Prodigal Kiwi(s) Blog

The Mystery and Gift of the Other – Seeing our Lives and Place in the World Afresh

Paul writes – One of the tremendous privileges of life is people allowing you someway into the mystery of who they are, the mystery and the complexity of their lives. Monday evening, this week, was one of those special moments, a chance to sit and listen, and a chance to be drawn a little way into another’s life and indeed, their perspective on life, the values that compel them, and the life stories and experiences that animate and shape them.

That this is a privilege, a gift if you like, is what makes these rare occasions precious. We are each a wonderful mystery – a mystery to ourselves, and also to others. Yet, on these occasions, the mystery that is the other, the mystery that is a little way opened to us, extends to us the possibility of healing, the possibility of seeing ourselves or some dimension of ourselves anew. Maybe too it offers the invitation to us to grow a little, to sink a little below the surface of our lives, and to deepen who we are?

Monday reminded me of that. Pip reminded me of that. 

One theme woven through that conversation was how we see the world and how we see our lives, particularly with respect to that which seems adverse and unfair. 

John O’Donohue in his wonderful little book Anam Cara: Spiritual Wisdom from the Celtic World reminds us of this as well. On pages 85-93 he reflects beautifully on vision – the ways in which we, sadly, so often see our worlds and those around us. He begins, “…Many limited and negative lives issue directly from… narrowness of vision” and then continues by describing what he terms “styles of vision”. For some of us we look a our world and those around us with “fearful eyes”- “all [we] see and concentrate on are things that can damage and threaten [us].” For others, or at other times, it’s “judgmental eyes” through which we see. We are always “excluding and separating”, and therefore “never see in a compassionate or celebratory way.” Through the eyes of judgement we give expression to the doubt and deep insecurity of our lives and are unable to see the nuances of truth and other persons through the lens of paradox.   

At other times, we see and engage our world through the “eyes of indifference”. “Nothing calls or awakens…” Indifference places us “beyond the frontiers of compassion, healing and love.” 

For some the eyes through which they see are the “eyes of resentment”. “Everything is begrudged. People who have allowed the canker of resentment into their vision can never enjoy who they are or what they have.” Who they are and what they have is never enough. They struggle to embody gratitude and to live in the present moment - a seeming lack of fulfillment or success in the past gives birth to future expectations of continued disappointment. 

Then of course, there are the “eyes of inferiority” – “everyone is greater; others are more beautiful, brilliant, and gifted than we are. 

And, most importantly, the eyes and vision so many of us long for are the “eyes of love”. “If we could look at the world in a loving way”, O’Donohue writes, “then the world would rise up before us full of invitation, possibility and depth.” The past would be gently accepted. “The loving eye”, he says, “can even coax pain, hurt, and violence [especially that we direct toward our selves] towards transfiguration and renewal.”  

Conversations like those I experienced on Monday gift to us the possibility of seeing differently, of seeing through the eyes of another, and in that process of changing our habitual ways of seeing and engaging our own lives and the worlds which we inhabit.

Why we should be thankful for Rowan Williams and his church of common sense

Paul writes - Over the weekend I finally got to have a look through Anglican historian and commentator Diarmaid MacCulloch's huge new book, A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years (1184 pages). It looks fascinating, is beautifully presented, and comes in at NZ$65; but I’m not sure I’ll get a copy, not because it wouldn’t be a great addition to any half-decent theological library (private or otherwise), nor because MacCulloch hasn’t done a very fine job, but because I doubt that I would ever read it in its entirety, and would likely only read a chapter or two. I appreciate history, but have never been a big reader of history and frankly this book has more pages than I would ever be able to read on the subject. A smaller tome that reflects accessibly, historically and theologically on contemporary ecclesial challenges would be a big help. We need the big picture and the back-story, but how big does that picture and back story need to be?

Perhaps Harvey Cox’s new book, The Future of Faith (256 pages) will offer a more accessible and practical way of bringing history and our contemporary context into conversation?

