Honored by the 40 Days of Community teams – twice!

This past Sunday my husband David and I were astonished to find that we were being honored by two different groups of people in the 40 Days of Community program our church is taking part in. The first honor was via a media presentation of the Sunday School class we teach, presented right during the adult services! They showed pictures of us teaching the kids and honored our service. Can I just be honest and tell you that I was driven to near-tears when I found out, because not only had we been late and missed the first service, we teach during second and missed the tribute altogether?

The second honor was paid to us at the end of the service we teach the kids, as parents were coming to gather their children. A couple who drop their children off with us regularly told us that their home group, which we aren’t even attending, decided to pay honor to someone in the church whose service was an inspiration to them. They chose us. They gave us this huge Valentine’s box of homebaked goodies that we have been enjoying immensely. It was so precious to receive this love. We usually don’t really feel that noticed or appreciated. The blessing was well-received. It’s great to know that we do not labor in vain, that someone notices, that some children are better off because of our contribution, that people know we are there and they are thankful.

40 Days of Community

David and I go to the Desert Vineyard and the Quartz Hill Foursquare churches. At the Foursquare, they are doing the 40 Days of Community program. Since David and I teach 1st – 3rd grade Sunday School (he teaches, I help him) we will be participating in the program through the Children’s Church curriculum. Our regular curriculum is being temporarily replaced by the 40 Days curriculum.

Anyway, David and I are very missional and emergent in our theologies and beliefs, so this ought to be interesting since this program seems to be the best of the Institution. I am actually excited about a couple of the components of the kids’ curriculum, so I think this will be fun. Tomorrow we start using the new materials. I will keep you posted.

In the meantime, if you have used the curriculum, either for adults or children, I welcome your comments and thoughts here – both negative and positive, but be respectful if you have negative things to say, please. Thanks.

Souvenirs of Solitude

I am reading thru Brennan Manning’s “Souvenirs of Solitude” right now. It is a tasty collection of insights, stories and inspirations from Manning originally written in 1979 but now re-released in 2009. The souvenirs, or memories, he shares in the pages of this book are timeless and classic. As the author says in the Preface to the Second Edition, to “remember” in the Hebrew tradition is to “make present”, and I couldn’t agree more. The words and experiences of Manning in 1979 come off the pages just as real and lively as though he had written them just yesterday.

What is he remembering exactly?

These souvenirs of solitude are the love story of my walk with God…. I remember and record the intimate moments when I allowed the Lord to lure me into the wilderness and speak to my heart.”

My favorite part: In the chapter called “Love” he recounts the Biblical story of the woman caught in adultery. He notices that Jesus let her off without requiring repentance first, and that she might very well “be back into adultery before sunset.” It’s one thing to worship such a gracious God – but he calls us to live this “kooky, embarassing” love ourselves. Radical.

Keeping up with the Joneses

Andrew Jones, aka Tall Skinny Kiwi, has blogged a controversial post about what he calls a global turning point of the Emerging Church. I commented here essentially, but respectfully, disagreeing with Andrew on major points of his post.

Responding to Andrew we find Tony Jones and his post entitled Lonnie Frisbee and the Non-Demise of the Emerging Church. What strikes me as most interesting about this post is the fact that it links together Calvary Chapel and EC. It was CC that originally caused me to connect with my EC brethren, although that was certainly not their intention! My husband was invited to a big EC-Hate-Bash (they didn’t call it that) in Costa Mesa one day in which he was warned of the supposed evils of EC. Their blatant lies and misrepresentations led me to seek out the very people they were attacking, and that was how I made my way into the Great Emergence. I even corresponded for a time with two of the presenters of the event (Norm Geisler and Charlie Campbell), calling them on their allegations that Rob Bell had actually said he was a Universalist. Both admitted to me that he never had – they had arrived at that “obvious” conclusion based on the “facts” they had attained. One even addmitted to me that it had been unverified hearsay gathered earlier that very day at lunch with a friend – but the 1,000 prominent CC leaders never got to know that little fact. They also never got to know that the one most incriminating piece of evidence against Tony Jones was based on three separate quotes from one of his books strung together to sound like he was encouraging people to worship idols. After Norm and Charlie had ceased responding to my letters, I decided to write one to Tony Jones – he posted it here.

Sadly, these leaders all left this event believing that the things they were told there that day were true. It’s disgusting.

