sustain:if:able kiwi

living theology and boundaries

The focus of my PhD research was on living theology (what an emerging church was actually praying and preaching) in relation to boundaries (relationships between society).

Today I am working with a group of 40 chaplains. I said yes, because it seems to me that chaplains are a fine example living theology in relation to society. I’ve been asked to nourish them with some biblical metaphors that will help them better process their boundaries.

I was going to haul the “pastoral ministry” books of the shelf when I suddenly thought, “what are the biblical images that nourish me.” They are not pastor as prophet or preacher, but minister as midwife, gardener, storyteller and DJ. So I’m going to see how they “fly” in a chaplain context.

I’m really looking forward to it. The downside is that it’s 5 hours of input (not all talk, there’s group work and art and case studies and storytelling and creative prayer stations), and then I have my usual Bible College of New Zealand lecture – gospel and film – 2 hours. 7 hours will be a long day.

origami worship

In John 20; post-Easter, Jesus, in the name of the Father, and for the sake of mission, breathes on the disciples to “Recieve the Spirit.” This links with Genesis 2:7, God breathes life into the human. Life, creativity, vitality, passion are breathed. The Resurrection hope is for Spirit infilled, enthused, creative, vital, life-giving, sent into our cities in the name of God.

On Sunday evening at Digestion, people were invited to reflect on these texts, by making origami balloons. Fold brightly coloured paper just right, and blow, and up pops a paper balloon. People were invited to place this onto a map of Christchurch, as their prayer for their lives to be creative, vital, Spirit-enthused in their homes and workplaces.

the author is frozen

I have just met my twin brother, who due to publisher deadlines, stopped growing in May 2003. That was the month my book went to the publisher/editor. While my ideas became frozen in print, I kept growing. Tweaking, changing, adapting.

Now I get emails from people, with questions and comments about my book. Which is like way cool, but that was May 2003 and have you heard about “postcard 10” (my book has 9 “postcards” on contemporary mission)?

I had a constant debate over 3 years at seminary with my Old Testament Lecturer. Deeply infested by contemporary reader response theory, he used to maintain “the author is dead.” It was a slogan designed to rial my desire for some level of authorial intent, as one strategy for allowing coherence between original text and context.

Is an author dead? Or is an author frozen, a virtual twin, a camera snapshot of a brain stranded in time?

Christchurch book launch

Just confirmed a date for my Christchurch book launch;
Friday, April 22, from 7:30 pm
Manna Books, Manchester Street
drinks, nibble and live music (hopefully)
all welcome

spirit festival

Derek Lind confirmed for
Living under nor’west arch Spirit festival
teaching + interactive creativity + music + coffee + film

Opawa Baptist, Pentecost week (May 17-21)

being a pastor at easter

Opawa as a church gives a lot of life away at Easter
a) we run the Easter Journey, an interactive art installation. It involves about 60 volunteers setting up, welcoming, offering hot cross buns and cups of tea. This year over 1,000 people walked the journey. It’s a very significant outward, mission event. (Some photos of previous years are here. Other photos are on the front cover of Dan Kimball’s, Emerging Worship).
b) we encourage our young people to attend Easter Camp and they do.
c) Opawa folk help behind the scenes at Easter Camp. Providing meals for 2,700 people is a huge task and the camp kitchens are full of Opawa people. It’s a gift of love and service for the people of God in their (youth) mission of God.
d) and then there is the simple fact that Easter in New Zealand is the last big holiday break before winter. So a lot of Opawa people who work really hard Monday-Friday, need the grace that is the encouragement of Sabbath rest, of taking a break to refresh and recharge.

So all in all, a lot of energy goes out of the church.

And it means that on Easter Sunday morning I, and the only 2 musicians still around, struggle to inject Risen, Christ life into our worship. And the 3 young adults, visiting for Easter Sunday, look around. And with our youth group away for Easter, it’s like “hmmm, not many people like me in this place.”

Part of the pastor in me wants to say, “folks, Easter is like the high point of the year. Stick around. Make it a priority.” The other part of the pastor in me wants to cheer and go, “wow, so much life given in mission.” Such are my Easter dilemnas.

Why I am Southern Baptist, bible believing and into the emerging church

(Or a Biblical word of encouragement to tallskinnykiwi and a Biblical word of admonition to the notion that the Emerging Church is a threat to the gospel).

OK, I pastor a Baptist church and I live in in Southern Hemisphere. This clearly makes me a Southern Baptist and able to enter the debates here and here. I note the following Biblical texts, that have converted me to being a Southern Baptist emerging church disciple.

