categorically deny

Responsible Interdependence

2008-01-22T11:11:00.000-05:00

A Reflection on Ezekiel 36:1-15
Wine Before Breakfast
Tuesday January 22, 2008 | 7:30am

As I read through this passage over the past few weeks, I found one thing particularly peculiar. One translation of the scripture we just read relates verse 3 in this way:

“For good reason they have made you desolate and crushed you from every side that you would become a possession of the rest of the nations.”

As I stared at this passage, after having contrasted it with other versions quite similar to the one we read together this morning, I looked at it in some sense of disbelief. Over and over I repeated to myself the phrases, “You have been made desolate. You’ve been made desolate for a reason, and a good one at that.”

And it just didn’t click. What was the reason? What could have been the good reason? And more directly, what interpretive point were they hoping to make by putting this particular spin on the text?

If the mountains had been able to join us this morning, I would want to ask them. As it was, the mountains thought that today might be a good day to sleep in.

To my ears, first off, it sounds like crazy talk, the whole scenario. The mountains, if you caught all six mentions of them in the passage, are being addressed as though they, of all, uhhh, people, might have ears to hear. If no one else would listen, if no one else would hear the word of the Lord, perhaps the mountains would hear.

So. We either we have Ezekiel addressing the mountains, or we have a prophet who’s gone of his rocker. He’s just lost it, and the next thing you know, he’ll be talking to a valley of dry bones. Whatever the case, if the mountains were listening, I suspect that they had some questions of their own.

The mountains sit there in silence, perhaps surprised, perhaps somewhat aghast to hear these words. They are dumbfounded. And so for now, they listen. And as they listen along with us this morning, I wonder if you can just hear their thoughts racing…

For what good reason have we been made desolate? For what good reason have we been taken advantage of, used, abused, and raped? For what good reason have our fruitful soils been ravaged, our life-giving waters polluted, our teeming, creative cities forsaken? For what good reason have we been treated with scorn of soul, with the utter contempt of a predator for its prey?

What on God’s green earth is the God ordained reason for this God-damned suffering? Because if there is, actually, a good reason, we’d like to hear it.

The good reason should, perhaps, be put in quotation marks. The good reason of the Edomites to possess the land, to take it under control, to use it, abuse it, throw it away as though it were worthless, is, in the final analysis, no good reason at all.

Here is the tension. Much earlier in the book of Ezekiel – the sixth chapter – God turned against the mountains of Israel. God turned against them because of Israel’s false and empty worship. Because they prostituted themselves before idols, the oracles of God pointed to the fact that the mountains of Israel would be laid waste. So God had foreordained Israel’s loss. The problem is that the Edomites had jumped on the bandwagon in a moment of opportunistic fervour, and taken advantage of this situation for their own pleasure, for their own greed.

While Israel was to be exiled from the land (and Israel, throughout the Old Testament always has a tenuous relationship with the land). While Israel did have a price to pay for infidelity, Edom went too far. Edom’s sword was vengeful. It was vicious. And it took joy in laying waste to a people and their inheritance. It took joy in making prey of the mountains and all they contained. And slanderously, it took joy in insulting these very mountains of Israel that for so long had pointed to God’s glory.

The way Ezekiel paints this portrait, the Edomites justify their actions, abuses and infidelities in the name of possession. Possession is, after all, some significant portion of the law. Isn’t it? If that field is mine, if that ox is mine, if that woman is mine, nine-tenths of the law says I can do whatever I want with that land, ox, or woman. Or so the Edomite theory at work in this portrait seems to go…

There is no mention of carbon offsets in the Edomites’ occupation of Judah. There is no mention of financial compensation, as if God’s land, the land he had given to (and, to be fair, taken away from) his chosen people could be bought and done with as some self-important king or a marauding army wanted.

With no justification, with no real reason, the Edomites dredge up an ancient quarrel, and knock Israel while she’s already down. Catching her on the rebound, they take advantage of her. And then they spread insults far and wide because, well, they can.

And the Lord, the living, creating, inspiring God of Israel, seeing all of this, finally says that enough is enough. Enough with the rampant killing and the chronic abuses. Enough with the rape of Israel’s daughters. Enough with the pollution of the fresh mountain air water and soil. Enough.

The point that God seems to be making is this: if you didn’t get it before, if before you were so ignorant as to discount my many good statutes, and my wisdom, if you thought that you could act independently, if you thought that your actions have no bearing on my interconnected, interwoven, interdependent creation. If you thought any of these things, well, today I will show you differently. Today I will show you that I am the Lord.

The mountains listen. And I suspect that as Israel eavesdrops on the conversation, they listen up too. Where Israel had been caught in its own infidelity, now Edom, caught in a web of self-seeking pride, will soon know what they possess, who holds the power, and who is the Lord.

Three times in this text, we encounter the word “possession.” But possession as understood by the Edomites is different from possession under Torah. Possession, as God’s law understands it leaves little room for self-serving, reductionist utilitarianism.

Land possession throughout the Old Testament is covenantally linked both to Yahweh and to the integrity of community. If any of these relationships suffer, all will suffer. If the land suffers, God and community suffer. If the community takes a hit, then God and the land take a hit. And, if God is wounded, then perhaps it follows that both the land and the community are in some way wounded. All pieces need to be in place. All relationships need to be maintained. And for renewal to occur, relationships must be repaired.

For God in Ezekiel, this relationship repairing enterprise is precisely how renewal takes place:

But you, O mountains of Israel, shall shoot out your branches, and yield your fruit to my people Israel; for they shall soon come home. 9See now, I am for you; I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown; 10and I will multiply your population, the whole house of Israel, all of it; the towns shall be inhabited and the waste places rebuilt.

These verses, particularly, draw us back to the creation narratives in Genesis. They remind the mountains of Israel, and they remind us of the way in which God, creator, sustainer pauses mid-stride to bring about human life before allowing creation to continue. They seem to draw on that passage in Genesis 2 where:

No shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there were no people to cultivate the ground.

Before the water can flow, before the plants can flourish, the land requires people to tend it. And this is where our text brings us today. To a memory of the earliest songs of creation and the promise of a new song to be sung of a promised land flowing with milk and honey. Our text brings us to a dream of the future, where God, partnering with the covenant communitybring forth new life in a land that once was barren. A land that has been marred, ruined and insulted. And yet, this is now a land in which the people find themselves humming the tune, and bursting forth in song:

I lift my eyes up to the mountains
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from You
Maker of heaven Creator of the earth

No longer will the insults mean anything when God, for God’s own glory restores land and community. Throughout the passage, neither the people nor the land are the primary agents of renewal. God says, time and again, to the mountains and to all who will listen, “I will turn to you,” “I will multiply the people on you,” “I will cause your inabitation,” “I will not let you hear insults from the nations.” The great I Am, the God of Israel, is also the great I Will, the one who through the faithful covenant community, grows something new, in intimate relationship with all of creation. And this is perhaps what this passage most demands of us, that:

In a world seeking power unhinged from restraint
In a world desirous of revenge rather than justice
In a world engaging in worship apart from the God of Israel
In a world lusting for sex apart from community
In a world craving food, all the while ravaging its soil

This passage, and the God who as at work throughout the passage simply asks that we recognize where our hope, where our help and our strength come from.

To acknowledge that in the end there, is no such thing as autonomy. In the end, we are left with interdependence and a choice. Responsible or Irresponsible. Responsive or Irresponsive. What’s your pick?

Christmas Post

2007-12-25T23:43:00.000-05:00

My posting has gone the way of, well, the way of not posting for various reasons. The most compelling reason of which is spending time developing both the website and some behind-the-scenes stuff for empire remixed. Our blog has just recently gone live, with a Christmas Lament posted by Brian J. Walsh, co-author of Colossians Remixed.

The coming weeks will see posts from a number of different people on subjects far and wide, but all addressing ways of living as a Christian in a culture that is at-best indifferent to people of faith. My next post will probably find it's self over on the empire remixed blog.

Check out Brian's post, and add the empire remixed site to your reader...make it a New
Year's resolution or something.

Empire Remixed

2007-11-08T20:06:00.000-05:00

After a bit of a break since their discussion of urban mission and ministry in the Spring, empireremixed is back with a brand new discussion. This time around they'll be taking on Milton Friedman, Naomi Klein and Jesus all at once. Could be a good time. Here's what it's all going to look like:

In The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, Naomi Klein tells the story of the relationship between electroshock therapy, free market capitalism, and the suppression of democracy.

But what can protect disaster-shocked victims from the exploitation of shock and awe tactics? Klein suggests that we need an alternative story to orient us in the face of disastrous disorientation.

And so, with the prompting of this text, we will seek to tell an alternative story, with an alternative imagination, for an alternative Kingdom.

Placing Klein’s text in dialogue with political theory and theological reflection, we seek to retell the story, with eyes and ears open, as we ask one another the question:

What’s your story?

Further details can be found at the empireremixed site, or on their facebook group.

Meditation on Genesis 2

2007-09-25T11:42:00.000-04:00

Delivered at Wine Before Breakfast
Wycliffe College, University of Toronto
25 September 2007
7:30am

The image of the invisible God, the firstborn of creation is here at work. With sleeves rolled up, fingernails dirty, the work has begun. In the beginning, and from the beginning, it was his work, all along, being done. Before all things were, and because of him, all things are. Things are as they should be. Or are they?

“In the beginning,” so the story goes, “when God created the heavens and the earth,” God transforms the formless into the formative sustaining force on which our very lives depend. As the spirit moves over the water, it brings substance to the void.

The spirit’s movement over the water causes all that we now know to exist, for there is nothing that exists without its origin in God’s creative action. As the spirit moves over the water, light and darkness, water and sky and dry land appear with God’s refrain, “let there be.” Layer by layer, God creates the earth we know, and layer after layer of reality comes into being on the back of the previous.

The land put in its place, becomes the creator of place, a creative force imbued with the ability to bring forth vegetation. We notice the change in the narrative movement, for where God brought forth light and darkness, water and sky, here he imbues the land with its own creative, sustaining power.

God, creator, sustainer, invests his creative expression in and to and through the land. As the narrative continues to reflect on creation, God’s speech-act invests the land with the power to create ecological reality.

But that reality depends not only on God, not only on nature, but also on the human community.

The first account of creation, the debut performance, is perfect in motion, perfect in pitch. The dance, the songs of creation, are danced, are sung on a brand new stage, as the actors deliver line after line of creative, imaginative genius.

The second account, the second scene zooms in much closer. For here the sweeping narrative of dance and song is traded for much more earthy, gritty detail.

It is perhaps here that we first become aware that the whole of Creation exists only by participating in God’s life. In sharing his being, in breathing his breath, and in dancing his dance. And God’s dance is a square dance at the barn-raising of creation.

A square dance involves more than one. From the beginning, and in the beginning, a square dance demands community. A square dance is not a dance to be danced alone. And it is not a dance to be danced in any sort of exhibitionist pride, like that time in undergrad, or rather, those many times in undergrad you flailed across the dance floor, hoping to replicate Usher’s choreographed scene from an overplayed copy of “She’s All That.”

This isn’t quite so polished. The scene’s choreography starts with a few mis-steps, a few bruised hooves and one or two dislocated wings as Adam and the animals give it a shot.

The scenery is ready, but dormant, awaiting Adam’s grand entrance. He enters, timidly, tepidly, and considers partner after partner. Each passes by, each a part of the dance, but none, not a single one is just…quite…right. The chemistry just isn’t there.

But God clues in. God asks how it is even possible to produce a youthful romantic comedy without a solid female lead.

The animals? Red herring. Writer’s block. Product of a maturing vision. Wheels in motion, God, like any good choreographer, sends the dancers to rest as he again goes over the steps, as he searches for the perfect partner. In fitful sleep, Adam dreams feverish nightmares of the crocodile rock, large smile, sharp teeth, and fingernails all too long. This has got to stop. There must be someone else.

Upon waking, rolling out of bed, Adam with his daily espresso, strolls through the garden. Near a rocky outcropping, just past a cold, lifeless cave, she softly asks him, “are you the gardener of this place?” A chance encounter. He turns around. Stops. Gawks awkwardly. Doesn’t quite know what to say. And then, “would you care to dance?”

And here they dance a world into being.

What kind of world will we dance? What kind of world will this be?

What kind of world will we cultivate? This here, this tile and brick is God’s garden. What will we cultivate in this place?

I dream daily of the world this might be. I dream daily of what to create. But at times I think I dream alone.

I dream daily of what my community could be. My neighbourhood, my neighbours, the crooked lamp-posts and violent city streets. The lives of my friends in the boarding home up the way…I dream daily of what a future of creational intent just might look like.

I dreamed last night, and I will dream it again, that youth in my community will have food to eat. That they will not be stuck out on the street, or forced to sleep with parents fighting, yelling and shouting at them or about them, or both.

