e~mergent kiwi

discernment online

The lectionary reading for today comes from Matthew 11 and John's disciples are seeking to discern if Jesus is the One. Jesus reply is to point them to what they see - lives healed. I wonder what this notion of seeing means for us in an on-line age.

In other words, if Jesus was a blogger, how would he respond to John's disciples. Would he put up blog posts of lives healed? Or is Jesus demanded a deeper level of seeing?

Over the last few months I have spent a fair bit of time in the comments responding to people who, like John's disicples, are seeking to discern- is body massage prayer a twisting of Bible to suit, is use of U2 in church OK (discussion still bubbling along!), is throwing plates at cross evidence that I/Opawa has been deceived. All of these are about discernment.

Which has me wondering how we discern online and what I might learn from Jesus invitation to see.

Here on this blog, I (always in a rush) pen a few words. They are a form of "seeing" yet invariable are a short phrase that in it's brevity strips out context and relationship and enviroment. Are my blog words enough to allow discernment? If not, am I being irresponsible by only posting in brevity and should I only post if I have time to blog something more fully? But how much can you truly "see" something online anyway? Did Jesus demand anything from John's disciples and if so, what should be expected of blog readers/commenters in their seeking to discern?

And what level of relationship is needed? For me, values of community and relationship are essential. Words that are not wrapped in body language are notoriously hard to discern. But how does that work online?

Questions, questions, questions. How does discernment operate in our online world?

Note: This post is a general reflection on the issue of discernment online and what it might mean for blogging. I am not trying to get at, or silence, or have a go at anyone who has commented.

doodling around church as songs and sermon

Today I was doodling with what is now traditional church worship:
fast songs
break
slow songs
sermon
altar call
go home

I was messing around with what I am calling "Grow": wondering about creating a template that would allow the use of whole variety of ways to learn and engage, working across age ranges; maintaining singing and sermon, adding in food, all together with the aim of growing people through a range of ways to participate. I tend to think through my keyboard, so here is what I typed. (Note that I used a theme to try to keep my doodling grounded, and that theme was "gardening" ie we are like plants. We need to be planted, weeded, watered.)

Welcome and introduction

Benediction

I sort of liked it. It seemed to me to offer lots of ways to learn and engage. I could see bits of the service being picked up by other people, thus increasing the sense of ownership. It felt accessible at a range of levels.

I began to wonder what it might "grow" into :)

marketing as pastoral care

I really appreciate good marketing. Usually it's marketing as creativity - the spark or storytelling flair that shapes a good advert. My theory is that marketing is one of our contemporary art forms. Historically artists would have patrons. Now you have marketing firms. Both demand a fair bit of soul selling (Doesn't most work at some point?), but do provide a creative outlet in society.

But every now and again I catch a glimpse of what I call marketing as pastoral care. Yesterday I got a letter from a book store. A new book in a series has come out. I had brought earlier books in the series from them. Would I like to buy the next book in the series?

I just think that's really smart marketing. Someone is trying to read my needs and is making a "stamped" effort to help me. Nicely written and I can always say no.

It felt like marketing as pastoral care. I said yes, as much in appreciation of being pastorally cared for and innovatively connected with, as for the product. This sense of marketing as pastoral care seems to be to be heading toward the "experience economy." The terms come from Pine and Gilmour's The Experience Economy.

It's one of the most provocative books I've read in terms of my thinking on worship. They argue that we have shifted from
commodities
to producing goods
to consuming services
to experiences
They explore how experiences need not only entertain, but can also educate. (There is more on this in my book; out of bounds church? book) Which opened some windows for me into thinking of worship as teaching and formational. If Jesus could use experiences to transform in Luke 24; breaking bread at Emmaus and showing his hands to Thomas, then what does that mean for worship and formation today?

everyday spirituality

Latest youth research on spirituality from UK:

Nevertheless, young people do not feel disenchanted, lost or alienated in a meaningless world. "Instead, the data indicated that they found meaning and significance in the reality of everyday life, which the popular arts helped them to understand and imbibe." Their creed could be defined as: "This world, and all life in it, is meaningful as it is," translated as: "There is no need to posit ultimate significance elsewhere beyond the immediate experience of everyday life." The goal in life of young people was happiness achieved primarily through the family. Link

Some comments
1. Fascinating that the report did not consider this spirituality; when it wrote; THE Church of England has debunked the widely held view that young people are spiritual seekers on a journey to find transcendent truths to fill the "God-shaped hole" within them.

2. In contrast, I note the three categories of contemporary spirituality in John Drane's Do Christians Know How to be Spiritual. (I posted about the book on Tuesday.) John argues that spirituality today is expressed in 3 different ways; one of which is Lifestyle. John describes a book Complete idiots guide to Spirituality in the Workplace the book as "fairly typical of a whole genre of recent writing on 'spirituality' ... a kind of 'secular' spirituality, focused almost entirely on living the good life within a more or less materialist paradigm. Being spiritual is about the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the sort of attitudes we adopt, the relationships we make." Which sounds to me like the spirituality found in the report.

