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, March 28, 2003
Incarnation
God so loved the world, that Graceway moved into Ellerslie ... but the place where we worship is cold and echoey and we can't find a better venue in Ellerslie. For the sake of God loving the world, should we stay or go?
God so loved the world, that my friends moved into Panmure ... but my friends feel afraid and they pay miles more rent than their neighbours who think they're mad. For the sake of God loving the world, should they stay or go?
Incarnation .. God coming .. God going .. is easy to say than to understand or live.
Incarnated God
guide me
guide Graceway
guide my friends
posted by spirit2go team at 11:54 PM
Ancient future faith
We live in strange times. The rationalism of modernity is despised by GE protestors. The myth of Enlightenment progress lies shattered among Auschwitz and Vietnam. The fundamentalisms of pre-modernity assault the twin towers of capitalist supremacy. The Western church, carrier of culture and faith for 2000 years, declines, ignored by media, academia and popular culture. Christianity is deemed a syncretism of modernity, an exploiter of women, an annihilator of tribal cultures, a movement of intolerant Crusaders.
We live in strange times. Christians contemplate ancient Orthodox icons to DJ beats per minute. God is loved through Rembrandt, through Green Eggs and Ham, through friendship bracelets. Weblogs create community across ocean waves and date lines. African and Latin American Christians celebrate the simplicity of Spirit-filled encounter.
I want to be move beyond simple dualisms of traditional and emergent, modern and postmodern. I want to be part of reclaiming ancient wells expressed in 21st century video loops. I want the community I’m part of to express God’s incarnated love for this world, 2003, the place where God has planted me. I want my friends to find Jesus.
posted by spirit2go team at 11:48 PM
Thursday, March 27, 2003
Sunday shopping
For God so loved the world ...
Needed:
art image by holman
dub and gender sensitive version of "He's got the whole wide world, in his hands"
little worlds for everyone to hold for praise
world beach ball for intercession
paper mache for building the world
posted by spirit2go team at 12:53 PM
I'd grab it with both hands
Says Dan from signposts blog in my comments. And so, probably would I. But I do wonder what happens if the money stops. Oh, the community funding died. Oh, we couldn't raise the money for the funky art space. Would the group continue? Or is it based on outside aid?
So it's not an either/or. It's an awareness that as we "emerge", we must do so in ways that breathe sustainable life, and not create dependency.
Just one clarifying point. I'm not wanting to create an us and them. I am just trying to think missiologically.
posted by spirit2go team at 2:41 AM
Wednesday, March 26, 2003
Funding
I’ve seen a number of funding models at work over the last week.
Couple X are paid by a para-church agency to plant an emerging church. 3 years guaranteed.
Person Y is seeking community funding for an art collective. Approaching every available group. A spirituality wedded to outside aid.
Church C is advertising on the web. Billing itself as an organic church, it’s after loads of dosh for a funky building. It’s certainly a very expensive way to be organic.
Graceway is supported by Graceway. We had a bit of outside help – about a year’s salary spread over 5 years and that was cool and we were grateful. But by and large our dreams emerge from committed people who dream with us. Equally, our dreams are often stymied by a lack of outside dosh.
Sometimes I get frustrated. I have all these dreams of art collectives and employing spiritual coaches and designers and postmodern monasteries. I’d love 3 years of salaries guaranteed or loads of dosh for that funky art space.
But I also wonder what is sustainable. Should the emerging church really rely on loads of outside help? Will we evolve as dependent on outside help? I’m thinking of the famous missionary thinker Roland Allen, who wanted to cut the umbilical cord of outside help. Self-sustaining, self-theologising, self-funding, he argued. Or does that mean self-struggling, and so self-absorbed and self-limiting?
posted by spirit2go team at 2:18 AM
Tuesday, March 25, 2003
Mushrooms
Lots of ugly stuff on Rachels blog today. Lots of people using peace to make war on each other.
