Friday, January 30, 2004
Pagittblog is now updated at pagitt.typepad.com Here is a link
Wednesday, January 21, 2004
We have been having a great time in Maui the last two days.
We have been in the ocean three times already and awoke at 1:30 AM our first day to take a trip to the top of Haliakela Volcano. At 10,000 feet high it was very cold, but really wonderful. WE could see over 100 miles, all the way to the big Island and had wonderful weather.
Here are some pictures.
For those who find the slightest enjoyment in other difficulties (I know who you are), it is raining right now, the kids have raw stomachs from the boogie boards, and the boys are walking a bit wide legged from the sand and shell rub in the swim suit.
We have been in the ocean three times already and awoke at 1:30 AM our first day to take a trip to the top of Haliakela Volcano. At 10,000 feet high it was very cold, but really wonderful. WE could see over 100 miles, all the way to the big Island and had wonderful weather.
Here are some pictures.
For those who find the slightest enjoyment in other difficulties (I know who you are), it is raining right now, the kids have raw stomachs from the boogie boards, and the boys are walking a bit wide legged from the sand and shell rub in the swim suit.
Sunday, January 18, 2004
Shelley and I are listening to This American Life - it is terrific tonight - "What I should have said"
The movie is, well any adjectives I use will come up short, so I will say unbelievably good.
Among the many things Jimmy and I talked about on the way home is the ability of film to tell stories that other wise could not be told.
There was a trailer for the Passion Of The Christ that played before 21 Grams. It will be a hard sell to tell a better story of redemption, life and death, fate, religion, probability and chance, and the workings of life than 21 Grams, even with the crucifixion as the screen play.
I am intrigued by the fact that the writers and producers are Latino.
It is too late to think or write any more for now.
Friday, January 16, 2004
It is pretty cool to have it in hand.
If anyone can't wait a few weeks to purchase their own, this one is for sale for $5,000.
Thursday, January 15, 2004
Michael said he would help me with some set-up of my blog so hopefully I will be able to post other blogs.
Just in time for the trip I finally got the kids turned onto Rush. Who cares that they should be working on flash cards, studying Spanish and trying to reach the minimum levels on standardized tests we have to learn the drum patterns of Lime Light, Freewill and Spirit of the Airways.
February 6, 2004 at 7:30 PM will be the book release party for Reimagining Spiritual Formation. All are invited. The party will be at Solomon's Porch in our newly acquired and remodeled space. Tiki Obmar will be playing and that is worth the visit alone.
We are counting down the days to be with our friends the Toys in Maui. We leave Monday the 19th.
Michael said he would help me with some set-up of my blog so hopefully I will be able to post other blogs.
Just in time for the trip I finally got the kids turned onto Rush. Who cares that they should be working on flash cards, studying Spanish and trying to reach the minimum levels on standardized tests we have to learn the drum patterns of Lime Light, Freewill and Spirit of the Airways.
Michael said he would help me with some set-up of my blog so hopefully I will be able to post other blogs.
Just in time for the trip I finally got the kids turned onto Rush. Who cares that they should be working on flash cards, studying Spanish and trying to reach the minimum levels on standardized tests we have to learn the drum patterns of Lime Light, Freewill and Spirit of the Airways.
Wednesday, January 14, 2004
Here is a great blog posted by my friend Jason Clark.
http://www.sailor-and-a-scholar.com/blog/archives/000098.html
http://www.sailor-and-a-scholar.com/blog/archives/000098.html
Monday, January 12, 2004
Sunday, January 11, 2004
By the way, I am trying to figure our how to create a favorite links place to other blogs here in my new configuration.
One you ought to look at is KP's!
I will try to post more in the future.
Saturday, January 10, 2004
There is a fairly decent article in this issue of FaithWorks magazine on preaching.
While not everything in it is is what those of us interviewed meant to say, it is pretty darn close.
While not everything in it is is what those of us interviewed meant to say, it is pretty darn close.
Perhaps you have had one of these kind of days, where you, for a split second, have to ask yourself what year it is. At the turn of a new year this is often the case. “Oh yeah, it is 2004” might not be that uncommon.
Well today I had one of those moments wondering if it was 1983. My 12 year-old son, Ruben, was moon-walking across the floor to “Billy Jean” and “Thriller”. All this with a big smile on his face, saying, "eeww-waaa"
May the God of the Mullet save me.
Well today I had one of those moments wondering if it was 1983. My 12 year-old son, Ruben, was moon-walking across the floor to “Billy Jean” and “Thriller”. All this with a big smile on his face, saying, "eeww-waaa"
May the God of the Mullet save me.
Thursday, January 08, 2004
I just heard today that my book will be released January 23.
I am excited but feel like there is a bunch of work to do to get the word out.
It can be ordered now on Amazon and delivered when it comes out. And if one were so inlcined they could write a review and rank the book highly when it does release.
Here are a couple of excerpts from the book.
