Alice's Restaurant: Part II

A couple of days ago, my old college buddy, Brother Maynard, wrote a brief post about Alice's Restaurant, which got me thinking.

Bro Maynard's post was referring to something I'd done at Providence College back in the late 80's, which earned me the nickname "Alice" among some of the more culturally enlightened students and staff at that fine ecclesiastical learning centre just south of Winnipeg.

During our last year as students at Prov -- Wendy and I had already been married for a year and were looking forward to graduating together -- I needed to work part-time in order to make ends meet. The college needed someone to be the manager of their little junk-food mecca, creatively called "the canteen", so I took the job.

The canteen was promptly renamed "Alice's Restaurant" (a hat tip to my buddy Gord); I purchased some cheap bar stools from a local second-hand store, got an old ghetto blaster to provide tunage, and in general tried to make it less about selling questionable snacks and even more questionable coffee, and more about being a place where people could hang out and enjoy friendships and conversation.

And it worked!

People would hang out and have many theological, ecclesiological, and sometimes just plain "comedic venting" times together. I had the opportunity to have over-the-counter talks with people about many different things, and there were quite a few times where I'd be pouring somebody's coffee, and they'd quite seriously say, "What time are you finished? There's something I need to talk to you about."

What many people didn't see were the many times where, after my shift would end, people would come back and we'd have great talks and prayer times. People in Bible college, just like in churches, often have deep hurts and things they'd like to talk about, if only they knew where the "safe places" were. I was privileged -- and humbled -- to be able to pray with numerous fellow students on many occasions.

We had fun too; when we discovered one day that a pot of coffee had been left on the burner for five hours, instead of throwing it out, we labelled it "Black Juice from Hell" and sold it half-price. When people would ask, "What's 'Black Juice from Hell'?", we'd tell them boldly and honestly exactly what it was. A group of hollow-eyed, haggard-looking seminary students, who were pulling an all-nighter studying for a Greek mid-term exam, bought the whole pot.

See? All this is because of Brother Maynard's brief post about Alice's Restaurant and my iteration of it. But the real credit goes to how God used my friend Gord to show me how important providing a "safe place" for people to be honest and transparent was, and is.

Alice's Restaurant: Part I

Many years ago, a good friend of mine got really sick and tired of the "corporate sellout" of what was on the radio in those days (disco, mainly), and found solace in the protest music of the 1960's. Finding teenaged hippies in the early 80's was interesting in and of itself, but what was impressive about Gord (my friend), was that he memorized, in its 25-minute entirety, "Alice's Restaurant Massacree", originally by Arlo Guthrie.

That was one of my "fun memories" of my friend Gord; Gord, as a searching non-Christian, was also one of the main influences on my life in my teen years.

Gord and I first met at a youth/young adults retreat at what would now be labelled a "liberal" Presbyterian church, which also included a lot of the burgeoning New Age emphasis of contacting the Divine resident in each of us, etc. Just a few months after I'd finished high school, I had moved back to the town I'd grown up in for college. While there, I had a lot of friends whom I was trying to share my faith with, and they would often say "hey, we are Christians -- we went on that retreat at the Presby. If you'd go, you'd understand."

So, getting tired of this "talk to the hand" response, and with the prayer support of people like Betty and Elmer, I went.

And that's where I met Gord. We hit it off almost immediately, and hung out for most of the weekend. A lot of the teaching material seemed to be based on "if you have an emotional reaction to anything during this sleep-deprivation experiment, it's the Spirit of Christ that is in all of us", but since I already did have the Spirit of Jesus in me, I probably got more out of the retreat than most. At least, about six months later, fellow retreaters would ask me "how come we've lost the 'retreat feeling' and you haven't" -- can you say "open door" to sharing my story?

Late Saturday night, Gord came over to my bunk and whispered "I can't sleep. You wanna go to the chapel and talk?" I had been thinking the very same thing, so Gord and I spent from about midnight until 7:30 AM in the chapel, burning candles, hunched over my tattered paperback Bible, and talking about God.

