Forgive Me, Forgive Me, Forgive Me..........Or Not

I know this is wrong on so many levels but being ADD means that impulsive actions and thoughts are sometimes almost beyond our control. (It wasn't in this case but I just couldn't resist even if it wasn't entirely irresistible.....if you know what I mean?)



Emergent............................... eh?















Allllllllllllllll Righty then!


BTW Thanks Errol for the nifty pic. And just think, if there is a purgatorial penalty for this outrage, you get to share it with me. (no good deed goes unpunished, the road to the hot place is paved with good intentions and all that....)

Emergent XYZ

Here is an Ape's finish to the emergent AtoZ proposed by Steve in the previous post.


I hope you enjoy it.


(BTW does anyone know where I can get a jpeg of Jim Carey Emerging from the rear end of a hippo in Ace Ventura When Nature Calls?
It would make a great image for this post. We emergents enjoy a good joke, especially if we thought of it first.)

X, Xylophones. We don't actually ban them, we just don't encourage their use.

Y, Yak's Milk. You got it, we'll drink it.

Z, (I know it is spelled with an X but let's give the creative flow some slack here)
Zenophile. If its different we'll probably like it.


ala

"Pied Beauty" 1877 By Gerard Manley Hopkins


Glory be to God for dappled things.
For skies of couple colour as a brinded cow
For rose moles all in stipple upon trout that swim
Fresh-firecoal chestnut falls; finches' wings'
Landscape plotted and pieced: fold, fallow, and plough;
And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim.
All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how)
With swift, slow, sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers forth whose beauty is past change;
Praise Him

(BTW Pied Beauty was one of Earl (now James) Breech's favourite poems. He was a professor of Religious Studies at York University when I attended in the late 70's. I owe him more than I can say for he taught me to see Jesus as; 'The fat lady sweating in the heat, sitting on her front stoop, swatting flies and dying of cancer'. Someday I will tell you about a few of the other wonders his classes caused my eyes to see, but for now it is enough that you learn to enjoy 'Pied Beauty' wherever you find it and in your pleasure, Praise Him!)

A to Z of the emerging church

I picked this up from the e~mergent kiwi blog created by Steve Taylor an Emerging Chrsitian from New Zealand.

A to Z of emerging church
We seem reluctant to name the emerging church. Perhaps our naming yet lacks an alphabet. We need some A, B, C’s before we can spell the word. So in a spirit of Genesis 2, and in partiality;

A = artistic, and so the emerging values the creative, the visual, the non-rational as essential to communication and being.

B = blogging, and so the emerging tell stories and learns from the stories of others. We listen, we ask, we grow through the wires of the internet

C = culturally sensitive, atune to the rationalising tendencies of modernity, we speak of a new landscape, a new missionary terrain in which God wants to be enfleshed as the Body of ChristC= community loving, and so we thirst for deep, honest, emotional, vulnerable relationships with God and each other.

D=DJing, and so we are re:mixing God in a postmodern world, learning to sing the Lord’s song in a strange land

E=experiential, and so we create worship that engages the senses

F=fashionable and so we speak of our music and review our books, talk of our latest video mixers and web browsers and exchange notes on software and RSS feeds

G=global, (in a Western sort of way) and so we link from the US to the UK, we click from Canada to Kiwi, with a nod to Australian friends and partners

H=hyperlinked, and so we are inspired by a worship trick from here and an insight from there

I=intuitive, and so we don’t know where we’re going and we don’t like we we’ve been, but we’re sure it’s not logical and it definitely has no 5 year plan. But it is a journey and it will embrace mystery and contingency

J=journey. That word again. We are emerging, partial, tentative and that’s OK. God is here.

K= (I don’t know, this is written in a spirit of partiality)

L= (editor's note; there was no L, where the 'ell is L?) Oh well no L, Merry Christmas anyway.

M=middle-class. Sorry but we are. It’s a sociological reality. Can’t change it. Don’t beat yourself up over it. But don’t stay there will you. It is a journey. It’s time to partner with the poor.

M= mostly male. Sorry but we mostly are. It’s a sociological reality. So let’s not stay here. It is a journey. It’s time for genuine partnership.

