I am about 3/4’s of the way through writing my book on the Sermon on the Mount, which is really exciting.  I decided to throw the text into Wordle and share it with you.  Click on the image to get a better look.  Enjoy!

]]> http://www.missional.ca/2010/08/wordle/feed/ 5 http://www.missional.ca/2010/08/phileena-heuertz/ http://www.missional.ca/2010/08/phileena-heuertz/#comments Thu, 12 Aug 2010 14:44:18 +0000 Jamie http://www.missional.ca/?p=1084

Previous Post – Prayers For Living Into God’s World

Living & working in the context I do, the hard work of missional community & activism with the marginalized lives in difficult tension with the need to a life of disciplined spirituality, of contemplation.  It is, perhaps, the single deepest challenge I face in my role in community.  That is why Phileena Heuertz’s new book “Pilgrimage of a Soul: Contemplative Spirituality for the Active Life” is a powerful gift to the Body of Christ.  Speaking beautifully, personally & authoritatively from her own experience, Phileena manages to write a book that will speak to the inactive contemplative and the un-contemplative activist.  In other words, it speaks to every Christians.

In case you haven’t heard of Phileena (and if you haven’t, get familiar with her, because she is an important voice in the Church today), here is her brief bio from IVPress:

Phileena Heuertz is one of the leading directors of Word Made Flesh (WMF)–an international community serving Christ among the most vulnerable of the world’s poor.

Over the years, Phileena has traveled through nearly 70 countries working with marginalized and oppressed people–abandoned children, victims of HIV and AIDS, sexually exploited women and children, people recovering from drug addictions, children who live on the streets, refugees and children of combat and war.

Since 1995, Phileena has served WMF through child advocacy, community care and leadership development. In 2004 she founded the Community Care Center-one of the internal support offices for the international movement. Phileena believes that union of action and contemplation is crucial to ongoing personal transformation, healthy community life, and sustainable, authentic social justice efforts. Phileena’s responsibilities require her attention in the international office in Omaha, Nebraska, as well as in the WMF communities across the globe.

“Pilgrimage of a Soul” is another gem from IVPress (who sent me the book gratis) in their Likewise Books imprint.  I had the privilege to interview Phileena about the book, so hear what she has to say in her own words.  Then order the book today!

Jamie Arpin-Ricci: The subtitle of your book is “Contemplative Spirituality for the Active Life”.  For some people this might seem like an odd fit.  Why do you think it is so critical to bring these two dynamics together?

PH: It is critical to bring together contemplation and action because one purifies and authenticates the other. True contemplation will necessarily bear fruit in activism. Faith without works is dead.

JAR: You decided to explore this topic in a very personal way.  Why did you choose to do so through storytelling?  How will this change the experience for the reader?

PH: Using narrative of my sabbatical year—making pilgrimage in Spain and then in solitude at Duke has a way of making very deep and in some ways abstract spiritual truths more concrete and tangible for the reader.

JAR: Many Christians, while inspired by the life you have followed Christ into, might feel that they will never live the kind of life you lead.  While I don’t need convincing, convince those readers what you book has to offer them.

PH: POAS will invite the reader to reflect on their personal journey and unfolding life story. The message of the book is inviting the reader into living their life authentically.

JAR: Can you very briefly explain the seven movements outlined in the book?

PH: Awakening, Longing, Darkness, Death, Transformation, Intimacy and Union are seven movements that I’ve experienced in my personal spiritual journey. I believe these movements of the soul are universal to those who are attentive to them, and they support ongoing Christian conversion and growth. These movements can certainly be found in the Scriptures, but when they are personally acknowledged and experienced, we are on our way toward living the abundant life of which Jesus so often spoke. Though we can know about these movements, the better is to experience them. Experiential knowledge is the greatest knowledge. We can argue and debate head knowledge. But who can dismiss what one experiences?

Pilgrimage of a Soul attempts to help us connect our head to our heart that we might be more aware of and experience more of the living God.

These seven movements or signposts in the journey are not really linear but more circular in nature. We could be in and out of one movement in almost any order. The spiritual journey is not so much about progressing from one point to another as it is about surrendering to ongoing transformation and union with God. These seven movements support us in that objective; and though these experiences are quite internal and symbolic, they have very concrete, external expressions in our daily life—this is the place where contemplation meets action.

To try and summarize these, “Awakening” is the point in our journey when we see more clearly particular illusions in our life—more specifically—parts of our false self that we had previously been asleep to.

