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August 17, 2009
> 10:28 AM
mistakes, regrets and hankering I should have written "hankerin" - just doesn't sound right to say "hankerING." But, as with what I'm going to talk about, that's how it goes. That's how I wrote it. There are events in your life that play out in certain ways. Some you have little control over - they just happen around you and it's like you're watching a movie. Most personal life-events, though, are to some degree, bound up with our wills, our choices. They "play out" as they do partly because of how we choose to act or not act, as the case may be. We affect how the play moves and happens. OK, this is not a treatise on free will. These are just things connected to my thought process here. For the most part, I've been thinking about some of the decisions I made a couple of years ago in light of my discernment to come back into the Catholic Church. At the time this sense to "go back" came upon me, and that's what it was like, I was leading, pastoring, abbotting, a small faith community that met in our home. I was, and had been, a participant in a kind of grassroots dialogue taking place in certain sectors of the Church as a whole - in at least part of the whole "emerging church" scene. Then - well, then I sort of dropped it all like a hot potato. Not quite that drastic, but it seems a bit like that to me now. The way I handled all that, in part, I regret. At the time, I felt I needed to make a very clear break from one thing in order to pursue the other, so that's what I did. I'm not sure, in hind sight, that it really needed to happen that way. Maybe God had something in mind for me that I still don't totally understand. This is likely true for all of us to some extent I suppose. But I'm not sure that one can't still be involved in some sort of emerging type community and still be a part of another church, the Catholic Church in particular, in my case. I'm not sure one has to give up one voice in order to have another. Whatever voice I had or have is able to speak, if that's what God wants it to do, to whomever, whenever, wherever. There are certainly things in me that needed to be dealt with, and are still being dealt with by God. The one thing my spiritual director (whom I haven't seen in far too long) said to me early on in all this process, was, "maybe God is making you small, huh?" May be - and I still say to that - not fun, not at all. Is it supposed to be fun? No. I feel that, at least for a while, I became invisible, powerless and mute. This was, perhaps, necessary for a time. I think, though, that I'm starting to see myself in the mirror again, a little bit, and my voice is coming back - a little bit. I just have to listen and figure out what that means. So, I have made mistakes, I think, in how I handled some of my and my family's ecclesiastical transition. I'm sorry for that. Nothing I can do to change it now. God deals with more screwed up messes than that, I reckon. I lift all involved to His Grace and Mercy. I regret some of the ways things went down. And finally, I am beginning to have a hankerin' for something... something. Not just the monastery. That too. I have not let that die. I don't think God has let it die despite my lack of hope sometimes, my lack of faith. Maybe it's like someone who's a creative woodworker, who's an artistic carpenter, who has that gift and skill-set - if you close down your shop for a while and put your tools down, eventually the smell of saw-dust and mineral oil and stain will creep into your dreams. It won't totally go away. Then you have to discern - when do I want to go back into the shop, and what do I want to build when I get in there. Fill my mind and heart, Holy Spirit. Labels: catholic, church, emerging church, reversion 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | August 09, 2008 > 10:15 AM catholic emerging church conference? How veeerry interesting, said he. Thanks to Ryan Taylor for pointing this out. Of course, this is nothing "official" like a bunch of Bishops got together and are hosting this or the Vatican said, "hey, let's check out this emerging church thing" - nothing like that. But it's Catholics and Protestants, and "post-Protestants" I imagine, getting together to talk about such things under one roof. I think that's pretty damn cool - at least the idea of it is, to me. This deal is being hosted by Fr. Richard Rohr's Center for Action and Contemplation in New Mexico. You can go here to see more details about the conference. I haven't looked at the price yet - hopefully it's not an arm and a leg breaker like many of them are. Of course, it's in New Mexico so driving might be prohibitive for us East of the Mississipi folk. We shall see. If you know me, you know I don't get too excited about conferences of this type. I've been more than my share of cynical about them, even the ones I've helped host. None of these big-shots make my hair follicles tingle any more. If anything, a big-shot name list makes me want to stay home and hang out with people on a porch somewhere. This, though, is interesting just because of the Catholic context, the ecumenical context. For the most part, I'm thinkin' not too many Catholics are even aware of any such thing as "the emerging church." Brian Mc-Who?? Doug Who-gitt? Yeah, they're not going to know who that is. Are any Catholics interested, who know what the heck it is, for any other reason than that soon there will innevitably be a new crop of converts to the Reeeaal Church out of this bunch? You may not want to answer that, I may pop an aneurism. And I'm quite aware that some very conservative Catholics are familiar with Richard Rohr and would be hard-pressed to call him "Father." Oh well, I'm not that super-familiar with him really. What I've heard or read has been decent though. Let's not make it about that. Let's just not. I'd like to go to this thing if for no other reason than to just be a proverbial "fly on the wall." I want to hear what's said and see what happens. You never know, I may just add another state to my list come next March. Labels: catholic, ecumenism, emerging church 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | August 07, 2008 > 5:05 PM linked and reposted Well, it's been a while since this has happened - fellow blogger Andrew Jones has linked to an article I wrote for Next-Wave e-zine a while back. I hope he doesn't think I just wrote that since it says "August 2008" at the top of it for some reason. This was actually a conglomeration of 3 blog posts I did a couple of years ago I think, in which I tried to help identify different streams of what was going on in the emerging church scene. That was back in the more than 50 readers a day days. I've not been the most prolific blogger in the last year or so. Even if I was, I'm not quite doing what I was then. Moving back into the Catholic Church hasn't exactly done a lot for my emerging street cred, know wha' I'm sayin'? Anyway, it was interesting to see that link today. Funny, bunch of young whipper-snappers might read that and be like, "Alan Creech, who's that - I'll have to check this guy out." Haa! Labels: blogging, emerging church 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | July 12, 2008 > 2:07 PM in a galaxy far far away...  This is my very good friend Kevin Rains. Today he wrote a little piece on his blog remembering some connections some of us made several years ago. It was a little bitter-sweet for me to read. As he said, two of our comrades have since moved on to a fuller expression of God's Kingdom. Also, the connection we all had after that day, growing for a few years, seems to have faded a bit. That's not necessarily bad. God has moved some of us here and there, shifted our focus, etc. It still feels like something I'm personally lacking though - sometimes. That's a little sad for me.When I was at the event Kevin describes in his post (it began the night of July 25, 2001), I kept a very constant written journal. I recorded my thoughts as that weekend progressed. In 2005 I posted my own memorial post about the same event. The poem you see at the end there was one I wrote after a bunch of us went to a local bar/music club there in Cincinnati one night. I actually have pictures of that time somewhere, probably on a roll of film that never got developed. I'll try to track those down. I love you people - still - believe it. Palmer and Chad, pray for us. Labels: church, emerging church, friends, midwest crew 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | April 25, 2008 > 10:14 AM me and my story  I was poking around yesterday and found a podcast that was done fairly recently, interviewing myself about my recent story as well as talking about some other interesting things about church life, etc. I realize that some of you may not have heard me talk about this, not in this way at least. As I listened to it again last night, it became apparent to me that I "sound" much different than I "read" sometimes. My friends Kevin Rains and D.G. Hollums are doing a podcast called Praxis (nice logo, yeah that was me, hire me). I was apparently their inaugural show, very cool. You can take a listen to that here. While you're over there you can subscribe to the podcast I'm sure. Peace.Labels: catholic, church, emerging church, personal 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | April 24, 2008 > 10:24 PM church, money, future conversation Well, this ought to be interesting. There's a bit of a blog-versation going on among some of my friends about the future of the church, how it conducts itself, how and where churches come together for worship, how ministers/pastors/priests are supported by their communities - all in light of possible coming monetary problems, financial crisis, etc. You can check their musings out first if you like to keep in stride...
