What can I/we bring Him? . . . What might I/we bring Him? . . . What should I/we bring Him . . . What must I/we bring Him . . . ?
1. Each one of us must (can now as made possible through our new freedom in Christ, by His Spirit) reflect and bring forward the ‘gifts’ that we uniquely have to bring. This (reflection, search, finding, bringing, offering) has immediate blessing and is the ongoing happy task of the believer that extends through life and indeed into eternity. It involves passion, vocation, calling; it takes commitment and resolve, willing sacrifice (ie. leaving aside lesser things, lesser pursuits, valuable and valued as they may be).
2. One may, on behalf of one’s family, clan, or people-group, to reflect on the uniqueness of the gift(s) one is privileged to bring in the service of the King and as sign of the presense of God’s Kingdom (which is His rule - the reclamation of Creation-purposes to be yet fully realized in the New Creation). The gifts offered will be as varied and diverse as were the gifts of the magi – as complex, beautiful, stirring, challenging, mysterious as they. They will cost us everything. They will reflect who we are, what is of value to us – what we know to be of ultimate worth in our lives.
3. One may be privileged as called upon to assist other individuals, families and whole cultures as they reflect upon their own uniqueness, as created in God’s image for God’s purposes. This reflection and Holy Spirited enablement may indeed be the deepest part of the 'mission’ to which we are called. Thereby we may shine the Light that has been revealed to us so that others also are drawn to it, for further revelation and illumination of what is evil and needs to be rooted from our lives. In that light we and others may determine also the good that is to be embraced, developed, refined and used for God’s salvitic ‘new creation’ purposes in the Kingdom that has come and is yet coming.
4. While the revelation came individually (at least initially, and as promised) to Simeon, Elizabeth, Mary, Joseph, Simeon and Anna (though there are ‘family’ implications for the first four), the story of the shepherds and of the magi reflects a group-experience in coming as a group. The sense of individual conversion (as divorced or distinguished from family, clan or people-group) is a fairly recent, ‘modern’ development in the world’s history. The responsibility of each one to believe does not abrogate the need to see that we must also come as a whole, as a community faith in solidarity with family, friends, culture-groups. Certainly the reality of family and clans (particularly in Islamic as in other world cultures and relgions) continue to dictate to the values and responses of their lives. Family and clan solidarity must be understood if we are to shine the light deeply and widely into these cultures. Indeed, it is to be regretted that this sense of solidarity (replaced often by an individuality that is narcissistic and self-centred) has been largely lost (though not yet entirely) in the West, or where ‘Western’ values are espoused. Whole people-groups may well come to Christ still, bringing their gifts as whole families and clans. Is there a ‘least’ clan or a most ‘prominent’ clan that will come first and lead others; is there a ‘strategy’ here to consider and related aspects to ponder?
5. Particularizing this thinking to any one people group, family or clan (or a particular cultural grouping in the West), what might be entire people-groups' gifts that are to be brought to worship the King and then used for His redemptive, new-creation purposes? What by way of the following might be brought? - in its history, tradition, skills, perspective, insight, science, aspirations, commitment, values, gifts (equivalents, if not literally of, gold and frankincense and myrrh)? What resources of Kingdom-come and Kingdom-coming that reflect God’s new creation purposes may be found and yet offered by people who have not yet responded in faith to Christ (ie. how will they uniquely bring gifts as signs of restoration and of the new heavens and earth.)?
6. Certainly caring for livestock, as a necessity, as a way of life, with great affection and esteem, is characteristic of many agrarian, rural, even nomad peoples of whom we may be aware and near to.
7. How are the following Kingdom and ‘New Creation’ pursuits valid in themselves whether or not God uses them as means of grace and conduits of eternal salvation (and how may/must followers of Jesus strategically follow them? (ie. in areas of healthwelfare (clinics, hospitals, medicines and medical supplies), water (wells), justice issues, agrarian pursuits (feeding the hungry), livestock (camels), literacy (basic, ESL), poverty (micro-enterprises))?
8. Relational, befriending is how one comes alongside (i.e. offering Kingdom-hospitality and ‘communitas’ along the Journey) and not necessarily as merely an end in itself – though it too points to ‘friendship’ and society such as is experienced in knowing and being known of God (as individuals, families, and peoples), the society of the Trinity, the friendship of the Church (ideally) that respects differences but sees them as unique conduits of grace. “Strangers are just family you have yet to come to know.”
Thursday, December 27, 2007
If I Were a Wiseman . . .
If I were a wiseman, I would do my part . . .
1. The Magi are remembered as ‘wise-men’ or kings, as reflected in their gifts (gold, frankincense, myrrh. )
• Gifts of gold – symbolizes wealth, economy, beauty, stability, weight, power, regal, supreme; that which keeps coming back when all else is deflated; something that is a basic standard; rare, exclusive; not generally or readily available; it is a 'fruit' from the earth.
• Gifts of frankincense – prophetic (burial), art, smell, permeating, spreading, exotic, erotic; beauty out of suffering and adversity; surprising beauty considering the source (not what’s expected – cf. Isa 51). Frankincense is tapped from the very scraggly but hardy Boswellia tree through slashing the bark and allowing the exuded resins to bleed out and harden. These hardened resins are called tears. These trees are also considered unusual for their ability to grow in environments so unforgiving that the trees sometimes grow directly out of solid stone, which the tree attaches to by means of a sucker-like appendage. The deep roots and its sucker like appendage prevent the tree from being torn away from the stone during the violent storms that frequent this region; the tears from these hardy survivors are considered superior due to their more fragrant aroma.
• Gifts of myrrh – from the living; bitter perfume, expense and sacrifice, medical: antiseptic, linement, healing oils; embalming; connected to wine in Communion and to water in baptism. Myrrh is a red-brown resinous material, the dried sap of the tree Commiphora myrrha, native to Somalia and the eastern parts of Ethiopia. The sap of a number of other Commiphora and Balsamodendron species are also known as myrrh, including that from C. erythraea (sometimes called East Indian myrrh), C. opobalsamum and Balsamodendron kua. Its name entered English via the Ancient Greek, μύρρα, which is probably of Semitic origin. Myrrh is also applied to the potherb Myrrhis odorata otherwise known as "Cicely" or "Sweet Cicely". High quality myrrh can be identified through the darkness and clarity of the resin. However, the best method of judging the resin's quality is by feeling the stickiness of freshly broken fragments directly to determine the fragrant-oil content of the myrrh resin. The scent of raw myrrh resin and its essential oil is sharp, pleasant, somewhat bitter and can be roughly described as being "stereotypically resinous". When burned, it produces a smoke that is heavy, bitter and somewhat phenolic in scent, which may be tinged with a slight vanillic sweetness. Unlike most other resins, myrrh expands and "blooms" when burned instead of melting or liquefying. The scent can also be used in mixtures of incense, to provide an earthy element to the overall smell, and as an additive to wine, a practice alluded to by ancient authorities such as Fabius Dorsennus. It is also used in various perfumes, toothpastes, lotions, and other modern toiletries.
Myrrh was used as an embalming ointment and was used, up until about the 15th century, as a penitential incense in funerals and cremations. The "holy oil" traditionally used by the Eastern Orthodox Church for performing the sacraments of chrismation and unction is traditionally scented with myrrh, and receiving either of these sacraments is commonly referred to as "receiving the Myrrh". Note: All of the above gifts were known in depth and breadth (and wealth) in ancient Africa – particularly the latter in the Horn of Africa. Myrrh is a constituent of perfumes and incense, was highly prized in ancient times, and was often worth more than its weight in gold. The Greek word for myrrh, μύρον, came to be synonymous with the word for "perfume". In Ancient Rome myrrh was priced at five times as much as frankincense, though the latter was far more popular. In the east it was often combined in decoctions, liniments and incense. Myrrh is said to be blood-moving (to the Chinese).
2. In contrast to the shepherds (keepers of the flocks and keep-on-going, thereby, of the Jewish sacrificial system), travel was necessitated to the wise-men: it was necessary that they journey far. Distant from Israel, they had to journey there, just as all other ancient ‘Gentile’ peoples, apart from Israel as God's chosen people, were spiritually distant from the covenants, promises and privileges of God, given first to His ancient People. (See T.S. Eliot’s ‘The Gift of the Magi’ which includes depictions of the coarse ways 'gentiles' thought, felt, acted, expected (complete with their attitudes to women, wine, and so on. Their ways were unlike the ways in which God's People, though earthy in many ways, were expected to conduct themselves.)
3. From ‘the east’ came the wise-men– from the orient as opposed to the West (the occident). Some feel the text could refer to travelers from east Africa and not necessarily to east of Israel or to the ancient ‘near’ or ‘far’ east. There is a tradition that they were Zorastrians; another, that relates to a ‘missing’ wise astrologer in China at the approximate time who may have been one of the journeyers. The word translated ‘magi’ or wisemen has the same derivitive as that relating to Simon Magnus (or Simon the magician) in the Book of Acts, whom Peter opposed. Certainly (as shown above) gifts of frankincense and myrrh would be most readily available from the Horn of Africa (though the universal appreciation of these ‘gifts) would not preclude their being also available anywhere throughout the ancient world. The West is ‘symbolized’ in the Old Testament (cf. Isaiah) as ‘the isles of the sea (as is trade by ‘ships of Tarshish’ and building by ‘cedars ‘and other wood ‘of Lebanon’).
4. Unlike the uninterrupted nature of the shepherd’s short journey to Bethlehem, the magi were ‘opposed’ in the sense that their mission was threatened, its results perverted, for Herod wanted to frustrate their getting to the place of Jesus’ birth. They were warned by an angel not to return home via Jerusalem (so as to be safe themselves and so as not to risk the child’s life by telling of his actual location to the paranoid king. The humanity of the magi is depicted (including their knowledge - their 'science.' Arduous travel and commitment is part of their providential leading, as they journey to find the Christ child. (God's aid is mixed with their own understanding, resolve and efforts, in balance and blend, just as it may be with ours in the pursuits and journeys of life). The humanity and purposes of Herod, though also somewhat controlled though not caused, reveal his ill-will rather than goodwill, which is itself thwarted and directed by God.
5. While the humble shepherds came to a rude stable and found the child wrapped (as any peasant baby, in swaddling cloths) and lying in a manger, the wisemen (more sophisticated, knowledge-able, used to pomp, power and prestige, found him in a ‘house.’ Thus, in one sense, the child is ‘revealed’ in the normal circumstances (and as per the expectations) of one’s life in ways; that is, in ways in which one is most normally likely to ‘see’ and accept. Yet, in an other sense, all is (or soon will be) - for them and for the whole world - different, mysterious and full of wonder.
6. Not only were the shepherds more proximate in terms of travel (space) they came more quickly (in terms of ‘time’), i.e. that very night. The wisemen had farther to journey and it took more time to actually arrive to the place of their goal, at the place of seeing and worshiping. Thus, both space and time realities (access, barriers, limitations, ease) are different for different people. Some can and do hear, come quickly, draw near readily, expectantly, see, receive, return eager to share. For others, the journey is more complex, takes longer, is fraught with dangers, involves journey ‘from afar’ (in all kinds of ways – space, in attitude, in the overcoming of cultural differences and difficulties, in various ways of spiritual journeying and seeking, perhaps in having to overcome ignorance of language, feelings of prejudice, differing thoughts and expectations as to the whys and hows of life). So today, people ‘come to faith’ in all kinds of ways, through different kinds of stages and life-experiences. Sadly, too often we expect others can only come to find Christ in the way(s) we have experienced Him. We expect them to arrive on the same horse and enter by the same door as we. (If we don’t have an ‘evangelistic message,’ sing ‘Just as I Am’ and have an altar call, can anyone be saved?!)
7. Though the wisemen knew, drew conclusions and acted, based on the exact time (month? Year?) that they had seen the newborn king’s star-rise (astronomy and astrology), they still needed more precise information as to the whereabouts of his birth. There is both precision and imprecision in the story.
8. Herod, like Cyrus before him who helped return the remnant of Israel from exile in Babylon to rebuild Jerusalem and its temple, helped (albeit unwittingly and against his soon clear intentions) to ‘shepherd’ the Magi to where they would find the ‘Shepherd of Israel.’ The shepherds came as shepherds; the wisemen in this sense came as those too who need to be guided by another – if even by a paranoid king. In another sense, Herod becomes also a ‘messenger of God’ – an ‘angel’ who facilitates God’s purposes. His alarm regarding the news they bring and his subsequent searching for answers matching the magi’s queries, leads him to seek the assistance of the historians and priests of Israel (the wisemen of Israel), and to the direction given by the Hebrew Scriptures. He does not doubt the honesty of their queries nor the veracity of their conclusions (whether Scripture or priest/historian), and neither does he reject that there has been born, indeed one who is (or may be seen to be) greater than He, by the Jews over whom he reigns. He accepts the truth or at least the assertions of the new king’s birth and its locale (in Bethlehem of Judea - as per Michah 5:2 prophecy); yet he refuses (for his own selfish and paranoid reasons) to come to bow before this new (and greater) King.
