Tall Skinny Kiwi

Kubik Cafe

"Well, wouldn’t it be cool to have a coffeehouse as the main place where we can meet, hang out and have church?" The Kubik Cafe

I have been to lots of cafe churches around the world, but my favorite was Kubik in Germany. They let me preach on a big armchair, next to a virtual fire and assigned one of their DJ's to back up my sermon with some ambient loops. Then they prayed for us and took up an offering and sent our family off. What a great experience!!!

Technorati Tags: emerging church

CA Europe Missions: Flash Presentation

Good to see mission organizations using flash for internet . Here is a presentation from my good friends at Christian Associates who are starting "high impact" churches around Europe and doing a great job.
HT: Andreas Wolf

Technorati Tags: mission

Blogs and the Emergent Church

It may not be news to you but its a good article and its great to see the North American Church acknowledging blogging and the emerging church.

"NCC's 2006 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches cites two 21st century trends: blogging and the Emergent Church

New York, March 30, 2006 -- First it was the mimeograph machine and the Ediphone. Then radio preachers. Then, in rapid succession, the television, desktop computers, e-mail, CDs and mobile phones.
Almost from the beginning, American theology and church communication have been intricately linked with emerging technologies. Preachers have often sensed God's call to spread the word as loudly and as widely as possible, and many think electronic media are divinely inspired.
Now the National Council of Churches' 2006 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches examines the latest electronic miracle -- the blog -- and considers its influence on the Emergent Church (EC)." Read on for more HT: ChristianPundits.

Technorati Tags: blog, bloggers, christianity, church, Emergent, emerging church, spirituality

Religion and Blogging

Got a phone call yesterday from BBC who are thinking about a piece on international religious bloggers from many faiths. They are most interested in Muslim bloggers, especially those high-profile Bahgdad related bloggers, and Christian bloggers. I wasnt able to give them many names of key bloggers outside the Christian faith. One or two came to mind but not the full sweep of Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim bloggers. Let me know if you know something that might help.

My observation is that the vast majority of religious bloggers are coming from the Christian stream. Are there any scholars out there who can speak with authority on how all the religions line up when it comes to blogging?

Technorati Tags: blog, bloggers, christianity, islam, religion

Blogs4God: The Temple of Taggery

In true Web 2.0 fashion, Blogs4God plans to shift from taxonomy to folksonomy, from blog-focused to meme-focused to become an Aggregator of Taggery.
And if you understood that last sentence then pat yourself on the back for learning another language AND making the blogosphere a better place by TAGGING your posts.

Technorati Tags: blog, bloggers, blogs4God, tags

CriswellTR on Emerging Church

Emerging Church is the theme of the latest Criswell Theological Review. No online copy now but probably worth buying an issue (or a one year subscription for $10 more) One of the essays is "An Ecclesiological Assessment of the Emergent Church", by John Hammet which is a heavily revised version of the original. In fact, it has been changed and edited so much that it is not worth me linking to the original document. John had a lot of good discussions with us and has been one of our most congenial critics.

The Kiwis get a few honorable mentions in the revised essay that John Hammett sent me a few months ago (I am assuming this copy is the same or almost the same as published by CTR) including the results of the Christ and Culture poll that some of you contributed to [thanks], and the incredible complexity that now surrounds this movement:

"In fact, the difficulty of definition is compounded by the diversity of the movement. Andrew Jones cites the recently published Lausanne Occasional Paper #43, “The Changing Expression of Church,” as listing twenty-three such new expressions (i.e., cyberchurch, house church, coffee shop), many if not all of which could be argued to fit some definitions of emerging church. Steve Taylor gives six “emerging church types” (house church, labyrinth, art collective, weekly participative communities, festival spirituality, and postmodern monasteries), but would make no claim that these types exhaust the possibilities. Thus, anyone who speaks of emerging churches as a whole will find it difficult to avoid misrepresenting some emerging churches." John Hammett

HT: Justin Taylor

Technorati Tags: christianity, emergent missional, emerging church, missional, theology

What is the Gospel?

