March Madness

I work for a company that employs more than 300 people. And, it has a March Madness bracket thing. No money involved. Simply for fun.

I entered a bracket, which I filled out in about three minutes.

And, at this point, I'm leading. I have all of the teams in the Final Four!

So, go Wildcats. The guy who runs the thing tells me that if Kentucky beats Wisconsin, I'm in like Flynn.

How High (Church) will They Fly?

These days I don't have time to enter a large and complex post but I have worked out a complete list of characteristics of the CGGC brand at the height of the Rosenberry Era. I think it's worth noting those characteristics as Ed steps down and Lance ascends to the top of the mountain. I will polish off that thread and enter it here if the pace of my life changes.    Having that list will give us all a baseline that will help us comprehend the significance of the Finleyan Era.

There are sixteen characteristics of the Rosenberrian brand, as I understand it.

The last to be added to the list is, Creeping High Church-ism.

Think of the high church Advent Mass that Ed, as one of THE FOUR VICARS, led on the WTS Scotland campus these past two Christ-masses.

In the face of the CGGC's bold Bible talk in the new WE BELIEVE and in the Mission Statement that Ed himself penned, leadership's walk has not reflected the New Testament. Its walk comes straight from the priest craft of the high church of the Middle Ages.

Nowhere in the CGGC has defiance of the New Testament and its faith and practice been more bold and intentional than in the ERC.

Last year, the ERC staff grooved on Holy Week by sending out articles imploring pastors and churches to the faithful observance of all the holy days of Holy Week from Palm Sunday through the Holy Day Christendom names after the ancient pagan fertility goddess Ishtar.

ISHTAR!

Easter. Get it !?!

Talk about bold, joyous defiance of the actions of the CGGC General Conference in session! Talk about joyful and mindless insubordination to the New Testament plan.

Where in the Book of Acts do you find the practice of anything even remotely resembling Holy Week?!

For New Testament disciples, every week was holy. Every day was holy. Every moment was holy. And, every gathering of diciples celebrated all that Holy Week idolizes during one silly, ritualized week in the year!

So...

True to form, early in the morning, before we gathered in our home on Sunday, I received an email from the ERC E. D. containing a Palm Sunday meditation.

Needless to say, the phrase Palm Sunday was not uttered by anyone in our gathering. We were, as we always are, devoted to the teachings and practice of New Testament disciples.

So, I ask about CGGC mountaintoppers: How high (church) will they fly?

Undoubtedly, higher than ever in 2015.

As for me and my gathering, though, we will serve the Lord and obey the rule of His Word.

Will the New CEO Change the CGGC's Verb?

You may recall that about a month ago I went on a rant over the CGGC's website and its call for people to, "join Jesus."

Dangerous, heretical theology!

I've been reading over Lance's recent message to the body through the eNews and found, among other things, reason to hope that Lance doesn't share that heresy.

Did you notice one little phrase near the end of the message?

Instead, (he)...invites us to follow him in his grand unfolding story.

FOLLOW. Not join!

I hesitate to proclaim the coming of a new day based on one phrase but I am encouraged to see that Lance seems to have read the Gospels.

Please keep Lance in your prayers. If he intends to change the verb, there will be resistance.

Gathering 3-29-15

I started entering these posts for my own benefit so I could have a record of how our life in community progressed. Having been doing that for as much time as I have, I'm beginning to regret the constant repetition. But, here I go again:

TODAY WAS AWESOME!

I actually, for the first time, jotted down impressions as the meeting progressed to aid in the journal.

This was another time in the Sunday gathering in which truth in the lyrics of a song we sang took control of the meeting. It was the gospel song ARE YOU WASHED IN THE BLOOD that took over. And, I was the person who raised the question that launched the reflection on the meaning of Christ's sacrifice so I have no notes on that and I don't remember exactly what I said.

It had to do with whether we should be taking off our dirty garments and washing them or washing ourselves. Both seem to be suggested by the song.

What developed was a discussion of the life a disciple must lead and how s/he deals with the reality of sin in his/her life with mention of Colossians 3:10f, 1 John 1:9-10, James 5:16? and Romans 7:14f.

