One of the best new things about this school year has been that I’m teaching/leading a class with some of the LightChildren’s peers. We started out with about 15 students, and we’re down to about 8 or 9 now. That’s okay because we’re intense and learning a lot. It’s a philosophy class. We’re using a text book called (without much inspiration), Philosophy For Teens: Questioning Life’s Big Ideas. It’s a really good text which is introducing the kids to a lot of great philosophers and (yeah, I’ll say it) big ideas. Lately class has consisted of the kids reading the chapter and then we discuss the ideas contained therein. This unit of four chapters is focusing on justice and began with a chapter on civil rights (Malcomb X). The chapter we discussed the other day moved to animal rights. That chapter opened with a dialogue between two boys about whether one of them had the right to force his dog to jump through a burning hoop and withhold food when the animal refused to comply.
So. Of course, I opened our discussion with cell phones. All of the students have one. I wanted to know how they took care of their cell phones (there was a range of caring from downright love to abuse), how they would respond if their cell phone was lost or mangled, and how they would respond if/when the cell phone was replaced. We talked about that for a while and I moved them to an understanding of the idea that cell phones are “property.” They got that. Everyone was happy. But I sucked in my breath because I knew what I was about to do and it was going to be hard.
I asked them to think about our last class when we talked about civil rights and slavery. I asked them to take a moment and consider all of the ideas we had just expressed about property as they concerned our cell phones and apply those ideas to human beings as slaves. Everyone stopped for just a few seconds. Most of the kids didn’t quite know where to put their eyes. One even said, “Wow. This isn’t so funny when we’re talking about people.” Then we spent a few minutes talking about how just as there had been a spectrum of care for cell phones, there was a spectrum of care for slaves. That most people throughout history had been considered property at one time or another (feudalism) and that slavery has existed in many forms. We talked about slavery today (sex trade and child warriors). I recommended “Half the Sky” by Nicholas Kristoff to them because if they can handle this discussion, they can more than handle that book.
We needed a break at this point. I knew ahead of time that this class was going to be hard and uncomfortable. That my wonderful students were going to need some sustenance and assistance to get through this. So I made brownies for them to have at break (it’s a two hour class). There’s nothing like a brownie to boost your spirits and keep you going during a rough spot. If I’d had my whole act together, I’d have had milk for them to drink with the brownies. But I only had half my act together. They all wanted the brownie recipe … so here it is, because some of you might need some sustenance too. I got the original here, but I tinkered with it and my tinkering is below:
Brownies From Heaven
1. In a saucepan over low heat, melt butter and chocolate; cool for 10 minutes. 2. In a mixing bowl, beat eggs with wire whisk. Add sugars, vanilla and salt, beating after each addition with whisk. 3. Stir in the chocolate mixture. Add flour and nuts; mix well. >4. Pour into a greased 11-in. x 7-in. x 2-in. baking dish. Bake at 325 degrees F for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with moist crumbs. Cool.
I think peanut butter frosting or adding chocolate chips to this would be even more heavenly … but I didn’t have the chance to try either of those. Ohhh … or I might add dried cherries and cream cheese frosting the next time I make these. Yum!
Weren’t those good? Are you revived enough to continue our discussion? Well, the students were. I told you … they are great kids. I am really privileged to have the opportunity to meet with them, hear their ideas, and share mine with them.
After the break we carried on and moved to animal rights. We talked about how animals are different from humans. They are not really sentient beings and some cannot care for themselves, so we must care for them. We talked about their relative intelligence and shared our favorite pet stories. I shared some information from this sort of creepy article on crows and how they can recognize humans, pass on information to future generations and generally are smarter than you think. This lead to a discussion on what rights should we give animals in the wild (i.e. wolves vs. sheep in our western states). We talked about how it’s uncomfortable but okay to discuss euthanizing an animal, but that sort of discussion is off the table for people. So we ended up in a place where we agreed that animals occupy a grey area. They have rights, but they are sort of property … sort of. It’s something we will probably discuss again.
Interestingly, at the very end of class one of the students wondered what would happen to a grizzly bear that had killed a man. We joked about sentencing the bear to jail … the zoo. Until the kids realized that wasn’t so funny. Then another student wondered about dogs who had been so abused that they attacked people. What happened to those animals. Could they be redeemed? And we decided that some could. But some cannot. So they decided that the ones who cannot should be euthanized. So, I asked them … what should we do about the very real problem of criminals who cannot be rehabilitated? What do we do with those individuals who are repeat offenders, who do their time in prison, but get out and are worse … sexual offenders, murderers, etc.? I asked them to think about that and we’ll pick it up there at the next class.
But I have to say … these kids are fearless.
As long as I give them brownies.
As one of the three women who work together to get the synchroblog going each month, it’s really pitiful that here I am … bringing up the rear in November. But something was stopping me from writing this month. Oh, I have plenty to say on the topic (Voices of the Marginalized) and there were/are many directions I felt I could take. Yet every time I wanted to write, I couldn’t. There was a time when I would have fretted and fussed. Sat down and made something up. But if I’ve learned anything over the last five or six years, I’ve learned how to wait. How to be patient. How to let things percolate and bubble to the surface. And last night as I was drifting off to sleep, I finally knew what to write about. So here I am this morning … a couple days late, and a couple dollars short. I hope you find it worthy.
