tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26179647168059823632023-11-16T06:52:33.182-08:00undoneErinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301222412563398458noreply@blogger.comBlogger295125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2617964716805982363.post-36237964314480113852016-04-14T16:53:00.001-07:002016-04-15T12:15:54.225-07:00How to Save Seminary: an uncommon proposal.<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg72zR_jsvHLTC1TaJOWS0V10c-HCLRLSePfSK6YppR0p17GonTGBnuYWIPoFLnUiqhqWd72LxPAOZVyodsNFm9iv65yDK4SLikvwWIp63N83lxFUx0lhKUUAHaH4nZD_gv7DBtdjI-pkY/s1600/fuller-theological-seminary.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg72zR_jsvHLTC1TaJOWS0V10c-HCLRLSePfSK6YppR0p17GonTGBnuYWIPoFLnUiqhqWd72LxPAOZVyodsNFm9iv65yDK4SLikvwWIp63N83lxFUx0lhKUUAHaH4nZD_gv7DBtdjI-pkY/s400/fuller-theological-seminary.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Alan Rudnick is an American Baptist pastor with some
good ideas about seminary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a series
of posts <a href="http://www.alanrudnick.org/2016/04/06/future-ministry-not-seminary/" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://www.alanrudnick.org/2014/07/28/seminary-degree/" target="_blank">here</a>, he engages with an Atlantic article about the crushing
debt and poor job prospects.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>His solution is novel and practical; take the degree online and reduce
the M.Div degree to 45 units.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> I do not know if this is possible according to the accrediting agencies, but the idea has merit, and seminaries are struggling. It is an important discussion, and one that leads me down a different but related path of thought; </span>maybe seminary should not train for ministry at all?<br />
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I am struck by some of the comments in the comment sections of such posts about seminary and church (to be clear - not from Mr. Rudnick himself,) and
those I hear elsewhere that it has become too academic and does not train
ministers to minister. I think it it is worth examining whether or not seminary can actually
<i>do</i> that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Perhaps </span>seminaries are not too academic, but rather, they are the wrong vehicle
for raising up local leaders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps they should be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">more</i> academic, and
ministerial formation should be returned to the church, locally, as the responsibility of the denomination. Why might this be true?</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Seminary
exists as a rationalist institution disconnected from the minister's context; it is not
equipped to work through local issues. </b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know folks are stifling guffaws right
now, but there are no
classes that neatly address the kinds of problems people have in their lived diversity;
no singular principles that, when applied, solve all the problems, yet this is what our current model presupposes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The seminary model exists as a modern(ist)
institution –a place where experts who are largely aging white men teach
general truths that somehow relate, explain, and equip you for your local
context.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> To be honest, I'm not sure how many of my ministerial professors could even understand my situation. </span>The current institutional model is increasingly
inappropriate as our society comes to terms with its postmodernity*so far as it remains a detached place teaching general truths about how to specifically minister.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a Cartesian delusion that seminary can
tell us how to minister in situations that the institution itself does not
reflect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Denominational
mentoring should take seminary's place in ministerial formation and training.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Instead of outsourcing training, related churches might gather in to learn together. Within denominations, the possibility for deeper local influence and
thinking that aligns with larger group values should be possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It should be possible
to emphasize shared learning for the sake of shared mission and practical debate. which would further <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">force us to think about how we live and work
together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> If denominations were able to take more practical theological responsibility for ministry it could free seminaries to be unashamedly academic training that would enrich local practical discussions. </span> </span>My own American Baptist experience is that
denominations are largely administrative, for which I am grateful, but theological development and practice has been outsourced to seminary.</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b>Therefore, get rid of ministry classes in seminary.</b>
Focus on what seminary does best; academic inquiry. I do not ever
again wish to spend money on the inane "everyday spirituality" classes
and "leading a small group" courses that were required. Those are things we can
figure out at home., for free, with one another. I hear pastors lament all the that "seminary never trained me for this.." but maybe the problem is that we ask them give us something they cannot. </span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Instead, require seminary to challenge our thinking.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
is not enough intellectual diversity nor theological accountability in the
evangelical protestant world to my mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This varies by denomination and pastoral requirements,
but in general, I feel most pastors hold a vaguely American Evangelical posture
towards things and do not think much further than that. And why not? In the wild, pastors are treated more or less like middle managers and small business owners: and this is the social structure assumed and passed on through seminary, intentionally or not, to the degree "Here's how to lead a small group" is taught as "here's how to build a widget." This is regardless of all the "pastor as visionary leader" rhetoric. <br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
But what a gift for a pastor to be
challenged by Pannenburg and Cone; Yong and von Rad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What a gift to be able to think clearly
through challenges, aware of alternatives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> A firm background in these things might illuminate the local discussion further; bring new issues to the fore in church discussions. This, instead of funding seminaries to teach things we complain aren't working! </span>A degree might affirm that a pastor understands what is at stake in their practices instead of communicating someone knows how to minister to their church. Seminary
can do this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
So that's my proposition - seminaries and
denominations need to change seats.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> A</span>ll this might be peculiarly American Baptist, and there are bound to be a number of solutions, but now is the time for some new thinking. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
_____________________________________________________________________</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
*postmodern- I use this term as a white man aware of the
loosening hold of whiteness on society, recognizing that those outside of
society’s endorsement; the oppressed and abandoned<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> and racialized </span>have always been outside of this
categorization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span>
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><i>-4/15/16 edited for style</i></span><br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><i>-4/16/16 edited for clarity: make clear not attributing any position to Mr. Rudnick.</i></span></div>
Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06913398258796422872noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2617964716805982363.post-62509315185098578302016-04-05T15:06:00.001-07:002016-04-07T14:14:06.400-07:007 Ways I screw up Sermons<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRLzsDIdiCc6FaCU7WF47t6FSSbfD2CmRpEbLBnCDX3yoL34jJ81Sdzp47ll13WlLTzmhc7rT7ysGpMHDQH3X7vxRt7aH8uUWOHTqAV2HyPFb8PcCl68xf2K9o9j9YtMEr-Ulj5r6bUAM/s1600/pulpit-sanctuary.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRLzsDIdiCc6FaCU7WF47t6FSSbfD2CmRpEbLBnCDX3yoL34jJ81Sdzp47ll13WlLTzmhc7rT7ysGpMHDQH3X7vxRt7aH8uUWOHTqAV2HyPFb8PcCl68xf2K9o9j9YtMEr-Ulj5r6bUAM/s400/pulpit-sanctuary.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
-been thinking about preaching for 2 decades now. I had hoped to be better, but at least I have
been consistent. These days my inner critic helps steer me
away from making the same mistake in every sermon, but I am still learning how to be present in the midst of a message. Like many skills, preaching is a hard thing to learn well because you start by imitating other great preachers the best you can but you must also move to find your own voice. This is really hard. Only now do I feel like I am able to be myself and still speak with conviction. (People love unwavering conviction...) It takes lots of practice though. So here are the 7 sermons I try not to preach anymore; kind of a map between Scylla and Charbydis: </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b>7 Sermons to move on from:</b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
</div>
<ol>
<li><b>The Cool Chat Talk.</b> This is the how to live life, self-helpy stuff. Very "talky" with my bros. Finding moralism in innerlife management
skills. skillz to pay billz</li>
<br />
<li><b>A Punishing Exegetical Recitation</b>. In the name of being “biblical” this passionately
points out what everyone already knew in painful detail. Line by line for all 66 books, the more
severe the conclusion and dismissal of people doing it wrong, the more
authentic it is. </li>
<br />
<li><b>A Theological
Cow Trail.</b> This one wanders lofty hills to make a theological point that
should make a difference but, um, I forget. (Maybe a fill-in-the blank outline could
help!) The 1000 verse citations are mosaic
pieces largely unrelated to the picture being painted, but they are pretty. </li>
<br />
<li><b>The
Spirit-filled diaphragm</b>. Devoid of a point or preparation, this sermon works very hard to get hyped as
self-evidencing Spirit-filledness.
Alternately yelly and whispery.
Interestingly, despite losing sight of a destination, often runs too
long.</li>
<br />
<li><b>The Fine Essay</b>. Better read then said. Look up already. Somebody is there and it isn’t your old professors. And stop saying “perichoresis”’</li>
<br />
<li><b>The I'm
Uncomfortable, So You're Uncomfortable, So Let Me Say a Few Things That May or May Not Apply So I Can Leave Now.. </b>(TIUSYUSLMSAFTTMOMNASICLN, for short)</li>
<br />
<li><b>The secret
decoder ring</b>. I am claiming my point comes directly from the
text, but really I have a point to make and I guess I'll use this text because I have to. The point may be fine. The scripture is fine. They just haven’t met. </li>
</ol>
<br />Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06913398258796422872noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2617964716805982363.post-8850416264131903742016-03-31T17:28:00.002-07:002016-04-07T14:13:50.024-07:00Jesus, race, and the scandal of particularity. <div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqtxfIYkmdT0AwhImbyD_QYiD5gSrf87m-ABAxaWEuVrDpiiiuGhIiAfzuLViIkEaQhxvXMupzswncO55OMqWEeWJ1iqBjh25baWrY1i0l1lwb-6bwtLsbEdA_wH329-enlZq6y-p8tjo/s1600/details+-+Copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqtxfIYkmdT0AwhImbyD_QYiD5gSrf87m-ABAxaWEuVrDpiiiuGhIiAfzuLViIkEaQhxvXMupzswncO55OMqWEeWJ1iqBjh25baWrY1i0l1lwb-6bwtLsbEdA_wH329-enlZq6y-p8tjo/s400/details+-+Copy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<i>NB: edited for style 4/4</i><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Jesus does not transcend culture.</b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
This is another way of stating the “scandal of
particularity”: Why was Jesus Jewish?
