Home, Homelessness, Homecoming

Here is Brian Walsh – theologian and author – discussing the epic narrative of Scripture in terms of “home, homelessness, and homecoming.” It is from the Parish Collective’s Vimeo site and is well worth the 3 minute watch.

I especially enjoy the “earthiness” of his metaphor. As one who is thinking through Scripture, church, theology, and all of their public practices I find this very helpful.

Any thoughts?

[Some of] My Favorite Books of 2011

Below is a list of some of the best books I read this year. It isn’t comprehensive or exhaustive. It isn’t a countdown or in any particular order. They are all great books in their own right and hopefully you’ll find something you like. If you have any questions, feel free to let me know. Enjoy.

The End of Evangelicalism?: Discerning a New Faithfulness for Mission; Towards an Evangelical Political Theology by David E. Fitch

Reading that title you may think you’re getting yourself into another ranting on politics and the Moral Majority or why you shouldn’t have voted for Obama. But you’d be horribly wrong. Rather than writing another piece on the oft-thought coalescence of Republican politics and Evangelical theology, Fitch hits us with a combination of Zizekian cultural/ideological philosophy and the practices and beliefs of Evangelicalism. He deals with the center beliefs of the movement (institution), namely the “inerrant Bible”, the “decision for Christ”, and “the Christian nation”. Instead of merely deconstructing them or pejoratively dismantling these beliefs and their resulting practices, Fitch carefully, through Zizek, brings out the reality these things have created and their “empty politics”. Basically, he is asking are these rallying points helping or hindering the mission of God? Or, in other words, are they creating a politic (a group of people) that is embodying the person and work of Jesus? He thinks not.

Not leaving us hanging in the despair of our emptiness, he then builds his case for a fullness of belief and practice that can carry us into the future as the people of God.  This is the bread and butter of the book. For those searching for a new way of doing and being the church, this section will invigorate you. Having been able to spend some time with Fitch over the past few years, I can tell you that he is not a mere theorist, but is actually putting his ideas into action. Pick this book up if you want an engaging analysis of where Evangelicalism is at and where it can and should be. For more on David Fitch’s thoughts check out his blog: Reclaiming the Mission.

Sun of Righteousness Arise!: God’s Future for Humanity and the Earth by Jurgen Moltmann

Moltmann is quickly turning into one of my favorite theologians. He has been researching, writing, and teaching for quite some time resulting in a large body of work. This book is a compilation of over ten years of lecturing and, as such, is a deep and broad selection of writings. Known as the “theologian of hope”, Moltmann weaves this thread of hope through his discussion “of the Christian future centered in God, God’s reign, and God’s justice.” The book is divided up into four sections: The Future of Christianity, The God of Resurrection, God is Righteousness and Justice, and God in Nature. Each one of them is thoroughly trinitarian and holistic. Probably my favorite quality of his writings is his detailed account of the “big picture” of God’s story. For the more conservative reader, he will challenge you and push you to broaden your horizons, like he does mine. Great, great stuff here.

A Community Called Atonement by Scot McKnight

Here is another full, holistic, big picture type of book that doesn’t get carried away with academic ramblings. McKnight brings us a thorough piece centering on atonement and its ramifications. Not satisfied with one particular theory of atonement, McKnight searches and writes about a theory that acts as a “golf bag able to hold all the clubs [theories]“. Beginning with the story of God in its entirety, he brings us through the major parts of this story, its metaphors and images, and what we as the Church are to do about it. This theology isn’t mere abstract thought; it is a living, practical theology that must be lived out. Its title gives it away, but he concludes that atonement isn’t simply a personal, individualistic event, but it is something that creates community and this community is to act and live out this atonement. For more from McKnight check out his blog at Jesus Creed.

The Justice Project by Brian McLaren, Elisa Padilla, and Ashley Bunting Seeber

For those of us who have grown up reading the Bible for the personal, relevant, and applicable for our own spiritual piety, this book reorients us around the reading of Scripture prophetically. This doesn’t mean “seeing into the future”, but rather reading the Bible, culture, and life in general with an eye towards justice. It’s interesting when you begin to look at the writings contained within the Bible and the tradition handed down to us with open eyes and ears to the treatment of the poor, widowed, and orphaned. Justice screams out as the God of justice calls the people of God to carry forth this justice.

