We just got back from a wonderful weekend in east Texas with family and we leave again on Thursday for another weekend out of town. Fun times...(truly fun)
In between, it just so happens that anything and everything related to our adoption (grants, final legal forms, etc.) is due right this minute. More fun times...('fun' in the sarcastic sense)
I get to spend all of tomorrow either driving or sitting in government offices getting the necessary seals of approval for adopting Eloisa. More and more fun times...('fun' in the very sarcastic sense)
For all of you who prayed for us to receive a referral this week, I can't thank you enough. We received a referral today! We are adopting a Guatemalan baby girl, Eloisa Joy Moser. She was born on Nov. 8, weighing in at a whopping 5 lbs. 12 oz.
'Eloisa' is the name given to her by her birth mother, a 15 yr. old faced with only a few options, none of them very good. We love the name, and want to honor the mother's courage and love in this great sacrifice.
'Joy' is the middle name of my sister-in-law, Sara. She too would have adopted right along with us, but she's with Jesus now. Our prayer is that Eloisa's heart would be full of JOY just as Sara's was.
If all goes according to plan, we should be traveling to Guatemala in the spring to bring our baby home...
Our adoption journey continues. Check out our newest evidence of God's faithful provision HERE.
BTW: Please pray for a referral THIS week. A referral is when we are 'matched' with a child. Once we receive and accept a referral, our dossier (our life on paper) is sent down to Guatemala through the court system, along with a big fat check for $10,000.
Which coincidentally, is exactly the amount we have been blessed with from friends/family/strangers...and now our church youth group.
Mariam Kamell (Friend, fellow seminarian, and Ph.D. candidate in NT at St. Andrews), is at the Evangelical Theological Society's meetings in DC this week. She just presented a paper titled "The Emergent Need for James". You can find the PDF file HERE. (persevere through a few clicks, and ignore the ads, you'll get there soon enough) It's a thoughtful, provoking call for bringing the teachings of James to the fore of new expressions of church (i.e. emergent); a bold call for justice and purity. This paper will no doubt be published soon, so enjoy the free sneak peek link.
If you read carefully enough, you'll see a quote in there from yours truly. I'm riding your coat tails Mariam! Assuming, of course, that you own a coat with tails...
Resist the urge to spend money on 'Black Friday'. The long lines and lack of sleep aren't worth it. Join Adbusters in a much needed American consumer detox by participating in the 14th annual Buy Nothing Day.
Per capita consumption in the U.S. has risen 45 per cent in the last 20 years.
Although people today are, on average, four-and-a-half times richer than our great-grandparents were at the turn of the century, Americans report feeling "significantly less well off" than in 1958.
A recent article in New Scientist featured research suggesting that the more consumer goods you have the more you think you need to make you happy. Happiness through consumption is always out of reach (New Scientist, 4th October 2003, Vol.180, Issue 2415, p44.
Folk vs. Pop Culture (The Gospel in a Pomo Society 10.0)
14 November 2006
(I'm skipping ahead to Chapter 15 in my Newbigin Series reflecting on his book, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. It's my series, so I guess I can skip around if I feel so inclined.)
Two questions have been hounding me recently:
How does God view towards culture?
How should the Church view culture?
First, let's come to terms. Culture is simply the social aspect of human living. It is human behavior in its corporate aspect. (188) Newbigin begins the discussion by deconstructing the entire question of Church and Culture, in one long sentence, so that he can rebuild it in a different way:
"The very way in which we raise the question, with its dichotomizing of gospel and culture, reveals the dualism in our thinking: a purely individualistic Christianity which reflects the individualism of our culture with its enthronement of the autonomous human reason as the judge of all things has to face--as though it were a separate question from conversion--the matter of relating the gospel to culture." (189)
He rightly points to why this very issue of Gospel and Culture is so difficult for Western Christians to grasp: We are trying to wrestle a communal issue (culture) in an individualistic way. Western Christians tend to reduce all matters of faith to the personal. But culture doesn't reduce to the individual. It's a communal aspect of life.
What then, as disciples of Jesus, is our posture towards culture?
"We are called neither to a simple affirmation of human culture nor to a simple rejection of it. We are to cherish human culture as an area in which we live under God's grace and are given daily new tokens of that grace. But we are called also to remember that we are part of that whole seamless texture of human culture which was shown on the day we call Good Friday to be in murderous rebellion against the grace of God. We have to say both 'God accepts human culture' and also 'God judges human culture'." (195)
A great illustration of the need for balance in terms of culture can be found in two drastically different areas of American culture: The Rural Context and the Urban Context. Both exalt (generally speaking, of course) a different subculture that bears reflection.
