are you trying to sell me something?

16-17Jesus followed up. "Yes. For there was once a man who threw a great dinner party and invited many. When it was time for dinner, he sent out his servant to the invited guests, saying, 'Come on in; the food's on the table.'
18"Then they all began to beg off, one after another making excuses. The first said, 'I bought a piece of property and need to look it over. Send my regrets.'
19"Another said, 'I just bought five teams of oxen, and I really need to check them out. Send my regrets.'
20"And yet another said, 'I just got married and need to get home to my wife.'
21"The servant went back and told the master what had happened. He was outraged and told the servant, 'Quickly, get out into the city streets and alleys. Collect all who look like they need a square meal, all the misfits and homeless and wretched you can lay your hands on, and bring them here.'
22"The servant reported back, 'Master, I did what you commanded— and there's still room.'
23-24"The master said, 'Then go to the country roads. Whoever you find, drag them in. I want my house full! Let me tell you, not one of those originally invited is going to get so much as a bite at my dinner party.'"
Luke 14:16-24 (The Message)

This parable came to life tonight! Tonight at BSM we hosted the monthly "No Barriers Dinner," which is basically a FREE dinner party for the city!  We had live music, GREAT food cooked by our resident chef, and full service from volunteers and staff.  The point is to experience a meal shared by people from ALL walks of life.

So how did we work this out?  Like the end of this parable, about 5 of us literally walked the streets of center city during rush hour today to invite people to our feast, our banquet!  What we hoped was for everyone to be like Elf in the clip above (at 0:14).  However, as we all know how humanity operates, it was not that easy.

You all know the drill: you see someone handing something out so you plot your course to avoid them at all costs.  It was interesting to be on the other end of things this time.  So who was the hardest sell?  Can you guess?  The people who avoided us the most was none other than the white, older, business suit, men.  I imagine you could have guessed that.  It was a little more surprising in the moment...how many of them wouldn't even make eye contact with us when we spoke up to invite them to a FREE dinner party.  Beyond this, it was actually a lot of fun inviting everyone else to our party.  For the most part: young and old, male and female, homeless and not homeless were very receptive and grateful to the idea.  I'm not sure how many actually came, but at the end of our flyering trip, it felt like the experience itself made enough of an impact on us and hopefully them.

The dinner party itself was great, mostly a larger version of our usual sunday and wednesday night meals.  There was a very rich diversity of people, all mixed up where they were sitting.  People that usually avoided one another on the street were actually talking!  What a beautiful parable moment this was!

I strongly urge this idea be tried by churches, particularly ones where homeless and hungry can easily walk to.  Try to have fellowship with a group that is less homogenous.  It's a beautiful foretaste and realization of the kingdom!

Emerging?

There is a LOT of talk going around about what is known as the Emerging Church.  I have read some on it and have had some interest in the area.  Broad Street is considered by many to be an "emerging church."  However, I have noticed that many at Broad Street cringe when that word is even mentioned!

Interestingly enough, today a very nice religion professor came in to speak to Bill, the founding pastor, about his thoughts on this movement.  What ensued was a very enlightening conversation that helped set a lot of my thoughts on this movement in line.  I now share some of my thoughts post-that conversation.

I have taken a keen interest in "the emerging church" strictly on the basis of the grounds for conversation, which is: a conversation based on how the Spirit is calling the church to respond to the postmodern culture.  A common belief that I tend to resonate with is that the modern institutional church has grown stagnant in many areas, including, losing its prophetic voice to the world, losing the rich creativity and diversity once found in traditional worship, and its openness to be constantly transformed by the Spirit...to name a few.  I have heard it described as a means to balance the aims of the "contemporary church" movement with the roots of the "traditional church" founding.  So this is where the conversation starts.

If you haven't clicked the link to the wikipedia article above, please do so.  Understand it?  I can't either!  Just notice how many references there are!

Therein lies the problem and beauty with this conversation.  The problem is that many many pastors, authors, seminary students, and others have used this conversation as a chance to become experts on the "new thing." There are a lot of egos out there writing on this subject and telling people how they can create an "emerging church." Wait...wasn't this just a de-constructing conversation?  Since when did we start constructing again?  These writers have taken this in all different directions.  Don't get me wrong - there is beauty in this, as I mention.  The beauty is that people are openly talking about where they think the Spirit is calling the church.  Why aren't we doing this more often?  As we carry on with old traditions, we lose sight of new opportunities that arise.  We also turn away the people who are looking for a new prophetic word from God or a new way to connect to the needs of the community.

