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The Gospel of Grace

What is the gospel?

That is what Katie asked the group last week.  We had finished reading Galatians 1 where Paul seems pretty sure about it. He is sure that there is a gospel, and that he has the right one.

Katie asked the group “so what is the gospel?” She then asked “and what is grace?”

We talked about it a bit and then (as I mentioned on the Week 1 Debrief podcast) I offered my working definition:

“The Gospel is the good news that God loves the whole world and did something for us in Christ that we can not do for ourselves.”

I have worked on this a lot over the past 15 years and have grown quite comfortable with it. It includes:

  • good news (literally the definition of the word gospel)
  • the whole world (John 3:16)
  • grace (a gift of what we can not earn)

I would love it even if it just existed in a vacuum and I never talked with anyone about it.

The reality, however, is that everywhere it comes up, people REALLY want to talk about it!

The response follows a typical bell-curve. Most people like it or at least get it. But there is a tail on either side of a small minority who object at some level (but for completely different reasons).

For those who have a very particular understanding of the gospel, my working definition is not specific enough. It doesn’t say anything about asking Jesus into your heart, praying a specific prayer, believing certain things, believing them certainly, or going to heaven after you die.

On the opposite side, for those who hold that Jesus is one way (a path) to God, my working definition is too narrow. It sounds as if Jesus was unique in human history and in religious thought.

This is why the ‘gospel’ conversation is one of my favorites.

What do you think? How would you answer the question? What is your working definition? 

 

[I originally wrote this for PBS but wanted to share it here as well]

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Tomorrow Morning I Return To Pastoral Ministry

 

The year of being a visiting theology professor is 3 weeks from coming to a close.

It has been wonderful and I have learned so much. My students have impressed me at every turn … except for a growing concern about the local churches that they come from .

This have given me a desire to get back into local church ministry. The Lord has heard my prayer and She had attended to my cry. 

SO here we go …

Tomorrow morning I return to the ‘pulpit’ for the first time in a year.

AND I return to being a Sr. Pastor for the first time in 10 years.

I am so excited. 

1) I want to thank you for your prayers, notes, and support as I prepare to transition back into pastoral ministry. It has meant a lot (and it apparently worked)

3) I begin tomorrow with a shortened service  (due to the holiday weekend) and then we go big next Sunday July 9th with a full communion service.

I will be transitioning the church toward a 2.0 model (video link) and need conversation partners.  Check out our new website for details http://vermonthillsumc.org

Reimagining-VHUMCSo if I could ask a favor:

If you know any progressive or post-evangelical friends who are looking for a church in Portland, please send them along! This is going to be a fun adventure creating a different kind of church that integrates:

  • Liturgical Worship
  • Embodied Practices
  • Critical Conversations

Let the adventure begin.

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Life Is About To Change

11 months ago I left my church, left LA, and left social media to come to Portland for a year-long appointment as the visiting professor of theology at the same seminary I had studied at 7 short years before.

It has been an eye-opening year. The seminary has changed a lot in 7 years. Education (higher ed in general and theological ed specifically) has changed a lot in 7 years. I have changed a lot in 7 years.

I had an epiphany of sorts this spring and I reached out to my denominational friends in the Portland area. I let them know that I was interested in getting back in to pastoral ministry and that I would be transferring my ordination to their Methodist denomination. The reception was so warm and so welcoming that I took it as confirmation. The Spirit of God is up to something. I can feel it. 

Fast forward 3 months and I am just weeks away from being appointed to a church in SW Portland. I am beyond excited. The church is small and in need of revitalization, but the thing that it has going for it is that the congregation cares about things that matter and they serve their community. That is an exciting point to build on.

The two issues that occupy my imagination right now (before I start) are:

  1. Transitioning the Sunday gathering to a more conversational engagement and transforming the sanctuary to a more versatile space. I have this vision to hybrid the two excellent models from the church in LA into one dynamic experience that incorporates liturgical elements, embodied practices, and critical conversations.
  2. Reaching out to new people with an invitation to a truly different kind of church environment. I have been ‘workshopping’ some ideas with the post-evangelical folks that I know to see what they think of the plan. Early feedback is good.

So I am inheriting this wonderful older congregation, a cool but outdated building, the wisdom from my experience in LA, and a mandate for change & growth from my denominational leadership. That is an electric combination.

Add that to a year of reflection and rest and I am just about busting at the seems to get started.

Thank you for your support this past year and for your prayers in the months to come. I get appointed June 20th and then officially begin in July. I can’t wait to partner with this congregation to reach out to our neighborhood and see what God might do with us.Bo sketch sm

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My First Meme

Doing research on memes the other night and I discovered that there are websites that help you generate your own meme. Here is my first attempt:

output

Pretty sarcastic, I know, but that idea shows up in the darnedest place. I sent it to my friends & family to good feedback so I thought I would share it here.

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Big News Coming Soon

When the contract with Portland Seminary runs out in a few months, I will be heading back into pastoral ministry.

It is not entirely public yet, but I have entered into an agreement with an older congregation in SW Portland to help revitalize their small church and to transition it to be a “conversational community” where critical conversation and historic practices can be integrated with justice concerns.  :~)

  • Relational engament
  • Embodied spirituality
  • Caring for the community

SO if you know any progressive, post-evangelical, or innovative types who want to be a part of transitioning a multi-generational church to a more contemporary engagement built on conversation, practice, and service to the community … please send them along!  We will need partners who want to do (and be) the church in a different way.

Here are my videos on Preaching 2.0 and Church as Google if you are interested. 

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Mid-March Madness

The past month has been incredibly intense.

