Next SynchroBlog - Sept 17th - on Maturity

The next posting for our SynchroBlog event will be September 17th, and the subject is Maturity.

September 17th SynchroBlog - Discussing Maturity in the Light of our
Faith

Interested? You can find out more about SynchroBlogs, and how to become part of this innovative group of Christian SynchroBloggers here.

As the Politics Continue

Sarah Palin's unmarried 17 year old daughter is having a baby. Barrack Obama even says that the issue is "off limits," and a private family matter.

What do you think about either of these points?

RNC - OMG!

If we are scoring action over rhetoric as a determining factor of who should be President. I think that we can safely call it McCain 1, Obama 0. The Republican National Convention has been effectively suspended (except for legally necessary requirements) to respond to potentially impending natural disaster. Of course, this will not be looked at as an honestly good sign of leadership by all people, but I for one am impressed. Have you ever put together even a small conference or convention? I have. Suspension or cancellation is a huge task, and only a last resort. To do this for a political party's largest convention, and largest commercial event in a four year period is amazing.

Still not sold on a candidate, but I have to say right now it is McCain 1, Obama 0 in my play card.

But of course I am a lifelong Republican so it doesn't mean that much to those who read this. As someone who really wants to write in Ben Stein, it means a lot to me to say this.

My Thoughts on McCain and Obama - "Cymru am Byth!"

The last two days have been big days in American politics, and so I thought that I would respond with my thoughts on the biggest events - Obama's acceptance speech, and McCain's Vice Presidential choice.

Obama's speech:

I am not smitten by Obama as so many people seem to be, but I do think that he is a great public speaker. As I mentioned in a previous post McCain appeared far more congenial, comfortable, well spoken, and knowledgeable in the interview session with Rick Warren than Obama did, and this completely surprised me. Even the BBC noted this.

Yet when it came to Obama's acceptance speech I expected Obama to hit it out of the park, and wow everyone. I personally was disappointed. I felt as though I was watching politics as usual. Let me explain what I mean by this.

Once the typical thank yous and acknowledgments were passed on, Obama's speech began with about 5 minutes of Bush bashing, followed by about 10 minutes of making the point that McCain is out of touch with the needs of the nation. Later in the speech he had a great rousing preacher's parlay where he talked about taking the higher ground of political discourse and not getting into bashing, but by that time I was already put off by the previous bashing which had occurred.

Bush bashing is an easy way to get a cheer in a speech these days. It is the equivalent a comedian reaching for a laugh by pulling out the four letter words simply to get the audience response. It was disappointing to hear Obama go that direction, and not take the higher ground. I have mentioned in another post that I personally feel the need to understand the positions,and beliefs of others, and that by doing so it is our only hope of rising to that higher ground Obama was speaking of.

When Obama began to talk about McCain being out of touch with political reality I felt that I was hearing the same old liberal last resort argument I have heard for the last 25 years. Liberals have their go to last resort argument, and Conservatives have their last resort arguments. These arguments typically go like this: Liberals find a way to say that Conservatives are either dumb, or out of touch with changes in society, and the second point is simply a way to restate the first. Conservatives typically call Liberals immoral or corrupt. When all else fails call someone stupid or immoral to win the argument. This is how Obama's points about McCain came across to me.



Obama did have a great ending to his speech, and his points about taking the higher ground would have been fantastic if I felt he was practicing what he preached. His section on the things he would do as President were more of the same old politics as well I thought. Some of the ideas were actually from McCain's book - the points on becoming free from dependency to foreign oil, and other points were expensive ideas followed with promises of tax cuts.

I was so disappointed that I decided I wanted to move out of the US, get some farm land in Wales, and spend my life working for Welsh independence. My response to his speech was basically "Cymru am byth!" instead of hope for America. I was not feeling good about things here at home.

This is not to say that I am writing Obama off. I rather feel that there is no real hope of serious change at the moment, and this is not to say that I am correct. The pressure to fall into politics as usual has got to be severe in the position of making an acceptance speech. One's supporters want to hear a little political fisticuffs, and they got it. I was not quite sure Obama looked all that comfortable speaking in that manner, and this at least gives me a wink of hope.