The book itself is a collection of essays written by theorists and practitioners from both North and South America. One of the beauties of this book is its full spectrum of topics, not just those concerned with strict biblical or theological studies. From ecology to trade to the suburbs to the slums to Native American relations with the U.S., these essays fill us in on the justice being sought by those firmly rooted in Christ. Justice isn’t solely a “liberal” agenda; it is the agenda of the God incarnated in Jesus and carried forth by the Spirit. Great, great book for those seeking to be socially attuned.

When the Church was A Family: Recapturing Jesus’ Vision for Authentic Christian Community by Joseph H. Hellerman

I wanted to get this book when I was doing my Masters thesis, but didn’t get to it. Then this year I saw a few people comment on it being one of their paradigm shifting books. So, I got it and wasn’t disappointed. Unlike some of the other books mentioned here, this could be read by anyone, with or without a formal background in theology. Hellerman takes us back to the original intents of Jesus’ gathering of a community: he was reorganizing the people of God as the family of God.

In our current culture of division, separation, and individualistic priorities, Hellerman makes the countercultural claim that the group comes first. It is from within the group the individual finds her identity not vice versa. This was an understood and lived out maxim in the ancient world, and still is today in many non-Western cultures, including Jesus and his disciples. It is from here that it becomes evident that Jesus’ actions, parables, and purposes were to create a community which deemed itself first and foremost a family and all that came with it.

One of the big insights for me was the usage of sibling terminology within the Bible. In ancient Mediterranean culture, the closest relationships weren’t parent to child or husband and wife. No, the closest relationship was the tie you had to your brothers and sisters. Why? Because you both shared the same father. From this, we begin to see why both Jesus’ and Paul’s usage of sibling terms was key for understanding the nature and mission of the church.

If you’re looking for a great study on the origins of the church and how you might begin to shift things in your own church, pick this up.

Practicing the Way of Jesus: Life Together in the Kingdom of Love by Mark Scandrette

I’m not going  to lie: I didn’t actually finish this book yet. But from what I did read, it is great. This isn’t another theorist looking to push an agenda that has no practical foundation. This is a book about actually living out the Christian life.

Scandrette does something I’ve seen few do: he actually gives practical ways of living out the experiments he discusses in this book. Imagine that?! They aren’t things that could work; he’s actually done them within communities of people. There are multiple examples of long and short term experiments, large and small group experiments, and many more. With a focus on actual, rubber to the road discipleship, this book has been on many “Best Books of 2011″ lists. Pick it up and you’ll think so too.

Thy Kingdom Connected: What the Church Can Learn from Facebook, the Internet, and Other Networks by Dwight Friesen

Here’s another great little book on the connectivity and sociality of our world. Basing his work on the nature and work of the Trinity, Friesen takes us through a study of community and the ever networking essence of it all. Through nature and technology we see how things don’t exist in solitude; no, everything is connected and has an effect in one way or another. If this is so outside of the church, it must be so inside as well.

This book is gives great insights in how we all find ourselves in community and how it both effects us and we effect it. If you’re looking for something with theological and sociological reflection, pick this up.

The Prophetic Imagination by Walter Brueggemann

Brueggemann is an Old Testament scholar known for his writing and teaching. This book was originally published in 1978, but is still as powerful now as it was then.

Tracing his way through the exodus of Israel from bondage to the empire of Egypt to the prophetic movement of Jesus, Brueggemann advocates for the alternative-ness of the people of God. One of the fundamental occupations of the alternative community is its prophetic stance against the dominating culture, typically founded on and in the language and reality of empire. He states,

The task of the prophetic ministry is to nurture, nourish and evoke a consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us.

This isn’t a mere academic book, but is a book that has true social ramifications. It is actual theology because it is public theology. More than that, because it is a book focused on transforming our imaginations, it bypasses the aim at our heads and aims for our hearts. This has been a classic in many circles and now I know why. If you want to read an engaging, out-of-box book on how to be an alternative community, get this book.

