Noblesse Oblige Award - and my passing on the Torch of Nobility

Beth Patterson from The Virtual Teahouse has honored me with this blog award for "nobility of spirit." Her words are some of the nicest things which have said about me either on paper, or by word. Beth - you humble me with your grace - thank you.

From Wikipedia comes this extended definition of the French term "noblesse oblige," which means literally "nobility obligates."

""Noblesse oblige" is generally used to imply that with wealth, power and prestige come responsibilities. The phrase is sometimes used derisively, in the sense of condescending or hypocritical social responsibility. In American English especially, the term has also been applied more broadly to those who are capable of simple acts to help another, usually one who is less fortunate.

In ethical discussion, it is sometimes used to summarize a moral economy wherein privilege must be balanced by duty towards those who lack such privilege or who cannot perform such duty. Finally, it has been used recently primarily to refer to public responsibilities of the rich, famous and powerful, notably to provide good examples of behaviour or to exceed minimal standards of decency."

Beth identified well the heart of this blog experiment, which is all it was in its infancy three years ago, and probably all it remains today. Having the same birthday as Martin Luther I identify in far too many ways with the reformer, turned heretic, turned renegade. Square No More was birthed out of the fires of false accusation against myself, and our wonderful little church. The early goals of the blog were to define my faith in the terms of the marginalized, fringe, and alternative elements of our culture - to make it a living faith in a sometimes dead church world, and so I took my Jesus outside the four walls of institution. Okay, that's not accurate. I actually was forced outside the four walls of religious institution, and was hoping that Jesus was coming with me on this adventure into a strange new world. It has been a wonderful mission, a dangerous mission, a sometimes lonely mission, but each time I turn around, I discover that friends are really still there, and they are cheering me on. Those who have traveled with me have sacrificed much as well, and to them I owe my life: My wife Bev, Jeff and Diane Menasco, Jeff the G-man, Steve Pate, and all The Gathering gang who have been with me through the whole story - Mike and Stef, Rennie, Joanne especially, and all our new found friends from those in the church (like Prof CZ), and those outside (John Armstrong - thanks). This award belongs to you as well!

Beth, you have no way of knowing how much I am honored that the word "Noble" in it's highest meaning as you have attached to it touches me. This is the character trait I respect most deeply.

Now I am called to pass the torch onto to three others, and I call the following people my clan of noblemen (and women.)

John Smulo - he has been silent lately. Maybe this will call him back out. John you are the most gracious blogger I know, and in person you are even more gracious. To you I give the title Noble Blogger, and give you the Noblesse Oblige award. See JJ the Smu at Smulo Space - always thought provoking, occasionally gently provoking, and oh so gently too.

Noblesse Oblige number two goes to the prolific, and definitely provoking Jason Pitzl-Waters from Wild Hunt Blog. Now here I go again. A Christian pastor honoring a Pagan. I will probably get in trouble for it - again. I simply have to give this award to a blogger, who despite his significant differences with me on matters of theology, and religion has been gracious in the times he has mentioned me, and always beneficially critical of we Christians. (Yes, Christians it is true. People can be critical of us for our good, and they can be non-Christians who do so.) Thanks Jason. You are cool. I'd love to have you come hang out with us in Salem sometime.

The first award goes to someone who does not blog - my wife, Bev. She is the noblest person I know. She admits her mistakes quick as lightening. She works as hard as anyone living. She puts up with a dreamer like me, and helps to support a terrible churchplanting-missional habit. I wish she had a blog to put this award on.

Catching up on Blogging the Conference

Yesterday afternoon John Smulo and I taught on "Loving Witches and other missional mythbusters."

It was a one hour and 10 minute workshop. John is so good, so smart, so gentle. It was fun teaching with him. Both John and I are finding people who know about us, and have been wanting to meet us. This world of blogging is a major reason for this.

