emergent
kiwi
In Liquid Church, Pete Ward takes a deep swim in postmodern waters. While many are just trying to dog paddle, Ward explores ways for the church to incarnationally flourish in our contemporary culture. At times the theologian in me wonders if Ward’s theology is so liquid he ignores Divine person, and thus the importance of gathering. At times the practitioner in me wonders who will fund Pete’s dreams. But the insights around spiritual desire and the creative and missional possibilities around shopping for meaning are worth the price alone. It is a provocative book in which the missionary heartbeat is undeniable. The book is well written. It is concise. It handles well. If you’re serious about being church in the postmodern world, it is worth taking the plunge.
liquid church
Coming:
Olive Drane, creativity and the image of God
Christchurch, January 04
Going:
Taylor's to Chch, Jan04
Church and Society, Auckland, Feb04
Stuff I've written:
Celebrating a Postmodern Pentecost
Sketching a postmodern missiology
Romeo/Juliet/altworship
DJing salvation
Piglet reads the Bible in a postmodern world
Coupland/community
cultural
wildflowers
1 Peter:mysogynist
or feminist
New generation/new
millenium
Church
in a global world
My further reading
art and spirituality
church ministry
postmodernity
Generation X
popular culture
gospel and culture
faith in aotearoa new zealand
Conversations that enhance me:
andrew jones up close
small ritual
douglas rushkoff
jonny baker
God-n-
club culture
paul fromont
darren rowse
Christian greenie
God-n-club culture-2
human in london
intellectually gritty
rachel cunliffe
jordon cooper (mentioned my blog 3x)
mark barkaway
Interview with:
Archives:
June 2002
July 2002
August 2002
September 2002
October 2002
November 2002
December 2002
January 2003
February 2003
March 2003
April 2003
May 2003
June 2003
July 2003
August 2003
September 2003
October 2003
November 2003
December 2003
January 2004
Friday, February 28, 2003
Blog changes
I've added a list of my "comings and goings"
I've added visuals to "what's on the stereo"
I've added a few more new blogs that have potential.
Thanks to rachel for the insertion of a stray "\" in some a-stray code.
posted by spirit2go team at 7:23 PM
Enjoying ..
Aotearoa dub.
posted by spirit2go team at 5:17 PM
Thursday, February 27, 2003
heading home
We leave Dunedin today, driving to Christchurch. We fly to Auckland on Sunday. My goals were to write 3 chapters and spend time with family. I've written 3 chapters, sent in a book proposal and spend time with family. It's been a simple existence. It's been a focused and productive existence.
But we're looking forward to friends and coffee at Ultra and creative Graceway community. Bring on home
posted by spirit2go team at 2:26 PM
Sanctus/fying dinner invite
One of the neat things about the emerging church is the global networks. John Drane emailed me this week to let me know that Ben Edson, from sanctus1 in Manchester, was coming to Auckland.
I emailed Ben and he's said a tentative yes to another of the infamous Steve and Lynne Missional Dinner parties - a rolling conversation of wine, food and reflection on mission and ministry in a postmodern world. The first one included one Mr Hirsch drinking too much red wine and declaring that no Christian could have a mortgage or live in the suburbs.
Date to be confirmed, late March or early April. Open invite, so if you want to be nourished, complete with a santus/fying UK perspective, let me know.
posted by spirit2go team at 1:48 AM
What makes a website postmodern?
Janet is doing a degree in communications at the University of Queensland. She emailed saying how she loved the Graceway website and that it was the first local church website she’d seen that was postmodern. (I designed the site so at this point in her email I purred like the proverbial pussy cat.)
I then asked her what she thinks makes the website postmodern.
1. The front page - no reference to being a "church" - just seeking the development of spirituality - breaking away from the "institution" mindset and narrative (or is that metanarrative!)
2. The pictures, representing spirit as wind, fire etc. - very interesting - not using traditional iconography, but all reflective on what you are saying - inviting people to seek further. (Lots of interesting semiotics in there!!!)
3. The poem - what a beauty
4. Your statement about the church - succinct - says all it needs to. You have used phrases which ring a connection with postmodern thinking - the Ancient Church ... - a sense of connection with the past, but pulling ancient truths (appealing to New Age thinkers, people looking for a connection with the past for stability) into today's society.
