Unexpected Moments

Sometimes my anfractuous journeys bring me into unexpected places.  Can you just feel how happy this church felt on this Sunday morning!

"Homeless Without You"

This week I'm uploading the unmastered version of the album-starter: "Homeless Without You."  It's a song about forgiveness, and the need to be forgiven--the need to be held by the others in my life that make me "at home."  It's a song I'm really serious about--just don't let me go...

Phil

Drifter

Tonight we'll send an offering of 13 songs off to Montreal to be mastered... which means my record should be available in the new year!

I thought, to celebrate, I would put a sample tune up on my old myspace page each week.  Feel free to drop by, and bring a friend or two... You may find some comments on the song posted here through the week (but no promises ;).

Today I uploaded the unmastered version of "Drifter"--a poor, misunderstood song that, though much maligned, cuts close to the bone for me.  Let me know what you think...

Sitting out a snowstorm,

Phil

I'm not a blogger.  I'm a lousy blogger.  I'm only blogging because of the pressure that is being exerted upon me by my colleagues.  Why don't you just give me a call if you want to know what I'm thinking?  Yeesh.

However, my recent assessment based on the Enneagram, Myers Briggs, and other psych tests (um, not phil-might-be-crazy-tests--just work-related evaluations...) concluded that indeed I "require an outlet for writing and motivating in order to maintain balance in (my) life."  So, I'm just reaching for straws here, and thought I'd comment on something that came up in class today... 

Do you really think that a good Christian ought not assert their rights as a human being?

As followers of Jesus, Christians are rightly concerned with the great law of life--the law of agape, or self-giving love.  But does this mean that it is wrong for followers of Jesus to feel they have rights?  And is it even worse for them to assert these rights? 

I don't think so.  

I think sometimes we forget that in order to practice self-giving love there really has to be a self that is doing the giving.  I cringe a little at the romantic and sentimental sense that I hear in church language that assumes that this self-giving love will "just happen" because we've invited the Self-Giving One into our hearts.  Authentic self-giving love--even that which appropriates the great work of the indwelling Spirit of Christ--requires volition.  We (our selves) have to give, and in doing so we really are giving something up or giving something away.  

Further, I think that the practice of self-giving love (not just the idea of it) does not diminish the validity of the rights of each self but rather most fully validates them.  It is in willingly and actively (as opposed to passively) giving of ourselves that our rights are most fully affirmed.  I think it is wrong to suppose that a follower of Jesus should shut up and suffer.  This isn't agape!  Rather sin must be named, wrongs must be condemned, violence opposed, injustice resisted and deception exposed--and the forgiveness and grace of self-giving love must be extended and expressed nonetheless.  This means naming and identifying the evil "that has trespassed against us," but refusing allow evil to beget evil in our lives--refusing to allow our rights that have been transgressed to become twisted into the weapons of rationalization and moralization of our own violent or vengeful reactions.  It is in knowingly laying down our rights for the sake of God's kingdom and for the great law of agape that we most fully affirm our rights.  Not as passive victims, but as active participants in the agony of love.

Finally (although this is far from finally), I think that the acknowledgment of rights is essential to the pursuit of justice and love.  I mean, really, what do we think/feel/believe when we see people being trampled by more powerful people or unjust systems?  I sometimes wonder if our weak-kneed aversion to asserting rights might have more to do with our aversion to taking responsibility for what's happening to others in our spheres of influence than it has to do with self-giving love.  After all, love that does not have justice as its end is not love at all, but rather  sentimentality.  To truly practice agape is an active, participative joining in the sufferings of Jesus Christ.  It is to identify sin as sin, and extend forgiveness nonetheless.  It is to name what is broken and bent among us, and extend fellowship nonetheless.  It is to acknowledge the real areas of sickness and filth and disease, and go into them to bring healing nonetheless.  These strong expressions of right-relinquishing agape ultimately affirm the rights of selves--of your-self and those of the other.

What do you think?

Phil in Canmore... up really late.

Dear Blog Friends and Visitors,

So, it seems that in order to "blog" effectively one must write and post from time to time... I'm going to give it a shot. 

Well, I will starting tomorrow.  Tonight I'm at the Entheos retreat centre with my wife Sheila, and she's trying to sleep.  Tomorrow I'll write to you from Canmore... hope you tune in!

And if you do--tune in--it would be great if you were willing to make some comments to shape what I write here.

See you soon,

Phil

Family Camp!

We've just returned from our first "Family Camp" experience, and what a beautiful time we had!  Who knew that just spending fun, unstructured time together could be so... relaxing!  Ava and Brienna (my 11 and 8 year olds) showed me their baseball skills and their rock-skipping finesse, and Sheila and I had a really nice time meeting new people.

I'll be back soon,

Phil

The things people say...

Last night I had the privilege of sitting with some good friends and some great Christian leaders here in Winnipeg.  Larry Wilson and Terry LeBlanc, two important Christian leaders in the Canadian First Nations community, shared with us their response to the significant apology that our government made to the First Nation's peoples.  One important aspect of the apology was an extended apology offered to all of the people of Canada.  They acknowledged that our nation's exlusionary policies not only perpetuated injustices towards First Nations Peoples, but that it also impoverished the entire Canadian culture, depriving us all of the important and intelligent cultural contributions of the Aboriginal peoples' worldviews.

After some thought, my wife Sheila suggested that this is an important issue within the Canadian church as well.  As we seek to engage with all of our neighbors, our question must be more than "how can we express our Christian faith among First Nation's peoples in ways that affirm our different cultures."  We also need to ask, "how can we welcome into our worldview the unique perspectives and expressions of Christian faith that only First Nation's peoples can share with the wider church."

Sheila reminded me of the important role that hospitality needs to play in all of our exchanges, whether we engage across cultural lines, across faiths, or simply across the street.   All these exchanges somehow must come to the place where they are exchanges "across the table."  May genuine hospitality lead us toward greater understanding and finally mutual love.

Phil