Gregory Boyd on Faith & Politics

The Myth of a Christian Nation; How the Quest for Political Power is Destroying the Church. Here is Boyd's interview on Charlie Rose.

I Love Brian

The Lord's Prayer, by Brian McLaren

Last Child in the Woods

I found this on the Minnesota EcoMom blog. I just spent the afternoon in the woods with my two boys, wading in the creek, catching minnows, and getting muddy. We like to catch snakes, tadpoles, and crawdads. We explore and build forts. It's what I loved growing up, so I pass it on. I guess it might actually be a necessary part of childhood...

In this influential work about the staggering divide between children and the outdoors, child advocacy expert Richard Louv directly links the lack of nature in the lives of today’s wired generation—he calls it nature-deficit—to some of the most disturbing childhood trends, such as the rises in obesity, attention disorders, and depression.

Last Child in the Woods is the first book to bring together a new and growing body of research indicating that direct exposure to nature is essential for healthy childhood development and for the physical and emotional health of children and adults. More than just raising an alarm, Louv offers practical solutions and simple ways to heal the broken bond—and many are right in our own backyard.

This new edition reflects the enormous changes that have taken place since the book was originally published. It includes:

100 actions you can take to create change in your community, school, and family.

35 discussion points to inspire people of all ages to talk about the importance of nature in their lives.

A new progress report by the author about the growing Leave No Child Inside movement.

New and updated research confirming that direct exposure to nature is essential for the physical and emotional health of children and adults

Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder has spurred a national dialogue among educators, health professionals, parents, developers and conservationists. This is a book that will change the way you think about your future and the future of your children.

Individualistic Christianity

I read this on Adam Moore's blog and REALLY needed to repost it here for you. He is the Emergent Village Cohort organizer in Waco, TX. I posted a similar idea here a while back. But of course Bonhoeffer says it much better. Thanks Adam!

“Hasn’t the individualistic question about personal salvation almost completely left us all? Aren’t we really under the impression that there are more important things than that question (perhaps not more important than the matter itself, but more important than the question!)? I know it sounds pretty monstrous to say that. But, fundamentally, isn’t this in fact biblical? Does the question about saving one’s soul appear in the Old Testament at all? Aren’t righteousness and the Kingdom of God on earth the focus of everything, and isn’t it true that Rom. 3.24ff. is not an individualistic doctrine of salvation, but the culmination of the view that God alone is righteous? It is not with the beyond that we are concerned, but with this world as created and preserved, subjected to laws, reconciled, and restored. What is above this world is, in the gospel, intended to exist for this world; I mean that, not in the anthropocentric sense of liberal, mystic pietistic, ethical theology, but in the biblical sense of creation and of the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer - Letters and Papers from Prison

More

This is one of the best worship songs I have ever written. I kept being drawn to the idea that Jesus is much more than what we think or believe. He is described so beautifully in the Bible and in our theological traditions. But postmodernity confronts me with the inherent limitations of language, even the Bible's language. We sometimes reduce Jesus to a catchphrase, but feel good about it because we are quoting the Bible. So many songs about the names of Jesus spring to mind (emmanuel, wonderful counselor, prince of peace, lamb of god, lion of judah... I've written a few myself!). What are they really saying?

There are those who call for deeper and more accurate theology in worship lyrics. There are those who rightly criticize contemporary worship music as shallow, self centered, and cliche'. But the answer to campy Jesus tunes is not always to incorporate stronger theological precision. Instead, this song strikes directly at the language of the Bible, its descriptions, narratives, and metaphors of Jesus, and our theological interpretations of them, saying "Yes, all good, but..."

The bottom line: whoever you think Jesus is, He is More.


He’s more than a father, more than a friend
More than a Saviour whose love never ends
He’s more than a prophet, more than a priest
More than religion, and more than beliefs
He’s more than the life and the truth and the way
He’s more than forever, He’s more than today
He’s more than me, and He’s more than you
He’s done more than the whole world together could do

He's more than a servant, more than a king
He’s more than a word in the songs that we sing
He's more than a lion, He’s more than a lamb
He's more than divine and He’s more than a man
He's more than opinion or history or fact
He's more than the stripes and the scars on His back
He's more than a cross, and He's more than the nails
By His blood is the holy of holies unveiled

He’s more than I hoped for, more than I dreamed
He’s all I could want, and He’s all that I need
So I won’t look for glory or fortune or fame
I’ll look to the heavens and call on Your name

So I turn my eyes to You Jesus
I look full on Your wonderful face
And the things of earth have grown strangely dim
In the light of Your glory and grace


All my thanks and love to Russ Waldron, who recorded this live at an acoustic concert at Our Place, and to Phil Cazella of Qitros Ministries for mixing it.

