All the senses are vital to relationship. Yet the eye is arguably the most easily deceived; slight of hand, smoke and mirrors create illusions that feel true. Vision can only take a person so far. Its interesting to me that
I find it odd how much I struggle – at times – to know how to bring the complexity of my self to this site and this online platform. I am the pastor of a fellowship of Christ-commons dubbed “quest“,
I have been appreciating some of the recent “leadership” literature emphasizing that leaders are not made nor born as much as they are situationally called into existence. I’ve been telling my community for years that the clearer the sense of
Though I wouldn’t define myself as “process” or “open” theologian – I also wont say that I’m not a process or open theologian – by faith I believe God and humans can have a real relationship. That God walks with
In the pomo world boundaries and such definitions are shot to heck;-). Nothing is seen as static, instead all is understood holistically and dynamically. When we start talking about a relational way of being and doing church or organic this,
Could heaven and hell be the same place? (this one is for Todd) For all of the talk of streets of gold, angels on clouds playing harps, and such – within the Christian tradition – Heaven is generally understood as
Here is an exciting essay by educator, Grant Wiggins. Entitled: “The Futility of Trying to Teach Everything of Importance.” As I read this article I could help but think of the implications for teaching, preaching and discipleship with the Christ-community.
As Christ-followers we say we trust the Spirit to guide us into all truth. Which we have collapsed into something we have come to label Orthodoxy… why is orthodoxy such a big deal? Is the Spirit untrustworthy? Unreliable? I wonder
Ever since I posted yesterday’s blog I’ve been wondering whether I should have. Lynette read it and asked me whether I had intended to make, even a subtle connection to the controversy of the last few months, about gay men
Michael Polanyi writes, “Since rules of rightness cannot account for failures, and reasons for doing something can only be given within the context of rules of rightness, it follows that there can be no reasons (in this sense) for a
Deborah Mashock is an active participant in our faith community, and a student at Mars Hill Graduate School in Bothell. She recently wrote a paper for one of her classes exploring Hosea 2:14-15 as an intimate look at the Divine/Human
I’m wrestling with “Incarnational living” and wondering about the relationship of syncretism & incarnation. Doesn’t it seem that to be incarnate is to enter in fully… to be present… even while holding imagination for “in yet not of” there may
One of my areas of interest has to do with the essence of relationship. What is a relationship? How… When… Who… Unto… Why… etc. So far I have feel like my relational imagination is being expanded by attending to Augustine’s
Let me start off by saying that I am a person in transition. I was raised in a fundamentalist dispensational post-Mennonite evangelical church, throughout college and seminary I shifted to a more reformed position, and now I am finding myself
Ok, I have to admit, I’m new to blogging and I find myself wrestling with the desire to sound smart and cool. I know… I know… Very mature, very “real.” 🙂 In fact as glanced over the few entries I’ve
Jesus preached the gospel but it wasn’t Jesus’ preaching that that made people take note. Jesus preformed the gospel – making the blind to see and the lame to walk but it wasn’t Jesus’ performance of the gospel that made
There is a lot of talk of moving beyond “deconstruction” to reconstruction. Of course it goes almost without saying that when the predominate tide shifts from deconstruction to construction or even reconstruction we will have moved to post-postmodernism. Because we
What does it mean to proclaim Christ? This fall I will be guiding/teaching a coarse for a college on public speaking in ministry – preaching. One of my personal challenges is I don’t preach in “that way” any more. Should
Ok, so I’m a church planter who is in danger of giving up on the idea of church planting. I’m not even sure I see much Biblical support for church planting. I see Christ sending people as bearers of the
I just picked up this collection of essays by Derrida, Milbank, Ward, Kearney and others. , “Questioning God” edited by Caputo, Dooley and Scanlon. Free Sample What does it mean to Forgive in a postmodern age? If forGIVEness is a
Ok so I just posted this on http://www.emergentvillage.com Why didn’t Jesus send out his disciples as synagogue-planters? Could it be because Jesus sent them out as people in relationship with the Divine, to bear witness to the Kin-dom of that
The other day I had a conversation with a woman who, though she may not have used these words, was challenging the notion of the church efforts to be fully present in a pomo/post-critical context. It doesn’t matter whether we
Van Gogh lifted the veil of our vision. He helped us to see dignity in the common person from coal miners to potato pickers. He lifted the veil of creation, and the common person from coal miners to potato pickers. He
“Depend upon it, Sir,when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight,it concentrates his mind wonderfully.” Samuel Johnson, Sept 19, 1777 Michael Jinkins begins his book, “The Church faces Death” with this quote from Samuel Johnson. If
failure by dwight j. friesen 2×4 skeleton Only partially dressed Weathered Rusted nailed Forsaken A castle never to be A dream awakened too soon? No moving vans No kids doing the “dance of the summer sprinkler” No humming lawnmower Or
Morning Poem by Mary Oliver Every morning the world is created. Under the orange sticks of the sun the heaped ashes of the night turn into leaves again and fasten themselves to the high branches– and the ponds appear like
I am grieving the loss of the patron saint of the neighborhood. Fred Rogers, known to most of us simply as “Mr. Rogers” died of stomach cancer yesterday. Raised in Canada I didn’t grow up watching Mr. Rogers, I grew
Comfy Chair by dwight j. friesen Afghan wrapped and curled up in a comfy chair She sits for hours in another world Laughing and weeping with her fictional friends Her heart breaks with theirs Her tea grows cold, in her