Linking this all back to Tony’s post, which combined CC with EC, when I watched Frisbee’s story some months ago, I was appalled and frankly enraged that he would be treated the way he was simply because he was gay. I have since *emerged* into a lifestyle of trying to reclaim for the GLBT community some of what they have lost at the hands of people like Chuck Smith Sr., and frankly, by the church at large. And I guarantee that it is very much *radical*, very much *controversial*, and also very much steeped in *talking*.

That Hate-Conference still carries a lot of weight with CC and its followers, and continues to directly effect my husband and myself in many ways. Ironically, it is from the same denomination that outcast Lonnie Frisbee for being gay, when it was Frisbee who turned CC into the success it is today (if you don’t agree, watch the movie then decide for yourself if CC would even be around today were it not for Frisbee).

EC is far from being “adopted, adapted, or made redundant” in my geographical community, and many others in the US, although I am glad for the places where Andrew has seen it as such.

Oddly, my husband’s raffle ticket number that night was 666. We still laugh at that one.

I am writing a book and need your voice

I am writing a book and I need your voice. I am looking for certain kinds of Christmas Season stories, and am requesting said stories on the website for my book project. So far I have made one specific request, but more are coming. Come join in and help me make this book more beautiful with your presence.

On the left hand side of the site you will find links to “About the Advent Project” which explains how the site works, and of course links to my recent posts. Make sure to follow the site if you are interested in future submission requests, as there are many more to come.

I am eager to hear from you as I embark on this new journey. May God bless us as we seek the spirit of the Christmas Season together.

“Christian as a noun, not an adjective”

I haven’t blogged much lately, as I have been busy creating a dance for the song “Mary Did You Know” by Kathy Mattea for my Modern Dance class, plus I have been sick since Thanksgiving night with a cold. Feeling a little better, and needing to rest still anyway, I thought I’d better take the opportunity to write again.

By the way, do you like the new look? I wanted something easier to read, and this is my favorite one. I use it on my other blog, but I have been inactive there for so long I decided to switch it to this one.

I just finished reading “Velvet Elvis” by Rob Bell. Actually, a couple years ago, David read most of it to me as he was reading through it for the first time. He was so excited!! I caught most of it then. But I just sat down and read it for myself, and it blew me away in classic Rob Bell style. I could blog about the book for months, but I really just want to touch on this one thing. I want to talk about “Christian” as being a noun, not an adjective. A friend on facebook reminded me that it is both, and I agree. But I want to focus on this point Rob made about using it as an adjective in destructive ways, and acknowledging God and truth in contexts which have not been designated “Christian”.

We tend to talk about God as if he is missing from us until we find him. We watched the movie “New in Town” on DVD the other day, and at one point one character asks the other if she’s found Jesus yet. The other answers timelessly, “I didn’t know he was missing,” laughing heartily. The lady who had asked was not amused. Of course, we were. But God is not hiding from us or inaccessible to us or away from us in any way. He is right here, all around us, with us always. It is we who hide.

Not only that, but truth is everywhere, whether a Christian somewhere has affirmed it or not. And if a thing is true, we can claim it for ourselves. In 1 Corinthians, Paul says “All things are yours,… and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.” Rob Bell follows this up with, “It all belongs to God, and Christ is of God, and you are of Christ, so … it’s all yours… If it is true, if it is beautiful, if it is honorable, if it is right, then claim it. Because it is from God. And you belong to God.” He then quotes philosopher Arthur Holmes as saying, “All truth is God’s truth.” He follows this with, “So as a Christian, I am free to claim the good, the true, the holy, wherever and whenever I find it. I live with the understanding that truth is bigger than any religion and the world is God’s and everything in it…. Why would we ever be surprised when truth turns up in strange places?”

Bell next discusses the dilemma many experience when they go to university, and discover truth outside of their Christian tradition. But it shouldn’t be a dilemma at all, since Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, the life.” So when we find truth outside of our tradition, it shouldn’t challenge our faith. It should expand it. “To be a Christian is to claim truth wherever you find it,” Bell says.

What’s the point? The point is that we often slap the “Christian” label on things that are not true and good, and, on the flip side, we negate other things that are true and good by avoiding them for their lack of the adjective “Christian” being attached. Labels can be good and useful, but ultimately they fail when it comes to God because he is so much bigger than all of them. And if we are to test things to see if they are good, as Paul urges us, then that means wrestling with things for ourselves, not just going along with others’ interpretations blindly. We should know how to think, not just what to think. Much of the Bible is about sorting through light and dark and distinguishing between them.

