sustain:if:able kiwi

going to bible college will destroy your faith

I lead a devotion at Bible College today. The slogan; “Going to bible college will destroy your faith” was written on the whiteboard as students came in. It’s been said to me many times and I reflected on how funny the statement is when you think about it; is faith that brittle; which lecturer will do it; do they organise it, take turns, play tag?

Asking the question; “Does bible college destroy your faith,” I turned to Paul’s autobiography in Galatians 1:13-18.

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my dad

My dad had a fall in the bathroom last night. His legs just stopped working and he collapsed. He’s in hospital while they do tests. He was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (degeneration of nerves) about 8 years ago. This might be a flareup and he might regain movement. Or not. Or it might be something else. We don’t know. He’s 66.

All kids just expect their Dad’s legs to move. I’m just a kid and this is just my dad.

Are you Elizabeth?

I was moved to tears on Sunday by the simple words of an older woman. Its easy as you get older to get more fixed and firm in your ideas. Its easy as humans to judge the outside and not the inside. On Sunday I preached on Elizabeth and Mary and was struck by Elizabeth speaking words of blessing and hope to a scared, pregnant, teenager.

(For more on this art piece and for four art images to guide you through advent, go here.)

A number of things clicked for me.

1. I have been working a lot with the image of ministry as mid-wife over the last few years (in my out of bounds church? book and in spiritual formation). Elizabeth becomes another example of mid-wiving, of recognising pregnant possibilities and speaking words of courage and hope.

2. We introduced growth coaching at church this year; 1-1 intentional formation; person-centred, not programme-centred. Elizabeth becomes a wonderful example of a growth coach, naming potential in a person and going on a personal journey.

So on Sunday I preached about Mary and Elizabeth. Imagine what church would be like if our older woman spoke words of courage and hope to our younger woman? I invited all those women who wanted to be Elizabeth’s, who wanted to speak words of courage and hope to a new generation to stand. All over the church people did. I prayed for them with tears in my eyes.

There’s something in here that I am still not fully grasping. But it’s a vision for church that inspires me, to bless what the Spirit is doing by coaching Elizabeth’s and watching them bless Mary’s.

sorry to those of you who comment here

It appears that on Friday I made a mistake and blacklisted “http.” Duh! Which has meant that anyone trying to comment and leaving their full URL has been denied by my spam filters. My apologies to you. No of course I don’t consider your website full of “objectionable comment.”

u2 coming to New Zealand

I’m a fairly simple sort of being. I have good and bad days. And I love U2. And this week was the news that U2 are coming to New Zealand March 17. For St Patrick’s Day. How good is that? So it seemed appropriate to kick off Advent 2005 mixing together a bad week for me with some Bono lyrics and Bono thoughts.

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family surprise

You can’t chose your family. At times they sadden you. And every now and again they surprise you and do something TOTALLY unexpected.

I look upon my Baptist denomination as my family. At times they have saddened my and I’ve wondered if I still fit. At our annual Baptist denominational gathering over the weekend, they TOTALLY surprised me. The focus was mission. We explored Acts 15 and Acts 17. The edges were affirmed an new mission was considered. I got so excited, that I moved the following 4 motions on the Baptist Assembly floor. 500 people burst into applause. Our Baptist denomination agreed to the following;

That our (Baptist) assemblies
continue to welcome stories from the edge

That this assembly
ask Consultancy to gather necessary people around the [mission challenges],
with findings sent to all Baptist churches and placed on www.baptist.org.nz

so, how pragmatic are we all?

The event: A 10 minute sermon on workplace evangelism, followed by a 15 minute interview with a panel of 5 workers. What challenges them; What encourages them; in being a light for Christ in their workplace.

Feedback from Person A: I loved that. Really, really helpful.

Feedback from Person B: I didn’t like that. Those panel’s don’t really work for me.

Now, person A is new to the church, is working in a professional job, has children and has recently brought friends along.

Person B is a long-timer, retired, who’se children have left home.

The pragmatist says; Take heed of Person A. They are much better for the future of the church.

Which leaves me wondering; What do the values of the Kingdom say? Who does the Kingdom listen to?

a big sunday

10:30 am — preach at Opawa on “The Bible as a workplace book”
12:45 pm — input on preaching to Primal Youth leadership team
1:45 pm — drive for an hour to Hororata.
3:00 pm — preach at Te Waiora Annual Thanksgiving Service

then drive back for

7:00 pm — be part of Opawa Digestion evening service

and I am so looking forward to a day off tomorrow!

some ratbag stole my seat

The Taylor family went out to our holiday home on Sunday night. I awoke on Monday morning and pulled open the curtains on this view.

