e~mergent kiwi

kingdom signs in Coldplay?

I'm loving the new Coldplay album. I've been, until now, more a listener than a fan. But their new album has converted me. It's more complex, less traditionally rock in structure and I like that.

I also think there's some serious theological work going on in the album. I'm not yet clear what it is. But when the album includes ruminations (Track 7 - Viva La Vida) on "I know St Peter will call my name," well, the church had better be listening, cos there are millions of people going to be humming that line in the next year.

needing sermon help

I need some sermon application help. Church ministers are NOT allowed to respond. I am working on a post-Easter sermon series titled Biblical pictures of witness. It is based on a honey of a book, Picturing Christian Witness by Stanley Skreslet: Using a wide range of Bible texts and some great art, Skreslet outlines 5 different images of witness used in the New Testament.

Announcing good news, for example the public speeches in Acts where the role of the Christian is to share publicly and in vulnerability
Sharing Christ with friends, for example, Mark 2:1-12, friends of paralytic man, where the role of the Christian is to walk with and alongside.
Interpreting the gospel, for example Philip and the Ethiopian Enuch, where the gospel crosses cultural barriers and the role of the Christian is to link and translate.
Shepherding, for example Luke 15 where the shepherds goes searching for the lost one and the role of the Christian is to carry the hurting,
Building and planting, for example 1 Corinthians 3, where Paul is building and planting and the role of the Christian is to ensure at all times that the medium is the message.

Now I am doing this series because I think the 5 images remind us that there is no one way of being a witness and thus frees us from rigid stereotypes to be ourselves.

But here's the rub. I'm stuck with application in regard to the first one. What, practically, does announcing good news mean today? As a minister, I get to announce good news most Sundays. But what might announcing good news mean in home and workplaces outside Sunday? Love to have your comments ....

Bono theology: Waves of sorrow

I had wondered about preaching this on Sunday, but just could not make it cohere with the life of our faith community, which was celebrating the end of the church year with an Open Home, Open year celebration. So I offer it here!

The latest U2 release, Waves of Sorrow, gives us a fascinating insight into Bono the poet and Bono the theologian.

(I love the way that this video offers not just lyrics, but an explanation of what was shaping his lyrics. Thus we get a unique window into the author).

As I am listening to Waves of Sorrow, I am also reading Zephaniah. Some interesting parallels emerge.

The song Waves of Sorrow is written, according to Bono, in a hard place, Ethiopian foodcamp.
You wake up this morning
It took an act of will
You walk through the night
To get here today

This then leads into the chorus,
On a wave of sorrow, Wave
A wave of sorrow, Wave.
This is Bono’s response to the pain he is seeing in the world around him

The lyrics have a number of other interesting echoes. Zephaniah 1 starts with a similar theme, of God sweeping away the world, which has interesting echoes to the great flood in Noah. This sense of waves of sorrow also has a number of contemporary echoes. The song was released the week that a cyclone scoured the coast of Bangladesh. The song was released in the same week, the UN released a report on global warming.

So where to turn in a world pondering waves of sorrow? Bono makes a leap from Ethiopia to the Queen of Sheba who visited Solomon seeking wisdom.
Son, of shepherd boy, now king
What wisdom can you bring?
What lyric would you sing?
Where is the music of the Seraphim?
This does two things. Firstly, it serves to place Ethiopia within a history and thus offers a sense of dignity, for there is more to Ethiopia than famine. There is also a history of royalty and wealthy and diplomacy. Secondly, this is a theological move, for Bono invites Solomon to provide wisdom. There is a sense of Bono seeking help from an ancient source, from a King who was given wisdom by God.

A similar search for ancient wisdom is present in Zephaniah 2:3
Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land,
You who do what he commands.
Seek righteousness, seek humility.
Having looked waves of sorrow in the face, both Bono and Zephaniah turn to ancient wisdom.

