Monday, March 26, 2007
What everybody else said
Here's links to other perspectives on Thinspace. Because I wasn't the only one there.

Audio files on all the main sessions can be downloaded here.

I took some pictures. Not enough. Alan took more. So did Kevin. Glenn has a couple.

Alan wrote up what he shared in his breakout session about liturgy:

What about that word - organic? Let's think about that for a minute. Think about the natural world, organic life - how does that work anyway? It's certainly not formless or chaotic. Organic life has rhythm. It’s not accidental. It's not wherever, whenever, whatever. That's not organic. I think liturgy is organic. It is a rhythm of activity focused on God, on God in the community of His People the Church. It moves in seasons - like breathing, leaves falling, buds sprouting, freezing and thawing, mating and giving birth, etc.
Jackie's excited about engaging the neighborhood.

Kevin saw some answered prayer.

Tom felt some sense of belonging.

Amber feels intangibly different.

Steven made lots of friends (part one and then two).

Andy liked the liturgy stuff.

Will made it a roadtrip: Day 4, Day 5.

Lemme know if I missed somebody.

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Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Thinspace thoughts


I think I'm a liturgical Metho-matic. I'm stealing that from Kevin S.

I've spent the last several months thinking a lot about hospitality, reading a lot about hospitality, writing a lot about hospitality. This weekend I got to receive it. Kevin and his wife Becky welcomed Jackie and I to crash the night at their place.

Saturday in one of the breakout sessions, we were each introducing ourselves and offering some context to our background. "I'm a liturgical Metho-matic," says Kevin. He loves liturgy and has roots in Methodism and charismatic stuff. Hey, me, too.

***

"Thinspace" is a term having to do with closeness. Closeness both between people and between the invisible world with the visible. That place where they almost touch. That was the theme of the weekend.

***

"People convert themselves," said Casper. The morning "speaker" Saturday was a conversation between Matt Casper and Jason Evans. Casper is an atheist. Jason is responsible for things like Ecclesia. But they're, like, best pals.

So anyway, I was struck by Matt's comment. Because I agree, totally, but I don't, totally. In context, he was arguing that people are not converted by arguments and propositional statements. Lee Strobel does nothing for him. And I agree. Charts and graphs and logic didn't lead me to repentance. (as an aside, "repentance" has nothing to do with your sins. Jesus never said "repent of your sins." He said "Repent." It has to do with your mind and how you think.) (as another aside, why doesn't children's church have the kids memorize Romans 2:4b?)

But I disagree. People don't convert themselves; the Holy Spirit does.
***

One highlight of the weekend for me was hearing from Bob Ekblad. Bob has recently written a book called Reading the Bible with the Damned. He's also responsible for a group called Tierra Nueva. I found his story pretty fascinating, as he weaved together his experience from working with peasant farmers in Guatemala to undocumented workers in Washington state, to the Toronto revival to being a jail chaplain in Skaggit Cty. All the while, his narrative was framed by Isaiah 61 and Jesus' appropriation of it in Luke 4. I'm not sure if I've ever heard someone hold in tension spiritual deliverance and social advocacy, of presence and healing, both at the same time in quite this way.

***

"If we are rebellious, it is because we bear hope and life. This is Jesus' way." Somebody said this at some point. I wrote it down. Maybe it was Bob.

***

Another highlight for both Jackie and me was a breakout session with Kevin Rains and Dave Nixon, the co-pastors of Vineyard Central. Kevin called the discussion "Un-pimping and Re-monking the Church." The idea being historic spiritual disciplines, and that some deal with abstinence and some deal with action. Particularly, hearing Dave talk about the vow of stability he committed himself to impressed us both. I think the monks of Gethsemani call this a "vow of location." In the class about Christian community we talked about it in terms of fidelity or faithfulness. Dave related it to committing himself and his family to this neighborhood for life. That's an idea that really hits home for me as I maneuver denominational ordination options.

Their conversation telling their story about their families living together under one roof and the communal aspect of their church also opened up for both of us the desire to one day live in an intentional Christian communal setting.