I dream of what my church community might look life if only I could communicate the loving purpose, and the gentle call of Christ in whom all things hold together. It’s not so bad as all this, I might say. I know it looks bleak right now, but if we’d only turn our heads. If we’d only focus our eyes on the steps that God is already calling, right here, right now.

I dream of what my home could be if only I were more forgiving, less judgmental, more honest, and less grumpy at 6:30 on a Tuesday morning.

I dream of a world that is, and yet is not. I dream of a world of possibility, of hope and of justice. I dream of a world in which the possibilities become more than just that. I dream of a world where possibility turns to probability turns to fact.

I dream of these things, and in my dreams, I dream of people with whom to dance these dreams into reality.

And when I wake up, I look to my right and greet another dreamer, another beautiful dancer beside me. Walk to the car, and greet another dreamer who lives beneath me.

I arrive in this place, look around the space and greet a whole host of bleary-eyed dreamers just like me. Some days it feels like I’m stuck in my own little creation dream. But I’m ready to wake up, and as we leave this place today, I’d like to ask you one last question.

Would you care to dance?

Dealing the Word

2007-09-17T10:03:00.000-04:00

If only I had a TV, I think I might be interested in watching how Mary-Kate's new character and Jesus get along. A pot-smoking Jesus-loving seductress? Yowzers.

Happy Planet

2007-07-17T10:56:00.000-04:00

I just took the Happy Planet Index survey from the New Economics Foundation. It's a great way to measure our impact on the environment, our satisfaction with work, and also calculates life expectancy and a number of other factors.

Apparently Ericka is going to have to put up with me until I am 90.8 years old. Lord have mercy on her soul...

The bad news is that I still have an ecological footprint of 4.4 global hectares, mostly because I've been in an airplane a bit this year. The cycling and TTC-ing are certainly helpful, but flights are certainly contributing to the high-ish rating, even if it is below average for Canada.

Thanks to No-Impact Man for the link...

Trash Talk

2007-07-07T16:48:00.001-04:00

After nearly an hour on the subway and RT, I get off to await my ride. I'm in Scarborough on the day after Canada Day, and I'm a little out of my element. I never come out this far. I rarely even leave downtown, and here I am in a world made for giants.

It's McCowan station, it was my first adventure on RT, which wasn't a big deal, except for the question "do people really live out here?" The answer, it seems, is yes. People with cars live out here, because it would be near-on-impossible to live here otherwise. Here there is nothing in walking distance.

A small but pointed example. I have just finished some water. A bottle I purchased, because I forgot to bring my Nalgene (sidenote: did you know that the clear ones actually leech chemicals into your liquid? neither did I until recently). I am standing outside of the station and walk back inside. There is no recycling or garbage receptacle immediately inside. There had been one on the RT platform, but not one here.

I go back outside and locate a lone garbage can across six lanes of traffic, possible more, if you count the turning lanes. Make that 8 lanes of traffic. Here's the problem, if 8 lanes isn't already a daunting task, the fact that there are signs prohibiting crossing from this corner to the opposite.

Rather, in order to comply with the law, you must cross with the lights (changing with pedestrian-unfriendly-infrequency) all the way around the intersection in a clockwise direction. As an experiment, since I had some time to kill before my ride arrived, I decided to test it out. In all, it took approximately 10 minutes to legally get to the other side of the road in order to toss something.

I know what you may be thinking, should you be thinking anything about this at all. And no, I didn't actually throw the bottle out. I put it in my bag, and waited til I got home in order to recycle it. But really, 10 minutes to dispose of an empty bottle? It's surprising there wasn't more trash on the side of the road.

Saturday Gathering Recap

2007-07-04T09:07:00.000-04:00

On Saturday night we held our first of what I hope will be many evening services at bppc, the church that Ericka and I are attending in Parkdale. The church isn't holding any Sunday services throughout the month of July, and we saw this as an opportunity to start something new and also to maintain a community connection throughout the month.

We don't really know what will come out of these community gatherings, but I hope and pray that they become a place where relationship continues to grow with members of the congregation and with the broader Parkdale community.

It has been encouraging to hear from different people who attend the church that they think this is a good idea, and that they can't wait to bring Potato Salad or other food items to the next gathering...

Food, I think, has such an amazing and powerful way of disarming us, of making us to feel comfortable, and opening us up to one another. Perhaps that's why the original conception of the Lord's Supper, the Eucharist is more powerful to me than the wafers and shot glasses employed in many traditions today.

As much as I like the high view of the Eucharist held by Anglican, Catholic and Orthodox traditions, I really like to see "the elements" incorporated into a great feast of Christian charity and mutual concern. Everyone brings what they can, everyone receives food and drink a-plenty, and together we gather in the presence of one another, in the presence of Christ. In point of fact, we gather as the Body of Christ.

We are the broken. We are those who are poured out. We are the ones called to pour ourselves out for the sake of God's good world.

On Saturday night there were only 9 of us gathered, but it was a good group. We sang some songs of worship, we shared some food, and I shared a few reflections on 1 Peter 2:9-10. This passage has appeared in our bulletin for several weeks, and I thought it was an interesting place to start. I've written about this passage before, but my remarks this time focused on our need to embrace the role of Royal Priesthood for the good of our neighbourhoods.

Discussion of the passage came to the fact that Peter was writing this letter to diasporic Christian Jews, the lowest of the low in society. People who would have no right, or no reasonable claim to be a Royal Priesthood. They were a marginalized people who found themselves at the edges of both Roman and Jewish society. They were the outcasts.

And yet Peter wants to empower them with the truth of the gospel, the truth of God's relationship to Israel and the Church - that even though the world may malign them, they are called to be leaven.

I think this passage applies to us specifically in Parkdale. We are a small group, but we are called to live out the gospel in the midst of this neighbourhood. We are called to give our lives as Christ gave his. We are called to seek grace and mercy for those who have not received such things. We are called to be agents of change, change for the coming of the kingdom where injustice falls away, where love abounds and community grows and becomes more loving.

From Calcutta to Toronto

2007-06-27T07:12:00.000-04:00

This morning on the CBC, I heard Andy Barrie report that the St. Jamestown neighbourhood in Toronto is the second most densely populated place in the world, outside of Calcutta.

Freedomize India: You looking for some places to serve when you come back? I've got some thoughts...

Dualisms in Worship

2007-06-25T10:29:00.000-04:00

Yeah, yeah, I haven't written in forever. Things are busy in the real world, and that makes spending time here a little less important. I am touching down for a few moments today though in order to share something from Alan Hirsch's blog, which touches on something Ericka and I are up to in the real world:

If we take the advice of the current Alternative Worship Movement, of which I am generally deeply appreciative, one of the tasks of the church in a postmodern context is to make ‘sacred spaces’, places filled with rich and fresh symbolism expressed new forms of media, where people can reconnect with God in new ways. And this all sounds right.

But when this impulse is divorced, as it often is, from the overarching task of mission (and that of missional contextualization) then it simply becomes another way in which we separate the sacred from the secular. By setting up a place which we call ‘sacred’ because of the lighting, the incense, and religious feel, what are we thereby saying about the rest of life? Is it not sacred?

We cannot escape the conclusion that by setting up so called ‘sacred spaces’ we by implication make all else ‘not-sacred’ thereby assigning a large aspect of life in a non-God, or secular, area.

For the month of July, every other Saturday we will be hosting an intimate community gathering featuring a potluck meal, prayer, worship, and meditation on scripture at our church in Parkdale. The idea is to do something that helps us to grow in community, as community, to explore expressions reflective of our diverse community, in music, scriptural mediation and prayer. The question that hovers, is how to connect our time of worship with our means of reaching out to the broader community.

What we will no doubt struggle to do is to connect the dots between what we do on any given Saturday night with how we live our lives throughout the rest of the week. It's always a struggle, and I pray that God guides us as we try to create such a space...

For those interested, you're definitely welcome to attend:

June 30, July 14, July 28

6.oopm Potluck (Bring something you can share)
7.00pm Worship

Bonar-Parkdale Presbyterian Church
250 Dunn Avenue
Toronto Ontario

2 Questions

2007-06-16T23:22:00.000-04:00

Why is it that globalization is the enemy of global (and most specifically, environmental) health?

Why is it that the move to bring things closer together often contributes to an increasing feeling of disconnect?

Eviction Notice: Elephants and Poor told to Get Going

2007-05-11T11:58:00.000-04:00

Dozens of elephants in India's capital need a new home after being evicted from a riverside locale to make way for construction linked to the 2010 Commonwealth Games, officials said. The New Delhi government is racing to spruce up the sprawling city of 14 million in time for the games, which it views as a showcase for the country's capital. The city also has plans to evict poor slum dwellers.

Spiked Chai

2007-04-28T09:13:00.000-04:00

I really want to try this. Who knew there was an alcoholic equivalent to Sister Chai? I wonder if they use this in India after a long day at work?

Two Quick Things

2007-04-20T14:08:00.000-04:00

A couple of things for today

We're relaunching Empire Remixed. Our first event since getting back together will feature a conversation between Shane Claiborne and people involved in ministry amongst and for the marginalized here in Toronto.
Alongside the website, we also have a Facebook group for the event. You can also let us know whether or not you can make it here.

David Suzuki is speaking my language. Check out Suzuki's response to Federal Environment Minister John Baird's assertion that reducing emissions will lead to a slump in the economy.
"First of all, let's stop listening to the goddamn economists," ignoring the fact that economy is dependent on the economy of trees, plants, animals, waters, and the land.

If Global Warming continues to happen, "Twenty per cent of the economy will disappear. It will cost more than World War I and World War II put together. We'll go into a kind of depression we've never, ever had in all of history

Toronto's Green Living Show

2007-04-12T10:16:00.000-04:00

The Green Living show is coming up next week-end at Exhibition Place in Toronto. Anyone else coming?

Time Bomb

2007-04-11T10:21:00.000-04:00

On Sunday we entertained guests for Easter. We ate a lot, and a lot of great food. We enjoyed a good conversation, that, inevitably, turned to climate change and the mess we're all in. There were some threads of hope, and some threads of somber defeat in the conversation. But I don't want to give up. I want to believe that if we actually change our ways, one person at a time, and influence governments and organizations to also change their ways, change will come.

Changes have been made in the past. Changes that have led to civil rights and women's right to vote. Important changes. They have certainly taken some time. The question this time, as leading environmental thinker Bill McKibben puts it, is on a rather compressed timeline. McKibben writes in Orion Magazine:

Simply by doing something that seemed both normal and relatively benign—burning fossil fuel—we have begun to set off cascading and dangerous changes. And here’s what makes global warming different from most other issues that most other reformers have faced over the years: there’s a time limit. An unbelievably short time limit.

What will this take? Some simple changes, like convincing your church or office that the use of styrofoam is a freaking bad idea. The stuff can't be recycled. Decycled, but not recycled. Use less water. Use less energy. Drive a more efficient vehicle. Don't drive at all. Take public transit. Walk. Ride a bike.

But there's so much more beyond these simple answers provided at the end of Gore's movie. There are so many more ways that we need to change. But it's just too inconvenient. Why buy a fuel efficient car if you really want that gas guzzling army vehicle they just made available for anyone with a hero complex who wants to ravage the roads of suburbia? Why do anything if the world's gonna blow up anyhow?

Defeatist thinking sometimes gets me down. But I'm hopeful. Hopeful for change, one person, one organization at a time. I pray my hope isn't misplaced, even tho it's hard to believe it isn't some days.

FFM 2007 - Part 5

2007-04-10T22:10:00.000-04:00

Saturday morning after worship and dozing through David Dark's lecture for lack of caffeine, I went to the parking lot. I went to the parking lot and waited. Liz had promised to be at worship that morning, and yet, she slept through it. I understand. It was early. It was a Saturday. She had been out the night before. I get it. Really, I do.

Eventually she pulled up in her snazzy Honda, and we drove off. She called me Andy. She always calls me Andy. I hate being called Andy. She called me Andy once more. Just for good measure.

Liz and I met in Kolkata back in 2005, and we've been keeping up ever since. This was my second trip down to Calvin, and since she lives in GR, this was my second time seeing her there. The last time I walked the entire East Beltline to meet her, not recognizing that no-one in Grand Rapids walks anywhere. No one except city-bound Canadians who don't own cars, and would opt for public transit, the bicycle, or pedestrian traffic should the two others be unavailable.

Liz came to Canadia once and hung out with me, Lisa the Knitter and Doctor Chester, with whom she had roomed in the city of joy. We went to Little India, ate dinner on the traditional styrofoam plates, and snooped around for our fav Bollywood films.

This day in GR we went for Ethiopian. My last Ethiopian food experience in Toronto had been lacklustre, but for some reason, Grand Rapids serves it in style, and full of taste. The sampler platter was amazing, and the tea pretty much rocked me. Thick, aromatic and spicy. It was incredible. So we sat there, face-to-face for the first time in about a year, and tried to catch up on everything. We got some of that done.

