God is Green, huh.

I have been listening to the Mars Hill Bible Church, God is Green series. The series has been pretty interesting. A lot of it is stuff I have been trying to practice in my own life. The best part of the series came at the end, on July 29^th. The preeminent piece is all the practical information (in the form of a list of websites and books) on how to make simple life changes for a huge positive environmental impact. So, I thought would reproduce the list here below. You can download it directly from the Mars Hill Bible Church website here.

And now for the list:

1. energystar.gov

2. consumersenergy.com [green generation program]

3. dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offmailinglist

4. Habitat for Humanity ReStore [5701 S. Division] – habitat.org/env/restores.aspx

5. localharvest.com

6. eco-cell.org

7. thegreenoffice.com

8. rateitgreen.com

9. ecologicalmail.org

10. treehugger.com

11. grist.org

12. lime.com

13. eartheasy.com [cleaning supplies]

14. earth911.org

15. coopamerica.org

16. crsfairtrade.org

17. javaforjustice.com

18. ecocycle.org

19. gdiapers.com

20. restoringeden.org/about

21. creationcsp.org

22. creationcare.org

23. sustainablestyle.org

24. wmsbf.org

25. clothingmatters.net

26. floresta.org

Books:

• For the Beauty of the Earth by Steven Bouma Prediger

• Saving God’s Green Earth: Rediscovering the Church’s Responsibility to Environmental Stewardship by Tri Robinson

• Serve God, Save the Planet by J. Matthew Sleeth, MD

• Living the Good Life on God’s Good Earth by contributing authors, edited by David Koetje

How (Not) to speak of Pete Rollins

We spent the week with Pete Rollins, author of “How (Not) To Speak of God“, and a founder of ikon. What can I say except it was fun. Pete is a great guy and if you ever get the chance to hang out with him, do it. I say it is even better than reading his  book.

I thought that was a metaphore

A friend sent me this and I just couldn’t resist sharing.

Church Beer!

I don’t know why I haven’t posted on this before, but our church, or rather one of the communities that I am a part of, is brewing it’s own beer. Yep, it’s true, in the ancient tradition of Christianity, mostly monks, and Martin Luther, who, at one point in his life was a monk, we are brewing beer as a community. This generally gets a lot of responses when we tell people, especially since a lot of us come out of an evangelical background. And the word travels fast. In fact, I was at a conference recently and was approached by a Welsh guy, one of the speakers, and his first question was “You’re from Arizona right? You’re the guy with the church that brews beer?” -And he flashed a big smile. We became friends quickly and planned a pilgrimage to Ireland.

Okay, so some questions on this:

Why? Lots of reasons. We can talk about those in the comments section if you’d like. For the most part it is to create something as a community. And to offer a great product to others.

What? Well right now we are experimenting with various brews, learning the process and trying to settle on an initial recipe that we like.

What’s it called? We’re not sure yet. We are still thinking of names, do you have any ideas for us?

Will it be made available to the public? We hope so, eventually. We would like to offer it as gift, as hospitality, to the world. And we would love for a portion of the proceeds to go into our works of Social Justice.

An interesting link: This is what I got when I googled church beer.

These sites are especially interesting: www.churchbrew.com, www.beerchurch.com, www.thechurchofbeer.com

Cheers!

ikon website

f’n brilliant, I think. Have you seen Ikon’s website lately, the one that is modeled after wikipedia? It really says something, when a community allows their web-presence to be edited by the masses. But should we expect anything less from this group of createalogians. (I made that word up, let me know if you like it.) It is from this group that we get the fantastic book How Not to Speak of God.

update on the hole-ie bible

Of Course I am referring to the Western Bible, which apparently has sold quite a few copies in the short time that it has been out.  This is the bible that has literally cut out the harder parts of scripture, things like really loving your neighbor, living in simplicity, seeking true justice, without prejudice, for all people. So why, why would they do that? Because it’s funny! And perhaps it is the slap in the face a lot of us need.

see also this post…for more on this.  Oh and the bible is only avainalble in Dutch, so far.

the soul friend/ Celtic Spirituality

I have been reading Anam Cara by John O’ Donohue these days. Actually I have been taking a class on Celtic Spirituality this semester and this book was a great surprise of a reading assignment. The class has actually been a good journey. If you ever find yourself at the University of Arizona wondering about Celtic Spirituality, I suggest Dr. Peter Foley’s class.

