ex libris

I've been posting a lot of quotes lately, and that's probably not bound to change anytime soon. So instead of having a different title for each "quoting-post" I'll just be using the title "ex libris" each time I share something I've been reading, re-reading, or just thinking about from an author.

Here's the latest.

Paul... considered the gospel to be a transcultural message of repentant faith in Christ designed neither to bind people to a form of culture alien to their own, nor to eradicate the distinctive features of their own culture.... Just as the gospel was to set free an infinite variety of individuals, developing their distinctive gifts and kinds of beauty rather than stamping them into a mold of conformity, so it was to come to whole cultures, with their dance patterns of folkways and institutions, and to lift these to the highest level of individual expression, erasing or cleansing only those with idolatrous implications. Thus the gospel is free to become encultured- to wear many forms of cultural expression, with perfect freedom to change these expressions like clothing when the need arises- only when it has been disencultured.

Paradoxically enough, it appears that when the church begins to draw up codes and taboos which separate it from the world, it is most worldly, most in conformity with the world's understanding of holiness and spirituality.

At its worst, [this] destroys the church's life. At best, it freezes the form of the church and produces a sanctified out-of-dateness which the world can easily learn to ignore.

- Taken from, Dynamics of Spiritual Renewal by Richard F. Lovelace, 188-89, 190, 197.

week 35

Video and pics this week!

new semester

Last week was the first night of class for the new semester at GTC. I'm still getting used to the different flow of the year and it's a bit weird having a new semester start in the middle of July. It'll also be very strange to have the school year end in December instead of May.

Anyway, this semester I'm teaching a course on the Christian Life. More specifically we're dealing with spiritual growth and development. We've got about 14 students coming along with about 8 taking it for credit. There's a good mix of different people and we've had some interesting discussions so far. It looks like we should have a pretty good semester.

some great shirts

Sometimes ya just gotta represent.

foolishness to the greeks

I recently finished reading Foolishness to the Greeks by Lesslie Newbigin. I've really come to appreciate Newbigin's work over the past few years. Reading him is like a bit like sparring with a patient boxer. Newbigin tends to build his case slowly and steadily throughout his books, much like a pugilist delivering body blows to wear down his opponent. In the final round Newbigin winds up and drives home machine gun like applications that are honest and devastating in their assessment and critique, closing with a knockout punch final paragraph.

Here's his conclusion from this work:

The event of the resurrection, the empty tomb, and the risen Lord breaks every mold that would imprison God in the rationalism of a fallen world. But it is the starting point for a new kind of rationality, for the possibility of living hopefully in a world without hope, for the perpetual praise of God who not only creates order out of chaos but also breaks through fixed orders to create ever-new situations of surprise and joy.

The church's witness among the nations is at heart the overflow of a gift. The boldness and the expectancy are marks of those who have been surprised by joy and know that there are still surprises to come, because God is great.

If you want to feel the full knockout effect of that statement you'll have to read the whole book and get the body blows first. Not an easy read but well worth it.

week 34

Just a couple of pics this week. Brooke has some funny ones up over on her blog.

office visit

This post is for the benefit of those of you living outside of Auckland who are interested in seeing what the office of the Central Auckland Church Plant looks like. I've been meaning to get this video put together and up for awhile but haven't had the time. I'm still learning to use the iMovie software as well so please forgive some of the technical issues (my camera work isn't that great either so count this as a double apology).

This office space is a very tangible answer to many prayers. We have been praying (and asking others to pray) for the last two years that I'd be able to get some office space near the intersection of Queen street and K'Road. The office is less than a block away from that intersection! It's also about 20 times the space I imagined we'd find for a much lower price than I thought we'd have to pay!

