Napier Baptist

I have been doing some preparation for a forthcoming worship team retreat. It'll be a time when we try to expand our understandings of worship together. I came across this piece of advice that the pastor of Fivehead Baptist Church in England (I know, Fivehead is a bizzare name for a church - sounds like some sort of evil beast coming out of the sea in a Sci-fi movie!!) gives to their worship leaders: "Do not pray that God enables us to put ‘all the troubles and hardships of the week to one side’, thus leaving us free to worship Him. To do so is to drive a wedge between our worshipping life and our real life. Our Sunday worship is not an escape from our real life, it is an expression of it, and an opportunity to transform it."

I've also come across this quote from Gerald Manly Hopkins, Poems and Prose quite a bit recently:
"It is not only prayer that gives God glory, but work. Smiting on an anvil, sawing a beam, white-washing a wall, driving horses, sweeping, scouring, everything gives God some glory if being in His grace you do it as your duty. To go to communion worthily gives God great glory, but to take food in thankfulness and temperance gives him glory too. To lift up the hands in prayer gives God glory, but a man with a dungfork in his hand, a woman with a slop pail, give him glory too. He is so great that all things give Him glory if you mean that they should. So then, my brethren, live."

Following the last post, I read a blog post by Frank Rees today that stirred my heart. One was about a Pastor who inspired a generation of leaders within his local church by being willing to sit down with them at his home after a Sunday night sermon, light his pipe and deeply explore God and Christian faith together so that God might deeply explore them. Frank says that no topics were banned and anything could be explored from predestination to masturbation. The other figure was an Old Testament lecturer who inspired a generation of pastors, lecturers and denominational leaders. Go and read it for yourself.

Last week I was asked, as a recent graduate of Carey Baptist College, by Charles Hewlett (Director of Ministry Training at Carey), to write a brief article (250ish words) on how Carey prepared me for pulpit ministry at Napier Baptist. It was for a College publication called The PLer (that gives information about Pastoral Leadership training at Carey) to go out to NZ Baptist Pastors. I was honoured to be asked, and a little daunted, but found I really enjoyed reflecting on the question. Below is my brief entry:

Someone once told me that preachers can tend to fall into two categories: those who have something to say but don’t know how to say it and those who know how to say it but have nothing to say. I can assure this person that Carey College tries very hard to produce preachers that have something to say and know how to say it. Whilst Carey, importantly, places high emphasis on learning the art of preaching, it prepared me in a much deeper way for pulpit ministry. Carey prepared me through Biblical studies, Systematic Theology, Church History and Pastoral studies. In Biblical studies I was not given a bag full of sermons to use in ministry but rather key tools that helped me to deeply exegete the Word so that the Word could deeply exegete me. In Systematic Theology I did not learn all the important answers about God and the Christian faith but rather I learnt how to ask important questions of God and the Christian faith and that through this God could ask important questions of me. In Church History I learnt how God has shaped and transformed the community of Jesus Christ through time so that I might better sense how God is shaping and transforming the community of Jesus Christ today. In Pastoral studies I learnt that preaching is always spoken into the lives of fragile, messy people, just like me, who God intensely loves. Finally, at College we learnt about preaching through the staff modelling excellent preaching to us at Chapel services that we wanted to emulate. Carey prepared me for pulpit ministry through holistic training within the context of the community of disciples that is Carey Baptist College. I thank God for Carey College.

A deeply exegeting and exegeted; deeply questioning and questioned; deeply transforming and transformed; deeply shaping and shaped; deeply vulnerable and honest community that is aware of its humaness as well as God's transforming power and is glued together by the grace and truth of God – a volatile combination and wouldn’t it be awesome to be a part of??!!

This year at Napier Baptist we're attempting to journey a little more through the whole Easter story rather than Easter Sunday being just another Sunday where we sing with more gusto. We are adding in a Last Supper/Passover meal on Maundy Thursday (6pm) and a Tenebrae service on Good Friday (8pm). This year we want to try and journey through the upper room, through the darkness of Good Friday, the abandonment of Christ on the cross and then into good news that God raised Jesus from the dead and vindicated him and his ways and not our ways. Through this journey I want to invite you to recognise yourself within the drama of the Easter story, to see yourself within the Easter story.

