Friday, February 24, 2006
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.
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.
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.
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
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.
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.
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
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.
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.
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.
Monday, February 06, 2006
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.
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.
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
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!
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.
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.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
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!"
"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
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
Saturday, December 31, 2005
Home...for a while
We've arrived at our new home. Our friends Jim and Steph have opened up their top floor to us again, and after a week of staying with family in Baltimore, we are here in Philly. The girls are a bit confused by all the moving around...they have said several times "Daddy, I want to go home." And this while we're standing in their new room!
This next week I'll be working on putting together a presentation for supporters about this past year, and also about our future plans, so maybe as I'm doing that I'll post a couple thoughts along those lines - looking back and looking forward.
Oh yeah, and Happy New Year!! For my East Coast friends, we've got about four hours to go.
This next week I'll be working on putting together a presentation for supporters about this past year, and also about our future plans, so maybe as I'm doing that I'll post a couple thoughts along those lines - looking back and looking forward.
Oh yeah, and Happy New Year!! For my East Coast friends, we've got about four hours to go.
Thursday, December 22, 2005
Back in the USA
We arrived in Baltimore yesterday to a warm welcome from all four of our parents and all three siblings (plus one girlfriend). Our first meal in the States? Chinese food from China Legend, the place that catered for our wedding. Today we visited my brother who works at Starbucks and did some food shopping. Somer's making Spicy Mince Lamb for dinner - check her blog soon for full details. I've been walking around all day in a bit of a daze - it feels a little more than the tiredness associated with jet lag. I just feel out of sorts. More on this later, if I can sort it out.
Saturday, December 17, 2005
Leaving London
Watching Ice Age, our favorite Family Movie Night movie. It's almost over...just enough time to give a quick update on our last week in London. We've said good-bye to all our friends. Had a nice party at Mums & Tots on Friday, and saw some of our friends that we hadn't seen for a few weeks, which was really good. The kids at Ley Street's youth club were really nice on Thursday, they gave me some chocolates, a Christmas ornament, and a few good-bye cards. We took a break from packing this afternoon to swing by the local mall, where several churches joined together to do singing and give away free hot chocolate and soup to cold shoppers.
As part of our family preparation for leaving, we've been telling each other stories from our year over dinner this past week. I would suggest a topic like "What did you like about London" or "What don't you like about London" or "Who are some of the people you met in London", and then let the stories flow. The girls had lots of fun with it, and I think it was good for our family's collective memory. I'll try to blog some of those stories over the Christmas holiday, if I can find some time. But until then, it's "Goodbye from London" (unless I can find a spare minute to blog at Heathrow!)
As part of our family preparation for leaving, we've been telling each other stories from our year over dinner this past week. I would suggest a topic like "What did you like about London" or "What don't you like about London" or "Who are some of the people you met in London", and then let the stories flow. The girls had lots of fun with it, and I think it was good for our family's collective memory. I'll try to blog some of those stories over the Christmas holiday, if I can find some time. But until then, it's "Goodbye from London" (unless I can find a spare minute to blog at Heathrow!)
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Emerging Discouraging Today
Today was the carol service at Bethel. It was a good service, and contained many of the elements that I find very attractive in the emerging church movement. But let me start at the beginning of my Emerging Discouraging Today
We woke up (some of us later than others...ahem) and got ready to go to church. We have to leave about 45 minutes before church starts in order to get there with time to chill with people before the service. But today, the car wouldn't start. It was too cold, and the battery had died overnight.
None of our neighbors had jumper cables.
After checking askmen.com I decided to try to push-start the car. Well, that was a total disaster, and after about 10 minutes and four runs up and down the street, my legs were shaking and my lungs burning. I felt faint and sick for the next half hour, and while laying down with a cold cloth on my head I fell asleep. I woke up to find the sky clouded with smoke (see previous post). So we didn't get to church, and I was very discouraged, both because I couldn't get the car started, and also because I had really been looking forward to church this morning.
Not to worry...we had the carol service at Bethel to look forward to. At that didn't disappoint...sort of. Here are some of the elements I really liked about it. I'll say up front that these are elements that connect to themes within the emerging church, even though Bethel itself is neither a church nor emerging.
1. A reappreciation of Scripture as story - specifically Jesus' story: We basically read the Christmas story, weaving the different gospel accounts together into one. There were different readers for the different speakers in the story, but nobody acted anything out...it was just good story-telling.
