the inconsistent adopted

2010-06-30T22:18:00.004-04:00

please note

the inconsistent adopted has moved. five people can now move their bookmarks to www.gentry13.wordpress.com.

thanks for reading! and thanks for blogger for being a mostly reliable platform for six years.

2010-06-28T23:10:00.000-04:00

all questions considered

today i had lunch with tim hawkins, a good friend who leads sojourn collegiate ministry in boston. i have always respected tim's commitment to relational ministry, ability to wrestle with the hard questions and decision to remain rooted in christian church, church of Christ tradition we both claim as home.

during our meeting tim dropped a couple of keepers on me including a statement that "the church is the local expression of the neighborly love of God." he also told me a short story about the sacredness of questions that he graciously agreed to post here. thanks tim!
---
My second year in campus ministry, one comment changed my ministry.

A friend of mine, Nate, a guy who had been struggling with his faith, had been coming to our on-campus gatherings for a few months.

Eventually, he felt like this might be a good place to bring his agnostic girl-friend.

She came with full-guard up. I put on my best peppy, inclusive, welcoming campus minister voice and pulled out my arsenal of conversational questions.

“What year are you?”

“Where do you live?”

“Where is home?”

“What is your major?"

“What do you want to do with that?”

Each question was met with a short return. One word answers.

I went to the well one more time, trying to make her feel welcome.

“Hey, I’m glad you’re here. I don’t mean to put you on the spot by asking a lot of questions. I hope you enjoy just being here tonight.”

To which she responded with a sentence that has forever changed my ministry.

“Well, maybe if you would ask me better questions, I might talk more.”

Ouch.

I have led with better questions (I hope) ever since.

2010-06-17T20:52:00.000-04:00

musing...

if you've heard me talk about it once, you've heard me talk about it ten times (if you're lucky).

i have two degrees that don't pay

i am a part of a church tradition that doesn't seem to want much to do with me

"i can't wait until i work for a real company." "this can't be the way a real non-profit gets it done." "someday i'll be the resident theologian or preacher in a local church."

so i surrender to myopia and refuse to see that i am:

surrounded by the kind of community that is the figment of many dreams (and the subject of not a few sermons)

work beside people whose confidence in my abilities is slowly strengthening my sense of self

called by a God who is teaching me to hope, pray and occasionally participate in the redemption of all things

i'll probably never be a half-full kind of guy, but i need to start recognizing these blessings so that i can be a more whole and holy blessing to the world.

2010-06-14T22:24:00.000-04:00

memorandum from captain random

it's 10 pm, i just finished a run and i'm drinking a 'gansett because it tastes best after a mile or two. rest assured that i'll drink in moderation and will cleanse the palette with a cup of coffee before bed.

i went to a retirement party for a special education teacher who spent 35 years working in the boston public schools last week and it was one of the most inspiring evenings i can remember. mr. r's career was a testimony to pouring your life out for others, staying rooted in one community and tunneling through morian mountains of institutional bullshit in hopes of seeing a life or two transformed. i hope that at the end of my career people have half as many meaningful things to say about my efforts. if they have to lie a bit on that day to make that happen, so be it.

tonight i shirked my chores for a half hour to read this remarkable interview with ira glass. if you love stories, preaching the gospel of great reversal or remembering the horrors of adolescent pda, you must read this.

almost hesitate to admit it, but i've become a bigger fan of the national than i am of arcade fire. i am glad that i have tickets to see the latter in august and am devastated that i missed the former on june 1st and 2nd at the house of blues.

i'm starting to realize that effective christian discipleship differs little from healthy friendship. neal windham and a few others have taught me that discipleship is more about mutuality than hierarchy and more focused on intentional embodiment of the gospel than the transmission of theological content.

i'm almost embarrassed to admit how emotionally dependent i am upon the ups and downs of the cardinals. almost.

the boston and north shore cohorts are getting together on tuesday, july sixth to cookout at cindy bauer's place on chewbacco lake and hear a little bit about her work with kupenda. getting to know cindy and becoming involved in kupenda is one of the main reasons - and there are many - that i am grateful for the emergent conversation.

ok, this 'gansett is almost gone. gotta get some coffee.

2010-06-09T22:13:00.000-04:00

cataloging the evidence

yesterday a spring drenched tree stood in breathtaking contrast with a soot grey sky.

today a volunteer who i have grown to treasure hugged me like a friend and forever sundered the transactional nature of our relationship.

this evening lydian wasn't struggling with colic, but struggling not to laugh as i ruffled her hair, thumbed her nose and delighted in her smile time and again.

every day threatens an open and shut case for entropy. for that reason we have to be careful to listen for, observe and record the small signs of the redemption accomplished and the redemption promised that are colliding upon the earth.

2010-06-07T21:12:00.000-04:00

a shaky confession

the first time was awkward. she didn't have the silhouette you speak about furtively with your friends and her intellect was crammed in some damn shoebox, assuming it was there at all. she was also from decatur, home to firestone, futile jesse jackson crusades and general squalor. so i dropped her at the first opportunity. other girls made the starbucks at o'hare. she wasn't so lucky.

the next girl was sexy. she sold authenticity, traded musty maranatha for dave matthews and, during that first song especially, her ass sure could swing. she was the party, bringing energy that could not help but compel. though she played it straight, i swear one time she almost offered me a drink. this girl wasn't cloistered but offered agnostics, reversed fundamentalists and strangely warmed ska kids the same mass appeal. as for me, she didn't flinch at mixed intentions or lapsed probation, but spoke lovingly, carefully crafting phrases, pointing me up in hopes that i would go out. but for all that, i never got comfortable. after a couple of years the cracks started to appear and the sounds became too saccharine and failed to cut where they should. though she only said it once, and then obliquely, she demanded that i reflect, never shape, her calculated barnes & noble charm.

so i left. but it was far more difficult. she was a life to live, an agenda to reckon, a what if resides.

now i'm with the girl who, with a question, called my game and who strangely intrigues like the lone saab on the lot. she isn't a hole to fill or a brick that'll build, but a woman simultaneously essential and stable as a water. at times we connect and current hums true, but more often it alternates between belief and betrayal. i can't possess her, can't seem to leave her and often fret this will end in a terminal fail.

some days my eyes still linger on that carefully crafted ingenue with her soft colors, wide eyes and, yes, ass unlike any in decatur. with her calculated authenticity and airbrush appeal, i cannot call her anything other than my porn.

so i'm fighting a battle that's broken better men, tangling with intrigue in hopes of escaping debasement by enhanced object.

2010-06-06T13:25:00.002-04:00

mary, full of grace

for the past three years i have wanted to hear more female voices from the pulpit at the gathering. for that reason i challenged, cajoled and manipulated several women to take a slot on the preaching schedule or at least speak more often.

to no avail.

fortunately, a couple of months ago, mary agreed to preach occasionally. mary is a graduate of harvard divinity school, dedicated incarnational minister in the goth community and aspiring novelist and poet. after setting her feet in her first couple of sermons, mary has started an amazing series on the beatitudes.

today, as mary wound her way through the passage about hungering and thirsting for righteousness you could almost sense the congregations' growing desperation for the living water of God. by the time mary concluded with the admonition to "hunger and thirst for God and he will pour blessings into your life and through you bless others," i was famished for the sustenance of the eucharist and desperate to seek God and participate in his transformational work in the world.

it is such a blessing to be a part of a collaborative church community where proclamation is a shared burden, worship is open source and the eucharist sustains and strings us, in all of our wackness, together.

thanks be to God for the grace he has given Mary to preach the Word and build up the church.

2010-06-03T20:57:00.002-04:00

screw the purpose statement

over the past couple of years i have researched foundation grants by looking up their purpose statements on their website and on sites like guidestar and then pulling the foundation's 990 records to determine the organizations and projects the foundations funded.

this afternoon, i finally had the opportunity to get my hands on the foundation center's* database, which is the fort knox of philanthropy, and a librarian gave me a short tutorial. instead of toying with the foundation's purpose statement, she encouraged me to pull the records of the foundation's awards in the past five years and then utilize foundation center's amazing distribution map to see where the dollars really went. unsurprisingly, i found that the actual giving patterns of many foundations deviates significantly from their stated giving patterns.

although i hate to admit it, i see a similar pattern in many of our churches. we say that we are a missional people, but 90% of our dollars go to content deliverers and the context within which the content is delivered. we profess our longing for God, but we give short shrift to prayer in corporate and, i fear, in private. we proclaim the Kingdom while passionately buttressing the country we incorrectly believe was specially inspired by God.

from now on i'm going to define each foundation's purpose in strict accordance with their giving patterns. i think that many define our churches in the same way and we would do well to pay more attention to our actions than we do the pretty, stylized purpose statements we hang on our deep mustard and mocha creme walls.

* (unfortunately) foundation center did not compensate me for nor sponsor this post.

2010-05-31T11:35:00.000-04:00

unexpected emergent provocateurs

last night kellie and i watched crazy heart which, somewhat sadly, reminded kellie of the life of bill mallonee. this morning i've been listening to tripp fuller's excellent podcast with uncle bill at homebrewed christianity and thinking about the unexpected provocateurs who prepared me for the emergent conversation.

here are a few of these provocateurs and truncated summaries of their influence. please share snippets of your list:

first, unsurprisingly, is bill mallonee. bill taught me, more effectively than any theologian short of st. paul, could, that sanctification is a struggle and all the scaffolds we scramble to build will never help us escape from the tomb. only the Spirit can do that.

second, philip yancey. in the Jesus i never knew and what's so amazing about grace philip showed me that God is big enough to handle my questions. he also introduced me to uncle henri and uncle freddy both of whom have shaped my faith and understanding of vocation in innumerable ways.

third, gary burlington. gary was a missions prof at soybean bible college. i never actually had a class with him, but in the few times we spoke i was inspired by his inquisitiveness and commitment to christian mission. in retrospect, gary was teaching me that deconstruction is not a threat, but an essential component of christian mission. due to unfortunate choices on all sides, gary left soybean some years ago. i need to catch up with him at some point.

fourth, rich mullins. sure, i was instructed and inspired by the music, but rich's musings left the deepest impression. according to some accounts, at one of his final concerts he stopped in mid-song to confess a sexual sin that he had to repent of before continuing. that simple act - even if it is shaded by mythology - has influenced my preaching at least as much as haddon's biblical preaching. he also taught me that being disregarded by your own tradition is not the end of the world and he helped fuel my love of st. frank.

2010-05-29T14:36:00.006-04:00

on vocation

on wednesday night i had the opportunity to hang with andrew at the pickled onion. since we couldn't see the celtics game because of endicott students with their popped tops (jesse - you were so right about the unfortunate shift in pickled clientele) our conversation turned to our vocations.

i've beat this topic to death on the blog and in personal conversation with many of you, so i won't bore you again. however, during the conversation i started to realize that my calling is not to a narrow practice or position in Christ's church, but rather, my calling (as i currently conceive of it anyway) is to be faithful to the health and the mission of the various networks and communities in which i am currently embedded.

by God's grace, i hope to be a blessing to the family/gathering/beverly/emergent/ccoc/triangle/kupenda/cardinals cluster of which i am a part. i still wish that my calling was less complex, but i trust (most of the time anyway) that God knows what he is doing and the Spirit has shaped me for such a time as this.

2010-05-28T14:08:00.000-04:00

on the new name

as a bible college senior, i prepared a final paper and preached a subsequent sermon on romans 7:7-25 - that tricky bit where the apostle paul both acknowledges our existential angst and orients us towards our ultimate, gracious adoption as sons and daughters of God.

although i would like to report otherwise, that text has framed my understanding of the Christian life from that point forward. the fidelity towards God, other and creation that i desire is usually eclipsed by narcissistic actions that i don't desire. though i have been buried with Christ and want to wait in that tomb for the resurrection that i do not deserve and cannot comprehend, i constantly scrape, struggle and scramble to escape the burial that unexpectedly brings new life.

in a mostly forgotten book i read some years ago the author talked about flannery o'connor's "Christ haunted south." as i've mentioned to several people in the past couple of weeks, i often feel haunted by the gospel which i simultaneously find attractive and repulsive as well as my calling which i cling to with a cocktail of dogged fidelity and detached irony.

so it is that i've come to think of myself as the inconsistent adopted. since rick and i are not going to appropriate the name for a band anytime soon, renaming the blog will have to do.

2010-05-26T21:56:00.003-04:00

overheard

"as long as we continue to live as if we are what we do, what we have, and what other people think about us, we will remain filled with judgments, opinions, evaluations and condemnations. we will remain addicted to the need to put people and things in their 'right' place. to the degree that we embrace the truth that our identity is not rooted in our success, power and popularity, but in God's infinite love, to that degree we can let go of our need to judge." -uncle henri, here and now, pg. 62

2010-05-23T16:59:00.007-04:00

musing...

every time i am about to hate baseball, the cards grit one out like they are today. today i've woken the baby twice with clapping during key moments and i can't wait to see how this turns out. win or lose, i love games like this!

i'm thinking about watching lost tonight in order to observe my friends' reactions and tweet inane commentary and spoilers. sounds like fun.

lately i've come to the realization that i am a checkers player living in a chess world. over the past three years i have had the privilege of investing most of my hours in social justice, Christian proclamation and various Kingdom related initiatives. since the intended outcomes of my efforts are often quite clear - i.e., help a teen with a disability land their first job, make sure friends and fellow worshipers are well accompanied through tragedy and comedy, let the text win and see what kind of new world God wants to create - i am usually fully invested and engaged in reaching towards the goals i believe that God has set before me.

however, much to my great frustration, life is not two dimensional. as i attempt to measure my life by whether i am moving towards or away from my goals, i am often interrupted by the pressing concerns, valid questions, annoying insecurities, fragile egos, invaluable competencies and divergent opinions of others. my traditional response is to avoid negative interruptions at all costs, subvert those who inspire such interruptions when necessary and rely on chess masters like james wilcox, pastor phil and many other friends and colleagues to successfully navigate any number and kind of sticky wickets.

but, as i grow into leadership in several areas of my life, i am starting to realize that i need to play more chess. a couple of weeks ago a friend told me in the midst of a conflict that "you'll catch more with honey." my immediate response was "honey is not what i bring to the table and it is not something i am interested in bringing. i come at things directly." i still think that reducing the dimensions so that i can directly focus on mission will serve my interests on most occasions. but i'm also going to have to learn to use the rook and employ interpersonal stratagems more often than i would like.

so i'm off to up my e.q. and employ jacob's habits of a highly successful leader.

the cardinals won that grind of a game. so there's that.

