the Weary Pilgrim

change...fearing the enterprise will crumble

A church is exploring the idea of an " alternative " service. The challenge, will alternative be anything more than a change of day and time. Will it be the same template with some slight editing...louder, more hip, maybe contemplative...candles,bells and smells. We like to think that traditionalism is those " liturigical " folk. The question is, sure numbers may be increasing, there is a sense of success...the program is working. But...the fear, we want to do something really alternative...but what happens if it doesn't work???

"Tradition is the living faith of dead people to which we must add our chapter while we have the gift of life. Traditionalism is the dead faith of living people who fear that if anything changes, the whole enterprise will crumble." -- Jaroslav Pelikan

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 

missional ...transformation

“Being church” is first and foremost about nurturing the understanding that this is how things really are – even if the way we behave and the way the world looks to us often suggests something else. Church isn’t primarily about projects, meetings, fine buildings, grand ideas and great deeds. There’s nothing wrong with such things – if they really do embody God’s unconditional love. But if they are simply about our need to boast, to be needed, to neurotically “do something”, then they risk missing the point catastrophically. The point of the kind of community we call “church” is to develop the type of worship, common life and shared purpose that will continue to sustains us in living out Christ’s sacrificial love in every aspect of life, even when the going gets tough.

Hope in the triumph of a good able to achieve real change, to turn our grasping world inside out, is not a matter of individual aspiration or wish-fulfilment. It requires a community of character – people trained, through prayerfulness, through human service and through genuine mutuality (what we rather piously call “fellowship”), to go on enduring, in spite of everything. Such endurance becomes possible not via the superhuman efforts of a few spiritual athletes, but through the recognition of us plain, ordinary people that we are empowered by a promise and a possibility that goes way beyond our own capacities – one residing nowhere less than in the heart of God.

“The world is overcome not through destruction, but through reconciliation. Not ideals, nor programmes, nor conscience, nor duty, nor responsibility, nor virtue, but only God's perfect love can encounter reality and overcome it. Nor is it some universal idea of love, but rather the love of God in Jesus Christ, a love genuinely lived, that does this.” Bonhoeffer's Meditations on the Cross

A love genuinely lived by a people joined to Christ for the sake of the world. That is the church and its mission in a simple phrase.

Thanks to Simon Barrow @ Ekklesia

instrument...or obstacle

If we want to be on a mission with God we simply must pause long enough to understand how God is on a mission. Only then can we know with some degree of certainty that we are aligned as his instruments and not misaligned as his obstacles. ( David Garrison )

The Mustard Seed...in My Father's House

This scene from the movie " The Blues Brothers " sort of sums up last Saturday evening at the Mustard Seed inner city church. We knew something was up right from the very start, people just seemed a whole lot more agitated. Usually there is 100-120 people show up, living in poverty, homelessness, addictions and mental issues, but Saturday there were over 190 people...not including dogs and cats. And then throw into the mix, we had new servers that evening. The food just wasn't coming fast enough...for some it was the first meal of the day. So there was yelling, shouting and screaming, usually it never gets to that point. But tonight, the whole place was like a washing machine on the agitation mode...tumbling and bumping.

We prayed over the meal, for love, care and protection over this collage of humanity from the inner city. You get an image, that maybe these are the guests the servant brought back to his masters table when the invited guests didn't show up because of their excuses. This is church...not peaceful, with fragrant incense...it was noisy, with the stench of poverty. But you really sensed Jesus was here with us...praying, blessing, hugging, kissing and weeping. 

At one point the noise was getting a little out of control...that we should be playing behind a chain link fence. We prayed and talked about homelessness, that Jesus was in fact a homeless man, and how Jesus talked about his Father's House...the openness. No matter what your condition, what you've done, where you've been...the door is always open. Then we sang this song.

Slowly it was almost as if a gentle breeze blew throughout the gathering. One after the other tables became silent, the listened...there was a hush. There was some tears, uncontrollable sobbing, holding hands and hugging. And we prayed, prayed and prayed.

He is so faithful, in the midst of the chaos, our clumsy efforts...all we did was to try and get out of the way leave Him some room, a seat. Jesus always has away of showing up when we least expect it...usually in the midst of poverty and suffering, and always when there is hunger.

