Patrick Oden

Perichoresis

a review

Brian wrote a very nice review for a class he had and he graciously has let me post his thoughts here. He’s in the 9th grade:

It’s a Dance: Moving with the Holy Spirit
By Patrick Oden

It’s a Dance: Moving with the Holy Spirit, written by Patrick Oden, is a book pertaining to the subject of pneumatology, the study of the Holy Spirit. I found this novel to be quite helpful, since it confirmed many thoughts I had about how the Holy Spirit works. It breaks down the teaching into easy-to-read chapters and the teaching is, in fact, simply a conversation in a coffee shop. Within that conversation, many spiritual truths are taught. The two main characters in this book are Luke and Nate, a reporter and a pastor, respectively. Luke is a reporter for a local newspaper. Nate is the pastor of the Upper Room, a church that meets in the upper room of a coffee shop. This is the primary place in which the conversation occurs.
Luke was assigned by his editor to “visit different churches” and “s what religion is like in our neck of the woods.” (page 2) He visits many churches and synagogues in the area and finds that most of their theology is very much the same. Discouraged, he then visits and the Upper Room and his perspective on religion is changed forever.

Our conversation starts out as an interview between Luke and Nate. The two cover many topics, including leadership, community, welcoming strangers, and focusing on Jesus. During Luke and Nate’s talk, other members from the church stop by and interject their thoughts; one about creativity, another about life in the spirit. Everyone Luke encounters in the Upper Room is full of the Spirit, as evident by their insights on the matters of Spirituality.
One the interesting points that I learned from the book is that “The real evidence of the Spirit is community” (page 70) The way that the Spirit manifests itself is through the unity of the church.

While Luke and Nate are talking, a young woman enters the Upper Room. She is apparently a member of the church since Nate recognizes her immediately and introduces her to Luke. Her name is Melissa, and she is an artist. She and Luke begin talking, and they arrive on the topic of creativity, of which Melissa had some excellent insight on the issue. Melissa was convinced that creativity came from the Spirit. She believed that in order to complete the work the Spirit needs you to do; you must be willing to step out of your own traditions.

Melissa told Luke that she became disenchanted because of tradition. She disliked the repetition of church. She wasn’t herself when she was at church, and she became tired of it. She had a large falling-out with church with church and her family and she went off on her own to be an artist. When she decided to come to the Upper Room, she found that to be herself, she had to be with God.

Luke and Nate began conversing again, and as they draw to a close, Nate invited Luke and his wife to come and visit during one of their services. We can infer from the text that Luke is having marital problems; they even had a tough time showing up to church together. As they arrive, everyone Luke had met earlier that week came up and welcomed them. Everyone was friendly and cordial, making the two feel at home. The service was a life changing moment for Luke. He and his wife resolved their greed and selfishness and they became regular attendees to the Upper Room.

I originally came up to this book expecting it to be dry and unexciting because of the topic, but as I read it, I became enthused. The chapters are full of great insight to the Spiritual world, and the movement of the Holy Spirit makes the book to be appropriately deemed “A Dance.” I find the section about Community inspiring because our church, although small, has community in excess. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and recommend It’s a Dance to anyone mature enough to understand the messages included.

One of the fun things about It’s a Dance since its release has been the absolute diversity in those who resonate with it. I love, love, love hearing what people from totally different backgrounds, ages, experiences, churches think about the book. When I wrote it I wrote out of my experiences, out of what I have seen and understood, hoping that what I wrote wasn’t just about me, or wasn’t me telling others what to think, but was in fact a telling of what a lot of us have experienced and feel deep within. If the Spirit is truly working in the ways I noted, there shouldn’t be lines drawn of who experiences these aspects and drives. Brian’s thoughts were both fun and encouraging to me.

here and there

I should probably note, especially given the consistency of posts I’ve attained here, that I have another blog, my personal blog, where I spend a lot of time and have a lot of posts relating to the topics in It’s a Dance. I’m still trying to figure how to make the best use of this site, so it might be sporadic yet here. But, wander over to Ravens if you’re so inclined to hear more of my ponderings.

An Irish Prayer

A fitting prayer for this St. Patrick’s Day:

O Holy Spirit of Love
In us, round us, above;
Holy Spirit we pray
Send, sweet Jesus, this day.

Holy Spirit to win
Body and Soul within,
To guide us that we be
From ills and illness free.

From sin and demons’ snare,
From hell and evils there,
O holy Spirit, come!
Hallow our heart, Thy Home.