2010-04-14T22:07:00.002-04:00

memorandum from captain random

two weeks ago kellie and i welcomed lydian nicole gentry into the world. i need to grow a few more emotions.

a national award-winning television program that is produced by people with disabilities was cursed by a fox news cameraman today at the tea party in boston. another charming gentleman interrupted their interviews with chants of "baby killer. baby killer. baby killer." i am so glad i was not there.

last week pete rollins and his crew were in town to start an insurrection and john franke bore manifold witness about the plurality of truth at the gathering and gcts. i enjoyed the insurrection - especially the hour i begged off to hang with brandon bayne - and i continue to be impressed with franke's proclamation about the plurality of truth that is evident in Christian scripture, located Christian communities and the Godhead itself. maybe it's just me, but franke's thesis just seems like sanctified common sense - that i wish i would have recognized and published myself.

i think brad penny is pitching more effectively because he is living in closer proximity to the ozarks.

kellie and i are headed out to oklahoma and texas may 13 through 21. if you live in close proximity, maybe we can connect (if you're buying).

preston is either memorizing new books within a week or he's reading them. either reality is welcome.

i'm going to see hacksaw jim duggan on april 29th. gotta be psyched about that.

in regards to lydian, kellie is doing almost all the hard work, but i'm still exhausted. don't know quite what to make of that.

less substantial posts to follow.

2010-03-28T12:40:00.002-04:00

callid at theology after google

in this intellectually intriguing, brilliantly delivered talk, callid challenges us to speak boldly about our experience of Christ and revel in the Christ within which we are intertwined.

on this palm sunday, as we acclaim the Christ we do not fully know, let us trust that our acclamation will lead us towards greater revelation.

thanks for the good word callid. i love you brother and am so thankful for the teaching gift you have been given!

2010-03-28T09:09:00.002-04:00

on prayer and going postal

a couple of nights ago i had a disturbing dream. i was visiting a local church that has been quite critical of the gathering for some time. after the sermon - which, if memory serves, was filled with theological certainty and strict morality - i sat down with the pastor and, in the guise of questions, offered a trenchant critique.

the pastor immediately threatened to shoot me for incivility, but, assuming he would not follow through, i continued the one-sided conversation. in response the pastor picked up a rifle, rested it upon his knee, and after some discussion, he shot me through the abdomen.

there's not a lot of love lost between this pastor and i, but as i woke up, i couldn't help but think that my critique, which was shaped by my contempt, inspired his violent action.

this dream, as well as emergent village's recommendations concerning the appropriate manners of theological conversation,* has led me to believe that i need to be far more careful about the worlds my critiques and words create.

here is the abbreviated list of emergent village's commitment to church in all its forms, as abbreviated by franke:

1. To be actively and positively involved in a local congregation, while maintaining open definitions of 'church' and 'congregation.'

2. To seek peace among followers of Christ, and to offer critique only prayerfully and when necessary, with grace, and without judgment, avoiding rash statements, and repenting when harsh statements are made.

3. To speak positively of fellow Christians whenever possible, especially those with whom we may disagree.

4. To build sincere friendship with Christians from other traditions.

i am truly sorry and i humbly repent for the times i have neglected charity and poured out contempt upon my brothers and sisters. i believe that gracious, well intentioned questions and critique are vital to the vibrancy of the Christian faith, but these conversations need to be shaped by charity, filled with grace and grounded in prayer.

* which john franke mentions in his excellent new book, manifold witness.

2010-03-23T21:00:00.003-04:00

musing...

five years ago i dropped my cell phone while shoveling snow. fortunately kellie found the phone half buried in the driveway, but it made 37 unprovoked calls to dr. james the same day and was pretty much worthless from then on. when i realized my phone was useless i immediately started worrying that i wouldn't be able to replace it with the script i had saved from my call center job. when i mentioned my anxiety to my friend craig he told me not to worry. "we all have more connections than we could ever imagine," craig said. "rely on your network to help you replace it." fortunately, i followed craig's advice, emailed a few friends and had a $5 replacement within 48 hours.

for years i have had a friend who constantly confronts catastrophic problems. as soon as he recovers from a job loss, he's faced with failing health. once the failing health is addressed, his partner pulls out. once he finally secures a stipendiary scholarship, well, you get the drift. i wish i could say differently, but i've often avoided him simply because i cannot solve his problems. recently my friend called with yet another conundrum - the kind that would have once been a clarion call to run - and i simply used my network to point him towards a service that might sustain him in his hour of need.

i'm still learning that although we can't do everything we often can make the connection that will help others or even our fragmented selves. craig's invaluable lesson was echoed by dwight friesen's thy kindgom connected. that's the main reason i'm glad i read the book.

2010-03-19T21:06:00.002-04:00

hooooo!

what's that sound? oh my god! that's hacksaw jim duggan's drunken slur!

the south is going to (fail to) rise again on thursday night, april 29 at the irish american in malden. proceeds from this event will support triangle, so dust off your 2 x 4, grow out your mullet and meet me there!

tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. email me for more ridicule and details.

2010-03-17T12:12:00.004-04:00

crazy magnet

one of the priviledges of pastoral ministry is checking up on friends who are ill. yesterday evening when i was surprised by the following exchange at an assisted living facility in danvers.

unknown elderly gentleman (eg): "you better wear the green tomorrow!"

g13: "i'm not irish,* so why should i?"

eg: "because bad things happen to those who don't!"

g13: "like what?"

eg: "like getting your head chopped off."

* though i just might be korean

2010-03-16T13:04:00.006-04:00

on soybean and subversion

after church last week i was talking to my colleague about my soybean bible experience. in the midst of the conversation i admitted that "15-20% of the faculty and students at soybean seemed to loathe me." menasco quickly noted that 15-20% is a significant number, but it's a figure that i've grown accustomed to and, to be honest, pretty comfortable with. i continued by affirming that i am "thankful for, and humbled by, the insightful professors and friends who revealed a subversive grid within my own tradition."

that grid - which consists of castelein's conception of jacob as a model for ministry, neal's teaching on the ladder of descent, birdie's emphasis on constant prayer & worship & lowery's reticence in regards to inerrancy as well as many other strands - has deeply informed, if not directed, the path of the loyal radical that i am trying to walk.

2010-03-14T22:25:00.002-04:00

overheard

in a moving piece in the april atlantic, jonathan rauch recounts the challenges he faced caring for his aging father and argues that since elder care plays such an essential part in most of our lives that "we should all be given time off work at age 40 to take a course on elder care."

i think rauch has pointed out a great unmet need in our society that our faith communities are well positioned to address. maybe a megachurch can start an "enjoying geriatrics" program or something.

2010-03-13T19:54:00.002-05:00

emergent and acts 29: together for the gospel

the church formerly known as sinners & saints has been inactive for some time. in 2007 after four great years together we decided to dissolve the church and start following Christ in new ways.*

for some reason, when we disbanded sinners & saints we did not shut down city on a hill, the legal name under which we operated. over the years we have considered transferring the 501(c)(3) - that we inherited - to the gathering or the church that meets in beverly, but for one reason or another the transition never came to fruition.

about a month ago, blake ferrell, from a new city on a hill church in brookline, contacted me to see if we would be interested in transferring the 501(c)(3). the new church has been planted with support from hope fellowship church in cambridge, the greater boston baptist association (gbba) and the acts 29 network.

after some discussion with blake and bland mason, the senior pastor of city on a hill, the board of directors** of the old city on a hill has decided to transfer the non-profit to our new friends in coolidge corner. this transfer made sense to me because the gbba originally paid for the paperwork, i have always admired the work at hope fellowship and i wanted the acts 29 guys to know that there are friends of emergent who are eager to help them as together we proclaim, await and embody the Kingdom that was and is and is to come.

so tonight, after we broke the bread of prinzis and connected in conversation and prayer, a friend of emergent and two church planters from acts 29 came together for the gospel. it does my heart good to know that the mission that unites us is far greater than the squabbles that threaten to divide us.

* note that i did not say "with new communities." most of us who were involved with sinners & saints are still bound by both the bonds of community and, for six of us anyway, the lintels of the same house. i thank God for that.

** that sounds pretentious until you realize that four of them live at 4 judson.

2010-03-13T16:18:00.002-05:00

i can't believe...

that david dark didn't come up with this idea. i might attend one of these gatherings if the gospel according to america is the topic at hand.

2010-03-13T15:14:00.004-05:00

more reflections of a loyal radical*

on wednesday i had the opportunity to attend the quarterly "birthday luncheon" hosted by a church planting organization that is a part of the stone-campbell tradition of which i am also a part. during the free form fellowship time at the end of the luncheon the leader of the church planting org encouraged me to touch base with the minister of my home church so that i could suggest a few ways the latter gent could more effectively connect with the older members in that church community.

i like the senior minister in my home church quite a bit. he has provided adequate pastoral care to my family and, through the ordination process, has openly affirmed my ministry. however, i do not have a strong relational connection to the man and i know precious little about his strategy for serving and leading my home church. for that reason, i think it would be awkward at best and wholly inappropriate at worst for me to ring him up and give him the 411 on connecting more effectively with the seniors in my home church. although i like the minister at my home church and we are in some sense bound by mutual affection, my connection to him is more institutional than relational.

fortunately, on the north shore i have connections with a number of ministers like jesse, ben and dave that are far more relational than institutional. within the past couple of weeks, i have had in depth conversations with one of these guys about the ecclesiological structure of his church, even though his church is not a part of my tradition. moreover, i have had more limited conversation with another about pursuing denominational affiliation and ordination in a number of traditions, none of which were my own. these connections with local ministers whom i regularly serve beside are much more important to me than the kind, yet quite tangential connection i have to most of the ministers in my tradition.

the rise of missional networks - from small groups like the origins project to large groups like the willow creek association - seem to suggest i am far from the only minister experiencing a simultaneous distancing from traditional affiliation and deepening of relational connection with local ministers and initiatives. i don't have the time or ability to map out all of the potential implications, but the shift from institutional to relational primacy will probably lead to pronounced shifts in our theology and missiology.

i suppose the primary conclusion of this post is that i need to finish friesen's thy kingdom connected.

* i've borrowed the concept of the loyal radical from jonny baker. his description of living in the tension between the center and the margins really resonates with me.

2010-03-11T22:42:00.003-05:00

cut-rate theological provocation

over the next couple of weeks there are a number of low-cost theological conversations/presentations/provocations that are taking place. if figuring out how (not) to speak of God is your thing, here are some opportunities to explore.

gordon college's faith seeking understanding welcomes international ethicist andrew bacevich on tuesday, march 23rd and culture making andy crouch on friday, march 26th. these events are free to the public and complimentary coffee will be served to all attenders cloaked in north face.

on tuesday, april 6th ben folds will be unscrolling his bible belt talmud at the house of blues boston. this event would be almost cut-rate if it wasn't for the nefarious ticket master. baby permitting, i'll be there!

on wednesday, april 7th, peter rollins & co are starting an insurrection in kendall square. pete can is a helluva nice guy who can really cook your noodle, or corned beef if that's what you prefer. suggested cover for this event is $10, but real Christians will donate $20.

on thursday, april 8th, john franke is bearing manifold witness at gordon-conwell. he'll be speaking in dr. vidu's emergent church class, which takes place from 1:15-4:15 in the academic center. i'm not sure which classroom is his, so just look for the one that says - uh, i can't say that here - on it.

if you have additional details about these events or know of other cut-rate theological happenings, feel free to drop a comment.

2010-03-10T20:37:00.002-05:00

overheard

when joseph finds out that his future bride is pregnant, he is in quite the predicament. what should he do?

"he has some friends just fresh from the synagogue who say, 'just do what the bible says. you can't go wrong with what the bible says.' what about that for an answer? i've heard that all my life. 'just do what the bible says.' well, i will tell you what it says. from deuteronomy 22: 'she is to be taken out and stoned to death in front of the people.' that is what the bible says.

i get sick and tired of people always thumping the bible as though you can just open it up and turn to a passage that clears everything up. you can quote the bible before killing a person to justify the killing. 'an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,' the bible says. do you know what the bible says? 'if a man finds something displeasing in his wife, let him give her a divorce and send her out of the house.' it's in the book. do you know what the bible says? 'let the women keep their heads covered and their mouths shut.' do you want me to find it for you? it's in there. i run into so many people who carry around a forty-three-pound bible and say, 'just do what the book says.'

joseph is a good man, and he rises to a point that is absolutely remarkable for his day and time. he loves the bible and he knows his bible and bless his heart for it. but he reads his bible through a certain kind of lens, the lens of the character and nature of a God who is loving and kind. therefore, he says, 'i will not harm her, abuse her, expose her, shame her, ridicule her, or demean her value, her dignity or her worth. i will protect her.' where does it say that joseph? in your bible? i'll tell you where it says that. it says that in the very nature and character of God.

i am absolutely amazed that joseph is the first person in the new testament who learned how to read his bible. like joseph, we are to read it through the spectacles of grace and the goodness and the love of God." -fred craddock, cherry log sermons, pg. 5

2010-03-09T21:22:00.002-05:00

conclusive proof that i am a communist

2010-03-09T20:22:00.004-05:00

musing...

"i'm a smudge of excrement on a tissue surging out to sea with a million tons of raw sewage." - miles raymond

a couple of days ago my coworker openly wondered why i could like the hangover when it's not half the movie that sideways is. i immediately retorted that the two movies aren't even in the same genre, much less in the same league. moreover, while i found the hangover mildly amusing there was at least one comedy in 2009 - i love you man - that i preferred.

i'm getting off track.

anyway, as soon as she mentioned sideways i started thinking about miles' derivative despair. i think that the thing i find uncomfortably funny about that scene is how true miles' sentiment is. many of my minutes, hours and days - and infinitely more of my words - are little more than surging excrement. i don't even want to think about how much sewage i've spewed into this world and i fear that at the end of my days i will deliver far more shit than benefit.

however, after reflecting on the verbal sewage that i spew, my mind turned towards prayer. it seems to me that prayer, in this instance especially silent prayer to God for others, is one of the most powerful ways that i can intercede for, find solidarity with and truly love others.

so there you go. an increase in prayer is a decrease in excrement. reflections like this lead me to believe that my paperback of personal devotions might just sell after all.

