While wandering the blogosphere

I not quite sure if this is the place to bring this up. I had thought about using my personal blog to post this, but I think that this is a question for the church. Here we go.

At the end of July a website called PyroManiacs created these “motivational posters” for the Emerging Church (EC). You can check them out here. The Pyro crew is pretty openly anti-EC, and these posters seem to show how they feel about the EC. TallSkinnyKiwi, who is a recognizable figure within the EC, commented on the posters with a post on his blog. I really like his comment:

I see them as an invitation to respond with something similar. Maybe this is a new way of debating using images and media . . . and i like it.

I, too, like the idea of using images and media to debate. It makes me think of an MC battle where rappers battle back and forth. A few people have responded to the posters with their own creations. Emerging Grace was one that responded, and her posters have gotten a lot of recognition. Check them out.

There was an article written over at the Christian Post about the “debate.” Here’s the link to the article.

Here’s my two cents on it all:
My first reaction to the Pyro’s posters was not good. I felt offended, not necessarily because I felt like I was one of the emerging people they were aiming at, but because I felt like they were meant as an attack not just a start to a debate. This has been my concern with the modern/post-modern debate with in the church for years now. (And for the record it’s not just limited to modern/post-moderns. Look at some of the was we refer to those within different denominations.) I realize that our faith is vital to our lives, but Jesus didn’t say that the world will know that God sent Jesus by our spiteful arguing. I know that I’ve found myself falling very short here, too. As I spent more time looking at and thinking about the posters, I realized that the basis for creating the posters was not without justification. There are some within the EC who might fit every stereotype shown. This is one of the problems with using the term Emerging Church. It is more of an umbrella covering than a doctrinal statement. When these sorts of debates start it’s often the extremes of both sides that get used as examples.
I really like Emerging Grace’s posters. As many other people have state, her posters seem to describe what she is standing for rather than what she is against. She commented on her site that she wasn’t trying to become a poster woman (no pun intended, maybe) for the EC, she just wanted to express herself.

What do you think? Do you think that this type of debate is healthy or is it just another way of dividing the body of believers? Cuyler- Since you’re my only commenter, I’m counting on you.

thoughts from August 2

Greetings from the Dripolator, a coffee shop in Black Mountain, NC.  I’m sipping on a triple macchiato and studying up on some info about Prayer.  What a daunting task.  It makes me think of standing in the foothills of the Rockies or the shores of the Pacific and expecting to know all of it.  As I was overwhelmed with these thoughts another came to mind.  Why stand with the mountains before me or the ocean ahead of me and worry.  Why not find excitement and seek the opportunity to explore.  At times, my perspective has been “well, I don’t understand it so I should give up.”  But now I want to change my perspective to “look at all I have to experience!”  I encourage you all to join me in the excitement of these expressions.  Join me in the adventure of discovering prayer. 
I’ve realized in my time away how much I care for you all.  There have been (and probably, will be) times when I think to my self, “I wonder how so and so is doing?”  I’ve been praying for all of you.  I pray that God will continue to step in front of you and guide you in your steps.  I pray that the steps God guides you through will lead to a deeper understanding of his role in you life.  Pray for each other too.  Pray for us too.  May the Lord, who is rich in mercy, continue to guide us.  May his will be ours. cheers.

Where we are going

I’ve been spending the past few week dwelling on the “what now” question. I thought I would share some thoughts on where we are heading. I should also offer the disclaimer that I haven’t taken the time to look at a calender and map out the weeks and sermon topics, so this isn’t set in stone or anything. In the middle of The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:1-18) we spent a lot of time talking about giving, prayer, and fasting. We were talking about the tension of finding the right motive for doing those things, and the struggle of doing them while around other people. We did a lot of talking about how to do all these things in “secret,” and whether or not that meant in hiding, or if that was referring to our motivation.

As I look back on our time study this stuff I remember how the conversation was really strong and personal. I remember moments when I thought about wanting to talk about this more in depth. So here’s what I’ve got planned: I think we will take the next few months to talk about some expressions of our faith such as giving/tithing, fasting, baptism, prayer… . I’m open for suggestions for other things to study together. I’ve thought a bit about the format for working through these issues and I think we will spend two weeks on each one. The first week will be more of a “sermon” format. I’ll try to teach and give some foundation to the topic. The second week will be more conversational. I’d like offer questions during the first week to discuss during the second.

The two over-arching questions will be how does this fit into your life, and how does this fit into our corporate life? I think we have been starting to ask these questions, and I’m excited to have the time to discuss it with all of you. As always, I’d love some thoughts.

one Love

Where do we go from here?

