Confession

I've been mulling this one over for a while. The use of the internet as a neo-confessional amazes me. And I think I am making some connections.

I believe the future holds a return to parish style ministry. Where I am not the youth pastor at South Albany Community Church, but I am the youth pastor from the south side of Albany. I live in and minister in the community. This, of course, requires huge institutional changes, the biggest of which is measurements of success, but that is a huge digression.

In conjunction with this return to parish style ministry, I think the present holds a revolution of confession. The glossed over stainless steel of modernism has been found wanting and the "next" want to see what the dirt under the concrete looks like. And they want to be comfortable in it. Together.

So, here's a remarkable website involving confessions: PostSecrets.




Confession make us weak. And that...

Passover

This past week we did a passover simulation at Traffic, the worship ministry of Driven High School Ministries (a ministry of South Albany Community Church, a memeber church in the Evangelical Church of North America...been working on my licensing, is it obvious?)

So it was one of the best nights of worhsip I've ever been in. We did an intergrated teaching with pizza and communion with twix and coke. It was one of those nights where it just seemed like everyone was there, really engaged. And then we ended up with some really worthwhile commitment times.

Tommorrow, the actual day for the passover (according to the catholic calander) I am celebrating the Seder with my small group. I've never done it and I am the small group leader...should be interesting.

It would be interesting to do a Biblical study on food and worship: is eating worship?

Shalom - (aren't we all in the mood?)

Terri Whoever

So there's all this buzz about Teri Whoever and wether or not they shoudl pull out her feeding tube.

Secret: I really can't car less.

It's so funny what can happen when the media controlled america goes out and starts reporting on a story that really isn't big news, and the country gets all worked up on it.

Honestly, my life doesn't change either way on this one.

So, go buy the latest green day album and get over it. She lives, she dies, two months later no one will remember her name.


this post brought to you by James' sympathy black hole.

Lent

I began Lent last night to identify with my Eastern Orthodox brothers.

In the middle of this over busy time (Good Friday services, Easter preparations, licensing work, missions trip organization), I'm looking for Lent to help me to move slowly and intentionaly.

No fancy mystery or interesting posts to look forward to. Just simple.

Becoming a real Pastor!

I have been working on my licensing for our denominational credentials and it occurs to me - how is this training helping me to become a minister in a postmodern generation.

I don't think the whole church will engage the emerging world until the educational institutions, including boards of ministry, are turned in that direction.

This is the reasons the western church is always a few years behind the culture - we are so deathly afraid of heresy that we end up Amish. Is heresy really the ultimate evil?

nope. The easter bunny may be though.


Also - Eastern Orthodox lent starts today. Gentlemen, start your engines.

Go to church

This is a special present for my dad - he always wanted this - you can click on the title link and make your own...



See ya Sunday!!

Jesus is not a Fat Coach

This is today's post of the day winner (ok there's no contest, it's jsut a cool post) - from Mandy ---

click on the title link and see how Jesus isn't a fat coach.

Are you a LOSER?

It's funny I found this after last week's traffic - I had to try it out, even though I dislike most of these silly little things. Sometimes even I have some stupid fun.




comment on your loser-status...

Film & Theology: Napoleon Dynamite Night

tonight is the Napoleon Dynamite film and theology night...

It should be cool,: great prizes... think fishing line, bicycles and teather ball!!

Who knew theology was this fun?

Emergent Celebrity

So there's not going to be an emergent convention for the next couple of years and I think that might be really, really good.

Emerging things seem to be such a market driven piece of property that it is becoming hard to know what is going on out here. To me, emerging is about a community becoming, not about attendance at conferences.

Which brings me to that which prompted this. Our church is looking at the addition of a worship pastor (focus on the pastor part more than the worship part) and one of the good looking applications was from a former YP who turned into a worship pastor. He had Sonlife advanced one and two, both of which I'd love to learn in, and He had been to the past two emergent conventions (which, from some reports were heavy on the convention and light on the emergent - which adds even more problems to my gut reaction). when I saw that I was, to my horror, jealous. I had to actually ask myself what was going on inside of me -

I figure that I had become enamored by the celebrity of the emergent group. They've got books and conferences and appearances on Larry King...and really...really...what does that mean?

I am going to try and get past the celebrity worship part of my life...which getting older is really helping...but it is going to read it's ugly head again (no offense intended to the good looking fellows at emergent). I don't think the fellows at emergent want to be celebrities, but that's what us americans do, right? Take a good thing and market it...

Just another step in the reorientation -

Hitch

Hitch - great movie - it's about a youth pastor who learns to stop making little people who love God and start just loving God himself and allows other men to follow him.

Except:
youth pastor is played by a date doctor
little people are played by single men
God is played by women

Nice movie.

Good theology.

Google Ads

Hey - new to the reorientation are google ads - it's a way for the reorientation to pay for itself so that I can move to a better blog hosting software.