Organic Leadership: Leading Naturally Right Where You Are by Neil Cole

Moving beyond the criticisms of the institutional church, Neil Cole offers a book on leadership that takes into consideration that which has come before us with an eye for what will lead us into the future. He isn’t content with another church leadership book, but rather invites us into the natural/organic ways of leadership within the kingdom of God. He takes on deep questions and traditioned answers to point his readers to a way of being the church that multiplies itself through discipleship.

One of the main things I took away from this book was the understanding of growing the church through actual relationships with those who don’t identify themselves as Christians. Rather than growing a church through cannibalizing other churches, our prayer ought to be to seek out where God is already work in our communities and join him there. A practical tip Cole offers is to set an alarm on your phone to go off at 10:02 everyday. This time corresponds with Luke 10:2 where Jesus tells his disciples to beg God for workers for the harvest. It is through this simple practice of prayer that I’ve found myself not worrying (as much) about the numerical growth of our church family.

In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership by Henri Nouwen

This is another classic that I finally read this year. It is short, yet powerful in its depth. Nouwen gives us a brief piece on Christian leadership and the avoidance of what is typically seen as leadership. As one who lived with and ministered to those with mental and physical disabilities, Nouwen brings a developed and different angle to leadership.

The book is the story of Nouwen’s invitation to speak on Christian leadership and the subsequent events that took place. Instead of traveling and speaking alone he brought with him Bill Van Buren, one of the mentally disabled people he lived with. The insights gained from this time are invaluable, especially in light of the fact that I too work everyday with elementary students with special needs. Instead of the typical power and influence leaders seek after, Nouwen challenges us to go “from relevance to prayer”;  “from popularity to ministry”; “from leading to being led”. This is a humble, intuitive reflection on leadership that anyone and everyone should read.

The Open Secret: An Introduction to the Theology of Mission by Lesslie Newbigin

Another classic – I’m noticing a pattern. Here the topic is mission and how the triune God is at work in God’s world. Rooting everything in the Trinity, Newbigin challenges us to see how each person, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are active in the missio dei. There is so much greatness about this book, that I don’t even know where to begin. If you are at all wondering about the nature and essence of God, the Church, and humanity please pick this book up. I had heard how good this book is and I was not disappointed.

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell has written many New York Times best sellers and this is one of them. The premise of this book is that the often overlooked small tweaks and changes we make to television shows, neighborhoods, and sneakers are the factors that push social epidemics over “the tipping point”.  So what is the difference between Sesame Street and Dora the Explorer that makes one “stickier” than the other? What makes kids attentive to one over the other? Or why does taking the graffiti off of a subway car seem to lessen the wave of violence in a major city? Does a house with a broken window send a subtle yet strong message in a small neighborhood plagued with problems?

The Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor, and the Power of Context are the three laws Gladwell explores throughout the content of this book. If you are preoccupied with studying viruses, social change, or perhaps, I don’t know, church planting you should read this and see what it takes to push things over the tipping point.

New Monasticism: What it Has to Say to Today’s Church by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove

This is a book about what it means to be Christian as citizens of the world’s last remaining superpower at the beginning of the third millennium.

So writes Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove in the beginning of his book. This is not a book about escaping this world or setting up a community to violently rage against the empire. Rather, it is a book about resurrection and the resurrection of the church.  It is about remembering our forebears who told us nonviolence, charity, community, and celebration are revolutionary ways of living. And more importantly they are ways of living as the peculiar people of Jesus.

This short, yet provocative, book paints a picture of what it would like for small communities of people who center their lives around Jesus, each other, and those who are pushed to the margins of our society might look like. Combining liturgical living, missional expressions, and concern for contemporary issues that have a daily impact, I found this book both thought provoking and inspiring. For me, these are the things more people need to hear, read, and experience. Great book.

Taking a Posture of a Mother and Father: Paul in 1 Thessalonians 2

Last night I had the privilege of having a hand in dedicating 3 children from our community to God, each other, and in a very real way, the onlooking world. We’d been planning on having this event for awhile now and, thankfully, our lectionary texts for the day proved to be invaluable.