As all that was taking place, we entered into a time in which we were confessing our sins to each other. There is nothing that aids genuine fellowship in the Spirit more powerfully than confession of sin in which everyone confesses freely. (When was the last time your church did that?)

This group has gotten to the point that it does this easily and well. The time in which we did it today probably lasted close to half an hour and I don't recall how it began but I think I might have confessed first. Quite a wide array of sins were confessed.

While we do this regularly, we always do it spontaneously. There is never a moment when a leader announces, CONFESSION OF SIN TIME. We probably wouldn't do it under those circumstances. As is the case with so much we do, this must flow from the leading of the Spirit.

Unlike last gathering, we threw the usual pattern completely out the window. Word and song time blended seamlessly.

Movement to the taking of the bread and cup seemed perfectly natural and the meal was a time of sweet fellowship.

One final note: We did spend our time talking about the blood of Christ, yet no one referenced Holy Week, Good Friday or Easter or any other nonbiblical practice or tradition. No one seems to think that skipping the gathering next week, the unmentioned EASTER SUNDAY, is extraordinary. It's just time for us to take a week off.

Truly, truly awesome.

Going Home

Today we will be going to the congregation's rented facility to remove the stuff we have there.

The landlord called us about a week and a half ago to ask if we wanted him to try to rent the space to someone else. Apparently, he figured out that we weren't showing up. (Honestly, I can't remember the last time we were there.)

 We were willing to pay off the lease without using the space but I suspect that he knew he could get more for the space than we are paying. He now has another renter. A win win for all.

So, we are moving out and, from hence, we will be a network, a small one admittedly for now, of so-called house churches.

The evolution has been slow and, often, dictated or aided by circumstance and, I'm certain, that will continue to be the case.

But, I'm juiced and would never go back. I have never lived in community with others in Christ in the way I am now. Until recently, I didn't know that what we have was possible on this side of Christ's return.

I wish the typical CGGCer had what we have.

A Message to the CGGC From Lance Finley, the New CEO

Based on previous experience, I know that few people read the eNews. So, for the convenience of all who read this blog but not the CGGC's Pravda, here is a link to today's issue which is, entirely, a message to us all from the new CEO

http://cggcenews.weebly.com/

Why Gatherings Don't Happen: 3-26-15

Gathering in our setting, as I have noted many times, is not regarded to be an act of righteousness as it is in parish priest-led churches.

For us, gathering is not an end but a means to the end of spurring each other on, and being spurred on, to the life of love and good works that is the fruit of genuine discipleship.

So, not gathering is far less the big deal it is in the Christendom world.

As you probably know, our Sunday gathering regularly chooses not to meet. It is a unique characteristic of the Thursday gathering that those of us who participate take that meeting much more seriously than the Sunday group does.

So, it is more significant that we didn't meet last night. But, the reason we didn't made cancelling essential.

The man in the host couple had a medical appointment that could not be changed. So, we all went our separate ways for the night.

For us, it was a nice evening off. There are a lot of things going on in our lives and we both needed a quiet evening.

Evie had a nice coupon from a local upscale restaurant that we normally could not patronize so we used it then went home and watched a DVD of the Australian TV series, MR. AND MRS. MURDER, a quirky little show, suitable for an evening off.

As I said, a nice evening.

What Makes Me Shut Up

I have the sense that there are some people in the CGGC who wish that I would, well, JUST SHUT UP.

It is a fact that page hits to this blog are up significantly but I suspect that many who come here do so simply to find out what I, and others, are saying because they want to know what problems they may, potentially, have to deal with.

In the past in the CGGC, people like me have left in frustration by now, allowing the SM to have its way without opposition. And, I'm still here. I hear, from friends whom others don't know are my friends, some of the things murmured and gossiped about me behind my back.

And, I know that some ask, "Why won't he just shut up?"

I was thinking about putting the comment on my last Gathering thread that I was prepared to speak a word last Sunday but, in the end, felt led not to speak.

And, I realized that I almost never say anything in our gatherings that leads or fashions the direction that the meeting would take.

And, I, then, asked myself why. And, I realized that, for now at least, ongoing repentance is taking place here.

It strikes me that I really am pretty much a one trick pony and it's actually rather easy to leave me with nothing to say.

