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...

14 theses on prayer

Ben Myers, after staying for a weekend at a Catholic monastery, has written 14 theses on prayer....here's one example that particularly appealed to me:

6. Why do we close our eyes when praying? Prayer is not a turning inwards, not a withdrawal into the silent recesses of the self. Prayer is open-eyed attention. It is waiting all day on the shore for the glimpse of a rare bird. ‘You must wear your eyes out, as others their knees’ (R. S. Thomas).

Common Monasticism

Jonny Baker writes in his blog about receiving a copy of a 'brand new fat hardback' called 'Common Prayer - a liturgy for ordinary radicals'. He notes that it has nothing to do with the well-known Book of Common Prayer from 1662 - except of course, that the intention is similar behind the two books.

This book has come out of the new monasticism movement in the USA, and its authors include Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson Hartgrove and Enuma Okoro.

Baker writes: "it's delightful - laying out liturgies and readings for communities or families (or an individual, though it's clearly a book for communal prayer) in the morning, midday and evening along with some songs and occasional prayers and reflections." He points out that the book is laid out in such a way as to give those to whom this daily liturgy approach is very new some explanation as to why the church has certain feast days and periods of time (Lent, Advent) in its year.

It also introduces the reader(s) to saints from across the two millennia, as well as presenting Psalms in everyday (but reasonably formal) language. You can check out three consecutive pages online here in order to get a taste of the Book's flavour.

A Prayer for the Earth

Brian McLaren and Tim Costello of World Vision Australia have been working together to compose a prayer that could be used by individuals and groups leading up to the Copenhagen gathering on climate change Dec. 6.

The prayer begins:
Most gracious God, creator of all good things, we thank you for planet Earth and all creatures that share it.

Have mercy on us, Lord. Through ignorance and carelessness we have poisoned clean air and pure water. For monetary gain we have reduced verdant forests to barren wastes. In our craving for more we have plundered your beloved creation and driven many of our fellow creatures to extinction. Only recently have we begun to realize the dangerous future into which our current patterns of consumption and waste are driving us, especially in relation to Earth’s climate. Only recently have we begun to see our need to find a wiser and better way of life in the future, before it is too late and our choices are limited by the consequences of inaction.

There are also alternate versions of the prayer for different occasions.

And round we go

One of the great joys of the Internet is the way in which you are not only enabled to hop from mind to mind, but are encouraged to by the sheer curiosity of finding out more about who this new person is that you've suddenly stumbled across.

Thus, heading from an entry by Bruce Hamill on Facebook, I find myself on Bruce's blog, which I don't remember coming across before. (It's called 'boo to a goose' in the best obscurely theological tradition.)

From there, an entry on his blog led me to Michael someone-or-other's blog, Beyond the Secular Canopy, where he had posted a new version of the Serenity Prayer:

Triune God of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, grant me:
the serenity to know that all will be reconciled in Jesus Christ,
the courage to participate in the change you are bringing,
and the wisdom to remember that ‘be realistic’ is not one of your commandments.

Another skip and a hop and we find ourselves at Inhabitatio Dei (these blog names - crikey!) where the prayer was re-posted, along with a further parody by Kim Fabricius, who wrote:

To lower the tone, do you know “The Senility Prayer”?

Ancient of Days,
grant me the senility to forget the people I’ve never liked,
the serendipity to run into the people I do,
and the eyesight to tell the difference.

Kim, of course, and to complete the circle, had turned up in a post on this blog just at the end of September.

Australians vote Jesus as #1 most significant figure in history

I'm indebted to Rowland Croucher for alerting me to this intriguing piece of news...

In Research commissioned by www.allaboutlife.com.au 54% of Australians - both believers and non-believers - ranked Jesus as the number one most influential person in history. He beat Albert Einstein - who came in at second place (16%) - and Charles Darwin, third at 9%.

Approximately 5 in 6 (83%) said Jesus was a real figure from history.

Of those who ranked Jesus top, 43% believed he had miraculous powers, and that he was the son of God. It seems Australia still has faith: 2 out of 5 Australians stated they practice a religion and only 27% said they didn't believe in a God or universal power of any sort.

1 in 10 (10%) thought that if Jesus returned today he would be unemployed.

While the majority of Australians don't practice a religion (60%), nearly 3 in 5 (57%) pray at various times during their lives with over a third (36%) praying to God.

Of those who pray the regularity varies dramatically, with 29% praying daily. 19% are part-time prayers, praying just several times a year.

The most common situations for prayer are when people are faced with challenging times (36%) or when a loved one has fallen ill (34%). However over 1 in 3 Australians also pray when they're thankful for something good that has happened (34%)

Surprisingly Gen Y proved the most traditional generation when it comes to praying, choosing traditional methods of prayer practices such as closing eyes, placing hands together and bowing heads, which were most common amongst young adults.

3 in 5 have no particular rules for their praying. This tendency increases with age. Older Australians (aged 64+) are the most likely to have no particular rules for their prayer.

