hey...he stole my metaphor!

for a number of months i have been describing sinners and saints as a centrifugal church (okay, most of the time i mistakenly spoke about it as a centripetal church, since i'm not much of a physicist, but still...), insofar as we are committed to equipping people for ministry, blessing them and sending them out when they leave and continuing to provide some form of accompaniment as they continue to incarnate the Kingdom throughout the world.

i'm not going to lie to you, i thought this metaphor (even when incorrectly communicated) was a clever way of communicating the passion of our church. then i went on steve holt's blog today and found out that fred peatross used my metaphor to describe the missional church in this article. of course, he also explains the concept in a manner that is much more cogent or concise than i could ever muster.

so i'm thinking about sticking his ass with an "improper use of intellectual property" suit. then he'll think twice about effectively appropriating my ideas.

musing

on wednesday night, as i was leafing through neil lanctot’s excellent historical survey negro league baseball: the rise and ruin of a black institution, my eyes drifted over to one of our bookshelves. resting somewhat conspicuously on the bookshelf was james sire’s the universe next door. for some reason, the sight of this book got me thinking.

i thought about how books like the universe next door, the scandal of the evangelical mind and worldviews in conflict have challenged young evangelicals, including myself, to pursue academic studies with rigor and fully apply our intellect to the Christian faith. i thought about how the desire of evangelicals to attain intellectual credibility has intentionally or unintentionally resulted in a lot of the progressive and innovative thought that we see in circles such as emergent.

i feel like we were taught to study rigorously and expand our experience of life, but then quickly return to the assumptions of our evangelical forbears. for instance, in seminary i felt like they handed us the tools of textual criticism, which exposed the rich layers of tradition and compilation in the Pentateuch, and then expected us to faithfully affirm and fight to the death for the assumption of mosaic authorship. moreover, the uncompromising evangelical commitment to mission has introduced many of us us to, and encouraged us to invest in, cultures throughout the world, yet when we returned home we were expected to leave our cultural assumptions unchallenged and our methodologies unchanged.

i hope that no one hears me hammering on our evangelical tradition here or scoffing at those who have trained and invested so fully in our lives. this is not an attack of any sort. i just find it interesting how initiatives such as the evangelical scramble for intellectual credibility give birth to such unintended consequences.

“God said it. I believe it. That settles it.”

I think that most of us have seen that bumper sticker at some point in our lives and I am sure that many of us found it unsettling. When I hear someone speak about scripture in that manner, I assume that they regard Scripture as a pile of propositional bricks with which they can build their house or, perhaps, they think of it as an ideational 2 x 4 with which they can smack those who disagree with them over the head. So I’m completely uncomfortable with that kind of absolutist, propositional approach.

But I am still quite willing to do something simply because “the Bible told me so.” Is that a contradiction?

I think not. But in order for me to submit my life to Scripture in such a manner, I’ve had to alter my metaphors. I no longer look at Scripture as 66 old piles of propositional bricks, but as the record of how God, through the Holy Spirit, has and is shaping his people to worship Him, love one another and incarnate his presence in the world. Since I believe that the same Spirit that inspired the Scriptures and has shaped God’s people throughout history is still moving within and shaping both me and my community, I do not hesitate to submit my life to the Scriptures. So, in the end, I am still willing to do things “because the Bible said so.” But my motives for doing so are a bit different now than they were in the past.

I don’t know if this makes any sense at all. This kind of topic deserves more careful treatment, but I don’t have the time to offer that right now. Just thought I’d let you know what I’m thinking.

overheard

my friend dustin just penned an excellent, proverbial article that was featured in 7ball magazine. if you take a few minutes to read following the ants, i think you'll like it.

i've added steve holt - STEVE HOLT! - to the ole sidebar. he and his wife chrissy are planning on creating incarnational communities of christian compassion in the boston area. be sure to check out his blog, which i'm sure you'll dig.

agent b continues to provide regular reports conerning his incarnational ministry. i'm so glad that larry cannon over at lifeway turned me on to this guy.

eth·no·cen·trism (thn-sntrzm)
n.

