Tuesday, June 16, 2009

swappping theology books for kids games

So I met with my spiritual director today. We meet monthly and I am so grateful for the way this helps me focus on what God is doing in my life. Generally the two of us muddle around for a while and them boom: he asks a great question that opens up some excellent insights.

During the month I have been reflecting on the spirituality of winter. While running, I have been struck by the beauty of bare branches, which has caused me to be grateful for the gift of clarity, those moments of being truly seen and truly known. A dimension of my leadership role is to clarify, to help my community see itself truly. Equally, I crave that for myself, the ability to see myself truly and to grow out of that honesty.

Then the boom question: since leaves help feed a tree, and since winter is about losing what feeds you, I wonder what you should be losing that feeds you?

Which really got me thinking – about what does feed me, and what it might mean to lose that for a season. We talked about how this could include perhaps a change of diet, or some form of fasting.

The upshot: for winter, I’m going to read less theology books and spend more time playing games with my kids.

I discussed this with them tonight over dinner. At first they were concerned, because they thought that I got my sermons from my theology books. But when I pointed out that I can also get sermons from interacting with my kids (and often do), they decided they REALLY liked my spiritual director. Rummy-O Tin and Sequence Game, for the winter, here we come!

Posted by steve at 07:23 PM

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Bill, Ben and their goat called raisins: Mark 2:1-12 storytelling sermon

Here is a storytelling in relation to Mark 2:1-12. (And in relation to the question I asked on Friday, about what is sin to a nine year old). The service today included a focus on a ministry reaching boys in the community. Which got me thinking about what it means for men to be followers of Jesus and how friendship and innovation (what we Kiwis call no.8 wire) might be important to how men express their faith.

Then reading Mark 2:1-12, verse 5 stood out: “Son, your sins are forgiven.” It got me thinking about being a “boy” in this story and having faith honoured by God. I’d also been reminded during the week of the Message translation of Romans 8:15-16: Christian life as adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?”. Add to that a pastoral conversation with a new community mum, so scared that church folk might glare at her baby when it makes a noise. Other background resources included this description of Capernaum, typical first century housing and what boys in Jesus day might play.

From that emerged Bill and Ben and their goat called raisins, who get to see God, with straw in his hair, mud in eye, grin on face, talking, back and forth as best mates! I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed putting it together – it was quite some fun. Big hat tip to my blogging commenters, and my two Aussie storytelling friends, who offered critical comment as the thing took shape over the last few days.

Bill and Ben were probably too similar in name. And being in a sermon slot, I might have got a bit preachy at the end explaining a few textual issues. But success was the 10 year old community kid in the front row who kept getting drawn back in, the young dad who went home wanting to have his own crack at writing a Bible story and the number of men who gathered around to reflect, in essence, on being male and being Christian.

(more…)

Posted by steve at 05:00 PM

Friday, June 12, 2009

art, theology and worship: Pentecost 09

An www.friend emailed me this link, a video explanation by an artist of a recent large scale Pentecost art installation.

I find it fascinating as follows:
1. The way it weaves art into church practice, particularly in preaching, including the art installation explained, the use of interactivity, the role of imaginative storytelling. Great work.

2. As an example of using art in large scale gatherings (a conference of hundreds of people). i love the way that this is participative and interactive, ie people given colour cards and invited to sit on seats, because most art comes complete with a sign “please don’t touch”, and thus reduces art to eyes only, rather than a five sensory experience. Having said that, I’d like to see more mess. Sitting on a chair is pretty sterile. I’d like to see people invited to paint prayers of thanks on the chairs of the “other”, to place their palm print on chairs as signs of “Spirit-led” discipleship. Stuff that allows much more messy engagement!

3. The way that art still needs to consider Biblical accuracy. One of the premises of the art piece is that in Acts 2, the people in Jerusalem were other ie different and that difference was in the fact they were enemies. That’s not how I read the presence of Parthians, Medes, Elamites in Acts 2:9. Since it was a major Jewish festival, they were most likely God-fearing pilgrims. They had travelled hundreds of miles to be present at this major feast. So they were other, different in terms of ethnicity and language, rather than enemies. So the art explanation is certainly right in it’s basic premise, the need to make space to hear God through people different than us, but it could have got there simply on the basis of language and culture.

