A new time - A new approach -A new paradigm

Gordon McDonald’s book: “Who stole my church” is a very helpful book for all of us struggling to make our message agreeable to a new generation of folk. A generation that is skeptical of too many words and eloquent speeches. In the age of information overload people are not looking for more knowledge but they are looking for authentic life-styles that they can follow. They are judging the words with the actions and will follow those who smack of the authentic. McDonald (note the burger) suggests that ‘belonging’ is the critical value and culture to create in the church. Through an open culture of belonging people freely come in and make up their own minds when the time is ready to believe. Gone are the days of neat packages and tight phraseology that bought you a ticket to that heavenly place. Yes, it is all about the relationship.

“The Christ in one’s own heart is weaker than the Christ in the word of a brother or sister.”

“The Christ in one’s own heart is weaker than the Christ in the word of a brother or sister.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together.

This was quoted in Schnase’s book that I referred to in my previous entry. Somehow in the presence of others we are greater. We struggle to do it alone. In matters of importance we will only be able to go so far without the company of others. Their role in our lives is to encourage us when we are slacking, prompt us when we are being insightful and raise our hopes that we will achieve far more than we expected when we began. Gaining willing company in the various activities of our lives will show ourselves to be the people we were ought to be.

A 'family church' can be exclusive

"It is not "family churches" but "church families" that the world needs." Peter Storey, Listening at Golgotha

In preparing for Good Friday I am reading Peter Storey's book on the last seven words of Jesus on the cross. He makes the above statement that makes the subtle difference between the fashionable 'family church' that stresses the family unit above else. The danger with this strategy is that those not in a family unit feel left out. Those who chose not to marry feel left out. Those who could never get married feel left out. Those who could not have children feel left out. The true definition is to say that we are a 'church family' in that everybody sees themselves as a child in the family of God the church.

Bruised by the Church? - A prayer for you

“ How baffling you are, oh Church, and yet how I love you! How you have made me suffer, and yet how much I owe you! I should like to see you destroyed, and yet I need your presence. You have given me so much scandal and yet you have made me understand sanctity. I have seen nothing in the world more devoted to obscurity, more compromised, more false, and I have touched nothing more pure, more generous, more beautiful. How often I have wanted to shut the doors of my soul in your face, and how often I have prayed to die in the safety of your arms. No, I cannot free myself from you, because I am you, although not completely. And where should I go?” Carlo Carretto, The God who Comes.

“A walloping great congregation is fine, and fun but what most communities really need is a couple of saints” Martin Thornton

We might have bought into the mediocre when it comes to our Christian walk. It looks even better when there are a whole lot of us doing the mediocre thing. It kind of justifies it. Saints are harder to find, they are not doing things to be seen or noticed. They are not concerned if the minister is away that Sunday or if it be ‘Hymn’ or ‘Gospel Gold.’ They are usually found at the funerals of the unnoticed, giving lifts to the house bound and many other ‘unnecessary’ things.

Nooma Rob Bell & Rhythm - An immanent Being

I watched my first Rob Bell 'Nooma' DVD yesterday and I was very impressed with what I saw. A slick, contemporary no bull look at how we perceive God's presence in our lives. I am not that 'in' with all the latest on the Emergent Church movement etc. but I have read Mclaren's book "A generous orthodoxy" and I like what I hear. There is much controversy in those who claim to 'reinvent Christianity' for a new age but to be honest I am not sure the Nooma DVD I saw reinvented anything. The idea that God is with us and that Jesus is the one who helps us live life in tune with the rhythm of God living with us is not 'news' to my ears. It is Christianity packaged differently in media and illustration for a new generation. I believe his Church is the fastest growing Church America has ever experienced?

A Quieter Response of "Praise"!