McCain's VP Choice:

Sarah Palin was a complete surprise to everyone, but I have to say, she can rip it up as a speaker.

Watching her speak (follow the above link to watch her in action) I kept my eyes on McCain. I am not sure that she is his choice. Of course, he often looks uncomfortable, but I felt as though I was watching him wonder if this was a good choice. Yet, without a doubt, McCain stole much of Obama's thunder following the acceptance speech. Hockey Mom/Youngest Person on the Ticket/Gun Toting/Beauty Queen Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin will probably steal some hearts, and drag the moral conservatives, and some women McCain's way. Sarah Palin could be a breathe of fresh air, but the verdict is still out.



"Cymru am byth" still is running through my mind right now. I need to get rich and be able to afford that farm in Wales to feel like I have a political issue to get excited about right now.

In North Carolina and Not Blogging

Hi Friends,

I am in Asheville with my son Elijah and his wife Rhonda. So the Blog world of Phil is quiet. What I have done is work on their home, go white water rafting on the French Broad River, eat, and I did listen to McCain and Obama talk to Rick Warren. It did give me a different view of the two men.

Up to this point I have not been a fan of either candidate, and am still leaning toward writing Ben Stein in for President, but this did make me think about these other guys running.

After seeing the two in action, and not being a fan of either candidate I think that if I was an Obama fan I would have been disappointed. I have seen him perform far better, and he did not come across as comfortable, nor as a decisive leader. His communication skills which are formidable were weaker than usual in this forum.

I would have been excited if I was a McCain fan. He spoke more eloquently, and less stilted. He was decisive in his answers, and showed some serious knowledge of both foreign and home affairs. He did come across as doing a stump speech a little too often by addressing the crowd as opposed to addressing Pastor Warren, and this would clearly be a put off for some people, but he also came across as far more personal and friendly than he does on most settings.

All in all I appreciated this look into the men running for President.

Headed home soon - perhaps a bit too soon - like tomorrow. Bev is concerned because after we had to put one of our greyhounds (Forrest) to sleep a little over a week ago, our other greyhound is at home keeping people awake at night. She has started howling when people are not around, and Bev is feeling quite bad for her. Holly and Forrest had been together as greyhound friends for at least 7 years of their post racing lives.

What is a SynchroBlog?

I have been arranging these things called SynchroBlogs for about a year and a half now. It's kind of a stupid name, which I came up with to define the experience, and during the Olympic season it sounds like two guys trying to dive together in unison, or a group of ladies doing ballet while floating in a pool with nose plugs on, but a SynchroBlog is neither of those things. One may need to wear nose plugs while reading the compendium of thoughts provided by the wildly divergent list of stinkers - uhm I mean thinkers, because we are bound to challenge your sensibilities, and perhaps even bend your sense of orthodoxy.

Our SynchroBlog is formed around a predominently Christian group of bloggers who like the idea of changing (or at least provoking) our little corner of the world. So, we all write about the same general subject, and release our thoughts on the same day. Thus it is a Synchronized Blogging event - a SynchroBlog.

Are you interested in being a SynchroBlogger? If so you can go to our SynchroBlog list server, and sign up to get updates mailed to you, and join the discussions of upcoming SynchroBlog Events. So, what are you waiting for? Join the provokers!

A Theology of Poverty and our Personal Biases: A SynchroBlog

Poverty is the subject of this month's SynchroBlog, and as such I thought I would look broadly at the subject from a perspective of personal biases held both theologically, and personally by Christians I have known.

Dallas Willard identifies a bias against those who are rich as a growing phenomenon in Christianity, and in his book "The Spirit of the Disciplines" sees it as problematic to our faith. Upon first reading this book nearly 20 years ago, while living among many people of a Word of Faith persuasion I wondered whether this observation made any sense in our media and personality obsessed culture, and have come to see his observation as valid and astute over these years. In America it is often true that those in poverty are regarded as victims, and those with wealth are seen as oppressors without consideration of specifics.