Tim Challies is hosting a conversation based on the question posed by the Together for the Gospel Blog - "What is the gospel? What is the most serious threat to the gospel in the evangelical church today?" There are a few good thoughts but I am surprised to hear nothing about power, or the gospel as gift, no reference to the Old Testament, and no immediate return to the message that was "received and passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures" (1 Cor 15:3-4)

(Image found on Ishmael's 'emphatically apophatic')

The emerging church as I have witnessed it, does not deny propositional truth in the Bible, despite what the article says. But a proposition-only gospel is not the full story - where is the resurrection power, historical narrative and missional obligation that the reception of this good news demands? The story behind the good news is just as important as the good news. They depend on each other. Its a both/and - the propositional AND the narrative. I dont feel the trauma of choosing between narrative or proposition. To me, the gospel ("good news") points to an actual historical time-space event (story) and an understandable message to represent the meaning and promise of that event (proposition) that will demand a response - either reception or rejection of the gift.

(Door to Heaven, 1941)

But the question still stands. What is the gospel and what threatens it today? How does the emerging church threaten the gospel? How does fundamentalism threaten the gospel?
If the emerging church has attempted to restore the Good News back to a full and healthy state by its stubborn insistence on accompanying it with a holy life, power, justice for the poor, beauty under opposition, then we have failed to be heard, at least by the men in this corner of the room. So, if you are part of the emerging church or the global non-western church [we REALLY need your voice] then go over to Challies and join the discussion. I hope the conversation over there will not become a hyped-up Calvin Kleaning of modern evangelicalism nor a nostalgic party in the Sola-torium without a fresh return to the Christ event.

Related: Internet Evangelism Day is May 7. Andrew Careaga tells me the emergent bloggers were not very involved when it kicked off last year. Should we jump in this year? What would be a good contribution?

Technorati Tags: christianity, emerging church, evangelical, gospel

Complusive Bloggers

Jolly Blogger just posted his 1000th post and Adrian Warneck his 2000th. Tim Challies has completed 879 consecutive days of blogging (time for a blog-fast?). As for me and my blog, I have 1450 posts on this Typepad blog and 1077 posts on the previous blogger version (2001 - 2003). Jordon Cooper probably has more than all of us put together. I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

For you bloggers too stingy to buy Ecto (shame on you), Matt recommends Qumana for PC and Mac. Looks sweet.

Technorati Tags: blog, bloggers

What Are We Still Getting Wrong?

Jordon has a conversation with Stephen Shields [of FaithMaps] I include it here for vanity reasons - my blog makes his Top 5 reading list. And also because its the freshest piece of wisdom I have read for a while.

Jordon Cooper: A couple of decades from now, when we look back at this time of new thoughts and emerging forms of church, what do you think our regrets will be? What do you think we are still getting wrong?
Stephen Shields: We will regret missing the magnificence of God Himself and his Son Jesus. We will regret not having prayed more, not having cultivated our personal and communal relationships with God. We will be sad that we talked and read and learned more than we could possibly ever do. We will regret getting lost in the issues rather than getting lost in Him. We will believe that we spent too much time in the propositional and not enough time in the transpropositional. [more]

Technorati Tags: christianity, emerging church, spirituality

Tamara's Birthday Today

Some presents before school. Our youngest turns 4 years old today.

Mark Palmer is Gone

Mark Palmer died yesterday in Ohio. Many of us got to know him through his blog where he allowed us into his life and his battle with cancer. He is on my "Vintage Theoblogians" hall of fame. I think i will leave him on it. Mark was an early blogger to the international Christian blogosphere. He was at our gathering of emerging church leaders in pasadena last year. We sure will miss him.

A while ago, Alan Creech made this PayPal button for Mark so that bloggers could remember to pray and also donate towards the medical bills. You may remember it on this site. Alan - you taught us all about how to be a good friend. I guess Mark finally gets his complete healing but his loss is certainly felt on this side.

Technorati Tags: mark palmer

Being Transparent

Break time from my study and writing. Looking for quick and mindless diversions.

Transparency International is the most searched for word on Technorati.com right now. A German blogger named Moni has started something off with some posts about a friend - a working mother who apparently got a raw deal from her organization, which just happened to be Transparency International. Linky-dink has the links to language translations including a good place to start to understand the issues. Funnybusiness has a good post called "Whats all this fuss about Transparency?" Ahhh . . . just got myself a coffee.

Businesses should be transparent.
People should be transparent.
Churches should be transparent.
Here is me . . . being transparent:

Am I making myself CLEAR?

