and my good friend carey nieuwhof (whom i have had the great privilege of seeing speak on many occasions) pointed me to an article that resonates with the ethos of the voodoo lounge. check it out here.
05 March 2008
i wish i'd written this stuff
i'm finally getting down to reading "organic community", and really digging it. joe myers is one smart writer imho. i'd love to see him speak some time.
and my good friend carey nieuwhof (whom i have had the great privilege of seeing speak on many occasions) pointed me to an article that resonates with the ethos of the voodoo lounge. check it out here.
and my good friend carey nieuwhof (whom i have had the great privilege of seeing speak on many occasions) pointed me to an article that resonates with the ethos of the voodoo lounge. check it out here.
03 March 2008
the soul of the voodoo lounge
i thought that it might be time to start discussing what it is that fuels the soul of this venture that i've named the voodoo lounge. the whole idea of this kingdom experiment is to try to cultivate something that is responsive to God's movement and presence in the world today ... and it begins with my admission that i don't know everything. hey, some days i wonder if i know anything at all ... but i am confident that if the voodoo lounge is an 'open source' initiative - that it is attentive to voice of Jesus speaking through the voices of others who are also desperately seeking after Him - that it will take on the kind of shape that will profoundly impact our community.
let's give credit where credit is due ... my taking-off point is the work of my friends at the mosaic alliance. i've had the privilege of conversing with them on a number of occasions and in a variety of settings. their approach to the Jesus-following community has resonated with me at the deepest levels - those places where you don't 'process' but where you 'feel' and 'just know'. but don't get me wrong ... believe you me, they're as smart as anything.
they describe 5 core values, and i want to share my thoughts on them one-by-one. each one is described in elemental terms, and the first platform is "wind" - mission is why the Church exists. for a while now, i've held to the belief that the Church is not an institution but a movement. easy for me to say, I know. what it means is that what holds it together and what propels is a commitment to follow ing Jesus.
following ... a verb.
it's as we focus on where Jesus is going, whom He is healing, where He is teaching, what He is resurrecting that we are His people. Jesus started this whole deal by calling people to follow Him. to tag along for the ride. to press forward together.
moving on mission is how the Kingdom of God takes shape in the world today. and i believe that that is what Jesus came proclaiming - the realities of God's presence in the here and now. if the church simply becomes an enclave for religious observers, it runs the very real risk of becoming an impotent assembly.
Jesus was all about power and transformation, not impotence. and i'm not sure that He cared much for assemblies ... but He sure did have a lot of people mobbing Him - as He went.
if the voodoo lounge is at all going to be connected with the Church, it will be a place of intersection for heroes and revolutionaries. people who believe that the world has a future, and that God is desiring to map that future with us. we will gather, but only because in gathering we will find the common strength and desire to catapult each other out.
my hope is that even people who never step foot into the voodoo lounge will know the life-changing impact of those who have been sent out from it.
let's give credit where credit is due ... my taking-off point is the work of my friends at the mosaic alliance. i've had the privilege of conversing with them on a number of occasions and in a variety of settings. their approach to the Jesus-following community has resonated with me at the deepest levels - those places where you don't 'process' but where you 'feel' and 'just know'. but don't get me wrong ... believe you me, they're as smart as anything.
they describe 5 core values, and i want to share my thoughts on them one-by-one. each one is described in elemental terms, and the first platform is "wind" - mission is why the Church exists. for a while now, i've held to the belief that the Church is not an institution but a movement. easy for me to say, I know. what it means is that what holds it together and what propels is a commitment to follow ing Jesus.
following ... a verb.
it's as we focus on where Jesus is going, whom He is healing, where He is teaching, what He is resurrecting that we are His people. Jesus started this whole deal by calling people to follow Him. to tag along for the ride. to press forward together.
moving on mission is how the Kingdom of God takes shape in the world today. and i believe that that is what Jesus came proclaiming - the realities of God's presence in the here and now. if the church simply becomes an enclave for religious observers, it runs the very real risk of becoming an impotent assembly.
Jesus was all about power and transformation, not impotence. and i'm not sure that He cared much for assemblies ... but He sure did have a lot of people mobbing Him - as He went.
if the voodoo lounge is at all going to be connected with the Church, it will be a place of intersection for heroes and revolutionaries. people who believe that the world has a future, and that God is desiring to map that future with us. we will gather, but only because in gathering we will find the common strength and desire to catapult each other out.
my hope is that even people who never step foot into the voodoo lounge will know the life-changing impact of those who have been sent out from it.