5. Your sermons - ummmm well what ever you call them, and the church service outline. They really give an idea of the church, before attending it. - talk about doing things outside the square. –
6. Love the advent images. - outside the normal images, reflective, and makes you think.
What do you think? What does make a website postmodern?
posted by spirit2go team at 1:36 AM
Tuesday, February 25, 2003
What would Jesus eat?
Darren, found a book called - What Would Jesus Eat? , "Based on a biblical and historical study of what Jesus ate, as well as scientific research on why these particular foods are ideal for healthy living, What Would Jesus Eat? is the ultimate program for eating well in the twenty-first century. Now, this companion cookbook helps readers to creatively and practically incorporate these foods into their own diets."
It reminded me of a book idea I've always had. Working through Luke a few years ago, I was struck by how often action happens around food; Levi at banquet, sampling wheat, Jesus annointed at dinner, 5000 fed, Martha and Martha, Pharisees house, heaven as party parables, lost parables, Zaccheus repentance, Last Supper. Quite a list. For Jesus, ministry often occurs around food. I'd love to write a sort of "postmodern" Bible commentary on Luke, complete with recipes. Lots of dishes to try as you "eat" your way through, or into, the ministry of Jesus.
Lynne's famous mussels entree
into a saucepan place garlic, cream, white wine.
add scrubbed mussels and shredded parsley
cook until mussels open
serve with crusty bread and friends
read about a rich fool who focused on preparation rather than the riches of life and laughter (Luke 12:13-21)
posted by spirit2go team at 11:26 PM
Monday, February 24, 2003
Making progress
1. Handed in another thesis chapter over the weekend. I'm left with one more chapter to write, plus one to re-write. It feels good.
2. There are some developments on the publishing front and I've drafted a book proposal. Please pray for a miracle ...
3. I've submitted a funding application in response to an invite to speak at CMS and Kings College, London in May. Again, please pray ...
posted by spirit2go team at 7:53 PM
Sunday, February 23, 2003
Etching creative memories
Place is important to my spirituality. I tend to look forward, to be dipping into tomorrow before today has closed its eyes. I have to work at looking at my feet, to recognise where they are standing and where they are pointing. It's part of me being earthed, being grounded Christian in Aotearoa New Zealand.
As a way of etching a spirituality of place and memory, when I visit significant places, I try to take a memory. It might be a leaf from a walk, a stone from a West Coast beech, a postcard from a cafe visit.
If it's a long visit, my partner (Lynne) and I look for an artwork . Something that captures the place. Something that will help us etch memories into our spirituality.
This week is my last week in Dunedin. Yesterday Lynne and I brought a painting by Pauline Bellamy. An etching of purple landscape, gaunt black, telegraph pole, rugged hill and wharf, out by Otago Peninsula.
It will help us remember the family weekends exploring the Otago landscape, the vibrancy of my doctoral output and the creativity of this Dunedin phase.
thanks be to God
posted by spirit2go team at 11:57 AM
Friday, February 21, 2003
35 and with mud in my eye
In mark 8 Jesus rubs mud in the blind man's eye. He sees people like trees walking. Jesus acts again and he can see.
In mark 8 Jesus asks "who am I". Peter coughs up with Messiah. Jesus tells them what Messiah really means. Two sequential stories of Jesus in process with people.
This was the reading on my birthday - 35 - half way to maturity. I'm head down in a thesis, so there's lots of mud in my eye and I need clarity. I'm head down in emergent ministy and there's lots of crap in my eye and I need clarity. I'm half way to maturity and so much of my theology is only half-baked and I need Jesus to keep telling me what the Messiah is about.
God
gently be at work on my mud and chaff and half-formed theology
this year,
I pray.
And then to aid clarity I went to ..
posted by spirit2go team at 2:18 PM
Thursday, February 20, 2003
Authority figures
In what ways might culture seduce our ministries? John Davies adds "authority figures". He writes from his blog in Liverpool;
"authority figures" - That's one "seduction" I'd say to Steve Taylor we need to watch out for. Then John raves about his new archbishop ... "Not Williams, though. Warm and seemingly relaxed in his own, and our company, his take on the church's authority to represent God in the world, is to ask the questions,
- Does it look as if were listening to God?
- Are we a people who look like we're being converted?
What makes the church credible in conversation with the world around us, Williams says, is that we show that we're "willing to face the fact that we are not God, that we live "transparent lives", which are "grateful not smug": A church that radiates gratitude has authority. It is serious ... but not too serious ... about itself. Our business is to allow ourselves be transformed into people who can be believed, the church is to allow itself to cease being seduced into being a policeman and instead to concentrate on "letting God through How far away all that is, from a Ómindless pursuit of numbers, growth and programs. How liberating. Words of a great, and humble, leader.".