So, I just wanted to share a few quotes from the book Anam Cara with you. These are in no particular order, I hope they enrich you as they have me.

“To be holy is to be natural, to befriend the worlds that come together in you.”

“Friendship is a creative and subversive force. It claims that intimacy is the secret law of life and universe.”

“Behind the facade of image and distraction, each person is an artist in this primal and inescapable sense. Each one of us is doomed and privileged to be an inner artist who carries and shapes a unique world.”

“Love is our deepest nature, and consciously or unconsciously, each of us searches for love. We often choose such false ways to satisfy this deep hunger. An excessive concentration on work, achievements, or spiritual quest can actually lead us away from the presence of love. “

” The blade of nothingness cuts deeply. Others want to love, to give themselves, but they have no energy. They carry around in their hearts the corpses of past relationships and are addicted to hurt as confirmation of identity.”

“Real friendship or love is not manufactured or achieved by an act of will or intention. Friendship is always an act of recognition.”

“You can never be fully visually present to yourself…Your Anam Cara [Gaelic for Soul Friend] is the truest mirror to reflect your soul.”

“The Celts had an intuitive spirituality informed by mindful and reverant attention to landscape.”

“One of the tasks of true friendship is to listen compassionately and creatively to the hidden silence.”

if it don’t fit- CUT IT OUT!

Someone actually did it. They took the steps and cut all the ish out of the Bible that they didn’t want in there. And in the best interest of capitalism it is available to the public. Introducing the Western Bible, released by the Western Bible Foundation in the Netherlands.

I found this on Pete Rollins blog. As you can imagine this “translation” is causing quite a stir. I thought it is just funny that someone has actually done it. I mean how many preachers have joked saying something like. “Well if you don’t like that part of the bible just cut it out. ” And someone, in this case the Western Bible Foundation in the Netherlands, said “okay, good idea”.

So what did they cut out? They cut out difficult parts surrounding economic justice, possessions and money, ha of course. Their reasoning is along the lines of well, no one actually takes those things seriously, so let’s just take them out. And you know, when it comes to the church in the west, I would have to say they’re right. We don’t take those things seriously, if we did, it would certainly stand out. I know that a lot of people who call themselves Christian are going to be really upset by this bible. The fact is though, many of them have been cutting out those same passages with their lives. Cutting paper is one thing, cutting people is another. Before we judge let us judge our selves and ask if this is only a manifestation of the gospel we have been proclaiming with our lives for years.

Please read Pete’s post here.

peace.

Emergent conversation- a family matter

It is for the famous Smith family of the Calvary Chapel movement. A Friend recently sent me this LA times article. It is well worth a read. I think it paints a good picture of the chasms that need be crossed on both sides of the conversation as well as a solution, or rather an approach, that of love, love like we would have for a family member.

enjoy.

Update, New poems and some emerging/ent thoughts

Update, New poems and some emrging/ent thoughts

 

Wow, so much had been going on lately that I am really deprived of knowing where to start. So for starters, I am enrolled once again in an institute of higher education pursuing a degree in creative writing. As you can tell I need all the help I can get. This, in large part is the reason for the undue neglect to this blog.

 

I am also focused on a new gig, professionally. I was informed that the religious institution of which I have served on the global outreach team for the past six years is allowing me support, to work with a group of friends in the transition/ emergence of another faith community. For those readers who know me well, know what a privilege and relief this is. Not that my previous gig was bad, but it was pulling me into a black hole other than that magnificence to which I am otherwise gravitating toward. This all came about, in large part because of a miracle wrought by my friend Dave Fleming, but of course.

 

I am still overseeing the Living Room and that is as exciting as it ever was. Especially now that we have some momentum on a community development project that has been a heartfelt passion of ours for some time.

 

I have just posted a new poem and thought you ought to be the first to know, you can find it here.