“Longing” symbolizes the discontentment in us that desires more—more connection to God, self, others and the world in which we live.

“Darkness” and “Death” are the necessary experiences to bringing forth new life that we most often resist. Ancient Christian mysticism has always affirmed the gift of darkness that essentially clouds our senses of the consoling presence of God that we might be purified and grow in the spiritual faculties that relate to God on a deeper level.

Death is the experience of final surrender to the illusion(s) we’ve awakened to. Though the illusory false self is just that—an illusion—our identity clings to it all the same. To let go of it is frightening because it’s all we’ve known and we are less acquainted with the true self (if acquainted at all). So there is no comfort in what is coming—it is too unknown to us. Death (in the spiritual journey and the final material death when our body dies) is the ultimate act of faith because it is a final gesture of trust and love in the One who is greater than us and knows us better than we know ourselves. By surrendering to death of our illusions, we trust that new life—resurrection—will come, though we have no concrete guarantee of it.

“Transformation” then is that long, hoped-for new life. Transformation is the period of living into greater truth; living into greater awareness of the true self.

“Intimacy” is the experience of growing deeper in love with God, self, others and the world. Anxieties, turmoil, defense mechanisms, pretensions and pathologies that previously plagued us have been settled, healed and we are freer to know (God, self, others, the world) and be known (by God, self, others, the world).

“Union” is the experience of the fragmented parts of ourselves (identity, confused perceptions of God, broken relationships, misaligned vocation) coming together. In union we experience these previously broken places now restored, redeemed, made whole. We experience greater centeredness in the love of God—which permeates all of our life actions.

JAR: Was there anything in the book you wanted to include, but couldn’t?  Tell us about it.

PH: Interesting question! Actually I’m very satisfied with the content of the book. There wasn’t anything I wanted to include that was edited out. David Zimmerman, my editor at IVP, was really committed to ensuring my voice, heart and desires for the book came through during the editing process.

JAR: David is my editor as well and that has been my experience with him as well, so that is encouraging!  Tell us something odd & unique about yourself that few people would know about.

PH: So funny! I tend to be an open book—especially now with the release of a very intimate unveiling of my life in POAS. Hmmm odd and unique? You’ve really stumped me. Maybe you should ask my husband!

JAR: Thanks Phileena.

After years of doing spiritual & missional formation with college age Christians, one of the trends that stands out is the struggle many have with communal prayer.  While I still affirm times of open group prayer, I have also noticed that many struggle with performing their prayers, while others remained silent for lack of “inspiration” or because they felt their prayers inadequate compared to the more eloquent prayers.  These and other reasons contributed to a difficult challenge in our community.

It was while we were exploring these challenges a few years ago that Christine Sine contacted me about reading an early draft of her new book “Light for the Journey: Morning & Evening Prayers for Living into God’s World”.  This collection of morning & evening prayers, laid out to cover a full week, take us through different emphases of faith in reflective and creative ways.  With her permission, we adapted the prayers for use in our community as an experiment.  Since then, they have become a fixed part of our community life, as well as for many of our personal times of private prayer.  It was and is a real gift to us.

I was excited to learn that “Light for the Journey” is now available for order through Mustard Seed Associates.  I highly recommend this resource to you and to your communities.  Born out of their own life in share community, the tested authenticity of the material is clear throughout.  Christine briefly explains each theme (from the introduction):

Sunday’s theme begins the week with the celebration of Sabbath and anticipation of God’s eternal shalom world. We rejoice in this vision of wholeness and abundance which will one day be completely fulfilled in Christ.

On Monday we focus on our restored relationship to God our Creator and the call to be stewards of God’s creation. The gospel always comes to us in the midst of the created world, which was made through Jesus Christ and is being recreated through him.

On Tuesday our focus shifts to Christ our Savior and what it means to carry his incarnational presence into our world. As Christ’s followers, we are called to live out the claims of the gospel.

Wednesday focuses on the in-dwelling Holy Spirit who equips us with the gifts and abilities to carry out the gospel call as God’s servants and proclaimers of God’s resurrection- created world.

On Thursday our reflections turn towards community and what it means to be part of God’s eternal family from every tribe and nation, rich and poor, male and female.

Friday reflects on the Cross and the wholeness achieved through repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation.

We conclude the week on Saturday with a focus on the kingdom of God and the clouds of witnesses who have gone before us.

