kinnon.tv

Thinking of Servetus on Calvin's Birthday

Certain nodes on the interwebs are awash with celebration of the 500 year anniversary of Jean Calvin's entering into this mortal coil. Even folks from my Arminian end of the theologimical pool are saying some nice things (though with rumors of other thoughts to come). Ben Witherington III says,

...he is to be respected for understanding that Biblical theology can only be done on the basis of a detailed and comprehensive exegesis of all the relevant Biblical material.

With impetus from John Armstrong, I ordered Calvin's Institutes a while back and need to spend serious time digesting them. The two volume set is on my list of books to read. Along with a book that has just arrived from Kevin DeYoung and his partner in crime, Ted Kluck. DeYoung did make me chuckle when he commented on Calvin's temperment in his mildly hagiographic Jean-rave this morning,

We do the memory of Calvin no disservice to admit that he had weaknesses. He was physically frail and could be emotionally volatile. No one lamented his own weaknesses–physical and spiritual–more than himself. And no one understand general human weakness better than Calvin.

What?! No mention of Calvin arranging that Michael Servetus be put to death for his "heretical blasphemies" - Servetus held a unitarian view of the Godhead and was against infant baptism. Perhaps Kevin feels that "emotionally volatile" covers Calvin's pronouncement of the death penalty for Servetus' "errors". (Please, one of my Calvinist friends, take me on using the argument that I "need to understand the context." I can't wait.)

Now, in fairness to Calvin, he only wanted Servetus to be beheaded as he was later successful in achieving for Giovanni Valenti Gentile's "heresies" - Jean was against Servetus' eventual burning at the stake which Giovanni fortunately escaped - without his head, of course.

Many hold Calvin up as one of the greatest Scriptural exegetes who ever lived. So, I ask, in all humility (yah, right) did Calvin simply skim over the Gospels? Did he miss Paul's statement that one of the fruits of the Spirit was long-suffering?(Apparently Servetus was rather obnoxious in the way in interacted with Calvin.) Or is their a Secret Message of Jesus that the rest of us can't find that allows theologians to put heretics to death.

Let me put Calvin's action in context. Bishop TD Jakes is viewed as a oneness Pentecostal. (Often referred to as Jesus-only - they don't subscribe to an orthodox understanding of the Trinity.) He's known to speak in New York on regular occasions. What if Dr. Tim Keller were to agitate for Jakes arrest and further to have him put to death for his "error?" And what if Dr. Tim succeeded. Would that change your opinion of Dr. Keller? Would Dr. Tim still be "one of the finest expositors of the Word of God?" (Forgive me, Tim for using you as an example - it is simply to show the ludicrous nature of the situation.)

I'm just asking?

Calvin, Calvinism, Servetus, dead theologians

Armstrong Quotes Creps, Cultivating Humility

I'm a fan of John Armstrong's blog. I believe John is truly a practitioner of a generous orthodoxy - and I look forward to each of his blog posts.

Early this morning, John quoted Earl Creps (who I have quoted a number of times at this humble nanonode on the interwebs).

Creps says,

“The ability to admit that my ideas have a shelf life cultivates a humility that will make following Christ attractive to those walking through this epochal change.”

John adds,

I wish more leaders had this wonderful ability. I plead for it, seek it with all my heart and encourage everyone I know to embrace the fact that their ideas have a “shelf life.” In some sense, there is a “use by” date on everything we do in this world. At best we should admit that how we understand what we confess really does change, unless we want to say that what we believed twenty or thirty years ago is precisely what we believe today in the same exact way that we believed it then.

Might I also add that many of us begin down a road that brings a certain notoriety. That notoriety becomes addictive. And the only way to feed the addiction is to continue down that road - even when we discover the direction of our original thesis was wrong. We've already committed too much time and energy to quit now. And we've convinced ourselves that we "wouldn't want to disappoint our followers".

'Culivation of Humility?' - not on our watch!

Earl Creps, John H. Armstrong

La Grou reviews Hipps

I almost called it the John La Grou Smackdown of Shane Hipps' new book, but John is much to gracious to ever do a smackdown.

John's review of Hipps' Flickering Pixels is the cover story @ Next Wave and it's a must read. John goes in search of a cogent argument against technology from Shane, but instead finds

...weakly supported intellectual shortcuts that deliver generalities in place of thorough analysis. Many of the book’s most important points read far more like subjective bias than objective inquiry. Shane’s criticism of technology too often reduces to grand conclusions with little or no qualification – lacking even obligatory auxiliary verbs (such as “may, might, could,” etc.)

Read John's entire review, please.

John La Grou, Shane Hipps, Flickering Pixels

Speaking of "you are the message"

Need I say more. Original on Flickr.

Not Missional

you are the message

you are the message, originally uploaded by jonnybaker.

A jonny baker foto.

Emerging Brent or Brent Emerges or Brother Maynard dies?

The voice behind the mask that is Brother Maynard has emerged.

