Aaron Stumpel’s Birds

Posted on October 15, 2011 by

In the thunder of elephants crashing through the plains it takes a moment for the dust to settle and to begin to hear the birds again. In this album you can still hear the elephants in the distance, but now, the birds begin to settle back onto their branches and sing!

Aaron’s album debuted only a few days ago and there is clarion agreement when it comes to the brilliance of the work within. This is most definitely an album of music that makes you wish that all artists producing their art under the banner of Jesus Christ could be similarly daring and honest in their declaration and expression.

I mean, the source material is epic! The expressive potential of our artistic renderings of the good news has almost no ceiling. And in Aaron’s album hope is born anew. Imagination, prayer, and wonderfully silly joy have centre stage.

So good! Visit Aaron’s site to buy it for yourself and your friends!

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Preaching in the Inventive Age

Posted on September 21, 2011 by

I’m still in single digits (9) when counting the number of sermons I’ve prepared and delivered. I think so far I have progressed from terrified and incoherent to scared and occasionally helpful. Not a bad progression.

Yet I remain unconvinced that the best way for me to engage with this art is to write an essay and then speak that essay. The Bible and my life of journeying with God is so much more rich than a 30 minute lecture could ever be. There has to be more to what has become such a central vehicle of the Christian faith in protestantism.

God’s best for delivering his message has to be better than what I have experienced. The glazed expression, a few occasionally interested faces, completely bored kids. Sometimes it seems that the greatest good that is being done is giving an overworked grandma the chance to nap.

I’m going to spend a couple hours this afternoon reading Doug’s most recent book on preaching.

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A New Kind of Covenant #markstudy

Posted on September 21, 2011 by

All who want to save their lives will lose them. But all who lose their lives because of me and because of the good news will save them. – Mark 8:35

No mention of special places, people, temples or creeds. In the following story – the transfiguration – even the mountain that Jesus, Peter, James and John climb has no particular name.

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Chapter and Verse Weirdness

Posted on September 7, 2011 by

Ok, explain this to me…

Matthew 16
28 “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Matthew 17
1 After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.

and then in Mark…

Mark 9
1 And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”

2 After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them.

Why was Jesus’s “Truly I tell you,” phrase divided from the Transfiguration via chapters in Matthew and not in the Mark? (For the record, I think that in Matthew they got it “right”.)

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What Is Local Philosophy

Posted on March 8, 2011 by

As a thoughtful Christian there are three big engines that drive my desire to engage in ministry.

Art, Community, and Philosophy

These three passions drive my theology and my evangelism, as well as my role in the church body. They inform me and form me. To sum things up very generally and probably horribly, art is my connection to God and his creation, community is my connection to others, and philosophy is my connection to my critical self.

And there is a fourth idea that floats in and out and does its best to connect these three. I have a constant ambition to plot my ministry in the midst of the radically local.

Local art and local community are compounds I can wrap my head around; but I have a question: What is local philosophy? Philosophy is a pursuit that has really big, universal tendencies, even when those tendencies are admitted to be laced with relativity. There is often not room made for the particularities of location. Really. Most philosophers would rather apologize for their location than embrace it as part of their mission. So how does one interact with the concepts of philosophy without getting caught up in the pursuit of all-encompassing—the way things are everywhere—answers (or questions)? Is such a goal possible? Or is this question simply part of postmodern angst.

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