Not that blogger hasn't been very very good to me...

So go ahead and click on the google ads - every click pays a little more into the reorientation, which helps get better websites!! And it ain't your money anyways -


ps. please don't do a bunch of clicks for no reason, that would be stupid and would violate the spirit of the agreement with google.

That's all - later-

The Relevant Church, Jennifer Ashley ed.

Great leaders don't always make great writers.

This book is a collection of stories from church planters of "emerging" churches. In some cases, really great, in other cases, it's like reading the diary of someone I want to emulate, but they just talk about crap. It's a really, really easy read, especially when you skim through the chemical waste.

This is the first book I've read from Relevant Books, which makes me nervous that Relevant Media Group has so filled a gap in Christian marketing that they think they can get away with anything (ring a Bell-South?).

Meanwhile, there are some great people writing in this book, and they have some great quotes, with the appropriate writer attributed.

- Brian Kay

"It is impossible to be a follower of Christ and not be a part of a local church. There, I said it."

"...others go from church to church in an effort to put together a smorgasboard of the best teaching, best music, best small group, best whatever. Church hopping is the only tolerated promiscuity in Christian culture"

- Alex McManus

" 'Creativity is the natural result of spirituality' "

"We would have to be Rafiki...we shake a coconut, throw some dust, do a little dance and can't figure out how to cover our butts."

- Jason Zahariades

"Yet, over it's ling history, Israel distorts its vocation as a blessing to the nations. Rather than being an inclusive transformative community, it accentuates its distinct ethnic identity in order to keep the other nations at bay."


not bad. but not that great.

reorienting the reorientation

some site changes - new links, a couple new blogs and a few sites that are interesting - massive change, ten by ten, 722.

got rid of the future books section - Lord knows I have a way to long reading list, but I am getting on with it. I'm going to keep the past books link for now though, we'll see how long it takes for me to get rid of that.

OK -

The evangelicals are screwed! Part Deux!

Last night Larry King hosted a discussion with a few of the most influential american evangelicals on his talk show. Each of them was a included in TIME magazine's 25 most influential evangelicals in America list, which is from their most recent issus, dealing with the power of evangelicals in the American political world.

On the show were Tim and Beverly LaHaye, Franklin Graham, T.D. Janks, and Brian McLaren. Of course, it was easy to see who was going to be relevant, and who wasn't.

The LaHayes are sure doing a great job at whatever it is they are doing, but heck if I know what that is!

Franklin Graham was his normal stuff, giving the gospel message in a very humble way, but giving it none the less.

T.D. kept his patience even though Larry King talked to him about the evangelical track record with racism (which in case you haven't noticed - sucks - America was not built on biblical principles, it was built on the backs of black slaves).

Brian McLaren, perhaps the least evangelical of them all, was what was expected as well.

No big surprises.

One caller in to the show did make me think though, and then another did too.

First, one caller commended McLaren and Janks for being open-minded. It made me wonder why we have to be polarized into open- or closed-minded...

I think it is the real call of Christians to be known as compassionate, which may well go beyond the open/closed minded discussion. Compassion is like the flavoring in the dish, because being open- or closed- minded without compassion is pretty much the same thing isn't it? And perhaps, people who commend Christians for being open-minded have no idea what they are talking about and really just admire the compassion with which the person responds.

Second, a caller asked McLaren about his view on the war. I love going to listen to Brian speak, simply to hear the people try to peg him down with their heretic darts. McLAren wasw wise though, and stuck by his views, being a little sneaky about not saying whether or not he supported Bush, but being outright in saying that he does not support Bush's actions in the world.

I think we're all very, very grateful for the initial good results from the election, so I have nothing but gratitude that went so well. And I think we're all so proud of the Iraqi people for, at great risk, going out to vote. But I think we still, many of us who are Christians are not spoken for, by a lot of the most public voices. And a lot of us are raising very deep questions about the U.S.'s role in the world, and is this really a sensible role for us to take.

So, it was an interesting night, and will be good conversation for the small group this week...

The evangelicals are screwed!

You are not going to believe this! Well, you probably will, but it will make you wish something bad.

James Dobson has gone ahead and labled SpongeBob as not only having an oddly square private region (which he did not say directly, but is rather true), but SB is a pro-homosexual advocate!




Man, those Dobson's just ain't going to be friends with me.

So, Dobson has called out SB's participation in a video which he says is going to promote homosexaulity. I know whenever I see a sponge wearing pants it makes me gay as a $3 bill. What a swearword joke. What's next? Dora is into beastiality!! Look at her relationship with that monkey wearing boots!!

This is why the general public hates Christians. We allow this guy to be the leader and he does stupid stuff like this. It is no surprise that the term "Christian" may be beyond recovery, as is suggested by McLaren.

So click on the title link and go down and watch the video...it's an absolute joke...Dobson picks out SB from all of the characters that have children's shows...simply b/c SB is easiest to pick on b/c he is known to adults.

