Missional Church 360

Person

2011-11-27T13:20:00.001-05:00

If you want to be an individual - well, you can do that all by yourself. But, if you want to be a person, you have to be in community. In relationships we are most truly made.

Pastor

2011-11-27T13:10:00.002-05:00

Watch the video interview of Eugene Peterson and then buy and read his book, The Pastor. Wonderful!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GIwdjOktJE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

The Church IS Christ's Body

2011-10-25T10:58:00.000-05:00

Ideally, then … the church, the community that hails Jesus as Lord and king, and feasts at his table celebrating his victorious death and resurrection, is constituted as "the body of the Messiah." This famous Pauline image is not a random "illustration." It expresses Paul's conviction that this is the way in which Jesus now exercises his rule in the world—through the church, which is his Body. Paul, rooted as he was in the ancient Scriptures, knew well that the Creator's plan was to look after his creation through obedient humankind. For Paul, Jesus himself is the Obedient Man who is now therefore in charge of the world; and the church is "his body, the fullness of the one who fills all in all" (Eph. 1:23).
- from a Christianity Today article (Oct. 2011) re N.T. Wright's book: 'Simply Jesus'

God's Reign

2011-09-22T19:43:00.000-05:00

The proximity of God's reign does not change the fact that we are required to pray for its coming. But that is not because God is holding something back. That the reign of God is both 'already' and 'not yet' is not because it is only partially present or provisionally given, but rather because while it is given concretely and in the present, it may always be rejected and refused.
-- p 82, Bryan Stone, Evangelism after Christendom

2011-06-20T21:31:00.006-05:00

Alpha, Beta, Gamma . . .

Scripture: Luke 5:27-31

Introduction

After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. 'Follow me,' Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed Him. Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"

Jesus answered them, AIt is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

Introduction

There are many different ways & avenues

through which people may be introduced to Jesus Christ,

so they may come to place their trust in Him.

Our uniqueness are God's gifts and means too

that may be avenues of blessing He has given

to help us reach out in the diversity of our world.

People come to Jesus down various paths, rich with experience . . .

from different backgrounds - often laden with fears & burdens.

1.Thoughtful, Thinking . . .

Some are on a quest to know. They want answers.

They are looking for substance, for reality, for truth . . .

for the heart of the matter.

2. Heart, love, wounded, healing community . . .

Some are broken-hearted, battered and beaten up by life

by sinning and by being sinned against,

through the rotten choices & actions of themselves & others.

They have stopped daring to believe in the healing of the soul

or the body or the mind -- let alone in the healing of memories.

They do not expect to forgive or be forgiven

or to know the power of forgiveness.

They do not know how to start over, how to let go of the pastor the present

with all of its perplexity, confusion, angst & pain.

3. Physical needs, sickness, emotional distress. Healing groups. . .

Twelve-step programs, compulsions, addictions . .

There are those who have looked for love in all the wrong places.

They have made choices, or others have made choices for them,

that have left them addicted to something or other

perhaps addicted to sexual lust and pornography, addicted to relationships outside God=s plan for marriage.

But they have done their best, many of them,

especially given the influences & environments

with which they have to cope.

But they daren=t believe there can be release or an escape.

Many have adjusted their thinking & their theology

to justify or rationalize what they know to be wrong

as Paul shows us in Romans 1

or as something that God will overlook in love.

The searchlight of His Word, with its rigourous standards

& reflections of His holiness are quite beyond them,

and they don=t want to be involved with, or around,

anyone who can only point out their flaws,

without offering hope, help & healing in exchange.

They do not stay away from clinics & hospitals

when they know something=s broken

because they hope the doctor can help them

but they don't think that there is any healing for the soul,

let alone the body, in the church today.

Is there? Have you found any?

Or are we all deluded folk going through the motions?

I am so impressed and encouraged by the Alpha program

with its thoughtful presentations & opportunities for ineraction.

We eating together & offer each other community, friendship & support.

Listening, or perhaps the most simple comment can bring healing

into the soul of a wounded person

who for years has not been able to find the grace of God.

There are also many, practical & specific helps

to get KBC people involved (beyond Alpha).

Jesus comes with us as we encounter people at: house parties,

friendships, family times, daily circumstances

and "chance appointments"

especially when we seek to help the poor, the bereived,

the friendless, the alien and the outcaste.

In our text . . .new Christian, Matthew, throws a party for his friends

and invites Jesus!

There are Many Gospel Settings in the NT for Faith-begetting.

Jesus had so many different kinds of encounters

with so many different kinds of people.

Some were public and some were private.

Some were with large crowds, others were to one or two, or ten.

Here's Jesus on the mountainside teaching the Beatitutes,

with some of the most quoted texts of all history.

or at the seashore -- the waves lapping & sucking at the sandy beach.

riding the pulpit at the fore of a disciple=s little fishing boat.

In a rugged coastal picnic as thousands gather to hear His wisdom.

where afterward He fed them all

in the miracle of the loaves & fishes.

There's old Nicodemus coming in the middle of the night

to the rooms where Jesus was staying.

& there, following a prophetic exposure of his spiritual ignorance,

Jesus teaches him the absolute spiritual necessity

the mystery & the miracle of the New Birth

And there's a worn out Samaritan woman at the well, at mid-day.

Jesus at the local hospital

as sick-people lay about the pool of Siloam.

Jesus at the bedside of Peter's sick mother.

Jesus along the way, so often, in dusty roads & crowded streets,

stopping to talk -- and touch

the leprous, the blind, the lame, the infirm.

Just ahead of us, in our Luke 5 text, is the wonderful story

of Jesus in a house ministry
where the house crowded out

& some enterprising, not easily put off men emboldened by faith

lowered their lame friend down through a crack in the roof.

Today, wherever we go, Christian disciple . . . Jesus goes,

looking through our eyes, hearing through our ears,

waiting through our hands & arms to touch & embrace

the people that God is drawing into our life so they might find Him.

So we may find Jesus on the golf-course,

and in the curling rinks or bowling alleys of our land

when Christians go there.

- And Jesus in the school cafeterias and libraries and study rooms.

- And Jesus in our office and elevator corridors.

- And Jesus at the senior=s centre and lawn bowling green.

Matthew Threw a Party and invited His Friends -- and Jesus.

He invited those who knew him best -- his colleagues & friends

who had known, perhaps, his ability to cheat, or to swear,

or to take advantage of people.

not even sometimes by being dishonest

but just by being shrewd & mean

& by making sure that he got what was his,

whether or not they got to keep what was theirs.

Maybe they also knew, from hours of discussion,

his spiritual cynicism, that there was any truth to be had,

any answers to be found,

anything or Anyone beyond religious shyters

& forms without substance

Maybe, when drunk or depressed,

he'd admitted his own feelings of doubt & depression

or his despair over his own kids . . .

& they had not been able to help him

for they too had similar problems.

But now He had found something -- Someone

who had stirred up the dank pool of his heart

with fresh springs and eddies

so he found soul surging with longing but towards sure fulfilment,

& help -- from despair to hope,

from cynicism to fresh, child-like trust.

He had found Jesus -- or Jesus had found Him . . .

And he just had to tell his friends . . .

for his feet which had been wayward, perverse & rebellious,

were being turned into the Way of Jesus

that He knew now was the Way Home to Himself & to God.

Two paths converged in the woods, wrote Robert Frost, and I - I took the one less travelled . . . and that has made all the difference!

Life -- abundant, joyful, vast, vital and unending . . .

He believed now that it all lay in following this Man.

& he felt his whole being stirring into new life . . .

He hadn't felt like he hadn't for years since as a little boy

when the whole ocean of his life

with its adventure & beauty & discovery

still lay at his feet -- so vast and unending.

The most eager, energetic & effective witnesses to Jesus Christ

are those who have but newly found Him.

We cant get many longer-term Christians to come

& bring a friend to Church, to Alpha, to Jesus.

But those who are newly coming are excited about Him

and not too busy or embarrassed to bring a friend to Jesus.

The multi-faceted grace of God that St. Paull talks about in Ephesians

is reflected and refracted through our lives & personalities in various ways.

Phillips Brooks famous dictum about preaching -- truth through

personality -- applies to how each one of us shares faith.

Be yourself, and dare to share your faith -- tell your story

how it is that you came to know Jesus

& how He hears & helps you each day.

I have entitled the message: Alpha, Beta, Gamma . . .

not because we are in some exclusive sorority or fraternity

named by Greek letters

but because we are in a friendship group called the Body of Christ,

-- we have become friends with God & each other

and we want to be open & welcoming to life=s ellow-strugglers

-- seeking to share life in the embrace, encouragement & enabling

of Jesus Christ our Lord.

And Alpha, Beta, Gamma, frankly,

because our efforts cannot stop with a certain program at the church

when God wants to reach lots more people through you & me.

Alpha is one model that is being wonderfully used by Jesus

(through Catholics, Anglicans,Baptists, Methodists & others)

to win many to Christ.

There are many ways . . .

God blesses our attempts more than our plans to do it perfectly.

As D.L Moody used to say when critiqued

for his mass crusades:

I like the way I=m doing it better than the way you=re not.

A house party is another model.

And so is the men's supper,

or a luncheon at a golf club where we might invite friends

as our guests to hear a speaker winsomely share the story

of how he or she found Jesus

& help them to do the same.

And so is friendship evangelism, one-to-one through the week . . .

And so are all the pre-evangelism efforts we attempt, remembering that folk don't have

to go to Church if they want to find God.

The Gospel is primarily relational.

Alpha . . . welcomes those who are seeking

& people come -- not because of slick advertizing

but because a friend brought them.

We introduce folk to Jesus through our own handshake

and as we share food & table-talk. . .

& view the film & discuss the questions

& try to meet the needs that surface.

What do we know about Matthew? -- who became a disciple of Jesus.

He was rich enough to have a big enough house to throw a grand banquet.

He had a ministry to 'up-and-outers' who also need to find Jesus.

He worked for Revenue Rome.

He was the one who told you the government wanted more.

You can't run an army on a shoe-string,

and build those great buildings & water viaducts & castles

and keep up the temple environs without taxes.

Then as now the government wanted more -- qirh death & taxes ever sure.

Levi had a Jewish name but he was in league with the devil,

as far as his average poor Jewish compatriot was concerned.

He took from his own people & gave the proceeds to Rome

although - if he was like others of his ilk -

he might well skim off & pocket some of it.

AT Tax Time, allof us try to find ways of beating the system,

trying to keep more of what we've earned.

We want, of course, better roads, and health system,

and education, and child-care

but we don't want to pay for it.

Let the government pay, we say -- forgetting that that's us.

We're not sure (and no governed people in the history of the world ever has been)

that the government wants to help us and others,

rather than to fatten ts own salaries, & other perks of privilege.

Matthew was the kind of guy you would have loved to hate,

and no doubt plenty of folk did.

But God didn't hate Him. He loved Him with an everlasting love

as He does you and me

& sent His Son to save Him and change Him -- heart-side out

that he might become a whole new person.

that the real Levi might come out & begin to grow into maturity

in following Christ.

The Pharisees, of course, were quite annoyed.

Here was Jesus, that people thought was so good,

this self-annointed, they thought, prophet of God

rubbing shoulders with the rift-raft of poor, ignorant, sinners.

They thought they best stood up for God

by being indignant when people let themselves go,

instead of faking the fact that they were less than perfect.

There'll always be people -- religious types, who don't get it.

who think that their self effort & their do-gooding

& their abstentions from this-and-that

will credit them with God.

There were Pharisees in that day who had bruises all over their faces

and they were proud of them.

They got them by not looking at pretty women

in the narrow streets of Jerusalem,

even if it meant that, head down,

they rammed themselves into a gate post or cobbled wall.

Such people pretend they=re good, even when they're not.

They put on airs. They fake it.

They delight to pull down and expose the sins of others,

comparing & self-justifying their own existences.

I thank you, Lord, I'm not as bad as that guy.

You know what a good person I try to be.

They are always religious killjoys and party-poopers all around

strangers to life and love,

& to the legitimate creaturely joys God gives all people.

They are totally unaware of how love & grace & mercy

can possibly break down hostilities, prejudices & fears

& lead people to dare to believe and then to receive

the reality that God does love us

& is not willing that any should perish,

but that all should come to repentance & faith.

I. Another Call of Jesus and the response of obedience v. 27-28

II. A New Complication from the religious observers. 29-30

The key to a good story is: conflict, conflict, conflict. and there's plenty of it here.

III. A New Consideration from a Responsive Saviour. 31-32

Here is the Gospel . . . Jesus has come to call sinners to repentance.

When We Worship

2011-05-08T17:14:00.003-05:00

To worship the living God, the God we know as Father, Son and Spirit, is to give voice to our faith, to celebrate our hope, and above all to express and articulate our love.
-N.T. Wright, After You Believe

Doing More With Less

2011-04-15T13:13:00.010-05:00

On July 31st, 1917, the Allied Forces launched a ten day artillery bombardment using 3,000 heavy guns and 4,250,000 shells. Canadians are inspired by the story of Passchendaele where a relatively few band of brothers, Canadian soldiers, fought, bled and died in what was, many agree, a stupid, wasted war (as perhaps all wars are), believing themselves to be securing many of the freedoms and a new sense of national identity that we too often have taken for granted. Of all the Allied armies, the Canadians were most feared by the enemy. The Germans coined the phrase ‘storm-trooper’ to refer to us.

Remember how in the awful events of September 2001 New York fireman rushed in and up the stairs of the Twin Towers while others were rushing out? – entering in to save the lives of others while, quite understandably, office-workers were scurrying out to save their own. And, have you read of those heroic souls in the early Church who remained in, or actually journeyed to villages and cities, to care for those suffering deadly plague, which often resulted in the loss of their own lives.

In a day of economic downturn and shrinking budgets, of tired workers and flagging loyalties, how may churches with flagging zeal and resources respond to the challenges we face? We have biblical examples of God’s provision and of God’s People's faithful resolve and fruitful responses. There is a Gospel wisdom that shines through the (almost) planned obscurity of some of Jesus' parables that reveal that there may be other ways of communicating truth than through normally trusted, clear and logical precepts. In the Old Testament we find the Gideon story in which God kept sending home large numbers of Israel’s troops, culling the army down to the relatively few 300, a then-strategic, wise and faith-filled group of fighting men. There is a littleness, a weakness, a hiddeness, a ‘cracked-clay-vessel’ approach in which God’s purposes still get done (or normally get done in the greater Real of the spiritual realm). Gospel people appreciate these upsidedown strengths and realities of God's Rule so that they do not despair in such times. Inspired and enabled by God Himself, they rise to such challenges, see them even as opportunities, even though their numbers have been reduced and their seems to be only scant, meagre resources at hand.

Jesus pointed to the potency of tiny mustard seeds and the leavening power of wee bits of yeast. He revealed a God who ‘keeps score differently’ – who celebrates the sacrificial, miniscule contribution of faithful widows, in contrast the large (but ‘no sweat’) contributions of wealthy Pharisees.

Whether or not we have dreamed of winning a lottery, haven’t we all wished God would somehow grant us more dollars so we could bless the ministry of our church?. We could always do more with more, But God shows us that sometimes we can do more with less.