Conversation covered range of thoughts, from Kolkata, to sustainability, to nursing homes. Weddings. Boyfriends. Conversions, the Missionaries of Charity, authentic worship, the beauty of tradition, weighing the alternate values of Catholic and Protestant expressions. What does it really mean to be evangelical? Is it possible to be evangelical and not scary? Is that a valid option? What does humble witness look like?

Needless to say, it was exactly what I needed. Questions flying both ways. Good conversation. Inspiration. I think that's what conversations often become. They help us to break out of our own worlds, and connect with someone else's. That bridge, that connection to another perspective is nearly always inspirational, not because we agree - quite often because we disagree - but more because we have been taken to a new place, a new perspective, a new understanding of the world.

That's how it was for me, anyhow. I can't guarantee that Liz was inspired, but I will certainly take credit if she was. And I will certainly take many good things away from this time catching up with the most amazing jesus-loving, tree-hugging, cheer-leading, protesting-catholic in all of Grand Rapids.

FFM 2007 - Part 4

2007-04-08T08:21:00.000-04:00

After gathering for dinner in the cafeteria, we all headed back over to the Fine Arts Centre for the Anathallo / Sufjan Stevens set. By the time we arrived, the entire main floor was packed, so we trekked up to the balcony seating. It still provided an excellent view of the stage, and would prove useful for spotting Superman later during the show. He may have been removed from the Illinoise album art, but he's still flying with Sufjan.

Anathallo took the stage with an entire (20 person) brass section accompanying them. With the indie pop sensibilities of Sufjan, and an at times joyful, at times dark, percussive and rhythmic energy, Anathallo's set set wave after wave of energy over the crowd.

Somewhat hometown favourites (originally from Mt Pleasant, Michigan) now relocated to Chicago - the only town all eight members could agree on, the band received an incredible welcome from the crowd. They've played Calvin numerous times before, and have received great support from the community in Grand Rapids.

As they should. They're a diverse and innovative band on their way to world domination, in a band geek sorta way.

Other reviews have cited melodic sensibilities similar to Sufjan, with the instrumental expansiveness of The Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene. In many ways, these comparisons aren't too far off - the size of the band permits a dancing assault of sound, alternating movements of horns, keys, guitars, and scads of percussion.

Anathallo's set gained momentum after a shaky start in front of this 1200 person strong crowd, and by the end had the theatre rising in standing ovation. While vocalist/guitarist Matt Joynt operated as the front for the group, it was hard to distinguish at points who (if anyone) was leading the band. It very well could have been Erica Froman, second vocalist who was the go-between, ensuring that the signals weren't crossed between the 28-piece ensemble spread across the 40foot FAC stage.

While from my vantage point in the balcony, vocals weren't excedingly clear, the energy conveyed was enough to sell me on this band - tho I'd prefer to see them in a smaller venue. Maybe the Horseshoe or Hugh's Room, if they can be convinced to cross the border. If nothing else, it would be a fun adventure for them.

Sufjan's set followed and totally rocked, but before I do that, Liz will get angry if I don't write about her, so that will necessarily be the next installment...

FFM 2007 - Worship Tangent 2

2007-04-07T21:49:00.000-04:00

I can't leave this one alone quite yet. After neglecting my blog for so long, here I am getting all obsessive on one little topic.

It goes back to the question of hybridity, which is either complicated or simplified (depending on your perspective) by the makeup of your church. Is it white urban hipster? Is it multicultural? Multigenerational? Is it primarily Chinese, Turkish, Trinidadian?

Congregations come in many shapes and sizes, and so it makes sense that worship styles may be different in different contexts. Will the white urban hipster church and the church in whose building they meet sound the same? Probably not. Real life example: Freedomize Toronto, meeting in old St. Andrews at King and University, Toronto.

Music sounds completely different at the 11am St. Andrews Presbyterian service from the 5pm Freedomize service. Partly a reflection of tradition, age, musical preferences. But okay, what if St Andrew's and Freedomize got together for a love-in. I mean, they share the gorgeous space, what would it be like to see an 75-year-old grandmother of 10 worshipping next to kids the age of her youngest grandchildren?

In the context of an age-diverse congregation, should the music not reflect the mix of tradition, the mix of ages, and mix of musical preferences? To completely reject the dominant style of either group would seem to cause a problem. Would the two churches put their musicians together in a room to rough out a "common worship style," or would they incorporate a mix? Would they fight to the death?

I know that this was such a huge controversy at a number of churches I've attended over the years. The old crowd felt pushed out and displaced by the "modern worship music," and the young set couldn't see why the older folks didn't "get it." So hybridity hits us once again, with the need not only to accomodate or tolerate one another, but to learn to be accepting of different styles, and potentially, to find your electric guitarist and saxophone jamming alongside the pipe organ.

I'd actually pay to hear that. You know, if church started charging admission or whatever.

FFM 2007 - Worship Tangent

2007-04-07T08:26:00.000-04:00

When I woke up this morning, made some coffee in our little stove-top coffee maker thingy. Somehow the coffee is that much richer (and stronger!) than making it in the sleek gadgety type coffee maker. Why is that? Whatever the case, the coffee and some time meditating in front of the glow of my ibook brought me back to some thoughts from yesterday:

Perhaps the answer becomes this: each congregation, each grouping of Christians needs to find authentic, honest ways in which to express worship - whether in song, in painting, sculpture, drama, and most especially in the realities of everyday life.

Not that we can advocate, wholesale, the writing of local worship songs, but I wonder if this isn't a good idea? I wonder how the congregation's ownership and recognition of itself in the songs that have been written affect the ways in which worship is channeled, expressed, etc.

With the rise of the Christian recording industry, the professionalization and outsourcing of worship has gone to a whole new level. We now rely on Hillsongs, Delirious, Downhere, or Jeremy Camp, amongst others, to lead us into worship. But how true are these songs to our own witness and experience of God? Sometimes they are. Sometimes they're not. I suppose it's always a little hit-or-miss.

That being said, if I hear or am forced to play "The Happy Song" one more time, I might scream.

My hope and my desire - not only for the band of which I'm a part, but also for other worship bands, leaders, etc. out there - is that we can start to listen to the voices in our congregations. I think that this has a lot to do with our call as worship leaders - we need to be people in tune with the lives of this within the congregation, with the struggles, hardships, joys and ecstasies that we all face, and be able to help one another take those things to God in our expression of worship.

Somedays, and in some parts of the service, that may look more like lament than joyful exhuberance, but then, that would be a little more honest to our own situations. If such things were expressed in our own words, out of our own context. Well, that would be music to my ears.

FFM 2007 - Part 3

2007-04-06T16:43:00.000-04:00

"People who know they're not home do not fence it off and dig in." So stated the Psalters as they began their presentation on the role of music in worship. For the church to re-envision its relationships to the land is to sing the travelling songs, the exodus psalms, as we move from one place, to the place where we have been called.

Having recently returned from Turkey, a trip which led them into small, remote villages, the Psalters returned with a new song (5 in fact) that they had collected in their travels. After a long-ish lecture on the prophetic role of music in worship, we finally had a chance to do what I had thought we were there to do - to workshop some music.

Playing five different tracks, mostly from the middle east, the Psalters took us through the music of lament, prophecy, and of joyful exhuberance. The discussion focused on the ways in which these particular pieces exhibited emotion (especially through their deep, gutteral, and at times pained voicings).

The discussion ended up deciding, more or less, that western worship music is somehow less than authentic, because such songs, such utter abandon in the singing of the songs is not present in much of what we consider modern worship music in the west.

Point taken. A great deal of our hymnody/mod worship can sound like the newest boy band single, except that we rarely, if ever, like the psalmist, ask God to "quit playing games with my heart." Just saying. Sappy rock ballads fit for radio, often with us as the focus where the focus could be God instead.

But - and this is the question that Rob and Brian were kicking around afterwards - how faithful is it to appropriate someone else's music and to claim it as our own? Does it make sense to say "your music is more authentic, more deep, therefore we will adopt that form?" I don't know, but I suspect that when the prophets were railing against Israel (see Amos) about their weak, empty words, it wasn't just about music style, but about the honesty and truth behind their words.

So. The question of appropriation. We live in a world where boundaries are being blurred, where people migrate rather frequently, and often from one side of the world to another. We bump up against other cultures, are influenced by them, and they with us. Surely taking Turkish music and calling it a more authentic expression of worship than, say, Matt Redman, is a false choice, especially in the face of hybridity of influence, and hybridity of cultures.

But to create music, and to form an expression of worship influenced by some other culture is not fundamentally dishonest. Unless you're just doing it to be "relevant." Then, perhaps, you've got problems. If you're appropriating another cultural form, like the liberation songs of an African-American spiritual, but have no relationship to the story of such a hymn, have no relationship to the culture that birthed the song, can it become for you an authentic expression? I'm not sold on it, either way.

That being said, I'm fairly convinced that "worship" comes out of honest expression. You could sing Cockburn or Matisyahu or the songs of Bollywood, and the expression could be just as frail or as robust as singing a Charles Wesley classic. Where's the heart in all of this? Perhaps the answer becomes this: each congregation, each grouping of Christians needs to find authentic, honest ways in which to express worship - whether in song, in painting, sculpture, drama, and most especially in the realities of everyday life.

That was it for me on Friday. I skipped the afternoon session to spend time alone, reading, writing, and thinking a bit about the emerging church's tendency towards cybergnosticism. You know, like, living lives on blogs and things, keeping us out of contact with the real flesh-and-blood problems in the communities where we make our homes.

More to come...

FFM 2007 - Part 2

2007-04-05T15:38:00.000-04:00

After waking up, getting oriented on campus (since we'd arrived in the dark) and finding Johnny's, the campus cafe for breakfast, the band headed off to register in the heart of the Fine Arts Centre. I looked around briefly for Lauren Winner - I was hoping to catch up with her and talk about her upcoming engagement at Wycliffe College - but she was nowhere to be found.

From 11am-noon, the band assembled in a makeshift rehearsal space provided by the organizers, and we ran through the next morning's set. The music was taking shape, our parts were making more sense, and we were feeling halfway decent about the prospect of leading several hundred people the next morning.

This year's FFM had a really serious spike in attendance from previous years. Where last time there were probably 100-150 people in attendance, 2007 saw around 1000 participants. That's probably something to keep in mind as we examine the ways in which the conference took place. I can see how the change in attendance could have changed the vibe of the keynote addresses. They probably would have felt different in front of a more intimate audience of 100, as opposed to the numbers in attendance this year.

Lauren Winner got to the stage and spent her first ten minutes talking about why she shouldn't have been asked to give this particular keynote. By the middle of her address, I was in full agreement.

Let me frame it this way: the woman has written a couple of decent books (Girl Meets God, Real Sex), the most recent of which explores a plausible approach towards chastity in the context of Christian faith. I have not seen her speak on it, but I would expect that she's probably comfortable with that schtick by now.

Asking her to speak on the arts, and more specifically music, something which she admittedly knows little about, seems like a setup.

One of her dominant refrains was that "God cares about senseless art." I had to approach this statement again and again, asking "what on earth did she mean by senseless art?" Especially in the context of a Christian discussion, I had to question the value of calling art senseless to begin with. I suppose I understand what she was getting at - that there is something extravagant and marvellous about the creative process.

Winner helpfully discussed art's value in relation to the building of the temple. Such art, she related, was an act of worship where the construction of modern church edifices is often based on the bottom line. But despite this point (which she could have significantly expanded upon and made coherent what was left unclear) she could not seem to tie that sense of worship back to her idea of the senseless.

My question lingered: does worship not make sense of the senseless? In recognition of a creative and creating God, is artful creation not only sensible, but sanctified? To steal from David Dark's lecture from Saturday, this must be so, if it points to the truth.

I have to admit to tuning out at various points, but my ears sure sprang up again when her discussion of art meandered into a discussion of the poor, where she stated, "The logic of scarcity in our surrounding world is at odds with the Christian logic of fecundity through the God of abundance." The creation and enjoyment of art, Winner seemed to say, either supercedes or at least matches our responsibility to the poor.

Are we to feed the poor or buy good art? Winner's logic, avoiding the problem of the church's relationship to the poor, appeared to favour art. I would have preferred it, if instead of creating such a reductionist duality between art and poverty, she had spent some time artfully wrestling with the realities of scarcity in our world.

Looking out my window today, I do see poverty. I know of God's promise of plenty, but what I witness, grounded in the realities of my time and place, is poverty. Financial poverty, spiritual poverty, whatever way you want to spin it, our world is impoverished. This does not deny God's fecundity, but points to the realities of a fallen world.

I do see people who live in overpriced, poorly maintained apartment buildings. I meet these people in the street. Perhaps I share a conversation and a coffee with them. In so doing, I find myself called towards an artful engagement with all of God's people. In so doing, I do not feel as though I can place art over and above the value of the people with whom I meet.

