Lost Themes of Mission - New Creation...

It has taken an unrelenting NT Wright to point that this great theme, which brings a framework of meaning and purpose, is present throughout scripture both in poetry and song and rich and dense theology but more significantly embodied by Jesus himself.

"There is a remarkable image in the closing pages of Scripture that has become a touchstone for the way my colleagues and I think about faith and culture..." writes Miroslav Volf in an article (The Church's great malfunction).

Amid its descriptions of the New Jerusalem, Revelation includes "the tree of life, bearing 12 crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations" (Rev. 22:2). The tree holds out hope that whole cultures will be healed and mended, becoming places where people can flourish. And it sets an agenda for faith as a way of life that contributes to that flourishing, in anticipation, here and now.

Brueggemann (Brueggemann. (2007: 161ff). Hope for the World. Louisville: Westminster)makes sense of the church's purpose to witness to God's intention through making sense of God's purpose of bringing the 'whole creation to well-being'. He points to the simple but effective premise that "Mission is Missio Dei; The action is God's action in mending creation; The hope is God's hope for a new creation". Brueggemann challenges the capacity of the people of God in mission to practice a hope that is rooted solely in God's own hope.

It has taken an unrelenting NT Wright to point out within contemporary theology that the theme of New Creation has routinely been ignored or at best marginalised. It has taken an unrelenting NT Wright to point that this great theme, which brings a framework of meaning and purpose, is present throughout scripture both in poetry and song and rich and dense theology but more significantly embodied by Jesus himself.

Back to Volf who points out that:

Karl Marx famously noted that religion—Christian faith, he primarily meant—is the "opiate of the people," a "downer" or depressant insulating them from reality and consoling them with a dream world of heavenly bliss. Marx missed the point that religion can often be an "upper," a stimulant that energizes people for tasks at hand. But the truth is that when Christian faith functions only as a soothing or performance-enhancing drug, that faith is, in fact, malfunctioning.

'I am a new creation' we used to sing with much gusto and natty guitar chords but now I discover that it represents one of those areas in scripture where the NIV lets its readers down with a bump. TNIV has corrected the error "if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come" has a very different emphasis to "if anyone is in Christ - he is a new creation". New Creation impacts our understanding of mission and invites the church, rather than malfunction, to take up its responsibility beyond introspection, as a 'counteractor of hope in every dimension of life', in doing so liberating creation from its bondage to decay (Romans 8:21) through showing God's abundance, justice, fruitfulness and God's vision of unity.

praxis of doing what is right...

While religion ever slides to the right and to the embrace of conservative ethics and politics, the bible remains a dangerous book calling us to ongoing conversation. That conversion is not simply the call to abandon our own pathetic and pitiful personal wrongdoing, but also involves a conversion from the social deformities that inhabit our soulscape. The idolatries of our time - control, consumerism, exploitation, militarism, narcissism - need to be expelled from our ways of thinking and acting, as much as the personal wrongdoing of greed, pride, lust and deception.

Because the themes of Scripture are cast in the framework of a God who loves generously, redeems holistically and seeks to transform us totally, we area called not only to stop doing certain wrongs, but are called to the praxis of doing what is right. Which then draws us into the purposes of the reign of God.

Ringma, C. R. (2003:122). Seek the Silences with Thomas Merton: Reflections on Identity, Community and Transformative Action. London: Spck Publishing.

tenerife...!

:o)

Officers' Councils 2009...

I thoroughly enjoyed making connections in my mind while at Swanwick for Officers' Councils while exploring the them of Kingdom Ambition. The sessions were all really stimulating in one way or another and very helpful as we looked for anchor points in understanding the Kingdom.

• I got thinking about the shift from selfishness to selflessness that scripture calls for and models.
• How grace is the framework for the alternative way of living that Kingdom is all about.
• How Kingdom Ambition is really to live as a conscious contradiction to the way of the world.
• How the Rich Young Ruler who sought to be perfect found maturity and completeness in moving out and beyond self.
• How Zaccheus moved from motives of self to that of hospitality and giving.

It was great to hear something of Booth's developing theology rather than hearing what for me has become an empty rallying call based on isolated quotes left outside of this theology. To hear something of the broadening of Booth's grasp of Salvation and its implication on Kingdom living shaping contemporary mission was heartening. I left wanting more.

Message from Malawi...

Dear Friends in the Army

Greetings from a very warm and sticky Malawi!

This year is a very special year in the history of The Salvation Army in Malawi. Next month the Command has its very first Commissioning (on 21/22nd). We have 14 cadets and one Envoy to be commissioned. The territorial leaders from the US Central Territory are coming as our special guests (at their expense). We are hiring the largest hall in Blantyre for the event; it seats over 3000. At the end of August we had a Command congress where over 2000 Salvationists travelled from all over the country to attend a 3-day festival of meetings. It was superb with a march of witness stretching down the dust road as far as the eye could see. I am attaching a picture.

The reason for writing is to seek a favour - quite a big one really. The Commissioning programme is going to cost MK125,000 to have printed. In round figures that's £500. I wondered if by writing to about 50 Salvationist friends we might elicit £10 each and cover our costs as we have no funds left for this item. We have prepared commissioning brochure (and would be happy to send you a copy if you can read MS Publisher files - or reduce it to a .pdf file). If you would be willing to support this request we can either suggest one person in the UK who would collect payments or suggest a UK account into which the money could be sent.


---

Anyone interested in trying to help - goffpaynegmailcom

Lost Lyrics - O for a deeper greater perfect faith

These simple words by Cornelie Booth caught me between the eyes recently. Simple but explosive if we take perfect to mean complete, full, whole rather than blemishless.

O for a deeper
O for a greater
O for a perfect trust in the Lord

Nice one Cornelie!

Unikely conversations...

It isn't everyday you have the Calvinism vs. Arminianism conversation in the foyer of a 'brothel'.

"So would you then be a Calvinist in your theology..?"

He caught me a little unawares. "No ... essentially we fall more on the Arminian side of things when it comes to pre-destination".

His eyes lit up, "so how do you equate that thinking with scripture which clearly suggests that once we are saved we are always saved. What do you do with Romans 8 for instance?" Our conversation over the next 15 minutes rolled backwards and forwards as we discussed the consequences 0f free-will and choice. I've had these conversations elsewhere, but there was something a little more memorable about this debate. It isn't everyday you have the Calvinism vs. Arminianism conversation in the foyer of a 'brothel'.

Dave became a Christian when he was a mercenary in the Congo and is the bouncer of one of the sauna's that Faith House reaches out to. It was Dave that complained to Estelle and pointed out it was all very good her team meeting with the girls but who came to see him. So as I get to know Dave I find that he is keen to talk theology, spirituality and discipleship with someone.

We left him watching a video on Youtube that the last session of cadets made for their commissioning; the soundtrack, a band march blared through the public spaces of the entire 'brothel' brought a certain and pertinent irony - 'The Liberators'.