Posted by steve at 06:07 PM

what is sin to a 9 year old boy?

Updated: the finished product ended up here.

I’m working on Sunday’s sermon. As part of the morning service, we welcome one of our community ministries, to 8-12 year old community kids. Since we’re working our way through the early chapters of the gospel of Mark, the story of Jesus forgiving and healing the paralyzed man stands out as quite appropriate.

I mean, this guy had good mates, who stuck with him even when he got sick. This guy also had problem solving mates, willing to whip the lid of a roof. And I’ve started writing a story. I’ve not done storytelling as a sermon for a while. And it seems a good way to access this Bible text through the eyes of a 9 year old.

Currently I’ve got Bill and Ben and their goat called raisins. How they argue, as boys do, and fight as boys do, about the boring old synagogue and what God actualy, really looks like. How Ben got sick and Bill’s a good mate who sticks beside in. Until the day of the big adventure, when Bill and Ben suddenly realise they’ve suddenly discovered what God actually does look like – straw in hair and mud in mouth.

What I need to know is this – given Mark 2:5, when Jesus says “Son, your sins are forgiven” – what is sin to a 9 year old boy?

Posted by steve at 01:40 PM

Thursday, June 11, 2009

membership: arcane ritual?

I sat with a group of people new to Opawa last night, talking about membership. For me, part of a commitment to being a welcoming and hospitable place is taking time is explaining things – from as simple as introducing myself when I welcome people to worship, through to the ins and outs of membership or baptism or growing in discipleship or how to read the Bible.

As a (baptist) church we have concept called membership. I like membership for a number of reasons.

First, one of my mentors had a saying: “loose at the edges, committed at the core.” Membership is one way of offering a committed core. It is humbling and exciting to read a members pledge and realise I’m part of a group of people who’ve said yes to mission, growth, prayer, Kingdom commitment. There’s a strength and cohesion to who we are, and a promise of what we can be.

Second, it provides a language by which community can grow together. When a member acts badly, we can point to the pledge and talk about the action in light of the pledge and an already shared understanding of behaviour.

Thirdly, at times, church decisions involve important and significant decisions (including employment and buildings). Membership provides a clear mechanism for saying who can, and can’t make those decisions.

Fourthly, gathering members for a well-run meeting is an excellent way of creating processes, building vision and cohesiveness.

What I don’t like about membership is that it is so often framed as only two options: in or out. So to use the notion of “loose at the edges, committed at the core,” I’d like to find language or metaphors by which people could place themselves on a continuum rather than in or out. I’ve yet to find that, but if anyone’s done any thinking or experimenting in this area, I’d love to hear.

I’ve thought about the concept of “stakeholders”, which is a much better name, but again, I have struggled to see how stakeholders can be on a continuum from loose to committed.

In the meantime, it was great way to spend an evening, sitting with people willing to even think about a countercultural way of being; in mission and growth and community and resource sharing.

Posted by steve at 10:18 PM

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

is it worth it? will I be pushing it just a bit to far?

So the U2 conference I was due to give a paper at in May got postponed. It’s now on again, October 2-4, in Durham, USA.

That’s a bad time for me, stuck between a teaching commitment and a family engagement. Both have been graciously flexible, but here’s my decision …

Do I want to teach for 4 days straight in Adelaide, Australia,
jump on a plane to fly for 20 hours,
to arrive on the opening day of the u2 conference (Friday)?
with U2 actually playing the next day (Saturday)
and me then doing my paper (Sunday)

to then turn around and fly back to New Zealand

I’m not getting any younger and it’s a lot of air miles, a lot of jetlag, for a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Posted by steve at 03:41 PM

forming disciples

We don’t think ourselves into new ways of behaving
We behave ourselves into new ways of thinking.

(My summary of the end of a chapter in Andy Crouch’s (fantastically well written), Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling, in which he argues that to we need to focus not on culture, but cultures; not on big picture but everyday cultural practices.)