William Loader has a brilliant reflection this based on Lk. 23:34 and our need to see ourselves within the story of Easter:
"The war crimes tribunal was assembled. Caiaphas and his cohorts, Pilate and his, were marched in. There were other charges against Pilate. For this session all stood accused of conspiracy to murder an innocent man, Jesus from Nazareth. The judge read the charges. Immediately from the gallery a voice cried out, ‘But he said, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." The judge responded: ‘Forgiveness is only possible when people realise what they have done. Until then their guilt remains and failing to appreciate the dimensions of their act they cannot forgive themselves and cannot receive forgiveness from others.’ ‘Crucify them! Crucify them!’ others shouted. The judge replied: ‘Why answer violence with violence? Why mourn love with hate?’ ‘Let us beat them, whip them, punish them,’ cried others. ‘Punishment,’ replied the judge, ‘is an admission of failure, a strategy of despair.’ ‘What, then, are we to do with these who killed the Christ?’ the crowd retorted. The judge stood to his feet, looking left and right, then turning to the accused, he said: ‘Your sentence is to hear the story again and again every year, until you recognise your part in the drama, see yourselves in the scene.’"

The Easter story calls us to recognise our part in the drama, to see ourselves in the scene. We hope that through this year's Easter journey we might have a deeper appreciation of Christ's sacrifice and what is truly good news to all people. That the darkness and terror of Good Friday (the gravitiy of sin and Christ's crucifixion) is organically linked to what makes Easter Sunday and the resurrection such Good News.

Hope to see ya there...

I've just been trying to sort out some new resources for our church community. A while ago I was looking at issues around equipping people for the workplace and 'faith at work'. I stumbled across a website called Christian Life and. It has some great resources that come from London School of Theology (previously London Bible College) - an outstanding Bible College. I found that they not only have a resource for Christian Life and Wrok but also Christian Life and... : Global Mission; Today's World; Children. I think these are fantastic resources. Many of today's resources aren't exactly transformative. Many are too simplistic and get you to do things like fill in the missing word in a simple sentence (e.g. Jesus is ... (you write in the word 'Lord')). The Christian Life and series promotes a nice combination of knowing, being, doing and feeling for the sake of transformation. For example, in the Christian Life and Children series, you speak about your own thoughts and feelings about children and their faith; you interview a child; you watch children's TV programmes and browse and children's toy catalogue (try to understand the world of children); you are introduced to developmental models for children and their faith (stages of faith) and then you have to do a SWOT exercise (strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats) on your church and their attitude to children and then consider what might be some of the practical implications for your church. I think that this will be more transformative (in terms of discipleship and church life) than simply filling in the missing word.

Have a look at the website and let me know what you think...

For anyone who's interested in all things 'emerging church', Paul Windsor's written a very thought provoking article. We all tend to view Christ through our favourite lenses (e.g. preachers think Jesus was all about preaching) and I think some of the emerging church tends to see Jesus through 'postmodern' lenses rather than 'postmodernism' through the lens of Jesus.

Paul's point that history's more of an 'adding lanes to a highway' than an eclipse model could be made even stronger. I don't think postmodern thought is anything terribly new. It has strong historical antecedents in Romanticism, Pietism and the Renaissance. There's an outstanding article by Martin Sutherland (a historical theologian) called "Pine Trees and Paradigms: Rethinking Mission in the West" in a collection of essays for Brian Smith that critiques much of the simplistic talk about 'paradigm shifts' in culture. If you're interested in getting a copy then please let me know - I'll do my best.

Sheesh! Rob Kilpatrick and the team at Tranzsend won't let us off the hook easily will they? Last week the theme of Self-Denial was they (the poor) are found wanting. This week the theme is we are found wanting. The Tranzsend handout says:
Millions of people in the world are exploited for their labour. Slavery still exists. Bonded labour and sweatshops entrap millions including children. We can change that. By setting up business enterprises that teach skills to the unskilled, pay fair and just wages, pass the profits back into the communities, and encourage self reliance, we are effecting change for generations. No longer do these people have to sell themselves into a hostile labour market or worse. If we do business for the right reason, from the right world view then we are doing mission. If we fail to ensure justice exists then in God's sight, we are found wanting.

