J.R. Briggs
Attempting to behold the miracle long enough without falling asleep
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Archive for April, 2009
Morning Prayerwalk
For the new neighbors
And the ones who yell at each other at night
The car repair shop
And the roofs missing shinglesBorough Hall
And its leaders
Cracked sidewalks
The forgotten and untouched toys in the yardFor the troubled
The troublemakers
And the officers who deal with themThe seedy bar
And its curious owner
The mosque
And its visitorsThe abandoned lot overgrown by weeds
The old folks homeFor the single mom
The yell coming from the open window on the third floorThe recession ushering in the presence of vacant storefronts
The busted windowsFor the old man I just walked past
who possesses an overpowering smell of one too many drinks
For the mentally disabled
For the physically abused
For the emotionally disturbedThe broken screen door
The weeds
And the weed
Green shards of a Heineken
The neglected newspaper still wrapped in plasticThe back alleys
The steeples that point nowhere but up
The trash piles
And those who pick them upFor the hopeless
The helpless
For the invisible
And the visible but undesirable.For the renewal of all things.
All things.Amen.
From the archives: Jesus and Xenophobia
I was talking with someone about hospitality a few days ago. It reminded me of a post I wrote last summer on xenophobia. Thought it was worth posting again.
Steve Taylor: Chopping Down the Sunday Tree
Stumbled across this interesting post by Steve Taylor (aka The Emergent Kiwi).
I’d love your thoughts. What do you think about this?
_________
Chopping Down the Sunday Tree
Say your church is dying. You have good buildings and some community ministry, but Sunday service is dwindling. It consumes a lot of your energy, both from your pastoral leader and your volunteers – to run sound and play music.
Change proposal: chopping down the Sunday tree.
Keep meeting at 10:30 am Sunday. Keep the doors open. Keep the coffee fresh. Keep the muffins warm. But stop the sermons and stop the singing. Take all that energy and reclaim the time for mission. Read a creed. Dwell in Luke 10:1-12. Initiate some listening experiments. Share stories. Foray into the community for simple acts of service. Return to share stories. Re-read a creed. Re-dwell in Luke 10:1-12. Initiate some more listening experiments. Share stories. Foray into the community for further acts of service.
You get the idea.
If it fails, you were dying anyway.
If visitors do come, they are not meeting a shut door, nor are they finding a stressed group of people. Instead they are finding a warm community who like coffee and muffins. Who knows, they might just be attracted by a group of people taking mission and church and leadership seriously. In the meantime, you are reclaiming an existing resource – your time and your pastoral time – and you’re investing that in mission. And you are redefining your stretched life around mission and community.
Do this for 3 months and see what shoots begin to emerge. Who knows. Some shoots will need another prune. But some might be worth persevering with. Some might even need a new name’.
What made Jesus a great teacher?
I can think of seven reasons…
[1] Jesus’ teachings were authoritative and full of fresh ideas [Mt chs. 5-7; 13:54; Mark 1:27; Lk 4:32]
[2] They were saturated with object lessons [Mt 11:20-25; 12:13-17]
[3] He let the questions guide the learning opportunities [Mk 8:17-19, 27-30; 9:21, 23; 12:15-16]
[4] He understood – and effectively leveraged – the power of story, many of them with surprise endings [Mk 12;1; Luke 15; Mk 4:1-32]
[5] He taught for self discovery by putting the responsibility of learning into the hands of the learner. [Mark 8:27-30]
[6] He utilized conversational learning opportunities [Mk 8:27-30; 9:33-37; 12:15-17]
[7] He possessed a deep love and genuine care for his audience [Mt 9:36; 14:14; 15:32; Mk 10:21]
What else would you add to the list?
Guest blog: “What is the Good News?”
JR Woodward is hosting a series of guest bloggers on his blog from Easter until Pentecost on the topic of “What is the Good News?” He asked me to be a guest-blogger over on his site today.
I’d love to hear your feedback.
Personal reflections from our first public gathering
Many people have asked/emailed/called/texted, instant message’d/contact me on Twitter and Facebook the question, “So, how did your first large public gathering go with Renew this past Sunday?”
Here are a few of my thoughts:
It was encouraging. The thing that kept coming to my mind yesterday was just how normal and natural everything seemed. We wanted to pay attention to God and respond appropriately. I truly believe we did that. Our core launch team is fantastic. I loved seeing our team take ownership and step up and lead & serve via formal and informal ways – both up front and behind the scenes. I loved seeing new faces. I loved the fact that we loved each other well. I was less distracted and more present than I have ever been in a gathering I’ve been a part of. And it was fun. And I actually got to sit with my family!
