Imbi and I had a very good day with Dave and Ed, yesterday. We picked Ed up from TEDS (where he's been teaching this week) and met Dave at the building where Life on The Vine gathers. (I've written that line intentionally as Life on the Vine does not focus their life around the building - though the building is theirs.)
Imbi and I shot over an hour with Dave and Ed in a freewheeling conversation that covered all things missional. Dave and Ed had fun, but they also covered some serious topics where they don't agree - primarily around the issue of whether Megachurches can be missional. Dave states his position very clearly in this post. Ed states his position just as clearly in this article for Outreach Magazine.
The four of us left the church to grab a quick bite and then headed over to TEDS where Ed was both teaching a class and teaching a seminar @ a pastor's conference (at the same time). I shot Ed's 90 minute presentation (which will be up somewhere by the end of the year), took a break, and came back to shoot a further conversation in front of the class with Dave and Ed. (I'm sorry we'll miss Joe Thorn who will be with Ed today @ TEDS.)
As Dave commented a couple of times, Ed could easily make a living as a talk show host. (Especially as the man is slimming down rapidly and looks good on camera.) Ed's funny, faster than a Ferrari and passionate about his faith. (He's also got a gazillion degrees which doesn't hurt - and he's a researcher par excellence.) Those of us a little older than brother Ed were dragging our "derrieres" a little by the early evening - while Ed, the Energizer Bunny, was busy planning his 6:30 am breakfast gathering for the next morning.
To make sure you don't get the wrong impression, Dave, who has a bit of a Jack Nicholson thing going on, more than held his own in all the discussions (which often included gales of laughter) - and Imbi & I think you're going to enjoy the videos that come out of our time here in the Windy City. (Which we are about to drive into to grab some b-roll. Especially as we've never actually been in the city - though we've been at O'Hare way too many times. We've been out in the North West 'burbs with Dave & Ed.)
And if you haven't already been watching them, here's the first of Ed's Mission/Al videos. (I think a number of folk think it's them being skewered in the videos which brings this song to mind, but I digress.)
Don Goertz, Director of the Tyndale MDiv in Ministry Program (and a very good guy as I remember from his Walmer Church days) and Dr. Irving Whitt, the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada Global Education Co-ordinator will respond to the question, "How does missional church language (self-described as domestic missiology) fit in with global missions? "
I'd suggest there's a lot more to the mission-shaped/missional conversation than "domestic missiology" - which is one of the reasons I'd love to be there. Alas, Imbi and I will be with Dave Fitch - a missional church practitioner himself - in Chicago that day - after filming Dave and Ed Stetzer in conversation the day before. That conversation will be up a couple of weeks after the shoot and available to embed via Vimeo.
Jan, at The View from Herhas just posted Part 2 of her conversation, Considering Servant Leadership,
...we persist in pursuing leadership as something to be developed in followers of Jesus, though it is never mentioned as a characteristic of a disciple. It is listed as one of the many gifts present in the body of Christ - along with prophecy, serving, teaching, encouraging, caring and mercy (Romans 12). Yet we continue to send church staff to leadership conferences and require attendance at leadership development seminars. We read John Maxwell books and mandate leader quotas in ministry plans. For some reason, leaders insist on foisting this one gift above all others upon good people whom God created with other valuable gifts. Why? Because leaders think they make things happen, and they want to replicate more people who'll make things happen, and they're in charge. When you're in charge, what you want is what happens. And that is the conflict.
But think about it this way for a moment. Imagine that Jesus was quite serious about laying down your life to serve, and denying yourself. Consider that of all the gifts, he exemplified the gift of serving. Maybe the denying and laying down is especially difficult - and required - for leaders. Now imagine leaders required to attend seminars on how to be a better servant. (Imagine a "Servantship Summit!") Rather than making leadership "one size fits all," it appears that serving is required for all, and is perhaps most difficult - and necessary - for leaders.
Back in '05 and '06, as we were recovering from the impact of working with the antithesis of servant leadership (or perhaps Level Minus 5 leadership in G2G speak), I wrote a lot on Servant Leadership. One of those posts was titled, What Lens? where I suggested that "leadership" could be defined by the lens used by the leader. I wrote that too many church leaders used the King lens, and then I stated,
The Cross is the lens through which we need to view Christian leadership. Through the Cross we interpret the Scriptures. When Paul speaks of obeying leaders - he is seeing leaders through the lens of the Cross. The Cross is hard. It is the place where the Creator of the Universe, chooses to abase Himself, to make Himself the lowest of the low - that we who rejected Him would be won back to Him. Paul never loses sight of his Saviour on the Cross. As he says in 1 Corinthians 1:23, "but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles". When Paul speaks of leaders, he is speaking of those who are willing to lay down their lives for those they lead. Leaders who are right in the midst of their people. Paul views leadership through the lens of the Cross. To interpret his teaching any other way is to miss what he is saying completely.
