The Mutual Ministry of Forgiveness

The mutual ministry of believers is that of spreading forgiveness. The true repentence that needs to occur is that of our reaction to sin and perfection. The goal is not to stop sinning but to forgive in the face of the greatest offense. This requires a complete transformation of thinking. The accountability that we need to look for and set in place in the church is when one in our midst is forgiven s/he must go and find another to forgive, rather than trying to police sin, we allow sin to become public. In this way, we take the sins of others, the sins of the world, on ourselves as if they are our own. In this way, they are crucified and we are resurrected aknew.

Notes on Vocational Theology

What is theology? How do we recove a truly biblical basis for the theological enterprise, especially in the world? The idea of clergy and laity is a negative theological dichotomy. In Scripture, the term clergy (kleros) is used of the whole people of God. "A theology of the whole people of God must encompass not only the life of God's people gathered, the ekklesia, but he church dispersed in the world, the diaspora, in marketplace, government, professional offices, schools and homes" (page 8, The Other Six Days by R. Paul Stevens). A true ecclesiology will "encompass earhly realities and expounds the menial, the trivial, and the necessary: washing, cleaning, maintaining the fabric fo this world, play, games, art, leisure, vocation, work, ministry, mission and grappling with the principalities and powers. It must help us understand and experience sexuality, family and friendship. It must show us the place of sabbath and sleep" (page 8).

Francis of Assisi: "Humankind has as much knowledge as it has executed." Theology must also be emotional. Indigenous people must practice theology on the go, in lived reality, in the "fresh dirt" of our worldly existence. Although these theologies run the risk of being incomplete, inadequate, and even heretical, they are the best way of doing theology. It is hermeneutics at its best.

Bottom-up theology, on-the-spur-of-the-moment theology, is the theology of the people and as such represents true discourse and study of God, for the discovery of God takes place in his creation, the world, rather than in the classroom of concrete and stone and abstract thinking created by humans as found in the university. This is not to demean the theological journey of the academy, for it is necessary to find an orderly way of creating the bounds of theology. However, this is always the secondary step.

The primary arena of ministry and theology is not the in-house service of the church, rather it is the marketplace-- the place where goods, services, and information are exchanged. How can the church equip people for full-time ministry in the world? Why do we not ordain and commission "the laity" in their daily lives?

The Reformation failed in reforming ecclesiology. Instead, it was much more concerned with soteriology. The priesthood of all believers was interpreted according to its effect on individual salvation. As such, the structures of Protestatism borrowed its models from Rome and the growing world of the middle-class business. Because of this, we have never learned how to do wide-spread theological education in the congregation-- true theology that is lived in the marketplace. One must conclude from the way churches do not engage the people in their daily work that the church has no interest in this and that faith is a privatised sacred system that takes place in a walled building with religious symbols.

The concept of the individual Christian is a false one. No such concept exists in Scripture. In the Bible, the smallest component of the church is the church. The ministry of the church is mutual, to one another.

Appreciative Inquiry

I love appreciative inquiry. Some of you may be asking, "what is appreciative inquiry?" It is the act of exploring/discovering the best in ourselves and the world around us usually through a questioning process that affirms past and present potentials and successes. The goal of appreciative inquiry is to find those things that bring life into the systems we interact with.

Even in the worst situations, something good is occurring and should be identified. This does not mean that we ignore the negative or sugar-coat it. Rather by identifying the good, we can leverage the positive in order to create a foundation for change. What we focus on creates our reality. If we are focusing on the negative, then we will continue to reinforce the negative. However, if we choose to focus on the positive, we will continually reinforce the positive over time.

Appreciative inquiry primarily relies on questions because the act of asking a question begins the change process. Questioning often requires a naming/describing process to occur. Finally, a person or system can move confidently into the future when they are able to carry the best parts of their past with them.

I have been exploring appreciative inquiry for a few years now. The Associate Pastor at my church and I have used it in many situations with very positive results. I am now using it as I explore faith and calling with families in my youth ministry. I will keep you updated on this progress. More on appreciative inquiry in the future.

