mayo-moyle

  • this week’s round-up (september 19)

    Shane Claiborne offers an important reminder about humility and Terry Jones’ decision not to burn the Quran.

    Be Unreasonable!

    Bike Maintenance for Beginners.

    Great article at Ragamuffin Soul about being intentional about spending time outside the office. (Thanks to Paul Thomas for the tip!)

    A couple good ones from Seth Godin this week on Self-delusion and Self-loathing and on Marketing and Responsibility.

    Interesting ministry idea: Positive Picketing!

    Scot McKnight gives a thumbs-up to the book by Efrem Smith Jump: Into a Life of Further and Higher; it looks interesting (although the reviews on Amazon aren’t quite as strong as McKnight’s take).

    Mike Slaughter keeps it short and simple with a few thoughts around When Christians Disagree.

    Fred Clark offers a parable, of sorts, on the moral decisions we have to make when our worldview is incongruent with reality.

    File under trips I’d like to take: Back to the old stomping grounds in Chicago to attend this and then to Washington D.C. at the end of the month for this:

    The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
    Rally to Restore Sanity
    www.thedailyshow.com
    Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

    Music from Jonsi’s album Go (worth checking out if you are into Islandic alterna-pop).

  • Book Review: Nudge by Leonard Sweet

     Nudge: Awakening Each Other to the God Who’s Already There is Leonard Sweet’s latest – this time focusing on the topic of evangelism.

     The book starts strong, Sweet makes the case that there is a better way between the strong-arm  approach built around the question, “If you died today, do you know without any doubt that you would wake up in heaven,” and the completely passive position where you just sort of hope someone picks up faith by osmosis. He notes:

    “Evangelism as we know it hasn’t worked. Either evangelism is so aggressive you want to get a restraining order, or else evangelism is so restrained you want to call it to order. Our strategies have been spectacularly useless at best, counterproductive at worst. We have lived through an exodus, but not of the biblical kind” (pg. 35)

     The alternative is the “nudge” – a touch, but not a shove – gently guiding people into the reality of God’s constant presence in the lives of all people, and God’s constant desire to be known in the lives of God’s people, reunited in a restored relationship made possible through Jesus. The nudge is built upon a foundation of honesty, compassion, and respect, recognizing that we aren’t the ones who bring God to people or taking Jesus to the ‘unsaved’, our job is to help people simply see what God has already been doing. Sweet writes:

    “Evangelism is nudging people to pay attention to the mission of God in their lives and to the necessity of responding to that initiative in ways that birth new realities and the new birth” (pg. 28)

     “The integrity of the nudge requires that it be welcomed and that it be reciprocal. The purpose of the nudge is to manifest Christ in a moment of mutual knowing, which benefits both the person being nudged and the nudger. Nudging is not best driven by fear or by some need within the nudger. Nudges are not contrived but are the natural consequence of being with someone in a moment and wishing them to join you in recognizing a God-moment. The best nudges culminate in a grunt to mutual recognition. God nudges me because God likes me. I nudge others because I like them. There is an implied caring that comes with nudging” (pg. 29).

     Sweet is able to articulate an understanding of evangelism that I’ve been trying to get my head around for the last few years, he offers a thoroughly Wesleyan concept of grace (prevenient, justifying, sanctifying), with an approach that is accessible to all Christians.

     He then speaks of how nudge evangelism must be rooted in semiotics – the art and discipline of reading those signs from God that are constantly in our midst, but are often missed. God is constantly speaking, reaching out to us, nudging us, but in our attention-deficit-disorder world most of us (even within the church) just aren’t paying attention. According to Sweet:

    “When we don’t pay attention to what God is doing, we dishonor and devalue him. In everything we do, whether it be reading the Word, hiking in the woods, watching a movie, viewing a painting, we respect God when we ask ourselves this question: ‘What is God’s invitation here?’ By not paying attention to life, we pay God no respect” (pg. 59). 

      Again I’m completely on board with the case Sweet is making here, he does a great job explaining why we need to be paying attention, as well as reminding us of the reasons why we frequently miss Jesus in our midst.

     Len then unpacks the connection between semiotics and holistic evangelism by developing an extended metaphor of a “sensational” Christianity that engages all five senses – we pay attention to God and we do the work of evangelism by engaging all fives senses – to hear, to taste, to see, to touch, and to smell. Unfortunately, for me, it is this second part of this book, focused on this metaphor that the book begins to break down.

