kinnon.tv

Naked Pastor on our coffee table

It's true. Photo evidence below. More comments after the photo.

David Hayward's book of his great cartoons arrived a few weeks back and I've been remiss in blogging about it. It has provoked much conversation around the Kinnon coffee table - and that alone makes it a smart purchase.

Some might be tempted to call David a cynic. They would be wrong.

His cartoons reveal the humour and the pathos in what we call the church. Some of them make me laugh out loud. Others make me acknowledge my own pain. A number make me angry - but many more help me understand that anger.

This will make a very good Christmas present for anyone who has spent significant time in the church. Buy early. Buy often.

You might also consider David's original artwork, also available from his site.

The one on the right, of the girl holding a Teddy Bear and showing it to a rather large bear is one of my favourites.

Clicking on the picture will take you to a much larger version of it - where you can purchase a print if you so desire.

You can view more of David's artwork here - including much more of his fine art.

A Book to Buy Now, A Book to Buy Later

Two of my favourite people on the planet are Dick Staub and David Fitch. They both have significant history in the city of Chicago - though Dick lives way out west now. And they both have roots in the C&MA. (And Fitch even has roots in the CM&A - that's a Chicago financial sector joke, in case you were wondering.) If you read to the end of this post, you'll discover they also have another connection.

Dick's book is the one to buy right now, About You: Fully Human, Fully Alive. This isn't a Christian self-help book. It's not about Living Your Best Life Now™.

This is a God-centered book that takes Hans Rookmaker's famous quote as a starting point:

Jesus didn't come to make us Christian; Jesus came to make us fully human.

From the book's back cover, Imbi's and my friends, Scott & Pam Nolte (theatre artists and co-founders of Seattle's Taproot Theatre) say this about Dick's book,

Dick Staub's insight into our present age and our deep longings lead us on a 'rowdy pilgrimage' to discover the riches that lay within our unique design while pointing us to the fully human life.

Artist Bruce Herman adds,

...Why does God love us? What is wrong with the current picture of our lives? How can it be painted more beautifully and truly to match the vision of the Artist?

Poet and Author, Luci Shaw writes,

...Dick Staub offers us the coherent narrative of the Why of humanity, the How of healing, and the Who of the Creator, giving firm ground for thoughtful questioners to stand on.

Your humble servant, a pygmy on this back cover of giants, adds,

Dick Staub is one of the few people I've met who truly cares about people becoming fully human. He is an effective and faithful guide on the journey to do just that.

He is indeed. Dick writes this at the beginning of the book,

...I have written this little book to share what I’ve learned about becoming fully human. I’ve studied this question academically, completing graduate studies with a concentration in the humanities (philosophy, the arts, religion), because, after all, the humanities are the study of humans and the culture they create, and that is what I was interested in.

And later,

Everything I know about becoming fully alive and fully human starts with a simple but profoundly important idea: God created humans and God created us in the image of God so we can enjoy a rich intellectual, creative, relational, moral, and spiritual life. You are not the accidental result of a random, purposeless process but, in fact, were created by a loving, personal God who had you in mind before the beginning of time. This is an essential and reasonable but embattled truth.

Dick's book effectively helps us come to grips with that truth. It is more than worth reading. (I'd also strongly recommend Dick's previous book - the one with a title and cover that doesn't do it justice, The Culturally Savvy Christian.) You should also become a regular listener to Dick's podcast, The Kindlings Muse.

Though I have no doubt that Dick would be quite capable of discussing the philosophies of Slavoj Žižek - and probably would have little problem pronouncing this Slovenian Political Philosopher's name - Žižek does not show up in About You.

He does show up, however, in Dave Fitch's latest opus, The End of Evangelicalism? Discerning a New Faithfulness for Mission - coming in January of 2011 from Cascade Books - Theopolitical Visions series. Dave has yet to show me the book, so I'll need to let him write about it himself;

It’s the culmination of my efforts to write a political theology for the church of my heritage: evangelicalism in North America. I admit this book is a bit intense – theologically and otherwise (be forewarned). Nonetheless, I think it gets at something extremely simple and intuitive. It asks how does the way we articulate our beliefs (doctrine) and then practice them shape us evangelicals as a people in the world? Has the way evangelicals articulated and practiced their belief in Scripture, Salvation in Christ and the Church in the world shaped us in certain ways to be inhospitable to God’s Mission in the world?

I try to get us evangelicals to think about more than whether our doctrine is orthodox (indeed I assume it is). I try to get us to think about how our belief and practice shape our lives together as a people of God in the world. The ultimate question is – are the “kinds of people we have become” congruent with the gospel we preach?