That said, I hope we get the BBC television adaptation of MacCulloch’s book here in NZ for purchase in due course. I will make a point of securing it and watching it. A more fruitful approach for me when it comes to history.

Meantime, here are some excerpts from MacCulloch’s Christmas newsletter to Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams, published in the Observer last Sunday (20/12/09) 

Dear Archbishop Rowan,

“Even though I'm not sending Christmas cards this year – ran out of time – you are not going to escape my seasonal circular letter. It is filled not with the record of my many achievements, holidays taken, operations survived and the GCSE results of my imaginary children, but instead has a few tidings of great joy, because you seem to need them at the moment.

You sounded a bit down the other day when you were talking to the Daily Telegraph, complaining that our government assumes "that religion is a problem, an eccentricity practised by oddities, foreigners and minorities". Well, the government is often right about that, so if I were you I wouldn't worry about it too much. I'd be more worried if the government didn't think religion was a problem...

...My third reason is the election of a bishop in a diocese of the American Episcopal Church in California who happens to be a lesbian. There's maturity for you. Faithful, seriously worshipping Christian folk have made a free decision in an open election that the best candidate for the job is a woman, who has shown by her decisions in life that fidelity, love and honesty are demanded by her practice of the Christian gospel.

...Meanwhile, I hope that you may rejoice at Christmas in this multiform church over which you so graciously and thoughtfully preside – give a welcome to the continuing unobtrusive and untrumpeted trickle of converts, not least from your sister church of Rome, join in the worship at one of your cathedrals, so packed to the gills, so well cared for and cherished as never before in their history, and enjoy the heritage of beautiful music that is one of the treasures of Anglicanism...

...The Christmas story may be expressed in biblical forms that are not very good history and which some of your congregations may find difficult to take literally, but Christmas music can sweep past the puzzles of words to celebrate a new human life, weak, vulnerable and humble, which is glorified precisely for that. You will know the saying of Thomas Aquinas, which a wise old Dominican friar once quoted to me over a great deal of Irish whiskey, that God is not the answer, he is the question. As long as your church, and all other churches, go on asking the question, they will never die.”

Diarmaid

You can read his full letter here. 

The Germs of Self Destruction…? Brian McLaren on Obama’s Oslo Speech

Paul writes – Michael Gorman drew my attention to a very useful little reflection by Brian McLaren. McLaren reflects on President Obama’s “Oslo speech”. 

Here’s an excerpt:

“…These conflicted thoughts of war and peace, naïveté and realism were churning in my mind a day or so after the speech as I walked through a plaza in Riverside, California. Who is more naïve, I wondered – those who believe violence can overcome violence, or those who believe violence always creates new and more complicated problems? By chance, at that moment in my musings I came upon a monument to Gandhi that stands between the city’s Convention Center and old mission. As I slowly circled the monument, it wasn’t the quotes from Gandhi that seized my attention, but rather this quote from General Douglas MacArthur:

In the evolution of civilization, if it is to survive, all men cannot fail eventually to adopt Gandhi’s belief that the process of mass application of force to resolve contentious issues is fundamentally not only wrong but contains within itself the germs of self-destruction.

It would be one thing if these words were spoken by an idealistic young candidate, a community organizer, a pastor, a poet, or a movement leader. But when a seasoned general from World War II – well beyond naïveté about either war or evil – makes a statement like this, one hopes that the rest of us will at least give his words a second thought…” 

You can read the whole post here. 

And, if you missed my earlier e-mail, I recommend listening to Brian McLaren being interviewed by Rachel Kohn in Australia in Nov 09. You can find it, and the transcript, here. Be quick though, the audio won’t be available for much longer. 

Spirituality and Recession…?

Paul writes - The latest issue (Summer 2009 – 2010) of Refresh Journal has been published and is also online as a PDF. This issue takes as its theme the Recession, and as Andrew Dunn, the editor, writes:

“...Looking at the articles and other material we include in this issue we are asking two basic questions without actually asking them! 

