Blog posts after audioconference 4

Thanks for your contributions to the audioconference last night. Before the next audioconference on 13 September, you have two blog posts due. The first one should be written by Monday, 30 August, and the second one by Monday, 13 September. You can write the second one any time in the next three weeks. You don't have to wait until the week before it is due.

Below are three topics. Pick one topic for each blog post.

1. We talked about the fact that stories can meet the spiritual needs of people at different stages of faith development. What other forms of communication, in sermons or in other church settings, can also do that? Describe why and how those other forms of communication might do that. James W. Fowler's stages of faith development are one way of describing differences between people's engagement with the Christian faith. Wikipedia does a good job summarizing Fowler's stages:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fowler's_stages_of_faith_development

2. Stories can mean different things to different people. Does this matter? What are the implications if it does not? Who controls the meaning of a story? In which instances is it a good idea for the preacher to tell a story and then describe what he or she wanted the listeners to get out of the story? When is it a good idea to let a story stand on its own?

3. Personal stories in sermons present numerous challenges. It's important not to focus the attention on oneself too much, sound like all problems can be easily solved, or make the congregation feel they have to take care of the preacher. What are your thoughts about how to achieve these goals? What are other concerns about personal stories and ways to address those concerns? Here’s a blog post by Steve on this topic, which you could read and reflect on, if you like:
http://kiwimadepreaching.wordpress.com/2010/03/23/steve-taylor-stories-can-be-sermons-best-friend/
(Note that both Steve and I are columnists for that blog, the kiwimade preaching blog. There are some interesting posts on that blog. I enjoy reading it, even the posts I didn't write!)

Notes from Steve for Audioconference 4

1. Building on the blog discussion

I have been reading your blogs, so want to bounce off some of them. I want to offer some applause, generate a question and give an example.

a) The question came to me reading Andrew’s Howley: He writes: “The role of minister is also changing; no longer are ministers the sole source of religious truth.” I want us to discuss this statement in regard to our course on preaching and communication: What is one change in our world? How is that change affecting preaching and communication?

b) Any other general comments that people want to make about the blog process and interactions?

2. Place of creativity in preaching and communication

a) Did anyone look at the Book of Kells and Saint Johns Bible. What struck you? Any “warning flags”?

b) Explore reading 16. General discussion: Any general comments on the reading?

c) How do you respond to the comment on bottom of page 239 “A church committed to seeing people formed in the image of God must explore the implications of encouraging people’s creativity.” If you agree, list some ways a church could do this, might encourage “play”?

3. Explore first two Case studies (remembering that there is no such thing as perfect case study - all humans working with and under deadlines!)

a) 40 Simon Smith - “preaches” Lenten story using visuals (see it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-6a25Yo2wE&feature=player_embedded). General discussion: What questions are raised for you by the case study?

b) Reading 19 Easter Sunday sermon. General discussion: What questions are raised for you by the case study?

4. Storytelling

a) A class exercise. Can we construct a checklist - what makes a good story for use in Kiwi communication? So think of a good story. Why did it work?

b) Give you a “preaching example”. (Somehow the class case study has got lost - top page 49 - storytelling sermon). So instead I want to point you to storytelling sermon, which I preached last year - on my blog here (http://www.emergentkiwi.org.nz/archive/bill-ben-and-their-goat-called-raisins-mark-21-12-storytelling-sermon/). Anything we want to add to our list? What questions are raised for us and our communication by this case study?

Clarify juxtapose, subvert, and amplify

One of our students wrote to ask if Steve could say a bit more about how to recognize the three patterns he talked about in DJing. Here's Steve's response:

In Reading 12 I would juxtapose happening at the "arms folded moment" when I place the Bible text alongside our Western individualism. I make this point even stronger when I talk about political parties and how everyone in a country today does not follow the "one" leader. This is juxtaposing, placing one sample - the Bible text of 2 Corinthians 5, alongside another sample - Western individualism.

I see amplification happening when I point to Edmund Hillary. The sample - of the $5 note and of Hillary, is placed alongside the sample - one died for many. And as I trace the ways that Hillary points to values held by New Zealanders and how he "represents" us in some sense, this is amplifying the "one died for many."