Bono's song finishes by referencing the Beautitudes, both with the repetition of "Blessed" and with the theology expressed, giving dignity to the poor and the marginalised.
Blessed are the meek who scratch in the dirt
For they shall inherit what's left of the earth

What is fascinating is that the Church lectionary suggest that Zephaniah 2:3 be preached alongside readings from Matthew 5, the Sermon on the Mount.

We live in a world engulfed by waves of sorrow. Bono finds hope in seeking the ancient wisdom of Solomon and in living the Beautitudes.

A similar refrain is at work in Zephaniah. In the face of global devastation, both human and environmental, that will be wrought by the rise of Babylon, Israel are instructed to place their confidence in God.

A colleague of mine went with friends through a museum display showcasing an environmental history. The final display offered all sort of recent technological developments that might head off environmental catastrophe. The friends, over coffee, pronounced themselves hopeful.

To which my colleague replied, "Oh, but I believe the Lords Prayer." This was not a naïve fundamentalism, but a deeply placed sign of faith. In the midst of global warming, in what will be our confidence? Human technology? Our God’s will done on earth?

This is not to offer a simple dualism of either technology or God, for God might well work through human science. Rather it is to admit that our human sin is a chief agent in global catastrophe. And that a confidence in human achievements is surely another form of idolatory.

Guest post: Praise God from whom all economies of scale flow part 3

Over the last week this blog (here and here) has been probing whether the growth of supermarkets might parrallel the rise in large churches. On the way we have explored competition vs cooperation and asked why we go to church.

Here's another guest post I've been sent that I think adds some thought to the debate.

Just some thoughts taken from a book called Sustainable Leadership by Hargreaves and Fink. Although a book based in the world of education, I believe it's message is transferable, and relevant to this discussion.

Hargreaves and Fink state that few schools [change to churches] are islands. The fates of schools are almost always intertwined. Outstanding teachers, leaders and pupils are drawn toward the high performing schools, and at the same time, they are drained away from the rest. For the education system to be sustainable long term, school leaders need to think beyond their own school.

In other words: should we accept that some churches will be "outstanding" and will grow. As they do, they will inevitably attract the best and brightest. In doing so, what disciplines might they introduce that will help them think beyond their own school? Or, using the categories of my initial post, how might "supermarket" churches care for the "corner diary" churches?

Guest post: Praise God from whom all economies of scale flow part 2

My post praising God from whom all economies of scale flow has caused a flurry of comment and interaction on and off-blog. Here is a guest post from a keen eyed watcher of world and church, wanting to be known simply as "the consultant"

One key issue facing Christian Church(es) in the modern environment seems to be the whole question "cooperation versus competition". In other words, are
the different churches competing with each other, as opposed to working for
the 'common good'. For example, if a church says that it is involved in
"church-planting" on a polytech or university campus, what does that
actually mean? Prima facie, everyone assumes this means that the church is
attracting new people, who would not otherwise be involved in a church;
(evangelising, to use the old term). However, my impression is that, in
practice, what tends to regularly happen is that the new church mainly
attracts people away from their existing churches to something that is
currently new and exciting - at least, it's new and exciting for a few
months. You could rather bluntly, call it "congregation stealing". The net
gain, across the overall Christian community however, may be quite small,
and instead we've just shifted existing people from one place to another.

Perhaps a true test of whether we are focused on our own interests, or those
of the wider Christian community (and the people we are working with), would
be if we were prepared to create new links with (evangelise) people - but
then, be prepared to let those people go to other churches. I somehow
suspect that this is the approach that the "great people" of the past like
Wesley would have taken.

Looking forward to the pushback from all students and blog readers involved in church planters and those involved in student ministry.

Praise God from whom all economies of scale flow

So "big city church" is growing. Excitedly, I am told of growth and expansion and new building plans. Size obviously matters.

At the same time, I hear of two neighbourhood churches, small, struggling, that have closed in the last 6 months. Both have encouraged their people to attend "big city church". In other words, growth in "big city church" has come from the death of corner church.