It is true that the Lord identified with those in poverty, and so the Apostle Paul wrote, "For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich." Through this model of sacrificial identification, and giving groups like the Franciscans were born, and people have followed vows of poverty in various seasons throughout church history. In this manner poverty is viewed as a means of attaining the riches of heaven. By putting off the attachments to this world the discipline of poverty leads one to high places in Christ.

Twentieth century schools of thought have adapted Capitalism and Faith, which in itself may not be inherently wrong if indeed Christianity is simultaneously a subversive and transcendent system, but the resultant theologies have been embraced by some, and decried as heresies by others. Within Pentecostalism the faith movement attaches prosperity to faith in God, and poverty to a lack of faith, or more radically to the problem of sin.

For a large cross section of the church encompassing Orthodoxy, Anabaptists and growing segments of evangelicalism social action is being seen as one of the main efforts of the Gospel. Poverty is treated almost as an inherent evil to be driven out by the work of the church.

From a wholly different perspective Christianity views poverty as a spiritual issue, and bypasses the definitions given by culture, and bounded by money and the ownership of physical property. So John writes, "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich...."

Could it be that whatever school of thought we have adopted as our own has potentially played into our own spiritual poverty? Could it be that our own satisfaction in our biases about other people, and why they suffer or prosper has caused us to be those who are in need and poor when we think that we are rich? Is there still a gold we need to buy, which can not be found in the treasuries of earth? And could it be that the buying of this gold is the only thing which might make us effective solutions to the problem of poverty on earth?

Poverty SynchroBlog - Tomorrow, Wednesday August 13th

Below is the list of contributors to this month's SynchroBlog. The subject is poverty and the people contributing so far are:

Sonja Andrews: Fully Known and Fully Loved
Phil Wyman at Phil Wyman's Square No More
Adam Gonnerman: Echoes of Judas
Cobus van Wyngaard: Luke: The Gospel for the Rich
Lainie Petersen at Headspace
Steve Hayes: Holy Poverty
Jonathan Brink: Spiritual Poverty
Dan Stone at The Tense Before
Jeremiah: Blessed are the poor... churches...
Alan Knox: Boasting in Humiliation
Miss Eagle: Poverty and the Hospitable Heart
Jimmie: Feeding the Poor
KW Leslie: There’s poverty, and then there’s me without cash.
Joe Speranzella: Peace and Prosperity

The Politics of God continued

Last night a group of us met at The Old Spot. It was Pub Theology Night, and at point of discussion was the topic of yesterday's SynchroBlog - The Politics of God.

We bantered about McCain and Obama, and whether it was a sin to vote Democrat, or a sin to vote Republican. You can see it had its heated moments. We talked the Middle East - Israel and Palestine, and that was more heated than the Elephant and Donkey, but all still friendly enough.

I love getting wildly disparate people together, and letting them get to know and understand one another. So, we get fundy fanatics, atheists, Witches, Emergenty people, and next-door neighbors.

After bantering about politics in general I brought the discussion around to the question of hearing what God's political agenda was for oneself - not what it was for anybody else. We talked about expectations God might have during the current political season in the US.

The answers varied from: God expects me to vote Republican (yes, in Massachusetts!), to God wants me to vote Democrat, to God wants me to work toward peace (the most popular answer last night - is this born of current world tension?), to God wants me to consider the oppressed and poor in my decisions.

My answer was God wants me to understand the other - to consider the positions of those whose political philosophies are radically different than my own, and even search for imago dei within their choices, and motivations. Like the rest of my life, I am entertaining an anthropological missiology in my political interactions, because the politics of God are a politic of grace and understanding, and therefore that is what He wants from me.

The Talking Points of Presumption

Politics and religion are the two great taboos of polite discussion. In the USA, as we inch toward voting for the Presidency political discussion becomes the regularly broken taboo. Heated opinions are tossed about on every street corner where people congregate, and restaurants become places to rest and rant.

Over the years I have been intrigued by the fact that every person living is an authority on religion. As a pastor for the last 23 years I have deep experience in understanding the Bible, studying the issues of religion and human interaction with things Divine. Yet, almost daily I meet people who believe their experience and understanding on these issues far exceed my own. Many of these people seldom deal with the issue of religion until it is time to fervently debate their own position. I typically smile during these encounters, considering that fervency is a better sign than nonchalance.

