the Weary Pilgrim

Saturday morning...Birch for breakfast

From the highly creative mine of Jon Birch over at the ongoing adventures of ASBO Jesus.

tables...more thoughts in progress

The last month or so it seems I have been reflecting and writing on the " table " on a fairly regular basis. This post, " the lord's supper...a feast in the midst of life ", came from reflecting on the thought seeing the table beyond the boundaries and borders of the church. Maybe we've ritualized the life out the table...loosing its everyday sacredness. The table is a landscape in which we all gather around that is filled with redemptive possibilities.

Last evening I came upon some more thinking around community and " tables " by Cheryl Lawrie. She shares these musings from a breakfast conversation...

Most conversations about new forms of church or Christian community are about rethinking the table at which the disciples sit. True confession… this project doesn’t emerge from any interest in that table, or even really in the disciples. i think the really interesting stuff of the gospels is the other stories - the tables Jesus went to where the disciples weren’t invited, or where they were so absent no-one thought to mention their presence - the afternoons at Mary and Martha’s, the nameless person’s house where Jesus met the syro-phonoecian woman, dinner at Levi’s house, dinner with Peter’s mother, the ‘water into wine’ wedding table… i think they’re the fun tables.

Interestingly, there’s not a lot of evidence in the gospels that the people around those tables wanted a seat at the disciples’ table - the main event, as such. Which makes it interesting, then, that most conversation about inclusion [and about new forms of Christian community] involves making sure there’s space for everyone at the disciples’ table - the presupposition being that there is only the one table around which everyone should sit. It gives those around the table an enormous amount of power. Perhaps that’s a myth perpetuated by them – because we have been taught to look at things from the disciples’ perspective we think there’s only one table - but the disciples were never as good as Jesus at recognizing the other tables.

Perhaps another way of understanding inclusion and generosity is recognizing that Jesus doesn’t sit at just one table, and that the disciples don’t host the other tables, or get to decide what happens there. Often they don’t even get invited. Those other tables are out of their control… and will mostly exist out of their line of vision.

If that’s the case, the ultimate act of inclusion for Christian communities is to encourage the possibility there might be other tables [fun tables, with good food - just as good as the church’s table] where God might just turn up, because the story of God is not about inclusion into the Church’s table, but inclusion into a story of life. Because as we know, you don’t have to be a disciple for god to seek you out, and just because you’re a disciple doesn’t mean you get the very best of who God is, and turning into a disciple isn’t the anticipated, or even desired, outcome of every encounter with the story of life…

Which is why we don’t believe that every act of worship, every sacred space should emanate from, or be directed back towards the church’s table. And why we have to look much broader than the disciples for our models of community.

I love the thought that around every table, not just the church's, that Jesus can show up, around every table there are redemptive possibilities if we dare dream.

The Prodigal Hours - 7 PM May 26, 2008 - Emmanuel Baptist Church

Heads-up from Matthew Davidson....

Hello friends,

This post is just to let you know about an art installation coming up this month called 'the prodigal hours'.

This is a one-time event featuring the following:

1. Free-standing visual artwork by several local artists,
2. Readings by Victoria's poet laureate Carla Funk
3. A soundtrack/audio collage composed and compiled by Matthew Christopher Davidson (i.e. me), a local musician

The theme of the evening is reconciliation. We would love to see you there! There is no cost to come, it is on a Monday night, and refreshments will be available by donation. There is a 70-minute 'program' of short poetry readings at 10-minute intervals, and music in between, starting at around 7:20 PM, but it is totally informal and so it's OK to just drop in, although you're encouraged to come for the whole program, as it promises to be excellent.

Here's the map to Emmanuel Baptist Church.

wrestling...it's never easy

"I listen intently to the Book. But I do not acquiesce in it. I rail at it. I make accusations. I censure it for endorsing patriarchalism, violence, anti-Judaism, homophobia, and slavery. It rails back at me, accusing me of greed, presumption, narcissism, and cowardice. We wrestle. We roll on the ground, neither of us capitulating, until it wounds my thigh with 'new-ancient' words. And the Holy Spirit is there the whole time, strengthening us both." - biblical scholar Walter Wink

living with fresh imagination...missional

"The Kingdom lies in how we embody what we believe. Our greatest challenge is to live   faith in a world gone mad. And all of creation waits, groans, for a people who will live God’s dream with fresh imagination"...

