It Was a Heckuva of Crazy-Busy Week!

As I wrote on Facebook, last week was an almost overwhelmingly busy week for me:

Crazy busy week coming: finish 2 Playmakers, prepare next Sunday's teaching; help take down October's art exhibit; attend cohort Tuesday; attend 2 Chamber of Commerce gatherings, participate in imagine's first funeral,  submit my next blogpost for Paradise City Press; finish blogpost for Old Men Planting Churches; advertise for Jim Zingarelli's new exhibit on Arts Night Out this Friday; help host it, see various counseling clients ... oh yeah: eat, sleep, and be merry!

Here's a recap:

1. Finish 2 PLAYMAKER Profiles: For the uninitiated, PLAYMAKERS are a tool I adapted and created from SIMA Motivated Abilities Patterns I'd had the privilege to write for 10 years in the 80's for People Management in Simsbury. I got their permission. The first PLAYMAKER was for a young employee of a company called Microtools, a Systems/Software/Hardware Engineering Firm in Simsbury owned and operated by two friends from The Barn, a church where Tricia and I were members. I'd already done the Achievement Interview and needed to analyze the data, then write the Profile Report itself. I've done a number of Profiles for them over the years.

The second PLAYMAKER was for the leading pastoral candidate for the Senior Pastor position at The Barn in Simsbury. They've been without such a person for a year or so, and they've done hard work to narrow down the field. My job was to confirm this candidate was a good fit or not. I did a long distance phone interview, transcribed the recording, analyzed the text, wrote an Executive Summary to be read in chuech last Sunday, and wrote the Profile Report. I'll give the feedbacks to each person in the next couple of weeks.

Each report takes 10-15 hours from interview to feedback for me to complete.

2. Prepare and give last Sunday's talk at imagine: This is never an easy task for me. My ADD always proves a challenge to my ability to concentrate for long periods of time. This time was no different; in fact, it was very frustrating due to fatigue built up over the week. Even into Saturday, I was struggling to find a handle on what God wanted me to bring. I was doing the entire service in that both Tricia and Jim were gone. I knew I'd be able to do that, but I needed a clear message. At almost the last minute, God showed me what to do, and I was able to deliver what I'd been given. I did the entire service from soup to nuts and had very able help from imagineer Kristen Hastings in the set-up hospitality and clean-up chores. Sunday began for me at 4AM, and I locked imagine's door at 1PM.

3. Help take down October's art exhibit: Two Mondays ago, I helped Tricia take down Bella Halsted's paintings and Ben Westbrock's sculptures, some of which were also hanging on the walls. We had to prepare for last Friday's new Arts Night Out and Opening Reception for painter/sculptor Jim Zingarelli. He was coming to hang paintings and place sculptures on Tuesday. Both the taking down and putting up meant schlepping plus loading and unloading artwork down and up the stairs. Both went wonderfully smoothly!

4. Attend the imagine cohort Tuesday evening: The cohort is a relaxed group of 8 imagine people who gather to talk about our life as Christ-followers in mission. We meet in our apartment for an hour and have refreshments and conversation. A different person in the group leads it each week so we have maximum participation. We might pray, do some listening prayer around a piece of music or a video, respond to a spiritual direction question, or a portion of Scripture or passage from a book. The point is to connect and be real. We are getting to know one another in a fresh and deeper way.

5. Attend 2 Chamber of Commerce gatherings: One of the ways and means we've engaged people in our small city is to join the Northampton Chamber of Commerce. Imagineer Dave Sweeney introduced us to the opportunity. We've been slowly engaging folks by attending what are named Arrive @ Five gatherings which is a meet and greet at different locations in Noho. Last Tuesday the 5th, I attended a noontime brown-bag lunch of solo entrepreneurs gathering at the Chamber offices. Someone I met a few months back at the gallery moderates them. So I and seven others gathered to hear a gentleman talk about his career in the media, and how it had taken interesting twists and turns. I got to tell people who I was and who imagine/Northampton was. We are the sole church in the Chamber of Commerce so people are a little curious of why we're there; they have no neat business category to pit us in.. I also added to the conversation about adapting and responding to change in career. I contributed.

On Wednesday evening, Tricia and I attended our third Arrive @ Five event, this time at the World War II Veterans Club.There were probably 50 people in attendance. The Membership Service Manager, Jasmine let us in for free as we were still new members. We stood around a bit, then Sandra, a woman I'd been unable to connect with as she was supposed to be our "Ambassador" to help connect us with others in the Chamber, recognized me and introduced Tricia and I to other folks, including an interesting writer who publishes a monthly blog on books she reviews. We stayed for about an hour and made a quiet exit. The important thing is we are getting known in town. Even our "Ambassador" remarked on our Halloween event and how she'd been told by folks in the Chamber. We're going to keep trying to participate to build relationships for the Gospel.

6. Participate in imagine's first funeral: In 2012, I received a call from a woman who I could tell on the phone from the timbre of her voice was older. She was looking for a church in Northampton and wanted to know about us. Her name was Pauline Margaret Peterson. We'd come to know and love her as Polly. Later in the week, I met her and she was interested in checking us out. Which she did. Over the next year and a few months she was in and out of the hospital and rehab many times to recover from her various and serious ailments, some she'd endured for a long, long time. Many of us spent hours with her either at her home or in a care facility. Polly was tough, funny, opinionated, and full of spit and vinegar. She lit up a room as the saying goes. She died in her sleep on October 19th. 

When the arrangements were finalized -- most of the work being done by Karin LaMontagne and Janet Williams -- we held her Celebration of Life Service. College Church in Northampton graciously let us use a space there and provided hospitality to our guests. They even provided the musician through Dr. Don Lundgren. Her celebration was lovely with prayer, the singing of hymns, Scripture reading (I read John 11:21-44), open sharing of friends and family, the reading of an excerpt from C.S. Lewis's "The Last Battle" by Karin, and a brief message from Jim. From there, we headed to Wildwood Cemetary in Amherst for her interment. It was brief, but sweet.She won't be forgotten

7. Submit my next blogpost for Paradise City Press: Recently, Ian Bauer, the Project Coordinator for Northampton Community TV, invited me to write a blog for the Paradise City Press, NCTV's community blog. I wrote and published my first one in October: http://www.paradisecitypress.org/wp-admin/post.php?post=21045&action=edit, and one late last week: http://www.paradisecitypress.org/wp-admin/post.php?post=21101&action=edit. It's been fun to write a second blog about my experience living in Northampton. I'm writing one about every three weeks or so. I may increase the output or not; I don't know yet. I was able to get it in last week after doing a little final editing amidst all else I was doing!I like knowing I have a different public forum and I want to be of benefit to this community such that some will come to know the King of Kings who turned this place upside down 250 years ago.

