Your God Is A Dog?

"As we continue chatting and sipping tea, I discover that the word for ‘God’ in Moba is ‘Yendu’. A nice sounding word, I think to myself.  Remembering the much uglier Nawdm equivalent, I say to Thelma: “In Nawdm, the word for God is ‘Sangband.’” “Yes, I know,” she replies with a smile, “and the funny thing is that ‘sangband’ means ‘dog’ in Moba.” “Really? How curious!” “Aye, it does! And so the Moba often mock the Nawdm saying ‘Your God is a dog!’” Uncanny indeed! Fancy that! Who would have imagined such a coincidence could exist anywhere in the world?!"

(Rob Baker. Adventures in Music and Culture: Travels of an Ethnomusicologist in West Africa)

Un-quotable Tozer - Evangelical Institutional Uslessness

“Evangelicalism as we know it today . . . does produce some real Christians . . . but the spiritual climate into which many modern Christians are born does not make for vigorous spiritual growth. Indeed, the whole evangelical world is to a large extent unfavorable to healthy Christianity. . . .  We are making converts of an effete type of Christianity that bears little resemblance to that of the New Testament. The average so-called Bible Christian in our times is  but a wretched parody of true sainthood. Yet we put millions of dollars behind movements to perpetuate this degenerate form of religion, and attack the man who dares challenge the wisdom of it.”

A. W. Tozer, Of God and Men

Evangelical Slaugther

“Evangelicalism as we know it today . . . does produce some real Christians . . . but the spiritual climate into which many modern Christians are born does not make for vigorous spiritual growth. Indeed, the whole evangelical world is to a large extent unfavorable to healthy Christianity. . . .  We are making converts of an effete type of Christianity that bears little resemblance to that of the New Testament. The average so-called Bible Christian in our times is  but a wretched parody of true sainthood. Yet we put millions of dollars behind movements to perpetuate this degenerate form of religion, and attack the man who dares challenge the wisdom of it.”

A. W. Tozer, Of God and Men

Preacher Cult - Churchy Thinking

"'Churchy' thinking is one of the great heresies of the modern church - the notion that unless one appears regularly in a certain kind of building labeled a Christian church, God has no relationship with them whatsoever. This is a manifestation of the current 'preacher-cult' in which the clergy emphasize church attendance as the heart of the religious life, and thereby maintain a Sunday morning fan club."

- Clyde Reid (1966)

Shut Up And Walk The Pilgrimage

"So why am I spending three months in silence walking The Camino then staying in a Spanish monastery on an island off the coast of the Sahara Desert?

I TALK TOO MUCH

Growing up, people in authority always told me that I talked too much. These days, I get paid for talking. (Nah Nah Nah Boo Boo!) But, somewhere deep inside I still believe that I talk too much. Actually, I think most people talk too much. Maybe that’s why I’m drawn to the quiet ones. There’s something about the quiet ones that I envy. Maybe being silent for three months is something I hope will edge me towards whatever it is the quiet ones possess.
My “gift of the gab” has helped to endear me to many throughout my life. It’s also been the fuel for others to dislike me intensely. I’ve gotten out of stuff because of talking. I’ve gotten into stuff because of talking. At this point in my life, I’m just exhausted of convincing anyone of anything. I’m tired of talking. But I still love asking.:

~ Drew Marshall

He doesnt love us

I was part of a missionary team in Morocco some years ago.  I asked the village leader why he had never given our team leader one of their names, a name that can only be bestowed on an outsider by the village leader.  He thought for a moment, leaned his head back and said that this man helped them, but that he didn't love them.

Taught me that if I wasn't there and truly loved people, that my "help" was not of much lasting importance to them as well.

I thought that the advice of Rik was also invaluable.

Clif Heeney

Passion Scares The Government

"Passion is the capacity and readiness to care, to suffer, to die, and to feel is the enemy of Imperial reality. Imperial economics is designed to keep people satiated it so that they do not notice. Its politics is intended to block out the cries of the denied ones. Its religion is to be an opiate so that no one discerns misery..."

Walter Brueggemann

The Christian God Is Too Small For Me

"The God of many Christians is too small for me. The God who loves me when I'm good and hates me when I'm bad...
God loves you as you are, not as you should be. Because none of us are as we should be."