"Father, why don't they get it ", I imagine Jesus saying under his breath in the above picture. John said Jesus pitched his tent in the midst of humanity, in its chaos, its poverty, in a world that had lost its imagination.” God took on flesh and bones...and into the messiness of life and rubbed elbows with us.

There is an old proverb that goes something like this…

Tell me ... I forget

Show me ... I remember

Involve me ... I understand

Jesus came announcing the Kingdom was near...he came to involve us in the reality of the Kingdom. Jesus revealed the redemptive imagination of the God of all creation. Once again, the Spirit would brood over creation, and the Living Word made flesh would speak an incarnational language of new creation.

Jesus showed up in the Temple, teaching. The Jews were impressed, but puzzled: "How does he know so much without being schooled?" (John 7:15)

"Have you heard the way he talks? We've never heard anyone speak like this man." (John 7:46)

He went down to Capernaum, a village in Galilee. He was teaching the people on the Sabbath. They were surprised and impressed—his teaching was so forthright, so confident, so authoritative, not the quibbling and quoting they were used to. (Luke 4:31-32)

These stories, parables about the Kingdom freed the imagination of a world that was held hostage by the empire. Kingdom stories like that of the Good Samaritan broke down the walls of race, class and religion...it revealed a world of profound healing...no barriers, no boundaries...a world where your neighbour really was your brother.

The Kingdom was like a Father who had two sons, where the younger son decided he could do better going it alone. So he collected his inheritance from his Father, walked down the driveway, heading off for distant lands. Frivolously he spent everything he had, wine, women and song...everything was gone. Things got so bad he ended up rummaging for scraps of food in a filthy pigpen. Here where life couldn't have gotten much worse, he wondered if his Father could forgive him enough so he could be a servant. So hungry, filthy and broken he headed home. Little did he know, his Father gazed daily at the horizon, filled with the hope of his son’s return. Then one day down the driveway staggered emaciated son. The Father ran down the driveway dancing like a mad man. Before his son could utter a word his Father kissed him, he could not stop kissing. The Father placed his ring on his son, and draped his robe over him. He called for his servants to get the fattest calf they could find...start the BBQ...we're having a party!

What is this Kingdom, and this Father that is filled with such mercy, and forgiveness...and grace? The Kingdom is filled with so much grace that we can never drain the well from which it gushes out.

The Kingdom was like a King that planned an extravagant feast. He sent his son out into the neighbourhood with invitations. The son returns without the invited guests, but carries a lengthy list of their excuses. The King sends the son out again...this time to the gutters, back alleys, ditches, the country side, run down skid row hotels to bring anyone and everyone he meets to the feast. The King wants his table full.

Again, what is this Kingdom, and this King who will invite anyone...a table filled with the worlds throw aways, misfits, the ugly, the poor, the drunks and druggies, thieves, and liars. How surprised will I be when it won't be just my so called friends at the table?

This was a glimpse of the Kingdom, the world upside down...these stories that left people in awe and wonder. The Kingdom recaptured people's heart, minds and souls with the redemptive imagination of God. But we've philosophized these stories, we've sermonized these stories...we have heard them, and forgotten them. From time to time we may even have been showed them...and remembered.

But that was not what they were about...Jesus lived those stories...he was involved in the reality of the stories...he embodied them. Jesus wants to us to be involved in the stories, so we understand the Kingdom...on earth as in heaven. We need to embody the redemptive imagination of the Kingdom. We need to be living, breathing these stories in our daily lives. I need to live the Good Samaritan, I need to live the radical scandalous unending love and forgiveness of the Father...and I need to be as wild in my invitations as the King. How big is my table?

I can believe in the Kingdom...but, until I embody and live what I believe, I will not reveal or build the Kingdom. Until I learn to live the imagination of Jesus...I will not see the Kingdom.

Projecting Change::Environment...Sustainability

Projecting Change Film Festival:Vancouver BC.

Projecting Change is an innovative organization that focuses on promoting Green and Sustainable Living through the use of entertaining & educational Film. Through the strategic use of engaging films and inspiring speakers we aim to increase awareness and promote change within our local community. Through these efforts all profits are invested back into local initiatives.