Phyllis Tickle, author of “The Great Emergence”, had this to say about the book:

“In the history of Christian formation literature, it has consistently been the small volume that has conveyed the greatest worth. That principle nowhere holds more true than it does here. Like the light which its title references, this manual, in its succinctness, travels broadly and illumines perfectly. Presenting both assigned prayers for each day of the week and also rich instruction in how the Christian forms a life of prayer, Sine speaks to us gently, but authoritatively. There is, in all of this, a kind of poignancy as well. We understand that Sine is writing to us not about some theory, but out of experience and about the sure knowledge of a life of prayer fully lived. Like every wise Christian teacher before her, Christine Sine understands—and persuades us—that it is in community that Christians pray most formatively and in community that we must seek to pray.”

Head over to Mustard Seed Associates and order a copy (or 10!) today.  It is well worth it.

Previous Post – Being Missional in a Culture of Compromise

When I first discovered that Anne Rice, famed author of the dark Vampire Chronicles, was doing a series of novels on the life of Jesus, I was intrigued.  I soon learned that in the process of researching and writing the books she was compelling and wooed back into the life of faith, returning to the Roman Catholicism of her youth.  I even interviewed her at about her books of Christ and her return to faith.  She shocked millions of fans and critics alike with this move.

Recently, Anne has again got thousands abuzz with her recent public comments on Facebook:

“For those who care, and I understand if you don’t: Today I quit being a Christian. I’m out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being “Christian” or to being part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me to “belong” to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten years, I’ve tried. I’ve failed. I’m an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.”

Then again later:

“As I said below, I quit being a Christian. I’m out. In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen.”

As I read her words, I felt deeply for Anne.  After all, many of us share her struggle to identify with a religion that so often seems to distant from the teachings of the Lord whose name it bears.  And while I am frequently drawn to the writings and examples of Catholic women & men (namely, St. Claire & Francis of Assisi), I can also see why the Roman Catholic expression of faith would be particularly difficult for Rice.

Her comments brought to mind something I had read from Cornell West recently.  West commented that, in terms of identification with others, especially those who faced injustice and persecution, he explicitly calls himself the other.  In other words, in the face of anti-Islamic attitudes post-9/11, he said “I am Arab American” or to the way the church or culture treats the LGBTQ community, he said “I am gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual”.  Like Rice, he refused to let his identification as a Christian make him separate than his sister and brothers.  Rice refuses to be identified with the hatred and bigotry she sees in the institutional church and West refuses to deny identification with this rejected by the same.

While I differ with Rice & West in many details surrounding this crisis of identification, I do resonate with much of their unique (and overlapping) emphases.   I struggle in my own life and in the life of my community to offer an alternative vision and/or experience of Christ to a world that often only sees self-righteousness, judgment and violence.  I am passionately committed to recognize that my identity, my very salvation is caught up with that of others, even those who Christians traditionally reject as outsiders.  In this, I affirm what these two are modeling in these statements and in their lives.

However, I am caught on something I can’t get past.  While in no way diminishing the prophetic authority of Rice & West in this respect, I cannot help be realize that Christ takes this radical identification even further.  Jesus condescended to become human, giving up His rightful place and power, to identify with us so that we could receive the grace of salvation through His life, death and resurrection.  “While we were yet sinners”- in other words, before we accepted or even acknowledged His gift, He suffered and died for the hope of our salvation.  Jesus identified with all humankind without exception.

This is the identification that Christ calls us to follow.  It is a radical and impossible identification that is only possible by His Holy Spirit.  It is an identification that, while never compromising or ignoring injustice, extends a love that surpasses familial loyalty even to those who despise and reject it.  It is an indiscriminate identification that is no respecter of persons.  It is an identification that is willing to also say, “I am a bigot”, “I am a homophobe”, “I am a racist”, “I am a misogynist” and “I am the worst of sinners”.

Because Christ identifies with everyone, even in their most horrific sinfulness, then we too, as His Body, must also identify with them.  We do not have the luxury to deny their sisterhood and brotherhood, while also never ignoring or justifying their hatred and sin.  The Body of Christ is one, like it or not.  To identify with Christ means we must identify with each other.

Lord have mercy on me, a sinner.

Previous Post – Book of James – Part 3

A couple of months ago, I posted my enthusiastic endorsement of Chris Heuertz & Christine Pohl’s new book “Friendship at the Margins: Discovering Mutuality in Service and Mission”.  As promised here is my interview with Chris about the book.  The interview, like the book, is very much worth you time to read and consider.  Enjoy!