9. The wisemen had entrance and were welcome (to some degree, at least) in the courts of Herod's palace. As respected ones (and in one sense in the same social strata with him), they had expectation of at least an audience, in a way that the shepherds of Bethlehem never would. Their station in life (mutually so) giving such expectation of relational, class and vocational contact would serve as normal conduits for information, influence and decision-making. Thus, each one in his or her station in life, and with his or her own unique opportunities and contacts, may understand and convey the message and meaning of God come-in-Christ. The people one meets, the questions one asks, the opportunities of contact and influence are providentially ordained. They may be followed daily, as opportunity is sought or arises, as missional conduits.
10. Ironically, though he was so close to where Jesus was born, Herod remained dis-inclined actually to go himself, nor bow in submission to this greater One. To acknowledge that the wiseman thought the Child worth seeking out was one thing; that one day soon so might all Israel was another, for they might turn to Him as their Saviour and Messiah (thus threatening Herod’s right to rule). The eastern magi (again, noting all that was represented by their gifts - power, influence, regality, etc.) had chosen to come from even so far away while Herod who had access and similar opportunities as they, in his station in life, never desires nor dares come to worship. The preparation of one's heart is what makes one spiritually ‘near’ or ‘far’ - ready and/or able to receive the news and the new possibilities and realities that Advent brings.
11. Revelation came to the ‘magi’ at first through ‘a Star’ and then in a dream (including – though the record is silent, by angels(?). It is as if they were rewarded for first sincerely, faithfully, sacrificially and committed-ly following the ‘light’ they had (as did the Roman soldier, Cornelius, later, albeit in a different way), and then as they move ‘closer’ to the 'realm' of the historic and first designated ‘People of God (i.e. the Jews)’ they too receive more clear instruction in the ways of revelation more ‘normally’ known by God's People.
The light of the star may also reflect ‘the gospel in the stars’ that some believe is written there, as huge, eternal markers or pointers, created by the Hand of God and revealed to the ancient patriarchs (of all the world’s ethne) - thus, in a more precise way, affirming with the Psalmist: ‘The heavens declare the glory of God . . .”.
The ancient (and modern) scam of astrology may be this revelation simply and profoundly gone wrong, becoming perverted and ultimately pagan, mere superstition. (It is worth remembering that the twelve stones comprising the breastplate of Israel’s High Priest symbolized the 12 signs of the zodiac).
The magi may have followed a Star to 'the house,' where the new Child was to be found - an actual, supernaturally and specifically-created Star (for-this-event-only). They may have ‘interpreted’ the matter from the star in constellations of the heavenlies (moving into its heavenly ‘house’) as a not-to-be-ignored, never-before symbol poingitn to the new king's birth, this new king of the Jews.
This fact appears to have been to them of world-wide and universal import or they would not have been convincingly enough moved to even begin the dangerous, perhaps impossible-to-complete Journey. To both ‘lights’ of revelation (Star and dream – and perhaps Angel), the wise-men gave attention and obedience, in journeying to and from the birth town of the Child-King.
The light of reason and the light of supernatural intervention comes together in the story. Study and science are servants of God; dreams and angels too. All may be messengers of God, to reveal His ways and His will to us, in His world.
• Gifts of gold – symbolizes wealth, economy, beauty, stability, weight, power, regal, supreme; that which keeps coming back when all else is deflated; something that is a basic standard; rare, exclusive; not generally or readily available; it is a 'fruit' from the earth.
• Gifts of frankincense – prophetic (burial), art, smell, permeating, spreading, exotic, erotic; beauty out of suffering and adversity; surprising beauty considering the source (not what’s expected – cf. Isa 51). Frankincense is tapped from the very scraggly but hardy Boswellia tree through slashing the bark and allowing the exuded resins to bleed out and harden. These hardened resins are called tears. These trees are also considered unusual for their ability to grow in environments so unforgiving that the trees sometimes grow directly out of solid stone, which the tree attaches to by means of a sucker-like appendage. The deep roots and its sucker like appendage prevent the tree from being torn away from the stone during the violent storms that frequent this region; the tears from these hardy survivors are considered superior due to their more fragrant aroma.
• Gifts of myrrh – from the living; bitter perfume, expense and sacrifice, medical: antiseptic, linement, healing oils; embalming; connected to wine in Communion and to water in baptism. Myrrh is a red-brown resinous material, the dried sap of the tree Commiphora myrrha, native to Somalia and the eastern parts of Ethiopia. The sap of a number of other Commiphora and Balsamodendron species are also known as myrrh, including that from C. erythraea (sometimes called East Indian myrrh), C. opobalsamum and Balsamodendron kua. Its name entered English via the Ancient Greek, μύρρα, which is probably of Semitic origin. Myrrh is also applied to the potherb Myrrhis odorata otherwise known as "Cicely" or "Sweet Cicely". High quality myrrh can be identified through the darkness and clarity of the resin. However, the best method of judging the resin's quality is by feeling the stickiness of freshly broken fragments directly to determine the fragrant-oil content of the myrrh resin. The scent of raw myrrh resin and its essential oil is sharp, pleasant, somewhat bitter and can be roughly described as being "stereotypically resinous". When burned, it produces a smoke that is heavy, bitter and somewhat phenolic in scent, which may be tinged with a slight vanillic sweetness. Unlike most other resins, myrrh expands and "blooms" when burned instead of melting or liquefying. The scent can also be used in mixtures of incense, to provide an earthy element to the overall smell, and as an additive to wine, a practice alluded to by ancient authorities such as Fabius Dorsennus. It is also used in various perfumes, toothpastes, lotions, and other modern toiletries.
Myrrh was used as an embalming ointment and was used, up until about the 15th century, as a penitential incense in funerals and cremations. The "holy oil" traditionally used by the Eastern Orthodox Church for performing the sacraments of chrismation and unction is traditionally scented with myrrh, and receiving either of these sacraments is commonly referred to as "receiving the Myrrh". Note: All of the above gifts were known in depth and breadth (and wealth) in ancient Africa – particularly the latter in the Horn of Africa. Myrrh is a constituent of perfumes and incense, was highly prized in ancient times, and was often worth more than its weight in gold. The Greek word for myrrh, μύρον, came to be synonymous with the word for "perfume". In Ancient Rome myrrh was priced at five times as much as frankincense, though the latter was far more popular. In the east it was often combined in decoctions, liniments and incense. Myrrh is said to be blood-moving (to the Chinese).
2. In contrast to the shepherds (keepers of the flocks and keep-on-going, thereby, of the Jewish sacrificial system), travel was necessitated to the wise-men: it was necessary that they journey far. Distant from Israel, they had to journey there, just as all other ancient ‘Gentile’ peoples, apart from Israel as God's chosen people, were spiritually distant from the covenants, promises and privileges of God, given first to His ancient People. (See T.S. Eliot’s ‘The Gift of the Magi’ which includes depictions of the coarse ways 'gentiles' thought, felt, acted, expected (complete with their attitudes to women, wine, and so on. Their ways were unlike the ways in which God's People, though earthy in many ways, were expected to conduct themselves.)
3. From ‘the east’ came the wise-men– from the orient as opposed to the West (the occident). Some feel the text could refer to travelers from east Africa and not necessarily to east of Israel or to the ancient ‘near’ or ‘far’ east. There is a tradition that they were Zorastrians; another, that relates to a ‘missing’ wise astrologer in China at the approximate time who may have been one of the journeyers. The word translated ‘magi’ or wisemen has the same derivitive as that relating to Simon Magnus (or Simon the magician) in the Book of Acts, whom Peter opposed. Certainly (as shown above) gifts of frankincense and myrrh would be most readily available from the Horn of Africa (though the universal appreciation of these ‘gifts) would not preclude their being also available anywhere throughout the ancient world. The West is ‘symbolized’ in the Old Testament (cf. Isaiah) as ‘the isles of the sea (as is trade by ‘ships of Tarshish’ and building by ‘cedars ‘and other wood ‘of Lebanon’).
4. Unlike the uninterrupted nature of the shepherd’s short journey to Bethlehem, the magi were ‘opposed’ in the sense that their mission was threatened, its results perverted, for Herod wanted to frustrate their getting to the place of Jesus’ birth. They were warned by an angel not to return home via Jerusalem (so as to be safe themselves and so as not to risk the child’s life by telling of his actual location to the paranoid king. The humanity of the magi is depicted (including their knowledge - their 'science.' Arduous travel and commitment is part of their providential leading, as they journey to find the Christ child. (God's aid is mixed with their own understanding, resolve and efforts, in balance and blend, just as it may be with ours in the pursuits and journeys of life). The humanity and purposes of Herod, though also somewhat controlled though not caused, reveal his ill-will rather than goodwill, which is itself thwarted and directed by God.
5. While the humble shepherds came to a rude stable and found the child wrapped (as any peasant baby, in swaddling cloths) and lying in a manger, the wisemen (more sophisticated, knowledge-able, used to pomp, power and prestige, found him in a ‘house.’ Thus, in one sense, the child is ‘revealed’ in the normal circumstances (and as per the expectations) of one’s life in ways; that is, in ways in which one is most normally likely to ‘see’ and accept. Yet, in an other sense, all is (or soon will be) - for them and for the whole world - different, mysterious and full of wonder.
6. Not only were the shepherds more proximate in terms of travel (space) they came more quickly (in terms of ‘time’), i.e. that very night. The wisemen had farther to journey and it took more time to actually arrive to the place of their goal, at the place of seeing and worshiping. Thus, both space and time realities (access, barriers, limitations, ease) are different for different people. Some can and do hear, come quickly, draw near readily, expectantly, see, receive, return eager to share. For others, the journey is more complex, takes longer, is fraught with dangers, involves journey ‘from afar’ (in all kinds of ways – space, in attitude, in the overcoming of cultural differences and difficulties, in various ways of spiritual journeying and seeking, perhaps in having to overcome ignorance of language, feelings of prejudice, differing thoughts and expectations as to the whys and hows of life). So today, people ‘come to faith’ in all kinds of ways, through different kinds of stages and life-experiences. Sadly, too often we expect others can only come to find Christ in the way(s) we have experienced Him. We expect them to arrive on the same horse and enter by the same door as we. (If we don’t have an ‘evangelistic message,’ sing ‘Just as I Am’ and have an altar call, can anyone be saved?!)
7. Though the wisemen knew, drew conclusions and acted, based on the exact time (month? Year?) that they had seen the newborn king’s star-rise (astronomy and astrology), they still needed more precise information as to the whereabouts of his birth. There is both precision and imprecision in the story.
8. Herod, like Cyrus before him who helped return the remnant of Israel from exile in Babylon to rebuild Jerusalem and its temple, helped (albeit unwittingly and against his soon clear intentions) to ‘shepherd’ the Magi to where they would find the ‘Shepherd of Israel.’ The shepherds came as shepherds; the wisemen in this sense came as those too who need to be guided by another – if even by a paranoid king. In another sense, Herod becomes also a ‘messenger of God’ – an ‘angel’ who facilitates God’s purposes. His alarm regarding the news they bring and his subsequent searching for answers matching the magi’s queries, leads him to seek the assistance of the historians and priests of Israel (the wisemen of Israel), and to the direction given by the Hebrew Scriptures. He does not doubt the honesty of their queries nor the veracity of their conclusions (whether Scripture or priest/historian), and neither does he reject that there has been born, indeed one who is (or may be seen to be) greater than He, by the Jews over whom he reigns. He accepts the truth or at least the assertions of the new king’s birth and its locale (in Bethlehem of Judea - as per Michah 5:2 prophecy); yet he refuses (for his own selfish and paranoid reasons) to come to bow before this new (and greater) King.
9. The wisemen had entrance and were welcome (to some degree, at least) in the courts of Herod's palace. As respected ones (and in one sense in the same social strata with him), they had expectation of at least an audience, in a way that the shepherds of Bethlehem never would. Their station in life (mutually so) giving such expectation of relational, class and vocational contact would serve as normal conduits for information, influence and decision-making. Thus, each one in his or her station in life, and with his or her own unique opportunities and contacts, may understand and convey the message and meaning of God come-in-Christ. The people one meets, the questions one asks, the opportunities of contact and influence are providentially ordained. They may be followed daily, as opportunity is sought or arises, as missional conduits.
10. Ironically, though he was so close to where Jesus was born, Herod remained dis-inclined actually to go himself, nor bow in submission to this greater One. To acknowledge that the wiseman thought the Child worth seeking out was one thing; that one day soon so might all Israel was another, for they might turn to Him as their Saviour and Messiah (thus threatening Herod’s right to rule). The eastern magi (again, noting all that was represented by their gifts - power, influence, regality, etc.) had chosen to come from even so far away while Herod who had access and similar opportunities as they, in his station in life, never desires nor dares come to worship. The preparation of one's heart is what makes one spiritually ‘near’ or ‘far’ - ready and/or able to receive the news and the new possibilities and realities that Advent brings.
11. Revelation came to the ‘magi’ at first through ‘a Star’ and then in a dream (including – though the record is silent, by angels(?). It is as if they were rewarded for first sincerely, faithfully, sacrificially and committed-ly following the ‘light’ they had (as did the Roman soldier, Cornelius, later, albeit in a different way), and then as they move ‘closer’ to the 'realm' of the historic and first designated ‘People of God (i.e. the Jews)’ they too receive more clear instruction in the ways of revelation more ‘normally’ known by God's People.
The light of the star may also reflect ‘the gospel in the stars’ that some believe is written there, as huge, eternal markers or pointers, created by the Hand of God and revealed to the ancient patriarchs (of all the world’s ethne) - thus, in a more precise way, affirming with the Psalmist: ‘The heavens declare the glory of God . . .”.