Politicians must have similar feelings when sitting at the table with the multitudes of political armchair quarterbacks. (Sorry for the decidedly American reference here - you'd have to watch American football.) These politicians have spent decades behind the scenes of this dance we call politics in which the balance of power among people, and the development of the laws of our lands is determined. They have seen the delicate maneuvers taking place. They have walked through the dilemmas, and felt the pressure of the "damned if we do, damned if we don't" scenarios. They have seen the dark underbelly of corruption, and the innocent idealism of those seeking the public good.

It seems to me that those of us who sit outside the halls of power easily describe our political opinions with the naivety typically reserved for idealistic teenage years.

We appear to know the hearts of the politicians we judge, and call them out as being (pick a popular epithet here) stupid, dishonest, corrupt, naive, morally bankrupt, indebted to special interests, or whatever host of other things we find reprehensible.

It is the common attack of the left upon the right in America to call out the opposition as stupid. It is the common attack of the right upon the left to call the opposition morally bankrupt. I find these talking points to be shallow arguments meant to win without significantly intelligent persuasion.

Quite frankly it sounds stupid to call a man who has risen to the pinnacle of world political power "stupid." The inanity of such a comment can not be understated. To call a person morally bankrupt or corrupt without having all the evidence on the table, and clear before us is in itself a corruption of the very principles of justice and mercy upon which Americans pride themselves as standing for.

The politics of presumption flow from the lips of those who call themselves spiritual as freely as polluted water, and so in this season of political change we are being called to a new kind of politic - the politics of grace.

I hope I have stepped on your toes. In a democratic union like the USA (not designed as a pure democracy by the way, but that is another topic) responsibility lies in the hands of every person - every voter. In a land of free speech our speech is of critical value, and if we follow the corrupt and stupid talking points, which frequently make the sound bites of daily news, we shall be responsible for our nation's rising stupidity and corruption. So I leave this thought with the words of someone older and wiser.

"But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace."

Check the post below for links to the other SynchroBloggers joining this discussion.

The Politics of God - July 22nd SynchroBlog

Look to Tuesday, July 22nd for the next SynchroBlog on the subject of The Politics of God. Are you wondering what is meant by that? Well, the bloggers who will be joining the topic this month will define it for you. The list of contributing bloggers will be posted in the next couple days.

Do you want in on the SynchroBlog? Leave a comment with your name and URL, we'll add you to the list.

Here is the list of those intending to contribute so far:

Phil Wyman rants about The Talking Points of Presumption
Lainie Petersen considers Questioning the Citizen Diety
Jonathan Brink enters The Political Fray
Adam Gonnerman explains The Living Christ's Present Reign
Sonja Andrews Won't Get Fooled Again
Mike Bursell at Mike's Musings
Sally Coleman at Eternal Echoes
Steve Hayes on God's Politics
Matthew Stone at Matt Stone Journeys in Between
Steve Hollinghurst at On Earth as in Heaven
KW Leslie tells us about God's Politics
Julie Clawson at One Hand Clapping
Dan Stone at The Tense Before
Alan Knox asks Is God Red, Blue, or Purple?
Beth Patterson writes about Learners inheriting the earth: the politics of God
Erin Word discusses Hanging Chad Theology

My Three Day Story

I placed a post on our church blog following my experiences over three recent days. These were not three typical days, but then there really are not typical days in Salem. (I am convinced there really are no typical days anywhere, but that's another story.) So to stop from blathering on here's the link to that story.

The Green of Being Green Considered Once Again

Our roommate Evan Hansen e-mailed me this link to one of the You Tube TED series of speakers after reading about my skepticism about Global Warming, which is combined with my interest in ecology. This is a nice 17 minute ditty by Economist Bjorn Lomborg.

