Quote of the Day

Warren Buffett, the third-richest man in the world (he's worth $52 billion), has criticised the US tax system for allowing him to pay a lower rate than his secretary and his cleaner. Speaking at a $4,600-a-seat fundraiser for Hillary Clinton, Buffett said:

“The 400 of us [here] pay a lower part of our income in taxes than our receptionists do, or our cleaning ladies, for that matter. If you’re in the luckiest 1 per cent of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99 per cent” ...

Shane Claiborne/Rich Mullins

As I mentioned in the previous post, Shane Claiborne was here a couple of weeks ago speaking. He shared an awesome quote from Rich Mullins that stopped me in my tracks. I found that quote in an interview that Shane did with Relevant magazine a while back and thought it was worth sharing with the rest of you.

A lot of what we believe about money and its hold on our lives comes from the story of the rich young ruler. What are your thoughts on that story?

I think that is one of the stories that we’ve kind of lost. Rich Mullins—I often talk about him when I talk on that parable—showed up in chapel and said, “You guys are all into that born-again thing, and that’s awesome; we’ve got to be born again. You know Jesus said that to Nicodemus. But if you tell me that I got to be born again, I can tell you that you’ve got to sell everything you have and give it to the poor, because Jesus said that to one guy, too.” I love that. And then he said, “But I guess that’s why God invented highlighters, so we can we highlight the verses that we like and ignore the other ones.”

The interview in its entirety can be found here: http://www.relevantmagazine.com/beta/issue_26_claiborne.php

It's well worth the read.

Fire on Potter Street: What happened, how you can help

Shane Claiborne is the founder and member of The Simple Way Community in Philadelphia and the author of The Irresistable Revolution. (If you haven't read it, run out and get it. It's an amazing and important book. It can change your life. Seriously.) On June 22, there was a devastating fire that destroyed the community and many families homes and belongings on Potter Street as well as many of the ministries that The Simple Way operates. Please read the details of the fire below (as posted on their site) and ways you can help. Please pray for these folks. They're doing important work for the Kingdom and are the hands and feet of Jesus to a lot of beautiful and needful people in that area.

The picture is of me and Shane (yes, I'm standing up!) when he was here a couple of weeks ago.

Updates, photos, video, and information about the community and how to help can be found at http://www.thesimpleway.org/

6/20/07 11:25PM (UPDATED)
This morning, a 7-alarm fire consumed an abandoned warehouse in our Kensington neighborhood in Philadelphia. The Simple Way Community Center at 3200 Potter Street was destroyed as well as at least eight of our neighbors’ homes. Over 100 people were evacuated from their homes, and 400 families are currently without power. Despite this tragedy, we are incredibly thankful to share that all of our community members and every one of our neighbors is safely out of harm’s way.

This fire will forever change the fabric of our community. Eight families are currently homeless, and in many cases have lost their vehicles as well as their homes. One of our neighbors, the Mahaias Family, lost their three cars as well as the equipment one family member uses for her massage therapy business. Teenager Brian Mahaias is devastated not because he has lost his belongings, but because he fears that this fire will force him to move away from this neighborhood that is his family as well as his home.

The Simple Way has lost a community center that was home to our Yes! And… afterschool program, community arts center, and Cottage Printworks t-shirt micro-business as well as to two of our community members. Community members Shane Claiborne and Jesce Walz have lost all of their belongings, Yes!And…’s after school studio and library were ruined, and community member Justin Donner’s Cottage Printworks equipment and t-shirts were destroyed.

We are thankful that we are able to help each other during this time of need, and we will continue to keep your informed about today’s events.

We have established funds to support the families who have lost their homes, the Yes! And… afterschool program, and the Simple Way community.

These funds have been established through a partner organization, EAPE. Tax-deductible donations can be made at http://tonycampolo.org/simpleway_donation.php. Please make sure to designate “TSW-Kensington Families Fund” or “TSW-Rebuilding Fund”.

