Darryl's Blog
May 2005 Archives
But even where we've been treated less than fairly, there's much we can learn from our critics - and it's good when there is vigorous dialogue on important matters. (Brian McLaren)
(Via Sivin Kit's Garden.)
James MacDonald is the speaker at this conference. He grew up in the Fellowship and now pastors a megachurch in the States.
He has just told us he's writing an article for Christianity Today called "Why I Am Not Emerging". He's said that the emerging church is neo-orthodox.
I'll look forward to the article, but it's frustrating when people think the emerging church equals Brian McLaren. Some of his critique is good, and I appreciate that he speaks highly of the personal character of someone like McLaren, but he certainly didn't present a nuanced evaluation.
Update: James says that he thinks the emerging church is very good at diagnosing the problems, but not as good at presenting solutions.
A good time last night hanging out at Freeway. The time at Freeway was interesting because I've been in a lively discussion with a couple of them online. It was good to meet them in person; that always changes the shape of the discussion. The relational dimension is always a huge part of any discussion.
Afterwards, a few of us went out for a snack at Philthy McNasty's. Jordon and I ordered the foolish wings. They make you sign this waiver:
They were hot but not that hot.
I could tell stories but I promised not to talk about the time Jordon snorted Pepsi up his nose and spewed it all over the table laughing. Good times.
A few of us (Jordon Cooper, Joseph Moreau, Kim Reid, Darren Friesen, Charlene and I) are heading to the Freeway in Hamilton tonight for the worship gathering. Freeway is where Pernell pastors.
Here are directions:
Take 403 into Hamilton. Exit at Main Street West (seperate exit for east and west) turn left at the end of the ramp. Follow Main Street for about 10 minutes until you come into Dundas and turn left at King Street (Thirsty Cactus bar on your left). Follow King Street to 150 King on your left... across from Rona... it's a Salvation Army drop-in centre under an apartment complex.
They meet at 6:00 p.m.
After, we're heading to Philthy McNasty's, just off Brant Street in Burlington. We should get there around 8:00-8:30. It's at 1250 Brant Street, phone 905-319-8555.
If you're in the area, come join us if you'd like.
Mission and church - I spent the morning at something of a book club ("Darryl's book club"), looking at Reggie McNeal's book The Present Future for clues on how a traditional church can be missional. Today we all got a bit frustrated at the lack of easy answers. Half of us argued that the solution is creating an environment for more mission and relationship in the church. Half argued that change starts with us; are we as individuals missional?
I don't know what the answer is (change the system and change the people?) but I was struck by how much we wanted to jump to how-to solutions to fix the church. The reason this is so hard is because this goes beyond fixes. It goes to the heart.
Gardening - Somebody had the idea of logging our time this Saturday and taking it to church tomorrow to tell stories of how we spent our day, sort of to do a missional inventory. I spent the day gardening. I figure that is okay since that was the first job that God gave to Adam and Eve and gardens are pretty important to God. It's also okay because tomorrow I hope to say you can garden without guilt. I'd hate to become a guilt-inducing church where you have to jog to mow your lawn so you can get back to spiritual stuff. (I know someone who used to do this.)
We bought our house, partly because we have a large yard. That backyard has never been cared for as much as its needed. This year we are making good progress. You don't really need a cottage when you have a backyard our size.
We are really looking forward to getting it to the point where we can use it to entertain. That point is getting closer.
Neighborhood - I frequently wish I lived closer to church. It's part of incarnational ministry. We bought our current house not just for the backyard, but because it moved us into the church's community. Now we have moved to a different church, only 9 km away but still in a different neighborhood.
Tonight I walked down to the Italian restaurant at the end of the road. Our little neighborhood has experienced a bit of a renaissance. I was sitting in the restaurant waiting for the take-out, looking into the kitchen, taking in all the character of the place. It struck me that I love this neighborhood, I love this street, it has somehow become a part of me after 14 years. There is something to be said for learning to love living at your address, and settling in to be there and to bless there. Tonight that is how it felt.
Humility - I got a little defensive today. I sometimes manage to avoid it but I didn't this time. Tomorrow is a new day to learn to be open to others, to welcome their insights, to even learn from them, but not to live or die by what they think. I have enough baggage; I don't need to pick up anymore.
From soapbox :: resonate.ca:
In African we don't have all these problems you have described. In Africa we have only one problem, and it stands right in front of your nose. I am the problem. You have to pray for me with my small vision that I will not stand in the way of God's big vision. Pray for me that I with my great plan will not stand in the way of God's greater plan. That I with my small dreams will not stand in the way of God's dream for not only me, for for the nations. Pray that this problem will be solved.. the only real way is through the cross. (Wolfgang Simson)
A long time ago LT wrote a piece called "Too conservative for the liberals, too liberal for the conservatives." I can relate.
