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Just making a picture review of 2008 to send to friends around the world, using http://280slides.com/.
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Let the just rejoice,
for their justifier is born.
Let the sick and infirm rejoice,
For their saviour is born.
Let the captives rejoice,
For their Redeemer is born.
Let slaves rejoice,
for their Master is born.
Let free men rejoice,
For their Liberator is born.
Let All Christians rejoice,
For Jesus Christ is born.
St. Augustine of Hippo (AD 354-440)(have a great Christmas, and I’ll be posting back here next week)
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“The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory,
like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
true from start to finish.”
St John
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So my first chapter of two for the Baker book project is drafted. In it I locate consumerism as a major problem for church, offer a diagnosis of it’s symptoms and a correlation to the state of the emerging church, and conclude that despite it’s best aspirations it isn’t doing too well (in terms of leading to new Christians and reproduction of Christen mission and identity).
I’m working on the second chapter that draws on some suggestions from the first chapter, on the possibilities of liturgy for the stabilization of christian identity, and in overcoming the genetic dead end of ‘private God space’ ecclesiologies that have been emerging.
In it, I’ll be trying to sketch out how we are all liturgical, the nature of liturgy, and it’s possibilities for identity formation in ecclesiology, in contrast to consumer ecclesiolgies of fragmentation and isolation.
In other words, how can ‘corporate embodied worship’, form us in Christen identity, and for mission, as an alternative to the isolation and fragmentation of consumer liturgies.
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I love how Christmas brings out a generous, consider the needs of others side in people. The fact that people can buy each other gifts that they’ve taken time to chose knowing it will make the recipient extremely happy and anticipating that smile of delight (hmmm and no socks don’t usually count!) is a reminder of the good in us all.However this Christmas our generousity does not just extend to our nearest and dearest but the very global economy, or at least our own UK one itself! It would seem that us consumers can save the world by spending, spending and spending. Yes by doing the very things that got us carried away with greed in the first place – spending money we didn’t have on things we didn’t need – we can get back to those golden good times!
I can remember a time when the measures reported were things like GDP, volumes of exports and imports etc. Now its all about consumer confidence, consumer spending, consumer borrowing. Consumer! Consumer! Consumer!In short its what the adverts have been telling us for awhile now, in the market we the consumers are kings (or queens)! Admitedly our kingdom is looking a little threadbare right now but what better excuse for giving it a brand new refit.
Whilst the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams can critique the government economic policy of trying to re-kick the cheap credit cycle as being like “an addict returning to the drug” (is that like a dog returning to its vomit?) the Prime Minister can go all good samaritan on us and respond and say that it is wrong to walk by on the other side of the road when people are suffering (in this case its those irresponsible unregulated bankers that are the thieves who have left us all bruised and battered).
So in the midst of all the staggering enormities of the credit crunch and our own personal fears and worries, where and how do we locate ourselves as christians? Spending money this christmas might or might help us become global economic saviours but how does the world encounter its true saviour through us at this time?
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I’ve written previously, and thanked for your prayers and support, as we have fought our local authority to provide for our youngest daughters special education needs. Well yesterday was a whirlwind in that saga, that makes today a major one in our household.
The nature of large government institutions is that when they say no, trying to respond requires so much force of protest by way of legal action, and confrontation. When they say yes, it’s like a switch flips and things move immediately, and the wall of a dam is washed away.
So our local authority yesterday conceded our daughters needs in full, issued legal documents, contacted the school we wanted her to have a place at, and arranged everything within an hour. So today is her last day at her current school as they break for Christmas. She will move in the new year to her new special education school.
I thought after the last 3 years, that if this day came I would be elated, but instead I find myself tired, a little dejected, and more than a little sad. The success of this appeal is a reminder of my baby girl’s struggles in life.
So today as a family, we will be there to see our daughter leave the school that all my children have been to. Instead of seeing her leave in the summer with all the other crying children as they move to high school, even her leaving will be in isolation from her peers.
So some sadness for her today, and some poignancy, as I become a father whose children have all left the school they grew up in.
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It’s that time of year, and I’m looking back, and reviewing stuff. One thing for that review is the blogs I have enjoyed this year. So here’s a run down of the top dozen I track the most and some reasons why. (BTW all the blogs I track are listed here.)
Any Rowell: is a DTh students at Duke Divinity, relatively new to blogging. I keep finding him commenting at other blogs I like to read, and I look forward to his posts, on church and intersections with his research on the nature of church.
