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I spent this past weekend in Daphin, a little town in the Manitoba Northern Ontario Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. Dauphin is about a four hour drive from Winnipeg, through some of the flattest terrain I've ever seen. The purpose of this adventure was to present a day long "renewal event" for congregational leaders who had gathered for a rather quixotic synod convention.
OK so I am pretty opinionated when it comes to what churches need to do, be, change for the sake of renewal. If I didn't have such a winning personality, I'd probably be annoying. Even more often.
As Pope Benedict XVI heads back to Rome and the media bubble bath he received quietly swirls away, Roman Catholic reporter Tim Padgett, over at Time, reflects on some of the reasons he and others remain Catholic despite differences over church teaching and practice. It's not about "church" at all, Padgett says. It's about faith. Padgett addresses, for example, the pope's words chastising the "scandal" of American stubbornness on the issue of abortion:
I spend so much time with people who basically know the mainline church is in deep do-do and needs to do something about it that I'm startled when I run into those who seem oblivious, which does in fact happen once in awhile. There really are people out there who think there's nothing wrong with continuing to do church like it's 1959.
They oughtta visit New Town, Missouri.
My friend, Steve, who is a pastor in Wisconsin, sent me a link to this video by a student at Luther Seminary.
LutheranChik, whose beautifully crafted posts from daily church & home life can't help but warm you up, rarely says anything I actually disagree with...but it happened last week! On March 31 she said that a recent excursion into the world of social networking led her to conclude that kids growing up today are doing it in a world that is worse off than the one she and I grew up in back in the old days. (OK, the 70's.) Maybe she was overstating it or just had a singularly bad experience online. On the other hand, I can understand why somebody would feel that way...I've wandered around FaceBook & MySpace, too...I have three kids (21, 19, 15)...I know there are a lot of crappy things going on out there today. But I think this sentiment is wrong. I left a comment to that effect before I left. Here's what I said:
OK, so this is an oldie. But when my son asked me for a song that would illustrate love transcending all for an English paper he's writing, it was the first one I thought of. And I found myself hunting for a video version. This message can't be heard often enough. It seems especially appropriate as we remember the 40th anniversary of MLK's death this week. Hope it brightens your weekend. It did mine.
David Hayward, "an artist trapped in a pastor's body," doing a Vineyard ministry out of New Brunswick, Canada, continues to be one of my favorite and I think one of the most honest Christian bloggers out there today. Check out his "Jesus Love Me, This I Knew" T-shirt concept at nakedpastor. And, if you're somebody who, like me, is committed to helping the mainline move out from under the shadow of the radical Christian mega-right so that the world hears a different, compelling, but more nuanced voice (and, ok let's just say, wants to see mainline and progressive churches GROW again!) go ahead and laugh at yourself here:
Interesting conversation over at BeliefNet started by sarcastic lutheran herself, Nadia Bolz-Weber, on the so-called Grassley Six - prosperity preachers under investigation for lavish living and misuse of funds - and the "plank in her own eye." Her view is that, while Jesus would surely "throw up a little in his mouth" at hearing what passes for the gospel in these churches, anybody (including herself) who makes a living on the tithes and offerings of others is on dangerous ground when it comes to passing judgement.
Check out this news story and often interesting blog called Into The River from my friend, Steve, who's having fun developing a new church. He calls this post Great Grandmas, Guns, and the Gospel.
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