troubled and somewhat concerned

as i drift thru the hours of life, i have to say I'm a little concerned about the future of the christian faith. I'm a little concerned about things like this, where people are too busy cutting others down to promote their great structure that is their version of the faith.

and well, i was going to comment on that dudes blog (along with 50 or so others who are taking emerging christianity seriously), but i thought... and well... no... i wont comment there. i will comment here.

what frustrates me more than anything, is that tony jones is a person who has inspired me like crazy. i was flickin thru some old blog entires of mine and funily enuff it was a little over a year ago that i was saying how inspiring the guy is (here). so yeah...

that dude is obviously happy with his version of our faith, but im still exploring, and i've found a road to wander down that seems to hold hope.

sometimes hope is the only thing we have. but its a great thing to have

reflections on gathering number 2

well, another one down... and for me, i think its another lesson learned (or maybe several).

1 - are we focussing too much on the event at this point in time?
2 - are we trying to do something that is relevant for 2 distinct groups?
3 - are we going too fast?
4 - is there enough people stuff?

thats my main thoughts at the moment. i guess the underlying thought for me now is...
just keep going...
learn from your mistakes...
by prepared to make more mistakes...
its organic, and fluid, so let it be what it will be!

hows this for prophecy

Don't let anybody make you think that God chose America as his divine messianic force to be a sort of policeman of the whole world. God has a way of standing before the nations with judgment, and it seems that I can hear God saying to America: 'You are too arrogant! If you don't change your ways, I will rise up and break the backbone of your power, and I'll place it in the hands of a nation that doesn't even know my name

Martin Luther King Jr. in a sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church, April 30, 1967

waiters union

richard sent me a link to these guys
its awesome stuff, i'm so impressed
all i can say is that if there were more groups like this, the world would be a better place

Hymns for over 50's

I recieved an email today from dad, with these great hymn titles... heres some that i liked

Just a Slower Walk with Thee
It is Well with my Soul, but my Knees Hurt
Count Your Many Birthdays, Count them One by One
Go Tell it on the Mountain, but Speak Up

and my favourite
Blessed Insurance

James Dobson email

i received this email this afternoon

Dr. Dobson is going on CNBC to urge every Christian to get involved. I

hope you will think about signing this and forwarding to all your family

and friends. Dr. James Dobson, with Focus on the Family, pleads for our

action. An organization has been granted a Federal Hearing on the same

subject by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in Washington, DC.

Their petition, Number 2493, would ultimately pave the way to stop the

reading of the gospel of our Lord and Savior, on the airwaves of America.

They got 287,000 signatures to back their stand!

If this attempt is successful, all Sunday worship services being broadcast

on the radio or by television will be stopped. This group is also

campaigning to remove all Christmas programs and Christmas carols from

public schools!


You as a Christian can help! We are praying for at least 1 million

signatures. This would defeat their effort and show that there are many

Christians alive, well and concerned about our country.

As Christians, we must unite on this. Please don't take this lightly. We

ignored one lady once and lost prayer in our schools and in offices across

the nation. Please stand up for your religious freedom and let your voice

be heard. Together we can make a difference in our country while

creating an opportunity for the lost to know the Lord.

some thoughts
1 - the languageand tone it uses frustrates me to no end.
2 - relationships are the most important thing in our faith. not radio or television shows. i wonder how many relationships would be bruised if all my friends who dont prescribe to the teachings and life of Christ heard me referrring to them as "Lost". Thats quite arogant now isnt it...
3 - the years of greatest prosperity, growth and true spirituality for the church were (in my opinion) the first 300 or so of its existence. Personally i feel like the conversion of constantine (313) and more importantly his legalisation of Christianity as a religion, was a turning point in the downward direction for our faith. When it was more of a risk to follow Christ, it lead to deeper faith and suprisingly more followers. Its funny that the countries growing most these

Who cares about this stuff really? its not going to make a huge difference. I think James Dobson is living in the past, with practices that are becoming less and less relevant.

I imagine Sufjan Stevens and Bono are doing alot more for our faith than Switchfoot and Jars of Clay.

As a friend of mine once said "I'm sure more people found God thru the music of the Beatles than thru so called Christian music"

some quotes i like (practitioners ch1)

reading "practitioners" at the moment. heres some quotes i like from it (just the first chapter actually - thats all ive got thru, but im digging it)

Eventually I came to belive. The was no great revelation, no defining moment. It was more like an enormous exhaltation. It was like a gentle loosening of my grip, the color slowly returning to my knuckles. Some days are intoxicating, fragrant. Others, arid and monochromatic. /Few are lonely. And all are rich in possibility, like a blank page, or an ugly patch of dirt that with care becomes hospitable.
Greg Russinger

The dispute concerns an unbearable mismatch between lived reality and traditional explanations that proceed by their own logic without reference to lived reality.
Walter Brueggemann

prioritise this

TV at the moment sucks. So, i ventured over to SBS - which i have been doing a bit lately. They had a great report on the response to Hurricane Katrina. Its funny how priorities effect things.

