And yet, I find myself thinking a lot these days about that habitual kind of “ritual.” The small and homely kind. Brushing your teeth, reading the paper, kissing someone good night and good morning. It seems to me that these things that we repeat – week by week, month by month, year by year – transform us too. They give shape and order to our lives. They make us into the people that we are becoming.

As the calendar rolled over to 2010, my brother and his girlfriend stayed with me for a couple of days. On Sunday morning over a leisurely breakfast, they pulled up their Sunday websites to share with me: PostSecret and the New York Times Weddings & Celebrations. As we looked over shoulders, the silence was punctuated by sighs, laughter, and the occasional groan. I was moved and surprised. My brother and his girlfriend are completely secular people, and yet their Sunday rituals still carry a sense of setting time aside for something special, sacred even. They bear witness to other people’s secrets. They share in other couples’ joy.

It made me think about my own habitual rituals. Are mine transforming me into a person of empathy, compassion, and joy? Do they shape me into the person that I would like to become? I’ve joined my brother and his girlfriend in reading secrets over Sunday breakfast, and added a dose of dance and poetry. Then I go to church, for the healing of the ritual and the shaping of the habit.

We’ve talked about mission a fair amount about during our planning meetings and retreats, but we have yet to produce an engaging, long-term missional focus.¬† This is something I hope we can talk about with Radical Living next Thursday, since they live and breathe mission the way we live and breathe worship.

What are your thoughts?

http://www.transmissioning.org/2007/01/27/kimball-macarthur-and-me/

Well, it turns out two years later, Phil Johnson felt the need to refute me in his essay “Joyriding on the Downgrade at Breakneck Speed: The Dark Side of Diversity,” published in Reforming or Conforming?

Check out the link – I’m in footnote seven.¬† Although I disagree with his presuppositions, it’s a very interesting read and worth a few minutes of your time.

Personally, I’m a realist about church life – keeping a building open costs a lot of money, and building mainteance isn’t always the most Jesus-like way for a church to use its resources.¬† I don’t think that churches dying is a tragedy as long as new churches are planted.¬† Cells in our body die all the time and are replaced with new ones, and it’s a natural part of the life cycle.¬† That said, I think that these vigils are an amazing testament to the bottom-up nature of the Body of Christ.¬† Just like a mustard bush, the Church of God springs up like a weed in places that the gardner doesn’t always want it to, and it can be really, really hard to get rid of.

My prayers are with both those holding vigil and the diocesan leaders, and I’ll be watching how this develops with interest.

You can read more about it here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/06/us/06vigil.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&em

Committed to Freedom Ministries will hold a retreat for women who are survivors of childhood abuse in the Bronx, Riverdale area. The retreat does not focus on the abuse experience, but on practical spiritual tools to move beyond the damage of abuse.

The retreat begins at noon on Friday and concludes at 3:00 pm on Sunday. The cost is $400, which includes lodging, meals, retreat curriculum, and retreat materials.

Please call 1-800-713-7837, visit our website committedtofreedom.org or e-mail information@committedtofreedom.org for more information or a registration form. Registration forms are available for download from our website. Registrations must be received by August 22nd.

Although up until now I’ve only heard Jews and Muslims use the word haram (i.e. forbidden), I was super excited that Christianity is getting some positive press in NYC.¬† Woo Hoo!

This Saturday, one of my personal idols, Shane Claiborne, is doing a book tour and rally at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church (7 West 55th St), at 7pm. I’ve read the book and it’s quite good, challenging what following Jesus means in an era when just about every politician, corporation, and military is claiming to have God on its side. This is definitely and event worth attending.

From the press release:

Claiborne, Haw and his wife Cassie and dog Lucy, along with two other friends, will be sharing ideas and inspiring other to re-imagine politics. They’ll be traveling in a bus running on used vegetable oil. The tour will feature teaching from both authors as well as storytelling, art, music, and worship that provokes the political imagination. Each city will also include special guest musicians and performers.

You can check out the website here: http://www.jesusforpresident.org/ Give me a ring if you want to go with me!

Oh, and don’t forget to keep July 2nd saved for our next Transmission!

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

Thanks to Allen for sending this to me.