What does the Christian church do with these realities?

I drive home thinking about supermarkets. And the slow death of corner diaries, driven to the wall by the advent of cars, the ease of transport and the economies of scale.

And let's be honest. We're all part of it. We all shop at supermarkets. We all appreciate cheaper prices and greater variety and we all gladly absorb anonymous service and ease of parking.

So is this the future of the Western church? A few lucky ones getting larger and larger, filled with punters reassuring themselves that nameless growth is surely evidence of God being present and Christianity having a future? Size matters. And surely it's easier to sit and soak in a high quality band than listen to the tuneless two-piece band at the corner diary? And surely large leads to economies of scale and ensures good programming can be absorbed by both toddler and teen.

Is this gathering of crowds of consumers, praising the God from who all economies of scale flow, really the Kingdom vision that Jesus lived and died for?

If not, what do we do? And who will lead the revolution? You?

Or the consumer next door?

For more on this topic see here:

Church for U2 fans

(Saint Bono hat tip to Josh)

Church for U2 fans
preaching, communion and worship to 11 U2 soundtracks, (including songs like: I still haven't found what I'm looking for, The Saints are coming, Crumbs from your table, One Tree Hill, 40, One, Pride, Scarlet, All I want is you, Elevation, Sometimes you can't make it on your own). An offering will be taken for aid in Africa.

7 -8:15 pm, Sunday 26 November
Opawa Baptist, Cnr Hastings St and Wilsons Road

consumerism or discipleship?

I am just about to head out the door to engage with a group of local ministers around consumerism, discipleship and church. I am taking my Fair Trade T-shirt, my copy of Tom Beaudoin's Consuming faith and a range of breakfast cereals. If the discussion goes anywhere I might blog my notes.

Update: OK, it certainly seemed to generate lots of discussion. So here are the 5 questions I asked;

1. Aren't we all consumers?
2. Do we need fair trade church?
3. What do we do with church hopers?
4. Are we selling Christianity Lite or Discipleship Extreme?
5. Do seekers respond to Extreme discipleship?

1. Aren't we all consumers?
Often consumerism becomes a dirty word in Christian circles. But let's be honest, we all consume. You consumed petrol to get here. I’m glad each of you consumed clothes to wear. So let's not talk about consumers as "them." They are "us."

The words of communion; Take, eat, this is my body, are an invitation to consume. (Plug, plug, Consuming faith by Tom Beaudoin.) Which leads to the question; if we all consume, how do we consume Christianly? Hence my second question;

2. Do we need fair trade church?
So in order to do market research for my presentation I went to the Fair Trade shop and brought this T-shirt. Any guesses? $50. And then their credit card machine broke down. So I was late back to my car and the Parking Warden was ticketing my car! Fair trade costs! They are an ethical way to consume.

We could be Luddite and pretend we don't buy or sell. We could continue as we are, all consuming. Or, does Fair Trade invite us to think about consuming ethically? Could we be Fair Trade churches in our practices of worship, evangelism, spiritual formation?

3. What do we do with church hopers?
A story. I had been at Opawa about 6 months. A woman, Christian all her life, popped into our evening service with her teenage daughter. What do you offer for youth? What do you offer for intermediates? What do you offer for children?

If we did not have a programme, she was off to the church down the road.

At the same time, Opawa had a Boys Brigade reaching 15 community kids. Real coal-face mission. Run by a number of gifted leaders. Now, if I was to close down the Brigades and move the leaders into church programmes, then church hopers might stay and my church attendance would grow. What is more important? Church attendance or mission?

4. Are we selling Christianity Lite or Discipleship Extreme?
This comes out of Postcard 5 of my out of bounds church? book This shifts from consumers having choice, to us as producers having choice. Take a look at breakfast cereals.

I place some chocolate puffs breakfast cereal in the middle of the group, along with some rolled oats. Consumers have a choice over breakfast cereals. Equally, producers have a choice about what they offer. What are we as church leaders offering?

