Ron Cole : unplugged, unorthodox, heretic

gettin' the blues theology...

The Gospel Blues a tradition, like the Psalms finds it roots in an exodus story, slaves in a foreign land, injustice, oppression...songs a about a deliverer, a redeemer, of forgiveness, mercy, grace, a promised land...and hope. Music and lyrics foreign, irrelevant to the white middle class church.

James Cone says this, he likens the blues spirituals’ treatment of the problem of suffering to that of the Old Testament books of Job and Habbakuk. Christian hope, he says, “is a vision and promise for the poor, the sick and the weak.” In this regard he excoriates those white theologians who have promulgated a theology of hope based on “theological abstractions” rather than on the sufferings of the oppressed.

A shift from a theology of hope based on theological abstractions...rather than the sufferings of injustice, and oppression.

When we started this band, we knew there would be a disconnect from the church, because for the most part the church is disconnected from injustice, and oppression. Especially, if your a white middle class church in homogeneous suburbia. We, and our music are kept at a distance. They like to hear our stories, and they do encourage us, but, ...do not bring it inside our house.

And that's fine, we envisioned that form the outset. We, the church have a pretty narrow perspective of what worship music is. Most contemporary worship music is about me and God, how much I love him, and how much he loves me, with the love pendulum swinging more towards me. There is a disconnect in our worship music from the cry of the Psalmist, the laments...the struggle against oppression, injustice and suffering.

I think we need that in worship...it connects us to the struggles that are so foreign to most of us. It keeps the love pendulum in balance, not all God, not all me...but the neighbor living in an existence of struggle.

Sadly, I don't think you'll see the Blues in church.  But you'll see it down at The Seed during Saturday night supper, or in the soup Kitchen down at Union Gospel Mission. The folks on the street, the homeless, the addicted, the working poor, single moms and kids, seniors living in poverty...they get the gospel blues.

Maybe your not acquainted with the gospel blues, not many are. I love this from Tom Oshiro listening to us last week, " who would have thought, the blues and the gospel, together. It's the good news, the word...and the blues. Who would have thought!"

Anyways, if you haven't heard the gospel blues, below are some rough cuts of new songs we were working on in the studio last Thursday. There yours to listen to, to download...enjoy. Remember, a as prescribed by the Doctor...a daily dose of the blues, for whatever ails you.

Runaway Soul 26_02
 Caint No Grave 26_02 

 Forty Take 2 + 26_02 
Hard Times Take 2 + 26_02

economic crisis...the church, dragging the dog behind the reality

  

I can't help but look south, across that line that is drawn from coast to coast the 49th parallel as this economic crisis seems to be going viral infecting the working middle class, and lower. We look around most neighborhoods on this side of the line, and think, things are not so bad, lest you live in the heartland of the Canadian manufacturing and retail industry. Our proxcimity, our trade relationship with the US, is like that of a close family, usually a virus spreads through the whole family...we're going to get a whole lot sicker before we get better.

But more than anything what has got my attention is the empty void of response, conversation...or any real voice from faith communities. Again, the church lags behind like resistant dog being pulled forward, almost dragged into the reality of whats going on.

I would think even right now, as even before an earthquake hits, there are tremors that we need to be listening to. Those tremors are social agencies that are being overloaded, being taxed to their limits, bursting at the seams.

The above image is of a city in southern California where home foreclosures, and unemployment have sky-rocketed. These are not your, this sounds crazy to say, your common homeless, impoverished, addicts, mentally ill street people, this is the working middle class. Could this happen in Canada? I suspect in some cities this will be a growing reality as the economic crisis deepens.

But again, my mind wanders back to faith communities...the dog being dragged, whining, behind the tragedy as it unfolds in front of it.

As these tremors are occurring within the fabric of our social structures church leaders need to be ahead of the pack meeting with city leaders, town councils, schools, leaders of social agencies to do some serious strategic planning.

This economic crisis is a crisis of faith for all of us, it has spiritual implications that are weaved into the very fabric of what it is to be human. This just isn't about Wall Street economics, it's time for faith communities to reveal the economics of the Kingdom.

Jordon Cooper...Mustard Seed Sized Solutions

                                       

Jordon Cooper has a recent article, " Mustard Seed Sized Solutions ",  in Next Wave e-Zine about the complexities of homelessness, and social services, and the disconnect churches have in understanding, and engaging them. He says churches are outside of the system for the following reasons.

