Prodigal Kiwi(s) Blog

Stanley Hauerwas: Our Way in the World

Paul writes – Today, a trinity of statements made by Stanley Hauerwas in his essay Where Would I Be Without Friends? In Faithfulness and Fortitude: In Conversation with the Theological Ethics of Stanley Hauerwas (pub. 2000) edited by Mark Thiessen Nation and Samuel Wells. It’s a rich collection of essays interacting with Hauerwas the Theologian. Contributors include Nation and Wells, John Milbank, Ann Loades, Stephen Sykes, Linda Woodhead, Duncan B. Forrester, Colin Gunton, Gerard Loughlin, and Enda McDonagh. 

“…I think it is impossible for us as Christians to understand why what we believe is true when our ‘beliefs’ about God have been abstracted from fundamental practices such as caring for the mentally handicapped or practices such as fidelity in marriage or non-violence…” (italics, mine), p. 321. 

“…Discipleship is not a subject to be treated after Christological reflection but rather how we are called to follow Christ is inseparable from our knowing who Christ is…” (italics, mine), p. 322. 

“… I have always thought it necessary for Christians to develop ways of life, cultural habits, to sustain our calling. I have also assumed that we would find such habits present in various ways among those who do not understand themselves as Christian. What I rejected is the presumption that Christians in the name of being players is so-called liberal or pluralist societies should downplay the way of life that makes us Christians…” (italics, mine), p. 325.

I also commend a new book about Hauerwas's theology by John B. Thompson, whose earlier book on Stanley Hauerwas' ecclesiology, I really really appreciated. I'm going to enjoy reading my copy of Thompson's latest. It's well laid out, has good content, and I like the reflective questions he asks throughout it. Andy Goodliff offers a brief review here.  I've previously reflected on Hauerwas / Thompson and distinctiveness as a missional strategy here.

St. Paul with a Huia on His Shoulder

Paul writes – Over the course of this week I’ve had some interesting e-mail exchanges – some with friends, and one with a person who is a friend of a friend. Regan O’Callaghan is an Anglican Priest/Artist living and working, if I’m not mistaken, in London. Regan was originally a “Kiwi”, and by all accounts is a very talented artist and iconographer.  My first encounter with his work was a “Stations of the Cross” booklet, which Dave and Pat Tomlinson gifted to me last year. You can find out more about Regan and his art/icons here. He’s open to being commissioned ($) to “write” an icon.

I particularly liked his icon of St. Paul (my namesake) with a Huia on his shoulder. A Huia  is a native New Zealand bird. It made me think, one day I’d like to get a series written of “saints” / people who’ve been formational to me with a little bit of Aotearoa New Zealand included. E.g. St. Ignatius of Loyola at Mt. Ruapehu with a kiwi bird. The concept wonderfully illustrated by Regan’s icon of St. Paul – see below (PDF / 3.1MB).

Download Regan O'Callaghan - St. Paul and the Huia - Icon 

No Intention of Really Being Missional…?

Paul writes – Long-term blogging friend Chris Erdman recently directed my attention to a New York Times article – Mass Market Epiphany [click on title of article to read it in full] – written (7^th March 2010) by Ross Douthat. Douthat opens with this sentence: 

“…Mysticism is dying, and taking true religion with it. Monasteries have dwindled. Contemplative orders have declined. Our religious leaders no longer preach the renunciation of the world; our culture scoffs at the idea. The closest most Americans come to real asceticism is giving up chocolate, cappuccinos, or (in my own not-quite-Francis-of-Assisi case) meat for lunch for Lent…” 

Now this article resonates with another recognition that I’ve found true in my own life – spiritual formation is hard work, but this is no “pelagianism” (pulling your self up by your own bootstraps) – this is the hard work of putting yourself often and regularly on the way of grace. It’s the consistent and hard work of committing ones life to a spiritual practice or practices (see Richard Foster’s classic Celebration of Discipline). 

"Douthat", Chris writes:

Addresses two of the chief themes of [Chris’] blog and website:

1. There’s a real need to make spiritual practice accessible to ordinary people.
2. These practices are best resourced from deep within a tradition. 

