Phonecall from Kolkata

Got up early to return the truck after E's big move. Watching TV as I got up, there was a special on Newsworld about Rickshaw Drivers in Kolkata. Later in the morning I get a phonecall from an old friend, also in Kolkata. Hearing children, the blast of horns, and all kinds of craziness in the background, I've been seeing, smelling, feeling the place ever since.

Practicing Resurrection

Reflections on Philemon in the Context of John's Passion Narrative (Preface) We read this story in the shadow of three crosses. There is the story in a nutshell. There are the various ways into the story. There is the story itself. There are the stories themselves. There is the question: Whose story is this? The passion was coming. They didn’t know it yet, but it was soon to arrive. The disciples, sitting in the upper room, their leader talking, the air pungent and heavy. One week prior, he had been celebrated by the throngs as they entered the city. And now they feel unrest. Though they don’t know it, they wait for an arrest. And in this room. In this tension. In this celebration of a victory once won, an exodus made, from a land much afraid. In this celebration, fear assails. We read this story in the shadow of three crosses. The cross follows soon after Judas’ double-cross. And in this room, this tiny upper room, Jesus shows his disciples The Way. The Truth. The Life. In this tiny upper room, Jesus calls his disciples, each one by name, to follow him. “Where are you going?” “How will we know?” They ask, unknowingly. And knowingly, he responds, “I Am. I am The Way.” “I am the Truth.” “I am the Life.” But there’s more to it than that. There’s more to our story. The plot thickens, you see. Sure. There’s the story in a nutshell. But the plot thickens. As much as this story is about Jesus. As much as this story is about all that he has done. As much as this story is about Jesus, it’s about us too. In the midst of the celebration – the upper room celebration where fear assails – Jesus tells his friends that which they cannot believe. His life is the textbook, the roadmap, the guide to their lives. He is the expert. The teacher. And yet he turns to them, saying, “If you believe in me, the works that I do, you will do also. If you believe in me, you will do even greater works than these.” Greater works than these? What, shall we too raise the dead? (Surface) There is the story in a nutshell. There are the various ways into the story. There is the story itself. There are the stories themselves. There is the question: Whose story is this? Jesus never leaves the picture. He may have returned to the father, but Jesus is always in the picture. In this room. In this room, as he was in the upper room Jesus is present. In the atrium of this house. In the heart of the community, Jesus is present. And in his presence, a letter is read. The letter is read, and the assembly stares. Eyes focused on Philemon, Archippus and Apphia. Pillars of the community. How might the community hold together in this wake? They are called to the impossible. To the impossible and more. They are called to do as Paul says. To do as Paul says and more. Here we enter another resurrection story. A resurrection story yet to unfold. We enter a resurrection story yet untold. We hear this story in the shadow of three crosses. Recalling how the cross followed soon after the double-cross, we await resurrection. Here. In this room. In this room, a community gathered around, a community gathered, the lost, the found. And all are called to practice resurrection. “If you consider me your partner,” the letter reads, “If you consider me your dear friend. If you consider me your partner, welcome me with open arms.” But Paul is not near. Only these words on the page make him so. Paul is not near. But here, in this moment, we are given the chance to make this heart beat again. Onesimus, a heart, Paul’s very own heart, we are called to restart. Useless. Dead. And here today, Paul calls us to do even more than he asks. Paul, like Jesus, calls us to greater works. Paul, like Jesus, calls us to raise the dead. Paul, like Jesus, calls us to obey the command. “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word.” Jesus’ words demand love and obedience. “He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.” Love and obey. No other way. To practice resurrection, to practice our faith until faith becomes practiced. He calls us to practice, and to practice, and to practice again. In practice we become practitioners. In obedience we love. In love we obey. In Christ we love (for he is the only way). In practice, we learn the ways of our teachers. Of Paul. Of Christ. In practice, we become effective, and in practice, we proclaim. We proclaim in our love, in our restoration, in our resurrection. Died. Crucified. Buried with Christ. In Christ we rise again. In Christ we proclaim with actions what words alone cannot speak. We proclaim with our actions the new life that we seek. The new life of which we speak. (Interface) There is the story in a nutshell. There are the various ways into the story. There is the story itself. There are the stories themselves. There is the question: Whose story is this? Our story, it echoes. Our story, it resonates. Called to obedience. Called to love. We have Onesimus. We have Christ in our midst. And with these, we know what we are called to do. These are the stories. These are our stories. These are a couple of ways in. We must enter the story with Onesimus. In Onesimus’ outcast state. Outcast. Dead. Nowhere to turn. Yet with nowhere left to run, he finds mercy in Paul. And Paul finds mercy in Christ. We must enter the story with Christ. With Christ’s self-breaking. In Christ’s brokenness for the poor. For the oppressed. For the blind. For the leper. For the tax collector, the Samaritan and the harlot. Resurrection is real. It is as real to Christ as it is to Paul. Resurrected on his way to Damascus, Paul knows what it is to find mercy. And in Christ, we find both the command and the love of greater mercies. It’s all but impossible to practice resurrection on our own. It’s all but impossible. And yet, with Christ. In Christ. Through Christ, the impossible comes to pass. This is the Way. This is the Truth. This is the life. In the shadow of three crosses, only here is resurrection possible. The cross. The double-cross. With these, Christ redeems the most unlikely. And as we gather today, we recognize that Christ’s sacrifice is not merely something we celebrate. It is something in which we participate. And as we share in Christ’s body. As we partake of his blood. As we take it all in, we are called to be broken. We are called to be killed. And we are called to rise again, for the life of the world. Tags: Emerging Church, Philemon, Resurrection, Sermon,