Standing at the door of a church we hear all kinds of feedback. That which we grin, bear and then forget. That which we know comes from a kind heart but is a blatant lie. That which annoys us profusely because they missed the point. That which is meant to be instruction but comes out as command. The well worded, thought through response from those who don't normally speak. The worst is silence! That quite acknowledgment of greeting with no words, no sign of thanks, no sign of appreciation, no sign of disappointments, no sign of "I didn't like!" I have said this countless times before that sometimes the most stressful part of Sunday mornings is the shaking of hands after the service as folk go home.

For those who have followed my blog over the last weeks will know I have been doing some changes to our Worship on Sunday. Last week there was a tangible acknowledgment by folk that this was a good thing. This week there was a quieter response of "Praise!" How does one read this? No news is good news? Should I bend somebodies arm to find out? Do I set up a survey? Get a good sample group and have a workshop?

Shoal of Christ

Thoughts have swum around in isolated fashion each flashing a side of light and brilliance. The vision is the shoal of fast moving collective thoughts, this way and that. Watching them twitch together is miraculous as if they are all connected with one string. The shoal bursts to the left and then to the right, the last and first in symphony. A synergy that defies logical determinism. A run that shines glorious when hearts in worship talk mission. The shoal of Christ in unison.

Alternative party plans

The Christian gathering is unique in that it does not posture with social ranking and competitive elegance. The banquet we are called to is strange in that the host sits at the table which is least adorned. The speeches are given by those who are not dressed to impress and get their grammar muddled. This is the party I like to be invited to. Not where the top tables of banquets are officiated with fine cloth, shiny edge and always get to eat first. The Christian revolution happens when we invite strangers and reprobates to the party. When we acknowledge that life is given to the least as well as the great. The most acclaimed academic may find wisdom in the company of the HIV infested gardener. The rich magnate is drawn by the reflections of the widowed mother of five. The highly moral are stumped by the cries of a young teenagers pregnancy. I wish we would throw more of these kind of parties in the Church.

The others

Faith by example. Vicarious learning. If he can do it, well, so can I. They are rooting for you. The perfect example in Christ. These are the thoughts that surround the Hebrews reading for this Sunday. The community that encourages. The community who persevered for Love, the community who knows your name when cheering on the sidelines of your life. I have thought it quite scary to think that there is this cloud of witnesses gawking on at my life. I usually think, “What would they think if they saw me now?” I had a grandfather who was a Methodist minister. I have a box of his sermons and a few bits and pieces of his prayers still with me. To be honest, I am not sure what he would be saying to me now. I did not know him that well. All I know was that he married off a number of people in my congregation in the 1950’s and that he was a typical minister of the early 20th century, still Victorian in moral stature and autocratic in nature. Would he be encouraging me or would he be making clicking noises with his mouth? On further reflection I think 'Gamps', the man I once spilt coffee on at a drive-in would be very proud to have a grandson in the Methodist ministry. It is a great pity we did not have the time to talk and share things. If we did he would have had the chance to share how he had persevered and how he had sacrificed much to bring the Gospel to this country. Oh, how I wish he had had a diary, a journal from which I could have gleaned something from. That would have encouraged me greatly. The cloud of witnesses stands ever before us to encourage and empower us by their example. We can still read the journals, the autobiographies, the biographies, and history books that tell us much about this cloud of witnesses. Not only do our examples lie buried in history. There are currently in our times people who are burning examples of the faith. In our confirmation class this year the one exercise was for the confirmation candidates to find somebody who they regarded as a ‘saint’ and go and interview them. They asked about their lives and how they lived out their Christian example. It is good to look around and be encouraged by so many who have shown us the way.