Is this statement true and accurate? If so, what does it mean for the way church’s disciple people – for the sermon, the discipleship group, the way we form our youth and children?


Posted by steve at 01:19 PM

Sunday, June 07, 2009

making your theological enemy a birthday cake

The lectionary reading was 1 Corinthians 6:1-11. I groan inside. Lawsuits among Christians. Why drop that onto a congregation in New Zealand in 2009.

But verse 6 is surely a stand out. “Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?”

So here is Paul talking to a group of Christians. Some are lawyering up. They’ve been wronged. They’ve got rights.

To which Paul response seems to be: surprise them. Let yourself be wronged. Let yourself be cheated. Lose an argument. Give up that carpark. Bake your theological enemy a cake. Smile at migrants. Go on. Make someone’s week by losing a right.

I wonder what would happen if the church in New Zealand took that seriously?

Posted by steve at 10:32 PM

Saturday, June 06, 2009

the lost (Asian and African) history of Christianity part 1

(This is part 1, part 2 is here).

Reading The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia–and How It Died has just been fascinating.

The book describes a vital and energetic first 1000 year period in Christianity, a period during which the Middle East, Asia and Africa where much more dominant than Europe. In so doing, it provides some contemporary myth-busters.

Myth one – Christianity is a Western religion. Take the city of Merv, located in what is now Turkmenistan. During the 12th century it was one of the largest cities on the planet. From the year 420, the town had a bishop, from the year 500 a seminary with a significant intellectual output including access to Aristotle (This was some 600 years before universities began to emerge in Europe).

Or take the fact that in 1287, a Christian bishop, in ethnicity from near Beijing, was sent by Kublai Khan to the Christian Europe. He turned at to meet the Pope, who was amazed at his “orthodox” faith.

Myth two – The Catholic (Western) church supressed various Gospels (of Thomas, Judas etc). Why then do church leaders throughout Asia and Africa show familiarity with these alleged supressed “gospels”, yet still reject them because they knew they were “late and tenditious.” (88)

Myth three – Christianity suffers when the other faiths emerge. Quite the opposite, “Christians needed to maintain their highest intellectual standards because of the constant competition they faced from other faiths.” (46)

Myth four – The church needs good leaders to grow. Not so, for “Syriac Christian writers used the word merchant as a metaphor for those who spread the gospel. One hymn urged:
“Travel well girt like merchants,
That we may gain the world.
Convert men to me,
Fill creation with teaching.” (63-64).

Myth five – Christianity and Islam are enemies. Actually, peaceful co-existence between Muslims and Christians occurred for nearly 500 years throughout the Middle East. While Muhammad received his first revelations in 610, it was not until the 14th century that sustained persecution led to a decisive collapse of Christianity through the Middle East, Asia and much of Africa. The Middle East even 100 years ago was a place of religious diversity: “an area in which Christians remained a familiar part of the social and cultural landscape.” (140-1).

Jenkins writes lucidly, pulling a huge amount of reading into clear, lucid prose. Only read this book if you’re willing to have your prejudices -that Christianity kills cultures and the Crusades are the only way the church has treated Muslims – challenged by careful historical study.


Posted by steve at 06:15 PM

Friday, June 05, 2009

really looking forward to this pentecost/al experience

Flaxing Eloquent

An installational exploration of Pentecost
curated by Pete & Joyce Majendie to provide a hands-on, multi-sensory experience. The use of handmade flax paper and flax plants creates a New Zealand setting in which to explore Pentecost today.

A trinitarian smorgasbord
A close encounter of the spiritual kind
Intentional chaos
Facilitated worship

Sat 6th June, 8pm, Opawa Baptist Church, Cnr Wilsons Rd & Hastings St E

Posted by steve at 01:30 PM

Thursday, June 04, 2009

am I emerging/ent and why Rock Harbour is right and wrong?

Just been listening to some church (called Rock Harbour) reflect on the question of why they are, or are not emerging/ent? (hat tip Andrew Jones). There’s a position paper, plus a long video (I watched the first 70 minutes) here. I have not met these folk. But since I often get pinged by the question – are you, Steve Taylor, emerging/ent, it was fascinating to watch someone else search for a response. What resources do they use? Does their reasoning make sense?