Perhaps you are among the many wonderful people—pastors, teachers, lay leaders, new Christians, lifelong Christians—who are not interested in a model program or approach to spirituality, but are searching the stories of others to find permission to pursue their own deeply held, unspoken intuitions about how faith and church could be. In some ways this book is an act of poetry; it is an attempt to put words around our experiences and desires to allow others to step inside. – Page 19
Will we do the hard and costly work of hand-crafting faith in our day, or will we be content living off the antiques of previous generations and fill in with cheap imitations of our own to “freshen up” the old stuff? Are we willing to become artisans of new expressions of faith so that our grandchildren will see as their legacy the quality that came before them, so they will be stirred thereby to craft newer, more beautiful, more meaningful expressions in their own day? This book is primarily about one community and the practices of spiritual formation in it. But the creativity required to live an imaginative, experimental faith is not limited to what we do during our worship gatherings or Wednesday night dinners. Central to the types of spiritual formation discussed in this book is the need for us—not only our Solomon’s Porch community but the church as a whole—to become theological communities. The work of theology must happen in full community. Of course it must include the ideas of those who have come before us, but to simply accept the work of our forebears in the faith as the end of the conversation is to outsource the real work of thinking, and that turns theology into a stagnant philosophy rather than an active pursuit of how we are to live God’s story in our time. The communities that are best equipped for the task of spiritual formation in the post-industrial age are those who make the practice of theology an essential element of their lives together. This is in no way a call to be less theological, but a call to our communities to be more involved in the work of theology as a necessary part of the spiritual formation process. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the task of both the new convert to Christianity and the experienced Christian was understood as not only believing the things of Christianity, but also as contextualizing, creating, articulating, and living the expressions of faith in their world? Page 159
At Solomon’s Porch we are seeking a spiritual formation that, in its essence, is not about individual effort but communal action involving a spirituality of physicality, centered on the way we lead our lives, allowing us to be Christian in and with our bodies and not in our minds and hearts only; a spirituality of dialog within communities where the goal is not acquiring knowledge, but spurring one another on to new ways of imagining and learning; a spirituality of hospitality that is not limited to food before or after meetings, but is intended to create an environment of love and connectedness where people are formed and shaped as they serve and are served by one another; a spirituality of the knowledge of God where the Bible is not reduced to a book from which we extract truth, but the Bible is a full, living, and active member of our community that is listened to on all topics of which it speaks; a spirituality of creativity where creative gifts are not used as content support but rather as an invitation for those so inclined to participate in the generative processes of God; a spirituality of service, which is the natural response of all seeking to live in the way of Jesus and is not reserved for the elite of the faith. Our hope is that this will be evident in a community not limited to supplemental small-group programs but valued as the cultivating force in which lives with God are the claim and invitation to Kingdom life. Page 32
I am excited but feel like there is a bunch of work to do to get the word out.
It can be ordered now on Amazon and delivered when it comes out. And if one were so inlcined they could write a review and rank the book highly when it does release.
Here are a couple of excerpts from the book.
Perhaps you are among the many wonderful people—pastors, teachers, lay leaders, new Christians, lifelong Christians—who are not interested in a model program or approach to spirituality, but are searching the stories of others to find permission to pursue their own deeply held, unspoken intuitions about how faith and church could be. In some ways this book is an act of poetry; it is an attempt to put words around our experiences and desires to allow others to step inside. – Page 19
Will we do the hard and costly work of hand-crafting faith in our day, or will we be content living off the antiques of previous generations and fill in with cheap imitations of our own to “freshen up” the old stuff? Are we willing to become artisans of new expressions of faith so that our grandchildren will see as their legacy the quality that came before them, so they will be stirred thereby to craft newer, more beautiful, more meaningful expressions in their own day? This book is primarily about one community and the practices of spiritual formation in it. But the creativity required to live an imaginative, experimental faith is not limited to what we do during our worship gatherings or Wednesday night dinners. Central to the types of spiritual formation discussed in this book is the need for us—not only our Solomon’s Porch community but the church as a whole—to become theological communities. The work of theology must happen in full community. Of course it must include the ideas of those who have come before us, but to simply accept the work of our forebears in the faith as the end of the conversation is to outsource the real work of thinking, and that turns theology into a stagnant philosophy rather than an active pursuit of how we are to live God’s story in our time. The communities that are best equipped for the task of spiritual formation in the post-industrial age are those who make the practice of theology an essential element of their lives together. This is in no way a call to be less theological, but a call to our communities to be more involved in the work of theology as a necessary part of the spiritual formation process. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the task of both the new convert to Christianity and the experienced Christian was understood as not only believing the things of Christianity, but also as contextualizing, creating, articulating, and living the expressions of faith in their world? Page 159
At Solomon’s Porch we are seeking a spiritual formation that, in its essence, is not about individual effort but communal action involving a spirituality of physicality, centered on the way we lead our lives, allowing us to be Christian in and with our bodies and not in our minds and hearts only; a spirituality of dialog within communities where the goal is not acquiring knowledge, but spurring one another on to new ways of imagining and learning; a spirituality of hospitality that is not limited to food before or after meetings, but is intended to create an environment of love and connectedness where people are formed and shaped as they serve and are served by one another; a spirituality of the knowledge of God where the Bible is not reduced to a book from which we extract truth, but the Bible is a full, living, and active member of our community that is listened to on all topics of which it speaks; a spirituality of creativity where creative gifts are not used as content support but rather as an invitation for those so inclined to participate in the generative processes of God; a spirituality of service, which is the natural response of all seeking to live in the way of Jesus and is not reserved for the elite of the faith. Our hope is that this will be evident in a community not limited to supplemental small-group programs but valued as the cultivating force in which lives with God are the claim and invitation to Kingdom life. Page 32
Tuesday, January 06, 2004
Shelley and I are thinking of getting a digital camera.
Here is what we are thinking. Any advice is welcome.
Nikon 4300
Here is what we are thinking. Any advice is welcome.
Nikon 4300
I am in Nashville this week doing some work for the emergent/YS line of books. We are having a great time.
Tony Jones told me today that Christianity Today (for those who don’t know it is an evangelical magazine, which I do not receive so the following is still a rumor) listed this blog as something people should read. Can you imagine that?
So, I have once again decided to write more regularly, and perhaps more thoughtfully. Or maybe I will just talk about my kitchen and the need for wearing a scarf.
