Theology

Highlights from Funding the Missional Church

Attending a conference in Minneapolis entitled, “Funding the Missional Church”.  It’s been inspiring, challenging and very fun.  Great to meet so many people who are seeking to create unique, engaging communities of Christ followers.

Here’s a few highlights:

   
shawnabowman authority is not the issue, but how you use it. Keel#funding2012 -10:25 AM May 3rd, 2012

   
shawnabowman what if [meeting consumer needs] is not why we gather? Keel #funding2012 -10:21 AM May 3rd, 2012

   
rawlingswright “It’s not so much what we are doing, it’s how are we resourcing people to think differently about their lives” – Tim Keel#funding2012 -10:20 AM May 3rd, 2012

   
rawlingswright “the people who give the most are the least demanding” (generally). a lot of nodding in the room. interesting#funding2012 -10:13 AM May 3rd, 2012

   
nanettesawyer “the progressive surrender of everything we know of ourselves to everything we know of God.” Tim Keel #funding2012 -10:08 AM May 3rd, 2012

   
brie_marie Sad. “excommunication” because of loving people.#funding2012 -9:31 AM May 3rd, 2012

   
rawlingswright hearing about someone possibly losing her ordination for being loving and welcoming of all God’s children is heartbreaking. #funding2012 -9:27 AM May 3rd, 2012

   
seattlerev What are innovative stories of sustainable missional communities that we can share w/ each other? #funding2012 -7:22 PM May 2nd, 2012

   
ireverant @seattlerev I served a missional church that survived b/c of its thrift shop min. Now I’m working on a coffee house-funded min #funding2012 -1:03 AM May 3rd, 2012

   
trans4m “If u don’t have a history of getting people to do crazy stuff, then u probably shouldn’t b starting a church”@SarcasticLuther #funding2012 -4:57 PM May 2nd, 2012

   
carlgregg #Skunkworks: high degree of autonomy and unhampered by bureaucracy. #funding2012 -4:53 PM May 2nd, 2012

   
carlgregg #Skunkworks: small, loosely structured group who develop a project for sake of radical innovation. #funding2012 -4:53 PM May 2nd, 2012

   
shawnabowman Heads up #chipres this is what we need for church plants: skunkworks money: http://t.co/RCgUSfVl #funding2012 -4:53 PM May 2nd, 2012

   
nanettesawyer “skunkworks” money. Need to look that up.#funding2012 -4:52 PM May 2nd, 2012

   
bryberg @SarcasticLuther – Nadia Bolz-Weber: “I don’t care shit about what you’re imagining – I care about what you’re actually doing.” #Funding2012 -4:51 PM May 2nd, 2012

   
brie_marie @ChrisAgne some of us just ignore the rules…#funding2012 -4:46 PM May 2nd, 2012

   
ChrisAgne To be missional in a denomination, you have to renegotiate the rules. #funding2012 -4:44 PM May 2nd, 2012

   
FBCPaloAlto RT @nanettesawyer: “willing to go thru death and resurrection a lot” at House for All Sinners and Saints.#funding2012 -4:44 PM May 2nd, 2012

   
knightopia @scottrsimmons The big shift is God’s mission is bigger than the Church. The Church is j/privileged to participate.#missional #funding2012 -4:38 PM May 2nd, 2012

   
brie_marie Electronic bill pay only works if your audience has computers and the internet. Must know your audience.#funding2012 -3:06 PM May 2nd, 2012

   
carlgregg @P3T3RK3Y5 I got idea from St. Gregory of Nyssa in SF: “Dialogue completes the sermon.” #SermonTalkback #funding2012-3:06 PM May 2nd, 2012

   
carlgregg @P3T3RK3Y5 Every Sunday, we have ~15 minute sermon, 2 minutes silence, then 15 minute open dialogue. #funding2012 -3:02 PM May 2nd, 2012

   
jonestony RT @carlgregg: Don’t believe people who tell you they don’t need to be thankful. Seriously: THANK THEM. #funding2012 -2:50 PM May 2nd, 2012

That’s just a taste!  Great stuff.  We are wrapping up today and then on to the Church Planters Academy at Solomon’s Porch.

Master and Apprentice

“Always two there are, master and apprentice.” ~ Yoda

On Sunday at Watershed we looked at John 5:19-20 and saw it as a ‘parable of apprenticeship.’  (Wes Howard-Brook)

Jesus watching the Father to see how he acts, and to act likewise in the world.

watching, learning, doing

We noted that throughout history, fathers have taught their sons a particular trade.

NT Wright notes:

“This is becoming more rare today in the Western world, but there are still plenty of places where it is the normal and expected thing for sons to follow fathers into the family business.  And, particularly where the business involves working at a skilled trade with one’s hands, apprenticeship means literally being side by side, with the son watching every move that the father makes and learning to do it in exactly the same way.  That is how many traditional skills are handed down from generation to generation, sometimes over hundreds of years.”

Listen to John 5:19-20 in light of this:

Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.  For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.”