Defining Missional: a SynchroBlog

The above poster comes from http://teampyro.blogspot.com/ Obviously they are not defining missional today. ;-)

Today a large number of bloggers including some significant thinkers who spend the their days considering missional issues are releasing posts defining "Missional." Perhaps this SynchroBlog will provide an historical moment in defining this wee movement of ecclesiastical types who call themselves missional. Perhaps we will simply flap our lips in the wind of God's Spirit as it blows by. I'm hoping for something closer to the former. So I have entered the fray of missional definers, and have saddled up alongside people who think about this stuff far more than I do.

Yet, I think that I do bring some pedigree to the table of thought, and offer my expertise in relational development and evangelical networking with new religious movements (especially Neo-Pagans) as part of the art of missionality.

I am not typically fond of dealing with semantics, except as a means of defining the terms of a specific dialogue. I perhaps am even a little more uncomfortable finely outlining the edges of a word barely squeaking into my 2001 version of Webster's Unabridged Dictionary as though it was an afterthought - listed as an adjective of "mission." Words important to the integrity of a language interest me. Words newly created, or suddenly adapted to define developing movements are less interesting to me, because they are still simply pop terms. (Now, I know the word has been around since the late 19th century - at least, but that is still new as far as the life span of a language is concerned.) See Tall Skinny Kiwi's discovery of the 1883 usage of the word

Yet I will attempt the daunting task of defining a newly developing, and unsettled term simply because it is something considered by many people to be descriptive of the behaviors of our own fellowship in Salem, MA.

I would like to consider being missional as an art as I define the term. As a science, I believe it would lose its power, and its definition altogether. Missional behavior is based upon redemptive interaction with people. Dealing with the fickle human character is certainly more of an art, than a science.

If being missional somehow evades exact definition as it continues being bantered about by those of us who use the term, it may actually be finding its mark more frequently, and remain a living word than if the term becomes solidified like concrete, or codified like a law.

Yet there are distinct values which must remain intact if the word will not end up wallowing in a mire of pop usage, flowing smugly off the lips of people who are anything but missional.

So, here are my feeble attempts to do something I am not quite comfortable doing - defining a pop theological term.


Missional:

As a newly popular term describing the activities of the Christian church the word "missional" is in need of defining if it will accurately describe any movement, or activity of the Church. Perhaps this broad group of people, many whom I write with regularly on the SynchroBlog list I help lead, can by sheer force of the number of words being published online create a solid reference point for anchoring the word missional in the ecclesiological psyche. (As a small historical, but insignificant sidenote, I am the originator of the silly term "SynchroBlog")

Missional is a relatively new word, finding its first published reference in 1893 (see note on Tall Skinny Kiwi above.) In my dictionary it finds itself relegated to a mere afterthought as an adjective of the word "mission." Yet "mission" has a far broader definition that we attach to the concept of missional today. Missional does not relate to military campaigns, or the ruins of former Spanish churches on the coast of California.

The popularity of the word has been driven by the Emergent movement, and appears to be particularly popular as a personal descriptor by those who are considered to be a part of what Scott McKnight calls the Praxis Oriented Stream of Emergent in his Five Streams of the Emerging Church.

I will leave origins of the term to others who study this stuff. Discussions of its misuse will be left to others as well. I have a few thoughts which particularly resonate with me. So others will be left to the task of doing things like connecting Newbigin, and Hartenstein to the term.


ANTHROPOLOGICAL MISSIOLOGY IS AT THE HEART OF BEING MISSIONAL

At the heart of missional behavior is something I hold dear: a radical anthropological missiology.

The "glory of God" is considered by many theologians, pastors, and lay people to be the prime focus of authentic human behavior. I agree. This includes the preaching of the Gospel, and any manner of sharing our faith. Yet, I believe that focusing upon the "glory of God" in our Gospel preaching has too often incapacitated the Gospel, and left it stagnant in a world of flowing change. For the sake of glorifying God churches and church leaders have remained unbending in the culture of their denominational styles, and been unwilling to take the time to understand the culture, and the individuals surrounding them. Our vocabulary has often remained stagnant while our language has been changing in the culture around us, and our attitudes have been witness to the fact that we are part of the status quo - or so it appears to people.