3. So the missional task becomes an exploration of WWJE- what would Jesus eat; everyday rituals and community. On Monday night a number of people gathered out my house and we formed the Angel Wings Trust with the aim of providing spiritual resources for everyday life. At Pentecost 2006 at Opawa I'm running a seminar on ways to make new-born life spiritual. It's based on insights from Olive Drane's Spirituality to go: rituals and reflections for everyday life. I am really excited to be a Christian today, born for such a time as this, part of a church accessing lifestyle spirituality.

Spirituality resources birthed

Paul met God in a dramatic encounter. Peter met God step by step, in process. Which raises the question; how do we be intentional about connecting with the Peter's we know.

To do so would value;
- Variety; creative, adaptive, flexible; issue and audience focused.
- Celebrate small; if we had lots of variety, then success would be 1, not 99.
- See people as pre-Christian, not anti-Christian; believe that God can be active in people's lives before they were Christian. And this would change our conversation. It would not be us and them. It would be, how can any person, take a next step toward Jesus.
- Keep focused. Our activities would need to invite people into relating with Jesus.

Today I met with a group to bat around two concrete ideas in relation to spiritual resources;
- spirituality courses that explored spiritual practices in a small group setting
- rituals of change – offering a spirituality and rituals around birthing, including the 9 month preparation, birthing boxes, capturing emotions, baby room's "dedication" prayers, prayers for sleepless nites, adoption rituals, grandparent rituals (memory book, symbolic actions), naming (home or church, formal or informal):

The five in the room (with four apologies) then discussed the following:

What energized us? Both ideas are very exciting. We love the birthing ideas. Writing is a felt need. Journalling is a felt need. We have people we would like to invite. We are journallers and have been blessed by journaling. When we compared our journaling we realized that we journal differently and we learn more from each other. Thus a journaling course will feed us. As we share how we journal, we are sharing our life in Christ. This is a missional sharing.

What are our fears? Inviting people. The time commitment. Will people come?

Details.
a) Spiritual courses: We will offer a course "Introduction to Journalling." And will offer it as 4 weeks and then another 4 weeks of "Advanced Journalling." We will advertise in local newspapers, especially in the Mind/Body/Soul sections. We will also advertise as a resource to Counsellors, Libraries, New Age book shops. We will offer limited places and early bird registrations. We will meet in the church foyer and offer coffee. We will charge – people will pay for a book, plus be expected to buy their own journal. We will use Spiritual Journaling by Richad Peace as a guide book. We could then offer Spiritual Autobiography, Contemplative Prayer. We will look to start in the Spring, when people's energy lifts and when the change of seasons gives us time to reflect on change in our lives.

b) Family Spirituality: We will look to do this yearly. It would fit well as an option in our annual NorWest (Pentecost) festival. We will draw on the 8 couples in the church giving birth at the moment, plus new grandparents in the church, plus advertise in the community.

Christmas blame

Emergentkiwi is boarding a bus in town today, following a morning off with family. As a crowd surge toward Bus no. 28, the following conversation occurs;

Bus stranger: It's organised chaos.

Emergentkiwi: So is most of Christmas.

Bus stranger: I blame Santa.

Emergentkiwi: I blame the baby Jesus.

Bus stranger: I blame the father not using a condom.

The crowd moves on, leaving emergentkiwi pondering how prevalent this rather crude notion of sexuality and the human/divine connection is among Kiwis this Christmas.

how secular is new zealand?

Hat tip to New Zealand Post. These are the 2005 Christmas stamps. New Zealand post have very nicely sent us the orginals as computer files. We wanted to use the stamps as contextual, everyday visual images for our Christmas services, and their images on the web were too small. A few phone calls later and many MegaBytes later and we are ready to roll with some great powerpoint to rear project on white sheets around the auditorium.

Looking at these images yesterday caused me to wonder;
how secular is New Zealand when our national stamps still carry a Christian message?
how diverse are New Zealand spiritualities when our national stamps carry the Christian story?

spirituality of coffee

The church now owns a coffee machine. But I didn't want it as a status symbol or to be relevant or look cool. I wanted it because there is something about the spirituality of coffee making that makes the act of taking a break and the act of sitting with friends special. It can potentially re-enchant relationships and space.

We are training barrista's in the new year. But I don't want to just train them to make coffee. I also want to offer practices of hospitality and spirituality. Anyone out there done this? Any barrista's out there have prayers and practices of blessing they use? Anyone thought about integrating coffee making into their Christian spirituality?

formational environments initial reflections

I posted yesterday asking the question: what has formed us spiritually?. I'm really appreciating the comments. We had a church Board meeting last night, and we finished the meeting by asking each other the question. It was a great discussion and confirmed for me why I am at Opawa. The values of journey and spiritual growth that radiate from the church Board are great.

And I got passionate. Wouldn't it be great to be part of a church known in the city for forming people spiritually. Go there and you'll grow.

Two initial reflections on the comments and feedback I've been getting.

1) The importance of hard times. Some strands of Christianity invite you to leave your problems at the door, or offer you a good-times Jesus. Yet if people are saying that hard times are part of spiritual formation, what does that do for the need for truth telling in our church environments.

