Either God will defend you, or what you have is not worth defending.
—Bill Johnson
3 February 2010 Jeff Gill
tags: quotes
Function or dysfunction?
Has the fellowship served to make the individual free, strong, and mature, or has it made him weak and dependent? Has it taken him by the hand for a while in order that he may learn again to walk by himself, or has it made him uneasy and unsure? This is one of the most searching and critical questions that can be put to any Christian fellowship.
—Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together
24 January 2010 Jeff Gill
tags: church,
quotes
This is a good prayer to pray (for yourself too)
A Franciscan Benediction
May God bless you with discomfort
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships
So that you may live deep within your heart
May God bless you with anger
At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people
So that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace
May God bless you with tears
To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger, and war,
So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and
To turn their pain into Joy
And may God bless you with enough foolishness
To believe that you can make a difference in the world,
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done
To bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.
Amen.
23 January 2010 Jeff Gill
tags: prayer,
quotes
We split and split and split again.
The gospel of grace and the gospel of the kingdom must be joined together. In the Gospels, these two are never separated. Only in later years does it seem that those who have heard the gospel of grace know little or nothing of the gospel of the kingdom. Thus the two have been separated. But the time is ripe for them to be united, so that people are thoroughly saved, forsaking everything and wholly consecrating themselves to the Lord.
—Watchman Nee, Release of the Spirit
23 January 2010 Jeff Gill
tags: kingdom of god,
quotes
What's a good size?
‘We believe that our particular group has grown as large as it ought to. We have stopped short of being an organisation; we are an organism instead, a living and spontaneous association of individuals who know one another intimately, care for each other deeply, and feel the kind of respect on for another that makes rules and bylaws unnecessary. A group is the right size, I would guess, when each member can pray every day for every other member, individually and by name, interceding for his personal needs as well as for the success of a particular mission. But what is to prevent 20, 50, 100 such groups from springing up wherever the call is heard – each obedient to its own particular genius, each working in its different way for the coming of the one Kingdom?’
—Brother Andrew, the man who pretty much invented smuggling bibles into communist countries in the mid 20th century, in his autobiography, God’s Smuggler, ch.21 p.251 1970 edition, emphasis mine
22 January 2010 Jeff Gill
tags: church,
kingdom of god,
quotes
Seth Godin nails it
Seth Godin is my favourite marketing guru. He wrote this article, and it is so perceptive, I need to quote some bits here:
We frequently confuse internal biochemistry (caused by habits and genetics) with external events. If we didn’t, marketing wouldn’t work nearly as well… We don’t say, “I’m genetically pre-disposed to mild depression,” or “I haven’t exercised in a while and I spend a lot of time watching TV,” instead, we say, “I’m disappointed because I don’t make enough money and my boss is mean to me.” And yet, someone in the very same circumstances seems much happier than we are. And somehow, nothing ever happens in our career that makes everything all right forever… We don’t say, “I eat to drown out the way I feel about my mom,” instead we say, “Hey, if it’s on a salad bar, it must be good for me. And anyway, next month is my birthday”… The external world is remarkably consistent, and yet we blame it for what’s going on inside of us.
Take another minute and read the whole thing.
7 July 2009 Jeff Gill
tags: humans,
quotes
In which I quote Seth Godin at length and ask all preachers to consider what they do on a Sunday morning
From this post: The purpose of a presentation is to change minds. That’s the only reason I can think of to spend the time and resources. If your goal isn’t to change minds, perhaps you should consider a different approach.
- The best presentation is no presentation at all. If you can get by with a memo, send a memo. I can read it faster than you can present it and we’ll both enjoy it more.
- The second best presentation is one on one. No slides, no microphone. You look me in the eye and change my mind.
- Third best? Live and fully interactive.
- Powerpoint or Keynote, but with no bullets, just emotional pictures and stories.
- And last best… well, if you really think you can change my mind by using tons of bullets and a droning presentation, I’m skeptical.
So, according to Seth, we preachers are putting the best hours of our week into something that is usually between the fourth and last best way of changing people’s minds.
Oh dear.
I think the thing to do is blow him off, because any alternative is a bit unthinkable.
15 April 2009 Jeff Gill
tags: church,
communication,
quotes
Seth Godin on Doing
I like this post by Seth Godin because it fits very well with the things I’m seeing in Luke about the doingness of following Jesus.
If it acts like a duck (all the time), it’s a duck. Doesn’t matter if the duck thinks it’s a dog, it’s still a duck as far as the rest of us are concerned.
Authenticity, for me, is doing what you promise, not ‘being who you are’.
That’s because ‘being’ is too amorphous and we are notoriously bad at judging that. Internal vision is always blurry. Doing, on the other hand, is an act that can be seen by all.
As the Internet and a connected culture places a higher premium on authenticity (because if you’re inconsistent, you’re going to get caught) it’s easy to confuse authentic behavior with an existential crisis. Are you really good enough, kind enough, generous enough and brave enough to be authentically a hero or leader?
Mother Theresa was an atheist, filled with self doubt. But she was an authentic saint, because she always acted like one.
You could spend your time wondering if what you say you are is really you. Or you could just act like that all the time. That’s good enough, thanks. Save the angst for later.
16 February 2009 Jeff Gill
tags: kingdom of god,
nt,
quotes
We want to lower the bar of how church is done and raise the bar of what it means to be a disciple
— Neil Cole, quoted in The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch
11 February 2009 Jeff Gill
tags: church,
kingdom of god,
quotes
...church is what you do from Sunday to Sunday out in your neighborhood, with your small group, with your tribe of people.
—From an interview with Greg Boyd on the Burside Writers Collective.