But he [Douthat] also issues a warning:

• Spiritual awakening and transformation takes work; in out-dated language—”discipline,” even “renunciation”—or language more current, “muscle,” “perseverance,” or “guts.”

Without such work, whatever spiritual awakening we think we’re pursuing just might turn out to be little more than a fad…” 

You can read Chris’ full post here.   

Now, I’d read both of these articles – Chris Erdman’s blog post, and Ross Douthat’s NYT column – in conjunction with Alan Roxburgh’s blog reflection: What the Dalai Lama Might Teach Us. Alan, quoting / paraphrasing MACLEANS Magazine columnist Andy Lemey: 

“…An infatuation with the Dalai Lama is the Goldilocks solution for a culture that finds its traditional religion too hot and atheism too cold. His exoticism marks him as authentic, and subjecting his teaching to critical scrutiny is beside the point, as there is never any chance we are going to engage his teachings seriously enough to be challenged by them. We instead want to bask in his distant spiritual glow…” (bold text, Alan’s. Italics, mine)

All three are hitting the nail on the head: I can have in my book shelves books by the Dalai Lama, books on Buddhism, Christian spiritual formation, spirituality, Desert and Monastic spirituality etc etc. But, because a response to these writer/teachers/practices requires a commitment to perseverance and discipline, i.e. to hard work and doing (in response to grace and the work of the Spirit in our lives), there’s little chance in our fast paced, hyper-stimulated world, that we/I’m going to make the hard choices and commitments.

Let me hazard, in closing, that this is true also of mission and the practices of mission. We can attend all the workshops, training sessions etc, but if we don’t or can’t make the commitments to the practices of being missional, including gathering with people, listening (and discerning) in all the diversity of ones life and the diverse contexts we find ourselves in; the practices of being good neighbours; change management and transition (I'm thinking particularly of these practices in established congregational contexts, but this also apply to small group dynamics), missional learning (i.e. a commitment to the practice of reading, of understanding what it means to be missional and why mission-shaped practices and presence etc are needful), creativity (being willing to think and experiment outside of the box etc), then nothing will come of our good intentions.

Rowan Williams on St. John of the Cross, Understanding, Desire, Remembering and Love

Paul writes – Archbishop Rowan Williams recently (06/03/10) delivered an important lecture under the title:  Faith, hope and charity in tomorrow's world. I was reminded again of what it is that Rowan does so very very well, and why I continue to listen to, and read him. 

Here are a few excerpts from that lecture: 

“...St John [of the Cross] -- like everybody else in his generation of Catholic theologians -- takes for granted a picture of the human mind which sees it as working in three basic ways: the human mind understands, it remembers and it wants. Or, in more abstract terms, the human mind is made up of the interaction of understanding, memory and will. And the distinctive and fresh insight that St John of the Cross offers, is that if you put together understanding, memory and will with faith, hope and charity you have a perfect picture of where we start and where we finish. In the Christian life, faith (he says) is what happens to our understanding; hope is what happens to our remembering; and love is what happens to our wanting. To grow up as a Christian is to take that journey from understanding, into faith, from memory into hope and from will into love.

 

St John also believed that in that process of Christian growing-up, one of the very difficult things that happened was that we lost our bearings on the way. What we thought we understood we discover that we never did; what we thought we remembered is covered with confusion; and what we thought we wanted turns out to be empty. We have to be re-created in faith and hope and love for our understanding our memory and our will to become what God would really want them to be.

 

...We've lost a lot of our bearings. The Church at large continues to say what it has said; it says what it has always said in the context of worship and it reads its Bible faithfully. And yet in so much of the life of the Church there is a degree of loss of nerve and loss of confidence...

Somewhere in ... talk about freedom; we lose touch with the sense of the deep desires that actually make us who we are. We lose touch with the sense that there is a current in our lives moving towards a goal...”

You can read or listen to the lecture by going here.