An awkward relationship with the social gospel. Fundamentalists equate it with liberalism, while many evangelicals see it as secondary mission.

Despite humble roots on the fringe of society, evangelicals have become upper and middle class over time. Part of it is most larger churches are upper middle class and full of people who choose to live in the suburbs to get away from the social problems of the core neighborhoods. It isn't just a quality of housing and financial differences, but a difference in values.

While much of the discussion on poverty and homelessness deals with financial issues, this is often a superficial treatment. It isn't just financial problems that lead people to the streets. There are complex mental health issues that haven't always been addressed and in some cases, the people refuse to address them. Those issues take a lot of time, training, resources and physical presence to overcome and in case you haven't noticed, in times of tough economy, coming up with the money to have a long term presence if you are all not committed to the cause, is a tough, tough sell.

FINALLY TO MANY CHURCHES SEE THE PROBLEM AND SEE THEMSELVES AS THE SOLUTION AS OPPOSED TO BEING A SMALL BUT AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE SOLUTION.

Please read Jordon's article in full...there is much wisdom to be gained for churches that are seriously thinking of how to engage in local social justice issues.

This sounds harsh, but for much of my church experience we deal with the social issues of the inner city with not more than saying, " the cheque is in the mail." We try to treat it rather sterile, from a distance so we don't get infected. I'm not going to name the church, but a friend and I tried to get the church to partner with a small local food bank. What we thought would be an easy sell, turned out to a saga of committee and endless excuses. There was the issue of ownership, the church was insistent that it's banner be flown. The issue that the partner was a non-christian organization. The reality was the church was not big enough by itself, nor had the facilities, nor the experience and expertise to pull it off alone...the existing food bank, needed some resources, staff, and a cash influx. A merger made logical sense. Sadly religious politics won out in the end, a partnership never happened. " The cheque is in the mail."

Again, the church could have been the " light " in that situation without waving a Bible, or denominational flag...just by being a mere faithful servant and presence. It would have had a tangible connection with poverty, would have been able to connect with other agencies involved working with poverty and other social issues. I believe it would have learned more than years of sermons, the depth of the Gospels, and the redemptive imagination of the Kingdom that Jesus revealed through word and action.

Working with the First Nations people on a local reserve north of Victoria what used to make my blood boil was the comment by my evangelical friends, " have you saved anyone yet." I know that Jesus can perform miracles, but if there is some realm out side the box of miracles that would be it. To think that confessing Jesus as your personal savior is going to end instantaneously years of dysfunctional community and family, poverty, illiteracy, health issues, addictions brings your faith into the realm of delusion.

We've been there for just over three years. Most people would look to see what we've accomplished and think nothing. We haven't built a church, or got them into a church. It took almost three years before we could talk about faith. The process is pain staking  slow.

For almost 3 years we listened to stories about the community, their culture, and their history. We played with the youth, they take their sports seriously...broken toe, broken finger and bruised ribs. We met parents, grandparents, the band council and elders, and the health unit on the reserve. We ate meals together.

For 3 years we listened, and built a relationship...we became friends. Their came a point where we didn't have to push, it just evolved to the place where our actions of faith and the Kingdom...became words also. Nothing of this process has been dictated by us, it's more through relationship that they led us to places where we could talk about the issues, and build bridges to connect them with various social agencies to help.

Beware, that this is a long term commitment. I see myself being their for a long time. They are wary of what I call, " looky loo " ministry. Where you drop of a food hamper, maybe stay for an afternoon. They are suspicious of all that. They are looking for relationship, someone who's going to be there through the good, bad and the ugly. 

Another thing that really challenged me over the years was the responsibility of the pastor and the church. I would see a social justice issue in the community and bring it to the attention of the Pastor, or the church and expect action. After awhile it became a cop out...if the church didn't do anything...then I didn't do anything. If the Pastor didn't do anything, well, then I didn't have to do anything.

Yes, social justice is a church issue but "it" can't do everything. But it is my, and your responsibility...it's everyone's. So you yourself, get involved. Or get a few friends and partner with an agency or a church that is tackling the issues of poverty, homelessness, addiction...

