It Takes A Church...

A Christian Response to the 2008 Presidential Election

Mark D. Roberts has started another series..timely indeed...
A Christian Response to the 2008 Presidential Election

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Next Stop on the Coffeehouse Theology Tour

On occasion, I get offered a free copy of a new book, if I will post a review and participate in a "blog tour".  Most of the time I kindly decline, because a) I have too many books still to read already and 2) I don't blog enough on the stuff I think I am supposed to say.  But, this time I accepted Ed Cyzewski's kind offer to review his book Coffee House Theology: Reflecting on God in Everyday Life because

1. He has a great title.(I like Coffeehouses and theology.)
2. He has a great subtitle (I like the idea of "reflecting on God in the everyday life".

When I received the book, I didn't even care if it was good. It was cool.  It looked cool, the chapter headings were interesting and the diagrams in the book were actually helpful.  It also looked like a book.  A serious thoughtful, readable book.  Not one of those "look at me, I have a neat design but nothing much really to say except for my personal rant" that seem to be all the rage.

Ed wants to help ordinary Christians do some theologizing in a changing world and in this book he offers up both some good tools and the book itself as a good example. He interacts easily and responsibly with issues of culture, modernity and post-modernity, biblical authority, historical tradition and the missional emphasis that should be the raison d'etre of all theology. Best of all his writing style and personal anecdotes make what would otherwise be technical and intimidating material accessible.  His personal journey with "changing" his theology to now include the teaching and leadership ministry of women is compelling, authentic and an example of responsible theological reflection.

But since this is part of a "blog tour" that is well underway, I will limit my comments to one more heartfelt expression of appreciation for Ed's affirmation of the Christian community when "doing theology." (Not only does he affirm it, he also provides study guides to help those who want to learn from the book and practice it!)

Ed writes:

As Christians hear the voice of the Spirit in new contexts, our faith communities help keep us on track when interpreting the Bible.  As a fruit of the Spirit's work in the world, Christian communities in a variety of forms act as a forum where interpretation and theological reflection occur. While individual Christians should read, study and meditate on the Bible, we equally need to be in dialogue with a local church gathering.  While the Scripture and the Spirit serve as powerful elements in the growth of the church, I can't emphasize enough that Spirit-formed Christian community serves as an essential component for interpreting Scripture...if we want to successfully share the message of God today in both a relevant and prophetic way, our study of Scripture needs the guidance of both the Holy Spirit and our Christian communities. (p. 153)

If we were sitting in a Coffeehouse doing some theology on this, I'd quibble with Ed's seeming attribution (in the last sentence of that quote) of the Holy Spirit to the individual and the Christian community as something other than a revelation of the Spirit...but perhaps oft-neglected and desperately needed "theological quibbling over coffee" is what this book is really about and what it may actually inspire.

Other links to look at:

Introduction: http://www.theooze.com/articles/article.cfm?id=2125
Post on Emergent village: http://www.emergentvillage.com/weblog/why-i-wrote-yet-another-book-on-contextual-theology
Blog Tour Schedule: http://inamirrordimly.com/2008/10/01/the-coffeehouse-theology-blog-tour-schedule/

(I will return to my Starfish and the Spider reflections in my next post.)

Free Book Opportunity!

Everyone loves free stuff- so how about a free copy of The New Media Frontier, edited by John Mark Reynolds and Roger Overton (and to which I contributed a chapter).

Crossway will be sending a free copy of the book to the first 30 people who agree to review on their blog or Facebook page.
Here are the details: 

1) Send an email to marketing@crossway.org with the subject "New Media Frontier Giveaway" with your name, mailing address, and blog address.

2) Crossway will send you a shiny new copy of The New Media Frontier. 

3) Read the book and post a review on either a blog or your Facebook profile so all your friends can see it by October 31st, 2008. 

4) Cross-post your review on Amazon.com

New Book on "New Media Frontier"

I am a contributor to a compilation of essays on how the new media is shaping ministry.  The book, The New Media Frontier:Blogging, Vlogging, and Podcasting for Christ, is now available and offers a wide ranging set of topics for both would be communicators as well as those who are just curious. 

There is a Facebook discussion group, a website dedicated to information about the book and it will be featured at GodBlogCon 08.

Perhaps most significantly, it features contributions by some of the most widely read and experienced new media contributors (Joe Carter, Hugh Hewitt, Mark D. Roberts, Roger Overton, John Mark Reynolds) as well as the lunch-bucket variety pastor-blogger like me.