I see subversion happening in the Whale Rider sample. Subversion happens in a number of ways. First, the film is making no obvious claim that Paikea is like Christ. Yet when placed alongside elements of the Jesus story - one dying, to build a new community - there is some sense I am subverting the film. Perhaps a bit like Paul in Athens, who points out the Altar to the Unknown God and says - well you believe x, but can I tell you what this really points to. Second, I am subverting the audience. It is a primarily Pakeha congregation, so using a positive example of a young Maori woman is a challenge to their attitudes toward Maori culture.

I hope that helps. At the end of the day, DJing is just a map, a way to describe a part of the communication process. I simply want to make 2 points, the first is the potential to see cultures as made of little moments, fragments. The second is that we can engage these fragments in multiple ways - sometimes to find God in them, other times to critique, yet other times to realise that in placing two new things together, fresh insights emerge.

Your blog posts for the next two weeks

For the blog posts for the next two weeks (one post due each week), here are suggestions. For those at the 400 level, remember you are expected to reply to another student's blog post each week. And for those of you at the 300 level, you're encouraged to reply to other students' posts. Here are the questions for the next two weeks; answer only one question in each blog post:

1. Steve mentioned the need to "create a safe space in which people can explore their emotions." What do you think it looks like to do this in a sermon?

2. Look at the practical ideas on pages 204-205 of the coursebook. Pick one of the ideas to comment on, and spend some time writing about what it would look like in your setting to respond to that suggestion.

3. What might it look like for us to think more about communication as dialog in preaching?


An additional note from Steve: There was some discussion during the audio-conference of the origins and history of the song "Forever Young." Some web surfing reveals that it was first released as a single in 1984. Since then, according to Wikipedia, it has become something of a pop culture standard. It has appeared in television series, movies, and advertisements and been performed by numerous musical groups, including remixes and demos, on:
* Alphaville: The Singles Collection, 1988 (remixed)
* History, 1993 (covered live)
* Dreamscapes, 1999 (demo, demo remix, performed live and re-recorded acoustically)
* Little America, 1999 (performed live)
* Stark Naked and Absolutely Live, 2000 (performed live)
* Forever Pop, 2001 (remixed)

So it's a song that I would suggest has appeared in the "collective memory" of a number of generations, from the 1980's, through the 1990s', into the early 2000's.

From Steve Taylor

In preparation for our audioconference today, some of my recent reading has raised for me the following questions, which I will use to introduce the class.

Question 1:
From Uniting in Worship 2, the official worship book of the Uniting Church in Australia, from a section titled "The Service of the Word/Receiving God's Word":
"People are shaped by story, by narrative. When we want to get to know a person, we listen to their story. When we hear stories again and again, we are shaped and re-shaped as the stories are told and re-told. Christian people are shaped by the story of Jesus .... The story is told through proclamation - which may include reading the Scriptures, preaching, reflection on Scripture, drama/movement, symbolic action, art, multimedia resources, and silence ... Hearing the story requires a response." From Uniting in Worship 2, page 134.

And so the question: My experience is that in 99% of churches (all churches, not just Baptist and not just Uniting), proclamation is only every the first two, "reading the Scriptures, preaching"? Why is this? What is it that limits the church's proclamation to spoken words?

Question 2:
A second quote, from Jonny Baker's new book, Curating Worship:
“In many church circles the only gifts that are valued for worship are musical ones or the ability to speak well. This attitude needs shattering, and opening up so that poets, photographers, ideas people, geeks, theologians, liturgists, designers, writers, cooks, politicians, architects, movie-makers, storytellers, parents, campaigners, children, bloggers, DJs, VJs, craft-makers, or just about anybody who comes and is willing to bounce ideas around, can get involved.” (Baker, Curating Worship, 12)

And so the question: Think about the most recent worship service you participated in. Is Jonny right, that the gifts most valued were musical or speaking gifts? Was there any point in the service in which one of the gifts listed above could have been incorporated?