Yet Christ came to serve others, and we are called to do the same. The heart of the Gospel itself is anthropocentric. The good news is about Christ, but it is for people. It is designed to relieve suffering, create healthy family structures for the abandoned, give definition of life to the lost, and bring joy to those who mourn. Christ is the reason the Gospel exists, but people are the target of its mission to bless. God's eye is upon people with a heart for blessing. This is the missio dei. People are at the center of God's heart in the Gospel, and those who will be missional must place people deep in their hearts as well, and so we are called to serve, and to study others. My heart must remain Christocentric in its worship, but the missio dei calling me to service focuses upon the fact that I am a bondservant to others.

Without becoming students of others missional behavior lapses into mere proclamation, and loses the very heart of its purpose to bless, to serve and to care.

I do not believe a person can be missional without understanding others. On an English translation site of the French website philosophie-spiritualite.com there is a wonderful outline of the common mistakes made in the process of dialogue, which cause misunderstanding or establish a less than beneficial interaction.

"Talking to somebody is not just trying to make oneself understood. Dialogue can walk astray and off the path leading to an understanding of others. 1) One may slip into mere information; in this case only the person talking understands what is being said. Exchange never takes place, yet this is required for dialogue. To have a dialogue it is not enough to find a willing listener with the patience to put up with your talking, but to whom you yourself will not be listening. 2) There can also be a misunderstanding when two people don’t attribute the same meaning to the same words, so that each one of them speaks at different levels. The common ground is then missing. 3) Dialogue can degenerate into mere chatting. Chatting appears to be a dialogue, but the people talking are not present in what they say: the content of their speech is as insignificant as it is repetitive. Speech does not aim at the other person’s understanding it; it is only there to substitute for a real presence and above all to avoid silence. A dialogue is only useful to understand others if it makes possible an intimate exchange with them. 4) A dialogue can degenerate to polemics when one wants the exchange of a dialogue, while refusing to make any effort to understand the other person’s position. Each person then sticks to his position and instead of exchanging ideas one struggles to uphold this or that conviction. Polemics replaces the confrontation of points of view by the opposition of individuals. We see this when spokesmen fire off all their weaponry to criticise a viewpoint, then retreat into muteness, and pay no attention to the objection of their adversary. 5) Dialogue also self-destroys in lying. As soon as lying makes its way into the dialogue, speech loses its true purpose. There can be no comprehension without truthfulness and without a genuine intention to have a dialogue. Have can we understand one another if we are not sincere?" (from lesson 12)

Missional behavior demands seeking to understand the perspective, the feelings, the thoughts of others, and learning to present the good works of God, and the preaching of the Gospel in a manner identifying with the needs, the concerns, and the pains of those we serve.

There is a power in the subjectivity which attends the empathetic individual following the missio dei. It is something we might call a subjective imagination. Our experiences have given us a sense of dread or a sense of liberation, a sense of mourning or a sense of child-like joy, a peace or a deep seated anxiety; and these feelings which we have experienced can be imagined to belong to another. The things we have felt, and feared can be superimposed upon the framework of our thinking about other people, and we can see them as fellow sufferers on this life journey, or we can coldly consider their actions in the light of a set of legal standards.

This subjective imagination allows us to empathize with others, and thereby live incarnationally. As Jesus, Who lived in our shoes, and experienced our woes became the perfect High Priest understanding our every struggle, so we too can express the love of God through identifying with the sorrows, the temptations, and the struggles of others.

Missional activity is less than missional without this subjective imagination, which imposes compassion upon others in their difficulties. Whether we are dealing with cultures or individuals, we are called by the missio dei to serve people in their suffering.


MISSIONAL ACTIVITY TRANSCENDS CULTURE

The Gospel of Christ transcends human culture and thought. It is not stuck in the 19th century, nor is it married to post-modernity. It is good news to the conservative and the liberal, the socialist and the capitalist, the cultural Christian and the new Pagan, the fundamentalist and the anarchist. It was not limited by the fact that Matthew was a Tax Collector, and Judas (not Iscariot) was a radical anti-establishment zealot. They were brought together by the Gospel. It was not limited in them, and it is not subject to human foibles now.

