I started my first blog site in 1997. It was called Andrew's Tea Salon. My blog entries contained where I was and what I was doing and thinking on that day. These were the good old days and there were no blogging engines so I had to do it all manually. For me, a blog site was the way a web site should be. It still feels that way to me. Why? It is probably because the genre honors TIME and SPACE. It is a way for me to go from being nowhere to being now here.

My blog site is:

Grounded more than Abstract. Each blog entry has a date and time attached to it. This is important. I write these blogs at a real time and from a real place. I try to let my readers know which country I am in when I write so they know what is flavoring the blog. And yet at the same time it is global in scope and breaks barriers of time and space. The mundane is interesting.

Being more than Becoming. Blogging is a reflection of the Wabi-sabi philosophy that currently underlies the internet. Wabi-sabi, a Japanese concept, is the way of the new and unfinished (Wabi) as it interacts with the aged and wise (the Sabi). Early internet aspirations were based more on Teilhard de Chardin's 'Omega Point', the idea that everything was progressively evolving towards a unifying harmonizing . . . (ah, I cant think of the word - excuse my wabi). Early web sites were saturated with "Under Construction" signs, as if their value was in the future rather than the present. But Wabi-sabi is the way of the NOW. The raw, fresh, unfinished work in progress is valued for what it is now, rather than what it will be when it is completed. Modernity's fascination with "becoming" is giving way to the unapologetic "being" of current postmodern art. I have never yet used a spell check on my blog and I try to let the words come out as I think them without trying to process them into being correct or tidy.

Kairos more than Chronos Blogging is about valuing and honoring the moment. It is about the kairos time more than the chronos time, the opportune time more than the continuous progressive time. Jesus said that tomorrow had enough worries. Jesus said "Give us this DAY our daily bread." Jesus said, to his brothers who were rushing him to the Festival, "The time for you is always right . . .but my time has not yet come." His brothers were running on modern ever-progressive time, the nonstop time that the slaves were under in Egypt, or the Yuppies in New York, or the Salarymen in Tokyo. Jesus resisted "Time's Arrow". Jesus was running on Kingdom time, the right and ripe time. It was not even the non-directional cyclical time of the East. It was moment time. It was Kingdom time, kairos more than chronos, seasonal time, opportune time. Right time. Blogging challenges me to capture the moment. To sieze the day and then reflect on it. To redeem the time, as well as honoring the place "So God set another time for entering his place of rest, and that time is TODAY" Hebrews 4:7. Thanks Amy MacDonald for that verse.

Context more than Content. Who writes, and where they are writing from, and when they write, is often more important than what they actually write. It some cases, the context is the content. Hansel, the fashion model on the movie "Zoolander" that I watched this weekend, expresses this thought when he speaks of his heros. "Sting. Sting would be another person who is a hero. The music that he has created over the years -I dont really listen to it. But the fact that he is making it - I respect that." It is not always the thing: It is the fact of the thing. McLuhan said that the book would one day devolve into a blurb. Blog sites are really just a series of blurbs.

Recapitulated more than Representational. A blog site is a blog site. It is not trying to be like anything else. It is beyond the metaphor. We have come a long way since the mid nineties. My first web log was set up in 1997. It was called Andrew's Tea Salon(did I tell you this already?) and was a virtual space for my logs. It looked like a Tea Salon. The idea was a place to catch up on gossip like being in a real Tea Salon. I even had links to tea companies. My new blog site, which began in June 2001, is just a blog site called Tallskinnykiwi.Tallskinnykiwi. This repesents a maturity in the way we treat media. We are no longer representing the previous. We no longer call the car a "horseless carriage" (Sweet again). In his chapter called "The Fall of Metaphor and the Rise of Recapitulation", Douglas Rushkoff lists three stages of cultural developments. 1. an innocent literal stage 2. a symbolic or metaphorial stage (I am calling it representational) 3. an ironic recapitulated stage. I am finding myself moving towards the recapitulated. For five years I was "Cyberrev", a representational minister who used the internet instead of a buidling. I grew tired of being nowhere. Now I am "Tallskinnykiwi" - a term that reconnects me with my historical/geographical roots as a New Zealander and the fact of my physical body. This is me NowHere.