8. Finish a blogpost for Old Men Planting Churches: I also finished http://oldmenplantingchurches.blogspot.com/2013/11/of-light-and-dark-and-reveille-opening.html
a blogpost I'd begun earlier about the wonderful exhibit we had in October with painter Bella Halsted, and sculptor Ben Westbrock. I was two-thirds done, but I needed to complete it in the midst of all the other projects and tasks I had to complete as well. Glad I did. I enjoy writing about these arts events because they're so full of life , beauty and community.

9. Advertise for Jim Zingarelli's new exhibit on Arts Night Out last Friday: Part of my role as Assistant to the Curator (the Curator being Tricia), was to handle getting the word out about our exhibitions. I do and did a number of things to advertise Jim's "The 4/4 Series": email announcements to our growing imagine ART Gallery mailing list, plus our imagine/Northampton mailing list; announcements on Facebook, the Northampton calendar on American Towns, putting up flyers around town, writing a press release, even standing in front of our door on Arts Night Out and inviting people to come and see; putting an ad on the Valley Art Share website, etc. It takes time and I've had to learn how to do it. I'm still learning!

10. Help host Jim Zingarelli's new exhibit on Arts Night Out: A very major event happened in the life of the McDermott family: Our son, Dan's wife, and our daughter-in-law, Lindsay, just before last weekend went to the hospital to deliver Brody Elliot McDermott, our fifth grandchild. That meant Tricia had to leave on Friday for Hopkinton to pitch in with caring for our other grandchildren as the baby was born and Lindsay would be in hospital. That meant I would be responsible for making sure all the sumptuous food and drink we serve at every Artist Reception  would, that evening, be put out attractively, and replenished as needed. Logistics and details of event execution are not my "strong suit" let's just say. 

Tricia was well aware of my "event execution deficit disorder" so she prepared what would be put out, plated or labelled how to plate it, and asked imagineers Jenn Swick and Kristen Hastings get stuff ready and keep it replenished. As one of them remarked later, "Tricia has trained us well." Indeed she has! I didn't need to think about it because they were on top of it, including clean up. So I was able to talk with artist Jim and his wife Kathy, and some old friends and new folks who dropped by. I also spent a good bit of time handing out flyers on Main Street and enticing people upstairs. One very encouraging reality is many people showed up and remarked they had been to all our shows, or said "This is my favorite gallery." Some people noted they didn't know we were here, but were glad they found it. The night was a success with 60 folks visiting the gallery and interacting with Jim as well as his three sculptural "stations" which can be interacted with to create new forms by anyone visiting .

11. See various counseling clients: Last, but never least, and as with every week, I see various clients for counseling here and in Greenfield. It can be as few as six, and as many as fifteen, mostly in person, sometimes over the phone. I saw nine, including over the phone. Notable about that is each day is sprinkled with sessions which means I must detach from other stuff and be fully present to folks who come into my office. Then, I must detach from each session and re-engage other work.I have a natural ability to do so, but I also have ADD and I'm getting older rather than younger (except in heart and spirit). It's normally all doable, but last week seemed to be especially "heckuva crazy-busy!"; at least in my estimation.

By the time, Sunday afternoon came around I was bone tired. I don't get that way often, but that way I was. I was so glad I could rest in the quiet. We took out our television a number of months back and it's been wonderful; no inane distractions from that thing. I went to bed very early and slept in on my day-off ; for me that's 7AM.

Of Light and Dark and Reveille: Opening Reception for Artist Bella Halsted and Sculptor Ben Westbrock.

On Friday, October 11th ,  our imagine ART Gallery hosted the Opening Artist Reception for Amherst painter, Bella Halsted, and Northampton ceramic sculptor Ben Westbrock. We met both Ben and Bella when they, at different times, traipsed up the stairs into the gallery to see what there was to see. I was the first to meet Ben. He stopped by in the summer and after a conversation at one of the ARTS Night Openings, returned a few weeks later to bring me a packet of pictures showing his work. they sat around for a month or two and Tricia contacted him after she's talked to Bella and they thought it right to do a joint show with Ben. One cool thing about this show both Ben and Bella are in their 70's and they are local. Ben is the shorter gentleman with the beard on the right in the first picture. Bella is the lady with the turquoise jacket in the second picture:

As with all opening night receptions for a new show, we're never quite sure who'll be showing up. What we can say is the numbers are increasing steadily since we began! We noticed a bit of a difference with this show. The pace of guests coming to see the exhibit was steady once it began. The gallery was full until right up to the end. Even after I closed up shop, a father and his two kids knocked on the door saying they'd heard they needed to see this exhibit so he wanted to know if I'd open up. Of course, I did.

As she has done before, imagineer Jenn Swick stood out front telling folks about the exhibit. Many of them hadn't been up to the gallery before, so she single-handedly was responsible for introducing all these new folks to the space. A number of the guests were friends or family of the artists. It seemed many of them came too. Some of our friends were there as well, including Bob and Barbara Japenga who we served with in the retreat ministry with at the Center For Renewal in Simsbury. It was a lovely surprise to see them. It was also lovely to see and visit with Bruce Mills and Tamar Shadow. Tamar was a key exhibitor and instigator of the very well-attended TWINE show we did last spring. They were out and about and stopped in. It's always great to see them. Scott Jackson and Leah Gregg also stopped by as they have at more than a few of our shows. We've known them since almost the beginning of being here.

I also recognized faces of people who've been to our other shows. There were some wonderful comments about the peace and "specialness" of the space and  how calm it feels. One faithful supporter said it was her favorite gallery (a couple of others said that too) and she's been to all our shows. She had tears in her eyes and apologized for getting emotional. People all raved abut the food calling it the best gallery food in the city. That happens every time because Tricia takes such care to make it wonderful, not just snacks. All in all, I counted 200+ by the end of the evening, Ben and Bella sold some work. We pray for that.

If you came into the gallery you'd have seen a combination of Ben's and Bella's work. What you'd notice would be all the vibrant color and interesting shapes on display. Tricia has a knack for hanging pieces; she's affirmed all the time about that by the artists. Bella's paintings are abstracts with bold colors and shapes of landscapes. With some, she does watercolor studies first so you would've seen seen both. Doing it that way helps you see into how she sees. And she tied many of them to a poem; something she's written or something by famous poets such as Wendell Berry or William Blake. Having a light on her work made the colors pop with strength and vibrancy.

