Last week’s sermon focused on John 15: 9-17 and used some material from the excellent OneKirk worship material and from the equally excellent Lawrence Moore’s blog, Disclosing New Worlds.  As always, youth thoughts and comments are wel,comed.

Tonight, for reasons I’m still not entirely sure of, I was invited to sit on a panel for a discussion of ‘The Emerging Church’ at International Christian College.  If you read yesterday’s post you’ll probably realise that i was pretty nervous about it for a number of reasons.

If you missed it, my article on Emerging Church is in the newly published OneKirk Journal (along with an interview with Scott Rennie and some amazing words written by Roddy Hamilton).

However, back to tonight.  It went pretty well I thought, despite me outing myself as never having been an ‘Evangelical’ which I guess was one of the inevitabilities of taking part.  Oh well.  Never mind.  I think my ‘outsider in terms of the evangelical church but maybe more insider in terms of emerging church’ position added a wider perspective to the debate.

I enjoyed the discussion but there were some things that I wanted to pick up on and perhaps save others having the same problems.

The first is that we always need to be pretty clear which emerging church we’re talking about.  This evening’s discussion grew out of the visit of Brian McLaren last year and the students wanted a forum to discuss some of their unanswered questions.  I saw the value of this but I’m not sure I see the point of only discussing what McLaren thinks the emerging church is, no matter how much fun that might be.

I don’t buy that McLaren is leading this emergence on his own.  I’m concerned that if we focus all of the discussion on what Brain thinks we miss the very real question about why stuff is emerging from ALL kinds of churches.  What is driving this experimentation?  What is it that people are dissatisfied with?  I think McLaren has a go at answering some of those questions, but he’s not the only voice in the discussion.

The second is that, believe it or not, this ain’t America.  The drivers for the Emerging Church in America are its particular political, social, cultural and spiritual context… none of which are the same here in Scotland, despite the very obvious homogenisation of western culture.  The evangelical context in America has a social and political dimension that is not replicated here in the UK where the ‘religious right’ doesn’t have the same influence in the political or social agenda.

I think we need to be more deliberate about finding out what’s happening here and who, if anyone, is writing about it.  That’s one of my hopes for Emerging Scotland, that people will share their stories and begin to chronicle the emerging church here in Scotland.

The third is that, even though it’s a crowd pleaser, cheap stereotypes about liberals sitting round candles isn’t an accurate representation of any of the Emerging Church.   Please don’t make fun of people who are trying honestly and earnestly to seek God’s will and to worship Him in ways that make more sense to them than whatever they have found in a denominational church setting.

So, overall, a good night I think.  It was filmed but I don’t know if or where that might appear…

I feel sorry for Thomas.  He gets some bad press, mostly so John can make a point to his readers I think.  I’m not even sure Thomas had doubts.  I think he had questions, so that’s where this week’s sermon focuses… on questions.

I was at Lanark Greyfriars and the readings were John 20: 19-31, 1 John 1:1 – 2:2 and Acts 4: 32-35

As always, your comments, suggestions and most of all questions are very welcome.

This is a sermon preached on Sunday 8 March on Mark 8: 31-38 (Lent 2B).  As always, I’d be glad to hear your thoughts.

This is the sermon I preached this morning at Barrhead United Reformed Church on Mark 9: 2-9, The transfiguration of Jesus.

1 Samuel 3:1-10 is one of my favourite passages in the Bible.  I love the story of Eli and Samuel and all its imagery and drama.

Let me know what you think of the sermon.  Thoughts, comment and criticism (constructive preferred) all welcome.

I was leading worship at St Andrew’s in Blantyre this morning while their minister Peter is off at a conference.  It was great to be there again, although we had a bit of a hymn tune issue which I thought was kinda funny.  It always amuses me when people don’t know a tune how quiet they get, usually with a kind of stunned ‘Help! That’s not the tune we know!’ look on their faces.  The audio of the sermon is above.  Our text for today was Mark 1: 1-11, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

St Andrew's Blantyre

‘Emerging’ Church

The first thing to say is that McLaren doesn’t like the term Emerging for all kinds of reasons.  But with no other word to replace it I’ll use it as a catch all definition of new developments on the fringe of church.  He spent some time unpacking where we are and where we might be heading.

