the Weary Pilgrim

(Extra)ordinary vision...

Just so you know I'm still kickin', I thought I would post this part of an e-mail from Fred Peatross:

If the church is going to turn the corner on the consumerist twist it finds itself caught up in, it will do so because leaders involve themselves in building a culture of the ordinary evangelist (a faith-community niche). Jesus’ apprentice is not going to be formed through Sunday morning sermonettes, drama, worship teams, or edifices fit for comfort but through clear, intentional teaching that says evangelism is forged through a process of salvation. And ordinary attempts are the turning points. Now, here’s something you might not know. Every Christian makes ordinary attempts. But Christians need to be made aware:

 

• They need to understand that the process of ordinary is as important as the event of salvation

• They need to understand how significant and important their role is in the process of salvation

• Christ wants them to know! The vision must come alive!

 

Teach it! Practice it! Talk about it every time the community

gathers!

 

It’s time we rally around a niche and there is none more important! Make your Sundays a time for ordinary stories among ordinary Christians! Culture building…until Christ comes back! So…Do we invite the missing to our environment? Or follow Jesus’ mandate to “GO” and walk with them in their environment?

 

Road stories are crucial. Like the early Christians, we need to, once again, become known as people of the way. How?

 

• By walking with and listening more to what the people Jesus misses the most have to say

• Drop the infamous slogan “We hate their sin but love the sinner,” and actually get to know and become a fellow sinner’s best friend

 

If we really desire to reach out to this culture, we’re going to have to become like the spies Joshua sent out and boldly walk across our faith borders and engage the land God wants to give us. It’s time we break out of our Christian circles, stop the busyness of church, face outward, take a look, and experience the world beyond the borders of our community gatherings.

 

letting it read you...

"We come to a biblical text, raising questions about its relevance to our present daily lives, only to find that the text questions us about our relevance to the way of Christ.

...The thick impenetrable nature of these texts may be by conscious design. A difficult to understand text catches our attention, begs for attention, and engages our natural inclination to figure things out. On the other hand, the texts may be difficult, obscure, and distant simply because they are talking about what is true, whereas most of what we live is false."

-Will Willimon, Pastor 

I have to be honest, there was a season early in my journey where I just read scripture...edited, cut and pasted. It led to a pretty comfortable faith. I did nothing more than download my edited version of the word onto the harddrive of my brain. Faith was not even faith, nothing more than building blocks of knowledge neatly packed in a box...the lid, tightly sealed shut. It really led no where...a dead end street. 

Then something weird happened, sort of like Psalmist talking about " deep calling to deep ". The biblical text started reading me, or should I say the inspiration, the wind that inspired it's writers started to read me. It's a little un-nerving to discover relevance is'nt about me...it is all about the way of Christ.

With the building blocks of knowledge scrambled around my feet like rubble...I discovered I was a lie. But, now, I could embrace every thing; the difficult, the obscure and the distant. The things I couldn't understand, the difficult passages that left fragments and holes, I embraced with faith, rather than belief, if that makes sense.

But having the text read me, to undo me, moved me beyond myself to Jesus. It became faith, it became a journey. Deep calls to deep; the breath of God, Holy Spirit; ... " Christ in me ", as Paul would say..." I will write my laws on their hearts." Having the text read you, is discovering the Living Word within, and being able to live and walk from that space.

Being read...have you?

"We come to a biblical text, raising questions about its relevance to our present daily lives, only to find that the text questions us about our relevance to the way of Christ.

...The thick impenetrable nature of these texts may be by conscious design. A difficult to understand text catches our attention, begs for attention, and engages our natural inclination to figure things out. On the other hand, the texts may be difficult, obscure, and distant simply because they are talking about what is true, whereas most of what we live is false."

-Will Willimon, Pastor 

the collision with Jesus and sacrament...the fusion of mission

This is why we have often been at sea in thinking the Eucharist as first and foremost the representation of Christ's passion. You can see why: ' Do this in rememberance of me ' says the Lord as He breaks the bread and pours out the blood. That clearly brings the Passion to mind. But the more we focus on the Eucharist as the representation of the Passion in and of itself, the more I believe we lose that sense of the Eucharist as the act of encounter with the Risen Christ. ( Rowan Williams @ Trinity College, May 2002 )

Not to prove the Archbishop of Canterbury wrong, I decided to perform a random survey. Following a communion Sunday, during coffee I tossed out the question, " What does the Lord's Supper / Eucharist mean to you?"

Most peoples answers hinged on Jesus dying for their sins, and forgiveness. So, I'm wondering, when Jesus said, ' do this in rememberance of me ', have we been as Rowan Williams says, ' been out to sea in our thinking.'  

