sustain:if:able kiwi

the Bible as living word in community

Last week I blogged about the Bible, in particular how we use the Bible in community (post is here). I suggested we needed a new skills and capacities to move us beyond the caricatures of “preaching as monologue” OR “discussion as sharing of ignorance.”

On Sunday I had another go at communal lectio divino. I note it here for those interested in ways to use the Bible in community. There are many. Here is but one.

1. I invited people to imagine themselves inside a Bible text.
2. I asked the men present to be the disciples in the story. I asked the women present to be the woman in the story.
3. I read the Bible text through twice. (In this case it was John 4).
4. As I went, I made brief comments on exegetical features of this text. (In this case, Samaria, Samaritans, being at a well at noon).
5. The first time I read the text, I invited the men-as-disciples to express how they were thinking and feeling. I paused 4 times; at the end of verse 12, 17, 19, 26, for them to vocalise.
6. The second time I read the text, I invited the women to express how they were thinking and feeling. I paused 5 times; at the end of verse 10, 14, 18, 23, 26, for them to vocalise.
7. We shared in two’s how this text challenged us.

For over 40 minutes, we engaged the text. There was real emotion. There was intellectual stimulation. There was insights I had never realised.

God was present. So present that we finished by doing something we’ve never done at Digestion in my time. We stood and I invited people to talk to God about this Bible passage. Lots of people prayed, passionately, sincerely.

God had spoken. The Bible was living word in community. I note this as one way (and there are many, many more) that we can experience the Bible as living in community.

One more thing. This approach still requires a good deal of preparation. There is the exegetical work, the reading and re-reading of the text in order to discern what voices can be heard and at what points the Biblical narrative allows movement. There are new skills in terms of offering a corporate safe space and choosing how to respond to people’s comments. There is anxiety in not knowing what the ending will be and so needing to trust the Spirit.

txt blessings

We are passionate about communicating via our cell phones; God is passionate about communicating with us. Can we use our cell phones to communicate God’s blessing? The passionate practice for August is texting a blessing.

This blessing was one example suggested:
U r nt a accident
U r unique
U were creatd 4 a purpose
God loves u

For an introduction:
to passionate practices go here; for a passionate practice of discernment go here; for a passionate practices of pilgrimage go here.

For book resources:
Practicing Passion: Youth and the Quest for a Passionate Church gave an initial theological framework and opened my eyes to passion as a way to affirm youth spirituality; God bearing life:The Art of Soul Tending for Youth Ministry, which has excellent reflection on passion and passion in youth ministry; and Soul Tending which is stacked with actual practices.

emerging and anglo-catholics

Some fascinating discussion going on in the post “How exclusive is the emerging church?” I pulled out this comment from big bulky anglican because I think it’s worthy of further discussion: I think that emerging churches tended to be populated by evangelicals discovering what anglo-catholics have known for decades – symbolism, faith in daily life, ritual and variety, daily offices.

1. Does the comment resonnate with you ie are you an “emerging church evangelical who is discovering symbolism, faith in daily life, ritual, daily offices”?

2. If you answered yes to (1), why are you finding them (symbolism, faith in daily life, ritual, daily offices) helpful?

3. What (if any) changes or appropriations have you made to how symbolism, faith in daily life, ritual, daily offices have been traditionally practiced?

4. Why might some sections of the church have lost/ignored these practices? What might we learn from this about the use and re-use of symbolism, faith in daily life, ritual, daily offices?

worth watching

Think Christianity looks a webite worth watching: “A conversation and general thoughts on the Christian faith from people of all walks of life. The good, the bad and the ugly.” To join the conversation, you simply send an email saying why you do or don’t go to church. It becomes a blog post and the dialogue commences.

how exclusive is the emerging church?

The emerging church is regularly charged with the crime of exclusivity. This nameless entity which exists only in the conversational relationships between interested parties; earns cartoon fame for its homegenity and causes practioners to consider whether they are institutional racists!

This week at Opawa we have welcomed Nigel and family, to do a workplace “internship” with us. All week I have marvelled at the irony of an English Anglican ordinand from a historically Anglo-Catholic theological institution, doing time with a historically conservative New Zealand Baptist Church.

An outsider, a local Anglican, someone with sharp powers of observation, made the comment; “wow, the emerging church certainly creates interesting partnerships.”

And so I lay this comment alongside the charges of exclusivity. Is the emerging church exclusive, or might it be that there is a simultaneous loosening of old networks and the forming of new networks?

This should not be an excuse for exclusivity or a lack of hospitality. Nevertheless, I will self-flagellate myself less this week with the ropes of post-colonial guilt.

reading the missional text: 2

A process of reading the Biblical text in community, aware of context, and with missional eyes. The second text is 1 Kings 19:3-18;

A place of despair (both personal and cultural) need not be an ending. God can meet and sustain us in our despair. In fact, in our brokenness, we just might become teachable.

Where the “signs”; of earthquake and storm, in any way “signs” used by the idols of Elijah’s culture? What skills and discernment might be needed to unmask the idols of our culture?

For more on missional texts

contemporary ways of being the people of God

The church around the world is changing. This course charts emerging church trends and evaluates their potential for Christian life today. Topics will include:
the Bible and spiritual formation
worship and mission
new forms of emerging church.