The text I decided to preach on was found in 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12. Here we find Paul describing his life-on-life approach to founding a community of disciples centering their lives on, around, and in Jesus, also known as a church. He comes to them as one looking to proclaim the kingdom of God brought about by the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. He does this, however, not through seminars, classes, street preaching, or questionnaires, but through giving his life over to them. Words alone will not suffice; he must meld his life with theirs and embody or incarnate the message he is attempting to bring to them. This is because it is not simply a hodge podge of words or some mythical story. No, he is presenting to them Jesus.

Here we find the idea of posture through Paul’s metaphor of coming to them as both a mother and father.

As a mother, Paul comes to this community opening himself up in love for the sake of them. Picture a mother nursing her child: it is an image of love and self-giving for the betterment of the child. It is a depriving of herself. It is a posture of weakness, not in a pejorative sense, but in a sense of sacrifice and, ultimately, love. It is a posture of invitation that seeks out the other with open arms.

And Paul continues to push our imaginations by claiming to also have come as a father. He came to them under the pretense that he would labor and work in order to not be a burden upon them. He was “exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of [them] you” because he saw the need for their growth. As a disciple himself, he had to be taught what living life like and in Jesus was about. He was pushed and shaped and formed and now he was seeking to do the same. Yet again we see the love and tender care that he employs here. He wasn’t a burden, he wasn’t a hypocrite; he took on the posture of challenge and enveloped it with the posture of invitation he embodied/incarnated as a mother.

And, again, where did Paul learn all of this? He learned this from being a disciple (the Greek actually means learner) of Jesus. Jesus knew that his posture towards others would be the means by which he would influence. Like a mother, He called children to himself and used parables involving children to provoke our redemptive images of God and ourselves. Yet he pushed his followers to a fuller and more holistic way of life: a life within his new creation as his kingdom unfolds and they become the humans they were supposed to be.   If you look at the gospels, you can see that it was his embodiment of love (his posture of invitation and challenge) that powerfully formed people; his message typically pushed people away. So, we see it was his actual person/being that “attracted” people to himself, so they could understand his message. In other words, they saw how to live his message long before they could articulate his message.

And I believe this is what Paul is causing us to recall. He didn’t come up with this stuff on his own. No, he learned it and it was for the “kingdom and [God's] glory.” He brings to our attention the earthiness of our faith in that we don’t have to look very far to see how Jesus was and is: simply look to a loving mother and father. He reminds us that our lives, our practicing resurrection, must be lived in a posture that depicts what we believe. We have been called into the kingdom of God, which demands not a mere set of beliefs, but a life that interlocks and intermingles with the lives of everyone around us. In our culture, we have become good at speaking words (demonstrating what we think we know), but not incarnating words (demonstrating what we actually believe). We must be patiently postured in the midst of our family, friends, and neighbors in order to articulate our message.

Perhaps if others haven’t wondered more about our faith it is because we haven’t postured ourselves in love for God’s kingdom and glory.

Caesar’s Image versus God’s Image: An Ancient Reflection on Matthew 22

“So let us always reflect the image of God in these ways:

I do not swell up with the arrogance of pride;

nor do I droop with the blush of anger;

nor do I succumb to the passion of avarice;

nor do I surrender myself to the ravishes of gluttony;

nor do I infect myself with the duplicity of hypocrisy;

nor do I contaminate myself with the filth of rioting;

nor do I grow flippant with the pretension of conceit;

nor do I grow enamored of the burden of heavy drinking;

nor do I alienate by the dissension of mutual admiration;

nor do I infect others with the biting of detraction;

nor do I grow conceited with the vanity of gossip.

Rather, instead, I will reflect the image of God in that I feed on love;

grow certain on faith and hope;

strengthen myself on the virtue of patience;

grow tranquil by humility;

grow beautiful by chastity;

am sober by abstention;

am made happy by tranquility;

and am ready for death by practicing hospitality.