     The problem isn’t that the metaphor doesn’t work, it’s pretty inspired as a whole, but it personally felt a little too long (and tortured) in some spots, while lacking in others. For instance, in the chapter on hearing Sweet delves into a discussion around physics and string theory that seems completely unnecessary. I get what he is trying to do here – all throughout the second half of the book he’s trying to identify all those signs, big and small, obvious and unseen, that point to God’s grand design; he wants this to be an exercise in semiotics. While I appreciate the attempt, it doesn’t quite work – it seems a little belabored. Maybe I wasn’t reading this section with the right frame of mind or an appropriate level of attentiveness, and Sweet continues to make some good points here; it just felt like there were too many clever metaphors, illustrations and word-play that only obscured the larger point. As I kept reading, it struck me that this is still a good book, but there is a great book hidden within half-as-many pages that could really connect with lay people, instead of feeling like an exercise for scholars.

     Overall, Sweet does a excellent job inviting and challenging the reader to be more intentional about paying attention to God and reaching out to others so that they might experience God who is already in our midst. The first half is brilliant, the second half is a little bumpy but worth your time. If you are at all interested in a vision of evangelism that makes sense, check this out.

    (Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book for review).

  • this week’s round-up (september 12)

    Back again! Getting caught up after a week away.

    A few things all Leaders should have. It feels a little like “Hipster Pastor 101” – but I do have a Moleskine, use Google Reader, and have “played” with Evernote (never used it to it’s full potential, though).

    Peter Rollins at Mars Hill. It’s an mp3 file – very interesting listen.
    Here’s the opening blessing from his recent Insurrection tour, beautiful use of language – this is the kind of poetry I wish I could write:

    WTF Church. Apparently this made the rounds on Twitter a couple weeks ago, and everyone assumed it was just a case of a church being horribly out of touch in it’s use of language. Turns out they did it on purpose, and it’s a core part of their identity. I’m not quite sure where I fall on this one – I like the idea of turning a pop culture phrase on it’s head, but I’m not sure this is quite the way I’d go. In the words of Nigel Tufnel, “There’s such a fine line between stupid and clever.”

    Donald Miller – Knowing Where You’re Going will Keep You From Making Bad Decisions.

    Mike Slaughter and Jeremy Smith on the Qur’an Burning controversy.

    Seth Godin on Interpreting Criticism.

    Scot McKnight on fundamentalism and maintaining a public persona.

    David and Ben Crumm provide a nice summary of their recent trip across the US with the reminder that actual conversations (as opposed to shouting matches) still matter, and are needed more than ever.

    Great series on Detroit:
    Part 1

    Part 2

    Part 3

    I apologize for this, but it had to be posted:

  • this week’s round-up (august 29)

    Another abbreviated round-up this week, less time spent web surfing, more spent with friends and family at Clergy Family Camp. It was a great time to reflect, reconnect, and be recharged.

    More teens becoming ‘fake’ Christians.

    Leading your church to change.

    N.T. Wright on the Hunger for Worship.

    Donald Miller asks If 40 is the New 30, Then is 20 the New Junior High?

    Nothing is striking me musically this week, sorry.

  • this week’s round-up (august 22)

    Keeping it short and sweet this week. I working my way through Leonard Sweet’s new book Nudge and plan to get a review posted in the next couple weeks. I also want to do something more with Seth Godin’s book Lynchpin but not quite sure what it will look like (or how to find the time to make it happen).

    Does Commuting by Car Make You Fat?

    Twitter Lessons from Rick Warren

    Imperfect is the new perfect. Transparency builds trust.

    Scot McKnight gives a thumbs up to Adam Hamilton’s latest When Christians Get It Wrong

    I never appreciated The Call like I probably should have – I liked the few songs I heard on the radio, but never bothered to pick up an album. Michael Been, singer and guitarist, died this week; he was working with his son’s band Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (which are worth checking out, too). Thanks, Michael, for the music. (The first video is the song you’re probably most familiar with if you listened to pop/rock from the mid-80s; the second is one I don’t remember as well, but am quickly growing to love).

    Spending some time with clergy colleagues and their families this week (as well as my own). A time for renewal, inspiration, and support… which means there might be slim pickings next week as well.

