tabletalk

The Rule of Vulnerability: Teachability

Bloom in his book "The Closing of the American Mind" commented that our educational systems had successfully instilled in students the unassailable value of 'openness'.  It was not a compliment.  He believed it was creating an intellectual environment that was so subjective that truth was relative and that we were intended not to question but receive other people's 'truths' as fine.  Openness led to acceptance of anyone's criteria for authority.  At least that's something of what I got out of the book.

My point isn't to discuss Bloom, but to express my support for understanding vulnerability as a discipline that includes teachability.  Are we teachable?  Can we really change and learn and grow.  I'm not saying making everything in our lives "up for grabs", but can we adjust our positions based upon new knowledge or the expansion of our vision?  This is not the relativity openness of Bloom.

More importantly I suppose the question is, "Am I teachable?"  The first step towards teachability is to admit to a kind of incompleteness.  The biblical witness might ask of me to be humble.  I believe this is the posture we need to assume.  Not merely in relationship to God.  I admit it is easier to admit to God that I don't know what God knows than to admit to someone younger than me that I have something to learn from them.  (I am age biased!)  Humility asks of me a kind of openness that declares I don't have a corner on the market of my concerns.  Humility asks of me to consider that others may know more or have a legitimate perspective that I have yet to consider.  Humility prepares me to be taught.

In this election year, I'm aware that the caricature of leadership is someone who is wise from the age of 2 and has never changed them mind or adjusted their position.  These consistent people are the ones who are electable.  How shallow!  I want leaders who learn and grow.  I want leaders that can say they were wrong and make course corrections before the ship runs aground.  I want leaders who are teachable.

Our media and culture suggests that this kind of leadership makes us too vulnerable.  That we appear wishy-washy or indecisive.  I believe it reflects two biblical qualifications for leadership - people who are humble and teachable. If it makes us vulnerable all the better. 

Right now I'm rambling and not too focused.  Can I hone this?  The smartest and most capable leaders I know are continuing students.  They sit in the classroom when they could be the professor.  They go to the seminar, when they should be leading it.  They look forward to welcoming the scholar in their midst when they themselves are already scholars in residence.  They are true disciples.  They are teachable in the little things (ideas, methods, self-understanding) and so they are given the big things.  The big things?  "Come follow me." says Jesus.  It is the one requirement of being a disciple.  But to do so well means that you are teachable.  It means you are open to being scrutinized by God and being taught how to walk before you run. 

I like this rule.  I like vulnerability not being reduced to mere feelings.  I like vulnerability being associated with learning.  It's not merely being laid out for examination, it's the idea of being open to instruction.

It's worth being open to.

Loving America

I have traveled quite a bit.  Little by some standards and a lot by other standards.  I love meeting people all over the world.  I'm getting antsy to get out and about.  But no matter how long I'm gone, I do enjoy coming home to the United States.  For all its flaws it is the place that allows for the most freedoms and makes room for me to hold my opinions without reprisal.

Bill Bishop in his book "The Big Sort" says this:

"The country may be more diverse than ever coast to coast.  But look around: our own streets are filled with people who live alike, think alike, and vote alike.  This social transformation didn't happen by accident.  We have built a country where everyone can choose the neighborhood (and church and news shows) most compatible with his or her lifestyle and beliefs.  And we are living with the consequences of this segregation by way of life: pockets of like-minded citizens that have become so ideologically inbred that we don't know, can't understand, and can barely conceive of 'those people' who live just a few miles away."

One of the ironies is that the freedom we enjoy, love and take for granted, is the very freedom that makes it possible to ignore and deride one another.  As we seek to associate with those who are like us, we lose touch with the majority of people we need to meet and get along with.  Every time we refer to "those people" we get further away from the American ideal of a united people.  Even more significant is that we get further away from God's vision for us to be "one people" in Christ. (see Bob Pearson's comment on the Big Sort article earlier.)

