_______

Hiatus

2010-05-10T16:08:00.000-07:00

Not that this should come as a surprise to my two readers, but this blog is on an hiatus (a hiatus?). It'll be back when I get rich or bored. Feel free to follow my wife and I here.

Derek

Three in One, Potter and Peterson

2010-04-04T20:24:00.000-07:00

I finished Delighting in The Trinity on Friday, I was challenged by some of the thoughts in the book; one that really struck me was the following:

We were made in the image of the triune God. We find our identity through relationships. Just as there is both unity and plurality in God, so communal identity should not suppress individual identity and individual identity should not suppress communal identity. Through our union with Christ by faith, Christians are being remade in the image of the triune God. The church should be a community of unity without uniformity and diversity without division.

The idea that our identity is formed in relationship to others and not in opposition to them (or attributes alone) is brilliant and paradigm shifting! From there I went on to finish off the Harry Potter series, reading The Deathly Hollow. I laughed, I cried, I felt a whole spectrum of emotions <> I really did tear up when Dobbie the house Elf died, my thoughts were confirmed when Snape passed his thoughts off to Harry and also for the last few chapters of the book I had to pause for a bit at the end of each one so I could calm down.

Enough about Potter though, I started reading Tell it Slant: a conversation on the language of Jesus in his stories and prayers (Eugene Peterson); I am super excited about this book, it has been hanging around on my book shelf for a month or two now, slowly wiggling its way to the edge of my shelf, begging to be devoured! As stated in the introduction, here is what Peterson is going to hash out with Tell it Slant:

God does not compartmentalize our lives into religious and secular. Why do we? I want to insist on a continuity of language between the words we use in Bible studies and the words we use when we're out fishing for rainbow trout. I want to cultivate a sense of continuity between the prayers we offer to God and the conversations we have with the people we speak to and who speak to us. I want to nurture an awareness of the sanctity of words, the holy gift of language, regardless of whether it is directed vertically or horizontally. Just as Jesus did.

Bam; who doesn't want that continuity in their lives?

Off to read.

df

Arrangements

2010-03-31T18:33:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in my previous blog post, here is the arrangement for Delighting in The Trinity.

Section One: Biblical Foundations
Section Two: Historical Developments
Section Three: Practical Implications

There it is; if the rest of the theology books that I were to read in my life time were formated as such, I would die a fairly happy man.

I believe an introduction should be added in there as well, so I think a book could be formatted as such:

Introduction

Section One: Biblical Foundations

Section Two: Historical Developments

Section Three: Practical Implications

Also, Maybe I would add a preface as well, in which case I think a good theology book's arrangement would be as such:

Preface

Introduction

Section One: Biblical Foundations

Section Two: Historical Developments

Section Three: Practical Implications

I looked up the differences between a preface and an introduction and found the following on Pat McNees' site:

Words into Type succinctly characterizes the differences between a preface and intro: "A preface or foreword deals with the genesis, purpose, limitations, and scope of the book and may include acknowledgments of indebtedness; an introduction deals with the subject of the book, supplementing and introducing the text and indicating a point of view to be adopted by the reader. The introduction usually forms a part of the text [and the text numbering system]; the preface does not."

I would also like to mention that Pat McNees is a writer, editor and personal historian. That being said, I would also add a recommended reading section, acknowledgments and a bibliography:

Preface

Introduction

Section One: Biblical Foundations

Section Two: Historical Developments

Section Three: Practical Implications

Acknowledgments

Why I'm Blogging today

2010-03-31T17:59:00.000-07:00

Today I write out of vain conceit; with the hopes that someone will walk by my apartment on this fine sunny afternoon, look up in my direction; see me typing away at my computer and think, "there is one cool looking guy, all writing in the sun and what not."

Also, while showering, I figured that most of my readers (all two of you) would have stopped checking up on this untended site, and have now left for greener literary pastures (such as the Huffington Post, Blogs about cats, blogs about cute animals wearing hats and most likely YouTubes).

I am also about to finish a book that I have been reading for far to long called Delighting in The Trinity by Tim Chester. There really is a good chance that I mentioned this book several months ago; no it has not taken several months to read, but yes it has taken several months to get to and then a few weeks to read. The worst part about this whole thing is not the book itself, but the fact that it has taken me so long to read 186 pages. Usually when I have a problem reading, I take a break from real literature and pop open a Harry Potter book. I finished the second to last one (Half-Blood Prince?) but have been unable to carry over my ocular zest into Chester's book. The book itself is pretty good (beyond some sloppy editorial work) it follows an arrangement that I think all light/pop theology books should follow for a format. I'll save that insight for another post.

Derek

PS - Sorry for the abruptness of this post, also for the lack of any form of editing.

A portrait of Vancouver

2010-01-23T13:30:00.000-08:00

Linked is a piece by Elisabeth Eaves about Vancouver; the piece is found on Slate.com (which just happens to be my favorite magazine). Eaves is a Vancouver native who now resides in England or some such place. She paints a very introspective picture of Vancouver and it's surrounding 'burbs, displaying an insider/outsider's perspective on our fine city.

cheers

df

Where I am at

2010-01-23T13:01:00.000-08:00

One could look at the title of this post and assume that this is going to be a narcissistic posting on what I am experiencing emotionally and all that kind of jazz, but they would be wrong; being that I stated a while back that I am trying to post more often (and have thus far failed miserably); I have decided that any writing is positive writing (in regards to my efforts of maturing my writing style and content).

At this moment I am sitting in a Starbucks, which is located in the heart of a Chapters bookstore in Burnaby. Around me are a disparate group of patrons; Indians, Persians, Koreans, Chinese, WASPS and other Euro inspired types. The table next to me seems to be inhabited by a Chinese man who appears to be running some sort of business. He has his second set of clients with him right now-a family-they have already given him a cheque; in my mind he is selling an elaborate pyramid scheme.

The table beside them has a solitary man who is reading a book entitled Christian Hermetic Astrology. This book might be some form of Christian mysticism, but that is of little concern to me at the moment; the speakers above me have just started playing a song that was covered by Glee.

Not twenty feet away from me are a Mother and Son; an interesting combination considering he appears to be in his late 60's; actually I think they are a married couple, maybe he is in his mid 70's and has aged more gracefully than his wife. They sit in relative silence, with short exchanges, cookies in hand and crumbs falling from their mouths.

The table to my right has been replaced by a new crew, they seem to be conducting some form of business as well, maybe that table is the business table in this Starbucks. A man reads over a contract, he sounds like a woman; he might actually be a woman with short cropped hair and a business suit.

In front of me is a young couple who seem to be on a quasi-romantic outing; a few moments ago the girl reached across the coffee stained table to stroke her lover's face. They have just left, looking at me briefly as if trying to discern if I was listening in on their conversation.

df

Facebook-New Years-Reading-Iceland

2010-01-09T12:28:00.000-08:00

As a new years resolution I disabled my Facebook account; I want to see how long I can keep off of it. The first day was pretty challenging because I wanted to broadcast to the inter-webs that I had had a fun new years eve. Day nine is going pretty good except I am still finding that I want the world to know what I am thinking about, and twitter just doesn't cut it for me, so I figured that I would write a quick blurb on here. My book parade is coming along well, I have around 59 pages left in Total Church and I am thinking of looking for some people to read The Cost of Discipleship with.
Oh and Kristi and I are going to Iceland this summer! Yaaaaaah!

Derek

Happy New Years Reading List

2010-01-02T12:52:00.000-08:00

I have a fat stack of books to read over the coming months/years, here's a list of some of the books that I'll be hitting up in the next while.