Dynamic more than Static. My blog site changes daily. It is affected by what is happening in my life. It is changed by the input of readers who respond and make comments. It is open to interaction. People can change not only the story of my life, but the direction and actions of my life in general. Once I mentioned in a blog entry that I was going to the movies with my wife and could not decide what to see. I had suggestions come from as far away as Germany and Australia. The readers of my blog are players in my life.

Discontinous more than Sequential My blogs are blurbs that are singular thoughts, ideas and events. I write them down as they happen without having to build on the last blog or have them progress into a more developed thought. They are discontinous. But that does not mean that they are disconnected. My blogs are connected to other thoughts and people. I use hyperlinks to connect words and names to other related thoughts and resources. They are opportunities for me to elaborate more if I choose, and for the reader to go further if they choose. Readers can put the fragments together in any fashion that suits them. They can track me chronologically, geographically, through events or through the people I meet. I provide the pieces and they recreate the story.

Grassroots more than Corporate. Bloggers are normal people who make comments on life as they see it. Bloggers are not normally sponsored by large corporations and their views, while perhaps not as informed and professional, are less likely to be influenced by money or power. They do not need to make their blogs appealing or successful like a business web site. My blog site is not great. It has only been looking decent for a month. I dont even write very well. But people log on daily to read it because they are interested in my life and my story, in my take on the world and who my friends are. Honestly, I really dont know why they visit it.

Holistic more than Dualistic. I am a minister, a missionary, a Christian worker, a follower of Jesus who helps others tell stories and throw parties. But I am also a human being. I want to fulfill my calling as an ambassador for God and I also want to embrace the full human experience. My ministry cannot be seperated from my breakfast. Or my family. Or what car I drive. My life is a story and everything I do should have prophetic value. Blogging is a way for me to speak out as a whole person, not an abstract personna. Blogging rocks. Thanks to Blogger.com for helping me out. I look forward to the time when I can sms my blogs from my phone. To those who God is raising up to speak healing words into the time/space dimension of the now and here, I say, BLOG ON.

Andrew Jones is the Minister-Formerly-Known-As-CyberRev. His email is tallskinnykiwi@hotmail.com but he still gets email at his old address CyberRev@hotmail.com from people who knew him in his previous incarnation. One of those emails came to his old address a few months ago. It began, "Dear CyberRev, we need your help!" Instead of looking at his CyberWatch and announcing "I'm on my way", Andrew took this as confirmation that he needed to abandon the heck out of that old, abstract identity, lest he think of himself as a DickTracy-kind-of-minister rather than a Dana-Carvey-type-of-minister which is closer to the truth. By the way, Andrew has described himself as "pathetically human", a term he took from comedian Dana Carvey. Andrew travels a third of his tiime. He is a father, again, and now has children born on three continents. Someone once remarked to him, "Dude, you dont live anywhere!" Thereupon, Andrew turned and replied, "No, Dude. Like . . . I live everywhere." That is to say, Andrew is trying to live, whever God places him, somewhere in time and space. Andrew writes and publishes The Skinny Series every Monday. He writes quickly and without a spellcheck to preserve the "Wabi-Sabi" flavor. This is also his excuse for sloppiness. Andrew often wonders why he writes these bios in the third person. It is probably that the appearance of abstractness causes his modern readers to assume objectivity. The other way would be for him to say, "I am Andrew. I have just written this article. . . I like it . . I am qualified to write it because . . I was in Japan last week and have experienced the true essence of Wabi-sabi. . . even though it was never mentioned . . .um . . and I went to Seminary . . a few of them, actually, and Bible Colleges also. . .yes . . although I never really finished in the 'graduated' sense of the word . . . it was more non-sequential . . non-linear . . you know what I mean."

THE END.

This is the point where the surfers of postmodernity will leave my article because everything that needs to be said has been said already. Hey - see you guys next week! We will probably chat about postmodern lifestyles. Throw me a bone. Dammit!

But some of you would like more on the explanational side so I will continue, albeit in a more propositional (modern) and yet random (postmodern) way. E'en so, here we go.

