One for the road...

Church porn that I won't be reading...

   

Maybe its cos its raining and I want to go for a run or just a build up of too many hormones but I'm in a cantankerous mood today. 

My mood did not get any better with the notification in my in-box that I can get hold of Frank Viola's new book "Re-imaging church." 

Not because I've got anything against Frank, or his books.  I've never read them and I'm more than happy to link to him here in case you want to go and find out more.  They might be absolute un-missable reads (heh if you have read them then give me the heads up please :).

And not cos of Fernando's skinny revealing the remarkable manipulative power of the the little word "Re-"

Voyeur guilty pleasure...

I guess I'm just tired of the flood of book, blogs, podcasts, commentators who with voyeur like pleasure lift up the skirts to show me how wrong church is.  How broken church is.  How institutional church is. How hypocritical church is.  How abusive, myopic, out of touch, conservative, liberal, self serving, fragmented, divisive church is.  How really it is not what Jesus ever intended to be and quite frankly why he if he showed up he wouldn't be darkening the door of those kinda places. Why we're far better to be out of the church altogether until the church that we're all waiting and longing for finally shows up and then if it can prove itself to be real nice to us, we'll maybe come on back.

I get it!  I know! I understand! It sucks! It's crap with a side order of crap and some delicious crap with icing sugar for desert!

Seriously, I don't need books to tell me what's wrong with church.  I go to church.  I'm what's wrong with church.  Well for someone (or a whole bunch of someones) I am the problem.

Over promising

As much as I wish to believe that I need to be re-imagined, or reformed, or more organic less processed, more emerged, more in tune, more able to sing, better able to realize global social aesthetic trends...

As much as I may crave to be less institutional, more community based, more spirit filled and less controlling... 

If only i could inhabit a time machine to get back to how it should have been or to FFWD to how it should be as the author would have me believe. Or better yet do a complete body swap with St Paul or A N other christian of the day... 

As careful as the research is, or as convincing as the scriptural references are, or as ringing as the endorsements of the back cover  from as many big name top christians are....

As dearly as I love to believe that the one true church as it is always was intended to be, or should be or will be is only 300 pages and £10.99 away from me discovering.

I find myself experiencing doubts that these books will deliver me to church nirvana.

Porned out...

In fact these books don't make me happy any more.  They are a bit like porn, easy on the eye, great for fantasy but ultimately deeply unsatisfying in helping me in the unairbrushed lumpy reality of real sexual life.

These books just make me feel righteously pissed off and confirm what I have suspected for quite some time... that it's someone elses fault that church is crap and if only they listen to me we can all have a much better time!

Now I just need a snappy title...

New life...

I've been having a particularly crappy time in my life over the last few months.  It struck me when i was asked to do the Good Friday service in dark tones of remembering suffering, pain, doubt, questioning that emotionally it was spot on.  In fact so spot on that i didn't really want to do it and have to write from my own place of darkness.

Today on Easter sunday, remembering Jesus, alive, resurected, I find that my own life is flect with reflected hope.  Little glimmers in the darkness,  rediscovering that not all endings are bad, especially those that end in renewed beginnings.                                                                                                                     

Today of all days I am reminded that the story i have chosen to follow ends in life and not death.  That it ends in new creation and not old decay.  That it ends in reconcilliation and renewal not division and desolation.

My life may feel more like good friday but for today i am encouraged to know that one day soon it will feel like Easter Sunday...

And all because Jesus is alive!

Wishing you all a happy christmas..!

In the film Kill Bill2, Bill makes this brilliant critic of Superman:

"Superman stands alone. Superman did not become Superman, Superman was born Superman. When Superman wakes up in the morning, he is Superman. His alter ego is Clark Kent. His outfit with the big red S is the blanket he was wrapped in as a baby when the Kents found him. Those are his clothes. What Kent wears, the glasses the business suit, that's the costume. That's the costume Superman wears to blend in with us. Clark Kent is how Superman views us. And what are the characteristics of Clark Kent? He's weak, unsure of himself... he's a coward. Clark Kent is Superman's critique on the whole human race..."