Suspicious

So maybe I should write a post of my own for a change. Not that I haven't. But I haven't rocked the blog in quite awhile. A lot of it has to do with swirling thoughts (tho that usually doesn't stop me). Swirling thoughts about things very close to my heart, especially the church. It's a love-hate relationship sometimes. At times elating, at other times completely frustrating. And I'm not just talking about one particular community. It's just the way it's always been, the opposing feelings. Up in Kingston a few weeks back, I had a great chance to chat with my friend Trevor. Trev was one of the central people in my life for quite awhile. We had this group of friends. Artists. Performers. Musicians. Promoters. Someone always had a show, or knew of a good show, and we all banded about together. We supported one another in our art, and we brought each other to explore new things. It was about more than art, though. It was about community, primarily, and a Christian community. No matter what church we attended (or not), no matter which campus group we affiliated with (or not), there was always an underlying spiritual dimension. We were always chilling in the QP, talking about faith, theology, and how that all interacted with real life. We had so many great conversations in the pub. In some ways, I guess we were a mobile church - a mobile gathering of similarly focused people who wanted to see worship and faith take place multidimensionally. To our experience, and to our peers, Christianity was this one-dimensional thing that people did. It wasn't about who you were, or where you were going. It was like a one-day-a-week stopover in an otherwise disconnected journey. It's funny to think that what we were doing back then has now been labeled, packaged, and marketed as "emergent." Talking to Trev the other week, it was really interesting to think of what we had been doing as "emergent." We certainly didn't think of ourselves that way. We were just this organically formed community of people concerned for one another, and for the good of the broader community. That's why I'm suspicious. I'm suspicious of becoming "emergent." I think I'd much prefer to engage in community with people. People with whom I can live, people whom I can love. A group of people not only focused on what's going on with us, but with our surrounding community. Seeking to transform it (albeit slowly) with the love of Christ. I wonder how or if this same thing would operate now that a bunch of us have moved to the big bad city. Tags: Community Building, Emerging Church, Toronto