Random Propositional Thoughts on Time and Space and the Challenge for the Church to Move from Nowhere to NowHere.

Time and Space. This is what the conversation comes down to. Bottom line. Straight up. It is not so much about conflicting philosophies but more about conflicting EXPERIENCES of reality. The Enlightenment thinkers like Newton insisted our world was held together with absolute time and absolute space. Later scientists showed that time and space were elusive and relative. Part of finding our feet in postmodernity has to do with reconnecting with time and space, with history and geography, with ground and moment. Time feels shorter. Space seems smaller. The world is more connected. "Time's Arrow" no longer flies straight.

This "time-space compression" is a felt reality, rather than an actual one. The world hasn't really changed and daylight savings hasn't really made our curtains fade. What is changing is how we deal with it, the concepts and constructs we use to descibe the differing experiences. But the experience itself is real. Very real.

In Modernity, we tried to transcend time and space. "Modernity", said Anthony Giddens, is "precisely the transmutation of time and space." Modern theologians and missiologists, just like other social scientists of their day, were guilty of abandoning history and geography in their attempt at creating or translating universal truths. Pastors developed ministry programs to be universally appropriate in any place or time. Even much of the argument today about modernism vs. postmodernism happens in "empty space", in the world of abstract theory and not in the real world of people, events, lifestyles and culture.

Postmodernism interupted the abstract time and space of modernity. Postmodern fiction plays with time (going from future to past to present) and cancels out progression of time through means such as revealing the climax well before its time (like Philip Roth in "The Human Stain") In visual arts, "the cubists fractured the time-space barrier itself, providing simultaneous images of the same moment from different points in space and multiple views of a single scene at various points in time." (from 'NowHere:Space, Time and Modernity'). Post-impressionism used light to do something similar. Moby and Bjork, both of whom were influenced by non-linear soundscape artist Brian Eno (who was actually a painter and not a musician - I heard that he created the sound for Microsoft that Windows opens with - is that true?), are influencing postmodern music in the area of time and space. Postmodern movies are basically movies about time and space. Time is either an enemy, a tool, or a weapon if you can break its limits. The clashing of multiple dimensions of space or time provide the tension for the story's plot. This is the case for probably every movie under the postmodern spotlight. In architecture, the "International Style" of modernism attempted to transcend time and space. I actually live in one of those boxy apartments. Butt-ugly on the aesthetics side but quite practical. It is a wierd fact that I am writing on how to deal with postmodernity from my modern apartment while some of the church's finest critics of postmodernity live in postmodern houses. Isn't life wierd?

Len Sweet has a fabulous article on postmodern architechure. Hunt around for it at leonardsweet.com It is Len Sweet who also reminds us that in the postmodern world, everything has a "double ring". It is both/and rather than either/or. Hah - I got ya! It is both/and PLUS either/or. Saying both/and commits us to include either/or! (Sorry, couldn't resist it) As we embrace more of virtual reality, and the internet becomes more a part of our lives, so we also embrace the appearance of the real or the remnants of premodern culture. Web-design and calligraphy at the same time, says Gerard kelly.

Jesus was also connected to place. Sweet says that Jesus "didn't pray in general. He prayed specifically about historical and personal issues relevant to his time and day. When he taught, he did not communicate in general, but in particular." (Soul Tsunami) The church has a universal and local expression. Here, again is Sweet's double ring. The crucifixion, death and resurrection accomplished redemption beyond the barriers of human time and space, and yet it happened locally and on a particualar day. "Christ's rez was in the past, is in the present and is in the future. It exists outside of time and space, yet happened within it." That was from Mike Ford who sent in some great thoughts during the week. "Chistianity is innately mystical because it exists outside of time and space, both of which we are held captive. We, through faith in Christ, have the opportunity to be lifted beyound ourselves and see our experience of life catch up to our status of being "seated with Christ." we have been saved. we are being saved. we will be saved. salvation exists outside of time and space, yet we are within it...kind of like incarnation." Way to go, Mike! Scott Mathis comes back at us again this week. "Simply accepting that God exists in more dimensions than we do lays the groundwork for reconciling premodern experience, modern rationality, and a whole host of theological positions. In the best postmodern tradition, the answer becomes simply 'yes, and...'"