This week's message is that God holds us accountable for the poverty of others. That God will judge us not just for the bad we have done but also the good we have failed to do (e.g. turn a blind eye to exploitation and child labour). How do you feel about this? On the one hand I feel worried whilst on the other I feel a bit beaten up by some of these things. How does this make you feel?

This week we begin our annual Tranzsend Self-Denial appeal. This year the theme is "found wanting". This week's message is based around the theme they (the poor) are found wanting support. I did quite a few history papers in my theology degree. What struck me most in reading about the church's history is how often we separate personal morality from systemic morality. For example, we're quite happy to shout and yell about what goes on in the bedroom (sexual ethics) and homosexuality but we're often silent on issues of war, poverty, famine and justice. It's interesting to notice how much air time the Civil Unions Bill got in the Baptist (our deniminational newspaper) compared to how much air time the issues in Zimbabwe (or AIDS or Fair Trade or atrocities in Sudan or poverty in Africa or even the G8 summit) got. There were pages and pages of debate on the Civil Unions and our silence screamed on these other issues. When we turn to look at Jesus we find that he said a little bit about sex and nothing explicitly about homosexuality! And this was in a culture where homosexuality was rife and would make our society today look very Victorian! On the other hand, Jesus' favourite topic was the Kingdom of God and he spoke most about poverty and money. Now, I don't want to open up the can of worms that surrounds homosexuality but I do want us to consider the fact that often what's important to us wasn't important to Jesus and what was important to Jesus sometimes isn't important to us. Perhaps this Lenten season part of us realigning ourselves with God's purposes means realigning what's important to us with what's important to Jesus. Any thoughts? And especially any thoughts on how we might support the poor and needy - those who are found wanting.

This week's sermon text is Lk. 10:38-42 - the story of Mary and Martha. We have to be a bit careful about how we make sense of this passage. It seems to me that Martha gets a rough deal. She slaves away for Jesus in the kitchen, preparing a, no doubt, fantastic meal that would've taken hours to prepare and Jesus seems to tell her it's not good enough. Does Jesus want us to let the dishes pile up so we can all sit starry eyed at his feet? If I was Martha, I think I'd be banging the pots together and making as much noise as I could in the kitchen to give Mary the hint to get up off her backside and come and give me a hand in the kitchen as well!! Fred Craddock says "if we condemn Martha too harshly she may abandon serving altogether. If we commend Mary too profusely she may sit there forever!"

What strikes me as important is asking what is Martha's point of reference. When Martha speaks she reveals where her interests lie: "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to help me." Martha is anxious to get Jesus to help her achieve her goals. Martha tells Jesus what she wants him to say whereas Mary sits at Jesus' feet listening to what he does have to say. It's interesting to compare Martha's request with Jesus' request of God in Gethsemane. "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done". But is this still condemning Martha too harshly?

A couple of blog posts that might be of interest - Paul Windsor's asking some good questions about the modern obsession with spiritual gifts. Last week Joseph and I went to hear Brian McLaren. It was nice to hear and meet someone in the flesh who you've only known through reading their books. Steve Taylor, who was involved in organising the visit, had Brian speaking at Opawa Baptist last week and he has some really good notes and reflections on what Brian spoke of here; here; here; here; here; here; here; and here. It's well worth a read. Stu McGregor also had him at Mt Albert Baptist and felt that some of the people there finally got the point that the Kingdom of God does not equal heaven.

Sorry that my output has been a bit slow lately. Last week was a very hard week. My sister, who was 18 weeks pregnant, lost her baby (on my birthday). She went to have a scan to find out the sex of the baby and was told by the doctor that they couldn't find a heart beat. Obviously it is devastating for her and we're devastated as well. If you have the chance to pray for her and our family it would be really appreciated.