And what does Jesus say of leadership in light of the Cross? When Zebedee's sons, James and John, who still view Jesus through the king lens, ask to sit on his right and left in "glory" - Jesus asks them whether they are able to "drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptisim I am baptized with." (Mark 10:38 ) Jesus is asking whether they are willing to be crucified like Him - though they do not understand his question even as he has just explained it to them in Mark 10:32-34 - their lens is still the lens of the king. They still expect Jesus to take His throne at the Temple in Jerusalem. But Jesus knows where He is heading.
Friday evening, the four available Kinnons (Liam being in Antigonish, Nova Scotia), were taken by producer-extraordinaire, Andrew Morris to hear another producer-extraordinaire, Daniel Lanois. (Andrew's not quite as well known as Daniel. But, then again, he's also 20 years younger. Just you wait. Check out Andrew's work with Kaili here - a cover of Stevie Wonder's Lately - Andrew produces, arranges and plays all instruments.)
I was wiped from a rather intense week, and really wasn't expecting much from the Lanois concert @ Massey Hall. I'd been aware of him since his Grant Avenue Studio days in Hamilton, Ontario. We'd also worked with his younger brother, Bob, on one or two music videos a long time ago. (Scene by Scene, our edit facility, was in its first building then.) I was aware of the Eno connection and Lanois' work with some of my favourite artists. His production on Robbie Roberston's 1987 debut solo album, was where I sat up and took notice. But it was his co-producing of U2 where Lanois came to wider fame.
With his production credits (that include him winning 10 Grammys and 5 Juno Awards), it's easy to ignore the fact that he is talented writer and performer. A fact that was made abundantly clear at Massey Hall, Friday night. The evening began with one of Lanois' better known songs, The Maker, from his 1989 album, Acadie.
Andrew and Rylan commented that this sounded like when the band did their soundcheck, as the mix was not up to Lanois standards at that point. That being said, Lanois had me from the first song. Or. I should say. Lanois and his band, featuring the amazing Brian Blade on drums, had me. Blade alone was worth the evening. Not to take anything away from the great bass playing and sweet high vocals of Marcus Blake, or the strength of Jim Wilson on guitar and vocals. These four truly seemed to enjoy playing with each other - and the evening had the loose feel of a band that could follow their leader anywhere. A standout of the evening (and it was all great) was Duo Glide with Lanois on pedal steel and Blade on drums. (The other two took a brief break.)
As my good buddy, Darryl Dash said, this was evening you didn't want to have missed. Though Darryl's wife, Charlene, commented that the 2nd balcony's seats left much to be desired in terms of space and comfort. Imbi's comment was in ten years, a mythology will have grown around this concert - as one of the all time greats. I'd put it up with the best I've seen including Springsteen in the seventies and Dire Straits in the early 90's. You'll be able to hear it on CBC Radio 2 on January 26th - and it will be available as a streaming file after that - for a year. Don't miss it. (Sun Media's Jane Stevenson has a better review of the evening.)
Saturday morning , began with an ursus grumpius loose in the loft. Unfortunately, that grumpy bear was me. Imbi did her best to help the beast, but unfortunately not before I managed to offend one of my dear children - the other one wisely hid whilst ursus grumpius was uncaged in the kitchen. (I did manage to apologize some hours later.) It was actually easy for the day to improve after that.
With Ursus G. well hidden in the nether regions of my personality, Imbi and I spent the morning teaching camera work to two men who will be assisting us during the ACI Conference that features NT Wright later this month. Imbi was at her normal gifted teaching best. I was her somewhat helpful assistant.
Saturday afternoon , I was off in the rain to pick up Dr. Darryl Dash (Triple D) to head out to Oakville and CJOY - the radio station that hosts The Drew Marshall Show. Triple D, the Internet Monk et moi, were the guests for a segment Drew and his producer called, The Jesus Bloggers. As they rather nicely said,
A rare collection of some of the most interesting Jesus Bloggers online today. Drew and the boys will chat about the U.S. election, The Shack, Prosperity Doctrine, and basically anything they want to from the crazy world of North American Christendom. Feel free to join Drew and the Jesus Bloggers in what’s sure to be a wild ride through the world of Christianity 101!
It was an absolute blast. My favourite part of our time together was Michael Spencer unpacking The Shack - a book he was originally quite positive about and one he still believes should be read. Michael helped me understand my own dis-ease with the book (which I finally finished this past week.) If you read no other of Michael's posts on the Shack, read this one, please.
In the book, it's author, Paul Young spends a lot of time having Papa, Jesus and Sarayu (the Holy Spirit) diss the church and agree with the de-churched (like me) who struggle with the Christendom model. Might I suggest that it's rather dangerous to create a Trinity who agree with me - rather than me, with my limited understanding, attempting to agree with God.
This portion of Michael, Darryl's and my time together with Drew is well worth listening to. I liken this part of Young's book to John Galt's speech in Atlas Shrugged (though I call Galt - Howard Roark, the architect in The Fountainhead - though I'd argue they are really the same character - and heck, I read all of Rand's writing before I was 15 - a long time ago.) It should be up at Drew's site by next Friday (November 21st).