I love the stories that emerged and the new connections that were made. As a launch team we’ve made a commitment to cultivate story-telling and story-listening in our public gatherings. This fleshes itself out in two ways. (1) Inviting someone to share their story from up front. (2) Marking out an extended period of time (10-15 minutes) in the middle of our gatherings to allow people to interact and connect with others and informally hear their stories. (We know not what to call it at the present moment other “intermission”). I loved seeing people connect. I loved hearing people’s stories. I loved meeting new people. People said that they thoroughly enjoyed that time to connect and meet others. It felt so relational.
We were ourselves. Since this wasn’t our “launch” I loved the fact that the pressure was off. We could just be us. A few people said, “This is great! I know this is the realization of your dream.” I quickly corrected them: pulling off a service (even this first one) is not my dream. My dream is much bigger than that: seeing God start a powerful Spirit-initiated, Spirit-evidenced movement of renewal in Lansdale and the region – and joining him in that movement. These gatherings are just a way to be a clear signpost that God is up to something new in our area. That is my dream. I think our gathering was a small, tangible expression that He’s up to something.
We weren’t striving to put on a show – and we didn’t. Since our gatherings are much more like pep rallies than they are actually getting out there and playing, we enjoyed that time to learn to live something true than to feel the need to say something new. I loved seeing people get up and move around. I loved seeing kids sit with their parents for the first portion of our gathering before they went and spent their time in Renew Kids. The gathering was refreshingly unsexy. It was a time to allow God to shape us as he pleased.
God was present. How do we know? Jesus was central to the gathering. The gospel was taught. Stories of brokenness and grace were communicated. Communion was full of depth, mystery and meaning. People were real. And emails, Facebook messages, phone calls and text messages from newcomers, skeptics and those unacquainted with God and church who were “surprised” that they connected with what we were doing and want to be more involved was evidence to us that something healthy is happening.
The mp3 of the teaching should be posted on the Renew site later this week. Stay tuned.
Our next gathering will be held on Sunday May 24, but there are plenty of opportunities – even more significant than our public gatherings - to be involved & connected to Renew. Things like:
House churches.
Future dates for doubt :: night
Lansdale Farmers Market and Community Garden opportunities.
Serving at Manna and volunteering at the Boys and Girls Club.
And other opportunities.Stay tuned to the Renew website for further opportunities for connections and involvement or feel free to contact us directly.
10 Books Every Christian Should Read
Recently I read a compelling post on Eugene Cho’s blog: My 10 absolutely essential books for Christians. I’ve been thinking a lot about it. While I normally am drawn to list authors who have left indelible marks on my life (C.S. Lewis, Eugene Peterson, Dallas Willard, Henri Nouwen, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Alan Hirsch, Phillip Yancey, Scot McKnight, etc) more than book titles, Eugene inspired me to take my own stab at it.
I have combed through my library – and my mind – and created my own list of books that I believe every Christian should read in their lifetime. (These ten titles – in fact all titles, fail to measure up to the centrality, the significance and the priority of reading, ruminating on and studing the Holy Scriptures). These books have been so significant in my own journey, not only have I read these books, I have re-read them several times over. I suggest you do the same.
Here’s my list in no particular order:
1. In the Name of Jesus (Henri Nouwen)
2. A Long Obedience in the Same Direction (Eugene Peterson)
3. The Divine Conspiracy (Dallas Willard)
4. The Cost of Discipleship (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
5. Celebration of Discipline (Richard Foster)
6. The Practice of the Presence of God (Brother Lawrence)
7. Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger (Ronald Sider)
8. Pilgrim’s Progress (John Bunyan)
9. Confessions (St Augustine)
10. Oh, the Places You’ll Go! (Dr. Suess)
What about you? What books you would add to this list – and why?
Our first Renew gathering
The Renew Community is holding its first public gathering this weekend and we’re pretty excited.
We’re not launch, but we are gathering.
If you’re interested in joining us, you might want to read this for context.
“You show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.”
Earlier I mentioned in a blog post that David C Cook Publishers asked me to submit an essay for a compilation book project called What We Want Grads to Know. The task was to answer the question: what is the one piece of advice you would want to pass on to every graduate from high school and/or college?
My essay was short and succinct:
“In high school an old man told me something I have never forgotten. He said, ‘Show me your friends and I will show you your future.’ I carry this thought around with me, even to this day. So I say to you: choose your friends wisely , for they will shape your thoughts, habits and values – and the way you view the world – more than you could ever realize at this very moment.”
What about you?
What is the one piece of advice you would want to pass along to graduates?
What do you know now that you wish you knew when you were in approaching graduation?
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