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I posted this on my personal blog a couple of weeks ago (and am posting it on CatE today). In reposting it here I realize I might be ‘preaching to the choir’ somewhat, since some of you are already exploring different ways of ‘doing church’ that are more relational than what I’ve been used to.I value relationships, period. This is specifically about why I think Christians should value them
John Armstrong recently wrote about the value of relationship. In the entry before that he shares a choice which to me implicitly highlights the importance of relationship. He mentions taking time to write to one prisoner even though the question arose in his mind: “Why am I doing this when there are so many more important things to be done today that could reach hundreds more people?”
I think a follower of Jesus who chooses to spend time on/with one person is on safe ground because Jesus often did that, according to the gospels. I might be wrong but I think Jesus made that choice because when you do something one-on-one for/with a person you are entering into some sort of relationship with them. He evidently believed that adds value which can’t be added any other way.
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Another week another couple of guest voices joining the conversation and helping engage our thoughts and showing us different view points. I hope you enjoy what they have to say and feel free to join in with the conversation and share the thoughts and feelings they inspire in you…To help you get to know a little bit more about Helen and Phil they’ve agreed to run the gauntlet of a mini interview…
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‘The end of the world is coming soon. Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers. Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay.’
1 Peter 4:7-9 (New Living Translation)I’ve been under a ton of stress over the last few months. I’m sure many of you have experienced or are experiencing these times as well. Back in July 2006 I applied for a job on the other side of the US, in Arizona. The process dragged on for some time and I was finally offered the position and had to go through the purging of stuff and the sale of a house. Not to mention wrapping up a job In Maryland, finding a new place to live in Arizona and so much more.
But during this time something even greater came to the forefront of my journey. That was the realization that I was leaving people I love behind. The multiple church communities and co-workers that I had developed deep relationships with.  It wasn’t as strongly felt until the day that my family and I pulled away from our house and passed by so many landmarks that served as memories of good times and bad times.
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I am going to blog my Ph.D research from inception to hopeful completion. I start my supervision this week, and hope to complete in summer of 2013. I wonder what twists and turns it will take
as I read, reflect, write, and (I hope) have your ongoing input and thoughts?So putting them out here crudely like a new born baby that I hope you don’t think is too ugly, here are some thoughts in my journal this morning as I sketch out my initial focus.
1. Ecclesiological: I think my focus is leaning towards trying to articulate what ecclesiologies are appropriate for our post-modern/post-colonial/post-structural contexts in UK. I think I want to find a theological critique of culture and church with its implications for ecclesiological constructions. At it’s crudest a paraphrase might be I am trying to find something counter to many of the ‘liquid/fluid/post- church’ thesis.
2. Deep Church: I think there is something in the deep church agenda/conversation which is positive and constructive and would help me avoid a pathological reaction/construction to many current ecclesiological suggestions. The deep ecclesiology, generous orthodoxy as background to my work is going to be helpful, and facilitate something constructive I hope. Deep church is not about articulating the correct form of church but the valuing of church in is deepest and broadest sense, from the most established to the most nascent. I know I want to avoid a post-church response.
3. Culture as religious system: I think at the heart of this I am trying to establish that or culture acts as a religious system, and that we need a critique of that culture, and a form of church much more solid, than many are suggesting to allow mission and conversion to take place. Almost the recovery of the congregation not as accommodation to modernity, but as a life rhythm to mission and an alternative to the religious formations and practices of consumer media culture (and I do not mean that as apologetic for a sunday service!).
The church has been dispersed historically under persecution, yet now is encouraged to de-gather under consumer choice. Our culture is unconsciously able to consume our new forms of church co-opting them as pastiche aesthetical experiences, whilst avoiding conversion Christianity as a way of life. Indeed many new forms of church are in danger of facilitating the ongoing process of de-conversion. If the critique was that church was a dispenser of religious goods and services, is it continuing that trajectory even further with many forms of church? What would an alternative look like? I’ve been trying to get a general overview of post-modern philosophy, hermeneutics, and historical theology as preparation, and my brain hurts.
So how’s that baby looking?
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Image source: http://www.cartoonchurch.comGod’s Spirit is doing something that is springing up now; will we perceive it? He is making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:19
I have considered this passage from scripture many times in the last few years and cannot help but be struck by the times in which we live. The technological transformation of our society is taking place now on almost every level. Most social institutions are poised on the cusp of dramatic change. From science; medicine to business; agriculture, from politics; economics to education; the family, technology is redefining our world.
There is no doubt our faith communities will take new shape in the digital age. The tents & tabernacles of tomorrow will be different than in previous generations. As we become an increasingly media-centric, global community, the Church of Jesus Christ will be transformed in ways that are just now springing up. Not because Jesus changes, rather the opposite; His constancy gets translated into every tongue (and tribe), through every medium that can express it and to every generation who will declare it.
