Archive for the ‘missional’ Category

“Anybody doing anything tonight?”

It’s a phrase we frequently use when we’re bored. Or maybe we’re just looking for something to do. Something to entertain us. Or we need some people to hang out with.

Why?

Why do we always have to be with someone? Why do we always have to be doing something? Well… I suppose by the nature of being human we are always doing something – eating, sleeping, sitting, playing. But we fail to recognize that “doing nothing” is actually doing something – for good or bad.

I walked into my home yesterday evening after a day of working with MVNU students doing some home repair work for a family in our community. There were well over 30 different people in and out of the home where we were working. Hammers were banging. Circular saws were screaming. Drills were… drilling. Though it was quite fulfilling to be actively engaged in serving a family who needed a little help, the silence I encountered upon arriving home was beautiful. I needed to sit and think. I needed to decompress. I needed to do nothing.

As I was installing some electrical wiring with a friend earlier that day we were talking about the home makeover project and the students who initiated it. In the midst of our discussion my friend stated, “It just makes sense. This is what the church should be doing.”  Simultaneously we looked at each other and said, “All the time.” I realized once I got home that the statement was a bit hyperbolic. I needed the silence. I needed solitude for meditation and prayer. I needed to rest in the presence of God – Alone. Quiet. Listening. Thinking.

We can default to either extreme – doing something all the time or doing nothing. Do you find yourself doing nothing? It could be that in the moments of doing nothing you really are doing nothing – nothing but sitting around hoping to be entertained or complaining about the church doing nothing. Or you could really be doing nothing as a healthy form of Sabbath and rest.

How do we go about doing something while still doing nothing? How do we avoid doing nothing in order to actually do something?

It is humorous and interesting how a blog post on Pat Robertson’s response to the earthquake in Haiti spikes my blog traffic. What is the cause? Is it that people agree or disagree with Pat Robertson? What has this man done to generate the type of attention that he has? Does anyone actually care about Robertson? Do you actually care more about the people in the country of Haiti? And if you do, what are you doing about it?

A comment on my previous post addressing Robertson’s hateful comments asked, “Can God forgive us for sitting on our a**es passing judgement on people who are actually doing something besides sitting around talking about it.”

Currently, I am, indeed, sitting. I usually do sit when I type. As I’ve been typing, I have been clicking on a button that says “send.” The button processes a message that I am sending to various orphanages and organizations in Haiti in hopes to adopt a child or even two from Haiti who have possibly been orphaned as a result of the earthquake. An update on our ADOPTION page will be posted later today. If you would like to donate to our adoption fund, please click the button in the far left column.

Another “send” button upon which I clicked processed a donation to UNICEF (who is currently providing aid in Haiti) and earned me frequent flyer points in order that I may fly to Haiti to assist with rebuilding efforts. Organizations with whom I have communicated (some through my employer/university/MVNU) are suggesting that additional people are not currently needed. So I don’t think I need forgiveness for sitting on my backside and “doing nothing.” Must I justify my giving and my doing? In the midst of what I hope to be loving acts, I am not stating ridiculous and asinine judgments on people based on their geographic location and a natural disaster. Bad things happen. Evil is present. It is our human dilemma.

What else can we do about the dilemma?

Thank you for your comments.

The Extended Melody Project benefit concert is tonight in just a half hour. Admission is a $5 donation (though you can give more) and all monetary income from admission, concessions, and shirt sales is donated to an orphanage in Cambodia through Asia’s Hope. Shirts cost $10 U.S. Dollars and are sweet as evidenced below. It is a new cut and fabric from Gildan that is very similar to American Apparel.

Please select up to two (2) answers that best represent(s) your preferred form of being church. You may elect to choose only one option or you may choose two or none. Please be sure to add a comment to either explain your reasoning or state why you believe the survey is grossly inaccurate, mis-worded, and/or impossible to answer well.

 Loading ...

Thanks to "makeesha" and Julie Clawson for their thoughtful comments and contributions to some ongoing dialogue on my previous post concerning Emergent Village , their^ recent gathering, and the ideas of home and church. makeesha pointed out one thing that i was attempting to suggest or about which i was honestly inquiring. The blogosphere and twittersphere are quite confusing when dealing with anything other than the regularities of life. Many things are hard to communicate when the conversational dynamics of tone, vocal inflection, facial expression and body language are absent. Yet, inconsistently, I continue to blog. Ha! In the same way I wonder about the clarity of communication during a gathering of those with limited to no historical and proximal connectivity (maybe that is an incorrect assumption). How does Emergent Village benefit one’s local context? How does EV benefit a community’s love toward neighbor? What is the value to Emergent Village’s global presence? Are these some of the questions discussed at the gathering in D.C.? What are some perspectives about the value of the family and the family being the agent of change with the church in order for the church to be the agent of change within society?

Julie, I am glad that you were not permitted and/or discouraged from Tweeting during the gathering. A friend recently tweeted that even though there were a good number of people attending a Bible study gathering that none of them really seemed present – to which I replied, "It’s good to see that you are fully present since you are tweeting." I also recently wrote a short book review on Reggie McNeal’s Practicing Greatness: 7 Disciplines of Extraordinary Spiritual Leaders where I focused on the the idea of centering our time and energy so as not to have the distractions of internet, mobile phones, and television consume us.

