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The Rapture that Didn’t Come

Well, it’s May 22nd. And as you may have noticed, despite the hopes and expectations of Harold Camping and his followers, the world did not end yesterday.

Yesterday, sceptics across the U.S. organised “Rapture parties”, and talk-show hosts joked about Judgment Day. At the restaurant where my sister and I had lunch, the end of the world was *the* topic of (lighthearted) conversation among our servers and fellow diners. Thousands of people even RSVPed to the facebook event “Post-Rapture Looting”. It’s easy to mock Harold Camping. After all, he already predicted the world would end once before, in 1994. This time, he calculated the date of the Apocalypse based on the belief that Noah’s flood began exactly 7,000 years ago, and that Christ died on 1 April 33CE. Hmmm.

But dig a little deeper into the media coverage, and Camping’s prophecy begins to hit closer to home. The New York Times reported yesterday that relationships are strained in families divided by belief. One teenager (whose parents stopped saving for university in light of the coming Apocalypse) states, “My mom has told me directly that I’m not getting into heaven.” Conversely, one believer who had just said goodbye to his unbelieving family expressed his deep sorrow that they wouldn’t be with him in heaven. Both of these sentiments are painfully familiar to those of us who have strayed from our childhood religion, or who have embraced new expressions of faith alone, later in life.

It’s also difficult to read about the man who spent his life’s savings on publicity materials to spread the word about the Apocalypse, the woman who fled an abusive relationship and found meaning through Camping’s teachings, or the man who said he planned to euthanize his beloved pets before the Rapture. Where are these people now? What are they thinking? Now that they’ve lost everything chasing a lie, will they lose their faith altogether? Will they be able to trust again?

Ultimately, I have to believe that Camping’s followers were driven by love—love of the divine and of humanity. Only this, I hope, could have empowered them to endure apathy and mockery as they bade farewell to family and friends and attempted to convert unbelievers before it was too late. Likewise, the only legitimate response to the “crazies” is love—by recognising that their extreme behaviour stems from the same profoundly human search for truth and significance that drives our own faith.

POSTED 22.05.11 BY: Meghan | Comments (3)

father theology

A friend of mine visited Moot and was quite struck by, even troubled by, our prayer ‘in the name of the Creator, and of the Redeemer, and of the Companion’. He felt that the triune statement of Father Son and Holy Spirit is not really one to be played around with.

I’m still undecided on his argument; but I found this Rilke poem recently and it has a lot of light to bring to Moot’s commitment to exploring how our language (and the traditional language of the Church) may draw responses and carry meanings – positive, negative, many-hued – that we are not in control of.

This is J. Macy and A. Barrows’ translation of the original German, and Rilke’s original text for our German-speaking Mooters.

I want to love you.

But does anyone love a father? Don’t they turn away
as you turned from me, your face hardened
wanting to escape these empty, helpless hands?

Doesn’t one leave a father’s worn-out words
to old books that are seldom read?
Is his heart not a watershed
from which one flows away,
towards passion and suffering (of life)?

Isn’t the father always that which was?
Used-up years with their odd ways of thinking,
outmoded gestures, old-fashioned dress,
pale hands and ashen hair.

And while in his time he may have been a hero,
he is a leaf that, when we grow, falls away.
His caring is a nightmare to us,
his voice a stone.

We would like to heed his words,
but we only half hear them.
The big drama between us
makes too much noise
for us to understand each other.
We watch his lips moving,
shaping sounds that die away.

We feel endlessly distant,
though we are endlessly bound by love.
Only when we notice that he is dying
do we know he lived.

That is Father to us. And I–
I should call you Father?

That would open a gulf between us.

You are my son.

I will know you
as one knows his only beloved child,
even when he has become a man,
an aging man.

You are the heir.
Sons are the heirs, who come after,
while fathers die.
Sons stand and bloom.

You are the heir.

— — —

Ich will dir Liebe geben.

Liebt man denn einen Vater? Geht man nicht,
wie du von mir gingst, Härte im Gesicht,
von seinen hülflos leeren Händen fort?
Legt man nicht leise sein verwelktes Wort
in alte Bücher, die man selten liest?