Total Church - Tim Chester, Steve Timmis
The Cost of Discipleship - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Learner-Centered Teaching - Maryellen Weimer
The Prodigal God - Timothy Keller
Tell it Slant - Eugene Peterson
Concrete Reveries - Mark Kingwell
Two Views of Women in Ministry (2nd Edition) - James Beck (ed.)
Delighting in The Trinity - Tim Chester
Eats Shoots and Leaves - Lynne Truss

That is about it for now, I will get back to you later if anything else is added.

Derek

John Stott

2009-11-29T20:34:00.000-08:00

I picked up a book at Regent College's book store yesterday; it is dedicated to J.I. Packer and his thoughts, work and theology. Here is my most favorite quote of the first 6 pages!

"Our first and fundamental conviction about Christian theology then, is that it is a response to divine revelation. For we would know nothing about God if he had not taken the initiative to make himself known. Without revelation theology would inevitably degenerate into idolatry, since there would be no criterion by which to distinguish between true and false images of God. But the biblical revelation protects us from idolatry. True, it also imposes limits on our belief, yet in this limitation lies liberty. For the truth sets us free from bondage to fad and fashion, folly and falsehood."

Derek

Writers Block

2009-11-29T20:27:00.000-08:00

Already, it should be a sign, but I am taking it as a lack of due diligence; I am trying to cut out distractions that seem to be keeping me from completing written thoughts. I am currently in the process of a blog project with the esteemed Kyle Hendy, but I have been drawing blanks. Many, many blanks... The worst is when I am mid thought; like the other day I had some radical life changing thought of the damage done when a community shifts from theology to ideology. I was going to relate it to politics, conservatives, liberals, fundamentalists and all that! But alas, it has largely left me; the good thing though, is that I am not paid to write for a living, which means that my wife and I are quite able to survive without me trying to figure out creative ways to push back deadlines.

So kudos to Kyle Hendy who has been so patient with me!

Derek

PS - This writing assignment is dragging on like the war on terrorism... To soon? Naw

Study

2009-11-21T16:48:00.000-08:00

Right now I am studying for teaching at my church gathering tomorrow; we're currently going through some spiritual discipline stuff and I am taking a look at worship tomorrow.
Worship is central.
I was just trying to figure out why I wanted to teach on the discipline of worship, then that thought occurred to me. Worship is a hard one though, it can be approached from such a wide variety of perspectives; and not only that, but worship can be applied to so many (all) facets of a believer's life.

And yeah, thats all I have to give you at the moment, I had more but got lost there for a while.

Derek

PS - I am going to try and put stuff up on here more, just so I can be writing more. I feel like I am a monkey who is working on Shakespeare and someday I am going to strike gold!

Peterson

2009-09-24T20:09:00.000-07:00

On Reading Scriptures:

What I want to say, countering the devil, is that in order to read the Scriptures adequately and accurately, it is necessary at the same time to live them. Not to live them as a prerequisite to reading them, and not to live them in consequence of reading them, but to live them as we read them, the living and reading reciprocal, body language and spoken words, the back-and-forthness assimilating the reading to the living, the living to the reading. Reading the Scriptures is not an activity discrete from living the gospel but one integral to it. It means letting Another have a say in everything we are saying and doing. It is as easy as that. And as hard.

2009-07-22T17:48:00.001-07:00

God is always creating

Church Leadership

2009-06-28T09:53:00.001-07:00

I've been thinking about church leadership as of late and have come to the following conclusion:

Christian leadership exists to point to Christ

Church

2009-06-24T19:20:00.000-07:00

Well, church this past weekend was phenomenal! We camped out in Ephesians 5, specifically focusing from verse 21 and on.

Here is what I took away from Sunday

People have skewed and extremely negative views of this text (specifically relating to the idea of submission)
This text has been somewhat co-opted and taken out of context by people who fall under the banners of Patriarchal and Complementarian views
The idea behind this section of Ephesians 5 is that through the Spirit and in a joyful and worshipful manner, believers/followers of Christ are to submit to each other out of reverence for Christ
An example of this is a wife submitting to her husband (a man submitting to his wife can not be neglected though)
Submission in the Biblical sense is an act of putting another before yourself (think Jesus Creed)
A man as head of the wife reflects how Christ is head of the church (think of his interactions with his disciples and those around him during his ministry)
A man is to love his wife like his own body, as Christ loves/loved his bride the church (nail pierced servant)
A man seems to have a special task of nourishing and caring for his wife in a way that is not commanded of his wife

I think that is mostly what we talked about, what really came to mind after our formal teaching time at church was the idea that biblical submission is a joyful act of worship out of reverence for Christ, only possible through the work of the Spirit.

Ok,

Listening habits

2009-06-23T09:41:00.000-07:00

I use last.fm which is a swell site that keeps track of every song that I listen to with itunes or the ipods that run off of it. Here is the top ten artists that I have been listening to over the past three months.

Sigur Ros
M. Ward
The National
Wilco
Al Green
Arcade Fire
Okkervil River
Blue Mountain
M.I.A
Metric

Woot!

Check out the site if you listen to lots of music and for some weird reason want to see what you listen to and get suggestions for other great artists.

Plug over

A call to prayer

2009-06-23T08:15:00.000-07:00

Below is a copy of an email received this morning, please keep our brothers and sisters in India in your prayers.

This is a request for prayer for YWAM missionaries and their
churches in Orissa, India. The request came from Mable Hurst, an associate of
HCJB Global. Please read and make this a matter of urgent prayer.

Dear beloved sponsors and friends of Good News India. We have
never seen anything like this. We knew that Orissa was the most resistant and
hostile State in India as far as the Gospel is concerned. And we brushed off
the continuous threats and harassment we faced as we went about His work. But
none of our staff imagined that they would see this kind of carnage.... And it
seems to be totally under the radar of the Western Media....
Let me explain..... A militant Hindu priest and 4 of his
attendants, who were zealously going around the villages of Orissa and
'reconverting' people back to Hinduism, were gunned down by unknown assailants
in Central Orissa last weekend. Immediately the Christians were blamed. The
cry rose up...'Kill the Christians!' And the horror began.... In the past 4
days, we have first hand witness to hundreds of churches being blown up or
burned and many, many dozens of Christian tribals have been slaughtered. For no
other reason than they bear the name of Christ.
Night and day I have been in touch with our Good News India
Directors spread across 14 Dream Centers in Orissa... they are right in the
middle of all this chaos. In Tihidi, just after the police came to offer
protection, a group of 70 blood-thirsty militants came to kill our staff and
destroy the home. They were not allowed to get in, but they did a lot of damage
to our Dream Center by throwing rocks & bricks and smashing our gate, etc. They
have promised to come back and 'finish the job.'
Our kids & staff are locked inside & have stayed that way with
doors and windows shut for the past 3 days. It has been a time of desperately
calling on the Lord in prayer. More police have come to offer protection. In
Kalahandi, the police and some local sympathizers got to our dream center and
gave our staff and kids about 3 minutes notice to vacate. No one had time to
even grab a change of clothes or any personal belonging. As they fled, the
blood thirsty mob came to kill everyone in the building. We would have had a
mass funeral there, but for His grace. In Phulbani, the mob came looking for
Christian homes and missions. The local Hindu people, our neighbors turned them
away by saying that there were no Christians in this area. So they left.. We had
favor. The same thing happened in Balasore.
All our dream centers are under lock down with the kids and staff
huddled inside and police outside. The fanatics are circling outside waiting for
a chance to kill. Others were not so fortunate. In a nearby Catholic orphanage,
the mob allowed the kids to leave and locked up a Priest and a computer teacher
in house and burned them to death. Many believers have been killed and hacked
into pieces and left on the road.... even women and children. At another
orphanage run by another organization, when this began, the Director and his
wife jumped on their motorbike and simply fled, leaving all the children and
staff behind. Every one of our GNI directors that I have spoken to said: 'We
stay with our kids.... we live together or die together, but we will never
abandon what God has called us to do.' More than 5000 Christian families have
had their homes burned or destroyed. They have fled
This will continue for another 10 days.... supposedly the 14 day
mourning period for the slain Hindu priest. Many more Christians will die and
their houses destroyed. Many more churches will be smashed down. The Federal
government is trying to restore order and perhaps things will calm down. We ask
for your prayers. Only the Hand of God can calm this storm. None of us know the
meaning of persecution. But now our kids and staff know what that means. So
many of our kids coming from Hindu backgrounds are confused and totally
bewildered at what is happening around them. So many of their guardians have
fled into the jungles and are unable to come and get them during these trying
times.
Through all this, I am more determined than ever to continue
with our goal: the transformation of a community by transforming its children.
Orissa will be saved... that is our heart's cry. If we can take these thousands
of throw-away children and help them to become disciples of Jesus, they will
transform an entire region. It is a long term goal, but it is strategic
thinking in terms of the Great Commission.
What can you do? First, please uphold all this in fervent prayer.
Second, pass this e-mail on to as many friends as you can. We must get the word
out and increase our prayer base for this is spiritual warfare at its most basic
meaning. We are literally fighting the devil in order to live for His Kingdom.
The next 10 days are crucial. We pray for peace and calm to pervade across
Orissa.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please pass it on and
help us to get as many people to partner with us on this cutting edge effort to
fulfill His mandate: Go and make disciples of all nations.... Prayer works!
Blessings,
Chip & Sandy Wanner Col 2:2
MBI Team Facilitators to YWAM frontlines