In such a case, my engagement with art would in fact be senseless. How can we value art for arts sake, and not be concerned with the plight of the rest of creation? Certainly this does not reduce the ways in which we can engage with art, or to create things, but I suspect it will be important to reframe art's value (and especially that created by Christians) not in any senseless aesthetic, but rather in terms of its ability to tell the truth, that is, to engage in acts of worship.

FFM 2007 - Part 1

2007-04-05T13:24:00.000-04:00

This was the third year of the Festival of Faith and Music at Calvin College, and the first one I've had opportunity to attend. Late last year, the Wine Before Breakfast community, of which I'm a part, was asked to lead worship at the conference. In preparation for the conference, the band put together a song list in the spirit of lament, integrating it into an adapted Anglican liturgy.

We were crossing the border to lead those gathered with us in Grand Rapids in lament.

I was kinda nervous about crossing the border with music gear, even tho we weren't being reimbursed for playing. It's always one of those things, when you hear stories of bands being turned away at the border because they don't have the proper documentation. As it was, we didn't need the documents we had been given, and crossed over easily to the other side.

Arriving in Grand Rapids after midnight, we found our accomodations in the student residence, and pretty much crashed out for the night. Many thanks to John in 2nd Floor Bolt for putting us up overnight. Turns out we both have the same birthday (tho 6 years apart). It was awesome to meet some local folks and to escape from Toronto for a couple of days to play music, listen to music, and to take part in some of the workshops.

Returning to our reasons for going...With the beginning of holy week almost upon us, lament seemed appropriate. In our lament, we were able to acknowledge that the Hosannas we would shout the next day were only fleeting. That our desires for peace, for God's kingdom, are tainted by desires for revenge. How must it have been for Jesus to enter into the local synagogue, read from Isaiah, and to declare that the prophecy had been fulfilled in their assembled presence?

How must it be to preach peace and resurrection in the midst of war and the desire for revenge? Syliva Keesmaat led us through a meditation on these things, interspersed with readings and music to shape the service.

For me, in the band, it was a good if not nervewracking experience, as I'm not used to playing in front of large groups. That being said, we got through the service, and my bass lines weren't as shaky as I'd expected, despite going to bed late the night before, and getting up way early on Saturday morning.

My next entries will cover Lauren Winner's opening lecture and impressions of the Psalters' presentation on leading worship. For those interested, these are the songs we played on Saturday Morning.

Introit:
Dweller by a Dark Stream (Bruce Cockburn)
Into Jerusalem Jesus Rode (Carl P Daw Jr)
How Did We End Up Here? (Martyn Joseph)

Liturgy:
Wade in the Water (African-American Spiritual)
Into Jerusalem Jesus Rode (Carl P Daw Jr)
Dweller by a Dark Stream (Adapted for Prayer Litany)

Eucharist:
Eat This Bread (Taize)
Jesus Remember Me (Taize)

Reflection:
Turn Me Tender Again (Martyn Joseph)

Leaving Today

2007-03-29T10:35:00.000-04:00

A number of us from the Wine Before Breakfast community at UofT are heading down to Michigan today for the Festival of Faith and Music. I woke up this morning feeling alright, knowing that it was going to be a good week-end, but now, by 10:36am, I'm a little nervous.

Part of the reason we're going is to lead worship at the Festival on Saturday morning, which is going to be cool, but it's been a long time since I've played music in front of a large group of people.

Playing bass in a worship band is certainly different from playing a rock show - but the nerves are still a little shaky, even though what we're doing is not at all about "the show," and all about helping direct worship, musically, towards the creator of the universe. Still - the nerves!

Part of it, I think is the nerves of playing on the same stage as Sufjan Stevens, Neko Case and Emmylou Harris. Part of it is leaving home, that is, Ericka, for a few days. We really haven't had to do the whole "apart" thing since we've been married, and so that's a new experience for us too.

I am excited about the festival, the performers, the speakers, the workshops, and the chance to catch up with Liz, a friend I met in Kolkata a few years back. It'll be good to go down and see her, since she only updates her blog every six months or so, and really, I have no idea what's going on with here these days.

For anyone out there reading, keep the band in your prayers, please. We would be ever-grateful.

Mercenary for Hire

2007-03-20T10:37:00.000-04:00

This morning I read Jordon's post describing the incredulity with which people are responding to the fact that the Church of the Exiles does not receive funding from any denomination or agency outside of her membership. The assumption today, mostly in the West, is that outside funding inputs are necessary to successful church launches.

Captivated by technology, sometimes it feels as though vital, agrarian church planting has been replaced by the modern industrial complex - which has, not-so-incidentally, replaced our understanding of how food is grown. For the most part, our food is grown in large industry-run factory farms with large inputs of fuel (to keep the tractors running), fertilizers (to stimulate growth) and pesticides (to kill the undesirable elements).

Having spent a great deal of time over the past months reading the agrarian essays of Wendell Berry, I am convinced that the experience of replacing vital, soil-conscious farming with the industrial variety can be seen just as much in the area of church planting as in the ecclesial arena.

Where once church planting came out of a knowledge of the neighbourhoods into which they were planted, we now prefer to launch them with large industrial budgets, hoping to compete against anything else vying for our culture's attention. Such an industry leads to the employment of ecclesial mercenaries whose job it is to go in and all the latest gadgets to catalyse a church into existence.

Attending a conference in Toronto some weeks back, I shuddered to hear a church planter from Texas claim that you needed to set aside a significant budget for musicians in order to successfully plant a church. If worship is about more than performance or attractionist technique, perhaps we ought reconsider such necessities...

I've always been suspicious of this industrial approach, which is probably while over the next few weeks I'll be devoting most of my time to writing it out in some (hopefully coherent) manner in order to graduate. And once I graduate, well, I don't know what will happen, but if there's anyone looking for a church planting mercenary, I come at a very reasonable price...

One Hot Preacher

2007-03-20T10:26:00.000-04:00

It turns out that my wife is a brilliant preacher. Which makes me wonder why people seem to need seminary in order to be turned into preachers. Without the benefit (?) of systematic theology, comprehensive introductory courses in the New Testament and Pauline theology, she adeptly unpacked the section of Romans 15 wherein Paul insists on the duty of the Roman church to send money to the Christians in Jerusalem.

Discovering that koinonia, the Greek word for fellowship, inherently implies the idea of gifting as proof of such fellowship. It would seem that community is about more than a gathering of people, but also (and explicitly demonstrated in Acts) it's about mutual sharing and the giving of gifts as proof of that communal commitment. How well do we do that? How often do we think of gift giving and tithing as an expression of community? I know this sermon will definitely push me in that direction...

Monday she started a new job, Tuesday she preached a killer sermon. I wonder what Wednesday will hold?

Lenten Reflection

2007-03-13T10:23:00.000-04:00

A Meditative Reflection on Romans 15:1-13

Jesus cries out,
battered and bruised
in the garden of torment, sweat, and blood
in the garden he prays:

Take this cup from me.
Will you take the cup?

[silence]

I know he thinks we're worthy of trust
But I'm scared
And I'm scared we'll get scared
And nail him up again

[silence]

Two thousand years and an atom bomb away
We once used wood and nails
And now, we turn out hate in factories

[silence]

Who among us can bear the cup?

[silence]

And yet Jesus asks again:
Take this cup from me.
Will you take my cup?

[silence]

Two thousand years and a lifetime away
We once divided the world Gentile from Jew, Slave from Free
And now, will we divide it by sexuality?

[silence]

Who among us can bear the cross?
And Jesus asks again:
Take this cross from me.

[silence]

Will you carry my cross?

[silence]

And I know he thinks us worthy
I know he thinks we're strong
But I'm scared
And I'm scared we'll get scared
And nail him up again

Scared of insult and ridicule
Scared of bearing the pain
Scared of the strength it will take

[silence]

But strength, it seems, is made perfect in weakness
And in weakness, we find our strength.

[silence]

Jesus asks us again:
Take this cross from me.
Will you carry my cross?

Will you trade dignity for unity?
Will you carry the cross that brings new life?
Will you drink the cup to bring the reign of peace?

Jesus Christ

2007-03-04T13:48:00.000-05:00

I'd love to hear "Jesus Christ" by Brand New done as a Lenten Reflection. Excerpt from the last verse:

I know you'll come in the night like a thief
But I've had some time alone,
To hone my lying technique.
And I know you think that I'm someone you can trust.
But I'm scared I'll get scared.

And I swear I'll try to nail you back up.
So do you think we could work out a sign together.
So I'll know it's you and that it's over, so I won't even try.
I know you're coming for the people like me,
But we all got wood and nails;
We don't turn out hate in factories.
But we all got wood and nails;
We don't turn out hate in factories.
But we all got wood and nails;
And we sleep inside of this machine.

Internet-Creating Hippies

2007-03-02T21:52:00.000-05:00

Call me a tree-hugger, a liberal, a hysterical alarmist, or call me Satan, but I say that global warming is real.

Not so, our dominionist friend Jerry Falwell, claiming that global warming is a tool of Satan used to distract churches from preaching the gospel. Another communist conspiracy to add to the list.

Thanks Jordon for this. I'll be sure to repent, now knowing the error of my ways.

Throwaway Sentence

2007-02-22T09:20:00.000-05:00

From Kathy Sierra's post, "Are Our Tools Making us Dumber?" I know it was a throwaway sentence at the end of an otherwise in-depth and insightful article, but for the sake of a good cup of coffee, the wish of an ever-aging man, this is all I'm going to reproduce here:

Just because there's one Starbucks per every 20 square feet in the US does NOT mean you shouldn't know how to make good, strong coffee the old-fashioned way.

Forgotten Luxuries

2007-02-20T15:39:00.000-05:00

Reposted from Stephen over at Modesty, upon return to the States from Kolkata:

A lot in our society that we view as a normality or even a cause now appears to be a luxury to me now. Take for instance PETA, an organization that I believe is a bit eccentric at times but overall I am against cruelty towards animals.

PETA now appears to me to be a first world country's luxury more than anything else.

We are now living so above our means that we can not only eat on a daily basis and choose what we eat, but now we can label what we eat 'good' or 'bad' morally.

Men, women, and children all over the world would give anything for a morsel of food today, and they could not care less which way it was or wasn't prepared or whether it was vegetarian, vegan, or whatnot.

War on Obesity

2007-02-20T08:15:00.000-05:00

Yesterday morning in a North York public school gymnasium, Helena Guergis and Tony Clement declared war on obesity, on behalf of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

"Six out of 10 Canadians are inactive," Health Minister Tony Clement said. The Chronicle Herald reports that the spring relaunch will deliver "a modern message to help fight obesity, which is as bad as it's ever been." With fear that obesity will spread like terrorism, the program which has remained latent for six years, will be championed amongst schoolchildren and octogenarians who still remember Hal Johnson and Joanne MacLeod, who were always keeping fit AND having fun. As if that's possible.

Kandahar, Alberta

2007-02-15T09:22:00.000-05:00

I don't know if this really is a good idea:
The Toronto Sun is reporting that Afghans in the vicinity of Calgary are being asked to audition for roles in a virtual Afghan village.

Wainwright, Alberta (the Buffalo Capital of Canada) is being transformed into a military training station for those heading to Afghanistan. So why Wainwright? Like many small villages in Afghanistan, Wainwright does not have the civilizing advantage of a Tim Horton's, a clear indicator (at least to the National Post) of economic growth, prosperity and civilization.

Googe

2007-02-14T10:25:00.000-05:00

What ever happened to GoogLe? Valentine's Day really isn't that complicated. I mean, there's the chocolates, the flowers, the dinner out, etc., but for crying out loud, how do you forget the "L" in your own name?

This update via my sweetheart, who got it from Sarah, because I have a Googe toolbar and don't frequent the page itself.

If this is a publicity stunt, it's certainly working.

Noon-ish Update: Could it be that the green stem of the strawberry is actually the missing "l"? It is green, afterall, but definitely less clear than previous incarnations of the doodle.

Procrastinating

2007-02-12T14:48:00.000-05:00

It can be said that our cat is lazy. For example, while he should be completing his doctoral thesis on social capital and the lives of felines in Parkdale, he naps.

Rather than taking the time to type up his research, he has opted to glare, rather sveltly, Ericka affirms, at the camera. Even though he is being monitored day-in and day-out, he fails to produce any results. Not even anything for his editors to review. I don't know how the bloke expects to graduate if he justs sleeps all the time.

I know it's hard, Nigel, but dude, you've gotta get back to work. Just write - you can't edit something you haven't written.

Your Carbon Footprint

2007-01-25T09:37:00.000-05:00

Found this great Guardian article via

Calculations are based on use of oil, gas, electricity, transportation, and consumption. I'll try to update later on where I fit into the scale. It'd definitely be interesting to see where we all fit into this scale.

