specifically mentions Abraham in his discussion of the new covenant vs the old. So circumcision and the tithe are parallel theological concepts. Both relate to the covenant as signs of faithfulness in the OT. But what does Paul say about all this?
"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law.. that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus.." On what basis? The basis of faith alone, of course. And a bit further down..
"For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise."
And what of Melchizedek? Like the law itself, he was only a shadow whose fulfillment was Christ.
"You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek" (Heb. 7:21). But what does this mean?
The writer of Hebrews gives us the interpretation when he draws the parallel to Jesus: both of these had no genealogy. The rest is contrast. Melchizedek came before the Levites were born, and Jesus was not a priest by birth, since he was of the tribe of Judah. The further contrast is that the new covenant is founded on a sure promise: "a setting aside of the former commandment, because of its weakness and uselessness" (Heb. 17,18).
How do we get from here to paying tithes again? I don't want Melchizedek as my priest. He is the old order, and "the law made nothing perfect" (7:19). I want Jesus.
Nowhere in the Gospels is there any account of anyone paying tithes to Jesus as our priest. One teacher we heard referenced Jesus taking our tithes in Hebrews 7:8 - but the context is of Melchizedek. The author has not yet referred to Jesus in that text. The Levites are the mortal that the author of Hebrews refers to, and Melchizedek the "one of whom it is testified that he lives" as he has not record of genealogy, or beginning of days or end of life, Heb. 7:3
In summary, the tithe is an old testament doctrine that is being used to build personal ministries. Ask the Lord how you should give, and when and to whom. For more on tithing see The Tithe and the Field by Gary Carpenter and To Tithe or Not to Tithe.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
9:40 AM
Way back when Andrew Jones wrote his first article "The Skinny on Postmodernity Series: Part I Postmodernism and Global Worldviews." He is on at least part three by now.. and worth a read. Here is an excerpt from Part I...
"It is also important to note that there is not a singular "postmodern" but rather many "postmoderns" and many "postmodernists". For the sake of simplicity, there are basically three postmodern positions, at this point in time.
"Pauline Marie Rosenau, Professor of Political Science at the University of Quebec, has done a great work in naming the distinctions that separate the first two groups of postmodern thinkers, who she calls "skeptics" and "affirmatives".
"1. Skeptical Postmodernists offer a pessimistic and gloomy scenario. They are inspired by early Continental post-modernism (Heidegger and Nietzsche) and focus on the chaos, death, and impossiblity of truth. It is these early authors who were picked up by Christian teachers as representative of postmodernism in general; a very unhealthy and unfair critique which has made it difficult for dialogue to take place among Christian intellectual communities.
"2. Affirmative Postmodernists, who may agree with the skeptics critique of modernity but offer a more optimistic view of the post-modern transition. They are more influenced by North-American and British authors. They affirm an ethical system(s). They value choices that are superior and are open to honest intellectual practise. This is more reflective of the Christian teachers who are training students to minister in a postmodern world.
"Rosenau acknowledges that there are some postmodernists who avoid the label since the word "postmodern" "promotes a singlular view of reality, encourages closure and denies complexity. Although she doesn't give a name to this group in the short article of hers I am reading, others often call this group "post-postmodern" or "po-po-mo". I don't like the term since it sounds too reactive of modernity. People in this third category are no longer defined by what they came out of but rather by where they are now and where they are heading. In line with Rosenau's other labels, an appropriate name that I would ascribe to this third set would be "Intuitive Postmoderns."
"In my own explanation of the various stages of the postmodern transition, I found it helpful to use the following concepts.
"1. Barn-Burning - a sometimes angry or resentful deconstruction to delete what should not be there.
"2. Dumpster-Diving - an inquisitive exploration to discover and restore what was missing, hidden or forbidden.
"3. Well, I don't have a good word for this stage, actually. I was using Lego-Land but am not happy with it. Consider the naming of this stage as a "work in progress". But even without a label, this final stage of the transitional process represents a creative re-mixing of the new and old elements to construct a new and better way."
