Thoughts of an Emerging Ogre

There is a great quote over at an association of associations* blog, Acronym, that is from Ben Martin over at Certified Association Executive.

“And the conversation isn’t all about your blog: If you write a blog but don’t read others’ blogs, comment on them and link out to them, what you have is antisocial media. My mom taught me that God gave us two ears and one mouth so that we could listen twice as much as we speak. Unfortunately, many seem to believe that God gave them ten fingers and two eyes so that they can type five times as much as they read.“

This touches back to my A Conversation for Everyone post, and the fact that we need to be seeking an ongoing dialogue instead of one-way rhetoric.  If there is no conversation there is no change, and if there is no change then there is no point to our conversation.** I am currently attempting to stay on top of 83 blogs in my Google Reader. It isn’t always easy, and I don’t get to thoroughly read every post that I want to (many are starred for return), but it keeps me involved in the many conversations that are happening under the umbrella of the emerging/ missional conversation.

This is true for Christ-followers, Association Execs, and anyone else who dares to put their ideas, thoughts, and struggles in the blogosphere for all to see!

Peace.

* This may seem redundant, but it is not.  It truly is an association of associations; and it gets really confusing when you begin to talk about their gatherings and how they associate their associations with the association of association, as well as the synergy of one association with another association within the association of associations (gotta love In Good Company).   

** While Yoda-esque in its wording, this is not as circular in definition as it may appear.  It is merely a sign of the abundance of caffeine in my system, as are these footnotes that didn’t really need to be here.

(HT: my lovely wife, Dana) 

Jim over at Lord, I Believe; Help My Unbelief! has a great post from Saturday that forces us to look at a part of ministry where we often fall short: the elderly.

I may be in the minority, but for me the aging community is very much an awareness in ministry.  I am blessed to have a wife who has opened my eyes to the wonderful ministry that only the elderly can give us, and also to the lack of inclusion and attention in our churches.  Just as I have devoted my life to ministry, and in doing so have entered into this emerging conversation to seek a better way; so also has my wife is giving her life, but she is seeking a better way in aging — so that those who are living out their lives somewhere other than home can feel like they are at home instead of an institution or a hospital.

We are very aware of the lack of attention given to the elderly in the world around us.  Seeking a better way to help older people find a home in our faith communities – where they are still a part of the journey instead of a burden, should be important to us if it isn’t already.

So quickly we forget that the elderly in our communities are those who have gone before us.  When someone is struggling with an idea, a question, or a situation, there is more than likely an elderly person in the community with a wealth of wisdom and discernment if not direct, personal experience that could help someone else through the same struggle.

It is also important to remember that the places they have been are only part of a journey that they are still on.  People assume that the elderly have “got it,” and are just waiting to go; but the fact is that older Christians are struggling with faith questions just as we are.  While we are wrestling with questions about how we are to live, and what God wants us to be doing as part of His work, older believers are asking their own questions.

“Have I accomplished enough in my life?”

“Have I lived a life that is pleasing to God?” 

“Do I still have anything left?  Does God still want to use me?  Can God still use me?”

These questions are just as important to the community as anyone else’s; and we would greatly benefit from remembering that the elderly living their faith alongside us not only have questions of their own, but also have a great deal to offer us as we struggle at certain points along the path that they have already traveled.

Hello all, 

I am sorry for the silence this weekend.  It started out as my wife & I celebrating Valentine’s Day a day late, and has ended with the rarity of me getting sick.  So far it is just an achy fly, and I hope it stays here.  

It truly is a rare event that I get sick like this when I just stay in, but it has happened and the only thing I have wanted to do with my brain is contemplate my aches & watch television. 

The highlight of my day has been a dark chocolate & banana milkshake.  They even made the flavors as two separate shakes & then poured them into the glass side-by-side.  It was a nice treat and it helped my throat too.

Anyway, I did not intend to bore you with my day, but to tell you that I have a few posts that I hope to get out tomorrow.  If I am not feeling up to it again then I will have to get another shake, and tell you all about it.

Peace. 

Interesting article over at Breitbart.

Favorite quote, ”He was yelling at us and stuff and at the very end he says, ‘I really love you guys, I want you to see the light.’”

Nothing says the love of Christ like intimidation and ridicule. 

My wife had to head down south yesterday for some meetings, and on her way back she found an interesting radio show.  It was the good Reverend Donnie Swaggert, co-pastor of Family Worship Center along with his father, Jimmy Swaggert.

This was a show on their SonLife Radio station, and the topic was tithing.  She got into the discussion just as he was making it very clear that your tithe will only build treasures in Heaven if it is given to the storehouse that is the church.

The show host facilitator then asked, “What if you feel called to give to the poor, to someone in need?”

His response, You need to first give to the church.  You can give money to the poor if you have money left over, but that won’t be blessed.  God only blesses your giving to the church. 

I would put this in quotes, but she isn’t 100% certain that these were the exact words; however, she is certain of the message.

Let’s review: 

Giving to the poor = useless works
Giving to Rev Donnie = Blessings in Heaven  

wow…

God says, “I am offering you life or death, blessing or curse. Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19).

“Choose life.” That’s God’s call for us, and there is not a moment in which we do not have to make that choice. Life and death are always before us. In our imaginations, our thoughts, our words, our gestures, our actions … even in our nonactions. This choice for life starts in a deep interior place. Underneath very life-affirming behaviour I can still harbour death-thoughts and death-feelings. The most important question is not “Do I kill?” but “Do I carry a blessing in my heart or a curse?”
— Henri Nouwen in Bread for the Journey

I stayed in the classroom after class the other day to catch up on some blogs & plug some due dates into iCal.  As I sat and worked I noticed another guy had stayed behind too, and after a couple of minutes we began to talk about ourselves, our churches, and our desires for ministry. We talked for about half an hour, and I noticed something in our conversation — I have become a very pessimistic person when it comes to church.

