Ejection-Seat Pews

During our recent visit with family in Florida, I saw this commercial for the UCC. What do you think? HT: Mark Fletcher

Facing our Fear

Preached yesterday at my father-in-law's church in Hunt Valley, MD. They are a great bunch - very warm and welcoming of us. My parents drove over to attend the service as well, along with both my brothers and a visiting missionary friend from Uganda. I had a lot of fun, even though I was feeling sick most of the weekend - the Spirit gave me extra strength to get through both services without feeling any ill effects.
The sermon was from Isaiah 43 - a passage very close to my heart. I have tried lately to structure my sermons around the passage (rather than around "3 points" or something like that). So yesterday's sermon was basically a running commentary on the passage, with connecting verses and stories thrown in. I like doing it that way, because it's harder to forget your "points" when the passage is right in front of you. I also think it helps people learn to encounter God in the Bible for themselves.
You should be able to listen here - though as of Monday morning my message isn't up yet.

Reformed heritage in emerging-missional church

I read a helpful post today on TallSkinnyKiwi's blog about the influence of reformed theology within the emerging church. Check it out.

New Glass

As promised, here is the latest installment from my glassblowing class. I picked it up last Wednesday on the way to the airport with Somer (it takes 2-3 days to cool in the annealer). As I said before, the tumbler itself is nothing spectacular...BUT...I think the red handle saves it. I really like the color (it's hard to tell how the color will turn out before it cools - it was in powder form before heating, and then when it's heated it glows dull red/orange). I think it works really well with the clear tumbler.

Camden is waiting for me

My friend Julian from London City Mission sent me this picture. It gives you a little insight into our future home. I especially like the "Charity Muggers" sign...I figure that's British for "Support Raising Missionary", so I'll fit right in when we arrive.

Weekend with Daddy

This weekend it's just me, Andi, and Jodie. Somer's visiting her sister in San Francisco. The girls are surviving...mostly. In the mornings the girls tend to come into our room and play or watch TV until we wake up. Yesterday morning I discovered that they had given their teddy bears hair cuts (again)...but then last night I saw a chunk of blonde hair on the floor. Thing is, their bears have black hair...the only one with blonde hair is Andi.
We went to the mall tonight with some World Harvest friends - their kids had gotten free passes for the carousel. I rode in the spinning cup with Andi and Jodie...they loved it (I did not like all the spinning, but loved having fun with them).
I've also taken advantage of Somer's absence to make things I can't make when she's around - like playdough for the girls (makes her gag) and tacos.

The perfect size

Call it beginner's luck...not only did I blow the best drinking glass in the class, but the glass is the perfect size - holding exactly 12 oz of one's favorite beverage.
I only had to endure the wrath of the rest of my classmates for about 40 minutes, though, because that's how long it took me to blow my second drinking glass this past Saturday, and prove that I really have no idea what I'm doing. I'll post a picture of that one as soon as our camera returns from San Francisco with Somer.

Glass Pieces

I feel a little like my children when they run up to me after school holding their latest pictures. "Look what I made for you, Daddy!" They're always so excited.
Well, so am I. These are the first two pieces from my glass-blowing class. Hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy my kids' art.

Back in Baltimore

After a great weekend in Fayetteville, we're back in Baltimore. We're hanging at the Panera in Columbia mall, using the free wi-fi and enjoying the souffles. The folks at Covenant in Fayetteville were great - they were a real encouragement to us. On the flight back I was reading Free of Charge, and it reminded me of our experience this weekend. The author talks about the circular flow of giving and receiving, and shows how God's giving is never simply for our sake, but that we receive from him in order to be givers to others. We're meant to be conduits. That's why Paul can talk in Romans about being "mutually encouraged by each others' faith". Paul's statement was in the broad context of his planned trip to Rome, in which he hoped to have the Roman church provide him with support on his mission to Spain (which probably didn't happen in the end). But that's exactly what we experienced this weekend - that mutual encouragement. Anyway, thanks to everyone who fed us, housed us, and just plain loved us.

Off to Fayetteville

We've been invited to participate in a missions conference this weekend at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Fayetteville, Arkansas. We'll be sharing stories from London during the Sunday evening session. It turns out that one of the guys I know who goes to Westminster is from this church, and he's given us the names not only of some of his friends, but also of the best places to eat in town. So we're looking forward to it, especially in light of the Nav videos I mentioned in a previous post, which encouraged us to preach the gospel wherever we find ourselves. We're looking forward to letting this church preach the gospel to us (we need to hear it!) and also to having opportunities to tell of God's love in our lives.

