"He can be my lawyer anytime." - Mayor Rudy Giuliani
Welcome to Away with Words: In Pursuit of Authenticity, the professional website and personal weblog that moves ideas beyond rhetoric towards transformative action. Jeremy Del Rio's experience as an attorney, social entrepreneur, and minister make him uniquely suited as a spiritual, cultural, and civic leader in a postmodern world. [Bio. Endorsements.]
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Speaking to small group leaders at Northpoint Community Church
If you’re unfamiliar with Professor Scot McKnight of North Park University, aka “Jesus Creed,” dig him — “one of the most prolific bloggers ever” — here.
Courtesy: Emergent Village Podcast.
Judah is finally going to be a big brother! As you might imagine, Diana and I (and grandmas and grandpa, cousins, aunts and uncles) are thrilled, but none more so than Big Brother Judah. His response to the news (after faithfully praying for a little sibling for at least three years) was to dance around the room shouting, “Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Jesus!”
We’re coming to the end of the First Trimester, so we’re expecting to have an extra little bundle to give thanks for at Thanksgiving.
May 12, 2008
7-9 pm @ The King’s College (Empire State Building, LL, 34 Street and 5th Avenue)
The fifth in the monthly 20/20 Vision training series features Steve Riach (bio), a veteran film and sports television producer whose Heart of a Champion character education curriculum is being taught in public schools across America. Come hear his inspiring story and learn about an innovative collaboration between HOC and local 20/20 Vision churches. HOC, which Steve developed in partnership with professional athletes such as Harold Reynolds and Clark Kellogg, utilizes stories from the world of athletics to attract interest and communicate positive character themes. For more on HOC, visit http://heartofachampion.org.
May 29, 2008
5-7 pm: Senior Pastors
7-9 pm: Pastors, educators, community and lay leaders
@ Christ Tabernacle, 64-34 Myrtle Ave, Glendale, NY 11385
A night not to miss, for all pastors, church deacons and elders, youth ministers, educators, community leaders, and congregants still uncertain about 20/20 Vision for Schools or not sure what to do next in adopting a local school. Come hear Rev. Dr. Tony Evans of the Urban Alternative, a nationally recognized faith leader and President of the National Church Adopt-a-School Initiative, share why public schools are the cutting edge of ministry in our city.
Scores of NYC pastors heard the pastor of America’s “Most Influential Church” confess his surprise to this finding from the Reveal study, which cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in 2007 and encompassed 20,000 church goers from dozens of congregations. Here are my notes from one of Bill Hybels’ New York City Leadership Center’s coaching sessions yesterday.
Video Intro
It took Paul roughly 30 days to go from persecuting the church to proclaiming the Gospel powerfully. Yet people spend decades in our churches and never get transformed. Why?
It’s a false assumption that engaging people in activities and programs would produce maturity and Christ-centeredness. Reveal contradicts this.
Willow found: 10-12% 20-25% 20-25%
The diagram captures the movement of a life lived apart from Christ to someone whose life revolves around Christ – Christ at the center of one’s consciousness. What are churches doing that moves people in this direction? What might the distribution have been for the New Testament church?
There’s a correlation between few Christ-centereds and few explorers, because Christ-centereds are most committed to evangelism. Be concerned if less than 10% at either end of the spectrum.
It takes different spiritual inputs to move people along each stage of the spectrum, and to prevent Christ-centereds from regressing.
Engaging the spiritual practices: prayer, Bible study, solitude and reflection, and journaling.
Everything else, Sunday worship, building, programs, etc, are less significant. So what are you doing to encourage people to engage personal discipleship? Give them the tools to self-feed. If the building blows up and there were no more services, “self-feeders” would be ok.
“Great church services” was never the answer when the question was, “What helps you grow?” Engagement with the Bible was the top response (along with the other disciplines)
When asked, “Why haven’t you taught this [the disciplines] more?” BH responded (after a few excuses): “It’s not sexy preaching.” But now he’s come to realize that we must use our biggest platform (weekend services) to teach our people about the disciplines, and give them the responsibility for their own growth. Personally committed to devote at least one major sermon series to the disciplines every year for the rest of his life.
The church is very important at the beginning of the journey and less important as you move along the growth spectrum. Why? They’re self-feeders. In the early stages of faith, explorers and beginners are more dependent on the church coming through and providing nourishment.
The growers and the Christ-centereds (not explorers and beginners).
Why are societal pathologies similar between church goers and the nonreligious (e.g. divorce, giving to the poor, etc)? Because so many church goers are not Christ-centereds.
Are you so Christ centered that you’d be willing to forfeit your program and free-fall into his, regardless of what it costs you?
“However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” Acts 20:24
You have 60-90 days to establish in a new believer what needs to be established or you run the risk of the rocky soil. What relationships, doctrines, books, etc. can best help in this establishment process?
I can’t post just one Foto today. Instead, a sampler from a new Flickr set (81 pics total) featuring John Liotti and his son Sam (who’s about to set a record as the youngest workshop co-presenter at UYWI this year).
“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”
It should come as no surprise to people who believe this that blogging, like television talk shows before it, has taken on a therapeutic affect for some participants (including yours truly). CNN describes it like this:
Writing long has been considered a therapeutic outlet for people facing problems. A 2003 British Psychological Society study of 36 people suggested that writing about emotions could even speed the healing of physical wounds: Researchers found that small wounds healed more quickly in those who wrote about traumatic personal events than in those who wrote about mundane activities.
But it’s the public nature of blogs that creates the sense of support.
Reading someone else’s blog can be surprisingly beneficial… .
Speaking of, here are three recent examples of grieving parents whose therapeutic blog posts have inspired me as a father.
+ Katy Stevens (remembering Caleb)
+ Christine A. Scheller (remembering Gabriel)
+ Mr. Dueck (remembering Renee)
Perhaps most moving of all, for me, was following Rudy’s Psalm 34 blog after his then 4-year-old was diagnosed with leukemia.
For those who believe the Kingdom of God is an appropriate “Framing Story” for remedying global crises.
From UYWI 2006. Join me at UYWI 2008 next week.
Envision…
The fundamentalist / liberal church split at the turn of the 20th century.
Envision…
Princeton Theological Seminary’s great fundamentalist walk-out in 1929.
Envision…
A broad array of theological perspectives, drawn back to Princeton in 2008 to focus on one thing: Christian Engagement in the public square.
Don’t miss this historic gathering.
$99 Early Bird Special before May 10
Plus, Special Group Rate* through May 15
Click here to register now or go to www.ev08.org.
* Group rate applies to groups of 5 or more.
I came home tonight to find this in front of my building.
119 Photos, including Brian McLaren, Ray Rivera, Jay Bakker, Becky Garrison, Lisa Sharon Harper, Alexie Torres-Fleming, Gabriel Salguerro, Jose Humphreys, Liz Rios, David Ramos, Luis Alvarez, Latino Leadership Circle, and LPAC.
If your browser cannot display the Photo Viewer, you can view the pics at Flickr.
For a content summary, check out my notes: Part 1 and Part 2.
Brian McLaren
An interview exploring the emerging church, post-modernity, post-colonialism, global crises, Generous Orthodoxy, and Everything Must Change. Recorded at the National Cathedral on February 17th, 2008.
Courtesy National Cathedral
If hope is easy, then we aren’t appreciating the desperation of the system. (See Part 1 for the Four Global Crises)
If Christ is the answer to the world’s problems, which Jesus fits the bill? Our culture posits many perceptions of Christ:
+ The Will Ferrell Baby Jesus
+ The “Limp wrist hippie Jesus with product in his hair”
“Some emergent types [want] to recast Jesus as a limp-wrist hippie in a dress with a lot of product in His hair, who drank decaf and made pithy Zen statements about life while shopping for the perfect pair of shoes.”
+ The “Prize fighter Jesus with a commitment to make someone bleed”
“In Revelation, Jesus is a prize fighter with a tattoo down His leg, a sword in His hand and the commitment to make someone bleed. That is a guy I can worship. I cannot worship the hippie, diaper, halo Christ because I cannot worship a guy I can beat up. I fear some are becoming more cultural than Christian, and without a big Jesus who has authority and hates sin as revealed in the Bible, we will have less and less Christians, and more and more confused, spiritually self-righteous blogger critics of Christianity.”
