intersections

We FINALLY get S-CHIP passed

I don't have time to create links to all the posts I've written about S-CHIP over the last two years, but I traveled to Washington, D.C. with people from the PICO Network three times to fight for this bill, which expands health insurance coverage to millions of children who are currently without it.

Today, the Senate passed a strong bill with bi-partisan support. The change just keeps coming! This victory was a bit belated (with two vetos by former President George W. Bush), but, as they say, it's better late than never.

Read more here.

It's Time!

My follow up post to Reading Mark (below), is cross posted in two places: The Missional Journey and the Spectrum Blog. It seems I'm going to be blogging a bit more at Spectrum so stay tuned for that.

Here's the beginning of the post. The whole thing can be read here and/or here.

In an earlier post, here, I suggested a creative re-reading of the first chapter of Mark that was part of my sermon on Epiphany 3. What I was trying to do in that narrative was to highlight the context in which Mark frames Jesus’ announcement of the Kingdom.

Notice,

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news” (Mark 1:14-15).

The challenge facing pastors week by week is serious. I’m deeply concerned that most congregations are hearing the texts only in ways that prop up the reigning social imagination; in my case, the consumer capitalism and militarism (among other things) of the United States of America. But we need scripture to subvert our imaginations and sow the seeds of a new world. This can never happen while pastors simply offer scripture as a way of learning how to live well-adjusted lives in whatever society we find ourselves.

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GenderAnalyzer.com

Over at GenderAnalyzer you enter your URL and it determines of your website is written primarily by a man or a woman. It said this blog fit their profile for a man by 80%.

Am I disappointed that I fit their profile so closely. Hmm...

I wonder what my friend over at SDA Gender Justice will think of this.

Reading Mark

We're in the midst of Epiphany - a season which focuses the church's attention on the revelation of Jesus. The readings for Epiphany are about the emergence of Jesus on the public scene. Here is the gospel reading for this past Sabbath.

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him (Mark 1:14-20).

As I wrestled with how we can read this text with fresh eyes, and have our own epiphany, of sorts, I tried my best to re-enter the narrative in it's original context and ask what Mark wants to say to us. In order to create a different imagination about a text we have all read many times I wrote a creative retelling of the story. I got some good feedback about it on Sabbath so I decided to work on it a bit more and post it here, after the jump. I'd be curious to see what you think, gentle reader.

Come to Los Angeles for re-church, stay for the West Coast Worship Conference

March is shaping up to be a busy month!

As you must know by now, re-church and the Hollywood Adventist Church is hosting a gathering called Beyond Evandalism. Get all the juice here.

But if you plan it right, you can hang out in Southern California a bit longer and take in the West Coast Worship Conference (WCWC), March 5-7 in Simi Valley, California.

I'm excited to be working with my friend and fellow staff member at the Purple Church, Scott Arany, to do a workshop for the WCWC. Here's our workshop description.

So much of the debate around worship degenerates into a battle over consumer preferences (electric guitars vs. organs, hymns vs. praise choruses). Churches compete to hold the attention of an often dwindling audience such that stylistic considerations and excellence of performance too often dominates the worship conversation.

This workshop will look at the theology of worship in a missional framework with an eye to overcoming surface level debates over style and form to the more important question of the formation of a worshipping community as a place where God would be pleased to dwell. We will share how seasonal rhythms of the church year, scripture, prayer, art, music and sacrament have begun to form a missional imagination at the Hollywood Seventh-day Adventist Church in which our life in God invites us to be the healing presence of Christ in the world and our life in the world drives us back to our life in God.

Aren't you just dying to attend after reading that?

My reading list for 2009

I've been meaning to finish this up and post it before now. At least I can console myself that it's still January. I'm not going to provide links to Amazon for all of these - just takes too much time. I'll let you do your own search.

One caveat: I'm very sure that an amazing list of great books will be published in 2009, so I have to leave myself a little room to read new books as they become available.

What are you reading this year?

Personal Growth/Spirituality
A Good Life, Robert Benson - FINISHED
Reaching Out, Henri Nouwen - reading
Let Your Life Speak, Parker Palmer
To Know As We Are Known, Parker Palmer
Leaving Church, Barbara Brown Taylor

Philosophy
Critical Social Theory, Gary Simpson (re-read) – FINISHED
Zizek: A Critical Introduction, Sarah Kay
Welcome to the Desert of the Real, Slavoj Zizek
Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism, James K. A. Smith
What Would Jesus Deconstruct?, Caputo

Theology/Culture
The Misunderstood Jew, Amy-jill Levine
The Apocalyptic Vision and the Neutering of Adventism, George Knight - reading
Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, Eugene Peterson
The Prophetic Imagination, Walter Brueggeman (re-read)
Jesus, the Bible and Homosexuality, Jack Rogers
Beyond Homelessness: Christian Faith in a Culture of Displacement, by Steven Bouma-Prediger and Brian J. Walsh
After Our Likeness, by Miroslav Volf - re-reading

