I recently posted on my twitter feed about this, but for my money, two of the best bloggers writing about the intersection of faith, culture, the Presbyterian Church (USA), and authentic living are Carol Howard Merritt at Tribal Church and Jan Edmiston at A Church for Starving Artists. I’ve mentioned the latter here before, and both continue to be pushing important issues forward through their reflections on their respective blogs. I’m constantly finding their posts thought provoking, regardless of whether we’d agree on every point (we wouldn’t, but we would on many).

I think its important to hear what they have to say, so I wanted to highlight it. Check out their blogs. A few interesting posts of late:

@A church for starving artists:

• Never Been Kissed: on the Susan Boyle phenomenon and what it says about us spiritually.
• ISO Edgy Interim Pastors: on what makes for a good interim pastorate, what makes for a crappy one, and how to tell the difference, plus a plea to the church to get to work on improving this important ministry.
• Sabbatical as Worship: well, just read it; on what is cringeworthy about “contemporary worship” and expanding our ideas of what worship is to go beyond Sunday morning at 11am (or whatever)…

@Tribal Church

• Better Vision: On present statistics about pastors seeking calls and available positions, and our the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s abysmal trackrecord of late with New Church Developments.
• Pointers for Pastoral Nominating Committees: Really, really, really good advice for those who might find themselves sitting on a PNC.
• Hot Passionate Conservatives and Icy-Cold Liberals: Tackling some stereotypes about church growth, pastoral makeup, and some future trends of our churches.

In the meantime, buy and read Carol’s book and get ready for both her next one and the one Jan is wrapping up. It will be worth it to spend some time with these really wonderful thinkers…

Some backstory: Adam Walker Cleaveland, recent PTS grad and proprietor of pomomusings, is a candidate for ordination in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). As part of his final steps towards ordination, he must be examined by his Presbytery of Call, and part of that examination includes the presentation of a statement of faith.

These statements of faith are typically a page or so (single spaced), and cover things like who God is, humanity’s relationship to God, who Jesus is, what the Bible and Sacraments are all about, and so on. Its not easy to condence the basics of one’s religious beliefs to a single page, but those of us who’ve been examined by a presbytery for ordination are asked to do it, and he’s working on it.

Also, you should know about what twitter is: a social-networking tool that enables people to “micro-blog,” similar to status updates on facebook, using 140 characters or less. For those who love status updates on facebook, this is right up your alley, and you can access it through the web, through a number of apps, through SMS Text Messages, etc. (Adam also wrote about why one should use twitter at pomomusings.)

So Adam has been twittering about his writing of this statement of faith, and Shawn Coons of igeekrev suggested that those who know him try to use twitter to make a statement of faith, that is, to write one using 140 characters only.

The thing has taken off today, and is now called Twitter of Faith. Adam posted the particulars on his website, but you can also look at the facebook page.

The original challenge was:

Twitter of Faith: What do you believe? You have 140 characters – give us your statement of faith in 140 characters. #TOF

And here was my offering:

God is love, and lovingly empowers, forgives, redeems me. Thus I am God’s, and live to do the same for others, so that love might win. #TOF

You can keep up with the various postings about it here. Its pretty cool!

Update (11/23/08): I slept on the above, and really like it, but see that my first TOF leaves out Jesus Christ. I’m ok with that, but it is incomplete. So I offer this modification, which adds Christ but which makes it slightly different:

God is love, and in Xp lovingly calls, forgives, redeems me. Thus I am God’s, and live to do the same for you, so that love might win. #TOF

Take your pick. I like to place them together, but that’s against the rules.

There is now a post about this up on presbymergent, and the following blogs as well: wendy, mark, mycontemplations. Its taking off..

Carol over at Tribal Church posted about a pastor-friend of hers who is moving to Arizona to accept a new call. She describes the situation thus:

He had multiple interviews with the church nominating committee, he preached for the congregation, he went through the excruciating congregational vote. Finally, he met with a clearance committee from his denomination.

A Pastor from the Committee said, “You have a blog.”

“Yes,” Pastor Friend answered.

“Well, that could be a problem,” Committee Pastor continued, “Some of your opinions are ‘out there.’ And you need to gain trust with your congregation. In order to do that, you really shouldn’t tell a congregation your opinion on anything for at least the first three years of your ministry.”

I have friends whom have been placed in this situation themselves, who are cautioned about blogging candor and their pastorates. Some have had the matter discussed by the Associate Pastor Nominating Committees they related to, whose members weren’t sure whether they wanted a blogging pastor, only to report to me that their lead pastor already blogs (albeit anonymously).

This is so so different from the posture that others take, such as Bruce Reyes-Chow. Bruce, who was elected Moderator of the General Assembly this summer, has a policy of transparency and openness.

I think this posture makes for healthier relationships, but it requires some skill and wisdom on the part of the blogging pastor. Not everything ought to be published on a personal blog; discretion is called for, certainly, and I’m certain that Bruce has it in spades. But not so others I know of.

