What if I were to say that I yearn for this poverty? We must fight against poverty that is not simple. We should strive for poverty that is simple.

Perhaps embracing a poverty of simplicity is the answer to ending systemic poverty. My frustrations all circle around the issue of my affluence. I’m rich enough to be a magnet that attacts all kinds of garbage.

Richard Foster says, “Experiencing the inward reality [of simplicity] liberates us outwardly. Speech becomes truthful and honest. The lust for status and position is gone because we no longer need status and position. We cease from showy extravagance not on the grounds of being unable to afford it, but on the grounds of principle. Our goods become available to others.“ ¹

Jubilee, Redistribution, Ending Your Affluence, Simplicity, Freedom.

(This is an addendum to my previous post for Blog Action Day. I just could not end with simply complaining about my lacking. Now I’m going somewhere!)

Tags: poverty, simplicity, blog action day, affluence, jubilee

This post is part of Blog Action Day. Thousands of bloggers and millions of readers are participating in an attempt to make the landscape of poverty change, diminish and become manageable. Today I’m not feeling up to the task of taking anything on. I’m using the day to confess some stuff that has been clogging up my life like cholesterol in an artery…

This morning I went to the bank to take advantage of some student rates. I also took the opportunity to grab myself a lower interest rate credit card. After growing my financial empire I drove over here to the coffee shop where I sat down with a gourmet fair-trade organic coffee, turned on my mac and began to use the café’s free wireless connection. I am a king. Seriously. And so are you.

I slept in today. I had a hot shower inside my house. Water and electricity and natural gas flow into my home uninterrupted. Most likely there is food rotting in my fridge. And I will no doubt even have a second coffee today before I leave the cafe.

Even when I’m busy it is not because I am walking a tightrope between life and death. At no point during the last 24 hours have I walked any distance farther than my kitchen for drinkable water, killed an animal with my own hands for food, washed my clothes in a river, or wondered if I would even be able to eat tomorrow.

I am a king. And I don’t know how to handle it. What I mean is, I don’t know how to make it just be OK. It’s extraordinarily easy to just not think about it. I have a hundred thousand options available to me that can help me ignore this inequality. I can watch Steve Jobs with his blue jeans and keynote presentation and salivate at “uni-body construction” and led screens. I can watch Lost or Survivor and fantasize about how white, privileged society would act if it was “tribalized” (aka – trivializing the tribal)… I’m not going to continue…

Ignoring it is easy, but when forced to consider the situation I get uncomfortable. I’m reminded of how horrid it is that I ignore it. Imagine: My sister is sitting on the street – hungry, cold, dying. I could see her if I looked out the window beside me if only I dared to look. I’m uncomfortable with it so I pretend it doesn’t exist. And in the process I kill my sister.

I’m guilty of murder. I don’t say that to be dramatic. I believe it. In my own life I have killed hundreds and hundreds of people that I have encountered. I justified my murder by accusing THEM. “If I give this dude the change in my pocket he’ll just misuse it. It’s better misused by my hands than his.”

Wow. So I think I’m done with the purge. I could go on but I’m certain I would violate some blog etiquette or something.

It’s time to get constructive.

Tags: poverty, blog action day, confession

Only a couple more days until Blog Action Day. Sign up and participate or just read and comment, and help change (and start) the conversation on poverty!

Blog Action Day 2008 Poverty from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.

Tags: poverty, blog action day

Greek Tradition: detached, disembodied, timeless, universal, reflective, critical, rational

Hebrew Tradition: involved, embodied, historical, local, committed to specificity

If anyone can figure out how to lead a civilization anywhere when it is rooted in this soup my hat is off to them!

Tags: philosophy, western, civilization, greek, hebrew, plato, jesus, culture

This isn’t really unique to Lutheranism, but my question is around the idea that Paul’s doctrine of justification is “the doctrine by which the church stand or falls.” (p. 47) I have no problem with Paul’s emphasis on the doctrine of justification by faith, nor the Lutheran re-emphasis, but what I do have a problem with is how it seems to push the life and teaching of Jesus into a Christian footnote. What authority does the earthly teaching and ministry of Jesus hold when it seems to be subservient to what is deemed the most glorious work of scripture – the doctrinal work of Paul? How can we hold the ministry of Jesus and his gospel of the Kingdom of God in a rightful relationship with Paul’s doctrine of justification by faith? What comes first? Should we not interpret Paul’s doctrine in light of Jesus’ gospel? It just seems that have often reversed this.