I had the honor of flying to NY to meet with my father and his board about rebooting his global ministry.

I am mid-semester at the seminary with 4 amazing classes (ecclesiology, essentials of christian theology, culture & system change, and world religions)

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While I was back east, I went to the Methodist Archives at Drew University and found the documents that I needed to complete my dissertation!!!

I have been applying to professor jobs in the areas of religion, theology & ministry.

I have been talking with denominations about the possibility of being a pastor with them (come August) and have great hope that something is going to work out.

Lastly, I have also been developing a model for revitalizing existing churches AND connecting with post-evangelical / this-is-not-for-me 20 and 30 somethings. [more on this to come]

As you can see, I could use some prayer.

I want to finish this season of being a professor and writing the dissertation well.

I also have an eye toward pastoring again and what it might mean to model what it looks like to do church in a different way.

Thank you for your care, notes, prayers, and engagement. It means a LOT during this time.   -Bo

 

 

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Chaos and Creativity

Every time I sit down to write, I end up writing about something else. This has never happened to me before and I am not enjoying it very much. Focus and speed have always been my trustworthy traveling companions but they have become suddenly unreliable.

Part of this is a season of life thing as I round the corner from 43-44. The pressure is starting to get to me.

Part of this is a state of the world thing as the the 24 hour news cycle relentlessly barrages us with crisis after crisis, threat after threat. There is an inevitable fatigue that sets in from this climate of chaos.

Part of this is simple biology as a lack of sleeping through the night for two decades meets a lack of exercise in the past 6 months to form a  a constant chicken-and-egg round-about.  I’m just not at my sharpest.

Perhaps the most significant factor, however, stems as a natural bi-product of being a life-long generalist who has chosen to go into an interdisciplinary field.

  • I’m doing final edits on a book with my mentor introducing post-colonial theology.
  • My dissertation is on critical race theory and church leadership.
  • Spring semester classes include ecclesiology, essentials of christian theology, as well as ‘systems & culture change’ which address the supposed final forms of nation, consumer capitalism, and democracy. I have tied them all together with biblical fundamentalism as the glue that binds them into a concrete whole.

Add to all of this that I am also beginning to look for a job for this fall when my contract at the seminary runs out … and you can see why my thoughts wander like a series of rabbit trails.

Here is the good news: I have been writing a lot. I like what I am writing. It feels like something good will come out of the writing … eventually.

So this little note is both a ‘touching base’ and a prayer request, an update and a confession at the same time. If you have any good advice, I am open – if you are a person who prays, I would appreciate it.

I hope that peace finds you wherever you are on this Wednesday. Gratitude is a wonderful traveling companion and I am grateful for all of your support, affirmation, and engagement.   -Bo

 

p.s. if you have been following along with reading for essentials in christian theology, I just wanted to remind you that we are not reading in sequence and that this week’s topic is Pinnock’s chapter 6 on the evangelical tradition in the intro to N. American perspectives.  A post will follow shortly.

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Gift Idea

Seasons greetings! I recommend a lot of books, but I wanted to tell you about the thing that draws the most comments in my office.

The Beehive Collective http://beehivecollective.org/

This group makes provocative posters and art that are amazing conversation pieces and teaching tools. I have a small one on my door (fueling climate chaos) and one a huge one behind my door (the true cost of coal).

It is impossible to relate how detailed this artwork is or how engaging the pieces are. The bigger posters come with a learning guide and some can be folded to tell multiple layers of stories.

This is group is donation based and the work is stunning. http://store.beehivecollective.org

 

 

 

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Coming Out of Hibernation

My 6-month hiatus is over. I last posted June 3rd as life took an interesting turn.

I left Los Angeles and pastoral ministry to pursue an incredible opportunity. My beloved seminary (George Fox Evangelical in Portland)  had an unexpected vacancy and was in need of a theology professor for the year. I volunteered and moved to Portland in August.

The move has been great. Being a professor is fantastic. I have been writing a book with my mentor Randy Woodley and working on my dissertation (more on all of this next week). It has been a wild and woolly faith-filled-risk!  My contract runs through July 2017 but I have no idea what next August holds for us. Prayers would be appreciated on that front …

Earlier this year I had decided to get off both FaceBook and Twitter to focus on some bigger projects. That turned out to be an excellent decision.  I will continue that practice until the dissertation is finished but I did want return to the blog. I have missed the interactions dearly.

This coming week I will post some quick thoughts to wade back into the conversation. Each post will also have a recommended resource that might serve as a great gift this holiday season.

Two links for today:

I recently wrote ‘Uncontrolling Church Leadership’ as a response to a new book called The Uncontrolling Love of God.   The book is definitely worth the read.

I attempt to argue that:

The reality of being human and ministering with humans to humans is that not everything is always a possibility! There are certain choices that are simply not on the menu of possibilities. We are dealing with a limited menu. This narrowing happens in two definite directions:

  1. Not every action is available to everyone in every circumstance. While we are actors with a certain degree of agency within our own circumstances, our past experiences limit the options that we see as ‘available’ on the menu of possibilities in any given scenario.
  2. Even those possibilities we are aware of become limited further when options that do not live up to the model of Christ are eliminated. We are not at liberty to use methods that counter the revealed nature and character of God in order to accomplish things in God’s name and to God’s glory.

 

I also wanted link you to something that I wrote for last year’s Advent that seems even more appropriate this December. It is called Advent Lament and you can find it here: http://blogs.georgefox.edu/seminary/advent-lament-you-dont-have-to-pretend-this-advent/

I look forward to your feedback, comments, and questions. I have the next week of posts planned but after that is open to suggestions. Let me know what you want to address. 

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