Thanks John (or was that Rowan)
posted by spirit2go team at 11:19 AM
Wednesday, February 19, 2003
35
In this Dunedin town, a stranger
Alone on my birthday, a danger
"Could you join me", I think
"Share a quiet birthday drink?"
Eureka Bar, 116 Albany Street
Thursday 20th February, 5:15 pm
posted by spirit2go team at 2:24 PM
Tuesday, February 18, 2003
In what ways might culture (whether modern or postmodern) seduce our ministries?
Pakaso commented:
… Proud polemicism
... busyness, the need to be productive in a very cultural/business sense.
The second one, the need to be productive is interesting. Take for example liquid church, which encourages the church to be fluid, to move beyond the congregation, to produce, yes produce, websites and CD’s etc. So does this “ posmodern” way of being church encourage activism? Just ruminating.
posted by spirit2go team at 7:07 PM
Monday, February 17, 2003
Todd Hunters fan club clap loudly
That guy is just amazing. I feel humbled and privelaged that he has been my church planting coach for the last 1 1/2 years. The guy has poured his life into me, a nobody, and is doing it for others as well. I have so much respect for him, and the decisions that he has made. He's one of my favorite people in the whole world. - email from Mark Palmer.
As I blogged yesterday, his question;
In what ways might culture (whether modern or postmodern) seduce our ministries?
is a beauty.
posted by spirit2go team at 11:24 PM
Sunday, February 16, 2003
Saddest blog entry I’ve ever read
From Todd Hunter: As I woke this morning and the soon-to-be article popped into my mind, I thought of a different aspect: I wondered "why" so many of us are on this upsetting journey of letting go of almost everything we've know regarding church?
I once asked Eugene Peterson "why do you supose my generation of pastors messed things up so bad" … He said " most of you guys were not willing to be seen as unsucessful in the eyes of your peers, which in your era meant a rather mindless pursuit of numbers, growth and programs ran by professional manigerial types … thasnk to the sociologists of religion, I now know that the celcbrated approaches to "church growth" I employed my whole life do not wrok--don't even come close--to making the kinds of disciples the "idea leaders" of my life, the scriptures, God's Story and now I, envision.
This guy has given his life to ministry and now sits their beating himself up about his cultural complicity. As well as admiring his vulnerability and courage, it leaves me with a some questions for all us so-called postmodern ie this generation of pastors;
What might cause us to “mess up so bad”? What in postmodern (cf Todd’s modern) context might seduce us?
I have a hunch that as we reflect on such questions; Todd’s ministry might well become gift, not sadness.
posted by spirit2go team at 2:28 PM
Ups and downs
Saturday - one of New Zealands more embarrassing sporting moments, as Team New Zealand pull out of the America's Cup after 10 minutes with 6 tonnes of water on board. It gives that sinking feeling.
Sunday - one of New Zealand's greatest sporting moments, as we beat South Africa at the Cricketing World Cup by 9 wickets.
posted by spirit2go team at 2:15 PM
Friday, February 14, 2003
Home
O Lord, you have always been our home - Psalm 90:1
God as kitchen; provider, nourisher, delighter
God as dining room; communicator, catching up on day's events, renewer of friendship
God as study; thinker, reader, researcher
God as toilet; cleanser, purger
God as bathroom; preparer, waker
God as bedroom; relaxer, restorer, pleasurer
God as porch; sender, welcomer.
Now this would make great alt.worship/art installation. Hire a house, provide a range of spiritual exercises around the images in each room ...
posted by spirit2go team at 1:56 PM
Thursday, February 13, 2003
Braided hair
Bob Carlton emailed, finding my braided river spirituality an " extraordinary image". And he suggested I check out braided hair on 1 giant leap. Free download.
posted by spirit2go team at 4:07 PM
Such fun
Every now and again I wonder if the gospel writers wrote with a huge grin on their faces. I was struck this morning with the play around the verb "to speak"
The man's speech impediment was removed
he began to speak
Jesus ordered the people not to speak
they spoke
- excerpts from Mark 7:31ff
I have a good friend,someone whom I admire immensely, who has stopped "speaking". Her faith is now too deep, too important, to reduce to cheap words. She is sick of the way Christianity has been reduced to mere words - empty, vacuous words - that often deny the reality of the Christ. Her response to a culture that bombards us with words, with soundbites, with information, has been to stop speaking of Jesus. Now would Jesus speak to her and encourage her in her not speaking?