  • this week’s round-up (august 15)

       Dancers protest church – seems like it should be a story from the Onion, sadly it’s not. Todd Rhoades has some great thoughts, and pretty much puts into words what I’d been thinking since I first heard about the story. To summarize the story: for the past few years a congregation in Ohio has been staging protests every weekend in front of a local strip club, which included taking photos of the license plates of the club’s patrons and posting the info on the web. This past weekend the strip club fought back by having some of the dancers plant themselves in front of the church, grilling burgers and holding signs like “Matthew 7:15: Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing.”
       There are big issues surrounding the sex industry in this country, so I’m sympathetic to a congregation that is trying to do something about it, but at the same time, I can’t help but be amused at the dancer’s creative response.
       As I’ve been thinking about “what would I do if I found strippers on the front lawn on a Sunday morning”? I’d like to think that in my very best moments (after my initial panic) I’d announce that we’ll be having worship outside this morning with these ladies who have joined us, gotten some more hotdogs and hamburgers and turned the whole thing into a party. As I noted on facebook, “Somewhere along the line we’ve become allied with the Pharisees, instead of spending time with (as opposed to protesting) the people Jesus hung out with, AND we’ve forgotten that one of the key images Jesus uses again and again for the kingdom is that of a party! Sometimes we need to take a moral stand on issues, but maybe instead of a protest, we should offer a better party.”
       (Or you could try this).

    At EmergingUMC, Matt Kelly takes a slight tangent off the recent article about clergy health, and asks the question, who is responsible for fostering an environment of unhealthy expectations around church. Eugene Cho also offers his take on “Death By Ministry.” (In another tangent, one way to help foster personal happiness is to use your “extra” income towards memorial experiences rather than more stuff).

    Fred Clark looks to sewers and storm drains as a possible answer to the current economic problems.

    Seth Godin on “The Incredible Power of Slow Change.”

    Lifehacker suggests a list of foods that are cheaper to grow than buy. (I especially found the comments to be fascinating as one commentators suggest things like kiwi and shrimp (raised in a kiddie pool in the basement!?!) might also fall into this category).

    The Most Beautiful Churches in America

    Double-rainbow action in this week’s Fox Trot.

  • dis at cvs (i’m old and uncool)

    So Friday night I stop in to the local CVS because I needed to grab and gallon of milk and was too lazy to go to the grocery store; to provide some context, his CVS is across the street from DTE Music Theatre. Here’s the conversation that unfolded as I made my purchase:

    CVS guy: Hey, how’s it going?
    Me: Not bad.
    CVS guy: Do you know who’s playing across the street tonight?
    Me: Yeah, I think it’s like Rob Zombie and Korn.
    CVS girl standing nearby who overhears our conversation: ARE YOU GOING??!!
    CVS guy (answering before I can get a word in): No, this DOESN’T look like the kind of guy who would go to THAT SHOW!!
    Me (now mildly offended by the judgement): No, I’m not going, but back in the day I did work at a hard rock station and played stuff like Metallica and Tool.

    I saved the two the 20 minute lecture how I was listening to bands like White Zombie while they were still in diapers, met members from The Melvins and Fishbone, and have far more “rocker cred” than my appearance would suggest. But then I also remembered how I never looked liked rock guy, even back when I was a DJ and making frequent visits to Gabe’s during college, and today I would be that creepy old dood if I did make it to a show.

    I can admit it – I’m old, I’m not cool (and never really have been), and I’m okay with that… and really even back then I didn’t have much interest in bands like Rob Zombie and Korn, but I still have enjoy a good rock song. (And yeah, since I’m old, I’ve got to go old school) –

  • this week’s round-up (august 8)

    Playing catch-up from the past couple weeks, but here’s a few things that have caught my eye:

    This video is well worth your time – “A Thousand Questions” (via Jeremy Smith)

    From Cornel West:

    “We have a market-driven society so obsessed with buying and selling and obsessed with power and pleasure and property, it doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for non-market values and non-market activity so that love and trust and justice, concern for the poor, that’s being pushed to the margins, and you can see it.

    You can see it in terms of the obsession on Wall Street with not just profits but greed, more profit, more profit. You see it in our television culture that’s obsessed with superficial spectacle. You see it even in our educational systems, where the market model becomes central. It’s a matter of just gaining a skill or gaining access to a job to live in some vanilla suburb, as opposed to becoming a critical citizen concerned with public interest and common good.

    It’s a spiritual malnutrition tied to a moral constipation, where people have a sense of what’s right and what’s good. It’s just stuck, and they can’t get it out because there’s too much greed. There’s too much obsession with reputation and addiction to narrow conceptions of success.