Repent and you will have stumped me. I'll be mute because I don't seem to be able to speak any other word.

Please?

Update on the "Scorecard": The ERC Seventy Four

The ERC office sent out an email yesterday listing the churches in the region that had not yet sent in a "statistical report" to the main office in Findlay.

(Take a moment to reflect on the fact that there is nothing of the New Testament and certainly nothing Jesus taught or did that justifies anything to do with that whole statistic reporting process.)

I counted.

Understanding that church names are so convoluted these days that I might have misread some church names, I counted 74.

Seventy four!

What do you suppose it says about us as a body that so many don't participate in the reporting process?

I confess that I don't know what it says but I will mention two things I do know:

1. Whatever it does say is not good. There is something very seriously wrong with the CGGC from top to bottom and from side to side and this nonparticipation is merely one way to scorecard that big picture reality. Yet, in Findlay (and in Harrisburg too?) the mountaintoppers go on numbly as if all is well. Wait until the "2015 Yay God" tour of Conference Sessions kicks off if you doubt me.

2. The reason that we have not submitted ours to this point is that what the "Scorecard" seeks to measure is almost entirely irrelevant to what we believe and do to the point that responding accurately is essentially impossible and that if/when we do respond, our report will certainly not accurately reflect what we do and who we are.

---------------

Lance,

My heart goes out to you. Why you would even want the job mystifies me.

What Happened to APEST?

I frequently think back to the days when the "Emerging" blog was active as the good old days in the CGGC.

Among other things, conversation there contemplated what was then the cutting edge among people yearning to see God's Kingdom come.

Key to that conversation was the conviction that APEST, that is, that He gave some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists and others to be shepherds and teachers, is how God has chosen to equip the saints for works of ministry.

Since then, some of the people who participated in that conversation have become mountaintoppers and, curiously,  the mountaintoppers' conversation has been oriented toward all that is of the institution.

So, what happened to APEST in the CGGC?

It was overwhelmed by a strident and viciously traditional parish priest dominated leadership culture. The Shepherd Mafia is powerful!

In the CGGC, APEST succumbed to shepherd-created faddism. It was discarded as if it itself was a fad.

---------------

We need to resume the APEST conversation before it's too late.

Here's to praying that Lance will lead that conversation.

Cross Cultural Mission in our Home

Due to Evelyn's extraordinary gift of hospitality, over the years we have opened our home to numerous people, sometimes whole families who would otherwise be homeless or, for other reasons need a place to stay. Often it has been a single person to live with us. It's not always a walk in the park.

My former coworker Matt, who also attends our Sunday gathering, is now living on our second floor. He sold his house here and is moving out of the area and is, currently, between houses.

Matt is almost pure extrovert--a very strong DISC I. He wakes up chatting and keeps going until he closes his eyes night. And, we are both very strong introverts who relish quiet.

Matt's stay will be short but it is challenging. What is normal to him is foreign, even offensive, to us. And, we are determined to show him love and mercy during his stay because we clearly are in the position of being Kingdom ambassadors to him.

1. Our own home has become a foreign land to us. Just as the world Jesus created became foreign to Him when He emptied Himself, became flesh and dwelt among us. We are doing this in His Name.

 Understanding the incarnation inspires us to live incarnationally but it doesn't make living incarnationally easy.

Gathering 3-22-15

Another blessed encounter.

There is never a so-called order of worship in our group but there is a general pattern that has developed and with which we are all comfortable. That pattern is normally set aside, sometimes almost immediately. Today's gathering was unusual in that, to the end, we stayed on course.

That being said, there was never a hint of forethought or preparation to anything that was said or done.

My former coworker Matt had requested permission to bring another, recently terminated, coworker, Sue, to join us. It is interesting, as warmly as he had been received, that he would think he had to ask but I think in this culture, it is understood that you don't normally bring someone with you into someone's house without at least letting them know about it.

Sue showed up and was immediately accepted as a part of the group. (She's a bit of an extrovert so that was not unexpected.). Still, the fact that the gathering is in a home makes integrating a new person into the group easier than doing that while in a "sanctuary."

Singing time was joyful. Many of us came with a hymn. The selection was eclectic, including a song normally considered a Christmas carol, some gospel songs and a few praise choruses.

