faith v. belief

"An openness to the truth, no matter what the consequences, no matter where it leads you and when you don't even know where it's going to lead you. That's faith. Not belief, but faith. Your beliefs give you a lot of security, but faith is insecurity. You don't know. You're ready to follow and you're open, you're wide open! You're ready to listen."

-Anthony De Mello, Awareness, p.18

Jesus' presence

The good shepherd, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=48288 [retrieved April 27, 2009].

From my talk at Convergence Sunday:

Today we’re talking about presence.

Presence is powerful. Many experiences in life—those that are good or positive—are made more powerful, more meaningful by the presence of others.

Some events—those that are sad or difficult or challenging—can be more bearable by the presence of someone else.

For me, the presence of my children is a powerful force. Sometimes the most spiritually and emotionally powerful moments with my children are when they sleep; and we’re not doing anything—I’m simply being present with them.

I put my hand on B's back and feel his breathing, or I look at C's face--his pouty lips and puffy cheeks. I stroke A's hair and stare at her beautiful face…They impact me deeply, simply by their presence.

An example of presence in a difficult time happened five years ago, when my father died. On the day of the funeral, I was at the funeral home, greeting people, feeling heavy, preparing myself for the talk I was going to give in the service.

A car I didn’t recognize parked, the door opened, and a man got out. When he turned and walked toward me, I saw that it was my friend Dale. Dale is my oldest friend; we've been friends for 35 years. We were best friends through high school.

We were in each other’s weddings. Although we’ve both moved several places around the country, we have stayed connected through the years. At the time of the funeral, Dale lived in Texas.

On just a few days notice, after hearing of my father’s death, Dale took off work, said goodbye to his family, and got on a plane to Virginia, just to be present with me as I grieved my father’s death.

He didn’t have to do or say anything. By just being there, by being present, Dale blessed me incredibly.

John starts this first letter of his recorded in the Bible by talking about Jesus’ presence.

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. (1 John 1:1-4)

John reminds his original listeners or readers, and he reminds us, that Jesus was real. He had a physical presence. His followers experienced His presence.

We talked earlier about how powerful the presence of other people can be--this passage reminds us that even though it is different, Jesus is present with us, in a way that is very real.

We worship a God who is a spirit, but also became a man. I think that Jesus’ presence with us is more real and powerful and intimate than we usually realize.

(at this point we spent some time in prayer and reflection; experiencing Jesus' presence. In between periods of silence we read the following words of Jesus)

I am the bread that gives life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

The Father gives me the people who are mine. Every one of them will come to me, and I will always accept them.

I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep, and my sheep know me.

I am the way, and the truth, and the life. The only way to the Father is through me. If you know me, then you know and see God.

Father, I want these people that you gave me to be with me where I am. I want them to see my glory...

Come to me, all of you who are tired and have heavy loads, and I will give you rest.

I will be with you always, even until the end of this age.


While today we have focused on Jesus’ presence with us as individuals, we also see that John is also emphasizing how Jesus’ presence is also a community thing.

John 17--Father, I pray that they can be one. As you are in me and I am in you, I pray that they can also be one in us.

John says that the relationships we have with each other, the blessing that comes when we are present with each other, is made even more special, more spiritual, more powerful, more alive--because Jesus is present with us.

Today, I am thankful for Jesus’ presence, and for yours.

Who Then Can Be Saved? Great thoughts on evangelism

Elizabeth Chapin on the Doable Evangelism blog:

I’ve been thinking about Christian conversion and how we often view our own stories in a linear fashion and want to mark some point in time on a straight line from birth to death that marks our transition from not-a-Christian to Christian.

I have had discussions over the years with Christians on topics like, “Once saved, always saved,” and, “Can someone lose their salvation?” Interestingly, there are verses in the Bible that seem to leave these questions open.

All of this talk presumes a view of conversion as an “in-out” proposition. Let’s take a look at this in-out question…Read more here.

1 John

Sunday we began a series on the book of 1 John. While short, this book is full of encouragement and challenge for those who are followers of Jesus. I love the opening words:

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched...

