sustain:if:able kiwi

so how do lectionary readings work?

Today Opawa church is meeting. Part of the agenda includes some long term building plans. Another part includes voting on 2 new Board members. Both will make excellent leaders. Both are new to the church and under the age of 30.

It can be a risk, in a long established church, going through change, to bring the names of new and young leaders, and the Board have agonised over this.

So this morning, I open my Bible to the Lectionary reading for today. The readings are placed in our church newsletter and we invite all the church to read with us. The reading is 1 Samuel 16, the annointing of David. Look at verse 11: “There is still the youngest.”

Which made me laugh. Here we are considering new, and young, leaders. We have chosen a date some months ago, quite arbitarily. And now we have a Bible text that instructs the annointing of new, and young leadership. It is almost manipulative to read this Bible text, yet it is the Lectionary reading for the day.

How on earth does that work? How on earth can the Scriptures speak so clearly to our life as a church?

Update: Congratulations to Lucy Taylor and Lawrence Wood, who were voted on as new Board members last nite. I honour them and their families for being willing to take a risk and place their leadership development in the hands of Opawa church members.

coming back to earth

Sorry the blog has been a bit quiet. I’ve been in Aussie for 8 days, so internet access was a bit hit and miss.

And I never know what to blog when I am away speaking. I like to connect and talk with people. But how much do I blog about what is actually said? How much of what belongs in the room, in that unique environment, should stay in the room? I often post the bare details prior because some people who read this blog like to pray for me (Although I still remember posting such details once and getting this really rude comment in response about how I was obviously a bit up myself. Arrggh the joy of lurkers:)!).

Anyhow, overall, I had a great time and felt very well hosted and appreciated. The feedback from various punters in Adelaide was most helpful in terms of helping my communication.

For those who came up asking for more information on various resources:
the soundtrack meditation of Saint Brendan comes from here – 7meg; Bodge plants a seed is here; the images of 40 are available here; Richard Pierce, Conversion in the New Testament; Alan Jamieson, A churchless faith.

Finally, here is my host being nice: “steve was great to work with and very selfless in his service to us. I said to the synod on the saturday that we appreciated hearing from someone with a southern hemisphere accent and someone who could ‘practice what they teach’. I thought it was great that steve was able to mess with people’s preconceptions of mission and church by not fitting any of the local categories for such things. his Opawa journey connected very well with what many folk here are facing. through his stories, metaphors, insights and analysis he was able to communicate at a whole range of levels. the evidence was that people from across the spectrum commented on how they had been encourage and challenged… thanks steve for your generosity of spirit and great leadership over the week.”

a most interesting adelaide day

The Adelaide part of my trip kicked off today. I was surprised, and enriched, by the diversity of people in the room. Resources that I (can remember) mentioning during the Leadership and the emerging church seminar in various conversations included:

– Richard Pierce, Conversion in the New Testament

– Alan Jamieson, A churchless faith

Really appreciating people’s hospitality and interest.

may in melbourne

I’m fried. Caught up with Mark Pierson on Friday nite, after teaching for 4.5 hours on Emerging Church blockcourse at Bible College of New Zealand. Staying with Phil and Dan McCredden, which is always fun, dodging dog slobber, dodging “the lodger” farts and Kiwi jokes.

Saturday, spoke 4 times at Unfreeze 3. Seemed to go OK; then caught up with Al and Deb Hirsch for Thai. Al spent the night looking cute and sweating his currie! Then spoke 3 times on Sunday at Doncaster Church of Christ.

The sweetest thing happened at Doncaster. They are using the Opawa Red Seat idea. I shared about this last time I spoke at Unfreeze two years ago and it is amazing to see an idea take root in another community, with another accent.

Off to see Andrew Menzies tomorrow then having lunch with Forge. Fried. Fried. Fried.

do they speak English also?

These are my Australian details. A lot of work over the last week, preparing materials and organising myself. I am really looking forward to it and to see what conversations emerge around what I do.

MELBOURNE
Saturday 5 May
Morning “Take no sandals (a missional leader); Unfreezing imagination (a missional church); Practices for the table (a missional spirituality); When the Kingdom of God is near, is that far? (a missional intentionality).” A conversation between life, mission and Scripture, all in grounded life among a 96-year old church.

Afternoon – On the couch: Panel on church and missional change

Afternoon – Spirituality2go. A workshop on resourcing Christ followers outside gathered church”

Sunday 6 May
9 am;5 pm – Finding our story in Elijah’s story. Preaching at Doncaster Church of Christ

ADELAIDE
Tuesday 8 May
10.00 am – 3.00 pm “Leadership in The Emerging Church” – seminar for ministers and lay leaders
7.00 – 9.30 pm “Alternative Worship” session at Parkin-Wesley

Wednesday 9 May
12.15 – 1.00 pm Chapel Service at Parkin-Wesley
2.15 – 3.30 pm Colloquium on “The Emerging Church” at Parkin-Wesley
7.30 – 9.30 pm “Alternative Worship” session at Parkin-Wesley (repeat of Tues. evening)

Thursday 10 May
6.30 – 9.00 pm [re]generate pub conversation about fostering new and fringe faith communities.

