Nazarene Cohorts

Around the Nazarene Blogersphere

2008-01-02T07:45:00.000-08:00

Through God Becoming a Nazarene
Emergent Nazarenes
By James Diggs

As Advent lead us into the Christmas season and now as it comes to an end as that Lectionary leads us into Epiphany, I have never been as enamored with the incarnation as I have been over the last few months or so. This last Sunday, December 30th, our church community reflected on the narrative in Matthew 2:13-23 which spoke of the horrific slaughter of children by Herod post the first Christmas. We concluded reading this narrative at the point in which it said “he shall be called a Nazarene.” As we were winding up our celebrating of the Christmas season and the incarnation of Christ this passage reminded us that the birth of Christ was just the beginning of the incarnational work of Christ and the reality of God becoming one with humanity in a violent world full of injustice continued well past the nativity story…READ MORE HERE

Is iTunes changing the way we read scripture?
Holiness Reeducation
by: Greg Arthur

For Christmas I received several gift certificates for iTunes. This makes me happy. I love new music. I have music playing all the time, in the car, in the office, and when I workout. iTunes is great because you can sample lots of new music and pick and choose what you like. I have realized that iTunes, with all of its advantages may be costing us something too, however, and that it relates to our ability to read scripture…READ MORE HERE

I Saw What I Saw
Here I Am
By Julene Tegerstrand

I have been listening to Sara Groves latest CD. Sara has a gift of musical story telling. She captures the rawness of human life in ways that connect with me. The song, "I Saw What I Saw" spoke to me in a profound way. When I heard the song I immediately thought about my experience in Rwanda this year. It It is one of those life experiences that has left me with no words to describe. Too much pain. The people I met, however, remain with me in piercing ways. Those few days, those experiences and the memory of the people there .…READ MORE HERE

The Lost Art of Conversation
David Brush
By David Brush

Everyone has questions; verbal or unspoken. We wonder constantly about how the world works and why are things the way they are. A questioning spirit exists in all of us to some degree. For most of us it starts at the age of 2 with one simple question, "why?" As we get older the questions become more complex and the answers require more nuance. This nuance tends to bother us, because according to modern logic each question presents an either/or a right/wrong equation to solve. So we say for instance…READ MORE HERE

Around the Nazarene Blogersphere 11/21/07

2007-11-21T04:55:00.000-08:00

Discovering the Impoverished
Holiness Reeducation
By Greg Arthur

One of the really hard questions I have been asking myself since Russia is what does poverty look like? Daniel Clark our trip leader kept bringing us back to this question on our journey. Each orphanage we went to had different elements of poverty, but it was hard to remove the lens of my western culture to look for poverty in all its forms.
In some places like… READ MORE HERE

An Embodied Faith Story: Faith Alone Is Void of Faith
Emergent Nazarenes
By Julene Tegerstrand

I’m in a women’s small group and I'm the only westerner among 5 Korean women. I'm the Bible study leader who is fumbling her way through the language discrepancies, theological training helps and hindrances, and cultural-age differences. We are studying Romans. It was their choice and now I see it as a terrifically challenging choice and one I’m ill prepared to do justice to in my context. A great position to learn! Last week we looked at Romans 4 where it talks about Abraham’s incredible faith. Even as the promise of God looked beyond hope Abraham grew in his faith. Mysterious!

Personally I’ve been wrestling with “faith” language. In the church we throw the word around as if… READ MORE HERE

Christians for Christians and NOT Humanity?
Indigenous Stranger
By James Diggs

Christian Charity Raising Money To Feed Non-Gay Famine Victims

This “parody” by the onion unfortunately is not that far off from the reality of many Christian relief organizations. The qualifiers, such as helping only “non gay” and “non Muslim” people, may not always be as overt as this parody but it can be sensed in the undercurrent of the objective and mission of many of these organizations. This is one reason why I think Christians should be more involved with secular relief organizations where we can take part in giving aid to others without strings attached and… READ MORE HERE

THE PROPHET'S HEART - Death to Legalism
Love Wins
By Paul Dazet

I came across this great article by Kevin Rector (he is a nazarene pastor) - He talks about the need for the denomination to shed it's legalistic stance. I agree wholeheartedly. Thanks Kevin for having the guts to say what needs to be said. For all the readers out there who have an opinion on this issue - please comment.

