What Is Missional? Six-Word Stories

I am relieved that Alan Hirsch had already posted his “What is missional?” contribution to this synchroblog before I did my final draft. And that so many others have already posted by the time this posts. That takes all the pressure off! ;^) So, AbiSomeone is going to go if a completely different direction ….

Our local paper recently had an article about a powerful little concept. I could not find the paper, of course, when I was ready to write this … but the concept was powerful enough that I could Google it. (I really do appreciate Google!). This is what I found: SMITH Magazine’s new book: Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure:

"Legend has it that Hemingway was once challenged to write a story in only six words. His response? “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” Last year, SMITH Magazine re-ignited the recountre by asking our readers for their own six-word memoirs. They sent in short life stories in droves, from the bittersweet … and poignant … to the inspirational … and hilarious….”

Now I just happened to be reading Neil Cole’s new book, Search and Rescue, when a rush of six-word thoughts about “missional” began to pop into my head. So I began to write them down in the front pages of Neil’s book. (Note to Neil’s book designer: red paper looks cool, but is a real drag for writing notes – too hard to read!)

I transferred these notes to a piece of notebook paper and began to continue my list … and add to it … and prioritize the entries. And what I ended up with is a series of 45 six-word stories about God, God’s Eikons (human image-bearers), God’s mission, God’s missionaries and what my friend Brad calls Kingdom Culture … and it’s title is this little six-word story:

Covenant Community, Mission, Ambassadors and Hesed.

1. Right reality. Right response. Right representation.
2. To be is to be perceived. (Bishop Berkeley understood the essential truth.)
3. Because God perceives us, we exist.
4. God created, regardless of the method.
5. Eikons bear God’s image. Respect that.
6. God IS community; we can join.
7. God’s invitation must be accepted unconditionally.
8. God’s love builds and restores relationships.
9. The Jesus Covenant transcends all predecessors.
10. Jesus is Lord. Understand the implications.
11. Adopted. Joint heirs. Ambassadors. Siblings.
12. Kingdom heirs share in Kingdom responsibilities.
13. Jesus is Lord – we’re his ambassadors.
14. Ambassadors are sent on Kingdom mission.
15. Kingdom ambassadors are the King, incarnate.
16. Jesus became human to transform humanity.
17. In Christ + Like Christ = With Christ.
18. Apart from Christ, nothing can grow.
19. Every privilege given serves a Kingdom purpose.
20. God’s mission – search and rescue – is participatory.
21. Covenant making implies faithful covenant keeping.
22. Hesed is covenant keeping’s essential description.
23. Understand hesed; everything else explains itself.
24. We are responsible for one another.
25. Hesed is right attitudes lived out.
26. To really know is to do.
27. Knowledge without obedience is basically worthless.
28. God does not fear our questions.
29. Hesed glasses focus on right response.
30. Hesed glasses reveal appropriate covenant context.
31. God’s missional covenant requires hesed glasses.
32. Availability, vulnerability and the heretical imperative.
33. Sin is failure to practice hesed.
34. Discipline includes making timely course corrections.
35. Proper pruning requires contemplation before cutting.
36. Timely pruning is much less painful.
37. Healthy cells result in healthy organisms.
38. An interrupted life manifests kairos time.
39. Interruptions are frequently appointments from God.
40. Servant leaders know how to submit.
41. When perceiving needs, become God’s provision.
42. God’s community has unity. Get it.
43. Unity is the fruit of hesed.
44. The few. The faithful. The Hasidim.
45. Following Jesus. Using gifts. Loving all.