Kaili and Imbi made a point of listening to the show and gave us two thumbs up. (Although, I apparently went off on a tangent at one point - which shouldn't be a shock to anyone who knows me.) It was a real treat for me to be with the always gracious DDD and the ever brilliant iMonk. And Drew is funny, irreverent, passionate and a gifted interviewer.
Sunday has a been a true day of rest. I've had a little fun in Photoshop while writing this post. We hope to hear Fleming Rutledge this evening at Little T, but now I'm off to see my Mom.
If you wander through the hallowed halls of these once achievable ends, (now just simply kinnon.tv) you'll find me expressing rather extreme displeasure with the data scraping tendencies of the Book of Faces. Well. I've been assimilated. Though careful with the amount of data I give them to scrape I've enjoyed the reconnection with many friends. (Certain of whom in South Africa would ONLY talk to me via FB.)
But this whole "is now friends with" nonsense is so stupid. At one point, Facebook was announcing that "Bill Kinnon is now friends with Imbi Medri-Kinnon." Well. Actually. She's my wife. We've been friends (at least most days) since very early in the '80's - when the Facebook founders were but gleams in their parents eyes.
Perhaps it's time for FB to grow up and acknowledge that friendships did exist before FB. As Napoleon Dynamite would say, "Idiots!"
Imbi and I quickly produced the above video to tell a bit of the story. Note the Fearon and Wright sections are from her upcoming documentary which I might title "How Do We Train Mission-Shaped Leaders for the 21st Century" but she has not yet given it a name. Interviews in the documentary include new Fresh Expressions leader, Bishop Graham Cray, Bishop NT Wright, Archbishop Fearon, Fresh Expressions Team Members Pete and Kath Atkins, Pete Pillinger and many others. I think it will be very, very good. It should be ready for viewing early in the New Year. More on that later.
The woman smiled, responding, “I am so hopeful because even in my societal weakness and personal brokenness, I feel that I am more qualified than the religious power-brokers to find G-d. I am an authentic seeker.”
“Seekers are finders,” Jesus warmly replied.
The woman paused a moment before she spoke. Then she confessed, “Did you know I am living with a man who is not my husband? I have had five husbands already. I will form a loving community of multiple-husbanded women and there encounter and define a loving G-d for us.”
“Yes, yes, you are the messiah for your niche. Welcome to the wonder of liminal space. Your loneliness gives you the moral authority and right to live with whoever and with as many people as you wish.”
Make a point of reading both of them in their entirety @ John's blog, please.
Our beautiful and gifted 17 yr old daughter, Kaili, working with our good friend, Producer/Arranger/Musician Andrew Morris has recorded their take on Stevie Wonder'sLately. Check it out @ Pure Volume, please. It's available for download.
(Andrew Morris is a true Renaissance man: entrepreneur, inventor, recording engineer, producer, musician and an all around great guy.)
I should also point you to two of the other musicians in the Kinnon family - Liam & Rylan as the band Substance over Style - all instruments, vocals and most production by these two gifted men. (Daydreams and Nightmares, available for download is one of my favourite songs of theirs. It's blasting out of my speakers as I write this.) Liam Kinnon - guitar, bass, some bgvs. Rylan Kinnon - keyboards, vocals and drums.
Stay tuned for a release from the band known as Kinnon in the not too distance future. Kinnon features Liam, Rylan and Kaili - with producer, Andrew Morris. (I love their sound - and I'm not remotely biased, of course.) I wish I could put up their hypnotically powerful tune, Calamity - but it's not quite finished. Written by Kinnon, Kinnon, Kinnon & Morris, Imbi and I think it's a very good tune with powerful vocals from Kai, killer guitars from Li, some of Rylan's best drumming ever and wonderful bass and producing from Andrew. The track was engineered by Rylan and Andrew. (The song is partially motivated by some of the things we Kinnons went through in '04 - '05 - thus the title.)
(Apologies up front for the length of this post. It began as a short comment on the video above - viewing of which was prompted by a Tweet fromPresenationZen's Garr Reynolds- @presentationzen. It grew to over 1300 words.)
If you've followed this blog for any length of time, you know I often write about Roy Williams, the Wizard of Ads. Roy is one of the more prescient business/thought leaders on the planet. Roy wrote this five years ago,
At the peak of the Baby Boom there were 74 million teenagers in America and radio carried a generation on its shoulders. Today there are 72 million teenagers that are about to take over the world. Do you understand what fuels their passions? Can you see the technological bonds that bind them?
Baby Boomer heroes were always bigger than life, perfect icons, brash and beautiful: Muhammad Ali... Elvis... James Bond. But the emerging generation holds a different view of what makes a hero.
Boomers rejected Conformity and their attitude swept the land, changing even the mores of their fuddy-duddy parents. But today's teens are rejecting Pretense. Born into a world of hype, their internal BS-meters are highly sensitive and blisteringly accurate. Words like "amazing," "astounding," and "spectacular" are translated as "blah," "blah," and "blah." Consequently, tried and true selling methods that worked as recently as a year ago are working far less well today. Trust me, I know.
The world is again changing stripe and color. We're at another tipping point. Can you feel it?
Most people couldn't feel it. Some still can't.
