bald man blogging

finally had a few moments to read. that means it’s time for another “deep thought” by Soren Kierkegaard. a collection of journal entries gathered by Perry D LeFevre in The Prayers of Kierkegaard:

kierkegaard’s life was devoted to discovering and embodying the purpose which God gave him, namely: to make the christianity of the new testament known, to hold the Christ and His message up that is would stand in stark contrast to the opiate of the state’s religion.

what i find most interesting is the methodology chosen by kierkegaard. rather than set himself up as an authority, one to be followed and modeled, he made himself the fool. convinced that the weigh, the truth, the inherant life of the Gospel itself was sufficient in and of itself to carry itself to men and women, kierkegaard actively sought to destroy any weight that he himself might bring to the Message he gave. and so the reader is presented with a dilemma: before you stands a fool, a rabble-rouser, a man not worth listening to; but the Word he speaks, the Message he gives, the Truth he tells compels. it stands on its own. it is strong enough to overcome the follishness of its bearer. and this dilemma - one kierkegaard sought to engender - is precisely what forces a man to wrestle with the Gospel and make the truth his own.

is it so different today? the Gospel invades a woman’s life as so much foolishness, yet it compels her to stand up and take notice. it is this very paradox that forces the woman to engage the Message, to deal with the issue in the depth’s of her soul. are we - those who purport to be ministers and ambassadors of Christ and His Gospel - then not doing a disservice to the Truth we bear when we come in authority, all slick and polished? do we not rob It of the power contained in this paradox?

yesterday’s reading @ sacred space covered Christ’s condemnation of the Pharisees as “whitewashed tombs.” might we best serve him by living as “ramshackle hospitals,” run down when viewed from the street, yet radiating life and healing thru the broken doors and boarded up windows, life and healing that compels the sick to engage with the Message?

been swamped lately, but i want to give my buddy, tom fisher, some props. a top rate guy and pretty damn good song-writer in my opinion. worth a few bucks shipping for his cd, or just take a vacation to the davidson, nc (usa) area and hear him in person. he’s an esl teacher and part-time worship leader at an anglican church that - according to the rumor mill - is about to sign a ugandan pastor.

and just in case he pops over here:

hi, tom

found blogs by another Daytonian & a guy i used to work with in the ‘nati

cue tinny soundtrack: “it’s a small world after all…”

didn’t get a chance to post about my lunch with ben yet. i can tell i’m starved for fellowship: i dumped on him pretty hard, everything i’ve been processing over the last few months. we spoke openly and honestly about our faith, our frustrations with Harvest (HCF), etc. i think a good portion of what i said was way off his radar, coming from places he hadn’t considered, ventured. still, a lot of it hit home. we have common felt needs; it’s my application, my vision for addressing/meeting those needs that is coming out of left field.

a couple things coalesced as we talked:

• MOPS is our most successful* ministry by far @ HCF. in it’s first year the those four ladies (w/ help) connected with approx. 20 moms, most of whom are disconnected from God and His community. that’s as many as attend HCF on a typical sunday. so what’s the next MOPS? what’s it gonna take for the next person to get off their rump? generally, i think folks are lacking passion (see my previous kierkegaard blog). passion will be obtained/received (i’m not quite sure what the correct word should be here) by (1) participating in genuine community/fellowship; and (2) abiding in Christ.
• neither of these (community nor abiding) happens regularly @ our sunday gatherings, and i don’t belive we can tweak what we’re doing on sunday to make it happen. there is too much inertia, too many unwritten rules. people need to be shocked to life. that’s part of what the alt.worship transformation in pathmakers is about. i know some may only throw up another layer of armour. my prayer is that the radically different approach will serve as a wake up call, leading people to deeper engagement with their faith and God.
• another purpose in the alt.worship transformation is to give people the freedom and tools to abide in christ in new ways. most of us are trapped by a single devotional tool: the “Daily Quiet Time” a fear of anything associated with catholicisim, ritual, tradition, mysticism, etc. pervades the evangelical church. people need to be set free of these shackles. i think the ideas presented in Sacred Pathways will be among the most important concepts for HCF in the coming season.
• family schedule permitting, i will start hosting a “third space” gathering ASAP.

to summarize: this Panera was church for 2-1/2 hours on monday.

so here’s a thought i’ve had over the last few months: morality may be a black & white issue. the law, righteousness, God’s standard may be simple to understand. everyone gets the ten commandments: don’t lie, don’t steal, don’t kill, don’t covet. expressed in our (post)modern context: don’t abort, don’t euthanize, don’t divorce, etc. all of these are extrapolations of the highest law: love God and people.