The ancient (and modern) scam of astrology may be this revelation simply and profoundly gone wrong, becoming perverted and ultimately pagan, mere superstition. (It is worth remembering that the twelve stones comprising the breastplate of Israel’s High Priest symbolized the 12 signs of the zodiac).
The magi may have followed a Star to 'the house,' where the new Child was to be found - an actual, supernaturally and specifically-created Star (for-this-event-only). They may have ‘interpreted’ the matter from the star in constellations of the heavenlies (moving into its heavenly ‘house’) as a not-to-be-ignored, never-before symbol poingitn to the new king's birth, this new king of the Jews.
This fact appears to have been to them of world-wide and universal import or they would not have been convincingly enough moved to even begin the dangerous, perhaps impossible-to-complete Journey. To both ‘lights’ of revelation (Star and dream – and perhaps Angel), the wise-men gave attention and obedience, in journeying to and from the birth town of the Child-King.
The light of reason and the light of supernatural intervention comes together in the story. Study and science are servants of God; dreams and angels too. All may be messengers of God, to reveal His ways and His will to us, in His world.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
If I Were a Shepherd . . .
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb . . .
For the Shepherds (if one may speculate and think of groups representatively), there is to be brought unique gift and purpose, as in the following:
1. A lamb – as they were ‘keepers’ or providers of the basic offerings of sacrifice of ancient Israel (representing the whole of the redemptive-sacrificial system and economy of ancient Israel), summed up in the impossibility of ‘the task’ and the need of a Saviour, a Lamb that would take away the sin of the world. Indeed, the biblical texts do not indicate explicitly that they took lambs or sheep with them in their quick journey to Bethlehem. Though they likely did not literally bring such offerings, there is a sense in which they (and we all too), bring with us at any time to worship all ‘that we are and have – and ever hope to be . . .’
2. Kingdom purpose and fulfillment for them and all like them is portrayed in the image and reality of any of God's shepherd-people (images of Psalm 23 and throughout the Scriptures come to mind). Pastoral images, thoughts and realities can be appreciated by any or all of God’s people, whether living in rural or urban settings, as a way of depicting important aspects of life in God’s Kingdom and the embracing of ‘new creation’ purposes and realities.
Notwithstanding comments that follow about ‘agrarian’ vs. ‘shepherding’ motifs (that is, in the story of Abel versus Cain in terms of God’s ‘acceptance’ of their offerings), there is a restored creation-aspect in this story of the shepherds from the Judean hillsides, in their offering of those gifts that are of God’s earth (livestock and other symbols of the miracle and mystery of life (zoe) on this planet, with ecological and environmental realities and responsibilities of all humans in the created order).
Looking after animals in the present (and perhaps coming) ages are part of God’s purposes for His people. Caring for, appreciating, even esteeming greatly any kind of created being is part of God’s gifts to humanity, serving in our intent as guardians, stewards and developers of all creation. (See the proverb: ‘A good man cares for the life of his beast . . .’)
3. Poor herdsman are introduced in the Christmas narrative, symbols of God’s identity with the lowest of society, as we remember that all of us are creaturely, frail and mortal. (He remembers that we are (but) dust.)
4. The Shepherds' visit and offering of themselves as gift also draws us back to the Genesis account of brothers, Abel and Cain - in God’s ‘acceptance’ of the former’s offering (a sacrifice of an animal from his flock) and the the rejection of Cain’s offering, as he, a tiller of the field, brings an offering ‘from his garden.’ The first Man, Adam, a tiller of the field was not up to the job, did not keep his stewardly assignment pure. He was, rather, seduced by desire to try out one of the plants – the forbidden fruit of the plant God had given him to manage; but its fruit he was not to eat.
Redemption does not come through our trying to get right, by ourselves, what we’ve succeeded in doing wrong, but in the provision of and from another – biblically, by an innocent victim, a sacrifice that is provided (ultimately by God). It comes by the shedding of blood not the offerings of wine. Blood must first be shed before the wine can be drunk to depict its worth – either as pure symbol of that accomplishment or, as the Catholics claim, in also mysteriously and symbolically and eternally becoming the blood of sacrifice.
5. The shepherds on the Judean hills were quite ‘near’ and proximate to Bethlehem (bet lehem = the house of bread) – just as Israel (by God’s gracious, historical choice) was very ‘near’ the ways, means and salvation of God.
6. Revelation came to these herdsmen by an angel and an attending, praising throng of those heavenly beings. The message came through ‘God’s messengers’ (cf Malachi = 'angel or messenger, given as the last Old Testament book and messenger of God) – came in the way in which God traditionally (or very often) revealed Himself to Israel when there was an important matter about to happen or that had happened. They shepherdswere expecting neither the message nor the messenger, certainly not in this way – this clear promise of God’s intervention (in sending One to deliver them from the nation's enemies and of the promised ‘shalom’ (peace on earth in every way and every agrea imaginable) to Israel and the world's peoples. However, the shepherds' words of response reflect, generally at least, their awareness of the meaning and wonder of such a message and of its fulfillment (finally) to Israel.
7. There was nothing hindering their hastening and going to Bethlehem. (See later, in contrast to the magi’s situation and response.)
8. Upon arrival in Bethlehem, they told those gathered around the newborn about the celestial/earthly visit and message of the angels; whereas Mary quietly and inwardly pondered these things, as was her habit. Then, full of what they had seen and heard, they returned to tell the Good News more widely to others (perhaps to those shepherds, initially, who had stayed behind to guard the sheep and then, no doubt, to family and friends).
1. A lamb – as they were ‘keepers’ or providers of the basic offerings of sacrifice of ancient Israel (representing the whole of the redemptive-sacrificial system and economy of ancient Israel), summed up in the impossibility of ‘the task’ and the need of a Saviour, a Lamb that would take away the sin of the world. Indeed, the biblical texts do not indicate explicitly that they took lambs or sheep with them in their quick journey to Bethlehem. Though they likely did not literally bring such offerings, there is a sense in which they (and we all too), bring with us at any time to worship all ‘that we are and have – and ever hope to be . . .’
2. Kingdom purpose and fulfillment for them and all like them is portrayed in the image and reality of any of God's shepherd-people (images of Psalm 23 and throughout the Scriptures come to mind). Pastoral images, thoughts and realities can be appreciated by any or all of God’s people, whether living in rural or urban settings, as a way of depicting important aspects of life in God’s Kingdom and the embracing of ‘new creation’ purposes and realities.
Notwithstanding comments that follow about ‘agrarian’ vs. ‘shepherding’ motifs (that is, in the story of Abel versus Cain in terms of God’s ‘acceptance’ of their offerings), there is a restored creation-aspect in this story of the shepherds from the Judean hillsides, in their offering of those gifts that are of God’s earth (livestock and other symbols of the miracle and mystery of life (zoe) on this planet, with ecological and environmental realities and responsibilities of all humans in the created order).
Looking after animals in the present (and perhaps coming) ages are part of God’s purposes for His people. Caring for, appreciating, even esteeming greatly any kind of created being is part of God’s gifts to humanity, serving in our intent as guardians, stewards and developers of all creation. (See the proverb: ‘A good man cares for the life of his beast . . .’)
3. Poor herdsman are introduced in the Christmas narrative, symbols of God’s identity with the lowest of society, as we remember that all of us are creaturely, frail and mortal. (He remembers that we are (but) dust.)
4. The Shepherds' visit and offering of themselves as gift also draws us back to the Genesis account of brothers, Abel and Cain - in God’s ‘acceptance’ of the former’s offering (a sacrifice of an animal from his flock) and the the rejection of Cain’s offering, as he, a tiller of the field, brings an offering ‘from his garden.’ The first Man, Adam, a tiller of the field was not up to the job, did not keep his stewardly assignment pure. He was, rather, seduced by desire to try out one of the plants – the forbidden fruit of the plant God had given him to manage; but its fruit he was not to eat.
Redemption does not come through our trying to get right, by ourselves, what we’ve succeeded in doing wrong, but in the provision of and from another – biblically, by an innocent victim, a sacrifice that is provided (ultimately by God). It comes by the shedding of blood not the offerings of wine. Blood must first be shed before the wine can be drunk to depict its worth – either as pure symbol of that accomplishment or, as the Catholics claim, in also mysteriously and symbolically and eternally becoming the blood of sacrifice.
5. The shepherds on the Judean hills were quite ‘near’ and proximate to Bethlehem (bet lehem = the house of bread) – just as Israel (by God’s gracious, historical choice) was very ‘near’ the ways, means and salvation of God.
6. Revelation came to these herdsmen by an angel and an attending, praising throng of those heavenly beings. The message came through ‘God’s messengers’ (cf Malachi = 'angel or messenger, given as the last Old Testament book and messenger of God) – came in the way in which God traditionally (or very often) revealed Himself to Israel when there was an important matter about to happen or that had happened. They shepherdswere expecting neither the message nor the messenger, certainly not in this way – this clear promise of God’s intervention (in sending One to deliver them from the nation's enemies and of the promised ‘shalom’ (peace on earth in every way and every agrea imaginable) to Israel and the world's peoples. However, the shepherds' words of response reflect, generally at least, their awareness of the meaning and wonder of such a message and of its fulfillment (finally) to Israel.
7. There was nothing hindering their hastening and going to Bethlehem. (See later, in contrast to the magi’s situation and response.)
8. Upon arrival in Bethlehem, they told those gathered around the newborn about the celestial/earthly visit and message of the angels; whereas Mary quietly and inwardly pondered these things, as was her habit. Then, full of what they had seen and heard, they returned to tell the Good News more widely to others (perhaps to those shepherds, initially, who had stayed behind to guard the sheep and then, no doubt, to family and friends).
The Gifts We May Bring
What can I bring Him – poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a Lamb,
If I were a wise-man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I bring Him – bring my heart.
Each person, family, clan or caste, people-group (ethne), tongue and tribe brings something unique in coming to worship, surrender, bow down and serve. It may be unique for the time, setting and occasion; it may be representative of some aspect of that person or people’s nature, culture, uniqueness, past, present, or future opportunity or challenge.If I were a shepherd, I would bring a Lamb,
If I were a wise-man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I bring Him – bring my heart.
The Book of Revelation ultimately depicts the final and eternal gathering of all the people of the earth in ways that continue their uniqueness, including perhaps (as at Pentecost) still distinguishing characteristics of language, culture, creative-contributions and gifts. God is not colour blind; the Kingdom of God is not a homogenizer that smooths away culture, language, differences and distinctions. God does not make the new Flower Garden (to speak metaphorically) one big, same-coloured Flower, nor the new Orchestra one huge, shiny brass instrument (or where would the strings and woodwinds be?).
The Christmas Story makes possible a new beginning for all kinds of people from all cultures and places of the earth to bring their gifts - as symbols of worship, obeisance, adoration, useful service and complex, creative wonder - to the newborn King.
What can I bring Him? . . .
A Great Light !
The People that walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon them that live in the shadow of the valley of death, upon them has the light shone . . . Isaiah 9:2.
That was true for Israel (particularly and locally) and it may yet be true for all people, groups, tribes, nations broken by the Fall, who may in many ways lie ruined, with so much unreached potential, lacking fulfillment, that have not yet found ultimate, creative purpose in living.
Our mission is, with the Spirit's enabling, to shine: to seek to focus the lens of God’s Light and Love to specific persons, families, clans and people-group through proximity, relational understanding, friendship, and by showing and telling the Good News.
That was true for Israel (particularly and locally) and it may yet be true for all people, groups, tribes, nations broken by the Fall, who may in many ways lie ruined, with so much unreached potential, lacking fulfillment, that have not yet found ultimate, creative purpose in living.
Our mission is, with the Spirit's enabling, to shine: to seek to focus the lens of God’s Light and Love to specific persons, families, clans and people-group through proximity, relational understanding, friendship, and by showing and telling the Good News.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Free infringements . . .
"Meghann Marco, author of Field Guide to the Apocalypse is someone who recognizes that obscurity is a much greater threat to the livelihood of a writer than piracy. Much of her day is spent trying to drum up attention for her book, and she was excited by the possibility of it being included in Google Book Search. Marco's publisher, Simon & Schuster, on the other hand, told her that would not be happening. They're part of the Association of American Publishers, which is suing Google for copyright infringement.
Marco sent a letter of support to Google, which quickly made its way around the internet. In it, she tells a story of being challenged by someone about giving away her work for free. "What if someone Xeroxed your book and was handing it out for free on street corners?" the person asked her.
Marco's reply: "Well, it seems to be working for Jesus.""
Marco sent a letter of support to Google, which quickly made its way around the internet. In it, she tells a story of being challenged by someone about giving away her work for free. "What if someone Xeroxed your book and was handing it out for free on street corners?" the person asked her.
Marco's reply: "Well, it seems to be working for Jesus.""
- from TQ Magazine
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Getting there . . .
'Sent' . . . hmmmm . . . . Not what one has in mind when thinking of how to get the church moving . . .
