What comes to mind when you hear the word 'hosting'?
I think of hospitality, welcome, warmth, service, humility, quietness, graciousness, inclusion, generosity, making-space-for-others-to-shine ...
Within weeks of finishing the middle book of the Simon Walker trilogy on leadership where he suggests this idea of the leader being a 'host', I find myself reading a book on preaching (Chris Erdman, Countdown to Sunday) where the author keeps returning to this very same word to speak of the preaching task: we are about hosting the word of God for the people of God.
For example (in a chapter on the value of the lectionary):
"We're finding that there is something deeply consistent with discipleship when we can't choose the words we will hear each Sunday, the texts our preachers read and ponder among us. And I think this moves the right direction on the interpretive bridge. Our people now want our preachers to host the text in all its strangeness, standing with them beneath it, even (maybe especially) when it is beguiling and confusing, dark and troubling. And their desires now square with my own - I'm not much interested in moving from the world we live in toward the text and trying to square its old ways with this new world as if the text must be made relevant to us. Rather I think the text wants to make us relevant to God. And the text - not our own agendas, opinions, or desires - is the birthplace of God's new life for us and for the world" (43-44).
Hosting?! Is it a metaphor to capture the essence of both leadership and preaching? An intriguing question...
nice chatting
Paul
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
the undefended leader (c)
There is something of the concentric circles in this trilogy...
We shift from the personal character of the leader (vol 1) to the pragmatics of leadership, specially in its use of power (vol 2) and now the politics of leadership as we discover its influence in the broad sweep of large populations of people over space and through time: Simon Walker, Leading with Everything to Give: lessons from the success and failure of western capitalism (Piquant, 2009).
The book is part-sociology and part-spirituality as Walker calls for a 'cultural rebirth'. While the relevance of the early books is unquestioned - here an urgency mixes with that relevance. I found myself being distracted by thoughts of Ecclesiastes, Amos, the parables and the like all the way through. And the same strengths I enjoyed in the earlier volumes are still there: brief, simple, applied, illustrated, and inclusive.
The first half of the book is about "Deconstruction" as Walker gathers lessons from the failures of Western capitalism into the same template as he uses in vol 2. First up, it is The Crumbling of Our Foundations (ch2). "Let's be clear: the economic crisis that exploded in the early autumn of 2008 was not caused primarily by bad banking practices..." (8). One of our main difficulties is that we have no way of saying "No" to the advance of technology. It must be constrained "by a moral discourse that lies outside the realm and control of the scientist and the technocrat"(17). "We won't stop until we can't go on - and then it will be too late" (18).
Then it is The Insatiable Hunger of the Well-fed (ch 3) and an examination of the social cost of consumerism. We are less resilient, more fragile. Politically "people regard themselves as consumers rather than citizens and politicians offer the electorate a choice of products rather than privileges on the basis of shared responsibilities" (29).
Then it is Bowing the Knee: the Ascent of Money (ch 4) and the growing inability to define ourselves in any other way than personal financial wealth. "GDP" is how we measure a nation's health - leaving the majority world legitmately wanting to catch-up - but even if this could be attained, it cannot be sustained. "Unless the West changes course it will be responsible for leading the rest of the world into very perilous waters" (38). We must discover a triple bottom line as a measurement of health: social, environemntal and financial.
Then it is on to Buying the World Cheap (ch 5) as Walker discusses issues of migration, urbanisation and 'exploiting the desperate'. The policies of America and Britian in the face of the 'global threat of Islamist terror' have been "catastrophically flawed" (49). They are designed to "contain the contents of the cauldron while the West continues with the strategies of political and economic domination that lit the fire in the first place ... unless we turn the heat down, sooner or later it will boil over. Its basic physics and basic social ecology" (49). Maybe this is why I was so enamoured with President Obama's speech in Cairo. I think he understands this...
Next up is Celluloid Slavery: the Economics of the Celebrity Class (ch 6) and this habit we have of admiring "people who have little, or even no, discernible talent or achievement"(52). This chapter is such a worry! Walker cites a study which discovers that "one in ten teenagers surveyed would be willing to give up their education to appear on TV"(57).
ch 7 is about The Rending of Our Social Fabric. Here Walker discusses the asset which we have forgotten to gather and build: 'social capital' - "the trust that exists between people ... the richness of the spaces between people ... the closeness, integrity, and reliability of relationships in any community" (61). This social capital has been spent and squandered leaving us with a crisis far greater than the one caused by any financial crisis.
