Church: fall in love

Greg Boyd wrote on his blog this week....

...you have to wonder why millions of people have been tortured and murdered by Christians throughout history for espousing “heretical” views about baptism, communion, the church and a very long list of other doctrines, while not one person (so far as I know) has been officially disciplined — let alone accused of “heresy” — for failing to adequately love (as when they tortured and murdered others in Jesus name, for example). We can have all the right doctrine in the world, but if we fail to love as Christ loved us, we are all “heretics.”

This comes from a post entitled, The 'Heresy' of Failing to Love. (Which incidentally, I originally read as: The 'Heresy' of Falling in Love. Will really have to stop skimming.)

It's an interesting post asking a question as to why we put doctrines and creeds and theology above love, (as in the recent fallout over Rob Bell) when Jesus specifically prayed that we (all of us Jesus-believers) would all love one another.

I did a paper in NZ Church History last year. I knew there'd always been disagreements in the church, including the NZ Church. I'd never realised just how extensive this was, and how sometimes horrendous it was. None of the denominations was free of guilt in this regard.

“By this everyone will know you are my disciples, if you love one another” (Jn 13:35) has to be one of the most unanswered prayers in history...

Love Wins

This video is likely to cause some ructions.....it's a promo, in a sense, for Rob Bell's latest book, Love Wins: Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived and it's interesting to read some of the comments on You Tube that accompany it. Ructions are already in the making there.

I think one of the most interesting statements he makes in the short 2 and a half minutes is that many Christians believe 'Jesus rescued us from God'....Mr Bell has some issues with this....





PS - just found this wonderful line from Kim Fabricius:

There are Christians who reject universalism not because it is unbiblical but because, were it true, it would disappoint them.

It may seem obvious, but...

Mission is so easy if only....

Len Hjalmarson has written in his latest post about being neighbours....there's more to the post here.

In January of 2009 a group of pastors gathered to think and dream about what it would look like for the churches in their area to come together to serve the community. They asked the mayor to join them and talk about his dream for the city. They also asked him to talk about hindrances to that dream coming true.
He came with a list of pervasive issues and problems: at-risk kids; elderly shut-ins; decaying housing; hunger and homelessness. Before he started speaking he shared this: “it occurred to me that what our city really needs are good neighbours. The majority of the issues we face would be eliminated or drastically reduced if we could just become a community of people who are great neighbours.”
The pastors left convicted. Here they were asking the major what areas of the city were most in need, and he was telling them that the city could be transformed if Christians would simply live out the second half of the Great Commandment.
The plan they forged is simple — a teaching series on the art of neighbouring. They found that people don’t build relationships with their neighbours because,

1) they don’t see the value in it,
2) lack of time, and
3) lack of trust.

So they came up with this teaching series for this group of churches:
Week 1. taking Jesus seriously – what if Jesus really meant we should love our neighbors?
Week 2. Time: creating space to build relationships with neighbors
Week 3. Trust – embracing the messiness of relationships
They are then equipping their people to actually enter their neighbourhoods and live in them and build relationships.

Len also mentions an essay written by Todd Hiestand, which has apparently been unavailable for a while (it was written in 2007). It's called The Missional Church in Suburbia, and appears on Todd's site. It looks at mission in the urban society, and takes some similar approaches to those of the Australian, Simon Carey Holt.

Hero to Host

Two quotes from Len Hjarmalson’s article on leadership - Post Modern Leadership: From Hero to  Host - in a recent edition of Next-Wave: 

Margaret Wheatley said “We need to move from the leader as hero, to the leader as host. Can we be as welcoming, congenial, and invitational to the people who work with us as we would be if they were our guests at a party? Can we think of the leader as a convener of people? [We need] a fundamental and unshakeable faith in people. You can’t turn over power to people you don’t trust. It just doesn’t happen.”

Martin Luther King Jr. put it, “power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anaemic.” And Henri Nouwen reminds us, The temptation of power is greatest when intimacy is a threat. Much Christian leadership is exercised by people who do not know how to develop healthy, intimate relationships and have opted for power and control instead. Many Christian empire-builders have been people unable to give and receive love.

The rest of the article has some very good things to say about individuals and community, gentle and vulnerable leadership.

How to really love your child

Tapu Misa, the NZ Herald columnist, begins her latest column with these words: 

When I was a younger mother of three preschoolers, doing a barely reasonable job, my daughter's preschool gave her a book called How To Really Love Your Child.

At the time I wasn't sure whether to feel offended (how dare they suggest I needed lessons in how to love my child?) or embarrassed (how did they know I needed lessons in how to love my child?). I found out later that the preschool gave copies to everyone - for good reason.

The author, American psychiatrist Dr Ross Campbell, was right. Most parents need lessons in how to love, especially (but not only) if they haven't been loved themselves.

Misa goes on to discuss how many parents who abuse their children have never know love in their own childhoods, and how there's a slow but sure move towards teaching people to love their kids, in New Zealand.   

