brian d mclaren – Hear what the Spirit is saying

Wind Chimes: 28 Apr 2013

“I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Just as I have loved you,
you also should love one another.”

John 13:34

Today (4/28/13) we listened to these words of Jesus from the Gospel of John. Getting home I found this post by Brian McLaren:

I compiled this list of “one-anothers” in the New Testament, a primer on a basic social practices. Not a bad curriculum!

“…be at peace with each other.” (Mk. 9:50, 1 Thes. 5:13, 1 Pet. 3:8)
“wash one another’s feet…. serve one another in love.” (Jn. 13:14, Gal. 5:13)
“Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13:34; 15:12; 15:17; Romans 13:8, 1 Thes. 4:9, Heb. 13:1, 1 Pet. 1:22, 1 Pet. 3:8, 1 Pet. 4:8, 1 Jn. 3:11, 23; 1Jn. 4:7, 11; 2 Jn. 1:5)
“Be devoted to one another with mutual affection.” (Romans 12:10)

Brian has quite a list of ‘one-anothers.’ See for yourself. Then comes the challenge: to live (act) like we understand, believe, and cherish these words.

It sounds like the chimes have heard the Good News and are singing, “Love one another,” over and over (until we have the melody), “Love one another.”

What do you hear?

Wind Chimes: 1 Feb 2013

The chimes were down for a time, for rest and repair. With the wind blowing and the chimes up again, what do you hear?

Missional

The Acts of the Apostles was the subject matter for a recent teaching series presented by Brian D. McLaren.

I was at Claremont Seminary last week with a vigorous and energetic group of Methodist leaders (along with a standing-room-only public panel with my friends Philip Clayton, Diana Butler Bass, and Mark Whitlock). I concluded my time at Claremont leading a study from the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament. From childhood, I was taught to read Acts as a manual for ecclesiology … to prove that our denomination was the only true and biblical one, of course (a common theme in Protestant Bible reading). But now I read Acts as a missional account of how Jesus continued his work – his Spirit alive in the bodies of growing numbers of his followers who constitute – quite literally – his body on earth.

And the message is the same – the message of the kingdom (or reign, or commonwealth, or sacred ecosystem, or new love economy, or regeneration network, or creative community, or …) of God. You could think of it like this …

Acts 1: The risen Christ teaches the apostles, as he always has, about the kingdom of God. The apostles learn to stop waiting for the kingdom to appear in the future, and instead, wait for the Spirit who will empower them to live in the kingdom here and now.

Acts 2: The Spirit comes – and demonstrates that God is not monocultural and monolingual, but that God speaks all languages, and God is concerned with the poor and rich alike, everywhere … a profound, revolutionary discovery!

Acts 3: Peter demonstrates how the Kingdom begins with those who have been marginalized and excluded (kept outside the gate) by conventional religion – starting with the physically handicapped.

Read the rest of his post here: I love the Bible

In our Prayers of the People, Form III we petition God:

“Give us grace to do your will in all that we undertake; [so] that our works may find favor in your sight.” BCP, p. 387. May it be so, even as it was for the Apostles and the early Church.

Wind Chimes: 29 Oct 2012

I had heard You with my ears,
But now I see You with my eyes;
Therefore, I recant and relent,
Being but dust and ashes.

Job 42:5-6 NJPS

Job responds to God from his new knowledge of God, not his knowledge about God. There is a difference. We’ll explore that this week. ~dan

Sometimes the sound, sometimes the movement of the chimes catches our attention. What do you see? What do you hear?

A posture of wonder

As we listen and enter into the conversation ourselves, could it be that God’s Word, God’s speaking, God’s self-revealing happens to us, sneaks up, surprises and ambushes us, transforms us, and disarms us—rather than arms us with “truths” to use like weapons to savage other human beings? Could it be that God’s Word intends not to give us easy answers and shortcuts to confidence and authority, but rather to reduce us, again and again, to a posture of wonder, humility, rebuke, and smallness in the face of the unknown?

McLaren, Brian D. (2010-01-21). A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith (p. 93). HarperCollins e-books. Kindle Edition.

An update on naming the next Archbishop of Canterbury

“A secretive group choosing the next Archbishop of Canterbury, spiritual leader of the world’s 80 million Anglicans, is under pressure to break a deadlock in their talks and reach a decision, nearly a month after an announcement was expected.” —from Reuters. Read the article. Please continue your prayers for this group and our Worldwide Anglican Communion.

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you:
wherever he may send you;

may he guide you through the wilderness:
protect you through the storm;

may he bring you home rejoicing:
at the wonders he has shown you;

may he bring you home rejoicing:
once again into our doors.

Claiborne, Shane; Wilson-Hartgrove, Jonathan; Okoro, Enuma (2010-11-09). Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals (p. 73). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Photo: IdyllWildThings. Click the image to see more from IdyllWildThings, Idyllwild, CA. ~dan

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