The video above acknowledges today what Roy was talking about five years ago. Though I might challenge Gen-We co-writer, Eric Greenberg's assertion (in the video) that Generation We are progressive. To a boomer, progressive suggests a pure liberal agenda. I don't believe that accurately describes millenials.
Might I suggest that Generation We are more correctly Progessive Conservatives - concerned about social justice, social welfare, family stability, community life and more. (Red Tories in the Canadian political vernacular.) They have many of the attributes of what Tom Brokaw called the "Greatest Generation" - the parents of the Boomers.
Williams again (posted on my 49th Birthday),
Baby Boomers were idealists who worshipped heroes, perfect icons of beauty and success. Today these icons are seen as phony, posed and laughable. Our cool as ice, suave lady's man James Bond has become the comic poser Austin Powers or the tragically flawed and vulnerable Jason Bourne of The Bourne Identity. That's the essence of the new worldview; the rejection of delusion, a quiet demand for gritty truth. We're seeing it reflected in our movies, our television shows and our music.
[NOTE: Daniel Craig's James Bond is truly James Bourne - more Matt Damon than Pierce Brosnan, Sean Connery et al.]
Baby Boomers believed in big dreams, reaching for the stars, personal freedom, "be all that you can be." Today's generation believes in small actions, getting your head out of the clouds, social obligation, "do your part."
A Baby Boomer anchored his or her identity in their career. The emerging generation sees his or her job only as a job.
Baby Boomers were diplomatic and sought the approval of others. The emerging generation feels it's more honest to be blunt, and they really don't care if you approve or not.
Boomers were driven, self-reliant and impressed by authority. Emergents are laid back, believe in working as a team, and have less confidence in "the boss."[For his own sake, the President Elect needs to keep this in mind.]
Idealistic Boomers had an abundance mentality, believed in a better world, and were opulent in their spending. Emergents see scarcity, believe in doing what it takes to survive, and are more fiscally conservative. [Make a point of reading this, as well.] All emphasis added.
Responding to Roy, I wrote this in my long essay/short book, A Networked Conspiracy (now available as a free pdf download here - or click on the link in the right column to get the CD/Booklet version from Amazon or Wizard Publishing),
...to begin to understand Emergents*, we need to understand their attitudes and values.
They have:
- A hunger to be part of authentic community.
- A commitment to lasting relationships.
- A desire for their stories to be heard.
- A disdain for hype and empty rhetoric - Don’t tell us what you believe, show us – be real.
- A mission in life beyond money, sex & power.
[*The word "Emergents" is used here to mean millenials.]
Boomer Progessives want to believe these Millenials have idential values to them. They don't!
Gen-We played a huge role in giving President Elect Barack Obama his mandate - but if he becomes simply a Chicago Pol in power - they will abandon him. (I hope the decision of Rahm Emanuel as Chieif of Staff has more to do with Emanuel's steel-willed pragmatism than it does with his and President Elect Obama's strong ties to Chicago's Daley Machine.)
The Gen-We video rightly states that these millenials are not interested in partisan politics. They did not vote for Obama because he was a Democrat. They bought his message of Hope and Change. (Note the stat that 41% of college students consider themselves independents - and as a further example, over 30% of the Colorado electorate are registered independents.)
Greenburg and Weber (acknowledging the impact of Generations writers, Strauss and Howe - who also had a significant impact on Roy Willams understanding of generational change) highlight the difference between the confrontational world of Boomers and the civic-mindedness of Gen-We,
Every survey and attitudinal study— including our own—confirms that today’s young people respect and are eager to learn from well-intentioned people of their parents’ and grandparents’ generations. This is a dramatic change from the experi- ence of many people from past generations, who grew up believing that intense intergenerational conflict is natural and unavoidable. In their massive study Millennials Rising, generational scholars Neil Howe and William Strauss report, “Most teens say they identify with their parents’ values, and over nine in ten say they ‘trust’ and ‘feel close to’ their parents. The proportion who report conflict with their parents is declining.”
Although Baby Boomers may have invented the motto, “Don’t trust anyone over 30”—and even lived by it, at least until they themselves turned 30—their children, Generation We, are ready to trust and work with them. Page 141, Generation We pdf document.
In the hyper communication speed of the third millenium after Christ, Gen-We have a realistic expectation that the incoming president will live up to his post-partisan positioning/posturing. Follow their discussions on Facebook, on Twitter and in blogdom. They are watching, talking, texting and blogging and President Elect Obama will have a very short time frame in which to show he can and will live up to his statement,
As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, “We are not enemies, but friends…though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection.” And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn – I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too.
With God's help and our prayers, I believe he can. The strong hope of Gen-We, is that he actually will.
UPDATE: In further scanning Generation We, whilst still seeing much good in it, I feel it's important to recognize that there is a level of anti-Christian sentiment in the book. Christians (specifically evangelicals) are seen as part of the problem. (Greenburg surveyed evangelical Christians in Denver, CO and Birmingham, AB. Those particular locations would tend to skew results, methinks.) See the comments and quotes on pages 110, 114, 142 and 167. And though he is quoted extensively, from Greenburg's perspective, Dr. Martin Luther King's strong Christian faith appears to have had no bearing on his actions. The book is significantly more pro Alternate Spirituality - reflecting Greenburg's own spiritual journey - Page 186 pdf document.