Ben's ceramic sculptures also popped with color, texture, and with movement. Many are whimsical. All are abstracts, but not unrecognizable as something familiar. They have substance and clear form. Some look like sea creatures or cartoon characters. Some look like tools or body parts or knights. Others are abstract designs to be hung on a wall. They are well-made, evocative and you'd want to touch them. They catch your eye right away and you'd wonder what they are:

We are now a year into this and it feels like we are just getting anchored in the town. People often say, I didn't know you were here, even though we have been showing up almost every weekend since a year ago in September. There is much we still have to learn about being more public as a church and a gallery. We'll get there. I remember, we knew nothing about how to do most of this when we came to plant imagine/Northampton. The imagine ART Gallery was not even a thought. But here we are after a years and artists are beginning to ask if they can bring their  work in. Recently, I had two folks tell me we have a great space and this is a great exhibit. They both are connected to galleries one in Holyoke and one in Watertown. Some are fascinated we are a church.

May God accomplish all he desires through the gallery and the church we were inspired by him to start. I can imagine it. His being glorified by what we do here would be an exquisite joy for us.

If you haven't come out this Friday or Saturday to see Gordon College Professor of Art, Jim Zingarelli's "The 4/4 Series" of paintings and sculpture:

Breaking Free From the Unexamined Tendency to Coagulate Spiritually, Ecclesially, and Missionally.

I'm just beginning to formulate what is percolating in my head and heart these days as I respond to the unsettling I feel. If it's like similar unsettlings over the years, it's feels initiated by the Holy Spirit. He wants me to begin something, change something, or re-look at what I'm doing. However, I always must be careful because of my motivational design to make an impact by exploring and going beyond. When it's just me, I head down rabbit trails or wander around as if I lost my best quarter.

Nothing results.

Time is wasted.

The wind gets chased.

My title for this blog is from the first question I posed from my last blog: When the Container Isn't Fitting For The Brew. Questions About Church: http://oldmenplantingchurches.blogspot.com/2013/05/when-container-isnt-fitting-for-brew.html.The question really addresses how churches can lull easily into an unexamined holy huddle, a community unto itself where most of it's energy and resources are directed inward.  The church - "the called out and gathered ones" - is gathered in one place: a church building where much of its communal life (worship, fellowship, programs and ministries) is lived out. Unless people go regularly to the location they eventually lose touch with that community because it's where we connect with each other most frequently, the exceptions being missionaries sent out, college students, or the elderly and infirm who can't make it to the church building. The central location shapes a common identity and culture, but it also narrows our focus on one another in a way not meant by God, I think. In a funny way, we are the church who go to church.

Now it's true that when not "at church", Christians are supposed to practice certain spiritual disciplines, namely prayer, contemplation, study of the Scriptures, "fellowship" in a small group, having the brethren over to the house for dinner, or lending a hand when other people in the church need help, etc. We do practice such disciplines in varying degrees of frequency depending on spiritual maturity or a natural proclivity for such things, like study , for instance. They are vital practices for spiritual growth, but spiritual growth for what purpose? Internal cultural expectation also determines how much we pursue such disciplines

By the way, lest you jump the gun by assuming I'm in some fashion advocating not meeting together at all, I'm not. I agree with the writer of Hebrews who warns we should not neglect meeting together, rather we should use such times to encourage one another, and stir up one another to love and good works. Notice in this one text there is both and inward and outward focus implied. We meet to be the church in relationship to our God, one another, and the world (read community) around us. We are Christ-followers sojourners, citizens of another transcending, eternal Kingdom, who for a time are gathered together to help each other surrender our hearts fully to God Jesus and mature toward picking up our crosses and giving ourselves away in love and service. As we grow, we're also summoned to join him in the redemptive mission he has called each and every one of us to undertake through our deepening knowledge of TRUE REALITY, using the gifts we've been entrusted with for his glory. Ours is a cause to die for.

The question I'm asking with this post concerns what I view as an unexamined tendency of churches over time to coagulate spiritually, ecclesially, and missionally. The word coagulate is often used biologically as having to do with the clotting mechanism of fluid, especially blood. To coagulate is to cause to change or be changed from a liquid to become viscous or thickened into a coherent mass. Another word which expresses my idea is congeal: to make or become fixed, as ideas, sentiments, or principles. In other words, that which is liquid solidifies into a fixed, cohering form; the liquidity congeals rather than "exhibits a characteristic readiness to flow." Applied to church life these words capture how gradually our church cultures become embedded, even calcified in patterns, routines and assumptions which become in and of themselves. They can avoid scrutiny because it's just the way we do church together. And we're pretty sure its fine if we do so, in fact it's probably the the right way to do church.

When coagulation and cohering occurs, we congeal communally. Our fixed points of reference create a sense of order and normalcy; it's church, our church. We know what to expect and can even run somewhat on autopilot because we know the script so well; it's been the same for years. Few surprises. Why change what works, right? Nobody seems to notice or asks: "Well, how come we always do it this way and not that?" Or, "I know we've been doing this thing for years; it's our tradition, but why does it have to be exactly the same, done at the same time, in the exact same way?" I know it's because we're comfortable with what works for us. Comfortable looks good in a world increasingly uncomfortable for many these days. We like the Christmas Eve Service done the same way our predecessors celebrated it. Prayer should be on Wednesday night. Everybody will be lost without a bulletin. Etc. Etc. Etc.

*****

Some definitions in terms:

I. Spiritual Coagulation is essentially congealing the spiritual life into fixed practices and disciplines which fit us. For instance, having a quiet time, or reading the Scriptures, or listening to Christian music. Each practice  settles to rote if we're not careful or resourceful - and sometimes even if we are. We're edified by these practices, for sure, but I also know I and others go through "dry" seasons when nothing seems to pop in our spiritual lives. Some of that is normal and needs persevering until the spiritual "Spring rains come." Such persevering through the arid places is essential to maturing. 

In community, we practice certain spiritual disciplines together and they become are featured in our shared spirituality. They're routines we support, and connect us to God (they certainly can and do), so we assume their merit. But, they can become "going through the motions" fairly quickly unless we often check our hearts to see what level of intimacy we have with God. Doing the stuff is not necessarily an ever-deepening desire to know and love God. Passion cools and habit supplants it gradually. The problem is we lose hold of  a genuine relationship. He desires us to get to know him for a lifetime, not know about him as a silent partner in our spirituality. Christian spiritual practice must flow from loving God and his ways in my opinion. Men and women differ in how they express this love (affective and intellectual), but spiritual intimacy is characterized by it. Spiritual coagulation can seriously deaden the capacity for wonder regarding God. For instance, I see this in many people who can't remember if or when God showed affection toward them. Even the idea he'd do so is foreign. Wonder is quieted by dutiful habit.

