It’s a Dance link
Was happily excited this morning to see that Glen Reynolds of Instapundit has mentioned my book. Not a big mention, mind you, but I really, really appreciate the note.
He noted a couple of things. One that the cover letter made reference to his book, An Army of Davids, and the second that the book is about the topic of the Holy Spirit in a pub.
Of course, as friendly emaily Todd let me know, this wee bit of attention came when the book site happened to be down. I’m taking care of that right now and in the meantime have forwarded links to my personal site here. While that site has a bit more info, I want to include a bit more here, for those who are new to It’s a Dance.
Glen’s book, and his efforts online, have emphasized how an “army of Davids” can bring radical change to all kinds of fields. This is no less true for religion, and my book touches on two very important aspects of this in Christianity. The first is the topic of the book itself: the Holy Spirit. What Glen Reynolds has emphasized as the many banding together to bring challenge and renewal to human systems is an inherent part of Christian theology. That is the work, we say, of the Holy Spirit. However, discussions of the Holy Spirit have consistently been relegated to the back of the theological line. Reasons for this are many but one big one is that a thorough theology of the Holy Spirit undermines hierarchical patterns and empowers all Christians to take a vital role in shaping both local and global Christianity. In pushing for a renewed examination of the Holy Spirit theologians and ministers are opening the door for what can really be called ‘open source’ Christianity. Those interested in how this affects broader culture might find chapter five especially interesting as it deals with a critique of the religious right and how a thorough understanding of the Spirit leads Christians towards different expression of public interaction and personal understanding.
The other aspect is the particular form of church that I have chosen to highlight in my book. Called the ‘emerging church’ it is a renewal movement that has taken off in the last ten years. There is a de-emphasis of buildings and structure and settled form emphasizing instead characteristics that seek to best reflect the mission of Jesus in bringing hope and renewal. The leaders of this movement have utilized technology in all its forms from the beginning, with blogs, podcasts, and other internet tools helping to bring many from around the world into a shared conversation. It is, in effect, the Christian expression of what Glen has emphasized in other fields.
This is a source for both the setting and the approach. While it is a theology book, it’s not a dry one. Rather, it’s a conversation set up between a reporter, a pastor, and some others, taking place in a pub. Essentially, as I was writing it I had my own questions and objections that came to mind. Instead of ignoring these I made them part of the whole. And thus made it an open, and hopefully continuing, conversation.
Thanks for having a look at it. And thanks again to Instapundit for highlighting it.
Being Missional: Practicing the Presence of the Holy Spirit
It’s all the rage in this postmodern age to be missional. In fact, the words ‘missional’ and ‘postmodern’ go together quite nicely. Not just because one reflects the other, and vice versa. Also because they are the sorts of words people use without really knowing what they mean. Oh sure, people generally use those words with a meaning in mind, but oftentimes it’s a vague sort of meaning, riding the zeitgeist of the paradigm shift, so to speak.
It might be nice to just toss out the term–let it be adopted by church planters and the major presses as being a synonym for what’s new–but that doesn’t satisfy me. It is an important word and a descriptive word that gets to the heart of what we need to do.
In fact, I think this is such a big term that I don’t want to devote just one post to it. But for now I will, because I’m joining in on a big ol’ synchro-blog where a bunch of us are asking “What is missional?“
I’ve read my Newbiggin, and have some interesting quotes from the 17th century Baptist Roger Williams on the evils of Christendom. But there are better folks to lay out those things. I’m going to focus on my particular interest. And with that particular interest I’m going to go ahead and throw out my definition.
Missional means practicing the presence of the Holy Spirit.
For some that might bring to mind images of dancing around to lively music, speaking curious phrases that most no one can understand, and other attributes of Pentecostalism. But that’s not what I’m talking about. Pentecostals are fine, don’t get me wrong, and their global explosion over the last century certainly suggests an empowered mission far beyond most other representatives of Christ. Yet, being missional is a lot more than empowered worship. Because the Holy Spirit is about a lot more than putting on a show for us. Being missional means participation in the mission of God, and the missionary of God to us now, to all of us in the church and outside the church, is the Spirit.
What happens in Acts 2? They are in a room praying. The Spirit comes. Tongues of fire appear over their heads and tongues of men are spoken aloud. That’s where too many people stop reading. However, the chapter continues. The church doesn’t stay in the upper room. They go out, out into the streets where people from all the nations are gathered. Peter preaches, and the church grows. They go out, people come in, a continuing rhythm of transformational growth.
A great chapter. But for this post I want to emphasize two other passages in Acts that even better get at what practicing the presence of the Holy Spirit means.
Acts 8:26-40 and Acts 10.
Have a go at reading these passages. I’ll wait until you’ve read them. It’s quite important, you see, that we not only come up with a meaning for missional but that we let Scripture show us what it’s like.
Done?
Back at it. Don’t get distracted by the visions or the dreams or the curious popping hither and thither. Look at the heart of these passages. That is what it means to be missional. That is the practice of the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Where is the Holy Spirit in these passages? Out and about. The Holy Spirit is working in the life of a Roman Centurion. The Holy Spirit is working in the life of an Ethiopian Eunuch.
