[heathens and the church]

Really love the song Heathens by twenty one pilots, and then found that Richard Beck, one of my favourite bloggers and authors, has just written about them in his blog. Here's a snippet of what he says:

"Heathens" makes many of the points I try to make in Unclean. The speaker and audience of "Heathens" is unclear, but I'd like to read the song as Jesus speaking to the church, as TØP preaching to their fellow Christians. Read this way "Heathens" is both a prophetic rebuke to the church as well as an invitation into Jesus' lifestyle of radical hospitality.

Read the entire post:
Lovin' On the Freakshow Sitting Next to You: The Church According to Twenty One Pilots


If you haven't heard the song, you can hear it in this video. Note that as the song was used for a movie soundtrack, the images in this video are not related to what Richard Beck is speaking about!


Watch on YouTube.

Lyrics:

All my friends are heathens. Take it slow
Wait for them to ask you who you know
Please don't make any sudden moves
You don't know the half of the abuse

All my friends are heathens. Take it slow
Wait for them to ask you who you know
Please don't make any sudden moves
You don't know the half of the abuse

[can a church be biblical, evangelical and progressive?]

Here's an article about a Calgary church that believes in Jesus and loves and embraces people -- in reality, not just abstractly.

Can a church be both open and inclusive on social questions and at the same time evangelical in outreach and committed to scripture and doctrine? Wouldn’t you want to be part of a church like that?

It is not hard to find theologically open churches that aren’t engaged with scripture and doctrine. And it is easy to find churches committed to scripture and doctrine that make the lines of belonging impossibly narrow. Could a church offer the best of both worlds?

John Pentland, minister at Hillhurst United Church in Calgary, Alberta, thinks so, and his church seems poised to reach a generation of Canadians who are skeptical of religion in general and Christianity in particular. He admits that this is surprising—those looking for innovative congregations and dramatic church growth are not likely to look at the United Church of Canada.

"Biblical, evangelical—and progressive" by Jason Byassee

Oct 28, 2016

Source

Click here to read the rest of the article.

p.s. this post is tagged with "uncertain spaces" because Hillhurst is the opposite of an uncertain space — it is a great example of a declared space.

[how to tell if your church is welcoming for transgender people]

Related to my exploration of declared spaces and uncertain spaces, an article on queertheology.com asks,

Is your church welcoming of transgender people? And if it is, does anyone know?

Lots of churches declare their “open and affirming” status on their websites. Or they will put a rainbow flag on their church sign or website homepage. But those symbols often don’t tell the whole story. Many churches that have done a lot of work on gay and lesbian issues haven’t bothered to study anything about transgender people. They have outdated language on their websites or don’t mention transgender issues at all.

Read the rest of the article...

A second article on their site is titled: How do we reach more transgender people?

This one addresses the question: 

Hello! We’d like to do outreach to the transgender community, but we’re not sure how. We’ve had trans worshipers in the past, but none currently. What’s the best way to reach trans people who are looking for a safe and affirming worship space?

https://www.queertheology.com/how-do-we-reach-more-transgender-people/

Getting personal:

Callan Williams shares about her own experiences with various churches as a transperson, making it clear that the "transgender experience is essentially different than the lesbian, gay and bisexual experience in a number of ways."

Read the rest of the story at:
https://callan.wordpress.com/2013/02/15/welcoming-trans/

[subversive meals: an analysis of the lord's supper under roman domination during the first century, by r. alan streett]

The last supper under Roman domination during the first century

Subversive Meals examines the Lord's Supper within the sociopolitical context of first-century Roman domination, and concludes that it was an anti-imperial praxis. Although the Christian communal meal looked much like a typical Roman banquet in structure, with a deipnon and a symposion, it was essentially different.

The Roman meal supported the empire's ideology, honored Caesar and the gods, reinforced stratification among the masses, and upheld Rome's right to rule the world.

