c. scott andreas

We were invited to submit questions to shape the teaching and discussion.  One, Bell says, was written on a small piece of white paper:
“Is there hope?”
He mentioned that this question is…



(This post is published at Conversatio.net, Scott’s academic-ish site.)

corporate reading: we want the funk

See “Isn’t She Beautiful” coverage at http://www.conversatio.net.

( Mars Hill Bible Church, Grand Rapids, MI / Rob Bell )

I stumbled upon a Myers-Briggs personality test today. I took one while I was in 7th grade, but it came back negative (ha!).  Here’s how this one turned out:

You are an INFJ.

INFJs are gentle, caring, complex and highly intuitive individuals. Artistic and creative, they live in a world of hidden meanings and possibilities. Only one percent of the population has an INFJ Personality Type, making it the most rare of all the types.

Oh ho ho, thank you personality test! That’s exciting. Tell me more…

INFJs place great importance on havings things orderly and systematic in their outer world. They put a lot of energy into identifying the best system for getting things done, and constantly define and re-define the priorities in their lives. On the other hand, INFJs operate within themselves on an intuitive basis which is entirely spontaneous.

INFJs are concerned for people’s feelings, and try to be gentle to avoid hurting anyone. They are very sensitive to conflict, and cannot tolerate it very well. Situations which are charged with conflict may drive the normally peaceful INFJ into a state of agitation or charged anger.

It sounds like you know me…have we met?

Some INFJs report experiences of a psychic nature…This is the sort of thing that other types may scorn and scoff at, and the INFJ themself does not really understand their intuition at a level which can be verbalized.

(?) Not so much on that one. But I do see dead people. Better finish this one off.

Life is not necessarily easy for the INFJ, but they are capable of great depth of feeling and personal achievement.

Ha - I love it! “Life is not necessarily easy for the INFJ.” I feel like a creature on Nova or a superhero or something.

Potential career paths include “clergy / religious work,” “teacher / professor,” and “artist.” Oh, and “chiropractor.” I’m feeling pigeon-holed; I’ve been bouncing around the first three for quite some time now.

What’s your personality type?

St. Petersburg, FL is fighting a battle against the homeless – not against homelessness, as we might expect. The city had agreed to allow homeless individuals and families to set up tents under an overpass. However, the mayor’s office reneged on the deal yesterday, then authorized the police and fire departments to slash and destroy the tent community. The police then took the tents, leaving behind a torn and broken community.

Not only were these tents the legitimate property of their inhabitants, they were also their makeshift homes. The city gave no compensation for the tents. But to the officers’ credit, they were kind enough to dump their meager possessions onto the ground afterward.

“That’s all that’s left of it…They cut it all the way down…I just started crying. I don’t even know what to do about it. I don’t know where to go now. This is sick. This is really sickening, man. Why would people do that?”
- Viola Wilson, St. Petersburg resident.

Please watch the video. This will not be tolerated in the Kingdom of God.

Doug Varella and I are going to the “Isn’t She Beautiful” conference at Mars Hill next Monday and Tuesday. I’ll be blogging the event at http://www.conversatio.net.

If you’re going too, it’d be swell to meet up. Drop a comment if you’re game.

When I was a kid, I couldn’t wait for the newspaper to arrive in the afternoon so I could read Calvin and Hobbes. Later, I was able to persuade my parents to let me buy a couple Calvin and Hobbes books at our school’s book fair (which I later found out were prohibitively expensive!).

One comic in particular jumped out at me. In a terribly rare moment of innocence, Calvin walked up to his dad and asked,” “Dad, how do soldiers killing each other solve all the world’s problems?”

That one really stuck with me. Perhaps there’s a more creative solution out there.

Consider that the inspiration for this desktop background:

click to enlarge

I originally posted this note in the Connexion Online forum.
I’m reposting it here - feel free to discuss!

Part of my celebration of MLK Day involved listening to a sermon delivered by the Reverend King about the role of the church as an advocate of creative non-violence and advocate for Justice (as opposed to a neutered pacifism).