The Spirit tells Philip to walk towards the Ethiopian. He runs. He not only runs. When he gets there he can immediately understand the passage the Ethiopian is reading and immediately respond to it, with Scripture and teaching. This isn’t a stock script telling the Ethiopian what his questions are. This is having the wisdom and training to respond to exactly where the Ethiopian is at.
Here is the first point of practicing the presence of the Holy Spirit. It insists on a flexibility that is deep enough to respond to any context. Evangelism in the past has catered to the shallow. This is true recently and in history. “Just go to church”. “Here are the five laws of salvation”. Theology and a mastery of Scripture was left to the professionals and almost seen as suspect.
Colossions 4:5-6
Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone.
Conduct yourself wisely towards outsiders. Making the most of the time. Be gracious. Be seasoned. Know how to answer everyone. Wisdom. Efficiency. Grace. Challenge. Understanding. This can sound a lot more daunting than just memorizing scattered verses in Romans. But it is the way of the Spirit, because the Spirit has been and is working in the life of people, preparing the way, inspiring others to plant seeds. Being missional is being like Philip, going and responding, built up in our own depth so that we can respond to the depths of others, where they are at, with what they are dealing with. It is a practice of the presence of the Holy Spirit because in doing this we are looking for how the Spirit has already been working in the life of others. We just fill in the blanks and put words to yearnings and answers to sometimes hard questions.
1 Peter 3:13-16:
Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.” But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared. Be gentle and respectful. Be holy.
These are key works of the Holy Spirit in our lives, as I talk about in my book. Philip practiced the presence of the Holy Spirit and was able to participate with the Spirit’s work in the Ethiopian’s life, a work that is credited for the very ancient Ethiopian church. Philip didn’t need to go to Ethiopia. He needed to go to that Ethiopian. And the Spirit continued to work because Philip was prepared internally in his wisdom and character and externally in his fluidity and flexibility.
With Peter we see the same example. He responded to the Spirit, to go and be where the Spirit was already working, and when he arrived he was able to respond to what the Spirit had prepared. Added to this is another key aspect of practicing the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is in charge. Being missional isn’t about bringing our culture, or our customs, or our habits or preferences. There are some aspects of a life with Christ which are demanded, but very few of these are the emphases that people think of when they think of evangelism or missionary work.
Our goal is not to make people be like us. Our goal is to help people become who they were always meant to be. We aren’t in the business of taking people’s identity. We are to help them see how their identity becomes alive in the power of Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the battery that brings machinery to life, the enlivening presence of God himself. We become alive, really alive, with the Spirit’s work. And so here we see Peter being told to let go of the cultural boundaries, to trust in God’s work that all has been made clean. He is supposed to minister to who they are, where they are, and lead them towards their own fulfillment in God’s work. It is not up to Peter to say whether or not they fit, or to conform them to his own perceptions. It is Peter’s job to go and to confirm what God is already doing.
Being missional means discovering God’s mission in every context. It is not just a telling it is also a listening, and a seeing, and a hearing. By being missional we ourselves become missionized by the Spirit as we learn and grow in understanding God’s work. It is never one-sided. We have our part to share but we always have parts to discover about the Spirit’s pervasive work.
When we are practicing the presence of the Holy Spirit we become dancers. The music is God’s mission in this world, which goes beyond simple salvation and extends into eternal relationship. God is working. Working in places we might never go, with people we might never meet, and in ways we might often not understand. In the dance with the Spirit we become attuned to his movements and as we increasingly dance better with God we dance better with others, teaching and learning, including and discovering in holiness, and outreach, and community.
In other words, when we practice the presence of the Holy Spirit we become truly free and are able to help free others where they are at.
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (2 Cor. 3:17)
Being missional means participating with this Spirit; the Spirit of hope, and life, and wholeness.
Being missional means practicing the presence of the Holy Spirit so that we become freedom fighters.
Listed below are those who will be participating in this global synchroblog.
Alan Hirsch
Alan Knox
Andrew Jones
Barb Peters
Bill Kinnon
Brad Brisco
Brad Grinnen
Brad Sargent
Brother Maynard
Bryan Riley
Chad Brooks
Chris Wignall
Cobus Van Wyngaard
Dave DeVries
David Best
David Fitch
David Wierzbicki
DoSi
Doug Jones
Duncan McFadzean
Erika Haub
Grace
Jamie Arpin-Ricci
Jeff McQuilkin
John Smulo
Jonathan Brink
JR Rozko
Kathy Escobar
Len Hjalmarson
Makeesha Fisher
Malcolm Lanham
Mark Berry
Mark Petersen
Mark Priddy
Michael Crane
Michael Stewart
Nick Loyd
Patrick Oden
Peggy Brown
Phil Wyman
Richard Pool
Rick Meigs
Rob Robinson
Ron Cole
Scott Marshall
Sonja Andrews
Stephen Shields
Steve Hayes
Tim Thompson
Thom Turner
Holiness and the Spirit: A discussion on Romans 8
In the post below I mentioned my conversation with Rob Classen at Two Rivers Church a couple weeks ago. Conversation with him and the congregation. They have been spending a long while going through Romans 8, one of the more interesting chapters on the Holy Spirit in the NT. So, this was a nice overview and a chance for broad response to both my thoughts and to the sermons of the past week (which you can hear here). He gave me some basic questions to help spark the talk, and I wrote out some verse references and basic comments to make sure I didn’t sit there staring blankly, with only a little drool coming out my mouth.