Scott recommends reading "Flatlands". Hey Scott, despite having millions of people recommend that book to me, (OK, you and Tim Ahlen) I still havent read it. But when I find it, I would like to read it alongside two other books that were either written or set in 1895 (I think Flatlands was published in 1895, wasn't it?) One would be "Sherlock Holmes", with its one-dimensional Enlightenment view. The other would be "Lilith", by George MacDonald, in which he often superimposes the spiritual over the earthly realms, and, unlike Doyle in Sherlock Holmes, MacDonald believes the spiritual realm is more real than the realm observed by the physical senses. MacDonald, who is called the father of modern fantasy, influenced Tolkein and C.S. Lewis, and had a part in getting Alice in Wonderland to the world.

Location. Location. Location. Are they the three most important words in postmodernity as well as real estate? A runner up might be these three: Timing. Timing. Timing.

Globalization. I didnt mention it but Tom Sine tackles it in "Mustard Seed vs. McWorld". Tom cooked me a superb salmon dinner and I owe him. So buy the book.

Apologetics - Are we answering the right questions? The world is asking eternal questions about time and space. Is there really multiple dimensions to this reality and if so how do I relate to the other worlds? Are there different dimensions of time and if so, how does that affect my daily existence on this level? This is good news. A few years back, modern secular people were not interested in supernatural, multi-dimension realities. We were the wierdos because we believed in different dimensions (3 heavens, natural and supernatural, the dimension of angels and demons) as well as time dimensions (eternal time, earth time)
Dr. David Needham, who taught me at Multnomah Bible College, often said that God lives in an "eternal NOW". Thinkers like Needham were on the ball. They are being recognized by secular physicists who are exploring time and space and coming to similar conclusions. Julian Babour, in "The End of Time", writes this.

Have we treated postmodernism as a philosophical construct which can be either dismissed or easily resolved in the intellectual realm? Postmodernism (the description) can be poo-pooed away. Postmodernity (the actual experience of living in this changed state) is here to stay and we need to deal with it. Because the issue was reduced to an idea, people have checked out prematurely.

Have we sent some of our best thinkers to defend our modern concepts of truth, rather than the truth itself. Do we now have churches full of Christians who know what they believe about absolute truth and relative truth but they have absolutely no idea what they believe about relative time and space and motion?

Are the communication devices we use and train Christians to use too abstract for the postmodern world? The forms of communication taught to me at Seminaries and conferences were mostly abstract - disconnected from time and space. Sermons, testimonies, essays, bookwriting, conference speaking, program creation. All attempt to transcend time and space. The first five minutes of a sermon is taken up proving that it is relevant to someone's time and someone's space. When Peter stood up at Pentecost, he explained that "This" thing that was happening now in this place, was "That" thing that was coming. Paul's "testimony' was in direct relation to the questioning he was undergoing. Both Peter and Paul spoke into their time and space. Last month in Japan, during a great conversation about Jesus with some girls who were interested in God, someone stopped the whole conversation by saying "Do you want to hear my testimony?" His "testimony" came from Mars, and we never did get back to that intimate level of conversation about the eternal. I feel that effective forms of communication in the future will take time and space into consideration. They will be connected immediately to ground and moment.

Cyberspace is not postmodern. The internet represents a mixed bag of modern tools, hypermodern aspirations, Romantic ideologies, and postmodern dynamics. Andrew Careaga, author of E-evangelism and E-ministry, sees cyberspace as being "a laboratory" in which postmodern theories can be tested. "The computer, as a tool, is a product of modernism but the way it facilitates connectedness and community is postmodern."

Dynamic equivalence, which is taught to our translators and missiologists, has been called a "specis of high, Enlightenment modernity". Is it a method of translation that transcends time and space? "Meaning is a wall, not a container" said Walter Benjamin, who believed we should protect the integrity of the text (literal translation) rather than try to transfer the meaning to another context. Read what I wrote about communication as a bubble and not a box.

Redeem the time. Respect the place.

For a list of resources, books and articles that influenced this article, go here