The Rural Context exalts Folk Culture. Folk Culture is by nature a backward looking culture. It's historic. It's nostalgic. It values what was great about yesterday and seeks to cling to it with all its might. Folk Culture cherishes the past.
The Urban Context exalts Pop Culture. Pop Culture is by nature a forward looking culture, not so much in terms of chronology, but rather in terms of looking out to see what everyone else is doing. It tends to live in the present. Pop Culture relishes the present moment, paying no attention to the past, and little attention to the future.
As follower's of Christ? Which culture do we align ourselves with? The church has a rich history that should be cherished. Folk Culture would resonate with this. But yet it also has a mandate to be salt and light to the present. What is the church doing now? This is the cry of the pop culture.
I say we embody both, with discernment. We can't simply ignore the past for the sake of the present. That, my friends, is a false dichotomy. Nor can we simply take a separatist stance towards popular culture, as we look longingly (with misty eyes) to the way things were (folk culture)
What we need to foster is a healthy, Christlike 'Polk Culture'. (notice, I am NOT advocating a Polka Culture). We mustn't lose sight of what was great about yesterday. We stand on the shoulders of the saints who have come before us. But yet we must also be invested deeply in the pop culture of today, for it too has something to teach us about the present. To excuse ourselves from pop culture has been a recent and tragic mistake of the church in America. All it has achieved is a watered down, carbon copy Christian Pop Culture that further distances the church from effective engagement in culture.
And all the while, by embracing our culture with the love of Jesus, we can bring something new to the table of culture: HOPE. Our hope lies beyond the limits of folk and pop culture. It looks ahead to the end of THE STORY which we try to live, embody, and communicate here and now. You see, as followers of Christ, we are privy to the end of the book, while living in the middle of the story.
Why can't we discerningly embrace culture, so that we can embody the story of Jesus within it? After all, we are, in many ways (more than we realize) a product of the culture in which we live. Let's face the facts and recognize that God created the cultures. There are pros and cons to each and every culture, and the call of Christ is not to obliterate culture with the gospel, creating one bland culture of Christianity, but to help each culture achieve its fullness in Christ.
I trust God enough to redeem my individual soul. Do I trust Him to redeem my culture?
Tonight Bekah and I hosted our first Feast, a monthly meal for young adults in the area. The Feast will serve as our 'on-ramp' to our VOX Community, and is our little subversive attempt to reclaim Biblical hospitality in the church. In anabaptist circles, such an event is often called a 'love feast', but we take an explicitly missional focus. We had a short prayer, some good conversation, and concluded with a few words from a member of our community. The photo below shows how jam packed our living room was...25 people all chowing down on an Italian feast. Good times, good food, good people.
Pray for one of my college roommates, Kyle Martin. He and his wife Laura, live in Dallas, TX, with their two daughters, Maya (2 yrs), and Nadia (6wks). Kyle is a recent grad of Dallas Theological Seminary and their daughter Maya has just been diagnosed with Langerhans' Cell Histiocytosis (LCH), an extremely rare, cancer like disease.
The Martins have started a blog-like site to post updates on Maya's progress. Go to Caring Bridge, click 'visit a caring bridge site', and then type in 'mayajoy' in the 'site name' box.
In missions, there's this big ol' word 'contextualization'. It means something to the effect of 'bringing the gospel of Jesus into a particular context so that it can be understood, internalized, and reproduced within that particular context'.
In my quest to contextualize the Good News in NW Ohio, I've hit a serious speed bump: NASCAR. It's big here. People love it. There are numerical stickers (representing your favorite driver) that you put on the back window of your car...or more likely...pickup truck.
The problem is this: I don't get it. And I'm not sure I want to. To me, it's simply watching cars go round and round and round and round and round (get my point?).
Yet, there must be something about this 'sport' that's eluding me.
Why am I writing about this? Well, if you're an avid fan of The Onion, you'd know. I stumbled across the following headline:
Casual NASCAR Fan Fails To Appreciate Subtleties Of Eight-Car Crash
Check out the article HERE. I wouldn't consider myself a 'casual fan', since I don't watch NASCAR. But I too fail to appreciate the subtleties of an eight car crash.