Breaking free from spiritual coagulation is spiritual fluidity. Fluidity is the physical property of a substance that enables it to flow. Flow can be defined as: "the action or fact of moving along in a steady, continuous stream." It implies movement, momentum, direction and continuity.  Spiritual fluidity can be defined as a property of the believer to move toward God, move with God (being enabled to follow; keeping in step with the Spirit), move out from God, i.e., to have a relationship with "the Transcendant Other" after he graciously revives our hearts and opens our eyes.  

Spiritual fluidity is the dynamic of learning to discern the Presence and quiet voice of the Spirit in real time. It's gradually, but earnestly coming to discern the movement and directing of God in circumstances, then recognizing his leading. The disciplines and practices we use are only intruments to tune the heart and mind. They have little efficacy beyond their potential for opening discernment and connecting with the living God. Both obedience and freedom flow from opening to God. Fluidity moves and searches and explores and experiments. It even leaps into the unknown as God beckons from a whisper, or a grasping of Truth. Faith fortifies spiritual fluidity, not mere routine or comfortable rituals. Breaking free to be spiritually fluid means extending our reach, and grasping for more of God, always at the ready to see wonder break in, or love to show up to still our fears, ravish our hearts or fortify our faithfulness. Spiritual fluidity breaks us free from tepid hearts, but regular attendance on Sunday.

II. Ecclesial Coagulation is the unexamined tendency of churches to gradually codify and cement their spiritual experience and cultures into structural, operational, experiential, and theological formalism. Ecclesial formalism can be defined as an unexamined or "excessive adherence to outward form at the expense of inner reality or content." In other words, unexamined, embedded rituals, ecclesial presuppositions, and traditions stultifying a careful, but creative, responsive freedom to explore fresh ways of worshiping God, or expressing church culture, or doing ministry (inward and outward focused), or being followers of Jesus in a world awash with spiritualities.We turn experience of God and thinking about God into procedures and methodologies, which eventually tamp down the impulse to come empty-handed to God for reviving and inspiring. And I do mean empty-handed with no agenda but to worship and hear from God as to his desired, but fluid shape of things.

I am not anti-theological discourse, anti-scholarship, or anti-liturgy. I've just seen how we can set in stone what was meant to be expressions of a particular people at a particular time as they wrestled with what it means to know and follow the God who revealed himself and called them to relationship. So I've never seen it fitting to identify myself through a particular denominational affiliation (I was baptized a Catholic, spent 2 years at a Methodist church, 20 years at a Presbyterian Church, 7 years in a non-denominational house church, and currently 5 years at imagine/Northampton, a missional church plant), or theological position ( I affirm parts of reformed theology, Orthodox theology, and free grace theology), or spirituality (I'm charismatic, missional and contemplative). I've been most comfortable over all these years referring to myself simply as a Christian, or of late, a follower of Jesus.

Breaking free from Ecclesial Coagulation is Ecclesial Fluidity expresses our on-going, fluid discernment of the indwelling and vivifying Presence of God through the work of the Holy Spirit who also summons each church to join him as he already works in the neighborhoods, communities and outward relationships in which we're placed. We follow him in prayer; we follow him worship; we follow him in ministry because we know him, and we've come to recognize his voice and his ways. He's alive in our individual and corporate midst. Reality says if our God is utterly free, and utterly committed to his redemptive purpose in all creation, he is already on the move and at work, so we must walk past our boundaries to keep in step with him, including our ecclesial containers and routines for life together in His Presence. There should be a freshness in our seeking and finding him, an expectation in our gatherings, a newness which can include ancient or traditional forms and responses to God, but not as if we're a franchise serving the same "happy meals" week in and week out because "it's what we like and do at" First Baptist,Wesleyan Methodist, Holy Trinity, St. Cyril, Holiness Tabernacle, Christ Presbyterian, Crestwood Community, or The Cool Missional Church With The Cool Missional Name.

Ecclesial Fluidity also means thinking of church as a regional body rather than each individual church as the primary focus of our attendance and attention. What if we went deep into to bringing down our barriers and combining resources (spiritual and natural) for Kingdom work in the region. What degree of Kingdom difference could we make if we combined strengths? Could it be at all possible to work through or set aside our theological differences, acknowledging we see things differently theologically, socially or politically, but are allied around helping the poor, healing the sick, freeing the oppressed, binding up the broken-hearted, and breaking down walls of fear-soaked hatred with love pointing clearly to Christ and His magnificent Kingdom? Why shouldn't we join together to listen and pray, to brainstorm and share resources, to combine our best thinking and our greatest strengths in helping each other be the the Church in our community. What if we built on what we hold in common, no matter how meager? It'd be a good start. If people saw what binds us, they could overlook what separates us; perhaps we could too.

I realize this reaching across the table would take some very determined work toward building trust. Mistrust, outright fear or anger toward others fuel our separation repeatedly. I acknowledge there may very well be irreconcilable differences in some areas of long-time dispute, but not in all. We need courageous and wise peacemakers who know the barriers well, but fueled by the Holy Spirit, labor tirelessly to open fresh ways of engagement so the Church can make the Kingdom real to an increasingly agonized and fracturing world. We will be known by how we love one another...or not. So could we learn to say, "I'm convinced you're wrong about that, but I love you anyway. Let's get to work." We could learn to challenge each other to think differently, but with unflinching grace and humility, even a sense of humor with an eye toward shared mission. Sometimes we all just get our divides ridiculous, wouldn't you agree?

Perhaps, if we did our work, someday we'd see our gifted communicators teaching and preaching in all our regional churches as needed. People would be free to participate in the body life of more than one church not because it's better at ABC Church, but because they're building relationships and offering their gifts to other believers. We'd not be so stuck on membership, rather we'd talk about communitas. Churches would share ministries and ministry leaders to build up the entire Body of Christ. Sometimes, depending on what might be needed, people could spend longer periods to help solve ministry problems or train others in certain needed skills. We could share resources such as our best creative ideas, problem-solving, money, buildings, equipment, ministry teams or program materials. We'd unleash the creatives, dreamers  innovators and strategic thinkers to imagine a better community. Maybe we'd have town-wide celebrations, regional service initiatives, or joint worship gatherings as a matter of unity the town could witness. The sky's the limit.