Both he and I have had our struggles with churches that are built on programs & luring people in — where they are so focused on presentation that there is little in the way of discipleship.  We both have frustrations about our tribe, its sacred cows, and its legalistic tendencies.  The difference is that his dark clouds have silver linings, and mine are just full of thunder.  

It seems that I have come to a point where I am so discontent that I have stopped living in the hope of the better way.  I am part of this emerging conversation, but as Henri Nouwen has reminded me above, nothing can emerge from the ashes if life isn’t present.  My enthusiasm for turning consumers into Christ followers has been replaced with cynicism concerning the modern church & its ability to be transformed — my blessings have given way to curses.  

In light of this self-revelation, I have decided to focus my journey through this Lenten season on recovering my hope for transformation.  I may be preparing being prepared to plant a new faith community here in Topeka or elsewhere, but for now God has me in this place and time to minister to the community I am a part of.  

I pray that God will restore my heart of blessings, so that I might seek life.  I hope that you will think of me in your time of prayer too.

I would like to ask for prayers for my wife’s grandmother Lois.  She has been down with the flu, and last night in a hastened attempt to get to the restroom she got her foot tangled in her bedding and fell.  This was her second fall in a week, she messed up her leg pretty bad, and came into the ER with a temp of 104. 

She is resting now, and although she is sore we were glad to hear that she didn’t break anything.  They are treating her flu and fever, so that she can get back home and rest up. 

Prayers for quick healing and patience through this time of discomfort would be greatly appreciated. 

It has been a long day, so I will just have to post a double tomorrow.  Until then, here is one of my favorite ASBO ‘toons.  

The last few weeks I have been thinking about the transition from attractional to missional, and how best to help my church find its missional indentity. 

The attractional church makes decisions based on how they can attract more people into their building, to keep them coming back, and to officially join the membership & become financially involved.  This desire to attract & keep the attention of churchgoers affects the design of classes, sermon-series, worship services, architecture, branding & marketing, and extra activities of a church.

The missional church doesn’t look at attracting people into the church, but instead sees it’s own identity as a community of faith that exists to be a part of God’s mission to seek reconciliation with the people in the neighborhood/ city that they are in.  This focus is not inward (money & people serving programs), but outward (money & people used to meet the needs of people in their surrounding community).  People come into the church through the invitation of a friend.

My question is how do we seek this transition in local churches from the inwardly-focussed attractional church, to the outwardly-focussed missional church?

The church I am serving is attractional to the core.  Even our ‘evangelism’ efforts are dramatic extravaganzas at Christmas and Easter.  

I will be starting a new class in April, and my desire for this journey is to help people seek their missional identity.  I plan on utilizing the missional texts of scripture, as well as the writings of Newbigin, Guder, Frost, Hirsch, & Roxburgh.  I would love to know what you have done in seeking a missional identity in your community.  Thanks.

There is a great post over at Jesus Manifesto today concerning the problem of academic terminology in a conversation that seeks the involvement of everyone.

As one guilty of slipping into terms & ideas of academia with an assumption that they are understood, I am grateful for this post.  I think many feel these frustrations, but in the cycle of intimidation don’t want to say it publicly.  My wife has been wonderfully patient with me for years.  She is very interested in the conversation and doesn’t want to be lost in confusing lingo & technical terms, so she will [try to] stop me when I begin to condense ideas into obscure terms.

I have also experienced terminology issues in my efforts to bridge conversations with people from various denominations.  Every tribe has their own terms, and sometimes it is more difficult because it’s not a matter of not understanding what the other is saying — but having a different understanding, and making an assumption that their definition is the same.

This awareness has helped me over the last 16 months to be more intentional about unpacking my ideas.  I call it speaking from the definitions.  This is something I try to remind myself of whether I am posting on my blog, writing a paper, or simply having a conversation.  Speaking from the definitions helps everyone feel welcome to participate in the conversation, and be better understood.

I could go on and on to someone about being incarnational, but our conversation would be more successful if I would simply move beyond the word and say that I feel we should look at how God became human in Jesus, and lived among us & with us despite how we lived & acted.  Then we should apply that to our own lives, and live out in the community among our family, friends, co-workers, neighbors & strangers.  We should share life with them, get to know them & let them get to know us.  Only in such an intimate relationship can someone truly see Jesus in how we live & (re)act with other people.

Is that a lot more for me to say?  Yes, but by unpacking the term I have helped someone who has never even considered this idea, to see it & understand so that they can have a further conversation with others & me about such an idea — and hopefully find application to their own life.

My message to everyone who feels intimidated and/or frustrated at times is to please speak up!  Often times the offender doesn’t realize that they exclude people by their wording, and would want to know if someone is intimidated to enter into the conversation.  Many of these blogs were created for the purpose of sharing ideas and inducing conversation.  Yes, there are some people out there who wish to simply spew their own ideas to those who are ‘wrong,’ but you usually can identify those blogs by the absence of the option to post comments.

Speaking for those blogging in the emerging conversation – we are here to talk with one another, to share in our ideas & struggles as we seek a better way to follow Christ.  For this conversation to be successful it must include peoples of many backgrounds and contexts.  To see how we are struggling with different issues & ideas, or the same struggle from different sides – and to bring wisdom that often comes from someone outside of the situation or experience.

I am blessed by the wealth of wisdom that I have received from others, and most of it is not from academia.  Those greatest bits of wisdom that are life changing often come from the people you might not expect.  This is because we wrongly think that the important, prophetic messages will come from a great mind, but in reality they come from a great heart.

Many thanks to brother Ariah for keeping me aware.