Ron Cole : off the map...navigating life.

the glory of the Kingdom...

It is the duty of Christians to create the kingdom of God on Earth among our brothers. This kingdom will exist only when we all have enough to eat, when our children, brothers, parents don’t have to die from hunger and malnutrition. That will be the ‘Glory,’ a Kingdom for we who have never known it.

              Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala

As children of God, who are our brothers and sisters. Interesting, on the cross as Jesus dies bringing to life the redemptive imagination of his Father's Kingdom. He says to his Beloved disciple John to take Mary to be his mother, and for John to be her son.( John 19: 24-27 ) To be a child of God is to know that we are all created in his image, to know ultimately we are are mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters. That all humanity incredibly exists within the boundaries of this family...there are no outsiders. In the Kingdom there is no gap, justice, grace, mercy fill that space...we become one and live as one. There His glory shines forever.

global unrest...inner storm

Strangely from the very early stirring of the winds of this global storm, of economics, of environment, of injustice, fear and mis-trust...there was something very spiritual. It wasn't just morality...it was something far deeper. Although despite your religious background, or whether you believe in a God, a creator...as deep calls to deep, something stirrs us back to our embryonic beginnings of what it is to be human.

I am reminded of this quote by Thomas Merton...

We are living in the greatest revolution in history—a huge spontaneous upheaval of the entire human race; not the revolution planned and carried out by any particular party, race, or nation, but a deep elemental boiling over of all the inner contradictions that have ever been in man, a revelation of the chaotic forces inside everybody. This is not something we have chosen, nor is it something we are free to avoid.

Source: Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander

 

dwindling economy...missions in the economy of the Kingdom

Andrew Jones aka Tall Skinny Kiwi shares this today...

If you had a million dollars (and only a million), what would you do to help alleviate the pain of the current economic crisis?

Paul Watson asked this question on his blog a week ago. This his how I answered it.

I would "probably find a way to help the churches and mission organizations retool with an eye towards microbusiness and social enterprise in order to emerge from the recession equipped for long term sustainability. What about a million for 100 10k micro-loans for that purpose? Track all 100 of them and create a community blog so everyone can cheer them on and learn from them.

Here I want to weave into the conversation something Don Crawford shared last week.

                   Freeset Kolkata

This is really, " the economy of the Kingdom ", it's planted in their neighborhoods, it redeems and restores, it's sustainable, there is ownership, they are co-heirs and co-creators in the process. It's a reflection of the parable of the talents, an investment in the multiplication of life. 

In the this down turn, or the crash of finances the first thought that always comes to mind is " cutback." But in the economy of the Kingdom, Jesus challenges us to do more with less. We are entering an era when we really need to be rethinking, and re-tooling they way we do mission. Green, sustainable, renewable resources are not just words of the secular world...they too, are part of the redemptive imagination of the Kingdom.

Word up!!! ....on the financial crisis

From Michael Spencer aka the Internet Monk :

What does the Bible say about our current financial crisis?

Evangelicals who want to know how to pray for our economy and its leaders deserve to hear the Bible’s message for these financial times.

As a result of in-depth study on the subject of Biblical Principles for Financial Success, your Internet Monk can now release to the public the definitive teaching on “What The Bible Says About The American Economic Crisis.”

This is teaching you won’t get anywhere else. Be sure and read it all!

What the Bible says about the Wall Street crisis , read the rest of the entry.

A few people in the comments on Michael's post saw it as humorous, a joke...Internet Monk says this is reply:

I’m not here the argue Revelation. I’m an amill, and I believe the Apocalypse is always describing now.

If a person doesn’t believe that the US is Babylon and are economy isn’t being described here, I don’t think they will ever see the message of this book.

Babylon is the spiritual/economic/cultural empire raised up against Jesus, and he will- sooner or later- bring it down as he will all the world’s economic/spiritual/consumeristic/idolatrous systems.

a time...to trust

I saw this quote this morning over at Len Hjalmarson's site;

Darryl Dash recently quoted Martyn-Lloyd-Jones, and his comment on Mark 8:28-29: “And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’ And he said to them, ‘This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.’”