Barbie!

2007-01-22T11:47:00.000-05:00

Mass hysteria broke throughout the office this morning when someone brought in (for the purposes of unsettling our island of multicultural bliss) the now-discontinued Oreo Barbie.

With a little bit of handy researching, I came across the following article which was instantaneously sent throughout the office, leading to more hysteria, disbelief, and outrage.

Rightly so.

Evolving Church Conference

2007-01-19T09:31:00.000-05:00

Last year's Evolving Church Conference event was a great success, and this year's focus on justice should provide some interesting new conversations.

The conference is coming up on March 24 in Toronto, with Jim Wallis, Shane Claiborne and Ron Sider on Social Justice with workshop leaders from around the country such as David Fitch, Greg Paul and over ten others.

Weather Channel Climate Expert Calls for Decertifying Global Warming Skeptics

2007-01-18T09:41:00.000-05:00

Now isn't this interesting?

The Weather Channel’s most prominent climatologist is advocating that broadcast meteorologists be stripped of their scientific certification if they express skepticism about predictions of manmade catastrophic global warming. This latest call to silence skeptics follows a year (2006) in which skeptics were compared to "Holocaust Deniers" and Nuremberg-style war crimes trials were advocated by several climate alarmists.

The Weather Channel’s (TWC) Heidi Cullen, who hosts the weekly global warming program "The Climate Code," is advocating that the American Meteorological Society (AMS) revoke their "Seal of Approval" for any television weatherman who expresses skepticism that human activity is creating a climate catastrophe.

Full Article

(via)

White Christmas

2007-01-09T21:08:00.000-05:00

All I'm saying is, it was good to have a White Christmas. Thousands of words to follow:

So This is Christmas

2006-12-20T12:57:00.000-05:00

I'm stealing this quotation from Pernell, because it totally rocked my world.

"When Christians take the Christmas narrative seriously, the practice of gift-exchange within a closed circle of family and friends becomes problematic. If our lives are to mirror the ways of God, then we must break open the closed circle of exchange so that Christmas gifts flow outward to those with profound needs."

- Miroslav Volf

Cafe Taste

2006-11-29T16:02:00.000-05:00

Ericka and I visited Cafe Taste for the first time about a month back. We'd walked past this little gem in Parkdale any number of times. We'd even stopped to check out the menu. But we'd never gone in. Then, one Wednesday night we decided to go in for dessert.

We ordered a chocolate tray with cakes and fruit, sipped port, all the while listening to a performance from local musician Gregory Dominato. Snuggling into a cozy corner together, listening to the music, we found ourselves lost in the warm, welcoming atmosphere.

When Jeremy came by, we engaged in various conversations about wine, about organics, the importance of green practices, and about good food. We talked about consumer culture and the importance of changing our attitudes towards the earth that sustains us. Keenly aware of the earth's constant degradation and turmoil, it's not surprising to see the cafe's Green Policy on its website:

"Our green policies include a commitment to eco-friendly, fair trade coffee, and promoting a non-throwaway customer culture. We do not provide disposable take-out containers, and take-out coffee goes in a travel mug - a gift from Cafe Taste."

What other restaurant owner is so concerned with the state of the earth that he would rather give away travel mugs than see another styrofoam cup in a landfill? I haven't heard of any. If only more restauranteurs would be so conscious of their impact, and that of their customers upon the earth. If only we would reduce our earth-breaking practices, and refuse to use disposables.

Even with this insistence upon high quality food, and reusable containers, the prices are extremely affordable. Even Jeremy's monthly wine tastings are $40, including several glasses of wine, cheese, and spirited histories of the regions and wines being discussed.

If you haven't gone, you must. This is one of my favourite features of our new neighbourhood, and I can't wait to go back...

So, The Poor...

2006-11-15T20:12:00.000-05:00

...Are they really my responsibility?

Sometimes I wonder if we don't deflect our responsibility to help the poor and the oppressed on technicalities. Sure - Jesus told the rich young ruler to sell all his stuff - but me? I'm middle class. I'm exempt.

Sometimes I wonder if we ignore the calling we have where God has placed us to serve, because we feel the only way we can serve is to sell all of our possessions. Get rid of it all, move on, become poor.

Perhaps the question then becomes, if you're working on Bay Street, do you need to use your money in the same way "Bay Street People" do in order to be an effective witness - or do you look at things differently? What does the incarnated gospel look like in a Bay Street investment firm?

To understand that affluence has a profound effect on the gospel’s communication is to understand that the gospel is not merely communicated as a set of propositional statements, but in a more holistic fashion that encompasses the entirety of the communicator’s life. That encompasses not only the way one acts, or the god one points to, but the way in which one uses her money, as well.

In general, people's understanding of both messenger and message is powerfully—if indirectly—affected by the way in which the messenger (in this case, a Christian Messenger) utilises her money. Medium and message, words and deeds, theory and practice, faith and works cannot be separated in the life of the one who would remain a credible Christian

As Christians, in no matter what context we serve, we must be cognizant of the way in which our relative affluence affects the message we seek to proclaim. In seeking to follow Christ’s own example, we must not look merely to our own interests, but to our relationships with others. One area in which our relationship with others is affected, is our attitude towards money.

The writer of the letter to the Philippians calls us to minister with the same mind that was in Christ Jesus:

Who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,

but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,

he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:6-8; NASB)

Seeing our affluence in the context of this passage, and in the context of Christ’s humiliation, we find ourselves called, like Christ to sacrifice position and affluence for the sake of building relationships where we seek to minister. We must strip ourselves of the trappings of western affluence, and the pride that can creep in from this position. We must, in all ways, seek to humble ourselves like Christ, becoming obedient like Christ, and like Christ, pursue humility even to the point of death.

For the Christian, humility and obedience could mean many things. In the context of finances, humility should force us to ask what we are to give up. Are we called to give up the appearances of wealth, or are we implicated in a much more daunting task? What are we willing to give up in order to follow Christ?

What does it mean to carry one’s cross? These are all questions that we must consider as we recognise our implication in the call to minister as Christ Followers. Furthermore, these are questions we must ask when considering the means by which our ministry should proceed.

When we consider Christ, and the way in which he sacrificed his very life to minister amongst us poor and broken people, we are forced to question our displays of affluence. We are not called merely to refine the outward appearances of affluence, but also to enter into the reality of Christ’s sacrifice.

It is Christ’s sacrifice that we celebrate each time we take the Eucharist (communion). It is Christ’s sacrifice in which we are implicated each time we come to the Lord’s Table. As the body of Christ, we too are called to break ourselves for the life of the world. It is this paradigm that the Philippians passage so beautifully illustrates.

The Church must see the real, and even frightening implications of her call. In our communal celebration of the Eucharist, not only do we proclaim the historic life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but we are also drinking death on ourselves, giving ourselves to brokenness for the good of other people.

Financial sacrifice must be a part of our mission. If we are to do more than merely appear to identify with or have concern for the spiritual and physical condition of those amongst whom we minister, and if we find ourselves called into Christ’s mission to the world, then we must demonstrate this in our own sacrifice. How this plays out may be different in different circumstances, but as members of Christ’s body, we are called to a life of sacrifice

I think Missiologist Jonathan Bonk has a great point:

“The affluence-based mission of the Western Church – in contrast to the Incarnation-based mission of her Lord – most naturally serves as an ecclesiastical springboard for moving up, not down; her independently secure missionaries find lording both more natural and more immediately effective than serving, although many have convinced themselves that domination is service. The great marvel of living in the technological age is that one’s mission can be speeded up, rather than – as in the case of Christ – slowing down and finally coming to a complete halt on the cross.” (Missions and Money 82)

Empire Remixed Audio

2006-11-15T08:38:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday, May 9, 2006, the Bishop of Durham, NT Wright was in Toronto for empireremixed. Here is the audio from the event. Thanks to Jordon from the Church of the Exiles in Saskatoon for helping us upload it, and to resonate.ca for providing space and a distribution network for this conversation.

Once again, thanks to Alison Hari-Singh, Julia Churchill, illSeer and teknostep for contributing their voices and talents to this evening - it will be a fond memory for years to come!

Wedding Pics

2006-11-07T09:59:00.000-05:00

So, I know it's old news or whatever, but Ericka and I got married on Saturday October 7, 2006. In the intervening month, neither of us have blogged.

We were wed at Trinity Anglican Church in Cambridge, on the only nice day in October.

Our service followed the Anglican liturgy fairly closely, but we incorporated some elements from our "Wine Before Breakfast" community at UofT - this included a poetic sermon from Dr. Walsh, as well as a mix of hymnody and popular music played by our friends Dave and Sue.

Wedding Playlist:

Sufjan - That Dress Looks Nice on You
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Take My Life
All Creatures of our God and King
Cockburn - Lovers in a Dangerous Time
Coldplay - Til Kingdom Come

Here is a photo wherein my parents look absolutely smashing!

Our guestbook idea forced each guest to have their picture taken with a Polaroid camera. It was supa-fun, and now we can remember what everyone else looked like on the day of our wedding. Ben, Felicity and Shari-Ann all helped to make this the Best Guestbook Ever.

Rachel made our cake, and it was both gorgeous and tasty. There wasn't a single piece of it left over at the end of the day. Ann Marie bravely assisted her in setting it up. The fun of it all was that the cake nearly didn't make it (don't tell the bride) (and it was definitely not Rachel's fault) (and maybe I'll write about that sometime soon).

We danced to Iron & Wine's "Love and Some Verses" and Ericka danced with Rod Stewart -- err -- danced with her father to an old Rod Stewart tune.

The girls all lined up to catch the bouquet, which just happened to break up into a bunch of different pieces. That certainly didn't prevent squealing and pushing, even tho everyone got a flower to take home...

Family photos were fun. Ericka laughed. Ericka laughs often. Even today, on our one-monthaversary. Special thanks to Aunt Marian for these photos. It's so fun to see different peoples' perspectives on the day!

House Homonyms

2006-10-19T16:17:00.000-04:00

Hilarity in the Canadian House of Commons ensued today when Bloc member Vivian Barbot demanded to know, in follow-up to a question asked yesterday of Canadian Heritage Minister Bev Oda, whether troupes had been cut back?

Minister of Foreign Affairs Peter MacKay, struggling to follow the logic of the question, defended Canadian troops adamantly for their involvement "in interesting and important work." He went on to highlight that these troops provide incalculable value and security in important work abroad.

But of course, this was not the question. Barbot's question was asked again. As if to leave the implications of stupidity hanging in the House, Bloc member Maka Kotto sneered "We're not talking about military troops here. We're talking about theater and dance and musical groups."

Zing! Our troupes are not providing security overseas, but their work is no doubt interesting and important. I wonder if this event will get a thorough commentary from web-savvy, and newly independent MP Garth Turner's blog tonight. I mean, what else has he got to lose?

Go Greens!

To Live in Peace

2006-09-24T21:16:00.000-04:00

I've just started reading Mark Gornik's book, "To Live in Peace: Biblical Faith and the Changing Inner City." Gornik's book, written out of the experience of planting a church and helping a community become more cohesive in inner-city Baltimore, is an incredible, integrative work.

It's an essential read for the church planter in an inner-city setting. Dealing with social, political, economic, and theological aspects of life in the inner-city, Gornik's book is multi-dimensional, and sopping with insights into new ways of being church in the midst of our ever-evolving communities.

As someone thinking of church planting - or even just digging in and living out my Christian faith - here in Toronto, in an inner-city community, this book has been incredibly challenging. As a church planter, our thoughts should not just be captivated by saying the right words.

Surely we are not only to relate the gospel in words, but also with the wholeness of our action. When we reduce the gospel merely to verbal speech, we reduce the potency and overall transformative power of the gospel over our thoughts our words and even our actions.

To preach the gospel, we must all accept our call to authentically incarnate the gospel as Jesus did - not only in our words, but also in our full self-giving for the life of other, and the life of the world.

It's easy enough to write off our duties to give everything, like the rich young ruler, to the poor, claiming not to be "rich," but rather "middle class," but these technicalities are not the spirit of Christ's all-encompassing, all-renewing gospel. To live in peace, in the inner city or anywhere else, is to be the peace, to (stealing from Gandhi) be the change now.

Sounds heavy. I thought Christ's burden was supposed to be light...

Bedtime Bullets

2006-09-23T01:47:00.000-04:00

My new haircut is, how-you-say...snazzy
I'm getting a sneaking suspicion Ericka thinks I should go to the gym. Ughh.
The official HBC countdown places us at 14 days. Awesome!
Mark Gornik's theo-socio-political account of Biblical faith and the inner city is rocking my world right now.
People better not refer to us as Andricka ever again

Becoming Human

2006-09-19T11:37:00.000-04:00

I just began reading Jean Vanier's "Becoming Human." This book is going to stir me up, I can tell already:

To reveal someone's beauty is to reveal their value by giving them time, attention and tenderness. To love is not just to do something for them but to reveal to them their own uniqueness, to tell them that they are special and worthy of attention. We can express this revelation through our open and gentle presence, in the way we look at and listen to a person, the way we speak to and care for someone.