Hebrews 1: On God and Jesus

2009-06-20T14:28:00.000-07:00

God speaks
Heir of all things
Created the world
Radiance of the glory of God
Exact imprint of his nature
Upholds the universe by the word of his power
Made purification of sins
Sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high
Superior to the angels
Father
Son
Firstborn
Throne is forever and ever
Righteousness is the scepter of his kingdom
Loves righteousness, hates wickedness
Set above
Anointed with the oil of joy
Laid the foundation of the earth
Heavens are the work of his hands
Always remains the same
Years will have no end

Awesome!

Summer Reading pt. II

2009-06-15T16:25:00.000-07:00

One down

I finished The Tipping Point yesterday, I am wondering who else has read it? Obviously my sister has (she lent it to me and told me about it for at least two years), any thoughts out there? I am wondering if, when reading chapter two: The Law of The Few, anyone else was wondering if they fit into the three categories listed by Gladwell?

I remember when she read it, my sister said that I was one of them but I don't really remember which, I am not really thinking that I fit into any of the , connectors, mavens, or salesmen categories.

Hmm, I was going to write something more reviewish about the book, but lost motivation when I looked at the warm sun lighting my porch.

Maybe another time.

And now onto Prophetic Imagination!

Spiritual Formation (again)

2009-06-11T13:22:00.000-07:00

What is the end goal of Spiritual Formation? Have I written about this? It is good to start with the end in mind, it helps keep focus, I have a feeling that the author of 7 Habits For Highly Effective People touched on this.

So, the end goal of Christian Spiritual Formation is: Jesus.

Pretty simple, but this cannot be under emphasized at all; Jesus is the focus.

As stated before (stolen from Hirsch who stole it from... Someone else, Stott maybe)

Jesus is the teacher

Jesus is the curriculum

Jesus is the classroom

This of course plays out in thousands of little ways that we (me for sure) are generally to ignorant to notice. A good place to encounter Jesus (and I need to constantly be reminded of this, and to better live this) is in Scriptures, because it all points to him. The grand narrative of Scriptures is tightly wound around the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Summer Reading

2009-06-10T18:49:00.000-07:00

Seems like the thing to be posting in blogoland, now that the weather is a bit nicer. The following are books I am going to read this summer.

The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places - Eugene Peterson The Prophetic Imagination - Walter Brueggemann Twilight - Stephenie Meyer The Word Militant - Walter Brueggemann

Dear God: I want this

2009-06-08T18:08:00.000-07:00

That's about it eh? God provides us with stuff-this stuff hopefully being things that we want. By things, I mean stuff, crap, food, cars, dogs, cameras, ipods, jobs, iphones and the list continues. Ah, it is after all, all about me. Or is it? This is what I have been trying as a daily prayer over the past month or so:

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul,
with all your mind, and with all your strength.
The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no commandment greater than these.

What this does, it takes the focus away from me, instead placing attention on God and neighbor. It reorients me from selfish to selfless. Often after uttering this (whether verbal or nonverbal) I follow it with "your will be done". I am on my way to trying to remember the Lord's prayer as well (why won't it just happen?!?).

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread, and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

The focus not being on my will, but God's will.

Hey, if you were to try and reorient your prayer life, try starting here. Focus on this; you probably don't need much beyond this for some healthy orientation.

hey Hey!

2009-06-01T07:50:00.000-07:00

We are back, sorry for the interruption in service, due to a lack of writing, this post is mostly non-linear and ill sequenced.

I have been thinking and thinking, and have just needed to let some thoughts sink in and digest and work their way through me. I was riding with a wise man a while back who was cautioning me about just taking something in getting excited about it and then spitting it right back out for others to hear.

In fact, that reminds me of Eugene H. Peterson and some of his thoughts in Eat This Book; Peterson talks about how John (in Revelation) is told to eat the word. The process of eating and ingesting someone's thoughts or-especially-God's thoughts, take time. The word has to be digested and worked throughout the body...

Needless to say, allowing God to work in us, through us and around us, it takes time. I am often impatient in that regard, I want to read something, incorporate it and then move on as quickly as possible.

What have I been thinking about, you may ask? Well, my thoughts have been focusing on The Jesus Creed and Made To Stick. Both books strangely enough have interrelated ideas (although they don't have direct and purposeful connections); stories, concreteness, stickiness, emotion these are some of the themes in both books.

The following is a quote from Mark Allan Powell (mentioned by Scot McKnight in The Jesus Creed [p. 190]) which has challenged me over the past few days.

We cannot have a relationship with our christology - we can have a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Our soteriology cannot save us from out sins - our Savior can.
Our ecclesiology does not make us one - the Lord of the Church does.
Our eschatology will not transform this flawed universe - Jesus the King of kings and Prince of Peace will do that.
And, no matter how much we love theology - it will never love us back.

Scot concludes with the following "Only God in Christ loves us, and that is why believing is a relationship".

I need to constantly be reminded and humbled by thoughts such as these.

That Journal Posting

2009-05-13T21:38:00.000-07:00

Uh, was that image to small to read for you? It was for me, let me try this little piece of magic here!

I think this is bigger, maybe big enough to read, but I won't transcribe it, instead I will have a shower and then go to bed.

Project

2009-05-13T21:04:00.000-07:00

I am still in the beginning stages of my project for church council; the gist of it is that I am to try and find a way to transmit what Simple Churches is, in an easy and communicative manor.

As mentioned in a previous post, I have more or less settled with Jesus is Lord which I have co-opted from Alan Hirsch, who in turn had heard that the Chinese church was using it. I also think that I mentioned that I am reading Made to Stick which is a book that was written

"to help you make your ideas stick. By "stick," we [the authors] mean that your ideas are understood and remembered, and have a lasting impact-they change your audience's opinions or behavior." [p. 8]

If you want to know what the book is ALL about but don't feel like reading it here is an overview from the authors.