Similarly, the Kingdom of God critiques each and every human culture. Republicans and Democrats in America are evenly critiqued by the upside-down nature of God's Kingdom. Those who have the freedom to drink, and those who are teetotalers are equally challenged to walk in love toward others. The devout and the apathetic find themselves both corrected by the voice of God, and this is the manner of the Kingdom.

Missional followers of Christ will walk between worlds at odds with one another. Missional followers become peacemakers between extremes, and evidence that they are the sons of God. We will dance in the combat zone between the warring factions of our society, and live like fools for Christ's sake. Our battles are not the battles of this world, and at what time we are called to take up a cause, that cause is still subordinate to the missio dei gently hovering over us.

Just as it is not constrained by culture, missional activity is not constrained by church facilities. In American church culture church buildings have often become a bane to evangelistic activity in the life of the local church. Focusing our attention upon buildings we have omitted the command to "Go and preach the Gospel."

Yet just as buildings are not needed to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom, The Gospel is not constrained by the use of a building. Churches are creating Going Experiences with creative use of buildings, and others are creating Going Experiences through creative methods of stepping outside a building. Just as the missio dei transcends the cultures of our world, it also transcends the use of buildings - it can be accomplished within or without the building,

Denominations, specific and non-essential details of theology, styles of worship, liturgical practices, social programs, styles of communication, and ecclesiastical structures are not constraining factors for the missio dei. At one moment they may become a hindrance, yet at another moment they may become a tool for the Gospel.

Understanding this cultural transcendence of the Gospel is necessary for those who will live a missional life.


These are my quickly gathered thoughts to the question, "What is Missional?" I certainly have not presented anything authoritative. These are simply the conjectures of someone who has spent the last 10 years breaking down walls of communication, which have been erected between Neo-Pagans and Evangelical Christians, and my observations about being missional are based upon just a couple (among many) things which have been necessary in my own experience.

Please check out some of the other 49 writers on the following list. I am sure you will be blessed.

Missional SynchroBlog on Monday

Rick Meigs of the "Friends of Missional," and "Blind Beggar" fame has called for a SynchroBlog on the subject "What is Missional?" So I've decided to enter the fray, and post my thoughts. There are 50 bloggers on the list, making this a daunting task to read through.

As you scroll down the list, which is in alphabetical order by first name, you will find a significant number of heavy hitters in the emergent, and missional discussion. Of course, I have taken my own name and placed it at the top. If you are on this list, and you are copying the link list from me I encourage you to take your own name, place it at the top, and then provide the direct link to your post, rather than a generic link to your site.

So join us on Monday, June 23rd, 2008 for the "What is Missional?" SynchroBlog. Here's the gang who will be posting on that day:

Phil Wyman
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
Richard Pool
Rick Meigs
Rob Robinson
Ron Cole
Scott Marshall
Sonja Andrews
Stephen Shields
Steve Hayes
Tim Thompson
Thom Turner

Is it All About the Green?: A Skeptics call to Environmental Action

This is part of this month's Synchroblog about Green Spirituality.


I have an uncomfortable alliance with Green Christianity. On the one hand I do not believe that we are doing enough, on the other hand I do not really believe the threatening science of global warming.

I believe it is humanity's necessary task to care for the earth, and in these current days we need to leave it in better shape that we found it for our children's sake.

Yet, I tend to feel that the current threatening dialogue of global warming falls into being all about the green, and I don't mean leaves, and grass. I can not help but wonder if 10 years down the line we will have made millionaires out of people on the forefront of the global warming crisis, and will rethink the science to move on to another crisis, which will once again consume our personal finances in the name of caring.

I can say these things. We drive a Prius. We recycle plastic, paper, glass and aluminum. We have a composter in the yard. I have water barrels adorning the back of my house. Our church sponsored the speakers for Salem's Living Green and Renewable Energy Fair and hope to do so again next year.

For myself as well, I suppose that conservation is greatly about the green, and I do mean money green. If it can be cheaper, and help the environment I like it - thus I am ambivalent about my wife's choice of the Prius, and prefer my old diesels, but I am afraid that the current trends in ecologically friendly resources are all about making expensive things, which make the rich richer, the mid-classes who can afford to go green poorer, and the poor will have the last bit of green sucked from them.

