You're invited--RSVP, please

Yes, I know, the "please" is redundant. Anyway, I'm tryng to pull together a get-together for posters to this blog. My idea is to get together sometime next June (second half of the month) for a weekend of face-to-face conversation. My thought for a location is Miami, since Jose is there and could coordinate details, but am open to other suggestions. Boston is real nice then, too!

AND I want to do some fund-raising so that finances don't keep any of you from coming, esp. younger guys for whom an unexpected expense like this isn't doable. I can't promise that I can enable you to travel for free, but I'll do my best to take something off the tab, and we'll keep the costs once you get to wherever-it-will-be as low as we can (while still accommodating the Old Boys' need for comfy beds, regular meals, nearby toilets, that kind of thing.)

Participation limited to 12 (OK, maybe 15), and must be somewhat balanced between oldsters and younger-sters, with the tipping headed in a younger-ster direction.

Interested? Committed? Need more info, have some ideas to offer (ooh, that's probably a bad thing to ask this group!)--anyway, let me hear something from you.

"I hadn't thought of it like that before..."

With summer winding up (down?) and schedules starting to fill for the fall, I thought we could grab a moment for reflection. Thinking back over these intense conversations from the past few months, what is one way in which your mind is changing? You may not remember the post or who it was that made the comment, but could you give us a specific way in which your thinking has been changing as a result of these conversations? And perhaps it's not even that your mind has fully changed, only that it may be in the process of changing. How has something someone wrote made an impact upon the way you think/see one of the topics we've discussed?

Organic CP6

Sounds vaguely chemical... but actually, this is a continuation of an extremely lively email discussion that may have grown too large for the email format. Initiated by Joseph Holbrook's "Organic Church Planting, Part 6" paper, this conversation has ranged far and wide, and included comments from across the world and across the generations. Welcome and weigh in!

There's No Such Thing as a Free... Will?

By popular demand: what do we think about the ancient sovereignty-of-God-and-free-will debate? (I deliberately avoided using "versus" between sovereignty and free will, which kinda tips my hand...) And let's keep in mind John the M's appeal for a bit less head and a bit more lived-life--how do you live out your understanding of God's sovereignty and your understanding of free will?

Words, words, words...

The post title is from Hamlet; early in the play, Hamlet is seen reading a book and, when asked what he's reading, responds with a sigh, "Words, words, words."
But words are vital; words are what makes us human. The primary "enemy" identified in the Psalms is not foreign kings or evil people, but dishonest lips, lying tongues and deceitful speech. So... in a Post Modern society, who should control the meaning of words and how should they do it?

Please turn in your Bibles to...

While affirming together that "all Scripture is inspired by God...," are there particular books or genres (types of writing) of Scripture that you think are particularly timely and pertinent for us in this time of rapid, discontinuous change, missional challenge and apostolic opportunity?

This question is not implying that some parts of Scripture are "better" than others, nor is it merely asking for our "favorite" parts. Instead, as we seek to follow Jesus in a complex and confusing situation, which parts of God's Word are especially bread for this journey? And how are they bread?

Please note the small tweak to our ground rules in the first comment on this post.

Patterns in the mosaic and the music

Here's an attempt to frame our current discussion. We want to try and stand back a bit from the individual pieces of the mosaic that we see up close and ask what larger patterns God may be bringing into view. We've already at least touched upon worship, unity, justice, and several others. As we strain to oberve the wider mosaic of God's work more broadly, do we think we're gaining any sense, if not of The Big Picture, at least of a bigger picture? And remmeber, we're not simply vieiwng a mosaic, we are part of a mosaic that God is assembling right before our eyes. It is undoubtably huge, more huge than any of us or even all of us could ever completely get minds and hearts and lives around, but perhaps we're seeing some patterns emerging.

Following a musical metaphor, are we hearing some themes... hearing some variations and inventions on some familiar themes... finding delight in what we used to think was "noise" but are coming to appreciate as music, not merely in a different key or style, but in a whole new genre? I'm attempting to build on the theme of "hearing the sound coming from the mountain" and asking if the sound may in fact be formed of several strands of sounds, all issuing from the Throne.

The Heart of Worship

William wrote: I don't think that the "worship" part of our services is as important as we have made it out to be. It is critically important to surrender to God and praise Him, but did not Abraham do that when he sacrificed his son? What is worship? What will it look like in the future with the post-modern generation?

You shall be my witnesses...

OK, OK--time to catch a quick breath, reshuffle the deck, and play a new hand.

I've noticed that in our conversations so far, the term 'witness' hasn't appeared, so I'd like to see if we can't adjust our trajectory a bit in that direction.

We are called to make disciples, and called to BE witnesses. The two are related, but I find the concept of 'witness' intriguing. In one sense, a witness doesn't 'do' anything; he or she is more of a pointer or a reporter. I don't mean to limit 'witness' to a courtroom definition... a 'witness' can function simply as a signpost for those who are looking for direction. The created order 'witnesses' to the Lord, but its witness is easily dismissed or overlooked, or mis-interpreted. In a similar fashion, Jesus on the cross was a witness to the world, and to the individuals in it. There is an interesting active-passive dimension to this: in one sense, Jesus doesn't 'do' anything, other than hang there and die, but at the same time, we understand that he accomplished everything, and the cross 'witnesses' to this reality. We're each in his way activists... and I'm not wanting to turn us into 'passivists'... but let's talk about the ways in which 'witness' might modify, shape, steer our conversations about building, making, demonstrating, discipling, getting it right, etc.

So: witnesses to Christ... to his resurrection... to the Kingdom.

Your turn to flip over a card.

God Makes All Things New

Things were getting just a bit cumbersome, so let's take a fresh start. I expect that we'll continue with many threads from the previous posts-and-comments, but, especially for newer members, it's a bit daunting to plow through 100+ comments just to catch up!

Let's pick up from a comment that John made. Paraphrasing, he reminded us that God is the one who makes/is making all things new. This Isaianic prophecy is reaffirmed throughout the NT (new commandment, new covenant, new creation, new community, new commission, just for starters), and is nearly the final comment in our Scripture--"Behold," says the one seated on the throne, "I am making everything new!" (Rev 21:5). This is what we've been wrestling with, the continuities and discontinuities between the "new" and the "old."

Let me suggest the Resurrection as an icon for us, as it provides an interesting "take" on the new and the old. In one sense, the Resurrection strongly reaffirms the "old"--against gnosticism in all its forms, the physical body of Jesus was raised to new life. God has neither abandoned our bodies, nor the creation in which those embodied persons live, move and have their beings. At the same time, the resurrection body is unlike anything we know. It is both continuous with the old, yet also discontinuous. It is not a "natural progression" from the old; we can't look at the old and then find our way automatically into the new... yet once we find ourselves in the new, it nevertheless has a familiar ring or feel to it. We feel "at home," even though we've never been there before!

As Joseph said, these conversations don't require much steering, and God help anyone who attempts to "manage" them! Gentlemen, and all ladies who care to join in, start your engines!