Wednesday, January 9, 2008
last/ first first/last
beloved,
this will be our last post.
this blog was intended to give voice
to the brothers and sisters
of our little church.
in the past six months this forum has
failed to draw attention or inspire
the imagination of our congregation.
this blog has failed to achieve its
vision of engaging in the post modern
cyber world of fellowship and discourse.
this was an un-needed and un-supported ministry,
and now it is time for it to go away.
to the ones who have participated,
i thank you.
to whoever might read these posts in the future,
may God bless you, and peace and grace be upon you.
shabbat shalom
this will be our last post.
this blog was intended to give voice
to the brothers and sisters
of our little church.
in the past six months this forum has
failed to draw attention or inspire
the imagination of our congregation.
this blog has failed to achieve its
vision of engaging in the post modern
cyber world of fellowship and discourse.
this was an un-needed and un-supported ministry,
and now it is time for it to go away.
to the ones who have participated,
i thank you.
to whoever might read these posts in the future,
may God bless you, and peace and grace be upon you.
shabbat shalom
my apologies
An open letter of apology from The Gathering Community Church to the most loved children of the one and only King:
The Gathering is a church of change, of examination, and expression.
With this intent we seek the presence and blessing of the Holy Spirit as
we examine the intended bride of Christ, the church body.
2,000 years ago, when Jesus came to earth proclaiming the arrival of the
kingdom of God, offering restitution and shalom for the people of God, he instructed us that the two primary principals of the kingdom were: " Hear thou oh Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord, is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul and all your strength. And, love your neighbor as yourself."
Recognizing that from the time of Christ's death, thru out the past two millennium, the message of Christ has somehow been corrupted, perverted, and used to further political and financial purposes, to the disadvantage of the church and the disenfranchisement of the individual, and, seeking the greatest gifts of the kingdom of God, forgiveness, and restitution, we at our church would like to apologize, to yourself and each other.
To the Loved Ones:
For any acts, any words, any ideas that we may have expressed that
has caused you pain and separation from God, we apologize.
If we have, thru neglect or ignorance, caused you to feel unloved, unworthy, or unvalued, please forgive us.
If we failed to stand up for you, stood by while you were in need and did nothing, please forgive us.
If we have done anything to cause you to doubt the message of Christ, or taken away the great treasure that He has meant for you, please talk to us, give us the chance to make restitution.
You are a valued and beloved gift to each of us from God, and if in the course of our humanness, we disenfranchised you, we want to make it up to you. We apologize and beg the chance to love you.
As we go about our lives, we err, we sin, we make mistakes. Perhaps one of our greatest mistakes was not realizing, or even, not caring, about our actions towards you. We do not wish to make excuses, we wish to apologize. We wish to ask you to forgive us. We want you to know that nowhere in the teachings of Christ are we called upon to judge anyone, and if you have been judged or condemned for who or what you are, these are the mistakes of men, and not the directive of the God who loves you dearly.
Please, forgive us, and be welcomed. Our church is His church, and His church is your church.
To our Lord Jesus, the savior, the divine and compassionate one, who gave his life so that we may live, was rejected and beaten, nailed to a cross of wood and hung out to dry like a rag doll of our shame; we beg you, forgive us.
For the harm we have caused to the least is a stripe deep and red, a nail sharp and deep, a blow that we have inflicted upon you as you took the brunt of our humanness upon yourself. For the things that have been done to you in the name of the church that have put distance between you and the ones you have been calling to and reaching for, please forgive us. Please send the holy spirit down, and in-dwelt, upon each and everyone of us, that we may learn again how to live to love, and express our love to you by loving all, together.
we ask these things in the name of the blessed, slaughtered lamb.
amen
The Gathering is a church of change, of examination, and expression.
With this intent we seek the presence and blessing of the Holy Spirit as
we examine the intended bride of Christ, the church body.
2,000 years ago, when Jesus came to earth proclaiming the arrival of the
kingdom of God, offering restitution and shalom for the people of God, he instructed us that the two primary principals of the kingdom were: " Hear thou oh Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord, is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul and all your strength. And, love your neighbor as yourself."
Recognizing that from the time of Christ's death, thru out the past two millennium, the message of Christ has somehow been corrupted, perverted, and used to further political and financial purposes, to the disadvantage of the church and the disenfranchisement of the individual, and, seeking the greatest gifts of the kingdom of God, forgiveness, and restitution, we at our church would like to apologize, to yourself and each other.
To the Loved Ones:
For any acts, any words, any ideas that we may have expressed that
has caused you pain and separation from God, we apologize.