My chapter on "Blog as Microwave Community", looks at what the new media can--and cannot do--in helping to foster Christian community. I'd love to hear your feedback.

You can get the book here.

Basking and Connecting at Laity Lodge

My wife, Beth, says that I need to continually work on my ability to "bask".  Beth thinks that basking is a spiritual discipline and an art form (and admittedly, no one I know basks with as much grace and ease as my sweet love.)

I am not a basker. The motto on my running ID says "Pack a lot of life into living." But because of Beth I am learning to find times and place to slow down, to linger, to do nothing but take in the sunshine of God and warmth of the people of around me.

I just returned from one of my favorite basking spots, Laity Lodge.  I have written about Laity Lodge before, but every time I visit I am reminded of why I love the place.   There is no hype, just substance. It is a solid, peaceful, enduring place that exudes both welcome and possibility.  When I go there I know that I am going to meet interesting people who are like-souled though vastly different than me on the surface.  Mostly, they are Texans, but this Californian (whom I am told was the first person to ever speak at Laity Lodge in flip-flops) is always welcomed with a hug and a joke and usually a prayer of gratitude to God for my very presence (can you even imagine?)

I always meet people from around the country who live such different lives than I do, but are as committed to seeking the Kingdom in their little worlds as I am to mine.  I met Evelyn from Compton, CA.  (She was along with my family the only other Californian.)  She rode the bus across the southwest to come to Laity Lodge the first time and has returned eight times. At communion, she reminded us all that the heavenly banquet would look more like a Laity Lodge communion service than most of our 11 AM Sunday Services.

I spent considerable amount of time with my co-speaker Lauren Winner, a southern-east-coaster whose intellect and cool quotient can only make me more popular with the emergent crowd just because I now know her.

I also met LL Barkat, a writer from New York who over a delightful lunch graciously gave me a copy of her new book (which Beth has taken from me to enjoy in her moments of basking) and recommended several others on Jewish theology of the wilderness (which I am taking to Alaska with me next week for some vacation and more hands-on musing on community, friendship and creation.)

And I spent a lot of time just hanging out and talking late into the night with friends old and new.  Two afternoons, Mark Roberts and I hiked the hill country of Texas through the shade of the cedar trees, and two evenings Mark and Linda and Beth and I sat under starry skies catching up on our lives.  I spent lunch with Howard and Barbara Dan Butt, and an evening with David and Deborah Rogers and a lot of time swimming in the Rio Frio (which wasn't, really, by the way.)  My kids hung out with the Roberts and Rogers kids and explored the place like they were a gang of Tom Sawyers with nothing to do but let their imaginations lead them.  And we ate a lot of homemade bread.

On my first visit to Laity Lodge a couple of years back, I took a morning run up to Circle Bluff to take in the view when I was joined by Grammy winner Ashley Cleveland on a morning walk. She said, "The veil is very thin here, isn't it?"  I nodded in agreement, and we walked a bit together, a new friendship born.

Maybe the key to basking is finding a place where the presence of God shines through the beauty of nature and the warmth of people so clearly that you continually want to linger...and return.

(LL encouraged Jim Martin and Marcus Goodyear and I to write about Laity Lodge in each other's blogs so that others will discover what we have. A fitting, generous, suggestion, I'd say.  After all that I have received there, sharing it seems most appropriate. And as I noted above, I am heading off to Alaska with my family and some friends for a couple of weeks of vacation.  I am praying for one glimpse of Denali, a safe encounter with a grizzly bear and some big fish on the end of my fly line while I do some serious basking...)

(Added: This is a nice photographic, basking-like introduction to Laity Lodge. Thanks Mark D. Roberts)

Public Faith: High Calling

One of the privileges that I get time to time is write for the High Calling of Our Daily Work Website.  Today, in their weekly e-newsletter, my most recent short article on "Public Faith" is featured.  If nothing else, this gives me a chance to offer some "props" for a great ministry and some great friends.

High Calling is part of a remarkable and inspiring ministry that has been founded, shaped and offered to the Christian community by Howard E. Butt and his family work at Laity Lodge.  Next week, I am returning to Laity Lodge to speak with Lauren Winner on a weekend retreat. I am greatly looking forward to being back with old friends and new in a wonderful place, talking with people who really care about Christians making a difference in every day life. 