No longer would we maintain individual "territories" or "limit" God by trying to own what we've been given to give away.

III. Missional Coagulation is the unexamined tendency to codify the missional mandate at the heart of what it means to be the church in particular communities. Already, there are a pile of books and conferences outlining what it means to be missional: everyone is a missionary, disciple-making is the engine which drives the ethos of the movement, small organic communities are the best "container" for the "brew" of the Gospel mission; replication of decentralized missional communities is an ecclesial preference; ecclesial structure and life together are incarnational (not attractional), and informal; leadership is shared; scripted worship is not the centerpiece activity of the community; the Holy Spirit instructs the group toward the mission it's given, etc. Already the rules of being and engagement are articulated and formalized. Being missional is becoming a method. Strategy becomes ontology.

Breaking free from Missional Coagulation is Missional Fluidity. Here too, the Holy Spirit is key to achieving such fluidity.

Roger Helland in his blog The Holy Spirit and Missional Church (http://missionalspirituality.com/2013/04/1312/ ) explains it this way: Paul encouraged that “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25).” The Revised English Bible translates it this way, “If the Spirit is the source of our life, let the Spirit also direct its course.” We cannot keep in step if we don’t live by the Spirit. “Living by the Spirit is the root; walking by the Spirit is the fruit.”

To live by the Spirit is unnerving yet exciting, full of tension yet peace, with strange yet wonderful outcomes. We are open with unbridled expectation for Him to move, urge and guide, by obedient and risky faith fastened to the Father’s agenda. Clark Pinnock draws the example from Jesus, “The world did not set the agenda for Jesus. People could not predict what he would do next, because he had no plan but sought what the Father wanted. He did not operate from a program. Need alone did not constitute the divine call. He waited for God’s urging and the Spirit’s guiding.” With all the discussion about “being missional” (which I agree with), we must spend as much time discussing “being spiritual” where being missional and spirituality are vitally connected, where the presence and power of the of the Spirit ignites, spreads, and feeds the fire of mission. I call this a “missional spirituality.” Don’t you long for a practical theology for an empowered missional church? Perhaps we need to recover that missional-spiritual stream of vigorous Pietism that called for “pious desires” and “the deeper life” in union with Christ by the Spirit.

I agree. Missional Fluidity is all about following the Spirit who is creating opportunity in people around us and inviting us to join him. That joining starts with praying and asking for the ability, again, to discern what he is doing in folks around us. We can certainly explore missional models in the world, and read all the seminal thinkers writing about the missional church. But in the end, we must stay in close relationship with the Spirit, knowing his ways from what the Scripture says about him, listening to his voice in prayer, and having eyes to see his effects on the people he has summoned us to love in the Kingdom. Such fluidity is spiritual and alive in real-time. In my life with God I've seen many people quit this intimate relating to the Spirit because of fleshly abuses and the fact that we don't always hear and discern him clearly. Mistakes are made, or we just fall into confusion, feel stymied , then quit. I think we make a big mistake by not persevering in humility and earnest desire to know him, so we can keep in step with him. I know there'll be many twists and turns along the way, but missionally congealing into models, methods and fixed strategies is too high a price to pay.

I'd love to her what you think about this. I'm learning and being drawn toward change. In my next blogpost I'll address my wondering if there's a way to be diffuse, but deeply together, and unified when not together.
Stay tuned.

Equilibrium Irritants and Finding the Jesus Adventure.

Always around this time of year, I think about how we're doing with our stated mission to help people discover and follow the God who is far more than they imagine. We're four an a half years into this deal. So where should we be by now, compared to where we are? What are we getting right or doing pretty well in line with this mission? What are we more talking about doing than actually doing? Where are we building a head of steam, and where are we wandering in circles or just sitting self-absorbed? All good questions deserving some thought, I think.

At the end of last year, I began wondering about what I've noticed is a tendency for churches to gradually, after they've established their identity and culture as a community, to settle into a kind of equilibrium of "what we believe and how we do things around here." Whether their ecclesiology is "pre-packaged" as a particular flavor of Baptist, Episcopal or Presbyterian, etc., or a cobbled-together amalgam of the best of all current Christian missional paradigms, they operate from a particular theological, spiritual, and cultural vantage point which embody core values and practices from the most formal to the most relaxed, and everything in between.

It's how all organizations work for that matter unless there are forces which."irritate" the status quo.

More about that later. I need to first define equilibrium:  

"A body in equilibrium experiences no acceleration, and unless disturbed by an outside force, will remain in equilibrium indefinitely; any unchanging condition or state of a body, system, etc.; [it will] remain in stable equilibrium - small disturbances to the system [will] cause only a temporary change before it returns to its original state."

In other words, unless there is some type of regularly occurring, and systemic irritant, the group, team or organization gradually stabilizes into an ordered sleepwalk of benign spiritual inertia. In churches, "the way we've always done it," gradually calcifies into "the way we'll always do it." The only people who seem to mind are the pioneers, visionaries and creatives, (and we all know they're just crazy).

In turn, the church's spiritual life centers on Sunday morning worship, Sunday School, weekly Bible studies, ministry meetings, fellowship groups, and church programs, with an occasional missions trip rounding out the year. It all takes on a life of its on and will on into perpetuity.

Unless...the church embraces the unhinged idea that we're not here for ourselves, but mostly for them out there beyond our walls. You can call them unbelievers, "secular" people, the unregenerate, unsaved or that wonderfully warm term of endearment: pagans. No matter the term. If a church decides it needs to serve the surrounding community first and foremost, spiritual equilibrium is in serious jeopardy.

Here's why: if those folks "out there beyond our walls" show up and stick around, they create dis-equilibrium and sometimes "you think you're gonna go crazy" chaos. They are the "irritant" I'm referring to.They don't know our rules. They don't cherish our traditions. They haven't the correct language. They smoke to much, drink too much, and sometimes even smell. They challenge stuff in the Bible, and ask tough questions many believers have few answers for. They might be addicts, have a different take on sexual morals than we, use words we don't in front of each other, or they just aren't enamored with our particular brand of spiritual equilibrium. They can introduce a level of messy that scares or offends us, exposing our pride and intolerance just below the Sunday surface.

Reality is, we need their "messy" to actually be the church in the community (not the church in the church); the Kingdom in the world; the light in the darkness, and the hope in the blinded despair. We have to work hard at getting to know them, and love them more than our well-managed equilibrium. The Jesus adventure is most in their world, not in our sanctuaries.