Technorati Tags: germany, transparency, transparency international

Writing for a Commentary

Don't disturb me. I am writing an essay for a commentary on Acts. My slice is 10:1 - 13:52 which i see as the hinge of Luke's account - its where the deep transitions of the Christian church take place - Jew to Gentile, Peter to Paul, Jerusalem to Antioch-Pisidia. One of the themes for the whole book is that of the apostles "wiping the dust off their feet" in protest to the Jews who did not receive their message. What was unique to that transition and what parts of that are played out today?

If you have any strong thoughts, or links to articles that might help me, please let me know. I find it hard to write articles and essays, but easier to write blog posts .. . so i am writing it in my blog editor and pretending its a long post. But that doesn't mean that it will be blogged here, because it wont.

BTW - did you hear about the Irish lass who came to church pushing a wheelbarrow full of sweet potatoes? Her pastor asked her what they were for. She replied, "Dere fur you . . . yer always complainin' aboot da common taters!"

Technorati Tags: acts, Bible , christianity

Overheard

"Do we ask enough of them?"
"Hamo asks some hard questions about youth ministry.

"Meme Tracking"
"Tim Bednar suggests a way forward for Blogs4God

"My actions and essence don’t stem from being a girl: they come from being me."
AJ Schwanz starts an important conversation about being a girl.

"Go - Stay - Be"
A new house church called The Sending discusses a Jesus strategy..

Technorati Tags: emerging church, girls, house church

The New Number 1 Emerging Church Blog

It finally happened but not as I predicted. I said that Jordon Cooper would take my place, since he was dragging just behind me - and in fact is only one link from overtaking me [please . . someone out there give a permanent link to JordonCooper.com and put me out of my misery].

But while Jordon has been threatening to take my crown away, a relative newcomer has scooted passed us both. After a long and glorious ride at the top of Technorati's list of emerging church blogs, I have been most triumphantly unseated by Scot McKnight's "Jesus Creed".

Imagine having an AMERICAN with the leading emerging church blog! What does this say? Is the emerging church ALSO in USA? Are they really catching up to the other countries? How will the nations deal with this? The head spins . . .

Technorati Tags: blog, emerging church

Abdul Rahman Case Dropped

Abdul Rahman is saved from the chopping block. Much protesting on the streets of Afganistan today. His arrest came one month after a Bible was discovered in his possession. Authorities say he his "hearing voices". Yahoo has the skinny.
Interesting how, among the all of the Christ followers killed each year, that one of them gets singled out and makes the press. wonder whatz up wit dat?

Technorati Tags: abdul rahman, afganistan

Monks Refilling Printer Cartridges

The Laser Monks are a 75-year-old Abbey of the Cistercian Order in Wisconsin who refill printer cartridges to cover their expenses, instead of making cheese or beer. HT: BoingBoing. I am always interested to see what products the monasteries, both old and nu, are coming up with to support their ministries.

RELATED: Monasticism in the 21st Century

Technorati Tags: monastic

New Blogging Tool For Christians (updated)

UPDATE: 29/3/06 This post has been changed. The original post said that Xianz was a tool for Christians only - but someone commented below that non-Christians are also allowed membership. I checked into it futher and the terms and conditions say "The goal of Xianz.com is to provide an interesting, stimulating, and fun place for Christians and other Internet users". So as far as I know - non-Christians are allowed to join (provided they get an invitation). My apologies to Xianz. And my apologies to bloggers for editing it without strikethroughs, and then losing the original text.

Xianz is a Christian version of Myspace, a new blogging system and social networking system for Christians.

It doesn't appeal to me. One of the GLORIOUS things about blogging is that is gives people the opportunity to open up their lives for others to see . . . like Daniel who prayed with the windows open. Its a little more risky, as Daniel found out, but the impact is much greater. If you have a life worth sharing, then publish it for the world to hear and join the conversation with everyone . . and i mean co-Xianz, non-Xianz, pre-Xianz, post-Xianz, quasi-Xianz, anti-Xianz, and all who see Jesus in your life.

This is where I put on my big frizzy AFRO and dance around the room singing a black gospel song ". .. . this little light of mine . . i'm gonna let it shine . . hide it under a blog bushell? . . . NO. . i'm gonna let it shine . ."

Visitors From Other Counties

I just installed a Neoworx counter that tracks which countries my visitors are coming from. Interesting that of the 47 countries that turned up [ . . THANKS . . . ] Sri Lanka had the second largest number of visitors, next to USA.