Jamie Arpin-Ricci: In a time when “friend” has become a casual verb in social media, what does friendship mean to you?

Chris Heuertz: Friendship is far from an externalized abstraction or a digitalized, virtual connection.  For me, friendship is an honest, confessional, intimate place where people are free to be the best and worst of themselves. Friendship happens when we lower the walls that divide us from people, allowing ourselves and the other to live into a realized transparency and vulnerability. Not all friendships have to be deep, some can simply be playful. I think friendship is best expressed when incubated in the embrace of community, a collective of friends who are connected, committed and find common ground. Communities of friends are most authentic when they are open, hospitable, welcoming, accommodating and inclusive because at its core, true community is grounded and confident-not challenged by the so-called outsider. Communities that are accepting in their embrace allow friends to grieve and celebrate together by living in the liminal space of the ordinary.

JAR: Why was it important for you to co-write this book with Christine Pohl?

CH: More than important, it was necessary to write a book on friendship with Christine. For years I admired her work, but when we first made a personal connection her warmth closed the distance and created a safe space for us to learn together and from one another. I also think it would have been disingenuous to write a book on friendship with someone who I didn’t know. Finally, the book is part of Duke Divinity School’s Centre for Reconciliation’s small book series, Resources for Reconciliation. The first 3 titles in the series are amazing and the next couple look to be pretty fantastic too, but of those 5 books (all co-written by an activist/practitioner alongside a theological/academic) there are no women represented; for me, it was an issue of integrity that a series of books on reconciliation include, celebrate and promote the voices of women and men reflecting together.

JAR: With increased popularity in issues of justice, is there a risk of well-intentioned people mistreating those on the margins?  What do you want people to understand in this respect?

CH: I think one of the greatest laments of mission is a theological reductionism that over-identifies people as potential converts rather than affirms the divine imprint of God in all humanity-a divine imprint that necessitates love.  I think many evangelicals have perfected this form of theological reductionism, failing to love for the sake of love. We’ve turned people into a “target-audience,” mere consumers of our version of a Christian tradition. I think it’s an earnest and sincere mistake, but one that has contributed to the diminishment of all of us in community. Reflecting on the relationship between Jesus and Judas helps us unravel some of these tendencies, Jesus’ “success” with Judas wasn’t demonstrated in Judas’ response to Christ’s love, but was validated in the fidelity of love Christ had for Judas.

JAR: How would you respond those who might say, “All this is good for people like you, living in such unique circumstances.  What does mean for the average joe Christian?”?

CH: I think we can all do a better job reflecting on how we love, who we love and what “strings” to that love need to be removed. Regardless of context we’re all expected to live authentic lives that bear witness to hope and are compelled by love.

JAR: Tell me about writers/books that have formative for you on this topic.

CH: I don’t know that there are authors or books who have been formative for me re: these things, I think it’s my actual friendships with people who are poor or Hindu or Muslim or gay or lesbian or whoever the so-called “other” used to be in my social imagination. Their love for me, welcome and embrace of me and their friendships have really dismantled the donor-receptor roles in how I was raised to believe I am and have to be the catalyst for their conversion. In these kinds of friendships I’ve found myself converted in more ways than one and ultimately I’m the one following them to God’s heart.

JAR: Are you working on any new books?  Can you tell us about it?

CH: I am starting to carve out some time and space to begin working on a project, hopefully starting this fall, on “re-Membering Community.” A book that would name the members of community who have been excluded or left on the margins. It would redefine the margins not as a location, but an orientation and reflect on elements of community that grounds itself with theological commitments and values embodied and demonstrated in ecumenicism, gender equality, multiculturalism and solidarity with those who are poor.

JAR: Tell us something unusual/unique about yourself we might otherwise never know.

CH: Unusual? Hmmmmm… Well, actually most of my friends who are students of activism find one of my hobbies an anomaly. One of my life goals is to see ever every Division 1-A college football team play. I’ve seen 54 of the 120 at 28 different stadiums, that includes seeing every ACC team, and most of the PAC-10, SEC, Big East and Big XII. That’s all I got.

JAR: Thanks Chris.