Addendum: Please note that Eric Greenberg and Karl Weber's book, Generation We is availableas a free download.
Also note that this post has been written before I've actually read Generation We. The end notes and the search function in Skim, the pdf reader I use, helped me discover the impact of Strauss and Howe on Greenburg and Weber. And that search provided the quote five grafs above.
A part of me is well pleased that the US has elected it's first African American president. And another part of me is profoundly concerned that President-Elect Barack Obama will follow through on promises made to folk like Planned Parenthood. This is a time for Christians to pray for the new leader of the declining Empire of the United States and to, as best as we can, speak with one voice against those particular issues where there is such strong disagreement - and I again refer to the FOCA.
As a citizen of a nation whose life is closely intertwined with that of the USA, I commit to pray for the new president and his family on a daily basis. I hope and pray that the dreams so many have placed in him will turn out to be justified. I will also pray that we Christians will find a less partisan way to engage in the political process - a via media perhaps.
I've read lots of gracious comments this morning from those Christians who were in the McCain camp as well as those in the Obama camp. I confess, however, that I found this comment particularly graceless, from a member of the Obama camp I have previously experienced as grace-filled (though not through this election cycle.)
Thanks to everyone who had the courage to vote for change over entrenchment, hope over fear, diversity over homogeneity, and reconciliation over division.
UPDATE 2: Brian McLaren digs his divisive hole deeper with his Response from Friends. As I know that he's received responses from other friends who graciously hold a contrarian opinion to his own, Brian seems to hold fast to his opinion of those folk who did not vote for President-Elect Barack Obama are backwards racists. I'm stunned - but perhaps that's to be expected.
...a few people interpreted my thank you note here ... as an insult to all people who voted for McCain. I'm so sorry for giving this impression. I keep trying to figure out how I could have worded this differently to avoid offense. Please be assured, I believe that many people voted for McCain for reasons that had nothing to do with entrenchment, fear, homogeneity, and division. I simply wanted to thank everyone who voted for Senator Obama for reasons of hope, diversity, and unity. Thanks for understanding.
I'll cut Brian a little slack in that perhaps his exuberance got way too far out in front of his editing. However, I'd say many of us (rather than "a few") read Brian as so "in the tank" for Obama during the campaign that his statement was read within that context. After all, his undergrad and Master's degrees are in English.
JR Woodward pulls out most of the stops (a reference to pipe organs for you young'uns) on his post A Primer on Today's Missional Church. It is an excellent resource for those both already engaged in the discussion and new to it. Book mark it now!
It was one of those odd fall days in Toronto. Temps were mid-Septemberish rather than first week of Novemberish. Today's high in Toronto hitting 66ºF.
In spite of the weather, and without going into details, I confess that for the last 48 hours I've felt as if run over by a steamroller - flat, crushed and of no use to anyone.
And then I saw these gorgeous leaves whilst out for a walk with the dog. They reminded me of the inherent goodness of God's creation - in the midst of all the brokenness in this world.
There's a passage in scripture that says," Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life" (or as Eugene Peterson would have it, "but a sudden good break can turn life around.")
A lot of my American friends and acquaintances have already voted in the advance polls. They'll spend November 4th getting the vote out for the Changeling candidate. Many others have marked their calendars in eager anticipation of November 4th. Hope and Change are in their thoughts, on their lips and in their writing.
My friend, Ed Brenegar, made this comment on the We are Stupid post below.
This is a therapeutic election. Who one votes for is intended to make one feel good about oneself. One of my closest friends, an Obama supporter, told me that he believes that Obama will not lead according to his past political convictions, but from the middle. My heart sank. Not because I though he was mistaken, but that he, the smartest guy I known, invested so much hope in a narrative that is clearly designed for him to get elected. I felt he was hoping against reason, and that has become the meme of this election. (emphasis added)
When my boys were younger, I used to take elements from their previous day or two and weave them into what we called the "Little Lion" bedtime stories. (Liam was the Little Lion, Rylan the Littler Lion - sorry Kai that I didn't continue the tradition with you - I guess you would have been the Littlest Lioness.) I took some of the hard things they'd gone through and turned them into fun stories of overcoming. But. They were stories. They weren't truth. And they were designed for a specific audience to promote change and bring hope. (And, yes, sometimes they were successful.)
One of the things Obama has said is that people project their ideas and convictions onto him, as if he were a blank slate. I find this quote from an Obama supporter on the BarackObama.com site rather telling,
...specific public display events, like festivals, often have intentionally ambiguous meanings so that individual members of that society can project their own personal meaning onto the representations. So while you have one singular event, you have multiple understanding of that event (which we like to call postmodern hermeneutics).