5. Do seekers respond to Extreme discipleship?
This was my final story. I mentioned my Sunday sermon about money. And how hard it is to preach that sermon when you know there are visitors in the congregation, people you have no relationship with, people who come for the first time and think you preach about money all the time.

And so saying hi to a visitor on Sunday after the sermon. Not much church background. Yet so eager to know more about fair trade. Asking for resources. So much so that we are supplying resources in our church newsletter in response this week. So, perhaps there is a hunger in our culture, among visitors, for churches to actually preach extreme discipleship?

I disagree with half of what you say

This is one of the best conversation starters I've ever come across. I often have strangers email wanting to see me. So I met up with one yesterday and this was one of the opening lines:

I read your blog and I disagree with half of what you say.

I never got told which half! And this person has never availed themselves of my comments. A silent dissenter, never allowing me the opportunity to grow! But it turned into a very stimulating conversation. I came away with 2 questions that I am enjoying pondering:

Here is the first one: We talked about the challenges that Christians face on campus. We wondered how local churches prepare their young people for work, and most especially for university?

So blog readers; what is your church doing to prepare your people for a tertiary study campus?

centres and edges

I had lunch yesterday with a group of leaders from New Song Church. It was a good time. Over tacos and huevos rancheros and "soda," we batted around some ideas. One of the things that struck me was the following irony: that so much of the postmodern debate emerges from the edges and welcomes the voices of the Other, the marginalised, the non-Western.

So it is quite ironic to be talking about post-modern mission in a country that is very much a centre, a centre of Christianity, a centre of global control and marketing. Just an interesting twist for me as I digested my Mexican beans.

(Of course, one of the ethical questions is whether this conversation with the edge is in fact yet another colonisation by the centre - and for more on this try Ziauddhin Sardar's book, Postmodernism and the Other.) I'm not convinced by Sardar, based on the cultural work of Michel de Certeau, but Sardar's is a voice that won't go away.)

And of course, all the more sad that emerging churches are struggling with the role of women in leadership.

In memorandum

I ate fish tacos with Stan Grenz in San Diego last month. I, the young theologian, had emailed, seeking lunch, keen to stir the older theologian about the contrast between his post-foundationalist theology of community and his individual writing projects.

Stan was gracious enough to humour my impudence. The conversation quickly shifted. I, the young stirring academic, began to appreciate a depth of spirituality. We shared career call stories; for me a white rabbit to Christchurch, for Stan a cold snap and ice roads back to Vancouver. This was no academic theologian. This was a humble and passionate follower of Jesus.

Stan Grenz
Called home 12 March 2005.

Leaving behind the inspiration
To love God with all our minds
And live our careers with all our humility
And our spirituality with all our passion.

world:views

:: the hoiho (yellow-eyed) penguin

Christians must work to create conditions in which human beings and the whole created world live as God intended.
:: NT Wright, Colossians and Philemon, IVP, Leicester, Eedmans, 1986, 80.

flaming the chaff

I was flamed by Mr Wheat yesterday - using the definition here of - A public post or email message that expresses a strong opinion or criticism. Flames can be fun when they allow people to vent their feelings, then return to the topic at hand. Others are simply insulting and can lead to flame wars

I was flamed in regard to the emerging church. At the risk of starting a flame war, I will pick up on specific things said in relation to my site, my theology and my writings.

1. Exegesis of 1 Peter
God made language and culture (Genesis 1, 11 and Revelation 7:9). Culture is like the air we breathe. Without it we die, but we have to watch for pollution. My exegesis of 1 Peter is based on the fact that every text has a culture, has a context and if we understand that, we are better hearers, and likely to be more accurate doers, of the word of God.

Hence my exegesis of 1 Peter was an attempt to better understand the Biblical text. I argued that when read in context, Peter suggests a way for Christians to challenge culture, or as Mr Wheat says “cultural transformation”. So my exegesis of 1 Peter finds me and Mr Wheat agreeing in the need for cultural transformation.

