Form the Diary of Samuel Pepys

December 25 1661
In the morning to church, where at the door of our pew I was fain to stay, because that the sexton had not opened the door. A good sermon of Mr. Mills. Dined at home all alone, and taking occasion from some fault in the meat to complain of my maid’s sluttery, my wife and I fell out, and I up to my chamber in a discontent. After dinner my wife comes up to me and all friends again, and she and I to walk upon the leads, and there Sir W. Pen called us, and we went to his house and supped with him, but before supper Captain Cock came to us half drunk, and began to talk, but Sir W. Pen knowing his humour and that there was no end of his talking, drinks four great glasses of wine to him, one after another, healths to the king, and by that means made him drunk, and so he went away, and so we sat down to supper, and were merry, and so after supper home and to bed.

Reading words from 348 years ago makes can be a sobering thing making one stop and think about how others celebrated this day long before the hustle and bustle of consumerism in the twenty-first century, went to church, heard a “good” sermon, dined at home although in a tiff with his wife, reconciliation, now there’s Christmas up close and personal, took a walk, met up with a friend, helped someone get drunk, (Hummmm), had supper, was merry, went home and went to bed. Pretty full day, Huh? spending time with his church family, wife, and friend. I wonder…

Merry Christmas!

Well, it’s only a couple of days to Christmas 2007. Hope you are enjoying this time of the year.

Here’s a link to our annual Griffin Family Christmas Card 2007.

And just for fun!
The Dancing Griffin Elves

Today, while I was participating with my community of faith, I was captivated for a few minutes by a small young lady about 16-18 months old. Her mom and dad were setting right in front of me. They had let her down during musical worship. First, she wandered about one row toward the front, then she returned and put her hand in a cup that her mom was holding and got some cheerios. She was smiling and dancing around to the music. After her second time back to mom for a refill, she ventured about two rows away, then returned. Next, she ventured three rows away and returned. Then, she ventured into a row with some other folks and danced around, then returned. Next, she discovered there was another whole area behind her she had not yet explored. She refilled and went toward the back. The parents set calmly and watch their daughter enjoying herself with great big smiles of enjoyment on their faces. On one occasion, she got out of the sightline of the parents, her father got nervous and went to rescue her.

As I watched, I thought how wonderful it is to have a relationship with a heavenly parent who allows me to wander off, explore, and dance around a bit all the time enjoying my exploration, and then offers me a bit of refueling when I return, but when I wander too far off course, nervousness sets in, and I sense the rescuing hand of a loving parent scoop me up just before a possible catastrophe occurs.

Wow, isn’t freedom great?

I teach a course presently at Bakke Graduate University which help those pursuing a Doctor of Ministry degree to begin forming their thoughts about their dissertation. Yesterday, on Saturday evening, I attended the graduation ceremonies at Bakke held in the historic First Presbyterian Church in downtown Seattle. The graduating class this year had five graduates with a Masters of Theological Studies and twenty-three graduates with a Doctor of Ministry. Attending this service reminded me of my own graduation just a little over a year ago from George Fox University with my second Doctor of Ministry degree. My, how time files.

Donna and I missed the first part of the service because of a forty-five minute traffic jam getting into downtown Seattle, and on a Saturday evening at that. The service had one note of sadness. The Chairman of the Board of Directors, Norm Maleng passed away unexpectedly the end of May. Ray Bakke, the present Chancellor and Norm Maleng grew up together in a small rural town in Northwest Washington. Ray and Norm road a bus to an from school for eleven of their twelve years in school. One thing stood out in Ray’s small eulogy. Ray, Norm, and one other boy attended a small church and their Sunday School teacher according to Ray “poured his life into those three children.” One went and served in Africa for twenty-two years, one became the Chief Prosecuting Attorney for King County, Washington for twenty-eight years, and the other spent twenty plus years pastoring and teaching in Chicago before returning to Seattle to become Chancellor of a graduate school which reaches students all around the world.

That Sunday School teacher may have never knows that the small but faithful and persistent thing he was doing would be used by God to reach more people that that one Sunday School teacher could have ever imagined. Small things count, and sometimes God often makes big things out of them.

It was fun to introduce my wife to faculty and those who work in the fabric of Bakke on a day to day basis. Well it’s 1:45 am Sunday morning. Guess I better “hit the hay!”

Rose, my pastor, made a comment on my online Bible Study called Decoding the Apocalypse in response to a question: What is a clear witness? Below was my response to her comment.