2010-03-06T13:17:00.004-05:00

musing...

at soybean bible there was a preacher who constantly wept while proclaiming the word. i listened to him on a number of occasions and usually walked away frustrated by the way his unkempt emotions obscured his ideas.

times have changed.

now, when i read the poetry of isaiah or hear the penitential psalm on the publican's lips my eyes are often filled with tears. in the study the beauty of God's grace overwhelms me in the most unexpected moments and emotions obscure my mind like the clouds that cloaked sinai.

but when i step out of the study for a cup of coffee or lunch with a friend i cannot seem to bring the beauty with me. often i am saddled with sarcasm and cynicism instead.

in these moments i am so jealous of the old man at soybean and i long for the Spirit to spin me into pitcher that can pour out the grace that sustains me upon this journey.

---

“Whenever you find tears in your eyes, especially unexpected tears, it is well to pay the closest attention. They are not only telling you something about the secret of who you are, but more often than not God is speaking to you through them of the mystery of where you have come from and is summoning you to where, if your soul is to be saved, you should go to next.” –Uncle Freddy

2010-03-04T18:07:00.002-05:00

what is emergent?

that's a good, oft asked question that is being pondered at pastor phil's square no more blog. here's my answer. i'd encourage you to listen to the other answers and offer yours.

2010-02-28T13:56:00.005-05:00

overheard

nicholas kristof challenges liberals to set aside "their snobbishness towards faith-based organizations" like world vision and follow evangelicals' lead in sacrificially serving the world.

a truly fascinating article that identifies one of the reasons i'm proud to be an evangelical.

2010-02-27T20:03:00.003-05:00

on emergent

on this week's studio 360 kurt anderson explored tino sehgal's provocative new exhibition at the guggenheim in new york.

as visitors enter the exhibition at the bottom of the frank lloyd wright rotunda a young child asks them a simple question, "what is progress?" the viewers either enter the conversation or they don't and they continue up the ramp. further up the ramp the viewers have the opportunity to dialog about the topic with a teenager, an adult and a senior citizen.

as anderson described the exhibition, i couldn't help but think that sehgal's work reminds me of the emergent conversation at its best. although we often meet in spaces far less inspiring than the guggenheim - uno's in porter square anyone? - we too walk together, explore the significant questions of existence with people who were once strangers and, yes, sometimes find ourselves walking in circles.

over the last couple of days i've told anyone who's interested that i think - to rip-off a current book title - emergent is an orientation. after listening to studio 360 i'm starting to think that emergent can be an exhibition as well.

2010-02-23T17:47:00.005-05:00

GIMP!

this is one of my favorite ablevision pieces ever! don't miss this opportunity to expand your understanding of gimp beyond the boundaries of pulp fiction and be truly inspired.

little p loves this piece as well. he keeps saying "more dancing, daddy."

2010-02-23T09:29:00.002-05:00

overheard

wise lent suggestions for the "evangelicals discovering liturgy crowd."

ht: mother beth

2010-02-23T08:40:00.005-05:00

an invitation to communion

maybe it's just lent, but lately i have felt the urge to pray with people and privately much more often.

the last fourteen years of my life - i can't believe it has been that long since i dedicated my life to following Christ - have been characterized by acquisition, application and proclamation of propositions. although i spent some time in the prayer closet at soybean and occasionally led lunchtime prayer at s.h.i.t., most of the time i was buried in the library discovering propositions or sitting down with others to smash our propositions against each other and see what was left standing.

i don't regret (most of) the time i invested in that process, since these propositions have helped give shape and a semblance of direction to my faith. however, it seems to me that a life primarily dedicated to the promulgation of propositions is unlikely to increase communion between individuals, within communities and between adherents of different faiths.

for this reason, i am trying to invest more of my life in prayer and the spiritual practices. on a practical level, i have found that prayer is one of the primary ways i can serve my extended family. years of experience have taught me that sharing unrequited propositions with loved ones is often a road to conflict and separation. however, there is something about the practice of prayer that binds people - even proponents of adversarial propositions and life practices - together.

so many of my mentors - st. francis, henri nouwen, jean vanier and neal windham* - were brilliant men who are known more for their embodiment than their proclamation of the faith. i long to follow in their footsteps.

* jeez, i need to add a woman to add to that list!

2010-02-22T19:16:00.006-05:00

check it out...

a church in the stone-campbell tradition for sheep like me. i'm encouraged by the work of pub church and will definitely visit at some point in the near future.

i'd also like to note that the dugout is the new gathering place for the boston emergent cohort. for more info about the cohort, join the facebook group or email kconroy42@gmail.com.

2010-02-22T18:34:00.003-05:00

musing...

if pastors' conferences were solely committed to repentance and prayer i might occasionally attend.

2010-02-21T16:20:00.004-05:00

reader/response

i dedicated the majority of the weekend to dave eggers' zeitoun, a third-person journalistic narrative that that is eggers' most heartbreaking work of staggering genius yet.

abdulrahman zeitoun - a syrian immigrant, successful contractor, dedicated husband & father of four - remained in new orleans during katrina in order to care for his business and protect the family home. in the days that follows he uses a second hand canoe and his dwindling resources to rescue the stranded, care for the abandoned and intentionally embody the mercy of God.

when the government that is unable to serve citizens in distress proves perfectly capable of indiscriminate condemnation, zeitoun endures a storm he never saw coming. .

this is a remarkable story of the experiences that bind us together and the fear that tears us apart. highly, highly recommended.

2010-02-20T15:09:00.002-05:00

musing...

on friday afternoon i was chatting online with a friend who is planting a church in san fran. after catching up on the vitals i started into my standard lament about the exaltation of pragmatism in the megachurch and noted - for the thousandth time...my friends suffer me far too graciously - that open source disciples are often unwelcome in these apple inspired systems.

then i realized that the change i desire in the church is insubstantial compared to the change that is required in my heart.

thank God for lent and forbearing friends.

2010-01-12T22:42:00.001-05:00

if you drop it, it doesn’t break

i had a meeting earlier this week with an old friend who is a job developer. when we started making plans for a future meeting, i asked his leave to go pick up my laptop so that i could update my schedule. in response to my request he picked up his plain black daytimer – as i’ve seen him do before a class of job seekers many times before – dropped it on the table and said: ‘why don’t you get you one of these? if you drop it, it doesn’t break.’

over the past few years I’ve explored the rich devotional practices of diverse christian traditions. i’ve loved the lectio, prayed the way of a pilgrim, learned the spirituality of cleaning toilets at l’arche and have worked to make many of these practices my own.

however, recently i’ve found myself returning to the practices that were prescribed in my youth – namely, ‘read your bible, pray every day and you’ll grow, grow, grow!’ i haven’t returned to these practices to assuage personal guilt,* but because that spiritual ground has been composted, tilled and nurtured by my forbears and, in a very real sense, this devotional practice feels like home.

on several occasions recently, i’ve heard that jonny baker – an alt.worship leader in Britain – talks about his path as that of a ‘loyal radical.’ i haven’t read baker at length on that topic, but that path sounds a lot like my own.

* at least I hope not!

2010-01-10T13:02:00.006-05:00

overheard

“…for these reasons I named my truck Ghost Dancing, a heavy-handed symbol alluding to the ceremonies of the 1890s in which the Plains Indians, wearing cloth shirts they believed rendered them indestructible, danced for the return of the warriors, bison, and the fervor of the old life that would sweep away the new. Ghost dances, desperate resurrection rituals, were the dying rattles of a people whose last defense was delusion – about all that remained to them in their futility.”
–William Least Heat Moon, Blue Highways

There are Sundays when my worship is compelled by confidence in Scripture, Christian tradition and the Godhead’s presence. However, there are plenty of other Sundays when standing to sing, reciting the creed and ingesting Jesus feels more like a desperate resurrection ritual than anything else. My prayer is that, whether I shuffle forward in desperation or step smartly with confidence, I will continue to dance*.

* in a completely metaphorical sense, mind you.

2010-01-10T08:22:00.001-05:00

hmph

took me over four hours to piece myself together. must be a metaphor, story or sermon illustration in there somewhere.

2010-01-09T13:08:00.003-05:00

musing...

i've been in a bit of a funk lately. kellie has been out of town, bi-vocational ministry is working out about as beautifully as the crack in my ass and although work hasn't devolved into a joshua ferris novel, i've had better months.

when i picked preston up from a friend's house late last night she told me that preston had not eaten well at lunch. i quickly quipped: "i doubt he'll starve" and she parried, "at least not in this country."

at least not in this country.

although her comment did not break my malaise, i have been thinking about it ever since. relative safety, abundant resources, true friends, solid family, meaningful work, divine reconciliation, a relatively drama-free community. since God has supplied more than i need for mission, i best not spend too many more days moping.

2009-12-24T10:31:00.002-05:00

celebrate safely

2009-11-27T20:41:00.002-05:00

musing...

the art of pastoring by david hansen is the first book that introduced me to the narrative shape of the pastoral life. in one of the many passages that i have read and re-read pastor hansen talks about a moment in his early ministry when he took a moment to reflect on his predecessor's books, which were left behind when the latter man resigned both his charge and the pastoral life.

since a large portion of the shelf was filled with church growth manuals, hansen wryly observes that christian covers of "how to win friends and influence people" were not enough to sustain this man's calling. the author then goes on to remind young pastors that only a serious, sustained reflections on scripture, rigorous engagement with theology and clearly defined christian practices can sustain a pastor throughout a journey on which, as uncle freddy reminds us, "we will witness many horrible things and many beautiful things too."

maybe i've just been hanging around too many budding theologians lately, but, after six years of relative indifference, i've felt a strong pull back to the rigorous reading of biblical and theological texts. although there are elements of my pastoral life that i will not be able to determine, i am going to try my damndest not to follow in the foosteps of pastor hansen's predecessor by drowning in a sea of pop theology and gimmicky ecclesiology.

in light of my lackluster resolve, i'm hesitant to even talk about this. but i think that a return to rigorous reading is as important for my community as it is for me and i will need the accountability of the young theologians who read this to hold my monkey ass feet to the fire.

to those who want to hold me accountable: since i don't really know where to start with this new initiative i am going to start with nt wright's new testament and the people of God. i have a flicker of interest in christian origins and that seems as good a place as any.

2009-11-25T13:43:00.003-05:00

everything in its place

since i am preaching about the spiritual discipline of worship this sunday, i spent part of my (blessedly free!) morning reading richard foster's thoughts on worship in celebration of discipline. early on in the chapter he reminds us that worship is a context in which we await the kol YHWH - the voice of God - to speak to us.

for some reason, that image of the community waiting to hear the voice of God really unsettled me. in that moment, i realized that my preaching is more likely to focus on the real and apparent paradoxes that arise in the life of faith than it is to inspire the body to listen and respond to the revelation of God.

after some reflection and conversation, it seems to me that preaching should be focused on inviting the presence of God and attending to his revelation and direction. the people that i worship with probably do not need to identify one more paradox on sunday morning nor do they likely need to be re-immersed in the conflict/resolution pattern that characterizes so much of daily life.

i repent of the times i have ignorantly tuned people into one more tension instead of turning with them towards the rushing water emanating from sinai.

of course, i'm not suggesting that we refuse to wrestle complexity or start ignoring the nagging dark. for me the emergent cohort is a perfect context in which to consider such matters and, moving forward, i'm going to try to keep these conversations in their proper place.

2009-11-25T09:00:00.004-05:00

i can't wait until i work for a real newspaper

season 5 of the wire wasn't my favorite either, but in the midst of all their bitching and complaining the reporters clearly stated one of the show's compelling themes: "i can wait until i work for a real newspaper."

mentally flick back through the seasons and you can hear the characters sharing the same sentiment about the police department, stevedore union, city government and public schools.

quickly review the conversations you've had with moi and you'll recall the same theme. if you met me eight years ago, i would have said "i can't wait until i work for a real church." if you touched base three years ago i would eagerly awaited the moment when i would 'work for a real fairy selling gift company.'"

last night, when i was talking about this theme with my Friends' friends callid and kristina, callid pointed out that "at the heart of your denunciation of the existing fairly selling gift company is the hope that there is a real fairy selling gift company that is worth pursuing."

though it probably sounds simple, callid's assertion that my brand of cynicism is trace evidence of the hope that will not let me go really touched me at that time and this morning still brings tears to my eyes.

on a number of occasions over the past couple of years several people have asked me why i am still a part emergent and what role the conversation plays in my ministry and personal mission.

the answer to their question is wrapped in conversations with friends like callid and kristina, who i never would have met, much less served beside, without emergent.

*spoiler alert*

2009-11-22T14:29:00.002-05:00

reader/response

this month's issue of the atlantic has two intriguing articles on conservative christianity. the first is megan mcardle's entertaining account of becoming a dave ramsey disciple.

in the second article hanna rosin asks did christianity cause the crash? rosin's article specifically focuses on the influence that prosperity gospel churches have had upon first generation latino immigrants. her narrative points out that the largest concentration of new "prosperity gospel churches were build along the Sun Belt...all areas that were hard hit by the mortgage crisis." she goes on to note that "40 percent of all loans going to Latinos nationwide were subprime loans" and, perhaps more egregiously, "Latinos and African Americans were 28 percent and 37 percent more likely, respectively, to receive a higher-rate subprime loan than whites." based on those statistics alone, it is not surprising that "'hyper-segregated' urban communities were the worst off" when it came to home foreclosure crisis.

rosin's research is respectable and her portraits of the prosperity preachers - some of whom acted like absolute wolves throughout the crisis by taking cash kickbacks from mortgage officers for parishoner referrals or cutting out the middle man becoming bi-vocational a mortgage officer themselves - and their often earnest, God fearing parishoners were compelling. however, by the article's own note, only "50 of the largest 260 churches in the U.S." proclaim the prosperity gospel and i find it difficult to believe that these churches had an equal or greater influence on the crisis than the standard evangelical mega-churches which are often filled with aspirational middle-class congregants, conducted in highly leveraged buildings and hesitant to question our culture's economic mores.

i have no doubt that prosperity churches helped inflate the housing bubble, converted the few into nouveau riche and given false hope to many more. however, the evangelical church - of which i am a part" accounts for a far larger segment of our society (by some accounts 33 to 35% of the total population) and, i suspect, deserves a much larger portion of the blame for the economic downfall.