He is none other than my good friend and confidant, Brent Toderash. I'm glad the rest of you will join those of us who've known Brent for a while. And I'm glad I can finally stop fixing my almost posted posts that have called him Brent Maynard, Brother Toderash or some combination thereof.

Now I need to get back to moving things. Especially as the kids have just finished loading the U-Haul whilst I've been in the loft "doing things." Oh. And we aren't leaving the loft. We're just expanding our coverage of Southern Ontario, so to speak. More on that later.

Brother Maynard, Missional Tribe, Brent Toderash

Andrew Jones, the Tall Skinny Kiwi Documentary

Thanks to the Missional Tribe, Andrew's production gear has begun the trek to reach him in points beyond. Thanks to all who contributed to making this happen. Soon we should see the Jones Family missional travelogue appearing on Vimeo and YouTube. Stay tuned.

Andrew Jones, Missional Tribe, Tall Skinny Kiwi

Some Things to Read Whilst I'm Moving Things

I'm away for a few days moving things hither and yon. It's also that time of year when Canadians celebrate not being Americans (or something like that) on July 1 and Americans celebrate not being Canadian on July 4th. I'll see you in the first week of July.

But. While I'm away. You can read this very good post from Jason Coker, How Eddie Gibbs Ruined My Life. He sums up what Eddie did to him this way,

It is now my unhappy duty to admit the full extent of my condition: if only a life of vulnerable humility on the margins of society is a true witness to Christ in our culture, then the only faithful choice for me is a life of non-professional ministry. If only exchanges of grace and generosity – as opposed to market-based exchanges – can cultivate freedom, gratitude, and loyalty in relationships, then the only sane choice for me is a life of gifts.

Hence, last year my wife and I quit our big jobs at the big church and moved across the country, recklessly running the risk of exposing countless others in an entirely new region of the country to this terrible malady (it turns out, there were already many others here suffering from the same symptoms). I’ve walked away from professional ministry entirely and worked to transition into a new career field. We started a website designed to foster a life of gifts, and more recently, we’ve started meeting with a new, smaller community of faith every week in our home to explore what it means to be the people of God on the margins of society, while still affecting it with the gospel.

Make a point of reading Jason's entire post, please - and also make a point of subscribing to his blog. He's a gifted writer and thinker. And TwoShirts is a very cool organization.

Kind of at the polar opposite end of the Kingdom conversation is an interesting dialogue between Michael Spencer and Frank Turk. They're talking about the best way to spank Mark Discroll for his potty mouth the appropriate way that brother Mark might be disciplined for his litany of inappropriate statements.

The iMonk suggests that MD's elders are the ones responsible. (To which I'd say, just let them try to discipline Mark and you'll see more of this.) Frank wants a return to the episcopate - with Johnny Mac, John Piper et al as the Bishops. In a sign that the Endtimes are near, I'm leaning a bit more to the Turk brother on this one. (It is allergy season for me, so this could purely be a response that requires medical attention.) You can follow the bouncing ball here, here, here and here so far.

A separate iMonk post brought tears to my eyes (literally).

In more recent news, Bishop Gene Robinson predicts the end of ACNA - the new not-yet-officially recognized Anglican province in North America. At one level, I do find this amusing coming from a TEC Bishop, who's church is sinking faster than the Titanic. However, ACNA has a bomb in it's midst that I do expect to explode. That bomb is the egalitarian/complimentarian issue.

The Anglo-Catholics are strongly anti women-in-ministry - and this isn't going to change any time soon. I'll give it to the mid-teens (2015ish) before ACNA splits. However, I'll also suggest that ACNA will have grown dramatically in that timeframe and the two sides will go their separate ways in a somewhat amicable manner - agreeing to disagree, as it were. I've been known to be right once or twice before - so mark my words and let's return to this in six years hence.

But on to more pressing issues - I gotta go move some things.

InternetMonk, Jason Coker, Michael Spencer, Mark Driscoll, Frank Turk

I Love Books - A Comment on Book Stealing

There was a time in my life that if I was sitting, I was reading a book. I love books.

When I was eight, my parents rather rudely stopped me from watching television. There method was a little expensive. We moved from the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia to an apartment complex just outside Saint-Avold in North Eastern France. Fortunately the Canadian government paid for the forced resettlement. (We moved 11 months later to another apartment complex, outside the town of Longuyon, France.)

TVs were a little too expensive for my family, so radio became my primary provider of mass media - I used to listen to the Ed Sullivan Show every Sunday night on a one week tape delay. Friday nights were spent at the base cinema (I'm an Air Force brat, if you haven't figured that out) watching whatever was playing - flicks provided by the J. Arthur Rank Organization.