It's been great getting settled in to the office. There's still work to be done and some pictures to be hung, but I'm pretty happy with how it's all come together so far. It's been very helpful to have a "base of operation" to work from and it gives us a bit more of a visible presence in the community. Anyway, the video isn't that entertaining but hopefully it'll help those of you who're interested get a picture of where I spend my days. Enjoy.

week 33

week 32

We're in the midst of a busy week. This week is the General Assembly of the Grace Presbyterian Church of New Zealand (our denomination). For those of you that aren't familiar with presbyterianism that basically means I spent 12 hours today in a long meeting. A good, important meeting, but not a lot of new pictures of the little girl because of it. In the picture with Sophia is Mark Smith, pastor of the GPCNZ church in Dunedin.

so... what do you do?

I've been meaning to write this post for some time now and am finally getting around to it. Since being in Auckland there's been one question that keeps haunting me, "What do you do?" When people hear our accents it's quite obvious that we're not from around here and one of the first questions they naturally ask is, "Why are you guys here?" or, "What do you do?" This is generally a normal, ordinary, safe question to ask someone. However, when I tell people the truth it's usually a conversation stopper.

"So what do you do?"

"Well, I'm basically a pastor."

"Oh... uh... that's um... interesting."

Now, I actually understand and appreciate people's hesitation when hearing my response. In all honesty I'm usually a bit hesitant myself towards the type of people who eagerly introduce themselves as pastors (which is why I usually don't do it very eagerly). Whether it's a fair stereotype or not the fact is that many people in Western cultures assume that "pastors" are different than normal people. Pastors are stern, pastors are super-spiritual, pastors are hypercritical, pastors tell people what to do, pastors are sappy and unthinking, pastors are judgmental, pastors are do-gooders, pastors are out of touch with reality, pastors are fanatical moral zealots, pastors are just... different. There are tons of different thoughts that people have about pastors that basically lump them into the category of "other" which makes people, particularly non-church people, reluctant to have a normal conversation with them. In all fairness there are a lot of pastors out there who lend credibility to these different stereotypes. Anyway, take these normal hesitations and place them in an extremely post-Christian society that is naturally skeptical (to say the least) towards Evangelicals and the result is that it's been a bit hard to get to know people when their first question to you is, "What do you do?".

I've tried to think of other things to call myself to remove the initial suspicions that people have. Unfortunately, the only other things I've come up with could be seen as misleading or sound even more weird (and cultish) than "pastor." So, part of my mission is simply to live out my faith transparently and authentically before those I meet in hopes that I might be able to break some of the stereotypes and dispel the suspicions that many have about people in my role.

On the flip-side, there have been a few humorous conversations stemming from what Brooke and I have come to call "The Question." There's an Italian cafe owner down the road who asked "The Question" and upon hearing the answer assumed I was a Catholic priest. I assured him I was not. On another day I was talking briefly with a guy who works in the office next to mine and he asked "The Question" but before I could answer he told me that he had "heard a couple different things." When I asked what he heard I did (slightly astonished he'd heard anything) he informed me that someone told him I was a Private Investigator!!! I have no idea wher that came from. Finally, while out for a walk with Brooke and Sophia yesterday we stopped at a local pub to get a coffee before heading home. While there we struck up a conversation with the guy working behind the bar. Inevitably, he asked "The Question" and here's how our conversation went:

"So what do you do?"

"Well, I'm basically a pastor."

"Hunh, really?"

"Yeah, really."

"Oh, well... you look like you're probably one of those cool pastors who smokes weed with the teens."

"Uh... ?"

I assured him I didn't smoke weed with the kids and Brooke chimed in to let him know I stopped smoking weed a long time ago. I'm still trying to figure out if he was complimenting me or not?

week 31

It seems like I've been a bit of a blog slacker again. I hope to get back to it soon, though I don't know if there's anyone still checking this blog for anything but Sophia updates. :-)

Anyway, I received a complaint a little while back that I hadn't put up any new videos of Sophia in awhile. To make up for it this one has two parts.

Have I mentioned that my daughter is adorable?

(And yes, I realized too late that there's an unnecessary apostrophe in "Grandmas.")