sustain:if:able kiwi

feedback. right, expectation and gift

“I find this to be a remarkably feedback-less world.” It was a passing comment that got me thinking, a moment of frustration in which I found myself nodding.

The importance of feedback – a blog comment, a short and specific comment, a question that shows an active and engaged mind, a story told 3 weeks later. I don’t know how to interpret silence. I tend to interpret it as negativity and disinterest.

It is why I love smaller groups and teaching classes, because I can construct environments in which I get feedback. Feedback allows me to change tack, to clarify and expand, to walk in step with the other.

It is why I struggle with “that was good thanks”, because it’s a meaningless cliche, a polite step on the slippery slope of social irrelevancy.

It is why I struggle with monological preaching – this sense of talking into silence, of lacking the feedback – and why I seek to get engagement in various ways at Opawa.

A caveat here: Open mics simply mean encouragement for extroverts to speak without thinking, and introverts to die inside. So part of the skill is designing feedback that floats across personality types and life experiences – to mix huddles with groups with paper with focus groups with forums with lectures.

Yet I still know that some people hate it. HATE it! Personally, I don’t think a person should be allowed to come to a gathering and just sit. But am I just imposing my “feedback seeking” personality? Or is it that we live in societies and cultures that are actually low in feedback? Perhaps time poor, perhaps bred for passivity, perhaps lacking skills to give feedback well?

What does feedback mean to you? Should it be an expected right or an unexpected gift?

online segregation

Challenging article in Sojourners about the Digital Divide – how people link to people like them, and how that harms ministry among the poorer.

So what can we do about online segregation? It’s actually very simple compared to segregation in the physical world. It is very easy to put links on your MySpace profile, blog, or Web site to ministries such as Christian Volunteering.org, UrbanMinistry.org, the Salvation Army, and Rescue Missions. Each link not only refers people to those sites, but it also boosts their popularity in search engines. It may not seem like much, but it quickly adds up.

This is not yet happening enough in the Christian community. In fact, secular commercial companies such as MySpace have driven much more traffic to our Web sites than Christian sites have, because these companies realize the value of corporate philanthropy.

having each other

A research day. I was meant to be looking at Christ figures in film, most particularly, female Christ figures in film. What might we glean about Christology today from figures like Paikea in Whale Rider or in Vianne in Chocolat?

Got side tracked by Luke 10:1-12 and how the missionary becomes the guest, enjoying the hospitality of the tables of their culture. And the resultant evangelical angst over the danger of “selling out.”

Then this: “True justice only operates in obedience to the economy of friendship that recognises the question in every encounter, “Who is the stranger?”, and realises that answer is: “Neither of us – while we have each other.” Graham Ward, Hospitality and Justice toward ‘Strangers’: A theological reflection.

I watched this happen last nite. A gathering with old-timers and new-timers. A study of the parables, in particular the great banquet in Luke 14. A great discussion of the grace that is inclusion and the practices of hospitality that follow. The realisation that as a result, labels of in and out, old and new, have no place in a Kingdom of invitation and radical hospitality.

A word used that made the parable then a challenge for now. And the re-realisation around the group, that as a result, labels of in and out, old and new, have no place in a Kingdom of invitation and radical hospitality

You can apply this to individuals, we need each other. You can apply this to discipleship, we need each other. You can apply this to church and culture, we need each other. (Which does link back to my starting point, female Christ figures in film). This is the scandal of the Incarnation, God revealed in human cultures says something fundamental about the possibility of human culture in inscribing redemption.

the place of conferences in contemporary church life

What is it with larger, newer churches and conferences?

In the mail has just appeared my invitation to participate in some new thing that God is doing in New Zealand. And the vessel is some newer, larger church, via their conference, loaded with overseas speakers, who will bless me.

It’s my second this week. Which got me fascinated by the motive and the desired end point.

Is it because other churches have done it, so it’s sort of like a badge of honour, a mark of arrival?
Is it a marketing tool, hoping to raise the profile of their church?
Is it a recruitment device, luring other Christians who might then stay because the music is better?
Is it because God is more present in larger numbers and so in some spiritual way such events are useful?

