Tag Archives: General

Getting Back in the Swing of Things

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Right, then…

Been missing this here blog. Have lots of ideas jotted and posts half-written. I guess I’m just a bit out of the swing of things. Let’s start with a bit of warm up.

How about a quick list of random things? Sounds simple enough…

fractal

  • Over dinner the other day my mother revealed that I’ve pretty much always been a person in need of routine and structure. Seems I am truly my father’s son in this regard. Not sure why this is such a revelation to me. Guess it has to do with learning something about myself through the eyes of another.
  • Reaped the first harvest of tomatoes over the weekend. Just a dozen or so cherries so far, but there are tons on the vine. The first cucumber surprised us, too. I hope the pumpkin produces…
  • Never having been one to put my head down and keep my mouth shut, I’ve been swamped at work. Seems I managed to get myself on the busy end of a company-wide reorganization. It’s been exciting, and I can’t wait to get a little closer to the finish line on this one.
  • Speaking of work, I passed an exam toward a professional accreditation last month. The second exam is late fall. Man… it’s been a while since I took a test. This one was an computer administered multiple choice. The content didn’t give me any particular difficulties, but my test-taking skills were both rusty and up until then untested on a computer. I hadn’t anticipated the impact of that change ahead of time.
  • Tavis just began, which means I’m late for bed. Patience demands sleep…. G’nite!

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Lunch with Dave

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(Caveat lector – It’s late… I’m still at work more than 18 hours after arriving… and, looking down at what I’ve written, it seems I have a bit of pent up vitriol. Please extend grace, though feel free to move along…)

So, what do you do when you find yourself standing in the gap between a simple church gathering with minimal infrastructure and formal organization and the more familiar Sunday-go-to-meeting evangelical church organization complete with “sanctanasium?” It’s a fer serious question, because that’s exactly where I’ve found myself.

I am increasingly drawn to, convinced by, and committed to simple church gatherings, free from the trappings of institution. The adulterous marriage between church and state that began under Constantine and has continued more or less unchanged ever since has robbed the church of her true identity. She has too often been wooed by the voice of privilege, power and position and forgotten her calling to be the Body of Christ, the vanguard of the Kingdom of Heaven. The result has been a social religion populated largely by cultural Christians who are in it for the same reasons they started shopping at the Gap: peer pressure and the fear of missing out. I look at the money spent on buildings and salaries and programs – not to mention gas, dress clothes, and lunches at Applebee’s – and I wonder how many children could have been fed, clothed, immunized and educated had we not been so keen on consuming our weekly portion of Jesus-product that has been fine tuned to our tastes using the latest in marketing and business management theory.

(There… I think that’s out of my system.)

On the other hand, I find myself participating in one of those same institutions I have just lambasted. I am trying to take seriously Christ’s charge and hope that we be one as he and the Father are one. And so, lacking overwhelming reasons to pull out of fellowship at BCC, I maintain and nurture those relationships, serve in the program, and wonder how it all fits together.

What do you do in this situation? Continue reading →

Happy Anniversary, Kerri

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Ten years ago we were kids. I had more hair… but not much; and you had fewer grays… but not many.

Ten years on we are no longer kids ourselves, but rather parents of our own kids.

Ten years ago we were two very different people, different both from each other and from who we are now, making a commitment to grow together.

Ten years on we are still different… and we are still choosing to grow together.

Ten years ago we had a future full of possibilities open to us.

Ten years on we have fewer possibilities, but we have instead grown into our choices and our future looks richer than ever.

Happy Anniversary, Beloved

Heart & Soul

Always & Forever

Imagine…

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Good questions from Jonny. His questions are in bold, my gut reactions in normal.

can we imagine…

church beyond gathering?
No – church is by definition a gathering.

church beyond once a week?
We must, because life cannot be shared, transformation cannot be wrought, and the Kingdom cannot be enacted otherwise.

church as always on connectivity to christ and one another?
Technology has given us new ways to relate and interact, so why not.

church where community is the content?
Again we must – without community there is no church.

theology and resources of church being open source?
Only if community takes a central place, so that there is accountability and testing. Wait, isn’t that what happens on blogs, Someone floats an idea, and others test that idea?

church valuing the wisdom of the crowd rather than the knowledge of the expert?
House church ought to facilitate this. The only expert is the Spirit, mediated in the community.

our church/spirituality being easily found by seekers because we tag it that way?
Only if we step back and take seriously the invitation to assist seekers vs. assimilate seekers.

an ethos of low control and collaboration?
There’s a lot of professional ministry inertia to overcome.

an economy of gift?
Yes! This is the Kingdom’s alternative to consumption and consumerism.

church as spaces for creative production and self publishing?
Goes hand in hand with gift.

church as providers of resources for spiritual seekers and tourists?
See above: only if we take them seriously and stop trying to assimilate them.