Face it. This is a spin war. All of us are being treated like mushrooms .. kept in the dark and fed ...
We just don't know what's going on.
All I know is what my five year tells me; "I don't like wars."
posted by spirit2go team at 12:45 AM
Sunday, March 23, 2003
Added
I've uploaded the outdoor peace service if anyone wants to have a look.
posted by spirit2go team at 12:40 AM
Friday, March 21, 2003
My joy, my hope
Some of you know that I've got a book proposal with a publisher. Its a popularisation of my thesis, an articulation of the spirituality of the emerging church, written by a younger leader, someone from within the emerging church. (My supervisors think there are 2 books as a result of my thesis; this one and another more academic book). Anyhow, the publishers emailed overnight. They are "intrigued, very intrigued." They want to take it to an editorial board meeting in May and have asked me to supply a sample chapter.
I'm a very happy. I feel about halfway through a 100 metre hurdle race. Behind me are a row of cleared hurdles. Ahead of me, are another set of hurdles waiting to be jumped.
Simon, you know who you are. You are gift.
posted by spirit2go team at 11:47 PM
Steve and Lynne's Missional Dinner
About 15 of us from 3 faith communities gathered to wine and dine and commune last night. This included Rachel and Paul. Very cool when these virtual weblogging communities become flesh incarnated. Guests also included Ben and Ruth from Sanctus, Manchester, UK. So two alt.worship communities from opposite ends of the globe got to compare notes.
As part of the evening, I threw in 4 questions to get us interacting missionally.
1: From Sanctus Website: We believe that God is already in the world and working in the world. We recognise God’s presence in music, film, arts and other key areas of contemporary culture.
Question: Name one way you’ve seen God in the world recently?
2: From Sanctus Website: We are mind, body and spirit people. We aim for our worship to reflect and involve this wholeness and allow the freedom to explore new ways in which to wonder at God.
Question: What does this mean for our spirituality outside a gathered, Sunday, group?
3: From Jan’s work experience: I am part of a law firm that’s goal is to promote the arts. They focus on people, and on nurturing creativity.
Question: How might churches nuture creativity?
4: From Sanctus Website: Experience is vital and experience defines us. We aim to provide an environment in which people experience “the other” .. wondering at God and the human who was God, Jesus.
Question: How might “experience” be encouraged or discouraged by the Sunday environment?
posted by spirit2go team at 11:44 PM
Wet prayer
We peace prayed, outdoors again, last night. The wind blew out the candles. The rain fell and all the service sheets turned soggy. Is this indicative of the distance between our prayers and our current world realities?
5 minutes before pray-off the 3 people gathered were feeling quite small. By the end there were 30-40 people huddled under umbrellas. Friends brought friends. A good number I’d never seen before.
It’s very nice to be publicly reading Scripture and breaking olive branches to the music of U2’s Peace on Earth. It feels very authentically missional.
posted by spirit2go team at 11:31 PM
Thursday, March 20, 2003
Prayer
Bombs started landing on Bagdad about 2:30 pm New Zealand time yesterday. A quick ring around and a group of us gathered publically in the local village square after work (7 pm). We had pre-prepared a short service. We laid out some candles and used chalk to write on the pavement an explanation of what we were doing. We read Scripture, thought about children, lit candles, prayed the Lords Prayer.
It was nice to be public with our faith. A number of bystanders joined us, thanked us or lit candles and moved on. It was beautifully peaceful, with the fountain splashing and candles glowing.