The workshop went well. It was a very receptive group. Some of them had friends, and loved ones who were in Wiccans, or Pagans, and weren't sure how to deal with it, but for the most part understood that they needed to remain accepting, and loving. Others were simply wondering how to relate to the Pagan community, although they did not know any Witches. As is the always the case they will discover that they do know Neo-Pagans. Regularly, John and I discover that we train people about beliefs of Neo-Paganism, and then when the Christians walk away from the time, they discover in a short amount of time that Wiccans, Druids, or Pagans in their neighborhood, or workplace, and they had never realized it. They actually become excited, and honored to discover that their Pagan friends are willing to "come out of the broom closet" to them - this is the way it ought to be. Christians should be like Jesus, Who is someone we can all feel like we can come out to.

Happy Celtic New Year! from Seattle Area

So here I am in Kirkland, WA getting ready to go to the Off the Map Conference. JJ the Smu made it, so we will be able to teach the workshop together. I bumped into Helen Mildenhall in the foyer of the hotel a few minutes ago, and JJ the Smu and I who are rooming together will head to the Conference location - a Foursquare Church, mind you, in about an hour to get orientated for the conference.

I will get interviewed for a few minutes tonight by Jim the Master Interviewer. Tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 I will teach a workshop on "Making Friends with Witches and other Missional Mythbusters" (or some title like that) with JJ the Smu, and then Friday night I will be involved in some kind of interview event with Spencer Burke of The Ooze fame.

JJ the Smu will be live blogging - we're not sure if it will be on his website or the Off the Map site yet.

I will be adding stories from our October in Salem to this site, and to the church blog as well over the next few days.

Get John Smulo to Off-the-Map

John and I are supposed to teach together at the Off-the-Map conference. Well word out is he needs help to get there. Wanna Help? Check out the help call, and see if you have a few bucks to help.

So it Begins - God for People Who Hate Church

Hi Friends,

Our conference begins tonight. People are beginning to show up now. Karen Ward is in Town, Jim Henderson is here, Jay Bakker will be here in a couple hours. The Christian Science Monitor will be here today and tomorrow to talk to Jim henderson and I. Of course, Tony Jones is too emergent to get here when everyone else does, he'll arrive at 11pm.

So, we are off and running. For those who will be here, see you soon. If you haven't registered and want to come, you can just come as you are, and register or any of the events tonight through Sunday morning.

View our flyer for the event here.

You can also follow live blogging of the event for those who can not make it at The Gathering Blogsite.

Gwyn eich byd, White your world!
Phil

CONFERENCE TIME! God for People Who Hate Church is Here

Today, I met Agent B who flew out here form Abilene, TX. I took him around Salem, and he met real live Witches - at least five of the locals. He got a feel for our beautiful New England city, and felt the cool breezes and the warm sun of late spring. Then Don Rylander from Jackson, MS - my old buddy who was there on the first day I began pastoring a church I Carlsbad, CA 22 years ago arrived in town, and we spent some time together this evening.

Tomorrow at 7pm the event officially begins. There will be people blogging live from the conference, and you can follow their writings. The live-bloggers will be linked in the right-hand column of the church blog site. There will also be a variety of people guest blogging from the church blog.

Our guest speakers include Jay Bakker, Jim Henderson, and Tony Jones.

Guest panelists include Karen Ward, John Smulo, Ken Nelson, and Beth Maynard.

We will also hear from Lou, Jonas, and Michael on our Humanist/Christian discussion panel, and from Teri Kalgren, Suzy Wade, and Krista Grillo during our Pagan/Christian discussion.

So for the next three days you will find us at The Gathering's Blog Site.

This conference is charting some new territory for us, and we hope to discover how we might become better servants to the variety of people around us.

Gwyn eich byd!
Pastor Phil

Live Blogging from God For People Who Hate Church

May 4-6th - yep that only 3 days away! - we will provide some live blogging from our conference. Topics and themes of teachings and panel discussions will be provided by various observers. Carly Menasco, Kevin Menasco, Josh Rivera (see His blog rivera's Blog), and others will take a hand at some live commentary. If you follow the blogging at the blog site for The Gathering, you can send some questions from distant places and get involved.