During our church service last Sunday our youth group went out and washed everyone's cars for them. Jolly nice I say - especially since it would be the first wash for my car for 6 months (what else is rain for??!!). Of course it had to happen. It's no use searching for answers Jo, you had to get wet:) This is the consequence of being a youth pasta:

On Sunday afternoon (4:30pm) our youth group at Napier Baptist have their 1st youth sevice of what will become regular monthly services. These will be services where our young people are given the freedom to respond to God's grace in ways that are natural for them. I personally can't wait to come to the service on Sunday. Being only 29 myself, I look forward to participating in the service whilst having no responsibilities. I love preaching and leading different parts of worship services but it will be nice on Sunday night to be able to go to the service and simply enjoy being instead of doing. See ya there.

Sorry I've been a bit slow on posting the sermon text for this week. What struck me initially with this passage is Peter wanting to build 3 dwellings for Moses, Elijah and Jesus. Peter, like most of us, prefers to think of the glorified Jesus than the crucified Jesus. When Peter sees Jesus in all his glory he wants to capture Jesus in this glorified state forever. Jesus has just finished telling him that his Messiahship is one of suffering and death (9:18-27), but Peter doesn't want his view of glory tarnished by suffering and shame, he wants to keep Jesus as dazzling white. As Barbara Brown Taylor says here, "when they saw that shining face bloodied and spat upon, those dazzling clothes torn into souvenir rags -- I’ll bet they had to rethink what that glory was all about." Jesus' journey to glory must go through Jerusalem (9:51) and it's this same Jerusalem journey that Jesus calls his disciples to walk. Jesus won't be held to this dazzling white untouchability because he knows the journey of discipleship is simply not like that. A friend recently said to me that we often prefer to take the path of least resistance than to go through the hard things in life. It reminded me of a quote from John Madden, the famous NFL coach: "The road to easy street goes through the sewer." For Jesus, the road to glory goes through Jerusalem.

I've always been one who's suspicious of church slogans and great "vision statements". I've never always been able to explain why. I connect a lot with Gordon Atkinson, who blogs at Real Live Preacher, and his thoughts on church marketing and slogans. I think his point that "Sunday words are no more than ad copy to comfort and assure ourselves that we belong to the demographic column of people who identify with Christianity" is very true and thought provoking. This year our Elders and I feel that we (as a community) need to begin to articulate what's important to us and who we are (and therefore aren't). How do we articulate our passions and what binds us together without it becoming trite sloganeering; what Gordon calls "Sunday words"? Yes it's true that it's our actions and not our slogans that witness to God, but even that is a belief that can be articulated isn't it? What passions bind us together? James McClendon, a Baptist guy I'm studying at the moment, says that churches are convictional communities. What convictions do we gather around as a community, and can we articulate who we are and what we're passionate about without it being hollow "Sunday words"? Any thoughts?

In a new city that's part of the Hurricanes franchise the last thing I needed was a scoreline that read Hurricanes 37 Blues 19. Especially when I'd talked and texted it up at half time Blues 16 Hurricanes 3. But it's ok we Aucklanders are full of grace. But grace ends tonight and truth begins. The Higlanders are going down at 7:30 tonight. For anyone who's into the Virtual rugby I advise you to pick the Blues by 13 or more. GO THE BLUES!!!!!

Ok so this is my 4th or so post for today! I feel like Paul "See what large letters I make when I am writing with my own hand!" But this is a goodie!



Speaking of Pauls. . . many of you will know that Paul Windsor is the principal of Carey Baptist College in Auckland. Most of you also would have heard me brag about him quite a bit because as well as being an excellent principal, Paul is a great guy and an amazing Christian. He has had a HUGE impact on me as a person, a pastor and a Christian. Well, Paul's leapt into the world of tomorrow by starting a weblog. You can check it out here. Me thinks you would be wise to add this one to your favourites!

The latest news around the traps is that Brian MaLaren is coming to NZ. The blurb about him says: Brian McLaren is an author, thinker, and pastor who has become one of the most respected voices of the ‘emerging church movement’. Author of A New Kind of Christian, The Story we Find Ourselves In, A Generous Orthodoxy and other books.

He's an interesting author and speaker especially around the issue of how are we to earth the gospel (or be a gospel people) in the 21st century?

One of the venues is Palmerston North, Wednesday 01 March,10am-4pm Seminar. Central Baptist Church, Church Road.register: Nigel Dixon 06-357 8925, nigeldixon@maxnet.co.nz.

If anyone's keen to go then let me know.