I spent quite a few years with my mouth wide open about how large church buildings that depend on quite a bit of money and ministers who depend on salaries that suck the life out of a congregation are bad for the Church as a whole - that they put our focus on the wrong things and help perpetuate a way of being Christian which is not quite what I'm thinking Jesus intended. Now, some may think, here I am in the biggest, richest, most opulent ecclesiastical institution of them all - shut up! I guess technically they'd be right. Nothing like Rome for some gold and stained glass and seeeeeriously whoopdeedoo vestments. Right. Nothing like the Vatican's stash. Right. And those Cathedrals! Holy, well holy cathedral Batman! Show me the MONAAAAY! Rome doesn't fund local Catholic parishes by the way - just thought I'd through that in there. There's a lot of medieval mess in all that. There's a ton of leftover, as Jason mentioned, deeply "Christendom" ideas floating around this ancient church. And yes, I believe it's a problem, one not easily or quickly solved. Some of the defense behind some of these things is a sort of anti-Gnostic, matter and things here on earth are important, beauty draws us to contemplate God, He is worthy of something amazing and cool like that kind of thing. Can you see where that's coming from without me having to write another book on it? I can see some of it, but not all of it. I can understand an attitude that God in His infinite wonder and wants to reflect that around us in a context of worship - sacred space and all that. I get that. I love beautiful spaces. I'd rather be in a beautiful, sacred space than in a corny, goofy lookin' space. We're human. We're of this earth. It matters. BUT, how much does it matter? In what way does it matter? I think we've too easily answered these questions. We've adopted answers that aren't "our" answers over the years and unfortunately they have stuck with us and we've developed apologies for them. How about the beauty of simplicity? Can I get some Franciscan love up in this joint? Is Jesus really looking for golden thrones and million dollar sanctuaries? It seems odd for a God who once tried to convince us that He doesn't dwell structures built by human hands - doesn't it? It does. Oh, I know, the Blessed Sacrament (pardon me for a second guys) - yes, I do believe in His Real Presence in the Sacrament. But then there's that animal stall in Bethlehem, those dirty streets He walked on, the humble, normal house he lived in - all that. This is only part of my point. To me, opulence and finery are a very surface way of getting the point across, of showing respect. It's not evil, necessarily, but it's also not necessary. Simple, normal, regular, how about that? Things seem to be moving in a direction that might cause us all to have to rethink what we spend, what we build, how we pay our staff, etc. Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, whatever - things will change and we will all have to face it sooner or later. This all makes me remember a story an old Priest told me about something a friend said to him who had spent a lot of time in Rome, that the best thing that could happen to the Catholic Church is for an oppressive government to take over and strip it of all it's wealth, tear the external institution down and push it back into the catacombs. OK, the catacombs part was my creative addition, but you get my point. And it's not only the Catholic Church but much of the rest of the whole Church - let us all lose the ability to own buildings, to pay our leaders or our tax exemptions. Bring it! Where would our focus be then? Maybe on the Kingdom of God, something novel like that. It's time for some Body of Christ creativity. Maybe we should start practicing now - maybe. Lord have mercy. technorati tags > church, church buildings, church and money Labels: catholic, church, emerging church 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 31, 2007 > 11:58 AM alan's 2008 predictions > and beyond  I was reading Michael Spencer's predictions for 2008 and some of those in his comments, so I thought I'd take a stab at a few here. I don't usually think about things like this but this should be interesting and fun anyway. A prediction to start off with about these predictions: Some of these may just be me being a smart-ass - beware!
