http://dualravens.com/ravens/?p=209

This is where I went:

This is who I went with:

http://dualravens.com/ravens/?p=210

Hi.

I’ve not posted in a bit of a while. The pictures below have been part of the reason. As has an accompanying peace in just getting away from the usual topics.

I’m starting to get back into the swing of things. My goal for this summer is to learn German. Read theology. And generally get my mind and being geared up for PhD studies this Fall. So, hopefully, this means some thoughts will wander though my brain and seek a bit of light hereabouts.

In the meantime, I have a couple interesting links.

Kristin Myers has a post on boycotting Amazon, which connects to a post written by Wess Daniels. Both are interesting. I’ve added my thoughts in the comments over at both blogs. I want to make note of Kristin too because she is an interesting writer coming at various topics as a graphic designer. When I TAed a class last summer on Emerging/Missional churches she wrote one of the most fascinating papers I read.

Wess is also worth noting again and well worth visiting regularly. He is, I think, one of the key future leaders/thinkers of the Society of Friends. His efforts have really sparked my own hopes the Quakers have a fruitful future and might be able to even reignite more in this present spiritual climate. Brilliant and thoughtful guy.

http://dualravens.com/ravens/?p=211

Mike Morrell pointed me towards this very interesting post over at Practically Christian.

Mike quotes this paragraph:

“I have all of these new, great, and powerful ideas floating around within me, but in this presentation of the Gospel of the Kingdom I can’t help but notice a gaping hole. Where is the Spirit? It isn’t as if these folks don’t believe in the Spirit, or that s/he/it (who knows?) is never mentioned, but it I only seem to find it in passing, or mentioned in such an abstracted context that there seems to be no method of approach or interaction with this very real facet, or hypostatsis of God. I’ve been to a couple of emerging churches and new monastic communities. I’ve enjoyed authentic people who love Jesus and are pursuing his Kingdom. I’ve admired the community, participated in group expressions of our experience(i.e. art projects), fed the hungry, taken communion and heard words of encouragement and good news. But still, I’ve wondered… where is the Spirit?”

In the comments of the post I add a reply suggesting that these latter activities are the work of the Spirit. In fact, as I read this paragraph again it’s so striking how what he notes so perfectly lines up with the chapters in my book.

And it makes me frustrated. Why? Because of how he ends it.

“Also, if you know of any good emerging literature that does speak on this seemingly neglected topic, please let me know.”

If you’ve clicked on the links in the post below and read my comments you’ll know where this frustration comes from. I have a book that entirely and absolutely addresses this topic. For the life of me I can’t seem to get it noticed, or talked about, or sold in bookstores. So that, eight months after it has been published, with a lot of interest in the Holy Spirit and emerging churches around, it is still entirely off people’s radar. I’m not a good salesman, so I admit I’ve not done what others have done in pushing their books in an extreme way. But I got a note from my publisher the other day saying I stood out in how much I was doing, and so I feel like I’ve done my part in some ways.

Which leaves me a little flummoxed about what else I can do.

Yet, God has brought good friends in along the way. Folks I’ve met online. Almost all of whom I’ve never even met face to face. Sonja has stood out in this, as has Kerry, and others. They have been amazing to me, encouragements beyond encouragement, in helping me to see that the part I felt God has led me towards is valid and needed and real.

The last few weeks have had more joy. I spent some time in the Portland area visiting Amy; Amy who I met online as I tried to promote my book and she tried to promote her CD.

We struck up a friendship, she read an early version of my book, and was immediately excited about sharing about it. Someone I just met was significantly more helpful than those who I had known before. I don’t know why that is, even as I wonder about the past and celebrate those who God has brought into my life.

What I do know is that the calling of God in our lives leads us not to celebrate the people the world celebrates but to look around us, to be boons to those we know, as we can. To give a helping hand or an encouragement, or a bit of a promotion rather than jumping to support the already successful and the already famous and the already encouraged.

As an outsider, yet with insider qualities, these last ten years I see people with new eyes and have counted it my joys to see how God works in their lives, outside the spotlight, in bringing them new ministries, or growth in theological insight, or profound changes in their church affiliation. My frustrations become joy because it has cleansed my eyes and teaches me to walk more among those who Jesus would walk with. Not to minister down to them. But to learn from them, to share what I know and hear what they know, coming each of us to a more thorough wisdom.

