Next Question, Please

I saw this headline on foxnews.com today:
"What would drive a schoolteacher and mother to shoot her minister husband?"

Short answer:
The Church

Life Never Better, Death Never More Certain

If you've read much of my blog, you will know that I've been like a kid in the candy store the last year and a half learning to live life all over again. I've been through self-admitted detox to break my addiction to vocational Christianity and have begun the journey to truly know Christ and to know myself. My family is well and happy. I wish I could freeze time and keep my two boys at 4 and 1.5 years old forever, if not for the joy of watching them grow up. I'm in love with my wife who is still my best friend after 13 years. My business is finally turning a corner, and 2006 is looking to be my best year yet. I'm in love with life and am pursuing my passions.

Before you think I'm in a state of disillusioned euphoria, let me tell you that I have never been more in touch with reality. My mood vacillates almost as much as the balance in my checkbook. All things considered life is good, very good, and for that reason death is beginning to sting. Watching my kids grow up and the seasons change makes time seem to race on by. Who knows how many more years God will allow me. Forty, if I'm lucky. 1976 didn't used to seem that long ago. My grandparents are getting older, and their health is failing. My grandfather was invincible when we were growing up, and now he seems very human. My grandmother has alzheimers and doesn't even know her own husband or her own children anymore.

I read the Bible differently these days. I try to read it for what it really says, not for what I want it to say, or for what others have told me it says. [This is the point in the movie where you may want to change channels for a bit or risk getting really messed up theologically.] I'm not so sure anymore what I believe about heaven and hell. If both are real, something tells me people won't be divided up so nice and neatly as we've been led to believe. If Jesus told us anything about it, He said that there will be a lot of surprises for many people. Some days I default to the nice Sunday School version of life that allows you to sleep in peace knowing that you're an insider and have nothing to worry about. Some days I think that the blood of Christ covers every sin and no one is turned away. Some days I wonder if we just don't die like every other creature and cease to be, simply return to the earth from which we came. No matter, death still stings.

I fell in love with the music of Johnny Cash some time last year, especially his later recordings. Johnny Cash was a man in touch with death and pain. He was able to vocalize what we think and feel about death like no other. You cannot listen to his music and not come face to face with your own mortality, which, I believe, is the key to truly enjoying life. The stark reality of death makes life more precious.

I don't think we should live in fear of death but nor should we surrender to it. I've seen many terminally ill people over the years who cling to every last breath they can muster long after their body has given out. There is something in the human spirit that fights against death and clings to life. I'm not afraid to die, but not because I know exactly what happens after death. I'm not afraid to die, because I know God and trust Him to do with me what He will. Until my time comes, and it will, I will celebrate life and enjoy every day I'm given. One day, I will fight the good fight then lay this body down and rest in Him.

All You Need to Know

The only consolation I have when the weekend ends is that Tuesday night is only a day away. Boston Legal boasts some of the most brilliant and talented writers and actors of any show on television, and like sharing a nightcap with an old friend on a balcony overlooking the Boston skyline, the show is even better when sipping a merlot with my friend on Tuesday night cackling at James Spader and William Shatner.

The show began this past week with Alan Shore's secretary Melissa being arrested for tax evasion because she returned a tax notice to the IRS with a post-it note bearing the direction to "Stick It!" While assessing the merits of her defense Alan asked her why she would do such a thing. She responded matter of factly that she did it "for my grandfather." Alan quipped back, "I suppose you thought you told me everything I need to know."

While working in Florida the last two weeks with my friend and business partner, Sim Church Planter, we came to the conclusion that Pensacola has an obscene number of churches. There is almost one on every street corner, if not a pair of them, each blinding the public with religious graffiti to sell their special niche in "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show." It's enough to make you nauseous or at least run through on Sunday morning turning over tables and sending turtledoves flying.

One particular church edifice was particularly inviting. Smyrna Baptist Church on Pensacola Blvd. boasted a massive white-washed brick facade on a busy street corner proudly displaying the church name and two descriptive signs on the left and right:

Fundamental
Missional
Doctrinal
KJV - 1611

and

Fundamental
Premillenial
Traditional
KJV - 1611

I thought it impressive that they listed fundamental and KJV 1611 on both signs . If they are trying to reach unchurched people, they might as well be speaking Martian, because those religious buzzwords mean jack to the general public. They do however preach loudly to the choir of the converted and brainwashed. "If you don't measure up, you need not apply."

If that's you, take heart and be not discouraged, because there is "A Church with a Choice," at least that's what their gigantic interstate billboard says on I-110. On opposing sides there are pictures of a guitar and a violin with the consoling words "Contemporary" or "Traditional." As my astute friend pointed out, they only offer the illusion of a choice because no matter how you spin it, it's still the same old song and dance.

I suppose both churches thought they told us all we needed to know. It begs the questions for something of substance. Surely, there is more to being a follower of Jesus Christ than clever puns, fundraising ads, and program promotions convey. If you only had a few seconds to make an impact upon thousands of people a day, what would you do? Evangelism is not a marketing strategy; it is a lifestyle.

So, Now What?

I've been reading through Frank Viola's book Pagan Christianity at the urging of my friend, Sim Church Planter, and another reader who posted a comment on my blog entry discussing a Viola article. This book only provides historical support for the gut feeling I've had for years that something is terribly wrong with the way we do church.

Honestly, I stopped reading the book after reading the first two chapters and the last two. I'll finish the middle some time later. The reason I stopped is not that I disagreed with Viola, but that I found myself screaming "so, now what?" I don't need to spend days listening to someone tell me what I've already found to be true by experience. To Frank's credit, he suggests reading his companion book Rethinking the Wineskin to learn about the practices of the first century church. Great marketing there, Frank... put the problem and the solution in two different books. Now, I've got to go nuts until I get the other one.

