Post-August

From a link at Brother Maynard, who in a surreal X-Files/Twilight Zone manner, is blogging upstairs on his laptop as I blog here in the Holy of Holies (Maynard's basement library).

You Belong in Dublin

Friendly and down to earth, you want to enjoy Europe without snobbery or pretensions. You're the perfect person to go wild on a pub crawl... or enjoy a quiet bike ride through the old part of town. What European City Do You Belong In?

This has been an exhausting week. I arrived here in Winnipeg last Friday, only to get the news an hour later than my grandmother had passed away (see previous post) while I was in-flight, and I had to quickly book tickets for the funeral in Toronto. I flew into Toronto on Monday in time for the funeral, and 24 hours later, I was back in WInnipeg; I leave tomorrow to head back to Kelowna so that our whole family can drive to Calgary the next day.

Without giving too many particulars, the reason I came to Winnipeg is because we just received word that some very close friends of ours have separated as husband and wife. It came as quite a shock, and I flew out here in order to spend time with them and see what I could do to support and encourage them. I'm no marriage counsellor, but I couldn't in all good conscience just sit in Kelowna and remark, "Gee, that's really too bad..."

I just spend the last six-and-a-half hours today meeting with their teenagers, one at a time. These teenagers should rightly be called young adults; they are an amazing bunch, which made it all the more painful to hear their hurt, frustration, and fears for the future. I love them all deeply, and this certainly qualifies as one of the most emotionally draining times I've had in recent years, and yet there was also a very strong sense of being in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing.

(Note of Clarification: Yes, I am staying with Brother Maynard and his family while in Winnipeg, but they are NOT the family in crisis.)

I'm not at liberty to give out the names of the family that is going through this exremely difficult season, but God knows their names, and any prayers on their behalf would be deeply, deeply appreciated.

Fare Thee Well

Lying in her bed, she struggles to draw breath. The recent car accident -- a head-on collision -- has taken its toll on her 97-year-old body. There were several tense days in the ICU, hooked up to a respirator while doctors shook their heads, but she's home now. At least, she's back in the senior care facility that has been home to her these past few years.

Her grand-daughter has stopped by to bring her roses, and welcome her back from the hospital. She can't help but notice the discomfort her grandmother is obviously in. "Grandma," she asks, "would you like me to pray for you?"

Breathing with difficulty, she nods her head and says, "Yes, please pray."

Her grand-daughter prays for a few minutes, and then looks at her grandmother's struggle to breathe, to hold on to life. "Grandma? Why don't you just relax, and go to Jesus?"

And closing her eyes, she peacefully does just that.

---

Today, I am in the Toronto area, to serve as a pallbearer as we buried my grandmother. Her journey of faith is a remarkable one, and the numbers of people who came to the funeral today were testimony of the lives she, along with my grandfather who died some years earlier, had touched.

But the story of her last moments with my cousin Diane is the best telling of her passing. Let's just leave it at that, and have a moment of silence in respect for a woman of God, who is finally in the presence of the One she has served for over 90 years.Marjorie McAlpine, 1909-2006

Good-bye, Grandma.

Worldly Religious People

Ah... I am now in Winnipeg, enjoying the legendary hospitality of Brother Maynard, and the ever-lovely Mrs. Maynard, just a week or so after they pitched a tent at our little commune in Kelowna. And the Clan Maynard has allowed me the privilege of sleeping in their version of the Holy of Holies: Brother Maynard's enviable library. Book envy is potent, and Maynard has only half-jokingly suggested that he will be searching my luggage and frisking me before I leave later this week.

A Scripture passage that I hear mentioned a lot in debates surrounding the emerging church is parts of John 15. You know, the one that says that the world will hate us because it hates Jesus. The argument usually suggests that if the world doesn't hate us, then "obviously" we're not preaching or living a truly Christian gospel.

The passage in question is John 15:18-16:4. It begins with Jesus telling His disciples that the world would hate them because of Jesus. He bluntly warns them that they will be persecuted for being His witnesses. It's not an uplifting thought.

The word translated "world" is kosmos, which means the world system that is opposed to Christ. Yet if you read the passage carefully, there are some surprising things mentioned about how the "world" will hate and persecute Jesus' apprentices:

• I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. (15:19)
  
• If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. (15:20)

Okay, no surprises so far.

• If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles... (15:24)
  
• this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: 'They hated me without reason.' (15:25)

Wait a second here. Jesus' ministry wasn't to the "world" in general. It was to the Jewish nation. With only a few rare exceptions, Jesus confined His ministry to the Israelites. God's people. He even refers to the Law of Moses as THEIR law. Jesus is talking about the religious leaders of the chosen people of God -- the Pharisees -- persecuting His disciples because they don't know God or their own law.

• They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God. (16:2)

Who could put Jesus' followers out of synagogues? Only other Jewish people. God's people. Specifically, the Pharisees. And we all know the story of Saul (later Paul) persecuting the church as an uber-zealous Pharisee, imprisoning and putting them to death. And believing that he was doing God a favour (Acts 8:3, Acts 9:1-2)

So, according to the Scriptures, who exactly is "the world" that will hate us for being followers of Jesus?