A course I am teaching, Saturday, September 16 and September 23, 2006. For more info go here

preaching belongs to the community

– it’s either “long-winded, old-school Bible preach[ing]” or “artsy collective ignorance.”

Pernell points to a nice little dualism which I hear every now and again when we talk about the Bible and church.

In modernity expounding the Bible usually belonged to one person. But a close look at the Bible makes that problematic: the school of the prophets in the Old Testament suggests a community engaged with the text, Jesus and the Emmaus Road suggests God is revealed not in the expounded words but seated around table, Paul in the lecture halls of Greek culture “dialogued” between text and context. I am not suggesting either/or; replacing one way with another way, but both/and.

One of my students summed it up beautifully: Preaching belongs to the community. But that statement requires the learning of a whole new skill set.

First is the skill of trust: It is much safer for 1 voice to speak. To allow community engagement requires whole new levels of trust in Spirit and trust in people.

Second is the skill of engagement: Ask a dumb question and you are likely to get so-called “collective ignorance.” Ask a question that everyone knows you know the answer to and you are asking someone in the group to look stupid so that you can look expert. But in every group are life experiences and insights that out-trump a preacher’s limited perspective and experiences. The skill of engagement is the creating of ways for these gifts to be brought to the table.

The image I often use is that of an athelete. The church has trained one muscle well – that of the Bible speaker. In so doing, we have lost the muscles of community learning. It will take a while to recover those muscles. There will be some inevitable ups and downs as we re-learn. Which makes it such an exciting time to be Bible people today.

For more:
– Living the text course I teach – go here.
– Living the text website – blog learning of students from a recent course here.
– Pray that my book manuscript on this finds a publishing home.

Daddy, you don’t have to say yes to everything

I was due to speak at Greenbelt, UK, later this month. My seminar was titled:

Spiritual takeways – Christianity Lite or Discipleship Extreme? We live in a 24/7 world, yet so often our community is public in worship 1 hour per week. This seminar will explore the relationship between contemporary spirituality and the emerging church, with a particular focus on what it means to be a visible presence in a transient community. It will explore practices such a spirituality postcards, tactile takeways and spirituality of life resourcing.

But I am tired of airtravel. And I needed a few more speaking gigs to make it worthwhile and things were not really clicking. So over the weekend I wondered aloud about the wisdom of going and my 9 year old set me straight; “Daddy, you don’t have to say yes to everything.” Sorry Ben and sorry Greenbelt. Maybe next year.

work intern – welcome Nigel

Nigel, Jo, Archie and Jacob arrived from the UK today. They are with us at Opawa for 3 weeks. This is our 2nd go as a church at hosting overseas interns. Last year we had Shannon McMillan, who worked as an “art” intern. Nigel is a “work” intern, and will be helping us explore workplace spirituality across our congregations. He’s also fascinated by Opawa as a story of emerging within an established context.

Overseas interns is a tricky balance – so much culture crossing and the need to find ways for all parties to bless and be a blessing. Each year I hope we get better at hosting overseas interns; we now have more staff, better structures and a dedicated intern study space.

I guess I am saying with this post: overseas interns welcome; if you live outside New Zealand (or Christchurch) and want to learn and be a part of the Opawa story, feel free to get in contact.

blogs and books

i think books are different from blogs. it might just be me though. i have been blogging for a few years now. one of my categories was about church transition – doing emerging church stuff in an established setting. i was stunned to discover earlier this year that there are over 200,000 words in that blog category on my blog.

is there a place in our world for multiple approaches to communication?

A comment I made on Mark Berry’s blog.

blokes and church

I sent out this letter today. It will be fascinating to see what might emerge. (Note to self: if this works once, then it could easily be reproduced with other “invite” groups).

Over the last while, 7 of you have independently spoken to me about men and ministry at Opawa. I hear from all of you a concern to do something. I also hear from all of you a lack of clarity about the what and how and when and who. Which I think is a good thing, because it gives us some space to nut out together God’s unique dream at Opawa.

I am asking you to engage with me and some others for 4 weeks around the following topics:

(more…)

Missional texts

I am working on a project: a missional reader – a set of texts – Biblical, liturgical, blog and book – that might nourish the journey of a missional learner. I am wondering about the potential of a shared set of texts, shared among missional learners in different contexts, offering a sense of communal learning on the missional journey.

Such a reader would best emerge from texts already used in community, grounded already in the local and particular. So I am currently field-testing some Biblical texts with a class. Every week for 14 weeks we are committing ourselves to dwelling in a different Biblical text (Yes, I know that the emerging church is rumoured to not take the Bible seriously:)). We will be reading the text and letting the text read us; listening to the text and listening to the text through each other. Here are some of my more poetic reflections on text 1: Genesis 28:10-19.

(more…)

heart in my mouth

I need a book reference for a lecture I am about to do in 2 hours. I used the book in my PhD, so I go looking for my PHD on my laptop. No sign of my PhD in the usual folder. How strange.

Puzzled, I hit “search.”

Stranger still. According to “search” my PhD is in my computers “Recycle bin.”

I open the “Recycle bin.” I find over 500 of my files, waiting to be deleted. I have no idea why.

Could I have ever been that jet-lagged in the last 10 days? Could someone have fiddled with my computer (it was left accessible in a classroom a number of times recently)? Can a virus do this?

(And yes, I did backup all my files recently).