Technorati Tags: blog

Emerging Church Interview in Swiss Mag

Here is a PDF file of an emerging church interview in a Swiss mag. Thanks Lukas for sending this.

Nice of them to include my family in the article. We have tried very hard to minister as a family and its good to see that valued by others.

RELATED:
- I will be back in Switzerland soon. I will be at Romanshorn am Bodensee May 4-6 for "Congress For Church Innovation" and in Geneva May 9-10 for an Emergent type gathering called "Divergent".
- Previous trips to Switzerland.

Technorati Tags: church, Emergent, emerging church, missional, switzerland

Tags for Blogger

Glorious has a technorati tag solution for Blogger. Now if only someone would find a solution for a decent comment management system for blogger users . . .

Its Sunday - the day I do not blog - but my wife has gone to see a movie with a friend as a mothers day treat, and i am left alone here with the family. . . . and my computer.

Technorati Tags: blog, tags

The Missional Church: Reformed Heritage?

My thought for the day. According to some research I am currently involved in [buying old books on ebay], the "missional" emphasis of the emerging church may have its foundations in Reformed theology. This will be interesting news to some, especially to those who feel [wrongly] that Reformed thinking is diametrically opposed to missional thinking. I might be wrong, but I think Reformed thinking was one of the brightest sparks to ignite it. Heres what i am thinking.

The watchdog blog Fide-o recently called all Emergents to collect some statements on what the emerging church phenomenon was about. Unfortunately, I was traveling at the time and internet-less when I arrived home to a new house without a connection. Even worse, the statements collected and commented on a few days ago on the post "Because I said so" were not very good and certainly not enough to convert anyone from a Constantinian model to something more emerging-missional. A few days ago I left a contribution in the comment section on that blog post but it hasnt appeared yet. So I thought I would post it here, along with a short explanation.
[update: they told me there is a problem with comment moderation on Blogger accidentally deleting them. Comment control was one reason i left Blogger for Typepad. Hey - thanks guys.]

"The Emerging Church Phenomenon has placed a renewed emphasis on the sovereignty of God in the area of missions - in particular a focus on the Truine nature of the missionary God, His attributes as well as His actions as impetus for mission, and the incarnation of Christ as a model for a biblical, holistic missionary encounter with the emerging culture."
Andrew Jones, ignored comment on Fide-o blog."

BTW - Why is the DOG analogy so popular on Reformed doctrinal sites? Maybe its because dogs guard existing spaces while cats explore new spaces. I think I prefer cats. Cats seem more apostolic than dogs. More adventurous. More curious. But why create another division - who wants to see dogs chasing cats around anyway?

Technorati Tags: emergent missional, emerging church, missio dei, missiology, mission, missional, reformed, theology

One Colour Red

Pete Rollins and the Ikon team will be showing a dissolving art intallation. Its called "One Colour Red" and it starts March 28 in Belfast. (HT: Jonny Baker who will be in Belfast next week to witness it)

Technorati Tags: art, emerging church

Dan Wallace on Truth and Text

"What I tell my students every year is that it is imperative that they pursue truth rather than protect their presuppositions."

My "cuzz" Dan Wallace at Dallas Theo. Seminary has some really interesting things to say about textual criticism in a recent interview. (HT: Blind Beggar)

Happy Birthday Miriam

I get to play VJ tonight at a dance. I am still using Arkaos after all these years to mix and perform the video loops.

The occasion???? Miriam is our Land-Rover-driving neighbour who moved a few houses down from us. She is also the vocalist for the band Ragstone 27 (see my video of their first performance). Miriam is a dear friend and a spiritual woman who often finds herself on prayer journeys into all kinds of countries. She gives a lot but doesn't usually end up on the receiving end of the gift-giving cycle. A bunch of us celebrating Miriam's birthday with a dance (Ceilidh) tomorrow and, although she doesn't know it yet, I will be the VJ. A little sample below of the video loop. [QuickTime Movie (2.2 Megs]

Emergent Elijah or Emergent Gideon?

