From a newspaper article in the Sun-Sentinel
If you want to visit Steve Mullins at his "office," go to the Borders bookstore in Plantation any weekday afternoon. Hang a right into the coffee bar and look for a stocky blond guy with a Macintosh G4 on one of the two grayish-teal leather couches in the corner, the most comfortable seats in the house.
Mullins, 36, is worship pastor at Sawgrass Fellowship, a Baptist congregation that meets in Sunrise. He rotates among three wireless, or Wi-Fi, hotspots, using them as his virtual office, where he can check e-mails and exchange MP3 music files with church band members.
The T-Mobile account, which costs him $30 per month, works in at least 67 Starbucks outlets, 10 Borders and 22 FedEx Kinko's in South Florida. Mullins, who doesn't have a physical office, says the cost is worth it: He gets a stimulating environment, comfy couch, and "the coffee is always on."
Monday, August 29, 2005
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
Communion Thoughts From Bonhoeffer's Quote
Matt (and everyone else),
I was thinking about this line of thought in the context of communion. As a Baptist, and I’m starting to think I’m a bad Baptist, a remembrance view of the Lord’s Table is SO important. And while I still hold to that view, John 6 has some bizarre things to say that expand my little box of communion understanding.
“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me” (John 6.54-57 TNIV—emphasis, obviously mine).
What a deep incarnational thought! Just as Jesus only did the will of the Father, so my life is only in Jesus; and that somehow communion represents that beyond my little remembrance view. There is a special added spirituality to the act, and as you say Matt, it might be in the fact that the people with whom I feast at the Lord’s Table are the body of Christ.
“Christ fulfills every authentically religious impulse in us”. Beautifully said! If Jesus does this, and accomplishes it in His body, not just a collection of individuals but a community in united under Him, then as the apostle Paul put it in Ephesians 4.8,9 we are to “live as children of light for the fruit of light consists in all goodness, righteous and truth”. This becomes our strong and passionate desire…more Jesus in “fulfillment of every good thing”!
I was thinking about this line of thought in the context of communion. As a Baptist, and I’m starting to think I’m a bad Baptist, a remembrance view of the Lord’s Table is SO important. And while I still hold to that view, John 6 has some bizarre things to say that expand my little box of communion understanding.
“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me” (John 6.54-57 TNIV—emphasis, obviously mine).
What a deep incarnational thought! Just as Jesus only did the will of the Father, so my life is only in Jesus; and that somehow communion represents that beyond my little remembrance view. There is a special added spirituality to the act, and as you say Matt, it might be in the fact that the people with whom I feast at the Lord’s Table are the body of Christ.
“Christ fulfills every authentically religious impulse in us”. Beautifully said! If Jesus does this, and accomplishes it in His body, not just a collection of individuals but a community in united under Him, then as the apostle Paul put it in Ephesians 4.8,9 we are to “live as children of light for the fruit of light consists in all goodness, righteous and truth”. This becomes our strong and passionate desire…more Jesus in “fulfillment of every good thing”!
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
The Church as figure of Jesus
The following excerpt is taken from the writings of the evangelical theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer read during the ecumenical celebration in Saint Paul outside the walls. This is posted on the vatican's web site: http://www.vatican.va/jubilee_2000/magazine/documents/ju_mag_01022000_p-13_en.html
“In Christ there was re-created the form of man before God. It was not an outcome of the place or the time, of the climate or the race, of the individual or the society, or of religion or of taste, but quite simply of the life of mankind as such, that mankind at this point recognized its image and its hope. What befell Christ had befallen mankind. It is a mystery, for which there is no explanation, that only a part of mankind recognise the form of their Redeemer. The longing of the Incarnate to take form in all men is as yet still unsatisfied. He bore the form of man as a whole, and yet He can take form only in a small band. These are his Church. “Formation” consequently means in the first place Jesus' taking form in his Church. What takes form here is the form of Jesus Christ himself. The New Testament states the case profoundly and clearly when it calls the Church the Body of Christ. The body is the form. So the Church is not a religious community of worshippers of Christ but is Christ himself who has taken form among men. The Church can be called the Body of Christ because in Christ's Body man is really taken up by him, and so too, therefore, are all mankind. The Church, then, bears the form which is in truth the proper form of all humanity. The image in which she is formed is the image of man. What takes place in her takes place as an example and substitute for all men. But it is impossible to state clearly enough that the Church, too, is not an independent form by herself, side by side with the form of Christ, and that she, too, can therefore never lay claim to an independent character, title, authority or dignity on her own account and apart from him. The Church is nothing but a section of humanity in which Christ has really taken form. What we have here is utterly and completely the form of Jesus Christ and not some other form side by side with him. The Church is man in Christ, incarnate, sentenced and awakened to new life. In the first instance therefore, she has essentially nothing whatever to do with the so-called religious functions of man, but with the whole man in his existence in the world with all its implications. What matters in the Church is not religion but the form of Christ, and its taking form amidst a band of men. If we allow ourselves to lose sight of this, even for an instant, we inevitably relapse into that programme-planning for the ethical or religious shaping of the world, which was where we set out from.”