* 63% of Australians turn to their partners/spouse for help and emotional support and half of Australians turn to other family

* Nearly half (49%) of Australians turn to their friends

* Nearly a third (28%) of Australians turn to God in their time of need, while 15% turn to Jesus

* The web offers the least support with only 6% of Australians turning to online friends and social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter

* Only 4% turn to the Internet to consult with sites such as Google.

Daniel Willis, co-founder of Jesus: All About Life, commented, “This research gives a great insight into people’s beliefs about Jesus and their faith today. The fact that Jesus is revealed to be the most influential figure in history shows his message is as relevant today as it was 2000 years ago and people still look to him as source of inspiration.

"While not all Australians follow a religion this research reveals that many people still pray expecting an answer and especially turn to others and faith when experiencing tough times and are in need of support.

"It is surprising that Gen Y appear to be more traditional, returning to the values and practices of their grandparent’s generation to help them in times of uncertainty."

Twitturgies

Gerard Kelly is the founder of the Bless Network with his wife Chrissie. They live in the Netherlands, where Gerald is Senior Pastor of Crossroads Amsterdam, a church of 40 nationalities. Gerard also writes poetry (see Spoken Worship) more recently he has shared some of his verses through twitter under the name twitturgies.

Kelly coined the name Twitturgies, asking "Why not use Twitter as a means of prayer, all the time accepting the constraints of communication in less than 140 characters? In essence I simply took the Twitter question “What are you doing?” and translated it as “What are you praying?” taking the prayers I was praying in any case and crafting them into personal liturgies."

240 Twitter prayers later, he's found that not only do hundreds of other people appreciate the prayers, but that being disciplined into 140 characters makes his prayers very focused.

Meanwhile, Ireland’s top Catholic Cardinal Sean Bray has urged his flock to use Twitter as a means of prayer. In a speech in honour of the late Father Patrick Peyton, the Priest famous for coining the phrase “the family that prays together stays together,” Cardinal Bray insists that a new movement of prayer can arise using new technology and social networks.

Photo is of Gerald and his wife, Chrissie. Courtesy of the Godspace blog

And it's no different here

Figures from a survey of 300 Canadian pastors came out in the February 2009 edition of Presbyterian Record, as a sidebar to an article entitled: Breaking the Silence - the mental health of our clergy. The issue of wellness, or the lack of it, amongst clergy has tended to be covered up for decades, because clergy are expected to be so 'holy,' 'capable,' 'fit and healthy' that they never need be sick or off-duty. The situation in New Zealand is little different. There are times when it seems as though ministers have little to do all day except write the weekly sermon and visit a few elderly ladies in the parish. But the truth of the matter is, of course, that most ministers are frantically busy, overloaded to such an extent that they don't have nearly enough time for their families, nearly enough time to relax, or virtually any time to just sit and listen to what the Lord is saying to them.
There are many reasons for this, including:
Ministers working a minimum of 50 hours a week, and often more than that;
Not having the days off to which they're entitled;
Feeling as though they have to be perfect when they're often under huge stress to perform;
Feeling empty, going through the motions, in terms of prayer, worship, Bible reading, spiritual life in general;
Lacking someone who can counsel or mentor or come alongside them;
Suffering depression or burn-out or panic attacks and having to live with it.

The Canadian situation only confirms what is known in New Zealand. This is what the National Mission Office has been working on for several years: finding ways to help ministers avoid breakdowns and depression.

The full report can be found at the Caring for Clergy site - click on Current Research and then on 'Clergy Well-Being - Seeking Wholeness with Integrity'.

Prayer@Parliament

I haven't been able to confirm the following bit of information - it came to me via a prayer letter - so would be interested to hear from anyone who can tell me more - especially who the 10 Cabinet Ministers are who attend church.

It was tremendously encouraging last Friday, at Prayer @ Parliament, to hear the MP who sponsored the evening (and later confirmed by a former MP) that 10 of our 20 Cabinet Ministers attend church each week if they possibly can. Please pray for all Cabinet Ministers and especially for those who seek to follow after the Lord. Pray that their faith will grow and be shown in their lives and Ministries.

It seems that the meeting may have taken place at Parliament Grand Hall on the 20th March. Christians from all over Wellington got together to pray for the Government, the city and the nation.

Praying in the Phone Booth

The Pastor's Weekly Briefing e-letter alerted me to Dylan Mortimer's prayer/phone booths in New York.

The two booths could almost be taken for typical phone booths except for a few unusual features:

the side panels depict folded hands;
the word, 'prayer' appears instead of 'telephone;'
there's a flip-down kneeler.

Mortimer, who is a recent graduate of NY’s School of Visual Arts Masters (MFA) program, says, “My goal is to spark dialogue about a topic often avoided, and often treated cynically by the contemporary art world,” says Mortimer. “I employ the visual language of signage and public information systems, using them as a contemporary form of older religious communication systems: stained glass, illuminated manuscripts, church furniture, etc. I balance humor and seriousness, sarcasm and sincerity, in a way that bridges a subject matter that is often presented as heavy or difficult.”