N=new map. No-one before us has had to incarnate God in a video culture, or speak of faith in a world of post-……

O=open ended. We don’t even want to define ourselves. We’re not even sure we are a movement. Let’s keep things … open.

P=participatory. Gone is the pulpit and in is the discussion. Comments are essential to websites, to teaching and to preaching.

Q=questioning. Got lots of those. Faith is mixed with ambiguity and juxtaposed with inconsistency.

R= random – images, words, thoughts.

S=seeking. We still haven’t found what we’re looking for, although some of us seem to know what we’re reacting against.

T=textual. The Bible. A mission manifesto for our future.

T= tactile. Whole bodied, multi-sensory.

U=under-resourced. Mr Jones can’t even buy his kids birthday presents and he’s our guru. Enough said.

V=visual. Images. Please.

W = white and western. Sorry but we are. It’s a sociological reality. But let’s not stay here. It is a journey. It’s time for genuine partnership.


X, Y, Z = 3 blanks.
This is, after all, partial. A first attempt at an alphabet.

Hymn of Liberation

Oh, come all you people, from all nations
Rise up and sing joyfully
Let's listen to the new melody
That in Christ freedom comes.
It's time to break away from the slavery
That comes from men or ideas
It's time to say that only God
Is the Lord of the universe.

The truth will set you free
You will be truly free in Christ
Come everyone, oh come now
And let's celebrate with great joy our liberation

Those oppressed or exploited
And those spending days in pain
The lame, blind, captive and lonely
Know that soon a new day is coming
A day of justice, a day of truth
A day in which there will be peace on Earth
And death will be defeated by life
Slavery will finally be ended.



From the weekly prayer update from
Micah Challenge
Prayer and Reflection

Friday July 21, 2006

http://www.micahchallenge.ca/

This is a group of Christians seeking justice as one of the core components of active faith.
They take their purpose and call to action from

Micah 6:8

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?


It is my hope that you would hear echoes of this verse in my personal profile statement and in my life itself..................

It's Finally Starting to A+D+D up?

Absentminded, forgetful, careless.

Inattentive, unable to follow directions


Unable to follow directions, forgetful (did I just say that?)
Testy, irritable, impulsive, tendency to blurrtt tings out without tinking or pruf reeding.





It In my 50th year I finally know why I am so carnsarned different.It is official, the impossibleape has Attention Deficit Disorder (inattentive type, not hyperactive).I was ready to declare myself either a rare type of Autistic, perhaps an idiot savant (with the accent on idiot), or brain damaged from an accident that my brain damage did not allow me to remember...uhmm....er........what was i talking about again?Oh ya. It finally adds up. As the title of an excellent book on the subject states...'So I 'm Not Lazy, Crazy or Stupid' (much).
In case you were wondering if I am self diagnosing or selfdeluding I can state unequivocally that I am 'certifiable'. It was a horrendous journey to get the beast named but I have the official papers to prove it and am experiencing some good results with medicine. Dealing with the continuing aspects of the disorder will be a challenge but at least I see the path because I am better able to employ the executive functions of the brain which help us know what to do with the piles of papers, old magazines, clothes and just junk laying all over the place. Executive functions also help you put one foot in front of the other because you can see the steps needed to get somewhere. it also helps the brain sort out and prioritize things so you can see the forest for the trees and so not walk headlong into a cedar bush. One of the many problems of ADD is disorganization and unclear thinking, perhaps now I will be able to understand that clothes on the chair can be put on a hangar and placed in a closet.Wish me well as I try to tidy up my closet, my files, my room and my thinking.

LH

Experiencing Life at the Margins (Why we must learn to love the cross)

An African bishop tells North American Christians the most helpful gospel-thing they can do.Interview by Andy Crouch posted 07/14/2006 09:30 a.m.
• Related articles and links


Q.
As a longtime friend and partner of North American Christians, what have you noticed about us?

A.
One of the gravest threats to the North American church is the deception of power—the deception of being at the center. Those at the center tend to think, "The future belongs to us. We are the shapers of tomorrow. The process of gospel transmission, the process of mission—all of it is on our terms, because we are powerful, because we are established. We have a track record of success, after all."
Yet recently the Lord led me to an amazing passage, the encounter between Jesus and Nathaniel in John 1. Nathaniel has decided Jesus is a non-entity. Jesus comes from Nazareth, after all.
Nathaniel's skepticism comes from being in power, being at the center. Those at the center decide that anyone not with us is—not against us—[but] just irrelevant. "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" It doesn't warrant our time. But the Messiah is from Nazareth.
Surprise, Nathaniel!

