RCPC Day 2

-
#RCPC2011 (Regent College Pastors Conference 2011)





Speaker Quote of the Day:
"Evangelical communion can be very christo-monic. Only the second person of the trinity gets mentioned during the Eucharist. The father, well he doesn't really have anything to do with it. And the Spirit, He is busy, off doing His thing with the Pentecostals. But, you can have the other two, we have Jesus and we will be fine with Him, thank you very much!"
- Gordon Smith (who, I learned today, is an amazing speaker, brilliantly sarcastic and witty, and a pleasure to listen to)

Other Quote of the Day:
"My contention is that at the heart of every good theology lies not simply a plausible intellectual vision but more importantly a compelling account of a way of life, and that theology is therefore best done from within the pursuit of this way of life."
- Miroslav Volf

Event of the Day:
Actually, my favorite part of the day was the bus ride in, during which I read "Captive to the Word of God" by Miroslav Volf.  That is not to say the conference was bad, not at all; today was exceptional.  It is, however, to say that Volf was even more so! 

As an actual event, however, I would have to say that the best part of the day was listening to Gordon Smith talk about sacrament and mission in the church. He and I share denominational ties and so I found it especially funny, and insightful, as he made numerous comments about the strangeness of how we do thing sometimes. He made the comment that he grew up churches which were all about the word. The altar, from which the Lord's Supper was served, was on wheels; it could be rolled in and out as necessary. The pulpit, however, was bolted to the floor. Things like that.  


Books purchased so far: 5.  That bookstore is so good/evil. 




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Forgiveness: A Hard Word From Luther

-
"Those who follow Christ grieve more over the sin of their offenders than over the loss or offense to themselves. And they do this that they may recall those offenders from their sin rather than avenge the wrongs they themselves have suffered. Therefore they put off the form of their own righteousness and put on the form of those others, praying for their persecutors, blessing those who curse, doing good to the evil-doers, preparing to pay the penalty and make satisfaction for their very enemies that they may be saved. This is the gospel and the example of Christ." - Martin Luther (Quoted by Miroslav Volf, Free of Charge, pg. 161-162)
Read more

A Good Tree Bears Good Fruit....

-
Image
"Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit." - Matthew 7:17-18 "One of the most powerful ways to influence the behavior of a system is through its purpose or goal. That's because the goal is the direction-setter of the system, the definer of discrepancies that require action, the indicator of compliance, failure, or success toward which balancing feedback loops work. If the goal is defined badly, if it doesn't measure what it's supposed to measure, if it doesn't reflect the real welfare of the system, then the system can't possibly produce a desirable result. Systems, like the three wishes in the traditional fairy tale, have a terrible tendency to produce exactly and only what you ask them to produce. Be careful what you ask them to produce." - Donella H. Meadows, Thinking in Systems. 
Read more

A Gracious Reading of Rob Bell

-
The Journey So Far The controversy rages on over Rob Bell's upcoming new book. No matter what happens now, this controversy has effectively guaranteed that 'everyone who is anyone' will need to read this book. Either to find out what is wrong and bash it, or because someone we generally disagree with also disagrees with the book so it has to be good stuff! Then, because 'everyone' is reading it, people like me will 'have to' read it to. After all, I am a pastor, and if many of my people are reading and being influenced by a book, don't I need to know what is going on as well?  Or so the reasoning will go... and perhaps I will read it, who knows. In the meantime, none of this will stop me from continuing to join this fray which I probably ought to have stayed out of in the first place. Onwards, Christian... :) The Latest Salvo The latest salvo has been fired by DeYoung  claiming that not only do we not need to talk with Bell but, more importantly, it...
Read more