sustain:if:able kiwi

signs of stress

In top of the Christmas rush and Bible College marking and Advent services, the Taylor family are moving house in a few days. I think the stress is beginning to show.

Last night one of the 92 year olds in the church died. Funeral planning was booked with the family for 11 am this morning. When I went looking for the car keys, they were gone. I searched high and low, and then texted my wife in a panic. Only to find that for some (stressed-related?) reason she had my keys in her handbag.

Tonight both our girls were performing at an end of year concert. My wife wrapped the ticket beside my (now found) keys, with strict instructions regarding start time. I arrived at the venue, only to find that for some (stress-related?) reason, the ticket was gone and I (still) have absolutely no idea where it went.

starting another missional leadership coaching course

Today (with a mix of nerves and excitement) I’m flying up to Auckland for the afternoon, and expecting to meet 14 church pastors and embark on a year long missional church coaching journey with them. (This will sit alongside the 18 who are part of the same course in Hamilton, which started in October and is purring along nicely).

Essentially the course is a mix of input from me over 10 sessions on missional church issues, some reading, on-line engagement and then two action projects, which allow leaders to actually ground missional church learning in their context while among a supportive community (me and the others in the class).

In this case I’m grateful to the Auckland Anglican Diocese, who have taken the risk of advertising and pushing this.

Peace labyrinth at latimer square

Some of our church folk have made (IMHO) this excellent little video to advertise the Christmas Peace labyrinth we’re doing this year. You can view it, either a large (15 meg) or small (4.5 meg) file from here. Feel free to download it, especially if you are a church in Canterbury area.

The video is based on driftwood sticks: “little people” with “eyes”. We’re making thousands of them, to use as part of the promotion and as part of the installation. The last two Thursday evening’s in our church foyer has been a great old time as all ages, from 2 to 80, have been at work/play, putting eyes on driftwood and attaching a tag, with the words “Take me to the Peace Labyrinth in Latimer Square.” So we’re going to be leaving them around the city (sort of like the Book crossing idea, that I have blogged about before).

People walk with their stick person through the labyrinth and are invited to leave it at the stable at the centre. Again, these are available to any in Canterbury area who want them for promotion.

discernment online

The lectionary reading for today comes from Matthew 11 and John’s disciples are seeking to discern if Jesus is the One. Jesus reply is to point them to what they see – lives healed. I wonder what this notion of seeing means for us in an on-line age.

In other words, if Jesus was a blogger, how would he respond to John’s disciples. Would he put up blog posts of lives healed? Or is Jesus demanded a deeper level of seeing?

Over the last few months I have spent a fair bit of time in the comments responding to people who, like John’s disicples, are seeking to discern- is body massage prayer a twisting of Bible to suit, is use of U2 in church OK (discussion still bubbling along!), is throwing plates at cross evidence that I/Opawa has been deceived. All of these are about discernment.

Which has me wondering how we discern online and what I might learn from Jesus invitation to see.

Here on this blog, I (always in a rush) pen a few words. They are a form of “seeing” yet invariable are a short phrase that in it’s brevity strips out context and relationship and enviroment. Are my blog words enough to allow discernment? If not, am I being irresponsible by only posting in brevity and should I only post if I have time to blog something more fully? But how much can you truly “see” something online anyway? Did Jesus demand anything from John’s disciples and if so, what should be expected of blog readers/commenters in their seeking to discern?

And what level of relationship is needed? For me, values of community and relationship are essential. Words that are not wrapped in body language are notoriously hard to discern. But how does that work online?

Questions, questions, questions. How does discernment operate in our online world?

Note: This post is a general reflection on the issue of discernment online and what it might mean for blogging. I am not trying to get at, or silence, or have a go at anyone who has commented.

are our noses a mistake OR a theology of revelation

The following brief interchange yesterday got me thinking.

Question: Is it OK to use some aromatherapy at a worship station?

Response (from me): Yes. Unless God made a mistake and didn’t mean to give us noses.

I was partly in jest, but it has kept me thinking. I believe that God gave us senses – the gifts of hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, touching. So surely if God gave these, then God is able to use these. So surely God desires to speak through our senses – our hearing, our seeing, our smelling, our tasting, our touching.

Why are some branches of Christianity allergic to God speaking through the bodies that God gave us? Why is it so rare to have, say smell, in some forms of church worship? Are these types of church actually scared of our God-given bodies?

can’t bring back the old days

An excerpt from today’s sermon, which was a creative meditation on the book of Haggai

At that moment my grandpa started crying. “What’s up grandpa?” I asked. “Can’t bring back the old days,” said Grandpa, wiping his tears with the back of his head.

The old days. Boy could my Grandpa talk about the old days. His eyes would mist over as he remembered the good old days. He could remember the large crowds going to church. Used to even fill upstairs, he would nod. And the magnificent choir that used to sing in the temple. All those great old hymns of David.

And then Grandpa paused and looked at me and waggled his boney finger. “Those great old hymns. So different from your new choruses” Grandpa sniffed. “We never sang “By the rivers of Babylon” back in my day.”

My response was to remind Grandpa that surely the God of Yesterday was the God of Tomorrow. Grandpa’s stories were always about this God who had done new things in the past, this God who had created new places of worship for David’s son, this God who had given new songs to Miriam and to David.

“So surely, Grandpa,” I said, “Surely your God of creativity is not dead. Surely this God can continue to create new things into the future.”

“Even new choruses like By the rivers of Babylon,” I teased.

new service called soak

starting Sunday evening, happening monthly, lots of space for stillness, including body massage prayer, creative space, communion, Biblical meditation.

where is God today? reading everyday culture

I have on my desk 3 post-graduate assessments. One is titled “Theology of Desperate Housewives.” Another is exploring the extent of Incarnation and community in Second Life. A third is exploring re-enchantment in contemporary film. All are from Universities and are demanding my marking attention. All are part of a new discipline, that of the relationship between theology and popular culture.