Is it too embarrassing to admit that I just had to confirm with Dan Kimball how to spell scarf? Well I did. He told me that Scarfe is the artist who did the art for Pink Floyd, an English guy. But that was not even my question. There is that Dan always giving more than he needs to.
Yet another reason why people ought to buy Dan Kimball’s book Emerging Church, and his forthcoming book – Emerging Worship.
Tony Jones told me today that Christianity Today (for those who don’t know it is an evangelical magazine, which I do not receive so the following is still a rumor) listed this blog as something people should read. Can you imagine that?
So, I have once again decided to write more regularly, and perhaps more thoughtfully. Or maybe I will just talk about my kitchen and the need for wearing a scarf.
Is it too embarrassing to admit that I just had to confirm with Dan Kimball how to spell scarf? Well I did. He told me that Scarfe is the artist who did the art for Pink Floyd, an English guy. But that was not even my question. There is that Dan always giving more than he needs to.
Yet another reason why people ought to buy Dan Kimball’s book Emerging Church, and his forthcoming book – Emerging Worship.
Saturday, January 03, 2004
Wednesday, December 31, 2003
Today is new years eve. It is a low key day at home, but taylor is sick.
Chris Seay was in town yesterday so we had some good time together.
This afternoon I will officiate Bobbi Peacock's wedding and then Shelley and I will head to Kiran's bar for a get together.
Happy New Year.
Chris Seay was in town yesterday so we had some good time together.
This afternoon I will officiate Bobbi Peacock's wedding and then Shelley and I will head to Kiran's bar for a get together.
Happy New Year.
Friday, December 26, 2003
So I know I have not blogged in a while and there really has been a lot going on.
Crazy stuff with a few people at church and I got a new computer.
I bit the bullet and entered into the Mac world. I now own a powerbook G4. I’ll tell you what - it takes a little getting use to. I now have to work on the computer elitist attitude.
I went into a Comp USA to ask about a software to transfer my outlook to Entourage and the Mac rep actually said to me “Welcome to the club”.
So I have been getting everything moved over.
For those who want to add me to their Ichat I am DougPagitt@mac.com.
We had a wonderful Christmas. We did very little with presents because our upcoming trip to Hawaii is our Christmas gifts. It was really nice to not have all the craziness of mass amounts of gifts.
One of the women at Solomon’s Porch, Amy Anderson took our kids the other day and took wonderful pictures of them and put them in a book that the kids gave us for Christmas. Here are a few of them. They were taken at the Walker Art Center.
good one
The Sunday before Christmas at church we had a collaborative artist event where more than 30 people created visual and performance art telling the Christmas story.
Here are 5 of the prayers that were written for the night. I will try to post more of the night if I can figure out how to put PPT downloads on here.
Our stories' ends are unknown to us,
but we praise you, Lord,
because your acts are pregnant
with a generous goodness.
You've set your heart on making a blessing of us
and you will not fail to save the World.
Our heads are pillowed in peace;
our dreams echo redemption
because you, O Lord, are good.
Ours is a story of redemption.
We understand that through suffering
You brought life.
Through death there was birth.
From despair You make peace.
For our eyes have seen salvation;
a light for revelation to your people.
Lord,
May the root of Jesse stir inside us forever.
You have placed new life in us and we pray that we may be your instruments.
We run, we trip, we jump, we fall,
but we only seek to share your
wonder and mystery.
To Yahweh be the Glory.
Barren lives flow from doubted promises,
but your promise, long dormant,
bursts into radiant life in the heart
which dares to trust in it.
Covenant Keeper,
let your word be fulfilled in our moment.
And whatever the present radiance of our lives,
we know you love us still
because you continually create new and surprising ways to reveal your true self.
Please grant us the faith to live through our unseeing times,
trusting that even death is not strong enough
to extinguish the light of your love.
Amen
Crazy stuff with a few people at church and I got a new computer.
I bit the bullet and entered into the Mac world. I now own a powerbook G4. I’ll tell you what - it takes a little getting use to. I now have to work on the computer elitist attitude.
I went into a Comp USA to ask about a software to transfer my outlook to Entourage and the Mac rep actually said to me “Welcome to the club”.
So I have been getting everything moved over.
For those who want to add me to their Ichat I am DougPagitt@mac.com.
We had a wonderful Christmas. We did very little with presents because our upcoming trip to Hawaii is our Christmas gifts. It was really nice to not have all the craziness of mass amounts of gifts.
One of the women at Solomon’s Porch, Amy Anderson took our kids the other day and took wonderful pictures of them and put them in a book that the kids gave us for Christmas. Here are a few of them. They were taken at the Walker Art Center.
good one
The Sunday before Christmas at church we had a collaborative artist event where more than 30 people created visual and performance art telling the Christmas story.
Here are 5 of the prayers that were written for the night. I will try to post more of the night if I can figure out how to put PPT downloads on here.
Our stories' ends are unknown to us,
but we praise you, Lord,
because your acts are pregnant
with a generous goodness.
You've set your heart on making a blessing of us
and you will not fail to save the World.
Our heads are pillowed in peace;
our dreams echo redemption
because you, O Lord, are good.
Ours is a story of redemption.
We understand that through suffering
You brought life.
Through death there was birth.
From despair You make peace.
For our eyes have seen salvation;
a light for revelation to your people.
Lord,
May the root of Jesse stir inside us forever.
You have placed new life in us and we pray that we may be your instruments.
We run, we trip, we jump, we fall,
but we only seek to share your
wonder and mystery.
To Yahweh be the Glory.
Barren lives flow from doubted promises,
but your promise, long dormant,
bursts into radiant life in the heart
which dares to trust in it.
Covenant Keeper,
let your word be fulfilled in our moment.