Thinking about church, church planting and the rest, this challenge has no choice but to resonate. So often caught up in "the conversation," how much time do we spend acting on the things we're all too willing to talk about? How much time do we spend doing the things we criticise the church for failing to do?

Are we revealing God's love? Are we actually understanding the needs of our culture? Are we communicating, celebrating, and empowering others through the forgiveness of a loving community?

Maybe it's time to do more than just talk about it...

Reasons

2006-09-18T23:11:00.000-04:00

I've walked these streets a thousand times, if I've walked these streets at all. And everywhere I walk, I wait, and listen to the call. The call of the poor, the call of the oppressed, of the broken and the lame. The cry of the infant and the cry of the prostitute beaten into shame.

I hear the cries of these city streets and sit and stare and wait. For healing to come and healing to reign, but healing does not wait. Healing comes with action. Healing comes with love. For healing to come, for healing to be, we wait on the sky above.

What of you, and what of me, and what of our own lives? What are the reasons we wait so long, while listening to those cries? We can't afford to give them up, our lives, our lives are all we've got. But giving life to one more child, is the way our actions ought...

I've walked these streets a thousand times, if I've walked these streets at all. And everywhere I walk, I dance, and dance until I fall...

Wounded

2006-09-14T19:40:00.000-04:00

I love reading up on what the Fleshies are doing back in Calcutta. And as I read, I'm often struck by the lessons they're learning there - lessons we in North America need also to learn. Some of Sarah's remarks from Monday just struck a chord. Here are some excerpts:

Violence of any kind is an assault on our identity and the human response to assaults on our identity is anger and retribution. But that was not Christ's example. The identity of the western world was assaulted on 9/11 - our power and wealth was assaulted.

We have a model for how to live..for it is comendable if a man bears up under suffering because he is conscious of God. When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats, instead he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. By his wounds we are healed (the whole world can have this healing but who will model what it is supposed to look like??)

I am reminded that my identity even when under assault, can not be diminshed or stolen because it is secure not established by how I look, what I own, or how important a job I have.

I remember the words of Jesus: You can take nothing from me because I give it to you freely.

Credentials

2006-09-13T07:30:00.000-04:00

I wonder what it's like to be an immigrant.

I wonder what it's like to be an immigrant doctor now sitting behind the wheel of a taxi cab, carting people around the city because it's the only job open to them. What must it be like to know that you can and could help others in this city, when this city, province and country do not recognise your credentials.

I wonder what it's like to be a physicist or an engineer now selling smokes and newspapers from a corner store. Is this the better life they'd dreamed of? Was it worth it to leave? Was it worth it to now be on the end of the lotto ticket fiend's derision and greed? To have a gun pointed in their face for the sake of the $35 in the till?

I wonder what it's like to have someone look at you, despite the fact that you've owned your own business, run a large organisation, and completed a Master's degree and tell you, "you'd make a fine secretary."

There are so many things about these situations that I don't get. How it must feel to know that you're worth more, capable of more, and to have only a few options presented to you. It must take a lot of patience, a lot of strength to accept what could only seem like a step-down for a time until others become convinced of your competence.

On a rainy morning, it seems a bit depressing to think of these things. On a rainy morning, or any other, maybe it is. The world is unfair. How do we pursue justice and love and mercy in these situations?

The End of Food

2006-09-07T02:52:00.000-04:00

A couple of weeks ago I picked up veteran journalist Thomas Pawlick's "The End of Food" at an empire outlet across from my office. I read several chapters in the cafe before heading off to a friend's birthday celebration.

We ate at a fairly generic restaurant. The food was nothing special. It was decent, but the flavours didn't burst out. The ingredients hadn't been terribly fresh, and certainly hadn't been brought in from the local market. Even in the midst of harvest time.

I hate that the supermarkets feed us bland food all year long, and we convince ourselves we need to pay for it. I think it's about time we started paying attention not only to the quantity of food we eat, but also the taste and quality. Because really, there's quite the difference between a unfiorm rows of Loblaws tomatos, and the plump, juicy, flavourful variety available in a real garden.

Related Links:

The Nation :: Wendell Berry on the Food Crisis
Foodshare :: The Good Food Box

The Devil Turns Green

2006-09-06T23:02:00.000-04:00

In a rather bizarre twist of events, it seems as though Wal-Mart is adopting a more environmentally friendly business strategy. Or at least, that's what Fortune/CNN Money report.

This summer's already seen the corporate monolith settle an environmental and noise dispute with a group of monks outside of Guelph, Ontario. And so while reading an article talking about the encouraging steps Wal-Mart is taking in reducing its environmental footprint, it seems somehow too good to be true.

And yet, if it is true, that one of the most powerful corporate presences on earth is changing its habits, its networks and supply chains to become more green, that can't be a bad thing, can it?

With more than 3,000 stores in the USA and another 1,000 internationally, generating $244 billion annually, the company has incredible reach. And so, as the company reconsiders its environmental impact, and while it appears to be making bold moves within its industry, we can't expect that the company will go completely granola. It still has to bring in the bucks to keep its shareholders happy, afterall.

Energy efficiencies can be made, fuel consumption reduced, environmentally-friendly products can be introduced to the shelves, but at what point will the company stop? Sometimes shareholders just don't give a rip about the environment. Sometimes they'd rather more green in their wallets than on their trees.

So. If Wal-Mart does follow through on its green programs, and with its wide-ranging influence challenges suppliers to do the same, we may see more and more corners of industry turn green. We cannot simply dismiss these moves because of larger disagreements with the company, with the adverse affects these box stores have on the integrity of communities, because the company itself, one that will not disappear overnight, is making moves towards a more sustainable enterprise.

This doesn't mean that I'll be the first to run over to Wal-Mart to buy a package of high-efficiency light bulbs - but at least these types of products are being made more available to those people who do shop there. And maybe, combined with the efforts of environmentally conscious people everywhere, we will be able to reduce the frightening negative impact of our consumption habits upon our earth.

Related Articles:

NPR Environment Reports :: Even Wal-Mart Sells Organics
Driving Down Quality :: Wal-Mart's Organic Push and Food Quality
Sierra Club Betrayal :: Former Club President "Abandons Principles"
Positive Space? :: Wal-Mart Takes on the LGBT Community

Out of Breath

2006-09-06T20:58:00.000-04:00

Sick. So Sick.

Gone to bed. Wish I'd gone to bed.

Moving. Paper Writing. Planning.
Everything's coming together. My body's falling apart.

Need rest. Crave rest. Crave silence.

Work beckons. School Starts.

Soon I'll breathe again.

Update

2006-08-28T07:07:00.000-04:00

Life's just way too busy to blog.

For the past couple of weeks, I haven't found the time or the energy to think about much except the wedding and our big move. This Saturday, tho, with some help from a few friends, we moved into our new apartment in Parkdale.

I didn't realise quite how awkward the desk was until we had to move it down several flights of stairs to the truck. That thing is a beast - but it fits exceedingly well in the new apartment, under the window, so that's exciting.

The pieces are coming together. Sure, we still have things in boxes, and we don't have any living room furniture, but it's more resembling a home (a messy home, at any rate) than a warehouse. Soon enough, we'll have everything unpacked, and we'll be ready to go.

The only thing I'm worried about is where I'll be able to put my clothes when I eventually move in, since Ericka's taken up pretty much all of the closet space by now. At least she's pretty, otherwise I might take offense to her hogging all the space. Wonder if she'll hog the covers too.

Our last Greenhouse meeting went well, and we had some new people out - people new to the city who are also interested in exploring new areas of service, new ways of being church here in Toronto. All of these things are converging, and we still have some pieces to the wedding to put together.

Thankfully, we're getting out of the city next week-end for a relaxing time with Ericka's Uncle in London. It will be nice to just sit back, drink some coffee, read our books, and to work through the remaining details of the ceremony, and the way the reception is going to play out.

It's exciting, but a whole lot of work. Thankfully I'm going down to part-time at the office in September, and that will free up a couple more days for schoolwork and writing, maybe even writing a sermon or two for this fall at Grace.

I guess we'll see!

Resonate Greenhouse Meeting

2006-08-18T07:55:00.000-04:00

The Resonate Greenhouse for Toronto is meeting again next week. Here are the details:

We'll meet again next Wednesday August 23 for those who are interested. Same deal as last time - Wycliffe College basement, near the Crux Bookstore (7pm). I'll be flying in from Ottawa that afternoon, so please pray my flight's not terribly delayed.

We'll take some time to share more of our stories with one another. We'll update each other on the progress and challenges of our projects. Most importantly, I think, we'll spend time in prayer for the city and for one another, as we seek to be agents of God's shalom here and now. Any questions? Hit me back with a comment.

thanks!
andrew

Cartoon Bombs

2006-08-18T07:39:00.000-04:00

I never dream. Not that I can remember, anyhow, and last night I did.

I'm sitting in a chair, just talking, just relaxing, until I hear this sound screaming through the air. It's screaming at me, with eyes of disdain as I turn to look. I turn and see a rocket maliciously chasing me, and I begin to run.

It appears to have eyes only for me, and as I run, it twists and turns as I do. As I seek to escape, it draws closer. Dodging and weaving I think I can escape, until the rocket, which may as well be a leftover from the Super Mario Bros. factory finally swoops in, and the earth around me explodes.

How very odd.

So Much For That

2006-08-17T08:36:00.000-04:00

I promised Dave that I'd post something new to my blog yesterday. And clearly I didn't. Not even backdating can get me outta this mess. Dave is funny. Dave has a beard. Dave claims to be irish, and proves it by drinking whiskey. Dave has a cottage he loves more than, well, most anything.

If Dave were a rockstar, I think he'd try to be Bono. Because, like he loves his cottage, Dave loves U2 more than, well, most anything. He'd probably like The Other Dave (TOD), who also likes U2 more than, well, most anything. TOD doesn't have an online presence, however, which he should, because he's a good musician, and should have fans, or at very least, groupies who stalk him online. I know I would, if I didn't have to go to work right now.

All that being said, Dave also complained that I've not linked to him as yet. According to my calculations, his technorati rating just went up a whole lot due to the fact that I've linked to Dave at least nine times in this post. I hope this helps, little buddy.

Timing

2006-08-07T22:10:00.000-04:00

Does anyone have an old house or other building in Parkdale they want to give us? I'm just asking, but you know, if we're going to start a church, it might be nice to have an address...

Whatever happens, it'll work out in the right timing, with the right people, for the right reasons. Maybe a house is not what we need, but it would be an interesting start...

Guidance

2006-08-01T19:46:00.000-04:00

It's amazing the difference a little time and genuine attention make to a relationship. Finally today we met with a priest who treated us like people, people with a story to tell. On top of it all, he actually wanted to hear that story, to ask questions about us, our past, and our current relationship. The fact that he offered his own stories and experiences, above and beyond the requirements of his ecclesiastical position, well that pretty much sealed it for us.

After interactions with ministers who didn't seem truly interested in us, (and yet interested in counselling us), it's nice to be building a relationship with someone willing to invest himself in the whole thing too.

How is it that some pastors, priests, whatever, go through their job looking only at the bottom line, avoiding the story behind the person? How is it then that others are able to slow themselves down enough to talk to real people, to inquire about their story, to be fascinated by the way in which God is moving in their lives, and to offer of themselves as part of the entire exchange?

What makes the difference? Is it their training? The number of counselling courses they've taken? Their interaction with scripture? What is it that makes some pastors good spiritual guides, and others, people you'd not trust when push came to shove?

Ffantastic Fforde

2006-07-31T13:47:00.000-04:00

I was just over to Emma's blog, and discovered that there has been a new Fforde released. In the UK. No doubt it won't be released for months over here. I want to know a release date - hopefully the empire can shed some light on the situation after work.

Emma knits, eats vegetables, and has, I'm to believe, written a brilliant dissertation on spy literature that I've yet to read. It was in our last year at Queen's that Emma and I came to be friends, tho quite aware of one anothers' presence for several years previous.

We spent time under The Bonge studying literary theory, and applying our critical eye to the study of Dracula, James Bond, and other popular fiction. That year provided me with a great deal of opportunity to write what I wanted to write, and to explore my own voice a little more. My favourite project was probably researching Kingston's Sexual History. That was an interesting paper...

Last summer I spent a couple of weeks in London, and had quite the time with Emmms and her boy, Matthew. Enjoyed the music, wrote a whole lot in my journal at various pubs and cafés, and spent time relaxing after India. It was a good liminal space for me, wholly necessary before returning to the intensity and expectations of home. It's hard to believe that it's been a year since I was last there.

