e~mergent kiwi

hugging the lampost

i am in one of the busiest pieces of time i can remember. one thing after the other. not super stressed, but constant. trying to juggle, trying to remain centred. i have heaps to process. heaps to talk about. and normally the blog is a space to do this.

but not today. i don't seem to have the space to do that. i trust you understand. any spare time i am trying to spend walking with my two year. yesterday she gave me a purple flower, hugged a lamp-post and raced me to the corner.

first sunday in advent

Two years ago, I learnt to walk again. I used to walk from A to B. Fast. That was the Steve Taylor walk.

Kayli, who was two at the time, taught me to walk again. For a two year old, a walk around the block is never getting from A to B, fast.

For a 2 year old, a walk around the block
is to walk at a new pace
to balance along a block wall
to jump off the block wall to investigate a snail
to backtrack to chase a leaf
to pause because her legs are sore
to sprint for the corner yelling "race yah"
walking with a two year old is learning to walk at a new pace.

To walk with a 2 year old around the block
is learning to listen to the detail
to ask, Dad can I walk along the wall?
to ask, Dad how did the snail die?
to ask, Dad can you carry this leaf home for me, and this flower, and this stick?
learning to listen to the detail.

Two years ago, my 2 year old taught me to walk again. This Advent, we face the choice, to walk from here to Christmas fast, or to learn to walk again, with a new pace, and listening for the Christmas detail.

please read the white space

The most fundamental fact of human existence is that because people are embodied they are always 'somewhere.' Philip Sheldrake

I reckon that the internet rips away our margins and our contexts. All we see is text or image on a page. We forget the white space, that words and images emerge from somewhere. When those words are somewhere else, they are best understood from somewhere else rather than from your screen. Tricky aye.

We slam people, we get angry, we expect all the world to be like us. It ain't. Sorry.

This is not a bad thing though. This offers us the gift of 'somewhere', the chance to move beyond our place to another place.

Next time you want to flame someone, practise the discipline of white space. Read the words again from somewhere else.

access

did any of you have trouble accessing my blog yesterday? i couldn't (so couldn't post), but thought it was problems with my computer. then a friend said emails to me were bouncing ...

worship treat

I was quite pleased with this.

It took about 20 minutes to make;
Two boxes;
Seal a red light in the top box.
Cut a cross in the top of the bottom box.
And so the red light shines through the cross and falls on the communion elements.
As you reach in for communion, the light of the cross falls on you.
The idea was sparked by thinking about Moses and the burning bush. The fascinating thing is that the bush is not burnt. So the text carries that sense of God + nature rather than God denying nature.

God does not burn us up, but in love and warmth reveals who we really are. So as you reach for communion, let the love and warmth of God reveal who you really are.

resourcing spirituality this christmas

The Overview: Christmas is a hectic season and each year we are faced with the challenge, the opportunity, the question - how to wait, how to prepare spiritually, amid the end of year rush? The Advent Journal is an attempt to encourage personal preparation for Christmas.

The concept:

The concept: Advent is a time of waiting. Four weeks, four Sundays leading up to Christmas. Advent offers us the chance to prepare ourselves to greet the Christmas child. It invites us to be alert to the signs of the times in nature, in Scripture, in newspaper, in our families, to greet the Christ wherever he appears. This alertness, this hope, should be shared. My hope is that the journal encourages a shared personal preparation.

How to proceed?
1. Once you have received the journal, you have 3 days to spend with it.
2. During those three days, put whatever you like in the journal - thoughts, ideas, drawings, photos, recipes, reflections - anything that captures how you are preparing for Christmas and where you are seeing the Christ. Be creative. Write in your own language.
3. After three days, please pass it on to someone else in the church.
4. If you have an Advent Journal on a Sunday, bring it to church to lay on the Advent table.

Who gets a journal? I have prepared 8 journals, including an initial image and text. Each journal is numbered and is different. These will be released into the church community for the first week of Advent. After the initial release, who knows where the journals will go. This is the point of Advent; we wait, we wonder, we watch.

How is it shared? Each Sunday the journals will be brought to church and laid on the "Advent table." Others in the community can browse, and be inspired in their Advent preparation. We hope to be able to scan journal pages and use them in worship and on the Opawa website. So please be aware that by participating in this project, your work will be shared with others.

three baptisms on Sunday

on the road again

I am flying up to Auckland for 2 days, to speak twice at a youth leaders conference: on
global youth culture, identity and implications for the church

and once at a theological educators conference:
applying the notion of midwiving to theological field education.