A recent blog post has got me thinking. Its called "The Emergent Elijah" by Dave Green of Preterist Cosmos. It came to my attention because it was highlighted recently by one of my favourite artists who has provided a soundtrack to my life for nearly two decades. I found it on a post by artist Steve Camp who now blogs, thus making him more human and on occasion, more accessible than when he was just a performer. Debbie, my wife, grew up in the Californian Christian scene and she says Steve Camp (she calls him 'Barney Rubble') was always around the big events.

Steve Camp, if you are new to the faith and scene, is the Christian music artist who introduced the mullet to American evangelicals in the 80's (a fact that Wikipedia will not tell you) and remains a hair guru today, as well as a musical hero. In fact, even as i blog these words, my iTunes is pumping out "He Covers Me" and the song coming up after it is even better - "He's All I Need". His "Fire and Ice" album gave me the soundtrack i needed for a series of messages/dramas for a big youth camp in Australia. I actually saw Steve Camp once at his concert in Portland, Oregon back in 1989 and have been trying to grow a mullet this year to prove my allegiance. I am a fan. Really!!!
BTW - I believe the Biblical figure Mordecai had a mullet and I can mostly prove it.

Gideon??? I don't think we know what hairtstyle he would have preferred but a question to ask is . . . what would a Gideon do today in our emerging culture about Baal worship and our pagan-based festival that we have named "Easter."

Technorati Tags: easter, Emergent, spirituality

Capon on Cooking

While in London a few weeks ago, I read a fantastic little book on food and spirituality by Father Robert Farrar Capon called The Supper of the Lamb. I loved the book, even though it was written in the 60's. Especially because it was written in the 60's. Its still works today! This guy has similar taste in cuisine and talks in my language. He loves economy, taste, celebration, hospitality, thrift, pleasure, and more importantly, he sees the divine in the breadcrumbs and the yeast. Now I see that Michael Spencer has a very hyper-linky post on Capon's work that he blogged yesterday at Boars Head Tavern - obviously the first step for anyone discovering this priest-chef.

The church began with a meal. The Church needs to come back to the kitchen and get itself sorted again. The Church needs to rethink the puny wafer and thimble ritual and get back to the love feast which is a MEAL that takes TIME and happens MORE than once a week and has LEFTOVERS which can given to the POOR (the justice element) and resembles a PARTY that is full of HOPE towards the FEAST that awaits us with our SAVIOR who is not drinking wine until we get there to toast with Him. Jesus said DO THIS in remembrance of me. We would do well to ask "WHAT?"

Other books on cooking and spirituality that I recommend are:
- The Secrets of Jesuit Breadmaking by Brother Rick Curry (also recommended by Michael)
- Mealtime Habits of the Messiah, by Congrad Gempf, which is bigger on Bible than bread but worth reading.

- Appetite, by Nigel Slater, which does not count as a "spiritual" book per se but it will teach you to love cooking and advise you on how to stock your kitchen. Nigel's "New Cook Survival Guide" from this book [read it for free here] is a great guide to get started.

Technorati Tags: food, spirituality

Out the Window

Here is looking out our bedroom window from our new house up above the post office. You can see the ferry and the Pier Arts Centre getting rebuilt (left) which was originally built by my great-great-great grandfather, Edward Clouston.

Coal-faced

I installed an old wood stove to get some old fashioned heat in our house - not to mention some FREE HOT WATER for my large and luxurious baths where i do most of my theological reading, but alas, there was yukky smoke billowing out of the chimney.

So yesterday I did the chimney sweep thing with a special set of brushes (Debbie wanted to play the song from 'Mary Poppins'). A whole bucket load of dirt and bird's nests came out. This morning, I had to sweep down a brand new nest. Bloody birds have declared war on the Jones family. Anyway, this is me. Coal-faced!

Ohhh yeah - internet is back on . . . Getting broadband is always a blast, no matter how many times you get it installed. Consider me back in the land of the linked.

Windows on Mac

It happened yesterday. Hackers got Windows working on an intel based Mac. The rest will be history. If you are lucky enough to have an intel Mac, you can download something here.

Still waiting

Still waiting for internet at our new place. All is well in our house. Blogging is on hold until our connection from on high takes place.

Our New Home Above the Post Office

Sorry for blinking off the face of the planet!!

I got back from England to a new home. We moved on the day i left so it was nice to actually SLEEP a night in our new house. We were renting, as you know, a small flat above a resturant. But now, having been upgraded in all things domestic, we live above the post office in a larger house. Still only one bathroom, but much higher ceilings.