What is the meaning of his Jewishness, aside from fulfilling earlier
promises? </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
For Jesus to be a human means he
must be a particular human like you and me; born into specific circumstances with
specific family relationships and assumptions.
To be like you and me, He too, had to live as limited and defined by
cultural possibilities. If he came as
some proto-man, he would not have taken on our humanity in meaningful way, let alone saved it, because we exist
as people who are products of our environments. To be human means to be a people with minds and emotions shaped since
birth by culture. A regular person is someone who lives in a specific time and location and circumstance, who is shaped by their environment. Christ has to be born into a culture to be truly incarnate. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b>To save us, Jesus could not transcend our cultural
existence.</b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
To be particular, specific, and limited like we all are, was not an impediment for God's saving work through Him, though. When the Temple curtain was rent
through the obedience of this specific man, Jesus, the Holy Spirit was made
available to inhabit anyone. And the work of the Spirit is now also always a specific work: it is the Spirit of God at work in regular, particular people like you and I. It's instructive to remember that when the Spirit is "poured out on all flesh" in Acts, people hear their own tongue, not one universal language. Language is the primal cultural artifact that shapes our selves and the Spirit inhabits these various tongues instead of insisting on a new, generic language. And so Cornelius is
welcomed into the faith because the Spirit can then inhabit gentile flesh, and
Paul would go on to argue that Gentiles needn’t become Jews to be saved. They are fine as people with a different culture. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b>He redeems culture, making a way for the Spirit to inhabit it.</b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Some implications:</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b>Unity:</b> Because Jesus
inhabits particular life, Christian unity will always look
diverse. There must be differences that
are recognized and valued in the larger Church because our confession is not
that Jesus has absorbed us, but rather that he has come for every local,
specific person. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b>“I don’t see race”: </b> Simply, if you can’t see race and
cultural differences, then you can’t see Jesus at work, either. You must insist on a generic humanity that
Jesus does not bear witness to in the incarnation. Denying cultural differences by an appeal to something more fundamentally Christian or human underneath our cultural trappings is a subtle way of insisting that we are a different kind of people then the kind Jesus came as. He came as a local, specific persons whose options and vision were in part limited by his location. We must be wary of appeals to a "generic" human being because upon examination, it turns out we all have slightly different versions of what that humanity looks like, because they are all in part, projections of our own cultural understandings.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
It might be further argued that the racialization of the
United States (as opposed to culture and ethnicity) is the enforcement of an ideal of humanity that is really just a cultural ideal of whiteness. In only measuring the work of the Spirit by
behaviors familiar to whiteness, connected with socioecenomic habits, this racialization actively ignores and suppresses
the work of the Spirit; even blasphemes it to the degree it considers other particular flesh less-than. This racialization is a denial of what
Jesus has done. Also it is unjust. Which is also a denial of what Jesus came
for. And that's in the Bible, too, so there's that..</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b>Anti-Semitism</b>: The
Scandal of Particularity should highlight the incarnation as the way Christ inhabits Jewishness without
attempting to escape it or deny it. Jesus
does not supersede Jewishness , so why would the church? Since Jesus can exist fully contained as a product of Jewish identity, and a blessing for all, then
there is hope that we, too, can be faithful and redeemed and accepted by God
in the midst of our own individual cultural locations. -Not because all flesh is the same, but because God can live in specific people. AntiSemitism in the church, then, is a denial of the work of Christ because it claims a transcendent Jesus who is beyond culture. It is a deficient view of incarnation. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b>Culture Wars:</b> We
need to stop asking people to be “Christian” first. Certainly we must ask people to be loyal and
faithful to Christ first and to bear fruit worthy of repentance. But you have
to be careful not to subtly ask people to ditch their culture because they are somehow generic- human underneath. It gets pretty iffy if you somehow perceive
yourself as Christian first – that’s a great way to divinize your own viewpoint
and become rigid. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Asking people to deny their culture by being Christian is the beginning of building another earthly power, another system of domination. Culture is the container our selves are formed in. Language, relationships, stories and practices all shape who we are before we are even conscious of their existence. To ask people to leave one cultural existence and join a church culture because you think it is the “right”
one is another way to hide how particular, specific, and ultimately contingent the culture of a given church is.<br />
<br />
The real danger here is that we politicize our specific existence as the
Divine one instead of understanding our own faith as a testament that faith can be in other places, too. We generalize ourselves instead of the work
of Christ. This is the beginning of an
imperialism that must suppress others cultures and insist on itself as the
norm, unable to the Spirit at work in particular ways. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b>Faith is not an escape from our cultural location but reclamation
by God.</b><br />
We are not Christians first, but
rather people with culture who Christ has accepted. Repent and believe!</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06913398258796422872noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2617964716805982363.post-10733213448831032672016-03-25T16:10:00.002-07:002017-03-21T10:55:40.697-07:00Good Friday, 4:30, a poem<u>Good Friday , 4:30</u><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9AcSliavESZwXOC4T9fp3oqqCcTrhl4LO2gWqOQdLcr-MQhlp7TuetPWppAPUXacbgIaIjrvfg5VqU0DqMZllRmN_R09Pp8WPCg4_idyo0SxqTE_sYLsngciAUsgzhE1K3FlmzKMCsGs/s1600/chord1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9AcSliavESZwXOC4T9fp3oqqCcTrhl4LO2gWqOQdLcr-MQhlp7TuetPWppAPUXacbgIaIjrvfg5VqU0DqMZllRmN_R09Pp8WPCg4_idyo0SxqTE_sYLsngciAUsgzhE1K3FlmzKMCsGs/s200/chord1.jpg" width="182" /></a><br />
The tack that holds the cord<br />
falls out.<br />
I push it in,<br />
again<br />
and next when I look,<br />
it's gone.<br />
<br />
I have hammered<br />
the point<br />
and pressed my thumb<br />
hard,<br />
even knuckled 'til blood came;<br />
no luck.<br />
<br />
The sinew in the office<br />
will not<br />
lie still, can't be <br />
hidden.<br />
I'll stash away this hammer<br />
and leave,<br />
<br />
dripping.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/" rel="license"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nd/4.0/88x31.png" style="border-width: 0px;" /></a><br />
<span href="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text" property="dct:title" rel="dct:type" xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">Good Friday, 4:30</span> by <a href="http://epicblogerin.blogspot.com/" property="cc:attributionName" rel="cc:attributionURL" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#">Erin Hamilton</a> is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06913398258796422872noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2617964716805982363.post-73902844743826985272016-03-15T13:11:00.000-07:002016-03-18T11:27:24.181-07:00Coffee Preaches. A poem<u>Coffee preaches</u><br />
<br />
each click<br />
of the keys<br />
the snap of plastic<br />
cracked back<br />
and<br />
<br />
work's movement crawls;<br />
<br />
a fingertip tempest<br />
bled out of meaning<br />
like so many of the best<br />
ideas.<br />
<br />
after rumbling,<br />
lunch.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/" rel="license"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nd/4.0/88x31.png" style="border-width: 0;" /></a><br />
<span href="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text" property="dct:title" rel="dct:type" xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">Coffee Preaches</span> by <a href="http://epicblogerin.blogspot.com/" property="cc:attributionName" rel="cc:attributionURL" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#">Erin Hamilton</a> is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06913398258796422872noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2617964716805982363.post-69725384989555910142016-03-11T16:02:00.000-08:002016-03-12T12:32:53.706-08:007 Reasons I don't like the term missional.<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN9yJqHQvrWbBDRKEGYM81n50Ai_Tx5Y1K4Vqp3DmMkgRh0mg18HB3VEau4ODQUH9znt4sq-x-4iPqSQb4CJnY8uxJNzkBqw86HDSnWTXILrEbbnAVIiHfuQ386IvO1l2Voh8D3Yc2loY/s1600/mission+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN9yJqHQvrWbBDRKEGYM81n50Ai_Tx5Y1K4Vqp3DmMkgRh0mg18HB3VEau4ODQUH9znt4sq-x-4iPqSQb4CJnY8uxJNzkBqw86HDSnWTXILrEbbnAVIiHfuQ386IvO1l2Voh8D3Yc2loY/s400/mission+1.png" width="400" /></a></div>
Let me begin by saying that I am very much a fan and
advocate of the kind of “missional” ecclesiology discussed in missional
circles. I like to think of myself as a sympathetic Anabaptist American Baptist. So there’s that. I’m also generally grumpy, and I don’t like
the label of missional, for a couple of reasons. ...errr, seven:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1. We have a term
that works perfectly fine already; love.
That people understand love to be withdrawn and static is a confession
that we do not love well. As a pastor, I
would rather point to the Good Samaritan and say “there is love” then “there is
mission”. I prefer to repristinate the
original age-old language that makes sense to everybody then have to nuance a
new term, especially one bound up with something to gain or lose in
publishing, church consulting, and whiteness.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2. Nuance it I mus,
because, at least around here, “mission” has some pretty terrible
connotations. California was settled in
horrible ways around the Spanish missions and I do not wish to equate what I
hope to be and do as a church with the oppression in the name of Jesus exercised
through our history. Maybe it’s
different elsewhere? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3. It must be admitted that “missional” is a white label,
arising from white thinkers in largely white theological frameworks; Bosch, Newbigin,
Hauerwas, etc.
Similarly, the proponents and promoters of the
“missional” movement today are by and large white -at least the publishing, conferencing ones. Kudos to organizations like the Misso
Alliance for trying to engage more speakers of color. This is noble and just but also testimony
that the movement didn’t start <i>over
there.</i> I don’t know how it all came
about but I hope the broader white church understands incorporating
these speakers of colors is a profoundly missional act, not because it draws
them into the center, but because it is a confession that the center is broken, will not hold, and it needs to move and recenter elsewhere where the Spirit
is at work, in places white church has not been willing to see or
recognize. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
4. So I wonder if a
true missional practice means leaving a missional movement of whiteness and
sitting at the feet of other traditions to join in their struggle. I mean this primarily ethnically of
course. What if to be truly missional
meant white folk can’t understand the heart of God for the world until they
submit and are steeped in the powerful
truths of Cone’s analysis of blackness and whiteness and learn to identify love
by those names? What if missional came
to mean a desire to live as a <i>Mujerista</i>
in fidelity to the Christ of Luke 4?