I feel quite unprepared, so if you are ironing ....

Update: feel free at any time to read my blog carefully, in other entries in regard to prayer I have been known to say "I'll take my share of prayer..."

networking

The local school has a new principal, so we invited him down for morning tea today, to welcome him to the area. It was neat to have him sit with the rest of the staff, to talk about his transition and about the needs he sees in the community.

It went so well, that I am thinking of doing this regularly with local community leaders.

everyday spirituality of ironing

One of the neat things about ironing,
is the chance to pray for those who wear the clothes,
in a whole range of life and work situations.

why are ministers important

OK. So the guest preacher gets up to speak. Good friend, so no bagging him.

He challenges the church to pray for me every day. "Steve would not ask you to do this, but I want you think about praying for him every day."

He's damn right Steve would never ask that. Why me? What about the person next to me, who cleans tables. Why not pray for him every day? Why is the church, the minister, more important than anyone else.

I'll take my share of prayer, but surely this is just a pedestalising that denies the importance of the Kingdom, of life spent in Incarnational mission in the world God loves.

with a passion for community and discipleship

"Congratulations on just appointing a great, great pastor."

Opawa unanimously, yes unanimously, voted to call Jason King to join the team and focus on developing people.

endings and beginnings

it is finished. the end of semester. the end of my first year of lecturing at Bible College of New Zealand. no need for preparation until February 23. it's been a hell semester, way overloaded. my desk is a mess, my brain is fried and my notes lie in messy piles.

time to repile.

time to speak, three times in Auckland next week.

time to write; an article on place and theology (the foreshore and seabed issue), on globalisation and alternative worship, on contemporary mission images. and if i go well,

time to work up a second book proposal.

media times they are a changing

Waiting for a take-away coffee today, I picked up a copy of a free magazine called the cityscape. The cover article concluded "For the full story, see" and pointed to the magazine url.

Normally print based media are very slow to adapt to internet technologies. Web use is the poor cousin. Articles are limited, wait listed or non-existent.

It's the first time I've seen print media used to point to web media. Watch out magazines, the times they are a changing.

sheep and worship

Sometimes worship experiences just click. I preached on kingdom KPI's today, a process I have been spinning about over the last few days.

As people came in the door, they each got a plastic sheep, about 1 cm. (thanx to Renee for the spark of the idea). Small enough to lose.

I spoke about the lost sheep and at the end of the sermon I invited them to name their sheep .... I mean, to name a sheep. Full sermon here if you can be bothered (of if Kingdom KPI's in postmodernity are bothering you)

I was up in Auckland during this week.

On Wednesday the New Zealand Herald had an article titled "Working for The Boss." Capital T for The. Capital B for Boss.

And the article, part of the employment section, interviewed three church ministers about their job and how you train, and what skills you need to be working for The Boss. Capital T. Capital B.

The introduction went like this ….
"Some bosses are bliss. While others can be challenging.
But what’s it like working for the ultimate boss … what is working for God like? Are there key performance indicators?"

And at that point I paused my newspaper reading.
I was intrigued. Does God have KPI's … key performance indicators?

KPI's are a business term … measuring your sales, and your turnover and your share price etc.

Does God have KPI's (key performance indicators) for us? If so, what are they?

This weekend has been Baptist Assembly. Lynne’s job title is "Researcher" for the Baptist Union. It's a job she did in Auckland for 7 years, and a job she's been able to bring with her to Christchurch. Part of Lynne’s job is to research the Baptist church's statistics.

And so in August every year, Lynne sends every Baptist Church a 9 page form.
9 pages with questions about worship attendance, giving, membership, baptisms, etc.

Lynne enters the data and then at Assembly, gives all the participants one of these.

240 9 page forms, summarized into one of these.

The summary lists all the Baptist churches. And outlines their service attendance, baptisms, membership. And calculates the percentage changes with the year before.

Opawa looks good. 10% increase in worship service attendance this year, 9% increase in membership. First time in 5 years the church has had positive percentages.

So are these God's KPI's?
Is working for God about our church attendance
and about our offering figures
and about our membership?

Read Matthew 18:12-14

The same story appears in Luke 15:4-7.

God's key performance indicators.

The first KPI is to be looking for the lost one.

99 sheep. So someone's taken the time to count. Statistics are important. Taking the time to count can be a sign of love, a way of showing you care.