Dr. King:

“A true revolution of values will soon look easily upon the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth with righteous indignation.”

One dollar can provide clean water for an African for a year, yet Americans alone consume 26 billion containers of bottled water each year (most of which cost about a buck). In the time that it’s taken you to read this far, someone in the world has died of hunger - yet 2/3 of Americans are considered overweight. In a bit of damning irony: Americans spend more
annually on trash bags than nearly half the world does on all goods.

Finally, just one percent of people in the world have a college education. Indeed, most of us are among the top one percent.

As a Christ-follower, how do you feel about the global disparity between the rich and the poor? Is it right? Is it consistent with Kingdom principles? And if not, what can we do about it?

Suffering under the oppression of the Roman empire, early churches would often fast as a community until they had enough food for all to share. The emperor Julian once said of these Christians, “They feed not only their own poor, but ours as well.”

Yet what concrete steps can we take to end this systemic injustice today? As comforting as it is to relax on my couch and watch my Tivo, I cannot escape the fact that the presence of Christ in our world is deeply disturbed. The Kingdom of God belongs to the hungry, the thirsty, and the homeless - indeed, it was “prepared for [them] since the creation of the world” (Matt. 25:31-46). Speaking of those who refused to serve “the least of these,” Jesus taught that they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

In the Kingdom of Heaven, the tables are turned. What sort of hells are people living in today, and how might God work through us to subvert these forces of injustice?

A quick note: I don’t think that a conversation about “salvation by faith” would be productive right now - most of us agree on the orthodox perspective affirmed by scripture. I’m interested in practicalities at the moment.

What sort of prophetic fire does this ignite within you? What are some imaginative ways we can respond? And how can we make a difference?

Some ideas:

- http://www.bloodwatermission.com
- http://www.cpt.org
- http://www.thesimpleway.org
- http://go.sojo.net/campaign/evangelicalsfordarfur

In a recent post at Organic Jesus, I wrote that I often find myself writing in the oppositional language protest and frustration. I do not mean to do so. Such writing merely reflects my utter lack of creativity and inability to navigate icy waters with care. I hope in time that God will grant me the peace and soundness of mind to move to a more productive place.

I’m currently reading Scot McKnight’s lecture “What is Emerging” delivered at Westminister Theological Seminary a few months ago. With great wit, fine analogies, and beautiful words, Dr. McKnight brings two Christian movements - evangelical and emerging - into conversation with one another (I use the word conversation deliberately).

My recent posts concerning Genesis 1 as a site of tug-of-war between the exegetes and storytellers can be read as the wordy result of the turmoil I experience when someone place their copy of Systematic Theology (any of ‘em) on a pedestal and says “end of discussion.” On page 24, McKnight writes:

“The emerging movement is suspicious of systematic theology. Why? Not because we don’t read such folks, but because (1) the diversity of theologies alarms us, (2) no genuine consensus has been achieved, and most importantly, because (3) God didn’t reveal a systematic theology but a Storied narrative and (4) no language is capable of capturing the Absolute Truth who alone is God. Frankly, the emerging movement loves ideas and theology; sometimes we sit down with its leaders and its participants and you’ll find that they love theology - they just don’t ‘have’ a [single, unified] theology and they don’t ’subscribe to’ a theology or ‘confess’ a theology. They believe the Great Traditions offer us ways of telling the truth about God’s redemption in Christ, but they don’t believe any one theology gets it absolutely right.”

When I speak highly of interpreting biblical narrative as an authoritative source for Christian thought and practice, there’s often a false dichotomy lurking quietly below the surface - it’s a question of “Genesis vs. Pauline epistles,” “story vs. narrative,” etc. That need not (and should not) be the case.

The moment we cease speaking to each other and excluding interpretive possibilities due to emotive reactions rather than calm, reasoned engagement in conversation with one another, we have failed to fulfill God’s dream for His church today.