Prayer of Francis

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This just never gets old...

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love
Where there is injury, pardon
Where there is doubt, faith
Where there is despair, hope
Where there is darkness, light
Where there is sadness, joy

O Divine Master
Grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled, as to console
to be understood, as to understand
to be loved, as to love
For it is in giving that we receive
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned
it is in dying that we are born into Eternal Life.
Amen.

Emergent Collective Response

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Doug Pagitt writes,

A number of us have been working for a few months on a collectiveresponse to criticisms that have been made about us and Emergent.  We decided to put a document together, not for the purpose of settling all matters, but to try and put words around our hopes, and to give those who have to respond on our behalf some indication of what we are thinking on these matters.

I imagine that others would like to "sign on" to this response, if not in words then in spirit. Those listed are among the people who have been "called out" either for what they have written or said, but mostly what has been written.

And here's a link to the collective response (PDF file) by Brian McLaren, Doug Pagitt, Chris Seay, Spencer Burke, Dan Kimball, Andrew Jones, and Tony Jones.

I think it's a great response that needs very wide reading, from the staunch critic who has likened Brian McLaren to a cult leader to the blogger who hates emergent because their pastor told them to.  These four pages won't answer all the questions or do enough to moisten the dry tongue of the critics, but I think it carries wisdom as well as a humble spirit.

I want to play briefly with one thought that came to mind while reading this.  Often in church history the greatest theologians, authors, hymn writers (and so on) were pastors.  The practitioners were writing and their writing was informed not only by their preaching, but their daily involvement with the pains and joys of the local church ministry.  Is the Emerging Church about recovering that?  I'm not sure, but I think it's worth thinking about.

OTHER LINKS: Official post and conversation at Emergent-US; TallSkinnyKiwi; Justin Taylor; Emergent No; A-Team Blog; Subversive Influence;
 

Cubs Are Making Noise

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ZambranoCubs have won 7 straight.  They have had at least 10 hits in each of the last 7 games.  Derrek Lee is batting .389 and is 11 for his last 13 at bats (8 for 8 in his last two games).  The pitching is getting better even without Prior and Wood, including a 1 hitter yesterday (Zambrano) and a 4 hit shutout tonight (Rusch). 

UPDATE 6.6.05: Good article on Derrek Lee on the front page of Sportsline.com today.

This is fun baseball, and the race for the playoffs is getting tight.  After a pitiful beginning of the season, this may be an interesting summer after all

Girl Talk

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I think the Mahaney girls' blog, Girl Talk ("conversations on biblical womanhood and other fun stuff"), will be really good for women and their daughters when it kicks off on June 20th. 

(HT: JT)

Missional Church: Suburbia

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Suburbia_2_450_100_mis

Pre-retirement suburbanites tend to get the city newspaper.  It has better news and sports.  Retired suburbanites tend to get the local, suburban or city paper.  It has obituaries of people they know.

Whatever your preference of newspaper, missional suburbanites should always get the local paper.  It has local events, when and where bands play, news on book clubs, and any number of things that provide opportunities to jump into the culture and enjoy and love and serve.

Free Will Sex

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Alright, that was a really racy title.  Two plugs.  Hat Tip: Justin Taylor

Interesting four page interview with Bruce Ware, theologian at SBTS, on the issue of free will.  It's PDF, and it starts on page 4.

You can get a free copy of the forthcoming Sex and the Supremacy of Christ book if you will read the advanced copy in PDF, review it on your blog, and send Justin Taylor the link.  My wife and I attended the conference in Minneapolis that is being transformed into this book.  It was excellent.  Go to JT's blog for more info.

Baptist and Biblical

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Baptist Press is releasing four articles on emerging young leaders.  The first article, "Young Leaders: Back to the Future" is by Bob Reccord, the leader of the North American Mission Board of the SBC.  It doesn't say much, but just by saying anything it says something.  In other words, by Reccord putting his name on the first article gives weight to whatever comes next.  Probably a good move in an all too political convention.

The second article, released today, is by Ed Stetzer: "Are 'Baptist' and 'Biblical' Synonyms?"  Ed created NewChurches.com and works at NAMB.

A few quotes from Stetzer concerning young SBC leaders.  My emphasis is in bold.

Theologically, they want “Baptist” and “biblical” to be synonyms. Missionally, they want Baptists to find new ways to reach our communities and the world.

[...]

The issues that are driving younger leaders away are not theological; they are cultural and missional. They are tired of being told that dress, worship style and traditional practices are biblical mandates when they are found neither in the Bible nor in the denomination’s faith statement.

[...]

In essence, we’re talking about their desire to be Christians who are living in a mission setting. As a result, their expressions of biblical worship use diverse music, preaching styles, dress, etc. It’s not about hipper clothes and cooler music. It’s about being God’s missionary where He has placed us now, not 50 or 500 years ago.

[...]

The conservative resurgence accomplished its purpose, and we have a group of young leaders committed to biblical theology and missional ministry. We must not now fight for our traditions as if they were our doctrine. They aren’t the same thing.