-The Simple Way Community

Love your Enemies

Jesus said, "Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account." Matthew 5.11

Jesus said, "You have learnt how it was said to our ancestors: 'You must not kill; and anyone does kill he must answer for it before the court.' But I say this to you: anyone who is angry with his brother will answer for it before the court." Mt. 5.21-22

Jesus said, "You have learnt how it was said: 'Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.' But I say to you, Offer the wicked man no resistance. If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; if a man takes you to law and would have your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone orders you to go one mile, go two miles with him." Mt. 5.38-41

Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy; But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those whose persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Mt. 5.43-46

Jesus said, "You will be hated by all men on account of my name; but the man who stands firm to the end will be saved. If they persecute you in one town, take refuge in the next; and if they persecute you in that, take refuge in another." Mt. 10.22-23

Jesus said, "No intimidation! No extortion! Be content with your pay." Lk 3.14

Jesus said, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who treat you badly." Lk. 6.27-28

Jesus said, "Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate. Do not judge, and you will not be judge yourselves; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned yourselves; grant pardon, and you will be pardoned." Lk 6.27

Jesus said, "What is written in the law? What do you read there? He replied, "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." "You have answered right," said Jesus "do this and life is yours." Lk 10.26-28

Jesus said, "This is my commandment: love one another, as I have loved you." Jn. 14.22

Jesus said, "What I command you is to love one another." Jn. 14.27

Jesus said, "If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too; if they kept my word, they will keep yours as well. But it will be on my account that they will do all this, because they do not know the one who sent me." Jn. 15.20-21

Jesus said, "I have told you all this so that you may find peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but be brave: I have conquered the world." Jn. 16.33

Being Robust

Scot McKnight is the Karl A. Olsson Professor in Religious Studies at North Park University. The author of more than ten books and numerous articles and chapters in multi-authored works, McKnight specializes in historical Jesus studies as well as the Gospels and the New Testament. As an authority in Jesus studies, McKnight has been frequently consulted by Fox News, WGN, US News & World Report, Newsweek, TIME, as well as newspapers throughout the United States. [1] McKnight is also an advocate of the New Perspective on Paul.

Is Your Gospel Robust?


Scot McKnight on why our gospel is right, but not right
enough.


A few weeks ago Scot McKnight shared how the gospel we preach is having an adverse impact on the church. Last week at the Spiritual Formation Forum he spoke in greater detail about this problem. He called the standard evangelical gospel, outlined below, “right, but not right enough.”

Essentially, we’ve watered down the good news in a way that has marginalized the church in God’s plan of redemption.


This fact was driven home recently by a friend of mine who teaches at a Christian college. He said a hand in the class went up in the middle of his lecture about the church and culture. The student, in all sincerity, asked, “Do we really need the church?” My friend was struck by the question, and by the fact that the classroom was filled with future church leaders. Something is amiss when even Christian leaders are questioning the necessity of the church. That something, according to McKnight, is the gospel we’ve been preaching.


Scot McKnight summarized the “Standard Gospel Presentation” this way:


God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.Your problem is that you are sinful; God can’t admit sinners into his presence.Jesus died for you to deal with you “sin-problem.”If you trust in Christ, you can be admitted into God’s presence.


He went on to say that the problems with this popular evangelical gospel include:


1. No one in the New Testament really preaches this gospel.

2. This gospel is about one thing: humans gaining access to God’s presence.

3. This gospel creates an individualist Christian life.

4. This gospel sets the tone for the entire evangelical movement.

5. This gospel leads to spiritual formation being entirely about “me and God.”

6. The evangelical gospel has created a need for evangelical monasteries.

7. The evangelical gospels turns the local church into a volunteer society that is unnecessary.

8. The evangelical gospel is rooted in Theism or Deism, but not the Trinity.


In contrast to this anemic gospel, McKnight believes a more accurate and “robust” gospel presentation would include the following features:


1. A robust gospel cannot be “tractified.”

2. God made you as an eikon (Greek for “image”) to relate in love to God, to self, to others, and to the world.

3. The “fall” cracked the eikon in all for directions.

4. Bible readers cannot skip from Genesis 3 to Romans 3.

5. Genesis 4-11 reveals the “problem” of sin: the climax is a society of eikons trying to build their way to God.

6. Genesis 12 begins to restore the eikon by a covenantal commitment and forming the family of faith. The rest of the bible is about this elected family of faith.