This all brings me back to the earlier point that God is everywhere, and accessible to everyone. Imagine if missionaries were in fact bringing God to people who did not previously have him at all. What a burden to bear. We couldn’t possibly carry him. Yet we don’t need to. He is already there. Our job is to show people God. Show them his love, his grace, his compassion, his devotion. This allows us to affirm the truth in their lives, and to affirm the experiences they have had with God in their lives, without trying to take it from them because it was not “Christian”. Or because they were not “Christian”.

Later in the book, Bell says this:

…it is so toxic for the gospel when Christians picket and boycott and complain about how bad the world is. This behavior doesn’t help. It makes it worse. It isn’t the kind of voice Jesus wants his followers to have in the world. Why blame the dark for being dark? It is far more helpful to ask why the light isn’t as bright as it could be.

Let us be a bright light in the world, one of hope, and peace, and reconciliation; not of division and exclusion. Let us live in the way of Jesus, whatever it entails, and live so freely the way we were meant to. Lord, that you would break the chains that bind us, that we might fully live into your Kingdom, and share it with others.

We Love You Ken Silva

Ken Silva, creator of Apprising Ministries (ministry formed in response to the Great Emergence, which he believes to be unChristian), needs to receive some lovin’ from those of us he deems to be heretics. I think Jonathan Brink said it well in his recent post “We Love You Ken Silva”. This does not come naturally for me, as I am usually one who will supply a quick-witted response who challenges me, but I believe Christians are to known by our love – our love for God, and our love for others. I have never been challenged by Ken directly, and for that matter, the only thing he ever said directly to me was gentle and kind. So I feel particularly inclined to show this love to Ken. I have to admit, though, that he has frustrated me with his ministry and comments on his website, and slander of my friends. Actually, anything I read by him other than his one gracious comment on my humble blog, greatly angers me and hurts me and looks very unlovely and …. But what will I do with that?

I remember the day I met Doug Pagitt and Tony Jones. I had been listening to the critics of EC and was becoming convinced that it was really scary. But I knew I had to find out for myself. I “met” Tony by going to his blog and asking him very directly about the rumors I found most disturbing. I was glad to find out that much of what was being said was taken out of context and was, in fact, not true. I was shocked, in fact, to later discover that the most heinous rumors about him were created by chopping up bits and pieces of his book, The Sacred Way, and putting them together to make it sound like he worships small statues he keeps in his pocket. Anyway, the day I actually met Doug and Tony, in person, is a day I will never forget for many reasons. But I have heard Doug’s exhortation to me echo in my soul many, many times over since: When they slander and lie and hurt us we must respond not in kind, but in love. He didn’t use those words, his were way better, almost poetic. And as deep cries out to deep, I could feel the Holy Spirit in this gentle giant as he looked into my eyes and encouraged me to forge ahead in my pursuit of Jesus, showing compassion and mercy to those who would seek to hurt me. I am hearing that message again through Jonathan, and it is so difficult, yet so touching, for me to hear it that I am posting here all about it!

Here’s where I struggle though: I live with this fear that if I do not correct others when they slander someone then bad things will happen. For instance, when I found out that the idol-worshiping rumor was not true about Tony, I launched into this campaign among my friends to show them the truth about him, but they wouldn’t listen to me because I had already declared myself a friend to him. So I panicked, thinking that more and more people would buy into the lie, and then this movement of God might not reach people who are so desperate for change in their lives. I kinda got hell-bent for a while (very punny, huh?) trying to convince my friends that EC was really a move of God. The harder I tried to show them what I had found the faster they ran in the other direction. They had been told that they might be deceived by Satan like I had been so they closed their ears to me and treated me as though I had joined a cult. Thankfully, I have settled into the realization that they won’t be shown, and our conversations no longer steer in that direction. I say thankfully only because of the destructive nature of quarrels, but on the inside it still irks me that I was not a reliable source to them.

Which brings me back to people like Ken Silva, who make it their life’s work, it seems, to bring other people’s ministries down. I want to fight, to respond in kind, to scream and shout if I have to, to make them stop hurting people and telling lies about people I care very much about. I want to make them unite and move forward in God’s redemptive plan for this world and its people, rather than continue to bring division and discord. That is what I want to do. But I feel like Jesus is ever-pressing me to trust in him to do his will, and to be a participant in it whatever the cost. I feel like he is telling me not to fear, reminding me that I am not responsible for the saving of the world – but rather an active member of a body of believers who are at work in this world bringing his grace, mercy, peace and love to the lives of others. And how am I to bring his love to the lives of others? By insisting that I am right? Or by turning the other cheek and walking red-faced through this world; humbly serving others and loving them as myself?