I'm a Mall Walker

Yes, it's true. I have entered the world of suburban soccer moms and retirees. Somer and I have been in desperate need of exercise recently, and we've found that walking at the mall before it opens is a great way to start our day together. Somer helps me plan my day while we avoid the hazards of double strollers and slow old people. After our first day of mall walking, we discovered the mall walker's code demands that everyone walk in a counter-clockwise direction (it took a few dirty looks from otherwise pleasant looking grandmothers to clue us in as we walked counter-flow).
The best part is that it's warm in the winter, cool in the summer, and filled with stuff that we don't need but want to buy anyway.

Preaching the Gospel

One of the nice things about being a missionary with World Harvest is that they provide us with a support raising coach. Our coach walks with us through the process of raising support and provides encouragement and the occassional butt-kicking when we need it. He sent us these videos that the Navigators use in their support-raising training.
Well, the videos are about 20 years old and the speaker keeps referring to stuff that happened before I was even born, but the stuff he's saying is just great. One of the things that has really impacted me has to do with preaching the gospel. Sometimes us "professional missionary" types tend to think of ourselves as called to preach the gospel in another country. And that's true, we are called to do that. But that calling flows from the more basic calling that belongs to us as followers of Jesus - to be ambassadors for God. Like Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5, God is making his appeal through us: "Be reconciled to me!" And that calling doesn't get put on hold until we make it overseas.
So, even though we are talking to churches and individuals about supporting us, our most basic calling is to preach the gospel - wherever we may find ourselves. That's a refreshing challenge that has captured my heart, and I'm hoping it'll translate into telling more stories about God's faithfulness in Jesus, and doing less worrying about where the money's gonna come from.

Hot Soup

I took my first glassblowing class on Saturday at Hot Soup in Center City Philadelphia. It was so much fun! We learned the basics of how to gather the molten glass out of the crucible and how to work with some basic tools. I made a paper weight and a "snowman" - basically two lumps of glass on top of each other.
It's a short class - just four Saturday mornings - but by the end I'll be able to make a drinking glass. I can't wait for the next class, which will be in two weeks because we're heading to a missions conference in Arkansas this weekend, so I have to make up the second class later. Maybe next time I'll bring the camera and post some pics.

As seen at 2006 ETC

Probably the single most valuable part of the Theological Conversation was the people I met. Not surprising, since Emergent sees one of its primary functions as connecting people. So here are a few of the connections I made:
Craig - pastor and good friend to one of my closest friends in life. We had never met before, but knew we would both be there. We had lunch together and discovered that our stories have various points of connection. The coolest intersection? The head of his D.Min. program was one of the priests at the church I grew up in outside Baltimore. Craig's a good guy...hope to see you again brother.

Postmodern Negro - I met Anthony at the diversity conversation. He goes to Warehouse 242 in Charlotte and knows my London teammate Pat Wallin from the same church. He's still at the conversation, but should have some good reflections on his blog when he returns.

Sarah - sister-in-law to a guy I know from Westminster. Just a cool and crazy connection.

The Conversation

Had a great time at the Emergent Theological Conversation at Yale. I'm skipping the final session this morning - not 'cuz it was bad, but 'cuz I'd rather be spending time with my family and working on getting our support together to get back to London.
So...here are a couple thoughts:
1. Miroslav Volf was great. It's refreshing and powerful to hear a theologian speak out of his personal experience. Volf's views on forgiveness, exclusion, and embrace have been worked out in the midst of his life in the conflict-torn Balkans, and he has experienced the real-life outworkings of his theological views. One of the most gripping aspects of oppression that he discussed was the fact that both victim and oppressor are in need of repentance and forgiveness. There are no "innocents" in the world. This doesn't mean that victims are to be blamed for the violence they suffer, but that violence has a way of creating and inciting sin, even in the heart of the victim. The desire to plan and enact revenge is but one example.
2. One of the strongest things he had to say in my mind was in response to a question from Brian McLaren about the nature of the atonement. He spoke of his understanding of an "inclusive atonement", as opposed to an "exclusive atonement". The idea is that inclusive atonement entails our inclusion in Christ in his death and resurrection. Our guilt is not simply transferred outside of us and into Jesus...but our very selves are included in Jesus on the cross and out of the grave. He freely admitted that this raises the question of "how were we present?" to which he doesn't have easy answers.
3. I went to a break-out group on Diversity within the Emergent Community. A lively discussion...but I'm still processing it, and I'm not sure how far we really got in the conversation. One interesting thing I discovered from the conversation is that Emergent is seen by some in the church who would call themselves "liberal" as being very conservative...funny, since some "conservatives" see Emergent as far too liberal.

