ethan's feet

Ethan's feet are moving

2009-05-07T11:18:00.000-07:00

Hey folks,

Ethan's feet are hoping over to be hosted on the CPCP web site.
You can find us here.

I hope to see you over there!
Grace,
jason

Slippery Slope vs. House of Cards

2009-04-11T07:42:00.001-07:00

I was talking with a fried the other day about the problem with the slippery slope argument (you know the one: if you question 1 thing the bible says, 6 day creation for example, then it's a short downhill trip to questioning everything and losing your faith) is that it's just too blunt. The way he put it was that it's like using a chainsaw to chop garlic. I agree, I think we must look carefully at every issue independently of where it leads. If I am convinced that evolution is true, then I am convinced it is true, and I need to deal with my understanding of Genesis 1 in light of that. But I don't need to worry about every other possible question that might come down the road. When those come, I will look at them carefully too.

So that's settled, but, I also have been thinking of an equally blunt argument that takes the slippery slope argument head on which is the house of cards argument.

The house of cards argument says that if your faith is so constructed that to challenge any one aspect (be it the Bible, or the virgin birth, or miracles, or the church, or whatever) shakes the foundation of everything you believe, then you don't have a very well built faith. What you have, in fact, is a house of cards. And what do you do with a house of cards? You protect it from anything that might blow it over – because it is so fragile.

However, if your faith is built so that every aspect is held independently (connected but not structurally dependent on each other) then it can stand the questions and challenges that are bound to come up if your life is going to be anything other than safe. Common images for this I have heard are like nodes in a web, or springs on a trampoline (thank you John Franke and Rob Bell, respectively).

The thing that connects these two arguments is that, at the end of the day, the concern of both of them is pastoral. The slippery slope argument fears that if you question any aspect of your faith you will lose it all, and the house of cards argument fears that if you don't question your faith then you aren't building it in a structurally sound way, and eventually the whole thing will come crashing down.

I suppose I am beginning to see my calling as someone who can help people reconstruct their faith in a not-house-of-cards way.

My trip to London…

2009-03-31T10:48:00.001-07:00

Several years back Tara and I took a trip to London. At the time I was much more, "Yay America" than I am now. But I remember thinking, pretty much the moment I got there, that you know maybe other countries know what they're doing. All of a sudden I began to see the world as a place of dialogue and cooperation where no country, even my own, had all the answers. I know that seems obvious, and had you asked me before I am sure I would have said the right thing, but somehow being there made it true to me in a new way. And it's not like I had any deep political conversations with any locals. Just being there was enough.

When I first became a Christian I was very much involved in a very unique, successful (and now somewhat notorious) church plant up in Seattle. The attitude there was very much we are starting this church because every other church has it wrong. And that was pretty much my attitude. That was, at least, until I went to seminary. At seminary, studying with folks from all kinds of traditions (Baptist to Unitarian) I realized that though I didn't agree with all of them on everything, they all had something to contribute.

My view of the church, like my view of the world when I went to London, became a place of dialogue and cooperation where no church, even my own, had all the answers.

This is what I believe in…

2009-03-29T11:42:00.001-07:00

I believe in God, the father, the maker of heaven and of earth and of all things seen and unseen. The One God who was and is and is to come. I believe He is active in the world and that He is benevolent. I believe that He loves all of humanity and seeks a reconciled relationship with all of humanity, not only that but all of creation as well.

I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe he was (and is) in some way that I do not begin to understand, both entirely human and entirely God. I believe he came to proclaim repentance and the forgiveness of sins. I believe his life death and resurrection inaugurated the Kingdom of God, the time in which God's will is done, "on earth as it is in heaven". I believe he taught us what to expect in that kingdom (the last being first and the poor being blessed) and how to behave in it (turn the other cheek, walk the extra mile).

I believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe God's spirit of perfect holiness is active in the world reconciling us to Himself, bringing about peace and wholeness and working particularly in the people of God, the Church.

I believe in the Church. I believe in the whole Church, the church catholic ("universal"). I believe in all God's people – forgiven and reconciled to God and tasked with being a part of the coming to fruition of God's kingdom.

When I say that I believe in I mean that I have faith in, I put my trust in. It is different from saying I believe that…

I believe that the Bible is the true and trustworthy revelation of God about God, about Jesus and about the story of God's people (Israel and the Church).

I do not put my faith in
the Bible, I do not put my trust in it. So in that way I can say I Believe the Bible, but don't believe in it. I've made this point before but felt the need to make it again.