When I say basic comments, that’s it. Just a few phrases jotted down. Those who were there so ran with the conversation I didn’t even need most of my basic thoughts. Unfortunately, I don’t have a recording of that.
So, I’m going to post the basic questions and basic answers.
I’ve never started a meme before. But I’d love to maybe start one with this, to keep this conversation going and see who we draw in. If you have a blog post some of your own answers to all or some of the following, and then let me know in the comments you have a post. If you don’t have a blog, just add to the comments here.
So here we go:
- Why do most people not seem to care so much about the Holy Spirit?
- Why do you think Romans 8 is such a key passage to teach us about the Holy Spirit?
- In It’s a Dance: Moving with the Holy Spirit we read, “Now I realize the Spirit is the only way to move past sin” (p. 114). Can you elaborate on that?
- Some more quotes to consider and discuss:
- “Holiness is about the Spirit” (p. 115)
- “Keep your eyes on the prize and holiness happens” (p. 115)
- In Romans 8:26 we read, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express”. We are told the HS is our intercessor, our translator, and that he prays for us when we can’t. Do you agree that this an important part of the HS’s role in our lives? How do you think this all works in us?
Here’s what I wrote down as brief responses:
Why do most people not seem to care so much about the Holy Spirit?
Don’t know that much. A lack of church teaching. Don’t want to let go and let the Spirit work. The Spirit is elusive to understand and is hard to categorize and put into a handy box.
Why do you think Romans 8 is such a key passage to teach us about the Holy Spirit? In your book you say, “Now I realize the Spirit is the only way to move past sin.” Can you elaborate on this?
The law tells us what sin is but doesn’t empower us to do anything about it (Romans 7). Focusing on sin, whether by sinning or by focusing on not sin or other people’s sins, leaves us trapped in the Law. The Spirit comes to us. And God leads us to what we can do.
Some verses:
Romans 8:12-17
Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
1 Peter 1:13-16
Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
Romans 8:28-30
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, whohave been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
”Holiness is about the Spirit” What does this mean to you?
Ephesians 4:17-24
So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.
You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Romans 8 says this is the work of the Spirit to make us new.
1 Thessalonians 3:12-13
May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.
Romans 8 tells us this is the work of the Spirit.
”Keep your eye on the prize and holiness happens” Can you elaborate on this?
First we ask what the prize is.
Colossian 3:1-4
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
I think of an analogy with running [on my sheet I just wrote 'running analogy', but I'll fill it out a bit more here]. When running up a hill I look ahead, at a spot at the top or at a marker far away. If I’m exhausted and feel like I can’t run anymore I keep my eye on what is ahead, and then say I’ll just go to there. When I get there I find another marker ahead and get to there. Always keeping my focus on some point in front instead of each wearied step.
Philippians 3:12-14
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
The path is walking with God, following the Spirit in our gifts and fruit. 1 Corinthians 12. As we focus on our calling, our hopes, our positive contributions, on Father and Son and Spirit, on the Kingdom, we increasingly have our very instincts and drives changed by the Spirit we’re working with.
Romans 8:5-11
Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
Last Sunday we talked about Romans 8:26 –the Holy Spirit being our intercessor, our translator, and that he prays for us when we can’t. Do you agree that this is an important part of the Holy Spirit’s role in our lives? How do you think this all works in us?
We don’t know God. And we don’t even really know ourselves. We don’t know language to speak or to hear. The Spirit knows us fully, and knows God fully, so we can learn the language of our reality in asking and hearing.
Psalm 42:7-8
Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.By day the LORD directs his love,
at night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.
The Spirit is the counselor. Teaching us about ourselves and about God. Leads us to all truth.
John 15:26-27
”When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. 27And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.”
John 16:5-15
”Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.”
This is participation with God, with others, with ourselves in an increasingly holy way. Or rather, leading us to be wholly who God has made us to be.
God is the whole God, and holistically leads us to true wholeness.
So that’s what I wrote down. Play along if you will. I tag everyone reading this. Here’s the quick questions again:
- Why do most people not seem to care so much about the Holy Spirit?
- Why do you think Romans 8 is such a key passage to teach us about the Holy Spirit?
- In It’s a Dance: Moving with the Holy Spirit we read, “Now I realize the Spirit is the only way to move past sin” (p. 114). Can you elaborate on that?
- Some more quotes to consider and discuss:
- “Holiness is about the Spirit” (p. 115)
- “Keep your eyes on the prize and holiness happens” (p. 115)
- In Romans 8:26 we read, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express”. We are told the HS is our intercessor, our translator, and that he prays for us when we can’t. Do you agree that this an important part of the HS’s role in our lives? How do you think this all works in us?
on religion
I’ve increasingly come to the conclusion that what traditionally marks religion isn’t devotion to God, but rather a strong belief that God doesn’t really know what he is doing.