Perhaps a theology of<i> Han</i> has
important freedom and correction that might decenter missional thinking from
whiteness in ways that make more sense of Jesus in our world?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
5. This then, is
really my issue with the label: I fear
it is a white label to collect people under.
This is its origin, its promoters, and its general trend. The fact that fundamentalist churches have
taken to the language is a testimony that it has cache in the larger American
church climate today. This tells us something the idea of "missiona;" I think. It circulates in
privileged waters. It is now bound up
with publishing and speaking and consulting and media campaigns, etc., and I
remain deeply ambivalent about the kind of power those things operate with. (Should a rightly missional movement understand itself as a reaction to it's own whiteness? -it's own existence as a reaction to the production of insulated faith communities within Western society that necessitate a leaving behind?)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
6. Now, there is a very simple counterargument to
everything I’ve written here (besides "you have too much free time – get
out and love someone"): the NT is
full of missional language. That is
undeniable. Paul had goals, man. He was a missionary. I concede the point. Still don't trust it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
7. Can the ‘missional
movement” transcend itself and <i>be</i>
mission instead of an identity? Because
the identity has roots in whiteness.
I’m hesitant to claim this label until that is clear. But this suggests to me people need to contest
the meaning of the term to keep it from being watered down, which is just a
fight I don’t really care about. I think
it will be an argument between white folk.
I prefer to give it away, hence this rambling. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<br />
<a class="DashboardProfileCard-screennameLink u-linkComplex u-linkClean" href="https://twitter.com/EHami1ton" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #3b94d9; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; outline: 0px; padding-right: 5px; text-decoration: none !important;">@<span class="u-linkComplex-target" style="text-decoration: underline !important;">EHami1ton</span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301222412563398458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2617964716805982363.post-5523339856098643172015-06-23T13:47:00.001-07:002015-06-23T14:58:41.441-07:00A sermon of lament for Charleston<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br />
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I had a plan for today.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">There are a number of
things going on and I feel God is leading us. There are important things to share
about our future together. In truth, I am genuinely
excited about these things God is doing in our little church</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Feel a change in
the air, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">God is breathing
life and purpose into us.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">God is knitting
hearts together.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> So the plan was to talk
about what God is doing in us and how to give ourselves to it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I planned to begin a new
series called FutureProof, where we looked at 1 Corinthians 15 and talked about
our future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In particular, with all of
the transitions and comings and goings, I wanted to talk about hope and the
kinds of things we're promise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact,
Rev. Doi was so encouraged by all that is going on, he mused out loud about
skipping his sabbatical.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is good
news!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So that was the plan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">After that?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Well in the quiet of the
summer, we are trying to hammer out some things about house churches.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We need more centers of connection and
discipleship, so we are hoping to do the legwork now and reboot house churches
in the fall with a renewed emphasis on discipleship.And of course we then we have
the holiday season, advent, when we contemplate the incarnation and
celebrate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the plan was that,
connected in intentional discipleship groups, cheered and encouraged, in the
new year, we could begin another extended consideration about race and justice
in a thorough way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">That was the plan.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">But all that changed last
Wednesday when a man walked into a prayer group in Charleston South Carolina
and killed 9 people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am sure, by now
that everyone has heard what happened, whether online, in print or on TV.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all have heard of the terrible killing in
Emmanuel AME Church of Charleston.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">What do you say in the
face of such tragedy?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">What kind of response do
you have?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">It seemed a greater
indignity to not talk about the week's events.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">In Romans 12, Paul writes
that we must, </span>"14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn." <span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Today we must mourn with
those who mourn. Members of the Body of
Christ were violently taken from their families, and this is something that
must affect us all, if at a distance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
have to learn to mourn and share in God's righteous grief at injustice.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">These are the nine people who
were killed last week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Cynthia Graham Hurd, </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Susie Jackson, </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Ethel Lance, </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>The Honorable Rev. Clementa Pinckney, </div>
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</span></span></span>Tywanza Sanders</div>
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</span></span></span>Rev. Daniel Simmons Sr.</div>
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</span></span></span>Rev. Sharonda Singleton, </div>
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</span></span></span>Myra Thompson, </div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Grandmothers, daughters, fathers,
coaches, pastors, state senators.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">They were people with families.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are people who were loved, people who
mean something to God. We must open our
hearts to them and pray that God would comfort their families in their loss.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Make no mistake,
theirs is a powerful witness to the gospel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They invited the killer in. They welcomed the stranger at the door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Pastor asked him to sit next to
him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They prayed together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They treated him with the dignity and
humanity he was not able to have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
blessed the one who persecuted him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">There is no greater sermon
to be preached this morning than the response of the families at the
arraignment who, through tears, forgave the killer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They confronted his evil and exhorted him to
repent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They refused his evil the last
word.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The footage of this, of the families
response, is staggering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A friend remarked
that it was the single greatest argument he had heard for Christianity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They returned forgiveness for violence in an eye
for an eye world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">These nine are martyrs who
lost their lives offering love in the name of Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">They are a part of the
legacy of AME church that has doing it for centuries in the face of injustice,
and this morning we remember their faithfulness, and their resistance to the
idea that some lives are worth less than others. This is right in the eyes of
God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I also want you to
understand that from first to last,
this act of terror <b>was entirely about race.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b>
</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">In the ensuing days, all
manner of disturbing talk on media airwaves has come out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Predictably folk have rushed to describe the
white killer as a lone gunman who was mentally ill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They have labeled it an attack on
Christianity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">But don't be fooled.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The killer said it was
about race. His recently discovered
manifesto is all about race. His website supporting
apartheid is about race. That people so quickly
want to ignore the killers own words and the most obvious physical evidence and
to assign other causes; talk about mental illness, religious persecution, gun
rights,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is a testimony to how deeply
ingrained it is in the fabric of our country to ignore the power of race at
work in us.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">We can't take comfort and console ourselves by saying
that he was a lone killer, a deranged man, an anomaly, as if such violence and
hatred towards black people is the exception, and not the norm for many.</span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">African American churches
have always been targets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The AME church
was birthed in protest to racism, it was a church outlawed and attacked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We remember the 60's when black churches were
targeted with firebombs and guns, when the 16th street Baptist church in
Birmingham Alabama, became a symbol for the civil rights movement. We remember
the black church burnings that took place in the 90's in Alabama.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We must recognize and deal with the ways the scales of
justice are tilted away from people who do not look like dominant white
culture in our country. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">A faithful
response to the events in Charleston must take seriously that the system we
live in, whether or not you believe it or experience it this way, leads to the
death and oppression of black people on a consistently high rate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Injustice here follows a sliding scale based
on the color of your skin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The events in
Charleston expose to the rest of the country once again, what black folk have long known, that there are
powers and principalities of racism that have a claim in the spirit of America</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Do you know that among the
murdered was a state senator, </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Pinckney? </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Though all the capitol flags
were flown at half mast, by law, the confederate flag, the very symbol of the war to preserve slavery as a way of life, could not be lowered in
respect even at the state capitol? This is the same war the
killer said he wanted to start again. And as the killer rose to
kill the saints around him, he told them that he had to, he had to kill them
because black people they take our women and are taking over our country. As obscene as this is, it
is eerily similar what Donald Trump said just one day earlier about Mexican
immigrants as he announced his candidacy for president.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He railed against Mexican immigrants taking
women, taking over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Regardless of what you
think about Trump as a political candidate, how is it ok say this on
national tv?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it such a popular opinion that no one cares? You see we have criminalized
melanin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">So I want the testimony of
these 9 brothers and sisters to haunt us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Our understanding of how the world works must be challenged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">We need to be a part of hte hard questions about this place.</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> What
kind of forces conspire to bear this bitter fruit so consistently in our
country?</b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Our Text this morning is from Jeremiah, Ch.6.</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">J<span style="font-size: x-small;">eremiah 6</span></span></i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
<span class="text"><b><sup><span style="color: black;">8 </span></sup></b></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black;">Take
warning, O Jerusalem,</span></span><br />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black;">or I shall turn from you in disgust,</span></span><br />
<span class="text"><span style="color: black;">and make you a desolation,</span></span><br />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black;">an uninhabited land.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="text"><b><sup><span style="color: black;">9 </span></sup></b></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black;">Thus says the</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span class="small-caps"><span style="color: black; font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black;">of hosts:</span></span><br />
<span class="text"><span style="color: black;">Glean</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black;">thoroughly as a vine</span></span><br />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black;">the remnant of Israel;</span></span><br />
<span class="text"><span style="color: black;">like a grape-gatherer, pass your hand again</span></span><br />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black;">over its branches.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="text"><b><sup><span style="color: black;">10 </span></sup></b></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black;">To whom shall I speak and give warning,</span></span><br />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black;">that they may hear?</span></span><br />
<span class="text"><span style="color: black;">See, their ears are closed,</span></span><br />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black;">they cannot listen.</span></span><br />
<span class="text"><span style="color: black;">The word of the</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span class="small-caps"><span style="color: black; font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black;">is to them an object of scorn;</span></span><br />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black;">they take no pleasure in it.</span></span><br />
<span class="text"><b><sup><span style="color: black;">11 </span></sup></b></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black;">But I am