Matt, the new guy to our gathering, revealed to us that he felt closer to God than he has in 30 years.

One of the men asked if we could discuss the story, Mark 9, of the father who brought his demon-possessed son to the disciples, and ultimately Jesus, to be freed. We joined with him in the study. It became a time of confession of struggles and sin for several of us.

We admonished the newbies about taking the bread and cup in an unworthy manner and had the meal and the time in the bread and cup. Because of the way we take it, I'm not certain who took and who didn't today.

As we shared the meal, we decided not to meet on what most people call Easter. Evie and I will be spending much of that day with my mom and dad.

As always, a day that exceeded my expectations.

The Hole that has been Dug for the New CEO

So, Lance Finley, whom I consider to be a friend, has been selected to be the new CEO of the CGGC.

I, very truly, wish him well.

Having said that, my sense is that he will assume the mantle of leadership in a bit of a hole that he had little or no role in digging.

The hole exists as a result of how Lance came to be selected to be the new CEO--AND that he has been chosen to be a CEO. The problem is not with Lance, it is with values and with the process that produced Lance.

The problem is not at the micro, small picture level, that is, with Lance himself; it is at the macro, 40,000 foot, level--at the level of leadership values and practices that many in the CGGC believe are illegitimate.

Many of you know that I have been calling for CGGC repentance at the big picture, macro, level for years. We are now forced to eat fruit that grew out of the failure to repent.

Since the last CEO was selected, the CGGC General Conference in session has created a new version of our faith document and first time ever Mission and Vision Statements all of which have some radical elements that define them.

By virtue of the actions of the General Conference, the Bible rules us and we operate, as the Church of God did in its first days, according to the "New Testament plan."

Those authorities don't allow for the selection of a person whose job description defines him/her as the Chief Executive Officer of the CGGC. That concept is alien to the Word.

Yet, the values of the search that resulted in the selection of Lance, demanded that the searchers defy the Word as well as the authority of the General Conference in session and hire a CEO.

More than a few in the CGGC have noticed that and care about it and are offended and, in that offense, are angry. And Lance, now, incarnates what they are angry at.

Lance will step into the hole that offense and anger has created even before he becomes CEO. And, due to sins committed on the macro level, which he did not directly commit, he has a problem to solve.

And, as I said, I, very truly, wish him well.

Lance, I, for one, am at you disposal. This is only indirectly your fault.

Gathering 3-19-15

Getting old s----, well, it's not a barrel of monkeys.

FYI, after several failed attempts, we did begin a Wednesday gathering this week. It's planned to be an every other week thing from the beginning and that's probably all it will be. For the moment, it consists of Evie and me and one other woman who loves the Lord, yearns to live a life of love and good works and who is a pretty serious introvert. She is a coworker of mine.

Is this a gathering of the church? "Where two or three are gathered in my name..."

That gathering is all about disciplining, something that we CGGCers say we want to do. And, that is what happens and will happen when the three of us gather. We shared a meal and took the bread and cup and immersed ourselves in the word.

It bugs me, surprisingly, that the mountaintoppers probably wouldn't think that this gathering is legitimate--as a "church," any way. See? I still have a little of Lot's wife in me.

-------------

Now, for the Thursday gathering and getting old: We all were tired, Evie especially. But we did gather. From the beginning, we agreed that the amount of time would be truncated.

The guy who regospeled us focused us on Jesus' letter to the Ephesians in Revelation 2 and our need to hold on to our first love and to repent and to do the things we did at first when that love begins to wane.

This guy would be a member of the laity in your church and not empowered to lead the congregation in the taking of a sacrament or ordinance.

What amazing blessings are ours because we live as a community of priests!

Our time of fellowship and regospeling lasted about two hours. Truncated, eh? Then we went home.

And slept well.

A Critical Flaw in the CGGC CEO Application

Take a moment to go to the excerpts of Lance's application linked in my EXCERPTS post. Instead of focusing on Lance's answers, consider what Lance, and every applicant, responded to.

Go ahead. Do it. Ask yourself if there is anything that you consider to be, uh, fundamental that is absent.