NT Wright notes that Jesus is explaining more fully how it is that Israel’s God is working in a new way, and how he, Jesus is watching carefully to see how it’s being done, so as to do it alongside the father and in keeping with his style and plan.

This is exactly what Jesus has said earlier in v.17:  “My father is always at his work to this very day, and I too, am working.”

In my reading this morning at the home of my new Minnesota couchsurfing friends (though I guess I’m the one who’s couchsurfing!), I came across Mark Scandrette’s Practicing the Way of Jesus.  (Apparently he’ll be at the conference later this week).

An appropriate book in light of what we studied together on Sunday.  Here’s a taste from the first chapter:

“In a holistically-oriented culture, skeptical people are less convinced by purely rational arguments about why Christianity is true, and more curious to see whether Christian belief and practice actually make a positive difference in the character of a person’s life.  Knowing the transformational promise of the gospel, it is fair to ask whether a person who claims to have a relationship with Jesus exhibits more peace and less stress, handles crisis with more grace, experiences less fear and anxiety, manifests more joy, is overcoming anger and their addictions or compulsions, enjoys more fulfilling relationships, exercises more compassion, lives more consciously or loves more boldly.  In any culture, but especially in one that yearns for holistic integration, the most compelling argument for the validity of the Christian faith is a community that practices the way of Jesus by seeking a life together in the kingdom of love (John 13:35).

And yet, a tremendous gap exists in our society between the way of radical love embodied and taught by Jesus and the reputation and experience of the average Christian.  We simply aren’t experiencing the kind of whole-person transformation that we instinctively long for (and that a watching world expects to see).

This suggests the need for a renewed understanding of the gospel and more effective approaches to discipleship.  Though our understanding of the gospel is becoming more holistic, our most prevalent formation practices don’t fully account for this.  We can be frustrated by this gap and become critics, or be inspired by a  larger vision of the kingdom and get creative.

I believe what is needed,   in this transitional era, are communities of experimentation — creative spaces where we have permission to ask questions and take risks together to practice the Way.”

If you haven’t read Scandrette’s book – pick up a copy, or borrow a friend’s.  Hoping to get a copy for the Watershed library!

Love to hear thoughts/reactions on what it means for us to be apprentices, disciples, to be those who live in the way of Jesus, and don’t just talk about it.

Pub Theology Topics April 19

A nice, low-key evening at the pub last night.  In the cask was the Aztec Gold, a porter with chocolate, cinnamon, vanilla, and chipotle…  a spicy delicious combination.

We had some good conversations on the topics below:

1.    If the church is to have a future it must:
___________________________________.

2.    Without proper structures life will never grow.  Faith, naturally intuitive, cannot grow without a proper use of logic (structure).  Where there are lapses of faith, there are broken structures of logic.  Faith stretches our logic, and logic should create a space to experience our faith.

3.    “I relax and enjoy life.  I know that whatever I need to know is revealed to me in the perfect time and space sequence.”

4.    This offends me: _________________________.

5.  Humanism or atheism is a wonderful philosophy of life as long as you are big, strong, and between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five. But watch out if you are in a lifeboat and there are others who are younger, bigger, or smarter.

The first topic was in light of Andrew Sullivan’s recent article in Newsweek about the crisis in Christianity.

What do you think?  Is the church in trouble?  What must it do going forward?

I have to say that I highly enjoyed a couple of response pieces:

Diana Butler Bass:  A Resurrected Christianity?

and

Scott Paeth:  The Power of the Powerless

Thanks to Tony Jones for pointing out those responses.  He has more on his blog:  Theoblogy:  What Crisis in Christianity?!?

STATION: Lectio

Sacred Reading

History

Lectio Divina is the Latin for ‘Holy Reading’ and was a form and approach to praying with Scripture that was common among medieval religious orders. The value of Lectio Divina was rediscovered in the twentieth century.

Essentially Lectio Divina involves taking a short passage of Scripture and pondering it. This can be done alone or in a group, and normally involves prolonged periods of silence.

 

Instructions

 

Choose a reader.  The reader will read the text through four times, slowly, with a time of silence between each reading.  Allow the words to wash over you.  Be present.  What is God saying to you right here and now?  Open yourself to His Words.

From the fourth chapter of the Gospel of John:

 

“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep.  Where can you get this living water?”

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.  Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water. . .”

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STATION: Groove

breaking out of ruts

Vinyl records are made by cutting grooves or ruts into the vinyl.  The record (at this point called a lacquer) is placed on the cutting machine where electronic signals from the master recording travel to a cutting head, which holds a stylus or needle.  The needle etches a groove into the record that spirals to the center of the circular disc.  The imprinted lacquer is then sent to a production company, where it is coated in metal, such as silver or nickel, to create a metal master.

Our lives also operate in grooves.  We operate a certain way, day after day after day.  Sometimes our grooves — our habits, our ways of being — create beautiful music.  Sometimes our grooves are more like ruts — they create sounds that are less inviting, even harsh.

Lent is a season in which we are invited to break out of the ruts we may have fallen into, by changing up our habits, and acknowledging that our lives, by God’s grace, do not have to fall into ruts that are etched in metal or stone.
We can be changed.