Brother Randy made the comment in an earlier post, " the fusion of mission and sacrament seem to be on my mind as of late." Man, I love that...in physics fusion is the release of incredible energy. I truly believe when Jesus says, ' do this in rememberance of me ', it wasn't to be thimble and wafer, a toast to a friend that took our place on death row, saving us from a death sentence. The spiritual reality behind the table and meal, us colliding with the Life of Jesus creates an incredible fusion reaction...a release of resurrection energy.

The sacraments are more about life than death. It is about our invitation and then us...inviting. It is us living the reality of the Lord's Supper. The fusion of mission and sacrament...is what Jesus says in ' do this ', it's living life abundantly.

The invitation to the Lord's table, to be at peace with God and to be a child of God is not determined by religious ritual performance, or even orthodoxy...it is determined by whether you believe Jesus when he tells you, God welcomes you. This is the redemptive imagination of Jesus, if you accept the invitation and welcome, anything is possible...if you don't, nothing is possible.

Sacramental living can be upsetting to some, it can be miraculous, an incredible dinner party and a time of redemption and restoration.

" Do ' THIS ' in remembrance of me." Don't try and turn it into a memorial like you wanted to do on the mountain when Jesus appeared with Moses and Elijah. As Peter was babbling, a light-radiant cloud enveloped them, and sounding from deep in the cloud a voice: "This is my Son, marked by my love, focus of my delight. Listen to him." The " This " is the redemptive imagination of Jesus. It is sacramental living...living constantly in the invitation and welcome of God. This is the spiritual reality, truth and power behind all things missional.

Have we forgotten that many of the resurrection stories pivot around invitation and welcome. Jesus invites himself into the locked upper room after his death...he then invites his disciples who have abandoned him to make him there guest. " Have you anything to eat ", Jesus asks. I love this beautiful divine redemptive waltz, first Jesus leads by inviting himself in....and then invites the disciples to lead. Sacramental living lives in this profound space, that Jesus always extends the welcome and invitation of God...and invites us to do the same. It always seems, between Jesus' open and welcoming invitation, and our invitation...that we have to errect something, hoops to jump through, barriers, boundaries...a fine print clause. We need to get out of the way.

How can we forget on the beach. The disciples gone back to there old jobs fishing on the lake, and not having much luck. Jesus calls out from the shore, telling them to cast their nets on the otherside of the boat. They haul in an incredible draft of fish. Peter seeing his dear friend wades through the water to shore. On the beach Jesus invites, welcomes, cooks fish for his friends on an open fire...and turns to Peter, " Feed on my behalf." In other words, go and invite.

Sacramental living in the neighborhood of Jesus...is to live and believe that all the world is welcome...to go and invite. If the world is welcome to God, if my neighbor is welcome to God...then every living moment is a door into God in which the other may be welcomed...then our calling should be clear. This is sacrament...this is the fusion of mission.

Think of in the upper room, the night before Jesus' death. There gathered around the table...traitor; a friend who would deny ever knowing him; a group of followers that stumbled, messed up, who weren't really sure who he was or what his Kingdom were about, but, the invitation... was welcome and open.

Welcome...Come,take and eat...you go do the same.

disturbing...the good news

"The more I read the gospels; the more I try to understand what Jesus and His Kingdom are really all about, the more he has the audacity to come into my life and totally turn it upside down.

He shows me the real gods I serve and worship.
He makes me think about every dollar I spend - who is benefitting from it and how?

He shows me whether my life sustains and enhances His creation...or do I use and abuse, waiting for a new heaven and new earth.
He challenges me to make my children into risk-taking disciples, using thier unique gifts, instead of neat, luke warm, middle-class carbon copies of myself.

He asks me to go places where I am uncomfortable, and to invite people into my house when I’d much rather have a quiet night alone.
He intrudes on my free time and tells me to invest it in the things that matter to him.
He tells me that the politics that seemingly support my interests aren’t necessarily the ones that support his Kingdom.

He shows me church is important...but not as important as His Kingdom. 

Far from being a cosmic Mr. Fix-it, Jesus is taking every priority and ambition that I ever held and - without so much as asking - turning it over like he did the tables in the temple.

The Good News...it's disturbing...it's life changing if you read it...and let It read you. 

missional isn't magic...its (extra)ordinary living

"These signs we call sacraments say to us that the power of the Holy is available to us not by way of magical rites but through the natural channels along which our energy flows for daily living; profound truths mediated through everyday deeds - taking, breaking, eating, drinking, washing and spilling." (Colin M. Morris)

These sacraments of bread and wine...we sometimes loose the profound reality, and the awesome vision of redemptive imagination they point to. It's almost as if we've turned them into a rote ritual, like the secret handshake of a club membership. Bread, wine...Body, blood...broken and poured out. This body, this christ...His church.

