what i'm working on (and why)
DESCRIPTION
from presentation to UCC pastors in Phoenix, 14 Jan 14.TRANSCRIPT
What I’m working on ...
and why
My next book:
52+ short chaptersCan be read aloud in 8-10 minutesCover the whole Bible from Genesis to RevelationA comprehensive biblical lectionaryFollows the general contour of traditional church year- Pre-Advent - Hebrew Scriptures- Advent - transition to Jesus- Epiphany - life of Jesus-Lent - Sermon on Mount- Passion Week - passion- Easter - church as community of resurrection- Pentecost - Epistles/RevelationPresent a coherent reading of the biblical narrative(s)- An evolving view of God- And evolving view of humanity - Focused on creation and new creation - Outside of traditional atonement categories
Plus ...
6 discussion questions for each chapter5 Guidelines for Learning Circles
- Participation- Honor- Silence- Understanding- Brevity
Introductory LiturgyEucharistic Liturgy
My hopes:1. Churches can use it for a season or whole year
- Breaks routine, provides liturgical innovation- Provides framework for Revised Common Lectionary- Provides space for invitation, outreach- Frees pastoral time for other activities for a year
2. Families, small groups, classes, campus groups, senior living groups, summer camps, prison groups, spiritual directors, etc., can use the book as a curriculum or catechism.
3. Spontaneous learning circles can form - and become affiliated as “satellites” or partners with existing congregations.
4. Individuals can use it for their own orientation and reorientation.
mesa project
9
Is there a future on planet earth for ...progressive/emergent/open/intellectually honest/socially responsible/generous Christian faith?
THE PHOENIX AFFIRMATIONS Version 3.8
CHRISTIAN LOVE OF GOD INCLUDES:
1. Walking fully in the Path of Jesus without denying the legitimacy of other paths that God may provide for humanity.
2. Listening for God’s Word, which comes through daily prayer and meditation, studying the ancient testimonies which we call Scripture, and attending to God’s present activity in the world.
3. Celebrating the God whose Spirit pervades and whose glory is reflected in all of God’s Creation, including the earth and its ecosystems, the sacred and secular, the Christian and non-Christian, the human and non-human.
4. Expressing our love in worship that is as sincere, vibrant, and artful as it is scriptural.
CHRISTIAN LOVE OF NEIGHBOR INCLUDES:
5. Engaging people authentically, as Jesus did, treating all as creations made in God’s very image, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental ability, nationality, or economic class.
6. Standing, as Jesus does, with the outcast and oppressed, the denigrated and afflicted, seeking peace and justice with or without the support of others.
7. Preserving religious freedom and the church’s ability to speak prophetically to government by resisting the commingling of church and state.
8. Walking humbly with God, acknowledging our own shortcomings while honestly seeking to understand and call forth the best in others, including those who consider us their enemies.
CHRISTIAN LOVE OF SELF INCLUDES:
9. Basing our lives on the faith that in Christ all things are made new and that we, and all people, are loved beyond our wildest imaginations—for eternity.
10. Claiming the sacredness of both our minds and our hearts, and recognizing that faith and science, doubt and belief serve the pursuit of truth.
11. Caring for our bodies and insisting on taking time to enjoy the benefits of prayer, reflection, worship, and recreation in addition to work.
12. Acting on the faith that we are born with a meaning and purpose, a vocation and ministry that serve to strengthen and extend God’s realm of love.
Africa ...
Latin America ...
Asia ...
Europe ...
http://brianmclaren.net/archives/blog/back-from-thailand.html
cana initiative
Convening, Advocating, Networking and Acting For A Generous Christianity in North America
The CANA Initiative is a collective of faith-engaged organizations, individuals, institutions and networks rooted in a generous Christian tradition, who seek to embody a new Christian ethos leading to constructive collective action in the
United States.
The CANA Initiative seeks to create a healthy ecosystem for connection among existing and emerging individuals, organizations, and networks and will serve as an
influential “network of networks.”
The CANA Initiative is comprised of Roman Catholic, Evangelical, Mainline Protestant, Orthodox, and other Christians who believe the future for Christian life
and mission will be different in many ways from the past and present.
The CANA Initiative brings together innovative leaders from all streams of the faith to collaborate in the development of new ways of being Christian...new ways of doing theology and living biblically, new understandings and practices of mission, new kinds of faith communities, new approaches to worship and spiritual formation, new integrations and conversations and convergences and dreams.
The CANA Initiative participants share a sense of exploration, creativity, challenge and opportunity in this pivotal and dynamic moment. Because we are rooted in a generous Christian heritage, we are eager to collaborate with people of other faiths, and those seeking the common good. Our networks of dialogue and action thus extend beyond Christian communities to persons of all faiths, as well as to communities that are not themselves faith-based. We welcome allies and allegiances wherever we find common cause.
The CANA Initiative seeks to translate critical thinking about the past and present into creative collective action for the future, and to do so in a spirit that is positive, irenic, sympathetic, and generous. In this way, The CANA Initiative seeks to support and encourage what is often called Emergence Christianity. We welcome people from a wide spectrum of theological, political, and ethnic traditions. We encourage a wide range of ecclesial structures. The CANA Initiative sees this diversity as a sign of health and vitality.