Religion of the Heart

I say of the heart, because religion does not consist of right opinions or orthodoxy. While such matters are not necessarily outward things, they are not of the heart, but of the understanding. A person may be orthodox in every point, espousing right opinions and zealously defending them; he may think correctly concerning the Trinity, and every other approved doctrine taken from the Scriptures; he may agree with al of the historical creeds, and yet have no religion at all. He may be as orthodox as the devil, and still have no more religion than a pagan. He is indeed a pagan if he is a stranger to the religion of the heart.

This alone is religion as it is truly so-called. This alone is of value in the sight of God. Paul summarized religion in three particulars: righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

~John Wesley, “The Way to God”

Hi!

Ever since my post on missional I’ve been neglecting the running commentary that is the Ravens. Been distracted. A mission, so to speak.

I’m going to continue being distracted from written commentary until next Thursday, so hold on, I’ve things brewing in my head but haven’t quite gotten the focus to get them down. Unless, of course, inspiration strikes and I just gotta write it down.

Have a wonderful, happy, joyous 4th of July!!

Ignored Subjects

I post the occasional picture here. And like a lot of people I tend to post pictures of pretty things. Birds. Forest scenes. Islands. Waterfalls. Amy. Woodland creatures.

I was sitting outside working and a fly landing right next to me. It was a regular fly, no idea what species. But it had these great dark red eyes. I’ve noticed other flies with really amazing iridescent green back. They’re not as pretty as bees nor as unique as some of the other exotic bugs. They’re just flies. But they’re pretty amazing really. Worth taking a picture of every once in while.

So, today on Dual Ravens. A fly.

Late to the Missional Bandwagon

There are a lot of bloggers listed below and a whole lot of interesting thoughts being said. I’m trying to make my way through those over the next week and have already been pushed farther. I mentioned in a comment that I think reading through these blogs has been more worthwhile than a number of seminary courses I’ve taken. Gathering these all together, discussing one per session, would make for an amazing class for a church or anywhere.

Pat Loughery from In the Coracle has written a very, very interesting and unique post on the example of St. Aidan. He didn’t make it on the ‘official’ posted list because he was late to the party, but his post is very well worth highlighting.

Those who have followed me for a while know that church history is near and dear to my heart. It is, next to Scripture, one of the most important sources for understanding God’s work in this world, and yet it is also one of the very least focused on in all but the historic churches. There is even a distrust of church history, which is curious because God has defined himself in Scripture as the God who works in and through history. And he didn’t stop working when the Apostles died.

I love to see church history brought out in these contexts. I think maybe I’ve become discouraged about applying such things more directly, letting the influence come out in other ways but not bringing up my inspiration. Pat pushes me to maybe get back into being more direct.

By the way, if you’re interested in reading more about Celtic missionaries work on a more thorough level have a go at Light to the Isles by Douglas Dales, or the book Pat noted, An Ecclesiastical History of the English People by Bede.

Being Missional: Practicing the Presence of the Holy Spirit

It’s all the rage in this postmodern age to be missional. In fact, the words ‘missional’ and ‘postmodern’ go together quite nicely. Not just because one reflects the other, and vice versa. Also because they are the sorts of words people use without really knowing what they mean. Oh sure, people generally use those words with a meaning in mind, but oftentimes it’s a vague sort of meaning, riding the zeitgeist of the paradigm shift, so to speak.

It might be nice to just toss out the term–let it be adopted by church planters and the major presses as being a synonym for what’s new–but that doesn’t satisfy me. It is an important word and a descriptive word that gets to the heart of what we need to do.

In fact, I think this is such a big term that I don’t want to devote just one post to it. But for now I will, because I’m joining in on a big ol’ synchro-blog where a bunch of us are asking “What is missional?”

I’ve read my Newbiggin, and have some interesting quotes from the 17th century Baptist Roger Williams on the evils of Christendom. But there are better folks to lay out those things. I’m going to focus on my particular interest. And with that particular interest I’m going to go ahead and throw out my definition.

Missional means practicing the presence of the Holy Spirit.

For some that might bring to mind images of dancing around to lively music, speaking curious phrases that most no one can understand, and other attributes of Pentecostalism. But that’s not what I’m talking about. Pentecostals are fine, don’t get me wrong, and their global explosion over the last century certainly suggests an empowered mission far beyond most other representatives of Christ. Yet, being missional is a lot more than empowered worship. Because the Holy Spirit is about a lot more than putting on a show for us. Being missional means participation in the mission of God, and the missionary of God to us now, to all of us in the church and outside the church, is the Spirit.

