Emergent Brethren

Church planting isn’t for the fainthearted. I’ve been through quite a bit since September seeing New Antioch through its unexpected commencement last year in late September and through the challenges endured; and unexpectedly once again, immediately after Christmas.

Ups and downs, moments of excitement and periods of unwanted long-suffering have made this time quite abundant in lessons about the Kingdom and vibrant in how to “do” Church – as God wills it to be. Maiby and I have seen His faithfulness and provision beyond measure, to say the very least.

Now I confess the following:

At several junctures, I felt as if I had failed God, my wife and the congregation.

At various points along the way, I felt as exhausted as a pilgrim walking a medieval road and quite exhausted of “having it so hard”.

Through the days leading to the final decision to “replant” New Antioch, I felt it was best if I went shopping around for a church in need of a pastor and see if I could get hired and that would be enough to grant me financial security and “enjoyment” in ministry. I developed a “reasonable” rationale for why church planting wasn’t for me – at least in the way that it had “fallen” into my lap through the Church of the Brethren.

Through it all, though, God continued to open significant doors for me. PhD programmes, academic fellowships, journal articles to write and preaching engagements, too. So many opportunities and “big breaks”, and here I was feeling “left aside”, “marginalized” and perhaps… “overlooked”.

This is where my “experience as a church planter” ran diametrically opposite my life as a seminary professor. I have had the “dicha” – Spanish for “the blessing”, if you will, to encounter – on a first hand basis, the challenge of living out “theory” in the “real world”. I have grown more accustomed to the dissonance of living out the ministry licking my wounds and feeling “out of season” quite often. Perhaps I felt I deserved a better break than the one given… then one days I saw into the eyes of my wife and heard the words, “No matter what, you have everything… You have God, me and our kids”…

Then I saw into the eyes of my disciple-making students and heard my own words preach and teach everything contrary to what I was feeling…

God is amazing… although I felt tired, marginalized and ineffective, God took my brokenness and utilized it as a source of reflection, thought provocation and prayer. His redemption and restoration has humbled me and caused me to feel shame. How dare I consider myself ill used when my Lord and my God has purposed me to teach, guide and cause others to grow, mature and be nourished at a seminary, a bible study and an unorthodox Brethren “experiment”?

I am blessed and truly highly favored. Sadly, I only now get it. The blessing is what is yet to come…

Grace and Peace

I recently read Eat, Pray, Love. First, let me say if you have seen the movie, know that it doesn’t come close to describing the intensity with which Elizabeth Gilbert goes after God, peace, reconciliation, and forgiveness in her spirit. I have often marveled that one of the great evidences of the reality of God’s presence in the world is the revelation of truth he makes available to the Christian and the non-Christian alike.

I do not think Gilbert would label herself a Christian (other than perhaps that she comes from a “Christian” nation). She practices yoga and eastern meditation.

In our ministry, my husband and I have done a lot of transformative renewal work with individuals based on the truth that our battles are first and foremost in the mind. It’s not enough to just know the truth; we have to also align our thoughts with those truths: “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (NIV 2 Cor 10:6).

One of the turning points in Gilbert’s spiritual life is when a co-participant at an Ashram in India tells her, “You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select your clothes every day. This is a power you can cultivate. If you want to control things in your life so bad, work on the mind. That’s the only thing you should be trying to control” (Gilbert in Eat, Pray, Love).

Even though Gilbert does not write from a Christian perspective, she well captures what it means to wrestle with the spiritual self. As we live in an emergent era, we would all do well to gain some insight into spiritual self battles from perspectives other than our own heritage.

~Lisa G. Yoder

Before we know it, Holy Week, with all its activities will be upon us. It feels strange to me that it’s occurring so late this year. How are you preparing for it? Are you planning something traditional or non-traditional to celebrate our Lord’s resurrection? Last year, I went to a sunrise service in Kona, Hawaii. At one point, as a part of the service, we were all surprised as a helicopter flew over and dropped thousands of plumeria blossoms upon the worshipers. Not only was it a beautiful sight, but it also engaged the sense of touch and smell. Plumeria have a wonderful fragrance!

Last year, George Barna wrote an article about people’s understanding of Easter. His main point is that people understand Easter more as a religious holiday, but don’t know about its Christian meaning. You might find it to be helpful reading in your preparation.

How many of your members/participants are active in inviting others to your Easter service? 75%? 64%? 50%? According to Barna’s report, only 31% are active in inviting a non-church going person to Easter worship.

To read the article, click here.

After President Mubarak left Egypt, President Obama said it was “a historic event,” that “the Egyptian people had spoken and Egypt would never be the same”. Although the historic event worth noting for many was the revolution in general and the reality that President Mubarak was made to step down, the real historic event worth noting is how it happened. Let us pray that not only Egypt, but the world will never be the same.

That the protestors, even in their desperation for great change, chose a peaceful means by which to work for change was unbelievable in the midst of the great violence they had experienced for decades and in the midst of a world that too quickly resorts to violence. Often deprived of sleep and certainly with many experiencing growing anxiety in the midst of the uncertain situation at hand, millions of Egyptians exercised tremendous self-control, including the army caught in the middle. The sheer continued act of civil disobedience from growing numbers refusing to be violent changed their country and inspired the world. President Obama said that “the people of Egypt put to rest the lie that justice is best gained through violence. That it was nonviolence, moral force that bent the arc of history once more. We saw protesters chant, ‘Selmiyya, selmiyya’, (We are peaceful), again and again. We saw a military that would not fire bullets at the people they were sworn to protect. We saw people of faith praying together and chanting, ‘Muslims. Christians. We are one.’ And though we know that the strains between faiths still divide too many in this world and no single event will close that chasm immediately, these scenes remind us that we need not be defined by our differences. We can be defined by the common humanity that we share.”

A reporter said “the Egyptians bring out the idealism in you, in a world of cynicism”. For many of us, they bring out the faith in us; faith in the God who is always calling us to the best of ourselves, the things of peace, and who dances with us in streets everywhere, when we get it right. Long ago Jesus wept on a hillside wishing people knew the things that would make for peace. Perhaps last week Christ wept again, for there was powerful evidence in the world that people somewhere did know what made for peace, and found the courage to see it through.

May God continue to be with the Egyptian people in days ahead, as they continue their walk away from the Pharaoh, and toward the promise land. May their witness inspire and empower us all.
-With you on the journey, Pastor Erin

Taken from the Chimes newsletter, February 15, 2011.

This month, our nation experienced the pain of a senseless shooting in Tucson. People were gathered to hear Congressional Rep. Giffords speak at a super market. Seventeen were shot and six died died. Since the shooting, many have been calling for more civility in politics. Do we really need to talk about putting our opponents on our target, in our cross hairs, in our gun sights? Isn’t there a more civil way to describe those whom we’re running or competing against? Not only have 17 people and families been directly affected by this action, but so has our whole nation.

I like what a newspaper story in West Hawaii said today:
The months to come will determine the lasting impact of those wounds, not only for the residents of Tucson but the country itself, which has spent a week reflecting on whether a divisive political atmosphere, angry rhetoric or loose gun laws might have intersected with a dangerously mentally ill young man in Tucson.

I also like the inspiration a cartoonist drew from the words of John Lennon:

Let us be in prayer for those in Tucson, as well as for our nation, and its leaders.