For the past three months we have been working our way through Matthew 5-7, a chunk of the Bible referred to as the Sermon on the Mount.  Before studying the Sermon on the Mount we spent the season of Lent looking toward Easter.  Our time together preparing for Easter focused our discussion on the death and resurrection of Jesus.  During that time I was thinking and praying about what direction we should head in after the Easter season was over.  I really felt that God was nudging me to talk about what Jesus, himself, talked about.  Specifically, I felt God nudging us to look at the parables that Jesus used to teach.  I felt really confident in this direction and decided that we should really start at the beginning with the Sermon on the Mount.  On April 15 we started our discussion of this important text.  I’ve really enjoyed it.  Really.  I’m confident to say that I have read through these three chapters more in these past three month than I had in my whole life before April.  It’s strange how I can say that I follow Jesus, yet spend so little time with the words that he spoke.  I have found the time studying these verses to be a refreshing look at the manifesto that Jesus started his ministry off with.

I’m hoping to spend some time writing a reflective post about my impression of these chapters.  I would also like to commission a few people to do the same.  If I can get a few people to write about their thoughts, then I’ll post those up here, too.  I would really like this blog to have more than one voice.

Here’s the dilemma I find myself in now:

Do we continue to study the words of Jesus by looking into the parables?
I’ve thought about using a topical approach to look at common practices of our faith?
I’ve also been thinking through a much bigger series.  It has to do with the “missio dei,” the mission of God.

All of these options have their benefits and their own struggles.  This has been something that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, knowing that we would be coming to the end of the Sermon on the Mount.  So what do you think?  Do you have any thoughts?  I’d love to hear them.

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 15:5-6

A Benediction from April 22:

Therefore as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, because the kingdom is now available to you, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience toward those who don’t realize that the kingdom is theirs too.  Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against each other.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you.  And over all these virtues put on love, which is the light of the world.  This binds them all together in perfect unity.  If you aren’t loving each other, what good are you?

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.  And be thankful.  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in you hearts to God.  And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through hum.  In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

(mash-up of Colossians 3:12-17 and Matthew 5:13-17)

Thoughts on our time in prayer:

I believe in the power of prayer. I believe that GOD has commanded and taught us how to pray. I believe that we can learn how to pray by understanding the way that other people have prayed. I believe that GOD hears our prayers. With all that said, there is a lot of things that I don’t understand about prayer. I don’t understand how it actually “works.” My expectation of something “working” is for it to achieve the predetermined, desired outcome. For instance, when I started my car this morning I expected it to work. I expected the key to turn, the starter to turn, plugs to fire, engine to turn, and all the other things that I don’t really understand to happen. This morning my car worked. It started, is in good working order, and drivable. Prayer doesn’t “work” like this, though. My predetermined, desired outcome doesn’t seem to be a good gauge for whether or not prayer is “working.”

Last night six people gathered to pray. We pleaded for GOD to intervene into lives that desire changes. We prayed for good health to return to sick bodies. We prayed for restoration between a husband and wife. We prayed for a dating couple who is having trouble with “the whole long distance thing.” We prayed for patience during the adjustments that life brings us. We prayed for wisdom as we seek after GOD. We prayed for protection for some who are out of the country. We prayed.

While we were praying I was struck with the dualistic nature of prayer. Ultimately, I pray for GOD’s will to be done. As we were praying, I found myself meditating on this phrase: your hands. your will. your. good. your will be done. your kingdom come. Over and over again I repeated these words. Your hands. Your will. Your good. Your will be done. Your kingdom come. I prayed that GOD would show me where his hands were working, where his will is being done, and where praise is being returned to him. But while I’m praying for all of these things, I’m also praying for things that I believe are GOD’s will. I pray, also, that the things that burden my heart are the things that also burden GOD’s heart. That my actions reflect GOD’s desire for this world.

I don’t understand how prayer works, because my expectations for how it works is based on me. I want to know how prayer works from GOD’s expectation. Although, maybe how prayer works is meant to be a mystery. What do you think?

opening statements

For six weeks I’ve been a part of a house church.  Some of us call it “The Experiment.”  I like that name because that’s what it feels like to me.  For the past six weeks I’ve wanted to allow significant time to writing about our church.  If I tried to count the number of times that I sat, staring at a blank screen, hoping that words would form coherently in my mind, I might need to borrow a few hands.  I want to write; I want to have something to look back on a month, year, or decade from now.

I think that one of the reasons that I cant seem to put words to a page is because I get stuck trying to type out background information.   There is a things that have led us to this place.  There are always reasons.  Some good, some bad.  Trying to document them has offered me a hope that I might be able to remember the good without dwelling on the bad.

So, why are you here?  What’s your expectation?  My hope is to use this blog to write about some of the things that are going on with our church.  I’d like to have some guest writers.  I’ll use pseudo names for most people, unless they’ve offered their permission.  We’ll that’s a start, I guess.

 peace