If you want to find the schedule for the conference, and follow along, go to our church website and follow the link to the conference flyer. Of course, you will need to add or subtract hours to adapt to Eastern Standard Time US.

Interview with John Smulo

John Smulo is going to be joining us for the conference God for People Who Hate Church in a couple weeks. He will join me on a discussion panel as we talk with some local Neo-Pagans to discuss what they believe, and practice, and how they have been treated by Christians. There are not too many people as likeminded, and understanding toward developing relationships with the Neo-Pagan community as John. I can really track with this guy, and have been pleasantly surprised by his progressive, and intelligent thinking. I had you consider sending some support to JJ the Smu a few days back. If you like what you see, go here to support John Smulo. John also runs a site called Missional Apologetics.

So I asked John if he would do a quickie interview for me. Here it is:

PHIL: Give us a sense of your background in ministry. You've spent time in Australia, you've pastored, taught in Bible College, and worked with New Religious groups. Describe some of these experiences for us.

JOHN: I’ve taught at Morling College in Sydney, Australia. I was also the Founding Director of the School of Apologetics at the Centre For Evangelism and Global Mission at Morling College. I miss this a lot. I found it a supporting environment to explore creative evangelistic and apologetic approaches. I’m currently teaching at Capitol Bible College in Sacramento, California. It’s a very different environment compared to Morling, but I’m enjoying it and it’s a privilege to be able to teach.

I’ve been a pastor in Australia and the US. This has been a source of joy and pain for me. I’ve increasingly transitioned from traditional churches and pastoral ministry to more of a emerging missional church context. I’m currently at the initial stages of planting a church.

My work with new religious movements has especially focused on Pagans and Satanists, which are quite different from each other. This has involved the blessing of making a number of friends in both communities, and the opportunity to be involved in speaking at events such as Pagans in the Pub. I’ve also focused my writing in these areas, and sought to develop missional apologetic approaches that interact with Satanism and Paganism.

PHIL: Have you had any experience with severe misunderstanding, rejection, or mild persecution in your dealings with New Religious Movements, such as Neo-Pagans and Satanists?

JOHN: I’ve not only experienced severe misunderstanding, rejection and persecution from fellow Christians because of my friendships and involvement with Pagans and Satanists, I still continue to. The ironic thing is that overall I’ve experienced far more support, and very little criticism, from Pagans and Satanists. Some have even been kind enough to put up portions of my work on their websites. At times, they’ve done this even when its somewhat critical. I think that we’re able to have open and productive conversations when there’s mutual respect.

PHIL: What are your current hopes for evangelical Christianity in its relationship to New Religious Movements, and how do you see yourself helping make these changes come to pass?

JOHN: My hopes are somewhat low for evangelical Christianity in its relationship to New Religious Movements, and only mildly optimistic for those who associate with the emerging church. We have to overcome a significant part of church history that has been antagonistic to people of other faiths. We also have to overcome largely negative apologetic methodologies that typically create barriers instead of bridges. What I am optimistic about, however, is the fact that each of us can make a difference in this regard by loving people like Jesus did, using our ears more than our mouth, and seeing people through God’s eyes rather than our stereotypes.

As for how I see myself helping to make positive changes come to pass, I think that the best I can do is work with like-minded people such as yourself for change, while continuing to build healthy relationships with people of other faiths.

Send some love to JJ the Smu

There is a travelling blog-fest of love going out for our buddy John Smulo. Salemites - you will meet him during the conference. JJ the Smu, as I like to call him, has been going through some transitions in ministry and life. He could use a little practical love, in the support category. This is a guy I really believe in, and so I am sending you to a support page set up to lend the Smu a hand.

Go there through this link at Blind Beggar