In fact, we'll follow our own advice and strip this book down to its core. Here it is: There are two steps in making your ideas sticky-Step 1 is to find the core, and Step 2 is to translate the core using the SUCCESs checklist. [p. 28]

Of course, if you want to know what the SUCCESs check list is, you'll just have to read the book. Back to my main point though, as I was originally thinking of my assignment I was thinking of ways that people latch onto ideas, what kind of ideas that people hold onto and what kind of ideas that people identify with. Originally I was thinking of narrative, but as I wrote out ideas I was running into many dead ends; the main one being that I could not come up with an easy story that could be remembered by most anyone. Thankfully the Heath's came along, then Hirsch and now it is like I have hit gold!

I thought it'd be fun just to scan in my notes from the other night about Spiritual Formation and the statement Jesus is Lord.

Feel free to ignore the two lines of notes I took Sunday night, hey do you like the arrows? I think I added that thought in after or something,

Well, thats it let me know what you think, Kyle I hope and pray that you are feeling better!

df

Jesus is Lord!

2009-05-11T18:11:00.000-07:00

Hey, great day! As my wife and mother could attest, when I start getting really excited about something, I start a weird kind of dance type thing, that is more of a bob with a slight shuffle of the feet. Truthfully, this is one of the more complex dance moves that I have mastered over the past 28 years of my life. Just moments ago, the bob n' shuffle started up as I was thinking about A Day with Alan Hirsch, I mentioned earlier (yesterday/ the day before?) that I was working on figuring out how to transmit the essential idea of our church. Guess what,, Alan Hirsch delivered!

Jesus is Lord!

That simple creedal statement is it and it isn't just it for my church, it is it for the whole of the church! The simple yet complex idea that Jesus is Lord can be conveyed by any believer. Every aspect of our faith is born out of Jesus, revolves around Jesus, and to remain faithful must always come back to Him as well!

This idea (and it isn't just an idea) encapsulates everything; (I think from the random screaming on the street, the Canucks just scored a goal...)

Discipleship

Missiology

Ecclesiology

And all other important 'ship's and 'ology's.

I have more, but alas I have to finish the dishes, also I need to let this sink in more.

simple

2009-05-11T06:56:00.000-07:00

Being that I am a man, the title of this blog aptly describes my nature.

heh

I am reading Made to Stick for a project that I am working on; SIMPLE is the first chapter in the book. The authors note that often when people hear the word simple, they think of 'stupid, dumbed down', the authors suggest that simplicity is "about elegance and prioritization, not dumbing down."

This is referring to core statements which the Heath Bros. say are what make ideas "stick" with people. Within the church context I am used to hearing of core values, but I had never thought of just a simple core statement. The Brothers Heath have this to say about the core:

"Finding the core" means stripping an idea down to its most critical essence. To get to the core, we've got to weed out superfluous and tangential elements.

Sounds easy, no? Well they continue with this:

But that's the easy part. The hard part is weeding out ideas that may be really important but just aren't the most important idea.

The application of the core is somewhat like glasses that one would wear, or the filter that an organization would put every of their ideas, thoughts, actions and beliefs through. Here is an example of a core statement that I came up with last night (while reading in bed),

Living in God's redemptive purposes

A church using a statement like this would then process their ideas, thoughts, actions, beliefs and theology through this filter. What this does is it enables an organization or church or company or whatever to-in the easiest way possible-transmit who they are to those within and those outside. There is of course more to this, but I still have some things to do this morning before I head out to Surrey for the day.

My Big (Long)Weekend

2009-05-08T16:22:00.000-07:00

Alright I feel like I have let all three of you down for not posting anything better than Japanese Spider Man over the past week and a bit; so here is how life is going.

I have a pretty sweet farmer('s?) tan, I think that will be my major summer prject, that and learning how to spell. Also this week marked a mementos occasion in the lives of anyone who has watched Scrubs regularly over the past eight or so years; JD is leaving, Janitor told us his name (although it was a fake), Cox revealed the depths of his cold heart while defending JD to a cheeky intern and they had a patient with Huntington's. I teared up three, maybe four times, but it felt good. That is the end of Scrubs for me, kf bugs me about watching/downloading too many shows, so I am using this as an excuse to cut back even more!

Funny story, we have a guest staying at our place for a few days, while I was watching Scrubs she came in right at a touching moment so I had to quickly wipe the tears from my eyes to hide the fact that I do indeed experience emotions.

If you check out kf's facebook page you will see that she and Justina went to the Capilano suspension bridge today, looks like they had fun!I think they are on their way to Denmin St. (downtown Vancouver) to rent bikes so they can ride the sea wall. I opted out though, cause I wanted to post something on here better than Spiderman, making mention of why my weekend is going to be so damn good!

This weekend is going to be so damn good because it is sunny, I live in Vancouver, Epic is this weekend, I got some books in the mail(!!!!!!!!) and I am going to A Day with Alan Hirsch on Monday (not really the weekend).

A quick list of the books (only three) and why I purchased them:

1. The Prophetic Imagination - Walter Brueggemann - Brueggemann, need I say more? No.

2. Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places - Eugene H. Peterson - I have read the 2nd book in this series, it was amazing and it inspired me to get the 1st and eventually the other three books. Eugene seems to have a robust and versatile theology and perspective on life, so I am really looking forward to learning from someone who can think bigger and deeper than I.

3. Made to Stick - Chip & Dan Heath - I was challenged in my first church council meeting to think of how to communicate what makes our church, our church, doing so in a way that can easily be transmitted verbally from anyone who spends time with our church folk. This book was suggested for helping me along that path, kudos Jonathan Friesen!

Also, our church is having our city wide this weekend which is when all of the churches get together and join in worship and teaching. This weekend a couple who were missionaries in Germany are going to be speaking, I am really looking forward to it!

Now I think I have covered all or the majority of my plans for the weekend, I even did so without mentioning that Star Trek comes out this weekend (oops!) .

Life is good.

2009-05-04T16:30:00.000-07:00

Here is an excellent article from Scot McKnight on the out of Ur blog, if you are protestant you should be reading it.

ok!

PS - I will post something real this week again.

Japanese Spiderman!

2009-04-29T11:23:00.000-07:00

Well here is something for you, Spiderman; Japanese style, with giant robots!

Don't even ask me how, it just is.

The cost of a low cost church

2009-04-27T16:13:00.000-07:00

Nothing is free, TANSTAAFL, or something like that.

Most of us live in a time and a place where the cost or price of faith is negligible at best. On my bus ride home this afternoon I was thinking about some of the implications and how they play out; of course this list is in no way definitive, feel free to leave a comment (my one poster) and add to the list.

Consumer oriented faith: an obvious one, at some point the western church looked at the world around it and said "should work". Alas, it doesn't; a consumer oriented faith flies in the face of the Gospel, leaving one constantly consuming, left with miniscule growth and rare output back into the surrounding environment.

Hyper personalized faith: goes hand in hand with consumer faith, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are there for me when I need them, how I need them. Faith in this mind set belongs to the individual and NOT to the community, to those before, present and after.

Low commitment faith: born out of consumer and hpf; lcf realizes that when the going gets tough, the tough get going. The beauty of this arrangement is the realization that there are often hundreds of churches in larger cities through out North America (although the numbers are constantly shrinking), if one is going to be held accountable, one can leave and go to the church around the corner.

Low revelation faith: what this means is that as a believer in a consumer oriented, hyper personalized, low commitment faith; there is low pressure to reveal oneself, to allow others in, to allow God in.