How does God us to do what we must, and more, in these times? With passion for the ‘missio Dei’ and in a desire to increase our loving service to our neighbour, how can we ‘lean into’ the times when others are leaning away from them. Many of us have experienced financial decline and even ruin in the downtown of world markets. Perhaps we are winded by uncertain markets, fearful of even further economic down-turn. The budgets of churches and Christian ministries have taken a hit and we have fewer dollars (discretionary and otherwise) to share. How will we look after our own families, churches and ministries let alone respond to the needs of others? Surely we have to curb our ministry expenditures; others will just have to look after themselves.

But these are the very times when others need our help. People are stunned by their own present economic realties. Many are depressed; some are homeless, starving, almost suicidal. They need our practical love, the ministry of our churches, our sharing of resources, even more? Can we cut back when they need us more?

Can we not be more imaginative in how, where and when we spend our shrinking resources? Can we at least give more ‘in kind’ – perhaps more of our time, our passion and creativity? Can we in other ways make shrinking dollars spread-out to close gaps between income and expenditures?

Some of us have lost thousands of dollars – perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars. It may have been ‘just on paper’ and we never really held it in our hands. It was faithfully, sacrificially set aside over the years, perhaps intended as retirement security or for that trip. But our security has been eroded. We might just as well have invested, and perhaps we still may, those dollars in more overt ‘Kingdom purposes,’ making eternal investments in the promise of heavenly rewards?

What if Jesus meant it when he talked of the lilies of the field that do not labour and the birds that do not spin – and of the Father’s similar concern and care for each of us? What if we’ve explained away, as mere advice or opinion, his command to: ‘take no thought for the morrow? Or, changing the metaphor, what if we ‘cast our bread on the water’ and faithfully, patiently waited to see its promised return?

What blessings await those who give themselves to our Lord and others in new and risky ways, who perhaps through utter abandonment, trust and give more away? What if these times give new opportunity for believers to show that they do indeed believe, in the faithfulness of God and in His provision precisely in such times. Joining still in Kingdom work and trust in such times, what if, with increased faith and ecstatic abandonment to God, we gave more?

Denominational Roles Yet?

2011-04-15T12:51:00.012-05:00

Denominational leaders, whatever else their job may continue to be today, are to be Holy Spirited disturbers and catalysts who also are to exhort and encourage churches towards their missional purposes in their communities. They will try to find and help to tell stories of where faithful, continual and new mission-shaped ministries are happening. They will seek to leverage such forward so that other examples and attempts at faithful mission-shaped living and ministry may occur.

Perhaps, as with a Google Browser home/search page, there will be little further there than pointers and search-links, to stories and resources, to gifted enablers and leaders who can help teach, challenge, nurture and enable, based on the queries and needs of those who seek their assistance.

The stories of churches still linked in the sharing of resources, mutual encouragement and inspiration, will serve as stimuli that provoke others to similar good works in their own respective, local and regional contexts.

Vulnerable in our Mission

2011-04-15T12:24:00.002-05:00

In Luke 10, Jesus appointed 70 disciples and sent them out to the towns and villages where he intended to visit. We know that Jesus with His disciples was on his way to Jerusalem, where he would die an ignoble death on a cross.

The sending of the 70 reverberates with Old Testament imagery. Here are appointed, in one sense, the new 'elders' of Israel. They are commissioned to go and, as it were show and tell God's Presence and Rule (His Kingdom) to villages in varying places.

Thus commissioned, the disciples are to take with them no provisions - no script, no sword. They are to forage. as it were by living from the hand of those villagers in whose homes they are given entrance. They have been living and sharing the journey of Jesus. They have become, to some extent, like Him. The flavour of His life was upon them. His humble, vulnerable, not-having-a-permanent home was now also their lot. The One who showed up in a Manger and the dirt, dust, squalor and stink of a stable, was sending them to out, without many resources at all. The outcome was, to say the least, uncertain.

In the old covenant economy, vital import was given to how Israel treated guests, the strangers and foreigners among them. Remembering they had once been ill-treated foreigners and slaves in Egypt, they were commanded to treat guests as they themselves had not been treated, but rather to treat them as one of their own, to house, clothe and feed them as opportunity arose. Who knows but what they might (like Abraham and Sarah) have opportunity to entertain angels (and even the Lord) unawares?

But the seventy are sent out with quite different mandates. They are not now those 'within' - to whom outsiders might come expecting food, housing, clothing. Now the outsiders and strangers, they were to go to the villages of 'outsiders' who did not know Jesus nor the Gospel message. Instead of being the host they were to be the visitor. They were not to go only to give; they had to learn what it mean to receive.

Thus, too, their mission was one of vulnerability and necessary trust: trust in God and in the welcome, or otherwise, and the ability or want of the home-owners and hosts to whom they sought and gained entrance, to give them welcome. There's was a great mission: they were bringing the Gospel of the Kingdom. They were bringing - speaking 'Peace' to that home - the peace, as Israel knew it even if imperfectly, that embraced the entire shalom of God. They were advancing and seeking entrance for themselves and for God's message, that of the Kingdom perfection and New Creation gifts that were near, that would fully come when Jesus Himself came, bringing within him all the reality of God's Reign. It would be the shalom of healing, meaning, proper integration of all creation, justice, and the proper rule and placement of all people and places. All of God's purposes and all that was created and good in God's world, in embryonic potential and reality was very close to those who would open their door to God's people and to God's message.

We must reverse our thinking of how it is God sends forth missioners in the New Testament economy. Indeed, we are not to be static, to remain at home; we are to go. We are sent ones (apostoles). We go to their village, their home, their culture just as Jesus lay aside and came from Glory and was 'embedded' in Jewish village life and culture for the first 30 years before emerging into His public ministry. We are to go to the turf of others, to go without all the things we have as resources available to us at home and which we take for granted.

Our churches are to welcome and embrace people from other cultures and lands, with all with various kinds of illnesses or needs they may have. But in this passage Jesus sends us out without all of the resources we have been used to having available. We are vulnerable and dependent.

When sent ones go they don't always know how they're going to survive, whether they'll make it or not. Not everyone will find welcome. Words and deeds of peace and blessing may rebound off some who will stubbornly refuse to allow entrance of missional messenger into their home. And if rebuffed, we are to go on to the next home, seeking to bring near the Kingdom and all the Good News, reality and integral-shalom that God offers.

This reversal of Israel’s normal role and its transfer or incorporation as principle into the Church as a missional community reveals a new way (but a way very much as modeled by Jesus). It is a way of humility and vulnerability. It is the way forward in mission often for Jesus' disciples, also. We are sometimes simply to obey and to go, to simply show up and see whether homes and hearts will be open to us and to the Gospel.

Who's Already Doing It?

2011-04-15T12:21:00.004-05:00

As we seek to get to know our neighbour, our community, our setting, the culture and the people we long to reach, we need to find out: Who’s already doing It? -- doing something that will help, bless and enable people in that context.

What is the ‘good news’ to this people group before or as they are introduced by our showing and telling them the GOOD NEWS? What are other churches, ministries, missions, ‘secular’ agencies, state doing already (in the direction of Kingdom work – good work, even if not yet done clearly ‘in the Name of Jesus?’

God’s work is not just done by Christians. Where can we partner, join, etc. with others (government, secular, other denominations, even other faith-groups), while still keeping our Christian witness intact & with integrity?

Coming and Going . . .

2011-04-14T13:29:00.002-05:00

Whether we have ‘come strategies’ or ‘go strategies’ as local churches, we are to consider ourselves ‘sent’ (that is, in apostolic ministry) following the Saviour and with His apprentice-disciples.

Sometimes simply in showing up and living with and among people as did Jesus, by being immersed in their world and culture and lovingly living-out God’s truth, in revealing in those everyday places God's mercy and grace and plans for restored and right living, people will be drawn to ask 'why?' and to respond to our lives with a desire to join this new Way of living and being.

Being There

2010-12-04T21:13:00.000-05:00

The Ministry of Presence

"More and more, the desire grows in me simply to walk around, greet people, enter their homes, sit on their doorsteps, play ball, throw water, and be known as someone who wants to live with them. It is a privilege to have the time to practice this simple ministry of presence. Still, it is not as simple as it seems.

"My own desire to be useful, to do something significant, or to be part of some impressive project is so strong that soon my time is taken up by meetings, conferences, study groups, and workshops that prevent me from walking the streets. It is difficult not to have plans, not to organize people around an urgent cause, and not to feel that you are working directly for social progress. But I wonder more and more if the first thing shouldn’t be to know people by name, to eat and drink with them, to listen to their stories and tell your own, and to let them know with words, handshakes, and hugs that you do not simply like them, but truly love them."

- Henri Nouwen

Watch This - And Then Watch Out

2010-04-29T12:12:00.001-05:00

Reggie McNeal Main Session Unleashed Conference 2010 from Unleashed Network on Vimeo.

Sent and Sending

2010-04-18T13:37:00.002-05:00

A church’s success should not be measured by how many come in but by how many are released and sent out.

What is 'Missional Church'?

2010-04-17T21:35:00.000-05:00

Craig Van Gelder & Alan Roxburgh - What is Missional Church? from Allelon on Vimeo.

Al Roxburgh talks with Craig Van Gelder

A Real Conversation

2010-04-17T14:58:00.002-05:00

Sally Morgenthaler & Alan Roxburgh from Allelon on Vimeo.

Alan Roxburgh talks with Morgenthaler about worship and her experiences in the church. (a December 2007 interview)

Al Roxburgh: 'Being the Missional Church'

2010-04-17T14:23:00.000-05:00

Questions & Reflections on Being the Missional Church from Roxburgh Missional Network on Vimeo.

Cam Roxburgh: 'Missional Church'

2010-04-17T14:19:00.001-05:00

Characteristics of Missional Church from Ro N on Vimeo.

Frost: Attractional and Missional Church

2010-04-17T14:16:00.000-05:00

Mike Frost - Missional v. Attractional Church from Ro N on Vimeo.

Missional Church - Simple

2010-04-17T14:09:00.001-05:00

For a simple explanation of 'Missional Church' view this video.

Denominational Embrace of Mission-Shaped Lives & Ministries

2010-04-13T21:48:00.005-05:00

My longing is that we may see in our denomination the creation of a missional movement, comprised of new mission-shaped atmosphere and ethos.

To get there from here will involve change in attitude with regard to various aspect of what has been seen as ‘normal’ in the life of our family of churches. All aspects will be involved, including concept of how support of the denomination encourages and resources individual churches and regional associations.

My role is not necessarily to have all the resources and then to dole them out as and if asked But rather, as more of a router than a main-frame, my role is to direct pastor, leaders and congregations to the many resources, stories and models of FreshChurch where the missional task is being taken up because the need to do so is being taken seriously.

Denominatonal leaders in their encouraging, catalytic and resourcing capacity will ask local church leaders and congregants: ‘How does growth happen? How will necessary change be effected in this locale? What is your mission? How can we help you discern and embrace ways of obedient, trusting response?

New Church Expressions

2010-04-13T17:30:00.003-05:00

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Rural Church Awake

2010-03-30T21:42:00.001-05:00

Rural Churches – Partnering Together

2010-03-30T14:57:00.005-05:00

Rural churches have always known that they cannot survive by themselves. They very much need the support and encouragement of other local churches, and churches of the wider Association, if each one is to be faithful to its call and mandate in the respective places of ministry in which Christ has established them.

How they do that today may be very different than how it was formerly done. What to continue doing, what to leave aside, and what to newly establish, in shared mission and ministry, is very much to the front in our thinking of such matters today. No church has all that it needs, in and by itself.

Since no individual Christian has all of the gifts, talents, abilities, training and experienced needed, God has put us together in community. We make use of the differences of what we bring, even as, also, we celebrate the unity of purpose in what we seek to achieve. Thus, local churches partner with others in order to find how their unique ‘pieces of the puzzle’ fits in to the mission at hand, hopefully including vision concerning whole geographical regions, as well as in shared ministries to people in cultural groupings. Churches may share ‘puzzle-pieces’ that reflect such as: the gifts, skills, experience and abilities of a pastor or other church leaders and the same as relating to that which congregants may offer in an exchange of resources, like money, facilities, teaching and training seminars, stories and perspectives of what they’re doing in terms of practical experiences, training events, and short term ministry and mission opportunities, locally as well as globally.

Such necessary perspective and action may help to arrest the serious decline of many rural churches. They will be stronger and remain or return to new viability as they collectively share and manage resources.

In Most Instances, Old Ways of ‘Doing Association’ in Denominations Must Change.In earlier years of their voluntary association (to augment their strength and the fruit of their shared labours), churches, pastors and congregants supported by their attendance and participation associational gatherings. For the most part, this is no longer true today. Formerly, long distances made unique challenges that few are continue to face today. Church leaders, delegates and interested individuals travelled many hours, days even, by horse-back and carriage and, then, by early forms of car-transport, to attend such gatherings. Spring and Fall Rallies were common; Annual Meetings were attended upon by relatively large crowds.

Most will not sacrifice to attend meetings and rallies, today. The purposes for such gatherings are no longer espoused – that of having fellowship and developing more distant relationships for the purpose of inter-action and collective ministry. They no longer commit to travel to such events in order to gain new perspective and insights for ministry, or to find inspiration, good teaching and other resource-aids for ministry to help them as they return to their locales, for service there.
Pastors, leaders and congregants today can be ‘in fellowship’ by any number of means of communication, such as phone or the World Wide Web.

While not face-to-face, in many ways such interactions can be more intimate and certainly more immediate. If, especially, there has been a prior face-to-face meeting and relationship, these other means serve to augment and deepen such inter-personal contacts and communication. Whether welcomed or not, or thought inappropriate for ‘real fellowship and interaction’ by perhaps those of certain perspectives or stages of life, in reality such high tech / lower touch interactions are here to stay. They are welcomed and taken for granted by younger and emerging generations as is any new or serviceable technology.

Just as One can eat with one’s fingers or with chopsticks or fork such instruments are used at will and ease, or by cultural (or sub-cultural) preference. Opposing such interactions may not mean that we label as ‘Luddite’ those opponents of new technologies and they may rightly prefer more face-to -face relational activities (as essential or proper for such fellowship). Yet, it may also reflect an unawareness of the fact that many young people seem to be are more in touch and more relationally involved in close friendship and collegial interaction than are many of those who challenge the technology, preferences and time spent, that allows for this to be so. People no longer believe they have to gather in face-to-face dialogue and discussion before they and decide on matters of import.

Many congregants, even including pastors and leaders in local churches have stopped attending associational and other denominational rallies. Smaller numbers faithfully few but even many of them show increasingly limited interest. They do not conclude that the matters under consideration are of sufficient import to command the commitment of their time, travel and interaction. Such expenditures, it is felt, are no longer worth it (and people vote with their absence). There is feeling that such investment could better be given in other ways, still with the goals and desires of following in the ways of Christ and the work of His Church.

This seems to some to reveal a clear lack of commitment, reflecting or guaranteeing the steady decline of the denomination, a drawing back from voluntary association with the attending purpose of receiving thereby: fellowship, stimulus, inspiration, resources, and agreement on next steps for mission.