By sticking to "people like us" we become impoverished.  The Statue of Liberty has been a symbol for our country of our willingness to be an inclusive people.  Let's go further than being inclusive and love America.  Not the flag, or the rules, or the ideals.  They can become vague symbols that have no reality.  But let's love America the people.  This will put us in community with those whose ideologies and orientations and opinions challenge our own.  It will make us vulnerable to other thoughts and ways of living.  But isn't that the point?

Saying Yes to Vulnerability

One of the things that I like about the Rule of Northumbria is the positive nature of the Rule.  They are not against things, they define themselves as what they are for.  In this long year of political campaigning, one of the things that can get lost is what people are for.  The church in its history has often been seen for what it is against.  Many believe this is all we are about.  Try sometime to write what you are "for" without reference to what you are "against".  It's not easy!

From the Rule:

We are called to intentional, deliberate VULNERABILITY:

We embrace the vulnerability of being teachable expressed in:
a discipline of prayer;
in exposure to Scripture;
a willingness to be accountable to others in ordering our ways and our heart in order to effect change.

We embrace the responsibility of taking the heretical imperative:
by speaking out when necessary or asking awkward questions that will often upset the status quo;
by making relationships the priority, and not reputation.

Yesterday a new friend of mine asked me how I managed a certain aspect of my job and life.  It wasn't a question of information, it was a question that asked if I would be vulnerable enough to reveal the truth of my life.  He was genuinely concerned.  There was a moment when I had to determine my level of vulnerability and answer if he could be trusted.  Since I've been reading this "Rule" I decided I could be honest and vulnerable. 

Many times in the church we shy away from vulnerability, because we believe that those we are with will not receive us if they know us.  Beyond that we shy away from asking of ourselves and each other awkward questions because we're afraid of being rejected out-of-hand. But this is the way to honest relationships.  By avoiding the awkward  question we  avoid being real.  Once again we are a step or two away from the truth of the incarnation.

To be vulnerable to God is much the same.  How much do we pray only what we deem is respectable and not what is honest.  I think this is why so many have recommended and used the Psalms as a prayer book.  Not for the rote nature of the prayers, but the prompting of the Psalmist to be honest and vulnerable before God.  We are good at posturing.  But it is hard to assume the posture of honest penitent. 

The world wants and needs our yes to vulnerability.

Let's unfold more of this in the days to come.

Let Your Yes Be Yes and Your No Be No

The Rule of Northumbria as I will call it, has many things I like.  Let me begin with its beginning.  "This is the Rule we will keep: we say YES to AVAILABILITY; we say YES to VULNERABILITY"  The rule goes on to define this more generally and then it allows for room to express what practices the community determines are necessary to keep the rule.  But it is simple and straightforward. 

We say YES to AVAILABILITY.  Yes.  This is certainly the touchstone of the incarnation of the Word of God in Jesus Christ.  God made himself available to humankind. What is Peterson's translation in The Message of John 1 - "The Word became flesh and moved into our neighborhood."  This is what it means to be incarnational, to be available - physically present and accessible.  This is one of the challenges I have to the multi-church concept that would throw a video up instead of a real preacher.  Jesus was really present as we must make ourselves to others.

What does this look like?  A friend told me this story.  She had a medical procedure that was rather invasive.  Though she had spent some time in the hospital it seems that early release is the norm not the exception.  In her case she came home a little early.  Her first night at home she had complications.  She lived alone.  The woman who had brought her home had sincerely but somewhat casually said, "If you have any problems, call me."  That night she was suffering, she called her friend in the wee hours of the morning.  It was not a far drive to get her and take her to the hospital, but it wasn't convenient either.  The friend did it.  The friend stayed,  helped, drove home.  The friend not only said she was available, but in practice was there for her.  This is availability.  Being there.  If you are not present you are not available.