A theology of the Bible discussed

2009-03-14T14:24:00.001-07:00

Hey folks, this is a long email to a friend of mine who I am having a discussion with about the KOG. What I discuss is a way of reading the Bible, and I thought it might be interesting enough to share. I apologize for not editing it down, but I need to hang out with my kid.

Ok, I'm gunna finally try to give a decent response to your thoughts here. I have been excited to respond for a while just haven't had the time/energy to put pen to paper (so to speak). Like I've said, I'm excited because I think we are getting to the crux of things, and that's where good conversation happens.

The points in your post I would like to highlight are these:

"I think what has also turned me off a bit to that part of the conversation has been the way of talking about the Kingdom in a way that it is we who are bringing it about."

And

"I would say that I root a lot of my understanding of the KOG in Romans 5, where Paul outlines Jesus as the New Adam and His recapitulation of humanity."

Ok, before I talk more about the KOG (which I might not get into in this email), I wanna talk a second about how I think that you and I read scripture differently. And I only dare discuss this because I feel at this point you know that I respect you as a Christian and as a theologian. So, even though I will be communicating in such a way that proposes my way of reading scripture as being somehow better, please understand I hold that opinion humbly, realize I could be wrong, and regardless do not consider it the measure of a Christian. But it's useless to try and pretend that I think all theologies or strategies of reading the Bible are equally valuable because I don't and if I did, what would be the point of discussing it. Anyway, here it is.

I imagine, from reading your thoughts thus far, that you read the scriptures through the lens of a systematic theologian. Which means that there is a kind of meta-narrative or philosophical schema, a systematic theology is what I'm saying, that scripture then fits into. Now don't hear me wrong here. I trust that your overall structure is Biblical and I'm not suggesting that it is something made up "outside" of the text and superimposed on top of it. We can have conversations about who's overall systematic theology is more biblically sound then the other, and that's a useful conversation to be sure, but I am talking about something different here.

The theology riding underneath your strategy (forgive my assumptions, please correct me where I am wrong) is that of God's, how should I say, hands on approach to the creation of the scripture. I don't know if you go as far as inerrancy but I assume that you believe that God's inspiration of the Bible means a handful of things. For example, that there is coherent "truth" that is represented throughout the text. That there are no serious contradictions in teaching or doctrine in the Bible. That the Bible itself is sufficient for our faith. Etc. How am I doing so far? (btw. don't assume I'm too big a heretic yet, I'm not saying I disagree with all this, entirely)

So what, then, is a different view of the Bible? I believe that God was active in inspiring the events of the Bible as well as the folks who wrote down those events, as well as the communities who edited and canonized those accounts. I also believe that God has been active in the communities that have read them over the centuries, and still is today (no disagreement so far, I bet). However, I also believe that at every step of the way, humanity was active in the process as well. In the events, the stories told, the creation of the text, and the interpretation. I think the creedal statements about Jesus work for scripture as well – entirely God (inspired) and entirely man (man made).

Therefore, I don't believe that the Bible offers us a perfect, consistent, systematizable, truth. Rather, I believe that the Bible is a man made/God inspired text that we read, study and meditate on for a lifetime to, hopefully, through prayer, understand more and more about God throughout our life.

So, I am ok with there being tensions in the Bible, and here's my point. I believe that the stories about Jesus as represented by the Gospel writers (at least Mt, Mk & Lk) present to us a teaching primarily concerned with the Kingdom of God, and our activity in it. Whereas the teachings of Paul are primarily concerned with something else (I'm not sure how to say it, maybe 'the theology and ontology of the Christ event"?). And that these two things, though not exactly at odds, are in tension with one another. Which is why churches have a "canon within the canon" meaning parts of scripture that they concentrate on, dictated, I would argue, by whatever theological superstructure they come to the Bible with.

However, I believe that if we instead come to the scripture without attempting to find an overarching superstructure of truth we will be able to do justice to the tensions that exist in the text.

So, for example, if the question is: Is the KOG up to us, or up to God, the answer can be YES.

Now, to your point about the Emerging Church, do I think that sometimes some of us fall to far on the side of human responsibility, as a reaction to our evangelical roots that we felt were in error on the other side, yes. Which, actually, is why I originally sought you out as a conversation partner, to provide that tension in my own life. Because I believe that the tension is itself, biblical (I'd love to see a systematic theology based around the idea of tension, maybe I'll write one someday).