“In Christ there was re-created the form of man before God. It was not an outcome of the place or the time, of the climate or the race, of the individual or the society, or of religion or of taste, but quite simply of the life of mankind as such, that mankind at this point recognized its image and its hope. What befell Christ had befallen mankind. It is a mystery, for which there is no explanation, that only a part of mankind recognise the form of their Redeemer. The longing of the Incarnate to take form in all men is as yet still unsatisfied. He bore the form of man as a whole, and yet He can take form only in a small band. These are his Church. “Formation” consequently means in the first place Jesus' taking form in his Church. What takes form here is the form of Jesus Christ himself. The New Testament states the case profoundly and clearly when it calls the Church the Body of Christ. The body is the form. So the Church is not a religious community of worshippers of Christ but is Christ himself who has taken form among men. The Church can be called the Body of Christ because in Christ's Body man is really taken up by him, and so too, therefore, are all mankind. The Church, then, bears the form which is in truth the proper form of all humanity. The image in which she is formed is the image of man. What takes place in her takes place as an example and substitute for all men. But it is impossible to state clearly enough that the Church, too, is not an independent form by herself, side by side with the form of Christ, and that she, too, can therefore never lay claim to an independent character, title, authority or dignity on her own account and apart from him. The Church is nothing but a section of humanity in which Christ has really taken form. What we have here is utterly and completely the form of Jesus Christ and not some other form side by side with him. The Church is man in Christ, incarnate, sentenced and awakened to new life. In the first instance therefore, she has essentially nothing whatever to do with the so-called religious functions of man, but with the whole man in his existence in the world with all its implications. What matters in the Church is not religion but the form of Christ, and its taking form amidst a band of men. If we allow ourselves to lose sight of this, even for an instant, we inevitably relapse into that programme-planning for the ethical or religious shaping of the world, which was where we set out from.”
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Liminality: Be As Small As Jesus Wants Us To Be!
Greetings from Texas as we are here in north Dallas suburbia visiting family. (Oh by the way the road trip went well. Callie did great! We just took our time, stopping when we needed too enjoying the road.)
My thought for you this morning is the nature of the Church here in the lone star state: large. Every building is huge and seems like an attempt to over top the mega-church down the street (or toll way or farm road—nothing in the way of mid-sized roads).
Now I know there are smaller churches and, from talking to my brother-in-law, people here who “get” grace and being missional. My observation; however, is that the culture down here does not lend itself to liminality. Liminality is the process of being push to the periphery through isolation and re-assessing one’s identity. This process is done by a tribal boy who leaves his mothers hut and, depending on the culture, goes out on a quest to kill some wild game or smoke some dope and see his spirit guide—when he comes back to the tribe he is a man.
We as people go through liminality, as groups we can go through liminality (sound familiar Edge friends) but liminality can also be experienced in large groups as culture changes i.e., the evangelical church as society in the States becomes more post-modern. Historically speaking, before the enlightenment the Church held the center of society controlling politics, morality and individuals. During the enlightenment project reason was the center of society informing politics and the like—and the Church began the process of being marginalized. Now with our changing post-modern sensibilities the idea of a center has been replaced with a “do as you wish” mentality and for the Church the process of liminality has begun. Will the Church strive to re-claim a non-existing center—as is it appears to be here in Texas—building bigger buildings with slicker programming and performance based excellence (I have read you can call this a broadcast church) or will the people of God be comfortable being relegated to the periphery?
It is not to say that broadcast church cannot be missional and understand grace, but it is mighty hard in a corporate culture to not be about the institution. Now is this just the end of the Bible belt so this observation means nothing for other regions? Possibly, but at the very least it is good to re-evaluate motives of the people of Jesus gathered: do we depend on being valued by the world, which I think leads to human-driven effort; or do we depend on being directed by Jesus, which is to say that we live in grace being missional?