10 February 2009 Jeff Gill
tags: church,
greg boyd,
quotes
Seth Godin on the difference between a show and a story
From the article: ‘Putting on a show is expensive, time-consuming and quite fun. And it rarely works.’
9 February 2009 Jeff Gill
tags: communication,
quotes
The way it actually is
The power of the gospel lies, not in the offer of a new spirituality or religious experience, not in the threat of hellfire (certainly not in the threat of being ‘left behind’) which can be removed if only the hearer ticks this box, says this prayer, raises a hand, or whatever… but in the powerful announcement that God is God, that Jesus is Lord, that the powers of evil have been defeated, that God’s new world has begun. This announcement, stated as a fact about the way the world is rather than an appeal about the way you might like your life, your emotions or your bank balance to be, is the foundation of everything else. Of course, once the gospel announcement is made, in whatever way, it instantly means that all people everywhere are gladly invited to come in, to join the party to discover God’s forgiveness for the past, an astonishing destiny for the future, and a vocation in the present.
—Tom Wright in Surprised by Hope
It is said that people generally listen to things that reinforce their own points of view. Surprised by Hope by Tom Wright is that kind of book for me. It has reinforced and invigourated the theology that I grew up with. It has reassured me that the things that are in my heart to do really are at the heart of the gospel. It has inspired me to do the work of God’s kingdom like almost nothing else. It has also challenged me to know what I really believe about God and God’s kingdom, because everything we do flows out of what we really believe. (The apostle John said something like that in one of his letters.)
READ THIS BOOK! (maybe even if you don’t think it will reinforce what you believe).
15 November 2008 Jeff Gill
tags: books,
god,
kingdom of god,
quotes
Thus saith the prophet Bono:
It`s extraordinary to me that the United States can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can`t find $25 billion dollars to save 25,000 children who die every day from preventable diseases.
Okay, I don’t know if he is technically a prophet, but the issues he’s raising with the world’s leaders, seem pretty close to the heart of God.
10 November 2008 Jeff Gill
tags: communication,
kingdom of god,
quotes
When Jesus talks about the truth...
When Jesus talks about the truth, he talks about life. The truth is what brings life. My axiom for today is that Christianity at its core doesn’t explain life but it brings life. We must thus ask whether our beliefs and actions bring life, healing and love to the people in the world. To bring live into the world is to know God for God is love. This is not the knowledge of creeds and theology but the knowledge of a transforming relationship with the source of all love. Truth in Christianity is thus different from the way we understand truth in the world, for the truth of Christianity is life, not description.
—Peter Rollins
13 September 2008 Jeff Gill
tags: kingdom of god,
quotes
The ongoing journey to freedom
Are you reading Paul and Sonya Armstrong’s blog posts about how they are getting out of debt yet? Start now!
We tried numerous times to curb our spending; sell things we didn’t need, look at our budget (bought books on budgets and management of money, software and programs). And it came in spurts. When the bills piled up and we felt like we were breaking, we got “real serious” about our spending. But we’d go right back to our pattern. I’d get something at McDonald’s or Chick-Fil-A or Wendy’s for lunch, I’d buy a CD, something for my camera, get office supplies; Sonya would buy inexpensive shoes for the kids, clothes at Target, we’d eat out every now and then (to be with friends, etc). Little things. None of them wrong, but it gave us a small excuse to avoid real change. Change that went beyond numbers. We resisted a first step in a real direction toward change.
At the heart our problems was fear…
27 August 2008 Jeff Gill
tags: blogging,
cost-cutting,
debt,
failure,
money,
quotes
We make rhetoric out of arguments with others but we make poetry out of our arguments with ourselves.
—William Butler Yeats
10 August 2008 Jeff Gill
tags: humans,
quotes
Jesus is NOT my boyfriend and I will not sing to Him as if He is.
This is my favourite worship quote in a long time!
25 May 2008 Jeff Gill
tags: church,
quotes
Once something feels real, making it real is a lot easier.
—Seth Godin
19 March 2008 Jeff Gill
tags: humans,
quotes
...stuck in a linear rut, imposing patterns of one-way flow on a universe that consistently moves in circles
This has stirred up my thinking about a bunch of different things that I hope to write about soon, but for now this will serve as a good reminder for me.
28 February 2008 Jeff Gill
tags: humans,
john michael greer,
quotes
You are such an asset to the body
—on a greeting card to Christine from a church* member who is obviously much more pure of thought than we are.
*From our former church in Tucson, Arizona, USA, not i61.
30 January 2008 Jeff Gill
tags: church,
quotes,
silly
Good Writing
I am reading The Book of Dave by Will Self and I am reading to my son the first book of the Nomes, Truckers by Terry Pratchett. tonight I came across some great writing in both of them.
From The Book of Dave:
Dave Rudman looked at the faces paled by resentment, the eyes bright with anger. How’s this going to help? Adding his own can of pain to this slopping tank of loss?
From Truckers:
‘It’s a good job you don’t believe in him, then’ said Masklin
‘Of course I don’t,’ agreed Gurder.
‘Your teeth are chattering though.’
‘That’s because me teeth believe in him. And so do my knees. And my stomach. It’s only my head that doesn’t, and it’s being carried around by a load of superstitious cowards.
Interestingly, a central theme of both books is how religions are formed over time.
13 January 2008 Jeff Gill
tags: quotes,
writing
Parting your soup is not a miracle, Bruce, it's a magic trick.
—Morgan Freeman as God in Bruce Almighty. My favourite line in the film. (We do love the magic tricks, don’t we?)
Be the miracle!
Bonus:
9 January 2008 Jeff Gill
tags: films,
humans,
quotes