I'm excited to hear your thoughts on this.

Grace and peace,

jason

Rethinking sermons

2009-03-12T16:29:00.000-07:00

I have long been discontent with the style of sermon I often hear in many churches that I visit as well as the style of sermon I was encouraged to preach during my education. I think that I have begun to find words for this discontentment.

"Relevant to daily life" is the goal of all sermons, according to common wisdom. The parishioners should walk away with something they can immediately apply to their life. Some change of behavior, attitude, or sometimes belief.

Of course their is nothing wrong with this goal in itself, but here's my frustration. I believe that ultimately the best thing I can do for my community as a preacher is to give them a fuller, deeper, truer image of Jesus, God and the Gospel. And that if I am successful in that, then that will have a more lasting, and truer to the gospel, affect on their daily life.

But here's the rub. That's hard. It takes intense attention to the text, a willingness to embrace some mystery and paradox and to lay down what we think we know about Jesus and God, not to mention all of my skills as a communicator, just to try and show forth Jesus well. When I do try to make a sermon immediately "relevant to daily life" I usually circumvent the process of true exploration in search of some clever, relevant, interesting soundbite that I think people will remember.

And brother's and sister's in the ministry, I fear I've heard most of y'all do this too.

But maybe, when I've been doing this longer, I will find a way to do both.

The Creeds?

2009-03-11T18:19:00.000-07:00

Last night at the DC Emergent Cohort we had, I think, one of the most interesting conversations that we have had in a while. Consistent Cohorter and member of Church of the Common Table Ryan Page, led us in a honest questioning of the value of saying the creeds in our common life as Christian communities.

Now I am a fan of the creeds so I have to admit I wasn't excited about the topic going in, but Ryan made me stop and think. Not so much about the value or theology of the creed themselves, they have their weirdness's, but all and all I think they are strong and useful. But about the potential threat against hospitality to the un-churched visitor in reciting the creed in our church services. Here is the analogy he made, I found it haunting.

There is a scene in 1984 where a character is being tortured for the purpose of brainwashing him. And as mice are eating his face he is being instructed to say that there are 5 lights in front of him when there are clearly only 4. This first lie, or breech of integrity, is all the brainwashers need to eventually re-program the characters thinking.

To Ryan, this is what it feels like (without the rats, of course) to be pressured by a group of people to stand up and recite a bunch of words that you don't yet believe or understand.

That made me stop and think. I don't know what to do about it, but I think its worth thinking about.

Random personal tidbits...

2009-02-13T11:37:00.000-08:00

First. I just got a new Blackberry, and I love it! I think the lesson for me is that I am not a super early adapter (the last few phones i have gotten have been 'the latest thing' and I've been unhappy with them). When it comes to technology, give me the thing that's been out for a couple of years, has got all its kinks worked out, and the best version has risen to the top. Like the blackberry. :) Oh, if any blackberry user out there has advice for me on how to get the most out of it, I'd love to hear it.

Second. The family and I are going to Phoenix to spend the week (two Sundays!) with my folks. This will be the first (and second) Sundays I've had off (not counting the Sundays spent in the hospital) since we planted CPCP August of 2006.

Third. A friend of mine just had a baby and these are the cutest pictures ever!

Fourth. I need a new XBox 360 game to play when I get home. Any suggestions?

Third “mark” of an Emerging Church: Community based theology and ecclesiology

2009-02-09T06:38:00.000-08:00

Saying that authentic community is important to the Emerging Church doesn't distinguish it from other churches. Most churches have “building authentic community” as one of their missions or goals. You can see this in the time and energy spent on small group ministries or Sunday School. I will leave analysis the effectiveness of those two models for another time. Because what I believe is different about the Emerging Church is that this community focus must make its way both in the way we do theology and the way we structure our churches (ecclesiology).

“Will the generation that created Wikipedia be content with a traditional top down church hierarchical structure?” (Hat tip to Mike S.).

This question has helped to shape my thinking on this subject, because if the answer is no, and I believe, for most of us, it is, then that has serious consequences on how we form our communities. It doesn’t mean there is no leader (Wikipedia still has a CEO) but that the leader’s role in the community is different than it has been in the past. More facilitator and less boss, more coach, and less charismatic leader, more friend, and a little less priest.

And it means that we must create opportunities for our Christian communities to be shaped and led by everyone in the community who shows up. Not just the pastor, or staff, or leadership team, or the longest standing members, or the biggest givers, or whatever. All those people have roles to pay, but so does everyone who calls the church home.