Campbell's book was first published in 1977, and has sold continuously since.  It has been translated in 20 languages, including Russian.   It was one of our 'staples' when I worked in the bookstore.  

Forgive the lack of pictures  in recent posts: Google is having some issue with uploading them.

On being a new minister

There's an excellent post on the Per Crucem ad Lucem site today, entitled: Pastors aren't Prophets - some unsolicited advice for newly-minted ministers. It's by Rick Floyd.

In it he discusses (amongst other things) the need for ministers to gain the respect of their congregation by being a faithful pastor to the people day in and day out - only then can you speak prophetically to them, and have them listen.

You need to be aware that in spite of all our calls for self-care and avoiding burnout, a minister's job is never going to consist of a forty-hour week, with no evening/night calls or weekend work. It's truly a full-time job...though that doesn't mean you mustn't take any time off. As he writes:

One of the modern heresies (but by no means the only one) of the contemporary mainline church, is that you can have something akin to a normal 40 hour a week professional life and be a faithful pastor. It isn’t true. A pastor’s life, and the life of the pastor’s family is necessarily involved in the community of their congregation in season and out of season. Sometimes, even often, it is wonderful; other times it isn’t. That’s the way it goes. It isn’t the Canyon Ranch spa. I often say being a pastor is the best vocation there is, but perhaps the worst job. If you are not called to it, it is something you really don’t want to do.

And a little later:

One of the things I learned was that you have to love your congregants, even the unlovable, of which there are far too many, and who take up a good deal of your time. If and when you find yourself loving them, you know you are on your way to really being a pastor. Some of them you will just never learn to love, and you have to turn them over to God, who does.

Floyd probably packs more wisdom into this one article than you'll find in many a day. Essential reading.

Making Old Age Worthwhile

The following piece, credited to an anonymous 83-year-old woman, is found in a number of places on the Net - but I thought I might as well make that number of places plus one. (I was alerted to it by the Rumors ezine - see below.)

I’m reading more and dusting less. I’m sitting in the yard and admiring the view without fussing about the weeds in the garden. I’m spending more time with my family and friends and less time working. Whenever possible, life should be a pattern of experiences to savour, not to endure. I’m trying to recognize these moments now and cherish them.

I’m not “saving” anything. We use our good china and crystal for every special event such as losing a pound, getting the sink unstopped, or the first Amaryllis blossom.

I wear my good blazer to the market. My theory is if I look prosperous, I can shell out $49.49 for one tiny bag of groceries.

I’m not saving my good perfume for special parties, but wearing it for clerks in the hardware store and tellers at the bank.

“Someday” and “one of these days” are losing their grip on my vocabulary. If it’s worth seeing or hearing or doing, I want to see and hear and do it now.

I’m not sure what others would’ve done had they known they wouldn’t be here for the tomorrow that we all take for granted. I think they would have called family members and a few close friends. They might have called a few former friends to apologize and mend fences for past squabbles.

I like to think they would have gone out for a Chinese dinner or for whatever their favorite food is. It’s those little things left undone that would make me angry if I knew my hours were limited. Angry because I hadn’t written certain letters that I intended to write “one of these days.” Angry and sorry that I didn’t tell my husband and parents often enough how much I truly love them. I’m trying very hard not to put off, hold back, or save anything that would add laughter and luster to our lives.

And every morning when I open my eyes, I tell myself that it is special. Every day, every minute, every breath truly is a gift from God.

I don’t believe in miracles. I rely on them. Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance.


Ralph Milton's RUMORS is a free Internet ‘e-zine’ for Christians with a sense of humor. To Subscribe: send an e-mail to: rumors-subscribe@joinhands.com

Invitation to Friendship

Charles Slagle, in his book, An Invitation to Friendship (volume two of From the Father's Heart), pg 12. (Published Destiny Image, 1999)

In both these books, the 'letters' are from God to one of his children.

I know that some people would have you believe that you can count on Me...only if I can count on you. What nonsense! You were counting on yourself more than you trusted in My power before My Spirit awakened your heart to know Me.
Why would I send you a message that would catapult you back ino the despair of that dark era? Religious minds are always setting deadlines. I Am Limitless Love, and I Am always extending lifelines.

I love the play on words between deadlines and lifelines here. And I enjoy the humour Slagle provides throughout these books - or God does...

Love versus Lust

Here's a resource your Youth Group might find useful. Actually some adults might well find it useful too. It's been produced by the Grainger Community Church, and it's well produced too.



A simple idea, very well executed. (Not quite sure why it's taking up more room on the blog than videos usually do!)

God Loves Us!

All of us need to have our identity grounded in being deeply loved by our divine Lover. Sentimentalism, emotionalism, rationality and analysis all sabotage the development of such a relationship. Talking about such a relationship is easy. Actually coming to develop a love relationship with the invisible God is far from simple.

