AUTHOR: hanson
DATE: 5/19/2003 03:17:00 PM
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BODY:
I'm still processing through a really strange weekend....
It started Thursday with an e-mail out of the blue from Mike Bishop from the what is church crew. He introduced himself by telling me that he's been reading my blog pretty much since it started and that he's coming to a church planters conference thats being held at the Augusta Vineyard where he's been asked to do a workshop on authentic sprituality. He said that he was looking forward to meeting and possibly getting together for lunch.
Now prior to Mike's e-mail I had already made up my mind that I was not going to go to this particular conference because the brochure said, "If you are a YOUNG risk taker (and you will know if that is you) then we invite you to come".
Ladies and geltlemen can we have the buzzer... bzzzzzzzt, you're disqualified because you're too OLD.
I really don't mean to come off so jaded and jaundiced and I will be the first to tell you that I struggle to stay out of the "thin skinned smartass with a perpetually bad attitude towards all things church" mindset, but I really wish these "events" would be more tribal and inclusive in their terminology AND practice. I am perfectly willing (in fact I need) to learn and interact with people twenty or more years my junior. Hell, I'm by far the oldest guy in our particular community at 47 and it bugs me that we haven't at this point integrated people in their fifties, sixties and seventies into the mix.
There IS hope on the horizon. The women in our community are banding together to do yardwork in some of the communities we live in downtown and one of their first projects will be the yard of a little old lady that happens to like chocolates and Smirnoff Ice (guess what she's getting in the way of a gift ) which is a great precursor to relationship.
Anyway......
Mike's e-mail tilted me towards going.
I came away with the usual mixed bag that I get from these kind of events. There was some great worship which I needed and there was some prophetic stuff but it was done by the "prophetic" guys (which included me) but maybe modelling followed by mentoring/small group interaction with "prophetic" guys guiding the group interaction would have been better. Less preaching more Q and A type interaction, I don't know...at this point I'm just thinking out loud.
It still frustrates me that we (and I include me) still have this whole "event" mentality and orientation. I realise that we need the "gathering" and "body" aspects of daily life and community together but does it always have to work towards a "Sunday" or an "event" that in and of itself is not really reflective of the normative daily functions of being Christ followers.
I realise that there are some things that are not meant to be practised out in the larger community (the work of the Holy Spirit in healing of different areas can sometimes be messy) and hence there needs to be a sacred space and time for intimate worship and ministry among the people of God set apart from that general interaction with the community.
This is getting long, I've got things to do and I haven't even talked about the funeral yet, so I'll just end this part by saying that I had some great fellowship and conversation with Bishop and company over the weekend and I look forward to visiting the community in west Palm Beach.
Any comments on just how much one should (or even if one should) try and integrate the more intimate and intense aspects of Christian worship and Spirit interaction into a more public setting (such as ones' own coffee shop) are welcome.
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