Marginalization results in an individual’s exclusion from meaningful participation in society and it’s source is many. Economic circumstances, illness, disability, geographical location, gender, sexuality, race, religion are all dominant sources of individuals being marginalized. Sometimes it’s easy to see holidays or certain systems from a position of power or privilege. * As God’s people, what does it mean to see the world through the eyes of the marginalized? What is it like to be one of the marginalized? How can we be part of bridging some of these gaps?
Marginalization results in an individual’s exclusion from meaningful participation in society and it’s source is many. Economic circumstances, illness, disability, geographical location, gender, sexuality, race, religion are all dominant sources of individuals being marginalized. Sometimes it’s easy to see holidays or certain systems from a position of power or privilege. * As God’s people, what does it mean to see the world through the eyes of the marginalized?
Here in the LightHouse we’ve been discussing some particularly knotty extended family issues over the last week or so. This has been an ongoing conversation that has ebbed and flowed around work schedules, hockey schedules, and our emotional barometers. We have worked it around to a place where we realized we are not free to say, “No, this or that will not work for us.” within this relationship. Well, I suppose we are free to say that, but the emotional damage to the relationship will be very high. In order to maintain the relationship, we are required to affirm the other party’s desires, no matter what else is going on with us.
It struck me as I was drifting off to sleep last night, that this is the quintessential difference between those who are in and those who are marginalized. Those who are in have power, are equals and may say yes or no to whatever they please. They have the freedom to choose their lives and their horizons. Those who have been pushed to the edges do not have this freedom, they are required to say yes in order to maintain their relationship with those in power around them. Their choices/our choices are then limited by what they are given to say yes to. A relationship between equals will allow negotiation; it will allow for a yes OR a no. A relationship between a powerful and a powerless will only allow for a yes and negotiation will be minimal at best.
What this means is that those who are marginalized in our country are not free. They are bound by invisible bonds. The ties are tightly woven and they are kept in place (in some cases over generations) just as surely as those of a plantation owner in the Antebellum South. We tell ourselves that now we no longer capitalize on human suffering, but is that really true? Perhaps if we took a different perspective on the relationship of power and wealth vs. poverty, we might begin to see how much of our power grid really does still capitalize on human suffering; on some humans having less than others and on a zero-sum paradigm of the world.
And as I was thinking all of this through, I remembered the words of the Apostle Paul again, in the letter to the church at Galatia:
All of you are God’s children because of your faith in Christ Jesus. And when you were baptized, it was as though you had put on Christ in the same way you put on new clothes. Faith in Christ Jesus is what makes each of you equal with each other, whether you are a Jew or a Greek, a slave or a free person, a man or a woman. (Gal. 3:26-28)
That is the gospel of freedom. That we would all be free to make our yes be yes and our no be no. To be equal with one another. That in the end, our relationships with one another will not be driven by who is powerful and who is powerless, but by love. And our mission during our brief stint here is bring the Kingdom to the dusty corners that we find. Help those in our path see new horizons and find ways to speak; to say no when they need to and yes only when they want to. To have healthy relationships based on love, rather than warped relationships based on fear or power.
************************************************************************************
As I wrote above, this is a synchroblog post, and no synchroblog would be complete without a list of juicy links for you to read at the end. Please take some time to read what others have written on this important subject. Thanks!
Here in the LightHouse, marriage has been a popular discussion topic for the last several months. We — and when I say “we,” I mean, “I” supported by “we” — spent a large portion of our summer working with the LightUncles to throw a celebration of 50 years of marriage for the LightGrandparents in August. It was a weekend of laughter, fun, joy, and most of all, love. Enormous vats of love. I know that I steeped in it as much as possible. I know that my parents did too.
My parents are still walking more lightly on this earth because of the celebration we all shared together. So am I. So, I would dare to imagine are many of the folks who shared in the festivities together. We gathered together that fine August weekend to remember 50 years of loving well. I had another goal; it was that I wanted my parents to know how their lives had influenced and helped the lives of those around them in their community and family. We are all better for the team of LightMom and LightDad looking out into the world together.
As I reflect on that wonderful (and hectic) weekend I think about the institution of marriage and how it makes families possible. The gender of the parents is not the issue and we should not be creating Sneetches with stars on their bellies, and some without in this case as Dr. Seuss might have so lyrically put it.
THE SNEETCHES , by Dr. Seuss
Now the Star-bellied Sneetches had bellies with stars. The Plain-bellied Sneetches had none upon thars. The stars weren’t so big; they were really quite small. You would think such a thing wouldn’t matter at all. But because they had stars, all the Star-bellied Sneetches would brag, “We’re the best kind of Sneetch on the beaches.”
With their snoots in the air, they would sniff and they’d snort, ” We’ll have nothing to do with the plain-bellied sort.” And whenever they met some, when they were out walking, they’d hike right on past them without even talking.
When the Star-bellied children went out to play ball, could the Plain-bellies join in their game? Not at all! You could only play ball if your bellies had stars, and the Plain-bellied children had none upon thars.
