Our current post is an interview with NT Wright on hell and Rob Bell. (The Work Of The People films with Mr. Wright coming soon).
.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Tom Wright on Hell & Bell
Haven't blogged much recently since we've launched Alter Video Magazine. I'm sure we'll ramp up this form of dialogue in the future, but for now we invite you to join the conversation over at Alter.
Our current post is an interview with NT Wright on hell and Rob Bell. (The Work Of The People films with Mr. Wright coming soon).
.
Our current post is an interview with NT Wright on hell and Rob Bell. (The Work Of The People films with Mr. Wright coming soon).
.
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
Kahlil Gibran on Love
When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams
as the north wind lays waste the garden.
For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.
Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.
All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart,
and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.
But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.
Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.
When you love you should not say, "God is in my heart," but rather, "I am in the heart of God."
And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams
as the north wind lays waste the garden.
For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.
Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.
All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart,
and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.
But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.
Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.
When you love you should not say, "God is in my heart," but rather, "I am in the heart of God."
And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Wednesday, November 03, 2010
I Guess I'm "Liberal"
Guess I never thought of myself or TWOTP as liberal or conservative, just a fractured glimpse of something broken but still raised from the dead and daily stumbling towards Jesus. I say that because I got a letter titled "Saddened" from a pastor saying I was propagating the liberal-pluralistic-Unitarian movement and that I should start leading people to Jesus who alleviates all problems. Uhhhh...I don't think Ted watched any of the films he's criticizing, and most of his peculiar speech act could easily be discounted as silly,flippant, youthful and unattached to good fruit-producing struggle, but I'm assuming his "truth grenades" are shared by few others, so I thought I start this dialogue although I doubt many are interested. I tried to connect with Ted without any success and I'm not the wordsmith...(Get it? I stopped writing..because I'm not a wordsmith....Hahahahahaha!) Anyway, all that to say here's Ted's "saddened" email and a note from my pastor about the soil from which I come...again if any body is interested.
TED'S SADDENED LETTER
Hello,
As a pastor/church leader for the past 11 years, one who was fully schooled in the works of Hauerwas, Sweet, McLaren, & Bell, who grew up in a liberal-Mennonite church, I was deeply saddened by the advertisement I received for the Scott Alexander teaching series. I have watched the liberal-pluralistic-unitarian movement continue to try in vain to harness humanism to change the world. I have watched the world of evangelicalism, in it's attempt to put flesh on it's message, begin to swing towards this same tired, powerless belief system. I have watched wonderful friends leave for long term mission trips of mercy & service come back not with spirituality, but a social justice philosophy. I am so weary of seeing people trade in a gospel that has power for one that does not, & I am disappointed to see Work of the People propagating views that narrow the person of Jesus down to what we can do without him. There is such a rich expanse of Christianity that is not fundamental-right-wing-nonsense, but this liberal movement misses the kingdom of God in it's reaction. Both sides exemplify a narrow, lacking worldview. There is more than both of you realize. Evangelicals preach with words but no actions, pluralists/etc preach with work but no actual message (aside from humanism). When unitarians like Alexander feed a starving village but fail to address the issues of sin, hunger will always remain. Jesus provides freedom from the characteristics in people that cause hunger/greed/apathy/etc. Oh how I wish my compassionate liberal friends could see that they are leading the world into a place that is not free of problems & rejects the one who can alleviate them. I don't know what the point of writing this is, except that I'm bummed. So, please, stop spreading this stuff. Sigh.
Sincerely,
Ted
NOTE FROM MY PASTOR AARON EDWARDS
Ted,
I am not officially affiliated with The Work of the People but I am deeply connected to their mission because the church that I pastor shares the same soil as TWOTP. So I get the chance to see what Travis sees since he has taken root in the community. And what we see on a regular basis is dead things coming back to life and broken things being put back together. Our community is filled with homeless people and addicts who are at the end of their rope and they have taught us that being at the end of our rope is the easiest access to total surrender which then leads death which then leads to life. We are well aware that this process is only possible because of the One who had the ability to lay down His life and take it back up again. Its not just about Jesus, it is Jesus. TWOTP's purpose is not to push a liberal agenda or an evangelical agenda or humanism of any sort. It is to tell stories of hope and transformation. I haven't seen the Scott Alexander piece or the advertisement for it so I am not defending him or his beliefs but if you have seen even a small portion of the films that TWOTP has produced, you know that there is a wide variety of belief systems from a wide variety of brothers and sisters. Maybe there should be a disclaimer for people who may be confused, that the views of these pastors, theologians, and artists don't necessarily reflect our views, but really I think these films have done an incredible job of not only sparking healthy debate, but also to force us to get even more clear about our own visions/missions. Your email was a perfect example, you were very clear about what you believe and why you believe that both sides of the fence come up short when representing Jesus, recognizing our need for a Saviour, and what that may look like in action. You are a brother and you a part of the Body. Thank you for caring and thank you for your passion and desire for people to see that physically feeding the hungry without spiritually feeding the hungry will offer very little nourishment. We agree. But also please rest assured that Travis and Steve have talked and prayed and thought about everything you just said long before you just said it. So the only thing I would disagree with is your assumption that what you realize is more than what they realize. Please keep up the Kingdom work and thank you for perpetuating a healthy dialogue that can bring us all back to the foot of the cross where we are only left with one agenda, and that is His agenda to save and reconcile that which was lost.