---------------- Listening to: Simple Minds - Alive And Kicking Labels: catholic, emerging church, monasticism, predictions 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | August 17, 2007 > 11:31 PM one more time The emerging church continues to emerge in interesting directions I suppose. My friend Tom Ponchak, his wife Lisa and their family of 3 girls are going back to "Rome." Well, "going back" for Tom and Lisa, both cradle Catholics who moved into other Christian circles for quite a few years, in pastoral ministry, planted a church very much like vine & branches in Florida. Tom has been going through nearly exactly what I have for the last year or so. We have talked/processed about it together a decent bit during some of that time. I have definitely appreciated Tom's perspective over the last months. I'm sure there will be more in the days to come as we both navigate a re-entry into this big Catholic world we've stepped back into. Our stories are so similar, it's really a little freaky. And we find ourselves both in a very similar place now. For my part (I'm sure Tom would concur), I feel also like saying now that the great love and admiration that I have for my friends that I have been journeying with for the last several years, other church planters and leaders and Kingdom workers, has not changed. I am following God as I know how. The deep drawing inside me to come back into the Catholic Church was not ignorable, and eventually, for me, was something I needed to do. I know this is a big change. I know there are differences that confuse people. Hell, they confuse me. So, we continue to journey together. We are, ultimately, on the same path. Things won't be exactly the same. Are they ever? God is constantly drawing us onward and father inward. It takes different forms at different times. We keep on walking and helping each other walk. I am fortunate to have deep friendships with people who love me and support me. technorati tags > catholic church, catholic reversion, catholic conversion, catholicism, emerging church Labels: catholic, church, emerging church, friends, reversion 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | July 02, 2007 > 10:20 AM concerning the community of vine & branches Since this whole Catholic business has broken out, I've had a few questions concerning the faith community that I planted and have lead for almost 7 years, Vine & Branches. "What will happen to your church?" "What about vbcc?" Those are good questions. Quite a few people have followed us as a community over the last few years, watched us being church in the way that we were. There were even a couple of books that featured our name and a bit about what we were about, not to mention the whole bloggish emerging church phenomenon, conferences, etc. So, even though we were only a very few faithful people, doing what we were doing, we were not anonymous in the world. Anyway, of course our own people were wondering (and we've already, of course, talked about all this within) and others were as well, so I thought I'd put up a post concerning that subject in particular. I'll do a little cutting and pasting from some things I've already said in other places and then add some. I'll try not to make this too long of a post. from the original why not? post: So we talked to them, asked them to pray with/for us. Of course, it was a very good thing. And later, recently, when the word came down - "Go" - the reactions were just as, if not more, positive. They saw it. They see that it's a good thing and we know that we will continue to be a community of people helping each other along the journey, but not as "a church," properly speaking. And that is fine. It may, in fact, as we talked about it, free some things up. We have become "a monastery in waiting," as it were (thanks Kyle) - those rural monastic plans are still ON, only slightly varied. We will now be meeting only once a month for a potluck meal, hanging out, and to pray the evening prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours. Our relationships will be maintained. What else? Good stuff.So, there's the basics. All the people who are a part of this community, while we will miss certain aspects of what we were together, are fine. We are looking forward to another leg in the journey. We talked about the fact that I just couldn't do both things at once - maintain vbcc as it was and figure this whole Catholic thing out at the same time. It would have driven me nuttier than I already am. And then, the decision was made, so the logical conclusion followed (there we go again with those) - we shifted gears from being one thing while stating that we would continue to be another. Well, not altogether "another thing" really. It's more like continuing to be one thing that we definitely already are, a community of people, while allowing another part of that to come to an end - the "church" part. And as I said, and I've said this numerous times in private to many people, the rural monastic community is still happening. This does not change this vocational vision I believe has come from God. It may even be easier in some ways. The only thing that will change about it is that it won't be the base of a "church" but more, to use more Catholic terminology, an apostolate working within the greater Church. Benedict and some friends saw some things, were called to do something, and they did it. Francis and many others did that same, all through the history of the Church. No different here. The monastic community of vine & branches will be a small, rural, contemplative (with active outworkings) monastic community with a Catholic base and an ecumenical spirit. I'm looking forward to the day when that becomes a reality. God give us Grace to move well in that direction. Monastic Fathers, pray for us. technorati tags > roman catholic church, catholic church, catholic reversion, catholic conversion, catholicism, emerging church, alan creech, vine & branches christian community, swimming the tiber, crossing the tiber, community, monasticism, new monasticism Labels: catholic, church, emerging church, monasticism, personal, reversion, vbcc 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | June 28, 2007 > 4:35 PM why not?  That can be a big question in certain circumstances. I have come face to face with that in the last several months. Really, for me, in the last year this question has been creeping closer and closer to the surface of my heart and mind - very acutely in the last 6 months. Let me cut to the chase here - the question for me went from a vague and general "why?" to the more specific and challenging question......why not return to the Catholic Church? Recently (in the last month or so) my ability to answer that question in a way that kept me from crossing back over that famous river diminished into insignificance. Another way to say it is, I find myself crawling out on the shore on the other side of the Tiber. I couldn't answer the question, to my own satisfaction, with integrity, any more. -- Why not? -- I don't know, there's no reason for me any more that's worth staying where I'm at. I bow my head. This may not come as any big surprise to many of you. Most of my good friends already know about this and have been incredibly positive and supportive to me and my family. Yes, my family - they're coming along for the ride. They've all been wet with the waters of Catholicism for years anyway. This becomes, then, a formalization of what I've taught them as a "priest" in my domestic church. Positive reactions there too - no, really. I very much appreciate those of you who have written e-mails of your support and continued love of me and my family in this situation. It really does mean a great deal. You see, I'm a paranoid sort. My particular malady I like to call relational paranoia. It has both a good and a bad ground of origin: The good = loving people and not wanting to hurt them, actually caring what they think. The bad = Caring a liiiiittle too much what people think about me