Another issue with this movement is something Bill has often mentioned.  The emergent church conversation is an ecclesiological movement (about how we do church) and not a theological movement (what we believe).  Now these two are very much related.  Of course there is theology to how we do church.  However, the point is that we should aim to keep our theological grounding in the reformed tradition.  The emergent church conversation aims to re-evaluate these deeply held beliefs to explore new ways of expression that better serve as a response to our postmodern culture.

So back to this whole cringing at the thought of Broad Street being an "emerging church."  I'm with them there.  There's no need to label ourselves here, especially as something that is meant to be deconstructive of such labels!  However, I do believe that Broad Street is faithfully attempting to answer the issues faced by the struggles and stagnancies of the greater church.  Please note that I'm not singling out one church, nor am I rejecting my upbringing in the traditional church.  But rather, I'm bringing up notions, as mentioned earlier of:  losing a prophetic voice to the world, losing a rich creativity and diversity once found in traditional worship, and an openness to be constantly transformed by the Spirit.  I recognize Broad Street is in a VERY unique situation, as a young church community with a very high ceiling for experiencing revolutionary experiments in being church.  However, this doesn't mean that we can't at least TALK about these things more in the institutional church!

I raise a few questions not to lead any sort of agenda or answer any questions, but rather to encourage dialogue.  These are questions that I wrestle with myself.
WHAT defines church?  WHAT is the point of having "members"?   WHAT defines a successful church?  HOW can a church be prophetic?  WHO is the church excluding?  WHY do we worship the way we do?  WHAT could be different?

These kind of questions could dumbfound a session..."WHY would you even ask these things!  We've been doing just fine.  We're growing in numbers and having very meaningful worship services, what else needs to be done?" Even talking about change is a difficult thing to do sometimes when it calls us to ask questions that aren't always so 'decent' or 'in order'.

Just remember, Jesus asked the hard questions too!  It's all about the conversation.


P.S. one final critique about the most popular expressions of the "emergent church" movement that I have often heard and it has really rung true since I've been at Broad Street...have you ever noticed the demographic makeup of who these people are?  Hint: I fit the mold perfectly (minus a goatee):

Dialogue With God

Numbers 11 was our lectionary text for the week.  What a thrilling read that is!

I had the opportunity to lead the weekly Bible study, aka "no holds barred Bible study," on Wednesday.  The only rules are:
1. Be honest
2. Be humble
3. Be hospitable
4. Don't talk with your mouth full
After communal dinner, a group of 10-20 people gather to discern the lectionary text for the week.  What is unique about these Bible studies is the rich diversity.  The makeup of the group can't be explained as it is often a very equal mix of poor, rich, young, old, and different ethnicities.  What this leads to is a VERY rich discussion, as you hear interpretations that you often miss.  Having a poor person speak of what struggle means to them can rock your world.

Anyway, Numbers is a difficult text.  What we got out of chapter 11 was a story of God's spirit sending aid to complaining Israelites through chosen elders.  This spirit also falls upon 2 others in the camp who prophesy, at which Moses responds in disgust that people are offended that the spirit could fall on others less "qualified." I asked the people to relate themselves to people in the story and had a wide variety of responses of relating to the ones complaining, the ones feeling burdened, the ones feeling like leaders behind the scenes, etc.

This Sunday, Rev. Bill took a different angle to the text by focusing on the complaints of the Israelites and the tenacity of Moses to argue with God about it.  He spoke of the significance of this dialogue with God, being honest about struggles and complaints, all the while recognizing our place and our true needs vs. wants.

Beyond this, I had a busy week of meetings!  As I begin to discern what my specific role will be at this place, I am doing my best to learn how the wheels turn around here.  It is looking like a big chunk of my responsibilities will revolve around connecting with prospective volunteers to Broad Street programs.  Basically, I'll be doing a LOT of coffee dates and phone conversations to reach out to people pastorally, all the while discovering their gifts, needs, and how they will fit into the structure of things at Broad Street!  Easy right?

Exciting things coming up, I'll try to post as best as I can!  Things happen so fast around here it's hard to catch up with it all!