1. In the diagnosis of all that has happened, what human and spiritual values have gone astray and led to this situation?
2. As we think it through, reflect on it biblically and theologically, can we see ways ahead that are necessary, encouraging and hope-full? 

There are a broad range of very interesting articles / reflections, including an excellent essay by Kath Rushton RSN – Jesus and His Sermon 

Here’s an excerpt:

“…The external deserts arise from internal deserts, hence the vital importance of a religious reawakening of the interior dimension of individuals and peoples in order to build structures of grace and solidarity. The truth of the Sermon of the Mount contrasts a culture of affluence with a culture of inner freedom to create conditions for social justice…”

Insatiable Moon – It’s a Wrap!

Paul writes – If you haven’t been following The Insatiable Moon Story, or you haven’t checked in for a little while, can I encourage you to do so. Gareth Higgins has been beautifully capturing the heartbeat of this kiwi film-making story, its actors, production team and crew, who against the odds, have demonstrated, absolutely, over the last month and a bit that “they knew they could, they knew they could!” And, by the end of today, they will have. The filming will have been completed.   

“…At one stage the budget and interest was such that noted Scottish Indie film-maker Gillies MacKinnon was set to direct it, and James Nesbitt and Timothy Spall to appear alongside lead actor and Whale Rider star Rawiri Paratene.

Recession and lack of support on the home front - New Zealand Film Commission? - scuppered that particular permutation.

And the film, along with several years of hard labour, teetered on the brink of oblivion.  

But the constant support of Paratene, a British producer, and Mike's own dogged self-belief - the same that saw him make the prize-winning Dunedin short film Cake Tin on a wing and a prayer - meant they adjusted their sights, opted for a shoe-string budget, high-end digital technology and found the support of a number of professionals who believed that there is more to the film business than the business of films…” 

Read the rest of the Otago Daily Times editorial here.

Here’s three of Gareth’s posts that really moved me as I reflected on my own experiences of being on set and on my own understanding of the back-story – here, here, and here.

 The journey to-date has been a magical experience, and something very special will emerge in due course. As post-production work begins in 2010 naysayers and those unwilling to support the project will have a chance to review their decisions and do the right thing for New Zealand Film-Making and the widespread telling of New Zealand stories, profoundly human stories earthed in this land, in our experiences as a richly diverse people, and with the   grace and power to touch and engage the deep places of the human heart, the longing for this world to be a better place, and for our own lives and living to be more humanizing, hopeful, redemptive, meaningful, and whole.

We need movies like The Insatiable Moon on our big screens, and eventually being played on our televisions and home theatre systems. We need these stories skillfully and sensitively exported and brought into conversation with other equally rich stories of context, people,   community, relationship, subversion, dreams, hopes, mythology and archetype from around the world.

Well done to all who’ve been involved in “Moon” to this point. You’ve done something very special, which I guess that’s the natural outcome of the kinds of persons you each are, and of the rich and diverse range of skills and experiences you’ve been willing to share collaboratively with each other.

“Mission Control we have touchdown – we have landed the moon!”

Films Worth Entering Into…?

Paul writes – I’m always on the lookout for good movies, particularly those that you might want to describe as “independents”, “non-mainstream” and/or “foreign language”. James K. A. Smith is an occasional commentator on movies he’s seen, and having watched one or two, I now typically take notice.

Here are two recent ones he’s reflected on.

Wendy and Lucy (2008).

I’ve Loved You So Long (2008).

Feel free to send me an e-mail or leave a comment with your top 5-10 films watched (or re-watched) during 2009.

Mine would include:

• As a group I’d include the several films directed by Hayao Miyazaki (cf. Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, Porco Rosso).
• Doubt starring Philip Seymour Hoffman (I’d seen the play in Auckland 3-years ago).
• This Way of Life, a documentary Directed and filmed by Tom Burstyn.
• Men’s Group – “what lies in the hearts of men.” Directed by Michael Joy.
• The Wrestler, directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Mickey Rourke.
• Gran Torino, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood.
• The Visitor, directed by Tom McCarthy.
• Revolutionary Road, directed by Sam Mendes.
• 2046, directed by Wong Kar Wai.
• Volver, directed by Pedro Almodovar.