The Christian meal, on the other hand, included hymns that extolled Jesus as Lord, prophecies that challenged Rome's ideological claims, and letters-read aloud-that promoted egalitarianism and instructed believers on how to live according to kingdom of God principles. Hence, the Christian banquet was an act of nonviolent resistance, or what James C. Scott calls a "hidden transcript"

Description from Amazon

Very interesting read. Fairly scholarly. Would have liked to read it again, but it was an inter-library loan and needed to be returned. Nonetheless, it is intriguing to understand Jesus' words from a completely different perspective and whether one agrees with it or not, it does make one think about communion / Eucharist today, and how far it is from being an act of nonviolent resistance...

In many places, it seems that the church, corporations, and government are aligned and allied in holding onto power and maintaining the status quo.


Subversive Meals: An Analysis of the Lord's Supper under Roman Domination during the First Century
R. Alan Streett
2013

the table of hospitality (2)

The people who feel welcomed are the people for whom you have set a table of hospitality.

Source: Doug Paul, edited.

What does such a table of hospitality that welcomes others look like?

How do we set  a table of hospitality that is welcoming to aboriginal people? People who are unhoused? Men and women who live with mental health challenges? People who identify as lgbtq+? Those who live with disabilities? Youth?

I think of two small things that happen at my church:

First, occasionally we substitute the Kenyan Rite for the usual Apostles' Creed. This not only helps us to think more about what we are saying, as the words are not the usual words, but the Kenyan Rite emphasizes different things from the Apostles' Creed. (see more commentary on this, including a great example from a Maasai prayer book).

Secondly, we have held a Standing Stones service in place of the usual Sunday morning Eucharist. The Standing Stones service is a gathering of Aboriginal and Non-aboriginal People to explore God in an Aboriginal Context (read more), and is very different from what we usually do, both in format and in content. I hope that we will be able to repeat this experience several times a year.

These are small ways in which to shift and expand the table of hospitality.

the table of hospitality

Imagine you have a seafood allergy and some acquaintances invite you to dinner.

And then this happens:

How would you feel?

---

The people who feel welcomed are the people for whom you have set a table of hospitality.

Source: Doug Paul, edited.

[twelve key points about the radical inclusivity model]

Bishop Flunder, author of Where the Edge Gathers: Building a Community of Radical Inclusion, discusses twelve key aspects about the radical inclusivity model in the appendix of her book. Here are the twelve summary statements from these key aspects:

Twelve Steps: The Refuge Radical Inclusivity Model from Bishop Yvette Flunder

1.
Radical Inclusivity is and must be radical.

2.
Radical Inclusivity, recognizes, values, loves and celebrates people on the margin.


3.
Radical Inclusivity recognizes harm done in the name of God.

4.
Radical Inclusivity is intentional and creates ministry on the margin.

5.
The primary goal of Radical Inclusivity is not to imitate or change the mainline church, but rather to be Church.

6.
Radical Inclusivity requires a new way of seeing and a new way of being.

7.
Radical Inclusivity requires awareness, information and understanding.

8.
Radical Inclusivity does not hide and works to undo shame and fear.

9.
Radical Inclusivity recognizes diversity on the margin.

10.
Radical Inclusivity must be linked to preaching and teaching.

11.
Radical Inclusivity demands hospitality.

12.
Radical Inclusivity is best sustained and celebrated when everyone in the community is responsible and accountable.

From Yvette A. Flunder, author of Where the Edge Gathers: Building a Community of Racial Inclusion

---

For more information on each point, see the appendix for the book.

[where the edge gathers: building a community of radical inclusion, by yvette a. flunder]

Where the Edge Gathers is quite a remarkable book, which is really no surprise considering that it's written by Bishop Flunder of the City of Refuge United Church of Christ.