Then it is to ch 8 and The Swelling of the Underclass. Every society in history has had an underclass. "For a society to be healthy, its most powerful members need to show compassion to its most powerless, something that seems to happen less often today than in the past" (70). "The West has bought the world cheap. Ultimately, the problem of the global underclass is not a matter of too little aid or trade, or too much debt: it is a matter of too much consumption ... We have bought the world cheap and the price we have paid is not enough to sustain the dignity and hope of people who have sold almost everything they had" (74).
In ch 9 the full weight of this 'deconstruction' is explained. Walker claims that we are experiencing the end of an era that commenced in the Renaissance five centuries ago. That is a big claim! We are in a grieving process: Death, Grief and Changing Cycles. "I am not convinced that we or our leaders have the courage to embrace our loss as deeply as we must"(82). The West needs to recover some roots - moral roots, spiritual roots. "Productivity without rest, aspiration without restraint, rights without responsbilities, freedom without limits, ownership without stewardship" (83) is not the answer!. On pp84-85 there is a plea for the spiritual. Surgical stuff - and very moving.
Then the book turns to "Reconstruction " as Walker gathers lessons for the future of society. Solutions are never as easy to articulate as the analysis of what is wrong. This is true here - and yet I sense that Walker is writing intentionally with more restraint and open-endedness so as to draw the reader into the issues. Furthermore there is no shortage of practical ideas in what follows... [NB - you may wish to visit www.theleadershipcommunity.org to continue this discussion].
"This book is a health waring to all those who imagine that all is well in the West and want to emulate it"(90). And off he goes to embrace a whole bunch of C-words: Culture; Consumption and Citizenship ("there is no doubt that ultimately the challenge which faces humankind is to reduce our total consumption"(99)); Capital; Control and Capacity; Celebrity ("we must encourage the emergence of a new kind of hero" (117)); Compassion; Cohesion; Conviction ("it is the spiritual that historically has proved to have the greatest capacity to inspire our noblest acts" (128))...
"Genuine spirituality is a spirituality of undefendedness, of generosity, which enjoys the resources we have but also freely gives them away" (132).
"For its own sake and that of society, the church needs to find a new language in which to express its vibrant spirituality ... My own experience is that many people in our society are crying out for an experience of transcendence. They have never known what it is to walk on holy ground, to enter a sacred space in which prayer has been offered for centuries and take off their shoes in the heavy silence of reverent awe. They have never been awakened to their own soul; they do not know what it is for that soul to touch the Other, to encounter what is beyond, what is older, deeper and more mysterious. They do not know the discipline of waiting, in stillness and denial of self, and paying attention to the Other. We are truly a generation of 'hollow men', superficial, thin, transparent, rootless, substanceless, weightless, in danger of being swept away by the slightest puff of wind. The church will be doing us all a fatal disservice if it offers us no more than another serving of spiritual retail therapy" (133).
If that is not an invitation to preach Ecclesiastes, I am not sure what is!
Chapter 19 finishes with Where Do We Go From Here?... "the day for wilful negligence is surely over" (136). Walker urges us to cultivate both idealism and pragmatism as we confront the present and the future with respect to what we consume, where we work, where we live, how we invest, and where we worship. Then it is about embracing the "undefended life" marked by a receiving, a welcoming, and a stewarding - with all being done with a generosity.
These three posts on this 'undefended leader' trilogy are the longest posts I have ever posted. Is there a parting shot to make for those who have got this far? With all that I am and with whatever wisdom and experience I have gained over the years, I plead with you to look at those whom you coach/mentor and seriously consider purchasing this trilogy and working your way through it together through 2010.
Go on - do it!
nice chatting
Paul
We shift from the personal character of the leader (vol 1) to the pragmatics of leadership, specially in its use of power (vol 2) and now the politics of leadership as we discover its influence in the broad sweep of large populations of people over space and through time: Simon Walker, Leading with Everything to Give: lessons from the success and failure of western capitalism (Piquant, 2009).
The book is part-sociology and part-spirituality as Walker calls for a 'cultural rebirth'. While the relevance of the early books is unquestioned - here an urgency mixes with that relevance. I found myself being distracted by thoughts of Ecclesiastes, Amos, the parables and the like all the way through. And the same strengths I enjoyed in the earlier volumes are still there: brief, simple, applied, illustrated, and inclusive.
The first half of the book is about "Deconstruction" as Walker gathers lessons from the failures of Western capitalism into the same template as he uses in vol 2. First up, it is The Crumbling of Our Foundations (ch2). "Let's be clear: the economic crisis that exploded in the early autumn of 2008 was not caused primarily by bad banking practices..." (8). One of our main difficulties is that we have no way of saying "No" to the advance of technology. It must be constrained "by a moral discourse that lies outside the realm and control of the scientist and the technocrat"(17). "We won't stop until we can't go on - and then it will be too late" (18).