First a little theology and background:
In antiquity religion denoted the cultic veneration of God. Cicero defined it as the cultus deorum. Religio could sometimes be used of the relation to other people to the degree that a comparable veneration was owed or paid to them. Cicero distinguished religio as moral duty from the taboo-fear of superstitio. This distinction differentiated the Latin term from the Greek threskeia, which embraces all forms of cultic veneration, even those that are excessive or erroneous, and which occurs also in the NT in this sense. Closer to Cicero’s religio is theosebei, which is not closely tied to the cultus. In Cicero pietas is an attitude of soul which in relation to the gods finds expression in cultic acts. Yet Cicero does not equate piety and religion. He relates the latter term much more to rites and their observance. Nor does he call the knowledge of God religio. In his work on laws he describes this knowledge as the mar of differentiation between human beings and animals, but he does not call it religion. Nevertheless, he regards a knowledge of the matter of the gods as necessary to bridle the expression of cultic veneration.
Unlike Cicero, August in his De vera religione (c. 390) stresses that the knowledge of God and the worship of God are inseparable in religion. For him, then, there is a close relation between religion and philosophy. Doctrine and worship belong together. In this regard he appeals to Plato, but he finds the supreme example of the connection of doctrine and cultus in the church. The true religion is to be found where the soul does not worship creaturely things but the one eternal and unchangeable God. IN his own time this perfect religion was identical with the Christian religion whose teachings Almighty God himself had set forth. These consist of the prophetic intimation and historical recording of the saving provisions of divine providence for the renewal of the human race.
By tying together worship of God and knowledge of God Augustine sought to do something very honorable which was to essential combine thought and practice. However, the problem comes in the perversion of this that happens because we really, at our cores, don’t think God knows what he is doing. We invert this order, making our worship of God become a source of knowledge about God, thus making how we want to serve God become the criteria for what we think God wants.
In other words, we tell God what we will give him and then expect him to applaud our service.
Or we think that God has really left a lot out, forgetting maybe what he wants, and that we need to fill in the blanks, and make others follow our lead in doing that.
This is true from the earliest days and is at the heart of alienating religion. That’s why I think Cicero was right to separate the two. If we truly know God we will likely respond to him as we should. But, far too often we want to serve him without really knowing or trusting him. We create forms of worship he never mandated, and then make this worship the criteria of inclusion among his proclaimed people.
Sometimes God does tell us how he wants to be worshipped. He told Moses the clear guidelines. And he laid out who was to be included, how they were to be included, what they were supposed to do and not do on what days. God can be quite specific when he wants to be.
When he’s not specific we can’t be specific for him. Because it’s showing that we don’t know, like, or trust what God has done when he has freed us from those specific forms and giving the Holy Spirit to be the true marker of who is and who is not part of the people of God.
Worship becomes then not only separated from the knowledge of God, it becomes a barrier to the knowledge of God, creating a false knowledge, and false attributes, always enforcing the forms of worship rather than the fruit of the Spirit and the reflection of Christ.
It’s easy to not trust the Holy Spirit’s work in people. Peter could have rejected Cornelius because Cornelius did not match the liturgical patterns of Jewish Christianity (the true Apostolic form). In fact there was a movement in the early church to do just that, something that was addressed in Acts 15. However, Peter would not have been part of the church any longer himself had he done so. The Spirit forms the church, and Peter followed.
So too today. Which is why I have such trouble with so many forms of leadership which mistake form for knowledge and enforce non-Scriptural patterns as being somehow authoritative for God’s demands. That’s why I have trouble with contemporary emphasis on leadership development that emphasizes roles and organizational structure far beyond what Scripture indicates. It creates a cult of personality and emphasize non-Spirit charisma over and above spiritual gifting and Spirit leading.
Religion that doesn’t trust God is found in both the newest and the oldest forms of the Christian faith, and we see this even in the New Testament letters. Paul is writing to churches who don’t trust God and so created their own misshaped patterns that had to be rebuked or adjusted.
God tells us what we need to know and sent the Spirit to teach us all things. That’s not always answering the questions we might have, however, even as we are taught what is necessary. We can in response either trust God and be free in the freedom he has brought, free in diversity and free in expression, worshiping in manifold ways out of the particular knowledge and gifts the Spirit has bestowed. Or we can betray God, enforcing rules not his own that we attribute to him, thinking that our contrived worship is in fact knowledge rather than whim and habit.
Signs of Life
A couple weeks ago I had the chance to preach on the topics in my book It’s a Dance: Moving with the Holy Spirit. It wasn’t recorded, as far as I know. However, this morning I sat outside and got it on video. It’s about 27 minutes long.
Not as Forgotten Ways
Alan Hirsch has a very interesting interview in Christianity Today talking about small groups and touching a bit on his book The Forgotten Ways.
Very much worth reading. This part stood out to me this morning:
I’d like to look specifically at the disciple-making element for a moment. You mentioned in the book that disciple making is a crucial, pivotal element in the process. What makes it so important?
It seems to me that if we fail to make disciples—that is, people who can become like Jesus Christ, which is a very simple definition of discipleship—if we can’t get that right, then in doesn’t matter what else we do because there will be a fundamental weakness in our ministry. The lack of disciples will always undermine any effort beyond that. But if we succeed in developing and creating an environment where people really can become more Christlike, it seems to me that the movement is on, and everything else will have a substantial basis along with it.