So, I am busy getting the family settled in and hooking up appliances. No broadband yet so we will not be hosting any of our broadband-based adventures (like Suddenly Seminary virtual chat room) until we get some speed going - maybe 2 weeks from now.

Its been Freezing here but things are warming up.

My Dad's Ashes

Its a little over a year since my dad passed away in Queensland, Australia. You may remember my poem from that day. Today (already Sunday in New Zealand) my Aunty Olwen is taking his ashes to Orewa Surf Lifesaving Club where his friends will have a morning ceremony and a time of remembrance for John Daniel Jones, the old, short, skinny kiwi, who lived a full life from April 16, 1933 - Dec 2004. Dad loved the surf club. And he loved us.

. . . I miss him. . .

Thanks Olwen for being a great sister to him and aunty to me.

Sheffield

Conference is over in Sheffield. It went really well and was organized well. Great time of networking with the usual suspects and some new faces. Some of the emerging church folk felt it could have been more participatory and perhaps ending with a statement or document. But it was very worthwhile being here.

Jonny Baker did some worship this morning {loved that 40 days video - anyone know where to download it???] and the Lindisfarne crew were here the whole time with their semi-celtic-folksy worship. Graham Cray was in excellent form and managed to stimulate much discussion. Martin Robinson had Ngwiza (DAWN International) say a few words.

Best line was from Jim of Urban Expressions (Shadwell, East London) describing what happened when someone visited his church:"He came to our church which was a meal on the kitchen table in a house. He brought with him a brown paper bag with a bottle of vodka in it."

Best criticism was on the final overhead: "Where are the young, female, working class church leaders? The gathering is very male, middle aged and middle class."

Mission 21 conference

I am heading up to Sheffield today for the Mission 21 conference. There should be a good gathering of 500- 700 mission leaders and strategists. We will be licking our wounds after the hyper-numerical goal setting of the 90's which left UK churches feeling like lamers, and discussing the future of church planting partnerships, transformation dreams, discussing STRATEGY [my wife wonders why we all keep meeting to discuss strategy - something that i often wonder in regards to American Rules Football - somebody please just grab the bloody ball and run with it!!!] and whatever else needs to be discussed.

And of course, in true British fashion, there will be plenty of PUBlic strategic discussions over liquid libations at key locations around Sheffield, all designed exclusively for memorable conversations of historical posterity to be orated audibly with a large glass pitcher containing a strategic quantity of amber refreshment to lubricate strategic dialog with stragetically softened reception and agreement. And you can count on me to keep the Brits in check and moderation.

This event really is important for UK. Pray for a profitable time. I am not speaking at this conference so you will not have to pray as fervently as you usually do. But do pray anyway for:
unity, clarity, vision, generosity, repentance, love, joy, hope.

Off To Cambridge

I am going over to Cambridge tonight for dinner with Maggie and Phouc-Tan who are expecting the first installment to their family (due May 1st).
Maggie was in my youth group YEARS AND YEARS ago in Australia and is one of the infamous Blick sisters. Jules, another of the infamous Blick sisters, and by far the most annoying, will be there also. Cindy, the middle Blick sister, just went back to Oz.
As the former youth pastor of these and other deliquent youth now entering adulthood and threatening the fabric of human existence as we know it, I take full responsibility and humbly apologize for my shortcomings. Tonight my repentence will be further extended by eating with them and remembering old times.

Emerging Church Update

- Wee Pict of Tartan Theology has some podcasts from DreamDay in Edinburgh.
- ContraCorriente Gathering April 29 - May 1 in Spain
- Jesus has left the building - book coming soon.
- Is the Gibbs/Bolger "Emerging Churches" book biased towards house churches? Ed blogs a response to Andy's critique.
- Brett Stanford recommends the Brian McLaren podcast from ABC Australia
- Robby Henger says Dan Kimball's "Emerging Church" is now in German.

Pilgrimage to Spurgeon's Met. Tabernacle

The pilgrimage to Metropolitan Tabernacle in London has been over 20 years in the making. I have always been a HUGE fan of Charles Spurgeon. In my bible college days, my nickname was "Spurgeon" because I would quote his works (sermons, lectures, treasury of david)

He looks a lot like me [dont you think] although he has more padding.

