high standard

This article reminded me of my last missional training. Dr. Gramm is being fired for getting divorced.

“Why are college administrators better able to judge my divorce than I am?” Dr. Gramm, who has been married for 34 years, asked in an interview. “If I had thought this was the wrong thing to do, I wouldn’t have done it.”

He questions why the judgment of college administrators matters more than the word of a valued, longtime employee. “God won’t fire anyone because of their marital status, politics, theology or sexual preference,” Dr. Gramm said.

“I’m accepting the policy as it applies to me because I knew it was in place and I don’t expect anyone to make any exceptions,” he said. “But in the long run I think the policy is not a good one, because in a sense it’s saying that Wheaton’s standards are higher than God’s. That’s an upside-down world.”

It is unclear whether Dr. Gramm’s reasons for divorce would have allowed him to stay because he refuses to discuss any details. His wife, Lynelle, declined to comment. From NYT | At College, a High Standard on Divorce

Now, I know these things are always messy, and evangelicals have been far too condemning towards divorcees in recent years, especially considering that our divorce rate is no different from the rest of the world’s. This isn’t about divorce. What I’m interested in is his rationale. Look at what he says. Why should anyone else be able to hold me accountable or speak into my life? I don’t have to answer to anyone for my decisions but myself. If you try to tell me what’s right, you’re interfering with the voice of God, which I hear and discern all by myself. I’m only doing what I think is right. Reminds me of a certain rich man.

I don’t know Dr. Gramm, nor do I have any idea of whether he’s getting plenty of advice and accountability from his church or elsewhere, but I do know that this article makes it sound as if he has no interest in the sort of life Cam and Bob talked about living, one of mutual interdependence and submission that the scriptures urge us towards.

Heaven?

To me, heaven is getting the kids to bed early without the kind of drama that would put Grey’s Anatomy to shame, making a big plate of nachos and sitting down to watch one of my favourite 80’s movies on TV like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Say Anything, Lost Boys or The Breakfast Club (if you want to know more about my quirky movie taste feel free to see my favourite movies list on my facebook). Whether it’s Cancun Mexico in the winter, a bite of our favourite chocholate bar, or scoring that game winning goal, I’m sure if we thought about it we’d all have different ideas of what heaven means to us, right? But what of the bible? What does it mean when it uses that term, and subsequently how are we as Christians to apply this understanding to our real lives here, now and today?

Often the way we talk about heaven in church can be like the way we talk about RSP’s (which by the way are due at the end of this month). Most of us have them, believe in them, and even put our hard earned money into them but ask someone to explain how this will save us money on our tax returns and you will likely get back a blank stare and the word, “uhhhh” being uttered.

I wanted to share with all of you a recent interesting article in Time magazine entitled “Christians Wrong About Heaven, says Bishop.” It is an interview with a well-respected Anglican bishop, pastor and New Testament scholar N.T. Wright who actually seems to dare talk about the specifics of what the bible means when it speaks of heaven. I found it very helpful and I hope you do as well.

By the way, in the near future I am considering on using some of his new DVD resources in our church. He’s got a great DVD on the Resurrection as well as another on Evil, both of which I believe are very timely and essential topics to learn about today as Christians.

For the article just click here

Convergence: a women’s leadership conference actually about leadership

This may be a little short notice, but…

Just wanted to pass on this information to our lady friends about this conference, put on by Northwest Emerging Women Leaders, for women leaders called Convergence, Feb. 22-24, 2008 in Portland, Oregon. This conference is an ecumenical gathering of women from the Pacific Northwest who are involved with leading others in the way of Jesus. I attended last year and was incredibly blessed by the teaching, dialogue, encouragement and empowerment as a church leader and a follower of Christ. The conference touches on ministerial issues, leadership issues, and methodologies in light of the church and the culture in which it exist. As the conference doesn’t centre around a keynote speaker, participants learn from interactive discussion groups and sharing from our experiences. I was able to network with and gain insight from other leaders who are involved in leadership, urban contexts, and alternative church expressions similar to my own. As well, I gained so much encouragement from those who have been involved in ministry a lot longer than I have. As a women in ministry, I find that there are not many options for learning and encouragement when it comes to women in leadership. This is one women’s conference that actually focuses on leadership and ministerial issues to which I can relate. So whether you have a leadership role or in any other capacity in church/ministry, you need a time of refreshing, you love Portland (as I decided from going to the last year), or you know someone that would benefit from this type of conference, I highly recommend going.

Shapevine

I’ve become anti-conference over the past three years. Not conferences where you get to set at the table with great people and work through things. That I’m up for, depending on who else is at the table. Flying to Nassau to swim with sharks alongside N. T. Wright is definitely cool. It’s driving hours to sit in a big room with lots of other people listening to one person wax poetic that I won’t do anymore, because it’s been replaced by the net. Why would I drive all the way to Edmonton to hear Erwin this month when I get him delivered to my iPod every week for free? Now, I’m always up for a good road trip, but why not listen to the conference in the car and go see something else, something like the world’s largest sundial? Trust me, it’s even taller and pointier in person.