Amy, who I’ve grown closer to over the past year as we became best friends and more, has helped me discover this even better. She has been amazing in her encouragement when I’ve struggled with discouragement over the lackluster reach of the book. Not only in words. In action too. I spoke at her church in mid-April, giving a sermon on the contents of It’s a Dance and on the topics of the work of the Holy Spirit. In the past weeks she opened up more opportunities. Her amazing pastor Rob Classen at Two Rivers Church invited me to speak again. Not as a sermon, but as a conversation.

He gave me some basic questions earlier in the week for me to consider and to help start the conversation. I didn’t have much time to work on them and so only wrote down very basic comments and some fitting verses to help guide my thoughts. The key to it was that it wasn’t about him and it wasn’t about me. It was a conversation. Not the kind in which two usual suspects chat while others remain quiet. Rather, Rob was wanting to have his whole congregation participate. And so that Sunday morning consisted of using the basic questions as a framework, but having others ask their own questions, add their comments and otherwise participate. And I loved it. Brilliant comments and questions that made me think and got me excited again. Rob, someone I didn’t even know, became a way of encouraging me and encouraging others by letting me share what I have discovered, and letting others respond and ask and become involved. It was a true conversation in which I was truly blessed to hear and share and learn and teach.

Apparently, others thought so as well because Amy and I were invited to join two small groups that week who were meeting together over a potluck. After eating delicious food the conversation continued. I had nothing prepared and just joined in again with questions and some answers and general sharing and learning and growing. They invited me to share what God was doing and teaching me, which is really about helping others discovery what God is doing and teaching them. It was a profound time for me.

And so I’m really frustrated today. Not knowing how to promote my book more or how I could get it more attention. But, I’m also feeling the joy of undeserved participation and attention by the wonderful men and women who contributed endorsements. By the few bloggers who not only accepted a book from Barclay Press but also actually wrote a review. By those who have read it and shared with me what it means to them. I can’t express how much Amy has encouraged me in word and action by not only reading but also responding and inviting and sharing and promoting.

I celebrate the ways in which the Spirit has opened up new directions of participation and encouragement.

I linger a bit in confused frustration about what to do. But that’s not the end. Because I have a hopeful thanksgiving, encouraged by my immediate family and by the wonderful select men and women who God has put into my life.

I’ve found a church made up of men and women all over this country–in Portland, in Virginia, in Northern California, in Wisconsin, in Florida, and other places near and far, in church traditions near and far–who pray for me and I pray for, who support me and who I support, who dance with me and who I dance with as we together dance with the Spirit. And in that is the encouragement of the fellowship of the Holy Spirit who is not bound by time or space.

[edited slightly for encroaching whinning]

http://dualravens.com/ravens/?p=212

In the post below I mentioned my conversation with Rob Classen at Two Rivers Church a couple weeks ago. Conversation with him and the congregation. They have been spending a long while going through Romans 8, one of the more interesting chapters on the Holy Spirit in the NT. So, this was a nice overview and a chance for broad response to both my thoughts and to the sermons of the past week (which you can hear here). He gave me some basic questions to help spark the talk, and I wrote out some verse references and basic comments to make sure I didn’t sit there staring blankly, with only a little drool coming out my mouth.

When I say basic comments, that’s it. Just a few phrases jotted down. Those who were there so ran with the conversation I didn’t even need most of my basic thoughts. Unfortunately, I don’t have a recording of that.

So, I’m going to post the basic questions and basic answers.

I’ve never started a meme before. But I’d love to maybe start one with this, to keep this conversation going and see who we draw in. If you have a blog post some of your own answers to all or some of the following, and then let me know in the comments you have a post. If you don’t have a blog, just add to the comments here.

So here we go:

• Why do most people not seem to care so much about the Holy Spirit?


• Why do you think Romans 8 is such a key passage to teach us about the Holy Spirit?


• In It’s a Dance: Moving with the Holy Spirit we read, “Now I realize the Spirit is the only way to move past sin” (p. 114). Can you elaborate on that?


• Some more quotes to consider and discuss:




1. “Holiness is about the Spirit” (p. 115)


2. “Keep your eyes on the prize and holiness happens” (p. 115)




• In Romans 8:26 we read, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express”. We are told the HS is our intercessor, our translator, and that he prays for us when we can’t. Do you agree that this an important part of the HS’s role in our lives? How do you think this all works in us?