Ben Witherington: is shaping up as the New Testament version of Scott McKnight. His commentary on Mark has been a main read for my sunday teaching this past year. His blog is a mix of personal journal, and observations of church as it intersects with his interests. He wrote one of the best critiques of Frank Viola that I have come across and steer people to.
Dan Wilt: has one of the best looking blogs ever, he’s a fellow Vineyard Church guy, and is making the most amazing steps in exploring the nature of worship, and it’s depth with regards to our emerging culture.
Fernando Gros: is also a contender for the best looking blog, and very different to Dan Wilt’s in design, but so creative. When it comes to commentary on culture that is outside the usual blog platitudes, Fernando is someone who has something I always want to listen to. I think he’s one of the best culture blogggers out there. He also has a great name for an eponymous blog.
Dan Kimball: is someone I have a lot of time for and respect and I like where Dan has landed with regards to the Emerging Church.
Robin Parry: is the acquisitions editor for Paternoster, and a good mate. A shared interest in all things Sci-Fi, and he’s theologically sharp, with a wicked sense of humor.
Theopolitical: subtitled as, ‘Bridging the endless and treacherous gap between theological academia and pop-culture politics’, this is ’The’ blog for me with the smartest posts in the area of my research interests, resourced by the authors I have been reading the most these past two years.
Chris Tilling: Chris was a member of our church plant so many years ago, I think I had hair when we met. Then he went of to Germany, is close to finishing a PhD in NT stuff, and has returned to teach in London. Chris is super smart, and super funny. Probably the most satirical and entertaining blogger for me in 2008. He also wrote the shortest review (I’ve seen) of Pagan Christianity.
Alan Mann: is another friend, and prolific writer, producing a blog with superb commentary on church and society.
Faithmaps: I’ve relied on Stephen Shields faithmaps blog for years for a round up and heads up on broader trends within the larger emerging church conversation.
Jamie Smith: What can I say, he’s the kind of intellect and person of character I aspire to be. Jamie is someone I listen to and take a lead from in so much of my hopes and aspirations for theology and church.
Paul Mayers: last but not least, my running buddy, co-blogger, friend, fellow church member, and co-dreamer of all things Deep Church.
So what blogs have influenced you the most in 2008?
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I shared here the advent reflection that I did last sunday. I also put together the following video clip to introduce the reflection, by connecting people visually to the ideas they were about to hear…
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Today and tommorow, I’m writing my first draft (from my research notes over the last few months), of the first of two chapters of my book project with Pete Rollins, Scott McKnight, and Kevin Corcoran. I’ll be getting to my second chapter and will blog about it later this week.
This first chapter is in three parts.
1. My Story: Firstly I’ll give some of the story of my location with and to Emerging Church, as a church planter, and my academic work.
2. Consumerism: Then I’ll be describing one problem surfaced from my own context, that I think the wider western church and E/C face, of consumerism as religious system, and how it affects belief and practice in church life and the formation of Christian identity.
3. Assessment: Lastly I’ll make an assessment of emerging church in relation to this description, suggesting areas where it is working well and areas where it has become captive to consumerism for it’s ecclesiology.
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Chuck Conniry writes…I wrote Soaring in the Spirit for people who have not yet experienced all they had hoped to experience in the life of faith—which includes most of us, if we are honest about it. Here’s what I say in the preface:“This book is about experiencing the presence of Jesus Christ in the moment-by-moment “nows” of daily life. I do not romanticize the spiritual life by promising that our journey of faith is marked by unbroken, upward progress or that intimacy with Christ leads to a more fulfilling end. Life in the Spirit does not always take us where we want to go. I do not idealize life in Christ by suggesting that the way of the cross holds the key to ’spiritual success,’ nor do I minimize the complexities and paradoxes of the Christian life by distilling them into a simple formula that is readily understood and easily applied.”
Some writers oversimplify the way of Christ. They proffer things like, “five easy steps to a more fulfilling life in Christ” or “seven healthy habits for victorious living” or whatever. But the truth is our spiritual lives are bruised by personal failures, conflict with others, and an endless assortment of trials. In its best form, our walk with Christ undulates between periods of intense spiritual passion and frigid indifference to the things of God. What’s worse is that we are often afraid to share the full scope of our lives with each other. Some faith communities market a brand of “victorious spirituality” that nobody really lives up to…and that induces us to put on facades instead being real with each other. Life in Christ is, in a word, complicated because life is complicated.
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