flavour of the church

What kind of place is your church? What does it feel like? What words come to mind when you think about it? And what do you hope that it will be?

I've been giving this some thought in regard to what I hope my own church will be like. Here's what I came up with:

p.s. I made this image using www.wordle.net. You can make your own there very easily, for free.

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.

pop art: polar melting

Not quite the usual theme of this site, but in continuing my experiments at work, I came across Coke's polar bear can and this seemed a natural "pop art" piece to make. And it is clear and to the point.

[four key suggestions from Gandhi]

E. Stanley Jones, a missionary to India, tells of this conversation he had with Gandhi. While it is in the context of reaching out to the Indian people, it is equally applicable to reaching out to our friends, neighbours and colleagues here at home.

In conversation with [Mahatma Gandhi] one day I said, “Mahatma Gandhi, I am very anxious to see Christianity naturalized in India, so that it shall be no longer a foreign thing identified with a foreign people and a foreign government, but a part of the national life of India and contributing its power to India’s uplift and redemption. What would you suggest that we do make that possible?”

He very gravely and thoughtfully replied: “I would suggest, first, that all of you Christians, missionaries and all, must begin to live more like Jesus Christ.”

He needn’t have said anything more—that was quite enough. I knew that looking through his eyes were the three hundred millions of India, and speaking through his voice were the dumb millions of the East saying to me, a representative of the West, and through me to that very West itself, “If you will come to us in the spirit of your Master, we cannot resist you.” Never was there a greater challenge to the West than that, and never was it more sincerely given.

prediction

From reading the New Testament, we know that there was resistance to the idea that the Gentiles would be included in the Kingdom. Yet Jesus again and again surprised and shocked those around him by his embrace of the stranger, the outcast, the outsider. Whether it was the tax collectors, the lepers, Samaritan woman, or Roman centurions, he treated them with full respect and dignity.

What if Jesus came today and the proclamation was that the Kingdom of God will surely include gay, lesbian and transgender people?

If you were in the crowd, would you be angry at the announcement, or pleased about it?

Would love to hear your thoughts and comments....

treasures on earth

One of the readings for Lent was Matthew 6:19-21:

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

In meditating on this as part of Jim Robertson's Lenten Embers project, the idea for this cartoon came to me. I have to give a small nod to Peter Rollins as well, who often turns ideas upside down and inspired a similar treatment of this passage.

[st. pea's: shift in demographics]

The following chart shows some of the shifts that have taken place in the demographics of our congregation, comparing what it was like before the split to what it is like now, after a large group of members have left.

The chart does not cover the usual items like age and gender. Instead it looks at two shifts that are less likely to be considered, yet important in understanding the new face of the church:

controlled explosion

Some thoughts on the uses of the term "controlled explosion"....

[is it possible to be neutral?]

For an intriguing discussion of whether it is possible to remain neutral between two opposing sides and to simply seek to build bridges between them, with much reference to Martin Luther King and the ways in which he approached this, check out this article:

Is Prophetic Neutrality Possible? by David W. Congdon

A related quote from Elie Wiese: “I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”

all together... again

The congregation of St. Pea's has been in turmoil over the past seven months due to a diocesan resolution which most of the parishioners do not agree with. And there has been much discussion about staying in the denomination, starting a new church, and so on.

This coming Sunday, those parishioners who are staying in the parish are going to bless those who are leaving. While we like each other and we who are staying don't want them to go, they have made their decision and we want to bless them on their journey.

When the world ends, we will be together again. All of us. Not just the two halves of St. Pea's, but all the parts and divisions and splits and split peas throughout the ages.

I think we may be surprised by whom we see. And wouldn't it be nice if we could all get along together here and now, with brothers and sisters of whatever denomination and religion, all loved by our heavenly Father?

pop art: diversity

I set up the following 'pop art installation' at my workplace, to see what kind of reactions it would get. I was particularly interested in seeing what people thought it meant. The label says "pop art: diversity".

The following three reactions occurred at different times:

One colleague to another: "Hey, did you see Rob's pop art?"
Other colleague comes to take a look. Chuckles, and says, "It takes all kinds."

