monkinabus: blog of derek dominguez

Have you been introduced to Peter Rollins?

He's written The Fidelity of Betrayal: Towards a Church Beyond Belief  and How (Not) to Speak of God. I've started both and plan on finishing The Fidelity of Betrayal over the holidays. I'm curious as to who has read his works and what you think. I'm finding him very provocative and am enjoying his books so far. I resonate with his work, his theological approach, and the questions he is asking. There is a new set of videos that were put together recently while he was speaking here in the states.

The Shelter Saved My Soul

I've struggled over the last few years with understanding how the traditional/institutional church in North America has arrived at where it is today. As I attempt to understand the Biblical narrative more thoroughly and the implications of the kingdom for today, I'm often baffled by the ecclesiology the church employs to live out its missional calling. Why does the church go about what it does Sunday mornings? How is what the church is doing help to facilitate the growth of the kingdom. I suppose I'm de-constructing church. I love the church. I believe in the church. I just am lost as to how we've gotten to where we are today as I read the dynamic story recorded in the book of Acts. Things have got to change.

Serving outside of the church "walls" and leading others into the community to learn how to be the hands and feet of Jesus has been invigorating. The work we have been doing down at the shelter and rubbing shoulders with the families has brought life to my soul. I've seen Christ in the college students who tutor the kids. I've seen Christ in the families who struggle to make ends meet. I've seen Christ daily outside the traditional walls of the church. I suppose through this process the shelter has saved my soul.

Vocation and Spiritual Formation (part 4): Listening to the Call of Our Vocation

In the last post Parker Palmer stated our vocation is "a gift to be received" and "accepted." But, before we can receive, discover, and accept our vocation there must be discernment and listening to what our “life” is trying to tell us. Without the willingness to listen to the "voice" of our true self speaking forth who we are, we run after other things, pulling us away from our true vocation.

 "Vocation does not mean a goal I pursue. It means a calling that I hear. Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am. I must listen for the truths and values at the heart of my own identity, not the standards by which I must live - but the standards by which I cannot help but live if I am living my own life." ~ Parker Palmer

I long to be living my own life, not the life others project and put forth for me to live. The life only meant to be living in me. Our culture likes cookie cutter identities. We are threatened by those who cry from the depths, “You can’t box me in. You can’t form me in your own image.” I am pursuing to live the “good life,” to be living by the standards by which I cannot but live if “I’m living my own life.” Who’s life are you living? Is it the life God intended you to live or some other fabrication and false self built on a foundation of shifting sand?

Vocation and Spiritual Formation (part 2): Listening to Who We Are

    I ended the last post on Spiritual Formation and Vocation with a question posed by Parker Palmer. "Is the life I am living the life that wants to live in me?" How can someone answer this without first answering, "What is the life that wants to live in me?" As a beautiful creation of God himself, what is the life he has specifically given to me to live out? Not the life he has given to "so and so." Not the life I think others want me to live in order to please them, but the life he has given to me? The life he "sewed together in the depths of the earth" and intended only me to live out? This is one of the hardest questions of our existence if we are brave enough to ask it and seek an answer.    
    We grow up in a world pushing us to pursue "identities" God himself never intended us to run after. Many of them are harmful to our formation. Instead of boldly learning to listen to the whisper of our true calling we give in to the booming and relentless voices of others telling us we need to be formed and trust what others think of us, what we can achieve or do, and what we possess. If we listen to these “voices” it is very difficult to ever listen to the still quiet whisper of God himself, telling us to receive the gift of our true vocation.
    We cannot truthfully answer these questions being posed about vocation until we comprehend first and foremost how God sees us. We are unable to hear the whisper of our own vocation telling us who we are meant to be and how we are meant to live in this world, unless we first hear the quiet still voice of God himself, revealing the most intimate truth about us. Henri Nouwen says it like this in his work Life of the Beloved.

Yes, there is that voice, the voice that speaks from above and from within that whispers softly or declares loudly: ‘You are my beloved, on you my favor rests.’ It certainly is not easy to hear that voice in  a  world filled with voices that shout: ‘You are no good, you are ugly; you are worthless; you are despicable, you are nobody – unless you can demonstrate the opposite.’ These negative voices are so loud and so persistent that it is easy to believe them.