That is it, maybe it comes across as agitated or something, maybe I am slightly agitated, maybe we should be doing something to fight against these mind sets. But whatever, as I was studying the first part of Ephesians 4 I have kind of noticed (through the help of commentators) that Ephesians if taken seriously could and would really reshape the church and the attitudes of those of us in the church.

Sorry for the rant

church talk

2009-04-26T11:24:00.000-07:00

Not actual church talk, but below you will find a copy of what I am going to be talking about with church folk today! Any thoughts? Critiques?

Ephesians 4:1-16 “building each other up in love”

Mark 12: 28-33

The Jesus Creed

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

The second is this:

You shall love your neighbor as yourself

The first Christian Creed, given by Jesus himself, it sets a standard-a reminder-of how we as followers of Christ are to live and act. First we live out a life that is fully dedicated in love towards God with our whole being, second we live a life characterized by our love of our neighbors. Last week we read how Paul was praying for believers that they-that we-might be grounded in love so we can grow in our strength to comprehend the HUGENESS of the love of Christ (that surpasses knowledge) so that we can be filled with the fullness of God.

When I think of the importance of what Paul is saying here, I think of how his prayer is not just so that we might become super wise, super smart and all around well balanced people just for the sake of being that way; but that we are to grow in our love of God so that we might be able to grow in our love in and towards others.

And now our passage; Ephesians 4:1-16

In this first section here Tom Wright tells us that we have something of an instruction manual for new believers to follow, that there are three basics for the life of a Christian:

“The meaning of their call to follow the king; the grace which has equipped each of them to play their part in serving him; and the unity they already have, but which they must make every effort to guard.”

As Wright goes on, our calling is to follow the risen Christ remembering the hope that we have in him (the hope of which Andy has talked about at length in the past, any takers?). That hope is that just as Christ was, that one day we too will be resurrected through the power and grace of God!

I just want to go back a bit to expand on Wright a bit more. I want to suggest that the meaning of our call to follow Christ is, to every day live out the Jesus Creed so that we are centered constantly on our love of God and love of our neighbor. That in serving Christ we are serving others (and I am thinking of that passage where Christ talks about visiting those in jail and caring for the poor, but cannot remember the reference, anybody remember it?) Finally, the unity that we are to have is not there just for the sake of unity, we will see how this plays out starting in verse eight, let’s read.

As I was looking through this passage, reading about it and thinking about it, it became apparent to me that the gifts mentioned are not just there so that people can be an apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor or teacher and be cooler than people who are not gifted strongly in one of these areas (although I suspect that to some extent we are all as believers gifted some what in these areas, they just need to be nurtured, grown and lived out better). In the tradition that I was raised it always seemed that those with gifts-or more properly-those who had gifts and could use them in a manner that fit into an institutional setting; using these gifts to bring people into the pews, to sit, listen, stand, sing and then go and have lunch at Swiss Chalet (Ontario reference) and then go about their week.

It seems to me that the big reveal is found in verses twelve and on. That these gifts are really given so that we can love, care, grow and journey with each other; building each other up in unity so that we can reach maturity, so that the body of Christ can be more fully realized and more fully manifest through a mature group of people who through their lives, live out the mandate of Christ in their life.

To love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength; and to love our neighbor as ourselves!

In his book The Jesus Creed, Scot McKnight alludes to conversion through two metaphors, the first being a birth certificate, the second being a driver’s license, check this out (pg 93). So we need to realize that we are on a journey with each other, that we cannot just sit idly and passively being fed milk. We need to realize that we are each one of us (to steal Scot’s metaphor) operators who are journeying around with others, learning and growing as we go.

How are we going to do this-not how can we, but how are we going to do this?

How are we going to build each other up into the fullness of Christ?

How about we spend some time praying for unity-so that we can through Christ and his Spirit, work in each other’s lives building, growing, loving, nurturing and caring for each other so that we can live out the fullness of Christ.

Breeding Ground

2009-04-22T18:24:00.000-07:00

Spiritual formation that takes place in the life of a believer in Christ, is best lived out/within an intimate community. Spiritual formation pushes away from being selfish, to selfless; from self-oriented to others oriented (think Jesus Creed, it is applied vertically and horizontally). A healthy and natural place for this to happen is within the context of discipleship.

Spiritual Formation Pt. 2

2009-04-20T16:20:00.001-07:00

A Scot McKnight inspired thought:

Spiritual formation truly begins with God's love. Not just the recognition and objective realization of said love, but a heart melting Spirit induced acceptance of His love!

Spiritual Formation

2009-04-19T09:33:00.000-07:00

I have become interested in spiritual formation lately, realizing that I sure do need more depth in my life. For my birthday I picked up 'the Jesus Creed' by Scot McKnight.
The book examines Jesus' approach to spiritual formation (which I figure is as good of a place as any to start my journey).

The Jesus Creed is an adaptation of the Jewish Shema which was to be recited every morning. Here it is:

Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.

So here is Scot's suggestion for the Jesus Creed.

"It is my recommendation that each of us, in an experiment of ordering our lives around the spiritual-formation principles of Jesus, memorize and then repeat the Jesus Creed daily - to remind ourselves of what our Lord asks of us... It punctuates my morning; it sets a rhythm to my day and settles my day into a comfortable spot. It constantly reminds me, not as a command but as a confession, that whatever I do throughout the day is to be shaped by loving God and loving others. I need that reminder."

And so, my journey into spiritual formation begins!

df

Prayer Practice

2009-04-15T16:56:00.001-07:00

I guess you cannot say practice, but essentially that is what I am going for; I am trying to pray more and trying to do so whilst working. Today was day 1, I am carrying a list around with me of people and certain things that I am praying for. The list is there for the obvious reason (I can forget things from time to time) but also for some reason the physical presence of the list carried with me reminds me to pray, even though I am not looking at it.

Today went alright, I'd say in total, I spent 3.5 minutes in prayer which is 3.5 minutes longer spent in prayer on previous days at work!

I'd write more, but it is time to head out for a birthday dinner.

Peace

PS - Happy birthday Teresa

The Beauty of Living in Tension

2009-04-11T11:54:00.000-07:00

If you have been within the church for any amount of time you start to notice that there is a certain amount of tension in the air. This tension is not necessarily found in an individual church setting, but usually within the larger church. Think for a moment of how there are people in mega churches and people in house churches, people that politically lean to the left and people that lean to the right (or God forbid, the poor souls that find them selves somewhere in the middle).

I think this is part of the tension that we find ourselves in, this of course can and does play out on the macro and the micro levels of our experiences. I had one such experience today and thankfully was pulled out of myself and into scripture, finding myself drawn to Ephesians 4.

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit-just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call-one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.

What I found calming and reassuring about this is the word which I have italicized in the previous paragraph. It seems to me that at times, we need to bear with one another all the while remembering the unity that we have been called into.

As I was sitting and reflecting on what was going on in my mind, I had the picture of someone trying to tear themselves apart (us the church); but with (and only through) the Spirit this body is being held together.

So, what can we do when we face tension within our church life? Remember that we are all one through the same Spirit and possibly try to remember what James exhorts (which is by far the hardest thing for me to do):

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that God requires.

Yup,

Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way.

The Lord be with you all!

2 Thess 3:16

Squandered Talent

2009-04-06T19:47:00.000-07:00

I am currently reading Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell; here is his thesis for the book:

In Outliers, I want to convince you that these kinds of personal explanations of success don't work. People don't rise from nothing. We do owe something to parentage and patronage. The people who stand before kings may look like they did it all by themselves. But in fact they are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot. It makes a difference where and when we grew up. The culture we belong to and the legacies passed down by our forebears shape the patterns of our achievement in ways we cannot begin to imagine. It's not enough to ask what successful people are like, in other words. It is only by asking where they are from that we can unravel the logic behind who succeeds and who doesn't.