Here are some thoughts as I listened:
1. I like the way they set up a framework, which they suggested gave them freedom to quote from people they disagree with. They pointed to how Paul and Jude quoted their opponents, and thus, by abstraction, we can quote from people without agreeing with all of their theology. This makes sense and I liked the way that Rock Harbour then used that to encourage people to think and test for themselves.

2. They show little awareness of the processes of interpretation. They make a strong point of talking about “the Bible” and how they were Biblical. But they showed no awareness of the fact that everyone person reads “the Bible” from within culture and through their existing frameworks. There is no such thing as “pure Bible reading.” I would suggest Rock Harbour need to work harder on making the process of interpretation clearer. It is not Bible <---> individual believer, because interpretation also includes the Spirit (who is sent to point to truth) and the community, to whom the Bible was given.

3. They make a big deal of the four gospels being different, which they then use as examples of contextualisation. By implication this frees them to contextualise. Well yes. But they then make the statement that the Gospel writers, while contextualising, are committed to an unchanging core. At this point my logic detector goes off. Where, I want to know, is this unchanging core? If this is not in the four gospels, where is it? If it is a synthesis of the gospel eg into propositions or a doctrinal statement, then who has done this synthesising, because surely this is a human interpretation of the core? And at that point the Rock Harbour approach to contextualisation becomes wobbly IMHO, simply because they are trying to present an undefined, inner, “core” as somehow divinely ordained.

4. They make a big deal of Acts being about contextualisation (which it is), but duck – majorly – the power and weight of Acts 15. Acts 15 is crucial, because Acts 15 suggests that contextualisation, correctly practised is NOT about doctrinal purity (the unchanging core), but about the praxis of caring of the poor and the ethics of food sacrifice. In other words, don’t use Acts to defend your doctrinal purity, but to consider how faith is lived.

5. They spend a long time on why they will keep spiritual formation. (It needed a good edit.) Surely it would have been simpler to apply their notion in (1) – that they are simply taking the best bits from the Christian tradition.

6. Their notion that “It is finished” is a salvific statement surprised me. I interpret “It is finished” as Jesus dying. If “It is finished” it is salvific, then what is place of resurrection and the Spirit in their theology? In other words, salvation is not just the death of Jesus, it’s also the life, death and resurrection.

So, after having been reflective on another group, how would I answer the question? are you, Steve Taylor, emerging/ent?

My answer is this
1. In Acts 2, the Spirit comes and one of the signs of the Spirit is that people heard in their own language.
2. That work continues today, as the Spirit continues to desire that people hear God in their own language. That for me, is how I see the term emerging/ent church.
3. Yes, this work of Spirit will require discernment, the ability to recognise what is working toward God and what is working away from God. We’re not the first people to face such questions and for that we have the Scriptures and the community of God and the knowledge gained throughout history.
4. This conversation between Spirit, church, Bible, with the knowledge gained through history, must generate debate. That debate is part of the reason there’s a lot written about emerging/ent church. Like all debates, there’s both heat and light, so books and websites need to approached with brains on. All that is heat is not light and vice versa.
5. God wants to make Godself known and this is an essential part of the work of God’s Spirit. This Spirit is one of love, not of fear, and so as we talk together, we need to seek relationships that give and receive love, (modelled in the way and walk of Jesus).

Posted by steve at 04:02 PM

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

cleansing rituals

A few details changed, to preserve anonymity

She phoned the church, a stranger, a local, asking for a house blessing. So I popped around, with my Bible and my usual house blessing service. “What’s been happening?” I ask.

“We’ve moved recently. The ashes (of my dead relatives) aren’t happy. My partner and I are fighting heaps and we’ve been burgaled. Twice. Still got the footprints. Come and see.”

We head into the house. Sprawled on the couch are two teenagers. Seeing us, they straighten and pull the hoodie down low.

Suddenly the words of my usual house blessing service seem inappropriate. Time to jettison the words and use the symbols.