***

George Hunsberger teaches missiology stuff at Western Theological Seminary. He talked about being a gospeled community and attending to the life of the world. I like hearing "gospeled" as an adjective.

He talked about how the Christian community is a sign to the world. Makes me wonder, What kind of a sign are we to the neighborhood? The Church is where the Kingdom is lived out. And again I wonder, Can it be done?

***

This is our goose to guide us.



As a part of the St. Patrick's theme, much of the weekend incorporated Celtic Christian traditions. The ancient Irish Christians found the dove to be an unsatisfactory symbol for them of the Holy Spirit. A dove was too domesticated. Rather, they saw in the goose the qualities they experienced from the Holy Spirit--seemingly cantankerous, noisy, maybe even a little obnoxious, yet ever graceful and stately and beautiful. But most importantly, never controllable or tameable or predictable. I'm still loving this image of the Holy Spirit who leads us.

So this fabric icon was made by a local artist.

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Sunday, March 18, 2007
Thinspace & the Feast of St. Patty's

Jackie and I spent the weekend up at Vineyard Central in Cincinnati for the Feast of St. Patrick. It was 24-hour period gathering of friends and spiritual family from all around. There were about 150 people there--house church communities from Cincy, Lexington, Columbus, Oxford, Michigan, Florida and even as far as the west coast. It was a blast of fresh air for us. It was like the class I had to take in seminary called Kingdom, Church and World. Only this was really cool.

How did we wind up here? I got connections. Two and half years ago when I got here to Kentucky I connected with Alan Creech and Vine and Branches. Through them I came to know what was going on at the Brownhouse and VC. I visited about two years ago for a weekend discussion about the arts and church.

I, particularly, was really excited about this weekend. We have plans to move from Wilmore to urban Lexington around The Rock after our wedding in May for the purpose of more actively engaging in the activity of the church in the neighborhood, to plant ourselves (at least for this season) in the community to work and watch the Kingdom of God transform the neighborhood. I was excited because it was an opportunity to meet and connect with people doing the stuff we anticipate getting into ourselves. I was excited because, as much I as appreciate my seminary experience, it's not cultivating my creativity. My kindred souls with whom I can question the methods and practices of institutional church are few and far between.

We arrived just in time for dinner at 6. Kabobs and hummus were catered in. The agenda for the evening was simple. There was the Celtic evening prayer and a brief time of singing. Todd Hunter spoke for a bit. To tell the truth, I didn't feel like I heard anything new. I feel the sensation of taking thoughts in my head and rearranging them like chess pieces on a gameboard. He talked about the Kingdom, the Church and the world, and about how the Kingdom is a secular reality. What he meant (or I took as his meaning) is that the Kingdom encompasses all of the physical world--picking up groceries, going to the post office, attending school, participating in religious activities, all of it. The Kingdom moves into all of it.

There was some talk about bi-vocationalism and how maybe it's not the hottest idea. Honestly, I wasn't expecting that here from these people. It's an idea that I've flirted with: "Maybe I'll be a teacher to support doing some real ministry." Looking at it in words now, it really looks like a stupid idea. There's a dualism inherent in the way most bi-vocationalism is practiced. The language itself is nonsense. A vocation is one thing and not schizophrenic. It's not ministry/Kingdom work over here in this corner and "real, income-earning job" in this corner. Sometimes administrating a church is a noble way to earn a living.

He also talked about how the stories we tell ourselves dictate how we live our life. For an example, he used a young girl that's decided she'll be a ballerina. That now drives how she lives every bit of her life--how she eats, exercises, how she spends her free time. It's all driven by this story of becoming a ballerina. So I wonder about the analogue of Christian discipleship. Perhaps when I make that commitment to a lifetime of modeling Jesus it now affects what I eat, what I drive, what I say, who I spend time with, how I spend my attention, everything.

He said that the greatest barrier to discipleship is the idea that it is one more thing to add to an already out of control schedule. Maybe it is in the ordering of the schedule that is discipleship. This hit particularly home as I think about the challenges we face encouraging a life of discipleship at The Rock.

And that was pretty much Friday night.

More later...

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