I think to when we see these buzz words like Missional Church, we tend to get over whelmed. I love Jordon's idea of Mustard Sized Solutions...think small, think local...planting your one small seed of faith will pay big dividends. Might not increase the size of your church, or add coins to the church offering...but it will vastly increase the size of the Kingdom.

bringing inner city church...to suburbia

This isn't criticism, its awareness to the reality that it is easy to slumber into complacency, numbness when we retreat to our suburban getaways. For most of us, and for many suburban churches there is a disconnect from the inner city. Sure we catch glimpses of homelessness, poverty and addiction through our peripheral vision, or our rear view mirrors as we rush by it, or drive by it, during our shopping or dining excursions to the city. Somehow, the little glimpses over time are just enough to inoculate us, giving us a passive immunity to it's reality.

So on the weekend, to bring awareness to the inner city...to poverty, homelessness, addiction and mental illness, we brought a part of the inner city to suburbia. The event, which we're hoping will be come an annual event was called, " The Mustard Seed...more than a Food Bank ", hosted by Saanichton Bible Fellowship.

More than 20 years ago the Mustard Seed was planted in a prayer closet in a store on Government Street. The need of the under-privileged was so great that the ministry re-located into a building on the lower end of Pandora Avenue. It began its outreach to the community as a church which soon grew to include a food bank, clothing bank, counseling , advocacy service, prison ministry, and street ministry. Since 1995, the new facilities on Queens Street have brought an enlarged dimension to the existing ministries.

The current economic climate will only tax all Mustard Seed ministries due to the ever growing demand. More than 5,000 people use the food bank every month. The tragic reality is that around 1,500 are children. Sadly, more and more, single senior widows are finding their way into the daily line-ups.

So, we can't roll up the sidewalks, streets, and dimly lit alleys and load them into a van and bring it out to suburbia and miraculously set it up. But we can bring images, we can bring some of the people and their stories. And for 2 hours that is what happened. We opened with Chris Riddell, a pastor down at the Mustard Seed with worship and prayer...lyrics and words permeated with the truth of the gospel, that set the stage for the evening.

We heard the story of Bill Ganner, a 12 year addiction with cocaine and heroin, of sleeping rough on the inner city streets. Through being fed, and clothed he received the physical gospel, " I was hungry, I was naked, I was thirsty...you fed, you clothed, you quenched my thirst." Soon he would receive the living word, the truth...the ultimate life that the gospel is. Bill has been up at Hope Farm, the Seeds restoration center up in Duncan for a year now...his life changed.

We heard from Brooke Pepplar through her alternative acoustic folk music. Her music is weaved with the reality of her bother's addiction and living on the street. Lyrics filled with despair, suffering...but also with grace, mercy and hope.

I read the poetry of Al Kirkwood, who describes himself as an " urban prospector ". Al lives rough on the street, spending his day writing poetry, prose and short stories. Al, by the way, road his bike out from downtown to the peninsula. Again, Al's poetry is raw, it is graphic, there is a depth of spirituality that seems to come from where the psalmist would say, " deep cries to deep." It comes from a place most of us have never been, " finding yourself rich, with only a dime in your pocket."

And then there was the Dr. Bones Blues Project, house band for the homeless. We are honored, and blessed to have the opportunity to hang out with this community for Saturday meals down at the Seed. " In my Father's House, you don't need a membership card...you're always welcome in my Father's House." The lyrics of a meal time favorite song.

The tragedy of the inner city is like a cancer, it is growing, it is spreading...it effects the very young and the very old.  But, even away from it as we retreat to suburbia...it effects us. Because if we say nothing, do nothing...it speaks clearly what we think about the inner city.

The Mustard Seed is truly a small seed planted in rocky, hard, and seemingly infertile soil of Victoria's inner city. But even small, through faith it has grown and continues to grow...spreading the gospel into a world of injustice.

Maybe, you've thought, your church has thought about partnering, volunteering, time or money down at the Mustard Seed. What we do for the least...we do for Jesus.

The goal was to bring awareness to the Mustard Seed, its ministries...poverty, homelessness, addiction...social issues of the inner city.

The highlight...this little gathering raised 1,226.62 $

Wanted...Guitar Player

                 Dr. Bones Blues Project 

Our Gospel Blues Band is looking for a guitar player. The famous " Wild Bill Hardie " of the late " Willie and the Walkers " has left us. Bill is moving back to Edmonton to help out is daughters, and be closer to his grandson. We'll miss Bill, his passion, his love of the blues, the unknowing, the constant element of surprise.