The notion that someone should hold-back whom they really are, for three years, as an effort to build trust doesn’t make any sense to me. That doesn’t necessarily mean that one should broadcast their innermost thoughts to the world, willy-nilly, but something about the advice to this pastor is really off.

So there’s a certain something that is required for pastors who blog, and who do so transparently. I just hope that I’ve got it…

Carol has a healthy discussion going about this over at her post…

Thoughts? Offer them there or here, please!

Friends, random observers, colleagues, brothers and sisters:

Welcome back to Kairosblog. From the date-stamp on my last post, it looks like we’ve been defunct for almost a year, but in truth it has been longer than that. I’ve, frankly, missed being here, and I’m glad to be back.

The first incarnation of Kairosblog was pseudonymous–by which I mean that I wrote under the pen-name Kairos with the intention of not being plainly overt about who I was. I did this for several conscious reasons: the main being that I wanted the flexibility to be able to blog about things in my ministry in a manner that might not be as free-form if I wrote under my name. I also found it more freeing to speak openly about some contentious issues in my presbytery if I were anonymous. The entire time, I took great effort to be fair and to not use anonymity as an excuse to engage in hyperbole or character attacks or the like. That was never the point, and would have been an abuse of by ordination vows and contrary to the reason I got into blogging in the first place.

Events happen, and I was asked by the presbytery to get involved in some of those issues after they began snowballing, and eventually I became Moderator of what is called a Committee of Counsel for the presbytery in a church court proceeding. Those circumstances led me to put Kairosblog on hold while I worked on our church’s behalf. (If you want to see the result of that work, you can read the pastoral letter I wrote the presbytery or the judgment of the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission (pdf), which is kinda the Supreme Court of the Presbyterian Church USA in these matters).

In the meantime, my identity became an open secret, and I never had any real desire to be hidden. Secrecy was not the goal; authenticity was.

With the resolution of the GAPJC case behind me, I’m itching to get back into blogging on the things I found so invigorating before. I admire so many friends and colleagues who are blogging right now (including, but not limited to of course, landon, not prince hamlet, jim, carol and brian, bruce (doing a GREAT job as moderator of the PCUSA), jan, mark, adam…the list grows on and on) and I want to be part of that conversation.

I’ve been inspired by eugene cho‘s take on why he blogs, and I crib much of it here: I blog to process my own thoughts, to connect with the larger faith (and non-faith, for those who come here otherwise) community, to record my journey, and so on. And I think eugene is right on with this reason too:

To someone reveal that pastors or Christians aren’t stupid religious people that don’t have the ability to engage in humor, critical thought, or have “regular” lives.  I’m a Christian and a follower of Jesus but I ain’t perfect, saintly, or perfectly holy.  I fart just like you and sometimes, they’re bad.  Really bad.

So I’m ready to re-engage that conversation again. In so doing, please note four things:

1. I’ve decided to import many of the older Kairosblog posts back into this new incarnation (running wordpress now, instead of typepad). Many of the links are old and out of date. Very very few of the pictures transferred over, and have subsequently been deleted. Some of the posts that I feel are not relevant have been removed, as have some of the posts that were appropriate under an anonymous context but are not now appropriate.
2. As before, I am going to be consciously expansive in my linkage policy and in my welcome to any who want to be present here to read. I am clearly a progressive Christian. I see things from that vantage point, that particular stance, and can only write from within it. I do, however, believe deeply in intellectual honesty and good will, and therefore try to read and understand as many different points of view as I can, try to find the merit in all of them, and think that we do better in community discussion than in expression of individual fiat. This is why the first incarnation of Kairosblog linked to all sorts of things, and why this one will likely do so as well.
3. I have a rather tight comment policy. Essentially, it is this: I welcome a diverse articulation of points of view here. I will endeavor to be as lenient as I can with comments. I will not allow comments that are not germane to the particular thread at hand, that are rude, abusive, insulting (of myself or others), or the like. Neither of those relate, necessarily, to the content of the discussion that might be taking place. But, in short: My blog my rules.
4. Finally, this blog is simply and only an expression of my personal opinion (and sometimes my musings, and not even my opinion). It does not in any way represent the views of the church I serve, Southminster Presbyterian Church, which itself is a diverse community that has many views, from liberal to conservative. Nor does it represent the denomination that has granted me ordination, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), or Heartland Presbytery, that grants me membership, or my colleagues in ministry. I know that there are many who will find agreement in what I write, and some who might find offense. I apologize for the latter. But this blog represents nothing but my own thought, which by the Grace of God will be useful in some measure to this broader enterprise we’re engaged in. I take complete responsibility for anything posted here under my moniker, kairos, which I plan to continue to use.

I continue to find Adam Walker Cleaveland‘s blog design compelling, so I’ve (again) taken his lead on themes. He’s a good designer, so check him out. He freelances at Cleave Design.

