More on the Ancient Future Community Conference

OK, since I picked at Scot McKnight's session (part of it, not the whole thing, mind you), I should report that the rest of the conference today was a great time of learning and challenge, without the same feeling I got in the first session. Bill Donahue and Henry Cloud did a good job summarizing some of their principles of group leader and participant training, and in two breakout sessions this afternoon, issues related to spiritual formation and maturity in small group ministry were addressed by Scott Vaudrey and Rex Minor. These sessions were not only well done, but the clear passion and expertise of the presenters gave me much to consider and to take with me. A great day of learning!

Scot McKnight--Recovering Community

I'm attending the Willow Creek Conference on small group ministry, titled the "Ancient Future Community." Scot McKnight, professor at North Park University, gave the opening session entitled "Recovering Community." Author of the best selling "Jesus Creed," he had some really excellent points to make about the need for group life to be focused on the creation of and living in the presence of Jesus among us. As might be expected, he is an excellent communicator, and his opening story of the blue parakeet was the metaphor that was used throughout the message effectively. The story: as a birdwatcher, McKnight once observed what happened when the sparrows in his yard were joined by an escaped blue parakeet. At first, the sparrows didn't recognize it was a bird, and fled whenever it approached. Eventually they began to see that it was a bird, and within an hour or two, wherever the parakeet went, the sparrows followed. His point: we (spiritual leaders of people) need to be those who help sparrows see and accept blue parakeets as fellow birds. I'm not telling it well at all, but the idea of accepting those who don't seem to fit into our spiritual sphere was the thrust.

Best concept: Our ability to accept others ("table fellowship" in Jesus' time) often breaks down along purity lines. The Pharisees attitude was, "We're clean, and if you are clean, then you can eat with us." The driving question was "Are you clean?" Jesus' attitude was, "Come and eat with me no matter what, and the fellowship can cleanse you." Jesus' driving question was "Are you hungry?"

As you can see from my links list, I have read his blog with interest, in large part because so many see him as a representative of the "good" end of emergent thinking. Overall, there was not much about his presentation today that sounded uniquely "emergent." One bone I would pick, though, was his use of a few illustrations that seemed to undermine any sense that convictions on any issues was a good thing. Twice, he expressed what he identified as difficult situations or questions where answers or understanding seem beyond easy response. One was a girl struggling with whether or not to drive her friend to an abortion clinic, after not being able to dissuade her from pursuing abortion. The other was wondering why a pastor would struggle with the someone's lesbian friend who loved Jesus. In both cases, I sat there saying, "these are real and messy questions, but there are clear answers to be given in both cases." It almost seemed as if there was a sense that having answers and ministering within community were not compatible.

Were these examples meant to prove messiness or to suggest that we have no clear answers to give? I don't know, and it may be that my antennae are too sensitive about such things, but since there was no opportunity for me to ask that question, I'm left wondering. But I'm grateful to have heard McKnight in person, and was encouraged to think by what he shared.

Creative Expression

Clicking on the title should take you to a clever Black Light interpretation of Casting Crowns' song, "I am Yours." I enjoyed it for its artistry, uniqueness, and the fact that a youth group from Norway put it all together. That last fact is one of those little reminders of God at work throughout the world.

Mark Driscoll @ SEBTS

Click on the title to listen to his message on the Emergent conversation--keeping in mind that he was once considered one of the "founders" of this movement. This is worth a listen.

An emergent perspective on the gospel that is disconcerting...

Pyromaniacs is a site featuring contributions from a number of people associated with Grace Community Church in LA, pastored by John MacArthur. I do not know these men personally, nor am I saying I agree with everything on the site--I haven't even checked out most of it. But Phil Johnson's post on 24 September, and the links within to other posts present a very disturbing picture of one of the Emergent conversation's recognized "leaders," Doug Pagitt.