2009-11-21T10:30:00.003-05:00

Join the North Shore Emergent Cohort

Hi All,

The North Shore Emergent Cohort is having our first meeting on Tuesday, December 1st at The Vault (217 Essex Street) in Salem. Please mark the date on your calendar and plan to join us around 7 pm.

Since this is our first meeting, we are going to start by sharing snippets of our own stories and discussing our hopes & intentions for this conversation.

Then we are going to discuss Patrol Magazine's provocative editorial on the potential death of evangelicalism. Please take the time to read this short article - http://www.patrolmag.com/opinion/1867/get-over-it - before the meeting.

Although the cohort has facilitators, the shape and the content of the emergent conversation is determined by the people who choose to attend. Thus, we will all be poorer without your presence and hope you can make plans to join us.

Much Love,

Cyndi Bauer, Jesse Browning and Jeff Gentry

If you have questions about the cohort or would just like to shout, email Jeff at gentry13ATgmail.com.

2009-11-16T21:19:00.003-05:00

know thyself (you muddled son of a bitch)

i don't know how to write about this, but i'll try.

oftentimes my life feels like a screen that is stretched between apparent opposites. for instance, i am a contrarian by nature. as most of you know i am a passionate fan of a storied midwestern team, but i take great pride in being much meaner than my compatriots. however, while i will immediately move towards the margins in almost any social grouping i am also a fiercely loyal to those i both love and live to contradict. this is the reason i have remained faithful to the christian churches, churches of christ (ccoc) and sought my ordination in this tradition, even though i've never been a recognized leader of a ccoc church and have serious doubts whether that will change, or whether i even want that to change, in the future.

in my more charitable moments, i suspect that the lives of others are displayed on similar screens and i long to view those projections through a much softer lens. unfortunately those moments are few and far between. something to pray about, i suppose.

2009-11-14T09:07:00.002-05:00

being graceful about the switch

if you hang around me at all, it won't be long before you hear me talk about the importance of subversion and being a virus to the system. i think the reversals that Jesus talks about - the poor inheriting the kingdom, the last being first, the Messiah coming for the sick instead of the healthy - point towards the holy, hidden heart of the gospel

because of this belief one would think that i would be gracious when my short sighted expectations are upset or when i am confronted with an annoying experience of injustice in a rather ordinary situation. unfortunately, that is far from the case.

when i listened to last week's sublime bait and switch episode of this american life, i was blindsided by my own lack of grace. act one, "neighborhood watch," features a story of an unsuspecting suburban couple who repeatedly report an abandoned car to the local police and are repeatedly rebuffed by the boys in blue. when, persuaded by signs of struggle within the car, they finally dig into the glove box and trunk in an attempt to identify the owner, they are immediately arrested by the same police who ignored their earlier appeals. i don't want to kill the story altogether, but it turns out that the car was bait and the couple was immediately caught on the line.

as the story unfolds, i was overwhelmed by the graciousness of the couple as they were treated like criminals, forced to hire lawyers and compelled to cop to something they did not do. at no point did they refer to the police as farm animals, fully exercise their first amendment rights or, shortly after the belated resolution of these matters, personally call the police to taunt and insult them. i'm not proud to admit this, but these are the type of things i have done in the past and will be tempted to do in the future.

when i subvert others intentions or attempt to change the system, i am stunned when they refuse to respond in a gracious or at least an "adult" manner. yet, when i am the subject of such reversals, i am an insufferable twit. this fundamental hypocrisy blights my character and calls me to repentance.

if we were all at soybean bible college, i would say that this episode will really "preach." i've heard the message and will try to go forth and live out the graciousness that i expect from others.

one final note, the second act includes an interview with jim henderson, who runs the doable evangelism site and is a friend of the gathering. it also has an interesting aside about how evangelicals have sometimes used the expectation of sex and other questionable bait to finagle an audience for the gospel.

2009-11-13T20:16:00.004-05:00

rehashing halloween

so i'm way behind on the halloween rehash and i'm disinclined to write at the moment that i have had to bribe myself with the king of kong in order to push this puppy out. so please forgive my errors, failure to praise everyone and any other unintentional offense.

first, it was a remarkable halloween season. on the first saturday i served (10/16) i had my requisite, "oh God, i really don't want to do this!" moment, but thanks to the steady presence of rennie and old practice, i quickly got in groove and enjoyed the season thoroughly.

for the first time, this year a number of our friends and family invested in our efforts. dozens of our friends partnered with us to raise $800 so that we could match equal exchange's gift and make our hot cocoa slave free. that was excellent (and expect the ask will be repeated next year so that we can take our cups down the bio-degradable route)! my own family and close friends donated $1100 in operating support to our little adventure. those dollars came in quite handy during a year when The Gathering has found it difficult to keep our heads above water, much less purchase supplies for the outreach. we were seriously humbled by the generosity of our friends and family. thank you for honoring God by setting us free to serve!

we also had a wonderful, diverse group of friends serve beside us throughout the season. for the first time in six years of serving at haunted happenings several friends from our christian churches, churches of Christ tradition came out to serve beside us. i hope that tim and the sojourn crew as well as jessica from manchester know that their presence meant the world to me. deep down in the part that i don't like to talk about at parties, i think i wrestle with rejection issues, so the distance that has developed between me and the ccoc has often pained me. so the presence of these friends was nothing short of sacramental.

jessie and libby browning and the good folks from their home church in beverly monked up on halloween and spent six hours in the street laying hands on and blessing people they had never met. i didn't have the courage to do anything more than serve hot cocoa during my first experience in 2003, so i was amazed by their boldness! i am also thankful to my hetero-life partner james for reprising his rector* role and accompanying this group for the first couple of hours. james, you are the only one i want wearing my habit.

on hallows eve and halloween the incomparable anita coco and her not for sale crew offered people an opportunity to experience "death by chocolate" for a second year. this was the second year to host this event, we had over 300 guests attend and many, many more folks than last year were interested in discussing fair trade and acting upon what they had learned. extra props to the guy whose name i'm forgetting who made the kickin' sign for this event. it really made a difference.

did i mention how amazing carrie erwin was throughout the whole halloween season? i had no idea how she would take to it, but within minutes of starting she was barking at guests in the street, anchoring the cocoa booth, dancing with strangers dressed as gasoline. seriously, she was amazing.

paul, joyce, jeff c and other first time volunteers were amazing as well. did i mention how impressed i was with carrie erwin?

ben corey, the independent baptist from maine carved an unexpected niche by becoming the master of the Jesus deck and a spot on dream interpreter as well. i wasn't sure how much time he could commit, but he consistently under-promised and over-delivered and we were all so blessed by his presence.

joe riffe, who i think is mortified by the picture above, led a prayer room for us, stepped out of his comfort zone to bless strangers and talk to reporters and provided some of the vital, Spirit-filled energy we needed to make it through the last two days of the season. thankful for him.

my remarkable Friends' friends callid (like "salad) and kristina worked beside us on the big day. kristina works for an organic farmers cooperative in upstate new york so she was a perfect facilitator for death by chocolate. callid has treasures of past experience that i was unaware of - such as performing street magic - so he was a wizard on the streets. for instance, callid composed my favorite bark of the season: "come to death by chocolate. a terrifying experience that will completely change your life! or not." there were a number of small moments, such as kristina's discussion of the almost paramilitary training that activists from the civil rights movement had to go through in order to be assigned to a lunch counter, that i treasure from their visit. they also left us with a bottle of amazing upstate new york wine. please come back soon.

this season i realized, much like i have been realizing at work lately, that my days as a non-stop, hands-on street minister or service deliverer are on the wane and i am being led into more of an administrative role. this transition is bitter-sweet for me - right now it's much more of the former than the latter - since i have grown to love laying hands on strangers**, helping young adults find jobs, finding the perfect h1 n1 pitch that simultaneously repel and attract people to our cocoa booth. however, it is clear that my role is more about training and deploying than about being front line all the time. a friend named tim hawkins recently quoted another friend who said that discipleship, or training up people in the way they should go, is 99% encouragement. if that is the case, and i suspect it is, and administration has any part to play in discipleship, and i think it does, then i have a lot of growing to do.

i could go on, by explaining in great detail what an honor it is to serve beside pastor phil wyman or outlining the many, many unexpected lessons i have learned from my benediction laden brethren from the bridge church and streams ministries, but that is enough for now.

i hope that gives you a little taste of what the season was like. now that we're a couple of weeks beyond it and i've had a chance to rest, i cannot think about october without cribbing little preston: "again, daddy. again!"

* you thought i was going to say rectal, didn't you? admit it.
** that doesn't sound quite right.

2009-11-11T16:07:00.002-05:00

slightly off-center veterans day salute!

ht: bunny suicides; clint eastwood; ryan chandler

2009-11-07T12:26:00.003-05:00

found

2009-10-26T21:31:00.003-04:00

want to party 300,000 new friends?

Hi All,

It's the Final Countdown to Halloween and we want YOU to serve beside us this weekend!

Seriously, thanks to one and all who have supported The Gathering's mission this Halloween. My friends and family have invested over $2,000 and innumerable hours of prayer and service in this initiative to bless the 500,000 people who visit Salem during Halloween. Both Kellie and I are blessed and overwhelmed by people's generosity.

If you're interested in joining us in the streets this weekend, here are some ways that you can serve!

1. Hot Chocolate

The following shifts are still available. Number of people needed are indicated in (parentheses).

Friday: 6 to 9 pm (1 - preferably someone strong enough to carry water)
Saturday: Noon to 3 pm (2); 3 to 6 (3); 6 to 9 (3)
Sunday: Noon to 3 pm (3); 3 to 6 (3)

Everyone has done a fantastic job with Hot Chocolate so far! As you prepare for this weekend, please note that the crowds are likely to double or triple and we'll probably need to operate both burners at once. Translation: get ready to rock!

2. Death By Chocolate (DBC)

Death By Chocolate provides guests with a dramatic introduction to the reality of slavery and the impact our consumer choices have on slavery. This event is an excellent pairing with our hot cocoa mission and people really responded to it favorably last year (About 940 people attended Death by Chocolate in the 14 short hours that we ran it in 2008. Pretty Awesome, eh?).

In order for DBC to run smoothly we need a presenter, a host that runs the line and a barker or two. Anita Coco will be anchoring DBC, but we will need hosts, barkers and a second presenter to help. Opportunities are as follows:

Friday: 6 to 9 pm (Barker, Host and Presenter needed)
Saturday: Noon to 3 pm (Barker, Host and Presenter needed); 3 to 6 (Barker Host and Presenter needed)

3. 24 Hours of Prayer

Joe Riffe from 24/7 Prayer will be joining us to help facilitate a 24 hour (10 to 10 on Friday; 10 to 10 on Saturday) prayer vigil.

We would like to have at least one person present in the prayer room (location to be determined) at all times. At this moment all slots are available!

Friday: 10 to 10 pm (12 one hour slots are available - you can fill more than one slot if you wish!)
Saturday: 10 to 10 pm (second verse, same as the first)

4. Blessing, Confessing, Jesus Decking Monks

Monks will be deployed to bless, confess 2 x 2 and read from the Jesus deck whenever they are available. If you are interested in monking, let me know what you would like to do and when you would like to do it and I will add you to the schedule. Roving monks need to go out 2 x 2, so if you plan to do that, try to find a partner. After being trained by our head monk (Pastor Phil), Jesus decking can be done by a solitary monk.

5. Brimstone Chronicles

Various and sundry help is needed transporting people to hell and back again. Contact Pastor Phil if you are interested (pastorphil@salemgathering.com).

Thanks for all of your help and support! Everyone at The Gathering as well as our local and far away friends invest a lot of time, resources and passion in our Halloween mission. With God's help, let's bless the hell out of a couple of hundred thousand guests!

Much Love,

Gentry
gentry13ATgmail.com

2009-10-15T12:48:00.001-04:00

my fundamental hypocrisy

compelling change in others while rejecting such compulsion from others.

yours?

2009-10-14T21:32:00.002-04:00

shameless plug

Hi Friends,

Starting this weekend 100,000 people will be visiting Salem in hopes of having a spiritual experience and a little fun. This year The Gathering gang will be out there again to bless the city and embody the gospel and we hope you can join us.

How can you help? Glad you asked!

1. Serve Free Fair Trade Hot Chocolate

Our guests get gigged for parking, potable water at the Professor McGonagall hat they've always wanted. So we add a little levity to their day by offering a cup of hot, fair trade, completely swine-flu free hot chocolate.

On Friday, October 16, 23 and 30th, we will be running the hot chocolate booth from 6-9 pm. If you'd like to serve a shift, just let us know.

On Saturday and Sunday October 17-18, 24-25 and 31-11/1 we will be running the hot chocolate booth from noon-9pm. If you would like to serve a three hour shift, let us know and we will set your name right down on that there spreadsheet.

2. Pray

We are partnering with our friends at 24/7 prayer to pray for our city as well as our guests for 12 hours on Friday, October 30 and 12 hours on Saturday, October 31. One hour slots are available from 10 am to 10 pm on those days.

3. Speak Out for the Speechless

Not for Sale will be running the Death by Chocolate experience on Friday, October 30 from 6-9 pm and Saturday, October 31 from noon-6 pm. Want to help? Let me know and I'll put you in touch with the ladies in charge.

4. Read the Jesus deck for spiritual seekers, wander the streets offering free blessings, interpret dreams and/or experiment with that one street preaching/ministry/holy provocation idea you've always had, but have never rolled out.

