"Know thyself" Part 1

The Greek aphorism gnōthi seauton has been attributed to a number of ancient philosophers but regardless of authorship its call to introspection remains true: know yourself. Were it only so easy.

It s not just individuals that must do this. Churches need to know themselves as well. They need to know what they believe and they need to know their history. I'll come back to beliefs in a later post.

Churches have histories like people. Even in Canada, some churches go back 300 years. That's a lot of ministry. I remember rooting around in the basement of Emerson Baptist Church when I ministered there, the second oldest Baptist church in Western Canada. Like the show Ancestors in the Attic, exploring the old records and artifacts gave me a great sense of why the church (and community) had the character it did. The stories of the first meetings down at the local pub with barrels and planks as seats. I found posters for the church family picnic in the 1920s at Grand Beach, Lake Winnipeg. The whole congregation would jump on the train and ride to the lake for the day. Sounds like it was a lot of fun. I found Temperance movement posters as well; though interestingly, by the time I was there I might be offered either coffee or a beer when I went on a pastoral visit. Not typical Baptists! The baptism and death records traced the waves of immigrants (Mennonite, German, Ukrainian, Russian etc.) and the hardships of families as small pox and influenza struck down scores of members. It testified to the hardiness and perseverance of this congregation. It also hinted at some of the longstanding struggles and weaknesses they faced as a congregation. It helped me understand today.

I've been on the lookout for church historical documents. Because of my previous pastoral experiences, I think the history of a congregation is an important source of information for present day decision makers. I enjoy hearing the church stories of days gone bye. Sometimes when change is needed it can be frustrating to hear "but we tried that 27 years ago, and it didn't work!" Yet that shared history also seems to give security and a sense of identity to the church. It can highlight problems and needs to be addressed.

So who is the keeper of your church's history? Who gathers together the stories and the legends? How will we decide where we are going if we don't remember where we have been? Hmm.

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The Word spoken...

I went to see Jim Carey's "A Christmas Carol" and was inspired to re-read the book. The movie seemed to be undecided whether it was to be a literal interpretation of the original Dickens story or something new (and Jim Carey-ish.) A good movie but not the same as the book. I've been thinking a lot about the debate between the print and new media in religion.

The peoples of the Book (Muslims, Jewish and Christians) have an text centered faith rooted respectively in the Koran, Tanakh, and Christian Bible each sharing significant Torah traditions. I'm interested (at present) in my research with Christian protestant evangelicalism and its use of information. In this theological tradition, there is an idea of a "received text" that is divinely inspired and canonically fixed (the church believes it was now closed and could no longer be edited, or added to.) There is also the belief in the inherent power of the words of scripture. This dominance of the text is strongly evident in the evangelical church where even decorative features in churches tend to be "text heavy." Information = written text. There have been challenges to this idea. I think back to the use of stained glass windows during the middle ages to educate and inspire largely illiterate church goers in the stories of Scripture. I remember reading some years ago (1985, I think) Frankie Schaeffer's book " Addicted to Mediocrity" where he challenged evangelicals to take the creative arts seriously as a form of faith expression capable to educating, inspiring and evangelizing. Time has moved on and we now live in a multi-media rich environment, often amateur driven. Faith is being expressed in these forms. Will spoken word begin to take predominance over the written text? It is happening with other forms of written communication (i.e. newspapers). How will this substitution in form change the evangelical theology around the primacy of the text? What about other forms of visual media? One of the first tasks of Christian missionaries among new people groups was literacy training. Besides aiding community development, teaching literacy also meant people could read the Bible. It was an essential part of faith development. Now one sees the widespread use of video dramatization of the Bible for evangelism.

So my question of the day: if the Bible was being created today, would God have used multimedia or is there something about written text?

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Merry Christmas...intentionally!

I've wished a number of people Merry Christmas this week. I know that Season's Greetings or Happy Holidays is more culturally appropriate but I like Christmas and I want to wish people a Merry Christmas. I'm not trying to be counter-culture or deliberately provocative. Oddly enough no one has reacted negatively to my wish for a Merry Christmas; most returned the wish in kind; a few seemed pleasantly surprised. I recognize that some in my community won't be celebrating Christmas until January 7, 2010 , some will be celebrating Kwaanza, some have already celebrated Hanukkah, and others will commemorate Ashura. For many, it is a time to be with family and friends. I hope each enjoys their holiday.

But for me it is Christmas, the day I remember the Creator became the creature; the All Seeing One opened his eyes for the first time; the Ancient of Days drew his first breath. I do believe God invaded history that day, almost unseen in a cattle shed, vowing that the world did not have to be this way. In a few more months I will also commemorate Christ's death when he would declare of his work "it is finished" and the world would never be the same.

So I wish you a Merry Christmas and my sincerest wish for God's blessing on you and your families.

I'll let this grade 1 Spanish immersion class have the last word with Feliz Navidad (I want to wish you a Merry Christmas.)

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Signs and wonders....

No nothing apocalyptic just...well, signs. Church signs to be exact. Traditionally they were simply names: "St. Alban's Anglican Church" or "First Baptist Church" (and surprise...there are actually a few "Second Baptist Churches out there.) Perhaps the denominational affiliation is also there: "United Church of Canada" or "Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC)." Now some will go as far as adding the pastor and service times (if the pastors change too often they might leave it off or just have a secondary sign screwed on - maybe good to watch out for if you are a new potential pastor being interviewed by the church.)