“Is it not becoming obvious at last that so many of the things in which we have trusted and to which we have pinned our faith, are proving to be of no avail? Now, do not misunderstand me. I am not saying that there is anything wrong in these things in and of themselves….I am not saying that they are wrong, what I am saying is that they are not enough, and until you and I come to see that, and until we see the greater need, we will just continue as we are in our utter ineffectiveness, in spite of all of our efforts, organizing and endeavors…

“We must become utterly and absolutely convinced of our need. We must cease to have so much confidence in ourselves, and in all our methods and organizations, and in all our slickness. We have got to realize that we must be filled with God’s Spirit. And we must be equally certain that God can fill us with his Spirit…We must begin to plead and yearn for it. ‘This kind’ needs prayer. “

Interesting reading the above through the back drop of what is going on around us...men fighting for power to be Kings of Empires, elections in the US and here in Canada. And in the midst of it, the foundations of wealth teeter and crumble. Principles of the their ideologies have leaked in to the church...power, success, wealth, individualist, prosperity...a church of gods.

I'm not crying for revival. I think times are more desperate. Perhaps, ashes, sackcloth...repentance, and a willingness to follow again. We adopt the ways of the world, their principles and philosophy...and ask God to join us and bless it. We don't need another Pentecost, Jesus said the Kingdom was near, among us and left us with a friend, a counselor. We need to wait, listen...plead and yearn, that we would be His people again, aliens, a subversive community of the Kingdom revealing the alternative to earthly empires.

(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.

 

subverting the ordinary...

tr.v.   sub·vert·ed, sub·vert·ing, sub·verts

1. To destroy completely; ruin:
2. To undermine the character, morals, or allegiance of; corrupt.
3. To overthrow completely

Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw are making the rounds, they were in Toronto ( Church of the Redeemer, Bloor Street ) a few nights ago...pimping the movie " Ordinary Radicals ", and talking about subverting the empire. Shane Claiborne has done wonderful work expanding the Kingdom, and God's mission. " Irresistible Revolution ", was a great book revealing the reality of simplicity...that small mustard seeds can grow into great things.

But on every seat...glossy brochures...Simple Way's new magazine " Conspire "; Ordinary Radicals, the Movie; Jesus for President, the book.

The Ordinary Radicals website, a website featuring some of the most highly regarded thinkers in the North American church. Among the names I noticed Tony Campolo –a man I greatly admire. It is hard to overstate my regard for Tony, he has mentored and help shape my faith. The blog is an advertisement for the upcoming documentary and as it lists, features Interviews with: Becky Garrison, Shane Claiborne, Jim Wallis, Brian McLaren, Tony Campolo, Rob Bell, John Perkins, Brooke Sexton, Michael Heneise, St. Margret McKenna, Logan Laituri, Zack Exley, Aaron Weiss and many more Ordinary Radicals. All great people, shaping the Kingdom...but;

I am frustrated by the absolute “un-ordinary-ness” of the people it is about. Alot of the people on the list are international superstars in the christian marketing culture, have been on “The Colbert Report” and CBC's " The Hour ", any number of high profile talk shows and television appearances. Most of the above names are regulars on the conference circuit. They are highly educated and enjoy flexibility and some notoriety. Wallis is the founder of Sojourners, a prolific author, and teaches at Harvard. Campolo " Red Letter Christians ", was a personal adviser to Clinton and a protégé of Albert Einstein. Claiborne is ...irresistible. McLaren the" New Kind of Christian ",is considered by most to be the foremost spokesman for the emerging church. Rob Bell, Nooma Video series, " The Velvet Elvis "...speaker extraordinare.

Subverting the empire: the movie. Subverting the empire: the magazine. Subverting the empire: the book tour.