"In Where The Edge Gathers, Flunder uses examples of persons most marginalized by church and society to illustrate the use of "village ethics" -- knowing where the boundaries are when all things are exposed--and "village theology" -- giving everyone a seat at the central meeting place or welcome table. Flunder focuses on the following marginalized groups: Same-sex couples, to convey the need to re-examine sexual and relational ethics, Transgendered persons, to illustrate the importance of radical inclusivity, Gay persons living with AIDS, to emphasize the need to de-stigmatize societies view of any group of people."

(source)

Flunder's book is divided into two main parts: the first contains four chapters on community, and the second contains nineteen sermons, given as an example of "one tool that defines, reinforces, and supports the collective theology of the community." I recommend it as an excellent book on the topic.

[peace community church's artistic declaration]

Peace Community Church in Oberlin, Ohio, wants people to know that its doors are open to everyone. As part of this, they have a new mural which clearly states where it is at when it comes to welcoming people regardless of sexual orientation or skin colour.

Painted by Robert Cothran, the five-panel piece shows a rainbow ribbon coming from the left and a racial harmony ribbon coming from the right, to join around a cross in the center panel. I especially like this because the incorporation of the lgbt ribbon with the racial harmony ribbon, which I've never seen before, acknowledges the diversity of people and the fact that people can be part of several minorities at the same time.

Read more about this mural.

Read more about uncertain spaces and what some churches are doing to articulate how they value and embrace diverse people.

uncertain spaces

introduction

Your colleague tells you that Human Resources wants to see you right away. If you have no idea as to why, there is uncertainty ahead - perhaps combined with some anxiety or fear -- until you find out whether they are going to fire you, promote you to a special project, or just need a form signed.

You are in an uncertain space, even if just for a few moments until you find out what they really want.

Now what if you're new in town, or perhaps what's new is that you've decided you want to be part of a church. You drive by a church in your neighbourhood, and the sign out in front says "Everyone Welcome".

what does that mean - “everyone welcome”?

Did you know that a study done in the U.S. found that three of the top words non-Christians ages 16 to 29 associate with Christians are judgmental, hypocritical and anti-homosexual? (source: unChristian and article)

Which means that there’s a good chance the person driving past your church and wondering about it, is already doubting the truthfulness and reality of the “Everyone Welcome” sign. Add to that any past negative experience they've had with the church or with Christians, and the uncertainty is even stronger.

The church you drive past is most likely an uncertain space. Will it be hostile or indifferent to you? Or will it be welcoming and embracing? Most times you just don't know.

[... space that protected and cared for the most fragile bodies]

Richard Beck, in his series discussing "The Gospel According to Ta-Nehisi Coates" (particularly in reference to Coates' book Between the World and Me), says this about what Jesus' kingdom looked like:

Jesus, by contrast, created communities centered around giving care to the most vulnerable in his society. Jesus carved out of Empire space that protected and cared for the most fragile bodies. That's what Jesus did as he moved from town to town, he created a community where the most oppressed and marginalized were welcomed and cared for. Communities of care that were open to agents of Empire, tax collectors and Roman soldiers, who were willing to work to buffer fragile bodies.

And this is what the early church did as well. The church carved out of Empire communities of care. Imperial Rome knew Christianity to be religion popular with women and slaves because of how these communities buffered their fragile bodies from the ravages of Empire.

To my eye, these communities of care carved out of Empire are what Jesus meant when he said "the kingdom of God is in your midst."

(source, emphasis added)

---

Read the rest of the article (the really good stuff is in the latter half of the post).

Read the series from Part 1.

[you'd struggle to sleep at night if ...]

Now read the other side to the story...

[video: we see no enemy]

"We See No Enemy presents five stories told against the backdrop of Israeli-occupied Palestine, creating an anthology of the West Bank. We See No Enemy chronicles the conflict from the perspective of those rarely heard. By weaving these narratives together, We See No Enemy seeks to turn up these inspiring voices to hear their passion and listen to their suffering."

Full video (1 hr 17 min long):

We See No Enemy video from We See No Enemy on Vimeo.