Use Me

A song of mission. I like blending together expressions of the individual and the corporate...


So many need so much.
So many need Your touch, O Lord. Use me.
So many need your hand.
Come and heal our land, O Lord. Use me.

Use me as you made me Lord.
All of us in one accord.
By Your power we can change the world.
Use me Lord. Here I am.
Use me as Your feet and hands.
By Your power we can change the world.
Use me. Your Kingdom come.
Use me Lord. Your will be done.
By Your power we can change the world.

So many need so much.
So many need Your touch, O Lord. Use me.
So many broken lives.
We pray for opened eyes, O Lord. Use me.

Do Schools Today Kill Creativity?

Another TED Talk. I am in near total agreement with this one. Gosh, I don't even know what to say. There is SO MUCH meaningful stuff here. And Ken Robinson is hilarious.

As a side note, these TED Talks are typically limited to 20 minutes. And they are FULL. What if preaching was limited to 20 minutes?? Hmmm.

Right Brain, Left Brain

Wow. Credit to Doug Pagitt for finding this. I love the TED stuff. I've been watching the talks for years, but this is one of the best I've ever seen. Do you cry at movies? Then grab the tissues.

How Do I Love God?

By loving others. That is the ONLY way that matters.

Wait. What about worship? What about singing songs and celebrating Him? What about prayer and quiet time? What about Bible reading? What about sacrifices? What about tithing??

Nope. Those things are meaningless to God if we are not loving others (Isaiah 58, Amos 5, et al.).

"If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen." 1 John 4:20

This is deep. So the only way to love God (whom we have not seen) is by loving others (whom we have seen)? Perhaps the only way we see God is by seeing Him in others? (It's the only way I have ever seen Him.) "...the Kingdom of God is within you." Luke 17:21. "...one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all." Ephesians 4:6. Kind of makes the words "Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord, I want to see You" seem a little silly.

So then, the real question, the only one that matters, is:

"How do I love others?"

An Important Request from Emergent Village

Dear Friends,

When the emergent conversation was born just over 10 years ago in the U.S., we never would have guessed that in such a short time it would become a significant feature in the American religious landscape, and a small but significant part of something happening around the world. In many ways, those of us who originally “built” Emergent Village were simply trying to create safe space to ask our own questions and talk openly about problems we were experiencing in how we were “doing church” and living and thinking Christianly.

But soon a wide array of leaders — Evangelical, charismatic, mainline, and others; younger and older; women and men — began migrating to this conversational space called Emergent Village. Around the country, generative friendships were forming. New questions were being asked. People were grappling with the Bible, with philosophy, with church history, and with the practicalities of planting, leading, and renewing local churches.

Those of us who have found ourselves as conveners or leaders in this conversation have grown closer as friends and deeper in our mutual respect. Nobody has tried to control or dominate the space. We have tried to listen to both our friendly and hostile critics, learn all we can, and respond prayerfully and wisely, keeping in step with the Holy Spirit.

Having accomplished much more than we’d expected, we, the Emergent Village Board of Directors, feel we are at a crossroads as an organization. As we look ahead to the future, we are seeking input and counsel from three groups of people.

• First, we are asking people who are highly committed to Emergent Village to give us their counsel.
• Second, we would value input from people who value the emergent conversation.
• And third, we would also like friendly critics to offer their input.

We would like to solicit input between June 10 and August 10. Then we will use this input to prayerfully develop a plan which we hope to announce November 1. Thanks for your participation, and your prayers, in this process. The plan involves you filling out this survey. Board members will also be having follow-up, 30-minute phone conversations with some of you — you’ll have the opportunity to indicate your willingness to participate in that way at the end of the survey.

CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE SHORT SURVEY

Thanks again,
The Emergent Village Board of Directors

Jesus Painting

My wife is an amazing artist. I love you!

