I put Zizioulas down for the week. I’m trying to get through Pannenberg’s book on the church this week. Here are my notes from chapter one: CHAPTER 1 – CHURCHLESS CHRISTIANS He calls people who supposedly subscribe to Christianity without Christian church involvement “churchless Christians.” As churches grew more sectarian, and denominationalized. Each denomination began to vie for political power. As they did, no one sect could claim universality and thus religion became a privatized affair. 11 The reformation claimed... Read more

I’m up to my elbows in Metropolitan John… Zizioulas is working with the idea that sin is actually a rupture between being and communion, or what he calls the “individualization of our being.” The fall “results from the claim of created man to be the ultimate point of reference in existence (to be God).” p.102 He has already built his case that being is communion (I’ll not rehearse it here fully, but only in part), and is saying that what... Read more

My friend Isaac had me read a poem the other day, a sentence which feels wierd to write, but it happened. The poet’s name is Andrew Hudgins and he’s a big deal in the world of poetry and literature. I don’t know about all of that, but after reading this poem I’m seriously thinking about pre-ordering his promised book, Shut Up, You’re Fine! Troubling Poems for Troubled Children because of the title alone. That would be the second poetry book... Read more

NOTES:Roxburgh presented for most of this session. He was saying that instead of asking the practical questions (which is all that most missional church writers seem to do these days), think about what happens if you ask the God questions first. We should first explore the God who is Trinity, relationality and difference. He says that God always comes to us in the “space between,” in the space of difference. There are all of these metaphors he points to in... Read more

They are looking at the idea of Gospel & trying to figure out if it is something external to culture that exists in the mind of God which we then have to figure out how to translate into a given culture. OR is gospel something that we actually encounter and discover as culture. We had quite a bit of discussion about this. Essentially we were having a conversation about what the gospel is. We talked through truth as “event” and... Read more

SESSION TWO: Dr. Franke’s Introduction… He told the story that he heard on NPR of Phillip Jenkin’s and his trip to Africa. While he was sitting in this church meeting word spread that a prominent American church leader was there and word got up to the pastor and so he invited Jenkins to come forward, not to speak off the cuff, but to perform that week’s exorcism. The reason they did is because “they believe the bible.” But we all... Read more

Roxburgh & Franke I’m attending a class about the “Nature and Mission of the Church,” that’s being held at Jacob’s Well in KC. I’m just going to throw some of the thoughts I’m encountering and maybe play with them a little bit. I’ll try to do a little bit each day. SESSION ONE:Dr. Franke: If we’re going to start this conversation about what “Missional church” is, we must start it with the question “whose mission is it?” The answer to... Read more

Let Your Life Speakby Parker Palmer This book Let Your Life Speak by Parker Palmer was recommened to me by my friend Shayne. It has been surprizingly impactful for me over the past few days as I’ve read through it. Here are my notes. If you are looking for a quick summer read and want to consider the idea of “vocation,” i.e., how what you are doing with your life should be connected to who you are, then you should... Read more

The Ark Once there was a father and mother who had a little son. He was a good boy and was their only child and they loved him very much. They played with the little boy for hours and he was the light of their life. The little boy was a naturally friendly child. From and early age the father and mother taught the boy about the importance of friendship. They modeled friendship for the boy and they trained and... Read more

Boulevard des Capucines, 1873 by Monet. This has always been one of my very favorite paintings. I love Monet anyway, what’s not to like…but I love that this picture drew such criticism at the time. I love that it was part of the first exhibit of impressionist art and that it is so beautiful to look at. I usually spend quite a bit of time in front of this painting when I’m at the Nelson-Atkins here in town, so it... Read more