Some church signs feature the "sentence sermons" as one writer called them; as simple as a Bible verse or maybe a provocative thought. Then there are the billboard types of signs that became popular in the sixties and seventies with evangelistic intent. You might remember driving down the highway and seeing those large signs with John 3:16 or Romans 6:23. They would have pictures of the cross, flames, or heavenly sunbeams to emphasize the scriptural point. In the nineties "Seeker sensitive" churches and then the Emerging Church movement began adopting more aggressive marketing tactics. It is not surprising that some billboards have generated considerable controvery.

I assume that the primary purpose of a sign was to communicate who we were and what you were doing to those outside. And provide an invitation. "Our Traditional worship service is at 10:30am. Our contemporary worship service is at 12:00pm." Good to know. The use of "sentence sermons' and Bible Verses seems to make an assumption that the majority of those reading them have enough of a Christian background to understand the context. That might have been the case in 1970; it is not the case in 2009. Here is one I saw: "Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark." This presupposes that you know who Noah is, what an ark is, and why he needed one. Think most people get it? Maybe not if recent surveys on Biblical Literacy are correct. It seems the most quoted justification for using Bible verses is the idea that God's Word is never read without being used by God for His purposes. I agree with the idea. But does this passage envision the flinging of verses randomly at passerbys (not unlike a drive-by shooting) in the hopes that God will use it on the un-expecting reader?

An article is Christianity Today offers some tips on effective Church signs. My own thought is that the best way to share your faith is in person. Use your sign to invite people in. Use it to tell them about your church. Who knows, they might just stop by.

I had lots to say about church signs, so here is your chance! Make your own church sign here with this church sign generator.

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Your Church's Digital Portfolio

I've been reading Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives. Palfrey and Gasser are both lawyers and of course are very interested in legal issues such as privacy and copyright. But this isn't a law book but in their words "the aim of the Digital Natives project is to understand and support young people as they grow up in a digital age."

Two interesting concepts they develop are the ideas of your digital portfolio and your digital identity. Your digital identity is the identity you create online through your IM chats, facebook profile, your gaming activities etc. It is malleable; I can experiment with my online identity in different ways as easily as creating a new profile or avatar. The authors however would argue as more and more of ourselves are out there online, the harder it will be to modify that identity. The digital portfolio is all the digital documents and records that exist about you from your first sonogram before you were even born if your are a digital native (and all the other medical records since then), all the bank transactions, library books loaned, and groceries bought with your air miles card! Vast collections of information which we have little control over. Sobering to think about.

I began thinking more about Churches' digital identities and portfolios. More and more Churches are creating online presences and utilizing digital communication. Who manages the digital identity of the Church? Can it be managed? If I did a google search about your church and didn't stop at your manicured website, what identity would the bits and bites create for me? That identity may last long after the present pastor and board have moved along. The enduring power of digital communication. Worth considering.

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Churches of Second Life...

OK, so I need a real vacation...but in the interim enjoy these vacation pics of a few of the churches I recently visited in SecondLife. These virtual churches were created with the intent that they would be used for online worship, mediation, and prayer. Some SecondLife churches are open for virtual weddings, funerals and rituals. Several of these churches offer Bible studies, fellowship and prayer. For the moment lets set aside the debate about the validity of virtual religious spaces. Take a few minutes are just look at the care and craftsmanship here. People are creating beautiful virtual spaces. Are these replications of real life religious spaces or idealizations of worship places?

Yes, my avatar has a facial hair and he is wearing the home soccer jersey of the Netherlands Team.

Inside St. George Orthodox Church


















Outside St. George Orthodox Church


















Outside Vine Community Church


















Inside Vine Community Church


















Outside St. Magnus Kirk


















Inside St. Magnus Kirk


















Outside Calvary Chapel Second Life


















Inside Calvary Chapel Second Life

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Preachin' the Net

It was Marshall McLuhan who wrote that "the medium is the message." It is times like this that I realize I need to read more McLuhan (in my copious free time for sure!) I've been thinking again about preaching and the internet. There is an interactive relationship that needs to be explored; muse with me for a few moments....

Let's go back to the Tuesday before. The preacher took Monday off and is now thinking about the next Sunday's message...hypothetically anyway. ;-) Most preachers I know use the internet as an information gathering tool. Email updates from missionaries or the denomination. Online sermon illustration collections and even Christian news and current events. Occasionally I am still asked to preach and I'll admit I'm somewhat of a dinosaur when it comes to sermon preparation. I still prefer the yellow scratch pad, a pencil and my big pile of books. But...I now usually draft my message on my computer and take advantage of online Bible tools such BibleGateway to look up passages, or Theopedia or Wikipedia for a definition. Many preachers go farther and utilize online media which can be integrated into a message.

It used to be you would drive by the church by Thursday and see the sermon title on the sign outfront. I was a church janitor for a bit and that was my Thursday morning task. (Oops, pastor's preaching' on tithing again, lets visit the Anglicans this week.) With email, twitter, facebook and blogs the sermon title can be broadcast to the membership with online access. And since these are social media, there is room for dialogue and discussion around these announced topics. Discussions that may well make their way back into the sermon preparation before Sunday. Now, this isn't entirely new; I regularly bounced sermon ideas off people over tea back in the day. But the dynamic is different somehow; more public perhaps.

It is now Sunday. Now that the sermon is being broadcast via streaming video, a reality in more and more churches, there are new rules. Whatever happens in the pulpit must be translatable to video. The preacher's body language and range of movement must change. The preacher is now also preaching to the net. With chat capabilities it is now possible for the offsite viewer to ask questions and even converse with other offline viewers during the sermon. Preaching is a unique form of communication as it is usually mono-directional; however hard the preacher might rebuke the congregation, they usually sit there politely and take it (you'll hear about at the door later.) Online messages invite immediate response.