The five stories in the video are as follows, and can be viewed individually by clicking the title. (timing refers to location in full video)

Story 1: Paradise (timing 1-20)
Story of the Al Basma Center, which works with men and women with mental challenges. Half the staff and the clients are Muslim, the other half Christian.

Story 2: Conversion (24-38)
Story of a Palestinian Christian man, who changed his views on how to respond to violence..

Story 3: Hospitality (38 - 49)
The story of the hospitality of a Palestinian man toward others.

Story 4: Trespass (49-59)
The team returns to Palestine, and finds that someone has been into their house. Discussion of what Palestinians face in terms of searches, night raids, evictions, etc.

Story 5: Home (59 - 1:13)
The story of a family forcibly evacuated from their home by police officers, in order to give their house to settlers.

[doing small things with extraordinary love, article by John Swinton]

In "Doing Small Things with Extraordinary Love: Congregational Care of People Experiencing Mental Health Problems", John Swinton begins with:

The mental health industry is a big and complex beast. Amid the high-tech, neurological, genetic and pharmaceutical landscape it is easy for religious communities to feel nervous and disempowered. "What could we possibly have to offer that might bring healing in the midst of such prohibitively high-tech approaches to mental health care?"

Jean Vanier, founder of L'Arche, provides us with a rather unusual answer: "The church is not called to do extraordinary things; it is called to do ordinary things with extraordinary love." In response to the complexities of the experience of mental health problems, the church's vocation is not to become a community of psychiatrists. Rather, it is called to become a community of disciples who strive to embody and reveal God's extraordinary love.

Read the rest of this excellent article.

Subsection titles:
Understanding mental health problems
The problem of stigma
The ministry of small things: What would Jesus do?
Re-thinking hospitality: Moving from host to guest

Note: Swinton also has a book out called Dementia: Living in the Memories of God which looks excellent! However, my sister got a copy and says it's a "detailed, clinical book," which means that if you are looking for something to help you and your loved one, it might not be the ideal choice.

[city of god: faith in the streets, by sara miles]

city of god: faith in the streets is another fascinating book by sara miles. The book is about her experiences around Ash Wednesday, the people in her neighbourhood and church, and taking the ashes to the people in the streets.

A very good read. Not many sections which are highly quotable, other than this one where Sara quotes someone else:

As the Orthodox theologian Demetrios Constantelos points out, in a commentary upending many assumptions about evangelism: "It is the Spirit which moves where it wills, whose presence and operation is everywhere and all-encompassing. The Spirit of God may not be where one would like to see it and it may be where one refuses to see it.  Thus it is impossible to define the boundaries of God's people."

(p. 138)

Here's the official description from Amazon:

Paradise is a garden...but heaven is a city.
From the acclaimed author of Take This Bread and Jesus Freak comes a powerful new account of venturing beyond the borders of religion into the unpredictable territory of faith.

On Ash Wednesday, 2012, Sara Miles and her friends left their church buildings and carried ashes to the buzzing city streets: the crowded dollar stores, beauty shops, hospital waiting rooms, street corners and fast-food joints of her neighborhood. They marked the foreheads of neighbors and strangers, sharing blessings with waitresses and drunks, believers and doubters alike.

CITY OF GOD narrates the events of the day in vivid detail, exploring the profound implications of touching strangers with a reminder of common mortality. As the story unfolds, Sara Miles also reflects on life in her city over the last two decades, where the people of God suffer and rejoice, building community amid the grit and beauty of this urban landscape.

CITY OF GOD is a beautifully written personal narrative, rich in complex, real-life characters, and full of the "wild, funny, joyful, raucous, reverent" moments of struggle and faith that have made Miles one of the most enthralling Christian writers of our time.