Therefore, the church which resolutely turns in their direction, and heads courageously into their world more than it stays in its own, begins to overcome the spiritual numbing of equilibrium. The "irritant" ends up to be a gift freeing us from illusion and well-trod complacency. It stretches us because we can't rely on the comfortable familiar, the normal and the predictable. Broken people don't often "fix" that easily, and they need someone to patiently persevere genuinely. It's in the persevering with the broken the church comes to living/ALIVE. The "irritant" creates new spiritual maturing, grace abounds, love for strangers becomes less uncomfortable, and the way of Jesus comes to the fore as the way the church lives as the Church in the community.

Wouldn't that be something.

All blessing to the courageous champions and apostles of the missional, Kingdom way today!

imagine/Northampton's Very First Arts Night Out Exhibition, October, 2012.

Wow! We've been wanting to do this for a long time! Being able to connect to the community through art has been one of our core values. We've had a Poetry reading, a Place and Possibility Seminar, a short film and dance experience, and we formed 1FlightUP and played jazz in clubs, but we've wanted to do more. It's taken us awhile, but last night we began the journey by becoming a gallery space and participating in Northampton's Arts Night Out. The second Friday of every month, 37 galleries, restaurants, retail stores, and food establishments offer some of their space to showcase artists. We're number 14 on the list. The city fills with all sorts of people having dinner, shopping, and visiting the "galleries" It makes the town come alive, and feel very vibrant.

Catherine Elliott, an old friend of ours from Simsbury and the BARN, graciously agreed to be our first artist. We've had the blessing of watching her grow as a painter over the years. She brought 19 small and large paintings, and transformed our space into an Art Gallery. Visitors remarked, young and old,  what a great gallery space this is, and how beautiful Catherine's work is. They used words for her such as: "peaceful and beautiful," "love, love. love," "intricate and beautiful," "thoughtful," and my favorite, " you have a great vision, beautiful work."

We had no idea how people would react to her work or our space. We're rookies at this, being our first time and all.The evening started slowly. Imagineurians Jenn and Kristen at 6PM or so went and stood outside our front door on Main Street and told people there was art to be seen upstairs. No one associated imagine/Northampton with being a gallery. A number of our guests said they'd walk by before and wondered what the heck we were ... a church? What kind of church has a weird name like that? Indeed.

So they started coming up the stairs and into our gallery. There were students, couples, and retired folks, many from Northampton. We had people who knew art and people who were just curious, and enjoying an evening out in Northampton. We got to meet some jazz musicians our age who have had the great blessing of being able to pursue their art for decades. We met a woman who weaves tapestries, an art form dying out until the 1950's. She has been working for years, among other pieces, on a large tapestry commemorating the Holocaust. She's part of a Guild of American Tapestry Weavers, and may be one of our next exhibitors. She was intrigued by being able to do so. We also met illustrators, and teachers, young people seeking alternative spiritualities and communities, a postman, culinary arts trained professionals, and photographers. They all loved Catherine's work and our space. Even our landlord, showed up! The guests we knew brought friends.

It all felt so right. As I mentioned, we've wanted to connect this way. Getting to know folks and talk to them is the primary way to build relationships through which we might be able to love, serve, and share the hope we have in Christ with them. We felt part of Main Street in a new and fresh way last night. We were contributing to the good of the city. We have credibility now because it was well-done as a gallery space. people are becoming aware of us. And we got to talk to some genuinely lovely folks.

Then there was the food. We do food with great passion and excellence; always have. We decided for the reception to have hors d' oeuvres, red and white wine, cider, coffee and tea, and chocolates. It wasn't over-the-top-fancy, but as you might expect, the table was lavishly appointed with delectable cheeses, meats and sophisticated pastries, hot and cold. Imagineurians Tricia McDermott, Amelia McCain, and Wednesday contributed, with Tricia leading the way. The quality of the food caught people's attention and were overhead to say, we offered, "the best hors d' oeuvres of anyone that night." We firmly believe attempting excellence in everything we do, as much as we are able, reflects the beauty, goodness and  glory of our magnificent God. People notice. They scarfed up the what was presented.

Some of our guests were also curious when they found out we were a church. They also took our materials and asked what we were about. Sometimes, it felt a little awkward, but for the most part, because of the atmosphere: a beautiful space filled with beautiful art, scrumptious food, jazz in the background, and imagineurians who are gracious, warm, and friendly, people interacted. I think we "blew some categories," for a few people. We want to do that, but with grace and simple elegance.

I need to thank Jim, Jenn, Kristen, Trey and Amelia, and Tricia for helping make our first Arts Night Out exhibition a success. We created the atmosphere we wanted (Tricia had the lion-share of that), had art which engaged people (thanks, Catherine!), connected with some folks (thanks all of you), and felt we held our own with the other spaces in town. We're not professional gallery owners, for sure, but many people commented very affirmingly on what we presented, and where we presented it, so we know God is in it. Sure we have a long way to go, but it was a wonderful first start, and we are very grateful.

So for the next two Friday and Saturday nights (October 19 & 20, 26 & 27) from 6-9PM, we'll be open for you to view Catherine's paintings. If you know folks who are interested in buying original work, invite them to join you. Make it a night out! We'd love to see you all!

8 Essential Questions For The Church; What If?

For the last two weeks, I've been riveted to the Republican and Democrat Conventions. Even though I grew up in a very politically vigorous family of staunch Irish Democrats (my grandmother even played a role on the national level in the 40's), I'm not a political animal per se. I'll never tell you who I support or which way I'll vote in an election.

But I have to say I was struck to the degree I've never been with the depth of faith and hope people are resting on the shoulders of the Presidential candidates, especially the Democrats' adoration of Barack Obama. It feels almost akin to worship. I know similar adoration has been given other candidates in other elections over the last 200 years. People place all sorts of hope and trust in charismatic leaders who represent to them a better life, or an inspiring message of freedom or prosperity. The longing of the human heart for a happy and liberated life gets ignited by gifted communicators who know the heart's language and how to move it. When that occurs people feel lifted and loyal. Tears flow, smiles abound, cheers ring forth and happy days look likely to be here again because so and so is going to bring them. It's a potent alchemy.