There is an interplay developing between new media and preaching; new media is providing content for preaching, preaching is providing content for new media, preaching leaves its mark on the face of the internet, and yes, internet I think is leaving its mark on the face of preaching.

So what will preaching become (and should I hold onto my yellow scratch pad?) ;-)

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I just had dust in my eye...

I recently attended a presentation by a researcher who works with young people who face significant life challenges as well as a lot of social stigma. For hers and these people's privacy I won't elaborate further except to say they are ordinary people with some very heart moving stories. This researcher is an extraordinary person; she has one of the largest hearts I know (the new Grinch has nothing on her!) It was hard for her at points to share these stories and not be moved by her recollections. She is not alone. I recently spoke with another qualitative researcher who also wrestled with very human responses to the stories that were shared with her. Retelling the stories brings those emotions back but also brings those same stories to life. These are real people not simply research subjects.

The "Rules":

1. Displays of emotion have no place in academia,
   
2. Scholarly presentations are to be objective and detached.,
   
3. Showing emotion in an academic presentation makes people uncomfortable.

It is true that excessive emotion may render a person unable to present. But no emotion? Is this interdiction merely a holdover in the academy from quantitative research methods, where the researcher is not personally engaged but maintains an "objective" view of the "experiment?" May it have something to do with the historical demographics of the academy as anglicized and male dominated? Our society still perpetuates the cultural myth that "real men don't cry."

As qualitative researchers explore deeper into the life experiences of real people, it will become harder to avoid the reality of human emotion. These are real people with engaging lives. Real researchers will be moved by them. Maybe it is time to change the academy not the researchers. ;-)

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AAR...No pirates to be seen at Law and Religion

I noted earlier that there were lawyers at AAR as well (to be specific law professors.) Now before anyone makes any lawyers/pirates comparisons please know that many of my friends are lawyers! Scallywags some may be, but thieves and vagabonds they are not. ;-)

The papers in Law, Religion and Culture session considered the Bouchard Taylor Commission, Aboriginal Rights, and Islamic Law in Canada. The first paper and the last caused me the most...well frustration. The Bouchard Taylor commission considered the issue of religious accommodation in Canadian life (how big an issue is the need to accommodate the religious views of minorities in canada.) Lori Beaman was very concerned with the report's suggestion that minorities run too quickly to the courts, and that they should seek to resolve issues of accommodation privately. She felt that minorities are more vulnerable and need the safety of the courts to ensure the rule of law. But do enforced resolutions build community? Do they break down the prejudices or engrain them? Hmmm.

The paper on Islamic Law addressed the issue of arbitration in family matters, but specifically religious arbitration based on religious law. The speaker Sevak Manjiakam was so engaging I forgot to take good notes so I'll work from memory here. He argued that, not surprisingly, minorities are reluctant to go to the courts with religious issues. For much of the world questions of marriage, divorce and family are religious issues. Although anyone can choose to have their dispute settled by an religious arbitrator, that arbitration does not have the force of law. Religious arbitration was used in Ontario by the Catholic and Jewish communities for years prior to requests by Islamic groups for Sharia based arbitration. Ontario banned all religious arbitration in 2005. Mr. Manjiakam eloquently voiced the need for religious arbitration in Canada but to my surprise, challenged the way many in the Muslim community envisioned such arbitration, based solely on Sharia Law, and conducted by local Imams. He argued that there was a substantial tradition of Islamic law, and what was needed were trained legal specialists who understood both Islamic law and arbitration. He made a good case: is, for example, the average Christian church pastor qualified to make legally binding decisions about my marriage and family disputes? Counselling perhaps, depending on the courses they took, but arbitration? No, I don't think so. I also appreciate the concerns of minorities. I heard an excellent paper presented by Pascale Fournier on a similar topic back in May that considered how well meaning judges attempting to be multiculturally sensitive were arriving at very different legal conclusions. So the problem is real and it is growing.

So where now? Secular courts don't work well and private arbitration is not much better. Are we headed to a mosiac of courts based on religions and culture; not just for Muslims, but Catholics, Jews, Buddhists and Athiests. Wiser heads than I need to resolve this one....

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AAR...my candidate to walk the plank!

The AAR conference brings together a very diverse group of people. There are Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Pagans and Atheists. There are sociologist, theologians, anthropologists, and (surprise!) lawyers. Oh, and I even met an evolutionary psychologist. Some are regular practitioners of their faith; some are simply fascinated by the social expressions of religion. It is illuminating to interact with such a diverse group around various topics; it also requires a sensitivity to the faith positions of others. As an evangelical Christian I must be prepared to defend my faith, but I am also obligated to live at peace with those around me. I need to treat others with respect even when we disagree. I don't always succeed but I try.

To teach sociology of religion in a religious institution has its advantages I think. You can assume a particular theological position and proceed from there. A university context must be much more challenging. How do you navigate the diversity of opinion and avoid the religious minefields? I like how Chris Helland my doc supervisor handles it. He explains very early in the class the sociological perspective that he adopts: he must "bracket" his own beliefs and choose not to ask the crucial question "is this from God?" As a sociologist he is confined to the natural world. This does not mean he believes that religion is an entirely human phenomenon but that some things are outside his research focus. He must take all religious experiences at face value though he does not believe all religions are universally valid based on their outcomes (e.g. Jonestown or the Branch Davidians). I think he would say he is an observer of religion not its judge.