~Brennan- The Movie

Whites Corrupted By The Tropics

"Certain volunteers seem to go to extreme lengths to prove Conrad's thesis that a white man's soul is corrupted by the tropics. They arrive in an exotic culture having read Magnum and Conrad and act as though they had been programmed to disintegrate. I have seen a few volunteers shortly before they resign from the organisation with the same muddy complexion as the fellow who sits at the next table, those same dazed, sunken, and inward-looking eyes, that same careless and rather disgraceful way of dressing...
... that type who has been tossed and twisted in another culture that he can't make sense of, a man at that certain point in his cultural confrontation just before he throws up his hands in surrender and flees."

(Moritz Thomsen. The Saddest Pleasure: A Journey On Two Rivers)

Completely Human

"She was not really beautiful, but there was a tremendous calm power that radiated from behind her pleasant but ordinary features. It was an absence of hang-ups, a sense of joyful acceptance, a glow of pleasure at the miracle of being alive. In one second she communicated to me that rare and beautiful sense of being completely human."

(Moritz Thomsen. The Saddest Pleasure: A Journey On Two Rivers)

Fakey Light

"And I’m exhausted from continuously trying to “manufacture” Light. I know others who think no one can see that their Light is manufactured." Drew Marshall

Let's Skip Normal

I don’t do normal well. One of the things I love the most in life is talking to people that society has cast aside. (What term are we supposed to use these days? Weirdos? Freaks? Losers? Socially unaware? UNCLEAN?) They always love to talk. I love to listen. They always have a story. I get bored with everything BUT story."

Drew Marshall

http://caminoconfessions.com/2016/06/20/sacred-silence-training-day-12/

Your Pilgrimage Is Too Short

"With such an inspiring Christian history of pilgrimage, it is saddening how Christians have reduced Christian pilgrimage to an obligated walk from a parking lot into a sanctuary. " 

(Andy Rayner, A Spiritual Life Without A View)

Church- I love Your Fight For Survival

You have to be labeled as Bitter.
They have no choice, you see.

You can love and serve Jesus, and people, all you want. You can study and gather with other Jesus people often enough, but the Sunday morning building crew will never, ever, no not ever be able to bless you if you are not at their thing. They think their form of church OWNS the definition of church. Their thing, is the only thing.

Because that whole system rises and falls on everyone being there. The definition of success is when more and more of us are there, and only there. When you stop being their volunteer, their financial support, the whole manly system falls.

Therefore, if you are not there to help them succeed,  they see us as setting them up to fail.
So you are the enemy. Bitter...

They will write articles and post FB memes that carpet criticize anyone doing anything other than their thing on Sunday. 

So, if you wonder why church people are so angry at people who don't go to their kind of church: They cannot entertain the idea that believers can actually meet, grow, and be healthy outside their structures. They have to deny any possibility of the like, to save themselves 

That freedom and partnership can not be extended, that release of people to be free to follow Christ and gather in various ways can not be tolerated, because that packages success is based on the view of gathering you, your time, your money, your activity.

It does not matter how silent you are, or non critical you are of what others choose to do.  To them you are critical, negative, or bitter, simply because you will not submit to their game play.

We can say this... but they cant believe it 

We don't hate your church.
We are happy you have a place that works for you.
We are happy you serve there.
We are not saying you have to do it our way.
We are not saying we are right, you are wrong.
We are not following nor promoting a new church model or cool trend.
We are not trying to build anything.
We are not asking you to change anything.
Often, we have never asked a church to change anything they do.
We don't want to fight about it.
Has nothing to do with, "not getting our way"

And above all, your guilt trips, labeling  and criticism does nothing to woo us back.

We get it, you posture at us, to warn the remaining sheep .... see, see those bitter people. You have to paint what we do as so bad, as so dark, so people will not even look or ask questions.
I loose nothing if you will not gather with me. You loose everything if too many people choose not to gather with you. You have more  at stake.

I love you. I come to your box church from time to time. But i am tired of how you treat me, accuse me, and talk about me. I was not bitter when i chose a simpler path. But looking at you from over here has me blinking my eyes, real hard, as i see and hear your reactions.

You actually don't have a clue about what i do, or believe, how i study, or gather with others, because we have never even had one conversation about it. You don't want a conversation, or a blessed coexistence.  Because you have to be against it no matter what, right? Can't entertain the idea, as give an inch the members might take a mile. That hurts the success thing.

So, i don't take it personal.

No, I'm not bitter. But  i am unimpressed by your behavior towards me, your brother, who studies serves, and is part of the church.
But it no longer hurts me. Your church, is not my church. My church, my Jesus, my God help shield me from you, the nasty side of you I've come to see after the fact.

I love your fight for survival, never give it up. But I'm not your enemy, I'm the church too.