It appears Dobson's real concern is in being known by adults, not saving the children from the evil homosexual spnge.

Hoser.

Countertop Theology

LJ, Heather and I have got four fish. They live on our kitchen counter (in an aquarium, duh) and we take care of them. We're even members of PetCo customer program now.

The reality is that we are revisiting what a Christian's interaction with creation says about God. How we treat living things has to say something about God. It is a major part of reorienting our faith to get out of an industrial age in our religion.

So we care for some fish, and it helps us to become the people that God originally created us to be. Working out our salvation with some goldfish. Taking a quiet time, where all I do is watch the fish and interact with them for a while.

emerging.

The postmodern novel will have no climax

It's just true. Look around and see what is happening in popular media and the way it is being reacted to. In the past, people wanted a story to take them somewhere uncomfortable, and then resolve it. Today, and in the future, people want to go somewhere and that's it.

What else is there?

Children, HIDE YOUR BLOGS!

Best compliment I ever got was from my current Senior Pastor.

After interviewing (auditioning?) for the youth ministry position (part?) out here in Oregon he called and told my wife that we "are....very...real."

We thought that was great, because that is the image that we really want to project. Moreover, it is who we really want to be. One of my big struggles is to balance that realness with love. I see lots of people who claim to be "real" but they're really just jerks.

Jerks in sheeps clothing, sounds like the Bible.

The way that the millenial generation (now showing in a youth group near you) uses the interent as a virtual confessional. It seems to be the modern equivalent to the Catholic confessional booth. Where you couldn't really see the priest, though you knew who he was. The priest was like a guide for your confession to God. Everyone has seen the movies, maybe some have actually been to confess, you know what I am talking about.

Recently, I was asked if the leaders in our church read my blog, or if I keep it a secret from them. I hope they read my blog. I doubt they even know what a blog is. But the bigger question exists still, "Do I get a rush out of confessing what might be read?" Even more so, is that a prevailing reason why this wired-confessional is working the way that it is?

Perhaps that is the way God designed human beings. It is supposed to feel good to confess our sins, not only to God, but to one another, to true friends. To be willing to admit why we hate ourselves and what we suck at, but can't seem to overcome, no matter how hard we pray. Maybe God was thinking we could help each other.

Nevertheless, the virtual confessional continues and I am amazed by it. Kids who want to allow people into their hearts, but are afraid that heart will get stomped on. Afriad because their heart has treadmarks on it already. Pre-stomped by friends, teachers, parents, pastors, themselves. If this is even a bit true, then it is no surprise that blogging is turning into a virtual millenial confessional. It is no surprise that kids hide their blogs from their parents/authority figures.

So what to do about it?

Post Industrial Christianity

Today I pray that I will be able to outlive industrial, market-driven Christianity. Pastors have attempted to become professionals and have given away what makes them distinct in the process. I digress...

>>>The United Church of Canada's pastors are seeking to join the Canadian Auto Workers Union. For protection from their congregations.

>>>Pastors read business management books as the key to becoming better pastors. I don't like this very much at all. It reminds me too much of a quote from the book "Dining with the Devil" by Os Guinness (which I have not read, have only read this quote),

Whenever I met a Buddhist leader, I meet a holy man, Whenever I meet a Christian leader, I meet a manager. ---comment of a Japanese businessman

>>>In an industrial society, value is measured by production. Western Christianity needs to be reoriented and corrected to see that production is not success in our mission.

>>>I think many leaders in modern western Christianity read the Great Commission to say to go into all the world and make lots of disciples. They have inserted the word lots. Of course, I hope that all would come to follow Jesus in the rythyms of God's grace and experience the best life possible, but we have added the word lots and created a culture, influenced by the modern, western industrial revolution, that values production.

Can I read a book by a youth pastor who has an average suze youth group? Good luck. The only one I have ever heard of is Tony Jones (and he is an excellent writer), and even he got ripped for writing prescriptive material when his youth group was just average size.

The world of western Christianity values larger churches and larger ministries more than smaller ones. We think the church in S. Korea with 75,000 members is a great thing. And we have no biblical reason for thinking this way.

If God thought this way,

There would have been more animals in the ark.
Earth wouldn't be so freaking tiny in comparison to the universe.
Jesus would have been taller.
Jesus would have had more than 3 people who cared about him at his execution.
Judas would have been fired/laid off/let go a whole lot earlier.
The number of people who became Xns at Pentecost (3,000) wouldn't relate so dang exactly to the story of the Levites when Aaron built the golden calf for the Israelites.

If God thought this way, he would actually want to know how many people you witnessed to before you died. Is that biblical? NO. NONONONONONONONONONONONONO. NO.

That's just industrial Christianity.


Addenum: I must be feeling good. I shaved all up and am ranting profusly. Must be that freezing cold Canadain air.