[shared meals as the message of jesus]

By simply sitting at table with those widely regarded as morally contemptible, Jesus earned the scorn of the Pharisees and other strict observers of Jewish custom. By sharing meals with those considered by the religiously righteous to be outcasts and sinners, Jesus challenged "the central ordering principle of the Jewish social world." As Geza Vermes puts it, Jesus "took his stand among the pariahs of the world, those despised by the respectable. Sinners were his table-companions and the ostracized tax collectors and prostitutes were his friends." The meals Jesus shared with the outcasts were not, therefore, simply the occasion for the delivery of his message. They were the message. They served as "prophetic signs" meant to manifest the meaning of Jesus' ministry. They involved what Borg speaks of as a "radical relativizing of cultural distinctions."

Violence Unveiled: Humanity at the Crossroads, Gil Bailie, p. 213

This is the Jesus I want to follow.


Violence Unveiled is a fascinating book about myth, gospel, culture, mimetic theory and much more. I will be rereading it, and perhaps quoting more from it later. From a writing perspective, what I especially appreciate about it is that when Bailie refers to other literature, philosophers, and so on - which he does often, he provides quotes and context so that a reader like me is not at a loss.

[just hospitality: God's welcome in a world of difference, by letty m russell]

"In this, her last book, theologian Letty Russell redefines the commonly held notion of hospitality as she challenges her readers to consider what it means to welcome the stranger. In doing so, she implores persons of faith to join the struggles for justice.

Rather than an act of limited, charitable welcome, Russell maintains that true hospitality is a process that requires partnership with the “other” in our divided world. The goal is “just hospitality,” that is, hospitality with justice.

Russell draws on feminist and postcolonial thinking to show how we are colonized and colonizing, each of us bearing the marks of the history that formed us. With an insightful analysis of the power dynamics that stem from our differences and a constructive theological theory of difference itself, Russell proposes concrete strategies to create a more just practice of hospitality.

With careful attention, she writes, we can build a network of hospitality that is truthful about our mistakes and inequities, yet determined to resist the contradictions that drive us apart. This kind of genuine solidarity requires us to cast off oppression and domination in order to truly welcome the stranger. Russell’s lasting message is a highly practical theology for both the academy and the church. The book contains questions for study and reflection."

(description from amazon)

A sample quote:

My experience as an outsider within has led me question the rigid clergy line that divides our church communities and increases hierarchy and competition for power in our denomination. At the same time, it has led me to focus in a theology of hospitality that emphasizes the calling of the church as a witness to God's intention to mend the creation by bringing about a world of justice, peace, and integrity of the natural world. There are a lot of "missing persons" in our world today whose situation of poverty, injustice, and suffering makes God weep. These missing persons are not strangers to God, for God already has reached out to care for them. Yet they are strangers in the world who need to know God cares through the witness of a church that practices a ministry of hospitality and justice on their behalf.       (p. 18-19)

Read an excerpt at Spirituality & Practice.

[jesus freak: feeding, healing, raising the dead]

"I came late to Christianity," writes Sara Miles, "knocked upside down by a mid-life conversion centered around eating a literal chunk of bread. I hadn't decided to profess an article of doctrine, but discovered a force blowing uncontrollably through the world."

In this new book, Sara Miles tells what happened when she decided to follow the flesh and blood Jesus by doing something real. For everyone afraid to feed hungry strangers, love the unlovable, or go to dark places to bless and heal, she offers hope. She holds out the promise of a God who gave a bunch of housewives and fishermen authority to forgive sins and raise the dead, and who continues to call us to action. And she tells, in vivid, heartbreakingly honest stories, how the ordinary people around her are transformed by taking up God's work in the world.
Sara Miles offers a fresh, fully embodied faith that sweeps away the anxious formulas of religion to reveal the scandalous power of eating with sinners, embracing the unclean, and loving the wrong people. Jesus Freak: Feeding Healing Raising the Dead is her inspiring book for undomesticated Christians who still believe, as she writes, "that Jesus has given us the power to be Jesus."

