A Community Called Atonement

I just started a new book by Scot McKnight entitled, "A Community Called Atonement." So far, just 50 some pages in, I want to share that I could not put it down. However, a book of this magnitude requires so much processing, I would like to propose that we share some of the ideas from the book and talk about what we are defining as the "church" - not to mention anything else that may spring forth from reading. Here is something that stands out from the first few pages:

" 'The gospel we preach shapes the kind of churches we create.
The kid of church we have shapes the gospel we preach.'
It would be simplistic and colonizing to suggest that power determines everything, but we should be alert to the observation that the power a local church possesses shapes what it offers as gospel and atonement. Could it be that we are not reconciled more in this world - among Christians, within the USA, and between countries - because we have shaped our atonement theories to keep our group the same and others out? I believe the answer to that question is unambiguously yes. "

While there is so much I think about this and will hopefully share, I will simply say that I agree with his assessment and anticipate reading what you think.

A hymn for Shrove Tuesday

Alleluia, song of gladness,
hymn of endless joy and praise.
Alleluia is the worship
that celestial voices raise
and, delighting in God's glory,
sing in heaven's courts always.

Alleluia, blessed Salem,
home of all our hopes on high.
Alleluia, sing the angels;
Alleluia, saints reply;
but we, for a time on this earth,
chant a simpler melody.

Alleluias we now forfeit
in this holy time of Lent.
Alleluias we relinquish
as we for our sins repent,
trusting always in God's mercy
and in Love omnipotent.

Blessed Trinity of Glory,
hear your people as we pray.
Grant that we may know the Easter
of the Truth, the Life, the Way,
chanting endless alleluias
in the realms of endless day. Amen.

Can be sung to any 8.7.8.7.8.7 tune
From The Saint Helena Breviary, Church Publishing 2006

Wesley Conference Webcast

This next Thursday and Friday (07-08 Feb) there will be a webcast for the conference at NNU entitled: Furtherness: Holiness Reoriented in a Changed World." The guest speakers are Brian McLaren, Scott Daniels, and Thomas Oord. It's only $25 a person and the more you have with you watching, the cheaper it gets. It would be easy to hook a computer/laptop up to a video projector! If Amy and I weren't going to Turbo at Northwood, I'd definitely be a part of this. Here is the link to find out more: https://www.nnu.edu/wesleywebcast

I encourage you to be a part of this. Perhaps if no one can participate, we should get the DVDs and get together and watch it and discuss. Bring the conference here and have our own, at the lead of these great leaders.

Refraining from using business as a metaphor for the church

I'm finishing up Alan Roxburgh's and Fred Romanuk's book entitled The MIssional Leader: Equipping your Church to Reach a Changing World. On p118 I think they give a pretty convincing argument as to why we cannot and should not use the language and metaphor of business for the church. Now, in the following quote they are talking about leaders, but there is a sentence (or two perhaps) on the church using the language.

At the core of leadership, then, is the question of one's identity and its source. This is why the church cannot simply borrow its categories for leadership from other arenas and impose them on its life. To do so is to borrow a purpose and end that are not shaped out of this fundamental participation with God. When we borrow from other arenas such as business or corporate governance, we actually form a character and identity as a leader that, though it may be successful by any number of measurements, leads away from formation as God's person. It also gives the church that is involved a distorted understanding of itself and its own purposes. For example, some current leadership models derive from measuring effectiveness in terms of numbers and size, which are not necessarily measures of success in a life with God.

I think they are spot on. We have played a numbers game for so long, as if the size of our congregations prove our effectiveness. However, we are called to make disciples not just attract the masses. I've refrained from saying anything else...to just let what they say stand for itself.

The beginnings of a missional theology

So, I googled "missional theology" this morning and found this on a blog. I think it's a really great start. I say it's a good start because I connect the Kingdom of God with Missio Dei, and there is no language of Kingdom there. I see it as good fodder for thought.

cold, historical insights, and the opposition

Today was once again another cold day - only real cold.  Did I mention I hate the cold?  Me and cold don't mix well - like oil and water.  In fact it has been freezing rain here today and a brick 34 degrees.  It could be that it is one of those times where the rain is actually giving us a message: it's a cold day.  Economic recession, war, not much is on the up and up - save lavitra commercials. In actuality though there are some important things going on in our world.  Why, centuries and centuries later, have we not learned something from Christ.  Martin Luther King Jr. once made a statement that a man has already died if he is not willing to give his life for something - but the statement is often taken out of context - it is prefaced with 'in our non-violent' ways.  Jesus says that he came to bring a sword, (look it up... Matthew 10) but everything in the passage is about a backwardness that is so obvious we mistake it for straight forward.  A deeper look would expose that this passage points toward being so on board with Jesus' message of hope and kingdom that one would need to take up sword to get there.  In effect, we should have the passion enough to die for this type of connection with the kingdom and hope through Christ.  Later on, Jesus says that those who live by the sword die also by the sword, another deeply mis-used phrase. So.  Jesus in effect did not come to lead a revolution by military force but a new type of force that would change our reality.   ... Later he makes his thoughts about physical force more clear: "am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs?"  What makes sense of this?  There is a deep longing within the message of Christ that brings a revolution of love so powerful and transforming, that it actually calls us to have altered states in our minds.  Think about it, "non-violent ways?"  No one actually thinks that non-violence is a real form of love is it?  I simply have two things that need to be shared.

1. Why do we believe that it was great for one man to stand opposed to all that we see as wrong.  War, segregation, unfair laws, and more.  It was great for a man who is a follow of Christ to stand up and do that - then... but not now.  If I were to stand in front of my church and chastise them for believing in a war that should not be waged and call on them to bring back our troops - I would be ousted from the church.  Why?  Because I oppose them politically?  Spiritually?  Why is it no longer acceptable for a man in the church to call out what he sees as wrong? There is serious opposition to this?  Do we not want to hear good news? 

2. Good news.  If we were to so truly believe this state of mind to the point where we actually loved people, shared wealth, cared for each other - do you think it would be possible to overcome some of the challenges presented extreme fanaticism?  I do.  I believe that the kingdom that Jesus spoke about was truly revolutionary, and we have very few people that enter into it that don't get caught up in something. [myself included]  

My hope is that we overcome.  

Hospitality's relation to Community

We had our meeting this past Sunday night with our launch team. We talked about community and what it means. This week I've still been reflecting on it. I found myself thinking about hospitality in community. I kept coming back to certain questions. They weren't worded exactly like this but similar: Can you have community without hospitality at its core? If so, what would it look like? Can you have community without hospitality at all? I wonder if we were to "recover" a strong ethos or spirit of hospitality in our fellowships of Christ followers, how might that change the essence of each particular community of faith? A community could be hospitable and still closed off to those outside. But, I think that to do so would miss a major aspect of hospitality. What do you think?