You're On Notice

Bob Hyatt is the genesis and scapegoat for gettin' me going on this one.



Thanks, Bob. I had fun choosing what/who I'd like to put "on notice"!

A Hill To Die On?

The Shaping of Things to Come is a book that I would include on any list of MUST READS about ministry in the 21st century. I was re-reading it during our outreach with YWAM these past two months (on the bus between ministry locations), and this paragraph jumped out at me as being absolutely crucial in my own journey as an "ecclesiastical anarchist" (HT to Vineyard Canada's Gary Best for publicly giving me that label at a conference a few years back).

"Not only does our connection with Messiah mean that we are tied inextricably to Him, but it also means that we must affirm, as do the Scriptures, that Jesus is the only way to salvation. It is a given to say that in the ideological/cultural climate of the emerging global culture, this aspect of the Christian claim is under serious threat, and it is not getting any better. When Jesus said in John 14:6, 'I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me,' then once again we must realize that our identities, as well as our mission, are tied to the Messiah. We agree with Peter's confession, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (John 6:68)... And neither can our spirituality avoid the messianic (Christocentric) nature of the New Testament faith."
(The Shaping of Things to Come, page 114)

Since arriving back home, I've learned of another book that just came out, Spencer Burke's Heretic's Guide to Eternity. While I haven't had a chance to read it yet -- and with my limited financial resources, it will probably be some time before I can -- the book is already creating a bit of a stir.

Some of the best discussion so far on this one has been via Scot McKnight's series, which I would highly recommend as a starting place. I would tend to agree with Scot's assessment of the book's message (Scot is blogging on it section by section), and it was also cool to see one of my seminary prof's, Dr. Terry Tiessen, weighing in repeatedly in the comments. Dr. Tiessen's graciousness towards people of differing viewpoints is legendary; he's one of my favourite Calvinists (aside from Brother Maynard and Grey Owl, of course).

The emerging conversation has worked hard to remain a "centred set", where there is room for exploration and experimentation, but speaking only for myself, I believe that we need to be tethered to orthodoxy in some way (I'll have to unpack that one later), AND feel the freedom to experiment and explore within parametres of some kind. For me, the quote from Frost & Hirsch is a vital one; "a hill to die on", as it were. A final comment from Leonard Sweet, who wrote some years ago:

"I am a virtual fundamentalist about content. I am a virtual libertarian about containers... The mystery of the Gospel is this: It is always the same (content) and it is always changing (containers). In fact, one of the ways you know the old, old truths are true is their ability to assume amazing and unfamiliar shapes while remaining themselves and without compromising their integrity. Yes, people's experience of God and of the gospel changes. But no, God and the gospel don't change. Part of leadership is making sure that containers don't alter the content as they are wont to do."
(Aqua Church, page 30)

UPDATE August 24

Bob Hyatt also weighs in on The Heretics Guide to Eternity, and sums up my concerns quite concisely in his post Oh, Spencer.

A Few Good Men

Jason Clark (from Emergent U.K.) heats up the blogosphere (70+ comments already) with posting Where Have All The Good Men Gone? It includes a list taken from the book Why Men Hate Going To Church. A first glance through the list evokes echoes of John Eldridges' Wild At Heart, with the idea that somehow churches have become "feminized" and "real" men want something less about relationships and more about adventure. Maybe I'm less than an ideal manly man, but relationships, community, and a "safe place" are high, high, high on my list of values for any community of faith. And so is risk-taking, step-out-in-faith, "if God doesn't come through we're toast" kind of exciting adventures in faith. Strangely, my beautiful and sagacious wife Wendy feels the same way. As do many of our married and single friends. Anyway, it's an interesting read, as are the comments following it. Stop by at Jason's, and let me know what you think of the whole discussion.

Monastic Coffee Drinkers

"Well, there's more than one way to start a monastic community." - Len Hjalmarson commenting on our tent city

Last night we had the pleasure to sit around on our deck with noted blogging luminaries Len Hjalmarson and Brother Maynard, along with their wives and all of Maynard's family, who showed up a few days ago and pitched a tent in our back yard.

We already have a family of five from the Netherlands and two radical 20-somethings from Alaska living with our own family of five. I say that only to quell any questions of why we would make the Family Maynard camp in our yard instead of inviting them in -- there's literally no room, although mealtimes resemble the mess tent from M*A*S*H, except that the quality and taste of the food would be much higher.

Hence Len's quip about our "monastic community"...

Anyway, we're back from outreach, and just about finished our week of re-entry meetings with YWAM Okanagan, and after tonight:

1. We'll be officially finished the DTS/Outreach, and
2. We'll be celebrating with Guinness

Regular blogging will commence again, and our ecclesiastical anarchist friends from the Netherlands will be joining the Blog Collective once they get back home in a couple of weeks. Resistance is futile.

P.S. This will probably come as no surprise to anyone who knows us, but the amount of St. Arbucks coffee beans that have been ground and consumed in the past couple of days is either impressive or disturbing, depending on your point of view. We should probably call our little monastic community "Fellowship of the Bean".