So I have to say, I felt saddened by how much faith, hope, and even love is being lavished on mere mortals. I've never felt that before. It was palpable. There was a kind of "No!" echoing in my head because I'm convinced, such devotion rightly belongs to Christ alone.Only he is the light of the world, the Way, the Truth and the Life, the only Name under heaven by which men can be saved. Neither Romney nor Obama can fulfill the deepest or most abiding needs of the human heart. Don't get me wrong, the "American Experiment" is a unique light in the world. I've spent the last number of years examining the founding, and the key players involved. Miracles were involved. And through the decades, God has blessed the United States repeatedly, and given it prominent influence around the world. Great leaders in government have done remarkable things benefiting generations. At the same time there have been horrors, atrocities and betrayals.

Jesus, the LORD of Lords is the One Americans should ultimately owe their greatest fealty.

If they only knew.

If they could but peer into the unseen REAL.

But don't really know and they don't see.

*****

Do you know who represents His salvific interests in America and in the world? You and I do. We're called the Church. We, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, bring the Kingdom of God with us whatever we happen to be doing, even if we're unawares. It's our singular mission, not government or business, or unions, or PACs, Social Service organizations, NGO's, the 4th Estate, lobbies, or sports and entertainment figures, political pundits, or Fox News, CNN, or MSNBC, the military or the schools, colleges and universities. The Kingdom mission is the singular dominion and calling of the Church, i.e., anyone who calls on the Name of the LORD, and sees being a Jesus follower as his or her primary identity and calling in their every sphere of influence.

This morning on the porch in Ventnor, I was reading a book by Joel C. Rosenberg called Implosion: Can America Recover From Its Economic and Spiritual Challenges In Time?  I don't know about you, but the "last days" are more and more on my mind and have been for two or three years. I've tended to stay away from reading or speculating about such things, but I'm noticing in a way I've never before. Something's up and Rosenberg, a Jewish Christian, keeps his feet on the ground.

Anyway, I titled my post this way because I want to call your attention to what the author poses to the Church (ppg. 291-2), noting such questions are: "what we should expect and pray for in the American church,". (p.292)

He begins the list with the following passage:

"There are an estimated 340,000 church congregations in the United States. That's an average of 6,800 per state. That's about one congregation for every 900 people. Imagine how rapidly America would change if all of these 340,000 congregations were healthy, strong, brightly shining lighthouses, as God intended.

1.What if they were all faithfully teaching the Word of God book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse so the people of God would know the whole counsel of God?

2. What if they were truly helping people repent of their sins, purify their hearts, and heal from their emotional and spiritual wounds?

3.What if they were all actively assisting those recovering people to be able to turn around and care for others who are needy and suffering?

4.What if they were all training their people to share the gospel with their friends and neighbors?

5.What if every pastor was modeling the kind of personal one-on-one and small-group discipleship that Jesus and Paul modeled?

6.What if they were equipping and training young people in the Word of God and their spiritual gifts and helping them plant new congregations in the U.S. and around the world?

7.What if they were truly caring for the poor and the needy in their communities and in countries around the globe, not in lieu of sharing the gospel but as part of fulfilling the great commission?

8. What if they were teaching their congregations to bless Israel and her neighbors in the name of Jesus and to show unconditional love and unwavering support to both the Jewish and Palestinian people?

I recommend you reflect carefully on each question for yourself and for the church where you serve. What is God asking of you? Where do you need to repent? Where are you sleepwalking and need to wake up? How is you church addressing these concerns? Should you raise the issues? 

A Prayer For Us All:

Father of all power, liberty, and truth,
Wake us from where we are slumbering or sleepwalking,
Warm our hearts where we've grown cold and indifferent.
Encourage us where we are anxious and timid.
Dislodge us from where we are stuck.
Summon us from where we are distracted by trifles or overwhelming troubles.
Give us voices to speak the truth with words that enliven and heal;
   that teach and motivate.
Make us people of the Way such that all can yield and want to find it.
Help us follow Jesus in what He is doing all around no matter the cost,
no matter the odds against us, no matter the mockery of the blind and wandering.
Give us tears which liberate and a stubborn resolve that on our watch, you will be seen  and heard in and through us all, your Church.

By Christ, for Christ, in and through Christ.
Amen

Why We Have a Leadership Team Rather Than a Formal Pastorate.

Since imagine/Northampton started meeting as a church people have periodically asked me or Jim if either of us is its pastor. It's often assumed because we've played an upfront role on Sunday morning, and because I and Tricia work as full-time counselors and staff for imagine in the Northampton office.

Be that as it may, 5 years ago when we were getting a picture of what imagine would be, we were all convinced a collegial leadership team rather than a traditional pastor/laity model was the right one for the vision we were seeing. We didn't want a personality-driven or "I'm the boss; you're not" traditional model. It didn't fit at all. Our conviction was that no one person, no matter how gifted, equipped, or trained should carry the weight of the church, or be seen as having some special pedigree or spiritual status which set him or her apart from everyone else by virtue of formal position or title.

Sure, we recognize differing gifts, and equipping. We know there are leadership gifts which have certain qualities and distinctives. We take that all very seriously, especially in terms of the responsibilities involved. But, we do not want to create a church culture where a few determine everything for the many who function mostly as spiritual consumers, spectators, and occasional volunteers. We want people vitally involved in all aspects of imagine, caring the load for what God is doing in and through it, not merely showing up on Sunday and going along with the program from week to week.

So we have a Leadership Team, and we see it as a servant leadership team. There are now 5 of us: 2 men and 3 women. Two of the women have just joined us and are being discipled in the development of their leadership gifts with imagine. Our gifts economy makes it such that dispersed within the team are vision and creative gifts, teaching and preaching gifts, counseling and discipling gifts, administrative, planning and operations gifts. None of us see ourselves as the head honcho. We defer to one another, share responsibility and support each other individually. Our ages range from early 60'e to mid-20's. We're both married and single.

In the not-too-distant future, we desire to develop elders who will help care for, and guide the spiritual life of imagine/Northampton. God will raise up those people and they will be recognizable in our midst because of their Christ-likeness, particularly humility, wisdom, live and service. Some may be on the Leadership Team; some won't. However, they will, in tandem the Leadership Team, be dedicated to helping people discover and follow the God who is far more than they imagine.

In the next year, we're also hoping God will raise up the next Leadership Team to plant another imagine church. In one sense, it's an audacious thought in that we are small, but we have a big vision and an astoundingly resourceful God who summons his followers to step out into such bigness, given the magnificent reality that God " is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power that is [already] at work in us." (Eph.3:20)

So we have a Leadership Team rather than a formal pastorate. We think it will ultimately foster a culture of collaboration and interplay where power granted to lead is not ruling over people, but serving them so they might fulfill what God has called all of us to do together; gifts differing, but hearts united in the same direction. Each person is vital in God's design. No one has a higher stature based on position or title. Expectations are the same for all: follow Christ; incarnate his Kingdom in the world around you.