If you ever have a chance to visit Laity Lodge, or if you are interested in a great set of resources, I would highly recommend getting subscription to the High Calling of our Daily Work Website

A Robust Gospel

The little gospel promises me personal salvation and eternal life. But the robust gospel doesn't stop there. It also promises a new society and a new creation. When Jesus stood up to read Isaiah 61 in the synagogue at Nazareth, then sat down and declared that this prophetic vision was now coming to pass through him, there was more than personal redemption at work. God's kingdom, the society where God's will is established and lived, was now officially at work in his followers. That society was overturning the injustices and exclusions of the empire and establishing an inclusive and just alternative.

Scot McKnight in Christianity Today

(HT: Mark D.Roberts)

 

New Year, New Devotional, Old Friend

Last night, my family and I went to a steak place in Mammoth for a good end of the year meal. (My daughter loves steak!).  During the meal we talked about what was the most significant events and memories we had from 2007 and what we hoped for in 2008.  For all of us, the memories surrounded family adventures, beautiful places, our church community and good times with friends.  Beth and Ali spent Easter week with a family that has become dear new friends, we all had a great RV Adventure with some of our oldest friends, and we said goodbye to one of our closest family friends who moved to Texas.

Looking ahead, we agreed that as a family we wanted to keep spending time together having adventures in beautiful places (hence, we'll start the new year skiing!), serving Christ in our church and community, and deepening our friendships with each other (it's nice to have kids who are genuinely becoming friends) and those God has given us.

This morning, I awoke for my early morning new year's devotional and found that my old friend who moved away is going to be offering a daily devotional this year.  And immediately my New Year's resolution came into being.  I am going to spend every morning with my friend, Mark, through his Bible teaching.

Most of you are familiar with Mark D. Roberts' writing and our friendship.  But Mark remains one of the best Bible teacher's I have ever had (which after two graduate degrees since his first Bible study with me, is sure saying something.)  This morning, I went to Mark's new Daily Devotional at The High Calling and started the new year with Mark and Genesis.

Part of the great benefit of this Daily Devotional is that it is not written for pastor-types like me, but for "everyday Christians" who understand the "high calling" of their daily work. And if you sign up through High Calling, you can have it delivered to your inbox every morning.

In this new year, I wish you all adventure, beauty, friendship, community, family love and growth in the knowledge of Christ.

Happy New Year.  Now to the slopes for me!   

False Teachers and Fair Treatment

Richard Mouw offers some wise perspective for an "evangelical" way of treating those whom we think get it wrong.

"We want to oppose false teachers because they do not teach things that are true. But if in our attempts to defeat them we play fast and loose with the truth, by attributing to them things that they don’t in fact teach and if we don’t really care whether we have it exactly right or not then we have become false teachers: teachers of untruths!

I suggest this as a rule of thumb: focus on false teachings rather than on false teachers. When we concentrate on opposing false teachers we tend to think about defeating people which can lead to all kinds of dangers. When we concentrate on the careful examination of false teachings we are more aware of the need to speak truthfully.

Links Well Worth Looking At...

Mark D. Roberts has started a series on "The Mission of God and the Missional Church". 

Christianity Today is offering an email debate between atheist Christopher Hitchens and Theologian Douglas Wilson on "Is Christianity Good for the World?"   (Note to those following my "Jesus Creed" posts: The debate makes ample reference to the importance of the Good Samaritan Story in ethical reasoning.)

Closer to (my) home, another member of my church, Kimberly Campbell has started a new blog called Inspire.  An articulate and authentic young mom who has pretty recently begun the journey of walking with Jesus, Kim's blog is inspiring for the way it reveals the genuine gratitude of someone who has discovered grace, and the honest struggles with grasping that grace on days when it is not always apparent.  Please go by Kim's blog and leave a comment encouraging her on.  We need more voices like Kim's in the blogosphere.

And Jarhed Jon, a Marine and blogger who is also a member at SCPC offers this on what the prayers of God's people offered to him as he was deployed in Iraq this past year.

There are two things the prayers of God’s people provided: PERSPECTIVE and HOPE. The prayers of God’s people and the knowledge I had of them impressed upon me the fact that I was not ultimately serving the Marine Corps, God was using me in His service. My community in Christ reminded me that God is sovereign--not a military organization or any earthly power. Once my perspective was squared away, there was room for hope. The futility and fear of trusting in random luck, personal strength, military might or political policy was dispelled by the knowledge that people were praying for me and God was with me. I was reminded that God is involved in everything that happens to me. The prayers of His people impressed upon me the fact that God Himself is implementing His plan in the world--and I am a part of it; and so is everyone who prayed for me.

Jon recently reenlisted for another two years and faces another one year deployment to Iraq in January.