The sun was streaming in and I slowly made my way to find a cup of tea.

The neighbouring holiday house has a wide, wooden step. Just right for sitting on, out of the wind, soaking up the morning sun. The wooden seat is aged and weathered, just right for a slow journal, a quiet savour of some Merton.

Alas the neighbouring holiday house has just been brought. I’ve lost my seat!

(More photos here.)

slowly emerging

Hi folks. I’ve been gone from the blog for a while. Wednesday last week I flew to Auckland, ears blocked, to the futurechurch conference. I lead some worship (remixing some art and theology voyaging and adding in some boatmaking). The out of bounds book launch went well (I ended up selling out of books), with a great “launch” prayer by Brenda Rockell and Mark Barnard. (Oh, I met the first person who liked the title of my book. Needless to say he was an American!)

Wednesday night I “animated” a conversation on the relationship between church, tradition and mission (mixing a Whale Rider, two biblical texts, Sardar’s Postmodernism and the Other and Coupland’s Polaroids from the Dead. (Craig blogs about it here).

Stayed and re-connected with friends; Tony and Jan. Tim and I had a great coffee and argued about money. Who should pay for spirituality; the user or the organisation? It was a question that “nagged” into the Friday workshop I led: spirituality2go and texting communion: selling out or sold out? I continue to ponder and work with Postcard 5 from my out of bounds church? book. How far can Incarnational mission go? So much of Incarnational misson is locked into physicality. Which is fine and necessary, but I believe is currently limiting our mission vision. What does it mean for Incarnation to be atomised into hyperlinks and 24/7 cyberspace? Surely that is the Incarnational challenge of this millenium.

Then a very restful weekend at the beach with Paul. Flew back home on Monday. My ears are still blocked. It’s actually a necessary season. I am living life half-tuned outwardly as a commitment to inward re:centring.

I hope that helps fill in some of my blogspaces from the last 7 days.

sweetness of travel

Given the fact that I am travelling to Auckland this week; this piece of news will make the trip all the sweeter.

taylor family times

Five year old Kayli worked on this today. On left side are the things the Taylor family does together; coffee-breakfast-presents-Mondays-the bach.

On the right side are the things the Taylor family doesn’t do together – school, book (writing), reading, funerals.

cold shower

The emergent block course is over. I actually think it should be called an emergent experience not a block course. Matt asked for notes. It is really hard when you teach by offering experiences -practising online spirituality, spirituality2go takeways, reflecting on art, working with video, sharing around food – and using those experiences as the starting point for reflection, to capture that as “notes.”

Course things that struck me:
: interactive learning is demanding and hard for people who are used to “linear” spoken forms
: student learnings were so positive. We seemed to have moved from deconstucting church to diving into the Jesus story.
: the link made between passive Christians and passive church, and the counter question; if church worship was more participatory, would we in fact be modelling faith as participatory?
: that I forgot to define the emerging church; So, here is an A-Z of the emerging church;

A = artistic
B = blogging
C = culturally sensitive
C= community loving .. for more

And here is a definition I once wrote.
the emerging church is a journey toward a corporate expression of Jesus Christ birthed in the amniotic fluid of postmodern culture. Note that the sheer diversity of postmodern culture means that while characteristics of community, participation, imagination, cultural awareness and appreciation are shared, their expression is diverse.

I have reached a significant milestone. In the last two years I have written 6 new courses as part of my new lecturing role at BCNZ. This is exhausting. However, BCNZ teaches on a 2 year cycle and so from the start of next year, I get to re-travel and re-tweak old notes, rather than write new notes. Further, with this block course complete, I have the rest of the year with no lecturing. I hope to read and to work on two writing projects: a book on organic leadership and a book on living the Biblical text.

a lingering spirituality

The smell of blossom hangs outside the back door.

I feel grey, pressured by too many funerals, too many time demands, too much detail. These are signs and symbols of my tiredness.

The choice is mine, to linger on the back door step, to savour the fragrance of the now.

In Psalm 49, the invitation is to savour wisdom while playing the harp. It is the call to creative depth, to linger with ideas and play with imagination.

I feel grey, pressured by the demands for simplicity, for clarity, for solid basics.

The choice is mine, to linger amid the gifts of intelligence and savour the fragrance of creativity. I linger toward the now of a cafe; now I will listen to the new CD (Fat Freddy’s Drop Live) and now I will read the new book (Pete Ward’s Selling Worship).