Doctorate: Done and Dusted

I recently wrapped up my doctorate studies with Fuller Theological Seminary. It is a wonderful feeling to have finished the program and I'm looking forward to a study-free summer! Below are three paragraphs I've plucked out of the introduction to my final paper - Pentecostalism Re-Imagined: Reconfiguring Pentecostalism in Twenty-First Century New Zealand. If you would like a full copy of the paper please e-mail me and I'll send out a PDF copy. 

joseph@stlukeschurch.org.nz

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The late Irish poet and philosopher John O’Donohue once stated, “It is essential for somebody who wants to have a mature, adult, open-ended, good-hearted critical faith, to conduct the most vigorous and relentless conversation that [they] can with [their] own tradition.” This project is an attempt to engage in such a conversation with my tradition(s) – Pentecostalism and the Assemblies of God movement in New Zealand. It is not a project of criticism – nothing life-giving or transformative is achieved by throwing stones. Rather, the aim is a critical-reflection – a careful and prayerful analysis of Pentecostalism in my twenty-first century context. It is an attempt to offer fresh perspectives on Pentecostal ministry that would assist Assemblies of God pastors throughout New Zealand to minister, with increasing fruitfulness, the life of Christ in a postmodern world.

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Three realities within a twenty-first century context that necessitate a process of critical reflection. Firstly, “ministry today takes place in a world that is rapidly changing and extraordinarily multifaceted;” globalization, the information-age, and the progresses of science have awakened in the world a growing appreciation of the complexities inherent to every aspect of human life. This reality demands that the church exhibits a faith that is not only numinous but also rational and intellectual. This does not have to mean academic, nor does it have to be a capitulation to modernist ideals of logical positivism, scientism or some sort of biblical-rationalism. It does, however, ask that while Pentecostalism holds onto the mystery of faith – that God is unknowable in an empirical sense and is fundamentally ineffable – that it also attempts to speak of faith in a manner that is well considered, well formed and well argued. “The world cannot be ignored and isolation – intellectually, physically and spiritually – is not a viable option.”

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The third factor prompting the need for a critical reflection in regard to the theological constructs and ecclesial expressions of Pentecostalism concerns the nature of Pentecostalism and what, in the first place, makes a church Pentecostal. As a younger generation of Assemblies of God pastors are ordained for ministry, appreciation should be given to the fact that they will likely enter ministry with a natural postmodern disposition that will implicitly include a tendency towards deconstruction, institutional suspicion and an incredulity regarding meta-narratives. Whether their points of view are appreciated by older Pentecostal ministers or not, this new generation of pastors is likely to conduct their own evaluations of Pentecostalism and the Assemblies of God as a twenty-first century expression of the Church. Rather than ignore or try and shutdown these postmodern sensibilities, this paper will attempt to create the space required for an honest process of both deconstruction and reconstruction – with the latter being an effort often overlooked in postmodernism. Thus, with Pentecostalism moving into its second century, a critical analysis will consider what should be preserved and what should be discarded; in the first instance, to use the metaphor of 1 Corinthians 3:12, preserving the gold, silver and costly stones of Pentecost and, in the second instance, leaving behind that which might be referred to as the wood, hay and straw of the various Pentecostalisms that have unfolded over time. 

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If you would like to read the entire paper I'm happy to e-mail you a PDF version of the completed document, just send me an e-mail request: joseph@stlukeschurch.org.nz

Friday Craft Beer Review: Epic’s Pale Ale

Epic is a well-regarded Auckland based NZ brewery. Their most awarded beer is there Pale Ale. Essentially it is brewed in the style of an American Pale Ale, but they refer to it as their Epic Pale Ale. It’s their signature beer and for many enthusiasts is the standard “go-to” when it comes to craft beers. If this is an American Pale Ale though, what about an Indian Pale Ale? What’s the difference between APAs and IPAs? What even is an IPA?

So firstly, what is an IPA? Throughout history beer has mainly been brewed dark; brown through to black basically. Malts were dried over wood burning ovens and the result was nearly always smoky, roasty and toasty. About 300 years ago this changed. Clean burning coal allowed roasters a far greater degree of control when it came to roasting malts. Lightly roasted malts meant pale through to golden beers could be brewed, each with slightly different flavors. A whole would of delicious possibilities opened up. The Pale Ale took of in England and not content to drink this only on the mainland, England set about shipping this around her Empire. Especially to India. That’s always been England’s way, importing and exporting, shipping things around the world. Well at least up until Brexit. Now they’re building a wall.

