The 50/50 Gospel Muddle....

I commented on this post this morning--before I realized that it had a Part II. But I find that my answer to the first post is not changed by the second post. I "met" this brother at Missional Tribe ... but more about that next Tuesday!

So this is what I had to say, as a bit of a lead-in to our 40 Days of cHesed, which will be starting on Monday. (I've learned how to advance post, finally, and have two weeks already lined up, so get ready for M-F cHesed right here!)

Interesting post, Jonathan. However, I believe that many who buy into the 50/50 idea have made a zero-sum game where it is not necessarily intended. I believe it is supposed to be 100/100 -- it is 100% God's grace and provision that brings us into the New Covenant in Jesus but it is also 100% our engagement with and submission to "Jesus is Lord" that lights the gospel fire that will sweep over the world and its cultures.

Scot McKnight gets to this with The Jesus Creed--loving God and loving others, and I have come to realize that this 100/100 is misunderstood or ignored because too many have not understood covenant and covenant keeping (cHesed) in its New Covenant context. We are to be "in Christ", which speaks to God's provision in Jesus + our acceptance of the gift. But we are also to be "like Christ", which speaks to the Holy Spirit's on-going transforming work + our duty to love God and love others. And finally, if we are in Christ + like Christ = with Christ -- and this is where we engage with Christ in Kingdom mission, joining the 100% of God's redeeming effort with 100% of our effort to practice cHesed, where we both activate and then "infect" the cultures around us with what Alan Hirsch calls mDNA.

I find it's "simplexity" worth pondering.

Shalom

It is the "simplexity" of cHesed that is so important to get across. I am counting on the Spirit to help me communicate this truth with it's proper simple nature while encouraging digging deeper into the vast complexities of its implications for our attitudes and actions.

...and now that I have learned how to advance post, perhaps I'll finally be able to get to my thoughts on perichoresis without having to do one giant data-dump. That will be something to look forward to this year!

...now, if I can only learn how to track back to posts I link....

40 Days of cHesed...looking into 2009 by looking back to 2003

[Note: This work is adapted from a Journey Guide I wrote which was used in conjunction with a 40 Days of Purpose campaign in October of 2003. It was designed to follow Warren’s campaign but not use any of his materials—I adapted this (with permission) to fit the goals, objectives and doctrine of my local congregation. I have removed most of the things that would identify it as such, while leaving chapter titles and weekly heading mostly as they were.

I have been on quite a journey since I wrote this over five years ago … yet much of this was foundational for where I’ve been going. I put it in this form to help those who are wondering how I got to this point in my journey and to help break down cHesed and put in into context.]

* * * * * * *

I have decided to start 2009 with this glance back to a very significant experience in my life. Writing this document began in early July and was finished in early September. It was one of those kairos moments in my life that is not explainable in chronos terms....

Since my life has been truly transformed by a deeper understanding of covenant and covenant keeping, I invite you to take a 40 day journey (Mondays through Fridays) to see what Abi has come to hold as foundational. I left in the original weekly titles because they are sometimes mentioned in the devotionals (and they will help you track how my work was different from Warren's, if you are interested) ... but they will be a wee bit abi-normal, as we will be on an eight week schedule. ;^)

As you begin this journey with me, ask God to open your heart to what the Holy Spirit wants to do in your life in these 40 days—that’s the only way to guarantee that you won’t be disappointed! Embrace these eight five-day weeks with expectancy not expectation!

The activities scheduled for these 40 Days of cHesed include:

• Daily devotions.
• A plan for reading through the book of 1 John—one section for each of the first seven weeks and a review of the entire book during the last week. This will be a “big picture” view, not a verse-by-verse study. We won’t necessarily be dividing our reading exactly by chapters, but by thoughts. (The Bible wasn’t written with chapter and verse divisions—people made those divisions later…and some of their choices weren’t the greatest.)
• Our weekly Getting In Shape section will focus on my Learning to Walk with God exercises.
• Each day will include a Keep Breathing! section to “coach” you through that week’s exercise in prayer.

So, stop back on Monday and we'll get started!

Synchroblog: Pancake Smackdown Challenge

Yes, well Brother Maynard did indeed throw down the proverbial gauntlet ... and Sonja definitely escalated it ... but it was William who took it to Synchroblog level. I had already decided to jump into the fray before I saw Bill's post (as evidenced in Sonja's post comment section).