So, if you love the blues...and love the gospel...and play electric/acoustic guitar and are looking for an opportunity to play. We aren't into it for the money, as we are mainly the house band for the homeless down at the Mustard Seed, and Wilkinson Rd. Jail. We've played in churches on the rare occasion...but were not invited back. We were invited to play at the " Back to the Blues" festival in Chilliwack last year.

You can check us out here...

Live Blues World

Myspace

You would need to live in the Victoria area and, there is the small commitment of practicing every Thursday evening in the studio at my place. If your interested, and want to talk about it, call me ( Ron ) at 250-479-0887 or e-mail me at ( labmanster at gmail dot com ).

street poet... ( Mustard Seed...more than a food bank, this Sunday )

Gratitude

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.

It turns what we have into enough.

And more!

It turns denial into acceptance.

Chaos into order.

Confusion into clarity.

It can turn a meal into a feast.

A stranger into a friend.

Gratitude makes sense of our past.

It brings peace for today,

and creates a vision,

For a better tomorrow.

by Al Kirkwood...poet, dumpster diver, Victoria BC.

Most will not even heard of the name Al Kirkwood, let alone even seen his face. Like his poetry, Al is unrefined, rough around the edges. The lines in his face look like they have been etched with a chisel, a road map revealing the many years of living rough on the street. Rough on the street, is an alley way, a storefront door way, under the blue bridge...your bag of earthly belongings your pillow, the sidewalk your bed mat. Al does have a routine to his life, he dumpster dives, recycles, sells what he finds and unbelievable, manages to even give some away to those in worse shape.

Al's a saint, with a love for Jesus...and alcohol. He does walk a narrow path, with deep ditches on each side that he tends to fall into from time to time. He is one of the most spiritual people I've met, he practices a kind of monasticism that baffles me.

The first time I met Al was down at The Seed. As our conversation unraveled, Al talked about writing and pulled open his back pack. It was filled with his life, not things...but words. There were note pads of all sizes, scraps of paper, napkins, pencils and pens. They were filled words, the mind, the heart and spirit of Al Kirkwood. Al spends literally most of his day writing poetry and short stories about life on the street, Jesus, God...alcohol, drugs, poverty...very raw. You might even call them, the Street Psalms, as there is dispair, sin, betrayal, pain, suffering, but there is also grace, redemption and hope.

Over the past year, with the help of friends, they've been typing out Al's words, trying to leave them as close to his as possible, with the hope they might be published.

Anyways we're hoping ( fingers crossed ) that Al will come to read his poetry for the benefit Sunday evening for the Mustard Seed. I say, fingers crossed because, remember the path with big ditches on each side...one never knows. Anyways, if Al doesn't show the honor falls upon me to read his words, and I don't say that lightly. To read the words of a poet, is read something that is deeply apart of them...most of Al's words come from a place I've never been.

So as I said above, there is a Mustard Seed benefit fundraiser this Sunday...here's the details.

The Mustard Seed...more than a food bank

Sunday February 22nd from 6:30pm til 8:30pm

Saanichton Bible Fellowship

( church ph.#- (250)-652-6311 or 652-6344 )

2159 Mt. Newton X-Rd.

Saanichton, BC

( Map )

For contact info: John and Gail Bones (250)-652-4002

The Mustard Seed...more than a Food Bank " An evening on awareness of what the Mustard Seed is all about. Stories, faces and places around the many diverse ministries of The Mustard Seed Church, an inner city church in the heart of Victoria. Into the evening we’ll weave the blues, alternative folk, poetry and more.

Cost: donation, all proceeds to the Mustard Seed Ministries

two way traffic...the Kingdom, and the world

Daryl Dash has some very thought provoking quotes from John Frame's book, " The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God."

It is arbitrary to insist that theology be written in a formal, academic style. Rather, theologians ought to make broad use of human language - poetry, drama, exclamation, song, parable, symbol - as Scripture itself does. (p.85)

The work of theology is to proclaim the old ideas of Scripture and nothing else. But the work of theology is, indeed, to proclaim those old ideas to a new generation. This involves application, and that demands newness, since every new situation is somewhat different from its predecessors... (p.340)

There is a great need for imagination among theologians today. There is a crying need for fresh applications of Scripture to situations too long neglected, for translating the gospel into new forms. The artistic gift may be well employed in the theological profession. (p. 343)

It was somewhere in the early years of the third century, the church father Tertullian mused, " What has Athens have to do with Jerusalem?" His question articulated the challenge that faced the church in his day and throughout the centuries since then. What relationship does the church...do Christians...have with culture.