Return To Forever

I am here at the Schnitzer Concert Hall getting ready to see Return To Forever. I can't wait.... Chick Corea, Al Di Meola, Stanley Clarke, and Lenny White. Here they come... I will update this post later tonight...
Ken
blog.emergingworshiper.org



Ridiculously talented. The show was amazing. They opened with a strong first set, did the acoustic set second, ended with Vulcan Worlds, then the encore...

Live music is a spiritual experience.

Emergent Village Values & Practices

From EmergentVillage.org:

Members of Emergent Village hold in common four values and several practices that flow from them. In the language of a religious order, we call these four values our “order and rule”:

1. Commitment to God in the Way of Jesus:

We are committed to doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God. In the words of Jesus, we seek to live by the Great Commandment: loving God and loving our neighbors – including those who might be considered “the least of these” or enemies. We understand the gospel to be centered in Jesus and his message of the Kingdom of God, a message offering reconciliation with God, humanity, creation, and self.

We are committed to a “generous orthodoxy” in faith and practice – affirming the historic Christian faith and the biblical injunction to love one another even when we disagree. We embrace many historic spiritual practices, including prayer, meditation, contemplation, study, solitude, silence, service, and fellowship, believing that healthy theology cannot be separated from healthy spirituality.

PRACTICES:

* As Christ-centered people, to understand the gospel in terms of Jesus’ radical, profound, and expansive message of the kingdom of God.
* As people seeking to be formed spiritually in the way of Christ, to learn historic Christian spiritual practices (disciplines), and to use them for the development of character, integrity, and virtue which flow from true communion with God.
* As participants in the historic Christian faith, to be humble learners, to stimulate learning in others, and to give priority to love over knowledge, while still valuing knowledge.
* As lovers of God and God’s truth, to seek wisdom and understanding, which are the true goal of theology, and to engage in respectful, thoughtful, sacred conversation about God, world, and church.

2. Commitment to the Church in all its Forms:

We are committed to honor and serve the church in all its forms – Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Protestant, Pentecostal, Anabaptist. We practice “deep ecclesiology” – rather than favoring some forms of the church and critiquing or rejecting others, we see that every form of the church has both weaknesses and strengths, both liabilities and potential.

We believe the rampant injustice and sin in our world requires the sincere, collaborative, and whole-hearted response of all Christians in all denominations, from the most historic and hierarchical, through the mid-range of local and congregational churches, to the most spontaneous and informal expressions. We affirm both the value of strengthening, renewing, and transitioning existing churches and organizations, and the need for planting, resourcing, and coaching new ones of many kinds.

We seek to be irenic and inclusive of all our Christian sisters and brothers, rather than elitist and critical. We own the many failures of the church as our failures, which humbles us and calls us to repentance, and we also celebrate the many heroes and virtues of the church, which inspires us and gives us hope.

PRACTICES:

* To be actively and positively involved in a local congregation, while maintaining open definitions of “church” and “congregation.” We work in and with churches, seeking to live out authentic Christian faith in authentic Christian community.
* 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. To speak positively of fellow Christians whenever possible, especially those with whom we may disagree.
* To build sincere friendship with Christians from other traditions.

3. Commitment to God’s World:

We practice our faith missionally – that is, we do not isolate ourselves from this world, but rather, we follow Christ into the world.

We seek to fulfill the mission of God in our generations, and then to pass the baton faithfully to the next generations as well.

We believe the church exists for the benefit and blessing of the world at large; we seek therefore not to be blessed to the exclusion of everyone else, but rather for the benefit of everyone else.

We see the earth and all it contains as God’s beloved creation, and so we join God in seeking its good, its healing, and its blessing.

PRACTICES:

* To build relationships with neighbors and to seek the good of our neighborhoods and cities.
* To seek reconciliation with enemies and make peace.
* To encourage and cherish younger people and to honor and learn from older people.
* To honor creation and to cherish and heal it.
* To build friendships across gender, racial, ethnic, economic and other boundaries.
* To be involved at all times in at least one issue or cause of peace and justice.

4. Commitment to One Another:

In order to strengthen our shared faith and resolve, and in order to encourage and learn from one another in our diversity through respectful, sacred conversation, we value time and interaction with other friends who share this rule and its practices.

We identify ourselves as members of this growing, global, generative, and non-exclusive friendship.