Previous Post – Book of James – Part 2

When I heard from IVPress that John Stott was releasing what was likely to be his last book, I was eager to read it.  As a teenage I had stumbled across my Dad’s copy of Stott’s book on the Sermon on the Mount and it (along with the copy of Bonhoeffer’s “Cost of Discipleship”) had a profound impact on my faith.  The title of this new book also stirred by interest- “The Radical Disciple: Some Neglected Aspects of Our Faith”.  I was surprised to find that the book was quite small, easily readable in a few readings, but I settled in to read it immediately upon receiving it.

Stott introduces the book by taking us through his intention for the books title.  First, he explains why he uses “disciple” instead of “Christian”, seeking to resist the passivity that too many Christians accept in our faiths, suggesting a more active devotion essential to all disciples.  He then explains that by “radical”, he meant “anybody whose opinions went to the roots and was thoroughgoing in their commitment”.  Together, then, they call for actively devoted followers and students of a Master who are deeply rooted in their commitment to and understanding of His will.  He then explains that he will introduce us to eight characteristics of radical discipleship that have become all too neglected by the Church.

Nonconformity: Here Stott warns of the two extremes of escapism and conformism.  We are called to live in the dynamic tension of being in the world, but not of the world.  While some of us live isolated from the world, demonizing everything that is outside of the “Christian ghetto” others compromise essential aspects of the faith in order to connect and fit in the world.  He shows how this call to live meaningfully in, but also distinctly different from the world is a theme throughout Scripture.  Pointing to pluralism, materialism, ethical relativism and narcissism, he calls us to look to Christ for the only model for nonconformity.

Christlikeness: Drawing from three Scriptures to be held together (Romans 8:29; 2 Cor. 3:18; 1 John 3:2), Stott shows us what it means to be Christlike.  First, it is a call to become incarnational Christians, living out together the presence of Christ in the world.  Second, it is a call to serve like Christ, selflessly working on behalf of others (especially in our self-centered culture).  Third, it is a call to love like Christ, a topic worthy of a dozen books.  Fourth, it is a call to patient endurance like Christ, resisting our rights and even expectations, looking only to obedience as the measure of success.  Fifth, it is a call to the mission of Christ, recognizing that to be His incarnational people essential calls us to be His missional people.  He closes the chapter by citing three consequences of this kind of Christlikeness: 1) we will face suffering & must do so like Christ; 2) our evangelism will only be as successful as our lives reflect the Gospel we proclaim, and; 3) all of this is only possible through the indwelling of His Holy Spirit.

Maturity: Through his patented gift at Biblical exposition, Stott explores the nature and essentially qualities of Christian maturity.  Again, reflecting on the image of Christ who we are meant to reflect and incarnate together, he holds a rightfully demanding standard for all Christians in the pursuit of “perfection”/maturity.  It is the goal for both our own faith and for the mission of Christ we extend to our world.  This chapter spoke volumes to many of the challenges we are facing here in our ministry.

Creation Care: I was thrilled to find that Stott had included a chapter on Creation Care among things that he felt were essential to radical discipleship today.  Starting with wise caution about appropriate engagement on this issue, he goes on to demonstrate the deeply Biblical mandate to relate to creation with more care and loving intentionality.  While such a short chapter in a small book could never suffice, it is still a strong and powerful statement for him to have included it in the book.

Simplicity: This was the chapter I was most eager to read, which is perhaps why I was somewhat disappointed.  The lions share of the theme developed in the chapter is the quoted text from “The Evangelical Commitment To Simple Lifestyle”.  It is an excellent and encouraging text and I am glad to have heard about it, however, I would have hoped that Stott would have more directly addressed this topic.  However, it is a beautiful and necessary response to the rampant materialism and consumerism that is present in the church today.

Balance: Again using his gift of exposition, Stott takes us through 1 Peter 2:1-17 as a list of images that reflect true discipleship.  While very different, we need to hold them together in dynamic tension (or balance) to understand them.  They are as follows: We are like babies needing regular and appropriate nurture and sustenance in our faith; We are like stones in a building, distinctly parts but ultimately part of the greater, more solid whole; We are priests who carry in us the Holy of Holies; We are God’s chosen people, not as favorites, but for His greater purposes for the whole world; We are foreigners whose ultimate home is the Kingdom of God, here and yet to come; We are servants of God who lovingly serve God through service to others.