 

 

Now some thoughts:

I was talking with a friend recently who is in the employ of a religious establishment of the rather contemporary evangelical sort. We have been dialoguing for some time, practicing the art of dipping our toes into the emergent conversation. That’s a mouthful right there I know. Regardless, my friend recently asked me to lunch for conversation, after having recently read a book that as Doctor Phil might say, dropped a hornet in his hanky. The book shook a lot of paradigms for my friend but was only really an entry point into the conversation.

 

I figured we were on safe ground so I started in with ideas, a thousand colorful what ifs. After about an hour my friend looking particularly bewilder, looked at me and said something like whoa, you are pulling bricks out left and right. He was of course referring to the building blocks of evangelical Christianity, of which many are made from the mud of a modern worldview rather than the heritage of faith Christianity owes itself to. I apologized, backed up and offered some comfort in the form of easy illustration.

 

I realized in that moment that I better take a dose of my own medicine. I have always said that it is impossible to get someone to leap from one side of the Grand Canyon to the other in a single bound. No, if we are to get to the other side without dying, or in this case shipwrecking our faith, we need to take the slow steady journey down (deconstruction) one side and up (emergence) the other. So a word to my emergent friends out there, lets help people take the slow and sometimes painful journey, often holding their hand and not push people off cliffs.

 

Good night and have fun….

I am a Guinness! Was there ever a doubt?

You Are Guinness

You know beer well, and you’ll only drink the best beers in the world. Watered down beers disgust you, as do the people who drink them. When you drink, you tend to become a bit of a know it all – especially about subjects you don’t know well. But your friends tolerate your drunken ways, because you introduce them to the best beers around.

What’s Your Beer Personality?

I am thinking that this is the most important personality profile that I have come across to date. Only a beer categorization can describe the real you!

GOD RID ME OF GOD

Pete Rollins posted a bit of an article on his blog back in April titled God Rid me of God. If you haven’t yet read it, it is in my opinion worth a read. The bit is a very honest, and integral musing on what it means to pursue a genuine faith. You can read the post here.

My favorite line from the article goes like this… “Some mystics would even say that to presume to speak of God at all is heresy. Forget using words to describe God, use them instead to describe your yearning for God.” 

ah, enjoy.

Brian McLaren at Mars Hill Bible Church

Yes folk, it’s a little like having the Christmas and Thanksgiving holidays all at once! I am of course referring Brian McLaren speaking at Mars Hill Bible Church recently. Just as Christmas and Thanksgiving are my two favorite holidays, when it comes to spirituality, Christianity and the emerging church, Brian and Mars Hill are up at the top for me.

Brian suggests that the picture on the box doesn’t match the puzzle pieces we have. That is when it comes to the predominant christian worldview (the picture on the box), versus what we actually discover in sacred scripture (the puzzle pieces). You can download the talk from the mars hill website here.

aREA 215

Hey check out the Area 215 Blog, were blogging again, at long last. It’s about time guys!

Worn out by the hype

It is so easy to say that what really matters is that we are. That is to say, that we are human, we are created, we are children, we are a reflection of God’s beauty and that is enough. It is quite another thing to really be satisfied in knowing that I am of great value intrinsically because God made me and that I need not do or say anything profound to be worthwhile.

I confess that sometimes I get so caught up in, and worn out by the hype of the poop (er I mean pop, er do I), culture that inevitably finds ways of creeping into Christendom. Perhaps you could say that it doesn’t have to creep in because most of the time we bring it in with us. I forget that by just existing, I am joining with every other created thing declaring the beauty, and majestic creativity of God. Sometimes I feel like I am wasting God’s time, and yours by not doing or saying anything extraordinary.

In these moments I begin to gage my worth by what I have accomplished, what my ministry has accomplished, what we have given voice to. And usually, for me it’s never enough and I waste a couple days on a good inner sulk fest. That is kinda where I have been lately. Then today a friend of mine, a fellow laborer in the urban landscape, sent me an email connected to a devotion written by Shane Claiborne. It was just the kick in the ear I needed to refocus. So I would like to share it with you all. You can download it here. And if you haven’t read Shane’s Book “The Irresistible Revolution” yet, hope on, it’s a good ride.