Is this irony?

I was reading Brian McLaren again over the weekend. Love this quote he gives:

"the most stubborn heresy in the history of monotheism is the belief that God chooses people for exclusive privilege, not for missional responsibility"

Leslie Newbiggin

I've spent a bit of my time over the weekend biting my tongue - why do I always find myself working right by the exhibition stand promoting a view of Israel that is so pro-zionist it is just untrue, - or is it spin (same thing)? That's what dodgy eschatology gets you. And don't get me started on prosperity...

But I was reading - and aspiring to be generously orthodox. Sting and McLaren - a heady mix, in a strange context. Me - generous? - big ask. Maybe I'm the dodgy one?

Seriously - I am dodgy. I confess - I'd have loved to be with my friends at Greenbelt - but that would have been a copout.

Look again at the gathering where I was - 10,000 plus Christians - and the demographic was the big wake-up call. Loads of tattoos - obese people - handicapped people - in short not a middle class doctor to be seen (well not by me) - the demographic was - normal! The stewards included 90 recovering addicts (from Betel) - fantastic people! (great to see them all wearing the tshirts I made last week) Betel (a WEC ministry) epitomises missional responsibility for me.

OK - so very little fair trade - not much recycling. But a whole load of normal people.

The Irony - the exclusive privilege gospel.

Sadly that can be found pretty well anywhere.

Spiritual Refreshment

A recipe for spiritual refreshment (only guaranteed to work for me)

Take a nice ride

From Rothwell to Salts Mill (Saltaire). In fine sunshine with not too many competitors for the towpath.

See a great picture

David Hockney's Salts Mill. I like his landscapes - the vivid colour emphasises the beauty of the scene. The picture is on the centre of the far end wall of the first floor in Salts mill. I also recognised some cubism (this is a big achievement for an artistic pleb like me - thanks to the WBC art evening a few years back)

Have a good cappuchino

In the expresso bar in Salts Mill (next floor through the Café turn left and through the jewelery maze)

Listen to Good music

Apart from the obligatory Floyd / Rick Wright / Lowground - I enjoyed The Prayer Cycle by Elias. (Thanks to Vicky for playing it at WBC)

Do I need all this?

No - because I worship a God who does stuff from nothing - I was reading Ezekiel 37 (The valley of bones) this morning - God can do just anything - in fact he has. How blessed am I? - and how will I pass that on? (because that is what blessings are for after all).

Shallow?

Seriousness is the only refuge of the shallow.

Oscar Wilde

(Seen on iGoogle quote of the day)

Missional balance

Moi balanced? (silly idea)

Sorry about the bad mix of languages - but I've been thinking for a while about the whole idea of missional balance as it relates to church - particularly "modality" (what we often call "local church"). Because whilst I don't think there is a need for "sodality" (so called para-church in some quarters) to be missionally balanced - in fact I think their(/our) job is to be missionally specialised. There is a need for balance at local church level.

The balance is two-fold in my opinion.

Word - Works

One of Kez's first memorable sermons (and she has given us several) was on this Word/Works balance - we cannot simply swan about being nice people and expect people to get this salvation lark (I think I paraphrase her reasonably accurately). Glen in one of his wedding blogs puts a little more flesh on the word side of this. Neither does this salvation lark make any sense unless we live it out and make a difference (works).

Local - Global

This is a longer standing issue - the church has historically always tended to myopia on this - and I am not just talking about distance in miles. I would see Local / Global as cultural & homogenous group related.

A scale

I like pictures so I find this graph useful:
My agency (WEC International) is a specialist mainly in the Global Word quadrant - not that we or anyone can split up the work of the kingdom so easily and neatly. In fact some of our neatest frontier church planting projects are a blends of word/works. (Children in crisis or Ex addict Church planting for example)