Last weekend was great. I went hiking, spent time with family, enjoyed a parade, watched a race end, went to a church service and barbequed with friends. I felt challenged and encouraged by different encounters throughout the weekend, and believe I did the same for those around me. So my question is: Is this the role a pastor should play in the community?
Perhaps not surprisingly my answer would be yes. I feel like I loved well this weekend, caring about close friends and family, fellow believers from both my own and other congregations, and also made connections with many people outside of the church community. The way God has been moving in my life in recent years tells me that this is my vocation in this world.
But I am pulled. I know this looks and seems lazy. Not just to others, but to me. Shouldn't I be in my office more? Shouldn't I be planning more official events with specific times allocated for "fellowship," "worship," and "teaching"? This model is so pervasive and I find it hard to resist. The church culture tells me that this is right. Yet the Spirit is telling me something completely different.
I think I am coming to the belief that a pastor who really wants to follow the guidance of the Spirit is going to look lazy. He or she will spend a lot of time having coffee or meals with people, talking about deep or trivial matters, calling or e-mailing friends, neighbors and strangers. It isn't a typical 9-5 job. It is a way of life. It is a matter of being. I believe the role of pastor is to be a good friend. It isn't a matter of work and effort, but ontology. It is the demonstration of incarnational orthopraxy.
Any thoughts?
Peace,
Matt
Currently Reading: Finishing Beyond Foundationalism, and just started Truth and Method by Hans-Georg Gadamer.
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Iranian Blogging
This is a pretty cool article. Apparently blogging is a big thing in Iran, and is playing an important role in their politics. Read, and check-out the blog links while you're at it.
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut?bid=7&pid=2947
Peace,
Matt
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut?bid=7&pid=2947
Peace,
Matt
Thursday, May 26, 2005
The Mainstream...Please make it stop
The next time somebody says the word postmodern to me in church I'm afraid I may turn violent! Something good has become mainstream and now everybody has their opinion on it. People say they don't believe in it, as if they can simply ignore a cultural phenomenon, or others say they are thoroughly postmodern, as if it were a cool-kid-church-club you can join and now are able to swear, smoke and light candles in your ultra-cool trendy megachurch that has grabbed on to postmodernism as a new "growth engine." Are people stupid? Has the church lost its mind? Did it have one to begin with?
My advice (though nobody really reads this) is this: don't try to be postmodern, because you'll only look like a moron. If you want to understand what is going on in the surrounding culture, as well as within the theological community, I urge you to do so. Learn. Study. Make educated decisions. But don't make arrogant presumptions. The modern world is hopefully ending, and this is a good thing in many ways. The church was and continues to be too caught up in Modernism. Let's see if we can find a better route through the maze of postmodernism, engaging the culture without pretending we can turn our backs on it or selling our souls to it.
I am not postmodern. I am a Christ-follower in a post-modern world. Join me.
Peace,
Matt
Currently Reading: Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis.
My advice (though nobody really reads this) is this: don't try to be postmodern, because you'll only look like a moron. If you want to understand what is going on in the surrounding culture, as well as within the theological community, I urge you to do so. Learn. Study. Make educated decisions. But don't make arrogant presumptions. The modern world is hopefully ending, and this is a good thing in many ways. The church was and continues to be too caught up in Modernism. Let's see if we can find a better route through the maze of postmodernism, engaging the culture without pretending we can turn our backs on it or selling our souls to it.
I am not postmodern. I am a Christ-follower in a post-modern world. Join me.
Peace,
Matt
Currently Reading: Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis.
The Used Side of the Sofa, by Alberto Rios
When she walked
She left herself
Where she had been.
Every year that treadled
Asked something of her,
And with every breath
She breathed out more
Than she took in,
And when she walked
She left her footprints,
Then her feet,
As she later could feel
Nothing under her.
When she sat then rose
She left an indentation.
A part of her
Too comfortable,
Not following so easily
The rest of her.
And when enough was gone,
An arm forgotten here,
Or there a leg
Fallen asleep,
We learned to walk
Quickly through her.
We excused ourselves,
Begged her pardon
Those first years,
But then there were
So many of us
And walking so fast,
It was better simply
To say nothing
So that she did not feel
The need to respond.
She left herself
Where she had been.
Every year that treadled
Asked something of her,
And with every breath
She breathed out more
Than she took in,
And when she walked
She left her footprints,
Then her feet,
As she later could feel
Nothing under her.
When she sat then rose
She left an indentation.
A part of her
Too comfortable,
Not following so easily
The rest of her.
And when enough was gone,
An arm forgotten here,
Or there a leg
Fallen asleep,
We learned to walk
Quickly through her.