Saturday 12 May
9.00 am -12.45 pm Keynote Speaker at Presbytery meeting.

new zealand music month

Today is 1 May, the launch of New Zealand music month. Some of the church staff came dressed appropriately.

A quick poll of “favourite New Zealand musician” at the staff morning tea revealed, in no particular order the following:
: Tim Finn
: Shihad
: Salmonella Dub
: Martin Setchell (Christchurch Town Hall organist)
: Roy Phillips (formerly of the Shadows)
: Brooke Fraser

So; who’s your favourite New Zealand musician/band?

so tell me how singing worship works

Dear worshipper, you who stand beside me, arms thrust into the air,

Please help me. I am lost.

You see, I love live music. But I don’t get singing. I listen to lots of music, most of the time I work. But very rarely do I stop my work and do nothing but sing.

I love Salmonella Dab. I love U2. When I go to their concerts, I do sing. But that is a by-product of entering into an experience. And they are good. And no matter how good they are, I could not imagine singing their songs, the same songs, week after week.

So I stand beside you, quite mystified. I feel strange, doing corporate, sung worship in church. Why do church’s sing?

For a long time I have stood beside you. For a long time now I have been feeling less than Christian. For a long time now I have looked around large groups of people singing and thinking “If I love Jesus, and they love Jesus, why am I bored. Why do I feel manipulated when lots of people sing the same thing?”

So dear “into-singing-worshipper”, I need some help. Can you explain to me: Why does sung worship work for you? How does it connect you with God? What do you do when the lyrics don’t match your experience? Why the pressure for the songs to be always new and up-date? How does excellence and musical quality work for you?

When people make put down comments about Baptist churches “your worship songs are old-fashioned”; “your music is not as good as it could be”; “you don’t know many new songs”, “you lack the freedom of the Spirit (to all sing the same hip, new song?) — what are people really saying?

I’m not complaining. I simply want to understand. Help me please,

the spirituality of preaching

On writing:
“I just try to warn people who hope to get published that publication is not all that it is cracked up to be. But writing is. Writing has so much to give, so much to teach, so many surprises. The thing you had to force yourself to do–the actual act of writing–turns out to be the best part. It’s like discovering that while you thought you needed to tea ceremony for the caffeine, what you really needed was the tea ceremony. The act of writing turns out to be its own reward.”

“But I also tell them that sometimes when my writer friends are working, they feel better and more alive than they do at any other time. And sometimes when they are writing well, they feel that they are living up to something. It is as if the right words, the true words, are already inside them, and they just want to help them get out.” From Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (New York: Anchor Books, 1994). (Hat tip Simon Holt).

This is so true. It’s the same with preaching. I type most of the stuff I say aloud word for word. It’s a discipline that has enabled the preparation to become a craft, an act of spiritual practice. I read and ponder. I drink coffee with people and listen. I come to Friday and I stare at a blank screen and I have no idea what I will say. I start writing. I am often amazed at what I articulate. At times I hate being a pastor and Christian leader, hate the pressures and the expectations, hate the exposure that comes from being articulate. Yet I would be a lesser person if I did not speak and write, because my inner world would be less clear, my spirituality more muddied. So do I pastor because I am selfish? Or do I pastor because the church really is gift and in my task of becoming more fully human I need it’s redemption?

on Saturday God wept

God cried
a icy tear rolled down

i sat in my grey room
trapped

all colour
reds, whites,
greens and blues
leached

depressed
lonely

dark skies out my window
earth weeping

On Saturday God cried
with all those,
who lost sons
with all those,
trapped in their grey room

If this poem means something to you, or you would like to pray it with someone, feel free to leave your initials in the comments.

updated: why am I a vegetarian?

Should all Christians be vegetarian? Yes.

Will meat eaters get to heaven? Yes.

Over the weekend I was asked by two different people why I am a vegetarian. Last nite I went to a vegetarian cooking evening, to learn about tomato tarts, pumpkin and kumara balls, tortilla stack. It seems an appropriate time to narrate my conversion, which occured in 2001. The following processes were significant.

A Bible conversation: When I was 20, I led a team of Christian young people to Nicaragua. We deliberately chose to partner with group from Universities in Australasia. One of the group, not a Christian, was astounded to discover that I, a Christian, ate meat. He pointed out to me that the Garden of Eden was meat-free. I still savour the irony, me a Christian, getting a Bible lesson from a non-Christian. Since then I have been forced to consider the reality of Isaiah’s vision of lion and lamb together. I am currently writing a paper on animal spiriuality in light of theology of creation and sacramentality.

An essay on population growth in my first year of university: I learnt that humans have protein needs that can be met by both beans and beef. But you can grow lots and lots of beans in the space it would take a graze a cow. In other words, if humans ate more beans and less beef, than more humans would have their protein needs met. In a world of hunger, I became increasingly uneasy about my meat consumption.