For Tertullian, this question centered on the relationship between philosophy symbolized by Athens, the home of Socrates and Plato...and faith, whose home was in the holy city of Jerusalem. Tertullian answers his rhetorical question with a resounding " Nothing!"

Tertulian viewed the culture surrounding the church of his day as dangerous. This is the space that gives birth to the heretics. He added, it was a culture that was unnecessary. What need have we for curiosity since we have Christ.

A good question, but I can't help thinking, maybe Tertullian came up with the wrong answer.

A Christianity closed up in itself might be safe from heresy. For that matter, life without curiosity might even be safe. But such a Christianity, and such a life might also be suffocating, and stifling...so closed off that it becomes totally irrelevant, and has no connection to the world that surrounds it. Further, it's worth consider the impact of Tertullian's view on apologetics...and our own view on apologetics.

An unengaged approach to life and culture leaves the Christian with little ground in common with the non-Christian. The with drawl from engaging the world stymies finding inroads and connections for the gospel.

A church without curiosity, with out engagement to culture cuts off from learning anything from others who just might have something to teach us. I'm not saying the church become the culture of the day. I'm saying engaging the culture is a two way street, the church does not control the traffic flow, the conversation flows in both directions. We find common ground to speak the gospel to others, and from others we gain a better understanding of the gospel.

The culture of Athens has a lot to do with the holy city of Jerusalem...and the culture of our day has a lot do do with the church.

This is a paraphrased quote from Bonhoeffer, he said something like, " The Christ calls us to worldliness, to be worldly disciples, he does not mean for us to be accommodated to the world or merged or lost in it. Instead Bonhoeffer calls us to be fully engaged, to be incarnational..to be aware. Such an awareness as Jesus said, " the eyes to see, and the ears to hear ", it is then, we can speak. Such an awareness helps us to see what we would otherwise, due to to our limited experiences, prejudices, and biases...likely miss.

 As Christians, we need the theologians to become artists...and for the artists to become theologians. There is a great need for imagination among believers today. There is a crying need for fresh applications of Scripture to situations too long neglected, for translating the gospel into new forms.

Jesus told stories, parables that engaged people and the culture they lived in, stories about the Kingdom. Jesus not only told stories, he lived the reality of the story...by hanging out, and following Jesus they could see the Kingdom lived out...now...and look forward to the fullness of the Kingdom to come.

The challenge for the church will be to speak into the culture ( of consumerism, injustice, poverty, economic collapse, environmental crisis, globilization, pluralism ) in new way, with creativity and imagination, revealing the Kingdom. But the biggest challenge of the church, will be to live out the words it speaks.

church=risky, experimental living

Many people get easily confused about what ‘church’ is. They think it’s a building, or a religious institution, or a club for people who “enjoy that kind of thing”. It may indeed need structure, organisation and devotees. But it isn’t about them. ‘Church’, rather, is the name of a public space for risky, experimental living – for doing crazy stuff like forgiving others, offering hospitality to oddballs, sharing what we have in common and with others, learning how to live justly, and re-telling key stories of redemption and change. I’m paraphrasing some key elements from the gospels here. The word ekklesia refers to this kind of ‘zone of action’. ( Simon Barrow )

the economy...faithful conversations

The following is from Andrew Jones, from a post titled, " Money, Debt, Recession and the Bible." He says...

I was reading a little on the relationship between the Reformation and capitalism, but not enough to speak fluently and with accuracy. It was interesting to see the Reformer's attitude towards "avarice" and debt and how churches would punish the money lenders for usury that went above acceptable levels - levels that we have seen recently. The church has not had much of a voice in the events leading to this recession [and many churches have bought into it] but maybe the church will speak wisdom into our currently circumstances and offer a way out that is not reliant on more debt, more buying, and more greed.

Ever since the economy started to unravel like cheap single ply toilet paper, it's has been an emotional storm deep deep inside, the place where the psalmist might cry, " where deep calls to deep." The reality is, that even amid the fallen pillars of the global economy, the rubble of greed and consumerism...is something even deeper. The brokenness of what it is to be human is completely lost, the operating system loaded onto our initial hard drive has been corrupted replaced by our own system of operation.

image courtesy Andrew Jones

 The church has not had much of a voice in the years leading up to the recession, but maybe the church will speak wisdom into the current and offer away out that is not reliant on more debt, more buying, and more greed.