(Replies on and off the blog are appreciated. I'll let you know what is important to me that is missing later. [Tomorrow is my day off at the store. If I have time...])

http://cggcenews.weebly.com/

Gathering 3-15-15

One of the blessings of our Sunday gathering is the propensity some of the group have to comment on the meaning of the music we sing.

Today we began by singing HOW DEEP THE FATHER'S LOVE FOR US then HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD then HOW GREAT THOU ART in rapid fire succession.

That led to a discussion of the message of the cross, which is foolishness to those who are perishing but, to us, the greatest blessing and the cause of the most profound joy.

That discussion along with that singing lasted for about one hour: An hour in which probing questions were asked by a yet-to-be-convinced seeker and answers were given by several of us and through which the gospel was proclaimed and explained.

Recently I said to someone off the blog that Paul uses the word gospel as a verb more often than he uses the word preach as a verb. Preaching was not a part of early Christian gatherings. Gospeling, however, was. (1 Corinthians 15:1)

Today, there was a whole lot of Gospeling going on.

We talked about what sin is and why God punishes it and about what righteousness is and why God blesses it. We talked about how we can praise God for the act of sending Jesus to live in the world so He could suffer.

We gospeled to each other and our heretofore unbelieving friend.

Here's an oddity. In this setting, the unbeliever (my coworker Matt who invited himself to our gathering a while back) was on the hot seat for most of an hour and was clearly the focus of everyone's attention yet he was perfectly at ease and, very obviously, can't wait to come back for more.

This gathering may have been the most enjoyable of all so far because it was the most unplanned, Spirit-guided ever.

The meal was tasty and the taking of the bread and cup fit so perfectly because our entire focus was on the gospel it causes us to remember.

What a glorious day!

Excerpts from Lance's Application

The March 13, 2015 eNews announced the selection of Lance Finley as the soon-to-be CEO of the CGGC.

Ed did this, mostly, by excerpting Lance's application, sent to the Search/Transition Committee.

Because so few people read the eNews, I am linking to the article. After letting it simmer for a time, I may offer some comments. You are welcome to do so now, on or off the blog, as you wish.

http://cggcenews.weebly.com/

Gathering 3-12-15

This was the first week that the Thursday night group was actually able to gather in about a month. All of the participants are very involved in each others lives, so it was not as if we hadn't been in contact but it was nice to be together with focus and intention.

It has become clear to me that this group began so well and has so strong a foundation that when it gathers the principles that created it rule.

Evelyn has familiarized us with Frost and Hirsch's term, "regospeling" for the taking of the bread and the cup. In this group we begin with regospeling in a way that always makes Jesus and the totality of His incarnation and atonement everyone's focus. And, so it was last night.

Later, we resumed our discussion of Francis Chan's CRAZY LOVE. There is so much transparency and trust among the people in the gathering that that discussion became a time in which confession of sin and the provoking of each other to love and good works blended seamlessly.

What a blessing.

There is a different tone to the Thursday gathering than with the Sunday meeting. Sunday's, as I've said, feels like a Kingdom banquet. Thursday's is harder to describe. It is more concerned with what takes place when the rubber meets the road and we are called to be Jesus in the world.

I benefit from both.

The Next General Conference Staffing Decision

Who will be chosen to fill Lance's position as, what is his job title? Director of Church Development?

Any thoughts?

Comments on and off the blog are welcome.

Gathering 3-8-15

Tomorrow we meet in our home and we are both jazzed! We're cleaning and shopping and cooking and emailing and texting the gang that will be gathering here.

It feels like preparing to host a party with all our most intimate friends--AND, the Holy Spirit!

There's nothing like it in Christendom.

The Problem with Promoting the Externally Focused Church

As I said in another post, I think the latest issue of THE CHURCH ADVOCATE is one for the ages because it IS mature Rosenberrianism.

Ironically, Ed doesn't appear in it. His disciples carry the ball for his vision from cover to cover.

In the issue focus is on the church. Jesus is mentioned but He is not central. The Kingdom is mentioned but mostly as a function of the work of the local church and the institutional success of the denomination.

Reading the issue, it strikes me that one important priority of the CGGC in 2015 is that its churches be externally focused churches.