Fließt man nicht wie von einer Wasserscheide
von seinem Herzen ab zu Lust und Leide?
Ist uns der Vater denn nicht das, was war;
vergangne Jahre, welche fremd gedacht,
veraltete Gebärde, tote Tracht,
verblühte Hände und verblichnes Haar?

Und war er selbst für seine Zeit ein Held,
er ist das Blatt, das, wenn wir wachsen, fällt.
Und seine Sorgfalt ist uns wie ein Alp,
und seine Stimme ist uns wie ein Stein, –
wir möchten seiner Rede hörig sein,
aber wir hören seine Worte halb.

Das große Drama zwischen ihm und uns
lärmt viel zu laut, einander zu verstehn,
wir sehen nur die Formen seines Munds,
aus denen Silben fallen, die vergehn.
So sind wir noch viel ferner ihm als fern,
wenn auch die Liebe uns noch weit verwebt,
erst wenn er sterben muß auf diesem Stern,
sehn wir, daß er auf diesem Stern gelebt.

Das ist der Vater uns. Und ich – ich soll
dich Vater nennen?
Das hieße tausendmal mich von dir trennen.

Du bist mein Sohn.

Ich werde dich erkennen,
wie man sein einzigliebes Kind erkennt, auch dann,
wenn es ein Mann geworden ist, ein alter Mann.

Du bist der Erbe.
Söhne sind die Erben,
denn Väter sterben.
Söhne stehn und blühn.

Du bist der Erbe.

Rainer M Rilke, Das Buch von der Pilgerfahr (The Book of Pilgrimage), II,5 – II,9, 1901.

POSTED 29.11.10 BY: grace | Comments (21)

Podcast: The Challenge of Mission and Formation to Fresh Expressions of the Church of the Catholic and Contemplative Traditions

In October 2010, Ian Mobsby gave this recorded paper to the gathered Fresh Expressions Roundtable Number 5 for the promotion of Fresh Expressions of the Catholic and Contemplative Traditions at Lambeth Palace. This paper addresses the subject of the Challenge of Mission and Formation with Fresh Expressions of the Church.

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POSTED 01.11.10 BY: ianmobsby | Comments Off

Ancient Faith Future Mission: New Monasticism and Fresh Expressions of Church

ancientfaithfuturemission2.jpg

In December 2010, the long awaited second book in the series Ancient Faith Future Mission is published in the UK by Canterbury Press on the whole area of New Monasticism and Fresh Expressions of Church.This book will have chapters from Shane Claiborne, Tessa Holland, Graham Cray, Andy Freeman, Diane Kershaw, Ian Mobsby, Ray Simpson, Ian Adams, Tom Sine, Philip Roderick, Mark Berry and Abbot Stuart Burns.

In this podcast Ian Mobsby reads an extract from his contribution to the book. There will be two launch events in January 2011 for the book, the first in London and the second we hope in Manchester. Information on both will be put on the Fresh Expressions website, and New Monasticism Network site

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POSTED 26.10.10 BY: ianmobsby | Comments (1)

An Evening with Dave Tomlinson – Re-enchanting Christianity

On Weds 11th November 7.30pm onwards, we welcome Dave Tomlinson to talk and discuss his influential new book, re-enchanting Christianity. This book which came out this year, has influenced a lot of us in the Moot Community.

This discussion will be part one of two gatherings, one now, and one in January looking at different aspects of Dave’s book.

We are currently exploring how to develop relationships further between St Lukes and Moot, as there is much we share in common.

Venue: The Spirituality Centre, Lombard Street, London.

POSTED 10.11.09 BY: admin | Comments (7)

Nailing colours to the mast (a debate on Piracy)

OK, there’s a rather interesting debate going on in the blogosphere at the moment sparked off by a series of posts from Kester Brewin.

He’s taken the idea of Piracy, and how it can apply as a motif for a number of things in the Church. I won’t delve into it deeply here – I really recommend that you read it for yourself, as it’s a great concept that gets you thinking about a number of issues, and there are some nice ideas that lie behind the central motif.