and my decisions and actions such that it paralyzes me sometimes. I anticipate negative responses (sometimes accurately mind you) to things, which are not necessarily based in total reality. So, I hesitate too much at times. I use hesitating language when talking about things so as not to "freak people out." I need to get healthier in that area and stop that (hence, here's me posting this bit of info on this blog for all to see - holy crap!). All the people I may have been worried about in their reactions to this move, I have already told and everyone has responded in a very positive way. The biggies, in the scheme of things, were my immediate family and my faith community family, vine & branches. Others too but not as much. Liz knows me, I mean she really knows me. We know each other. We talk about EVERYthing. We share what's going on in our hearts and minds with each other. This is what you do with a spouse right? Not getting on that topic but I'm just sayin' - come on. I told her yesterday I think, "you'll be married to a Catholic again soon." Her reply, "I've always been married to a Catholic." Well, in a way, yes. If I ever totally got out of the river on the other side, I don't think I ever really quite dried off. Mostly I've been swimming around in there, back and forth. One good thing about that was the ability to talk about both sides in a way not too many people can. That's valuable to me. So, Liz is fine. We've been talking, working things out, and she's good with going in as a family. I'm not letting her ignore the theological bits, don't worry. Like I said, we're working this out, and it's a process that's still going on - not the decision, but the actualizing of that decision. The kids have all been fine. We've taken time to talk to them, encourage them to ask questions, and talk to them some more. We've gone to Mass at a local parish as a family a couple of times now, so far, to get them used to something a bit different. Surprisingly, though, or not, the actual worship is not too much different than what we've been doing in our home for the last several years. And what I've taught them, they won't have a problem. They'll be fine. When Liz finally made me tell the vine & branches people about the possibility (yes, she did), when it was still in the realm of "possibly," I was afraid. I didn't want to disappoint them. I was telling them that their community, their church, was going to possibly cease to be, as such. I was telling them that I wasn't "officially" going to be "their pastor" any more. I was telling them a lot of things, implicitly, that were not comfortable for me to say. The reactions were certainly not something I wanted to dwell on too much but I did - way too much, for months, and it nearly drove me nuts. I was very very stressed and anxious about all this and it was affecting me and my family, and vbcc. Not good. So we talked to them, asked them to pray with/for us. Of course, it was a very good thing. And later, recently, when the word came down - "Go" - the reactions were just as, if not more, positive. They saw it. They see that it's a good thing and we know that we will continue to be a community of people helping each other along the journey, but not as "a church," properly speaking. And that is fine. It may, in fact, as we talked about it, free some things up. We have become "a monastery in waiting," as it were (thanks Kyle) - those rural monastic plans are still ON, only slightly varied. We will now be meeting only once a month for a potluck meal, hanging out, and to pray the evening prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours. Our relationships will be maintained. What else? Good stuff. Let me say this: I feel as if 1,000 pounds has been lifted from my shoulders. Peace. That struggle is done. Of course the journey continues and there will be other struggles, but that's fine. It's always like that. I won't go into all kinds of reasons why this is happening, theological and otherwise, right now. That's not what this post is for. That will come, as a matter of course I'm sure. Logical conclusions I suppose. Those who know me have heard that phrase before a few times. And, it's more than rational, and that's hard to explain. I suppose I could also say, I have emerged. That'll do for now. Blogging will continue as scheduled, probably more frequent now that I can talk openly about what I'm constantly thinking about. That's mostly what was up with that very sporadic stage of posts recently. All are welcome. You won't have to pledge an oath to the Blessed Mother to read the blog now, I promise. Looking forward to another very cool stage of this faith/life journey thing. Peace to all in this house. ...his heart beating hard, filled with fear and trembling, he asked for Grace and clicked the button... technorati tags > roman catholic church, catholic church, catholic reversion, catholic conversion, catholicism, emerging church, alan creech, vine & branches christian community, swimming the tiber, crossing the tiber Labels: catholic, church, emerging church, personal, reversion, spiritual formation 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | May 07, 2007 > 8:57 PM how the mighty have fallen Yeah, that title was a little funny there. This is in reference to my once upon a time blog-prowess which is, alas, seemingly no more. You see that I'm still writing here right? So obviously it's not going to cause me to quit blogging. I just think it's interesting to ponder why such a thing is the case - at least as far as hit-count is concerned. Kyle asked me this the other night - why did I think people didn't read or interact like they used to? I had and have a few answers I'm pretty confident about, so let's examine this shall we? Sure, why not. Tell me what you think, if you care to chime in. This exercise in itself should be interesting. Here are some thoughts...
technorati tags > blogging, alan creech, emerging church, catholic, hit count Labels: blogging, catholic, emerging church, personal 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | April 15, 2007 > 10:10 PM a new podcast > spiritual direction Well, I did it. It took a couple of weeks but I did another podcast - this time on Spiritual Direction, as I said. Hopefully it'll be interesting and possibly helpful. This one is approx. 9mb - I got a little long-winded on this one - surprise surprise. :) - Listen here directly. - Subscribe here. - Podcast site. Or you can look me up on iTunes and subscribe there. I will try to be more consistent. Pax vobiscum. technorati tags > podcasting, spiritual direction, emerging church, monastic community, thomas merton Labels: catholic, church, emerging church, leadership, theology 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | April 01, 2007 > 11:44 PM a new podast > liturgy  I got around to recording a new podcast today. It mainly concerns the topic of liturgy. I partly used the outline for my thinspace liturgy breakout session and talked around topics in there and others. It begins with a short exhortation on Passion Sunday (that was today) and goes on from there. You can subscribe using this address, look me up on iTunes, or check out the podcast site here. If you just want to listen to the file online now, here you go. Have fun.I took this photo in front of our house a few days ago when the pear blossoms were out in force. Spring is here if you haven't noticed. I just thought I'm share that with the little podcast announcement. Pax vobiscum. technorati tags > podcasting, passion sunday, liturgy, liturgy wars, organic church, emerging church, ancient catholic faith Labels: catholic, church, emerging church, lent, liturgy, podcasting 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | March 19, 2007 > 4:39 PM liturgy > the longhaul life of the community   That's the title of a little break-out session I lead at the thinspace gathering this weekend. It was a good conversation I think. Some of these things are pieces of things I've said in the past, some of it is