Q.
What's the problem with being at the center?

A.
God very often is working most powerfully far from the center. Jesus is crucified outside Jerusalem—outside—with the very cynical sign over his head, "The King of the Jews." Surprise—he is the King of the Jews. "We had hoped … " say the disappointed disciples on the road to Emmaus, but he did not fulfill our criteria. In Acts, we read that the cross-cultural missionary thrust did not begin in Jerusalem. It began in Antioch, on the periphery, the margins. But Jerusalem is not ready for Antioch! In fact, even when they go to Antioch, it's just to check on what's happening.
I have come to the conclusion that the powerful, those at the center, must begin to realize that the future shape of things does not belong to them. The future shape of things is on the periphery. The future shape of things is not in Jerusalem, but outside. It is Nazareth. It is Antioch.
If you really want to understand the future of Christianity, go and see what is happening in Asia, Africa, Latin America. It's the periphery—but that's where the action is.

Q.
But many American churches are already deeply involved in missions overseas.

A.
Of course. Yet it's so difficult to get American Christians, even those who profess to love missions and their brothers and sisters on the periphery, to actually come and see what is happening where we are. This is especially true of those in the positions of greatest power in the church. I have asked a friend, a pastor of a large church that gives half of its money to missions, to come and spend time on the fringes. But he won't. He wants to spend his study leave in Oxford, in Australia. How can American pastors be leaders if they haven't seen what God is doing elsewhere? Every search process for a senior pastor should ask, "Do you have experience in marginal places, economically deprived places, places with HIV/AIDS? Have you gone to be among them?"

Q.

What could equip us to be more countercultural, living in a nation that is very much at the center of power?

A.

We need to begin to read the Bible differently. Americans have been preoccupied with the end of the Gospel of Matthew, the Great Commission: "Go and make." I call them go-and-make missionaries. These are the go-and-fix-it people. The go-and-make people are those who act like it's all in our power, and all we have to do is "finish the task." They love that passage! But when read from the center of power, that passage simply reinforces the illusion that it's about us, that we are in charge.
I would like to suggest a new favorite passage, the Great Invitation. It's what we find if we read from the beginning of the Gospels rather than the end. Jesus says, "Come, follow me. I will make you fishers of men." Not "Go and make," but "I will make you." It's all about Jesus. And do you know the last words of Jesus to Peter, in John 21? "Follow me." The last words of Simon Peter's encounter are the same as the first words.

Q.
Can we begin to read those passages that trouble us, that don't reinforce our cultural centeredness?

A.

Let's go back to Matthew 25 and read it in the church in America, over and over. Who are Jesus' brothers? The weak, the hungry, the immigrant workers, the economic outcasts. Let's read the passage of this woman who pours ointment over Jesus. Let's ask, who is mostly in the company of Jesus? Not bishops and pastors! The bishops and pastors are the ones who suggest he's a lunatic! Who enjoys his company? The ordinary folk, so ordinary that their characterization is simply this: "sinners." Can we begin to point to those passages?
Yet this ability to read different passages, to read the Bible differently, won't happen until people are displaced from their comfort zones. I thank the Lord for deep friendships he has given to me beyond my comfort zone, beyond my culture, beyond my language. Until that happens, we will all be tribal, all of us.......

Q. Many of us want those relationships beyond our own tribe, but how does that happen?
A.
It is very simple. Come and be with us, with no agenda other than to be with us. .......................................... Of course, there are leaders who come to Africa, who go to Asia, and they come away the same. In fact, they come away worse, with a greater sense of how they are going to change the whole world! But we lose our legitimacy as Christian leaders in an affluent country like [the U.S.] if we can't use that affluence in order to experience the situation of those on the margins. "God so loved the world"—how dare we say we identify with him in that love if we don't go there, if we don't choose the margins?

Q.
What part does racism play in all this?

A.