I attended one paper where the researcher was studying Chick Comics and Tracts. If you grew up in a conservative evangelical church you probably will remember the gospel tract "This was your Life". I appreciate the evangelistic message they tried to make and the zeal behind the attempts. Sometimes however, the message they preached, especially when addressing other groups such as Roman Catholics, was fraught with unproven innuendo and speculation. It was more than the simple gospel message. The truths they communicated were sometimes lost in the bluntness of their presentation. The sociologist who presented the paper obviously did not share Chick's position. His presentation was littered with sarcastic asides and not so subtle mockery. This was more than critique of the content and approach of Chick; this was a rejection of the faith position of this group. He was no longer a sociologist, but assumed the role of arbiter of the truth claims they made. I would hope that Chris' first year undergraduate students would know better than this professor.

So in a not so nonjudgmental fashion I nominate this presenter to "walk the plank!"

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AAR...Can pirates dance?

Religious rituals. There are the big rituals (coronations) and little rituals (like a family Bible reading.) Some are very tightly scripted; you don't have much leeway in a funeral or a remembrance service at a cenotaph. Other rituals are more open to interpretation; I have lots of room for innovation in a wedding ceremony like readings, music etc. as long as certain things occur like vows, pronouncement etc. I remember in my wedding the Minister forgot to say "you may kiss the Bride." Now I did eventually get to kiss her and I'll let you in on a secret: I kissed her before the wedding! ;-) But I'll always remember that omission because...well, you are supposed to say that at weddings, right?! Yet rituals are not static and can change over time.

One session I attended discussed how popular media can transform religious traditions. (I'm separating faith and religion here: I believe that faith transcends culture since it finds its source in God; religion on the other hand is one way in which we live out our faith in community.) The premise is that religion is socially constructed (societies create and recreate religious traditions) and media is also socially constructed (societies create media and use it for their purposes). Both interact in culture and they change each other.

Here is one example that Lynn Schofield Clark presented. This wedding video that has gone viral on YouTube. "J and K's Big Day" was a private choreographed moment as part of a wedding processional. The video was posted on YouTube for family and soon was viewed 31 million times. They were invited onto the Today show and it became a much copied hit creating a new wedding tradition almost over night. Now this is hardly a dramatic change but it would have been impossible before the internet. Ritual and tradition can be shaped by the web.

For your viewing pleasure : the Lego version of "J and K's Big Day."

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AAR...Pirates at play

The Monday's session on Religion Media and Culture focused on ritual in contemporary culture and media. Rituals, sociologically speaking, are sets of action with symbolic meaning that we perform usually prescribed by religion or tradition. A wedding ceremony has its rituals (candle lighting, exchange of rings etc.) and so do funerals. What happens when rituals are played out online?

Rachel Wagner has done a lot of research into video games and the ideas of interactivity, play, rules, narrative and conflict. Even in telling a fixed story, there is room for interactivity and "Play". She urged us to think of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. This was a fixed story but viewers gave him room to play with lighting, costuming sets etc. but only to a point. Beyond that we would say "you didn't tell the story." Rachel has been looking at how religion has been brought into video games and the implications of that for storytelling and play. When is the game more than a game? Kerstin Radde-Antweiler spoke about religious rituals played out online. She focused on two stories of a wedding celebrated in SecondLife and a memorial service held online in World of Warcraft (WoW). In the SecondLife story a wedding service was being held with friends online. There are a ton of religious questions here but the focus of the story was that three virtual people (avatars) decided to crash the virtual wedding (flying on brooms). To them it was all a game; but not so for the celebrants. This was important to them and they were upset. Even more so in the WoW story. For those unfamiliar with this, WoW is an online 3D world where players, through their virtual selves (avatars) explore, fight monsters and interact with other players. In the story Kerstin recounted, a member of an online guild (team) had passed away in real life. Her online friends decided to hold a memorial service for her online in WoW, really the only place where most knew her. They advertised the intended service. However, during the service a rival guild attacked the avatars and virtually killed many of the mourners. This initiated a great debate over the appropriateness of the behaviour on both sides. Was it wrong to not respect the memorial service? Was it right to even bring a serious ceremony into a virtual game? When is the game no longer the game and can you draw a line between the two?

I know what pirates would do! What do you think? When is the game no longer the game?

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AAR...Pirates and Civil Religion...

Session two at the AAR conference:Rethinking Civil Religion. No, it has nothing to do with being rude at church, although you should never be rude at church (or really anywhere.)

To sum up: Civil Religion is the sum of religious concepts, rituals and dialogue that are adopted by the state and become part of the fabric of the social consciousness of that state. Robert Bellah coined the concept back in 1967. Think of it this way: the USA has a constitutional separation of church and state. But...the money says in "In God we Trust", political functions start with prayer, and every president has invoked terminology like "sacred trust" and "moral duty", the language of religion to rally the citizenry. The pledge of allegiance and singing of the national anthem at sports events, are two of the rituals and pronouncements like "my country right or wrong" complete the "religious" mythology of the USA. Tied up with this is the idea of being God's chosen people; a nation of destiny; the shining beacon to the world.

So is this a good thing or bad? Well, here is where our speakers were undecided. They all agreed that the recent events have shaken America's self perception. Maybe the USA is not invincible; maybe they won't always prevail. That was an almost unthinkable admission not long ago. But should America, and well all country and even the world have a civil religion?

Can there be a civil religion without God? Well maybe yes the speakers argued, as long as there is some idea of transcedence; something bigger, greater than ourselves. Something to aspire to like universal moral principles. Sound very lofty. But I wonder...do people readily give their lives for abstract concepts? Or do they give their lives for something personally important to themselves: love for family, community and God?

OK, no pirates in this session, but remember the "code of the brethren" from the Pirates of the Caribbean? Sounds like civil religion to me. :)

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AAR...Pirates and religious work?