Pastors, leaders and congregants read, study and interact on-line, or through books or other personal involvements with a wide range of friends, acquaintances and fellow-Christians. They know what they think and how they would vote. They can register their opinion and votes without having to travel miles to have a more linear (than laterally-rich) interaction and debate. They can discuss matters of import online and thereby come to their own opinions, preferences and subsequent involvements. They can see visually the other (e.g. by Skype) and can do that with a number of people at a time (through new and evolving technologies). This does not mean they never get together, but it does augment the times both before and after that can influence and enrich, and suggest actions and attending resources for positive involvement.

One can subscribe to, and download freely from ministry resource sites online. They may come from far away and diverse places, such as ChristChurch, New Zealand, from anywhere in Canada or the United States, from the United Kingdom or from any formerly ‘distant land.’ Worldwide, Christian thought, ministry and mission is being practiced and new (and old insights and resources are being developed and in many instances, generously shared. Good and focused resources might be available at any general or specific seminar, in the context of rallies, assemblies, etc. and these will continue to be available to those who attend. But there are others good sources (many more of them, in fact) that are widely available to help stimulate, encourage, inform and resource both general and specific ministries and tasks that pastors and congregants may want to explore. Then they can move together to develop such initiatives in their own specific ministry-contexts and settings.

Pastors and leaders, as well as congregants with specific tasks, burdens and need for assistance, may also develop relational interactions with anyone world-wide and thereby further share fellowship, information, helpful perspectives and practical resources.

Ideas and resources thus gained will need to be vetted and places through the gifted lives of those ministering in specific, local settings. This is because, although the general objectives, insights, principles and values may be universal, in most instances ‘one size does not fit all’ in terms of how truth is lived and worked out locally, in the actual incarnational setting in which the specific ministries are enjoined.

It follows then, that there is danger in a kind of local franchising of what seems to have ‘worked’ pragmatically elsewhere. In most instances of local mission, the uniqueness of God’s purposes in that context, the openness of people and the subsequent opportunities for response will be key. Inherent also in believers seeking passionately to respond to God’s call will be the need for prayer and for dependence upon the Holy Spirited for His creativity and imagination, for Christians seek both to be faithful to eternal truths and ways as well as to becoming specifically and locally relevant as they seek to do God’s will and to be helpful in the midst of the actual challenges and opportunities at hand.

A 'Lectio' on Luke 10

2010-03-23T16:07:00.000-05:00

In the immediate context, Jesus says: Nobody who puts foot to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of Heaven . . .

Jesus sends out 70 disciples, two by two – ahead to places where Jesus was about to go. He points out that there is much to do: a great harvest lies ahead. His disciples are to pray that the Lord of the harvest would bring other labourers to the ask and these disciples are themselves to go, in part as answer to their own prayer.

The disciples are to go, sent by the Lord Himself, as lambs (who follow this shepherd) among wolves (to people that like to eat lambs. So, there is warning and risk, but we are to go anyway.

Following this thought, too, we go as weak and vulnerable people, ordinary, non-aggressive, needing everything but to be expecting to find it when we get there.

We are not to overly think or overly plan; in fact don’t take stuff with you, for you will, in a sense, scavenge as you go and ‘live off the land’ and from the people into whose midst you will arrive. And don’t talk to anyone on the road. Rather go directly, resolutely and without allowing interruptions or things or people to distract you.

Go to towns and cities. Start by saying, when you get there and enter a house: ‘Peace to this house’ (even they’re ‘wolves’) – because you’ve come to offer: your presence (and Jesus’ soon arrival too), God’s shalom, His wholeness and blessing. Again, forage as you go; don’t move around; eat what you get.

In their homes, live incarnationally present with them. Stay there in their houses, among them, with them, sharing their meals, appreciating their hospitality and a place to sleep. Your ministry is worth such reward.

Heal the sick; preach the Kingdom. The Kingdom is very near simply in your being there, having obeyed Jesus – and representing Him – and doing the very things that He would do and will do more fully when He arrives. If disciples are there, the Kingdom is there. Shake the dust off your feet (a kind of cursing if they refuse the blessing?!), for they have rejected the Kingdom of

Walk on Water

2010-02-20T18:27:00.000-05:00

If you want to walk on water, you have to get out of the church (building).

Repairer of Walls

2010-02-20T18:08:00.003-05:00

Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

-- Isaiah 58:12

Who is My Neighbour?

2010-02-20T17:56:00.004-05:00

Should I try to attract my neighbours to my church (building), through all kinds of 'seeker-friendly' schemes (which extract them from where they usually live), or should I, rather, go/stay and try to raise the spiritual temperature in the neighbourhood?

Fisher

2010-02-20T17:45:00.002-05:00

Even one fisherman can catch many fish . . .

Ephesus Amphitheatre

2010-02-20T17:43:00.003-05:00

When the Apostle Paul with his colleagues came to Ephesus, they came in 'hot.'

Pilgrim? Seeker?

2010-02-20T17:41:00.002-05:00

Except for These Chains

2010-02-20T17:38:00.002-05:00

Purported chains that bound the Apostle Paul, while a prisoner in Rome.

Not Ceasar

2010-02-20T17:36:00.002-05:00

Jesus is Lord!

A Rich Past

2010-02-20T17:29:00.001-05:00

But is there a future?

Beyond Worship Lite

2010-02-11T16:55:00.019-05:00

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O God our Strength and our Redeemer.

In a worship service I attended, we came to the time for the reading of the Scripture. A young man of about twenty walked from the back of the sanctuary to the front, turned and faced the congregants and began to speak: Listen now to these words, from the Book we all love. He then recited from memory what must have been the whole chapter to help to set the context for the theme and message of the day. I was deeply moved and profoundly affected - by both the content of the Word and by the uniqueness of how it was thus introduced to us that day.

In another service, the message, import and power of God’s Word entered my mind and heart through the following experience. Down two of the aisles of the Sanctuary moved two young women, in middle to late teen years, each dressed in a long white garment – not quite choir robes, not quite angels – but almost. Likely they had made them specifically for this or such times. Again as had the young man in the previous service, they turned to face the congregants and said similar words of introduction and again it was obvious we were not to turn in our Bibles to page xyz, but to listen as they again recited from memory passages from Scripture.

Holy, Holy, Holy

Actually they staggered their recitations, if that’s the right way to put it. One began and at appropriate moment paused, while the other joined in but from a completely different passage. The first was giving the Word of the Lord as written in Isaiah 6. The latter bringing the Message from Revelation 4. (See end notes for fuller presentation of these verses)

Isaiah 6: ‘In the year that King Uzziah Died . . . .Holy, Holy, Holy!"
Revelation 4: "before the throne and before the Lamb . . .Holy, Holy, Holy!"
Isaiah – Holy, Holy, Holy. Revelation – Holy, Holy, Holy Interposed – HOLY! / Holy! . . . HOLY! / Holy! – the words coming from different points of focus in the sanctuary . . .

I was sat transfixed, my heart in my throat, tears burning my eyes and rolling down and off my chin. It was as if I was hearing these familiar words as for the first time.
In my heart and experience, and I am sure in that of others gathered, there came such realities as: thoughtfulness, reverence, power, planning, preparation and sacrifice, discipline, freedom, appropriateness, God-focus, compelling, revealing, confronting. I heard God’s Word – I heard God! And came to a deeper appreciation and in a totally new way, on so many levels, God’s Truth, Presence and Power.

It’s tragic that in our corporate worship today, many expressions only reflect or remain in a kind of worship ‘beta’ without moving more deeply into the worship of God’s People that immerse them in the wonder of Him who is Alpha and Omega. I mean beta in the sense of our always trying out or trying on some new aspect (usually about music style) and never coming to a more solid, playable, usable and bugs-worked-out worship expression and experience.

Wearied and Wounded by Worship Wars

In some congregations, weary and wounded by worship wars (still going on or in the recent path) there has been a kind of truce but with it has come a kind of lethargy, cynicism born of disappointment and just a sense of being tired of fighting. Some who have said ‘over my dead body’ should that ever happen here have – well we have actually buried them, or they have gone away to another congregation (if they have the possibility of choice, as many rural congregants fear they don’t) there to await the demise of the present pastor or regime. They worship in a kind of ‘I told you so’ and 'only we are right' mode.

Some churches have totally ‘gutted’ the front of the sanctuary of old organ arrangement, choir stalls and platform style. It’s one thing to do things to add to ancient or present ways; it’s another to do it as a statement and sign that all that style, all that represented, is not longer wanted or to have any currency in the present expression(s) of worship. Out with the organ; in with the drums and guitars and worship team. What’s right or wrong; what’s new and thus better (or worse) and why can’t we just leave everything alone (and get back to . . .), or change everything (and thus be able to get on to . . .).

Like a Tree Planted

In thinking of the need for structure, for rules and disciplines that bring freedom, for finding and preserving a 'good liturgy' (every service has a liturgy but not necessarily a good one). Perhaps we could use the metaphoric structure of a Christmas Tree. Only, it’s a living tree, dynamic, planted in rich soil and watered by nearby stream; rooted, standing tall, fruitful – not plastic and not cut off at the roots.

And the tree is then decorated week by week, or as and when God’s People gather. And each brings of their own gift and experience – a treasure to be presented, to be hung on the tree – not haphazardly but when and as and where appropriate so that it becomes even more a thing of beauty, and we are enriched as we decorate and as we stand back, and think back, and observe what has been done.

And we do it to please God, but we will get spiritual satisfaction too, as we gather to do that.

But perhaps that seems still too plastic and commercial and tinsely to you. Let me say then, that each thing we add to the tree will be a living thing, or something crafted ourselves – something beautiful. It may be child-like and made at the level, expression and experience of a child. Or it may be the work of an experienced artisan, something very valuable but given away too as a free act of worship unto the Lord, and for the building up of His people.

Or, to tease or tweak the metaphor a bit further, it’s not necessarily a Christmas tree, though it could be – but we have the whole world of trees, in all the varying places, types and conditions of the wide world. There are ancient redwoods and gnarly, wind-swept almost naked mountain trees. Trees that have obvious and ancient cymbal, even from pagan days but now caught up in the intentional service and use and praise of the Triune God. And there are bansai, little trees, and shrubs, junipers and elms some with fruit that is only for looks and others with life-giving, life sustaining chemicals, fruit for berry and juice, walnut and papaya. You get the point.

Our worship both acknowledges what is there, in God’s rich, fruitful world, but also accents it, adds to it, by what we bring to hang on it. (I do not mean to imply the tree is holy as in some ancient Druid thought where trees by wells are hung with garments or strips of cloth to somehow remind or placate or get the attention of an otherwise fairly remove spirit or deity).

But liturgy can be like the form of the tree – having different height and length and breadth and width. Looking quite different from place to place and time to time (deciduous or ever bearing, needing the cold to bear fruit, needing to ‘die’ or rest awhile in some climes), and from culture to culture.

But in essence, the plant-ness of the tree remains. It has a root-system and a trunk, branches, stems and buds and leaves. It has inner nourishment and invisible realities. It looks grey and dead at times, but it remains a live through countless generations. The liturgy’s essence, in that sense, remains as do the trees of the earth, even though we and each generation comes and flourishes, withers and dies, and passes away to await the Great Day of God’s full redemption of people and places and things, the whole earth groaning as it is till then, waiting, pregnant in anticipation, for when the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve shall fully experience the freedom and new-Creation that the second Adam has died to make possible, and already entered into through His Resurrection and Ascension.

So the essence of tree (its structure and all its purposes) remain, even as does good liturgy, from age to age. Not to age to age the same, as is God, but age to age though differing in how its essence appears, is worked out, expressed, lived out, drawn together and experienced in the Presence of God’s People as they meet together, and with their God.

Roots, and trunk, and branches and stems and leaves and fruit. How would each aspect compare in essence with good liturgy. Are we sure that each necessary part is present each time we gather to worship. Whether expressed, each part, differently again in different times, cultures, climes, etc., are we sure that each aspect is still there, or have we left out helpful parts, necessary parts, because we were just unaware that we were truncating the expression and experience of God’s People in worship?
In some ways, what we have is a failure of imagination and creativity.

It’s not that we do not have a large number and rich variety in worship resources and aids. It’s not like we have only 6 crayons in our little box. No, we have a whole palette of colours, perhaps hundreds of them, with strong individual hues and various shades for blending, muting or enhancing various aspects of the theme of the day.

Mission and Worship

Mission can change our understanding and appreciation for Worship. Overall ecclesiology may well follow missiology, in terms of how the People of God shape their life and direction to follow faithfully God’s plans for light to shine in the darkness of their community.

Let me explain. Toronto is the most culturally and ethnically-diverse city in the world. 53 % of the population was not born in Canada. Some of the churches that I serve have over 40 nations represented among them. They bring different cultural experiences and expectations. Many of them, even though touched and instructed by Western missionaries, have worshipped in quite different ways, in their country of origin, in ways quite different that the still-dominant Canadian and Western, white cultures.

They bring guitars when the church has only had organs. They bring drums, dance, rhythms that are different. Some expect a two-hour or day-long gathering with various times and expressions of family, worship, food and fellowship. Others want a one-hour, clearly-defined service that ends promptly (so they can get to the restaurant with their friends before the other denomination is let out and takes all the parking lot and eating spaces).

Let’s look at three essential aspects of Christian Worship. We may think of our happy tasks in worship, firstly, under the title as the Work of God’s People in Worship, and then, secondly, The Instruments of God’s People for Worship (or gifts, decorations or other enhancements) and including also, thirdly, the Art, Discipline and Spirit as we Worship.

I. THE WORK OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD - The Importance and of Liturgy in Worship

I’m thinking of the worship expression and experience of God’s people, gathered especially to focus upon the triune God in worship and, yes, it’s not all about you.
God is the audience.

The Triune God, revealed in the book of Creation and especially in the book of the Scriptures, and as His ancient people of both old and new covenant (testament) times, and to Whom the Church through the ages have attested as to His Story, Truth and Power.

The worship leaders are worshiping and they are prompting and they are inviting others gathered to join with them, in addressing the One who alone is worthy of our praise (as we sing, give thanks, intercede, meditate in silence, as we muse on the truths, stories and challenges of the Word).

How to involve all who are gathered in this service, in this work? How to do that for the different generations gathered. How to do wrap together in concerted praise the different ‘instruments’ of the orchestra gathered – from various backgrounds, varied experiences, from different lands, nations and cultures.

More than a Smorgasbord of Consumer Choices

How to create something other than a smorgasbord of what ‘meets human wants’ in the guise of meeting human need. I like this music – not that music. That’s distracting, that’s helpful – that’s decent and in order, that other stuff isn’t. Just as one person’s garage sale of discarded, no longer needed/wanted items may become someone else’s treasured find, so various aspects of gathered worship may put some off while others are longing for more of the same. What is interruption of their worship for some is ‘finally’ some of that too, for others. What is desecration for some is merely patronizing and ‘throwing a few crumbs our way’ for others.

We have remote-control TV clickers to quickly turn on and off our televisions, or to switch to other channels, in a line, or randomly, by punching in what we want, or by hunting for what will keep us for a few minutes or hours. We do that in our worship services. That is part of the culture and mind-set of our day. Some can’t sit still without having an array before them of constant change. Others are distracted if anything should interrupt or change before they’re ready to move on in the next part of the service.