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Carefully, Carefully
We must be careful in our love/or hate of the Church (a lover's quarrel?) and see to it that we love the brothers and sisters, whatever may be their faults - and not take on the task of accusing the brothers, which the Evil One has taken on as his primary task. We may critique and seek to correct - to protest and to reform, but we must do it very gently, very carefully. When thinking about the old and the new, and of attitudes within the emergent community, with whose frustration and critique with regard to the established church, I often tend to agree, I think of the following needful corrective and warning of Paul Johnson, in his book, 'The Recovery of Freedom' - "The study of history is a powerful antidote to contemporary arrogance. It is humbling to discover how many of our glib assumptions, which seem to us novel and plausible, have been tested before, not once but many times and in innumerable guises; and discovered to be, at great human cost, wholly false."
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Seeking a Better 'Country'
I wonder if there's a similarly of thought to ponder if one interchanges the word 'country' (in the first sentence of the following quote - and the thoughts throughout) with that of 'Church' or 'Kingdom.'
Consider in that light the words of Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), as he pondered the essential nature of the US in his day . . .
"You see, my kind of loyalty was loyalty to one's country, not to institutions or its officeholders. The country is the real thing; it is the thing to watch over and care for and be loyal to; institutions extraneous, they are its mere clothing, and clothing can wear out, become ragged, cease to be comfortable, cease to protect the body from winter, disease, and death. To be loyal to rags, to shout for rags, to worship rags, to die for rags--that is a loyalty of unreason; it is pure animal; it belongs to monarchy; was invented by monarchy; let monarchy keep it. I was from Connecticut, whose constitution declared "That all political power is inherent in the people, and all free governments are founded on their authority and instituted for their benefit, and that they have at all times an undeniable and indefensible right to alter their form of government in such a manner as they think expedient." Under that gospel, the citizen who thinks that the Commonwealth's political clothes are worn out and yet holds his peace and does not agitate for a new suit, is disloyal; he is a traitor. That he may be the only one who thinks he sees this decay does not excuse him; it is his duty to agitate, anyway, and it is the duty of others to vote him down if they do not see the matter as he does."
Consider in that light the words of Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), as he pondered the essential nature of the US in his day . . .
"You see, my kind of loyalty was loyalty to one's country, not to institutions or its officeholders. The country is the real thing; it is the thing to watch over and care for and be loyal to; institutions extraneous, they are its mere clothing, and clothing can wear out, become ragged, cease to be comfortable, cease to protect the body from winter, disease, and death. To be loyal to rags, to shout for rags, to worship rags, to die for rags--that is a loyalty of unreason; it is pure animal; it belongs to monarchy; was invented by monarchy; let monarchy keep it. I was from Connecticut, whose constitution declared "That all political power is inherent in the people, and all free governments are founded on their authority and instituted for their benefit, and that they have at all times an undeniable and indefensible right to alter their form of government in such a manner as they think expedient." Under that gospel, the citizen who thinks that the Commonwealth's political clothes are worn out and yet holds his peace and does not agitate for a new suit, is disloyal; he is a traitor. That he may be the only one who thinks he sees this decay does not excuse him; it is his duty to agitate, anyway, and it is the duty of others to vote him down if they do not see the matter as he does."
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Read It !
Christopher Wright’s ‘The Mission of God’ . . .
Publisher Description: Most Christians would agree that the Bible provides a basis for mission. But Christopher Wright boldly maintains that mission is bigger than that—there is in fact a missional basis for the Bible! The entire Bible is generated by and is all about God’s mission.
In order to understand the Bible, we need a missional hermeneutic of the Bible, an interpretive perspective that is in tune with this great missional theme. We need to see the “big picture” of God’s mission and how the familiar bits and pieces fit into the grand narrative of Scripture.
Beginning with the Old Testament and the groundwork it lays for understanding who God is, what he has called his people to be and do, and how the nations fit into God’s mission, Wright gives us a new hermeneutical perspective on Scripture. This new perspective provides a solid and expansive basis for holistic mission. Wright emphasizes throughout a holistic mission as the proper shape of Christian mission. God’s mission is to reclaim the world—and that includes the created order—and God’s people have a designated role to play in that mission.
Publisher Description: Most Christians would agree that the Bible provides a basis for mission. But Christopher Wright boldly maintains that mission is bigger than that—there is in fact a missional basis for the Bible! The entire Bible is generated by and is all about God’s mission.
In order to understand the Bible, we need a missional hermeneutic of the Bible, an interpretive perspective that is in tune with this great missional theme. We need to see the “big picture” of God’s mission and how the familiar bits and pieces fit into the grand narrative of Scripture.
Beginning with the Old Testament and the groundwork it lays for understanding who God is, what he has called his people to be and do, and how the nations fit into God’s mission, Wright gives us a new hermeneutical perspective on Scripture. This new perspective provides a solid and expansive basis for holistic mission. Wright emphasizes throughout a holistic mission as the proper shape of Christian mission. God’s mission is to reclaim the world—and that includes the created order—and God’s people have a designated role to play in that mission.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Celtic Christian Orthodoxy
St. Patrick and his peers brought Christianity to the Celts of Ireland around 400 AD, at a time when all Christians were still "Orthodox." Several studies demonstrate direct connections between the Celtic Church and the Eastern Christian monasteries of the Desert Fathers. It would seem that that Celtic Christianity was the local version of what still lives on as Eastern Orthodoxy.
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Don't Try to Make It Make Sense
What I believe is so magnificent, so glorious, that it is beyond finite comprehension. To believe that the universe was created by a purposeful, benign Creator is one thing. To believe that this Creator took on human vesture, accepted death and mortality, was tempted, betrayed, broken, and all for love of us, defies reason. It is so wild that it terrifies some Christians who try to dogmatize their fear by lashing out at other Christians, because tidy Christianity with all answers given is easier than one which reaches out to the wild wonder of God's love, a love we don't even have to earn.
- Madeleine L'Engle (who, sadly, died yesterday - age 88)
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Before I Start to Pray
I am bending my knee
In the eye of the Father who created me,
In the eye of the Son who purchased me,
In the eye of the Spirit who cleansed me,
In friendship and affection.
Through Thine own Anointed One, O God,
Bestow upon us fullness in our need,
Love towards God,
The affection of God,
The smile of God,
The wisdom of God.
The grace of God,
The fear of God,
And the will of God
To do on the world of the Three,
As angels and saints
Do in heaven;
Each shade and light,
Each day and night,
Each time in kindness,
Give Thou us Thy Spirit.
Ortha nan Gaidheal
In the eye of the Father who created me,
In the eye of the Son who purchased me,
In the eye of the Spirit who cleansed me,
In friendship and affection.
Through Thine own Anointed One, O God,
Bestow upon us fullness in our need,
Love towards God,
The affection of God,
The smile of God,
The wisdom of God.
The grace of God,
The fear of God,
And the will of God
To do on the world of the Three,
As angels and saints
Do in heaven;
Each shade and light,
Each day and night,
Each time in kindness,
Give Thou us Thy Spirit.
Ortha nan Gaidheal
Friday, August 24, 2007
Sending Capacity
Is the mission statement of your local church based on how to get people to go into the world, or how to get more people to come to church? The missional mantra that people are saying today is this: The church is measured, not by its seating capacity, but by its sending capacity.
- Leonard Sweet
Lions and Lambs
The following article, entitled 'Choosing Mission Over Affinity' is from the blog 'Mere Mission' (July 15, 2007), in the context of thinking about what it looks like to missional communities to navigate a communal life without defaulting to consumer-oriented affinity. I concur with the article's sentiments:
"I am not inclined to advocate individual engagement with those it’s hard or unnatural relate to. To be sure, this is what local expressions of the Church ought to be doing, but doing together. There’s nothing wrong with cultivating relationships and growing in love with those to whom it’s easier or more natural to relate. However, if those clusters of disciples aren’t moving out together and seeking to engage people unlike themselves - those it’s more difficult to love, then there’s probably something lacking in terms of their Christ-centerdness.
"Affinity may indeed be one the hardest obstacles to overcome in suburban contexts, but if we are to embody the Kingdom of God for the sake of the world, it’s something we must grapple with together.
"I am not inclined to advocate individual engagement with those it’s hard or unnatural relate to. To be sure, this is what local expressions of the Church ought to be doing, but doing together. There’s nothing wrong with cultivating relationships and growing in love with those to whom it’s easier or more natural to relate. However, if those clusters of disciples aren’t moving out together and seeking to engage people unlike themselves - those it’s more difficult to love, then there’s probably something lacking in terms of their Christ-centerdness.
"Affinity may indeed be one the hardest obstacles to overcome in suburban contexts, but if we are to embody the Kingdom of God for the sake of the world, it’s something we must grapple with together.
EndGame
Coming as it does in the last book of the Bible and pointing to the final consummation of things, at ages'-end . . .
Revelation 7:9 paints a picture of a great multitude “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongue” standing before the throne of God, worshipping the Lamb.
This phrase records socio-polical difference (nations) as well as cultural (tribe), ethnic (peoples) and linguistic (tongues) diversity. The image pulls together the pieces of God’s activity in history: the multitude of tongues at Babel is dispersed because of worship inappropriately placed; all the families of the earth are represented in the promise to Abraham. Peoples who were once strangers and aliens to the covenant are now gathered in the presence of God as a multicultural community of faith . . .
This is a God who invites each person, with his or her own personal, cultural, and linguistic identity intact, to come into this presence and take on his character, which inevitably discards those aspects of that identity not compatible with a holy God (Rev. 21:22-29).
Revelation 7:9 paints a picture of a great multitude “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongue” standing before the throne of God, worshipping the Lamb.
This phrase records socio-polical difference (nations) as well as cultural (tribe), ethnic (peoples) and linguistic (tongues) diversity. The image pulls together the pieces of God’s activity in history: the multitude of tongues at Babel is dispersed because of worship inappropriately placed; all the families of the earth are represented in the promise to Abraham. Peoples who were once strangers and aliens to the covenant are now gathered in the presence of God as a multicultural community of faith . . .
This is a God who invites each person, with his or her own personal, cultural, and linguistic identity intact, to come into this presence and take on his character, which inevitably discards those aspects of that identity not compatible with a holy God (Rev. 21:22-29).
- Dan Sheffield, p. 32. The Multicultural Leader: Developing a Catholic Personality
Post-majority World
We are aleady in a post-majority world.
According to the World Development Forum, if you lived in a representative global village of 1,000, there would be:
There would be -
Of this village -
According to the World Development Forum, if you lived in a representative global village of 1,000, there would be:
564 Asians
210 Europeans
86 Africans
80 South Americans
60 North Americans
210 Europeans
86 Africans
80 South Americans
60 North Americans
There would be -
300 Christians (183 Catholics, 84 Protestants and 33 Orthodox)
175 Moslems
128 Buddhists
47 Animists
210 without any religion (a few confessed atheists)
85 from miscellaneous religious groups
128 Buddhists
47 Animists
210 without any religion (a few confessed atheists)
85 from miscellaneous religious groups
Of this village -
60 would control half the total income
500 would be hungry
600 would live in shanty-towns
700 would be illiterate
500 would be hungry
600 would live in shanty-towns
700 would be illiterate
Dissonance to Consonance
I've been thinking of what Al Roxburgh says about those of us who are 'liminal' Christians (waking to the fact that our churches are now 'on the margins' of society) needing to interact and learn from 'emerging' Christians - and vice versa. It reminded me of what Len Sweet wrote a few years ago in one of his 'Soul Cafe' articles. I looked it up. He wrote in two metaphors . . .
Said Len, 'We must learn to sing in harmony once again. It used to be we sang parts when we sang hymns. Now we sing the melody line, and leave it to the choir to sing parts. If we are to enjoy the post-majority world, where no one ethnic group will ever again dominate, we must learn to sing in parts, and to love sounds of harmony. By the way, my musician friends tell me that to resolve two dissonant notes, you either can force the notes together until they make the same sound or the sound you want to hear, or you can add a third note which will resolove the dissonance into consonance. The future belongs to those who can add the right notes, not force others to sing their part."
Said Len, 'We must learn to sing in harmony once again. It used to be we sang parts when we sang hymns. Now we sing the melody line, and leave it to the choir to sing parts. If we are to enjoy the post-majority world, where no one ethnic group will ever again dominate, we must learn to sing in parts, and to love sounds of harmony. By the way, my musician friends tell me that to resolve two dissonant notes, you either can force the notes together until they make the same sound or the sound you want to hear, or you can add a third note which will resolove the dissonance into consonance. The future belongs to those who can add the right notes, not force others to sing their part."
Monday, July 9, 2007
Growing Better
Do plants grow better in pots? Would they grow better, spread further with healthier fruits and richer fruits, colours and splendour, if they were not confined to such human vessels? Is there a time - perhaps in starting out, before setting them out into the 'real world' that they need the protection, the direction, the proper containment and focus of energy? Would the risk in wildness be worth the danger of being lost in all the other competing organisms?
Perhaps the answer involves a 'both / and' perspective. Maybe it all depends - on the kind of plant starting, in its purpose, place and with whom you want it to serve or bless or involve.
Maybe some ministries, some churches, need (would be better) healthy focus and containment - both to attract some to them and to release fruit and fragrance to others who long for the plant's life. Maybe those who are 'liminal' in empty pots or those with straggling, struggling plants could experiment in going without pots for awhile. Perhaps the sometimes naive-about-structures emergents could risk planting their new, fledgling organism into a pot - large or small, new or old, knowing that if it be of God the life will continue, the plant will blossom and flourish, the fruit and flower and fragance will bless people - anyway.