Does that make sense? I first heard an idea like this from Dr. Timothy Keller when he was speaking at Resurgence 2006 in Seattle, he basically said that we are products of our environments, his sons will have more opportunities than a child born to a single sixteen year old mother in the Bronx.

I am currently reading chapter 4, The Trouble With Geniuses, Part 2. In this chapter Gladwell highlights two Geniuses, one born of affluence who ended up leading the world into the nuclear age and one born into poverty; who has worked as a bouncer and once appeared on a game show hosted by Bob Saget.

The point being that one boy/man was given opportunities due to when and where he was born, to succeed. Whilst the other's potential was never fully realized due to his setting.

Now what does the church do with this? How do we learn from this?

Well, I think of my context of being involved in a house church network, how we have the ability and fluidity to really pull stuff like this off. We can create an encouraging and familial environment that can help people foster their natural abilities and their Spirit given abilities.

I hope that during my time with simplechurches we can see an environment that welcomes and encourages abilities in people with talent or even with those who might not seem to have it yet. The possiblity of this happening gives me a growing sense of hope that great things can happen with and through the people of simplechurches over the years to come!

A Community Hermemeutic

2009-03-30T10:44:00.000-07:00

Hermeneutics; when I first started my post secondary education hermeneutics were described as such: "The science of interpretation". Now as I read and re-read the thoughts of writers I see that hermeneutics have evolved from "science" to "art". This shift was within two distinct Christian contexts within a decade.

As I reflect on my experience with hermeneutics over the past few years, I have come to realize that if someone has read enough they can start to come up with a fairly consistent approach to interpreting scriptures. Actually, even without reading much, people will always have a hermeneutical perspective, it just depends on how informed it is and who has informed it.

Anyways

My great excuse over the past few years for putting off how I want to approach the Bible (and interpret it) is that I didn't have a specific approach in mind. Was I going to follow in the steps of Webb, or maybe McKnight? Or was I going to be 'hardcore' and follow in the steps of a Neo-reformer like Driscoll?

Beats me,

What I experimented with yesterday during our church gathering was a group hermeneutic, or a community hermeneutic. We took a look at Ephesians 2 and asked God to open our eyes and hearts and allow us to interpret the text. Well, it wasn't the greatest success, but it was something.

It just now made me think of something that I think I learned in an Anabaptist Theology class a few years ago: an Anabaptist approach to life is based on the following three pillars

1. Scripture

2. Spirit

3. Community

With these elements working together we can move beyond just trying to interpret scriptures, but we can move onto the important task of interpreting life and living in a fashion that is Biblically faithful, Spirit inspired and oriented towards community in a (hopefully) selfless manner.

teaching temptation again

2009-03-22T09:30:00.000-07:00

Not today but next Sunday I (along with my wife) am going to be facilitating at church; we are going to be looking at Ephesians 2. I was just looking over the text and realizing that if I were a normal teaching/teacher type guy I would break it into two sections or classes... So we'll see what happens, maybe there will only be talking and chatting about the first part of the chapter.

The temptation that I often experience in teaching is isolating a text, pulling it mildly out of context and going from there. But I am reminded of a teacher/preacher/pastor that I had growing up Gerry Benn, he always always said "context, context, context". Which means that I need to keep the text in the context of a few things:

1. The larger gospel narrative
2. The book that it actually comes from
3. The proceeding chapters/verses/whatever

When I looked at the text this morning a tweet that I read from Ed Stetzer popped into my head "It's normal that churches struggle w/ community, but it is Christian that they over overcome barriers & live in unity."

Is that something that is going to come into play?

Metaphors of the church

2009-03-18T20:12:00.000-07:00

Well I was just about to have a shower when I got to thinking about how Cole in Organic Church is really pushing the idea of the church as always being organic. Well, it made me think (just now as I write this I guess) of Gareth Brandt and my contemporary church course. Well, maybe all the metaphors of the church are not organic, maybe there is more than what Cole wants to focus on. So as a reading suggestion I would love to recommend Images of the Church in Mission by John Driver. An easy read that I think complements Cole and his organic ideas. Driver goes through scriptures and looks at prevalent images used throughout the New Testament of the church.

So, if you have read or are reading Organic Church, please, PLEASE read Images of the Church in Mission.

PS - No I do not work for Herald Press

When is the church the church (pt. 2)

2009-03-18T19:43:00.000-07:00

Just scrolling through some old posts, wondering what kind of jibberish that I have written over the past month or so that I have been running this blog.

I saw an old post that mentioned something from Matt Chandler from The Village Church in the Dallas Fort Worth(?) area. He said, or I heard him say that the church is functioning well when there is:

1. Proper Biblical Preaching

2. Proper Administration of the Ordinances

There it is, pretty simple. In a way that answers when the church is the church, proper biblical preaching focuses on Christ and His Gospel, always going back to that, always folding whatever you are talking/preaching about back into the Gospel narrative. And of course the Ordinances or sacraments focus on Christ and His life and His actions, drawing one back into the Gospel narrative.

But what is the church? There is not (in my opinion) enough banter about this though. This is what Cole has to say in Organic Church:

In our organic church movement we have come to understand church as this: the presence of Jesus among His people called out as a spiritual family to pursue His mission on this planet.

Cool,, Cole admits that the definition is broad reminding the reader that scriptures give a fairly broad picture of the church as well; saying why should we tie in the church when God won't?

Not many people read this

2009-03-16T18:39:00.000-07:00

And that is alright with me, as of just a few minutes ago, there have been 24 views on here. Google Analytics hooked me up with those valuable details; and valuable they are! If I were to try and sell adds on my blog, I would know that majority of my readers are from British Columbia, specifically Vancouver, one from Steveston (which is funny, because I thought they only had boats in Steveston).

Then I would post adds about pet shops, vet clinics, small hip eateries and art.

Proactive

2009-03-16T16:06:00.000-07:00

Is it just me or are middle class white fellas really good at avoidance? Mainly I am pulling that idea from anecdotal evidence, but who cares?
For me, I find it quite hard to really force myself into action, it quite often seems (at least only viewing life in the short term) easiest to put off and delay action.

Advice from my father a while before I got married: don't delay, when something arises attack it head on as soon as possible. He said that he wasn't so good at that when he was younger and that he had to deal with the consequences of his short sighted errors.

As I start a new venture in my life (church leadership) I have been feeling a nagging or prompting to get my house in order, to start dealing with issues and experiences in my life as they arise.

df

The 2nd day of the rest of my life

2009-03-16T06:40:00.000-07:00

I figure if I had posted about the first day of the rest of my life, I'd have to be profound. This way, I can be a little more lazy.

Yesterday I was voted in by my church as a church council member; we do stuff...
Today I start training for my new job with Accenture; headed out to Surrey, spending billions of hours on transit. The joy of my new job is that when my training is completed I will be based out of Vancouver and I will have a life once again.

Still reading Organic Church; there are some pretty good thoughts in there. One that has been bothering me though is there seems to be a negative association between a church having a building and those people being able to be organic.
Maybe that is true, but maybe the church isn't always called to be organic either.

Ok

Bye

Organic Church

2009-03-11T20:21:00.000-07:00

Just in the first chapter but here are some thoughts on Christ and His church.

1. Jesus builds the Church
2. Jesus owns the Church
3. The Church is meant to be growing
4. The Church that is growing will face opposition
5. The Church that Jesus builds is unstoppable

Woot!

Just sitting and enjoying the Wolf & Hound

Beer and ecclesiology should always go hand in hand!