Gord believed that Adam and Eve had been planted on earth by wise and benevolent aliens; he was really into reading peoples' "aura's", and commented that he knew I was a "Jesus Freak" when he first saw me: "All you Jesus Freaks have the same golden glow about you." We talked literally for hours about my own spiritual journey, his journey, and trying to figure out various Bible passages together.

Long after the retreat, there would be "theology pub" nights -- except it was at Tim Hortons because (A) Starbucks didn't exist in Canada at the time, and (B) most of the group was too young to get into a pub -- where I would be one of two Christians present while many topics were discussed. One of my favourite Bible passages at that time was the Parable of the Sower, because that was where I was living on a regular basis.

When I left for Bible college the following fall, Gord was one of the people who took up a collection among our friends, and bought me a leather-bound King James Bible as a going-away gift ("You seriously need a new Bible, dude..."), which they gave to me at the surprise going-away party that they threw for me.

I learned a lot from Gord; we had great talks, and I learned very quickly that if I showed him the common decency and respect that friends share, he would listen to my story as well. I had "divine moments" of being able to share my faith with him, and learned an equally important lesson from the Parable of the Sower: we sow, but we are not the Seed.

Ecclesiastes Moments

From "Practicing the Presence of God" by Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection (1690):

"During our work and other actions, even during our reading and writing on spiritual projects, more -- during our exterior devotions and vocal prayers -- let us stop a few minutes, as often as we can, to adore God in the depths of our hearts, to enjoy Him, as it were, in passing and in secret."

And this gem from St. Bernard of Clairvaux, who wrote "On Loving God" in the early 11th century:

"On a lower plane of action, it is the reluctant, not the eager, whom we urge by promises of reward. Who would think of paying a man to do what he was yearning to do already? For instance no one would hire a hungry man to eat, or a thirsty man to drink, or a mother to nurse her own child. Who would think of bribing a farmer to dress his own vineyard, or to dig about his orchard, or to rebuild his house? So, all the more, one who loves God truly asks no other recompense than God Himself." (emphasis added)

There are times in this journey where I have "Ecclesiastes Moments" -- sort of a pomergent version of "Meaningless! Meaningless! All is vanity and chasing after the wind!" I read anti-emerging blogs and feel (to use an vintage Vineyard phrase) "slimed" by the sarcastic and angry rhetoric; I surf over to pro-emerging blogs, and feel slimed by the sarcastic and angry rhetoric against the anti-emergents, the modern church, and western capitalistic society in general -- and it sometimes makes me want to unplug my own blog and withdraw from the conversation.

Sometimes I pray, "Jesus, just give me a few friends who are people of the spark, and we'll do ministry together, in anonymity, and be satisfied with that and with You." The ranting and raving on all sides gets overwhelming at times.

My father has, more than once, suggested that people like me are needed in Christian circles. His metaphor is "You're a burr under the saddle that's needed, to keep pushing for change." As much as I understand what he means (and my father and I have a great relationship that I'm very thankful to God for), there are times I want to facetiously point out:

• the "burr" is caught between the saddle and the horse, and tends to get a lot of weight slamming onto it -- repeatedly
  
• eventually, as the burr makes its presence known, somebody reaches under the saddle, grabs the burr, and throws it into the campfire where the rest of the cowboys are cooking their grits 'n' beans en route to a Blazing Saddles-inspired fart-fest
  
• nobody ever misses the burr after it gets burnt up, although both horse and rider are relieved and seem to be sadisticly enjoying watching the burr burn

Not the kind of personal mission statement that I'd normally get excited about.

That's when quotes like Brother Lawrence's and St. Bernard's come into play. They remind me that it's not about emerging, submerging, pomerging, or being post-evangelical, post-charismatic, post-colonial, post-post-modern, or whatever.

And it's not about me.

When I read about the great saints listed in the Hall of Faith (Hebrews 11) -- men and women of God who clung to their faith and their love of God, even though they died before seeing the results of their faith -- it helps to put things back into a proper perspective. Compared to what they went through, being a burr under a saddle pales in comparison.

I don't know where I first heard this quote (I might have even made it up, but somehow I think I must've overheard it somewhere else instead), but it's one that I unofficially adopted as my ministry mantra very early on: "To comfort the afflicted, and to afflict the comfortable."

