If they do not challenge me about the term "postmodern" then they challenge me about the term "missional." I can see them even before I finish my opening prayer or introduction. They have questions, they've heard the terms, and they are here to listen to me give them answers. They leave disappointed...anyone who's ever heard me lecture or preach knows I don't give answers...it's kind of "my thing." I embrace questions, ambiguity, and curiosity..."answers" seem to be anathema to all three...so I try not to do answers in theology...(I have two teenage daughters, however, and there's lots of answers in those relationships!)
Within minutes the hands are raised, the question asked, the laptop ready to synchonize the answer...(that never comes...but they don't know that right away...the questioner usually spends a few minutes typing before he or she realizes the only important thing they've noted is to "Get milk" on the way home from class...) It's gotten to the point now where I have started a book on the term "missional." ("Postmodern" is a hopeless cause...Good luck to those who try that one!)
But here's the thing I have about missional...it is so contextual as to be almost unique...("miraculous" in a Humean--from David Hume, the 18th Century British philosopher) so as to be unrepeatable in the science labs of congregations. As I learned from Karl Popper (a 20th Century German who lived in Australia and Britain philosopher---) if you can't verify it, you really can't call it science. Therefore, since so much of the missional church movement is not verifiable outside of its own peculiar context, those of the academy (and those wishing to be academic) will have a tough time with it...since context makes up the pasture in which the mission grows, what happens in Bismarck does not relate necessarily to Sydney, Australia or to Mumbai, India, Crawfordsville, Indiana, USA or even Mandan (which is across the river from Bismarck!)
Basically all this "missional" stuff is a little bit narcisstic in that it looks in the mirror and says "What have we done that no one else can do, even if they want to, because they don't live here?" This provisional and relative nature of missional theology and congregations will not lead to heavily footnoted articles and books...it will lead to blogs with ellipses and lectures...but that won't pass ATS accreditation. One can receive a "doctorate" in missional ministry simply by being an attentive and caring neighbor...and wow does that drive the folks mad back at the school and universities...here's when I knew I wouldn't make a good academic; or, when I knew for sure that I was doing something else with my ministry than what I was in the process of being trained for...
Someone told me once that no one in a "parish" needs Athanasius. His sermons were too hard to understand. I was ticked...(by the way, your googling should be off the charts right now with Hume, Popper,and Athanasius)...Athanasius never preached a sermon to someone who understood how a combustible engine worked (it wouldn't be developed for another 1400 years!)...never preached to a person who ran a telephone, a computer, a vacuum cleaner, or a tractor. So how come people who never did those things could understand his sermons, and my parishioners could not? Was it harder to be a merchant 1400 years ago than today? I don't think so...It was either arrogance or sheer arrogance or laziness on the part of preachers to believe that Athansius was to difficult to understand...Athanasius believed context mattered, not only for us, but for God...that's why God became human...God had a mission in a context...we Christians call it "the Word made flesh..." the world calls it Christmas...now, I ask you, was that too hard? Although to be missional is to be contextual and to be contextual is to be missional...there is a difference (you knew this was coming), and it has to do with the cross on which Jesus died...oh, and Athanasius preached about that too.
Your Blog Steward
- Scott Frederickson
- Omaha, Nebraska, United States
- I am more and more convinced that most congregations die from a staggering lack of imagination. Let's change that. Let's imagine a creative future with God and each other together. Drop me a line on email or leave a comment if you have thoughts on God, Jesus, congregations, the church or whatever.... I look forward to our conversations.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Death, Violence, the Cross, and Love
As the prophet Ezekiel is exhorting the folks of Israel, he writes of God, "I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord GOD. Turn, then, and live." Now, if we take that "anyone" to include anything as well, we hit upon the paradox that is life. In order for something to live something must die. Borrowing from its Jewish roots, Christianity hits that paradox straight on...not that the paradox is solved in Christianity, rather, options are opened for living in that paradox.
First, some people and things don't mind death. The paradox loses most of its power as a paradox if death is seen as inevitable, glorious, or the way to win the game. At some point you have to love living and fear death in order for the paradox to have any power in your life, and the way you live. Christianity is for those people...people who don't fear death don't have much need for a God who dies...
So, if you are one of those people who love living and fear dying, Christianity may be the religion for you...and here's the point...are you going to resort to violence in order to love living and fear dying? (Most of us do, my favorite being the TV show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," where it is always about blood because, as a vampire says, "It carries life.") So we inflict violence on others in order to live, or even ourselves in order to die well...and the violence is death magnified, but all death is violent, even if graceful or peaceful...We are awash in "blood violence" these days, as if talking to your enemy is weak, compromise is failure, and only strength, death to enemies, war, and torture allow us to keep breathing...or at least keep the fear of death somewhat submerged...But the cross of Christ does have something to say here...