But its more than structural, it’s theological also. I believe that the spirit is just as likely (if not decidedly more likely) to speak truth to the community then it is to speak truth to me. I believe the spirit is just as likely to give us guidance through the community as it is to give guidance to me. And believing that has consequences on how we do church as well. A simple example in my community is that after almost every sermon there is a time for discussion, for questions, for thoughts, for places where someone might disagree with me, etc. it’s a small thing but it seems to have a big affect on people.

Test

2009-02-04T17:57:00.001-08:00

This is a test of Microsoft Word's blog creation software.

Jason

Second “mark” of an Emerging Church: Experimental theology and worship

2009-02-01T07:11:00.000-08:00

For a church to be an Emerging Church in my mind in needs to be at least exploring new ways of communicating with, and about, God.

By new ways of communicating with God, I am referring primarily to things that might happen on a Sunday (or whenever the community gathers together for “worship”). This includes all the things you might normally think of when you think of an Emerging Church: stations, labyrinths, body prayer, discussion based sermons, etc.

Probably the best known and most interesting examples of this are Grace church in the UK with Johnny Baker and Icon in Dublin with Pete Rollins. But other churches are doing more humble things that I think are just as invigorating (e.g. The Common Table in Vienna VA, and my own community, CPCP in College Park, MD).

Ultimately, however, I think that experimental ways of communicating with God are hollow if they don’t allow for and encourage new ways of talking about God. This is one of the reasons why I think starting an “Emerging Service” within an established congregation can be so difficult – they often don’t have the stomach for new thoughts about God.

So let me just list some of the ideas about God (and broader theological issues) that I see being put on the table and rethunk in various Emerging Churches:

• Foundationalist understanding of truth
• Biblical inerrancy
• Predestination
• Original sin
• Eternal damnation
• Penal substitutionary atonement
• Homosexuality as sin
• God’s nature as being omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent
• And more…

Now, of course, I’m not saying that to be an Emerging Church a community must tackle all of these, and I certainly don’t think that to be an Emerging Church you have to come to the same conclusion on all (or any) of these. In fact a community might consider one of these things and decide that they still think the way they have always thunk is right, hopefully coming to a deeper and more nuanced opinion on the matter in the process. All I am saying is that I think for a church to be truly an “Emerging Church” it needs to be able to have an open conversation about things like the issues represented here, and if questioning any of these undermines your faith in the living God, well then I wouldn’t suggest seeking out an Emerging Church to worship in.

On the other, I don’t believe, as some might argue, that everything is up in the air in Emerging Churches. There are traditional theological ideas that I don’t see being questioned, but actually embraced whole heartedly as the real “stuff” of Christianity, and the way forward. Examples would include:

• The Trinity
• Incarnation
• Resurrection
• And more…

I would love to hear what others would add (or remove) to either of these lists.

First “mark” of an Emerging Church: Relational Service

2009-01-29T18:00:00.000-08:00

The first of what I think are the three marks of an Emerging Church is the idea of relational service. Emerging churches are missional in that they see the need and hurt in the world and they wanna be about making a difference. They wanna be about bringing the Kingdom of God to the Least, the las, and the lost. Emerging Churches reject the twin ideas that “the poor will always be with us” so therefore there’s nothing we can do, and the idea that what people really need in the gospel, the rest will take care of itself.

But also, unlike some of our mainline church neighbors, Emerging Churches are not content just throwing money at the problem or outsourcing our service to the professional clergy. Christians in Emerging Churches want to be in relationship with the people they are serving.

Let me talk about the two ways in which this works in my community, even though I know that in many ways what we do is woefully lacking. Our service constitutes primarily 2 activities:
First every Saturday a group from the church make lunches to hand out to a community of homeless people that live downtown. Of course that’s a pretty common thing for churches to do. But what we do that’s different is that we make only about 4 lunches per person going down. The goal being not to feed as many people as possible (let’s be honest, these guys know how to get food) but rather to spend some time with them, to get to know them.

So, having done this for the last two+ years we know most of these folks by name. We know they’re history, we know about their families, we know what’s going on relationally in the homeless community. Sometimes they come to church, sometimes we take them to the doctor or to the shelter, sometimes we have them over for dinner, and most weeks we pray for them by name during worship. I share this example, not because it’s great or impressive but because it’s simple.