Here I am at the AAR conference in Montreal. This is a BIG conference and the Palais des Congres is a huge facility. I arrived by train at 7:45am and headed right over to the venue for my first session at 9am. Religion and Social Sciences make much more sense when you're sleep deprived! :-)

This session's theme was Velben's Theory of the Leisure Class: Rethinking Religion and Economy if the Age of Crisis. Yeah, I had to look it up too. In a nut shell, Velben was a foundational economist and sociologist who developed the ideas of conspicuous consumption and the ruler class as "the leisure class" because they really did not contribute economically to the survival of the group. Religion he would argue does not contribute to the economy of the tribe and really was a form of waste. One speaker made much of the image of Pope Benedict signing an Encyclical expressing concern for the poor and downtrodden surrounded by the trappings of wealth and separated from manual labour. I took exception to how he presented this but the point is taken. Those who actually know what they are talking about can critique my cartoonish oversimplification of Veblen.

I went to this session because information science research has payed little attention to religious questions because religion has been relegated to "leisure activities" like hobbies etc. and not been considered important for study. What caught my attention were two ideas. First, one speaker Richard Callahan talked about the idea of the "instinct of workmanship" from Veblen: our meaning, purpose and instinct is to work. Competition through War and Sport detracts from this and replaces the goal of work with the seeking of "booty." (See! I told you it would come back to Pirates in the end.) Most defenses of the Church from Veblenian critiques would point out how the church has acted to redistribute wealth thus serving a beneficial purpose in Veblen's economy. But there is more that that here. I thought about the Biblical idea of man and woman created to "tend the garden" and act as stewards over creation. Theologically we were created to work and to enjoy the fruits of our labour. Maybe Veblen had something here, that the church needs to think more about.

The second idea raised by Joerg Rieger was that in the information age we need to begin to rethink the definition of work. Life isn't so easily subdivided anymore into work/non-work. Technology is changing that. Is white collar work the same as blue collar work? Do they both contribute? what about volunteerism and other forms of unpaid work? Do these contribute to the economy? I think they do and there is a role for religion/community service is that new definition. Hmmm...things to think about.

Off to the next session (watch out for pirates)....

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Flu, Faith and Information...

H1N1. Such a little word but it unsettles people so much. Those of us in the developed world aren't used to this kind of pandemic. We don't daily deal with the risk of Malaria or Tuberculosis which combined annually kill 2.7 million people. We are well fed and affluent. We put much faith in our health care system (though we complain about it a lot.) Now we feel vulnerable and a little scared. Notice how people react now when someone coughs on the bus? The question "have you got your flu shot yet?" is replacing "so how about this weather?" as Canadian small talk.

So how do I respond? I educate myself with sources that I can critically evaluate. That includes government sources, workplace sources, and credible scholarly sources. (If you would like links to good sources try the Kellogg Health Library's page.) I take reasonable precautions. And I critically assess my attitude. Yes, my attitude.

About 13 years ago Nova Scotia was on the verge of a huge health care strike. I was working in a small rural pastorate with a high population of seniors. People were understandably concerned and, well, a little scared. Like they are now. We talked about it as a congregation and considered how our faith should influence our perspective of the impending crisis, our conversation about it, and our behaviours. I personally believe I am in a universe with purpose, designed by a God who cares about me and my family. I believe if I must face sickness and suffering I can turn to God for strength, hope and wisdom. I believe that even death is not the end but only the beginning of eternity. Those beliefs should influence my attitude about H1N1 or really any other personal health crisis. Easy to say...harder to do.

I have good information, both medical and spiritual on which to base my personal health choices. So now what do I do with it? How does my personal faith help me evaluate, interpret and apply non-religious information? Should it? I think so....

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The worldview of software...

Today was my first time operating our church's worship software EasyWorship. This is a presentation software specifically designed for congregational worship in contrast to traditional powerpoint which is business software. Well, I need a lot more practice, but I think we all worshiped despite my miscues. :-) It is a great software application and I think a worthwhile investment for any congregation, with two caveats attached. One, it still needs skilled people to plan the presentation and then execute the plan. Software doesn't enter into worship, it cannot seek the heart of God, and it cannot sense the mood of a congregation (in respect to Asimov I'll say at least not yet.)

The other caveat is that most software is created with a worldview at its heart. I noted above that MS Powerpoint was created as a business presentation application. It is used more broadly than that now but using it in a classroom environment has meant changes in how teaching happens in the classroom. I had an insightful conversation this week with a faculty member who doesn't use powerpoint for a particular class he teaches for very specific pedagogical reasons relating to how he understands legal practice.

Another example might be research software. I am learning a few data analysis software packages like Nvivo and Atlas-Ti to use in analyzing my research data. I took a workshop two years ago that really emphasised the importance of understanding the theoretical assumptions behind the software. The developers believe research should happen in a certain way, and they write software that reflects that approach (in this case Grounded Theory). I need to be aware of those assumptions as I use the software because they will influence my results.

When I use software in worship, the software will have an influence on the form of worship. Simply projecting the lyrics on the wall rather than reading the hymnal changes the tone of worship. A software like EasyWorship can introduce video clips into the worship stream. These mini-movies can add a slick and professional edge to worship. Some of them are kinda cool and I was thinking "hey, this would be good, and this one, and this too...." However, when I introduce this kind of media into worship I adopt certain ideas about worship. I can't do that uncritically. I must ask questions about what we believe about worship and community. I must ask questions about the "sound bite" generation and how church buys into that.

Software has worldviews implicitly embedded into it. Do I see what it is and am I ready to accept it? Hmmm...

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AAR...the pirate conference?

Actually it is the American Academy of Religion conference...though given the range of topics covered I'm sure there is room for something on buccaneer theology or privateer prayers. Groan...I just googled "pirate's prayer" and wouldn't you know it someone "piratized" the 23rd Psalm...will I never learn?