Invitation:
Grab a record, feel its edges, its grooves, its texture.  Imagine the music it creates.  Consider your own present practices:

— what are the grooves that create music?  How can you nourish them?
— what are the ruts that you would like to get out of?  Consider ways you can change your present practices.  What are new grooves you could create?  What space might open up if you change a current habit?

Records

Prayer:
God thank you for this life you given me.
I cherish the music you have allowed me to hear, as well as to create.
Forgive me for the ruts that increase the chaotic noise of the world.
Free me to live into grooves of grace that create beautiful music.
Music that sings of you.
In Christ, Amen.


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STATION: Table

take, eat, remember, believe

Thou Shepherd of Israel, and mine
Charles Wesley, 1757

Thou Shepherd of Israel, and mine,
The joy and desire of my heart,
For closer communion I pine,
I long to reside where thou art:
The pasture I languish to find
Where all, who their Shepherd obey,
Are fed, on thy bosom reclined,
And screened from the heat of the day.

Ah! show me that happiest place,
The place of thy people’s abode,
Where saints in an ecstasy gaze,
And hang on a crucified God;
Thy love for a sinner declare,
Thy passion and death on the tree:
My spirit to Calvary bear,
To suffer and triumph with thee.

‘Tis there, with the lambs of thy flock,
There only, I covet to rest,
To lie at the foot of the rock,
Or rise to be hid in thy breast;
‘Tis there I would always abide,
And never a moment depart,
Concealed in the cleft of thy side,
Eternally held in thy heart.

— — —

This is the body of Christ, broken for you.

This is the blood of Christ, shed for you.

Take and eat.



— 



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STATION: Vox

voices, together

Choose a reader to read the regular type, communal response in bold.

Brigid of Ireland
Brigid is believed to have been the daughter of a pagan Scottish king and a Christian Pictish slave.  Even as a child, she was known to have a generous spirit and a compassionate, tender heart and was drawn to help the poor, the hungry, and the cold.  Eventually Brigid’s father decided she must be married or taken into someone else’s household, because he could no longer afford to keep her (especially in light of her excessive giving to the poor, which he feared would be the ruin of him).  Brigid refused marriage and became a nun with seven other women.  At Kildare, she founded a double monastery for monks and nuns, assisted by a bishop.  The perpetual fire at the monastery became a symbol of its hospitality and constant, undying devotion to God and the poor.

O Lord, let my soul rise up to meet you
As the day rises to meet the sun.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever.  Amen.

Come, let us bow down and bend the knee: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.
We are happy to be your children, O Lord: make us happier still to extend the table.

 

Psalm 1:1-3

Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked:
nor lingered in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seats of the scornful!
Their delight is in the law of the LORD:
and they meditate on his law day and night.
They are like trees planted by streams of water, bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither:
everything they do shall prosper.

 

Reading

Brigid of Ireland said, “I would like the angels of Heaven to be among us.  I would like an abundance of peace.  I would like full vessels of charity.  I would like rich treasures of mercy.  I would like cheerfulness to preside over all.  I would like Jesus to be present.”

We are happy to be your children, O Lord: make us happier still to extend the table.
Prayer:

Lord, help us to welcome every guest as if we were welcoming you, delighting in their presence and ready to learn what good news they bring to us.  Amen.

Blessing:
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you:
wherever he may send you;
May he guide you through the wilderness:
protect you through the storm;
May he bring you home rejoicing:
at the wonders he has shown you;

May he bring you home rejoicing:
once again into our doors.


reading taken from Common Prayer: a Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals


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STATION: Tree

Bearing fruit


SCRIPTURE:

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
                                                                                          – Galatians 5:22-23

Look at the list of the fruit of the Spirit.
Take a few moments to consider each of these attributes.

Which one are you in need of this moment?

Cutting 'fruit'

Invitation:
Take a piece of paper and cut out a leaf (or a piece of fruit!).

Write the fruit of the Spirit on it that you are asking God to produce in you.

Say it aloud as you hang it on the tree.

Look at the tree and the fruit others have posted or will post.  Give thanks to God for these gifts of the Spirit.

Take a moment to bask in God’s presence.

On the tree

Prayer:

God, I long to know you more.
I worship you as Three in One – Father, Son, Spirit.


May my life take root deep in you, and may the leaves and fruit that grow bring shade, healing, and life to all.

 

In Christ, Amen.


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STATION: Fire

Light, heat, warmth


As you enter this space find a place to still yourself before the throne of God… whether standing, sitting, or kneeling.

Flames

Consider the candle flame, its warmth, its light.

Let this light illuminate your thoughts and this warmth draw out your burdens.  Perhaps you are in need of forgiveness or need to forgive.

Take as much time as needed.

Invitation:

When you feel led, write your prayer request or supplication, a name or a word that has meaning to you on a slip of paper, set it in the container —giving it to God.

Light

Then light a votive candle as an ikon of your prayer.

Prayer:

Dispel my illusions, Jesus, that I might see the wisdom of your way.


May your light guide me always and give me strength.

 

Amen.


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