Pilgrim's Progress

In Our Time

Have been thinking a lot about Habakkuk's prayer in the run-up to Pentecost.

I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord.
Renew them in our day,
In our time make them known.

For a flash animation of this prayer, click here

My own reading has led me to biographies of Jonathan Edwards (The Great Awakening), Andrew Bonar (Scottish revivalist of the mid 1800's), F. B. Meyer, Guy Chevreau and others ... and I'm left with a burning question:

Could it happen again?

Somehow I have faith for it - the wind seems to be picking up ...

Spiritual "Schizophrenia"?

Having come away from a training session on "Urban Christology" and then read two biographies from revivals of the past, and had a chat with my boss and the bishop about a passion for emerging church, I have a question:

Is spirituality in a postmodern climate in danger of being as fragmented and centreless as postmodern notions of identity? Previous posts wrestle with this a bit.

How about this for a poetic answer:

A diamond has many facets but it doesn't have a centre. The whole diamond is the centre.

Does your own spirituality feel like a unified whole, or does it seem like the awkward jostling of multiple spiritualities? Or something else?

The Washing Machine Prayer
Lord, my heart is like a washing machine:
I gaze into its whirring depths, mesmerised
By the jostling scrum of sleeves and underpants,
Waiting for this spinning world to cease its orbits.

I wait outside my heart, Lord, peering in
at its endless reconfiguration,
Wishing for a still point
That I might sound its depths
And find my centre.

(OK I have to award that a cheese factor of 2.5 but you get the idea)

P.S. On a lighter note they're showing reruns of Dad's army at 1pm-ish on Sundays - great to wind down after church!

"Leading from the Leading Edge"

I'm still buzzing about Graham Cray's presentation on "Mission Shaped Church" I heard recently. How someone can answer most of my key questions and concerns in an hour's presentation short of actually reading my mind is quite amazing.

Some key quotes:

"The place of leadership is at the leading edge modelling engagement with the culture in the name of the gospel"

"The pastor apostle is one who forms congregations into mission groups shaped by encounters with the gospel in culture - structuring the congregations forms into shapes that lead people outward into a missionary encounter ... but in this kind of congregation, the pastor will only be able to lead as he or she models the encounter with the culture" (Alan Roxborough)

This resonates with me and where I believe I'm headed ... anyone else relate to this?

New Life ... from Above or from Below?

On my recent holiday I read "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho ... it's a fascinating fable which has sold 20 million copies in 65 languages.

I'm also fascinated by the Lord of the Rings trilogy and its success as a book and on film.

I also read recently that a sizeable chunk of ticket sales for Star Wars films were people going several times hoping, a report claimed, "for a religious experience".

I mull over this, and wonder what would make fans of the above stories turn to the Christian story to find meaning.

I find I am led in two possibly conflicting directions to seek an answer (see previous post, Postmodern Revivalism):

1. Wanting to creatively reimagine church for a fragmented, networked postmodern culture (my GenX creative streak)
   
2. A longing to see widespread revival in the church and in the nation by God's sovereign initiative (my revivalist streak)

These are woven together in a recent song lyric ...
Salvation spring up from the ground (grass roots renewal)
Lord, rend the heavens and come down (revival from above)

Perhaps a diverse culture requires a diversity of approach ... maybe it's "both and" ...

Manifesto

My mission goals include ...

1. To work to build the kind of church that earns the right to speak the truth by first offering people a genuine and unconditional welcome and a generous invitation to experience the love of God and the Christian community for themselves.
   
2. To "press in" to explore the depths of God in prayer, worship and intercession.
   
3. To follow the call of God, even if it means taking lonely and dangerous paths at times.
   
4. To find new, relevant and prophetic ways to draw people nearer God through creative expression, communication and living out of the timeless Christian gospel.
   
5. To see the glory of God fill his church to such overflowing that it floods the entire nation with healing mercy.
   
6. To see the church of God renewed and cleansed and confident of its mission.

That's enough to be going on with ... a work in progress!

What about you?

What gets you going?

Postmodern Revivalism?

I have two spiritual passions that are sometimes hard to reconcile:

1) The passion for "emerging church"
2) The longing for revival in our nation - for a decisive and unmistakable outpouring of God's power on church and nation.

I was encouraged at a recent gathering of church leaders (New Wine) to hear Bishop Graham Cray manage to stir both longings in the same talk! COME ON!!!

The truth is I believe in both: - in creatively reimagining church, and also that God is drawing the existing church back to its true identity and calling. So maybe there is no tension at all!

So I will continue to pray for revival, in whatever form it pleases God to grant it, but also that the renewed church will find itself radically imaginative and courageous in proclaiming and demonstrating the Kingdom of God.

What is a "normal" day?

Today has been one of these kaleidoscopic days

1. Was woken unexpectedly by the plumber ... but at least I have hot water again
2. Conducted a simple communion service in a noisy hospital ward
3. Spent some time mulling over Jesus words in John 12
4. Blogged
5. "Finished" a sermon
etc ...

All the while there are loads of art ideas flickering on the walls of my mind ... I feel I'm bursting with creativity right now but just don't have the time or the technology to capture it all. Aaaaagh! Why can't creativity be bottled and kept for dry times?

Maybe I can ponder that next week while I jet off to Spain for a few days ...

Spice Up Your Posts!

A couple of little discoveries to spice up posts. I prefer understated use of visual effects and animation - there is so much noise out there, but here are a few things you can do:

1) Use HTML Tags

HTML is the computer language used to create web pages, and blog posts are simply HTML documents, though the complexity is mostly hidden. For example, if you add an image, what appears in the editing window is HTML code.

OK, some examples ... the font tag

Font Fun!!

Font Fun!!

2) Animated GIFs

Upload as a normal image file, and it will automatically "play" in the browser window.

3) Flash Movies

Need a bit of code for this, but it works!

Alienation, Loneliness and Connectedness

I'm fascinated at the moment by themes of alienation, loneliness and connectedness - I believe these are central preoccupations in our fragmented culture. Here's another image in the Postmodern Loneliness series - more to come I think. Please click on the thumbnail for a larger version.

I'd love to hear of any ideas for further art on this theme.

Postmodern Loneliness

Another image: Postmodern Loneliness #1 . Click on thumbnail for larger version.

Inspired by a comment made by sociologist Zygmunt Bauman: "Having abandoned all pretence of universality ... that 'liberation' left the lonely prisoner free to build his own prison." (from "Life in Fragments": Essays in Postmodern Ethics, p75)

Who is My Enemy?

Who is My Enemy? ...The title of a thought-provoking book by Rich Nathan - pastor of an American Vineyard church. (It is praised by Brian McLaren which gives it a certain kudos in today's post-modern climate).

The thing that attracted me to this book was firstly hearing him speak, and secondly the book's subtitle, "welcoming people the church rejects". He spoke at the New Wine national leaders conference in May 2003 about, amongst other things "Creating a Culture of Welcome" and that has really influenced how I seek to do ministry in my church.

I liked that he managed to talk of welcome without making it sound woolly and permissive.

Creative Moment

Another creative offering, again with a "community" theme ...

This one is called Strange Meeting. Click the thumbnail for a larger version ...

Again, would be interested to know if it sparks anything in you.

Creative Moment

Here's a 3D image I did over the weekend called Healing Pool. It was inspired by conversations with a number of people about healing and the desire so many people have to find peace with themselves and to make peace with their past.

For those who may be interested, it was created in Cinema 4D XE. The little figures are "avatars" - representing human beings or perhaps souls.

I'd be interested to know what it says to you.