Dependence: This chapter is the most honest in the book, where Stott exposes his own weakness and vulnerability to demonstrate that in the face of our pride and independence, we must recognize that we are dependent on God and each other.  He sums it up well in his response to those who “don’t want to be a burden”:

“We are all designed to be a burden to others.  You are designed to be a burden to me and I am designed to be a burden to you.  And the life of the family, including the life of the local church family, should be one of ‘mutual burdensomeness’.  ‘Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ’ (Galatians 6:2).  Christ Himself takes on the dignity of dependence.”

Death: The final characteristic needed for radical disciples is found in reflection of suffering and death.  Stott show that it is through death that we: receive salvation; are truly formed into the image of Christ; can participate in His mission; face the persecution for His sake; face martyrdom; and finally, face our own mortality.  It is a sobering, but excellent finale for this book of discipleship.

_________

While not as comprehensive as might have been expected, this book excels in its accessibility without compromising the umph of its message.  Small parts disappointed me, but only passingly, as expected for any book.  I found myself saying again and again throughout the book, this would be a great launching point for any maturing community of faith seeking to discover what it means to be disciples of Christ.  While Stott acknowledges that the topics were chosen somewhat arbitrarily, they are nonetheless reflective of the challenges in our culture that he rightly identified as important to address.  I highly recommend this title.

-ViralHope Released & Thriving.  I have been really excited to see this project come together.  As one of the many contributors, I feel honoured to have my name attached to this powerful and challenging book.  Each chapter embodies a call to Gospel life rooted deeply in the soil of real communities.  You can order it on Amazon here or take advantage of the great sale on at Ecclesia Press, where you can buy 3 books for  $20.00 plus S&H or 10 books for $65.00 plus S&H.  This is the kind of book you are going to want to give copies away.  The Ecclesia Press sale is for this week only, so order now.

-ChurchMatters Interview on Missional Church:  I had the privilege of doing an interview with Mennonite Church Canada’s radio show & podcast, ChurchMatters.  While it aired on the radio yesterday, the podcast (which has more material than the radio interview) is available on iTunes here.  I was interviewed on the topic of missional church, specially looking at Little Flowers Community.  Let me know what you think.  I would also highly recommend scanning through their other interviews, as they have some excellent content.  Better yet, just subscribe!

-Upcoming Book Reviews: In the coming weeks I have a few book  reviews & author interview lined up for the blog.  A couple of titles I want to feature include Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove’s powerful and prophetic new title “The Wisdom of Stability: Rooting Faith in a Mobile Culture”, as well as “Living Gently in a Violent World: The Prophetic Witness of Weakness” by the unlikely pairing of Stanley Hauerwas & Jean Vanier.  Both books are powerful, practical and helpfully accessible.  Finally, “The Naked Anabaptist: The Bare Essentials of a Radical Faith” by Stuart Murray is now available.  I can hardly endorse a book more strongly than this one.  Check out Scot McKnight’s initial response to the book and the Facebook group here.

-Books Page Live: Speaking of books, at the top of this page you will see navigation button called “Books”.  After a lot of work, I have finally posted my “Recommended Reading” list with links to Amazon.com.  If you scroll over the titles you can see my brief comments on each book.  I will add titles occasionally, so keep checking back.  Remember, any book that you purchase through clicking on through this page will result in a percentage of support to us in our ministry.  What more could ask for?  Great books and supporting a missional community!

Previous Post – Suicide & Despair

Growing up, there was always a strong emphasis on charitable giving in our Christian community.  That value continues to this day, with the small rural church representing the most significant source of our missionary support.  It is a value that we hold to very strongly ourselves as best we can.  All of this to say that I believe in charitable giving as an important aspect of Christian life.  That being said, I believe that it must not become the central “economic” emphasis as missional people.

Drawing centrally from Stuart Murray’s response to this issue in his book “The Naked Anabaptist”, here are a few of the dynamics of this issue:

-First, most of the the suffering in the world which inspires charity stems from systemic injustice.  While the immediate need for relief through charity might be a necessity, as Christians we cannot be satisfied with treating the symptoms while ignoring the causes.  This is not an easy, as we are often unwittingly participating in the very injustices we are then called to confront.  It requires us to not only do the work of uncovering the injustices, but to pursue the changes (including in ourselves) to address the injustice.  Charity, while essential in the right context, can often be used as a means to avoid our truer responsibility (or relieve our sense of culpability).

