First Entry
Wow ... I can't believe I'm beginning something like this. I don't know much about the idea of 'blogging' but from what I've experienced and read of others, I like the idea. A place to comment, a place to reflect and remember, a place to share ... an on-line journal.
So, I figure for the first entry, I wanted to make a statement on the name: Pneumanaut. I once wrote a response to a friend who asked me what it meant, and here's a revised version of my response there ...
I am a huge fan of a writer by the name of Leonard Sweet (check out his site www.leonardsweet.com for info), and his books have radically changed who I am. He is a professor at Drew Theological University and has written MANY books and embarked on many projects. He is probably 5-10 years older than I am, and has an incredible way of looking at things. Well, I found out he was coming to our church as a workshop for the leadership in our church, and I HAD to get myself in there. I did, and spent all day Sat. listening to him; he spoke at the Sat pm/Sun am services and I listened to him then, and then he did another message on Sun. evening and I was there too. I was blown out of the water. I left the church unable to talk.
He said that his purpose that weekend was to get us to become better
'Pneumanauts'. He explained this term as in this way .. (BTW, it is a term he created ... he's into that - creating words) .. if you think of the term 'astronaut', it is created with 'astro' + 'naut' ... astro refers to stars and naut is part of the term 'nautical', thus connected to 'sailor' ... therefore, 'astro' + 'naut' = stars + sailor ... sailor of the stars. If one is a good sailor, they need look to the stars, to become very good at reading the stars, signs in the stars, how direction can be charted, where you're going, where you've been, how you know you're on the right path, etc. The reading of the stars is CRUCIAL to being a good sailor, to navigate your way through the waters of the journey.
Pneumanaut = Pneuma + naut. Pneuma: part of the Greek lexicon for the third person of the Triune God, the Holy Spirit, coequal, coeternal with the Father and the Son; sometimes referred to in a way which emphasizes his personality and character; sometimes referred to in a way which emphasizes his work and power; never referred to as a depersonalised force. For the purpose here, 'Spirit' ... Therefore, Pneumanaut = Pneuma + naut = Spirit + sailor ... sailor of the Spirit. Thus, if we are to become good 'pneumanauts', we need to look to the Spirit, to be able to read the world around us (the world we live in) for signs of the Holy Spirit - where God is working NOW, HERE. We need to read the signs of the Spirit so our direction can be charted, so we know where we're going and where we've been, so we know we are on the right path. Reading the signs of the Spirit in our world is crucial to our ability to 'add value to the time and place in which we are' (a bit of a different paradigm on what the purpose of a Christian is in our day today), to navigate our way through the plowing of the waters of our
journey.
I don't know how much reading others do or how much people consciously follow signs of the times. As in a sociological examination of time and people. I'm sure most are familiar with terms like the Reformation or the Rennaisance or the Industrial Age. These (and many others) are terms that refer to eras or times in Western history ... times when there have been movements and huge changes in the way people lived, thought, knew ... life prior to the era was completely different in every way to life after the era. We are in the midst of such a transition right now ... but the HUGE difference is that this is perhaps the first time that the Church has not been on the cutting edge, leading the way and influencing the transition. Right now, the church is seen by the western culture as being irrelevant, as being out of touch with the time. And sadly, it is. Everywhere I look, it seems to me that the Church is becoming a Ghetto - separate from the rest of the world, where
only those that understand the language are accepted in. The church has
such huge steps into it that most of the average Joes on the street can't get in without getting a huge bruise first, and they just give up. Spiritual curiosity is at an all-time high; the Christian church is just not part of that movement. We are living in the most biblically illiterate times in Western history ... 80% of our society believe in God; only 20% attend church regularly. And I wonder how many do it out of duty and not because they are passionate about it?
See, that's what I see being a Pneumanaut is all about ... about being HERE in this WORLD NOW ... looking for God's movement and work in our world around, outside those Christian Ghettos, and seeking ways to make the message of Christ's love relevant to those who will never darken the door of a church. We had some missionaries in our church this last Sunday from Egypt ... they spent 2 years prior to beginning their 'missionary' work learning the language and culture and people of the world they were entering, so that they could become indigenous to that culture. Are Christians indigenous to our Western Culture? Do they know the language and can they relate and interact with the world of their street and in their supermarket? These missionaries are training Egyptian Christians to go out to their own people ... what are we doing to go out to our own people? It's not about getting people IN the church; it's about us going OUT to the people and living along side of them, engaging in relationship with them through all their struggles and 'plowing the waters of their journey'.
If you can imagine also, Pneuma is a very old Greek term - from around the time of Christ or the new fledgling church; naut is from the time when exploration was at its peak, going out and seeking new worlds and new realities (1400?1500?) .. and now I embrace the term today ... in the 2000's ... swinging back in time to swing forward to the future. Carpe Manana ... sieze tomorrow.
What also strikes me ... which I did not discover until after embracing the name ... is that Pneuma was always used in the feminine form ... so, if God is the omnipotent all-embracing non-gender and all-gender in One, and Jesus is the male component of the Trinity ... then Pneuma - ie Holy Spirit - is the feminine component of the Trinity. There is something about that that sits well with me.