Firstly, (we are post-Easter after all), take Luke 24 and the Emmaus Road story. Jesus preaches, and the disciples don’t get revelation. Jesus preaches the Prophets and the Law. I mean, that is one BIG expository sermon. And still the disciples don’t get it. It is not until they are in community with Jesus, eating supper, that Revelation occurs.This Biblical text calls for repentance from expository preaching and a commitment to finding God in community. (Don’t get me started on Biblical scholarship that suggests the two disciples were husband and wife and thus woman were equal participants at the table of Jesus.)

Secondly, take Colossians 1:15. Christ is the Image of God. Move over word-bound, propositional theologies. Christ can also be revealed in images. This Biblical text calls for repentance from solely word-bound, propositional theologies and a commitment to image-based, multi-media worship.

These Biblical texts have converted me to being a Southern Baptist emerging church disciple. I have repented of my expository preaching. I am seeking a Bible based ministry of multi-media worship, sharing food among a community of friends.

flowering cross on sunday

laid on New Zealand stone,
made from local bedding plants,
surrounded by shell and paua,
laid in love on Friday
also surrounded by bulbs,
to be taken on Sunday as a commitment to Resurrection Life

with Easter love

in love, we wrap
the body of Jesus

in love
we lay petals

the Friday of Easter week

On the Friday of Easter Week, in the easter egg the colour is black. We break a black (painted) piece of polystrene, to find inside a red heart. Easter Friday is the saddest day, a day of darkness.

We will gather around and wrap the cross. We will sprinkle our rose petals. We will express love for a heart of love, broken for us.

Note re atonement: I have really struggled to include the more cosmic and wholistic dimensions of the atonement at this point. God died for the whole world, for the integration of people and planet. A red heart speaks of God’s love for individuals. There are hints of relational connectedness, as Christ restored relationships on the saddest day, so we are offered hearts of love which include restored relationships. But the central metaphor remains individual, and I have struck a creative brick wall.

re-releasing the passionate response to the passion

With Easter, movie theatres in various countries are re-screening Mel Gibson’s movie, The Passion of the Christ. In May last year I wrote an article for Reality magazine on the movie, exploring various film and theology angles in the movie, including the place, or otherwise, of redemptive violence in Christian theology. It’s proving a popular read again, being no. 1 at the moment on Reality website. I got a fair bit of flack for it at the time in Letters to the Editor. Anyhow, it’s located here if you want to read it.

the thursday of easter week

On the Thursday of Easter week, in the Easter evangeegg, the colour is blue. Often we talk about having a blue day, a sad day.

Wrapped inside blue cellophane in the Easter evangeegg is a lolly, sweet on the outside, sour on the inside. On Thursday Jesus disciples said sweet things, but by nights end, their actions left a sour taste. Sucking the lolly becomes a reflection on what walking with Jesus means for us this Easter week.

Note re interactivity: By this stage in this Easter evangeegg, people have used taste, touch, smell, sight and sound. We are made whole people, in the image of God, and so an ideal is that worship is multi-sensory. When I first came across the alt.worship movement, I marvelled at their video loops. Over time, I have tried to use technology less, and everday tactile objects more. It takes less time, it beds God in a different part of everyday life and it often opens up more senses.

A few weeks ago their was a surprise at church. The service was “hi-jacked” and the congregation took time to celebrate my being at the church a year, and to express thanks for all the change. There was space for people to share and a common theme was people talking about how interactive tactile symbols – sheep, flowering the cross – had been vehicles of help and inspiration.

the coolest thing

Dear Steve,
Your text will be published in the book about Sieger Köders life and works.
The book will be published on the German speaking market. We will send you
one copy in July/August.

I have no idea how I’m going to find the time to write this piece but this is like the coolest thing, being asked to input into a different culture about an artist who has shaped me theologically.

loss of punctuation

there were 230 people at church on Sunday weve gained about 60-80 people in a year the church really needs another staff person now in the last 24 hours I’ve had emails accepting an article I’ve written for a US magazine, final drafts for me to check of a denominational newspaper interview, a publishing company seeking a book endorsement, a letter from Germany asking me to contribute to a “festchrift” for a German artist these are all so cool but there’s only one of me oh, did I forget to mention this is Easter week, with daily services and the Easter Journey underway at Opawa?

Note: the loss of punctuation was a deliberate move to indicate the inner-state of my head.

What does it mean for me to smell perfume and love Jesus today?