Church Leaving: Barb Orlowski Interviewed

Paul writes – Len Hjalmarson has recently posted two parts of an interview with a mutual friend, Canadian Barb Orlowski. Barb has recently written and had published a book on church leaving – for more on her book go here. 

Here’s an excerpt from Len’s interview. Len’s question is in bold text:

“…According to writers/researchers like Alan Jamieson, some describe this leaving as a part of a larger journey. What do you think?

Yes, there is a sociological upheaval and the Church is experiencing disruption as well. It is a singular time of change. An ongoing factor is that a number of church leaders have misunderstood their role and have used their authority to wound the sheep. I am reminded of two significant findings from Alan Jamieson’s study of church leavers in New Zealand in the mid 1990s. First, Jamieson’s original hypothesis–why he thought people left the Church–was adjusted through the process of his research findings. His research showed that those who were involved as core leaders in the church ministry and were active in church body life were those who had now exited from the local church scene. This singular fact caused him to further reflect on the causes and the implications of this serious condition which had been unfolding in his country.

Second, Jamieson’s research design included fifty-four church leaders and informed insiders. These participating church leaders suggested four categories, which influenced church exiting: societal factors, individual factors, church leadership factors, and faith concerns. It is relevant to note that the reasons that church leaders and informed insiders gave for people leaving churches in New Zealand was decidedly different from the reasons that the church leavers themselves gave.

One of the main reasons given by church leaders was that congregants had ‘backslidden’ in their faith. Jamieson’s title and theme, ‘a churchless faith’, showed that although Christians had left churches, they had not left their faith. The discrepancy between leaders and congregants provides an insight into the lack of mutual understanding of this church situation and demonstrates an evident disconnect between leaders and congregants.

These situations described were also noted in my study. So, there are two main things going on–societal and Church change–as well as an internal church ministry problem that is ongoing and needs to be recognized and treated…” 

For the rest of Len’s interview (part 2), go here. You’ll find part 1 here. 

I want to reflect a little more on church-leaving in an upcoming post, particularly around why I left church – what was I looking for? This in the context of recently visiting a church to celebrate the 50^th birthday of a good friend of mine – my Bestman at our wedding – and the conversation which ensued with other friends who wanted us to come back to church, to join that congregation. I discovered it’s not easy to talk to church attending people about why you left (in this case what I was trying hard to describe was summed up as “he’s evolved!” – which was extremely distant from what I was actually saying), and why you couldn’t be a part of the congregation – an experience of church that was important to them. I think too it reflects something of the barriers to “mixed economy” approaches to church – a lack in understanding of the perspective and experiences on those on the outside or the outside of the inside (sorry for the dualism, but difficult to make the distinction between those comfortably “inside” churches, and those “outside”, who for many important and needful reasons, can’t sit comfortably “inside”.   

Church Leaving: Barb Orlowski Interviewed

Paul writes – Len Hjalmarson has recently posted two parts of an interview with a mutual friend, Canadian Barb Orlowski. Barb has recently written and had published a book on church leaving – for more on her book go here. 

Here’s an excerpt from Len’s interview. Len’s question is in bold text:

“…According to writers/researchers like Alan Jamieson, some describe this leaving as a part of a larger journey. What do you think?

Yes, there is a sociological upheaval and the Church is experiencing disruption as well. It is a singular time of change. An ongoing factor is that a number of church leaders have misunderstood their role and have used their authority to wound the sheep. I am reminded of two significant findings from Alan Jamieson’s study of church leavers in New Zealand in the mid 1990s. First, Jamieson’s original hypothesis–why he thought people left the Church–was adjusted through the process of his research findings. His research showed that those who were involved as core leaders in the church ministry and were active in church body life were those who had now exited from the local church scene. This singular fact caused him to further reflect on the causes and the implications of this serious condition which had been unfolding in his country.

Second, Jamieson’s research design included fifty-four church leaders and informed insiders. These participating church leaders suggested four categories, which influenced church exiting: societal factors, individual factors, church leadership factors, and faith concerns. It is relevant to note that the reasons that church leaders and informed insiders gave for people leaving churches in New Zealand was decidedly different from the reasons that the church leavers themselves gave.