It says violence is real, but God's love is more real. Violence says "No!" and the cross of Christ says "Yes!" to loving to live. Violence is a part of everything, but the cross reminds us violence is not "the final solution." You see, for Christians the cross is not the end of the story of Jesus Christ, but rather its beginning...loving life without violence, without death, without another cross...As a paradox dying to live and living to die is not meant to be solved, probably not meant to be enjoyed either...maybe endured, maybe fighting against it, maybe loving what you can...maybe trusting a God?...Who once upon a time died to give life...paradoxical as it may be.
First, some people and things don't mind death. The paradox loses most of its power as a paradox if death is seen as inevitable, glorious, or the way to win the game. At some point you have to love living and fear death in order for the paradox to have any power in your life, and the way you live. Christianity is for those people...people who don't fear death don't have much need for a God who dies...
So, if you are one of those people who love living and fear dying, Christianity may be the religion for you...and here's the point...are you going to resort to violence in order to love living and fear dying? (Most of us do, my favorite being the TV show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," where it is always about blood because, as a vampire says, "It carries life.") So we inflict violence on others in order to live, or even ourselves in order to die well...and the violence is death magnified, but all death is violent, even if graceful or peaceful...We are awash in "blood violence" these days, as if talking to your enemy is weak, compromise is failure, and only strength, death to enemies, war, and torture allow us to keep breathing...or at least keep the fear of death somewhat submerged...But the cross of Christ does have something to say here...
It says violence is real, but God's love is more real. Violence says "No!" and the cross of Christ says "Yes!" to loving to live. Violence is a part of everything, but the cross reminds us violence is not "the final solution." You see, for Christians the cross is not the end of the story of Jesus Christ, but rather its beginning...loving life without violence, without death, without another cross...As a paradox dying to live and living to die is not meant to be solved, probably not meant to be enjoyed either...maybe endured, maybe fighting against it, maybe loving what you can...maybe trusting a God?...Who once upon a time died to give life...paradoxical as it may be.
Monday, January 19, 2009
The Joy of Prairie Table
This ministry is a true privilege to be a part of, and I wish all my colleagues could have the experiences I do as a missional pastor in a non-traditional new start. I'm not quite sure how I got to this point, but huge amounts of thanks go out to Rev. Chris Alexander for getting the idea going with the Rev. Rueben Duran in Chicago; the efforts put in by Pr. Keith Zeh, sadly moving to a new call in February, but we will always remember him; our former Bishop Duane Danielson and his staff, especially Monroe for his continued work with PTM, and our current Bishop Mark Narum. A whole bunch of people make this ministry possible, and God is truly a generous...if slightly off-center, God.
I mean, who thinks something like this will work? I mean, most "emergent" (whatever that means, see my post from last year about that) congregations are where people are...and Bismarck, although we have people, we also have one church for about every 700 people or so, we're not Charlotte, NC (I think that was one church for every 250 people), but we're not too far away. It's not like we needed another "church," but we do need ministry. (Hence, we're known as Prairie Table MINISTRIES not Prairie Table "Church"). Jane, our erstwhile soup-maker, once asked early on what was my plan for this "school." (To be fair, she works in a school, so she might not have done this intentionally.) But I am thinking Prairie Table is much more like a "school" than a "church" these days. I don't have a lot of trouble at this point with that analogy. (Though I probably will eventually, and we'll get a post about that!!)
It is fun to teach people about the faith, and to try and answer questions...Our Wednesday group will have read the entire Gospel of Matthew by the end of Spring, without skipping one word or verse. It takes about a year to do something like that...talk about peoples' dedication! Some folks have only missed a handful of times...WOW! Our Thursday group has spent time learning about the Nicene Creed, and now we're studying the Lord's Prayer. 30-40 (bad weather 20) people a week pondering some of he great symbols of our faith...Amazing.
For me, PTM is more than fun, it is fulfilling, it creates relationships, it makes friends, it shows me the best of our brotherhood and sisterhood in Christ...I guess it is joyful. What pastor wouldn't want that? Thank you to everyone who reads this blog, to those who comment (and to those who think about commenting but don't...I know you're out there!). Thank you for the joy in being on the prairie (both in reality and in cyber-space) with me, and with God.
I mean, who thinks something like this will work? I mean, most "emergent" (whatever that means, see my post from last year about that) congregations are where people are...and Bismarck, although we have people, we also have one church for about every 700 people or so, we're not Charlotte, NC (I think that was one church for every 250 people), but we're not too far away. It's not like we needed another "church," but we do need ministry. (Hence, we're known as Prairie Table MINISTRIES not Prairie Table "Church"). Jane, our erstwhile soup-maker, once asked early on what was my plan for this "school." (To be fair, she works in a school, so she might not have done this intentionally.) But I am thinking Prairie Table is much more like a "school" than a "church" these days. I don't have a lot of trouble at this point with that analogy. (Though I probably will eventually, and we'll get a post about that!!)