When we separate marriages into different sex marriage and same sex marriage and tell our children that some families are “right” but others “wrong” and therefore sort of distasteful, we are creating a new form of racism. Or, perhaps it is a very old form or racism and intolerance. Families are families, they are created by parents and children who love and care for one another.
There are many problems with this from a governmental perspective and from a Christian perspective.
We have a government which claims to value freedom of religion and specifies that there will be no state interference in religion; nor will there be any religious interference in state matters. When our governing documents were written, the assumptions they were based on were that the religion that would interfere would be Christian. That is no longer necessarily the case. While an overwhelming percentage of our population continues to identify with the Christian church, the numbers are in decline and we have rising numbers of other religions who must be accommodated within out borders this includes people who have no faith at all. In addition, if religion is going to be free of the state and vice versa, then it is possible for marriages to be performed by the state, and churches to be free to say “yes” or “no” to whether or not they will perform marriages within their walls. Churches are separate from the state. We need to remember that.
Those of us who claim to follow Jesus Christ have no problem calling ourselves children a Godhead who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit; overwhelmingly male with only female overtones. Yet many Christians cannot conceive of a human family with two fathers. Or two mothers.
It seems to me that the best way to defend marriage is just that. Defend marriage … of all kinds. Make it unassailable. Stop the pretenses and silliness. Build people up. Make them whole. But until the divorce rate in the church is significantly less than that of the rest of our culture, we need to keep our mouths shut and our arms open.
This is part of the October Synchroblog on Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage. Please read these other fine writers below for more perspective on this issue –
Kathy Baldock at Canyonwalker Connections – Marriage “I Do” For Who
Dan Brennan at Faith Dance – Sexual Difference, Marriage and Friendship
Steve Hayes at Khanya – Same Sex Marriage Synchroblog
Sonja Andrews at Calacirian – In Defense Of Marriage
John C O’Keefe – Exactly What Is Gay Marriage
Liz Dyer at Grace Rules – Nobody knows why or how same-sex marriage is harmful
Herman Groenewald at Along The Way – Same Sex Debate
Margaret Boelman at Minnowspeaks – What Have We Done
David Henson at unorthodoxology – ban marriage
Erin Word at Mapless – Synchroblog: Legalizing Same Sex Marriage
Joshua Jinno at Antechurch – The Church Is Impotent
Kathy Escobar at The Carnival In My Head – It’s Easy To Be Against Equal Rights When We Have Them
Peter Walker at Emerging Christian – Synchroblog – Same Sex Marriage
K. W. Leslie at The Evening of Kent – Mountains, molehills, and same-sex marriage
Tia Lynn Lecorchick at Abandon Image – Conservative Christians and Same-Sex Marriage
This was a real treat when I was a child. Ends & Pieces. That would be bacon I’m talking about here. The meat packing plant would pack up all the bits that are left over when they are finished slicing up the perfect strips of bacon and they heap them onto a styrofoam tray, wrap some plastic around them and call it good. You get some real treats in there, nice meaty pieces of bacon, but you also get some real duds; slabs of nothing but fat. It’s cheaper than so-called regular bacon because it’s not very pretty. But it’s very tasty. So that’s what you’re getting today … ends and pieces. Cheaper than the regular thing, some pieces might be really meaty, but you might find some that are pure lard. You’ll have to decide.
About 7 months ago, LightHusband and I joined Weight Watchers. We’ve added more than a few pounds over the years and we need to send those extra pounds packing; go find someone else to torment, thank you very much. BlisteringSh33p and BlazingEwe had joined about 5 months before we did, so they were old hands at it. So off we go every Monday night to face the ScaleMiser and listen to our FearlessLeader as he gives us help, tips and pointers for the week to come. This is a long tedious process during which I am coming face to face with my very unhealthy relationship with food and how I use it to feed many things in my life besides my bodily functions. sigh. But that’s another story. Last night as we sat in the meeting, I came face to face to with another gremlin in my life. ADHD. It’s something I’ve often wondered thought I might be dealing with or have dealt with and I laugh at myself about it a lot. But it was not even a diagnosis when I was young, so I was certainly never given that label. And now I’m not sure I want it. But it would be nice to know because then I could figure out how to overcome it. In any case, our FearlessLeader was describing the 4 main ingredients in what WW calls, Filling Foods. These are foods that give you the most bang for the buck (the calories they contain). Mostly they are high fiber/low calorie fruits and vegetables. He said, “blah, blah, blah air, water, fiber, protein …. ” and I had a fully formed vision of Air, Water, Fiber and Protein as the SuperFriends from the Hall of Justice. I could not stop giggling and leaned over to tell BlazingEwe. She started giggling. Then neither of us could stop. And poor FearlessLeader had to bring the meeting to a halt because we were about on the floor! I ‘fessed up to my vision and brought the house down. But my point is, I’m always having visions like this and have had since I was very little. When I was younger, I thought everyone did. As I get older, I’m finding that no, I’m kinda weird. Not everyone thinks like this. In fact, it’s mostly people who have brains which can’t sit still think like this.