And whatever the present radiance of our lives,
we know you love us still
because you continually create new and surprising ways to reveal your true self.
Please grant us the faith to live through our unseeing times,
trusting that even death is not strong enough
to extinguish the light of your love.
Amen
So I know I have not blogged in a while and there really has been a lot going on.
Crazy stuff with a few people at church and I got a new computer.
I bit the bullet and entered into the Mac world. I now own a powerbook G4. I’ll tell you what - it takes a little getting use to. I now have to work on the computer elitist attitude.
I went into a Comp USA to ask about a software to transfer my outlook to Entourage and the Mac rep actually said to me “Welcome to the club”.
So I have been getting everything moved over.
For those who want to add me to their Ichat I am DougPagitt@mac.com.
We had a wonderful Christmas. We did very little with presents because our upcoming trip to Hawaii is our Christmas gifts. It was really nice to not have all the craziness of mass amounts of gifts.
One of the women at Solomon’s Porch took our kids the other day and took wonderful pictures of them and put them in a book that the kids gave us for Christmas. Here are a few of them. They were taken at the Walker Art Center.
good one
So here is an example of the problem if moving to the Mac, the borwser doesn't work with the classic setting in blogger. I can't get pictures to post. But at least it is intuitive. I wonder if my intuitive mac knows I am mad it or if I need to let it know.
The Sunday before Christmas at church we had a collaborative artist event where more than 30 people created visual and performance art telling the Christmas story.
Here are 5 of the prayers that were written for the night. I will try to post more of the night if I can figure out how to put PPT downloads on here.
Our stories' ends are unknown to us,
but we praise you, Lord,
because your acts are pregnant
with a generous goodness.
You've set your heart on making a blessing of us
and you will not fail to save the World.
Our heads are pillowed in peace;
our dreams echo redemption
because you, O Lord, are good.
Ours is a story of redemption.
We understand that through suffering
You brought life.
Through death there was birth.
From despair You make peace.
For our eyes have seen salvation;
a light for revelation to your people.
Lord,
May the root of Jesse stir inside us forever.
You have placed new life in us and we pray that we may be your instruments.
We run, we trip, we jump, we fall,
but we only seek to share your
wonder and mystery.
To Yahweh be the Glory.
Barren lives flow from doubted promises,
but your promise, long dormant,
bursts into radiant life in the heart
which dares to trust in it.
Covenant Keeper,
let your word be fulfilled in our moment.
And whatever the present radiance of our lives,
we know you love us still
because you continually create new and surprising ways to reveal your true self.
Please grant us the faith to live through our unseeing times,
trusting that even death is not strong enough
to extinguish the light of your love.
Amen
Crazy stuff with a few people at church and I got a new computer.
I bit the bullet and entered into the Mac world. I now own a powerbook G4. I’ll tell you what - it takes a little getting use to. I now have to work on the computer elitist attitude.
I went into a Comp USA to ask about a software to transfer my outlook to Entourage and the Mac rep actually said to me “Welcome to the club”.
So I have been getting everything moved over.
For those who want to add me to their Ichat I am DougPagitt@mac.com.
We had a wonderful Christmas. We did very little with presents because our upcoming trip to Hawaii is our Christmas gifts. It was really nice to not have all the craziness of mass amounts of gifts.
One of the women at Solomon’s Porch took our kids the other day and took wonderful pictures of them and put them in a book that the kids gave us for Christmas. Here are a few of them. They were taken at the Walker Art Center.
good one
So here is an example of the problem if moving to the Mac, the borwser doesn't work with the classic setting in blogger. I can't get pictures to post. But at least it is intuitive. I wonder if my intuitive mac knows I am mad it or if I need to let it know.
The Sunday before Christmas at church we had a collaborative artist event where more than 30 people created visual and performance art telling the Christmas story.
Here are 5 of the prayers that were written for the night. I will try to post more of the night if I can figure out how to put PPT downloads on here.
Our stories' ends are unknown to us,
but we praise you, Lord,
because your acts are pregnant
with a generous goodness.
You've set your heart on making a blessing of us
and you will not fail to save the World.
Our heads are pillowed in peace;
our dreams echo redemption
because you, O Lord, are good.
Ours is a story of redemption.
We understand that through suffering
You brought life.
Through death there was birth.
From despair You make peace.
For our eyes have seen salvation;
a light for revelation to your people.
Lord,
May the root of Jesse stir inside us forever.
You have placed new life in us and we pray that we may be your instruments.
We run, we trip, we jump, we fall,
but we only seek to share your
wonder and mystery.
To Yahweh be the Glory.
Barren lives flow from doubted promises,
but your promise, long dormant,
bursts into radiant life in the heart
which dares to trust in it.
Covenant Keeper,
let your word be fulfilled in our moment.
And whatever the present radiance of our lives,
we know you love us still
because you continually create new and surprising ways to reveal your true self.
Please grant us the faith to live through our unseeing times,
trusting that even death is not strong enough
to extinguish the light of your love.
Amen
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
So the ABC special that was shot this summer is airing this week and last around the country. It is called The Changing Face of Worship. Here in Minneapolis it is on the local ABC affiliate on Sunday morning at 6 AM. Now we have hit the prime time for all the convenient store worker and security guards of the world. We are going to recorded it and watch it with a bunch of SP people at our house at 10:30.
I got a copy of it in the mail today and watched it just a few minutes ago.
It is pretty good, especially for the audience that watches TV at 6 AM.
It does a really fair job of covering the churches, but there is such a disparity in the churches that it is a bit hard to see how they all relate.
The main point of the whole thing I have a really hard time with though. They repeat it a few times in the show. It is that classic understanding of the role of the church where “The message doesn’t change, just the methods of delivering it”.