I am liberal in my setting but I am too conservative for many of my emerging friends. (A recent survey called me part fundamentalist after all!)
I see the best in the emerging discussion and I love it, but I'm not willing to buy in completely. What I love is the authenticity and the missional focus, and the willingness to re-examine and rediscover theology. But there are things that I don't like.
One of them is that it seems easy to develop a new kind of orthodoxy, a new party line. This has come out recently in the past few days in some discussions.
The emerging church shows a lot of grace for people to be asking difficult questions. But there are still some out-of-bound areas where there is a party line to be followed, and if you don't, you really don't belong.
I hope that we will work hard in allowing different forms of churches in the discussion, not just cutting edge churches. One size does not fit all. Even a traditional church can learn to be missional. We are not all called to the same type of church.
I hope we will allow different theological positions, even on difficult issues such as women in ministry. I am speaking as someone who is not conservative in this area, but who is in a conservative denomination. Some people are sexist but some people just need a little more time, or sincerely hold to a position that they believe is Biblical.
I hope we will allow people to engage thoughtfully with the thought leaders of the emerging church, and allow that to be okay. I want to say I disagree with McLaren or whoever on this or that issue and not be kicked out. Where you can belong even if you didn't like Blue Like Jazz. (For the record, I liked it. But I wonder if anyone has told Miller that he really isn't emerging because he goes to a church that believes in male pastors only?)
I hope that we will be all about the grace that we say we're about, even when people don't follow the emerging party line perfectly.
Otherwise the grace that we speak about is no grace at all.
BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | Church website considers adverts:
The Church of Scotland could soon be looking for a commercial sponsor for its website, the General Assembly is set to hear.
A report to be discussed on Friday says there would be "considerable commercial potential" in looking for sponsorship, or even carrying adverts.
The Kirk says its website will have received two million hits by the end of this year.
However, adverts for alcohol, gambling and tobacco would not be welcome.
Neither would ones for loans or anything which, the report states, might be "ethically questionable".
Just finished my sermon for Sunday. It has been a long time since I was done on a Thursday. That gives me a full day off tomorrow and time to focus on other stuff on Saturday. Feels extremely good.
My project tomorrow: to start enjoying Post-Rapture Radio.
Brian McLaren: Is there any way to celebrate "faithful" gay couples?:
As you know, several sectors of the church...
a) are already welcoming to gay people in committed (non-promiscuous) relationships.
In some other sectors, b) the churches don't believe that homosexual behavior is right, but they are still committed to welcoming people and treating them with respect.
And sadly, in many others, c) the churches use language that subjects homosexual people to a continual experience of rejection and shame. As for churches that I know in the "emergent" conversation, I think you'd find a mix of a) and b) above.
I love Brian, but that answer ducked the question!
Last June, I got a traffic ticket for disobeying a stop sign. The officer said I came to a rolling stop, which is no stop at all. I disagreed, so I went to court. I even had photo evidence!
This is what the officer would have seen from his vantage point. Notice the hedge - the car has pulled ahead after stopping. But you can't see what happened at the stop line, which is what is at issue. The hedge is blocking his view.
Today was the big day. I observed some of what was going on, made some notes, got familiar with court protocol. This was finally my chance to cross-examine an officer and to give a final summation and all that stuff I normally only see on TV.
I thought I did a pretty good job. In fact, I think I was innocent, but...not enough to convince the Justice of the Peace. Busted!
The stubborn part of me is thinking of appealing, but for now, I've had my day in court. Three demerit points and a fine. I've been driving for twenty years and this is the first time I've been dinged demerit points. Hate to break that record.
Next time I get to court, I might try to be a bit more dramatic: "You can't handle the truth!" Or maybe I'll just keep my day job.
After church, we drove up to Newmarket, a bedroom community just north of Toronto, to visit Charlene's parents.
On the way, we heard news that a bear was loose in Newmarket. A bear! We drove by the scene and saw police cars and a vacated hot dog stand but that was it.
They could have captured that bear in no time if they had kept the hot dogs cooking. That's bear bait.
The rest of the day, a helicopter circled overhead. I read this morning that they eventually captured that bear at night.
We didn't care. We were doing battle with our own private critters.
Turns out that a couple of raccoons had taken up residence in the chimney of the house in Newmarket. This isn't a problem if you break the law (you have to be nice to raccoons these days) or if you pay someone to remove the raccoons for you ($600-$1,000). It's a bit of a challenge if you decide to do it yourself.