Talking about the day's news, about religion, music, literature, and all the rest, I don't think there's a single time I've walked away from a conversation with Emma unchallenged to think of things in bold new ways. Maybe one day Ericka and I will have the chance to visit London again - or, if the universe unfolds as it should - to live in that city for a year or two.

Then maybe the two of them could meet.

House of Heaven

2006-07-22T12:35:00.000-04:00

So. Just to pick up from what Ericka wrote in her last entry.

Our future landlord called us today and did in fact offer us the house. In this whole process, we've only had to look at three places, and the last one we saw was in the neighbourhood that's been on our hearts and minds for the past few months.

I'm sure Jared will want us to plant a church there in the not-too-distant future, but for now its time to focus on planning a wedding, on prepping the new house for living, and getting all of these other important details in order.

I can't even believe the journey we're embarking on. Everything about this seems so crazy, and yet, so natural, so right, and so God-led. I am blown away, almost to tears with the provision we've received. With the warm welcomes of both of our families. With the apartment. With the church for our wedding. With everything. Seems Jesus has some plans for our lives, and while I don't know what all that entails, I suspect it won't lack for excitement.

Trippy

2006-07-18T10:57:00.000-04:00

It's been awhile since I posted, mostly because I was off on vacation with my fiancée. We flew from Toronto to Castlegar, British Columbia, last week Saturday after getting engaged the day before. So when we arrived at the airport, I was meeting Ericka's parents for the first time.

I found it incredibly nerve-wracking to be meeting her parents as their future son-in-law, hoping they didn't hate me.

They didn't hate me.

That came as some relief. Her family turns out to be really cool, and they welcomed me with open arms and raised eyebrows. They hadn't yet gotten to know me - and probably still haven't - I'm sure they were taking full advantage of the fact I was sleeping in their house to run surveillance 24/7.

Thankfully there was no polygraph.

The next stage of this adventure is to plan a wedding in the next 81 days. Time to lock down the church, the minister, and a reception hall. Oi. It's a good thing we're both event planners, otherwise this might be stressful.

Oh. Hey. Ericka. I love you!

Six Days

2006-07-07T10:51:00.000-04:00

Mark Driscoll posts a relatively helpful discussion of Creation, and some things we can learn from the early Genesis accounts. It's nothing terribly new to the discussion, but it's nice to see major church leaders taking this stuff on:

I would like to stress that Genesis was not written with the intention of being a scientific textbook. Rather, it is a theological narrative written to reveal the God of creation which means its emphasis is on God and not creation. Because of this, Hebrews 11:3 says "By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible."

Shots Fired

2006-07-05T23:18:00.000-04:00

Shots Fired in Toronto. Friend and blogger Josh Lyon tells the story of waking up to the sound of gunfire in his neighbourhood:

How you see the world is forever changed when you have a kid.

How you see the world the day that you are awoken at 4:30am by the sound of gunfire on the street in front of the house where you are trying to raise that child is a change that I had no pregnancy holding time during which I could at least grow acustomed to the idea...

full post

Toronto Greenhouse

2006-07-03T13:37:00.000-04:00

Into gardening? Church planting? Dreaming about what the church could do or be if more people took ownership of it and started acting on their faith in the city?

We've organised a network for just such a purpose here in Toronto, and you can find all the details here. First meeting is tomorrow (Tuesday) night at Wycliffe College, University of Toronto.

Today's Questions

2006-06-28T10:46:00.000-04:00

1) Why does our society treat fertility as tho it's a disease to be abolished?

and

2) Why are these same people surprised and angry when the drugs they've used to prevent conception lead to a long-term inability to conceive?

Toronto Bubble Battle!

2006-06-27T20:15:00.000-04:00

BUBBLE BATTLE! T.O
SUNDAY, JULY 2 @ 3:00 PM
QUEEN & BAY, TORONTO map

Meet on the steps of Old City Hall.
Rain or shine.

Queen

This Sunday, millions of bubbles fill the sky as we rally at Old City Hall for a massive bubble battle! Beautiful bubbles glimmer and shimmer as the wind carries them in an enchanting, cross-country dance. Join us at 3:00pm with your wildest toys (+ cameras) and let the bubbles soar!

Free + all ages after party at Cherry Beach :)

For more info, e-mail love(at)newmindspace.com

http://newmindspace.com/bubblebattle.php

Lush

2006-06-27T08:00:00.000-04:00

It's raining. Looking out my bedroom window, i can see the mist in the trees, and hear the sounds of refreshment coming to the earth. The backyard's been scorched this past week, and the rain brings soulful yet subtle renewal to the vegetation.

It's lush back there. A wild expanse of various plants, an unplanned garden providing oxygen, preventing the soil's erosion, and making my experience of the outside world a little more inviting this morning. It's not a day to bike, so I'll be braving the TTC this morning.

If I can convince my body it wants to get outta bed.

We'll see what happens.

Predictions

2006-06-25T11:37:00.000-04:00

Leaving the apartment to meet Ericka for brunch. Put on my helmet, and head to the garage to get my bike. As I round the corner, the man on my driveway slurs, "You're the theology guy, aren't you?"

Yes. Yes, that's me.

He speaks incoherently for awhile until I'm able to interject. He's distraught. Concerned with the pride of most religious fanatics who think they've got all of the answers. We talk about humility, and about its necessity in the face of the ineffable, in the knowledge of God.

We discuss philosophy, we discuss the brokenness of this city. The hurt and pain that so many don't even realise they carry. And then, out of nowhere, he reaches for my face, pushes up my lip and looks at my teeth. Looks over his shoulder at his wife, some thirty years younger than he, and says "Look at this. He's got great teeth."

Odd.

I can't remember what exactly my teeth signify, but it has something to do with quietness and intensity and intellectual rigour. I thought he'd be more concerned with the plaque buildup, and the fact that I really need to visit the dentist. Not the case.

He then grabs my hand, and pushes back on my thumb. "You're stubborn," he says. I stare back incredulously. Examines my fingers and tells me I'm to get married soon. Tells me i have the pointer-finger of a philosopher. I still don't know what he's talking about. Queer circumstances, right?

Looks at my palm, predicts long life, with a particular patch of trials at a certain point, where he thinks God will lean on me, and test my faith. I don't really know what to do. I have no idea what to say. It's interesting living beneath a fortuneteller. It's even more interesting when on the second time you speak with him, he's feeling you up, in front of his wife.

I hope he doesn't send me a bill for his services.

Holistic Faith

2006-06-25T00:27:00.000-04:00

"If Christians go to urban centers simply to acquire power, they will never achieve cultural influence and change that is deep, lasting, and embraced by the broader society. We must live in the city to serve all the peoples in it, not just our own tribe. We must lose our power to find our (true) power. Christianity will not be attractive enough to win influence except through sacrificial service to all people, regardless of their beliefs."

From that same CT article listed below.

Reading this passage again and again, I have to wonder - what would Toronto look like if Christians put their minds, energies and creativity into being change, here in the city. A faith that does not permeate all of life seems somehow false. If it's not worthy enough to be believed and acted upon in all spheres of life, why should anyone believe in it at all?

If Christian faith provides clues towards the character of God -- if Christ is who he said he was -- then why do Christians acknowledge Christ in word, and deny him in deed? Why is a Sunday profession of faith countered by exploitation, violence and hatred throughout the week?

If Christians are to live faithfully, they must not only profess Christ as Lord of all in words, but live lives that exemplify this truth.

Christian counterculture in the city

2006-06-20T11:22:00.000-04:00

By Way of Dan Sheffield

Tim Keller has an excellent article at CT on the role of the Christian community in the city.

It will not be enough for Christians to form a culture that runs counter to the values of the broader culture. Christians should be a community radically committed to the good of the city as a whole. We must move out to sacrificially serve the good of the whole human community, especially the poor. Revelation 21-22 makes it clear that the ultimate purpose of redemption is not to escape the material world, but to renew it. God's purpose is not only saving individuals, but also inaugurating a new world based on justice, peace, and love, not power, strife, and selfishness.

So Christians work for the peace, security, justice, and prosperity of their city and their neighbors, loving them in word and in deed, whether they believe what we do or not. In Jeremiah 29:7, Israel's exiles were called not just to live in the city, but also to love it and work for its shalom—its economic, social, and spiritual flourishing. The citizens of God's city are the best possible citizens of their earthly cities.

Good comment about multi-ethnicity too...

Regarding power, Christian community is visibly committed to power-sharing and relationship-building between races and classes that are alienated outside of the body of Christ. The practical evidence of this will be churches that are increasingly multiethnic, both in the congregations at large and in their leadership.

Church Marketing is Stupid

2006-06-15T22:05:00.000-04:00

Christians should stop trying to prove to the world that they can be cool too, because:

a) They are not; and
b) If they're trying to be, they've completely missed the point

Now that that's been cleared up, we should move on. Working on maybe a million projects around the office for The Man today. Canada Day is coming up, so I have many envelopes to lick, and I'm fearful of dying like George's fiance.

You'd think he'd lighten up, Stephen, but oh no, with Canada Day coming, he went and placed an ad in Canadian Living magazine informing everyone and their dead cousin's porcupine that they could leave me a message to ask for free Canadian flags, pins, tattoos and all the rest.

The only problem, is, of course, that since he placed the ad, the phone's been ringing off the hook, and our stock plummeted faster than Nortel's. Who, incidentally, are also to blame, as they made every damned telephone in our office.

Just Questions

2006-06-13T17:42:00.000-04:00

Last week's words from Muslim Canadian Congress representative Tarek Fatah pose an interesting challenge to people of all faiths in Canada:

"If bishops were meeting regularly with the RCMP, what do you think their congregrations would think?"*

What if the leaders of your church were consistently at work in conjunction with the nations' authorities to weed out potential security threats? What if church leaders were pointing to those members of their congregation and implicating them as dangers to society?

If this is a practice we Canadians deem acceptable in Muslim religious communities, why do we not also bring this into effect in Jewish, Christian, Hindu or other instances?

At what point should faith communities capitulate to the State in order to protect the State's interests? At what point should religious leaders alert the authorities if they suspect members of their congregation of unlawful behaviour?

Where is sanctuary? When do we offer it? What do we do when those to whom sanctuary is offered are against our government?

* Globe & Mail - June 8, 2006 | "Authorities confronted wall of silence"

Disappointed

2006-06-13T16:52:00.000-04:00

To-date, Rick Mercer has not blogged about me. He hasn't even updated his blog since April. I wonder if there are any proactive ways to encourage his writing, and preferably, to encourage his writing to be focused on me.

Toilet Humour

2006-06-07T08:21:00.000-04:00

After peeing in a urinal next to Rick Mercer last night at Allen's on the Danforth, I asked for his autograph. He shook my hand, took out a pen signing "To Andrew, In Queer Circumstances," zipped up his pants, washed his hands and went back to join his friend Seamus O'Regan on the patio.

Busted

2006-06-01T23:02:00.000-04:00

In a cynical move, my boss decided that i shall in fact run the universe from my cubicle next week while he and all other full-time employees are on an all-staff retreat.

In future, I may consider not publicising my delusions of grandeur in order to avoid the pain of actually having to fulfil them in real life.

Buzzed

2006-06-01T09:04:00.000-04:00

My watch battery died, my cell phone broke. I have no way of telling time anymore. Luckily my room is uncomfortably hot, and I woke up at 6am today. Showered, dressed, and prepared for my first ever bike ride to work.

It was awesome. Except for the puddles (I clearly need something resembling fenders). What the hell? Rain on my first day. I rode my bike to work, and that's something else. I still haven't figured out the best way to do it - the best route still seems Davenport to Spadina - but we'll see.

Made it down to the office in record time, grabbed a coffee from the Green and White Goddess and went to the office to pray for awhile before everyone got in.

Sipping on the sweet nectar of life and reflecting on scripture, I found myself extremely energised this morning. On top of it all, Ericka's working downtown today, so we get to have lunch together. Wikkid. For now, tho, I'm back to running the entire government from my tiny little cubicle.

I am so important, it's ridiculous.

Emergent and Diversity

2006-05-30T20:35:00.000-04:00

I haven't visited Dan Sheffield's blog in such a long time, but am glad I finally did tonight. At our Greenhouse meeting on Saturday, a meeting where at least 80% of those in the room were white males, we had a good starting discussion on the impact multiculturalism will inevitably have on coming generations of church.

It was so good and so necessary to talk about this, especially since so much of "emergent" church culture is heavily influenced by the white male. I'm not hating on myself here, I don't think that's entirely helpful, but I'm glad that conversation is starting to happen about what the emerging church might look like as the goateed, blogging, ibook-toting, dark-rimmed-glasses-wearing church planter is joined by people who don't conform to that picture:

Within a decade or so, the majority of Christians in the United States will be non-white. I can say that with confidence because all the sociological trends, all the ways the white church is declining and all the ways the immigrant church, the African American church, the Spanish-speaking church is growing by leaps and bounds.