Granted we might fall somewhere in the middle of these poles, but I pray we fall into the arms of Jesus no matter what cultural paradigm we use. As we experience isolation and the re-assessing one’s identity, as life is often cruel enough to throw us, I pray that as an expression of the deep seeded belief in Jesus’ sovereignty we will put our trust in Him and not live by our own plans and in our own strength and not be about building bigger buildings but humbly be OK with being as small as He wants us to be.
Blessings,
Dustin
My thought for you this morning is the nature of the Church here in the lone star state: large. Every building is huge and seems like an attempt to over top the mega-church down the street (or toll way or farm road—nothing in the way of mid-sized roads).
Now I know there are smaller churches and, from talking to my brother-in-law, people here who “get” grace and being missional. My observation; however, is that the culture down here does not lend itself to liminality. Liminality is the process of being push to the periphery through isolation and re-assessing one’s identity. This process is done by a tribal boy who leaves his mothers hut and, depending on the culture, goes out on a quest to kill some wild game or smoke some dope and see his spirit guide—when he comes back to the tribe he is a man.
We as people go through liminality, as groups we can go through liminality (sound familiar Edge friends) but liminality can also be experienced in large groups as culture changes i.e., the evangelical church as society in the States becomes more post-modern. Historically speaking, before the enlightenment the Church held the center of society controlling politics, morality and individuals. During the enlightenment project reason was the center of society informing politics and the like—and the Church began the process of being marginalized. Now with our changing post-modern sensibilities the idea of a center has been replaced with a “do as you wish” mentality and for the Church the process of liminality has begun. Will the Church strive to re-claim a non-existing center—as is it appears to be here in Texas—building bigger buildings with slicker programming and performance based excellence (I have read you can call this a broadcast church) or will the people of God be comfortable being relegated to the periphery?
It is not to say that broadcast church cannot be missional and understand grace, but it is mighty hard in a corporate culture to not be about the institution. Now is this just the end of the Bible belt so this observation means nothing for other regions? Possibly, but at the very least it is good to re-evaluate motives of the people of Jesus gathered: do we depend on being valued by the world, which I think leads to human-driven effort; or do we depend on being directed by Jesus, which is to say that we live in grace being missional?
Granted we might fall somewhere in the middle of these poles, but I pray we fall into the arms of Jesus no matter what cultural paradigm we use. As we experience isolation and the re-assessing one’s identity, as life is often cruel enough to throw us, I pray that as an expression of the deep seeded belief in Jesus’ sovereignty we will put our trust in Him and not live by our own plans and in our own strength and not be about building bigger buildings but humbly be OK with being as small as He wants us to be.
Blessings,
Dustin
Saturday, June 25, 2005
Looking To Jesus
A response to Paul’s posting in the last thread.
Paul, I understand your point about loving each other and God revealing Himself to us in His time. But I do not see the connection you are trying to make with that line of thought and belief. For Example, I do not get what you are trying to say when you say: “Wow, I have read all of the postings up to this point, but have yet to feel true belief in any one posting. You all mention the belief in Christ, but manage to miss the entire BELIEF....hmmm.”
While I would word your the prayer emphasis not as God give me strength and peace and comfort but as us praying for the Father to be our strength: He is sovereign; and for Jesus to be our peace: He is the Prince of Peace; and for the Spirit to guide us: as He will in all truth. This is not a semantics game but a true shift in my focus as I pray. It is good to look at the nature of our prayers.
Faith is God’s gift to us, it is not a matter of our power that we chose where to place it. For Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith. In my own words, I think this clarification supports your reasoning that we are to keep our eyes on Jesus—that is faith, that is belief. For as the apostle Paul says in Acts 17.26-28 to the people in Athens: “From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’”
Paul, I understand your point about loving each other and God revealing Himself to us in His time. But I do not see the connection you are trying to make with that line of thought and belief. For Example, I do not get what you are trying to say when you say: “Wow, I have read all of the postings up to this point, but have yet to feel true belief in any one posting. You all mention the belief in Christ, but manage to miss the entire BELIEF....hmmm.”
While I would word your the prayer emphasis not as God give me strength and peace and comfort but as us praying for the Father to be our strength: He is sovereign; and for Jesus to be our peace: He is the Prince of Peace; and for the Spirit to guide us: as He will in all truth. This is not a semantics game but a true shift in my focus as I pray. It is good to look at the nature of our prayers.
Faith is God’s gift to us, it is not a matter of our power that we chose where to place it. For Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith. In my own words, I think this clarification supports your reasoning that we are to keep our eyes on Jesus—that is faith, that is belief. For as the apostle Paul says in Acts 17.26-28 to the people in Athens: “From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’”
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