Who's smarter, raccoons or humans? I was wondering for a while there.
We tried all kinds of ways to get them to climb back out of the chimney. Eventually we capped off the chimney and settled for the fact that they were coming down, not up.
Brooms ready, and a box to catch them, we got them out with a little persuasion. They were actually a lot less ferocious than I had feared. We got them safely outside and reclaimed that chimney for ourselves.
Last night we celebrated our victory with Chinese food. It was good, but it would have been a lot better if my mind hadn't kept seeing those beady raccoon eyes while eating.
Update: Left behind - We thought we had them all but one was left behind. Created a bit of a disaster last night. The saga continues.
TallSkinnyKiwi: The Art of Not Getting Embarrased at a Baptist Church:
Hints for attending a Baptist Church without getting embarrassed:
- Go for the back seats.
- Never stage dive - there is no body sitting in the front 2 rows to catch you. (more following . . . )
- Don't raise your hands, or you might be volunteering for something
- Don't drink the coffee, it comes from a large steel device from the early 20th Century called an "Urn" Go for the tea instead.
An editorial by veteran NDP member of parliament Ed Broadbent in TIME canada.com:
In terms of sustained verbal malice, this parliament is the worst I've experienced. This is serious, and if things don't change, it could be tragic. Democracies and their institutions persist because of broadly shared values. It is these underlying values and, notably, respect for the dignity of others that make tolerance and civilized debate possible. When these fail, as in the worst forms of ethnic- or religious-based nationalism (or in our Parliaments), the barbarians are at the doors.
Via Mike Todd, who asks an interesting question.
Spent the first part of this long weekend lined up for two hours to get into the new Apple Store at Yorkdale (first Apple store in Canada). Two hours for what? A lousy free t-shirt.
I was kind of hoping for something better, like a loot bag giveaway or something. It was kind of a fun but non-sensical thing to do. Got to know some good people who were standing in line with me.
I wish LT could have been with me though.
A letter from Belinda to her constituents from a few weeks back: "Like many of you, I am deeply disappointed by the revelations coming out of the Gomery inquiry into government corruption and the abuse of taxpayer dollars. The people of Canada deserve better. Fortunately we have a strong Opposition in the house that is willing to clean up the corruption and manage the finances of the nation more responsibly."
An eBay auction for a Belinda leadership campaign t-shirt - "Buy the shirt before she joins the NDP!" Don't miss the payment options.
You don't know the power of the dark side - LT with a great picture
I'm not trying to be partisan. There are plenty of laughs to go around!
Update: Just found this from March 20, 2004: "I have said all along that we must win the next election," Stronach said. "The most important contribution we can make toward winning is to unite behind Stephen and to support him 100 per cent."An article I wrote for the Evangelical Baptist - comments? (I hope to review Carson's book soon).
Thanks to Andrew Jones for the encouragement to blog the article.
There was some good discussion at the Fellowship website. Pinakidion writes:
If this is what the emergent movement is trying to be, then this is what I can get behind. Of course, when folks start talking about a narrative and poetry, it makes it sound like the Church of the English Majors.
Andrew suggests, "it only deals with a very narrow sector of the emerging church. which is the American, post-evangelical, non-house church type". Brother Maynard says, "In some ways it could stand to offer stronger criticism, but for its intended purpose it isn't necessary." Good thoughts all. I'd love to hear your reaction.
Evaluating the Emerging Church
The Emerging Church Movement is starting to get attention - and criticism.
For most of the past decade, the Emerging Church has received scant notice. In 2004, that started to change. Last February, Don Carson delivered a series of lectures evaluating the movement. Last November, Christianity Today published a cover article called The Emergent Mystique, followed closely an article in Christian Century. Popular books by Brian McLaren
I find myself to be a bit of an apologist for the Emerging Church, not because I am blind to its faults, but because I believe that it has sometimes been misunderstood and unfairly criticized. As I hope to make clear, I believe we should be concerned about some aspects of the Emerging Church movement. However, I also believe that the Emerging Church has something important to say, and we need to engage in some of the questions raised by the movement without dismissing it prematurely.
I've never watched a parliamentary vote before last week. Now I've watched a few. People are political, but this is different. Everyone, everywhere, seems to have an opinion.
The Liberals survived tonight. I'm glad. The people who made the most sense this week were those who didn't speak in the heat of the moment after Belinda's defection. Things are too hot in Ottawa right now for anyone to make an intelligent decision. This will buy some time.
