deep church: re-imagining vineyard distinctives this week

again this week at the deep church blog, the Re-Imagining Vineyard Distinctives series continues...

a few of us have been delving into 10 Vineyard Church values/distinctives, to explore how they might be run against some of the necessary theological questions of evangelicalism/emerging culture that the emerging church conversation has raised over the last 10 years...

this week the Distinctive is Worshippers of God, Rescuers of Men: Worship is for God, we abandon ourselves to him simply. The response of giving ourselves, is to the compassion, mercy and love of God, over the whole of life, towards others.

• I start off the week with Bearing the Consequence of God: Worship and Mission;
• on thursday, Steven Schenk continues the conversation with to the rescue;

peace

branch of the beloved

wordcarft for the Sixth Sunday of Lent:

a vision of a cruelly crafted crown
built for One bearing a battered cross to the skull mound
cup in His hand does this crushing King embrace
daring to drain it all in our place

excruciating is the potent potion worth
frail Word falls to the fertile earth
guileless He bears forth this Branch of the Beloved
Haven for the Hungry and the Unloved

is the strength of the brave born anew costly
just as He spread His arms out wide like a tree
kindness and protection now found in He

lamenting the Lord of the Living and the Dead
mourning a God crucified in our stead
not without Hope is He nailed to a cross
offering Himself, the very Logos

perfect is His plan to redeem His beloved
quiet He stands as mocked and shoved
redemption His goal to be achieved
scarred in His scheme to save those who cleave

the sound…an eternal echo of a curse rended
unbound are the bonds with precious blood shed
vindication and the sting of death defeated

wake the dead with His humble cry as the
xenophyte was He out from Mary’s side
yet in His cry we hear it clear and true
Zion – it is finished, in His Glorious Virtue

deep church: re-imagined distinctives continues

just a reminder that over at the deep church blog, the Re-Imagining Vineyard Distinctives series continues this week.a few of us have been delving into 10 Vineyard Church values/distinctives, to explore how they might be run against some of the necessary theological questions of evangelicalism/emerging culture that the emerging church conversation has raised over the last 10 years...

this week the Distinctive is The Holy Spirit: our epiclesis practiced in the laying on of hands, not just for communion. How we pray for each other and expect the Spirit to minister to us.

• Jason Clark started off the week with some things you may not have heard about the Holy Spirit;
• today i have a post entitled: Come Holy Spirit - Toward a Fuller Missiological Pneumatology;

peace

Bearing all things

"God's power is not expressed by the fact that he controls all things (the opposite of love), but in that he bears all things and suffers all things...[t]he God whose divinity Jesus revealed through his self-giving always helps first of all by suffering with us."

- Jürgen Moltmann

an oracle with twilight eyes

wordcraft for the Fifth Sunday of Lent:

pale remembrance…
shadows enfold me
like a cloak that sheathes my skin

yet the embers
of days past
fade slowly into dusk
lingering with warmth
in the entombed silence
of a gardens shade

ashen commemoration…
plunging from the periphery
like the descent of a noble affliction

yet the vaticination
of an oracle with twilight eyes
is yet to be discerned
with sepulchral insight
evoked like indistinct tombstone rubbings
that mark transformation’s memorial

faint recollection…
memories dance out of reach
like the slow gait of a languid nightmare

yet the soft words
of a severe lullaby
invite me further
into the slumbering vision
imparted as night falls again
finding a fertile habitat within

quiet contemplation…
spirit at rest with providence
like the suckling babe at mother’s breast

yet the prophecy
of a future emancipation
is found familiar
with the poise of foresight
at-present unaware of the intention
and the harvest obedience will reap

deep church: re-imagining vineyard distinctives continues

just a reminder that over at the deep church blog, the Re-Imagining Vineyard Distinctives series continues this week.

a few of us have been delving into 10 Vineyard Church values/distinctives, to explore how they might be run against some of the necessary theological questions of evangelicalism/emerging culture that the emerging church conversation has raised over the last 10 years...

this week the Distinctive is The Kingdom Of God: An understanding of the ‘now and not yet’ of the Kingdom of God, for understanding mission, the church, eschatology, etc.

