An Effective Way to Combat Heresy?

So God likes to thump me across the head every once in a while - and he did it this time with a *mountaintop experience* of the Kingdom. There was no particular trigger this time, just a conviction that I should go in a new direction.

You see, I had been participating in a particularly nasty cycle of "speaking the truth in love" with my friends, and we all had gotten burnt out on it. It looked something like this:

Person 1: I'm considering Controversial Position A.
Person 2: ZOMG UR NOT A CHRISTIAN!!!111one POSITION B IS ALWAYS TEH ORTHODOX/RATIONAL/INTELLIGENT/HONEST POSITION!
Person 1: Yes, but here's what's wrong with B. No one in their right mind could believe in B.
Person 2: Yes, but here's what's wrong with A. No one in their right mind could believe in A.

At the end of the day, everyone goes home knowing exactly what they're against, but not really what they're for. And the scenario plays out like this several times, with Person 1 and Person 2 trading places, and sometimes getting input from an equally angry Person 3. So we all end up tired, angry, and privately unsure of what we really believe.

I'd like to start coming at this from the other side. Since we've already argued up and down on what's wrong with our thoughts and opinions, let's debate theology/praxis according to what's right with it, how it is faithful to Scripture/incarnates the Kingdom/makes sense of available data/generally makes the world a better place. And maybe this will be more attractive to the people on the outside as well, since they won't see a bunch of bickering people, but people who are trying to seek God and His kingdom as best they can. And there's an off chance that this may be a more effective way to combat heresy - a true position would hopefully lead to people doing things that we agree are positive incarnations of the Body.

NecroBlogmancy?

With the return of school, I've decided to resurrect this blog. Partly cause I'm now more interested in having this outlet back, and partly because I'm taking an online-only class that's heavy on group interaction. Blogger > this class's discussion UI, so I may host some of my class posts here. Don't be surprised if people turn up wanting to discuss genetics over the next few months.

Upcoming post (tonight or early tomorrow): thoughts on an approach to combating heresy. Movie at 9.

Labor Pains

I realize it's been a while, and I have several rather unrelated things to post.

1. The emerging worship service/seminar went pretty well. I figure about half the people there understood that we were communicating a new ecclesiology, not just a new style of corporate worship. Other than that, nothing much really changed from the description a couple posts ago.

2. I took a blogging hiatus (along with a hiatus from a lot of things) to reevaluate my path and where I think God is leading me. I won't go into too many details as this is a public blog, but I think I'll end up in the same career (Methodist ordained ministry), just by a different (and slightly roundabout) path.

3. I'll be a lemming for a moment and talk about Lent. The Ash Wednesday service was cool; we set up a contemplative time with prayer stations to go with the imposition of ashes. I'll find some pictures and put them up soon.
Today I decided that the thing I would take on for Lent is daily blogging. I miss the connections I once had to the Methoblogosphere, and I'd like to reconnect. It also forces me to do a better job of reflecting how I've attempted to further the Kingdom on a particular day.

4. Now I get back to the subject line of the post. During my hiatus, I occasionally wondered why I was in the position I was in. Having come out of the worst, I feel an analogy to labor pains. Labor pains are one of the worst physical pains in the world, but from them something greater emerges that couldn't happen without them. That's how I feel now. I feel that I will be a more effective minister, boyfriend, and person because of the last few months. And in general, I have more hope that I can glorify God from any position.

Here's to a new blog of heady posts and open humility.

UPDATE: Of course, the forced switch over to the new Blogger resent my whole feed. Thanks, Google.

Minor Housekeeping

I've updated the Methodist blogroll section to reflect the new blogroll that's being actively maintained, fresh from MethoBlog. And added the new site to the links at the side.

Actual content to come soon.

Update on the All-Consuming Project

Well, we officially have people from the Foundation interested in helping organize and lead this service - that's the last piece that would determine whether or not this was actually going to happen.

We met Monday night to talk about the gathering, and here's the basic sketch of our current plan:
-Welcome
-Singing together
-Study of the Bible through corporate Lectio Divina
-A time of prayer and meditation, aided by prayer stations and a digital storytelling about the scandal of grace
-A conversation loosely related to Doug Pagitt's form of progressional preaching
-More singing together
-Dedication and sending Forth

What's really strange about this to me is that for the first time, a service that I'm the primary coordinator for won't be meeting around the table of the Lord's Supper. (This is due to the fact that the closing service for the class is the following evening and I've been asked not to step on its toes.)

I haven't entirely settled on what my opening comments for the conversation will be, but it will touch on how the regular practices in corporate worship shape congregations - and how spending the vast majority of the only time most people connect to the Christian community sitting in pews enables them to be inactive during the rest of the week. I think my poking implication will be that we should be working together so that the corporate gathering is "owned" by the entire congregation, not just the planners and the people on stage.

The main focus of the time (due to the nature of the BOM request) will be time to talk about the emerging conversation, clear up misconceptions, and come to a greater understanding of and support for each other.

The service is next Friday, so I'll let you know how it goes.

MethoBlog

I realize there are all of 2 people that read my blog that don't read Gavin's blog or John's blog, but I thought I'd post about this anyway. MethoBlog is the latest iteration in communal Methodist blogging, and it's got one feature that's really sweet - a latest UM posts column. I've already used it to check out blogs that haven't caught my attention yet.

This has a good shot at being successful - I'm excited about the Methoblogsosphere organizing into real community.

...And Now for my All-Consuming Project

So in addition to being a student, I took on a little side project for the Wesley director, who's teaching a Course of Study class. I'm supposed to give them an example of emerging worship. This is both exciting and scary, and I've got a little under two weeks left to put it all together.

Thought #1. Apparently my pastor respects me enough to let me plan a worship service for his students. It's exciting to get that kind of feedback, because I don't get to sit down and chat with him all that much. (He's both director of the Foundation and pastor of the Church, so he's a little busy.)

Thought #2. Um...now I've gotta put together a team that's willing to go to Springfield to orchestrate this. I'm working alongside the best people in the world (well, to me anyway) at the Foundation, but getting them to commit to this is another thing entirely. I've talked with some of the various ministry leaders, but my official call won't go out until tonight. I'll update with some results.

Thought #3. Who am I to speak for the huge and diverse community that is the emerging church? Whatever I do, I'll miss something important or say or do something that some in the church will find offensive. So in addition to assisting part-time pastors to get a handle on the conversation, I'll also be praying for forgiveness for the inevitable mistakes I'll make.

Thought #4, just came today: I'm picking up whispers here and there that various other conference groups have an eye on this. It's a bit scary that I'm already on the radar.

Anyway, I figured it was time for a journal-like entry in my blog. Later!