Archive for July, 2005
Sunday, July 31st, 2005
Spent yesterday afternoon with a workshop of church leaders considering healthy relationships in regional churches (generally churches over 150 people).
We started with two tastes of culture guaranteed to bring generational conflict to the surface.
We looked at the Carlton Draught Big Ad, considering the fact that thousands of people have seen this short film on the internet, before its official release on television. As expected, I got a bite from one or two who could not understand why people spend so much time online. “How can you have real community with people who aren’t in the same room?”
We worked through material by Schewe and Meredith, considering the move from mass marketing towards one-to-one marketing. Schewe and Meredith break down the generations into smaller cohorts, helping us read generational differences with more subtlety.
We looked at the values of people who came of age in the years after World War II - values linked to ‘building a future for our children’.
The second half was spent looking at the sociological approach to congregational life provided by Jackson Carroll and Wade Clark Roof. On reflection, some of the material was too technical. If I present that material again I’ll try and present it with my own words and examples.
One of the ‘ouch’ points of the afternoon was the lesson given by George Barna on large regional churches and younger generations. He points out that large churches are preferred by older Baby Boomers. Busters, he says, are often too busy to get involved in the busy program and worship life of such churches.
From my observation it’s also about values. Younger generations tend to favour environments characterised by flexibility, intimacy, honesty and humility.
Barna provides a summary of generational differences in relation to activities, faith, and self descriptions at his site, The Barna Group.
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Sunday, July 31st, 2005
It looks as though the Baptist World Alliance congress is having a challenging time this week in Birmingham, England.
Wednesday
The Baptist Women Leadership Conference reports back.
“As Baptist women, we covenant to support and uphold a Biblical vision of God and the world which enables us to see beyond the practices of our various cultures that condone the exploitation of our sisters through injustices, violence, and oppression.”
Thursday
Tony Campolo challenges Baptists worldwide on the mission statement of Jesus.
“Being a Christian is not having the right theology. It’s having your heart broken by the things that break Jesus’ heart.”
Friday
The convention is challenged to make dealing with AIDS a priority. Rick Warren says Baptists should be able to “celebrate our diversity and celebrate our unity”. He’s disappointed about the withdrawal of the Southern Baptists from the rest of the Congress.
Saturday
Jimmy Carter receives two standing ovations at a luncheon in his honour. He hits the international news with his comments about being embarrassed at the detention of accused terrorists in Guantanamo Bay without access to lawyers or information about charges. Carter’s comments have hit the blogosphere - stimulating the response of right wing Americans incensed at his insults. Well, good on him, I say!
See also Tall Skinny Kiwi’s post:
Highlights of BWA World Congress
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Saturday, July 30th, 2005
I’ve spent the last couple of days with three Kiwis visiting from the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand. They’re over for a regional church conference on healthy church DNA being run by the Uniting Church in Australia.
Andrew Norton (on the left) I first met back in the early 1980s when we were both training for ministry. I worked briefly with Andrew in the start up of a Campus Life club in North Dunedin. Until I realised how hopelessly overcommitted I was. Andrew was a helpful source of wisdom in my days as a youth worker, and later when I was a minister. I still quote Andrew occasionally… “If you’re hitting your head against a brick wall, think about who’s doing the hitting.” Andrew’s minister at St Columba, Pakuranga, a regional church in Auckland. He posts his thoughts weekly at 4U.
John Daniel, (in the middle) is National Mission Enabler for the PCANZ. It’s a tall order, taking on a responsibility previously carried by a team, in a resource-strapped environment. I was part of the Mission Resource Team in the PCANZ back in the 1990s. Talking to John reminded me how fortunate I am to be working in a well resourced team.
Fiona Stenhouse is Human Resource Manager for the PCANZ. I appreciated her positive approach to team culture and collegiality.
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Friday, July 29th, 2005
Will it really happen? The Irish Republican Army has in the last 24 hours said that it will cease all armed activity and pursue its aims through politics, calling all units to dump arms. The Sinn Fein Web Site, Peace Process Special, has made the official statement available in text and on Quicktime Video.
“The leadership of Oglaigh na hEireann (IRA) has formally ordered an end to the armed campaign. … This will take effect from 4pm this afternoon (1am Friday Aust). All IRA units have been ordered to dump arms. All volunteers have been instructed to assist the development of purely political and democratic programmes through exclusively peaceful means.
The Army Council took these decisions following an unprecedented internal discussion and consultation process with IRA units and Volunteers. We appreciate the honest and forthright way in which the consultation process was carried out and the depth and content of the submissions. We are proud of the comradely way in which this truly historic discussion was conducted.”
If this leads to the end of hostilities we’re seeing history being made today. However people are wise to be cautious, IMHO. It’s one thing to change at a national leadership level of Sinn Fein and the IRA. It’s another to change ingrained attitudes among the troops. Surely there’s a growing will for this to happen at the grass roots of the IRA. Let’s continue to hope, pray, and cheer on the peace process.