Maybe it's like weight-loss program - ie. they all work; the secret is to sticking with the one chosen . . .
Friday, July 6, 2007
Thursday, July 5, 2007
If the church really sees itself as the people of God, it is obvious that it can never be a static and supra-historical phenomenon, which exists undisturbed by earthly space and historical time. The Church is always and everywhere a living people, gathered together from the peoples of this world and journeying through the midst of time. The Church is essentially on route, on a journey, a pilgrimage. A Church which pitches its tents without looking out constantly for new horizons, which does not continually strike camp, is being untrue to its calling. The historical nature of the Church is revealed by the fact that it remains the pilgrim people of God. It renews and continues the history of the ancient people of the covenant and fulfills it in the new covenant. At the same time it journeys through history, through a time of complex imperfection, towards the final perfection, the eschatological kingdom of God, led by God himself. It is essentiallhy an interim Church, a Church in transition, and therefore not a Church of fear but of expectation and hope, a Church which is directed towards the consummation of the world by God.
- From The Church by Hans Kung
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Adaptive Leadership
An adaptive leader is the type of leader who develops learning orgnizations and manages to help the organization transition into different forms of expression where agility, responsiveness, innovation, and entrepreneurship are needed. Adaptive leaders are needed in times of significant threat or considerable new opportunity, or both. This has direct relevance to our situation at the dawn of the twenty-first century.
-- Alan Hirsch, The Forgotten Ways, Brazos Press
Attractional Church
Essentially, attractional church operates from the assumption that to bring people to Jesus we need to first bring them to church. It also describes the type or mode of engagement that was birthed during the Christendom period of history, when the church was perceived as a central institution of society and therefore expected people to 'come and hear the gospel' rather than taking a 'go-to-them' type of mentality.
-- Aan Hirsch, 'The Forgotten Ways, Brazos Press
Friday, June 22, 2007
Tribes
If we were going to be missionaries, say in Kenya, we would take seriously our need of entering another land, other cultures (one or more of scores of tribes and clans and sub-cultures), learning their language, customs, ways - likes, dislikes, religious beliefs and actions, etc. We would go there - missionally, incarnationally - rather than asking them to 'come to us' - to our language, music, culture, ways, preferences, etc. (oops, we've not always got this right have we, even in our missional attempts overseas)?!
But who will reach out missionally, seeing him or herself (or the local church on this-here corner) ? - to: those of new religious movements (like New Age); those in whole communities of differently defined sexual identity (gays, lesbians, transexuals, etc.), those immersed in sports communities, those who define themselves by alternative ideologies (neo-Marxist, neofascist, eco-rats, etc), those who define themselves as metrosexuals or 'urban grunge,' etc., work types (computer geeks, hackers, designers, etc.). Or - how to be incarnationally, missionally present to at least 50 discernable youth subcultures (like: computer nerds, skaters, homies, surfies, punks, etc.) ?
But who will reach out missionally, seeing him or herself (or the local church on this-here corner) ? - to: those of new religious movements (like New Age); those in whole communities of differently defined sexual identity (gays, lesbians, transexuals, etc.), those immersed in sports communities, those who define themselves by alternative ideologies (neo-Marxist, neofascist, eco-rats, etc), those who define themselves as metrosexuals or 'urban grunge,' etc., work types (computer geeks, hackers, designers, etc.). Or - how to be incarnationally, missionally present to at least 50 discernable youth subcultures (like: computer nerds, skaters, homies, surfies, punks, etc.) ?
Each group takes its subculture-identity with utmost seriousness, and hence any missional response to them must as well. They are as unique and different as are (in Kenya) the Kikuyu, Kamba or Masai tribes, or Somalis of the refugee-diaspora there . . .
How can one local church possibly reach out to all of the cultures around and among us ? . . .and, now, how to do that from the margins (liminally)- not any longer from the privileged, Christendom-cum-Western-Cartesian centre. No meta-story, no overarching (dominant) culture and story any longer exists for the nation. So, now what? How ?
Original Focus
C. S. Lewis once observed that "there exists in every church something that sooner or later works against the very purpose for which it came into existence. So we must strive very hard, by the grace of God, to keep the church focused on the mission that Christ originally gave to it."
Time?
If we're just really busy running our churches - can we possibly have time and energy left to be missional ? Does one discount the other? . . .
Smorgasbord
Can one local, urban church possibly reach all the different kinds of people around it - a mixture of yuppies, older working-class folk, family units ('traditional' and 'non-traditional' - of all sorts and descriptions), subcultural groupings (you name it - people from other lands and ethnicities - the diaspora of the world, now present with and among us), the gay population, upper-class snobs . . . I mean, do we really have any idea what it is we're trying to do?!
Most of our churches are just reaching out (locally, if at all -- with waaayyyy overseas, of course, being the exception) to people just like them. That's not missional.
Most of our churches are just reaching out (locally, if at all -- with waaayyyy overseas, of course, being the exception) to people just like them. That's not missional.
'Extractional' Models
When we focus mostly on an 'attractional model' in the shaping, programming and investments related to the ministries of local church (ie. mostly 'come to our building and participate in our programs, on our turf), then we de facto, too often, end up by really facilitating an 'extractional model.'
We take people from their families, their cultures and sub-cultures - vaccuum them out of their own neighbourhoods, cultures, families and sub-cultures (encouraging them to drive - sometimes many miles - to our excellent structures and programs and dispensation-posts of religious goods and services). We extract them from where they normally live and work and breathe, thinking that we must get them into our space so they can be counted (yea us), cared for and perhaps only then re-directed back to the people and contexts from whence they came.
Sadly, they don't 'go back' . . . we really don't expect them to, in tems of their living missionally, incarnationally in those prior contexts. We don't train them for mission there; we only help them invite others to make the trek with them to the church's services. We want them to bring others to us and we wreck their ability to be at home and office, to be incarnationally involved there, with the people in the context(s) where they themselves were first reached.
We take people from their families, their cultures and sub-cultures - vaccuum them out of their own neighbourhoods, cultures, families and sub-cultures (encouraging them to drive - sometimes many miles - to our excellent structures and programs and dispensation-posts of religious goods and services). We extract them from where they normally live and work and breathe, thinking that we must get them into our space so they can be counted (yea us), cared for and perhaps only then re-directed back to the people and contexts from whence they came.
Sadly, they don't 'go back' . . . we really don't expect them to, in tems of their living missionally, incarnationally in those prior contexts. We don't train them for mission there; we only help them invite others to make the trek with them to the church's services. We want them to bring others to us and we wreck their ability to be at home and office, to be incarnationally involved there, with the people in the context(s) where they themselves were first reached.
In Trouble
Frost and Hirsch, in 'The Shaping of Things to Come,' report that"around the world Christians are developing cafes, nightclubs, art galleries, design studios, football teams, etc., to facilitate proximity and interacton (with pre-Christians). If the church service is the only space where we can meaningfully interact with unbelievers, we're in trouble."
Seminal Reading
Been reading Alan Hirsch's The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church. Very helpful, potentially church-life changing . . .
From the forward: "Hirsch has discovered the formula that unlocks the secrets of the ecclesial universe like Einstein's simple . . . formula [E=mc2] unlocked the secrets of the physical universe." (Leonard Sweet)
"A fascinating and unique examination of two of the greatest apostolic movements in history (the early church - and China) and their potential impact on the Western church at the dawn of the twenty-first century. The book may well become a primary reference book for the emerging missional church." (Bill Easum)
I also recommend - Hirsch's book, co-authored with Michael Frost: The Shaping of Things to Come: Innovation and Mission for the 21st Century Church and, while I'm at it, Alan J. Roxburgh's The Sky is Falling: Leaders Lost in Transition.
What Next?
Loren Mead (The Once and Future Church: Reinventing the Congregation for a New Mission Frontier) says: 'The dilemma of the church in this transitional time is that the shells of the old structures still surround us even though many of them no longer work.'
Some of these 'shells' are institutions, some are roles, and some are mind-sets and expectations. Whatever, these need to be acknowledged, analyzed and dealt with, if we are to move on.
Some of these 'shells' are institutions, some are roles, and some are mind-sets and expectations. Whatever, these need to be acknowledged, analyzed and dealt with, if we are to move on.
New Church
The Barna group shows that millions of adults (in the US - and likely proportionately in Canada) are trying out new forms of spiritual community and worship, with many abandoning traditional forms altogether:
The study, based on interviews with more than five thousand randomly selected adults . . . found that 9% of adults attend a house church during a typical week. That remarkable growth in the past decade shoots up from just 1% to near double-digit involvement. In total, one out of five attend a house church at least once a month.
Gerard Kelly (RetroFuture: Rediscovering our Roots, Recharting our Routes) observes: "Experimental groups seeking to engage the Christian faith in a postmodern context will often lack the resources, profile or success record of the Boomer congregations. By definition, they are new, untried, relatively disorganized and fearful of self-promotion. They reject the corporate model of their Boomer forebears, and thus do not appear, according to existing paradigms, to be significant. But somewhere in the genesis and genius of these diverse groups is hidden the future of Western Christianity. To dismiss them is to throw away the seeds of our survival."
The study, based on interviews with more than five thousand randomly selected adults . . . found that 9% of adults attend a house church during a typical week. That remarkable growth in the past decade shoots up from just 1% to near double-digit involvement. In total, one out of five attend a house church at least once a month.
Gerard Kelly (RetroFuture: Rediscovering our Roots, Recharting our Routes) observes: "Experimental groups seeking to engage the Christian faith in a postmodern context will often lack the resources, profile or success record of the Boomer congregations. By definition, they are new, untried, relatively disorganized and fearful of self-promotion. They reject the corporate model of their Boomer forebears, and thus do not appear, according to existing paradigms, to be significant. But somewhere in the genesis and genius of these diverse groups is hidden the future of Western Christianity. To dismiss them is to throw away the seeds of our survival."
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Perfect Storm
At our annual Convention assembly, last week, keynote speaker Leonard Sweet spoke very practically, provocatively and prophetically. At one juncture he used the metaphor of our (the Church) being in a 'perfect storm' (yes, like the movie) in which three major systems of change have come together: unprecedented as . . .the Tsunami of Postmodernity, the Tornado of post-Christendom and the Hurricane of Change of 'Scale.'
Very helpfully, Sweet himself continues to venture into the deepest part of the storm, challenging us to see that our Lord Jesus, who having already overcome, is on the other side of the mountainous wave (in Spirit with us, yes) - and also calling us to come to Him there.
In this day - for this day, we were born - we struggling, straggling, still-trying-to-be-faithful gaggle of Jesus-followers.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Missionally Orthodox or Heretical: With What Implications?
I put out the following - not sure that I believe or endorse it, but because I want to consider it awhile; these thoughts and their implications for understanding, truthfulness, clarity, patience, trust - while remaining 'orthodox' but while also exploring possibilities, thoughts, implications, practices that are indeed orthodox, part of a larger Real.
Surely Christian maturity that allows for doubts on the way to the strengthening of faith, that calls us often to 'chew the meat but spit out the bones,' may also permit (perhaps even encourage) us to explore such implications as that of the following - without being (too) quick to judge, write off, call the theological police or consider all else but oneself a 'heretic.'
Clark Pinnock, Professor Emeritus at McMaster Divinity College, writing in 'Flame of Love: A Theology of the Holy Spirit,' says: "Though Jesus is not named in other faiths, Spirit is present and may be experienced. God can speak to people's hearts through the Spirit."
He quotes C. S. Lewis' thoughts in this regard, as shared in 'The Last Battle' (of the Narnia Chronicles. A pagan soldier named Emeth learns to his surprise that Aslan (the Christ figure of The Chronicles) regards his worship of Tash, as having been directed to him.
Emeth says: "I fell at his feet and thought, Surely this is the hour of death, for the Lion (who is worthy of all honour) will know that I have served Tash all my days and not him. Nevertheless, it is better to see the Lion and die than to be the Tisroc of the world and live and not to have seen him. But the Glorious One bent down his golden head and touched my forehead with his tongue and said, Son, thou art welcome. But I said, Alas, Lord, I am no son of Thine but the servant of Tash. He answered, Child, all the service thou hast done to Tash, I account as service done to me.
"Then by reason of my great desire for wisdom and understanding, I overcame my fear and questioned the Glorious One and said, Lord, is it then true, as the Ape said, that thou and Tash are one? The Lion growled so that the earth shook (but his wrath was not against me) and said, It is false. Not because he and I are one, but because we are opposities, I take to me the services which thou has done to him, for I and he are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him. Therefore if any man swear by Tash and keep his oath for oath's sake, it is by me that he has truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is I who reward him. And if any man do a cruelty in my name, then though he say the name Aslan, it is Tash whom he serves and by Tash his deed is accepted. Doest thou understand, Child?
"I said, Lord, thou knowest how much I understand. But I said also (for the truth constrained me), Yet I have been seeking Tash all my days. Beloved, said the Glorious One, unless thy desire had been for me thou wouldn't not have sought so long and so truly. For all find what they truly seek."
'As is clear from this excerpt,' writes Pinnock, 'Lewis understood God to be at work in the religious life of humanity.'
Surely Christian maturity that allows for doubts on the way to the strengthening of faith, that calls us often to 'chew the meat but spit out the bones,' may also permit (perhaps even encourage) us to explore such implications as that of the following - without being (too) quick to judge, write off, call the theological police or consider all else but oneself a 'heretic.'