2. Yes, I'll admit we had the room lit with candles...if you are in an emerging church, you know this is a very "non-emerging" thing to do; if you aren't in an emerging church, you think this is the definition of emerging church...but hey, it's Christmas, and you just gotta have candles.
3. We saw the entire evening as celebration. So we gave out drinks as people came in. We had gifts at the door for each person as they left - and not cheesy gifts either. Somer made and hand-wrapped a packet of Peppermint Barkfor each person. We wove a few songs into the mix of the story, because every good party needs some singing. And then, of course, lots of food at the end.
4. A missional focus - we had invited all of our friends who were not church-goers to come along, and had set aside a few reading parts for a couple of the younger Hub guys. Somer's friends from moms & tots were coming, as were a number of our friends from the estate. And here, I think, is where we stopped emerging and started looking a lot more traditional, and in the end why my day was an emerging discouraging day. Because none of the people we had invited came. There were a fair number of people at the service, but they were all Christians, all church "insiders".
There was only one person there who I think was not a Christian - a woman from a different faith.
Maybe that's because the service wasn't really as "missional" as we thought it was. Maybe the whole idea of "missional service" is an oxymoron.
What are your thoughts?
We woke up (some of us later than others...ahem) and got ready to go to church. We have to leave about 45 minutes before church starts in order to get there with time to chill with people before the service. But today, the car wouldn't start. It was too cold, and the battery had died overnight.
None of our neighbors had jumper cables.
After checking askmen.com I decided to try to push-start the car. Well, that was a total disaster, and after about 10 minutes and four runs up and down the street, my legs were shaking and my lungs burning. I felt faint and sick for the next half hour, and while laying down with a cold cloth on my head I fell asleep. I woke up to find the sky clouded with smoke (see previous post). So we didn't get to church, and I was very discouraged, both because I couldn't get the car started, and also because I had really been looking forward to church this morning.
Not to worry...we had the carol service at Bethel to look forward to. At that didn't disappoint...sort of. Here are some of the elements I really liked about it. I'll say up front that these are elements that connect to themes within the emerging church, even though Bethel itself is neither a church nor emerging.
1. A reappreciation of Scripture as story - specifically Jesus' story: We basically read the Christmas story, weaving the different gospel accounts together into one. There were different readers for the different speakers in the story, but nobody acted anything out...it was just good story-telling.
2. Yes, I'll admit we had the room lit with candles...if you are in an emerging church, you know this is a very "non-emerging" thing to do; if you aren't in an emerging church, you think this is the definition of emerging church...but hey, it's Christmas, and you just gotta have candles.
3. We saw the entire evening as celebration. So we gave out drinks as people came in. We had gifts at the door for each person as they left - and not cheesy gifts either. Somer made and hand-wrapped a packet of Peppermint Barkfor each person. We wove a few songs into the mix of the story, because every good party needs some singing. And then, of course, lots of food at the end.
4. A missional focus - we had invited all of our friends who were not church-goers to come along, and had set aside a few reading parts for a couple of the younger Hub guys. Somer's friends from moms & tots were coming, as were a number of our friends from the estate. And here, I think, is where we stopped emerging and started looking a lot more traditional, and in the end why my day was an emerging discouraging day. Because none of the people we had invited came. There were a fair number of people at the service, but they were all Christians, all church "insiders".
There was only one person there who I think was not a Christian - a woman from a different faith.
Maybe that's because the service wasn't really as "missional" as we thought it was. Maybe the whole idea of "missional service" is an oxymoron.
What are your thoughts?
Oil Depot Explosion
There was an explosion early this morning at a fuel depot outside of London. The BBC has some haunting pictures, as well as full coverage. By mid-afternoon the smoke had spread to Ilford, where we live. The sky was not completely black, but the sun was obscured. It felt like any other cloudy day...in fact, I didn't even know it was smoke until our friends told us what had happened.
Friday, December 09, 2005
Carol Service
Sunday evening Bethel is hosting a carol service. We decided to make it a little less "traditional" and a little more welcoming. We'll be serving drinks as people come in (after all, what kind of host makes her guests wait for 45 minutes before offering them refreshment?) Instead of singing a bunch of songs that most people who haven't stepped into a church don't know, we'll only be singing 3 carols, one of which will be led by the children from our moms and tots group (if any of them will actually sing in front of people). The focus of the service will be telling the story of Jesus' birth. To do that, each member of staff has been assigned a different character - but it's not like a play, it's more a dramatic reading. At key points, some of the words spoken by the characters will be displayed on the overhead projector (yes, it'll even be multimedia!!) Of course we will finish the evening with food provided by Somer. We are also putting together small gifts to give each person who comes.