Liberals can't feel too good about themselves right now. You don't get a much closer vote than this. Even fellow Liberals are getting turned off by what's been going on. This isn't a good time to get comfortable. Winning the vote tonight could be a Pyrrhic victory if they don't start doing better. They could end up self-destructing like the Conservatives did after Mulroney.
Conservatives also need to do better. James left a comment that the social conservatism of the Conservatives doesn't match Canada. I'm not sure. Polls are split on most social issues. I think there is room for moderates, and surely there is room for a political party in Canada that takes a slightly more conservative view than the Liberals. (Even the Conservatives are leftist in comparison to many other countries.)
What the Conservatives need is really what the Liberals need as well: to rise above the dirtiness we've watched these past few weeks and to start look like they have a bigger agenda than their own success. This applies to both parties equally, I would think. Duceppe and Layton are looking good in comparison.
This afternoon, the government of Canada could fall. What will happen is anybody's guess, because the ground seems to shift by the minute. A defection, attacks of heartburn and appendicitis, alleged bribes for those who abstain, plus the mystery of how some independents will vote - it doesn't get any stranger than all of this. Almost nothing could surprise me now.
It's all a little disillusioning no matter what political party you favor. Even if you are Liberal (and things seem to be going their way), it's hard to feel very good about the state of affairs.
I hope, whatever happens, we'll somehow get back to a semblance of principled leadership. It could be a very strange day.
After the Belinda Stronach shocker, the Liberal Government got yet another boost today as Her Royal Highness, Queen Elizabeth II, announced that she too has defected to the Liberal party. "I have always been a capital 'L' Liberal at heart," proclaimed her Majesty, immediately after her plane touched down in Regina to celebrate Saskatchewan and Alberta's centennial anniversary in confederation. "I strongly believe in Paul Martin's vision for Canada."
This came up on my Google News this morning.
The Globe and Mail: Stronach crosses floor to join Liberal cabinet:
In an explosive development leading up to Thursday's dramatic budget vote, Conservative MP Belinda Stronach has crossed the floor to join the Liberal Party as the new Human Resources Development Minister.
Stunning news! Enquiring minds want to know: is Stronach still dating Conservative Peter MacKay?
Whatever your political bent, it's hard not to be disillusioned sometimes.
Update: 359 comments and counting at AndrewCoyne.com. Hard to say how this one will play out but the game has shifted.
From 43 Folders:, a quote from Bird by Bird:
Try looking at your mind as a wayward puppy that you are trying to paper train. You don't drop-kick a puppy into the neighbor's yard every time it piddles on the floor. You just keep bringing it back to the newspaper. So I keep trying gently to bring my mind back to what is really there to be seen, maybe to be seen and noted with a kind of reverence.
I've seen a fair bit of drop-kicking lately - people doing it to themselves and others. It really doesn't accomplish as much as we think. I love this quote.
You scored as Cultural Creative. Cultural Creatives are probably the newest group to enter this realm. You are a modern thinker who tends to shy away from organized religion but still feels as if there is something greater than ourselves. You are very spiritual, even if you are not religious. Life has a meaning outside of the rational.
What is Your World View? created with QuizFarm.com |
What do you get when you cross a cultural creative and a fundamentalist? Me!
Found via
Update: It seems that everybody who takes this test is a Cultural Creative.
From One-Half of Robertson Davies:
What you must do is spend twenty-three hours of every day of your life doing whatever falls in your way, whether it be duty or pleasure or necessary for your health and physical well-being. But - and this is the important thing - you must set aside one hour of your life every day for yourself, in which you attempt to understand what you are doing.Do you think it sounds easy? Try it, and find out. All kinds of things will interfere. People - husbands, lovers, friends, children, employers, teachers, enemies, and all the multifarious army of mankind will want that hour, and they will have all sorts of bandishments to persuade you to yield it to them. And the worst enemy of all - yourself - will find so many things that seem attractive upon which the hour can be spent. It is extremely difficult to claim that hour solely for the task of understanding, questioning, and deciding.
From One-Half of Robertson Davies:
I am teaching an intelligent regard for the preservation and nourishment of the Self - not the professional self, but the human begin who lurks in all of us, and whom we so often neglect and ill-use. If we pay any attention to this human being - this Self - at all, it is usually to scold the poor thing for not being more than it is - for not being saintly, or valorous, or untiring. We never seem to take time to feed it, clothe it, encourage it, love it, and forgive it.I thought I would say this to you today because you are professionally engaged in helping and advising people who are less fortunate than yourselves. You get them out of messes; you try to improve their relation to the rest of mankind. Have you ever done the same thing for yourself?