Ancient Paths vs. the Cult of Newness

The cult of newness (to be somehow contemporary and relevant) competes with the supposedly locked-in nature of sameness and tradition. Some are simply bored. Some are deeply meditating, appreciating the time for quiet, for pause and reflection, for the slow steeping or marinating of that song, that pastoral prayer.

The Gathered of all Ages

How to involve the children? Surely we need to dismiss them to something more appropriate to their age and station in life, their understanding, their possibilities of their spiritual awareness. How did the Church survive all these centuries without all the programs and curricula and junior worship goods and services we now have?

I have been told of the Karen DVBS contribution at one church. Instead of targeting only the children of both church and community, they gathered and participated as whole families as they had before in former homeland experience, in solidarity with family and clan. There is something for individualistic Westerners to lean and appreciate, and even returned to and taken up once again. Islam celebrates family, clan and culture in many ways that do even Evangelicals. Christianity used to, but little values such, anymore. Now gathered churches divide people according to age, affinity group, interest and elective preference. There may be something good in all of this; and perhaps some things that are not so positive.

What if a pastor of worship team, knowing far in advance the Sunday of the church year they have in mind, with its overall theme, Word (texts, stories) to be ‘exegeted,’ explained, applied, ponder, lived into and lived out in the following days of the week? What if the pastor went to the Christian-nurture leaders of the church and said, ‘Help me with this. Here’s the theme, purpose, goal of the next weeks or quarter-year. Can you speak to the children of the Sunday School or Junior Worship class; to any particular class. Ask them to prepare for our service (of said date). Would you paint the story, or some part of it, for us? You have six weeks (or whatever you best think it will take).

'Bring your painting to the church (parents can scan, email, drop it off). We will put it on Power-point and present them as part of our worship of the day, as preparation as people gather, as offering during the offering, as background during the sermon message. After, kids can take their offering home, or give it to grandma, with a magnet so she can put it on the door of her fridge.' Now you’ve got kids involved, immersed in the work of worship – in the liturgical life of the church.

Plan Ahead

It takes preparation, planning ahead and looking after both the big themes and the little details. It will involve coordination so that all the related parts of what must be ‘assigned,’ prepared and gathered, can be effectively put together for the ‘offering' of the chosen worship service. This calls for more than one person's leadership, coordination and overall involvement if it’s going to be planned, coordinated and delivered well. It may be in a creative pastor, or another person’s creative capacity, to get it done all by themself, but to immerse and empower others in the preparation and offering is best in that this expands and celebrates the effort and gifts, the effects, and the hearts, minds and hands of all involved, both in the giving and in the joining together to give and receive from the Hand of God.

The same creativity can be applied to youth of various ages, to those of specific ages or stages of life; to those of varying backgrounds.

One church, several weeks before Good Friday, assigned members of their youth group to film the Passion of Christ, in their own town context. Where is Jesus suffering? Where are the places of judgment? Where are the disciples, crowds and individual people, relative to the Story of Jesus’ Passion? What are the needs for which He came to die? That youth group came alive as they prepared and delivered a beautifully gathered, edited and presented movie. With phone and inexpensive video cameras almost ubiquitous today, any church could let loose its youth on a similar participatory mission. The mixed quality may even be a way of portraying the unseemliness, the rough edges and splinters of the cross, the agony of tears and seeming defeat.

Worship Services that Focus The Christians’ Daily Lives of Worship

Worship of course is to be the challenge and experience for every believer as to how they he or she is to live in every moment of daily life and activity. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. Whatever you do, do it as unto the Lord.

And yet the gathered times of God’s People still are the highlight of worship, the concerted gathering for prayer, praise. We gather to remind ourselves of the Story and of our place and of the expectations upon our lives, individually and collectively, because of it. We gather to remind ourselves as to Who loves us, and has purchased us unto Himself and for His purposes. We gather to train our little ones in the faith and those who have newly come to faith. We gather to remember even as we gather to look around and be aware. And we gather to look ahead.

We look back to the Creation and to Fall; back to the crucifixion of the Messiah and to His death which sets us free to be and to do, as God’s People; back to His resurrection and the exclaiming reality that one new Man has moved from death to life, has made entrance into the new Creation, in the Light of the New Day. We look ahead to know that we too shall be raised, bodily, fully from death to life, moving beyond Heaven even and back to a new and recreated earth.

We also look around to see that we can live in the here and now as Easter People, Resurrected People, indwelt by the living Christ who by His Spirit gives us similar earnest, hope and promise of our own full entrance into God’s future Day, even as we may live daily with insights, aspects, realities, tokens of that coming Day.

II. INSTRUMENTS FOR THE PRAISE OF GOD; An Understanding of Media in our Worship

Living in a world composed of stuff, of particles – of heart and hand and of voice, comprised also of guitar strings and horse-hair violin bows, and electronic visual and sound aids

The media is the message. The well-remembered adage of Marshall McLuhan has its depth of truth. The instrument through which something is played or said or portrayed or conveyed significantly influences the message itself. Whether for good or for ill, whether it adds to or detracts from, the truth remains.

Because this cannot be escaped from does not mean that one should always be cynical about the instrument or the process by which we seek to convey intended truths. There is a greater truth as both instrument and message are delivered. This does raise the question of appropriateness, however. Some containers are better than others in the accomplishment of the messenger’s intent. Whether it’s milk, or wine, or bringing home groceries, or the shape of the back end of a truck, there are various ways, containers, instruments by which we carry or convey something somehow and to somewhere else.

In music expression for a particular weekly, or special, gathering of Christian worship we may ask, is a hymn best played on the organ, or piano, synthesizer, guitar, orchestra or zither? Should this ‘call to worship’ be announced by a cow bell (as I have seen effectively done) or by choral introit (also effectively done). Or, should we simply say – ‘We’re going to start in a sec, so grab your coffee; find a seat.’ (I have seen this too, but it didn’t seem to me to be as effective, since that’s all we did before the band kicked in and we sang together a kind of ‘Jesus is my boyfriend’ almost spiritually erotic ‘worship song.’

Worship is more than music

"Now, let’s continue to worship," said the worship leader meaning, ‘Let’s get back to singing. There seemed almost an unawareness (and certainly a lack of preparedness that other times and ways of expressing our praise and response to God in the service would be, could be, worship too. Many emerging and contemporary worship services seem to have no clue as to the ancient paths or ways and take delight in not being churchy or in being ‘a church for the un-churched’ (can there be such a thing, as we try to think Christianly and Biblicly about such things?). Some are rejecting what they do not know have never experienced or been part of.

Worship leaders too often are chosen for their musical prowess (on one instrument perhaps, wonderful as that may be) and in their ability to be ‘up front’ and to announce or blend the songs. The worship, again, is primarily about the songs. Some think that preparation for worship is only about getting the right worship songs lined up, getting chords and harmonies together. Guitars are tuned, even hearts prepared, but a very narrow form, experience and expression is set forth in which to lead God's People heavenward.

The English Book of Common Prayer though not set to music, yet has rhythm of thought and word, almost musical in its speech. We could do worse, often are doing worse, than to rediscover it and other worship prompts and conduits like it.

A Full Palette

Media includes such things as the following: overhead projector, pipe-organ, electric organ, piano, drums, synthesizer, choir, soloist, quartet, trio, cello, violin, guitar, pulpit, lectern, Bible (version, translation, paraphrase), sound system, computer, LCD projector, hymnal, motet, anthem, Communion Table, open Bible, icon, bulletin, stained glass window, candle, sanctuary architecture, art (Jesus pictures, banners, colour, symbols (anchor, shell, cross), flower display (bouquet, lily, poinsettia), overall look of the church building (upkeep, repair, architecture, plainness, austerity, height, steeple, bell), property (cut lawns, snow-shoveled walk, trees, bushes, flowers, ecologically green-friendly, weedy) – well, you get the point.

All of the above are incarnational expressions, tools, conduits, instruments (media), bridges that may be used in worship. Some of them we think about; some we take for granted. Some we use, and over-use or never use.

Painting Wisely

What media ‘instrument’ will we use on any particular Sunday to express and convey the heart, intent, depth and breath of the word, theme, message that it is believed should be given that day?

Perhaps it’s not a matter of saying: ‘well, the choir always sings now.’ Perhaps it’s a matter of thinking: what is being done at this part of the service and who, what instrument, what approach, what medium would best, most helpfully, most-pointedly, most dramatically, most-compellingly, most lastingly convey it.

So we break down the service into various parts (as in any poem, hymn, symphony, movie, stage of life) and we think about what’s going on here and now, in this aspect. Why are we doing this – or not? And if we’re going to do it – as part of contribution to the overall whole, what’s the best way of doing this.

Rules Make for Freedom

Or, do we just make it up as we go along and name or blame the Spirit for why. Is this freedom? Is the absence of planning, freedom? Does not (as in Genesis 1) the Spirit bring order out of chaos and that becomes, in fact, His creative activity?

Can there be spontaneity (and perhaps also occasional, if not somewhat regularly, departure from the norm) if there is not a norm, a standard, a rule, a liturgy that is being slightly or majorly changed, again for some reason that will enhance what is sought and being aimed at in that day and through that departure? If there is not a rule or a norm from which then to depart, then it is not spontaneity we’re talking about – or freedom, or intervention, but haphazardness, lazy or ignorance of the need for good planning, the gift of true reason, the preparation to receive and convey the wonder and the creativity that God may have given long before hand in the planning, not necessarily in the last moment rush and frenzy of our supposed need for something new.

George Matheson wrote: Make me a captive, Lord, and then I shall be free. Force me to render up my sword, and I shall conqueror be.

Similarly, planning, structure, liturgy, rules do not have to be the end of or the opposite from freedom, In fact, quite the contrary will be true. We await the surprises of God, the breaking in and intervention of His Spirit. It is not that we do ‘our thing’ and are totally shut up and shut off from God’s Spirit moving among us, in new ways, in whatever ways.

In fact we may expect that, even plan and make room – times of quiet, times of space, lingering and extended times where we actually think and say: ‘well we’re here and God’s here . . . we’ve been working at praising, we’ve been singing and reading and praying and longing; and God has been speaking through His Word as we’ve read and learned and applied and been moved (through the faithful prompting and pleading of a pastor/teacher . . . so let’s not just quickly sum up with a benediction and run off. (May it be that somehow, sometime, this week God will actually show up and do something in your life; go and peace and may, the blessing, etc.)

Perhaps we should say – we’re here, God’s here; let’s see what He may want to do as we ask Him, pray to Him – for healing, for deliverance, for insight. Do we actually expect that we will meet with God, the Living Real, the Eternal Present One, as we gather – that, as the Celtic adage has it: ‘Bidden or not bidden, God is present’).

III. ARTS – The Spirit and the Disciplines in our Passion for God
The Disciplines.

Again, rules make for greater freedom. Even Picasso knew the rules before He departed there-from. Perhaps not all modern artists were similarly aware. There are rules and there are structures in the work of God’s People in worship. The Spirit, creativity, newness may be good at some times but we should at least know what we are changing from and to – and why. This is far beyond the concept of we are bored so let’s change. It’s too familiar, too similar, too traditional, to deadening, so let’s do something new and creative to keep people’s attention, to keep them from falling asleep, to keep them at all in a day of competing for the saints through various ‘meet your need’ (read, ‘meet your wants and preferences and prejudices) services.

There may be exceptions to rules as there may be counterfeit bills. Neither implies that the former should be always removed or ignored if you want creative, free expression or that one should live as if there was not a ‘real’ simply because there was a knock-off pretending to be it.

Practice, Preparation, Planning

Disciplines involve practice. Disciplines include knowing the point of it all. Who for the joy set before Him, Jesus endured the Cross . . . Sometimes we know that doing the hard things are necessary if we are to experience and arrive at the goal. The goal of worship is not that everyone is happy but that God is pleased. The goal of church life is not to keep people who are spiritual wanderers paying attention and involved in our life and programs. ‘My wife and I aren’t happy. The needs of our family are not being met here. We are going to find a church that meets our needs.’ Where does one find that kind of thinking in Scripture (?@) other than where it is condemned for the selfish, God-robbing attitude that it is.

Discipline means practicing. And practice makes better. Doing over and over again the things that make for excellence. Musicians, artists, sports persons know this. Whether through passion or pain, there is a long history of time spent (often alone, with cramped fingers, tired muscles, bleary strained eyes, all that the goal of excellence may be achieved. Often the passion makes the hours, the pain seem as nothing.

The love of music for one who wants to play the guitar makes them despise the bleeding, bruised and then calloused finger-tips. The bruised ankles of the hockey-kid from hours spent on winter ponds does not take from them from the love of the game. On the contrary: They become as symbols, reminders of exploits to be celebrated. All art, wrote the American poet Emily Dickenson, comes from the artist’s wound. Likely, that is true of all Christian ministry, as well.

In The Spirit

In I Corinthians, Paul talks of the ‘spiritual’s in a similar way elsewhere he writes concerning spiritual gifts. God gives His People insights, abilities, tokens, signs of Kingdom coming that are made Kingdom-present as by faith we receive, avail, and put into practice these gifts. They are in a sense other-worldly but they may be lived out in this world. They are ways of ‘borrowing from tomorrow’ as John Wimber used to put it. Give us from tomorrow’s supply, the bread and sustenance we need (in every way), today. From eternal resources, from Kingdom resources, give us what we need in the here and now for the living of our days.

Life in the Spirit leads us to Worship in the Spirit, and vice versa. So it’s more that planning and preparation, practice, processes, programs, procedures and performances. It’s the conducting of the flow of the Spirit, as if Water was flowing through us wee bits of pipe, to assuage the thirst of spiritually dry and shriveled lives.

ENHANCING WORSHIP

1. Plan well ahead.
To do it right, or better, you'll need more preparation time.

2. Gather a Worship Team
Include those who love music, or art, or computer technology, or are gifted in wordsmith-ing (without dumbing down content), or can see the parts and pieces as well as the overall intent, and that includes the pastor or worship pastor.

3. Stay Close to the Word
Subject to the Word (theme, church year, life as it happens – e.g. Katrina, 9/11, Haiti – ‘is there any Word from the Lord?)

4. Be rooted in the past, immersed in God’s Word and God’s Story.

5. Remember that the Story, like a tree is still growing and as a stream is still flowing. Jump into day and bring others with you.

6. Think about individuals
In terms of needs, in terms of generations, individual stories, cultures, experiences, backgrounds, but then draw them together in concert. A band has a percussion section, a wind-instrument section, a brass-instrument section. They’re all playing the same piece (one hopes), not necessarily on the same page (as some are counting the bars waiting for their place to enter again upon the music). But each is unique, different, varied. What a bassoon can do and oboe can’t, and vice versa. And likewise contrast clarinet from bongo drum, tuba from French horn, xylophone from trumpet, snare drum from violin. If the whole concert was from 55 tubas, would you attend? Some are solo instruments; others are giving beat, rhythm and though they may have an extended spotlight time everyone knows we will get back to the melody line and from those instruments who task it is to keep the theme ever before us.