And don't forget to check out the rest of the synchrobloggers:


Alan Hirsch
Alan Knox
Andrew Jones
Barb Peters
Bill Kinnon
Brad Brisco
Brad Grinnen
Brad Sargent
Brother Maynard
Bryan Riley
Chad Brooks
Chris Wignall
Cobus Van Wyngaard
Dave DeVries
David Best
David Fitch
David Wierzbicki
DoSi
Doug Jones
Duncan McFadzean
Erika Haub
Grace
Jamie Arpin-Ricci
Jeff McQuilkin
John Smulo
Jonathan Brink
JR Rozko
Kathy Escobar
Len Hjalmarson
Makeesha Fisher
Malcolm Lanham
Mark Berry
Mark Petersen
Mark Priddy
Michael Crane
Michael Stewart
Nick Loyd
Patrick Oden
Phil Wyman
Richard Pool
Rick Meigs
Rob Robinson
Ron Cole
Scott Marshall
Sonja Andrews
Stephen Shields
Steve Hayes
Tim Thompson
Thom Turner


Be blessed as you ponder the importance of the term missional and its impact.

"What is missional?" Synchroblog

[Oops! I put this into "draft" mode by mistake ... so here it is again ... sorry!]

Back on my 15th wedding anniversary, Rick Meigs posted this reflection and challenge on his blog:

I think it is time to make a bigger effort to reclaim the term [missional], a term which describe what happens when you and I replace the “come to us” invitations with a “go to them” life. A life where “the way of Jesus” informs and radically transforms our existence to one wholly focused on sacrificially living for him and others and where we adopt a missionary stance in relation to our culture. It speaks of the very nature of the Jesus follower.

To help reclaim it, I propose a synchronized blog for Monday, June 23rd on the topic, “What is Missional?”

There are any number of ways one could blog on this topic. You could illustrate what the term means, describe what it is not and how it is wrongly used, define the term, explore its misuses, explore its theological foundations, or you name it.

I think I was first introduced to the word "missional" by Alan Hirsch, during Neil Cole's first Organic Church Planting Conference in January of 2007. I'm sure I actually heard it earlier, but that was when I started paying attention to it.

And boy have I been hearing a lot about it ever since!

The volume was turned up last October when I attended the Allelon Missional Order Gathering in Seabeck -- which resulted in my launching of this wee blog. I was very happy to be able to share my ride to Seabeck with my friend, Brad, and our new friend, Rick -- the same Rick who has orchestrated this amazing event.

According to my count, nine of the Seabeck MO Bloggers (as noted in my sidebar) are in this group of 50 who have taken the time to share their passion for reclaiming the word "missional" -- and I hope that you'll take the time to check back on Monday, June 23rd, to see what The Abbess has to say about what missional means to her -- and read the thoughts of the rest of the crew listed below:

Alan Hirsch
Alan Knox
Andrew Jones
Barb Peters
Bill Kinnon
Brad Brisco
Brad Grinnen
Brad Sargent
Brother Maynard
Bryan Riley
Chad Brooks
Chris Wignall
Cobus Van Wyngaard
Dave DeVries
David Best
David Fitch
David Wierzbicki
DoSi
Doug Jones
Duncan McFadzean
Erika Haub
Grace
Jamie Arpin-Ricci
Jeff McQuilkin
John Smulo
Jonathan Brink
JR Rozko
Kathy Escobar
Len Hjalmarson
Makeesha Fisher
Malcolm Lanham
Mark Berry
Mark Petersen
Mark Priddy
Michael Crane
Michael Stewart
Nick Loyd
Patrick Oden
Phil Wyman
Richard Pool
Rick Meigs
Rob Robinson
Ron Cole
Scott Marshall
Sonja Andrews
Stephen Shields
Steve Hayes
Tim Thompson
Thom Turner

See you Monday, if not before!

Abi

Restraint as Primary Attribute of God

Well, I guess it's a cHesed day here at The Abbey! Hmm ... actually, I think every day is a cHesed day here at The Abbey. ;^)

I've been keeping out of the whole "Wrath" series of posts over at Jesus Creed, but got snagged over at Missio Dei in a side conversation! Here's most of what I had to say:

I've been blogging a bit about covenant and hesed over at my place in an attempt to help address parts of this issue that run into the limitations of the English "love" when compared to the depths of Greek, but especially the Hebrew concept -- where it is more like a multifaceted diamond.