If you're interested in these engaging forms of ministry, we invite you to attend a basic training on Saturday, October 24th at 2 pm. The teaching will be run by Pastor Phil Wyman, who has tons of experience listening to and loving practitioners of new religious movements. After the training you'll be sent forth into the streets to embody Abraham's blessing to the nation. The suggested donation for this 2 hour training session is $10, but don't let cost hold you back if you simply don't have it.

Thank you for supporting the mission of The Gathering and the ministry of my family. We hope to serve beside you this Halloween season!

Much Love,

Gentry
gentry13ATgmail.com

2009-10-13T22:48:00.004-04:00

returning to the ark

last weekend i had the privilege of returning to l'arche daybreak for a contemplative retreat at the cedars. after three days of silence, reading, prayer and rest i was reminded once again that prayer is the source of communion, collaboration and competence.

before the retreat began i wondered if it would serve a parenthetical purpose insofar as it would close the vocational wilderness that i have been wandering in since my first visit in 2000. although i did not receive the resolution i hoped for, i was reminded that the core members, leaders and mission of l'arche can serve as a constant reminders of Christ's call to contemplative action and the path of descent.

now if only i can find the grace to listen.

many thanks to simkins for accompanying me on this journey and windham for having the wisdom not to.

2009-10-06T06:18:00.002-04:00

boston's emergent cohort is meeting tonight at 7 p.m.

the cohort is convening at uno's in porter square (820 somerville ave, cambridge. adjacent to the porter square stop) to discuss the nature of evangelism in a postmodern context.

if you read books like mclaren's more ready than you realize or a new kind of christian you'll quickly realize that re-contextualizing evangelism* was one of the original impetuses of the conversation's development. in the last few years evangelism has continued to be a vital issue as friends-cum-critics such as mark driscoll have accused emergent folk of failing to produce evangelistic fruit and others such as dan kimball and scot mcknight have started new conversations such as the origins project that are more focused on proclamation and evangelism.

so the form and function of evangelism in a pluralistic context has and continues to play and important role in the emergent conversation. i hope you can join us tonight to dig into these matters a bit.

as an added bonus, unos at porter square is so cool that occasionally jungle jim is there twisting balloons for family night. so, if you come out for the conversation, you might go home with a special surprise!

* along with, let's face it, a shared loathing of the mega-church

2009-10-05T20:57:00.002-04:00

celebrate halloween by serving beside the gathering

this october over 500,000 people will visit salem, massachusetts to party with friends, trample in and out of tourist traps and revel in the festival. for the past 10 years the gathering has crashed the party by blessing the city in any number of ways.

although the gathering is a small church with a big mission, we are fortunate to have a hundred or so volunteers who help us greet our guests and share the beauty, truth and goodness of the gospel of Jesus Christ in a number of simple, and sometimes unexpected, ways. we would love to have you serve beside us this october.

since you asked, here's how you can help!

1. if you love hot dogs, costumes, carnivals and kids* join us for children's day on saturday, october 10th.

for the past seven years we have partnered with dominos pizza to run children's day on salem common. since the day offers a variety of free entertainment, $1 hot dogs and a massive costume contest, 3-5,000 families will join us on the common between 9 and 5 p.m. since children's day is one of the most affordable city-wide events many low-income families join us every year. since the costume contest is kickin' and the event corresponds with columbus day weekend** and the chamber of commerce's huge bizarre bizaar*** extravaganza, this is an event you should not miss. we need volunteers to help from 8 am to 5 pm. (virtually) any amount of time you can give will help. indicate interest by emailing pastor phil at pastorphil@salemgathering.com.

2. got hot chocolate? we do and we're going to serve up 10,000 fair-trade certified cups of it during the last three weekends of halloween.

we've been welcoming guests to our city with free hot chocolate for years,**** but this is the first year that our hot chocolate will be completely slave-free. if you want to volunteer to run the kerosene burner and serve up our completely h1 n1 free hot chocolate during the following weekend days 17-18, 24-25 or 30-31, please email jeff gentry at gentry13@gmail.com. if you would like to help us off-set the cost of the fair trade cocoa and cut a year off your stay in purgatory you can donate on the paypal site at http://www.salemgathering.com/. just be sure to mention that your $ are for hot chocolate.

3. harboring a secret monk fetish? monk up and bless people throughout the city of Salem!

we've been ripping off don miller for years by offering reverse confessions and walking through the city streets 2 x 2 offering free blessings to strangers. you would not believe how ready people are to let you lay hands upon them***** or listen to the failures of the church. times are flexible, robes****** are provided, times are flexible and training will be provided. contact gentry13@gmail.com for more info.

4. love music and have some skillz? please help run our soundboard!

we run the largest stage in salem during the 17-18, 25-25 and 30-31 weekends and we need able hands to assist with the board. email pastorphil@salemgathering.com for more info.

5. hate slavery? help not for sale run their death by chocolate experience.

on friday the 30 and saturday the 31st not for sale are going to invite people into the gathering's historic lower vault for a free fair trade chocolate tasting. after being locked in the vault the not for sale folks will introduce guests to the reality of the modern slave trade and challenge them to take a stand by buying fair trade and speaking on behalf of those who have no voice. email gentry13@gmail.com for more info.

6. like to pray? 24/7 prayer is helping us host 24 hours of prayer on oct. 30 and 31st.

if you would like to lay claim to an hour-long slot on either of those days, please email gentry13@gmail.com.

7. want to interpret dreams, offer readings from the Jesus deck, give spiritual readings or participate in another form of subversive spiritual counseling? attend pastor phil's haunted happening training on saturday october 24th from 12 - 2 p.m.

for $10******* you'll get an introduction to alternative spiritualities, a detailed ministry in salem survival guide and the tools you'll need to be a blessing (instead of a curse) to people who are earnestly searching for some good in the world. after you're training you'll be ready to dive in to the busiest two weekends of the halloween season and hopefully serve beside us for many years to come.

i've been serving beside the gathering for five halloweens now. during that time, serving on the streets has gone from an idea i could hardly fathom******** to an yearly experience i cannot miss. i hope that a few of you choose to join us this year. if you have questions, comments or a couple of c-notes you would like to donate to the gathering, please let me know.

* though not necessarily in that order.
** every year i suggest that we should introduce a moment of silence to remember the introduction of syphilis to the new world. every year the church council votes my idea down.
*** no longer called that for copyright reasons i could care less about.
**** though this practice sometimes p.o.s the vendors, the guests love it.
***** not like that, single seminarians!
****** except for my robe, which was consecrated commando.
******* which i've heard is short money in the education world.
******** since, although i'm from the street, i've never been the street ministry kind of guy.

2009-10-05T13:45:00.003-04:00

musing...

when i was growing up, i didn't want to be a preacher, i wanted to be a politician. for that reason, i took latin, paged in the state senate, read the contract with america, refrained from excessive use of psychotropic drugs, set my sites on law school and tried to seduce women.

even after a challenging day - like yesterday was on many levels - in ministry, i cannot comprehend the ambitions of my youth. last time i checked, i am one of the most impolitic people on the planet, abhor party lines and do not own a stars and stripes lapel pin.

for these reasons among many others i would have made a horrible politician. cheers to the Lord who determines the steps.

2009-10-03T09:50:00.003-04:00

being mindful of reverse mission

thanks to the wisdom of my wife,* i have started dedicating my mandatory furlough days to sermon preparation instead of betting on the ponies at suffolk downs.

since i was studying in the bowels of s.h.i.t. yesterday i decided to attend a free forum on re-seeding the mainline denominations in new england town centers by strategically placing evangelical pastors in u.c.c., a.b.c. and other alphabet soup pulpits.

i think that this approach is shrewd in that it aims to revitalize local churches that already have deep connections to the community and an established footprint in the public square. in addition, since several of these churches - such as the disciples of christ and the u.c.c. - have congregational government systems a candidate could conceivably pursue this strategy without getting too entangled in denominational politics.

however, while i think the strategy has merit and i respect the missional intentions of the gentlement who started overseed in order to support evangelical pastors who pursue this path, i was a little put off by the oversimplifications and apparent judgments of our mainline brothers and sisters that were sprinkled throughout the presentation, such as:

* these churches have not grown because the pastors have not preached Jesus
* the mainline parishoners are committed to loving the people in their community, but their love has no redemptive intention
* many mainline pastors are lazy and undedicated to their ministry. for this reason they have set the expectations quite low for evangelicals who are interested in their pulpits

in his book gracias henri nouwen talks about the idea of reverse mission. in it's simplest form, reverse mission suggests that a christian who pours herself/himself out in service to others will usually end up being more of a beneficiary than she/he will be a benefactor. because of that idea, i wanted to ask the overseed leaders - "what do evangelicals have to learn from the mainline pastors and churches?" - but for once i chose to set my contrarian hat aside.

i think that the reality of reverse mission raises some interesting questions about the missiology of evangelicals who have entered mainline denominations such as the episcopal church, u.s.a., but that's another post for another day.

* which i could write books about.

2009-10-02T14:33:00.002-04:00

trying real hard

yesterday i felt like i had my shit together. late in the afternoon i met with a senior research fellow at a major university and we talked about how we can help transform the lives of others through workforce development and considered how we can successfully navigate the system so that those whose primary accomplishment is "completing their sentences" won't wreck havoc on our industry and ideas. i felt like hot shit as we grabbed for our emblazoned wallets at a sidewalk cafe and kept our cold guns fixed on the ringos of the world.

near the end of the conversation the research fellow/leadership expert asked me what my five year plan was and i stumbled a bit as my mouth spewed ideas about mission-driven non-profit leadership and i desperately sought to to re-orient the compass i cannot shake.

today, as my legally blind ass is readjusting to the light i've been given, i realize that much like jules, my ambitions and plans are the tyranny of evil men, yet my reluctant heart is calling me to be a shepherd.

and yet, as i sit at an adolescent desk in the basement of s.h.i.t., i cannot think of a role i am less prepared to play. today i have prayed, searched the introduction of mark's gospel and sandbagged tears every step of the way as i wrestle the vulnerability, surrendered agency and servility that mark the path of pastoral ministry.

today i am shit served cold as i return to the task wherein my strength is insufficient and altogether not the point. i can't fathom why God has called me to lead when i can barely walk the earth and i can only find comfort in the stories of forerunners who were unfit to remove sandals and stump preachers who were scarcely literate.

i am terrified and clearly out-of-season. but for God's grace, i can't continue.

2009-08-25T21:05:00.004-04:00

mark thy calendar

The Boston Cohort is connecting once again on Tuesday, September 8.

Come out to the Porter Square Unos (820 Somerville Ave; across from Porter Square stop; look for us upstairs) around 7 pm to hear noted blogger, BU grad student and postmodern commentator Blake Huggins - who has promised to share his secret knowledge of theology, emergent and all things Methodist.

Summer attendance lagged a bit, so I hope we can get this semester off to a good start. Mark your calendar and make plans to join us.

Be Well,

Gentry

P.S. - There has been quite a bit of discussion about starting a North Shore Cohort this Spring. If you are interested in joining a North Shore cohort, please let me know so that we can get things going.

2009-08-14T11:31:00.002-04:00

happy haiku friday

children screaming
at head start behind the house
must not be nut free

2009-08-05T11:07:00.004-04:00

musing...

in soong-chan rah's excellent the next evangelicalism he suggests that second generation american immigrants often live in a dialectical manner insofar as they are concurrently insiders and outsiders to their ethnic culture and insiders and outsiders to american culture.

i'm intrigued by this concept of dialectical living insofar as i seek to openly engage the complexities of our world while still embodying and being shaped by my evangelical faith.

i suspect that this dialectical approach is often as frustrating to my family, friends and colleagues as it is to me. however, i have yet to find a better way to move forward.

2009-08-04T22:54:00.003-04:00

brief notes about my sabbatical journey

the good folks at the gathering have given me six weeks off to read, think and pray. i greatly appreciate the space because lately, due more to work than anything else, i have really been running on empty.

my sabbatical started on sunday and my experience of what God is doing in beverly has already expanded markedly.

on sunday i worshiped with the good folks at the harbor church in beverly. this vibrant church plant is filled with college students and a few older, wiser folks who are not only passionate about worshipping God, but also incarnating the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ in very practical ways throughout the city of beverly. although the liturgy at the harbor had a little youth group aftertaste, i was inspired by their activism and their passion to grow.

tonight the boston cohort met at unos in porter square and the only folks to show up - for the first 1:45 anyway, i'm not forgetting you kieran! - were six members of a new intentional community from beverly. i knew kirk, suzanne and a couple of members of this community already, but i had no idea that 13 inspired, confused, missional and intentional christians were setting up shop in my backyard. we had an engaging conversation at cohort, but i was really enthused by my later visit to their triple decker. if i had closed my eyes and lit a camel light, i would have sworn i was at the red house in columbus ohio, circa 2002 and i'll be damned if the vibe of the house didn't remind me a little of l'arche.

so yeah, i've really enjoyed my sabbatical thus far and am mostly looking forward too, but also a little nervous about, my upcoming ordination on sunday, august 9th. i should say more about the latter commitment, but, in my enthusiasm, i've totally neglected the cards' score and need to get to it.

much peace, much love.

2009-07-21T17:33:00.004-04:00

Rock Stars for Jesus Preach Masturbation
by: slowfo

"Are you ready to preach about masturbation?" This was the question I was presented with recently while on a job interview at a large, up and coming, highly successful church.....and it wasn't a joke. Before I begin with the rest of the story and my coinciding rant/critique, let me first of all say that these "successful" churches led by Daugherty and Ryan Seacrest wanna-be's are actually doing some good things. There are a number of people out there that have been so numbed by the lifeless, judgmental churches of their past that they previously wouldn't have ever darkened the door of a Jesus-following church until the Celebri-Church came and wowed them back to their childhood faith. So the bottom line is that lives are being turned back to the Bible and a faith in Jesus Christ. I get that and am glad for it. It's just not for me like it used to be.

See, I used to work in the mega-church atmosphere and even was a major proponent of Celebri-Church style until I started to realize that it all seemed so people-centered more than God-centered. There's just a lot of ego behind all of the flash that is used to share the message of Christ with this culturally-relevant language that we use now.