Another colleague reads aloud, "Pop art diversity." Laughs, and says, "Very cute."

Another colleague comes over, points to the upper right hand set with two Diet Lime Cokes, and says, "This one's wrong, though." I look at her with anticipation, thinking that we now finally have some real interaction with the installation. "Oh," she says, pointing to the lower right with the two Pepsi cans, and realizing that I did not mean to have them all the same.
"Pop art," I say, "like Andy Warhol, but not with soup cans or it would be soup art."
She laughs, and says, "You're too funny."

I had been hoping that people might make comments or ask questions related to the title of the display instead of affirming my sense of humour, but none did. Will try again with another variation.

What do you see in this picture? Would love to hear your comments.

bread of light

Jesus is the bread of life and the light of the world — the whole world bar none.

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(months later:)
Part of the service this Sunday reminded me of this post, the part where the celebrant says,

Send your Holy Spirit upon us and upon these gifts, that all who eat and drink at this table may be one body and one holy people, a living sacrifice in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

May we recognize all those who eat and drink at this table as part of the body.

[us and the other]

Brian McLaren speaks about two dangers:

All of us are poised between two dangers. The obvious one is “The Other.” The subtle one is “Us.” If we defend ourselves against the Other, if we attack the Other, we gain credibility with “Us.” We show that we are loyal, supportive, believers, members of Us, and we are generously rewarded and affirmed. We gain a lot by attacking the Other—in religious circles as well as political ones.

Ironically, Us can be as great a threat to each of us as the other is, probably greater. Us might withdraw its approval of me. It might label me disloyal, unsupportive, unbeliever, unorthodox, liberal, anathema, etc. To be rebuked, marginalized, or excluded by Us is an even greater threat than to be attacked by the Other.

Our fear becomes all the more acute when we venture to do what many of us in this dialogue are doing: we are daring to defend and humanize the Other. We are showing—however feebly and adolescently—a grain of neighborliness and solidarity with the Other. At that moment, we become vulnerable as never before to attacks by Us, i.e. our fellow Christians. In my experience, it takes much more courage to stand up to or apart from Us than it does to stand either against or with the Other…

Brian D. McLaren, pp. 47-48, in Why did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road? Christian Identity in a Multi-Faith World

the death of jesus

Consistent with one way of living, here's what really should have happened:

If Joseph was a faithful, obedient believer and follower of God's word, this would have been a logical, reasonable, and righteous thing for him to do.

See Deuteronomy 22:22-23 and Leviticus 20:10.

Yet he did not.

In a dream, he heard a voice claiming to be an angel telling him:

“Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20-21 NIV)

Joseph believed this voice and did what it said. No record of him going to talk to the rabbi about it, or asking other believers for confirmation that this was indeed God's will. And there would have been no reason to listen to Mary when she told him about her experience with an angel, as she was a woman and in that culture, her words did not count. However, he listened and believed despite many reasons not to.

And so at Easter, we remember Jesus' death at age 33 rather than as an unborn child.

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What do you think? Did Joseph do the right thing? What choices did he have? How do you feel about the one he made? How would you feel if someone today made a similar choice where instead of following what the Bible clearly said, they heard God speak to them?

* Thanks to a good friend for the idea of the "Joseph's options" cartoon, which then inspired the top cartoon on "the death of jesus."

[oppositional religious identity]

It's been said that religion is the cause of all violence. However, in his recent book, Brian McLaren gives a more nuanced perspective on this:

The tensions between our conflicted religions arise not from our differences, but from one thing we all hold in common: an oppositional religious identity that derives strength from hostility.

He then goes on to discuss how when a social group (think church or a group of Christians) feels threatened, they suspend the normal rules and daily activities, diverting "attention and energy to hostility" and then focusing that hostility "on a target,—real or imagined, legitimate or manufactured, among them (as a classic enemy) or among us (as an internal scapegoat)."

What he later adds to this, is that this is often done not out of hatred or antagonism but rather, from a "loving defensiveness". In other words, people feel that the values and beliefs they hold and cherish are under attack, and they act to defend these values. This can ironically happen in ways that result in behaviour which normally would be considered antithetical to the person or group's beliefs, but considered necessary for their protection.