Tag Archives: emerging church

I Bonsai

Posted on July 31, 2008 | 1 Comment

…And at this point it’s not all that pretty. I think mainly I just want to keep them alive. I have had a few trees for the last couple months now and they are all doing pretty well. Not much to show for them though. I’m learning. I am a bit hesitant to post pictures as I want them to look like real bonsai and not like some scrawny sticks with a few leaves sticking out of them. But, I have put the pics of some of them below.

It’s the philosophy of bonsai that is really teaching me, I think. Slow down. Prune a bit here, pinch there… a week later new growth happens somewhere else. Not too much at one time. There is so much waiting involved. It is so much like what I am learning about growing communities. I want so deeply to know what things are going to look like in the future. I look and I study and I just can’t see it. I have to wait for more branches to come out. For more growth to happen. This will take so long. I am only just beginning this journey and I am not good at seeing what will come, what there is to be grown out of what we have.

Maybe in ten years or so. No one ever begins as an expert do they?

Mugo pine that I finally got into a good form

Mugo pine that I finally got into a good form

Japanese White Pine... haven't done anything yet

Japanese White Pine... haven

Juniper in semi-cascade

Juniper in semi-cascade

a plum that I am trying to re-foliate

a plum that I am trying to re-foliate

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Posted in Community, Ministry, personal stuff

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Emerging as just another color of the rainbow

Posted on July 30, 2008 | 2 Comments

I had a conversation with someone yesterday who said that Emergents are just another color of the rainbow. In other words, you have Presbyterians, Baptists, Lutherans, emergents, etc… and they are all just trying to figure out how to faithfully follow Jesus. Different yes… not having everything figured out, but all adding a flavor to this thing we call Christianity. Emerging church is new, yes, but in the grand scheme of history, there is nothing all that new about it. The danger, he said, is when they feel like they need to change the rainbow. I agreed to an extent… but as I think about it, it raises too many questions to agree.

How do we explain that there are emergents already in every color of the rainbow? These folks are trying to remain true to many of the things that they hold valuable within their color | denomination yet rethink some things as they learn and grow from other colors. If they are found within every color of the rainbow, they can’t be a totally new color.

Maybe the analogy just doesn’t work. Maybe we don’t see the other colors as valid as our own… Maybe we don’t see the rainbow as a whole. Maybe we just see it as separate colors and not as a rainbow. Maybe emergents are trying to get at the view of the rainbow for what it is and excepting the reality that we have made it more than it really is. Maybe it’s not about the rainbow. I don’t know.

I as an Emergent Christian am not trying to change Christianity… but at the same time I exist in the reality that Christianity is changing… or I should say that our world is changing and Christianity, while changing much slower, is changing too. We are in a dynamic time where we can be part of that change, not resistant to it. I see it this way:

God is up to something… always
Present in a world that is changing… growing,
Learning
We long to be a part of what he’s doing
The growth of his kingdom
So we grow, change, learn
Paying attention
And in that we change as well.

The Rainbow changes because we understand the rainbow differently. It’s not about the colors, they all exist in the same rainbow. When it all comes down to it, all the colors are made of the same material… there is nothing different about any of them. And ultimately, perhaps, emergent is creating a place where all can come and be rainbows. In the words of Bob Marley from Sun is Shining

When the mornin gather the rainbow, yeah, yeah
Want you to know, Im a rainbow too
To the rescue, here I am
Want you to know, yall, can you, can you, can you understand?

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Posted in emerging church, Questions, Quotes

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Learn to differ and disagree well

Posted on July 1, 2008 | Leave a comment

I greatly appreciate this recent post from Brian McLaren’s blog:

I just received this today …

++++
Pastor Brian,

I want to apologize to you about some reviews that I put on www.amazon.com. After reading The Truth War by John MacArthur, I was alarmed by your works.

Recently, I put myself in your shoes and thought what it would be like for people to post things that are not favorable. I went and took my comments off.

I still am unsure of some of the comments that John MacArthur highlights, but am sincerely sorry for my actions.

Sincerely,

+++++

Here’s my reply (slightly edited for privacy’s sake) …


Dear … – I wanted to thank you for your kind and gracious note. I very rarely receive notes like this – I can’t tell you how encouraging it is to see brothers in Christ show this kind of humility and charity and brotherliness. Thank you.

I’ve had some private contact with the author you mentioned. He and I do indeed have some deep and sincere disagreements. Although I feel that he misrepresents me on a number of counts, I certainly respect his right and responsibility to express his concerns as he sees fit. My wish would be that Christians could learn to differ and disagree well … which would involve accurately representing one another’s views, not overstating them, not hastily resorting to inflammatory or vilifying language, and always practicing the “golden rule” – which is what you have done so beautifully in this situation.

So, please be assured of my respect for you and my gratitude too. I hope you’ll keep me in your prayers, and again, thanks.
Warmly, in Christ,
Brian
+++++

May we all learn from this brother’s beautiful example.

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Posted in Quotes

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Detailed review of the Church Basement Roadshow

Posted on June 30, 2008 | 2 Comments

Ben’s not a fan, but he has some interesting points… many I disagree with, though His blog entry can be found HERE.

My own statement of emergent is here… can we talk about these things in person, please? I can’t emphasize that enough.

It is so interesting to me what people’s thoughts are as it doesn’t seem like many of the things that we emergents stand for are all that nonsensical. I mean, yes, they are a bit different than some of the “orthodoxy” in the last… oh, 1000 years. But historically, I’m not so sure. It seems to me that things like “innerancy” and “infallible” are not things that the bible claims for itself, or that Christians really claimed until Luther. If this is the case, and Luther and some of our other church fathers (because indeed it was men who called the shots) marked changes in orthodoxy, who’s to say that changes still don’t take place?

Good things to be in conversation about… personally. It would be really good to meet anyone from Bend who would like to talk more.

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Posted in emerging church, Out and About in Bend

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Thoughts from the roadshow guys themselves

Posted on June 19, 2008 | Leave a comment

While the roadshow is a lot of laughs, a lot of character personas, and some singing as well it really comes down to this… as Tony says:

the point is deadly serious. We think that the church — even Christianity — needs an overhaul. Although we begin and end the show as 1908 revivalists, the bulk of the 90 minute show is our three monologues in which we each deliver a message about which we are passionate. In a nutshell, Doug [Pagitt] says that each of us is just as responsible for the faith we proclaim as any theologian or saint who has gone before us, I [Tony Jones] confess to be enamored of the idea of Christianity at the expense of Jesus, and Mark [Scandrette] calls us to love others regardless of the pay-off.

Good stuff here, and they’re rollin’ into Bend, Oregon this coming Tuesday, June 24 7pm at First Presbyterian Church.

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Posted in emerging church, Out and About in Bend, Quotes

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