We welcome others into this friendship as well.

We bring whatever resources we can to enrich this shared faith and resolve.

PRACTICES:

* To make an annual pilgrimage to an Emergent Village gathering; to give one another the gift of our presence at annual gatherings whenever possible.
* To publicly self-identify with Emergent Village where appropriate and to represent Emergent Village well whenever we can; to exemplify the best of what Emergent Village strives to be and do.
* To invite others to participate and welcome new participants.
* To seek to be positive and constructive in caring for the Emergent Village friendship. To find some specific ways we can help the circle of friends in Emergent Village.
* To stay reconciled to one another. To give one another the gift of commitment not to give up on, betray, or reject one another, but instead, to encourage, honor, and care for one another.
* To stay informed about emergent locally and globally via the website and email updates.

ACTION

We live out the four values of our rule through four lines of action:

* We explore and develop ideas, theology, practices, and connections … through conversations, conferences, think-tanks, gatherings, retreats, publications, learning cohorts, online resources, and other means.
* We resource individuals, leaders, and organizations – funding their imagination, stimulating their thinking, providing examples, events, literature and other resources to assist them in their lives and mission.
* We communicate our calling, vision, learning, and activities to the growing Emergent Village community, and to other interested people around the world.
* We provide ways for people to belong, identify with, and participate in this community, conversation, and mission at varying levels. We encourage the development of generative friendships, collaborations, and partnerships.

What is a Cohort?

Check out the sign up script on the right to find out more about the Emergent Village Cohort in Portland.

Feedback

This is a picture I found on Greg Adkins blog. I love it.

A Quote from Doug Pagitt

“I think that Christianity is fundamentally a people movement that we should understand in social networking theory, not a belief system that we distribute through institutional applications and franchising models.”

Generational Worship and the Role of Emo

So what role do you think Emo plays in youth worship today?

In our youth group I have seen it be very influential. They seem to be much more emotionally expressive, especially with regard to the so-called negative emotions... sadness, anger, frustration, confusion... ANGST! How 90s! The music style that our youth band has chosen is very heavy, with hi-gain guitar tones, lots of double-bass drum work, driving bass lines, lowered tunings, and LOUD.

I like it. A LOT.

But one of the things I'm trying to get used to is how depressed they all look! There's this very serious mood about what they're doing. I have been coaching them toward an intentional approach to the worship, where they lead by example, through their own personal worship, where their feelings and attitudes are valid and legitimate, but are also tempered with the needs of those they are leading, with corporate worship as important as the personal. We'll see how much of it sinks in.

I'm going to see them play at the Satyricon this Wednesday. Should be a rockin' heavy post hardcore grind emo southern metal alternative indie good time!

The Journey

Is anyone tired of hearing about "The Journey"?

Do this for me... Google "Journey Church". How many different journey churches are there? I lost count. Did God lead all of them to name their church Journey? Or "Journey (insert denomination here)"? Or "Journey (insert city here)"? Did they not know that 100 other churches named themselves that? Maybe every church should be called Journey? It seems pretty silly, doesn't it?

Is there such a thing as Journeyism? Or Journification? Are you a Journist? Have you been Journified? Maybe we should create a Journian Denomination? (the spell checker is going haywire right now.)

What a long, strange Journey it's been...

Other church name copycats: Gathering, Mosaic, Life... can you name a few?

So what is the motivation for all this copycat behavior? Is there nothing wrong with copying church names? I'm not saying there is, apart from the fact that it annoys me, but why should it annoy me? I guess because it seems fake to me. Does it seem fake to you?

"What is in a name?" Is it identity? Branding? Vision? Mission? If so, is it okay to borrow that and build upon it? Maybe yes. Or are we watering down the important ideas that words like journey, mosaic, life, community, and gathering represent? Do they somehow mean less now that they seem commercialized and overused?

Let's speak candidly... is there something popular about these names? Something trendy? What percentage of churches named Journey chose that name prior to 1990? Who were the first church to describe themselves as a "community of faith"? Did Erwin Mcmanus invent the idea of Mosaic as a church name? If not, who was first? And how long ago was that? Are these new names?

So more broadly, what is the value of newness? Why is having a new name important? Does the newness of the name somehow trump the value that the name itself implies? Is naming your church Journey really about having a passion and focus for the journey, or is it more about sounding new? When you first heard the name Journey, did you think "That's meaningful" or "That's a cool name"?