My primary source of entertainment, however, became books. The base library was my home away from home. Books purchased for special occasions were treasured by me. When we returned to Canada in 1968, I was almost thirteen. In Montreal, my Auntie Pearl, discovering that her nephew had become a bibliophile, gave me a number of Ayn Rand's books to read. By the time I was 14, I could elucidate all the virtues of selfishness - having read all of Ms. Rand's scribbling, including a rather awful play. (I confess that I skimmed over the 90+ page monologue of John Galt in Atlas Shrugged. I'd already been sufficiently indoctrinated.)

Even after being reintroduced to TV in '68, I rarely watched it without a book in hand.

Today I am still an avid reader. But most of that reading takes place via pushed pixels illuminating my computer screen. Though I do admit that Amazon well knows my name.

But this post is about book theft - or what at least might be considered such.

Many years ago, I wandered into a friend's home office. He was not noted for being a particularly deep reader. I scanned the small collection of books on his shelf. Pulling a number of them off, one at a time, I asked his opinion of each. He mumbled a non-committal response - I doubt he'd read any of them. With 8 or 10 books in hand, I asked if might "borrow them." Surprised, he asked, "Why?" "Because they are mine," I rather strongly responded.

About seventy feet from the kitchen window in our loft (across a small parking area and two narrow buildings) and down a story, is a window into the office of the senior leader of a church we once attended. There's a wall of books in that office. (This leader is as avid a reader as I am.) At least twenty of those books are mine. I recently was heard to whine that fact in a room full of friends. My dear wife rather tartly responded, "Let it go, Bill. I doubt you still buy into the theology of those books, anyway." Point taken. I haven't been in that building since 1996 - and my theology has changed rather dramatically since then. (As have my political viewpoints since the late '60's - just not enough for some folk.)

Liam, a bibliophile of a higher magnitude than his dear old Dad, is occasionally known to comment about some of the theology found on the overflowing bookshelves in our home. Another cull is shortly in order. (I should once again note, that Liam, Rylan and Kaili suffered horribly from Imbi's and my parenting when we cut off their access to TV when Liam, the oldest was seven. All three of them were forced to become avid readers. Tragic, I know.)

This meandering post was prompted by my pushed pixel reading of Ben Myers this Sunday morn. Ben's post, On Stealing Books, is worth the read.

(Written at the island summer place on my first overnight of the season. Much later than normal. Though, as Bruce Cockburn puts it, The Trouble with Normal is it Always Gets Worse.)

bibliophile, book theft, give me back my books, libraries

LinkWithin Plugin

I've added a new plugin to kinnon.tv. It's called Link Within. It's now adding suggested links from within kinnon.tv to the ends of my posts. Some of the suggested links are rather interesting, others rather amusing.

What I have found intriguing are the posts Link Within has dredged up from the archives - posts I've long forgotten about. Some of them aren't half bad, if I do say so myself.

LinkWithin

The Ecclesiology of Flowers or Adult Beverages

As I attempted to remind my dear wife earlier this month, I'm allergic to the scent of most flowers - which is why I rarely buy her any. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it.) I much prefer a good Fin du Monde - nothing like a beer that calls itself, the End of the World, (as we know it and I feel fine).

This abject silliness is to point you at a very good series of posts from my 'gator friend, Kingdom Grace - TULIP or BEERS - beginning here. It would be good for some of my Calvinist friends to engage with her.

Ecclesiology, Calvinism, TULIP, REM reference

St. Michael of Jackson

The hagiography begins.

At a period in time when the world watches as Iran shakes with potential for democracy, the news cycle is dominated with the death of the apparent "King of Pop." As per usual, fantasy trumps reality in celebrity-obsessed Western culture. (I recorded a couple of hours of CNN last night - and then scanned through their coverage from the too weird Larry King to the over the top Anderson Cooper.)

There is no doubt that Michael Jackson was a gifted performer and writer - who had the wisdom to work with people like Quincy Jones and Greg Phillinganes. Never a real fan in Jackson's prime, I do have his Number Ones in my iTunes library - the Glen Ballard/Seidah Garrett penned Man in the Mirror being my favourite recording.

His sad death, however, is the end of a tragic life; a gifted little boy whose childhood was wickedly stolen from him by an abusive, domineering father and Motown Records - who grows up vowing to never grow up - living in a perverse Neverland. (Michael was no Peter Pan.)

Now the fawning media, no doubt looking to drive up their audience numbers, are thrilled to be wall to wall Jackson. I agree with Jonah Goldberg on this one, "I must say I find the media’s instinctive rush to sanctify Michael Jackson disgusting."

The metaphor that came to mind for me this morning was that of traffic accident gawkers. They slow down to stare at the misfortune of others - slowing everyone else down in the process. Might I suggest whilst being respectful to his family, we need to move along people. There really is nothing to see here.

And there are a lot more important issues for us to consider.

UPDATE: Jordon Cooper offers his own take on Jackson - and quotes a lucid Andrew Sullivan in the process. (I haven't found Sullivan particularly lucid of late.) Challies quotes Sullivan, as well. And the iMonk points at a truly significant life and death.