Then it is The Insatiable Hunger of the Well-fed (ch 3) and an examination of the social cost of consumerism. We are less resilient, more fragile. Politically "people regard themselves as consumers rather than citizens and politicians offer the electorate a choice of products rather than privileges on the basis of shared responsibilities" (29).
Then it is Bowing the Knee: the Ascent of Money (ch 4) and the growing inability to define ourselves in any other way than personal financial wealth. "GDP" is how we measure a nation's health - leaving the majority world legitmately wanting to catch-up - but even if this could be attained, it cannot be sustained. "Unless the West changes course it will be responsible for leading the rest of the world into very perilous waters" (38). We must discover a triple bottom line as a measurement of health: social, environemntal and financial.
Then it is on to Buying the World Cheap (ch 5) as Walker discusses issues of migration, urbanisation and 'exploiting the desperate'. The policies of America and Britian in the face of the 'global threat of Islamist terror' have been "catastrophically flawed" (49). They are designed to "contain the contents of the cauldron while the West continues with the strategies of political and economic domination that lit the fire in the first place ... unless we turn the heat down, sooner or later it will boil over. Its basic physics and basic social ecology" (49). Maybe this is why I was so enamoured with President Obama's speech in Cairo. I think he understands this...
Next up is Celluloid Slavery: the Economics of the Celebrity Class (ch 6) and this habit we have of admiring "people who have little, or even no, discernible talent or achievement"(52). This chapter is such a worry! Walker cites a study which discovers that "one in ten teenagers surveyed would be willing to give up their education to appear on TV"(57).
ch 7 is about The Rending of Our Social Fabric. Here Walker discusses the asset which we have forgotten to gather and build: 'social capital' - "the trust that exists between people ... the richness of the spaces between people ... the closeness, integrity, and reliability of relationships in any community" (61). This social capital has been spent and squandered leaving us with a crisis far greater than the one caused by any financial crisis.
Then it is to ch 8 and The Swelling of the Underclass. Every society in history has had an underclass. "For a society to be healthy, its most powerful members need to show compassion to its most powerless, something that seems to happen less often today than in the past" (70). "The West has bought the world cheap. Ultimately, the problem of the global underclass is not a matter of too little aid or trade, or too much debt: it is a matter of too much consumption ... We have bought the world cheap and the price we have paid is not enough to sustain the dignity and hope of people who have sold almost everything they had" (74).
In ch 9 the full weight of this 'deconstruction' is explained. Walker claims that we are experiencing the end of an era that commenced in the Renaissance five centuries ago. That is a big claim! We are in a grieving process: Death, Grief and Changing Cycles. "I am not convinced that we or our leaders have the courage to embrace our loss as deeply as we must"(82). The West needs to recover some roots - moral roots, spiritual roots. "Productivity without rest, aspiration without restraint, rights without responsbilities, freedom without limits, ownership without stewardship" (83) is not the answer!. On pp84-85 there is a plea for the spiritual. Surgical stuff - and very moving.
Then the book turns to "Reconstruction " as Walker gathers lessons for the future of society. Solutions are never as easy to articulate as the analysis of what is wrong. This is true here - and yet I sense that Walker is writing intentionally with more restraint and open-endedness so as to draw the reader into the issues. Furthermore there is no shortage of practical ideas in what follows... [NB - you may wish to visit www.theleadershipcommunity.org to continue this discussion].
"This book is a health waring to all those who imagine that all is well in the West and want to emulate it"(90). And off he goes to embrace a whole bunch of C-words: Culture; Consumption and Citizenship ("there is no doubt that ultimately the challenge which faces humankind is to reduce our total consumption"(99)); Capital; Control and Capacity; Celebrity ("we must encourage the emergence of a new kind of hero" (117)); Compassion; Cohesion; Conviction ("it is the spiritual that historically has proved to have the greatest capacity to inspire our noblest acts" (128))...
"Genuine spirituality is a spirituality of undefendedness, of generosity, which enjoys the resources we have but also freely gives them away" (132).
"For its own sake and that of society, the church needs to find a new language in which to express its vibrant spirituality ... My own experience is that many people in our society are crying out for an experience of transcendence. They have never known what it is to walk on holy ground, to enter a sacred space in which prayer has been offered for centuries and take off their shoes in the heavy silence of reverent awe. They have never been awakened to their own soul; they do not know what it is for that soul to touch the Other, to encounter what is beyond, what is older, deeper and more mysterious. They do not know the discipline of waiting, in stillness and denial of self, and paying attention to the Other. We are truly a generation of 'hollow men', superficial, thin, transparent, rootless, substanceless, weightless, in danger of being swept away by the slightest puff of wind. The church will be doing us all a fatal disservice if it offers us no more than another serving of spiritual retail therapy" (133).