The problem is that we are being discipled every day by our culture, and it’s done very profoundly and very well—and I say this with a background in marketing and advertising. There are billions of dollars going into advertising, which is not just selling us products. There’s much more of a religious dynamic going on. So if we as a church or a small group don’t disciple in the way of Jesus, then the culture gets to have the primary say. And I have to say that, despite our best efforts, the culture is winning at this stage.
If I can be a little subversive here–one major, absolute barrier for real discipleship making has been, in my estimation, the significantly higher emphasis the church places on leadership development. Finding and developing leaders has become the primary task of training and pastors in today’s church world, whether in established or in avante-garde settings.
Leadership is about organization. It is about communicating, deploying, managing, inspiring, and otherwise getting people to where you think they need to be in order to do what you think they need to do.
However, leadership does not in any way mean discernment. Meaning that the greatest leaders can lead a whole mass of people into a morass. Discipleship, however, means becoming close to God, restoring the likeness of God in our lives so that we increasingly pursue the Holy Spirit in instinct. When we pursue leadership and leaders, however, we are looking at organization as the world understands it. That’s a big reason the culture is winning. Our best efforts have gone into playing its music and dancing its steps rather than letting go our demand for control and really learning how to trust the Spirit in our lives.
Leadership emphasis has undermined discipleship, even as leadership emphasis seems to be so, so potent in creating enthusiastic participants with passionate ideas. Leadership development mimics discipleship, as often it emphasizes those who are already the most dedicated to evangelism and ministry. It confuses passion for depth, and misses out on the deeper level pervasive impact that the less glitzy discipleship brings along.
Jesus, however, didn’t talk about organizational principles. He discussed the kingdom. He didn’t pick those with the most leadership potential. He chose those who were willing to be disciples.
The Spirit came upon them and led counterintuitive people to do all kinds of counterintuitive things.
out of the habit
I’ve fallen out of the blog habit. That’s not just about being distracted or not having something to say. It’s a change from once noticing something and wanting to note it to noticing something and keeping it to myself. Which is a curious thing because this has coincided with a recent growth in traffic around here. Just when folks show up I go quiet. Go figure.
Being that I am, at my core, self-analytical I step back and notice my recent quiet and wonder what is happening with me. I don’t know off hand, and maybe writing it out might be just the blog Drano (Bloggo? “Able to clear out even your most persistent mental blocks”) that’s needed.
I think I can notice some of the contributory issues. The first came when I was discussing my trip last month to Duke. I had intended to discuss the various sessions I attended and add some thoughts. Moltmann was the primary speaker at the conference but I don’t have too many thoughts about his presentation. My mind was fairly muddled in the crowded evening sessions and honestly, I admit humbly, I didn’t really pick up what was being said. I was more into the culture of the moment than the context and all the words on science/theology slipped right by for the most part. The other sessions were significantly more stimulating and thought provoking.
So much so that I never got around to writing on them. That’s an odd thing to say, I know. But here me out–after a brief, related, tangent.
A little while back my friend Sonja nominated me for a subversive blogger award.
“Subversive bloggers are unsatisfied with the status quo, whether in church, politics, economics or any other power-laden institution, and they are searching for (and blogging about) what is new (or a “return to”) – even though it may be labeled as sacrilege, dangerous, or subversive.”
See, I’m so subversive that I didn’t jump on the bandwagon right away but waited a while. I’ll be subversive on my own schedule, dagnabbit!
But I guess I am subversive. Powerless, so not nearly as potent in my subversion as real subversiveness should demand. But I’m not sure if the ability to actually subvert is necessary for the title of subversive. Authoritarian governments will act on even a hint or word of subversiveness in word, thought, or deed so I guess that’s the standard I’ll submit to in my subversivity.
I’m a little wary, however, about noting this fact–still in my tangent here, I’ll let you know when it’s over–because I’ve realized for a little while I’m the wrong kind of subversive. I’m the kind other subversives don’t like to have around because I find the biggest joy in being subversive of the subversives. I’m a traitor to the cause because I’m not attacking from the position of traditional stances. I’m no Reformed theologian seeking to dismiss challenges to my elegant mansion of cards. I’m the guy who doesn’t want reforming to stop once it gets moving and I tend to notice the distractions of those I think are on their way somewhere more than those who I think have already contributed what they have to contribute.
I get feisty when I see Quakers not being Quaker enough or emerging churches dancing around new terms while illustrating old patterns. Which makes me a little uncomfortable, with myself and with others around me. Because I’m liable to be critical just when everyone thinks they are safe from criticism, among their own kind.
You know how you can tell the real subversives? They all dress alike and like to gather in conferences, lit by the glow of their apple logoed laptops, to celebrate their shared subversivity, nominating leaders by popular acclaim to help them best understand where they might be most effective in subversion this coming year. They also don’t want to be nailed down on specific thoughts, lest those specific thoughts become unfashionable during the next subversion season. A real subversive reads the right books–now helpfully properly labeled as such by our subversive oriented mainstream publishers–and quotes the right thinkers and talks about old traditions and polyorthodoxy and neo-monasticism all while not having not really committed much at all to the actual writings of the past, thus doomed to repeat the establishment that cemented the subversion.