2) No-one has mentioned sermons yet. But then I thought about the influence of people, who I often first met through their preaching. So preaching becomes the meeting of a person and being shaped by their passion, rather than imparting information.

Update. When I thought about my key people who had influenced me, i realised that almost all of them had spoken/preached/taught to me at some time. Their influence was mainly through the time they gave me and their gift mix which spoke to my gift mix. But their influence was magnified and increased because of things they said.

formational environments

I've been thinking recently about "spiritual formation." How do we grow, how are we shaped into the image of God? Coming to a long-established church, so much seems adhoc, a group here or a sermon there. So I have been pondering what it means as a church to become "formational environments"?

It's such a big question and I have not even been sure where to start. So this morning, I personalised the question. What has "formed" and grown me over my life?

I identified some key people - with names like Peter and Marjory and Mike.
I noted the importance of being given opportunity - in ministry and with encouragement.
I recognised the necessity of space - which for me was theological seminary and the PhD process.
And somewhere in there are regular habits - of reading and reflection and prayer.

people + opportunity + space + regular habits; together these have been for me significant formational factors.

But my experiences are not necessarily universal. So, I'd value your input. Over your life, what have been the key events/circumstances/things that have formed you spiritually?

horoscopes and Christianity

so if the "wise" in Matthew 2 were star followers, and most likely Magi (magicians), does that not mean that horoscope reading and UFO spotting and magic is potentially a spiritual search?

and how can we keep the Christ at the centre, while encouraging such spiritual search that could lead people to the Christ?

and is this Christmas text therefore actually hugely subversively missional?

or am I making too many logical jumps?

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.

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?

Spirituality of humour

Most of us don't laugh enough. Most churches don't laugh enough. A spirituality of humour is in important part of being human.

For those near Auckland, Peter Majendie is one of the funniest people I know and a great storyteller. He is doing 2 shows at the New Zealand International Comedy Festival.

A Deaf in the Family
Wed 19th, Fri 21st May, 7:15 pm

Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, THE EDGE.

One man stand-up storyteller with a reflective view of life as an 8 year old through the eyes of a 50 year old. Powered by his hearing-aid batteries, Pete’s stories of New Zealand life and culture are tinged by deafness and no small amount of cynicism. (With deaf sign interpreter Friday)."Brilliant ... Certainly engaging" - The Christchurch Press.

bodies of god

I like the Body of God. I like the sense of diversity, of different parts each making a unique contribution.

Today I saw the Body of God mistreated. A friend, flamed. An email that played the man not the ball. An email that assumed that the Body should be uniform; and that the only worthwhile parts of the body were dressed in the same uniform. It failed to appreciate giftedness; that God made some to be sociologists and some to be researchers and some to stirrers. We don’t all have to be middle-class, male, practioners.

Later that day I saw the Body of God in action. I saw truth and love mixed. I saw a person, by being true to herself, bring life. I saw a personality, enthused by the Spirit, and so used.

don binney: standing in front of spirituality

I walked around the Auckland Art Gallery yesterday, and particularly appreciated the work of New Zealand artist Don Binney.

I have seen his work in books. His work is so much bigger in real life. He also uses textures superbly.

The large size and stylised format suggested for me transcendence, the biggness and boldness of God and life.

Yet Binney is a New Zealander who paints very New Zealand themes, landscapes and birds. So the contextual nature suggested for me immanence, God close and engaged with our world.

Often the bigness (transcendence) of God and the closeness (immanence) of God are juxtaposed. Groups/churches/people do well at one but not the other. It was nice to see both mixed.

resourcing life

A danger of Christianity, of church, of the emerging church, is that we focus all our energy on making church right.

While there is a lot to put right, ultimately we exist to resource people in their following of Jesus, and most of this happens outside church. So we need to provide models of integration.

This Sunday I launched "Resourcing work" prayers at Opawa. Our vision to encourage people to walk and grow with Jesus. One way we can do that is to pray for people in their work situations.

This week we rang up people at Opawa who worked in the health professions … nurses and radiographers. We asked them about their job … what they liked, what frustrated them, what we could pray for.

They brought a symbol of their work and so on Sunday X-rays and catheters and bandages sat at the front of the church. And we prayed ...

God
You are the healer
You heal through medicine and through miracle
You heal through people.

We thankyou for all those who work in the health field … nurses, radiographers and health professionals.

We thankyou for them, for their skills and dedication.

We thankyou for the things about their work they enjoy …. see people get better, chance to be with people, a chance to show they care, a chance to have relationships with a wide and diverse group of people.

We thankyou that all these are values close to your heart … people, caring, seeing health and wholeness.

God
we acknowledge the frustrations and challenges.
lack of funding, pressure that places on people, battle with short staffed rosters and not having time to be with people.

I think of the woman who anointed Jesus feet, and the words of Jesus, what you do for the least of them, you do for me.

God, for all health professionals this week,
May the God’s love shine through them as they tend the feet of others.
May they have patience with grumpy patients and heavy workloads
May they have a sense of serving you through their dedication and skills.