A conversation with a dietician and my family: I did not want my change of eating habits to negatively impact upon a young and growing family. A dietician told us that one meat meal a week, supported by good amounts of vegetables, provides a balanced diet. So if all the Taylor family ate less meat and increased the amount of beans, nuts, spinach eaten during 6 days, then I could go totally vegetarian, without disrupting our growing children, who could still enjoy meat if they wanted.

An emerging spirituality issue: I was becoming increasingly aware that many in the emerging culture were vegetarian, and that good, contextual, missiology would want to consider Paul’s words “to the Jew I become a Jew, to the vegetarian, I become a vegetarian.”

So I went vegetarian. One of the upsides for me has been a far greater link between my everyday life and my spirituality. My Christian faith feels more entwined with my lifestyle and I am made constantly aware of the justice issues around human consumption every time I eat. I need that.

The second upside is a much more interesting diet, as our family have discovered beans, lentils, chick peas, couscous. Anyone for tortilla stack, tomato tarts, pumpkin and kumara balls?

A downside is that I tend to forget to tell people I am vegetarian when they invite me for dinner. This has lead to some embarrassing moments for all concerned.

Update: support, with some expansion of the argument, from here. And then here (I particularly liked the point about the consumption of meat in Jesus times being for economic neccessity, in contrast to the extravagance of today.)

missional church and New Zealand

Update: I am exhausted but excited. Excellent day with the Anglicans and serious interest in 3 Dioceses in possibilities around the missional church leadership coaching course being offered in their patch.

The upshot of the Baptist group is a definite commitment to hold a gathering,(Tentative date is July 29-31, 2007), called something like sharpening the edge as an attempt to say “what is God’s mission in New Zealand today” and “what are the lessons we can learn from grassroots missional experiments?” We hope that asking these questions might make us all learners and sharpen both the edges and the existing church in it’s change processes.

The gathering will be Baptist in energy but open to all. It is going to deliberately include non-baptist mission stories.

The hope is an event that become an ongoing conversation. So the event will be based around practioners telling stories and a listening panel of wise heads reflecting feedback on the practioner stories. This listening panel will then stay on for some hours after the event, and further to reflect together on what they heard and the sharp questions raised. All will (dreaming big here) be recorded and podcasted. Thus we will end up with grounded community mission narratives and good missiological reflection. This will generate mission questions, from the lived experience of NZ, which should generate further and ongoing intentional conversations.

More details to follow but if you are interested in a genuine learning conversation about mission in New Zealand today, then pencil in 29-31 July. More details will follow on the blog, or flip me your contact details.

Original blog entry:
I have a most interesting 2 days ahead. Firstly a day in Wellington leading a retreat with the Anglican Ministry Educators Network, who want to know more about emerging church/fresh expressions. Then onto Auckland for half a Thursday to gather with a Baptist group who are wondering about some sort of national New Zealand Baptist missional church gathering. I will be fascinated to work, and walk, between two denominational systems and compare interest, skills and capacities.

questions for an absent friend

On this your 23rd birthday:

where are you?
are you wiser?
is your view of God’s Kingdom larger?
does your car go?
does your music sustain your life-gift?

valentines day spirituality

A number of people have noted the significance of the Opawa Baptist Church annual meeting being on Wednesday 14th February. It will be Valentines Day and all over Christchurch city retailers will be lurking, keen to remove hard earned cash from guilt-ridden and last minute planners.

Here are my top 5 romantic tips for Wednesday 14th February
1. Start the evening before with a special chocolate placed on top of the pillow.
2. In the morning, slip your own, hand-made Valentines Day card, with your own hand-written words of appreciation, under the pillow.
3. Ring your loved one at unexpected times throughout the day.
4. Become a year long romantic by taking out your diary and writing “buy red roses” on the 14th day of every month for the rest of 2007. You will get much more rose for your dollar.
5. Finally, full of romantic cheer, proceed to the Church annual meeting to enjoy live love songs, coffee and dessert, and a celebration of God’s activity past and present at Opawa Baptist Church and a message for us all from a secret admirer.

The Opawa Baptist annual meeting is free and open to anyone in the church. If you want coffee and dessert, you need a ticket, costing $5, available from the Board or church office.

angels are biblical

Lynne and I have a trust called Angelwings, from which we run various projects.

I received a letter today, making a whole range of nasty accusations, including the fact that this trust was “new age.” Unfortunately the person did not leave a return address. (I am not sure whether this is deliberate or an oversight).

So I would just like to clarify, because this address-less person does claim to read my website, that the reason we chose the name “angel wings” was nothing spooky or sinister or for any new age reason, but simply because in the Bible, angels bring messages and blessings from God and we set up the trust praying that we (Lynne and I) might be agents of blessing from God. And that the trust simply provides census data to help church’s with their planning for mission, to provide an umbrella for my various speaking things and to allow us to develop research interests and Christian resources.

Sorry to disappoint, but “angel wings” neither intends, nor plans, anything sinister or “new age”.