sustain:if:able kiwi

Bible survives trip down flooded river

A whole new take on casting bread upon the waters here.

praying for all risktakers today

Recognise that it is far easier to criticise than to create – therefore expect criticism.

life to a 7 year old

Are you Shannon’s dad?
Yes.
Would you speak to her school class [of 7 year old’s]? Would you tell them what you do for a job?

Uh …. sure.

Sitting in car 5 minutes later.
Next Friday. Hmmmm.
How on earth do I explain my pastoring, my teaching, my writing, my wwwing, to a group of 7 year olds?

Suggestions welcomed.

growing in ministry

How has your PhD affected your ministry? I was speaking to a group of ministers yesterday and this was the final question. I have continued to mull it over.

1. I am more aware of the complexity of our society and the mission task that is ours. We live in a very fragmented and diverse world and need to resist simplistic approaches to mission.

2. A greater awareness of the need for imagination as essential to church and ministry.

3. A deeper respect for a theology of creation. I am searching much more for life images in the Scriptures and in people’s lives.

4. My study has given me a much deeper respect and love for the Spirit. I am seeking to be much more attentive to the work of the Spirit in the world, much more eager to fan what God is doing.

emerging church

My A-Z post on emerging church is on emerging church, (here to be precise) along with a whole lot of downunder stuff.

(warning – joke coming. It’s quite neat to see such a nod to the colonies. Next month back to the centre of the universe, ay chaps! warning, truly this is just a flippant early morning remark)

stages of faith

when one’s starting out on the spiritual journey and making a serious attempt to understand a complicated major religion, one needs certainties in order to find a patch of firm ground to stand on; the sophisticated approach can come later. I had reached the stage where I had dug myself in on a patch of firm ground but had so far been unable to work out how to move on.
:: Susan Howatch, The Heartbreaker.

downunder atop the oscars

New Zealand
world famous for its movie creativity

for more pictures and info see here.

godly play on live video feed

I had a go at godly play at Opawa this morning. For those unaware, godly play is a way of honouring the Biblical text by using imagination, senses and wonder (I’ve blogged about it here, and Prodigal describes me doing it here). You tell the Bible story using symbols (sand, stones, ark, etc), allow time to “wonder” (I wonder where we are in this story), and then conclude (I did the story of crossing the Jordan into the promised land).

I love it because it privileges the Bible story. Rather than dissect the Scriptures with cold intellect, we enter into the Scriptures and let the Bible shape us.

Anyhow, I got a live video feed going. So as I did it with the kids, the whole church could watch. It is something I have dreamed off for years, live video feeds in church, and it is great to be in a context and with techies who can make some dreams happen.

our house is like a tardis

A friend visited our new house yesterday. They reckoned it was like the tardis from Doctor Who. From the road it looks small. Walk inside and it goes on and on.

Dear God
please may our house, our life,
call people on a journey, on and on,
into the mystery and hugeness which is the living God.

What is a TARDIS? The TARDIS is the Doctor’s method of travel through both time and space – all Gallifreyan Time Lords use TARDISes for getting from A to B – and from then to now.

And TARDIS means? TARDIS, of course, stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. Or Time and Relative Dimension in Space, if you’re a purist.

You can download a tardis screensaver from here. For more Dr Who trivia, try here.

the postmodern contest

One of the questions my PhD examiners asked me was to reflect on the contested nature of postmodernity. They liked my answer so much they suggested it be inserted into the thesis. So here is a first draft.

There is a huge amount of literature that describes a movement from modern to postmodern. At base this reflects some rejection of the past; often in relation to triumphal and over-arching words, symbols and systems.

I would group critiques of postmodernity into five camps.

(more…)

Examiners recommendations

that Steve Taylor’s Phd on A New Way of Being Church be accepted and the degree be awarded once amendments have been made;
a glossary of terms
a brief and more fuller discussion of the contested nature of postmodernity, as per the candidates impressive answer in the oral defense
a more punchy conclusion.

Congratulations Doctor Taylor.

A toast: to God who gave a brain, the supervisors who lassoed 10 phd ideas into merely 3, and to family, who walk the journey with me.

“You’ll be great Steve” – my wife as she drops me off at the airport.
“But how do you know that Daddy will be great Mum?” – my 4 year old from the back seat.

emotional exegesis

I did some “emotional exegesis” with the Pastoral Leadership and Management class I started lecturing today. It went like this;
Form a group. Think about the gospel story of the 4 friends who tear off a roof, in order to bring their friend to Jesus. Jesus responds “Rise up, your sins are forgiven.” Role play this in your group, taking turns to be Jesus and to be the crippled man.

Now repeat the exercise.

And a most profound hush descends. The class became holy ground. New questions are asked. New insights emerge. A fresh challenge to give grace is heard. Our emotions have deepened our love and engagement with Scripture.

God revealed in community

a tangent touched off from here

Modernity sold us a pup. It sold us a belief you needed truth as all-encompassing and systematic. Modernity took truth and wrapped it in culture and then sold it to us as a cultural syncretistic product: truth as pure, abstract, timeless.

Yet, the God of the Bible was a God of community … moulding community in the desert, moulding community in the church … urging community through the broken body of Christ…..telling story after story, narrative after narrative of the actions of the communal God … refusing to sieve narrative into doctrinal purity, God took the risk of letting stories serve as the interpretive vessel for the body of God.

For where 2 or 3 are gathered in my name, there is Christ … he broke bread and gave it to them … then their eyes were opened and they recognized him ….

The God of all, revealed in community…

When moderns encounter postmoderns they sniff for a watering down of truth. What they fail to smell is the decaying odor, the rotting carcase, of their modern, all-encompassing, systematic cultural approach to truth. (Note what I said, the cultural approach is rotting, not the truth.)