I know I can get medicine to help with this. But I don’t think I want it. I think I’m going to read up on coping and figure myself out. I’m going to try and harness this energy for good, not evil 😉 and work with it. This could be a good thing eventually.
The other day (maybe the same day) I had conversation with a young lady about reincarnation. She confided in me that she believes in reincarnation and proceeded to give me some statistics that bore out this belief. I listened politely. Then she asked me if I believed in reincarnation. No, I said, I do not. I do, however, believe that our soul continues to exist past the life of our physical body, but I do not believe that it goes on to live in another body. She wanted to know why I don’t believe that, but our conversation was cut short and I didn’t have a chance to explain myself. I’ve been thinking about it a lot since then and the short answer is grace. And, honestly, that’s the long answer too. Oh, I used to believe in all kinds of different things, and yes, I even spent some time believing that reincarnation was a likely possibility. But then I discovered grace and I just can’t get enough of it. I don’t like the idea that we’re born over and over again to atone for the sins of a past life that we can’t remember. It seems capricious and mean and points to a standard of behavior and perfection that really no one can live up to. It reminds of the legend of Sisyphus somehow; always hungering and thirsting for something we cannot have. But the God I found in my late 20’s and early 30’s was giving out love and mercy and grace liberally, to all who wanted it. Believe in me, S/He said, and that’s all S/He wanted; some trust, some faith and some love in return. I can do that. So, no, I do not believe in reincarnation, but I believe in grace and the One who Loves endlessly. But sometimes it’s fun to talk about past lives and imagine … I’ll grant you that 😉
It’s that time of year again … in many different places people are talking about reunions. They are talking about class reunions, family reunions, school reunions, etc. I had a startling revelation about the power of our minds the other day. It was very revealing to me. About 6 months ago, the LightChildren and I joined a couple of homeschooling groups for the purpose of socializing with other teenagers. We get together with one group in particular about once a week and all of us have made friends … me too! It’s been a welcome relief after the past three years in the desert. The moms are all about my age, some a little older, some a little younger. But they are around my age. We all look like a peer group. I admire these women and see them as adults in the middle of their lives. Then one day I was thinking about a couple of my dear friends from highschool who I will be seeing when I go to Vermont next week. It was startling to me that I do not “see” them as being the same age as the women who I am friends with now. For some reason, my perception of my highschool friends is that they are younger than my current cohort group, when the fact is that they are likely older than the ladies here in Virginia. Then I wonder, do my highschool friends and I behave differently when we’re together? Do we revert and act more like our younger selves? What forces are at play here? Or do I behave more maturely when I am with my friends here in Virginia? Or … am I the same and I just play cruel mind games on myself? It’s all very mysterious and makes me realize what a powerful force our minds are when we are dealing with reality vs. perception.
Sunday night we had a huge scare. LightGirl ended up in the emergency room after an anaphylactic reaction to ??? We don’t know what. The best guess at the moment is that she had Exercise Induced Anaphylaxis. This is not common, but it usually caused by a combination of food and exercise. This does not mean that the patient is allergic to the food they have eaten, but it may mean that they are sensitive to it and the increased blood flow, etc. of exercise causes an extreme anti-histamine reaction causing anaphylactic shock. She is going to the allergist tomorrow where we will find out more about this. Her lungs still hurt and she is having trouble talking. I can find out plenty about anaphylaxis on the internet, but nothing about the aftermath and recovery. If anyone reading this has gone through it and knows what we might expect, I’d love to hear your story. It would be a huge help to us.
In a week we go to Vermont for our annual pilgrimage. It’s going to be a somewhat shorter trip this year. But it will be fun nonetheless. I’m looking forward to some porch time to say the least!
Okay … well … I’m going to use yesterday’s prompt because I think today’s prompt is boring and I blogged yesterday anyway. Confused yet? I’m not. So … here’s the question:
What’s one thing you think it’s worth spending money on? What’s one thing you always cheap out on?
I actually looked at this yesterday and considered (gasp) blogging twice in one day. Of course, if I’d done that my answer would have been different off the cuff than when given time to ponder. My original thoughts wandered towards fabric, coffee and chocolate … because. Well. Because I can’t just choose one thing. And I’m torn between being suspicious of and in awe of people who can choose one thing.
But.
I was sewing and that laid claim to me yesterday. So I had the chance to let the whole thing percolate while I was fiddling with little pieces of beautiful fabric. I was able to turn it around in my mind and look at it from many different perspectives. And wonder about what I consider valuable and worth my money and what do I not. Is there one thing that I consider worth spending money on? Yes. I decided. There is. It’s when I can use the gifts I’ve been given to encourage the potential in someone else. That’s worth spending money on. When I can buy their art, or help them walk a path they’ve chosen, or nudge them with a book or a magazine or _____, that’s all worth spending money on.
Stuff I cheap out on? If I’ll have to dust it … then I won’t buy it. Ever. Stupid tchokes and useless crap … I usually look at it and think, “hmmm … will I have to dust that?” and if the answer is yes, then it stays in the store.