In many ways I think that what we are doing, and some others who we highlighted as well, is not at all the same old message, with new packaging, but a pursuit of a Gospel of Jesus that is not the typical 20th century North American version (or the tiered old 16th century version of reformed thinking). I know that most people who use such phrases mean that they are not doing away with Jesus, but instead it sounds like it is the same “Jesus is my friend”, or “you suck and lucky God saved you by killing his kid” (for heaven sake, Mark Driscoll says that very thing, well almost – he does have the gall to brag about telling people they suck – and has the gall to say that is the message of Jesus) or and perhaps even more insidious that “we are so sure of how we understand God that we simply have to figure our how to package it for you” approach of evangelism.
I hope our part comes through as an attempt to try to indwell the good news of God in our day just the way Jesus indwelled the good news in his. But that doesn’t mean the same old atonement based, Jesus as the starter of the Christian faith thing that so many understand as the message, that never changes.
But then again I am not sure we are going to change the world by clearly telling our story to Sandy at the 7-11. Or maybe…
I got a copy of it in the mail today and watched it just a few minutes ago.
It is pretty good, especially for the audience that watches TV at 6 AM.
It does a really fair job of covering the churches, but there is such a disparity in the churches that it is a bit hard to see how they all relate.
The main point of the whole thing I have a really hard time with though. They repeat it a few times in the show. It is that classic understanding of the role of the church where “The message doesn’t change, just the methods of delivering it”.
In many ways I think that what we are doing, and some others who we highlighted as well, is not at all the same old message, with new packaging, but a pursuit of a Gospel of Jesus that is not the typical 20th century North American version (or the tiered old 16th century version of reformed thinking). I know that most people who use such phrases mean that they are not doing away with Jesus, but instead it sounds like it is the same “Jesus is my friend”, or “you suck and lucky God saved you by killing his kid” (for heaven sake, Mark Driscoll says that very thing, well almost – he does have the gall to brag about telling people they suck – and has the gall to say that is the message of Jesus) or and perhaps even more insidious that “we are so sure of how we understand God that we simply have to figure our how to package it for you” approach of evangelism.
I hope our part comes through as an attempt to try to indwell the good news of God in our day just the way Jesus indwelled the good news in his. But that doesn’t mean the same old atonement based, Jesus as the starter of the Christian faith thing that so many understand as the message, that never changes.
But then again I am not sure we are going to change the world by clearly telling our story to Sandy at the 7-11. Or maybe…
Our family is going to Maui, Hawaii January 19th for a vacation. We will be going with the Toy’s. So I am going to start a count down here, not to rub it in that we are going and none of you are, well I guess that is exactly what it is. Just kidding, sort of. :) But it is the 40 day point so it has that Biblical feel to it and makes this feel more like a pilgrimage. But it isn't it is just a vacation. Unless of course that is a type of pilgrimage.
But anyway...
We leave in 40 days.
But anyway...
We leave in 40 days.
Tuesday, December 09, 2003
So I once again have fallen behind in blogging. So here is a really long make-up post.
Last week was a busy one. I was in Nashville with a bunch of friends, Mark Scandrette, Thom Olson, Mark Oestreicher, Jeanie Stevens, Greg Warner.
I also hooked up with some new friends who live in Nashville, Denise, Peter, and Penny. Then I met a bunch of new friends.
But I was not just hanging with friends. The main reason for the trip was for a planning meeting for the emergent conventions. We did some great planning and I really feel good about the events. I will see if Mark can send me some pictures to post.
I also met with Peter York and Denise George, two of my Nashville friends. They work with Sparrow records and we are kicking around an idea of having a song writers event to help facilitate new content in worship music. I am really excited about the possibility of this.
Then Greg, Thom, Mark S. and I made the decision to go ahead with the idea of emergent partnering on taking over FaithWorks magazine.
We have the really great idea of how this will go. I will tell more in future blogs when we have all of our stuff together. It will be soon – we hope to have the first issue out in March.
So there is classic Minnesota winter storm warning tonight, so we cancelled the Bible Discussion Group and I am home. Taylor and I just got home from his first basketball game of the season.
I am waiting to watch 24, but I want to wait until it has recorded so I can fast forward through the commercials.
On the health front, I started on a homeopathic today – Sulfur, for those who know about homeopathic I took five little tablets, three times in a 24 hour period.
And on an unrelated note – am in the middle of a patch test to see if I have allergies – I have this unrelenting dermatitis on my hand. So now my back itches and I am all smelly from not taking a shower for two day. What a glorious life!
I have been doing some thinking about a book I want to write – now that I am an author and all I have to think about such things J
Here is my first pass at an idea – I did this on the plane heading to Nashville,
Living Rhythm – An Invitation to Life in Harmony With God
Premise – There is a way of life that is in harmony with God that extends to all areas of our lives.
We are called not only to act Christianly in what we do, but to have the very essence of what we do be in harmony with God.
Our call is to arrange our lives so we are living in a way that creates what God creates and removes that which God removes.
We are called to a life that is connected to God in all things and connected to all things.
The most basic description of God in the Bible comes from Deuteronomy 6 – Hear of Israel the Lord you God is one�. This is referred to by Jesus as well. The call here is that God is one with all that is. This removes the notion of a sacred and secular life. We are not called to live religious lives that counter balance our secular life. We are called to live a whole life in rhythm with God.
The activity of God has always included creating and re-creating. We are invited to be agents of the kingdom of God by doing those very things that God is about. God’s economy includes dependence upon his creation working in harmony with God. This is not simply a benefit to our lives, it may very well be the chief end of humanity.
This sits at the center of Jesus’ call for people to join the Kingdom of God.
