Pilgrim's Progress

Information Flow

More eye candy ... a short looping animation that tries to capture the sleeplessness of the Information Highway ... 365/24/7 ... maybe our lives feel like that sometimes. (Flash 6, 18K)

In a networked society, or a networked church, I've heard it said that it's all about FLOW (e.g. Pete Ward's "Liquid Church") ... but I haven't got my head round that concept. Any ideas?

Emerging Church & Postmodern Loneliness

An image that seems to express recent thinking both about Postmodern Loneliness & Emerging Church.

I wonder if the following two forces might propel different people into association with emerging church:

1. Flight from loneliness & existential dread (e.g. the fear of non-existence)
2. Flight towards belonging & connectedness

In other words, the forces that push emerging church together may constitute emerging communities that are both SHELTERS and GATHERING PLACES ... (continue reading for an essay extract on this subject)

Emerging Church & Masculinity

Recent blog posts have swung between these two topics but they are deeply intertwined. A recent post suggested some kinds of people might be found in emerging church. I'd like to add some more, with an eye to what kinds of men & young men we might encounter:

1. never-been-fathered
2. never-been-initiated
3. never-been-mentored
4. never-been-believed-in
5. etc ...

I wonder if some of those who will be drawn to em.church are seeking those very things ...

I am currently reading and meditating on a very helpful article by Franciscan Richard Rohr about "Father Hunger" - read it here.

Do we recognise any of these lacks in ourselves, as we also identify them in those we encounter? Following a comment in "Mission Shaped Church", the leaders of em.church are going to have to walk the walk before others will respect their talk ... if Richard Rohr is right, then what is needed is less sharing of opinions, roles and so forth, and more sharing our our very selves.

More to come on this I think ...

Em-Church Placement

My em.church curacy placement begins tomorrow (20th Sept) and runs till mid November. A mixture of student work (chaplaincy etc) and some emerging church stuff, including some (hopefully ongoing) participation in the growing DREAM network of emerging worship communities (what's the best way to describe us?) in Merseyside.

Much of what I do will be just hanging out with people (one chaplain described his work as "sanctified sitting around"), talking to them about life, faith, the universe and all that, to gauge what kind of spiritual aspirations people have and what makes people tick.

As part of this I hope to have a creative\arty input as creativity find openings (new computer needed as I'm still thrashing away with an 8 year old Pentium 133 - requires patience!), but my primary motivation is to MAKE CONNECTIONS: to see people connected with God in loving relationship, with one another in community, and with the world in generous service.

Aurora Borealis

No theology, no deep thoughts, just some eye candy ... click on "Continue Reading" to view it. (Flash 6 , 13K).

Wild Places, Wild Men

I met someone this week who reminded me of the call of the wild that has emerged as a major strand of my faith and spirituality. He spoke on "soil and soul" at a conference I was attending with 300 other clergy from our Anglican diocese. Although most of us didn't quite understand everything he talked about, I, for one, felt there was something about HIM that spoke more loudly ... and I heard again the call of the wild.

The photo above, "Boat, Secured" was taken during the conference, on a free afternoon when I took myself off to a quiet fishing village where no-one else had gone. The photo spoke to me of being anchored and also free to ride the waves as I head away from the shore and into the unknown.

I can trace this back to the summer of 1999 when I met God in a fresh and exciting way as a SON of God, not just a CHILD of God, and a new pathway opened up that continues to stretch away into unknown places. I began then to discover the "unkempt and craggy" places in my own soul, in my own country of Scotland (see previous post on "Wild Places") and in God.

What does it really mean to be a man of God, a man after God's own heart?

All Together Now?

How much of what we do (and see around us) as church leaders, pastors, emerging church types etc. is the overflow of a healthy deep seated acceptance and sustenance by God and others? Is any of it an attempt to compensate for the lacks and gaps in our own lives?

Put it another way ... do our achievements DEFINE who we are or EXPRESS who we are? (cf. Donald Sutherland in the remake of "The Italian Job")

P.S. I post this as someone who doesn't have it all together yet, called to work with people who haven't got it all together yet, who has been blessed by countless people who haven't got it all together yet :)

Emerging Church: One Title, Many Flavours?

Who is "Emerging Church" for?

I wonder how many "fresh expressions" of church are struggling to know what they should become because the needs of these different groups are so diverse and in tension with each other?

I know of one instance where there was some difficulty in defining core aims and objectives because there was a mixture of people for whom this was their only church, and others who came while belonging to another (usually more traditional) church elsewhere.

Does anyone have other experiences of this kind of tension?

1. never-been-to-church ...


2. used-to-go-to-church ...


3. bored-of-church ...


4. hurt-by-church ...


5. disillusioned-with-church ...


6. my-life-got-messy-and-they-didn't-want-to-know-me-any-more-at-church ...


7. spiritual-but-don't-want-to-join-a-church ...

Simple Living: Free the Clutter!!

Some more ideas about simple living I hope to put into practice ... still working on these:

Also, these are only guidelines designed to create freedom, rather than rules ... we should sense a greater freedom and spaciousness in our lives as a result. If it leads us to be more legalistic or self-righteous, we've missed the mark somewhere ...

1. Make a list of books\CDs\clothes etc that have been bought on a whim but not read\listened to\worn etc. Read\listen to them\wear them them before buying any more items of that type. If you don't want to, give it away instead. The goal is to have nothing in our possession that we don't need or use or enjoy in some way. Things that just SIT THERE playing no useful part in our lives are CLUTTER and are clogging up our homes, our lives and our consciences and are best disposed of!

L is for Lifestyle

For some time now I have felt drawn towards living a simple lifestyle, but events of the summer have given it new impetus. I came across an excellent little book called "L is for Lifestyle" by Ruth Valerio, which is written in 26 alphabetical chapters on various issues, which is the most accessible book I've read in this area if you're looking for a way in.

In "S is for Simplicity" she wrote the following, which expressed almost word for word my whole motivation for seeking a simple lifestyle:

"Simple living is about being joyfully aware of what we do and why we do it. We can live in the present as well as the future, having the room to savour each moment of our lives. Above all, simple living is about getting rid of the clutter in our lives so that we can hear the voice of God more clearly and serve him more readily."

Not sure where this will lead, but it sounds good to me ... part of living prophetically in the face of consumer greed perhaps?