Life More Ordinary

Si has posted his third installment of “A Life More Ordinary?” at his weblog. I recommend reading the entire article, as soundbites never to it justice. Here are a couple quotes that grabbed me:

“In reflecting on my time at headspace and exposure to other groups, the cri de coeur of emerging church forms is ‘come join our community’. On the face of it, this is astute given that the primary malady of postmoderns is loneliness. But if we walk down that path, there’s not been that much of a change then to the baby-boomer seeker-sensitive church growth agenda. Such an invite commodifies the notion of community to the point that it simply consumes itself. As Brian McL (and his new book ‘The Secret Message of Jesus’ is also out) claims, ‘community can only be a spin-off or by-product of us gathering to learn how to learn how to love our neighbours better.’”

also:

“Vast networks of inter-connected smaller groups committed to their locality with some core values of simplicity, justice, hospitality, non-violence etc, are hopeful mustard seeds. The days of the burdened charistmatic fundraising figure supporting layer upon layer of organizational infrastructure is becoming a rare breed precisely because our landscape has changed. Vocationally this means that to be ‘in ministry’ might equal just about anything at all, but it’s more than likely simply a very unhelpful term these days. I vote to bin it.”

Thanks for your honesty and challenging words Si. I wish you would share more often as your words are always deeply impactful.