I light a candle: “This is a source of light. In the Bible, God is the light of the world. Light drives out darkness. So we are going to ask God’s light to be present and drive out darkness.”

I ask for a bowl of water: “This is a symbol of cleansing. It’s where we wash and get clean. Lets start by getting clean. One, by one, lets wash our hands. Silently, lets say sorry for how we’ve acted in this place, the fights we’ve caused.”

And so, one by one, we stoop to the Bible, using the water as a vessel by which sins might be confess. In the flicker of candle and the splashing of water, it’s starting to feel like holy ground.

Which room shall we start with, I ask? And with bowl in hand, we move from room to room. “What needs to happen here,” we ask each other. At each room, hands are dipped in the bowl and water is sprinkled. And the words and the water, together become prayers for this house, of hope and of confession.

It’s starting to feel like our holy ground, not just my holy ground. The teenagers follow. Watching.

We head outside. The ashes are causing problems. “They’re not happy with how much we’re fighting.”

Fascinating. At this point, the ashes are actually pointing to what might be called “sin”. I have no way to process this theologically. Can ashes talk? How do they talk? But I don’t think that a theological discussion is what’s needed.

We talk to God about what the ashes are saying: “But we’re glad God, that these ashes are reminding us of how to behave. And we want to listen, to start doing right. That’s why we washed our hands.” Again, I’m not sure of the theology, but I’m trusting the Spirit for the words.

And finally the teenagers speak. The cars, they nod. Outside on the street.

There’s lots of talk in my city about boy racers and how bad they are. Its easy to create a category called “boy racers” and place all of fears about the future of our children. Yet here I am, being asked to “do” something to the car of a boy racer.

And so we walk into the street. We ask for safety and wise decisions. The teenagers grin. And nod. It’s still feeling like our holy ground. I’m not sure whether they’ll remember on Friday night. Does it matter? Surely prayer is to God, not to these racers?

The boys stay with their car and I return inside. I’m alone with the woman and together we look at the candle.

I tell her that I’m about to blow out the candle. When I do, the candle light will go out. But God’s light need not go out in this house. God’s light can live in our hearts. Yes sure, we can blow that light in our hearts out. But simply say sorry, and invite the light back, and it always will.

She nods. And grins. Now this really is holy ground. We’ve named God in this house. The gospel has been enacted – the water of confession as the grace of cleansing. We’ve confessed sin and together we’ve talked to God – with words and actions.

I’m looking forward to returning in a few weeks, grabbing a cup of tea, talking more with this family, about what it means to walk in the light and wash in forgiveness. Such is the power of symbols, that connect human participation with the Biblical story.

Posted by steve at 03:15 PM

Monday, June 01, 2009

slap: book review of Christos Tsiolkas

With a holiday weekend forecast for showers and sleet, it was off to Borders for some fireside reading. The Slap by Australian writer Christos Tsiolkas caught my eye and less than 24 hours later, the last (of 483) page has turned.

Great read. A beautifully constructed portrayal of contemporary (Australian) family life. Writing first person, and thus stepping inside the skin of another is an art, yet Tsiolkas handles a wide range of characters – male and female, married and single, gay and straight – with ease.

The book begins with a family barbeque and a man slapping an errant child. The moment becomes a faultline for exploring what it means to human today – to raise children, to age, to migrate, to believe.

Centred on the suburb of Preston (streets I’ve walked with good friends) it deftly captures the pluralism and multi-cultural tensions of contemporary Australia – the racism of Australian pubs, the monosyllabic, yet internet-connected existence of teenagers, the laugh out loud descriptions of the suburbs:

“It was a tacky pokies pub in the middle of nowhere, boganville. Every street looked the same, every house looked the same, everybody looked the same. It was where you came to die. Zombies lived here. He could hear them monotonously tapping away at the machines.”

A book like this should be compulsory reading for all those doing ministry today, a thoroughly enjoyable and absorbing snapshot of the tensions of contemporary living, of love that endures, of the hope found in friendship.

(Winner of 2009 Commonwealth Writers Prize).

Posted by steve at 12:35 PM