Second, we do support a small aid organization that works with disabled children in Kenya called Kupenda for the Children (www.kupenda.org). Now in this instance we can’t really have relationships with the kids but we do have relationship with the American staff. The director, a young woman named Cindy, comes and shares with us frequently. We get there newsletter and bring them up in prayer. I am on their board of directors and we are looking for creative opportunities to raise funds for them.

Again, nothing about that is great or impressive, just that there is something “emergent” to me about finding a small NGO to support in whatever way we can. One where we will know by name the people who are doing the work we are supporting.

And again, I use my community not because we’re a stellar example but because we’re not. Because I think we are striving in the right direction in a way that might be helpful for others to hear about. But I do think that for a church to call itself "emerging" this idea of relational service -- in whatever way it works itself out -- needs to be a part of what they are doing.

What is the Emerging Church? Part 1

2009-01-25T11:17:00.000-08:00

What is the Emerging Church?

It seems that this question is on everyone’s minds these days. Some people are leaving the conversation and defining themselves over/against the term. Some people are saying let’s get rid of the term all together. And some people are breaking the term in to a myriad of camps, primarily along the same old lines of conservative and liberal. I think it’s time to raise the bar on who and what the Emergent Church is, who and what it is not, and to be unapologetic about it.

I mentioned some of this in an earlier post but I’d like to expand on it in a series of posts starting with:

First, the Emerging Church is about churches. It’s not about a brand, it’s not about an organization, it’s not about cohorts and it’s not about a series of blogs. Ultimately the Emerging Church is not about conversation, it’s about churches. Obviously, we can and should have conversations about the Emerging Church – I love my Cohort, I enjoy conferences, and I like to blog and read blogs – but ultimately the strength of the movement is not in any of these things. It is in churches that have the courage to take what they gain from the conversation and put feet on it.

I say all that because my sense is that people who are jumping ship, feeling the need to distance themselves, arguing over categories and terms, and answering interviewers questions with, “my concern about the Emerging Church is…” are not people who are actually living out this thing that is Emergent in a local community. They are bloggers and professors and mega-church associates.

Maybe I’m wrong about this (I probably am) but it seems to me that those of us who are busy with the work of trying to flesh this stuff out in a local community don’t care that much about what it’s called or who doesn't like us or what every bodies “concerns” are. Believe me, if I was still trying to please my old friend and mentor Mark Driscoll I wouldn’t be a stay at home dad, I wouldn’t be reading Jack Kaputo and Walter Brueggemann, I wouldn’t be planting a church with no money and I sure as heck wouldn’t be a graduate from Wesley Seminary!

Now again, I believe in the conversation. And I believe in continuing to have conversations with people who disagree with me (I have a coffee date with a conservative Evangelical on Thursday). But I guess what I would like to see is for our conversations to revolve around and celebrate the ways in which they are being fleshed out in local communities – to me, that is the future of the Emerging Church.

So in attempt to help facilitate that conversation (snicker at self) I will be offering 3 “marks” of an emerging church over the next week or so. I’m nothing close to an expert on this topic (is there one?) so I would love to hear about ways in which I am wrong or better, what I have left out.

I wish I had something to say...

2009-01-24T09:29:00.000-08:00

But I just don't, I've racked my brain and there's nothing there. I'm tired, I'm relaxed, I'm having a nice day with my wife, my son and our pregnant/Jewish/Lesbian/Physicist friend Margo (seriously if she was a character in a sit-com no one would believe it). I'm thinking a lot about Eschatology and the KOG but don't have anything intelligent to say about it yet (hopefully i will by next Sunday). And I'm procrastinating on any number of things that need to get done around the house (laundry, grocery shopping, exercise, etc.).

I hope everyone else is having a nice a day as I am.

Sermons

2009-01-20T15:30:00.000-08:00

I am experimenting with embedding a feed to listen to some of my sermons in case anyone is interested. I haven't quite gotten it figured out yet, so if you do try it, let me know how it works. Thanks.

incomplete

2009-01-16T11:51:00.000-08:00

At the end of Jack Kaputo's book, "What Would Jesus Deconstruct", Kaputo highlights 2 churches that he says exemplify a deconstructive approach to Christianity and they are completely different. I think, though, that where as he might be correct in describing them as deconstructive, they both fall short of the ideal that I beleive the Emerging Church is (or should be) striving for. (admittedly I am basing this only on Jack's descriptions, I know next to nothing about the churches themselves).