    And when I talk about love, I’m talking about something that’s great, though, brother. I’m talking about something that will sustain you. It’s like an Aretha Franklin song, brother, or a Coltrane solo or Beethoven symphony, something that grabs you to the gut and gives you a sense of what it is to be human.

    That’s what we’re more and more lacking, and it’s very sad. It’s a sign of a decline of an empire, my brother.” (via Mike Todd)

    I love that line “It’s a spiritual malnutrition tied to a moral constipation” – don’t know how I’d ever work it into a sermon (or a poem), but it’s certainly an image that gets the point across. That quote also intersects with part of what I’ve been reading in Seth Godin’s latest book which talks about how that “market” undermines “art” and “community” – rather than delve into it right now, I’ll try to pick up more on that theme later. (Actually I have this idea of doing a Linchpin for pastors/churches series of blog posts that aim to apply the lessons of his book to the context of ministry; I don’t know if it will see the light of day, but it might).

    7 Reasons Leaders Quit Your Organization

    Scot McKnight points to an article on the erosion of the middle class. Also via McKnight’s blog this entertaining little cartoon on Twitter disciples.

    Among my circle of friends and colleagues the NY Times article on clergy burnout has been receiving (needed) attention this week. NPR’s Talk of the Nation also provides a discussion of it as well:

    Insightful, short article in Leading Ideas – The Promise and Peril of Conflict by David Brubaker.

    Fred Clark on why every AG in the country should be suing the credit rating agencies. Also check out this post which is a letter written by a former slave to his former slave owner; as Fred says, “The letter provides a valuable glimpse into the atrocious reality of our history, but it should also be studied and relished as one of the all time great examples of the cheerful and elaborately polite ‘Screw you.’“

    Donald Miller put this song by Andrew Peterson up on his blog a couple weeks ago; its a lovely little song about life and marriage:

    That does it for this week. I think I will probably be moving to a Sunday posting schedule, for the handful for people who actually follow this little thing.

  • this week’s round-up (july 23-ish)

    I don’t think the round-up is going to move to a Sunday evening publishing schedule (I’ve been trying to keep it on Fridays), but it might end up making that jump. It’s a short list of links this week, and nothing is really hitting me musically at the moment, but here you go:

    Tim Stevens on Reimagining Church.

    Carol Howard Merritt on What Causes Pastors to Burnout? (Thanks to Jeremy Peters for the link to this one!).

    Doug Pagitt posted an interview with Paul Jesep regarding a Christian response to credit cards.

    Julie Clawson has a great article this week on social justice, Glen Beck and a neighborless Christianity.

    Scot McKnight helps explain the Wesleyan Quadrilateral (for a non-Wesleyan perspective), and does a nice job at it.

  • this week’s round-up (july 16-ish)

     A few days late on the round-up this week – it was a busy week, an exhausting week, and an inspiring week at our Vacation Bible School. The church I serve hosts their VBS at a local campground so not only is there lots of space to run around, but it connects with a community of kids who might never find their way through the doors of our church building. (It was also a great opportunity to push the idea that the church needs to move from an “attractional” mindset to a “missional” one – go where the people are, don’t wait for them to come to us!)

     Links of interest this week:

    Fred Clark writes on how Martin Luther King’s legacy (and words) have been misused by some conservative thinkers.

    The 2010 State of the Church report is out for the UMC. I haven’t had a chance to study it yet, but Andrew Conrad summarizes a couple points noting that many churches lack a clear vision and that the average age of United Methodists is significantly higher than the general population – not really a surprise, but definitely a point of concern.

    Scot McKnight asks an important question around “Virtual Sermons.” McKnight shares an article from CNN on the topic which quotes Tom Long on the incarnational aspect of preaching that is missing from a video feed. I understand the appeal of allowing high-quality preaching to be heard in a variety of locations and freeing up others to do the work of ministry, but there are some serious questions it raises as well.

    Seth Godin offers some great thoughts around celebrating what’s right, instead of giving all our attention to the problems. I’ve also (finally) started to read Linchpin this week – only a few pages in and I’m in love with it. The book seems to coincide really well with this piece from Hugh MacLeod:

    Also, apparently now God Hates Nerds – is it bad that my first thought was that quote attributed to Niemoller, “Then they came for me and by that time there was no one left to speak up.”

    A couple nerd-rock anthems from the early ’90s to cap off this week’s post: