the new leadership

Seth Godin is always worth reading. Often, his musings get me thinking about church life in a new way. Try the following, with that in mind:

When you follow a right path, then, the people following you are happy to bring others along. When you open doors for people (instead of closing them), your followers are more likely to open doors for others. When you are inclusive (instead of excluding), then others seek to include their peers.
For far too long, leadership has been about management and management has been about control. We push those that follow us to fit in, to do as they are told. We decide who is good enough, who is obedient enough, who is acceptable. Many institutions have been built by strong-willed men who think they have the right answer, and aren’t afraid to be bullies if it helps them achieve their goals.
But now, people have a choice. More options in how they spend their day, their money and their passion. And over and over, we see people voting with their feet. Sure, there are the frightened (and angry) that are willing to act out at a rally or carry signs that they don’t actually endorse. But this is the not the behavior of a thriving movement, it’s a desperate reaction from a dying anachronism.

Analog Rituals

Over at 99%, Scott Belsky makes some interesting points about what he terms 'analog rituals' and the value of repetitive actions - what he terms "the granularity of prioritization".

It strikes me that there's a lot of (unintended) biblical wisdom in the article, in particular the creational nature of 'analog' experiences: we were made not simply as able to see & think but also to touch & taste. Whilst the digital lifestyle offers much, it also has the capacity to remove, by making redundant aspects of sensory perception.

The 3 Best Books I've Read This Year

There were other very worthy contenders, but here's my pick of what I've perused during the year:

Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods

Peter Steinke's A Door Set Open (seemingly only available on Kindle)

The Best Kept Secret Of Christian Mission by John Dickson

Learning from 'Ten Timeless Persuasive Writing Techniques'

It makes for an interesting article on its own - but maybe more so if you ask yourself the question, How do those suggestions apply to the task of preaching?

How to preach badly

I know - I don't need much help on that score! But this is good.

Doing the main thing

"Given the contents of the New Testament, one might expect local congregations of Christians to be entirely devoted to the spiritual formation of those in attendance. What we actually find in most cases is constant distraction from this as the central task: By the demands of the organization; and by the requirements of our 'faith and practice'—our traditions. Often there is the recognition that what we wind up 'having to do' is not what we really feel it should all be about."

Dallas Willard, quoted by John Ortberg

Pamela Stephenson: reflecting on Strictly, life and work

From an article in today's Guardian, a couple of paragraphs worth pondering by those engaged in ministry:

My experience on Strictly has highlighted two difficult truths in my life: first, that, although it is an important developmental task for my age group, I am not finding it easy to face my own mortality, and dancing gave me brief respite from that painful, inevitable process. Second, over the years, the job I do has taken its toll on me – as it has on many of my colleagues. Mental health professionals are on the frontline of the war against human anguish, angst and antisocial behaviour. However well trained and capable we are, it is impossible to be a receptacle for the shadow side of humanity with absolute impunity. I have been surprised to receive many positive messages from colleagues. I had thought they would ignore my flight into fantasy, but rather, they have let me know that dropping my professional demeanour and giggling like a seven year old in public has actually found their favour. In a strange way, I may even have acted out some of their own fantasies of escape and soothing. Anyway, it's healthy to get fit, to laugh, to do something you enjoy, to dance.

Dancing is the physical expression of our emotional selves, and personally I have found it to be a life-affirming path to a new-found style of happiness. I have only one regret from the entire experience – I never got to dance my Argentine tango (which would have been in the final round). But I believe it's good to have one dream left unrealised; it keeps hope alive, and the longing can remain poignant, omnipresent and painfully bright.

Logos 4 & Customer Service

For years I've had a number of great resources in Logos format (Libronix) - Word Biblical Commentary (60 vols); IVP Reference Library; Theological Journal Library and more. Trying to load them onto my Windows 7 PC was proving to be hard - well, impossible, truth be told.

An email to Logos Customer Services has resulted in all being sorted - and sorted very quickly - so I now have access to all those great resources once more and in the hugely-impressive format of the new Logos 4 (see below).

What can I say but: kudos, Logos!

The use of 'Christ' in Peter's first letter

Peter refers several times in his first letter to ‘Christ’. Almost universally those references are focussed upon the sufferings of the Messiah, the exception being 5:14.

Is Peter simply specifying that Jesus suffered (which of course is true) or is his language intentionally incorporative? That is to say, is he using 'Christ' as shorthand for ‘the Messiah and his people’?

with head bowed

I'm taking a few moments just to bow my head and give thanks for my Dad, who passed away 5 years ago today. I sat with him whilst he took his final breath - nothing could have been more painful, yet strangely privileged too, commending him to God's care.