We see that God's lovingkindness -- his faithful covenant keeping -- is almost always the Hebrew "hesed". The same can be said for "mercy". And when we move to the NT, we can add "grace" to the pot. These are primary attitudes -- love, grace and mercy -- that are all a part of hesed. They are manifest in actions of submission, service and leading -- as summarized in the over 50 "one another" passages -- also examples of hesed.

And while I whole-heartedly agree that God is always in unity among themselves, it is challenging to see the various components of that infinite I AM-ness from our perspective as unified.

I believe that the concept of hesed, which is a huge love word, gets us closer to the reality. And, having said that, I believe that the primary attribute of God is their restraint.

It is restraint that keeps the tension between all the various components -- love, mercy, wrath, justice, sovereignty -- you name it. Restraint keeps the dance from going off-line, from stepping on toes, as it were.

Because you just cannot have relationship without restraint. And I believe that God is ultimately about relationship -- covenant relationship ... where hesed is seen in love, grace, mercy, submission, service and leading ... that is restrained in order for the best interest of the "other" to be truly served.

So, there you have it. From another angle. Best viewed with cHesed glasses! :^)

Abi and Covenant

I frequently feel, well, a little AbiNormal ;^) when it comes to using the term "covenant" in connection with a particular group of Christ-followers. Most folks I'm reading or hearing use this term to describe the commitment they are making to each other and the group's purpose. I know why they do this -- because there is such a thing as a "covenant" in our society as well as our Bible.

But when I speak of CovenantClusters, let me be clear: we are not making a covenant in this manner. We are acknowledging and living out the binding covenant to which we are already committed -- signed with the blood of Jesus Christ.

When it comes to missional orders, some see them as "covenant clusters" -- like my friend Len. But the way he uses it (in the "Mutuality, Triads, Spiritual Directors, and Authority" section of that post) is not the way I use it. Of course, he is free to use those words in that way. I just don't want you to be confused about how I use them.

What The Abbess is looking for as part of the whole missional order discussion is a "rule of life" and a "rhythm of life" that provides a group of Christ followers with a focus, a framework, for the working out of our cHesed -- our already-existing sacred duty to love God and love each other -- in the context of apprenticing disciples.

[Note: Just before I started this post, I ordered Neil Cole's new book, Search and Rescue: An Urgent Call to Make and Multiply Disciples (I know, I said no more books -- but it is part of the Neil Cole "set" that is already important to CovenantClusters. :^) ). I am looking forward to getting it and will probably have to blog about it sometime soon....]

That makes this whole "covenant" thing in the context of "missional orders" about "forms" for cHesed -- the how do we do this LIFE with each other in a meaningful, incarnational and missional way. And I am content to both formulate and take solemn missional order vows, as part of the "bounded set" without risking the compromise of the foundational concept of covenant. Because regardless of what "vows" I may or may not take, I remain already firmly bound to cHesed in the New Covenant. And I believe that gives a stronger foundation to any "form" another "vow" might take, while allowing them to be simpler. And simple is key.

So ... I've gone over to the Scriptorium and copied some of my key terms to review here, in hopes of clarifying what I mean:

Covenant

Our primary context for understanding God and his purposes is through the concept of covenant. God has chosen to structure his relationships with humanity by making covenants, as can clearly be seen in the Old Testament. These covenants bind (cluster) all parties together with the terms and conditions God designed for relationship. These terms and conditions include both blessings for obedience and consequences for disobedience. Each party is responsible (accountable) to all other parties for faithfully abiding by the terms and conditions as well as providing whatever is needed to help each other remain faithful.

God, as documented in the New Testament, has made a final New Covenant through the sending of his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to be both our covenant-making and our covenant-breaking sacrifice. His death, burial and resurrection have conquered death and given us access to Eternal Life, if we will accept God’s offer of covenant. Acceptance makes us adopted children of God -- joint heirs with Jesus. No. Small. Deal.

cHesed

The concept of faithful covenant-keeping is communicated through this deep and meaningful Hebrew word. The gist has to do with looking after the best interest of the other, according to the covenant. It is most frequently translated in connection with the motivating attitudes of love, grace and mercy. These attitudes of cHesed manifest themselves in the corresponding responses of submission, service and leadership.