(Photo credits: Wikipedia and iStockPhoto.)

celebrity-obsessed, michael jackson

Impressed with Our Boys

Liam and Rylan are two young men, who throughout their childhood, were told they would excel at university. They have.

Imbi and I are both proud of our sons who made the Dean's List at their universities - St. Francis Xavier University for Li and Victoria College, University of Toronto for Ry. Well done guys!

Make a point of checking out Liam's blog and Liam and Rylan's music.

Not to leave Kaili out, their equally incredible sister has been away for two months and comes home next week. You can check out Kai's blog here - of her seven weeks in South Africa.

The shot on the left is one of my favourites of the boys, grabbed by Imbi at the Furlow wedding last summer. (Liam's on the right, Ry on the left.)

Liam Kinnon, Rylan Kinnon, bragging, great kids

Synchroblog: Bridging the Gap - Who is My Neighbour?

"Who is my neighbour?" A trap set for Jesus by an "expert of the law". A trap that prompted the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

Samaritan's were dogs according to proper Jews (in the 1st Century.) Yet Jesus used a parable of a good samaritan to both shock and teach the "expert of the law" and those gathered to hear him. Jesus challenged his hearers, not just by the story, but by the central character in the story - one who a proper Jew would see as unclean; one who was not to be associated with. (Jesus breaks this barrier down again with the Samaritan woman at the well.)

This synchroblog is the brainchild of my friend, Wendy Gritter. Bridging the Gap is the name of a DVD resource produced by New Direction, an NGO that Wendy leads. It is also the name of New Direction's blog. New Direction seeks to create conversation between a community that has felt rejected by those who profess Christ as their Lord. Wendy says this,

The culture wars surrounding the topic of homosexuality have sucked up tremendous resources, have left devastated casualties in their wake, and continue to perpetuate polarization and enmity – most clearly seen in the divide between the Christian community and the gay community. The diversity and divisiveness surrounding gay issues is staggering. Even the above statement needs to be unpacked. The sense of polarization is not simply between the Christian community and the gay community as if both of those communities were completely monolithic and mutually exclusive. Rather, we see fractures within the Christian community and disagreements within the gay community. In the midst of this wasteland are gay Christians – a diverse group of people too – who often find very little safe harbour on either side of the divide.

I live in Toronto. A city that has the second highest LGBT population in North America, after San Francisco. And this is Gay Pride Week in my city. An event that brings upwards of a million people together to celebrate the freedom to live their lifestyle.

This is a tough week for many Christ followers. Many of us experience revulsion at the sexual antics that go on at the Pride Parade. We don't have the tools to deal with the event - or even believe those tools are necessary. But many of the folk who participate in Pride Week are my neighbours. How do I respond? More appropriately, how would Jesus have me respond?

"Love the sinner, hate the sin" is shopworn and virtually useless. Are we called to judge and despise a community that has grown out of one aspect of sexual brokenness in our society? Or are we challenged to be neighbours? Are we challenged to befriend and engage in conversations? I would say we are. In fact, I would say we must!

I would also add that too many of us have what seems to be a low view of the Holy Spirit. We see it as our responsibility to judge and demand change from those we decide are filled with sin. (Our own mirrors must be broken.)

"Those people" must change before we will even consider engaging with them. We don't acknowledge that the Holy Spirit has the ability to change what needs to be changed in the lives of others - or, for that matter, our own. And we demand that other's change must take place according to both our prescription and our timetable.

And we wonder why there is this great divide between a community that defines itself by its sexual orientation(s) and one that defines itself by its commitment to Christ. (And yes, some folk are in both camps.)

UPDATE: Though I subscribe to Challies in Google Reader (sometimes just to get my low blood pressure up), author/blogger/bon vivant Jared Wilson was the one who turned me on to this Challies interview with John Bell. John and Ian Clary are two of the Theology Pub attenders that Imbi and I also hang out with. They co-pastor New City Baptist Church in downtown T-Dot. Would I use John's approach? Probably not. But John is there in relationship doing his best to tell folk about Jesus - am I in any place to judge him?

The ever gracious Triple D also has a very good post.

UPDATE 2: And Triple D refers to the Challies post as well, (in Bridging the Gap Part Two) and concludes that post with a great Ed Dobson quote. In case you didn't know, Ed Dobson is the pastor who helped launch Rob Bell. (Although the story gets told in a different manner in Bell's Velvet Elvis.)

New Direction, Synchroblog - Bridging the Gap, Wendy Gritter

Of Greater Importance

Enough of the nonsense in the post directly below.

My friend, Rick Meigs, one of the Instigators of the Missional Tribe is in recovery mode from a very serious motorcycle accident. That recovery will take a rather long time.

As Rick is self-employed, this directly and adversely impacts his family's income. You can help by clicking on the widget in the upper left corner of this blog and use the PayPal link to support Rick and his family.

You can further help by installing the Widget on your blog. It's available via the link on the bottom of the widget @ my humble corner of blogdom - or via WidgetBox.