7. Think more Corporately than Individually
In our too-individualist, me-centered, narcissistic Western worship (in ‘what I like’ instrument in delivery and content), we need corrective. The Scriptures see things whole more than do we. Many (most?) of the NT epistles are written to you (plural) meaning the Church, the whole People of God, or the community gathered in particular times, places, communities of the day. We read the you (as singular) wanting our own private word of devotion, guidance, encouragement and care.

The best ancient hymns were about ‘we’ not about ‘I.’ It is the gathered community that counts more as the ecclesia of God comes together. We are called away again and called into such gathering with such worship. It is not my preferences but ‘each other’s needs) that we would prefer at such times (cf Graham Kendrick: The Servant King). And again, ultimately, it’s not about us; it’s about God as He gathers among His People, by His Spirit, the Spirit of the risen Christ. ‘Come Lord Jesus: Maranatha.’ We need worship songs and new hymns that talk, that lead us together, that are more about the common-wealth of concern of discipleship of concerted worship, action, mission and praise.

8. Help People Develop Their Instrument of Praise
As part of the church’s mission, part of the nurture and development of its children and youth, part of its affirmation of God’s creation, part of the development enhancement of spiritual gift and creative talent, might a church budget for, or ask for bursaries or other contributions from wealthier congregants, to enable basic lessons to be provided (perhaps both for children, youth and adults of the wider community as well as for congregant children and members).

Art lessons, music lessons (insert instrument name here), dance or drama lessons might be considered. Perhaps times of quilting and banner-making could be resurrected once again.

9. Make space (and show interest and appreciation) in allowing for the catalytic stimulus and influence on others (of the community or from without) in holding events that focus on a variety of talents and expressions of Christian praise; or in regard to certain focused aspects of response and offering: art nights, music nights, talent nights.

Where space and architecture permits add art and banner and icon and glass and structure that expresses the worship of individuals and groups of talented people – all with J.S Bach intent (sola Dei gloria) included: ‘solely for the glory of God.’
10. Use your whole palette by including where possible, in the service, or over weeks and months, a variety of instruments and media expressions – both in the worship ‘service’ and also in the worship ‘space’ of God’s People.

If the ‘earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof’ let’s note the difference between what is worldly and fleshly and thus to be renounced and let go, and God’s good and creaturely gifts that are to be used for His glory and for the good of our brothers and sisters, received with praise and thanksgiving and offered back as expression of our love.

11. Use time as a good steward. Don’t be afraid to suggest rather than rolling out the whole. Point to, use metaphor, type, parable that doesn’t have to explain everything ponderously as you proceed, but rather creates more through its littleness, weakness and first-thought obscurity than would happen by giving the whole load to every component part. Don’t use too much of any one colour or ingredient. Better too little than too much. Again, all that is added and contributed, however, should be fitting, helpful and to the point

Take the time you need – wisely used, based on the experience and needs and what would help the people to worship while also taking utterly serious the love, provision, care, honour and homage to be paid in our sense of the worthiness of God.

A 'Tree' of Liturgy

Use more of God’s creation ‘colours and brushes’ from the rich palette of options available to those who prepare and lead in worship, to that all that is done is fitting to enhance the job and to get it well done.

Remember the Three-in-One reality of the Godhead. What in the Service reflects our Understanding of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit – as the Trinity?
Without silo-ing the argument or ‘splitting’ the Godhead, does this gathering (think of church year, Scripture theme and purpose) lead us to augment, celebrate, learn about and give thanks for one aspect more than another?

Borrow from all sources as appropriate
Rediscover ancient prayers (Sarum Rite; Book of Common Prayer, Celtic or Orthodox Prayers)and the various musical expressions of the ages.

Discover the variety of music expressions of the people gathered (thinking generationally as may be appropriate, and of those from other lands and cultures (all subject to the intent, theme, Word of/for the day)

Some Further Questions:

What is the Day (Church Year, Special Day, Special Event)
What is the Word? (text(s))
What is the Theme?

A Worship Matrix

Worship Prelude
Coffee,
Exchange of Welcome and Greetings
Organ (other instrumentalists)
PowerPoint
Processional – choir, leaders

Call to Worship
Words
Choral Introit
Prayer of Invocation (prayer of entrance and approach)- as the King, the Father, the Redeemer, the Friend (depending on theme and emphasis of this service)

Praise

Hymn, Worship Songs – God directed (not testimony, or wants/needs)
Use ‘we’ songs more than ‘I’ songs

Use inclusive language or change it to fit
Can be: band-led, leader-led, choir-led, organ-led
Choir: hymn, sung liturgy, anthem of praise
Instrumentalist(s), soloist, group
Written words of congregational praise – responsive liturgy
Dance – Drama, Dramatic reading
Testimony or Interview – short and to the point (God-praising)

Pardon and Confession

Scripture – Psalm, Old Testament – simply read (any age)
Carry in the Scriptures – take from Communion Table to lectern
Penitential Psalm (sorrow, contrite, confession), with an underlay of quiet jazz played quietly on the piano, the lights lowered a little.
A Psalm of Angst/Despair – and Hope
Messianic Psalm – response of ‘trumpet’ words of triumph and acclaim
Words of Pardon and Assurance (the lights brighten back to ‘normal’)
Dramatic reading (solo, duet, more)

PRAYER
A word of introduction; some verses of Scripture
Thanksgiving
Petition and Request
Prayer Book of Requests brought forward
Pastor led – move to congregation; behind pulpit
Needs but not stuck in problems – take some, representatively, on

OFFERTORY (as act of Praise, or after sermon as expression of Response)
People file forward (as in Africa); or pass the plates (or bag receptacles)
Prayer: Bring your heart, first; then your gift – consider any blocks (people or situations with whom/which you covenant to ‘get right’ first).
Music as offering presented (organ, instruments – not choir so they can join in giving tithes and offerings, too)
Video or PowerPoint – as part of preparation – with themes, definition, some aspects of draw re the theme or the coming Message (like ‘Meeting Place’)

PREPARING TO HEAR THE WORD
Reading of Scripture (Old Testament, New Testament: Gospel, Epistle)
Quiet meditation or verbal prayer (perhaps, ‘bidding prayer’)
Music: Hymn, Choir, solo, etc. (children exit to their worship)

HEARING THE WORD OF GOD – The Message – highlighting facet of the theme/text
Powerpoint
Video, Drama – but to add to the Word and it’s under the Scripture – adding not distracting (it may be helpful to some and distracting to others, so be discrete, wise, gradual in introducing).
Art – The message or major theme is painted by an artist, in front of the congregants, as the pastor ministers the Word.

THE LORD’S SUPPER (with its own duration, liturgical approach, Scripture, prayer, music)

RESPONSE
Hymn (choral recessional)
Choir, Solo
Quiet (no music or words) Meditation followed by words of Benediction
Instrument
Offering
Announcements - (or unsaid & portrayed by PowerPoint, earlier, as people gather)

BENEDICTION (Blessing and Dismissal)
Sung by Choir (wrapped around sanctuary or from back), or by soloist
Said by Pastor – from front, from middle, from exit door

POSTLUDE
Organ, music instruments
Recessional

Questions for Further Thought – related to Theology, Theory and Practice

1. Has our worship expression and thus experience of praise to the Living God been light, shallow, trite and lite and not fully what God desires of His People, in every age and in every place?

2. What can we learn from, take up again, from the litanies and liturgies of the Ancient Church, at various times and in varying places? What is an expression (form, thought, belief) that Protestants can not any longer utilize (for real or perceived reasons of weakness, strength, doubt and belief)?

3. Are there aspects of liturgy and worship the ancient church, the pre-Reformation Church, from branches and stems of Orthodox and Catholic worship that would be appropriate today to inform our worship practice?

4. If there not something wrong and even spiritually dangerous (can we go too far) in ‘picking and choosing’ as individuals in making our own private (or even as a wider but independent church) liturgy, or liturgies, which is not God’s intent, and is out of step with the purposes of God’s people in this and in every age? When are we choosing worship colours from a palette and when are we making up our own authority to just take (or discard) various aspects without making a full liturgy?

5. In judging or doubting as appropriate (theological, practical, differences, prejudices, opinions) the worship liturgy of other times, other denominations, other expressions from extant lands and cultures (many of the latter are now at our doorstep and within our worshiping communities), are we discerning accurately or missing out on the fullness of expression (and experience) that God intends for us?

Isaiah 6 (NIV)
1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory."
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."
6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

Revelation 4 NIV)
1After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." 2At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. 4Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. 5From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. 6Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.
In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." 9Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 10the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
11"You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being."

Holy Fools

2010-01-16T18:01:00.001-05:00

The Eastern Orthodox Church records Isidora Barankis of Egypt (d. 369) among the first Holy Fools. However, the term was not popularized until the coming of Symeon of Emesa, who is considered to be a patron saint of holy fools[1][5]. In Greek, the term for Holy Fool is salos.

The yurodivy (Russian: юродивый, jurodivyj) is the Russian version of Foolishness in Christ (Russian: юродство, yurodstvo or jurodstvo), a peculiar form of Eastern Orthodox asceticism. The yurodivy is a Holy Fool, one who acts intentionally foolish in the eyes of men. He or she often goes around half-naked, is homeless, speaks in riddles, is believed to be clairvoyant and a prophet, and may occasionally be disruptive and challenging to the point of seeming immoral (though always to make a point).

The practice was recognised in the hagiography of fifth-century Byzantium, and it was extensively adopted in Muscovite Russia, probably in the 14th century.

The madness of the yurodivy was ambiguous, and could be real or simulated. He (or she) was believed to have been divinely inspired, and was therefore able to say truths which others could not, normally in the form of indirect allusions or parables. He had a particular status in regard to the Tsars, as a figure not subject to earthly control or judgement.

The first reported fool-for-Christ in Russia was St. Procopius (Prokopiy), who came from the lands of the Holy Roman Empire to Novgorod, then moved to Ustyug, pretending to be a fool and leading an ascetic way of life (slept naked on church-porches, prayed throughout the whole night, received food only from poor people). He was abused and beaten, but finally won respect and became venerated after his death.[6]

One of the best-known modern examples in the Russian Church is perhaps St Xenia of Saint Petersburg.

The Russian Orthodox Church numbers 36 yurodivye among its saints, most prominently Basil Fool for Christ, who gives his name to Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow. Fools for Christ are often given the title of Blessed (блаженного), which among the Orthodox does not necessarily mean that the individual is less than a saint (as in the Roman Catholic Church), but rather points to the blessings from God that they are believed to have acquired.

Implications for missional people?

-- taken from Wikipedia

Entering, Attending, Dwelling and Listening . . .

2009-12-02T15:47:00.003-05:00

Try this interaction: - entering, attending, dwelling and listening . . .

to and with your spouse, with a good friend;

to and with your Church or small group fellowship;

to and with the Scriptures - Old and New;

to and with your children;

to and with your parents;

to and with your colleagues, school-mates;

to and with your neigbour

to and with what God is already up to in the neighborhood.

Al Roxburgh's Thoughts

2009-12-02T15:17:00.003-05:00

Alan Roxburgh re the 'Missional Church'

Roxburgh believes:

* We don’t need to hear any more bad news about declining numbers. We know we’re in trouble. We just need to work out how we can live in the world we’re in.

* The maps of the 20th century, still used in training of clergy, are no longer as helpful in helping us grow.”

* We can’t continue to rely on the models of church growth used in the 20th century. Producing babies to replace ourselves, is no longer cutting it.

* The 40/40 rule, in which graduates could count on 40 years of secure work at 40 hours a week, is the foundation of our expectation of volunteer commitment. But the rule is no longer in use in the workplace.

* We’ve relied on loyalty in the past, hoping that people will sign up based on their existing sense of commitment to the denominational or local brand. For many denominations, the way to deal with the new scene is to transfer all hope into church planting. But we’re discovering that the dynamics have changed even in new environments. We’re in a time of transition from a previous environment of stability and control into a new future that is unpredictable and beyond our control.

* We should avoid the ’saviour mentality’ found in many models in which congregations buy in a CEO/dynamic visionary senior minister who can identify, articulate and roll out vision, goals and outcomes. The model imposes many of the categories of modernity which have led the church to where it is now.

* Despite many books giving advice on how we configure the church, we still have the challenge of working through culture change, changing the cultural imagination of a group of people in a particular setting.

* We’re used to the model of defining the problem, defining the solution and rolling out a strategic plan. We need to avoid presenting a ‘plan’ which has the potential to drive or disillusion people in a way that is ’straight out of hell’.

* Leaders need the skills to cultivate an environment, create spaces for the ‘in between’ where the Spirit is given the opportunity to work. Much of our work is ‘fast track’, moving quickly from strange to familiar, the other to the close. Many of our plans take the ‘other’ and make them objects for our own ends. Much of our efforts at project management are about the baggage of ministers.

* We need to begin where people are, not where we want them to be. For example, much of the ‘emerging church’ conversation assumes that Pentecost was just for young people. The reality was that the visitors to Jerusalem were likely to be in retirement age, making Pentecost a ‘geriatric event’.

* People need to be invited into conversations that seek to help them make sense of their lives, and that give them language for the world in which they live. We need the means to listen to the narratives beneath the narratives. Too often, congregations are not a place where people are invited into free speech. People are told what they should believe and say.

* We can start by cultivating awareness of the world around us. We can help people find words for the reality around them. We can invite people into ongoing dialogue about their growing awareness, recognizing that we’re usually aware of 10 percent at most of our world (like an iceberg). Free speech includes sticking with the dialogue long enough to hear what is really going on in the community. It means resisting the tendency to look for the ‘real agenda’.

* When we have developed the skills of patient listening and dialogue then we can ask “What does this mean for us as a congregation?”

* This is about dialogue. It is not about organizational change. Organizational change is a waste of time if you are trying to change culture. It’s only useful after the fact of change. Not changing anything provides space for listening and dialogue.

* We should stop focusing on the church. Look at what is happening in the world.

* We must go out into the villages, enter our neighbourhood(s), enter into the homes of the other. Enter their narratives.

So Send I You . . .

2009-12-01T22:11:00.005-05:00

So, perhaps really just trying to break the ice, I said: "Well, I see that your church sanctuary could seat about 300 people - but somehow you have managed to 'grow' it down to 30. But - not to despair: Jesus only had 12 or so to start with!"

Pressing on, I asked: |What would it take . . . what kind of church would prepare and send out 30 missioners this week, rather than those 30, or their leaders at least, ruing the fact that 'golly, we only have 30 people around here anymore to 'run the church?'"

Could this church be perhaps one - perhaps the only church in this community, that is preparing it's people to go, or at least 'as they go' - to be missioners - as opposed to paying some pastoral leader(s) to do religious things (trying to get congregants to help - though mostly ducking when the nominating committee draws night) - paying some or committing ourselves to doling out religious goods and services on our turf (ie. the local church building), when and if the 30 manage to bring a friend, attracting them somehow to the programs, and to the building, of the local church - attracting them to our building and programs and necessarily extracting them from where they usually live and move and have their being (i.e. the neighbourhood, work, where they work-out, etc.)

