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Len Sweet

Encouraged Ecclesiology

One of the courses that I have been teaching this fall is on ecclesiology (the church). It has been wonderful to interact with students from a diverse array of backgrounds and denominations. I have loved facilitating the conversation and orchestrating their interactions over the readings.

It has also been interesting for me to do this during a period when I am not in pastoral ministry for the first time in 18 years! I have been visiting different churches as I am teaching this class and that has been an eye opening experience in some ways.

I was researching something else and I stumbled on an author, Len Sweet, who played an important part in getting me to Portland the first time. I had lost track of his work since I was focused on more academic stuff the past 7 years. It turns out that he is even more into Jesus than he used to be! He is really Jesus-centric.

If you want to read an interesting interview with him, check this out [link].

Anyway, I want to share one quick idea with you:

Sweet has this idea called ‘Theography’ – like Jesus is a story (biography) of God. This idea is interesting on its own. Jesus as theography is an intriguing concept.

What I am more interested in, however, is taking this concept and expanding it for the purpose of ecclesiology.

If Jesus is a theography – does that make the church a Christography?  

Are we telling the story of Christ by how we are in the world?

Church as Christography is a concept that I want to explore in the new year. What does it mean to participate in the narrative of God? How do our communities continue the unfolding story of God’s love in Christ? Is the Spirit of Christ the animating presence in our churches? Is the life of the Spirit how God is telling a story with us?

This concept just holds so much possibility. What are the implications for our framing metaphors of ‘the body of Christ’, the bride, the temple of the Holy Spirit, the people of God, etc. ? Does it help us get away from a substance-essence debate? Does it undo the limitations of foundational understandings in a fluid culture?

Let me know if you have any thoughts. Do you like the idea of the church are the ongoing story of Christ? 

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Ancient-Future Faith: Invitation To Conversation

An ‘Ancient-Future’ faith is an idea that gripped me more than a decade ago and, even as I have emerged into a very different expression of my faith, I can not shake. As I have revisited and revised my participation and understanding of the Christian faith, this concept has haunted me in the best of ways.

On the TNT that will come out early this week, I talk about trying to hold onto this idea even as the author who popularized it seemed to go astray/ re-entrench from that original vision before his passing in 2007. I blame it on the post-911 Clash of Civilizations mentality that gripped many white men over a certain age. That is for another day. IMG_2907

I continue to be intrigued by the pairing of practices from previous centuries with communities and expressions fully embedded in the 21st century. There is something beautiful and powerful about matching these two. We are attempting to maintain a healthy continuity with the tradition that we have inherited with a vibrant incarnation in the world that we inhabit.

That is not an easy path to navigate. It is far easier (and more convenient) to either retreat into the romantic silo of the imagined past … or to adapt and adopt every cultural expression that comes into the mall or across the radio waves. Discernment is needed.

Discernment, however, happens after recognition.  Len Sweet*  was the first to introduce me to idea that we are moving from the Gutenberg era to the Google era. While there are many aspects of this cultural shift, the most striking is the shift from black & white words on a page to the multi-media world of image & message. The image and the message compliment (or reinforce) each other and sometimes serve to contrast or challenge each other.  This is something that us ‘digital-natives’ learn to negotiate early and easily. Some would call it second nature – which is an interesting phrase in more than one way.

Here is a video inviting people to our gathering at the Loft LA.  It is a little intro to some of the ideas that I’m talking about.

Ancient Future Faith from Bo Sanders on Vimeo.

I would love to chat with anyone who is interested in these topics. Here is just a quick list of ideas we might want to flesh out in an upcoming blog convo – just let me know below!

  • Sabbath
  • Centering Prayer
  • Ancient-Future Worship
  • Gutenberg to Google
  • The mosaic, collage nature of the 21st century
  • Community discernment
  • Collaboration & contribution
  • Continuity with the tradition & integrity with the moment
  • Post-christian apologetics

Mostly I just wanted to share some of what I am wrestling with in hopes of expanding the conversation.

I look forward to your thoughts.  in Christ -Bo

* another apparent victim of what we talked about earlier

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