I borrow some simple ideas from political philosopher Slavoj Žižek (his earlier work) to help us see that a politics in the world can either be shaped out of antagonism (we define ourselves by who/what we are against) or it can be shaped out of who we are in our relationship with God. (OK I just simplified it way down for Žižek purists out there) For Žižek of course, the latter is not possible. Nonetheless, he describes viscerally how politics works when it is formed around an emptiness, a core birthed out of antagonisms. For Žižek, this is how ideology operates. For me the question is, has evangelicalism taken on the shape of such an ideology in the world? Have we somehow lost our way and become a politics of emptiness/antagonism? If so, how do we restore ourselves to a politic of fullness in Christ for God’s Mission in the world.

Fitch's first book, The Great Giveaway (released on my 50th birthday, oddly enough), was a book that should have been read by a lot more people. It was the first book that I added to my Amazon aStore.

It's still an important read and I'd challenge you to pick it up. The new book is aimed more at a theological audience - I'll be buying a copy or two and getting Imbi to explain it to me. (And maybe my Slovenian sister-in-law can help too.) It's not yet available for pre-order, but, as noted, it's part of Cascade Books Theopolitical Vision series (and also not yet listed on their site as of mid-November 2010.)

Oh. And that other connection between Staub and Fitch. Dick was the Youth Pastor at the east coast church where Dave was a teenage member of the youth group. Which explains an awful lot to me. :-)

Confronting Idols & Making Disciples - Interview Excerpt with Chris Wright

For the past week this blog has seemed to be all Chris Wright, all the time. Not that there's anything wrong with that. :-)

This post is no different - featuring an excerpt from an interview we shot with him midweek.

Chris is one of the more gracious and yet, one of the most prophetic leaders that Imbi and I have ever met. Though tired from a week of meetings and teaching in Toronto, Chris sat down with Imbi for a 45 minute interview that covered some of what he shared at Lausanne 2010 in Cape Town, as well as his thoughts on what the church needs to raise up leaders in the 21st Century. 

In my not humble, but accurate opinion, this is more than worth five minutes of your time to watch. 

Confronting Idols & Making Disciples from Bill Kinnon on Vimeo. 

This video is also available on YouTube.

Imbi and I would like to thank Barry Parker and George Sumner for helping to make this happen. Both Barry and George are on the Canadian Board of Langham Partnership. (Once again, we shot in George's office @ Wycliffe College.) We would also like to thank Barbara Jenkins, Director of Admissions @ Wycliffe, who has helped with arranging a number of interviews along with Karen Baker-Bigauskas, Assistant to the Principal, who simply makes things happen.

Chris Wright's books that are pertinent to this video: The Mission of God and The Mission of God's People.

Chris Wright's The Mission of God's People

I've begun reading Chris Wright's The Mission of God's People: A Biblical Theology of the Church's Mission (on my Kindle) partially as a result of hearing him @ Tyndale on Monday - partially in prep for an interview with him in a couple of hours @ Wycliffe College - and largely because it's a very good book.

The Mission of God, one of Chris' earlier books is "theologically denser" than this one - more for a Master's student, perhaps. (Our copy was given to Imbi by friends who thought it would be an important read whilst she worked on her MTS. It was.)

The Mission of God's People is written for God's people - in a winsome and engaging style as Chris begins to answer the question:

“What do theology and mission have to do with each other?”

Chris addresses why there sometimes appears to be suspicion between theologicans and missional practioners;

...theologians may not relish their theories being muddied by facts on the ground and the challenging questions thrown up by the messiness of practical mission. Practitioners of mission, in quick riposte, may not wish to see their urgent commitment to getting on with the job Christ entrusted to us delayed by indulgent navel-gazing about obscure long words ending in – ology.

I'm not far enough into the book to give you a complete review, but I will say that, so far, the book has been more than worth the price of the Kindle edition.

THE Missional Secret Sauce

Because the Missional Market demanded it, our missional minions have produced it.

Just what you've been waiting for:

Add a little to whatever you're cooking up, AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS.

UPDATE: Lesslie Newbigin

Confronting Idols in the Global Evangelical Church

View embedded video here.

Lausanne Congress 2010: Chris Wright, International Director of Langham Partnership International, challenges the people of God to confront the idols of power and pride, popularity and success, and wealth and greed. He called the Church to repentance and simplicity.

If you watch nothing else, please watch from 6:30 to 13:50. And then Wright's call to a reformation that needs to BEGIN in the global Evangelical church just past the 17 minute mark.

And please note how this fits with my previous post.

Why Aren't Big Name Christian Leaders Decreasing?

John the Baptizer, said this about Jesus in light of John's own "ministry",

He must become greater; I must become less. [John 3:30 NIV]

What would it be like if the cycle of ministry was for those who rise in prominence to disappear into the worshipping body as Jesus is exalted? Decreasing while Jesus increases.

Rather than building ever increasing platforms capable of supporting their egos ministries.

I'm just asking.