Friends, Friends of Friends, Friends of Jesus

Jesus has called us his friends; he was known also as "the friend of sinners." Friendship seems to be something we take for granted but don't really understand. What roles do you think friendship can play in the life and work of Christ's people? Please read through the article [linked here]--thanks to Patrick Currie for finding it and bringing it to us--and then share what you think of the author's analysis and prescription.

thinkling and camping in the Florida Keys

hi guys

We have just returned from our weekend of camping in the Florida Keys. This weekend grew out of a blog conversation we had a year ago about the importance of building our relationships around non-agenda-driven and unstructured time together. Jamie Johnson pointed out the shortcomings of building relationships around ‘conferencing’ … so we planned an inexpensive ‘unconference’ with no speaker, no meetings, no agenda – only fellowship around meals and a campfire.

Here is the question for those of you who attended: did we succeed? Did you enjoy the fellowship? Did you learn anything? What were the conversations that were most meaningful. Those of you who were unable to be there, please jump in with comments or questions.

Parakeet Practice

McKnight identifies "blue parakeets" as those sections of Scripture that don't seem to fit into our [personal, denominational, churchly, etc] organizing schema for the Bible. Of course, the identity of a "blue parakeet" can vary by observer! For some, the violent OT passages where God judges the Canaanites in the harshest possible terms are blue parakeets; for others, passages that [appear to?] teach female subordination are blue parakeets; for still others, passages that teach God's intention to save everyone (various kinds of universalism) are parakeets, just as graphic descriptions of hell are parakeets for others.
So let's try a case study together: consider these lines from Psalm 8: "What is man that thou are mindful of him, the son of man that you care about him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor." Let's set these lines alongside Job's complaint, "What is man that you make so much of him, that you give him so much attention, that you examine him every morning and test him every moment" (Job 7:17-18, but it's a good idea to read all of chapter 7 to get the flow).
Question: which passage [if either] is the blue parakeet for you? Why?

Smokin Joe's Emerging Swamp Thang

Hi guys,
we are going camping with some friends and a couple of out of town guests in January. The idea for this camping trip came up a year ago in a blog discussion about the importance of building our friendships around – non-agenda drive time together rather than structured meetings. We originally talked about calling this an ‘un conference.’ No speakers, no meetings, no agenda, just hanging out around the tents and near the beautiful Florida Bay with some good friends (with cigars and your favorite bev) doing some cool "thinkling."

If you are interested in joining us, we will start Friday afternoon, January 16th, and end about mid-day or afternoon Sunday (although those who desire can stay on another night) at Fiesta Key at mm 70.

I already have some camp sites reserved, please let me know as soon as possible if you are coming. The individual tent sites are $45 per night, if two adults share a tent, that comes out to $45 for the two-night weekend for the camping, and food should only be about another $40 per person. The entire weekend should cost about $90 per person – a little more if you are bringing your son (or sons) and want to have a tent site to yourself.

You can email me at josenmiami@yahoo.com ~Joseph

Birdwatching I

Scot McKnight (see his jesuscreed blog on beliefnet) recently published The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How you Read the Bible. John Meadows recommended it, so I picked up a copy and was helped and challenged by reading it. I propose we spend a couple of conversations discussing it. I'd recommend you read it, but will provide a short summary of each section so that you can participate in the discussion without having to read the book ("Covenant Thinklings, where you can talk big without actually having to do any work!").

To get us into things, here's an assignment from the book:

Read chapter 19 in Leviticus (the subhead in your Bible may say something like "Various Laws." After reading through the chapter, make a list of the "laws" that you think are still "for God's people today," the ones that "no longer apply," and the ones that make you say, "Huh? No idea what to do here" (which likely means that it "no longer applies," so maybe you only have to make two lists after all!)

Now: on what basis did you assign various "laws" to the first or second (or third) list? It would probably be best to pick one example from each list and tell us how you made the call.

Appropriate humor is to be encouraged.

Topics for discussion? (asking for directions)

ok ...

...no one is interested in talking about mission and evangelism, or the massive exit of young adults from the church. Its ok -- really -- it doesn't hurt ... at least not much ... Brian, please through in some gentle irony here ...