A Paradox of Courage: Doubt.

Paul writes – I was struck recently by the following passages (pp.13-14) from Rollo May’s wonderful 1975 publication The Courage to Create. May, who died in 1994 was the brother of Gerald G. May, and was an American existential psychologist. 

May, reflecting on one paradox of courage – doubt – writes: 

“…People who claim to be absolutely convinced that their stand is the only right one are dangerous. Such conviction is the essence not only dogmatism, but of its more destructive cousin, fanaticism. It blocks the user from learning new truth, and is a dead giveaway of unconscious doubt…”

And then, interestingly, he continues with this observation: 

“The person then has to double his or her protests in order to quiet not only the opposition but his or her own unconscious doubts as well.” 

He continues: 

“…The person with the courage to believe and at the same time to admit his doubts is flexible and open to new learning”, and I’d add, open to new depths of meaning and new vantage points from which to gain new or different perspectives.

“Commitment”, May writes, “is healthiest when it is not without doubt, but in spite of doubt. To believe fully and at the same moment to have doubts is not at all a contradiction: [rather] it presupposes a greater respect for truth, an awareness that truth always goes beyond anything that can be said or done at any given moment…” 

Leadership in Times of Change and Developing Change Leaders

Paul writes – Mike Crowl, writing from “the mainland”, recently pointed me to what sounds like a fascinating "leadership" read – Developing Change Leaders (US: Nov. 2009 / 318 pages / pb.) written by Paul Aitken and Malcolm Higgs. 

Mike writes:

“...In the latest NZ Institute of Management newsletter there's a short piece on some master classes held by visiting speaker, Paul Aitken (the author of Developing Change Leaders). Aitken calls the following ten points the 'dynamic capabilities' needed by change leaders.

1. Dealing with ambivalence – having the capacities to “wait and see”, keep an open mind and be comfortable with contradiction;
   
2. Accessing the diverse range of capabilities across the leadership team;
   
3. Creating a learning environment;
   
4. Future sense-making combined with strategic thinking which requires a strong external focus;
   
5. “Total” or authentic leadership – i.e., an ability to continually walk the talk;
   
6. Trans-cultural competence – an awareness that one size doesn’t fit all;
   
7. Relational skills – the ability to coach;
   
8. Dialogue skills – or process consulting;
   
9. Emotional intelligence;
   
10. The ability to manage the high quality performance challenge, culture and dialogue.

Aitken says, “If people can’t relate well or have quality conversations with people, then they’re not going to be leading anyone.” Church leaders, take note!”

Thanks Mike; that was a useful distillation of some key themes in relation to leadership at this point of time and on into the future.  

You can find a 15 minute radio interview (can be listened to online or downloaded as an Mp3) here. Gill South offered a few thoughts on Aitken’s understanding of leadership here in a NZ Herald story (14/12/09). 

Churched – DeChurched - UnChurched

Paul writes – I love these three strap lines that Jonny Baker drew attention to in this recent post:

“…They have then developed some postcards to let people know about St. Luke’s but in three designs - one for church people, one for dechurched and one for unchurched with the following strap lines:

• Churched - welcome to St. Luke’s on the high street your local Anglican church.
  
• Dechurched - disillusioned with church? You’re not alone
• Unchurched - not interested in church? Neither are we in the ways you are probably thinking about church…”

The whole post is worth a read. It’s good for developing the missional imagination.

The Insatiable Moon and Frugal Film Making

Paul writes – Violaine has been posting a few thoughts on The Insatiable Moon and so-called “Frugal Film-Making”.

The filming of the ultra low-budget Insatiable Moon is an experiment; some might say risky experiment in “frugal film-making”. This reality didn’t escape me in early conversations with Director and Screenwriter/NZ Producer, as they had to make a number of significant and very important decisions around the approach to be taken in the filming of The Insatiable Moon. 