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Bob Dylan and the First Commandment
The Hub starts in ten minutes. Tonight the talk is on the first commandment. So I'm playing a Bob Dylan song for the guys, and then saying a few words. First person to guess which song I'm playing will get a prize...I'll title the next post in honor of you. Post a comment with your guess.
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Meeting Witches
Well, not so much witches, but a witch.
Met her while going door to door today in Ilford.
She didn't want our literature - said she was a Pagan. Being the inquisitive guy that I am, I asked her what "Pagan" meant. She went on to explain that she believes everything around us is alive. She celebrates the cycles of nature, believes in a duality (god and goddess), and has a specific goddess that is "hers". She belongs to a coven of witches with whom she celebrates nature and worships her goddess, and she's even a chaplain for Pagans in prison.
I asked her about Harry Potter - she laughed and said it had nothing to do with her reality - just a pure fantasy.
She said the church has often misunderstood Pagans and accused them of worshipping Satan; but she said she doesn't worship Satan, and doesn't even believe he exists. She said she did think that Jesus existed, and the was a good man, but not the son of God. She also mentioned how she doesn't like "Born again" Christians because they can't tolerate anyone who disagrees with them. I told her that I believed that Jesus said he was the only way to God, and that I believed he was telling the truth. I asked her if she thought it was possible for me to believe that and still respect and value people like her. She said 'Yes'.
Very interesting. Wasn't sure where to go with it all...it was a little freaky because she didn't open the door more than a crack during the whole conversation, so all I could see of her was one eye (talk about playing into the bad stereotypes of witches).
I asked her if I could pray for her before we left and ask God to bless her. She said "Sure...well...you're not going to pray that my soul gets converted, are you?" I said "No, I'll simply ask God to bless you." And I did. As I recall, that's what the founder of World Harvest used to do when he'd meet people in their shops...pray God's blessing on them.
When I was finished, she said "And may my goddess bless you." Hmm...
Anyway, does anyone have any thoughts about this? Just kind of wondering if I did the right thing...I can be really nice to people, play away from all the negative stereotypes of Christians being people who hate everyone who doesn't agree with them. But in the end, has my interaction with this woman honored Jesus?
Met her while going door to door today in Ilford.
She didn't want our literature - said she was a Pagan. Being the inquisitive guy that I am, I asked her what "Pagan" meant. She went on to explain that she believes everything around us is alive. She celebrates the cycles of nature, believes in a duality (god and goddess), and has a specific goddess that is "hers". She belongs to a coven of witches with whom she celebrates nature and worships her goddess, and she's even a chaplain for Pagans in prison.
I asked her about Harry Potter - she laughed and said it had nothing to do with her reality - just a pure fantasy.
She said the church has often misunderstood Pagans and accused them of worshipping Satan; but she said she doesn't worship Satan, and doesn't even believe he exists. She said she did think that Jesus existed, and the was a good man, but not the son of God. She also mentioned how she doesn't like "Born again" Christians because they can't tolerate anyone who disagrees with them. I told her that I believed that Jesus said he was the only way to God, and that I believed he was telling the truth. I asked her if she thought it was possible for me to believe that and still respect and value people like her. She said 'Yes'.
Very interesting. Wasn't sure where to go with it all...it was a little freaky because she didn't open the door more than a crack during the whole conversation, so all I could see of her was one eye (talk about playing into the bad stereotypes of witches).
I asked her if I could pray for her before we left and ask God to bless her. She said "Sure...well...you're not going to pray that my soul gets converted, are you?" I said "No, I'll simply ask God to bless you." And I did. As I recall, that's what the founder of World Harvest used to do when he'd meet people in their shops...pray God's blessing on them.
When I was finished, she said "And may my goddess bless you." Hmm...
Anyway, does anyone have any thoughts about this? Just kind of wondering if I did the right thing...I can be really nice to people, play away from all the negative stereotypes of Christians being people who hate everyone who doesn't agree with them. But in the end, has my interaction with this woman honored Jesus?
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