What a trip. I’ve got more photos posted on my Facebook account, if you’d care to check them out: Kenya – London

I purposely left my laptop at home and I have to say that was a wise move, though it was the longest I’ve ever gone without internet access in more than a decade.

We met amazing people, toured beautiful country, saw stunning wildlife, ate great food, and so much more.

I’ve have yet to fully process the experience . . . but wow!

Peace, dwight

Within the Christendom context the church played the dominant role in shaping the social, political and institutional life of a people.  So much so that political structures, education, and other institutions were seen almost like partners with the church in forming a Christendom vision.   In the Western context which is increasingly post-Christendom, the church is more and more marginalized with respect to public life.  The church no longer sets the agenda for government, education or commerce.  So I find myself wonder, if the church’s responsibility to form people in continuity with the narrative of the God as seen in Jesus Christ and testified to throughout scripture changes in anyway when the many of the partners that the church used to be able to rely on for forming Christian identity no longer look to the church, and in fact appear to be more and more antagonistic to the church.

What might be some of the implications for Christian formation in light of this shift?

BTW – The image of the upside down church is a 1997 sculpture by artist Dennis Oppenheim.  He titled it, “Device to Root out Evil.”  I don’t know if its still there but I first saw the piece installed at Harbour Green Park in Vancouver, BC.

Peace, dwight

For more than a decade we’ve been training women and men to serve God, neighbor and creation, offering degrees which prepare people to embody the Gospel in realms of pioneering/missional church, therapeutic/counseling and social advocacy/arts.

We have begun a campaign which, we hope, will enable fresh partnerships with individuals, organizations, local churches and denominations who share a vision for active participation with God’s dream for all of creation; and we fully expect to be called into transformation as we partner together in service.

Here’s a link to the IgniteMHGS campaign, and a link to my personal page.  This stage of our campaign involves seeking out prayer partners, financial partners, and what I’m especially interested in is exploring ways of partnering with people and organizations who are seeking faithful, playful, and contextual ways of embodying Good News for all. Let’s be in touch.

Peace, dwight

peace, dwight

I have only recently discovered Derek Sivers . . . I love the way this guy sees life.

Peace, dwight

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K5SycZjGhI

Regardless the weather I almost always pause for a few moments on the Pier 66 Skybridge which runs over Alaskan Way.  This has become a place of prayer for me.

My pattern of prayer begins leaning against the railing looking to the North.  From this vantage point I can see the beautiful red brick building that is the physical home to the learning community where I will spend my day teaching & learning.  And I hold our school in my heart and lift it up to God; this is a time of wondering, and imaging about our future.

Next I typically turn to the South.  Looking in this direction gives me the opportunity to hold my city in prayer.  With each passing day, I find myself loving Seattle even more than the day before.  I find myself wondering about what it is to pray and live for the common good of our city, state, and country.

It used to be that that was the end of my prayer.  But not long ago, I was engaged in a conversation about prayer with some young pastors, and as we talked together it became clear to me that there were two directions I hadn’t been paying attention to . . . so more recently I’ve begun to turn to the East and the West.

To the West is the gorgeous Puget Sound, linking to the Pacific Ocean and the rest of the world.  So turning to the West has been an intentional way for me to hold global concerns in prayer.

And finally I turn to the East; the direction from which I just came.  Looking East I’m looking back on my home, my family, and my family of origin.  I take some time to hold my son, and my life partner, and other friends and family as they come to mind.

I treasure these few moments at the beginning of my day.  A small pattern of prayer which, at least for this season, seems to be rooting me in narrative history, relationship, place, and future as I presence myself with our Creator and Redeemer.

Peace, dwight

the journey of a diamond

“Her arms held a million wrinkles and 100 million memories as well.

As we (my mother and I) entered the room where she sat, she didn’t stop talking. Jabbering incoherently, her emotions were in obvious distress. Her mind overtaken by an enemy — dementia. Though verbal communication seemed impossible to reach her, she still understood the deeper language of the heart.

Love.

And as we sat and then later walked with her, we touched. Her hands, her shoulder, her face and each time we did…. she grasped hold of us –tightly — and pressed our hand to her face. And smiled. I felt peace slowly inch its way upon her as her spirit began to settle.