So I'm happy....
I'll be back from time to time.
I bless you.
Don't change a thing for me.

But I'm not bitter.....
Are you?

Mouthy Translators

"As in Sassanou, I have another long-winded interpreter, who definitely seems to be adding his own commentary to what I say. At one point, I merely say the word ‘patience’ and he speaks for almost a minute (leaving me to put the word to immediate use!)"

(Rob Baker. Adventures in Music and Culture: Travels of An Ethnomusicologist in West Africa)

We Want Money Missionary

"Totally exhausted, sweating onto my notebook so much that my pen won’t work, and longing for a nice cool shower, we round up the afternoon by all meeting together in the main room again. It’s all I can do to muster up the energy to thank them. They are thankful too and – all things considered – the final recordings are pretty decent, with a good variety of styles and instrumentation. Then it happens: one of them pipes up with, “It was good, but we wish the workshop had been better organized!”

I’m defensive: “Better organized? What do you mean?”
“Well, so that we would receive some money from you.” Money?

They want money from me! This is a never-ending issue for the expatriate working in Africa: all too often, the issue of money rears its ugly head! To be fair, it does vary depending on location; the Bogo over in Sassanou never asked me for a penny and – in fact – gave me several gifts as a token of their appreciation! My theory is that the closer to the coast and/or to a big city you get, the worse it becomes.

“Money! What for?”
“For participating in the workshop!”
I pause for a moment, then continue:

“Let me ask you some questions.
Firstly, Ifè participants, did you pay for your transport here?”
“No, it was free,” they reply.
“And, everybody, how much have you had to pay for your accommodation during this workshop?”
“Nothing.”
“Right. And your meals?”
“They were provided free of charge.”
“And what about the hours of technical work I’ve put in to record your songs? Do I get paid for that? And my travel from Cotonou – it cost me 40,000 CFA. Nobody is paying me for that! Furthermore, I will go home from here and spend several days editing all your songs and making the cassettes so that you can benefit from them. You will then each receive a cassette of your songs, also free of charge. And still you ask me for money?”

The issue of per diems as they are called is still a contentious one. You see, I just spoke as a Westerner, from a Western viewpoint (and a particularly worn-out, fed up Westerner at that!) Now, the African viewpoint is very different: they’ve given up time to come and take part in this workshop, so should be ‘rewarded’ for this. They’ll also have lost several days’ income, which is not going to appear out of thin air, and they need to feed their families somehow. Finally, in Africa, if you have a friend who is richer than you, then it would be completely normal for the rich friend to give some money to the poorer friend. In the West, we try not to mix friendship with money, in case it spoils it; in Africa, friendship and exchange of cash often go hand in hand, almost as a way of cementing a friendship.

“That’s all I have to say on the matter.” I add. And we end the workshop. Just like that. I’m way too exhausted to continue debating this with them.........

Culture is a massive thing, and cultural differences – or misunderstandings – are at the heart of most friction and stress for an expatriate overseas. I’ve seen perfectly lovely people (Germans, Americans, French and – I have to add – Brits) losing their rag with Africans, because things didn’t happen ‘just so’. We are conditioned to seeking perfection, creating a world where everything is clear cut and runs according to certain rules (and woe betide you, should you veer from those!) Africa is not like that. Sure, there are rules, but things are often more fluid, negotiable, adaptable; and this is not a bad thing, it’s just how things are done here."

(Rob Baker. Adventures in Music and Culture : Travels of an Ethnomusicologist in West Africa)

Eliminate The Laity

"I don't want to eliminate the clergy. I'm trying to eliminate the laity. I'm trying to ordain everyone to the work to which God calls them"

Michael Frost

We like Background Leadership

"The desire to be a great leader is dreadfully dangerous. . . A soul really called to a great mission, one that keeps in union with God, will go slow, pray much, make little noise over the call, and seek to keep self in the background."

George D. Watson

We Don't Have Any Money To Be Sick

"Have you given him any medicine?" I asked.
"Yes, yes," he said. "We gave him aspirin and vitamins every day."
I shook my head.

“You know that's not enough. You've got to get him to a doctor. You've got to go to the mission hospital."

A look of shame and embarrassment crept onto Kanyenda's face. "Teta katuena ne falanga to," he said. "We don't have any money."

There they were. Those five words: "We don't have any money." They were permanently stitched to the sleeve of serious illness in Kalambayi, speaking like an epitaph for 90 percent of the chiefdom's dead and dying."

(Mike Tidwell. 'The Ponds is Kalambayi. pig 130)