Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
The Test of Three
A Parable
Keep this philosophy in mind the next time you hear, or are about to repeat a rumour.
In ancient Greece (469 - 399 BC), Socrates was widely lauded for his wisdom. One day the great philosopher came upon an acquaintance, which ran up to him excitedly and said, "Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your students...?"
"Wait a moment," Socrates replied. "Before you tell me, I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Test of Three."
"Test of Three!?!"
"That's correct," Socrates continued. "Before you talk to me about my student let's take a moment to test what you're going to say. The first test is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"
"No," the man replied, "actually I just heard about it."
"All right," said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second test - the test of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?"
"No, on the contrary..."
"So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him even though you're not certain it's true?" The man shrugged, a little embarrassed. Socrates continued, "You may still pass though because there is a third test - the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be useful to me?"
"No, not really..."
"Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither True, nor Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me at all?"
The man was defeated and ashamed and said no more. This is the reason Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem.
Reflection Questions
1. Do I ever find myself slipping into gossip and incivility?
2. How do I feel if and when people speak about me in this way?
3. In what ways do gossip and incivility become obstacles to God's vision of loving community?
This is from a workplace doc. I received recently. I thought it was pretty good! Shelley
Keep this philosophy in mind the next time you hear, or are about to repeat a rumour.
In ancient Greece (469 - 399 BC), Socrates was widely lauded for his wisdom. One day the great philosopher came upon an acquaintance, which ran up to him excitedly and said, "Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your students...?"
"Wait a moment," Socrates replied. "Before you tell me, I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Test of Three."
"Test of Three!?!"
"That's correct," Socrates continued. "Before you talk to me about my student let's take a moment to test what you're going to say. The first test is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"
"No," the man replied, "actually I just heard about it."
"All right," said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second test - the test of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?"
"No, on the contrary..."
"So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him even though you're not certain it's true?" The man shrugged, a little embarrassed. Socrates continued, "You may still pass though because there is a third test - the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be useful to me?"
"No, not really..."
"Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither True, nor Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me at all?"
The man was defeated and ashamed and said no more. This is the reason Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem.
Reflection Questions
1. Do I ever find myself slipping into gossip and incivility?
2. How do I feel if and when people speak about me in this way?
3. In what ways do gossip and incivility become obstacles to God's vision of loving community?
This is from a workplace doc. I received recently. I thought it was pretty good! Shelley
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Vineyard Churches: 4 factors that we need to face?
I have republished here a blog by Jason Clark. Jason is a Vineyard pastor in the UK and a theologian. He often makes very interesting assessments on the Emerging Church from a Vineyard perspective. I think it is interesting to see here his analysis of the British Vineyard Movement as we are in Canada making some interesting transitions as well. Take a look. You can find Jason at deep church.
rob
By Jason Clark
7 Feb 2010
Over the last week, we have had a lively discussion here with the post ‘is there any move left in the movement’, prompted by my reflections on a talk by Caleb Maskell.
In that post I promised some follow up, one of which was to review Caleb’s analysis of the vineyard movement , and future possibilities in more detail.
So starting here, I offer an outline of what I heard Caleb say, and then I’ll post some of my questions and reflections in a follow up post.
1. Transition: The vineyard is in transition, moving from a ‘renewal movement’ to a ‘church movement. A movement that renewed the church at large, but that now needs to become a movement of disciple making, and this transition has been and is still, a painful one.
2. Pruning: Caleb drew on some bible passages much used by the Vineyard itself (e.g Isaiah 61), to frame this process as part of season, and the wintering of the Vineyard and a time of pruning that has been taking place, for the necessity and before the possibility of new growth. Things that used to work don’t any more, and many of us in vineyard might be asking if we are a branch that has been cut off.
3. Choice: As a movement we can pursue more extreme forms of renewal and revival, for our orientation, but need to bear in mind the revivals our movement prophesied that didn’t happen, and perhaps instead explore the move to be a ‘church movement’
4. Causes of the Vineyard Wintering:
a. Toronto: The realisation that renewal is not an end in itself no matter how much some of us enjoyed it. The Toronto blessing and the Toronto Vineyard Church, was the moment the Vineyard really went global as a renewal movement amongst a renewal movement. Yet this most famous of vineyard churches stopped being a vineyard church, and the promised revivals didn’t come to pass.
b. Evangelicalism under question: The Evangelicalism that Vineyard based itself on came under fire, with questions from the Emerging Church, about authority, bible, worship, evangelical culture, and rightly so. This rocked the boat of the church in the US and UK. The Vineyard movement didn’t have the institutional gears to respond to this, no matter how much it new the questions were important.
c. Moral Failure: The burn out and major moral failings of some of our most well known leaders, has been ongoing, and a large cause of the pruning and pain.
d. Next generation: The first generation of kids have grown up in the vineyard, and made us consider more directly the questions they are asking about church and faith. This raises the needs for a sense of formation over time and not just in the moment. A church ‘renewal’ is in the moment, whereas a ‘church movement’ looks for things over time, and formation, for practical wisdom alongside the immediacy of the prophetic.