...I tell you that unless you bring a well-developed, strong, resilient Self to your work, you are nothing. You are working for mankind, are you? Well, the best thing you can do for mankind is to devote your best energies to making the best possible job of yourself; then you will have something to give mankind that will really rouse its attention.
I said that I was going to offer you an impertinent word about personal welfare and that is what I have done. It is impertinent because nobody is supposed to talk to strangers about the state of their souls, and that is what I have been doing. You don't have to pay any attention, but if you don't - allow me the prophet's privilege of not merely being person, but rude - if you don't, you will be dead, dead in every important way, many a weary year before you are buried.
Actor 'rushing off to church':
Georgia - Chris Tucker has pleaded guilty to speeding and eluding police during a brief car chase last month.The actor told authorities he didn't hear their sirens because he was on his way to church.
Having a six-year-old son, I get to watch shows like The Wiggles. Whenever I see them, I get to thinking how strange it is for grown men to act like that. I know they're Australian and all, which explains some of their goofy behavior (just checking if Hamo still reads this blog), but don't they have any respect for themselves?
Evidently they get their respect from somewhere else:
THE toddler-set singing- sensation The Wiggles have unseated Nicole Kidman as the richest perfomers in Australia.The teeny-tiny-bopper foursome...made more than $34 million last year from the sale of CDs, videos and other merchandise, according to BRW, the Australian business magazine.
Kidman, the Australian money-winning champ for the last several years, dropped out of the top spot despite almost doubling her earnings in the past year to $30 million.
Apart from loving the title of the article ("Wiggles Bump Off Nicole Kidman" - I was expecting a crime story there for a second), I now know why they act that way. There is money in being goofy.
Reaction to Carson's book Becoming Conversant is mixed. I understand that. But I think we still need to listen in case there is something good to say (and I think there is).
I think it's important to hear where Carson ends up on the last page:
If emerging church leaders wish to become a long-term prophetic voice that produces enduring fruit that does not drift off toward progressive sectarianism, and even, in the worst instances, outright heresy, they must listen at least as carefully to criticisms of their movement as they transparently want others to listen to them...If they manage this self-correction and worry less about who is or who is not emergent and rather more about learning simultaneously to be faithful to the Bible and effective in evangelizing the rising number of alienated biblical illiterates in our culture, they may end up preserving the gains of their movement while helping brothers and sisters who are more culturally conservative than they are learn to reconnect with the culture.
Hard to argue with that.
More thoughts from All Marketers Are Liars:
We buy according to story (a script). For instance, we tell ourselves a story when we buy a pair of Puma running shoes for $125 (or Nike or whatever). The story we tell ourselves isn't the truth. If we told ourselves the truth, we would tell ourselves that we are paying $125 for a pair of shoes that were made for $3 in China.
We buy cars based on the story. People pay $80,000 for a Porsche Cayenne, a $44,000 surcharge on what is virtually the same vehicle, the $36,000 VW Touareg, made in the same factory. Same car, different story.
We all live according to stories. Many of these stories (scripts) are not true.
We are quick to believe false stories. I want to believe that $200 wine tastes better in the proper Riedel glass, and wine experts tell you this is true. The truth is that it tastes just as good in a cheap glass from the dollar store.
The story that is most true probably makes the least sense. Our calling is to live true to the most counter-intuitive stories out there - the script in which life is found in death, in which the poor are blessed, the one in which we those who lay down their lives will find it.
The difference is alternate scripts - the world's script or the Kingdom script. It's all about which story we believe.
Disclaimer: I received this book free as part of the bzzzagent program. That is because I love books so much and I'd go broke if I bought all the ones I wanted to read. The following should be taken with a grain of salt since I am very easily bought off by books of any type. You should try buying me off with books too if you'd like.
During our last residency, we all brought three ads to class and spent a few hours discussing them. It was amazing how much we learned by looking at advertising. Very rarely is the product the main feature of any ad. Instead, the ads tell us a story, and if that story connects with us, we tend to like the product too.
The thing is, so many of the stories that the ads tell us are false. Nobody ever stops to analyze them long enough to realize this. If the ads actually said, "Buy this watch and you will be as sexy as Diana Krall," that would be ridiculous. But the story flies under the radar, and most often, we end up buying the story. (And I am still not as sexy as Diana Krall.)
You could apply a lot from this, especially about the power of image and story.
It turns out that Seth Godin has done a lot of this work in his book All Marketers Are Liars. Godin writes about marketing, but what he is talking about applies to the spread of any idea. I'm thinking about this not in terms of how to market the church better, but in terms of our awareness of the stories we tell ourselves.