Jesus led outside the walls of the city, outside the walls of the temple...the walls of religion. Its is here the sacrifice is made, the body broken and blood poured out. The body is poured out into messiness of humanity.

The sacraments are not the ritual to signify your " IN "...it should ignite the redemptive imagination that it is all about being " OUT ". The sacraments point to the reality that missional living is poured out. Paul exhorts the Galatians, " Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.

Missional is just extra ordinary living...knowing Christ is in us...to break ourselves open...and to pour Jesus out on every moment of our everyday living. Missional is sacramental living...being bread and wine...body broken and poured out.

Tonight...the Prodigal Hours

For those of you who thought you might like to come to "Prodigal Hours" : a mixed media reflection on reconcilation.  It is TONIGHT: 

 

 7pm  in the Stephenson Room,  Emmanuel Baptist Church. 2121 Cedar Hill Cross Road. 

Admission is free -refreshments by donation. 

 

 

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.

 

For those of you who thought you might like to come to "Prodigal Hours" : a mixed media reflection on reconcilation.  It is TONIGHT: 

 

 7pm  in the Stephenson Room,  Emmanuel Baptist Church. 2121 Cedar Hill Cross Road. 

Admission is free -refreshments by donation. 

 

 

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.

 

For those of you who thought you might like to come to "Prodigal Hours" : a mixed media reflection on reconcilation.  It is TONIGHT: 

 

 7pm  in the Stephenson Room,  Emmanuel Baptist Church. 2121 Cedar Hill Cross Road. 

Admission is free -refreshments by donation. 

 

 

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.

Real " life " hero...

Who are your heroes in real life?

Let’s go with Jesus. Not the gay-hating, war-making political tool of the right, but the outcast, subversive, supreme adept who preferred the freaks and lepers and despised and doomed to the rich and powerful. The man Garry Wills describes “with the future in his eyes … paradoxically calming and provoking,” and whom Flannery O’Connor saw as “the ragged figure who moves from tree to tree in the back of [one’s] mind.”

From John Cusack in June 2008 Vanity Fair.

mission...community identity

I've been thinking the last little while around " missional " as being the gene that identifies a faith community. The local faith community is in essence a band of missionaries, and that church and mission are interwoven. So interwoven, that you can not take them apart. The faith community that succeeds in unraveling mission from it's genetic identity...has become a mutation of something far less than Jesus imagined.

An old pilgrim who had worn out many pairs of shoes in the mission field once said, " There is no participation in Christ without participation in his mission to the world." If your in Christ, your in the world...this crusty sage left little room for negotiating.

Mission cannot be something separate from or added to the essence of a faith community. The essential nature that identifies the local faith community is, in and of itself, mission.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer said it best when he noted that, " the church is the church only when it exists for others." This is most prominent when the church is engaged in mission, for being engaged in mission the church lives out its very nature and essence...the called out people of God calling out others to join them in the mission of God.

Johannes Blauw said some years ago, " it is exactly by going outside itself, that the church is itself."

No! we don't need another Pentecost...

For alot of churches following the liturgical calendar, they will be celebrating " Pentecost Sunday ." The day followers of Jesus received the gift he promised, a friend, a mighty counselor...the Holy Spirit. The mighty rushing wind, the tongues of fire...that transformed lives.

We'll probably sing about it, " light the fire again; send the fire; spirit of the living God fall afresh on us, or breathe." We'll lament, mourn the good ole' days...and pray for revival.

So I sit here and I muse Pentecost, I reflect...I read passages in The Message ; Nicodemus, Even Greater Things, The Promise, The True Vine, The Guide, As One, I no longer live ...

I meditate...I search my heart and soul...and I pray.

I don't need another Pentecost, we don't need a revival...I need to be zapped out of this dead life I've been living. Yeah, Pentecost is history...but it also has to be a living reality. Christ lives in me. I need to awaken to the reality. That has to be a living conscious reality...every breath and action must come from that truth. It needs to transform my mind, my heart and soul. Jesus has to become my life...I must surrender and let him live it.

No I don't need another Pentecost...I just need to be zapped from the dead life I've been living.

the danger of the bible...and creating a buffer zone

“The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. ‘My God,’ you will say, ‘if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world?’ Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament.” This from Soren Kierkegaard (Provocations: Spiritual Writings of Kierkegaard).

( ht..to Paul Fromont aka Prodigal Kiwi(s) )