So, here is to my first 'blog' ... one of many, I hope!! :D
And now I have to get ready to go to my part-time job at Cotton Ginny.
So, I figure for the first entry, I wanted to make a statement on the name: Pneumanaut. I once wrote a response to a friend who asked me what it meant, and here's a revised version of my response there ...
I am a huge fan of a writer by the name of Leonard Sweet (check out his site www.leonardsweet.com for info), and his books have radically changed who I am. He is a professor at Drew Theological University and has written MANY books and embarked on many projects. He is probably 5-10 years older than I am, and has an incredible way of looking at things. Well, I found out he was coming to our church as a workshop for the leadership in our church, and I HAD to get myself in there. I did, and spent all day Sat. listening to him; he spoke at the Sat pm/Sun am services and I listened to him then, and then he did another message on Sun. evening and I was there too. I was blown out of the water. I left the church unable to talk.
He said that his purpose that weekend was to get us to become better
'Pneumanauts'. He explained this term as in this way .. (BTW, it is a term he created ... he's into that - creating words) .. if you think of the term 'astronaut', it is created with 'astro' + 'naut' ... astro refers to stars and naut is part of the term 'nautical', thus connected to 'sailor' ... therefore, 'astro' + 'naut' = stars + sailor ... sailor of the stars. If one is a good sailor, they need look to the stars, to become very good at reading the stars, signs in the stars, how direction can be charted, where you're going, where you've been, how you know you're on the right path, etc. The reading of the stars is CRUCIAL to being a good sailor, to navigate your way through the waters of the journey.
Pneumanaut = Pneuma + naut. Pneuma: part of the Greek lexicon for the third person of the Triune God, the Holy Spirit, coequal, coeternal with the Father and the Son; sometimes referred to in a way which emphasizes his personality and character; sometimes referred to in a way which emphasizes his work and power; never referred to as a depersonalised force. For the purpose here, 'Spirit' ... Therefore, Pneumanaut = Pneuma + naut = Spirit + sailor ... sailor of the Spirit. Thus, if we are to become good 'pneumanauts', we need to look to the Spirit, to be able to read the world around us (the world we live in) for signs of the Holy Spirit - where God is working NOW, HERE. We need to read the signs of the Spirit so our direction can be charted, so we know where we're going and where we've been, so we know we are on the right path. Reading the signs of the Spirit in our world is crucial to our ability to 'add value to the time and place in which we are' (a bit of a different paradigm on what the purpose of a Christian is in our day today), to navigate our way through the plowing of the waters of our
journey.
I don't know how much reading others do or how much people consciously follow signs of the times. As in a sociological examination of time and people. I'm sure most are familiar with terms like the Reformation or the Rennaisance or the Industrial Age. These (and many others) are terms that refer to eras or times in Western history ... times when there have been movements and huge changes in the way people lived, thought, knew ... life prior to the era was completely different in every way to life after the era. We are in the midst of such a transition right now ... but the HUGE difference is that this is perhaps the first time that the Church has not been on the cutting edge, leading the way and influencing the transition. Right now, the church is seen by the western culture as being irrelevant, as being out of touch with the time. And sadly, it is. Everywhere I look, it seems to me that the Church is becoming a Ghetto - separate from the rest of the world, where
only those that understand the language are accepted in. The church has
such huge steps into it that most of the average Joes on the street can't get in without getting a huge bruise first, and they just give up. Spiritual curiosity is at an all-time high; the Christian church is just not part of that movement. We are living in the most biblically illiterate times in Western history ... 80% of our society believe in God; only 20% attend church regularly. And I wonder how many do it out of duty and not because they are passionate about it?
See, that's what I see being a Pneumanaut is all about ... about being HERE in this WORLD NOW ... looking for God's movement and work in our world around, outside those Christian Ghettos, and seeking ways to make the message of Christ's love relevant to those who will never darken the door of a church. We had some missionaries in our church this last Sunday from Egypt ... they spent 2 years prior to beginning their 'missionary' work learning the language and culture and people of the world they were entering, so that they could become indigenous to that culture. Are Christians indigenous to our Western Culture? Do they know the language and can they relate and interact with the world of their street and in their supermarket? These missionaries are training Egyptian Christians to go out to their own people ... what are we doing to go out to our own people? It's not about getting people IN the church; it's about us going OUT to the people and living along side of them, engaging in relationship with them through all their struggles and 'plowing the waters of their journey'.
If you can imagine also, Pneuma is a very old Greek term - from around the time of Christ or the new fledgling church; naut is from the time when exploration was at its peak, going out and seeking new worlds and new realities (1400?1500?) .. and now I embrace the term today ... in the 2000's ... swinging back in time to swing forward to the future. Carpe Manana ... sieze tomorrow.
What also strikes me ... which I did not discover until after embracing the name ... is that Pneuma was always used in the feminine form ... so, if God is the omnipotent all-embracing non-gender and all-gender in One, and Jesus is the male component of the Trinity ... then Pneuma - ie Holy Spirit - is the feminine component of the Trinity. There is something about that that sits well with me.
So, here is to my first 'blog' ... one of many, I hope!! :D
And now I have to get ready to go to my part-time job at Cotton Ginny.
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