BRINGING LIKE-MINDED INDIVIDUALS TOGETHER TO CONNECT, CONVERSE & COMMUNICATE

Projecting Change Film Festival 2008 will feature:

• Four days of film screenings
• Interactive discussions after each film by select filmmakers and industry leaders
• Special events and activites

Each day's films will focus on specific themes: Food & Agriculture, Sustainable Energy Sources, Building Methods, Consumer Goods, Kids & the Environment. Allowing for a structured and focused insight into the issues that matter.

If you go to the Link ( Here ) you can check the diverse and interesting schedule of movies and speakers. Twenty Three films from around the world on environmental and sustainable issues. The sweet thing, profits from the efforts of the weekend will go towards funding local iniatives.

The forecast is for a wet weekend...so here's a great way to spend the weekend. Thanks to my daughter Meg over in Vancouver for giving me the heads-up.

Jesus wants to save Christians....

Rob Bell shares in an interview from the " Off the Map " conference that happened in Seattle earlier in the year. The conversation is around his upcoming new book, " Jesus wants to save Christians." Now, I know for some they'll just see the title, and the hair will stand up on their back, and think it is nothing more than church bashing.

One comment Rob Bell makes is the image of Jesus as a gift...and just what that gift is. It is, Rob says...His body broken and the blood poured out...for healing, redemption, restoration...the new creation. As a church we are that body, and how are we being broken, and how are we being poured out?

Be sure to listen to the whole interview ( here ), probably one of the most challenging and encouraging conversations I've heard in quite awhile.

Thanks to Mike Todd over in North Vancouver for the heads-up.

Hospitality...the dominant gene of community DNA

I'm not the first to coin the term " Communal DNA ", but it has become an image that has stuck, and a word I use allot more often in conversations around community. DNA is the structure of life...a nice metaphor for the reality of a faith community. It's the DNA that gives the community its identity. It's the because of the unique genetic make up ( values ), that that's what the neighborhood sees when they look at us.

One of the most dominant genes in the communal DNA must be hospitality. Rather than being something that we try to achieve through strategy, a program, or a community task...it has to become a way of life. We can almost talk about it as a " Rule ", not a ritual...a rule is like a gene spliced into the communal identity. After a while it becomes so unconscious, that it is lived out by everyone. It won't happen over night, it is a process or an evolution...that is slowly relocated into every member of the community.

Hospitality should be understood as a way of life rather than as a task or strategy. It is easy to slip into viewing hospitality as a strategy for reaching new people, connecting and plugging them into the community. But,  such an approach misunderstands the basic orientation of hospitality. Hospitality is not a means to an end; it is a way of life infused by the gospel.

“Hospitality is a way of life fundamental to Christian identity. Its mysteries, riches, and difficulties are revealed most fully as it is practiced.”

“Hospitality begins at the gate, in the doorway, on the bridges between public and private space. Finding and creating threshold places is important for contemporary expressions of hospitality.”

Hospitality, rather than being something you achieve, is something you enter. It is an adventure that takes you where you never dreamed of going. It is not something you do, as much as it is someone you become. You try and you fail. You try again. You make room for one person at a time, you give one chance at a time, and each of these choices of the heart stretches your ability to receive others. This is how we grow more hospitable — by welcoming one person when the opportunity is given to you.–( Christine D. Pohl, Radical Hospitality )...thanks to Brad over at  Missional Church Network for the heads-up.

Hospitality is risky. I love the images of hospitality in the Gospel of Luke because they are triangular. There always seems to be Jesus along side of the person he is concerned about, and then this " third party." An observer, usually ready to point and comment. They invariably have difficulty with whats going on, so they mutter and murmur under their breath.  They do not understand the hospitality that Jesus embodies.

The beauty about the hospitality of Jesus is, that Jesus brings us into a much wider sphere. The hospitality of " Man and God at Table ", becomes a mysterious and divine land scape into which we enter into the redemptive imagination of Jesus. It's amazing how it is said, that when when we welcome the stranger we welcome Jesus. Again it's the world upside down, suddenly the stranger becomes host...and the host becomes guest. In hospitality both host and guest are blessed...and hospitality is evolving within the community. The gene has been spliced and hospitality becomes more visible. People can point and see that hospitality is an identifiable characteristic of the community.