1. Belief in the superiority of one's own ethnic group.
2. Overriding concern with race.
3. Choosing to broadcast the conclusion of a meaningless, domestic N.I.T. game instead of the intriguing first inning of the World Baseball Classic.
   

questions that are confounding my infantile mind

why is the united states of america a featured country in epcot’s “world showcase?” isn’t that a little redundant?

does anyone else suspect that adam morrison is the older brother of that autistic baller that was recently featured on espn? the other day he attempted a avant-garde, "defense by jumping jacks" approach. he's one strange duck.

why are people sending out patriotic spam to mark the third anniversary of this futile war?

why are “it” personnel almost universally condescending? relatively few car mechanics, vacuum repairmen and hvac technicians i’ve known expect to be treated with reverence and awe. why do computer mechanics expect to be treated differently?

how many tattoos must one have to work at the friendly toast? does their management refer to body art as "flair"?

why do people keep calling my cell phone and asking for hamlet?

why have i ignored the ncaa tournament for so many years? the tourney provides one of the most complex and compelling plot lines in all of sports.

why do we allow companies to treat us like commodities?

why is it so hard to love and so easy to hate?

why am I expected to walk on emotional egg-shells with SS sales reps? i need to save my sparse reserves of eq for our customers. our sales reps are going to have to develop thicker skin.

why do i continue to put up with blogger (the aol of the web log world) when free, open-source options like word press are available?

why are the decades old embargos against cuba considered sound policy? wouldn’t capitalism crack their ideological walls a hell of a lot quicker than imposed isolationism?

musing

in other news...a couple of weeks ago i mentioned that while i was well-grounded in the ecclesiolae, or local church, i was quite clueless about my role in the ecclesia. well, over the past month or so the Lord has provided a number of connections with the larger body of Christ. in the past month i have been introduced to an intriguing cast of characters including the aforementioned ben d10 - who leads a relational homechurch in atlanta, steve and chrissy h. - who are about to leave the confines of abilene christian university in order to plant relational churches in the boston area, michael m. and john d. - two forward thinking and long faithful gents with whom i hope to help start an emergent co-hort, steven from lcc - who, along with his incredibly gifted wife, have been incarnating the Kingdom in afghanistan, hank w. - who is heading up an intriguing church plant in the boston area and jason a., a passionate Christ follower who is a part of d10s crew. i am excited about partnering with these folks as together we seek to be the incarnation of God throughout the world. i desperately hope that our developing relationships as well as any work we do together will honor God and leave our personal ambitions unfulfilled.

musing...

"holiness is sustained attention to the heart, the source of all action. it concerns itself with the core of the personality, the well-spring of behavior, the quintessence of the soul. it focuses upon the formation and transformation of this center." -richard foster, streams of living water, pg. 83

lately i've been doing a lot of good things: extending hospitality to people who are visiting our community, applying myself fully at work and participating in this season of penitence and reflection that prepares us for the resurrection of our Lord.

lately i've been doing a lot of good things, but i haven't been living from the center. one moment i'm intentionally serving the Lord and accompanying my brothers and sisters in Christ and the next moment i'm failing to serve the interests of our community or setting a remarkably poor example for our community. these spiritually bi-polar episodes are really starting to wear on me and, i fear, my beloved ones as well.

i hope that during this season of holistic deconstruction, the Lord makes good on his promise of restoring all things. i long for him to purify my heart, to increase my dependence on His animating Spirit and re-establish an enduring connection between my intentions and actions. i want Him to teach me how to connect with the larger body of Christ without weakening my connections to my most beloved ones and i want to learn how to be a true tentmaker instead of a ministerial mercenary. i want to be led towards the via media that, i suspect, exists between my idolatry of space and the open spaces wherein i provide unlimited access to my heart.

Lord, help me endure this season of holistic deconstruction. i look forward to your restoration and long to be more fully integrated into the body of your holy people.