russell rathbun

Are You an Acts 2 Church?

May 11, 2011 By Tony Jones 6 Comments

If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a thousand times: some erstwhile young church planter says to me, “I’m really looking to plant an Acts 2 church.” Usually, they’re moving to Seattle-the-most-unchurched-city-in-America-actually-closer-to-Europe-than-to-anywhere-in-the-U.S. My retort is always the same: “Yeah, that lasted about five verses; then God started killing the liars.”

Well, that wonderful little passage at the end of Acts 2 comes up in the lectionary this week. Russell Rathbun, curator of The Hardest Question, a lectionary blog, has a great post on this passage, in which he questions our assumptions about the Utopian Church:

[Read more...]

Filed Under: bible, church, church history Tagged With: acts, lectionary, russell rathbun, the hardest question 6 Comments

How Long Can We Keep Preaching Christ's Coming?

November 22, 2010 By Tony Jones 11 Comments

Over at The Hardest Question, a lectionary preaching blog curated by the mischievous, Russell Rathbun, is asking what I think is an important and difficult question.

This Sunday marks the beginning of Year A in the The Revised Common Lectionary. So here we go again. We get texts from Isaiah and the Gospels, about John the Baptist and the Second Coming. And once again we’ve got to preach the immanent advent of the Christ. “He’s Coming!” we preach, pray, and sing.

But is he?

I’m not really saying that my own personal belief in Jesus’ second coming is in doubt. Anyone who knows my commitment the theological programme of Jürgen Moltmann can guess that my belief in a concrete eschaton is pretty, well, concrete. What I am asking is, How long will people believe us? We preach the advent of Christ every Advent, and I just wonder how long until the parishioners start thinking that we’re the Preachers Who Cried Wolf.

I think it’ll be an interesting conversation at THQ, and I encourage you to tune in.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: church Tagged With: advent, preaching, russell rathbun, the hardest question 11 Comments

A New Preaching Website

July 5, 2010 By Tony Jones 4 Comments

I’ve been part of the development of a new website for lectionary preachers (and others who care about the text). The site is the brainchild of one of my favorite preachers (and authors), the Reverend Russell Rathbun of House of Mercy. Two of each week’s lectionary texts will be investigated by Russell, who curates the site, and guest contributors.

In recent years, Russell has been attracted to the midrash way of approaching, exegeting, and proclaiming the text. Specifically, he’s been studying the work of Aviviah Gottlieb Zornberg and been applying that to his own preaching.

The Hardest Question is the result of Russell’s thinking in this regard, and it is a project in partnership with sparkhouse, a new publishing and design firm in Minneapolis. About THQ, Russell says,

“Questioning the text is important, because the Bible is the witness to the Living Word of God. We are called into relationship with God through Jesus the Christ, The Word. Relationships, at there their best, are dynamic, growing, deepening, revelatory, generative and transforming. A primary way we pursue relationship with the Living Word through the study of scripture, so it must be taken seriously, approached with a robust confidence and a passionate vulnerability.

We ask the Text the hardest questions because we can. It does not break, it is not offended and does not judge our desire for understanding. The ancient rabbis say that when we study the Bible we release God’s mercy into the world. It is important to question the text, because the world needs as much of God’s mercy as possible.”

Last week’s posts were by Bruce Reyes-Chow, and this week’s are by Fuller Seminary preaching prof Mark Labberton. Upcoming posts will come from Nadia Bolz-Weber and Phyllis Tickle, and regular contributions will come from Russell. Plus, every Thursday at 10:30am CDT, Russell hosts a live videocast on UStream.

So, if you’re a preacher who uses the lectionary texts, bookmark THQ as a great, new resource. And as you’re sitting in your study on Thursday morning fighting writer’s block, tune in to the videocast for a little inspiration.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: bible, church Tagged With: lectionary, preaching, russell rathbun, the hardest question, thq 4 Comments

Laughing Till It Hurt

October 8, 2008 By Tony Jones 5 Comments

That was my experience last night at Nadia Bolz-Weber’s book reading. Nadia is an inked, sarcastic, in-recovery, former stand-up comedienne, emergent, Lutheran church planter from Denver. Her first book, about watching 24 straight hours of TBN is a mostly sardonic and occasionally sentimental narrative through Paula White, Joyce Meyer, Team Impact (read that chapter here), and both Nadia’s and my favorite TBN preacher, Jesse Duplantis.

Nadia sells herself short when she says, as she did last night, that she’s not a writer but a preacher with a keyboard. In fact, her writing is crisp, hip, and witty. It reminds me of Russell Rathbun’s amazingly funny book, which I called the Christian Confederacy of Dunces in my blurb. In fact, Russell sat next to me at the the reading last night.

Anyway, Nadia is a gifted writer. But I’ll say that her experience as a stand-up greatly benefits her at a book reading. The room was filled with laughter over and over again as she read to us from a few chapters of the book. What I thought was interesting was the room was filled with some pretty leftward-leaning Christians, whom it was clear had never watched a minute of TBN. In fact, most of them were unfamiliar with most of the names in the book. Russell and I, however, were in the know because we, like Nadia, understand that TBN is like crack — instantly addictive.

Actually, that applies to Nadia’s book, too. It is instantly addictive, especially if you’ve ever whiled away the hours watching Paul and Jan, the Power Team, or anything else on TBN.

Bottom Line: BUY THIS BOOK: Salvation on the Small Screen: 24 Hours of Christian Television

Join the book’s Facebook group here.