We'll do the same again tonight.
posted by spirit2go team at 1:06 PM
Wednesday, March 19, 2003
I've added a link on the right hand side to a journalist blogging out of Iraq.
posted by spirit2go team at 2:40 AM
Tuesday, March 18, 2003
Outdoor
peace
service
Readings, prayer, music
and symbolic action
In the likely outbreak of war with Iraq, Graceway Baptist Church are holding an out-door peace service in the Ellerslie Village Square (outside the Ellerslie War Memorial Hall)
Time: 7 pm
Date: The day of war
For details, phone Steve on 6222437
posted by spirit2go team at 7:05 PM
Overwhelmed
Have any of you read The Death of Christian Britain by Callum Brown? I did yesterday. I am now totally depressed. He separates Christianity into 4 dimensions; institutional (attendance etc), intellectual, public (church and society) and outward. He adds a fifth, the way in which Christianity shapes people's worldview.
His basic argument is that Christianity in Britian was fine until 1963. In fact church attendances were the highest in 150 years in the 1950's. Even amongst families with unchurched parents, large percentages of their kids still attended church. Christianity shaped people’s worldview and so it was easy for Christianity to survive.
From the 60's, this all imploded. People now have no frames of Christian reference. His book is based on lots of interviews. He observes time and again how people born after 1960 have no words to describe their spirituality and how people interviewing them equally don’t know the questions to ask. People have lost the words to articulate their spirituality. It's gone and will most likely never be recovered.
I knew this intuitively. But to see it there in black and white was devastating. And I have never before grasped how quickly it all imploded. Thirty years. And we're left to do ministry among these shattered fragments. To use a very blunt metaphor (mine, not Callum’s), we are all just pissing into the wind.
posted by spirit2go team at 3:09 PM
Monday, March 17, 2003
Jesus at the movies
I preached/dialogued about the Transfiguration on Sunday. I had woken up thinking about Lord of the Rings and Jesus as a Stryder figure.
You see, the hobbits met Stryder and have to place their trust in him. Just like the disciples, they wend their way on a journey into the wilderness. Atop a mountain, (more in the book than in the movie), Stryder is revealed as the “go-to-power-person”. A man of power and courage. So to, by the time of the Transfiguration, Jesus is the “go-to-power-person”, a miracle-working demon deliverer.
At the Transfiguration, Jesus is revealed as Son and heir of God. Interestingly, this naming is not by Jesus. Jesus never calls himself the Son of God. Jesus prefers Son of Man, and likes obscurity. He asks for silence and withdraws from the crowds.
Now, on the Mount, the voice from the cloud names Jesus Son of God. So to, at the Great Council, Legolas names Stryder as Aragorn, heir of Gondor.
Jesus asks for trust and is at work in our lives. Over time, he is named Son of God in our lives.
posted by spirit2go team at 1:26 PM
The Lord is here
Yesterday I set up the family Christmas present. The hammock swung gently on a blue sky and gentle breeze. I settled in with my cup of tea, my 3 year old daughter on my lap. My Lenten reading suggested the breath prayer "The Lord is here .. His Spirit is with us."
Amen
posted by spirit2go team at 12:24 PM
Friday, March 14, 2003
Being earthed
Dear God
thanks for Shannon and Kayli Anne
thanks for the "sac" that looked after them
thanks that they're now part of our family.
When Kayli Anne and Shannon were dedicated at church, we planted 2 pohutukawas in a pot. The Graceway community threw shells around the pots and they live in our garden, a reminder of community and kids.
The pohutukawas are now in need of a bigger pot and today was the start of the big re-pot. We have kept the kids birth placenta frozen in our freezer. (For all those who have or who will eat in our house, don't worry, it was wrapped by the hospital in two plastic bags.) Today we pulled out the last of the placentas and placed it in the pot.
With their eyes looking like saucers, we gathered the kids and told them about "sacs" in mummies tummies. We told them how special they are to us and briefly prayed together, before placing the placenta in the earth.
posted by spirit2go team at 5:11 PM
Wednesday, March 12, 2003
A good day
Sent in another thesis chapter today. It was a re-write, a 3rd go at a chapter that I've really struggled to pull together.