But I digress...the AAR conference is next week and I hope to attend (with a laptop to blog the sessions). There is so many concurrent sessions that I am having a hard time choosing. One session I am interested in is about sacred spaces especially spaces that become politically contentious. The folks at Oxford Press are offering a "how to publish your book" session. Now I just need to write one. Of course I'll be taking in a few sessions on Law and Religion (there is one of blasphemy that is very intriguing) and even Music and Religion. I'm fascinated to see how many sessions revolve around Religion and Obama; both the role of the religious right in the past presidential election, but also I expect the near messianic role Obama was cast in during the campaign. There is a session with William P. Young, the author of The Shack. A number of you know that I am of mixed feelings about this book: on one hand it explores important themes of deep pain and disillusionment that the Church often is afraid to address; but is a fictional work with sometimes problematic theology. I'm still thinking about that session. There are lots more sessions, some way over my head (buddy, if your title itself is five lines long...) and some just seem strange (is "transhuman" like the borg?) If you're interested take a look yourself and let me know if you see any you think I should attend. My schedule is still being drafted. :-)

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Does Facebook hurt your faith? What do you think?

A new study by two Gordon College faculty is making its way around the blogsphere . To sum up: young college students are using social software so much they don't have time for christian disciplines like prayer, Bible study and service. They apparently found:

• Thirty-three percent of students surveyed (between the ages of 18 and 27) from four evangelical Christian colleges use Facebook or other social media for as much as two hours every day.
  
• Twelve percent reported using it between 2 and 4 hours.
  
• Another 2.8 percent said they used Facebook between 4 and 7 hours every day.

I do wonder about the cause and effective though; is Facebook keeping young Christians from Biblical priorities or they simply aren't that concerned about Biblical priorities to begin with and this is how they fill the time. In another context would it have been fishing down at the pond, or hanging out at the mall, or a part-time job that keeps young people otherwise occupied? The assumption being made is that teens at Christian colleges should be committed Christians. My experiences as a residence advisor in a christian college many years ago suggest that may not be a valid assumption. :-)

What do you think? Is there another side of the story? How might social software like Facebook actually encourage faith, community and christian development?

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"Well, probably because I enjoy..."

"talking with them." I've been reading the book Information and Emotion this week about the importance of affective aspects in information seeking users studies (i.e. how our emotions influence our seeking of information.) It is an emerging field, although we've known all along that how I feel can radically change how I search for information. Am I frustrated, satisfied, inspired, confused, bored; oh sorry, I'm online: (>_<) :-) :-0 :-\ (-.-) ? I noted in an earlier post that people frequently prefer talking with other people when seeking information. The words in the title were from a study I assisted with some years ago that considered how people selected information sources. Most of the time people talk to people because they need human judgment and opinion around the facts already obtained. Sometimes people are convenient sources. Sometimes they are the least expensive source. But sometimes I'll ask you because I enjoy talking to you. Yes, you may not know a lot about the subject, and yes, you may meander all over with your answer. Yes, maybe there is a website that covers the question is detail. But I don't enjoy AskJeeves's company and the expert dude on the Futureshop search page kinda freaks me out (is he still waiting on the other tab....)

Sometimes I'll stop by to ask you a question because I like your company and if I get info at the same time so much the better. Maybe at the end of the day feeling good about information seeking is just as important to me as good information seeking. Gosh, did a librarian just say that! ;-)

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Church as InfoOrg...

As part of my research, I will be gathering and analyzing church produced information. I would imagine that most people would not consider churches as information organizations. The activities of worship and social outreach would predominate in people's minds. Yet two of the key activities of churches are preaching and teaching; both information intense activities. As a former pastor I know that a significant time investment goes into sermon preparation and presentation. What about preservation? Is that sermon a "one shot deal" or is that information preserved, stored and indexed in a way that it can be accessed by the congregation for future reference. I have benefited from reading some collected sermons from preachers of by gone years (here is one of my favourites). What about our teaching; if we use purchased curriculum, do we have a library where past materials used are archived? Are original class materials preserved? Or do those classes simply disappear as if they were never taught? What about communication, another information intense activity? I travel from time to time and it is my practice to always attend church on Sunday morning. The phone book tells me who is in my neighbourhood and the web tells me who they are. I am amazed sometimes that many church websites are so uninformative (here are one or two I like from smaller churches.) When I do arrive, I spend time looking at bulletin boards and information tables. Sometimes these are a lot like their websites. :-(

Churches produce a lot of information. I wonder how much time congregations spend thinking about how they manage all that information. This is not a new idea. Preserving important information has had a long history in the church: "since I have investigated all the reports in close detail, starting from the story's beginning, I decided to write it all out for you, most honorable Theophilus, so you can know beyond the shadow of a doubt the reliability of what you were taught." The Gospel of Luke chapter 1.

I guess someone thought that information was important. ;-)

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Somethin's wrong in my spiritual neighbourhood...

who am I gonna call? My public librarian! Yes, surprise...not the priest or pastor... and not the local theologian (do you even know who the local theologian is?) Sometimes when people have a spiritual question they turn to the place they go to answer questions like "where do I find information on jobs in Alberta?" or "when was Genghis Khan born?" The local public library.

I had an email from a librarian colleague who is working in the public library. He was asked a Bible question by a regular patron. He is a skilled librarian but not being satisfied with the information sources he had at hand he emailed me to ask for a second opinion. Yes, librarians do network to find the best answer to your question :) .

So why go to the public library to ask a religious/spiritual question?