What does it mean to live in the kingdom of God in the 21st century world. We live a different world that that of the Bible characters including Jesus, so what does it mean to live whole lives in rhythm with God in our world?
The thesis of the book is built on the notion that through the activities of God we find our way of behaving. This is to look at God though the actions of God and not primarily through the character of God.
The call will be for people to arrange their lives and action to be in harmony with God’s life and action and not primarily focused on our characters transformed more in the likeness of God.
The phrase “Christ-like� will be played with to bring out the doing what Jesus did aspect. The call of Jesus to live like those created in the image of God will be understood around action and not character.
The Leviticus and Deuteronical call is based on God doing particular things that then implicate God’s followers to do particular things.
Care will be given to make a distinction of from a “works based� salvation to a this is how we are to live as those seeking to be in rhythm with God.
Because God is this way, we ought to be this way – be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect – is the essence.
Rhythm with God in life will replace belief in God as the goal of a Christian life. Belief is a means to that end – life lived in rhythm with God. Not the other way around.
This is what God does, and this is how we can join God in that kind of work in our world. For an agrarian society the idea that God was a shepherd who cared for his sheep was easily understood and made sense as to how they should care for their sheep. What does that look like in our industrialized, technological world?
Our job of following God is to keep aware of what God is doing and join into it.
Jesus institution of Foot Washing has this feel. What I have done for you, do for one another.
Chapters will include real life stories of people who are living in the rhythm of God from around the world. Each chapter will have a description of why we ought to be in rhythm with God in this area and real stories of what that looks like.
Ie.- The story of the guy at church one night who is an insurance claims adjuster and did not see how his job was in the activity of what God does in the world.
This book will have a very practical an compelling feel to it. Ideal for churches, individuals and small groups seeking to live more harmonious lives.
10 chapters long with workable material at the end of each chapter.
Other books like it:
Purpose Driven Life
Experiencing God
Chapters –
1- A new world opportunity
This chapter will show the importance and wonderful opportunities of an understanding of an invitation, re-creative theology.
The differences in the world we live in and the world Jesus lived in. Discussion of the changing world over time and the constant faithful response of followers of God
2- The Oneness of God
This chapter will layout the understanding of the God of the Bible being one with all.
There is nothing that is outside the scope of the creating and re-creation of God.
Phillipians 4 – What ever is good Philip. 4:8 (GW)
Finally, brothers and sisters, keep your thoughts on whatever is right or deserves praise: things that are true, honorable, fair, pure, acceptable, or commendable.
Humanity is not just fallen, it is re-created.
3- Work can be more than acting good – it can be doing good.
Each chapter will show how the activity of God creates the context for our desire to do each of these things.
Time will be spent to show the destruction that can come when these elements degrade, or are left un-re-created.
The question become how do we arrange our lives so we are doing that which God does?
This chapter will discuss many of the things God does, and present ways people arrange their lives to be in rhythm with what God is doing.
4- Leisure can be in harmony with God
Pleasure, Exercise, Sex, competition
5- Money Can be in harmony with God
Resources, power,
6- Technology can be in harmony with God
7- Creativity can be in harmony with God
Music, art, architecture, beauty
8- Making a personal and communal plan for life in harmony with God
Family issues
Running list of what God does
Creates
Loves
Protects
Make beauty
Brings peace
Provides
Teaches
Disciplines
Re-creates
Forgives
Gives new starts
Honors
Respects
Calls
Speaks into being
Is prophetic
Seeks Justice
Loves Mercy
Inspires
Lives in community
Laughs – enjoys
Includes
Invites
Warns
Heals
Blesses
Makes all thing better
Reveals truth
Forgives
Welcomes
Lives in harmony
Communicates
Last week was a busy one. I was in Nashville with a bunch of friends, Mark Scandrette, Thom Olson, Mark Oestreicher, Jeanie Stevens, Greg Warner.
I also hooked up with some new friends who live in Nashville, Denise, Peter, and Penny. Then I met a bunch of new friends.
But I was not just hanging with friends. The main reason for the trip was for a planning meeting for the emergent conventions. We did some great planning and I really feel good about the events. I will see if Mark can send me some pictures to post.
I also met with Peter York and Denise George, two of my Nashville friends. They work with Sparrow records and we are kicking around an idea of having a song writers event to help facilitate new content in worship music. I am really excited about the possibility of this.
Then Greg, Thom, Mark S. and I made the decision to go ahead with the idea of emergent partnering on taking over FaithWorks magazine.
We have the really great idea of how this will go. I will tell more in future blogs when we have all of our stuff together. It will be soon – we hope to have the first issue out in March.
So there is classic Minnesota winter storm warning tonight, so we cancelled the Bible Discussion Group and I am home. Taylor and I just got home from his first basketball game of the season.
I am waiting to watch 24, but I want to wait until it has recorded so I can fast forward through the commercials.
On the health front, I started on a homeopathic today – Sulfur, for those who know about homeopathic I took five little tablets, three times in a 24 hour period.
And on an unrelated note – am in the middle of a patch test to see if I have allergies – I have this unrelenting dermatitis on my hand. So now my back itches and I am all smelly from not taking a shower for two day. What a glorious life!
I have been doing some thinking about a book I want to write – now that I am an author and all I have to think about such things J
Here is my first pass at an idea – I did this on the plane heading to Nashville,
Living Rhythm – An Invitation to Life in Harmony With God
Premise – There is a way of life that is in harmony with God that extends to all areas of our lives.
We are called not only to act Christianly in what we do, but to have the very essence of what we do be in harmony with God.
Our call is to arrange our lives so we are living in a way that creates what God creates and removes that which God removes.