Missional Tribe, Rick Meigs

Speaking of Super Freaks... The Misery of Bent Toadley

Bent Toadley returns. I can barely contain myself from typing words that will have Imbi washing my mouth out with soap.

In less than a year, this fraud has thrown his wife and kids under the bus, admitted to adultery, had the Annointing Apostolic Profits running for cover and now He's Back!!!

Zombie-Christendom @ work.

In......credible.

Anyone that has anything to do with this man needs to be committed... to a psych ward.

Update: Dave Faulkner has a much more gracious post up, apparently prompted by this one. I respond in his comments. And Maggie Dawn responds to Dave (and seems to refer to this post as "cynical or rude").

prevaricating profits, Todd Bentley

Hornsby/Skaggs - Super Freak

I have absolutely no idea why I like Bluegrass Music as much as I do. Perhaps, it's the Scots/Irish genes that are part of my DNA. (I love Celtic music, too) I am known, on occasion, to drive my family a little nuts with this sector of my musical loves. And now I'd like to do the same to you.

I bought the Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby album while working on the major project that had me going night and day from June 'til May of this year. The album made me smile broadly. I played it loud, often. This song especially. It still cracks me up. (Liam loves it too. Showing that I've infected at least one of my children.) The banjo solo is to die for. (That will be sure to stop most of my readers from clicking the link right there.) I wonder if Rick James would have appreciated this version?

You can listen to more of the album here. Here's a link to a great rendition of Bruce's Mandolin Rain & The Way It Is with Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder. And check out Bruce's new single, Levitate - available from Amazon and iTunes.

Super Freak, Ricky Skaggs, Bruce Hornsby

Too Funny...

...not to post

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Via Shane

Barack Obama, Humor, JibJab

Enjoy A Little Music with Me

26 years ago I married into a large European family (based in Europe and North America) that includes Estonians, Swedes, (a Russian or two, but we don't talk about that) and a beautiful Slovenian, Barbara.

These two Perpetuum Jazzile videos are for her (and all of you, of course). These Slovenians can sing!!

Barb and her husband, Jaan are singers, as well, (as are most of Imbi's extended family). They are off shortly to sing at Laulupidu, the Estonian Song Festival.

And speaking of singing Estonians, to see the power of song to change history, watch the documentary The Singing Revolution.

Video

Video

Perpetuum Jazzile, Laulupidu, European family

Todd Hunter - An Interesting Trajectory

Part of my Christian past includes significant impact from John Wimber and the Vineyard. (I became a Christian in Toronto 27 years ago when David Watson, an English Anglican evangelist and rector of St. Michael le Belfrey in York was leading an event called Joy in the City. Watson and Wimber were close friends. I read about Wimber in Watson's books and the rest is history.)

After Wimber's death in '97, Todd Hunter became the National Director of the Vineyard Movement until 2000. Before my two year involvement with Allelon, Todd was its Church Planting coach. From there he went on to lead Alpha USA. Todd's heart for spiritual development saw him begin a movement called 3 is Enough after leaving Alpha.

Todd is also Director of West Coast Church Planting for The Anglican Mission in the Americas. And today I read that Todd has been elected a Bishop of the Anglican Church of Rwanda. An interesting trajectory. Congratulations, Bishop Todd.

Todd Hunter, Anglican, Anglican Mission in the Americas

A Real Prophet, Clay Shirky

In the previous post, I ranted about the twisted prophets of profit. In this post, let me point to a contemporary prophet who I've pointed to numerous times before, Clay Shirky.

Video link

Clay Shirky, Twitter, New Media, social media

Prosperity Gospel Church Leader Response #666

Challies pointed to an ESPN interview with the leader of a Tampa, Florida-based "ministry" known as Without Walls, Randy White. White, and his former wife, Paula are known for their extravagant lifestyles as co-leaders of the "church". Private jets, multi-million dollar New York condos, Bentleys, Mercedes and personal body guards. All in the name of Jesus, of course.

When confronted with the incongruity between their lifestyle and most of their parishioners they trot out a shopworn statement used by most of the preachers of prosperity:

"I think people feel like you get up to preach for gain," White said, referring to his wealthy lifestyle. "If I were in the ministry for gain I could make a lot more money outside of the ministry."

How!? As a used car salesman? That business is in the dumper. And Ponzi schemes are illegal, Randy.

I've heard this statement from far too many of these clowns. They expect their people to believe it, but it simply isn't true.

They've made their ill-gotten gains by selling "God's Favor." The First Amendment of the US Constitution (Separation of Church and State) has protected the US prosperity practitioners from investigation by the IRS as they claim "religious persectution" when dared to be questioned. Just look at the responses to the investigation of White and others by Senator Chuck Grassley.

A word of advice to those who I know have heard the nonsense statement from their "prosperity preachin' pastor," "I could make a lot more money outside of the ministry." Ask them how. And then find a church where the gospel is actually preached.