You never discover how racist you are until you have the opportunity to be a racist. The genocide in Rwanda was a very challenging experience for me. I came to Washington in 1995, and some friends were asking, "What do we do in Rwanda?" They were saying, "What do we do with these Hutus, who are such killers?" As if the Hutus were created killers! "Actually," I said, "I am Hutu." I share an ethnic identity with them, as does most of southwest Uganda.
And until I got to Rwanda, I didn't realize how sympathetic I had been to the Hutu cause. Then it hit me. And I began the journey of being freed from that—freed from that history of sympathy for a cause that was just Hutu. Until the opportunity is given to you to face your own racism, you'll function under its power, under its spell. The only way to lose it is to go.

Q.
What do Americans need to understand about the main challenge facing Africa?

A.

Africa's crisis is not poverty; it is not AIDS. Africa's crisis is confidence. What decades of colonialism and missionary enterprise eroded among us is confidence. So a "national leader" from the United States comes—he may have a good-sized congregation, but he knows nothing about Africa!—and we defer to him. We don't even tell him everything we are thinking, out of respect. We Africans must constantly repent of that sense of inferiority.

Whether in Africa or America, the Cross is not an easy place to be—it is the symbol of our faith, but we do not love the Cross. "Come down from the Cross" is the cry not just of the Jewish leaders; it's the cry even of us Christians. We want Christ to come down from the Cross. We don't like the Cross.

This is Faith (Believing Can Be The Hardest Thing To Do)

Faith for my deliverance is not faith in God.
Faith means, whether I am visibly delivered or not,
I will stick to my belief that God is love. -Oswald Chambers



In my journey many have wanted to preach and teach and exhort me to the ''deeeeeep thangs of GOD!"

I am always kefuffled by their obsession with the ''deeeeeep thangs of GOD!"

I am just trying to hang on to the idea that God is love, that He has some kind of power and He actually cares about me and the world. It seems to me that that by itself requires a deep, revelational, miraculous gift of faith.

Somehow the search for the deep things leaves me cold because the simple things are plenty hard and mysterious. Isn't it enough that we love others, care for the weak, honour the suffering and continue hoping against despair in a world full of contradictions to our faith?

Shortly after becoming a Christian I worked at a Christian retreat centre and the word of faith crowd that ran it never tired of the ''deeeeeep thangs of GOD!" They had taken it over from an even more committed word of faith bunch that had ran it as a commune. It had been shut down because the leaders had told some diabetics among them that taking their insulin was a sign of unbelief in the healings proclaimed over them. The result, 2 deaths and a police investigation. The new group didn't learn too much from that but at least they never killed anyone. They did, however, have some awfully convoluted ways of justifying their faith in magical chrisitanity. When a wagon load of Mennonite teenagers from another camp in the area were struck by a transport truck and several were killed, the word of faith crowd assumed that some of the young Mennonites must have had some awfully impure thoughts for that to happen, and beside they were hardly Chrsitians at all since they (not being like us) weren't being taught the ''deeeeeep thangs of GOD!" .

I think it is deep enough to love our neighbours as ourself, because it is the only way we can demonstrate that we actually love the God we claim to be so intimately involved with. And if you've ever tried to do it you know how hard it can be.

I still have some resentment towards those who proclaim they are into the deep things when their faith is all spiritual and invisible and does not include concrete and visible expressions of love. Having taken a false cue from Acts they think waiting on tables or helping the handicapped is beneath their apostolic faith. They will put you in a prayer line and factory direct a miracle (that hardly ever comes) but will they actually get dirty on the street or in the homes of people really suffering? For too many that is beneath the dignity of the ''deeeeeep thangs" crowd.


Loving others in real concrete ways is loving God and that is a deep as Jesus asks us to go.

It ain't easy but it is real and it is what is needed to help others believe, hope against despair, that maybe God does love us after all.

LH

Here are a Few Inconvenient Miracles

Inconvenient because they are not what most pastors preach about and they are not easily found in a surface reading of scripture (which unfortunately is the only kind most evangelical preachers will allow.)

Meet David C., Josh H. , and David W.