-Second, responding justly requires the unified action of community, not the noble efforts of individuals, important as they may be.  This speaks to the first point in that charitable giving too easily allows for isolated and unaccountable action by individuals.  Further, the pursuit of a just life is overwhelming, perhaps even impossible, from an exclusively individualistic perspective.  Justice calls us to community, reinforcing the missional necessity of being transformed together into the Body of Christ.

-Third, while charity speaks to the condition of the recipient of the giving, justice speaks to the hearts and lives of everyone involved.  To live justly requires that we look at why there are those who “have” and those who “have not”.  It is this commitment that is at the heart of the Anabaptist commitment to simplicity and contentment.  While justice might be somewhat “popular” in Christian circles these days, I believe it will be this dynamic that will most clearly distinguish the true willingness of our commitment.

-Finally, justice is about mutuality.  It is rooted in our mutual and absolute dependency upon God.  Further, it flows out of a shared lifestyle where we are also in deep need of one another.  Charity can too often become about “us” giving to “them”, reinforcing the very injustices we seek to overcome.  We too often articulate the ideal of becoming servants, but what that truly costs us is often lost to us.  However, this discipline of mutuality is essential.

Again, I want to reinforce that I am not rejecting charity completely.  Rather, I am convince that, as a central emphasis, it fails to embody the nature of the Christ whose Body we are to become.  For more on this theme, read Stuart Murray’s excellent book “The Naked Anabaptist: The Bare Essentials of a Radical Faith”.

Previous Post – Cancer Fundraiser for 9 Year Old Friend

Stuart Murray

As I have mentioned several times over the last month, I was given the opportunity to read an advanced copy of Stuart Murray new book “The Naked Anabaptist: The Bare Essentials of a Radical Faith”.  Not only that, but Herald Press heard of my enthusiasm and asked me to partner with them to help spread the word about this title, offering compensation.  It is not often I get paid to do what I love- read and promote books that I think are incredibly important.

“The Naked Anabaptist” is one of those books that has already been and will remain significant to my faith and our Little Flowers Community.  While invaluable to people who find themselves Anabaptist, by heritage or by conviction (or both), it is also an exciting gift to the church at large, especially those in the missional conversation.  I could not wait to chat with the author about the book.  The official release is less than a week away (April 1, 2010), so put in your pre-order today! Also, check out The Naked Anabaptist Facebook group for the book where you can read excerpts, discuss the content and connect with others.

JAR: How important was this book for your write?  Why?

SM: For some time we have felt the need in the UK to have a straightforward introduction to the Anabaptist tradition that helps people here understand why Christians from many backgrounds are attracted to Anabaptism. The book provides this, as well as helping those who already identify with the Anabaptist tradition to appreciate how diverse the emerging Anabaptist community is in the UK.

SM: Unlike the UK, North America has significant numbers of Christians, churches and other institutions that belong to denominations that trace their historical roots to Anabaptism. It might be assumed, therefore, that this book is not needed in North America. However, as I have visited the US and Canada over the past 15 years or so and have interacted with Mennonite and other groups with Anabaptist roots, I have been surprised at how little interest there has been in Anabaptism. It seems that many associate interest in Anabaptism with academic and historical study and do not perceive the relevance of their own tradition for contemporary issues in mission, discipleship, church life and spirituality.

I have often tried to encourage a re-appropriation of the tradition and a contemporary missional engagement with Anabaptism. I have more recently also become aware of other Christians in North America, unconnected with denominations descended from Anabaptism, who are discovering this tradition and finding it as inspiring and challenging as many of us have in the UK. My hope is that this book will be a resource to them to.

SM: The image I use in the book (which owes much to my friend Alan Kreider) is of the church as an orchestra comprised of many instruments. For many years in the UK context the Anabaptist instrument, which has a particular contribution to make, has been silent. This has not prevented the orchestra from playing the music (although it has diminished it in certain ways). But at a certain point, this instrument is needed as never before if the music is to be played properly.

It is not the only instrument needed, but it is distinctive. My argument is that, in our post-Christendom western culture, the moment has arrived when the Anabaptist tradition is needed more than ever before. It is not the only tradition needed as we face new challenges and new opportunities, but it offers gifts to the wider church. These include a deep-rooted commitment to peacemaking in a fragmented society, experience on the margins of society in a context where all Christians are becoming marginal, a commitment to simplicity and community in a consumerist and individualistic culture, and a focus on the life and teaching of Jesus in societies that are sick of institutional Christianity but still intrigued by Jesus. It is not necessary to become Anabaptists to receive these gifts and to explore ways of working on these issues in many traditions and contexts.