One of the main reasons given by church leaders was that congregants had ‘backslidden’ in their faith. Jamieson’s title and theme, ‘a churchless faith’, showed that although Christians had left churches, they had not left their faith. The discrepancy between leaders and congregants provides an insight into the lack of mutual understanding of this church situation and demonstrates an evident disconnect between leaders and congregants.

These situations described were also noted in my study. So, there are two main things going on–societal and Church change–as well as an internal church ministry problem that is ongoing and needs to be recognized and treated…” 

For the rest of Len’s interview (part 2), go here. You’ll find part 1 here. 

I want to reflect a little more on church-leaving in an upcoming post, particularly around why I left church – what was I looking for? This in the context of recently visiting a church to celebrate the 50^th birthday of a good friend of mine – my Bestman at our wedding – and the conversation which ensued with other friends who wanted us to come back to church, to join that congregation. I discovered it’s not easy to talk to church attending people about why you left (in this case what I was trying hard to describe was summed up as “he’s evolved!” – which was extremely distant from what I was actually saying), and why you couldn’t be a part of the congregation – an experience of church that was important to them. I think too it reflects something of the barriers to “mixed economy” approaches to church – a lack in understanding of the perspective and experiences on those on the outside or the outside of the inside (sorry for the dualism, but difficult to make the distinction between those comfortably “inside” churches, and those “outside”, who for many important and needful reasons, can’t sit comfortably “inside”.   

US Health Reform, Racism, and DJ Spooky’s Rebirth of a Nation.

Paul writes – The US is in our media more than usual lately, as President Obama’s Health Reforms and their implementation get closer to the end game (a vote will be held today – 7am NZT). In a country with a public health system it’s hard to imagine a country like the US, which has 30 million of its population unable to access medical care because they have no health-insurance cover. We’ve seen some heart-breaking documentaries over the years, and I for one would like to add my voice to a plea made by Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman that wavering Democrat House of Representatives would “do the right thing” to end a system that he called “unique in its cruelty”.

In a NZ national newspaper published yesterday, Chip Berlet, an analyst of right wing extremism, reflects, “Anger is spilling over from people who believe Obama is coming to remove their liberties, seize their guns, enslave the white American nation…” This statement reminded me of a powerful documentary I saw recently – DJ Spooky’s Rebirth of a Nation. Be in no doubt that the principalities and powers of death, including racism, are insidiously at work in resistance to national health care reform in the US. 

That this is true occurred to me as I watched the abovementioned film recently. Paul D. Miller (aka DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid) offers a DJ mix applied to the original and extremely controversial 1915 film by DW. Griffith – Birth of a Nation. In 1915 the film “ignited worldwide controversy with its graphic depictions of racism and white supremacy in the post-Civil War south.” Miller’s DJ mix was presented, several years ago, as a live multimedia performance at the Wellington Arts Festival. It was very well received. 

What strikes you most profoundly about the movie is the power of propaganda and revisionist history. Here is a movie DJ’ed to unearth the “powers of death” at work. If you’ve read Walter Wink, William Stringfellow (1928-1985) and others you can’t but see the way fear, political deception, manipulation, propaganda, and racism work to dehumanize and to destroy community.   Movies like Miller’s help us discern the Word of God – which after all is “the mark of a Christian” Stringfellow tells us. It is to be what Rowan Williams, reflecting on Stringfellow, calls “Biblical persons”. 

While us Kiwi’s aren’t immune to, nor innocent when it comes to racism, Stringfellow talks of racism among white American’s as “mass idolatry”. And this points to his understanding that “Racism is not an evil in human hearts or minds, racism is a principality, a demonic power, a representative image, and embodiment of death, over which human have little or no control, but which works its awful influence in their lives.” (Stringfellow, Feb 21, 1963). Bill Wylie-Kellermann, reflecting around 1999, notes, “since that day [21 Feb 1963] the legal apparatus of American apartheid has been all but dismantled. Yet no force or structure or spirit has proven more relentless and resilient than racism in our country. It is empirically a demon which rises up transmogrified in ever more beguiling forms and predatory forms…” 