I was standing next to this painting, holding my bible in my right hand and readying myself for a lookalike photo, when, just before i lifted up the camera and made a complete idiot of myself, Dr Peter Masters walks out of his office and invites me in.

Losing My Religion in London. Four.

The Tate Modern is my favourite gallery in the world. Obviously a must-see on this, my holiday from religion and talking about church.

The building is a converted power station on the bank of the Thames. Its one of my regular pilgrimage sites for art and new experiences.

The humungous installation this time was Rachel Whiteread's "Embankment". Her polystyrene blocks are made from the inside of boxes.

Its an inside-outside space thing that only the truly artsy-fartsy will fully appreciate, but its fun to walk through it and become part of the installation.

I was really impressed with two pieces by Barnett Newman. The first was Adam. This slice of his large oil painting shows God, earth and Adam represented by lines and colour.

It brought to mind the scarlet thread of Rahab and the image of Christ through the Scriptures.

"Eve" was depicted in purple and over to the side. I was not sure if this spoke of time or of a marginalisation issue.

Losing My Religion in London. Three.

Anyone visiting London on a sunny Saturday morning who IS NOT ENJOYING THE FOOD AND SMELLS AT BOROUGH MARKET does not deserve to be in London at all.

I was meeting up with Shannon and her friends for lunch. I told Shannon not to talk to me about religion or missions or church. I was having a day off. I was losing my religion for a day. She agreed.

I found Shannon at Amanos, a coffee shop owned by a friend of ours. The building is actually part of an old monastery located on the edge of Borough Market. The monasterys in UK were all closed up a long time ago but many of the buildings are still around.

Losing My Religion in London. Two.

My Saturday was going well.

I was deliberately avoiding religious thoughts and ideas. Trying to have a good time in London. The previous week I had finished a series of religious events and another missions conference (Mission 21) is coming up in a few days. I guess you could say that i am waiting for my other missionary friends to turn up and am just passing some time.

As I was passing this time in London, waiting for the others, trying to lose my religion for a day, I was passing along the various gods and idols of early Athens and was observing the objects of their worship. Very interesting.
The Apostle Paul's experience in Acts 17 came to mind.

I went to the Great Court with a coffee. I bought a journal and started to write.

"I am sitting at the cafe inside the Great Court at the British Museum. Surrounded by space and oatmeal stone polished into silence and fitted together into an ecumenical object.

I am thinking of the Temple courts of Jerusalem. A spacious enclosure, a monument to man's attempt to capture God.
The Temple had a prison for those that could not appreciate its effort or success in the captivation of God. Those who sought to set Him free were themselves imprisoned.

A small cell for the God-releasers.
A large cell for God.

But God did not stay in the court built for Him. He went to the cell to be among his people. Those who sought to set Him free were themselves set free.

And both walked out together."

Losing My Religion in London. One.

Last Saturday I spent a day in London doing NOTHING religious. I have been invovled in religious conferences for a number of weeks and there are more conferences coming up. I decided to steer away from anything religious and take a break.

I took a day off in London to lose my religion. London is simply the coolest and best city in the world. Its very accessible and stuffed full of historical treasures and artsy diversions.

I tried to start at the British Library but they didnt open until 10am. I normally like to browse the Bible collection and touch base with the Lindisfarne Gospels.

Thats OK - I wasnt looking for any spiritual inspiration anyway. There was a display of Mozart's sheet music that would have been nice to view.

Maybe next time.

Since it was before 9:30am and therefore 2 pounds more to buy an all day train pass, I decided to walk to the British Museum. Walking is good and it makes London seem smaller. It also gives me a chance to pray for the city as I see it.

I was a few weeks early for the Michelangelo exhibition but there was still lots to see.

The Whole Day:
Losing My Religion in London. Part One, Two, Three, and Four

The Order to Release

I spent some time at the Tate Britain Gallery in London yesterday. There was one painting that really struck a chord with me. "The Order to Release" (1746) by John Millais. The scene is a Jacobite soldier being released by his wife who is resolutely staring away, making sure she gets her husband back. They have been waiting a long time. The child's flower is partially crumbled on the ground and the child is now sleeping. The dog's tongue is almost sandwiched between the hands of the couple.

Click on the image to enlarge it. There is more to see.

Tim on Time

Tim Pynes, who was with us last week in Joburg,  gets his face on the hard copy of Time Mag with a story on house church in USA. He has this to blog about it.