Here’s what I wrote down as brief responses:

Why do most people not seem to care so much about the Holy Spirit?

Don’t know that much. A lack of church teaching. Don’t want to let go and let the Spirit work. The Spirit is elusive to understand and is hard to categorize and put into a handy box.

Why do you think Romans 8 is such a key passage to teach us about the Holy Spirit? In your book you say, “Now I realize the Spirit is the only way to move past sin.” Can you elaborate on this?

The law tells us what sin is but doesn’t empower us to do anything about it (Romans 7). Focusing on sin, whether by sinning or by focusing on not sin or other people’s sins, leaves us trapped in the Law. The Spirit comes to us. And God leads us to what we can do.

Some verses:

Romans 8:12-17

Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

1 Peter 1:13-16

Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

Romans 8:28-30

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, whohave been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

“Holiness is about the Spirit” What does this mean to you?

Ephesians 4:17-24

So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.

You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Romans 8 says this is the work of the Spirit to make us new.

1 Thessalonians 3:12-13

May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.

Romans 8 tells us this is the work of the Spirit.

“Keep your eye on the prize and holiness happens” Can you elaborate on this?

First we ask what the prize is.

Colossian 3:1-4

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

I think of an analogy with running [on my sheet I just wrote 'running analogy', but I'll fill it out a bit more here]. When running up a hill I look ahead, at a spot at the top or at a marker far away. If I’m exhausted and feel like I can’t run anymore I keep my eye on what is ahead, and then say I’ll just go to there. When I get there I find another marker ahead and get to there. Always keeping my focus on some point in front instead of each wearied step.

Philippians 3:12-14

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

The path is walking with God, following the Spirit in our gifts and fruit. 1 Corinthians 12. As we focus on our calling, our hopes, our positive contributions, on Father and Son and Spirit, on the Kingdom, we increasingly have our very instincts and drives changed by the Spirit we’re working with.

Romans 8:5-11

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

Last Sunday we talked about Romans 8:26 –the Holy Spirit being our intercessor, our translator, and that he prays for us when we can’t. Do you agree that this is an important part of the Holy Spirit’s role in our lives? How do you think this all works in us?

We don’t know God. And we don’t even really know ourselves. We don’t know language to speak or to hear. The Spirit knows us fully, and knows God fully, so we can learn the language of our reality in asking and hearing.

Psalm 42:7-8

Deep calls to deep

in the roar of your waterfalls;

all your waves and breakers

have swept over me.

By day the LORD directs his love,

at night his song is with me—

a prayer to the God of my life.

The Spirit is the counselor. Teaching us about ourselves and about God. Leads us to all truth.



John 15:26-27

“When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. 27And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.”

John 16:5-15

“Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.”

This is participation with God, with others, with ourselves in an increasingly holy way. Or rather, leading us to be wholly who God has made us to be.

God is the whole God, and holistically leads us to true wholeness.

So that’s what I wrote down. Play along if you will. I tag everyone reading this. Here’s the quick questions again:

• Why do most people not seem to care so much about the Holy Spirit?


• Why do you think Romans 8 is such a key passage to teach us about the Holy Spirit?


• In It’s a Dance: Moving with the Holy Spirit we read, “Now I realize the Spirit is the only way to move past sin” (p. 114). Can you elaborate on that?


• Some more quotes to consider and discuss:




1. “Holiness is about the Spirit” (p. 115)


2. “Keep your eyes on the prize and holiness happens” (p. 115)




• In Romans 8:26 we read, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express”. We are told the HS is our intercessor, our translator, and that he prays for us when we can’t. Do you agree that this an important part of the HS’s role in our lives? How do you think this all works in us?

http://dualravens.com/ravens/?p=213

Beneath the surface lurks tunnels and trails

Unseen by most, untraveled except by the adept

On occasion, we can see what lies beneath

When the dirt is pushed out and the hidden becomes exposed

Sometimes slow, barely revealed; sometimes fast, fully unveiled

What is beneath the surface usually only pokes its head out quickly and briefly, giving us only a glimpse

Occasionally it pauses still above, looks around, allows itself to be watched

What lies beneath the surface, in hidden tunnels and trails, might even, for a moment, look you straight in the eyes.

http://dualravens.com/ravens/?p=214

Amy forwarded this to me, and I think it worth posting. From Story People:

He told me about Jesus & Arizona & the best way to make beer & I said you’re a funny kind of preacher & he said it’s a funny kind of world & I still remember his eyes clear as a desert morning.