5. Silence not judgment: Seasons of pruning are best met, at least initially, with silence not judgment. Like the feeling of visiting a graveside or ending a marathon, wintering seasons bring a combination of joy and pain, victory and defeat is not easily distilled. But we must bear its weight and we must learn from it. We ignore its lessons at our peril. We are coming into a new season of spring, but we must come with more maturity, with the wisdom born of our suffering.
6. Hope: That hope is that we have the tools, but we must begin to ask the hard questions that arise, for building a movement that makes disciples. There are things to think about theologically and practically, to think these through, and of how we are forming our theological imaginations.
rob
By Jason Clark
7 Feb 2010
Over the last week, we have had a lively discussion here with the post ‘is there any move left in the movement’, prompted by my reflections on a talk by Caleb Maskell.
In that post I promised some follow up, one of which was to review Caleb’s analysis of the vineyard movement , and future possibilities in more detail.
So starting here, I offer an outline of what I heard Caleb say, and then I’ll post some of my questions and reflections in a follow up post.
1. Transition: The vineyard is in transition, moving from a ‘renewal movement’ to a ‘church movement. A movement that renewed the church at large, but that now needs to become a movement of disciple making, and this transition has been and is still, a painful one.
2. Pruning: Caleb drew on some bible passages much used by the Vineyard itself (e.g Isaiah 61), to frame this process as part of season, and the wintering of the Vineyard and a time of pruning that has been taking place, for the necessity and before the possibility of new growth. Things that used to work don’t any more, and many of us in vineyard might be asking if we are a branch that has been cut off.
3. Choice: As a movement we can pursue more extreme forms of renewal and revival, for our orientation, but need to bear in mind the revivals our movement prophesied that didn’t happen, and perhaps instead explore the move to be a ‘church movement’
4. Causes of the Vineyard Wintering:
a. Toronto: The realisation that renewal is not an end in itself no matter how much some of us enjoyed it. The Toronto blessing and the Toronto Vineyard Church, was the moment the Vineyard really went global as a renewal movement amongst a renewal movement. Yet this most famous of vineyard churches stopped being a vineyard church, and the promised revivals didn’t come to pass.
b. Evangelicalism under question: The Evangelicalism that Vineyard based itself on came under fire, with questions from the Emerging Church, about authority, bible, worship, evangelical culture, and rightly so. This rocked the boat of the church in the US and UK. The Vineyard movement didn’t have the institutional gears to respond to this, no matter how much it new the questions were important.
c. Moral Failure: The burn out and major moral failings of some of our most well known leaders, has been ongoing, and a large cause of the pruning and pain.
d. Next generation: The first generation of kids have grown up in the vineyard, and made us consider more directly the questions they are asking about church and faith. This raises the needs for a sense of formation over time and not just in the moment. A church ‘renewal’ is in the moment, whereas a ‘church movement’ looks for things over time, and formation, for practical wisdom alongside the immediacy of the prophetic.
5. Silence not judgment: Seasons of pruning are best met, at least initially, with silence not judgment. Like the feeling of visiting a graveside or ending a marathon, wintering seasons bring a combination of joy and pain, victory and defeat is not easily distilled. But we must bear its weight and we must learn from it. We ignore its lessons at our peril. We are coming into a new season of spring, but we must come with more maturity, with the wisdom born of our suffering.
6. Hope: That hope is that we have the tools, but we must begin to ask the hard questions that arise, for building a movement that makes disciples. There are things to think about theologically and practically, to think these through, and of how we are forming our theological imaginations.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Hope for Haiti
This morning we heard stories from several people who have been to Haiti on missions trips before the quake. Thank you for sharing your hearts with us. An offering was taken for different missions organizations that we know about there. Joyce Crone brought a bunch of Hope for Haiti T-shirts she is selling as a fund-raiser for TLC - Teaching, Learning and Compassion - a group of teachers that go to Haiti to teach and support teachers there.
The shirts will be on sale next Sunday in the lobby, for $10, $15 or $20. Lespwa means hope in creole.
You can find out more on Joyce's page - lespwameanshope.blogspot.com
Shelley
Some Sad News
Donald Dickson DUNN | DUNN, Donald Dickson | LifeNews.ca
Hi All
We missed announcing this morning that Dave Dunn's father passed away this past Wednesday. The memorial service is on Sat. Feb. 13th. Dave and his Dad have raised beef cattle together for many years on their farm, Dunnlea Farms, on Hwy 97. Many of us at CV have their beef in our freezers. We are thankful that Don is with Jesus, but our thoughts and prayers are with Dave, his mother and his whole family as they grieve this huge loss.
Click on the link for the obituary and details of the Memorial Service.
Shelley
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Virus Alert
Hi All
This is a post in a bit of a different vein - I want to expose a lie that is going around in our midst, not for the first time, I am sure. I wanted to write about it because it seems to make sense to many of us, and so this lie can spread through the body like a virus. And like a virus, it can take many of us out, sometimes for a long time.