This Christmas it is easy to think of the baby that is born as another superman - a Godman who disguised himself as a baby that grew to be a carpenter - one like us but not really one of us.

But what if God was one of us?  One of the names for Jesus in the bible is Immanuel - meaning God with us.  God for us.  What if in the words of this song

...God was one of us
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make his way home

Or as St John puts it...

The Life-Light was the real thing:
      Every person entering Life
      he brings into Light.
   He was in the world,
      the world was there through him,
      and yet the world didn't even notice.
   He came to his own people,
      but they didn't want him.
   But whoever did want him,
      who believed he was who he claimed
      and would do what he said,
   He made to be their true selves,
      their child-of-God selves.
   These are the God-begotten,
      not blood-begotten,
      not flesh-begotten,
      not sex-begotten.

The Word became flesh and blood,
      and moved into the neighborhood.
   We saw the glory with our own eyes,
      the one-of-a-kind glory,
      like Father, like Son,
   Generous inside and out,
      true from start to finish.

Jesus, was not born a super-man but a mysterious union of God and man.  Emptying himself of his divinity, refusing to use his heavenly daddy's divine credit card to escape from the perils of life.  What if Jesus becomes the critique of true humanity - of a life that was born in humility and a material reality - no short cuts, no easy opt outs, no free ride, fame, fortune or other catapault to glory.

In fact his birth, life, death attracted ignomity, mostly unrecognised - this was no saviour, no messiah, no one with easy answers and quick fixes.  This was someone who spoke about love, not as a nice emotion but as a lifestyle of obedience and sacrifice.  Who talked about finding life by loving and serving others rather than loving and serving ourselves.  Who lived out this life by embracing the will of the father rather than his own, - who even as he faced his death in anguish and doubt chose not to run from the pain but to embrace it.

It is this Jesus, who knows the full gamut of human emotion and human fraility, from birth to death, who's life redeems our humanity, who shows us that life is so much more when we embrace generous giving, firstly by giving our life to him, trusting him to make us more human than we would alone.

Ttomorrow, on christmas day, we will show some of that humanity in our giving to each other of thoughtful chosen presents and celebrate the practice of giving together...

I would like to wish you all a very happy and blessed christmas!

See the liverpool nativity online...

I blogged about my own impressions/thoughts of the Liverpool nativity here and if you want to youcan watch the whole thing for yourself here, thanks to BBC online (see other times the Beeb will be broadcasting it on tele here)...

HT to John Davies

nativity - reimagined...

Last night I watched the retelling of BBC 3's Liverpool Nativity  [update: you can currently watch it for yourself online here at BBC online].

The traditional story was reimagined into a 21st century context using the backdrop of Liverpool and its music which was wathced live by thousands of people gathered in the city and on television.

The story poignantly recast Joseph as an asylum seeker, Mary as a poor cafe worker, Herod as a power hungry minister of state,the shepards as homeless outcasts and the angel gabriel as narrator and CCTV operator.  You can get some idea of the themes/style from the BBC 3 trailer.

For me the programme highlighed the following themes...

1. Powerlessness - Instead of a poor repressed Palestinian being ruled under the control an all powerful empire, Joseph was cast as an asylum seeker, desperate to work but unable to due to government red tape, he had fled persecution in one regime to be now be picked on and humiliated by another.  Ordered not to go to Bethelehem but to his local passport office along with all the other asylum seekers to resubmit their passport application reminded me of what it must have been like to experience the decree of imperial Rome.  No discussion, no arguement, no right to refuse - to be subject to the whim of an outside power that controlled your destiny.

2. Refuge - the programme reiminded the audiencethat Jesus would also become a refugee, that he and his parents would have to flee to escape persecution.  It offered people the chance to think beyond the paranoia of imigration and asylum and remind us of the humanity and history of people who have sought refuge in other lands.

3. Fear - Herodian was beautifully played, she showed that she was a master of spin, soundbite and popular public appeal, all in the name of maintaining control, stirring up fear and ensuring that power remained in her hands.  No way was Herod or the empire going to allow any one else to lay claim to the title of king or upset the status quo.  The programme was not subtle in reminding me that the war on terror often sweeps up the innocent, the bystander, the marginal, the misunderstoon, the under-represented and casts them as the enemy that must be overcome for the good of us all.  How our obsession with security, stability, prosperity and our fear of losing them leads us to co-operate with maintaining the status quo.