If that is not an invitation to preach Ecclesiastes, I am not sure what is!
Chapter 19 finishes with Where Do We Go From Here?... "the day for wilful negligence is surely over" (136). Walker urges us to cultivate both idealism and pragmatism as we confront the present and the future with respect to what we consume, where we work, where we live, how we invest, and where we worship. Then it is about embracing the "undefended life" marked by a receiving, a welcoming, and a stewarding - with all being done with a generosity.
These three posts on this 'undefended leader' trilogy are the longest posts I have ever posted. Is there a parting shot to make for those who have got this far? With all that I am and with whatever wisdom and experience I have gained over the years, I plead with you to look at those whom you coach/mentor and seriously consider purchasing this trilogy and working your way through it together through 2010.
Go on - do it!
nice chatting
Paul
Sunday, November 01, 2009
plane dissonance
On the flight home from Singapore yesterday I had two experiences of dissonance ...[NB 'resonance' and 'dissonance' are two of my favourite words!]
Firstly...
I packed my bags in Chiangmai and decided this time to put my Bible and my John Baillie's Diary of Private Prayer into my suitcase, rather than my carry-on bag. Travel a little bit lighter methinks... Then on the flight I found myself among a group of young Polynesians from a pentecostal church in South Auckland (one of the very poor areas of town) who were going home after "doing missions" in Cambodia. They all had their Bibles with them - not just in their carry-on bags, but with them in their seats. And... at different times through the trip each of them reached for their Bibles and read them and wrote notes in their notebooks. Nothing ostentatious. Very natural. I felt embarassed. I felt humbled. I felt dissonance.
Then...
I settled into book-reading, movie-watching mode. I had my brother-in-law's first book to read: Patrick Dodson's Stuff my dad never told me about Relationships (Pause for Effect, 2009). I searched Singapore Airlines ample offerings of films and settled on the well-reviewed 500 Days of Summer. Talk about dissonance. I am still feeling deeply disturbed by that combo.
Patrick is at his best writing about sex as it relates to building relationships. The content is great - "sexuality is better when you wait, because in the waiting you actually have time to love all of the other person, not just their body" (101) - and I love the tone. Its urgent as he is virtually pleading with young adults not to be so stupid ... as stupid as we see time and time again in the movies. Like 500 Days of Summer. It is a boy meets girl movie. It is alarming how few of the 500 days it takes for the relationship to become sexual. Equally alarming is the character of the girl who appears kinda 'pure and pretty' - but in the relationship completely redefines the 'casual' in casual sex. I found it a disturbing movie - and most disturbing of all is that I reckon the vast majority of Christians watching the movie won't be disturbed at all. Afterall statistics show that on matters related to sexual behaviour there is no great difference between the lives of those who are Christ's and those who are not yet Christ's.
nice chatting - even if a still reeling from the dissonance
Paul
Firstly...
I packed my bags in Chiangmai and decided this time to put my Bible and my John Baillie's Diary of Private Prayer into my suitcase, rather than my carry-on bag. Travel a little bit lighter methinks... Then on the flight I found myself among a group of young Polynesians from a pentecostal church in South Auckland (one of the very poor areas of town) who were going home after "doing missions" in Cambodia. They all had their Bibles with them - not just in their carry-on bags, but with them in their seats. And... at different times through the trip each of them reached for their Bibles and read them and wrote notes in their notebooks. Nothing ostentatious. Very natural. I felt embarassed. I felt humbled. I felt dissonance.
Then...
I settled into book-reading, movie-watching mode. I had my brother-in-law's first book to read: Patrick Dodson's Stuff my dad never told me about Relationships (Pause for Effect, 2009). I searched Singapore Airlines ample offerings of films and settled on the well-reviewed 500 Days of Summer. Talk about dissonance. I am still feeling deeply disturbed by that combo.
Patrick is at his best writing about sex as it relates to building relationships. The content is great - "sexuality is better when you wait, because in the waiting you actually have time to love all of the other person, not just their body" (101) - and I love the tone. Its urgent as he is virtually pleading with young adults not to be so stupid ... as stupid as we see time and time again in the movies. Like 500 Days of Summer. It is a boy meets girl movie. It is alarming how few of the 500 days it takes for the relationship to become sexual. Equally alarming is the character of the girl who appears kinda 'pure and pretty' - but in the relationship completely redefines the 'casual' in casual sex. I found it a disturbing movie - and most disturbing of all is that I reckon the vast majority of Christians watching the movie won't be disturbed at all. Afterall statistics show that on matters related to sexual behaviour there is no great difference between the lives of those who are Christ's and those who are not yet Christ's.
nice chatting - even if a still reeling from the dissonance
Paul
Thursday, October 29, 2009
the glory of preaching
How ironic is this...