Aaron Edwards
sOndays church
TED'S SADDENED LETTER
Hello,
As a pastor/church leader for the past 11 years, one who was fully schooled in the works of Hauerwas, Sweet, McLaren, & Bell, who grew up in a liberal-Mennonite church, I was deeply saddened by the advertisement I received for the Scott Alexander teaching series. I have watched the liberal-pluralistic-unitarian movement continue to try in vain to harness humanism to change the world. I have watched the world of evangelicalism, in it's attempt to put flesh on it's message, begin to swing towards this same tired, powerless belief system. I have watched wonderful friends leave for long term mission trips of mercy & service come back not with spirituality, but a social justice philosophy. I am so weary of seeing people trade in a gospel that has power for one that does not, & I am disappointed to see Work of the People propagating views that narrow the person of Jesus down to what we can do without him. There is such a rich expanse of Christianity that is not fundamental-right-wing-nonsense, but this liberal movement misses the kingdom of God in it's reaction. Both sides exemplify a narrow, lacking worldview. There is more than both of you realize. Evangelicals preach with words but no actions, pluralists/etc preach with work but no actual message (aside from humanism). When unitarians like Alexander feed a starving village but fail to address the issues of sin, hunger will always remain. Jesus provides freedom from the characteristics in people that cause hunger/greed/apathy/etc. Oh how I wish my compassionate liberal friends could see that they are leading the world into a place that is not free of problems & rejects the one who can alleviate them. I don't know what the point of writing this is, except that I'm bummed. So, please, stop spreading this stuff. Sigh.
Sincerely,
Ted
NOTE FROM MY PASTOR AARON EDWARDS
Ted,
I am not officially affiliated with The Work of the People but I am deeply connected to their mission because the church that I pastor shares the same soil as TWOTP. So I get the chance to see what Travis sees since he has taken root in the community. And what we see on a regular basis is dead things coming back to life and broken things being put back together. Our community is filled with homeless people and addicts who are at the end of their rope and they have taught us that being at the end of our rope is the easiest access to total surrender which then leads death which then leads to life. We are well aware that this process is only possible because of the One who had the ability to lay down His life and take it back up again. Its not just about Jesus, it is Jesus. TWOTP's purpose is not to push a liberal agenda or an evangelical agenda or humanism of any sort. It is to tell stories of hope and transformation. I haven't seen the Scott Alexander piece or the advertisement for it so I am not defending him or his beliefs but if you have seen even a small portion of the films that TWOTP has produced, you know that there is a wide variety of belief systems from a wide variety of brothers and sisters. Maybe there should be a disclaimer for people who may be confused, that the views of these pastors, theologians, and artists don't necessarily reflect our views, but really I think these films have done an incredible job of not only sparking healthy debate, but also to force us to get even more clear about our own visions/missions. Your email was a perfect example, you were very clear about what you believe and why you believe that both sides of the fence come up short when representing Jesus, recognizing our need for a Saviour, and what that may look like in action. You are a brother and you a part of the Body. Thank you for caring and thank you for your passion and desire for people to see that physically feeding the hungry without spiritually feeding the hungry will offer very little nourishment. We agree. But also please rest assured that Travis and Steve have talked and prayed and thought about everything you just said long before you just said it. So the only thing I would disagree with is your assumption that what you realize is more than what they realize. Please keep up the Kingdom work and thank you for perpetuating a healthy dialogue that can bring us all back to the foot of the cross where we are only left with one agenda, and that is His agenda to save and reconcile that which was lost.
Aaron Edwards
sOndays church
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
New Video Magazine
We started a new video magazine called Alter. We believe there is an altǝrnative narrative to the prevalent narrative of scarcity and fear. We believe God is moving and is behind an altǝrnative narrative of abundance and freedom, a narrative in which Satan gets defeated and love wins. We believe God’s narrative requires we altǝr our perspective, that we step, in faith, into God’s upside down reality. In God’s reality we listen for, live and speak God’s upside down voice of faith, hope and love, not striving for ourselves but serving our neighbor. For all these reasons, this is Altǝr.
Stir imagination. Spark discussion.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
3 Seedbeds For Visual Stroytelling
TWOTP's Steve Frost article Worship Leader Magazine article "Vulnerable Visuals - Mining the rich Vein of Psalm-stories in your congregation. Click image below and got to page 32...
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