full of the wrath of the</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span class="small-caps"><span style="color: black; font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black;">;</span></span><br />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black;">I am weary of holding it in.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="text"><span style="color: black;">Pour it out on the children in the
street,</span></span><br />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black;">and on the gatherings of young men as well;</span></span><br />
<span class="text"><span style="color: black;">both husband and wife shall be taken,</span></span><br />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black;">the old folk and the very aged.</span></span><br />
<span class="text"><b><sup><span style="color: black;">12 </span></sup></b></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black;">Their
houses shall be turned over to others,</span></span><br />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black;">their fields and wives together;</span></span><br />
<span class="text"><span style="color: black;">for I will stretch out my hand</span></span><br />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black;">against the inhabitants of the land,</span></span><br />
<span class="text"><span style="color: black;">says the</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span class="small-caps"><span style="color: black; font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black;">.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="text"><b><sup><span style="color: black;">13 </span></sup></b></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black;">For from the least to the greatest of them,</span></span><br />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black;">everyone is greedy for unjust gain;</span></span><br />
<span class="text"><span style="color: black;">and from prophet to priest,</span></span><br />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black;">everyone deals falsely.</span></span><br />
<span class="text"><b><sup><span style="color: black;">14 </span></sup></b></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black;">They have
treated the wound of my people carelessly,</span></span><br />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black;">saying, “Peace, peace,”</span></span><br />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black;">when there is no peace.</span></span><br />
<span class="text"><b><sup><span style="color: black;">15 </span></sup></b></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black;">They acted
shamefully, they committed abomination;</span></span><br />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black;">yet they were not ashamed,</span></span><br />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black;">they did not know how to blush.</span></span><br />
<span class="text"><span style="color: black;">Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;</span></span><br />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black;">at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,</span></span><br />
<span class="text"><span style="color: black;">says the</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span class="small-caps"><span style="color: black; font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black;">.</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">In the 6<sup>th</sup> C
BC, God called Jeremiah to prophesy the impending destruction and captivity of
Jerusalem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Soaked in injustice and
idolatry, God judged Jerusalem.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">This word is a warning. It
is a call for Judah to examine her national habits for the Babylonians would
come like a gleaning, picking every last morsel from them. Because God's people could not hear Him calling them to
repent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They ignored the things he had
said, and His wrath, his punishment stirred at the injustice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">And look!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God's accusation is that everyone from
greatest to least is looking to get ahead, do well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Succeed at any cost.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dishonesty was the norm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> And their injustice crystallized as an</span> unwillingness to care for the wounded, those trampled under the rush to get ahead. All the while, people claim "Peace, peace, when
there is no peace," unable to admit or deal with the injustice in their
midst.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"Don't make a fuss"
they say.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The status quo will get us
there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like the surrounding nations they
pursued their own gain, acting shamefully, committing abominations, following
after false idols.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">This oracle is a warning
to listen!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a warning to be
sensitive to the suffering around.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is
a rejection of rthe insistence on "peace, peace" while everyone pursues unjust
too busy, too self interested, to care about the injustice and dishonesty that results. When the wounds of God's people are treated carelessly, his wrath is stirred.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>We must treat this wound of injustice in our
nation with great care.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We must learn to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>listen to the suffering louder than the
dollar and convenience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We cannot
ignore the wounds anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> We cannto ignore race because we think we see colorblindness. </span>We cannot
cling to abstract principles and theology that defend our position in a system
from which we profit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Because we do profit from
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Our nation, the most
prosperous nation in the world, was founded on the land of Native Americans
with the Labor of African slaves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
is a wound here we struggle to even talk about, that we still profit
from.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">All the talk this week of
a lone wolf, a crazy man, is another way to cry "peace, peace," when there is none and ignore the
cries of black folk in our country who testify to a daily experience of
violence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">It is treating the wound carelessly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></b>It is ignoring how ingrained the dishonesty of racial inequality is
in our society.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I know some of you here
today have tasted this bitter fruit as well, even if only in part;from people telling you
that you speak English really well, to jobs not offered because of a perceived
lack of potential to people telling you to go home. Race is the wound of our
time and place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Be careful not to say "peace,
peace."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">"Everything's
fine" </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">We must be careful not to
close our ears.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People are dying because
of the racial injustice deeply ingrained in our civilization, dying because of a
primal wound in our country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We must not
treat the wound carelessly!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">So what can we do as a
Church?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How can we respond as the People
of God?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">First, we must admit we
are involved in the problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That sounds
weird.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I realize as a white man it means
something different from me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know that
we are a largely Asian American church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
even that label isn't fair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It does not
do justice to the vastly different experience of Japanese American and
Vietnamese Americans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It doesn't do
justice to the Mexican American experience, the different Latino experiences. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">But...</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Most of us are here, by
and large, because someone came here to get ahead, to thrive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From greatest to least, we are here for gain
though not unjust.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Remember the
prosperity of this place was created at expense of at least 4 million Native
Americans living in the land we claimed, and that land was worked by 10 million
African slaves. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of us, from Sons
& Daughters of the American revolution to recent immigrants stand to
benefit <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">currently</i> from how this place
began unjustly. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I don’t know what to do
about that?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I certainly can't fix it on
my own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we can and must bear witness
to the truth of what has happened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
must.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We must acknowledge the fallenness
of our national myths, our best ideas about country and governement, all these things
are fallen before God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our history tells
the truth, and if our loyalty is to Jesus and the peaceful to the Kingdom He
brings, then we must speak the truth about our history. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The second thing we must do
is learn to lament.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">No healing without
sorrow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lamentation is a mourning that things
are broken beyond what we can fix. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is
a confession before God. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is sorrow
over what has happened; sorrow for our inability to be just, sorrow for our indifference,
sorrow for the shattering loss people have experienced. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>sackcloth
and ashes. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The power of honest lament
is great, saving even the wicked city of Ninevah. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">See it is in the psalms,
the prophets; there is an entire book called Lamentations... </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Jesus himself laments over
Jerusalem, weeping for its hard heartedness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">It is a kind of sorrowful truth
telling that puts yourself in the story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">So I would like to lead us
this morning in a liturgy of lament.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This morning, there are many churches who have chosen to participate in
a liturgy of lament, to be right before God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Leroy Barber has recommended it to churches.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It doesn’t fix things, it doesn’t make the problem go away, but it is a
start in truth and I do believe God has said we must be part of the answer.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">If you will stand, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will read aloud the confession, and then congregation the
response.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Afterwards we will take a moment of silence and then worship God around the eucharist. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">[at this point, we participated in the Liturgy of Lament for Charleston at http://onechurchliturgy.com/] </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06913398258796422872noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2617964716805982363.post-61230958810082648102015-02-21T21:08:00.002-08:002015-02-21T21:08:22.852-08:00On being the product of someone else's imagination<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="quote">
<div class="quote-inner">
The logic of worldly
success rests on a fallacy-the strange error that our perfection depends
on the thoughts and opinions and applause of other men. A weird life
it is to be living always in somebody else's imagination, as if that
were the only place in which one could become real.</div>
</div>
<div class="quote-credit author">
<span class="author-label">Thomas Merton</span> (1915 - 1968)</div>
</blockquote>
<br />
guilty.<br />
derp. Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06913398258796422872noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2617964716805982363.post-46961217076330763102015-01-28T10:58:00.003-08:002015-01-28T11:34:38.263-08:00Where healing comes from is ambiguous<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Living with ambiguous loss requires a spiritual tolerance -no, spiritual comfort-with ambiguity. Simply put, it requires faith. Not all professionals are trained to accept this way of thinking, but pastors and people of spirituality have a head start.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
However we come to find more comfort with the unknown and unsolvable-and temper our needs for control and mastery-that transformative growth will paradoxically increase our effectiveness to ease the suffering of others who must, through no fault of their own, continue to live with the pain of ambiguous loss. - Pauline Boss, Pastoral Psych (2010) 59:139
</blockquote>
Jesus, at first glance, is the exemplar of this. Can you imagine anything more ambigous than what His life must have been? Certain of God's goodness, but without Siri to tell him where to go? The Gospels are so certain about some things, the important things, but God in human form automatically introduces ambiguity into the story of God, because humans are ambiguous and contingent people, no? And yet, He can minister to us, because He knows us so.<br />
<br />
Also, I think she just accidentally denounced the prince of evangelical theological commitments.Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06913398258796422872noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2617964716805982363.post-36434447325210037692014-10-21T15:24:00.002-07:002014-10-22T14:42:26.180-07:00The black & white law.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOEQj3_4avpEBnU2IVBizBgPTjdqEEUVKeafhPm-0zZU8Upecba8Z2jK3fgYe3koX619tsKVP8gEF3AMuWqBSWhOTPVlgC1IN9fKsp-Hh6hdU4HkN2lc8Nm9CBlgxKx6qdpH61mnI-w34/s1600/storm+troopers2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOEQj3_4avpEBnU2IVBizBgPTjdqEEUVKeafhPm-0zZU8Upecba8Z2jK3fgYe3koX619tsKVP8gEF3AMuWqBSWhOTPVlgC1IN9fKsp-Hh6hdU4HkN2lc8Nm9CBlgxKx6qdpH61mnI-w34/s1600/storm+troopers2.jpg" height="188" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is difficult for
white folks to “see” racism as something other than personal bias. Seeing and perceiving structural inequalities
is one of the most challenging barriers to white people engaging in a Godly,
biblical justice-seeking. We say “I’m
not a racist” and assume that the problem must be one of “inner city culture”
laziness, etc., to explain other groups’ struggles. We explain that there are good ones and bad
ones in every culture; good ones unconsciously
defined by the ability to get ahead and make nice with white culture. You know how it goes: KKK members are racist but I’m not. I just think people are poor because they are
lazy welfare queens with hypersexual partners.