“…..Our denomination in the last 50 years has been mired in the sin of legalism. It has only been in the last 10 years or so that this has really been recognized and the church has begun to repent of this cultural sin. In the "good old days" we had our Special Rules (the old name for the Covenant of Christian Conduct) and as long as you didn't break any of those then you must be a pretty good Nazarene. In fact, for a lot of Nazarenes, the old Special Rules were a sort of litmus test for your holiness level…” READ MORE HERE

Get your official Nazarene Nooz 'Manual highlighter'
Nazarene Nooz
By Ark Rocker

Nazarene Nooz secret bunker (NN) -- For a limited time only, get your very own official Nazarene Nooz Manual Highlighter…READ MORE HERE

Around the Nazarene Blogersphere 07/09/07

2007-07-09T13:05:00.000-07:00

Love is the Higher Law
Urban Monk
By Brian Postlewait

My friends often give me a hard time about my fanatic devotion to U2. At 33 I still have a framed picture of the band on my wall and have been known to quote Bono in sermons from time to time. For the record I was a fan beginning in 85 as a 12 year old. Bono was the first Christian that told me it was OK to have doubts as a follower of Jesus. I think his music saved me from fundamentalism. Anyway, thought I'd share this video with you all. It's U2 with Mary J. singing One. It's awesome! …READ MORE HERE

Things You CAN’T Do When You’re NOT In A Pool
Indigenous Stranger
By James Diggs

I think this video is hilarious, then again I am just kind of twisted that way. But I would have to agree that there are some things that you can only do in a pool.

I was reading a criticism of the emergent movement the other day; it wasn’t really a fair criticism, though there are a few fair criticisms of the movement to be had. But this was your typical fundamentalist, fear based, sounding criticism that said that the emergent movement and post modern-culture was nothing more than relativism.

That got me thinking, and to me relativism doesn’t sound all that bad. When it comes right down to it truth is best revealed in relative terms. I am not saying that there are no "absolutes", just that I don’t think it is possible to know truth as knowledge or understanding absolutely. I don’t even think our scriptures can really be considered “absolute truth” but rather they just point to the only real absolute truth we can ever know, that is the person of Christ (John 5:39). …READ MORE HERE

Living Upside Down
Emergent Nazarenes
By Greg Arthur
A couple of weeks ago I led a mission trip up to New England. Part of the trip was spent in Jackman, ME which is pretty far north, about 8 miles from Quebec. There was this beautiful lake there in Jackman and I took this picture there. The lake was so clear and calm that day so I took the picture upside down, just to see how it would work. Since then, this picture has haunted me. At first glance you can't quite tell anything is wrong with it, it looks…READ MORE HERE

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Around the Nazarene Blogersphere 07/01/07

2007-07-01T17:47:00.000-07:00

Christian Mythology
Indigenous Stranger
By James Diggs

I have been thinking a lot about Christian mythology as a contrasting lens to theology (particularly systematic). I think CS Lewis had a healthy view of Christian myth, understanding it not as fiction or fable but as divinely inspired yet humanly expressed creative narrative that spoke truth far beyond getting stuck in the mire of what is “literal” or “inerrant”. I am coming to believe that embracing scripture as our collective mythos is simply a better way to spiritual formation than the mechanical, systematic and prescriptive theology that much of western/modern church culture has seemed to embraced… READ MORE HERE

Upside Down Reflections
Holiness Reeducation
By Greg Arthur

I am still trying to recover, mentally, spiritually, and physically from an amazing mission trip to Maine. Whenever you have such a powerful experience like that, seeing God move, watching lives be changed, welcoming home prodigals, it can be hard to go back to normal life. Having 2 kids helps, after all they don’t care how I am feeling, I am Dad and that carries a lot of expectations. But, all of it, even a slow detox, has been great. What the trip did leave me with, however, is a sense that often my struggle with understanding my life is the result of upside down reflections. In Maine one day, while we were waiting on some tools, I walked over to the lake and noticed… READ MORE HERE