All this is important given the discussion going on in the comments in relation to my post on the theology of U2/Bono, questioning both the validity and how one might go about reading popular culture. I have found three resources useful in my thinking.

Understanding theology and popular culture, by Gordon Lynch, suggests three potential approaches to reading Bono or TV or a film. One is to focus on the author, much as I have done with Bono, using his explanation of the song Waves of Sorrow. Another is text-based and this would involve exploring the lyrics and words. Another is an ethnographic approach, to ask people what they are hearing as they listen and engage.

Everyday theology, by Kevin Vanhoozer, has chapters with titles like The Gospel according to Safeway, A theological account of Eminem, The Business of Busyness, Welcome to the Blogosphere, Weddings for Everyday theologians. It has an excellent introduction and then 10 examples. Quite practical and accessible.

Thirdly, there is an excellent article by Gordon H. Matties titled “On Movies as a Spiritual Discipline,” which offers five sets of questions, which can help structure the way we engage with popular culture. These are:

1) Where are we? What kind of world does the movie depict and do I identify with it?

2) Who are we? What does it mean to be human and in relationship?

3) What is wrong? How does the movie portray the human condition?

4) Is there a remedy? Is there hope, a better future? Can problems be solved? By whom?

5) What time is it? How are we to read the times? Is it like our past, present, future? Are we running out of time, or gaining on it?

I am constantly using these three resources, whether in Gospel and film classes, or when exploring how emerging church is engaging gospel and culture issues, or when helping leaders become listeners (good exegetes of culture). They give me frameworks to think by.

advent in 2007: updated

It’s Advent, four weeks when the church starts to prepare for the Christ. It’s probably my favourite season of the church year. This year our preparation as a church will include;

a) giving everyone a wee glass bead, one per week, with the words “hope”, “joy”, “peace”, “love” glued onto their base. Beautiful enough to hold and tend, small enough to carry in one’s pocket.

b) digging out the advent journals again (8 journals, each journal is numbered and different and released into the church community for the first week of Advent. When you get a journal, you have 3 days to write in it what preparing for Christmas means to you, and can then pass it on to anyone you like. If you have them on Sunday, you’re invited to bring them along to be read in community).

c) using these short Advent videos.

d) offering a Blue Christmas worship experience, Wednesday, December 18, 7:30 pm, in the church foyer, for those who need to explore life’s blues in the presence of a babe about to become a refugee.

e) using this on-line Advent calendar at family meal times. (Hat tip to Olive Drane aka Clown Barni.

Bono theology: Waves of sorrow

I had wondered about preaching this on Sunday, but just could not make it cohere with the life of our faith community, which was celebrating the end of the church year with an Open Home, Open year celebration. So I offer it here!

The latest U2 release, Waves of Sorrow, gives us a fascinating insight into Bono the poet and Bono the theologian.

(more…)

living with integrity amid a world of boxes

This post has nothing to do with any recent speaking experiences I’ve been part of, but arose from an email conversation with a friend

We live in a world of boxes. The boxes are labelled by humans with words like conservative and liberal.

The question is not what others think I am. Nor what boxes they might wish to place me in.

The question is who God thinks I am. And how have I communicated that relationship with authenticity and integrity.

rereading luke 10 in Dunedin

Sorry the blog has been a bit quiet. I’ve been down in Mosgiel, Dunedin, very well hosted by the Anglicans, speaking about mission and church and leadership.

It’s the 4th group of Anglicans I’ve worked with this year and you’d think I’d have it down pat by now. But I can’t help myself and after listening to the hopes and conversations of the group that invited me, I was up until past midnight the night before, re-framing the entire day.

I was using Luke 10:1-12. So I used (four) concepts within that Biblical text, of
– sending,
– going with no agenda,
– listening at the tables of our culture,
– naming the Kingdom
to frame my four sessions. Then within each session I followed a repeated cycle of
– God’s story;
– my story;
– your story.
This cycle allowed me to start each session with God’s story and then to explore how this has shaped my ministry as I have provided leadership. And then space for them to consider their story, and what God might be calling them to in their context.

I was pleased with the pattern. Much of the content remained, but it seemed to provide a frame that was coherent and allowed a fertile mix of Biblical and theological engagement, practical grounding and space to earth and apply.

They worked me hard (speaking for 8 hours). I was stuffed, and arrived at the airport only to find my flight delayed. Sigh. Two hours to rectify an engineering fault meant I missed being able to put my kids to bed. Stink.

PS I’m aware that there’s something funny with my comments. Sorry. They don’t have internet in Mosgiel and then with my flight delayed, I crawled into bed at midnight and …. yeah, yeah …

PSS One of the wierdest things was queueing for the toilet and meeting Aussie visitors who had first heard about me via my time with Craig Mitchell and the Uniting Synod in South Australia. A small world with very few degrees of separation.

PSSS I got asked some of the astutest questions I’ve been asked in a long time yesterday. This is when, for me, speaking becomes gift because it opened new doors and growth for me. Thanks people.

where is God in our world today?

email just in about an upcoming Christian event: “and most importantly we are amped about spending extended time in the presence of our amazing God.”

Can I spend extended time in the presence of God without going? What does this say about returning home, that I will be going back to a lesser place with less time to spend with God?

Or am I being grumpy and pedantic? Do words really matter?

Where is God most likely to be in our world today anyhow?

avoiding the prophets

Questions asked at stoning the prophets on Sunday

If all Scripture is inspired by God,
then why do Christians so rarely preach the minor prophets?

AND why do Lectionary readings draw mainly on the happy parts of the minor prophets?