These ideas are copyright to my thesis and are not to be reproduced. I trust you to do that, OK, so I'm going to tell you that I talked about community and suggested that in a decentred world, with authority figures of text and tradition under critique, community offers us a way to re-frame tradition as other communities who are engaged with the Jesus story. It also offers us a way to reframe how we read the Bible (text).
Nicholas Lash uses a great image of intepreting the Bible as a preformance. The focus is on the group doing theatre, doing orchestra. They follow the text, they consult experts (commentaries, the Greek text) to aid in their understanding. But the text lives when it is embodied and live day by day, with passion and creativity and empathy with the the audience.
So that's a 2 paragraph summary of 15,000 words. I now have one chapter, only one chapter to write. It is a powerful motivating force to be at this stage.
posted by spirit2go team at 11:53 PM
Tuesday, March 11, 2003
Pilgrimage
Quite a lot of interest in this. For more reading try Simon Coleman and John Elsner, Pilgrimage. Past and Present in the World Religions. (London: British Museum Press, 1995) / Marion Bowman, "Drawn to Glastonbury," in Pilgrimage in Popular Culture, ed. Ian Reader and Tony Walter (London: Macmillan Press, 1993) / Erik Cohen, "A Phenomenology of Tourist Experiences," Sociology 13, no. 2 (1979) / Erik Cohen, Nachman Ben-Yehuda, and Janet Aviad, "Recentring the World: The Quest for 'Elective' Centers in a Secularized Universe," The Sociological Review 35, no. 1 (1987).
Some of these are not easy to access. I will try and post some notes over the next few days.
In terms of my writing, I've explored pilgrimage in my phd thesis, which is still not complete. And if my book proposal is accepted, then by all means you can read more. So keep visiting for more details!!
Lisa shared a wonderful story in comments; I'm interested in more on this, or joining the conversation, if that's what's up. I'm a pilgrim too - or at least I went on an extremely long walk. I walked El Camino de Compostela in 1999 - 850 km. I went with a number of questions for God. His questions for me were very different - and far deeper.
She might be interested in Soul Survivor by Paul Hawker. The book is the personal account of a 6 week spiritual journey of solitude in the mountains of New Zealand in pilgrimage of God. "While making the 'outer journey' through deep gorges and over exposed mountain tops, Hawker also makes the 'inner journey' and begins to listen for and co-operate with the 'voice of God.' This is something of a process of trial and error and letting go of the old messages of his faith life to date. This book is about journey and about God as companion and guide. It liberates and expands our view of God's interaction in our lives."
The labyrinth is another example of pilgrimage. When the tourists could not longer visit Isreal, the Chartes Cathedral built a labyrinth as a substitute. I've walked the labyrinth at Grace Cathedral San Francisco. A great experience. Or try the cyber version.
posted by spirit2go team at 2:59 AM
Sunday, March 09, 2003
Tactile evangelism
On Sunday as part of Graceway and the start of lent, we wove friendship bracelets, threading Jesus divinity (purple and the colour of Lent) with Jesus sacrifice (red) with our humanity (brown). (For more see ) A participant looked up an announced, "I'm wearing this to work".
Last week a work colleague had appeared with a thread tied around her wrist. When asked it turned out to be a blessing from the local temple. So this week, wearing a Lenten bracelet, the Graceway participant is hoping to talk about the blessing from the local Lenten journey.
Sort of neat when these tactile spiritual experiences become the stuff of workplace conversation. A very authentic way of being spiritual and missional.
posted by spirit2go team at 1:29 PM
Cyber pilgrims
I've just been rapping with Andrew Jones about pilgrimage. He's been blogging about it. I've been reading and thesis writing around it. Pilgrimage will, I believe, be a key to postmodern mission. There are physical pilgrims - who go on short term mission trips, or who visit communities around the world.
I believe that there are cyber-pilgrims - people who write blogs are recording a journey into the emergent, people who read blogs are listening to a pilgrim journey. Graceway's lenten pilgrim offers to the world a seasonal spiritual pilgrimage.