We excused ourselves,
Begged her pardon
Those first years,
But then there were
So many of us
And walking so fast,
It was better simply
To say nothing
So that she did not feel
The need to respond.
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
7 Challenges for Community-Builders
I realizedthis morning that most people aren't going to rush out and buy Bowling Alone, so I decided to post Robert D. Putnam's 7 spheres that deserves special attention. These are quoted straight from his book;
1. "Let us find ways to ensure that by 2010 the level of civic engagement among Americans then coming of age in all parts of our society will match that of their grandparents when they were that same age, and that at the same time bridging social capital will be substantially greater than it was in their grandparents' era.
2. Let us find ways to ensure that by 2010 America's workplace will be substantially more family-friendly and community-congenial, so that American workers will be enabled to replenish our stocks of social capital both within and outside the workplace.
3. Let us ensure that by 2010 Americans will spend less time traveling and more time connecting with our neighbors than we do today, that we will live in more integrated and pedestrian-friendly areas, and that the design of our communities and the availability of public space will encourage more casual socializing with friends and neighbors.
4. Let us spur a new, pluralistic, socially responsible "great awakening," so that by 2010 Americans will be more deeply engaged than we are today in one or another spiritual community of meaning, while at the same time becoming more tolerant of the faiths and practices of other Americans.
5. Let us find ways to ensure that by 2010 Americans will spend less leisure time sitting passively alone in front of glowing screens and more time in active connection with our fellow citizens. Let us foster new forms of electronic entertainment and communication that reinforce community engagement rather than forestalling it.
6. Let us find ways to ensure that by 2010 significantly more Americans will participate in (not merely consume or "appreciate") cultural activities from group dancing to songfests to community theater to rap festivals. Let us discover new ways to use the arts as a vehicle for convening diverse groups of fellow citizens.
7. Let us find ways to ensure that by 2010 many more Americans will participate in the public life of our communities - running for office, attending public meetings, serving on committees, campaigning in elections, and even voting."
That's all of it. I was really just wanting to throw that out there so you could have an idea of what he is pushing for. You can go to the "Better Together" link on this site for more info.
Peace,
Matt
Currently Rereading: Beyond Foundationalism by Stan Grenz and John Franke. Probably one of, if not the, most important theological reflections written in the past decade (Volf and Hauerwas are up there too...).
1. "Let us find ways to ensure that by 2010 the level of civic engagement among Americans then coming of age in all parts of our society will match that of their grandparents when they were that same age, and that at the same time bridging social capital will be substantially greater than it was in their grandparents' era.
2. Let us find ways to ensure that by 2010 America's workplace will be substantially more family-friendly and community-congenial, so that American workers will be enabled to replenish our stocks of social capital both within and outside the workplace.
3. Let us ensure that by 2010 Americans will spend less time traveling and more time connecting with our neighbors than we do today, that we will live in more integrated and pedestrian-friendly areas, and that the design of our communities and the availability of public space will encourage more casual socializing with friends and neighbors.
4. Let us spur a new, pluralistic, socially responsible "great awakening," so that by 2010 Americans will be more deeply engaged than we are today in one or another spiritual community of meaning, while at the same time becoming more tolerant of the faiths and practices of other Americans.
5. Let us find ways to ensure that by 2010 Americans will spend less leisure time sitting passively alone in front of glowing screens and more time in active connection with our fellow citizens. Let us foster new forms of electronic entertainment and communication that reinforce community engagement rather than forestalling it.
6. Let us find ways to ensure that by 2010 significantly more Americans will participate in (not merely consume or "appreciate") cultural activities from group dancing to songfests to community theater to rap festivals. Let us discover new ways to use the arts as a vehicle for convening diverse groups of fellow citizens.
7. Let us find ways to ensure that by 2010 many more Americans will participate in the public life of our communities - running for office, attending public meetings, serving on committees, campaigning in elections, and even voting."
That's all of it. I was really just wanting to throw that out there so you could have an idea of what he is pushing for. You can go to the "Better Together" link on this site for more info.
Peace,
Matt
Currently Rereading: Beyond Foundationalism by Stan Grenz and John Franke. Probably one of, if not the, most important theological reflections written in the past decade (Volf and Hauerwas are up there too...).
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Blog Troubles...
My blog won't show up when I search for it. This really sucks. I am publishing this post, hoping that it will now somehow appear. I must have made somebody in the Matrix really upset. Grr.
Jewish Reflections on the Trinity
Here's an interesting site: Jewish reflections on the Trinity. Enjoy!
http://www.js.emory.edu/BLUMENTHAL/Trinity.html
http://www.js.emory.edu/BLUMENTHAL/Trinity.html
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