posted by spirit2go team at 3:53 PM
Tuesday, February 11, 2003
The Braided and the blogs
Blogs are funny things. You fire your thoughts out there and wonder what readers are thinking. In December I blogged about Braided rivers. I likened my spirituality to a New Zealand braided river; a stream of small fingers that meander over a bed, sometimes up to a kilometre wide. The streams entwine as they please, moving year by year. The banks contain the flow, but give wide opportunity to roam. And so how I feel the Spirit surrounds and guides me, but there’s a lot of room to roam.
But there was very little comment and so I wondered what the reader thought. Were you yawning, nodding, scowling?
Over the weekend I got an email asking if my braided river image, which was "very postmodern", could be used in worship at Graceway. Sort of like a postcard from Steve, blogging in Dunedin, being used at Graceway. Wow. It was really nice to know that what I blog was spiritually useful to someone.
What was even more interesting was that I was yacking with a friend over the weekend. He's being burnt by fundamentalism and was trying to integrate his deep and growing spirituality with his very negative experience of Christianity. And as we yakked we were driving up a braided river. (Check out a picture if you want. Not this exact one, but sort of beautifully similar.)
And I talked about the braided river image. Which he found helpful. And added an aspect I'd never considered; that the fingers of the braided rivers do at times flow back over old ground. So some of the "rejected" spirituality might come in useful down the track. Sort of like the ancient/future metaphor.
There we are. Braids and blogs. Flowing back over ancient spiritual ground, back over old blogs.
posted by spirit2go team at 5:54 PM
Monday, February 10, 2003
The sound of spirituality
I was absent from the Graceway leadership annual retreat. I got the notes yesterday. One of the orientation exercises had been a time to reflect on the "sounds of church". People were asked to think about what sounds described Graceway. Now what an interesting exercise. A very different way to reflect on group life.
For the record they included -
'click' = water saving/use of hall...
'story' = attention grabbing power - kids, Simon Brown, sharks
'tapping' keyboard = communal text
live performance = Roger White
'sigh' when kids leave = adult time is precious, reflect/listen without disturbance
sliding chairs = :(
toddlers tantrums = :(
random genre of Cock & Bull music = community
Music/CD's at Graceway = expression of people
barstool 'scrape' and mic 'doff!' = involvement, kids
slide projector 'hum' = media
'shusssh' of dishwasher = community - essential/menial tasks
What would yours be? What are the sounds of your spirituality?
posted by spirit2go team at 11:29 AM
Traveling companions
I was walking in a family group over the weekend. My 8 year old cousin was helping my 3 year old up these big steps. Suddenly my 8 year old charges ahead. My 3 year old turns, disorientated, arm still upraised, searching for someone to help here.
I suddenly thought about death and separation. And about disorientating this is. You're so used to walking together, comfortable with each other's stride and pace, able to get up the steps of life together.
I reached down, and my 3 year old turned, confident again, hand in my hand, and strode up the next step. And so the importance for all of us of travelling companions, of people who walk beside us.
Thanks God for Graceway, for friends, for family, for fellow bloggers.
posted by spirit2go team at 11:24 AM
Sunday, February 09, 2003
Reflecting
A few years ago I wrote this liturgy for Waitangi Day. It got published, so it must be sort of OK.
Waitangi Day,
where Maori and Pakeha wanted to be one,
hoping for security,
dreaming of biculturalism.
We who are many are one body.
Ka whatiia e tatou tenei taro (Maori translation)
Communion,
where God wants us to be one,
hoping for restitution,
dreaming of full and final settlement.
We who are many are one body.
Ka whatiia e tatou tenei taro.
Communion [RAISE BREAD]
Take this and eat it. This is my body.
Jesus, broken, that we might be one.
Communion [RAISE CUP]
Take this and drink it. This is my blood.
Jesus, broken, that we might be one.
We who are many are one body.
Ka whatiia e tatou tenei taro.
Waitangi Day - Divided Day
We hear protest from our margins.
We hear the rage of the disillusioned.
Communion
And so we are God's body,
caught in the projection of bread and wine.
We are bringers of peace. We are messengers of hope.
Communion - brokenness that we might be one.