It sums up for me what emerging/missional folks are trying to get to. Not the ‘make beer’ part, that’s just a random hobby that could be many things–no longer limited to a list of approved hobbies such as golf or fishing or Bible reading. Nor is it he part about Arizona that gets me. That’s an emphasis on knowing a place, being there and able to tell others about it–in contrast to always seeking the elsewhere, and the next ministry model far away from home. Its not even the part about Jesus. Lots of people talk about Jesus. And far too often talking about Jesus isn’t particularly an appealing description. People know about him, but far too many talk without knowing him.

It’s the last part that draws it together. His eyes clear as a desert morning. Suggesting peace and tranquility, being grounded without anxiety or frenzy. He is who he is. And this reflects back into what he knows. He knows himself and what he likes. He has a place, a location whose geography and personality he has mastered. He then talks of Jesus within that calm and clarity, inviting not through words but through aura and presence and calm.

I want to be he.

http://dualravens.com/ravens/?p=215

Over the past few months I’ve had a chance to visit Portland on a couple of extended trips. Even more I visited Portland to visit someone who inspires exploration.

When I was up there last the weather was, frankly, not very inspiring. Overcast skies throughout, with regular rain and only very occasional glimpses of the sun (though these were handily placed on days that were set aside for being out, so it was okay).

But, even if the weather here in SoCal suits me just fine I have to say the restaurants there in the north are more my style.

A few stand out, and one has become what I think is my favorite place to eat anywhere.

I’m not fancy or looking for chic style or polished atmosphere. I’m looking for good unique food, in good unique settings, with fair enough prices. Having good beverages is a great plus.

First on my list is Queen of Sheba in Portland. It’s a no-frills, kind of a hole in the wall, Ethiopian restaurant located in a fairly nondescript part of Portland. The decor is pretty utilitarian and the space is pretty tight. But the food is very, very good, served in the traditional Ethiopian way.

The second is Noho’s. It’s Hawaiian food. Good sized portions, good prices, and authentic in taste and casualness. Maybe it helped that we ate there on a Sunday afternoon that actually had sun shining. But, I imagine having a taste of the islands on a rainy day would do a heart very good indeed.

The next one on my list isn’t at all obscure except for those who don’t live in the Northwest. It’s a chain. But that doesn’t quite describe it all that well. Because while we can assume that every Chili’s in the country looks pretty much the same, has the same menu, and atmosphere it’s absolutely not that way with McMenamin’s. We went to three locations during my visits. The first was McMenamin’s Tavern and Pool, located in Portland and lives up to its name, being a pub with pool tables. Nothing extravagant or particularly out of the ordinary. Good pub atmosphere, good food, and good drinks–I highly recommend the Terminator Stout. I remember it mostly, however, because it was the first restaurant I went to with Amy in Portland, on the first day of my first trip up there, just after spending a fair while at Powell’s bookstore. We were so cute and unsure and cautious about where things were going then. Now we’re just cute.

The next one we went to gave me a lot more insight into the McMenamin’s experience. On our way back from exploring the Columbia River Gorge Waterfalls we stopped at McMenamin’s Edgefield. McMenamin’s is unique in that they don’t just have little restaurants. They buy up historic sites and make a whole McMenamin’s experience out of them. Edgefield was built in 1911 as a European style resort. And it is still run this way, with a hotel, spa, and all kinds of other relaxing diversions, including a number of different places to eat and drink on the grounds. We ate outside, where mostly grilled food was served. I had a big ol’ hamburger, tater tots, and good conversation. A storm was beginning to arrive while we were there and for a little while, until the table with an umbrella next to us opened up, we sat and ate and drank while being gently sprinkled. There was lightning in the distance and a rainbow on the horizon.

The third McMenamin’s I went to was Kennedy School. And it was just that. A school, an elementary school, bought by McMenamin’s and made into a restaurant/hotel. Totally unique and fun.