The first is an inner city Catholic parish in downtown Baltimore. This church is deconstructive in that it is truly doing the work of the KOG among the least the last and the lost even though the community has, "no money and no Catholics". So the faithfulness of the parish in spite of the lack of support from the institutional church deconstructs the institutional church as not being about the KOG among the LLL (kingdom of God among the least, the last and the lost).

The second is Icon, Pete Rollins church in Dublin. Icon is creating truly experimental worship experiences for its people in order to deconstruct the peoples preconceived notions about God, Christianity, and religion, and force them to seek these things in new and vital ways.

So here's my point. I think that for a church to be "Emerging" it has to attempt BOTH of these things. It cannot be content with serving the LLL while every Sunday continuing the same old patterns of communication about (and with) God. On the other hand it can't be content to spend Sundays experimenting with new ways to communicate about God without being about the business of bringing the KOG to the LLL.

Furthermore, I think that an Emerging church also has to strive to be a place of authentic community -- whatever that may look like.

Now maybe its just my way of coping with a severe inferiority complex, but it seems to me that if a church tries to do all 3 of these things as well as it can its not going to do any of them as well as the examples in kaputo's book. But I think that striving for all 3 is more true to the ethos of Emergent then being truly great at just one.

But like I said, I don't know anything about the actual communities, I'm sure they do all three of these things to some extent.

2009-01-14T13:35:00.000-08:00

Hey folks, I've been in a long email exchange with some emergent folks about hell, prayer and the problem of evil. This is my sort of summary email, I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on it. I hope it makes sense out of context, if not , I apologize:

I think the two ideas are connected. I believe that God laments that evil exists in the world and is always, everywhere calling us back to himself. I believe that Free-will is real and is a beautiful and radical religious expression of the reality of the world as it is. I don’t believe it makes sense to think of a world where we have free will but somehow choose to do everything just the way God would have wanted us to. I believe that the church is to be the unique community that proclaims and welcomes and expresses the path to re-union with God. I believe that God’s judgment is real, and I say that with fear and trembling. When I read about the people Jesus describes as being deserving of judgment (the rich, the powerful, the comfortable, the religious leadership) I see myself and I ask for God’s mercy. I believe the life we live now has some sort of eternal consequences, I don’t know what and I don’t know how, but I throw myself at the mercy of God. And when I pray, I don’t (often) pray to change what God is going to do (“please heal my son”) I pray that I might better know God and God’s will (“God show me how to be a person who brings healing to the world”).

Where my philosophers at?

2009-01-06T12:27:00.000-08:00

So if anyone who reads this is up on their philosophy, I have a question I have been mulling over in my head to throw at you, and it has to do with Platonic Dualism. I have never thought that I liked Platonic Dualism and have always felt like that as a hermeneutic framework it often leads us to a misreading of scripture.

And yet, I have been finding myself saying things like, "Proclaiming the real -- or the ideal -- deconstructs the lie of the actual" (read my post on deconstruction). And on Sunday I preached a sermon arguing that sin is not simply about doing something that is or isn't on a list, but rather it is about the pursuit of Jesus Christ -- the ideal, again -- and the choices we make lead us towards or away from this ideal One.

So, am I becoming a Platonic Dualist? Or is there something fundamentally different about deconstruction that i don't yet grasp (or something about Platonic Dualism for that matter)? Is an ethics based on Christ as an ideal just another platonic ethical philosophy?

I am hoping somebody can help straighten me out on this because I don't really wanna read another book on deconstruction. Though i do have Pete Rollins, "How Not to Speak of God" next in my reading Q.

Appologizing is not listening...

2009-01-01T17:29:00.000-08:00

Something I have been thinking about in the latter part of this last year has been that we who are a part of the conversation about the church that is emerging need to stop apologizing, looking over our shoulders at those we are leaving behind, and propping up defenses for arguments we think are coming (and it seems I wasn't alone in my thoughts, see: http://www.emergentvillage.com/weblog/where-does-the-emergent-road-lead).

So in 2009 lets all just commit to get on with the work of doing theology, preaching the Gospel in a holistic way and leading communities with real community and stop worrying about what Mark, Dan, Erwin (or whoever our personal ghosts are) might say if they heard us, which they probably won't anyway.

Personally, I have been covicted lately that I have been cowardly form the pulpit on many ocasions. I have found ways to avoid talking about things in new ways for fear of people who are more comfortable with old models. Which is a tragedy since most of the folks in my church are there becaue they are not happy with the old models anyway! So no more, I say, 2009 will see (I hope) a bolder more coragaous and more authentic Jason Mack at the pulpit (which is actually just a stool on a rug).