It is fun to teach people about the faith, and to try and answer questions...Our Wednesday group will have read the entire Gospel of Matthew by the end of Spring, without skipping one word or verse. It takes about a year to do something like that...talk about peoples' dedication! Some folks have only missed a handful of times...WOW! Our Thursday group has spent time learning about the Nicene Creed, and now we're studying the Lord's Prayer. 30-40 (bad weather 20) people a week pondering some of he great symbols of our faith...Amazing.
For me, PTM is more than fun, it is fulfilling, it creates relationships, it makes friends, it shows me the best of our brotherhood and sisterhood in Christ...I guess it is joyful. What pastor wouldn't want that? Thank you to everyone who reads this blog, to those who comment (and to those who think about commenting but don't...I know you're out there!). Thank you for the joy in being on the prairie (both in reality and in cyber-space) with me, and with God.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Joiners or Individualists?
If you ever want to get a group of historians of the United States talking, ask them if they believe folks in the USA are "joiners" or "individualists?" The battle will ensue...Here's the thing, there's no doubt we've had some great individuals who have made significant imprints upon our society...(think Martin Luther King, Jr. or Thomas Jefferson), but inevitably, it seems, institutions are the result of their work, and the rest of us just "join in." (Think of those who went West AFTER the gold was found in 1849.) You're not going to win arguing one side or the other, but at Prairie Table there is probably no more important idea being debated than that one...joiners or individuals?...
Most mission congregations in the ELCA (that's our denomination, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) are designed for joiners, not individuals. Here's my favorite anecdote so far that proves this point: when we were getting set-up with the ELCA, the people in Chicago (where our denomination has headquarters) had to call up our Bishop here in Bismarck to ask what kind of name was Prairie Table, and why didn't it have "church" in the title? Whoever that person was who called was clearly a "joiner." "Church" is a joiner-word. That is, "church" is something you join...hence, "churches" have members...So, if you're a joiner, and you want to have religious experience, you search for a "church" to join...Prairie Table does not have "church" in its name (for precisely this reason), and hence, "joiners" may be confused because they are not sure what to join...I always love it when someone says to me, "I can't join your congregation, as I already am in one"...which is not true. You cannot join our congregation because there is nothing to join...not because you're already in a congregation (and who decided you could only be in one at a time anyhow? Where's that rule in the Bible?)...Prairie Table is for the religious and spiritual individualist who seeks community not institution...
After six months of gathering, you can tell the joiners who come to visit, and sort of wonder what is going on...where's the liturgy? Where's the roster? Where's the building? Those are all fine, and Prairie Table is not opposed to any of them on principle, but we are about community, and the individuals who comprise it...We believe it's individuals who are called by God who form community...one of the ways to understand our Jewish brothers and sisters is to understand that they are called as a "people," but in Christ Jesus people are called as "brothers and sisters." (This, to my mind, is why Christianity is much more multi-racial than Judaism. Theologically, Golgatha inverts Sinai--- for my theological friends.)
This does not mean, by the way, that all the people who are part of Prairie Table are individualists, we probably have some joiners, and they are learning how to live and see God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit from a different angle, perhaps. We might not be very good individualists either, for that matter, we might be more comfotable as joiners...but I still hold that there are plenty of institutions to join here in Bismarck, and almost anywhere in the world these days,...but where can you find a community of God where your call is valued more than the tradition of the institution without the institution feeling threatened? In Bismarck alone, if you want to worship on a Sunday morning there are over 100 places to join...But if you want support to live out your call, to be free in your humanity to live out the divine desire? Not so many places...of course, that's how any good individualist wants it...but sometimes it's nice to have a friend.
Most mission congregations in the ELCA (that's our denomination, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) are designed for joiners, not individuals. Here's my favorite anecdote so far that proves this point: when we were getting set-up with the ELCA, the people in Chicago (where our denomination has headquarters) had to call up our Bishop here in Bismarck to ask what kind of name was Prairie Table, and why didn't it have "church" in the title? Whoever that person was who called was clearly a "joiner." "Church" is a joiner-word. That is, "church" is something you join...hence, "churches" have members...So, if you're a joiner, and you want to have religious experience, you search for a "church" to join...Prairie Table does not have "church" in its name (for precisely this reason), and hence, "joiners" may be confused because they are not sure what to join...I always love it when someone says to me, "I can't join your congregation, as I already am in one"...which is not true. You cannot join our congregation because there is nothing to join...not because you're already in a congregation (and who decided you could only be in one at a time anyhow? Where's that rule in the Bible?)...Prairie Table is for the religious and spiritual individualist who seeks community not institution...