He was flawed, but warm and loving and always wanting to make others smile.

I miss him lots.

managing the creativity of ministry

This article by Cal Newport is not ministry focussed but has some helpful principles for managing the creative demands of regular ministry

The Moon in Lleyn (R S Thomas)

The last quarter of the moon
of Jesus gives way
to the dark; the serpent
digests the egg. Here
on my knees in this stone
church, that is full only
of the silent congregation
of shadows and the sea's
sound, it is easy to believe
Yeats was right. Just as though
choirs had not sung, shells
have swallowed them; the tide laps
at the Bible; the bell fetches
no people to the brittle miracle
of bread. The sand is waiting
for the running back of the grains
in the wall into its blond
glass. Religion is over, and
what will emerge from the body
of the new moon, no one
can say.
            But a voice sounds
in my ear. Why so fast,
mortal? These very seas
are baptised. The parish
has a saint's name time cannot
unfrock. In cities that
have outgrown their promise people
are becoming pilgrims
again, if not to this place,
then to the recreation of it
in their own spirits. You must remain
kneeling. Even as this moon
making its way through the earth's
cumbersome shadow, prayer, too,
has its phases.

i think i should start saving my pennies now

Fujimura - 4 Holy Gospels from Crossway on Vimeo.

friday night spotify: dazzle ships

Having enjoyed the duet with The Masked Badger on 'Great Albums...', here's something a bit different and worth a listen: the commercial failure that was OMD's fourth album, Dazzle Ships.

It's quirky but tuneful.

Welcome back, 1983; we missed ya.

the great albums (xv) - rumours

So, the last great album in my list - what a lot of fun this has been. There are so many others that ought to have been on here but Spotify isn't playing ball - Blood on the Tracks (Dylan); Blue (Joni Mitchell) and many Beatles albums, for example. Others are near misses - Plastic Ono Band (Lennon); Achtung, Baby (U2) spring to mind.

But I'm opting to include - for all the reasons given in the Spotify review - the all-time high-point for Fleetwood Mac. Some would even say that Rumours in the high-point of all AOR and I wouldn't take them to task if they did.

Full of tension and tunes, it deserves every accolade it ever received. It was in the album charts for years and crept up on me in late '84/early '85. Maybe it tails off towards the end but that would be entirely in keeping with all that it's handling.

Finally: enjoy!

whichever way you look at it...

this is a (Kindle) bargain:


For the Fame of God's Name (essays in honour of John Piper)


27 essays for £5.97 = 22p per essay!

the great albums (xiv) - innervisions

Stevie Wonder was a regular part of my Radio 1-filled days back in the 70s. I liked some of his singles a great deal; others were just ok. Always a good tune. But he never really figured for me in terms of albums (unsurprisingly, I wasn't buying albums when he was making his most celebrated ones).

So I'm late to the party - but I'm really glad I made it. Especially for the sake of Innervisions. It's got great tunes, anger that is gritty and righteous anger and a shot of (somewhat unfocussed) hope. The kind of album you don't play for ages and, when you give it a spin, wonder why on earth you haven't.

the blue nile

Only 4 albums in 26 years (so far). And, as far as I can see, no vast reservoir of bootlegs to expand the canon. Which means that in The Blue Nile you have a band that is manageable; compassed and defined. But the music on those 4 albums just won't be constrained: its emotional range and musical delicacy defies you to try.


Well I, for one, won't.


A Walk Across The Rooftops
Hats
Peace At Last
High

skinny river

If you had to cut-down Springsteen's sprawling double-album, The River, what would you keep and what would you ditch? And how would the survivors line up?

Here's my version of a skinny River.

the power of a rhetorical question

Whilst reflecting on the life and ministry of Francis Schaeffer, Martin Downes asks a rhetorical question that reminded me just how powerfully they can be deployed: noting that Schaeffer's ministry was largely undertaken in obscurity, Martin asks,

How did we ever get into the mess of thinking that the best men to follow are easy to spot because they occupy the biggest platforms?

No answer needed.

the great albums (xiii) - sweet dreams (are made of this)

It was their breakthrough album, after the interesting but transitionary In The Garden. And it may be surpassed in some minds by the next-up Touch; for me, their final album (to date) Peace is the equal of this choice, but (getting to the point) Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) is Eurythmics at their most stunning - far warmer than Touch, witty without being clever -  confident and positioned, soulful and unafraid.