The NakedPastor's artwork from today seems particularly appropriate.

prosperity gospel, Randy White

Turn Up the Neighbours the Eagles are Listening

This is a post on worship music. Which is why I've misquoted a lyric from Steely Dan. (Which would totally tick off a certain Dr. Masters - no, not that one - as this Dr. Masters would never be culturally relevant - even if my culture is probably stuck in the 70's and 80's.)

I spent too many years as a worship leader in various churches. My much loved '74 Guild acoustic slung from my shoulders, my mouth pressed warmly against an SM58. On rare occasions I'd bust out my '65 Tele - but I never really had the chops to do that guitar justice. (Fortunately, Liam does.) Imbi was usually the MD, on piano and vocals. At different times we were joined by various bass players, drummers, guitarists, mandolin players, saxamaphonists, flautists - but never anyone on Tuba. (For the young calvinists who occasionally drop by, I'm not suggesting Imbi was the "mark driscoll" but that she was the Music Director.)

Most of the tunes we sang were rather like bad Eagles tunes; I've Got A Peaceful Easy Feeling about you Jesus, and I want to give You The Best of My Love so we can Take It Easy in eternity together. JIMBee* songs for the gathered masses. (*Jesus Is My Boyfriend).

Never did more I, IV, V chord patterns empower so many bad songs sung lustily by boomers and busters whilst their then young children looked on bemused. Heck, we even wrote some bad songs ourselves - although ours did ofttimes feature a Diminished Seventh.

We wrung ever drop of "anointing" out of songs from the Vineyard, Maranatha!, Integrity and (blech!) Hillsongs. We looked forward to the days when the pews would be filled with even more butts bopping to our groovy JIMBee tunes - those butts there for the "worship experience".

The prompt for this post was one from Jared Wilson (my favourite young Calvinist - you other two, I consider rather old now). Jared quoted a tweet from a buddy,

___________ wants to know why every Sunday can't be a worship experience like Hillsong United created last night.

I wrote a comment that got lost somewhere in the pushed pixel universe of blogdom. The gist of it was asking, 'shouldn't the "worship experience" be God's?'

In a comment on Jared's post, Elle Pyke quotes Skye Jethani (from a book I need to get),

These pastors [who encourage church leaders to "embrace entertainment"], representative of so many contemporary Christians, believe that God changes lives through the commodification and consumption of experiences. If our worship gatherings are energetic, stimulating, and exciting enough then people will attend, receive what’s being communicated, and be spiritually transformed.

We've been confused into thinking that "putting on the best show" is somehow about "winning the lost to Christ". "Worship Experiences" have little to do with actually worshipping the risen Lord. We judge those "experiences" based on our own feelings - as our own "needs are met."

"God really showed up last night." (Where had He been before He showed up? Shopping?)

"I was so blessed by the worship, man!" (Were people worshipping you?!)

"Oh man, the Holy Spirit really began to move during the worship." (After a period of lethargy, the Holy Spirit finally began to do something based on us singing bad Eagles's tunes. That makes complete sense.)

To paraphrase Matt Redman, "I'm comin' back to the heart of worship, and it's all about me, all about me, Jesus."

Let's be honest, shall we. Our corporate worship in the west is really about happy clappy people having a good time - in the hopes they'll come back for more happy clappy times, begin to pay the price of admission (I think you call that "tithing") and get signed up to serve in a "ministry" that benefits the corporation.

Jared says,

...it ain't like God is a genie in a bottle and you gotta rub him the right way (bay-bay). Unless your congregation is a bunch of heretics, God is there among you every Sunday, and every day he is ready to be worshiped. If the majesty of God were truly in our hearts and minds, if our selves were alive to the wonder of the gospel, I doubt it would really matter if Hillsong United were on stage or if it were Brother Bob with his ukelele.

Now. I'd prefer that Brother Bob played his uke like this, but, "it ain't about me" now is it.

Should worship on occasion be joyous? Of course.

But it also should be mournful. (Read the Psalms, people! David sang the blues. Shouldn't we? Though we might consider whether to sing this particular verse of the Psalms.)

It should be contemplative. (That word will overly excite a few folk.)

It should lead us to confession.

And.

Ultimately.

The "experience of worship" should be God's.

This post is already too long - and I have many more thoughts. I'll come back to this in a later post.

happy clappy, Hillsongs, Hillsongs United, worship experience

Please Pray for Rick Meigs

I just found out (via Brother Maynard & Rob Robinson) that our good friend, Rick Meigs was badly injured in a hit and run accident earlier today.

I wanted to let everyone know that Rick Meigs was at a Motorcycle rally at Hell's Canyon and was clipped by a vehicle whom crossed the line and clipped him head on. It was a hit and run.

He is in critical condition with two collapsed lungs and a ruptured spleen. His wife Fran is in Texas and trying to get to Baker City before they fly him to Boise.

Please pray for Rick and his family.

UPDATE: Brother Maynard has more details. See his updates, please. The prognosis is much better today. Thank you, Lord.

