I just recently stumbled across this from an old Off-the-Map gathering webpage:

www.crmnet.org - CRM s Home Page (Neil)

www.hothousenw.org - Seattle Missional Church Planter s Group

www.nwgs.edu - Northwest Graduate School Programs and Faculty

www.thecea.org - Christian Evangelistic Association ministries

www.columbiaconference.org - BGC ministry Partnerships and Church Planting

It’s amazing how often we forget to do things that we know are crucial. I’ve realized this in my teaching this week - assessment is a central aspect of teaching, yet I’ve basically been leaving it out of my planning and including it only as an afterthought.

The same is true in our church planting mission. One of the things we always said we’d do is have people over and get to know them. No agenda, no trick to pull out of our sleeves after X number of get-togethers. Just get to know people.

No one came to our Film & Spirituality gathering last night. We had put a lot into it in the way of flyers, invites, etc., so it was really disappointing, especially since the film (Jesus of Montreal, by Denys Arcand) was probably the best we’ve seen in our series.

Today at our team meeting, I didn’t feel any of the frustration or negativity that I’ve felt in the past when things aren’t going that great. We got some ideas going, spent some time in prayer, made some plans, talked about God, and has some good food and fellowship. I feel ready to tackle whatever work we have to do.

I’m reminded of an old hymn:

Roll back the curtain
Of memory now and then
Show me where you brought me from
And where I could have been

Remember, I’m human
And humans forget
So remind me, remind me
Dear Lord.

The same is probably true for the church - we once knew things that we have since forgotten, and need to be reminded of and re-awakened to.

I’m reading The Purpose-Driven Life at the moment, and I can understand the disapproval it has received from many in the emerging church.

Like many things modern, it presents a bite-sized Gospel that can be digested in little pieces. Everything in it is handy and portable, and if the book itself is not convenient enough, you can get Scripture Keeper Plus to help you memorize those all-important decontextualized verses.

Decontextualization is the problem, as Jimmy at Fluidfaith has pointed out regarding The Passion of the Christ. If Jesus’ death is given no context, it loses its real meaning and ceases to be good news, becoming only a tragic story portrayed with an almost voyeuristic realism.

I am personally tired of hearing American bloggers (like myself) rant about the modern institutional church, and if that is all this post is, I’ve failed in my purpose (after all, What on Earth is This Post Here For?). Rather, I want to point out, in a thoughtful way, the ways in which books like this one perpetuate the ritzcrackerization of Christianity.

First, Warren introduces most of the 1000+ scriptural quotations with “The Bible says…”, a formula we get pretty familiar with after two or three pages. If you view the Bible as a kind of gigantic book of Proverbs, this isn’t really a problem. The Proverbs are perfect for this kind of quoting (though there is certainly a poetic and narrative structure in the book):

He who winks maliciously causes grief,
and a chattering fool comes to ruin. Proverbs 10:10

This verse is pretty quotable, and you don’t lose much by pulling it into something else without any background.

But what about the rest of the Bible, the parts that are story and epistle and history? What happens if we take these out in useful, bite-sized pieces? I think we are unfair to the text when we demand that it be useful to us.

For example, you’ve probably heard the verse “Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.” (1 Tim 5:23). It’s been used a lot of different ways, mostly to prove a point about hermeneutics (like I’m doing now) or to be funny (like I did in high school). Context means a lot. It’s not everything, but it’s a lot.

Second, the book is divided into 40 bite-sized purpose-driven chapters. Why? Readability, of course. Web pages do this, and it’s a great idea. People don’t want to wade through 65-page chapters. Even in dense material like Beyond Foundationalism, there are headings and sub-headings to give the reader a break.

But I think something else is being communicated here: God has truths for you, and they come in little 5-page chunks. They are summarizable in attractive little boxes at the end of each chapter. And they tell you everything you need to know about life. Sure.

Third, Warren presents the bite-sized gospel at the end of chapter 7. In case it’s too inconvenient for you to, say, actually become a Christian before reading the rest of the book, you are provided with a nice little 3-paragraph sermon on how to accept Christ. Then you’re free to continue learning God’s purposes for your life.

We can do better than that. As NT Wright discusses in The Challenge of Jesus, Jesus is not just a fountain of timeless truths. His message has a context, just as his life and death and resurrection had a context. We have much continuity with that context, because it is found in a story that began before Jesus was born in Nazareth and still wasn’t over by the time I was born in New Jersey. It continues alive today because God is still working out his story, still shaping the world through the advancement of his Kingdom. That’s a big gospel.