new. I thought it might be helpful to put it up here as I put it together for the session.But isn’t liturgy dead, dry religion? Isn’t that what many of us left a long time ago in favor of something more "spirit-lead" and "organic?" Well, I don't know, is it? I think some people think that. I think there are many people who don't really understand what liturgy is or what its purpose is. I'm sure of that. What also seems clear is that there are many in this so-called "emerging church" phenomenon who, after leaving this or that for whatever reasons, are beginning to rediscover liturgy as something good - liturgical prayer, worship, etc. The concept of organic church What about that word - organic? Let's think about that for a minute. Think about the natural world, organic life - how does that work anyway? It's certainly not formless or chaotic. Organic life has rhythm. It’s not accidental. It's not wherever, whenever, whatever. That's not organic. I think liturgy is organic. It is a rhythm of activity focused on God, on God in the community of His People the Church. It moves in seasons - like breathing, leaves falling, buds sprouting, freezing and thawing, mating and giving birth, etc. Liturgy as skeleton Think about the human body. Liturgy gives us a skeletal structure to stand with, and it's not just some new made-up thing that hasn't been tested. It is tried and tested and still standing. It has helped in this way since the beginning. It is an ancient Oak. This, I think, is what we're catching hold of. Our eyes are open. Our noses are alert. We see and smell something that will give us what we do not have. A liturgical lifestyle As we re-examine the mode of our active Christian lives, we are discovering, it seems, the real value of a liturgical lifestyle, not only the trappings of liturgical worship. We are finding, once again, the real spiritual formation that happens in the context of close Christian community, and we are finding ways of living that out in the midst of "real life." The monastic life is not merely a life of quiet and solitude, although there are elements of that within it. It is a liturgical lifestyle - a life of "spiritual work" that is done by a community together. We are coming to see "discipleship" as less of an individual "me & Jesus" deal, and more as something that happens in the context of community - a community of those traveling this common journey together, for a long time. And this liturgical lifestyle is being rediscovered as something legitimately formational. So, this is what I mean by the longhaul life of the community. We cannot live as communities of faith who are dependent on the newest, coolest thing that comes down the pike. We can't sustain a transformative life together by merely "hanging out" - doing whatever, whenever, wherever. It has no skeleton. It eventually falls to the ground. Liturgy (and at least to some significant degree I mean the liturgy that is old, which has been lived in since the Church began) is our stable skeletal structure. It is a compass. It acts as a rudder in a vast, open ecclesiastical ocean. It is a pattern of one step after another, together, toward a common goal. It will get boring. It will seem repetitive and sometimes dry to many. And it will form you, straighten your crooked limbs. It will act, spiritually, like physical therapy does for the body. Longhaul. Steady. technorati tags > church, emerging church, organic church, liturgy, spiritual formation, community Labels: church, emerging church, liturgy, spiritual formation 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | March 18, 2007 > 10:20 PM the feast    I won't pretend to try and go into everything about this weekend now. It was good. Always good to be with family, and these people are family to me - I guess not all 150 of the people who were here. In a way, yes, but I'm talking about relationships, not just mystical connection in Christ. Anyway, you know what I mean. It was good to be with these people. Good to remember Mark and Chad. Good to encourage and be encouraged. The 3 photos there are a sample of quite a few that I took while there - typical for me, I think I'm the unofficial photographer for this bunch. I have put them all in a set here if you want to take a look. Peace. technorati tags > saint patrick, thinspace, emerging church Labels: church, emerging church, personal 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | February 05, 2007 > 8:11 AM something's happening  Looks like something's happening in March. That's all I'm going to say about that.technorati tags > emerging church, thinspace, church Labels: church, emerging church 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | January 26, 2007 > 1:08 PM random stuff about me Now, I've done this before, a number of times. I've seen a few people do it lately. I even accidentally found where someone sort of tagged me to do this along with like 80 other people. That, added with the fact that I need to stay regular at the blogging thing ("need" - I know, I want to) - and so here you go, a few random facts about me that hopefully I've never put down here before...
technorati tags > personality, alan creech Labels: emerging church, personal, things about me 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | January 03, 2007 > 6:29 PM no it really isn't about what we do One more time won't hurt I guess. I first posted about my concern surrounding this term and the philosophy/theology that seems to be connected to it, back in June of 2002. I even re-posted it here if you want to read it. The term is "Christ follower" or if you prefer "follower of Christ." It's not merely the term. That wouldn't bother me really, by itself. It's the fact that it is used over and against the term or word "Christian" for some reason. I could probably go on and on for far too long about this but I'll cut to the chase. What inevitably ends up being said in connection to this juxtaposition is something like this: "...because really it's about what we do..." This is said in order to disconnect with many who might seem to have a faith and nothing to "back it up." That's a perception of course. I'm not sure how accurate one can be about a judgment like that. Not sure. Many of you may have seen the recent YouTube parodies of the Apple ads - in which a "Christian" is standing next to a "Christ follower," yada yada. They're funny and interesting. Not everything about them is bad I wouldn't say. It's that phrase that gets me and as I said, the thought process behind it which seems to put all the weight of Christianity on "what we do." Well, no, it really isn't about what we do. Really. Now, if you're a Buddhist is kind of is. If you are perhaps a member of any number of religions, it probably is about what you do. Christianity though? I don't think so. That gets to the whole giant, sweeping point of our salvation I suppose. Again, cutting to the chase - that is NOT about us being good or doing good things for others. Certainly, our real faith and what we call works cannot be separated. That's not really what I'm talking about. I'm thinking more of internal and invisible realities which are at the core of what Christianity is. I'm certainly not saying it's about actively believing in certain things either - that would be very akin to something that we're doing, although it's not often recognized as such. The word "saved" and the concept it embodies isn't easily broken down and fully explained. We have different ideas when we hear that word. So, what I mean to say when I say "we weren't saved in order to do good things" is something like, "God's reason for sending Jesus to live, die and be resurrected on earth was NOT so that we would believe what He said and look to Him as our supreme example of living." Wow, yes I did just say that. And I mean it. I mean it so deeply that it's difficult for me to write about it with as much clarity as I would like to. I think this is very important. It's the difference between who I am and what I do. I'll say that