Missional Tribe

Promises, promises

Imbi grabbed this shot earlier this month. It's taken from the kitchen window over the sink in our loft. You can see the remains of the 2nd rainbow (to the left) that was much brighter before she found her camera.

The building the rainbow(s) appear to be empowering is a church where folk like Imbi, Al Roxburgh and myself were once leaders (back in the '80's and 90's). The story of that church in light of the neighbourhood is touched on in this video that I shot with A-Rox back in '06.

double rainbow, no floods, The Danforth, Random Pix

Calling All Trees

Imbi, Liam, Rylan and I drove by this sign a few weeks back.

We had to turn around and capture it. It cracked us up.

But. We're like that, eh!

Who knew forests had headquarters? Must be a Narnia thing...in York Region, no less. (York Region is just north of Toronto.)

Odd Signs, trees report to duty, a Narnia kinda thing

A Metaphor

BubbleShare: Share photos - Easy Photo Sharing I took these shots back in 2006 when Kaili, Rylan and I spent a couple of weeks in the sunny south. This just seems to be so much like life, doesn't it. The stop sign (in the last frame) cracks me up.

Roads to nowhere

John La Grou @ TED

Earlier this year, Imbi and I spent a weekend hanging out with Dick Staub and a number of other folk we'd never met. When we arrived at the location where were to hang for a few days, I met a few people immediately. (To understand the story, you need to also understand that I've been dealing with major hearing issues in my left ear since I flew to Colorado last summer whilst suffering from a double ear infection.) One of the people was a rather tall fellow named John who seemed somewhat familiar. I shook his hand in greeting and then turned back to my bags.

Into my good ear, Imbi said quietly, "Bill, that's John La Grou." At which point I immediately realized why he looked familiar (I just had no idea how tall he was) and I turned back to him to give him a bear hug. One of the highlights of my weekend was getting to know John a little better. (I met John through the blog world, and wrote one of the chapters in the first Wikiklesia book for which John was co-editor.)

When you view the word polymath @ Wordnik, there really should be a picture of John beside it. He's a musican, a student of theology, the designer of audio recording preamps (that our son, Rylan, lusts after), a writer, a business owner (with his equally gifted wife, Cynthia), a vineyard owner/winemaker (again with Cynthia) and more. John spoke at TED this year on an intelligent power outlet he co-designed. Take three minutes to learn about it, please.

Click here if you can't see the TED video.

John La Grou, TED, TED Talks

Of Complimentarians and Egalitarians

For those of you who've read my pushed pixels for any length of time, you will know I'm an egalitarian in terms of church leadership. And, I believe the Scriptures support my position. (I don't just appeal to Pauls "neither male nor female" - Gal. 3:28 passage but look to Priscilla & Aquila as co-labourers with Paul, Timothy having been taught by his mother and grandmother, the Apostle Junia - a woman (Romans 16:7), the priesthood of all believers, etc.)

However.

Some of my closest friends are complimentarian. And. I believe it can be said that the Scriptures more easily support their position - though in my not humble opinion that "support" is "too easily" read - often seeming to ignore context and the meta-narrative of the Scriptures.

My particular complimentarian friends view church leadership through the lens of servant leadership rather than power. (Matthew 20:25-28 - "...Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not be served—and then to give away his life in exchange for the many who are held hostage.") I don't agree with their position on women in church leadership but I do know they have come to it with integrity and humility. These aren't misogynists - which is the simple accusation thrown around by too many people who disagree with the complimentarian position.

I was shocked recently by a Baptist Seminary news service that quoted Tim Keller as saying,

...there is an idolatrous reason behind each behavioral issue. For example, behind the belief that women should be ordained is the need for power and a love for feeling in charge.

This quote seemed extraordinarily out of character for Dr. Keller, who is up front about his complimentarian position, but ever gracious in that position. This quote was not particularly gracious and I still wonder whether Dr. K had been taken out of context.

@djchuang points to Anna Scott's blog where she talks about the complimentarian/egalitarian debate and references Tim & Kathy Keller. (Note that Anna's original post, that prompted the one I'm responding to, is very strong and a necessary read.)

I’m not sure that there are any new arguments to be made. When I wrote yesterday, I was not writing about the exegesis of particular passages. I went to Gordon College; I’m in seminary at Regent; I’ve attended two seriously evangelical churches for the bulk of my time as a Christian–I know the arguments, I’m aware of the issues. I know it’s complicated. I also know some people think it’s clear cut, one way or the other. I also am pretty familiar with the Redeemer view, as I used to devour TK’s sermons, and wish I still could, but am finally realizing that you can’t just spend money whenever you feel like it, and I can’t go dropping $30 on a sermon series anymore, no matter how much I want to. However, before I learned to be more fiscally responsible, and while I was getting ready to get married, I DID listen to the marriage sermon. And I’ll say this: it’s the closest I’ve come to accepting the complementarian position. If anyone could have done it, it was Kathy Keller in her talk. But, for me, even though this might sound heretical, as I’m not following this statement with a Bible verse–I just can’t do it. It goes so deeply against my own sense of who I am, the priority of equality, etc. It goes against the argument of my heart, my clear sense of call, and the implications and practical ramifications of carrying these policies out in marriage, church, and societies, that will feel demeaning, whether intended as such or not. [excerpt - link & emphasis added]