98 .... 99 .... And one is missing.
I’ve got 99 here. I've got 99 making noises, being sheep, bleating and baaing.
99 who need feeding. 99 who need protecting.

What do you do?
Well, in God's Kingdom KPI, you leave the 99 to go looking for the lost one.

So this is God's Kingdom KPI.
Not the 99, not the worship attendance inside the church, but the time invested in looking for the lost. Not the size of membership, but their energy, passion, vision and the commitment to go looking for the lost one.

That's the first Kingdom KPI. But it's worth looking a bit more closely. You see, the lost sheep stories in Matthew and Luke have different beginnings and different endings.

In Luke, the lost sheep chapter starts with Jesus among sinners (15:1-2). And it ends with the shepherd throwing a party for lost sheep, celebrating the one sinner rather than the 99 good sheep. So in Luke, the lost are sinners and repentance is being found by the good shepherd.

It's a lovely image. God finding us.

In Mathew, the lost sheep chapter starts with Jesus holding a little child and the surrounding stories are about people struggling with their faith, struggling, tempted to sin (18:6-9). And the Matthew lost sheep story ends with the Father who "doesn’t want any of these little ones to be lost" (18: 13).

So in Matthew, the lost sheep are struggling Christians, former Christians, tempted Christians. And once again that lovely image, of repentance as God finding us.

So looking for the lost in Luke is looking for sinners, and looking the lost in Matthew is looking for struggling, tempted, former Christians.

Hold that thought and open with me a mission report produced this year by the Anglican church in the UK. Called the Mission-shaped Church, it divided people into 5 groups.

Regulars - people in church - about 10% of the population.
Fringe - people on the fringe of church - about 10%.
Open de-churched - people who’ve been to church and are open to come back - they might have moved cities and haven’t yet got round to finding a new church - about 20%.
Closed de-churched - people who’ve left church damaged and disillusioned. - felt rejected, hurt by a fight, can’t stand the new minister, felt manipulating, sick of hypocrisy, nagging questions about faith, sexuality, other religions -questions that won't go away. Closed de-church - again about 20%.

10% regular, 10% fringe, 20% open, 20% closed.

And the non-churched - about 40%. People with little understanding of Christianity. Could be spiritual, could be seeking, but church just ain't on their radar.

And the report concluded that most church evangelism is among the 10% fringe and the 20% open.

And it asked the question: what of mission to the 20% who are closed and the 40% who are non-churched.

Now, take these five groups – regular, fringe, open, closed and non-churched – and lay them alongside the looking for the lost Kingdom KPI's.

And in Luke we see a looking for the lost sinner.
Or perhaps in the categories I've just used; looking for the non-churched.

And in Matthew we see a looking for the struggling Christian who has left the 99. Or perhaps in the categories I've just used; looking for the closed de-churched, giving energy and time and love spent on the bitter and hurt and questioning and angry.

Looking for the lost. In Matthew and Luke, looking not for the fringe
looking not for the open,
but looking for struggling Christians, the closed dechurched
and looking for the non-churched.

Mission to the closed and to the non-churched.

There are the Kingdom KPI's.
A focus not on church attendance, but on the energy, passion, vision and the commitment to go looking for those hurt and broken by church, and those for whom church is not even on their radar.

What does that mean? Volunteer for Ground Zero and the WYT? Take the Christmas Journey to the square? Invite local schools to Easter Journey, with Roy Woods to take them through?

The Kingdom KPI. Looking for the lost.

And, let's be honest. Looking is hard.
In Matthew you look in the hillside. In Luke, one of translations calls it the wilderness.

This is Israel and the hills are steep and the rocks are sharp and the sun's hot. Looking’s hard.

Looking for the lost one ain't a Sunday stroll or a quick walk around the block after dinner cos it's daylight saving.

Looking's hard.

Yet in Jeremiah 50:6; My people, you are lost sheep, abandoned ... in the mountains .. I am your true pastureland.

And so God's KPI's are to do what God did. To look in the mountains, where it's hard, where it takes time, where we'll be bruised and get battered.

And, let's be real. Looking is risky.

When you look for the one, what happens to the 99?
This story comes from ancient Israel, Biblical times where there are no electric fences to establish a quick holding pen, no tradition of dogs to keep guard.

No mention in the text of spare shepherds, no Development Pastor to look after things in case of emergencies.

Go looking for one and you run the risk of losing 99.

that's being real. Looking's risky.

Now, we're New Zealanders. The New Zealand high country farm stocks something like 10,0000 sheep.

And we're talking about one or 99? What’s the risk?