Ministry has an element of presence, of availability.  Good theology generates good practice.  It is the fruit of belief.  How is the fruit of your tree?  Are you available to those God cares about?  Are you available to the One who cares for you?  Woody Allen is appropriately paraphrased here, "80% of life is just showing up."

Next up: Vulnerability.

New Rules for New Churches

My new friend Dan Steigerwald, who is with Christian Associates here in the Portland area, has led me into the world of "missional orders".  As best as I can tell these are new communities that develop monastic practices for engagement with the world.  One of the new orders he has introduced me to is the Northumbria Community.  Buried in their website under "Who We Are" is a description of their "Rule".  I reprint it here for your ease.

Summary of the Rule of the Northumbria Community - A Way for Living

This is the Rule we embrace. This is the Rule we will keep: we say YES to AVAILABILITY; we say YES to VULNERABILITY.

We are called to be AVAILABLE to God and to others:

Firstly to be available to God in the cell of our own heart when we can be turned towards Him, and seek His face;
then to be available to others in a call to exercise hospitality, recognising that in welcoming others we honour and welcome the Christ Himself;
then to be available to others through participation in His care and concern for them, by praying and interceding for their situations in the power of the Holy Spirit;
then to be available for participation in mission of various kinds according to the calling and initiatives of the Spirit.

We are called to intentional, deliberate VULNERABILITY:

We embrace the vulnerability of being teachable expressed in:
a discipline of prayer;
in exposure to Scripture;
a willingness to be accountable to others in ordering our ways and our heart in order to effect change.

We embrace the responsibility of taking the heretical imperative:
by speaking out when necessary or asking awkward questions that will often upset the status quo;
by making relationships the priority, and not reputation.

We embrace the challenge to live as church without walls, living openly amongst unbelievers and other believers in a way that the life of God in ours can be seen, challenged or questioned. This will involve us building friendships outside our Christian ghettos or club-mentality, not with ulterior evangelistic motives, but because we genuinely care.

I believe these two characteristics of availability and vulnerability can be the cornerstone for character of any new church community.  They are here for your consideration.

Sorting it Out

My sister was listening to NPR a month or two ago and heard author and journalist Bill Bishop interviewed about his new book,  “The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America Is Tearing Us Apart”.  I have started reading it.

The book is a statistical approach to understanding the shifting cultures of our country.  One of the primary study areas is Oregon and in particular Portland.  I don’t know if I will agree or not with his conclusions.  What I’ve read so far is intriguing and compelling.  His primary stack of statistics begins with voting trends in major election years.  Which means he misses a lot of people.  But all statistics are samplings.

His initial point, that by sorting ourselves into like-minded communities we are cutting off the dialogue and interaction that makes true community possible.  Bishop sees this as a negative. 

Much of the conversation in Christian ministries these days seems to be around the idea of expanding the dialogue.  A new film entitled, “Lord, Save Us From Your Followers: Why the Gospel of Love Is Dividing America”, (by filmmaker Dan Merchant, a Portland resident) - is an example of the recognition that more and more Christian people are feeling that “choosing up teams” along ideological and theological and cultural lines is harming the Gospel and America. 

One resource comes from a secular politically liberal source the other a fairly conservative evangelical source.  Both are drawing similar conclusions about our sorted culture. 

Why do I bring it up?  It would make for a good conversation.  That’s all.

The "New" Message

Last night N.T. Wright was on the Steven Cobert show trying to explain the ideas behind his new book, "Surprised by Hope".  As I listened to him being interrupted by Cobert, who is not bad for a comedian conducting "interviews," I was reminded that I had heard this before.  George Elden Ladd from Fuller Seminary ingrained in us the concepts of the Kingdom of God.  I remember how refreshing it was to embrace the "already and not yet" description of Ladd.  That the Kindgom of God is near and yet not consummated.  We are living in the kingdom days.   It gave me an answer to my "end times are now friends".  I could say that we were living in the last days and that they began with Jesus. 