God's point in this whole business has hardly anything to do with actions - as a primary focus. It is focused on identity. That word seems insufficient for what I'm really trying to get at. "Identity" - I do not mean simply being externally identified as a "Christian" by being called such by God and people - like a stamp. Not that. I'm really talking about a deep ontological identity - about who and what our very being is. That's what's broken such that any of us need salvation to begin with. Our being is broken and so is the whole cosmos in which we live. This is the focus of our salvation. It's not just that - here's the world as it is and we're just living in it and it's gotten kind of carried away and we're pretty bad so we needed to have a jolt so that we'd change our ways and be good again. If that's all it is - it's not much more than 100 other religious philosophies floating around out there, many older than Christianity. It's about who and what we are. That's what it's about. We aren't, haven't been, who and what we were created to be. And so, He made the way for that to rupture to be healed, fixed, put back together. Our internal reality, our real identity, is what will dictate our external actions. Sure - of course it does. You can say that and get lots of nods, but still the idea is - "...and that is the point, that we are made into people who do good, who live good lives." This wears me out. I'm just being honest. No. No. And then there's No. I didn't have 4 children in order to have 4 little worker bees in my house. Sure, I make them wash the dishes but you get what I'm saying. Children exist in order to be... children, to be people. We exist to be. Being is holistic and certainly not passive so don't take that in the wrong direction. Our existence was deeply fractured and the whole salvation thing, in Jesus, by the working of the Holy Spirit, is about healing the fracture so that we can all BE as we were intended to BE. So, my point in connection with the title thing is that to say that one IS a Christian is a good thing. It's a statement about identity, about the union of our being with the Being of God. Of course, even if this is true at a deep, base, internal level, it deosn't mean the job is done. So, we still may behave out of synch with our deepest identity. Transformation takes a while folks. Replacing "Christian" with "Christ follower" with the often connected underpinning has the distinct possibility of a hyper focus on our following - again, as if that was really the point. OK, that's enough for one post. This is altogether too long - for a blog post that is. On the level of trying to talk about the subject matter it's probably not even getting started as a good article. And I have totally not left room to talk about resurrecting Pelagius, sticking a halo on his head and consigning Augustine to the garbage heap. Crap. Anyway, logical conclusions people - beware. Pax vobiscum. technorati tags > christianity, theology, soteriology, salvation, christian, christ follower Labels: church, emerging church, theology 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 30, 2006 > 10:57 AM best blog posts in 2006 I was going to say top 5 but you'll see I'll sort of be cheating. I have at least one series in the list that I'll include as "one." It's hard for me to narrow down 5 out of so many. I have to start narrowing down my own criteria. So I guess these posts are ones that I think are "good" - i.e., meaningful, important in some way, and helpful. Here they are, each followed by a brief excerpt.
Labels: blogging, church, emerging church, theology 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 18, 2006 > 1:08 PM blogging & popularity > some observations It's funny, this blogging thing. If you're at all familiar with the landscape, especially in Christian circles, you already know that. I've been at this thing for 5 or 6 years - something like that. Since before I knew they were called "blogs." When I first heard that word, by the way, I didn't like the sound of it. It's an ugly word. I tried to resist it but to no avail. The tide was too strong and I was swept away. So, I blog, and so do you. And so as we do this, we obviously want people to read what we're writing. I've said this before, and there's nothing really wrong with that. Certainly that desire can get carried away, as can any other desire that's basically fine in itself. So, maybe you say a few things that a few people find interesting, and they keep reading. They put you on their blogroll and perhaps even link to you in a post (a far superior nod). You might even get lucky and another blogger who already has a couple o' thousand people a day reading their musings, likes something you said and links to it! Aagghh! The tipping point ala Andrew Jones (seriously, you know that's how it works). Then a bunch of people start checking you out to see what the big-shot said was so cool, some of them hang around, some of them keep cruising. It's an interesting phenomenon. Then maybe you get sort of a following. That sounds weird doesn't it but that's what it amounts to. Especially if you're in the Christian blogosphere (that with which I am most familiar) and not just a journalistic blogger (one who primarily links to other posts or stories). Some people will like what you write, how you think about things, and how you say what you are saying - and so, they will become a regular reader. Most lurk (read without interaction), but there are a few who are so stimulated by your words that they come out of the dark land of lurkdome and comment. And most of the time that's a good thing. Of course every now and then you wish they wouldn't but oh well, such is the blogoscape (by the way I want full credit for that word if nobody else has used it yet - blogoscape, coined by Alan D. Creech, odd emerging church catholic monastic mystical blogger). Here's weird for you - I didn't plan on saying ANY of those first 3 paragraphs. I just wanted to make a little observational list about what might make one a popular blogger. Funny. So yeah, your "numbers" go up (by now you know you've installed that sitemeter code thing) and you find it fairly exciting that THAT many people actually make time to read your blog every day of their lives. It's cool and weird at the same time. Then maybe you try to do things to increase your traffic - for different reasons - could be you just like the attention or maybe you've also got Google ads and you want to make a little side money. There's also nothing wrong with that but I won't get into defending it here. Like I said, you've been tipped, linked, blogrolled all over, talked about both negatively and positively, etc, and your numbers go up. And then... ...something happens and they take a dive. For some reason it upsets you - you don't know why because it's not supposed to matter that much to you, but there you go, it does anyway. Course I've never gotten to the couple o' thousand a day point, not even close, but I'm on quite a few blogrolls out there for some reason. You'd think more people would regularly read this blog with all those links but the most it's ever been for any time has been probably 200 unique visitors a day. That's probably back when I was quite more the big mouth revolutionary than I tend to be now. I also blogged a lot more than I do now as well. I'm sure those are a couple of big factors. It's down probably to about 90 a day now. It's interesting, like, it doesn't "bother" me really, it's more like - hmm, wonder why that is, like sociologically or even particularly. Now, what might bother me are the possible reasons that people might drop out - like maybe I've changed in my thinking a bit over the last few years and they don't like that. Or maybe certain topics have risen to prominence in my circles (or former? circles) and I have chosen to stay mostly silent on them. That's kind of funky but whatever. So, down to any kind of a list - what might make one "popular" as a blogger in the Christian blogoscape?