By the way, here's an image of the worship space at BSM, with the windmills and prayer cards turned into origami birds.  I'll leave the interpretation up to you!

peace,
Mike

Living in Babel

So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth. Genesis 11:8-9

This Bible story, about the Tower of Babel, has been used to describe how people were scattered across the earth with different languages. This passage was used Tuesday morning, as Broad Street led worship for the meeting of the Philadelphia presbytery. Jud Hendrix was our preacher. He is the founding pastor of Covenant Community Church, a new PC USA church development often labeled with the loaded term "emergent church." In his sermon, he reminded us that the story of Babel teaches us that God wanted diversity. God didn't want us to live comfortably within our own cities and towers. God came down and messed everything up for a reason! God wants us to live in "babble." When Jud reached this point, he said that he had planned to explain where to go from here. However, he realized in that moment that he would be giving specifics that may lead to "building a tower," so he stopped, mid sermon. I've never experienced a sermon done so purposely that way, leaving the congregation hanging in thought. He left us with the idea that God wants us to live in babble, and it is up to us through the work of the spirit to navigate through this.

The Pentecost story was our other text, which is often used in paradigm to the story of Babel. In this story, the church gathers, is filled with the Holy Spirit, and begins to understand one another, despite the fact that they speak other languages. Looking at these two stories, we realize that the Holy Spirit gives us what we need to be the church, it is not something we build ourselves. Like Bill and many others said that morning (quoting Brueggemann), we live in a myth of scarcity. We are so worried about our "cities" and "brick and mortar," that we miss what it means to be the prophetic church in the here and now.

Out of this sermon, we went into a practice that was unusual for Presbytery meetings. We met in small groups! In these groups, we talked about the "towers" in our churches - the things that we work on that end the end are worth nothing. My particular group discussed all the debates around money and building management. They were all united in the mindset that way too much time is spent on these areas, which distracts the church from its purpose of being more deeply engaged in the community around. From here, we moved on to assure one another of God's provision and bless one another in being more attuned and committed to the working of the Holy Spirit.

Worship that day was extremely moving. Besides these wonderful moments, we had a powerful liturgical dance, the choir that shook things up as usual, and an artistic confession of faith that included people attaching written confessions onto a poster board cross. Many of the 300 plus gathered for Presbytery that day were shaken and moved. I hope that others can find the time and ability to explore such possibility and freedom in worship.

Now...what have I been up to?

This past week has been very hectic! I'll give a brief run-down.

Last Wednesday, Tony Campolo and Shaun Casey led a conversation on the changing face of evangelical politics, which was very interesting.

Thursday, got to experience the season premiere of It's always sunny in Philadelphia in a bar! It was awesome.

Friday, I got to hang out with my good friends Gabe, Sarah Beth, and Lindsay around the city.

Saturday, we hosted the annual Block Party, an event for University of the Arts students in center city. We had food, games, and music!

Sunday, I worshipped at Arch Street Presbyterian, where Rev. John Galloway preached a powerful sermon about the power of the Holy Spirit. We worshipped that evening at Broad Street as usual.

Ok. Sorry for the long recap. I'll attempt to post more often as to not have to load up my blog with these details!

Peace.

fashioning a new church?

I had a very unique opportunity today to sit in on an administrative commission meeting set up to breathe new life into Arch Street Presbyterian Church. The commission spent a lot of time discussion “strategic imperatives,” or basically, what is it that this church should do to be what we hope it to be. In other words, they were discussing what the ideal situation for this church would be. (in case you missed the earlier post on what's going on, Arch Street Pres literally was dissolved after losing almost all its members amidst crumbling walls, a dissolved session, and a crumbling budget. This is a very sad situation, yet hopeful in that there are many who hope for a new life for this church. The administrative committee was set up by Presbytery to set up a new form for this church.)

This opportunity is very unique because most churches never take time to have these conversations about their hopes and dreams for what they can be. Often times churches are understandably unable to due to existing structures and customs that work well. Although you can’t always just fashion a new church from the ground up, you can at least have conversations about your hopes and dreams for the sake of community development and church growth.

This administrative commission roughly discussed the following imperatives in their discussion:
I. Honor our legacy
II. Re-Imagine our identity
III. Call the community together in a spirit of inclusion and social justice
IV. Raising Christians up in the church to be disciples.