Sinn Fein Online
Posted in Worth Reading, Worth Viewing | 1 Comment »
Thursday, July 28th, 2005
Tomorrow is the deadline for the release of refugee families in detention in Australia. It’s the result of a deal done within the Liberal party, in which backbenchers pressurised the government to change its policy on mandatory detention of all illegial assylum seekers and refugees.
So by the end of tomorrow 70 children will have been released, along with their families, to live in real communities. Only thing is that most of them will not be able to go anywhere without the presence of their sponsor.
The release, even though temporary in some cases, restores some of my pride at being an Australian permanent resident. I might even get the citizenship papers out and join up.
Refugees Australia
Uniting Justice
Amnesty International
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Thursday, July 28th, 2005
Journey, the journal of the Uniting Church in Australia, Queensland Synod, has started a web site of the month feature. Educating Christians, a blog I started last month, is first off the rank. The magazine comes out in print next week but is available online at www.journeyonline.com.au
Take a look at the review of Educating Christians
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Thursday, July 28th, 2005
Session Two in the Emerging Generations Course will focus on theological reflection.
I’ll be introducing participants to a few authors and their models. Whitehead & Whitehead on culture, tradition, personal experience. O’Connell Killen and De Beer on experience and imagery. A consideration of action research models from Argyris and Schon. Stephen Bevans and Neil Darragh on contextual approaches.
The challenge is to find a focus or two for conversation as we try these models out. What topic could we use that is likely to generate inter-generational conversation?
Perhaps the Eucharist. How important is form and liturgy in the celebration of the Eucharist? We could take a sociological approach to help us access generational understandings of the meal context. We could look at the influence of individualist and communal interpretations of 1 Corinthians 11. All this in the context of personal experiences and expectations around communion.
Taking a contextual approach would lead us to choosing a topic for conversation on the day. What is it that is engaging the minds of participants? There could be issues raised that have not even been considered by church leaders.
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Wednesday, July 27th, 2005
Over at PostKiwi’s Generations in Conversation I’ve reflected on Don Carson and Brian McLaren and their varying interpretation of the word ‘post’, as in ‘post modern’. I argue that ‘post’ does indeed refer to coming after in terms of time or space. But ‘post’ does not necessarily mean discontinuity. In some cases trends are accentuated rather than left behind. I like the phrase, “This, and more”. It’s what I live by. I am never ultimately defined by any category. I am liberal, and more. I work in literary culture, and more. I am modern, and more. I am Christian, and more.
At PostKiwi I’ve put in themes and variations I used at a multi-media conference two years ago. They’re for post apocalyptic, post bellum, post charismatic, post christendom, post classical, post coital, post colonial, post communion, post diem, post diluvial, post doctoral, post echo, post embryonic, post entry, post Evangelical, and post existence.
Here’s Post Liberal to Post Mortem. What do you think? What would you add to these definitions?
Post Liberal
school of theology founded in the 1970s by Hans Frei and George Lindbeck, affirmed the decisive significance and the integrity of the biblical narrative.
Post Literary
Communication no longer dominated by written text.
Post Lingual
Post-lingual hearing impairment is a hearing impairment where hearing loss develops due to disease or trauma after the acquisition of speech and language, usually after the age of six.
Postliminous
Postliminium
The return of a person to his/her own country and privileges - especially a person who has been away in exile. (liminal refers to threshold).
Postlude
(Music) a final or concluding piece or movement2 a voluntary played at the end of a Church service. (As in ‘after game’.)
Postmenopausal
of or occurring in the time following menopause.
Post Menstrual
of or occurring in the time following menstruation.
Post Meridian
after noon
in the afternoon or evening
Post Meridiem
ADVERB & ADJECTIVE:abbr. P.M. or p.m. or p.m. After noon. Used chiefly in the abbreviated form to specify the hour: 10:30 p.m.; a p.m. appointment.
ETYMOLOGY: Latin post mer diem : post, after + mer diem, accusative of mer di s, midday.
Post Millennialism
The doctrine that Jesus’s Second Coming will follow the millennium.
Post Mistress
After the Affair
Post-modernism
of or relating to art, architecture, or literature that reacts against earlier modernist principles, as by reintroducing traditional or classical elements of style or by carrying modernist styles or practices to extremes.
Post Mortem
1 occurring after death
2 analysis or study of a recently completed event
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Wednesday, July 27th, 2005
Reading through Don Carson’s critique of the Emerging Church movement, I came across his concern about Brian McLaren’s interpretation of the prefix, “post”. McLaren interprets the prefix as meaning ‘flowing on from or coming after’, implying continuity as well as discontinuity. Carson says he doesn’t get it. “Post”, according to his dictionary, means ‘after in time, later, following’ as in postgraduate or post glacial, or after in space, behind, as in post axial.
I believe McLaren’s interpretation is in tune with the dictionary definition. He’s taking a non-linear approach, allowing for the concept of emergence alongside abrupt switch of states. Moving beyond or past a phase or state does not necessarily mean being ‘anti’ that phase or state.