Znaimer's Manifesto re Television

2009-10-31T21:03:00.000-05:00

Znaimer's Manifesto re Television - implications for Mission ?. . .

1: Television is the triumph of the image over the printed word.

2: The live nature of television is flow, not show; process, not conclusion.

3: A global television expands the demand for local programming increases.

4: The best TV tells me what happened to me, today.

5: TV is as much about the people bringing you the story as the story itself.

6: In the past, TV's chief operating skill was political. In the future, it will have to be mastery of the craft itself.

7: Print created illiteracy, TV is democratic. Everybody gets it.

8: TV creates immediate consensus, subject to immediate change.

9: There never was a mass audience, except by compulsion.

10: Television is not a problem to be managed; but an instrument to be played.

Mission in a Changed World

2009-09-02T08:32:00.002-05:00

1. Mission is still best accomplished by the establishment of local indigenous congregations of believers.

2. ‘Indigenous’ means (among other things) the congregation will be self-governing, self-financing and self-propagating

3. New local congregations are start when a particular culture or people-group is targeted by a denomination, a sponsoring key church, or cluster of churches in an Area, the converted leaders from within that culture or sub-culture. This may or may not be limited to geographical proximity to a particular local church.

4. Local congregations may start as a small home Bible-study, a particular outreach, a store-front ministry, a men’s breakfast fellowship, a professional group meeting for fellowship at noon, an ‘Alpha’ outreach, etc.

5. Effective, indigenous mission happens as missioners immerse themselves (or are already immersed and knowledgeable) among a primary culture or sub-culture so as to learn the ways of that culture or sub-culture — language, music, ways of feeling, thinking and acting, habits, particular challenges, opportunities, strengths, weaknesses, fears, hopes, etc.

6. Effective mission is always highly relational (trust, credibility, affinity, involvement, shared experience)

7. The ‘key church’ model may be an effective one to emulate (ie. one church — many congregations)

8. The house church (perhaps incorporating cell, congregation and celebration) is very effective in cities.

9. Rediscovering the ‘Celtic Way of Evangelism’ may be a great boon in helping to re-evangelize the West.

10. Large expenditures of money for buildings and property is not essential – & may be a liability to start-up, survival and continuance.

11. In traditional church-planting methodology, the ‘mother church (born in the Modern age) may seek to clone itself. In a Postmodern day and setting this will be a liability. A sponsor church must free the emerging congregation to be itself in the particular cultural context in which it is being born. Encouragement, resource-sharing as requested, and freedom/permission- giving are required of the ‘sponsoring congregation.’

12. An apostolic partnership of lay and full-time leaders can work with local churches and mission planters to establish a number of new congregations in any urban setting.

13. A denominational partnership will involve identifying the people-groups formerly reached in ‘overseas mission contexts’ who are now living in the urban centres where the denomination already has established churches.

14. Established congregations in the urban context may assist in reaching the new people groups that are near to them, by: 1. making their buildings available; 2. sharing resources as possible; 3. inviting lay and full-time Christian leaders from the people group (already nearby or overseas)to come and assist them in the work of reaching this particular sub-culture or people group.

15. New mission movements and emphases (with a regard to the establishment of indigenous local churches where possible) may be encouraged in a number of ways; for example, 1. local churches (key churches) can start focused and targeted ministries to a particular culture or sub-culture. (providing buildings, willing workers, finances, encouragement, resources, etc.); 2. trained, gifted lay leaders emerging from schools of learning may be deployed in these new works; 3. gifted, lay leaders emerging from among the particular people group may be given further training and encouragement to work among their own people of this particular culture or sub-culture; 4. pastors and lay leaders, from a particular culture or subculture, may be invited (Macedonian call) to 'come over and help us' in this particular context of opportunity.

16. Denominations must be careful not to readily give financial subsidies to the pastor leaders as this will make only the individual, instead of the church, accountable in any way to the denomination.

17. Denominations should avoid giving full financial subsidies to emerging congregations, as this creates the wrong sort of dependance upon the sponsoring denomination. Rather, a dollar-for-dollar matching grant might be considered so that the indigenous (ie. self-financing) potential of the emerging congregation is not compromised.

18. Emerging congregations should be encouraged to pursue ministry without large outlays of moneys for buildings and lands, until or unless the congregation is strong enough to consider raising (from within) its own major outlay of fiscal resources for such an enterprise.

19. Key to the establishment of new congregations is the ability of the pastors and leaders involved to share faith and introduce people to a new life in God, through Jesus Christ, made possible through the forgiveness of their sins through His finished work at Calvary. Evangelism involves ‘showing and telling’ the story in a variety of ways, and through many different means – and always accompanied by a radical love for the people that is disarming and attractive.

The Unfinished Script

2009-07-04T13:38:00.003-05:00

So here we are, with an unfinished script, at least some indication of the final Act and a promise that we have the Holy Spirit as our Director (though not a new writer!), and we have to improvise. If we are to faithfully live out the biblical drama, then we will need to develop the imaginative skills necessary to improvise on this cosmic stage of creational redemption. Indeed, it would be the height of infidelity and interpretive cowardice to simply repeat verbatim, over and over again, the earlier passages of the play. The task is not so much a matter of being able to quote the earlier script as it is to be able to continue it, to imaginatively discern what shape the story now must take in our changing cultural context.
- Colossians Remixed, Brain J. Walsh and Sylvia C. Keesmaat

Renewed, Resourced, Reshaped . . .

2009-06-26T19:08:00.003-05:00

If today's, and tomorrow's, church is to engage in . . . mission, seeking both to implement the achievement of Jesus and his resurrection and thereby to anticipate the final renewal of all things, it must itself be renewed, resourced, and reshaped for this mission.
N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope

2009-04-20T18:43:00.002-05:00

When you get a moment, check out 'Shapevine' - an excellent missional resources site.

Rethinking Heaven and our Mission

2009-04-11T18:00:00.005-05:00

In "Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church," (HarperOne), Canon N.T. Wright claims that God is redeeming THIS creation. As Paul Marshall puts it in his book by this title), "heaven is not my home." Our bodies and all of nature are good and the resurrection of Jesus is a foretaste of Eternity's physicality. There is more continuity between this world and the next than is commonly assumed.

N.R. Wright claims that the Kingdom of God is that which restores (not destroys) creation. Other writers agree (cf. Al Wolters' "Creation Regained" or Michael Wittmer's "Heaven Is A Place on Earth") that Jesus-apprentices are not destined for an ethereal existence in some place beyond creation and history. We shall be with Jesus - and He is coming back to Earth (read the climax depicted in Revelation 21 and 22). The good but fallen Garden will be transformed into the City of God, where the very leaves of the trees are for the healing of the peoples (ethne).

With Tom Wright's help, we may rethink our assumptions and attitudes about life, death, and life after death. This will also influence how we think about what matters most in life, and the very mission of God. William Willimon writes on the jacket blurb: "This is, quite simply, the best book we have on the substance of Christian hope." Rob Bell says it challenges "the tired old theologies of escapism and evacuation to help a whole generation of us more clearly grasp the Jesus revolution, for here, now, today." Dallas Willard says it recovers "the original, radical understanding of resurrection, salvation, and the Good News of life now in the Kingdom of God."

Blessed = 'Wonderful News"

2009-04-11T16:35:00.002-05:00

"Matthew for Everyone, Part One:"

"Jesus is not suggesting that [the Beatitudes] are simply timeless truths about the way the world is, about human behavior. If he was saying that, he is wrong. Mourners often go uncomforted, the meek don't inherit the earth, those who long for justice often take that longing to the grave. This is an upside-down world, or perhaps a right-way-up world; and Jesus is saying that with his work its starting to come true. This is an announcement, not a philosophical analysis of the world. It's about something that's starting to happen, not about a general truth of life. It is gospel: good news, not good advice.

Follow me, Jesus said to the first disciples; because in him the living God was doing a new thing, and this list of 'wonderful news' is part of his invitation, part of his summons, part of his way of saying that God is at work in a fresh way and that this is what it looks like. Jesus is beginning a new era for God's people and God's world. From here on, all the controls people thought they knew about are going to work the other way round. In our world, still, most people think that wonderful news consists of success, wealth, long life, victory in battle. Jesus is offering wonderful news for the humble, the poor, the mourners, the peacemakers.

The world for 'wonderful news' is often translated 'blessed,' and part of the point is that this is God's wonderful news. God is acting in and through Jesus to turn the world upside down, to turn Israel upside down, to pour out lavish 'blessings' on all who now turn to him and accept the new thing that he is doing. But the point is not to offer a list of what sort of people God normally blesses. The point is to announce God's new covenant.

In Deuteronomy, the people came through the wilderness and arrived at the border of the promised land, and God gave them a solemn covenant. He listed the blessings and curses that would come if they were obedient or disobedient. Now Matthew has shown us Jesus, coming out of Egypt, through the water and the wilderness, and into the land of promise. Here, now, is his new covenant.

So when do these promises come true? There is a great temptation for Christians to answer: in heaven, after death. At first sight, verses 3, 10 and 11 seem to say this: 'the kingdom of heaven' belongs to the poor in spirit and the persecuted, and there's a great reward in heaven for those who suffer persecution for Jesus' sake. That, though, is a misunderstanding of the meaning of 'heaven.' Heaven is God's space, where full reality exists, close by our ordinary ('earthly') reality and interlocking with it. One day heaven and earth will be joined together forever, and the true state of affairs, at present out of sight, will be unveiled. After all, verse 5 says that the meek will inherit the earth, and that can hardly happen in a disembodied heaven after death.

No: the clue comes in the next chapter, in the prayer Jesus taught his followers. We are to pray that God's kingdom will come, and God's will be done, 'on earth as it is in heaven.' The life of heaven--the life of the realm where God is already king--is to become the life of the world, transforming the present 'earth' into a place of beauty and delight that God always intended. And those who follow Jesus are to begin to live by this rule here and now. That's the point of the Sermon on the Mount, and these 'beatitudes' in particular. They are a summons to live in the present in the way that will make sense in God's promised future; because that future has arrived in the present in Jesus of Nazareth. It may seem upside down, but we are called to believe, with great daring, that it it in fact the right way up. Try it and see."
--- N.T. Wright, "Matthew for Everyone, Part One:"

Into a Neighbourhood . . .

2009-04-09T14:15:00.002-05:00

Al Roxburgh writes: "One of the serendipitous moments was a conversation with a woman who had just graduated from a program in church planting. She talked about what she and her husband wanted to do with the next twenty years of life since they are in that ‘retirement’ age bracket. I loved her response - they are planning to move into a neighborhood, settle down for the long haul and build their lives in to the ordinary spaces and rhythms of the community - out of that basic life commitment they will discover the kind of church God wants to call forth. What was so energizing about her description is that way it corresponds with a lot of conversations I’m having with people these days. There’s this undercurrent, not a movement yet, of people like this women who are ready to dwell in the ordinary and see what God will do. That’s the future of the church! She wanted to know if there were others who sensed the same kind of call to move back into the neighborhood. We need to start connecting and sharing stories with one another. Then she said - all I ever find are these church planters with big strategies (what I call the high testosterone approach to planting church) and big plans for people’s lives and I’m not interested in that! I think a lot of us are in that space."
-- Allelon: A Movement of Missional Leaders

The Whole World Welcome

2009-03-28T09:38:00.003-05:00

've been thinking about how, in John 12 - when the Greeks come and say: 'Sir, we would see Jesus' - that that starts the time-clock of our Saviour moving deliberately towards the Cross. 'Now is my hour come!' He says, when so many times earlier the text says - 'because His hour was not yet come.' And then he talks about 'except a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it abides alone, . .. ' etc. Hmm. I wonder why their search and query signaled that kairos beginning and the chronos-clock influence, too?

I think it means that when the (further) opening comes, through this query of the Gentiles, (these Greeks, the 'nations'), it moves the issue beyond the salvation of the Jews only - to the reality that He came for the whole world (which lets you and me, perhaps nonJews as we are, get in on this wonderful Reality of God's Grace, Forgiveness, Welcome and inclusion, and also our inclusion into the call to Mission with faithful Abraham (and with Jesus, the 'Seed' of Abraham) - in blessing all the ethne of the word). God is rescuing People, Places, and Things - from sheer grace, mercy and love. God knows, none of us deserve it.

Not only Jewish boys on Judean hills come to worship (albeit a short distance geographically and culturally and religiously), but 'magi from the East' come too (these other signs in human form, of 'the nations' gathered), coming from afar (geographically, religiously, culturally . . .) all of us coming, all of us drawn by God's Word (the Gospel in Scripture), perhaps by the stars themselves (the Gospel revealed even in all nature and science itself, though more obscure and needing direction) - to the Saviour.

For God so loved the world (the 'cosmos') . . . He gave - that whosoever (not just Jews - but those Greek inquirers, too) might have Life (starting now and never ending). . . . Wonderful !!

Whew, a wee Easter (and Christmas) sermon, eh?

Jesus Encounters

2008-05-05T08:03:00.001-05:00

Recently, I met a man from Syria who had only a short time ago come to faith in Jesus Christ. In the brief time I had with him, he shared how he had encountered the Saviour.

But let me first ask: `Have you ever noticed that in most if not all of the Bible’s accounts of the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus, the Risen Lord, that his disciples failed to recognize Him?! They had spent hours, days, months with Him – sharing fully in His life, as companions and followers along the roads of Galilee, Samaria, Judea, and into Jerusalem. But they didn’t recognize Him as He appeared before them.

I think you could argue that He ‘came and went’ time again to the disciples (as St. Paul puts it - appearing to as many as 500 at one time, on occasion). The same Paul comments that ‘from now on, we do not know Him ‘according to the flesh.’ Somehow, Jesus’ new, resurrected Body remains the same and yet is somehow different. For Him, the seed has already flowered; He is in a resurrection, spiritual body – though one still corporeal (and we too shall one day be ‘like Him’ having bodies like `His glorious Body”).

Jesus appeared and disappeared in those days between his Resurrection and Ascension – seemingly moving through doors and walls without limitation – no doubt moving through and beyond various dimensions of space/time of the created order - and beyond and into whatever the ‘eternal’ means . . .

There follows the Ascension experience of Christ, before His disciples, as they see Him disappear into the clouds and into the eternal (which may very likely be not all that far away – just of another dimension and order of things). He had disappeared several times from their sight, but this time He would disappear for the most part or more fully from their natural and physical embrace and encounter, at least as they had previously been privileged to experience Him. But His presence was nonetheless real, now to be possible through a new communication of ‘spirit’ – to be theirs with and through His (Holy Spirit).

Paul Himself had a vision – a kind of appearing, of Jesus to him, on the Damascus Road (Damascus being then as now in Syria). I wonder if or how many others had a similar experience of which the Bible does not speak and of which we do not know. We do know that the early church at worship, in the height of both knowledge and passion, and in the liturgical expressions – some ancient and some new to Judaism and to this new ‘sect’ – looked forward to corporately ‘discerning the body’ in the tangible elements and expressions – the symbols of reality in the taking and eating and drinking of the Bread and of the Cup (of Communion), as Jesus had commanded them. And in that context they would cry – ‘Maranatha’ (Aramaic for: ‘Come Lord (Jesus)). They had a deep sense of His reality and of His Presence as they gathered and welcomed and worshiped. It was by faith they embraced Him, but it was a real encounter, nonetheless.