However, shortly after, Richard Sudworth wrote a great critique of Kester’s position. I thought Richard’s critique was really helpful, and if you follow down the comments, you can see my responses.

Although the debate is a really healthy one, I do have a worry. My concern is that by disagreeing, I’ve just given more ammunition to people who don’t like what Kester and Pete Rollins are doing, and especially to people who don’t like the emerging church idea. This was never my intention – I see it more as a healthy disagreement amongst friends, and I thought it was important for Richard to bring out a different light on the matter. It’s certainly not about “taking sides”.

Anyway, since then, Jonny Baker, Mark Berry and Maggi Dawn have all commented on their own blogs, and now, finally Pete Rollins has written a response.

Pete’s response is good, because he articulates his position well on a number of points, and clarifies things on the debate. It’s a good post for people like myself who don’t always have time to read as much they want to, and his post simplifies things succinctly. I recommend a read.

I don’t actually like rum very much, but Yo Ho Ho anyway.

[UPDATE]

The debate continues apace! But it has probably now settled down a little to something resembling an ending:
First, Richard Sudworth delivered a riposte
Second, Ben Edson chipped in
Lastly Pete Rollins responds again.

Some very good thinking going on here, and I’m very grateful for all those who contributed to the debate.

POSTED 23.09.09 BY: admin | Comments (2)

A trouble with King and Kingdom

One of the issues that I think we need to think about if we are seeking to promote Christianity in the context of the world we live, is our language.  The parables of Christ, are for me, extremely important in enabling those who are exploring Christianity to imagine or re-imagine how the narratives and stories of Christianity have resonance with their own lived narrative.  However the language Christ uses at his most radical and metaphorical (which normally expresses profound counter-cultural meaning) BUT through the language of KINGSHIP and the now but not fully yet KINGDOM.  Now King is for me quite an anachronistic concept.  Such language then brings the nuance of something out of date, or past its ‘sell-by date’.  The glorification of dictator, or at the top of a hierarchical power structure, at a time when people mistrust power structures.  When I have attempted to use the language of God or Christ as King, then it has reinforced meanings because of our cultural context, of autocratic parent, uncaring landlord, not-to-be-trusted power person.

Equally, the wonderful vision of the new inclusive Kingdom, where the poor and powerless and excluded become the focus of God’s intentions politically and socially. What we often call the ‘upside down kingdom’.  But Kingdom – brings contextual meanings of who is in and who is out around immigration and citizenship.  Kingdom’s rather than republics tend to be more controlling of their citizens for example.

So what language do I use?  What is a culturally accessible metaphor to use for KING and KINGDOM. I have for example been used the language of PARLIAMENT and the SPEAKER.  Where those who are in Parliament were the poor and excluded, where the Speaker who serves the assembly – is an interesting metaphor for God.  Or the biblical image of the garden instead of Kingdom and Gardner instead of King. The problem for me, is that Garden and Gardener are great when you want to use creation/environmental metaphors, but what political metaphors can we use that express a God who chose powerlessness to overturn the powers and calls us to be in a society of God that seeks to empower by having completely counter-cultural values.  This is our quest in a post-christendom post-secular post-modern culture…

So – we need to be very attentive to our language… It is not ok to assume that the stories in the bible come without potential contextual sensitivity.


POSTED 27.01.09 BY: admin | Comments (7)

Phenomenology, Theology, Liberation & New Forms of Church

Just before you think I have been smoking something rather illegal by pursuing such a grand title, I want to start by saying I have had a period of enforced isolation following an operation, so I have been reading and reflecting on a number of things. So I want to paint a picture that connects these big titles above, and No, I am now off the codeine pain relief, so I am now feeling more coherent.

Some in the whole Emerging & Fresh Expressions scene are quite anti-theologial, which has always troubled me, partly because it can then predispose people to make the same mistakes as some of those who have come before us in their thinking and praxis. It is always better to be informed, even if you fundamentally disagree… At the same time, I want to challenge some involved in the particularly academic theological institutions, who look down on phenomenology and its related discipline of Pastoral Theology. Some see these two areas as weak cousins to their more illustrious and more academic relatives. I think this is fundamentally false and elitist and plainly wrong if this has any centredness around the life and activity of Jesus Christ which challenged such power related perspectives in his time.