The Abbess, being abi-normal, does not prepare foods like everyone else, either. She has joined Sally Fallon and encourages the Nourishing Traditions from simpler times and cultures ... when food preparation resulted in real, enhanced nutrition. I'll stop there. Trust me on this....

I follow Sally's recipe for buttermilk pancakes, which calls for 2 cups of whole wheat flour (I use Bob's Red Mill Organic Whole Wheat flour, which I keep in the freezer so it doesn't go rancid.) to be soaked in 2 cups of cultured buttermilk. I mix the flour and buttermilk together and place the bowl in my yogurt maker before I go to bed ... so that it is in a warm place for at least 12 hours ... with 24 hours being better, but who can actually wait for 24 hours?!? ;^)

Then, the next morning, I mix up 2 eggs and 2 t of extra virgin olive oil and blend it into the warm mixture with a large, flat whisk. Having already plugged in my electric griddle (which can make 8 pancakes at a time) and turned it to 300 degrees, I put one teaspoon of butter on the griddle, which I spread around with my extra wide spatula.

Back to the batter ... I sprinkle 1 1/2 t of baking soda and 1/2 t of salt over the top and whisk in into the solution. It immediately begins to bubble ... my boys love watching the chemical reaction! (Be sure that you have at least 2 inches of rising rim in your mixing bowl.)

I get out my white serving spoon (about 1/8 C) and spread the batter into whatever shape I want. It holds together to amazingly that it does not automatically flatten into a circle. And it puffs up beautifully and cooks quickly. It never sticks when I turn them (yes, only once!) and I plop them right onto the waiting plates of my family.

These gems are only topped with real maple syrup ... or fruit compote. And they are so tender you just cut them with a fork ... and they melt in your mouth. Since I use butter on the griddle, I don't add more butter on top. No one seems to miss it....

Pancakes prepared lovingly with planning and purpose ... yum!

And, Sonja ...I would love to add 2 cups of blueberries to these--but my family are pancake purists and like them just plain. Sometime I'll do it, just for me!

Looking into 2009....

Many of my blogging friends are looking back at the best of 2008 ... and I'm still wondering just where December went?!? Sigh....

It is good to know that there are other places than you-know-where to which the road is paved with good intentions. Just about any road I'm traveling on these days seems to be one....

Next week, however, there are two amazing things happening on Epiphany (January 6th):

First of all, it will be the third anniversary of the vision for CovenantClusters. It is beyond amazing to me that three years have passed...and if I were to outline for you all the places I have been and the people I've met and the books I've read and the conversations I've had, well, it would take more time than any of us have available! God is amazing. His vision is still burning brightly in my heart and soul and mind. His timing will be perfect....

Secondly (and one of the reasons why so many other things have been slow-cooking on the back burner), it will be the launch of Missional Tribe -- and the other six of the "instigators" join me in looking forward to bringing the missional conversation to a whole new level. So stay tuned.

The year 2008 has been a very full year -- full of joy and sorrow, full of beginnings and endings, full of growth and, um, good intentions! Most of all it has been full of cHesed -- God's cHesed for me (in and through so many of you) and my wobbly cHesed of loving God and loving others. His faithfulness is without question ... I am a work in progress -- and grace, mercy and forgiveness are high on the list of projects, as always!

Here's looking back on a year of good, hard work ... and looking forward to a year full of hope and peace and joy and love as we follow the Way of Jesus -- whatever that means and wherever it leads.

I am so grateful to have so many wonderful folks on this journey with me.

Blessings for a wonder-filled New Year!

Advent 2008 with Abi--Day 7

Well, this is the last day in the first week of Advent ... and so the Abbess leaves you with one more story of hope.

This has been a week full of amazing synergistic connection with my Missional Tribe (more information to follow about who and what and all). As we were sharing, these very purple words bubbled up from deep in my soul. AbbE suggested that he was reading a post on Hope for The Virtual Abbess ... and I agreed.

Before you read my story, there are two blog posts that you really should read first. The first is from Erika Haub at The Margins and the second is from Milton at don’t eat alone. Without this context, what follows will not make as much (any?) sense.

I had so many thoughts swirling around in my head as I read his story. He (following Erika) is talking very much about the essence of the Virtual Abbess and her Purple Martyrdom, my friends … for I have spent a lifetime being a very good friend to many who just wanted to take advantage of what I had to offer.