I know this because I have believed this one before - it sounds logical, it makes sense, and it connects with my own insecurities about being in a community.
The lie is something like this: "If I stop calling people (to talk, get together and initiate friendship) then no one will call me. People only connect with and care about me because I call them, and they are nice. No one really cares about me, and I know this because if I never called them they wouldn't call me, and that will prove that it is true, no one really cares about me."
Ever had that thought? Maybe you have heard someone express this thought to you, and it stuck with you. Maybe even reading this you feel a knot inside, because when you read it it rings true. But I want to think about this for a minute.
If this is true - then the following must also be true
1. My needs are their responsibility. Others should just know when I need to talk to someone. They should know by looking at me if I am down or not.
2. People who are currently responding to my invitations are doing it out of obligation, they don't really like me - therefore they are living a lie.
3.I am alone in the world.
Are those things true though?
1.Whose responsibility are my needs, truly? Mine, and mine to surrender to Jesus. When another calls me and it is perfect timing and I think they must have known, how do I think that happened? Are they a mind-reader? Or did the Holy Spirit just take care of me? If I pick up the phone and talk to someone and they encourage me, isn't that also the Holy Spirit? So who takes care of my needs? The Holy Spirit, when I ask him for what I need. Do I need to tell the Holy Spirit how and through who, to take care of me? No, I can trust him. I need to ask, and I need to ask the right person - the one who can help - the Holy Spirit. And if he helps me through someone, then I mustn't forget that it came from him, through them, and not from them. And if he supports me through a bunch of different people and in unpredictable ways so that I can never nail it down, is that okay?
2.Is it true that the people currently responding to my initiatives for friendship or support don't really like me, and are only doing it out of obligation? That is something that only God can know, since He is the only one who sees into someone's heart. But what I can know is that God is true, God loves me, God cares so much about me that I cannot begin to understand how much. So if he chooses to support me through messed up christians who sometimes try too hard - does that matter? Isn't that a miracle and grace? Throughout history God always uses messed up people to accomplish his purposes. He seems okay with that, and he even loves us and transforms us from people who are trying too hard, into people who love genuinely.
3.Am I alone in the world? The obvious answer is no, because God is always with me. But I challenge you too, to ask God this question, and wait and watch for his answer. That's what I did, I thought it was only fair that I give him the chance to prove me wrong, or to prove himself right.
The other way to test something for truth is to walk it out and see where you end up; in truth,life and love, or separated from God. I have done that.
I have tried this strategy - I stopped calling anyone, and waited to see if anyone called me. And of course they didn't, and this lie was then proven true for me. I had just proved that no one cared about me. Why? Because no one really cares about me? or because I had just been set up by the enemy to believe that about myself? When I did this I walked right into that lie; I believed it to be true that no one cares about me, so I became angry and depressed, and in my depression I also stopped calling anyone else who might need my friendship. What I did as an experiment became my life. The enemy very effectively cut me off from support and community because I listened to this lie.
Eventually I became so down I started to question God's love for me too, and fortunately for me that woke me up. How could I question that? What was I doing? I couldn't read the bible without coming across it. His word tells me unmistakably that not only does he love me, but that he takes care of me, and that he knows what I need. I had to decide - do I really believe the bible or not? So I re-focused on that, and began to replace lies with truth. I didn't start calling people again right away though. I started calling Jesus when I was down and needed support. I literally would walk home from work every night and talk to Jesus
"Jesus, I am down today, I am REALLY not looking forward to being alone tonight with nothing to do. etc. So that's how I am right now, but Jesus I know you know what I need, you promise to take care of me, and so I am leaving how I feel with you, and I choose to trust you."
I can tell you that Jesus took very good care of me, and he still does. I still had times alone, and had to re-affirm my choice to believe. And I walked home most times talking to him and asking and terrified that he would not take care of me. And many many times I was totally caught off guard by Jesus telling me he loved me, through a song, a line on a check-out line magazine display, a billboard, a random stranger, anything.
And yes I call people now, when I can, because I love my friends - I want to be with them, and so I call and make plans. And I love it when they call me because I want to be with them, I am touched when they think of me, and I give what I have, which is me. In fact I wish I had more time and could call more people.
One last thing - think of it - if we all stop calling each other because we are believing the lie above, then for sure no one is calling you or me because we are all sitting at home depressed because no one is calling us. And then the devil has acheived his goal: convinced us all that we are alone and unloved, stolen the heart of God from us, and destroyed the whole community.
Psalm 62:(New International Version)
11 One thing God has spoken,
two things have I heard:
that you, O God, are strong,
12 and that you, O Lord, are loving.
Sincerely
Shelley Maw
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Leadership Community Christmas Breakfast 2009
"2nds, 3rds, 4ths...anyone??"
"At least Mary Lou is listening intently... just kidding Scott..."
Just a few pics from our breakfast get together on December 12. The Fireside Room was the place to be to chow down on the amazing breakfast was cooked up by Connie and George!! Food and fellowship was shared by all. What a great way to close off 2009 and begin to anticipate and get excited about 2010 at Cambridge Vineyard!!
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