I don’t want this post to become a bagging of larger churches. Instead, I am genuinely curious as to why a church would put advertising money and energy into this type of thing. Any ideas?

wedding dresses

Over this weekend we are celebrating the 50th wedding anniversary of my parents-in-law. Today I am leading them in a renewal of vows ceremony, followed by old time dancing, speeches and a barbeque at our place. (For me, it is a fascinating blurring of my life – I do renewal of vows services as a pastor but here I am on holiday and it is with my family.) Anyhow, last night the immediate family gathered. And the young cousins, 5 of whom are female, admired the wedding dress worn 50 years ago,

“Would they like to try it on?”

“Oh yes,” the heads nodded as the young eyes sparkled.

And one by one they paraded out, female cousins fussing over trains and sleeves. One by one they absorbed the admiring cheers of proud parents, were photographed by the family photo snapper and played the digital pictures back on the lounge room TV.

And I wondered – how important might this be for their formation into adults? Are they not becoming aware – by participation, by exploration – of the importance of being married, the specialness of this day?

Now the church talks a lot about the importance of marriage. But educationalists tell us we remember much more by what we do than by what we say. So how important was this last night – actually feeling a fabric of value, actually sensing the importance of a bride on a wedding day – in communicating values?

And if it is important for their formation, should the church be involved in some way alongside a family? Should this be a youth group activity of some sort or shape?

What would happen if every five years the women in a church gathered around the younger women and together they laughed and dreamed and talked? And the men gathered with the younger men and they talked about how hard it is to be a husband, the rough edges that get smoothed, the life habits that get honed by years of commitment and loyalty?

What could be the impact of such events on the fabric (pun intended) of our society?

what forms you?

My wife wants to thank Bible College. I never did a class on parenting, nor a class on being a husband while I was at Bible College. But I am a better father and a better husband. Learning about the Bible has changed me.

Part of an impromptu speech (blogged with permission) made at our end of year dinner in honour of graduating students last night.

I thought of all those parenting courses we run, and all those sermons on themes like how to have a great marriage etc. And I wondered what it is that really forms and changes people? What has formed you?

digital ethnography and 19th century church

“… the basic idea is to create a 3 minute video highlighting the most important characteristics of students today – how they learn, what they need to learn, their goals, hopes, dreams, what their lives will be like, and what kinds of changes they will experience in their lifetime” (from here).

I watch this as an educator and as a preacher. I am struck by the use of digital technologies, by the busyness of students and their ability to multi-task, by their awareness of a changing and broken global world.

I see the rows of seats, a 19th century technology, and I wonder what this snapshot of how students learn today might mean for me this Sunday:
– put all the resources I used in preparation on-line with space for interactivity
– work on ways to encourage multi-tasking during our time together
– have capacity to take email questions as I talk
– invite people to summarise on-line what they heard

(I see Grow as being part of it, and I have already created a website)

What would work against this happening:
– the expectations that I, the preacher, feed people and that I feed them something new and different each week.
– a theology that sees the Bible as special, as above and beyond how people learn, and so uses words like “annointing” to legitimate 19th century practices
– the time that it would take for me to put resources on-line
– the related copyright issues
– the effort that is required from individuals to shift from passivity and inertia to participation
– momentum breeds momentum ie the more people that participated and interacted with me, the better this would go. But in reality, this could be one more thing to add to an already busy schedule for people.

future of denominational organs

I write (and am paid to write) a monthly film review of a denominational (Methodist) magazine (which I then have permission to reproduce on this blog 2 weeks after the magazine has gone to print). Personally, it is hard work, another demand in a busy life. But it’s worth it because it forces me to keep recording and developing my thoughts about film. It’s also pretty hard to go past free double pass tickets to the movies.