As with most things, the Enlightenment Project produced a rash of reductionism. Witness was reduced to things like the “Four Spiritual Law” and “door-to-door” evangelism with the sole intent of putting an argument to people demonstrating that they were sinners and needed salvation so they could go to heaven when they died. If they surrendered they prayed the “sinners prayer” and got their barcode, so they could be successfully identified upon entry into eternity. Sound familiar?

Living openly, lovingly, and for others with Kingdom of God attributes such as the “fruit of the Spirit” was not prioritized as “witness.” If it was, it was more like “sissy” witness where “speech and argument” was seen as “real” witness. Of course, Paul introduced what he calls the “fruit of the Spirit” which is love, out of which come all kinds of lifestyle corrections. I believe for him, the “fruit” was a tangible demonstration of the “age to come” entering into “this present evil age.” It was the lifestyle of the future being brought into the lifestyle of the present. It was living the future now as though it was then. Living in this way surely would produce abundant conversations about why one is living differently than others in our physical communities. Telling one’s story in lifestyle would surely allow for opportunity to tell one’s story in words where one can give and honest, resounding, answer that she/he loves God. There is little or no argument that can be given for a life change. When the blind man in Scripture told his story, “I once was blind, but now I see,” having known the life of the blind man who was now a seeing man, who would argue.

Yes, to live well and to talk well we need to be empowered by the Spirit. His presence and power is not just for healing the sick and casting out demons. His presence and power are needed to help us live a Kingdom present life in the midst of an age gone amuck. When was the last time that when faced with a choice of a decision to be Kingdom people or “amuck people” we stopped and even briefly asked for the power of the Holy Spirit to decide in favor of being a Kingdom person? I better stop now, I’m talk’ too much here.

Brain McLaren suggests that we who live in the West may be living in an Echo Chamber where it is difficult to “listen to the voice of others.” One solution to this potential difficulty is to get out of the Echo Chamber by reading and thinking about how folks in other parts of the world think and write. The following article is a great start toward that goal.

A UNIVERSAL CORE?
by Sherman YL Kuek, OSL
Sherman is an itinerant minister and an Adjunct Lecturer in Christian Theology at Seminari Theoloji Malaysia (STM). He spends much of his time journeying with his friends in reflecting on faith, life, and culture in a profoundly theological and yet simple way. Sherman blogs on www.ShermanKuek.net.

In speaking of contextualisation, there are (rather simplistically) two trends of thought:

1) The gospel consists of a “static universal core”, a series of articulations which is time insensitive and perennially unchanging. The contextualisation project is simply about enfleshing this core with a cultural facade for the facilitation of communication and understanding. The core, essentially, does not change.

2) The gospel consists of a “dynamic universal core”, a series of articulations which is time sensitive and perennially changing with the development of our theological understanding. The contextualisation project, whilst being about the cultural expression of this “dynamic universal core”, is also about allowing the enfleshment process to provoke us to re-examine the legitimacy and relevance of the universal core. This means that the universal core, by its sheer dynamic nature, is vulnerable to being modified, changed, eradicated, retained, or reaffirmed in accordance with that deemed necessary.

I suspect that the “emerging” people are those who are more ready to embrace the second of the two approaches, and not anyone is willing to sit well with this methodological vulnerability.

But anyone who is seriously going to engage his/her context authentically would almost immediately see that the second of the two is probably the only way by which one can be authentically contextual in his/her theological methodology.

II
This section dwells on some further sustained thoughts pertaining to the “dynamic universal core”. If we posit that the dynamic universal core is “time sensitive and perennially changing with the development of our theological understanding”, what reasonable sources possess legitimate ascendancy over the dynamism of the core?

It is open knowledge that the emerging people are serious about engaging with the dominant culture confronting the Christian gospel (in the West the postmodern culture, and in Asia perhaps the postcolonial ethos). First and foremost, this engagement is about the vulnerability of allowing the dominant culture to challenge the Christian gospel with serious questions regarding the adequacy, accuracy, and even the absolute rightness of the latter.

But it is probably a misunderstanding beyond proportions that these people engaging with culture are actually permitting the culture to redefine the core. It is most likely that culture raises questions which shed doubt on the perennial universality of the core, but not necessarily that culture redefines the core.

In my observation, it seems to me that whilst culture is permitted the role of the “interrogator”, the contextual thinkers are going back into the Great Christian Tradition to seek solutions for these problems raised by culture. They do not claim that culture itself provides the answers. They seem to have an implicit understanding that the Great Christian Tradition itself possesses more than a sufficient wealth of wisdom to provide plausible solutions for challenges posed by culture. The Great Christian Tradition causes one to expand and deepen the core such that one realises that his definition and demarcation of the core may have been overly limited and unnecessarily fossilised.