+ Second coming killer Jesus: The Left Behind Warrior Jesus surrounded by his enemies blood (The Glorious Appearing)
+ The Jesus who only cares about escape from hell without a social agenda
+ Many other perceptions and opinions
Matthew 16:13-17
The story takes place in Caesarea Philippi. Most of Jesus’ ministry was in Galilee (like the Bronx) not Jerusalem (Wall Street). Rome heavily controlled the region via taxation because it was the bread basket for the empire. Stewards from Jerusalem would scheme farmers out of their land deeds in return for paying taxes, turning land owners into tenant farmers.
Only twice does Jesus go further north than Galilee. Once to Tyre and Sidon (Gentile). And once to Caesarea Philipi, the regional capital and seat of Roman authority. Named for the Emperor (Caesar) and the Regional Governor (Philip). Also, this region (in today’s Golan Heights) was center of idol worship, including Bail (OT) and Pan (Greece)
So when Jesus asks who the “Son of Man” is in CP it’s a profound political statement. Son of Man was a phrase that referred to a political liberator.
Peter’s answer: “You are the Christ, Son of the living God.” “Christ” means anointed, or smeared with oil. The inauguration of a king back then was to anoint the King with oil. To be in CP and say you are the liberating king is a big deal. “Son of the living God” said in context of Caesar Augustus, who was called divine, the son of a God. Augustus means worthy of worship. He had united Rome after a time of unrest and division, and began it’s greatest expansion. So Peter says you’re not just the son of Apollo, but you’re the son of the living God.
Do you follow Caesar or Christ? Which king do you follow? This is why Christians were persecuted. He denied lordship to Caesar and gave it to Jesus. Jesus says, “You’re right, Peter.”
Then Jesus tells them he’s going to be killed in Jerusalem (v 21-28). Peter is shocked. Says you can’t be killed there. You need to do the killing if you’re the Lord. Jesus rebuked him as Satan, a stumbling block. Peter, you don’t get it. Peter, the rock is now the stumbling block. Why can’t Catholics and Protestants get the joke?
Peter can’t understand how a king doesn’t make people believe by force and instead allows the other king to crucify him. We try to do like Peter and downplay the crucifixion. We contend that the real point is not that because we want to believe that Jesus is going to come back and kill everyone.
Revelation 19:11-21 is the passage that evangelicals use to describe the violent, bloodthirsty king Jesus. But read it in context: “Out of his mouth comes the sword.” Which sword – one to kill by violence or the sword of his word?
God’s method is not to rule by killing opponents, but the opposite.
+ Crown of thorns
+ basin and towel
+ donkey
+ loves enemies
+ undergoes torture
+ Cricufed and rises again.
Do we believe in a Jesus remade in the image of Caesar, or this other Jesus of the gospels? The one who heals the sick and feeds the hungry and died on Caesar’s cross. The Jesus who came is the Jesus who is the word of Christ. He hung on cross and said, “Forgive them,” and “It is finished” (not, I’ll be back to kill you all). God is like Jesus, not Caesar. (Elton Trueblood)
Brian McLaren visits LPAC this weekend for the New York leg of his Everything Must Change tour. I’ll be there tonight and tomorrow morning and will blog as much of my notes as possible. Stay tuned for pictures as well.
The book’s story begins with … a youth pastor and a flip chart …
Brian McLaren’s early 20s – “winging it” at a youth camp. (Shout-out to youth pastors. Being “somewhat unprepared” leads to creativity.) He asked: “What are the biggest issues that are upsetting people at the church?” The teens’ answers:
+ Speaking in tongues
+ Guitars or no guitars
+ Drums
+ Dress code
+ Predestination or free will
Then: What issues bother you (the youth)?
+ Overpopulation
+ Nuclear war / nuclear winter
+ Communism
+ Racism
+ Poverty
+ Disease
+ Pollution
There was absolutely no overlap between the two lists. Something is wrong with those two lists having nothing in common.
1) What are the top global problems?
2) What does the teaching of Jesus have to do with these issues?
Research found many lists:
+ UN University: “Fifteen Global Challenges”
+ Copenhagen Consensus Top Ten
+ 8 Millennium Development Goals — even the National Association of Evangelicals is officially committed to these goals, but most evangelicals have never even heard of them. (Homage to Bono: “If the church isn’t involved then the rock stars will cry out”)
+ Rick Warren’s PEACE Plan
Synthesized the lists into …
Imagine a societal machine (because humans make machines and can change them) with 3 interlocking circles: Prosperity (healthy and thriving); security (protect the prosperity); and equity (how do you pay for everything to keep the machine going fairly; courts and legal structures). Think about the problems in relation to each other.
