Marc's Messages

Holiday update (2)

Our second holiday week showed good weather, and we spent several days camping and cycling in the north. A short update:

On Monday we took an evening stroll across the Ginkelse Heide near Ede and visited the sheep's den. On Tuesday we headed to Harlingen, where Karolien and David watched the boats in the harbor, and Peter and I continued the Waddenzee Cycle Route until the 'Black Rooster' near St. Annapolder. Here you have a marvellous view over the 'kwelder' landscape between the Frisian mainland and the Dutch islands. We spent the night on a small pittoresque camping site.

On Wednesday Karolien and the boys went for a ride, while I cycled along the coast to Lauwersoog. I also visited Dokkum, where the Frisians killed the Anglosaxon apostle Boniface, now 1250 years ago. On Thursday we paid a visit to the 16th century fortress of Bourtange in east Groningen. After that, Karolien and the boys drove home, while I cycled from Nieuwerschans to Warfum, where I spent the night with a very hospitable couple from the Cycling Friends Foundation.

On Friday I went up early to catch the morning boat to Schiermonnikoog, Holland's smallest inhabited island. In the afternoon I headed to Groningen city, the first track of the Saxon Cycle Route, where I jumped on the train back home. Today Rob and Mannie came over and treated us on an extensive meal.

To view this week's pictures, click here.

Holiday update (1)

Our first holiday week was typically Dutch: a mixture of rain and sun, causing relatively humid weather. A short update:

On Saturday we made a cycling trip on the grounds of the High Veluwe, one of the Netherlands' oldest and largest national parks. It consists of no less than 5,500 hectares of woodland, heathland, lakes and driftsand. On Sunday we hang out in Ballorig in Zoetermeer with Ronald, Mareska en their kids. It's a playground for kids under 12 years old with bouncy castles and loads of balls. Afterwards we had sushi, sake and French fries.

On Monday we made a small cycling trip in the area. On Tuesday we did some shopping and I bought a new pair of shoes. On Wednesday we just hang around the house and caught the rabbits who had escaped from their little prison. On Thursday we washed the car and put up our tent. On Friday we went for a walk in a nearby forest. And today we made a cycling trip through the dunes between Noordwijkerhout and Zandvoort and played on the beach. Afterwards Bram and Greet treated us on a good BBQ in their beautiful backyard, and we talked until late.

Apart from spending time as a family, holiday is also a good season to read books and reprioritize. More about that later. I created a photo album with some pictures of last week.

New family pictures

I put some new family pictures online.

The Emerging Church defined

WikipediA published a definition of Emerging Church, a label that has been used to refer to a particular subset of Christians who are rethinking Christianity against the backdrop of Postmodernism. More about the WikipediA project here. They also have a nice definition of the House Church movement, generally considered a cousin of the Emerging Church movement.

Obviouly this definition is limited. Some time ago Andrew Jones pondered what will happen when we stop emerging. He states that emergence is not the only thing, it's also about divergence and convergence. This generates at least three new words for Scrabble...

Scambaiting the Nigerians

Shiver Metimbers opened a counter-attack on the notorious Nigerian scammers that have been terrorizing his inbox. He set up an extensive scambaiting website with tips, tricks and trophies.

Scambaiting is entering into a dialogue with the scammers, simply to waste their precious time and resources. If you're good at it, you might even scam them out of some cash. Shiver's correspondence with Prince Joe Eboh from Lagos, Nigeria, is a real hit. Thanks Shiver for making my day.

Just talk to Me

Jeff Fountain forwarded this poem by Bill Colclough of the Devon Community:

Don't be afraid if you don't understand
Don't fear you won't do it right
Don't worry about performing
Just talk to me

Don't need no words you can't define
Don't need a special voice you keep reserved just for me
Don't even have to close your eyes
Just talk to me

Don't need to wait until you're hopeless
Don't need a particular reason to call
Don't need to fake your holiness
Just talk to me

Don't spend your emotional energy getting all worked up over this
Don't think of me as a perfectionist
Don't believe everything you hear down there
Just talk to me

Don't keep a list or record of when we chat
Don't need to make an appointment
Don't stop to talk to the receptionist
Just talk to me

Don't confuse me with your father
Don't put that kind of pressure on him or yourself
Don't try get away from the point of who I am
Just talk to me

Don't forget to laugh with me
Don't forget that I’m the one who started all this
Don't forget I already know what you’re going to say
Just talk to me

Full version (26 stanzas) here.

EC leadership qualifications

This is funny. Richard Sudworth suggests that leadership structures in the emerging church should be rebrokered as follows. Qualifications for:

Deacon: tattoo and blog.
Pastor: tattoo, blog, ipod and powerbook.
Apostle: tattoo, blog, ipod and powerbook, but belief that leadership is redundant whilst broadcasting a strategic apostolic voice to that effect.

All the above are white and male and under 45 whilst advocating the inclusivity and breadth of the church. ;-)

US Constitution canonized

Monthly satirical newspaper The Holy Observer reports that the U.S. Constitution will be canonized. In January 2005, congregations across the world will be asked to do the unimaginable - open their Bibles to the book of First Americans. The New Testament has been tinkered with for the first time in nearly 1,700 years by the Council at Colorado Springs - a hodgepodge of evangelical leaders from across the nation who have added the United States Constitution to the canon of Scripture.

Hanging out in Leusden

The next two weeks we're hanging out in Ewout & Jeanette's house in the farmlands between Leusden and Achterveld. Taking care of the cats, chickens and rabbits, and enjoying the countryside. The kids are keen on trying every toy they can find.

Me speaky Christianese

In the last edition of Joel News International I included two entries from Leadership Journal that, I believe, are right-on:

Bless this house?

Brian McLaren explains why efforts to renew the church are often misguided. "We overlook one small detail - whatever we change (style of music, style of preaching, use of art, candles, incense, etc.), we're not changing the thing that needs changing most.

"The greatest heresy of monotheism is cherishing Clause A of the Abrahamic call while conveniently suppressing, forgetting, or ignoring Clause B. So, we want to be blessed (big, exciting, vibrant, wealthy, healthy, wise). We want to be great (a great nation, a great denomination, a great congregation). To this end we pray and pay and read and plead and strive and strain and yearn and learn and groan and labor. And we give birth to wind. Meanwhile, might God be otherwise occupied, scanning the earth for people who will also cherish Clause B: to be made into a great blessing, so that all people on earth can be blessed through us."

The language of planet Zion

Ron Martoia explains why people today wonder what on earth we're talking about when we speak Christianese. "Words carry all sorts of definitional freight, and we can't assume our words conjure up the same images in everyone's minds. We need some dialogue on the Christian lexicon. Many of the words we use are words our people inside the church have only vague understandings of, and worse yet, those outside the church have little, if any, accurate reference point. Their minds will fill the gaps with explanations from People magazine or a rerun of Friends."

Therefore Martoia changed the lexicon in his local church. Sermon has been replaced by 'weekend talk', evangelism by 'spiritual conversations', discipleship by 'replication', gospel by 'breaking news flash', church membership by 'partnership' and conversion by 'allegiance to God's kingdom'.