We are trying to get David W.'s art out to where people can see it. I thank these Dave's and one more Dave (another fellow with a heart of gold who also knows what it means to suffer as an outsider who has recently joined our cadre), a delightful young lady named Sarah who is dealing with an acquired physical disability and who is championing the cause of disabled people everywhere (she was a teacher's aid working with challenged children when she was injured in a car accident) and Irene the faithful one who came to the R2E meetings for a full year while it was just her and me against the able-bodied (her legs began to give out several years ago. She is confined to a wheelchair that she rebels against regularily as she is trusting for her healing. Also could you pray for her hearing it is going and this bothers Irene greatly.)

These inconvenient miracles aren't encouraged to give testimony yet because what they represent isn't understood or appreciated in our current environment but we hope it will be someday (pray for hearts and minds to be opened. Perhaps that will be the miracle that will let me believe in miracles in a bigger way.)

LH

A Miracle A Miracle My Kingdom for a Miracle (Mission Impossible?)

Disability is a sledge hammer blow to a parent's heart. My son Joshua (which being translated means, the saviour of his people) just turned 20. he is still in diapers, has no language but is mobile so he is a rock star of sorts (180 pounds of head banging aggression and no self-control). He is the love of my life and the bane of my existence.

My mission, which I have chosen to accept, is to change the way people (especially churches) look at the disabled among us. My family has almost no help or encouragement from the evangelical church we have attended for the past seven years and only a little more from the one we attended for the previous ten years. What help and strength we have received was from secular agencies. It has been difficult to maintain faith through this but no one else has the words of life so we are stuck with Jesus.

My mission is to make Christians take Matt25 seriously when Jesus says that those that suffer are Christ in our presence.
"If ye do it unto the least of these...... "and Jesus didn't say 'like unto', or 'as if', or 'in similitude to', but he said.........."ye do it unto me."
An equation if you will. The disabled, the poor, the outcasts, the neglected, the persecuted are Jesus on the Road to Emmaus. Remember the disciples didn't recognize Him as he walked with them. Do you think the church recognizes Him in the face of people with disabilities?

R2E=X+U+I.
The Road to Emmaus equals Jesus(on the crossX) plus you and I.
Jesus is still but where are U+I?

I may be too cryptic (and Josh may be too challenging) and that could be why I am getting a lot of perplexed looks from people who don't understand. I also have some active opposition from a particular church leader who does sort of get it but doesn't like it. In general I have received better understanding from those outside the church, but Thank God there are a handful of regular Christians who get it and support it. So I am lonely but not totally abandoned. Opposed but not defeated (yet).

Part of the reason some Christians don't like what I am doing is because I am trying to be honest with my experience and my faith. I have never seen a miracle, and I have become very critical of those who make huge money off of the desperation of individuals and families with disabilities(ie the miracle workers). This is not well received in circles that make Benny Hinn a saint and so I understand some of the opposition.
I would love to hear about a real miracle if you have one to share. Please write to tell of the things you have seen that you call a miracle. Or perhaps you could tell me what you think miracles are all about. I would like to be encouraged.

Blessings to you and the ones who suffer.

PS. If miracles are something other than the smoke and mirrors shows put on by Saint Benny and the rest (and I think they are) then perhaps I have seen and received a few miracles myself but I would like to hear from those who have seen or received their own miracle. I need the encouragement.

Anyone got a testimony?

SPEAKING UP for those who can't:

Here is a worthwhile article from CARP that outlines some of the concerns of older parents of disabled chlidren. There are over 300 families in LondonMiddlesex right now on a waiting list for care for their children. The need will grow as the baby boom population bulge moves along into declining health and eventually passes on.
Please ask your MP and MPP to think about this situation and to begin to address this growing problem before it gets out of hand. Even now only emergency and critical situations are being addressed and this will not get better until attention is given to this need.


Aging parents of developmentally disabled need support

Article By: Jennifer Walker

All parents worry about their children. But at some point, your child grows up, matures and moves away from home, and you begin to relax. Sure, you’ll always worry a little bit but, for the most part, the tough years are behind you and it’s time to enjoy some newfound freedom – and maybe a grandkid or two.
For those seniors who are raising adult children with a developmental disability, the worry doesn’t abate. The issues and concerns these people face are numerous and unique.

cont'd

http://www.carp.ca/display.cfm?cabinetID=263&libraryID=70&documentID=1909