The Gospel in a Pomo Society 9.0: The Church's Role
08 November 2006
Lesslie Newbigin's 9th Chapter of The Gospel in a Pluralist Society is, far and away, my favorite chapter in the book. He introduces his perspective on history: Christ is THE clue to history. This is evidenced in the gospels by Jesus' profound statement: "The kingdom of God has come near" (Mark 1:15). "In Jesus, the end has come. In him, therefore, history finds its meaning." 104
The phrase at first glance seems a bit cryptic. What exactly does 'near' mean? According to Newbigin, 'near' is a reference to spatial nearness (proximity) rather than temporal nearness (chronology). In other words, "The reign of God is now confronting you as a present reality." 105
Yet this presence is veiled. This hidden presence creates crisis and conflict. Disciples are "therefore taught to pray for the day when what is hidden will be revealed, uncovered...when the rule of God will be manifest on earth as it is now in heaven." 105
Thus, the Church finds itself in a gap of time, where we must be patient, but never lazy in our hope for the kingdom to be fully revealed and manifest on earth. This 'gap' has profound implications for the Church's mission here on earth:
"There is a precise meaning to this gap which opens up between the coming of the kingdom veiled in the vulnerable and powerless Jesus, and the coming of the kingdom in manifest power. That meaning is to be found in the mission of the Church to the nations. It is in the mercy of God that the final unveiling of his power is held back so that all the nations may have the same opportunity that was given to the first hearers in Galilee, the opportunity to repent, to be converted, and to believe and recognize the presence of the reign of God in the crucified Jesus." 106
The early church got this. The early church saw itself as living in the 'time between the times'. It understood the implications for seeing Christ as THE clue to history:
"Jesus in his earthly ministry unmasked the powers and so drew their hostility on himself, so the Spirit working through the life and witness of the missionary Church will overturn the world's most fundamental beliefs, proving the world wrong in respect of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Consequently, the world will hate the Church as it hated its Lord." 107
What posture and attitude should the Church take in its engagement in the world? Newbigin's answer (very Walter Wink-ian) is brilliant, and serves as a pertinent warning to so many evangelical congregations in America today:
"When the church tries to embody the rule of God in the forms of earthly power it may achieve that power, but it is no longer a sign of the kingdom. But when it goes the way the Master went, unmasking and challenging the powers of darkness and bearing in its own life the cost of their onslaught, then there are given to the Church signs of the kingdom, powers of healing and blessing which, to eyes of faith, are recognizable as true signs that Jesus reigns." 108
This is why, when election buzz is at a fever pitch, the Church must never forget that she is the bride of Christ. Political power may gain Christians influence, but does it gain Christ any influence here on earth? Nope. Jesus saw through the smoke and mirrors of earthly powers. He unmasked and challenged them. Thus, political power is NO sign of the kingdom. The church too must unmask and challenge the principalities and powers of this world, here and now, so that we may point to the veiled throne of God. It's by placing ourselves, as Christ did, in lowly (in earthly terms) positions, in weakness, in meekness, in humility, and in loving sacrifice to the world that eyes will be opened to the King of kings.
Why? Today is a great...no, make that...FANTASTIC for a number of reasons.
1. It's Election Day--I just voted, and I feel all noble and responsible. Plus, I got a free sticker. I won't reveal my specific votes, but my ballot was, in my opinion, a healthy mix of Republican and Democrat (staying true to my position as a fierce independent). Surveying my entire ballot, I noticed that my Dem votes tended to go to the larger races, and my Republican votes tended to go more local. I'm not sure why it turned out that way. It's no particular strategy on my part. It just happened to turn out that way. I'll keep track of my picks v. the winners and let you know how I fared. 2. NO MORE ATTACK ADS--Praise Jesus, for we get a break from attack ads. 3. MOST IMPORTANTLY, my beautiful wife of 4 1/2 years was born on this very day. She's 27 now. Happy birthday Bekah! We're going to party hard on Friday night, but I had to mention it today.
You've heard it. You've experienced it. It's a tired, worn out phrase. But it does point to a profound observation: In today's culture, media is immensely powerful. Media can sway public opinion. Media can stir a pot like no other. Media can ruin, exalt, disparage, expose...all for the sake of getting the scoop.
It can also immensely confuse. Today is a perfect example. Given that November is National Adoption Awareness Month, the media has turned its webpages, its lenses, its feature stories, and its commentary on the state of adoption...specifically international adoption. As most of you know, Bekah and I are in the process of adopting internationally, so we have a vested interest.