When persons fully understand cHesed as the attitudes and responses that show faithful obedience to the command to love God and love others, it transforms their ability to understand what God has revealed in his Word as well as their ability to understand what God wants them to do about it. We believe it is well worth the investment in time and effort to gain this foundational understanding. (Thanks to Mont Smith for sharing these two concepts in his book, What The Bible Says About Covenant, which is currently out of print.)

I have spent quite a lot of time processing this concept and working on ways to help communicate it's complexity and nuanced presence in the New Testament. This chart (which is a Word Document you may open or download) is the latest attempt I have made, using the concepts from The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman. You will see that these concepts are very important to The Abbess because you will find evidence of them in all my thinking about covenant relationships.

cHesed Glasses

I use this term as a way to encourage people to check their context when they're reading scripture. Just as 3D glasses are required to get the most out of a 3D format, we need the lenses of cHesed to make God's point jump out of scripture into our understanding. If the whole of the requirement of God is summed up in loving God and loving others (so Scot McKnight, author of The Jesus Creed, quotes Jesus as saying), and if this is the work of faithful covenant keeping, then we must have tools that help us focus properly.

Putting on cHesed glasses means that we are remembering that the left lens represents the fact that God is a covenant making God, while the right lens represents the fact that God is a faithful covenant keeper — and expects the same of us (possible only with the help of the Holy Spirit, of course). This will help us ask these questions when we look at God's Word:

1. What covenant is the context for this situation?
2. Is this situation one of covenant making, covenant keeping and blessings for faithfulness or covenant breaking and consequences for unfaithfulness?
3. What reminder can we take from this situation to help us keep the primary question before us: How will what I am thinking or saying or doing (or not) help me be a faithful covenant partner to God and to others (or not)? How does this help me love God and love others (or not)?

Christian Hasidim

Most people associate the term Hasidim with ultra-orthodox Jews, as in Hasidic Judaism. This comes from the word Chaciyd, from which come words like faithful and saint…and, of course, it is linked to the word cHesed because it is referring to those who are faithful covenant-keepers: saints.

The Christian Hasidim are basically the "everyday" saints, those who make up the priesthood of the believers, those who faithfully keep covenant with God through Jesus Christ. I have been thinking about coining this term (I haven't heard anyone else use it, but that doesn't mean somebody hasn't!) for CovenantClusters folks, especially since the corruption of the term "Christian" in this post-modern, post-Christendom era. Don't want to be weird about it, but I do so like using words that actually mean what they're supposed to mean….

One last thing: please take a look at the top of my sidebar. There you will find both "Abi's Rule" (and if you have studied my cHesed chart, it will make perfect sense to you) and "CovenantClusters' Rule" (which was documented in this post -- be sure to read the clarifications in the comments) -- both of which may help you summarize my thinking.

Okay ... so it's back to sleep here at 2 a.m. ...

Be blessed!

The Missional Order and The Abbess

Last October, as I drove up to Seabeck with Brad and Rick, I had no idea what to expect. Neither did they … and neither did anyone else, as we all soon discovered! This did not bother me at all, this ambiguous tension. I had been waiting almost two years for God to reveal the next steps in the plan for implementing the vision he placed in my heart. All I knew was that I was supposed to come.

I knew nothing of “orders” or “rules” – being a low-church minister – but the story I learned about the Northumbria community resonated strongly in my heart. I have been unable to find two better words for what I seek in a community than their words: availability and vulnerability.

And the “The Daily Office” was just as new … and I was pleasantly surprised by the way Northumbria presented their version of this discipline. One of these days I will get it in a book … because I just cannot have my computer available to me at all times and in all places. I’m wondering whether I can get a Kindle and download all my stuff. Hmmm….

In the wake of this gathering, my little coracle has been bouncing about on a journey that could only be guided by the currents of God – reading and pondering and writing … and blogging. One of the most unexpected results of the Seabeck gathering was the birth of my blog: The Virtual Abbess. In it and through it I have learned many things and have begun to share the vision for CovenantClusters – which I recognized immediately as a mix of a missional order and a discipleship training center. Interesting that God should show me a vision two years before explaining the ancient components.