Mr Wheat notes that Paul (I presume this was a typo, because 1 Peter was written by Peter) was promoting timeless truths. To argue this could imply a legitimation of slavery (1 Peter 2:18). Rather than having to try to explain slavery as a timeless truth, I chose to explore the cultural world of the text to suggest a way of Christianity to live distinctly.

2. The emerging church A-Z as driven by culture.
My post was a mix of observation and theology. The post was tongue in cheek and often urged the emerging church not to stay where it is. It was at times a challenge to the culture of the emerging church, especially around gender and inclusion of non-Western culures. A lot of emerging church people blog and so I noted that as a sociological observation. I believe the emerging church do DJ and I will come to that in a minute.

3. I doubt many Catholics would consider me “the same as Catholics”, so I will leave that.

3. The U2 quote.
I used the quote in an article. It was not my quote but I will stand by it. I used it in the article for 2 reasons, firstly it describes a sense of dislocation from church, which needs to be heard.

Secondly it affirms that ancient theological understanding that God is in the world, and can provide “spiritual experience to U2”. Biblically God is revealed in the cultural world. God spoke through a donkey to Balaam in Numbers 22, God acts through a foreign oppressor in Nehemiah 2 and Esther 5. The exile is the story of God using “pagan” things to teach the people of God some lessons. God is present in our culture and the U2 quote named that Biblical reality.

Now I realise this is scarey terrain. Does following God in the world mean I will sell out or lose the Bible? I find it helpful to remind myself of the Pauline understanding of the Spirit as the Spirit of Jesus. It is a term unique to Paul. The Spirit is in the world, yet the Spirit I am looking for is the Spirit of Jesus, distinctive in the Christian gospels. This allows me to follow Jesus and remain faithful to the Biblical insight of God in the world.

To seek God in the culture is not paganism. Peter is warned in Acts 10 not to dismiss the pagan, the culturally different, as unclean. This does not mean that I take stuff from “the culture and reinterpret it.” Rather, I DJ. DJ’s sample – bits and pieces from here and there. Some bits they will sample to affirm, others they sample to subvert (the mixes of Howard Dean are a fine recent example.) DJing is a metaphor I use (explained much more in the book I am writing), to get beyond the dualism of “culture is bad so withdraw from the world” or culture is good “so celebrate the world”. The DJ image gives me a way to explain that God is both present and absent, that human culture is both flawed and an echo of God.

4. Pandering to pagan rituals.
In Matthew 6:26 Jesus commands us to look at creation and in John 3:8 he uses creation to explain the work of the Spirit. The gift of the koru at the baptism was a following of the instructions of Jesus. The koru represents the unfurling fern, a symbol of new life and growth. Rather than paganism, we were following in the way of Jesus, looking at creation as a way to celebrate the new life of baptism.

My terms “thin spaces” was an attempt to describe an experience. I used it in a Christian Celtic sense and I am unaware of other “demonic” connotations. I could equally have used the fact that often in the Bible people encounter God in the Bible (Mt Sinai, Sermon on the Mount, Transfiguration) and in this sense mountains are “thin spaces” or places of encounter with God. It was not a pandering but a metaphor for saying God was there.

5. Like Mr Wheat I am not interested in marketing or new church models. Nor am I overly charmed about the term Generation X.

I believe in the Bible, that God loves the world, that the Spirit of Jesus is in the world and that my following of Jesus is Incarnational, the Word made flesh. Just as Jesus became Jewish to redeem humanity, so I need to be postmodern to redeem humanity. This is only sucking up to culture if Jesus was sucking up to culture. To help me not suck up to the culture, I have the resources of Scripture, the example of Jesus, the power of the Spirit and the community of God to keep me faithful.

Paul rebuked Peter to his face, a relationship born out of journey together. I value the people, who take the time to journey with me, and over time, like Paul, speak truth to me. I hope that this response can build understanding and respect among those who journey with me.