Trees

Trees grow taller by accident.  They really grow fatter and that’s how we measure their growth.  So instead of thinking about the emerging church as a slice of a pie, think instead of the new ring of growth on the outside of a tree.  People on the outside, in this new place may have more in common with the others in that ring than with people from their tradition towards the centre.  This ring of new growth reflects how the church has responded to the current climate.  Like a tree, some years will see more development than others given the prevailing climate and nutrients.

3 Worlds – Pre-modern, Modern and Postmodern

Theology is framed by modernity.  It’s language and world view are informed by the modern world, the world of the industrial revolution, colonisation, empire and domination.

We don’t all live in that world now.  There is a move towards a new era but the problem felt is that the people making that move first are very dissatisfied with those who don’t want to move yet.  The point of movement has lots of tension and friction, between the established church and the new models and expressions of church. (This had a useful diagram to explain it… not that I can reproduce it at the moment but I’ll have a go later and add it in.)

The challenge for the early movers/adopters is to imagine the new world and describe it to those they are trying to convince to move.  It’s no use shouting at someone, telling them there is a better way if you can’t describe, or better show, how it can be.

Downward Pressure

McLaren used another diagram to show the downward movement from ‘high church’ through the reformation to ‘lower’ expressions.  This showed:

Orthodox

Roman Catholic

Anglican

Lutheran

Presbyterian

Methodist

Pentecostal

Charismatic

with new expressions at the bottom.  This describes the movement from control to shared responsibility, from high to low and from structure to network and micro-church.

So, is McLaren right?  Does this downward pressure explain church development?  And if it does, what drives the downward pressure?  Are you on the fringe?  An early adopter?  Do you shout or convince?  Complain or paint pictures of how it could be?

Neal has some good links to other bloggers who’ve heard McLaren over the weekend.

Last night I went to hear author and pastor Brian McLaren speak at Vertigo in Strathclyde Uni’s Student Union.  These are my notes and some attempt to make some sense of them.

Jesus didn’t come to start a religion.  He came to start something else which he called the ‘Kingdom of God’.  But would Jesus use that term now given that the world is not organised in what we would know and understand as kingdoms?

If Jesus wouldn’t use ‘kingdom of God’, what would he use?

The Dream of God?

What is God’s dream for the world?  What does God hope for his creation?  How can we help to achieve that?  By working at what we think is important or by finding out what God is doing and joining in?

The Peace Revolution of God

Violence met with violence legitimises violence.  Peacemakers are blessed.  How can we actively make peace?  Not just abstain from violence but work for peace and reconciliation?

The Mission of God

What is God up to?  Is there a difference between the ‘evacuation gospel’ which says that this world is doomed so salvation is a ticket to somewhere better and the gospel that says God sent Jesus to redeem the world, so we should join in that work and make the world a better place now.

The Party of God

Like it sounds.  Jesus seemed to hang out and have a good time.  Is life for living and enjoying?

Or what would the political party of God look like?  Instead of pointing out why the ‘opposition’ is wrong might it highlight good ideas, areas of co-operation and opportunities for reconciliation?

Network of God

Like an online network.  A coalition of radicals joined in a common cause

Dance of God

Some of the early church fathers described the Trinity as a never ending dance where the Father is poured into the Spirit who is poured into the Son who is poured into the Father…

Ecosystem of God

Or the never ending dance of creation (it got a bit Circle of Life here)

God’s New Planet

A redeemed and restored world.  I had an interesting conversation today about whether the second coming would be at the end of the 6th age on the day of Restoration, the Sabbath.  A time of healing and renewal.

Beloved Community

Not just the people we live near but a world where we truly love our neighbours.  All of them.

God’s Economy

Can we imagine a world where economic growth is not measured in consumption but in how much we give back?

Or how about the Unterror Network of God?  Little cells of people meeting in secret, intent on doing good.  Planning guerrilla acts of kindness.

This reimagining of terminology may seem a little flippant or pointless but it points to some wider thinking about what the ‘kingdom of God’ is.  If the terms above describe the Kingdom then the question which follows is ‘How do we live in the Kingdom?’

Peter Johnston and Scott Rennie have the first part of a fascinating conversation about the book ‘Why Liberal Churches Are Growing’.  Listen HERE to their discussion about the challenges facing the ‘progressive’ church, creating community, the church and young people and much more.