While stouts and porters, the more traditional dark beers, survived the trip to India, pale ales didn’t travel so well and were prone to age horribly. In order to help the pale ale make the trip, extra hops were added to stabilize and preserve the beer, and the alcohol content upped a little. And there you have it; India Pale Ales or IPAs. They’re a deep golden color and have plenty of hops, but also the malt flavor comes through nicely. They also tend to have a slightly higher alcohol content. Tuatara’s Indian Pale Ale is a fantastic example of the traditional IPA (and quite different to the Double Trouble from a couple of weeks ago).

With craft beer brewing taking off throughout the States in the 1980’s, brewers started to play around with the standard IPA. Different types of hops and malts and different combinations meant no shortage of possibilities. With all sorts of variations also came a more standard form of American Pale Ale. While you’ll still pick up the malt in an APA, the hop factor has been turned up a notch. This means more floral flavors and more fruitiness; stone fruit, citrus, lychee etc. This is what we should expect in Epic’s Pale Ale, a more hoppy version of a standard IPA. If you put the Epic Pale Ale alongside Tuatara's IPA one time you'll notice the difference.

In saying all of that though, there are so many IPAs and APAs out there now that it isn’t always possible to tell them apart as brewers have different interpretations of each. It can be a pretty mixed bag. You’ve also got people brewing Pacific Pale Ales and even TPPAs (Trans-Pacific Pale Ale). So best of luck.

Ok, the Epic...

Price: $7.99 500mls

Alcohol content: 5.4%

Colour: It’s golden for sure, but it is dark.

Aroma: Fruity and also herbaceous, burnt raisins and grass.

Palate: Refreshing, sweet, fruity. Maybe passion-fruit and nectarine and lime. Raisins for sure.

Finish: Great finish. Sweet fruit gives way to bitter flavors of lemon grass and pine. Sits in your mouth long afterwards. 

On the Chart: The hops certainly overpower the malts in Epic’s Pale Ale. But the malt still comes through nicely. There is plenty of complexity with different flavors on display. The fruit and herbs of the hops as well as the sweet raisin like toffy of the malts. We end up landing towards the hop end with a good amount of complexity.

Conclusion: Epic’s Pale Ale is a great example of craft beer. As you work your way through the bottle you can taste both the hops and the malt coming through, each giving way to the other at times. This means all sorts of secondary flavors and the chance to ponder whether they are coming from the hops or the malt.

Next week we'll have a look at a pilsner.   

The Tower of Babel / Pentecost / Destiny Church - 1

PART 1 = The Tower of Babel:

Genesis 11:1-9

Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. ² As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.³ They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. ⁴ Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

⁵ But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower they were building. ⁶ The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. ⁷ Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

⁸ So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. ⁹ That is why it was called Babel —because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

In Genesis 1 & 2 we read of humankind being wondrously created to reflect the nature of God. Created as “image bearers” humanity is to represent what God is like and is charged to go into all the world, to scatter, to fill the earth, to multiply and to enjoy God’s gift of life.  

Sin interrupts the story and humanity falls short of representing God as they were intended to. By the time we get to Genesis 11, things are pretty out of kilter.

Rather than scattering into all the world, being fruitful, increasing in number, tending, developing, ordering, creating and reflecting the nature of God; humankind is united in purposes contrary to God’s will. Humans have set out to build their own self serving empire. They want to make a name for themselves by building a giant monument that reaches to the heavens, something that in any era requires an incredible amount of energy, finance, resource and effort. Likely the tower will be built through the oppression of others. This story tells us of humanities pride and self-reliance. The use of handmade bricks and tar rather than more naturally occurring stones and mortar made of mud suggests a move away from the providence of God in creation. The tower meets no need and is simply a self fulfilling monument to humanism.

God however does an incredible thing. God confuses their speech. Rather than have humanity united towards its own ends, ends contrary to God’s will, God creates disunity. Different people groups with their distinct languages begun to unite as one – but apart from the "other." Humanity begins to scatter and disperse throughout the earth.

In disrupting, interrupting and bringing confusion of language God ultimately moves humanity back towards his will that humankind would scatter throughout all the earth. Now at least humanity has the potential to represent God in all the earth. The only thing is; they are now divided in language and identity.

While originally all of humankind was meant to represent God and indeed all of humanity are still image bearers, God now chooses a family (Abraham’s) and a nation (Israel) to represent him specifically. In time Jesus comes, fully human and fully divine; the perfect representative of God to the world. Jesus preaches and teaches regarding the Kingdom of God, talks about grace and love and forgiveness and reconciliation to God. Jesus’ lays down his life on the cross as an example of love, as a ransom and atonement for our sin. Jesus is resurrected victorious over sin and death.