With 200+ books on preaching on my shelves and with 20 years of teaching preaching in the classroom and with a multitude of moans about 'why can't just one of those books serve as a textbook in just one of those years in the classroom' - well, in the year that I finish as a classroom teacher, the textbook shows up.
Darrell W. Johnson, The Glory of Preaching: Participating in God's Transformation of the World (IVP, 2009). Yep - it is that good. It may not be the best book I've ever read on preaching, but as far as basic, comprehensive textbooks go, it enters the charts at Number One.
Why?
1. I am Stottian in my convictions. That means theology is more important than methodology. That means holding your techniques lightly, but being held by your convictions tightly. I love the way Johnson opens with 4 chapters on convictions ("theoretical foundations for participating") and then it is 5 chapters on techniques ("human mechanics on participating") - before concluding with 1 chapter on convictions again ("theoretical foundations again"). I like the symmetry. I like what the symmetry is saying. Students need this in their foundations.
2. There is something in his basic metaphor of 'participating': "expository preaching is not about getting a message out of the text; it is about inviting people into the text so that the text can do what only the text can do" - 58).
3. I confess - as I have done before in this blog - that I am somewhat dubious about the North American academic homiletic tradition. With their books they tend to talk among themselves and create this massive industry - and it just feels a bit ivory-tower-ish and club-ish to me. Not sure. What I am sure of is that Johnson is so refreshingly different. It drips out of his book. Not a lot of polish. It is almost chatty. His career has bounced between church and academy and between East and West. He has been a pastor (I think he has just left Regent College in a return to the pastorate) and he has been a missionary in the Philippines. It shows. I like it.
4. Let's face it! Johnson has written a whole heap of stuff I'd dream about putting in a 'book' on preaching. So there is a depressing side to reading this book!
For example:
(a) his definition of preaching emphasizes the need to be "causing a shift in worldview" - YES!;
(b) he makes space for the significance of the parable of the sower/seed/soils - YES!;
(c) he has such a high view of the Bible - informing, transforming and performing - YES! ("our task as preachers is to open the text in such a way that the text itself does what only the text can do" - 165);
(d) he includes an entire chapter on "the many-verbed wonder (which is) the preaching moment" (98) - YES! (even classifying them into four quadrants - "hold me back lest I swoon");
(e) he lingers with the importance of mere observation of what the text is in saying and with a genre-sensitivity - YES!;
(f) he includes his manuscript of a sermon and he does it just like I do - so unlike an essay - YES!
5. Then there are other topics on which Johnson is so fresh and so clear, even prophetic.
For example:
(a) 'truth through personality' becomes "personhood" as he takes us through Temperament, Woundedness, and Gifting ("burnout in ministry does not result from overworking; burnout results from not honouring who we are and instead trying to be who we think we ought to be" - 190);
(b) betraying his experience in Asia, he puts postmodernity (and the new atheism, I might add) in its place - pleading with the reader to open their eyes and realise that in the future inter-faith issues are going to be of far more consequence than lack-of-faith issues;
(c) keeping the sociologists and the marketers at arm's length a bit, he questions aspects of the pursuit or relevance and the place of seeker-sensitivity. In effect - 'if you are going to let those guys define the problem you may find yourself checking them out for the total solution as well ... and the drift from the gospel has begun'.
(d) affirming the need for the Spirit at work at both ends, saved appropriately for his concluding chapter;
(e) having a little word for those who tend to be intimidated by the visual as preachers - "the power of a film does not lie in its sights alone but also in its sounds" (145).
6. Some of the stuff he says is just downright intriguing. It makes you want to respond - "really?! - please explain yourself".
For example:
(a) the case he makes for continuing to handwrite his notes, rather than using a word-processor (135);
(b) the case he makes for application not being the preacher's responsibility - rather it is "implication" - "to expect preachers to apply the text for their listeners is to ask them to play God ... the pressure to apply is a modernist pressure, not a biblical pressure" - 159);
(c) the way he plans for the next year's special service immediately after this year's version - "why wait for a few weeks or months? Late Christmas Eve is the best time to prepare (for next year) because, one, all the sounds and smells and sights of the celebration are fresh in my senses and, two, I know what I did not preach for lack of time and wished I could have" - 210).