4. Revolutionary - the programme emphsised time and time again how revolutionary Jesus is, how this baby represented the hopes and dreams of millions across time - his birth maked the beginning of a revolution that has turned the world upside down, has turned millions inside out and continues to do so today.  One of the key songs of the show was the Beatles 'All you need is love' which captured the heart of the revolution...

There's nothing you can do that can't be done
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game
It's easy

There's nothing you can make that can't me made
No one you can save that can't be saved
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time
It's easy

All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need

5. Inclusive - it was clear that from the 3 wise men who arrived in a rolls royce to the shepards cast as the homeless keeping warm, that the message of the news of the birth was for both the high and the low, the lost maggi and the least of the city.  All were invited to come, to follow, to be humble to be led, whether by angel celebrations or divine star light to the birth of Christ, the liberating King, born not in a palace of power but in a pub's back yard shed, with his bed a stolen shopping trolly.  The humily of the birth of Jesus reminds me of the heart of humility that is required to come and follow him.  To lay down my rights, to give up what i want, to stop worshipping myself and instead be welcomed as I chose Jesus as my king...

If you watched the retelling what did you think?  If not i'd still love to know what you think of the ideas/themes that i've picked out?  What would you include in a retelling of the story today?

a visual introduction to holy communion/eucharist...

I am constantly amazed at the talents of people - my friend neil put together this awesome 5 min vid of the histroy of communion/eucharist...

The whole service was dedicated to communion/eucharist and trying to show and tell what it means in our community/context  but also aware that we are part of the body of Christ.  I found it really helpful to contemplate but also had the priviledge and honour of serving - a reminder again of our life as a body and how we pass on that which we ourselves have received...

Fiddling on the roof: does a common christian tradition help us find our footing?

When I was a kid one of the tapes that i would listen to was my Dad's copy of the musical 'Fiddler on the roof.'  In the musical the opening song is called 'tradition' in which traditon is a force for stability, order and status quo.  No one quite knows how it started but they accept without it the price of instability would be high.

Traditionalism fatigue

The church environment I grew up in was very much in the same way - there were traditions for everything and often the traditionalism became part of the faith, the way we did christian things - to alter the tradition was to somehow lessen our faith.  It seems crazy to think that an event like the communion table being moved back a few feet could almost cause a church to kick out their pastor but that is what almost happened. 

Tradition for me became a bad word - it meant being stuck in the past - i equated it with being traditonal - with hymn sandwiches, arguements about organ music and lesser matters such as doctrinal positions - all being lumped together into who was saved/christian/heaven bound. 

The attraction then of moving away from anything traditional was a strong one - hanging around with christians in new forms of church, with no old school denomination ties to weigh me down was great.  God became about experience, about seeking the new thing - we were free of tradition and therrefore able to once again connect with Jesus the way we were meant to.

Creating new traditions

Funnily enough although we didn't have explicitly say we had traditions looking back i can see that we did.  I have hung out in the Vineyard for 13 yrs and it is clear to me that we have our set of traditions:

• our services always have the same worship/teaching/prayer ministry components
• we love our intimate experiential soft rock worship songs
• we tell stories about the conferences we've been too
• we even pray in pretty generic ways "more holy spirit" and talk about 'blessing what the Spirit is doing'

Being without "traditon" was great in the sense that it meant life felt a lot free-er but over time it also seemed to be a lot more unstable as well - the quest for the new began to get tiring - especially when experience did not help much with questions like why does God feel far away and the answer invariably was along the lines of trying harder in some way to manufacturer that encounter - longer worship times, more praying, another conference etc... 

Rediscovering traditions in a more helpful way?

It makes me wonder if there is something in between - not just an unquestioned traditionalism or a  rejection of tradition/recreation of new traditions.  Is there some things that are christians have taken as part of their traditonal beliefs that have provided stability across time and traditions? For me that is one of the exciting things about the deep church conversation, the desire to explore the common christian tradition but also be open to the new things of God as well.