There's another adage: There's no such thing as bad press. I'd like to amend it: There's no such thing as bad press, unless it's bad press about adoption. People are more confused than ever on the issue. International adoption has gone from trendy Hollywood to questioned practice.
The Madonna fiasco didn't help. I'll save my thoughts on celebrity adoption for another day (they're mixed), but it really felt like the media wanted to pick on the Material Girl. I am NOT a Madonna fan. She's not my cup of kabbalah tea. However, she has evidently done everything in accordance with international law, adoption law, and all binding laws, for that matter. The father relinquished his rights to the child, then suddenly denied ever doing so (no doubt persuaded to do so from outside sources), and then came full circle back to his original position. It's not uncommon for parental rights to be a mess in adoptions. An adoption is a roller coaster of emotions. Apparently it's uncommon for a pop start to be on the roller coaster, and the media sure did exploit it.
And then yesterday, there was more bad press. The New York Times ran a piece on Guatemalan Adoption. It portrays Guatemalan Adoptions in a very, very negative light. It hurts, personally, since we are adopting from Guatemala.
I find it interesting that a journalist can make such broad and sweeping generalizations on a system as large as Guatemalan adoption. Plus, there are many factual (not to mention logical) inconsistencies in the article, a few of which are highlighted HERE. It communicates a perception that nearly every adoption is a for-profit, unnecessary, shady deal. NOT TRUE. In a strong Catholic country (no birth control) where roughly 75% of the population lives below the poverty line, I have a hard time believing this. Plus, such generalizations do a great disservice to all of the mothers who relinquish their children to be raised by another family. Apparently nearly all Guatemalan mothers don't develop the intimate, miraculous bond between mother and child-in-womb? Apparently all Guatemalan mothers see their womb in terms of financial possibilities?
I doubt it.
Read the article and then consider the logic. The article hinges upon a few key stances. One of them being this: "Guatemalan adoption is a very efficient and smooth process. Thus, this efficiency is being abused for profit".
Lame. To equate a well oiled machine with corruption is bunk. Now, I'm sure that corruption exists in Guatemala, and I'm sure it exists in ANY country. And, yes, safeguards in any system need to be in place so that corruption is limited. Guatemalan Adoption could probably use some reform. But calling the entire system corrupt is simply bad journalism. I expect more balance from the NT Times. They should've done more homework.
Fortunately, our kids aren't hearing the same message. Starting today, the beloved PBS kids show Sesame Street is running a series on adoption. One of the adults in the show is adopting a baby boy from....Guatemala! Take that NY TIMES! Boo-Ya.
It's a great resource to expand kids view of family, educating them on the miracle of adoption, balancing the need for cultural awareness and sensitivity. We're taping them for our 1 1/2 year old, Ben, to watch. Hopefully they can help him eventually come to better understand how his lil' sis came into our lives.
Obviously, this is an interest very unique to our situation. Obviously, most of you aren't nearly as fired up about this as I am.
But it's a powerful lesson in persuasion. The media can do sooooo much to influence popular opinion. The media certainly can send a confusing message. My hope is that more will heed to the lessons of Sesame Street and less to the investigative journalism of a particular NY Times writer.
Take this moment...right now...to pray for your pastor/priest. I'm saddened by the events surrounding Ted Haggard, and angry at so many pastors who feel the need to weigh in on the issue, when so much is left to sort out.
So just pray for your pastor/priest, for Ted, his family, for the accuser, and for all involved in the ordeal.
I've made my bloglines list public (see link in right sidebar), but I thought I should provide some context for a few.
My blog reading falls into a few categories:
Approved Voyeurism: Most of the blogs I read are people that I don't know, but I get to know them through their blogs. Yeah, it's a new kind of relationship that only technology can produce, but these people blog for the benefit of others.
Friends: These are the blogs I follow not only because they have good things to say, but also because I know them personally. Some are lifelong friends. Others are friends from a shared circumstance (school, i.e.) 'Friend' is such a large umbrella, no? Regardless, I consider the following people 'friends', and they have some good things to say.
Ben Miller--Ben is a missionary in Rio, Brazil. We went to college together. He lives in a favela (slum) and loves on street children. He's a fantastic writer, and offers a unique window into the urban poor.
Ben Newton--Ben and I went to seminary together, and his job title is verbatim the exact same as mine. Literally: "Pastor of Outreach and Young Adults." He also works in a strong anabaptist context (Lancaster County, PA), and his blog is titled, "Plaid Couch", which is inspired (I believe) by the hand-me down-couch that my wife and I gave to he and his wife when we left Denver.