However, Stringfellow reminds us, “This [racism] is the power with which Jesus Christ was confronted and which, at great and sufficient cost, he overcame. In other words, the issue here is not equality among human beings. The issue is not some common spiritual values, nor natural law… The issue is baptism. The issue is the unity of all humankind wrought by God in the life and work of Christ. Baptism is the sacrament of that unity of all humanity in God…” 

And in case language of “principalities and powers” seems archaic to you

Stringfellow delivered an identical lecture on the powers to students at both Harvard’s Divinity School and Harvard Business School:

“The divinity students felt the language of “principalities and powers” was archaic imagery with no contemporary relevance, but the business students, who lived and worked within the spheres of great corporate institutions, understood . . .” (quoted in Charles L. Campbell Principalities, Powers, and Preaching, p.392 Interpretation journal October 1997). 

The Insatiable Moon – A Milestone in a Work in Progress

Paul writes – Yesterday’s (NZ) Weekend Herald newspaper had in it an article by Isaac Davison, which told us “NZ film buffs prefer raw drama to the escapist…” So The Shawshank Redemption tops the 10-best films ever made, while the “hard-hitting” Once Were Warriors comes in at number 1 on the top 10 list of New Zealand films. New Zealanders, it seems, “consider Once Were Warriors more of a New Zealand film (than The Return of the King directed by Peter Jackson). It is a more honest look at New Zealand culture, which people identified with more…” Interestingly too, Whale Rider didn’t make the top 10 list of the best films ever made, but it came in at number 3 on the Top New Zealand films list. 

Against that backdrop it was therefore interesting (well it was a lot more than just “interesting”) to sit down at 10am yesterday with an invite only group to watch the “first cut” of kiwi movie The Insatiable Moon at the Academy Cinema in Auckland. Quite frankly, I was lost for words, as I watched the 1hr 45min film – it was simply stunning (and it still has to have many months of serious post-production work done on it). 

The story (told through the film script, as distinct in some important ways from the novel) has been absolutely captured by the film editor and director. When you have to condense 5-weeks of filming down into a feature film of this length, there is always the risk that you lose the heartbeat of the film – the story (and its many layers). But, they beautifully tell the story, and what a raw, passionate and moving story it is. Watching it was an emotional roller coaster ride. There were tears, and there was laughter. There was stunned silence. And there was long and appreciative applause at its conclusion.

And, importantly too, the script pulled you into the story and into the performances and interactions of the cast. With one or maybe two exceptions 1 hr and 45 minutes passed in a blink of the eye. We were carried along by story, actor’s performances, and in a few places, inspired choices of music for the temporary soundtrack. 

Rawiri Paratene delivers a performance that will be rated among his finest. Sara Wiseman is delightful as Margaret, and her interactions with Paratene had sensitivity and a humanity that was so very moving and important in the development of the story. While no critic I must say he actors did an outstanding job. There were technical issues, and some editing work will still need to be done – but, as I said above, the story in all its rawness, passion and drama is there. Scenes I’d really been looking forward too delivered on my expectations, and more besides.

All involved can feel extremely proud of what they’ve achieved. I hope that representatives of the New Zealand Film Commission and other investors who were there can now see, in this first cut, that they have a very very special film and a profound NZ story of community, mental illness, love, solidarity, social justice, magic, hope, and a wondrous affirmation of life and life more fully and humanely lived. 

Though a New Zealand story, it is one with international ambitions – and so it should. Whilst a very contextual story it is also a rich and evocative meditation on what it means to be human, and on what it means to be a community in the face of marginalisation. Like Whale Rider is will translate well in diverse contexts and communities far from our shores.   

You can find out more about the film by visiting its new official website here.

While, attached below, is a piece from an Australian magazine. 

