lifeasmission
exploring the mystery of life and mission as one and the same
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Archive for January, 2009
A Tribute to Mark Lau Branson
By way of one of Fuller Theological Seminary’s podcasts through iTunesU, I was reminded of Mark Lau Branson the other day. Mark was an incredibly influential professor for me while I was at Fuller. He was one of a few professors that, with great humility and patience, gave me a new vision and vocabulary regarding the Church. He is not a huge name in the missional church discussion (at least in popular circles), but his influence (through Allelon and the Gospel and Our Culture Network) is broad and unmistakable.Whereas most of my education and training related to missional ecclesiology stems from Fuller’s School of Intercultural Studies, Mark is perhaps the central figure imparting this to Fuller students who study exclusively in the School of Theology.
One of his most frequent refrains is,
“God’s missional imagination is among the people of God”
and he wrote a book built on this premise, “Memories, Hopes, and Conversations: Appreciative Inquiry and Congregational Change.”
Not only did Mark expose me to some helpful ideas and authors, he shared out of his own deep experience of living in intentional community, his commitment to truly incarnational models of Christian witness, and a radical commitment to the formation of the people of God.
I find that in life and work I have all these ideas about church and ministry and when I stop to think about it, the vast majority of those ideas stem from or have been shaped by what Mark passed on.
If you’re Mark… thanks. If you’re a student at Fuller, don’t you dare leave without taking one of his classes. If you’re not Mark and you’re not a student at Fuller, move to Pasadena, enroll at the school, and take Mark’s class. For starters, enjoy the podcast below.
2 Big Days
Yesterday – Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Today – the inauguration of Barack Obama as the first African-American President of the United States, are two big days.
Especially as a citizen of Memphis, where Dr. King was assassinated, the importance of all he stood for comes powerfully home. Memphis is in many ways a broken and hurting city. Racial division (if not tension) remains thick. Systems and structures which perpetuate generational poverty and crime continue to plague us. And the dominant expression of church here in the mid-south seems unable or unwilling to powerfully engage this sort of brokenness. Memphis is a city desperate for the good news of God’s Kingdom breaking forth into the world.
I caught a glimmer of this hope the other day as I was remembering King’s famous, “Paul’s Letter to American Christians” and came across this quote (from that sermon) on one of the walls of the downtown YMCA where I workout…
Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.
I am happy to stand with those who are excited about the progress we have made as a country, evidenced in our election of a black President. I am even happy to stand with those inspired by the hope that this new President and administration aim to offer to a nation that has lost its way in war, economic crisis, and poor international reputation. Yet I long for more.
Yesterday we celebrated a man and his legacy of striving for racial reconciliation, care for the poor, and justice for all. Today we celebrate the dawn of a new era for our country, an era (perhaps) to be marked by change for the better.
But I long for the day that only God can bring about, a day when all our human striving and labor will be tested as with fire. The chaff of our striving will be burned away and the precious stones of our striving will be even further refined. On 2 days when it is so easy for me to get caught up in the acclaim of two good men, one who had a dream and another who represents, in part, the evidence of that dream coming to pass, I pause to remember the supremacy of the one man, who, at the height of his glory, was abandoned by all as he hung on a cross and proclaimed, “It is finished.”
More Kenya Pictures
Be forewarned, there’s a whole lot!
Jimmy’s are here.
Matthew’s are here.
Alan’s are here.
John’s are here.
Ben’s are here. (how many people do you know that take 45 pictures with a disposable camera, scan them into a computer, and upload them to the Internet, way to go film student!)
Standing for Those Who Choose Nonviolence
I am certainly no expert on Israeli-Palestinian relations or the fighting that has been going on between them for so long. I do know that it has gotten worse recently and I am sure that the future holds only more of the same. I also know that, as with all conflict, people tend to support one side over another based on whatever criteria they deem to be most important. Whatever the case, it is an easy decision for me to support these folks, the Shiministim, Israeli’s (teenage) conscientious objectors who are being imprisoned for their refusal to serve in the military. Check it out in more detail here and see if you feel compelled, as I was, to sign and send the letter to have them released.