It has weaker moments, of course, but the whole is definitely greater than the sum of the parts. Go listen!

the 500th post

I know that things
are bad
when I catch myself
no longer caring
all that much,
either way;
worn down
by endless abrasion,
I'm ready to let
go,
taking whatever is
at hand and hand
over the collated
pretensions,
the harboured security.
Letting go
of what cannot save,
cannot heal,
cannot trace
a vivid line
through the soul
and out into
eternity.
Yes, things are bad
when everything seems
lost;
but someone said
that loss is gain
when filtered
through a
cross.

why bother exploring the deepest issues?

Larry Crabb offers 3 reasons for going deep into our hearts, to expose the pain and the thirst:

1. Freedom from compulsive sin requires an awareness of deep thirst.
2. Sin will be understood superficially - and therefore dealt with ineffectively - without an awareness of deep thirst.
3. Without an awareness of deep thirst, our pursuit of God will be disciplined at best. With it, our pursuit can be passionate.

I think those are worth every pastor having before him in every counselling instance.

how to get at 'the thirst'

...far too often hard questions get buried beneath a pile of memorised verses and stricter conformity to local standards of Christian conduct. The tough issues seem resolved when in fact they're merely shoved out of sight. They continue to take their toll on (a person's) well-being, but now subtly rather than overtly. Sometimes the pastoral encouragement to be a better Christian protects the pastor from having to grapple with threatening concerns more than it gives the bewildered (person) clear direction for living.

Larry Crabb, Inside Out

the uncertainty principle

Ever heard of Heisenberg's principle? OK, smarty-pants; most of us haven't heard of it. But I came across a reference to it in an article in the NYT on learning habits and was intrigued.

Apparently it stems from quantum physics and is simply stated in Wikipedia as stating that

by precise inequalities...certain pairs of physical properties, such as position and momentum, cannot be simultaneously known to arbitrarily high precision. That is, the more precisely one property is measured, the less precisely the other can be measured.

Which got me thinking: how often does that happen in life? You look intensely at one thing, you lose the ability to correctly perceive another. Step back; take stock. Keep the bigger picture in view.

Kudos, Mr Heisenberg.

Larry Crabb: on unmet desires

We simply must get rid of the idea that the obedient Christian is supposed to feel good all the time. The springs of living water bathing our deepest longings with His presence now and His promises for later do not eliminate the pain of unmet desires at other levels. We therefore should not measure the quality of our walk with the Lord by the absence of unhappy feelings.

from Inside Out

like the angels

Where there is no death there is no need for procreation, and so the exclusive relationship within which procreation takes place is no longer appropriate: "they neither marry nor are given in marriage". This is not to say that there is no love, but there is no need for the exclusivness and jealousy which are an essential part of married life on earth. We may hope that Jesus speaks not of something lost , but of something gained in heaven.

R. T. France, Mark (The People's Bible Commentary) p.161

the great albums (xii) - after the goldrush

He's already figured here - and I passed over the opportunity to make this selection at that time - but I just cannot avoid another Neil Young album: the absolutely-essential After The Goldrush.


Everything that needs to be said about this has probably been said elsewhere - lyrical, joyous, angry, confused, sad and relentless. It may stand as his greatest ever work.

sanctification: just do it

Mike Bird is concerned that "some are beginning to replace the imperative element in Christian sanctification...with the need for more knowledge of the indicative " I think he is absolutely spot-on & has said with his usual clarity what I had been mulling over in my usual fogginess for some time.

He elaborates:

I am concerned that the "now go and do this" and "in response let us live like this" or "don't do this" that we find in the Scriptures are being marginalized in the name of a piety that is largely cognitive rather than transformative, a piety that is cerebral rather than practical

And then concludes:

Good theology, godward passion, and christocentric interpretation is not enough. Based on the words of Jesus, Paul, and James I'm willing to say that the differences between the sheep and the goats, between the followers and the fans, between hearers and doers, and between wearing a cross and carrying one, is whether one earnestly struggles against sin and earnestly seeks after godly virtues in the power of God's Spirit. It is mediation on grace, imitation of Christ/God, transformation of the self, and actively pursuing application that will make us godly people.

the failure of succession

Colin Hanson makes some fine points in this article - none more so than his suggestion that "Perhaps God isn’t so concerned that churches should pass from glory to glory, if history is any indication."