1) Research has shown that even in the age of the internet, people are still the preferred source for information about personal life questions. Librarians are both accessible and available to answer your questions. They even have desks set up in the lobby just waiting for you to come and ask! If you can't come in person you can phone or email. That is not necessarily the case for churches whose staff may seem too busy or important to bother.
2) Libraries are perceived as community places where churches may be conceived as private places especially if you don't belong to that congregation.
3) Librarians are generally non-threatening. There's a surprise. Asking a religious question might feel safe there because the librarian isn't going to proselytize you. Librarians function under Codes of Intellectual Freedom and Ethics that require us to provide unbiased and complete information in a respectful and safe environment (that raises ethical issues sometime but that is for another post.) You don't have to join us if you ask the question. Though more librarians would be nice.

So why can't churches be more like libraries?

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I've seen researchers pray for good data but...

what happens when prayer is your data? Not all the information used for church decision-making is easily measured or quantified. Take prayer for instance. Many church leaders regularly use prayer as an information seeking tool in determining the will of God for their churches. Is it really information seeking? Well consider this true story I recently heard:

Stoneridge Fellowship Church was faced with a dilemma. They were building a new facility and had already sold their existing property. There were unexpected construction delays and after a couple of extensions, the new owners wanted the keys to their building. Where does a congregation of 500 go to find a room? It sounds like the beginning of a joke but this was serious. They had two options: another area church offered the use of their building on Sunday afternoons, or they could use space in a local shopping mall. Obviously, the church offer had quite a list of pros. It was close to the existing structure and easily accessible. It was fully equipped and...well...it looked like a church! The mall would mean arriving at 6:00am on Sundays, trucking in all the equipment, setting up an auditorium and then taking it all down in time for mall opening at noon. Every week. And it certainly didn't look like a church. The cons greatly outweighed the pros. The leaders went away to think and pray. When they gathered again, they decided that though it didn't make sense, God wanted them to use the mall. What?!! But it doesn't even took like a church! They followed their divine information. It was a lot of early morning work. But they discovered something: Sunday worship was transformed from a spectator event to a community event. Everyone had to chip in. Setup and take-down crews were as essential as preachers and singers if this was going to work. They did it for months and met new people who came out to the church in the mall. It didn't look like church but it felt like it!

How does a researcher account for the impact of divine information; the role of prayer in the information seeking process? Whether you believe in prayer or not, the folks at Stoneridge Fellowship Church do and it is an essential part of their decision making process. Honest, authentic qualitative research must take that at face value. Now how does one put prayer into the data analysis software? ;-)

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Bad news from La Bonne Nouvelle

On June 20, 2009 La Bonne Nouvelle bookstore in Moncton closed after 75 years serving both the French and English evangelical communities. It surprised me; they were such a part of the evangelical community though it shouldn't have been unexpected. Christian bookstores have been closing all over Canada particularly since the collapse of major Canadian distributer R. G. Mitchell last year. They join the ranks of small bookstores of all stripe and persuasion some with even longer history (e.g. The Book Room) who just can't compete in the new economy. When I was a boy there were three evangelical christian bookstores within walking distance; alas now there is one (if I cared to walk that far!). I am left with the big box stores or online shopping. Been to the religion section at Chapters lately? Hey, there are good books there...if you know for what you seek. I think a diversity of viewpoints is healthy in a bookstore. But buddy those books together on the same shelf is like putting Oprah and Kierkengaard together and labelling it "philosophy!" Online shopping: there are good evangelical Christian sellers like CBD if you don't mind paying shipping/duty from the US. I tend to use booksites like CBD to search for titles and then go back to Chapters or Amazon to actually order (Sorry CBD).

In the digital age there is a need for new skills. The days of chatting with the knowledgeable bookseller/local expert between carefully stocked shelves is almost gone. The onus now is on you to find the best book for your needs. So how do you learn to become your own expert? Who teaches you those skills? Your church? Your pastor? Your local library? Oh, well...there is always Oprah's picks. Sigh....

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Hey, I knew it was you...

I recently submitted an article for review with a scholarly journal and part of the process is a double blind peer review. In a nut shell: my article is sent to several reviewers anonymously; I don't know who reviewed it and they don't know who wrote it. No personal biases. That is the theory anyway. In a small field like mine it isn't hard to guess who is reviewing the article. Hints like "the author did not include the essential paper by John Smith." Hi John, is that you? I once reviewed a paper for a journal and could tell you within the first two pages the university and then it is not too hard to guess the author; not many there who could write on that topic. The double blind review worked better for pure science research; the emphasis is objectivity and the researcher is usually invisible. Who needs to know anything about the researcher; anyone who did the same study with the same methods would get the same data and come to the same conclusions right? Much of contemporary social science research doesn't assume this; who I am as researcher matters. I am part of the society I study and my presence influences that which I study. My attitudes, filters, and biases are part of how I see the world. Some research methods make this even more transparent. The research paper I just submitted used autoethnographic methodology: I used my own experiences, feelings, and thoughts as data. So how do I become invisible in my research if I am also one of my research subjects? One of my reviewers actually self-identified; if I was not anonymous to the reviewers then it was only fair that I know who reviewed me.

Social science research is changing as we think more about the influence we have as researchers on the researched, or even more importantly how we ourselves are the researched.

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Community Church meets World Wide Web

This morning Fall River Baptist Church streamed its first service via the internet. This is not a large congregation and it doesn't have a big tech budget. It does have a few skilled people, access to basic web technology and the vision to do something different. I was in the sound booth watching as this internet experiment unfolded. Gradually, people started picking up the feed until by service end there were 9 remote observers. Pretty good for first time out! This included former members moved away and friends of the church. There was a chat feature to allow some limited two way communication. This raises interesting questions about the power of technology to help religious communities keep in touch with those who can't always be there. Research has shown that a number of religious groups have explored this technology on larger scales allowing visitors to login to participate in worship by webcam (e.g. The Temple Wall in Jerusalem for Jewish worshipers.) It is no longer mega churches or major religious groups who have this capacity; now little churches with big vision can potentially reach the world!