Do most of us really understand the stories we believe? Have we examined the stories we use to explain our worlds?
Most of praxis is about which story we choose.
I'm reading this book - and I think it will ultimately give me a lot to think about in terms of faith.
(Godin has started a blog about the book as well.)
Father,
Help me still the voices
Help me see past the labels
Help me turn off the noise
and listen only to you
Help me move past the talking
About who I would like to be
Help me to be missional
Instead of talking about it
Help me to be loving
Instead of talking about it
Help me to be humble
Instead of the way that I am
Help me see past all of this
To Calvary love
Help me to believe the Spirit
is around me, is in me
That I have all that I need
Give me quiet confidence
And make me hope in you
Renew me again
Let my life (not just my words)
Be a song of praise to you
As I read Carson's book:
In separate chapters McLaren explains (to use the subtitle of the book) "Why I am a missional + evangelical + post/protestant + liberal/conservative + mystical/poetic + biblical + charismatic/contemplative + fundamentalist/calvinist + anabaptist/anglican + methodist + catholic + green + incarnational + depressed-yet-hopeful + emergent + unfinished Christian." I have read these chapters with considerable care, and I must try to explain a little of why this is an attractive + manipulative + funny + sad + informed + ignorant + winsome + outrageous + penetrating + resoundingly false + stimulating + silly book. And I have used each of these words with more precision than McLaren has used with his. (p. 162)
Talk about being zinged! I have a feeling that won't be on the book jacket of future editions of Generous Orthodoxy.
Via Bill Streger:
If Satan can't make us fall through sin, he'll sidetrack us through diversion and anger. I speak as chief of hypocrites on this one. I am reminded of Nehemiah where he and his men were building the wall and labored with a sword in one hand and trowel in the other. Their critics gathered around and tried to coax them down off their ladders for years of debate and fighting. But, he told his men to remain atop their ladders and keep working and to only fight if someone came up the ladder and got in the way of their work. We need to do likewise.
If Jesus makes you feel comfortable with your agenda, then he's not Jesus...Once you domesticate Jesus, he isn't there any more. (Andrew Greeley)
That's emerging if you don't know, a word we're all getting sick of.
Andrew Jones is on a roll this week with some great stuff, including this reply from Michael Horton. Horton is argues, for instance, that the missional focus of the ec is great, but not at the expense of Word and Sacrament, which perhaps is getting lost:
In short, the church needs to be both mother and missionary. As simply mother, she can create a suffocating environment...You get the feeling that the kids just don’t get out much...But if the church is only a missionary and not a mother, we’ll wind up losing the “reached” while trying to save the “lost.”Scot McKnight also weighs in with a good post on what is driving the emerging thing.
The interaction with critics is great. We need it. I've been reading and listening to more of the critical reactions to the emerging church recently ("That's not the emerging church I know!"). Sometimes I'm surprised by the critiques. Occasionally I laugh (Carson has a few funny lines in his book). Ocassionally I think they miss the point.
But I have to admit that a lot of times, the critics have a point. There are a lot of pendulum swings and just bad stuff along with a lot of the good. That could be said about any part of the church, actually, so it shouldn't be surprising. The whole baby and the bathwater thing applies both ways.
The solution isn't to flee. It would be tragic to lose the good questions the ec is asking, along with the emphasis on praxis. I like this solution a lot better - working even harder at bringing good answers to the good questions, incorporating praxis and theology.
Last Saturday night, Charlene and I had a chance to meet Don Crawford, executive pastor of Lambrick Park Church in Victoria, B.C. Don was in town for some other stuff. We grabbed some grub at Jack Astors in Bramalea and gabbed for a few hours.
Don is a former Fellowship Baptist and used to attend the same church as my brother. Don somehow discovered my blog a few years ago, and I've been tracking with his ministry since 2003 by e-mail.
I'm not sure Don realized the impact of our conversation. Charlene and I have been doing a lot of thinking since then. It was exciting to sit back and to listen to someone's journey and to see God at work in the life of somebody else, and to begin to think of what some of that means for us.
Two things struck me in particular. I like to plan and to be in control. Don's story is anything but one about control, and yet he's ended up (I believe) exactly where God wants him. Don's story was a reminder that although I fear the times that seem out of control, God still works in those times. Ah the illusion that I am ever in control.
Charlene and I also had a conversation about fit. Don's story is largely about finding his place, where he is now doing (it seems to us) what he was made to do. He's also in a team environment which seems to be lending itself to making that possible for the whole team. That was exciting.