Some people need to get back into the saddle again; perhaps I need to get back under it.

Because it's not about me.

Which Theologian am I?

Accord to this test, here are the results:

"You scored as Anselm. Anselm is the outstanding theologian of the medieval period. He sees man's primary problem as having failed to render unto God what we owe him, so God becomes man in Christ and gives God what he is due."

Apparently Barth is my #2 man, followed by Finney and Calvin. Either I'm somewhat well-rounded, or really conflicted, depending on how you view Finney and Calvin finishing so close together!

---

And this just in from fellow Canuckian blogger Ron:

Emergent YES: The Sequel

In the comments to yesterday's post, Cindy brings up a very, very good question: Why don't we just ignore e-no? And Slice, for that matter?

In the past, I've defended the idea that we need to listen to people who criticize us, just in case (in spite of their motives and methodology) they say something that we need to hear.

At the same time, it's a little like what happened to those of us who were in the Vineyard in the 90's: John MacArthur wrote Charismatic Chaos, which I've read in its entirety (bought my own copy, even!), because many of us thought there might be something in MacArthur's book that, despite his reputation for harshness, might be needful criticism.

Alas, it was such a hatchet job on Wimber and the Vineyard (factual errors which have never been corrected in subsequent re-releases of the book), that there was no redeeming value to it at all.

It should not be surprising to read that e-no's and slice's writers all think MacArthur is amazing. It's also not surprising to see that they've chosen to emulate MacArthur's heavy-handed methodology as well.

In the Vineyard's response to MacArthur's book, the conclusion quoted Carl F.H. Henry, a respected conservative evangelical of his day, who wrote this way back in 1957:

"The real bankruptcy of fundamentalism has resulted not so much from a reactionary spirit -- lamentable as this was -- as from a harsh temperament, a spirit of lovelessness and strife contributed by much of its leadership in the recent past...

"If modernism stands discredited as a perversion of the scriptural theology, certainly fundamentalism in this contemporary expression stands discredited as a perversion of the Biblical spirit."

If you're interested in how the Vineyard responded to MacArthur's book, you can read the Vineyard's response PDF (scroll down to the bottom of the list)

What these blogs are doing is exactly what their forebears have done for much of the last century. It was a waste of time trying to reason with them in the 50's, it was a waste of time trying to reason with readers of Charismatic Chaos in the 90's, and it will ultimately prove the same in the 21st century as well.

Let's invest our time and effort in reconstruction and moving ahead as we follow the Pillar of Fire and Cloud. Nehemiah made a point of prioritizing the work that God had called him to, and refused to be sidetracked by those who were attacking, slandering, spreading false accusations, and even threatening physical harm. You can read about it in Nehemiah chapters 4 and 6.

We would do well to follow Nehemiah's example. It's less about "ignoring" certain blogs -- as if we've got our noses in the air or our knickers in a knot -- and more about not getting distracted from what God is calling us to. So Cindy, you're right: let's move on!

Emergent YES

Justin Baedar, one of the bloggers at Radical Congruency, went out last spring and bought the domain names "emergentno.com" and "emergentyes.com". Justin is also the prankster behind the mischievious JordonCooper NO pseudo-blog, which also debuted (briefly) last spring.

Anyway, to make a long story short, Justin decided to launch Emergentno.com a couple of days ago, which of course is a very similar name to one of the more "creative" anti-emerging blogs. The owner of the original site wasn't too happy, but when Justin added a second RSS feed from ANOTHER (much more hysterically-paranoid conspiracy-theory-driven website), the "poop" really hit the fan. You see, both of the anti-emerging blogs make a regular habit of banning comments from people who are (A) profane, vulgar and nasty (which is fine, of course, except I've noticed that being nasty to emergents is acceptable), and (B) anyone who biblically and thoughtfully disagrees with them (this applies more to one of the websites than to both of them).

There are occasional points that they bring up that we need to think and talk about, but because they won't allow comments from people who aren't just like them, there's nowhere to really discuss this. That's where Justin's blog came in.