Ok, back to the matter at hand - masturbation (and no, that probably won't be the last inappropriate innuendo/pun that I use in this post because frankly, they're too funny to ignore and I'm way too sophomoric not to use them....so I hope it won't rub you the wrong way). The way the interviews work at this church, they fly you in and you check out their worship services over the weekend while getting to know some of their staff. Then on Monday morning, you go through a series of tests (personality, giftedness, even a mini-ACT test). You break for a quick lunch and then it's getting grilled by the panel of staff all afternoon long.

Part of the panel grilling goes like this, "So Joe Candidate, do you think God's given you some gifts to speak/teach/preach? How would you rate yourself?...(Joes grades himself on a 1-10 scale)....Really? Well, you're about to prove just how good you are. Joe, pick a number between one and three....(Joe picks '2')....Two, huh? Okay, each number was a different subject. If you'd have picked '1', you would have chosen Homosexuality; if '3', you would have gotten Breast Augmentation. But you picked '2', which is the subject of Masturbation. So Joe, you've got 10 minutes to put together a 10 minute sermon on Masturbation. At the end of the 10 minutes, you'll pull your presentation out and work it in front of a room of 20-25 staff members and spouses. Good luck."

Here's their idea, the job I was applying for wasn't a preaching job; so if I handled myself too well with this Masturbation topic, then my gift mix would be for preaching and not for this job. They wanted to see me under pressure and uncomfortable while I'm trying to massage a hard message in front of a group of people.

So is this where church staffing interviews have come? When I mix this in with the overall atmosphere of this church, which was filled with beautiful people with Hollywood clothes and hair, it just all gave me a very sick feeling. This didn't feel like a church at all. It felt like a well-oiled financial machine where muscled-up guys and curvy girls could have their own mini country-club and not feel so un-cool about following Jesus anymore. I'm all for good music and effective communication but it just seems to me that the Protestant Church may need to take a step back and think about who or what exactly is getting glorified in this ultra culturally-relevant environment that has been created. If it's all about how cool we can be, then it seems like it's not so much about a God-centered group of people as much as it's all about pleasuring ourselves (and that's 8 for those of you counting at home). Sorry this post is so long but I do feel incredibly relieved now that I've worked it all out (okay 9).

2009-07-16T21:11:00.002-04:00

fragments

after nine years of (admittedly non-traditional) pastoral ministry in new england i have finally decided to get ordained, or officially set apart, for ministry. since i come from a tradition in which each congregation can choose who to ordain, and, for wholly unmerited reasons, my home church has always supported my ministry, ordination has long been an option for me. however, i have not pursued this sacrament until now.

for that reason, i suppose i shouldn't have been surprised when scott zimmerman, the pastor of christview christian church, and the board of elders at the congregation completely bypassed theological questions in order to ask an imminently practical one: "why are you pursuing ordination now?"

good question.

my first inclination was to tell scott that until now the ordination process really hasn't been all that important to me. i am a strong believer that, as st. peter states, all Christ followers are "chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation" that have been called to "declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." based upon this passage, i follow luther and the anabaptists (talk about odd bedfellows...) in declaring that Christ has created a priesthood of all believers and commissioned all of his followers to go forth in wholeness and try to wrestle life out of death. thus, i haven't sought to be ordained because i am confident that i already am ordained.

and yet, for utilitarian and sentimental reasons, the ordination path is one that i have decided to take.

since securing ordination in my tradition is relatively simple - in my case it took one vote of the elders and "6 to 8 minutes at the end of the service" on sunday, august 9 - it makes sense to publically confirm my calling to ministry and receive the affirmation of my church so that i can legally marry more than one couple per year in massachusetts and forego the $25 unlicensed officiant (i'm tempted to say untagged dog) fee. as scott also reminded me when we spoke, ordination could potentially produce tax benefits since renumerated ministers are not required to withhold social security from their income if they so choose. but since i score my bread with "secular" wages, i doubt that uncle sam is going to let me off the hook there.

lest i come off as too pragmatic, i am also pursuing ordination because i truly appreciate the mercy and grace my home church has always lavished upon me and want to recognize the instrumental role they have played in my life. moreover, since my papa preston was an elder at our church for over thirty years, and has continued serving in that role, albeit without title, since, i want his hands upon me when the prayers for my ongoing ministry and passionate petitions for the poor souls who have to walk beside me are offered within that 6 to 8 minute slot.

since this process is shaping me in other ways that i'm not quite ready to confess, i'll admit that i'm being a bit glib. for some reason i wanted to share a fragment of what's going on in my heart and mind. i'd also like to invite you, if you live anywhere near, to participate in my ordination, and perhaps wrestle with yours, by attending the 10:30 a.m. sunday morning worship service at christiview christian church in tulsa, ok on sunday, august 9th.

2009-07-07T22:06:00.002-04:00

poor, poor privileged me

tonight the board of elders at my home church is discussing the possibility of my ordination. i have never felt a stronger sense of calling to pastoral ministry and cannot think of a higher honor than being consecrated for ministry by my own church. however, i have no clue what form my ministry will take in five years or where it will lead me.

i can't imagine preaching and presiding over the sacrament less than twice a month, yet i fully acknowledge the wisdom of my colleague at rectangle who sat me down two weeks ago and said: "you have a family, you are a pastor and you are committed to leadership at rectangle. how much longer do you think you can continue doing all three things well?"

well? sometimes i wonder if i can continue doing all three things at all. of course, that is what i think my colleague was getting at.

i cannot help but preach. i have always been healthiest when i am serving beside and being served by people with disabilities. i adore my wife more than words can express, am so proud of my son and realize that family is the sine qua non of my existence. this is the trinitarian tension of my existence. sometimes i dance betwixt other times i am torn apart.

tonight my eyes welled with the beauty and the terror.

2009-06-29T21:57:00.002-04:00

i just blue myself

2009-06-26T09:43:00.003-04:00

is this what awe means?

lately i have been overwhelmed by complexity.

when i try to see the gospel through the clouds of two thousand years of interpretation and four thousand years of judeo-christian history it often feels like i have been struck blind.

when i advocate for the poor and am expected to passionately support failed initiatives alongside services that are desperately needed the haze of hypocrisy covers me like a cloak.

hell, even when i enter an industrial building and glance at the sophisticated masonry, hvac systems and intricate wiring i feel like a neanderthal transported to tokyo.

in this world it often seems that "success" relies upon reductionism and nuance is the precursor of impotence. i am profoundly dissatisfied with the polarities, yet am trapped in the tension between.

Lord Jesus, if you want to these scales, remove them.

if confusion is my thorn teach me to bear it.

i do so believe, help me with my unbelief.

2009-06-22T14:00:00.002-04:00

mid-afternoon time waster

if you couldn't live in sunny, luxurious possum kingdom, texas, would you rather live in:

a) rat's nest, louisiana
b) segregation city, mississippi
c) jumping genocide, oklahoma
d) incest, arkansas
e) crystal meth, missouri

2009-06-19T21:24:00.003-04:00

on shifting sands

yesterday talked with a former colleague about the shifting role that sertoma plays in the disability community. when sertoma was founded in 1976 many of its participants were transitioning out of state institutions and into group homes and other supportive community settings. organizations like sertoma rose up to provide job training for these individuals so that they could make their way in the marketplace just like they were learning to make their way in the local communities.

from facility to facilitation
sertoma was able to help some individuals transition into the workforce, but a number, perhaps even a preponderance, of others were allowed and/or encouraged to spend their career working in sertoma's packaging, cedar shim production and recycling businesses. transitioning out of separate institutions and into the community is no small matter, so it is not surprising that many individuals were encouraged by family persuasion, state funding and/or personal choice to go for the gold watch at sertoma.

however, now it is 2009 and the sertoma employees who initially transitioned out of the institutions and into the workshop are either retired or on the precipice of retirement and younger individuals with disabilities have never known anything but integrated disability or rehabilitation services. as a result, the government has reaffirmed their commitment to integrating people with disabilities into the workforce and they are restricting or removing long-term subsidies for individuals who work in workshops like sertoma. this transition makes sense for younger individuals with disabilities, but it is understandably threatening for individuals who have logged 30 years cutting cedar shims and are now wondering whether sertoma's businesses will survive the funding shift and, if not, what role they will play in the marketplace and how they will spend their days.

in response to these challenges, organizations like sertoma are shifting their emphasis from being an employer to being a resource that provides health and life development supports for individuals with disabilities. traditionally, sertoma integrated elements of the institution such as case management, nursing supports, etc., with the elements of a business such as the opportunity to participate in real work, earn a paycheck, follow employee guidelines, etc. in a sense one could say that sertoma is transitioning from an institution - that tries to provide comprehensive services for individuals with disabilities - to a network or a hub that will help connect individuals with disabilities with the employment and life development opportunities as well as the personal supports that they need.

my friend reported that some of the staff members are navigating the transition from the institution to the network well, while others are finding the shift difficult. she said that many of the support staff have worked at sertoma for such a long time that they are as unsettled by the shift as the participants with disabilities are. others, especially the younger staff at sertoma, seem to be making the transition well. but, whether people like the transition or not, my friend said that the "writing was on the wall," and change was coming to sertoma whether people liked it or not.

unexpected revelation
somewhere in the midst of the conversation, i think when my friend was talking about the transition from an institution to a network, i felt the shock of revelation and i literally cradled my face in my hands. since sertoma is no longer the quasi-institution that it once was, the staff needs to find out how to network the individuals they serve with the diverse, individualized services they need. sertoma's future is not in building the institution but expanding the network.

in a similar way, my role to play in the church, that community of people who have been called out by God and inclined towards his Kingdom, is not to build the institution but to expand the network.

my role is not to build the institution, although i was trained to do just that by becoming the engaging preacher for a local church that was committed to providing more and better services so that we could build a bigger congregation, expand our real estate and help buttress our brand.

my role is to expand the network, by loving, listening to and collaborating with other Christians and seekers of any stripe so that we can embody the gospel, serve the inheritors of the Kingdom and reflect the awe inspiring unity and delightful diversity of the Three-in-One who was, and is and is to come.

my job is to expand the network. others have noticed this long before now. hell, pastor phil has directly told me on an occasion or two that, whether i realized it or not, one of my great gifts is networking. others, tasked with building up the institution, have noticed it too, and so have parted ways with me and gone off to serve. i'm not going to lie, the separation from the institution builders has been painful for me, since we love the same One and are called to assist, encourage, exhort and accompany the same body. fortunately, this recent, shocking revelation of our divergent roles has served as a bit of a salve for my wounds.

new metaphor, new world
i love those who for almost 40 years have built up sertoma and i can see why they grieve the transition of their beloved institution. but, in all honesty, i resonate more with the individuals that are envisioning sertoma 2.0 and expanding the network of resources that individuals with disabilities will need to live a holistic life in this integrated world.

in a similar way, i love those who have built the Christian Churches, Churches of Christ and i acknowledge that without their dedication to the gospel shaped institution, i probably would not be following Jesus, who is the greatest joy of my life. however, my role is not to buttress the institution, but to build a network of diverse individuals who are seeking, expressing, embodying and exclaiming the Kingdom that is here and somehow is yet to come.

i realize that this metaphor shift is simple and something should have realized long ago. however, though i'm late to the show, i cannot fully explain how surprised and blessed i have been by this revelation.

i'm starting to suspect that if you change the metaphor, you change the world.

2009-06-16T22:57:00.003-04:00

channeling perkins

a couple of months ago a local group of well intentioned, church planting obsessed anglicans asked our andrew the protester how they could balance their passion for evangelism with the biblical demands for social justice.

andrew's response: "if you plant your churches in areas of great need the balance will take care of itself."

i think there is a world of wisdom in the protester's response. in fact, it sounds downright perkinsonian.

2009-06-02T20:52:00.003-04:00

out of the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. my friends, this should not be.

last week as we were rushing out the door preston grabbed the sleeve of my 2006 world series jacket, pointed at the blessed insignia and said: "daddy's bird?" "yes," i quickly replied. "my bird?" he asked. "yes!" i immediately responded.

that moment nearly brought tears to my eyes. such great hope.

tonight, as kellie and i keep doing 30 pound curls as we drag our screaming tot back to bed he caught me stealing glimpses of the cards/reds game on the laptop. for about ten bed runs thereafter he kept screaming "baseball! baseball! baseball!" and darting towards the laptop.

that dirty little schemer.

2009-05-19T19:25:00.003-04:00

cheshire cat
by: ramos

My friends and I gathered together at my old apartment in Beverly off Rantoul to celebrate the significant moment of my graduation from Gordon-Conwell. I had just walked across the platform and smiled for the camera with my degree in hand, and said all my departing goodbyes and farewells to all teachers and friends who were close to my heart. After the ceremony my friends and I had two things intensely occupying our mind: beer and food. I worked very hard to get to this moment of closure, so it was crucial that we finish with a toast and celebration.

We broke our group into two tasks teams: Jeff (my friend who came from Dallas to visit) and I were to get the Spirits, and Marcos and Brittney were to get the Food. There are two local liquor joints on Rantoul that are a few blocks apart from my apartment. There is the one owned by Indians, who have the best hours and are super friendly towards me, believing that I too am Indian, and they call me ‘bro’. I went to them for the longest, but I began noticing that their beer tastes bitter and metallic. I can’t explain it, other than perhaps they store it improperly. So I vowed to never again buy beer from them again. I then started going to Chrispy’s liquor next to the Pickled Onion. The store, which has a bit of a dirty, grimy dive feel, has a large neon sign that says “Liquor” that hangs above the sidewalk of Rantoul, and has strange people buzzing around underneath the large sign who smoke cigarettes and seemingly have nothing else to do all day but stare across the street. Chrispy’s has better prices than the Indian store, and I never bought a sour tasting beer from them. But they are super stringent about I.D. rules, so I developed the habit of always throwing my I.D. at them first thing every time I made a purchase, even though they recognized me personally by this point.