Younger leaders want to lead churches that are theologically sound and missionally committed. If they don’t find the SBC to be biblical and missional, they will find their own fellowships, and we will be the weaker for it. We had a theological resurgence, but young leaders want a missional resurgence, too. They want “Baptist” and “biblical” to be synonyms, and they want to get busy reaching the world!

Jimmy Draper Blog

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UPDATE: Dr. Draper has now changed to a blog hosted at Lifeway.  Hopefully this will make comments possible, but not so much yet.

-----

Jimmy Draper, the head honcho over at SBC's Lifeway, is now blogging at Crosswalk.com (Lifeway).  Here's a link to his blog.  His first post is about blogging and about what he's learned in the Younger Leaders Dialogues (for emerging leaders in the SBC).  In the last paragraph he is very generous to my other site, Emerging SBC Leaders.  UPDATE: Baptist Press has an article on it as well.

Dr. Draper knows that he doesn't fully understand us, but also says that we don't fully understand his generation either.  Fair, and as he says, it's a good reason for us to talk.  It's obvious he could care less about blogging, but realizes that blogging is a means to connect with us better.  Good move.  Unfortunately he's using a blogging system that doesn't allow comments (which he admits), but it's a start anyway. 

A part of my concern with the current leadership of the SBC and older generations (if you will allow me to broadbrush), is that they usually think that for us this conversation is about our way of doing things vs. their way of doing things.  I don't think this site or the concerns we raise are only about (or even primarily about) doing things differently.  I think it's also about doing them better.  But maybe that's our problem too, in that we find things older generations do as always inferior to our brilliance.  We need to be very careful and willing to listen to see if we are overstating our case.

Is a desire to move from institutional to incarnational, or from monuments to a movement, about doing it different?  Or doing it better? Are we only about being different to reach younger generations, or more missional to reach all generations better?  I think these are some of the most important questions as we seek to see walls come down and find real understanding between us.

Job as Living Metaphor

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James 5:7-11, my passage for tomorrow morning's sermon, mentions Job in verse 11.

Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. (ESV)

Now, I haven't studied the commentaries on Job recently, and I don't mean to speak authoritatively on the issues I raise, but I just want to make an interesting observation and ask of possibilities. 

As an historical figure Job is curious.  His life circumstances seem odd, not just because of The Satan and God and their strange and revealed cooperation, but also because of how the things that happen seem so artificial.  For instance Job loses so much, but after it all he ends up exactly twice as much as before. 

Because of this perceived artificiality (does God ever really double the pleasure like this in real life?), some have determined Job wasn't a real guy after all.  His life is fiction in order to make a point, or something like that.  Others put on their armor and defend Job as no less historical than their grand-mother.  To say otherwise makes you a liberal.

The question that popped into my head tonight is, Why can't we see Job as a God-intended living metaphor?  In other words, maybe we aren't supposed to see Job as "this life" literal (It could happen to you!), but metaphorical literal, like how God used Ezekiel.  God cast Ezekiel in many different "living metaphor" roles in his ministry where he acted out in his life the realities of God's people and exile.  He would rip a hole in his wall, or lay on his side for so many days, or eat a scrumptious feces loaf.  In Ezekiel the living metaphor is obvious.  In Job, could it be the same thing, but not so explicit?

As far as I know, I may be the only person to think this, or the last person to think of this.  Whatever.  But I think makes sense of Job because we don't have to wonder why God only did these things to one guy.  Also, we can still believe that Job is a real guy which is important, I think.  And in Job's life we see on display what God wants us to know about suffering and the riches of God, which we know are ultimately found in Christ.

A little thinking outloud, pre-sermon.  Thanks for listening.  I need sleep.

What We Don't Understand

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Susan Srigley, author of Flannery O'Connor's Sacramental Art, in Mars Hill Audio Journal 73 quotes Flannery O'Connor in Mystery and Manners.  This is from audio, so punctuation may not be exact.

If the writer believes that our life is and will remain essentially mysterious, if he looks upon us as beings existing in a created order to whose laws we freely respond, then what he sees on the surface will be of interest to him only as he can go through it into an experience of mystery itself.  His kind of fiction will always be pushing its own limits outward towards the limits of mystery, because for this kind of writer the meaning of a story does not begin except at a depth where adequate motivation and adequate psychology and the various determinations have been exhausted.  Such a writer will be interested in what we don't understand rather than what we do.

Mere Moore Comments

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The Touchstone Magazine weblog, Mere Comments, first linked to my blog back in early March.  That's when I really started keeping up with their blog as well.  Then they linked to my post responding to an article by Russ Moore later in March.  Russ is a theologian at SBTS.

Now Russ Moore is one of the bloggers at Mere Comments.  I think that significantly raises the stock of the blog.  One of his first posts discusses a book on "manly dominion."  Don't miss the last line.

Nailing Jello w/o a Hammer

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There's nothing like a poorly written, poorly researched article on the Emerging Church to wake me up in the morning.  (Yeah it's almost noon, but I was watching Episode III at midnight).

I'm all for good critique of the EC, but this isn't it.  "McLaren" only has one "c," by the way.  And if one more person says "trying to define the Emerging Church is like trying to nail jello to a wall," I'm gonna scream.  Find a new word picture, please!  If there is anything that everyone should learn from the EC it's that creativity (instead of imitation) is a good thing.