We are called to a life that is connected to God in all things and connected to all things.
The most basic description of God in the Bible comes from Deuteronomy 6 – Hear of Israel the Lord you God is one�. This is referred to by Jesus as well. The call here is that God is one with all that is. This removes the notion of a sacred and secular life. We are not called to live religious lives that counter balance our secular life. We are called to live a whole life in rhythm with God.
The activity of God has always included creating and re-creating. We are invited to be agents of the kingdom of God by doing those very things that God is about. God’s economy includes dependence upon his creation working in harmony with God. This is not simply a benefit to our lives, it may very well be the chief end of humanity.
This sits at the center of Jesus’ call for people to join the Kingdom of God.
What does it mean to live in the kingdom of God in the 21st century world. We live a different world that that of the Bible characters including Jesus, so what does it mean to live whole lives in rhythm with God in our world?
The thesis of the book is built on the notion that through the activities of God we find our way of behaving. This is to look at God though the actions of God and not primarily through the character of God.
The call will be for people to arrange their lives and action to be in harmony with God’s life and action and not primarily focused on our characters transformed more in the likeness of God.
The phrase “Christ-like� will be played with to bring out the doing what Jesus did aspect. The call of Jesus to live like those created in the image of God will be understood around action and not character.
The Leviticus and Deuteronical call is based on God doing particular things that then implicate God’s followers to do particular things.
Care will be given to make a distinction of from a “works based� salvation to a this is how we are to live as those seeking to be in rhythm with God.
Because God is this way, we ought to be this way – be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect – is the essence.
Rhythm with God in life will replace belief in God as the goal of a Christian life. Belief is a means to that end – life lived in rhythm with God. Not the other way around.
This is what God does, and this is how we can join God in that kind of work in our world. For an agrarian society the idea that God was a shepherd who cared for his sheep was easily understood and made sense as to how they should care for their sheep. What does that look like in our industrialized, technological world?
Our job of following God is to keep aware of what God is doing and join into it.
Jesus institution of Foot Washing has this feel. What I have done for you, do for one another.
Chapters will include real life stories of people who are living in the rhythm of God from around the world. Each chapter will have a description of why we ought to be in rhythm with God in this area and real stories of what that looks like.
Ie.- The story of the guy at church one night who is an insurance claims adjuster and did not see how his job was in the activity of what God does in the world.
This book will have a very practical an compelling feel to it. Ideal for churches, individuals and small groups seeking to live more harmonious lives.
10 chapters long with workable material at the end of each chapter.
Other books like it:
Purpose Driven Life
Experiencing God
Chapters –
1- A new world opportunity
This chapter will show the importance and wonderful opportunities of an understanding of an invitation, re-creative theology.
The differences in the world we live in and the world Jesus lived in. Discussion of the changing world over time and the constant faithful response of followers of God
2- The Oneness of God
This chapter will layout the understanding of the God of the Bible being one with all.
There is nothing that is outside the scope of the creating and re-creation of God.
Phillipians 4 – What ever is good Philip. 4:8 (GW)
Finally, brothers and sisters, keep your thoughts on whatever is right or deserves praise: things that are true, honorable, fair, pure, acceptable, or commendable.
Humanity is not just fallen, it is re-created.
3- Work can be more than acting good – it can be doing good.
Each chapter will show how the activity of God creates the context for our desire to do each of these things.
Time will be spent to show the destruction that can come when these elements degrade, or are left un-re-created.
The question become how do we arrange our lives so we are doing that which God does?
This chapter will discuss many of the things God does, and present ways people arrange their lives to be in rhythm with what God is doing.
4- Leisure can be in harmony with God
Pleasure, Exercise, Sex, competition
5- Money Can be in harmony with God
Resources, power,
6- Technology can be in harmony with God
7- Creativity can be in harmony with God
Music, art, architecture, beauty
8- Making a personal and communal plan for life in harmony with God
Family issues
Running list of what God does
Creates
Loves
Protects
Make beauty
Brings peace
Provides
Teaches
Disciplines
Re-creates
Forgives
Gives new starts
Honors
Respects
Calls
Speaks into being
Is prophetic
Seeks Justice
Loves Mercy
Inspires
Lives in community
Laughs – enjoys
Includes
Invites
Warns
Heals
Blesses
Makes all thing better
Reveals truth
Forgives
Welcomes
Lives in harmony
Communicates
Monday, November 17, 2003
A friend sent me this quote from C.S Lewis. It came up in a conversation we had last week, where he mentioned that Lewis had written that Jesus' call was to "feed my sheep" not "experiment on my rats".
I thought this was an interesting line in light of my writing a book with the subtitle "A Week in the life of an experimental church".
He sent me quote and I still like that line, but Lewis builds his argument around the notion that our church gathering is to be the place where we interact with God. Many people take this view, but not me. I think our lives are to be with God and our church meetings are part of this interaction with God where we learn how to live in new ways, with new practices and habits. In other words Church meetings are the place to practice that which we hope to live out in all the less structured settings. They are the place of learing new ways, not the primary place of interaction with God. If we can only interact with God in the religious meeting, where it is safe and structured it seems to me we are in trouble. It seems to me that we ought to be thinking about what we are doing at Church and allowing that to shape us and call us to live in worship and harmony with God in all of out settings.
Any way here is the quote from C.S.:
"Novelty, simply as such, can have only an entertainment value. And (believers) don't go to church to be entertained. They go to use the service, or, if you prefer, to enact it. Every service is a structure of acts and words through which we receive a sacrament, or repent, or supplicate, or adore. And it enables us to do these things best—if you like, it works best—when, through long familiarity, we don't have to think about it. As long as you notice, and have to count the steps, you are not yet dancing but only learning to dance. A good shoe is a shoe you don't notice. Good reading becomes possible when you need not consciously think about eyes, or light, or print, or spelling. The perfect church service would be one we were almost unaware of; our attention would have been only on God .
