EMERGENTIA

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 21:35:57 -0700

A few days of conversations for those questing to discover how to live and minister as Christian, Missional and Holiness people in an emerging, post-modern world. A time of listening, conversing, grappling and drinking obscene amounts of coffee while seeking the right questions and maybe even some answers for your local context.

This year we will have the opportunity to sit under the teaching of Richard Twiss (June 1954 Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota) is a Native American educator and author. He is a member of the Rosebud Lakota Sioux Tribe from South Dakota. He is the Co-Founder and President of Wiconi International (Wee-choe'-nee is Lakota/Sioux for "life") .
In 1972, Twiss was a participant in the forced occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Building in Washington, D.C., with the radical political group, the American Indian Movement or "AIM." Twiss later became a Christian minister, author, and public speaker.

His vision is, "To serve the Church as a bridge builder and consulting resource to see Native people come to faith and life in Jesus Christ and fulfill their God-given place in the Body of Christ."
He and his wife Katherine (married 1976), have four grown sons, and they currently have been residing in Vancouver, Washington since 1981.

Independence?

Sat, 3 Jul 2010 08:52:51 -0700

American Independence! Something to be celebrated or something to be pitied? I am so thankful for our freedom and on one hand can't imagine living anywhere else as I enjoy the freedoms that our patriots have fought for. I completely embrace and celebrate this reality. However, on the other hand, the liberties I receive as an American citizen (and in most cases take for granted) may be potentially detrimental to my understanding of what it means to be a citizen in the Kingdom of Heaven. The Way that ulitmately leads to a freedom is often under-scored by the shadow of the "American Dream". The Way of the cross invites us to live in the shadow of radical interdependence and challenges everything we know that may be "ours" or "our right." The Way of the cross is more than an invitation, its a life lived in reliance of others and provokes us to conceive and receive, to shoulder the responsibilities of others; an interdependence that directs and mandates love and life laid-down. Our real freedom, as the body of Christ, is to live in the shadow of the outstretched arms of Jesus as He invites Himself into this world and ministers to the needs of others. The shadows of life laid down will be the place in which the Church can choose to live beyond our own limited view of narcissistic freedom and desire. A dream of freedom and peace that the Creator God has chosen to illustrate through the Church because of the gift of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We are not alone, it's time to realize that there is much to enjoy and much to celebrate. Our "national independence" should not be confused with the radical interdependence that we have been commanded to in the Kingdom of Heaven.

His presents, or presence? What do you dream of?

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 16:57:27 -0700

It seems we have become so consumed with "consuming" as westerners and we have swallowed the kool-aid of "unalienable rights" that leads us to hyper-individualism which conceives and gives birth to entitlement... We have not only swallowed it but we have become pimps of this type of living and thinking, and in many cases have used distorted theology to sell it in the Church. We have prostituted the most sacred of all gifts, His Body, the one that we are to be. His presence, His gift to the world... us. The Word became flesh and dwells. What will happen in this world when the Church works through its unbelief and actualizes the Jesus dream of "we?" My buddy, Mikey Romo, said the other day, "No longer I, but a we, no longer a one of singularity but a one of plural. And only when we get to a point where we operate as one can we then be a community. A common-unity, which is Christ." Do we dare to discover the depth of this life-lived-together story? Some worry over becoming internally driven and focused; I am worried when we haven't created a table for others to eat from and haven't prepared a place-setting for our guests. The reality is that we come together and learn to love one another so that we can go as sent ones, together with a common-unity that is Christ. A singular voice, with singular motive, with singular love, with harmony as a distinguishable gift given to all we encounter. Should we possibly become more concerned with those who chose to take individual paths of Christian Spirituality and less concerned with the notion of a collective voice of unity and oneness? Which does the scripture call us to... radical individualism or radical collectivism? Just thinking?

Blogging With Jim

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:57:11 -0800

Hey Family,

I know these are busy and crazy days for most of you. But I hope this note finds you well and engaged in the opportunity to live with purpose and intent. I was thinking about the passage in Paul's letter to the Ephesians we talked about last night in the Gathering. When he says, "While I'm locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk--better yet, run! -- on the road God called you to travel. I don't want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don't want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline-- not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences." I guess my thoughts strolled down the path of mission... how easy it is within the chaos of our own lives to become disconnected from community and we begin to fall into the entrapment of self identifying. It is important for us to remember that this letter is being written to the entire Church in Ephesus and that they are being reminded to come together and walk the road God had called them to travel and to not become distracted. How do we do that? It seems that one of the ways we can avoid the trap of self, which is a slippery slope to entitlement, power and control, is to ponder the missional intent of Adsideo, to quest to sit, stand, and be at one's side. This simple but challenging thought of coming alongside of folks will dust the cobwebs and shake our shoulders out of our daydreaming and put us back in step with who we know we are called to be. Let us make time to walk together on the road that leads to the brokenhearted as we care for the needs of our neighbor and we learn to love one another. I am looking forward to continuing to walk with you. I hope that "together" we will be a glimmer of hope to those who are in need of a companion as they navigate life's difficult twists and turns, and negotiate the unexpected corners.

Thanks

Tue, 1 Dec 2009 19:22:20 -0800

Hey family,

I just wanted to touch base and let you know how much I value your friendship. It is sometimes overwhelming how much we have been gifted with the many relationships that God has brought into our lives. It is humbling to be on the receiving end of your love. A love that amounts to the greatest resource one could ever hope for... your presence. It is no great secret that at times this community "family" we call Adsideo can create some messiness, but it is also one of the pieces that causes me to sit for a moment and contemplate how right that seems as well. Life is dirty and messy, but hope is in Christ and Christ has brought us together to walk a journey of mess together.

There is an Old Norse word, "Myki" that is translated to a form of the word we might know as "dung," that seems fitting here... life can be full of it. The beauty is that we help one another through the Spirit of Christ to clean it up. We don't abandon one another, we don't give up, we don't stop fighting for a better fuller expression of the "Love" we so desperately need in Christ. We press in together, we serve together, we commune together, we share our resources together, we cry, we laugh, we raise our children together, we bleed for each other, we worship, we pray, we grow in grace, we learn the scriptures, we suffer, we share our "myki;" and thus we become known as the Church.

Hey, all of that to say, there is beauty that awaits on the other side of mess. I have been experiencing the beauty of life as we transfix our eyes upon the author and perfecter of faith, he knew a bit of human tragedy and the glory of the light of life. Endure the trail, it is a good one and one that is worth traveling.

I am looking forward to hearing laughter and voices once again around our table this Thanksgiving and I hope you savor the moment as well, there is always room at the table.

See you Saturday for sock.hat.glove.give @ 10 (Starbucks downtown in Pioneer Square). It will be good to serve together! It is right for us to do so.

I am giving Thanks for you!
Jim