these black & white principles, however, are not simple to apply. the corruption of sin makes a black & white application of love impossible in many - probably most - circumstances. i look at what has happened in rob’s life the last few months, and i can very easily conceive of circumstances in which the most loving course of action - note, i didn’t say the easiest or most convenient; i said most loving - is euthanasia. 6 billion-plus people in the world, each with their own set of circumstances, each affected by the pervasive corruption of sin; one can very easily envision cases in which the most loving course of action is abortion, divorce, or any of the hundred(s) other actions marked taboo. after all, isn’t love, love of God and others (and we love God as we love others), supposed to be our guiding principle?

so let do away with this simplistic approach to morality, to the complexities of life. such an approach is a disservice to those who are hurting, struggling. it brushes aside the reality of their pain. such a blind, unthinking, “flow-chart” application of law is the furthest thing from loving.

instead, let us be a comfort. let us try to be understanding, even if we do not agree. let us acknowledge the complexities of the decisions, walking thru them together. and let us yearn for the return of the King, for the destruction of sin and the mess it makes. let us yearn for the days when “righteousness and peace will kiss each other” (psalm 84), when the black & white morality of the law can once again be applied simply, lovingly, in a black & white fashion.

while i’m at it, i’ll try to answer jeph’s question: “what is alt.worship?”

fair warning, i’ve not participated, planned, or observed an alt-worship event. my answer is based only on what i’ve read on-line and my own ruminations.

at it’s most simple, alt.worship is an alternative to the normal forms of corporate worship. i won’t get into any philosophical or theological issues. we’re speaking about the worship that occurs when believers gather (for me and mine that’s sunday @ 6pm). we will assume this is in fact worship. we will get on with the issue at hand.

my answer, of course, begs the question: “what are the normal forms of corporate worship?” well, in my experience (which is all i’m speaking about here) worship = singing. period. how you sing varies: organ vs. guitar, hymn vs. hillsong, stoic vs. emotional, clapping vs. kneeling, etc. if, jeph, you are doing/providing something different than this, then i guess you’re part of the alt.worship movement that’s sweeping the nation(s).

now when you look at alt.worship practitioners and pioneers (or at least their web-sites), there seem to be some common themes that might more precisely define the alt.worship movement as it exists (at least on their web-sites): mystery, kinetic/wholistic, open-ended. elaboration follows….

mystery
alt.worship moves God out of the box. it acknowledges, embraces our limited understanding, our partial revelation. “we see as in a mirror.” alt. worship attempts to look over our shoulder, attempts to see God’s face directly, while at the same time acknowledging the futility of such attempts this side of eternity. to me, alt.worship revels in the God of Paradox: transcendent beyond space/time yet living in me, eternal yet historical, spirit yet flesh, change-less yet able to be persuaded, etc.

kinetic/wholistic
alt.worship engages the whole person: the five senses, the will, the imagination, the body in action. alt.worship events often involve creative response/interaction, hands-on activity, motion, etc. e.g. the labryinth with it’s path, it’s multi-sensory stations, it’s interaction, it’s activity. alt.worship reconnects the segmented, fragmented portions of our lives, particularily the physical with the spiritual.

open-ended
alt.worship does not pre-suppose the outcome, the impact. it seeks to bring the individual into contact with the Holy, leaving the work of transformation in the hands of the Divine. it suggests, but does not dictate. it embraces the unique identity of an individual, her place in life, and her relationship with God.

note - if i have one criticism of the alt.worship examples i have run across, it is this: they are highly focused on the individual. e.g. each person goes thru the labryinth on his or her own. there is little/no interaction among the worshippers during worship. this may just be my limited knowledge, so consider the source (me) before taking it to heart.

hope this helps.

a quick update on Rob: he’s been home for a little over a week, and we’re starting to figure out a routine that works for him. 6 cans on ensure a day, 8 meds between one and four times a day - some with food, some without, some before food, some while standing on your head and humming “o danny boy”. (ok, i made the last one up.) we can change him, roll him, feed him, and move him without dropping him. he seems to be regaining a small amount of strength… very small, mostly in his arms. communication is still pretty much non-existant. in-home nursing and therapy are getting scheduled. it remains to be seen if we (family, that is) can put together a collective schedule that meets rob’s needs w/o killing us.

my deep philosophical insight into all this: it sucks.

lets start the day with a bit o’ Kierkegaard:

“the love of Christ compels me,” paul said. let us, too, be compelled to endure, to suffer, to die that we might live. we explore the frontiers of faith not for the praise of men, nor for the cause of rabble-rousing, nor even in the ultimate for our own sake, our own internal need for integrity in our innermost parts. we explore the frontiers of faith because we are called, we are pulled forward by Love and Grace, by the Infinate, the Consumation of History. the End calls us into new waters, compels us to let go of the safe harbours to which we have clung, and to meet It at the end of the age.

i highly recommend this blog from jared @ the.searching. wonderful imagery.