There's an interesting article by a sociologist that explores how people as pilgrims adopt a range of stances; from a self-absorbed consumption, through to interested comparative sampling, through to seeking, through to genunine conversion. So the way we configure missional church and promote our spirituality needs to honour these wide range of searchers. Resourcing pilgrims and spiritual seekers will include being accessible, journey orientated, hospitable, generous, authentic.
posted by spirit2go team at 1:25 PM
Friday, March 07, 2003
Cool code
Rachel has given me some code, so that the latest entry on the lenten pilgrim blog appears on the top right hand side of this blog. Feel free to read more if you want to use the Lenten pilgrim as part of your journey to Easter.
posted by spirit2go team at 8:37 PM
lenten pilgrim
Grace have started a weblog for lent. Its a brilliant idea, a truly liquid way of being church, of scattered the good gifts of the Christian storehouse across cyber-soil.
It's such a good idea that I've started a lenten blog myself; a 40 day meditation leading up to Easter, with everyone from Graceway invited to participate.
posted by spirit2go team at 1:42 AM
Lent as pilgrimage
Lent is about the journey to Easter. It asks us to consider the spirituality that sustains our pilgrimage. Graceway kick off Lent this Sunday with a real life journey. We’re leaving our normal public occupation of the local community hall and going on pilgrimage to a local mountain (Mt Wellington). We’ll climb and share a picnic. Then, atop the mountain, we’ll consider the Lenten Scriptures – the temptation of Jesus – and the view from mountain top and over our city. We’ll ask the pilgrimage questions – will we use our own strength to sustain our spirituality; will we abuse our spiritual privileges; will we bow to the powers of our culture?
“the Spirit pushed Jesus out into the wild. For forty wilderness days and nights he was tested by Satan. Wild animals were his companions, and angels took care of him.” – Mark 1
posted by spirit2go team at 12:02 AM
Wednesday, March 05, 2003
Ash Wednesday makes the movies
Apparently. Does anyone know anything about this?
"Elijah Wood has returned stateside to costar in IFC Productions' Ash Wednesday. According to Upcoming Movies, Wood will play little brother to Ed Burns' big brother in the indie crime drama. Burns, most recently seen in 15 Minutes, is also Ash Wednesday's writer-director. Wood joins previously announced castmates Oliver Platt and Rosario Dawson. The film has just began shooting in New York City and is aiming for a 2002 release. Ash Wednesday is set in the Manhattan of the early 1980's and is about a pair of Irish-American brothers (Burns and Wood) who become embroiled in a conflict with the Italian Mafia. Posted by Strax for http://www.filmforce.ign.com"
Another religious symbol in popular culture.
posted by spirit2go team at 12:54 AM
Tuesday, March 04, 2003
Ashing humanity
- Bush fire, South Australia, Ash Wednesday, 1983
Today is Ash Wednesday in the Church Year. Ash Wednesday kicks off Lent, the 40 days of preparation for Easter. Ash Wednesday reminds us that we are "dust to dust, ashes to ashes" and makes us thankful for Jesus Christ, who at Creation breathed life into the dust of humanity, and who through Resurrection breathed Life into humanity.
The best contemporisation of "dust to dust, ashes to ashes" for me is off Radiohead's OK Computer album, the song "fitter, happier"
comfortable
not drinking too much ...
fitter, healthier and more productive
a pig
in a cage
on antibiotics
On Ash Wednesday I thank God that in Christ I am a new creation. I am not just treading a cycle of fitness and health waiting to die. Rather, I am part of God's new dream for humanity.
posted by spirit2go team at 4:28 PM
Monday, March 03, 2003
Home
Its good to be home ... familiar faces ... Auckland coffee ... Shannon at school ... our art ... Graceway its usual creative and real self.
In celebration I changed the blog format. I wanted to promote the images, but I wonder if its makes the blog too busy and distracts from the blogging text?
posted by spirit2go team at 2:09 AM