Blast From The Past: ‘And’

1970: “The word “and” will be a often-used conjunction in the emerging church” The Emerging Church, by Bruce Larson and Ralph Osborne, 1970.

2005: Dwight Friesen has a blog named “And.”

And



Wisdom:
“It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other.

The man who fears God will avoid all extremes”

Ecclesiastes 7:18

Thought: The word “and” keeps us from polarities and unhealthy extremes. It teaches us to listen, and to see with synoptic vision.

I guess I am blogging this because many of the complaints I hear go something like . .

“Emerging church people choose ___ over and against _____!

Technorati Tags: ,

and they believe ____ over and above _____

and they _______ rather than_____

and they believe ________ instead of _____

and they have replaced _____ for _____ !”

This is why the word “AND” can go a long way. Keep it in your pocket.

Andrew

Andrew Jones launched his first internet space in 1997 and has been teaching on related issues for the past 20 years. He travels all the time but lives between Wellington, San Francisco and a hobbit home in Prague.

6 Comments

  • + simonas says:

    i never thought of that this way. makes sense. good ideas.

  • Matt Glover says:

    I’m glad you posted this. I think the ermeging church too often forgets that it is part of the body of Christ. I think the traditional church forgets that the emerging church is part of the body of Christ too.
    Doesn’t take Einstein to realise that both need each other if they are going to survive at all.

  • chappy says:

    Andrew,
    Thank you for this post. After scanning through some articles on http://www.futurechurch.com, I have been getting extremely frustrated with the polarization and exclusivity of the emergent church. All the while we champion social justice, inclusiveness, and unity but the “leading edge” of the emergent movement doesn’t seem to be moving in that direction. Thanks for the reminder of “and”.

  • chappy says:

    Andrew,
    Thank you for this post. After scanning through some articles on http://www.futurechurch.com, I have been getting extremely frustrated with the polarization and exclusivity of the emergent church. All the while we champion social justice, inclusiveness, and unity but the “leading edge” of the emergent movement doesn’t seem to be moving in that direction. Thanks for the reminder of “and”.

  • maggi says:

    Nice, TSK! Teresa of Avila used to say, when asked which was more important – contemplation or activism – “The answer is the word AND…”.

  • Heather says:

    i remember hearing that if you say “i hear what you say but this is what i believe” then basically you need to disregard everything in the sentence that comes before the “but”! its like saying “but” cancels it out. so if you change it to “i hear what you say AND here’s another way of looking at it too” then you get to be more authentic, honest and real with people whilst still saying what you think. the power of “and”!

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