After six months of gathering, you can tell the joiners who come to visit, and sort of wonder what is going on...where's the liturgy? Where's the roster? Where's the building? Those are all fine, and Prairie Table is not opposed to any of them on principle, but we are about community, and the individuals who comprise it...We believe it's individuals who are called by God who form community...one of the ways to understand our Jewish brothers and sisters is to understand that they are called as a "people," but in Christ Jesus people are called as "brothers and sisters." (This, to my mind, is why Christianity is much more multi-racial than Judaism. Theologically, Golgatha inverts Sinai--- for my theological friends.)
This does not mean, by the way, that all the people who are part of Prairie Table are individualists, we probably have some joiners, and they are learning how to live and see God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit from a different angle, perhaps. We might not be very good individualists either, for that matter, we might be more comfotable as joiners...but I still hold that there are plenty of institutions to join here in Bismarck, and almost anywhere in the world these days,...but where can you find a community of God where your call is valued more than the tradition of the institution without the institution feeling threatened? In Bismarck alone, if you want to worship on a Sunday morning there are over 100 places to join...But if you want support to live out your call, to be free in your humanity to live out the divine desire? Not so many places...of course, that's how any good individualist wants it...but sometimes it's nice to have a friend.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Really? The Bible?
This rumination begins from a conversation (almost all my ruminations begin this way) I had with a woman after she found out I was a pastor. "I don't go to church anymore," she replied, "but I pray and read my Bible." Now, this was above and beyond the call of unasked for defense of a non-religious lifestyle..."The Bible,"I asked, "any special parts?" "Ask me anything. I grew up Jehovah's Witness...I may not like a lot of what they do, but we do know our Bible."
So I softballed her with one about Daniel and Lion's Den. Who were the three friends? "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednigo. Too easy. Ask me something hard."
"Do you think Paul's hermeneutic concerning the salvation of the Jews is justified, especially considering the prophetic works of the Old Testament?"
"Now you're just screwing with me." Her smile made the day better.
That conversation is well over a couple of years old, but I've met a few people over the last few months who've come up with the same story. "I don't go to church, but I like reading the Bible." Now, here's where it gets interesting...
Another one of my gigs is teaching pastors about missional church and missional leadership. One of the most common refrains my students have is that their parishioners no longer know the Biblical story. That is, the "Church" has lost its narrative and story because the people who go to "Church" no longer know it...you see the irony...basically, people I meet in a bars and grocery stores and never step inside a congregation or its buildings know more about the Christian story and narrative than those who attend worship...some every week...As a missionary I spend a great deal of time talking about the Bible to people not affliated with congregations, and my students, who work in congregations spend almost no time talking with people about the Bible...very strange...
I don't really know what to make of this except to caution those inside the congregations and buildings of Christianity to remember to talk about the Bible every now and then...not just about the friends of Daniel, but about the love of God in Christ Jesus...converse together with power of the Holy Spirit to move mountains, and be friends and neighbors...celebrate the fecundity of God with Psalms and hymns of praise...because remember this: eventually those people will find themselves with me in a bar or grocery store, and we're going to need something to talk about...
So I softballed her with one about Daniel and Lion's Den. Who were the three friends? "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednigo. Too easy. Ask me something hard."
"Do you think Paul's hermeneutic concerning the salvation of the Jews is justified, especially considering the prophetic works of the Old Testament?"
"Now you're just screwing with me." Her smile made the day better.
That conversation is well over a couple of years old, but I've met a few people over the last few months who've come up with the same story. "I don't go to church, but I like reading the Bible." Now, here's where it gets interesting...
Another one of my gigs is teaching pastors about missional church and missional leadership. One of the most common refrains my students have is that their parishioners no longer know the Biblical story. That is, the "Church" has lost its narrative and story because the people who go to "Church" no longer know it...you see the irony...basically, people I meet in a bars and grocery stores and never step inside a congregation or its buildings know more about the Christian story and narrative than those who attend worship...some every week...As a missionary I spend a great deal of time talking about the Bible to people not affliated with congregations, and my students, who work in congregations spend almost no time talking with people about the Bible...very strange...
I don't really know what to make of this except to caution those inside the congregations and buildings of Christianity to remember to talk about the Bible every now and then...not just about the friends of Daniel, but about the love of God in Christ Jesus...converse together with power of the Holy Spirit to move mountains, and be friends and neighbors...celebrate the fecundity of God with Psalms and hymns of praise...because remember this: eventually those people will find themselves with me in a bar or grocery store, and we're going to need something to talk about...
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