Dustin Bagby--Dustin and I went to high school together, until he became a traitor and enrolled at our arch rivals (just kidding D). He's a writer (he's even been labeled in a book as 'The Rock Star Pastor'), beer aficionado, music critic, and church planter hanging out in Portland, going to seminary, and scheming with Bob Hyatt at the Evergreen Community.
J.R. Briggs--J.R. and I too went to college together. He was a year ahead of me, but we shared some classes together. He was in Colorado Springs at Pierced Chapel while I was in seminary. He's now at a megachurch in suburban Philly starting a new venue for an emerging/ent/missional community. He's written a few books, and he's a Michigan football fan (though I try not to hold that against him).
Joel Newton--Ben's older brother. . . Joel and I went to college together, seminary, and we started up a coffee shop together in Denver. Our wives even worked together for a time. Joel still owns Kurios, and is also a Jr. High pastor. He's truly attempting to create a Jr. High ministry that seeks spiritual formation, mission, and cultural engagement (as opposed to just crowd mixers and dumb games). If you'd like to read about what makes a Jr. High Pastor tick (it still amazes me), check his blog out.
Kimberly (Gould) Knight--"Berly" (as we affectionately called her in high school) blogs about her life and her love for technology, art, and her new husband. She's an artist with an entrepreneur's heart.
Mariam Kamell--In blogdom, Mariam is known as "The Greek Geek". Mariam and I were in seminary together (and spent a few days in the wilderness on a seminary trip), and now she's a Ph.D. student at the University of St. Andrews (Scotland). She has a knack for translating her New Testament brilliance for ordinary Joes and Janes. She's fast becoming a prolific scholar of the book of James.
Tim Knipp--I've been bugging Tim, one of my best friends and schemers for the kingdom, to start a blog for a very, very long time. We went to college together, ended up in Denver together, and now share similar vocations. He's the pastor of The Gathering Community in Denver, and is now a seminarian. He too likes Michigan football (apparently I'm prone to befriend my enemies), but I try not to dwell on this.
Trevor Lee--Trevor is another DenSem alum and young adult pastor in the Denver area. He's good people, and he has a nice blog that you should check out.
So there's some context to the links in my blogroll. Good people. . . I am blessed to be friends with you all.
"The Church is a dusty, messy enterprise. This is especially so in the present. Many books are written and many blogs are devoted to the 'shifts' occurring in the Western church. The conferences, the books, the blogs, and the podcasts are all propelling a dynamic change that is shaking the very foundations of the Western church. As the dust flies, definitions and boundaries seem fleeting.
In a way, it feels like we're in the midst of an emerging blur..."
President George W. Bush The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Bush,
I am writing to ask that on Nov. 16 you skip a meal in solidarity with the more than 850 million people around the globe who go to sleep hungry every night.
One week before Thanksgiving, Oxfam America supporters will skip a meal to make sure these people aren't forgotten. If you join us, the world would see that Americans are deeply concerned about poverty, both at home and abroad.
Please make Skip a Meal part of America's Thanksgiving tradition. Show the world that the US stands by the millions who go hungry every day.
"I must say that I am still passionately pro-life. I just have a much more holistic sense of what it means to be for life, knowing that life does not just begin at conception and end at birth, and that if I'm going to discourage abortion, I had better be ready to adopt some babies and care for some mothers."
--Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution
This quote is so pertinent for a couple of reasons:
Election time in the U.S. is drawing near. And historically, abortion is the only, key, critical issue for conservative evangelical Christians in the U.S. (preserving traditional marriage would be second)
November is National Adoption Awareness Month. It's a time to make people aware of the plight of the orphan and the miracle of adoption.
Consider the possibility of a Church that truly cared for the orphan and the poor? Our pro-life stance would have so much more weight and credibility! It would be more than just words and political semantics, but actual actions that illustrate our love for life! What if we were the primary source of adoption? Of single mother care?
Are you against abortion? Good, so am I. But if you are, you better be able to do your part with your time, energy, resources, and vote, to live a life that is truly, consistently pro-life. Consider adoption. Consider giving to the poor. Consider getting beyond the political posturing. Consider involving yourself in pro-life activities to bolster your pro-life activism. It's easy to make verbal jabs that spring from our ideas. It's a lot tougher to actually do something to change the situation.
The views on drewmoser.com are solely my opinions. They are not necessarily the official views of any organization with which I'm affiliated (VOX Ohio, AEMC, Nieu Communities, etc.). There. I've covered my rear.