27 February 2008
it's not Wagner, you know
this month, i've been invited to be the communicator at Trinity Community Church in Oro (where i'd been on staff for 3 1/2 years). it's a real privilege to be able to share with this community of Jesus followers again, and especially to cover the Easter season. honestly, when i initially said 'yes' to speaking, i didn't realize that i'd agreed to the month encompassing Easter ... neither did i have the foresight to check whether or not it was a 5-Sunday month ... oh well. no worries.
i'm going to try to deliver a message series called "oh, the humanity!". you probably know that phrase from the coverage of the hindenburg disaster. we're going to use it as a leaping-off point to look at the worst of human behaviour in the bible ... and how even those incidents became the putty with which God has been able to sculpt something beautiful and lasting.
if you can join us (and that's not intended to be an enticement to leave behind your own communities of faith and worship), i'd love for you to be in on the conversation.
i'm going to try to deliver a message series called "oh, the humanity!". you probably know that phrase from the coverage of the hindenburg disaster. we're going to use it as a leaping-off point to look at the worst of human behaviour in the bible ... and how even those incidents became the putty with which God has been able to sculpt something beautiful and lasting.
if you can join us (and that's not intended to be an enticement to leave behind your own communities of faith and worship), i'd love for you to be in on the conversation.
13 February 2008
fighter
i just got back from sunnybrook health sciences centre visiting my friend cindy. she was in a horrific car accident when she collided with a school bus. after undergoing numerous surgeries, she is now out of intensive care and slowly recuperating.
she seems to be in really good spirits, and deeply concerned about the welfare of others - including her children and close friends. can you believe that she actually mustered up the energy to grill me about how the voodoo lounge initiative is progressing??!
anyway, she tells me that she plans to be out of the hospital and at home in a week.
don't laugh - she's a fighter. if anyone can do it, she can.
she seems to be in really good spirits, and deeply concerned about the welfare of others - including her children and close friends. can you believe that she actually mustered up the energy to grill me about how the voodoo lounge initiative is progressing??!
anyway, she tells me that she plans to be out of the hospital and at home in a week.
don't laugh - she's a fighter. if anyone can do it, she can.
05 February 2008
let's get physical
some of you know that I've gotten involved in my first community theatre production ... and having a blast with it. it's called "Boeing Boeing", and it's being presented by the South Simcoe Theatre in Cookstown, ON. we're driving towards opening night this thursday, and tonight is our first dress rehearsal with an audience ... yikes!
it's been a real steep learning curve for me. from memorizing plenty of dialogue to memorizing stage blocking to ensuring that cues come quickly and accurately, i've definitely found myself stretched and, on numerous occasions, quite underequipped.
another real challenge for me with this play has been the fact that my character ("Robert") is required to kiss two of the other female characters. that's awkward enough when you consider that i've only ever kissed two other girls other than my wife (all of them before I was married, I might add!), but add to that that both of the actors that I kiss are younger (one much younger) than I am ... well!
but here's the real revelation for me: it's astonishing to me that I can kiss these women, both of whom are incredibly beautiful and talented, and feel nothing. no romantic feelings, no animal magnetism, no improper thoughts. nothing.
i wondered at first if there was something wrong with me ... and then i started to feel sad. not for me or for them (well, maybe sad for them because they have to endure kissing me), but honestly sad for any and everyone who engages in relationships and physical intimacy where there is no emotion or commitment. i imagine that that must be the tragedy of sex without love, of desire without devotion. it may seem appealing from a distance, but there's an emptiness that resides within.
i'm grateful for the talents of my co-actors (thanks Kristen and Ashley!) who make our kissing encounters work in the context of the performance. i just hope that there aren't that many people who are trying to play those scenes out on the stage of life.
it's been a real steep learning curve for me. from memorizing plenty of dialogue to memorizing stage blocking to ensuring that cues come quickly and accurately, i've definitely found myself stretched and, on numerous occasions, quite underequipped.
another real challenge for me with this play has been the fact that my character ("Robert") is required to kiss two of the other female characters. that's awkward enough when you consider that i've only ever kissed two other girls other than my wife (all of them before I was married, I might add!), but add to that that both of the actors that I kiss are younger (one much younger) than I am ... well!
but here's the real revelation for me: it's astonishing to me that I can kiss these women, both of whom are incredibly beautiful and talented, and feel nothing. no romantic feelings, no animal magnetism, no improper thoughts. nothing.
i wondered at first if there was something wrong with me ... and then i started to feel sad. not for me or for them (well, maybe sad for them because they have to endure kissing me), but honestly sad for any and everyone who engages in relationships and physical intimacy where there is no emotion or commitment. i imagine that that must be the tragedy of sex without love, of desire without devotion. it may seem appealing from a distance, but there's an emptiness that resides within.
i'm grateful for the talents of my co-actors (thanks Kristen and Ashley!) who make our kissing encounters work in the context of the performance. i just hope that there aren't that many people who are trying to play those scenes out on the stage of life.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)