Post #123 Poets, Prophets, & Preachers: Day 2, Session2

Day 2, Session 2
(preface: Peter Rollins is a dynamic speaker, but he is somewhat difficult to follow. He is frantic and kinetic. He is excited and enthusiastic. He bounces from story to story and from idea to idea. This is definitely one of those moments that if the notes seem fragmented or confusing, you should have been watching it live.)

Peter Rollins
"Returning to the New: An Introduction to Transformance Art"

Rollins is part of IKON, a group that attempts to transform lives through innovative and often challenging environments.
Located in Belfast, Ireland; a city and country where religion is sacred but also potentially deadly.

"Life is lived forward and understood backwards." - Søren Kierkegaard

Fairy tales tell a society's values:
In the West,
- the poor become wealthy
- the marginalized become influential
- the weak become powerful
In the East,
- the wealthy become poor
- the influential become marginalized
- the powerful become weak

The first role of a leader is not to lead, it is to refuse to lead. If by stepping back we allow space for others to wrestle with questions, the answers will be theirs and in the process, will have more meaning to them.

Rollins told a story:
A man goes to see a therapist because he believed that he was not a man, but a pile of seeds. After months of therapy, the man left the therapist with an understanding that he was truly a man and not a pile of seeds. A while later, a farmer moved in near the man. The farmer had chickens and this created some anxiety for the man. He went back to the therapist and expressed is concerns. The therapist reminded the man that he was not a pile of seeds, but was a man. The man responded, "Yeah, but do the chickens know?!"

Sometimes, our identity is not just ours. It is also the perception that others have about who we are. We must do what we can to help them see that we are this (human) and not that (seeds).

Let's talk about Batman.
- By night, Batman goes around beating up those who commit crimes in Gotham City.
- By day, he is the major stockholder in Wayne Enterprises, a large multinational conglomerate. The chief function of Wayne Enterprises is to fund the research and development of chemical, technological, military, and industrial advances...and to make billions of dollars that Bruce Wayne skims from to help him fight bad guys.
- If we examine the cultural, socio-economic, and systemic reasons why some people commit crimes we might find that the poverty, lack of education, resentment, anger, or self-loathing of the criminals might be connected to a lack of something.
- Bruce Wayne might very well be creating the bad guys he fights.
- Wayne Enterprises is corporate greed that marginalizes people.

Now, what if our meetings, gatherings, and services actually help the systems that are in place just continue on their path without any real change.
What if we are the batmans who are creating our bad guys? What if our agendas actually hurt, not help?

Revolution changes a whole system.
Insurrection changes lives.

Cognitive dissonance (look it up) is accepted in the Church.
This is the fundamental problem in transforming lives.

Let's talk about sit-coms:
- Not only are all of the problems in a sit-com solves in 22 minutes. The show actually has an audible laugh track. Most people think this is so we as an audience know when to laugh. Are we so disconnected that we don't know funny when we hear it and we need to be told?! Maybe...
But what if the laugh track is not telling us when to laugh, but is actually just laughing for us?
- A lot of church goers do not feel that they necessarily need to believe everything that the congregation, pastor, or Church believes as long as those who lead us believe.

God is not an object in this world, he transforms my ability to see the world. I do not see the light, I see because of the light.

"We should not try to convince the head so much as try to convince the depths of the person."

-When we go to a museum, do we look for the "right interpretation" of the art, or do we interact with the art, allowing it to transform us on an emotional, spiritual, and philosophic level?

"A sermon should be the salt that makes the people thirsty!"

Rollins tells this story:
Two guys are walking down the street heading to the bars. They see a sign on the side of a church that reads: $200 for a conversion.
One guy says to the other, "This is great! You go in, do the whole conversion thing, get the money, and then we can drink all night!"
The other guy agrees and goes in.
About half an hour later he comes out of the church. His friend sees him and comes up to him. He asks, "did you get the money?"
The friend replies, "Is money all you non-believers are concerned about?"

- The point: does our motivation lead us and others to real transformation?

-If someone is seeking God because they are seeking eternal life...they are not really seeking God, they are just seeking eternal life.
-If someone is seeking God because they are seeking meaning...they are not really seeking God, they are just seeking meaning.
-If someone is seeking God because they are seeking love...they are not really seeking God, they are just seeking love.

These are all great things to seek. And by seeking God, we will find them. But the motivation isn't seeking God. the motivation is in seeking something else and God becomes the bonus.

As leaders in the church, we must remind ourselves that, "I am not he Bread. Hopefully I can provide the space and opportunity for others to smell the aroma of the Bread."

"Christianity promises substantive transformation. If we are really lucky, it might happen in church, but maybe I am optimistic." - Peter Rollins