The Evangelical church, with its emphasis on individual responsibility and a personal Gospel has helped reinforce
the belief that racism is primarily interpersonal and relational. Think, Promise Keepers. (We hugged; we cried. Some of my best friends are black!)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
How stunning to see it then, in our laws.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our church has a little group reading The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander. It hits like a hammer. She spends the first two chapters outlining a brief
history of the racialized policing of black people the sublimation
of this policing as the war on drugs. It
draws out the staggering numerical difference in how black people are policed
and sentenced. We just finished Chapter 3 which raises a powerful question:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“The central question, then, is how exactly does a formally
colorblind criminal justice system achieve such racially discriminatory
results.” p.103</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I can see the problem of the cop on the street: it looks like we are deliberately policing some people more than others based on color & class, but I was
stunned to learn of the systemic legal refusal to acknowledge a problem. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The fourteenth amendment was passed to protect everyone’s right to have full and
equal protection and benefit of all the law.
It guards what the Civil Rights act of 1866 established. But in
1987, the supreme court heard <i>McClesky v. Kemp</i> which argued there is
clearly racial bias in criminal sentencing. Statistics clearly demonstrated that crimes against white folk received far harsher sentences. The
Supreme Court however ruled against it, arguing that to “prove” racial bias exists
under the fourteenth amendment, you
would have to prove intent. Like a
confession. Alexander writes:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
...in 1987, when media hysteria regarding black drug crime was
at a fever pitch and the evening news was saturated with images of black
criminals shackled in courtrooms, the supreme court ruled in <i>McClesky v. Kemp </i> that racial bias in sentencing, even if shown
through credible statistical evidence, could not be challenged under the
Fourteenth Amendment in the absence of clear evidence of a conscious,
discriminatory intent. p.109</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This, in effect means that the court only recognizes blatant,
explicit bigotry. When,
Adolph Lyons was stopped by the LAPD for a blown taillight and ordered at gunpoint
out of the car was choked out, he argued that his constitutional rights were
violated in part, because of his race. The court ruled against him, too, saying that :</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Lyons would have had to allege that not only would he have
another encounter with the police but also to make the incredible assertion
either (1) that all police officers in Los Angeles always choke any citizen
with whom they have an encounter whether for the purpose of arrest, issueing a
citation for questioning, or (2) that the City ordered or authorized the police
to act in such manner. p.129 (cited)</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Together, these cases create an environment where racial bias does not
exist unless the policeman or the department says out loud “I
don’t like black people and I am doing this because you are black.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Utterly ridiculous. We have made race legally impossible to see outside of
explicitly stated personal intent.</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I find it fascinating (horrifying) that our inability to
see race is reflected in our laws. The
only racism that exists in white society is clearly expressed interpersonal
hostility. What does this mean? How should we understand this? A deep psychoanalysis seems in order. Is there is a deep epistemological problem of whiteness in here, or is it just a natural function of
power? When your world is the norming norm, you can explain everything and narratives that disturb it are outlawed for convenience. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So much so, it seems that even Christians submit to western explanatory power over the Gospel. "We're all God's children" becomes a way to ignore difference instead of a reason to listen to other narratives. And there is a deep way we ignore, systemically, that we are still the ones who put Jesus on the cross; we are the Romans. Our best laws and order still kill the Christ. We believe in our rightness, not our forgiven wrongness. Anyways, it was stunning to be talking about the difficulty whiteness has in seeing structural injustice and then opening the book and seeing it in our laws. There's really no new news here, so in summary and in conclusion, I find these three things at work together somehow; an emphasis on personal interaction, a private salvation, and our societal legal structure; but only God can save.</div>
Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06913398258796422872noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2617964716805982363.post-10741671716289594612014-08-21T14:33:00.001-07:002014-08-21T14:45:56.301-07:0010 Confessions<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Ok, to keep the blog rolling, some things that I have been chewing on, in addition to Ferguson, over the past few weeks: a little narcissistic sketch of my inner life.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
1. I may be a theobrogian by birth. I grew up on the CA coast: everyone I knew
was a dude or bro. brojah, brojicima, lamer, boze, barn' - a host of local
talk. But I don't want to be a
theobrogian unaware of my social position and white-supremacy in the world; not
rigidly unable to decenter my own views and position, not tone deaf to other
voices, especially those oppressed or hampered by the societal system I profit
in. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
2. Last Sunday I tried to speak on Ferguson. Woke up that morning from terrible
nightmare. Right before service, our
host church had a domestic violence confrontation, but did so in a way that
moved the conflict right in the middle of our Sunday school. Coincidence? There
is a deep spiritual component to racism.
Prayer and action are inseparable. I want to talk about it at church, but not online. There are more, better places to learn from people who know. Ill try and post up a bunch of links, but until then, check the Twitter.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
3. But of course all that happened was normal: this is
the way the world is, and church has to be a choice between escaping and
dealing with the way this world is. I am
excited to study The New Jim Crow together.
The immigration issue still looms large for us. I don't know how to grow in a way that brings
folks along in this, and wonder why the Holy Spirit doesn't convict more.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
4. I really don't know enough about Bultmann and
Husserl. I have always aspired to. Now? Not so sure. It really doesn't mean much to my church in a
practical way, and I don't see it addressing the world's problems. What I really
lack is any kind of political theology at all.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
5. Weird conversations with family ahead around 2A
supporters as racist - look how they abandoned Ferguson. Also that the Washington football team name
is racist... People are quick to regard the power inherent in language as "P.C." to dismiss it.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
6. ISIS seriously
challenges my nonviolent convictions. Is
it right to stand by without intervening on behalf of the Yazidi? Are there other ways to intervene while
people are being beheaded? Is this, as
the Pope opined, a justifiable use of force?
For how long? What is a faithful,
responsible nonviolent strategy?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
7. My inner life theology
is screwed up. I hear the call to lose
my life as a denial that life is good.
So give it away. By this distortion,
it would be better if I were not here; more resources for everyone else. I sometimes relate to God as a consumer of
souls, not a provider. Sin. And weird sin. I dont hear people talk about this feeling.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
8. My fear is that people who are in ministry and screwed
up are ultimately more successful and effective (faithful?) in the Kingdom of
God. It seems the more rigid and assured
you are, the more you can accomplish. I
often feel like deep seated unresolved issues work themselves out as passion,
dedication and energy for the mission.
So I know all these amazing people doing great things, with great
platforms, but I don't trust them or feel safe around them. But then, I don't feel effective, either. I also feel too damn old to be worried about
this.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
May God bend out the kinks.</div>
Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06913398258796422872noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2617964716805982363.post-751855396397211402014-07-11T14:53:00.004-07:002014-07-15T12:29:36.397-07:00a book review: Playing God<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWfO696MztfnW6xdsOv-w_HkbQGd8rzkhu7c-qx8FN6EjSV5CeIvuQRB0TEfxCwqKcJJYqEtZX-lYg81kpwuGSgXmfFwlBlDQypkuoGDeEuczMiJfV_Y4IqF75P_WnXEpizgqjh9kzpt8/s1600/Playing-God-Header.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWfO696MztfnW6xdsOv-w_HkbQGd8rzkhu7c-qx8FN6EjSV5CeIvuQRB0TEfxCwqKcJJYqEtZX-lYg81kpwuGSgXmfFwlBlDQypkuoGDeEuczMiJfV_Y4IqF75P_WnXEpizgqjh9kzpt8/s1600/Playing-God-Header.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a>Things I learned about Andy Crouch in Playing God:</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·</span>He is a white man in a traditional family.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·</span>He listens to
classical music.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·</span>He voted against Obama in 2008 </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·</span>He believes institutions are vital </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·H</span>e believes privilege is good, if dangerous</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·</span>He believes power is good.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br />
Of course, there is much more he reveals about himself,
but I suspect that how you view the list above will determine how you receive the
book. Many will find it an affirmation
of what they already believe and many will dismiss it out of hand – which would
be a shame. It has a lot to offer,
particularly for small groups and various
church discussions. For this I am
excited.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The argument of the book is that power is basically good,
but fallen in our world. He tugs at
scripture to demonstrate that God’s power is creative for our flourishing with the
Imago Dei but distorted by the Fall. Thus,
he links idolatry and injustice in a clear fashion in the first section. The next section details how power moves in
people, hidden or not, and claims that force, coercion and violence are not
synonymous with power. I especially liked his examination of short-term missions here. Because of these lexical distinctions, he can affirm coercion as moral suasion, a necessary use of power, if only to limit evil.
In the third section he highlights how institutions are vessels of power
meant to help humans flourish and this I think is probably the section that raises the most eyebrows. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The final section is an familiar IVP ending, full
of personal anecdotes and practical disciplines meant to tie people to the great
themes explored earlier. It feels oddly disconnected from the rest of the
book and the typical study
guide questions sure to follow conjured in my head.
Honestly, for a book that so easily dismisses Nietzsche, Foucault, and
much of the 20<sup>th</sup> centuries’ philosophical achievement, it would have
been nice to read a more robust engagement instead of the tried and true IVP
formula of; Bible talk-big idea with illustration-personal anecdote, stir
to taste. I’m not saying it’s bad-it’s
probably pedagogically effective, but after decades of reading IVP, its too
familiar… There seems to be a disconnect between the books form and the gravity of the subject. (Interestingly, this final section is really the place the church is mentioned as a witness to an alternative kind of
power.)</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Allow me to say something unfair: I am
not sure how Jesus is required to make sense of power in “Playing God.” Jesus does not seem material to the
discussion. Of course, triumphing over the powers is mentioned, but there is not enough analysis of how Jesus' power might be different from the world's, and this creates confusion in light of the emphasis on institutions. In fact, it is striking that such a book does not waste much ink portraying love as the ultimate expression of power; naming
power as love, or defining power as God’s
self-giving. The emphasis falls instead on a human flourishing that makes space for others creatively.<br />
<br />
So"Playing God” describes
power in fashion recognizable to anyone regardless of creed, which leads me to wonder what is specifically Christian about the book's notion of power. Now of course, that's unfair to say - clearly "Playing God" is rooted in the Christian Story- but other then affirming God wins, is the New Testament needed at all to describe power as Crouch does? The Barthian in me wants to call it an Old
Testament consideration without enough reference to revelation, and the
Anabaptist in me wants to examine the role of institutions, especially the
church (!) in participating in this power. Is the problem with power in the world simply
that it strays and we just need to set it back on track? Was Jesus only operating with power that was
already in the world?</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
In the end I am uneasy about this book. I am uneasy with a white evangelical author
discussing power without examining how power shapes perceptions and
epistemology. I am uneasy with US
citizens asserting the necessity and good of institutions without discussing
the genocide of Indigenous Peoples here.
