Sunday Revival

Been there, done that!

(ht Bob)

Brad began a series about spiritual abuse.

Barb wrote an important post about friendships lost because of church issues.

I did a series on spiritual abuse a couple of years ago. The links are on the Recommended page. Here is Part 1 of 10 posts.

Spiritual abuse is still one of the most-searched topics on my blog and the issue I am most likely to receive personal emails about. People continue to be severely hurt by toxic church systems, insecure and abusive leaders, and manipulative church politics.

Miscellaneous

Jordon Cooper provided a valuable list of links to the software he uses on his laptop.

Gender guesser analyzes a sample of your writing to determine gender. (ht Ben)

My results:

Genre: Informal
Female = 273
Male = 1543
Difference = 1270; 84.96%
Verdict: MALE

Hmmm, I’m not sure what I think of that.

Michael Kruse began a series critiquing the socio-economic perspective of McLaren’s Everything Must Change. So far, he is laying out the premise as presented in the book. (Part 2, 3, 4, 5)

The expertise and wealth of knowledge that Michael will bring to this critique make it a valuable addition to the conversation.

Just a reminder, the series by Tia Lynn at Abandon Image on views of women throughout scripture through both the complementarian and egalitarian lens has been really great so far.

Missional

Paul Fromont wrote:

Missional church is being willing to honor the cracks, our mortality, our own brokenness and frailty; the characteristic marginality, insignificance and foolishness that marks our way in the world, for in all these, surprisingly, is discovered the fragile tentative beginnings of resurrection life.

This video clip is a metaphor of our role in missional living, doing what we know to work alongside our Father.

(the clip is under a minute long)

Tomorrow is…

St Patrick’s Day

Don’t forget to wear a little green!

Relax! It’s just clay.

Pillow Talk

The other night, my husband and I had a conversation about intimacy.

Sarah’s post left me thinking about the felt presence of God. I realize that I have allowed my relationship with God to slip to a functional, practical level. I drifted away from intimacy.

I am not sure how to describe what I am saying without using the words felt and touched. I will try to avoid getting too creepy or sappy in my descriptions, and hopefully I won’t leave you thinking we’re freaks.

So I asked my husband, “Do you still feel God?”

“Yeah, all the time.”

“No, I don’t mean the general awareness of Him, I mean the touch-your-soul sort of feeling.”

“Oh, the electric fence.”

“Yeah, the electric fence.”

“Not so much lately.”

“So do you go looking for the feeling, or do you just wait for the moment?”

When distance develops, who initiates?

I don’t want to settle into a relationship that lacks connecting with God at an intimate level where my heart is touched by His presence.

In the past, we had wonderful, sometimes overwhelming, experiences of the felt presence of God. It only takes a time or two of that to become like an addict, dependent on feeling Him, yearning for the next encounter.

We know that there are spiritual seasons and that His presence is a reality in spite of our feelings at the moment. Even in the midst of a dry or desert season though, it is important to find a way to connect.

But how? We go back to the things that we know, the places where we met before, where we felt His presence. We make time, we wait expectantly, we draw near, and we respond.

I notice this among the people from our former church who are displaced charismatics. No matter what they pursue, everyone is ultimately looking for that place of connection and intimacy. And I think we are looking for situations that inspire and encourage us in making and keeping that intimate connection.

Some of our friends are chasing conferences, others are spending time soaking (listening to worship music together), others are trying to “get plugged in” at a church, others hope the answer is in creating a worship experience or a new way of gathering.

The bottom line is that I think we all want intimacy with God and out of that a sense of intimacy with one another.

What are your thoughts about the felt presence of God?

(I’m going to be away for a few days. Feel free to comment, but I won’t be responding until the weekend.)

They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our…?

Some of you might remember the 70’s praise chorus, “They’ll Know We Are Christians”,
with the chorus…
“by our love,
by our love,
yes they’ll know-oh
we are Christians
by our love.”

In the past decades, Christians separated themselves from the “worldly” culture, preferring their own Christian sub-culture. The only area where we have a visible presence in the public arena is as antagonists in the political realm.

Our participation in the public sphere has been an attempt to morally shape the culture through political influence which requires the amassing of political clout or power. This has almost exclusively been focused on conservative middle-class values.

What has this done for the Christian reputation, our witness?

What has been the price of being “right”?

What if, like the early believers in Acts, our reputation was that we loved and served those in need? Perhaps if that were our reputation and witness, we wouldn’t be as easily dismissed. Perhaps we wouldn’t be quite so “persecuted.”

Somehow pursuing love, service, and justice as our expression of faith in the public sphere is suspect in evangelical realms. Why did practicing love toward our neighbors get negatively labeled as a liberal social gospel?

As emerging/missional christians shift their attention to lifestyles that express the love that the gospel calls us to, they are constantly challenged to prove their evangelical credentials. The very act of focusing on service and practice arouses suspicion of liberalism and a lack of adherence to orthodox beliefs.