David G. Benner
Surrender to Love

Two takes on a 'new' religion

[The Market] promises nothing less than the blossoming of a new civilization that will eventually bring an end to international conflict, resolve hitherto intractable problems like poverty and environmental degradation, and produce increased prosperity for all--even though all the current evidence seems to contradict these promises! We are dealing with something here that is bigger than free trade, the lifting of tariffs, money speculation and exploitation. We are facing the most powerful, fastest-growing and most successful religion in the history of the world. And what is fantastic about this religion is that it actually doesn't require any volitional choice of its converts

Brian Walsh and Sylvia Keesmaat
Colossians Remixed

[We need] to embrace a "new bottom line" in which corporations, social practices, government policies and individual behaviors are judged rational, efficient or productive not only if they maximize money or power, but also to the extent that they maximize love and caring, kindness and generosity, ethical and ecological sensitivity, enhance our capacity to treat others as embodiments of the sacred and to respond with awe, wonder, and radical amazement at the grandeur of the universe.

- Rabbi Michael Lerner

God as Father/Mother

At the one extreme there are those whose unfortunate relationship with fathers and other men makes it impossible to draw close to God imaged as father and male. And alternatively there are others whose unfortunate relationship with mothers and other women makes it impossible to draw close to God imaged as mother and female. Both images are needed so that believers may draw near to God as they are able and given opportunity to recognize and withdraw their projections upon God, letting God be God--a Mystery of Love ultimately beyond all language and comprehension.

Marchienne Vroon Rienstra
Swallow's Nest: A Feminine Reading of the Psalms

Mother Teresa

Today, the same Christ is in people who are unwanted, unemployed, uncared for, hungry, naked, and homeless. They seem useless to the state and to society; nobody has time for them. It is you and I as Christians, worthy of the love of Christ if our love is true, who must find them, and help them; they are there for the finding.

- Mother Teresa

Compelled by Love

In this book, Ed Stetzer and Philip Nation challenge their readers to look at love within the context of God, the church, and the lives of individual believers. Compelled by Love gives readers a basic theological grounding and a platform for personal application as they understand what missional living is all about—it is simply the calling to love others. Look at the love of God; begin to truly understand what is at the center of the church’s foundation, commission, and direction; but most importantly, understand your role within the mission of God as you integrate love into all aspects of your missional calling.

There is a brief interview with Ed Stetzer on neoleader about the book where he says, amongst other things: Biblical love is willing to die. Culture paints love as the building up of the heart and the completion of life. The Bible shows that the loving Great Shepherd dies for his flock. Biblical love is heroically sacrificial.

Without love, churches will not release people to go to the mission field. You have to love God enough to be obedient to him. You must love the world as Christ does in order to die for sin. You must love your neighbor enough to tell them the truth of their sin, aid in their time of need, and walk them (even ploddingly) toward the cross.
Book published May 2008

Mking a point

These two quotes arrived in different emails this morning. Seems to be a bit of a point being made here!

Our Lord asks but two things of us; Love for [God] and for our neighbor. We cannot know whether we love God…but there can be no doubt about whether we love our neighbour or not.
- Teresa of Avila
Interior Castle

More than a few Christians might be surprised to learn that the call to be involved in creating justice for the poor is just as essential and nonnegotiable within the spiritual life as is Jesus' commandment to pray and keep our private lives in order.

Ronald Rolheiser
The Holy Longing

Shifting perspective on youth ministry

Mark Yaconelli, when speaking at a Conference with the curious name of Shift , pointed out a major shift he believes must happen. Through a wide-ranging talk Mark kept coming back to his theme of emptiness and brokenness. Given the many resources, curriculum, and programs available at the conference, it was almost ironic to hear Mark tell youth pastors, "You don’t need anything. You need less. You can come to a conference and get so overwhelmed that you forget you already have everything you need. Your love of your kids and your desire to love God is enough."

Bo Boshers, Executive Director of Youth Ministries for Willow Creek, told the audience that a survey of the conference’s attendees showed that 67% of the youth leaders and students are not being mentored. “Folks, we’ve got to get this one right!” he said. It seems that the need for one-on-one relationships in youth ministry is one of the shifts the conference organizers are concerned with.

Brian McLaren told a story at Shift of his time as a volunteer youth leader in the 1970’s. He asked his youth group to brainstorm a list of things that were major issues in their churches. This list included things like speaking in tongues and contemporary worship music. The group then came up with a list of those things that were important to the group and their friends. This second list reflected the global concerns of the 70’s: nuclear war, communism, famine, and overpopulation. In Brian’s words, “there was nothing in common with those two lists.”

Brian obviously believes that youth leaders have a role in shaping their students to be involved with that second list.

Every kid that I lead to Christ and commitment to the church is going to increase his or her commitment to the first list and will have less time to devote to the second list. Which list is God more interested in?

What do you think?