I am past the strangeness of meeting people in face that I only know online. Every time it has been stretching and positive in a good way. Thanks, Don, for contributing to my growth over the weekend.
Some good advice from Don Carson in Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church:
I have learned that one way I can check myself to see if I am deeply willing to teach the whole counsel of God is by listing the passages and themes that make me so uncomfortable (granted my own cultural locatedness) that I avoid them, or constantly stress what the passages can't mean so that I never get around to explaining and applying what they do mean. I must resolve this repeatedly and firmly, or I start to duck...So there is the perennial challenge: try a little harder to get over your own background, and commit yourself to trying, so far as you are able, to teaching the whole counsel of God, especially the parts you find least palatable.
Carson's talking about avoiding the "immaturity of theological pendulum swings" and this is good advice. The thing is, every theological camp is somewhat guilty of this. I know I am.
This is why I am so convinced that we can learn from others. You can see my blind spots a whole lot clearer than I can.
My Mother taught me LOGIC: "If you fall off that swing and break your neck, you can't go to the store with me," as well as, "If everyone else jumped off a cliff would you do it too?"My Mother taught me MEDICINE: "If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they're going to freeze that way."
My Mother taught me TO THINK AHEAD: "If you don't pass your spelling test, you'll never get a good job!"
My Mother taught me TO MEET A CHALLENGE: "What were you thinking? Answer me when I talk to you... Don't talk back to me!"
My Mother taught me HUMOR: "When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me."
My Mother taught me how to BECOME AN ADULT: "If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up.
My mother taught me about GENETICS: "You are just like your father!"
My mother taught me about my ROOTS: "Do you think you were born in a barn?"
My mother taught me about the WISDOM of AGE: "When you get to be my age, you will understand," or, "I will explain it all when you get older."
My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION: "Just wait until your father gets home."
My mother taught me about RECEIVING: "You are going to get it when I get you home."
My mother taught me RELIGION: "You better pray that will come out of the carpet."
My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL: "If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!"
My mother taught me FORESIGHT: "Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident."
My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS: "Shut your mouth and eat your supper!"
My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM: "Will you *look* at the dirt on the back of your neck!"
My mother taught me about STAMINA: "You'll sit there until all that spinach is finished."
My mother taught me about WEATHER: "It looks as if a tornado swept through your room."
My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY: "If I've told you once, I've told you a million times: Don't Exaggerate!"
My mother taught me THE CIRCLE OF LIFE: "I brought you into this world, and I can take you out."
My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION: "Stop acting like your father!"
My mother taught me about ENVY: "There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do!"
And the all time favorite thing my mother taught me, JUSTICE: "One day you will have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you. Then you'll see what it's like! I can't wait!"
Thanks, Mom, for all the things you taught me!
Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church, which I ordered back in January, finally arrived this week. I'm half way through it right now. I hope to review it fully in a bit, but here are some thoughts so far.
The book is good! Carson's got a sharp mind and he's worth reading. It's not a hack and destroy job; it's a book with some substance and I think it makes a contribution. (Carson comes from my camp so it's not hard for me to understand his perspective.)
It's primarily a book about epistemology (how we know things). That makes it fairly limited. Scot McKnight puts it this way:
I think DA Carson's book is really "becoming conversant with the emergent epistemology of Brian McLaren."
Okay, and Stan Grenz as well. I wish that Carson's book was broader. Nevertheless, someone needed to critique McLaren's epistemology, and Carson does it well.
Carson misses some of the best features of the emerging church, or at least he doesn't deal with them in detail. I wish he had spent more time on where it attempts to return to Scripture. He seems to think that the emerging church is primarily motivated by culture, whereas I tend to see it as that PLUS as a theologically driven quest to rethink theology apart from some of our mistaken assumptions under modernity. He could have celebrated its concern to state the Gospel in a more holistic way, on its focus on community and justice, for instance. (Carson does acknowledge some of the strengths of the emerging church, and is more generous with his praise than many critics I have read.)
I think Carson makes a good point that the emerging church hasn't attempted to critique postmodernity as much as it has modernity. It also is vocal on some issues of social justice while it is strangely silent on others that are more typical of modern evangelicalism. It could take a few more unpopular stands, and Carson argues that it is generous toward most movements except for modern evangelicalism. Fair enough.
I am glad Carson has addressed some of the concerns that have been expressed since his lectures have come out. He acknowledges the reaction on blogs and has replied to some of the concerns expressed by David Mills.
The emerging church reacts against the perceived arrogance of the modern evangelical church. Carson points out (rightfully I think) that the emerging church can likewise appear smug, and that is a bit of a turn-off.