And a quick plug for my friend Julie Clawson’s book, Everyday Justice, … I do try (and fail most of the time) to live as justly as possible. What does this have to do with what I consider worth money? Well … how I spend my money has some tiny impact on the ripples and tides of how people are treated world wide. If I purchase any old coffee (for example) that drives down the price that individual coffee growers can earn. It also means that large conglomerates own coffee plantations. If I purchase Fair Trade coffee which is coffee marketed through co-ops then I’m purchasing coffee which has been grown by individual coffee growers, it has been purchased at a living wage price for the growers, grown in a sustainable manner on the farm, etc. It’s a way for my money to be used in more healthy fashion. But it means that I walk humbly and live justly in the land as far as I am able each day.
How about you? What do you think is worth spending money on? Or not?
So … today’s prompt is this –
Do something nice for someone today. Then tell us about what you did.
Really? You’re kidding. I find myself wondering just what that would look like.
Oh. Not the doing something nice. I do that all the time and I’m not going to tell you about it here, because that’s decidedly not how I roll. And that’s the problem. I do do so-called nice things for people. And by the way, I hate the word “nice” so I’m going to use the word “kind” or “gracious” from now on.
You see, I call that living a missional life. My calling in this world is to reflect Jesus to the people around me. Of course, most of the time, when they look at me or how I live they get a fun-house mirror reflection of him, because I’m all human and totally screwed up. But I do have this dance with the Holy Spirit (or as I like to call her, Soraya), that I live in. My dance naturally includes a lot of other people. But if I tell anyone what I’m doing or what I’ve done, that will take all the fun and all the mystery and all the joy out of it. Telling people (or writing about it here) will change the focus of how I live. It will put the focus on me and that is not where it belongs.
So I will do, as always, several acts of kindness today. But I won’t tell anyone about them.
Missional Tribe – Not Just Another Use of the Word “Missional”
Do a Google search on the word “missional” and you’ll get 1,200,000 hits. Search “missional” at Amazon and 1,238 missional products appear before your very eyes. It’s the Western Church word of the moment. The key to all that ails the church. The promise of a bright future – beginning with a boldtomorrow. That is, if we only knew what it meant.
This recent quote from a church website accurately demonstrates “missional” confusion.
We have made a commitment to being a Missional Church, reaching into the community and inviting people to come and experience what we are doing. We should have “standing room only” Services every Sunday. There should be a buzz in the Community about [church name removed] and all the wonderful activities available for most people’s needs and wishes.
Well, not so much.
Last June (2008), in response to this kind of confusion, Friend of Missional’s Rick Meigs challenged the blogosphere to respond to the question,
“What is Missional?” “I have a continuing concern that the term missional has become over used and wrongly used. “I think it is time to make a bigger effort to reclaim the term, 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?’”
“What is Missional?”
“I have a continuing concern that the term missional has become over used and wrongly used.
“I think it is time to make a bigger effort to reclaim the term, 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?’”
50 bloggers responded with their understanding of the word – and a lot more conversation was generated both in real life and on the web. Brother Maynard did a great summary of the missional excitement. There was a sense of accomplishment – the 50 people and the hundreds of commentors had refocused the word missional.
But then each blogger wrote other posts – dislodging their Synchroblog posts from the lead position. Soon these posts disappeared from the front pages of 50 blogs – only accessible if one knew exactly what you were looking for. The sense of accomplishment was ephemeral.
A few of us who had met face-to-face at the Allelon Missional Order event in Seabeck, WA in October, 2007, talked about the best way to keep those posts and ideas evergreen. We’d also been part of the Wikiklesia Project: Voices of the Virtual World. Perhaps a book would be effective. By the fall, seven of us were in ongoing conversation around how best to serve the”missional” mission – Sonja Andrews, Peggy Brown, Kingdom Grace, Bill Kinnon, Brother Maynard, Rick Meigs, and Brad Sargent.
Clay Shirky’s Here Comes Everybody and Seth Godin’s Tribes helped to inform our discussions. Missional Tribe’s first iteration was as a Wiki. Then the mini “blogstorm” around Out of Ur’s Dan Kimball Missional results post convinced us that what the conversation needed was a place to discuss, share stories, watch videos, ask questions, and grow together. Where all of this can easily be tagged and indexed for rapid access in the future. The Missional Tribe social network was born (www.missionaltribe.org).
Less than two months after the decision to launch a social network, the beta of the Missional Tribe site launches today – Epiphany, on the church calendar. We would like you to join us in being a part of this non-hierarchical network.
From simply reading and commenting on posts and in the Forums, to creating your own Missional Tribe blog or posting a video – Missional Tribe is a place to track and expand the missional conversation – as we follow the Lord back into the neighborhoods where he has strategically placed each one of us.
To become involved, please join Missional Tribe at www.missionaltribe.org . Want more information? Contact info at missionaltribe dot org .
If you’ve been reading me during the last couple of weeks, I’ve alluded to something being up. That I’ve been busy with a big project. It’s really big. It’s a tribe. Missional Tribe.
And the cat is climbing out of the bag. Bill (Kinnon) has been writing about it. Rick (Blind Beggar) Meigs has been writing about it. Peggy (Virtual Abbess) Brown has been writing about it. The rest of my fellow Instigators (Brother Maynard, Kingdom Grace, and Brad -FuturistGuy- Saargent) have been more demure.