If we have, thru neglect or ignorance, caused you to feel unloved, unworthy, or unvalued, please forgive us.
If we failed to stand up for you, stood by while you were in need and did nothing, please forgive us.
If we have done anything to cause you to doubt the message of Christ, or taken away the great treasure that He has meant for you, please talk to us, give us the chance to make restitution.
You are a valued and beloved gift to each of us from God, and if in the course of our humanness, we disenfranchised you, we want to make it up to you. We apologize and beg the chance to love you.
As we go about our lives, we err, we sin, we make mistakes. Perhaps one of our greatest mistakes was not realizing, or even, not caring, about our actions towards you. We do not wish to make excuses, we wish to apologize. We wish to ask you to forgive us. We want you to know that nowhere in the teachings of Christ are we called upon to judge anyone, and if you have been judged or condemned for who or what you are, these are the mistakes of men, and not the directive of the God who loves you dearly.
Please, forgive us, and be welcomed. Our church is His church, and His church is your church.
To our Lord Jesus, the savior, the divine and compassionate one, who gave his life so that we may live, was rejected and beaten, nailed to a cross of wood and hung out to dry like a rag doll of our shame; we beg you, forgive us.
For the harm we have caused to the least is a stripe deep and red, a nail sharp and deep, a blow that we have inflicted upon you as you took the brunt of our humanness upon yourself. For the things that have been done to you in the name of the church that have put distance between you and the ones you have been calling to and reaching for, please forgive us. Please send the holy spirit down, and in-dwelt, upon each and everyone of us, that we may learn again how to live to love, and express our love to you by loving all, together.
we ask these things in the name of the blessed, slaughtered lamb.
amen
torah! torah! torah!
the gathering mens group
will be reconvening on saturdays,
beginning january 12th, at 9am
at andrea kristina's coffee house.
join us as we explore the roots of our
Christian faith, digging into the torah, the books of moses.
following the traditional hebrew approach, we will be dividing
the books into segments, or parshas. each parsha covers the span
of a few chapters, which takes about 15 minutes to read, followed
by discussion and fellowship.
the first parsha is titled bereishit (genesis)
and covers the creation story from genesis 1:1 -6:8
bring an open mind and a sense of humor, and let's see
what we can discover together.
will be reconvening on saturdays,
beginning january 12th, at 9am
at andrea kristina's coffee house.
join us as we explore the roots of our
Christian faith, digging into the torah, the books of moses.
following the traditional hebrew approach, we will be dividing
the books into segments, or parshas. each parsha covers the span
of a few chapters, which takes about 15 minutes to read, followed
by discussion and fellowship.
the first parsha is titled bereishit (genesis)
and covers the creation story from genesis 1:1 -6:8
bring an open mind and a sense of humor, and let's see
what we can discover together.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
nobody follow Jesus (so why should you?)
i am obsessed. i can't control myself. although i am mired in sin, not simply falling, but plummeting, like flaming pieces of space debris, far from the glory of God, i get up each day, say my prayers, search for my cross and set out into the world to discover my wonderful new daily failures.
to ease the pain of the realization of my own petty shamefulness, i cram my mind with cultural distractions. some fill me with joy, knowledge, and hope. others just serve as a diversion and keep me from more important things, like turning off the computer and playing with my children, or taking the time to show my wife how wonderful i think she is, and how i would be truly lost without her.
i watch the noomas and read the beautiful books of bell. i download mp3's of shane claiborne and marvel at his "irresistible revolution", fantasizing about living in a community like his "simple ways" collection in philly. i cruise the ooze and get giddy on ginkworld, always looking for a fix. a distraction. a reaffirmation that i am not crazy, and that Jesus is coming out of the tomb that our appropriative empire has encased him in, and walks among us with a desperate look of want and desire, eager to connect, and anxious to forgive.
during these periods of societal denial, i have come across the writings of one keith giles. his essays and articles over the past few years in various non secular e-zines have constantly caught my eye, engaged my imagination, and allowed me to feel not quite so alone on this voyage toward salvation.
keith has collected his writings from his e-newsletter "the subversive underground", next wave magazine, the ooze, and a few other joints he haunts, and put them into book form. so what's the big deal? well, yes, he is selling them on line thru lulu.com, a wonderful site for the self published, but he has done something truly interesting and vested with Kingdom sensibility, he has posted the pdfs. for free download to any who might not be able to afford the few bucks to reward him for his labor of love.
i, being one of those perpetually tight fisted, and terminally broke, individuals, thrilled to the very seat of my office chair, taxed my feeble dial up connection and spent eight hours downloading his two books, "Nobody Follows Jesus (so why should you)" and "The Gospel, For Here Or To Go".