But when life turned Purple and shattered and I became a broken-down, beyond chronically exhausted mother desperate to hang on hour-by-hour in order to beat the odds of recovering from catastrophic accidents and care for a newborn and two toddlers and answer the call of God to actually serve in an amazing pastoral ministry opportunity … I found myself very inconvenient to the many I thought were my friends … who neither wept with me or came to help me fold laundry because my neck and shoulder and back injuries prevented me from even doing this small task … and kept forgetting that I was broken, because after seven years I should be better, shouldn't I?

They were not there the day the doctor told me that my chances for recovery were poor, at best – and I had 8 ½ more months of pregnancy and a third child still ahead … and no family nearby to help me....

But it took a sister in Christ who (unbeknownst to me at the time) prayed me into being our middle school PTSA President (she is my right-hand as PTSA Secretary) … and then became my real life House Fairy last spring (trying to prepare for summer) and just recently again in November (trying to recover from summer). She would come – sometimes for 15 minutes, sometimes for 2 hours – and help me wash dishes, or clothes, or the kitchen floor, or the bathroom, or the kids' room (again!), or sort through stuff and rejoice with every little thing I either threw out or gave away … telling me what Fly Lady would do and then helping me do it.

And I have never been so humiliated and so honored at the same time, that this precious sister would carve out time from her busy days to come into the nightmare that has been my house these past eight years and help me break it down into pieces and get it done side-by-side is beyond words still. This is a woman who knows how to "wash feet" … and she saw the need that so many chose not to and didn't try to tell me that "Life's a bitch, isn't it?" or "These hard times will pass—everybody goes through this." or "Just suck it up and quit whining." or any number of other unhelpful things that I have heard over the years. She saw my need and moved to be Christ's hands and feet…to yoke up with me to help me carry the burden.

* * * * * * *

Wherever you are on this 7^th Day of Advent, the last day of pondering Purple Hope, I pray that you will do two things:

First, choose to listen to those who need to have someone truly hear them … listen them into free speech (as our friends from Allelon say) by letting them talk long enough that they are able to hear themselves—perhaps for the first time—and in being heard, perhaps they will have the courage to share their heart's simple-but-seemingly-hopeless need.

Second, choose to watch for these Kairos-time moments where you might have the privilege of being Christ’s hands or feet or shoulder to some brother or sister with an empty spot in their yoke. Perhaps they will invite you into their pain and allow you to slip on their yoke and even out their burden. Might just take 15 minutes … might take two hours … one time, or once a week, or once a month, or whatever it takes to meet their need.

Dare to have hope … dare to give hope.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

AbiSomeone

Advent 2008 with Abi--Day 4

Advent missed Day 3 ... sometimes life happens, eh? But as I ponder Day 4, I encourage you to take a look at AbbE's post on hope. His ponderings on hope inspired today's post. Consider this excerpt:

And if we choose to interpret life in a larger narrative framework, we’ll work to perceive God’s providence as a text in the context of “the watching universe.” Something deep and unique is going on in the life of every individual, every couple, every family, every community, every ethnicity, every race, every nation, every civilization.

You may have seen me write about Bishop Berkeley's profound old statement: "To be is to be perceived ... the ultimate perceiver is God." And so Brad's call to perceive in a universe that watches strikes me again.... To be is to be perceived, and each of Brad's life groups both perceive and are perceived. I pondered this in an earlier post, which might be of interest.

In the end it seems to this abbess that we must be about the work of more properly perceiving that which God is perceiving. And, of course, to do that requires that one wear one's cHesed glasses.

Peering through purple cHesed glasses is one of the ways that one can vividly see Hope in the world in which we find ourselves ... because we will be perceiving as God does.

Shalom....

Advent with Abi--Day 2

The Abbess and family will be joining the conspiracy. No, not that one ... this one!

If you want to join the conspiracy, please visit Advent Conspiracy's website and have a good look around. Then go have a glass of water ... and consider those who are literally dying for a drink of clean water. I'm pretty sure you'll be challenged to prayerfully consider making a difference this year in how you view Christmas.

Thanks to the many folks, IRL and virtually, who have showcased this wonderful movement. Let the gift of clean water be a herald of the birth of the Living Water....