7. The “problem” is finally resolved in “four atoning moments”: the life of Jesus, the death of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

8. The “locus” of resolution is the family of faith: three big words in the bible that describe this family of faith are Israel, the Kingdom, and the Church.


This understanding of the gospel would not marginalize the church, but instead make the community the heart of God’s work in the world. Is McKnight’s more robust gospel better than the pervasive 4 spiritual law version? Is the tract gospel the source of our diminished ecclesiology and individualism? Are we even open to a wider discussion about the nature of the gospel, or is such a thing taboo—to only be permitted in “emerging” circles?



http://blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur/archives/2007/06/is_your_gospel.html#more

Core/Non-Core Beliefs: More from Dan Kimball

I think what I like most about Dan Kimball is that, unlike a lot of what I see (or perceive) in the emerging church, is that he always, always keeps Jesus as the central core of who we are and what we are doing. I think that often the lines get blurry in emerging churches as we get so caught up showing people the love of Jesus that we fail to show them Jesus Himself. Dan Kimball never seems to forget this & constantly reminds us to do the same.

This latest entry is directly from his blog at http://www.dankimball.com/vintage_faith/2007/06/what_to_use_for.html#comments.

Be challenged and enjoy.

What to use for a metaphor of "core" or "non-core" beliefs

I was part of the Emergence event this weekend that was in Seattle that Zondervan put on. It was an informal panel discussion based a lot out of the Listening to Beliefs of Emerging Churches book.

On the panel was myself, Mark Driscoll, Doug Pagitt, Karen Ward, and the moderator of the panel was the NPR radio host of "Speaking of Faith" Krista Tippett.

I got to go out with Mark D. afterward on Friday night and he took me to a Seattle hang out and we chatted for a couple hours. It is always good to hear what is going on in his life and in the incredible growth and story of Mars Hill Church. Then Saturday, I went to Karen Ward's church, Church of the Apostles, which I have been wanting to go to for many years. Then Saturday and Saturday night hung out with Doug as went to where he spoke at Mars Hill Graduate School. And it was fun to see my old dear friend from Santa Cruz, Wendy Elizabeth who was at the event too and hung out with us.

The format of the panel was fairly loose - we sat in chairs in a row and had informal sort of dialog about a wide variety of issues. In the beginning to start it, we each presented a little about our church. So I walked through how as a 3 year old church, we are "asking God to transform us into a-worshiping-community-of missional theologians".

When I got to the "theologians" part I tried to describe how we want to focus in terms of doctrines and beliefs on the ones which throughout church history and whether one was reading the Bible in the year 500 or 1500 or 2007, would be truths that have been understood by Spirit-filled believers. I labeled these are "Core Beliefs". These are the ones which I believe we should be uniting over and focusing on, especially as we are living more and more in a post-Christian culture.

I then put up another slide showing what I called "Non-Core" beliefs - which are doctrines and beliefs that have a diversity of opinions on them throughout church history. These are ones that someone may have a personal opinion about - yet at the same time there are godly, Spirit-filled scholars and theologians who have differing opinions. Which to me, shows that God knows what is truth on these matters, but we as sin-tainted human beings have a harder time understanding for 100% certainty on these issues.