7. Finally, I have met Darrell. He took me out to lunch one day in Vancouver. I liked him a lot. No airs. Just a natural authentic person. I actually invited him to NZ and he had to cancel on me in the end. I might try again.
nice chatting
Paul
With 200+ books on preaching on my shelves and with 20 years of teaching preaching in the classroom and with a multitude of moans about 'why can't just one of those books serve as a textbook in just one of those years in the classroom' - well, in the year that I finish as a classroom teacher, the textbook shows up.
Darrell W. Johnson, The Glory of Preaching: Participating in God's Transformation of the World (IVP, 2009). Yep - it is that good. It may not be the best book I've ever read on preaching, but as far as basic, comprehensive textbooks go, it enters the charts at Number One.
Why?
1. I am Stottian in my convictions. That means theology is more important than methodology. That means holding your techniques lightly, but being held by your convictions tightly. I love the way Johnson opens with 4 chapters on convictions ("theoretical foundations for participating") and then it is 5 chapters on techniques ("human mechanics on participating") - before concluding with 1 chapter on convictions again ("theoretical foundations again"). I like the symmetry. I like what the symmetry is saying. Students need this in their foundations.
2. There is something in his basic metaphor of 'participating': "expository preaching is not about getting a message out of the text; it is about inviting people into the text so that the text can do what only the text can do" - 58).
3. I confess - as I have done before in this blog - that I am somewhat dubious about the North American academic homiletic tradition. With their books they tend to talk among themselves and create this massive industry - and it just feels a bit ivory-tower-ish and club-ish to me. Not sure. What I am sure of is that Johnson is so refreshingly different. It drips out of his book. Not a lot of polish. It is almost chatty. His career has bounced between church and academy and between East and West. He has been a pastor (I think he has just left Regent College in a return to the pastorate) and he has been a missionary in the Philippines. It shows. I like it.
4. Let's face it! Johnson has written a whole heap of stuff I'd dream about putting in a 'book' on preaching. So there is a depressing side to reading this book!
For example:
(a) his definition of preaching emphasizes the need to be "causing a shift in worldview" - YES!;
(b) he makes space for the significance of the parable of the sower/seed/soils - YES!;
(c) he has such a high view of the Bible - informing, transforming and performing - YES! ("our task as preachers is to open the text in such a way that the text itself does what only the text can do" - 165);
(d) he includes an entire chapter on "the many-verbed wonder (which is) the preaching moment" (98) - YES! (even classifying them into four quadrants - "hold me back lest I swoon");
(e) he lingers with the importance of mere observation of what the text is in saying and with a genre-sensitivity - YES!;
(f) he includes his manuscript of a sermon and he does it just like I do - so unlike an essay - YES!
5. Then there are other topics on which Johnson is so fresh and so clear, even prophetic.
For example:
(a) 'truth through personality' becomes "personhood" as he takes us through Temperament, Woundedness, and Gifting ("burnout in ministry does not result from overworking; burnout results from not honouring who we are and instead trying to be who we think we ought to be" - 190);
(b) betraying his experience in Asia, he puts postmodernity (and the new atheism, I might add) in its place - pleading with the reader to open their eyes and realise that in the future inter-faith issues are going to be of far more consequence than lack-of-faith issues;
(c) keeping the sociologists and the marketers at arm's length a bit, he questions aspects of the pursuit or relevance and the place of seeker-sensitivity. In effect - 'if you are going to let those guys define the problem you may find yourself checking them out for the total solution as well ... and the drift from the gospel has begun'.
(d) affirming the need for the Spirit at work at both ends, saved appropriately for his concluding chapter;
(e) having a little word for those who tend to be intimidated by the visual as preachers - "the power of a film does not lie in its sights alone but also in its sounds" (145).
6. Some of the stuff he says is just downright intriguing. It makes you want to respond - "really?! - please explain yourself".
For example:
(a) the case he makes for continuing to handwrite his notes, rather than using a word-processor (135);
(b) the case he makes for application not being the preacher's responsibility - rather it is "implication" - "to expect preachers to apply the text for their listeners is to ask them to play God ... the pressure to apply is a modernist pressure, not a biblical pressure" - 159);
(c) the way he plans for the next year's special service immediately after this year's version - "why wait for a few weeks or months? Late Christmas Eve is the best time to prepare (for next year) because, one, all the sounds and smells and sights of the celebration are fresh in my senses and, two, I know what I did not preach for lack of time and wished I could have" - 210).