Racism as way of knowing is not addressed, important, I think, for a white author asserting things about power. There are big questions of immanence and
natural law in the background, here, of theodicy and the substance of Christ. Of course, he did not set out to write a
systematic theology, so my expectations may be unfair, but I think we must at least address Christendom if we are to talk about power.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
At its best, the book stands as a subtle rebuke to evangelicals for losing hope and not pursuing justice; not hoping for
local and large scale change. It might be a good example of Brueggeman's theology from above. At worst,
the book serves as a defense of an improved status quo. It puts a lot of eggs in the evangelical
basket of culture making; placing our hopes in whether or not we can get
institutions to roll over and make nice.
Interestingly, it might be a return to an earlier progressive,
Christianity. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
And yet for all my concerns about the theological
shortcomings of the book, I paused and wondered if I should comment at
all. When I read of the work Crouch does
with International Justice Mission, a strange stillness crept over me, an awe
about the effective application of love in our world, practical and
liberating. His description of World
Vision’s work, both good and bad, was honest and compelling. I cannot fully agree with his vision of power,
but I cannot dismiss it either, and am grateful for his thoughtful work in the
name of Jesus. </div>
Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06913398258796422872noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2617964716805982363.post-4211990371732639022014-07-11T14:52:00.000-07:002014-07-11T14:52:00.441-07:00dont let them bury me....im not dead yet<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06913398258796422872noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2617964716805982363.post-59642270036221660712013-11-08T23:51:00.002-08:002013-11-08T23:51:44.302-08:00The New Pacifism - links galore for the seeking!There are some really neat blog posts being written about "The New Pacifism." It revolves around a synchroblog event and you can find links and comments on twitter at<br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23TheNewPacifism&src=hash">https://twitter.com/search?q=%23TheNewPacifism&src=hash</a><br />
<br />
Some really neat stuff discussed. I'd love to chat more about it locally, too, especially at the intersection of Latino & Asian American worlds in CA. Seems significant in light of immigration policies.Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06913398258796422872noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2617964716805982363.post-33280624048680394352013-11-06T12:48:00.003-08:002013-11-06T12:59:42.907-08:00Loyalty, NBA, and the Transcendent Black Athlete<br />
Ramona Shelburne wrote <a href="http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/9926855/houston-rockets-star-dwight-howard-return-los-angeles-symbol-new-nba" target="_blank">an interesting piece on the ESPN</a> website in which she observes that the new NBA superstars are not as loyal to the franchise name as they are to their own brand. Guys like LeBron and Kobe are worldwide brands selling all manner of things. Unlike team equipment, much of the merchandise and endorsement money they earn goes directly to them, not their team. She observes:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Since <a href="http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/1966/lebron-james" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225fb2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">LeBron James</a>' infamous 2010 decision, the rest of the NBA's best young stars have chosen to play with the rest of the NBA's best young stars. Franchise history and Q-rating have mattered little. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
It's at this point that the old guard starts railing about a generation of highlight-seeking, fundamental-lacking, self-absorbed superstars who have no concept of team basketball. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
But while the old guard rails, the young men running today's NBA have been cozying up to Wall Street CEOs and sitting in marketing meetings with the shoe companies and Madison Avenue executives who have been doing a better job at building their brands than individual NBA teams for the past couple of decades. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The message those CEOs and "mad men" deliver is simple: The sooner you win, the better your brand becomes. The more you win, the bigger your brand grows. James was the test case, and is now the example they all follow.</blockquote>
<br />
I appreciate Shelburne's insight and respect her perseverance in the hyper-male sports industry, but I think there is a further dimension to explore in her essay: race. A lot of the head shaking, state-of-the-association bemoaning needs to be reconsidered in light of the racial composition of the NBA.<a href="http://www.swimtownpools.com/racial-breakdown-of-mlb-nba-nfl-a/271.htm" title="Racial Breakdown of Professional Sports, MLB, NBA, NFL"><img a="" american.="" and="" anything="" are="" as="" assorted="" at="" athlete="" billionaire="" billionaires.="" black="" br="" bunch="" business="" but="" cant="" celebrate="" composed="" doesn="" european="" free="" he="" help="" him="" if="" image="" immigrants="" in="" increasingly="" independently="" is="" largely="" least="" machinery.="" market="" men="" much="" nba="" nbsp="" need="" needs="" not="" of="" or="" owners="" owns="" part="" pundits="" should="" south="" src="http://swimtownpools.com/v/vspfiles/assets/images/race-in-sports-infograph.jpg" successful="" t="" talent="" that="" the="" thinks="" threat="" valued="" w.a.s.p.-y="" wealthy="" white="" who="" wonder="" worse="" /></a><br />
The transcendent black athlete has always been controversial in US sports, right? But to bemoan the loss of team brand loyalty as the athletes themselves become the brand runs the risk of hoping black athletes would remain loyal to white billionaires who begrudge the athlete's freedom. (Just look at the last collective bargaining agreement trying to limit player movement. -they don't do that for day laborers.) I'm still mad Howard left the Lakers - the Lakers are the home team, but it might be a good thing that the players are not under the thumb of the perennially wealthy WASP club. (Who also donate to particular political campaigns....but that's another post) Labor has a larger voice, in essence. <br />
<br />
Of course, the sub-elite players still have their financial success tied to the franchise's performance, so the good-ole' boy team brand billionaire club isn't going away. As Goldman-Sachs demonstrated, billionaires are good at avoiding that. At least at the top, there is a class of NBA athlete - largely black- that is less obligated to them, and earning what the market commands. (yeah, I know -market economy is a whole nother deal, too.) <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06913398258796422872noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2617964716805982363.post-8268985617270839642013-10-23T11:49:00.002-07:002013-10-23T13:27:29.467-07:00Theological Confusions: ArtI have a couple of issues. Well, more than a couple. Somewhere in that mystical confluence we call "person" where the brain and the heart meet, I am aware there are deep seated confusions I harbor about the Kingdom of God. I get the easy things in life twisted. So here they are, offered as discussion material.<br />
<br />
Art.<br />
What is a real Christian rationale for art? I will sometimes teach about the value of art in its sheer excess - art is a sign of excess, an overflowing of beauty that testifies to a superabundance of goodness in God. I can accept that -in part. It is a very romantic notion. But there is a part of me that is too much like Judas - I am always left wondering about the wasted resources (including time), wondering if there is something more healing or fruitful that could have been approached instead. It seems awfully wasteful to create paintings or buy instruments when that money very well could be used to feed someone hungry, contribute to their education, buy them a Bible, etc.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiQI3Qzcu0GLNVD2FT3-HXYNjYDjXU8y-9NlevgAzqaVlV6ADH5KMk73Az_3y__3t00jqt4K1uoTYLBG1kuByJBq3KdQxHCjEmHMMVNLVaD12EiGqPPKXAfKueMaYwDTb-Qs7i-EELMUk/s1600/SNB_54201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiQI3Qzcu0GLNVD2FT3-HXYNjYDjXU8y-9NlevgAzqaVlV6ADH5KMk73Az_3y__3t00jqt4K1uoTYLBG1kuByJBq3KdQxHCjEmHMMVNLVaD12EiGqPPKXAfKueMaYwDTb-Qs7i-EELMUk/s200/SNB_54201.jpg" width="200" /></a>Permit me to be honest for a moment. I love cars and woodworking. I love the beautiful things people make from common materials, some of it practical, some of it simply breathtaking. But these things require tools and materials, and expensive tools and materials at that (even the reclaimed stuff). Especially cars - I am transfixed by the stuff people can do with an English Wheel. I would call my self a hot-rodder but I've never built anything. Who can afford it? How can anyone rationally justify a $50,000 car as banks foreclose on responsible people who have lost their jobs due to health problems...<br />
<br />
So these are examples of how I experience the tension. I hear similar things about other media; music, pottery, etc. Again, I don't teach this to people - I feel equally guilty squashing people's enthusiasm. When I preach, I preach about the significance of Art. I encourage people to it, valuing the creativity and expression. But personally it is difficult for me to justify and I use the same line of logic Judas does when the woman anoints Jesus. I rationalize my own teaching by focusing on the therapeutic aspects.<br />
<br />
At bottom, I suppose my question is "when is it ok to not be explicitly actively loving people with your time and stuff?" or, what "counts" as a spiritual pursuit of art," or maybe "how do we justify the resources art requires? Even, what is a Christological justification for art? When is there too much invested in it? This is a deep theo-motional* confusion for me. What say you?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
*COPYRIGHTED!<br />
(eat your heart out, Pat Riley)<br />
<br />
<br />Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06913398258796422872noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2617964716805982363.post-10453541465594876952013-10-10T22:31:00.000-07:002013-10-11T09:14:11.499-07:00Some October creativityUm, so I do try to make music.<br />
But I'm not so very good, nor is it all that normal.<br />
I tend towards 3 genres in particular; pop/rock, country/blues, and electronic stuff.<br />
(I dig melodic, upbeat e/idm and really falling for electro house lately)<br />
I was greatly cheered to find that <a href="http://fireandrose.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">David Congdon, theologian extraordinaire</a> is also a connoisseur of detectable electronica, as well.<br />
<br />
Here is a little experiment of mine in build/release for October. <br />
<embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="300" src="https://app.box.com/embed/lg795opxiau8rec.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="466" wmode="opaque"></embed>Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06913398258796422872noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2617964716805982363.post-47818596046658325972013-10-02T10:36:00.001-07:002013-10-02T11:40:28.848-07:00Money, Mark & Joy of Bible study: some exegesis<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDjTIRKfjsUBuz3qNR1EKK-G_A-BkhoQP1ECblNJRPYw-xzldv1EqmYGuUqQAFJcCwpqzJ_oYAdoBT2yGe-8M5hKTYeVF8ZJZYjwKNWcZYjfwf2nRGeIuVcjKrxpsXpngjsNuhlFqTwKM/s1600/jordan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDjTIRKfjsUBuz3qNR1EKK-G_A-BkhoQP1ECblNJRPYw-xzldv1EqmYGuUqQAFJcCwpqzJ_oYAdoBT2yGe-8M5hKTYeVF8ZJZYjwKNWcZYjfwf2nRGeIuVcjKrxpsXpngjsNuhlFqTwKM/s400/jordan.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
In our study of the Gospel of Mark, Long said something that seemed really insightful about the beginning of Mark. We looked at Mark 1: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="text Mark-1-4" id="en-NRSV-24217"><sup class="versenum">4 </sup>John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. </span> <span class="text Mark-1-5" id="en-NRSV-24218"><sup class="versenum">5 </sup>And
people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of
Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river
Jordan, confessing their sins.</span></blockquote>