This is so Obama. He is criticized for being vague and lacking substance in his speeches, but that's precisely the genius of him as a public figure (not a public festival, but still a public figure that operates by using discourse in the public sphere). By remaining somewhat ambiguous, he allows many different people to project their own meaning onto him. That's how he can reach across party, racial, and gender divides: he means something different for everyone. This is also why I consider him to be an important figure as a politician: through his presence in the public sphere as a politician, he has the ability to change our national imaginary.
Perhaps Obama will truly be the first post-modern president - one who "has the ability to change our national imaginary." Or, and I'm afraid more likely, he will turn out to be a thoroughly modern Chicago-bred politician - fully indebted to the machine that brought him to prominence.
While finishing this post, I read a tweet from an Obama supporter, who is a Christian leader, twittering about watching a documentary on how the Republicans stole the '04 election - and how he is so ashamed he was once one of them. He's bought the narrative - Republicans Evil, Democrats Good. (Because, of course, the Democrats would never attempt to steal an election, right!) But I do wonder what he and others will be writing four years from now.
My fear: many happy voters today will have their hearts made sick by hope deferred... once again.
“In the total expanse of human life there is not a single square inch of which the Christ, who alone is sovereign, does not declare,'That is mine!' Abraham Kuyper
We want simple solutions. Keep it simple, stupid. This one's better than that one. No need to dig too deep. Just go with your gut. Everything will be fine. Trust me. Everyone wins in the end. Really.
This would seem to explain why Fireproof, the movie produced for half a million has grossed $23.6 million in its first month of release whilst Amazing Grace, the intelligent movie about William Wilberforce which cost $29 million, grossed a million less than Fireproof at the end of it's entire run.
You see, Amazing Grace deals with 20 years of Wilberforce's parliamentary fight against the slave trade. It is an epic battle that leaves him battered and bruised. It deals realistically with the ugly side of humanity, even, dare say, the ugly side of Christians. Fireproof, on the other hand, provides a simple message - Get Jesus, He Fixes Everything. To quote John Armstrong,
There are no tensions in this film that go unresolved. There are no problems that cannot be met if you simply love Jesus enough. This is not life.
The first part of this post was triggered by Andy Crouch's post, Amazing Gross. The gross speaks volumes about the "Christian" audience as Crouch suggests quoting William Goldman, "nobody nows anything." Crouch adds, "let the reader understand."
Fireproof is the kind of movie where the writers start with a solution and work their way backwards. It reminds me a lot of what's happening in the church's response to the US elections.
Most of my friends have bought "Change You Can Believe In." One wears a shirt emblazoned with the date of Bush's last day in office. We need CHANGE. Whatever that might mean.
Those of us who would dare to suggest that Obama's abortion position is cause for more than grave concern are written off as single-issue voters. In near Orwellian doublespeak it is explained, as if to children, how Obama's presidency will actually lead to fewer abortions. This, of course, right after he signs the Freedom of Choice Act as his first act as president - a promise he made to Planned Parenthood on July 17th, 2007.
The simple narrative is Bush = Bad. McCain = Bush. Obama = Good. Vote Obama.
It's a narrative pushed by the Main Stream Media and a narrative that many of my friends echo - people who I would have identified as prophetic voices. They have become shills for a political campaign. (Note, as Imbi and I discussed with an American friend last night, I would probably write-in Bugs Bunny if I had a US vote. Our American friend can't and won't support either candidate. )
In a post never published, called Not for Prophets, I wrote this:
I spent almost a decade (in my teens and twenties) actively involved in Canadian politics - with one party. The Liberals. (Ostensibly similar to the American Democratic Party.) I disengaged from active involvement in party politics when I became a Christian at 27. (Though my political leanings became more Red Tory than Liberal.)
Twenty-six years later I still remember the thrill of the campaigns. The demonization of the opposition. The creation of talking points to put our opponents in their place. The door to door thrust and parry. It was a blood-lust, team sport.
I should also have written that it was all about the creation of simple narratives. Us - friend, them - enemy. Destroy the other.
I've watched this simple narrative with the same blood-lust play out on blogs, Twitter and Facebook. Writers who are Christians have been as politically partisan and graceless as those who claim no belief system whatever.
Earlier this electoral season, Ben Witherington quoted his friend James Howell, pastor of Myers Park UMC,
People ask me: are you liberal? or conservative? Sometimes my reply is: it depends on the issue – but my true answer is: neither! The Church drifts into absurd irrelevance if we do nothing more than baptize one or the other of the prevalent options society has dreamed up. We have our own perspective, which at times seems in sync with this or that policy – but then Bam! …we surprise everybody with a wrinkle, a twist. We are not middle of the road, although when we are most faithful to God we are likely to annoy (and occasionally to please) liberals and conservatives in equal measure.
How could this be? Human institutions, political parties, and even the noblest people who choose public service, are sinful, flawed; self-serving agendas get in the way, or the perils of the moment blind us to a greater good God would have us pursue. And frankly, not everybody out there is exactly “lost in wonder, love and praise,” deeply immersed in the Bible, and prepared to “take up your cross and follow” (Mark 8:34). Many citizens in both parties don’t think twice about God, or God is like a good-luck charm they think will help them get the goodies they crave. Politicans fawn over the electorate; they will “say anything,” and they even hire wizards to advise them on how to talk religious folks into voting for them. Parties and politics are not surprisingly out of sync with God.