So, I’m wary about being labeled subversive because it takes a lot of money to be properly subversive in all the acceptable ways.
To be sure, it’s easy to be subversive now, what with the multi-million dollar subversive industry helping subversives and subversives-to-be ease into the role, mostly by teaching them how to be entirely traditional in use of power and influence and authority while using catchy lingo and scented candles and name tags slung around the neck.
What does subversive really mean?
According to wikipedia “Sub- is a prefix derived from Latin, meaning ‘under’, ‘below’, or ‘less than’.” So, ‘to subvert’ is to be less than versive or to be below versive. Clearly, we’re getting at something here (and yes, I’ve now made a tangent off the tangent).
Which leads us to think about what we’re below or less than. ‘Vert’, if by chance you have forgotten, is defined according to my Webster’s New World Dictionary as:
1 [Brit.] a) [Archaic] the green growth of a forest, as cover for deer b) [Historical] the right to cut green wood in a forest.
2 Heraldry the color green: indicated in engravings by diagonal lines downward from dexter to sinister
It derives from the Latin viridis which means ‘green’ and more specifically from the verb virere, ‘to be green’. So, literally, to be subversive means being “less than green” and so with that in mind I proudly accept the nomination of being a subversive blogger, because I probably am even more than I allow myself to be (just hinted back at the initial point of this post) and because, as the song says it’s not easy to be green, so I’m just as happy being somewhere below that.
And below that is where I’ve been for a little while, below most everything really, under the radar, temporarily distant from the blog conversation, not chopping at the wood of the forest, green or otherwise.
It’s because of my particular subversiveness I figure (and now I’m getting fully back to the main point I started way above there). I wrote a little on the Orthodox charismatic priest I heard speak at the conference, realizing one of my dear friends and regular readers is now a full member of the Orthodox Church, in love with its wisdom and feeling a spiritual depth that is so wonderful to hear about–she is also being immensely subversive in her context by doing this.
Why would I want to write about my various issues that have kept me off that trail? I wrote, but held back a bit, because I’m fine with being silent, when someone else is clearly finding God in a certain direction. I stopped, however, before I got to write on the session on pacifism, which included Stanley Hauerwas and Glen Stassen. Because I had it in my mind to write a terrible subversive post that brought out some of my particular thinking on the topic of pacifism that would have made not a single soul happy. It would have gone at some of the expressed thoughts of other dear friends, and the long held stance of my publisher. I sat on it for a while, never got around to writing it, restraining myself from subverting those who have been supportive. I subverted my own subversion in order to not offend the subversives who have been welcoming and inviting and friendly to me. I undermined my blogging to not undermine my belonging.
Which is at the root of it. I’m tired of isolating myself. I’m tired of being subversive even if I can’t help to be so in so many of my expressions. I don’t want to be subversive, you see. I want to be a good little Christian who is able to have a nice existential-angst-free job and a decent house on a bit of land, supportive of my hobbies and my burgeoning family. I’m tired of being provoked to theological education in order to find out the poverty-inducing answers myself for the questions that everyone else in my life dodged or didn’t know. I’m tired of making contacts and acquaintances only to be included just long enough for me to say what I really think and then being not included because I am, in essence, not conforming to acceptable subversivity. I don’t want to subvert. I want to belong.
I’m tired of subversiveness, but of course because it’s not my goal but my essence I’m not going to likely change. I can’t help it because it’s not something I’m trying to do, it’s my very self I’m trying to express. I learned at Wheaton that I see things differently than those around me, sometimes in helpful and sometimes in irritating ways. I’m not content with the establishment being established and I don’t feel any ability to let the subversives be free in their subversion. I poke and prod because that’s just how I think. It’s the one quality, I think, that has pushed me farther into theology. I’m not the brightest or the most diligent and certainly not the best at meeting all the right people. I see things in a different, creative, way and in my attempts to earnestly express my notions somehow find myself, again, being below the green and coming up with a unique connections that catch the ear of a a few established subversive theologians.
I very, very much want to belong. There’s rest and peace in that. But I guess I want more to be who I am. I’d rather subvert than conform, even if it means conforming to the subversivity. I’ll subvert the conformation, undermining in my wan way the great and mighty established subversives, in order to hold onto the perspective and pursuit of wholeness and stillness that seems to be the true Spirit sign of rightly located conforming. I will continue to subvert so that I might best conform, even as I temporarily stepped back from expressing my subversiveness because I’m weary of not conforming to the more immediate locations of established subversion.
I wish I could stay quiet more, but I want to speak and talk and interact. I want to conform but the subversion leaks out, just when I’m included I tend to be excluded. I don’t find rest in the establishment or the non-conformists, neither slave nor free, but somehow have this drive to keep saying what is deep within to say even as I often realize it’ll not be ingratiating. Sometimes I blame God for not letting me find peace and participation in any direction.
I resonate with Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 20:7ff:
O LORD, you deceived me, and I was deceived ;
you overpowered me and prevailed.
I am ridiculed all day long;
everyone mocks me.Whenever I speak, I cry out
proclaiming violence and destruction.
So the word of the LORD has brought me
insult and reproach all day long.But if I say, “I will not mention him
or speak any more in his name,”
his word is in my heart like a fire,
a fire shut up in my bones.