What's exciting is being able to think of how these areas will manifest themselves in the future. Well...exciting for us church nerds at least haha. Particularly for Arch Street: being in the MIDDLE of the business district, sharing a wall with the tallest skyscraper in Philly, brings millions of exciting possibilities for people during the work week from all walks of life and situations.

Thus I pose the question: If you could fashion a church from the ground up...what would you want it to look like?

Getting into the thick of it!

It's been over a week since I've been here in Philly and I'm finally starting to get the hang of life around here.

Sunday evening was my second worship service at BSM. I had been asked to lead the passing of the peace. Apparently there is a distinct effort to get newcomers involved in participating in worship as soon as possible! There is always a wide variety of participation, of people of all races and socio-economic class...a cool thing to witness! Then there was the choir. wow. They ROCKED the house. Basically, this gospel choir sings every other week and sings a wide variety of songs (they closed this evening with "we are family"). My instruction with leading the passing of the peace was to encourage everyone that peace comes from Christ and not within ourselves, so when we do this act it is a reminder to one another of the peace Christ gives us. It's a very big deal at the end of the service to greet as many people as possible.

Monday was a long day of preparing for the upcoming Philadelphia Presbytery meeting that will be held at Broad Street. Amidst the usual docket is a small group session we are planning. The idea, brought up by Broad Street leadership and affirmed by Presbytery leadership, is for the elders and pastors to have conversation with one another regarding their vision of the church, what they need to work on, and ways they can support one another in said visions. This is something that is pretty rare with Presbytery meetings, so I'm pretty excited to see what happens. It's a reminder of what I keep mentioning about needing to "risk and trust." We are so afraid of talking and doing what really matters, and instead doing what is safe. The purpose of this discussion is not to say "we're doing it right, you're doing it wrong," but rather to get people to simply TALK to one another about their visions for the church, where the spirit is calling them, and to start to seek new ways to live out this call!

In closing, I'm posing lyrics to a recent song by Derek Webb that has brought up a LOT of controversy. When you read these lyrics you may wonder why. Perhaps it will help to know that Derek Webb has been on a Christian recording label. When they heard this song, they refused to release the album. Correct me if I'm wrong, but out of this he has had to release this album on his own. I find the lyrics to be convicting, timely, and very significant for an artist as himself. I'm often skeptical about a lot of Christian artists and I am quite proud of Derek for stepping out of the safe bubble many find themselves in. These lyrics once again remind us to "risk and trust" as a community of faith:

What Matters More, by Derek Webb

You say you always treat people like you like to be
I guess you love being hated for your sexuality
You love when people put words in your mouth
'Bout what you believe, make you sound like a freak

'Cause if you really believe what you say you believe
You wouldn't be so damn reckless with the words you speak
Wouldn't silently consent when the liars speak
Denyin' all the dyin' of the remedy

Tell me, brother, what matters more to you?
Tell me, sister, what matters more to you?

If I can tell what's in your heart by what comes out of your mouth
Then it sure looks to me like being straight is all it's about
It looks like being hated for all the wrong things
Like chasin' the wind while the pendulum swings

'Cause we can talk and debate until we're blue in the face
About the language and tradition that he's comin' to save
Meanwhile we sit just like we don't give a shit
About 50,000 people who are dyin' today

Tell me, brother, what matters more to you?
Tell me, sister, what matters more to you?

New Beginnings

Our weeks of orientation have been a whirlwind!  We have been meeting new people constantly.  Wednesday night, we concluded our day of meetings by attending dinner and Bible study, which was attended by a wide demographic of people.  Studying Scripture and praying with people who are homeless or suffering in some form is a very insightful experience.  We were able to hear their needs and what is important to them.  Beyond this, their interpretation of scripture was very enlightening for those of us who have grown up in privilege.

Thursday morning was spent learning about the second place us seminary interns will be working: Arch Street Presbyterian.  Never before have I been in a place where you feel like you’re back in the 1700’s, then can step through a door and appear somewhere in the future.  Arch Street Pres is an OLD Presbyterian church in the heart of the city.  To be more specific, it shares a block with the TALLEST building in Philadelphia – the Comcast Center.  Basically, 2 years ago, Comcast started building this skyscraper and learned they were unable to touch the church as it was a historical landmark.  So, they’ve built AROUND it, adding a glad atrium and elevator to the church in order to separate it from the Comcast center.  It is really an odd sight!