For example, in the "Core Beliefs" I listed that Jesus will return and there is judgment that will happen. But in the "Non-Core Beliefs" I listed that how Jesus will return but the timetable is not clear. The clarity is that He will return, but the unclarity is how He will return (amillennial, premillennial, post-trib, pre-trib etc.) We may have an opinion, we may think we are right. But the fact is, there are differences of opinions about these issues throughout church history and in the church today. Or that God created everything ex nihilo "out of nothing" (as I believe) but not argue about whether it was a literal 6 day creation or if it was a 6,000,000 year creation. We may have an opinion, but there are godly Spirit-filled Christians who agree on ex nihilio, but differ on how long it took and whether Genesis 1 and 2 was supposed to be looked at as literal 24 hour days or not.

So I was trying to stress, that I wish we would focus on what I called "Core Beliefs" and unite on those. I hope we don't fight, point fingers, slander, argue about the "Non-Core Beliefs". I have read and heard such ugly attitudes from Christians about these things in the "non-core beliefs". I know that "the role of women in the church" is such a very hot and understandably emotional issue, and some may say it is not a "Non-Core Belief" but a "Core Belief". But the fact is, there are wonderful people who take the study of Scriptures very seriously, and hold the Scriptures with high authority and do have differences of opinion on that and are complementarians or egalitarians. So I put that in the "Non-Core Beliefs" category, as something we shouldn't fight over or slander others if another church holds a different opinion than our own.

After I said this, I was challenged that coming up with distinctions and using a metaphor of "Core" and "Non-Core" is not a good thing to do and metaphors fall short etc. I agree that every metaphor falls short. But as I have been thinking about it, I cannot think of another way to put it. I know God does not see "core" and "non-core" beliefs, as the whole Bible is inspired and He knows what He meant in the ones we have a harder time figuring out.

If someone has a metaphor, or way of describing what I am trying to communicate with this, I would love to hear it. I just looked at the slides I used again, and of course there could be a hundred things listed on each one. But it was best attempt at trying to explain the difference of "core" and "non-core" and make a summary of what I was trying to communicate for a slide presentation. I do wish we would stop pointing fingers and mocking, slandering, bickering, and all that happens about the "non-core" beliefs though. Especially in the days we live in. I did include Apple/PC and the DLR/SH letters stand for "David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar" and that who is the better singer for Van Halen is a "non-core" issue.

I don't want to make light of the seriousness of doctrines, but I also was trying to stress that I hope we don't go too far and argue about things I wonder if we will be ashamed at one day with other brothers and sisters in the "non-core" list. Maybe it is too hard to even try and make some sort of list and use a metaphor. But that is my thinking as of 12:08 AM as I sit in Timberline Lodge in the mountains of Oregon. I am here for the Doctor of Ministry class that I am in, and we are here all week.

Posted by Dan Kimball on June 05, 2007 at 12:22 AM Permalink

Dan Kimball on the Consumerism of the Church

Dan Kimball is a guy who has really challenged me in the past few months. I am on my second read of "They like Jesus but not the Church", this time around with highlighter and pencil in hand. Super challenging, incredibly enlightening.

This is from "Out of Ur"'s blog. Well worth the read.

Vintage Consumerism

Dan Kimball on the history and impact of consumer Christianity.

We caught up with Dan Kimball, pastor of Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz, California, and author of They Like Jesus but Not the Church (Zondervan, 2007), at a conference where he was talking to other leaders about consumerism and the church. Kimball says the size of a church isn’t what makes it consumer driven, but how the leaders define success.

You’ve been talking to other pastors about consumerism in the church and the impact it’s had on our theology. How do you begin to recognize that impact?

You hear a lot of the complaints and valid criticism about the church being “a provider of religious goods and services,” as Darrell Guder says in the Missional Church. I started thinking about my own church and asking could the leadership be the ones who are really guilty of this? How did that happen?

I began to think about our meeting spaces. The early church met in homes where it is easier to participate, people can contribute, can be more vocal, make a meal, whatever. And then worship moved to the Roman basilicas and the format changed. People became more passive, but they still walked around and engaged. After the Reformation pews were brought in and people began to understand church different because they become passive. Expectations of a pastor and a leader become different. People expected us to do things for them.