Now in Wright you have someone who is building on the theology of Ladd.  What I heard him saying, and I hope to read, is that we are being called upon in this time, not to usher the Kingdom in, but rather to be part of writing the story of hope and reconciliation.  God wants to redeem the world - the whole thing.  The hope is that it is not pie-in-the-sky but now - in and through Christ's church.  It makes sense of the passage that says "Christ in us is the hope of glory".   For so long that has been interpreted as a text which is meant to give us personal satisfaction and place.  Instead it is a call to be agents of reconciliation.  The glory or reputation of God has its hope in us through Christ in us.  Be doers of the word and not hearers only!  This is good and challenging.

These are small connectors.  Cobert didn't get the magnitude of the implications of what Bishop Wright was communicating.  But the media seldom does.  These are little things, but that's the way the Kingdom of God is.  A small distinction with a huge implication.

Now to read the book..

Expanding Church - Sending Is Not a Video Feed

In recent weeks I've been challenged to look at multi-site styles of congregational ministries.  Mostly what this means is a large congregation that wants to expand its ministry to other areas of the community.  They most likely will have a dvd or live feed of the home church's pastor, a live worship team and a pastoral team that is present each week.  It is a way of expanding church beyond your walls. 

Every time I hear or read about it, I have a natural inclination to resist it.  I've tried to stay open, knowing that I don't know everything and there are lots of ways God can get his message out.  But I still resist.  Why?

In a time when we are trying to be more apostolic in nature, reminding people that God has sent them to a particular place and people to proclaim the Gospel, this method of church extension seems to work against some of the very things we're trying to encourage.

I asked some people I respect what they thought.  The first word out of their mouths was "idolatry."  After that there were other ways of discussing it.  The continuing conversation pointed up, particularly with the video projection of a church leader, that we were creating a personality cult - idolatry.  Further conversation suggested that we were being very "un-apostolic" in our ecclesiology.  We were in fact denying that there were others with equal or greater or more needed preaching and teaching gifts in the area we were trying to reach.  Rather than surfacing those gifts and calling them in to service, we say the video is better.  It belies an attitude that says God isn't at work in the area of need and hasn't or won't provide us with what we need to carry out the work incarnationally. 

I admit, there are times when we need to send someone where there might be no one qualified.  But a video is not someone. It also challenges my fundamental belief that "preaching is the communication of truth through personality."  It is not the communication of information.  The Gospel is after all, personal.  Videos are not.  We are calling people in to relationship with God, certainly, but also with us.  The one thing we have over the entertainment industry is that we are personal.  Let's not lose that. Incarnation is how God expressed the Good News.  We should not think we can improve on this.  It is harder work.  But then we can show the character of Jesus.  Talking heads have no character.  They are images.

More thoughts to come.

Landing in John's Landing

My friend, Margie Mirken, said I needed to at least say hi and tell friends that I’m alive and well and what I’m up to.  Ok.  I do and it is time.  Past time.  One of the things about Portland is that it has two of my favorite things: coffee cafes and pubs.  I’m sitting at the Rocking Frog Cafe on SE Belmont.  Very funky, very laid back. very fun, great coffee.  I work against my anxious self, trying simply to enjoy the moment and not think of what I need to do next.  Staying in the moment isn’t easy.

(The pictures are Mt. Hood yesterday.  Taken about 300 feet from my apartment.  The rainbow is at the end of the Sellwood Bridge setting on my now favorite pub the Muddy Rudder.  The third is the Willamette River from my balcony.)

I’ve landed in John’s Landing, an area of SW Portland near the Willamette River.  I have a small view of the river from my apartment.  It is in a building that was constructed in 1913.  It is called Corbett House.  It’s on Corbett Ave.   It’s a one bedroom apartment with a small kitchen and a living room.  Ironically, there is room for visitors.  And if there are more than two, I have friends who will offer up their guest room and you can have the apartment!  A balcony off the front - I’m on the second floor.  I’m the oldest person in the building.  The “kids” all went home on Mother’s Day and I was left alone in the house.  It’s very surreal at times. To get here from Orange County - get on the 5 freeway, drive 1000 miles, get off.