DF

dish washing zen

2009-03-10T15:57:00.000-07:00

There is an art to washing dishes, anyone who disagrees has never spent an inordinate amount of time doing dishes. When I was a dish-pig a few years ago my hands were tough my skin was thick and my pride was broken, those were good days.

Nowadays when I do dishes it is to maintain-or pretend to-maintain the beauty of my kitchen. The secret to not going crazy after cleaning up after an adventurous night of cooking is as follows:

1. Follow no mans advice

2. Have some bitchin' music playing (Old 97's, Mars Volta, Matisyahu etc)

3. Take breaks and lots of them

4. Moisturize after

There you have it, follow this simple advice and over three to five hours you can wash a few dishes, listen to some sweet music and have remarkably soft hands.

Church

2009-03-10T14:44:00.000-07:00

Well, Andre and I put our names forward for church council and they have approved us. I guess what happens next is that we are thrown at the mercy of those attending the AGM this Sunday and see what happens.

Here is something strange, well yeah. I think history is super super important and I have often felt disconnected from the history of Simple Church, so I am going to make an effort to find out from various people what they think Simple Church is and where it came from. Also to escape the realm of pure anecdotal evidence I will read Cole's Organic Church, which I believe was read by numerous people during the kick-off of Simple Church.

This means that The New City is being put on hold (which is fine for now), it had mostly been sitting around for the past week or two anyways.

I have to go, I need to finish some cleaning around the house - especially the dishes!

Vanity

2009-03-10T09:56:00.001-07:00

Out of vanity I linked to this blog on my facebook info section...

Research: Ephesians 1:15-23

2009-03-03T15:50:00.000-08:00

I greatly enjoy the process of research, the act of digging through the thoughts of scholars is quite an honour. Earlier I spent a good amount of time studying Ephesians 1:15-23 and also a good amount of time in the previous section of the text. It was great spending some time with Tom Wright and with Snodgrass (whom ever that is).

I would also have to say that the Spirit was involved, which is something that I am in the process of understanding (or to be more honest, something that I am trying to grasp at). In college when doing an exegetical I know that it was mentioned that the Spirit should be involved in some sense, but I always struggled with that. Maybe someday I will get better with that. Maybe spending more time in Ephesians 1 will help with that.

Ephesians 1 is pretty much a prayer that is laced with a rich and intricate theology on the gospel of Jesus and also the power of Christ over all things through God, as well as the power afforded the saints In Him.

I think that is right, more thoughts will develop over the coming days, unfortunately not at the stunningly brilliant pace that took place today.

Thought to ponder from Snodgrass:

Christ is the fullness of God, who fills all things. Christ is the place where God's presence, power, and salvation are known and the church draws from his fullness.

PS - Evagrius Ponticus "If you are a theologian you will pray truly, and if you pray truly you will be a theologian."

Day off

2009-03-03T09:37:00.000-08:00

Ah, today is my day off; kf noted the other day that I have actually only worked one day in the past eleven thanks to vacation and sick time! I feel quite accomplished now. Yesterday I sorted through some unfinished works on here that have only been saved as drafts, it seems that since I usually blog from my phone these days, I find less time to finish a thought which of course leaves me with a growing list of the aforementioned drafts.

Some day those will be published out here.

I actually feel that I have had a lazy day, being that I slept in to eight fifteen or so, my normal waking time for work is four thirty (which is quite undesirable). But alas, today I need to put together most of my research and reading for my talk on Sunday with simplechurch. We are going through Ephesians, last week being Ephesians 1:1-14(?). I am less than clear on this because I was helping out with the kids.

I would have loved to have been involved with the discussions though, I heard some banter about worship, for a whole day last week I was thinking about worship (not just in a spiritual context) and what it entails.

Anyways, I need to shower, eat some left over stirfry and then take off so that I am not distracted by computers, internet, dvds and whatever else I might find around my place.

Sleep

2009-02-27T05:33:00.000-08:00

Or lack of it. I have not been sleeping well over the past week. Here are some steps that I under took to sleep poorly.

Step 1: visit family in Edmonton, share a double bed with your wife.
Step 2: get a sweet head cold that makes every joint in your body ache.
Step 3: don't expend any of the energy that you normally do at work.

Anyways, I'd much rather be sleeping, instead I awoke a bit before 4 am, lounged in the living room for a bit, then went to Denny's for breakfast.

Big Money

2009-02-17T16:49:00.000-08:00

Also this over at 'the big money'.

PS - Some orignal content is on its way

Communion

2009-02-17T16:41:00.000-08:00

Check out this fantastic article featured in 'out of ur', it is a conversation with J.I. Packer on communion, who needs it, who doesn't and what to do about it.

Scripts

2009-02-08T00:36:00.000-08:00

Walter Brueggmann’s 19 Theses

2004 Emergent Theological Conversation
with Walter Brueggemann

September 13-15, 2004

All Souls Fellowship, Decatur, GA.

1. Everybody lives by a script. The script may be implicit or explicit. It may be recognised or unrecognized, but everybody has a script.

2. We get scripted. All of us get scripted through the process of nurture and formation and socialization, and it happens to us without our knowing it.

3. The dominant scripting in our society is a script of technological, therapeutic, consumer militarism that socializes us all, liberal and conservative.

4. That script (technological, therapeutic, consumer militarism) enacted through advertising and propaganda and ideology, especially on the liturgies of television, promises to make us safe and to make us happy.

5. That script has failed. That script of military consumerism cannot make us safe and it cannot make us happy. We may be the unhappiest society in the world.

6. Health for our society depends upon disengagement from and relinquishment of that script of military consumerism. This is a disengagement and relinquishment that we mostly resist and about which we are profoundly ambiguous.

7. It is the task of ministry to de-script that script among us. That is, too enable persons to relinquish a world that no longer exists and indeed never did exist.

8. The task of descripting, relinquishment and disengagement is accomplished by a steady, patient, intentional articulation of analternative script that we say can make us happy and make us safe.

9. The alternative script is rooted in the Bible and is enacted through the tradition of the Church. It is an offer of a counter-narrative, counter to the script of technological, therapeutic, consumer militarism.

10. That alternative script has as its most distinctive feature, its key character – the God of the Bible whom we name as Father, Son, and Spirit.

11. That script is not monolithic, one dimensional or seamless. It is ragged and disjunctive and incoherent. Partly it is ragged and disjunctive and incoherent because it has been crafted over time by many committees. But it is also ragged and disjunctive and incoherent because the key character is illusive and irascible in freedom and in sovereignty and in hiddenness, and, I’m embarrassed to say, in violence – [a] huge problem for us.

12. The ragged, disjunctive, and incoherent quality of the counter-script to which we testify cannot be smoothed or made seamless. [I think the writer of Psalm 119 would probably like too try, to make it seamless]. Because when we do that the script gets flattened and domesticated. [This is my polemic against systematic theology]. The script gets flattened and domesticated and it becomes a weak echo of the dominant script of technological, consumer militarism. Whereas the dominant script of technological, consumer militarism is all about certitude, privilege, and entitlement this counter-script is not about certitude, privilege, and entitlement. Thus care must betaken to let this script be what it is, which entails letting God be God’s irascible self.

13. The ragged, disjunctive character of the counter-script to which we testify invites its adherents to quarrel among themselves – liberals and conservatives – in ways that detract from the main claims of the script and so too debilitate the focus of the script.

14. The entry point into the counter-script is baptism. Whereby we say in the old liturgies, “do you renounce the dominant script?”

15. The nurture, formation, and socialization into the counter-script with this illusive, irascible character is the work of ministry. We do that work of nurture, formation, and socialization by the practices of preaching, liturgy, education, social action, spirituality, and neighboring of all kinds.