What I don’t understand is why we don’t question the lack of practical expression of the doctrines we flaunt.

The evangelical mindset is still deeply entrenched in the hearts of many believers, and our resulting reputation is still deeply entrenched in the minds of the public.

If we stand in our churches singing updated versions of this chorus, we are fooling ourselves. This is not our reputation in mainstream America, especially in the midst of an election season. They know the issues we stand for and against, but they don’t know we are Christians by our love.

Missional Monday

“At the heart of being incarnational is simply loving people like Jesus loved people; loving people enough to go to them. The missional church understands that Christians are to follow the example of Jesus. Jesus came to physically be with us and to reach us with the Father’s love.

The missional church is an assembly of Christ’s follower’s that understands that they must penetrate the culture with their presence. Jesus did not retreat from culture, but penetrated it. He was out among the people, going to their parties and reaching out to them in love. Christ socialized with people of whom the religious leaders of his day would have nothing to do with.

The missional church sees its mission as the same as the Lord’s. Christians should be spiritually distinct from the world, but we are not called to be socially segregated from it. God wants us to be a living Christ-like influence in this world.

Jesus drew close to us and the missional church seeks to draw close to those who do not know Him. This is what it means to be incarnational; in the world but not of the world! The world is not something that the missional church seeks to be isolated from or to shun. The world is a place we engage and penetrate as missionaries spreading the love of Jesus.”

Timothy Cowin

Sunday Revival

Is The Shack Heresy? A thorough explanation by Wayne Jacobsen addressing the issues raised by those who denounce the book as heresy.

Tia Lynn is just starting a series on biblical perspectives on gender issues. It looks like she has done her homework. I will be following along. The first post is Where Do Women Belong? She has already written several interesting entries for this series with many more to come.

Don’t miss the posts written for International Women’s Day.

Amber wrote about Teaching Young Children About the Kingdom of God.

Julie considers the spiritual concepts that are communicated in christian children’s literature and music.

To label or not to label….

Jonathan asked, “Why are we so afraid of God doing something new in our midst?”

Brad said, “there are lots of people who didn’t seek to “join” emergence or to “become emergent.” One day, they simply realized they already “were” emerging because their thinking processes were already different from the standard paradigms of the past.”

Barb posted about moving forward without a label, category or box in Come to Our Missional, Emergent, Post Charismatic, Bible, Barbeque, Worship Center.

In The Purposeless Driven Life? Erin said, “spiritual labels don’t work.”

Barna has new categories for church leavers -

-Unattached
-Intermittents
-Homebodies
-Blenders
-Conventionals

Looks like I am an intermittent blender.

In response to this comment, a cheeky group of bloggers have adopted the junk drawer as a label and incorporated it into their bylines:

• Heather – A Deconstructed Christian…life in the junk drawer
• Erin -Wondering and Wandering But Never Lost (in the junk drawer)
• Brother Maynard – Be There
• Pam – Essays of discovery and disillusionment from the junk drawer of Faith
• Makeesha – Firmly rooted in the junk drawer, stretching my branches up and out. (can I be the cellophane wrapped plastic spork?)
• Mike – a voice from the corner of the Junk Drawer
• David – thoughts and artings from the junk drawer

And Makeesha came up with a creative alternative for my byline –
“…in the junk drawer as it is in the china cabinet.”

I Don’t Have the Balls to Be a Leader

…or so I’m told.

I am as familiar as most with both sides of the complementarian/egalitarian coin. I could list the 26 different scriptures that are typically raised about this issue and give you the interpretation from both sides of the debate.

I also know that if you are entrenched in the complementarian view that hearing an alternative view will not persuade you. If defending the tradition of hierarchy is important to you, you will not listen to anything else.

This is one area of doctrine that I cannot and will not say is simply a legitimate difference of opinion. The results of the patriarchal, traditional, complementarian view are too fundamentally damaging to the intended nature of relationships among believers to be an acceptable alternative point of view.

Why does it matter?

It matters that we not limit the complete work of redemption. The elimination of division of every kind is a part of God’s reconciliation and restoration.

It matters that we understand the nature of mutual love and all of the mutuality that entails. Hierarchy will never allow us to realize the fullness of mutual submission, mutual sacrifice, mutual giving, and mutual honor.

It matters that we give place for the full expression of every person’s unique gifts within the body of Christ. Power structures limit the potential of so many people, but particularly women.

It matters that individuals live free of the religious bondage of artificial limits, and it matters that marriages are free of the false expectations of artificial roles.

I love seeing people express their giftedness.

It is such a joy…

to see a gifted musician perform

to read a gifted writer’s book, article, or blog

to watch my funny friend entertain a crowd of people

to watch my friend gifted in hospitality make people feel welcome in her home

to listen to the words of a dynamic speaker

to watch a child try out different talents and interests.