The fun thing about McMenamin’s is that while the drinks stay the same, the menu’s are unique, with some exceptions, and they make it so a person wants to visit all the locations.

Next on the restaurant list is a good German restaurant, Gustav’s. There’s polka music playing as you walk in. They serve free lemonade while you wait for your table. There’s very good German food and a great selection of German beers. Can’t go wrong with that.

Finally, is what has become my favorite place to eat. Salvador Molly’s. They call it Pirate Cooking, and that’s not so much because the staff wear eye patches or fake parrots and says “arrrr!” a lot. There’s nary a “shiver my timbers” to be heard. So get that image out of your mind. Instead, it’s good world cooking, the kind of cooking that seafarers might find in a circumnavigation. The setting is as casual as can be found. It’s in a little strip mall, right across from a McMenamin’s in fact. But the food is extraordinary in diversity, portions, and price. More than that, however, extraordinary in taste. I had the Ginger Peanut Chicken Breast and Amy had the Kalua Pork. Because we were quite a bit hungry on that late afternoon we shared the Rasta Rings; well, we shared our meals too. Add to this the selection of mixed drinks–rum being their specialty. The service is great and relaxed, making us feel instantly comfortable.

After filling up on delicious food, I got out of my seat, sat next to Amy and we watched Big Brown entirely not win the Belmont Stakes.

So there you go. Those are my Portland culinary discoveries–places I fully expect to eat at the next time I’m in Portland and places that go a very, very long way in making the awful weather seem not all that bad.

http://dualravens.com/ravens/?p=216

A bee flies.

But this isn’t a bee.

It’s a fly. A hoverfly. On my laptop.

You know what else can hover when it flies besides a hover fly? And can also sting pretty bad?

A Cobra. No, not the slithering kind. The Super kind.

An AH-1 helicopter. One after another, flying over Arrowhead.

http://dualravens.com/ravens/?p=218

It’s a thrill to find one’s own town featured in National Geographic… though maybe this isn’t the most fun reason.

We can see that Lake Arrowhead hillside, by the way, from our neighbor’s house (and from our house if there weren’t another house and trees in the way).

http://dualravens.com/ravens/?p=219

N.T. Wright, one of my favorite writers, was on the Colbert Report last night talking about heaven. Quite interesting… both the topic and how he did in that setting. It’s a hard topic to get across in such a short amount of time and with the jokes flying back and forth but I think he did a good job. Then again, I spend a lot of my time trying to sort out those kinds of things so maybe I’m not the best judge of how well he communicated. The fact he was on, however, is really interesting and might be among the nicest ‘theology in popular culture’ events I’ve seen in a long while. Hopefully, there will be more of that. Bringing theology directly to the people is a very needed task.

Here’s the clip:

http://dualravens.com/ravens/?p=217

Right now, at 4:59 PDT the sun is exactly over the Tropic of Cancer.

Happy Summer!!

http://dualravens.com/ravens/?p=220

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.

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (2 Cor. 3:17)

Being missional means participating with this Spirit; the Spirit of hope, and life, and wholeness.

Being missional means practicing the presence of the Holy Spirit so that we become freedom fighters.

Listed below are those who will be participating in this global synchroblog.

Alan Hirsch

Alan Knox

Andrew Jones

Barb Peters

Bill Kinnon

Brad Brisco

Brad Grinnen

Brad Sargent

Brother Maynard

Bryan Riley

Chad Brooks

Chris Wignall

Cobus Van Wyngaard

Dave DeVries

David Best

David Fitch

David Wierzbicki

DoSi

Doug Jones

Duncan McFadzean

Erika Haub

Grace

Jamie Arpin-Ricci

Jeff McQuilkin

John Smulo

Jonathan Brink

JR Rozko

Kathy Escobar

Len Hjalmarson

Makeesha Fisher

Malcolm Lanham

Mark Berry

Mark Petersen

Mark Priddy

Michael Crane

Michael Stewart

Nick Loyd

Patrick Oden

Peggy Brown

Phil Wyman

Richard Pool

Rick Meigs

Rob Robinson

Ron Cole

Scott Marshall

Sonja Andrews

Stephen Shields

Steve Hayes

Tim Thompson

Thom Turner

http://dualravens.com/ravens/?p=221

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.

http://dualravens.com/ravens/?p=222

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.