SM: I have learned much from John Howard Yoder on ecclesiology (and much else), Willard M. Swartley on hermeneutics, Wilber R. Shenk on missiology, C. Arnold Snyder on Anabaptist history and theology, and Alan & Eleanor Kreider on missiology, spirituality, church history and various other subjects. I would recommend books by the Kreiders, especially Alan’s Journey Towards Holiness, Eleanor’s Given for You and their jointly written Worship and Mission after Christendom, which will be available any day now. There is also the Anabaptist prayer book, Take our Moments and our Days. Other recommendations are Donald B. Kraybill’s The Upside-Down Kingdom, J. Nelson Kraybill’s On the Pilgrim’s Way, Arnold Snyder’s From Anabaptist Seed and Following In the Footsteps of Christ, and other books in the ‘After Christendom’ series published by Paternoster since 2004.

SM: None that I can think of in a reasonably short introduction to Anabaptism. I hope my book will stimulate readers to explore others, including those I have just mentioned.

SM: Some other traditions have worked much harder at social and political engagement and at cultural transformation than Anabaptists (who often were not in contexts where these activities were feasible). There are also liturgical riches in other traditions than dwarf Anabaptist resources. While Anabaptists will be discriminating in their appropriation of these experiences and resources, many are already drawing gratefully on them.

SM: I suspect such a network has been perceived as extraneous in a context where there are so many explicitly Anabaptist institutions and churches, but I am aware of several people who are interested in setting up such a network, especially among those who are not from historic Anabaptist backgrounds.

SM: I thoroughly enjoy both cooking and eating curries.

JAR: Thanks Stuart.

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Over the past year, two books have had a marked influence on my life, faith and ministry.  I was shocked to discover that, despite this impact, I had failed to review either of them here.  While I failed to review things here, I have purchased and given away these two books more than any other in last few years.  The first is “Simple Spirituality: Learning to See God in a Broken World” by Chris Heuertz of Word Made Flesh.  This book played an important part in developing a real expression to my early Franciscan spirituality and is widely applicable and important to the Christian community.  The other book is “Making Room: Recovering Hospitality As a Christian Tradition” by Christine Pohl, Professor of Church in Society at Asbury Theological Seminary.  In this essential volume, Pohl offers a very accessible and inspirational history and foundation in the discipline of hospitality, followed by a very realistic call to restore it properly in our context today.  Few books receive such unequivocal praise from me.

Therefore, when I discovered that Heuertz & Pohl were teaming up for a book, my interest was immediately stirred.  Curiosity became excitement when I read the title: “Friendship at the Margins: Discovering Mutuality in Service and Mission”, a clear and powerful intersection of both of their strengths and passions.  From IVPress:

“In our anonymous and dehumanized world, the simple practice of friendship is radically countercultural. But sometimes Christians inadvertently marginalize and objectify the very ones they most want to serve.

Chris Heuertz, international director of Word Made Flesh, and theologian and ethicist Christine Pohl show how friendship is a Christian vocation that can bring reconciliation and healing to our broken world. They contend that unlikely friendships are at the center of an alternative paradigm for mission, where people are not objectified as potential converts but encountered in a relationship of mutuality and reciprocity.

When we befriend those on the margins of society by practicing hospitality and welcome, we create communities where righteousness and justice can be lived out. Heuertz and Pohl’s reflections offer fresh insight into Christian mission and what it means to be the church in the world today.”

In a wonderful gesture from Chris Heuertz and IVPress (Thanks Adrianna!), I was given an advanced copy to read.  I will be coming back to this book off and on in the coming week, including an interview with Chris.  So stay tuned!  For now, I want to leave you with some of the defining questions from the beginning of the book.  Please take some to read this section and answer as best you can in the comments:

“Sacrificial love is at the heart of mission and reconciliation. But love and reconciliation can seem pretty abstract until we ask questions like What does reconciliation look like when you love Jesus and want the best for people who are caught in situations of terrible evil, need or despair? How would our lives and our ministries be different if our understand- ings of love emphasized friendship?

“This little book is an extended reflection on these questions. It contains many stories of friendship and love and puts friendship at the center of reflection on reconciliation and mission. We want to ask What difference does it make for mission, discipleship and the church when friendship with people who are poor is a central dimension of our lives? What is the impact on those with whom we minister? How are we changed? What does it mean for the church, for reconciliation and for the practice of mission?“