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Still seeking?

I think we all want to live significant lives. The question for most of us is how. For people of religious faith they frequently turn to God, seeking his guidance and direction to answer that question. Kovach (1999) in his PhD dissertation proposed that at the deepest level “seeking to know the will of God may reflect a desire to be accountable to Christ with a profound concern to accomplish something significant for Christ and his kingdom” (p. 2). He argued that finding the will of God has been a preoccupation of evangelical Christians since the 1960s and cited a wealth of literature that offered guidance in finding guidance. When I quickly surveyed Bowker’s Global Books in Print (January 15, 2009) I found sixty books published after 1999 for the Canadian market alone on the subject of discerning God’s will. The majority of these works are written for the popular market with titles like Handbook for Discovering God’s Will (Jackson, 2008) and God has a Plan for your Life (Stanley, 2008). The authors include such evangelical heavy-weights as Charles Stanley, J.I. Packer, Elisabeth Elliot, R.C. Sproul, Henry Blackaby, and Tim LaHaye, best known for his apocalyptic fiction series, Left Behind. Best-selling evangelical author Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life (2002) and Purpose Driven Church (1995) discuss “what on earth am I here for” (2002, p. 15) and “God’s purpose for your church” (1995, p. 393). A survey of print literature only hints at part of the explosion of interest. A search of the online video sharing site GodTube (now Tangle)(January 17, 2009) offered over eight hundred of videos that discuss the “will of God”, and a search of podcasts on ITunes (January 17, 2009) on the “will of God” found one hundred fifty podcasts submitted by local churches and international organizations like Jimmy Swaggart Ministries. This preoccupation has not yet abated and is taking on new dimensions in the digital age.

So where would you look if you wanted to know the will of God? What would you read? To whom would you talk?

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Virtual Church Part II

Interestingly, the topic of virtual church came up on Dr. Heidi Campbell's blog (see "There is no virtual ekkelsia (?)". Two Pastors associated with the emerging church movement have argued that there can be no virtual community by the very definition of community. I am somewhat inclined to agree except that there are people in cyberspace who are finding their church needs met online. I recommend Campbell's book "Exploring Religious Community Online" (Peter Lang, 2005) if you are curious about some people's online experiences. Does community require a physical presence? Is the growth of online churches a symptom of the failure of many real life churches to build authentic communities? Could you be satisfied with a spiritual home online? Why not?

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Religiously Environmental

The American Academy of Religion conference will be held in Montreal on November 7-10. That it is in Canada is an extreme rarity and I'm registered to attend (I'll blog my sessions). In the course of planning for this conference, I had a discussion with a prof who has given up conference travel for environmental reasons. I've often thought of this over the past few years both from fiscal as well as environmental standpoints. Such conferences are great learning experiences and even greater networking opportunities. But it is a lot of travel and expense for what is usually 3-4 days. As a Christian I need to be concerned with these questions. Sometimes I think Christians get so focused on the future "new heaven and new earth" (Revelation 21) that we neglect this one. Don't get me wrong; the idea of an earth restored into what it should have been in God's original intention is fantastic and I want to live in such a world! But from the very beginning of the Bible there is also the idea that human beings rule the earth only as regents or stewards (Genesis 1). We enjoy its benefits but it is not ours to do as we please. I do believe God will hold us accountable for our poor stewardship. So where does that leave me? I think it is valuable for me as a young scholar to attend this conference, but I need to find ways to reduce my carbon footprint. First, I'm taking the train to Montreal. It is a longer but greener trip. I plan to find other ways to reduce. Anyone know of any good virtual conferences upcoming?

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Church in SecondLife?

SecondLife is an online adult simulation that has existed since 2003. Those who haven't explored this virtual world may not realize how popular it is. Mainstream religion is starting to discover the hundreds of thousands of people who frequent this world, and are creating their own places. As I write this, my avatar is sitting in a service of Calvary Chapel SecondLife, a evangelical Scottish virtual congregation. There are about two dozen other avatars here listening to the sermon. It is an interesting experience to participate in this environment. It is a "come as you are place"; no suits here (in fact not everyone here even looks human.) But it is a form of community made up from people around the globe. Am I at Church? Sounds like church...looks alot like church (except comfy chairs not pews). Religion in the digital age will continue to blur the lines. Oh, there is a round of "Amens" as the sermon ends...gotta go, I like this worship song! ;-)

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Religion Online...

Chris Helland is my PhD supervisor and had an opportunity to participate in the Google Techtalks about religion in cyberspace.

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Poetically thinking...

This is a bit of an aside but I experimented last year with new methodologies for analysis and representation in a study of how people are understood by the library system. I argued that the theories about people and information behaviour implicit in how we construct our services influence how we perceive people. A product of this study was three poems/videos.

http://www.iamproject.ca

The project has become part of a larger research article under review presently but I thought I would share the creative bit here.

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Why "informing faith"?

The nature of information is changing because how we communicate with each other is changing. This is a product of the digital age that we live in; we are discovering new ways to create, store and exchange information, and reinventing older ways. This is highly relevant for churches and people of faith because belief like other ways of knowing is constructed. Our experiences, upbringing, education and our personal encounters with God shape who we are are and how we will relate to the world around us. The digital world is changing information and changing how we construct ourselves. That is worth exploring and thinking about. IMHO. :-)

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