the results were immediately disappointing. the pdfs opened in quick time format, and would only show the table of contents to the two books. i felt punked, had. frustrated, but not defeated. i went to keith's website and emailed him personally explaining to him my turmoil and asking if he would consider emailing a pdf to me in adobe. much to my delight, he responded promptly and emailed me a pdf of "Nobody Follows Jesus (so why should you)", and i have spent the past week savoring it like a fine bordeaux.
for those of you unfamiliar with keith giles, he is a licensed and ordained pastor, teacher, preacher, writer, singer, and progenitor of the home church movement via his home based orange county california church "the mission".
what i found in the body of this text was an amazing and sensitive intellect, drowning in the sea of the corporately corrupt, politically inundated and commercially plagued modern church of america. each page describes his navigation to the shore, where he picks up his cross and follows the Son in ritual observation, leaving cyber pit-cairns of perception, and finally nailing them to himself like a post modern marty luther.
for anyone who leaves a church wondering where God is, and just why we are hiding him, i recommend you purchase or down load this book, and use it as a union oil map to discover your own cross. the really cool thing is that the trail has been blazed, all we have to do is pick up and follow.
here is the link to keith's place. check it out. it's good for you:
http://subversive1.blogspot.com/
to ease the pain of the realization of my own petty shamefulness, i cram my mind with cultural distractions. some fill me with joy, knowledge, and hope. others just serve as a diversion and keep me from more important things, like turning off the computer and playing with my children, or taking the time to show my wife how wonderful i think she is, and how i would be truly lost without her.
i watch the noomas and read the beautiful books of bell. i download mp3's of shane claiborne and marvel at his "irresistible revolution", fantasizing about living in a community like his "simple ways" collection in philly. i cruise the ooze and get giddy on ginkworld, always looking for a fix. a distraction. a reaffirmation that i am not crazy, and that Jesus is coming out of the tomb that our appropriative empire has encased him in, and walks among us with a desperate look of want and desire, eager to connect, and anxious to forgive.
during these periods of societal denial, i have come across the writings of one keith giles. his essays and articles over the past few years in various non secular e-zines have constantly caught my eye, engaged my imagination, and allowed me to feel not quite so alone on this voyage toward salvation.
keith has collected his writings from his e-newsletter "the subversive underground", next wave magazine, the ooze, and a few other joints he haunts, and put them into book form. so what's the big deal? well, yes, he is selling them on line thru lulu.com, a wonderful site for the self published, but he has done something truly interesting and vested with Kingdom sensibility, he has posted the pdfs. for free download to any who might not be able to afford the few bucks to reward him for his labor of love.
i, being one of those perpetually tight fisted, and terminally broke, individuals, thrilled to the very seat of my office chair, taxed my feeble dial up connection and spent eight hours downloading his two books, "Nobody Follows Jesus (so why should you)" and "The Gospel, For Here Or To Go".
the results were immediately disappointing. the pdfs opened in quick time format, and would only show the table of contents to the two books. i felt punked, had. frustrated, but not defeated. i went to keith's website and emailed him personally explaining to him my turmoil and asking if he would consider emailing a pdf to me in adobe. much to my delight, he responded promptly and emailed me a pdf of "Nobody Follows Jesus (so why should you)", and i have spent the past week savoring it like a fine bordeaux.
for those of you unfamiliar with keith giles, he is a licensed and ordained pastor, teacher, preacher, writer, singer, and progenitor of the home church movement via his home based orange county california church "the mission".
what i found in the body of this text was an amazing and sensitive intellect, drowning in the sea of the corporately corrupt, politically inundated and commercially plagued modern church of america. each page describes his navigation to the shore, where he picks up his cross and follows the Son in ritual observation, leaving cyber pit-cairns of perception, and finally nailing them to himself like a post modern marty luther.
for anyone who leaves a church wondering where God is, and just why we are hiding him, i recommend you purchase or down load this book, and use it as a union oil map to discover your own cross. the really cool thing is that the trail has been blazed, all we have to do is pick up and follow.
here is the link to keith's place. check it out. it's good for you:
http://subversive1.blogspot.com/
Thursday, October 11, 2007
body aches
kind of out in the desert right now.
wondering about the nature of church.
not the world wide body, or macrocosm of church,
just our church in particular.
why do we do it?
what is the purpose?
why do we come together
and loosely assemble,
show up late,
leave early,
and feel that somehow in the course
of this experience that we
have glorified God?