I love PHP. My server has generously offered to execute any PHP files I put on it (and that’s the good kind of execution, mind you). Not sure what I mean? If you have a MovableType site, you can probably use PHP. Here’s a great trick to make it easier to update your bookroll, links, common header, etc.

You can use MT’s multiple blog feature to create pages that have content that is pulled into other pages. For example, I’m no longer using Blogrolling.com for my blogroll; it’s stored in a file called blogroll.php (my sub-blog for such things is called cms, for content management system).

Why in the world, you ask, would I want to add this level of complexity to my website? Well, one reason is that it’s a pain to edit an enormous template in MT and try to find the one line of code you want to manipulate. So here’s what I do: Create the file as an MT entry and use PHP to include it in all the pages I want it to show up in. Here are step by step instructions:
(more…)

Michelle is doing a survey of Christian bloggers. Leave her a comment (with your email) if you want to participate. Via Darren

Justin et al, please forgive the personal nature of this post… but sometimes you just need to write. My wife and I just returned from seeing Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. For months I (like all of you) have heard stories of Gibson’s graphic portrayal of Jesus’ torture and crucifixion, and the ensuing crowds of moviegoers left speechless and teary-eyed. Right before I left my Bible study tonight someone told me, “I’ve heard this movie is life-changing.” So obviously, I was excited. I’ve always had trouble making the gospel accounts real and this was a perfect opportunity to catch a glimpse of a real man in a real place on a real cross. I’m not going to elaborate on the film, but needless to say it was all that it was rumored to be. And yes, many people wept, especially my wife. There was barely a dry eye in the house- except for mine.

So now as I sit here at my Powerbook at 1:14am indulging on a bowl of Frosted Mini-Wheats I wonder, “Do I have no heart? Do I have no soul?” I’ve just sat through the most graphic depiction of my Saviour’s sacrifice for me and left virtually unmoved, untouched, unaffected. Is my heart really so hard? Could it be that I have forgotten my First Love without even knowing it? Sure, my Christian exterior is beautifully whitewashed, but what is on the inside- really. I wonder.

I will take this one thing from The Passion though. As Jesus falls to the ground under the weight of the cross, his mother runs to his side. He looks her in the eyes and says, “Behold Mother, I make all things new.” Make me new, Lord Jesus. Make me new.

I’m at home now. We have DSL but apparently it’s unnecessary, as 5 wireless networks are available from my kitchen table. I’m not planning to piggyback on a regular basis, but it’s nice to have the option.

I bought the card to post live from the Off the Map Roadshow. Here’s what I posted:

Live from the Coaching Clinic 1
Hierarchy and leadership (Coaching Clinic Notes 2)
Photos from Coaching Clinic
Women in the Emerging Church Leadership (Coaching Clinic Notes 3)
Intentionality (Coaching Clinic Notes 4)
Live from the Roadshow
Todd Hunter’s session at Roadshow
More from Todd Hunter at Roadshow
Brian McLaren and April Stace Vega
Roadshow: Interviews With “Lost” People
Roadshow: Q&A with Brian & Todd

I also wanted to make sure everyone sees this picture:

I photoshopped myself to get that effect, but Jimmy really looks like that.

Dan says:

More recently though, I’ve cut back on disciplines and done what I felt like, and it turns out that I want to pray. I’m also coming round to the idea that it’s not hard to do the right thing when you can see the big picture. Maybe I am being hopelessly optimistic about the world but I think the key to treating others well is seeing them as Children of God. The key to a good prayer life is the knowledge that God likes you. The key to generous giving is knowing you’ll never have enough money to buy everything you want. I don t know how or why but I’ve managed to go from “I want to want to” to “I want to”. Maybe the discipline was a necessary part of making that jump? In which case: disciplines are transitional things that should be discarded before they become ritual.

I find Dan’s words interesting, in light of the recent conversation about spiritual disciplines at LivingRoom and here (also here). Hamo has also offered thoughts on this subject. I don’t see myself “graduating” from spiritual disciplines in general at the moment. The context of Dan’s comments is in his question, “How good are we when we’re not forced to behave ourselves?”

That’s a tough one, because I’m not sure what it means for us to “be ourselves”. Am I myself when I am doing things I know are wrong? Am I myself when I’m doing what I usually do? I like to think of myself as the person I want to be rather than the person I am. Life’s failures are a constant wakeup call to the difference between the two, though.

Are spiritual disciplines a transitional thing?