I only came across the term this year when I had the privilege of reading an all too short paper on the subject – a manifesto if you like – by Director of Photography (DoP) on The Insatiable Moon, Tom Burstyn. And I’ve seen it worked out (as best I can tell as a lay-person) in a number of the movies Tom recommends as good examples of the principles of frugal film-making – one suggestion by him – “anything by Wong Kar Wai”. Standout for me was 2046 - a beautiful, moody, and erotic story – in my top five films watched during 2009. His earlier Days of Being Wild and In the Mood for Love were also very good, though for me, not as good as 2046.    

“…One of Wong's trademarks as a director is that he works largely through improvisation and experimentation involving the actors and crew rather than adhering to a fixed screenplay…” 

I haven’t had a chance to talk to Tom, a Canadian now living in NZ, but having been on set a few times, having seen his and his wife’s beautiful and very moving documentary This Way of Life (2009) – one of my top five films of the year, and having observed his approach, interactions and presence on set, I’m very hopeful that his craft, considerable experience, perspective on, and commitment to frugal film-making will add something very rich and beautiful to The Insatiable Moon. It did for his This Way of Life.

You can read the full texts of Violaine’s posts here. Below are some excerpts: 

“…In each scene the natural light on location is used to its maximum. Only one light is set up most of the times and this makes a [much] more raw image…” 

“…Just like minimalism was born from a reaction (to the excesses of subjectivity in abstract expressionism and pop art), frugal filmmaking was first born from a strong reaction against the diktat of the film industry…”  

“…I understand frugal filmmaking is about letting a window open for luck and being able to see the advantages in a situation instead of fighting against it. And I have witnessed that…”

“…We make the most of natural light instead of setting up complicated lighting rigs and we make the most of original locations, instead of trying to change them completely…” 

“…One last thing I have noticed is that working with people whose motivation you trust, whose intelligence you believe in is a very positive experience…”

“…Here [on the set of The Insatiable Moon] the director and director of photography really trust one another's judgment and you can tell. The discussion is always open between them…”

The Sad Irony – ‘The Peace-Maker’ has Become Just Another War President

 Paul writes – I was talking, all too briefly I’m afraid, to Gareth Higgins a few days ago. In part we were talking about the latest issue of Time Magazine with its lead story under the banner headline: “It’s His War Now” (Vol. 174 / 14 Dec. 2009)

More recently Gareth has linked to an NCR column by Catholic Jesuit Priest Fr. John Dear. Dear writes: 

“You would think that we don’t have enough to do here at home,” Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich said this week.

You would think that we don’t have 47 million Americans who go to bed hungry, 47 million Americans who don’t have any health care, 15 million Americans who are out of work, another 10 million Americans whose homes are threatened with foreclosure, people going bankrupt, and business failures. All these things are happening in our country and we’re acting like a latter-day version of the Roman Empire, reaching for empire while inside we rot. We have to challenge this because our future as a nation is at stake. If we continue to militarize, we lose our civil liberties, we lose our capacity to meet our needs here at home.

We have money for Wall Street and money for war, but we don’t have money for work. We have money for Wall Street and money for war, but we don’t have money for health care. We have to start asking ourselves, why is it that war is a priority, but the basic needs of the people of this country are not? And how are we getting the money to pay for the war? We’re borrowing it. We’re going deeper into debt. We’re mortgaging our future. We’re creating conditions where we will become less democratic because we can’t meet the most essential needs of our people. This needs to be challenged. And it needs to be challenged in a forthright way. The issue is the war; the issue is America’s reach for empire. The issue is our inability to meet the needs of people here at home. 

Obama and his generals are dead wrong -- this I insist with so many others. The war is illegal, immoral, impractical and plain foolish. It will further divide us. It will lead us into debt beyond our means. It will sow the seeds of terrorist attacks to come…” 

Dear continues:

“…In this holy season of Advent, let me offer a few points. First, we have to stop making an idol out of Obama. He is not a messiah; he is not, as Cindy Sheehan jokes, “The Pope of Hope.” He, like every president before him, is the spokesperson for the empire. He’s increased our military budget beyond that of George W. Bush. No, our hope lies elsewhere. We have a messiah already -- one who is nonpartisan, non-ideological, and most important, decidedly nonviolent…”

You can read the whole of Dear's post here. I'd encourage you to do so. 