But again, I wonder if sometimes Jesus actually showed Himself to such as them at worship, as a vision of manifest and even corporal presence.

Back to my Syrian friend. An Islamic fundamentalist and an ex El Quaeda operative, his life would be forfeit now if he should return to his homeland – in danger of being killed by members of his own family and certainly by the hands of his former associates. He came to faith, he told me, because without thinking or solicitation or any other intermediary of which he was aware, Jesus had appeared to him. He was certain that it was Jesus and the encounter started him on a journey that led to Christian companionship, an introduction to the Scriptures and to a clear embrace and statement of faith, as he became a follower of this Jesus.

I wonder how many other times in our lives Jesus is near – to be apprehended by faith, or by sheer sight (though this is rare and not to be expected or sought). Other friends in that context have indicated to me that though the man’s vision was wonderful, it is also perhaps a rebuke to them and to all Christians that where we fail to do our task of showing and telling the Good News to others, Jesus does it for us, in spite of us, around us. Indeed, beyond arguing Islamic people into Christian understanding and faith, it may well be that such ‘signs and wonders’ will be used by the Lord, especially in areas we dare not go or even where we have friends and neighbours that we fail to reach.

For the Church?

2008-03-22T12:02:00.002-05:00

How is this new clan and community - called the Church, to be part of God's answer, in Christ?

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything FOR THE CHURCH, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

- Ephesians 1:17 - 23

Witness to Clan and Family

2008-03-22T11:49:00.006-05:00

How to share faith when one is among clans and tribes - and not mere 'individuals?'

It is vital to think deeply about these realities and to try to do Missiology - i.e. to missionally assess implications for Gospel witness. It is necessary to do Christology - to think through the reasons for which Jesus came, in fulfilment of the Missio Dei (the Mission of God) and how He will ultimately overcome (made possible by His Person and Work - His life, death and resurrection). It is essential too, to do Ecclessiology - to see how the Church, the Body of Christ-followers are part of God’s plan, the answer (cf. Ephesians 1) for how all of this is going to get done.

The following is true of rural communities, in the West still, for reflecting on tribalism in the recent political chaos and mess of Kenya, or in the upheaval and division that Lebanon reflects (as mirror for internal Arab conflict - with each other, with Israel, and with the West).

Can thinking about mission context(s) such as the following not help us understand our mission challenges and responsibilities in the West and in the whole world (?) - mandated as we are to preach the gospel to every creature under heaven and to make disciples throughout the whole of the cosmos.

As with most of our own fore-bearers in various times and places, with their own unique challenges, locales and hurtles to overcome for survival and establishment, “the overwhelming need for security led the Bedouin of centuries ago to gather in patrilineal families locked in steadfast fidelity and absolute obligation to one another.

In the brutal, open desert (one could put cold, Canadian winters in our context) where survival depended on numbers and cohesion, each tent represented a family, each encampment constituted a clan, and several clans linked together through descent from a common ancestor became a tribe. Within these protective walls of kinships, father and son, brother and brother, cousin and cousin searched for pasture, camped together, married first cousins to first cousins, and defended each other and their collective honour.

Within the group, cohesion held because overpowering cultural and social pressures instilled within each individual the supreme and unquestioned value of life - the commitment to family solidarity and the assumption of mutual responsibility. In these family in which every person knew every other person, in which all were related by blood, or at least by a fiction of common descent, the imperative of the collective good of the family passed from generation to generation. Near-absolute necessity guaranteed enforcement . . .

Each individual, in both emotional and practical terms, surrendered his or her identity to the family. And like the rest of the family, these individuals distrusted and largely disliked those outside the boundaries of kinship.

The definition of family in Arab culture is not nuclear or even extended. . . A first cousin is like a brother and a distant cousin is an integral part of the total family, regardless of gaps in wealth, education, and social status. This potent sense of family has cast societies into an amalgam of primordial allegiances governed by the most Arab of all utterances: “My brother and I against my cousin, and my cousin and I against the alien.” (cf. Sharon Mackey, "Mirror of the Arab World: Lebanon in Conflict")

Love and Hate

2008-03-22T11:22:00.005-05:00

Loving ourselves at the expense of loving others is contrary to the heart of the Gospel. Jesus calls us and enables us (only by His very Spirit living in and through us) to overcome such ego-centric, harsh and selfish attitudes and life-styles.

That's in direct challenge and opposition to clanish, tribal thinking that concludes that whether religion, class or culture - the more one loves one's own, the more one is entitled to hate another.'

For 'hate' put diss, laugh at, mock, scorn, ignore, fight against, scoff at . . . all of which happens between denominations (which are the un-happy product of nation-state times and critical, Cartesian/cognitive/modernistic times) and which also happens when emergents get thinking about liminals (former establishment and institutional 'christendom'), and vice versa.

Jesus is 'The Answer' - How So?

2008-03-22T11:17:00.004-05:00

What was it Jesus really came to do - to accomplish, if one thinks of individual needs (guilt and blame against God), and of family, clan, tribe and community alienation?

How does His life and death and resurrection bring Peace and Reconciliation? And why haven't we seen or experienced it much in the last two thousand years.

Why aren't we experiencing it, promoting, seeing it 'fleshed out' more in our day, in our communities, in our world?!

Family or Individual?

2008-03-22T11:14:00.001-05:00

Does negation of family, clan, tribe and community and pressing towards individual freedom, rights and wants lead to inevitable chaos?

I was raised with familiarity and responsibility due to close proximity to family members. Many rural communities in Ontario remain the same today. Local churches may still reflect this and new pastors need to know they are entering a community of family and relationship that is more than their coming together to build a church and to seek to follow Christ.

The new pastor has entered a tribe, a clan, a community just as cohesive and united as would be entrance into any clan or tribe or community in what you used to be called ‘the mission field,’ overseas.

Within each church there are tribal leaders and intricate relationships. Father, sons and brothers, mother, daughters-in-law, and cousins may still live within tight boundaries of kinship drawn by precise bloodlines.

In Arab or Bedouin cultures there remains deeply ingrained codes of personal honour, the dictates of vengeance, the obligation of hospitality, and the near-sacred dedication to family (see Sandra Mackey: ‘Mirror of the Arab World: Lebanon in Conflict.’

When does mission, evangelism, church life, community impact follow lines of family and clan and tribe, and when not? Does one leave one family and tribe (or is the former life in community trumped) by entrance into the new Family of God, the Church? Is this part of what Jesus is saying when he tells us that one’s enemies (when one comes to faith) may be those of his own household, and that if we don’t ‘hate’ father, mother, sister and brother (at least relatively speaking), in following Him, that we cannot be His disciple.

But does the individual faith, and seeker-driven service draw one into a new family in Christ, in new relationships, responsibilities, allegiances and loyalties? Or, has modern Western society simply replaced the old allegiances (rural values, family life and living in small town (even urban ‘pocket’s’) community - not for something better (at least as provided for and reinforced in new church community) but for individual tyranny and eventual societal chaos?

Does the Gospel Lead Inevitably to Democracy?

2008-03-22T10:54:00.006-05:00

Showing and telling the Gospel among people who celebrate tribe and clan (the Arab world, Africa, youth culture) challenges the way in which Christendom, latterly, entered into attempts at evangelism and mission. Having one's own personal relationship with Christ may seem very strange to those cultures where they will come to Christ as a group, if at all, or when the clan-leader embraces the claims of Jesus.

Does the Gospel lead inevitably to democracy (as it has been outlined and embraced in and by the West)? Is making a 'personal decision' for Jesus necessary to salvation (if you confess with your mouth: 'Jesus is Lord . . ' ? - but then become a problem if one doesn't see further how one is to then fit into the Christ's Body, the Church, or become part of God's reclamation-project that touches all people, all relationships, all aspects of life in the cosmos.

Sandra Mackey, writing in ‘Mirror of the Arab World,’ states that: “Unlike the West that glorifies the individual, Arabs define self in personal relationships with others. And it is mutual obligation of one to the other than knits Arab society together. Consequently institutions are inseparable from those who occupy them. In the realm of Arab politics, a person who holds a political or legal position is seldom if ever capable of separating himself from his relationships within his family, community, or web of indebtedness in order to exercise an impersonal, institutional role. To the officeholder as well as those he represents, any act of independence is the equivalent of splitting the social atom, risking the release of unknown and uncontrollable forces that threaten order. Therefore, to most Arabs, it is better to live in tyranny than risk chaos.”

Holy Week

2008-03-22T10:52:00.000-05:00

Holy Week reminds us of the death and resurrection of our Saviour. It’s like a long birth canal, this week, in that the Gospels reveal the story of the culturally contextualized, incarnational womb-like existence of Christ, embedded in the unique and particular ancient culture of Judaism - for thirty years, privately and then 3 years in public ministry.

As in childbirth, there is a period of excruciating pain (in the crux and crisis of the Cross) that soon gives birth to the new, resurrection life of the First of a whole new Race, the Second Adam, our Saviour, our Friend, the Firstborn, our Lord and Master - Jesus.

This is the One who overcomes the guilt and bondage of the world and its citizens, the One who took the place of sinners that they might be set free – to be the fully human Creatures once again, and to the restored hope of a fully restored Creation one Day. He became ‘sin’ for us that through Him we might receive - indeed might become, the righteous and the righteousness of God.

This is the One who overcomes shame and blame. When reviled, accused, scorned, abused and spit upon (in the midst of a shame-culture, where blessing and cursing and ‘tit for tat’ was the norm), even then He opened not His mouth. Even though He was not to blame, He took the blame. He for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame . . .

This is the One who overcame fear. His perfect Love (for His Father, for the elect citizens of earth, for the world – ie. cosmos, itself) overcame fear. He came to that point in his ministry when, his time - his hour having come, He set His face like flint towards Jerusalem and toward all that would await Him there.

Thanks be to God for His incredible Gift !

The Fall and the Resulting Effects of Sin

2008-03-12T14:19:00.007-05:00

A Place to Start in Missional Focus? (cf Genesis 3)

1. The Issue of Guilt –In the day you eat thereof, you shall surely die . . .
The West has stressed the issue of guilt, especially in the substitutionary atonement understanding of the finished work of Christ, as taught by St. Anselm. Thus has been stressed the issue of the Righteous judge dealing with the guilty, or turning aside the just judgment and penalty due law-breakers, through the advocacy of the Son of God Who has Himself fully paid the penalty for sin, having experienced the curse of death, becoming ‘sin for us’ that we might be set fully at liberty. This is the Gospel but not the whole of the Good News.

2. The Issue of Shame – Their eyes were opened, that they were naked . . .
There are many shame-based cultures in the world where in the context of being together – as a couple, a family, tribe, clan or people-group, shame is a (pre)dominant theme. In such cultures, ‘tit-for-tat’ and balancing of revenge and justice is deeply engrained. This attitude and resultant actions happen in rival gangs in Toronto or New York, or in the reciprocal knee-capping of opposite sides in Northern Ireland’s ‘troubles,’ and in the eye-for-eye theory and practice prevalent still in Jewish and Islamic cultures (and indeed also to be found in the West, too, where token or nominal Christianity is acknowledged without taking seriously Jesus teachings with regard to the seemingly foolish, vulnerable and peace-at-any price ‘turning the other cheek’ motif He advocated for His followers.

It may well be that the West has stressed too greatly the issue of ‘guilt’ in seeking to win many in the world (for example, Africans) to faith in Christ. And perhaps the same may be said in all places in the West – for many such may claim to have had a ‘born-again’ experience, to have had that transaction they believe to have been completed in their life wherein they have passed from death to life due to their ‘acceptance of Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour.’ But in many (f not most) instances, globally today, many of those who claim to have ‘found Jesus’ do not bear deep fruit and show many evidences of lives that have been transformed.

One of the rationales of Baptist beginnings was that ‘all of Europe had been baptized’ (and was thus part of Christendom, members of the visible Church), but in such professors there was little or no evidence of an inner, transforming work of the Holy Spirit into the saving death and life of Christ. Hence, Baptists, uniquely, sought to wait until there was ample fruit and more evidence of a changed life (of at least the beginnings of sanctification that would be evidence of justification having actually happened) – and then, and them only, would they baptize such ‘believers.’ (Of course this came down through revivalism, in many cases, as leading to prohibitions re: dancing, smoking, playing cards, spitting and chewing, etc. in that, as one stopped these behaviours, one was giving clear testimony to the work of God within the heart and life.)

Today, when so many in North America claim to be ‘born again’ and have even received ‘believers baptism’ subsequent to a personal response of repentance and faith, it is more than passingly strange that society as a whole does not reflect the same realities of the inner life, the inner world of the Spirit, the inner values supposed espoused by Bible-believing churches comprised of born-again, baptized confessors of Jesus. Why is there this disparity between the claims of having ‘received Christ’ and so little evidence in Western society as a whole of personal and corporate holiness, justice, forgiveness, mercy, proper care of God’s world (ie. the environment), and so many other positive, redemptive, constructive change in such matters as personal and societal health and blessing. And if there is little real peace in the heart, or the home, or the nation what really (as a society of Jesus’ apprentice followers) has the Church to expound and export to the rest of the world?

Is stressing the issues of guilt and grace the right approach in cultures where lives are so largely dominated by issues of shame? Where clans, cultures and families spend so much time trying to ‘save face’ or avenge wrongs – real or imagined (often in vendettas lasting generations and centuries), is it wise or effective, in terms of seeking response to the Gospel, to stress only or predominantly this one (albeit vital and necessary) aspect of Gospel truth.

Even in the West, in a supposed ‘postmodern’ world, the idea of the cognitive (Cartesian, thinking, rational) model – to the exclusion or minimizing of other aspects of life (the heart, the passions, emotions, feelings; the body, action, praxis, doing it) is losing ground. An over-emphasis, in modernity (‘I think therefore I am – thanks Descartes) is seen now as ‘wanting’ – as unbalanced, as less than the whole or of what it means to live a holistic life.

There is, of course too, the opposite danger of dumbing-down the Gospel; of elevating experience over the gift of good and pure Reason; mindless actions without thoughts. This is also a foolish and futile response for believers who think they must now negate or minimize biblical study and apologia as a means of sharing and understanding what it means to follow Jesus, in a day when people want to see it, touch it, feel it, taste it, do it, and not merely theorize about it. Indeed, people want not merely the pictures and the words on the menu – they want to experience the meal. And that is a good thing.

The danger of course is a kind of gnosis where people claim to have a kind of experience (in worship, alone with God, while hearing their favorite meditative or almost erotic love-songs –to-Jesus worship songs). ‘I’ve found it; I’ve got it’ I’ve experienced it’ – often leads to a kind of contemporary Gnostic or Essene community that tries to escape from most of life – from where normal people live and breathe and have their being – trying to create a pseudo (or virtual) or escapist kind of world and community. If the ‘world’ has a dance for youth – we provide a youth group and hay-rides (or some other supposedly safe entertainment and fellowship experiences) because the other is ‘worldly.’