or that we somehow have "fed ourselves"?
are we there to learn?
to teach?
to guide?
or are we there to simply
follow Christ's important instructions to the apostles
when they asked about the future:
"watch"?
what is worship?
what is the level of participation required of the individual?
is the church the doorway to the kingdom?
why do people leave a church?
what are we supposed to take away from it?
what are we supposed to bring to it?
should the church be relying on one voice or vision
to guide and lead?
we, as people of this world, possessing corporal form, are often told
to listen to our body. what are these aches and pains? what
is the body trying to tell us.
if Christ is the head, and we are the body, who does the listening?
who feels the pain? who is responsible for the care of this?
is it all left to God? "let's see what God is going to do..."
what is the responsibility of the individual?
should the individual voices and concerns be a part of worship?
in a choir every voice works together to form a chord.
there are solos. but the effect is that of a unified body
working together to praise.
here is a link to a wonderful article in Christianity Today.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2007/003/17.43.html
when the body pulls itself together on sundays, is it just your ears and rears
that are working together?
what about the rest of you?
wondering about the nature of church.
not the world wide body, or macrocosm of church,
just our church in particular.
why do we do it?
what is the purpose?
why do we come together
and loosely assemble,
show up late,
leave early,
and feel that somehow in the course
of this experience that we
have glorified God?
or that we somehow have "fed ourselves"?
are we there to learn?
to teach?
to guide?
or are we there to simply
follow Christ's important instructions to the apostles
when they asked about the future:
"watch"?
what is worship?
what is the level of participation required of the individual?
is the church the doorway to the kingdom?
why do people leave a church?
what are we supposed to take away from it?
what are we supposed to bring to it?
should the church be relying on one voice or vision
to guide and lead?
we, as people of this world, possessing corporal form, are often told
to listen to our body. what are these aches and pains? what
is the body trying to tell us.
if Christ is the head, and we are the body, who does the listening?
who feels the pain? who is responsible for the care of this?
is it all left to God? "let's see what God is going to do..."
what is the responsibility of the individual?
should the individual voices and concerns be a part of worship?
in a choir every voice works together to form a chord.
there are solos. but the effect is that of a unified body
working together to praise.
here is a link to a wonderful article in Christianity Today.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2007/003/17.43.html
when the body pulls itself together on sundays, is it just your ears and rears
that are working together?
what about the rest of you?
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
a parable by sonny west
There was a certain man who would take his friend with him
as they went out to play the game of life. The friend had no assets
with which to play. From the beginning the man would finance
his friend's game and try to advise him regarding how the game
was played from his own experiences, however the friend preferred
to play the game in his own way. This resulted in the following
circumstances.
When the friend had a winning streak he immediately forgot about
the man who financed his good fortune and spent the proceeds as he
saw fit and continued to play the game using his own counsel.
The man did not ask for anything back from his friend as a repayment
as his happiness for his friend's good fortune was payment enough.
He wished the very best for his friend.
Because of this friend's inability to conduct his affairs or his use
of poor judgment, he frequently found himself at the point
of losing everything. During these times he would return to the
more experienced man for more chips, cold and hungry and
in dire straits. The man had sympathy for his friend and at times
like these the friend would pretend to listen to the man's coaching.
The friend would say how gratetul he was for more help, saying that
in the future he would change his ways and make better choices
as the man had suggested.
Should the giver continue giving under these circumstances?
How long should the giver give without demanding a change?
Is the experienced man helping his friend or actually doing him an injustice?
Who is this friend?
as they went out to play the game of life. The friend had no assets
with which to play. From the beginning the man would finance
his friend's game and try to advise him regarding how the game
was played from his own experiences, however the friend preferred
to play the game in his own way. This resulted in the following
circumstances.
When the friend had a winning streak he immediately forgot about
the man who financed his good fortune and spent the proceeds as he
saw fit and continued to play the game using his own counsel.
The man did not ask for anything back from his friend as a repayment
as his happiness for his friend's good fortune was payment enough.
He wished the very best for his friend.
Because of this friend's inability to conduct his affairs or his use
of poor judgment, he frequently found himself at the point
of losing everything. During these times he would return to the
more experienced man for more chips, cold and hungry and
in dire straits. The man had sympathy for his friend and at times
like these the friend would pretend to listen to the man's coaching.
The friend would say how gratetul he was for more help, saying that
in the future he would change his ways and make better choices
as the man had suggested.
Should the giver continue giving under these circumstances?
How long should the giver give without demanding a change?
Is the experienced man helping his friend or actually doing him an injustice?
Who is this friend?
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