Parker Palmer’s 4 stages of social change
1. Divided no more2. Communities of
congruence3. Going public4. Alternative Rewards
Greg Leffel’s 6 components
1. Opportunity Structure2. Rhetorical framing3. Protest (messaging) strategy4. Mobilization strategy5. Movement culture6. Participant Biography
What I’m working on ...
and why
book
mesa
cana
What I’m working on ...
and why
Three things I’m not doing ...
1. Private mentoring of a few
2. Creation of non-print resources
3. Making “asks” of institutions
Three things you’re already doing ...
1. Preaching
2. Worship planning
3. Program planning
1. Preaching -the Gospel ...God ...Jesus ...Holy Spirit ...Bible ...Salvation ...
2. Worship planningLiturgy as group spiritual
practicePrayersSongsAffirmationsConfessions (sin, wounds)Invitations
3. Program planningWhat experiences, skills,
conversations, knowledge?
How to Deliver/Develop?
How to Invite/Evaluate/Celebrate?
Setting vs. Meeting expectations
Three things you’re already doing ...
1. Preaching
2. Worship planning
3. Program planning
Three things you may not be doing ...
1. Mentoring a few trailblazers (80/20)
2. Movement Building
3. Human Life outside Ministry
1. Mentoring a few trailblazers (80/20)
- Congregation- Denomination- Community
2. Movement Building
we need a theology of
institutions, movements. and Communities
Communities
Families, individuals, and organizations linked to a common environment, collaborating for the common good.
Institutions:
Organizations which conserve the gains made by past
social movements.
Social Movements
Organizations which make proposals or demands to current institutions to make progress towards new gains.
Both movements and institutions...
Organize for their purposeNeed one anotherAre frustrated with one
anotherBenefit or harm communities
Church as community, movement, and institution ...
Some movementssuccessfully inject their values
into the institutions they challenge
Other movementscreate their own institutions,
or pass away
Vital movementscall people to passionate,
sacrificial personal commitment
Sustainable institutionscreate loyalty across
generations through evocative rituals & traditions
Greg Leffel’s Movement Components1. Opportunity Structure2. Rhetorical framing3. Protest (messaging) strategy4. Mobilization strategy5. Movement culture6. Participant Biography
Jesus says the kingdom of God is like gardening (an organic movement) not warfare (institutional action): It spreads through seeds ... sown into systems to grow.
The seeds of the message.
The seeds of people who personally embody the message.
The seeds of communities who socially embody the message.
Jesus seizes the opportunity structure provided by conflicted elites (Pharisees/Sadducees; Herodians/Zealots) and struggling masses (Galilee/Judea)
He provides rhetorical framing on hillsides, in houses, on retreats, in public teach-ins, in debates, through parables, through rituals and practices. He repeats key themes - commonwealth of God, life to the full, life of the ages, liberation - rooted in dynamic tension with tradition.
His protest (messaging) strategy includes public demonstrations (healings & miracles), teach-ins (sermon on mount), civil disobedience (turning tables), guerilla theatre (exorcisms), festivals (feasts & feedings), naming evil (woes), naming heroes (blessings).
He develops a mobilization strategy based on 3, 12, 70, and multitudes. He entrusts freely with responsibility and expresses high confidence in his agents (greater things shall you do ...)
He associates his movement culture with love, joy, justice, risk, hope, creativity, courage, service, willingness to suffer, nonviolence.
He provides his disciples challenge, rest, retreat, encouragement, recovery after failures. They testify that their participant biographies have been forever changed for the better.
we need a theology of
Communities, institutions and movements
What spiritual movement is trying to be born among us today?
What are its demands/proposals?
What role might we play in its emergence?
3. Human Life Outside Ministry
LIFE MINISTRY
JOB
Three things you’re already doing ...
1. Preaching
2. Worship planning
3. Program planning
Three things you may not be doing ...
1. Mentoring a few trailblazers (80/20)
2. Movement Building
3. Human Life outside Ministry
Symeon the New Theologian (949-1022), a saint and mystic, wrote some words that point beautifully to this new force field, that we call the Body of Christ.
We awaken in Christ’s body,As Christ awakens our bodies.There I look down and my poor hand is Christ,He enters my foot and is infinitely me.I move my hand and wonderfullyMy hand becomes Christ,Becomes all of Him.I move my foot and at onceHe appears in a flash of lightning.Do my words seem blasphemous to you?—Then open your heart to him.And let yourself receive the oneWho is opening to you so deeply.For if we genuinely love Him, We wake up inside Christ’s bodyWhere all our body all over,Every most hidden part of it,Is realized in joy as Him,And He makes us utterly real.And everything that is hurt, everythingThat seemed to us dark, harsh, shameful,maimed, ugly, irreparably damagedIs in Him transformed.And in Him, recognized as whole, as lovely.And radiant in His light,We awaken as the belovedIn every last part of our body.
From Richard Rohr, Things Hidden, pp. 219-220