Some quick background--a few weeks back, MacArthur and Pagitt were on Headline News to discuss the pros and cons of Christians practicing yoga. MacArthur said the exercises aren't bad, but being joined to Hindu concepts makes them suspect, and he questioned the wisdom of Christians seeking that form of exercise. He further pointed to God's Word as a far better "stress reliever." Pagitt's church offers yoga classes, and he sees no problem with it as a means to the wholeness Jesus would promote. I listened to the program and then to Pagitt's belitting of MacArthur afterward. A listener to the original program emailed Pagitt expressing disappointment with Pagitt's lack of clarity on the Gospel, to which Pagitt replied in an email. That email states, in part,

I must say that I see the gospel totally differently than what you conveyed in your e-mail. I was not converted by a verse but always loved and changed (even ongoing) by a fully-participating God who created me in his image. I would strongly encourage you to have a much more full and biblical understanding of the gospel, and not form a faith based on any interpretation of one verse.I'm not sure you'd be interested in this, but I have just finished a book somewhat on this topic. I think it might give you a more full understanding of the gospel than the one perverted by the likes of John MacArthur. I do not say "perverted" lightly, either. I really think what he communicates is so distant from the message of the Bible that it is dangerously harmful to people. If you heard the interview and his comments about a God who is "above us," I certainly hope you would see this.

I don't know the whole story, and I have a few subjects where I differ with the way John MacArthur expresses his views. However, there has never been any doubt in my mind that his presentation of the gospel is solidly in line with the historic understanding of Scripture. Listening and reading Pagitt's statements leave me cold. Such a characterization of MacArthur is exactly the kind of categorical condemnation that many in the Emergent movement excoriate those holding more traditional, orthodox positions for expressing toward them. The "verse" Pagitt is reacting to is Jeremiah 17:9, which the writer of the email to Pagitt said was instrumental in his conversion.

If these statements by one of Emergent's leading lights represent their thinking, the conversation seems to have lost its way. If I'm missing something, I'd like to know.

A Bad Day for a Gymnast

Some days are just like this.

VOM is a needed jolt in your day

Voice of the Martyrs is a ministry dedicated to keeping Christians living in freedom mindful of the sufferings of our brothers and sisters around the world. The levels of persecution seem to be increasing. By subscribing to VOM's prayer update, you can be jolted from your complacency every few days, and helped to take such trials as not having your latte hot enough put into perspective.

Dealing with cancer stinks...but God is glorious.

I have been overwhelmed of late with the devastation that cancer can wreak in the lives of people I know of and people I love. My mother in law is battling 2 kinds of cancer right now. My neighbor and fellow church member has been fighting one of those same cancers for the last 4 years. The son in law of a family at church, a dad in his 30s, has the choice of a radical surgery that by all accounts is a high risk proposition, vs. settling his affairs and preparing to die and leave his wife and littles ones soon (according to the doctor). And of course there are others, more than I could mention in this post.

Now, I'm a pastor, and I believe in healing. I've prayed for it in many cases, even anointing people with oil in the manner described in James 5. I've prayed for each of these people I've mentioned, and the others besides. And there have been a number of occasions where I have seen what I believe to be a divine healing take place. But I know that any healing here is temporary--we still die, unless we are alive when Jesus comes. I also know that God often chooses not to heal even if we ask hard and ask long. That's not because he is evil or unable. We know this so well from Scripture I won't even debate the point.

It is because he allows our fallenness to be felt.

What I mean by that is this: part of what happened when Adam rebelled against God's rule is that the creation was made to rebel against us. The curse twisted the natural realm and brought death into play. If God answered every prayer for healing, or removed every cause for sorrow, we would never know that this was a fallen world and long for something far better.

Now, I know that God also has higher purposes in play that we may not understand. But I am always a little skeptical when someone tries to say, "God gave you cancer so that you..." We just don't know why God has set in motion the events of this life. So, we can trust him, and know his purposes are wise and good, but we don't always understand him or them.

Mankind also is still to exercise our role as keeper of this earth. We still make it yield fruit and exercise dominion over it. That includes research into diseases that we can try to alleviate or eradicate. Our dominion, however, still labors in a cursed world that won't yield easily or predictably to our attempts to regain control.

I can't make sense of the hurts that come most people's way. I can, however, point them to a beautiful God who promises grace in each moment, and a future that can be infinitely better than any present in which we find ourselves. It has been in walking beside those dealing with hardships, like cancer, that I have often been most aware of the God of all comfort.

Stop complaining, or stop calling yourself a Christian!!

I didn't create this title, I just borrowed it from the devotional thought expressed here. Disclaimer: I don't know what else this writer teaches or believes, so don't search his site and hold me responsible for it all. But the quote from Scripture and the prayer that follows express what's on my heart, especially after having to preach about having right attitudes toward my brothers and sisters in the Body. Next week, I preach on the words we should and shouldn't be saying to each other, so this fits there, too!