Let's open up a thread to take suggestions for topics for discussions ... what would YOU, dear blogger, like to talk about?

or have we talked about everything and run out of things to say? What think ye? Anybody know any good jokes?

What will we do about it?

hi all: I found the article below in Scott McKnight's Jesuscreed (now on belief.net). I want you to remember that I said this a couple of days ago, and I have been saying it for the last several years in this blog and by email ... I didn't get it from McKnight, or McLaren, or even Gallup or Barna. We can see it with our eyes if we look around. There is urgency about this. Sorry to start another discussion thread -- you can keep responding to the previous thread, but this allows me to insert a link:

What will we do about it?
...........
Research from a number of angles says the same thing: 20 somethings are not attending church. There is nothing less than a crisis in the church, a crisis that is far greater than most church folk know about and care to confront with the energies and focus that are needed. Here are the two facts:

1. The elderly people are exiting the church's back door.
2. The younger people are not entering the front door.

This means the numbers are declining. If something isn't done about it soon, the church will be facing a crisis in the next twenty years unlike anything the American church has ever seen. At a pragmatic level, it will mean a dramatic reduction in budgets ... I could go on. The more pressing issue is speaking the gospel to a new generation.

What will we do about it? Call for a conference. What are we doing about it?
............
jh

mission and evangelism

Ok, we seem to have run out of steam on the spiritual transformation topic, at least temporarily. When we discussed what needs to change in contemporary Christianity a couple of months ago, we came with 17 points that we later divided into roughly 3 areas. One of those areas we called ‘spiritual transformation’. Another one we called apostolic mission.

Lets switch over to that topic and discuss it. There were three points under apostolic mission. Here is what Sarah said:

“there needs to be greater missional engagement with the secular world”

Do you all agree with this? If yes, what are some practical ways that can happen? Are there any ideological or paradigmatic blinders that prevent us from properly engaging people in the world?

conversation on Ventrilo

ok, John and I are now on Ventrilo .... it is not all that hard to set up. Here are his instructions if you need help (especially in the middle of the night) give John (the Musician) a call:

786-395-2507I

so ... how can we use this tool for spiritual transformation? or just simply friendship? Also, is there anyone else we should include in this? Any suggestions about how we can use it or when we can all meet?

.....instructions........

1. Go to your local walmart or another equivalent store and buy a pair of headphones with a microphone. These usually run about 20 bucks depending on quality. Make sure they are for use with a computer, usually it will say that on the package.

2. Go to www.ventrilo.com, go to the "download" link on the left side, download the Ventrilo Client that best fits your operating system (most likely the first option for windows 2000 and newer)

3. Once you've download the client program and plugged in your headphones (headphone jacks are usually color coded as well as the computer jacks so you shouldn't have a problem there =OP) Open the Ventrilo program (you'll probably have an icon on your desktop.

4. Once you open Ventrilo you should see a couple options the answers are as follows:
>Click the arrow pointing to the right on the right side of the field "User Name"
>Click "New" and enter your user name into the pop-up (you can also enter a phonetic so that you can hear the name being said when logging into vent or switching channels)
>Click "Ok"
>Next click the arrow pointing right at the right side of the field entitled "Server"
>Click "New" and add the name that you want to call the server (i.e. Covthinklings)

>Next You'll fill out the "Hostname or IP" field with 66.228.127.220
then you'll fill out the "Port Number" field with
5013
and finally you'll fill out the "Password" field with
covthinklings1

>At this point all information needed should be filled out and you can simply press the "Connect" button on the right side of vent in order to connect to the server, there will be several different channels and you will see if there is anyone in one of the channels and you will be able to join in if you like. =O)

Tools for Transformation II: Repentance

As with humility, repentance can be easier to discuss or describe than to practice. But as we reflect together on how God works to shape us a whole persons in Christ, there's no avoiding repentance--and not just as a one-time event, but as a way of life. We can also confuse repentance with contrition, regret, or saying "sorry." Repentance embraces those, but is really about changing the way I think, feel and behave. So, what have you learned about repentance? Where and how has it been transformative in your own life? What makes it hard, and have you discovered some ways that make it "easier"... or even a joyful undertaking?