What happens in Acts 2? They are in a room praying. The Spirit comes. Tongues of fire appear over their heads and tongues of men are spoken aloud. That’s where too many people stop reading. However, the chapter continues. The church doesn’t stay in the upper room. They go out, out into the streets where people from all the nations are gathered. Peter preaches, and the church grows. They go out, people come in, a continuing rhythm of transformational growth.

A great chapter. But for this post I want to emphasize two other passages in Acts that even better get at what practicing the presence of the Holy Spirit means.

Acts 8:26-40 and Acts 10.

Have a go at reading these passages. I’ll wait until you’ve read them. It’s quite important, you see, that we not only come up with a meaning for missional but that we let Scripture show us what it’s like.

Done?

Back at it. Don’t get distracted by the visions or the dreams or the curious popping hither and thither. Look at the heart of these passages. That is what it means to be missional. That is the practice of the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Where is the Holy Spirit in these passages? Out and about. The Holy Spirit is working in the life of a Roman Centurion. The Holy Spirit is working in the life of an Ethiopian Eunuch.

The Spirit tells Philip to walk towards the Ethiopian. He runs. He not only runs. When he gets there he can immediately understand the passage the Ethiopian is reading and immediately respond to it, with Scripture and teaching. This isn’t a stock script telling the Ethiopian what his questions are. This is having the wisdom and training to respond to exactly where the Ethiopian is at.

Here is the first point of practicing the presence of the Holy Spirit. It insists on a flexibility that is deep enough to respond to any context. Evangelism in the past has catered to the shallow. This is true recently and in history. “Just go to church”. “Here are the five laws of salvation”. Theology and a mastery of Scripture was left to the professionals and almost seen as suspect.

Colossions 4:5-6

Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone.

Conduct yourself wisely towards outsiders. Making the most of the time. Be gracious. Be seasoned. Know how to answer everyone. Wisdom. Efficiency. Grace. Challenge. Understanding. This can sound a lot more daunting than just memorizing scattered verses in Romans. But it is the way of the Spirit, because the Spirit has been and is working in the life of people, preparing the way, inspiring others to plant seeds. Being missional is being like Philip, going and responding, built up in our own depth so that we can respond to the depths of others, where they are at, with what they are dealing with. It is a practice of the presence of the Holy Spirit because in doing this we are looking for how the Spirit has already been working in the life of others. We just fill in the blanks and put words to yearnings and answers to sometimes hard questions.

1 Peter 3:13-16:

Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.” But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared. Be gentle and respectful. Be holy.

These are key works of the Holy Spirit in our lives, as I talk about in my book. Philip practiced the presence of the Holy Spirit and was able to participate with the Spirit’s work in the Ethiopian’s life, a work that is credited for the very ancient Ethiopian church. Philip didn’t need to go to Ethiopia. He needed to go to that Ethiopian. And the Spirit continued to work because Philip was prepared internally in his wisdom and character and externally in his fluidity and flexibility.

With Peter we see the same example. He responded to the Spirit, to go and be where the Spirit was already working, and when he arrived he was able to respond to what the Spirit had prepared. Added to this is another key aspect of practicing the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is in charge. Being missional isn’t about bringing our culture, or our customs, or our habits or preferences. There are some aspects of a life with Christ which are demanded, but very few of these are the emphases that people think of when they think of evangelism or missionary work.

Our goal is not to make people be like us. Our goal is to help people become who they were always meant to be. We aren’t in the business of taking people’s identity. We are to help them see how their identity becomes alive in the power of Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the battery that brings machinery to life, the enlivening presence of God himself. We become alive, really alive, with the Spirit’s work. And so here we see Peter being told to let go of the cultural boundaries, to trust in God’s work that all has been made clean. He is supposed to minister to who they are, where they are, and lead them towards their own fulfillment in God’s work. It is not up to Peter to say whether or not they fit, or to conform them to his own perceptions. It is Peter’s job to go and to confirm what God is already doing.

Being missional means discovering God’s mission in every context. It is not just a telling it is also a listening, and a seeing, and a hearing. By being missional we ourselves become missionized by the Spirit as we learn and grow in understanding God’s work. It is never one-sided. We have our part to share but we always have parts to discover about the Spirit’s pervasive work.

When we are practicing the presence of the Holy Spirit we become dancers. The music is God’s mission in this world, which goes beyond simple salvation and extends into eternal relationship. God is working. Working in places we might never go, with people we might never meet, and in ways we might often not understand. In the dance with the Spirit we become attuned to his movements and as we increasingly dance better with God we dance better with others, teaching and learning, including and discovering in holiness, and outreach, and community.

In other words, when we practice the presence of the Holy Spirit we become truly free and are able to help free others where they are at.