I assume it is this question among others that will be discussed at the upcoming Reclaiming Paul Conference. If anyone has an extra plane ticket to Kansas City I would love to snatch it up!

Tags: justification, gospel, protestant, christian, tradition, paul

In a most incredible turn of events, one of my classes this semester is focused on contemporary theology with an emphasis on the emerging church movement. It was my friendships and engagement with emergent and various similar groups of people that began my re-engagement with theology and a search for a deeper understanding of God’s mission and the church. So when I found out that this course was being offered I jumped at the opportunity.

As a launching point into 21st Century theology we briefly exploring the major Protestant traditions of the last 500 years. I am right now taking a break from reading the chapter on Lutheranism out of Exploring Protestant Traditions by David Buschart. He does a pretty good job of uncovering the historical, theological and methodological distinctives of each denominational tradition. I really appreciate his withholding of judgement. The goal of the text is not to vilify or baptize any individual tradition, but to enrich all by encouraging open and honest reading. I’m enjoying engaging with this text.

The class composition is interesting. I was expecting a lot of “new reformers” and me. It is a bit more broadbased than I was expecting, but most students described themselves as “theologically conservative” last week. A few stated an interest in reading some of the emerging thoughts and a few folks were wonderfully honest in their confession of not having made up their minds on almost everything. As far as I could tell, I was the only person in the class to self-identify as being emergent in my position (whatever that means). When describing myself I even used the term “conversation” without realizing. I guess I really am emergent.

I guess this sort of folds back into the constant question posed around the internets concerning that word. The word emergent describes many people that I have come to see as friends in the journey. If I was following some specific church father I would call myself Wesleyan or Lutheran or whatever as a way of identifying with my tribe, so why should I feel ashamed of aligning myself with this triby non-tribe of fellow emegents? I mean, I just don’t really fit fully into any other space. I was raised Baptist and I’m grateful to the formative influence that tribe has had on my life. I don’t really see the harm in calling myself a Baptimergent or some such thing.

Anyway, I think I’ll leave those thoughts incomplete for now. Back to it.

Tags: emergent, emerging, church, school, theology

Tags: hauerwas, podcast, theology

In my dreams about our future local church community I continually return to the vision of a multi-cultural church. When in Grand Rapids a few weeks ago I was conversing with a local pastor, boasting about the wonders of living on the doorstep of a place like Toronto, where the world is present in a very real sense. While I expressed to him the incredible beauty inherent in such a rich tapestry I also had to confess the deep sadness I have for the place. I passionately love the diversity of Toronto and its surrounding communities, but my heart aches for the deep divisions between cultural communities. It isn’t so much a division of animosity or dislike – although I’m sure there does exist a certain mistrust and fear – but they are more-so divisions of convenience. Folks tend to stick to their own and remain disconnected and unconcerned with what goes on in the communities surrounding them. This apathy and tolerance breaks my heart.

Cultural tolerance is a huge step up from racial cleansing and war, but I am so tired of being content to trade an evil for a lesser one. I believe Jesus when he says that the Kingdom is here. Every day I long for a larger bit of the “not yet” to appear before us. In Toronto that bit of the “not yet” includes a truly Mosaic community.

So, to my friends that are engaged in this church-planting with me and to all that find themselves in these diverse yet self-segregating places, I pray we can grab hold of this dream together. It needs to be intentional. DJ Chuang said it well: “It doesn’t happen by accident. If it just “naturally” happens (i.e. without intentionality), we’d see a lot more diversified church, wouldn’t we.”

Finding Connections

Reading Tom Sine’s fantastic book, The New Conspirators, I was greatly encouraged by the pictures of Mosaic church communities around the US and elsewhere. I’m wondering if anyone knows of an example of such places in the Greater Toronto Area? I would love to connect, learn and dream with folks that are moving in a similar direction.

Tags: mosaic, multicultural, toronto, church, kingdom,

Has anyone exploited this resource yet? Although I’m skeptical of Alltop’s seeming un-flattening of the internet by selecting what are supposedly the most influential or worthwhile blogs and news feeds and weeding out everything else, I do have to admit that it is very well designed. It provides a very quick and somewhat comprehensive snapshot of the headlines of whatever realm of study you are browsing. Thoughts?