At the same time I beleive strongly in listening to people that disagree with me. But I mean really listening. I want to have real conversations with reasonable (and I mean reasonable) conservatives on why Penal Sibsitution is the only model for the atonement, and why that matters, and I want to have real conversations with reasonable liberals about why Jesus didn't have a bodily resurection, and why that doesn't matter. And I want to have good long conversations with people that think Jesus is but one of many ways to God, no better or worse then any other.

But what I dont want is to keep editing myself, or to keep hearing others edit themselves, out of fear of some made up person thats gunna come and take our microphones away (i dont really have a mic., I mean there's only 20 people in my church, so why would i need one, but you get the image, I'm sure). And I don't want to icolate myself so that the only voices I hear are ones that already agree with me.

God, in 2009, please give me the courage to speak the thoughts you put into my head, and the right people in my life to correct me about the ones you don't.

deconstruction... 1st thoughts

2008-12-27T16:35:00.000-08:00

Recently i have begun to tip my toes into the deep, deep ocean that is deconstructive philosiphy. My introduction was the emergent podcasts on the subject and since then i have begun Jack Kaputo's book entitled, "what would Jesus deconstruct". I don't find it universely understandable or applicable but here is the most salient point that i have come upon so far (if i understand it correctly).

Kaputo argues that when MLK preached "I have a Dream" he was doing an act of deconstruction (he also references Lincoln's Gettysburg Address but I don't know that well enough for it to be illustrative for me). By painting a picture of what Justice and freedom really look like (King's daughters going to school with my son, etc.) Kaputo says that King deconstructs every myth of justice and freedom that existed at the time. And when King's dream caught hold of the imagination of the people, then reality as it is was was already on its way out. By stating how things could be King made it so that how things were would never again be ok.

Kaputo argues that Jesus did the same thing, particularly in the sermon on the mount, and that deconstruction is the way of the KOG. Jesus pronouncing the reality that the the poor, the meek, the peacemaker will be blessed, is the carrion call for the way of the world where the rich, the proud and the powerful rule. But (and these are just my thoughts here) if King had spoken to an empty room, or had his message fallen on deaf ears, then nothing at all would have been deconstructed. The question for us is, then, I think, has the image Jesus paints of the KOG caught our imagination enough that we are forced to deconstruct our own realities which are not the KOG?

I don't know that it has.

thoughts on leadership 1 (or, lost in a forest drawing a map)

2008-12-17T11:58:00.000-08:00

For me to write anything about leadership is like a guy lost in a forest drawing a map. It might be interesting to read, but i certainly wouldn't recommend anyone trying to follow it. In fact i would say i have more thoughts on what doesn't work in leadership then on what does and way more questions then answers.

My favorite image for leadership is that of a gardener. As a gardener your job is to create good environments for things to grow on their own. What I like about this image is that it respects the innate ability of things to grow on their own and it carries with it an implicit embrace of a certain amount of chaos (there is no such thing as a perfect garden, or if there is one, no one would want to hang out there because it wouldn't feel like a garden). i think it is both an apt description of what a leader actually does (whether they know it or not) and a good image for a leader to strive for.

Here's my problem. though i like the image of a gardener, its not actually the image i find myself working out of. The image i find myself working out of is of a pizza baker trying to make a ball of doe a round flat pizza crust. i pull here, then stretch there, then need here, only to find the thing retracting back into the center.

The problem with this image is that is sets me (the pizza baker) directly in tension with the people I am trying to lead (the dough).

So the question i am living with right now is how do i change my own image that i work out of from the latter to the former? It isn't just a matter of changing my mental image. For it to be true i actually have to make decisions based on a desire to create better environments and not based on creating something that looks like a pizza (successful church or whatever).

Lost in a forest indeed.

PoMo quote

2008-12-14T07:34:00.000-08:00

This is an awesome quote about post modernity from a Catholic Cardinal (I think) named Martini (though I got it off of Marin E. Marty's publication, "Context" -- love it, btw).