I am weary of holding it in;
indeed, I cannot.
Indeed, I cannot hold it in. Though, on a blog I can sometimes try for a little while. And that’s what I’ve done. To rest, to distract myself with happy realities, and to maybe somehow maybe play at being a part even if playing that role successfully means no lines for me.
I’m not sure why this has meant no pictures of birds or scenery or other random thoughts. I’ve gotten out the habit of blogging so the random things don’t immediately drive me to note them. I’ve been stuck, I suppose, between the depths and the shallows, caught on a crag. hanging out with the green.
I’m not sure if this post means a change in that. It all comes down to whether or not I muster up the fortitude to be free in my subversity once more, come what may. I suspect pictures of the birds, for whatever reason, go along with that. I also suspect the ravens that are hanging out near me right now could answer that for sure if I just knew the right way to ask. Otherwise, they’ll just laugh at me because I can’t, quite truthfully, fly.
claiming the Spirit
Kirsteen Kim, writing about the views of Indian theologian Stanley Samartha, intrigues me with the following:
Similarly, he cautioned Christians against assuming that they could always claim to have the Spirit of God, insisting that such a claim is not for us to make but for our neighbors to recognize. Christians, therefore, encounter their neighbors of other faiths with humility, not knowing how the Spirit will blow, but in anticipation that the Spirit will work to lead the participants further into “all truth”. Discernment is intended to recognize the activities of the Spirit, not to control them, and therefore, he argued, the evidence of the fruit of the Spirit must be given greater weight than prior doctrines of the Spirit.
Religion, America, and the world
President Bush welcomes Pope Benedict XIV
PRESIDENT BUSH: Holy Father, Laura and I are privileged to have you here at the White House. We welcome you with the ancient words commended by Saint Augustine: “Pax Tecum.” Peace be with you.
You’ve chosen to visit America on your birthday. Well, birthdays are traditionally spent with close friends, so our entire nation is moved and honored that you’ve decided to share this special day with us. We wish you much health and happiness — today and for many years to come. (Applause.)
This is your first trip to the United States since you ascended to the Chair of Saint Peter. You will visit two of our greatest cities and meet countless Americans, including many who have traveled from across the country to see with you and to share in the joy of this visit. Here in America you’ll find a nation of prayer. Each day millions of our citizens approach our Maker on bended knee, seeking His grace and giving thanks for the many blessings He bestows upon us. Millions of Americans have been praying for your visit, and millions look forward to praying with you this week.
Here in America you’ll find a nation of compassion. Americans believe that the measure of a free society is how we treat the weakest and most vulnerable among us. So each day citizens across America answer the universal call to feed the hungry and comfort the sick and care for the infirm. Each day across the world the United States is working to eradicate disease, alleviate poverty, promote peace and bring the light of hope to places still mired in the darkness of tyranny and despair.
Here in America you’ll find a nation that welcomes the role of faith in the public square. When our Founders declared our nation’s independence, they rested their case on an appeal to the “laws of nature, and of nature’s God.” We believe in religious liberty. We also believe that a love for freedom and a common moral law are written into every human heart, and that these constitute the firm foundation on which any successful free society must be built.
Here in America, you’ll find a nation that is fully modern, yet guided by ancient and eternal truths. The United States is the most innovative, creative and dynamic country on earth — it is also among the most religious. In our nation, faith and reason coexist in harmony. This is one of our country’s greatest strengths, and one of the reasons that our land remains a beacon of hope and opportunity for millions across the world.
Most of all, Holy Father, you will find in America people whose hearts are open to your message of hope. And America and the world need this message. In a world where some invoke the name of God to justify acts of terror and murder and hate, we need your message that “God is love.” And embracing this love is the surest way to save men from “falling prey to the teaching of fanaticism and terrorism.”
In a world where some treat life as something to be debased and discarded, we need your message that all human life is sacred, and that “each of us is willed, each of us is loved” — (applause) — and your message that “each of us is willed, each of us is loved, and each of us is necessary.”
In a world where some no longer believe that we can distinguish between simple right and wrong, we need your message to reject this “dictatorship of relativism,” and embrace a culture of justice and truth. (Applause.)
In a world where some see freedom as simply the right to do as they wish, we need your message that true liberty requires us to live our freedom not just for ourselves, but “in a spirit of mutual support.”
Holy Father, thank you for making this journey to America. Our nation welcomes you. We appreciate the example you set for the world, and we ask that you always keep us in your prayers. (Applause.)
Pope Benedict responds, and greets America with kind and deep words:
POPE BENEDICT XVI: Mr. President, thank you for your gracious words of welcome on behalf of the people of the United States of America. I deeply appreciate your invitation to visit this great country. My visit coincides with an important moment in the life of the Catholic community in America: the celebration of the 200th anniversary of elevation of the country’s first Diocese — Baltimore — to a metropolitan Archdiocese and the establishment of the Sees of New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Louisville.