Consuming Jesus
I have been looking forward to reading Consuming Jesus: Beyond Race and Class Divisions in a Consumer Church by Paul Metzger for some time. For the sake of an alternative context and experience, I was even more excited to read the bulk of it amidst my time in Africa and its deep seeded tribalism.
In Metzger’s words, his aim is to…
confront the ways evangelical-consumer or niche-church Christianity fosters racial and economic divisions, and I wish to offer an alternative theological paradigm to the one that is often embraced in the evangelical subculture. (11)
In my words, this alternative theological paradigm comes only by way of rejecting the version of the gospel which has led to a consumer-oriented faith/church and embracing one that prophetically strikes at the very heart of that reality.
In John Perkins’ words,
The only purpose of the gospel is to reconcile people to God and to each other. A gospel that doesn’t reconcile is not a Christian gospel at all. But in America it seems as if we don’t believe that. We don’t really beleive that the proof of our discipleship is that we love one another.” (9)
I love that Perkins understands the gospel by what it does. Like love, the gospel takes on its true nature only when it is enacted.
In the beginning of the book. Metzger insightfully traces the various streams, characters, and events which have so vitally contributed to the dominant expression of Christianity in America. From here, he probes into the ways in which “the dominant structure of the evangelical church today favors, fosters, and shapes its structures around the key ingredient of individual choice…” (79) Key to understanding this tendency is his discussion of the popularization of the Homogenous Unit Principle (HUP) by Donald McGavran as a method for church growth. The remainder of the book features insightful biblical and cultural reflections, helpful examples and a sustained discussion on the vitality of Scripture and sacraments for the formation of communities of reconciliation across racial and class boundaries.
Of Scripture, Metzger says…
We must move people with God’s word on Sunday mornings to move beyond their addictions to race and class affinity groups. Authentic witness to Jesus is at stake, and we must stake our lives on it. (117)
– a quick aside here: just as the goodness of the gospel lies in what it does, so too the sermon is only good inasmuch as it results in changed lives. Don’t ever tell a preacher his or her message was good unless you are prepared to also tell them how it resulted in your changed life
And I love that he includes Marva Dawn’s words on the Lord’s Supper…
How can we share the eschatological feast if we don’t participate in displaying God’s future, in which all will be equally fed and we will all join together in universal praise? It seems to be that if we eat the body and blood of Christ in expensive churches without care for the hungry, the sacrament is no longer a foretaste of the feast to come, but a trivialized picnic to which not everyone is invited.
The end of the book is the author’s attempt to move into a discussion of partnerships amongst churches across racial and socio-economic lines. His desire is for the church to…
re-envision its understanding of communal identity in view of its communal and co-missional God as involving solidarity with society at large…. This will entail a radical break from the dominant American individualistic mindset that keeps us separate from others. It will require that we lay down our lives and die for our enemies rather than try to take back America from them. (149)
I found this to be a fantastic book. A bit narrow at places where I though the discussion (at least by way of footnotes) should have been expanded, but definitely a much needed message for the American church. I suppose the big question I am let with is how to think about local congregations that are seeking to incarnate themselves in places that are intrinsically homogeneous. If anyone wants to weigh in, please feel free, I’d enjoy the discussion.
The Story of a Kiva Loan
I think the world of Kiva, a group that enables people to loan small amounts of money to people in developing countries to start or grow a business. Back in August I made a loan to a lady who sells fruits and vegetables in Benin. The loan is already 38% repaid and I fully anticipate reinvesting in another loan when it’s paid back. I wondered just how the whole process works and low and behold, one person took it upon themselves to put together a really cool video showing the process of making a Kiva loan from beginning to end. Definitely worth 10 minutes, so go get a cup of coffee and enjoy. Let me know if you make a loan – great thing to be a part of.
A Fistful Of Dollars: The Story of a Kiva.org Loan from Kieran Ball on Vimeo.
Hi There…
Hey, I'm JR - welcome to the blog.
I'm just an average guy trying to shape his identity around God's dream for the world and his place in it. This blog is a place for me (and you!) to reflect on and discuss all that might mean. Looking for a bit more on me? Check out the about me. Peace.
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