• Jason Clark started off the week with the Kingdom of God as a numbers game;
• today Jason Coker weighs in with Rebuilding Tomorrowland...

peace

the urgency of ides

the air is thick
ripe with renovation
a hidden craftswoman
shaping roots deeper

unfurling leaves
forming buds for flowering
O the release of such glory
pondered by the hallowed mist

brooding over her fledglings
dreams given as gifts

among the oak and field grass
among cherry blossom
and curling vine
such a moving miracle
barely perceived
in the blur of life

whole burnt offering

wordcraft for the fourth Sunday of Lent:

consequence triggered in the bustle of life
a spark ignited in an instant…

a vow undertaken in the risk of belief
the significance of a pilgrimage yet distant…

[even as eruption they see,
tears of joy shine with glee…
a glance…a glare…
despised for the wonder that emanates from within
…the pledge that has become like a new wineskin]

a simple votive yet intricate in observation
breaking forth like the dawn in my eyes

clear-cut is the dedication in a life of repercussions
the transformation like wisdom to the wise…

[overwhelmed as lament is heard by all,
a sacred sorrow becomes my call…
judgment shifts in understanding…
as new eyes a vision knits
…in the same way as redemption a paradigm emits]

unadorned is the sacrifice in such a quest
the living expression of a fulfilling vow

the point at which a life turns
to undertake the peril of conviction somehow

deep church: Vineyard Distinctives Re-Imagined

just a reminder that over at the deep church blog, the Re-Imagining Vineyard Distinctives series has begun. a few of us have been delving into 10 Vineyard Church values/distinctives, to explore how they might be run against some of the necessary theological questions of evangelicalism/emerging culture that the emerging church conversation has raised over the last 10 years...

this week the Distinctive is The Bible: a passion for the bible, centrality and confidence in the bible for Christian life.

• Jason started off the week with this thought-provoking post,
• then Paul Mayers got into the act with his great parable,
• and today i try to move in the direction of creating theological space for further biblical engagement...

peace

pastoralia: after SVS 2010 series

FYI, my friend Jason Coker is profiling papers and the people behind them from the inaugural Society of Vineyard Scholars gathering last month. Even though the freak weather of a double-blizzard in one week in the Mid-Atlantic area cancelled my trip to present, he is including my paper abstract and profiling me today…

“After SVS 2010 is an extended dialogue with presenters from the first annual Society of Vineyard Scholars conference, held Feb 11-13, 2010. Monday through Friday until March 26th we’ll profile an SVS presenter and dialogue with them around their paper. Click here for a brief intro and link directory of the series. Full text of papers are available to SVS members.”

He began this several week 'After SVS 2010' series yesterday and it will continue to profile some great people, so check it out…

peace

in the beholding

wordcraft for the third Sunday of Lent:

hushed reverie
candlelight licking at my skin
shadows leap and pirouette

behold beauty
the path of a thought arrested, abandoned

immanence immediate
respite from the journey

in the beholding, You are where i seek

in the beholding, You remain familiar…intersected

in the beholding, You pervade my presence

in the beholding, You linger close…despite the distance

in the beholding, You traverse the vastness between

in the beholding, communion…together

in the beholding, time poised… a breath breathed


a change has occurred/occurring/yet to occur
in the beholding

NTRT: a centered-set secular spirituality

today i'm guest blogging at the not-the-religious-type blog with dave schmelzer (dave is also pastor of the greater boston vineyard)

...my post today explores some of my thoughts and further reading on a centered-set secular spirituality

peace

dialoging with the Society of Vineyard Scholars

My friend Jason Coker has announced a new blog series beginning next week that will run for a few weeks, as he profiles and dialogues with members of the Society of Vineyard Scholars. There should be a lot of great conversation happening in the comments...

i will actually be one of those interviewed and my SVS paper profiled, next Tuesday. There were a lot of great people at SVS, so make sure to check it out.

peace

the fellowship of the broken

Let us not underestimate how hard it is to be compassionate. Compassion is hard because it requires the inner disposition to go with others to the place where they are weak, vulnerable, lonely, and broken. But this is not our spontaneous response to suffering. What we desire most is to do away with suffering by fleeing from it or finding a quick cure for it. As busy, active, relevant ministers, we want to earn our bread by making a real contribution. This means first and foremost doing something to show that our presence makes a difference. And so we ignore our greatest gift, which is our ability to enter into solidarity with those who suffer. Those who can sit in silence with their fellowman, not knowing what to say but knowing that they should be there, can bring new life in a dying heart. Those who are not afraid to hold a hand in gratitude, to shed tears in grief and to let a sigh of distress arise straight from the heart can break through paralyzing boundaries and witness the birth of a new fellowship, the fellowship of the broken.

- Henri Nouwen

sustainable faith: living the questions

just FYI

i have a guest post at the Sustainable Faith blog today...

my blog post is called: living the questions

...check it out!