So here goes … Phenomenology is an important perspective and discipline that has arisen out of philosophical thinking and in the social sciences, that now in a post-modern context, helps us to reframe and understand things drawing on human experience. “Phenomenology” comes from the Greek words phainómenon, meaning “that which appears,” and lógos, meaning “study.” Experience-led thinking was clearly very important to Emerging & Fresh Expressions of Church. I encountered much of this in the research I did in my book “Emerging & Fresh Expressions of Church”.

Theology – is important to an understanding of God – “Theology” meaning the study of God. In the Christian spiritual tradition, Theology & Phenomenology are intrinsically linked. Theology arises out of experience, but importantly out of communities in praxis not just on bright-spark charismatic individuals who work things out for themselves. Praxis here – is the idea of right action – about the discipline of exploring questions arising out of experience that connect to the humanities to then dialogue between these various insights (note dialogue is inherently about talking in community) to then work out what right action may be in response to the question. So this is a discipline in living, of right living (orthopraxis), not just of right thinking (orthodoxy) – which I argue has been a curse in the church which does a lot of thinking but not much action when and where it matters!! But, there is also a danger that contemporary culture can easily become post-society, where no one ever seems to think about responsibility for others and everything is centred on individual rights. As Jonathan Clark has said in his book ‘the republic of heaven’:

If theology arises out of experience, is there any stopping point before we reach theologies that are constructed by each of us individually? If not, is there such a thing as the Church at all – what do we have in common? It’s a possible extreme case of what Catholics have always accused Protestants of – allowing the theology of private opinion to take precedence over the Church’s tradition.

He then goes on to say: Part of an answer to this criticism may rest in the concept of praxis … Liberation theologies therefore depend not on an individual experience but on that of a group, within the social and economic context in which it is placed. Theology happens, moreover, in the interaction of the community with its context: it’s not something restricted to books and lecture theatres. So when a group of oppressed people concretely refuse to accept their oppression, theology is happening. For those people, new truths about God are being enunciated as much through action as through their reflection [and thinking].

I think Jonathan Clark is spot on here. I want to argue that many emerging & fresh expressions of church are trying to seek forms of spiritual community with this phenomenological, communitarian, participation and liberationist focus, (where this liberationist focus is usually articulated in the form of economic, social and ecological justice) in the face of the force and perceived oppression of the global market, unrestrained forms of global capitalism, obscene forms of individualism, the return of a dominant class system and new forms of under classes, poverty and increased deprivation. This I think is particularly true at the moment in the global credit crunch, which was driven by capitalist greed. The language of liberation and justice is increasingly being used.

What worries me a little about some new post-church initiatives is that they are often very individualistic with a dominant monolithic ideology, which starts by saying everything that was before is wrong and now we have got it right, (I don’t believe any faith can be monolithic if it is centred on collective experience). Often, where there is a leader who is very charismatic, and a powerful arbiter. These initiatives have a lot of energy, but often have very little to do with community, praxis and liberation. The little books I have written, particularly the last, “the becoming of G-d” I hope is an articulation of what the Moot Community has been exploring for the last six years. I hope it is not about my thinking, more an articulation of the insights and thinking of a community founded on shared phenomenological activity and a theology arising out of experience of God. Contrary to the language coming from some, I don’t think we need ‘revival’ or a ‘continuation of the reformation’ or a new expression of church to ‘finish off the reformation that the church did not complete in modernity’. These somewhat hard and radical voices seek to build a contextual church, by seeking purity out of plurality of thought by the language of ‘opposition’ and ‘competition’. I think this thinking is bankrupt in our now post-Christendom context. We don’t need a continutation of reformed theology for postmodern times, we need to find an authentic expression of the Christian faith centred on liberation not competition.