The Insatiable Moon - a parable of “strange neighbors and risky care”

Paul writes – I had a great day on the set of The Insatiable Moon yesterday, and my first chance to sit in on the blocking, rehearsing, and filming of one of the most evocative scenes in the movie. More on that in a moment. 

One of the really lovely things about this film has been it’s magic, magic of the “deep” kind that C.S. Lewis breathes life into, particularly in the text of his The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. But it’s also the kind of special magic that the actors and crew on this movie have been able to wrap around them and this simultaneously New Zealand and yet universal human story. 

This is story-telling and movie-making of that kind which requires a lot of what existential psychologist Rollo May has described as “creative courage”. This is not just the courage to journey through uncharted territory, nor is it simply the courage to stretch beyond ones personal comfort zone – which of course actors, directors etc must do on a regular basis. No! This is the kind of creative courage to which McLuhan ascribes the role of a “dew” line. This script and these artists, in this movie, give us, in my humble opinion, a “distant early warning of what is happening to our culture. In the [culture] of our day we see symbols galore of alienation and anxiety. But at the same time [we see that] there is [also] form among discord, beauty amid ugliness, [and] some human love in the midst of hatred – a love that temporarily triumphs over death but always loses out in the long run.” These artists, whether crew or actors, are thus expressing, what May calls “the spiritual meaning of their culture”.

Our problem will be: can we read their meaning aright? And, in this regard, only time will tell as critics and audiences find their places in this story. 

In describing this movie, I think I’d like to go further. The artists – and I include all of those engaged in this creative endeavor – not only seek to embody and enact their imaginations and skills; they’re also seeking, it feels to me, too create and discover what May describes as “new forms, new symbols, new patterns on which a society can be built”. Indeed you get the sense, as the drama and story unfold, that this is a telling that you might want to name as something akin to a Jesus-Kingdom-parable, though in reality, few in its eventual audience will likely make that connection.

The Insatiable Moon, if engaged through this lens, is (my perspective!) a parable full of symbolism, realism, motif, apocalypse, judgment, hope, redemption and archetype. It is a parable of the kind that Biblical Scholar Sylvia C. Keesmaat elsewhere and in another context, describes in terms of “strange neighbors and risky care” (cf. Matthew 18: 21-35; Luke 14:7-14; and Luke 10:25-37).  

A Mixed Economy of Church

 Paul writes – Becky Garrison, in an article originally published in the theological journal of Yale Divinity School, Fall 2009, reflects on A Mixed Economy of Church in a Post-Christian Marketplace

“…One of the first things I noticed when I first visited Grace and many other UK emerging services in 2007 was the absence of a pulpit or altar as the centerpiece. These leaders tend to see themselves as facilitators or curators who work in the background, similar to a DJ, rather than placing themselves front and center. The ethos of the service is influenced by all of the community members rather than shaped by a charismatic leader. Participants bring in the technologies and media of their everyday lives – TV, video, iPods, computers, face-to-face conversations.  These tools are employed not to create cool worship but rather to connect participants with each other, using those particular pieces that speak to them. Grace’s gatherings often have an ambient chill backbeat throughout the service and feature video loops and movies, types of entertainment that speak to this urban crowd…” 

You can read the whole article here.

Renovating Economics and our Obsession with Real Estate

 Paul writes – Fiona Allon is a person who’s writing Simon Holt introduced me to. Allon works in the Department of Gender & Cultural Studies, University of Sydney. Her most recent publication was Renovation Nation: Australia's Obsession with Home [UNSW Press, 2008]. I’ve still to read her book, but I have had the delight of listening to a recording of her 13^th May 2009 Sydney Institute lecture – Renovation Nation.