John wanted to share his amazing experience of Jesus. John, often referred to as the beloved disciple, was one of Jesus' closest friends. So when we read his words, we're not reading the thoughts of a theologian writing about someone from the past.

For John, Jesus was not a concept, or a spirit, or a theological topic. John is not discussing theology or philosophy on an intellectual level. For John, Jesus was real, physical, and personal. He is writing about someone he heard, someone he saw with his own eyes, someone he touched with his hands...

In John's Gospel we have a close, personal look at Jesus' life. In 1 John, we have this friend of Jesus telling Jesus' followers how they can live life in the way that Jesus intended.

We are going to spend the next couple months in this rich message--and are asking people to spend time in this book, and see how God leads them to interpret some of it's words or ideas or images in creative ways.

We invite you to jump in--write a song, draw a picture, compose some poetry, paint, sculpt, create something--and allow it to contribute to our worship.

Please join us Sundays at 5 PM for this journey through 1 John.

Time to die and be raised--Walter Breuggemann

“Time to die and be raised”

A selection of the informal comments by Dr. Walter Breuggemann in a film by The Work of the People:

“Being out here and seeing these tombstones, first thing that came to my mind is that place in Matthew where Jesus says to the religious leaders of his society that they’re like mausoleums or “white sepulchers.” So what he does is to take the tombstone as a metaphor for people that have shut down reality, and have no energy and no imagination. So I suppose that a cemetery is a good place to talk about the imagination of death and the imagination of life. And if you draw that to our moment in society about the economy having collapsed and about Barack Obama’s audacious hope, you could entertain the thought that we are in a life and death moment in our society.

“All kinds of people and all kinds of institutions are having to decide whether they’re going to continue the patterns of death to which our society has subscribed or whether they are going to have the energy and imagination to break out of those patterns and come alive.

“So I think that the Bible is this field of imagination in which we are constantly watching people rise up to newness. And one of the narrative images for that is this little baby that is born to Abraham and Sarah. The text says ‘and they were as good as dead,’ which, I suppose, means that Abraham couldn’t have an erection and Sarah was not ovulating any more, and they were as good as dead. And then a baby is born and everything changes.

“And I think that we’re in a society where many people are deciding we’re not going to settle for the old patterns of death and despair and denial. But we’re going to dance and sing and we’re going to practice neighborliness.

“So I think the Bible often imagines we are in an either-or moment. And I think this is one of them for churches and church people. And it’s nice to be talking about this in the season of Lent, because Lent is about getting all set to die and then be raised. And if you are in denial, you can’t get ready to die and you can’t be raised. The Old and New Testaments are clear that you have to go into the abyss. ------said, ‘The son is Father-forsaken and the Father is son-forsaken.’ Everybody is forsaken. You can tell people don’t want to go there because, by and large, very few people go to church on Good Friday. Lots of people go on Easter Sunday, but you can’t have Easter without Good Friday.

“…in the failure of our social institutions, ‘Friday’ is a way to name what is happening to us. We are really in a shut-down of the way it used to be. One of the things that’s clear as you read the New Testament narrative is that neither Herod nor Pilate had a clue about what to do. And I think we live in a time when the old rulers have no clue about what to do about anything.

“Which means it’s time to die and be raised: that’s what I think.”

when does worship begin?

Great post from our friend Jan's blog:


Sabbatical as Worship

I cringe a little when I hear the words "Contemporary Worship."

The cringe is about a couple things:

- Sometimes it's said by churchy people with great pride as in, "We also have a contemporary worship service" as if we are to congratulate them for being so . . . contemporary.

- Sometimes it's said as if that term has only one meaning. Do you mean hot metal music? Folk music? Jesus-is-my-boyfriend music? Taize? Do you mean people are sitting on sofas and drinking coffee? Do you mean it's exactly like the "Traditional Worship" but with drums? Guitars? Is everybody wearing Hawaiian shirts?

- Mostly the cringe is about the word "worship" in general - that it happens only in church buildings and with a set liturgy that includes all The Big Pieces: adoration, confession, supplication, thanksgiving. And sacraments.