7. Finally, I have met Darrell. He took me out to lunch one day in Vancouver. I liked him a lot. No airs. Just a natural authentic person. I actually invited him to NZ and he had to cancel on me in the end. I might try again.
nice chatting
Paul
Monday, October 26, 2009
koru clubs
It happened again.
Sitting in yet another Majority World church context - this time the Graduation Ceremony of the Phnom Penh Bible School in Cambodia - and I find it staring me in the face from the front wall in huge font. The whole focus is on maturity: "help your people grow in Christ".
This is one of the twin mandates of the church in the New Testament. The other mandate is mission. But it seldom receives the same focus because people tend to be coming to Christ and evangelism and church-planting is happening anyway. It is almost routine. The great need is to see people mature.
The context back home in New Zealand is just so different. The mission challenge is immense. It hogs the headlines as we struggle along. However let's not forget to invest heavily in maturing the people of God. This is done primarily through the ministries of the Word of God. We might be surprised at how this impacts that mission challenge we face. That is why this view adjacent to the deck outside our new home is just so energising. This is exactly what I pray for the churches of New Zealand: that they would become koru clubs, gatherings of people unfurling into likeness to Christ as they remain in Christ. I reckon that this has massive missional potential - and without it mission is going to keep disintegrating into a perennially messy ineffectiveness.
Here is to being faithful to the twin mandates of the church: maturity and mission
nice chatting
Paul
Sitting in yet another Majority World church context - this time the Graduation Ceremony of the Phnom Penh Bible School in Cambodia - and I find it staring me in the face from the front wall in huge font. The whole focus is on maturity: "help your people grow in Christ".
This is one of the twin mandates of the church in the New Testament. The other mandate is mission. But it seldom receives the same focus because people tend to be coming to Christ and evangelism and church-planting is happening anyway. It is almost routine. The great need is to see people mature.
The context back home in New Zealand is just so different. The mission challenge is immense. It hogs the headlines as we struggle along. However let's not forget to invest heavily in maturing the people of God. This is done primarily through the ministries of the Word of God. We might be surprised at how this impacts that mission challenge we face. That is why this view adjacent to the deck outside our new home is just so energising. This is exactly what I pray for the churches of New Zealand: that they would become koru clubs, gatherings of people unfurling into likeness to Christ as they remain in Christ. I reckon that this has massive missional potential - and without it mission is going to keep disintegrating into a perennially messy ineffectiveness.
Here is to being faithful to the twin mandates of the church: maturity and mission
nice chatting
Paul
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
my niece is an author
Yes, a serious author.
So serious that you really should check her out.
Jasmine May Dodson has written and illustrated the most gorgeous little children's book. It is called The Fancy Fable of the Fairy's Frock.
Check out this page:
"Left and right they looked
and cocked their heads
for the way they had come
was now gobbled up by the snow
as were all the other trails.
They now found themselves
in an unfortunate conundrum
when obligingly at that moment
a scratching of the friendly variety
was heard in the periphery.
A wee nose emerged from the snowflakes."
Isn't that just beautiful?! Conundrum? Periphery? How can she get away with those words with kids? She does and she will because the imagery in word and in picture is so exquisite that it will hold the kids - and adults will keep on reading for the additional intrigue in the vocabulary. I loved the way my eyes feasted, my imagination fired, and my mind engaged all the way through the storyline. It is a remarkable piece of literature.
The book is available from Amazon with the link mentioned above. ISBN 978-0-473-15642-8. However a website (for NZ orders, in particular) is being constructed which will be easier and quicker: www.thegrizzlypeasants.com. Don't wait for Christmas. Be in.
I know I shouldn't say this - but it is my blog so I can say whatever I like thank-you very much :) It is Beatrix-Potter-esque, that is what it is.
Jasmine is one talented young woman.
nice chatting
Jasmine May Dodson's uncle
(I am famous)
So serious that you really should check her out.
Jasmine May Dodson has written and illustrated the most gorgeous little children's book. It is called The Fancy Fable of the Fairy's Frock.
Check out this page:
"Left and right they looked
and cocked their heads
for the way they had come
was now gobbled up by the snow
as were all the other trails.
They now found themselves
in an unfortunate conundrum
when obligingly at that moment
a scratching of the friendly variety
was heard in the periphery.
A wee nose emerged from the snowflakes."
Isn't that just beautiful?! Conundrum? Periphery? How can she get away with those words with kids? She does and she will because the imagery in word and in picture is so exquisite that it will hold the kids - and adults will keep on reading for the additional intrigue in the vocabulary. I loved the way my eyes feasted, my imagination fired, and my mind engaged all the way through the storyline. It is a remarkable piece of literature.