technorati tags > blogging, christian blogs, emerging church, popularity Labels: blogging, emerging church 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 15, 2006 > 8:20 AM monasticism as life I was checking out the blogs yesterday and ran across Kevin's post on monasticism. As many of you know there is something going on in many of us, a new vision of monastic life. What Kevin said (and is already trying to live by the way) reminded me of something I was talking about a while back here. This is not just about imitating the romantic ideas of the monks we've grown to love, presently and historically. It's about a life, and the formation of people in a life, into the Image of Christ. Go take a look at the man's encouraging post. Here's a brief quote from what I said this Summer. Read the rest here. I think it's an epidemic. It seems Benedict was on a bit of a mission of reform, for people, not just clergy, it wasn't particularly to create a religious order as an institution, it was just about, "ok, wow, let's go over here and be Christians in a way that we can - actually BE Christians." Anyway, he didn't throw out the whole tub full of babies to do it, and what he did, or started, still reverberates throughout the Christian world today.technorati tags > monastic, monasticism, st. benedict, benedictine order, monastic reform, ecclesiastical reform, emerging church Labels: church, emerging church, monasticism 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 01, 2006 > 11:46 AM some things I've figured out You know, you struggle sometimes to find something to say on a blog. Well, it's not that much of an intense "struggle" but you know what I mean. The blogging thing - it's one of my "deals" and I want to read them and continue to write this one, so I want to say something. From time to time you do lists of one sort or another and that'll just have to do. Here's another one - a few things I've figured out in the last few years in this interesting journey I've been on. Perhaps you can relate, perhaps not.
technorati tags > church, theology, emerging church, faith Labels: church, emerging church, liturgy 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | October 17, 2006 > 12:22 PM i was wrong > leadership in the church Well, just exactly what the title says. I was wrong. For a while I laboured under some wrong ideas about what it means to be a Christian leader, a pastor, and elder in the church. I've actually had wrong ideas on a couple of ends of the spectrum at one point or another. Too far one way and then too far the other. Hopefully no one is terribly disappointed that this won't be an exhaustive, long post about the subject at hand. It won't be. It will be what it is. Of course for a long time I didn't think about leadership and what it meant at all. I just was, and wasn't worried about it. Then, when things started becoming apparent in light of me developing into one of these leaders, my mind started working. I suppose it's going to work that way. If one, through whatever means one does, discerns a vocation to something, in this case pastoral "ministry," one's mind will begin cranking in that direction. Vocation - you see that connection to something like "vocal" in there - it's a calling from God and gifting to play a certain role in His Kingdom economy, in the Church, among the rest of His people. So I started thinking about what it meant. At one point my ideas were very hard, very dictatorial - that's one way to put it. There was very much a "boss" mentality. Short answer - that's not healthy for the leader or for those lead. It can be very dangerous. Now, more recently I went into a mode of reaction against those former ideas into more of an un-leader way of thinking about it. We don't want to harm anyone so don't boss them around. Everybody's valuable in the Body, in the church, so let them think for themselves and come up with answers on their own - you're no better than them - let them loose. God forbid I teach any doctrine as Truth to be accepted. Horrors. May the Holy Spirit forbid me, please, to dispense any Wisdom I might have as something someone might need to listen to ad implement in their lives. If I did that, I might squash them. I might put myself on a pedestal. I don't want anyone showing me any respect for goodness sake. Down to it - I was wrong. On both counts. Both these ways of looking at leadership are a bit askew. My more recent reactionary stance has also not been healthy. It leaves a community up in the proverbial air. It lays no ground. There's no tether. I'm talking about spiritual fathering, not secular corporate boss-ship. As churches we are families within the larger Family of God. Families need parents. Parents progenate families and raise the children up. They teach them. They discipline them. They love them. They praise and correct them. Parents aren't always your best buddy. That's fine. It doesn't mean they're not your friend. Relationships get interesting in this space. Anyway, faith communities need parents. If I'm going to be a leader in the community I have progenated, I need to be a father to it. I don't need to hold back on that. I have been. I've tried too hard to be the best buddy Dad who never makes the kids mad. I have forgotten to be a "father." I repent of that. I pray for Grace to go the other direction as I am called to do so. Help me to be where and what you want me to be Lord. technorati tags > christian leadership, church, pastoral theology, emerging church Labels: church, emerging church, leadership 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | October 15, 2006 > 10:55 PM live teaching  Tonight we worshipped together as the community of Vine & Branches. Our liturgy is always basically the same. That's part of the point of a liturgy isn't it? It's been pretty much the same for a while. It has evolved a little here and there but the core has remained the same for quite a while now. So, nothing is new there. I see the evolution as us coming into "our own," as it were. Growing up. For a while we thrashed around like teenagers who's minds aren't fully formed. We all do who go through church like this I think. I'm becoming more confident that we're in the right place. Allllllrighty then, on to what I'm actually talking about...Teaching. It happens in our community. I teach. Some would call it "preaching." I honestly don't like that term for what happens between pastors/leaders and others in a church. I know it's sort of semantics, but there you go. It means something to me that it may not to you. Many of us have used the word for long enough for it to mean what we say it means to us. Proclamation, exhortation, etc. OK, fine. I teach. Usually the teaching in a Vine & Branches setting happens "in the midst of" instead of "as the center of." That's one way to describe it. They're usually aren't prepared "sermons." Rather, teaching happens as we discuss the Scripture and the concepts in them. We chew on the Truth together. There is definitely value in the "teacher" taking time to say what needs to be said to instruct, encourage, and otherwise edify the others. I see even greater value in this teaching happening in a setting where what is being taught can also be discussed, questioned, explained further - all of which can end up planting the seed much deeper than mere lecture ever could. Again, sure, lecture, but not only that. "Preach," but don't leave it there. Interact. Go live. It's like live television vs. a taped broadcast in a way. I know that's a limited analogy but go with me a little bit here. Live is scary. Live is, well, LIVE! Holy crap! You can sort of rehearse but seriously, you can also mess it up. Here's part of the point - it's not about "messing it up" or "getting it right." It's not, or it shouldn't be, about presenting a perfect performance. So, perfect is not anyone's expectation, but you know reeeeaally good is, come on. Live cuts down on the rehearsed performance mentality and opens things up. Can lecture or prepared sermons ever be good and helpful? Certainly. Please don't get in here and tell me I'm saying it can't. Just don't. I'm saying, as I've likely said