Three Nails

I offer this as a space for everyone to post their thoughts about Sunday’s teaching.

I was really excited about teaching last Sunday evening. The grace/faith stuff I shared is part of a conversation that I have been involved in this past semester. I have found that there has been much freedom in it for me. Freedom from a lot of shame and guilt especially. My intention was to present my experience with that as a part of the rest of my life. However, there was some concern that the way that I presented the issues came off in a way that made it sound like my understanding of it was the only/best way to look at it. That was not my intention, but looking back I can definately understand. I want to apologize and invite everyone into that conversation because me giving a totalistic view is not what this community is about. We are about conversation and working through theology together. What I presented on Sunday is a viewpoint that has blessed me tremendously and I was hoping to offer it to others who have wrestled with similar issues as myself. My intention was to offer and not require. To anyone who felt I was forcing the issue I apologize.

K

I for one would like to express how utterly happy I am that we now have an interactive website up and running! I’m a huge advocate for online communication. If used correctly, I believe that it can only strengthen our minds, hearts, experiences, and walks.

Having said this, I realize that there has been quite a lot of conversation over the use of technology both in and for the Church catholic. I’d like to ask everyone about various views concerning technology for and about Church. How should it be used and how should it not be used?

I’d also like to bring to everyone’s attention a series of lectures that the United States Library of Congress sponsored beginning in the fall of 2004. The series of eight lectures was focused around the theme of our “Digital Future”, or how current trends in technology are influencing our world’s (and nation’s) culture. Various topics include blogging, analog v. digital, information access, copyright law, quantum computing, metaphysics, e-books, and a whole lot more. The lectures are available for free through Audible, and well as on C-Span’s website. I find them an amazing resource for those Christians interested in hearing some extremely thought provoking conversations about our digital landscape. Each of them is a great introduction to a relevant technological question. I highly recommend listeniing to them all. If any of you has heard them, let me know what you think.

This week at the Kane residence we’ve really been thinking about how we use our money. Actually, we think and talk about that all the time, but this week that very broad question became a bit more specific for us. Our friend Michelle Miller is supposed to call us tomorrow and, summoning every ounce of earnest humility in her body as well as the Holy Spirit, ask us to support her financially in her endeavors with World Harvest in Ireland. We think she is amazing and that what she is going to do (discipling future missionaries in a cross-cultural setting) is really wonderful and important.

Niether of us is concerned that supporting Michelle might be a less than ideal use of our money. What is making us really stop and think is that by supporting her, we are effectively contributing to her salary/ paying her living expenses. How can we reconcile doing that for someone working on another continent when it is not the standard practice within our own community? We give money to Three Nails, but that money, generally speaking, is not allocated to pay any individual for their services to the community. Imagine if we did start to allocate money that way - what a mess! Who would we pay and for which services? How would we guage which individuals and which activities necessary to the life of our church were worth financial compensation? There are so many of us that contribute our time and effort to this community.

As far as I understand it and as far as I can see, we are pursuing and tent-making model of ministry within Three Nails. We are not a church body that is going to be paying someone to facilitate church for us. We facilitate church for ourselves. We work outside of our church community to support ourselves as individuals as well as to support the church. Ian and I really believe in the viability of this model. That is not to say that we won’t ever find ourselves in a more hierarchically organized church again, maybe we will, but we do not belong to such a church today.

This is probably a question without an answer, but I would like to know what other people in our community think about this issue. Should we hold the same financial standard for other organizations we support that we hold for our own organization? If we do not, then how can we reconcile financially supporting individuals outside of our community when we do not do so for those within our community? Is there a different or better question I should be asking myself about this issue?