When we asked the question about why people were so receptive to the message of confession and repentance, Long wondered if perhaps the people from the Judean countryside were poor people shut out from the temple (which we learn was oppressing the poor in Mark 11). In this reading, the appeal of John's baptism of repentance might be a deep resonance with people who experienced first hand the exclusions and hypocrisy of the religious institution. If so, it would anchor themes of money and justice in the very beginning of the Gospel. John's message preparing the way of the Lord is one of justice. <br />
<br />
And what of Jerusalem coming out? The phrase might only indicate everybody came out, hillbillies and sophisticates, but it might be a wink that the temple had failed even the religious. Or it's just geography. Still, with Mark's economy of words, I suspect there may be more here. Has this reading been entertained or explored elsewhere? I would love to hear your thoughts or find resources addressing this issue if they exist. I have never considered this before. Praise God for studying the Bible in community.Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06913398258796422872noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2617964716805982363.post-82579533699322598392013-09-10T12:37:00.000-07:002013-09-11T12:59:16.155-07:00Towards a theology of leadership: a response to Lost in Translation<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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I hope this isn't too shrill a comment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I love Fitch's eager discussions and look forward
to his posts <a href="http://www.reclaimingthemission.com/?p=4029" target="_blank">about Missional misunderstandings</a>. My admittedly personal
crisis is that I have yet to find a compelling explanation of what leadership
is and how it relates to the Gospel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My suspicion is that the concept of leadership is in the same category as "whiteness" in the way Cone and J.K.Carter discuss it, perhaps a part of it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the very least, it doesn't seem like the cultural nature is understood, which makes me think its just too much a part of the air we breathe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I get it practically;
stuff does need to get done, but the theology behind it has worn thin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Now </span>I
just talk about responsibility instead because I feel like I can get there more
honestly in my conversations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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So why leaders?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Especially, why then leaders in a country that idolizes leadership and
believes in "git er done" at all costs?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I feel like our messianic desires blind us to
Bonheoffer’s warning that "giving people hope, investing their lives with
meaning, awakening their spiritual yearnings – it becomes a dangerous and
potentially unlimited power, " even though what he describes here is exactly many
people's experience of leadership.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is revered by people studying churches, ignored by systematic theologians and in my scant reading, only really addressed by political
philosophers who have no theology for it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I have yet found a robust theology of leadership.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The 5 fold gifting that gets talked about is really not
very satisfying. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How can we assert
leadership is really structured this way?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What about the other gifts listed?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>How are the 5 culturally bound?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Why are they assumed not commanded, and what does that imply?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why do roles and gifts not consistently overlap in scripture?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Quite honestly, the 5 gifting
roles feels more often like a publisher's invention and as far as I can tell, much of its
weight comes from Bobby Clinton's leadership research, which would seem to beg
the question.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even the folks in my
church are not sold there is anything definitive behind them as categories.</div>
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<br /></div>
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And what of the critique of
leadership in scripture;, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>from Pharaoh
(or Lamech..?)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to Israel's Kings, Jesus’
refusal to be called Rabbi to the first communities’ upsetting <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>power dynamics; so why is it largely assumed
in churches? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus was a servant, not a
servant leader.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes in the quiet, I
begin wondering what our leadership ideas say about God (subordination, etc)
and my head explodes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Scanners
FTW!)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The short version is that our discussion and focus on leadership occupies more space in our modern conversations than it seems to in the Bible.</div>
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I propose we need a better theological consideration of
leadership, one that can address what it is as a phenomenon or essence, one
that can untangle how our assumptions about what needs to be done are wrapped
up in our assumptions about our role in God’s salvific economy; one that makes
sense theologically; one that is even Trinitarian.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I guess I would just like to see
leadership theory develop in a way that doesn’t just look like Christianized
version of Barnes & Noble’s business section.</div>
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Or, it could all be semantics :P<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Thanks again, Mr. Fitch.<br />
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">(edited for typos/clarity, etc 9/11)</span></div>
Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06913398258796422872noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2617964716805982363.post-23457115895031270262013-08-15T11:58:00.003-07:002013-08-15T11:58:42.384-07:00Fantastic post on privilegeFirst, Andrea Smith posted a killer essay on privilege. (Quote is linked) It's really good:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<a href="http://andrea366.wordpress.com/2013/08/14/the-problem-with-privilege-by-andrea-smith/" target="_blank">Silva’s analysis thus critiques the presumption that the problem
facing racialized and colonized peoples is that they have been
“dehumanized.” Anti-racist intellectual and political projects are
often premised on the notion that if people knew us better, we too would
be granted humanity. But, according to Silva, the fundamental issue
that does not get addressed, is that “the human” is already a racial
project. It is a project that aspires to universality, a project that
can only exist over and against the particularity of “the other.”</a><br />
<a href="http://andrea366.wordpress.com/2013/08/14/the-problem-with-privilege-by-andrea-smith/" target="_blank">
</a><a href="http://andrea366.wordpress.com/2013/08/14/the-problem-with-privilege-by-andrea-smith/" target="_blank"> Consequently, two problems result. First, those who are put in the position of racialized and colonized others presume that liberation will ensue if they can become self-determining subjects – in other words, if they can become fully “human.” However, the humanity to which we aspire still depends on the continued oppression of other racialized/colonized others. Thus, a liberation struggle that does not question the terms by which humanity is understood becomes a liberation struggle that depends on the oppression of others.</a></blockquote>
What do you think about this? I love the way she calls out the press to valorize oppression as a goal; the invention of new oppressed categories among the privileged. I must definitely read more.<br />
<br />
Second, Kotsko has an engaging ruminationon the discourse of privilege as well. He has some very helpful considerations about the word "privilege" and how it can be better defined. And he also pokes at white guys:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<a href="http://itself.wordpress.com/2013/08/13/privilege-and-white-dudes/" target="_blank">The goal is not, however, to make white dudes feel less prickly and defensive, because as I said, prickly defensiveness is one of the core pillars of white dude identity. The way to deal with white dudes is to figure out a way to make them a different type of person than a white dude, and that can’t happen through strong arguments or carefully calibrated rhetoric — it’s a matter of figuring out how to jar them out of their subject-position, not “convincing” them to accept some kind of opinion in an extrinsic way. Provoking prickly defensiveness in certain white dudes may actually be helpful here, in that it might shock white dudes with the potential to become something better into realizing how obnoxious white dudes really are. This is a tough thing for liberal activists to come to terms with, I know, because one wants to believe that open, honest dialogue can change everything, but the sad truth is that it can’t.</a></blockquote>
There's an earlier post on the subject, too. <br />
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<br />
And for the record, a moment of self location<br />
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Thoughts?Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06913398258796422872noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2617964716805982363.post-69874043997751145302013-08-05T12:36:00.002-07:002013-08-05T19:05:31.813-07:00J. K. Carter, Colossians and Church Branding<blockquote class="tr_bq">
17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3</blockquote>
The obvious struck me in church yesterday*: When Paul** addresses the church at Colossae, he addresses the whole body, not just individual believers. He calls the Colossians to put on the new self, reasoning as in Galatians 3, that they are different from the world with, "no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all." <br />
<br />
To me it suggests that the call to do all "in the name of the Lord Jesus" isn't a call to personal piety, but rather a call to a community to identify as God's newly created people.<br />
<br />
While false teachings pulled at the body in Colossae, Paul's antidote is to be united in Christ; to act and do things only in His name, not fragment into different competing bodies of ideology or practice. A word of caution - I don't believe this passage is trying to "erase the color lines." Paul is very aware of them in entirety of the letter. But he does serve to nullify the other identity claims surrounding them that would call them out of their unity-in-difference. <br />
<br />
Colossians read corporately, not individualitsically, may judge our concern for church "branding." I am again trying to work out here what I've read in Carter's <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Race-Theological-J-Kameron-Carter/dp/0195152794">Race, A theological Account</a>, </i>a kind of follow up from <a href="http://epicblogerin.blogspot.com/2013/08/some-thoughts-on-fitchs-post-about.html">the last post.</a>, while it's on the brain. Branding might actually be an idolatrous effort to engage the world on its own terms with a false identity instead of simply recalling the corporate identity of the Christ created, diverse community. <br />
<br />
It's interesting because nonprofits and churches in the western US spend a lot of effort trying name themselves, market themselves, create an identify in the church marketplace, but it seems like the movements of God in people in other places that bubble up into our American awareness are always given "observed names", functional names, the kind of names a sociologist might use as a label, not a catchy brand. They don't seem, from my narrow vantage point, to be the claimed and marketed identities that we make but are instead identities that come from their practices. <br />
<br />
ymmv<br />
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*Thanks Tom Crisp for teaching!<br />