However, since they're threatening to take legal action against Justin and called him (and the rest of us unsuspecting emerging conversationalists) things I wouldn't say to a cockroach, it's gotten really, really ugly. I like Justin's idea of having a forum to respond thoughtfully to what they're writing (when it has some merit), and so I posted the following at his new blog:

Justin,

For what it's worth, I think you should re-work this whole thing, and use the "EmergentYES.com" instead. Here's a few thoughts (again, for what it's worth...)

1. If these guys sue you (successfully), they win and can triumphantly congratulate themselves on crushing you and your RSS blog.
   
   They've already decided you're not a Christian so it's okay to sue you, and in the comments over at Slice for this very post we've all been labelled "probably demon-possessed", evil unrepentent sinners who are in a cult. That makes it okay for them to do whatever it takes to destroy you.
   
   For example, while objecting to the whole RSS thing is HIGHLY debatable, Jim Bublitz from OldTruth.com (who also has his blog RSS enabled and encourages people to RSS his site) has published all of your private, personal online information in the comments. That's just plain illegal, but Ingrid doesn't seem to mind, because she's let that comment remain.

   Update: in a phone conversation with Justin last night, he told me that his information is publicly available. So, it is technically not illegal for Jim to have done this, although the words "tacky", "irresponsible", and "slimy" come to mind.

2. If you take this blog down voluntarily, they'll still triumphantly congratulate themselves, but so what? I'm not sure this is a battle worth fighting on these grounds.
   
   
3. Switch to "EmergentYES.com" for a number of reasons:
   
   
   
   • It's a focus on the positive aspects, not just reacting against the negativity and (for the most part) the mud-slinging tabloid journalism approach.
     
     
   • If you link to their posts instead of RSS'ing everything they write, you can elimate a lot of the drivel that doesn't really amount to much beyond hysterical paranoia; just link and/or quote them ("fair use", as Ingrid says is legal and acceptable to her) on posts that actually have some critical merit; then we can discuss them here
     
     
   • this would keep the discussion here focussed on the parts of anti-emergent critique that you feel might be helpful for us to discuss, which I believe was your original intent in the first place, and I think is a good idea

Again, Justin, that's just my two cents and a couple of loonies (Canadian $1 coins) of input. There are other ways of achieving your goal for this site, and I think it needs to exist, but you don't need this kind of "attention".

Grace and peace,

robbymac

Remembrance Day

I really like what Brother Maynard wrote about our Canadian veterans today, which would include my great-grandfather David McAlpine, who was killed in France in "the war to end all wars" (WWI), so I'll just briefly say:

Go check out the Brother's post for today.

Back to writing more on post-charismatics...

People of the Spark

This comes from Philippians 3:17 (The Message):

"Stick with me, friends. Keep track of those you see running this same course, headed for this same goal."

The NIV version says to "take note" of others, while the NASB has the more passive "observe others", and the King Jimmy says we should "mark" others who are running the race well.

It's hard sometimes to know what marks to take note of, observe, or keep track of. What outward signals do we notice that say to us, loud and clear, that we're in the presence of people who know Jesus pretty well, a la Acts 4:13?

"When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus."

We've all met people who almost immediately strike us as "wow, these people are close to God, and being with them brings me closer to God, and I feel encouraged and more faith-filled after spending time with them."

Wendy and I have discussed this many times over the years; it just seems like some people have that "spark" within in them, and you can't help but notice it. Sometimes they're quite theologically astute, and sometimes not, but either way, you just knew that they "had been with Jesus" in a way that was encouraging, refreshing, and challenging all at the same time.
A good friend of mine recently remarked in an email: "I will say openly that your orthodoxy is more generous than mine... I don't know if I should admire that or worry about you! You do seem to simply make the assumption that you'll settle into a local attractional / modern / organized / institutional / what-have-you kind of church congregation in Kelowna. Can I try not to be offensive and still ask why?"

I guess the short answer is that I'll hang out in destructured and structured places alike, if I encounter people there who have that "spark" of the Holy Spirit within them. I fully expect to meet some of them in a house church; I also expect to meet some really unhealthy people in a house church. I fully expect to meet "spark" people in the established church(es), and of course I am also painfully aware that I'll meet some really unhealthy people in these same churches.