The book is available from Amazon with the link mentioned above. ISBN 978-0-473-15642-8. However a website (for NZ orders, in particular) is being constructed which will be easier and quicker: www.thegrizzlypeasants.com. Don't wait for Christmas. Be in.
I know I shouldn't say this - but it is my blog so I can say whatever I like thank-you very much :) It is Beatrix-Potter-esque, that is what it is.
Jasmine is one talented young woman.
nice chatting
Jasmine May Dodson's uncle
(I am famous)
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
imperatives and questions
I don't usually rehash sermons on this blog but on this occasion I have found the four imperatives in 2 Timothy 2.1-7 to be so compelling - particularly as I work away at the interface between the Post-Christian West (P-CW) and Post-Western Christianity (P-WC)...
"be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus" (2.1)
Could it be that in the P-CW we are too strong in too many areas? We have books and DVDs. We have programmes and seminars. We have colleges and consultants. We have money. Let's face it - we don't really need Christ in order to function as the church. However in P-WC, time and time again, the only option available to people is to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Is that united-ness to Him really the truth on which we depend?
"the things you have heard me say ... entrust to reliable people ... qualified to teach" (2.2)
Could it be that in the P-CW we are placing gospel-sized hopes in leadership? It is important. Of course it is. But what kind of leader is required? Have we started to down-grade the skill of teaching? Might one of the issues today be that people are over-inspired and under-fed? Paul's plea to Timothy was about entrusting responsibility to leaders who are 'reliable people qualified to teach'. In P-WC when leaders are needed the eye still turns to the theological college - and when the college is at its best (which is not always the case, sadly), it is a great place to find reliable people qualified to teach.
And what about 'entrust'? Is this not a Pauline word for discipling, mentoring, coaching? As one leader said to me recently, "all mission is going to become mentoring", or entrusting. I suspect this will true regardless of whether we live in the P-CW or P-WC.
"endure hardship" (2.3)
Could it be that in the P-CW we are prioritising the wrong imperative as we live in this world? The call goes out - all the time - to be relevant. Of course we want to be relevant - but is it really that important? Does it not smack of too much salt and not enough light? Does it not end up being too concerned about minimising differences so as to help people be comfortable, rather than maximising differences to help some people be intrigued and attracted, while allowing many other people to mock and ridicule? There is something to endure in the life that bears witness to Christ in the public world - always, always, always. In P-WC endurance is just so commonplace as people experience oppression and persecution for their faith. The language of relevance rarely emerges. Have we been duped? C-mon, isn't mission in the P-CW hamstrung largely because we have forgotten to live different lives with distinction ... and then endure the consequences for the sake of Christ?
"reflect on what I am saying" (2.7)
...mmmm...
nice chatting
Paul
"be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus" (2.1)
Could it be that in the P-CW we are too strong in too many areas? We have books and DVDs. We have programmes and seminars. We have colleges and consultants. We have money. Let's face it - we don't really need Christ in order to function as the church. However in P-WC, time and time again, the only option available to people is to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Is that united-ness to Him really the truth on which we depend?
"the things you have heard me say ... entrust to reliable people ... qualified to teach" (2.2)
Could it be that in the P-CW we are placing gospel-sized hopes in leadership? It is important. Of course it is. But what kind of leader is required? Have we started to down-grade the skill of teaching? Might one of the issues today be that people are over-inspired and under-fed? Paul's plea to Timothy was about entrusting responsibility to leaders who are 'reliable people qualified to teach'. In P-WC when leaders are needed the eye still turns to the theological college - and when the college is at its best (which is not always the case, sadly), it is a great place to find reliable people qualified to teach.
And what about 'entrust'? Is this not a Pauline word for discipling, mentoring, coaching? As one leader said to me recently, "all mission is going to become mentoring", or entrusting. I suspect this will true regardless of whether we live in the P-CW or P-WC.
"endure hardship" (2.3)
Could it be that in the P-CW we are prioritising the wrong imperative as we live in this world? The call goes out - all the time - to be relevant. Of course we want to be relevant - but is it really that important? Does it not smack of too much salt and not enough light? Does it not end up being too concerned about minimising differences so as to help people be comfortable, rather than maximising differences to help some people be intrigued and attracted, while allowing many other people to mock and ridicule? There is something to endure in the life that bears witness to Christ in the public world - always, always, always. In P-WC endurance is just so commonplace as people experience oppression and persecution for their faith. The language of relevance rarely emerges. Have we been duped? C-mon, isn't mission in the P-CW hamstrung largely because we have forgotten to live different lives with distinction ... and then endure the consequences for the sake of Christ?
"reflect on what I am saying" (2.7)
...mmmm...
nice chatting
Paul
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