We are all so busy that I'm a big believer in carving out a set time (every day?!) for worship. [Note: I believe in it but I don't do it because I am A Bad Christian.] We need that 11 am hour on Sundays - or whenever. We need liturgy.

But the liturgy of our lives is bigger than what happens between The Call to Worship and The Benediction. Or The Prelude and The Postlude - whether played by a pipe organ or a DVD...

Read the rest here.

From Easter worship

We live in a radical time when people are asking what it truly means to be a follower of Christ, rather than just living as “cultural Christians.” People are wondering what the Kingdom of God is all about in the here and now.

The Church has experienced many such times before—throughout church history there is a pattern of people seeking and hungering for God, followed by times when the church tends to settle into routines, and in a general sense, the church loses its edge, its passion.

But every few hundred years, there is a resurgence, when people begin to ask hard questions, truly seeking to see and know and experience God in real and powerful and new ways.

We are in such a time now. We look at the world around us and realize that being “saved” does not just have to do with being "safe from Hell."

This is the time of year where the Church celebrates its birth. The Church was born out of the need to share the good news of God's love for us--radical love that changed life in the here and now as well as the hereafter.

That news prompted people to leave jobs and families and ways of life. It prompted them to hear God's calling in their life. It led them on missionary journeys; it led them to sacrifice and give to support the spread of the gospel and the building of the church. It spawned questions and arguments over how to live, and what it meant to live in the Way of Christ.

As we take communion together, allow it to be a symbol of the new life that is born in you. Let the bread nourish you and the wine refresh you. This wine is not sour like the wine we drank last week, it is sweet and refreshing.

Imagine this as an awakening in your own life, let it tune your senses to hear, see, smell, and taste God. We celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, and also the chance for resurrection in our own lives.

Ask God to lead you to the next step in the resurrection of your life. And give thanks for the gift of new life that Christ has given to us.

Each time we eat this bread, and drink this cup, we are joining ourselves to Jesus, our Lord. We remember his life, honor his death, and celebrate his resurrection. We also celebrate the resurrection that God gives to us; and we look forward, with hope, to the final resurrection when all will be made right, and God’s kingdom will reign in full.

Saying No To Sunday

Great piece by Tom Ehrich from the Religious Herald:

For five decades and in growing numbers, American Christians have been saying no to Sunday church. I think it is time we listened.

We have labeled them “unchurched,” “nonbelievers,” “former Christians,” “happy pagans,” “lost” and a “mission field” that’s “ripe for harvest.” These negative terms imply that the absent have a flaw that needs to be addressed.

New congregations have harvested some of these former mainline Protestant and Roman Catholic churchgoers. But even their numbers rise and fall — especially when the founding pastor slips up or retires, and the overall trend in church participation remains down. In some Western states, Sunday churchgoing has fallen below 10 percent of the population.

When this slide commenced in 1964 as baby boomers began graduating from high school, many church leaders didn’t even acknowledge it. For years, they kept counting the absent as present. Then, when the losses couldn’t be ignored, they blamed them on whatever hot-button issues were roiling the religious establishment, as if new liturgies, women in leadership and liberals (or conservatives, take your pick) had driven people away.

We need to see that these “formers” aren’t saying no to God, or to their Christian identity, or to their yearning for faith. Many are simply saying no to Sunday church.

They are expressing a preference for something other than getting up early on Sunday, driving across town, sitting in a pew for an hour or more, making small talk with people they don’t really know, and driving home again.

They are saying no to Sunday, the only day they can get a slow start in this everyone-works-hard era.

They are saying no to being an audience in an age of participation and self-determination.

They are saying no to institutional preaching, repetitive liturgies and assemblies controlled by small cadres usually older than themselves.

They are saying no to being told what to believe.

They are saying no to having their questions ignored.

Instead, they find spiritual enrichment on the Internet and on television. They read faith-related books. They pray on their own. They find their own networks of faithful friends.

The problem isn’t their faith. The problem is Christianity’s delivery system. We are stuck in trying to lure people to physical locations at a time of our choosing, to do what we think they ought to do, and to be loyal in paying for it. It is time we looked beyond the paradigm of Sunday church.