We may create churches that are cocoons that never show forth or break-forth in new life that might actually transform whole communities. Too often, we become defeatist and, again, escapist – not believing in the power of the Gospel to rescue and save, transform and to set people on a new path.

That God is reclaiming through Christ and the Gospel people and places and things – is largely lost to many. They believe nothing will happen really till Jesus comes again, and until then we must snatch souls from the wrath to come. But the idea of changing the atmosphere, the environment, the city structures, the power and influential bases of the larger society is little known or embraced as a Kingdom goal or part of good news for modern (or postmodern) mankind.

The ‘apologia’ (apologetic) form of faith-sharing is essential as still part of the wider Christian missional enterprise. We do have a reason for the hope that is in us – not merely a blind hope or a mere whistling in the dark. The danger is, however, that we will come across, as it were, hauling someone into court and accusing them of being wrong (and sinful and bad) – for not knowing either the Law or the Gospel, for not hearing, agreeing – and thus inherently doing many things that displease God) – a kind of ‘setting forth our case’ in parading an impressive (at least to us) array of arguments that we hope may somehow convince them how wrong they are (and conversely how right we are) and how they should admit it, confess, repent, believe our explanation and embrace the Gospel. And if they will not, then ‘go to jail, go directly to jail.’
This legal, often intentional (or even when unintentional) accusatory approach simply turns people off – though of course the Spirit may bring conviction and convincing through all means and even our most bumbling attempts to share faith.

But, is it enough or even a wise ‘strategy’ to lob canon shots of verses and theology from our Bibles as they reciprocate with the same with their Holy Book (Koran, Sacred Vedas) or in the cerebral exchanges and the opinions of our own heart (sometimes based on or mixed with thoughts from secular media, education, maxims, truisms or even New Age idiocy)? Will we win people when we try primarily to convince them at the head level when their hearts are broken or hard or indifferent? . . .or, when their hands are itching to do something good for their world and for their neighbour?

Indeed, there will be times when we have (or should create) opportunity to share our sacred scriptures, our apologia, the reason for our inner hope lived out in faith in practice – but to start there may simply result in mutual intransigence, failure to listen, to more dissension, misunderstanding – even to fighting, with both sides failing to appreciate, receive and be changed positively, in such situations and with such approaches.
Either we say nothing or, too often, we come across as – it’s our way or the highway. Failure to listen and to be empathetic so that we may wisely shape and tailor our responses does not lead to the gentle and wise entry of truth and models of love that will enter into and effect places of their heart where God’s Spirit is already pressing in.

3. The Issue of Blame – The woman you gave me, she gave it to me . . .
The theology and practice of ‘passing the buck’ is one which we know all about and in which we often eagerly participate. We may know our guilt and feel our shame but the tendency is that unless aided and turned by grace infusions of the Spirit, we will try to shift our responsibility to others, seeking to bring shame and guilt upon them. Much effort goes into this as individuals, families – indeed, whole nations, see clearly (they think) the obvious sins and short-comings of others (real or imagined) and use this to justify their own condemnation and even retribution. Jesus’ words of the mote in the eye of others versus the beam in our own eye are to be remembered.

The fact that it usually takes two to tangle (or tango) is conveniently set aside at times, when in order to prove a point, justify our own aggression or other improper action/response, we move into the ‘territory’ of others - to attack, build our case, neutralize the defenses or arguments of others, or to justify our own righteous cause and indignation.

4. The Issue of Fear – They hid themselves . . .
Knowing ourselves to have failed and to be less than perfect, people try to hide from God, from others and from themselves. Whole cultures live in fear. Gated communities are arising in the West. Globally people live beyond walls (some topped with razor wire and glass shards, surrounded by guard dogs and security forces. Such fear begets fear and even further causes for alarm.

Indeed, alarm and security systems percolate through the advertizing of the days of our lives. The fear that we have lost something, or that we might lose something causes us to hide, build walls and to strike first lest we be struck later, justifying as we do, our aggression rather than spurring our efforts towards peace-making. All of this is contemporarily and globally evident.

Societies and families have always lived in fear. Nothing is new in this reality. And yet we can fear too much or fear things that may well never be (as Mark Twain acknowledged: he had known a great many troubles – most of which had never happened). The fear of what might be, could be, what we may think is likely to be, sets whole and negative directions for individuals, families and nations. We fear the threat of nuclear disaster, the capacity of others to do us harm in many ways – whether justified or not, which leads to trillion dollar armament industries. Again, fear begets fear. The Gospel and the perfect Love of which it speaks and which in Christ it may bring, casts out (expels) fear so that Christians can live freely, despite the realities and potentialities of evil that dominate and day and prevail in any society. Christians living risky, faith-full yet fearless lives would be a powerful testimony to their neighbour and in their world.

There is a proper and sane realization of potential harm of what may happen in life – and that very often does happen, for which we should be properly and adequately prepared. Bad things happen to innocent, good people who are just trying to get on with life as best they can. It is not wrong to buy life-insurance or to lock the doors of our homes, nor to be prudent and circumspect when allowing our children to meet strangers – or, when we first seek to assess or measure situations, potentially brewing storms, or clear and inevitable threats. But living in fear that creates too many unnecessary adrenalin rushes or that results draining and debilitating inner anxieties – well, we were never created to live this way.

‘You can’t threaten a Christian with Heaven.’ Ultimately, the believer knows that nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. We are wise; we look after ourselves; we rightly preserve body and soul, daily seeking to make wise, prudent decisions about the stewardship of all of life: our resources (the planet’s resources), our health, our very lives. Yet, also we may dare and risk, simply living fully our lives as unto Christ in the Adventure to which we have been called, with Him and through Him to ‘bless all the nations of the earth.’ For indeed, in Him we experience the promises and fulfillment that are to come to (and through) Him Who is the ‘Seed’ of Abraham.

The witness of trusting, obeying, and ultimately fearless Christians is a powerful, attractive perhaps the Spirit may use to winsomely and compellingly ‘draw’ to faith in Christ those He seeks to be part of the Way, the Truth and the Life that is found in Him.

Ichabod

2008-03-06T15:53:00.003-05:00

In the Old Testament, the experience of 'ichabod' meant that the 'glory' or Presence of God had departed from the former Reality of His being known as among His People.

In the old New England fable, Ichabod is the unfortunate name of the school teacher in the story of the headless horseman. Ichabod Crane is a fictional character in Washington Irving's short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", first published in 1820.

Today, it may be that a church has lost contact with Christ, Who is the Head of the Church. The Body has lost the ability to commune with the Head.

Alan Hirsch (author of Forgotten Things), challenges us unto the recovery of the centrality of Jesus Christ 'in His own Movement.' He asserts that we need to recover a Christology first (that leads to renewal) - then Missiology - then Ecclessiology.

He asks: "Do we see His words as just ‘good advice?’" - for we see today the subversion of Christianity today into being just another religion. We have made Jesus just like us - to fit into our plans and do our thing. We do not listen, nor follow.

But Jesus wants to make us like Him.

Guilt and Shame and Fear

2008-03-06T13:48:00.010-05:00

The effects of the Fall are reflected in the way people sin or show the ‘curse’ in their lives. This is reflected in at least three ways (cf. Genesis 3):

You shall surely die. (resulting guilt)
Their eyes were open – they were naked (resulting shame)
They were afraid and hid themselves (resulting fear)

The European (and Western ‘Gospel’) has been primarily focused upon preaching a ‘guilt’ gospel. This relates to the need for dealing with the problem of sin and leads to transactional conversion (the rightous Judge forgives the criminal based on the payment of another; substitutionary atonement, etc.) Too often, however, when people get their sin dealt with (forgiven, etc.) they think they can just move on and live their life how they want – without fearing being barred from Paradise when they die.

Many world cultures are based more on ‘shame’ and ‘fear’ rather than on 'guilt.' These reflect the ongoing realities of life in a world community (or local family, clan and people-group) and lived among the dangers and terrors of a hostile world.

It’s not wrong to only present the first aspect i.e. related to guilt and the need for propritiation and atonement; indeed, it is vital and necessary. But we must also attack the issues of shame and fear – or the result will be whole regions and nations where Christianity (so-called) is a mile wide but only an inch thick – with similar results in N. America but for different reasons, as per our presentations. Fear is so prominent in many parts of the world (now also in the West, since post 9/11 terrorism has begun to be such a factor in Western life).

In one sense, people don’t need more guilt or shame or fear. Many won’t attend churches where they know they’ll get emotionally brow-beaten by a preacher any more than some overweight people want to get onto a scale. (They already know the problem and the scale just reminds them of it, unless, that is, they are seeing progress in a more positive direction). Beyond (or as well as dealing with the 'guilt factor,' people need to know how they can be released from the tit-for-tat balance needs of whatever or whoever shames them - and from what they fear.

Put another way, indeed (in some cultures and settings) they may need more clarity in how or why they are guilty, in how or why they are still producing or consumed by shame, or how and why it is that fear so dominates and constrains their lives. And then the Good News may be also shared of Who it is that sets them free from all of that, or goes through it with them - giving courage and hope, making sense of it all.

Shame in cultures relates to people as individuals, members of family, clan and people-groups (ethne) and in some ways also to ‘the nation.’ Saving face, avenging wrongs and slights, and actual harm done to them, are very much to the fore.

They need to be helped to see that they have shamed God (through sin and rebellion and falling short of His demands and purposes for them – individually, in their relationships with others and with this planet -- and that in one sense it may be necessary sometimes even to ‘shame’ family and clan and people-group in order that no longer will they bring shame to God. (In a similar way, Jesus (albeit using hyperbole) indicated that in following (loving, serving, obeying) Him it would sometimes seem (in contrast or relatively speaking) as if they ‘hated’ father or mother or children, etc. Just so, in all lives and cultures it is important to point out how one may not be following God but rather allowing lesser loves and loyalties to dictate thinking and behavior and thus bringing shame upon His honour and right to rule, and abusing the ways He has planned for this world.

In shame-based cultures, the eldest brother is avenger of blood (in some respects like the Kinsman Redeemer – the goel, in Old Testament Israel). There is obligation to restore honour whenever it has been damaged. One must restore the balance even if by blood (or die trying). In such cultures, guilt (say, over divorcing several wives) is as nothing compared to what it would be like to shame family or clan by not avenging perceived or actual wrongs against the family or clan.

Perhaps, therefore, one aspect of sharing or explaining an aspect of the Gospel within such cultures and contexts, may be in helping people to see how they have 'shamed God' and, futher, how Christ through the shedding of His own blood has righted the wrong. God's Son - the elder brother of the new family and clan thus set free - has paid fully the blood money.

Transforming Encounter

2008-01-20T11:15:00.001-05:00

When, in Isaiah 6, in ancient Israel in that dramatic year that King Uzziah died, the prophet was given to see the awe-full revelation of a greater King, Isaiah thought he was a dead man. It occurred in the temple and the event was attended by angels and such Glory of God that human eyes could scarcely comprehend nor shaking hands, later, barely convey on parchment. The place trembled and shook, the vision at once compelling and overwhelming.

In that moment’s flash of Isaiah’s seeing the Lord, in X-ray-like exposure he also saw himself. He saw too the city and nation in which he was embedded, whose life and lifestyle too did not bode well for survival within the hands of a holy God. He believed he was a dead man walking - or crouching; that they all were.

But there came an act of mercy through one of God’s ministering beings that in itself declared, in effect: ‘Not to worry, Isaiah!’ For with God’s revelation also came God’s redemption. The angel took a live coal from the temple-altar of sacrifice and with it purged the lips of the prophet - an objective act of purification, related to the sacrifice of another, cleansed all that was past and brought clarity of preparation for all that was ahead for him.

The great and holy One of Israel had come down to his people, initially to Isaiah, that day to be with him, to converse with him and to convey his purposes for the nation and of Isaiah’s role in the revelation of those plans. The God - whom Isaiah would further reveal as Immanuel (God with us) and Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace - had not given up on His people, nor His world. But there was a lot of work yet to be done.

Unworthy Isaiah was made worthy so that God might have a conference with him as to His plans to make worthy the nation once more so that He through them might touch the world.

I used to think that God’s question was more rhetorical - and only from the perspective of heavenly beings: ‘Whom shall I send - and who will go for us?’ . . . that the ‘us’ was more about the counsels of the Trinity, or about God with angels wondering, seeking an earthly messenger. And that may well be. But perhaps it’s more intimate than that. God asks Isaiah in effect: ‘Now, between the two of us, whom shall I send; who will go for us?’ There is a stratagem of relationship where God and his commissioned ones (human: prophets, priests, kings, the church, a mission board or team) talk together about the who and how of reaching out to lost people in broken, desperate places.

A loving, purpose-full God sends human messengers forth to declare his truth and reveal his plans - and to model His loving, righteous ways. As with Abraham, the father and founder of the by-then idolotrous, wandering-at-heart nation, Israel, God reveals that He wants to bring all of the world's peoples (and all places and things) back in line with God's original creation purposes - that He wants to bless all the peoples of the earth; and that He wants to do it through His People, all of them His servants - individuals, a nation, a Church that unique reveal and bridge His mercy and grace to all.

This calling and sending of individuals, a nation, pre-eminently in a Son and His Church, reveals the mission-heart of God, who through such frail instruments is re-creating all that has been distorted, marred or thwarted, vis a vis original Creation purposes. Isaiah is to speak for God - and so today are we as His Church, Christ’s Body on earth. Like him, we too are to go and (by the total witness of our lives and our lips) to call out to those who will hear, who will see their own need for cleansing and restoration for (and to) the purposes God has uniquely called them.

God comes still to us - as individuals, as His People, the Church today. We worship His holiness and power. We bow before Him. We acknowledge again our unworthiness to be near Him, let alone to serve Him. We are in awe that in fresh and powerful, still compelling ways, He reveals Himself and ourselves anew to us. And we remember that He comes near that (such privilege !) He might again release us to the tasks of showing and telling His purposes - His love, mercy and grace - everywhere, in all of life, to all people.

Of Shepherds and Magi - Further Reflections . . .

2007-12-27T13:44:00.000-05:00

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.”

If I Were a Wiseman . . .

2007-12-27T09:27:00.000-05:00

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.

If I Were a Shepherd . . .

2007-12-26T13:27:00.000-05:00

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).

The Gifts We May Bring

2007-12-26T12:01:00.000-05:00

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.

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 !

2007-12-26T11:46:00.000-05:00

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.

Free infringements . . .

2007-12-02T12:15:00.000-05:00

"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.""

- from TQ Magazine

Getting there . . .

2007-11-28T17:13:00.000-05:00

'Sent' . . . hmmmm . . . . Not what one has in mind when thinking of how to get the church moving . . .

Carefully, Carefully

2007-11-10T15:04:00.000-05:00

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."

Seeking a Better 'Country'

2007-10-21T20:20:00.000-05:00

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."

Read It !

2007-09-13T19:04:00.000-05:00

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.

Celtic Christian Orthodoxy

2007-09-09T11:17:00.000-05:00

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.

Don't Try to Make It Make Sense

2007-09-08T17:06:00.000-05:00

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)

Before I Start to Pray

2007-08-25T15:18:00.001-05:00

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

Sending Capacity

2007-08-24T19:14:00.000-05:00

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