Tim responds in the comments,

I don’t mind you being unconvinced by our arguments (most people in the world are!) But with all due respect–I’m not sure its accurate to say we are not attuned to their impact on people. We’ve had plenty of NYC women reject our view, of course (just like we’ve had plenty reject all kinds of other teachings on Christian beliefs and practices.) But I think that what we have accomplished to some degree is that we’ve developed a church in which people who don’t have our view on gender roles are not made to feel their motives are being assaulted. As a result, we have a spectrum of opinion among us, even though we hold to traditional practice. [excerpt]

Anna responds,

...it may be too much to hope for a SECOND response from an intensely busy man (doing so much great work!), but if you [Tim] do get a chance, could you respond at all to the fact that Redeemer does make people feel comfortable and welcome who disagree in this area (like our friends Jon and Steph Fitzgerald, who I think you know), but you also have some strong associations with people whose churches or organizations are far more dogmatic and inflexible (like Driscoll, Piper, Duncan, Mohler, CBMW, etc)?

Interestingly, I was talking with a friend at school today (Regent in Vancouver), and she said she had taken a class with JI Packer, who is emeritus here, but teaches fairly regularly, and he had been similarly gracious on this issue, saying that it was secondary for him, even though he took the traditional position as well. So, I want to make it clear that I am grateful for people like you and Dr. Packer who make that effort, but still see most high-achieving, non-Christian women friends of mine (including my attorney mother) being utterly put off by reading/hearing some of the stuff coming from CBMW or Mars Hill, such that knowing it was associated in any way with Redeemer would be a huge obstacle to getting any of my NYC friends in the door, even though you guys approach the issue in a more nuanced and unique fashion–AND would be preaching the Word in a way that I think would really floor them. [excerpt]

Tim responds,

Anna - Sorry. I didn’t want to make you feel bad at all! I think I did a bit.

I associate with people on both sides of the issue. You say ‘how can you be connected with those folks over there?’ but people to my ‘right’ can be just as bothered that I’m willing to affiliate with people who believe in women’s ordination. I get it from both sides, and I think that goes along with Redeemer’s calling. We don’t want to demonize people who differ with us, and to a great degree that is happening across spectrum. Everybody is deeply offended by everybody else. I guess we are trying to do our small part to change that, and that means we don’t stay away from people because they disagree with us over this. [emphasis added]

Some of us in this debate want to make either position a first order issue. (I recently read the rather simplistic argument of a conservative Canon, formerly in TEC, who identified TEC's present problems with their ordination of women. Ridiculous, in my most arrogant opinion!)

We demonize those who hold an opposing position and will not relate with them. (In terms of full disclosure, the Kinnons attended a PCA church here in Toronto for a number of years which we love to this day. We left the church because of the then pastor's over emphasis on predestination and because we were egalitarians in what was then a much more rigid environment of complimentarian theology. We still love and respect the original pastor, BTW.)

Some people (I'm thinking Driscoll here) say things that make it easy to apply the misogynist label to complimentarians, creating unnecessary stumbling blocks for those both inside and outside the Kingdom - as Anna so rightly acknowledges. (And, oddly enough the supposed Keller example from the news service mentioned above of "the idolatry of the need for power and a love for feeling in charge" could easily be applied to brother Mark.)

Others on the opposite side want to appeal to political world-views and women's rights issues without engaging the Scriptures - to the point of labeling the Apostle Paul a misogynist. Really!? (See the links to NT Wright and Rebecca Groothuis in my earlier post for Biblical exegesis of the egalitarian position - along with two important posts from Peggy Brown here and here.)

We are all broken people who "see as through a glass darkly" - cracked Eikons, as it were. Extending grace, one to another, might go a long way in fulfilling Jesus prayer for our unity - whether we ever completely agree with each other. (We won't.)

After Thought: Two of the preachers who have had the most impact on me in the last couple of years are Tim Keller and Fleming Rutledge - both who love God's Word passionately. To miss out on the solid teaching of either because Tim holds a complimentarian viewpoint or because Fleming is a woman is both silly and costly.

UPDATE 1: Addressing the comment from my good friend Sonja in the comments, when first order issues are spoken of, my understanding is that they refer to what was addressed in the 4th Century by the Nicene Creed. They do not deal with church polity.

UPDATE 2: Read this post written in 2007 by David Fitch and see Dave's comments below.

complimentarian, Tim Keller, egalitarian, Fleming Rutledge

We, all like sheep,...

...have gone astray. Or not.

This post was Ed Brenegar's fault.