Tags: alltop, news, browsing, search, rss

We camped a couple nights at a local campground and spent most of Sunday touring the revitalizing downtown core. Revitalized though it may be, it was the most eerily quiet downtown I have ever been in. On many of its red cobblestone streets we were the only car – or people for that matter – about. We also ducked into the Grand Rapids Zoo for a couple hours. Zoos in the middle of a city are fairly odd. I’m not sure what else to say on that at the moment so I’ll leave it.

In the evening we trotted on over to Fellowship Covenant Church for the Roadshow. Blazing (see below). The three fellas really brought it, and the crowd fully caught the revival spirit. There have been reports of people who have misinterpreted the 1908 Revivalist schtick as mockery, but I’m not sure anyone who came out that night left with that impression. I’m fairly convinced that if you expected to find mockery and are determined that that is what it was then you will hold to that conviction. Otherwise, you will see it for what it really is. A wonderfully whimsical and poetic homage to an era that was being as faithful to the gospel in its day as we are trying to be in ours. (again, see below)

John Frye, pastor at Fellowship and his partner in crime, Jeremy Bouma were fantastic hosts to everyone that came that night. Also, we are incredibly thankful for the generosity and hospitality of Randy and Kathy Buist who are part of the Water’s Edge community. Randy invited us over for breakfast on the Monday morning and we had only met them the previous night. We ended up talking with Randy, Kathy and Wendy Eason around the breakfast table until around noon. As we drove back to Canada that day both Mike and I were quite high on the beautiful emerging picture of a church community that really cares for each other. All the theologizing in the world can’t compare to the Church being the Church, caring for and conversing with each other. So amazing!

So, back to Brother Duke, Professor A. B. Hawthorne and Preacher Withee. These three grandest of gentlemen and their “great grandsons” are here to tell you about a man they called Truth. His other name is Jesus. And they are calling all y’all to join in a healing and restoring, sanctifying and rectifying, purifying and death-defying good news message we call the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But don’t take my word for it. Emergent Village has posted a recording of the Church Basement Roadshow in its entirety as filmed in Birmingham, Alabama. So stand up, get your healing balm of Gilead in hand, give it a Whoop and Pushhhh, and get ready for a Rollin’ Gospel Revival!

Church Basement Roadshow from Steve Knight on Vimeo.

Tags: emergent, grand rapids, church basement roadshow

Anyway, today I was listening to an old Emergent Village podcast from December 2006 that was hosted by Melvin Bray. (Incidentally, why isn’t Melvin doing more podcasts for Emergent Village? And what is with the lack of podcasts lately? Surely there isn’t an absence of possibilities for content. Sorry, no more erratic questions.)

Back to the podcast… Melvin spoke of looking forward to 2007 as the year of “Justice.” No doubt that was largely the story. Prophets such as Brian McLaren and Shane Claiborne as well as many others, both contemporary and historical, liberal and conservative, led us artfully and with wisdom into a revitalized World Christianity that took seriously the question of stewardship and justice. In the larger global neighborhood both inside and outside the Christian church people turned their attentions to the need for a greater compassion.

This discussion has only just begun, and in many places our churches are only beginning to realize the greater significance and calling. Throughout a myriad of contexts the church really is emerging from her interior programs and ministries to see a world literally starving around her. I’m fairly certain I heard that there is an Emergent Manifesto of Justice being published sometime next year. (Does anyone know of a list of contributors to the project?) This rally surely must continue.

Coming around to the reason for this posting…
What are the conversations that you see being sparked around you as we are now into the second half of 2008.

What are the questions you foresee being asked in the coming year?

What will be emerging at the end of the first decade of the 21st Century?

What will emergent phenomena will we see in the year 2010? What will be the world’s questions a decade on from 9/11? Am I getting too far ahead of ourselves now?

May we never lose our sensitivity to the anxieties and questions of that which is other to ourselves.

Tags: future, emergent, emerging, justice, brian mclaren, shane claiborne, melvin bray, 2009, podcast

Karl imagines God as the most bored person in the universe. Being up in dull broodish heaven for eternity means you have to be well stocked with Sudoku. Love it

Tags: heaven, ricky gervais, steve merchant, karl pilkington, podcast

Me and my buddy Mike are about to set off to Grand Rapids to check out the second to last stop on the Church Basement Roadshow tour. We are looking forward to having a grand ol’ time wading in the revival waters of this hope-filled, alive-and-well, future-invading-the-present message of Christianity that Tony, Mark and Doug have been proclaiming across America this summer. We are also probably going to drop in at Mars Hill Church tomorrow morning. The church that I am a part of has a regular group of about 50, so Mars Hill will definitely be something I am not currently accustomed too. I’ve been following along a bit with their summer teaching series in preparation.

Mike and I aren’t really sure where else to go while in the GR area. If anyone could suggest a good pub or coffeehouse or something else entirely that would be appreciated.

Tags: revival, church basement roadshow, tony jones, doug pagitt, mark scandrette, grand rapids, emergent

Zach Lind… You know what… I don’t think I could name a single song by his band. nor could I even hum you a melody. I wasn’t really into this type of music while they were taking youth groups by storm. This was moreso my poison at the time. Zach’s blend of social justice, pop culture critique and awesomely liberal political views challenge my complacency. There are many more folks who similarly challenge me. You’ll hear more about them in the future.

Addison Road… Not the pop band, nor the Road. This is a odd collection of people with an odd collection of posts around art, music, god, and life.

Jonathan Brink… A guy who questions boldly and graciously his and our commitment to living a life of love in the way of Jesus.

Paul Soupiset… I believe Paul’s was the first place I stumbled on when I began to search out folks who were asking the same questions as me. I find in Paul something that I hope to see in myself. His own mix of Art, Faith and Practice has inspired me than anyone else I have encountered online.

to be continued…

This week Out of Ur blog hosted a bit of a discussion between reviewer Chad Hall and authors Mark Driscoll and Tony Jones. Chad reviewed the books of both men and then posted responses from Mark and Tony.

The whole concept was bad from the beginning. Pit two authors and their books against each other to see which one is more like Jesus. Baptize one at the expense of the other. Call one humble and the other Egotistical. Label them as insignificant or impotent or trendy. It’s a replay of a tired and aging Right and Left (aka, Right and Wrong) political drama that doesn’t really exist unless we need it to. There is no matchup between emergents and new reformers unless you want there to be one. And I can’t for the life of me figure out why anyone would want such a fight, although I too am weak and am easily persuaded to believe in these lines.

Predictably, the match-up lured out the proponents of both factions, myself included. Folks rallied behind their superstar and accused the other of lacking humility and Christ-like-ness. Trenches were dug even deeper and viewpoints were caustically hurled through the virtual air.

I really appreciated the responses by the Tony and Mark. Yes, even Mark. (I don’t say that to say that Mark is less capable of graciousness, but to expose my own bias). Dare I say that Jesus just might have gained the upper hand here. Tony was true to his character as he brazenly defended his friends in the Emergent sphere while not personally attacking Chad. I’ve had the opportunity to meet Tony and I was struck by his clear desire to build relationships but not with sugary words or the right Christian idioms. There was much grace in his biting responses.

I also really appreciated the response by Mark. He was gracious and humble even as he tried to convince us that Chad labeling him as humble was a mistake. Folks are trying to claim that Mark is “turning over a new leaf” as of late with a less caustic attitude. And maybe he is. I hope so. And I hope that as such a thing emerges that those of us who have been offended by Mark in the past (with good reason) will be able to forgive. Such forgiveness will always move us in a good direction. I say that in a small voice because I am far from being one who has been hurt most by his words. I’m not calling on anyone to make any such move of forgiveness, but hoping that it can be a future reality.

I may not agree with Mark’s theology as much as I agree with Tony’s, but I will always agree with grace. Following Jesus is ultimately about giving off a fruity aroma and not about falling in line with a doctrinal team.

Tags: christianity, jesus, jones, driscoll, emergent, emerging, reform

I thought I might post some of my reflections so far from my reading of the various posts on missional. My intent here is not to generalize or dismiss anything that I disagree with, nor to fully endorse anywhere I might find myself agreeing. This is an exercise in sorting. Doing consciously what our brains are doing subconsciously at all times.

Do More

I need to address what I think is a grave error. We have missed a step. The worthy opinion is that to be missional is to get off your ass more often. By all means, YES, but that isn’t the road to a more healthy worldview or community. The ingenuity and servant movement of many of those who are living missionally is very much in tune with what it is to be a follower of Jesus. Faith has to be lived out, but the wonderful thing about the concept of missional is that we can stop believing that it is up to us to run the course while God cheers us on from the bleachers. Missional isn’t just action, it is action with, resulting from, in response to, in the wake of, in the footprints of, in the arms of our missioning God.