The machine exists within the ecosystem (environment). Solar energy comes in; generates resources with the machine converts to waste which produces heat that leaves our ecosystem
We have a prosperity system that can’t stop growing beyond environmental limits, resulting in multi-faceted environmental crises. We are the first generation that is using environmental resources beyond a sustainable limit. Growing beyond environmental limits. → Instability
The Equity System can’t keep pace with the growing gap between the rich minority and the poor majority, resulting in suffering, resentment and fear. It works well for 1/3 of the world’s population. We have longer lives, taller height, more food, etc. Almost everyone in the world had worms, lesions, rotting teeth, unhealed bones, etc. Another 1/3 is increasing, but very slowly. And 1/3 is stagnant or declining. How are the poor to respond? Passively waiting to die, or doing whatever it takes to live longer, better?
6.7 Billion People …
+ Top 1 billion consume 32x the resources of the bottom billion
+ Top 1% owns 40% of wealth
+ Top 5% owns 70% of wealth
+ Top 20% earns 83x the bottom 20%
(More Global Poverty Facts and Stats)
Security System can’t keep pace. The majority engage in whatever means possible to survive and improve. The rich minority sees the poor majority getting restless, and they build weapons and walls to keep people out. It makes the majority madder. Top weapons dealers are the nations of the UN Security Council (US is #1 dealer; sells weapons to one or both sides of 90% of the world’s conflicts)
That’s the nightmare we woke up in.
Reflection Q: 1) How are you involved with each crisis as part of the problem?
2) Where are you – or would you – most likely be part of the solution?
Why do the three crises work together in a destructive way? We lack an appropriate framing story.
The Framing Story
What keeps the machine going is a framing story: Who we are, Where we’re going, and Why we’re there.
4 major stories:
+ The Domination Narrative: “If only we were in charge!” The problem with the world is we’re not in charge. Us/them
+ The Revolution Narrative: “If only they weren’t in charge!” The world’s problem is they’re in charge (terrorism: it’s only terror for the people who are in charge)
+ The Scapegoating Narrative: Hitler: Jews, gypsies, Jehovah’s witness – If only they would change!
+ The Isolation Narrative: There’s no hope; let’s retreat into the bubble (holy huddle)
In the New Testament:
+ Dominators: (Romans, Sadducees, Herodians, Tax Collectors (Political appeasers)
+ Revolutionaries: Zealots
+ Scapegoaters: Pharisees
+ Isolationists: Essenes
Jesus proclaimed a radically different framing story: Good news of the Kingdom of God. He preached, “The Kingdom of God is like.” The message of the kingdom is a story, and offers a counterpoint to each framework:
+ Don’t dominate. Serve
+ Don’t revolt. Reconcile
+ Don’t blame. Embrace
+ Don’t isolate. Draw near and heal
+ Wake up from the bad dream and realize it’s not working. There’s no “them.” We are all in this together.
The parable of the boat. Two survivors in the lifeboat after the shipwreck. No more rations. One man gives up hope; drills hole in the boat. The man in the front says we haven’t given up hope. “Don’t worry, I’m just drilling a hole in the back of the boat.”
+ Disbelieve the other narratives, even when people misuse scripture to support them.
+ Believe that the Kingdom of God is near.
When the crises are framed as the minority oppressing the majority, but the solution is, “There’s no them,” how should the majority work for healing and hope without casting blame?
Jesus speaks as much about the means as the end. “There is no way to peace, because peace itself is the way.”
+ The only hope is the Good News of Jesus Christ. Not democrats or republicans.
+ Nephew Seth’s first Yankee game (Yankees - Tigers, 04/30/08)
+ Seth’s first visit to the nose bleed section at Yankee Stadium. (Thankfully, I haven’t sat this high since Judah’s first Yankee game, eight games and three seasons ago.)
More pics from this game here. More Yankee pics here.
50 shots fired by three detectives.
Two men injured and one dead in the early morning hours of his wedding day.
The headlines made New Yorkers cringe, and the Sean Bell tragedy demanded a thorough investigation and an appropriate response. But in the wake of Friday’s acquittal of the police officers, is the ensuing response — citywide protests, demonstrations, possible boycotts, and inflammatory rhetoric from all sides — appropriate? Long festering social wounds and the politics of race again threaten to divide our city.