Yet I am happy to be here as a guest of all Americans. I come as a friend, a preacher of the Gospel, and one with great respect for this vast pluralistic society. America’s Catholics have made, and continue to make, an excellent contribution to the life of their country. As I begin my visit, I trust that my presence will be a source of renewal and hope for the Church in the United States, and strengthen the resolve of Catholics to contribute ever more responsibly to the life of this nation, of which they are proud to be citizens.
From the dawn of the Republic, America’s quest for freedom has been guided by the conviction that the principles governing political and social life are intimately linked to a moral order based on the dominion of God the Creator. The framers of this nation’s founding documents drew upon this conviction when they proclaimed the self-evident truth that all men are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights grounded in the laws of nature and of nature’s God.
The course of American history demonstrates the difficulties, the struggles, and the great intellectual and moral resolve which were demanded to shape a society which faithfully embodied these noble principles. In that process, which forged the soul of the nation, religious beliefs were a constant inspiration and driving force, as for example in the struggle against slavery and in the civil rights movement. In our time, too, particularly in moments of crisis, Americans continue to find their strength in a commitment to this patrimony of shared ideas and aspirations.
In the next few days, I look forward to meeting not only with America’s Catholic community, but with other Christian communities and representatives of the many religious traditions present in this country. Historically, not only Catholics, but all believers have found here the freedom to worship God in accordance with the dictates of their conscience, while at the same time being accepted as part of a commonwealth in which each individual group can make its voice heard.
As the nation faces the increasingly complex political and ethical issues of our time, I am confident that the American people will find in their religious beliefs a precious source of insight and an inspiration to pursue reasoned, responsible and respectful dialogue in the effort to build a more human and free society.
Freedom is not only a gift, but also a summons to personal responsibility. Americans know this from experience — almost every town in this country has its monuments honoring those who sacrificed their lives in defense of freedom, both at home and abroad. The preservation of freedom calls for the cultivation of virtue, self-discipline, sacrifice for the common good, and a sense of responsibility towards the less fortunate. It also demands the courage to engage in civic life and to bring one’s deepest beliefs and values to reasoned public debate.
In a word, freedom is ever new. It is a challenge held out to each generation, and it must constantly be won over for the cause of good. Few have understood this as clearly as the late Pope John Paul II. In reflecting on the spiritual victory of freedom over totalitarianism in his native Poland and in Eastern Europe, he reminded us that history shows time and again that “in a world without truth, freedom loses its foundation,” and a democracy without values can lose its very soul. Those prophetic words in some sense echo the conviction of President Washington, expressed in his Farewell Address, that religion and morality represent “indispensable supports” of political prosperity.
The Church, for her part, wishes to contribute to building a world ever more worthy of the human person, created in the image and likeness of God. She is convinced that faith sheds new light on all things, and that the Gospel reveals the noble vocation and sublime destiny of every man and woman. Faith also gives us the strength to respond to our high calling and to hope that inspires us to work for an ever more just and fraternal society. Democracy can only flourish, as your founding fathers realized, when political leaders and those whom they represent are guided by truth and bring the wisdom born of firm moral principle to decisions affecting the life and future of the nation.
For well over a century, the United States of America has played an important role in the international community. On Friday, God willing, I will have the honor of addressing the United Nations organization, where I hope to encourage the efforts underway to make that institution an ever more effective voice for the legitimate aspirations of all the world’s peoples.
On this, the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the need for global solidarity is as urgent as ever, if all people are to live in a way worthy of their dignity — as brothers and sisters dwelling in the same house and around that table which God’s bounty has set for all his children. America has traditionally shown herself generous in meeting immediate human needs, fostering development and offering relief to the victims of natural catastrophes. I am confident that this concern for the greater human family will continue to find expression in support for the patient efforts of international diplomacy to resolve conflicts and promote progress. In this way, coming generations will be able to live in a world where truth, freedom and justice can flourish — a world where the God-given dignity and the rights of every man, women and child are cherished, protected and effectively advanced.
Mr. President, dear friends, as I begin my visit to the United States, I express once more my gratitude for your invitation, my joy to be in your midst, and my fervent prayers that Almighty God will confirm this nation and its people in the ways of justice, prosperity and peace. God bless America. (Applause.)
“my fervent prayers that Almighty God will confirm this nation and its people in the ways of justice, prosperity and peace. God bless America.”
What a wonderful, wonderful way to end, challenging and complimentary, full of hope and life. I wish so many who have the same heart for much the same causes in this country would see how expressing hope, rather than anger, and peace, rather than disdain, and encouragement, rather than rejection, are fruit of the Spirit and lead to real progress.
Stations of the Resurrection
Christ is risen.
Happy Easter!!
The Stations of the Cross are an important meditation. But focusing so much on that leaves out so much of what we really are about. We’re not only forgiven, we are now free to really begin to live, live free now and through eternity.
In thinking of this, after several years of focusing on the Stations of the Cross as both a physical experience at the church I worked at and as a written exercise I thought it worthwhile to have a go at the Stations of the Resurrection. I’ve heard since there are other forms of this, but as I was going by my own inspiration and couldn’t find guidance at the time I have chosen these fourteen emphases, beginning with Easter and ending on Pentecost.
Someday, given the space and opportunity again, it might be fun to put these into some kind of physical, sensory, experience.
For now… writing and art. Enjoy these Stations of the Resurrection.
He is risen indeed.