before, that that kind of thing alone is not sufficient to do the kind of pastoral teaching necessary in a faith community. Yes, I did mean to say that. I know, I know - there are many more factors in the life of a community through and in which we grow and are transformed into the Image of Christ. I fully realize that. I'm definitely not trying to cover all that in one blog post. I'm talking about the element of pastoral teaching. That element needs to significantly happen, as I see it, in a "live" context. It needs to breath and live in a community and not be so static. This would be a part of our liturgy which could be described as a flexible portion of the bone in the skeleton. It breathes a bit. I'm also talking more about something that happens out of a charism. I'm not talking about teaching being just something anybody can really do because they want to or even because someone asks them to. I'm referring more to what might be called spiritual teaching or even prophetic teaching. Now, not "prophecy" per se. I'm not getting into that. It might be connected slightly but more like - God has given you a gift to see, grasp and communicate Truth and truths in a way that will go in and connect with others, helping to build them as members of the Body of Christ. And within a community, for a leader, a pastor, this often happens "prophetically" as they are given the ability through the Holy Spirit to teach what needs to be taught then and there to those people. I hope that made sense. OK, rambling on long enough. I was thinking about this because of our meeting tonight, the teaching and the discussion. I thought it might be interesting to hear a perspective like this. Something to think about. Grace and Peace be with you. technorati tags > church, liturgy, emerging church, teaching, preaching, ecclesiology Labels: church, emerging church, liturgy 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | September 28, 2006 > 7:30 PM what's important now? So now that there's sort of a new era inside the new era, what now? I'm not really asking what, altogether, now - more about what's important now? What have I realized, at this point, is important to me in this whole thing? I'm going to try and answer this question fairly quickly and with as much brevity as possible. I don't want to churn on it or think too much. Relationships are important. Friendships are important. The odd thing is, now what does that mean? What kind of friendships are you talking about? I'm asking too many questions. Transparent, open, honest and fear-less friendships are important, and extremely rare. Don't skim over that qualifier list either. I find that "fear-less" thing is the most rare and difficult to find or cultivate. This is mostly because of each of our individual stuff that we can't let go of. Truth is important. After going through a maze of theological rethinking and redefinition - after observing a generation of people in reaction, lost, grasping at doctrinal straws - I have come to the conclusion that a ship needs a keel in order to be stable. To draw the analogy out further, it needs a full crew, officers, crew, a navigator and a captain to run as it should. Irresponsible sailing results in dead sailors. There are charts for us to follow, rules of navigation, etc. Everything is NOT relative. We are NOT at liberty to throw the compass overboard in the middle of the ocean. Transformation is important. I mean the real live transformation of our spirits, hearts, and minds as people. It is, in fact, the point of the whole Christian thing. Not that we are happy, not that we are successful, not that we go to heaven when we die, or even that we help poor starving people. Those things are NOT the point. They may be connected to the point, but they are not it. IT is transformation of the person in Christ, by the Holy Spirit, into who and what God created us to be. Of course there is a prerequisite of recognizing the need for such a deep change. We are losing that I think and that is extremely dangerous. Community and Church are important. I say this as separate from relationships and friendships because they are not those, but a context in which those happen. We can have many relationships, friendships that aren't "community" or may not be in the context of "church." That's fine. They don't all have to be. We shouldn't expect them all to be. We may even have expectations of friendships that are inside community which are too heavy or unnecessary. You can be in intentional community with people who are not your best friends. We can "be church" with people who aren't necessarily the closest people in the world to us. And that's perfectly fine. Back to point, church, and more than that, Church, is important. Purposely stepping into the Church, being a member of the Body, doing what it does, living as it lives, praying as it prays is deeply important. There's more than that but those are a few big ones for now. Peace. technorati tags > blogging, emerging church, church, ecclesiology, reform, relationships, community, transformation, truth Labels: church, community, emerging church 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | September 27, 2006 > 9:23 AM enough said? Interesting timing on what I wrote last as I went to my good friend Chris's blog to see similar things, and Glenn talking about more of the same. The consensus so far seems to be that, at the least, things are different now. We are not in the same battle as we were in. Perhaps much of what we all went through on the edge of the emerging church thing was for a time, and our experiences surrounding that time were what they were, but now all that has changed. Of course, things change. Chris said something about maybe what we needed to say so passionately and loudly has been said and, to some degree I think, heard. I also, personally, believe much of it has begun to turn into something we never anticipated. I'm not sure what that all means, but there it is. Here's a snippet of a comment I left on Chris's blog. It's an analogy folks, don't get carried away on the military language please. "I'm with you Chris. Things are different. I think perhaps the heavy, smoke-filled, painful, and 'violent' days of the early revolution are behind us. I honestly think some of us have a little bit of ecclesiastical post traumatic stress disorder."It's like some of the analogy Glenn was talking about too with the Naval warfare, comrades gathering together, etc. At this point, the hot beginning of whatever revolutionary "conflict" there was, is perhaps at an end. There have been some surrenders. There have been battles lost and won. We've lost friends. Blood has stained our clothing and our hearts. That statement I made about post traumatic stress is real. I believe it's psychologically true of me for one. It may also be true that it's a bit hard to put down the weapons and take a desk job after all that. We can do it, but it's difficult to figure out how to navigate life and church in a "peacetime" scenario. Actually, this is more natural and healthy for the life of the church as a whole. It's supposed to exist in times like this. All that war might be unfortunately necessary at times but isn't the original intent. We're fighting through brokenness to get to the other side, wholeness. So, I think it may be right that our Stirling Bridge is over. The noise of battle has subsided. Now what? Well, I think we know but again, all that proverbial blood is harder to wash off the inside than it is the outside. We may have to beg many of you to bear with us as we re-orient ourselves to somewhat normal life. I may need to just go away and cry for a while. And if you don't understand what I'm saying or "just don't get what the big deal is or was," well, you just don't. Don't act as if this didn't happen and that it wasn't significant simply because you may have been on the other side of the world at the time. It may well have even affected you and your experience of church in this time. I hope so. technorati tags > blogging, emerging church, church, ecclesiology, reform Labels: emerging church 0 comments
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