( Later, we would find out the cause of much of the agitation was due to bad cocaine on the street...and that there were 3 overdoses that night. We could see a couple of fairly well dressed guys, at the end of the evening standing outside the Mustard Seed...likely preying on the least of humanity )

knowing less...loving more

AS APPRENTICES [of Christ] we are … unskilled, unformed, undeveloped. The good Master will present us with tasks just beyond our reach, tasks that build on our strengths and challenge our weaknesses, and he will stand by us in our clumsiness as we learn. Our ignorance and mistakes put us into a searching, inquiring mode: How can we do this better? Are there others who could give us tips? Have we understood the instructions? Being an apprentice means starting, quite honestly, where you are rather than where you should be.

- Robert Corin Morris ,Wrestling with Grace: A Spirituality for the Rough Edges of Daily Life

It's funny, well into this journey for close to 40 years, I actually know less than when I started, if that makes any sense. There are a mere few things now I am absolutely certain of and one of them is " Love."  That is how we live on the rough edges of everyday life. From 1 John, chapter 3...

God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we're free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ's. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.

We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.

If anyone boasts, "I love God," and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won't love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can't see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You've got to love both.

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. 

at the cross road...lost in translation

So, on the weekend I'm listening to someone talk about how in the coming years the church and Christians are going to bear much hardship. I'm thinking, well, if we carry on doing what we're doing...yep, that's the truth. Church numbers will continue to dwindle, enrollment in bible colleges and seminaries will continue to drop and more churches will have financial difficulties. The hardship won't be from the message of the gospel...or from persecution...it will be because we've bought into the same culture, the same economy and the same empire.

Lost in translation...that's where were at. It's like Jesus was speaking a foreign language ( which he was ), and we had to translate it so it was understandable. In doing so, THE GOOD NEWS, is nothing more than a sales pitch for a better life...a philosophy...a more social conscience.

Last week, I shared this quote by Walter Wink about wrestling, and the Holy Spirit being there the whole time strengthening us both. How much do we let the Holy Spirit strengthen us...and just let Jesus speak to us afresh again. Jesus said if we have the eyes to see and the ears to hear the knowledge of the Kingdom of heaven would be given to us.

Maybe it's time to spend more time immersing ourselves in the Gospels...listening to Jesus...seeing and hearing the Kingdom. Do we really need to have the voice of Jesus filtered through that of man? Do we need some one to put a lens over the scenes in the gospel to create a more comfortable cultural image?

Read it...look at it...the scenes are vivid, and clear...and his voice left people in awe. If your having problems understanding, pray for the friend, the counselor that Jesus promised...go to your room, pull out your mat and wrestle...the truth will come.

It becomes startling clear in the gospels that Jesus pitched his tent in the midst of the messiness of humanity...the unacceptable, the oppressed. There were no boundaries, no borders, all lines of exclusion were erased...His table an open invitation. We read and we see the Kingdom, Jesus says, " I only do and say, what my Father is already doing and saying." How can we ignore that reality...how do we distort the voice of Jesus, how do we filter the life out of such images.

Thats why I say we are lost in translation, we've downloaded our version into our culture co-opting a mere glimpse of the Kingdom with the power of earthly empires.

When Jesus called together his band of stumbling misfits, his message wasn't for them to hang in there until the Godhead decided to pull the final curtain on the stage of life and picking everyone up at the front door, taking them home.

Reading the gospels, you just might get the crazy idea that the Kingdom was about Now...as much as it was about the future. You could get the idea that Jesus was in favor of outrageous hospitality, and scandalous forgiveness and grace...where the last were first, where those that did a half days work got paid as much as those who worked all day...where the sinners where saints. Small radical communities that were criticized for there extravagant giving, for accepting the wrong people...for pouring out grace as if it were free. Also reading the gospels you might even come to believe that the sacred could be found outside the temple, in back allies filled with dumpsters and dirty syringes, and skid row hotels. That glimmers of light could be found in the darkest places of the world.

We don't need to translate the gospels, use a lens to filter their images. We need to live them. The more we live them...the more the Kingdom becomes visible. And when the Kingdom becomes visible it will subvert the empires of the world.

Jesus in the Gospels, says we will do even greater things. Well, as a church we need to immerse ourselves in the gospels again, and pray earnestly for the same Spirit that brooded over creation, the same Spirit that filled Jesus, the same Spirit that resurrected Jesus from the grave...if that Spirit does not fill His church, it is dead.

We don't need a better, a more cultural understandable translation of the gospel...we need to be transformed into the gospel through the living reality of Jesus...and the power of the Holy Spirit. Only then will His will be done on earth as in heaven...thy Kingdom come.

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.