I hope I am wrong, but let's look back at this post in ten years, and we'll see.

I will recycle. I will drive a Prius. I will make compost, and finish setting up those water barrels in the backyard. More will follow. I think that I might make biodiesel and cut my heating fuel with 20% biodiesel. I might want to build a wind generated power plant for the house from local hardware store parts. (Notice how I avoided saying mentioning the orange guys.)

I may not be alone in this thinking. Even among those who are fully convinced that global warming is coming.

Well, that is my heretical thinking on the subject. But even if I am a skeptic no one can accuse me of not doing anything about the problem. One way or another I suppose it will end up being all about the green. I hope I can help keep some green in the pockets of the poor, as well as on the earth as we move through the coming years of threatening science.

Wanna read about the scientists who reject the current global warming mania? Check out The Deniers. I haven't read the book yet, but I followed many of the articles which eventually came together to develop the book, and it is significantly impressive enough to consider methinks.

But don't let skepticism about global warming make you inconsiderate about the earth you have been called to care for.

Tomorrow's SynchroBlog on Green Spirituality

Tomorrow there are a small handful of us posting a SynchroBlog on Green Spirituality. The posts may not be up and running until Thursday afternoon, but here is the list as I have it so far of the other bloggers:

Is it All About the Green? by Phil Wyman
Rediscovering Humanity's Primal Commission by Adam Gonnerman
Turn or Burn? A New Liberal Hell? by Cobus van Wyngaard
Little Green Man by Sonja Andrews
Bashing SUV's for Jesus by David Fisher
Saints and Animals by Steve Hayes
When Christians Weasel Out of Their Environmental Responsibilities by KW Leslie
Green Christian Manifesto by Matt Stone
God So Loved by Sally Coleman

Big Waves

Tonight we were showing a movie called "Riding Giants" at The Gathering.

A group of four high school guys from Swampscott hung out with us for awhile. They found me playing my guitar out in front of the church, and I played them my Welsh song which I am writing, because one of them had a Notre Dame Fighting Irish shirt on and was into Celtic things. They loved the Welsh song, and decided to come in and watch the movie with us.

An old surfer who spent some time surfing Rincon years ago, came back for a second week of surf movie night, and a few others just dropped in as well.

After the event was over, and Carlos, Chris, Jim, Erin, and I made a few new friends, I walked home, and stopped at the Salem Outpouring meeting for a few minutes. This meeting is connected to the Lakeland revival in a roundabout manner.

Maybe I am simply to worldly, but I was having far more fun watching "Riding Giants," and getting to know some of the people in our community who don't like churchy things, than I was at the revival meeting. Was I missing one big wave to simply watch another?

My short encounter with the revival meeting is posted here.

Pentecost and the Way of the Shaman

shaman
Originally uploaded by M & G

I wrote this article some time back, but it has been sitting in a competition pile, and made the cut of winners in the culture category at the website Jesus Manifesto. Go ahead and follow the link to read it, and even post a comment at Jesus Manifesto if you like it. Heck, post an article if you want to berate it.

direct link to full article

My Latest Read - on Shamanism by Eliad

Shamanism by EliadI have been reading "Shamanism: archaic techniques of ecstasy" my Mircea Eliad. After reading through the first two chapters I have been noticing that the initiatory rites of the Shamans are ecstatic dreams or visions which elements of Christ's death and resurrection, or at other times model His temptation in the wilderness.

I find some parallels of ecstatic experience in my own life. Could there be a regular prefiguration of Messianic call happening simultaneous in many cultures? I tend to think so, and this makes me wonder why the similarities of Christianity and other religions generally cause people to view Christianity as adopting Pagan practices. Could it not be possible that a single voice from the other side of this veil calls out to various cultures in similar, but culturally adapted modalities?

Okay, I suppose that was a weird, and overly complex connection. But if you are up for a great read from a fine scholar who was the world's foremost authority on Shamanism, follow the link above, and get the book.