The Sydney Institute is Australia's premier current affairs forum. Every week contemporary political, social, cultural and economic issues are explored at the Institute through dialogue and discussion.

While not focusing directly on her book, Allon reflects on the current economic crisis and the contribution that housing, amongst other things, has made to the place where we are today. She contends against blaming any one person or sector or political ideology for the current economic circumstances, but instead focuses on the complex makeup of “culture”; on the day-to-day practices, influences, attitudes, values etc that shape culture. This theme will be familiar to those engaged in the missional conversation and to engaging culture missionally. 

I highly recommend the lecture (around 60 minutes in duration, including questions). While not explicitly theological Allon’s lecture is a good example of the academy and of scholarship in conversation with the macro and micro influences that both shape and give content to every-day life and living. 

For a great argument on why Christian scholarship should similarly locate itself in a broad public space and engage contemporary political, social, cultural, economic and ordinary everyday life, I recommend James K A. Smith’s introductory chapter in his The Devil Reads Derrida and other Essays on the University, the Church, Politics and the Arts.  Indirectly it's the beginning of an argument for the church to do the same thing; bringing contemporary culture and gospel into conversation, i.e. practical theology.

Simon Holt has reflected a little on Allon’s work here and peripherally here.   

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955)

 Paul writes – Today, unusually, I started my Sunday with two sermons. Admittedly, not random sermons, but sermons by two friends – both preached in a Baptist Church in Melbourne – Camberwell Baptist Church – over the last couple of months. Both sermons are implicitly interrelated and thus it was good to listen to them back-to-back and back-to-front. Andrew’s sermon is the most recent (01 Nov. 2009), and Alan Roxburgh’s was preached on the 11^th October 2009.

The first is a sermon by friend and Senior Pastor, Andrew Menzies. Andrew is at a crossroads as he looks to the future – his future, his family’s future, and God’s future. He’s at a crossroads as he seeks to align his passion, his skills, his energy and his life-experiences to God’s call and the invitations of a missional God. In this sermon he reflects on some of the key reasons for his decision, as a young Pastor, as someone who’s been in pastoral ministry for 20-years, to resign from his role as senior Pastor.

Though the context is unique, I commend it to anyone reflecting on their pastoral ministry, on mission in Western Culture and on the formation of church leaders. You can listen to it here (it’s a .wma file) – select “Online Sermons” and scroll down. Duration approx. 20 mins.

The second is by friend Alan Roxburgh who was visiting Andrew and other church / denominational leaders in Melbourne. His sermon title is Reaching Today’s Gentiles and works with Acts 9:1-31. It’s a wonderful and succinct engagement with the missional challenges we face. As Alan is fond of saying, “we live in an unthinkable world”; a world “without maps”; a time of discontinuous change which has profound implications for a local church and it’s missional calling.

Alan hears the twin voices of “anxiety” (confusion & uncertainty) and “hope” and in the process reframes the missional conversation not in terms of what another friend names as “re-arranging the deck-chairs on the Titanic”, but in terms of “exile” and a passage (which Al uses a lot, but not in this sermon) like Luke 10: 1-12 about the church as being “sent”; about the church (not Al’s words) “joining in on what God is already doing in God’s world.” Faithful missional engagement is not about better church marketing. It’s not about better church anything! 

I’m pretty sure the book Alan refers to having received during his time in Australia is Anglican Bishop Tom Frame’s 2007 publication Anglican’s in Australia (It looks interesting, so I'll have to save some money and get a copy next year).

As with Andrew’s sermon, I also commend Alan’s sermon. I also commend his many books in which he engages mission, the challenges of being church in culture, and leadership. His latest book is titled Missional Map-Making: Skills for Leading in Times of Transition and is published around Feb. 2010. If you haven’t read any of his books, start with this one, or his earlier introduction to the so-called missional church - Introducing the Missional Church: What It Is, Why It Matters, How to Become One.

You can listen to Al’s sermon here (it’s a .wma file) – select “Online Sermons” and scroll down. Duration approx. 37 mins.