Our beta test period is almost done. Our virtual space is going live on Epiphany. January 6. Be looking for Missional Tribe then.
Missional Tribe is a social networking space with a purpose. As Rick wrote:
It is a space for “… those involved in any aspect of the missional movement can gather for virtual communitas, will launch. It is a space where story and praxis is given emphasis over the theoretical and conceptual. It is a kinship of diverse people who practice “the way of Jesus,” a way that informs and radically transforms their very being. It is a place where the great conversations around the missional paradigm can be brought together so they are evergreen and accessible.”
So … be looking for more information here early next week. I’ll be posting more about it then.
“Best Of” posts are beginning to pop up all over like dandelions in springtime. They’re sparkly and eye-catching. I always like them because they catch the year in review and give the reader a walk down memory lane. But … you knew there was a “but” coming. So often in church-y circles the “best of” posts are either all men or men in overwhelming proportions. I’ve been blogging for more than three years now and I keep hoping this will change. That the onset of the internet will bring about changes to this dynamic. But I’m not seein’ it yet.
Don’t get me wrong. There are some men (Rick “Blind Beggar” Meigs, Bill Kinnon, Brother Maynard, Brad Sargent, John Smulo, Shawn Anthony, Patrick Oden and some others to name a few) who are wholly committed to women in full partnership in life, ministry, blogging, you-name-it. They have gone above and beyond to support women and engage them equally.
What does that look like? I know a lot of folks are put off by idea of feminism and I’m mystified by that. But let’s look at it from another perspective. We all look at families and tend to agree that a “whole and healthy” family includes a mother (female) and a father (male). No matter what your feelings are about who should be in charge and when, we all know that healthy families require both the male and the female perspective to adequately parent, raise, etc. the children. At the very least, there are whole books on the subject of healthy families requiring two parents where one takes on the feminine role and the other the masculine (in the case of homosexual relationships). We know very clearly what the lack of men does to a family and what the lack of a mother can bring to children. So my question is … why do we find this lack of the feminine voice or perspective so very acceptable in church/ministry leadership?
It is in the interest of balancing out the perspectives that I present my Best of 2008 … plus one from 2007 because it was so good.
… in no particular order … UPDATED to include a recent post by Peggy Senger Parsons that is a must read.
Erika Haub – The Margins – “the church that came to me”
“When she saw me her eyes teared up, and as she spoke she started to cry. She told me that she could not believe that I had let her into my home, with full access to all of our things, and then closed my door and gone to sleep. She said that she had never felt so trusted by someone; she had never felt so much pride and dignity and worth as someone who did not have to be doubted and feared.”
Kathy Escobar – the carnival in my head – “what could be”
here’s my hope:
that we’d be people & communities radically in touch with Christ’s love for us & continue to risk our comfort, ego, time, money, and heart to offer mercy & compassion to others. that we’d be somehow known as ‘those weird people who love other people unconditionally, tangibly, and in all kinds of crazy, unexplainable ways.”
Tracy Simmons – The Best Parts – “The Rescue Parade”
When people rescue dogs or trees or human beings, they are displaying how much they are made in the image of their creator. He longs to see all things rescued and restored. It’s in our spiritual DNA whether we are aware of it or not.
Makeesha Fisher – Swingin’ From the Vine – “Missional: It Sure Ain’t Velveeta”
Being missional is hard work. Getting down and dirty in people’s lives, giving everyone a platform and allowing your voice to form from within the context of community versus individual aspirations and spirituality is not a nice easy package deal. You can’t just cut off a block from the end of the yellow brick and nuke it to gooey perfection. It’s time consuming and risky and generally not very “pretty”.
Rose Madrid-Swetman – RMD –
“Building To Serve Others Part 1” “Building To Serve Others Part 2” “Building To Serve Others Part 3”
We discussed the pros and cons, the why’s and why not’s of taking the step of leasing a space. Our biggest fear was that we would lose sight of the congregation as the church. You see when we rented a basement room for Sunday worship only, everything else we did as a faith community happened in our neighborhoods, the host community and in homes. Moving into a leased space that we would have 24/7 access to could endanger us to put the emphasis on the building as the church rather than the church being the people.
Heidi Renee – Redemption Junkie – “Great Losers”
I just can’t seem to walk past a smidgen of interesting brokenness or discarded story. I am so moved by outsider and found art because deep in my heart I long to be a mosaic artist. I have not yet begun to piece together those precious bits and fragments pocketed along my journey.
Julie Clawson – One Hand Clapping – “Experience and Empathy”
It’s one thing to intellectually acknowledge the need for better health care around the world, I am discovering it is another thing altogether to attempt to imagine oneself in another’s position. I knew the need for equity before, but my experiences have helped me to empathize. I know I am lucky and privileged. I don’t desire to trivialize or cheapen the plight of others by claiming to truly understand, but I am a firm believer that empathy is necessary if one is to truly care and make a difference. And experience helps with that.