BTW: I need to say we feel neither superior nor wiser than Christians who lead and serve in Pastor-led churches. We are merely doing what seems right to us for such a time and place as this.

May God bless all who labor in his Kingdom!

imagine/Northampton is Planted, (Check); Now What's Next?

Lately, I've been wrestling with a different set of issues from the ones I wrestled with in planting imagine/Northampton. We've been in Northampton for 4 years now. The Eagle has landed so to speak. I don't talk about planting imagine/Northampton anymore. It's planted.

The questions I'm asking and the concerns I'm working on are different now. When imagine became more than a "What if we could . . .?", or "Is God calling us to . . .?" idea, the questions were:

Where do we begin? Who do we need to learn from?

How do you actually do this?

What will it look like?

What will each of our roles be?

What will imagine's culture look like?

What are our core values?

Can we pay for and sustain the planting?

How will all the critical pieces take shape?

Those first days, weeks and months were a heady, exciting period. We weren't experts at this. We were older, and all sorts of challenges lie ahead with no assurance beyond faith we could pull off any of it. We were starting from scratch. Nothing existed, but a longing, and a compelling idea.

But today, I think there are different questions to answer and challenges to meet. For me, the most crucial  has become centered around how do you deepen and ignite a movement, rather than maintain an organization or build an institution? The "danger" I see at this point in our young life as a church is settling into equilibrium. It happens subtly, almost imperceptibly for many. We have an established identity and church culture with "rituals" (albeit simple), core beliefs, structures (also simple), and commonly held ways of relating. Imagine/Northampton looks and acts a certain way. The problem arises when who we are and how we relate internally becomes our raison d' etre. We settle for the groove we've gradually created.

Before I go further, let me explain what I mean by "equilibrium" related to church. In general, I mean a church's central focus slowly settles into how to sustain internal relationships, values, systems, protocols, programs and cultures. To that end, we ask questions such as:

How can we make our Sunday Service better, more inviting and relevant to our people.

How can we make our building better meet our needs?

Where can we rev up Children's Ministry or revitalize our Men's Ministry?

How come we don't have a Healing Prayer Ministry?

When can we do something about the Nursery to make it more inviting?

How can we ramp up giving?

How can we get a tighter hold on the budget?

We need more small groups and small group curricula. Who can we get to make that happen?

The Worship Team sounds a little tired. How can we get them to kick it up a notch?

How can we get more volunteers, produce better outreach events, offer more Bible study, entice greater attendance on Sunday and on and on?

Equilibrium is the church sinking gradually into managing and maintaining itself. The focus is us, becoming an end in itself. We manage or improve what we have and what we've become. What's wrong with that?

Now don't misunderstand me. Any of those questions can be important to consider from time to time, especially within a larger Kingdom context. I know people need to be healed, taught, cared for, and involved.there are plenty of practical "management issues to address in the on-going life of a church community. Internal matters need attention, but only in light of keeping our forward movement vibrant for what God calls us to in his mission.

So for the last few months, I've been growing unsettled, out of sorts spiritually and motivationally; something seemed consistently out of kilter. The feeling was/is disorienting, as if I'm in one of those liminal states again where I've passed through a stage of my particular journey to a place of unformed potential needing shaping. I didn't like where I was. Adding to the dissonance has been the niggling sense that what I seek lies just out of reach. True, but the feeling won't stop pestering me. 

Recently, however, very different questions have surfaced in my head; they all gather around our stated vision:

Building Kingdom-focused communities which creatively engage the culture to help 

people discover and follow the God who is far more than they imagine.

In an earlier blog I detailled imagine/Northampton's vision: 

 http://oldmenplantingchurches.blogspot.com/2011/10/imaginenorthamptons-visionation-meeting.html

Hence, the new questions center on the words: building, Kingdom focused, and creatively engage. For instance:

Are we really building (developing) a Kingdom-focused communitas where the Missio Dei has become compelling in us all? If so, how? How does that "compelling" play out in our daily lives? What do we need to do better? Where are we mis-aligned with it, and thinking we aren't? Where are we treading water, but feel like we're moving forward? Where are we resisting?

Are we creatively engaging the culture or do we just talk about  it as if we are? In actuality, does it really matter to us - to what degree or in what way? What do we need to change or dismantle to get to really serving the creative community in Northampton? Can we innovate or engage creatively; is it even in us?

Where might we be slipping slowly into being church with a few quirky community habits expressed in worship, or how we do groups, or the language we use? One person said in response to my question about how Sunday worship was at imagine by using the word "routine." Yikes!!! I don't like the sound of that, but might we be drifting into the well-worn "rut of the gradual familiar?" Most churches do. Then, the creatives and innovators who might be attending end up having little or no influence in the church culture. Losing their out-of-the-box voices heightens the inevitability of equilibrium - a kiss of death in my mind.

How common is it for we imagineurians to work hard at helping people discover and follow the God who is far more than they imagine? Where are the stories we are telling each other about what God did in so-and-so's life because we helped her discover him? There have been a few, but would a guest get the sense by being in our midst that helping people this way is truly at the core of our DNA because of the stories we tell each other when we gather, and the evidence of new life?

So it seems to me that if we're going to do what our vision says we're about, one of the ways we need to go about it is by beginning taking seriously the call to replicate who we are, i.e., begin laying the groundwork for planting other imagine churches, whether they begin in homes and neighborhoods, adjacent towns on Main Street, or cities in New England and beyond. I suspect such a notion probably feels grandiose, but is it really in light of the Scriptures and how the first Christians set the example of, at great cost and risk, going out into the world to make disciples and teach them what Jesus commands all his followers to be and do? Are we exempt from this call? These folks were not professionals, yet they changed the world through the indwelling Holy Spirit, because they, by vigorous faith,  followed the living Christ in his redemptive mission. They saw it as a mandate, privilege and duty--the normal Christian way of life.

We certainly have had our share of trials and troubles here in Northampton, and we don't have a lock on how to do this thing (it often seems more like one step forward and two steps back many times), but we're planted, and there is a small group of gifted, wonderful people gathered in this church. 

Potential abounds. Yet it needs to be focused, vivified, and set free as a vibrant culture of collaborators with one heart and mind centered on God's glory, the furthering of his ways, and freeing blind captives wandering about. We look to make it happen, and will be spending time and energy doing so in the days ahead.