Jeff and I brought a Patron Silver Tequila and a twelve pack Ipswich Ale to the counter, and out of habit I immediately threw my I.D. at the lady. She briefly glanced at it from afar, and continued ringing, failing to ask to Jeff for his I.D., which I found at first quite odd given the stringent ID rules of the store. I guessed that perhaps she was about to ask for our ID’s within the next moment, so I pushed my ID which laid on the counter closer to her direction. She then grabbed my ID, went over to some scanner and ran it through, and within a few seconds she came my way, said “It’s a fake, get out of my store,” threw my ID in some cardboard box behind the counter, and ignored my plea. Confused, I left the store and called the police. I explained my situation to dispatch, who responded that “she can’t do that, we’ll send somebody over right away.”

The cop shows up minutes later. He gets out of the car with his Oakley’s on and has a smile that seemed happy, almost as if he recognized me. We greet each other and he immediately asks for my ID. I respond, “Well, I don’t have it because she has it,” thinking to myself “Is this not precisely why you are here, did they not communicate to you why you were being sent?”. He goes “Oh right, she has your ID, so you can’t give me one, ahh.’ “Ahh, yes”. Jeff, who is standing next to me, reaches into his back pocket to present his ID, saying “here is my ID officer”. The cop reacts: “whoa whoa, did I ask you for your ID? Put it back slowly. From now on this is how we are going to operate: you do only what I ask for.”

At this point Marcos and Britney are getting out of the pizza joint next door where they have placed our order. They notice Jeff and I outside Chrispy’s talking to a cop, so they curiously walk up to us. The cop spins around and blurts “Whoa, Hey, who are you guys?” with that same smile and apparent jovial cheer. Marcos extends his hand, “hello officer, my name is Marcos,” and the cop stood back refusing the shake, “I don’t shake hands”. “It is policy for me, you could be a threat”. Marcos, who is about as threatening in appearance as an ice cold beer on a hot summer day, says “I can understand that”, to which the cop replies “I could drop you to your knees if I wanted to. In fact I could drop a man who is twice your size, three hundred pounds to his knees”. With that statement being said, which abruptly fell from nowhere and left us in bewilderment as to what was his point and what does this have to do with anything whatsoever about our current situation, the cop proceeded inside to talk to the counter lady, only just after he lined us up against the car and telling us to “stay put”. I thought it humorously ironic that 30 minutes after my graduation from Seminary I now find myself with the police lined up against a car in front of a shady liquor store on the dirty side of Rantoul.

The cop returns with his bright teeth shining through his grin and a piece of paper with my ID photocopied on it. He first comments that the lady is a loner and her only help behind the counter is about “this big,” quickly questioning the boy’s manhood by extending his pinky finger in reference. He then proceeds to show me the apparent flaws with my ID, which were deficiencies with lamination and margin setting. It scans my age apparently, but didn’t provide some other info that should be provided in her scanner. Behind all the jargon the point was that “it works, but there are problems with it.” But in his wise judgment he left the ball in the ladies court. He said “this is a problem between you, her and the commonwealth of Mass.” (I will note here that he took the time to correct me when I said the state of MA; “It is not the ‘state,’ it is the ‘commonwealth,” he pontificated).

Frustrated at this point, I tried to plea with him that my flight to Texas was in two days. In his brilliantly powerful reasoning ability, he deduced “Ahh, and you cant get on the plane unless you have your ID, and she has it” “Ahh, yes.” It was here where I noticed that his fixated grin contrasted with his eyes that began to move erratically, which betrayed something wild and savage hidden underneath. Marcos acutely observed that he reminds one of the “Cheshire Cat”. He replies “You look like a smart guy, and I hate repeating myself: this is not my problem.” He walks to his car and turns around, guffawing a friendly chuckle and offering one last remark “You know, I am glad that this happened to you. I have a lot of Bad Luck in life, and it is good to see someone else having Bad Luck in their life also. Bye,” and waves his hand farewell.

2009-04-27T22:06:00.006-04:00

musing...

after the first piece in GIMP, in which the dancers stand directly before you in their brokenness and beauty, lawrence carter-long begins the second piece with the stem of a joke, "so three cripples walk into a bar."

carter-long fails to complete the joke and so trusts the audience to make the connection* between three objects of the joke and the three individuals with disabilities in the crew. look at us, he slyly suggests, as we struggle through the violence, soak up the intimacy, shrivel in alienation and strive before your very eyes.

look at us, carter-long demands, in all of our brokenness, boldness and beauty.

look at us, he telegraphs with his distinctive gait, but don't forget that we've been watching you too.

and though our observations could be full of bitterness and our jokes could easily objectify three able bodied assholes, i think you are beautiful. i look at you in all of your beauty, i see the risks you take and i cannot help but be changed.

i suspect that christian homiletics** are the last thing on carter-long's mind when, objectified under the stranger's eye he refuses to reduce the object before him to anything less than beauty. but i think christian preachers*** can learn so much from his self-awareness, refusal of reciprocity and his proclamation of beauty.

lawrence, i echo your assertion that "this has changed me...it has been an honor and privilege to have the time to stop and really look at you."

* a connection i failed to make, by the way, until i read the globe's review
** a five dollar seminary word for preaching
*** of which i, in my off-work hours anyway, am one

2009-04-20T09:47:00.006-04:00

blessed are the acehnese

check out this fascinating story about muslim refugees who were abandoned at sea by the rich and have been embraced by the desperately poor.

the poor acehnese hosts have put in more than all the others, for out of their poverty they have put in all they have to live on.

i suspect that the kingdom of God belongs to these acehnese.

ht: nytimes; lk. 6:20; jam. 2:5

2009-04-15T19:33:00.003-04:00

An Open Invite to Cohort and Cavort* with Gordon Students

On Tuesday, April 21 from 7 to 9 pm several members of Boston's Emergent Cohort will be attending a debate at Gordon College (255 Grapevine Road, Wenham, MA; the debate is taking place in the Ken Olsen Science Center which is pictured on the left and located, um, somewhere on campus; if you're taking the rail you'll need to stop on the Beverly Depot, North Beverly or Montserrat station on the Newburyport/Rockport line and get a ride from someone like me). Sounds exiting, I know...but wait, there's more!

The question being considered at the debate is "whether the movement commonly designated 'emergent' church or 'emerging' church bears witness to the positive flourishing of Christianity in our time." This is a huge conversation taking place within evangelicalism (we always like to foster an internecine feud or two to keep us from the real work of mission:), so I'm excited to hear what the students say.

Since Emergent is more of a conversation than a proposition or ecclesial practice, after the debate a number of us are heading over to the Salem Beer Works (278 Derby Street, Salem, MA - easily accessible from the Salem stop on the Newburyport/Rockport Line) around 9:45 to discuss this topic at greater length.

I hope that a number of you are able to join us for the debate and/or the beers and pseudo cohort gathering after. If you're going to attend, please RSVP so that I can keep an eye out for you. If you have questions about this event, please shoot me an email at gentry13ATgmailDOTcom. If you are looking for a couple of home remedies for prostatitis, I can share a few of those as well.

Be Well,

Gentry

* Single seminarians, don't get the wrong idea.

2009-04-13T13:20:00.001-04:00

Ordinary Resurrection

Although my blogging fast was successful, I had a mostly busy, ambiguous, unholy Lent. I entered the season with every intention to enter the desert in order to conduct a “fearless moral inventory” and I ended the season relieved that I wasn’t slated to preach the resurrection. I don’t know quite what to make of that.

Fortunately, early last week I received the proclamation I was so hesitant to offer.

Shortly after arriving at my satellite office (also known as the Beverly Public Library) I ran into Jandelle*, an enthusiastic, uber-intelligent young adult who had attended the Beverly Bootstraps Homework Helpers Club I helped sponsor years ago. Although Janelle has the intellect and intrinsic dignity of Michelle Obama, she hails from a challenging family background and a neighborhood that most would consider less than ideal. Her background, along with the fact that I had witnessed a brutish twenty-something bullying her in a parking lot a couple of years ago, left me worried that she would fail to fulfill her potential.

So it was with a little hesitancy that I asked Jandelle what college she was planning on attending next fall.

Immediately she smiled and said: “I’ve already received acceptance letters from UMass Amherest, BU, BC and St. Mary’s, but my first choice is Columbia and I should be hearing back from them within the week.”

Somehow I avoided tears as I congratulated Jandelle and wished her good luck. Then, as quickly as she appeared, she was gone.

When Jesus proclaims a blessing on the poor for theirs is the Kingdom of God, I believe him. For that reason among others I consider it a privilege to empower, and be empowered by, people throughout my workday.

However, in the darker moments, working in social services feels an awful lot like servicing poverty and one is tempted to wonder if all of the hours, dollars and prayers contributed is going to do a damn bit of good.

For that reason, I treasure moments of ordinary resurrection like these. Jandelle’s story serves as a powerful reminder that God is always in the business of bringing life out of death and if I had been slated to proclaim the resurrection yesterday morning her story would have been my text.

* Not her real name.

2009-02-24T17:00:00.001-05:00

musings is going dark

for the next forty days. have a blessed lent.

2009-02-20T18:59:00.002-05:00

emergency water landing - 600 miles per hour

blank faces, calm as hindu cows.

2009-02-20T08:17:00.005-05:00

musing...

this morning the nytimes is reporting that robert allen stanford, the alleged perpetrator of yet another financial fraud, has been served papers by the f.b.i.

during these difficult times in which an overwhelming amount of financial fraud is being uncovered, i suspect that much of the fraud and dross within the church is going to be revealed as well.

i fear that when the foundations of the church is laid bare we will find that:

1. the church is just as addicted to easy credit as consumers.
2. the church's commitment to "staffing for growth" has led us to underutilize the latent gifts of the laity.
3. the church has replicated far too many services for the silliest of ideological reasons.
4. the church's narcissistic spending patterns has rendered it largely incapable of assisting and empowering the poor.
5. the church has used a frenzy of activity to avoid the desert of prayer.

i share these suspicions not to accuse, for, God knows, i am the guiltiest of all. rather, during the upcoming season of lent i hope that the body of Christ, God's church, is inspired by the Holy Spirit to confess our sin, embrace obedience to Christ's mission and be surprised by new life.

2009-02-19T11:11:00.002-05:00

musing...

if pithiness is next to godliness
i'm going to need an assload of indulgences

2009-02-16T22:46:00.003-05:00

fun with metaphors

on march 7th the gathering gang is leading a breakout session on the topic of worship at the brian mclaren/everything must change conference that the episcopal diocese is hosting.

as i've been preparing for this discussion, i've started thinking about the liturgy at the gathering as a "mashup." i'm a bit of a technological idiot, but as far as i can tell a mashup is an artistic piece that is a creative combination of two or more divergent video or audio sources.

for example a cursory search on youtube yielded this mashup of office space and the trailer for xmen 3 and that brilliant mashup of christian bale's latest profane tirade.*

at the gathering, we often offer up a new mashup every week. last week's mashup might be pentecostal worship whipped with a evangelical "big idea" sermon, while next week's mashup might be classic hymns of the reformation intertwined with lectio divina and a zwinglian framed communion. sometimes these mashups are inspiring and provocative and sometimes the juxtapositions are cumbersome and distracting. however, since we are a diverse community each member has to trust that the elements that do not connect with them speak directly to someone else in the congregation, while another element which does speak to them might not connect with the other at all.

i'm not going to lie, sometimes i wish our worship had the cohesion of a catholic mass or the plodding regularity of a presbyterian order. but i love our quirky community and believe that the mashup is the best fit for our diverse congregation.

one side note: while reading the most recent modern reformation david wells states that "emergents" have rejected the niche marketed vacuity of the megachurch and have instead embraced "casual blending of different belief systems in their churchly experimenting-a bit of Catholicism here, a bit of Greek Orthodoxy there, a hip rendition somewhere else-has also come about because of a rejection of traditional ideas of authority and because the self is exercising its autonomy to shape its spiritual context the way in which it wants."

i think that his former assertion is right on, but i don't believe that the tendency of the participants in the emergent conversation to drink deeply from multiple streams of christian tradition and to weave the strands of that tradition** into their worship is, necessarily, a rejection of "traditional ideas of authority" or a narcissistic pastiche. rather, i think that many of the participants in the emergent conversation are trying to respect and practice their received tradition of the christian faith while also exploring and utilizing the untold riches of resources that have been discovered by christians throughout the centuries. although i'm a evangelical protestant by birth i think it would be foolish for me to ignore the valuable practice of lectio or lenten fasting just because my immediate forbears did not embrace these practices. i'm proud of my christian church/church of christ tradition, but my forefathers and foremothers are many, and i don't think i am dishonoring alexander campbell - neal windham for that matter! - or rejecting their "authority," by listening to the words and being shaped by the practices of st. francis of assisi, martin luther king jr. or henri nouwen.

second side note: feel free to share mashups that you love. i've just started to explore this art form and would love to receive your recommendations.

* this clip is inappropriate for children and those who are easily offended. consider yourself warned.
** talk about your mixed metaphors.

2009-02-16T10:58:00.002-05:00

in context

is a sailboat. stupid head!

2009-02-15T17:43:00.003-05:00

read and reviewed: creating a world without poverty by muhammad yunus
submitted by: anita

I thought that I was a dreamer and an optimist, but compared to Muhammad Yunus I would almost be considered a cynic. In Creating a World Without Poverty, not only does he envision eliminating poverty in his native country of Bangladesh, he envisions "putting poverty into museums" throughout the world so that future generations of children could go and marvel at the way large parts of the world used to live.

He acknowledges that he is a dreamer. Yet he has in fact reduced Bangladesh's poverty level from 73% in 1973 to 40% in 2005. The poverty level continues to decrease by 1 percent each year and so in the not too distant future, his dream of eliminating poverty in his country could become a reality.

How is he doing it? It's pretty simple. He has dared to think outside of the box. He has refused to buy into the capitalistic, maximizing profit model that the developed countries have lived by. Instead, he introduces the concept of social businesses. These are businesses that are created not to be PMBs (profit maximizing businesses) but businesses that have as their goal a social benefit to the world's poor. People who invest in the businesses get their investment back, eventually, but they do not receive any profit. Instead any profit that the business makes is re-invested into the business or else it goes to the shareholders who are the poor. As an added benefit, the investors in these businesses can then invest in another social business and keep perpetuating the benefits. It is much better than a hand-out, for both the investors and the recipients.