My argument is that ‘post’ can be used to describe ‘this and more’. For example I don’t fit inside the agreed parameters of ‘charismatic’ culture. Even though I value and have integrated spiritual gifts (a broad range) in my life, I wouldn’t easily fit in a charismatic church. It’s partly because of my engagement in critical engagement of Biblical texts and refusal to buy into the constant expectation of high power in worship. I now explore and express faith through a ‘post charismatic’ lense. I no longer fit inside the charismatic box, but I still value and retain much of the substance of what is in the box. The old categories and containers of meaning are no longer adequate. I am charismatic and much more.
At a conference a couple of years ago I explored the concept of ‘post’, giving participants the opportunity to add their subtleties to dictionary definitions. Here’s some of the definitions (Post A to Post E). Apologies for the exhaustive nature of the list!
Post Apocalyptic Science Fiction
Set in a world devastated by nuclear war or some other general disaster.
The time frame may be immediately after the catastrophe, focusing on the travails or psychology of survivors, or considerably later, often including the theme that the existence of pre-catastrophe civilization has been forgotten or mythologized.
Mad Max, Matrix, Animatrix, Waterworld.
“Too close for comfort”. “Discovering that I still am…” “I am, Thou art”.
Post Bellum
of or during the period after a war, esp. the American Civil War
[ETYMOLOGY: 19th Century: Latin post after + bellum war]
“When families have to start talking and loving again”.
“The noise bellringers make when they realise they have rung the wrong bell”.
Post Charismatic
Used to describe the experience of people who have ‘moved on’ from the charismatic movement. Also to describe subsequent ‘waves of the Holy Spirit’ as in the Vineyard movement.
Enthusiasm tamed by reality.
Post Christendom
“Evangelism in a post-Christendom context is faced with the task not just of persuading people that Christianity is true but of even gaining a hearing for something widely regarded as passé.” Alan Roxburgh.
The physical kingdom is dead. Long live the King!
Recognising that there are other paradigms that we can hear and learn as well as teach. Christianity that serves that subverts rather than dominate.
The end of what is only the beginning.
The end of assumed power over this throng! Truth the beginning of wisdom.
Post Classical
Of, relating to, or being a time following a classical period, as in art or literature.
“At the end of a controlled or highly structured era and at the birth of a dynamic pre-trend era.”
“We no longer know the rules”
“At the end of highly patterned, ritualized, perfected structured way of being.
Post-coital
happening or existing after sexual intercourse
“What’s your name?” “Now that is what I call a personal question
why do you want to know?”
Post Colonial
Of, relating to, or being the time following the establishment of independence in a colony
(as in postcolonial economics)
I actually like “The way we were” Barbara Streisand
Post Diem
after the appointed day
Missed it by that much
Post Diluvial
existing or occurring after the Flood
Post diluvian - a person or thing living after the Flood
Can you have a ‘living thing’?
Post Doctoral
of, relating to, or engaged in academic study beyond the level of a doctoral degree
“You wish, Duncan!”
Post Echo
A position of an echo send control after the main channel fader.
On layers played back before loud passages a magnetic tape gives a pre-echo, whereas on playback following the loud passage it gives a post-echo.
Silence
Post Embryonic
following the embryonic stage of development
Let’s break out! From gooeyness to gorgeous!
Post Entry
Prison
Post Evangelical
Movement initiated by book of same name by Dave Tomlinson.
A name for people who didn’t fit. In through the out door
Post Exilic
Of or relating to the period of Jewish history following the Babylonian captivity (after 586 b.c.)
Return from the dog house. When you are finally allowed back after upsetting the Ladies Fellowship
Post Existence
Do we believe in pre-existence? Getting closer every day!
Posted in Emerging Church, Generations, Theology, Worth Reading | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, July 27th, 2005
Someone’s asked me about the origins of intinction as a practice. (Dipping the bread into the wine during communion).
From my research, intinction was introduced in the Eastern churches and is still the norm in the Maronite Church (originally based in Antioch, Syria). Many Eastern Orthodox churches use intinction. The practice there is for the priest to break the bread into pieces which are put into the cup. The mixture is ladled into the mouths of participants with a spoon/ladle.
Intinction must have been a common innovation in the Western church, judging by the number of condemnations of the practice from Rome.
From Pontifications, a Catholic blog:
“In 675 the Fourth Council of Braga prohibited the dipping of the holy bread into the chalice:
“The practice of giving the people eucharistic communion by means of intinction has no authority in the gospel, where he gave his disciples his body and blood: the bread was given separately and the cup was given separately. We read that Christ gave intincted bread to no one except to that disciple whom he revealed as a traitor by offering him a morsel that had been dipped.”
This prohibition of intinction was reiterated in the Middle Ages by the Councils of Clermont (1095) and London (1175).
“This use is not authentic,” Bernold of Constance wrote, “for it is contrary to the institution of the Lord” (11th c.). Pope Pascal II denounced the intinctio panis as a human innovation that violated the command of Christ (12th c.)”
Intinction has been allowed again in the Roman Catholic Church, but only by the priest.
So does anyone know about the development of intinction as a practice in Protestant churches? When are your first memories of its use?
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Postkiwi Duncan Macleod posts on life, faith and culture in Australia, drawing from his involvement in the creative industry, the Uniting Church, the blogosphere, generational research, the emerging church and life on the Gold Coast.