This post from Dan Kimball on core/non-core beliefs recently caught my eye as he was looking at something similar, albeit in the context of trying to find a better term/metaphore.  He had two pictures to illustrate...

1. Core beliefs

2. non-core beliefs

I find this helpful in seperating out how we do things/interpret things away from the core belief - for example i believe God created the earth and that we are charged to tend and serve it - some days and in some ways i believe the 6 day creation as a useful way of understanding aspects of that story and in other ways i believe it has taken a lot lot lot longer...

You may agree/disagree with what Dan included in his core slide - for instance i think the virgin birth is not as important as the idea of the humanity/divinity of Jesus and i'm pretty sure other would have Apple computers on the core list ;).

More so it also makes me wonder what we are encountering/learning/understanding/experiencing now that will inform the christian tradition - perhaps there will be nothing particulalry new but merely matters of emphasis/relative importance - so our view on the trinity may stay doctrinally very similar but our understanding and practice of other centred sacrificial living may grow in terms of modelling our lives/faith communities around this particular idea...

How does this help impact and reorder our realities around God's?

Maybe even more so is not just what we believe about God and whether we rank it as core/non-core  but what it means to believe in Jesus - how does that effect the ordering/priority/actions of our lives?  How does the tradition help us to not only believe right things but also to do good?  How does it impact on our reality?

Which seems to me to ask the further question, as well a core beliefs that christians have traditionally found helpful in changing/challenging their reality are there core practices too which help us in that transition?

What do you think?

• how helpful/unhelpful have you found tradition/traditionalism?
• what for you are the core beliefs/ practices of the christian faith?
• How does what you believe/practice as a christian affect your reality/being/life?

Being present: why I think the divine hours might help me

I have recently been trying to practise being present to my life/reality - taking my every day ordinary life and instead of running from it or wishing it away, follow the advice of Eugene Peterson's translation of Romans 12:1-2, and lay it down before God with God helping me do that.

I have also been thinking with my reflections on deep church and reconnecting with christian tradition how some form of office of prayer might be helpful - giving me words when my own are a list of complaints or wishes for a better life...

It was therefore may not a total coincidence that I received an email last week asking me if I wanted to review a copy of the 'Divine Hours' pocket edition [UK/USA].  I readily accepted, thinking with my commuting life this could be just what i needed to help me on the train into London and, inparticular because this quote on the blurb really stood out for me:

"As Tickle writes in her introduction, “prayer is always a place as well as an action, and the daily offices are like small chapels or wayside stations within the day’s courses.” For all those who want to carry a “small chapel” of prayers with them, The Divine Hours Pocket Edition™ offers a convenient, easy-to-use, and deeply spiritual guide to a devotional practice..."

As church of late has been about this space of reconnection, an antidote to the me-centricness of my consumer orientated life, i am looking forward to seeing how this helps me across the day and throughout the week - i'll let you know.

In the meantime, do any of you pray the hours or have your own/other regular rhythms of prayer/contemplation/worship?

How do you celebrate communion/eucharist/Lords Supper

One of the practices of faith for christians across time and tradition has been the breaking of bread and drinking of wine/grape juice to celebrate together the last meal of Jesus and his disciples the night before his crucification - living out the words of Jesus to this in rememberance of him...

I'm beginning to think about planning a service that is dedicated to this occassion, a celebration that means something for our own particular community and context but as I do i'm curios to hear from you...

• how do you celebrate communion - what do you do in your community/tradition context?
• what does it mean to you when you do so - what do you think/feel?
• what ways/times/actions of communion have particular impacted/resonated/had significance for you?
• have you ever thought of something that you would like do different or do more of  to make communion more meaningful to your context?
• any resources/liturgy/creative worship etc that you recomend?

Which early church father are you?

You’re St. Justin Martyr! You have a positive and hopeful attitude toward the world. You think that nature, history, and even the pagan philosophers were often guided by God in preparation for the Advent of the Christ. You find “seeds of the Word” in unexpected places. You’re patient and willing to explain the faith to unbelievers. Find out which Church Father you are at The Way of the Fathers!

HT: (e)mergent voyageurs