The Grace PagesA rest-stop for fellow pilgrimsEmerging- July 30, 2004 I have a question: What makes someone part of the Emerging Church I only heard of this about six months ago, and at first I assumed it really didn't have much to do with me personally, mainly because I perceived it as a mostly evangelical phenomenon. After a few months, I see that the Emerging Church, a formidable presence in blogdom, by the way, is wider than I imagined. If I were to pick out one defining characteristic, I would say that Emerging folk are those...http://blogs.salon.com/0003622/2004/07/30.html#a117 Your faith in five words- July 30, 2004 My faith in five words: TrinitarianLove-basedInclusiveDown-to-earthOpen-ended If you only had five words to sum up your faith, what would they be Davehttp://blogs.salon.com/0003622/2004/07/30.html#a116 Born again: How fundamentalists have hijacked a term that belongs to all of us- July 29, 2004 "Are you a Christian" asked my colleague inquisitively as I took another sip of coffee."Yes, I am," I replied."A born-again Christian" she probed."I don't acknowledge any other kind," I replied quickly. I knew immediately from her enthusiasm as she announced, "Oh, good, there's quite a few of us, then," that I had given the wrong answer, and I was desperate to back myself out of what I'd just said. The problem was that while I meant that all Christians are "born again" in Jesus Christ, it..http://blogs.salon.com/0003622/2004/07/29.html#a115 A double-bill of confessions- July 28, 2004 A friend and I were talking yesterday about strange and crazy things we did when we were kids. One time, when I was a wee lad in the Methodist Church, our minister sent his teenage son round to our house to teach me how to play chess. At the end of our little tutorial, he gave me a couple of books about the game to borrow. A wee while later I was going through my bookshelves, and I decided I'd label all my books to make it like a library, so I wrote my name in all my books --...http://blogs.salon.com/0003622/2004/07/28.html#a114 Spoiled for choice- July 28, 2004 I found this post by Tom Hinkle over at Boar's Head Tavern quite thought-provoking: Here's something I've been thinking about lately--and it's speculation, to be sure, because we're in a much different situation than the early church. But we in modern (or postmodern) America have this "privilege" of picking the church in which we choose to worship. But what if we didn't What if there was only the one church where you lived, and that was it What if you were in Corinth, and you knew there were...http://blogs.salon.com/0003622/2004/07/28.html#a113 Jesus and honour-reversal- July 27, 2004 Apparently in the ancient Mediterranean, the table was where it all happened. It was the place to be. You see, honour was the most important value in that culture, and the table was the place more than any other where honour was sought, reasserted and attained. Who you ate with and who sat where were all part of the drama of honour and its enemy, shame. I've just been reading an intriguing essay by the New Testament scholar S Scott Bartchy (yeah, I hadn't heard of him either) entitled "The.http://blogs.salon.com/0003622/2004/07/27.html#a112 Slain in the Spirit: What was really happening- July 25, 2004 The first time I was "slain in the Spirit" was a definitive point in my career as a charismatic. Being slain was not essential in the same way tongues was, but you did feel a bit of an outsider as long as these sorts of things didn't happen to you. Typically you were seen as resistant or a bit stubborn if nothing tangible happened when you responded to the altar call and were given the laying-on of hands. Being slain in the Spirit was something I had almost given up on. It never seemed to be...http://blogs.salon.com/0003622/2004/07/25.html#a111 A retrospective glance at my career as a tongues-talker- July 25, 2004 Not a few people have asked, having read the account of my journey through the charismatic movement, how I now interpret everything that happened to me back then. I spoke in tongues. I fell over, "slain in the Spirit". I prophesied. Was it all just hype Let me start with the phenomenon that at least at one time was the most distinctive feature of the Pentecostal and charismatic movement: Tongues. It is perhaps odd that tongues didn't get more of a mention in my story, but I suppose...http://blogs.salon.com/0003622/2004/07/25.html#a110 Epilogue: Pre-empting objections to "My story"- July 22, 2004 Having made public a lengthy account of my journey through the charismatic movement, I know some will find cause for complaint. I've chosen to do this blog anonymously because if I'm going to be honest about where I've come from, what I've experienced, and what I really think of it, it's only wise to protect my own identity and the identity of the myriad nameless faces who pop up from time to time in stories and tales I share. I already made the mistake one time of publishing some recollections.http://blogs.salon.com/0003622/2004/07/22.html#a109 My story (Part IV): Into the real world... and out of the charismatic movement- July 21, 2004 Despite my disenchantment with charismaticism, I nevertheless left college to minister as associate pastor of a smalltown Pentecostal Church in Western Canada. The senior pastor&146;s version of Pentecostalism seemed to be fairly low-key. He didn&146;t appear to be given to many of the worst charismatic extremes. I was however to find myself in conflict with the rest of the church at various points. One of the earliest of these occasions was when a lady in the church came across a book by...http://blogs.salon.com/0003622/2004/07/21.html#a108 |