Clark Pinnock, Professor Emeritus at McMaster Divinity College, writing in 'Flame of Love: A Theology of the Holy Spirit,' says: "Though Jesus is not named in other faiths, Spirit is present and may be experienced. God can speak to people's hearts through the Spirit."
He quotes C. S. Lewis' thoughts in this regard, as shared in 'The Last Battle' (of the Narnia Chronicles. A pagan soldier named Emeth learns to his surprise that Aslan (the Christ figure of The Chronicles) regards his worship of Tash, as having been directed to him.
Emeth says: "I fell at his feet and thought, Surely this is the hour of death, for the Lion (who is worthy of all honour) will know that I have served Tash all my days and not him. Nevertheless, it is better to see the Lion and die than to be the Tisroc of the world and live and not to have seen him. But the Glorious One bent down his golden head and touched my forehead with his tongue and said, Son, thou art welcome. But I said, Alas, Lord, I am no son of Thine but the servant of Tash. He answered, Child, all the service thou hast done to Tash, I account as service done to me.
"Then by reason of my great desire for wisdom and understanding, I overcame my fear and questioned the Glorious One and said, Lord, is it then true, as the Ape said, that thou and Tash are one? The Lion growled so that the earth shook (but his wrath was not against me) and said, It is false. Not because he and I are one, but because we are opposities, I take to me the services which thou has done to him, for I and he are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him. Therefore if any man swear by Tash and keep his oath for oath's sake, it is by me that he has truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is I who reward him. And if any man do a cruelty in my name, then though he say the name Aslan, it is Tash whom he serves and by Tash his deed is accepted. Doest thou understand, Child?
"I said, Lord, thou knowest how much I understand. But I said also (for the truth constrained me), Yet I have been seeking Tash all my days. Beloved, said the Glorious One, unless thy desire had been for me thou wouldn't not have sought so long and so truly. For all find what they truly seek."
'As is clear from this excerpt,' writes Pinnock, 'Lewis understood God to be at work in the religious life of humanity.'
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Confused Yet?
Sometimes you just don't know what to do next. Which is probably a good sign ('scuse the pun or pic . . .). Whether we're trying to emerge or just survive on the margins (i.e. 'liminal' and all that), sometimes the only thing to do is to pray - which is maybe where we should have started . . .
Just Do It!
As even one of our poets has said -
Ring the bells that still can ring!
Forget your perfect offering!
There is a crack in everything -
That's how the light gets in.
- Leonard Cohen
Forget your perfect offering!
There is a crack in everything -
That's how the light gets in.
- Leonard Cohen
Monday, May 7, 2007
Women 'Get' Mission
Stopped in at Baptist Women's Conference, last weekend in Gatineau, Quebec - held at the Chateau Cartier Resort. Saw my friends, Marc and Kim Wyatt, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship missioners, who will soon return to partner with us in Canada - in reaching out to welcome the international peoples of the world who have settled in our major cities (and places in-between).
Above, Patty Card, who with her husband Malcolm are part of the global field staff of Canadian Baptist Ministries, serving in Kenya, introduces a friend and leader from Kenya to the women gathered. (I'm sorry, I missed her name but will try to get it . . .)
I love the women-in-mission emphasis of Baptist Women of Ontario & Quebec. They 'get it.' Indeed, Baptist women have always 'gotten it' - having led the way for over a hundred years, in Gospel response and missional initiatives. They gathered to send missioners before the Baptist Convention of Ontario & Quebec (with whom I serve) had been thought of. They are still way ahead of most men - and, frankly, most churches in initiating and responding to the Church in mission globally.
Above, Patty Card, who with her husband Malcolm are part of the global field staff of Canadian Baptist Ministries, serving in Kenya, introduces a friend and leader from Kenya to the women gathered. (I'm sorry, I missed her name but will try to get it . . .)
I love the women-in-mission emphasis of Baptist Women of Ontario & Quebec. They 'get it.' Indeed, Baptist women have always 'gotten it' - having led the way for over a hundred years, in Gospel response and missional initiatives. They gathered to send missioners before the Baptist Convention of Ontario & Quebec (with whom I serve) had been thought of. They are still way ahead of most men - and, frankly, most churches in initiating and responding to the Church in mission globally.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Liquid Times
Walking on water in liquid time
ankles, toes, shanks immersed
but not quite sinking, yet:
Can we learn to walk on water?
ankles, toes, shanks immersed
but not quite sinking, yet:
Can we learn to walk on water?
Can we learn today when things are fluid
to live in the in-between
of large shores of history, culture
to live in the in-between
of large shores of history, culture
of old and new ways of doing things.
In between modern and postmodern
in midst of change, on cusp of change
In between modern and postmodern
in midst of change, on cusp of change
do we have to walk on water
or is it optional?
or is it optional?
Are we just showing off?
is it a party trick?
- What could this skill possibly
be in aid of?
- What could this skill possibly
be in aid of?
Have we been thrown - or fallen overboard
and we need now just to learn
how to do this impossible task
'cause we’ll drown otherwise?
Because we cannot walk on water
we can’t even swim, perhaps
least, not as far as we need to, we must
- can we?
Is it faith or folly or fate
are we tempting providence?
Is Jesus calling us to, wanting us to, waiting
to teach us, help us, lift us?
to teach us, help us, lift us?
If you want to walk on water, you’ve got to get out of the boat
- but am I, is our whole society
already ‘out of the boat'
rightly or wrongly having left all known?
All safety gone, the past, the known
like Peter, did we leave our fishing?
- the basic tools for doing, being,
behaving, left behind?
Must we leave our boats to reach the Kingdom?
to enter and share God's Way of seeing
to enter and share God's Way of seeing
things whole in all
He's made, re-made on Heaven and earth?
He's made, re-made on Heaven and earth?
Are we swimming, drowning
or still in the boat
when we might be walking nearer
to the Kingdom ?
What is 'Liquid,' anyway?
what its beauties?
Like that TV paint commercial
bright, beautiful, mesmorizing
a stream, a lake, an ocean
constantly changing, ebbing, swelling.
There's a certain thrill in being
‘over our head’
Like that TV paint commercial
bright, beautiful, mesmorizing
a stream, a lake, an ocean
constantly changing, ebbing, swelling.
There's a certain thrill in being
‘over our head’
in some extreme adventure
- and doing the impossible.
- and doing the impossible.
What are the dangers of 'Liquid'
if on stormy Galilee
or going with every day's flow?
- drowning, doubting, daring.
How to survive these liquid times
or make progress in such swells or calm?
What on earth - what Spirit possessed Peter
- possesses us, to want
to walk on water for a while, at least
to get out of the boat
and strike out towards Jesus?
Is it possible yet really not sustainable
for Christians to walk on water
do perhaps more
do perhaps more
for all who discover true humanity?
Or could faith be such -
so true in being and such in action
that we could do it more,
maybe longer?
Is Jesus hoping we’ll at least try
and understanding if/when we fail?
maybe longer?
Is Jesus hoping we’ll at least try
and understanding if/when we fail?
since were' living now, contemporaries
in such liquid times?
Is there not a watery middle-‘ground’
some ‘sea’ to cross? - to walk on
between old ‘land masses’
in such liquid times?
Is there not a watery middle-‘ground’
some ‘sea’ to cross? - to walk on
between old ‘land masses’
striding on, in liquid times?
between times
of governments old and new
old economies and new economies
old and new wine and winekins.
between
old and new healthcare systems
a life with a spouse and life after his/her death
between ‘green’ living and economic realities?
old economies and new economies
old and new wine and winekins.
between
old and new healthcare systems
a life with a spouse and life after his/her death
between ‘green’ living and economic realities?
living between
the time when we can accept
or ever come to terms with
the death of parent, child or friend.
Between befores and afters
of friendship strain and reconnection
walking, swimming, drowning
between the befores and afters.
between the befores and afters.
Life between, before
the not yet of acceptance of the theft,
the accident, the incident
between before and after visits to third-world slums.
between before and after visits to third-world slums.
Drowning between the loss of the old,
the purchase of the new
living between businesses, careers
selling the farm to buy the treasure
living in liquid times . . .
living in liquid times . . .
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
True Cost of Being Missional
Today I simply mourn and invite you to join in shared prayer to the Father of all comfort, because of the martyrdom of three young Christian men, one a pastor, in Izmir, Turkey. This hits me on several levels, not the least of which is that I visited this beautiful, historic city just a little over five months ago. Let us pray to God for justice, mercy and the ability to forgive as already shown by wives, family, fiance and church - and for courage to face the times that may yet come to any of us, as faithful followers of Jesus.
In the city (ancient Smyrna - one of the 7 cities of the Revelation churches) where Polycarp, disciple of St. John and follower of Jesus, made his final confession of faith and loyalty to Jesus in word, fire and blood, there continues today opposition, hostility, evil and fear, engendered in the hearts of some men and women - revealing much darkness in which shines the starlight of good and hope, as counterparts as well. It is when the night is darkest that the stars shine most bright.
These martyrs of this month were the first known martyrdom of Turkish converts since the founding of the republic. It was a gruesome assault, with hideous atrocities and barbarous actions reminiscent of medieval times. Two of the victims, Necati Aydin, 36, and Ugur Yuksel, 32, were Turkish converts from Islam. The third man, Tilmann Geske, 46, was a German citizen.
Four of the five young men arrested for the murders, all 19 to 20 years of age, admitted during initial interrogations that they were motivated by both "nationalist and religious feelings" and they had done this '"for our country." According to one article, an identical note in the pockets of all five young men read, "They are attacking our religion."
In the city (ancient Smyrna - one of the 7 cities of the Revelation churches) where Polycarp, disciple of St. John and follower of Jesus, made his final confession of faith and loyalty to Jesus in word, fire and blood, there continues today opposition, hostility, evil and fear, engendered in the hearts of some men and women - revealing much darkness in which shines the starlight of good and hope, as counterparts as well. It is when the night is darkest that the stars shine most bright.
These martyrs of this month were the first known martyrdom of Turkish converts since the founding of the republic. It was a gruesome assault, with hideous atrocities and barbarous actions reminiscent of medieval times. Two of the victims, Necati Aydin, 36, and Ugur Yuksel, 32, were Turkish converts from Islam. The third man, Tilmann Geske, 46, was a German citizen.
Four of the five young men arrested for the murders, all 19 to 20 years of age, admitted during initial interrogations that they were motivated by both "nationalist and religious feelings" and they had done this '"for our country." According to one article, an identical note in the pockets of all five young men read, "They are attacking our religion."
Monday, April 23, 2007
Unity and Diversity
Whether we have an English garden or a city orchestra we can appreciate the rich sights and smells and the wonderful sounds of music that come forth because of diversity - in the context of unity - from the uniqeness and the blends of many gifts.
Not all blossom at the same time and season, and not everybody is even (supposed to be) on the same page at the same time (though all the players, pray God, are on the same musical number) . . .
And then there's the queston of the gardener and the maestro - the necessary leaders, enablers, those who call forward the beauty of what will bless.
Not all blossom at the same time and season, and not everybody is even (supposed to be) on the same page at the same time (though all the players, pray God, are on the same musical number) . . .
And then there's the queston of the gardener and the maestro - the necessary leaders, enablers, those who call forward the beauty of what will bless.
These are the ones . . .
I think of the words of Jean Vanier, founder of the L'Arche Community, sometimes, when I think about how the church is best built up to strengthen people and bless the homes around. These words help me think futher about whether I am wanting to help create and/or belong to a 'small group' based on geography - or on 'affinity' (i.e. meeting with people like me, or just with the kind of people I like . . .):
We would have chosen better people,
nicer people, more beautiful people,
talented and gifted individuals . . .
but these are the ones whom God has given us,
with whom we are called to live
- and to build community.
We would have chosen better people,
nicer people, more beautiful people,
talented and gifted individuals . . .
but these are the ones whom God has given us,
with whom we are called to live
- and to build community.
Friday, April 20, 2007
Sent? . . . Why? - How?
What does it mean that in following after God's purposes for our lives, we remember that as Jesus was sent to our world, so are we? Indeed, a missional church is one that is sent rather than merely one that sends. But then, how do we unfetter ourselves as apprentices and disciples of Jesus so that we can follow the uncontrolled Spirit of God?
It is my happy task to assist the churches of a denomination - a particular 'tribal' family, as we seek together to pray, plan, respond and initiate mission - thinking and acting both locally and globally (glocally), following Jesus as best we may, wanting to get in on the blessing in what He is about (back since Abraham and the Old Testament People of God, and down to our day), joined in God's redemptive purposes, in His reclamation project(s).
Since, in this regard, I can’t be everywhere or be immersed as I might prefer in each local church, I have been seeking to think through and lead in areas that (hopefully) develop over-arching vision(s) for our family of churches, for specific local churches, for Associations and whole regions of the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. I'm struggling with how to be a strategic catalyst with the goal (with others) of creating ethos, birthing ‘a movement’ so that all the churches and those gathered together in Christian community, both leaders and congregants, see themselves as active missioners. I long for holistic, Kingdom-broad presence - signs and witness of Christ's living Presence, through transformed leaders and churches.