Grace – Kingdom Grace – “Disciples or Converts”
I think that we often circumvent the real life of the Spirit in conversion methods, discipleship methods, and in the way that we function together as groups of believers. What are the ways that we tamper with natural growth and unintentionally cause lack of reproduction and other genetic deformities?
Pam Hogeweide – How God Messed Up My Religion – “First Time To Notice A Homeless Person”
He looked over at me. Our eyes locked, me the middle-class teenager from a middle-class Vegas family; him, the ghost of someone’s son now orphaned and phantomed like the nobody he knew he was born to be and die as was. It was a definitive moment for me. In that one glance I saw past the dirty beggar who didn’t have a job or a home. I caught a swift glimpse of a man who was not born for greatness, but was just born. He had no purpose, no grand plan. No derailed American dream to be somebody. For an instance I saw my brother, my father, my son and my husband. This unknown man was more than a Utah phantom. But that one look told me that not only had he become invisible to others, the true man of who he was – this beggar was an imposter of his true greatness – but more urgently, he had become invisible to himself. He did not matter.
Christine Sine – Godspace – “Discerning The Winter Blues”
I was reminded that I once read that the tradition of Advent wreaths actually began because farmers took the wheels of their wagons during the wet winter months and this became the framework for the Advent wreath. Now I am not sure that any of us would consider taking the wheels off our cars over the winter but I do think that we need to build times of rest, reflection and renewal into our schedules. Maybe we should stop driving our cars at least for a few days so that we can relax and refresh. We are not meant to continually live in harvest season. We are not meant to be continually producing fruit or even be continually blossoming. In fact plants that are forced into bloom at the wrong season by florists never recover their natural rhythm. Most of them will never blossom again.
Cheesehead – A Cheesehead In Paradise – “A Sermon for the Celebration of the Reign of Christ”
(Let me say for the record, if any of you are considering running for elected office, and someone comes to church to see what kind of sermons you listen to, and nobody finds anything even the least bit sketchy that I have said—if nothing I preach is found to be even the slightest bit counter-cultural and it’s all perfectly agreeable—that’s probably not a good thing and you should call me on it.)
Christy Lambertson – Dry Bones Dance – Abortion Series
1 – Late Night Comedians, American Politicians & Abortion Week 2 – Nuance is Bad For Fundraising 3 – Put Away the Coat Hangers 4 – Let Me Tell You About Your Experience 5 – We Have Met The Enemy and They Are Partly Right (part I) 6 – We Have Met The Enemy and They Are Partly Right (part II)
That’s why I have declared it to be Abortion Week here at Dry Bones Dance (or possibly Abortion Month, depending how long I go between posts.) Whatever your position is, I’m not going to try to change it. Really. I promise. I just want to take an emotionally charged, extremely polarizing issue, and show how our public conversation about it – from both sides – virtually guarantees that we won’t ever get anywhere on the issue.
Erin Word – Decompressing Faith – “The Tribe”
This tribe is not bound by collective adherence to a doctrine or by a building, but in mutual love for each other and a desire to set each other free from the things which have chained us. My tribe is not a place where anyone has to justify their experiences, but a place where we learn from a myriad of voices. My belief in the value of Jesus in my life is unwavering; many other aspects of my faith are in constant flux as I learn and grow. This I am able to do in a community where boundaries are elastic and belief is defined only by a love for Christ. Searching together for ways to better love on the world and on others, as Jesus exemplified, is the common thread we share.
Sally Coleman – Eternal Echoes “Perichoresis”
Sally writes gorgeous poetry and takes stunning photographs of beaches, sunsets and people.
AJ Schwanz – AJ Schwanz “High Bar”
And then I wonder: am I just being me-centric? Is this something God’s calling me to, or is this me being idealistic and believing the grass is always greener? What if it doesn’t look the way I think it should? What if it’s right in front of my face and I’m ignoring it because I don’t like the way God’s engineered it? When push comes to shove, would I make the sacrifice; or would I be sad, hang my head, and walk away?
Cynthia Ware – The Digital Sanctuary – “Lord Teach Us To Pray, Virtually”
I see the benefits….yet there is a part of me that still feels like something is funny about it. It feels like it should be ‘in addition to…’ instead of a replacement for interacting with your small group or people that can actually pray and stop by and drop off a casserole.
Molly Aley – Adventures In Mercy – “Obama Ushers In End Times”
I literally thought that God wanted me to war against my culture. I believed that culture was out to get me, out to get my kids, out to get my church. I mistakenly forgot the real enemy, and thought it was my culture instead, unlike God, who knew exactly what the real problem was when He came down INTO an equally-fallen culture. He saturated Himself in it, unafraid to pal around with the worst of the lot and, interestingly, the only ones He had a real problem with were the ones righteously abstaining from said culture.
Peggy Brown – The Virtual Abbess – “Abi and Covenant”
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.
Sr. Joan Chittister – From Where I Stand – “A Glimpse Of Oneness For A Change”
The struggle between “red states” and “blue states” in the “United States” may be a political problem but, if truth were told, “oneness” is not something religion has been particularly good at over time either. Religions and religious professionals have been far more devoted over the years to creating Absolutes of themselves. They routinely cast other religious and their scriptures and prayers and beliefs into hellfire. They persecuted and oppressed and either forced people into their own religious tribe or hounded them out of it. They made converts at the end of a sword and divided families and called one another pagans and infidels. Many still do.