Take this and eat.
Take this and bring peace.
Communion - brokenness that we might be one.
Take this and drink.
Take this and live hope:
ALL: We who are many are one body
posted by spirit2go team at 1:37 AM
Wednesday, February 05, 2003
Bi and multi
Today in New Zealand is Waitangi Day. We reflect upon a treaty signed between two people's: Maori and colonial settlers, that ceded sovereignity to the Queen of England in exchange for their protection.
Its a contested document - what was really meant by the differences in languages, what was really understood by both groups signing it. And what of its relevance today, in a multi-congregational society. At various places in New Zealand today there will be protest and dissent, anger and accusation.
Its a day to reflect upon what it means to live as different people in one nation. It's a good thing, that we have this space to protest and think. So I'm off (to reflect, not protest) ...
posted by spirit2go team at 1:26 PM
Tuesday, February 04, 2003
And that mark palmer still likes me
He writes of emergent downunder;
How many more times must I reference this blog before you just make it a regular stop for yourselves?
I must buy him a beer when I'm in the US next.
posted by spirit2go team at 4:44 PM
Monday, February 03, 2003
The most insightful book about the tarot that I've ever read
Reviewer: A reader from Findhorn {editors note Findhorn is the largest New Age community in the world, about 500 people), Scotland
As a spiritually searching person, I think I must have read just about every book on the tarot there has ever been - and then some. I started this one thinking there could be nothing else to learn. Man, was I wrong! Right from the first page it's distinctive and different, and by the time I got to the last section of 'spiritual exercises' I was really into it. Every chapter is just overflowing with new insights, not just into the tarot and its history and meaning, but into the meaning of life itself. In addition to that, it's easy to read and helpfully illustrated. I've only come across one of the three authors before (John Drane), but I'll certainly be looking out for other books by them all. These guys are definitely something special! They've helped me tune into myself, and I have to say, into a new experience of God, that I think will change my life for ever. I've been around a bit, so I know what I'm talking about. I can't recommend it highly enough.
posted by spirit2go team at 11:57 PM
Word for today
I'm surprised. I thought I would have had some feedback on some of my findings about tarot cards. But narry a comment.
I'm wondering about adding a "tarot" word for the day. If you look carefully on the left of the website, you might have noticed that the "graceway" image is different each time you visit or hit "refresh". So I'm thinking about doing a similar thing with tarot cards. Scan in the pack with biblical images. (please note - only biblical images). Write a brief blurb about each image. Call to "Word for today". Then when you visit each day, you will get a randomly dealt "Biblically based", word for today.
Sort of a "quiet time". Would that be helpful for you?
posted by spirit2go team at 11:48 AM
Sunday, February 02, 2003
Off
The mains have been shut off. Six work-men are gathered around talking, pointing, poking with shovels. The air is still and silent. The trees glisten wet and sparkle in the sun.
posted by spirit2go team at 6:57 PM
Bursting
The workman have been resealing the road outside my office window. They've just burst a water-main. Water is surging over 5 stories high, roaring, splashing over my window. Gravel has twisted and snaked all over the road. The sun shines through arching a gentle rainbow about 3 stories high.
posted by spirit2go team at 6:54 PM
The name of the Rose
Just finished reading this novel by Umberto Eco. Penned in 1980, various people consider it an example of “postmodern literature.” It’s set in the 14th, century, narrated by a monk.
The beginning was promising. It was meant to be based on a recently discovered ancient text that promptly was lost again. So there’s some lovely play with reality and text; is this really a real text, and are we really reading what’s lost.
By the middle I wasn’t so sure. How could a novel set in 14th century monastic life be postmodern.
By the end I was totally convinced. The monastery lay in ruins, burnt to the ground, the texts of the library, collected and copied through centuries, mere ash. It’s a poignant symbol of the collapse of the church. Equally, the intellect and reason of the main character in fact ignite the circumstances that turn the monastery into ash. So the rationalism of modernity is undermined and proved pointless. The narrator finally returns to the burnt out monastery and collects fragments of the burnt texts. He binds these fragments together and uses them to guide his life, always aware that these fragmented texts are indeed meaningless.
So its delightfully postmodern – metanarratives of spire and reason proved pointless, fragmented texts collected and employed, but similarly fruitless.
A lovely book, delightfully written, skillfully woven, a windo onto the contemporary unease over church, text and reason.
posted by spirit2go team at 12:17 AM