Ooooooh.. I like this. Great stuff, Andrew! Lego-land works for me, but a longer and less memorable descriptor might be "communal puzzle-building with something old and something new," calling to mind Jesus statement in Matthew about "the scribe fit for the kingdom...."
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
11:00 AM
4:30 AM. The light of the morning is beginning to push back the darkness of the night. I lie awake thinking about inspiration, and what a gift it is. As a gift, it needs to be honored.
Inspiration, for a writer, is life's blood. It isn't reliable or predictable. It is literally like the dove that alights on occasion. One observes it there, and has to decide how to respond.
The choice would seem obvious to an outside observer. But at 4:30 in the morning, the wrestling match begins.
If I get out of bed, I have to DO something. If I get out of bed at 4:30, I will pay for that choice the rest of the day. That means that my family will also pay for my choice. The cost is not just for me alone, and that merits some thought.
Yet.. I am a writer. That is the gift I give, and there isn't another that I can offer. A writer, it has been rightly said, is a listener and an observer. The essential gift is one of awareness and reflection. I'm one of God's spies.
If I don't honor that gift and that vocation, the world will be poorer. I will be poorer. My family will be poorer. If I don't honor that gift and that vocation, I fail to honor my maker, whose word I am, spoken only once with love and joy into the world. Like all persons, I am the only me, with my individual being my perfection. I am the only one who can offer my gift to the world in my way.
So I drag myself from bed, tears filling my eyes. I feel silly, but I also feel the glow of the first light of morning and hear the cooing of the dove. I choose to answer the invitation.
The world is filled with metaphors waiting to be discovered. I have discovered many myself for the first time in the past few weeks. It was an unexpected birth, and another gift I have to honor.
I am Michaelangelo. I see the statue there in the marble waiting to be exposed. It requires sacrifice, discipline and courage. It is both agony and ecstasy.
On Friendship
Somewhere in the winter of 2000 I had a dream that got me thinking about friendship. At that time I wrote,
There are three things too wonderful for me, even four things that I love: the smell of earth and growing things after the rain; the song of birds in the morning; the softness and beauty of my wife; and friendship. You can read the rest HERE.
Of late I've been thinking again about friendship and the gift that it is. It seems to be a theme this morning, the "givenness" of the world if we have open hands to receive it.
It seems to me that some of the essential elements of community are friendship and hospitality. I like Henri Nouwen's thought here, where he says that, "Hospitality is not PART of the Gospel; hospitality IS the Gospel."
Elsewhere Nouwen writes that, "Ministry is the creation of space for community to develop." When I first read those words a new reality opened to my heart and my mind. Since that time, probably fifteen years ago, I have discovered that those words have continued to unfold to new places. It is a stunning and foundational truth.
I believe I could paraphrase Nouwen in another way: "Ministry is the creation of space for friendship to develop," and, "Friendship is not PART of of the Gospel; friendship IS the Gospel." Jesus said, "I have called you my friends."
More on Metaphors
I read somewhere recently that we need new models of leadership. It didn't sit right. Later I figured out why.
First, I think leadership has become one of those words that no longer works. Let me tell a story.
A few years ago I sat down with a church leader to tell him about a particular venture with which I was involved. I had known this leader for a few years already, and knew him to be a man of heart and compassion. I respected him as a teacher and a leader, and still do.
As I began to try to describe some of the particular problems I was running up against, and as he began to offer some feedback and ask some questions, I began to feel uncomfortable. This wasn't the discomfort that one experiences with lack of trust, or with conflict, or any of the typical scenarios we can experience when sharing information and seeking guidance from another leader. It was just.. odd.
It wasn't until the next day that I began to make sense of my experience the previous day. I realized that in my meeting with the leader the day before we weren't really communicating, because we were speaking out of two different cultures. In essence, we were speaking out of different paradigms, and while we were using most of the same key words, they meant different things to each of us.
Not long afterward I was having coffee with a friend who has shared much of my recent journey. While we are at different stages in our lives and have very different histories, we have found ourselves on the same trail in the Kingdom.