Howell later quotes Hauerwas (who was prominent in our conversation last evening) and then Lincoln,
“The Church is not simply a ‘voluntary association’ that may be of some use to the wider public, but rather is the community constituted by practices by which all other politics are to be judged” (Stanley Hauerwas).
Abraham Lincoln told the truth about “sides” who boast of God: “Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; each invokes His aid against the other. The prayers of both could not be answered… The Almighty has His own purposes.” Knowing this, we treat each other charitably, and look to God for something better: “With malice toward none; with charity for all… to bind up the nation’s wounds – to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.”
UPDATE: John Armstrong has an important post from earlier today that needs to be included in this discussion - a post triggered by Peggy Noonan's book, Patriotic Grace. Armstrong says,
This will all be over in one week. It appears that Barack Obama will soon be President Obama. When I tell conservatives that I want him to succeed they go into orbit, especially conservative Christians. They seem to genuinely hate this man. They think he is a criminal who has no right to live in the White House. I ask: "What is different from this response and the way the far left has attacked President Bush so fiercely for nearly eight years now?"
Who is worse in this constant polemical tearing down of our social fabric? Both sides point to the other. Peggy Noonan suggests we need to rise above our fierce partisanship and reaffirm what it means to be Americans. To this end I will not only pray for Barack Obama if he wins but I will do everything in my power to support him as an American while I remain committed to my political philosophy. One thing I do know---this angry, mean-spirited period in our history needs to end, the sooner the better. Nothing serves the nation's real interest when we engage in non-stop name calling and character assassination.
Original Ending: Let me end this long-winded post by pointing you to another post of mine which I wrote on March 30th called We Need A King. Like Dan Edelen has done recently, I remind my brothers and sisters of the people of Israel and their desperate desire for a King in 1 Samuel 8. Please read God's response to Samuel again as you prepare to vote.
The following Chris Falson and the Amazing Stories video is in that post - I'm sticking it in this one to belabor my point - as is my wont. (Back in the early 90's, Imbi and I produced and directed the project from whence commeth this song. BTW, this version is a rough cut. The Muppet on piano is Rob Mathes. This was shot at Dana Point Calvary Chapel behind the Orange Curtain in SoCal.)
I've spent a lot of my time approaching and now passing the halfway point of life (as we don't know whether the Singularity is here or not) often managing to forget to get important things done. A diagnosis of ADD thanks to this book in the early '90's was helpful (prompting a professional to be involved) - as it allowed Imbi and I to work to put tools in place to deal with the simple manifestations of my attention deficit. The Palm Pilot was a God-send. (Maybe I can get her to tell the funny story of how I worked on her to let me get one, many years ago @ an NAB show in Vegas. The comments are open, dear.)
In the last few months, I'd noticed the return of an inability to keep track of how many balls I had in the air. In a previous season, I'd been a huge fan of 37signals Backcamp and Basecamp. (I still love the company and their software.) But, as the iPod Touch has become my primary computing tool when I'm visiting clients or on the road I needed something that would work well with it.
I saw Things (a software package rather than a description of the thousands of Apps available in the Apps store) in the Productivity section of the iTunes Apps store. I was intrigued. I've been using it for about a month now and am impressed. Right now the Beta desktop version only syncs with one desktop client (my main computer, the MacPro). This will be fixed when the product is released at MacWorld in January. I need it to be able to sync between my MacPro, the MacBook and the Touch. And hooks to Gcal would be helpful.
I love Things' simplicity and ease of use. As I do the final close-up at our summer place (which is on an island and will become inaccessible in a matter of weeks because of freeze up on Lake Simcoe), I'm walking through my ToDo list on things to ensure I don't forget to do - things like make sure all the drains have non-toxic antifreeze in them.
Imbi just emailed me a few more things and I've updated them manually. (If it worked with the Laptop along with the MacPro, Things would be so much simpler - but that's coming.)
Although Things is still in preview stage, which means features and its appearance could still change, it feels close to complete already. In fact, its open simplicity is exactly what leads us to recommend it to anyone with a Mac.
If you're a Mac and iPhone/Touch user, and like me, find yourself a little less than organized (pictures of my office to come) then Things might be the perfect solution.
I should also note that I'm checking out ActionMethod, which appears to be a very good, ajaxy, project manager. It's what I would have used Basecamp for, in earlier days. There's a free version for up to a Gazillion projects - but each with only 50 steps per project. Or for $12 per month or $99 per year, you get gazillions of projects, gazillions of steps and 2 gigs of free space. I've signed up for the basic unit to see whether it will help on a particular project Imbi and I are working on. For my purposes, it needs an iPhone/Touch app to make it a viable productivity tool.
Though this was taken by the polymath, Tom Millard in August of '07. It was about 80F that day. It's about 36F right now. But it will hit 52F later today and almost 60F tomorrow, when I come back to the city.
Searching for some illogical reason to blame for my almost total lack of posting, I've decided it's Brant Hansen's fault. Since he's not posting, neither I am.