Transformers

I came across a fantastic article on the blog names Resurgence. It is about the upcoming Transformers movie and the effects of the cartoon series on a generation (my generation) growing up at the foot of our televisions. Here is a clip from the blog (click here for the link):

I had a sermon to preach about Optimus Prime some day. For better or worse, WIRED magazine beat me to it. Pointing out that while geeks have Batmen and Star Trek toys in their cubicles, even the jocks have Transformers decorating their workspaces, WIRED writer Scott Brown explores the reasons why in the July print edition.

"…in 1986, the original Prime did something that distinguished him from most other cartoon heroes. He died. He died for freedom, for righteousness". Brown goes on to assert that American culture – American males – are looking forward to the July 4th release of the "live-action" Transformers movie for "more than galvanic summer thrills or simple nostalgia. They're looking for redemption, as men."

My Latest Article

The Journal of Student Ministries just published another article that I wrote. It is on the subject on creating a linguistic framework for discussing sexuality in a vibrant, robust way that allows theology to be the guiding voice. You can check out my article here: http://www.thejournalofstudentministries.com/articles/eJ226-Spurlock.pdf

Stewarding Our Stories

I have been working with our stewardship team at UPC over the past year. It has been incredible to be included in their journey. They are a very creative and imaginative group of people (yes these are the "finance" people! It's hard to believe). Over the past few years, they have helped our congregation rethink the idea of stewardship-- expanding it far beyond budgets and fund-raising.

They have any expanded it beyond time, talent, and treasure (the now classic Christian definition). Over the past year, our team has articulated two very important ideas regarding stewardship:

1) We must steward our relationships. This can be interpersonal relationships such as connections with co-workers or parents/children. This can be intra-organizational such as the youth ministry's connection to the worship committee. It is also inter-organizational such as our relationship with another church or Christian organization. Finally, it must include the relationship between our church and our neighborhood, our church and the local university, our church and the city, etc. We MUST steward our relationships.

2) We must steward our story(ies). Everyone has a story that is vitally important to identity and vocation. When we encounter someone new, a basic exchange of stories begins (Hi, may name is.... and I work.... and I am married...., etc.). Over time, these stories unfold into something far more complex and interesting. So too, our church has a story. It is these memories of the past that can give us imagination for the present and future. Thus, it is vitally important that the congregation and its leaders tell stories that form the core of the congregation's identity.

Stewardship is so much more than finances. It is about identity and vocation. Who am I and what am I to do? Who are we and what are we doing? Who am I connected to? What webs are we a part of? What new strands/connections do we want to make? This is stewardship!

Working Our Theology

I have always had a desire to learn theology (since I was 10 years old!-- yeah, I'm weird). I love to read about it, discuss it, and figure out how to use it in daily life. However, I have found over the years that many in ministry and in the church have no interest in theology outside of esoteric debates. They debate the intricacies of atonement or the relationship of the Trinity but have no real grasp on what this might mean in daily life. Sometimes they can create a little thought, but rarely is it a robust, meaningful theological foundation or framework.

This is probably why so many are turned off from theology. However, people theologize all day long about daily life and do not often realize they are. Recently, a friend was talking about praying before one of our kids programs. This friend noted how that day was really tough working with the kids. My friend then said, "think about how much harder it would have been if we had not prayed-- think of what the kids might have done!" This friend had just made a theological statement (I probably would have made a different statement). However, if my friend would really consider the statement and begin pushing it up against the abstract theology learned over the years, then my friend might think that such a statement and outlook on life was off the mark (or perhaps I'm wrong and my friend would come to the same conclusion). Either way, my friend would be connecting the book knowledge of theology to the everyday statements people make about God and life.

I just picked up The Blackwell Companion to Christian Ethics by Hauerwas and Wells-- FANTASTIC! A great example of a group of scholars understanding how theology is a matrix or framework for understanding life. I am excited to read the chapter on Baptism and Abortion, and also the chapter on Eucharist and Sexuality-- this is putting theology to work!