The ‘so what?’ of all of our 'church work' and work as a Church is that we may see transformed communities, as well as transformed people and transformed local churches. We will not bring in the fullness of the Kingdom; it will not come till Jesus comes again at the Great Day to fully establish His Rule, but we can set up sign-posts of this advent and make folk even now more hungry and thirsty for Kingom-coming, and for the King - who brings abundant life to our lives and especially to our churches. .
Thus, we have been exploring mission-thinking and trying strategies that we trust will lead to new (and also still through some old, ancient, tried-and-true) responses and initiatives as revealing God's intervening grace. We want to be part of this, in light of the opportunities and challenges of our times - in both those issues and areas that are global and epic in nature and also in those one finds in the more immediate contexts of our churches and regions, with the people who are actually proximate to us.
So, Issachar-tribe-like, we need an awareness of our times and a knowledge of what to do. Where are the prophets among us for these times, this day? - the prophetic leaders and voices in our churches, raised up by prophetic leadership in our pulpits. Where are the apostles among us? - who get big-picture realities and who can move into the transfer- and cutting-edge points of opportunity, in these two great provinces, and in this nation.
Where are the evangelists among us? - who will lead (within our churches)to help call forth and equip, train and ‘deploy’ other evangelists for the missional contexts of those local bodies - who will help us all to ‘show and tell’ the Story of God’s Gospel-grace, Presence and Life among us.
We have pastors and teachers, yes. We need more of them - thinking, researching, equipping, biblically, all of us for today’s mission. Our church communities need to be led and taught by mature women and men who will bring forth from the Word things old and new, as good stewards in their leadership tasks, and as good equip-ers of God’s people for such times as these.
It is my happy task to assist the churches of a denomination - a particular 'tribal' family, as we seek together to pray, plan, respond and initiate mission - thinking and acting both locally and globally (glocally), following Jesus as best we may, wanting to get in on the blessing in what He is about (back since Abraham and the Old Testament People of God, and down to our day), joined in God's redemptive purposes, in His reclamation project(s).
Since, in this regard, I can’t be everywhere or be immersed as I might prefer in each local church, I have been seeking to think through and lead in areas that (hopefully) develop over-arching vision(s) for our family of churches, for specific local churches, for Associations and whole regions of the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. I'm struggling with how to be a strategic catalyst with the goal (with others) of creating ethos, birthing ‘a movement’ so that all the churches and those gathered together in Christian community, both leaders and congregants, see themselves as active missioners. I long for holistic, Kingdom-broad presence - signs and witness of Christ's living Presence, through transformed leaders and churches.
The ‘so what?’ of all of our 'church work' and work as a Church is that we may see transformed communities, as well as transformed people and transformed local churches. We will not bring in the fullness of the Kingdom; it will not come till Jesus comes again at the Great Day to fully establish His Rule, but we can set up sign-posts of this advent and make folk even now more hungry and thirsty for Kingom-coming, and for the King - who brings abundant life to our lives and especially to our churches. .
Thus, we have been exploring mission-thinking and trying strategies that we trust will lead to new (and also still through some old, ancient, tried-and-true) responses and initiatives as revealing God's intervening grace. We want to be part of this, in light of the opportunities and challenges of our times - in both those issues and areas that are global and epic in nature and also in those one finds in the more immediate contexts of our churches and regions, with the people who are actually proximate to us.
So, Issachar-tribe-like, we need an awareness of our times and a knowledge of what to do. Where are the prophets among us for these times, this day? - the prophetic leaders and voices in our churches, raised up by prophetic leadership in our pulpits. Where are the apostles among us? - who get big-picture realities and who can move into the transfer- and cutting-edge points of opportunity, in these two great provinces, and in this nation.
Where are the evangelists among us? - who will lead (within our churches)to help call forth and equip, train and ‘deploy’ other evangelists for the missional contexts of those local bodies - who will help us all to ‘show and tell’ the Story of God’s Gospel-grace, Presence and Life among us.
We have pastors and teachers, yes. We need more of them - thinking, researching, equipping, biblically, all of us for today’s mission. Our church communities need to be led and taught by mature women and men who will bring forth from the Word things old and new, as good stewards in their leadership tasks, and as good equip-ers of God’s people for such times as these.
Christian Community Formation
Pauline ethics is fundamentally ecclesial in character . . . Paul sees the church as inheriting the corporate vocation of God's covenant people, Israel.
Paul is concerned with defining and maintaining a corporate identity for his young churches, which are emphatically countercultural communities. His letters should be read primarily as instruments of community formation.
God is at work through the Spirit to create communities that prefigure and embody the reconciliation and healing of the world.
This runs counter to much of our emphasis and sometimes too-narrow reading of Scripture as if it concerns only one's personal life - one's individual ethics and morality - and the related idea of one having one's own personal Saviour. Indeed one must personally commit to Christ, trusting His saving Person and Work, yet much of our thoughts about individuality in the Western world owes more to the humanistic philosophies of the Enlightenment, to the writings of such as Jean Jacques Rousseau, than to the Scriptures.
God see things whole - clans, cultures - 'the peoples' of the earth (as well as having a personal love for each one of us). Most of the New Testament letters of St. Paul are written to 'you' (plural). The idea of making a 'personal commitment,' of having merely an individual morality and ethic, is alien - or at least not primary - in New Testament thinking and, as well, in most of the world cultures and peoples of our present times - except in the West.
The community of faith, the local church, is the primary addressee of God's imperaties. . .To do 'ethics' apart from ecclesiology is utterly unthinkable for Paul.
There is no salvation outside of Christ and 'in Christ' we join in a Body, a Community of believers who together - around the world and through the ages, as the people of God, enter into God's salvic purposes.
( interacting with Richard B. Hayes: Ecclessiology and Ethics)
Paul is concerned with defining and maintaining a corporate identity for his young churches, which are emphatically countercultural communities. His letters should be read primarily as instruments of community formation.
God is at work through the Spirit to create communities that prefigure and embody the reconciliation and healing of the world.
This runs counter to much of our emphasis and sometimes too-narrow reading of Scripture as if it concerns only one's personal life - one's individual ethics and morality - and the related idea of one having one's own personal Saviour. Indeed one must personally commit to Christ, trusting His saving Person and Work, yet much of our thoughts about individuality in the Western world owes more to the humanistic philosophies of the Enlightenment, to the writings of such as Jean Jacques Rousseau, than to the Scriptures.
God see things whole - clans, cultures - 'the peoples' of the earth (as well as having a personal love for each one of us). Most of the New Testament letters of St. Paul are written to 'you' (plural). The idea of making a 'personal commitment,' of having merely an individual morality and ethic, is alien - or at least not primary - in New Testament thinking and, as well, in most of the world cultures and peoples of our present times - except in the West.
The community of faith, the local church, is the primary addressee of God's imperaties. . .To do 'ethics' apart from ecclesiology is utterly unthinkable for Paul.
There is no salvation outside of Christ and 'in Christ' we join in a Body, a Community of believers who together - around the world and through the ages, as the people of God, enter into God's salvic purposes.
( interacting with Richard B. Hayes: Ecclessiology and Ethics)
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
House Church
Houses come in different shapes and sizes, of course, and are very different from land to land and culture to culture. I was almost nonplussed, however, to have my horizons majorly expanded, last November, as to what a 'house church' might have looked like in 'Bible times' - as the church expanded from Jerusalem and throughout Samaria, Judea - and to the ends of the earth.
On main street 'Ephesus' (in ruins to be sure, but still remarkably suggestive of what things must have been like when the city was more 'intact'), I was able to visit several large houses likely very much similar to those in which St. Paul may have met with Ephesus' first believers. Here are no small bungalow prayer meeting places but houses - homes with huge rooms, courtyards, sloping and terraced 'condos' which in many cases could easily have accomodated scores of people. Mural and fresco-covered rooms, celings and flooers . . . wise passageways and easy, climbing still vibrant mosaics - and inside and outside running water, hidden sewage and large pipes, indoor lavatories - so much. And we think we are so wise and gifted - the first to discover, plan and house such luxuries.
It's amazing to me too how very soon, relatively speaking, in the life of the early Church did they move from these homes (again, many of them very large) to the architecture of special holy places - to church buildings, no doubt because even these many large houses with their expansive rooms no longer contained enough space for those gathering - newly come to faith and still looking to be joined into the community of faith - for worship, fellowship and practical instruction.
On main street 'Ephesus' (in ruins to be sure, but still remarkably suggestive of what things must have been like when the city was more 'intact'), I was able to visit several large houses likely very much similar to those in which St. Paul may have met with Ephesus' first believers. Here are no small bungalow prayer meeting places but houses - homes with huge rooms, courtyards, sloping and terraced 'condos' which in many cases could easily have accomodated scores of people. Mural and fresco-covered rooms, celings and flooers . . . wise passageways and easy, climbing still vibrant mosaics - and inside and outside running water, hidden sewage and large pipes, indoor lavatories - so much. And we think we are so wise and gifted - the first to discover, plan and house such luxuries.
It's amazing to me too how very soon, relatively speaking, in the life of the early Church did they move from these homes (again, many of them very large) to the architecture of special holy places - to church buildings, no doubt because even these many large houses with their expansive rooms no longer contained enough space for those gathering - newly come to faith and still looking to be joined into the community of faith - for worship, fellowship and practical instruction.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Together
We need to form more partnerships and seek more friends for the journey, as we join in community and seek new and effective ways of moving forward. None of us has all of the pieces . . . we need each other. It really is all about relationships! Let's note or make amazing connections with people; let's note or make opportunities for people to come together.
If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far - go together.
If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far - go together.
— old African proverb
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Community Transformation
We need to beyond the goals of having good leadership and healthy churches to an enabled ministry that actually transforms the communities in which we live and serve. Individually and collectively, we are “sent’ ones,” all of us in mission, becoming sign and witness of Kingdom-present and Kingdom-coming.
Perhaps my neighbours should know that I’m a Christian not so much because they watch me leaving my home and neighbourhood each Sunday to attend church elsewhere, but because I am a good neighbour. Can I be a more helpful, caring person on my street, in my apartment or townhouse or for miles around on rural concession roads.
The church exists for the world, not vice versa. The gathered church should help prepare its members to build up community where we spend most of our lives, most of our time. It is in the midst of society that we faithfully join the Saviour, interacting with people in all aspects of our humanity, passion and concern.
As the image of God is being restored in each believer and as we together form communal groups of missional endeavour, the world around can be transformed into the purposes of God. Is that not what the gospel is all about? Not likely in this life will we see God’s Reign fully realized on, but we can certainly by His grace and Holy Spirit, and by our caring acts and witness, create a hunger and thirst for Kingdom-coming. People around us may even now see evidence of His Presence and Care.
A church exists to enable its people to be missionaries Monday through Friday where they live, where they work, play, travel and dream. Right where they are, as St. Francis put it, we must preach the Gospel, and when necessary, use words. Good sewer systems (as well as deep sanctification) is included in the concerns of God’s people who love this planet.
Whether local churches practice “come strategies” (in seeking to attract pre-Christians into our facilities) or “go strategies” (where we intentionally move among ‘normal people’ – on their ‘turf’) we remember that we have been sent as ‘apostles’ of the Saviour. Simply by showing up and through ‘incarnational’ (being present) ministry among people, again with Jesus we love and lived God’s truth, immersed in various cultures in this world. As we do, people will see Christ and be drawn to join this new Way of living and being – entering a life that He calls ‘abundant.’
When this happens, whole regions, towns, villages and cities are utterly transformed. Out of the dark woods of present existence wide areas of full and abundant living become possible; and the Son-shine of God’s love brings once again the healing, forgiveness and provision that is essential for an existence that is fully and truly human.
Perhaps my neighbours should know that I’m a Christian not so much because they watch me leaving my home and neighbourhood each Sunday to attend church elsewhere, but because I am a good neighbour. Can I be a more helpful, caring person on my street, in my apartment or townhouse or for miles around on rural concession roads.
The church exists for the world, not vice versa. The gathered church should help prepare its members to build up community where we spend most of our lives, most of our time. It is in the midst of society that we faithfully join the Saviour, interacting with people in all aspects of our humanity, passion and concern.
As the image of God is being restored in each believer and as we together form communal groups of missional endeavour, the world around can be transformed into the purposes of God. Is that not what the gospel is all about? Not likely in this life will we see God’s Reign fully realized on, but we can certainly by His grace and Holy Spirit, and by our caring acts and witness, create a hunger and thirst for Kingdom-coming. People around us may even now see evidence of His Presence and Care.
A church exists to enable its people to be missionaries Monday through Friday where they live, where they work, play, travel and dream. Right where they are, as St. Francis put it, we must preach the Gospel, and when necessary, use words. Good sewer systems (as well as deep sanctification) is included in the concerns of God’s people who love this planet.
Whether local churches practice “come strategies” (in seeking to attract pre-Christians into our facilities) or “go strategies” (where we intentionally move among ‘normal people’ – on their ‘turf’) we remember that we have been sent as ‘apostles’ of the Saviour. Simply by showing up and through ‘incarnational’ (being present) ministry among people, again with Jesus we love and lived God’s truth, immersed in various cultures in this world. As we do, people will see Christ and be drawn to join this new Way of living and being – entering a life that He calls ‘abundant.’