To be continued...

Christchurch / Earthquake / Fasting

The disaster that has recently befallen Christchurch is a genuine tragedy with so many lives lost and so many lives turned upside down. Literally, but also metaphorically, people are shaken, upset, anxious and worried, with any sense of peace they may have had in life evaporated. As a Christ follower my firm conviction is that God is there and can be found in the midst of the storm. Many (I know I have, and perhaps you have) will have experienced something of the divine stirring their hearts in the last 24 hours. We have all been reminded of the gift as well as the frailty of life, the importance and significance of others, both loved ones and complete strangers. What really matters in life is rearranged and realigned as we watch images of the grieving, the broken, and the displaced, and discover that so much of what we do is in pursuit of the temporal and the insignificant. We are reminded of how blessed we are to live in a nation where aid, support, encouragement, rescue and concern is so freely given and available. For those of us who have not lost a loved one, our home, our livelihood, or access to the everyday necessities of life we are thankful. For those that have our hearts and prayers are extended to you.

One of the ways that Christians for centuries have responded to the stirring of God in their hearts is to fast. When we sense his knocking, sometimes the most appropriate way to open ones heart to God and to allow the Holy Spirit to speak and work in our lives is to fast. By choosing to go without we acknowledge that we do not simply depend on food for life, but rather our dependence is on our Creator. By choosing to go without when we do not have to, in some small way we identify with and stand in solidarity with those who at the moment do not have a choice.

If you have felt God stirring your heart in some way or another as a result of the travesty in Christchurch in the last 24 hours my encouragement would be to join me in fasting tomorrow. As we fast our thoughts and prayers will be with those whose lives were yesterday changed forever. As we go hungry we are reminded of the hungry. That which we would normally have spent on food could be donated to Redcross or some other aid agency or organisation working in Christchurch. In a small way, even though we cannot be in Christchurch we can be with Christchurch. God is in Christchurch. God’s heart is for the hurting, the lost, and the broken in Christchurch.

Join me in responding to God’s stirring of our hearts in the midst of tragedy and fast tomorrow; 24/02/2011.

Cricket World Cup 2011

2011 will an exciting year of sport. Along with the NRL which is outstanding every year, we've also got both the cricket and the rugby world cups. I'm really looking forward to both.

In regards to the cricket world cup my New Zealand 11 would line up as follows...

Martin Guptil
Jessie Ryder
Ross Taylor
Kane Williamson
Scott Styris
James Franklin
Brendon McCullum
Daniel Vettori (c)
Nathan McCullum
Kyle Mills
Tim Southee

Forget statistics for selecting the team. New Zealand cricket will never amount to anything based on statistics. Team is based on passion / power / potential. With this line up we bat through to 8 but even 9, 10 and 11 know how to hit the ball. Bowling lacks the quick and really Adam Milne should be there instead of Mills. Forget experience here; it’s worth having one player who can hit the 140km plus mark. Oh well. The reality is as Twenty20 cricket proves; pace isn’t everything in limited over cricket. In fact taking all the pace off the ball seems to be the way to go. No place for How or Oram in this line up. How’s just not quite there. Oram is past it, sorry to say.

Keys in the world cup...

Fielding - will be to field with 100% commitment 100% of the time. Stop as many boundaries as possible with full commitment in the outfield, restrict the quick singles in close, pouncing on everything and threatening with run outs by hitting the stumps again and again. Catching is going to need to be sublime. See Sinclair for sublime!

Bowling – our slow bowlers are going to be key in building pressure. Vettori will and obviously has to lead the way. N McCullum, Styris and Guptill/Williamson at times need to be on fire and need to bowl smart. It would be nice to see Ryder roll the arm over every now and then as well. We’re going to need to mix things up. Open with McCullum on occasion. Don’t let batters get settled and bowl smart. No the opposition and set fields accordingly. Smart slow bowling will be the key though. Of course Franklin, Southee, Mills need to back up as well.

Batting – There is a lot of potential here. All our batters have fired before we just need a few of them to fire all at once. The key will be to read what’s happening in the game and ignore at times the proposed line up. Bring B McCullum in early if required. Hold Taylor back if the openers have set a solid platform and let Williamson or Styris craft it around. Over all the batters are going to have to bat aggressively. This is risky but I think it’s where we could find an edge. Ryder, Taylor, B McCullum and even Guptill have the ability to really go for it; go for it is what they are going to have to do.

My prediction - We’ll make the quarter finals as we always do. Then, as long as we don’t get India we’ll make it through to the semis, this will be a big upset! Here though we’ll go down. Most likely to India.