Interview with Jonny Baker

Reposted from Jamie's Blog The following e-interview came out of my own desire to get to know a little better the man behind the blog. It was a real pleasure exploring worship, emerging church and even Canada unique place in the emerging conversation. I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I did: Jamie Arpin-Ricci (JAR): Many people are vaguely familiar or completely unaware of "alternative worship". How would you explain it to the uninitiated? Jonny Baker (JB): It is a label given to a movement that developed out of the UK in the late 80s and early 90s when groups sought to develop worship that related to their cultural world which was quite shaped by club culture – so it incorporated electronic music, projection screens, ritual and ambient spaces as well as reimagining the liturgical traditions of the church. I’m not sure how helpful the label is now. Steve Collins web site is an ideal portal for those interested in more – see http://www.alternativeworship.org and http://www.alternativeworship.org/definitions_definition.html for his definition. JAR: In a culture where musicians are at times gaining a stronger voice than politicians, what do worship leaders most need to be aware of and prepared for? JB: I think they need to be authentic – offer what they do to God creatively and with integrity and that’s pretty much it. Alternative worship has tried to get away from the cult of personality that seems to surround worship leading. So it would be typical in alternative worship to have a team of people leading different parts of the worship and much less emphasis on the front/performance. This is an attempt to recapture the root of liturgy which actually means ‘the work of the people’. JAR: Some have suggested that "alternative worship" is an emerging church phenomenon. How would you respond to this? JB: I think alternative worship preceded the emerging church discussion by several years, at least in the UK. Emerging church felt like other sections of the church catching up to be honest. Alternative worship had been having discussions about postmodernity, contextual mission, reading liberation, black, and feminist theologians and re-theologising as a result, reading biblical scholars, drawing from contemporary culture and art, re-embracing ritual and the traditions of the church and so on. Alternative worship was always a very radical movement – it felt as though emerging church afforded another way of talking about things that might be more accessible to a wider group of people and to the mainstream church who were never going to embrace some aspects of alternative worship. JAR: Do you believe that worship should be more "missional"? Why and what does actually mean to you? JB: I think mission is key – it’s why I now work for a mission agency – CMS. Lessons learned in cross cultural mission offer a lot of insights and clues into how we should do stuff in our own culture(s). Those lessons are both about the bad practice and the good practice. And yes worship is good when its missional though you might need to qualify what you mean by that as it’s a bit of a buzz word at the moment – contextual worship (worship that is authentically grown out of the cultural soil of a group of people) is really important. There is a disconnect in many places between the church and culture – it sometimes feels as though people live in one world and then when they go to worship enter another world and then they return to the real world. Worship that is missional should simply be making worship out of that cultural stuff so that people don’t experience that disconnect. I actually think that in some places being ‘missional’ doesn’t seem to include much in the way of worship – the emphasis is on building relationships with people who aren’t christians and hanging out with them and doing evangelism – all of which is brilliant and a helpful shift in emphasis in some places. But I still passionately believe in the importance of worship - worship that touches and moves people and ultimately that is a gift given to God out of who we are. When done well that should fuel mission. JAR: Worship seems to be a place where theology and art and culture intersect. How can worship leaders be intentional about theological integrity? Artistic and cultural integrity? JB: I think you are optimistic – worship often doesn’t have a lot of art or culture in it and that’s a big problem! Alternative worship has definitely tried to connect culturally and celebrate the arts. Creating worship with integrity and being intentional? Mmmm – it all sounds a bit heavier than what people probably think about when creating worship. I think worship is best created by a team that bring their gifts to the table. It then really helps if someone at least has some theological nous and/or liturgical nous and/or whatever other nous – together those gifts will help create something richer. But it needn’t be heavy. In fact I find it’s a lot of fun. A metaphor I have found helpful is Tom Wright and Brian Walsh’s notion of faithful improvisation. The thinking here is that to faithfully improvise you need to have some tools out of which to improvise or your improvisation may be a bit thin – so the richer your grasp of theology or the arts or missiology or liturgy or traditions or whatever the richer the pool out of which you can improvise. It’s not enough in that sense to just be cerative (though that is to be encouraged and celebrated) - some development in other areas is needed as well. Am I making any sense? [JAR: Yes!] Cultural integrity is a weird term – not sure I’ve heard it before – the approach in alt worship has been to create worship that we relate to rather than try and create it for some imagined other. That way it has to have cultural integrity or be authentic. I think inauthenticity is much more likely if you try and do stuff that you think others will like. Click Here For The Full Interview.

Dear Social Capital...

I just wanted to thank you for interrupting my life, making me think more about how this whole thing works. Society. Government. Church. It's been a whirlwind few days. I want you to know, though, that I'm enjoying the journey of discovering who you are, how you work, and how we relate to one other. We're getting to know each other better, and I can't wait for the adventures yet to come. How we'll come to understand one another inside and out. Sounds like a long-term relationship to me. What do you think? Love, Andrew.

Exclusion and Embrace

Not at all related to the book (mostly because I haven't read the entire thing yet), but here it is all the same. A lot of churches out there are doing things didfferently. Their liturgy is different, or their services incorporate different forms of expression (newer forms of music, conversational sermons, question periods, etc.) than what has been traditional to the Modern Church. I guess my primary question relates to how these churches actually engage with the communities they are in. Some have tight membership structures that require membership in the church prior to participation in small groups. But different scholars and practitioners have noted, and continue to observe that people who come to church out of curiosity do not come in if there are numerous barriers to acceptance. Membership is one of these barriers. How does a church that stresses membership as a way into community, actually function missionally? Can it? It seems to me that if the entire structure of the church is inward focused -- focused on drawing people into the community, rather than reaching outwards, there will be larger problems to be accounted for unless there is something radically different about the way in which this exclusive membership operates in the real world. If the membership is concerned with the surrounding community - if it is engaged in communicating the gospel in word and in action, then perhaps such an exclusive membership structure can work. However, if this second tier is more focused on maintaining exclusivity, without finding some other way of creating social space for "non-members" to explore faith in the context of community, it seems that the community has failed at both levels in its call to incarnate the gospel. The question all over my mind today is how do you move from an inward-focused, membership-driven church to one that both on individual and corporate levels engages with the surrounding culture? The church needs to create space for free and open dialogue, and be willing to break herself for the good of the entire world. I question how insulation from the world (you know, the one that God thought was good) will serve to promote this dialogue, and serve the world with a witness of God's unimaginable grace. Tags: Doctrine of Election, Ecclesiology, Emerging Church

My True Calling

I think I've found it: Rev Adam Sapple waves at me from across the sand dunes. "We’re over here mate!" he shouts, his Australian accent strangely at odds with this quiet Welsh beach. As I round the corner I see Adam and his team preparing for a days witness. He is wearing a traditional dog collar, pair of sports sandals and nothing else. Welcome to ‘Naturists Unashamedly Doing Evangelism and Surfing’ (NUDES) - the UK’s first naturist beach mission. Read the article here