Shapevine gets this, and they’ve been doing a great job of bringing drive-worthy conference speakers online and making them free for the masses. Here’s the schedule for this month. If you’ve never “attended” a Shapevine event, you get live video plus realtime chat so you can type comments and questions to the speaker and chat with other participants while the event is going on. I’ll probably log in for Len Sweet on the 22nd, schedule permitting. I’ve always liked him, even if Dave’s not impressed.

church, leadership, shapevine, technology

Imagine

Sanan and I will be headed to Ottawa today to participate in the Imagine Congress, put on by OUTREACH CANADA. It’s their once every two year event for all denoms to get together and talk about church planting. We may not learn a whole lot that is new, but it will be a good chance to feel the trends and network in the hallways. We already have a meeting set up with Joe Manafo and Jared Seifert who are doing a video doc on the emerging church across Canada. One interesting aspect of this meeting is that there are some of our heavy weights as main speakers: Gerry Taillon and Ed Stetzer.

Programs

Willow Creek takes an honest look at themselves and concludes that program participation does not equal spiritual formation. You have to hand it to them, it takes guts and honesty for Hybels to stand up and say, Some of the stuff that we have put millions of dollars into thinking it would really help our people grow and develop spiritually, when the data actually came back it wasn’t helping people that much. Other things that we didn’t put that much money into and didn’t put much staff against is stuff our people are crying out for.

Out of Ur.: Willow Creek Repents?

(ht: Mark Berry)

Update.:
Okay, I feel like I need to add this because this is the only thing we’ve ever put on here about Willow Creek, and it looks decidedly negative. After all, this is a blog dedicated to incarnational ministry, and Willow Creek is the mother of all attraction. These guys take a lot of crap these days, especially from young upstarts who are pretty sure they have a better idea. I’m pretty sure I have a better idea myself, and I’m not too old yet, but I’m not after Willow Creek. If you are, perhaps my analogy will help. I think of them as I think of Starbucks. Starbucks takes a lot of crap these days too, because they’re not a local, independent coffee shop. They sell the same stuff in every store everywhere in the world. They define this generation of corporate coffee the way Folgers might have defined the previous (wow, spell check flags Folgers but not Starbucks; that tells you something). But Starbucks is the bridge that carried us across. Before Starbucks, this was coffee hell, packaged in pre-ground canisters and stacked on the grocery store shelf. After Starbucks we have not only the rich variety of products they offer, but a smattering of local coffee shops that produce very similar products, though oftentimes superior in quality. If you would rather find a local café than a Starbucks when you’re in the mood to imbibe (Thom’s favorite word), then I’m with you. Traders is better than Starbucks any day of the week. Even though they don’t accept plastic, and I never carry cash, I’ll make a special trip by the bank machine just to caffeinate in their warm, inviting, free wifi enabled log cabin. But without Starbucks, I’m not so sure there would be a Coffee Traders. Without Willow Creek taking that first step out of the mold, playing some rock and roll and preaching without words like “propitiation,” we might not have all these cool, local, independent startups I’m so fond of. So, the next time you end up at St. Arbucks’ (and I know you all do), say a quick prayer of thanks for Willow Creek. Without them we’d still be in canned coffee hell (spiritually speaking).

That being said, on with the incarnation!

Technorati Tags: church, leadership, Starbucks, western world

The politics of God

Humanities professor Mark Lilla of Columbia University has published an incredible essay in the New York Times on the history of God in the politics of the western world. It’s an attempt at helping us understand the ideological and theological chasm that exists between the western world and the rest of the planet, most especially the strongly Muslim parts of the planet. It’s not an article, but an essay, so it’s long, but if you’re at all interested in the subject, you really should read it. Dang, it’s worth the read even if you just need a general refresher on your church history. Great stuff and interesting assertions. I’m still thinking about it.

New York Times.: The Politics of God

(Reposted from Symbiosis at Kyle’s request)

Technorati Tags: christian, god, history, islam, muslim, politics, western world

Teenage Affluenza

While you’re checking out Dave’s post on Kiva, entertain yourself with this spot on Teenage Affluenza from Quantum Shift. Sometimes it helps to put things in perspective.

New Banner

Hey there IIB faithful…yes the 5 or 6 of you, we have a new banner!

My friend Andrea from our church did a great job on this so feel free to send her an email at hey_nonnynonny At hotmail DOT com and thank her.

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

Welcome to Incarnation Instant Breakfast!

New Monasticism

Pray for us this weekend. Four of us from our community: Julien, Lois, Annie and Dave, will drive down to Philly for a “School of Conversion“. It will be hosted by Shane Claiborn’s community, The Simple Way, but lead by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove (link is audio interview w/ JWH) of the Rutba House of Durham, NC.

We will study and discuss the 12 marks of new monasticism: 1) Relocation to the abandoned places of Empire. 2) Sharing economic resources with fellow community members and the needy among us. 3) Hospitality to the stranger 4) Lament for racial divisions within the church and our communities combined with the active pursuit of a just reconciliation. 5) Humble submission to Christ’s body, the church. 6) Intentional formation in the way of Christ and the rule of the community along the lines of the old novitiate. 7) Nurturing common life among members of intentional community. 8,) Support for celibate singles alongside monogamous married couples and their children. 9) Geographical proximity to community members who share a common rule of life. 10) Care for the plot of God’s earth given to us along with support of our local economies. 11) Peacemaking in the midst of violence and conflict resolution within communities along the lines of Matthew 18. 12) Commitment to a disciplined contemplative life.

This idea of new monasticism is spreading. Here’s some other communities to check out: The Camden House, New Jerusalem Now, Church of the Apostles, Landing Place…

I’ll give an in-depth report once I’m back in Montreal.