One more stop on Abi's trail....

One other trail you might want to follow is this one, also at Jesus Creed, where a new pastor is talking about how to initiate change in the congregation. He has made significant progressions himself, but isn't sure how to bring the folks along.

Lots of good ideas and thoughts in the comments, with The Abbess jumping in here, near the end. I would add, for your benefit here, that the change agent is the Holy Spirit. None of us can change anything or anyone toward better Kingdom alignment...we can only follow where the Spirit is leading and do what we are asked to do -- responding to whatever God puts in our path.

I am definitely looking forward to engaging small groups in Scot's books. I have another one of his to read, which I should begin soon: Praying With The Church. We'll see when I start....

On the trail with Papa.

Following Abi's Trail

Well, it has been a while since I last posted...I find that my interests have been in some other areas following my recent experience of being "mostly dead" for the better part of a month! If I have been absent from you, I have been more present in my home -- and I know you'll understand. :^)

I have been in a bit of a different place, reading a few books, even, and have been participating a bit more on other blogs than I have since I build my own little Virtual Abbey here in the blogosphere.

So, I decided that I would just give you some links to the conversations I've been involved in, so you'd know what I've been up to!

As you know, I spent Lent reading and blogging through Scot McKnight's fabulously powerful yet wonderfully simple book, The Jesus Creed. I posted on my experience reading through this book 31 times during Lent with Abi.

And I am currently engaged with Scot in his Preparing for Pentecost series, where we are learning to feed like hummingbirds -- frequent but small meals from Scot's new book: 40 Days Living The Jesus Creed. You will find a comment from me for most days -- today was day 9.

I also contributed my two cents to a thread at Jesus Creed asking: what is community? You can read my comment here, but the rest of the comments might be interesting as well !

And I chimed in near the end of a "discussion" about how seminaries decide what to do with professors who push the envelope a bit too far for their comfort zone.

I read John W. Frye's little novel called Out of Print -- and found it very thought provoking! I'll have to process my notes about that book another time...but the Abbess is very much in favor of the Word of God being spoken much more, and in much bigger chunks, than most are accustomed to. What would you do if all the words disappeared out of all your copies of the Bible? Hmmm....

I've been keeping up with my friend Brad's amazing series on Spiritual Abuse. A must read, in my opinion. This kind of deep thinking is required if we are going to attempt to regain healthy relationships among all the members of the Body of Christ.

Just last night I finished reading Anne Rice's second book in her Christ the Lord series: The Road to Cana. I picked up a copy at Costco (I looked for the first one, Out of Egypt, but it wasn't there any more...I'll have to try WalMart ;^) )

I must say it was a lovely book. So well written. So compelling in its portrayal of village life in Nazareth. You can view a number of YouTube interviews here. And here is Jamie's blog interview with Anne Rice.

And, of course, our Tuesday night missional learning community processed Time Banking a bit more this week...and my brain is still swirling around this awesome tool! Since my last post was on this, you can see that it has lots of my mental resources occupied!

On top of it all, this is spring break -- and, gratefully, we have had lovely weather. The boys have been outside riding bikes, playing basketball in the driveway, roller blading, playing at the park down the street. What a wonderful respite this has been, after a wet winter and SNOW last week!

Blessings to you all...I'll check back soon!

Have you heard of Time Banking?

Last night at our weekly missional learning community, we listened to Ron talk about a concept known as time banking. I recommend that you browse their website and see what they're about.

I was captivated because it dovetales amazingly with part of the vision for CovenantClusters, but it also expands the possibilities. I also downloaded a special edition pdf by the founder (for a modest donation) Priceless Money: Banking Time for Changing Times. It outlines their five foundational principles and gives you a quick grasp on what these folks are about.

And this is right on the heels of my current experience with what I'm now thinking about calling Yoke Buddies: Helping Each other Share the Load.

You may remember, back in the throes of the horrible flu, that I had quite an epiphany about needing to ask for help in my quest for the 15 minute a day house transformation project. It was actually a paradigm shift for me to realize that I could not get things under control "my way" ... I needed a plan that was workable. I needed to "eat this elephant" the only way possible: one bite at a time. I just cannot tell you what a blessing my "house fairy" has been these past two weeks -- and what a lift it has been to the mood in our home.

Well, I have decided that I might need to start Yoke Buddies in my area as a way for folks to tangibly love one another ... because everyone has 15 minutes to help another!

And that might be a great lead-in to the whole Time Banking concept....

Yoked together with Jesus already.

Remembering The Great Eucatastrophe

Christ is Risen!

Indeed -- the resurrection is the Great Eucatastrophe, when things looked their worst. The Son of God had been murdered and his followers are stumbling around in shock and disbelief (of varying kinds). Had Jesus gambled and lost? What happened to all his talk about the Kingdom of God? As the great sermon phrase goes: It's Friday; but Sunday's coming!

Sunday -- when the grave could no longer hold our Lord and Savior and the course of history was changed -- the great eucatastrophe, indeed!

Well, if his followers (then and now!) actually learned how to hear properly and understand, they would understand that this was all unfolding according to plan. Why do we not hear and understand?