When this happens, whole regions, towns, villages and cities are utterly transformed. Out of the dark woods of present existence wide areas of full and abundant living become possible; and the Son-shine of God’s love brings once again the healing, forgiveness and provision that is essential for an existence that is fully and truly human.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Cooperation
In several of Toronto's 'gateway communities' - places of entrance to life in Canada (such as Regent Park, Thorncliffe Park Village and St. Jamestown), Christians in and through their churches, in denominational partnerships, and with agencies both spiritual and 'secular,' are joining together in many new ways and on many new levels, to receive, welcome and give practical assistance to people living there.
The United Nations has called Toronto the most culturally and ethnically-diverse city in the world. St. Jamestown includes thousands of new immigrants and is the most culturally-diverse community in Toronto. Here live people as a microcosm of planet earth.
Legal and immigrant counsel, food and clothing, cultural advice and welcome are being given, as well as spiritual counsel (where possible and welcome). Resource-sharing for intentional church planting (building loving, welcoming, inclusive Christian faith and fellowship communities) is being made possible through the creative interventions and leadership of many younger and older leaders, and by missional families moving to live incarnationally on the floors of apartments and townhouses. They come together regularly to pray and to plan - and to try to discern what Jesus is doing, and to join Him if and as He wills, in the challenge of ministry.
This (new and welcome) spirit of cooperation, and meeting to dialogue, share, plan and resource others in these loving tasks in the Spirit and Name of Christ, show a new, greater resolve in mission, by Christians living and sharing ministry together in the Greater Toronto Area.
Newly begun is the pushing through and beyond historical boundaries and barriers of denomination, theory, theology and practice. In a day of perhaps unprecedented mission opportunity and challenge in the GTA, this is not only welcome - but essential. The Body of Christ in harmony and unity, despite and often because of much diversity still, wonderfully reflects the holistic concern of God for ALL of its people -- and the love of God in Christ that sent Him so willing to give Himself for the sake of this black and blue and broken planet.
God so loved the world (the cosmos) that He gave His only Son . . .
Whatever else 'missional' may mean, it means apprentice-followers of Jesus joining in a Spirit of unity and cooperation with Him and with each other in His loving concerns. For, we do need Him and each other much more than we have heretofor believed or put into practice.
The United Nations has called Toronto the most culturally and ethnically-diverse city in the world. St. Jamestown includes thousands of new immigrants and is the most culturally-diverse community in Toronto. Here live people as a microcosm of planet earth.
Legal and immigrant counsel, food and clothing, cultural advice and welcome are being given, as well as spiritual counsel (where possible and welcome). Resource-sharing for intentional church planting (building loving, welcoming, inclusive Christian faith and fellowship communities) is being made possible through the creative interventions and leadership of many younger and older leaders, and by missional families moving to live incarnationally on the floors of apartments and townhouses. They come together regularly to pray and to plan - and to try to discern what Jesus is doing, and to join Him if and as He wills, in the challenge of ministry.
This (new and welcome) spirit of cooperation, and meeting to dialogue, share, plan and resource others in these loving tasks in the Spirit and Name of Christ, show a new, greater resolve in mission, by Christians living and sharing ministry together in the Greater Toronto Area.
Newly begun is the pushing through and beyond historical boundaries and barriers of denomination, theory, theology and practice. In a day of perhaps unprecedented mission opportunity and challenge in the GTA, this is not only welcome - but essential. The Body of Christ in harmony and unity, despite and often because of much diversity still, wonderfully reflects the holistic concern of God for ALL of its people -- and the love of God in Christ that sent Him so willing to give Himself for the sake of this black and blue and broken planet.
God so loved the world (the cosmos) that He gave His only Son . . .
Whatever else 'missional' may mean, it means apprentice-followers of Jesus joining in a Spirit of unity and cooperation with Him and with each other in His loving concerns. For, we do need Him and each other much more than we have heretofor believed or put into practice.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Liquid Times
Liquid Modernity (published in the UK as Liquid Times: Living in an Age of Uncertainty), by Zygmunt Bauman
Review 1.
The passage from 'solid' to 'liquid' modernity has created a new and unprecedented setting for individual life pursuits, confronting individuals with a series of challenges never before encountered. Social forms and institutions no longer have enough time to solidify and cannot serve as frames of reference for human actions and long-term life plans, so individuals have to find other ways to organise their lives. They have to splice together an unending series of short-term projects and episodes that don't add up to the kind of sequence to which concepts like 'career' and 'progress' could meaningfully be applied.
Such fragmented lives require individuals to be flexible and adaptable - to be constantly ready and willing to change tactics at short notice, to abandon commitments and loyalties without regret and to pursue opportunities according to their current availability. In liquid modernity the individual must act, plan actions and calculate the likely gains and losses of acting (or failing to act) under conditions of endemic uncertainty.
Zygmunt Bauman's brilliant writings on liquid modernity have altered the way we think about the contemporary world. In this short book he explores the sources of the endemic uncertainty which shapes our lives today and, in so doing, he provides the reader with a brief and accessible introduction to his highly original account, developed at greater length in his previous books, of life in our liquid modern times.
Review 2.
In this new book, Bauman examines how we have moved away from a 'heavy' and 'solid', hardware-focused modernity to a 'light' and 'liquid', software-based modernity. This passage, he argues, has brought profound change to all aspects of the human condition. The new remoteness and un-reachability of global systemic structure coupled with the unstructured and under-defined, fluid state of the immediate setting of life-politics and human togetherness, call for the rethinking of the concepts and cognitive frames used to narrate human individual experience and their joint history.This book is dedicated to this task.
Bauman selects five of the basic concepts which have served to make sense of shared human life - emancipation, individuality, time/space, work and community - and traces their successive incarnations and changes of meaning. Liquid Modernity concludes the analysis undertaken in Bauman's two previous books Globalization: The Human Consequences and In Search of Politics. Together these volumes form a brilliant analysis of the changing conditions of social and political life by one of the most original thinkers writing today.
- from reviews on Amazon.com
The passage from 'solid' to 'liquid' modernity has created a new and unprecedented setting for individual life pursuits, confronting individuals with a series of challenges never before encountered. Social forms and institutions no longer have enough time to solidify and cannot serve as frames of reference for human actions and long-term life plans, so individuals have to find other ways to organise their lives. They have to splice together an unending series of short-term projects and episodes that don't add up to the kind of sequence to which concepts like 'career' and 'progress' could meaningfully be applied.
Such fragmented lives require individuals to be flexible and adaptable - to be constantly ready and willing to change tactics at short notice, to abandon commitments and loyalties without regret and to pursue opportunities according to their current availability. In liquid modernity the individual must act, plan actions and calculate the likely gains and losses of acting (or failing to act) under conditions of endemic uncertainty.
Zygmunt Bauman's brilliant writings on liquid modernity have altered the way we think about the contemporary world. In this short book he explores the sources of the endemic uncertainty which shapes our lives today and, in so doing, he provides the reader with a brief and accessible introduction to his highly original account, developed at greater length in his previous books, of life in our liquid modern times.
Review 2.
In this new book, Bauman examines how we have moved away from a 'heavy' and 'solid', hardware-focused modernity to a 'light' and 'liquid', software-based modernity. This passage, he argues, has brought profound change to all aspects of the human condition. The new remoteness and un-reachability of global systemic structure coupled with the unstructured and under-defined, fluid state of the immediate setting of life-politics and human togetherness, call for the rethinking of the concepts and cognitive frames used to narrate human individual experience and their joint history.This book is dedicated to this task.
Bauman selects five of the basic concepts which have served to make sense of shared human life - emancipation, individuality, time/space, work and community - and traces their successive incarnations and changes of meaning. Liquid Modernity concludes the analysis undertaken in Bauman's two previous books Globalization: The Human Consequences and In Search of Politics. Together these volumes form a brilliant analysis of the changing conditions of social and political life by one of the most original thinkers writing today.
- from reviews on Amazon.com
Gibbs and Bolger Interact re Missional Church
Marks of a Missional Church
Eddie Gibbs and Ryan Bolger were interviewed for a workshop: "Living Missionally."Here are the prep questions that were asked (and a partial summary of my answers):
1. What are the marks of churches (people) who live missionally?
They no longer see the church service as the primary connecting point with those outside the community. Connecting with those outside happens within the culture, by insiders to that culture who express the gospel through how they live.
2. What is it that keeps a church (people) from thinking missionally?
We have been raised with the idea that much of our life and our responsibilities as Christians are reflected in the weekly church service. It is how we think as Christians in Western cultures where 'going to church' has been an essential part of being a Western citizen. Our context has changed, Christendom is crumbling, but the shift to missional living is a huge shift for Western Christians. It might take the Western church fifty to a hundred years to make the shift, and many won't make the journey. In contrast, those Christians outside the west, who have never lived within 'Christendom', do not think of the church service as the connecting point. They have no illusions that those they are serving would be remotely interested in a church service. Instead, they embody the gospel through serving, both in deeds and words. This is a big, big, shift, and it scares a lot of people.
3. When people (church) suddenly "get it", what does that mean? ... and what do you think brings the revelation?
Christian leaders are burned out. They spend an inordinate amount of hours just keeping the machine running, both in mainline and seeker/purpose driven/gen-x churches. They know no other way to do ministry, and if running the machine isn't it, then what is? When these Christians discover a more organic way of serving God, of emulating Jesus, it gives them hope. They do not need to leave the faith to find integrity or rest. Granted, this shakes up their world, and their future is anything but smooth. But they find a passion again, like a first love, and it sustains them for the tough road ahead...
4. What is/are the hardest obstacle(s) for people/church to overcome in order to being living missionally?
Early in the 21st century, the American church is trained to consume, to be recipients of ministry, to go to church to 'get needs met'. It is how we are formed in the culture, and the church does not train us to be any different. To be active, to be a producer in the faith community, to share the burden, are the birth pangs in the formation of a missional community. Facilitating this type of transformation is one of the most important tasks of leaders today...
5. What is/are the most exciting examples of a people/church who is/are living missionally?
In my book with Eddie Gibbs, I share many, many stories that reveal what missional living in the postmodern West looks like...I couldn't be more excited about these people or their journeys...
6. What was it that drew you into seeking what you found? ... what did you find?
Like many of the people I interviewed, I was on a journey. Was there a way that I could express my faith in my world that would have some integrity? That would look like Jesus? That wouldn't make Christians look unnecessarily weird? As I began to spend time with these leaders and these communities, I found hope. They were asking the same questions! They became my teachers -- and more importantly, my friends...
Eddie Gibbs and Ryan Bolger were interviewed for a workshop: "Living Missionally."Here are the prep questions that were asked (and a partial summary of my answers):
1. What are the marks of churches (people) who live missionally?
They no longer see the church service as the primary connecting point with those outside the community. Connecting with those outside happens within the culture, by insiders to that culture who express the gospel through how they live.
2. What is it that keeps a church (people) from thinking missionally?
We have been raised with the idea that much of our life and our responsibilities as Christians are reflected in the weekly church service. It is how we think as Christians in Western cultures where 'going to church' has been an essential part of being a Western citizen. Our context has changed, Christendom is crumbling, but the shift to missional living is a huge shift for Western Christians. It might take the Western church fifty to a hundred years to make the shift, and many won't make the journey. In contrast, those Christians outside the west, who have never lived within 'Christendom', do not think of the church service as the connecting point. They have no illusions that those they are serving would be remotely interested in a church service. Instead, they embody the gospel through serving, both in deeds and words. This is a big, big, shift, and it scares a lot of people.
3. When people (church) suddenly "get it", what does that mean? ... and what do you think brings the revelation?
Christian leaders are burned out. They spend an inordinate amount of hours just keeping the machine running, both in mainline and seeker/purpose driven/gen-x churches. They know no other way to do ministry, and if running the machine isn't it, then what is? When these Christians discover a more organic way of serving God, of emulating Jesus, it gives them hope. They do not need to leave the faith to find integrity or rest. Granted, this shakes up their world, and their future is anything but smooth. But they find a passion again, like a first love, and it sustains them for the tough road ahead...
4. What is/are the hardest obstacle(s) for people/church to overcome in order to being living missionally?
Early in the 21st century, the American church is trained to consume, to be recipients of ministry, to go to church to 'get needs met'. It is how we are formed in the culture, and the church does not train us to be any different. To be active, to be a producer in the faith community, to share the burden, are the birth pangs in the formation of a missional community. Facilitating this type of transformation is one of the most important tasks of leaders today...
5. What is/are the most exciting examples of a people/church who is/are living missionally?
In my book with Eddie Gibbs, I share many, many stories that reveal what missional living in the postmodern West looks like...I couldn't be more excited about these people or their journeys...
6. What was it that drew you into seeking what you found? ... what did you find?
Like many of the people I interviewed, I was on a journey. Was there a way that I could express my faith in my world that would have some integrity? That would look like Jesus? That wouldn't make Christians look unnecessarily weird? As I began to spend time with these leaders and these communities, I found hope. They were asking the same questions! They became my teachers -- and more importantly, my friends...
Thinking Shift
Being 'missional' is not just another phase or some kind of program. It is what the Body of Christ is called to be and do. We must shift our thinking in ways such as those of Ed Stetzer and David Putman in their book, "Breaking the Missional Code" (Broadman & Holman, 2006) . . .
From programs to processes
From demographics to discernment
From models to missions
From attractional to incarnational
From uniformity to diversity
From professional to passionate
From seating to sending
From decisions to disciples
From additional to exponential
From monuments to movements
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)