* * * * * * * * * * *

…this is how I began to respond to Len’s post: The Birth of a Missional Order: From Seabeck Forward. But in the days since I began, my mind has been flooded with, well, stuff. Sigh … I can’t even elaborate on what the stuff is … yet … but we are just 9 days and counting until school is out for our three boys – when I’ll have NO free moments for thinking and blogging!

So let me just put up a small R2A2 notice for what follows:

Back in January of 2006, I believe the Lord gave me a vision for what he would like me to do to help in the Kingdom. As outrageous as it was, I have had that vision confirmed repeatedly. But I have also spent the majority of my time reading books and blogs that give me vocabulary to describe the various components of the vision. And I am looking to find some time to get away and let all the loose ends weave together. But more loose ends keep popping up, it seems, so that I feel a bit overwhelmed.

What I find remarkable, however, is that more than overwhelmed, what I’m feeling is that the Holy Spirit is at work moving across the Kingdom planting seeds in the hearts of those willing to get down and work in the dirt. And the seeds that are being planted are, well, different – depending on where “the dirt” is … if that makes any sense.

This means that the dirt where AbiSomeone is will receive a seed that needs this particular pH and organic composition and climate to grow like a native plant. It also means that I should not look for anyone else’s seed to be just like mine. I have to be willing for the Holy Spirit to make this seed grow in my heart and let it take root in my home so that it can spread to my neighborhood.

So, I cannot focus on all the books and blogs and terms and schemes floating out there. I can be (and am!) grateful for their action as “mulch” – knowing that their essential components will break down and serve as nutrients for the little seed growing here. (And what a great bibliography section I will now have!) But I no longer feel compelled to try to recreate anyone else’s story … because then it is no longer a story I can tell with any authenticity or authority.

This realization is a big deal … to me. And it has come to the surface as a result of the past few months of being involved with a missional learning community facilitated by fellow-Seabecker Rob Robinson. This group is a place where my husband and I have been able to “be” with others who are “adrift” in the ocean of the Body of Christ in our little coracles … but no longer shackled to the “mother ships” of the “institutional church” (IC). We come from many different backgrounds, but we have been a good example of what the Allelon folks refer to as “listening one another into free speech.”

And so I will begin to focus again on defining CovenantClusters and looking for how the Spirit will begin to make it grow and begin to take shape. And I will be aided by understanding things about “missional” and “orders” and “mDNA” and “APEST” and “rule of life” and “daily office” and look forward to how God will weave them all together – or should I rather say “graft” them in? – to what I know about cHesed and covenant and clusters of Christ-followers.

With a vision as grand as CovenantClusters, it is easy to get overwhelmed with the details. So I’m going to continue a step at a time, a day at a time. And today I’m going to remember to keep these things as the main focus for my journey:

• The New Covenant I have joined in Christ Jesus calls for me to recognize my responsibility to be faithful partners with those brothers and sisters around me – so that we will be a blessing to our neighborhood – in however many ways that manifests itself.
• cHesed is a term that describes faithful covenant keeping and it is most fully translated as a concept around this cluster of New Testament terms: love, grace, mercy, submit, serve, lead. Please take a look at my chart to get a grasp of the breadth and depth of this concept.
• Covenant and cHesed are deeply relational concepts – CovenantClusters will, therefore, be a deeply relational branch on the Vine. The sense of commitment (to God and each other) will be huge (I hesitate using words like “total” because of the “cult” fears that they engender). This will be where the monastic flavors will emerge (very small pun intended) and will manifest themselves in a “rule of life” as well as a “rhythm of life”.

I believe and trust that the Holy Spirit will be faithful to continue to guide my steps along this path. It is comforting to know that there are many on the path ahead of me, blazing trail. Certainly, I look forward to Allelon and CovenantClusters continuing to journey together.

Be blessed....