Judith Hougen – Emergent Self – “Part Two – Incarnational Reality”
With very few exceptions, none of the people who’ve helped me understand and walk in incarnational reality have been Evangelical Christians. Which might help explain why conservative Christians can be mean sometimes. You really must deny incarnational reality (except in theory) in order to behave so contrary to the way of Jesus. You would have to work awfully hard to denigrate others while walking in a conscious awareness of God’s loving presence. Incarnational reality demands a response–either we open to Christ in each encounter, each breath, or we honor–I dare say worship–our own feelings, agenda, and sense of rightness.
Elizabeth Potter – Still Emerging – “They Used To Call Me Betty”
The lack of fit intensified as I grew older such that when I relocated to a new city a number of years ago, I decided to ‘change’ my name. Rather than introducing myself to new people I met as “Betty,” I asked them to call me “Elizabeth.” It has taken years for my family to adjust to this ‘new’ moniker, but finally I have a name that fits. It is strong, and regal, and seems ‘just the right size.’ They used to call me “Betty,” but I have chosen to rename myself. Hello, my name is “Elizabeth.”
Kim Petersen – Chrysalis Voyage – “Robust Faith”
Maybe it’s why I liked this response from a listener who wrote in: “Doubt is not the opposite of faith. Doubt is faith struggling. Where God is concerned there must always be room for doubt.” Chief Rabbi Sacks picked up on it earlier in his interview by challenging Humphrys: “If you didn’t have faith you wouldn’t ask the question…Faith is in the question.” Humphrys dismisses the statement as a cop out meant to shut down the conversation, but for me this statement contained the crux of the whole issue. Contrary to popular belief, there is not a shut down in intellect and a blind leap into the unknown. There is an intentional ongoing search for Truth and a coming to grips with and peace with that which will always remain a mystery. They are not mutually exclusive. A robust faith encompasses the doubt, the struggle.
Peggy Senger Parsons – A Silly Poor Gospel “My Bus Karma”
“Bon Chance, Madame” is one of my code words with God. It usually means “Heads Up Peg – this may get rough”. With no great leading on the line, I should have taken my bag back, called my daughter and gone back to their house for another week of baby snuggling. But one of my character flaws is a severe allergy to anything that feels like going backwards. And one of my consistent delusions is that the normal rules of the universe don’t apply to me. The combo gets me in trouble all the time.
It’s been an odd year, or I should say an odd Advent season. We haven’t done anything really Advent-y. I feel cheated somehow. It’s no one’s fault, but I missed somehow.
We were late with everything. We didn’t get our tree til the tree people were nearly gone. We just decorated last night. I haven’t waited that late in the season to decorate since I was a kid.
We’ve had a lot of fun. I made a lot of gifts. Not all of them are finished. Some still have to get into the mail (LightMom and BostonAunt).
I’ve gotten a couple of early gifts that are wonderful. One I have to wait til Epiphany to tell you about. The other came in the mail about a week ago. It arrived in an inconspicuous box from BostonAunt. She e-mailed me with a note saying to open it … it was NOT for Christmas. So I did. Inside was a treasure. On top was a packet of my letters to my grandmother spanning about 2 decades that she’d saved. It was funny to read the old me.
Underneath the packet was an old Bible. It had belonged to my great uncle. He died at the age of 98, in 1996, in Woodstock, NB, Canada. He’d lived most of his life in Maine and served as an itinerant Sunday School teacher. That was his ministry. Apparently, he’d also been a Gideon as this is a Gideon Bible from the 1940’s. In the frontispiece is a note which says “Dad’s last verse Deut. 33:25.” There are a couple of other notes in his cramped old-style hand. There are notes here and there throughout. But the best thing about this Bible are the bookmarks. They span decades; from the 1930’s through the 1980’s. There is a ribbon which he wore identifying him as a worker at a Billy Graham crusade in 1953. There is a ribbon which he got as a singer in a choral society in 1930s. There are multiple tiny newspaper cutouts; obituary’s, articles, church announcements, etc. The bookmarks are absolutely fascinating. Finding and deciphering what he was reading when he marked his spot is engrossing. The Bible is, of course, King James and is a self-pronouncing version. That is, there are diacritical marks over all the names. Even simple names such as Moses and for some reason I find that vastly amusing. Yet of all the things that could be done to make the Bible approachable, why not? Why not make it so that those funny names are easy to say and not intimidating?
I think the Gideons were on to something with this version of the Bible. I’m not a huge fan of the King James, although I’ve been known to read it for fun sometimes. When I’m reading for context, I’ll go for NIV or the Message or NASB. But even in those versions, the names can still be sticky, foreign and difficult for those who are not familiar with them. What a great way to bring the whole thing to people who might not be ready …
Now that has a familiar ring to it. Bringing a new thing to people who weren’t quite ready for it. That’s what Christmas is all about after all.
May the incarnational hope, grace and peace that are the tidings of Christmas be yours in the New Year and beyond. From the LightFamily to yours …