Thus, it is not uncommon for contextual thinkers to move beyond the boundaries of their own limited traditions (i.e. their denominational / traditional boundaries and familiar scope of theological positions) towards other even older traditions in search of responses to the problems posed by culture. This explains the openness of the emerging people towards the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions and their willingness to listen to other ecclesial voices beyond that with which they are familiar. Again, this is not something deemed acceptable to every Christian thinker of every tradition. Some traditions are, by their sheer nature, implicitly closed to conversations which challenge the rudiments of their all-familiar categories.

The Christian faith is more than 500 years old. In fact, the memory of the Christian Church goes back beyond 2,000 years. The contextual thinker holds on to this wealth of ecclesial life and therefore understands that there is no need for theological insecurity, for he has a long, long history – a Great Story of which he is a part – consisting of multiple voices of wisdom who have come before him and who would be able to infuse wisdom and impart solutions in his endeavour to be a relevant voice within the present scheme of life. This is the reservoir of ecclesial jurors for the contextual thinker which many others fail to observe or choose to ignore all together.

For him, the challenges posed by cultural confrontations do not cause him to pander into a state of intimidation and self-preserving defensiveness, for he looks beyond himself and his restrained traditional familiarity; and behold, a world of endless possibilities is open before him as he gleans from the voices of his many Fathers who once treaded the path on which he now finds himself. Someone aptly comments (and the contextual thinker certainly mirrors it well): “It’s not about the old ways, it’s about the much older ways.”

Rick and Toni are friends of mine from recent years. I spent three years in a Doctor of Ministry program with Rick. Recently, Toni’s cancer returned and she is in treatment. Rick keeps his friends up-to-date about Toni’s condition. The following is a recent one. After you read it, pause for a moment and pray for Rick and Toni, members of God’s family living in his story with the pressures of this present age.

Life is full of interruptions, inconveniences, unexpected scenarios, and dreaded situations. This includes everything from flat tires, stomach flu, to tax time in April.

What category does recurring breast cancer fall into?

It is definitely a major interruption, especially when it comes to Toni’s profession as a second grade school teacher . . . medical appointments, traveling to Illinois, missing time from working with her students, etc.. Furthermore, Toni has described having breast cancer as an “annoying inconvenience,” forcing you to make major changes and decisions in your life that you would otherwise never confront and attempt to live with.

Her diagnosis was not a totally unexpected scenario because Toni and I both knew that breast cancer does return in some cases. We just thought it would not happen to her.

To say this is a “dreaded situation” is an understatement. You can just imagine for yourself. But that’s just the problem!

One’s imagination has a way of conjuring up mental images and emotions that can instill despair and fear. For example, at the top of the list you find the fear of chemotherapy, sickness, physical pain, financial ruin, and death (resulting in your spouse becoming a “lonely” widow). Toni and I have discussed these multiple “imaginations” and their burglarious aim upon our peace and joy.

One thing we are learning again is that the imagination gone unchecked is poison to the mind and emotions, taking you to places you need not go or conjuring up “what ifs” that may never become reality. These mental meanderings have reminded us of what the apostle Paul wrote about concerning a form of “warfare” that takes place on a mental, emotional, and spiritual level. For more on this, see “Imaginations” and taking every thought captive to Christ in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (21st Century King James Version).

Interruption, inconvenience, unexpected, dreaded. . . all bring to mind another word: intrusion.

Recurring breast cancer is an intruder, infiltrating the body by replicating mutated cells until it seizes total control of the entire body and then shuts it down. An intruder: one with criminal intent, trespasser, interloper, invader, infiltrator, burglar, housebreaker, thief, and prowler. In other words, an intruder seeks to enter your life in ways that will change you, taking you to places you rather not go. And in this case, changing your life in destructive ways and taking you to undesirable destinations. Even chemotherapy acts like an intruder (When Toni read this post, she called chemotherapy the “intrusion infusion”).

Intrusion. If you think about it, in some respect the gospel is an intrusion. Jesus: the Intruder upon our human condition.

How so? I could wax, perhaps eloquently, about this topic ad nauseam, so I will limit it to one comment here.

Some argue that the Jesus of America is simply a cultural imagining of our own creation to fit our western and materialistic worldview and lifestyle. This Jesus exists to serve our own ends, and not the other way around. And sadly, this is the kind of Jesus that has been propagated and proclaimed in many of the churches throughout our country—a blond, blue-eyed, sugar daddy, genie-in-the-sky Jesus who exists to grant our every wish.