Now onto the practicality of hospitality. Earlier in this post, I made this comment, " Hospitality, rather than being something you achieve, is something you enter, it should be understood as a way of life rather than as a task or strategy.

How do you not make it a" policy, a strategy or an obvious ministry." The way we did it in our community was to plant a seed. Find the most hospitable couple in your community and release them to do what they love doing. And again, we did this all under the radar of community detection. There was nothing written in the bulletin, nothing in the minutes of any board meeting, no power point projection or announcement. The community was oblivious as to what was going on.

So after planting the seed they invited, a couple who they thought might be interested, and then they started inviting strangers for lunch. And more seeds were planted, and it began to spread, and spread...to the point where now there are twenty couples involved. And some Sundays when there are no strangers they invite people they don't know.

The seed planting continues. One of the problems we had initially was identify strangers when they just happen to show up. Well we got the greeters involved. And, I don't like the word greeter, as I have been totally overwhelmed by the greeters in some churches. The experience almost as bad as being confronted by a salesman on a used car lot. So we just have folks that casually hang around the main entrance, as most churches only have one entry way. And, anyone they see that they don't recognize they just " casually " welcome them...rather than try and sell them something of the lot. And then the folks doing the welcoming let one of the people involved in the hospitality aware, a connection is made...lunch invitation at a home is made.

All I can say is it is working, there is something so divinely mysterious in hospitality...something so beyond us, " Hospitality is a way of life fundamental to Christian identity. Its mysteries, riches, and blessings are revealed most fully when it is spliced into the DNA of the community."

skocked, excited, a little scared...Back to the Blues

( Images from last years Back to the Blues Festival in Chilliwack, British Columbia )

A couple of weeks ago we put the finishing touches on our demo cd in the studio. A huge load of thankyou's to Justin Bones of Sailor's Blood formerly Arbutus Trio, who came over and recorded and mixed. We did the music with the band ( Mike Philip, bass; Bill Hardie, lead guitar, resonator, accoustic; Kevin Sundberg, rhythm guitar, accoustic; Me, drums, percussion ) live from the floor in one take...and mixed the vocals in later with ( John and Gail Bones ). All of us...aka " Dr. Bones Blues Project."

We mailed the cd off about to weeks ago...and heard back last night we made the cut. So, we're scratching our heads, a little bewidered, thought it would be nice, but...didn't really expect it to happen. So now we look forward to three days in July, to hang out with some really good musicians, listen to some good blues...and some great fellowship.

You can  check out the details of the Back to the Blues Festival here...lots of good onsite camping. And, I'll be setting up a myspace site for the band, for anyone interested in having a listen. And one last thankyou...to the folks on the streets in Victoria, down at the Seed, that did that...constantly planting seeds of encouragement.

And for anyone wondering what the " Dr. Bones Blues Project " tastes like, you can have a listen here.

Oh, yah...and Dr. Bones says, " God's perscription, take a daily dose of the blues for what ever ails ya."

in search of a round table...

A table that is round.
It will take some sawing
To be roundtabled.
Some redefining
and redesigning,
Some redoing and rebirthing
of narrow long Churching
can painful be
for people and tables.

It would mean no daising
and throning,
for but one king is there
and he is a foot washer,
at table no less.
And what of narrow long ministers
when they confront
a round table people,
after years of working up the table
to finally sit at its head,
only to discover
that the table has been turned round?

They must be loved into roundness,
for God has called a People
not "them and us".
"Them and us" are unable
to gather round; for at a round table
there are no sides
and ALL are invited
to wholeness and to food.

At one time
Our narrowing churches
Were built to resemble the Cross,
But it does no good
for building to do so,
if lives do not.
Round tabling means
No preferred seating,
No first and last,
No better, and no corners
For the "least of these".
roundtabling means
being with,
a part of,
together and one.

It means room for the Spirit
and gifts,
and disturbing profound peace for all.
We can no longer prepare for the past.
To be Church,
and if He calls for other than a round table
We are bound to follow.
leaving the sawdust
and chips, designs and redesigns
behind, in search of and in presence of
The Kingdom
that is His and not ours.

(Chuck Lathrop)

thanks to Maggie Dawn...