So increasingly, the focus of new forms of church, (from my perspective), needs to be that they can be experienced as life giving, enabling, loving, caring and places of belonging and liberation. It is not about being ‘Cool’ or the next new ideology to consume, or about having the best technologically driven alternative worship. The world has had quite its fill of ‘Cool’ people and new ideologies that have not brought lasting change. We need forms of community that dream big dreams centred on the values of the Kingdom of God. I hope Moot grows into this type of profound places of humanity, where the Christian faith can be experienced as a liberating event that enables people to find their common humanity, in a world that is driven by power, competition and consumption. So liberation has to be a key focus to emerging & fresh expressions of church, if they are stand any chance of reflecting the values of the Kingdom of God Christ exposed through the ancient world, and which we are called to love and act on now.

So to conclude, rather than being anti-theological, I hope Emerging & Fresh Expressions of Church increasingly seek to reframe theology to make it life giving, and that this will therefore need to draw on a Kingdom perspective, centred on liberation and experience, where we have a high view of seeking shared solutions and a communal phenomenology. Where we seek not to ‘win’ so that others ‘lose’ but as liberation theologies say, we seek to change the goal posts, to reframe things, to have no losers where all call share in the good things in life, where we have rights and responsibilities for all. If we hold this perspective, then our Society may look differently on the life and work of Christ, because after all, was this not what he was about?

POSTED 11.01.09 BY: admin | Comments (2)

The Becoming of G-d: What the Trinitarian nature of God has to do with Church and a deep Spirituality for the Twenty First Century

I am pleased to say, that at last, the book is available for purchase at £9.95 through YTC Press. This, my second book, seeks to explore the theology behind groups like Moot, Emerging & Fresh Expressions of Church. It looks at the whole issue of knowing G-d through experience, and that the concept of the Trinity, formulated through the Cappadocian Mothers & Fathers, is a best guess understanding of the nature of God, which though partially revealed in Christ, remains mystically out of reach. However, the Western church, through the differences of latin and greek texts, never fully understood the concept of the Trinity, which has distorted its theology and practice.

I explore the importance of this understanding of God in the context of our postmodern culture driven under the logic of consumption and information technology, which drives a new form of cultural mysticism. In this brave new world, the importance of church reflecting the Trinitarian nature of God as ‘mystical communion or community’ becomes an imperative. Finally, I explore the difficult challenge of building community in a culture which is loosing its interpersonal skills to the cult of the individual.

So it should be a good read!!

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POSTED 14.05.08 BY: admin | Comments (4)

New Forthcoming Book: The Becoming of G-d

Pleased to say that after quite a gruelling process, my first book is well on the way to being published. The full title is:

The Becoming of G-d: What the Trinitarian nature of God has to do with Church and a deep Spirituality for the Twenty First Century

In this book I have taken the concepts of my first book on the practice of emerging and fresh expressions of Church, and explored them in more detail and in wider application. I explore how a deeper understanding of the Trinity birthed through the early Cappadocian Church writers helps us reimagine the nature of God through a more apophatic reading. Further, I explore how the Church is called to reflect this nature of God in its form and function. In this way the Western Church is freed from its limited understanding of the Trinity, (the unfortunate Achilles heel of St Augustine’s interpretation) releasing the Church to be more pioneering, fresh and engaging through a better understanding of the Trinity, and in particular, the person of the Holy Spirit.

As G-d becomes as a continuing event through human history this God reframes who we are and what Church is called to be. We are all on a journey of ‘individual human-becoming’ and the Church as a ‘transformative event of God’s love and action’. In this way we have rediscovered an ancient:future expression of the Christian faith and church in an Age of New Mysticism.

I particularly explore the high view of ‘community’ held in emerging churches, in an age where being in community is hard to sustain and counter cultural. In fact many do not have the interpersonal skills to choose to live this way even if they wanted to. I therefore address how many emerging churches border on being therapeutic communities for the humanisation of its members inspired by a God who models loving interdependence.

The book also includes images, poems, stories and reflections by contributors from the Emerging Church in the UK, Ireland and the USA including work by our own Michael L Radcliffe and Moot friend Padraig Twomey. The book is to be published by YTC Press in Cambridge, and all proceeds go towards the work of Moot. I will be promoting the book on a tour of the US and Canada in June that looks to be including:

- New York, Buffalo, Denver, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver

The book will be available for order soon in the US & UK through YTC Press.

POSTED 29.02.08 BY: admin | Comments (3)