Anyhow, the magazine arrived today and the following letter to the editor caught my eye:

I wonder whether the Methodist Church needs a thorough reworking of a theology of communication and mission in the 21st century. I suspect the end of such a process might result in something that looks like this:
– investing in a contemporary, interactive website;
– paying Paul Titus [editor] to blog rather than write articles for print media, paying Steve Taylor [hey that was me] to blog about movies and contemporary culture, pay someone else to blog about spirituality etc, etc;
– using email to point to developments and points of interest on the website;
– if we must use trees perhaps a smaller, twice annual print broadsheet/flyer which would highlight where interesting debates are happening, some stories, more information on the web. …

The people a missional church is endeavouring to connect with are certainly web and text savvy. Come on, it’s time to move on, or fade away. The choice is yours. Rosemary Neave

Now, besides the fact that I would love to be paid to blog about culture and will gladly consider job offers, what do people think of the letter and the issues raised? What changes have people seen to denominational and church communication in the last few years? What changes to denominational and local church communication do we want to see?

large people and airplane seats

Update: While debate continues in the comments, I have invited a number of guest blogs around the theme of Faith in body image. Here is the first one: Why, if Christians are made in the image of God, is it so hard to look at ourselves n*ked in the mirror?

This might not be a very PC post, but I think airlines need to have a policy about large people and airplane seats. I pay good money for my seat. I expect to be able to use the whole seat that I pay for. Why should half of it be taken by another person? Why should I have to sit huddled into the window, unable to move?

When you board the airplane, the airline checks your carry on luggage is not to large. They provide a metal frame, and if your bag can’t fit, you can’t carry it on. It’s time airlines provided a similar, metal seat at check in. If you hang over the edge, then you need to pay for two seats. Pure and simple.

Come on large people. Stick up for yourself. Stand on your own feet. Stop expecting skinny people to subsidise your travel.

be quiet, i’m listening to the pictures OR how do you read Harry Potter’s Deathly Hallows

Every fortnight I do Viewpoint, a 4 minute radio slot. This morning I did a piece reflecting on the hype surrounding Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which caused me to ask the question; How do we read (whether Harry Potter or the Bible)? I’m quite pleased with it, so I thought I’d put it on the blog for my e-world listeners.

(more…)

Opawa Baptist Youth Group 2007 easter camp banner

the star from the east

If the wise men followed a star, what is the place of astrology in Christianity? This was a recent question that started discussion at the espresso congregation. A great topic for Epiphany (the season following Christmas).

And is this the type of star the wise men could have followed (Comet McNaught, visible over New Zealand duing Epiphany 07)?

Link

talking about money, money

The Bible text for Sunday was Matthew 6:19-21: Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. We humans do seem to struggle with stuff.

Sunday morning I offered the following equation: 3597 divided by (86 times 1321) = 3.2%

3597. This is our church’s weekly church offerings over this year. (Which, by the way, is a 12% increase on last year, building on a 15% increase on the year before.)

86. Well, Opawa has 140 church members. Some members live alone, some members live in families. So our 140 members live in 86 households.

1321 is the average income for a household in New Zealand. This is based on Statistics New Zealand figures for June 06.

So, if our church is anywhere close to average, then currently our giving (3597), equals just over 3% of an average New Zealand household income.

I stressed that this was a fact and not a value judgement. I simply wanted to place the fact alongside the words of Jesus as a way of asking the question: Are we, as a church, storing up for ourselves treasures in heaven?

It certainly produced some chat over coffee after the service. I suspect that our church is probably about normal. I suspect stuff is a problem for the entire Western church. What do you think? Do you think the number has any relevance?

(By the way, this was only part of the sermon. I also talked about fasting from TV; committing acts of economic repentance etc. The full text of the sermon is here).

the kingdom is at kids eye level

Tomorrow (Sunday) is a Take a Kid to Faith service at Opawa. We do these every 2 to 3 months. The kids staying in and we learn about faith together. They are wild and unpredictable and require lots of work.

One of the Lectionary readings for Opawa staff, interns and church this week included Matthew 19, verse 14, where Jesus says “Let the children come to me.” And wait, there’s more. “for the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

Adults are tall and love to talk down to kids. But what if Jesus actually meant what he said? What if the Kingdom of heaven really does belong among kids?.

It should make every adult bend down. Start looking at life through the eyes of children. It might even be a Kingdom practice. That’s why I’m glad to be part of Take a Kid to Faith services at Opawa.

It’s too easy to send kids off to Sunday School. Turn church into a babysitting service. Miss out on looking at life through the eyes of a child. Miss seeing a glimpse of the Kingdom.