Reality number one...we can not buy, borrow, spend our way out of this mess. That is what got us here. Money and science will not save us form our current situation. It won't prolong life, it will just prolong our death.

But amidst the the world's economists throwing gasoline on the meltdown of the global economy, the church needs to enter the conversation. This is about much more than money, it's about humanity. We need to enter the conversation faithfully. There needs to be an alternative world view, something sustainable, something filled with hope, something that engages and captures the imagination of all humanity.

For much of the church there will need to be a theological shift. " We got to get out of this place ", the lyrics of an old song by the Animals, and which we can all relate to. The season of redemption and salvation being a personal event must give way to something cosmic... something hat encompasses every speck of creation. The myth of Jesus dying on the cross for just "me" or "you" has to end.

15-18We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God's original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body.

 18-20He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he's there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross.

On the cross it was not "just" my salvation, or yours that hung in balance. It was all creation...for Jesus is in, and of, and holds it all together...from every galaxy, to every quark. If Jesus spoke creation into existence in Genesis, in the NT and the gospels Jesus speaks the new creation into existence...The Kingdom of God. It is only by us entering into his death, and us dying to the old world, and receiving the same life giving Spirit that breathed creation, raised Jesus from the dead...that we can resurrect, redeem, restore, and build His Kingdom. The alternative world to where we find ourselves now...the Kingdom. For if redemption is about all the broken dislocated pieces of the universe, it will be about the environment, the economy, justice, community.

It will be about much sacrifice, servant-hood, love, our neighbors...global and next door. It will be about sharing wealth, resources and food. It will be about removing barriers of race, and religion. It will be about forgiveness, and more forgiveness. It will be about much mercy and love.

It will be about letting go of fear and anxiety...to dream, and to imagine the Kingdom that Jesus spoke and lived in.

It will be about building His Kingdom now, drawing others in to build with us...and at the same time pointing to the Kingdom that is to come.

Maybe, just maybe the church will speak wisdom into our current circumstances.

recovering dangerous memory...

Prophetic imagination, or prophetic dreaming, keeping visions alive, is what stimulates diverse groups forming society into becoming a culture of life, a biophilic, life-loving culture, to use an ecological term. It is also an authentic dimension of being and becoming Church. Together with the power of dangerous memory, these two activities are at the heart of a theology of hope. For prophetic imagination is outrageous—not merely in dreaming the dream, but in already living out of the dream before it has come to pass, and in embodying this dream in concrete actions.

Source: The Outrageous Pursuit of Hope

Some say it is the end of Christendom, that the vessel we call " church " has been taking on water for years, and despite our attempts to bail and keep her afloat, she is sinking and being consumed by the world and culture she floats in.

I could make a list of the self-help projects we've done, and are still doing to make church attractive...but, I wonder. Have we as faith communities lost our power of dangerous memory. We've lost the reality, that our story is mysteriously weaved in the lines and between the lines of God's story. Somehow there is a disconnect, a radical editing, writing our own stories...more like a reality TV show as we fumble from episode. But it need not be that way.

How many churches spend time in the words of the Old Testament prophets? It's there we find our dangerous memory. It is dangerous because it always involved change, and because we have so much invested in the old way of life.

As faith communities we tend to live inside our comfort zones. We put our trust in what we've built, even sacred things like our faith communities.  I'm not saying church is bad, I'm saying when we live in dangerous memory, we dream and live the prophetic and redemptive imagination of God. Ironically when Jesus first calls his disciples it wasn't away of something bad. They were probably family guys try to make an honest living. But Jesus calls them into the redemptive imagination of God's Kingdom.

So we return to the words of the prophet. Ultimately the prophet could be called God's decontructionists. So if we think about decontructing church, it might be wise to return to the dangerous memory of the prophets words. They had the uncanny ability to stand above the faith communities time line and see its past, present and future. Through the imagination of God, like radical street poets there words creatively revealed the communities life in the stories of the past, the darkness of the present, and the glory of a yet to be lived future.  It leads the community into repentance, redirection, reconstruction...to let go of fear and find grace...and return.

More than ever faith communities need to recover their dangerous memory, reboot the hard drive and go back to the prophetic imagination of God. We can continue the crazy reality TV show of deconstruct and reconstruct, change for the sake of change...religion for religion's sake.

Recovering our dangerous memory will always lead us to the hope and reality of God's Kingdom. We become his people, heirs, the community that dreams and reveals, redeems, restores...and builds His kingdom on earth now.