Within a decade, in every metropolitan corner of the United States, we are going to see more non-white Christians than white Christians. Why is it that the leadership is still all white? Time magazine does an article on the top 25 evangelical leaders. Twenty-three of those spots are filled by white evangelicals. Why is it that the face of the "emerging church" is always white?
Full Article

Get a Freaking Bike

2006-05-29T08:07:00.000-04:00

So I'm sitting around my house, incredibly caffeinated, and I've got nowhere to go. Oh, I could go to work, but I'm not feeling the burning desire to walk a coupla hours downtown.

Wildcat Strikes. Reminds me of India. We were taking the group to our debriefing session in Darjiling and as we wake up from the overnight journey, hear some buzz on the train that the entire state of West Bengal was on transit strike. Brilliant. Especially since we're still in WB, and have a four-hour jeep ride up the mountain to go, with no accomodations available for miles around.

Eventually we convince a band of renegade cycle rickshaw drivers to take us to a hotel that had agreed to house us for the evening - a mere 6km away. Keep in mind that everyone on the trip had their 60L travel packs with them. Each cyclist pulled two people and their bags (at least 350lbs dead weight) across cobbled back streets, uphill to our final destination. They sure earned their wage that day.

Okay. So. It's like that but different. Because unlike our trip in India, I am not stuck in a random train station, and there is also a disturbing lack of cycle rickshaw drivers about. I am stuck in my house, at my computer, in front of the TV, wondering if I'll make it into work today.

Moral of the story: Get a freaking assbike.

Sidenote: Becoming a sexy bitch - the Unoriginal Gangster tells it like it is.

Canadian Slang

2006-05-28T09:40:00.000-04:00

All in one place.

Ideal Conditions

2006-05-28T09:10:00.000-04:00

I went to a Church Planters networking meeting in Mississauga yesterday. Jared had emailed me and asked me to come, and so, while I have no idea whether I am to plant a church anytime soon, I figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to get out there and meet some of the whack jobs thinking of doing just that.

After taking the GO bus from Union Station to Square One in Mississauga, I was hungry, so I swung through the Mall's food court to get a muffin. Amongst others in line at Tim Hortons was a girl with a tiara and veil in her hair. Day of the wedding, and she's going to Timmies for a double-double. We are in Canada, after-all. Probably part of her wedding plans since she was six. Because girls are weird like that.

I got my muffin and then left for the Greenhouse where I was greeted by the aforementioned Jared, as well as Nathan who I met at the Mosaic Church Planting Conference in November, and who was out taking photos at empireremixed a few weeks back. It was good to have some familiar facess in the room.

There was this huge contingent of Queen's people in the room, probably due to the influence of the Next Church in Kingston. That's the church Jared planted in the late 90s, and that continues to influence generations of Queen's students as well as the local community. It's amazing to watch the ways in which that small community is reaching out in, and influencing the world.

It was good to just be in a room full of people thinking and dreaming of new ways to love their communities more, to reach out and give themselves over to seeking the wellbeing of their neighbourhoods. It's amazing to see all of these people with visions, with questions, and to be in their midst.

I still have no idea what's next for me. Finishing classess, writing my thesis, and then the great unknown. Whatever the case, I'm sure I'll be taken care of, and find a couple things to keep me occupied in the meantime. Part of the next few years may indeed involve a church plant, but I guess we'll see how that all goes down, how the visions and conversations arise, and if the ideal conditions for such a whacked-out idea present themselves.

Guitars and Collars

2006-05-10T07:53:00.000-04:00

I'm exhausted. But hey. Why not? Last night's gig at the Revival Club with the Bish was something I'll not forget for a long time. The Bish, he can sing. Play guitar. And Harmonica. When I told him he should quit his day job, he smiled knowingly and said "I'll retire eventually."

It was a great conversation in a packed bar of peoples come to hear a theologian speak. I bet he does shit like that all the time.

Nathan has posted some photos from the event you should check out.

Introductions

2006-05-03T20:19:00.000-04:00

You know, it's funny. When the email they send around work to introduce you makes mention of the fact you're pursuing your Masters in Theology, you get some interesting reactions. Some funny looks. Some jokes. Some good conversations. And a quick survey of who the other Christians in the office are.

Phonecall from Kolkata

2006-04-29T14:00:00.000-04:00

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

2006-04-26T12:00:00.000-04:00

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

2006-04-24T10:39:00.000-04:00

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

2006-04-24T10:04:00.000-04:00

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...

2006-04-10T23:03:00.000-04:00

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

2006-04-08T16:08:00.000-04:00

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

2006-04-03T14:39:00.000-04:00

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

Empire Remixed Promo

2006-03-30T23:13:00.000-05:00

We made some promo bookmarks for our evening with the Bish. Registrations are going really well so far, which is pretty exciting since it's a new thing to engage in this kind of conversation in Toronto.

It would be nice to see some of the indie press on board, engaging in this dialogue between culture and theology. But really, what are the chances they'd get in bed with us religious folk?

Tags: Emerging Church, NT Wright, Toronto

Relaxed

2006-03-27T11:29:00.000-05:00

So nice to get away. Nice to be back. Now just a month left of intensive studies and negotiating my survival with the Russian Mafia. No biggie.

Kingston

2006-03-25T16:12:00.000-05:00

Random meetings with long-lost friends. Time in the library, and acting as an extra in a movie shoot. So far, a good day.

I Love Queen's

2006-03-24T14:54:00.000-05:00

In Kingston visiting Matt, Andrew and Siebren for the week-end. Of course the first thing I do is go to the grad club. Of course the first thing I do is buy a pint of Big Rock Trad Ale. Of course I walk upstairs, open my computer, and pick up Queen's wireless. Of course, my student ID still works, even though I graduated, what was it, three years ago?

I love this place.

Cross, Double-Cross

2006-03-21T10:39:00.000-05:00

a reflection on mark 14.32-52

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?

They’d been waiting. Watching and waiting and endlessly praying. Praying for the one to come. The one who would set them free. Who would break them out of tyranny. Who would overthrow. Who would let them know that they were chosen, saved, and would rise in victory.

They thought, hoped, wanted him to lead them all out of poverty. Misery. Slavery. There he was. There they are. Slaves of empire and slaves of desire. Entangled. Still waiting for the dawn. The dawn of a new age. A new covenant. A new deal.

They wait. And as they wait, they fall sleep.

They failed to see what was right in front of their eyes. Stopping and waiting. Pausing and reflecting on all that had happened – the throngs, the Pharisees, the blind man – in that place he had asked them, “who do they say that I am?”

Prophet, drunkard, patriarch, healer, glutton. They’ve called you all these and more. But who are you really? They watched and waited, scared to speak the word. Messiah? And what if he was? What could that mean? Until that point they’d been unsure. Until then they’d avoided the question. But if it was true. If only it could have been true. They thought they understood. They thought they’d caught on. How had they been caught so unaware?

Unaware. Blind. Asleep. These were not their best moments. These are not our best moments.

No one had spoken of it, of how inevitable his death was. Death was denied the recognition it had placed right in front of everyone’s face, in the middle of everyone’s life, in his very body. A recognition he had gone to such extraordinary lengths to receive. They simply refused to acknowledge its presence or its power. All except one.

And now they lie there waiting for the dawn. The dawn of a new age. A new covenant. A new deal. And in this garden, they’re about to see blood. The cross of Calvary follows soon after the double-cross.

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?

It was just like a woman, wasn’t it? Just like a woman to go and do something like that. Inexcusable. Trivial. Waste. They all thought it, I’m sure. But he did something about it. I wonder if that was the moment Judas realised what was really going on. That moment, when Jesus graciously accepted my gift. In that moment, the disciples stood in opposition when we should have all been prostrate at his feet.

An anointing for a burial. That must have thrown them off.

I can see the same seeds in Judas that were in the others. All the watching, the waiting, the endless praying. The crowds gathered. They followed him around, watching and waiting and endlessly praying. Praying that He would be the one. The one who would set them free. Who would break them out of imperial tyranny. Who would overthrow. Let them know that they were chosen, they were saved, and that yes, they would rise in victory.

They had held such expectations. Expectations he never met. Expectations he defied at every turn. Feeding thousands. Healing the sick. Making the lame to walk and the blind to see. Never once does he raise a sword against the empire. He even wakes a dead man, but he cannot wake his closest friends from their slumber. In their slumber, dreams of what the world might be like if this so-called Messiah picked up arms against the oppressor. But this was much different from the reality he was. The reality he is. The reality he is to come.

They were dreamers of dreams. Tellers of tales. They lived surrounded by their stories, and the stories of others, seeing everything that happened through them. They lived their lives accordingly. The only problem was that they wanted Jesus to live his life according to their script.

They were waiting for something and someone to overcome, to outlive, to outlast to outplay the imperial hand, to finally conquer the band of outlaws who kill, curse, and crush at every turn. And they wait and they long. They long for the dawn of a new age, a new page, for Jesus’ fire and rage against the Roman machine swallowing them whole.

And when he didn’t. When Judas finally understands that Jesus would not act according to the script, he has no choice. Jesus’ life, his faithful improvisations, tell a different story than the one they wanted to hear. Jesus refuses to be directed, boxed in, or confined by human expectation. He refuses to be nailed down.

Our story closes with a farewell kiss, the plot laid bare.

We read this story in the shadow of three crosses.
The cross of Calvary follows soon after the double-cross.

One. Two. Three times he finds them asleep.
One. Two. Three times betrayed into the hands of sinners.

And yet.
They thought they could pin him;
Thought they'd nail him down once for all.
We’re trying it again, today, this time with words.

Trying to say exactly what I AM in human terms
What, did we forget the last time;
Did we forget the way it was before?

We’re trying it again, today, this time with words.
Thought we'd nail him down once for all.
We thought we could pin him;
And yet.

One. Two. Three times betrayed into the hands of sinners.
One. Two. Three times he finds us asleep.

The cross of Calvary follows soon after our double cross.
We live this story in the shadow of three crosses.

Lent

NT Wright - Remixed

2006-03-15T07:31:00.000-05:00

Launched www.empireremixed.com today. Here's what it's all about - we hope you can attend.

WRIGHTREMIXED
TUESDAY MAY 9, 8:30 PM
The Revival - Toronto, Ont. - $10 per person
Revival Bar and Night Club
783 College St. Toronto ON, M6G 1C5
www.revivalbar.com

This is where we find ourselves today – living the story, even here, today, in Toronto. Here, today, in Toronto, we'd like to know: what might our city, what might our culture, what might our nation look like with God's kingdom come?

Bishop Tom Wright is no stranger to this conversation. Read through his books and you'll see that he is deeply and intimately concerned with questions of what faith and theology look like in practice, in the midst of this postmodern culture, even here, today. So this is our starting point. This is our first public conversation, and Tom, our first conversation partner. The questions we're asking are not, we hope, self-seeking. Rather, we aim to ask questions that bear directly on the ways in which theology, and especially our reading of Paul, interact with our lives and our culture in 21st Century Toronto.

Dedicated to exploring these questions in multifarious ways, the evening will feature performances by dj teknostep, hip-hop MC illSeer, as well as local singer-songwriters Julia Churchill and Alison Hari-Singh. And you know what? We've even asked the Bish to pick up his guitar for the occasion!

Sharing a few of his own faithful improvisations, on Tuesday May 9th, Tom Wright will join in our conversation, and we hope that you will too.

Doors open at 8pm, and our conversation will follow. The discussion will be facilitated by Brian Walsh, co-author of Colossians: Remixed and Truth is Stranger Than it Used to Be: Biblical Faith in a Postmodern Age.

Tags: Emerging Church, NT Wright

Drenched-In-Adequacy

2006-03-09T10:27:00.000-05:00

The rain comes, beating down, puddles gathering round in a conspiracy of wetness. A wetness that conspires to soak my shoes, my socks, my sanity. Stone cold buildings, architecture of another era, stand resolutely. They will not be moved. They will not be shaken by this affront. An affront to the cold of winter, the cold from whither we escape.

Lossless purity in this rainsoaked misery of broken hearts and untold dreams. Dreams of a better day, of a better way to learn to say what I'm really thinking.

Drenched.

Drenched-in-adequacy, however hard I try to wipe it away, however much I want it to stay.

And the rain it comes, beating down, puddles gathering round in this conspiracy. And so, as you conspire to soak my shoes, my socks, my sanity, I step outside. I stand resolutely. I will not be moved. I will not be shaken by this affront. You are the cold from whither I've escaped. This is no affront at all.

wrightremixed

2006-03-06T18:38:00.000-05:00

Stay tuned for the upcoming announcement of a rather cool, and rather different kind of conversation with Bishop of Durham, NT Wright, right here in Toronto.

Emerging Church, NT Wright, Theology