A few years ago, I re-read Keith Green's biography, No Compromise. One of the things that really gripped my heart at that time was the question: "Where are the passionate followers of Jesus now? I want to hang out with them again!"

I've highjacked Brian McLaren's analogy of a spiderweb before, so why not do it again? I'm expecting that we will have numerous connections in different faith communities here in Kelowna, and that in each one, we will find "people of the spark" that we will connect with. We have no expectation that all of these people will be in the same place (house group, church, parachurch, etc.); we will simply connect and bond with them wherever we discover them.

And, of course, we will also recognize that it is only as we pursue being people of the spark, that we will in turn be a blessing to others.

Tagged by American Friends

Cindy from Run With It has tagged me in one of those "get to know you" online things, along with my fellow Canuckian brethren Dan-D from Canada and the venerable Jamie Arpin-Ricci, as well as the sagacious and mysterious Emerging Grace. Note that I will be the first Canuck to respond, although Grace out-did us all in responding quickly to Cindy's request.

So, without any further adieu, here goes:

Ten years ago

Our 1987 Chevette was breathing its last, after eight years and 265,000 klicks. I was worship/youth pastor at Eastgate Vineyard in Victoria BC (now Saanich Vineyard), and we were just beginning to discover what fun a "worship jam" (in its embryonic form) could be.

Five years ago

We spent the first half of the year in volunteer youth/worship ministry at Winnipeg Centre Vineyard, and the second half in a fulltime pastoral position at Vineyard Christian Fellowship Westside in Santa Monica, California.

One year ago

We moved to the Toronto area, for a short-lived and mostly disastrous time with the Baptists. For those who remember, this was when the doctors couldn't decide if I was having a stroke or a heart attack -- once the Baptists fired me a few months later, my health quickly reverted to normal, and I was recently told my blood pressure was 120/80 -- textbook perfect. Yay, God!

Five yummy things

Grande 4-pump Toffee-nut, 2-pump Mocha, Mocha @ Starbucks
Ice Cream -- any kind
Ancho Chicken Quesadilla @ Montana's
Chicken Pita @ The Pita Pit
A pint o' Guinness -- anywhere, but especially back at the King's Head in Winnipeg

Five songs I know by heart

I know probably too many songs by heart, but five songs that pop to mind just now would include:
In Christ Alone (Stuart Townsend)
Land of Hope and Dreams (Bruce Springsteen)
All Bow Down (Chris Tomlin)
Waves (Resurrection Band)
Dare You to Move (Switchfoot)

Five Things I would do with a lot of money

Good-bye debt
Post-secondary education (mandatory strongly encouraged) for my kids
Support friends who are into missions
(Anonymously) support friends who are struggling financially
Support ourselves in missions

Five things I would never wear

Spandex -- even during my heavy-metal days in the 80's Anything remotely connected to disco Plaid (my Clan tartan doesn't count) A toupee -- regardless of how much my hairline has betrayed me An Ozzy Osborne t-shirt

Five favourite TV shows (past & present)

All-time #1 favourite show: WKRP In Cincinatti (PUH-LEEZ release it on DVD, okay?)
CSI (the original one)
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Law And Order (again, the original one)
Enterprise (this one kinda grew on me)

Five things I enjoy doing

Dates with Wendy
Time with my kids
Time with friends (particularly where BBQ and/or beer is involved)
Reading/Playing guitar/bass/keyboard/djembe/mandolin/harmonica/CD player
Blogging

Five people I want to inflict this on...

Hey, let's see if Brother Maynard can do this one WITHOUT revealing his secret identity!
Len Hjalmarson needs a break from his Doctor of Ministry schoolwork, right?
I haven't heard from anyone in South Africa recently, so let's tag Michelle while we're at it.
Gerry Michalski and I have lived in the same city -- twice (Victoria and Winnipeg); that should count for something.
And, hey, it's Friday so why not -- how about Carla from Emergent No? (I'll have to email her, 'cuz I suspect she's not a regular reader here).

Well, there you go, my American friends! Let the weekend begin!