So how has that translated into the church today?

We’ve been taught that this is how church goes. This is what you’re supposed to do. But now we’re making it better and bigger—better seating, better lighting, better sermons, better parking, better children’s ministry, better youth ministry. We’re simply fueling the whole thing.

But all of the consumer assumptions underneath are the same.

Yeah. And we haven’t yet challenged those assumptions. But my bigger question is what is this producing? Is it really producing people who are living and demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit in their lives? Are they loving one another and loving God more? What are we looking at for success?

So what is your sense? Are the ‘bigger and better’ churches producing the fruit of the Spirit?

I think it depends on the church leadership. As you talk to different leaders you pick up what they focus on. Ask them how they define success or what are they most excited about. That’s an interesting question. It reveals a lot. You can have a church of twenty thousand but what are you looking at as success? If I walked up to a person at your church would they say I’m here to get my religious goods and services. Or would they say I’m an active participant in the mission of this church, and this big worship meeting is just one part of it. Of course you can go to a small worship meeting and have the same exact thing. So it’s not about big church or little church necessarily.

So what are you guys doing at Vintage Faith to question those underlying assumptions of consumer faith?

We are asking God to transform us into a worshiping community of missional theologians.

Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Say that again.

We’re asking God to transform us (because it can’t be done through human effort); into a worshiping community (because we want to be worshipers first); of missional theologians (because if we’re on a mission in our culture we have to be thinkers).
We’re calling the church more of a missional training center as much as we can. We’re launching community groups. We’re calling them "community groups" even though we see them as house churches, but that name has weird connotations for some.

And what about your worship on Sunday, does that look different too?

Not really. Sunday meetings are just one part of the rhythm of the week when we all gather together, and we try to express worship to God and to teach in ways that creatively reflect who we are and the values we are striving to hold. Sundays are about community, care, worship and Scripture. But I’d hope that if you were to walk up to someone in our church and ask them “What is church?” they wouldn’t talk about the big meeting but about being on a mission.

Posted by UrL on May 29, 2007

http://blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur/archives/2007/05/vintage_consume.html#more

Grateful list part one

I'm grateful for Jesus. You have rescued me. You have rescued my family. You have made us whole. You have transformed our lives. You did this all by Your own sacrifice. You amaze me. I love You.

I'm grateful that I went to Bible College. I learned so much of the Word of God. Thanks, Zion.

I'm grateful for my brother. He introduced me to Jesus. His life of faithfulness and unconditional love is an example to me and an inspiration. I love you, Joe.

I'm grateful for my parents. They taught me about forgiveness, laughter, healing, and love. They taught me about letting go, about rejoicing in each other's victories and successes. No regrets. The best is yet to come. I love you, Mom & Dad.

I'm grateful for my sisters. My oldest sister taught me what love and loyalty and family first means. My middle sister taught me how far being kind and persistant and working hard can get you. I love you, Joan & Lynn.

I'm grateful for being sick. Having a potentially fatal disease makes you prioritize. It makes you rethink what is important and what isn't. It forces you to cherish each moment. It teaches you to revisit and explore wonder. It teaches you to anticipate Eternity with expectation and joy.

I'm grateful that I lived in community. I learned so much about grace, living by faith, justice, tolerance, equality amongst the brethen (and sistren?), sharing, selflessness, and dying daily. Thank you, JPUSA. I love you guys.

I am grateful for my husband. Your love of Jesus has shown me God in a way I'd forgotten -- God of miracles, God of answered prayer, God of healing, God of restoration, God of wonders, God of love, God never-failing, God everlasting. You show me a life of unfailing and incredible faith. You crack me up every day. You teach me honesty and integrity. You show me delightful love and laughter. You show me tenderness and humility. I love you so very much, Jeff.

To be continued ...