Thanks for being here. Peace and grace be unto you…

Andrew Sullivan can get under your skin every now and then if you’re a progressive like me, but he’s important and right on quite a bit of the time. He’s particularly insightful in his analysis of how America’s (somewhat behind-the-scenes but more and more a part of the public debate) acceptance of Torture in its response to terrorist attacks is destroying much of what we stand for.

For instance, read his analysis on Guy Fawkes Day, with this money quote:

From revulsion against torture, liberal democracy was born. And by acquiescing in torture, liberal democracy will die.

Spot on…

I’ve been hard to find lately, I know. The reprieve from the workload that I projected in my last post didn’t really come to be…yet. That’s ok, because life is good: my kids are wonderful and healthy and happy; my wife is incredible; my congregation is strong. So all in all, while I’d like to have more time to get back to regular blogging, I’m not stressed by it. Things are good.

Hopefully soon I’ll be back in the thick of things.

In the meantime, I have a new camera to play with. Well, not a Kodachrome, but I couldn’t help think of Paul Simon as I was picking up my new Nikon D40:

Kodachrome
They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the worlds
a sunny day, oh yeah

I got a nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So mama dont take my kodachrome away

I’ve been busy with life: family mainly. For instance, this post has been interrupted no fewer than five times (diapers, dropped pacifiers, etc). But fear not. I’m planning a return to blogdom in the near future, likely next week.

In the meantime, I note with approbation that the Very Left Reverend has been reading the Gruntled Center‘s reflections on what Presbyterians should say about Homosexuals, marriage and same-sex unions, and VLR has been less than impressed. Go find out why. (More here and here) (Ed Note: VLR is no longer blogging at these links…)

VLR is concerned with a functional definition of family. I appreciate that tact, but even so, I find Gruntled’s arguments on their own weak. Particularly his latest effort to defend his statement that “Marriage is the complementary union of a man and a woman to make and raise children.” I’ve posted a bit on this “good” of marriage, and wonder why Beau isolates this “good” above the others in his “social ideal”. There doesn’t seem to be a good reason to do so, and his attempts to rationalize why we still let people who have no chance of having children marry anyway shows that this so called ideal is selectively applied. One could just as easily allow gays and lesbians to marry, like we might allow a sterile couple to marry, and still argue in some sense the positive social role of marriage for bearing and raising children. And in particular, I think this is both hyperbolic and wrong as a justification of keeping “marriage” for heterosexuals:

However, if all children were produced without marriage, society would disintegrate. And if no marriages produced children, society would end.

Please. Allowing gays and lesbians into the “social ideal” of marriage in itself does nothing to bring this apocalypse upon us…

Okay, back to my babies. More soon…

It would happen that, the same weekend my friend Not Prince Hamlet says kind things about my blogging, things go pretty quiet around here. I got a chuckle out of that. I blame the turkey.

NPH has a few very interesting posts up lately. Readers here should check out his blog. You might recall that I linked favorably to him (via Religion on a Stick) back when he wrote an open letter to Kathleen Parker and her inane column about the PC(USA)’s trinity paper God’s Love Overflowing (pdf). He pointed out, among other things, how apparent it was that Parker hadn’t even read the thing. Would that more critics actually read what they’re critiquing…

On the one hand, NPH laments his perceived inability to keep up with quality active blogging:

Blogging as a useful regular practice, that is. NPH has wrestled all along with the question of what, exactly, a blog is good for and why he alternately should and should not be spending time with one. This blog was conceived as a sort of escape, a way for a small church pastor to write about things that don’t pertain to “work.” Over the months, these things have most prominently included werewolf movies and Douglas Rushkoff.

Entire weeks have passed now where the demands of funerals, nominating committees, and stewardship campaigns have rendered blog fodder completely meaningless, so that spending time posting would be to take away time for other valuable activities, like preparing sermons, reading, or even just resting.

That’s been good. But NPH is challenged by the example of some good blogs, maintained by people in the same vocation, as a vehicle for critical reflection and even faith formation. Foremost of these are Kairos and Church For Starving Artists, not to mention Andrew Sullivan, who, though he is primarily a news commentator, is a committed person of faith who whips out gems like this.

So let’s give this another go. Let’s see if NPH can’t be a regular participant in a community of thinking and learning not restricted to content constituting an “escape” from work. It’s all work, really. And that’s good, as long as it’s good work.

I’m going to leave aside for now that my friend misses the importance of jovial blog content, at least to me. (Some of my best faith reflection have been while reading the comic section of the newspaper, for instance. And, as his open letter illustrates, NPH is himself no stranger to thoughtful critical reflection and faith commentary.) But I know what ministry is like, and I’m just thankful for his voice in the conversation: whatever he chooses to write upon.

Recently, he has a good few posts up about technological obsession (ironic, I think, given what blogging can become…), authentic Christian conversation at his small church, and very interesting to me, a critique of some of the rhetoric offered by an ostensible “classical” or “traditional” resistance movement within our denomination.

I’m thankful for NPH’s blogging, and learn much from it, whether its “critical” blogging or more lighthearted.