Download Insatiable Moon Story - Equity Magazine - Autumn 2010 - Australia 

Simon Holt: ‘A Mortgage, a Motor-Mower and a Mission: Following Jesus into Suburbia’

Paul writes - Early last year good blogging friend Simon Carey Holt gave the annual Tinsley Institute Lecture at Morling College in Sydney.  It was entitled ‘A Mortgage, a Motor-Mower and a Mission: Following Jesus into Suburbia’. Simon kindly sent me a couple of published copies last year and I read it with a great deal of excitement. It’s an extremely good and very important lecture. Simon knows what he’s talking about when it comes to suburbia and mission in suburbia. He’s an eclectic reader (cooking, urban development, spirituality etc) and deep thinker. 

I’d always intended to write a review of the lecture and capture the key points (which resonated with me) on this blog; however, time precluded me from doing that. So it’s great that Simon has now made a PDF of the lecture available and I would commend it to you and as wide a readership as possible. 

It would be good for home-groups and church leadership teams to read and discuss with a view to considering the missional implications in their local contexts.

Here’s an excerpt from Simon’s lecture – a section under the heading “Geography”.

 

“...The Australian Jesuit Andrew Hamilton is one of the few theologians to explore the relationship between theology and the suburbs. Hamilton argues that the theology’s relationship to the suburbs has been modelled on its earlier relationship to the countryside—a spatial movement from the centre to the periphery: ‘from the cathedral, the university, the seminary, the places where theology belongs, to places where uninitiated people live.’ According to Hamilton, this theology of centre and periphery is one of both condescension and fear. Its condescension rests on the assumption that the natives of suburbia are uneducated, exposed to more popular forms of religious culture and practice and in need of salvation. Its fear is found in the distance between the centre and periphery and plays both ways. Viewed from the centre, the supply lines out to these far--‐flung peripheries are long, both geographically and culturally. Its inhabitants may well be theologically depraved and unreceptive to the truth the theologian brings.

 

From the perspective of the periphery, the centre is invisible, a world entirely removed from the daily routines and struggles of real life. Commonly, those at the periphery view these ‘ivory tower’ theologians with suspicion; for they speak in a strange tongue and of fearful things that may well destroy faith rather than nurture it. Granted, because of changes to the relationship between the city centre and the suburbs, it can no longer be said that theology is geographically constrained. Institutions of theological education are now just as likely to be suburban in location as they urban. Still, the gulf between Parkville and Rowville, between Newtown and Campbelltown is wide, and the consequences of more traditional geography play out...”

 

You can find a link to the full lecture here. I also highly commend Simon’s award-winning book: God Next Door: Spirituality and Mission in the Neighbourhood.  Allelon in the US are supposed to be publishing it for the US-market, but I’m not sure where Mark Priddy and his team are at with that. 

Bernard of Clairvaux and Thomas Merton

Paul writes – Long-time blogging friend Alan Creech recently posted a couple of really pithy quotes that I’ve been reflecting on over the weekend. The first is from St. Bernard of Clairvaux (a Cistercian monk), and the second is from a more contemporary Cistercian monk, Thomas Merton. Both quotes have both personal and relational implications – certainly any relationship that places God at the centre.

“Neither fear nor self-interest can convert the soul. They may change the appearance, perhaps even the conduct, but never the object of supreme desire... Fear is the motive, which constrains the slave; greed binds the selfish man, by which he is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed (James 1:14). But neither fear nor self-interest is undefiled, nor can they convert the soul. Only charity can convert the soul, freeing it from unworthy motives.” 

You can read the whole post here. 

“Our spiritual attitude, our way of seeking peace and perfection, depends entirely on our concept of God. If we are able to believe he is truly our loving Father, if we can really accept the truth of his infinite and compassionate concern for us, if we believe that he loves us not because we are worthy but because we need his love, then we can advance with confidence. We will not be discouraged by our inevitable weakness and failures. We can do anything he asks of us. But if we believe he is a stern, cold lawgiver who has no real interest in us, who is merely a ruler, a lord, a judge and not a father, we will have great difficulty in living the Christian life. We must therefore begin by believing God is our Father: otherwise we cannot face the difficulties of the Christian way of perfection. Without faith, the "narrow way" is utterly impossible.”

-Thomas Merton, from Life and Holiness

You can read Alan’s full post here.