Emergent Theological Conversation

Heading up to Yale for the 2006 Emergent Theological Conversation tomorrow. It actually begins tonight, but I couldn't stomach another night away from the family. We've been doing lots of travel lately, and I have more scheduled for the end of this month.
The Conversation promises to be very interesting. Miroslav Volf is providing the theological fuel for the discussion, both in person and through his two books Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation and Free of Charge : Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace. Check back tomorrow for updates.

C'ville

Continuing the theme of "where I've been" during the silence:
This past weekend, Somer and I were in Charlottesville, VA with the rest of the World Harvest Emerging Generations team.
Friday and Saturday we went to a conference to hear Pete Greig founder of 24-7 Prayer.
A couple things for us as a team came out of the conference:
First, the challenge to make prayer central (not just a component, not just an after-thought like we're prone to) to a church planting work in London. Second, the reality that you don't have to be a leader in the church to have a powerful ministry. Another way to say that: God does extraordinary and powerful things through people who are not gifted/called to lead his church. We want to see God unleashing his power in and through young people in London - leaders or not. Sure, we want to see the next generation trained for leadership in his church, and that's important; but leadership is not to be equated with being a channel for God's power.
Aside from the conference, we had a great time together as a team. We prayed together (a lot), talked about our passions, our plans for the months before returning to London, went bowling, played Settlers of Catan (see photo) and somehow I got the name Stinking Bishop. I'm debating whether or not to rename this blog under that title.

Next to me and Somer are John and Kathy Hall, Pat and Jen Wallin, and Rebecca Williams. That's our team. We love you guys!

Utah

Appologies to those who have come to expect more frequent updates...I've been in and out of town a lot recently. Here's part of the reason why:

I went snowboarding/skiing with my two brothers in the Wasatch mountains in Utah. First time the three of us had done a trip like that together. We had a great time. I enjoyed getting to know my brothers better - when you're the oldest sibling, you kind of forget that when you move away from home, the rest of your family continues to grow and change. So even though I "know" my brothers, they've changed a lot since I left home. And even though we've seen each other loads in the past 6 years, this was the first time it was just us. So thanks guys. Thanks for setting this trip up, thanks for inviting me, and most of all, thanks for letting your older brother share life with you.
Of course, it didn't hurt that we were able to fly down the mountain (sometimes in untouched powder) and soak in the hot tubs while snow flurries fell on us.
I tried snowboarding - even took a lesson the first day. But two days of it was all this aging body (yes, I turned 27 yesterday) could take. But it was lots of fun, and I'll probably try it again. That first picture in the series is me. In the one of the three of us behind our goggles, I'm closest, and I think Mark is in the middle with Andrew at the far end.
The beauty of the place is amazing. One day I looked straight up and lost myself in a sky that was so smooth and consistent it looked almost solid. At times the contrast between sky and mountain was so sharp that there was no sense of depth - it looked like a flat painting, with the top-half Cobalt blue and the bottom-half pure white.

Beautiful Quote

In an e-mail to me, in the context of making plans that aren't set in stone:

"Remember: the Holy Spirit is a wild goose!"

Diversity in Community

I spoke at Sunday School at New Life last week on Diversity in Community. It was an extremely challenging topic, but one that I really enjoyed. I'll give you a few random thoughts, in no particular order of importance...mostly because that's about all I did with the class - it was more a facilitated discussion than a lecture.
I had us interact with a couple articles that analyzed the riots in Paris this past November. This article compares the model for diversity in France with the model in India; while this one argues that no model of diversity will work unless there is a sense of purpose within society. This second article especially intrigued me, because it connected with something else I was thinking - namely, that the church is united in its missional calling to be about God's purpose of reconciling the world to himself.
I had us look at Genesis 11, the story of the tower of Babel. Here, linguistic diversity is actually a blessing that enables humans to get back to their original purpose - to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it. At the begining of the story, humans had all congregated in one place and didn't want to be scattered over the whole earth. We then looked at Genesis 12, where God tells Abram he is going to bless him, and that through him all nations on earth will be blessed. We can't talk about diversity with the local church without connecting it to God's purposes to bless all nations. We also looked at a few others - Genesis 7, Acts 6, and one of my favorites - Joshua 9, the story of how the Gibeonites brought diversity to Israel by basically stealing their way into the community.
In all of this, the overriding assumption is that it's the Holy Spirit that forms the church into a community - he is the one that unites us under one Lord, giving us His mission and making us His body. For those of you who are interested, that fits under the scheme of Kingdom-->Mission-->Church