Missional-Emerging Church
Journey Inward, Journey Outward, Elizabeth O’Connor
The Missional Church in Context, Craig Van Gelder
The Great Emergence, Phyllis Tickle

Interreligious Studies
No God But God, Reza Aslan
The Great Transformation, Karen Armstrong
Introducing Theologies of Religions, Paul Knitter

History
The Lost History of Christianity, Philip Jenkins

Art
God in the Gallery, Daniel A. Siedell

Leadership
A Failure of Nerve, Edwin H. Friedman
A Team of Rivals, Doris Kearns Goodwin

Fiction
Nemesis Train, Nathan Brown
The Sparrow, Mary Doria Russell

Politics
Resurrecting Empire, Rashid Khalidi - reading

Books I Should’ve Read By Now
Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller
The Great Giveaway, David Fitch

Beyond Evandalism - new info!

Here’s the brand new flyer that you can print and share with others, or, download this high resolution PDF here.

More information, including instructions on how to register at the www.re-church.org.

Calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and Southern Israel

I have been privileged to be a part of the Abrahamic Faiths Peacemaking Initiative for the past year or so. Recently the group met to discuss our response to the violence that is destroying the lives of thousands of people in Southern Israel and the Gaza Strip. These are difficult conversations. Imagine religious leaders from the Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities in the Los Angeles area talking face-to-face about this. The conversation got intense at times, but was always repectful because of the relationships that have been forged over the years. We are not playing at the edges of interfaith conversation. This is really work!

Below is a portion of the statement we drafted that was released at a press conference this morning. I am honored to be a signor.

“We have inherited a big house, a great ‘world house’ in which we have to live together - black and white, Easterners and Westerners, Gentiles and Jews, Catholics and Protestants, Moslem and Hindu, a family unduly separated in ideas, culture, and interests who, because we can never again live without each other, must learn, somehow, in this one big world, to live with each other.

– Martin Luther King, Jr., Nobel Peace Prize Lecture 1964

As Christians, Jews, and Muslims, heirs to the great legacy of Abraham, we affirm that all human beings are created in the image of God. We do not discriminate when violence is directed against innocents or when rage, fear and recrimination disturb the quiet of our streets.

As a multireligious community concerned about the security of Israel and the Palestinians, we join with those who seek not only an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire but also a commitment to find new avenues of reconciliation rooted in our shared values of healing, justice, and mercy.

Let us be clear about our immediate priority: the dire human suffering in Gaza and southern Israel must be brought to a swift end.

Read the whole thing here.

Thoughts from my retreat

I've just come back from St. Andrew's Abbey where I've spent two days in silence, prayer and reflection. It's a challenge, not just to make the time, which is hard enough, but the work of spending that much time in silent reflection is a serious challenge. This is my second time at St. Andrews. Six months ago, when I was there, I wrote in my journal:

I have come out into the desert to be alone, to be silent and to listen.

This time I wrote virtually the same thing without realizing it:

I'm once again here to be silent and still, starting on the outside and seeping all the way down. I'm here to listen, to pray, and to think.

This work is sometimes sweet, sometimes bitter. This time the loneliness was overwhelming. Being alone is not the problem. I love to be alone. It was something much deeper. Coming face to face with your soul and finding there a darkness that is difficult to penetrate. Henri Nouwen describes it as a "suffocating loneliness" in his book, Reaching Out.

Part of the experience of the monastery, for me, is to enter this loneliness and there, meet God. Very rarely do we allow ourselves this time, and for good reason. My experience felt crushing. It's still hard, even now that I'm home. I encountered things about myself I'd prefer not to acknowledge.

I've probably turned you off to this experience by now, but that is certainly not my intention. In fact, I highly recommend it. I have personally committed to spending two days on retreat every six months.

Below is a short video of the monks of the abbey praying the Vespers Office on Tuesday. Enjoy!

Beyond Evandalism

//cross-posted at the re-church website. Please watch the re-church site for updates.

Please join us for a re-church gathering in Hollywood, California, March 1-2.

The primary speaker will be Peter Rollins. Peter is the co-ordinator of the experimental collective Ikon. Ikon describes itself as iconic, apocalyptic, heretical, emerging and failing and engages in what it calls theodrama and ‘transformance art’.

Our theme will be “Beyond Evandalism.” Through Peter’s challenging talks responses from other speakers, including Ryan Bell and Samir Selmanovic, each particiapant will have the opportunity to both share their wisdom and contribute to a constructive proposal for ecclesial witness in the 21st century.

The gathering will begin at 7:00 pm on Sunday, March 1 and continue all day on March 2.

Cost: $75 early registration (through Feb 9); $90 regular. (More information about how to register and pay will be forthcoming).

Location: Hollywood Adventist Church, 1711 N Van Ness Ave, Hollywood, CA  90028.

For more information contact Ryan Bell at rjbell (AT) re-church (DOT) org.