But every novelty prevents this. It fixes our attention on the service itself; and thinking about worship is a different thing from worshipping…A still worse thing may happen. Novelty may fix our attention not even on the service but on the celebrant [worship leader]…. It lays one's devotion waste. There is really some excuse for the man who said, "I wish they'd remember that the charge to Peter was 'Feed my sheep', not 'Try experiments on my rats', or even, 'Teach my performing dog new tricks.'" (C.S. Lewis. Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer.)
I thought this was an interesting line in light of my writing a book with the subtitle "A Week in the life of an experimental church".
He sent me quote and I still like that line, but Lewis builds his argument around the notion that our church gathering is to be the place where we interact with God. Many people take this view, but not me. I think our lives are to be with God and our church meetings are part of this interaction with God where we learn how to live in new ways, with new practices and habits. In other words Church meetings are the place to practice that which we hope to live out in all the less structured settings. They are the place of learing new ways, not the primary place of interaction with God. If we can only interact with God in the religious meeting, where it is safe and structured it seems to me we are in trouble. It seems to me that we ought to be thinking about what we are doing at Church and allowing that to shape us and call us to live in worship and harmony with God in all of out settings.
Any way here is the quote from C.S.:
"Novelty, simply as such, can have only an entertainment value. And (believers) don't go to church to be entertained. They go to use the service, or, if you prefer, to enact it. Every service is a structure of acts and words through which we receive a sacrament, or repent, or supplicate, or adore. And it enables us to do these things best—if you like, it works best—when, through long familiarity, we don't have to think about it. As long as you notice, and have to count the steps, you are not yet dancing but only learning to dance. A good shoe is a shoe you don't notice. Good reading becomes possible when you need not consciously think about eyes, or light, or print, or spelling. The perfect church service would be one we were almost unaware of; our attention would have been only on God .
But every novelty prevents this. It fixes our attention on the service itself; and thinking about worship is a different thing from worshipping…A still worse thing may happen. Novelty may fix our attention not even on the service but on the celebrant [worship leader]…. It lays one's devotion waste. There is really some excuse for the man who said, "I wish they'd remember that the charge to Peter was 'Feed my sheep', not 'Try experiments on my rats', or even, 'Teach my performing dog new tricks.'" (C.S. Lewis. Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer.)
I returned yesterday from a weekend in San Diego being with my friends Mark Oestreicher and Mark Scandrette and attending Mike Yaconelli’s memorial service.
I am regularly reminded what an honor it is to have friends and to be a friend with such wonderful people.
Shelley was also away for the weekend creating a life book for Taylor’s 13th birthday (March 8). Our children all spent the weekend with different people from our church.
We had a tapestry start on fire a week ago during our worship gathering and spent much of the week being sure we were responding to it with “due diligence”. Last night we had made series of improvements in our setting for fire safety and all the changes really did make the space better.
Mark Scandrette and I are giving leadership to the creation of an emergent, sh’ma-life-style magazine/journal.
It is really feeling like it is coming together. We are partnering with FaithWorks magazine and transitioning it to this new concept. This is going to be interesting.
I am regularly reminded what an honor it is to have friends and to be a friend with such wonderful people.
Shelley was also away for the weekend creating a life book for Taylor’s 13th birthday (March 8). Our children all spent the weekend with different people from our church.
We had a tapestry start on fire a week ago during our worship gathering and spent much of the week being sure we were responding to it with “due diligence”. Last night we had made series of improvements in our setting for fire safety and all the changes really did make the space better.
Mark Scandrette and I are giving leadership to the creation of an emergent, sh’ma-life-style magazine/journal.
It is really feeling like it is coming together. We are partnering with FaithWorks magazine and transitioning it to this new concept. This is going to be interesting.
Thursday, November 06, 2003
I have been think about a 21st century way of involvement in the world. I heard an NPR story on the group Doctors Without Borders and thought about what a cool concept that is. I think we need to have a sense of being Christians without borders. We need to not define our effort in the world, or whom we help, or where we seek righteousness in terms of our location, affiliation and nationality.
That thought is not all that profound to me, but the implications of it may be.
This may well have affect on where we live, shop, who we support, how we pray, where we go.
I am going to do some more thinking about the implications of this.
That thought is not all that profound to me, but the implications of it may be.
This may well have affect on where we live, shop, who we support, how we pray, where we go.
I am going to do some more thinking about the implications of this.
Monday, November 03, 2003
Sunday, November 02, 2003
Michael has some wonderful picture of the Emergent Gathering at this link
http://homepage.mac.com/michaeltoy/PhotoAlbum20.html
Here is one example
http://homepage.mac.com/michaeltoy/PhotoAlbum20.html
Here is one example
I know in the scope of all things important our new kitchen does not make the list, but it is sure good to see all this work coming together.
Here a couple of shots of the almost finished work.
Josh is in one of the pictures, he is a friend from our community who is helping me install the cabinets - well he is really doing it and I am helping him.
My personal highlight is our new Refrigerator - it is freezer on the bottom style. No more getting on the floor to try to find yogurt for me.
I think the frige looks like a smiling face on the inside.
Here a couple of shots of the almost finished work.
Josh is in one of the pictures, he is a friend from our community who is helping me install the cabinets - well he is really doing it and I am helping him.
My personal highlight is our new Refrigerator - it is freezer on the bottom style. No more getting on the floor to try to find yogurt for me.
I think the frige looks like a smiling face on the inside.