And yet, the average shepherd in ancient Israel had about 5 to 15 sheep.

So the risk of leaving 99 is the wealth of 10 shepherd families.

To lose one out of a hundred isn't a big loss. The risk of losing 99 in Biblical times is huge.

And so a Kingdom KPI must include risk.

Risk. And Opawa.

Allan Goulstone came to visit me my first working day here at Opawa.
He sat on a chair in the office and told me that Opawa had taken a risk in calling me.

Me. 35 years old with 3 earrings. Me, a risk.

I told Allan that we were square. That I'd taken a risk in coming to Opawa.

God probably smiled at both of us. Because the Kingdom KPI is about risk.

And I wonder if God is smiling at us again today. What’s our next risk?

Looking is risky.

God's Kingdom KPI's.

Looking for the lost.
Looking when it’s hard
Looking when it’s risky.

God's Kingdom KPI's. Is our energy church based, how many people in here, or lost based?

For some this is challenge. That we need to re-focus our prayer and our energy and our vision.

For other's this is encouragement. Yes it has been hard. Yes it has been risky. But keep going. Because you're right in the centre of God's Kingdom KPI's.

You were given a sheep as you came in the door.

I’d like to invite you to respond this morning by naming your sheep ... a friend, a family member, a work place colleague ...

The act of naming becomes an act of prayer.

Take the sheep home. Continue to pray for the lost one.

I’ll read the Scriptures again, and then give you a few minutes to choose a name for your sheep. (Use Moby's Everloving from Play album)

life transitions and resourcing spirituality

This week, Beth, part of the church, turns 5. Last week, Matt, part of the church youth group, got his driving license. A month ago, Helen and Ray, church stalwarts, went into a retirement home.

These are significant life transitions for each of them: new environments, new freedoms and responsibilities, times of change and letting go. The question is how the church honours these transitions. On Sunday I am planning to give Beth a sticker, for her to put on her lunch box. In the shape of a heart, it can remind her of God's love and the love of the church community.

going to school
getting a driving license
retiring and retirement homes.

What other key life transitions should the church be honouring?

If we live in a spiritually alert world, then part of the mission of the church can be to resource the spirituality of these life transitions. What about "retirement packs," filled with resources to engage the spirituality of those going into aged care?

And how? I know about 5 year olds. What should be done to spiritually resource first time drivers, or to let God be part of the saying goodbyes that are part of retiring?

the kpi cringe

KPI = business = modernity = vomit.

Yet cringing at the cringe, nose wrinkling in distaste, still begs the question .... what is important? When you pour your life into something, what makes it worthwhile?

If we go organic, and reject modern KPI, surely we are still faced with "what is important?" Bodies do grow. The doctor can, externally, check my internals ... take my blood, pump my pressure, ask me to pee into a little yellow pottle. So organic images can still be bodily tied to external indicators.

Such indicators can be harder to assess, but surely they are still part of our discourse, modern or postmodern?

key performance indicators in postmodernity

There was a delightful piece in a local newspaper on Wednesday. The employment section was titled "working for the ultimate boss," and explored ministry as a employment prospect! Tongue in cheek, it asked what where God's Key performance indicators (KPI's). Which got me thinking.

In modernity, I would suggest the KPI's of the church were:
: church attendance
: offerings
: members.

In postmodernity and with a more renewed theological vision, what might the KPI's be. I am proposing:
: influence in wider community, leading to transformation
: generosity in time, talents and money
: wholistic growth.

Am I missing any other KPI's?

dislocation

I have slept in 5 different beds in the last 5 nights. I find this a profoundly disorientating experience.

Place is not just environment. Place is the familiarity of routine.

the wearing of underwear when preaching

Exegesis is like underpants. It makes the preacher feel secure and comfortable wearing them when up-front. Indeed, the more creative the sermon approaches, the more the need for the security of underwear. Further, approaches like storytelling or inductive work best over the top of underwear.

A few years ago, the fashionable preacher was advised not to show their underwear. It was considered distasteful and inappropriate.

However, in these changing times, I am now suggesting that a certain amount of underwear needs to be shown. Letting the audience know that Biblical text and culture is valued and explored adds a certain "holy~ness," a certain sensual promise of more.

spiritual spaces

I sat at Te Papa on Saturday. I was surrounded by 5 metre high panels, including a beautiful en-glassed image of the Treaty of Waitangi.

It was a space both spacious and enclosed.
It was a space to think.
It was a spiritual space.