So beyond the appearance of Arch Street Pres is a distinct example of what happens to a church that is too concerned for it’s own survival to risk anything (See earlier post).  The congregation had dwindled down to a worshipping congregation around 10 people.  The session had 7 people.  Now I know many churches that are about this size and I mean no disrespect to small churches by any means.  However, there is something quite unusual about a church in the middle of downtown, next to the largest skyscraper in the city, with a large sanctuary, that struggles to get more than 10 people in worship.  Anyway, Bill, the minister of Broad Street, was approached to help revive this church.  Eventually, the Presbytery had to come in to help shape the vision of the place.  So around a year later, this church is starting to get a glimpse of new life, with Broad Street eyeing possibilities of renewal, a visionary minister, and seminary interns willing to make something happen!  The sky is the limit and it couldn’t be more exciting!

A week into my internship, I am gaining a sense of how things run around here.  Bill, our supervisor, made a point to express to us the importance of building relationships with co-workers in order to get anything done.  There are about 30 people working/volunteering at Broad Street, most are in their 20-30’s, and all are very close-knit group.  These friendships are what allow Broad Street to work how it does.  If someone has an idea, they all come together to figure out how to make it happen.  If we are going to be effective in this place, we must work on nurturing relationships with co-workers and all others who come into the doors of Broad Street.

More details later.  Please share thoughts!

Called to risk and to trust

Book of Order

G 3.0400  Called to Risk and Trust

The Church is called to undertake its mission even at the risk 

of losing its life, trusting in God alone as the author and giver of 

life, sharing the gospel, and doing those deeds in the world that 

point beyond themselves to the new reality in Christ. 

Today was an orientation day, which meant a lot of information packed into a few conversations throughout the day!  This was both tiring and exciting, as I was beginning to gain a better sense of what this place is all about!

I learned the true extent of the above book of order quote while hearing from the leadership staff about their impressions of broad street.  When an idea emerges to address an immanent need in the community - people jump on it immediately!  There are no sessions that debate an issue into the ground and eventually crumble into fear.  When there is a need to host 100 homeless people overnight during the bitter cold winter and provide warm drinks and soup, they put it together!  I'm not saying there are no discussions or thought put into these decisions, because there definitely is.  However, there is an assertive attitude around this place that says "let's risk and trust as Christ calls us." 

Sure, Broad Street Ministry is not technically a "church." It is a non-profit mission agency.  They don't worship on Sundays, they don't have elders, they don't host potluck suppers.  However, they make you ask yourself "what is a church?" They have a committed group of people (from homeless to wealthy) who come to worship on Sunday evenings, they have a pastoral staff committed to leading the vision of the ministry and providing pastoral care for those who need it, they are dedicated to proclaiming Christ in all that they do and say, and they are continually guided and led by Christ's call for the church to commit to social justice.  It sure looks and feels like a church!  I'm hoping I find a lot to learn from out of this place!

I think there's always a precarious balance between tradition and newness.  A community of faith MUST remain grounded in the reformed tradition which calls us to continually be guided by God-inspired scripture that has led our church fathers (and mothers!) to establish what we have today.  However, a community of faith MUST also be continually committed to the NEW things the Holy Spirit is calling us to each and every day.  

It is these new things that often demand we "risk losing our life" and "point beyond ourselves."  How can the church better live out this calling in the book of order?  I'm sure i'll be exploring BSM's answer to this question as I continue my work.  

What do you think?

Welcome!

Greetings friends and family! As of September 6, 2009, I am officially moved into my new apartment in downtown Philadelphia! I am living with 2 other seminary students and right below a married co-pastor couple who are overseeing our internship. Our place is in the Graduate Hospital neighborhood, not too far from Broad Street Ministry. It's a really neat part of town with a GREAT view of the skyline from our roof deck! You should come visit!

My role at BSM will most likely evolve as I get more involved. I will try to keep this blog as updated often as I journal my experiences. So far, it looks to be an amazing experience. This place actively explores what it means to "be church."

The title "psalms of the city" is the name of the prayer cards at BSM: "expressions of despair, hope, longing, gratitude, uncertainty, anger, and profound faith." These cards are written at worship and are prayed as voices of the community during the week.

Thanks for tuning in and please feel free to comment on anything!