It is with such inscriptions that God imprints his coins with an impression made neither by hammer nor by chisel but has formed them with his primary divine intention. For Caesar required his image on every coin, but God has chosen man, whom he has created, to reflect his glory.”

- Homily 42 from the Incomplete Work on Matthew

“We just don’t.”: Robert Benson on Prayer

A friend of mine called me today inquiring about a book I had recommended on Facebook. The book he was referring to was Robert Benson’s short and tremendously challenging and insightful In Constant Prayer. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: it is by far one of my favorite books. I was quickly reminded of this as I flipped through it earlier today and came across this passage on the neglect of prayer:

“We who will get up and walk, or even run miles in the mornings, not to mention those of us who are not willing to wait for there to be enough light to see the bottom of the flag or for the frost to go away before we tee off; we who will haul ourselves through our neighborhoods in the dark to make sure that we have the box scores as quick as we can – for all kinds of reasons, including some good ones, I suppose, we will not, cannot, do not rise in the morning to greet the dawn with a song of praise on our lips, as did those who went before us.

We who will stay up late to watch the televised version of the news that we heard on our drive home at six, who will TiVo enough must-see television that we have to stay up late to keep up, who will not go to sleep without burning the candle at both ends and in the middle if we can figure out how to get it lit, will not end our days with praise and worship and confession and blessing.

We will not do these things in the name of love or discipline, devotion or worship. We will not even do it for selfish reasons, or even as a reliable way of self-actualization, to put it in its least favorable context- which, in our Western American, twenty-first century, self-help, and consumer-driven culture, is astonishing. And that includes some of us in certain communities of faith who made a promise to pray the office when we joined. Some of us did not even notice the promise we made at our confirmation, and the clergy do not point it out very often.

And if you believe the scholars and the media and the pundits who predict our increasing collective future irrelevance, then I am also a member of the generation that will preside over the death of the Church. Call it postmodern, call it post-Christian, call it Post Toasties if you want to, but there is a world out there that says we – the Church united, divided, militant, or otherwise – can do nothing to spread the gospel here on earth. Much less do anything to make each hour of the day or night any holier.

The witness of those who went before us is that we can. We just don’t.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer on Justification and Sanctification

 

 

 

Justification is the means whereby we appropriate the saving act of God in the past, and sanctification the promise of God’s activity in the present and future. Justification secured our entrance into fellowship and communion with Christ through the unique and final event of his death, and sanctification keeps us in that fellowship in Christ. Justification is primarily concerned with the relation between man and the law of God, sanctification with the Christian’s separation from the world until the second coming of Christ. Justification makes the individual a member of the Church whereas sanctification preserves the Church with all its members. Justification enables the believer to break away from his sinful past; sanctification enables him to abide in Christ, to persevere in faith and to grow in love. We may perhaps think of justification and sanctification as bearing the same relation to each other as creation and preservation. Justification is the new creation of the new man, and sanctification his preservation until the day of Jesus Christ.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, pg. 277-278

“This is Discipling” (video)

If you watch one video on here, please watch this one. This resonates with me on many levels. I won’t say much, just this: the content of this video is what is needed.

Thoughts?

N.T. Wright in “Divine Sorrow” and “Look at Jesus” (videos)

Death and God’s involvement with a personal tone in light of Wright’s recent father’s death.

What would N.T. Wright tell his kids and grandkids when he’s on his death bed? Watch this to find out. Great stuff.

 

David Fitch on Missional Order (video)

I’ve been blessed to be able to spend some time listening to and learning from David Fitch through a few Ecclesia Network events. He’s a professor at Northern Seminary and a pastor at Life on the Vine, both of which are in the Chicago area. This makes him not only a theorist, but also a practitioner; a somewhat rare breed here in our American context. Basically, the man knows what he’s talking about  because he is living it. If you need more, check out his blog at Reclaiming the Mission. Enjoy.

Any thoughts? Comments? Complaints?

“The Whole Sweep of Scripture” – N.T. Wright (video)

Watch this and learn. Great stuff on seeing “the whole sweep of Scripture” as one story from N.T. Wright.