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This week we welcome two more guest voices to the conversation, cynthia and dean. Please read on to meet them both and get to know a little more about them…
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What is the Mission of Christ and the Mission of the Church? There has been much debate in the emerging/missional church conversation about the true nature of Christ’s mission, and the mission of the church as we seek to be the community of the Kingdom of God. Is this mission primarily…
to rescue people from eternal destiny danger by proclaiming a salvation of individual souls available to all through Christ? or
to embody and work for justice and peace for all people? I
Is it even more far reaching than either of these things? Historically, many churches, especially of the evangelical variety, strongly emphasized “mission” at least in part, as working for the salvation of individual souls from eternal destiny danger. This has lead to many further debates about who is really “saved” and opens the door for questions like these: “Are you an exclusivist, inclusivist, pluralist or universalist?” And perhaps more importantly, “is God one (or none) of these?” For more on these terms, See Jason’s excellent short post here. Our answer to these questions will have a tremendous amount of influence over how we participate in the activity known as “Evangelism.”
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At the recommendation of a friend in ministry, I picked up the book The Gift of Being Yourself by David Benner. Twenty-four hours later I’m struggling with what I’ve read, wondering if I should reread Benner’s 110-page book or just send an email to my friend thanking him for the timely recommendation. Of course, as far as I’m concerned, either choice will leave me exposed. And whether this sounds deranged or just delusional, I’d rather be caught naked in Central Park than have my deepest, darkest self uncovered (weird, huh?). I think most people would, at least most people I know. Rereading the book will once again force me to face the frustration of feeding and needing my “false self,†which, according to Benner, believes that my value “depends on what I have, what I can do and what others think of me.†On the other hand, emailing my colleague in ministry may also open up an uncomfortable dialogue that explores my reasons for finding the book helpful. And while I write this with a smirk on my face, I’m not sure I want to have my demons exorcised electronically, though it sounds like an interesting experiment. Continue reading »
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So it’s the new year and I’ve had my usual time to think and pray and plan about priorities and goals for 2007 and beyond. There are a few online tools that I find myself using more and more, to order, track, motivate, measure and remind me how things are going. Here are a few of them (all free), incase you find them helpful too.
43 Things
This is fun site to list your main goals in life. I’ve put some of my big goals here. 43 things is a tag based social network site, where you can find others with similar goals as you to ‘cheer’ (as they call it on the site, i.e push a button to tell someone ‘great go for it’), connect with and get support. Also you can use the site to send yourself timed reminders to ask you about your progress on your goals.www.futureme.org
This site lets you send emails to yourself in the future. In other words you send the email, and time delay it through the site. I have set up some for my big goals, to cheer me on at future dates. I’ve also used it to diary and journal things that I want to remind myself of in the future.Monkey On Your Back
This site is billed as a place to set up to do’s that you want others to do, and have an online moneky avatar chase people by email. I tried a few with my wife but she ‘killed’ them all with a button push. I don’t blame her :-) I use it to send myself reminders and have it update me!Tick Spot
I estimate I have to do 4,000 hours of reading and study for my current Ph.D. Like the proverbial ‘eating an elephant piece by piece’, I am using Tick to audit and visually track my weekly, monthly, termly and overal reading and writing Goals. It’s easy to update, and the visual feedback is helping me keep on course.Any other tools you are finding useful?
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For millions of people, the depths of winter bring on a condition known as SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), a form of depression caused by a biochemical imbalance in the hypothalamus due to the shortening of daylight hours and lack of sunlight. I’m fortunate not to be a sufferer of SAD, probably partly due to the fact that my life is split between looking after my 22 month old daughter and writing, both of which allow me to venture out and catch what daylight and sunshine there is at this time of year in the northern hemisphere. That said, I have become aware of a more general dis-ease this year, which I have never experienced before, an ironic LOSAD (Lack of Season Affective Disorder). I’ve yet to have need of my winter coat, never woken to so much as a frost that required me to scrape the windscreen of my car, let alone seen a covering of snow or the local pond over-ice. Much as I long for the first flowers of Spring, I want them in Spring not mid-January! I genuinely feel uneasy about the lack of winter season here in the UK – a deep down, at-the-core-of-my-being dis-ease. I feel out of step with nature, because nature appears to be out of step with itself. And that has led to what I can only describe as a spiritual disequilibrium within me. This week, the paperback edition of the Stern Report: The Economics of Climate Change is released. I’ll no doubt get around to reading this important report. But what about the affects of climate change on the economy of the soul? I need the natural seasons as much, if not more, than I need the seasons of Advent and Easter. Come ghost of Vaughn Monroe, Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow.