sustain:if:able kiwi

walking through a minefield

U2 have released the title for their new album; How to dismantle an atomic bomb.

On the other hand, Christian weaver of metaphor, Len Sweet, is speaking of time bomb scriptures: God has some time-bomb scriptures that go off at certain times. Romans and Pauline literature, for example, exploded during the Reformation and its effect was felt for hundreds of years. From here

Don’t we have enough violence in our world today, without co-opting the said words of wisdom and words of Jesus? If the words of the prophet expect us to dismantle swords, does that mean we should dismantle and defuse Scriptural incendiary devices? Does not the raw terror of our times require us to seek different images?

I’m in the U2 corner on this one.

Transitioning church in contemporary culture

7 months ago, as an emerging church pastor, I moved to a 94 year old declining conservative church in a poorer part of town. Many people thought I was mad. I was returning to what many in the emerging church are deconstructing and railing against. I was deciding to live in what many had dismissed as lifeless and immovable.

Over 7 months there have been some great encouragements;
a more open, questioning, relaxed, creative, relational approach to faith.
innovation and change
people finding faith
new people

Over 7 months I have been:

(more…)

emerging life

Sunday nite
3 baptisms
pool spot lit
rainbow coloured back cloth, sign of spring life in our midst
rose petals in water, placed by the community, a gift, a sacrament of communal love

I talked about extreme discipleship;
do you follow Christ?
do you repent of your sins?
do you renounce evil?
the call to risk, to growth, to stretch,
in contrast to Christianity lite, sweet, fluffy, and with no substance

emerging leadership

leadership = i just want someone i can respect

moving the out of bounds church?

out-of-bounds church? learning to create communities of faith in a culture of change, is the editor-ordained title for my book. due out feb 05.

Zondervan sent me a fancy “author care” pack recently, in pastels, complete with flowers. And a “book form” to fill out. And a question: who do you know who could write reviews for magazines and newspaper?

If you have this sort of access – to publications, to magazines, to Christian news, that do book reviews – and want a review copy, drop me a line and I’ll flick your name to Zondervan

christian and lesbian interaction: reviews of allie eagle and me

The film “deftly side-steps the conventions of dry art-historical biography, fusing personal history, inter-generational dialogue and politics with a delibaretely light touch.” from here

and from here; “In the film, Allie Eagle talks about the way audiences and critics have often locked her work into a feminist time warp. This concern is the driving force behind her new show, in which she embraces the Christian faith of her childhood.”

This is what makes the film interesting; the collision of worlds, where the word Christian sits alongside the rating ** and ++ (Two stars indicate lesbian content, two pluses feminist content.)

allie eagle and me

“Allie eagle and me” a film by Briar March, is being shown at Opawa Baptist, 4 pm, Sunday 19th September. This 55 minute (Christchurch film festival movie this year) follows feminist separatist turned Christian artist Allie Eagle. The film is the true story of how Christianity changes lives and politics. Good coffee, free pop corn and possibly a discussion with Allie Eagle to conclude.

rough nite

I was awake most of the nite with a wicked gut pain. Pain killers and vomiting just wouldn’t fix it. Lynne is away, but at 6 a.m. I gave up, bundled my totally befuddled kids into the car and headed for A&E.

They are taking bloodtests and urine samples and scratching their head. I am a bit better but exhausted and a bit concerned.

Update: my blood and urine are fine. the cause of the nite remains a mystery!

xtreme ways

xtreme sports are a new cultural phenomenon; adventure racing, bungy jumping, white water rafting – a chance to take risks, to stretch and grow in the process.

I have seen, experienced and designed xtreme worship experiences – blocks of ice and hot coals as prayer, chardonnay bottles as acts of grace descending from the ceiling, naked flames. Alternative worship has mixed image and culture and brought us xtreme worship.

I have seen, experienced and sought for xtreme community – church as shared meal, community as the essence of Christian expression. Friends like Living Room and Al Creech have used relationships as the prolegomena to mission.

I want to see xtreme discipleship. In a world where the passion of Islam includes a willingness to take up one’s cross to death do us part, it is time for xtreme worship and extreme community to be entwined with xtreme discipleship. It is time for radical peacemaking and keen environmental concern and social justice to enter the regular praxis of the emerging church.

xtreme worship + xtreme community + xtreme discipleship = xtreme ways of the Kingdom of God

blah blah blah

i am spending more and more of my life talking to groups of people. i often wonder if there is any point … you speak to groups who say nice things, but does anything change … is it worth the energy … how to bring about change … is it worth the cost to family and to personal time spent smelling the roses.

today is my 5th day of speaking in a row. i am speaking on a theological response to the foreshore and seabed issue. it is a hugely explosive issue in new zealand today, with big implications for identity and culture and reconciliation. i am nervous.

i get out of the car and a person walks over. “i have a bone to pick with you” he announces, “from the talk you did on future church last year”

“oh dear” i think.

“that talk changed our life” he says, and shares some of his story. oh well, going blah, blah, blah has been useful for at least one person.

update: while I do appreciate all the nice comments, I wish to emphasis that this post was done with a note of glad surprise, not a depressed funk seeking pats on the back.

pondering terror

if there was no media, would there be events like Beslan?

does terrorism not rely on the spreading of a message of terror. if there was no media, no CNN, then is terror not decreased as an instrument of effectiveness?

to do something, go here.

the day I left my wife

Today I fly to Auckland. It’s our 14th wedding anniversary. I know where I’d rather be tonite (and no offense to any Aucklander’s who read this blog.)

I brought Lynne a salad dressing – honey mustard and macademia flavour, (along with flowers and lunch). It seemed an appropriate way to honour someone who brings
spice
warmth
humanity
into my life.

choosing creativity

I co-authored, with emergent lynne, a piece on creativity and church; titled Choosing Creativity. It’s online here and captures some of my dreams for church as a place that enhances people made in the image of God.

I will give my copy of the entire magazine to the person who can work out which bits are written by emergent me and which bits are written by emergent lynne.

out of cultural balance

Alan Creech engages with Don Carson, and argues:
if ultimately, you have first and foremost become some emerging church pomo whatever as a reaction to change in the culture – I, for one, believe you have your first and foremosts out of balance.

Well then, I for one am happy to put up my hand and say I’m out of balance. Out of balance and glad of it actually.

I was reading Philemon 22 yesterday; At the same time, get a room ready for me.

And it energised me as a missionary metaphor. We live in Western culture, which like the Prodigal Son, has left home. The church has been abandoned. And the Father waits. That’s our missionary reality.

As part of my missionary response, I’d like to keep a room ready for if the Prodigal returns. Our culture will never say what Paul says in Philemon. It will never ask for a room to be ready.

But I’m still willing to get the room ready, to create a welcoming and hospitable space for those wandering, squandering, enjoying the high life.

Maori culture has a proverb: ahi kaa – keep the home fires burning, so the loved ones will return. Such a hospitable (even if it might be out-of-balance) missiology has a number of implications.

First, it keeps me respectful of other rooms not like mine. This includes the mission rooms of modernity. I struggle with lots of Carson and lots of Willow Creek, but I keep trying to be respectful of such modern attempts at missiology.

Second, it keeps me surveying my room. It’s a place I prepare not for myself, but for the wanderer. So it’s not driven by my music wants or my favourite images. It’s a place that I hope the Prodigal will enjoy. Sure, it won’t be perfect. But part of my gift means I’ll do what I can.

So Alan, I’m sorry if it seems out of balance to you, but it’s a hospitable missiology that for me seems deeply energised by a Biblical impulse.