But I would contend that the Jesus described in the Bible is just the opposite. He is more of a counter-cultural personality than one who simply endorses the dominant culture. Jesus is the ultimate “intruder” into our personal lives. His intent is to enter our lives in ways that will change us, taking us to places we would rather not go. His intrusion leads to letting go of an old way of life that we desperately seek to control and opens us to live a new way of Life that is ultimately out of our control. This is what the Bible calls, “good news.”

Imagine that.

Rick

Today, a friend of mime, Todd Hunter, had his Doctor of Ministry oral exam at George Fox University. We went through the DMin program together. He is now officially Dr. Todd Hunter. I am proud to announce his achievement.

My friend Dr. Eric Sandras, recently from the Great Northwest now moved to Lancaster, CA has written his second book where he tells his readers that they should pack their boxes and bags, call the moving truck, give the old place a good scrubbing down, and move from “spiritual suburbia” to…

Well you will have to buy and read Plastic Jesus to find out what moving from “spiritual suburbia” is all about.

It’s well worth the read and I would recommend you purchase the book for a personal read or for a small group read. You will enjoy Eric’s humor and his turn of phrase.

Thanks for sharing Eric.

Today I heard that a friend of mine, Debbie Hunter, lost here mom last week. I sent her a copy of the following that I wrote about ten years ago.

Life must continue for individuals who remain when a loved one dies. There are many adjustments which must occur. Mourning without guilt is a goal for all who are left behind. The following are the stages of grief in which people fluctuate. There is a normal movement from the first to the last, while at the same time there is vacillation.

• Shock and Emotional Freeze-Up. When a person dies, either expectedly or unexpectedly, the ones who remain are left in shock. Their emotions temporarily freeze. In this stage it is good to weep.
• Problem Distinguishing Between Fact and Fantasy. There is an expectation that the deceased will return at any moment. Many things will remind them of their loved ones. A person will sometimes live in a life of fantasy and think it to be fact.
• Emotional Flood Gates Open at the Most Unexpected Moment. Because people often restrain their emotions, they will often break at a later stage. One should not be ashamed of this occurring regardless of the place or time. It is usually uncontrollable.
• Association. The most difficult time a person lives through after a death is the special days like Christmas, Thanksgiving, birthdays, anniversaries, etc. During these times of association, grieving people need extra care. There are many things which arouse association. It is okay to ask for special care and attention during these times.
• Acceptance. At this point fact becomes real. This does not mean that emotions will not surge or associations will not occur. It does mean that the person remaining accepts the facts and faces life accordingly.
• Facing the Future. A person never gets over sharing life without someone else. However, one must adjust to life without the presence of the loved one. Set some goals, do some things you have always wanted to do (Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth, On Death and Dying. 1969).

My friend Jim Henderson is hosting two Off-The-Map Conferences. Here is some important information for you.

The Generous Orthodoxy Conference(s) coming up in Washington DC on Oct 7-8 and in Seattle Washington Nov 4-5.

Brian McLaren, author of A Generous Orthodoxy will be presenting at the conference along with Jim Wallis (East) and Deborah Loyd (West) .

Note: If you register by September 4, you will get early bird price of $119. Group tickets (minimum of 3) brings it down to $99 (West Coast). Register Here.

Yesterday Jason and Bev Clark and their kids Anna, Leah, and Cameron, all the way from England, stopped by to visit us here in the colonies. Jason is the Administrator of Ministers (Pastor) at Vinyeard Church Sutton and is a part of the DMin. cohort that I am in at George Fox University. You can keep up with his ramblings at his blog. His wife and kids are delightful. Take a listen to Jason teaching on Spiritual Gifts or one of the gatherings of VCS. He was sharing with me that he was now beginning to think of what it meant to be a post emergent church. From postmodern, to post Christian, to post emergent—quite a journey.

Listen to Jason

My friend Todd Hunter is bloggin’ again. Cool Stuff.

I am enjoying the summer off from the DMin program that I am in at George Fox University. I have one more year of courses and then a dissertation to write. My dissertation attention is on the area of Story. Several years ago I heard Todd say that for the most part that folks in the church were living in the “wrong story.” That struck my curiosity and I begin to think along those lines. For most of my ministry in teaching I have been calling folks to look at HIStory. This little saying from Todd put new energy into what I was already doing.

I am using Tom Wright’s five-act play model as a backdrop for my dissertation outline. One of the things Tom has said is that in the act of the play that we are living in, we are to improvise from the story that has gone before.

I like the idea of improvisation as a way of living in the Story of God. If any of you have any thoughts about this comment me back.

Like the Toddlimiester, I have become delinquent in my efforts to blog but hope that I can work into a more consistent pattern of conversation.