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The Encounter
It had been a while and the loneliness had been hard for Teardrop, sitting on the edge gathered at the precipice, unable to move, unable to jump, unable to fall. The compassion was there in response what was seen and encountered on the street, but the compassion wasn’t enough to make Teardrop jump, or fall. The immediate response stopped, motivated but without momentum, but on turning her head, she saw beyond the begging cup and scrawny dog, and Teardrop joined by another, hung briefly to the cheek and fell softly to the ground.
Integration and blogging
In my own spiritual journey I have always strived for a non dualistic approach and to seek g-d integrated into the whole of my life/being. In many ways blogging questions was part of this process. Recently I have been reflecting on my lack of blogging and journey. Yes I have been busy and yes I still have questions but I am not sure if I am bothered about answers any more. For years I have used the saying ” be still and still moving” and perhaps being less bothered about answers it is finally beginning to become more real. As an activist even question if the lack of blogging or answers means I am loosing something. As I prepare for Greenbelt I am usually excited about the speakers and this year the line up would send me into hyper activism cramming in sessions but actually I want to drink tea and chat. A hermit talked about hearing from yourself and blogging helped me work out what was worth hearing but maybe I should have listened to some of the other stuff more. Not sure where this is going other than to say blogging may become more sporadic or even cease. On the other hand…..
LICC talks
You can find the LICC talks from 23rd June here
Questioning the place of ritual/tradition in mission
Had a moment to post something. Thinking about the role of ritual in mission (picking up on post on happy midis and commitment). There is an issue we have discussing with the Yp about the purposed dominance in ritual (wether formal tradtional or reasonably new) in how it when they are involved others presuppose that they are committed to the concept behind it. This is particularly true for those taking place in a chuchbuilding. There is a way in which it inhibits thier journey to explore and exeperience g-d through engaging with it because of the meaning others prescribe to their participation.
This problematic partially because of their approach to committment but also as it demonstrates the imbalance of the culture tradition bible approach and how even when we are sensative about how to engage with tradition there is an overweighing pull that for some gets in the way of encountering g-d.
Calling the community
StreetSpace working with Chard Town council are inviting local community groups and charities to come and be part of a fun day to celebrate the completion of the work on the Skate park and surrounding area on July 3rd 2010. The whole area has changed with the new lights, skate park, cycle path and redevelopment, and has a more open and community green feel. The fun day will build on this and is hoping local groups will come forward and use the opportunity to fundraise for their cause and contribute to making the day work.
Local groups and charities are invited to attend the day and have a stall in the tradition of the summer fete. This could be a smoothie or ice cream stand, tombola, dunk the mayor, bash a rat, bric a brac, plant sale etc. Proceeds will go to the local group and StreetSpace Youth Project. If any local groups want to attend the day there is no charge but they must provide their own stands, equipment etc and book a place in advance by emailing admin@streetspace.org.uk or ringing Richard on 07830197160
Richard Passmore says “after all the hard work it is time to celebrate, and we hope as well as all the competitions and official opening, the day will have real summer fete feel. I hope local groups take the chance to raise money for their good causes whether that is a recognised charity, carnival club, local football team or whatever, the more the merrier ”
The day will run from 11am – 3.00pm and the Skate and Bike Park will be opened by The High Sheriff Mrs Patricia Hunt JP. There will also be sports and games events in the Multi use Games Area, Skate and Bike Competitions, a Bar-be-que and a whole host of activities for the whole family .
The nature of commitment and mission
To think about mission without considering the changing nature of commitment in post modernity would be naive and for some time the changing nature of commitment has been buzzing around my head. what does it mean to commit or be committed to Christ? Is it that the old has gone and the new means we are instantly changed. Pete talks about denying the resurrection every time we walk past a homeless person or fail to to feed the hungry as part of his insurrection tour. I have been exploring the notion of commitment with a few young people (happy midi narrative) and others and the more I discuss it the more I am taken with idea that the process needs rethinking. If we are on a journey then maybe as Tuffty says it is about finding some values and committing to try and work to what these mean for you. I think he was hinting that it doesn’t start with a statement but is a life long process.
Often we see our role as helping young people learn values, but in that process our purposed dominance so easiliy comes to the fore and in doing we either either undermine the values we are seeking to communicate or we undervalue the depth of values by reducing them to words. Perhaps our role is recognise the lack of values and real commitment in our own lives and as we journey with young people recognise that we will encounter situations and circumstances where values can be encountered. Because when we pass the hungry with a young person and choose not to deny the resurrection and meet with that person, we encounter christ. Likewise when we walk past – will we have the humanity to discuss with the young person our disbelief in the resurrection.
The implication for mission is on the one hand huge – as if the nature of commitment has shifted we need to shift how we do evangelism. But if you are into emerging missional thinking the implication is to ensure you are as consistent in the going to the new place that you may set out with and continue this open journey with the young people to reframe and rediscover the resurrection in every encounter, and see today that Christ is doing a new thing.
Mission without Christ?
Rob has picked up on an article by Stephen Bevans I read while ago and have been meaning to blog.
The article gives a good backdrop to the pressure that we have to move Flow from a pneumatology to christology. To quote a line form the paper “Mission in obedience to the transcending immanence of God’s Spirit can avoid the danger of what William R. Burrows calls the over-objectification of the Christ-event, that is, preaching the gospel as if one controlled its message, or as if that message could be exhaustively expressed in objective, rational categories.”
I have always found this to be a difficult issue to address and ask myself how much of the desire to introduce Christ stems from my own conditioning rather than following the presence of christ that is in Flow and present through the trinity. Perhaps I am beginning to think the unthinkable as Bevans suggests below in his conclusion
“To think deeply about the Holy Spirit,” writes John V. Taylor, is a bewildering, tearing exercise, for whatever he touches he turns inside out” (Taylor 1972: 179). The Spirit is the Spirit as God turned inside out; the Spirit given to Jesus turned him inside out and opened him up to the vision of God’s reign among women and men; the Spirit lavished through Jesus turns his disciples inside out as they include unthinkable people and go to unthinkable places. Thinking missiologically about the Holy Spirit can turn the church inside out, and perhaps make it more responsive to where God is really leading it in today’s world.
Balance
In mission terms we often talk about the missionary imagination happening in terms of a balance between a culture, tradition and bible triangle. Often people talk of using tradition and ritual as a place to root discipleship or as a resource for creativity. With the emerging post christendom context and the gravitation pull of tradition, I think we need to explore the balance in a new way and give it a different sort of prominence in the mission task.
In church on the edge, the tradition balance comes not from a replication of ritual but using traditional language a resource to locate the work in a christian tradition. As we talk about Flow and often when reworking bible passages talk about Jesus as a sufi or wise man and it would be easy to completely miss the christian underpinning. However using words like church connects with the echo of the memory that gen y still hold, or gives an opportunity to locate the project in the christian story but also importantly enables us to balance out the gravitation pulls that can come with the usual way of approaching the triangle. Then as communities of faith become more important ritual can be revisited but in a way that does without the purposed dominance that many people ascribe them, and rather genuinely allows for a reciprocal re-working that values the culture, tradition, bible balance.
Streetspace gathering
We hope that the first Streetspace gathering will be alongside the shalom conference to find out more and book a place go HERE