I think the future lies in “multichanneling”: a combination of on-site, online, workplace and at-home offerings that create networks of self-determining constituents, many of whom might never attend Sunday church.

The first challenge, however, is to recognize how deeply wedded we are to Sunday, on-site participation as the only true expression and measure of faithfulness. Almost everything about our institutions — facilities, ordination training, staffing, budgeting — aims to draw people to a central location on Sunday.

We need to see that what works for some doesn’t work for others. Not because the others are flawed, nor because our culture has collapsed and turned against God, but because things change. Just as Jesus took his ministry out of the synagogue and radically rethought the meaning of Sabbath, so God is drawing us away from “former things,” even ones we treasure and consider our duty.

Tom Ehrich is a writer, church consultant and Episcopal priest. His Web site is www.morningwalkmedia.com.

counterintuitive church

Here is an excellent post from Ernest Goodman at his blog Missions, Misunderstood. I think it reflects a lot of our thinking at Convergence about church. The post is about the problem of pragmatism in our church culture. You can read the whole post here; but I want to share a few of his thoughts:

Everyone’s traditional. Some of us just start new ones rather than following someone else’s. There are consequences to the tradition of pragmatism. You might be seeing “results” with the way you’re doing things but consider this:

• If people come to faith through confrontational, guilt-trip evangelism, they’re coming to a confrontational, guilt-trip faith.
• If your church’s myopic focus on Biblical knowledge makes it more lecture hall than place of worship, you’re likely going to get a bunch of armchair Reformation theologians and wanna-be ancient Greek scholars who are more concerned with being right than anything else.
• If you allow your church to get so large that it’s a challenge to really know everyone (anyone) else in that local body, (versus starting smaller, more local gatherings,) you are discipling your people into a less personal expression of Christianity and, therefore, a less personal view of Jesus. [Pragmatic argument:] Of course, relational church can happen in your megachurch (through small groups, cliques, informal social circles, etc.), but as you add programs and square-footage, it begins to happen in spite of how you do church, not because of how you do church.
• If your church mired in legalism, it won’t last. Legalistic religious people eventually can’t keep up with their legalisms. To them, God is only pleased with an impossibly demanding cycle of performance. They usually end up abandoning their “faith” or isolating themselves for fear of secular contamination.
• If your church worships worship, your people might not learn to worship God. At the very least, they could be left unable to worship without a worship band and Mediashout® video backgrounds. Believers need to learn to worship, learn, serve, and share without the help of the professionals who make their livings by (intentionally or otherwise) perpetuating dependence.
• If your church sits in grandstands with the lights dimmed, staring at a jumbo-tron, don’t be surprised if they act like spectators.

While we don't want our identity to be based on what we are not--we can learn from the successes, mistakes and struggles of others. I am grateful that the vision God has given us for Convergence, and the faithfulness of those involved at Convergence, have helped us create more of what Goodman describes as a "counterintuitive church" than a pragmatic one. I also realize it will take continuous prayer and work to keep moving in that direction.

different perspectives

I put this on my personal blog; but then thought that it fits here too.

I came across this from Andrew Perriman at Open Source Theology:

I’m very conscious of the fact that pretty much all of our divisions and disagreements arise because we find it almost impossible - emotionally - to choose one path through the forest without denigrating all those who choose to follow a different path.

This is something I've been thinking and talking about when it comes to Convergence. This dream that we can be a faith community made up of people with different ideas, different interpretations, different takes on issues, different callings and passions.

I had lunch with a friend and Convergence member last week. We have different perspectives on an issue facing churches these days. I told her my hope was that she and I could tell each other our perspective without feeling the need to convince the other to agree; that we could listen and seek to understand one another; that we could be open to the possibilities of another perspective; and live and fellowship and serve in community, even when we don't agree.

As a pastor, I don't want to build a church where everyone agrees with me (I'm well-aware that I'm often not right!) But I do want a church where people are free to explore, dialog, hold and share different opinions, perspectives and interpretations; and that the common ground is to know and experience and love and reflect Jesus.