16. Most of us are ambiguous about the script; those with whom we minister and I dare say, those of us who minister. Most of us are not at the deepest places wanting to choose between the dominant script and the counter-script. Most of us in the deep places are vacillating and mumbling in ambivalence.

17. This ambivalence between scripts is precisely the primary venue for the Spirit. So that ministry is to name and enhance the ambivalence that liberals and conservatives have in common that puts people in crisis and consequently that invokes resistance and hostility.

18. Ministry is to manage that ambivalence that is crucially present among liberals and conservatives in generative faithful ways in order to permit relinquishment of [the] old script and embrace of the new script.

19. The work of ministry is crucial and pivotal and indispensable in our society precisely because there is no one [see if that’s an overstatement]; there is no one except the church and the synagogue to name and evoke the ambivalence and too manage a way through it. I think often; I see the mundane day-to-day stuff ministers have to do and I think, my God, what would happen if you talk all the ministers out. The role of ministry then is as urgent as it is wondrous and difficult.

Transcribed from the Mp3 recording of his session. All sessions are available from here http://www.emergentvillage.com/index.cfm?PAGE_ID=42

Shred-It

2009-02-05T17:33:00.000-08:00

My employer...

Christian Work Ethic

2009-02-04T17:08:00.000-08:00

Here is my modest proposal for a Christian work ethic; I know it cannot compare to a real ethisist's proposal, but here we go.

1. Jesus Creed
2. Give the glory to God in all things you do

To break it down a bit:

1. Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind and strength.
2. Let all your actions, thoughts and words be glorifying to God.

Do this and I do believe you will be functioning within a fairly strong (possibly even Biblical) framework.

DF

PS - every once in a while I actually engage mentally in my job, the rest of the time I think of stuff like this.

from church

2009-02-01T10:48:00.000-08:00

Hope

The church is a "dealer of hope" "agents of reconciliation".

The five things that are lived out, acted out or remembered when the church gathers are:

1. Death & resurrection of Christ
2. Communion
3. Baptism
4. Right preaching/teaching of scriptures
5. Holy Spirit

The church lives these out in some sense when it is scattered. Also! All of these point to hope!

DF

thoughts from my book

2009-02-01T10:45:00.000-08:00

On theology

Good theology and everything born out of it is active, relational and loving.

identity

2009-01-31T18:26:00.000-08:00

The things that we hold onto define us; brands, ideals, clothes, work, love, sports teams and God.

It seems that within the Christian tradition there is more affiliation with theology, ideology and methods than with Christ.

Does the strife within me define me? My theology? My sexuality? My depression?

Do I consider who's image I am created from often enough?

Lost Hope

2009-01-26T08:39:00.000-08:00

To be perfectly honest, I lost hope last week, losing sight of the bigger picture makes the immediate too overwhelming. I put in over 60 hours to a company that seems to be battling against its employees and common sense.

But last night, ah last night! Hope restored! Faith rebuilt!
It is official, if I were to teach a course on "the history of the people of God" the thread that would hold it all together would be hope.

Anyways, I had my right hand x-rayed this morning and am now commuting out to work. The sun shines, people bustle and I am alive!

DF

Bailout 2.0

2009-01-22T05:50:00.000-08:00

I heard about the $13 billion (and growing) value of student loans owed to the Federal government (not including the provinces). My proposal for Bailout 2.0 is that the Canadian government in concert with the provincial governments write off this debt or offer a stimulus package for Canadian students. This write off of student loans would not only help Canadian students/graduates in the short term (alleviate one source of growing debt) but can help in long term growth as well (monthly payments to the government could be redirected to savings or long term bonds).

DF

PS - I just want my wife's and my combined monthly payments to be gone now...

when is the church the church?

2009-01-21T05:37:00.000-08:00

Matt Chandler posits that the church (as shown biblicaly and through history) is in proper operation(?) When there is proper biblical preaching and the ordinances are being properly administered.

DF

New Name

2009-01-19T05:36:00.000-08:00

Gave the ol' weblog a new name yesterday. I was thinking about Scot McKnight and sad friends when the name came to me. By saying that I was thinking of Scot McKnight, I am referring to "a community called atonement" which spends time focusing on the idea of the image of God and how we are that image (but broken).

Brad Cornwell has that book right now, I am looking forward to talking about it with him.

Anyways, I am on a really crappy trolley bus and have to transfer to the sky train.

Peace and blessing

Something clicked

2009-01-16T16:11:00.000-08:00

Something clicked today that hasn't been there for a real long time and I am extremely happy.

the futility of blogging @ 5 am

2009-01-12T05:30:00.000-08:00

Its just to bloody early, no doubt about that. And then, things that I find mildly amusing right now are not even close to funny at any other time of the day.

I kinda want to find some people to blog with, a group blog, that makes more sense to me. Then the whole thing isn't me and my ego.

df

PS - reading 'death by love'

When all else fails, blog!

2008-12-22T05:25:00.000-08:00

I neglected to bring my ipod or a book with me this morning; which means you (my faithful reader) are stuck with me.

Well, my bus came on time this morning, I was hoping that translink would be shut down due to the snow, but no such luck.

Anyways that's about it, there is snow from coast to coast for Christmas this year, I also had a dream with Tim Bailey in it. In my dream he wasn't very startled when I told him about troubling things. I think the dream was brought on by a blog post of his from the other day, it just had me thinking about my previous life in Ontario.

Ok

Happy solstice/merry christmas/happy holidays

df

2008-11-25T05:40:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the delay, I was trying to think of something witty to say.

Now that that is out of the way

If you have known me from previous blogs or maybe in the real world, then you know that in the past I have enjoyed a book or two. Tim Keller said "when you read one author, you become a clone. When you read two authors you get confused, when you've read ten you start to get a voice. When you have read one hundred, you have your own voice." (Paraphrase)

When I heard that back in 04 or 05 it really stuck with me. But since departing the college scene almost a year ago, I have struggled getting myself back into a healthy reading cycle. Last month I ordered in some books that have caught my attention, they span from homiletics to pop theology to hermeneutics.

I've recently finished Blue Parakeet by Scot McKnight and Rob Bell's Jesus wants to save christians (?). Both are challenging works which have caused me to think beyond my previous conceptions of scripture, its application and its grand narrative.

This morning I started The Word Militant by Walter Brueggemann. So far so good, but I've only read the Forward, Preface and Acknowledgments.

Ah, my train ride is ended in a minute or two, I must head for my bus.

DF

PS -
I will still write something, sometime about history.

Me

2008-11-13T05:43:00.000-08:00

I am married, 27 and work in Vancouver.
Right now I am on a Skytrain (Vancouver's rapid rail transit system). I also woke up for work @ 430 this morning.

My job is in Coquitlam which means that my transit takes about an hour (walk, bus, skytrain, bus, walk). Lots of fun.

My Christian perspective is some kind of Reform(ing)ed/Anabaptist perspective. I often say that I am an Anaformer, which means that I am caught between two worlds (which I rather enjoy).

I enjoy politics but do not think they rule the day; I would say that I lay somewhere in the centre left on the political spectrum. This means that I like some of the politics of the right, but am paranoid of people who think the far right is amazing/God's perfect will. Also those who are to far left make me wonder what's going on as well.

My wife is an awesome woman, every day I try to put her a head of me, realizing that doing so will be something that I shall struggle through for sometime (probably even the rest of my life).

I love reading, just finished a book and have started another (more on that later).

Well, that seams like enought for now, my train stops in a few minutes. I think my next post will be about where I have come from.