Now. I have found time to waste on Facebook (as has the aforementioned radio guy) and even twitter - but blogging, I d'know. It just seems so 2004. (You'd need to be reading Doc Searls - at the very least - to get that reference.)
In related news, Gmail now offers Smilies and Canned Responses. How cool is that!? (I expect the Canned Responses to be very effective in blog communication.)
Wycliffe's Professor Joe Mangina mentioned this piece by G.K.C last week. It seems particularly appropriate (which I'm sure is why he mentioned it.) It appears in a number of Hymnals as O God of Earth and Altar:
A Hymn
O God of earth and altar,
Bow down and hear our cry,
Our earthly rulers falter,
Our people drift and die;
The walls of gold entomb us,
The swords of scorn divide,
Take not thy thunder from us,
But take away our pride.
From all that terror teaches,
From lies of tongue and pen,
From all the easy speeches
That comfort cruel men,
From sale and profanation
Of honour and the sword,
From sleep and from damnation,
Deliver us, good Lord.
Tie in a living tether
The prince and priest and thrall,
Bind all our lives together,
Smite us and save us all;
In ire and exultation
Aflame with faith, and free,
Lift up a living nation,
A single sword to thee.
I ended my "Get Serious" post (two posts ago) with an addendum. In it I quoted Dr. Al Mohler, speaking on the wonders of American capitalism. Apparently, it wasn't obvious that I was being sarcastic in my quote. Mohler seemed as inflicted as most North American Christians with an almost exclusive focus on ourselves - and the really horrible times we are going through. (I need to quickly finish this post so I can rush out to the food lines in hopes of getting a piece of moldy bread and a cup of thin gruel.)
Perhaps we could look for sympathy in the two-thirds world, where most would simply be happy with clean drinking water. Or in sub-Saharan Africa, where mosquito nets costing only a dollar per, would dramatically reduce the number of children who die daily from malaria - one every 30 seconds. (Only 3% of the most at-risk kids have the nets in place.)
Clean drinking water and effective anti-malaria protection would have profound impact on the economic well-being of individuals, families and nations in sub-Saharan Africa - where up to 40% of health expenditures go to treating malaria alone - that treatment doesn't deal with the parasites and diseases that accompany dirty water.
I want to point you at two things on this Blog Action Day. The first is the Blood:Water Mission.
Blood:Water Mission is partnering with groups and individuals to empower Africans to build healthier communities through sustainable clean blood and clean water solutions, while developing social responsibility in the U.S. through initiatives that provoke personal engagement and ownership.
$1 = ONE YEAR OF WATER FOR AN AFRICAN
YOUR ONE DOLLAR WILL SAVE A LIFE
We've given to Blood:Water today, and I'd ask that you'd consider giving as well.
The second thing I'd ask is that you watch this video from Physicist Neil Turok, 2008 TED prize winner. Perhaps the next Einstein will be saved by the clean water and mosquito nets we help to provide.
The power of the link Read any of the online versions of newspapers that I do, and you will note that a lot of them suggest other articles. For the most part, these suggestions are being created by computer algorithms. However, my reality is that most of what I read online is filtered through the voices I have chosen to listen to - whether the Saturday link-a-thon from Brother Maynard or Scot McKnight, the political pointers from Drudge, Josh Marshall and Glenn Reynolds or the thousands of blog posts that act as way markers on this journey of insight and discovery.
Scot Karp, responding to the brilliance of people like Jeff Jarvis and Jay Rosen (both who've been infected by the Cluetrain idea virus) points to the power of collaboration for the news media:
...look at where the most innovative, entrepreneurial minds in journalism have focused their efforts — it’s all about collaboration:
Ryan Sholin just launched ReportingOn, a site where journalists share in short Twitter-like messages what they are reporting on — with the aim of actually HELPING each other. With fewer journalists in newsrooms doing original reporting, doesn’t it make perfect sense that more and better reporting could get done collaboratively? Why should a beat be a solo effort?
That’s is also the idea behind Beat Blogging, the brainchild of Jay Rosen, with journalism iconoclast Patrick Thornton now leading the charge. The idea is for journalists to develop social networks to improve their beat reporting — by collaborating with people involved with and interested in the topics they cover, journalists can do better reporting. (Beat Blogging is even collaborating to find great examples of beat blogging.)
Speaking of collaborating with communities, Mark Briggs, of Journalism 2.0 fame, co-founded a company called Serra Media, whose first product Newsgarden is a map-based local news platform that allows news orgs to collaborate with their communities to publish hyperlocal news. And their bet is that journalists and community members all posting hyperlocal news as they come across it can do a better job than algorithm-based local sites in judging what news is important to the community.
The Power of Collective Intelligence, so brilliantly shown in the Linux model of collaborative development is both infecting and impacting every corner of human communication and endeavor.
I'm involved in a networked conspiracy of fellow missional travelers who are working to create a wiki-style resource center. It will point to the hundreds of coherent voices in the missional mo
The Power of Collective Intelligence, so brilliantly shown in the Linux model of collaborative development is both infecting and impacting every corner of human communication and endeavor.