**Is it Paul? Probably not, but Dunn intrigues my by suggesting it is very soon after, or perhaps with Paul's input given the chronology of the letter.<br />
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-edited for readability.Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301222412563398458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2617964716805982363.post-35400960383382745122013-08-02T17:16:00.002-07:002013-08-05T19:11:50.400-07:00Some thoughts on Fitch's post about Missional WhitenessI really appreciate Prof. Fitch and his contribution to American Christian dialogue. A great big “thank you!” for all he’s said and done seems in order at the outset; I am a long time admirer. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Great-Giveaway-Organizations-Psychotherapy/dp/080106483X" target="_blank">The Great Give Away</a> was a book that voiced things I had only felt shadows of, and I recommend it as often as possible. I also genuinely appreciate his post <a href="http://www.reclaimingthemission.com/?p=3920">“The Missional Movement is Mostly White and What We Should Do About it.”</a> Again, Prof. Fitch has voiced important dynamics and convictions that my WASP-ish self thinks are great. So this is the spirit of my reflections; some analysis couched in appreciation.<br />
<br />
The primary problem I believe with the “missional” movement in engaging cross culturally is that it reenacts the identity violence Carter lays out in<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Race-Theological-J-Kameron-Carter/dp/0195152794/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375488477&sr=1-1&keywords=race+a+theological+account"> Race: A Theological Account</a>. That is to say, that inherent in the missional movement is an aspiration to be a<i> thing</i>. In reifying its identity instead of receiving it, the field of possible cross cultural action is already limited. I suppose this is a fancy way of saying that the missional movement is a white thing, made by white people in the womb of white churches, and as much as it seeks to establish its own identity as a movement, it cannot, by design, meet people of color. The effort to be a movement may actually inhibit things. <br />
<br />
As Fitch's article (correctly, I take it) wonders about the 2 different narratives, I find myself wondering if he has bumped up against the limits of the white container that holds the missional movement's identity. My concern is that the movement is a power now, a force in the church marketplace, albeit small, and in the process of asserting an identity a philosophical violence of identity happens that reinforces the walls of hostility. "Why aren't there more people of color here?" Because you are not where people of color are, perhaps. <br />
<br />
And to be honest, "missional movement" just sounds like saying "Hey, we're not evangelicals or fundamentalists so what's left?" I think the two narratives Fitch describes speaks to this, but instead of a call to repristinate the historical narratives of Christ's work in our denominations, the missional movement is an allegiance to an ideological abstraction born from evangelicalism that from the outset did not include people of color. The generality of the movement seems awfully evangelical in its means of propagation, and if it does not emphasize the particulars of denominations or cities its churches are located in, the missional movement might betray its own call to local engagement by its abstraction of the race problem at times like these.<br />
<br />
"Why aren't people of color coming to our conferences?" <br />
Because you got no friends in town to invite? <br />
Or you are inviting to a generalized theological position that doesn't reach anyone...<br />
"Wait. Who are you again?"<br />
<br />
Now, there are 1000’s of more practical reasons why cross cultural engagement is hard for white missional churches. Practical problems. Real interpersonal problems; structural problems. But while there is talk about inviting minority voices to the table at conferences, in discussions, etc., there doesn’t seem to be an impetus to go and learn from those voices in a way that displaces our white claims on identity. A faithful missional <i>ethic</i> might involve abandoning a missional identity, abandoning the invitation for people of color to participate in this missional identity and instead challenge white folks to leave white churches and go submit to someone else’s agenda. Can one be missional and give up ideals of what church should be like? I think we have to if we have any hope of real reconciliation and justice. <br />
<br />
I suppose this may read like the nuclear option; dismantling missional as an operational category, but that is not my intent. I just think that as attractive as the missional movement is to me, I am also aware that there are conferences, publishing contracts and seminaries involved. These things are reasons to not abandon one’s self fully to the other, ideological constructs we can be more committed to instead of the people in our cities. I am naïve enough to believe that if we give ourselves to caring for our cities and towns and states we will inevitably be brought into relationships with different folks and have to work through things together. That is where the voices will be shared, diverse and univocal; not at a conference missional folks want to put on and ask black people to. (Where are the A.A. and Latino voices, among others?) Go to someone else's church. Read someone else's books. I also agree that some rudimentary conversation must always take place for any community to happen. What I am wary of is always being the inviter, not the attendee. <br />
<br />
It might just be that it is precisely here, on matters of race, that the missional movement must die to itself and hope for something on the other side. Carter has forced me to rethink things, and this is another exercise to try and think anew about the politics of Christian identity, so forgive my clunky writing. I am also grateful to Prof. Fitch, too for publicly displaying his whiteness in a way I hope more white men will see as a struggle for Godly freedom and responsibility in Jesus. It's a good discussion, thanks.<br />
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*edited 8/5/13 for grammar and readability.<br />
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Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301222412563398458noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2617964716805982363.post-37917167939400079232013-07-30T10:50:00.000-07:002013-07-30T10:51:14.088-07:00If poetry dies in a forest, does anyone hear?Maybe all the good poetry has moved to poetry-slams. Does anyone read poetry anymore? Does it matter? Did it ever? It struck me today I used to read and write a great deal of it. No more. I guess it just doesn't sell.Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06913398258796422872noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2617964716805982363.post-22893543837943732732013-07-26T19:52:00.000-07:002013-07-26T19:52:18.514-07:00Real Racial Dialogue<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="288" mozallowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" src="http://www.hulu.com/embed.html?eid=5fvwk9lkeuuthrlwpl5g5g&partner=aol&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.hulu.com%2fwatch%2f514294" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="512"></iframe><br />
<br />
I laughed: I cried.
So good it hurts.Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301222412563398458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2617964716805982363.post-87791346678385220702013-07-19T15:11:00.002-07:002013-07-19T21:15:53.133-07:00On Trayvon Martin or how to miss what is thereI believe the courts decided correctly that George Zimmerman did not break any laws. <br />
<br />
That is the problem.<br />
<br />
One child is now dead because of his (Z's) recklessness and no law was offended. It seemed justifiable to the jury because the child was black and wore a hoodie; two things suffused with enough symbolic threat to America that the child who engaged his stalker was deemed more at fault. The kid was given the death penalty while his killer is free.<br />
<br />
Yes, Zimmerman acted in self defense. He really did. He had to defend himself from his attacker.<br />
But who really attacked whom? Did Trayvon have reason to be equally as scared? It would be unthinkable if this case set precedent to convict white women who confront the men stalking them. I was taken aback when Trayvon was described as a threatening 6'2". I'm 6'3"<br />
<br />
Zimmerman's pursuit was judged as inconsequential by the law because the power of blackness is a much greater threat that justified the tailing, which led to the confrontation, which led to fight, which led to the shooting. To the jury at least. And at the very least, even if they are convinced race played no part, they decided that menacing children at night in the rain because they might take stuff is more acceptable than confronting your stalker. In the meantime the media has lit upon the hoodie** That's creepy. <br />
<br />
Should Martin have confronted Zimmerman like he did? Probably not. But that just can't be the real problem here if such vast swaths of our society are quick to point out how "thug" a hoodie is, as if that somehow justifies anything. It doesn't. It just confesses the deeply embedded racism* in America. <br />
<br />
The Zimmerman case is about race. How can it not be if the judge had to exclude it at the outset of the trial? Excluding it is itself an admission it exists and affects the consideration of things. My conclusion so far is that the case demonstrates something I learned from some friends and a book, Divided by Faith, that if your mindset is shaped by individualism as most white folks are (guilty, here), it's easy to see the case as a tragic tale and only allow a particular data set to be used in deciding the right and wrong of what happened. If you have a different sensibility,different worldview, then perhaps there is a larger picture that emerges in which a black child was killed and it's ok by the law. Which just happens to be something that has happened many times in our nation's history. <br />
<br />
Martin's death is one of many that happened unjustly in our country that day, but the common story becomes a place where we can see how these unholy dynamics of power are at work in our national body. Or choose not to see them. But that is no real choice at all if we believe we are called to participate in the body of Christ and find our humanity in him. <br />
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In the meantime, pray for his mother who has been clinging to Jesus through it all.<br />
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**Their just seems such much here to mine in understanding the sybolism of America's pathologies. To be honest, I'm not down with the hoodie movement, because these things become too "cool". I picture lots of well meaning kids rushing to the GAP to pick up a new hoodie to make a statement instead of accepting and caring someone who is really different from them. Which incidentally, is what Rachel Jeantel said was true of Martin, that he "<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Rachel Jeantel, the teen who had been speaking with Martin on the phone at the time of the murder, spoke after her testimony to </span><a class="external" href="http://blackamericaweb.com/142401/trayvon-martin-was-one-of-the-few-guys-who-didnt-tease-rachel-jeantel-rod-vereen/" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.298039); box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 51, 153) !important; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">say Trayvon</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> was “one of the few guys that never made fun of [Jeantel], about the way [she] dressed, about the way [she] talked, about [her] hair, about [her] complexion… about [her] weight.”</span><br />
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.inquisitr.com/832039/was-trayvon-martin-an-honor-student-with-a-3-7-gpa/#SKEXucyZVgb09Ee1.99" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.298039); box-sizing: border-box; color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">http://www.inquisitr.com/832039/was-trayvon-martin-an-honor-student-with-a-3-7-gpa/#SKEXucyZVgb09Ee1.99</a> </span><br />
*uggh, don't even like to use that word it gets so twisted. Racialization? Racial sin? Presumptive white bigotry? institutionalized xenophobia? Sin. that's really the best I can do.Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06913398258796422872noreply@blogger.com0