Friday, November 09, 2007

grow:ing

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Lot of work on Grow (our new Sunday evening service) this week (For some history, see here). Here are two learnings:

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Posted by steve at 10:09 PM

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

copyright request

It is really nice when people ask. Really nice. I wonder if it’s actually part of the way I operate, that verbal recognition is important to me. Anyhow, so there are 2 email’s overnight from the US, asking to use some of my stuff. The first is from an Episcopalian Canon Missioner requesting to use some of my powerpoint images in their work. And the second from a seminary requesting a blog post I wrote back in 2004 on Trinity and Mission for an online course: “Contemporary Culture in Missiological Perspective”. The blog post was from 2004 and was titled: trinity and mission.

Which made me click back to the post. It’s so 2004, but (IMHO) it is still a bit of honey. Here’s the conclusion: Thus talk about church and mission needs to be grounded in our understandings of God as Trinity. A “missional church” is not new, but a recovering of very ancient understandings, in which we live, we create, we emerge, as an outflow of the shared love of God. We seek to express fluid, whole-bodied, dynamic love. We honour the unity with other expressions of church, we applaud diversity, we celebrate uniquely grounded differences.

For full post go here. (Another “dusty” post includes Trinity as children’s talk using Rublev’s icon).

Posted by steve at 08:33 AM

Monday, November 05, 2007

parihaka day

Today is November 5. Many Kiwi’s will be letting off gunpowder in celebration of Guy Fawkes Day.

The Taylor family will be remembering Parikaha Day, the deeds of November 5, 1881, when New Zealand soldiers invaded the village of Parihaka, in Taranaki, and were met by peaceful non-violent resistance. The village was destroyed, women raped and leaders imprisoned, in stark contrast to the ethos of Parihaka, which sought to live in harmony with land and humanity.

There’s an open invite for church folk to join us, bringing a dessert. (I preached on it a few Sunday’s ago, because it seemed to me that Parihaka was an exampe of the call of the prophet Micah to love mercy, seek justice and walk humbly before God). We will show an excerpt from the TV program The New Zealand Wars, read the history of Parihaka Day, light candles in memory of those who suffered and accept a feather of peace as a commitment to follow the One who said “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

I wonder what would happen in New Zealand if the entire Christian population boycotted Guy Fawkes Day and instead remembered Parihaka Day? Would that be a counter-cultural act that might stand against the whiff of Guy Fawkes gunpowder and elevate the importance of peaceful non-violence?

Updated:
Here is the relevant bit of the sermon I preached, download. And here is the worship aftermath, candles lit in memory of Parihaka.

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Posted by steve at 04:23 PM

Sunday, November 04, 2007

digestion is dead

I killed our evening service tonight. It has been struggling all year, lacking focus, leadership and genuine engagement. Unless a seed falls into the ground and dies. So as the service ended I gave out handmade packets of seeds: titled “new beginnings”, with some information inserted. The soundtrack was “Seeds” from the new Salmonella Dub album with the lyric “Feel the season change.” Each handmade seed packet had a seed inside.

We had a group of teenagers being silly at the front. One of them, trying to be THE smartist, simply ate his seed. I hope his guts are OK tonite.

Next week we start Grow. Here is the blurb:
We learn in different ways. Some by watching, others by reading, more by hearing, less by writing. Grow aims to feed the whole person: mouths and minds, hands and hearts, eyes and ears.

In other words, the Grow menu includes
light food
café style
live interviews
video clips
top 10
visual histories
biblical wisdom
doing
music, live and looped

And changes every 3 weeks. Grow thru gardening: Nov 11, 18, 25. Grow in Christmas cheer: Dec 9, 16, 23.

7-8:10 pm, Sundays

So it’s a whole new season, with a whole new service to play with. Songs and sermon are gone. What will grow? What will be required to nurture the growth? Do I have the space to give this the time it needs and build the team it deserves? Watch this space.

Posted by steve at 09:03 PM

Saturday, November 03, 2007

atonement movie

Atonement = at-one-ment, the theological claim that in Christ, past and present and future are redeemed.

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Atonement the movie is must see. Well acted, superb soundtrack, with wonderful moments of cimenatic beauty, and a intelligently complex plot. Theologically, the plot explores the complex realities of at-one-ment. Take the scene in which the adult Briony comforts the dying Frenchman. The red curtain against the white hospital ward is both artistic and theological profound.

Can you unravel the pain of the past?

Save this film for a Lenten movie series, alongside Lion, Witch, Wardrobe and Matrix. But you would want six movies for the six weeks of Lent. So what would be your other three movies?

Posted by steve at 10:58 PM