You know me ... The Abbess will say that we are not using our cHesed glasses to good effect.

What? We're talking about hearing, not seeing!

Well, this is what happens to me all the time. If I do not have my glasses on, I do not hear clearly. I can be heard saying, "I'm sorry, I didn't understand what you said -- I don't have my glasses on."

Do you have glasses? Do you find this same phenomenon? I think when my visual acuity is off, then my senses tend to go fuzzy as well. And I think when we are not wearing our cHesed glasses, sometimes we just don't see or understand what is happening around us -- because we are not trying to see what Papa is seeing. When we rely on our own perception of reality, well, things get missed and we get confused.

But let's not run ahead....

So, I'm going to give you the opportunity to read this wonderful post over at WindRumors before I unpack some of its treasures here ... but as The Abbess love both mystery and ambiguity, you can bet that I'll have lots to say. ;^) (HT to Kingdom grace)

Yearning to see life through Papa's eyes.

Valuing Diversity -- Riverdance-Style

So, have you taken a look at any of the Riverdance stuff? What? Not getting ready for the post coming about perichoresis?

If you need a bit of help, then take a look at this Battle Dance and see the progression. Looks a bit like contextualization on the fly ... or should that be on the tap?

Do you have a favorite scene from any of these series of shows that speaks to unity and shared story or putting down barriers?

De-Toxing From Spiritual Abuse

I just have to stop and give a shout out to FuturistGuy, my precious brother Abbot from The Abbey (AbbE) and MO Blogger Brad, for the amazing series he is undertaking about recognizing, responding to and recovering from toxic spiritual situations (mostly churches and their leadership structures).

This series is a must read, friends. Brad's brilliance and perceptions and discernment are "spot on," as my friends from various corners of the British Empire like to say. ;^) Be sure that you have time and available brain cells when you read his stuff ... it will be worth the extra effort!

... I really will get to Perichoresis :^) ... patience!

Letting Papa draw out the toxins.

cHesed as Fidelity

Clark Cowden has a new post on the Missional Journey blog at Allelon. Read his thoughts about "A Certain Uncertainty" as well as the comments. Good food for thought.

Down in the fourth comment, a Timothy Wright responded to a comment MO Blogger Len made (excerpted from his excellent post on Certitude) with this:

Help me understand the practical outworking of:

“We all have a hunger for certitude, and the problem is that the Gospel is not about certitude, it’s about fidelity”

The fidelity of who? And how do we find out who this person is? Is the Bible or? And if it is written down anywhere, we have to have a certainty that something is true, if we are to trust the fidelity of the person who is offering it? And who decides what the characteristics of this fidelity that is being offered?

* * * * *

This was my comment:

I love the fidelity response to the desire for certainty. And the embrace of the mystery of fidelity as well. But when it comes to "the fidelity of who" question, I would go a bit farther than Len does.

I would say that fidelity is a two way street. When we accept God's offer of adoption through the New Covenant in Jesus Christ, we realize that God's fidelity is what guarantees our salvation, just as Jesus Christ's fidelity purchased that salvation, and the Holy Spirit's fidelity through its indwelling presence enables us to struggle to live out our fidelity in response -- loving God and loving others.

This is the essence of faithful covenant keeping (hesed) and it involves the fidelity of all parties to the covenant. The fidelity of the Triune God is certain: they will always serve the best interest of their covenant partners. The fidelity of us humans (toward God and toward each other) is where we crave that shot of certainty ... to which I would add these questions:

...will we actually believe that God is always active in seeking our best interest -- and then respond accordingly?

...will be believe that Jesus Christ is always making effective intercession for us before God's throne -- and receive his love, grace and mercy so that we can then recognize and join God's missional activity?

...will we believe that the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit can actually transform us, bit by bit and day by day, into the very image of Jesus Christ -- and thereby humbly submit to this transformation?

...will we believe that the fidelity of God flows to us in such abundance and power that we can then actually respond with increasing fidelity -- not only toward God (as above), but toward others (those who are Christians as well as those who are not-yet Christians) by looking out for their best interests.

And finally, will we believe that there is mercy and forgiveness from God, through Jesus, for all our infidelities -- and embrace the vulnerability that actively repents, confesses, receives forgiveness, and moves toward reconciliation and restoration?

If we will believe these things, then we will see that our feeble fidelity is surrounded by God's unfailing fidelity ... and that there are brothers and sisters in Christ who are also looking out for our best interest, according to our shared covenant in Christ ... and this larger network of Christian fidelity is one awesome mystery to behold -- and the source of our greatest witness.

"They will know that you are my disciples because of your love for one another," said Jesus.

I think we have an amazing certainty in the midst of uncertainty -- we just have to look its direction with Hebrews 11:1 faith...realizing that the remaining uncertainty has to do with what loving one another actually looks like moment by moment.

How am I looking out for the best interest of my covenant partners? Is what I am doing/thinking (or not doing/thinking) an act of fidelity or infidelity? Hmmm....

* * * * *

I am still working on Perichoresis ... but I thought this was worth sharing in the meantime.

Certain of Papa's fidelity.