How can a model like this work? Yunus has shown that it works well. He started out by offering loans to poor people who had no collateral and who would be poor risks by most bank's standards. He found that these poor borrowers had a far better rate of loan repayment than more well-off borrowers. He also found that the poor were extremely resourceful and hard-working when it came to using their loaned money. As a result many of them were able to create viable businesses, pay back their loans and better the standard of living for themselves and their families.

For example, some poor women would take out a loan and become telephone ladies. They would purchase a cell phone and then sell minutes to people in their village. This provided benefit to them and also to others around them. And connecting a poor village with the world helps to remove them from isolation which further increases the likelihood that they will escape poverty.

It is a hopeful book. Yet it also is pleading with the world to adopt this same model of social businesses in order to save our planet as well as eliminate poverty. As has become obvious to many, the world can no longer afford to maximize profit and ignore the effect that this idea has had on the world's resources and on the use of the these resources by the privileged few.

I found it an inspiring book, with lots of practical insight. Putting its ideas into practice should be given serious thought by the developed nations. Success will only be hindered by a stubborn clinging to the current model of business that has benefited only a small portion of the world's population. Yunus believes that investors and people in general, are capable of and even attracted to making a choice that does not result in financial gain, but instead contributes to a world where those at the bottom of the socioeconomic structure are benefited and given a way of escape.

2009-02-14T22:04:00.004-05:00

on "emergent"

lately i have had a number of people ask me what "emergent" is. actually, they usually ask me what the "emergent church" is and question what the "movement" is all about.

i'm not a philosopher and i'm not all that qualified to hold court on such issues, but for what (little) it is worth, emergent is a conversation.

in our cohort anyway, the conversation usually centers upon theology, ecclesiology and missiology. when our crew meets at danny's diner we bitch occasionally about dissonance we feel with our church traditions or the anemic expressions of christian "culture" (see: fireproof), but generally everyone around the table is there because they are in awe of Jesus Christ and, individually and collectively, are committed to finding a way to persevere upon this journey in order that they might be, as Jesus promised, saved/reconciled/redeemed/resurrected/made new.

i'd encourage you to question sweeping generalizations about the "emerging church" or the "emerging movement." last time i checked, emergent isn't looking to plant any churches, pen any creeds or establish the clear leadership structure* and steady income stream that movements generally require. since emergent is a conversation, i think most of its detractors are simply protective of their authority structures and/or they need a new whipping girl to take the place of open theism, the mega-church, carman, contemporary worship, third-wave charismaticism and whatever other developments have threatened (that also hard to define thing we call) american eeevangelicalism over the past bundle of years.

if you would rather hear it from the horses' mouth, here you go:

"Emergent Village is a growing, generative friendship among missional Christians seeking to love our world in the Spirit of Jesus Christ." - emergentvillage.com

"As a follower of God in the way of Jesus, I've been involved in a profoundly interesting and enjoyable conversation over the last ten years or so. It's a conversation about what it means to be 'a new kind of Christian' - not an angry and reactionary fundamentalist, not a stuffy traditionalist, not a blase minimalist, not a wishy-washy liberal, not a New Agey religious hipster, not a crusading religious imperialist, and not an overly enthused Bible-waving fanatic--but something fresh and authentic and challenging and adventurous. Around the world, millions of people have gotten involved in this conversation, and more are getting involved each day. (One reason we keep calling it a conversation is that we can't find a short way of describing it yet," Brian McLaren, Everything Must Change, pg. 3.

* what little leadership structure we had was deconstructed when tony jones stepped down as emergent's national coordinator in the fall of 2009.

2009-02-07T12:39:00.004-05:00

Impending Emergence

Hey There,

Our friends at The Boston Faith and Justice Network and The Crossing are hosting a few killer events in in February and March. Take a look at what's on tap:

What: The Gratitude Economy Event featuring Shane Claiborne
When: Saturday, February 21st from 4-9:30 pm
Where: Park Street Church
How (Much): $0
Visit: The Boston Faith and Justice Network at http://www.bostonfaithjustice.org/.

What: The Everything Must Change tour featuring Brian McLaren
When: Saturday, March 7th from 9:30 am-3:00 pm
Where: George Sherman Union, Boston University, 775 Commonwealth Ave
How (Much): $15 for adults, $9 for students, $10 for a box lunch
Visit: This site to register: http://www.diomass.org/event/diocesan/brian-mclaren-one-americas-25-most-influential-evangelicals-keynote-spring-learning-e. Seating is limited.

What: The Crossing Presents Phyllis Tickle
When: Thursday, March 26th from 2-7:30 pm
Where: Cathedral Church of St. Paul, 138 Tremont Street, Boston, MA
How (Much): $25
Visit: This site to register: https://www.regonline.com/checkin.asp?eventid=697167. Seating is limited.

We hope to see you at one or some of these events. If you have any questions about these events, feel free to email me at gentry13ATgmail.com.

2009-01-31T11:13:00.005-05:00

an open invite to friends near and far

Hey All,

Just a reminder that the cohort is meeting this Tuesday night at Danny's Diner (300 Beacon Street, Somerville, MA) from 7-9 pm.

When I was a student at Soybean Bible College my favorite professor and spiritual director always taught me to "study and experience abroad, but always find a way back home." In light of this advice, I have always been open to diverse theological conversations and new forms of Christian mission, but I have also tried to stay consciously rooted in the Christian Church, Church of Christ tradition of my youth.

This month I would like for us to discuss the beliefs and practices of our faith tradition that we value and aim to sustain. The Emergent conversation is often concerned with letting go of the past so that we can lean into God's future. While those discussions are necessary and valuable I think it is also important for us to discuss the beliefs and practices that have shaped us in the past and shape us still. At this meeting we'll also review the Peter Rollins event and talk about the upcoming events sponsored by the Crossing Community.

I hope to see you there!

gentry

gentry13ATgmail.com

ht: dr. james

2009-01-29T07:13:00.002-05:00

the cardinals' winter warmer

ht: aubucade

2009-01-28T07:10:00.003-05:00

musing...

as much fun as it is to ridicule governor blagojevich, his allegedly unethical activity raises a troubling question or two in my mind.

what if blagojevich's current position mirrors jose canseco's in 2005 when juiced was first published and he was a universal object of ridicule and scorn? are we going to find out in the coming months that blagojevich is more the norm than the exception? perhaps pundits are right in suggesting that he is only guilty of "doing politics on tape."

as we continue to track through the nuclear winter of recession and there is far less capital to grease the wheels of the government machine are we going to see an increasing number of politicians revealing the corrupt schemes of their "friends" in order to ensure that there is enough slop in the trough? in massachusetts we've already seen the speaker of the house bounced due to alleged ethics violations, a state senator fell in december after taking bribes on tape from the fbi and a city counselor from roxbury is about to fall. once you start indicting mass politicians where are you going to stop?

enough politics for now.

2009-01-26T09:14:00.004-05:00

musing...

for the past four weeks we have been listening to abram's story at the gathering. last night, as we rambled down highway 51, i couldn't help but but admire abram's responsiveness. although abram had significant faults and flaws, when God spoke abram responded and when God visited abram was quick to welcome.

as much as i hate to admit it, i am not seared by the experience of God as Abram was and i rarely receive the revelation of God as a call to action.

over the past several years, i've devoured books like spirit and flesh, salvation on sand mountain, the family and even body piercing saved my life that enable me to reflect upon my own faith tradition from a critical distance.

if i'm going to continue on this road of pastoral ministry i need to find my way - or be led - back to the place where the revelation of God can cut me open, reorder my understanding, recreate my heart and so ready me to walk together with God's community towards the good, the beautiful and the true.

2009-01-23T08:25:00.001-05:00

happy haiku friday

loving and killing
legacy double-dealing
i have the cancer

2009-01-16T13:16:00.002-05:00

happy haiku friday

with velocity
of thermal viscosity
open mouth, insert foot

2009-01-14T19:17:00.002-05:00

musing...

reason 2,342,656 i love living in massachusetts: incredible, non-commercial radio. almost every day i listen to wbur, boston's npr news station that produces such fan favorites as car talk and tom ashbrook's on point, wers an eclectic, indie-music giant out of emerson college, wumb an influential folk music station, that regularly features john hiatt, out of umass boston and wgbh, a classical music/npr news format station that is a perfect refuge from wbur during fundraisers. now, if we can only get a non-commercial sports talk station that is hosted by michael lewis, thomas boswell, chris collinsworth, bill simmons, chuck klosterman, ken rosenthal, rob neyer, bill james and joe morgan we'll be all set!

i read phyllis tickle's the great emergence a little over a month ago and i enjoyed it. i wish i would have reviewed it immediately after reading so that her assertions were fresh on my mind. tickle's central premise is that every 500 years or so - think pope gregory the great, the great schism, the great reformation and brian mclaren - the church undergoes a major seismic shift. she goes to great lengths to show that the last shift was inspired not only by luther's theological complaints but by the printing press, the rise of the nation state and the renaissance/enlightenment/late middle ages. tickle believes that we are currently undergoing a major shift she calls the great emergence on account of the rise of globalization, the internet revolution and the forthcoming decriminalization of marijuana.

anyway, in regards to western christianity tickle asserts that the playing field has long looked like a quadrant that included the roman catholics, the social justice christians, the fundamentalists/evangelicals and the pentecostal/charismatics. as christians have been more and more exposed to the valuable elements of other quadrants and have even incorporated practices that were characteristic of other quadrants into their worship and mission, tickle suggests that there has been a "gathering center" of believers who are leaving their old denominational designations and exclusivistic theological systems behind in order to plumb the diverse depths of the traditions and join with others on the redemptive, kingdom mission of Christ.

where am i going with? right. tickle notes that in each quadrant there are 10-15% of believers who will refuse to move towards the center and will become quadrant fundamentalists of sorts. she also notes that there currently are and will continue to be "hyphenated" groups such as preby-mergent that hold on firm to their quadrant with one hand and reach as far towards the gathering center as they can with the other hand.

as for me, i would love to be numbered among the hyphenateds by maintaining my roots in the stone-campbell movement while continuing to be an active participant in the great emergence. since i am already a part of the latter, i've been thinking about the elements of my tradition that will help me keep a firm hold on the former. thus, my great question is: what elements of the stone-campbell tradition are worth holding onto?

so far, i've decided that the weekly practice of the eucharist, believers baptism, a dedication to world mission, an openness to utilizing contemporary mediums in order to communicate the message and shared leadership are stone-campbellish elements that i would like to hold onto. if you are a part of "the movement" or have simply had a movement and would like to comment on either tickle's book or the idea of living a hyphenated christian life, feel free.

one more thing: kellie mentioned yesterday that she does not think it is the government's responsibility to provide vouchers, and thus PAY, for americans with rabbit eared sets to make the jump to digital broadcasting. i can't agree with her more. since when did the ability to watch stupid schlock like american idol become an inalienable right!? now they want to delay the conversion because people haven't listened to two years of endless commercials about the shift or don't care enough about the transition to pony up the $200. come on!!!

2009-01-07T21:30:00.002-05:00

True Love (Can't) Wait
by: slowfo

Ah....the South...nothin' but country charm, bluegrass, and lots and lots and lots of unprotected, teenage sex. My Yahoo front page today told me that a new report is out and Mississippi is finally #1 for something other than being the fattest state in the union: highest number of teenage babies being born (and please, stop having mental images of what all the fat Mississippi teens are doing with their free time...it's gross). Cheer up though Mississippi...one of the fifty states had to take the prize. And if it wasn't going to be Mississippi, it would be Texas, New Mexico, or Arkansas (Arkansas wasn't mentioned in the article, but come on....it's Arkansas). Although frankly, I was inwardly hoping that Alaska would have been #1 because the comedians and late-night hosts would have been both relentless and hilarious with it.

What I find most interesting about the report is that the states with the highest teenage birth percentages all come from a very familiar band of states also known as "The Bible Belt." So what is going on here besides the obvious? Is it that this strip of states is more ignorant than the rest and doesn't think ahead about either a) using some sort of protection, b) abstinence, or c) the repercussions that having unprotected sex might actually lead to dragging a newborn baby onto the school bus next fall?

I throw out a few more questions for discussion:
1. As some Christians advocate, should the Church just accept that kids are going to have sex and help them use protection to avoid disease and unwanted pregnancies?

2. If Christianity really is more prevalent in the South, then why haven't these same people (who are more theologically conservative and apt to preach abstinence to teens) been able to make more of a difference?

3. Is this more about how Christianity is played out among different races? If you go directly to the report, it shows that Non-Hispanic Whites have a teenage birth rate that is more than 50% less than Non-Hispanic Blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians. Why the difference if the same or similar theology is preached in all churches?

Whatever your conclusion, it looks as though there's a whole lot more going on in the South than just Whistlin' Dixie....then again, maybe Dixie's skillful whistlin' was part of the problem to begin with.

2009-01-03T23:26:00.002-05:00

musing...

i just finished watching david simon and ed burns' television adaptation of evan wright's generation kill. while watching this stark and remarkable series i couldn't help but think about the lack of publicity generated by generation kill as well as the low box office takes for iraq-related movies over the past couple of years

i suppose that the apparent lack of interest in iraq related fare might be related to questions concerning the quality of films or the poor publicity these films have been afforded.

however, i suspect that this media has largely been ignored because the public would rather consume, and corporations would rather promote, a few more stories about our country's past "glories" than spend a few hours reflecting on our current quagmire.

if you're interested in a thought-provoking reflection on the iraq war and you live local i'll be happy to lend generation kill to you.

2009-01-02T19:57:00.002-05:00

musing...

on last year's long road home kellie and i tried to listen to joan didion's the year of magical thinking. i tried to listen to it anyway, i think kellie slept.

since the introductory chapters of the book are nothing short of morose the book didn't make for great road reading and somewhere between amarillo and mclean i turned it off.

however, before i clicked it didion remarked how her husband, who was also an author, often said something like "note taking is what distinguishes a writer, from a non-writer."

while i'm not a writer - though i'd be lying if i denied that in my more grandiose dreams i fancy myself one - i'm going to do my damndest to take better notes this year. even if it doesn't help my writing Lord knows it won't hurt my preaching.