I longed to reach her. For her to understand me. To let her know how special she was, that she was loved. Yet, each effort I made left me feeling like my words simply confused and frustrated.

Better not to talk.

Suddenly, I had an idea! I crouched down to her level and looked her square in the eye. She met my gaze as I began to sing a song that in years past we’d often sung together.

She smiled as I sang and by the second verse she began to hum along.

My voice cracked. I could barely sing.

“Jesus loves me….this I know….”

Though there was much she had forgotten. This, she couldn’t forget.

We finished the song (somewhat) and got her ready for bed. Her 92 year old body was tired as we changed her and helped her lay down in her bed. I was reminded of my youngest daughter. They seemed very similar somehow. Their spunk, their heart, their love — it was the same.

We tucked our little grandma into her bed. Her body small. Frail. Weak. Loved.

Wrapping her blanket snugly around her face, I kissed her on the cheek. Her face broke into a huge smile as she reached out her arms for more. More, more, more. She soaked up love like a dry, thirsty sponge.

Then turning out the lights in the room, we walked out the door. Well…our bodies did. Our hearts stayed beside her.

Goodnight precious Grandma. Sweet dreams. I love you.”

Thanks Ruth.

Peace, dwight

Welcome to day nine of the Tony Jones’, The Teaching of the Twelve, blog Tour.

Let me begin expressing my gratitude for the thoughtful engagement with the Didache not only by Tony Jones but also by the other bloggers who have engaged this classic work through Tony’s new work.  I am thrilled to see the way Tony has personally explored the Didache and now offers his engagement with this important text to the world.

Given that I am no Didache scholar I want to make couple of important, though straightforward observations in response to the following question.

“Does the Didache teach or advise anything that substantively differs from what was decided at the earliest ecumenical church councils.  (such as Nicaea)”

No doubt there are a number of ways a person could respond to this question, as for me I begin simply by making a genre observation.  The Didache or “The Teaching” is a different type of writing then a Creed; they are different genres.  Granted “genres” are rather loose sets of criteria for a category of literature and/or speech; nonetheless genres tend to have different functions so we would be wise to be careful that we’re not comparing apples with oranges.

Comparing the Didache to a Creed may be a little bit like comparing a sermon with systematic theology.  We can see they are related, but the goals, language and function within the life of the faith community are different.  Therefore I want to be a little bit cautious about drawing too firm a conclusion about substantive differences between the Didache and the early creeds (and for the sake of simplicity let’s focus on the Creed born of the First Nicaea Council).

Having said this I think it is not insignificant that the Didache – which predates our first council considerably – is a teaching which stresses communal life lived in the Way of Jesus.  The four movements of the Didache are very practical teachings on how to live and surprising little about what to believe.  The four movements as Tony outlines them are (see pages 7-8):

1. Training in the Way of Life (1:1-6:2)
2. The Rhythms of Community Life (6:3-11:2)
3. Visitors Welcome (11:3-15:4)
4. The End is Nigh (16:1-8)

While the Didache is a one of our earliest glimpses into the practical life of primitive Christians; a glimpse into how the people gathering together in Christ and seeking to live in the way of Jesus actually engaged culture, economics, community, and ritual etc. it is striking at how little doctrine it presents.  While just the opposite could be said of the Creed born of our First Church Council at Nicæa (325) . . . in the document out of Nicæa we have a fairly clear confession of beliefs with no practices or rituals.

This to me is the primary difference between the two documents.  One is concerned with how we should live, the other what we confess.  Part of me would like to jump to the conclusion that how we live should trump what we confess.  Personally I’m not convinced I can make that jump based on these two documents.  Confessions of belief tend to follow transformed lives.

Again the question posed to me asked, “Does the Didache teach or advise anything that substantively differs from what was decided at the earliest ecumenical church councils?”

I would propose that any substantive difference lies not in the claims per se, but in the types of discourse which the two documents engender.  Creeds tend to engender debate, binary agreement or disagreement, the choosing of sides, “I believe/I don’t believe.”  Such discourse is often abstracted from the “real world.”  By contrast the Didache seems to invite a discourse about exploring questions of embodiment, the nature and function of community, it raises questions about how we show live and follow Jesus now where we are.

BTW – I highly recommend you The Teaching of the Twelve to you.

Peace, dwight