Subtle Hints Toward Community
COMMUNITY MUSIC INITIATIVES (CMI)
COMMUNITY OF HOPE (co-ho)
THE HOUSE COMMUNITY (THC)
"Nudge Nudge Wink Wink, say no more say no more."
My 11 year old son Luke thinks NT Wright sounds like John Clease. Listen to god's holy land and you be the judge.
These capitolized phrases could be interpreted many ways. To me they are subtle hints and affirmations toward the direction my life is taking. These are all organizations with which I am either employed or volunteering.
I work as a music educator for CMI. I volunteer my music performance skills and act as creative consultant at co-ho. And I love the folks from THC. Well really i love everyone in these organizations but the House Community is..well.."close to home" I guess
All this SHOUTS not so subtly..."You Paul are a community catalyst. All those realms you've seen with the eye of the spirit are awaiting actualization."
It also has me grappling with the nature of community. If you follow my links listing there is a strong community focus. I like to re-present community as "common unity". No matter what group I'm working with there is access to the full presence of God in humanity which offers fertile soil for spiritual growth. As one who appears to have been asked to span several "communities" it's important for me to recognize both the fluidity and solidity of community.
"Serving" and functioning is so simplified in the closed community. (you know the church system that is inwardly focused on such a small sliver of our world that is called "church") sub cultures, a parrelel universe where the rules of engagement are all laid out for you.
I find myself searching for ways to be culturally creative, but then asking "Who asked me?" Do I have some "mandate"? Who gives me the "permission"? Underlying much of my interaction with these "communities"...right there I've pluralized the word. Are these "independant communities". It would be much more helpful for me to consider them ONE. Not that the people in any of these communities will ever share communion but I must be able to be fully engaged during my service with them. You see many would suggest and even demand that I choose one or the other. Or maybe that's a "hand me down" that I need to challenge.
I am by nature, by training and experience a "rearranger". I just know that there is SO MUCH MORE. We have the power to shape our world. For me it's gone way beyond christology and into the lap of the Father. sectarianism a thing of the past I want to get on with growing spiritual community in the great human family. This sort of talk may raise questions or even lead to outrage in some. "Ah Paul has fallen prey to the wishy washy world of liberal theology and new age philosophy" I mean "dare I" send anyone here
Getting down to the core of my transformation however leads directly to the person of Jesus Christ. So though it may appear I am open to a miriad of perspectives, I am following Jesus the best way I know, I just keep bumping into him in the strangest places, but please NOT the christian construct of "Jesus". If "being human" is good enough for him it's good enough for me.
humanity and divinity are so closely intertwined, to quote NT Wright (and material for my next track)
"Heaven and Earth are not a long way away from each other in biblical thought.
God and the world are not seperated by a great gulf"
peace
COMMUNITY OF HOPE (co-ho)
THE HOUSE COMMUNITY (THC)
"Nudge Nudge Wink Wink, say no more say no more."
My 11 year old son Luke thinks NT Wright sounds like John Clease. Listen to god's holy land and you be the judge.
These capitolized phrases could be interpreted many ways. To me they are subtle hints and affirmations toward the direction my life is taking. These are all organizations with which I am either employed or volunteering.
I work as a music educator for CMI. I volunteer my music performance skills and act as creative consultant at co-ho. And I love the folks from THC. Well really i love everyone in these organizations but the House Community is..well.."close to home" I guess
All this SHOUTS not so subtly..."You Paul are a community catalyst. All those realms you've seen with the eye of the spirit are awaiting actualization."
It also has me grappling with the nature of community. If you follow my links listing there is a strong community focus. I like to re-present community as "common unity". No matter what group I'm working with there is access to the full presence of God in humanity which offers fertile soil for spiritual growth. As one who appears to have been asked to span several "communities" it's important for me to recognize both the fluidity and solidity of community.
"Serving" and functioning is so simplified in the closed community. (you know the church system that is inwardly focused on such a small sliver of our world that is called "church") sub cultures, a parrelel universe where the rules of engagement are all laid out for you.
I find myself searching for ways to be culturally creative, but then asking "Who asked me?" Do I have some "mandate"? Who gives me the "permission"? Underlying much of my interaction with these "communities"...right there I've pluralized the word. Are these "independant communities". It would be much more helpful for me to consider them ONE. Not that the people in any of these communities will ever share communion but I must be able to be fully engaged during my service with them. You see many would suggest and even demand that I choose one or the other. Or maybe that's a "hand me down" that I need to challenge.
I am by nature, by training and experience a "rearranger". I just know that there is SO MUCH MORE. We have the power to shape our world. For me it's gone way beyond christology and into the lap of the Father. sectarianism a thing of the past I want to get on with growing spiritual community in the great human family. This sort of talk may raise questions or even lead to outrage in some. "Ah Paul has fallen prey to the wishy washy world of liberal theology and new age philosophy" I mean "dare I" send anyone here
Getting down to the core of my transformation however leads directly to the person of Jesus Christ. So though it may appear I am open to a miriad of perspectives, I am following Jesus the best way I know, I just keep bumping into him in the strangest places, but please NOT the christian construct of "Jesus". If "being human" is good enough for him it's good enough for me.
humanity and divinity are so closely intertwined, to quote NT Wright (and material for my next track)
"Heaven and Earth are not a long way away from each other in biblical thought.
God and the world are not seperated by a great gulf"
peace
posted by Paul Seburn at Saturday, July 02, 2005
4 Comments:
Hey Paul - thought I would swing by and say hello - it was good to be in the company of the house a few nights ago - needs go for caffeine or adult beverage sometime... Joe
Why shouldn't we have communion with these communities and others? Why do we hold on to this idea of having different churches or groups that see God and interact with Him in different ways? This attitude leads to "finding a church that meets your needs", where things are done a certain way. Why can't we simply bring together Christians who love God and love His children? A time, place, gathering, communion, where God is the point rather than what we believe or how we do things? Why are God's children so scattered?
Paul, your mandate is in your own heart! You create because you MUST! That, and you ARE the House worship guru. You knew that, right?
OK Matt, but remember, you asked for it. hehe
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