How can we spark new life in Christian communities?

Go here for a video put together by the good folks at Sparkhouse of some of the presenters and participants at Christianity 21.

“This is the new Pentecost.”

I don’t know how to describe what happened today other than to say ‘Holy’. Today was Holy.

As far as the ‘what happened?’ goes, Doug and Tony spoke briefly and then we thanked all of the individuals who helped make the weekend happen. Then after a song from Heatherlyn (who had one of the best quotes of the day with “Each and every one of us is God’s gift to the world.”), the remaining presenters each took a section of the room, and all of us went to the person we were most interesting in talking to some more and spent about 20 minutes chatting. Then everyone got a chance at the microphone and got to say what the event did for them or what they think we should do from here. We closed then with a time of prayer and music.

Now the thanking people is normally somewhat dry and boring, but not today. You could literally feel the gratitude in the room. Several people from the “audience” jumped in to say thank-you in the their own ways as well. It didn’t feel obligatory in the slightest; there was a real sense that something significant had just happened, and that we were acknowledging the people who make that something significant possible.

The conversation with the presenters was awesome as well. The event was so rapid-fire, it was a needed opportunity to sit down with one of them and get to talk more at length and ask more questions.

Then we all got a chance to share thoughts with everyone else, and it was powerful. Again, the immense sense of gratitude for being able to be a part of this experience was overwhelming. I had 2 favorite moments amidst all the comments. The first came when a lady, probably middle-aged, got the mic, and her hand was just shaking terribly. The weight of what she needed to say was just overwhelming. Then she said, “This is the new Pentecost.” This is a new revelation of God’s Spirit. This is God doing a new thing. This is new life being born once again.

The second came when an elderly gentleman is a suit got the mic. I don’t have the exact words, but it was along the lines of, “I didn’t know it, but my soul and my spirit have been waiting for this moment for the last 38 years. I always wanted to go to Heaven when I was 75. My password on my computer is Heaven75. It didn’t happen and I’ve lived four years past then, and now I know why. I got to live long enough to see this dream of mine come alive.” I’m not doing it anything like justice right now; several of us were literally holding back tears.

Nanette Sawyer then got to mention how powerful it was for her to see a group of women doing this. There were certainly men behind the event, but all the teaching, all the preaching, all the messages were the voices of women. And they blew all of us away.

Tony Jones then got the mic for a minute and said he’s heard a number of folks talking about what a powerful experience this was, but confused as to whether or not they would be accepted back in their home contexts, whether this kind of open, accepting, and inviting Christianity would work where they were from. He asked us to look around and feel the courage in the room. And it really was in some sense tangible. He sent us off, along with Doug, encouraging us to take that courage and not live in nostalgia for this experience, or try to recreate it again somehow, but to go forth, create, experiment, do something new wherever we are. We then took 42 seconds in silent prayer, and again I was literally holding back tears. No one said a word, but God was so overpowering in those 42 seconds. It was almost a commissioning without words. We wanted to do a new thing and expand the Kingdom of God in the world, and God was so present and so “with-us” right there, right now. Then one of the attenders named Melody, a lady I had joined for dinner the night before, helped lead us in a song, “We have a song to sing, a song about courage.” Then after one more prayer we were done. I chatted with a few more folks for awhile, including Jay Bakker again, and then I left, and it was done.

The event anyway was done. The impact on the lives of those who were there, however, is only just beginning. And I can’t even begin to imagine what that will look like.

Closing Thoughts on the Second Day

So after the sessions were over, some people went home, others went to one of two restaurants nearby for dinner. I went to one called McCoy’s and had a wonderful dinner with 5 other participants, 3 of which were from Canada. It was a great conversation, with everything from sharing our stories, communal living, rules of life, self-centered preaching, the prosperity gospel, the myth of a Christian America, etc. I loved it. I stayed for about 3 hours and then decided it was time to come home.

I’m not sure I have much to add yet from my closing thoughts yesterday. Many of the presentations are still rattling around in my brain, and I’m sure I’ll have clearer thoughts on them eventually. They were very thought-provoking, and I loved them all. But I think I’m even more convinced that what we’re doing is good, is powerful, and just feels like the Body of Christ should.

Tomorrow the final session will be from 1-3 I believe. It sounds like that was still being put together today, so I’m not sure what it will entail, but I’ll blog whatever I can while its going on.