Sadly we are being subverted from the reality of the " extra-ordinariness " of faithful living. It's not books, magazines, the conference hype. It is those simple acts of faith...stopping and talking, helping, feeding the poor drunken addict you find passed out on the street.

We want to subvert the empire...imagine if we all started living, by simply practicing extravagant love and faith everyday.

the fruit of social injustice...

Christ is not only the healer of individuals. He is also a prophet to the nations. While he walked on earth, Jesus delivered people from paralysis, insanity, leprosy, suppurating wounds, deformity, and muteness. But again, and again in word and deed he returned to the plight of the poor, whose poverty in true prophetic fashion, he considered no historical accident...but the fruit of social injustice.

What would he say and do in our hard and uncertain times, in a world of thirteen, a world one-half of whose children never so much as open their mouths to say " aah " to a doctor, a world in which almost every country is robbing the poor to feed the military?

And would he not pronounce our own nation a greedy disgrace?

Whole cites could live on the garbage from our dumps, on the luxuries we consider necessities. The world with its triumphs and dispairs, its beauty and ugliness, has today moved next door to every one of us.

Only spiritual deafness can prevent our hearing the voice of God in the clamour of the cities. Only blindness of a willful sort can prevent our seeing the face of the Risen Lord in the faces of the suffering poor.

The Glory of God is the human race fully alive, and that means at least minimally fed, clothed and housed.

( William Sloane Coffin 1924-2006 )

Worship...from industry to art

As a musician on a worship team, I share Brian McLaren's frustration. How often do we prepare something for a Sunday morning, that is nothing more than an appetizing meal for the hungry consumer. Why do we avoid the tough stuff? When it comes to pain, sorrow and the utter mystery that sometimes surrounds us...where are the lamentations...songs and cries from the valley? Where is the worship, that comes from the imagination of Jesus?

The Upside of Down...Thomas Homer-Dixon @ Uvic :: Saturday

Saturday May 19th 7:30 pm @ the University of Victoria

University Center :: Farquhar Auditorium                           

Cost :: Free

Details here to resereve your seat

In The Upside of Down, political scientist and award-winning author Thomas Homer-Dixon argues that converging stresses could cause a catastrophic breakdown of national and global order — a social earthquake that could hurt billions of people. But he shows that this outcome isn't inevitable; there's much we can do to prevent it. And after setting out a general theory of the growth, breakdown, and renewal of societies, he shows that less severe types of breakdown could open up extraordinary opportunities for creative, bold reform of our societies.

Homer-Dixon contends that five "tectonic stresses" are accumulating deep underneath the surface of today's global order:

• energy stress, especially from increasing scarcity of conventional oil;
• economic stress from greater global economic instability and widening income gaps between rich and poor;
• demographic stress from differentials in population growth rates between rich and poor societies and from expansion of megacities in poor societies;
• environmental stress from worsening damage to land, water forests, and fisheries; and,
• climate stress from changes in the composition of Earth's atmosphere.

Of the five, energy stress plays a particularly important role, because energy is humankind's master resource. When energy is scarce and costly, everything a society tries to do — including growing its food, obtaining enough fresh water, transmitting and processing information, and defending itself — becomes far harder.

The effect of the five stresses is multiplied by the rising connectivity and speed of our societies and by the escalating power of small groups to destroy things and people, including, potentially, whole cities.

Drawing parallels between the challenges we face today and the crisis faced by the Roman empire almost two thousand years ago, Homer-Dixon argues that these stresses and multipliers are potentially a lethal mixture. Together, they greatly increase the risk of a cascading collapse of systems vital to our wellbeing — a phenomenon he calls "synchronous failure." Societies must do everything they can to avoid such an outcome.

On the other hand, if people are well-prepared, they may be able to exploit less extreme forms of breakdown to achieve deep reform and renewal of institutions, social relations, technologies, and entrenched habits of behavior. This is likely our best hope for a prosperous and humane future.