It strikes me, though, that Jesus never-not even one time-taught or commanded His disciples to establish externally focused churches.

What Jesus taught and modeled was disciples living out the reality of the Kingdom of God in the world. He rarely even spoke the word church.

There was a time, during the Boyer era, when there was vigorous conversation about the people of the CGGC coming together in the Spirit to pursue the growth of God's Kingdom. Now, to use the term employed in latest issue of the CA, we value the forming of congregations each of which would be a "church family."

And, it's not that I want to disparage that vision. Many fine church people pursue that vision. (Those people are, though, primarily church people, not Kingdom people, not primarily Jesus people.)

And, be honest. That was not what Jesus was about. Not at all. Not even a little bit. There is none of that church focus in the Gospels.

And, in an era when the CGGC has recently reclaimed Winebrenner's phrase, "the New Testament plan" and reasserted that the Bible is its "only" "rule," let's be honest with ourselves. Winebrenner never saw being a church family as what the Church of God is about.

The great failure of the CGGC in recent years is that it has abandoned passion for the Kingdom and replaced it with the desire to be a really good church, which is an externally focused church. Those visions are not the same.

We must repent.

MLI Then vs. MLI Now

Gang,

I probably read The CHURCH ADVOCATE more closely than anyone else in the world. And, the last issue is one for the ages. If I have time, I will detail how that is so.

For now, I'll just say this. It is everything that is mature, church-focused Rosenberrianism. It makes church everything and Jesus all but an afterthought.
----------------------
For now, some observations about MLI.

1. Two thirds of a page of this CA is an advertisement for MLI. I don't know exactly what that means, but I suspect that it is becoming difficult to scrounge up enough people to attend MLI. Why else would you run the ad?

2. The unidentified author of the ad states the "end goal" of the "experience" as being to produce "leaders" who are "healthier, more resilient, self-aware and...able to lead local congregations...."
Back in the day, when I was participating in the experience I asked Reggie McNeal, in a whole group session, what he wanted MLI to accomplish. His answer was very different from what appears in the CA this issue.
McNeal said he wanted to create:
-Frustration,
-Agitation and
-Critical mass.
(I had to look up critical mass which is the minimum amount of matter necessary to create a NUCLEAR REACTION.)
So, back in the day, before CGGC leadership got hold of MLI, we were in the business of frustrating people, of agitating them and of gathering together a group of those frustrated, agitated people large enough to blow up the CGGC for the sake of the KINGDOM OF GOD.
Now, as the CA says, we are about producing leaders of local congregations.
Big, big difference.
Big, BIG difference.
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In my opinion, this is why we need to advertise and why we don't have a waiting list.

Did You See that I Put a Comment on Ed's eNews Blog?

February 27, 2015.

It was "approved."

Activity on the Jasperism Blog

Last month-February-had the greatest number of page views ever on this blog, even though it was a 28 day month. Page views slightly exceeded January's, the previous record month.

Over all, page views are now nearly double their number from just two years ago.

To all of you: Thanks for stopping by.

Gathering and Exhaustion and Bad Weather: 3-1-15

Well, this will make three straight Sundays that we miss the Sunday gathering.

We, especially Evie, are exhausted. We, especially Evie, live--to use the fading fad term--missionally. For two months we had an otherwise homeless family of three living on our second floor. They moved into their own apartment on Wednesday. But, we are long-term tired from that experience. Evie spent a long day yesterday with a niece who is in crisis. And, she has been fighting the illness that kept us from our Thursday gathering. And, I worked until nearly ten Saturday night, finishing with very physical work, doing some heavy lifting.

Also, the forecast for late morning and early afternoon is for nasty weather.

So we made the choice to stay home again today. For me, this is a hard decision.

Paul was not joshing, in Galatians 6, when he admonished, "Let us not become weary in doing good." For us, at least, living lives of mercy and love actively in the world is tiring physically, emotionally and spiritually and, I at least, need to be provoked to the disciple's life of love and good works through gathering with other followers of Jesus.

Still, we do have our Wednesday and Thursday gatherings. The Wednesday gathering "launches" this week!!!

This was a tough call and it doesn't feel good to me. But, no gathering for us today.

Next Sunday, God willing, is house church in our home.