Seriously, his entire premise and the facts that support it raises serious questions and strong emotions for me. First, the emotions... I feel like a charlatan for propagating this stuff for years in the church as a pastor. I would march myself down to my former churches tomorrow morning, confess my deception, and beg for mercy, if only they wouldn't have me committed or, worse, burned at the stake. My genuine remorse for deceiving the faithful is tempered by my anger for being personally hood-winked and sold a bill of goods since childhood.

Now, for some questions, beyond the obvious, "what do we do now?" Honestly, in a pursuit to be 1st century ecclesiological purists, aren't we simply trading one tradition for another, albeit a simpler and much older one? Hijacking pagan rituals and customs is evident much earlier in scripture, i.e. David and the Zionist tradition or Abraham offering Isaac as a child sacrifice. Scripturally, the nature of the relationship between God and humanity evolved from pre-history until the time of Christ and the 1st century church. Who are we to say that it must cease to evolve to a deeper level? Do we not make the same misguided assumption that Solomon did in Ecclesiastes that what is has already been and there is nothing new under the sun?

I think there are values that should be gleaned and replicated from the 1st century church, but honestly, it is not a prototype for all time. God did not dispense His Spirit into a perfect vessel that only cracked several centuries later in Rome, nor did Christ choose the perfect spotless bride who only grew uglier with time. God chose cracked pots. Christ chose a prostitute for a bride, much the same as Hosea. We are what we are, and He loves us nonetheless.

I think it unwise to lump all pagan practices into the category of evil influences, as compared to the spiritual utopia that is 1st century Christianity. Appreciation, respect, and adaptation of our pagan culture provides a bridge through which the incarnational life of Christ can flow from His church to the world. I am leery of "us versus them," insider versus outsider, mentality. It has proved dangerous time after time, from the treatment of the first church in Jerusalem toward Gentile believers to the treatment of protestant churches in America toward blacks and homosexuals.

In light of what the 1st century church may have done right and what the 20th century church has done wrong, the question that emerging Christianity continues to ask is what does it mean to be a follower of Jesus Christ in the 21st century? In other words, so, now what?

Celtic Music Night

Saturday, March 11, the Alexandria Zoo will be hosting Celtic Music Night from 6-10pm. Admission is $5. See the flyer here.

A Generous View of Life

The feeling comes across that these are people who are driven by ideas. - Professor Martin Carver

I ran across this quote describing Irish monks in an article recommended by a reader entitled The Long Search by William Dalrymple that disusses Celtic Spirituality and its origins. Believing the quote to be an appropriate description, I understand the more why I am drawn to Celtic spirituality. While I believe that we should ultimately be driven by our passion to know Christ and make Him known, the question then becomes, "how do we do that?". I have believed and have come to know that living with a closed mind, convinced that your worldview is the sole repository of truth, displays a limited profile of the wonderful fullness that is the body of Christ. We need a wide-angle lens for this panoramic view of God in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. In that respect it is life changing and life giving to be "driven by ideas."

I understand that to be driven by ideas means to be driven by possibilities. I much prefer to live in a dynamic world of optimism rather that the static world of pessimism. Few things thrill my soul as much as ideas. I am intoxicated by wonder. I cannot fathom the lives of those who never change or never aspire to be better than what they are. These Irish monks fascinate me. For while they lived contemplative lives, they were very missional, treking to the far corners of the world bringing books and ideas back with them. The worth of other people and cultures is valued as means through which God can teach us something about Himself. This is evident in the Prayer of St. Patrick included in the Morning Prayer:

This day be within and without me,
lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.
Be in the heart of each to whom I speak;
in the mouth of each who speaks unto me.

Some quotes from the article that describe well the distinctives of Celtic Spirituality bear including here:

"Celtic Christianity was less authoritarian, more colourful , more in touch with nature than that practised elsewhere in Catholic Europe." Gilbert Markus

"You have I think a much less hierarchical approach …I think they had a more generous view of God…you get this sense of belonging to a great party where God is dancing, and I think Patrick's creed sums that up beautifully." Martin Palmer

"Celtic Christianity had a certain vitality, a simplicity and a faithfulness that is what people wish they could find in the Church today." Andy Raine, Northumbria Community

"People do not trust institutions that have hidden agendas and try to standardise and fit you into their structures, in a way that violates something that with, is within you. And I think in the Celtic tradition, there is this tremendous sense of the presence of God in all creation, There is also a strong emphasis on the contemplative, which appeals to people who just can't cope with the overload of modern society. And there is also I think specially from the Irish mission, a, going with the flow so that there's a sense of life and Christianity being about a journey, in which every day is fresh." William Dalrymple

"This was a more collective form of Christianity. It was a more gentle kind of Christianity. It didn't try to solve everything. It quite liked to leave mysteries for people to ponder on, rather than solutions, which gave you an answer." Martin Palmer

I pray that we all have a "generous view of God," but also that we have a generous view of life, that we live with eyes wide open to wonder and hearts bowed in thankfulness.

The Underground Seminary

I'd like to express my appreciation to my friends at Sling n' Stone for giving me the opportunity to be a contributor to the new Underground Seminary. They are creating a unique online resource for emerging/missional/postmodern communities and fellowships to pool resources and ideas to share with others on the journey. I strongly encourage you to visit their site and "unlearn what you have learned." If you have articles/info that you'd like to share, please contact one of the team members. We'd love to learn from you!