These are the voices drawing us away from hearing what God has to say about us and therefore away from hearing and discerning what our true vocation is. Until we hear the voice of God and claim the truth about who we are and how dearly we are loved, we will run to and fro, chasing dreams and a life we were never intended to live. Until we can hear the voice of God himself, telling us we are the beloved, we will never find the answer to the questions, “Who am I meant to be? What am I meant to do?”

Vocation and Spiritual Formation (Part One)

At the beginning of this last academic year with the college students, I began a process of asking them a series of questions focusing on spiritual formation and vocation. I firmly believe the two are inextricably tied together. As the academic year came to a finale I found myself pondering significantly the questions I had been asking the students.
    We used the lyrics of Switchfoot's song, "This Is Your Life" from their popular album "The Beautiful Letdown," as a starting point for asking the question, "Are you who you want to be?"

    "this is your life, are you who you want to be
    this is your life, are you who you want to be
    this is your life, is it everything you dreamed that it would be
    when the world was younger and you had everything to lose"

I'm not sure what Switchfoot intended their hearers to question with these lyrics, but for me they raise up the same questions Parker Palmer asks in his book Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation. In his book in the first few pages he poses the questions, "What am I meant to do? Who am I meant to be?” Asking the question, "Am I who I want to be?" assumes we know who it is we're supposed to be. As a follower of Jesus this raises another question, "Who is it God desires me to be?" Or, to ask it another way, "Who is it God has created me to be?
    As I've chatted with people of all ages I've come to the realization most people don't have the answers to these questions. They think they do or they have lived the life they think they are supposed to be living, but it may not be the life they were given to live. Our culture and society fails at assisting young people to understand the answers to these basic existential questions. In my estimation the church falls just as short in helping our young people answer them too. Many are left wondering, without any guidance, if "the life am living is really the life that wants to live in me."

Being the Church

I found this bumper sticker last week as I was cruising by the game store here in Santa Cruz down town. This bumper sicker summarizes a lesson I've been discussing with Tate on-going as we get ready for church on Sunday mornings. I think she is still confused at the age of 3 /12 by what I mean when I tell her "she is the church" every time she tells me we are going to church. I suppose it isn't any less confusing for then when I ask her, "What is the reality of your existence?'" Hopefully when she comes to an understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus she will also understand what this means more concretely. What do you think?

Readings from Labor and Delivery

    I bring books with me everywhere. So, when it came to pack up to head out to the hospital there was no lack of books along for the adventure. Two books in particular I spent some time reading while Meagin was sleeping, relaxing post delivery, or nursing. I just picked up Mark Scandrette's new book Soul Graffiti and finished most of it. Also, I recently have revisited my long love of reading comic books and have since discovered hidden theological and metaphorical treasures within their stories again. At the moment I'm reading the first ten issues of the original X-Men published by Marvel in 1963. The originals are worth thousands of dollars. I picked up a copy of the Marvel Masterworks: X-Men Vol. 1 (Hardcover.) I'm loving it and am on issue #7 at the moment. In the week to come I'm going to comment as to how the X-Men reflect or are a metaphor for the body of Christ at work.

Christianity and the Postmodern Turn

    This last week I finished up Christianity and the Postmodern Turn: Six Views, edited by Myron Penner. I appreciated the structure of how the views were represented. It represented a diverstiy of philosophers, as well as two key theologians who are part of the ongoing "conversation" Vanhoozer and Franke. The contributing authors each wrote an initial essay and then also had an opportunity to respond to each of the other author's essays. The one significant observation for me was how diverse the opinions and convictions are among highly "trained" intellectuals regarding how to define the key term foundonalism is, the impact of modernity on epistemology, and if postmodernism has anything vital to offer the church in its theological pursuit.

Lessons for the North American Church from the missological vision of an "ApNet: A 21st Century Approach to Apostolic Ministry"

    In the latest issue of Mission Frontiers Magazine there is an article by Dan Sinclair and Dick Scoggins titled, "Introducing the ApNet: A 21st century Approach to Apostolic Ministry." The article summarizes how traditional missionary agencies (TMA) have supported missionaries in the field in the past, but it makes an argument for a movement towards a network or web of ASPs (Apostolic Service Providers) instead of the traditional TMAs.

Missional Order

    Over the last four or five years since I attended seminary. I've paid close attention to the emerging church and in particular what is being labeled "new monasticism." While I was in seminary my last year