^ I realized after writing this post that I used the possessive language of "their" when referring to Emergent Village. I hope this is not offensive as I know that any of us who have every associated ourselves with or been labeled as "emeregent" (whether for good or bad) do not wish to be an exclusive group that claims ownership of some institutionalized system.

Click the following title to read the article by Shane Claiborne, "Why I Got Arrested on Good Friday. "

When I hung out a little with and observed Shane this summer at the Envision Conference at Princeton I found out that he likes to have fun. I remember distinctly when all sorts of intellectual-ish and rather serious-personalitied ecclesial leaders were lounging around a campus green space eating lunch together. I was sitting with a graduate assistant from Yale listening to him share about his Iranian reconciliation ministry and process a session on religious pluralism with Samir Selmanovic . I looked over his shoulder and there stood Shane dancing around with bowling pins and juggling with a friend. It was beautiful! I envision him laughing all the way to the police station all-the-while remaining internally crushed and authentically in touch with the suffering of Jesus.

I initially put an exclamation on the title of this post only to immediately realize that the statement is not drastic, dynamic, or detrimental. But yes, it’s true: No more "Emergent." Well, ok. Not really. How can a "generative friendship," "network," or "conversation" cease to exist? OK… bad question but… anyway… Some readers may be disappointed at a potentially perceived misleading title but allow me to explain. In late October, Emergent Village posted A Letter from the Board to the Friends of Emergent . The letter (should you be an apathetic trend-follower or choose to not read it and remain a critic of "Emergent" without reading primary sources) outlines in significant detail the thought given to deinstitutionalizing the organization side of Emergent. The Press Release explains it very well. I thought this would be worth mentioning since many say that the Emergent movement … church … organization … network/friendship/conversation argues against large institutions yet maintains its existence as a large and quite structured organization. The Press Release states that, "the Emergent Village board of directors has decided to take a significant step away from institutionalization, ‘gifting’ the organization back to the grass-roots networks that birthed it. To this end, Emergent Village will �flatten� the organization by discontinuing the national coordinator position and significantly reducing the organization�s fundraising."

In the midst of all the re/unstructuring, those associating themselves as a part of the growing, generative, network of friends defined four values for which Emergent stands:

1.) Commitment to God in the Way of Jesus.
2.) Commitment to the Church in all its Forms.
3.) Commitment to God’s World.
4.) Commitment to One Another.

So… any "emergent" thoughts? Some in my context at MVNU say that "Emergent" is evil and dangerous. Others idolize some of the supposed leaders or spokespeople of "Emergent." Where do you stand? Is "Emergent" unifying, meaningful, and needed or is it divisive, futile, and pointless?

Here is a copy of one of posts from today for my missional leadership program:

"As we consider our papers this week on the idea of a missional church, it would be valuable to consider whether or not we "market" Jesus. I heard a pastor say once that we have to market Jesus. Jesus is our product and the congregation is our target audience. After I threw up in my mouth a little I sat there angrily trying to keep the same mouth from spouting hateful things. One problem with the church that has kept us from being "missional" is that we give into the idea of making "consumers" happy. A "seeker sensitive" type of approach to "doing church" "markets" Jesus in a certain way. As Newbigin states, "we have largely domesti cated the gospel within our culture. We have quietly accepted, for practical purposes, the dogma that controls public life." How do we reflect Jesus in such a real and raw way that we are not "marketers" using a cultural tactic to manipulate the psyche?"

My Learning Track for Envision ’08 is “Beyond Consumerism” with Ron Sider. Our second meeting was in lecture format compared to our usual interactive dialogue. Book TV was present filming the lecture to be shown on C-SPAN possibly this coming weekend. I’m not sure how I feel about being on C-SPAN. I used to make fun of my dad for watching it all the time but now I feel myself captivated by watching the “YES” and “NO” votes tally during a congressional vote (post on “voting” coming soon). Ron is not with us today so we are interacting with Bart Campolo and some other practitioners who have come from the Philadelphia / Eastern College area. Sider had to fly out to Chicago in order to meet with Barrack Obama concerning the very things about which we are engaging at the conference: social justice, human rights activisim, non-violence, and the politic of Jesus.

I arrived last night into Philadelphia PA�and drove through Trenton and Princeton on my way to Somerset NJ to stay with my Aunt Dayna, her husband Ken, and my cousin Addy. They have been so very welcoming and it is good to reconnect with family. The home here is amazing. It was built in the late 1700s or very early 1800s�and though updated extensively possesses a sense of permanancy and tranquility. We fed the geese this morning by the pond out back and then shared a meal of eggs on English muffins. Aunt Dayna helped me with a morning workout on the Nintendo Wii Fit Pad.

I’m leaving now for Princeton to visit the University before checking in for the Envision Conference. As time allows I’ll be adding posts throughout the day updating the experience and sharing dialogue for online interaction for those who couldn’t attend and are interested in the vision and direction of the church. I have a great sense of peace combined�with an overwhelmed feeling�right now. The interactions coming in the next couple of days will stretch, bend,�twist, and shape�me as I absorb from and interact with some of the leading authors, academics, and practitioners in missional thought and living. I also have about 6 other ideas for posts right now so there may be some quite random thoughts thrown in here and there.