(description from Amazon)

This book by Sara Miles has been a fascinating read, full of real people and experiences, and I recommend it to you. It's an easy read and challenging at the same time.

Here are three quotes that are samples of what Sara is teaching us through what God has done in her life and the lives of those around them. The bulk of the book, however, is about real life experiences:

In stories that still have the power to scare us, Jesus tells his disciples to live by the upside-down values of God's kingdom, rather than the fear-driven values of human society. He shows how family, tribe, money, violence, and religion--the powers of the world--cannot stand against the love of God. And he tells us that we, too, are called to follow him in breaking down all worldly divisions that get in the way of carrying out his instructions. Sure, it's impossible to feed five thousand people, make a deaf man hear, bring a dead girl to life, as long as you obey human rules. So do it God's way instead, Jesus teaches. Say yes. Jump right in. Come and see. Embrace the wrong people. Don't idolize religion. Have mercy. Jesus' tips cast a light forward, steering us through the dark.

(p. 3)

The truth is that suffering can become the foundation of faith, if we're not scared to touch the sore places with love. If we don't hide ourselves away in fear, but get close enough to others to feel God's breath on our skin. Everything that hurts the body of Christ can let us know, past doubt, that new life is possible--not by forgetting evil, but through, in terms that are both religious and secular, truth and reconciliation.

(pp. 122-123)

Yet all religions, at one point or another in their evolution, tries to proclaim their single, inerrant consistency. All religions, even the most liberal, were  tempted by the reactionary impulse to freeze faith in place. Because, as Jesus teaches, it's easy to be threatened by the reality of the complicated, messy, syncretic, God-bearing truth that becomes incarnate among us and makes things new. We'd rather have a dead religion than a loving God.

(p. 137)

jesus freak: feeding, healing, raising the dead by sara miles

(San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2010)

beacon of love

St. Paul's, the church we attend, is at a new point in its life as a parish. Various conversations have been taking place regarding our future. However, it seems that a lot of the discussion that has transpired so far has resulted in many good ideas about what we might do. What I'm more interested in—what I think needs to happen first, and what this video is all about—is an exploration of who we want to be and who we want to become.

This presentation shares some of my thoughts, ideas and questions as to what the next part of our journey together might look like. The presentation is done "pecha kucha" style -- 20 images with 20 seconds to talk about each one. As a lot of the images are cartoons from this blog, I recommend that you view the video full screen in order to be able to see them properly.

I invite you to share your comments and feedback with me. More importantly, if you are part of St. Paul's, take time to pray, think and dream about what kind of a church we should be and become. Make your own video, draw pictures, make a list on a sheet of paper — record your thoughts and dreams somehow or other, and share them with the church leadership.




View full-screen for best results.

[Why did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha and Mohammed...]

Brian D. McLaren has written an excellent book Why did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road? Christian Identity in a Multi-Faith World, which I highly recommend.

From the Amazon.ca review:

When four religious leaders walk across the road, it's not the beginning of a joke. It's the start of one of the most important conversations in today's world.

Can you be a committed Christian without having to condemn or convert people of other faiths? Is it possible to affirm other religious traditions without watering down your own?

In his most important book yet, widely acclaimed author and speaker Brian McLaren proposes a new faith alternative, one built on "benevolence and solidarity rather than rivalry and hostility." This way of being Christian is strong but doesn't strong-arm anyone, going beyond mere tolerance to vigorous hospitality toward, interest in, and collaboration with the other.

Blending history, narrative, and brilliant insight, McLaren shows readers step-by-step how to reclaim this strong-benevolent faith, challenging us to stop creating barriers in the name of God and learn how affirming other religions can strengthen our commitment to our own. And in doing so, he invites Christians to become more Christ-like than ever before.

I will be quoting occasionally from this book in future posts. Buy it or borrow it from your local library!

Info: Brian D. McLaren (New York, Jericho Books: 2012)