You might be a pastor if...

a
I am sure you have heard the "you might be a pastor if ..." comments many times. Things like you might be a pastor if ...
... you find yourself counting heads at a sporting event.
... you would rather talk to people with every eye closed and every head bowed.
... you had a dream that while you were speaking no one was listening, and then you realized it wasn’t a dream.
... you have a difficult time explaining to your kids just exactly what a pastor does.
... you're leading the church into the 21st century, but you don't know what you're preaching on Sunday.
... you've ever wanted to "lay hands" around a deacon's neck.

from The Pastor's Weekly Briefing, 17.10.08, mostly written by H B London (photo)

Innovative Church

Two ways of doing mission that have an air of innovation about them. We were alerted to both of these by Christian World Mission newsletter, dated 4.9.08

1.Church-goers in London's financial district walk up a gangplank for their weekly services in a floating church. A converted freight barge nestled amidst the skyscrapers of London's Docklands, St Peter's Church in Canary Wharf is the only boat-style church in Britain.
The barge was the idea of a handful of Christians working in Canary Wharf, who met at different venues to take part in Bible readings. Following this year's global credit crunch, church ministers have reported a significant rise in attendance amongst bankers, analysts and other financial workers at the lunchtime services.

2. Stressed-out London commuters were offered a moment of quiet reflection when the Church of England published a special prayer in their morning newspapers. The prayer for a "Moody Monday" was included in the free Metro newspaper after a survey by the church revealed September was a particularly stressful time for UK workers.
Of the 1,000 adults questioned, one in three want to make an improvement to their lifestyle and are expected to be "very busy" over the coming months. One in eight said they were "dreading" going back to work.
The prayer, which targeted 1.4 million commuters, asked for God’s help in dealing with everyday life and encouraged people to make the best of every new day. It also encouraged people to take part in Back to Church Sunday on 28 September.
The prayer printed in Monday’s edition of the Metro reads:

Dear God,
You know me. Don't you? I’m not just a person on a bus or a train. I’m not just another face on CCTV; or just another login name. I’m me, and I have stuff going on.
Love life issues; bills to pay. Egos at work to deal with; an overflowing inbox.
So please, give me strength. Guide me to focus on what's really important. And help me make the most of every moment of this new day in this new month.
Thank you.
Amen

Looking at vision

John Sweetman makes a useful distinction between vision and core values, and the way in which leaders can often mix the two. If the vision becomes a core value, as it often does once it's achieved, then the church may stagnate through having achieved its vision.
John goes on in a later post to discuss the way leaders get vision. He suggests four ways that are just the beginning to finding/creating a vision: prayer (a kind of an of course suggestion); being brutally honest about the strengths and weaknesses of your team; talking to other people; and dreaming. Too many leaders get bogged down in doing, and forget the dreaming. It's an essential part of 'acquiring' vision.

John has a number of other posts on the subject of leadership, under various headings such as character, relationships, teamwork, and equipping. Check them out here.

Heard of LifeChurch?

Heard of LifeChurch.tv...? Can't say I have, although the name kind of rings a bell. Anyway, LifeChurch.tv is:

#1 on 2008 America’s 25 Most Innovative Churches

#31 on Outreach magazine’s 2007 101 Fastest-Growing U.S. Churches

#5 on Outreach magazine’s 2007 100 Largest U.S. Churches

#5 on The Church Report’s 2007 50 Most Influential Churches

• LifeChurch.tv meets in twelve locations in six states, reaching over 22,000 people weekly through 49 worship experiences every weekend
  
• Has an Internet Church
• Has started a church in Second Life (don't know what that is? Check out the notes below.)
• Has developed an interactive online Bible: YouVersion
• Hosts One Prayer - a daily devotional focused on prayer
  
• Gives all their resources away for free to other churches

Second Life is an Internet-based 3-D virtual world which enables its users to explore, socialize, participate in individual or group activities, and create and trade items and services from one another. In Second Life, users create avatars (3-D characters) that they use to interact and communicate with each other via a text chat (audio chat is coming soon) or by making gestures.

Second Life was launched in 2003 and has grown significantly in recent months. In October 2006, Second Life reached the 1 million registered accounts mark and quickly grew to over 6 million registered accounts by May 2007.

What is significant about all these items: Internet, Internet, Internet. (While I don't agree entirely with Tony Morgan that print is dead, Internet is certainly alive.)

Rick Warren on listening to God

Make listening to God a habit of your life. Jesus did. Prayer was a regular part of his life. The Bible tells us in Mark 1:35, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.”

If Jesus needed to get alone and listen to God, don’t you think that you need to? You need quiet times to reflect, renew, and recharge. You need time to just get alone, be quiet, and listen to God.

Originally found here

Evangelism in the Small Membership Church

Written by Royal Speidel. 126pp Published Abingdon, US. $25.99 (Price at Epworth Books in Wellington)

Speidel stresses: passion for Christ, inspiring worship, loving relationships & quality programmes. This book will help pastors have “God eyes” for big possibilities in their churches by focusing on visualizing goals; worship; creating a loving environment; passion and commitment; prayer; witness; time management; leadership recruitment; hospitality; assimilation of new members; and managing change and conflict.