Grandmother logic

The patterns set by parents for their children in the younger years are the habitual center for life. That subconscious guide that prompts us along the road of life is often the voice of our parents, although not their voice now but ours. We often find ourselves returning back to the paths of our younger days or spending as much time as we can away from them, all depending on our experience. The more time we spend nurturing our young children in the church the better chance we have of them returning to its doors later in life. ‘Family time’ could be a key pillar in ensuring the future success of the Church. I wonder if we saw each other as a Grandmother, Father, Brother, Mother, Sister of each other in the church what a difference that would make. The biblical injunction that the Church is our family is an important one. Many of us know that our family life back home is dysfunctional in some way. Work constraints prevent us from spending the amount of time we ought with children and spouse or we are a single parent struggling to be a role model for our kids. If we see ourselves in the Church as family we can often fill the gap for others. It could be that our greatest ministry is finding how and with whom we can be a family member with. Who needs to be mothered, go and mother them? Who needs the wisdom of a grandfather, go and be a grandfather?

Family Time

Mark Melluish an Anglican priest from the UK came and spoke to the Christian community in Hilton about a month ago. In short he has a dynamic and innovative ministry in England and has put together the “Family time” course. I am reading the book this week (thought I would give Bonhoeffer a weeks break) and I must say it is a fresh and simple guide for Christian family’s today to make the most of that precious time you have as family. In reading it I have somehow got into the thought of how relevant the precepts of this book are for the “Family” called Church. Maybe it is because I have no children and the subject is not directly relevant for me. The same precepts and principles that pertain to building a strong family are just as relevant for the congregation who desperately need to call themselves ‘family’ in the prolific change and shifts of our day and age. “Family Time” needs to be inculcated into the very fabric of our members. Congregant's need to make quality and quantity time with the other members of the family. Young people of the Church need to see the relationships between adults as their model for life. As much as parents are the role models of their kids life so too are we the Church the role model for those young children. Building family traditions, having fun together, performing our necessary chores, spending time together, accepting the difference in each other, encouraging each other, helping each other through failure, are these not all very much Church family priorities?

Viva Jesus!

Thanks for all the birthday wishes. I have never in all my life been so inundated with phone calls and best wishes. By the end of the day I was swamped by exhaustion and collapsed into a post birthday coma. I have a family gathering tomorrow night around a spit braai (barbeque for those far off). My wife loves to stoke up a party if she can, but I suppose the ripe age of 40 deserves a thoughtful celebration. Got up early this morning, 4.30am, not so good with anticipating social events, picking up people from airports and all that kind of thing.

I was given Bonhoeffer’s book on Christology which I am plowing through. “For the working class world, Christ seems to be settled with the church and the bourgeois society. There is no longer any reason why the worker should encounter Jesus Christ. The church is all one with the fossilized sanctions of the capitalist system…. Up with Jesus, down with the Church.” He had his suspicions about the church being the purveyors of God’s way. The church too often bolsters up the status quo. It does this by stopping to ask the critical questions of itself and its new clothing. Why should we have any encounter with the risen Christ when our social world is idealized and classified as Christian. When we the church have ordained this society as good, why meet with the risen Christ? It is to hide with leaf and choice bitten fruit again. To run away from the shame of calling our way Godly and our systems ordained. Let Jesus rock our church, our world, our capitalist structures, not with worship bands but by the dismantled gloss and dross of our idealized world. To hear the revolutionary speech of the risen Lord, to undress, take off the uniforms of the world, and put back on our naked selves the clothing of Christ.

Bird logic

They walked with bird like astuteness down the lawn toward the house. Three well adorned ring neck doves. They had found some bread crumbs that were thrown out the night before and were enjoying the early morning breakfast. Then in succession they took to flight and disappeared over the roof of the house. I was unaware of the lesson I would learn when they returned. It was not ten minutes later and with a rustle of wings they landed near the bread but this time there were six well adorned ring neck doves with prestigious collars and well groomed chests. It could not be helped, the thought that in this simple avian moment the truths of the Church lay exposed. At the table of the God-man their lies a broken loaf of bread, a loaf shared, a life shared, a message waiting to be devoured. The earlier worshipers having eaten their full went off fulfilled to share the news with all. They returned with more, and each day the Church grew double score.