On this day we were sharing recent experiences when the conversation turned to kingdom and church issues. He expressed his dissatisfaction with the term "church planting." How can one plant what is only a work of God? And what does the word "church" refer to anyway? Is it the buildings we see on so many corners in our city? Is it a gathering where there are defined leaders with defined roles? Does "church plant" imply professionals with salaries doing ministry to others and then buying buildings? Does it imply authority structures, tithes and offerings, and membership lists?
One day my wife and I were talking about the many changes the Lord has brought to our lives in the past two years. As we shared what God had been doing among some poor families recently, we both expressed our unhappiness with the word "ministry." A shining example of Christianese, it seemed to come with an awful lot of baggage. It implies people with power doing something to those without power. It implies that those who are something impart something to those who are nothing. It implies superior position and superior knowledge, unequality, and perhaps professionalism. In short, it smacks of cultural imperialism, not the servanthood and sacrifice and friendship of the One who calls us to Himself.
"Leadership" is a problem word. When I hear the word "leader" I think of the examples I have seen in "church" (another problem word). I picture a man at the front of a large theater on a stage. I picture a man behind a desk making decisions. I picture a man in a large group of people connecting with the few others who are defined as "leaders." I picture a man who is interested in how others can help him reach his goals. I picture a man interested in power and climbing the ladder of prestige. I do not picture a servant.
Now, there is a chance that that the word "leader" works for you. There is a chance that your experience of leadership is something more like fathering. How blessed you are if this is the case, because your experience is closer to a New Testament reality. But for many in our Christian sub-culture, the word "leader" conjures up the corporate CEO image, because in many churches, leadership is modeled on the leadership we have seen in our task oriented, success and marketing driven culture. For more on the problems we have with language, see The Language of the Kingdom
We don't need new models of leadership.. we need new metaphors. The imaginative architecture of the modern world is collapsing, and we need a new architecture.
Models have a static and inflexible nature. Models as a framework quickly develop a life of their own that acts back on the original vision and pushes toward institutionalization.
Metaphors, on the other hand, are part of a narrative. Metaphors tell a story, and so help in developing an imaginative architecture that remains flexible and evokes rather than describes reality. Metaphors involve imagination, and imagination is the engine of understanding.
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
6:30 AM
I've invented a new concept: the Catholic moment. Here's mine:
"To the 15,000 Franciscans gathered at Rome, May 19, 1971
"We know that you are devoted to the Way of the Cross. But we will merely remind you of another temptation, besides wealth, that is prevalent today. It is the temptation to remove the Cross from the gospel. People want an easy Christianity, a Christianity without sacrifice. They want a Christianity without duties, renunciation, or grief.. in a word, without the Cross... Pope John Paul VI. "The Pope Speaks," 16 (1971) p.180
posted by Len Hjalmarson |
5:40 AM
|
 Allelon / New Phuture / Cutting Edge / Relevant Magazine / Shoot the Messenger / Vine and Branches / Jesus People USA / Sacred Future / Tribal Generation / Reality / Waves Church / Matthew's House / Sacramentis / Praxis / Post Boomer / FutureChurch / MethodX / TheOOZE / ginkworld / The Landing Place / ::seven:: / emergent village / Highway Video / emerging church / Sojourners / Ship of Fools / Beyond / Next-Wave / Small Fire / ThePowerSurge / dtour
|
• © 1999-2002 Len Hjalmarson.•
Last Updated on
I woke this morning thinking about the kingdom stuff my wife and I have been doing in the past two weeks. Then I tried to connect that to the phrase, "church planting." It was tough to do.
McChurch may have served a billion people, but it abandoned its true vocation. Francis chose the way of weakness, the way of the Holy Fool. He chose descent when others were riding up the hill, building power and prestige on the backs of the poor. The real crisis today is a crisis of spirituality and of faith. To the extent the modern church adopted worldly goals and sought prestige and power, she abandoned Christ.
"I'm anti excellence in church life.