I recognize that we need this kick in the pants because of our tendency to, more often than not, go the opposite way. But missional focus reminds us that ultimately it is our God who moves. With a spirit of watching the movement of God we can truly rest. Sabbath will cease to create anxiety because of our inaction.

As I mentioned in my last post, we have not simply been set loose by God to complete a task that has been laid out for us. Instead we are called into participation with Him as He recreates and renews creation. While our feet will be quickened to respond to his call when we truly live into this relationship, it is not our duty to march on and do what we believe God wants done.

More so, our duty is to notice. Notice the things that God is doing in our lives and the lives of our neighbors. When we really begin to notice what is going on we will see better the actions that are called for. Love notices, then responds. Love listens and then, perhaps, answers.

I fear that too often we believe that just because we have read a few books, including the Bible, that it is our job to be the Avengers; that by our actions the world will be a better place. This idealism is something I battle against in my own life and it never seems to work out all that well in history.

Let’s be less quick to just do it, and quicker to listen. Perhaps that posture of prayer and waiting is also a part of a missional life. Then, having regained our proper footing, we will be more ready to leap into action.

To everyone who has posted about our need to get out and do, know that I am not disagreeing with that at all, I just wanted to add one more spice to that recipe.

I’m probably going to post a few more reflections over the next couple days.

Tags: missional, missional synchroblog, prayer, gospel

Len says, “Each brings their own renewal dynamic to the broader church, and I’m convinced that the convergence zone is where some of the most creative experiments will occur.” I too believe in the convergent zones being the places where the really good stuff happens. And from my own experience, this convergence is inevitable (as I pray all healthy happenings should be).

Len’s doodle reminds me of a whirlpool, or one of those big funnels in the mall where you can roll a coin down into the center. When you enter one of these three worlds (Missional, Emergent, Monastic) you get pulled into the others. In my experience, the more excited I became about the movements and ideas circling within Emergent thought, the further I was pulled into the ideas proposed by the Monastic and Missional movements. I find myself swirling around from one to the other and being pulled toward the inside of the funnel where I am more and more influenced by all three simultaneously. Relationships in one sphere lead to relatioships in the others. There is no sense of having to pick one camp over and above the others. In this way the center is not a crushing place that squeezes all things into one thing, but a broad place where more depth and variety of experiences just seems so much closer and accessible. The closer you get to the center there is more energy and more movement. Life seems to flow even more vigorously.

The center is really a non-center. In my experience it has been like the classic idea of a blackhole that opens up into another world on the other end. There has been a lot of spinning and confusion and joy and sadness and question and answer and question and in the midst of it all a broad horizon is becoming visible. An environment that is experienced and felt, and yet is far off. Allow me to indulge in some quick and dirty photoshopping…

The disappearance of the previously contentious issues is so refreshing – another thing that Len hits on. Gone are the squabbles over musical choice, emotional faith or intellectual faith, dispensational gifting, sheep stealing, or denominational representation. These sorts of squabbles seem to have been left on the other side of the squeeze. The further we all travel into our future, the more these things fade into the past. No doubt there are other issues arising that our children will distance themselves from in time. That’s just humanity. But maybe our journey down the slippery slope will provide a better vantage point for our future to deal with these emerging issues.

Next week I’ll be participating in a SynchroBlog (synchronized blog posting) around the topic “What Is Missional?” It was instigated and proposed by Rick Meigs over at The Blind Beggar.There are something like 40 different people involved in this that will be posting on their various web logs and journals on 23 June as relates to the topic. Hmmm… sounds like a Missional Manifesto of Hope…

Tags: missional, synchroblog

So, tomorrow I’m going to turn pages in Post-Charismatic? by Rob McAlpine (aka RobbyMac). I’m not from the charismatic stream officially, but have interacted with the local Pentecostal and Vineyard churches quite often throughout my life. I’m especially interested in learning to engage more fully with this stream of Christianity to move forward into a more generous and spiritually expressive future. I’m excited about the opportunity to look both look backward while facing forward into a hopeful future together with my charismatic and post-charismatic sisters and brothers.

Oh, and Rob, I’m really sorry about the absence of picture on the amazon.ca page. That’s actually my fault and it will be corrected next week!

Pax

Tags: reading, charismatic, postcharismatic, robbymac,

Tags: emergent, emerging, trucker frank, tony jones