Now what do you think?

Reading/Discussion with Doug Pagitt

...Wednesday, April 16th, 6:30-9pm

Doug Pagitt will be here in Portland next Wednesday. We'll be hosting a reading/discussion with him and YOU are invited to hear from and participate in a discussion with Doug in a smaller setting.

Here's the deal:

When: 6:30pm- 9pm, Wed April 16th

What: Doug reading from A Christianity Worth Believing with a discussion following

Where: 11000 SW Boones Ferry Road, Portland, Or 97219

How much: We're asking for $10 donation at the door to help Doug pay for this trip. BUT- just for coming you'll get a copy of Doug's book Body Prayer ($11.99 on Amazon- limited to the first 50 people to show up). We'll probably also have some drinks and munchies...

What else: We'll be adjourning to a local watering hole after where Doug will buy everyone a drink (just kidding). Come to the reading/discussion to find out which of PDX's great pubs we'll be hitting afterwards.

Email bob at evergreenlife dot org to RSVP or ask questions
If we get more than 35 or 40 folks, we'll probably look for a little bigger venue, so- can you let us know you are interested in coming?

Paul Ramey

My good friend Paul Ramey is releasing a new album. Check out his MySpace page and have a listen. Good stuff. Here's the description...

Alright is a collection of songs emerging from a life that is realizing that God truly does have a plan in the midst of the pain we experience as humans. But while I can type that here and now, it’s another thing to live it every day. I think that’s something I’ll be learning until the end of my life here on this earth. For whatever reason my life has been marked by a significant amount of pain, and I’ve responded in both healthy and unhealthy ways at times. But when I look around at the Church in America I can’t help but see a tendency we have to try to shove it under the carpet and force a "shiny happy people" approach to life. But if there’s one constant in life, it is that we as people will suffer. Look around you...it’s happening everywhere.

I’ve heard in many churches the encouragement to "leave your ’stuff’ at the door" so that you can be focused on worshiping God. I don’t know about you, but I can’t do that, and I don’t think God wants us to do that. He wants us to be honest with where we are. He sees and knows anyway, why would he want us to pretend to be somewhere we aren’t. He wants honesty. He wants authenticity. He wants us to see our "stuff" through the lens of HIM. And he wants our praise. Lament and praise! It’s all over the Psalms in the Bible.

But it’s always the presence of God that the psalmist is after when he laments and cries out to God because of his suffering. The presence of Christ is always the answer! Check out Psalm 73 or Lamentations 3 and see the way the lamenter exhausting himself against God (being honest with God about where he is). But then there’s this incredible turn to Praise that usually starts with a "BUT...YOU are this...and YOU’VE done that." And how much more significant is it that Christ said to us before he left, "I will be with you always." In fact, his name means "God with us" - Emmanuel.

And that’s what this album is...a collection of songs that help us remember that, even in the face of pain and trouble, God is actually with us, and in what seems like absolute chaos, he has a plan - and it’s a plan that has his glory and your good at its heart. These songs focus on anticipating the glorious return of Jesus Christ while reminding us that even though life can be unbearable at times, ultimately, everything will be Alright!

Idol Update

So now it seems that American Idol has done a turn around and put "Jesus" back in the song on Thursday night! In the words of Neo: "Whoa."

So what is the deal here? Was the market research flawed? Did they think taking Jesus out would be more acceptable, and then discover that it wasn't?

Ken
blog.emergingworshiper.org

Space Jam

See for yourself...

Shout to the Lord on American Idol?

Wow. They just sang Shout to the Lord on American Idol tonight. Surreal. They took the word Jesus out, replaced it with "My Shepherd, my savior", but still... other than that it was pretty much a traditional rendition of the song.

I wonder what the story is behind that choice? Why did they choose that song? They sang it as the finale for the show. Pretty strange to see Hollywood embrace such a straightforward worship song.

I'm still processing this. When the video gets to YouTube I'll post it. In the meantime, what do you think?


UPDATE: Here is the video...

The Thief on the Cross

Wow, its been a while since my last post. Easter is a great season, but a lot of work too!

Here is a message on the "Thief on the Cross" that I gave during our Passion Week gatherings last week. It includes some of my story, my past, my present...