After spelling out the perceived dangers and concerns about postmodern culture and the church he continues with this, enjoy:

I do not wish to say all of this is completely false. What I am saying is that this mentality is everywhere, especially where there are young people, and it needs to be taken into account. And I say something more. Perhaps this situation is better then the one that existed previously. Christianity has an opportunity to show better its character of challenge, of objectivity, of realism, of the exercise of true freedom, of a religion linked to the life of the body and not only of the mind. In a world such as we live today, the mystery of an unavailable and always surprising God acquires greater beauty; faith understood as risk becomes more attractive; a tragic view of existence is strengthened with happy consequences in contrast to a purely evolutionary vision. Christianity appears more beautiful, closer to people, and yet more true. The mystery of the trinity appears as the source of meaning for life and an aid to understanding the mystery of human existence."

yep.

The Bible

2008-12-13T07:20:00.000-08:00

A lot of attention is being payed right now (and rightly so) to the Bible as the source for Christian authority, thanks (in part) to Phyllis Tickle's book/conference "The Great Emergence". It's possible, in my mind, that the greatest contribution that Tickle's work will have on current church conversation is her providing a language for and permission to question the reformation insistence on Sola Scriptura, Scriptura Sola (which of course, many people have been doing for a long time).

A very good friend of mine made an offhand comment to me last night that got my mind whirling on this. They said, "it drives me crazy when someone calls themselves a Christian and yet is willing to throw out whole parts of the Bible".

Now, I actually agree with this friend, that sorta bugs me too. I am no biblical inherentest (sp?), but I do believe that the whole Bible is Canon, and that the whole Bible is the cherished book of the community and that the whole Bible is "inspired" -- though what that means is, I think, somewhat up for grabs. And that therefore the whole Bible needs to be read seriously and with attention to what it is trying to say to us.

However, the thing that struck me as odd, though not surprising, is that my friend equates a belief in scripture with being a Christian. And don't we all. But isn't that kinda weird? I mean are we Christians because we believe in the Bible? Or are we Christians because we have had an encounter with the living Christ? And is that the question that is really at the heart of the matter? In what do we believe?

I don't believe in Christ because I believe in the Bible.

I love the Bible, but I love the Bible because I believe in Christ. And because I believe in Christ I cherish the accounts of his life, I am fascinated by the stories of his father/God and I want to absorb the wisdom of those that first believed in him.

I do believe in the Bible, but I believe in it as a source (among others) that points me to the thing in which I truly believe, that is Christ.

I get it now...

2008-12-12T14:12:00.000-08:00

I think i finally figured out my problem with Xn radio (well, at least one of my problems).

Because I am a sucker for all things Xmas-ie (Xn, secular, Hanukkah, heck I'd even say Kwanzaa except I know nothing about it at all) I have been listening to the local Xn radio station non stop this last week to get my fill of Xmas music. And knowing that many people (like me) who don't usually listen to their station (wouldn't be caught dead comes to mind) are listening to it during the holidays they are trying everything they can think of to convince us to keep listening after the first of the year.

Their primary tack is to say that i should listen to them because it will improve my life by adjusting my attitude because their station is always "positive" and "uplifting".

And my question is (to myself really since I know there are only 2 people who will read this, "hi, Mikes") where is the connection between Xnty and being "positive" and "uplifting"? Its a serious question. Is this based on anything in Xnty at all? We are a religion centered around a cross for cryin out loud! Even the birth of Jesus is set in a time of infanticide! I mean seriously.

Now there is certainly hope in the Xn message, more than in any other story, I beleive. But that hope means nothing if it is not serious about the reality of the darkness in the world. There is no resurrection without the cross, there is no Xmas without advent.

So I actually think that by being universally "positive" and "uplifting" (if they even are, and if they're not, then they're lying, and that's another problem) contemporary Xn radio is being false to the Gospel. (I'm sure their nice people; I mean no disrespect, just a theological disagreement, that's all.)

title

2008-12-11T11:18:00.000-08:00

when my son, Ethan, was little he was obsessed with feet. my feet, his mother's feet, the girls at ladies bible study's feet. when he was super tired he would chew on his own feet until they bled.

alas, now at near 2, he's given up his obsession with feet and has replaced it with an obsession for toilets, wiggles, and throwing tantrums. but the phrase "Ethan's Feet" has stuck in my head as a sort of nomenclature for my life, so there it is.

the lady in the photo is my misses, Tara. she's awesome, she works for the government, saving the world or something (its classified).

i spend my time raising a kid, being a male house wife ("house husband" has just never worked for me, so i am experimenting with male house wife, it sounds kinda funny too) and pastoring (that's not a word but it really should be) a small church plant (that means new church -- i like parentheticals, which is also not a word aparently) and thinking about church, church leadership (whatever that means) and theology when it comes up.