Emerging Curriculum
Emergent Nazarenes
By Dean Blevins

Greetings all, I am the "new kid" on the Emergent Nazarenes block and wanted to gather your thoughts on a current project if you are interested. Most of you know Nazarene Theological Seminary has been involved in conversations over Emergent/Missional ministry in the last couple of years. We began in conversations with people both involved at the national level and with local leaders around Kansas City (Nazarene and non-Nazarene). Some of the "fruits" of the preliminary conversations you are probably aware of through our school's conferences last year and an offshoot conference scheduled next fall on PostModern Youth Ministry co-sponsored by NYI, MNU, NTS and Youthfront. This summer's efforts included two classes on Missional Leadership & Discipleship… READ MORE HERE

mmm....mmm....good
the echo chamber
By Nancy Weikal

So have you heard of Matisyahu? He's an ethnic Reformed Jew turned Hasidic Jew who also happens to be a hip-hop/reggae/rapper. I was introduced to him through Relevant magazine who featured him on the cover of their most recent issue. I'm hooked.

What I love is that God's truth is so powerfully and wonderfully expressed in this song & video. Talk about uplifting! A modern-day psalm of Davidic caliber!... READ MORE HERE

Sacred Places are A Happening
Here I Am
By Julene Tegerstrand

I didn’t miss it today. Often I do. Call it a perceptual handicap. I miss those potentially sacred moments in the “regular” of life. The mundane which does not have to feel so bland can sometimes burst to life. It opens up not because of what is happening around me but because it is A Happening and I just happened to notice. When one encounters the presence of the living God in an unexpected place it is A Happening. God is there just waiting for a notice. The space is of no matter! Any place can be held by ‘A Happening’! Any space can be a sacred place.

Where was this Happening? Burger King of all places! It was the Burger King at Seoul Station. I’m not much of a burger joint person normally but God makes no distinction. Could Burger King really be a sacred space? Vegetarians beware! Why not? There was a great hustle of people. They ate quickly to run and catch a train. But there I was in the… READ MORE HERE

Welcome to Nazarene Cohorts

2006-09-17T12:27:00.000-07:00

Not long ago I started a blog called Emergent Nazarenes. I did this because I wanted to foster conversation with other Nazarenes who also identified with the emergent movement. The blog has several contributors, who contribute far more than I do, and conversation seems to be growing and expanding in ways I could not have imagined.

One of the blessings of the blog has been the ability to meet and connect with many passionate people; some of these people have started other conversations, groups and blogs. Not all of these people would label themselves “emergent” but all desire to have genuine conversation and explore together what it means to be a Christian in today’s world.

I think it is awesome that Nazarenes want to connect and dialogue about these things and I hope that we will not just keep the conversation to ourselves but also take part in the larger conversation of the body of Christ. Together we will work on how to carry on the mission of Jesus Christ and be and live the Kingdom as we love and serve our neighbors in this world.

The idea of “cohorts” are nothing new, and are simply groups of people that gather regularly to dialogue about our faith, ministry and missions in today’s world. They tend to be more ecumenical and are missional focused. Organizations like Emergent Village do a great job at connecting people, and I myself regularly take part of the DC Cohort here in Washington DC. I would encourage everyone to take part in these kinds of ecumenical conversations; the idea of Nazarene Cohorts can never replace the value of broader Christian discussions that transcend denominational lines.

Why have Nazarene Cohorts? Because they are springing up already across the country. As Nazarenes are engaging in the broader conversations of the Kingdom they are also developing a parallel conversation among fellow Nazarenes about how our unique heritage and tradition contributes to the whole of the Church. The Church of the Nazarene was founded to be missional and to live out holiness; both motivated by Christian love for God and our neighbors. Like all traditions, we have something unique to contribute and being both missional and holy in today’s world are relevant to the conversation.