I love my girlfriend that can bake like a grandma and my girlfriend that decorates like Martha Stewart. I also love my friends that would rather discuss the latest book they’ve read while the dishes pile up in the sink.

So today, I want to celebrate the unique and individual giftedness of every member of the body of Christ, and I want to celebrate the understanding of Scripture that acknowledges the redemptive work of the cross in reconciling all division and inequality.

International Women’s Day Synchroblog

Saturday, March 8, International Women’s Day

This is kind of spur of the moment, but for anyone who would like to use this as an opportunity to blog about women’s issues, I will attempt to index the posts here. Please use the comment section to provide a link or trackback to your blog. This is open to men and women both. All views may not necessarily be endorsed by me, but you are welcome to submit your related link.

So if you have a soapbox to climb on, a bra to burn, a drum to beat, something to get off your chest, a hero to honor, a fence to mend, a sock to darn, or a mountain to die on, get your post written and linked so that we can read it.

Related links:

(Kathy, Mak, and Julie – I hope you don’t mind being included on the list.)

igniting the ember: emerging women finding their voice

the world handicapped by half

International Women’s Day

I Don’t Have the Balls to Be a Leader

Are Women Human?

Complementarianism Sucks: Telling Women to be Quiet in the name of Jesus

The Voice

Emerging Church

“It’s a junk drawer category for all kinds of different people.”

Mark Driscoll (ht Stephen Shields)

I’m just sitting here in my pajamas thinking about this.

Missional Monday

A few thoughts from Deb Hirsch from the CMA Organic Movements Conference.

7 Obstacles to Engaging in Mission:

1. Distorted view of Jesus

I fear that a lot of Christians are not seeing Him clearly. We see Him in our own image. We try to tame Him or domesticate Him. But when we follow a sanitized, cleaned up Jesus, then we become like that: tame and sanitized.

2. Distorted views of self

The foundational identity that we need to live out is that we are disciples. Churches are full of Christians, but there are not a lot of disciples. Christians believe, but disciples follow.

3. Distorted views of others

We need a paradigm shift from focusing on people’s negative behavior. The primary truth is that people are created in the image of God. When we look at other people, we recognize that this person, no matter who it is, in some way reflects my God.

4. Distorted views of love

Romantic notions of love do not cut it in the mission field. It’s “fun” to get out there and have a romantic notion of the being out there. But real sacrificial love is what is needed to sustain mission. “To know love one must know pain.”

5. Distorted views of the world

Where you stand determines what you see. Too many of us keep ourselves cocooned in our safe lives and houses. How can we respond to the needs of the world if we are not out looking for them. To understand the pain of a city, you have to go to where the pain is. We have to move out beyond where we are to see the pain.

6. Distorted views about money, consumption, and status

We have also been seduced by consumerism– the alternative religion of our day. Sociologists say consumerism has become the “new religion.” This is the greatest competitor to Christianity, yet we don’t see it because we live amongst it.

7. Distorted views of the family

We have become captive to the construct of the nuclear family as the ideal family structure. We have set this up as an idol. This is not a biblical notion of family. The biblical notion of family is very inclusive– households– many, many uncles, brothers, sisters, parents. The kingdom is a big inclusive family.

(ht Roger Thorman at Simple Church Journal)

Sunday Revival

Posts worth a second look or a first look if you haven’t seen them yet.

Thoughts on church

In her post New Wine – With No Place to Go, Susan describes the inability of existing churches to release and empower young leaders.

“The fact remains that the movement of God’s Spirit in up-and-coming-leadership is very often at “odds” with the existing ethos and modus operandi of the local church.”

Scott muses about whether churches are actually connecting in their communities.

“What if we left our comfortable pews behind permanently and asked to be let back on the playing field?”
“What would that look like?”

A great post from Glenn about needed changes in the way discipleship is viewed and practiced.

Who’s in and out?

I appreciated Ron’s perspective on Patton’s question, Orthodoxy: Should We Decide Who’s In and Out?:

“Orthodoxy, yes we need it, we need anchor points into which to tie our faith into…but to the point of separation, exclusion…those in and those out. I’m not so sure.”

Like Ron, Pete Rollins views orthodoxy as “the knowledge of a transforming relationship with the source of all love.” (ht internetmonk)

Thoughts on social justice

Sarah puts the focus on obedience with an encouragement to just start somewhere.

Missional in the Burbs

Jonathan’s post reminds us not to forget our suburban neighbors in our missional intention.

Jamie has an open poll at his blog about Relocation for Missional Community. There is already a good discussion in the comments about missional living in the suburbs.

Very interesting!

Reflections by Greg Boyd from a public debate between himself, Shane Claiborne, and Chuck Colson. Interesting views from all three about participation by Christians in politics and government.

Living vicariously…

…through Bob at the National Pastors’ Convention.

…and Jonathan at the New Conspirators’ Conference.

Not Just Accordion Players

If you still have a little time on your hands…

Brant upped the challenge from 30 to 100 times for the month.