I wish Carson would engage on a relational level with some within the emerging church. I think both sides could learn if they actually talked to each other. Carson can talk at the emerging church, but it would be more effective if it was a dialogue.
Overall, I'm pleased by the book so far. It has some good things to say and isn't what I feared it might be. I would recommend it. A proper review is still to come.
Our last election was called as a result of the sponsorship scandal. As a result of that election, the Liberals formed a minority government - re-elected but spanked a little too.
I can't think of much that has come up since then that is really new. Sure, some details which haven't been substantiated, but even if they are all true, they aren't exactly more than I thought possible during the last election.
So why the need for a new election now? Didn't we already have one on this scandal? (Yes, it does bother me that I am onside with our PM on this one.)
I have books by Scot McKnight
For this reason, I suggest that what is most compatible with the Emergent conversation is the literary form called the "essay"...Essays don't like definition and final conclusion and they are not arguments but ruminations and reflections and attempts to bring order and clarity to one's thoughts -- and letting everyone in on the action...
The point of it all is this: these writers "wrote their way to clarity" (if they ever got there, and some didn't -- like Fowler) and it was by thinking their way on paper that they came to terms with what they were thinking. But they knew they weren't setting down final thoughts for all time.
Can you think of a more Emergent literary form than the essay? Until enough "essay" their way through issues and "blog" their way into their own mind we really won't know what it is all about. And it takes awhile, but there is no need to hurry because there are so many "thinks to thing" about.
One of a kind unchurched and church membership retention seminars. Two Las Vegas women showing local clergy how grow their churches using proven Fortune 500 company's customer winback and retention techniques. Over 90% of all churches in America have just 160 active members. Encouraging God's CEOs to get feedback from church attendees who have recently stopped going to church and/or who are the on the verge of defection to achieve healthy growth from the inside out.(PRWEB) April 30, 2005 -- There's a two woman Army in Las Vegas who believes piping hot fries and the "Bible" have a lot in common. These ladies are teaching local clergy how to super size their dying church membership...
Lost Sheep Consulting conducts groundbreaking "McChurch" seminars. Nina S. Griffin and Rachael D. Richardson show God's CEOs how to recreate the one of a kind spiritual experience McDonald's customers have been enjoying for the last 50 years...
There's a "David" in the desert with a sling shot of a message; "Save the lost at all cost".
I have to admit they lost me with the sentence, "There's a two woman Army in Las Vegas who believes piping hot fries and the 'Bible' have a lot in common."
It's May and I don't know what happened to April. I started off going to visit my Dad for a week and spent the rest of the month sick and generally run down. The shingles are pretty much gone, but last month was a blur.
On Sunday, I sat down to watch the latest Simpsons episode, which I do from time to time. It hit a little too close to home.
Homer's roof leaked, letting rain into the house. Sounds like what happened to me last month when a racoon tried to move in our attic.
Homer: Awww. It's raining outside.
Marge: It's raining inside!
The roofer goes to the store to buy some supplies. He carries a package down a ladder, saying, "I'm coming down with a case of shingles." Funny unless you have just come down with a case of shingles.
Marge donates the dog to a seniors home. When she takes the dog back after a day, one senior says, "That's sad. We've had that dog as long as I can remember." Reminds me of some conversations I had with my Dad.
A little too close to home. D'oh!
Two quotes from the book:
True vocation joins self and service, as Frederick Buechner asserts when he defines vocation as "the place where your deep gladness meets the world's deep need." (p.16)Quote from Rumi: "If you are here unfaithfully with us, you're causing terrible damage." (p.31)
From The National Post:
Satanists, apocalypse watchers and heavy metal guitarists may have to adjust their demonic numerology after a recently deciphered ancient biblical text revealed that 666 is not the fabled Number of the Beast after all.A fragment from the oldest surviving copy of the New Testament, dating to the Third century, gives the more mundane 616 as the mark of the Antichrist.
Ellen Aitken, a professor of early Christian history at McGill University, said the discovery appears to spell the end of 666 as the devil's prime number.
"This is a very nice piece to find," Dr. Aitken said. "Scholars have argued for a long time over this, and it now seems that 616 was the original number of the beast."
I'm talking about King Henry VIII:
Sent of Christ as Christ [was sent by] God, we must preach the word of God truly and purely, and set forth the name of Jesu unto other, and reprove all false and erroneous doctrine and heresies. For although priests and bishops be specially called and deputed as public ministers of God’s word, yet every Christian man is bound particularly to teach his family and such as be in his house, when time and place requireth.