Issues of race and crime and policing are hard. Factor in centuries of racism, systemic injustices, residual mistrust, and ill will and complicated layers abound.
Sorting through the mess requires grace, forgiveness, and lots of wisdom — the very qualities most threatened in an emotionally turbocharged situation. Name-calling and caricatures don’t help.
The way through might require us to actually hear the other side before demanding to be heard. Here are ten questions that might facilitate the process — provided a willingness to listen a lot and perhaps even change a little (or a lot).
+ Is it possible to have an honest discussion about police/race/justice without canonizing cops and demonizing victims?
+ Is it possible for cops to discuss police shootings without immediately defending themselves?
+ Is it possible for cops to acknowledge and remedy the pain of a real (and not too distant; in some cases, very present) past that includes corruption and abuse of power within certain communities, while at the same time protecting themselves and the public against criminals who might live within those same communities?
+ Is it possible that issues of race and racism are relevant when victims of police shooting are overwhelmingly black and Latino?
+ For cops who believe that their actions should never be scrutinized: anything less would smack of a cover up. As in any case of alleged misconduct, police should be given the benefit of the doubt — innocent until proven guilty. But because of the unique nature of the job and the potential life and death consequences of decisions, isn’t the best outcome for cops involved in controversial cases is to be cleared following an open and transparent review of the facts?
NYPD go to hell.
We are all Sean Bell.
+ Is it possible to have an honest discussion about police/race/justice without demonizing cops and canonizing victims?
+ Two of the three cops charged in the Sean Bell shooting are African American and African Latino; the third is Lebanese. Is it possible, then, that characterizing the tragedy as a racist act oversimplifies the issues and precludes constructive remedies?
+ Is it possible to discuss police shootings in context without resorting to over-generalizations? For example, shouldn’t the facts that proceeded the Sean Bell shooting at least be relevant to a discussion about the shooting itself?
+ For those who believe Sean Bell’s death was simply another example of profiling gone bad: Is there ever an appropriate place in policing for profiling? If not, what constructive options do you suggest? (For an example outside the Sean Bell context: should patrol cops who have had glass bottles thrown at them from the roofs of housing projects view residents of those buildings with greater caution than other communities where bottles are not thrown at cops? This is a particularly real example to me because (1) it seems to be a common threat to cops I know, while (2) the ministries and neighborhoods that are dearest to my heart are all near or within public housing projects.)
+ For those who believe the Sean Bell tragedy was less about race and more about police tactics or training: Is there ever an appropriate time for a cop to shoot to kill? For police who begin their days knowing that they could die on the job — like the specialized unit investigating the notorious Kalua Club for alleged drugs and prostitution — is it really just to say that they shouldn’t have fired the first shot even if they reasonably felt that their lives were threatened (after one cop and a police vehicle had been hit by the car Sean Bell was driving)?
+ A bonus question: Is it even possible to discuss issues of race and policing and community and justice without inflammatory rhetoric and emotions? Or are such hopes the ravings of one who’s hopelessly naive?
Questions like these matter to me fundamentally because I care about justice and secondly because I have friends and family on all sides of the issue. The cops I know mostly cheered the Sean Bell verdict (or at least were relieved by it). Social activists I know, including faith-based and secular, were quick to denounce the shooting before examining the facts when it first occurred, and many have protested the verdict; a friend and ministry client organized a peaceful demonstration yesterday. Conservatives I know dismiss the critiques of activists out of hand. Many urban and ethnic ministers I know discount the verdict as another example of systemic racism and injustice without regard to the particulars of the case.
And while I didn’t know Sean Bell, I know people (black, white, brown, and other) who could have found themselves leaving a strip club at 4 am. Some of them I could imagine high or drunk or both; others I could imagine mostly staying out of trouble. Some I could imagine arguing loudly outside; a few might threaten to get a gun if pressed by an adversary; and several might even use a car as a weapon if they felt trapped.
I wouldn’t want any of them shot by cops or anyone else, one time or fifty times. Nor would I want any of them in such a situation to begin with. And I certainly wouldn’t want their behavior to make someone with a gun feel threatened.
+ New York Times coverage
+ New York Post coverage
+ New York Daily News coverage
+ Justice for Sean: the Sean Bell family website
+ People’s Justice Coalition