Basically they talked about FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) and how the director and most of the high up staff there were totally inexperienced when it came to disaster management. The guys that they appointed were just put there as political thankyous. It was a cushy, high paying job for friends of the whitehouse basically. And well... FEMA had been like this, from its conception (1979) till 1993 when something amazing happened.

Clinton decided to put staff in at FEMA that had experience with disaster management. So, he took James Witt from Arkansas, and he did a good job. Lets flash forward about 7 1/2 years, to George W Bush running for president. He says - that Witt had done a good job. And well, he had, so maybe that was the one smart thing George W has ever said...

So, the good dude (Witt) left when President Stupid got control of America. And then, what did Bush do. Appoint the mate of the Chief of Staff... Some guy who had no idea (Joe Albaugh)... Then what happened... Over the next 4 years, the Bush administration cut the funds the FEMA had for prevention programs, and basically turned them back into a toothless tiger, a face to blame when things go bad. ... left, then Mike Brown whod been the number 2 for a couple of years (another politician basically) gets appointed

Katrina hits. This poor director of FEMA (Mike Brown), the Governor of Lousiana and the Mayor of New Orleans all get grilled. Well... the FEMA guy lied like crazy, tried to make the Govenor and Mayor look stupid. And well, the FEMA dude did a poor job, sure... but...
WHY WAS HE THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!!!

I guess what i wanna draw out of this is that in the US government, and ours... we need to seriously give prioritisation to things that matter. Dont just feather our own nests, but make things right, do things properly... now! (unlike Bush, who has finally now appointed someone who has experience in Disaster stuff after having 2 shockers - David Paulison - a fire department guy)

You know whats funny. Maybe at times... the church could learn from this too. Just maybe...

Well, when 93% of American Nazarenes vote Republican, its not hard to see what we have to learn, how and why we have to change.

emergent story

stacey who is a part of solomon's porch sent me a link to this. a story by pbs on the emerging church in the states.

its interesting to see who they have chosen to speak to, personally i think the 3 practitioners they use are just awesome - Doug Pagitt, Tony Jones and Brian McLaren. Yet, I feel that the list may not represent where the thing is going as well as it could. These 3 guys are just amazing, and personally if I as to choose 3 americans to talk about the subject I imagine my list would probably be the same... ummm, no, I think i would include Robert Webber, who has written his ancient-future series, that really floats my boat.

But... having said that, where's Dan Kimball? If there is anyone who seems to be getting the emerging church thing off the ground in a practical way it would be him. By practical, I mean that Kimball really talks about putting things into practice, in the nitty gritty of church. Yet, I personally like the fact that he wasn't called up. why? cause i think kimball looses the point a little, dont get me wrong, i enjoyed his books and found them useful. But Minball continually refers to this idea (more implicitly than explicitly, but both) that we are to minister to a postmodern (whatever you want to call it) world. Where as, Pagitt, Kimball, Jones and Webber (in my opinion) are all about minstering in this world. Have i fallen into my own semantic trap here, I think not. What I love about the guys I just mentioned is that they realise that not only the way we do church is changing, but the way we be christians is (are?) changing. We cant just try to help those around us, when we may also be struggling.

Another individual who wasn't called up for the interview was obviously Leonard Sweet. I like Sweet, and find it interesting that he has been dropped back a bit. I think Sweet does great work, and in many ways laid the foundations for the 3 they chose to interview. Just interesting...

So, am I reading too much into this? Were Dan Kimball and Leonard Sweet off on holidays at Robert Webber's house? Quite possibly. But I basically use this a diving board to talk about some of these guys, who I think are doing great things.

Just quickly, I shall recomend some books.
Brian McLaren.
I havent read his latest, but I will soon (just been busy studying). But I can say that A New Kind of Christian changed my life, thanx again Dee for recomending it. Also the follow up The Story We Find Ourselves In is great. I think I liked it more that the original, let me reread it and then decide on that. Both these (and the 3rd one which i heavent read yet) are based around a story of 2 guys on a journey. Its good stuff. One more... More Ready than you Realize, is also a must read. On evangelism. I really enjoyed this one too (and i think all the people i bought copies for liked it too -hehehe)

Doug Pagitt
Is about to release a few more books (yay!) but for now (check out his blog for more info), Reimagining Spiritual Formation was excellent. Really like the way it is basically written by the church (not just doug). Definately a must read.

Tony Jones
I will only recomend one, which is a youth ministry book called soul shaper. he also released the sacred way, but i didnt get it cause it looks like its just a slightly different version of soul shaper. i also just noticed he has a new book out, which i will have to look into some time soon.

there you go... more on these guys later im sure. thanx again stacey.