The work of starting churches in the Pacific Northwest is challenging and exciting.  This presbytery is poised on an exciting precipice that can make a huge difference in the faith of the area.  Many of you know that this is the most secular region of the United States.  In that way it also offers the most opportunity to share the Gospel.  I’m working here to develop “Discernment Teams” to go into the areas we’ve identified as possible new church communities and find out enough so we can reach out with some intelligence and purpose.  We believe that there is potential to do something more than a traditional church start and that it will emerge from the surrounding culture. 

I’ve connected with my friends John and Gail Moody and Mark and Greta Hanson, as well as Chuck and June Cassell.  I’ve made some new friends.  Bob Sanders is the Pastor of Lake Grove Pres and a fine guitarist and vocalist, plus I’m getting ready to play with some folks who have a gig in August at the Farmer’s Market by Portland State.  It’s a big fun venue.  All in all I am getting familiar with my surroundings.  It’s truly a mission field. I’m enjoying exploring the culture.

As for making it home....it’s not often enough. It’s too expensive so I’m trying to regulate when I fly down - which is still cheaper than driving.  Chelsea graduates on June 22nd and I will be down for a little more than a week.  Again, if anyone has some miles to donate our way, we’d be grateful recipients.  Alaska Air is my friend.

The following pics clockwise from top left:  Corbett House balcony; Corbett Ave; my kitchen; my chair; my hallway headed to the bedroom.  It's not huge, but there is room for guests!
   

Of Jobs and Houses: What's Happening?!

Whenever I am away from my blog it is usually because my life has overwhelmed my ability to sit down and reflect. Too many blogs are unreflected thoughts - which is fine, don't get me wrong. Just not my interest most of the time.

Why?! you may ask.

Answer: Since December we have been intently looking for a place to move and I have been on the job search. In the last 3 weeks all these things have come together.

First the job search. I am taking a position as Director of New Church Development for the Presbytery of the Cascades. For you non-Presbyterian types, the Presbytery has a certain jurisdiction. In this case the Cascades Presbytery is all of Oregon, the very southern border of Washington and the very northern border of California. It is a position that is funded for two years. The work of starting churches is at the center of my interests and passions. I'm excited for the opportunity to assist the Cascades in their vision and work. It is absolutely unique in our denomination, but I hope it will become more common. Click on Cascades NCD Website to find out what they are doing. I begin work on April 15th. I'll be in Portland. It is the same Presbytery that John and Gail Moody serve in (for those who know John and Gail) plus I have already taken advantage of the kind hospitality of Chuck and June Cassell (for those of you who know Chuck and June).

Second: We've found a house!

It is in the Ashton neighborhood of Forster Ranch in San Clemente. We plan on moving by April 15th. One of our goals was to get closer to the ocean. Unfortunately to be at the ocean was impractical financially. But we are now 4.5 miles from our new home to putting our big toes in the water. We think that is great. The house is smaller, but still has room for guests.

Why and how and?!? OK, I get it. We believe our long term residence is in S. California. Because the job is only funded for two years we decided to stay settled in SoCal and I would become an interstate commuter. How? Well we're not sure, but it seems to be the right thing all around. If we don't buy in this market then we may well be shut out in the future. We will always maintain a home in SoCal. Dee has moved her office out of the home and into her main office in Irvine. Lindsay is looking for a job in Orange County and Chelsea is in-between things. I'll be getting a small place in Portland for the time being. Alaska Air will be my friend. Anyone have frequent flier miles they want to contribute?! No, seriously!

Did I mention that the escrow on the house was 15 days! Kudos to Bill Rolfing our realtor, our lender, Karen Vietmeier of Los Ranchos Presbytery staff, Julie Sandler who found the loan, and I'm sure countless others. Thanks.

More in a while.